HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECCA!!!

Happy birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Becca, Happy birthday to you!

I hope you are having a wonderful day Becca!

So...I had you text me your address yesterday because I was out all day shopping with my mom and sister. Well we went to the Mall of America but by the time I found a mailbox I missed the drop off time. So there is a card in the mail but it will be late. Sorry! I'm so bad at that. I'm trying to get better!

I hope you guys had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Jen, did you have fun in Michigan? I bet it was nice to see your family again. I hope it was relaxing for you.

Becca--have you guys figured out how you're going to do family/in-law holidays? Isn't that hard? We go to Dustin's family on Thanksgiving and Easter and Christmas with mine. THat doesn't always work well though because then we don't get to see his extended family over Christmas. I think next year we will be changing some things.

Erin--I hope you're having fun with wedding plans and showing off your fiance :)

Have a great week girls!

Becca--I plan on calling you tonight. I forgot we have bible study at our house tonight so it might be kind of late. But I'll try to call before 10 :) Us old married couples need our sleep. :-)

GIRLS!!!

Girls!!! I MISS YOUUUUU!!!!!

Erin, Becca, Jen...how are you guys!!!!

Erin, how is wedding planning going? Is Hal excited about it or is he trying to stay out of it?? :) Is your mom having fun planning her only girl's wedding?!?!?!

Becca, how is married life? Seriously, it's been 4 months already. Is it what you expected? Difficult? Easy? How is your job? Are people still getting laid off? I thought of you when they ruled out Chicago for the Olympics.

Jen, how are you doing? Have your clients been showing up? Is it getting any easier? I think about you alot!

Anyway, things are going good here. Having a party for Sam on Saturday. I'm the geeky mom who is REALLY excited for it. haha. I'm excited to let her dive into some cake.

Jen--what is your Christmas plans?

Love you girls! I would love to hear from you!

Quick Update...

Hola guapas.

Just wanted to give you a quick update before my computer dies...

Counseling, teaching, and taking grad classes has made me so emotional to say the least; Especially this week. I leave my house every morning at around 7:30 and don't get back until usually 10-10:30. So I am so exhausted!! I have seen some clients and some of the sessions have gone well, some not so good. Its just a rollercoaster.

God keeps carrying me through but I just ask that you girls pray for me. I need energy and a better attitude because I'm feeling so burnt out and snappy...I feel like I could explode at any moment.

Anyway, I miss you all so much!! I can't wait until we are reuinted...
Hope you are doing well!!

Praying!

Hey Jen!

How did everything go? I sure have been thinking of you! Man, you have been taking some huge steps lately! I bet that is really overwhelming. I hope it's going okay. Please tell us (as much as you can :)) how it went! I would love to hear it. Are you still taking grad classes then?

Erin/Jen how are your new classes? Good students?

Mom life is going great. Samantha is learning how to throw fits though and that's not too fun. I really feel clueless through them. She arches her back and throws herself on the ground! But she's a great little girl. No--no second for a quite awhile. :)

My business is going well. I'm having a lot of fun doing it. I already have one client and a possible one on the way. I haven't even marketed or really networked yet. So I really feel that God has called me to this.

Prayer requests for me:

1. My mom is going in for some testing today--please pray it comes back negative.
2. We've had a lot of financial "unplanned events" lately. It really gets you down when it eats up your entire savings. I get overwhelmed with it lately so please pray that I KNOW that God will provide. (examples: dog sick, van got broke into and stole our GPS, I had a root canal and other cavities, laptop broke.) So it's overwhelming but then I just remember that God is putting clients at my feet just for these instances! It's time for me to get back to work!
3. That Dustin and I grow closer to the Lord. We tend to fall away so easily when things are going well. We've started to pray every morning together and read the bible every night. We just really want to learn more about God and not just be satisfied on where we are.

okay, enough from me. I would love to hear from you girls! I miss you guys!

--maybe we could plan some fun trip together sometime? Just short and sweet? Wouldn't that be fun???

Prayer Request...

Hola amores!!

