6-10-12

 This week has been a busy one.  We chose June 8th as our last day of school and I'm glad we are done.  Officially.  We will continue learning through the summer, "unofficially".  Friday we finished up our standardized testing with the math portion.  This was the first time the girls have ever taken them and I was sweating bullets.  I mean, think about it, I'm their mother and their teacher so if they don't do well it's all on me.  In my opinion, those tests aren't a good representation of what my kids know, but the law requires them so they took them. 

We've been camping a couple of times this year with plans to do it a few more this year.  It's a great mini-getaway and we enjoy it so much.

A major trip to Goodwill is scheduled for tomorrow because we have been cleaning out stuff like crazy.  It feels so good to get rid of stuff that just clutters up our house and our lives.  I like having closets that aren't busting at the seams and you can actually find what's in them.

We skyped with Trev and Jess tonight and it's one my favorite things to do.  If we can't be with them, Skype is the next best thing.  I just hate it when we have to say goodbye.  That's the worst part.  Tonight Mike said it's beginning to be the worst part for him, too. We miss them so much.

We have Rejoice from FWBBC coming tomorrow to spend a couple of days with us and singing at our church Tuesday night.  It'll be fun to have them here.  Mike is planning an outreach activity for them so that should be interesting.

This week is going to be crazy.  It will include the students staying with us, a trip south, State Conference, cousins, fun, sweet fellowship, and some time of refreshment with just my husband.

There were 35 people today at church.  Mike preached a great sermon with the Gospel well presented.  We're so thankful for all the prayers.  It's only by God's power and grace that we can do what He's called us to do.

6-6-12

Wow!!  It's been a long time! Look what happened since I've been away.  I became a mil and Michael became a dil and the girls became sils.  We like our new titles.  But more importantly, Trevor and Jessie became husband and wife.

Shelby had her 12th birthday while we were in Nashville and I had my 39th right after we got back.

We're in the home stretch of finishing up school and it's exciting.  There will be trips and exploring going on this summer with a little sprinkling of "let's do some flash cards or play a math game online" mixed in.

I just have to say that I am looking forward to putting up our summer to do list and slowly checking off each thing.  We have already done some camping and other fun things.  The next few weeks will be packed with some overnight guests, a conference at the beach, camp for the girls and a little romantic overnight excursion for Michael and I.

I keep going back and forth about whether to keep this blog up or not.  Michael checks it almost every day to see if I've posted (Hi, honey!)  Obviously, I'm keeping it for now.

OLD IS A THREE LETTER WORD

As I sit here in a quiet house at 9:30 in the morning (don't hate me, my girls are late sleepers:) I am, of course, thinking of the wedding coming up in a few short days.  It has been a little surreal at times because here in NoVa no one knows my son and Jessie so when I talk about it there is only surface talk.  You know what I'm talking about~ "My son is getting married."  "Oh, that's nice."  and then we talk about the logistics.

Inevitably, the statement is made~"You don't look old enough to have a son that is getting married."  Some days if I'm having a moody day I want to say, "Well obviously I am since I just told you that my son is getting married."  I don't ever say that but sometimes it's right on the tip of my tongue.

Since I will turn 39 shortly after Trevor gets married I have been reflecting on a lot of different things and I have come to the conclusion that I am not afraid to embrace age and all that it entails.  I have heard a couple of people recently bemoan getting older and even cursing the aging effect.  I can see where aging has it's negative side but I also see so many positives in getting older.

For one, I feel like I'm more comfortable in my skin.  I was a young wife and mother and I often felt very self conscience.  When we got married I was so unsure of myself. I was so miserable.  Not with my marriage but with myself.  I can remember just looking at myself and hating everything about me.  Not just appearance but everything.  The way I talked, the way I laughed, the way I kept house, the way I decorated the house.  EVERYTHING. And guess what, it all played out in my relationships as well.

There were so many times I felt pulled this way and that and none of what I was being pulled to was what I really liked or wanted.  Things started changing very slowly when I started staying home with my kids.  When I say slowly....I mean S..........L.........O, you get the picture.  It took years and years to get where I am.  I have setbacks sometimes but I feel more in love and comfortable with me now than I ever have before.

