Life with the Bonhams

Finish my masters. check!

Pull off MHC’s first ever VBS successfully. check!

Take a much-needed super-relaxing vacation to the beach.  check!

come back and hit the ground running because I’m moving in 2 weeks… check!

The past week or so has been a good one… I finished up my schoolwork on the 19th and jumped in head-first to the last of the planning for VBS, which was June 29-July 1.  Everything went really smoothely, and I was EXTREMELY thankful for our amazing team of almost 50 volunteers!! Everybody worked really hard and we had a great week.  I’ve got lots of pictures!

As soon as it was over, I threw our stuff in the car and we headed to the beach…. I was exhausted!  My whole family went (minus Janie, who is still in Belgium…or Istanbul, Turkey to be exact. She keeps changing locations on us), plus Nate’s mom and stepdad.  Jane Bradley is finally old enough to really enjoy the beach, and it was really fun playing lots of beach and pool games with her.  Unfortunately, I didnt take a single picture at the beach.  I was so exhausted from everything else that I just decided not to worry about it. 

I also must mention that we found Nate’s new favorite restaurant while we were there… Dad took us to Wolf Bay Lodge for dinner one night, and Nate ate a plate of crab claws as big as our table.   Wolf Bay Lodge might have surpassed Char in the list of Nate’s all-time favorite places to stuff his belly.

We also went to Nate’s dad’s church on Sunday morning in Gulf Shores (he’s the pastor there) so that Nate could update the congregation on what we’ve been doing and what our plans are.  Their church graciously supports us while we’re in seminary, so we try to go there anytime we’re in town on a Sunday.  We also had a great fourth (fifth) of July picnic with them after church!

Monday afternoon we packed our bags and headed back home… begrudgingly.  We jumped right back into a full schedule on Tuesday morning… Nate’s building out the garage at the church office and turning it into a youth room. I’m doing all of my fall planning for Childrens Ministry (we start up again in 4 weeks!!). Plus we’re moving on July 24 to our new house… and I havent really started packing. 

So, like always, we’re back in the whirlwind of life…but it’s a good thing.  I’m not sure what we would do with ourselves if we weren’t always on the move!!

This past week we had the trim on our house painted.  The original paint was a color that absorbed heat and made it so that mildew grew on it really quickly.  Nate kept cleaning it over and over again, but it kept coming back.  Once we looked into the problem, we found that painting the trim a darker color would fix the problem.  We kept putting it off bc we were afraid it wouldn't look right, but we finally just decided to go for it. We decided to paint it the same color as the stained cedar accents on the house.  I'm so glad we did!

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This week was a fun one.  I had JB on Monday and Tuesday, and Mom and I kept her together on Thursday…Lacey has been trying to finish up her last several papers for a class she’s in, so I’ve tried to help her out as much as possible by picking up JB and taking her to do some really fun things away from the house.

Monday we went to the Natural Science Museum with my friend Emily and her girls (and the baby). Tuesday we went swimming out at the pool in our neighborhood, and Nate came with us.  Then JB came back and took a bubble bath and helped me cook supper and clean the kitchen.  Boy does that girl love to cook!!  I basically told her what to do and she did it all herself.  She’s going to be a genius in the kitchen if she keeps this up!!  I took her home fed, bathed, pajama’ed, and ready for bed.  Thursday, I took her to a “Fancy Nancy” party at Barnes & Noble… we had so much fun! Lots of little girls all dressed up in their fanciest clothes and accessories, all ready for a “fancy” tea party. She loved it! Then Mom met us there at B&N and we read a few books and headed out to lunch with another friend of ours.  After that, Mom and JB helped me run a few VBS errands… and we discovered that JB is a big fan of Party City and Lifeway.

Friday night we went to the Mississippi Braves game for Lee’s birthday.  It was my first baseball game (ever!), so I didn’t know what to expect.  We sat on blankets and picnic tables in the outfield and had a great time! I think it was because I didnt have to watch a second of the game.  It was nice to get to catch up with lots of people that I havent seen in several weeks.

Tonight I’m babysitting again for my cousins, Luke (3) and Elizabeth (1) while their parents go to dinner and a movie.  For some reason, the past 2 week have been chock-full of babysitting!

The rest of the week was pretty much spent getting ready for VBS.  It starts on Monday morning and I’m hoping that I will be ready!  I have been surprised at how much more planning goes into VBS than I ever thought…especially when you’re starting from scratch!! But we’ve got over 40 volunteers, so I’m EXTREMELY thankful for an awesome team of helpers.

Tomorrow is another busy day- church in the morning followed by some vbs set-up, lunch at Tutu and Papa’s for a belated Father’s Day celebration, back to do more vbs set up, then dinner with friends.  Hopefully I’ll have everything prepared for 8am Monday morning!!

