Moving: Dog Edition

We moved here with our two Cockers, Annie and Cooper. They are adjusting really well to the move. We drove the 10 hours wee in the morning to get here. We put them in back of the SUV and then I saw a little place where we could all lay down so that's how we spent most of the trip.

We arrived on a Sunday and our belongings didn't come until Monday so the dogs had free run of the house. I think they were happy Joe was back with us that they didn't care where they were. This house has lots of room to run and Annie loves the backyard! The only problem is they can escape if they really wanted to so we have to stand there are watch them and there is only so many times you can watch her smell the same stick!

We talked them 2 1/2 miles to church this week so they could scope our the neighborhood more and the city. They loved it! So in case you were wondering, our kids are doing great!

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Virginia is for Lovers!

So we are all moved here and getting settled. The only boxes that are left were the misc boxes and I am putting those off for awhile. I was just saying last night to Joe that this is starting to feel like home to us.

I must admit I had plenty of emotions about moving. When we first decided that we were going to look for another church, my immediate reaction was excitement. We knew we were going to look outside of Indiana so I was so ready for an adventure. Fast forward to when we made the decision, I felt a lot of other things too. We have a house in Indiana, I have a job I really liked and family was only a couple of hours away. We were going to place where we know no one!

But I am so thankful that God is steady when our emotions are not. He gave us peace in our unsteadiness. He promised to never leave me or forsake me! We had done this before and our home in North Vernon became home to us so I knew it would happen again. These last few days have helped settle my feelings and I know we are following God.

I am still looking for a job and trusting God in those circumstances. I told Joe that I was going to be a housewife and then he started looking for jobs for me!

We are starting to love our church! Joe is planning practically a year in advance and keeps himself really busy. We finally got internet this week so I hope to be able to blog more about our life here.

Here is our house we are renting!

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We are moving!

We can now really let the cat out of the bag. Joe and I are moving to Colonial Heights, VA!

Joe I felt the sense to follow God and to move away from Bethel and back into student ministry. He put his resume out and got a lot of responses from churches. We even interviewed at a large church in Oklahoma with a great pastoral team and wonderful facilities.

In this process Joe received an email from a pastor of a church in Virginia. We looked at the website and my immediate reaction was, "Joe, this is our church!" At this point I am not even sure how many candidates they were interested in. Joe did a questionnaire and a phone interview, and they invited us out there for a interview with the personnel committee. I think we felt very a peace with the church and we basically chose to continue with Viriginia.

We went back out for the church to meet us and vote us in. We met a bazillion people it felt like but everyone was very welcoming to us. Joe got voted in with a 99% vote so we are moving to Virigina!

Joe is going to leave in a week while I stay and work for a couple more weeks and he will return and then we will move. We found a great house to rent while our house is for sale here and we are so excited to get there and start serving. We look back at the last few months and can see God with his hand on us and leading us to where we are now.

Virigina, here we come!

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Menu Plan Monday

I typically plan my meals for the with week but thought I would post them here :)  I am linking up with orgjunkie.com's Menu Plan Monday.

Monday: Typically Monday nights, I have the girls over for the bible study but they were going to New Orleans for a mission trip. Joe goes to a men's group so I will be snacking!

Tuesday: Sensational Sirloin Kabobs with steamed brocolli

Wednesday: BBQ Chicken Pizza with a homemade crust

Thursday Shrimp Montery over grilled chicken with sauteed mushrooms

Friday Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas




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June and July

The last time I blogged we were getting ready for our movie night. It was a success I think, until there was some type of power surge in the neighborhood and we had an unplanned intermission.  We watched Fireproof and we had a really great youth turnout.

Our 7 year old niece Mikah came up for a week to spend with us to go to our VBS. She came over 4th of July. She helped me decorate my Flag Cake. We had a few couples over to help us eat. I however was sick in bed but I heard it was great.

Joe came in the bedroom after lunch and we were talking. But, Annie was surprisingly quiet wherever she was. Joe went into the kitchen and found this:

 Finally, it was our VBS week. We had over 100 kids through our church doors. Although I think my favorite part was seeing Joe in the dunk tank during the Carnival Friday!

