Major recap

while thoughts of retiring this blog threatened its survival, i am back, by popular demand of my family. it is my goal to bring "B.L.M." up to date in just one post. are you ready?

may 2011: bryan graduated from seminary. holy cow. do i look ecstatic in this picture? bryan doesn't look too unhappy himself. this was a much welcomed milestone. while we are eternally grateful for this education and the people who sacrificially gave of their resources to help make it a reality, we were more than ready to move on from 'student status'...to 'fund-raiser status'. more on the latter in just a bit. for now, we celebrate!

below: matt, dr..chapell,josh,bryan this is a real tear jerker. i caught dr. chapell on his way out the door that evening, asking him if the poor tired soul would mind posing for just one more picture. as is the nature of this man, he was more than happy to oblige. actually, i believe his exact words were, "a picture with whom? those guys? i guess so." what a man.
days after graduation, the dreaded day came for friends to begin moving away. our family had decided to stay in seminary housing for the summer while bryan taught a summer course at washu and we continued fund-raising for our church plant in boston. we saw almost all of our friends move away. on one day, two of mya's best friends moved, maggie and howie. i was particularly sad. first of all, i had serious pregnancy hormones coursing through my body but not a lot of people knew that. also, the departure of these families was a result of life moving on. a chapter was ending and a new one beginning. while i was ready for a new chapter, it was painful to experience the change. watching these friends drive away for the last time was a reminder to me that our lives were changing drastically too and that soon we'd be driving away, driving away from the place where mya became potty trained, moved from her crib to her big girl bed, celebrated 3 birthdays, went to two years of pre-school, where we had countless playdates, were a part of trinity church whom we loved, and where we fell in love with saint louis. oh, and since i haven't officially said this, where i became pregnant with baby number 2! sigh, alas, we made it through the change. 

 in early june we took our first family vaca to chicago. we boarded the train in st. louie, early one morning and took off for the windy city. most exciting part of the trip by far was a visit to the american girl store. mya had been saving her money for just such an occasion and was ready to spend it. she opted to take the doll she had, molly, and bring her to the store to purchase a new dress for her. when we got there, we realized just how big this store is and how much there is to do! first, we perused and the downstairs. there's a library, all the dolls who represent an era, and the 'nursery' where they keep the bitty babies. upstairs is where they have 4000 dolls to match the likeness of any human child, clothes galore, a hospital, a salon, and a restaurant where you can eat brunch, lunch, or dinner, should you make a reservation. we thought about doing that but then decided against it. our second stop was at the 'hospital' where we consulted with a 'physician' on the status of molly. she had been through a lot in mya's care and needed some tlc, we weren't sure just how much. the doctor assured us that all she needed was a day at the spa. mya agreed. so off molly went to get pampered while we shopped. when we picked her up, she was wearing a white terry cloth robe, two cucumber stickers over her eyes, and had white flip flops on her doll feet. wow. next, she was taken away for the ear piercing. molly was brave. next, she got dressed in a new dress and had her hair professionally done. one would have thought mya was getting all the attention. she had the time of her life.

we visited my grandparents in millry, alabama.handsome pappy and mya.  


mya was in a church play called 'the sheep and the goats'. she played a sheep named kay. i wept, true to pregnancy form.
 
  i tried to sell my wedding dress and veil on ebay. mya insisted that we keep it, that she will wear it on her wedding day. then she wore my veil for about 3 days straight. too cute not to share. 

just dance. we have certainly enjoyed our fair share of this wii game. we had a blast playing it in st. louis with our friends nick and michelle. nick particularly enjoyed getting a higher score than his far more talented wife. here bryan and i are in all our 'just dance' glory.
we've moved! august 7th we drove to greenville south carolina to live with my mom and dad while we continue fund-raising. and that about brings us up to speed. after 6 weeks of living with my parents, we moved into a townhome just down the road. we are attending mitchel road presbyterian church here in greenville and are enjoying getting somewhat settled for the immediate future. our hope is to have raised enough money to be in boston in early spring 2012. fund-raising is a slow and steady process for us. we are encouraged as we see God providing financially in some really profound ways. we post monthly updates at updates at http://ctkroslindale.org/updates/ if you are interested in reading more. in the meantime, we are learning as a family what it means to be a family of fund-raising church planters.

bryan got to see andy roddick play in a small tournament in winston salem north carolina, just before the us open. a really nice friend had tickets for front row seats and could think of inviting no one else but bryan.  a.mazing. we are huge roddick fans, even though he hasn't won a grand slam in forever. he's still a favorite in our family. as a side note, when roger federer plays, mya thinks it's 'daddy'. not that roger is her biological father, but that the man on the tv screen is bryan. the ultimate compliment for a tennis lover.go andy!
 
for labor day weekend we were invited to the same friend's family lake house. what a retreat! this place is near boone north carolina, surrounded by woods. it was so peaceful and private. each day we woke up late, ate breakfast, and talked about what we had to do that day.  nothing.  except eat and swim and go out on the boat.  ah! the boat, speeding across open water, where i got to unleash my driving skills. some of you know of my driving skills and cringe at the thought of me behind the wheel of a boat. it was a blast. mya had the need for speed on the inner tube, bryan tried his luck at water skiing and made it look easy, and i laughed like i couldn't be happier. the best was just floating on our backs in the middle of the lake with a life jacket on and one under our feet, just staring up at the clear blue sky. total relaxation.

bryan finished ordination exams! if you are not a 'presbyterian', and maybe even if you are, you may have no idea what that means. bryan has completed a series of written and oral exams and has been approved by the new england presbytery to begin his work in boston. we'll be flying up in the next few months for the 'installation service' at christ the king. here he is with the staff of christ the king upon completion of his final
exam.

 this saturday the weather called for a trip to a pumpkin patch. the weather was a crisp 57 and windy. we drove to nearby hendersonville north carolina to skytop acres, where we enjoyed all the greatness of fall. hot caramel apples, hot cider, and a hayride. we came home with quite a loot. so far we've made a pumpkin pie and an apple pie. tomorrow, caramel sauce. i've already burned through two pumpkin spice candles. can't get enough! welcome fall!

after much thought and consideration, bryan and i decided under our hyper-transitional circumstances, it would be best to homeschool mya for kindergarten.  i was really nervous about the idea at first, feeling illequipped and overwhelmed at the concept.  where would i begin?  how much would it cost?  i consulted a family friend who homeschools her daughters and she eased all of my worries.  she encouraged me to look at the book 'the well-trained mind' by susan wise bauer.  that was very helpful.  kindergarten is both really easy to teach and also not required by the city of boston. so i can't mess it up! i started with the workbooks you find in the $1 bin at target.  mya and i frequent our local library where we check out laundry basket-loads of books and books on cd. mya is reading up a storm. some of her favorites to read are by pd eastman, 'go dog, go', 'are you my mother?', 'big dog little dog', and anything by theodor seuss geisel.  books on cd are an excellent way to keep mya exposed to vocabulary while i am not able to read to her.  at the same time, i ordered texts from amazon.  so, we are working on kindergarten mathematics, reading, phonics, spelling, handwriting, and bible memory. she loves it. most days i love it, too. it is really fun to be the one teaching mya and to see her learn and understand truths for the first time. that said, i still look forward to being settled in boston with mya in private school for 1st grade.
 f.y.i. this post took me 2 hours and 15 minutes to complete and now its after midnight. i will pay for this tomorrow but it feels good to be caught up in the blogging world. thank you for caring enough to read about the loney family!