We're still here!

Ok, I've been feeling recently that it's time I got serious about this blog again. There are too many of you who we love that are too far away to not keep in touch.
Here are some basic updates!
After 14 years, 5 schools in 3 states, Adam finally received his bachelor's degree!
The best part is that he's also simultaneously a year into his first master's degree (first of two in the program he's attending at Western Seminary here in Portland). Overall, Adam loves his school and the curriculum. There are some incredible teachers at Western and he's doing everything he can to soak them up. He also gets extremely frustrated by some of the "old school" methodologies and professors. In plain English, Greek is not Adam's friend (even more specifically, Professor DeJong is not Adam's friend).
Adam is also a week away from finishing his two-and-a-half-year internship at our church, Village Baptist. He had started the internship as a way to test whether full-time pastoral ministry was where God is calling him. He's since discovered that it's not, he's more passionate about working in the academic realm, as a teaching pastor or professor.
He's also been heavily involved in the training/continuing education of musicians within our service. This has been an awesome outlet for him, challenging his current skills and helping him develop new ones. He has recently taken up the mandolin and is contemplating a ukulele.
Together we lead/host a lifegroup (small group, home group, whatever each church likes to call them) at our home on Monday nights. There are four other couples besides us. We are right in the middle age-wise, but have been married the longest. One couple has a 9 month-old boy and another one due in October. These couples are truly a blessing to us, the church family that we've longed to find and put down roots with. Ironically, over half of our lifegroup are also involved in the mid-week band practices and rotate through playing on the nights we serve at the Portland Rescue Mission. We've become the Band Geek Lifegroup, and Adam thrives on it (I love being able to claim that my husband is a rock star!).
I'm still working at Charlotte's Weddings. For about a year now, I've been working as an assistant manager, helping run the store, do some of the ordering and problem solving. I've even helped with hiring/training. The position has it's ups and downs, but I still love working with 14 women and having almost no inter-personal drama. These girls are truly a family (including the owners taking us out for pedicures & brunch):

I'm also still working on the board of Lunacy Stageworks. I help keep the meetings on track, take notes, and lead the team that finds new scripts/plays for us to do. When able, I act in our shows. In fact, doing "A Company of Wayward Saints" last February was a dream since college for me (the great reviews and attendance by the playwrite didn't hurt either!). I'm hoping to be in another show this fall, "Clean House" by Sarah Ruhl.
When not working, I read voraciously, watch too much tv on my computer, have become completely addicted to Pinterest, and learned to be a halfway decent baker.

I think that's a decent wrap-up. Oh, Nestle is huge, bouncy, and always excited to go running or to bed.