Soon we will have so more updates!

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What was I Thinking?

Sometimes, I can be creative. I love to come up with ideas for entertaining and church activities but do not always like the follow through. You super ladies probably do not have this problem.

A few months ago Joe and I were going to a screening of the movie Letters to God. Before the movie I thought, wouldn't it be fun if we had a drive in at our house. Sure that's sounds so fun!

So here we are T minus 2 days until we have invited the entire church in our backyard. Yikes! Should be fun right...no one will look in my closet hopefully!

I am actually excited. It forced us to get our backyard into shape and some gracious members gave us some plants so it wouldn't look bare. I will post pictures of our successful event!

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Weekend Recap

We had a fun weekend! Joe's parents and brother and 4 year nephew came up for the night so the men could go to the Men Appreciation breakfast at our church. Hudson who has asthma was having troubles Saturday morning so after I begged asked one of the doctors at my work to see him he was doing much better. But as they were leaving, he was really struggling so after a trip to the ER, they were finally able to go home with Hudson in a better condition. All in all it was still a good visit.

Yesterday, Joe turned 29! It was not a relaxing birthday for him but he was serving the Lord. We had three baptisms and an afternoon visiting those in the hospital.

Joe then left last night and drove through the night with another couple to Orlando to the Southern Baptist Convention. He arrived this morning after I woke up for the day.

I still hate it when he leaves. The zoo is hard to handle by yourself and right now Cooper is shaking underneath me because it's storming. At least more room in the bed :).








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Hot Dog Stealer

This is Levi with the hot dog he stole from the table at the College and Career Bible Study at our house. We are lost for words.


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A Week in Review

Monday:
Spent the day with our buddy

Wednesday:
I made a Cinco de Mayo dinner after church. I made Slow Cooker Pork Tacos and a Mexican Flag Cake.


Friday:
Joe and I went to the Cubs/Reds game in Cincinnati. Cubs won 14-7! And we were on TV!

Saturday:

I went back to Evansville to go with my Mom, Grandma, and Aunt to a Mother/Daughter Banquet. I then came home with my other dog Bailey that lives with my parents. He is visiting us for the week.

Sunday:
Mother's Day! We enjoyed morning with our church a nap on the couch with all the dogs.

Did you have a good week?





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Inspired by Julia

Ever since since seeing Julie & Julia, I have been wanting to make Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon. I watched it last week and then decided that I needed Mastering the Art of French Cooking!

I had the day off so off to the grocery store I went. 

It did take a lot of time and effort but I didn't think it was too hard to make. We both thought it was delicious and it gave us a good excuse to eat outside. The only bad thing was it left a lot of dirty dishes! If you are feeling adventurous you can find the recipe here.

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Living Through Miscarriages

I do not typically blog about anything too personal or I just like to add the positive things of life.

6 months ago, I took a pregnancy test on a whim a week before my period was due. It was a Sunday afternoon and I was thrilled to see two pink lines. Joe was a little skeptical so we went and bought a digital pregnancy test which declared "Pregnant". After a happy call to my parents, and visit home that next weekend to tell the rest of the family, we were pretty excited. The following week I woke up and knew I having a miscarriage. It was a pretty awful two days but slowly we started to recover. 

Last week, I took another pregnancy test and two pink lines again. We were both excited but we both in the back of our heads thought maybe we shouldn't be too excited.

I woke up Tuesday, and now I knew it was another miscarriage. Both were the exact same day.

I always thought I would get married and getting pregnant would be no problem but that is not God's plan for us.These are moments that I know God is near and still a loving God to us.

The truth of the gospel has been pressed on my heart. i know that God has met my every need. He brought my a Savior who in my place took the full wrath of God in order that I can be reconciled with God. When I think of this thought I know that everything else in life is bonus. God is still good.

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"I've never heard anyone say the really deep lessons of life have come in times of ease and comfort. But, I have heard many saints say every significant advance I've ever made in grasping in the depth of God's love and growing deep with Him, have come through suffering."

