8 Weeks and Counting

I am now in my 32nd week (about halfway through, actually). I had my doctor appointment this past week where little Leah or Makaela seemed to be a little more on track. I only measured at 33 instead of like 57 or something :) So my due date is still February 4 which was a bit of a relief and a let down all at once :) I'd be lying if I said that part of me didn't want them to move my due date up, but that is such a trivial thing that it doesn't even matter. What matters is that she is healthy, and very active :) We've been very entertained by watching my belly morph around. It hasn't been so intense that we can see an elbow or foot come out and move across, but we can see some limb moving from one side to the other. Nathan usually just laughs and says "thats freaky." We've also been playing with her and feeling her various limbs trying to figure out what they might be. We are so thankful that she is healthy and that things are all going well. The doctor also said that she is head down which is a huge blessing, and we are praying that she will continue to stay in that position--although I'm also praying that God will allow me to know His sovereignty should any of that change.
I get to sleep in a sitting up position now which is just fantastic! (sarcasm added:)) It has been a bit of a struggle to even be able to sleep much less sleep well, but even a lack of sleep is so trivial compared to all of the potential problems pregnancy can present... so again I find myself trying not to grumble or complain about the aches and pains or the lack of sleep, because the Lord has been so gracious already through all of this that certainly these small things are nothing to complain about.
We are anxiously awaiting her arrival and get more and more excited as the days pass. It is crazy to think that in just 8 short weeks (ok like 4 short weeks and 4 really really really long weeks, I'm sure;)) she will be here! Our schedules are busy and we keep moving right along which is helpful, but she will be here before we even know it! We can't wait for what the Lord will continue to teach us through the next weeks and especially for what He will teach us as we learn how to be parents to this blessing of life He has given us. All Praise to Him!

Playtime

I feel like we are using our new dog as practice for our new baby on the way. Whenever we are home, we are always playing with her and we always seem to have the camera close by because she just does some hilarious things. On this particular night, I was playing with her as she was trying to catch my feet. It kindof reminded me of that arcade game with the alligators and the big hammar you used to smash their heads. The alligators would pop out and you had to try and hit their heads. With bella, you'd taunt her with your feet until she popped out and you had to try and get them away from her. We are having a ton of fun with her... most of the time :) I will say, we have to work on learning how to go outside to go to the bathroom even when its rainy. On Monday, the weather was cold and rainy, and she decided that she did not want to step on the wet grass so instead she did all her pottying inside. Needless to say, she spent much of the day in her kennel in trouble which is really sad because it was her half birthday :) Anyway... here's a video of us playing.

Bella the Boxer... and Christmas too :)

So big news to those of you who don't already know! We got a puppy. We thought we'd try out our parenting/child rearing or "puppy rearing" skills in preparation for little baby fogde to come. Not exactly...

We have wanted a dog for a long time but had decided we would wait. We started talking more seriously this fall about getting a dog, but again decided we would wait. Then the week before Thanksgiving, Nathan decided that he really really wanted a dog... so the search began. Our initial intent was to get a puppy from up by where my parents live, but after a little more searching we found a much better option. I think the Lord knew that having a brand new puppy plus a baby in 2 months would be a little (understatement of the century) too much. What we did find was a 5 1/2 month old puppy who is still a puppy but she is already partly trained and has such a natural good nature in her! We have added Bella the Boxer to our family. She is so very cute, and she has been great so far! We have had to work on a few things, but she is catching on quickly. We haven't had an accident in the house in several days now, and she will go by the back door and give a little whine when she needs to go outside... YAY!! She also only seems to enjoy chewing on things that are fuzzy... so shoes are not her first choice (unless they are my slippers) :). But we don't have many fuzzy things in our house (yet at least) so chewing hasn't been a problem... YAY!! She enjoys jumping up, but she is learning that she cannot jump on people and she is definitely learning she cannot jump up at the kitchen counter to check out the goods. She has learned that one the hard way. She loves to play and be roudy, but she settles down so fast and is very calm. We just love her! We're so excited that our little girl will be able to grow up with Bella... we think it will be fun for them to grow together :)

Now, Christmas is just right around the corner, or so it seems as everything with church musicals etc. is kicking into high gear! We did a little decorating of our own at our house this year which we very much enjoyed. We even indulged ourselves and bought a Christmas Tree. Our very first one (how cute :)). Bella was a good sport, and she even let us decorate her and she wishes everyone a Very Merry Christmas.

This is Bella :)

This is Bella's version of Rudolph.

She's such a good sport!

Beginning the Decorating

We have a real mantle!!

Nathan working hard on the tree. I have to admit that he did most of the work because by the time we got to this point, I had been on my feet for quite a while and I just needed to take a break. He did a great job though!

Finished product and proud of it!

Showing off my excuse for supervising:)

Testing out the new timing on the new camera

Feeling Good

Well, it has been a while since i've updated (as usual) but here we go. I had my next doctor appointment today and can I just say no matter how hard I tried, I was so anxious about it. I had my glucose tolerance test last week... the results of which I was to find out today. I also "gained too much weight" last time, so I was very anxious about my weigh-in (I felt like I was on biggest loser or something). But, after much un-needed worrying, I found out that all my glucose screening came back fine, and I gained no weight from my last appointment. WOHOO!!! Now... the next thing to look forward to was where the baby was measuring. At my 25 week appointment, she was measuring around 27 weeks. This week marked my 29th week, and she is measuring in at a whopping 32 weeks instead. So... a february due date is looking less and less likely. I'm thinking we'll be adding another January baby to the family. We shall see...

