Introducing the newest member of our family!!

Adam has been vigilantly watching the newspaper looking for a good breeder from which to get our new puppy. Well, last weekend he found just that and we drove to Gates, NC Monday night to see a litter of three month old yellow labs. We looked at four male pups, but decided on the lightest in color and largest in build, boy was picking him out a tough decision because they were all so cute. He came home with us that very night. He is such a love!

We'd like to introduce you to SAMSON!

The pup has champion blood lines and was quite the find. For the most part, training has been good and he's learning new things every day. He's playful, but not too hyper (yet) and we just LOVE him! He even met all the dogs at my parents on Thanksgiving and they got along well.

He's been a wonderful addition to our family!

I have been praying for a couple years now (literally) that when the time came for us to finally get a dog (because Adam has waited patiently, but has been dieing for one), I would love him and be excited about it and God has definitely changed my heart about pets, at least our pet! I am very lucky we found such a sweet puppy to break me into pet ownership and Adam is nuts about Samson. He is already this man's best friend! Feel free to come by and meet him!

Housewarming Tour and Festivities

This past Saturday night we had our housewarming party.

If you weren't able to make it, here's a bit of the tour you would have gotten.

Here's the living room as you enter the house.

Followed by the dining room, which is home to my Nana's dining room set.This is the coat closet that we converted into the downstairs half bath.

(There's a toilet opposite that sink, but that's it for this bathroom).You are now entering the kitchen.We opened up this wall to give the galley style kitchen a more open feel.Now we're headed upstairs where the master bedroom is on our right.Mom and I reinterpreted the old set of curtains (for one window) into two new valence style curtains, and to think they started out as a bed skirt.The master bathThe hall where we have our laundry closet and bookshelf which houses our Starbucks mug collection.Our guest bathroomOur guestroom/office

And now for the evening's festivities...

We put the dining room to good use and had a nice spread of finger foods from mozzarella, tomatoes and basil to bruchetta to sausage and peppers and desserts too.

We enjoyed having everyone over to celebrate our new home.

Here's some shots of the evening's guest...

Our middle school Waves leaders Celeste and John came all the way from Charlottesville to celebrate with us! Anna and Haley traveled from Radford and Richmond to see the place and Courtney came WITH her new hubby to see how our new house has been shaping up.Friends from church stopped by too and hung out.A bunch of us...this seems like it may become a popular spot for future group photos!

Thanks everyone for coming over to celebrate our new home!

We are so blessed to have the house and so many wonderful friends and family to warm it.

Rachel and Nick's Wedding

My cousin Rachel Giuffre married the love of her life Nick DiDio November 7th in Philadelphia.

(Adam was in Charlotte for his last seminary class, but my parents and I met Anna and Will in Philly for the wedding festivities which we'd all been looking forward to for a year.)

It was a beautiful evening with lots to celebrate!

The ceremonyPortrait timeThe reception...

after introductions the entire wedding party did the Cupid Shuffle.The couple's first danceFather Daughter DanceMother Son Dance Anna was honored to say the kiddish (a Jewish blessing over the wine). The Bride and Groom during the Best Man's toast (hilarious!)My Nana dancing up a storm...
Mom and Papa dancing too.The cup cake wedding cake.Other wedding details...

Some shots of everyone all gussied up.
Can you believe my Papa is 92 and my Nana is 88!

We can all hope to look that good as we get older!

Congratulations Rach and you're a lucky man Nick. It was a beautiful wedding and we hope you have a beautiful life together! XOXO

Wicked 10K

After a few weeks of training, I was able to run my first 10K! The race was held on Halloween down at the oceanfront. Check out some of the costumes people actually ran in!

Here's a fish... and Elvis...and the Wizard of Oz...and what did I dress up as for the race you may ask? I went disguised as a runner (haha)...and there I am getting ready to cross the finish line and get my medal!

(Can you see me? I'm right beside the clock the race's black shirt and black leggings.)I ran with a couple of ladies who help out with our youth group!

Way to go Mary Ann and Lisa! We did it!Yay for completing 6.2 miles. That is my longest run yet.

I'll let you know what's to come when I decide what distance to tackle next, but for now I am thrilled to have completed a 10K!

Adam's Ordination

Adam was ordained at Atlantic Shores Baptist Church in October of 2009.

We are all so proud of him and what a beautiful service they held in his honor!

Ira Townes, one of the church's pastors, introducing the people who would be giving testimony to Adam's character and work in the church.Craig Bacon, one of our middle school leaders

Paul Gorski, a middle school leader and parentBrian Perkin, another middle school leader and parentMarilyn Clark, one of Adam's youth group leaders from when he was in the ministry in high school Worship lead by Alicia Ward and Laura Oliver, two of our good friends at churchScott Wilcher gave the challenge using an umbrella as a symbol for the authority that resides above us. He asked Adam to respect the authority above him because it is placed there to look out for him rather than abusing your own authority.
Roger Hammond, our executive pastor calling for the ordination board to come and pray over Adam.
Adam receiving prayerAdam being given a Bible as a memento of the occasion with my right beside him, then they prayed for us as well and bestowed the title of Reverend upon him!The family there to see Adam receive the title of Reverend.

A few pictures with Reverend Adam Herndon. I am so proud of him. This was such an important moment in his career and we are thankful so many were there to celebrate it with us.

Our First Dinner Club

My friend Laura and I recently decided to start a dinner club with a group of gals from church. Each month someone will volunteer to hostess the meeting and that person will choose the theme for the evening. I hosted the first and chose Chinese food for the theme. Everyone then makes a new recipe to share with the group and if something goes awry, it doesn't matter because there is plenty of other items to try.

We had quite the spread of Chinese food from hot and sour soup (which I made) to homemade fortune cookies, green tea cookies, sweet and sour chicken, spicy steak, rice noodle salad, non-fried egg rolls, stir fried veggies, cheese wontons, and of course hot tea.

I even had chop sticks and Chinese take away boxes for left overs. Everything was delicious and we really enjoyed ourselves for the evening. Next month we're looking forward to making some new Mexican recipes. It will be festive I'm sure.

Hallelujah Harvest

I only got a few shots this year because I was helping out, but here are some highlights from this year's Hallelujah Harvest. Last year I even got some trunk shots.Adam was dressed as one SERIOUS pirate! Everyone kept asking where my costume was, but I didn't get that memo until moments before the event so I donned my pirate costume on Halloween.Here we have TJ the circus juggler, Adam the pirate and Nima the snake charmer.The student ministry ran all the games at the event. Lyz and I with her little ladybug eating candy from the Trunk-or-treating!

The weather was beautiful and the church had a fantastic turn-out.

Hallelujah for Hallelujah Harvest!