meet the parents

this weekend we had our first visit to augusta since we got eva, so she got to meet both sets of our parents. my dad is a chaplain at a retirement community, and all the residents have been asking about his "granddog." i guess they can relate to having grandchildren, and she's the closest thing he's got right now! eva seems to be outgrowing her bark-at-new-people phase; she did really well around both our families. my mom, who has never been an animal person, thought she was a sweet puppy. she was teasing my dad that he's going to be wanting one himself now. saturday was mr. chris' birthday, and kevin was home also. in the afternoon, we went to see a movie (taken - it was pretty good) while mrs. cathy stayed home with eva to finish dinner & catch a nap. eva loves being let up on the couch to snuggle for naps. that night we had a great meal, and kevin couldn't resist sending a picture of it to kyle since he had to work & couldn't be there.

caring for women

i recently finished training to volunteer at piedmont women's center, a christian pregnancy center with several locations in greenville. i learned about pwc through my church and was interested because it seemed like a great opportunity to use some of my counseling skills while i'm searching for a job. after learning more about the program, i realized it will help me grow spiritually as well. i am really impressed with their approach - they provide resources like free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and counseling and strive to respect the woman's autonomy while sharing God's love with her.

at our "graduation" from training, the director gave us lapel pins that were the size and shape of a baby's feet 10 weeks after conception. in the past couple days i have met several people who support this ministry, which is such an encouragement. it turns out the girl who cuts my hair used to volunteer there in high school and attended their fundraising banquet this week. the nurse who read the TB skin test i had to get before starting told me her mom used to volunteer there and went on about what a great place it is. i'm looking forward to getting started soon and appreciate your prayers for me!

let the madness begin...

for the first time in my life, i have filled out an ncaa bracket. if you didn't already know, i'm not exactly a sports fanatic. but of all the sports to watch (excluding olympics), i enjoy college basketball the most. probably because of the fast pace and the fact that i (mostly) understand the game. also, i know my sweet husband is going to be watching every game that our cable airs for the next few weeks. so rather than be bored that whole time, i figured this would make things more interesting...if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

the prom

this weekend christopher and i went to ge's annual salaried recognition event, aka the ge prom. last year was our first time going together, and we made the trip to greenville from atlanta. i didn't really know anybody there, but it was an intersting glimspe into the future. this year was more fun, since we had several friends there. liz was there with her boyfriend, scott, who works at ge.
our friends from church, brandon and lori, were also there. brandon works in a different group within ge. lori is an interior designer with fluor, and she's my local art buddy.we also got to spend some time with the guys (and their wives) from christopher's design group, shrouds. it's interesting to me how all the engineers identify themselves based on their group, all of which are named for technical parts/processes of a gas turbine: buckets, shrouds, nozzles, combustion...at christopher's group christmas party this year, one of his co-workers made a shroud out of rice krispy treats. i found it fitting that the prom was on pi day this year (3/14).

the theme of the evening was st. patty's day, so there were servers dressed as leprechauns. the food was pretty good, and they had some live music as well as a dj. it's always nice to have a reason to dress up and eat a free meal!

eva in action

here's eva in her role as mighty dog! unfortunately, she won't be fetching for a couple of weeks. she was spayed today, and there were some complications. apparently she had an old injury on her spleen that started bleeding during surgery and had to be removed. the vet said if they had not found this, she could have ruptured it in the future and bled to death internally without us ever knowing! phew, i'm thankful they caught that. poor thing threw up (from the anesthesia) three times tonight and had an accident in her crate (which hasn't happened since the first week we got her). i've done three loads of laundry from towels and blankets that got dirty, and i feel like a mom with a newborn! thankfully, she will be sleeping soundly through the night - as will i.

p.s. chris said he would like to harness the energy in her wagging tail...ge would be proud. i love my engineer!

atlanta weekend

chris and i had a great weekend visiting some dear friends in atlanta. friday night, we ate at los hermanos with the yorks and stayed with them that night. they didn't mind us bringing eva, and we were glad for the chance to get her more socialized. other than a little barking at first, she did great around their dog, haley and their sweet 7-month-old son, ashton. it helps that haley is one of the most laid-back dogs i know (she's in a category with the droddys' dog lucy). turns out ashton is fascinated by dogs. he was so cute to watch playing with them! later the sullivans dropped by and brought their dog, georgie. i wish i had a picture of the three of them sniffing each other! chris assures me that smelling behinds is equivalent to shaking hands for dogs. blakely also let me feed ashton, which was fun. on saturday, we hung out with the gurleys. chris watched some baseball with luke while i went with julia to her baby shower thrown by our old church, mt. vernon. it was great to get to spend time with her and see many of our old friends from sunday school. how cute are these dresses? the gurleys got a surprise yesterday when julia went into labor a month early. carrigan hope was born at a little over 5 pounds but was healthy, praise God! here's a picture they sent out to the sunday school class. i think julia looks amazing to have just been in labor!

spring is here

spring is officially here. i rang in the season this evening by grilling out for the first time in 2009. with the recent good weather, an impromptu meal of cheeseburgers and french fries was in order. i can honestly say that it doesn't get much better than a messy cheeseburger and salty fries on a windy spring day, though a messy cheeseburger on a windy fall day before a football game just might take the cake.

anyhow, spring is here and it couldn't have come soon enough. we're looking to sunny saturday afternoons, going home from work before it's dark, being outdoors, and swimming at the pool. we'll keep you updated on all the activities!

spring cleaning & SNOW!

i never thought these two things would come in the same weekend! chris & i have been trying to do some spring cleaning every saturday, one room at a time. this week, it was our bedroom...specifically our closet. i wish i had a before picture, but i'm pretty happy with the after.
to give you an idea of our progress, here's the goodwill pile. plus, there were a couple trashbags of stuff not worthy of taking to goodwill.
last week, i got eva a sweater because it had been a little chilly. i didn't see any extra-long torso sizes for dachshunds...we think it looks like a midriff top on her. but it still came in handy with the SNOW last night!
when we got out of church last night, this is what our car looked like in the parking lot:
it took us twice as long to get home, and we saw several cars stuck in the snow on the way back. i was glad chris was driving! here's what it looked like right outside our apt:eva wasn't sure what to make of the snow. naturally, she tried to eat it. then she started hopping around like a rabbit - i think because her legs are too short to walk through it. we got four inches!
you can see a little better what it looked like this morning: