Looking for Recipes

My new hobby is searching through Kraft Foods for new recipes. My favorite show is Top Chef. I love it (while Joe does not; He says it makes him hungry). I sometimes wish I could cook like those on the show but what makes me appreciate Kraft is it uses everyday ingredients! I have a whole list of recipes I want to try. Go check it out!

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Memory Monday

Psalm 62:5

"For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,for my hope is from him."

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Shopping For a House

Joe and I have been shopping for a house. It's difficult to find exactly what we want in the area we want, and the price we want, which comes with the shopping for a house.

We definitely want a three bedroom house with a good size yard for our dogs, 2 full baths (which is where we get hung up) and pretty much move-in ready (because Joe and I are not handy people).

We found houses that meet some of the above but not totally but today we saw a house that was pretty perfect except it had 1 1/2 baths. It has good sized bedrooms and a cute kitchen and waterfront property on the Muscatuck River. Our next step is to go back to our lender who pre-approved us and see where we are. So maybe sometime soon we will have a NEW house!!

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Make sure to spend it with those you love!

I just put our Pot Roast in the oven tonight for our VDay Meal (because I refuse to get out in that mess on V-Day on a Saturday). Joe left me some potted tulips before he left for basketball this morning which are beautiful!

Here's to our first married Valentine's Day!

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Practicing Hosptality: Chapter 1

Lindsey at Passionate Homemaking is doing on-line study on the book Practicing Hospitality by Pat Ennis & Lisa Tat­lock. I bought this book previously but never read it so I thought now was a good time to open it up. If you don't have this book, make sure to check it out!

The first chapter helps us spiritually prepare to be biblically hospitable. They offer a word guide to help us check our hearts and motives.

A Person of Christian Character Who Practices Hospitality Is:

H - Humble
O - Obedient
S - Sincere
P - Prayerful
I - Interested in Integrity
T - Trustworthy
A - Adopted into God's Family
L - Led by the Spirit
I - Instrumental in Producing Righteousness
T - Thankful
Y - Yielded

With my husband being a Pastor, hospitality is something I need to show and get better at. I know how to prepare food and set a table but how to offer the biblical principles of hospitality is something I need to study more.

Lindsey offers 2 questions for discussion.

1. What char­ac­ter qual­i­ties do you believe are the most impor­tant to cul­ti­vate in prepar­ing to prac­tice hospitality?
I open my house once a week to teenage girls in my Bible study and the purpose is to produce righteousness there, but I know that in other instances, I can be more purposeful in producing righteousness to all those who enter my home.

2. Which of these are you lack­ing and how can you begin cul­ti­vat­ing it more purposefully?
I think I need to be more sincere when we have unexpected guests or when girls come early to my study. My emotions are all over my face and when I am unprepared, I am sure I am not the most sincere in my attitude.

Don't forget to get the book and join the study!

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Memory Monday

When I first started this blog, I started doing Memory Monday where my goal was to memorize a verse per week. As you can see by the lack of Memory Mondays in the last few months, I haven't done so well.

But, it's never too late to memorize God's word! God wants us to hide His word in our heart, and memorization is a great tool! Here is what John Piper says about memorizing scripture

So here is Memory Monday!

1 Corinthians 1:12

"For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you."

Will you memorize it with me?

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Look Where Those Ears Have Been

Bella has long ears. I want her ears to be all the way to ground, like Lady on Lady and the Tramp.
They can sometimes hard to maintain, and Joe is really good at keeping them brushed. But the best part of her long ears is you can see what she has done throughout the day. When end of her ears are wet, she just had some water. Most times, we find strange things, like candy, kitty litter, and food bits she found in the trash. Her ears always give away what she has been into or what's shes done.

But as you pick something out of her ears, she looks at you with her big cocker eyes and you can't help but forget to get mad at her. I'm a Bella pushover




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Studying Ephesians

On Monday nights, I host a Bible Study at my house for about 7-8 girls in the youth group. We meet for food, fellowship, and of course diving in the Word. I chose Ephesians to study because it is one of my favorite books of the Bible.

We have spent the last three weeks studying the first chapter. I used many resources to study this book but my favorite has been John MacArthur's commentary on Ephesians. It's been a great time in my spiritual life to look closely at Paul's letter. I feel it is important to look closely at scripture in it's context to really discern how to practically apply it to our lives. I think the girls are getting truths out of the lessons also.

The most important thing is that you read the Word of God. What encourages me about scripture is that God reveals truths in scriptures even if we have read them hundreds of times. That's why God describes His Word as living and breathing.

