Pix - Summer 09 at the lake

Craig on slalom - yes, he can still get up! Beth also got up again this year, but I don't think we got a pic.

Kaitlyn wakeboarding - going outside the wake. Her and Chris were having a nice competition of who could do better on the wakeboard.

Craig and Kaitlyn tubing

Craig and Beth tubing

Rachelle and Kaitlyn tubing

Rachelle and Dominik tubing very slowly

Craig and Chris tubing - we all knew they would try to show off.

At first, they both tried to stand up. There was too much weight on the back of the tube and before we knew it we saw the "Gotcha" on the underside of the tube! This pic is right before Craig stood up.

...And the aftermath.

And then Beth tried her best to flip them off by turning the boat back into its own wake :)

Chris on slalom - look at that grimace!

Huge water tail!

Kerrie skiing on two - I tried wakeboarding and slalom lots of times. I failed miserably at wakeboarding. I was pretty much up on slalom. The one time I got up, I got so excited and just fell right after I stood up. We still don't know why I let go that time. Hopefully I'll get it next time.

Chris wakeboarding - Chris got up almost immediately and was going outside the wake. After Devon arrived, he gave Chris some pointers. Before we knew it Chris was going back and forth like it was nothing. He was also getting some good air too! It was a lot of fun to watch.

In the boat...

Handsome husband driving the boat.

Mr. D got very tired in the boat and ended up falling asleep while the rest of us played in the boat.

Mr. D with mama and papa.

Maggie trying her hardest to get to everyone in the water, but she reached the end of her rope!

Happy puppy by the water

Chris caught a big catfish! But he ended up letting it go since we wouldn't be able to eat it before we left. We still had a catfish dinner while Chris' family was there thanks to Kaitlyn, Chris, and Craig.

We spotted a northern pike swimming by the dock! Very rare to see at Lake of the Ozarks.

Chris going out in the paddleboat to try and net it. Thank goodness he didn't fall in!

The fish swam away but then was stupid enough to come back! Chris sat on the waverunner with the net in the water and the fish just swam right in!

Chris and Devon showing there manliness...and then having slimy hands afterward!

Look at those teeth! It also looked like he had been in a fight!

This all made for a wonderful time at the lake!

2 weeks at the lake and some fingernail polish has almost broke a bad habit of nail biting. I think I'll have to keep my nails painted to keep from biting them. I want to keep them so I can do this more often.

Visiting MO

Chris, Maggie, and I had a great 10 days at Lake of the Ozarks earlier this month. We headed out to Missouri since Chris had 2 weeks of shutdown at work and there wasn't much to do around home.

Kaitlyn and Chris' parents were already at the lake when we got there late on Friday night. We got to spend several days with them before they had to head home the next week. Chris' other sister, Rachelle, and our nephew Dominik also came for a couple days. My parents also came up for dinner at Half-sauced BBQ (a great local place in Osage Beach), to spend one night, and find out what being at a lake house is all about. We also spent some time with Chris' aunt Pat and his two cousins, Devon and Tova. Even though we got to see a lot of family, Chris and I also had the chance to spend a few days by ourselves and we enjoyed a good mexican place called Vista Grande and some much-needed clothes shopping for Chris.

It was great to spend so much time on the water, although it did rain and was a little chili (highs in the 70's) a few days. A few of us also tried some new things. I almost forgot to mention that Chris caught a northern pike with the fish net and he also caught a decent sized catfish, which he ended up just letting go. I will post some pictures soon since we took a lot while we were in the boat and you can see the fish Chris caught!

On our way home from the Lake, we also stopped in Mexico to see Chris' Grandma Barnes. We don't get to see extended family very much so it's nice to see them when we can. We got to have lunch with her before hitting the road again.

Just a few days after we got to Missouri, we made a day trip to Rolla to see Chris' grandparents since his grandma had been more sick recently. I'm glad we did this because she actually passed away this past Tuesday (July 28th). So after being home for just over a week, we are headed back to Rolla this Friday (tomorrow) for the funeral. Please pray for Chris' extended family. Chris' grandma had been fighting aggressive cancer for several months, but now we know she's not suffering anymore and is in a better place.

Scrapbooks

This spring/summer I've been able to finish two scrapbooks.

I finally completed the 36-page book from our vacation to Hawaii in 2006.

This one had gotten put aside several times to complete other shorter books. We had a ton of pictures from this trip and I didn't even put all of them in! This has to be one of my favorite pages (although I have lots) - this was at the top of Haleakala in Maui. We had some very cool pictures and it was awesome to be there in person.

