The Days Move On...

It's more than time for an update on the lives of Peter and Kelly. We've been so busy for the last couple of months, it's hard to find time to blog and keep the rest of you in the loop!

I shot my fourth wedding this year last weekend. I now have about 7,000 pictures to proof in the next two weeks, before my last one for the summer. Pete just got back from Connecticut on his third conference of the year (the first two have been in the last six weeks). We are ready for a break. And an update!

We celebrated our six-month anniversary in April with a short, intimate vow renewal on the beach (pictures to be posted at some point, I promise!) and a stroll down memory lane with a night at the bed and breakfast where I was staying the night I called Pete a year and a half ago.

Pete's sister Amy and her family have moved into Maryland, and we can't tell how much we're looking forward to spending more time with them when all this is over!

My brother Josh has gotten engaged to a sweet girl who reminds me so much of me that I'm just flattered at how much Josh actually liked me! We shall see how the Lord leads these two. Pete and I look at them and think how young they are to be getting married--19 and 21--and we have to keep reminding ourselves that God knows what He's doing and He doesn't give everyone what He gave to Pete and me at the beginning.

We've been doing so much traveling (we've been to Lynchburg, Florida, DC, OH, Philadelphia, and Connecticut in the last couple of weeks), we hardly know where home is anymore--oh wait! It's not really our home! We have a mouse who has moved in and appropriated Pete's sunflower seeds and my chocolate. Our landlords have also hired a ghost-painter to scare the soot-coated walls into hiding. We were blessed to receive a new fireplace to erase THAT particular problem.

The last two weeks, we have eaten at home ONCE, so our grocery bills have been going into eating out. Lately, I've been subsisting on hot dogs and pizza. Yes. I know this is not healthy. I cannot help hoping that I am gaining weight, however. When I do have a chance to cook at home, we have been enjoying a renovated Martha Stewart recipe for chicken with lemon and thyme. Pete loves it, and I'm drinking lemonade again this summer for the first time in several years. I forgot how much I liked it (though we quibble a bit about how watered down it should be!)

God has not stopped being faithful to us, and though we're perhaps not as close to Him relationally as we'd both like, His hand is evident not only in the work He is doing in our lives, but also in His provision for us as we have faced bills and car repairs and speeding tickets and tiredness.

One of the biggest examples of His hand on our lives occurred three weeks ago, when my best friend came in from out of town. She has a mental illness, and she had stopped taking her medication because she wanted to try a natural route for a physical problem she didn't have. Pete stayed home from his conference that weekend and we were brought to the end of ourselves as she slipped further down the slope of reality. God brought us closer together as we reached out to minister to her, finally making the hardest decision I've ever made in my life to get treatment for her. In the end, He comforted us both as we cried over the pain of her loss.

The house is finally starting to come back under control now, and I'm home sick today to try to catch up on some rest and correspondence.

My brother Joel is graduating in two weeks, so we'll be in Lynchburg for that, and then it's out to Kansas the next week for another graduation!

That is about all the news that is fit to report for the moment (or rather, all that I can think of to write about). Let us know how you all are doing!