SNOW in Atlanta!!

Snowmen we made today in a friend's back yard



Joanna and me Wednesday night

Crazy of all crazy things, it snowed here on Wednesday and again today. Today they got abot 2" a first in 3 years. I was pretty amused by the reaction. ALL the news all morning and afternoon was "storm" coverage...the temps are dropping, rising, dropping, we have sleet, snow, ice building etc.

Sally and I went to Wallmart to get some things and it was a mad house! People were out stocking up like Armagedon had come. The big thing to do, or I guess that just happens here when it snows is that everybody goes out and buys milk, bread and eggs in case they can't get out to the store for an extended period of time (1-2 days). The funny thing? The roads were clear by dinner time. The snow will be gone completely by Monday if it warms up. I walked around Walmart and just smiled to myself as I watched people load their carts up. The hat and glove section was empty. To their credit the melt/freeze temp change does make icy roads and they are not used to driving on ice. It's been a cultural experience this week!

Tonya

Thursday night Tonya Currin (Cribb) and I met up for dinner. We had a great time catching up. Since her move back south she's moved to the Atlanta area to work at a museum AND she got married this past June! I added a picture of a picture of her and Eddie. He lives in Charlotte, NC where his job is. They are hoping to live together in the same state soon. Right now they are making the most of their weekends together.

down south again!

The past five days have been a little crazy. I flew in to Charlotte Thursday night and spent the night with my aunt and uncle before driving down to Columbia Friday morning. Friday a friend helped me move my stuff into my new apartment downtown. He was generous enough to share his time and truck all afternoon AND let me raid his storage place for random amenities…a microwave, chair, and a bookshelf. Slowly but surely our little apartment is becoming a home.

My roommate Kristin drove down early Saturday morning and we got to go to lunch and catch up before I took off for Atlanta. I am spending this week in Stone Mountain with our good family friends the Slatons while I take a one week intensive winterim class, “Evangelism and Church Planting.”

For all family reading this, I went to Avondale First Baptist this past Sunday and saw some of grammie’s old friends…Montine, Joanne Henson and Joanne Thompson. It was a little strange to be back there without grammie. Sally and I went to lunch afterward and she took me by the location of my class. Crazy thing?? My class location is off the Covington Hwy. about 1.5 miles from grammie’s old house! The old Target down the road is now a huge church! Go figure!

We had our first class today 8-5 p.m. I love the content of the stuff we are covering. We read 3 books prior to class that were all really interesting, Seven Practices of Effective Ministry by Andy Stanley, Breaking the Missional Code by Stetzer and Putman, and About My Father’s Business by Regi Campbell. If you’re interested in church planting, outreach/evangelism, or how to have a more effective ministry I highly recommend these books. They are all a fast read and I don’t read that fast! The majority of our discussion and study time today was reviewing the “historical” aspect of the New Testament Church by reviewing the gospels and Jesus’ training and preparation time with his disciples leading up to his ascension.

For family that has been asking, I DID take a picture of Gene, Sally and Stephanie but didn’t bring my camera cable so I’ll add a picture later. Stephanie is 22 now, just finished college and is heading to Costa Rica in February to do missions work for 5 months. We’ve had some fun conversations. Oh, and dad, she and I went running Sunday morning around the base of Stone Mountain, a 5 mile loop…BEAUTIFUL! Wish you could have been here for it!

time back home...

Caiti made the baby shower cake...it was AMAZING GOOD!! She does cakes for weddings too!



All the girls showing off our pregnant bellies!


I was back home for 3 ½ weeks and loved having that time with family and friends. One of my highlights was a night at a hotel with one of my long time best friends Sarah Brown. The night out was a gift from my parents to me. Mom watched Charlotte and Liam during the day while Ashley worked so Sarah could have free time out with me.

Funny thing…we had a huge suite all to ourselves, hot tub, the works and we ended up sitting on the couch talking the ENTIRE night! Go figure, we’re girls. We did stop at one point to go eat dinner. It was SO good to catch up and pray together again. Thanks for giving me your time Sarah! I wish you guys still lived in NC!! Who knows, maybe I’ll end up back in AK when this is all said and done.

Another highlight was a reunion youth girl night out at Amanda Bacon’s house. All my “youth” (no longer) girls were back from their first semesters of college so we had an overnighter to catch up AND have a surprise baby shower for Amanda who is expecting her 4th next month! We all showed up to her house with pillows in our shirts to sympathize, in a very artificial way, with Amanda. Our babies didn’t kick and turn in crazy and uncomfortable ways. Blessings on the rest of your pregnancy Amanda! I hope the midwifery is a GREAT experience! I am excited for you guys to be having another GRIL!

Ruben

Helping wash Aimy's feet




Ruben is the newest Eller family member. Dave and Aimy got him this past fall from a student at the high school. He is a pure bread Blue Great Dane and is BEAUTIFUL! He’s a BIG puppy and is going to be HUGE full grown. His parents were 130 and 150 lbs! If live in Wasilla and want to make dog food donations, I’m sure they won’t object. When I left he was 5 months and already 50 lbs! The funny thing is he acts like a puppy and wants to sit in your lap but he doesn’t fit, as you can tell from the pictures.

He gave us a little scare the week before I left when he (unknowingly to Dave and Aimy) got in the garbage and ate a 2 foot piece of rope that blocked up his intestines. Dave took him to the vet because he wasn’t eating and was throwing everything up and they did emergency surgery. The vet said if they had waited through the weekend to bring him in he would have died! So he is recovering now from surgery but seems to be his perky self again and is able to eat small amounts of food. Dave and Aimy just have to watch him closely to be sure that all goes well with eating and that he doesn’t mess with the staples on his stomach. The joys of “parenthood!”