I also completed the 19-page book from our vacation to Jamaica this past September - our first big vacation that we took by ourselves.

This book was much easier because everything was fresh in mind when I was working on it. This is one of my favorite pages of when we went on the "canopy tour" (ziplines through the hills). It was one of the most exciting and adventurous things we did while in Jamaica. I'm glad Chris decided he could do it even though he is weary of heights.

Now I'm starting on a couple of things. One of them is a book of Maggie. I thought it was time I did a book about her since we have a fair number of pictures. In fact I'll probably have to add some more pages behind the "E" to fit all of the ones I printed off. It was fun to look at the pictures of her as a puppy - she was so tiny! I'm sure there will also be more pictures from when we go to the lake in a few weeks!

The Search Continues

I had a job interview last Monday at a consulting firm in town. It seemed to have gone well. I had actually interviewed with them when we were first coming to Lafayette. But I found out today that they can't hire me right now. Instead of hiring a new person for the West Lafayette office, they have to utilize their current employees in the Indianapolis office that have minimal work right now.

So it's back to looking again. That's ok. It would have been bittersweet to get a job right now as we have a vacation planned to Lake of the Ozarks in July. (I probably would not have been going to the lake if I had a job offer.) Don't get me wrong, I would have been ecstatic to have a job, but I also love going to the lake. I'm now looking forward to spending time with Chris' family and probably my family too, seeing Maggie wear her lifevest again, waterskiing, riding the waverunner, soaking up the sun, and just enjoying being in such a beautiful and relaxing place. Wow...just writing this is getting me excited!

Update on Life

I thought I'd give an update on what's been going on with us the past few months.

To start off, I am no longer working. I was laid off as a contract employee from Caterpillar. My last day was Friday, March 13th. I am searching for another job in the area, but there is not much hiring anywhere right now. I am hesitant to look for anything in Indy since I really would not want to make the commute from our house everyday - probably about an hour and 15 minutes to downtown Indy.

Chris is (thankfully) still working at Caterpillar but they have several shutdowns scheduled for this year. I'm sure a lot of people have heard about the layoffs at Caterpillar that were announced this spring. We were blessed that Chris was able to stay as one of the few people in his group. Chris had a week off in April when he did some painting and organizing at home.

The last month and a half has been a whirlwind of trips for me. After going to Kansas City with Chris the first weekend in April for a college friend's wedding, I turned around a week later and drove down to Joplin (by myself) to help my parents. They are moving to a new house in town and I was able to help them do some of the cleaning, packing, moving, decluttering, and organizing all week long. I was glad I had the time to help them out, as I know we made a big dent in the things to be done. Plus I got to see their new house!

The next week I was back at home with Chris before leaving again. This time I went down to Columbus (Chris' parents' house) to help take care of my 12 year old sister-in-law Kaitlyn and my 3 year old nephew. I stayed there for almost 2 weeks while my mother-in-law was able to visit my father-in-law in India. They were able to spend a lot of relaxed time together, which they both needed. So I was glad to help. During that time, Chris had also come down on the weekend to visit and also go with me to my mini marathon race.

Then I was back at home for about another week before returning to Columbus last week, which is where I'm at now. This time my mother-in-law had to travel back to Missouri to help care for her mom, as she is very sick right now - she has another round of aggressive cancer after fighting off breast cancer last year. (Please pray for Chris' grandma and Chris' whole family during this tough time.) Chris had this past week off, so he came down to Columbus with me. He spent the week helping me babysit and doing some repairs and projects around the house for his mom. I'm here the rest of the week until Kaitlyn leaves for camp.

This year has already proved to be abnormal and unpredictable and I don't really expect that to change soon. But I find it amazing that God can use bad situations (me not having a job) and turn them into a blessing in disguise. I would not have been able to help both of our families how I have in the past couple of months if I had still been working. Chris and I have also had extra time to spend together (when I've been home) recently.

Kerrie's first mini

Much overdue, but that's ok...

On Saturday, May 2nd, I got to run in the Indianapolis mini marathon - 13.1 miles. It was such a beautiful day to run and I was excited with my finishing time. I finished in 1:45:24 crushing my original goal of 2 hours. It was just over 8 minute pace and I finished in 3144th place out of 35,000 racers.

The weather was perfect for running - cloudy and in the 50's for most of my race. It had actually gotten in the low 40's the night before, so it was a little chilly when we walked outside at 5:00 in the morning!

