Our January…

*Lots of adoption paperwork/appointments

*Derek working as a garret fellow for Dr. Millard Erickson over a January term course

*Getting hit by a car while stopped at a red light…dealing with the other driver’s insurance…now on our second rental car…waiting for our car to be fully repaired

*Colton’s first Louisville snow sighting

*Celebrating Ethiopian Christmas with my first attempt at an authentic Ethiopian meal

*Taking Colton swimming for the first time

First look at Louisville snow...well, this day it really only amounted to flurries. But, it really did snow later in the month.

We've been playing a lot of basketball lately!

Our meal for Ethiopian Christmas, I made injera, miser wat and doro wat.

Part of our morning ritual

More snow!

Hooray!

Derek always gives Colton his baths

On our way to play outside (an unusual activity for January in Louisville)

Colton's first time swimming at the seminary pool

We are loving the cuteness of the blanket sleeper pjs!

California Baby Shower for Colton

Last Friday, I flew out to California for a baby shower in Colton’s honor!  What a blessing it was to have friends and family throw a beautiful celebration for this precious baby who, Lord-willing, will soon become our son.  I felt so loved by the many hands who contributed! I got to see many people who are dear to me from my childhood, my family, and our church throughout the weekend.  Derek, unfortunately, could not come with me.  He spent the extended weekend cleaning windows, working on papers, helping pull off a surprise party for a friend, and surprised me by putting together the crib and dresser in Colton’s room while I was away.

Some great pictures from this weekend I could not include because there were pictures of Colton in the background.   Due to the confidentiality of our adoption we cannot post any pictures of him online until he legally becomes our son after we pass court.  Here is the link to an album of pictures I could include.

P.S. We still have yet to hear news of when our court date in Ethiopia will be.  We are praying for early June as it is looking like that is  when it could be, at the earliest.

Pictureless Post

This past month our life has consisted of the weekly and daily regular activities.  We have been busy with the normality of life, hence the reason for lack in posts.  Here is what we have been up to the last month…

DEREK:

-Persevering through his 11 units of seminary work and loving every minute of it.

- Doing 2-3 jobs a week cleaning windows along with estimates and paperwork

- Working 3 shifts a week at California Pizza Kitchen

-Director of our Sunday School class which  included a last minute, unexpected teaching opportunity

-Serving in our church’s Men’s Ministry which included running the annual bonfire (also a last minute, unexpected responsibility)

-Last week he played drums in the worship band on Sunday night, which he loved.

AMY:

-Substitute teaching 3 days per week

-Taking a Seminary Wives Institute class at the seminary on Thursday nights

-Playing volleyball in a local women’s league on Monday nights

-Singing in the church choir

- Doing all my “wifie” activities of meal planning, cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc.

TOGETHER:

- We work in the one-year olds room in the nursery at church every Wednesday night

-About once a month, we visit a man in our church who is homebound and will turn 95 in December.

-We enjoy our Friday night pizza tradition and sometimes a movie along with it or we have friends over instead.

-We never miss watching “The Biggest Loser” each week, although sometimes we have to tape it and watch it later.

-We also enjoy our Sunday night tradition of making nachos when we get home from church and watching “The Amazing Race”

100th Post and halfway there…

This week marks the half-way point of Derek’s most challenging and busiest semester yet.  Derek is taking 11 graduate units at the seminary while also working two part time jobs.  He is involved in four regular ministries at our church, two of which he is in leadership.  He has definitely earned his Fall Break this week!

The following picture is of the books he has been assigned to read this semester.  He has already read 11 of them and has 8 more to go.  Not to mention all the tests and papers he has in addition to this unbelievable amount of reading.    He is still loving seminary and enjoys all of his reading; it is hard to believe he will be finished with his MDiv degree this coming May.

The following are some pictures from the BBQ Derek organized for our Church Fellowship Class this past Sunday afternoon:

Derek (the class' director) and Russ (the class' teacher)

16 families were able to come for the event

We were thankful for the beautiful Fall weather so we could BBQ outside at the park

Amy turns 27!

Yesterday, August 17th was my 27th birthday! Here is how we celebrated: With my birthday falling on a Sunday this year we decided to do most of the celebrating on Saturday. The two of us spent the day exploring Cave City, KY home of the Mammoth Cave National Park. Mammoth Cave is the longest underground cave system in the world with more than 365 miles of explored passages. People have been coming to tour this cave for nearly 150 years even though it has only been a national park for the last 65 years.