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It’s 12:35am and I just wanted you folks to know that I just turned in my last assignment for my last class at RTS… (A whole 24 hours EARLY, by the way!)   Everybody better do something awesome tomorrow to celebrate!

Love yall, and thanks for putting up with me for 2 and a half long years… (:

…since I blogged. A MONTH. I’ve never gone that long! And to be honest, I wouldn’t have even realized it had been that long if it weren’t for my grandmother sending me an email telling me either to update the blog or start giving her daily phone calls because she didn’t know what I was doing anymore. I cant believe 4 weeks went by so fast without me even realizing it.

I guess I should fill you in on what has happened since 1 month ago today…

• Well the first thing I need to acknowledge is that my best friend is PREGNANT.  I still haven’t quite wrapped my brain around that one.  Kelly Anne Maxwell Rice has a tiny little life growing inside her tummy.  The girl I’ve been best friends with since I was 4 years old is about to provide me with yet another child I shall call a niece or nephew despite the fact that it has no blood relation to me whatsoever.  Because I don’t have quite enough children yet that I’m so unnaturally attached to that I sometimes forget they aren’t mine.  In 4 years her kid will be the same age as we were when we made the life-altering choice to be best friends forever.  Weird. and SO EXCITING!
• The first thing I did when we found out this exciting news was to plan an impromptu trip to Oxford so I could meet the little guy/lady in person, even though it was going to have to be through a tummy wall.  I at least had to say hello and introduce myself face-to-belly. I mean, after 21 years of friendship, it’s the least I could do.  So on May 19th, I hopped in my car after work and drove to Oxford to spend 5 fun-filled hours catching up with Kelly and her fetus. And it was totally worth it.
• During that same week, Treasure (our 15-yr-old Golden Retriever) developed some crazy red growth hanging out the side of her mouth that looked really creepy and kept getting bigger and bigger.  So we decided to have her checked out. Except that I planned the vet appointment on the same day that I was keeping Jane Bradley for the afternoon.  Let me just tell you, having an almost 3-yr-old helper with you at the vet when you’re trying to wrangle a dog that’s twice as big as she is may not have been the best idea, in hindsight.  Especially when Treasure accidentally bit into her creepy-looking growth in the vet lobby and it started gushing blood all over the floor and JB started saying “ewwwww, NikNik she’s sick!!” again and again and again while doing her best to cram herself into the smallest corner possible away from all of the huge animals in the waiting room.   It was interesting, to say the least.  The good news is that the creepy looking growth was biopsied and was NOT cancer. They snipped it off, doped her up, and sent her home.
• Also during that same week, Michelle and Channing came home for a few days! I got to meet her precious new baby girl, Hannah Grace, for the first time…and she is adorable!!  I hated the fact that they had to go back to Ohio…. COME BACK TO MISSISSIPPI, MICHELLE!
• That next Monday morning we got up super early and drove to Chattanooga for the week.  Nate’s older brother got married on the 30th, so their entire family from all over the US came in town.  We spent an entire week hanging out with cousins, aunts, uncles, in-laws, Grandpa, and lots of kiddos.  It was a blast! We don’t get to see that side of the family that often because they’re all spread out.  The wedding was beautiful, and we were not ready to leave when the week was over.  And I now have a sister-in-law with the same name as me.  What are the odds of two brothers meeting two girls each named Stephanie Nicole and marrying them?  (although she spells her with an ‘f’ instead of a ‘ph.’  So now we have two Stephanie Nicole Bonhams in the world, and they’re in the same family. It’s a good thing she goes by ‘Stef’ or we’d be really confused!
• That brings us up to last week (June 1-7), which was a little more low-key in the sense that I was at home a little more.  I tried several new recipes (and all were a hit!), and actually kept my house really clean.  I was doing alot of work from home on my virtual class and VBS, but other than that, I stuck to my regular schedule of office hours for both of my jobs.  It doesn’t really sound all that low-key when I say it (or type it) out loud.
• This past week was about the same, plus several real estate meetings…which I’ll clue you in on in a minute.  Lots of reading, studying, taking exams, office hours for both jobs, and vbs planning.   It sounds crazy, but it was a fairly mild week, which was nice.
• In the midst of all of these travels and activities, I have taken up Pilates, and I LOVE IT.  It is making my back feel so much better!  I do some workouts that I have found online and I take a class occasionally at the gym, and it has been amazing.  Nate started P90x and was going strong, but then he threw his back out doing some plyometrics (if you do P90x, you know what I mean), so he has taken about a week and a half off.  He starts back (supposedly) tomorrow morning.
• I have also been busy planning our FIRST VBS for Madison Heights! Let me tell you, I had no idea how much planning and work goes into VBS. It is intense. Even for a 3-day one like ours… but I think part of the reason is because it’s our first one, so we’re having to sort-of lay the foundation for all of the future VBSes to come.  It’s a beast.  Good thing I have an AMAZING vbs chairperson who makes the process so much easier.  She’s a pro, and I’d be lost without her.
• As for school…. I officially have 1 MORE WEEK of being a graduate student, and I will be done FOREVER. Friday is my deadline, and I can’t wait to be finished!!  I am finishing up my last virtual class, and I will be completely finished.  You know that backyard grilling party I was talking about in lieu of a graduation ceremony? Start plannin’ it, friends, because I’ve made it to the home stretch. I’m almost there!