I miss you all so much...especially this past week with school and classes. Oh to be back at Calvin hanging out with you in the midst of the chaos!! :)

I just wanted to write to update you on graduate school. Since I have reached my practicum status, I am officially a trainee!! So exciting, yet scary at the same time!! I meet with my first clients (a married couple) on Wednesday and they only speak Spanish...so as if running my first session isn't stressful enough, let's add the stress of doing it in my second language!! I just need prayers that it will run smoothly and that we will be able to communicate at deeper levels. I just feel so inadequate because I could not be more opposite from them if I tried--a single gringa. God is really stretching me this year and it has only been a couple of weeks!! Then next week I start my first group session with a mom's group (in Spanish again) so I have a lot of new things coming up and, I confess, a lot of fear going into it.

So that is the update on me. How are you girlies doing?? Bec, how is married life?? Erin, how is engaged life? Jenny, how is mom life??

Love you and miss you dearly!!

Yep

Sorry, I should have expanded some more uh? :) Yes, I am starting my own bookkeeping business. It's a little daunting and a lot of work, but this is a dream of mine and I figure that now is the time to do it. I'm collecting unemployment so I'm still getting some money in, but yet I have the time to dive into it.

What do you girls think of Capstone Bookkeeping? I want a Christian meaning behind it so that when someone asks, I can use that as a opportunity, but yet I don't want it cheesy or "too" Christian if you know what I mean. I'm not very creative and I've spent wayyyy too much time trying to think of a name. So if you have any suggestions I would LOVE to hear them. My goal is to have one picked out by the end of the week and just go for it.

I'm working on writing a business plan now and so I'm staying plenty busy. It's really fun though. I'm excited. I'll have to market myself so I hope I"m able to find clients. I have a couple that may be possibilities so we'll see.

This also is a great way for me to be home and not pay for day care! But boy, is it hard working with a baby around. Way harder than I thought. But I just have to train myself. I'm just so thankful I have the opportunity. Just please pray it works out!

What are you girls up to? Erin/Jenny have you started school yet or when do you start? We will be thinking of you!

Well...motherhood is calling. I think I hear Samantha waking up. She says HI AUNTIES! :)

business?

I'm a little confused. JVeld- did you say you have your own business? did you forget to mention that earlier?

Quick note

Hey Girls!

This will be short--Dustin's grandpa died suddenly on Monday morning so we are on our way to SW MN for the vistitation and funeral. We just got back from vacation last week too. It was fun.

It was so good to hear from you girls. Erin--you need to update us on your love life! I'm excited to hear about it. Are you expecting anything soon? I'm planning on another summer wedding! I want to see you girls again.

Bec-glad to hear you guys are doing well! Sure think about you guys a lot.

Jen-sounds like you had a great trip. I haven't had a chance to view your pictures yet. How is your family doing? Anything new?

I better get going. I have to get some groceries before we leave and I'm waiting for Sam to wake up from her nap. Oh and there won't be a second anytime soon! I don't know why but having a second freaks me out. It sounds like so much more work. Having one wasn't that big of deal because she's so easy. But two just sounds really complicated! I pretty much still do whatever I want when I want, but with two, how do you even go to Target? haha. So nope, no #2 for awhile. Maybe we'll start trying in a year or so? I don't know. I want to get my business up and going and focus on that for awhile.

Love you girls so much! I miss you guys like crazy.

So I just tried to change the picture but this is what I got :) Someone else might have to do it!! Sorry, I tried :)

Long time...

It seems like it has been so long since we have communicated. Bec, I agree that your wedding was a tease since it was such a short time, but it was so much fun!! Definitely in my top five weddings that I have been in :)

I just got back from Alaska with the fam. It was beautiful there. You would all love it!! We went rafting and on a wildlife/glacier cruise and I saw whales jumping which was so awesome. Then of course, we had my cousin's wedding on a glacier which was a once in a lifetime experience! Highly recommend you all visit Alaska some time in your life :)

Only a couple more weeks until school (both schools) starts so I am enjoying every moment of relaxation I have left!! It is the calm before the storm :)

Anyway, hope you are all doing well. Jenny, Samantha's pictures look great! Erin, any news on the engagement?? :) Bec, I have been looking into places to see here in Cali when you visit next year :) Can you tell I'm excited.