It's crazy to think that I'm only 11 weeks away now (or maybe less). At my next doctor appointment, they should decide wither or not they are going to do an ultrasound to gain some more accurate measurements and see if she really is measuring big. I can definitely tell she has grown... I feel her move all the time. And I mean all the time... morning, afternoon, and night. Sometimes in the morning, Nathan will have his hand on my stomach, and he just lays in bed and laughs. It's been so fun... although as she starts to pack more of a punch/kick, i'm sure it wont be as fun when those punches and kicks are directed toward my ribs.

I have been so blessed to have such an "easy" pregnancy. I've been able to stay very mobile (even though the mobility is starting to become more uncomfortable), and I've managed to avoid most sickness all together. I did come down with a cold a few weeks ago, and when I was feeling so miserable, I realized how much I had taken for granted the ease of this pregnancy so far. I am so thankful to have continued to work (as its been available) and teach piano lessons. The Lord has definitely gone far beyond blessing me during this time. I'd even say its been fun. SHHHHH Don't tell anyone that :)

More updates to come as we get closer. And as I close, I will just say that since I gained no weight at this appointment... bring on Thanksgiving.

Update on Baby Fogde

Well, I had my Dr. appointment today and it was definitely the fastest I've gotten in and out of the office. I think I was there for 30 minutes... record time! Hoorah for the first appointment of the morning :) Things are looking good. My uterus is actually measuring 27cm which would put me about 2 weeks ahead of schedule (I am scheduled to start my 25th week tomorrow) and since my uterus is measuring at 27, I could be slightly ahead of where they originally had me pegged. We shall see... so maybe January it will be. The Dr. also said I'm too fat... Ok she didn't really say it like that, but she said I gained too much weight this time. I wont go into anymore detail about that though. :)

We/I am continuing the process of the nursery. Got the bedding in the mail and it is SO SO SO ADORABLE! I love it :) Now I'm looking for material to recover our rocking chair as well as make some window seat cushions. I have a whole smattering of baby girl clothes all over the floor in the room because we received all of the clothes from our niece who was also born in early Feb. We will be getting our crib on Friday. We received that from Nathan's mom and step dad via their in-laws. They bought it practically brand new at a yard sale, so we just need to make sure we have all the parts to put it together (there are no directions) :) But things are coming along and I'm getting more and more excited as they do.

Lastly, I saw her punch out my stomach this past week. I was laying on the couch and I saw this really quick protrusion and I thought, I'm pretty sure that was a hand or a foot or something. It was because she did it several more times. Not the complete "alien belly" yet, but she is definitely letting us know she is there :) T minus 116 days, but whose counting anway? :)

Ladybugs All Over

Well, I have made a big step in the last week. I have decided on a theme for baby Fogde's room. Ladybugs :) It has been quite a process trying to figure out what to do, what I want, what I like... what I think she will like etc. So... at first we saw this adorable set which included ladybugs at BabyDepot. We had planned on getting that once we found out it was a girl, then I decided the colors were all too muted. It had green and red and pink and white and black... but all very soft versions of those colors. I decided I wanted something with a little more punch. So I went searching google like any normal curious person. I wasn't sold on the whole ladybug theme so I searched for baby bedding according to colors I liked together. The whole idea is that we don't want something overly girly or predominantly pink or anything like that. As I searched for bedding, I came across some very cute sets that were chocolate brown and turquoise (just about my favorite color combination). I had about 97% of my heart set on this until I started another search one day. Randomly, I googled "lady bug baby bedding sets" and as I saw various pictures come up, one caught my eye. I might even say it was love at first sight. It was so precious, and I just invisioned little baby girl loving her bedroom and loving ladybugs. The best is yet to come... It was a set on Ebay that was listed for $49.99 which for any 4 piece bedding set is a great deal! This one, however, was a 9 piece set including some additional accessories besides just the crib bedding. What a steal!!!
Well, for those of you who utilize ebay... there is also a whole bidding process. I actually had to have my parents bid on it for me because I was not going to have access to a computer when the bidding ended, and they were outbid by only 80 cents. Sad times!!! Well, the following day, I went searching for it again just to see if this store had listed another set. Low and behold they had! Still same price and all!!! I was able to win the set for a mere $61.00. I am so excited about the set, and so excited for her room. I had to tell you all of this so that when you see the picture, hopefully you will love it as much as I do :) Here it is!!!

So, what we get in the set is the bumper, the dust ruffle, the blanket, the pillow, the sheet, 2 window valances, the diaper stacker, and the toy stacker (which I will probably use as a hamper). I am hoping to prevail upon my mother to maybe make a cover for the changing pad as well as a large window seat pillow, or a few pillows to put on a cute window seat we have in the baby's room. Probably something either red and polka dotted, or checkered pattern... something of the sort. So... for any of you who read this who are looking into baby bedding (which I don't think any of you who read this are prego, so not that this matters) don't forget about good ol' ebay :)

Daddy's Little Girl

Well, we found out today that we are having a baby girl. She was not shy at all in letting us know just exactly what she was going to be. In fact, she was maybe a little too "open" for my own comfort level. Something I can see we're going to need to work on. Here are a few pics of her from our ultrasound. I'm sure she will be precious. These pics are a little hard to see, but hopefully you'll enjoy them (all 2 of you who look at this blog :))

This is her in all of her glory. Putting it all out there for everyone to see.

