random holiday photos

porter and penny!

seeing emmylou again!

gabbie reading the christmas story

bleh.

we let him watch tv all morning...

it has been a rough week.  i have been sick all week, my motivation zapped.  i felt like i was unable to do anything of value.  john porter was in rare form (his number of teeth has almost tripled this week), so he was extremely fussy, making meal times a serious battle, usually ending in tears (not from him...). 

john has been completely consumed by his finals, which required all of his attention. 

i heard sad news from a close friend. 

i couldn't stop watching the news about the school shooting.  i feel coldly reminded of the darkness of this world. 

then last night, john porter had a really high fever.  he slept terribly.  but he does seem to be doing a little better today.

the week felt really long and laborious.  but we made it.  john is done with his finals.  (he did it! he did such a great job...i mean really.  a really great job. im so proud of him)  we will be coming back home soon.  we do have so much to be thankful for. 

most of all thankful for Jesus.  light in the darkness.

one semester down (almost), three to go.

its hard to believe john's first semester is already coming to a close.  its gone really well.  we have gotten used to the area, and i think we have found that we actually enjoy being here.  i have come to a peace about this home, our church here, and my little "things" im invested in each day.  the Lord has been so kind to us.  i went to my last asl club meeting of the semester.  i had a really nice talk with shelby.  there is a good possibility of me helping her next semester with the club!  i may take over the beginners class!  i am really excited about that.

if you want to know what john has been doing for the last 3 months, here it is:

i asked him if he would write a few sentences about his semester...

Well, I have had a full and stimulating semester in which I was given much opportunity to put competing viewpoints in juxtaposition of each other and analyze there commonalities while still defragmenting their…sorry, I zoned out and thought I was writing another assignment for one of my classes. Actually, that is what I spent most of my time doing, and its enabled me to knock the rust off my writing skills. That’s a good thing because I’m going to be writing for the next 5-6 years of my life, if not longer. I also enjoyed teaching two lab classes and helping in another two. Morehead has been a very nice place to live and it is starting to feel like home (is that ok to say?) I am looking forward to the break though. 
 

hometown holiday

on saturday night we checked out morehead's "hometown holiday" night.  it was really nice.  all of mainstreet was lit up and there were lots of people out.  morehead definitely has that 'small town' feel to it.

meeting santa for the first time...porter was not so sure...

it's christmas time at lowes

here are a few shots from our recent trip to lowes.  christmas is in the air, and we love it.  this year will be a lot more exciting for john porter than last year.  we love getting to show him christmas things.  he loved looking at all the obnoxious flashing lights and blow up snowmen.

home

we were surprisingly happy be back on kentucky ground.  it was so fun to go back home to lancaster and see people we love.  but it feels good to get to back to our own space.  life is so quiet and peaceful here (for the most part).  john porter was thrilled to see his old toys.  he scurried around the house for an hour, crawling from spot to spot, squeeling, "window! i missed you window!  room! i missed you room! carpet! i missed you carpet!"...at least thats what it sounded like.

lancaster still feels like home.  but im so thankful our home here feels warm to us.  but most of all, and to quote our wedding song, (SO cheesy, i know...) "home is wherever im with you".

thanksgiving break photos

back in our homeland

we made it to lancaster safety.  porter and i arrived tuesday evening.  the trip actually went surprisingly well.   i was expecting porter to have a really hard time sitting in the car seat for 9+ hours, but he only fussed for the last half hour. it was great.  we made really good time and had no complications.

i think that i would have had a flat tire, but God sent two angel men to help me!  at a rest stop the first angel man knocked on my window and told me that my one tire looked really flat and that i should get air into it as soon as i could.  i felt a little worried because i have only put air in my tires once, and it was a long time ago.  i stopped at the first gas station i found.  i spent 5 minutes looking at the air thing trying to figure out where the gauge was...i was starting to worry that i was never going to figure it out...i looked up a i saw an older man in his back woods attire getting out of his big ol' pick up truck (enter angel man #2).  he was so nice.  he put air in all of my tires for me.  it was such a blessing.  the Lord was providing for me the whole way home.

it has been nice to be home again.  there have been more people to see, errands to run, and things to do than i was anticipating.  but it has been good.  john is coming home from his robot competition in nashville today!  it will be so nice to be together again!  he has to do school work monday-wednesday but at least he will be here.  looking forward to a full week of breathing lancaster air again.  

john porter has loved getting to play with his uncle cj and poppy... i found that little wooden work table at bargain room for  $.75 this week!  (love lancaster deals!!!)

saint louis!

i had a really great weekend with my old roomies... it was so cool to be in st. louis.  its a really cool city.  we did a bunch of fun things, but the best by far was going to the city museum...it was unlike any museum i have ever seen.  we spent hours crawling through tunnels, sliding down slides (one that was 10 stories high!), navigating through caverns in the dark, and swinging on ropes.  it was amazing.

i was so excited to see the arch!  this was the best photo i could get while driving

inside the city museum

this is a shot of the outdoor area, taken from the rooftop. (notice the ball pits!)

inside the bus, which hangs over the edge of the 10th story!

crawling up the steep tunnel on top of the roof

there are tunnels all through this whale, we exited under the mouth in that shadowy area!

the tree house area...so cool

a circus...yes, this place even has a circus inside it!

there is even educational sciency stuff at the city museum!

this slide was actually really scary

outside play area..pretty much everything you see could be climbed in or on.

 as you can see this place was crazy...i actually can't believe its real!  if you ever go to st. louis, this is must see.

on sunday we went to see bridget's studio.  of course is was amazing.  it was fun to see some of her current projects.  she is almost done getting her masters!  so proud of her.

our thanksgiving plans

well there is really nothing new to report from our little home.  we are getting ready for the next couple of weeks which will be busy.  this weekend i am driving to st. louis to visit my old roommates!  i am really excited.  it will be so good to: a-get away for a weekend, b-have a break from porter, and c-be with some of my best friends.  i am a little anxious about leaving porter for the whole weekend (mostly because he is not comfortable with only taking a bottle).  but im sure he will survive.

i will get back from st. louis on sunday, and then will be leaving on tuesday (the 13th) for lancaster!!! yay!  unfortunately john has a robot competition to go to in nashville, so i will be driving back by myself with porter.  if you think of us you can pray that porter does well in the car all day.  it will be difficult not having someone to sit in the back with him...

john will be coming back to lancaster on the sunday before thanksgiving.  we are both really looking forward to some time at home with our families!

here is a photo of our visit with john last week

grandma- this photo is for you!!! that is the marble roller grandpa made for me when i was a kid!