Love you and miss you!

JRo

hola amigas....
i can't believe it's been a month either. i hope to have some pics soon that I can post. we've only seen 2 wedding pics and one is the jumping one and it is quite humorous. when i get the file i'll post it.

our honeymoon was great- really hot, but so nice to relax and have no responsibilities. married life is great. we have our little spats, but nothing really big yet. it's just so nice to not have to spend so much time on the phone and to be together every night.

nothing too new. life slowed down a lot after the wedding. we're finally settled in and enjoying just relaxing and hanging out with friends. i miss you guys though. it was like a big tease to see you guys for such a short period of time. i hope our only reunions aren't only at weddings, although i'm afraid that may be the case for the next few years. jveld, hope all is well w/ your house and the baby. when is number two coming along? any predictions?

hope JRO and Voss and ready to start working again. Another luxury teacher summer is over...

hope all is well. i'll post pics when i get them

Calvin Chica's!

Girls I miss you already! It's been a month already since the wedding! Crazy.

I hope everyone is doing well. I suppose you teachers are starting to get prepared for another year. I will be praying that your new classes etc go well. Bec--married for a month! How does it feel? I hope everything is going well. Have you guys had a first fight yet? Oh, I remember you telling me that the tempature thing is a struggle. haha. Does he put the seat down? :)

One of you that had your camera out for the wedding should update our picture on this. We all look a little outdated. :)

Love you girls! I keep praying for you guys. Please let me know if there are certain prayer requests.

Unemployed

Hey Girls--

Just letting you know that I got laid off from my job yesterday. It was the one I worked 24 hrs a week at. I've been expecting it for awhile but it still did sting a little knowing I had to lay off my daycare person etc. But...now I get to spend the summer taking care of my little girl! I'm very excited about that.

Please pray this huge change goes okay for us!

sorry this is brief--but I can talk more about it in a week and half in PERSON! YAY!!!!

love you all!

SO close...

Hey girls!! I can't wait to see all of you!! Soon and VERY soon!! Bec--how are you feeling??

Bean bag tourney!

So Dustin built us some really nice bean bag games (made one for my sister). We're having a bean bag tourney on Friday night.

Wanna come?? :-D


CANNOT wait to see you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

t minus 25

hey girls...

yup, now i'm starting to get a little nervous. brie got married this past saturday and everyone was telling me that I'm next now. So that made it hit me. before then i was always after brie and figured that i was fine until after her wedding, but it's all good. now it's just little details. we worked on our playlist/do not playlsit for the dj today. so if anyone has any requests let me know in the next 2 days here. i'm ready for my vacation that's for sure. I'm excited to see everyone. JRO- i know you're coming in wednesday night, and JVeld- you're coming in on Thursday sometime b4 rehearsal, right? Just wonderin who's going to be around when. I don't know if I told you guys this or not, but i have hair appts for all of you b/w 8 and 10 on friday morning. i don't remember who is when, but i'll let you know. let me know if anyone wants anything different. any comments, questions, suggestions, let me know:)

I'm excited to see you all sooo sooooon.

one month!!!

Girls!!! I am sooo excited! Only one more month and we'll all be together again!

Bec--getting nervous???

Miss you all!

Tuesday...

Hi girls. Sorry that it has taken me so long to update you about the date on Tuesday...Becca I saw that you called twice yesterday but I was super busy so I missed your call :(

So it was an alright date. He was really nice and we have a lot in common, but I do not really feel a connection to him. I don't know if its the age difference (he still lives with his parents, and is graduating from undergrad on Saturday) or what it really is but I'm not really interested in him, at least to date. Its hard to explain really. He has a lot of the qualities I look for in a guy, but in all honesty, I have had more of a connection with most of my guy friends than I had with Kyle. I had fun, but I think he could have talked all night, while I was kind of waiting to get back home :)

So overall, it was fun and I am willing to give him another chance, but I think this experience was more for me to be open to the idea of dating.

