An Irish Blessing

May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, The rains fall soft upon your fields and, Until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

You know those people in your life who come and go and no matter how long it has been since you've seen them it feels like yesterday? That is Mary Dennis. Mary and I worked together at the Purdue Alumni Association for five years and she is such a dear friend. I feel so blessed to know her and her family. She came to visit and of course the boys fell in love with her and her Irish accent. Here she is holding PJ and making Reas smile.

Her visit was the beginning of a great weekend. The photos can be viewed here.

Crafty Lady

In my pre-baby days I was an avid crafter. Notice I said avid, not good. I believe its the effort that counts. Regardless, my time for crafting has declined a bit since the boys arrived but I saw this letter collage on a great interior design blog I follow and thought I would give it a try and a little twist. You can see the original project and steps here. Overall I think it came out pretty great.

Blessings

Eleven years ago I met nine of the most amazing women. Little did I know during the summer of 2000 when we were training in Indianapolis and NOT parking cars on our lawn that these women would continue to play a huge role in my life for years to come. In the 11 years since our stint as Collegiate Leadership Consultants we have religiously gotten together at least two times a year. We've shared many joys and some sorrows together and through it all we've shared a lot of laughter and love. The blessing I feel to be a part of this wonderful group has no words. We spent this last weekend together in Indianapolis with some of our children and I already can't wait for our next gathering.

When people ask me why I believe so strongly in the sorority experience this is the example I use. We did not go to college together so we didn't share four years of fun in a sorority house. We had one month of living together, a year of shared experiences and now we'll have a lifetime of friendship. That is the power of the sorority experience.

Here are the photos from our weekend.

3 months update

Reas and PJ turned 3 months this week. They are definitely becoming more active and aware of what is around them. We are getting a lot more smiles and conversation.

They love bath time and swinging in their swing and sitting in their pappasan chairs. It has been a great three months for us as well. We are very blessed with wonderful friends and family. This weekend's visitors were Brian and Corrine Sipich and Ben Jennings & Erin Rossier. We had a great time watching the Butler Bulldogs advance to the final game of the NCAA Tournament.