Oh, the things we do...

My dog is so agreeable...






Have a great Halloween everyone!

I did it!

Ok, so I know this may be old news to most of you...but I ran my very first race on October 4th! I didn't do great, but I am just happy to have finished. I ran the Pumpkin Prance 5K in 33 minutes. Here are some pics (the last one is of my sister and I; she ran it with me):

The Flood - Yuck

So, I have been meaning to post the pics from the flooding we had last weekend. We woke up on Saturday morning (the 13th) to find that our lower level had been soak with sewer water (yuck). Here are some of those pics:

So, Jerry and Ernest worked most of the afternoon cleaning up the water and eventually pulling out all of the carpet, but most everything else was OK.



Now, while I was getting ready for church on Sunday, our neighbor came by to ask if we had started flooding again. I said no, but decided to have Ernest check just in case. Well, sure enough, as we watched our toilet began to overflow. Slowly at first, but then it began to look like this...



Yes, that is sewage mixed in with the flood water. It went on like this for several hours. And soon, my lower level looked like this...

And my upper level looked like this...

In the end, most of the furniture was lost, but all the "stuff" was OK. I am so thankful to everyone from church who came to help us out - Jerry and Jeni, Geri and her boys, Mike, Fred, the Morecrafts, the Barkers. Thank you all so much!

In Need of Suggestions...

Hey everyone. I am looking for suggestions for some good family devotional books that TJ, Ernest, and I can do together. I always seem to buy ones that just don't have much to them. Any suggestions?

TJ's First Day of School

TJ had his first day of school today. Here are some pics:

The first one is of TJ and his 5th grade buddy Shawn.

Then, there's TJ's desk.

One of TJ and his teacher - Miss Wissman.

And the last 2 were taken at home before school.

The Storm

Thank you to everyone for your concern for our famly after hearing about the tornado that passed through Griffith. We are okay. All around us, most of the homes were intact with minor damage (if any). Please pray for those who lost their homes and businesses and for the town itself as they slowly begin to put things back together.

Here are some pictures I took early on Tuesday morning of our neighborhood as we were all coming out to assess the damage. It was the most amazing thing to see these trees completely torn out of the ground.

TJ's prayer

No pictures today, just a cute story. Last night when we were saying our family prayers TJ said the cutest thing when it was his turn...

"please fill our bodies with Godness and loveness..."

I couldn't control my giggles. It was just the sweetest thing.