Thanksgiving and more!

Okay, so I've not been in too much of a blogging mood lately. I think it's because I'm trying to come up with a new name for our blog, since obviously we are no longer "Live from Louisville" and I have no creativity when it comes to that sort of thing. Also, I've really been contemplating making our blog private. I don't know...in the last year or so, I've been getting a lot of strange comments and followers, and I think it just kind-of weirds me out that random people are looking my girls' pictures. We'll see. Any thoughts on that are welcome.

Anyway, we are just plugging along in our new little place. Evan is finding his niche with his job, which is super exciting. He had 12 students his first Wednesday night, two the first Sunday, and one this past Sunday. We are GREATLY encouraged especially by the one or two on Sundays, as NO students have been coming on Sunday since the beginning of summer. Bismarck is full of the sweetest people I've ever met, and I can't wait to get to know them better. We leave church every Sunday truly LOVING where we are. It's so different than Louisville and 9th and 0, but different is often good. :) 

I'd like to say that we are settled, but it's really hard to be settled when you don't have your own space. Really, though, community living isn't terrible. I can think of a lot worse things, actually, like sharing a hospital room with an 80 year old lady who talked in her sleep every.single.night. :) Jeremy and Merrilee are really more than gracious to us and the only time it gets super crazy is around bath time and meal time. We would ask that you pray, pray, pray for the Lord to send a good renter for our house in Louisville. We are ready to have our own place again, as I'm sure Jeremy and Merrilee are ready to have us out of here! 

Soooo...what else is going on....

Arden is 7 months old. I never got around to doing a "month" post, so I'm going to include it here. She is SO BIG. Crawling everywhere, and pulling up on everything! Formula seems to agree with her for the most part and she's eating three solid meals of baby food. She takes a bottle about every 3.5-4 hours and is sleeping from about 7-7:30 at night until 7 in the morning. She is like clock-work on waking up in the morning, too! I mainly want to document this, because I NEVER thought Arden would break that twilight feeding, but I guess the formula has been good for something! She also usually takes two solid naps a day--one from about 9ish until 10:30 or 11, and another one from about 1:30-3:00 or 4:00. I can FINALLY say she is a pretty good sleeper. As far as food goes, she likes pretty-much everything except squash. Arden can blow raspberries like no other baby and can say "Da-Da" already. Even though she can say "Da-Da," I am most certainly her favorite, as she reaches for me first and cries when she sees me walk in a room. Arden is PRECIOUS and we just love every day with her!

Thanksgiving was so special for us this year, as this was our first Thanksgiving at home in three years! We sure missed our time at the Blackwell's house, but had such a great time seeing our blood kin! We took off on Tuesday afternoon and headed to Little Rock, since Evan got an invite to go deer hunting. Evan spent the day on Wednesday deer hunting, while Kendall, Arden, and I hung out with Faith. 

We spent Thanksgiving day with Evan's family. It was a great, low-key day with lots of food and fun. It was a little cool, but the bigger kids were able to spend some time playing outside. 

Friday, the four of us headed for Stuttgart, where we made it just in time to watch #1 vs. #3. It was a tough loss, but we still love our HOGS!!!  Evan and I got a fun night out while my dad and Annette (I think mainly Annette) :) watched the girls. We attended an engagement party for my dear friend Adriane who is getting married in June. I enjoyed getting to see some of my sweetest friends from high school. After spending time with them, I am more than convinced that old friends truly are the best friends! 

We made it back to Bismarck on Saturday afternoon. It was SO GREAT knowing that our drive home was only 2.5 hours and not 10! Thanksgiving really is my favorite. I love the non-commercialized aspect of the holiday and I think it's so important to reflect on all that we have, because we ALL have much, much more than we deserve!