lately

It's apparently been a while since we posted...in fact Claude suggested that I go ahead and write a RIP to the blog entry:) However there's been a good bit going on around here in the last couple of weeks. About three weeks ago I headed to Little Rock to do one last (for a while anyway) Chick fil A campout with Laura. Since the last one I did by myself I was especially glad to be in the presence of good company (Laura, Breck's mom, and the Smith family who are in LR for residency as well) this go round! Claude was especially thrilled that I was one of the first 100 so that our little stockpile of coupons basically doubled:)

Signing in a little less than 24 hrs before opening:

About halfway done...they had Christmas lights on the trees in the distance

Laura, Breck, and Mrs. Richardson around the card table; (also visible is "The Help" which kept me busy reading for a good portion of the 2 days in LR...it came highly recommended by several and after reading it I definitely concur that it was a great read!)

While in Little Rock I also got to eat out with Laura (and Breck) a time or two and chum along with Laura to her afternoon babysitting job where we played some suspenseful rounds of Apples to Apples. An extra treat to the trip was that we made a short trip down to Jackson (and I went to Philly for a day as well) for the weekend. I got to see my family, a couple of friends, go to Mistletoe, and enjoy a Saturday morning muffin at Broad Street among other things.

Pictures from meeting up with Thomas at MC to borrow his truck for Mir for the week:

Then on Monday morning Laura dropped me off at the airport and I was on my return journey. I must say that it was nice to get to fly rather than drive but I won't be getting to attached to that luxury anytime soon. I will say that the local airport was probably my favorite airport ever in terms of ease getting checked in and through etc. The only downside was that the "airport shops" were pretty limited, and by that I mean there was one coffee cart where I was able to get a hot dog for a late lunch while waiting on my ride home from Claude! On the bright spot though it is a very nice airport with a little bit of hometown scenery...

Once back home I decided it was time for me to tackle the task of finishing up a project that had been sitting in our dining room/living room for a couple of weeks. We packed up a couple of shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child and in the previous weeks I'd gotten most of the fun stuff for the boxes but was lacking a couple of toothbrushes/bars of soap/etc. I knew that my new job would be starting pretty soon so I got these packed up and to the drop off site on what actually turned out to be my last day of freedom...I mean unemployment:) It was wonderful to drop these off 1) because I think they're such a wonderful way to share the joy of the gospel of Christmas with little ones around the world and 2) it felt great to actually finally see a project through to completion which as a major procrastinator is something that sometimes takes me a while.

The finished boxes...finally!

In wrapping up, there's actually been one more big change here at our house in the past week or so and that is that I actually have a job now! I started last Thursday-right in time to get to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday-and have had five work days as of today.

A view of the outside of the building:

And one from my desk to the outside:

The beginning stage of transition is always the hardest time for me but I'm hoping that I'll transition smoothly and quickly...so far everyone in the lab has been super nice and the facilities are pretty new and impressive as well. Any prayers that I would catch on quickly and be able to do my best to the glory of God without being overcome by the jitters would be much appreciated! Hope today's been great wherever you are-

Rachel