Summer Beginnings

Well, Matt is officially on summer break, and I now have the kids that I nanny all the time during the day because they are on summer break too.  It hasn't been too hot over here in Kentucky yet, the highest it's been is in the high 80s.  Life has been busy as is to be expected while you're in Seminary.  Matt has been preaching at Turners Station Baptist Church for 4 weeks and all is going well there.  The people there are so kind and welcoming to us and we are so thankful for this.  Matt's schedule seems to be so jam packed with things to do, but God is giving him the strength to get everything done and to balance preaching, studying, work, and of course being married. :)  I sure am enjoying my summer break with the kids that I nanny.  We've been going to parks, bounce houses and my favorite...The Library!!!  They really are good kids and fun to be with, so I'm sure I'm going to have a fun summer with them.

I thought that once again I would share with you all what we've been up to since my last post through pictures.

We love going to Bernheim Forest and just relaxing on a Saturday and enjoying being with each other.  Most of the time we'll  take a picnic lunch and some books to read in the hammock.  This state park is such a peaceful place and great for relaxing from a busy week.  

Matt and I do our best to have date nights once a week.  Sometimes it's hard if he's working mandatory overtime on a weekend, but we do the best we can.  I will usually make a yummy dinner for us and end it with a sweet treat such as these strawberry shortcake parfaits.  

For Memorial Day, Matt and I visited Cave Hill Cemetery's Civil War section.  Being native Californians, we've never been to a cemetery that had a section dedicated to Civil War soldiers.  It was quite an experience for us.  As we slowly walked through the hundreds of Civil War graves we were solemnly reminded of the great sacrifice both men and women have made for the freedoms we enjoy today in our country.  

We're used to seeing American flags on soldiers graves for  Memorial Day, but we've never seen a confederate flag on one before.  This section of the cemetery is where the confederate soldiers of the Civil War were buried.  For the most part Kentucky was a divided state during the Civil War so it makes sense that both Confederate and Union soldiers are buried in her cemeteries.  

For me, the most poignant reminder of the cost of war were the hundreds of tombstones simply marked "unknown" in this cemetery.  These men fought for a great cause and were buried without even knowing their name.  Let us not let them have died in vain.  

Here is the marker marking the many graves of the unknown dead from the Civil War.

After visiting the cemetery, we decided to do a little treasure hunting at the local Goodwill.  We found a few items, and then moved on.  

Growing up it seems like we always did a Memorial Day project around the home, so we decided to make cornice curtains for our family room windows.  Here's Matt carefully measuring one of the pieces for the cornice.  

I cut out all the fabric and batting that we used to staple to the cornice boards. 

Don't I have the best husband!?  He worked with me to get these cornice curtains made, and then he hung them up for me too.  

And Here's the finished project.  We actually made two of these cornice boards, the other one is over our dining room window.  They were a great project for Memorial Day.  

I'm having a great time being a Nanny.  It is kind of uncanny how much our hair looks alike isn't it?  It seems like everywhere we go people are always stopping to comment on our hair.  I guess it's kind of strange to see two people together in Kentucky with such curly hair.  :) 

Yesterday after church we decided to go and try out the new pedestrian bridge that crosses the Ohio River over to Indiana.  That's a picture of the bridge in the background.  Actually it used to be a bridge for trains, but they didn't need it anymore, or it got to week for trains or something.  (It's over 100 years old)  

Somebody was kind enough to take our picture for us as we were making our way up to the bridge.  It sure was a beautiful day.  

For all of you out there who are into looking at structures, this pics for you.  These are the over 100 year-old iron beams that suspend the bridge across the Ohio River.

Here's a picture of Matt next to one of the beams just so you can get an idea of how large they are.

This picture was taken at the center of the bridge.  That's the Ohio River.

This was our best attempt at taking a picture of the both of us by ourselves.  That's downtown Louisville in the background and the Ohio River.  We had such a good time enjoying our walk across the Big Four Bridge and the weather was perfect.  

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this latest update to our ongoing journey here in Louisville, Kentucky.  As always, God is so good to us, He has blessed more than we could ever deserve.  We are looking forward to seeing where He will call us to serve Him after our days here at Seminary come to an end.  Thank you all for your prayers, they are very much appreciated.