To Have or Not to Have

We don't have the Internet at home. I know that is hard to imagine for some people, but we live in the country...enough out of town that we would have to get dial-up (not happening) or satellite internet, which is pretty expensive. We didn't really have a computer until a few months ago, anyway. Now we do have a laptop, but we really don't even have the time to get online at home. It seems that the evening flies by, so we don't need to waste more time by messing around online. There are times it would be nice; I have to wait until I can get my lapotop somewhere with wireless internet to download new podcasts and bank statements. But I just can't get past the fact that, even without watching TV, we can't get the stuff done that we need to do. Why add internet to the mix? It doesn't seem to make sense. So for now we'll be without it. Which means I don't get to blog very often, and I wish I did. But a lot of the things that are going on in my life are not bloggable anyway. God is doing a lot in my heart, and I share it with a select few that I do life with. For now that's all I'm comfortable doing.

I still miss Melanie. I wanted to keep the last post at the top of my page...there's something about that shaving cream everywhere that just screams Melanie.

Stories of Shaving Cream and Friendship

This is Melanie. She likes shaving cream. She is eating it, and I am spraying it in her mouth.

Melanie does crazy things like eat shaving cream, throw cheeseballs, and in general try to find trouble wherever she might be. She also does crazy things like love the unlovable, move out of a lovely home into a camper, and in general does her best to follow God with abandon.

Melanie has taught me a lot in our friendship. More than anyone else I have ever known, Melanie has taught me that people matter more than things. She holds her stuff loosely, and she gives and gives beyond what might seem "sensible" to others. She gives money, time, talents, and she gives of her beautiful, loving heart, even when she's in danger of running out of herself.

Melanie has walked with me through some of the hardest days of my life. I have tried to walk with her through some of hers as well. Melanie is moving, and I am so happy for her. This will be a great adventure for Melanie and her family. God has given them such a heart to love others, and I know He will expand that even more as they grow and minister in a new place.

I will miss her desperately, miss stopping at her house to chat, kissing and hugging, tickling and laughing with her kids, and dropping off Junior Mints when the mood strikes. I will miss coffee with her and dinner for our birthdays. I will miss crying and laughing over pretty much anything. But God has taken Melanie on an amazing journey, and this move is going to draw her closer to Him. I know it is. So I will pray for Melanie and her family and for God to keep using them and to bless them with love and laughter wherever they go.

Save a place for me, because I can't wait to come visit you in our new home. And thanks for selling us your house, Mel. Even though I don't know what to do with it sometimes, there is something special about living where you lived and mowing the grass you mowed. I'm happy to walk the ground you walked on, my dear friend. I'll take care of it until you come back to visit.

For My Beautiful Niece

This post is for all my friend with diaper duty on the mind....I'm doing my sister a HUGE favor by posting this little ditty about the new gro baby cloth diaper. See she wants to try it, but is too lazy, or busy since she has a 7 month old, to set up her own blog and they are giving them away FREE if you'll post some info on your blog about it, so here I am! They seem really cool, instead of changing the outer shell all the time you can just snap out the insert and be ready to put in another, you only have to change the shell twice in a day! Too cool, huh? Well, if you wanna learn more check it out here...I'll stop gabbing about it now!

I love you, Hannah!

Do I see a bathroom in the near future?

My husband (then boyfriend) bought this house in September 2005. It isn't your typical house. It is (was) a church in its former life. Our dear friends lived in it as their first home for about 9 years. Then they sold it to Matt.

Matt lived in the house for a few months before he asked me to marry him in December. I requested two things before our wedding: a redone bathroom and laundry facilities (he had none at the time). I actually had a washer and dryer, but he needed to re-work some stuff in order to hook them up.

So he began working on the bathroom. Ok...not right then. I think he actually began about 6 weeks before the wedding. Ambitious, right? Or procrastinatious. (That's my made up word in honor of you, Nate.) Here's a picture of the demo night:

The bathroom proved to be more daunting than he expected. He had moved back into his parent's house since his shower was now gone, and he and his dad spent as much time as they could working on the remodel. We picked out a lot of things together: the vanity, sinktop, lights, shower, floor tiles, and more. It was fun. Matt had a great floor plan that didn't pan out, so he re-designed it a number of times before coming up with the final version.

