Off We Go

So, after years of ribbing about not being on facebook, myspace, twitter, bloggy world, etc., and almost coming to enjoy it, we are eating a few words and setting up the Labonte Family blog. It's true. In the world of communication and technology, we are snails. Have you seen our cell phones? My "new" phone is a 2005 Palm that a friend gave me b/c he felt sorry for me with my old phone. yeah. Our cars? 1998 baby. What a great year! Our computer?? I once had to give a friend a disclaimer when she needed to look something up on it--"It works like a regular computer." Ipods? what? no, we don't have one b/t the two of us. (it's on the to-do list)We did download I-tunes and have a whole music library AND we stream from Netflix to our playstation, that is only ever used to watch movies! So, that is an ammenity that we are loving. DVR? puhlease. We just got rabbit ears to watch the Olympics (in high def, mind you...rabbit ears never looked so good!). so, all that to say, we realize we sometimes miss out on what all is going on with the people that we love, b/c while a lot of them are within a few miles, and we get to share life's dailies with, more and more are spread all over the place. Thus, with the installment of the newest Labonte just 3.5 short months away, we thought it was time to open up to the positive things that digital communication offers!

To bring you up to speed, here's a quick run-down of what's been going on with us the last couple of months:

1. We found out in October that we are expecting our first bebe' in Mid-June!!
It's a BOY!! We are so excited! I always wanted an older brother, so it will be fun to have a boy first.

2. Billy is still working at Baptist Desoto, which affords him a pretty great work schedule most of the time. Which is great, b/c he is way into cycling now and is able to get his team and training rides in during the day and early on saturday mornings.

3. My sister, Abby, got married on October 31, on her in-laws farm in Kentucky. It was a sweet, family and closest friends only ceremony, with a dinner party in the barn. SO fun.

4. We had to put our sweet dog, Sally, to sleep in November. For those of you who met her, you know what a dear she was and how much we loved her. Well, Billy had never been more than a week without a dog, so as sad as we were, we tried rescuing a greyhound in January. This was going fine, until we realized that the champion racer was a big baby when left alone. poor guy. He started the demolition on our bathroom, tore up a huge wire crate, pulled curtains and rod out of the wall and basically made himself unkeepable in our little house. So, back he went.
Well, one morning last week, I was eating breakfast and Billy's truck comes flying back into the driveway. I thought he had forgotten something. He ran up to the door with a huge grin on his face and said, "look who's back!!" It was then that I saw he had a black lab puppy tucked under his arm. she was running, collarless, across a busy intersection not far from our house. we are taking her to the vet Monday to ensure she does not have a chip, and if not, Mable Labonte will become a permanent fixture at our house. She is a Sally-send for sure.

5. We are starting work on the transfer of the baby room/guest room this weekend. I will post pictures as we have them! we are going sweet and simple with the nursery. Can't wait to get going on this.

6. My brother and his wife are also having a baby and they were due this past Monday 3/1. Mercy!! Hoping for a phone call this weekend. They don't know what they are having--so much excitment and anticipation! Such fun to be an aunt, and we live not even a mile apart. Love it! I can see many walks in our future this summer.

7. And last but not definitely not least-- As Eastern Orthodox Christians, we are in the middle of Great Lent, the time of repentance and preparation for the most joyous celebration of Pascha (Easter) and the continual celebration of the Resurrection of Christ! So, much of our extra time is spent at Church and will increase as we approach Holy Week and then all of the festivities of Feasting to celebrate our new Life in Christ and his defeat of Death! (absolutely most wonderful time of the year!)

To sum things up--As an avid blog stalker myself, I know how people over-commit to the blog. I'm making my anti-commitment now. I put no parameters on how often I will post. I will post pictures soon, though. We look forward to hearing from you, especially those we get to see so much less than we'd like. So, until then.....