Well guys, you are in for a treat :) We have prepared a very long pictorial journal of our day.
Yesterday during class we could hear the rain falling on the metal roof of FSM. It was a wonderful sound. We emerged from class into a world transformed by freezing rain! All the branches of the trees were white and glistening. People were running around scraping windshields and the general excitement of the "first winter precipitation" seemed to give everybody the same little kid feeling of glee. I didn't make it out to piano - some people were having trouble getting up our hills and I didn't want to risk it. (I had to call mom to let her know the roads were "treacherous!" hahah...ah mommy.) I went walking last night, out into the blustery slidey streets, to walk up to Hannahs. We built a fire and I crocheted and we had a lovely visit. It's so nice to have neighbors in winter weather.





Today class as cancelled, so we ventured out in search of appropriate winter gear. We got a shovel and a windshield scraper, (no more cd case for us!) We (praise God!) found an awesome sale at Kohls (usually pretty pricey) and got slippers for me (Kristianna), gloves for both of us, two big mugs, and the winter boots I've been looking everywhere for. We went to the check out and to our amazement we saw that a blustery snow storm had started up while we were inside! I don't know why but I'm just thrilled by the snow...I don't think I've seen winter weather like this in over ten years! I guess it makes us feel like kids again...we're going to have to find a sled :) I was happy all day and generally bounding around shouting, "It's snowing!" John seemed amused by this...ah well. As we drove home we encountered the following...the traffice was so slow...and our road, lucky we knew where to look for it! The snow seemed to be piling up fast. They said we might get about 2 1/2 inches. (And not a "north carolina" 2 1/2, which really equals about 1/2 :)








When we got home John went out in the backyard and ran around with the dogs, who evidently love the snow. (They intermittantly begged to go out all night long...could barely keep them inside!) We laughed ourselves sick at Brae sliding everwhere and running in psychotic circles and Delanie repeatedly flipping over and becoming a snow filled ball of fluff! The neighbor dog, Nyla (owned by fellow IHOPPers) even got in on the fun.







Hannah and Mike, Mikey and Sarah Dell all popped by with a sled - though it was too dark and blustery to use it - and stayed for dinner and game night. We had a great time playing Cranium, though the boys beat the girls both rounds by just a hair. (Ah well, better luck next time.) Mikey had fun on gamenight, too. He played uno-upwards. (Well, until he stuck two letters in his mouth and had to have the words taken away!)






After getting bundled up, John drove the Dells home, since it had started snowing again and we have about SIX INCHES! WAHOO! All of our morning stuff is cancelled for tomorrow...and I think we'll be sledding on Saturday!
It was lovely dark and glowy as the Dells went down the walk...the world all white and boots making that wonderful crunchy noise in the snow...ah. What a grand first day of real winter. Makes me want to go caroling and curl up in front of a stove and drink hot apple cider...





Hope you guys enjoyed our day as much as we did!

Love,
John and Kristianna

Happy Thanksgiving All! Hope everyone's holiday was delightfully turkey-ish and filled with family and friends.
We are well here in Kansas City, enjoying a very strange warm snap...been close to 70 degrees the past few days. Thanksgiving day was spent with the Dells and David and Barbara Sholar, visiting from Durham, NC. (representn) Hannah (with her mom's help) made a magnificent feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, two kinds of gravy, cranberry sauce, and I brought the salad. (I've been doing that a lot lately. Evidently I'm good at it?) We had cherry and pumpkin pie for dessert and I managed to make 7-layer cookies (minus the walnuts) after getting the recipe over the phone from Mom, (in PA), before their big dinner :)
I must confess I've (Kristianna) have found myself kind of meloncholy these past few days. We've stayed busy with remodeling, despite not having any classes, but there was just enough time to make me extremely homesick and missing family and friends. Maybe my body knows it's the holidays and is supposed to be in great crowds of cousins, nephews, uncles, grandparents, in-laws, etc. Siblings. Parents. The works. I miss my mommy. (And kids, John and I totally missed the crazy late night Pennsylvania traveling :)
Thanksgiving day was as it should be. We ate. We draped ourselves over couches and quazi-napped. We laughed at the baby. We played dice games and cards. We went to the prayerroom. We ate some more. It was a good holiday. John remarked on how relaxed it was. I think we're going to enjoy Christmas as well...we're really looking forward to Joanna (and then the rest) coming out here. Garlands and a tree and christmas cookies and old traditions and new...oh, "The Nativity Story" also look amazing from the previews! Hard to believe the girl from "Whale Rider" will be playing Mary! Bless the Lord...it's good to remember Him coming for us...what a King we serve. (And speaking of baby's, I've named Mike and Hannah's microscopic offspring "toogie." Hannah isn't so sure about it, but I love it! And now that I've started calling the baby that, it's catching on ;)

