Aaron and I are a part of the choir at West Salem Baptist Church. We are getting ready for our big Christmas musical Dec. 15th and 16th. Please come if you can! We usually practice on Wednesday nights after church, but we've added a couple of Sunday night practices to the schedule recently. This is where we were tonight:
We really enjoy singing with these people of God. Gretchen, the pastor's wife, is our director. It's a fun ministry to do together as a couple.

On Friday night we drove with Dad, Mom, Joey and Sierra to meet Stephen and Michael in Charlottesville for dinner. On Saturday we sat in the student section at the UVa football game against Wake Forest. Clarification: we haven't abandoned our first team, but sometimes it's necessary to support those you love and their teams. I even wore a Virginia sweatshirt!

If you haven't been to TGIFriday's lately, you should go and get these mini-desserts. They are delicious (similiar to mousse) and so cute!
The stadium was packed with around 60,000 fans. Aaron and I were impressed with their school spirit. They won 17-16. It was close, but we liked that because it was exciting.I wore a sweatshirt, the boys wore shirts and ties. I think I was out of place. Look at how serious they are...must win, must win!I don't think mom likes football too much. She does love seeing her youngins though!

A concentrating face...he's a great pilot.

This is the beginning of Smith Mountain Lake.

Near our house!

Bow had his first birthday on Friday! We celebrated by giving him a treat and taking his picture with a homemade birthday hat on his head. It was a difficult task. We took about 20 pictures...here are a few examples of the misfires:

We never got a good shot, so we tried a video:

Jenny (1st grade) and Sarah (Title 1 Reading)

On Saturday I went to a wedding on a farm near Salem for my high school friend Katie. It was gorgeous!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a close-up shot of the bride and groom. Katie's mom had made her dress...it was perfect.

I thought the wedding was at 2, so I arrived at 1:45. It was at 3! I was the only person there. I ran in to the wedding coordinator, who is someone I know, and she told me I could sit at the guest book table until the guest book attendant got there. Well, no one ever showed up to relieve me! So I ended up being the guest book attendant :) It was bizarre. I'm sure the bride still doesn't know about it.

This weekend we had some NC visitors. Bryan, David, and Jonathan came to hike with Aaron on the Appalachain Trail. They started early Saturday morning and hiked 19.6 miles until after dark on Saturday night. They had planned to spend the night in the wild, but I got a call around 7 about them coming back to the house to sleep in the warm beds :)
When they got back, one was limping, one was crying out for aspirin, and they all went to sleep immediately. The poor fellows. I think they still had a good time, though. Maybe even making plans to do it again next year?! I know that the view of the fall foliage was probably worth it.

Are you taking a break already?

Don't be so gloomy, David. It looks steep, but you're almost there!

At the top! This is McAfee's Knob.

On Friday night Aaron and I drove to Raleigh for several purposes. One was a baby shower for dear Kristen! She is due with her first child on December 1, and I was thankful to celebrate with her and other friends on Saturday. She got lots of useful gifts. She is going to be a great mom.

Baby McCutchen got lots of new books! Allison, on the left, helped give the shower. She is due with her 2nd child any time now. If I can remember correctly, there were 8 pregnant women at the shower. Something's in the water at Providence Baptist Church...drink up, ladies!
We all watched with dire anticipation of each gift. :)Afterwards, Kristen and I rode to her house so that I could see her nursery in person. They have done a lot of work to get it ready and it looks great!

We also went to Raleigh to visit with Jeffrey and Jennifer. Aaron grew up with these friends in the youth group in Nash County. They live in Apex now and are great hosts! It was so relaxing to stay with them in their beautiful home. Aaron was invited to sing at their church on Sunday morning for Pastor Appreciation Sunday. The pastor, Jeff, was Aaron's youth pastor and they were very close. He has started a new church in the last 2 years in Holly Springs, Destiny Life Church. It was a complete surprise for Jeff that Aaron sang on Sunday morning. We enjoyed the service and catching up with him and his wife Tonya afterwards. Jeffrey and Jennifer. Jennifer led the worship band in a practice on Saturday morning and then they grilled and served lunch for us. That night they took us out to eat in Cary, and of course we went to Marble Slab for ice cream!

Jeff and Tonya. Aaron really admires this man of God.

Our Sunday School class started a new study two weeks ago. We are reading some chapters from this book, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. There are a number of authors that contributed, but it is edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem. We are trying to gain a better understanding of our roles as male and female in our family, in church, and in everyday life. We are learning so much...we have to recommend it!

We had a relaxing weekend in Salem, VA. We stayed at home for a change! On Saturday we had lunch with Tyler and Jenny, gave Bow a haircut (he looks so handsome!), and enjoyed Grandma's company at the Flores house. She fried some fresh fish that she caught at the beach, and then the guys went swimming while the women stayed at the fire pit. On Sunday, we kept the toddler group in the nursery at church. It was entertaining and enlightening :). We had lunch with good friends, and that evening I accompanied Aaron across town for a volleyball game that he'd been invited to. He is playing in a league now...it's getting serious! We had dinner with the Flores family again (minus Grandma...she had to get back to Raleigh), and it was fun to hang out with Stephen and Michael. They were in town for fall break from UVa. These are great days! Now it's back to work!

We love fall decorations. A few weeks ago Sierra and I went to a Southern Living at Home party and I got this door hanger. I went to Michael's to find something to fill it with. Aaron said it was "on point". I like it, too! If you're interested, the door hanger was really discounted when I bought it...maybe it still is!

This past month Aaron joined the praise team at our church. On most Sunday mornings he gets to help lead the congregation in praising Christ. I am so proud to be the wife of a man who is honoring God with the gifts he has been given! It also reminds us of how thankful we are to be settled in one place so that we can feel wholly committed in our service, even for the future.
On Wednesday nights after choir practice, the praise teams practices around the piano with the band and I stick around to listen. It's an awesome worship hour. Aaron is on the far right. The picture is not great...I had to take it quickly and from the back so that I wouldn't embarrass him. :)

On Friday night we drove to Raleigh to visit Travis and Emily and go with them to the State/Clemson game. We had a fun time even though State lost. The stadium was packed in the beginning, but this picture was taken in the 4th quarter when the team was losing. Pretty sad.
Travis and Emily are committed fans. They have lifetime rights to these seats and they get season tickets every year. They haven't missed a home game in about 4 years!

As far as man-made things, the stadium was very impressive. It was a lot different (better) than when we had been 3 years ago.
The red looks so good to us! It's a good break from maroon and orange.Travis and Emily so graciously hosted us in their home. We loved her chocolate chip cookies and catching up with them.

We are driving to NC tonight...gotta see a Wolfpack football game this season! We haven't been to one since the fall of 2004.They are playing Clemson tomorrow. It will be fun to see how the stadium has changed. The best part about it is that we will be staying with Travis and Emily! Pictures to come soon...

Last night we loved having Sireesha to our house for dinner. She is from Hyderabad in the southern part of India, and she is here for 2 months for her work with GE. We met her last weekend at church. She is a believer! She has an amazing testimony, which she shared with us last night, and conversation with her is a huge encouragement. She does not take the Gospel lightly. She found West Salem (our church) through a search on the Internet. Very God-ordained, we believe! She is living very close to us in an extended stay hotel. We hope to see her much more in the next 6 weeks.