What are you studying in the Bible?

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Current Craft Projects

I wanted to show my current crafy projects.

This first picture is a blanket that I have been working on for months. In this picture it is wrapped up so it is four times longer. I am crocheting it with a single crochet stitch.


I just started this scarf. I got the pattern here. I like because it the stitches look like the are running diagonal.

I like working on two projects (or sometimes more) because when you get bored of one, you just go to the next! What are you working on?

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New Blog Design

Do you like my new blog design? Hilary at Simply Yours Designs did it for me! Make sure to check her out!

I decided to change the name of my blog with the blog design. I think I am already on my new life so I thought a name change was due. Living Joyfully is how I want to live my life. I know that my God is the ulitmate giver of Joy so I need to reflect that.

If you want to make sure you catch all updates, you can hit the subscribe button on the left where you can enter your email address or become a follower of my blog!

Let me know what you think!


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God is GOOD!

Lately at work, we haven't been as busy as we have previously been. I could tell our office manager seemed stressed to have so many nurses on staff when we weren't as busy. I knew that I, being the newest would be the first to go if she needed to let someone go. But today, a nurse, who was hired right before me, decided to become a traveling nurse. This allowed me to pick up an extra three hours a week, and not be so stressed of our situation. God is Good and faithful to His people! We are studying A Woman After God's Own Heart on Sunday nights. In chapter two, she said "If God didn't provide it, I didn't need it!" This is something I am really trying to take hold of.

On a side note, my poor Betsy, the Beetle (my car), hasn't been doing so good. We thought she needed a new battery (which we got) and she still isn't happy. We hope we can get her figured out soon!

And look out for some new things on my blog!



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25 Random Things

This little survey is going around Facebook so I decided to post my responses here

1. I got married three weeks after I graduated nursing school
2. I never imagined that I would live in a small town our first years of marriage but that was God's plan for us.
3. I became a Pastor's Wife at age 23
4. I have two cocker spaniels and kitten and yes I do call myself their mom.
5. I was supposed to work as a Labor and Delivery nurse at Columbus Regional Hospital but the hospital flooded two days before I was supposed to start. Now I work at a Pediatrician's office and educate moms all day.
6. I like to cook but I really wish that dishes were never involved. Yuck!
7. I 'met' my husband in elementary school at church but I say that he never noticed me until I graduated high school
8. I have been to Russia, Italy, and Mexico and would love to tour Europe.
9. I don't think I ever watched an episode of Friends when it was on TV but loved it when Joe got me the first season of it on DVD
10. I love my DVR so much so that sometimes in real life I want to rewind something to process it again! :)
11. When I was little I would save my allowance to buy Babysitter's Club Books
12. I am trying to be more crafty as I grow up. I can knit and crochet, and now I want to learn how to sew with my new sewing machine.
13. I really like to read. I used to annoy Joe with my nightstand lamp on when he was trying to sleep.
14. I want to go to photography school.
15. I often think of all the places in the US that I want to live.
16. I learned to play the piano in the first grade. We received a piano as a wedding present and I play now almost everyday.
17. I would like to go someday to go to seminary with Joe to take more classes.
18. I was planning on how we could get a cat for our family and then we found Levi on our porch.
19. I am a natural redhead.
20. I have no problem watching the same television show over again if I like it.
21. I don't like tea at all and I am married to an avid sweet tea drinker
22. My husband is my best friend.
23. I love lasagna but my husband isn't big on Italian food
24. I sometimes sleep with three animals in my bed
25. I have always been very conscious of time. It really bothers me when I don't know what time it is but I am not usually on time for things!



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Dog Crates

We use our dog crates to keep the dogs when we have left the house and for punishment when they are in trouble. I feel that how your crate or bed looks says a lot about you. Why my bed is currently unmade it is past noon!

This is Bella's Crate. It is nice and clean.

It is very much like Bella's personality. She listens most of the time and a good dog.

This is Cooper's Crate. Yes its filled with napkins, Kleenex, and looks like aluminum foil. When Cooper gets into something he either will chew it up right in front of you or run to crate and chew it up. Even as I was taking this picture, he was trying to get some out to shred.

This is like Cooper's Personality, always getting caught with someone, spends much more time in his crate than Bella, and doesn't listen very well.

Joe and I have discussions often if Cooper really knows how to behave or if he just chooses not to!

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Outside with 12 inches of snow

This is my picture of day. Bella and Cooper really like the snow and running though all the snow. At first Cooper was unsure about this but he has definitely developed a new love! Levi always wants to go outside. He hasn't realized that he is an indoor cat. I decided that he doesn't know how lucky he is. So I took him outside let him smell around a little, and then dropped in a pile of snow. Once inside, I think he appreciated being warm and dry.