And for the big news….

We got a contract on our house!! We have been negotiating for about a week now, but last Friday we finally signed a deal to do a house trade.  A really great family with 4 sweet kiddos is moving into our place, and we will be moving into their smaller place.   It works out well because we are really ready and needing to get out of this one, and they are really needing to get out of theres and into something a little bigger.  Since their house fit our needs and our house fit theirs, we’re going to do one of these crazy ‘house swaps’ you hear about on the news.   We are scheduled to move the 3rd week in July, and I can’t wait!! We have been praying for this house to sell for about 2 years, and I’m so glad that the time has finally come.  Now as long as we don’t have a repeat performance of the LAST time we got a contract on this house…..

So that brings you fully up to date in the life of the Bonhams.  Did you catch all that?

The problem with posting a week late is that about a million things fall out of my brain between the time it happens and the time I post about it.  Maybe that’s what happens when you spend 2 and a half years at RTS!! Anything non-RTS related falls right out!

Anyways, because I had a mental leak again, I need to make sure that I mention another part of my birthday week. Tuesday night, we had dinner with the Berrys (well, some of the Berrys) at Outback to celebrate Cinqo de Mayo, and both my birthday and Forrest’s birthday…because we were both special enough to be born on May 4.  What a great day in history! When you combine those 2 birthdays (plus 2 other people I know of), plus Tutu and Pawpaw’s anniversary, its quite the special day.

Anyway, Nate had a big ol slab of ribs, and I had a couple of margaritas with my grilled chicken.  Plus we got time to hang out with Ame, Forrest, and 2 of my cousins that I dont often get the chance to see.  Im so thankful for a family who loves to celebrate with me!

I celebrated an ENTIRE week of birthday activities this year.  I think this is the first time I’ve had a birthday week, and now I can see why people do this!!  It kind of happened by accident, though.

Monday was my birthday and I had a big presentation at 8am for my Teaching Practicum class.  No sleeping late this year!  Then, my dad set up a lunch for me and Nate with a missionary couple who serves in the Philippines.  They were only in town for a couple of days, but they were nice enough to spend a few minutes telling us about their ministry.   Then  I went to work for the afternoon, and headed home around 4:30.   We had a low-key evening of filets, margaritas, and a movie (we saw State of Play)… perfect!

Tuesday I had lunch with Diane and Lacey for my birthday.  Wednesday night we went to Bert and Shirley’s for dinner.  Thursday Nate and I rode with my grandmother up to Greenville to see my great-grandmother in the hospital, and spent the whole day visiting with them.  Finally on Thursday night we had dinner at Lacey’s with the whole family to celebrate (we waited for Janie to come home from college).  Friday night Lacey, Janie, Mom and I had a girls movie night.   Sunday the whole extended family got together… (it was actually for Mothers Day, but I just pretended it was still part of my birthday week.  Just kidding. sort of…)

I got lots of great cards and gifts from lots of people that I love very much.  Thank you!

There was one, however, that was extremely special.

Nate told me about a week before my birthday that my gift wouldn’t be here in time for my birthday, but that he promised it would be worth it.  He gave me 3 yes-or-no questions per day that I could ask to try to figure out what it was.  I asked all sorts of questions all week long, but still couldn’t figure it out by the end.  It arrived on Friday, and when I saw it, I immediately burst into tears.  Along with it came a card that said “I told you I read your blog…”

You know what it was?  Do you remember a few weeks ago when I posted about missing the Philippines?  If you remember it, then you’ll understand why I started crying when he presented me with a big collage of those pictures of the children in the Philippines, blown up and framed to match the rest of the artwork in our house.  Then he hung it in our bedroom so I see it as soon as I wake up every morning.

Of all the gifts I could have thought about or asked for this year, that one is hands down the best one.  I am so blessed to have a husband who knows my heart so well.

Today I am celebrating 25 years of God’s faithfulness in my life. 

I am also celebrating my grandparents 51st wedding anniversary.  And after 51 years, I am still their favorite anniversary gift (:

So, Happy Birthday to me, and Happy Anniversary to Tutu and Pawpaw!

“You should take up gardening this summer… And by gardening, I mean pulling the weeds.”

[After yet another "I'm probably pregnant"  joke from me]:  “I am never going to believe it when you really ARE pregnant. Never. Not until that baby is coming out. And maybe not even then.”