What Fun August Will Be!!

I have loved July...don't get me wrong...but I cannot wait for August. Seeing all of my family in one month!! Jen and Randy are coming to visit us the first weekend of August. They will be showing up on Friday night and leaving Monday morning so we should get the most out of the weekend. I'm already planning things. I'm so excited for them to see our home and church and where John is going to school. Randy and Jen were in Seminary after they got married- very similar to the experience John and I are having. It has been a blessing to have them gone before us- I have loved asking Jennifer questions and gleaning from her wisdom. This should also be a great time for Randy and John to get to know each other better. Too bad Courtney, Luke, and Chole will have to stay home with Grandma and Grandpa Hockema. We will miss having them visit.
The next weekend will be James and Laura's wedding and we'll have John's family here. We have gotten to see them quite a bit this summer with weddings and graduations which has been really nice.
The third weekend of the month will be time to fly home to HARTFORD!!! YEA! I am so excited if you can't tell. So much that I want to do while I'm at home. I'll get to see Steph and Debs and Olivia and my parents- my friends, how I have missed them! I can't wait for that cup of coffee on the patio with my family - that was one of my favorite things to do at home. Virginia is home because it's where my husband is- but I can't wait to go back to my parent's home. It will be a really special time... only drawback is John is staying home...talk about not having your cake and eating it too...I'll miss him!!

"New Finds"

So, a new coffee shop called Bean There Cafe went in across the street from work. It has been so much fun to have a little home grown coffee shop so close. I have become a little more and more weary of the Starbucks bitter coffee and the hiking up of the prices...again...did you hear about the $.09 increase July 31?? Don't get me wrong- I'll still make my contributions and enjoy an afternoon there with a friend every now and then but yea for some diversity- not to mention competition in the neighborhood.
Anyhow- I have missed my home coffee shop Perc Place in Hartford and it has been a refreshing taste to have a new coffee shop so close. I haven't gotten to take John yet, but my friend Katie and I have enjoyed a couple of hours of fellowship in their cozy atmosphere. So, here's to the small buiness- I hope they do well and make it!! If you come visit- I'll take you for a cup- this is paticularly directed towards my sisters- they have good tea too, Jenn!!!

Summertime...

We have really been enjoying getting to know some people better. A couple of weekends ago we went to our first Tides Game with TJ and Shannon Logsdon and had a great time. John and TJ kept on talking about the Funnel Cakes- I'm still not sure what all the excitement was about- but they waited until the bottom of the 3rd Inning and then went and found the Funnel Cake stand to fulfill their craving. Shannon and I were not as enchanted with the cakes as the guys were (which is unusual for me not to be enchanted with cake). And to make the night even better the Tides even won!!
I don't have pictures of our 4th of July festivities other than our morning of. John and I had been wanting to get Monopoly for a while so I suprised him with chocolate chip pancakes and Monopoly for our 4th of July morning breakfast. It was so nice to have the morning together. We just hung out at home until about 4:30ish when we drove to Portsmouth to meet up with some couples from our Sunday School Class to enjoy a picnic. Some of us migrated to fireworks in Portsmouth afterwards. Fireworks traffic is pretty intense so we decided to put all the guys in one car and all the girls in another so we could drive 2 cars (since there was 5 couples it worked out great). We got down there and found parking spots fairly quick, but unfortunately for me (I was driving the girls car) while I was getting lined up to execute a stellar parallel park job someone cut me off and took my spot!!!! Well, I took the advice that my brother in law Dan gave me when John and I first moved to Virginia Beach and used my horn- a few times- just to let them know I was there... just in case they hadn't figured it out....Either way we found another parking spot. It was a good night and we enjoyed our time getting to know some of the couples from church.
On Friday night Amanda and Kristen and I decided to take a spur of the moment trip to the beach. It was a hot day and a picnic and some water was the perfect cure. We had a great time floating around on the boogie (sp??) boards in the water. Kristen and I caught some waves and hats off to Amanda for her endeavor with her 7 months pregnant belly- I'm sure Baby Gretta loved it! I have loved getting to know Kristen and Amanda better. I really feel so blessed to have found some friends who I can form a bond with and share Christian struggles and life experiences- that night was such an encouragement to me!!
Anyhow- more pics to come and more to blog-- this was the preliminary. I must admit though I like it better when I can blog on a whim and not give a narrative of what's going on lately- but it's for the moms-- Love you!!!