A very belated hello

So tons of things have happened since my last post. We found a house, bought it, moved in and now are in the process of fixing it up. Basically here's what we did: tore out the entire kitchen and replaced it with sweet stuff from IKEA, replaced all but the fridge (kitchen appliances wise), then replaced the carpets in one of our living rooms, Chris' room (Chris is Beth's brother who lives with us) and Lyra's room. To say that this undertaking has allowed for a crash course education in home repair/maintenance would be a huge understatement. Not only has my knowledge base increased with all the work, repairs and installations we have done but, my tool collection has also increased. Oh baby! It's bittersweet I guess. The most recent home owner dilemma has been the water heater. After numerous "fixes" I am still sceptical of whether is has truly been fixed. The test will be to see if we have hot water in the morning tomorrow (it miraculously came to life this evening while eating dinner...who knew). But all appliances aside it feels good to have a home to "come home" to. Even though boxes are still everywhere and we still have virtually no furniture it's a good fit for us. Somewhat far away from the church (15-20 minutes) it does offer us prime access to the 101. Another exciting bit of news is we finally obtained a lens for our newly acquired digital camera. Thanks to Suzy Ivy (Beth's sister) we can now take some sweet-action photos of Lyra, our family and whatever else. Speaking of Lyra she has gotten quite a bit larger since my last post (sorry for no pictures yet...that's what the new camera's for silly!). She is now seven months...crazy. She is babbling as all get out and enjoys grabbing everything, eating, rolling, playing, dancing, sitting in the hammock and going for stroller rides. Church related issues are going well. I have taken on a lot more responsibility with the Student Union band experience. It is becoming more like a part time job than a volunteer opportunity (which if I was honest I could have told you was coming). We also recently took the senior high to winter camp (which was a miniature resort). It was crazy fun (see facebook profile for some pictures). I have also begun some serious work on the studio area I have claimed for myself in our Arizona room (or three season porch for you mid-westerners). I am uber excited about that space but am trying to be cautious not to "throw it together". Still even with all these things taking place I am still somewhat home sick from time to time. Just too many fond memories from Indiana you know? I'm sure we will create "fond memories" here but it takes time (really we have already begun to create some courtesy of winter camps taken with the youth group). Well I feel that this is a sufficient enough update. More will come (now that my yahoo/google account shenanigans have been ironed out). I'm off to check the water heater...wish me luck.