The Next Parts of My Life

Hello all! It has been the longest time since I made a moment to fill the blog world in on my goings on. Here's the deal. My life has exploded. It has been both good and challenging, hard and wonderful. But it has been one of those times in life when there seems to be a lack of time. Every moment is filled with things and feelings, and every spare moment slips by quickly unnoticed. 

So, I am tired. I am the kind of tired that goes to the bone. And what sounds really nice right now is a snow day. But it's August, and there's no inclement weather approaching to secure a day of forced inside coziness.

Here's what's been up with me:

June 13 - Said goodbye to my first car- "Timber"the best Saturn SL2, ever.
Highlight: my "new" (also made in 1996) car, "Mixy" is a station wagon. 

June 16 - I went to LA on a mission trip with high schoolers for a week.
Highlights: Runyan Canyon Hike, seeing Ron Jeremy with a bunch of church kids, amazing weather.

July 14 - A week-long "vacation" away from home with Stan

Highlight: a hot walk on Put-in-Bay island that IS funny now as I look back (Stan was right), Erie seaglass, watching the kids wrestling with Stan.

July 27 - Stan PROPOSES. I say YES! (duh)
Highlights: wading through ankle deep mud puddles to get to the spot where he did it, him- in general.

August 11 - We decide to get married this fall.
Highlights: Cool weather, fall leaves... and we get this done and over with. 

[insert photo of a frazzled, probably-crying, actually quite happy, bride to be.]

August 13 - Nephew # 4 born. Samuel Ezra.
Highlights: squishy little nose, that new baby smell, the way his brothers and sisters adore him.

August 24 - Completed renovation of two student ministry rooms in the church where I work.
"Highlight": a horrible trip to ikea with a buying team of 5 - it felt like I had 3 husbands.

And then there were the other things. Things like A) job hunting for the Mr. B) trying to figure out how two people will fit into this itty bitty apartment full of my overflowing chotchkies C) wedding planning D) work work work & E) a tiny bit of socializing F) Not much creating.

Next Up in Life?

November 3 - Get hitched.

Details: Check out our wedding website.  (still under construction)

Tons and tons of wedding planning. I've been feeling an awful lot like I have two full time jobs lately. I go to work and do work and then come home and do work. I've designed our invites and save the dates myself. I'm shopping for decor for the space. Things are coming along, but good god, it's so much more complicated than I ever thought it could be. Thank goodness I have a fantastic prize waiting on me at the finish line of this race.

Hopefully, I'll get some process pictures up here sometime. We're having the wedding in a barn in West Chester, Ohio. It will be family and close friends from all parts of our lives. Think a little rustic and vintage. Yellow, red and tiffany teal. Records and games and fun oh my. With hot cider ladled into paper cups. Here goes!

Huff Family Reunion 2012

My absence is due to a long weekend full of travels to eastern Ohio for a family reunion and some (maybe) restful moments away from work. I saw some familiar faces and spaces and enjoyed a great deal of fun times with my dear family. 

The recaps are going to come in installments, because (you know me) I took a bahzillion pictures and want to share a lot of it all with you. I'm starting with the Huff Family Reunion in Dover, Ohio. 

My family has been having this biennial reunion for over 20 years now. For years, we met at a hotel resort on Atwood Lake in the boonies of eastern Ohio. After some economic turns in the region, the resort changed hands and purposes and we were left to find a new host for our event. The result? We moved back "home" to Dover, where my grandpa grew up. This little town, filled with lots of german and Moravian descendants,  is the origin of the Francis Huff and Adella Portz family. We enjoyed being surrounded by our own history. 

Saturday included a tour of the family home, which was built my my great grandfather many years ago. It is still in the hands of the family that purchased it from my great grandma some 20 years ago. My family traipsed about the house poking into little corners admiring and remembering. I was too little to recall my visits to grandma's house as a toddler, but most had very specific and beautiful memories and they shared stories. 

My uncle Tim and his cousin, Kip, remembered hiding treasures in a secret door in a wooden panel. My dad didn't even know it existed! Sneaky sneaky. My 2nd cousin, Andrew recalls tossing toys down the 3 story laundry chute. I was amazed as I thought about the work my great grandfather must have put into this building. I adore the old, original hardware and his beautiful woodwork. 

The home was surrounded by beautiful gardens and yards where children have played for over a hundred years. Three generations of "Huffs" toured the family home together. What an honor to have a family that values this history.

I've always enjoyed getting together with my father's side of the family. We're fun people often with a strange sense of intelligent humor. We're kind and yet a tid bit sassy. (We don't evade the normal family dramas...)  The gang is a diverse one. You'll find, as you click through my hyperlinks on this page that we're all over the map in careers and passions. We're a melting pot of conservative and liberal, old-fashioned and modern, scientific and creative. (As I make these links, I realize we are often VERY creative.) We hail from: OH, MI, MT, CA, IL, NY, MN, GA, MA, & AZ. 

I love my family. I can't wait until next reunion. Just think how the little ones will have grown by then! And who knows what I'll be doing then...time shall tell.