Happy Halloween! We had our first Halloween in our new house. We had all the Halloween decorations on, candles lit, and actually had more than 2 trick-or-treaters. Since we've always lived in apartments together, we never got that many kids, but tonight we got a good number. We watched Charlie Brown's and Garfield's Halloween specials and snuggled on the couch.

Tomorrow my mom comes to visit!

This past week my dad came to visit. I had to work on Monday but took off an hour early to pick him up at the airport. Once I got him we went to Ryan's school so dad could see that. We then ate at a Japanese steakhouse. Lots of good food. There was a cute little boy that sat at our table that keep telling the chef, "you are a good chef and a good magician." He was really funny. On Tuesday my dad and I headed to Hanging Rock State Park in Danbury, NC. We hiked the longest and most strenuous hike at 4.2 miles. 1.2 of that being up the mountain. We got to the top to see the wonderful sight from the mountaintop and.....it was all foggy. :( At least we got some good exercise. We did see some good rocks that my dad drooled at since he wanted to climb them. We hiked down the mountain and had a nice lunch and headed home. That night Ryan grilled in the rain. We couldn't complain about the rain because we were in the worst drought in NC history. Then we watched a movie. On Wednesday I took my dad to the zoo where we had a good time. Toward the end it started pouring on us. That evening we just hung around the house and talked. On Thursday I had to head to work so Ryan took dad to the airport. We had a great time and I'm very glad he was able to come and visit. My mom is coming next weekend I am very much looking forward to that.

In the chuch bulletin, the pastor's wife put in a journal entry of her son, Greg, who passed away the end of September. I have a previous post about it if you need an update. It was one of the last entries in his journal:

"...Lord please help me to stay focused on you and give me the strength to go on. With all the crap in my life it is hard to remember the 2nd coming and that someday you will bring me home. I know I need to keep my eyes on this....WOW, how Awesome to know that one day I will have no more sadness, no more crying and no more FEARS!!!!!"

Greg now has no more sadness, crying or fears. It is a blessing knowing where he is, but there is obviously still a lot of sadness. Please continue to pray for his family, friends, and church.

Yesterday Ryan and I took the youth group to the Dixie Classic Fair. Barlow Girl, a Christian band made up of 3 sisters, was playing at the fair. The concert was really good. The boys in the youth group were pretty skeptical of the concert at first, but walked away impressed at how those girls can rock out. The youth went on some rides. Ryan and I just watched them get dizzy and queasy. There were "fireworks" which were pretty pathetic, but Josh B. and Amber Q. screamed for each one, like it was the best thing they have ever seen. We had a lot of strange looks shot our way, but hey, they were having fun. Then Josh B. and Ryan would randomly run up to food vendors and yell "turkey legs rock!". Good times. Please pray for Ryan and I and the youth group. We have been temporarily taking over, but have not made a commitment for the youth group because we don't know yet if that is what God wants us to do. Please pray for discernment in this situation so Ryan and I will know either way if we should commit, or just continue being the interim youth group leaders. Any advise or insight would be greatly appreciated.

I had a friend pass away this past week. His name is Greg, and Ryan and I knew him from church here in NC. His dad is our pastor. He died in a fire on Wednesday night. I just got back from the funeral. I've been to a few funerals, but they've all been grandparents. In a way you "expect" those, but this is someone who is my age. How can you prepare for something like that? This was the hardest funeral that I've been to. There has been a lot of tears shed from everyone. I remember at my grandma's funeral, my dad and I were at the casket together and he said, "This is normal. Going to your parent's funeral. It's expected. What's not normal is if I lost one of you." That's one of the hardest things about this. This parents, Chris and Tish. They have been through so much in thier lives. It sometimes seems like a black cloud is following them around at all times. But I have never met people so focused on God and His direction for thier lives. Each tragedy they have dealt with while focused on Christ. And they are so open about thier lives and what they've gone through. We always joke that they are our "North Carolina parents" since we don't have family here. And when we have children they are our designated "North Carolina Grandparents". They are always sending us home with food when we go to their house. It's just hard to see them suffering through another thing. Greg was going through a rough time in his life and he cut out a lot of friends during this period, so Ryan and I haven't talked to him in awhile. In a way for me that is good, because the memories I have were of the good, funny, sober Greg. But as much as he was recently going through, there is no doubt in my mind that he is in Heaven with Christ right now. He knew Christ, and followed Him, but was just in a rough patch of his walk. Greg was passionate about the teens at our church, but once he started drinking, he had to stop leading youth group. Since that time Ryan and I have been helping with the teens. We were really concerned about them because they loved Greg a lot. The last time we met with the teens we were talking about things they wanted to do. One of those was to do something for Greg in this difficult time. They did take is death hard, and it was hard to see them hurting so much. Greg wanted the teens to see the mistakes he had made in the past and how you can overcome them, but unfortunately he slipped back into that lifestyle. Ryan was a pallbearer, which was truely an honor. When Chris had asked him he said something along the lines of, "I know you and Greg weren't really good friends yet, but I would've liked you to have been." They had a slide show at the end of the funeral with pictures of Greg. There was a picture from last Christmas with me, Ryan, Greg, and his wife, Danielle. It was the only picture in that slideshow that didn't have family in it, so again, we were honored to be apart of the "family". My head hurts from crying and my eyes are tired. On Saturday we went to Chris and Tish's house to spend some time with them. That was hard because you are always concerned about "what do I say", etc. I knew we needed to go. Tish does better surrounded by people and we know it would mean a lot if we went. So we pushed our stupid selfish reasons aside and visited them. On Sunday they had the visitation. It was a closed casket due to the fire but there were pictures all over of Greg, showing of his personality. Today was the funeral, then grave site service, and then a lunch at the church. Again, it was so hard to see the family...parents, wife, siblings. I was hurting but couldn't even image what they were going through. I am grateful for my family, my heath (physical and mental), my friends, my church, my job, my house, my food, the clothes on my back. This was a good reminder of the things I have and how it can be gone in a heartbeat so don't take it for granted. I am thankful that Greg knew Christ. His life isn't over. He's probably having a party with Jesus right now, filling up the room like he always did. You will be missed, Greg, but we will see you again someday. I'll never forget your chinchilla impression.