My life

The birds

2011-06-12T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here's an update of our baby chickens! Josephine on the left and Susette on the right. They're two and a half weeks old now and getting lots of new feathers. Susette's comb is starting to grow, but I'm still thinking she's a girl because of her dark feathering. Apparently boy Barred Rocks have more white than the girls.

Josephine

What are you looking at?

And the big girls. Here's Mimi. Getting all big and pretty. She's very sweet and when we let them out and I go outside, she comes over to me to say hi.

This is about the best picture I got of Fifi. She moves a lot so lots of fuzzy pictures. She's pretty sweet too. The girls are sticking together more.

Mimi's pretty back feathers.

And last but not least our poor rooster. He crowed this week. I put him on Craigs List and am hopefully trading him for two dozen fresh farm eggs sometime this week. His crows sound pretty funny and juvenile, but he's trying. He's a pretty guy, and I'm kind of sad to see him go. Also very glad I didn't have to eat him.

And... we have two more

2011-05-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

We got two more baby chicks to replace Mr. Phydeaux since I really don't want a rooster. He's still with us, but I think I'm going to post him on Craig's List in a few weeks. If we can't get rid of him that way, he's headed for the stew pot. Poor guy.

So here are the two new babies. The one on the left is Josephine. She's an Australorp and she should be a very prolific brown egg layer (6/week in the summer, 4-5/week in the winter). She'll be solid black with a nice red comb and wattles when she grows up. The one on the right is Susette, a Plymouth Barred Rock. She'll be a good egg layer as well (5/week in the summer, 3-4/week in the winter). She will have little black and white stripes all over. I'm excited to see them grow.

They're so cute :)

Here's a picture I just took of Annabelle and the older chickens. They're getting so big! They're all pretty sweet and like their new coop.

Speaking of their new coop... I forgot I said I'd post a picture. Here's the finished product! We love it.

Outside at last...

2011-05-15T17:19:00.000-07:00

We moved the chickens outside last week because they had decided that knocking over their water jar would be fun and it got their cardboard box all wet. We can't have chickens living in moldy cardboard, now can we?

So here's them in their new digs. They seem to like it just fine. We had plywood over the top and their heat lamp in it for a while because we didn't have the roof finished yet (just finished it today!!!) I'll post more pictures of the outside of the coop when the weather clears up a bit.

Fuzzy picture of dear Roo Paul (as Andy has started calling him) and his huge comb. He likes to protect the girls.

Fif's beard is growing in! I like it, it gives her character.

The girls (and boy) enjoying the yard. They were out in the rain today and were very smart about staying under the shelter of the arbor vida. I sure do like them.

Guess what??

!!!!!!!

Chicken update

2011-05-04T07:36:00.001-07:00

Here are some new pictures of my chickens! We took them for their first outside excursion on Sunday afternoon. It was gorgeous and they had lots of fun. It was hard to get them all facing the same direction for a picture :)

Here's Mimi at 5 1/2 weeks old and almost fully feathered. She really likes meal worms (I bought some at a pet store) and runs off with them before the other two can get them. She's almost ready to be moved to the coop, but we have to finish it first!

Here's Fifi at 4 1/2 weeks old, and she's turning into a very pretty bird. She's also a sweetheart who likes to climb on my hand sometimes.
And here's Phydeaux at 4 1/2 weeks old. That comb of his is just getting bigger and pinker, but I'm still holding out hope that he's a girl. Only time will tell.
They're pretty cute and growing up so fast! They sure are fun to watch, too. They pecked at lots of things in the grass.

Oh no!

2011-04-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

I think I have a rooster! Gigi has started growing a huge comb and it turned pink a few days ago... I'm so sad. We'll probably have to get rid of her if she's a boy. And her name will be Phydeaux. (Inside joke) But Andy said if that happens, I can get two new ones! So I'm not too sad about it. Here are some new photos of them. Mimi is 4 1/2 weeks old and the other two are 3 1/2 weeks.

Mimi

Gigi (Phydeaux)

Fifi

My how they've grown!

2011-04-16T18:25:00.001-07:00

My little girls are no longer little! They are now 2 and 3 weeks old and growing feathers like crazy. They also eat and poop a lot.