John Piper

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Couponing

A few weeks ago, I went to Seminary Wives Institute's Seminar Saturday. That day you could choose from 5 one hour seminars on everything to parenting, learning contentment, marriage, women's ministry, and lots of different things. The last seminar of the day I attended was on called Couponing 101. I went because I was intrigued but not sure if I would ever do it.

The two women who did taught the seminar were hardcore couponers! But I could tell that they saved a lot of money couponing.

So I decided to get a free trial subscription to the local paper. That Sunday I was pretty excited to clip the coupons. I found a lot of good coupons that normally I would just leave the sheet out but never use them.

But I even started remembering that I had them and using them. It was pretty exciting last week to use over $10 in coupons on my $40 total at Target.

I even got this super cute coupon organizer on etsy!

After my newspaper trial ended, I just go to Walgreens and buy the paper. But I have fallen in the trap and got some things I didn't necessarily need (like cat treats!) but so far it has been kind of fun.

There are some fun websites out there that will tell you when things are on sale at stores that you can double your savings with coupons.

Do you coupon?

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Daisy

This is our new dog Daisy.

My friend Andrea from work moved to a new house and was unable to take Daisy with her. So we decided what is one more! She is an 8 year old lab. She is really sweet, loves to carry shoes around, and acts like she is one of the gang.

We are now out-numbered 2-1 by animals!

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To Do List

My To Do List for Today

• Finish Laundry
• Return Daisy after our trial weekend (more on that later)
• A Trip to Target (yay!)
• Prepare for my Teenage Girl's Bible Study tonight
• Catching up on 24

What are your plans for today?

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I'm Back!

It has been well over three months since I have posted. With computer problems, forgetfulness, and busyness, blogging hasn't happened!

What has happened in the three months since? We celebrated Christmas, my laptop stopped working, we kept busy with church, jobs, puppies, and life!

So I promise that I will update more faithfully here in the future! Maybe even tomorrow!

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Couch to 5K

Joe's parents were gracious enough to give us their old treadmill. Rewind a couple of months when I found the Couch to 5K running plan. I thought this couldn't not be so bad.

But I what I didn't remember was that I am not a runner. I don't breathe right, I feel like I am dying. Dreaded those days in gym class.

This first week you start with a brisk 5 minute walk and alternate 1 minute of jogging with 90 seconds of walking. Doesn't sound too bad.

Those 60 seconds of running are the longest minutes in history. Between not breathing, dogs barking, almost falling off, it can be pretty dramatic. But I have finished 2 days so far. You are supposed to advance but I think I should probably not want to die during the 20 minutes before I try to run farther.

We'll see how this goes....

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It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Christmas is here!!

And I have ONE gift purchased so far...I am so good! Well, I did buy myself a steam mop and told Joe that it was my Christmas present and he did a good job so that counts right?

I will soon post pictures of our humble Christmas tree. Joe and I went out early on Black Friday to score a deal at Lowe's! Although later we had a conversation in which Joe informed me that he would be okay if we didn't have a tree! Men!

But he did put up Christmas lights outside so maybe he won't get the Grinch award! Are you ready for Christmas?

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Christmas List

I know it's well over a month from Christmas but my mom is pressuring me for a Christmas List.

You know you have grown up when it think a really long time to come up with a list

Without further ado....

• Martha Stewart's Cooking School


• Canon Powershot (I have a really nice SLR but wouldn't mind a good point and shoot)


• These lazy spoons from Rachael Ray


• A Pizza Stone
  
• The Biggest Loser for Wii
  
  
  

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Family Room Makeover

A few months ago my parents came to our house for a "work weekend." I had many tasks that I needed a handy man for. One of this was thing project. This is what the living room looked before.


Here is after. We made a "faux" fireplace. We installed a mantel and hung our TV on the wall. It made for more walking room. And now I get to decorate a mantel!

I still need to get some candles and a fireplace screen to make my "fire place" look more real (hence half of the mantel!)

These are some of my fall decorations. Thank you Hobby Lobby! As soon as these went up I realdy started planning for Christmas and a row of 5 stockings!

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