Clearly... she is not a boy.

This is the profile they were able to get. I should add that the Dr. said she is stubborn... not sure who she gets that from. If anything, she gets a healthy dose from each of us :)

We are thinking either Leah Grace or Makaela/Makayla Rose. Any input? We are undecided cause we like them both so much.

All the Single Babies

Ok... this video is too funny to not share. I have make sure to say that I would not be encouraging my child to dance to Beyonce... much less be watching her music video while they dance... but this is funny. Enjoy...

Hicksville Rosamond

Today, the most exciting thing happened in Rosamond! There was a brush fire. Nathan and I decided after this incident that Rosamond is the biggest hick town. Yes indeed. We were finishing lunch with our Suppers for Six group when one of the ladies said "Look out the window." So we all did and noticed this black smoke. Naturally, Nathan and I wondered where it was, what it was (fire, business, brush etc.) So we decided to take a little drive to find it. This was not hard as it was just right on the side of the road, and it seemed as though the whole town of Rosamond had decided to do that very same thing! At this very moment, we realized that we had officially inducted ourselves into the very nature of hicksville we were laughing about. oops. It was rather hilarious to be one of the many cars driving to the edge of Rosamond, and then all turning around before entering Edwards Air Force Base territory. All for a brush fire that was probably put out in about 10 minutes. Guess much doesn't happen in Rosamond if thats all it takes to get this whole town out to see something :)

Living in a Smoke Screen

The Station Fire burning in Angeles National Forest has really intrigued me... probably because smoke continues to pour over the mountain ranges that are just south of palmdale. Nathan doesn't remember ever having smoke fill the Antelope Valley like this. On Saturday, the glow of everything was orange... due to smoke and the sun blazing through the orange smoke. I had seen the sun like this 2 years ago when Santa Clarita seemed to be surrouned by fire. Last night, we actually saw the red/orange glow in the smoke from the fires. This was crazy because the fire was only as far north as Acton, but we could see it. The latest information on this is that the fire essentially doubled in size overnight going from about 45,000 acres to 90,000 and most recently topping off at nearly 106,000 acres. Nathan and I heard on the radio tonight on the way to church that it has gone as far east as Little Rock, which is just south and east of Palmdale. We are not in danger, but this fire is endangering so many people. I saw an update on this fire on Lisa's blog, where she also said that authorities have said that estimated full containment will not be achieved until September 15th. This is mind-boggling to me! She also had this timelapse video on her blog. What is going on with the smoke is so similar to what is going on here. But it was very interesting. Take a look...

Washington and a Wedding

Now since I had your attention with my last post, this post is for those of you who don't check facebook, mom :) We just returned from our summer vacation this past week. It was so great to get away for a little while and have fun and relax. It is just nice sometimes to take a break from the normal routine of life. Our ultimate destination was Washington for the wedding of Matthew Forbes and Stacey Cherry. We took our time getting up there visiting family and friends on the way. We left Monday to start our driving adventure,spent Thursday night in Seattle taking in all the sights, and Friday/Saturday were filled with wedding festivities. We met up with a few friends from Master's who were also headed to the wedding and had fun hanging out. It was a great time. Here are some pictures from our last vacation alone; and our last vacation with nothing but gas and food stops :)

A little vinegar anyone?

I thought I'd try to capture your attention with this post, and since last time I posted something in the same category I got a big response, I thought I would try again :) Yes, along came a spider that sat down beside her. Well, it didn't really sit down beside me, but here's the story. I was working in our church reception office yesterday when I saw this strange very large spider/bug looking thing. I calmly exited the room and waited for a few of the office staff to finish their conversation. Then I calmly said "so do any of you like spiders?" to which the office manager, Jo, replied "I'll kill it!" I showed them where it was and she said "Oh, that's a vinegaroon." I had heard of these spiders, but fortunately had yet to see one. Unfortunately, I had my first sighting. :( These spiders are like a cross betweena spider and a scorpion (because just plain ol' spiders aren't bad enough, they need to be crossed with another terrifying creature). From what I understand, though I don't know how accurate this is, if you are bit by one of these spiders, everything you eat for a period of days tastes like vinegar. This just seems all around horrible to me. Well, to ease your curiosity, here is the picture of what they look like. This wasn't the actual one I saw, just a picture I found on google. Enjoy???

How Long Can You Hold Your Breath

Another classic video sent to me by none other than Beverly Welch. It's hilarious. :)

Along Came a Spider and Sat Down Beside Her...

Last week was my first snake sighting. That took a while to get past. I've seen plenty of spiders in my lifetime... and plenty at our new house. Most have been daddy long legs (the only kind of spider I sorta can live with because they eat mosquitoes). The rest have all been measly garden spiders... until tonight.