We toured the cave system, took a ride on an alpine slide, went hiking and enjoyed another historic tour about Floyd Collins, a caving man who put Mammoth Caves on the map. On Sunday after church we drove downtown to have lunch at the historic Brown Hotel built in 1923. We went to try their famous “Hot Brown” dish. The Hot Brown is a Louisville tradition invented when the hotel would host 1200 guests each evening for its dinner dance. In the early morning hours when the guests would grow tired of dancing and request something to eat the chef began preparing this dish to satisfy their hunger.

It was an eventful and fun 27th birthday! If you would like to see more pictures you can take a look at this web album.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Last Friday night we went with a group of people from the seminary to a Louisville Bats baseball game. The Bats are the AAA professional baseball team in town. It was fun seeing Louisville Slugger Field and we got there in time to receive a free baseball cap. The field reminded me of the SF Giants stadium in its design.  Just like how the outfield of the Giants stadium goes out toward to SF Bay, the outfield of Slugger field goes out to the water of the Ohio River, but we didn’t see any ball hungry fans in kayaks or life boats.

Here we are with our free red hats!

Louisville Slugger Field

Even with the help of Derek’s rally hat the Bats couldn’t pull out a win.

Louisville Arena Football

Last night Derek and I went to a professional arena football game here in Louisville.  Derek’s friend Brian had some tickets, so we went with him and his wife.  It was a close game between the Louisville Fire and Green Bay Blizzard.  Indoor Arena football definitely has a different feel to it than outdoor stadium football.  Derek and Brian both concluded they prefer the latter…by far! )

Our seats were right on the center 25 yard line.

The First Saturday in May is Derby Day

Here in Louisville it has been Derby, Derby, Derby for the past three weeks. During the two weeks of the Kentucky Derby Festival leading up to the big race there are multiple events happening in the city every day: concerts, fireworks, parades, and all sorts of silly races. One weekend is all about the hot air balloon races. We were able to attend the famous balloon glow where they show off all the balloons at night and do a choreographed routine where they light up the balloons to music. We also went to Dawn at the Downs where they open the track in the early morning to let fans in to watch the horses train.

On Derby Day we went to a brunch hosted by our apartment complex, then later that evening we watched the race at one of our neighbors’ apartments and ate some derby pie. Derek predicted Big Brown to win, Colonel John to place, and Pyro to show. I predicted Colonel John to win, Big Brown to place, and Eight Belles to show. The race ended up with Big Brown winning by a landslide and Eight Belles finishing second. We were excited about Big Brown’s win, but were saddened by the news of Eight Belles having to be euthanized on the track due to compact fractures in both of her front ankles. She was the only filly in the race that day and the only horse ever to be euthenized on the track on Derby Day. We are enjoying all that we are learning about horses and racing while living in Louisville.

This week is finals for Derek and he is looking forward to a break from classes over the summer. In our web album of pictures from Derby I have included some pictures of other events etc. that have been happening for us.

This weekend we are traveling to Columbus, OH to visit our friends Joel and Jessica. We will be sure to post some pictures upon our return.

A Weekend Apart

This weekend Derek stayed in Louisville while I flew to California for the weekend. The reason for my visit was to surprise my friend, Michaela, for her baby shower. I stayed with my parents and my mom was hosting the shower, so I got to help her get the house ready for the event. It was fun surprising Michaela and seeing many friends I had not seen since Thanksgiving.  It ended up that another one of my friend’s had a baby shower this same weekend, so I got to go to her shower, too.

With my friend Michaela

The beautiful table all set and ready for the guests to arrive!

Back in Louisville, Derek had work and studying to do. One of his childhood friends was unexpectedly driving through town, so Derek got to have lunch with him Sunday afternoon.

The Derby is scheduled for May 3rd and everyone is gearing up for the big event here in Louisville.  We are not planning on attending the actual race as it is impossible to get tickets, but we are hoping to be a part of some of the many events around town in the next two weeks.

We are true fans!

Every Sunday night at 8pm we sit down to watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition on ABC. We have had this tradition for the past year and a half. Each week we are touched by the difficult story of the families the show helps; the best part is seeing the families reactions after they say, “Move that bus!”

If you watch the show, you know that they have been traveling around the U.S. and building a house in each state. This week they are in Kentucky! And not just Kentucky, but Louisville! The big reveal is tomorrow afternoon and the show is supposed to air in February.

Well, why are we big fans? On Saturday, we went to see the site where they are building. We parked at an old movie theater, stood in line, and then rode a shuttle bus to the site. Unfortunately most of the design team was offsite, so we did not see anyone “famous”. While we were there they were putting on the roof and it was scheduled to be finished later that night.

Here is the line for the shuttle bus.

We arrived at the construction site!

 

We really were there! )