Autumnal Update

Hello everybody, hello!!!

WOW it's been awhile. So quite a bit has happened since my last blog. Just haven't had the time to post lately so here I am posting on Sunday at 2:00pm instead of doing my homework..(yep, it's the story of my life)...School's going fine I guess. It's not really that hard yet. It just takes up a lot of time. It also stinks b/c I have to study more for exams--since they give fewer exams in college (which means more information to cram in).
My birthday was a little bit different this year since Mom was in the hospital. It pretty much consisted of me, Bob, and Matt visiting her and bummin' around at home, then going out to eat at Culvers. However, the Wednesday before, my roommates threw an October Birthday Bash for the Champaign students with October birthdays (so this was my real party). We made brownies and cakes throughout the day whenever we had a break from classes, and Sarah and I went shopping for presents. We got Mark a box of Kinex. Jeremy got a bag full of plastic toy soldiers. Natalie got a pillow in the shape of a bone that said "squeak less, drool more" (she loves animals and has many in her apartment). I got some Veggie Tales. And Josh got a black, dreadlock wig. Yeah, it was pretty funny watching everyone open their presents!
I guess I should probably give an update on Mom since I meantioned previously that she was in the hospital. She had her right knee replaced on Friday, the 12th, and came home the following Tuesday. She seems to be doing fine. She gets around the house with a walker and has fun treating Matt like a slave. She never complains about having any pain but I imagine she probably does have some. Sounds like the food is rolling in so Dad and Matt are off the hook for making meals. I think everything's going good for her with her therapy and stuff.
Last Friday night, we students were invited to the Shumachers (not sure if I spelled that right) for a music night. We were told to bring all our instruments so we showed up with about 5 guitars 6-string and 12 string), a banjo, a mandolin, a saxaphone, a trumpet, a nose flute, and an Irish penny whistle. (We forgot the bagpipes on accident) We had haystacks for supper and then sang out of the Heavenly Highways for awhile. Then some of the Shumacher children (who are Matt's age and younger) played the Canon in D for us. After that we brought out the rest of the instruments and played/sang praise and worship songs. Then we jammed around and each of us students played a solo with out given instrument (not sure who's idea that was). It wasn't that bad I guess but it definitely placed a lot of us out of our comfort zones! All in all though, I had an awesome time!!
I think I've pretty well got everyone up to speed on my life now. Hope everyone has a good week and I'll try to remember to write more often.

Love Su

PS (thanks Steph for the encouragement!!)