We stopped back by our house to turn off our porch light... a wonderful sign of being done working there for the day. Low and behold, I spotted something that looked like a spider under our kitchen window. I thought... that's too big to be a spider. So I said to Nathan... "Is that a spider?" There wasn't much light but we decided it was and we'd get a better look with a flashlight. Once I got the flashlight outside, we brought this particular beast into the light and sure enough, a gigantic spider. And this was no garden spider mind you. The next most logical question regarding spiders in the desert was "is it a brown recluse or black widow?" Nathan said it looked like a wolf spider then reassured me that after an entire lifetime of living in the desert, this was definitely the biggest spider he had even seen with the exception of a tarantula. Comforting, right? It's good to know that after a full 25 years in the desert, your husband spots the biggest spider he's ever seen underneath your own kitchen window!! I really love our house and all, but i'm really starting to get concerned about living there....

First snakes, now gargantuas spiders... please let me never have to update you on what would be next... because I don't even want to know or encounter what would be next. Now I'm going to go shower and make that feeling of spiders crawling all over me go away :)

House Renovation Update #1

Here are some pictures from the process... some are blurry because my camera is dying, but we hope you enjoy! There is a full update at the end of all the pictures if you're interested :)

This gives you an idea of the mass amouts of wallpaper

...and border
This is to give you an idea of how atrocious it was,
and how hard it was to get off!

Since everything else in the house had a pink theme to it, why not have the walls be pepto-bismol pink too? I mean, thats what was under the border in this room! Oh my...

This is the room in all its glory with no more wallpaper,

and no more pink carpet!

tile-less kitchen

tile-less entry... wohoo! Good job honey!

New cherry hardwood laminate flooring

This is a better picture of the actual color of the hardwood.

So, the moment you have all been waiting for is finally here!!! Just kidding... I know you haven't all been waiting for it :) But here is the status of our house:

• Officially closed on May 14th (my good friend Lane's birthday). We got in and started working on Friday May 15th (my good friend Bridgey's birthday). We worked for a good solid 3 days on nothing but taking wall paper down. So much fun!! May I just advise anyone who looks at this blog to never put a shred of wall paper up in your home... don't ever do that to anyone else who might live there after you. It's just downright torture.
• Spent most of the following week painting and continuing to take down wallpaper.
• Thursday we had a few friends from church come and lend a hand... including our good friend Marj, who was our lifesaver and godsend when it came to getting the tile out of the front entryway. Nathan worked for a good 2 days on that tile and finally got it out thanks to Marj lending us some very helpful power tools. Thursday night, Nathan's dad came and ripped out all of our lovely mauve/pink/rose/ugly carpet and started on the padding underneath.
• By Friday, all of the carpeting was out, the tile in the kitchen was gone, the tile in the entry was working on being gone, our padding was all out, and we were preparing to lay down our new flooring on Saturday morning.
• Saturday we had a lot of helping hands thanks to our families. Some of Nathan's family came and helped out by painting, cleaning my gross blinds, and laying down flooring. All of my family came at some point on saturday, and they were put to work painting, taking down wall paper and various other tasks.
• Sunday--by sunday evening the flooring was completely installed in our hallway, kitchen, and large living space. Nathan worked on taking the linoleum out of the bathroom so flooring could be installed there too.
• Monday found us finishing up the rest of the flooring (it was completely finished on Monday!!!) as well as moving out of our apartment. We got everything moved into our house (all in the living/dining area) and my old college roommate emily helped me get our apartment all cleaned up. She was such a huge help!!!

So here we are in this week planning on doing some more work this week/weekend. Saturday morning we have carpet installed in our 3 bedrooms, along with the rest of the baseboards in the bedrooms. That will pretty much take care of it for our renovations. Then the fun begins trying to get everything unpacked and settled in. A few projects will remain, but over the summer should be completed. We need to get tile for the Master Bathroom, get quarter-round for all of our hardwood flooring in the kitchen and bathrooms, and relax and bask in a job well done :)... oh yeah and massages and pedicures and manicures to try and restore our bodies to a normal state.

It was my parking spot

One more :) Beverly sent this to me, and it was too funny not to share. The sad thing is there are probably really people like this out there :)

The Blood Song

I came across this video on another blog called girl talk which i check periodically. Every friday they post "friday funnies" and I saw this one from last week. At the very end of the song, the little girl says something really funny... so watch all the way to the end :) Enjoy!

There's a Snake in my Boots

On May 18th, 2009 at approximately 7:30 I experienced my first snake sighting in Rosamond. We were driving down the street to our new house to work on taking off some more of the wall paper when all of the sudden I saw something in the road. I continued driving and as I realized what I saw, I slammed on the breaks, threw the car into reverse and screamed at Nathan "There's a snake in the road back there!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He said... "So...?" I was freaking out... and even though it was just a garden snake, I really feel my response was appropriate. I honestly hoped I would never see a snake... but who am I kidding?? I live in the desert.

I promptly told Nathan that if I ever saw a snake in or near our house, I'd pack my bags and leave this wretched place. Snakes are of the devil (he was a snake himself!) and I will not stay if I ever have such an encounter again.

Official Anniversary

The real date of our Anniversary was on Sunday, the 26th. Also our good friend Jason DeMoe's birthday :) We had church in the morning and evening, so we knew there wouldn't be a whole lot of time to celebrate. It worked out really well that the Welch's were gone this weekend because Beverly would have made a big deal about it in church. I should mention that a few weeks ago, Beverly made a big deal about Nathan's 1 year anniversary of being at the church. This was really confusing to everyone because they thought it was our wedding anniversary, so it was good that she wasn't here to make a scene of it all. :) Everything in the morning service went by without any kind of mention of it...phew! Then evening service came and a friend "accidentally" mentioned it to the elder who was in charge of announcements for the evening. So we didn't get away completely un-noticed, but it was only evening service so not as many people.

