November

We have had some visitors since our last update. My parents came up for 4 days or so a couple weeks ago and Justin, Lydia, Isaac, and Stacy were here last weekend. It has been a lot of fun, but very busy.

The week that my parents were here was really busy before they got here. I think starting Tuesday morning, CaryAnne and I had pretty much no down time, due to work, drum lessons, Growth Group, and a recording session (not to mention preparing our apartment for company). They flew in Thursday evening. I had rehearsal that night, but CaryAnne got to hang with them while I was gone. She worked Friday so I took them around our area and showed them a few different places -- where I work, the church, and of course a couple bike shops for Daddy. We ate at Crazy Fire Mongolian Grill that night and went and saw the Hollises and Britts.

Saturday we did some shopping at a few different places. CaryAnne cooked sausage dogs for supper and Meghan and Judah came over. Then we watched the newest Harry Potter movie that Mama bought from Best Buy earlier that day. Sunday we had church, CaryAnne cooked chicken spaghetti, got Meghan to take some pictures of us for Christmas cards, did a little more shopping and ate some Mexican food. They flew home Monday. We had a great time with them and it was really nice to see them. We wish they could've stayed longer, but hopefully it won't be long before they're (and you're) back up this way.

The next weekend, Justin, Lydia, Isaac, and Stacy drove up to spend a few days. It was good to hang out with them. We got to introduce them to a lot of the IDC people and went over to the Meridas' house to sit in on a meeting with some of the interns going through the Aspire program.

We also played disc golf, sorta. I don't like playing, so I almost never go with them when they play. Since Justin was in town, though, I decided to go and walk with them. On the third hole (I think; things get a little fuzzy from here out), Michael threw a bad shot, picked up a stick, and hit a pole with it. Somehow, when the stick broke, part of it flew toward me and hit me in my head. It hurt a little, then I touched where it hit and realized part of the stick was stuck in my eyebrow. I pulled at it a little and it didn't move, then Justin came over and pulled it out. Michael took me home to CaryAnne and Alex and they took care of me from there. All week I've had a big band-aid on my eye -- thanks, Michael!

For Thanksgiving, anybody from IDC that wasn't going out of town was invited to the Meridas' house to eat lunch. There ended up being probably 25-30 people there. We ate lunch, watched football, and played basketball (until there was a knee injury) all afternoon. For supper, CaryAnne and I ate with our neighbors. I actually didn't eat because I was so full, but it was fun to hang out with them for a while.

We went Black Friday shopping again this year. It wasn't nearly as bad this time, though. Last year, we got up at like 3; this year we didn't get up until 5(ish). We didn't really have anything we needed this year, so we decided to just go see what we could find. There were several good deals, but we only got a few things. We went to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast and were able to get a free chicken biscuit because they were giving them out if you brought in a receipt from Black Friday. It was a nice surprise.

It has been a nice, relaxing weekend and we're looking forward to worshipping with our IDC family tomorrow.

We miss you all. Come visit us.

"Christ lived the life we couldn't live, and He died the death we should have died."