Anyway, just wanted to keep you girls updated. Hope you are all well!!

Miss you and love you!

Jenny :)

So, Jenny...how did it go with Kyle?!

Hey everyone! Hope you are all doing well. JRo that's great that you are done with school for now. I'm sure you have more time now than you know what to do with! I'm finished with AP History (just watching movies :) and softball finished last week. I'm helping with varsity now, but it's definitely not as busy as it was before! Only 2 more weeks of school then exams. I'm definitely ready for summer!

Jenny, how is Sammy doing? The other day I called Olivia (my new niece) Samantha...it must be because I'm anticipating meeting your cute little one soon! haha...

Becca has been mentioning the little details of her wedding to me lately. It really hit me that her wedding is coming up so quickly! I don't know what I'm going to do without my roomie! I'm getting so excited for the wedding, though...I can't wait to see you all and see Becca all dolled up! ;)

Hope you are all doing well!

JRo...get back to us about this boy...I'm very anxious to hear how it went!

Erin

just a few more weeks...

hola amigas! how's it going?

Not too much new and exciting over here, just keeping on trucking along trying to get everything done and organized. i had my chicago shower on saturday. it was great. we have most of the stuff we need now. there's still a few things left, but we're extremely gratefulwith how generous people have been. We have most things unpacked now. Tom's parents stayed at the condo this weekend so we had to do some major cleaning and organizing so it was presentable.

I'm incredibly interested in JRO's blind date. i expect an update incredibly soon after the date.

i'm so excited to see you guys! i know JRO is coming in wednesday night. I def foresee some major hanging out in the future..

anyways.... new bachelorette and hills is on soon. So i'll be awaiting an update from JRO shortly:)

FINALLY DONE!!!

Hola guapas!!

I finally finished finals and papers for the semester!! It feels SOOO good to know I have 2 weeks off of learning. I'm enjoying it, but it makes me really emotional as well so its good that I can have an emotional breather :)

I should tell you girls that I am going on a blind date on Tuesday. Its with my friend Matt's friend Kyle. He is kinda young (22) but he seems nice. Matt has been working on me all semester and I finally caved in a couple weeks ago. We will see how it goes...it is definitely a growing experience for me becuase you girls know how I am :) We can chat more about it after I go out with him.

Anyway, just wanted to keep you posted!! Love you and miss you all!!

JRo

HELLO!!!

Hi Girls!

So it's been a long time since I've posted and I thought I would start it up again.
I miss you girls so much! I cannot wait for 50 days! How exciting! Becca, I'm praying that you're not feeling too stressed. I know it's a busy time for you.

Erin--congrats on the new neice. She's adorable! I bet they are one busy family!

Jenny-how is your last week of grad school going?

I have a prayer request. I'm at a crossroads with what to do as for work. It is SOOOO hard for me lately to be leaving Sam. It's just killing me. I'm feeling so overwhelmed at home with working 28 hours plus babysitting my sis's kids, yard work, house work and just wanting to actually sit down and PLAY with Samantha. I don't have time for it all. And I guess worse is, I hate my job right now. They are pushing me into sales and I miss accounting. That's my passion. So I am job shopping and I have an interview tomorrow actually. But what my dillema is too is how much do I work? We really need the money to pay down debt, but what does that mean for hours? It's daunting to interview for a job that wants me to work 25+ hours and then what if in 6 months I just can't do that anymore? I don't want to have to quit another job. I'm looking into possibly doing some data entry from home. That would be ideal to supplement a smaller hour job. But how picky do I get? There just aren't a lot of jobs out there! So anyway, if you could pray for peace for me and just that God would lay a job out there for me, I would really appreciate it. It's so hard to leave Sam and it's 100 times worse when I'm leaving her for a job I hate. It's ripping me apart!

So that's all. :)

I would love to hear from you guys!

:) :) :)

Hello beautiful ladies!!