After the service, we went to Claim Jumper for dinner and really splurged... we had giftcards!! :) Then we came home, and what was on the counter but the infamous top layer of our wedding cake. Yes I had saved it, and Yes I pulled it out to eat some of it. Now, I've heard of this being really disastrous but I thought that maybe since it was a homemade cake... it might have held better? Well, Nathan didn't enjoy it that much... he said he didn't like it. To me, it just tasted like cake that had been in the freezer and had been thawed out. I still ate my piece, and am still living to tell about it today so I think that all in all it was OK :) Good work on the cake, mom! Cream Cheese frosting was even still delicious! We had also planned to watch our wedding DVD, but left it at our house. Instead we watched the movie "The Breakup" Perfect movie to watch on your anniversary, right? :)

Well, again our house-sitting stint ends today, so I'm signing off for now... and for a while. Who knows when I'll have access to the internet again :)

A Whole Year of Marriage

I know its been a while since I've posted. I haven't had too much exciting going on... but I will update you all on our life.
1) We are definitely in escrow... set to close the first week of May. (unless our lender can work really quickly despite the set-backs from the escrow company). If he does work quickly, we might close as soon as this week, but it is not likely. But we're looking to close within the next 2 weeks sometime... which means that packing has officially begun! We have taken nearly everything off our walls, which looks very strange. We have packed pretty much our whole "catch all" room. Just a few misc. things left. I think I will start working some in the kitchen this week. With any luck, in the next 2 weeks, we'll be able to take down all the nice nice wallpaper, paint, and rip out that nice rose pink carpet :)

2) We've had a great time house-sitting for our Pastor and his wife again. They were off to the Carolina's and we always love house sitting for them. We get the luxuries of internet, a comfy bed, big screen TV, and watching/taking care of Toby... their dog. Our little vacation away from our house ends today, and we'll go back to our apartment which now has nothing on the walls.

3) Here's the big news. NO we are NOT pregnant. We celebrated our 1 year anniversary this weekend! We can't believe that a year of marriage has gone by so quickly! Our actual anniversary was on Sunday, but we mostly celebrated on Friday, knowing that Sunday would be busy with church etc. So, let me tell you about a day that will never be forgotten:

• Friday morning we ran all kinds of errands. Eventually our errands left us at Costco getting gas so we could go down to LA. Our final destination was The Grove.
• Before we got to the grove, we planned on going to a few discount flooring stores in LA to do some price checking for doing the floor differently at our new place. We decided not to go to the first place because it was about 90 minutes out of the way. Our first stop was at Tile & More in Paramount. Just a small store, but we did find something we love.
• After leaving Paramount, I was navigating our directions to take us to the next store... H Discount Flooring or something like that. I guess we were feeling brave because this place was in East LA. As we were approaching, Nathan ever so calmly said "let's not stop there" as he kept driving. We were in the heart of East LA...oops. Nathan suggested we just keep driving around which led to a very nice tour of east LA for me. Finally I said, "get me out of here! Can't we go to Beverly Hills or something??" After driving through downtown LA, we finally made it up closer to the Grove and drove around for a while in Beverly Hills.
• While in Beverly Hills, we decided to seek out a few places. 1) the Walsh house from 90210. 2) West Beverly High from 90210. and 3) the Peach Pit from 90210. We've been watching old episodes of the show :) All that to say, we literally went from rags to riches and ended hanging out and having dinner at the Grove.

I have pictures, but of course I didn't have my memory card in my camera while I was taking them so they are on my camera, and of course my USB cable is packed so I can't share them right now. But sometime... who knows when... I'll upload a few pictures from our extravaganza.

New Blog

I discovered a new blog. Well, its not really new, but new to me. I discovered that one of my friends from church has a blog where she posts incredible recipes she has tried. YUM! I was fortunate enough to have some of her leftovers last week, which were delicious, then I discovered the recipe on her blog. So we made it last night. It's very tasty and I'd like to make all 3 of you who read ths blog aware of her blog so that you can be filled with the deliciousness of her recipes too :) Last night, we had the Double Stuffed Lemon Garlic Chicken. Jen Shimko really is the cook extraordinaire. If nothing else, you should give this recipe a try sometime. Hope you enjoy!!

Before...During...After

We have the first of our "before" pictures in our series of before....during....and after pictures of our house! Nathan's aunt and uncle were in town, and she snapped several pictures of the house when we went to see it. These are all the main living area and kitchen. As we start the process of working in the house (not until the beginning of may, Lord Willing) we will update with during and eventually after pictures so that you can see the transformation!! Don't laugh too hard at the pink and offwhite patterned carpet :) Or the great wallpaper :)

It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. 1595 square feet. Its on a 9000 sq. ft. lot which is already landscaped (although dying right now). It has a hot tub (don't know if it works) and a great brick corner fireplace. We plan to rip out the carpet, and take down all of the wall paper (yes even the wallpaper in the bathroom which is already peeling off the walls). We're so excited! We'll keep you updated...



