A Woman's Choice

Thursday night my husband and I got all fancied up for a banquet to raise funds for the local crisis pregnancy center. We had a great time dining with some close friends of ours, Ashley and Chuck Flurry (pictured). The highlight of the night was supposed to be the guest speaker, Richard Dobson, son of Dr. James Dobson. Because the state of Colorado was having an October blizzard, he was unable to make it. So instead of Mr. Dobson, I would say the highlight was hearing from a young girl who was saved from making the only choice she thought she had, abortion. This young woman, we'll call Stacy, found herself in a crisis pregnancy and an abusive relation. Stacy left this abusive relationship and came to A Woman's Choice Resource Center where she received advice from loving counselors who showed her abortion was not the only choice she had, she could also choose not to abort and to keep her baby. I had a hard time holding back the tears as she described the hopelessness she felt. Before she came to the center, Stacy said she felt she had nowhere to go but down and was ultimately considering suicide. The center directed her to their sister facility, Necole's Place. Here, Stacy was able to receive her G.E.D. and pursue other classes in cooking, parenting, fitness, etc. When asked to describe her current hope, she had a hard time getting out the words. From going to feeling hopeless and without a purpose, Stacy now felt smart and as though she could really be someone, including a mother.

Another key speaker was Leigh Ann. Leigh Ann and I both volunteer at A Woman's Choice Resource Center located purposefully across from Kentucky's only aborton clinic. Leigh Ann volunteers at the center in hopes to keep women from making the same choice she made. When Leigh Ann was in college she found herself pregnant after only being with a guy one night. She and her mom went to her minister for advice, Leigh Ann was shocked to hear her minister say he thought she should abort. Leigh Ann described the painful experience of having her minister driving her and her mom to the abortion clinic. She said she felt so confused and the proceedure was so physically painful. In addition, the doctor and nurses were very cold towards her and the receptionist told her to stop crying. While the physical pain was terrible, the emotional pain she felt was almost unbearable. Leigh Ann said she still has to live with the consequences of her decision and the memory of what happened. Now Leigh Ann uses this experience to educate other women about the trauma of having an abortion.

So many women do not know the truth about abortion. It is not a one time decision that will be forgotten later. It is a decision that affects the life of the person who chooses to abort, thereby taking a life. Short-term it may seem the easy answer, but long-term it will be haunting. For more information on A Woman's Choice please visit their website: http://www.awomanschoice.org

Huber Farms

Rocky and I had a great time this weekend out at Huber Farms. For those of you not from Louisville, KY I would love to tell you about Huber Farms. This place is quite the production. We first went to the Winery where they have all sorts of wine (I sampled the Strawberry wine because I love that song!). The live music was a sort of jazzy/80's mix and we enjoyed listening to the sounds of the guitars and drums outside in the perfect 65 degree weather. It wasn't too cool and yet not to hot either (If you have ever seen Miss Congeniality then you will remember the question "Describe the perfect date," and she says, "April 25th, It's not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket.") Well, it was that kind of perfect date. After lounging outside for a while we decided it was time to pick out our pumpkin straight from the patch. The farms also boast of having apples, broccolli, and cauliflower to pick. We decided to stick to pumpkins. We boarded the hay ride and took the bumpy road to the patch. Rocky didn't want to stick around and look at all the pumpkins like I did. We found one we both liked pretty quickly, but I wanted to keep looking just in case we over looked the perfect one. So we boarded the hay ride and went back to the farms.

After we left the winery side of the large farm, we went to the restaurant side. For those of you in my sorority, the fried chicken we ate was just as good as the kind Bobbie Gene and Metta made! I sure do miss that fried chicken. We also had dumplings, green beans, cole slaw, mashed potatoes, and the best fried biscuits and apple butter you've ever had. Yummo! as Rachel Ray would say. If any of you would want to visit us here in Louisville we would love to take you to Huber Farms. We definitely had a great time!

This is Ridiclous!!

Okay, so I know this isn't the most exciting blog, but I had to post some cute pictures of our dog Buddy. He really is a very funny dog and I try not to love him too much. (Sometimes it scares me how attached I am to this animal.) I mean, it really is ridiculous how many pictures we have of Buddy. You would think he is our kid or something! I am sure once we do have kids he will be in a lot less pictures. Can anyone else relate? I don't want to be that girl that only ever talks about her pet. Anyways, here are the pics!

Welcome to Our New Blog

Hi! Thanks for visiting our blog. This is our first posting so enjoy. . . . We have both been very busy
the past year and a 1/2. Rocky is really enjoying his classes in seminary and is working towards his Masters of Divinity. Suzanne is working at a commercial real estate agency to help him get through school. ha! Rocky also works part time at a medical billing office.

We had so many changes to go through when we first got married. A new city, new jobs, and a new church. We have slowly adjusted and are trying to fit in here. Louisville really is a great city and we find many things we enjoy here. We love going for runs in the gorgeous parks. We also like to go to the different festivals here, such as the Balloon Glow, and the minor league baseball games (seen below). The team here is the Louisville Bats.

We have now joined Ninth and O. Baptist Church (named for the intersection of the church's previous location). We really like our church and Rocky is the small group leader for our Sunday school class. This weekend our small group is headed out to Huber Farms to pick our pumpkins from the pumpkin patch there.

In May we had a great time celebrating our 1 year anniversary. We were able to stay at Suzanne's parent's beach condo (pictured top left). We also had a wonderful time in May at the Kentucky Derby (shown to the right). Rocky's mom took us and it was really fun to get all dressed up. The derby is quite the experience and we both really enjoyed it. Rocky's mom went home the big winner as she picked the winning horse, Barbaro.

In June, we got a dog! We love our new dog buddy. We got him from an animal rescue league and he is only 2 years old. One of Suzanne's friends told her about the need for this dog to have a home. Buddy is a Jack Russell Terrior and is very calm despite the nature of the usual JRT. He is great company for Suzanne when Rocky is in class and Rocky loves to play catch with him.

Look for more posts from us soon!

Suzanne and Rocky