Off to Georgia

Joe and I (and Bella) are off to Georgia to visit our dear friends the Beck Family. Jon was former pastor of our church and he officiated our wedding. They have three students in high school. We are leaving as soon as I get off of work and will return on Monday so I will be absent from the blogging world for a few days. Georgia here I come!

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Snapping Pictures

I got a new camera so I decided to have a Cooper and Bella photoshoot.














































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What Am I Doing?

Watching...
Jon and Kate Plus Eight
Project Runway

Reading...
The Yada Yada Prayer Group

Just Finished Reading...
Friday Night Knitting Club

Listening To...
Kathryn Scott "I Belong"

Studying...
Living Beyond Yourself by Beth Moore

Over-Indulging On...
No Bake Cookies

Praying For...
Our Church and Our Ministry

Trying out...
Cleaning Schedule

Gearing Up For...
Seminary Wife Institute!

Looking Forward To
Going to Georgia this weekend!



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Cleaning List

I am not good at cleaning. I know this must be a shock to anyone who knows me well :) It was never something I enjoyed or something I ever kept up with. So fast forward a few years and now I am married and my husband is in the ministry and our house is somewhat messy. Every couple of days we get it put back to together and every few days it gets clean. But now we are having frequent visitors. It was one thing when some high school boys would come over to play video games, I was never too worried but now active church members are coming over so I knew something needed to be done!

I was convicted as I'm studying what a wife should be, that a messy home is not Godly. I am a list maker, so I made a list of all the things that need to be done daily, and the things that need to be done weekly and posted it on my fridge so I will see it everyday. I put a day on there when each thing can be done. My daily chores are dishes (yuck!) and tidying up the rooms in the house. Weekly chores are the common things like vacuuming, laundy, etc. Now to all of you pros out there this probably is elementary but I am determined to be a faithful and loving wife to my husband and stay on top of my cleaning!

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The Church Voted...

As many of you know the Church voted yesterday for Joe to be the senior pastor. I woke up feeling awful so I had to miss the morning service but I was determined to go to evening service when they voted. But the church has called Joe to be the Pastor and we are very excited!



And honestly I am a little nervous. I had finally learned all the youth and got to know them and now my task is much bigger! I think the church will be patient with me as I start these new change.

I am officially a Pastor's Wife.

























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Memory Monday

Sorry I have been lacking on the Memory Monday posts!

1 Timothy 4:7

"Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness."




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I Love Lucy

When I was little, I loved I Love Lucy. I still do in fact. I am now trying to collect all of them on DVD. I thought we could have have a laugh today from a clip from the show where Lucy and Ethel are working at the chocolate factory!








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I Love my Husband!

I love my husband! See I hate to do the dishes...hate them. I even convinced Joe to get a disherwasher for the house before I moved in and I still hate them. After date night on Thursday there were a lot of dishes. We started watching a movie and then I was so sorry that it was too late to tackle my dishes. But I came home from work yesterday to find that all of the dishes were done. He even cleaned the rest of the house for me. I love being married!

And Happy Birthday to my mom! I won't tell you how old she is!

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Date night was wonderful. I made Joe my spinach and artichoke dip, Portobello and Button Mushroom Creme with Walnuts, Chicken and Potato Bake and as he requested no bake cookies! We also took our doggies on a very long walk. We then rented a movie from the Redbox. I must say that I love the Redbox. They are usually at McDonalds and you rent movies for a $1 a night. But if you go to the Redbox Wesite you can sign up for text messages that you get once or twice a week with free rentals! As much as we love movies, this is great!

The church votes on Sunday for Joe to be Senior Pastor so we are waiting patiently for this day and for God's will to be shown. We covet everyone's prayers in this time. I am now trying to find resources on being a pastor's wife and what that means. I'll probably blog about it when I do!




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Date Night

Thursday night is date night. It is a Joe and Alison night that we started last week. We went to dinner and rented a movie and spent some good time together last week. Tonight I am going to make dinner and I think a good long walk is in order. Do you have any ideas for date nights?

I need to brag on Cooper. Since we started Cooper rehab, Cooper has gone 5 days without having an accident in the house! And on Tuesday I met Joe and our friend Dave who was in town for dinner after work. When we got home, Cooper was on the top of the chair looking in the window at us. I panicked because Joe forgot to put him in his crate before he left! But we came in the house and there was no mess and we were gone over an hour! He has had a walk or even two walks every day and he does not seem as hyper so I am one happy dog mom. He also got his hair cut on Tuesday and stayed for doggie day care. They said they took him to a dog playground and he had a grand time! (** I would post a cute picture of Coop, but Joe took my camera to church with him.)

I am off to the grocery store to prepare for date night!



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Back to School?

This Fall will mark the first time that I have not gone back to school in 17 years--kindergarten through 4 years of college. When I ended last semester, I was exhausted and thought that no school would be a welcome change. But now as others are starting school and I am not, it's strange feeling. Joe started his fourth semester at Southern Seminary today and I think he is really going to enjoy it.

