Some recent eats

Who's up for some cheesy eggs baked in tomatoes? Yum.



One of the local ice cream shops, the Chocolate Moose, was the gathering place for this week's small group get together. Good times - and good ice cream, too!

Date with the Brashers

We've been wanting to go out for dinner with Ryan & Melanie for some time now, and since Melanie's parents are in town they were able to babysit Thomas. Since all of us love Turkish food, we opted for 'Anatolia', one of Bloomington's Turkish restaurants. (We have also been to Turkuaz Cafe a few times and give it 5 stars. Jul dreams about their chicken-spinach pides and garlic-lentil soup...) Amazingly, even though Anatolia does not have air-conditioning, the two pregnant women made it through the meal - and I think we enjoyed it very much! One nice touch was that the meals came with red lentil soup, seasoned with mint. I've never had it prepared that way and it was very tasty.

Here's Jul with her chicken pide -

And Jim with chicken kabobs -

And the two ladies in front of the restaurant, a former house, like many of the international restaurants on 4th Street. The plants were really cool. I think we'll be back (when the weather is cooler) and will sit in the outdoor patio!

Thanks, guys - a great summer evening together and here's to another school year coming soon!!

Joanna Visits!

Joanna Harris came through last weekend! It was a brief 24-hour visit, since she also has other friends here in Bloomington and was on her way up to Indianapolis for a conference with the NCAA. But it was SO great to see each other again after too many years in-between. We enjoyed reminiscing about Wheaton College days and old friends from Wheaton Academy (since Jo and Jim went to high school together for 2 years), and marveling at the crazy journeys we have all been on since college graduation 9 years ago. Joanna now lives in Atlanta, working in higher education (so she and Jim can talk for hours...), and she has convinced us that we need to come down to visit and see the laser show on Stone Mountain...

On Saturday afternoon we walked around campus - actually it was a nice afternoon and still pretty quiet since most students have yet to arrive.

In front of the Showalter Fountain, "Birth of Venus". I am working on mentally & physically preparing myself for Naartjie's birth. How's my pose?

Random shot. Oops. Not sure how it gets that bad.

Sunday morning at the entrance to the Boys & Girls Club, where our church meets.

Yay, Joanna! Thanks for coming!

9th Anniversary: outing in Indy

On July 14th we officially celebrated 9 years of marriage! Wow. We are so thankful be on this journey together, for all the experiences and growth we have had together (including lots of life that we never anticipated or planned) and that by God's grace we continue to grow stronger and closer every year. We weren't together on the actual day but we eventually had a date & overnight at the end of the month. One of the things on my "Must Do this Summer" list was to tour the Lilly estate and gardens of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The gardens, estate and museum are free, and the day we spent there was sunny but not too hot. Here is the view from the front lawn of the former Lilly country house, on the outskirts of Indianapolis. (Yes, this is the same Lilly family that founded a very successful pharmaceutical company, donated a rare books collection to IU (we visited there in May), and also has a huge endowment/philanthropic foundation.)
Our lunch picnic. Okay so we didn't wander the gardens too much since my feet were getting hot and my belly heavy... Ice water and roast beef sandwiches helped alleviate that.
That night we stayed at a nice hotel downtown (thanks to a good deal on Priceline!) and then wandered the streets a bit on Saturday morning. The downtown area is very walkable, and the highlight is Monument Circle with its impressive war monument and fountains.

A close-up of one side that commemorates the Civil War.

Jim's favorite aspect is the bison water fountain.

On our way out of town we drove by this neighborhood deli and cafeteria that looked intriguing. And oh goody, it's lunchtime! Of course we had to stop, and upon entering we were reassured that this is The Place in Indy for good deli sandwiches and big slices of cake - the Shapiro family started this business in 1905. The Reuben sandwich was very, very good. We'll be back. And next time we'll have baby Gies in tow, and we'll get a slice of cake (no more gestational diabetes!).

Bloomington Baby Shower!

Last week we were privileged to have a baby shower (open house-style) with colleagues and friends here in Bloomington, thanks to Dave & Susan Hardy! It was a really special evening and very helpful to kick us into high gear as we enter this last month before baby Gies arrives. (Unfortunately our camera was acting up again and the flash wouldn't work on all the photos...) Susan came up with a "she's ready to pop!" theme, so all the food and decorations had to do with popping. Wow.

Here's Dave and Susan looking particularly happy. So much hard work for this evening - thanks, guys!!

My favorite feature of the party were these delicious vanilla cupcakes. Isn't Susan creative?

And some shots of a few folk who were there. Here's Paul & Stephanie, friends from church:

Shimon (Jim's new boss in his new assistantship position), Fred and Cameron:

Michal and Malika:

Brian, Sydney and Teanna:

Jim with Alex, professor and amazing advisor (and also a supervisor for his new assistantship):

Now that it's August we really have been keeping busy trying to get everything ready for baby girl's arrival. For one, I've been doing a lot of laundry! And this week we put in the car seat (just in case...) and have been searching all the used furniture places for a dresser for her room. We're also taking a childbirth prep class together. We are really looking forward to meeting her soon!