Year 2

The celebration of our second year of life together started after Katie and David were married on May 14.  I took my week of vacation from the Ministry Referral Office, and we headed to Alabama for all the wedding festivities.  After that we went to stay at my grandparents' house in Mobile and to visit our old beach haunt at Dauphin Island and Gulf Shores, where we had gone together many times in college and where KJ proposed.  We had a refreshing time together and got to visit with some old school friends as well as with the Barr family.

Eating Papa's shrimp & rice (one of my all-time favorite meals)

On our way back to Kentucky from Mobile we enjoyed a stop in Evergreen to visit KJ's grandparents and then visited my family in Arab where KJ allowed me to keep a pact I made in high school with my brother and two friends that we would watch all the new Star Wars movies in the theater together.  I'm really glad I got to keep that promise. 

My brother Josh, Neil Allen, & Kristen Dumas at Episode 3

We had a lot of changes waiting on us once we returned to Louisville.  I had really grown tired of working 40 hours a week within the closed walls of the seminary and wanted more freedom to take better care of our home and serve in other ways.  KJ got a job as...wait for it...manager of a softball field.  Crazy, I know.  It was a full-time job mowing the field, keeping score, selling concessions, chasing fly balls (the works) for a local Methodist church's summer softball program.  Keeping the books for softball games wasn't exactly up KJ's alley, but he had a lot of experience cutting grass, and so he began his adventure.  I'm sure there could be a whole blog post of softball field stories.  

He was working from 2 p.m. until 10 p.m., and if I didn't quit my job I would never see him, so I ended my secretarial career at the end of June and began some new ventures of my own. My friend, Debbie Sweetland, mentioned that she was looking to hire someone to do administrative work for her family's business.  They owned and operated a waste management company out of their home.  They also home-schooled their four children, so with Debbie's help and encouragement I began working part-time for her that summer, as well as planning to teach a Literature class to several 7th and 8th graders in the southern Indiana area.  Those kids were so incredible.  They made teaching my favorite subject a true joy, and I found my new schedule and work a lot more fulfilling, as it even gave me one day a week at home.  It was also a blessing to observe Debbie manage their business and teach her kids as well.  I also taught piano lessons one day a week for Debbie's two daughters, Aberlyn and Audrey.

So, the summer came to a close, and with it the end of the softball season.  I had to go home in August to renew my driver's license (this was our first time apart since our marriage!), and on my way home KJ called to tell me he had an interview with Chick-Fil-A.  I'm so proud of my hard-working husband and all he was willing to do to take care of me during his school days.  I'm sure he never imagined himself cooking chicken and fries, but he did a great job.

First Day of Work at Chick-Fil-A

David and Katie moved to Louisville in the fall, as well, and it was so fun having them around the corner from us.  I was always popping over to beg them to come to dinner and a movie.  I might have been one of their most annoying neighbors ever, but we LOVED having family close by us.  We enjoyed a lot of fun activities with them and Tim & Dusti Brister, who were also friends from Alabama.  

Picking blackberries, raspberries, grapes and apples at Huber Family Farms

I love this picture because it looks like David is levitating the apple.

The end of summer brought another change of jobs for us as KJ ended his church-planting internship and accepted the position as youth pastor at Covington Baptist Church, located on Covington Ridge.  We took our second camping trip to the Smokies, and this time KJ tackled the 11 mile bike ride through Cades Cove, something I had done with my family on countless summer vacations.  We also decided that we would host all of our combined families in our 680 sq. ft. apartment for Thanksgiving.  KJ's family bunked with David & Katie, and my family stayed with us.  It was one of the most frigid Thanksgivings I have ever experienced, but it was so much fun to have our families in our homes, and we ended the evening by seeing Pride & Prejudice in the movie theater.  I can still feel that biting wind, though.

I loved this haircut.  I wish I could get it again.

Our Friend, Breck Morgan, a deacon at Covington, in front of his antique shop

Our minuscule kitchen where we prepared a huge meal 

Once again we went home for Christmas after celebrating our family Christmas at Bag End.  This year we had exciting news, though. We were expecting a baby!!  In the spring we found out we were having a girl, and life became looking forward to Ella.  KJ was ordained to the ministry in Sylacauga over the Easter weekend.  Sad to say, our days at Bag End were drawing to a close.  Springdale Apartments didn't allow children, so we began looking for a new apartment.  We moved the last weekend in April, and it was exhausting.  My dad, KJ and I packed up a U-Haul and unloaded it all in the same day.  I was hurting pretty badly.  I ended my school year, and KJ prepared to start working at the softball field again, and we celebrated our second anniversary with the thought of a baby girl in our future.

Bag End at Christmas (I put this picture up so you could see our window.)

It's a girl!!

KJ's Ordination

Scott Heath, Paul Murphy, KJ, Keith Pugh, & Steve Lawson