Now that I am older, I feel more at peace, more relaxed in myself.  I'm not afraid of gray hair (I have a lot and not going to dye it:)  I'm not afraid of wrinkles, they come with the territory.  Through love and  growth in Christ and my relationship with Him I've learned to love the person He created me to be.  Through the love of my husband I've learned how to trust, which is Christ teaching me in the flesh.

So when people look at me and say I don't look old enough to have a son that's getting married I just smile and say thank you, knowing that every gray hair and wrinkle has brought me to a new place with my relationship with Christ and the people I love.  I wouldn't change a thing.

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

 (Abby at her birthday supper at Friendly's~the necklace she has on is her Birthday necklace I made her.  Shelby has one also and they wear them every year on their day:)

Since I posted here last we have celebrated 3 birthdays and made preparations for 1 wedding.

We have had our first weekend guests that were not related. Can't wait for the next guests.  Will it be you???

I have lots of ideas for blog posts I just have to make it a point to actually type them out and hit publish.

We took our Sunday afternoon walk to Trader Joe's this evening and sat at "our table" outside Barnes and Noble.  I told Mike that it was funny that when we moved here last year everything seemed a long walk away and now when we take our usual walk it seems like no time at all.

We have a new favorite Mexican place, District Taco.  It's so good and they serve Boylan soda that we love.

There is 1 week til the wedding.  ONE week!!!!  I am not believing it!!!

I baked three different kinds of goodies Friday, shared them with friends, and got some compliments.  I love to bake and cook.

The Cherry Blossoms have been at their peak and they're so beautiful.  I think that it's a little redundant to travel every year to see them.  I mean really they look the same every single year.  It's kinda funny that people with these really expensive cameras taking TONS of pictures of these blossoms and the pictures will be the same next year and the year after that and the year after that.

This week is packed with a lot of stuff and preparations for traveling.  My list is long but my motivation is high. 

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

I miss my son. A lot. That's all I have for tonight.

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Do you see me? I'm in Julia Childs kitchen.
She invited me to come over and cook for her:)

I've been meaning to get back on here for weeks. The motivation, it has eluded me.

So much has happened since I was on here last. Let me just get this out there right now: my son's wedding is 39 days away~~~~HELLO????? Did you hear me?? 39 very short days away.

I'm in stunned silence. You can't really tell that because I am typing instead of talking but believe me when I tell you. I am speechless.

There have been field trips planned and executed. There have been craft projects planned and some of them executed. There have been great Skype sessions with son and soon to be daughter in law.

We joined the Y again. We've missed our beloved Y in Nashville but we have found one here that is quite acceptable. Not the Arlington Y because that place was just a joke. A really bad joke.

I've had some down times in the past month. Loneliness is a hateful companion and she doesn't leave even when she is totally unwanted.

This will be confusing and make sense to no one but Mike and I but I had an alert on the phone go off on Saturday that threw me for a loop. I have no recollection of putting it on there but I certainly know it's on there now. Sometimes things that happen in life is just absolutely the pits.
I would say something much stronger but I'm afraid it might be too much for some of you:)

Uhh~39 days. Unbelievable.

My girls are so funny. They do something daily that just makes me smile and feel blessed that I'm their Mom.

I've had a request for meatloaf so I'm off to make one.

Til next time.

Bye:)

FIELD TRIP FRIDAY

These are pictures of a field trip we took to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It has been a draft in my posts so I decided to go ahead and publish it. Enjoy:)

THE FIRST WEEK OF THE YEAR

Our Christmas was really nice. We had my parents, Mike's parents, Mary, and Noah here on Christmas Day. It was so fun and relaxing. We played games and ate and Skyped with Trevor and Jessie. Our church service was so good.

I made some hor d'oeuvres to have after church so that we could eat a little later in the day. I enjoy cooking and fixing stuff ahead of time so things are ready to enjoy.

We ate Christmas dinner about 4:00. I put the potatoes in the crockpot in the morning to cook all day. I love to "bake" potatoes like this because it frees up your oven and you really don't have to even think about them.

Mike grilled 7-8 pounds of steak. They were so perfectly tender and juicy. They were seasoned just right so no steak sauce was needed. The other sides were green beans casserole, caesar salad, roasted San Marzano tomatoes, and dinner rolls. For dessert I made a pumpkin and pecan pie. Mike's mom made a pound cake and peanut butter hershey kiss cookies. My mom made 2 cheesecake pies.

