The First Attempt…
So I needed a painting for my living room…(because my walls are white…which to me is a crime against nature….it’s not my house though…)but I was too cheap to buy one…so I took up painting a few weeks ago.
Attempt Number One (Living Room Art…)


Attempt Number Two. (Bathroom Art)

I’ll spare everyone the bathroom shot.
I miss my blog…
I haven’t been blogging lately… (news flash I know)
Reason I’ve given… I’m too busy.
Real Reason….I miss Chris.
I’m not sure how to write a blog post and not have his feedback. I don’t like reading something amazing on someone Else’s blog and not be able to pass it on to him…
I don’t want to quit.
So…I’m blogging again.
Lets see what happens!
My friend Chris…
I lost my friend yesterday…And I thought since we blogged together…I thought it was only fitting that I blogged about him. (I think he would like that…and I think I’ll call it his Blog-Rute (((Blog Tribute)))…since I know he enjoyed my imaginary words so much…)
Chris Was the kind of guy who would…
Find a way to bring your favorite ice cream… in a cooler… in his hot car (*without it melting) …all the way from Cincinnati…because he knew how much you missed it… (and even get the flavor right…)
See the positive in every situation… Including fighting Cancer…but not limited to getting stuck with the Tampax account as his marketing internship with P&G…
Find a book that he loved… and mail it to you…
Tell jokes in a Church Talent show…(yea…if you don’t remember that one you missed it…we had some good laughs over that one…)
Beat me at Mad Gab every time…and… Always know what I’d pick in Apples to Apples.
Cook you an amazing steak dinner…with an amazing Paula Dean dessert to top it all off. (and then apologize for how fattening it was…lol)
Pretend like what I cooked for him was edible…
Stay up all night watching Rob Bell Videos with you…
Be Humble even though he was kind of a big deal.
Write cute little notes to Rachel in her Journals.
Talk for hours about how great God was…
Laughing till he just about cried at a funny blog post… (and yes…we did take the quiz…lol..and yes… he did know them all)
Read There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly Guy to my kids about a thousand times…(in a 1 week period…lol)
Listen to my crazy ideas…and not laugh. (even when it was some thing as silly as this…)
Be the best encourager when we found out John’s dad wasn’t well (and he happened to be at Ginza with us the day we got the call about John’s dad’s heart attack…he helped so much)
Spend a wild week with the Oliver Family and come away thinking it was fun.
Love his Family and Friends with Everything he had…
Play Video games with your kid. And let him win.
Dream of using his gifts…and his talent to make a difference for God. And actually do it.
Spend an afternoon reading a Science book with a 5 year old and act like it was the most fun he ever had. Making the 5 year old think he was a Science Genius...
Love sports…and…well…LOVE Pittsburgh and LOVE to HATE Cleveland…
Make me laugh…
Make me cry…
I can’t possibly sum up Chris in one post but I had to talk about him…
I miss him already.
He put up a fight like none I’ve ever seen… He suffered more than anyone should ever have to… He was taken from us way too early. While my heart is broken into a million pieces…I know Chris is no longer in pain. I know someday I’ll get to see him again. I know Chris has given me a purpose and a mission to complete the things he was passionate for. (and I’ll do my best Chris…I Love you.)

(And… like he always said…YES, I always make that face in my pictures…)

Helping us set up at a Youth Service…

Hanging out with the Kiddos. (telling David a Wild story I think…)

Playing in the tank Simulator at Fort Knox. (and getting stuck…which was soooo funny)
Not That Cool Anymore.
I’m so OVER this Ice Storm.
But we are some of the lucky ones. We only spent a few days without power.
As of today there are more than half a million without power.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090131/ap_on_re_us/winter_storm
Here’s a couple shots of some of the damage at our house…


Ice storm damage
ICY!
So today we had a Wonderful Winter storm. (I’m allowed to say WONDERFUL… because we only get one a year down here.) I’m sure when we lived in Northern Ohio and it snowed everyday I didn’t have the same excitement.
Snow and Ice is sooo much better in the South. Everything Closes… No one goes out… Life stops.
Today for a while we were frozen in time…
And then I run Outside to snap some shots of the Blizzard of 09.





And it’s suppose to snow again tonight!
I’m so excited.
