Like this:

I know that this might be a little cheesy, or even a little bit outdated, but I thought since it had been such a long time since we posted about anything that happened in 2010, it would be a good (and shorter) way to get you all caught up on our lives.

So here it goes…in no particular order:

1. The arrival of so many babies!  We haven’t had an opportunity to meet all of these babies in person yet, but they are all very special and we are super excited to be connected to their parents!  So welcome to the world (in order of their birth):

Tanner Joseph Snow (parents: Abby & Aaron Snow)

Reilly Grace Madill (parents: Aaron & Alison Madill)

Deliliah Jae Reese (parents:  Alicia & Jeff Reese)

Carter Elijah Griggs (parents:  Jenny Beth Charboneau & Garrett Griggs)

Thomas Alan Fuerst (parents: Thom & Cassie Fuerst)

 

Collin James House (parents: Corrie & Rusty House)

Ada Nouwen Malloy (parents: Jake & Tiff Malloy)

And there are many more that I haven’t mentioned!

2. Job “promotions”:  JR. and I both got “promotions” of sorts this year.  I am now officially the Operations Manager at the Bridge Cafe.  This basically means that I am in charge of everything that is business-related at the cafe (scheduling employees, training, inventory, turning in moneys, etc.) but also goes hand-in-hand with the ministry aspect of the cafe.  Since I am there all the time, that provides me with chances to build relationships with the students.  It has been a really fun and interesting transition and has challenged me to be more conflict-oriented and organized!  JR. has been the interim EPIC pastor since Jason left in June.  They have extended that interim time indefinitely and he has been able to not only preach more often, he is in charge of the communications team (everyone that preaches as well as plans sermons/series/etc.), is leading bible studies on Wednesday nights, as well as many other responsibilities.  He loves what he is doing and is excited to go into work everyday.  You can tell how alive it makes him feel. 

3. The celebration our our first year of marriage at the LoveBug cabin:  As a token of their appreciation for all the hard work JR. does, BCN gave us a weekend to celebrate our anniversary in Hocking Hills (near Athens).   We stayed in the LoveBug Cabin #5 (I know, precious, right?) and had an opportunity to relax, explore some awesome caves, and get to cook some delicious food.  We are really trying to learn what it means to protect our time and spend quality time together, as well as what it means to rest.  We haven’t figured it out completely but are getting there. 

4. Traveling opportunities:  This past year, both JR. and I were able to take (separately, unfortunately) trips of a lifetime!  As many of you know, I am a Spanish speaker and that was my major in college.  Our church takes two international mission trips a year: one to Benin, Africa, and the other to San Pedro Sula, Honduras.  I not only was able to go to Honduras during the summer for 10 days working in a couple of local orphanages, but I also led a team of 11 people (mostly college-age) down there in December during Wright State’s Christmas break!  It was such a cool opportunity…not only to be able to serve, speak a language I love, but also to grow as separate teams and share about the different struggles of this broken world. 

JR. had a different experience altogether.  He traveled to Israel, Egypt, and Italy in a 2 1/2 week journey to celebrate his 30th birthday with a good friend of his from Columbia, Thomas.  He spent a lot of time walking the same paths that Jesus did and getting to see and experience things that take your breath away.  You should read about all of his experiences here on his blog.  Surprisingly, he and I were able to stay in pretty good contact because of technology such as skype, free texting, and so many places over there being connected via wifi.  I told him that he was allowed to go on this trip if he promised that he would take me at some point in the future and be my tour guide.  He would love to plan another trip over there with people that would appreciate it for what it is.

5. Visitors:  We were fortunate enough to have so many different visitors to our super crappy apartment (Ghettorun) in Fairborn as well as our new (much more livable) duplex in Beavercreek.  I am sure that we had at least one set of visitors every month (and sometimes multiple even in the same weekends).  We are so grateful for our communities that have been spread out all over the country that are willing to take some time out to come and see us.  We feel so torn every time we go back to Missouri because there are lots of different people to see and not enough hours in the day to visit all of them.  So thanks, guys, and we hope you like Dayton!  We love it here. 

6. weddings, weddings, and more weddings!  Though weddings have become a regular part of our lives over the past several years (I guess we are in that stage of life…as well as having kids, hence the first part of our post) but we are so excited to be a part of so many and get to share in those experiences.  So here are a few weddings we attended in 2010:

David & Cait Kissinger                               Jordin & Jenna Kear

            

Candace & Vladimir Vasquez                           Adriene & Bryce Malloy

                    

Jessica & Lee Lagomarcino          and…just a fun one of JR&me at the Kear Wedding

                   

7.  Hanging out in Mound City:  Though this may seem unfortunate to many, I feel as though I got to know JR.’s family a lot better by going out to Mound City, Kansas in March. His grandfather (mom’s dad) had terminal lung cancer and before we knew it, his health was deteriorating rapidly.  We decided to fly out for a few days and got to spend a few days with John before he passed away.  Thankfully, JR.’s sister Corrie is a nurse (and JR.’s mom used to be) and had been spending some time there updating us on how things were going with him.  We got to relax, see the town, play cards, and I got to hear stories about the old farm.  It was wonderful.  A few weeks later, we got the phone call that John had passed away in the middle of the night.  Though no timing is good timing, the funeral and services happened to be during the week that the cafe was closed for Spring break so we didn’t really have to take time off.  Again, though it wasn’t an ideal situation, it was really nice to get to spend time with the whole family again.  That is when we found out that Corrie and Rusty were pregnant and Alison and Aaron would be expecting Reilly in a few more months.  So that was exciting to be a part of that experience.  And though JR.’s grandma Helen has been mourning and working through the process, she was actually able to go with me to Honduras in December.  She is my hero.  She is 83 years old and is one of the strongest people I have ever met.  She is adventurous, thoughtful, and generous.

8. The start of my 3/4 sleeve:  It was started this year, but will not be finished for at least another couple of sessions.  I vowed to JR. in our wedding vows that I would get at least a half-sleeve tattoo at some point during our marriage, and I thought that this would be a good time to start. I had been thinking about the particular tattoo I wanted for over a year.  I decided to get a pictorial representation of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.  That particular chunk of Scripture, to me, is one of the most challenging pieces of literature that exists.  It is very applicable to life…so I love it.  I committed to memorizing it (since it was going to be on my body I figured that I should probably have a good idea of what it says) and hope to one day conquer it in Spanish also.  So here is a little taste of what my arm is starting to look like:

9. Hope for Haiti Benefit Concert:  This was by far one of my favorite events of 2010.  Of course the disaster that hit Haiti was sad and unfortunate, but we pulled  together an awesome event to raise money for Hope International…a microloan and microfinance organization.  We had WSU students and local talent come out to do a variety show and set out donation buckets.  We raised over $400 and had somewhere  around 100 people show up to the event.  It was the most crowded it has ever been and was so fun to be a part of.

10. the Bridge Cafe remodel:  Last thing.  Finally.  And how appropriate is it that this is one of the first things that happened at the beginning of 2010.  We repainted, remodeled the Cafe, and last year when we first moved to Dayton the church had just leased the other half of the top level of the building where the cafe is located.  So…we were able to be about 3 times the size it was previously.  We could fit so much more seating and had a TON more storage so we didn’t have to go to the store every single day.  It is by far one of the best things the cafe has done and because of that, our business has been increasing ever since this happened. 

Okay…thanks for putting up with this most recent post.  I know I am out of practice for writing so hopefully it will only get better.  Please let me know if you need better clarification on any of the pictures.  And please come to visit so we can show you all of these things even better!                       

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