This is Fifi and Gigi. They are growing wing feathers and starting to grow neck/back feathers. Fifi (on the left) likes to perch on top of the food and water jars. And she likes to poop up there. Gigi is very fast and runs around a lot.

This is Mimi. She has full wing feathers now and lots of feathers on her neck and back. She's growing some out of her stomach and her head is all ruffled, so I'm assuming she's starting to grow them there too.
Next to Mimi in the last picture is the little roost Andy and I made for the girls. They like to perch on it. It's preparing them for their roost in the coop that we are building.

Speaking of their coop... we have bought most of the materials and have sanded and cut the lumber. Next up is treating it with non-toxic sealer and stain, and then putting it together! We bought some red stain for the siding, and I think it's going to look pretty great. I can't wait until late summer when we start getting eggs!!

Chickens!

2011-04-02T16:20:00.000-07:00

For my birthday this year we decided to get three little chickens! Andy picked two of them up on Wednesday, and I got the other one yesterday. Their names are Fifi, Gigi and Mimi (named after the birds of the Enchanted Tiki Room). They're adorable.

This is Mimi. She's a Rhode Island Red, and I think she's about a week or so older than the other two, so she's a little bigger and has more feathers. She will lay about 6 brown eggs/week in the summer, 3-4 in the winter. Sometimes she picks on the other two, but over all they get along very well.

This is Gigi. She's a Buff Orpington. She's going to be the biggest out of the three (about 8 pounds!). Orpingtons are sweet natured and good layers through the winter. We should get about 3-4 eggs/week from her year round. She's a little more mellow than Mimi and likes to sleep.

This girl is Fifi. She's an Ameracauna and she will lay about 5 blue or green eggs in the summer, and not many in the winter. It will be fun to have a colorful egg carton. I think she's going to be nice and brown, and have a beard. She's a pesky little thing, already jumping at the sides of the box and scratching the food out of the container. She'll make things interesting :)

Here's another cute picture of them lined up. I'm really glad they like each other (for the most part).

Here's the setup we have right now for their brooder. It stays at about 95 degrees.

We're working on building them a little portable coop for the back yard (see the garden ark). It should be a fun project. It will probably be 5 or 6 months before they start laying eggs, and I can't wait!

The beach

2011-01-04T20:17:00.000-08:00

We surprised my Dad for his 60th birthday with a trip to Crescent City, CA. He had no idea. We drove down Friday morning and met Cindy, Randall, Quin and Lia (Dan was working in Crescent City that day) in Cave Junction for lunch, then drove to the beach together. My Mom and Dad were supposed to go to Cindy's house that day to open Christmas presents, but when they arrived they found a note on the door written by Quin with a clue that led them to Grants Pass. Then we kept giving them clues that eventually led them to a beach house in Crescent City right by Pebble Beach (my Dad's favorite). Cindy and the kids popped out when they walked in the door with a surprise weekend at the beach. The rest of us were up stairs and popped out when they came up. Randall had been home for Christmas and supposedly drove back down to LA on Thursday. So, needless to say, it was quite the surprise. Dad was very happy and shed a few tears. It was one of the best weekends we have all had together full of lots of laughter and love. Here are some photos of the weekend...

Quin and Lia having a snack after we got there. They had lots of snacks.

Very happy Dad and Cindy (even though they're not smiling in this picture).

The Christmas presents (well, New Years Eve presents) under the tree. But then the guys found a tree a guy wanted to get rid of (it was New Years Eve after all). Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that one. It was pretty.

On the walk to the beach.

My beautiful sister.

Me and my little bro with his eyes closed. :)

Lia showing me her prize rock.

Quin being Quin.

Throwing little rocks at a bigger rock...

Indiana Quin

My beautiful mother.

Little kids are so interesting.

This is the log that we took about 2 hours to roll into the ocean with levers and fulcrums. I got a video of the very end of it, but no pictures. You can imagine it though. Pretty cool.

Searching and searching for those elusive agates.

Some rocks stuck in our log.

At the light house that evening. The waves were pretty amazing.

Birthday time!

