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.

Inside our new house

Here's a virtual tour of our new house in Indiana.

Walking in the front door...

Turn to the right and you run into the office, spare bathroom, and spare bedroom. Chris has his Xbox in the office and my scrapbook table has found a home in the spare bedroom.

Walk straight ahead from the front door and you'll run into the living room.

To the right from the living room is our eat-in portion of the kitchen on the other side of the half wall.

And our kitchen...

Turn to the left from the living room and you'll find the master bedroom - complete with bathroom and a nice size closet. Maggie was happy to help me take pictures!

If you turn to the left off of the hallway between the front door and the living room, you'll find the laundry room which leads into the garage.



You can see the peg boards and workbench that Chris has been working on. He's done well at organizing the garage.

Here's a view down the street to the end of the cul-de-sac. There's a total of 5 new houses that don't even have sod yet - one of which was just moved into the other week.

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Two Months in Indiana

So we've officially been in our new house for two months now and everything is going well! We were able to get every unpacked in less than a week (thanks to Chris' encouragement). Everything is pretty much in its place except for all of our books that we don't have bookshelves for. We even have curtains or some kind of window treatment on every window except for the one small window in the kitchen. Chris was finally able to park his truck in the garage this past weekend. We have a pretty small garage and no shed, so it's made for some creative organizing on his part.

Our jobs are both going very well. Chris really likes his new job working on quality issues for the engine castings. He's already been able to solve a few problems they had been having. He will be going to Germany the first week of April to visit a supplier. Chris has been busy and there's been days that he's hardly had time to sit down, but he's enjoying it a lot. I'm also enjoying working in the CAT environment for the first time. I've already worked on a variety of projects from a new office building to cranes. I love not sitting in front of a computer the entire day. We can also ride to and from work together on most days. I feel like I see Chris a whole lot more now! And it's been great to save on gas too. It's takes us about 20 minutes to get to work, which isn't bad.

Maggie has been adjusting just fine. She has had to learn that she goes out on a leash anytime she goes to the bathroom since we don't have a fence in our backyard yet. An electric fence is in the plan for one of our spring projects.

No church home yet for us. We've gone to a variety of churches, but none have really hit the spot. I'm convinced we're so spoiled coming from a church as good as Richwoods! Please continue to pray for us on this. We did get to have dinner with a minister and his wife, which was really nice. They were very helpful in suggesting a few more churches.

To some people's amazement, we have not joined a gym yet. Chris and I take turns running and walking the dog, switching off in the morning and at night. Our neighborhood has a nice system of sidewalks and roads that we are able to walk and run on - it's definitely one reason we liked the neighborhood so much. There are also 3 ponds with surrounding sidewalks that we can really enjoy on a nice day like today!

And despite our hardest efforts, we're still doing our grocery shopping at Walmart! Walmart is the closest to our house and it is still the cheapest, unfortunately. There is a Meijer, but it's all the way across town. We're hoping that they will soon build the Meijer that there have been rumors of very close to our house. The mall and most of the other stores to shop are on the other side of town and not on the way home from work. But the Super Target is right across the street from work, and I love it! I hadn't shopped at one before and we've been there a few times since we've been here.

We're looking forward to the warmer weather that seems to be sneaking up on us. And I will try to post to our blog more than quarterly! (I know Chris won't post because he told me he didn't even know how to get to this!)

Moving in less than a month!

In one month we'll be settled into our brand new house in West Lafayette, IN! (Hopefully by then we'll also be mostly unpacked.) Here's our current schedule for moving:
Jan. 2nd-3rd - moving company is packing boxes in Peoria
Jan. 4th - loading the moving truck in Peoria
Jan. 7th - closing on house in IN
Jan. 8th - unloading the moving truck in West Lafayette



















Right now it's surreal to me that we're not going to be here in a month. Sure our house has been up for sale and we've found a house in IN, but it hasn't hit me yet...It probably won't until the moving company starts packing the boxes.

A week and a half of work left here in Peoria...Crazy. I can't believe my job here is almost finished. My new job will be challenging. I'll be working at the CAT plant (but still be working for Mactec) in the facilities engineering department. I'll be working on projects to restructure and expand the current facility there in Lafayette. This will involve work with structures and foundations, which I've hardly touched since college. I'll have to dive back into it in January when I start over there. All I have to say right now is that it'll be different. But I'll also be working in the same place as Chris, which will present even more new things.

Summer 2007

This is our new Ford Escape that we bought at the beginning of the summer. We went to Lake of the Ozarks in MO for basically a 10-day vacation over the 4th of July. We got to spend the time with Chris' parents and sister at the Stevens' lake house.

Maggie had quite the experience since it was her first time in the water. She found the rafts to be a haven, even though she had a life vest!















After a while, if she was on the dock we couldn't keep her out of the water!

Chris and his dad caught some good catfish on the lake. So we got to have pan-fried catfish for dinner one night. Yummm!















I finally learned how to ski! I believe I'm skiing "blind" in this picture, with no contacts or glasses since I lost a contact while learning how to ski! But it was so much fun once I learned. I'm convinced the reason I got up was because of the expert help I had from the three Barnes' skiiers, and Chris' mom even got in the water with me to teach me.


















Chris showing off on the slalom.