Jenny-thanks so much for your prayers. I really feel them!! And your daughter gets cuter every time I see a picture of her :) You and Dustin make beautiful babies ;)

Erin-let's chat on the phone soon. I want to hear your beautiful voice, and maybe we can discuss your plans in July.

Becster-I LOVE YOUR DRESS!! I can't wait to see you walking down the aisle...I may cry :)

I just wanted to update you girls on some things. My spring break was so great!! I got to go to the mountains (Lake Arrowhead--if you come and visit, I want to take you there) for a few days to get away--it was the perfect balance of relaxing and catching up on teaching stuff. Last Wednesday I had two interviews for a traineeship that I have to do for my MFT program. They both sound so incredible. One is at the Salvation Army working with women in rehab who need support raising their families. The other site is varied but the man I interviewed with offered me a position (unpaid) right away!! He mentioned something about restarting a family therapy program with Hispanic families so I would be counseling in Espanol, which intimidates me to no end, but I know I would learn so much. At this point, the Salvation Army hasn't even decided to take me on, but I would love either site so I have some praying to do as to where God wants me.

Miss you girls so much!! It is so great hearing from all of you. Good job setting this blog up Jenny!! It was a genius plan :)

Love the dress!

Bec--it's beautiful! Thanks for posting pictures! It really is a beautiful dress! Are you going to show Tom? I agree with Erin--I can't wait for the day! It's going to be so fun.
hmmmm--I thought I paid for the dress fully. I will look into it. Do you have their phone #? Cuz I thought I had to pay for it in full in order to have them ship it to me. I'm excited to see the dress!

Wow Erin, your sister really must be ready to pop! can't wait to hear what they had. Keep us posted!
Samantha isn't crawling yet, not even sitting up on her own yet. haha. She needs more daddy training days. :) Nope, no talking yet either. She just laughs, giggles, rolls, poops, pees, spits up, smiles, etc. haha. We are working on getting her to sleep better. We're letting her just cry it out. So far it's been working pretty well. But she flips over to her belly and then she gets really mad. :)

Jen--Dustin and I have been praying for you. I hope you're able to relax and have some down time. When you get back, we need to talk!
Erin--we've been praying for Timothy as well. It has to be hard. I know, my job has been on the ropes for quite some time. It's an awful feeling. Dustin's job is doing their first layoffs as well. He 99% sure he's safe, but still, it's hard to work in that environment--sounds like you know too Bec. We're praying your job holds up too Bec! How is the house???? That will be fun to see too!

Well, I should get back to work. Thanks for the all the updates. I miss you girls!

BEAUTIFUL!

Becca, you look beautiful! I can't wait to see it in real life. :)
I tried on my bridesmaid dress last night and it fit well. I have a little extra room in the "chest" area...figures...so I'll just have to get that taken in, or buy a padded bra ;)

I can't wait until your wedding! It's going to be great to see all of you (and see little Samantha for the first time) in July!

JRo, how's spring break going? Are you feeling better after the week off?

Jenny, how's mommy-life? Is Samantha crawling yet? When do they start walking and talking usually? I should know this...I'm an auntie of almost 5!

My sister-in-law is about to pop soon. She's due April 25! I'm getting excited :)

Hope all is well!

Again, Becca, you look beautiful!

Wedding Updates and Pics

Hey girls! So I went to the bridal store today to get my dress. Voss requested that I take some pics so i thought I'd just share them with all of you so you'd get a little preview:).

ALSO!! You girls' dresses are in. Voss, I just gave you yours tonight. JRO- they told me they have already sent yours out. JVeld- they said that you only paid the deposit on it and have to call in the rest of the payment and then they will send the dress out to you. Let me know if you guys have any questions or any problems with them.

I was pretty happy- i don't need any real alterations- it's a tie up so i can make it as tight or loose as need be. i jsut have to pay for them to bustle (sp???) it and press it. but anyways... here are some pics. Some are a bit too close for comfort, but you get the idea.

