Our New Car!!!

The Jetta had past it's prime and was exchanged for a new Mini Cooper Clubman. It is a wonderful ride and we are so excited about it!



Here's a picture with the dogs...

Abe v. Jack

Since we adopted Jack a couple weeks back he has made himself right at home. We couldn't imagine him not being in the house now. Abe plays so good with him outside and at the dog park! The weirdest thing though was Abe didn't want to have anything to do with Jack when we were in the house, whenever Jack wanted to play in the house Abe would ignore him and go to his kennel. Well earlier today we were sitting on the couch in the living room tossing a ball for Jack when Abe walked over to Jack so nonchalantly and started playing with him. They wrestled for a good 20 minutes! It was great to see Abe initiating the play. We knew Abe just takes longer to get use to things. Right now they are both sleeping on the couch next to us, happy as can be! We think they well be best buds!

Ladies and Gentlemen...Meet Jack

We picked up Jack today, he is such a cuddle bug! He and Abe are getting along pretty well, he has a lot more energy than Abe does but he is about 9 months younger than Abe. So far it seems like it is a great fit!

Here is the one picture that is just classic.



And another picture.

Dog Search (Updated again)

So we have started looking for a 2nd dog for our family. I'm really not sure where this came from, Danielle and I were watching Deal or No Deal last week and this guy brought his dog on the show with him and we thought it was a cute one. The next thing I know is that we are on petfinder looking around. This past weekend we thought we found a great dog, his name is Munch and he is a Dogue de Bordeaux[Mix] which for everyone who doesn't speak or read french he is a French Mastiff mix, you can check him out here (ain't he a cutie?). Well when he and Abe got together it just didn't work out. Abe basically ignored him, if Munch were going to be our first dog we totally would have gotten him but since Abe didn't want anything to do with him we had to pass.

So now we are back to square one and back on petfinder looking around. We found a couple that look really nice, one is Blackjack the other is Nola. Both are great looking dogs but we aren't sure which one Abe will get along with best. Normally Abe gets along with just about every dog but I'm beginning to wonder if he knows something is up and is thinking he is trying to sabotage these get togethers.

So which one do you like? Any thoughts, if you adopted a dog where did you get yours, any advice for adopting a second dog?

Update: 3.11.08
According to the Schnauzer Rescue they said the background check would take up to 4 weeks. I guess yesterday they talked with our Vet and they gave us a wonderful review, so yesterday afternoon I received an email saying they would like to arrange a home visit to check out our home and see if it would fit for "jack" as he is called. Then I got a phone call and it seems that the foster parent of Jack is going on a vacation for two weeks and wondering if we can get this done by Friday. So one of the board members of the Schnauzer rescue is coming tonight to check out our house and we could have Jack by Friday or sooner! Its all happening really fast, but we really do think Jack would be a good fit, one huge upside is that Schnauzers don't shed and we DO NOT need another dog that sheds. We'll keep you updated!

Update: 3.12.08
Last night we had a board member come by and do a home visit. They brought along another Giant Schnauzer named Magic, they just wanted us to see a Giant and see how Abe interacted with other dogs. It went swimmingly! They had a great time and Magic even decided to claim part of our carpet, but that was quickly cleaned up. So the bottom line is we have been approved and now it looks like we will be picking up "Jack" either Friday or Saturday! It's all really exciting stuff. We will have pictures up as soon as we can take them.

The Revolve Tour and Ski Retreat

Well, it's been a fast and furious 10 days! I took girls from our youth group to The Revolve Tour in Charlotte, NC on Jan 25-26. We had so much fun and I really learned a lot, about the girls, what they are interested in, and their struggles. I have come to just love these girls!!! It went so smoothly, besides being fashionable late, but that's not a big deal at all. I know the girls really learned a lot as well. The Moms that came were great and such a help, it was wonderful.

Bill then had to take over for our youth pastors on Sunday and he did such a great job, especially for last minute. Every time he talks I realize how much God has gifted him in youth ministry! He related the process of Hebrew school and why it was so important that the apostles who were fishermen dropped their nets to follow Jesus- to the process of American Idol- the students totally got it!

I had an exam on Friday and then if we hadn't had enough going on we went on the Youth Ski Retreat. Bill was in charge of the Rules Video for this and he worked so hard on it!!


There were a lot of faces I've never seen before and it was a great time! I really was able to hang out with some of the girls and get to know them even more. I have really clicked with one of the girls that is a senior in high school. I see so much of myself in her and we have a lot in common. It's been rough getting the students to open up to us, but they finally are starting to. We had a blast snowtubing and many of the students skied and snowboarded. Pete, Drew's brother, came to speak to the students about having an experience with God and what we do with that experience. I think many of the students had an experience.

Fffeeww! We've definitely had a crazy 10 days, but it's always worth it to experience God and support the youth group!

Basketball game opportunity

We have friends at Duke who had extra tickets for the Duke game yesterday. Since the Undergrads are all out of class and at home, Duke was basically wanting to fill the seats with graduate students. So we had the opportunity to go to the game. We STOOD in the grad student section. It was a blast, but I'm not sure about standing the entire time. Bill took some pictures on his phone and actually captured the best dunk of the night. Duke won 110 to 70 (U of Albany).

Christmas is Coming

Our Christmas Tree this year isn't the large pretty one like we had last year, mostly because we aren't going to be home a lot to enjoy it. So this year we decided on a table top model. It's a little like a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, but it still holds all of our Christmas ornaments and looks good with lights on it.

We had gotten figurines of Disney characters dressed as Star Wars characters, so those are the main attraction of our little tree this year.




Abe decided to be a good boy and help me this year, he was quite interested in the tree and I caught him trying to help the tree out by licking the water in the stand. He even helped a little with the ornaments! He minds so well and loves having his picture taken! So here's Abe's second Christmas Tree decorating...