Soccer at SWIC | Nature Trailing

Ah, Saturday.
Ah, high pressure weather.

Joe went for a run early this morning and happened upon the SWIC [South West Illinois College] campus. He came back home and the three of us headed out there to play a little soccer with Sydni. Apparently, she wasn't in the mood to actually play; she spent more time enjoying entanglement in the net. We did get a few good kicks in, but decided that we'd just try this again later.

soccer @ swic

 

swic campus

After our attempts at soccer, we walked around the campus and found the nature trail. Saturdays are good days for just walking around. We took a shaded stroll down the bikepath that traces through the SWIC campus; it really is quite peaceful out there, and it's accessible via bikepath from a point closer to us as well.

We swung by Target on our way home to update a few things on our wedding registry [yeah, that's coming up, soon!], ate some lunch, and headed home. We shacked up for a matinee movie at home, then loaded back up and drove to base to meet up with the Babots.

Alex and Joe spent 30 minutes flipping a huge tractor tire around a regulation-sized track, while Lara, Landon, Sydni and I hung out on the sidelines. We are blessed to have crossed paths with this family; I look forward to getting to know them even better in our time here in IL!

 Church tomorrow. Mike the youth pastor will be sharing, as Pastor Ron & Miss Debbie are still on vaca.

See you there!

xo | cmd

Dove Love



dove love

Today was one of those Fridays during which I think I, multiple times, forgot to breathe regularly, which resulted in those long, over-dramatic out-loud siiiiiiiiighhhhh's.

Diana brought in a few of these today, and they were exactly what I needed to pick myself up and carry my beligerently tired self through the rest of the day.

It's Friday, so that meant as soon as I hit the front steps after work, it was a quick change of clothes and then back in the car to head over to Bible study at Pastor Ron's. This week's was led by Adam, since PR & Miss Debbie are still out.
Ya know what, it's the weekend.
I'll take it!

xo | cmd

Dills, Page & Babot : A Dinner Story

One of the greatest social benefits of joining a new church is the fellowship that seems to just naturally evolve between its members. We've already met a lot of great Christian advisors and peers here at Towerview; tonight we were invited to dinner with two of these great couples: Adam & Cathie Page, and Alex & Lara Babot. 

feast!



Plus, no biggie, but we're Baptists, so that means we're usually eating. :) No qualms there, especially when the cooks are well-seasoned and quite talented [Cathie, and the evening's grillmaster, Adam!]

Our menu:
Corn on the cob
Veggies [zucchini, peppers, onions, delicious]
Seasoned potatoes
Grilled chicken [or pterodactyl, these things = massive]
Cake ["birthday cake!" ~Landon] by Lara

We ate, we laughed, and we watched little kids try to feed themselves. It was mostly Sydni, because Landon still cooperates when his mama tries to help him; Sydni on the other hand is miss independent, and refuses to let anyone come anywhere near her dinner plate. The two Page girls are well old enough to feed themselves in a tidy manner, but watching the little ones was cute.

wii pong

And then there was Wii. We won't mention names, but some fellows got their pride handed to them on a digital plate when they challenged the eldest Page daughter at Wii Ping Pong. I hate to say it, but it was a fairly entertaining sight.


girls :)



By the end of the night, Sydni was completely tuckered out and ready to go.

Amen for these wonderful people. :)

See you tomorrow, Illinois.

xo | cmd

Joe's Bible Study | Fifth Third Hunt

I can remember back to my first days at Faith Baptist when Wednesday night church was not a feeling of obligation, but more of an anticipated event for anyone in the youth group. Later on, when I spent some time at Chapel Hill, I remember Wednesday nights being a fundamental part of my week there as well.

Now, as an adult, I admittedly didn't attend Wednesday nights nearly as often as I should have. I have my reasons, but none of them hold up to the fact that I should've made arrangements and been there.


mark 2:1-12 | Jesus heals a paralytic



But, that's the beautiful thing about God- He knows our hearts and He'll welcome us back, anytime.

That being said, we've made a habit out of walking to church on Wednesdays here, and, in the span of two months, we've solidified our membership here and gained some early trust and respect from our church leaders. Pastor Ron asked Joe to lead Wednesday night study in his absence. They're still on vacation, so Joe was happy to accept. We're blessed that they would ask!

