On Monday, January 19th, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Janna, Abby, Mckenna and I met up for lunch at Longfellow Grill in Minneapolis. It was nice to have the day off and to catch up with good friends. Our few short hours together flew by. And Janna and Mckenna got to meet for the first time - they were having fun together! :)
Janna's getting married in March, so she was updating Abby and I on all of her and Robby's fun wedding plans. I'm going over to Janna's on Friday night to help her address wedding invitations, along with two of her bridesmaids, Mary Kate and Rachel. Janna is so fun and creative, and I'm excited to see the cool invites they chose and to help them in that way. I'll have to take some pictures on Friday and post them next week...
These next pictures were taken one night last week. Cute and smiley, as (almost) always. Matt read her some stories and she got a shower - it's funny how much she loves those!
Nemo had a puppy friend to play with last weekend, which was great for her since she hasn't been getting quite as much play time with us lately. (Hmmm, I wonder why?) Jennifer Marcotte, a fellow teacher and friend from Minnehaha, and her family went out of town Saturday night. They left their male Bishon named Mikko with us, and she and Nemo had a ball together and played the whole time. Jennifer and I traded notes earlier this week, and both Mikko and Nemo were sleeping and taking it easy after they parted ways - they were tired after their busy time of playing. :)
Last Sunday was both a sad and happy day for us as our church said goodbye to our good friends Jeromy (JJ), Kelly, and Caleb Johnson. JJ has been the Youth Director at Bloomington Covenant for close to five years, and they recently accepted a call to move to Long Prairie, MN where JJ will work as the Program Director at Lake Beauty Bible Camp. This is sad for Matt and I as we have grown to be good friends with Kelly and JJ over the years, and sad for our church to be losing them. But at the same time we're really happy for them to be moving on to such a perfect position and situation that fits them so well.
Matt and I got to know Kelly many years ago, singing together in the Bethel Choir. And we both met JJ while working at Covenant Pines, also where Kelly and JJ met. Helping with the youth ministry at BCC over the years, we worked closely with them. They've done so much for the youth group at Bloomington Covenant, as well as helping to bring more praise and worship music into our Sunday services and Wednesday night programs. Thanks JJ, Kelly, and Caleb for all you've done at BCC, and for being good friends to us over the years - we'll miss you! But we know that you have a fun and exciting journey ahead of you at Lake Beauty. We definitely want to come and visit you sometime! :)
After the morning service on Sunday at church there was a reception to say goodbye to JJ, Kelly, and Caleb. Then we went over to a couple's house from our 20s and 30s small group for lunch. Here are some pictures from our Sunday. Unfortunately Matt didn't make it into any of these pictures because he was home in bed with the flu over the weekend. But he's feeling much better now.
JJ, Caleb, and Kelly
One of our high school youth group friends, Natalie. Natalie seemed to really enjoy holding sweet, peaceful Mckenna.
Kelly and Mckenna
Mckenna and Jess, a friend from our small group.
Caleb jumping on a cool trampoline toy that was at the house we had lunch at. Doesn't it look fun?
Good friends - Julie and Kelly.
At the end of a long morning and afternoon, Mckenna was tired and ready to go home.