So, i'm not usually this retarded... but the wind was blowing my hair in my face and I was trying to get it out of my face. Before I knew it, nathan's aunt had already snapped the picture. Owell.

Just to the right of where I'm standing...

I invision a great little coffee corner with all of our coffee "stuff"

Bird Loves Ray Charles

What a great bird!!

House Hunting No More

This will be short and sweet. We'll post some pictures later... but... WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! We are hoping to sign papers this week and close escrow at the end of April. We will definitely take before, during, and after pictures, kinda like what they do on HGTV. That way you will be able to see the incredible improvements (hopefully :)). Thanks for all your prayers. We are so excited!!!

House Hunting #2

So... we have started the process of our house hunting.... and maybe finished it? Yes indeed we did place a bid on a house today. It feels so very weird and crazy! But we are so excited for what the Lord has. We really love and want this house, yet, we are very content in knowing that it might not be the house the Lord has for us. We are still interested in a few others should this one fall through, but we can't wait to find out! For all 3 of you who read this... we thought you might like knowing that :) Pray for us as we continue in this whole house process thing :)

Crazy Hair

Last week at awana, we had crazy hair night. It was so much fun!!! So many of the kids came with such creative ideas to make their hair crazy. I tried my bestest to capture the greatness... but unfortunately my camera is malfunctioning. Most of the pictures are blurry, but I'm sure you can get the idea anyway :)

These were all the kids who had crazy hair.

So there is sorta a funny story about my crazy hair. As I was getting ready to leave our house to go to awana, lo and behold I couldn't get out of my driveway because it was being blocked. When this happens, we get to go knock on all the neighbors doors and ask if they are blocking the driveway. So, I got to do this with my curlers in. Most everyone looked at me like I was completely ridiculous... which I am... but I was feeling pretty embarrassed. Needless to say, I felt much more comfortable when I got to the church and was in the presence of many others who were just as (if not more so) ridiculous :) Such as Nathan who looks somewhat like he stuck his finger in an electrical socket. :)

This was the original intention for my crazy hair...

it just didn't happen until we were already home.

Chick-Fil-A

This post is dedicated to my sister-in-law April. :)

Dreaming Dog

As long as we're sharing videos from blog to blog, I saw this on April's blog. It made me laugh so hard I nearly fell out of my chair. Its so worth the 23 seconds!!!

Valentines Dinner

So even though Valentines Day was almost a month ago, we decided to have our dinner last night :) Nathan was actually deathly ill on valentines day (all weekend) so I went to a sweetheart banquet our church had by myself. Thats my sob story. So we decided to cook this great meal last night for our enjoyment. It was nice to enjoy an evening together at the beginning our our week before things get super crazy this week. Nathan will be gone at Shepherd's Conference for the rest of the week so it was nice to have our date nite earlier. Ok... here's what we ate. It was so good I felt the need to document it for you. And I've even included some pictures for your drooling convenience :)

I defrosted some very large and very thick New York Steaks. Yummy! Nathan BBQ'd those (in the dark with a lantern I might add). Another reason we are looking forward to buying a house...then we don't have to walk past 2 other houses to get to our garage (which has no lights) and grill. We are looking forward to walking out to our patio and grilling right there! Anyway... he did an amazing job for grilling by lantern light. Meanwhile, I cooked up a hashbrown potato casserole. So good. Recipe to follow. We also had cornbread and I even added asparagus (just for you, mom!!). We considered this the first real meal we've had. Mainly because this is the first time we have cooked any kind of steak in our house. We ALWAYS eat chicken :)

Here is the recipe for the Hashbrown Potato Casserole.

2 cups sour cream; 1 package (2 pounds) fully thawed hashbrown potatoes; 1 medium onion--finely chopped; 10 oz. package grated cheese (or really as much cheese as you want)

**Combine all ingredients and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake covered at 350* for 1 1/2 hours. Uncover and bake additional 10 minutes. Optional: Sprinkle some more cheese on top before baking the additional 10 minutes.

This is Nathans Dinner

One of these things is not like the other... :)
This is my Dinner.

One of these things just isn't the same... :)
The moment just before we indulged. Yum!!
I think I look retarded in this picture.

Nathan thinks I look cute. He is so gracious... :)

House Hunting

I am just so very excited about this I need to share it with the world!!! Ok... my world... all 3 of you who read this :) Nathan and I are going house hunting on Saturday and we are so excited! We have some great prospects (at least from pictures online) and we are so eager to get into them and see what they are really like! We are praying that the Lord will make His will very clear to us in this process. Also, we are very blessed by our pastor and his wife. The Lord has allowed us to develop such a great relationship with them. They are like surrogate parents to us. They totally want to go hunting with us which is so great! We are very excited to have an extra set of eyes that have more life experience than we do and hopefully help us see things that we probably wont see. The Lord is so good! And we are so very excited! We'll keep you updated on our home-searching process!!!

Wii is Worthwhile

Just incase you ever thought the wii wasn't worthwhile... maybe this short video will change your mind :) This is very funny. Enjoy!!