We woke up Sunday to a gorgeous day.

Our log in the ocean. Not sure what the boys were doing, but they got very wet in the process.

On our way to walk through the redwoods before saying goodbye.

We all had a fantastic weekend. I love you all, family!!!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T19:55:00.001-08:00

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...

2010-11-08T18:12:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-22T07:42:00.001-07:00

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...

2010-10-15T12:35:00.001-07:00

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

2010-06-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

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

Passing

2010-05-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

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!

Pictures

2009-12-10T12:33:00.001-08:00

Andy and I had the opportunity to have our pictures taken by our friend Kristin. So here's a smattering of a few of them. They were all so good, it was hard to choose which ones to put up here! Kristen is so talented!

U2 in Vancouver B.C.

2009-10-30T19:27:00.000-07:00

Andy had tickets to see U2 in Vancouver B.C. on October 28th since I think April or May. He was going to go with 3 of his guy friends, but at the last minute (seriously the night before they were going to leave) one of the guys realized that he needed to have a passport to get into Canada and didn't have one. The original reason that I wasn't going was that I didn't have vacation time until next year (long story, but the first 3 months of my job were temporary so they weren't counted in my 1 year of work before I got vacation time). However, Norpac decided to be nice to me and at the beginning of October, they gave me 2 1/2 days of vacation. The exact amount I needed to go to U2. Perfect.

So Andy, Tyler, his friend Andrew and I all hopped in the car and headed up to Canada (my first time) on Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday was spend standing in line for about 6 1/2 hours (at least it didn't rain)

Then we stood in B.C. Place stadium for 3 1/2 more hours until U2 came on stage.

We got into the inner circle of the stage with the catwalk behind us and only 1 person in between us and the catwalk. It was an amazing show. Here's my pictures, they're seriously worth a thousand words. I saw Bono's sweat running down his face. We were that close. Incredible.

Blackberry Jam

2009-08-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

I picked a bunch of blackberries after church today to make some blackberry jam. I decided to take lots of pictures and share how I made the jam here on my mostly unused blog.

Things to gather:

Blackberries

Pectin

Sugar (or honey with the special pectin that I bought)

Lemons for lemon juice

8 oz. jars with 2 piece lids

Lots of big pots, bowls, measuring cups, and spoons

Tongs

A funnel that fits into the mouths of your jars if you have one (I didn't and made a mess)

Berry masher (I didn't have one and used a fork, which worked out fine but took time and also made a mess)

Lots of rags and towels to clean up your mess

Your pectin should have instructions inside with amounts of everything. Mine said to use 4 cups of blackberries, but I doubled it.

This is the special Pectin I bought at Whole Foods (or probably any other health food store). It's special because you don't have to use sugar to make it gel, therefore you can use honey, concentrated fruit juice, or whole cane sugar to sweeten it. I think it gels from the vitamin C water (which comes in the box with the pectin, you just have to mix it with water and put it in a jar).

Here's my vitamin C water. It says it lasts for a few months in the refrigerator.

Now for everything that I did...

First of all, put your jars and your lids into pots of water covering them and bring to a boil. You want to have them really really hot when it's time to pour the jam into them as this is what makes the jars seal. You don't have to keep them boiling the whole time, but make sure they're boiling or close to it when you're ready to pour.

Next thing to do is mash your berries all into a pot. Add the vitamin C water (I added 4tsp for 8 cups berries) and the lemon juice (1/2 cup). Stir.

Pour your sugar (I used 4 cups, but you should probably use less if you're using white sugar. Or you can use 1-2 cups of honey) and your pectin (I used 4 1/2 tsp) into a bowl and mix well.

Bring the berries to a boil, then add in the sugar/pectin mixture. Stir vigorously for 1-2 minutes until the sugar is dissolved. Return to a boil, then remove from the heat. You're now ready to fill your jars with your new jam.

Put all of your three hot pots together next to a few kitchen towels. Make sure your tongs, rags and funnel are handy. Fish out a jar, a lid, and a ring from the hot water, with tongs, shaking off as much water as you can. Pour or ladle the jam into the jar up to 1/4" from the top. Wipe the jam, if any, off the top of your jar. Put on the lid and tighten the ring.

