Our Christmas Videocard

Here's a special holiday post for everyone. We wanted to send out a special greeting to all of our friends and family and to share this video postcard highlighting the events of the past year. We've had our ups and downs, our highs and lows, but through all of it, we feel very blessed for everything that we have.

Wishing you the promise and hope that is Christmas. Merry Christmas!

when the weather outside is frightful...

It's been a tough winter season so far. This past week we were hit with two pretty big storms and it seems to snow almost every day. BUT, some of you reading this must be thinking "yeah, yeah, yeah, winter, we get snow and we're cold too". Fair enough. Then again, take a look at our temperature today and see if you've felt this cold before...


Yes, the real feel was -28 F today!

Bonus coverage --

what a catch!

A couple of weeks ago, we headed back to Philly for Aaron & Carrie's wedding, a wedding we were definitely looking forward to. Aaron is one of our best college buddies, and an all-around great guy. We have never seen him so happy as when he's with Carrie.

While I caught up with old friends back in Philly, Terah grabbed our camera and headed out to beautiful central PA for the rehearsal...





Standing with the couple is Jason - our college staff worker turned full-out awesome pastor.



Hanging out with Aaron the morning of:













The moment before Carrie appeared













At the reception. Even though it was raining, it was on this beautiful hill with sweeping views of the open fields. Loved it.



Sorry Scott for the finger looking like it's up your nose, but I really like this picture of Kristen. Thanks for taking one for the team =).



Wilson, Ann, and Maddie - the star of the show





It was "good for the soul" to see so many close friends we hadn't seen in awhile. We didn't catch it in photos, but we also got to go back and visit our church, the west philly vineyard - and it meant a lot to us to see everyone doing so well. It reminded us of how much history we have tied to Philly.



Much love to Aaron and Carrie!

catch up

We've got some catching up to do! Fall has passed here in Chicago, and we're well into the season of mittens and earmuffs. I've been trying to finish a 50 pg paper & Terah's been busy wrapping up his interviews. But the big news of the month - we're officially headed for the west coast next year! exciting stuff. Anyway, here's a few snapshots of the past month.

For my birthday, my one request was to go somewhere that I could experience total silence. We ended up in Indiana...











Age comes with maturity (read the sign)





totally Terah's idea.

Then we had some awesome visitors in town. Val, our good friend from philly, was here because Hubie was running the chicago marathon - way to go Hubie!



Then my sister stayed for a week. My parents treated us to a morning at the spa. Best. massage. ever.

my wife said it all...

wooohoooo! a Phillies win makes me a happy man (for more reasons than one...)

some philly pride

I never thought I would ever be writing a post on sports. But having the Phillies in the world series has done that to me. My heart is swelling with pride... GO PHILLIES! I used to go to your games at Citizens Park and I can't believe you're all the way here!!!

only one thing to say as a Red Sox fan...

GO PHILLIES!!!!!!!



thanks for the memories and another great season

don't stop believing...

For those not already familiar with my sport allegiances, no worries, as I will leave this a short post. No matter what happens tomorrow in game 7 of the ALCS against the Rays, I have to say that game 5 was probably one of the most incredible moments in Red Sox history. Not as big as beating the Yankees in 2004, coming back from a 0-3 deficit, but still historic in nature and moment. Some of you may not know what I'm talking about, so I'll summarize it this way:

Tampa Bay is leading Boston by 3 games to 1. They only need one more game to win the series. They are leading 7-0 in the 7th inning. In fact, some non-loyal fans even began to leave the stadium. Yet the Sox found a way to come back to win 8-7. Incredible. Wonderful. Historic. Magical.

The cover of ESPN.com captured it well:

Bermuda wedding

Continuing our time in Bermuda, we took a ferry across the bay to the town of Hamilton









the new look of the working man





The day of the wedding, Terah along with my dad, uncle, and cousin got to test out the golf grounds





while we got to test out the waves



At sunset, we loaded a van that took us to a bluff overlooking the ocean





can we say gorgeous?









the groom's parents



my cousin and mother of the bride











Back at the reception, look at this view













good bye bermuda. we already miss your warm weather and lazy atmosphere.