Warm Weather

Here are the signs of Spring 2010. The daffodils are close to blooming!
Unfortunately, it also means flooding around here. These next two photos show the James River several times wider than normal. It causes lots of road closures as the waters rise over the bridges and roadways. The 2nd photo shows trees that are surrounded by water.


The weather has been in the mid-70's lately and we have gotten out in shorts and flip-flops. Here were our accomplishments yesterday: worked till 4:20 pm; cleaned the basement as we were getting a "new-to-us" washer; swept the garage (it was a mess!); Andrew and I washed BOTH cars which were filthy; started 3 potted plants; planted one plant out in the yard; Andrew spent 2 hours with our neighbor moving and installing said washer; and several other less interesting tasks. Wow. All in shorts and flip flops :).

Now about the washer blessing! We were already blessed to have a washer and dryer in the home we purchased. Upon closer inspection, the whole top of our washer was rusted off. Our generous neighbor called asking if we wanted their old washer. We said yes if you can't find someone else who needs it more than we do! They like matching pairs and their dryer had gone down and they had bought a brand new pair. The washer they gave us was decades newer. Thank you Lord!!! What a blessing.

Weekend Adventures

I thought you all might like a peek in to part of our ministry here:
Andrew and I went to Pierre this weekend. I was pretty sick (cold and/or flu) but really didn't want to stay home and be sick all weekend alone, as we had plans to be leaders for our church high schoolers at Youth Rally. They treated us like royalty! We got a suite room with a whirl pool tub and a king size bed (Coming from a Full-size bed that was AMAZING :). Here are some pictures of our time with the youth:These inflatable games were a hit this year. I helped run two of the events for an hour and a half.This picture is of Andrew participating in the silliness that is high school :). We had a nice weekend really getting to know the high schoolers better.

Precious Little Crandall

We went in for the first ultrasound today. Baby Crandall is measuring 11 weeks 6 days. Heart beat is 150 bpm. (That is a good thing!) Almost from the beginning of the appointment, the little one waved it's arm and then started wiggling and bouncing. It was AMAZING. He/she even rolled over a few times. It didn't seem to like being poked or prodded. We could see the heart beating the entire time and hear it for a few minutes. We could see each finger and toe from time to time. The hospital gave us 6 photos.
There doesn't seem to be any concern about the baby at this point. In this next photo, however, you can see a lump left of the baby. They are a little concerned that that could be a large fibroid (which I have been checked for before) or cyst or something. Please pray about that. I hope these pictures are a nice glimpse in to our joy as we live so far from you all!

Post Valentine's Church Dinner

The Church Youth Group (and leaders) put on a Post-Valentine's Dinner at church to raise money for upcoming youth events. It was a pretty nice night of lasagna/chicken alfredo dinner, a bit of ballroom dancing, live music (thanks to a few church members and their fun band!) and fellowship.

Here are the high schoolers and leaders responsible for the fun night!
The church was really nicely decorated. It was a fun, and tiring, night. And... it was the first time someone noticed we are expecting. I guess because I am thin my belly kind of popped.

So about that family photo...

A few weeks ago, Alissa let me know about a very special birthday present this year! We've been restraining ourselves from sharing the news, but here goes. Baby is due to arrive in September! We know you've been praying and we appreciate it. We covet your further prayers (hey, at least we're not targeting your manservants!) for Baby and Alissa that both will be healthy in the months ahead.

California Christmas

Andrew and I had a great time in California. We celebrated a late Christmas with my family (Mom, dad, brother Stephen and great Aunt Bea). We went to the beach, went to the LA Zoo, hiked in the hills, hiked to some redwoods, and just generally enjoyed the 70+ degree weather (while back in SD it was -30!!!).





Here is my favorite shot at the zoo.
We celebrated Andrew's birthday while we were in California.
It was a great time enjoying family and getting a break from the winter weather!

White Christmas

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends! This photo of us was taken over Thanksgiving when we were in Iowa. A few days ago we drove around to look at Christmas lights. I found a few amusing things. Can you figure out what is wrong?
I think these people need to move to California! In fact, the whole street of houses had fake light up palm trees in there yards. It made us thankful to be on "Christmas Card Lane" instead of "Palm Tree Lane". What had that got to do with the holidays?
I made Andrew back up to do a double take on this house. What is up with these upside down trees? As if I need more of a reason for my cat to climb the tree :).
And this house just had a LOT of lights. I know you like lights, David, but I think they have you beat.
Lucy is discovering her stocking. She just loves these little feather toys.


And of course she couldn't resist diving in to the pile of paper. Now on to the massive weather we've been having. This drift goes half way up the three-seasons room and it is like this on several sides of the house!
This is the neighbor across the street. I didn't know snow could drift on the roof like that!
I hope you all had a very merry Christmas. We went over to our neighbor's next door and basically waded through the snow and the wind was gusting up to 50 mph. We are still getting snow as I write this and we are expected to get even more tomorrow.