I thought the worst part of the race would be the 2 and a half miles around the Indy Speedway track, but I was wrong. (The winner of the mini actually finished while I was in the speedway, so I got to watch him on the jumbo-tron while running! He finished in just over an hour.) The mileage really started to hit me around mile 11, but I trekked on to the finish.

Overall, I was excited to have finished how I did for it being my first mini. I was surprised that I could keep 8 minute pace, but Chris told me before the race that my legs should be able to keep that pace (and he was right). The race was definitely better than my Saturday long runs had been because there were tons of bands playing and people on the sides cheering everyone on! It definitely gave me more to look at while running and keep my mind halfway preoccupied. And I was most excited to have Chris and my sister-in-law Kaitlyn there to watch me run. They stood by until I started, watched me as I finished, and met me afterwards.

Here are some pics from the day...

Stretching and looking way too happy before the race at 7am

The front of the pack at the very start of the race

Can you find me? (Hint...on the very left edge in a light blue shirt and pink shorts)

After the finish line...can you find me again?

After the race with my finisher's medal. Does it look like I just ran 13 miles?

My watch at the end of the race

Chris and I are now thinking about running another mini together later this year in the fall. We haven't committed to anything yet so we'll see what happens. He has started running 6-7 days a week and I'm now running 3-30 minute runs, 2-40 minute runs, and 1-50 minute run per week.

The time has come...

OK...So I'm not sure where the past few months have gone since it's been February since I last posted! We have quite a few updates, but I'll save those for later.

The more important news for today is that the mini marathon is tomorrow! It's quite hard to believe that it's already here - the race I've been training for since November. I'm excited, but yet getting a little anxious at this point. I seem to always get nervous before a race.

I'm confident that I can beat my goal time of 2 hours if I stay focused tomorrow. The past 2 Saturdays I have done close to 13 miles in just under 2 hours. (Those days I have been useless for a few hours afterwards.) I think all of the bands and the gatorade and water stops along the race course will help me run faster too! I'm not sure I'm looking forward to being around 30,000 people, but it will be a memorable experience nonetheless. I will post next week about how I did!

I'm a Polar Bear

This morning Chris and I woke up at 5:30am (yes, on a Saturday) so I could run in the 5 mile Polar Bear Run in downtown Indy (Indianapolis). Needless to say, it was an early morning. We were kind of concerned about the weather since they had been predicting snow early this morning. After leaving the house about 6:20, Chris gave me my pep talk on the way down. We arrived in downtown Indy about an hour and 15 minutes later with absolutely no snow on the ground. After checking in, warming up, and stretching, I was just fine for being ready for the race at 9am.



Before I knew it, the race had started and I was on my way. My target time was 40 minutes, which meant I needed to run about 8 minute pace for each mile. I was excited when I got to the 1st mile marker at 7:47. That gave me confidence knowing that I could maintain that pace throughout the race. I plodded along for the 2nd mile and hit a 7:54. I got a little concerned when I hit 8:07 for the 3rd mile, but figured it may have been since I was running against the wind. It was great when we turned out of the wind for the end of the race. Then out of no where came a 6:55 for mile 4. (Chris and I think the mile 3 marker was a little off.) At that point, Chris had joined me and ran next to me for a few hundred yards. He was a great encourager and made sure I knew I was doing great and could hit a really good time for the last mile. In that last mile, I kept passing people as I continued to pick up the pace. When I got about 1/3 mile from the end, an older guy told me to finish strong. I told him what Chris had told me earlier that once I got to the finish line I was done and didn't have to run or walk (meaning I could give it everything). That guy said that he would stick with me then (since I had started to pass him). We pretty much stayed side by side until the finish. The quick pace of the last mile really started to get to me as I turned the last corner. I pushed through it anyway, and got a 7:21 for mile 5. For all you math majors out there, that's an overall time of 38:04, but I really ran a 38:15. I think I started my watch incorrectly at the start of the race, as they only had a chip reader at the end and not the beginning.




Overall, it was a great race. It will give me a good seed time for the mini marathon. And I even got 3rd place in my age group! I surprised myself how well I did compared to everyone else running today. So my award for winning 3rd was a $10 gift certificate to the Runner's Forum in Indy (a runner's store). I'm sure I can go there and find something I can use for running (like a new pair of running shoes).



As we came out of the Indiana War Memorial from the awards, it was snowing/sleeting. God graciously held off the nasty weather and allowed us to run on a dry day that really wasn't too cold. When we got back to Lafayette, we found about an inch of snow on the ground. Today wouldn't have been the same without a little snow on the ground. Thankfully I didn't have to run in it.


