Autumn Afternoon in the Country

Noel and I were fortunate enough to be invited to an "Autumn Afternoon in the Country". A couple from our church has a friend who owns this ranch near Mt Baldy. It's about a 40 minute drive from where we live, but feels like a completely different world! It feels like a forest and there was a great hiking trail we were able to take and do some exploring. We met a few new church people and enjoyed a great afternoon of hiking, appetizers, dinner, dessert (pumpkin cheesecake!!!!!) and conversation.

This cat was so sweet, until it started sticking its front claws through our jeans! Seated next to is is our Associate pastor's husband, Don. We really enjoyed getting to know him better.

This was towards the beginning of our hike. These are the only colored leaves we've seen all season! We'll take what we can get.

This is part of the ranch that the party was held at. It was so beautiful inside and out.

Noel resting at the top of the hike. Really, it wasn't strenuous at all. I just like this picture.

Harvest Festival

Every October, Fuller puts on a Harvest Festival. It's a great event for families with kids, but fun for adults too. There are tons of games, tons of candy, and even pony rides! Homemade Korean BBQ is always served (if you've never tried it, it's soooo delicious) along with lots of other carnival food (hotdogs, popcorn, nachos, cotton candy, etc.). Noel and I were required to work at the event as part of our community coordinator position. We opted for the hot cider booth, which I think was definitely the easiest (the cider didn't even come close to comparing to Michigan cider though...it was a bit disappointing). Noel also ended having to play the guitar for an hour on the "hayride" (2 horses pulling a wagon around a city block). We had a great time!

Noel enjoying his Korean BBQ while we waited for people to visit our booth.

Noel leading songs on the "hayride".

I met up with Cynthia, Shannon, and Michelle. We were all financial aid counselors together when I first started working at Fuller. Shannon is the only one who is still in the office, but now the Assistant Director rather than a counselor. Cynthia's working on becoming a nurse and Michelle just started a PhD program in clinical psychology here at Fuller. It was great to reconnect with them!

Noel, the pastor

Noel preached his first sermon last week Sunday at our church, San Marino Community Church. Eventually, a manuscript of his sermon will be posted on the website. If you're interested in reading what he talked about, you can just check the website periodically. This was the first oppotunity Noel's had to preach since being in seminary (he's only in his 5th week of his first preaching class). He did a GREAT job and I was so proud of him. The church responded really well and he got a lot of positive feedback from the congregation and the pastor. I'm starting to be able to picture myself as a "preacher's wife"...

Heidi's Birthday!

I had a FANTASTIC birthday a couple days ago. Noel really did a good job at making it a special day. He got me a great shirt, pajamas, and a soup serving bowl with 8 personal bowls from Crate and Barrel. I've had my eye on that soup bowl since last fall, so I was VERY excited to receive it! I can't wait to cook some soup and serve it in these new bowls!

He also made me a great dinner. We had salmon, asparagus (which is one of my new favorite recipes!), bread, and salad. We baked a pumpkin roll cake together earlier in the day and it actually came out really well! I was quite nervous since rolling a cake is a new experience for me, but it's actually quite easy. If you haven't tried Libby's pumpkin roll, it's a must have! My recipe was given to me by a friend and is slightly different than Libby's, but it's almost identical. Give it a try! Our great friends, John and Amanda, joined us for cake and brought me some beautiful flowers. We're so thankful for our friends!

On Friday morning, Noel surprised me by taking me to a FANTASTIC restaurant in San Marino. Julienne's is a French restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch only, and everything is so delicious. The hostess was so sweet and brought a candle to put in my strawberry garnish.

Many thanks to Noel for making my day so special!

Country Day at the Grove

We met the most wonderful couple at our church quite a while ago. Bob and Carole Bos are both graduates of Hope College and Bob also attended Western Seminary. What a small world! They live in a Presbyterian retirement community and they've invited us to their home on several different occasions. This past Saturday, the community (Monte Vista Grove) had Country Day! There was live country music, chili dogs, polish sausage, corn on the cob, lots of games, and lots of second hand stores open (people donate all kinds of items which are sold to help benefit the health clinic on campus). Noel and I had a great time. We weren't able to get a picture with Carole since she was working at one of the booths, but were fortunate enough to have lunch with Bob. We both found a few things to buy at the second hand stores as well. Noel loved the bookstore and bought 2 hardcover books for $1 each!