Flip your jar over and put it upside down on a kitchen towel. Repeat with the remaining jam/jars. My recipe with 8 cups of berries made 8 8oz. jars and one 12oz. jar with a tiny bit left over. Leave the jars upside down for 5 minutes, then flip them over. You should begin to hear them popping, which means they're sealing. If they haven't all sealed after 5-10 minutes, take the ones that haven't sealed, and boil them in your pot for 10 minutes. That should seal them.

Now you're done with your jam! It keeps for a very long time, but when you open it, it says it keeps for 3 weeks in the fridge. (I've kept it for longer and it still tasted fine). The reason I made cooked jam instead of freezer jam is because it says that freezer jam only lasts for 1 week after you open it. And this jam is absolutely delicious!

Now for the cleanup...

I had enough berries left over to make blackberry turnovers. Yum!!

Our day at the beach

2009-06-08T12:25:00.001-07:00

On Saturday we took our baby for his first day at the beach. To my utter amazement, he loved the water! He usually runs from it or at least won't touch it. At first he ran from the waves, but then he figured out that he could jump over them. Then he was done with the ocean (it was a really cold, rainy day) and we went home. Here's a few pictures!

Grandma

2009-04-28T17:26:00.001-07:00

My dear, sweet Grandma Ruth passed into the presence of the Lord on Sunday night. I already miss her so much, but at the same time, it doesn't even seem like she's gone to me yet. It will probably all sink in when I go down to her funeral this Sunday, go to her empty house and bury her ashes next to Grandpa's. She was such a sweet, caring woman, and I treasure all of the memories I have of her. She and my Grandpa are leaving such a beautiful legacy behind them of people who know, love, and serve the Lord because of their great faith in Him. I'm so grateful for that heritage that I can pass onto my children someday.

Birthday and Easter

2009-04-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

My 26th Birthday was on Friday and it was a wonderful day. Andy woke up and made me yummy steel cut oats with blueberries and walnuts (my favorite) for breakfast and gave me his present. It was a beautiful new pair of Danskos, but unfortunately they're a 1/2 size too small due to a mistake on endless.com's sizing. Sad. But I'll hopefully get the replacements next week. Then I went to work where everyone brought yummy goodies and a few nice gifts. Including one from the lady that shares my cubicle. She got me a dozen fresh farm eggs from her chickens, and I couldn't have asked for a better gift (she knows I love natural, organic, fresh food!) Then Andy took me out for lunch at a Thai restaurant in Silverton, I worked until 5, then we went to our new rental house that we're moving into in May and primed the walls for paint for a few hours. It was lots of work! Then yesterday we spent about 5 hours painting. We got the whole living room/dining room/hallway done in a lovely shade of brown (Valspar Wild Hawk) and it looks amazing. We're going to turn this very beat-up 1940's house into a nice place to live. We've got to paint the rest before May 1st and only have a few evenings after work to do it. Ahhhh! Hopefully we'll get it done with no problems.

As for Easter, we went to church this morning and I really liked the service. The sermon was on unanswered prayer, and it was really good. You can listen to the podcast at foothillsstayton.org. I like to listen to sermon podcasts at work sometimes while I'm doing monotonous things. And then we went up to Andy's parents' house for a delicious lunch and ate some delicious strawberry-rhubarb pie that I made yesterday.

Work has gotten a little monotonous lately. I just seem to do the same things every day. At first it was pretty stimulating and I had to figure a lot of things out. But now I pretty much know how to do everything and am a lot faster at doing things. I'm just glad I don't dread going to work every day, and that the days go by pretty quickly. It will be so nice to move back into town. Our rental house is right down the street from work, so I won't have to spend 15 minutes driving there, home, or 30 minutes of driving on my lunch hour. Yay!

Hello

2009-03-28T06:13:00.000-07:00

Hello.

I really need to get back to blogging. I feel as if I have a very boring life and nothing to blog about, but that simply isn't true. For instance, we finally sold our Volvo last week. I could have blogged about that.

