Mexico!

Josh and I spent a wonderful long weekend in Playa Del Carmen (just the 2 of us) last week. It was heavenly. Loved getting alone time with my man.

Hannah played at the Radiant conference this last weekend. She looked absolutely beautiful.

I served at the resource table with these fabulous ladies

In other KTF news: Our first survivor is in our shelter and doing ok. She's fighting every day the urge to run away. (extremely common problem for these girls that are plucked straight from hell) But she is holding on to hope and staying strong. She wants to succeed in this program and in life. We are very proud of her. I wish I could go into all the details about her story and how she came to us, but then it wouldn't be a "safe" place now would it?

Please pray for us and for her when you think of us.

Sorry I've been MIA, just been busy.
*Our shelter is up and running with our first survivor moving in.
*Josh got me a gift certificate for dance classes for Vday and the dance studio had a free day of dance on Saturday so we went and tried out a bunch to see which dance we wanted to commit to. Turns out we will be learning both the Cha Cha and the Tango.   :)  This came after ruling out alot of others for various reasons, including "the count is all wrong, the steps don't match the music", inability to stay on rhythm, boredom, or uncontrolled laughter. This is gonna be so much fun.
*I hired a wedding coordinator for the "day of". It includes help with tying up all the loose ends right before the big day and coordinating all the vendors and the timeline for the rehearsal and wedding day. I am so excited to get this help that weekend. It takes alot of stress off of me.

Wedding Progress:
photographer - hired
videographer - hired
DJ - hired
venue - hired
dresses - ordered (bridal, bridesmaids, mother)
photo booth - hired
save the dates - sent
pastor - booked

Still need:
florist
cakes
caterer
rentals
decor
invitations
etc

tweets from Hannah..

She is an amazing 17 year old, and her posts are highly entertaining. Here are a few of my favorites from the last few weeks..




Hannah Karnes ‏@ObsessedPianist Protected Tweets  Jan 10

Because briefing Plessy v. Furgeson without my homecat just isn't the same. pic.twitter.com/8Ac6C9pXtt

Hannah Karnes ‏@ObsessedPianist Protected Tweets  Jan 12

Family size macaroni? Yeah. That's cute. More like Hannah size.

Hannah Karnes ‏@ObsessedPianist Protected Tweets  Jan 7

I commented on Volokh Conspiracy and accidentally sparked a massive debate with constitutional lawyers and professors. Fun times.

Hannah Karnes ‏@ObsessedPianist Protected Tweets  Jan 28

Ted Poe breaking out his Constitution! Yeah buddy!! My kinda guy. pic.twitter.com/TVhc86meGm

Hannah Karnes ‏@ObsessedPianist Protected Tweets  Jan 8

Anyone else still giggle like a 4-year old when your shoes squeak from the rain?... No?... .... yeah me either

Hannah Karnes ‏@ObsessedPianist Protected Tweets  3h

"We don't have inflation because the people are living too well. We have inflation because the gov't is living too well." -Ronald Reagan

Hannah Karnes ‏@ObsessedPianist Protected Tweets  Jan 28

So I was watching C-SPAN while I do physics when I heard the word "unconstitutional." You have my full attention. Go on.

Rebecca and Sam

 

Sister

Practice for Rebecca's wedding!

5K

Before

After

some of the runners in the front of the pack

my favorite runners

It was a great turnout. Much better than we expected. We had a couple dozen people register on site as well. We had a few glitches, but that's to be expected for our first large event. Josh and I were on the trail the whole time trying to make sure no one got left behind or lost in the dark. We had about 185 runners and about 75 volunteers!

Our 5k is this Saturday. I'm really excited. I think we will have a great turnout. It has been and will be alot of work, but hopefully worth it for the awareness aspect.

I just got our Paris photo book in the mail. It's amazing! I ordered form Shutterfly this time and got the thick, lay flat pages. I am really impressed. I've made a lot of photobooks, but this one tops them all.

I made Hannah a headboard. Trying to decide if it needs embellishments.

I am having a very hard time typing right now because 5 minutes ago I fell hard on our driveway while bringing down the trash cans. One of them fell on me and I skinned my knee through my jeans and hurt my shoulder. Stupid skinned knee burns!!

 I have to go find something to put on it...

Unplug

This post will not have a single picture, can you believe it??
I know this rant is illogical, because you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. But I have grown tired of the constant connectivity. Don't get me wrong, I can't imagine not having answers at the tip of my fingers via Google, but there has to be a limit. For example,
I hate feeling like if I don't check all the sites every morning I'm going to miss out on something.
I hate that my husband is always glued to some device; phone, tablet, laptop, etc..
I hate that people treat you different in person, than "online".
I secretly wish the "web" would just die one day and we had to live like we used to. Back when we would just figure stuff out on our own, and communicate in person. We were so much more social then. I think technology has done a great disservice to this generation who has never known anything else.
I know I'm in the minority, but a girl can dream.

Wow

Yeah, so I just ordered these. How is this even possible? Where has the time gone?

Hannah's senior pictures

Taken by a friend of hers. These are my favorites, absolutely stunning..

Bridal Expo

Quite overwhelming, but made some good contacts.

Happy New Year!

Busy start to the new year so far. Josh painted his car,

We redid Hannah's bedroom a bit and got her a new bed,

The 3 kids were in a wedding, (Michael's dad got remarried)

and we picked out bridesmaid dresses! (No, these are not the color, but the right style)

Like I said, busy first week! Hannah started school today, Jordan starts Monday. 

I am busy helping with final preparations for our KTF 5k going on at the end of January. If you haven't registered yet, please do! Special rates end in a couple of days. I have also been planning Hannah's senior trip to Italy next summer. It is gonna be awesome, and Jordan has decided to come with us even though it's a month before her wedding. (She wasn't sure before)

This weekend is the big bridal expo we are attending, and we're hoping to finalize more of our vendors for the wedding at this event. Making good progress,  I think..

End of year

I just looked back over my 2013 posts. Not as many as previous years, but boy, what a memorable year. It started on a very sad note with Michael's mom dying, but got better from there. I went to Greece and learned about human trafficking. Came home and helped start an organization to help fight it. Moved Jordan back home after her year away at school. Then vacationed in Paris with the family. (thanks to all Josh's miles) Then Jordan got engaged! Aside from several friends walking through breast cancer, the holidays were very happy and trouble free. Hannah is on her last high school semester, and the wedding planning for J is in full force.
Next year will bring a new season of life for all of us and I'm looking forward to it. 2014 could be the best year yet. <3

Merry Christmas

My favorite senior pic of Hannah from school

Piece 1 of my gift from Michael. Brilliant wrapping job

Josh got us 3 girls matching Tiffany bracelets

Josh did really well this year on gifts for me. My surprise gifts were tan Tom wedges and a matching tan pleather jacket. I LOVE them both. Michael and J got me a bow and some arrows and a target. I was SOOO excited, and turns out I'm not bad at it!


We are shipping out the final amp to California today for evaluation by our possible future business partner. Pray for traveling mercy for the equipment and favor in the eyes of these people.