Labor Day Reunions

Even though Gary thinks that Labor Day means "a day when everyone continues to labor" since he has never actually had this day off, we were able to get together with friends and family that we hadn't seen in months. On Saturday, we went to my Uncle Sykes and Aunt Cindy's big Labor Day Dove Hunt party. This is an annual event that we have been hearing about for years, but this was the first time that we have been able to attend. It definitely lived up to the hype - great food, great band, great company. We especially enjoyed catching up with my cousins Micajah and Lee and Lee's husband Hyde.

On Sunday night, we spent some time with our good friends David and Niki Flanagan. David was one of my best friends in high school and in recent years, he and Gary have bonded over fantasy sports. We also got enjoyed our captivating conversations with their four-year old son, Reid, and our first meeting with their adorable four-week old daughter, Mary Abbott. This is a picture of Mary Abbott with my sister, Susanne.

Home At Last!

Well, after months of waiting, we are finally in our new home! We closed on our house in Atlanta (after a few delays) last Friday, and then closed on our new home in Greenwood on Monday. I have spent the week unpacking boxes. Slowly but surely we are starting to get settled. Although it feels as though we will be living among boxes for the next year, it's a project that I am grateful to have. The "K&G" is now open for business and we are expecting all of you to come for a visit soon! Thank you all for your prayers and support throughout the process. We are thrilled to now be able to call Greenwood home and are looking forward to this next chapter in our lives.

5 States in 14 Days

After a long trip around the southeastern US, Kathryn is finally back home - well, for a few days, anyway. My parents and I first headed up to Asheville, NC to visit my grandparents. Although they live in Mississippi, they spend their summers in Asheville, and I hadn't had a chance to see much of them since Gary and I came to Greenwood. It was great few days. We had great weather, great food, and a great chance to catch up. Grandmom, Mom and I got to spend our last afternoon there visiting the Biltmore Estate. It was my first time to go there and I was very impressed!

We left Asheville to spend a few days with my Aunt Pat, Uncle Jim and cousin Claire at the Reserve on Lake Keowee. Susanne also joined us there for the last day. Again, great weather, great food, and great company. A couple of highlights of the trip were a day out on the lake and croquet and ping-pong tournaments at night. Claire and I also learned alot about the area by getting lost a few times. :-) We decided that we were doing everyone else a favor by figuring out the shortest routes to and from town. However, I'm not sure if anyone else saw it from our viewpoint.

While in the Carolinas, we made several trips to Camp Greystone to visit Susanne. The area was as beautiful as ever and it was good to go for a visit and see a few old friends. Susanne was in the Synchronized Swimming Water Show and was the Lieutenant of her team for the summer, so we got to see her in action. She had a great time and I know that she is sad that her summer break has almost come to an end.

From Lake Keowee, we left to go to St. Simons. Most of my dad's siblings were there with their families, and it is always great to spend time with them. As my generation of cousins has gotten older, it is becoming more and more difficult to get us all in the same place at the same time, so we really appreciate the time that we do have together. The weather was perfect, and there wasn't much downtime between the golf, tennis, and swimming. I did, however, have time to squeeze in a couple of books as well.

Finally, I left for Atlanta to celebrate my brother-in-law Jimmy's birthday. Nearly the entire Dyksterhouse clan was there - we were only missing my better half. For many of us, this was our first chance to meet Andy and Kelly's foster child, Hannah. She is adorable and a great addition to our family. Hannah makes the fifth grandchild, which certainly adds to the excitement around the house. Most of our time was spent at the pool, but there was also the birthday party (of course!) and games of ping-pong, shuffleboard, and touch football in the backyard. Although Jacob (aka "Big House") was a tough contender, the girls won by one touchdown with 3-year old Ainsley running in our final goal.

While I was busy playing, Gary was at home working in the 100 + temperatures. They are in the process of cutting their corn which has required many long and hot days. He is quickly becoming acquainted with the unmerciful heat of the Mississippi Delta. He is enjoying his time, but also looking forward to the end of the harvest season.

