I can't believe it has been an entire year since we took this picture.  The girls are growing so fast.  Morgan has longer hair and Maddie has shorter hair.  We are not gonna have a chance to see a pumpkin patch for 2 years, so I will just have to keep this picture handy.  We are about to the end of Volleyball season and Maddie is serving like a champ now.  I am going to play for Chris's squadron volleyball team, although I may not get too much play time since we have enough players for 2 teams.  It is a fun workout at practice when we scrimmage though.  Chris is really busy with work and I am staying busy with Bible study, MOPS, the spouses' group.   Maddie's school, church, and social activities keep me running.  In the meantime, Morgan keeps me moving when we are home because she is always getting into something she's not supposed to.  We love her though.  The time difference makes it difficult for us to get to talk with everyone back in the states as often as we would like to, but we think of you all often.  Right now, we are cheering for the Cardinals and hope they win in an easy 3 games.  We will see.  We wish everyone a Happy Fall and Happy Halloween.  More pictures to follow .

Basketball Star

At least that is what Maddie thinks, and is true according to Grandma and her Aunts. She was so excited to have them at her game. She shot 4 baskets making 3 of them, had several assists, a few steals and a few rebounds. She has certainly come a long way with her basketball ability. I am quite sure that she was showing off for Grandma. We will see what happens this Saturday.

Well, Chris started class today, officially. We are starting to get plugged in around here. Fort Leavenworth has a lot to offer despite the prison, there is a lot of cool things to do and a lot of history in this old town. Getting plugged in means staying busy. I am participating in a women's bible study on the base/post every Tuesday. I have joined a bunco group, and Chris and I are doing a neighborhood couple's bible study. Maddie is going to begin AWANAS at a nearby church and playing basketball, as you already know. We are enjoying the visitors we have had here in Kansas over the last several weekends. I don't think we had that many visitors in the 5 years we were overseas. We are looking forward to the warmer weather,only 5 more weeks according to MR. Groundhog. Secretly, I hope that we get to enjoy the snow at least one more time before Spring, since we will be gone next winter! Wish us luck.

Go Steelers! Superbowl was a great game and Chris was pleased that his team won, even though we really admire Kurt Warner. We are looking forward to seeing him do big things in the future. I hope to post some new pictures real soon.
Take care and God Bless
Renee Carter

Finally, we can breathe just one month after departing our good friends in Carolina. We are thankful for some downtime here in Kansas, as Chris is asleep (as usual) while reading his assignment for school while I am catching up on this season's American Idol that I recorded with DVR. You gotta love fast-forwarding through those commercials.

As we are quick to approach the end of January 2009, I realize yesterday that I didn't even make a New Year's resolution. I have never kept a New Year's resolution in the past because it has always involved weightloss which never works out for me! So, this year I my resolution is RELATIONSHIPS and FUN! Making new friends, keeping in touch with the old ones and scheduling lots of fun time with all!

I hope you all have a FUN new year too.