Happy 3rd Anniversary!
As I look back through the blog posts of this year I’m reminded that this year has certainly been full of fun and adventure, but also full of unexpected sadness and pain. I’m thankful that God brought us together and I pray that our marriage is strengthened with every day.
I love you, Kevin!
Well, this was a fun and busy week – as evidenced by my complete lack of photos! The week flew by like a whirlwind – starting with a lovely visit from Del! Del and I became good friends back in 2006 or so when she would come from New York to visit her daughter, Amie and then son-in-law, Paul. I would spend time over at their house and listen to her many stories of life in the Phillipines and stories of God’s love and faithfulness. Many of you know that in 2008 Amie and Paul were pregnant and expecting their first child. Part way through her pregnancy she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Sadly, their daughter Bianca was born very early, around 22 weeks, and passed away. Less than 3 months later, my wonderful friend Amie passed away as well. Amie was a true light and source of encouragement to me and so many others. She had such a loving and serving heart and I can still hear her laugh and see her smile to this very day. Her mom is exactly the same! We have kept in touch via email, text, cards, and phone calls. She has supported me and encouraged me through many of my life’s struggles, including the loss of Nathan, as she shares in the pain of losing a child. And I will never forget the encouragement she offered to me when I thought I would never become a mom or marry again. She reminded me of God’s love, grace, and faithfulness. So this was a super special visit for me, to have her here to meet Kevin and Griffin for the first time. It had been 7 years since she had been back to Ohio and we were happy to host her at our house for a couple of nights. We had a small gathering of friends for dessert and she accompanied me to our small group girls dinner too. She also enjoyed being able to visit with Paul (she surprised him at NPC on Sunday) and his wife Megan, as well as their kids Nick and Sam. Finn gave her the biggest hugs and she told me how special it made her feel – and how she imagines how it would feel to hug her granddaughter Bianca. 
On Saturday we followed the Bethune’s lead and attended the OSU Men’s Hockey game. We had great seats and all of the kiddos got to see the players enter the rink right from our seats!
And here is a fabulous photo that Debbie captured this week – she even got Lily! They are all sporting their craft project of the day – Lily even managed to keep hers on for a split second to get the photo 🙂
This past week at school was book character week. Finn’s classroom book was ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?’ and his character from the book was the brown bear. Throughout the week at school each of the kids painted and decorated a mask which they wore as they paraded around pre-school to show the other classes. Cute, eh?
We celebrated Lily’s 7th birthday with a party hat, cake pops, and a sprinkle donut. We sang her happy birthday next to Cammie as it’s difficult for her to get up and stand on our wood floors these days. They enjoyed their treats and Lily has been loving her new toy, a red ball which she drops out of her mouth and chases pretty regularly. 
We are enjoying having new neighbors. Since June we’ve gotten two new neighbors – Brian and Laura live right next door and have two little boys Cooper (4) and Cole (2). It has been great for Finn to have play buddies right outside our house! And a short bit later Bernie, Alex and their daughter Abbie (7) moved in right across the street. This year for Trick or Treat, Sam and Debbie came over and we adventured through the neighborhood with Brian, Laura, Cooper and Cole, and our other neighbors Nathan and AJ and their son Blake. It was a lot of fun to see all of the boys run up to each of the houses. All of the dads pulled the wagons (thank goodness we used them, it still took about an hour and a half just to do our street!) and the kids got out at each stop. There is no way the kids would have made it more than 5 houses if they walked the whole thing! Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong came up to hand out candy at our house and spend time with Griffin. They kindly put him to bed so we could go down to Nathan and AJ’s and hang out for a bit on their patio, making s’mores around their fire pit and enjoying some beverages. It was a really nice evening!
On Sunday we stopped at the Zoo on the way home from church. As you can see, it was a warm and sunny day – perfect for walking around outside. We had lots of firsts during this visit: 1st time Finn rode a pony, 1st time to feed the giraffe’s, and the 1st time we saw the baby lions!
And this was Finn by the end of the afternoon – holding his head up for a photo, and then crashing on daddy’s shoulder!
Kevin and I enjoyed another Halloween Party too – wearing our same Steam Punk costumes, but this time Kevin’s “goggles” arrived, so he used those and I got to use his old ones. This time around we won ‘Best overall costume’! It was a fun party with an outdoor scavenger hunt and a beer pong tournament. I played with Suzy and Kevin played with Bob – but they had to leave before the tournament was over. Suzy and I made it to the finals – so Kevin took Suzy’s place, and we ended up winning, lol! It was pretty fun and we are holders of the champion “trophy” until next year’s party. 
