Our 1st Sets Of Visitors

Alot has been happening in our lives since we last wrote. Life has had us so busy that we have not had time to update you all on what has been happening in our lives. I will try to keep it all brief and include some fun pictures.

We have finally gotten all settled into our house and are out of boxes which is a huge relief. Now we are in the fun stage of making it feel like our home by decorating and adding things to it. We have put up some curtains and pictures, which help to give the big white walls some personality. As I mentioned in the title we have already had visitors come and stay with us. The first visitor we had was my (Christina) close friend Jeannine from back in Washington. She came to stay with us 2 days after we moved in. She was an immense help in unpacking boxes, picking out curtains etc. We also managed to have some fun seeing the downtown Indianapolis area. We walked around a park and rented kayaks to boat along the canal. It was a beautiful day and we had an absolute blast. The very next weekend Ben was a groomsmen in his friend Travis's wedding so he drove to Akron Ohio for a long weekend of fun. He had fun catching up with friends and overall being a support. He had to hurry home for church on Sunday because on that particular Sunday they installed him as the "Childrens Ministry Director". He went up before the church and took some vows that the pastor recited and then the pastor had all the deacons come up front and they prayed for both Ben and I as well as for another pastor and his wife who was installed at the same time. After the service they had a cake reception in honor of them. It was a really neat and momentous occassion.

On Friday August 1st Ben and I drove to South Haven Michigan to meet some friends from Judson Baptist Church (our previous church in Chicago). The Marriage class that Ben and I had participated in the past year had an end of the year retreat at a condo sponsored by our leaders. We had such a neat time with 3 other couples who have come to be good friends of ours. We had an incredible view of the lake from the balcony. We walked along the beach and checked out the quaint town full of cute shops and restaurants. We cut our weekend short in Michigan to come back to Indiana and meet my (Christina) parents who came out to visit us. We spent 2 1/2 days with them showing them our new house, church and downtown area. We went to a minor league baseball game, walked the canal, BBQ'd etc. We had a Blast!! They also were kind and spent one of their visiting days to help us around our house with lots of projects. It was fun to see Ben and my dad work together as a team. My mom and I offered moral support and food.

The very next weekend on Friday Ben and I had the privelege to drive to Cincinatti Ohio to meet up with Ben's family at a Red's game. We managed to watch some of the game amongst catching up with the whole family. We also got to see an incredible (and I mean incredible) firework show after the game. On Saturday we drove into Kentucky to visit the new Creation museum that they put up. For the most part it was a great time. I (Christina) am having severe knee pain these days, so spending the day walking and standing was hard for me. I am working towards getting some help for my knee so I can have some relief and regain normal functioning. Please pray for me if you think of it. The rest of the time with his family was laid back as we just showed them the area as well, but mainly just hanging out as a family.

Soo... as you can imagine we are a bit tired right now, but would not trade the fun we have had for anything.