Road Trip To Ruston, LA

Last weekend, Benny and I made the trek down to Ruston for the weekend. As always, we were blessed and encouraged by the incredible people there, and were sad we couldn't stay longer!

Our first stop in Ruston was with the Skinners. Benny and James: (James is one of the pastors Benny worked with at Crossroads Church)


Me and Kelli. Kelli mentored me while we were in Ruston (and still does now). She is an INCREDIBLE woman of the Lord!


We were blessed to stay with the Burnett family while we were in town. Friday night they hosted a get-together/pool party.
Benny with the Burnett's youngest boy, Jake:


Saturday morning was amazing. A group of women (led by Ellie Blackburn) hosted a Baby "Open House" for us at Susie Leonard's house (We didn't call it a Baby "Shower" because it was open to women and men to attend! Such a fun idea!)

The beautiful table of yummy snacks:


Ellie put together an adorable board of pictures from our childhood along with the character qualities we're praying for this little boy.


Wade Burnett and Jeff Peshoff


Jeremy and Emory Pendergrass, Karen Hanchey and Erica Kordsmeier.


Drew Blackburn with Nelson and Allison:


Amy and Taylor Burnett, Alicia Boudreaux


A few of the girls from the student ministry: Katelyn, Sarah, Emily and Mary. (Katelyn, Sarah and Emily were in my small group.)


Benny and me opening presents!


Polly Smith and Susie Leonard:


We loved the fun Louisiana attire we received for our little boy! This is an LSU onsie, and we also got a New Orleans Saints polo! We can't wait for him to support these Louisiana teams!


Me and Carol Ann (One of my coworkers from the hospital)


Ellie, Natosha, Alicia and me.


Me and Katelyn.


Saturday evening I met up with a group of girls for dinner at a fun local restaurant named "Dawg House" and dessert at Maggie Moos. Amy, Alicia, Natosha and Addie (Not pictured: Erica and Amy Burnett)


We loved being at Crossroads on Sunday morning to worship alongside our friends and to see more fabulous faces! Benny with some of the student ministry fellas: Jacob, Eli, Nathan, Will and Nick.


After church we had lunch at a new Ruston restaurant with the Peshoff Family. Benny with Jeff and John Clark.


Me with Mary, Sarah and Hannah.


Benny and Wade (back at their house).



Me and Amy


Before we left Ruston, we got to stop by the Kordsmeier's new, beautiful house! Below are Benny, James, Alicia, Amy, me, Natosha and Erica.



On our way back to Anderson, we stopped in Memphis and had dessert with Benny's younger brother, Kyle.




We are SO blessed by these AMAZING people, and can't wait to see them again soon!!

22 Weeks

Some 22 Week belly shots (taken last week :)









And this is our little yard friend, Matty. This cute little bunny is always in our yard, and we decided to name him after one of the AU soccer players who lives across the street because he's out of town for the summer.

Date Day in Noblesville

Last Friday, Benny and I had a really fun "Date Day." We biked to the gym to workout, then biked to the Anderson Public Library for a book sale. We bought several children's book for little baby boy Bennison for 25-50 cents each! After showering, we drove to downtown Noblesville (just north of Indianapolis). If you've ever watched the Gilmore Girls, downtown Noblesville reminds me of Stars Hollow!!

We got coffee and hung out at the Noble Coffee and Tea Company:



Then we had a yummy dinner at the Asian Grill: (This picture is from their website...there were definitely other people eating there with us!)


We got to do some recruiting for soccer, then went to Alexander's- an old time ice cream shop- for ice cream and to play cards.




We are definitely taking advantage of days like these before the baby comes!

Finals Week Cookout and Euchre Tournament

During AU's finals week (yes...it was several weeks a go :) we invited the team over for a cookout/Euchre tournament. (Euchre is a card game, for those of us who have never played-before living in Indiana.)

Benny, Paul, Jake and Matt playing while Patrick, Eric, Adam and Charlie watch.





Stephen, Jake, Eric and Benny.


Stephen and Eric (in their "Euchre costumes"?) This fun duo won the tournament.


Katie and Patrick playing Mario Kart.


A few of the gals from the women's team came over to hang out also...me with Maddie, Katie and Megan.


We love these students and are so sad they're gone for the summer! We can't wait for August when they'll be back around!

IT'S A BOY!!

We had an ultrasound on May 6th and found out that we're having a BOY!! We haven't picked out at name yet, but we'll let you know when we do!

His little profile:






His little man part:


And a little foot!



This pregnancy and little baby are such a blessing from our amazing heavenly Father!!

February/March 2010

Here's an update of the last month and a half!


At the very end of January/beginning of February, I peed on a little stick and this is what happened:

:) We're pregnant!! :) We had an ultrasound on February 16th were we got to see the tiny embryo and hear the little heartbeat. Since I was only about 7 weeks along, there wasn't really much to see, but obviously it was very exciting and made me cry (can you believe that?). Right now (March 15th) I'm at 11 weeks and we're due October 4th. I'm feeling good---some days are better than others...the thought of lots of foods make me nauseated, and I've gagged/dry heaved countless times but only thrown up once. Some days I'm extremely exhausted, and other days I feel pretty normal. All of these things though are signs of a healthy pregnancy, so I definitely try to have a great attitude as I'm kneeling over the toilet or resting in bed! We had another doctor's appointment on March 9th, and everything was great!


On to other news...
Has anyone ever tried ear candling?? Somehow the idea of it came up when I was hanging out with Betsy and Alison one day, and we decided we needed to do it! It felt kind of weird, but our favorite part was looking at all of the nasty earwax at the bottom of the candle when we were finished!

Betsy getting her ear "candled."


And me doing Alison's ear.

Ahhh, memories! :)


The weekend of March 26th Benny and I were in Louisville, KY for an "Adopting for Life" conference. We've been talking about adopting for a while, and know it's something we have a heart for. We didn't know if we'd have our own kids first or adopt first, but we had heard about this conference from the Ambuehl's and decided to go. It was definitely an amazing conference...we received lots of great info about the adoption process, and were also spiritually and emotionally enriched. Jon and Liz Horn were there too, and it was such a blessing to share this experience with them.


Benny is coaching an Under-15 club team for Hoosier FC. They had their first tournament March 6-7, and they definitely showed improvement from the first day to the second. I got to sit with all of the parents during the games, and they were fabulous!! The absolutely ADORE Benny, and kept telling me how much their sons think of him. One of the dad's told him, "You really have found your calling." I couldn't agree more!!


Saturday night, we introduced our friend Andrew to a night of "firsts" in Anderson. (He just moved to Anderson this fall and is the wide receiver coach for the AU football team. He's worked the past two summers at K-Kountry, which is how we got connected with him.) We took him to a yummy rootbeer/hotdog drive-in restaurant named Gene's (he hadn't eaten there yet), went bowling (it was his first time to bowl in Anderson), and then came back to our house and played "Pass the Pigs" (he'd never played this fantastic game before).

Benny and Andrew acting tough after some intense bowling:


And not so tough:


And posing with this fun bowling pin!


Yeah for mega-long catch-up posts!! :)