The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

This has got to be one of Kyle's favorite seasons: football season! His time is now taken over by fantasy football, NFL on Sunday and Monday night football. And then, with Illinois having some of the top high school football teams, there's football on Friday and Saturdays, too! One question: Andrea, are you ready for some football?!?

While we were in Naperville, we were able to catch a few of Kris' football games for Naperville North. We had a blast cheering on Kris and the Huskies - go dawgs! - and hope to make it to some more games this season to watch North's up-and-coming cornerback superstar! Go #29!

Since we've been home...

We loved our time in Dominica, but let me tell you, we're loving our time even more back in the good old U S of A!! Since we got back, we've split our time between Ohio & Illinois. Here are some photos from our adventures so far. Enjoy!

Meet Ethan

This is our little nephew Ethan, and we had a blast babysitting him! Kyle was transformed into a jungle gym for the afternoon and I got a little bit of exercise chasing him all over the house!

You may be asking yourself, "Where is that child's pants??" Well, let me tell you. I changed his diaper, and he decided he would rather have no diaper or pants on so I told him run free, child!! So he did. Next thing we know, he decided he had to go to the bathroom again... right on the carpet! (no worries, it was only #1... sorry for the details...)

Here's a video of Ethan chasing a ball and then crash landing right into Uncle Kyle!

Reunion Time!

One thing I love about being home is being so close to friends and family. We definitely took advantage of being in the same country of our friends these past few weeks! First, I went to a little get-together with the girls from my college Bible study in Westerville. It was so good to be able to talk and catch up with every one in person, instead of through e-mail!

When we headed to Illinois, I went to a mini-reunion with girls from my sorority, Alpha Chi Omega. I hadn't seen some of these girls since we graduated!

I also went down to the city a day early to hang out with some of the AXO girls that also lived in Melee. I loved seeing them and catching up, especially since we've been spread all over the country & the world! Rachel lives in Cincinnati, Ellie & Kristen live together in Chicago, and Colleen was on a two-week break from Africa, where she serves in the Peace Corps.

Kyle was able to catch up with a lot of his friends as well (though we don't have any pictures to prove it!) He headed downtown Naperville one night to hang out with friends from high school, and then he also went to Chicago for somewhat of a fraternity reunion of his own!

Extreme Tubing Time!

We also had time to to spend a day at Kyle's Uncle Jim & Aunt Eileen's lake house at Lake Carrol in Illinois. We spent our time soaking up the sun, while Kyle skied and Kevin showed off is wake boarding skills.

Now, Uncle Jim is known for providing some crazy tube rides, so we braced ourselves before hopping in the water. Well, we should have prepared more because it was out of control - we still have the scrapes and bruises to prove it! Our hats go of to Andrea & Kevin because as we gripped onto those tubes for dear life, they acted like it was no big deal. Even when they sent one tube flying through the air over top of the other! Obviously, we had a blast!

Puppy Time!

Andrea's new favorite date: going to the pet store and playing with puppies! Most of our friends who are married now have puppy-additions in their family, and knowing this wouldn't be the greatest time for us to get a dog, there's no harm in going to look, right?

(Kyle's jokes that he knows one day we're going to go, and I'm going to fall in love with one of the pups, but luckily, it hasn't happened yet!)

One Year Old

Welcome to our second year of marriage!

We had an amazing first year, full of amazing memories from Dominica that we will never forget.

As we headed to the airport to leave the island (bright & early at 4:30am), it finally hit us that we were leaving our first home as a married couple. We were saying goodbye to friends that we will forever be bonded to because of our shared adventures on the island. And we were even sad to leave our first "adopted" pets!

But let me tell you, it is so good to be back in the amazing United States, home sweet home! And we were so happy to be able to celebrate our anniversary on August 25th back home!

We spent the day simply spending quality time together (which is definitely my love language!) We wandered around downtown Naperville stopping to have lunch, and of course, grab some ice cream!

Later than night we headed to Cheesecake Factory for a great, romantic dinner.

But that wasn't the end of our celebration...

Kyle knows me too well, and knows I love surprises. So before we went to bed that night, he handed me a card with two tickets to see Wicked in Chicago the next night! And to top it off, he made hotel reservations as well! I know, I'm spoiled! :) We loved the show and recommend that you see it!

We hope to continue the blog as we continue on with the next step of our journey! But we also want to thank you all so much for reading our adventures, and for our your thoughts and prayers for our first year of marriage. We have definitely been showered in blessings, and have loved that God hand-picked each of you to be in our lives!

So Loved!!

We wanted to share with you just another example of how amazing our friends are down here... and how loved they make us feel!!

Check out Ryan & Ashley's blog at http://lifeonthenatureisle.blogspot.com/. And find the entry titled "Sad to Say Goodbye."

