Happy Halloween!

I have some low-cost costume ideas for this Halloween. Just use your face..."I'm about to sneeze man. Look at me all scrunched up like I'm gonna sneeze. Eh, pass me that candy here pronto. AH AH AH CANDY!"
Or you could go as crazy protractor face..."Hello! I'm crazy protractor face. I don't believe we've had the honor. My vision may be impaired, but I still see you've got candy. I WANT THAT CANDY"
Or go as crazy protractor beard..."Hello, I'm crazy protractor beard! My face ain't normal, it's a darn protractor! Give me some candy!"
Or go as crazy newspaper face..."I'm crazy newspaper face! Extra Extra! Read all about it! I need some candy!"
Ok, you got the idea. This is my favorite Adam Sandler SNL skit EVER!
Happy Halloween everyone! I'll post my awesome costume picture tomorrow...

My favorite

This is my favorite picture of us on our wedding day :) 

Aww...fun friends at our wedding! We just got back some photos because we're slow 

Visiting time Dublin

... and McRae. Amber and I got to Dublin a little before Friday night's football game, ate dinner with my parents, saw lots of people we know at the game and had fun. This morning, I got up early and went deer hunting with my dad. It was a little cool, but very pretty. We each saw several deer but didn't take any shots (no big deer), and I saw two turkeys.

We ate lunch today with my grandmother and uncle here in Dublin, then went to McRae to visit my dad's parents. So, good family time; I'm glad we got to see them all again. I'm so thankful for my fam.

Now we're back in Dublin, watching UGA try to mount a come-back against Florida. We're looking a lot better than we did at the start. Guess we'll see.

57-0

That was the score in Dublin High's game last night against Screven County. Impressive, yes. But not unusual this year. If you haven't seen, Dublin is undefeated this year, having only allowed 3 points-- which came on a field goal at the very end of last week's game. Dublin's lowest score this year has been 38 points.

At half it was 43-0. For the second half, the implemented a mercy-rule, of sorts: the clock didn't stop-- not for first downs, incomplete passes, turnovers or even scores. So, the 3rd and 4th quarters took only 12 minutes each. And with their second string in, Dublin won that "half" 14-0. Wow.

(Amber and I are visiting my parents in Dublin and went to that game last night.)

New Ventures

I've begun two other blogs to check out different possibilities. I only intend to keep one, but for now I'm trying out different stuff. Check them out and offer any feedback you have. Thanks!

http://michaelv.typepad.com/15_minutes_read/

http://theheartoftheorder.blogspot.com

We'll see.

Date Night!

Amber and I just returned from the new Atlantic Station shopping area where we watched Batman Begins-- for a special $2 ticket price during the opening week! We liked both the movie and the area. Walking around outside simply beats a mall anyday-- unless the rain or heat is especially fierce, and the weather tonight was excellent.

I appreciate Amber's thanks on the blog earlier. But it's great being married to her, too. We're coming up on our 9-month mark, and I'm increasingly happy in our relationship. Not at all times-- we certainly have a lot of conflicts and tensions. Overall, though, I continually grow in my confidence of God's good provision.

We keep seeing more of our own problems and sins. But thankfully, our marriage and our lives aren't based on our competency. A verse one of my mentors shared with me in regard to my role on the team to Russia provides deep encouragement again now:
2 Corinthians 3:4-6-- "...Not that we are sufficient to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

Amber's very helpful to me in practical things around the house, but more than that, in wanting to share time and real life with me. She reminds me of what's most important (sharing Christ's grace and truth with each other and other people)-- mostly by her love for me and her consistent desire to share with me in Christ and in God's grace. Thanks, Amber!

Let me brag on my husband for just a moment. He made me coffee this morning, made me a sandwich for lunch, drove me to work, went grocery shopping, cooked us an amazing dinner, picked me up from work, and I come home to this! :) He's so wonderful 

Shopping

Oh yes, this is what you find on store windows in Pigeon Forge.

Good times

The summary of the weekend:
Good times with the Stansfields, putt-putt, and pancakes.

Mindy and Brian

We're going out of town at 7:30 am tomorrow with the Stansfields! They invited us to go on a mountain trip to a cute cabin near Gatlinburg. We're pumped! We're looking forward to the rest and fun.

Summary of the Past Year

Move home from Moscow
Move to apt. for Amber/home with the Cases for Michael
New job at Apartment Guide Magazine
Showers for wedding
Get Married (you know the story)
Honeymoon
Move to apt. together
Tiffany and Brett's wedding
Mimi gets cancer
Jenna and Doug's wedding
Patrick and Evy's wedding (I'm only listing the weddings I was actually in, not all the ones we attended)
PJ's heart attack
Michael leads CCP to Ukraine
Buy our first home
Visit SBP
Move to Condo
Sewer busts after all the hurricanes and explodes all over our floor
Quit job at Apartment Guide
Get a job at Vinings Stationery
Someone else needs my hours, so I quit Vinings Stationery
Work for Mom
Get all new floors because of sewer backup
Get kicked out of our house for a week
Come back and the hot water heater is broken
Go a week without hot water only to find out that the floor people didn't plug the heater in all the way...
Mimi dies
Our car tag was stolen off our car
AWESOME

Family time

My grandma's memorial service was so great. A lot of her friends and our family came. Here is a picture of the party we had at my Aunt Melody's house Saturday afternoon. My grandma had 7 siblings and they all had 32 kids combined. My Mom has 31 FIRST COUSINS! 4 of them flew in from California and Oklahoma and Patrick and my aunt Mitzi flew in, too! We had a great time visiting with just a portion of Mimi's humongous family!

Saturday

Mimi passed away Saturday at 2:15pm. I'm pretty sad about it, but more excited for her! She said she was ready for God to take her. Think of how great it will be to be in the presence of God, who sacrificied His son so we could be there with Him! How great is that love! I'm sure she's dancing in His presence.
This all makes me want to glorify God with my life while I'm here. Life is so fleeting and short. Material things do not matter...we can't take them with us. I want to live my life for His glory and not my own. Yes, Mimi lived a good 68 years, but think of that time compared to Eternity. What do you want to live for?
Mimi's celebration of life ceremony will be at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church on Saturday Oct. 8th at 2:00pm. I'm looking forward to it!