At any rate, I began to realize that this wasn't going to happen before the wedding (April 1). So I gave him a pass a couple weeks before the wedding. I didn't want the last few days before the wedding to be so stressful for him, and I knew it wouldn't happen no matter how hard they worked. So when we returned from the honeymoon...it was time to get moving on the bathroom! It ended up taking until mid-July to get the shower in working order. If you're calculating, that's 3 months without a shower. THREE MONTHS. Now it's hard to remember it, but we trucked to his parents' EVERY morning to shower and get ready. I do not miss those days.

So the shower was finished in July. Of 2006. Why am I writing about this in 2009? Because progress basically stopped at that point and has trickled since then. We had some other things going on in our life and marriage, and I chose not to make the bathroom my battle for a while. A long while it seemed. But a few weeks ago Matt and his dad started working on it again. This is a picture from about two weeks ago:

I thought I had a picture with the drywall, but now I find that I don't. However, this is all covered in drywall and, as of last night, they framed out the soffit to hide the pipe that runs along the ceiling in the left side of the picture. The next step is drywalling the soffit and the large beam in the middle/right part of the ceiling. (It doesn't look so large in this picture, but it is really big.) There is some more drywalling on the wall that is opposite the one you see here. But it's starting to look more finished and...gasp...the progress has given me hope that I may yet have a full bath in my own home!

Now, as I sit at my in-law's house working on 3 weeks' worth of laundry, if I could only get some progress on the laundry front.

A girl can dream, can't she?

I live in a horror movie.

My last post was related to a very scary book I was reading. I finished it this week...I finally took it upstairs and finished it from the safety of the couch. No more of that scary basement business. I didn't really like the ending. But at least it's over.

But real life brought some horror-ness of its own. It was actually about a week and a half ago. We returned from being out of town, and apparently it was incredibly windy. The side door of our home has an old screen door that my husband has wanted to replace for a while. Apparently the wind got to it before we did, because it looked like this when we returned:


Just a little scary. While we were sleeping, the wind picked up again. The door was making a lot of noise, so Matt got up and rigged something to keep it from slamming against the house all night. So I woke up to this set up:

I'm not sure, but it seems like waking up in the morning while you're in the midst of reading a book about a serial killer and seeing this as you walk downstairs is not exactly comforting. Just maybe.

Facing My Fears

I just got into Ted Dekker's books a few weeks ago, and I am on my fifth one now. I'm not sure if I'll make it through this one, though. It's about a serial killer, and so far it's got me on edge. Skin. That's a pretty creepy title. Or at least a pretty creepy-looking cover. Look at the red lettering...and the face that looks like it's sinking into the sand. Ew.

I like suspense and scary stories, but I have started reading while I ride the exercise bike at home. It's motivation to get me reading, especially with the recent page turners I have devoured. However, living in the middle of the country and riding the bike in the basement of our large house/church when I'm alone...I'm just not sure how I feel about finishing this one under such conditions. I already moved the bike so that I face the basement while riding. There is NO possible way anyone could sneak up behind me. This morning when my time was up, my heart was beating a little faster as I rounded the corner to fill my water bottle and return it to the refrigerator. When I ride tonight, hopefully it will be less fear-inducing. Maybe Matt will be home by then. I'm about 120 pages into the story, so I am wavering between finishing it and finding out what happens or quitting now and moving onto something less...murderous.

Stay tuned.

New Beginnings

I was trying to find a picture from when I moved to Waverly. This one (me in the middle of my sisters Steph and Beth) is dated from January 2001. I moved in February 2002, but this is as close as I'm able to get. It's amazing to think about how much has changed in seven years. How much I have changed.

I scarcely recognize myself. I'm not talking about physically, although I have definitely changed there. I'm talking about the steps I have taken in the journey to the woman God has called me to be. This seven years (almost one-quarter of my life!) has brought challenges I never anticipated, pain I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. It has also brought deeper joy and greater love than I had ever experienced.

So in this time of transition from the ministry that brought me here to the unknown future that lies ahead of me, I reflect on God's goodness. I rejoice in God's grace and love. I am amazed at the joy that comes from knowing Him. Even though the next seven years will likely bring more change than I can comprehend today, I eagerly anticipate knowing Him more and seeing Him revealed in each moment of each day that lies ahead.

"If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread." Psalm 37:25-26 (NIV)

Matt's birthday surprise

I kept a birthday secret for Matt this year. I kept it for a VERY long time. It was probably close to two months, and I am not good at deception, so this was quite a challenge. He turned 30 on Sunday, so I thought this year should be special. I found this B&B, and I knew he would like the room. They also have a home theater in the basement. We were the only guests that evening, so we had the place to ourselves! It was great; the theater seats were insanely comfortable, and we watched "Trans-Siberian" (too scary for me; I don't necessarily recommend it unless you like being afraid for your life). We followed up with parts of "The Transporter" since it's difficult to end the evening on a super scary note.

