Tidbits

Well, we are now less than one month from the wedding day! As you might guess, wedding plans and preparations are the most consuming topic at our home right now. Last Saturday our church hosted a lovely shower for Josh and Abbey. I don't have many pictures from the day, so you'll just have to trust me that the ladies who hosted it put a lot of work and love into making the place beautiful, the food delicious, and our time together delightful! This weekend there are two more bridal showers for Abbey, and then next Saturday is yet another! It's a most wonderful thing to watch as God continues to knit Josh and Abbey together and we all are eagerly looking forward to the Big Day!

(Caroline and Maggie - two of the cute flower girls!)

In other news...
**It is 15 degrees below zero as I sit here typing this. Yeah, kind of chilly. But we've been having mostly sub-zero weather for about a week now. Interestingly, the first week of January was near zero, the second near 70, the third (and now fourth) back near (or below) zero. Oh, and then by this weekend we're supposed to be back up near 40 degrees with rain. It certainly is no wonder we that had tornadoes - or that the populace seems to have been swept with the plague around here. It did actually warm up enough to snow a couple of days ago, and I guess closer to The Lake there is supposed to be a bunch more snow today (BTW, "The Lake" is Lake Michigan as surely as "The City" is Chicago - for those of you who aren't from the area).


(For any of you southern folk who haven't seen temperatures that low, I thought I'd stick this photo in so you can know what it looks like. 'Course I didn't think of taking the picture until it was up to only 10 below, so just imagine that little blue line a little lower... Oh, it also looks like this.)




**Unsurprisingly, the wedding isn't the only project we're working on these days. Liberty Day is coming up quickly on the heels of the wedding, and that info has to get out ASAP. Last week we drove down to Medinah Baptist Church and think you all will find it a very comfortable facility for this year's conference and celebration. If you haven't already checked out the Liberty Day site, you might want to do that and note that the day to save is March 29. Hopefully, we'll have it updated with some more of the interesting details soon. We're just waiting to get a couple of emails/phone calls returned. We are excited to have Dr. Marshall Foster as our guest speaker this year, and also to be welcoming The Fiddler's Three from South Dakota to help educate and entertain us! It should be - once again - a full and fun day and evening! Hope to see you there!

**Hmmm. Dare I bring up politics? Well, let's just say that despite the presidential primary coming up in just a couple of weeks, you'd never guess this was a big election year around here. Yard signs for any presidential candidate are virtually non-existent, and I haven't seen any at all for the two main democratic candidates, both of whom hail from our great state. There are plenty of political signs out, though. There are lots of signs for our local rep (who is running unopposed), and there seems to be a hot race for State's Attorney and County Board. But then, Chicago is the only city that matters when it comes to national elections, so I guess we just don't get much electioneering out here. Win The City and you've got the state. "It's a simple matter of mathematics," as Nat Bowditch would say.

**I don't know that there's much else to report on. The wedding, Liberty Day, and staying warm and healthy are our top priorities around here. Other than that, it's just normal life going on - school, church, the never-ending music lessons, family stuff... The good life!