Anyway, Joe's message was on Mark 2:1-12, the documentation of Jesus healing a paralytic man. We discussed the human emotional, societal influence, and sheer devotion of the men in that story and paralleled them with the same factors of the world around us today. Pretty interesting stuff. If you want any footnotes from the study, I'm all resource for you. :)



fifth third | the elusive atm




So after church, we went home, where I remembered that I have a check from my mother which I had forgotten to cash. Our dilemma right now is that we are still banked with Fifth Third, but the nearest location to us is a half hour out in St. Louis. *Sigh. I don't know what came over me, but I felt compelled, at 8:45 at night, to drive to St. Louis in search of an ATM. I had no idea that the functioning ones would be so hard to come by. Long story short, after a short tour of Washington University in St. Louis [beautiful, by the way; I entirely plan on visiting again during business hours], I finally hunted down my third 5/3 ATM, which didn't try to steal my card and was not labeled out of service. Amen.



washington university | st. louis campus

It's almost midnight, and I'm just getting home.

Good stinkin' night.

xo | cmd

Towerview Baptist Blood Drive



american red cross | [haiti campaign poster]

I don't want to admit that the last time I donated blood was actually back in 2008, before I got pregnant. Prior to that, I was a frequent visitor at Hoxworth, either on my own or for UC during my tenure there. [Huge thank you to one of my favorite mentors, my former R.A. Becky Heine for encouraging us to make blood drives a habitual thing].

An abridged version of my diatribe on donating blood: I think that, if you are of good health physically able, you should be donating blood. It's one of the easiest ways to provide community service, and aside from your time, it doesn't require much legwork on your part. I started doing blood drives in high school and I've been doing them whenever I can. Of the 20-30 times I've donated, I've received three letters stating my contribution was used for a life-saving transfusion. That's more than enough for me.



the dills | towerview baptist blood drive



Get out there and save someone's life. :)

Anywho, we had a great time, and for some reaon, Alex & Adam convinced Joe that the top competition time for donating couldn't be beat, so his goal in giving was to get the fastest time. He did. I'm pretty sure that's not really healthy, but he's still walking with us so I'm sure one time was probably ok. Haha.

Sydni even got to play in the nursery with her favorite little friends while mama and daddy donated. It was a pretty  nice family outing.

A million thanks to Cathie and Adam for coordinating all of this, and Lara for photo-documenting the event, and for all the volunteers who gave their time and resources to be there and help out.

We're looking forward to the next drive!

xo | cmd



Moreno, Take 2?

Hello, August.

Nice to see you again.

I always feel more organized when the beginning of something is clearly marked as the beginning.
Today is August 1, 2011. Today is also Monday. Today I also rebooted phase 1 of that crazy M.Moreno diet thing I did once before. I'd say that's a pretty obvious delineation of beginning. 

Remember this guy? 

hello, brown cow! | greek yogurt

Yeah, he's back. Today is Moreno, day 1. I'm not in it to lose a ton of weight, but I do feel like I had some added energy the last go-round, and I' not contesting that.

So here's to beginnings. It's never too late to start fresh. Let's go, August.

xo | cmd

  

BUBBLES!!

Visiting our old church today was a bit bittersweet. We are moving our membership to our new church in Belleville, but not because we don't love New Harmony. I'm pretty sure everyone understands, but it's still a little sad to know that we're no longer "official" members of this church.

Today was apparently polka dot day for all the little girls: Charli and Sydni had on the exact same dress, while Ellie and little Sadie were both sporting different colored dots. Everyone had bubbles, which is a huge hit with little ones.

What I know I'm going to miss the most about New Harmony are the people that attend. Our pastor there [Pastor Jeff & Katrina] have been nothing but open and helpful to us, and we wouldn't have been able to make a lot of our hardest decisions the right way without their guidance.

Not to mention, the kids always have a good time together, and it was our pleasure to have Sydni spend the wedding night on Friday overnight with them.

mcclain kids | dills kid

After church, we made a stop at KP's mom [&Pete's] new house out in Batavia. The place is enormous, and absolutely beautiful. KP hasn't seen it yet, but she's in for a nice little treat. From there, we swung by Goldstar and headed back to Joe's mom's to spend some good quality time with her before we hit the road back to IL.

Now here we are, back in the Land of Lincoln, unwilling but ready nonetheless to head back to our jobs tomorrow.

I wouldn't trade this weekend for the world.

xo | cmd