The Closeness of a Family

I've debated whether or not to post anything about this, and after some really encouraging things happened today I decided to share. My family is going through a difficult time right now as we prepare to lose my grandpa. Grandpa Bob took a fall on saturday morning--a fall that has finally done him in. He has fallen many times, but this final fall was his last. He fractured his skull resulting in bleeding in/on the brain. The doctors have not been able to stop the bleeding thus leading to a rather slow passing away. My parents are up in Salem with my grandma right now. What a blessing it is for them to have been able to get away to be there!

After many conversations with my grandma and the doctors, it was decided that the best things for Grandpa Bob would be to move him to what is called comfort care. There he is resting peacefully and is no longer on any medication. He remains on a morphine drip to help ease the pain as his body slowly allows nature to take its course. The doctors expect him to pass within the next day or two. Because of the nature of his accident, he is in a non-responsive state. I cannot imagine the pain my grandmother is in as she sits with him desiring to communicate with him in his last days, but he is not able to do so. I cannot imagine the pain my dad is in as he was able to say goodbye before he passes, but have no response. Today is my dad's birthday, and I'm certain that he didn't plan on spending it beside his father talking with him and remembering life with him all the while, having no actual conversation. I was so encouraged today by our youth pastor, Brian, as he reminded me to take comfort in knowing that our God is a just and righteous God, and he is in control of it all.
The Lord has been so very gracious in all of this! On saturday, my brother Nathan, my husband Nathan and I, and my sister were all with my parents. We had come up to spend the day/weekend with my dad for his birthday--having no idea about the news the Lord would be presenting us with. It was such a blessing to be there with and for my dad as he received this news on Saturday. I don't know what could be sweeter in a time like that than being surrounded by all but 2 of your kids; having all your kids love the Lord; and being able to sit down as a family and approach the throne of God together to lift up one another in the challenge and struggle presented. God's grace was made known once again as we were able to encourage one another through prayer and remind each other of God's faithfulness and sovereignty. How awesome that God knew exactly what would be going on this day, and that we were able to be there with my parents for it.

Lastly, I have found great encouragement in my dear sweet church family. I shared with our sunday school class what was going on and they have been so faithful to pray and check in to see how things are going. I appreciate that so much! This situation was shared Monday morning at the church office, and as all the church staff met together to talk about their weeks, they also spent time praying for my family in this time. Then they were sure to come to me in genuine care and concern and see how I was doing and take interest in how my family is doing. The same thing happened at the Elder meeting on Monday night. Lastly, this morning I received a phone call from my dear sweet friend, Bev. She is the Pastor's wife and I shared this news with her sunday night. She was such a great friend as she held me while I cried... then called me today just to tell me she had been thinking about me and praying for me and my family. And she wanted to know how things were going. This is the essence of the body of Christ, and never before had I felt so genuinely loved and cared about by a church family. Someone even called and offered to pay for a plane ticket for me to fly up. I cannot thank the Lord enough for the church He has so sovereignly placed us in. The events of the last 2 days have been such a tremendous blessing to me and all I can say is our church family has truly been an extension of God's love and comfort. I can see so clearly from them and through them the love of God. Praise Him!!

"Where the Nails Were"

I currently am doing a Kay Arthur Precept Bible Study on the Covenant. To make what could be an extended post shorter, I will just tell you that I am learning about God's faithfulness in keeping His covenant relationship with His children. I am going to bounce back'n'forth a little bit so bear with me...

Our choir is starting to prepare our musical for Easter. The musical itself is called Raise the Crown. There is one verse of one song in particular that I cannot seem to get out of my head. Probably because the lyrics of this particular verse apply so much to everyday living. So as I was doing my bible study this morning, I was reminded of God's faithfulness in protecting us believers because He has promised to. As I was reflecting on this promise, I was reminded that none of it would have been possible without Jesus Christ's work on the cross. It is only because God sent his very son to die in my place, and shed blood for my sins that I am able to be part of this covenant relationship with God. This is what brought the lyrics of our one choir song to mind. May we strive to never take for granted what Jesus Christ did; and may we strive to never take for granted the love of God that he would make such a sacrifice--all for having a personal relationship with sinners who are so unworthy of His love and grace. But because of that love and grace, we are privileged to have that relationship and should always be living in light of the cross.

Here is that verse... I hope it is an encouragement to you!!

At times I am tempted to overlook your grace
Thinking I'm worth the love You've given.
I walk like I'm earning the right to run the race
Somehow forgetting you died in my place.
Still it isn't long before I've stumbled
One look at the cross and I am humbled.

It should have been my hands where the nails were
It should have been my feet where the nails were
It should have been my side that was opened,
my heart that was broken.
It should have been.

An Awesome Story

I saw this you-tube video and couldn't resist sharing! It is an awesome story that I am positive you will enjoy watching!!

Homework

I received this e-mail from my sister-in-law, April. She is the queen of funny forwards, and I really appreciate that she only sends on the genuinely funny ones!!!
This one was entitled "Always check your children's homework before they go to school." Enjoy!!

(It's not like it first appears... I promise!!)

(Here's the reply the teacher received the following day)

Dear Mrs. Jones, I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot. From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Smith

Happy Birthday Nathan!!

Today we celebrated Nathan's 26th birthday. He enjoyed a restful day at home just hanging around. He did have to help me with a few things, but they were all very minor tasks. I spent most of my day in the kitchen baking "the birthday cake" and an apple pie/crunch recipe. My fist time making both recipes and they turned out great! We celebrated tonight with some friends and enjoyed some great fellowship; and, of course, some laughs over the wii. :)

Tomorrow we are having our families over/up/down for some taco's and probably more time on the wii :) I will try to remember my camera this time so I can add some pictures of the birthday festivities! For now its just Happy Birthday to Nathan with pictures to come!!

