Long time no blog!

Hi friends & family!

I haven't blogged in a while and just wanted to do a quick update. All is well here and I am hoping to see as many of you as possible during the holiday season. I love looking around and seeing that some lights are already up. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (as my Nana always says!). This is a picture from Saturday when we went to visit Eric's good friend Joe, his wife Heather, and their 7 month old baby, Joseph. We had a great time. Eric picked up an acoustic guitar for the first time in a while, and after hearing him play it, I, of course, believe he should own one. I got to bang around on the drums, too and loved it. I think our next house will have to have a rock studio!!!!

Marshall Family Reunion

These pictures were taken at the Marshall family reunion on September 6th in Virginia. Below is Eric's cousin Burnett & Dolly, with Joan.

Eric & I won the prize for the newest married Marshalls, a photo album with a rooster on the front.

We were able to picnic outside with Laura, Scot, and Ryder!

Aunt Tori & Unkie E love Ryder & Laura

Can you see the resemblance?

It was a fun day..can't wait to do it again next year. We went to the local jockey lot and racked up on some great deals, including a pair of swarovski crystal earrings from a local artist!

Fun

Doodle keeps losing weight, thankfully! He is down to 14 pounds and dropping! I feed him a half cup of Merrick's Wildnerness blend and some fruits & veggies. Since Chihuahuas originated in Mexico, they used to eat fruits and rodents for meals. I skip the rodents, but they love fruits. All but grapes and raisins. I think avacado is Jasmine's favorite. It is easy because Eric & I eat a lot of fruits & veggies so I give them a little of my leftovers. This is truly a miracle doggie. He was so heavy he couldn't walk and had thyroid disease. I take him to a vet in Kings Mountain, NC that is a holistic vet. He was a missionary in Colombia, South America for 20 years and has taught me so much about how to take care of my dogs. Doodle is a happy boy and he really tries to sing like Jasmine, but sounds more like a frog!!

Here's the princess Jasmine, looking pretty & perfect as usual. She likes to bite Doodle if I talk to him or pet him too much!

Here's a really cool thing! I told my good friend Chris (who is a great artist) that my favorite monkey was a Lion Faced Tamarin. He painted me a picture for my birthday! How sweet!

This was my birthday dinner with my good friend Catherine, Chris, and Eric. Catherine took us all to Nakato in Pineville and it was so good! She gave me the coolest card! Good friends like these are hard to find and I am so thankful for mine!

-Have a great day!

Family

Better late than never!  I piled into a beach house with Eric's family, there were 7 adults, 1 infant, 5 puppies, and 7 dogs!! And we survived and I still liked them afterwards.  Isn't that a miracle?? :)  I think after that weekend, I realized that we absolutely need more fun vacations with my sister in law and brother in law!  It was lots & lots of fun.  I am ready to go again!!!

Friends

I was so excited to have a great weekend.  Friday night a band came and played at The Well & Eric helped me to serve coffee at the coffeeshop.  It was a lot of fun and the best part was that Greg & Melynda Burge came with Melynda's cousin.  They took the time to come see us and to come to church with us on Sunday.  They are missionaries in the Dominican Republic and Greg and I used to work together at Land Rover.  It was so great to see my friends again!! Now I need donations to travel to help them!!  I am collecting pennies at this point in time!  :) Love!

Oh Praise Him!!!! Eric's new job

What a blessing!

Yesterday we got some incredible news! Eric has found a job that he will love! It is a clean, smoke-free enviroment, with a caring, intelligent employer, a shorter commute, and a nice salary too! We are so thrilled and have been praying for this. He's spending the day detailing a boat. How fun! If you need your car detailed, here's his new work website. www.elkinsautomotive.com

This has been a long time coming and Eric is so excited to get to go to school at night and work at a shop he really likes. They are going to teach him to do all kinds of auto repair as well. Sounds like fun to me. So congrats to the Turtle!!!

Thanks, God!!!!

And if you need your car detailed, here's his new work website. www.elkinsautomotive.com

Lucky Me

I haven't blogged in a while, because there hasn't been much to say!  Two weekends ago, Chu and I got to take a trip to Columbia!  I miss that town so much!  It really felt like home and I loved getting to see my friends at Land Rover.  We went to Gervais and Vine for Tapas with Kerry & Oates stopped by!! Then Chu was still hungry, so we went to a sushi restaurant...yummy Camon, and Kerry & his coach hung out for a bit.  Good times, great friends!