A Long Time Coming

So yeah it has been about 6 months since the last time we have posted anything. Since this time we have bought our first house and have been busy settling in. It was in good shape when we moved in and after we spent the first month painting the majority of the rooms we began to feel like it was home. Since then we have been busy with other minor upgrades or repairs. The lastest has been the landscape. We are diligently trying to get our yard to grow as we are quickly becoming "those neighbors." You can check out a few pictures by clicking on the link below. These shots were taken during the move in and the weeks soon after. A few things have changed since and I will try and get the newer pictures up soon.

http://picasaweb.google.com/john23r/OurNewHouse

Other news besides the house include me finishing up my 4th year of teaching. I was in a 5/6 split class this year which presented all sort of new challenges. After 4 years of teaching I am yet to do the same thing twice. This has lead to all new learning experiences for me. Next year, however, I will be teaching just 5th grade which is what I did my second year teaching. I am excited at the thought of honing my skills in one grade level.

Claire has been working in a Human Resource Department at a company in town. She is a teacher at heart but has made the most of the job she is in. She knows that what she has been doing these last 10 months is where she needed to be. She has been an inspiration to many of her coworkers and has learned to do things she never thought she could.

We are still attending Exodus church and have found our nitch there as well. I have been meeting biweekly with a group of guys and Claire and I have developed great relationships with many of the other married couples. We feel very blessed to have found Exodus.

That about sums it up in three paragraphs. Now that the summer is upon us and I have a little more time on my hands I will try to stay a little more updated on the blog.

Until next time.

Our New House

Claire and I have purchased our first house together. The Picasa site below has pictures if you care to check it out.



http://picasaweb.google.com/john23r/OurNewHouse

I hope you enjoy.

Its Been Awhile

Ok both Claire and I know that is has been quite some time since the last time we posted anything on this blog. We are sorry if you are one of those people who continues to check it only to be hit with the same old pumpkin carving story. At least they were nice pumpkins.

Alot has happened since the last time we posted. I guess that is partially to blame for the new material. We have been very busy mostly with work, but other highlights include building relationships with friends, church league basketball, a new found luxury in the Bookmobile, exploring the town we live in, IU basketball games, enjoying those little things, and our favorite spending time with our families.

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. As we flash back a year ago we reflect on the fact that I had been deathly sick the entire Thanksgiving week. Also the fact that our Thanksgiving dinner happened at a resort where faux turkey and not so pumpkin pie was served. Even though lounging on the beach sounds nice we were happy to be home with loved ones.

For us, like many holidays, Thanksgiving was a multiple day affair. The fist of three feast took place a couple weeks before with Claire's family when we took advantage of Joel and Laura being in town. It was a nice meal that consisted of many kinds of meat: deer, turkey, and elk.

The second meal was with on Thanksgiving day with my family in Angola. It was the first holiday that we got to spend together where all of us were officially coupled with a significant other. The final meal was the next day in Van Wert with Claire's extended family. Lets just say that by the weekend sweat pants were a real good idea.

The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are always a crazy time. When you go a year having missed all of that it seems even busier. We were going every which way those few weeks enjoying the ride the entire way. If I were to guess I think Claire would choose the decorating of the tree and the carols as her favorite part of the season. I was just happy to survive another semester of 6th grade.

We enjoyed Christmas Eve with a service at the church followed by dinner and stories at the Dolby house. The next morning Claire and I got up and opened present we had gotten for each other before heading over to her parents house for the rest of the day. In the afternoon Joel and Laura came over along with Claire's Gramps and Granny and we all celebrated together. The next day Claire and I again headed north to Angola where we enjoyed a few days with my family. Now as we bring in another new year we are getting ready for a whole new adventure but that story will have to wait for next time. Stay turned.

Halloween

Halloween makes the first official celebrated holiday that we missed last year being in the Dominican and we were really excited to get to do all the fun things that go along with it. We started the celebrations by carving pumpkins. I decided to go with something a little different this year so I carved the logo to Exodus church. It turned out pretty well and when we took it to church with us last weekend everyone got a kick out of it. Claire also decided to change it up from the traditional Jack O Lantern and went with a scarecrow. It also turned out really well. The other group of pumpkins that are pictured were carved by our neighbors. For those of you that don't recognize them they are the four main characters from the TV show The Office. Claire and I thought that they were really funny so we took the picture.

On Halloween Claire and I dressed up and headed over to a friends place for a small party. We went as a tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush. It has always been a dream of Claire's to go as toothpaste. It was a good time. A couple other costumes pictured are Mr. Clean, Rosie the Riviter, and Mother Nature. It was nice to get back to some normal holiday traditions. Up next, Thanksgiving, and we are really looking forward to that.

