Prayer please!

Many of you know that JT has been having trouble with his shoulder for a while.  We've known that he's needed surgery for over a month now, but with the half-marathon and work it's been challening to schedule it.  He was at the doctor's yesterday and because he will be flying in December and we wanted to do the surgery before the year ends, he will be having his surgery tomorrow (Thursday) at 2:30.  I have taken off work for the afternoon and all day Friday.  It seems sudden, which the scheduling certainly was (thanks for the 2 days notice!), but we have been planning on getting this done.  He has a cracked collar bone and a possible labrum tear underneath it.  They are going to cut and remove about 1 centimeter of his collar bone and smooth out the edge.  They are also going to look for any other tears.  The surgery should take between 1 and 2 hours.  Right now his mobility with the shoulder is very limited and he has pain doing everyday tasks.  Please pray for steady hands for the doctor and a calm heart for his wife :)  Even though surgery makes me nervous, it's so wonderful to know that God is in control.  We have a wonderful maker who loves us so much, and I sleep well knowing Justin is in his hands.  Will update tomorrow or Friday with how everything went.     

13.1... check!

Well here we are... all in one piece.  We woke up this morning (quite early!) and the daylight savings helped :)  We were lookin rough, but ate our bagels with peanut butter glopped on (yummmm) and headed to the race with our good friends Mark, Kristy, and their son Drew.  I will say, it was freeeezing!  However, much better than my first half marathon where I didn't bring a coat.  Ummm yea, learned my lesson the first time and was much more comfortable this time around.  We were smiling tho!

The gun went off and I needed a bathroom break 2 miles in (too much info, I know) so JT went on ahead.  Took me a good 35 minutes but I caught up to him.  We ran side by side for the rest of the way.  That is until I pulled ahead the last half mile and beat him by 30 seconds.  I have been running for 7 years and this man has been running for 6 months.  So I will swim in that 30 seconds until he beats me next race (did I just say "next race?").

(notice he's passing the nice lady on his left)

(Mark coming down the home stretch!)

Way to go guys!

These foil things really do keep you warm

I just love this little boy!

We love the DeCiccos

JT's boss Lori and co-worker (and friend) Mark

Soooo happy!

After we got home we ate whatever we wanted ('bout to go get a milkshake to wash down those lofthouse cookies), watched lots of TV, and just relaxed.  I went grocery shopping which helped my legs loosen up.  JT is still suuuper sore so we are going for a walk in a few minutes.  Overall it was a great experience.  We stayed safe, healthy, and even finished in sub 2 hours!  (1:58:24 for me and 1:58:55 for him).  I 'm so grateful for a husband who would pick up a sport, which he really doesn't like, just to spend time with me... and he did so well too!  He's already talking about our next one while I just want to focus on this one being over :) 

Quick shoutout to Mark who just picked up running when JT did, Laurel who definitely had perseverance until the end, and Lori who is an inspiration to all!  Not to mention Kristy who held all our things, took care of a 3 year old for hours in the cold and did the driving just to support us.  What a great day.  God is so good :)

Packet Pick-up

Well the time has come... our half marathon is tomorrow!  We haven't trained like we had wished, but what are ya gonna do?!  We saw our friends Mark and Tim (and Elam!) at the pick-up place.  I was pretty excited because I really like the environment and festivities that come with a half marathon... not to mention the coupons and free offers.  I'm sure the $70 or so that we spent signing up covered it all, but I'm still the sucker that feels like its free :)

We carbed up on pasta last night and are going out to dinner tonight with 3 other folks from JT's office that will be running as well.  Pics of that to come.  Until then... we're #1!

(so I know I'm technically saying "hang ten"... but I promise it was meant to be a 1)

Special Delivery!

How did we NOT win?!?!

Our Sunday School class had a Halloween Party complete with a costume contest. My brother and new sister Beth spent half the day helping me make our costumes. I thought they were genius. Apparently not so. Hezikiah and wife took the prize. Stinkin Amish...

Operation wedding cake = success!!

Woohoo!! Glad that's off my chest :) And yes... that is a ninja turtle (Leonardo to be exact) and a dinosaur on top (complete with ring and veil). Matt and Beth's favorite childhood toys...
**Edit**- My brother, Matthew has informed me that it is indeed Donatello on top of the cake.  How would I know that you ask?  Because donatello "has the sweet bow staffs," ... got it :)

What a wonderful wedding my brother and his new wife Beth had Last Saturday (23rd). I took off work on Thursday to do last minute pretzels (pictured below) and preparation. My mom and I headed out on Friday to meet up with the extended family. JT came Friday night to meet us at the rehearsal dinner. It was a very close nitch of people and felt really magical. The wedding was in the backyard of the house Beth grew up in. God gave us perfect weather for an outdoor wedding and the whole thing was just spectacular. SO excited to have a new seeeester :)

My two big brothers and I... oh how I love them so much!

Chocolate lollipops, chocolate covered pretzels, and chocolate covered oreos. I think these were a bigger hit than the cake!

Look at that good lookin' couple!

My Maid of Honor Allison... and a beeeeautiful girl might I add. Love her!

The new sibblings!!

Operation Wedding Cake... trial #1 = F-L-O-P!