Updates

Hi friends,

Hope all is well despite what was just written today. My updates.... we closed on our condo last week. It was not as exciting as I thought it'd be. just a lot of signing. The people move out and we get the keys this weekend. Right now it doesn't really feel like it's ours yet b/c we don't have access, but it will soon. I believe I am scheduled to spend most of the day on saturday painting:). Closing went fine, but Tom had bronchitis. The day before we closed, he skipped work and went to the doctor with 104 fever. They wouldn't let him go home until his fever broke. We thought we might have to reschedule closing b/c if they found fluid in his lungs, he would have had to gone to the hospital. But thankfully there was not fluid and it was acute bronchitis. He's finally going back to work tomorrow.

My job is a bit scary right now too. They let 12 people go 2 weeks ago. It was a very gloomy day. The executives all conveniently were out that day. Some of the layoffs were complete surprises. I discovered that there really is no loyalty. The marketing mgr who had been there for 15 years got laid off. she was so upset she locked herself in her office. a sales rep who had worked for Patten for 47 years got laid off and a few others who you'd never imagine would get laid off, did. We let the temp go in our dept. My boss claims that we're safe now b/c they can't take anyone else away from our dept and have us run smoothly. It's a little bit comforting, but then again, some of the depts with layoffs thought the same thing. So it makes me a bit uneasy with just buying a condo and all, but all i can do is trust God and know that whatever happens, it will work out. We did get a pretty good mortgage pymt with a low house price and a great interest rate. So it's really not too different than a rent pymt in this area. Anyways.... so hopefully they don't lay me off, but if it happens in the 6 months, I can't say I'll be super surprised.

On a lighter note- my dress is finally in. It's actually been in since the beginning of february. The place claims that they called me and left a messgae. I never got one. I think i may have remembered getting a message saying my wedding dress is in. But o well. No sense in fighting it now. So Jennys if you happen to get your dresses in the mail, let me know b/c they may not actually call me to let me know the other girls dresses are in.

JRO- this is the week that I'm supposed to be in Cali, looking up laguna beach and newport harbor mtv places for us to scope out. It makes me very, very sad not to be there. I'm thinking next year hopefully we can revive this tradition.
JVeld- your baby is too stinking cute. I just wish I could meet her before the wedding. How's your job going?
Voss- i live with you, so i have nothing to write here:)

Hey Ladies! I miss you all so much too. Mexico was great. I went scuba diving! It was amazing! We went on a two tank dive and saw two different coral reefs with tons of fish. I saw a sting ray, two sea turtles, and a puffer fish. It was pretty amazing. Becca, you and Tom definitely need to go on your honeymoon. I did get a decent tan, however I'm peeling like crazy! :(

Jro, I know how you feel. With the struggling economy, Timothy has been cutting back on a lot of things. We have a few teachers that will not be returning next year. One teacher being a history teacher and I'll be taking on one of her classes. She taught Western Civilization (a class that I've never taught before) that is a semester class and covers ancient history until WWII. It's upsetting to teach a completely new class especially for the whole semester. HOwever, I'm thankful to still have a job. Our school has been having a number of problems lately involving the board and some of the adminstrators. So please pray for Timothy during this time.

It's difficult this time of year to stay focused on your love of teaching. I'm also struggling to find the joys of teaching when I feel worn out and stretched thin during this softball season. Plus, I just got an email from an angry parent about how she wants her daughter to get more playing time...oh the joys of teaching/coaching.

It's great to hear from you guys. I miss the good old days when we were still in BHT and could enjoy each other's company whenever we wanted.

Hope you are all doing well!

Mis amores...

