just as I am: November 2010

As many of you know, Tim and I spent last weekend up in Washington. We had a wonderful time! My brother Peter got married to a fantastic girl named Liz. We're very happy to have her in the family!

We left Panama City Beach on Thursday...a little later than expected because our flight was cancelled due to maintenance (we were more than happy not to be riding on a plane that may have had issues, even though we had to wait a bit longer!). We got re-routed through Atlanta and consequently arrived later into Seattle, but we had a long layover there and didn't miss our connecting flight to Yakima. We enjoyed a delicious egg-nog latte (our favourite holiday flavour--and it was less expensive in Seattle than down here...maybe that's because milk is $1/gallon cheaper up north?) Our flight to Yakima was quick and all of the Yakima-dwellers in my family were there to meet us at the airport. We definitely had the best reception of anybody at the airport! It was really good to see everyone again!

On Friday morning Tim and I went with my younger siblings to listen to a holocaust survivor who was speaking at their school. It was sober and very good. I think that it is especially good for the younger kids to be able to listen to a survivor speak, because when they are my age there won't really be many, if any, survivors left.

Much of Friday was spent preparing for the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. Our Church in Yakima let us utilize their facility, which was really great because they have a big kitchen and area where we could do lots of food prep and where mom could make all the flower arrangements for the wedding. My siblings pitched in and were very helpful in the preparation. There were also some church ladies who helped out, which was really great. Tim was also super helpful...he did many odd-jobs and driving around to get things etc. Mom's flower arrangements were absolutely stunning. She's an awesome florist.

For the rehearsal dinner we had some delicious pot roast...actually we had pot roast for the rehearsal dinner and for the wedding. My dad cut pretty much all of it with the meat cutter--and that's saying something, because I think we had around 100 pounds of meat! Thanks dad!

We also had salmon, baked potatoes, steamed carrots, sauteed mushrooms and green beans. Then there was apple pie and apple crisp with whipped cream for dessert. It was a true feast. We even had real glass goblets to drink out of!

The wedding on Saturday was beautiful. Liz looked gorgeous, Peter was very dashing and Caesar did a great ceremony. Liz was the opposite of bride-zilla, which made things relaxed and non-stressful. It was a joyous occasion, and I'm so glad to see my brother happily married to the woman he loves.

It was extra special for Tim and me because nearly exactly a year ago we were married in the same church. We've been married for one wonderful year, and I'm looking forward to many, many more years with the best husband in the whole world! God is very good to us!

We were able to spend some time with the Marston parents on Saturday after the wedding, which was very enjoyable. We also went to their hotel room (which had a kitchenette!) on Sunday morning where Mrs. M cooked us breakfast. We had a very tasty breakfast and nice, relaxed morning together.

The Martins were speaking at Grace Bible Church so my family and the Marstons went there on Sunday morning. Mr. Martin preached a very good sermon, and we had a nice time of fellowship with them afterwards.

After saying goodbye to the Marstons we had a few minutes before leaving to go to the funeral of Grandma Godkin, our cousins' grandmother. A bunch of us girls (Sarah, Jane, me, Annie, Kate and Trudy) sang some songs in the service.
After that we bought some rook cards and met up with Sarah R. to play some Rook. We had a nice evening with everyone. We tried to go to bed at a reasonable hour because our flight out of Yakima was scheduled to leave at 6:05am. Due to maintenance issues, the flight was delayed, so we missed our connection in Seattle. Providentially, there was another flight to Atlanta departing at 9:20, which got us home to Panama City at around 7pm...not a bad connection.

It was sad saying goodbye to everyone. We really had a most enjoyable weekend and are looking forward to our next trip up north...

I forgot to mention that Eppie had her puppies. Sarah delivered the first pup all by herself (everyone else was at the rehearsal dinner). Way to go Sarah! The John Doorninks came over and took care of Eppie/delivered the rest of the puppies so that Sarah could attend the dinner. Thanks guys! Eppie had four puppies, but one was stillborn. All the surviving pups are girls. It'll be interesting to see what they end up looking like. They are 1/2 miniature poodle and 1/2 Max, whatever breed or mix he may be. But they will probably be very darling and very good-tempered, if they are anything like their parents.

Sorry I have no pictures yet. I'll try to get some posted soon!

I'm 30 weeks this week...

Here's my belly...

Little different angle...

My bite-sized almond joy had two almonds! Yay!

I guess our freezer is a little cold...

We dream about Ferdinand's ice cream...not really, but we miss it!

Let's see, what have we been up to? Well we've been rearranging our living situation a bit...and preparing, little by little for the coming of the babe. We moved into a different bedroom, which will be closest to the baby room and we also bought some furniture for our barren spare rooms. Tim has been so cheerful and doing lots of lifting stuff so that I don't have to :-)

We helped with music on Sunday. Tim played guitar and I played the keyboard and sang. Our pastor is gone visiting family in California, so a man named Jed preached. He told the story of how he came to follow Christ. One day, at God's urging, his wife drove to his office and led him through the Campus Crusade for Christ tract about the Spirit-filled life, and God used that in his life.

It's been cool...even chilly here this last week. I've worn a long sleeve shirt most days, and even my jacket! We are experiencing what I consider "Fall" weather, and it's really great. It's supposed to be highs in the 70's later this week, but we'll see. I'm really enjoying this...