We hadn't gotten a call on it for quite a while when, out of the blue, some lady called while we were both home at lunch on Tuesday. She and her husband wanted to look at it, they have 4 kids and needed something for her husband to drive that could fit everybody. So we met them at Safeway that evening, and when the guy and Andy took it out for a test drive, the check engine light came on *again.* When they offered us $3,500 for it, we couldn't refuse. Every time the check engine light comes on it costs about $1,000 to fix it, and we had it listed at $4,500 for about 3 months and it wasn't selling. So we figured it was time to just let the money sucker go. We talk about it with fond memories and we'll definitely miss it when we have any kind of snow, but it's nice to finally be free of it at the same time.

We also found a house to rent for when we get done house-sitting here. It's owned by the same people we're house-sitting for, and they said they'd hold it for us. We already have the keys, so we're in the process of painting the interior. It's very ugly right now, with dirty, cream colored walls in the main areas. The 2 bedrooms have baby blue paint in one and light purple paint with an ugly flower border and yellow stars around the ceiling. We definitely have to paint those. So today the plan is to work on the house for most of the day, once Andy wakes up, of course. He's had a cold all week and now I'm starting to get it. I can't help waking up at 6:00 am even on Saturdays. I hate it.

Tomorrow we're meeting my family in Roseburg to celebrate my brother and my birthdays (he's up from LA to see my Grandma who's not doing so well). I'm very excited about that.

Updates

2009-02-10T12:24:00.000-08:00

Hi all, sorry I haven't posted in a while. So much has been going on! First of all, I have about 9 pregnant friends right now. It seems like it's pregnant season. We are not expecting right now, and we don't plan to be any time soon. I really wish we could, but we don't have enough money to live off Andy's income. Hopefully it will raise a little in the next year or two so that we can. I feel very passionate about staying at home when we have kids and not having daycare raise them, so we're waiting for the time being.

Andy and I had an awesome weekend. Some of our wonderful friends decided to bless us with 2 nights at The Nines in downtown Portland. We had tons of fun running around, finding cheap things to do and to eat, and having a wonderful time. It was such a nice little break. But then I came down with a cold on the last day, so now I'm suffering through work (I don't have any sick days until the end of March).

On the 20th, Andy and I and our friends Cassie and Jake are heading up to Centralia to stay the night at the McMenamins, then on to Olympia on the 21st for our friend Jackie's wedding! I can't wait, it will be tons of fun. Then the weekend after that is our Jr. High winter camp from Friday to Sunday. It will be fun but exhausting!

If you all wouldn't mind, please pray for my Grandma Ruth. The doctor's just told her that there's nothing more they can do for her kidney/bladder cancer. So now it's just a matter of time before we have to say goodbye to her. I'm going to try to make it down to visit as soon as I can. The doctors also said that it might be up to a year before we lose her, which would be great.

Some awesome news is that Andy just got affirmed to be a Pastor in our church. We didn't think that would happen for at least another year, so we're super excited. He's been doing such a fantastic job, and the people see it, and God is blessing him for it. We feel so privileged to be involved in His ministry here in Stayton.

Non-eco friendly

2009-01-20T21:08:00.000-08:00

In the past few years I've been trying harder and harder to be conscious of our environment. I clean with non-toxic, biodegradable cleaning supplies, shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc. I try to make most of my food from scratch instead of buying processed food. I try to drive as little as possible, etc. I have, however, been working for a very non-eco friendly company.

Norpac is a fruit and vegetable processing company, which sounds great. We are a co-op owned by the growers, which is great. However, there are so many non-green things going on. For example, the vegetables and fruits are not organic in the least. I'm sure they're covered with pesticides and washed with chemicals. We ship to locations all over the country, and even sometimes to other countries outside of North America (such as Japan). The most eco-friendly way to buy produce is to buy local. Our processing plant spews smoke every once-in-a-while (not thick dark smoke like a lot of places, thankfully). For our entire ordering/shipping/invoicing process, we use TONS of paper. I'm sure I have my hands on at least 500-1,000 pieces of paper a day. Thankfully we recycle all of the paper that we don't need. I know that there are much greener ways of growing, packaging, and selling frozen and canned fruits and vegetables. I feel a little guilty for working for a company that is harming our environment, but unfortunately that's the job I have, and we can't afford for me to not work right now.