Please be in prayer for us as we are in the process of packing and moving our things in Atlanta and preparing the house in Greenwood. We are excited about finally getting settled into our new home, but are not particularly looking forward to the moving process. Pray that packing is as painless as possible and that things go smoothly at each of our closings. Hopefully by my next post, we will be able to say that we are official Mississippians!

We have a contract

Yes, after being on the market for almost four months, we have a contract on our house. For those of you who have been praying along with us that the house would sell, thank you! The timing is actually perfect as we will be able to move directly into our new house in Greenwood. We will be spending the majority of the next month packing, planning, moving, and closing. Kathryn will be in Atlanta almost every weekend in the month of August while Gary stays in Mississippi for the harvest season. We are very excited to be able to look ahead and anticipate moving into our new house. Praise God with us for this answer to our prayers.

Best Wishes Steve and Rachel!

Thanks to all of you who have been checking our blog. I apologize that there has been a delay in the posts. We just returned from a trip to Lake Norman in North Carolina and Atlanta. Two of our close friends got married last Saturday. We are able to say that we have been a part of their entire relationship (we were with them on their first date) and were so excited to be able to celebrate with them on Saturday. It was also great to get to see and catch up with alot of our Wake friends. Best wishes Steve and Rachel!

We also stopped in Atlanta on our way back home so that Gary could play in the Kennesaw State Men's Basketball Golf Tournament. He played with his dad, brother-in-law Chris, and friend Phillip. They finished 4th place in the first flight. While they were off golfing, I got to spend some quality time with my friend Shannon, Gary's mom, sister Catherine, and our precious nieces Ainsley and Emma. It was a great trip, but we are also very glad to be back home!

A Taste of Mississippi Culture

We have been very busy the past couple of weeks. We went to Memphis to the PCA General Assembly on June 13 to hear R.C. Sproul speak. We sat with our good friends Mike Glass and Matthew Means and were very encouraged to catch up with them and to hear about the great things that God is doing in both of their churches. We were also able to eat some of those famous Rendezvous Ribs for dinner before the service began.


We went to Jackson on June 15 to celebrate our anniversary (5 years!!). We had a great dinner and then went to Jubilee Jam, which is a music festival that features both local and national artists. We heard several bands, including Black Stone Cherry, Galactic, and The Black Crowes. It had been awhile since either of us had been to a concert, and we had a great time.

Gary has been busy at work and he has been bringing some delicious corn home for us to enjoy. The picture of a corn field that I have attached is not one of ours, but I promise to get some pictures of Gary's crops on here soon. I am waiting for the cotton bolls to open so that you can tell the difference between the cotton and the soybeans (I still have a hard time distinguishing between the two plants). And Gary has found continued success in his task of bringing the rain - we had a big storm earlier this week, and were even concerned that we may get too much. Now that he has learned how to turn the rain "on", he needs to find the "off" switch!

Last night we went out for dinner and theater. We went with a group of friends to a new restaurant in town to eat fried and grilled quail. Neither of us had ever tried quail before and we were not disappointed - it was very good! Then we went to the Greenwood Little Theater's The Music Man. It was a great performance.

We have quickly discovered that, just because we have moved away from Atlanta, we continue to have many opportunities to be culturally enriched.

In the Swing of Things

Now that we've been in Mississippi for almost four weeks, we're starting to get into the swing of things. Gary has been working hard at perfecting his rain dance as we are in a drought and have desperately needed rain on the farm. We had a great rain last week and Gary takes full credit. He's already demanding a raise.

I spent last week helping out with Vacation Bible School at our church. We had 104 children attend (27 in my 5-K class). It was a tiring week, but I enjoyed getting to know the children and seeing them get excited about the gospel. Although Gary and I aren't in many pictures, you can go to http://www.wpcgreenwood.org/Photo/PhotoAlbum.aspx?guid=5380e281-378b-478a-93f2-4103a6a22909&pagenum= to see the children and the decorations.

The PCA General Conference is in Memphis this week, which is only a couple of hours away. We are planning to go on Wednesday night to hear R.C. Sproul speak. Although we miss Atlanta, we are making some great friends and enjoying our time here. Please continue to pray that our house in Atlanta would sell quickly so that we can get moved into our new house in Greenwood.