A blessed week! (Newborn baby photos included!)

What a week!  On Monday I started my summer “field education” internship at Urban Promise, in Camden NJ.  It was a long but extraordinarily rewarding week. God is alive and working there & I am going to soak up every second I have this Summer, learning how the heck they do what they do so well.  For the first few weeks I will be working in the Development Office. I came in at an extremely busy time for the office so within the first two days I was creating a program for their Wine Tasting fundraiser and driving a 15 passenger cargo van through the narrow and overcrowded streets of NJ (now that was interesting).  The week culminated with a very very long workday on Thursday, the day of the Wine Tasting.  To summarize that day read my status update from Facebook: ‎13 hour work day highlights: 1. Having Bruce Main start calling me Kat 2. A man who said, after telling me he wasn't all that religious... "I bet you'd be a pretty cool pastor to hang out with" 3. Remembering how good it feels to be totally exhausted yet completely energized by being part of something that really matters!!! Just to explain the background info: 1.  Bruce Main is the president and founder of Urban Promise and someone I greatly admire, Kat was a nickname I was given in college but ironically have not been called by anyone outside of that circle since, until now!  Very cool! 2. The man who told me I’d be a good pastor to hang out with was a gentleman I met at the Wine Tasting.  He visited me frequently at my table of Spanish wines. Great guy!  And well 3. Is pretty self-explanatory.  With everything going on with my family, ie. My Dad’s illness, it’s been great to feel so fulfilled this week... and distracted!  

This weekend was once again filled with fun! On Friday evening we drove to Morristown, NJ to see Jonny’s favorite comedian, Brian Regan. We met his boss (aka friend-he absolutely loves this guy!) and his family for dinner and the show.  Below is a photo of Jonny with his boss John, John's wife, son & girlfriend at the show. 

Jonny’s rapport with his boss isn’t exactly the stereotypical relationship you might expect. Example: Within the first week of Jonny working here in NJ, John, his boss had duct-taped Jonny’s lunch down to the desk-I think that’s when I realized they were going to get along just fine!  So obviously we were in for a fun night out but I have to admit I was a bit distracted. At that point my sister-in-law had been in labor for over 15 hours and we were anxiously awaiting news about the birth of our newest nephew! 

In 2007 when my first nephew was born, my brother called in the middle of the night and within minutes I was in the car driving to Nashville, TN!  That was a 3- hour drive, this time, it would be a 14 hour drive.  So obviously I opted for waiting on text messages and phone calls, which meant sitting through dinner with my cell phone on the table.  I hate it when people do that during dinner out with friends, as if the company of those around you isn’t enough, someone more important might be calling. But this time, I didn’t care how rude I looked, and of course everyone understood.  During the show I sat my phone in my lap, on silent of course, constantly checking it under the jacket in my lap to shield the light from distracting others, again, I was that obnoxious girl.   Basically it went something like this, Laugh hysterically-check my phone, chuckle till I almost peed my pants-check my phone, repeat, repeat, repeat.

After the show I finally got the news, my sister-in-law had safely delivered my brand new nephew Evan James by C-section!  A C-section was not exactly what she wanted to have happen, nor any of us, but after 18 hours (approximately) all anyone cared was that both baby and momma were healthy and happy!    

I know I’m biased, but seriously look how cute that kid is!  At last our family has something to celebrate again!  

Evan James
Born June 10, 2011
7 pounds, 8 ounces

19 inches

On Saturday night we walked a few feet from our front door to the apartment of our friends Emily & Stephen for a game night. It was great to relax and laugh with some of our favorite neighbors (plus a couple of new friends). The week ended, or I guess a new week began, with a great worship service this morning at our Church, Kingston UMC and Starbucks with my girlfriends Emily & Rachael.  It was a blessed week, to say the least!  

ps. If anyone know's how to line photos up side by side in a blog...let me know! I only know how to stagger them left to right or line them up vertically.