I was unable to go to work today so its been a nice snow day. I have been working on my Bible Study for Monday night. We have started studying Ephesians. I really enjoy my time studying the book and delving deeper God's word.

And I think I am going to start my Lost DVD. I have watched Lost off and on. I decided last week that we need to have a Lost marathon so I am starting with season 1.

On a side note, Fireproof came out yesterday on DVD and you definitely need to see this movie!

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Winter Storm

This is what is outside my front door right now. I woke up to about 5 inches of snow. And they are anticipating up to 14 inches here!! Once I got home from my shortened day of work, Joe and I had to run to the store to make sure we could eat if we were trapped. Although I am thankful to not work a full day, I'm so over snow!

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Olive Garden and Getting Fit

This morning while we were laying in bed before getting up an Olive Garden commercial was on TV, and I said that I could definitely go for that. Joe (not being a huge fan of OG) said we can drive there and go. Now the closest Olive Garden is at least 45 minutes away. I knew the things on my list today but we went. It was so yummy! I love that salad!

But (after lots of salad and lasagna) we decided that we need to get in shape. So we are going to find the right gym for the both of us and get in shape. I think we decided that we need 6 packs!! So while Joe was out at the Men's Banquet for church, I did aerobics...and its definitely true....I am out of shape!

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New Header

Do you like my new header?

This is probably the only productive thing I have done today.

I have been sick (again) with another cold. I even bought that Zicam stuff when it first started and I don't think it worked!! This weekend has consisted of me laying in bed, on the couch, and now I am currently have mustered enough energy to make it to the computer chair.

I need to work on my Bible Study for tomorrow night (we are studying Ephesians) but I got distracted by blog designs.

And I know our House Tour hasn't gotten off to a very good start. The main light in the kitchen needs a new bulb and with the laying on the bed and laying on the couch...it didn't get done.

....I'll do better next time.



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An Unexpected Trip

Just a quick update.

We have an some unexpected things this week so our house tour will continue tomorrow with the Kitchen. Yesterday Joe's dad has health scare so we went home to Evansville for the night. We are rejoicing that he is okay and it was nice to spend time with our families on our quick trip home!

I will be blogging in full force tomorrow!



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House Tour

Over the next few days, I decided to take you on a tour of my house. We'll start in the living room, the room where you enter the house. My house is always in process but I really think it is starting to feel like home!




















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Levi: Then and Now

It has been almost three months since little Levi came into our lives. When we got him he was about a month old and a little over 1 pound. Now he is 5 pounds and a little older. He is a very vocal cat. We took him to get his kitten boosters and they said they could hear him down the hall screaming. I said before that he was all play and no cuddle but the last few weeks, he will lay on my stomach and watch me crochet. He is friendly and I made sure to socialize him with people so he won't be a scared cat. Soon his front claws are getting removed to fully make him an indoor cat. He has entered our family well. In fact in Joe's sermon Sunday night, he said that he loved Levi! He has grown up to be a little man.

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Homekeeping Handbook

Today I received my Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook in the mail and its great! My personal favorite has been the daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal cleaning lists. These things I did not care to learn growing up so now I have my home encyclopedia with me. I learned today that you should flip your mattress four times a year also some cleaning solutions you make with pantry items.

I already have my "honey do list" growing!

I also go to Martha's website for really cute crafts and recipes and stuff. I have found some cute stuff that I would like to make!

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Netflix

I have joined the internet craze Netflix, where you rent DVD's through the mail. My first DVD came today and I am sure that Joe wasn't as thrilled with my choice. He wanted to know how he could put his movies on the list! :)

Joe rented Hancock last night. I wasn't too excited about watching it but I watched the whole thing and Joe fell asleep! Maybe that's why his movies are not on the list!

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2009

It is officially 2009 (which I am sure that you already knew that)! This year I want to go through Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening. It is 730 devotionals for (get this) the Morning and Evening!

This evening's reading had a great quote. "We will be glad and rejoice in You. We will not open the gates of the year to the sorrowful notes of the organ, but to the sweet strains of the harp of joy and the high-sounding cymbals of gladness."

I hope that you all are excited to start this new year. Last Sunday the Pastor (who happens to be my hubbie) spoke on how easily we break New Year's Resolutions. But when we make commitments to God we are more likely to do them because we rely on God. What are you going to commit to? I am still working on my commitments and maybe I will share those later.

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