I am however not fully out of 'school'. I am going to starting classes at the Seminary Wives Institute starting August 28th. I am taking Spiritual Disciplines starting out. I am excited about this. Joe has said that he will drive me down on Thursday nights and spend time doing homework or working out. So I guess I am a student too.






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Cooper Rehab

This is Cooper.

His looks are deceiving. Inside that little head is a puppy brain. Cooper was a stray and they say that he is two years old and when you are running around the streets who cares if you have a puppy brain. When I unsuspectingly visited this dog and decided to adopt him, I did not know that was the case.

See Cooper poops in the house....almost everyday. You may be thinking Alison let him out. I would think that too but once we let him out, Cooper comes inside, we all sit in the living room proud of ourselves while Cooper is in the little bedroom pooping.

He also likes to tear the house apart. Normally when we leave we have to crate Cooper which I hate to do. One afternoon, I thought Joe would be home in a couple of minutes and I needed to run to the store, so I let Cooper stay out. I came home thirty minutes later to find that Joe was not home but Cooper had torn up a Tupperware container, torn up a box of cards and empty the bathroom trash all over the floor.

Next I know you'll say, well do you walk him? This is something where we need to work on but we do walk him a lot just not everyday which I know that we should!

So I have started Cooper rehab. First when we go out I watch him in the yard and as soon as he *you know* outside, big praises and treats are coming his way. Second all bedroom doors must be closed at all times to not tempt the poor puppy brain. Next a walk and a good walk must happen everyday to get some energy out.

Do you have anymore suggestions? Cooper needs to get rid of his puppy brain!

We will let you know on his progress.




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The Top 10 Best Things about Marriage

I have been married now for over two months (75 days to be exact). And I really love being married. It's not entirely different from being single but there are some amazing things

10. Someone in my bed. At first, I worried about sharing a bed him, anyone for that matter. But it's really nice to look over and see him (or hear him snore).

9. We love playing with our dogs. They are our children (hopefully are only children for a couple of years) and he shares my enthusiasm for dogs.

8. He eats my cooking and gives me compliments.

7. We learn from each other. As any marriage, you come from two different backgrounds and it can be fun to create a whole new tradition.

6. I have a man around to do projects around the house.

5. I actually get to see Joe everyday. As many of you know Joe and I had a long distance relationship and even engagement. We had two summers when I was home from school but otherwise our relationship was phone calls and instant messages.

4. He accepts my quirkiness and let's me be me.

3. We do the everyday things together like napping, and watching TV, and playing with our dogs.

2. Whenever I need to someone to hold me. he's always there.

1. We experience church, ministry, life together.

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Peanut Butter Dog Treats

I have been on a baking kick lately. When we were on our honeymoon, we went inside a dog treat store where they had dog treat mixes that you can make at home. So I looked online and found a recipe for dog treats and it was pretty easy!

You need:

1 ½ cups water
½ cup oil
2 eggs
3 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
½ cup cornmeal
½ cup oats

Blend the water, oil, eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla together in one bowl. Comine and whisk the flour, cornmeal, and oats together. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredient to form a wet dough. The recipe wants you to form a ball of dough but mine was too wet so I just poured it into a brownie pan. Bake for 20 minutes in 400 degrees. After turn off the oven and leave it in there so they will harden up. Cut and serve!

Bella and Cooper love them and I think they know that this is a special treat! Cooper gets this when he has a good day. And by good day we mean no pooping, not a whole lot of tearing up things, and no escaping from the back yard. Let's be honest, those days are few and far between so sometimes I just have to make it fair and give him treats!

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Homemade Bread

For my birthday, I bought myself a bread maker. I'm not sure where I got my urge to make homemade bread. So I researched for an affordable but good bread maker. So I ordered the Panasonic SD-YD250 Automatic Bread Maker. It came in the mail while we were in Chicago and I tried it out last night! I started out with a more simple recipe and made whole wheat bread.

It was expensive at first to buy the initial ingredients like molasses (who keeps molasses in the pantry?) but now I have my stock and can make bread whenever I want. It was also really simple. For this one it needed exact measurements so I used my digital food scale like 21 3/8 ounces of whole wheat flour but you just add the ingredients in, put the yeast in the yeast dispenser and tell it what type of bread you are makng and then (5 hours later) fresh bread! And it tasted like bread!

Look at tomorrow for a fun recipe!

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A Funny Dog Story

While we were at the wedding of my cousin on Saturday, Joe got a call from our neighbors who are our good friends from church. We visit them on almost all of our walks and Bella and Cooper think that their house is a stop on every walk. Cindy called and said "Are you missing two dogs? They are in our back yard!" See Cindy thought we were playing a joke on her by letting our dogs in their backyard and we were hiding.

