Four Years

Well it's been the best four years of my life.......i'm not even just saying that. On Aug 17th Andrea and i celebrated our anniversary. It was nice to once again be able to be home for the anniversary. (pretty important fact for all you guys out there) We chose to stay a little closer to home this time. In past years we have ventured up to Chicago...or up somewhere in Michigan. But this year we started off with a massage. In a town about 10 minutes from our house. It was my first "official" massage...and let me tell you.......i would go every day if I could. it was great.....it wasn't so great for Andrea. Her masseuse didn't deliver, as mine did. Normally at home if Andrea gives me a massage...i seem to let out little groans...mostly so she knows that it feels good and that I wouldn't mind it if she continued for another 20 min :) So it was extremely difficult for me to hold back my true feelings while receiving my massage. Overall....great experience.

Second we drove up the road to this small restaurant called Popolano's. I must admit that the food we got wasn't that amazing....but it was definitely a nice place to eat. Hoping next time our meals will be better.

Immediately after leaving the restaurant Andrea, like most pregnant women do, had to go to the bathroom......again. Except this time she wasn't so sure she could hold it....so we ended up at Dunkin Donuts.....a great place....the place to get a cup of coffee...in my opinion. So I did......and andrea got a donut.

After that we drove to Michigan City,IN which was another 20 min up to Lake Michigan. It was dark by the time we got there...but nice enough to see the lighthouse and sit by the all the docked boats. We got some funny photos of my jumping over a cement post. Luckily no one was hurt....at least we think.

Looking forward to many many great years with my wife....who in my opinion is the best person in the world. I am the luckiest guy to have a woman who cares for people so much...and puts up with my sarcastic, and sometimes mean moods. So cheers to Andrea for being the best wife a man could ever ask for.

Are we making the world a better place?

So many questions have been racing through my mind this past month or so. the main question i find myself with is; What does it mean to be a follower of Christ? Am I doing all I can? Do I have all my chips in? Am I even playing the right "game?" I dont think i'm going completely crazy...I just know that I want to be certain that what I do for God is what he wants from me. Is he pleased with all of his children going to church.....having pot-lucks.....spending all extra time in small groups......creating worship services. etc. The list goes on and on. Now dont get me wrong....i love potlucks....i am a part of a worship service...and love the idea of small groups. I just want to make sure that our focus is right. I guess more importantly that my focus is right.

I'm actually pretty excited about it. I've been asking God to show me if I'm doing the right things, and have the right motives. But not just asking....really begging God with all sincerity. I'm not sure i've ever been as persistent as I have this past week. Maybe its because I'm about to have another child, maybe because I've been away from my family a lot this year. I'm not really sure....what I am sure about is that I'm not sure. It has definitely brought a new excitement to my life.......i'll keep you updated.

fred

Pictures I can't resist posting

Here are some pics from my trip to visit our growing family in Ohio. Both my sisters are there. The new one is Rose Linville, Shannon's third. I didn't get any pictures of Charles Russell Osborne IV, otherwise known as Chase, while I was there, but I'll post a couple of him from when they visited me in Valparaiso. Ty loves his cousins. They have great love/hate relationships. One minute they are kissing, the next hitting each other. I guess that's what happens when you have kids a few months apart. Elayna will be only a couple months younger than Rose, and Ty is 2 months younger than Vivienne. Well, hope you all enjoy the pictures.
Here's a breakdown of our growing family:

Shannon and Troy Linville- 3 kids
Roland- 4
Vivienne-2
Rose- a few weeks

Rachel and Chuck Osborne
Chase- 6 months

Andrea and Fred Butson
Ty- 2 in November
Elayna- only a few weeks from birth!

It's a hot one

So, it's been a hot one this summer. We've tried to make use of the pool as much as we can, but on the hottest stretch of the year, I went to visit my parents in Marion, OH. Being 8 months pregnant, I was driven first by Fred to Marion, IN, picked up there by my little sis, Rach, who was there with the youth group from Dayspring Wesleyan in Marion, OH, then headed back to OH with her. We, of course, still have our trusty car from college....it's been good to us, except for the fact that we don't have air, radio, or a CD player. The result of this trip for Fred, me, and the fam on this 90 degree day are the pictures we've posted here. Ice cream seemed a good idea, until it ended up down the front of my shirt...nothing like feeling messy and hot to make you feel even more confident with a bulging belly! Will post again soon!

He's crazy folks...

Well....he's my son....I should have known. Ty is a crazy kid. Just thought I'd share some fun video footage for those of you who dont get to see him.

Cheers.

A little hello

Well it's been several days since my last post. I'm not actually sure anybody reads this thing......but oh well. I've (fred) been gone a lot this summer....however......when I am home....we like to hang out by the pool. So I added a couple pics by the pool to give you an idea of what it's like. Andrea is doing great......although really wanting to not be prego anymore. All in all we are very excited about Elayna. Andrea told me that she went out and bought 4 new outfits for our little girl.......she's pretty excited about them.

My older sister Angela visited with her kids a couple weekends ago...so i've also posted a pic on there of that visit.

And our friends Adam and Mimi Schultz (who are soon to be Valparaiso peeps) came by this past week...and their daughter Rylee took a bath with Ty. Since that bath i am told that Rylee now splashes water everywhere. (just like ty)

I guess that's all for now....hope to hear from somebody soon. Is anyone out there?