Joe and Narissa's Wedding

Well this post is a little overdue but late is better than ever. The weekend of October 20 my brother got married. Claire and I drove up on Friday to help mom set up for the rehearsal dinner. Everything went very well at the rehearsal and we all left feeling like we were ready. At the dinner that night we all enjoyed pizza, ice cream, and a couple fun stories about the bride and groom.
That night Hank, another of Joe's groomsmen, and I headed back to Joe's place while Claire stayed at my parents house. We stayed up talking and watching a movie. It was early the next morning that we woke up and made a trip out to pick up the hog for the reception. Then it was back to the house to clean up and get ready for the wedding.
Pictures were first. We started the wedding by getting all the photos of the family and wedding party out of the way. With the exception of a few squirrely kids everything got finished up and some pretty good pictures should be on there way. Then it was time to get hitched.

Dad and another pastor that Narissa and Joe grew up with helped perform the ceremony. It was a nice ceremony. It was up to me, as the best man, to hold onto the ring. I think I did a good job. I couldn't let that responsibility pass by without a little fun. So I held a penny in one hand and the ring in the other. When it was time to hand the ring to the pastor I pretended to reach into my pocket and when I pulled my hand out I dropped the penny on the hardwood floor. It made a loud clanking sound and a few people gasped. Then I opened my other hand where I had the rings. Joe and Narissa thought it was funny and everyone else got a good kick out of it.
Afterward we all headed to the reception for some delicious pulled pork, cake, and dancing. It was a lot of fun. The toast went great and yes that is a picture of me handing Narissa a BB gun. I told the story about how one day when Joe and I were younger mom and dad left us alone for the day. I took it upon myself as the big brother to watch over Joe. So I held him hostage on the couch with the BB gun. Then I explained that as of that day Narissa was now there to help shoulder the burden. The cake that is pictured was not the official wedding cake. This was the grooms cake. My mom made it to commemorate the first time Joe and Narissa met. It all boiled back to a girl who wanted a ride in the cool Jeep in the parking lot. Then we danced before all calling it a night. Congrats Joe and Narissa on the big day and Narissa welcome to the family.

A Day At The Park

On Saturday Claire and I decided to go for a walk in a nearby park, Karts Farm Park. It is a popular disc golf spot here in Bloomington but is best known for its soccer fields. I would guess that there are close 10 fields in all. It is about a mile from our place and each Saturday it is loaded down with kids off all ages playing soccer. We decided to take the tail less traveled. Along our way we came to a patch of area that was covered with flowers. We took our time walking through, looking, smelling, and taking pictures. Here are a few pictures that I took while we were there.

It was a very nice fall day to be outside. We are both loving the cooler weather. We both remember last year not getting to experience a fall season or any of the fall treats that come along with it. That must be why we have been to the local orchard twice already this year, have gone through a few gallons of apple cider, countless bushels of apples, a couple pumpkin pies, a few batches of applesauce, and tried a couple different recipes involving acorn squash. What can I say, just making up for lost times. We have also recently discovered our winter wardrobe again. After wearing our summer gear for about two years now, it is nice to put on a light jacket or a sweater and mix it up a little.

A Visit to Chicago and A Tribute

We've been busy, obviously, and our lives are simply not as interesting as they were last year in the DR; however, we are really enjoying our non-interesting, stable, convenient, and fairly predictable lives.

A few weekends ago, we took a trip up to Chicago to visit my (Claire) Grandpa Verch and his wife Jan. My mom's side of the family all resides in Chicago, so we made a few other stops, too.
We really enjoyed spending time with Grandpa - we don't get to

spend much time with him because of the distance, so we tried to pack in as much quality time as possible. We played a few games, went to a park, relaxed at home, and went out to eat while we were there, and it was so nice to just talk and catch up. Of course, we talked about our experience last year, but Grandpa and Jan already knew a whole lot about what we did since they're avid blog-readers.

While we were there, we also went to visit Aunt Irma, who is 103
and just as spunky as she was at 25 - or maybe moreso. In fact, while we were sitting with her in her room, she brought up politics, which is always a dangerous subject, and in the course of the conversation, she said that she doesn't vote anymore, and when asked why, she said, "Well, I stopped voting when I was 100," like that was the most natural explanation possible. We got a kick out of that for a long time after we left.

As for other news in our lives, we're getting more and more involved in our church, which is so great since last year we were pretty much churchless. That was one of the biggest holes in our lives, and now it's filled and wonderful. We're also really enjoying hanging out with friends, new and old. I (Claire) am still working at the office in Human Resources which has proved to be an experience I will never forget, but one thing that has made the schedule a little more enjoyable for me is that I've begun walking to work on a daily basis. It's two miles one way, and the quiet time in the morning is one of my favorite times of the day. On the way home, I have the chance to de-stress from the day and wind down in a healthy and constructive way before I get home to enjoy my evening. Life is good.

A Tribute
Last week, our family friend Galen Dolby passed away. He was an incredible man who lived life with passion and purpose all the way down to the last day. He passed away at home with his wife and two daughters nearby. Galen was my dad's best friend for 35 years, and his family has been practically like family to us ever since I can remember. We will really miss him, but we know where he is, and we'll see him again soon. If you are a praying person, please pray for his wife Laura, and his children, Liz, Adrianne, and Ike as they try to adjust to living life without Galen.