I always say to myself that I'm going to be better about this blogging thing. I used to be so good about writing in a journal- but I guess life happens, you get busy and try to get everyone caught up when you have the time. This will be my sad attempt to do just that.

 Butterfly in the side yard the other day.

Obviously, we have been living in Salisbury since the middle of May. We had a lot of help from friends and fam getting back down here and into the new (old) house. We love the house. We're living in a neighborhood we love and are very pleased to have two bathrooms, two bedrooms, a much roomier kitchen and a mostly proper dining area. Our family room is pretty scrunched together, but that's of our own doing...we're using the front room of the house as our dining room, and what should be the dining room as the family room. We haven't done much of any decorating in the baby's room yet. Sacha will soon be in the process of converting an old dresser into a changing table, so once we have that ready and have the crib in place, we can do lot's more. We're not painting any of the rooms in the house- thankfully, all of the rooms are painted colors we can live with. The baby's room is a very soft sage green, so we're just going to keep that color scheme going in there. If our little guy is anything like his mommy and daddy, he'll be fond of green, anyway. 

We've been doing a lot of gardening! Sacha built a raised veggie bed in the back yard, in which we have planted tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, okra, eggplant, basil, rosemary and red and green peppers. Everything has really taken off back there and we are looking forward to fresh produce in the coming weeks. We extended a bed around the back of the house and planted lot's of sun-loving flowers back there: verbena, petunias, marigolds and a variety of other things! It looks so cheerful out there! In the front of the house, we tried our best to transform where two off centered rows of hedges lined the front porch on either side of the front walk. Sacha did not enjoy digging those beds out by hand, but together, we are enjoying the beautiful colors of the blossoms from the many flowers we have planted out there: marigolds, vinca, lantana, phlox, petunias, celosia and black eyed susans. The days have mostly been too darn hot to sit outside and enjoy our lovely front porch, but these evenings have been much cooler in the past couple of days! It is so lovely to sit out on the porch in the early morning with a cup of coffee. I know what I'll be doing tomorrow!

Aside from getting settled into the new house, we've been re-adjusting to life in Salisbury. It didn't take long for us to jump right back into ministry programs at St. John's. We are both singing with the Center Celebration Musicians group (the worship team for our contemporary service), once again. I have already enjoyed two Sundays of worship leading at Center Celebration, and am looking forward to at least four more Sundays of worship leading in August. I am serving on the Center Celebration TEAM again, have volunteered to be the Co-Coordinator of Center Celebration, am scheduling the worship leaders, am heading up the Center Celebration Web Team, and as always, lend a hand to my dad in helping to plan our worship music sets. Sacha is also very musically involved at our 11:00 (traditional) service- singing with the Chancel Choir, Cantio Sacra, and will be playing with a brass trio this Sunday (4th of July) in worship. He is busy arranging their instrumental parts as I type this. Sacha has signed on with the Piedmont School of Music and Dance in Kannapolis (also their Charlotte location) as an instructor. He is awaiting students. He is also seeking private students in Salisbury. Sach received his diploma from UMD earlier this week, which was very exciting! We're all super proud of all that he has accomplished! I am still enjoying my cute little business with Celebrating Home, which I am trying to re-establish here in Salisbury. I have also enjoyed singing for a couple of different things since we've made our move back to Salisbury- the highlight being invited to sing for opening worship at this year's NC Lutheran Synod Assembly at Lenoir-Rhyne University. Dad and I wrote a song together called 'Your Work, Our Hands,' which we debuted at assembly.

Onto baby news (finally!)... We have had three doctors visits since we moved home. The first was back in May to find out the sex of the baby, which as I'm sure you already know is a boy. At that ultrasound, the doctor noticed that the placenta was positioned very low, and that we'd need to check it in a few weeks to see if it had moved. At our second visit, we met another doctor in the practice and were given all of the info we need to pre-register at the hospital and sign up for birthing classes. :) We had yet another appointment just yesterday for another ultrasound, and the doctor was very happy to report that the placenta has moved way up and out of the way, and there is no cause for concern. YAY! Baby boy Witt weighs 1.8 pounds...and I weigh about 6 million. Blood pressure and weight remain to be deemed very good. In another week or so, it'll be time for my glucose test, and in three weeks, it's back to the doctor for another check up. The baby is moving around quite a lot, which we are glad for and mostly amused with. I have had no sicknesses or weird cravings (just in case you were wondering), and am trying to deal with this awful and constant back pain as best I can. The heat is gross- and yes, my hands, feet and even some days my face are all swelling. I took my rings off a couple of weeks ago and wear them around my neck, most days. 

We are anticipating a jam-packed July- full of fun and family. Tomorrow evening, we'll be enjoying a free concert in the park w/a fireworks show. The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra will be playing patriotic tunes, so we're taking a picnic basket and planning on spending a lovely evening out of the house (while we still can). As fanatic as we are about the Twilight Saga, we have not yet seen ECLIPSE...planned on seeing it today, but Sacha needed to spend that time arranging music for Sunday. So, we shall see it in the next few days, I'm sure.

That is all that I can think of to share at the present. I'll post a few photos and be done with it so you can get back to your lives, and I to mine.

That's all for now, folks. Until next time...