January in Review

The month is almost over... so what's been going on?

(click on any picture to see it larger)

Early in the month Ruth and I took a day trip to Ellenton to meet Ruth's Great Aunt Sue and Great Grandma Pruente for lunch and shopping. Sue was in from Ohio visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Naples. We already had plans to drive to Naples later in the month, so we met in Ellenton which is about halfway. This was Ruth's first time meeting her Great Aunt Sue.



Ruth and I went and bought some watermelon and had lunch on the porch. It is awfully nice to have it be 80 and sunny in January! (I will concede that it wasn't that nice all of January!)



My mom came in town for almost two weeks (my dad for 4 days), so Cam and I took advantage of the opportunity to spend our first night out away from Ruth. We went to a resort over in Orlando.



Mike Huckabee came in town for one night, so we went to hear him speak. He is a supporter of homeschooling, which thrilled Ruth because there were dozens upon dozens of kids there to play with. I think every homeschooling family in Tampa must have seen this as an opportunity to have an object lesson in politics and government.



These last two pictures are just sweet. Ruth is getting so big and maturing so fast. However, when she is fast asleep in her PJ's, she's still just our little baby-- at least for another 6 months or so, until someone else takes over that role!



In other news-- most of you know that last March, out of desire to be closer to friends and church, we sold our townhome and decided to rent for a year to wait and see what God had in store for us next. Well, in the last couple months it became clear that we did not want to renew our lease with this house, but were ready to buy again.Though we attempted some discussion about buying our current home, we just didn't see eye to eye with owner on the value of it. So, we started looking elsewhere, and very quickly the Lord took us to a great home very close to where we are now (near friends and church). It is a great size, a great price, and has a great big fenced yard where Ruth can run and run until she falls over from exhaustion. It's not our dream home by any means, but it is the right home for our next phase in life and that is all we could ask!

Lord willing, we will be closing at the end of February, and slowly moving throughout the month of March as our lease is good until then. We will keep you updated and post some pictures after we close on the house, and get some painting done!

Let us hear from you!!!