Hodgepodge

This post is named hodgepodge b/c it is exactly that....a bunch of little clips from the past week or so rolled up into one big post. I decided to do it this way instead of having multiple little posts so this one may be longer than normal & I guarantee the subjects are bound to change!

My suitcase was finally delivered to my hotel around 2:30am...ha and I was worried about 11pm! It didn't slow me down and I had a pretty successful work week. The best part was the wonderful weather! However, there is one thing that caught me off guard about being AZ....my total bitterness to return back to snow and ice. Preparing for winter in MN is best described as a horse with blinders on. You have it set in your mind that it is going to be very cold for a very long time and you can't entertain the thought of spring or summer for months. AZ tore the blinders off! I realized that in the middle of January there are people grilling out and cutting their grass. It's a completely different world...and I loved it! I wouldn't truly want to live there because I like seasons and AZ goes from hot to unbearable, but their "winters" rock! I'm not happy about the cold, but I am happy to be home.

Friday & Saturday were pretty uneventful, but relaxing. Sunday we joined some friends to celebrate Chris' birthday!! The boys loved playing a new game on the wii and us girls enjoyed chatting. We did play a little though. Later that night I joined Andi and Carol for dinner! Carol and Dan were in our small group when we first moved to Rochester, but Dan finished up residency(or fellowship) and they now live in CO. You can see pics. of their adorable kids on a previous blog. We had a great time talking about everything you can imagine & catching up.

Erica, Shelby, Kristen & me (pics. courtesy for Erica's blog) :)

John, Mark & Chris

Andi, Carol and Lisa!

The other Turner news is that we recently purchased a new member of our family....Stanley the snow blower! I'm not as thrilled about Stanley as John is, but then again, I've not been the one shoveling snow. John is very proud of his new purchase and the first day we got it he kindly helped out the entire street....ok not really, but in reality at least 3 neighbors. I suggested he strap on a tip jar and head through the neighborhood! Sorry there isn't a pic. yet...my camera is dead. I'm sure you'll see action shots soon enough.

I'm about to be over commiteed, but I just can't help myself. We currently host a small group for the high school students on Monday nights & have our own small group on Th. nights. I've decided to join a woman's bible study that will meet on Wed. nights. yikes! It's a Beth Moore study on the book of Esther. I've never done one of her studies, but hear they are fabulous. I hope I can handle it all! I feel like I'm going through a spiritual growing phase right now & I'm hoping this study will keep it up. I know what you are all thinking & the answer is YES, I wish it was a physical growing phase, but this is the best I can do. :) I hope I don't get burnt out!

That about wraps it up. I could continue to ramble, but I figure you deserve a cookie for reading this far! Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things soon and won't wait so long to post.