We've Conformed

Nintendo Wii has been out of stock since around Christmas, I think. We weren't really in the market for one until just a few days before New Years. We hung out with our friends the Shimok's and played their wii. It was so fun!!! After that, we discussed purchasing a wii as "happy birthday to us" in place of birthday presents for each other. We were in a bit of a dilema, though as no one had any wii's in stock. Well... that was all about to change on January 22nd.

We heard from someone at church that Toys'R'Us had Wii in stock and they had just bought theirs. On Thursday night after we ate dinner and were watching an episode of House Hunters, we began to think about what we should do on our one free night... our "date night." I said I thought we should take a field trip to Toys'R'Us to which Nathan replied " I was just thinking that like 2 minutes ago" Our fate was decided... or the fate of the wii... i'm not sure which. So we did conform and bought a wii this past week. It has been very fun despite the sore arms and shoulders from bowling and tennis. I've even stepped outside my comfort zone and played baseball!

Yesterday, we played a few rounds of golf (the only way that Nathan will ever play gold, I might add) and I discovered I missed my calling in life. I was quite accomplished until the 9th hole where there are 3 different island/cliff things you golf from. That took my score from 0 to + 12 or something like that. All that to say, I still beat Nathan at golfing (currently the only game on wii I can beat him at!). Then last night we joined our friends from church (the ones who notified us of Toys'R'Us's secret wii stock) and we played wii fit with them. Throughout the day I have been noticing different area's on my body that are feeling a little bit sore that weren't before so I suppose that what everyone says is true. I was only on the fit for maybe 10 minutes and it did its job. Its job (combined with a pretty out of shape me) made a very compelling argument for purchasing a fit but we will hold off on that. Maybe we'll go against the traditional 1st year anniversary gift of paper. Or maybe the paper gift will be the receipt from the wii fit? I just don't know but we are really enjoying our wii.

Wii Fit Tip: From what I understand, Wii Fit is about 10 bucks cheaper at costco than anywhere else so if you are in the market... you might look there :)

Over and out for now... Mii (personalized wii character) is calling my name :)

Out Motivation of Love

I read this this morning in the "Experiencing God Day-by-Day" Devotional. It was really encouraging to me so I am sharing it with you.

Our Motivation of Love

"O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." John 17:25-26

You Do not "organize" the kingdom of God; you "agonize" the kingdom of God. You cannot be close to God without being affected by His love. The heavenly Father loved His Son with an eternal love. Everything in the heart and life of the Father was released to His Son. As the Father expressed His love for a broken and sinful world, this passion was manifested through the life of His Son. The Father initiated His plan to save mankind, and out of a heart of devotion, the Son accepted the assignment that took Him to the cross.

As Jesus walked among people, the Father's love filled his Son. Jesus recognized that no ordinary love could motivate Him to go to the cross. No human love could keep Him perfectly obedient to His Father throughout His life. Only His Father's love was powerful enough to compel Him to commit His life to the saving purpose of His Father.

Jesus prayed that God would place this same love in His disciples. He knew that no other motivation would be sufficient for the assignments God had for them. God's answer was to place His Son in them. It is impossible for a Christian to be filled with this measure of love and not to be on a mission with God.

You will be incapable of ministering to everyone God sends you unless you have His love. You cannot forgive others or go the extra mile with others or sacrifice for others unless you have first been filled with the boundless love of God. Seek to know the Father and His immeasurable love; then allow His Son to love others through you!

Counsel One Another

I came across this blog page from looking at my friend, Amber's blog page. It is a really neat website with a lot of encouraging words and also some great suggestions on books. There are also articles pertaining to various counseling things that are great too. I was really encourged as I came across it and read some of the posts. Check it out sometime!!

Counsel One Another

January 20, 2009

First, I must say this is not about the Inauguration that took place. This is a completely different event in Nathan's and my life :) We both remembered and mentioned to each other that 4 years ago on January 20th, we decided to date :) I'm sure our wedding anniversaries will be much more exciting to celebrate... but until we got married January 20th was always the "big" date for us. So it was still fun to look back on the funny progression of events surrounding that time. We are very thankful for each other, and thankful for the blessing of being married.

January

I can't believe January is more than half over now! It has gone by so very fast. We are house-sitting again for our pastor and his wife. They are visiting their kids in the midwest, so we get to keep an eye on their dog Toby. Toby is great. This also means I have access to the internet so I can update our blog.



Christmas and New Years both came and went without any pictures on my part. OOPS! There were so many other camera's out and around I just never got around to having mine out. But we spent Christmas and New Years with my family and had a really fun time. We played with the newest addition to our family, Emma our neice, a lot. She was tons of fun!! To see a few more pictures from the holidays, you can see April's blog or you can also visit Nathan's blog. They both have pictures up... mostly of Emma because she was the highlight of both trips :)



Now life has just gotten back into the swing of things. Busy as always but enjoying it all! The Lord has continued to be faithful in blessing us as the new year has started. It is always so awesome to just step back and look at everything the Lord has provided!! Priase Him!