Happy December!

Hello, Friends! Got a little catching up to do since my last update, so let's get to it.  First, I have one more picture from Hawaii that I wanted to post. We were in the airport in Honolulu behind a lady with one arm who looked a lot like Bethany Hamilton whose life the movie Soul Surfer was based on.  Well, long story short, it WAS her, and she was gracious to let me take a picture with her:

So that was pretty cool!  When we arrived home I noticed our amazing avocado tree was suddenly dying.  We consulted with an arborist who said that it had contracted a lethal fungus called laurel wilt that kills red bay type trees and a few other species very quickly, and there's nothing that can be done to save it.  Here's a picture of it before we had it removed:

It had it's longest and most productive season this time since we bought our home 5 years ago.  So very sad to see it go!
On a bright note, we were able to see Nathan play his ultimate frisbee championship games the Thursday after we got back from Hawaii!  We had never been able to see him play since he always plays on Thursday nights and we have a commitment to our marriage ministry that we lead at our church that meets every Thursday night.  But that was a rare Thursday we weren't meeting, so we were able to go see him play!  His team lost in the final, but it was an exciting and close one!  So proud of him!

Well, I mentioned a couple of months ago that we had kittens, and I just have to show you a few of the cutest pictures we took of them.  They have all been rehomed so I'm already missing them.  I enjoyed them SOOO much as I always do, but even more this time.  My favorite thing of all time is to have a fire in the fireplace and a Hallmark movie on with a kitten in my lap!  So I was going to have our cat fixed after this, but I think we'll go for one more time.  Aren't they just the sweetest things ever?

We made our last WinShape trip of the year November 5-7 to attend a vision casting session with one of our favorite marriage ministries, Intimate Life Ministries.  We don't have anything on the books for next year but WinShape sent us their schedule and asked us to let them know when we would be available to serve.  We're going to volunteer to be the host couple for several of their retreats and host couple trainings, so hopefully some of those will work out!!

My brother worked for a company in Tampa for a few months, so I was able to see him more this fall than I have for the past several years combined!  One time we met at the Tampa River Walk and took a nice stroll, and then Tim and Nicholas joined us for dinner.  And another time he came over and helped Nicole set up a cool telescope she had received for free from her astronomy class!  It was so great being able to connect with him!

And then, my dad actually drove up to spend the day with me and even spent the night the week before Thanksgiving.  We had a very nice visit together, along with playing with the kittens!  :-) This is Nicole and I seeing him off when he left.

Thanksgiving day was just the 6 of us and one of Nathan's friends, Haroon, from college.  Haroon is from Pakistan, and this was his first Thanksgiving here, so we were very privileged to have him with us!  It was such a beautiful day we moved the dining table out to the lanai and ate out there.  After we ate we played a game I stole from a Hallmark movie I had seen where we all wrote out something we were thankful for or admired about every person around the table, and then put what we wrote about them in their cups, and they had to read them and guess who wrote what.  That was really a special time - LOVED IT!!

The next day Nathan and 2 of his friends left early in the morning to drive up to Hickory, NC, dropping Haroon off at college on the way.  The rest of us left several hours later and drove up to Franklin, NC.  We stayed at Eagles Rest, a cabin owned by a friend of ours, and that next day, Saturday, was one of the happiest days of my life!  Nicole and I sat by the fire and read and talked and listened to the piano guys, and then Nathan and his friends showed up around noon and then played some worship songs by the fire.  A little later, Tim and I went and sat out on the front porch and just enjoyed being together.  Then that evening a young lady whose grandmother lives next door who we met on one of our first visits to the cabin 15 years ago came over and we had a very nice visit catching up with her.  It was just a very special day that I will cherish in my heart.  Here are some pictures from our time there:

We drove back home on the Monday after Thanksgiving, and then Friday Tim and I flew up to Grand Rapids to attend a marriage conference in a small town called Zeeland, MI.  We couldn't believe all the SNOW!!  We went to the downtown area, and it looked like one of those towns you see in the Hallmark movies - so cute!  The conference was Friday and Saturday, and then Sunday (yesterday) we went to church with the conference speakers and then to their house for lunch.  Funny story, the family sitting in front of us at the church had twin daughters who were born 2 days after the triplets.  So I snapped my picture with them (see below) and texted the picture to the kids, telling Nathan and Noah I had found wives for them!  Lol!  We had a lot of fun banter back and forth, and the final verdict was that Nathan was going to marry the girl on the right and Nicholas wanted the one of the left (Noah wasn't interested).  Too funny!  After lunch we drove to Lake Michigan and snapped a picture just to show we were there!  From there we headed over to my parent's house near Detroit, stopping at my sister-in-law's home to have dinner with her and my nephew, Danny (sorry - forgot to get pictures of that!)

When I was growing up, my grandparents owned a mansion on an island about an hour outside of Detroit called Harsen's Island where we spent a large part of our summers. My grandpa sold it to a family friend, George, who has always said any of us in the family could go visit any time.  So we picked up a key from George this morning, and first thing after that we drove by the motel my grandfather used to own called the Mel Plaza.  I snapped a picture of that along with a picture of the convenient store he used to own right across the street.  I remember my grandfather used to walk us over to his store, hand us a little paper bag, and tell us to fill it with candy as much as we wanted!  From there, Tim and I drove out to the 'cottage' as we used to call it.  The only way onto the island is via a ferry, which only adds to the charm.  It was really great walking down memory lane today.  The weather was cold and gray with a few snow flurries along the way, which kind of made it all the more special, if that makes any sense.  After taking a tour of the house while I reminisced and told stories about each room we went in, we went to lunch at a restaurant just about a block away from the cottage that I had never been to before.  We dined on yummy of cream of broccoli soup, and I had a perch sandwich.  The big freighters go by right in front of the house, and one came by while we were having lunch so I got a picture of it!!  After lunch we returned to the cottage for a luxurious nap, and then headed back to civilization.  There was a sign right by the ferry that someone put up that cracked me up.  It is the last picture in the group of photos below for your enjoyment:

Tomorrow Nicole is flying up and we're going to have a Thanksmas party at my parents house where we're staying!!  These are relatives we hardly ever get to spend Thanksgiving or Christmas with, so we're really excited to do a combo celebration with them tomorrow.  Tim and I are making beef wellington and mushroom wellington, along with mashed yukon gold potatoes and asparagus with hollandaise sauce and a salad.  My sister-in-law and nephew, along with my niece and her boyfriend, and my parent's best friends (along with my parents and Nicole, of course!) will all be here!  Can't wait!