We are Experiencing Technical Difficulties...but All is Well!

For those who have been trying to contact us on Skype, I apologize! My laptop
(which the webcam AND digital camera software is all attached to) decided to randomly turn itself off early last week, and I've not been able to get its power switch to work since. The grandparents are all on pins and needles waiting for me to get it fixed. I hope we can do that soon.

Despite our lack of good camera software, we DID have a wonderful weekend! Friday night when Chad got home, we ran to Lowes and bought our new dryer! (Hallelujah, amen!) Our yard guy was still on a two-week vacation, so Chad spent Saturday morning attacking the worst trouble spots in our yard with his weed eater. I made a big Kroger run and actually came close to staying within our budget (which I normally do, but it's been a challenge as we've had to get some extra new things to set up housekeeping during this first month).

Saturday night, we visited 7Hills Church in Florence, and just LOVED it! It felt so much more "like home" than the church we'd previously visited. The members were extremely friendly, and even though it is a huge church with 2 campuses and MULTIPLE weekend services, the size of the congregation on Saturday night felt a lot more like what we've been used to on Sunday mornings at Celebration. The more we've investigated 7Hills and their vision, the better Chad feels about it being a good fit for our family. We aren't 100% positive right now that this is going to be our new church home, but we've decided to participate in their "Summit" series for the next month, and we're excited to see what God's going to do through that!

On Sunday morning, Lowes delivered our dryer bright and early. We'd been to the Saturday night church service, so Chad went to a Par 3 golf course to get a little practice in. He's scheduled to play in a golf tournament in a few weeks with the guys from work, and since his idea of a fun golf game involves Marvin Golden (who is a TON of fun, by the way, but he can't see where the ball is, so Chad feels NO PRESSURE while playing), Chad is thinking he needs to work a little bit with his driver and 9 iron while he can. :)

I actually cooked a BIG southern breakfast for the family while Chad was golfing...eggs, organic sausage, grits and biscuits "for them," and coffee. After breakfast, we all showered and cleaned up, and then we met some new Classical Conversations friends at Taco Bell at 11.

Our CC director was out of town last week, and so Katie, the mom of this new family of friends, contacted me via e-mail to ask some questions about CC since she's new to it. We started chatting on the phone, and I learned that they've only lived up here for about 3 years. They have a sweet 6 year old boy and a darling 4 year old girl. Katie has led kids' ministry at the church her family attended before moving to Florence. She also was executive director for a Christian mentoring ministry before she had children. In addition, she is a worship leader for women's ministry events and kids' camps. We hit it off instantly. :) And, for those of you who know my Chad, you'll get excited with me over the extra "bonuses" God threw into this deal: Katie's husband is an FBI agent, AND Katie needs a bass player when she travels to sing. :)

After lunch, we joined Katie's family for "Faith Day" at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. The Reds played the Giants (and won in a clean sweep), and then MercyMe had a concert on the field afterward. Katie is a deal-seeker like me, and she was able to find us $5 seats with GREAT views of the field AND the Ohio River and Newport, KY, on the other side...and our seats were under a shaded overhang, and there were family restrooms and the ballpark's only $1 concession stand right underneath our seats! We had a great time at the game! The kids played really well together! Mary Beth was a good "big friend" to Anna-Kate, and Anna-Kate gave her a pipe-cleaner bracelet and danced with her through the concert. Noah and Coleson loved chasing and racing each other up and down the sidewalks outside the ballpark.

We came home TIRED and hungry, but happy that we'd had such a great day--we finished it off with take-and-bake pizza for the family and a lovely protein shake for yours truly. :)

Well, that was our weekend. I'll stop now so I don't have to bore you with our lack of pictures! Hope all is well with you and your family!

Blessings from the North Bend!
--Kristie