Our class for this month, "The Eternal Glory of an Intercessor" has been amazing. Probably thrown the most kinks in our little selves, but amazing. Our teacher is young, thirties, from Arkansas, and ends most classes with this exhortation for his students to involve themselves, engage in the material, "GIT UP ON THAT PONY!" John loves the class.

We got bored over break and have started working on the kitchen...what a project! We moved out the fridge and stove on Monday and then decided to wait until Friday to tile, since we thought I might be cooking on Thanksgiving. Well, I've about gone crazy from the necessity to highly co-ordinate movement in order to cook anything...I can not wait until the thing is back together! I've got a lot of food in the pantry and freezer...I don't know why. Must have been some gene from my mother kicking in as I approached "the holidays." I imagined myself serving masses of people...though I have no idea who those people would be! Anyways. I should have Mike and Hannah over and make all the pies I bought stuff for...good grief...

We've been enjoying "Jeeves and Wooster," lent to us by Izzy Dell himself, "It's true!". I hadn't realized John had never seen the show before. He's enjoying an episode before bed these days, as they seem to remind him of his old time tapes of radio shows he'd listen to in Costa Rica. We went to see "Stranger than Fiction" a few days ago...greatly enjoyed it! There are a few films coming out I think we'll like, this holiday season.

I'll be posting some new pics at our house remodeling sight, fyi. The change around here is amazing! (I'm ready for it to be done!)

Here are a few pics of things we've been up to lately.


Mikey helping me with the laundry


Fun and games with a baby who's been tipping the apple juice a little too much. (He doesn't know where the darn things are supposed to go! Kid finds the proposition of being a biped slightly a waste of his time :)


Hannah feeding treats to the attentive creatures performing tricks. You'll notice our front room (very unfinished) has that drug-lord-in-bad-new-york-neighborhood feel to it :) I suggested putting flour and a razor blade on the trunk before company came over...haha...


How many legs does this dog have?!


The dogs romping in the leaf pile...also a favorite potty spot...ewww....


The mostly finished den...something John is very proud of :)

Hope you guys enjoyed this...sorry we don't take pictures of ourselves :)

love,
Kristianna (and John, of course.)

A quick update from Kansas City...
Well kids, how shall I put it? We are, oh yes, EXHAUSTED! Our champion sprint towards getting into the house by November 2nd has almost met it's end in VICTORY! You heard me. Victory. We are trimless, and the only actually finished room is the master bedroom...but hey! The workroom is painted and that's all we need for Arielle and Steph's visit this coming weekend. (WAHOO!) Of course, the workroom is also un-trim-painted and crownmoldingless and there will be towels tacked up to the windows as shades until we finish the afore mentioned trim...but hey! We have pillows and airmattresses and sleeping bags and...it'll be good :) The simple life, folks, the simple life.
We miss you all. We really do. We have been whimpering of late for loved family and friends. So it is, so it is.
So yes. We've been working ourselves to the bone...we'll be so glad to get into the house and stop pulling such long hours. It'll be good just to concentrate on Intro for the next month. (We took like a three week split-attention break.) Anyways. I'll be posting some pictorial journeys below....
First, too good for words...John's greenbathroom, his beautiful tile job, and the Red Adobe Workroom. We're proud, ya'll, real proud. And we couldn't have done it without Hannah, Mikey, and Mike. (Though mostly Hannah, as the Michael's will quickly agree. Baby Mikey's main job was to stay in his "containment pen," eat crackers and shout loudly while Hannah painted. And Michael...well, sometimes he ripped stuff up and sometimes he "stupidvised," as he called it, and always, with the gift of uniting the random work stations of the house, he conversed with all of us no matter where we were!) It's been good...
And second, one Saturday, Hannah and I went to Borders to look at magazines to get ideas for paint colors...but we had some car difficulties and ended up stranded there for sometime...so we wound up in the kids section....it was fun...I love kids books...Mikey coulda torn that place apart though :)
Anyways. Blessings and love...

Kristianna and Johnboy