So long, so much to catch up on !

Well, I have certainly been delinquent in the last few months and so I guess it would be a great time to update our wonderful blog!

Things have been quite crazy around here, and we are never lacking for activities to challenge our plans.

Last month on July 20 we lost my Nana after a years long battle with cancer. She was in incredible woman, even though her struggle was long and tough, she never really ever complained. She endured her treatments with a tenacity that rivaled the bravest of soldiers. When she was feeling poorly she could have been crabby and demanding, but she made each request with the gentleness that we all knew and loved about her. When the end came, it came with dignity and grace for one who was loved by many and will be missed by us all.

On August 6, Dave graduated from undergraduate land with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. He graduated with very high honors, and we are all very proud of him. He is currently back in school and is starting work on his master's degree. We were able to all attend, Grammy, Papa, Grampy, Alex, Me, Mom and Dad. We enjoyed a nice lunch out with the family and one of Dave's roommates, Brian. Dave also wrote a really long and technical thesis that he dedicated to both of our grandfathers for the inspiration that they have been to his engineering dreams.

Two days after we had our fun at graduation, I went in for scheduled surgery for some preventative care. Thank you all friends and family for your kind thoughts and especially for your prayers. I have spent the last few weeks at home recovering and will be returning to the land of work tomorrow morning. I have mixed feelings about that because you can only be home with restrictions for so long before you go crazy, but after you don't have to work for a while, it grows on you too. Oh well, such is the world.

Well, the weather here, as you would expect has been incredibly hot and humid. Not as much rain as Florida is notorious for, but even that seems to be starting to pick back up. Thankfully we have escaped the sort of hurricaine season that we had last year so far. Unfortunately as I post this blog it looks like New Orleans' number might finally be up. I certainly hope that many lives will not be lost. After all, stuff can be replaced, but people cannot.

Let's see, in other news, I am having tons of fun with my AVON business. You know I have been doing that for a year now and I have to say that I have only become more excited and had more fun the longer I have been a part of it. If you are ever interested in seeing what in the world it is that I do you can check out my website (YES! I have a website!).

Well, lets see, we have also been doing a bit of traveling. At the end of July we traveled up to Boston to go to my grandmother's funeral. Despite the very sad nature of the trip there were some nice memories to be had. My cousin from London made an unexpected trip over to the funeral and it was wonderful to see him and his sister again. I had not seen him since about 10 years ago. We were also able to spend a day with our friends Jacob and Sarah and our godson Judah. We really enjoyed seeing their new place and getting to see Judah again after nearly a year. He is a wonderful little boy, and I briefly contemplated seeing if they would notice if I hid him away in my suitcase and took him home with me, but then I realized that they probably would and so I had to settle for a good visit and some pictures :-)

It has been a while coming but we are finally getting together a nice young couples group at church. For a while it seemed like we were the only people our age, but now we have three other couples in similar life situations that we are getting to know and become really good friends with. Isn't it amazing what some patience will bring? But I have to admit, with any new situation you usually have to start from the ground up. I remember thinking that it was all over when I graduated high school, then I went to college and found some of the dearest friends that I have ever known. Then I graduated college and remember being totally bummed because no one from high school was left in my home town and all of my college friends were moving back to their homes far away. And look at it now...starting over can bring some happy surprises.

Anyway, I will hopefully post some more in the near future. Feel free to drop us a line or give us a call.