When in fact, Bella and Cooper escaped from the back yard (after our dog sitter let them out--just so you know that we didn't leave them alone :) ), had I guess a good old time around the neighborhood and then saw that Tony and Cindy's garage door was open into the backyard and decided to go wrestle there. So their grandson Jack was looking out of the window saw Bella and Cooper playing around! So they had a fun night. I feel relieved that once they are loose that they want to go there!



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Birthday Weekend

My birthday weekend was really wonderful! We left for Chicago on Thursday and stayed outside of Chicago Thursday night at Joe's Aunt Nancy's house. Then early in the morning on my birthday Friday, Joe drove into Chicago and we parked our car near our hotel. This was near our hotel. Beautiful!

Well Joe was deteremined that we were going to a cubs game so we hop on the train to Wrigley Field. We did not have tickets but we did have our cubs gear on. After talking to a few scalpers the cheapest tickets were $150 each even after telling them it was my birthday! The cubs were playing the Cardinals so the game was prime. But the field was selling standing room only tickets for $15 each so we decided to stand. We were behind the first base line and standing in front of railing that became my seat. A man from a different country stood next to me who knew nothing about baseball. He asked me questions the entire game but I had fun giving him my vast amounts of baseball knowledge! ha! After 11 innings (of standing) the cubs won! And I got to sing the famous Go Cubs Go song!

We raced back to the hotel to change for dinner and Wicked. We ate a super cute restaurant by the Oriental Theater and made our way to the show which was wonderful! I was not sure if Joe would like it but even before we started Joe was planning on other shows we would see! His personal choice was the Little Mermaid! And we stayed at the Hyatt downtown which was really nice.

Then on Saturday we met back with Joe's aunts for lunch and their dog Gunny wanted to come with us!

Then we traveled to downtown Indianapolis for my cousin's Julie's wedding. It was at the library downtown and was so pretty. The biggest hit of the night was the kid's table at the reception!!

And this is the Flower Girl Addison my cousin's daughter. She is a very happy little girl filled with sweets!

My weekend was great and a great little break. I also have a funny story to tell that happened with our dogs while we were dog so come back soon!

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Birthday!

It's my Birthday today! I am 23 years old. I know that's pretty old. Although many people might think I am turning 18 by my picture, its not true! Today I will exploring Chicago and hopefully going to a Cubs game if we can find some tickets. And Wicked tonight! What did you do on your birthday?



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Off to Chi Town

We are leaving for Chicago this afternoon. And what's kind of fun is the trip is completely not planned. But we do know that we are going to see Wicked on my Birthday (Friday)! This was miss Tricia's idea and I decided that Joe and I needed to dress up!. Hopefully there will be pictures to document our adventures and fun stories to tell.

Joe's old roommate is coming to take care of the dogs. We won't tell him what to expect from Cooper. Remember my scarf I started a couple of weeks ago? Well I use wooden needles. I have learned (twice) that I cannot leave the knitting within Cooper's nose because that means my needles will be no more. He has eaten three needles while doing this project. I bought a super cute knitting bag today so I must remember to keep my knitting in there away from Cooper and his chewing tendencies.

Also yesterday at work while there was a lull in calls, I was thinking of a couple of ideas to revamp the blog so be on the lookout in the future!



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Going to Chicago!

This weekend Joe and I decided to travel to Chicago for our birthdays. Mine is Friday and Joe's was in June but we have been saving to celebrate together. So I need suggestions! What should we do? We went to Chi town two years ago and went to the aquarium, the Field Museum, a Cubs game, Museum of Science and Industry, the John Hancock building, and Navy Pier. If you were going to Chicago where would you go?



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Family Pictures

Our Family photoshoot is up! Let us know what you think!

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Memory Monday

Galatians 6:9-10

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."



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A Fun Weekend

This weekend was fun! After work on Friday, I came home to a clean house that my loving husband cleaned and we had a movie night. Monday we bought a DVD wall shelf thing and tried to organize all of our DVD's. This holds over 300 DVD's and still does not hold all of our DVD's! Joe let me pick the movie but he had to agree. Surprisingly it took awhile for us to pick a movie that we both wanted to watch!

Then Saturday, we had a study group reunion in Anderson at our friends house. We laid at the pool and ate good food! These girls got me through nursing school!

And then Tricia (the other redhead) came back to my house and came to church with me and saw my life here. It was much needed.

And finally at church today, they announced that Joe was the candidate for the Senior Pastor position. This has been quite a process to get here. The pastor that Joe worked under left in April. Before we got married, many members came to Joe about him being Pastor and I'm not sure either of us were ready for that, especially me. During this time, Joe has essentially been the interim Pastor and filling the pulpit and has grown a love for Pastoring. After we got married I saw this love and we decided that if God wanted this, then his grace will have to be sufficient. So in three weeks the church will vote and we will see from there. It has been a process for both of us to get where we are now but we are both excited about new opportunities for growth and to see where God is going to take us!

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