Thanksgiving

It's the best feeling in the world when you have your big family around you and everyone loves each other. I really love my family, and that's not an exaggeration. They're the best. I'm so thankful that the Lord has given them to me and allowed me to be a part of their lives.

Our Thanksgiving vacation has been absolutely wonderful. Last Saturday we drove down to Yreka for a wedding of two of our former high school students. It was beautiful and fun to see lots of people from our past. Then we spent Sunday with my parents. My Mom and I watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers while we knitted/crocheted and Andy and my Dad went out to dinner with some guys. Some people from my parents' church dropped off a pheasant they had shot for us, so my Mom and I had to figure out how to clean it. Thank goodness for youtube! We cleaned and dressed it, then froze it to eat for dinner on Wednesday night.

Monday morning Andy and I drove to San Francisco (pictures to follow). It was a very fun date day. We drove down Lombard Street, took pictures at the Golden Gate bridge, walked on the beach, drove around the expensive houses neighborhood, and ended up in Union Square where we ate at a fabulous Italian restaurant for happy hour. I guess it was an early celebration of our 4th anniversary coming up next week.

Then Tuesday we spent some time with Andy's Grandmother who is at a Convalescent Hospital with Parkinson's and had dinner with his Aunts and a cousin. Then we drove back up to Grenada on Wednesday, picking up my brother on the way through Sacramento. Then on to making tons of food and seeing my extended family for Thanksgiving today. I have so much to be thankful for!!!

1 Choronicles 16:34 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.

It's the little things in life...

After a year and a half of washing lots and lots of dishes by hand, we finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a portable dishwasher.

I LOVE IT!!! It has changed my stress level completely. Before, I'd get home from work at 5, make a quick dinner, then pile the dishes next to the sink while we rushed off to the next thing. And the next day we'd do the same thing until... we had piles and piles of dishes. It's really hard to get motivated to wash piles of dishes.

But since we got our new dishwasher, our counters and sink have been absolutely spic and span, and my stress level has gone way down. So happy :)

The Word

I've been reading through the Bible this year (OT once, NT twice). I've always tried to do it and I've gotten to February or March and have given up because of the time it takes to read three to four chapters a day. This year is different. I now have an iPhone that has a Bible reading program on it; it's amazing. I read first thing in the morning before I even get out of bed and it's working!!

The first part of the year reading through the Pentateuch and the Psalms and the Gospels was great. I was very into it every day and got a lot out of each reading. As the year has progressed, I've gotten more toward the history books and the prophets. I catch myself glazing over sometimes and not knowing what I just read. It's frustrating, but I have to admit that sometimes I just keep reading anyway instead of going back and re-reading it. The point is just reading it, right?

Not exactly. James 1:22 says, "Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." It's not that I'm not doing what the Word says, I'm not really even listening when my eyes just pass by the words. I need to be paying attention to what God has to say through the Scriptures. My goal for the remainder of the year is to try to get something out of each chapter each day. But I'm also excited to start reading the Bible through again next year and pay attention!

Ministry

Middle school ministry has been super fun for me lately. Every Thursday and Sunday I get to hang out with a whole bunch of middle schoolers who are trying to figure out who they are. It's an interesting time for girls especially (boys too, but since I'm a girl, I know what they're going through more than boys) because of the insecurities that surround pre-teen and early teen years.

My observations about middle school girls:

The sixth graders come in each year as energetic little ones who just want to have lots of fun, want you to love them, and sometimes want to cause lots of trouble (mainly for attention seeking reasons).

When they get to seventh grade, they grow (a lot), they start seeing that boys are there, they develop their little cluster of friends, and they generally start liking you as a volunteer leader, not just someone to pay attention to them.

By the time they're in eighth grade, they have a much better sense of self, they can think more abstractly, and they start becoming little adults.

It's hard to say which stage is my favorite because I like them all for different reasons. I'm just so blessed to be working with the kids here in Stayton, and I'm blessed to have a husband who loves them so much and is passionate for their hearts.

It's been way too long...

I really need to blog more. I guess I'm not too much of a writer... and I've been really busy... and my life's not that interesting... and... I'm running out of excuses.

So to update on our lives, I guess I'm just working a lot. I got a new position at Norpac in June as the Records Center Supervisor. So now I have two employees, and I'm in charge of keeping all of the important records and destroying them when their retention is up. It's going really well and it's nice that it's right up my alley.

The significant pay raise was very helpful in our family's goal of getting out of debt asap. We've paid off about $12,000 so far this year, which sounds like a huge amount, and it definitely is. Dave Ramsey is so motivating, and his program actually works!! We live on a cash only basis (Andy actually forgot his debit card pin# because he hasn't used it in months). That helps us stick to our budget really well. I'm just excited to not owe anything to anyone. Our cars are paid off and everything else is but some student loans.

So here's to Dave Ramsey and his baby steps!!

Pictures

I got a new ap for my iPhone that let me edit these fun pictures!

Passing

Life seems so fragile. My Uncle Mike passed away yesterday after battling bone cancer. He was in a lot of pain and it was sad for me to know that. I'm so thankful that he knew Jesus and had no doubt about his eternal life with God. This is the fourth year in a row that one of my relatives has died, first my Grandpa Gerry in 2007, Grandpa Avery in 2008, Grandma Ruth in 2009, and now Uncle Mike in 2010. It's hard to lose loved ones, but I'm so glad that we have the hope of being reunited with them some day. For now, I am put on this earth to share the message of Jesus and to help bring about the Kingdom of Heaven which is now and not yet. It is a high calling, and one I am able to do only because of Jesus Christ, His love for me, and His sacrifice for me. Thanks be to God. Death is a call to the rest of us to live life the way we are meant to live, in Christ.

Gardening

I'm so excited this year because I've started my very own little vegetable garden. I dug up some grass in two places and went to town planting lots of yummy things.

In my front garden I planted: rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, parsley, cilantro, chives, onions, shallots, carrots, lettuce, arugula, kale, spinach, swiss chard, and tomatoes.

In my back garden I planted zucchini, a green bell pepper, green beans, and I'll be planting honeydew in June.

I also have a strip of dirt alongside the house where I planted snap peas, lettuce, onions, chives, and shallots, although those ones are not doing as well (except the peas) because of the quality of the dirt there. I love watching all of my little plants grow!!

Oh, and we also got another sweet Basset Hound. Everyone, meet Jeffrey's new sister, Annabelle Louise!