On Saturday, I took him to House on the Rock. He loves that place. I tolerate it, so I knew that he would appreciate the gift of going there and me going with him. I brought a book that I happened to check out at the library on Friday. It was great; I am SO glad that I thought to grab it and throw it in the camera bag. I read the whole thing! (It's about 100 pages long.) I moved from light source to light source devouring my new book as Matt took pictures of, well, everything. From every possible angle. I resisted the impulse to hurry him along. This was his birthday gift; I was determined to let him enjoy it. And he did enjoy it very much.

On Sunday, the day of his birthday, we had some friends over for snacks and games and hanging out. Wow, did they bring some incredible food. We need to have friends over more often. Banana bars with cream cheese frosting, homemade guacamole, spinach/cheese dip, smokies wrapped in bacon, brownies with ice cream and hot fudge...are you hungry yet? It was a wonderful way to celebrate Matt's birthday.

He took the camera to work, so I'll try to get it back and post a few B&B pictures and maybe a House on the Rock one. :-) Whew - I am so glad the secret's out!

31 Years

You probably can't tell by the picture, but my office was decorated to the max for my 31st birthday. My husband planned a surprise an hour (sometimes more!), thus the large envelope with instructions on where to find my surprises. He did the most amazing job of making my birthday incredibly special. I have a couple more pics on the camera, but I'll have to get those out later. My birthday was great because...

• I made monkey bread for breakfast (and snacked on it all day).
• My sister sent me a very sweet card that I opened in the morning.
• Tina gave me an amazing, all-day long, present-an-hour gift, too! (Where did she find the time?)
• We ate at Panera with some amazing friends!
• Starbucks.
• Cookies.
• iTunes gift card from Matt!
• Pick-your-own gift card from Beth!
• Super sweet words from my loving husband.
• Birthday wishes from so many friends.
• Beautiful flowers from Mel!

It was a wonderful day. I am so grateful.

My New Toy

I'm a LOT of years behind the iPod craze. Yes, I have been pretty happy with my Dell DJ for quite a while. But this year I took a liking to the new iPod nano. Behold...my Christmas present.Yeah, it's hot pink. HOT pink. It rocks. So far I have listened to very little music and played a lot of games. I am really looking forward to listening to music and podcasts in the near future, though.

But seriously, it's been a fun Christmas and we have played lots of games and had tons of fun with family. My sister, brother-in-law, and new niece are coming to visit tomorrow, so we have some after-Christmas fun still to anticipate. Yeah!

Hannah's First Thanksgiving

Hannah was a busy girl while her mom was away! We're trying to be a good, positive influence on our new niece.

Happy first Thanksgiving, Hannah!

Welcome Hannah Grace

I'm an aunt! Hannah Grace was born at 1:35 this morning. She was only five pounds, nine ounces! What a tiny, sweet baby. Melanie and I are going to road trip it down there this weekend. It's 8 hours each way, and we only have Friday night and Saturday to do it. It's totally worth it, though!! I can't wait to meet her!

Song of Hope

The latest New Life Worship CD has been in my CD player nonstop. I bought the downloaded version, so I don't have access to lyrics and can't find them online. I typed these out because it's one of my favorites. (Warning: they may not be correct. There are few words that were hard to decipher. I gave it my best shot.) It has encouraged me so much as I have listened to it. Repeatedly. I hope the lyrics encourage you, too. Pick it up if you have a chance. It's totally worth it.

Greater

Find rest, my soul

Confess your freedom

Surrender all

Embrace your healing

I will cast my cares

You are always there

You are greater, greater than the fight

That rages for my life

I have found my rest is in

You are brighter, breaking through the night

Lighting up my sight

I have seen my rest is in You

Find hope, my soul

You know He’s with you

My Savior God

Still I will praise You

I will cast my cares

For You have always cared

You are greater, greater than the fight

That rages for my life

I have found my rest is in

You are brighter, breaking through the night

Lighting up my sight

I have seen my rest is in You

His yoke is easy

His burden is light

I have decided

I’m gonna fix my eyes

On the Perfecter

The Author of my faith, Jesus Christ

Boys and Their Toys

Here it is! It's very nice. I love it. I drove it yesterday! I can't wait to take everyone for a ride in it.