Visit from Heath...

Keith's dear friend - Heath Meikle- came for a week long visit! It was such a joy to see him... what an encouragement to hear about his family's plans for further missionary work in Greece and to experience his GREEK COOKING! I managed to gain 2 pounds while he was here... it was GOOD FOOD!!

Keith and Heath- I know a tongue twister at best- did all sorts of odd jobs around the house too!! I LOVE PROJECTS! At one point there were several holes in various parts of the house... all with a purpose! Thank you again to Heath for helping out!

As you can tell from the pics- Uncle Heath is a serious amount of FUN! We all enjoyed laughing as much as we did!

There was also a ice storm that left a layer of ICE on everything... check out the cool pics!

I am looking forward to the Christmas season, but will miss our Canadian families! We plan to stay busy, but still catch up on REST! Much needed REST!

Papa and Gramma visit- 2010

With the crazy schedule we keep around here there was hardly any time to get ready for my parents, but we certainly have been looking forward to their visit this year! They arrived Thursday in time to pick up the kids from school and get their long awaited HUGS! We've managed to pack in almost every moment with something special and fun... once the school work is done....

Friday was the kids' DSCS choir performance- what a treat to hear all 250 students sing the Hallelujah chorus! Ellie had a solo singing part and did very well!

Saturday the kids got down to fun stuff and played lots of Crokinole with Papa- who remains undefeated! It also snowed and I am hoping that my parents will take the white stuff back with them to Canada when they leave!!!

Saturday was also the first day Keith was done with his semester- he woke up and said, "I can read whatever I want to today!" He had a wonderful semester once again and I am so thankful for all that he has learned at SBTS! He did try to beat Papa at crokinole, but he needs to practice more if he is to take down PAPA any time soon!

After church today we all went to the KFC Yum center for a NCAA girls basketball game- which my dad was EXCITED to see! It was a great game!

Somehow we managed to fit in decorating the gingerbread house and eating holiday treats too! This precious time with them will pass all too fast....

We have a TEENAGER!

Our ELLIE- sweet and rather TALL- first born turned 13 years old this week! WOW! That went fast... We celebrated with some friends and family at our place. We gave her a guitar along with G'ma and G'pa- so now she has another instrument to play!

We are blessed to have Ellie as our daughter~ she is truly a gift!

Fall Events in Louisville :)

Fall is here and the gorgeous fall colours are OUT! It is still extremely dry here which has resulted in some nice weather... warm :) I did turn on the heat a few days ago, but now this week it is off again! We are cooking under all our warm blankies!

Halloween was fun once again. The kids dressed up enough to go and get some candy... as you can see Daddy dressed up a bit too! My favourite was Luke's shield... the pot lid!

Keith preached at our church this last weekend and did well! He is pretty tired after such a busy weekend, but thankful for the opportunity to preach and LEARN!

Ellie has started basketball and Luke will start this week too. Megan gets to learn more ART from a care group friend- lucky girl! I am busy with the house and keeping up with enough food in the fridge! Latesha continues to adjust to our Canadian-isms and is a wonderful part of our family! The semester is racing to a finish and Christmas will be here all too soon! I have been wanting to put up some Christmas decor, but somehow it does not feel right when Luke is still wearing shorts and flip flops!!

Love and hugs!

Teresa

Visit from Lukas and Natalie

How wonderful to have family come and visit! My cousin Lukas and his new bride Natalie are on an adventure driving across the USA and they stopped at our place for TWO NIGHTS! The kids were excited! I was excited! What a treat to have them here... in our house... hanging out... talking face to face! My baby cousin Lukas is 6'5" so my Luke looks up to him and think the WORLD of him! I certainly loved getting to know Natalie and the kids loved their new "Aunty" Natalie! We were not able to make their wedding last June so seeing them was awesome!

We wore them out as we toured Louisville... We ate KFC at the Colonel's grave, walked through Church Hill Downs, toured Old Louisville and checked out the seminary area. We also made yummy LEFSE with some friends and kept the Norwegian roots alive!

So now the big question.... Who's coming NEXT????? That was not long enough of a visit, but we'll take what ever we can get!

16 years and counting....

This week Keith and I celebrated our 16th anniversary! Once again I pulled out my foofy 90's wedding frock and tried it on. This year the girls all dressed up too with some fancy dresses while we had a tea party and watched "My Fair Lady." The men of the house coped by cooking (Keith) and eating (Luke) :) As you can tell from the picture Luke did his best to be a pest!

To celebrate Keith and I took the whole troop plus 2 more (Matt & Abbie) to Indianapolis to see a Symphony concert with the famous violinist Midori. What great memories we had from the event!

Then in the midst of all the busy I had to turn another year older... sigh! Next year will be the big 40... oh well... at least Keith gets to go first! Keith took me to the Louisville riverfront with take out sushi and no kids to celebrate.

Busy! Busy! Busy!

Wow- times flies when you stuff lots into your days! We are having a HOT and DRY end of summer here. Our poor grass is brown and in need of a good rain. Most of the trees in the area are losing their leaves- not because fall is here.... it has been a drought!

We also have an addition to our family since last post! Latesha has joined our busy family and is adjusting to life with the Hanson family! She is 19 years old and working in a preschool right now. She was at bible school last year and is now auditing some courses at SBTS to keep on growing and learning. She is one sweet girl and we are all growing to love her more all the time. She has been a big help around the house and is learning how to cook .... easy meals from me and tasty complex meals from Keith!!! (this picture is of the kids playing marshmellow guns in the yard!)

Megan's team is all done Volleyball and Ellie's team has just started games. I am trying to keep up without getting too sore, but I love watching the girls learn to play! I am a proud mom to say the least!

I have been keeping up with my SWI class and some other commitments. Somehow there is not enough hours in the day for rest or even better... a nap! And those kids of ours are GROWING! Ellie is past 5'7" now and rapidly chasing me for height! Megan just grew out of shoes I bought for her 3 months ago! Luke has almost outgrown his size 10 pants! I'm not even going to describe all the food they eat!

Our care group took a trip to Huber's orchard for apples and pumpkins- fun times! We are learning to love all the times we have with our church family because most of us are seminary folk who will be moving on all too soon! We sure have great fellowship and establish deep bonds!