The week after Christmas was nice and relaxing. We didn't have anything on our agenda so we enjoyed all the down time. We didn't drive our van from Christmas Eve til Friday. We have been driving less and less. Most of our errands can be done on our afternoon walks. Our bank, post office, Trader Joe's/Whole Foods, Walgreens, Metro station, and library are within a 10-15 minute walk so there is always somewhere to walk.

My sister wanted to go over to D.C. so on Thursday we caught the subway over to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.


We ended the day at the White House. It was cold out but it didn't keep us from enjoying being together. On the walk back home from the subway we stopped at Starbucks for a treat to warm us up.

New Year's Eve was a nice, relaxing day. We ate subs and watched the ball drop. It was cool to be on Eastern Standard time again. Shelby and Abby tried to stay up but they had stayed up late the night before so they crashed around 11pm. Mike took a little nap while the news was on but woke up to watch the last 30 min of 2011 with me.

Our New Year service was a time of reflection as well as looking forward to 2012. We invited our friends Krisstal and her son, Elias, over for lunch. I am looking forward to digging in and establishing relationships this year.

We started our lessons on Monday and this week has been a very fruitful one. There has been lots of good discussions about explorers and Hippocrates. There were many games of Uno. Plain old Uno. Love it. Music classes and Choir started back this week.

We have goals in place for 2012 and lots of grace to extend to ourselves and others. The most exciting thing for 2012 will be, by far, The Wedding. Gosh, we can hardly wait.

CHRISTMAS QUESTIONS

I saw this over at Starr Circus and couldn't resist playing along. So, here goes...

1. egg nog or hot chocolate?

Hot chocolate. Specifically Trader Joe's Hot Cocoa

2. does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

Wrapped in a different wrapping paper for each child

3. colored lights on tree/house or white?

We had white lights until a couple of years ago now we have colored LED and I love them

4. do you hang mistletoe?

We have a kissing ball made of mistletoe that we got from North Pole, Alaska. I love it.


5. when do you put your decorations up?

Weekend after Thanksgiving or the next week depending on what we have going on.


6. what is your favorite holiday dish?

All of it. I just love it all.


7. favorite holiday memory as a child?

So many...but I loved going to my Nanny and Granddaddy's with all my cousins. We had such a fun time. Also, going for a drive to see all the Christmas lights.

8. when and how did you learn the truth about Santa?

It really wasn't a big deal. We did Santa but Jesus was at the forefront with church and our Christmas play. Even at school there was a focus on Christ.

9. do you open a gift on Christmas eve?

When I was growing up we opened new pjs on Christmas Eve and we have carried that tradition on with our kids

10. how do you decorate your Christmas tree?

No theme. Almost every ornament on our tree has significance from our childhood, our children, or our marriage. We have another small tree for Jesse ornaments.

11. snow! love it or dread it?

LOVE IT!! I hope it snows here soon.

12. can you ice skate?

::snort:: Yeah, in my dreams.

13. do you remember your favorite gift?

I got a boom box in the 6th grade and thought I was hot stuff. I loved that thing to death...literally. When I finally got rid of it there were buttons missing and it looked pretty ragged.

14. what's the most important thing about the holidays for you?

Jesus and family

15. what is your favorite holiday dessert?

Pretty much all of them:) My Mom makes a great cheesecake that I love.

16. what is your favorite holiday tradition?

Spending time with my family. We go to breakfast on Christmas Eve. Reading and talking about Jesus.

17. what tops your tree?

A star made of cardboard and aluminum foil that Mike made. You would think it was made of solid gold when we pull it out of the box every year and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

18. which do you prefer: giving or receiving?

I love to give gifts. It's so fun.

19. candy canes: yuck or yum?

Yum!!!

20. favorite Christmas show?

Do I have to pick one???? White Christmas, Christmas with the Kranks, Elf, It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, The Nativity....and more. I can't choose just one.

21. saddest Christmas song?

I'll be Home for Christmas by Josh Groban

22. what is your favorite Christmas song?

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing


Merry Christmas!!!!!!

12-17-11

We've had lots going on the past couple of weeks so I wanted to get a blog post done so that I wouldn't forget. Shelby was in a Christmas concert with the Arlington's Children's Choir. We had a silent auction and bake sale to raise money for the Choir. Mike and I volunteered so we were outside handing out programs and directing people before the show started.
The concert was so good. We had great seats because Abby and Mrs. Donna, a friend from our church, saved them for us.