Oh girls, you have no idea how much I miss you!! Without going into too much detail, I have really been struggling lately. I feel so tired all the time, I have lost my passion to teach, and I am just burned out. Please pray for me becuase I still have about 7 weeks of teaching left and 5 weeks of grauate classes (this semester) and I feel like I can't give anymore or myself becuase there is nothing left to give.
On a lighter note, I am on spring break from Valley so I have a lot of extra time to focus on my school work and can sleep in a bit later than usual. Plus, on Thursday a friend and I are going up to the mountains for a much needed break from the world. We rented this beautiful cable in the woods by Lake Arrowhead which I have heard is just gorgeous. That is exactly what I need to feel like myself again.
Anyway, I love you girls and wish you were coming with me up to the mountains. Jenny, your pictures of Samantha are so cute!! It looks like her personality is starting to shine through in her pictures--her middle name suits her perfectly!! Erin, I can't wait to hear all about Mexico--I'm sure you got a decent tan :) Becca, this time of year feels incomplete because you are not here in Cali with me :(

I miss you girls!

I hope you're all doing well!

Erin--how was your spring break!?!?!
Jen--what did you do for spring break?
Becca--I put a countdown thing just for you. :)

Love you girls!

Thought I would post just the most adorable picture :) haha I am biased
--will right more later! Definitely jealous of Erin right now!

so soon we will reunite:)

Hello friends,

First off, just to inform you, Voss is in mexico this week for spring break, so she prob won't be answering any of your questions any time soon. So that means that i'm sitting in my house all alone b/c everyone is on spring break. kinda stinks and now molly isn't even here anymore to give me company.

Anyways, congrats to d/j and samantha on the dedication. sounds like it was a big success!

To answer your question as to when to come in- i will be working through wed. so if you want to come in wed night, then we could hang out then. but if you want to come in sooner, you can hang with voss too. i just have to work until wed afternoon. thurs, i have to do the nails thing with my mom and sister in law (i'm sure you guys could come too if you wanted), then i think i might have to go to the reception place to help set some stuff up??? these are all things my mom have said we might have to do. if you guys are around, i'm sure we'd love some extra hands decorating tables and whatnot b/c i know we won't have any time for that on friday. then on friday i pretty much have you guys busy from 8 or 9 in the morning, depending on when your hair appt is. so.... in conclusion... you can come whenever- JRO just come whenever the plane ticket is the cheapest for you. but let me know if you'll be needing me to pick you up so i can work around work schedules and such.

okay, i think that's all for now. we're closing on our condo next thursday and then we're supposed to be able to get in the next week. Jveld, i was trying so hard to find a weekend in April to come see you and samantha, but i'm not sure it's going to work now that we're closing next week! time is just flying. I'll let you know though.

Okay amigas, hope all is well. Miss you and love you all. counting down the days.

Becster's Wedding Plans

Hello my beautiful friends!! I miss you all so much :)

Just a couple of questions...I know that Jenny and I are the only ones traveling but I would like to hear some input from our hometown Chi-towners as well.

-Jenny, when are you planning on getting into Chi-town and how long are you planning on staying?
-Bec, when do you prefer us to be there?
-Erin, are you driving to MI the day after the wedding? I heard a rumor you were :)

I am hoping to look for flights soon since July is rapidly approaching and plane tickets are outrageously expensive these days. Plus, it will make me feel one step closer to seeing you :)

Love you girls. Hope all is well!! Happy belated birthday Erin and Congrats Samantha on your dedication!!

Hey Girls!

Erin--did you have a good birthday???? I hope so! I'm sorry I didn't call--I hope you got my card though.

I had such a busy week last week. I had my nephew Tyler all week so that alone was busy. Plus the Veldkamp gang came Friday early afternoon and stayed until Sunday and then on Sunday we had Sam's dedication and we had 25 people over for lunch. It was quite chaotic! I'm turning into a clean freak so I spent all week cleaning up a storm. But it was a lot of fun. Samantha did perfect and won over everyone's heart. :) Dustin sang "Find your Wings" by Mark Harris so it was really sweet. It was a special day for us.

So yeah, I'm sooooo exhausted! I'm ready for some down time this week. We are chaperoning a Youth Group lock in on Friday night so that will be interesting. Especially on Saturday when we will want to sleep--well I'm sure our little girl won't want to sleep all day. :) Then on Sunday night we are on a panel to discuss sex etc with the youth group. I'm nervous for that!

