Um, is it really November already??

How did that happen? I swear that some days go by so fast that I didn't realize it happened until a week later.

The biggest thing right now is that Chris is NO LONGER COMMUTING TO COLUMBIA!! Woohoo!! On Monday, November 3rd, he started a new job as a warehouse manager for RCS Charlotte just 20 minutes up the road. That is huge compared to the 1.5 hours he's been commuting for the past 4 years. As many of you know, this is an answer to four long years of prayer that became even more intense when we found out over the summer that the company he was working for was starting massive layoffs in order to prepare to close that facility. God is so good to protect us from having to go through another period of unemployment. And Chris says he can clearly see the many ways God worked through him while he was w/ QualServ.

In other news. . . we're finishing up the soccer season. John's skills have improved tremendously over the past few years. He's even being more aggressive and actually going after the ball now. Sarah hasn't been quite as enthusiastic. Despite having a fantastic coach, it just doesn't seem to be her thing. (Of course, my mom and sister think we should pursue dance *eye roll*)
Here's a slide show of some of the highlights of the season:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A few weeks ago was class field trip week, apparently. Sarah's 4k class went to a nearby nature preserve. And John's attended the Renaissance Festival as part of their study of the time period. Thankfully Bethany's playschool is still a little young for field trips. I don't know what I'll do when I've got to go 3 different ways at the same time.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We also had a chance to head up to Cherokee, NC for a few days last week in an impromptu family trip before Chris started his new job. Thankfully our kids travel really well and enjoyed the adventure as much as I did. It was really nice to just get away for awhile. Bethany had her first encounter with snow. (Is cold!!) And we heard a lot of "I wanna see it!" from her because she just doesn't look fast enough when we see things along the way. Sarah also spent a great deal of time perfecting her "Ha ha, made ya look." technique. And John, who's quickly becoming quite the history buff and photographer, enjoyed leading us around and taking pictures of ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

And, to wrap up, we opted to participate in our church's first Fall Festival called Slime Time! rather than the traditional Halloween festivities. Of course, the fact that I'm on children's staff sort of made the decision easy for us. We had probably 200 or more people come through our festival. It was great fun.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Sorry for all the smilebox slideshows. I figured that was better than posting 5 million pictures. I promise to do better with keeping up. Of course, we are headed into the holidays. . .