We headed down south last Friday to be in a parade with Mike's parents. My parents came down to be with my brother's family on Sunday because my niece and nephew were baptized. I wish I had been able to stay and be there for their baptism but we had to be back at our church for Sunday service. I can't express what a blessing they are.



We wanted to get our Christmas picture out of the way before leaving. These are some of the outtakes and they crack me up. The girls are making the funniest faces. Can you tell they were so over the picture taking. They were just ready to be done.


This one was funny because Mike was trying to get into the picture and he just couldn't get down in the floor fast enough.

I am so in love with our tree this year. It is so full and pretty. It was funny that we got such a great tree considering that when we went to Home Depot to get it there was a ton of people there. The trees were still tied up with string because all the ones that were open were already picked over. I pulled my trusty fold-up scissors from Smoky Mtn Knife Works out of my purse and snipped those strings. We took one look at it and said, "Looks good." With that and standing it line to get it trimmed, a trip through the netting thingy, paying for it and strapping it to the top of the van, it came home with us.

Tomorrow at 5pm will be my first Open House as a Pastor's wife. I thought I would be nervous but I'm not. I don't know if I'm naive or what but I'm so excited. I've done all my shopping, prep work, and pretty much all the cleaning. I hope to take pictures so I'll post about it this week. I just wish my Pastor's Wives Book Study friends could be here to enjoy it with me. They just don't know how much I miss them and our time together.

Hope y'all have a great day of worship tomorrow.

12-07-11

It has been just nasty here today. I had to run some errands this afternoon and the rain was terrible. The whole 2 hours I was out it never let up at all.

Tonight while walking back from church the wind felt like it was cutting right through us. They're calling for some winter weather tonight and from how cold it's gotten we just may be in for some.

And now that I have thoroughly bored you to tears with the weather report let me continue with other mundane things to complete this blog post.

We have pretty much hunkered down this week~doing lessons, crafts, fighting with each other~ not Mike and I ~ the girls. Today I told them the next time they got physical with each other there was going to be some scripture writing for them. I read them:

James 4

Submit Yourselves to God

¹ What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴ You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

Because, y'all, I was at my wits end with all the bickering and fighting. We also prayed that all of us would have better attitudes and be able to control ourselves. Honestly, I needed a better attitude and self control as much as they do, even more sometimes.

We are were much better today. Thankfully.

I may need a boat to take Shelby to piano tomorrow but we are going to do it with a good attitude if it kills us.

ANOTHER FIELD TRIP

On Friday we jumped on the Metro and rode over to Union Station. We toured the National Postal Museum. Union Station is a big mall with a Metro Station and Amtrak Station. The food court is huge with some really cool places to eat. The chicken salad at Vittorio's Gelato Bar was so delicious. We ended up eating lunch at Potbelly Sandwich Works but we made notes of places we would like to try.

Abby, Shelby, and Mike driving a big rig to deliver the mail.

Mail railroad car that carried mail until the 1970's

Weary from riding the stage coach for 20 days with a crying baby:)

It is neat to think about all the mail that has been picked up or mailed form this Post Office. It made me a little nostalgic to think of the people that received good or bad news from within these walls over the years.
We really enjoy our Field Trip Fridays. There is so much to do in our area. Riding the Metro makes it so convenient.

FIELD TRIP SURPRISE

*Warning: Lots of pictures:)

They have a cafe that we would have eaten at but we had already eaten at Pal's. We have made a note and will probably eat there next time. Of course they serve beans which I love:)

Shelby and Abby trying to get the secret recipe.

We made a wrong turn when we were heading to Ober Gaitlinburg which lead us to this little gem. It was such a nice Visitors Center for the Bush's factory. The movie we watched showed us how they make their baked beans. We learned a lot about the process and how they cook the beans and make the sauce. Here us a little tidbit: the piece of bacon in the can IS real bacon. It's not the "fakin' bacon" we have mistakenly called it all these years. Also, they cook the beans and the sauce in the can so that they have more flavor.

This is the sack that the beans come in. There's a lot of beans in that bag

These girls love their Daddy so very much.

I love these faces!!!!

Sidenote: The coat that we had to buy at Walmart is being worn in the picture above by the person who left their coat at home. I'll not name names but I will tell you that the coat has polka dots and a sweet little girl inside.