We are nearing our 1st Anniversary, July 2nd. So, while our parents were all here this last weekend we celebrated, sort of. My mother, Donetta, brought the cake topper which barely escaped our hands last summer. (We were hungry for cake after returning from Mexico). But it survived the year and actually tasted pretty good. Wrapped with the cake was a note from a good friend, Tom Brand. Apparantly, we weren't the only ones that tried to eat our cake last summer! Tom had left a note that he wanted to eat the cake, but his wife Beth stopped him! Thanks Beth!



We haven't mentioned much about our "crazy dog" as our blog is titled. Ryley is our 3-yr old Weimaraner. She has just learned to catch a frisbee, and she looks pretty cool. She loves it when Jonathon rough houses with her. She's recently learned a new "trick." Several times this week, after I have left for work and Jonathon gets in the shower, she hops on the bed. She knows she's not supposed to be on there, so she waits until he gets in and somehow has figured out to get off before he is completely done. Smart? Well, we're not quite ready to admit that, but persistent we must say!

What an eventful weekend. My parents, Vern and Elaine, got here on Thursday evening and spent the weekend with us. We had a great time with them. Dad was suppose to bring me the old Craftsman lawnmower, but instead surprised me with a John Deere one instead (I now have a mower too big for my yard).

Friday was spend with Dad just tooling around the house and yard working on some different things. Then that night Jessica and I took them to our favorite restaurant, Schnicks (funny name, great food).

Then on Saturday around 1:00 Jessica's mom and dad, Stan and Donetta, along with her sister Joy and husband Sheldon, got here to really get the party started. That night we grilled for everyone and just had a good time of eating, and playing cards. It was great having everyone around for the weekend.

Then we had my ordination yesterday. The whole thing went really well, with a lot of encouraging words being said by everyone from the congregation. After the ordination we had a pot-luck dinner for whoever wanted to come and celebrate with Jessica and I. We got a lot of nice cards and some fun gifts. The word got out that I am in the market for some new golf clubs, so some people chipped in to help me in getting some.

That afternoon we had a chance to hang out with my cousin Kerri and her husband Darin who live here in Indiana. They had come up for the ordination, so we had a chance to get to hang out with them and their 7 month old Grace. She was a lot of fun and just a little bit on the cute side.

All in all we really had a great weekend. The rest is just some pictures taken at my ordination.

Life continues to go very well, and sometimes quite busy. Yesterday was a nice change of pace however. Both of us slept in. It was Jessica's day off from the bank, and I decided since I had been on duty 24 hours a day all last week that it was time to take a day off as well. Jessica went over to help out a family who is getting ready to sell their house. Her and a few other ladies went over to clean and help get the place in order for the sell.

Once she got home we spent some time watching our favorite show on DVD: Everybody Loves Raymond. We have now successfully made it through the first six seasons, and are now eargerly anticipating the arrival of the 7th season on DVD.

Then we went to Merrillville to have a date night. We watched Cars, the new Disney movie. I give it two thumbs up. Then we had a little bite to eat at Chilis. After that it was off to Wal-Mart where we found some new fabric that Jessica is going to make Roman shades out of for our back sun-room. She's so talented.

Our families are going to be arriving here in just a few more days. I am getting ordained this weekend, so they are coming out to be a part of that. My parents are getting here on Thursday, and Jessica's parents are getting here on Sat. with Joy (her sister) and husband Sheldon. We're definately excited to see all of them.

Just this last week I had the opportunity to take a few of the high school students to a CIY conference in Anderson, IN. The kids had a great time, and I did as well. The conference was really well put on, with all the t's crossed and the i's dotted. We really had a good time as a group on that trip (especially with one of the students downing about a half-can of easy cheese, as another student poured for him).

We're just about to wrap up all of our graduation receptions (12 down, 1 to go). They really spread them out around here, which works out well for us (more free food).

Yesterday we spent fathers day with a couple of families that have adopted us when things like this come up. We spent the evening eating a laughing a lot. We really couldn't ask for a funner church family.

Just thought I might show a fun little picture from our Atlanta trip. We had the choice of renting a normal car, or a convertable. Sometimes there really are dumb questions in life.

Life continues to go well for us. We had a great time last weekend on a trip that we took to the Gary Southshore Railcats Baseball game. They are a Triple-A ball team in Gary, In, only about 45 minutes up to see them. They put on a great time of family fun. We took our 4th-6th graders and their families up to have a family fun night. I'm not sure if the kids had as much fun as the parents at times.

Planning is now getting ready for me to take our high schoolers to CIY in Anderson, IN. We leave this next Monday, and I'm sure will have a wonderful time.