Happy Birthday, Joe!!

Same smile that melts my heart...



What an angel!



As we speak, the man I love is being wished a happy birthday by my brother, who celebrated his birthday yesterday :) He is still as cute today as he was many years ago when this picture was taken, and I can't wait until we have little 'Jack Bauer Harmons' who have his smile running around and keeping us busy. (That's the name he'd like to give our son... we'll see about that!

Joe, I love you! I'm glad I'm no longer older than you (Technically anyways).

I hope you enjoyed the last birthday of your bachelorhood.

Thank you, God, for a man like Joe!

Love, Erin

More Craziness!

Wow! The craziness will not stop. It should be slowing down soon though. Erin and I used this weekend to finish the painting and buy some new furniture. We've accomplished a lot. We put together two nightstands, a TV stand and bookshelf (all from Target). We also purchased a two section (L shaped) couch, coffee table and dining room table set. We are very excited, and hope to host Kevin and Sonya for an evening when they come up in a couple weeks. They have always been great hosts when we get down to Charleston, IL to visit. So ... it's their turn to be waited on. Once we have our new couch and coffee table, we will post pictures of the new apartment. I can't tell you how happy I am to be done with the painting. We still have some small touch up projects, but the nights of me painting until 2am are over! As for a wedding update, Erin and I met with Fr. Pat Brennan of Holy Family Parish. He agreed to do our wedding and we couldn't be happier. He's an Irishman, loves Jesus Christ and is more than willing to work with a mixed religion wedding ceremony. We will be doing our Pre-Cana (aka Wedding Counseling) thru Holy Family, and will have the chance to meet with Fr. Pat again to discuss the wedding ceremony. Erin and I would really like to get involved at Holy Family and make it our home. I am attaching a link to the Holy Family Bulletin. I recommend pulling up the "Current Bulletin" each week and reading the 2nd page - which is Fr. Pat's summary of the homily. He's one of the best teacher's I have ever known, and he speaks to all ... not just Catholics. Thank you Jesus for Fr. Pat. It's such a relief to have our Celebrant for the wedding :-)

Fr. Pat Brennan - Homilies

New Design

I figured it was time for a switch to a new and improved design, since we're already painting the apartment. I hope it's suitable ... hint ... one of the colors in the background will be used in our wedding. Let me know if anything is too difficult to read. Thanks to Sus for the site that allows you to pick better backgrounds and formats for blogs! ~Joe

Paint!

Sisters showing a little team work
"Ahhhh!!! ... move you're in my way!"

Thanks to Katie for helping us paint!

Putting the tape up .. and yes that is paint on my butt from my accidental own doing

"This is my apartment, and I have plans for it! Even though I won't be moving in until August..."

This weekend was exhausting. Thanks to Erin's Dad, Rich, the move went well. The moving itself took about three hours with a small lunch break in the middle. I'm not unpacked because, as you can see, we are painting. The bright red had to go. Our dining room and kitched will be painted "Belgian Waffle." In other words ... a very neutral, light goldish-yellow. Erin's Sister, Katie, was a huge help! We forced the poor thing to finish the first coat of the kitchen, even though she was exhausted. I told her it was part of her duty as the maid-of-honor ;-) We paid her in Jimmy John's and Green Tea. Thanks again Katie! Erin and I finished the 2nd coat tonight. We still have to paint the trim, the doors and a couple touch ups. After that, we will be moving onto the bathroom and bedroom. We can't wait to be finished with this, but it had to be done. And we are very excited about decorating what will be our first home together. ~Joe PS Bella is doing better. She received her first dose of Chemo tonight and the doctors are confident that she will beat it. Over 90% of kids do, Praise the Lord! God is good and we know Bella is healed!

Prayer Request

All, Erin and I received some very hard news tonight. Our latest edition to the Harmon Family, our niece Bella, has been diagnosed with acute leukemia. She had not been feeling well for the past couple weeks, and her pediatrician sent her to the hospital to get tested. Within 30 mins of leaving the hospital my sister Susie was told the results and was requested to bring Bella back to the hospital. Bella received a transfusion and is doing much better. She's been able to take her bottle. They will need to do some further tests once Bella's blood cell counts increase. Erin and I are standing with my sister Susie and her husband Dave that Christ has already healed Bella. Bella was sent to us by God, and she's going to be with us for a very long time. Please keep Bella, Susie and our family in your prayers. We don't know many details right now. Either way God will work a miracle in this beautiful little girl. She's claimed for Christ and nothing could be more powerful than that! We love you Bella! ~Uncle Joe and Aunt Erin

My Kind of Town Chicago Is ...

Dinner at Bistro 110 (Michigan Ave)

The Drake Lobby

She always smiles when you give her Chocolate

Sorry, I'm too attached to my shake to take time to pose

Ummm ... I'm a really happy person ;-)

A very "happy" couple at Rosebud's Italian Restaurant

Erin and I had a fabulous weekend in Downtown Chicago. On Friday night, we got ourselves all dressed up and went out to eat on the Mag Mile at Bistro 110. The food was incredible. We ordered an artichoke and brie appetizer, but had to ask our waiter how to eat it :-) Along with our glasses of red wine, Erin had the salmon and I the duck. All went well minus Erin's brief run to the bathroom to remove a splinter from the chair she was sitting in ... ouch! After dinner, we went to Eno's for a flight of wine and cheese. The atmosphere was really cool, and we had fun trying to act sophisticated. We only stayed for one round because the prices were a bit high for our liking. We decided to see "Fireproof" instead of finding another bar. "Fireproof" is a Christian movie by the creators of "Facing The Giants." It tells the story of a man that works a stressful job as a fireman and his failing marriage. Through faith in Christ, he becomes moved to embark on a journey to renew her love and trust for him. I won't share anymore in case you see it ... we both recommend seeing it. On Saturday, we had lunch at Water Tower Place followed by chocolate shakes at Ghiradelli's. It's safe to say we weren't feeling the best afterwards. We ended up walking around the Mag Mile catching up on our window shopping. Saturday night we had dinner at Rosebud's with a bottle of wine from Abruzzio, Italy. Our cheeks were feeling a bit rosy after diner ;-) We decided to go for one more glass of red wine at Carmine's before we called it a night. All in all we enjoyed a wonderful weekend downtown. As for the wedding plans, we have our DJ! Dan of Tone Productions received rave reviews from the Knot.com. We had an awesome interview with him via phone and look forward to seeing him live soon. That's all for now! ~Joe