Thanksgiving '08

This year for Thanksgiving, my parents and Carl's parents came for the weekend. It was so much fun. We ate, shopped, and I even put them to work. Carl fixed a really good breakfast Thursday morning because we were having Thanksgiving dinner that night. He made a sausage and egg casserole, bacon, and banana smoothies. Then, the women got to work on Thanksgiving dinner. We had turkey, of course, dressing, green beans, baked mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, glazed carrots, rolls, gravy, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cobbler, and Italian cream cake. Mmmmmm! We had so much food and are still eating turkey and dressing! Mom, Dad, and I got up early for the sales on Friday and made it out to Target and Best Buy and later we all went to the mall and Reagan got to see Santa. Saturday, I put them to work...Dad and Carl built a huge shelf in our garage for storage and organization. I can finally pull the car in the garage for the first time since we've lived here. It's so nice in the cold weather. Mom and I started in Reagan's new room by moving a book shelf (and a ton of books) downstairs to the first level. We finished late Saturday night by re-organizing the first level...it looks sooooo much better! Reagan was spoiled by all of her grandparents and it was so much fun having both sets of parents here. Hope you all had a great holiday too!

Pumpkin Carving

Our original plan was to have 2 pumpkins...one representing each of our babies. We spent about an hour and a half carving and when I went upstairs to get the camera, Carl turned his back and our big pumpkin that represented Reagan fell off the island and smashed. So sad. It was a big heart with "LOVE" carved out of the middle for Reagan. The little one, obviously was supposed to represent the baby. So, since it smashed, we decided that this little one would represent both babies since technically, Reagan still takes a paci for bedtime. We had fun nonetheless!

Who is more pregnant???

New Kitchen...

A few weeks ago, our friends from Virginia Beach, Angela and Jimmy, came up to celebrate my birthday. We had so much fun decorating my kitchen. Angela recovered my chairs, made a valence and napkins and spruced up the entire look. I love it! Here are some pictures of the finished product and the one at the bottom is what it used to look like!

Launch Video

The Family Reunion...

We had a family reunion on my dad's side of the family over Labor Day weekend in St. Louis (Sparta) and here are some pictures...I wish I would have taken more of my cousins, but at least I got some good ones of my grandparents. This was the first time they had met Reagan since they live so far away in Spokane, WA. There are pictures of Grandma and Grandpa Rauch, Mom and Dad, my Aunt Paulette (dad's older sister), and my cousin Amanda. Also, note that my cousin Art, collects ducks!

Prayer...

Please go to http://mosaicchristian.org/signup/ and sign up to pray for Mosaic's launch this Sunday. Thanks!

Great Commercial...

Mosaic's First 'Preview' Service

This past Sunday, we had our first "preview service" at Mosaic. Carl compares it to what Coldstone does when they open a store. They set their grand opening for a certain date and advertise that date, but they actually open a week prior to that and still serve customers as normal, but it's more for them to "practice" and work out kinks before the big day.

So Sunday, this is what we did. We hadn't advertised, except through our launch team and on the website, so we were only expecting 30-40 people, but never underestimate God...58 people showed up...many people we had never met before! It was really exciting. I was working in the kids ministry and I thought we'd have a couple or three babies and maybe a few toddlers....we had 11! It was crazy! We were all three (Reagan included) exhausted by the end of Sunday since we had been at the movie theater all morning Saturday learning how to set up the equipment and of course all morning Sunday. I guess we need to get used to the weekends being a bit tiring!

We have one more "preview service" on Aug. 24th before the big launch, September 14th. Pray that we continue to attract people that want to meet God!

Baby #2

I got to hear the baby's heartbeat today and we got one picture. It's the size of a grain of rice right now and I'm due Jan. 28th officially.

#2

#2 is on her/his way. We found out a couple of weeks ago and are really excited. It's hard to believe that Reagan will be a big sister. She still seems so little. I know she'll be great at it! Pray for a healthy pregnancy and baby again! Thanks!

NYC Part 3

Sunday, we woke up and went to a church on the Upper West Side of the City called Redeemer Presbyterian where Tim Keller is the pastor. Carl loves him and has read is book, so he wanted to go there and hear him live. It was very different, but a solid sermon on forgiveness. After church, we walked over to Tavern on the Green for brunch. Ooo, it was so good too. None of the places we ate let us down. We even bought a knish from a street vendor Saturday and it was yummy! After Tavern, we went back to the apt, packed up, and headed home to see our baby who we missed terribly. It was a much needed trip and it was nice to spend some quality time together. 5 years flies by when you're having fun!

NYC Part 2

Saturday, we woke up and went running in Central Park. It was a much nicer day and made for a beautiful run. After we got cleaned up, we had a reservation at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. Mmmm, it was delicious. I got a chopped salad as an appetizer and Carl got a smoked salmon quesadilla and we both got the Spicy Chicken and Sweet Potato Hash for our entre. It was amazing. We both loved it.

After lunch, we headed straight to Yankee Stadium. It was a blast because the fans were so passionate since they were all New Yorkers! The Mets ended up winning 7-4. Then, from the game, we went to the Empire State Building and stood in line forever even though we already had tix. It was worth it though, it was really cool to be up that high and see the city.

From there, we met up with our friend Becka and had dinner with her at Follow Me Caffe, another local suggestion (Becka chose it). We were exhausted from the day, and decided to head back to the apartment and hang out with Bec for a while before calling it a day.