Ashley took the time to make a slide show of our whole time down here. And though she feels like God brought me down here as an answer to her prayers - as she says, He presented me to her as if I had a big bow on my head! - I had prayed for our friendship after the first night we met. Praise God that he answers prayers, because we have developed such a sweet friendship, one that we know will last beyond our time in Dominica! And we have been so blessed to know the Pearmans, and can't stop praising God for them! (Don't even get me started on how much we'll miss them... no worries, we're planning a trip to Disney World in 2009!)

(If you are having trouble finding their blog, or the slide show, click this link.)

Indian River

For my birthday, Kyle told me he wanted to take me on a tour of the Indian River. Well, we wanted to wait until after the Step to go, and this weekend we finally made our way over to Portsmouth to the river.

We decided to walk to Portsmouth, which took about 15-20 minutes, but it was nice to once again look around, and be reminded of how beautiful the island is! As we got into Portsmouth, it wasn't long until someone yelled over to us, "You wanna go on a riva tour?" Well, we hopped in a boat owned by a Dominican man named Lawrence, and we were off!

As Lawrence did all the work paddling us down the river, we took some time to sit back and relax. It was so peaceful, because no one lives along the river. Our guide was sure to point out all the different kinds of plants and birds.

Further down the river, Lawrence pointed toward the shore, and we saw so many huge crabs! Well the next thing we knew, we were on the edge of the river and Lawrence was grabbing at the crabs and storing them under a piece of wood on the floor of the boat. He got dinner, and we enjoyed the show of him catching them!

Next, we stopped at the coolest bar, that is accessible right from the river. The whole place was made out of wood. And even though it was only about 12:30, we decided to try the local "dynamo" rhum punch and a pina colada. As we lounged back and enjoyed our drinks, we thought, "Now this is the way to live in Dominica!"

We got back in the boat, and enjoyed a relaxing ride back - which seemed so much faster than the ride there! It was a great chance to enjoy Dominica during our last few days on the island!

This is the life...

Many of you may know, but some may not... so I thought I'd give you some good news:

Kyle passed Step 1 (and he did SO great!!)

God definitely answered all of our prayers, and even exceeded them. Kyle did better than he thought! I have to say, both of us were nervous wrecks checking his score! Kyle couldn't sleep the night before - he said he felt like a little kid trying to sleep on Christmas Eve! We we're definitely raising it and praising it to God when we got his results back!

So excited for Kyle!!!

So since then, we've been living the life, let me tell you. We've even been able to spend a few lazy days at the beach. One day we planned a cook out, and grilled hamburgers and chicken skewers, and we even make s'mores! It was a blast!

And just this past weekend, some of Kyle's friends were able to come from Roseau to hang out. We all set up tables on campus and had a little "garage sale" to get rid of some of our stuff before we leave the island. After a hard days work, we headed to the beach for some more fun! Let me tell you, this is how you should live on an island! I'm just happy Kyle's had time to get out of the library and enjoy it!

Kyle flipping off the dock!

Kyle helping Dan up after he got a little stuck in the pier!

Andrea floating away in her tube!

We're going to miss these guys! Sean, Kyle, Greg & Dan

I'll have more of our Dominican adventures to share, but I probably won't update this until after we're back in the U.S. That's right!!! We're leaving the island in just two days!! Our flight takes off at 6:50am on Monday. We are getting all packed up, and though we are excited to get back the States, we will definitely be sad to see our extended honeymoon on the island end!

Can you see the rainbow?

The BEST Surprise!

Last Saturday, we thought we were going out to dinner with just Ashley and Ryan. Well ,we were in for a big surprise!! Ashley made all the plans and reservations, and they even picked us up, so all Kyle and I had to do was be ready on time!

We went to Blue Bay, and as we turned the corner to walk into the restaurant, we saw about 12 of our close friends holding signs that said: "We'll miss you, a lot!" We had no idea Ashley had planned all this. And I'm sure most of you know we love surprises, so we can't tell you how loved we felt!!

Dinner was great, of course, and it was so fun just to have a night to relax, hang out with friends, and not worry about school and studying!

The whole gang: me & Kyle, Ryan & Ashley, Lisa & Rabbi, Chris & Katy, Craig, Ralna, William, Sophia & John Walker, Justin & Liz, and Sarah

As we finished our meals, out came another surprise! Ashley made us the cutest cake!! It had the map of Dominica on it, and Numbers 6:24 - "The Lord bless you and keep you" was written on it. She also put "Ovwa Morgans!" She did such a great job - and it was absolutely delicious!! :)

Well, that wasn't the end of the night either. We headed back to the Pearman's and played the game Smart Ass (it's a really fun board game, and I even won the first game and Kyle won the second. If you know how into games Kyle can get, you can imagine how excited he was about that!) And then we ended the night with a game of Garbage.

We can't tell you how loved we felt that our friends would plan such a fun night for us. It meant so much to us! We definitely went to sleep that night with big smiles on our faces just thinking about the night! We can't believe our time here on Dominica is almost over, but it's memories like these that we will always treasure from our life on the island!

The Wade family!

Kyle & I with Justin & Liz

Ashley & Ryan - I don't know what we're going to do without them!!

Bye Bye Dominica! Come Again Soon!