So we're never going to make a blog...

...Or so we thought. A few people have suggested that Mike and I start a blog. Okay so maybe just one person, and Mike and I considered it...but we figured we would probably never get around to it. But here I am at 348 in the morning, not able to fall asleep b/c i slept all day (ah the life of nightshift), and I've run out of things to clean in the house....or really just got tired of cleaning....after cutting my thumb on the apple peeler, I've had enough.

I'm sitting here reading all my families' different blog sites and Mike's brother and sister's blog site and I figure...why not? Mike and I talk about how we really want to get to know each other's families really well, and we want you to get to know us too! Besides, I often get a little overwhelmed thinking how I'm going to keep in touch with all the people I want to keep in touch with, and barely have enough time to call them all....so maybe this will be a good way to keep people up to date on stuff going on. Especially since my family lives in South Carolina and Florida and Mike's brother and sister live in Cambodia.

So....this could honestly be the only time I ever post....and most likely I will be on here more than Mike...but we will give it a shot. It already took me 10 minutes just to pick a template....I tried to get some orange in there....it's Mike's favorite color. So since he doesn't really get a say in the start of this, I thought he would like that.

So, to catch you up, here are some pictures of things we've been up to over the last couple of months:

Orioles game in June. This was Mike's first experience hanging out with 6 nurses. He was educated on how "nursing is the hardest job ever!" I got to meet Mike's brother, Chris, and his sister in law, Victoria, and their two kids, Charis and Ilana. We all went out to dinner to the Mongolian Grill. I was so glad to get to meet them as they headed off to Cambodia soon after and will be gone for a year!

In July, Mike headed to Sharptop Cove in GA for Young Life Camp where he was a transformer, a scary hic boy, and had a great time hanging out with and ministering to YL students.

And I went to Nogales, Mexico with Grace Fellowship's youth group where I got stuck at the Atlanta airport on the way (but my family must really love me b/c my parents, sister, brother in law, and two nephews drove three hours to come see me at the airport for an hour! I was sooo happy though b/c I hadn't seen them in months!), helped build homes, got to play with kids, and experience serving the poor with high school students.

Once back, I got to run/bike the Muddy Buddy race in Richmond, VA with my best friend Lindsay who finally came back from Malawi, Africa after being there for a year and a half in the peace corps! We had a great time....as you can see :)

BOAT DAY! Although guys and girls both came, girls pretty much hung out together and Mike had to kick it with a group of guys he barely knew! He did well though ;). Unfortunately the boat got stuck and we had to push it free!!

At the end of August, Mike got to come with my down to South Carolina to visit my whole family! The guys were beat by the end of the weekend from setting up tents for Caleb's first birthday, but we had a great time and still had enough energy to go to the driving range, swim in the pool with my nephews, and go to church as a family. I miss them so much and can't wait to see them all in December!!

Now that Shockwave and Young Life have started back up, Mike and I spend a good amount of our time hanging out with and loving high school students. Please pray we are able to balance work, time with each other, family, and friends, SLEEP, and also focusing on our ministries and our own personal walk with Christ. As you can see, Mike is loving getting to be a different character every week!

At the beginning of October, I ran a 5K race with a couple girlfriends from work to benefit one of their niece's schools. I somehow managed to come in third in my age group and the girls made me wear the medal for the whole rest of the afternoon!

Mike's birthday was this past weekend....the big 25! I took him to the Raven's game to celebrate (my first one!) and even got to hang out with his dad and grandfather in the Box seats for a little while! The next weekend we headed to the drive in with homemade
lasagna and got rained on, went out to dinner with Mike's family, and hung out with friends that night. I hope it was a special quarter century birthday (week) for him :)!

I've now gotten to meet Mike's grandparents and they are just as welcoming and loving as the rest of his family! I'm so blessed to get to be around a close family when I can't be around my own!