I have such a great husband because I know I couldn't have done what I did today without him. Here are just some of the things he did for me today:

• Woke up early on a Saturday
• Was my chaffeur
• Warmed up and cooled down with me
• Gave me the encouragement I needed to run a good race
• Helped me convince myself that I could turn out a good time (at least better than I thought I could)
• Ran with me for part of the last mile so I could finish strong
• Told me numerous times that he is proud of me

God is working

This weekend was an exciting time for our church - Lafayette Community Church. Today was our annual commitment Sunday where people affirm their membership with the church. Baby dedications and baptisms also happened today. (Baptisms are not a regular thing at our church since we currently don't have a baptistry of our own as we're renting out an old theatre.) So today they specially brought in a clean trough. We had 13 baptisms today! That's amazing since our current average attendance has only been around 90-100. It was awesome to see so many people dedicating their lives to Christ. That was the most baptisms I had ever seen at one time!

We also had a church meeting last night where we learned that last year the attendance went from 40 at the beginning of the year to 90 at the end. I can't believe the amount of growth that happened in just a few months. In July 2008 we moved from meeting at the Holiday Inn to the Long Center, so that allowed much more room for us to grow. God has already done so much but there is so much more that He can do. At the end of this year, I look forward to looking back at 2009 to see what He has done.

For the past couple weeks, a few couples have been meeting in our home weekly in preparation for a new small group. The small group officially starts this week! I'm glad that we're part of a small group again after leaving a great one in Peoria. It will be a great opportunity for continued growth and a close community of believers.

January Happenings

For Chris' 25th birthday earlier this month, I surprised him by gathering some of our friends for dinner at Bruno's (a local Italian restaurant in W. Lafayette). Some of our church friends and the Parker's (Chris' family friend since he was a kid) were able to join us. It was fun because I was actually able to surprise him. He was thinking for a few days about where he wanted to go for his birthday dinner since we had already been to Cracker Barrel with my parents in Joplin. (In past years we normally end up going to Cracker Barrel for his birthday.) So the day of his dinner (Jan. 10th), right before I walked out the door with the dog, I said that we were leaving at 6:30 that night and he could no longer decide where we were going. I strategically planned it this way so he couldn't interrogate me about what I had just said. When I got back he was questioning why he couldn't pick where we went, but I told him "just because".

So we left at 6:30 and I directed him to Bruno's. When the hostess told us where our table was, he was confused as he saw there wasn't an empty table and that some of our friends were there. He finally caught on that it was a surprise. We enjoyed having dinner with our friends before we invited everyone back to our house for cake and games. It was strange because everyone that came is significantly older than us - at least 10-12 years older with the Parker's being old enough to be our parents. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time and I was glad that everyone could make it to celebrate Chris' birthday.

Over MLK weekend, we headed down to Columbus to celebrate Chris' birthday (again) and Dominik's, which was on the 29th. It also gave us something to do since we had a 3-day weekend for MLK day. We enjoyed spending time with everyone there. I even went to a John David Webster benefit concert at Chris' family's church on Saturday night. It ends up that John was the interim worship leader at their church for a while, so he came back to do a benefit concert for the pregnancy care center. It was fun since I haven't been to any sort of concert in quite some time. While we were there we also lit some candles for Dominik to blow out. Instead of putting them in a cake (which we knew he would spit on), we used a crescent roll! But once the candles were lit, he started crying. So that was the end of that. But Chris' mom made a wonderful german chocolate cake that we enjoyed all weekend.

Running update

Running has been going ok lately. I'm just trying to make it through the winter weather alive. That's a little exaggerated, but I took 2 days off earlier in January because the hi temperatures for the day were sub-zero! It was actually hard to take those days off, but that was just too cold for me. My long runs are up to 8 miles now with a minimum of 30 minute runs the other 5 days of the week. I've discovered that running in slush is the worst - you get slush build-up on the bottom of your shoes and you slip even more than in snow. This has actually been a mild winter so far and we haven't had our usual amount of snow. This has been a good thing, but I am very much looking forward to spring. Here's me after one of my snowy runs.




On Feb. 21st I'll run in the Polar Bear Run in Indy. It will be a 5 mile race. I think this will be very good for me, as races usually show you where you're really at. I'll also submit my time in this race as my seeding time for the Mini. So hopefully I will be able to keep my target pace (8 to 8.5 minutes). I'm hoping for good weather on that day and no snow!

