Goings on

Late March to early May seems to be the busiest time of year for us! Hence my blogging hiatus. Here's a list of our recent goings on for your enjoyment. This is life as a Norris...

H Reunion: In college I lived with group of 6 girls. Some of us lived in townhouse H15, some of us lived in H16. We grew to be close friends and have shared many joys & sorrows. Just about every year since college, we've spent a weekend together as a group. These times are so special and are usually filled with a lot of laughing, a little bit of crying, and a WHOLE lot of fun (and food, naturally)! It's great to have friends who have walked life with you, who know you (sometimes better than you know yourself), who you feel safe with and loved by, and who you simply enjoy being around. Read more about our weekend here.

Annual Monument Ave. 10k, Final Four, visit with Daddio, and new haircut: Another full but fun weekend! Steve & I both ran the 10k and both achieved PRs! (Mom, PR = personal record). My dad came to hang out and watch the basketball games. He also cut my hair, which was begging for a change. New do photos coming soon! My dad and I really bond over March Madness, so it was great to watch some games with him rather than furiously texting comments over game after game. Also, to clarify, it was great to be with my dad, not great to watch my shining, superior bracket burn to ashes after choosing all Final Four teams then losing my champion (Ohio State) in the semis. That's the beauty of the madness, I guess.

Holy Week, Easter, time with new & old friends, and a day off at the river: He is risen! It was absolutely wonderful to celebrate Holy Week and Easter at our home church here in Richmond. WEPC really is a home to us where we find fellowship and are fed gospel truths. We attended the Good Friday & Easter services where we praised God for Christ's death and resurrection through which we are promised forgiveness of sins and a restored relationship with our Heavenly Father. And we experienced some tangible examples of Jesus' redemptive work through people we love pursuing reconciliation with one another. Awesome. We ate dinner as honorary members of the Green family and stuffed our faces with ham, sweet potato casserole, and peanut butter Easter eggs. Thanks for the invite Weslie, it was delightful! I had Monday off (a perk to working for a church) and did a trail run with Penny at the river. She was a rockstar and did twice the work-out that I did; running ahead and then racing back to me, jumping in the river to swim a couple laps rather than rest. One word - Penergy!

5 year anniversary and Youth Retreat Richmond Edition: 5 years! Can you believe it!? Our big anniversary gift is our trip to Hawaii in May! SO PUMPED! We did, however, go out to dinner at a delicious local spot, Edo's Squid. If you love homemade pasta and seafood, this is your paradise. That weekend we were supposed to go on a youth retreat, which we pulled out of due to smoke and poor air quality from surrounding brush fires. Instead, we stuck around town, had separate girl/boy sleepovers, and the next day, joined together for a picnic at Maymont park where Elena and I enjoyed our reign as Baggo (aka Cornhole) champions (at least for a while).

Also, in recent news... Steve joined the work softball team, Riley has completely healed from his neck injury (Amen!), Penny has been exposed to Lyme Disease (not a big deal, she has no symptoms but must take anti-biotics for 30 days, and we must pay yet another monster vet bill), AND we signed up for the Richmond Half Marathon in November. Crazy! Training team starts in June.

But most importantly, we have a new niece! Autumn Elana Norris born on April 10.
We'll get to meet her this weekend as well as participate in Washington, DC's Walk for Lupus Now with my Mom, who has lupus. Like I said, we're busy. But a good busy :)

Thanks for reading.