NYC Part 1

We decided to do something fun this year for our 5 year anniversary, so we planned a trip to New York City. Our actual anniversary isn't until June 14, but the summer starts to get a bit crazy for us, so we went a month early. We had a blast! My mom came over for the weekend to watch Reagan for us. She got there Thursday night and we left first thing Friday morning. We got to NYC a little after lunchtime, and it was pouring down rain. We had tickets for the Subway Series (Yankees vs. Mets) game that night, which of course got canceled, but we ended up still getting to go to the day game on Saturday. Friday, we ate at this great European place for lunch called Le Pain Quotidien (the daily bread). It was soooo good. It seemed like something the Food Network would feature. Since it was still pouring down rain when we got done, we decided we needed to do something inside, so we went to St. Patrick's Cathedral. I had never been to a cathedral before, so it was pretty impressive. After that, we took the Long Island Railroad out to meet up with our friends Kevin and Liz who live in Forrest Hills (Queens). At that point, the Yanks game hadn't officially been canceled yet, so we had an appetizer with them (crackers with 3 different types of cheese, pistachios, and sun dried tomatoes). Kevin is such a good host. Then, Carl found out the game was still on, so we headed back into the city. As soon as we got back in town, the game got called, so we found this place called Serafina that Kevin had recommended and ate there for dinner. Rachel Ray would be so proud of me...we found out where the locals eat and went there! After Serafina, we went to see Baby Mama, since it had been months since we'd seen a movie.

If I Were...

(Topic courtesy of Kim)

If I were a kind of cereal, I'd be Cracklin' Oat Bran or Grapenuts. Though I realize both of these cereals are typically for senior citizens, I love them both. Plus, some of my earliest memories are of me sitting on my dad's lap and him feeding me Grapenuts! Mmmmm!

If I were a painting, I'd be Vincent Van Gogh's Church at Auvers. My husband is the art buff, and his favorite is Caravaggio, but I like Van Gogh's use of color. I chose his church painting because so much of my life has been influenced by church/God.








If I were a country, I'd be the Bahamas. I've only been in the Bahamas for 2 days, but would love to go back. Of course, the only parts of the Bahamas I've seen have been the touristy areas, but it was so beautiful, and the beaches are so relaxing! Oh, and I love the bartering in the marketplace!

If I were an animal, I'd be a horse...in honor of the Kentucky Derby. I'm not a huge animal lover, though I grew up having lots of outdoor cats, and a St. Bernard dog. I went horse-back riding with a friend in college on her farm in Indiana, and it was a lot of fun, plus, you gotta love the "fastest two minutes in sports!"

If I were a grocery store, I'd be either The Fresh Market, Whole Foods, or Trader Joe's. I wish they were cheaper, but I guess you get what you pay for when it comes to good food! I love their produce, meat, and cheese. Unfortunately, I can't afford to shop at any of these for all of my groceries, but every now and then for special occasions, we'll treat ourselves! When we lived in Virginia Beach, my favorites were Harris Teeter (aka. Teets) and Farm Fresh (still on the pricey side, I'm afraid)!

If I were a food, I'd be home grown tomatoes. If I were a beverage, I'd be a Zinger (fresh squeezed oj, fresh squeezed lemon juice, lime juice, club soda and sugar, with lots of ice) in the middle of summer.

If I were a cartoon character, I'd be Sully from Monster's Inc. I just think he's really funny and has so much compassion...I'm not that funny, but strive to have more compassion for people every day.

How about you?

Cherry Blossom Festival

For those of you who don't know why Washington D.C. is so famous for it's cherry blossom trees, here's a tidbit of info...in 1912, Japan gave D.C. 3000 cherry blossom trees as an act of friendship. President Taft's wife decided to plant the majority of them around the tidal basin which is between the Jefferson Memorial and the National Mall (with the other monuments). We went down Sunday and had a lot of fun even though it was freezing. We had been to all of the big monuments before, but we had never walked over to see T.J, so we did that and we also saw the National Cathedral while we were driving down. It took something like 100 years to build...it was just completed in 2007. For more pix, you can look at Reagan's blog.

The Butterfly Pavilion...

So I'm in this mom's group through meetup.com and I get several emails a day announcing different events (the group is for MD, DC, and northern VA so there are tons of events). I started cracking up tonight when I got an e-mail announcing an event at a Butterfly Pavilion. The event didn't apply to me because it is for parents with toddlers, but it was announcing a meeting at this local butterfly pavilion where the kids could "make their own butterfly garden" by coloring, painting, stenciling, etc. The reason I cracked up was because I was reminded of this bit from my favorite comedian, Brian Regan. Check it out below.

Mourning March Madness...

My favorite month of the year is March for several reasons...we start to taste Spring (which leads to Summer!), but more than that, I love March because of March Madness. Today is Selection Sunday, and though it's an exciting day, it's bittersweet, because my favorite team, the Fighting Illini just lost to Wisconsin in the Big 10 tourney. They have no hope of making it to the big dance. They made an impressive trek through the Big 10 tourney, but just ran out of steam. So, I'll have to resort to cheering for my second favorite team the Louisville Cards.

Mosaic Christian Church

We finally got our website up and going this week. We're really proud of it and think Irene (our friend in VA Beach) did a great job! Thanks Irene!

MeetUp

So I went to a mom's group last week through BaltimoreMommies, but I had also joined another mom's group through meetup.com. We met at a place called Air Mania in Columbia (about 10 minutes from me). The toddlers could play, and the moms with babies just talked and got to know each other. It was great! I met some really nice moms and I even met one mom that has a gym membership where I go, so we're going to try to get together at the gym soon. It's always a bit awkward showing up at events where I know no one, but this one was a lot of fun today because there were so many new moms there...I think 14 of us. Continue to pray that I make friends here!