The Holidays #2

Well tomorrow is the return to the working life again. Chris and I have had some good time off from work (2 weeks for Chris and about 1.5 weeks for myself). But we had a great Christmas. We made it safely to and from Missouri. First we stopped in Rolla to visit Chris' mom's extended family for Christmas Eve. Then we headed onto Joplin on Christmas morning to visit my family. It was definitely nice to see everyone again and missed all those we didn't get to see. If you'd like to see some pictures, they are on my facebook page or you can click here to see them.

Once Chris and I got back in town, we enjoyed some time at home. Chris has been perfecting his golfing game on Tiger Wood's golf on the Wii. We also went out for a date night for dinner and to see Marley & Me. I practically balled during the movie (well, not quite balling, but that's probably the most I've ever cried in a movie). It didn't help that I had already read the book and knew what was going to happen. Nonetheless, it was still a good movie and Chris liked it too! One reason we probably liked it so much was because it reminded us of our Maggie. (Below is a picture of her latest stunt of grabbing two remotes instead of just one!)

Anyway, I hope you all had a great Christmas too! Now it's a new year that is sure to be filled with many more memories!

The Holidays

Chris and I had a great Thanksgiving with his family at our house. Yes, this was the first Thanksgiving or Christmas that we stayed at home since we've been married. It was nice. Chris' mom, sisters, and nephew came up on Wednesday night and left on Friday. Chris and I had a relaxing few days off by ourselves. We even went to dinner and a movie (Quantum of Solace).

Two weekends ago our church had a Christmas dinner that we attended. It was a fun time to eat good food and get to know some people better. Here was our attempt at a self portrait by our teeny Christmas tree before we went to the party.

For Christmas we will be travelling to Missouri. The plan is to leave around lunch on the 23rd and stay in Rolla until Christmas morning. We'll get to spend some time with Chris' mom's extended family, which is always fun. Then we'll head onto my parents' house in Joplin to spend a few days with my family. We'll probably be there until at least the 29th. After that, I'm not sure what we'll do. Let us know if you want to meet up with us somewhere along our journey!

Also, here our some recent pictures of our Maggie Mae.

Chris picked the huge pumpkin from the pumpkin patch himself! He got his $5 worth! Also, here are the pictures (before and after) of our bedroom.

Merry Christmas to us

Chris and I are the proud new owners of a queen bed set and mattress (which is our Christmas present to ourselves this year). Yesterday we finally purchased the bedroom furniture set we had looked at a few weeks ago and also bought a mattress. We're excited to have this since we've been sleeping on my old bed since we got married. The main problem with that was the fact that I slept towards the middle of the bed before we were married. So now the mattress sags in the middle. I'm sure Chris will sleep much better in a few days.

Yesterday we also picked out our new bedding set. (There are so many things to get when you change bed sizes. It was also much more difficult to pick out bedding than I thought it would be.) Now all we need is some sheets to go with our new comforter.

Today Chris has begun taping all of the trim in preparation for painting tomorrow. He is off from work this whole week so the bedroom "remodel" is his project this week. Knowing Chris he will be done painting well before I get home from work tomorrow. The furniture is delivered on Tuesday and that's probably when he'll pickup the mattress too.

The goal is to have everything setup in our bedroom and the twin beds disassembled and our old bed assembled in the guest room all by the time Chris' mom and sister come to our house on Wednesday night. I'll be sure to take some pix and post them after we get everything in its place.

The BIG mini

050209 - 0730

The above time is when I will be running the half-marathon that I am officially registered to run in next year! I'll be running in the Indy Mini Marathon, which takes place in downtown Indianapolis. (It is the largest mini marathon in the country!) The race course passes many well-known parts of Indy, including running around the infamous Motor Speedway track.


For those of you not familiar with the running world, a half marathon is approximately 13 miles. My goal is to run the entire length and not just barely finish - I want to be prepared, as much as I can be. With having 6 months to train, I hope to prepare enough to finish in 2 hours.


So day 1 of training started yesterday and I have 170 days to go. I'm excited to take on a new challenge even though I know it will be tough at times. For instance, last night I ended up running for a half hour in the rain - that's just a sign of things to come. I've been running 5-6 days a week for at least 20 minutes for a while now and I needed a change of pace. Chris will help me with my training plan since he has a lot of past experience with running. (He's ran 17 miles twice before!) I think the longest I've ever ran is 7 miles, but we stopped for a break at the half-way point.


