Long Awaited Update

I know I have been MIA for way to long! Thanks to everyone for all the friendly pushing to get on here and make an update.

We have been SO busy lately with church, and work, and, of course, with our little Shawn. Here are some of the things we have been doing since our last post.

New Job with World Bible School

I started a position with the Internet department of World Bible School. I am trying to get through my training so that I can be up and running. I will be working from home 30-35 hours per week. My job title is Teacher Coordinator and I am responsible for helping teachers to teach students around the world. I will be answering e-mails from teachers and students, assigning new students to teachers, and working to get new teachers enrolled and acclimated to the system and process. I am really excited for this opportunity and for the work I can do with this amazing ministry. For more information about this great resource and organization, visit http://worldbibleschool.net/.

Quarterlife

This is the ministry at Lakewood that Bryan and I have started and are working with. We are ministering to the young adults and young marrieds. We have been working with this group for almost a year now and have a pretty good core group of people. We teach a class on Sunday mornings and do all sorts of fun activities together—Monday Night Football parties, Girls' Night Out each month, movies, bowling, etc. This group has been such a blessing to us and we love working with them.

Thompson Photography

Our photography business has been thriving. We 'hired' 5 Senior representatives this summer and within a matter of 2 weeks our phone was ringing off the hook for Senior portraits. Seniors are so fun to work with because they all have their own unique style and know exactly what they want to look like. We have ventured all over the greater Denver area to do photo shoots—downtown Golden, downtown Arvada, Clear Creek, and even an alleyway in downtown Denver. We have also been doing a lot of family portraits and love getting to know families better. However, the most exciting news for us these past couple of months is our partnership with the locally owned Victorian House Event Center. They host more than 30 weddings and event each year (and have just added 2 new locations to their event center). We will be working with the Victorian House as their primary photographers and will be photographing a majority of their weddings. We are very excited for this opportunity and for the ability to work with the amazing owners and staff of the Victorian House. Stay tuned for some great pictures from this beautiful venue.

Also, our website is up and live!!! It is beautiful and we are so excited that we now have a web presence. We are proud to show off some of our most recent clients. Stop by our website and check out some of our work. For more information on our photography business click here.

Baby Caleb

We are VERY excited about the approaching arrival of our nephew Caleb Troy. My beautiful sister-in-law Cherie is expecting on December 23^rd, but there is a chance that he will arrive before his due date. We are very excited to meet this new little bundle and to see what great parents Noel and Cherie will be. Caleb is one lucky little boy. J We will be travelling to Atlanta for 10 days over Christmas and New Years to spend time with Cherie and Caleb. We are also excited to get to photograph the new baby. Trust me; there will be a lot of pictures shared of this little one.

Cherie at 24 weeks preggo -- late August. This is in Caleb's nursery...I can't wait to see all of Cherie's hard work.

Side view, what a cute little belly. :)

Noel and Cherie at Halloween, or should I say Mr. Incredible and Mrs. Bun-in-the-oven. They are going to be such fun parents! :)

Here is beautiful Cherie at around 33 weeks. Gorgeous!

Shawn

Thank you to everyone who has been so concerned about Shawn and his growth. We actually have an appointment tomorrow to do a weight check. We went in about 2 weeks ago for his 2^nd dose of flu vaccine and we put him on the scale. He had his clothes on and weighed 20lbs 6 oz, but the nurse told us that he probably is not quite 20 lbs without clothes on. He is eating a lot more now, and we are glad for the progress that he is making. He is such a sweet boy and loves to be around people. He has been walking since Sept. 16^th and is very, VERY busy. He loves to explore new places and is very into pushing any buttons he can lay his fingers on. We love to go places like the Children's Museum and to the Little Gym. He is growing up so fast and is saying a lot of words now. He also thinks he is an amazing jumper (even though he doesn't actually leave the ground! HA!). I will be posting all of the pictures I have been saving up since the last time I was on here. Stay tuned for those images (especially you, Lindy. Hopefully this fuels your Shawn cravings! J ). Oh yeah, and he's currently cutting 5 (yes FIVE) teeth right now!!! YIKES!

Playing in the fall leaves with Grandpa.

Loving on Mommy in the backyard.

I think that about catches you up. Sorry again for the long batch of silence. Hopefully I will be back on track to posting regularly. God bless you this week! J

Home Sick :(

Well, it is Sunday morning and I am not at church....this has not happened in years! But I am sick and Bryan forbade me from leaving the house. Even though we have so much going on at church right now (coffee bar sponsored by Quarterlife this month, we were supposed to be greeting at the front **visitors** doors, we are teaching a class, I was supposed to teach the nursery during service, and on and on). So Bryan went off to conquer all of these tasks on his own, and Shawn and I stayed home. We figure it would be best for everyone if I stayed home and did not get everyone at Church sick....especially the little wee ones in the nursery.

I started feeling bad a few days ago. I can always tell a cold is coming because my throat starts getting scratchy and sore. I probably should have stayed home yesterday, too, but Bryan and I taught a Photography workshop at church (which was awesome!) and I felt I needed to be there. Also, Shawn and I had to go in and get our flu shots, and I didn't want Bryan to have to suffer through a flu shot alone. :) Then we ended up going to a pumpkin patch with Sara and Heather....I don't think that walking around a field full of dying corn stalks for 2.5 hours helped at all! It was fun, cute pictures to come, but by the time I got home I felt like the walking dead.

Bryan is always SO sweet to me when I am sick. He cooks for me, brings me necessary liquids, takes my pile of ooey gooey tissues to the trash for me, looks after Shawn completely on his own (feeding, bath, bedtime routine, tucking in, etc). I love Bryan all the time, but especially when I am sick and he shows me such committed, unselfish love.

More to come.....


****Well it got a little worse yesterday. By the time Bryan got home he was showing signs of having a cold. So we pretty much laid low and did nothing. Shawn and I have stayed in pajamas for two days (yesterday and now today).

But this morning we were worse, again. I woke up feeling terrible. Luckily Shawn slept until 8:40am so I got a little more rest. Bryan and I both woke up with rumbly tummies. It's not bad enough to have a cold, now we also were etremely nautious as well. Bryan at one point asked if we should call someone to come and get Shawn, but who would volunteer to take a baby with cold symptoms whose parents also had a flu bug. Shawn played pretty well by himself all morning. I had to have Bryan change his stinky diaper because I knew my stomach would not handle it today.

Lunch was rough. I was trying to feed Shawn and it was all I could do to not be sick myself. But then it happened.....I threw up.....in the kitchen sink.....with Shawn watching....completely terrified. Luckily Bryan was able to take over and let me lay down on the couch for a little bit. Until he got sick....in the kitchen sink....with Shawn watching....again looking terrified. So I was back on call to finish lunch and get Shawn ready for his afternoon nap. We must have been quite a sight. I put Shawn down for a nap and Bryan and I slept on the couch. We pretty much haven't left the couch at all today.

I feel like a terrible Mommy...letting my son run wild in the playroom with only minimal supervision. Too iskc to do anything. It is days like today that I appreciate having my parents around--although they are hunting on the other side of the state for 10 days. Oh well, maybe they'll be here for the next sickness. :)

FIREPROOF Movie

I know, I know.....long time, no write. I promise Updates are coming. In the meantime, Bryan and I went with our Quarterlife group to see the new movie Fireproof tonight. It is phenomenal. Go see it. Seriously. Go today!!! Everybody should see this movie. Single, Married, or otherwise. Everyone can benefit. Just thought I would share! :)