We watched the movie Australia--DUMB! It was 2 hrs and 45 minutes. You know how much I love movies anyway and then a long one at that was horrible. :) We have friends who loved it but I couldn't stand it.
Did any of you see Seven Pounds? I absolutely loved that one! When that comes out on video you should watch it. We watched Changeling though and I liked that (well it was disturbing).

enough of my babbling. I really love hearing from you girls!

100 days and counting...

Today is officially 100 days until we get married. I'm kinda a super nerd and have a formula in one of my spreadsheets at work that I see everyday that is counting down the days until our wedding. We basically have everything in place or for the most part. I'm still waiting for my dress. When i get it, I'll have to see when you guys' dresses will be in. I'm so excited to see everyone again. I was trying to think about when the last time was that we were all together. I know i was with both Jennys in cali a few years ago and I was in chicago with voss and JRO last christmas, but the four of us? that may be sometime like summer after graduation before JRO moved out to Cali? But I could be way off. Anyways, we're supposed to be closing for our condo on the day before good friday or on good friday, depending on the title company. I'm excited, but busy with all this new stuff.

Okay, I think that's all for now. hope all is well with you guys! Can't wait to see you all.

SoCal Happenings

Hola amigas!!
So not a lot is happening over here. Still teaching full time, then going to graduate school at night. I just finished midterms and research papers so I'm less stressed this week!! I am having a hard time staying content in where God has me...I don't know where He is leading me and I feel lonely a lot. Its times like these when I want to curl up under the big green down comforter on the couch at Vassar palace. Those were such good times!! July cannot come soon enough when we are all reunited once again!! How long has it been since all of us have been together in the same place??

Anyway, I wish I had more exciting news, but I love reading all that is going on in your lives!!

Miss you girls!!

YAY :)

Well, let's see. It's been pretty low key over here. Samantha is getting dedicated (our church doesn't do baptism, which after studying, I'm very okay with.) on the 29th so we have like 25+ people coming to our house for lunch. So you can about imagine that I'm freaking out. :)

Umm...my work has been really stressful lately. My boss is going through a divorce so she is pretty shook up and hasn't showed up much. But I guess I've been getting more hours in so that's nice.

Dustin and I are co-leading a small group Bible Study. We absolutely love it! We've really gotten to know some awesome friends. We hang out with friends at least once a weekend and usually during the week too. There are 17 people in our group. We just had it our house last night. It's really nice to have Christian friends to grow with. I think that's why I have missed you girls so much lately!

Yeah, not much else I can think of. I'm really excited for your wedding Bec. It will be fun to see everyone again. Sam is excited to meet/see everyone :) Have I told you lately how much I love our little girl? She's amazing. I LOVE being a mom. Life has definitely changed, but I wouldn't go back.

Erin--congrats on the boy! Oh...I better change our language to man now. :) haha. That's really exciting for you. You should post some pictures on here! And isn't wierd how 30 really doesn't seem that old? At least I don't think so. He'll just be more anxious to have kids. I like that. :)hehe

speaking of pictures--feel free to add events, change events, post pictures, etc!

Excited to hear about you girls!

Great idea! I miss you guys a ton!

Yes, I'm dating someone. Sorry I didn't tell you earlier :(. He's a very nice boy. His name is Harold Hamstra, but people call him Hal for short.

He goes to my church and he comes from a very nice family. He's celebrating his 30th birthday March 26 (yes, a day before mine...cute...). So, he's an old fart!

Nothing too new besides that. What's going on in your life?

Awww this is so cute!! I miss you girls so much!! I can't wait to see you in July :)

Sounds like a good idea to me Jenny! Emails are hard to keep up with. Yup, sorry I didn't tell you earlier that we're buying a condo. So basically, buying a condo, getting married, and looking at going to school next fall.

A new blog

So I think we should keep in better contact with eachother. I miss you girls! I didn't even know Erin was dating, I didn't know Becca was buying a condo! Since emails can sometimes be hard to reply to and then we aren't emailing everyone. Maybe we could try a blog and then we post hellos and anything new that happens with us. I think that would be fun.

What do you guys think?