I'll try to post on when I've hit significant points in my training - i.e. when I hit 7 or 10 miles on my long run on the weekend, when I compete in a 5K and 10K race as part of my training, etc. I'm excited yet fearful at the same time of what I'm getting into, but I'm convinced that the more time I have to train, the easier the race will be. Much blood, sweat, and tears to come...most likely and hopefully much more of the second than the others.

October 26, 2003

Today marks the 5 year anniversary since Chris and I have been together - 5 years ago today we started dating. I remember sitting on the porch swing of the CCH when I answered yes to Chris' question from the night before. Our talk on the swing was a continuation from the night before when we went on the infamous railroad walk where we walked along the railroad tracks in Rolla for hours. That's when we really got to know each other since we talked the entire time. (Good thing it was the night to set our clocks back for daylight savings time - the extra hour came in handy.) When we got back from our walk, we were sitting on the couches of the CCH when he asked me to be his girlfriend.

Sometimes it's hard to believe that's where it all started. I guess God has unique ways of bringing people together who then fall in love.

Here's a photo as a kind of throw-back from the old days. This was the first photo Chris and I took together after we had started dating.

BARNES collage

Here's the BARNES collage I put together. I think it takes a minute to actually see it.

B = two windows on a building

A = historical building downtown

R = light pole

N = trusses on a railroad bridge

E = a cool piece of architecture

S = a bike rack

P.S. Amanda - I found this frame at Walmart. It would work perfect if you wanted to make your own too! I'm glad my last is shorter than it used to be, or else I would've had a hard time finding a ready-made frame.

Anniversary #3

So Chris and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary a couple weeks ago. I can't believe it's been that long already! We didn't do much but we did go to this nice restaurant called McGraw's to celebrate. This restaurant is unique in that it looks like someone's house from the road. It's "landmark" is an old boat on a pile of rocks that sits near the road. And it's right on the river too.

As a present to both of us (for our anniversary) I put together a series of pictures spelling out "BARNES". I took pictures of things in downtown Lafayette that looked like the letters in BARNES and put them together in a picture frame. Some of you may have seen something like this before. I thought they were neat when I saw them, but they are so expensive to order from the company who does these. It proved to not be very hard and is special to us because all of the pictures were taken here in town.

One reason we didn't do much for our anniversary is because we are leaving for a week long trip to Jamaica this coming Saturday! We're excited to have a relaxing week at an all-inclusive resort, but we're praying that the tropical storms stay away next week. Chris is excited to go scuba diving since he hasn't been able to in several years. (He is a certified diver.) I'm excited to water ski again since I learned to last summer. And we're also gonna try horseback riding, which I am excited to do. I'm sure it will be interesting.

I know we're both looking forward to having some time off, as this is our big vacation for the year. Since graduating from college, we've taken a week long trip every year which has been nice. We went to Lake of the Ozarks last year, so Chris wanted to take me on a nicer trip this year. I'll be sure to post pictures after we get back!

Stacey's Wedding

We made the trip to Joplin last weekend for Stacey Veazey's wedding, in which I was a bridesmaid. It was a simple yet very sweet wedding. It was also a lot of fun. Here are a few pix.

Late April

The weather has been warmer as each week in April progresses. This weekend Chris and I took advantage of our Saturday afternoon, after the overnight and morning rain, by putting in an electric fence for Maggie. No she can run around in the front or backyard (not both at the same time) at her liking. She's still getting used to it, but we're already enjoying it. Hopefully that will mean no more potty walks right before bed.

Chris and I have also been going to Southside Church in Lafayette recently. I believe we've been a total of 4 times since we've moved to Indiana. Southside is a new church (probably about 50 to 60 official members) forming in Lafayette and it's so new that they don't own a building yet. They just celebrated their first anniversary this March. The church currently meets at a hotel downtown, which actually works pretty well for now. We've found this church to be the "best fit" for us in the area and most of the people there are 20's to 30's. I for one am excited at the growth they've seen in just one year and the niche that this church will hopefully fill in Lafayette/West Lafayette. Chris and I found that there wasn't a really good non-denominational church in the area, or at least one that we connected with. I think this is where we're going to call our new church home. We're also excited because we'll be playing on a co-ed softball team this summer with some others from church. I'll be glad to start playing again.

Chris and I ask that you be praying for Chris' mom's parents, as they're going through some rough times right now. Chris' grandma found out a couple of weeks ago that she has breast cancer. She had surgery yesterday and has hopefully been able to go home from the hospital today. Meanwhile Chris' grandpa has been going through chemo. They are surrounded by friends and family which helps tremendously, but we know that prayer can be powerful.