Whelp, looks like I might be in over my head. My brother, Matt, is getting married (to one of the most fabulous women I know) and they asked me to make their cake. Now, it's just a funfetti cake and they are having lots of other desserts too... BUT it is 3 tiers and I have to transport it from Raleigh to Charlotte. Hmmm...

Although strentuous and leading to the verge of tears, the process was quite fun! Here's the first pouring of the batter. Notice the confidence level compared to the previous photo. Little did I know I was making humble pie...





Matthew bringing lots of cheer and not so much whine :)

My Sous Chef... Mom :)




Here's the cake rising...

and rising...

Aaaaaand the final product...

Yes, that's batter in the middle and me being so sad :(

Fun was had by all.

Less than 2 weeks!!!

Talked to one of my co-workers who's had much more practice than I have. Will change some things and have trial #2 next weekend. Stay tuned...

A New Journey

Ok ok, I know it's been toooo long. But there are a few explanations! For the most part, JT and I both started our Master's Programs at Shepherd's Theological Seminary this semester. Here we are at Olive Garden the night before classes started...

We are enjoying the homework part as we are learning so much. But when we get to class, we feel like 3rd graders :) I have a good understanding now when they say, "Mrs. Rimbey, I just don't get it." And they feel embarassed even though I totally don't care and know they're learning. Welcome to the world of not know what is going on, Summer! Dr. Bookman (our professor) is unbelievable. He's one of the world's most renowned experts on the life of Christ. When he talks, if you didn't know any better you'd think he was there when it happened! The guy knows his stuff. But have you ever met someone who just can't "dumb it down," they just don't know how? That's this guy. As challenging as it is, we feel so blessed to have such a Godly seminary right down the road. Their entire goal and purpose is to stick to the truth of His Word. We are having a blast. Losing lots of sleep and are e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y exhausted, but what a neat season to be in. Don't worry fam, kids will come one day but we are enjoying just the two of us and our studies. Here is us at our new home away from home... the library.

Diving

For those of you that don't know, I teach during the year and work at North Hills Club in the summer time. I work both the summer camp and dive team there and have a blast every summer. This was my 6th year as their head dive coach and 4th year as their summer camp coordinator. My managers are absolutely awesome and the families are such a loving and caring group of people; I'm so blessed to see them every year and be a part of their summer lives :)

This is this year's team at the cook out... missing quite a few. I had 39 divers total this year!


Here is my assistant coach for this year... Parker Preston. Quite an amazing young lady if I do say so myself. This was her first job and she did absolutely fantastic :)

Forced Renovations

1 month, 4 days. Yes, that's how long we were out of our condo for our not so convenient renovations. Here's the story...

For those of you that don't know, JT works at a local golf course on some weekends because he truly enjoys the stillness and serenity of an empty golf course at 4:30 in the morning. He was at work and I woke up to get ready for church. I started a load of laundry and went to get ready. 15-20 minutes later I walk into the hallway and am greeted with soaking carpet. If you stepped on the floor, the water would cover your toes. Turns out it was the pressure switch which basically tells your washer when the water level is where it should be. Ours was broken so it just kept filling. Anyhoo, I frantically turn the washing machine off (it was still running and overflowing) and grab every towel we own. I start soaking up the carpet and move the dryer to get underneath it. Once I take my immediate actions I call JT. He's on his way home (phew!) and asks if it's bad. "I think" I said... followed with "I'm not ready for church!" JT gets home sees how bad it is and immediately asks, "did you check downstairs?" I didn't have a clue why he would ask that until it clicked. Since our washing machine is on the second floor, any severe water leakage could go through the floors. "No way," I thought. Right as I finish that thought I hear JT yell, "oh my gosh!" I run downstairs and see this...



yes, that's right; water pouring through the fan and a hole in the ceiling where JT had to drain the rest of the water. JT said it was leaking like a hose. Here's what the ceilings in the hallway looked like...







And the upstairs as we finally get it sopped up, pull the carpet up, and get fans going...






To make a long story short, JT and I are out of our condo for over a month and we decided while we were already put out we might as well put new laminate flooring in downstairs and all new carpet upstairs! Not covered by the insurance, but justified by the situation :)

Now, here's where we live!!

Summer's mom gave us a nice oriental rug for the hallway that matched my colors :)

Oooooh I just really like our new floors. For those of you that didn't see the "before" floors, just picture 20 year old carpet that is dirty, stained, faded, and hard. My wonderful mother took us in for the duration of all the mayhem. She was as sweet as can be and even bought my favorite candy to be stocked while we stayed there. She bought her favorite son-in-law his favorite meals and was a real blessing through all the craziness. We had a blast just hanging out with her. Thanks mom! We love you!

Just as an end note to this post, 2 days ago we noticed cracks at the top of the wall and ceiling in the kitchen. Through a series of events we've found out it's related to the shower and the pipes (probably!). So, we haven't been able to take showers here and will probably be out again if demolition needs to happen to save the ceiling. Seriously, we can't believe it. But we're just thankful we don't have kids right now and are pretty flexible. It's kinda fun having adventures like these :) So, whatever comes our way we will do our best to enjoy it to its fullest!