I still do buy Norpac vegetables (flav-r-pac brand) because they're the cheapest, and sometimes my thriftiness beats my eco-consciousness (actually a lot). I like to support our local economy in that way. But it would be nice if they would try a little harder. Maybe I can have some impact on my company.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T07:43:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone. It has been such an eventful couple of weeks. First lots of Christmas gatherings and things. Then the huge snow/ice storm. I have had the hardest time getting to work every morning because of our insanely steep shaded driveway that will not thaw! I've had to park my car at the end of it, and Andy shuttles me down to it in the Volvo which we thankfully have not sold yet. Hopefully the snow will recede and we'll be able to sell it.

Super good news... I started my PERMANENT job at Norpac on Tuesday. My friend Sheri got another job at Corban, so I was just hired to take her spot permanently! I am so grateful to the Lord for this because come January 19th I would have been out of a job. And we all know that the job market is not really booming at this point. So now I'm covering 2 desks at work until January 19th, so I am super busy and very behind in my work at this point. I will not complain though, and I'll just enlist some help from my other co-workers.

I cooked a huge Christmas dinner on Saturday for our Jr. High staff. It took me all of Friday night and all day Saturday, but I finished right on time and all of the food was still hot. We had the works: Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans, sweet potatoes, salad, carrots, apple pie, and chocolate cake. And I made everything but the chocolate cake from scratch. I absolutely love to cook, but that day really wore me out. Thankfully for normal Christmas/Thanksgiving gatherings, the whole family pitches in so one person is not in charge of cooking the entire dinner.

Speaking of family, the Pullen's are all here to celebrate Christmas. I'd better get up and shower. So Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that you all remember Christ who humbled himself enough to come to earth and die on the cross. What a wonderful Christmas gift!

Our crazy weekend

2008-12-15T12:39:00.000-08:00

This weekend was crazy. It started on Friday when I got home from work and made 2 apple pies from scratch, which took me much longer than usual. Probably because I was dancing, singing, and having a grand 'ol time. Saturday morning we woke up early and drove to Roseburg through the snow where we met my parents and Grandma for lunch (I haven't seen her in 2 years or so). Then we drove back through the snow, stopped at Fred Meyer in Albany for some ugly Christmas sweaters, and took our pies to a Christmas party at our Pastor's house for all of the Foothills staff and elders. Sunday we got up and drove through the snow to church (we spun out once and landed in the ditch a little bit, it was kind of fun). After church we painted a room upstairs with our small group. Then we went home and cut our hair for our Jr. High 80's party that night. I cut Andy a mullet and he shaved a handle bar mustache and sideburns. Then I impulsively cut some bangs for myself so I could make them huge. Then we went to decorate for the party and partied the night away. It was a blast. Then I woke up today, had to figure out what to do with my new bangs, and went to work. I have barely had a second to relax, and next weekend won't be any better. Why is Christmas time always so busy??

Anniversary surprise

2008-12-06T20:36:00.000-08:00

Our anniversary was on Tuesday, and since we both had to work, we decided that we'd celebrate it on Saturday (today) by spending the day up in Portland. Originally we had planned on spending Friday night at Edgefield McMenamins (which is very cheap, by the way), but they were all booked up. And we didn't want to spring for a hotel, so we decided for just the day in Portland. So Friday night, Andy picked me up from work to "take me out to dinner." We started driving East on hwy 22, which is the opposite way from Salem and there's nothing out there. He said there was a new restaurant he wanted to take me to in Detroit (about 30 miles away, it has a nice lake). So we finally got to Detroit and he made a few turns. We were definitely not in restaurant area, but more like residential area in the forest. He finally stopped in front of a nice house and said, "Surprise! We're staying the night here!" It was the new vacation home of a family in our church and they let us stay there for free. It was super nice, and Andy had actually brought pizza for us to eat. And he had packed all of my things for me. It was a fantastic treat and a nice little anniversary vacation. I love finding fun things to do for free. And then today we went up to Portland and walked around a bunch downtown and stuff. It was a wonderful weekend.

Now for some fantastic, answer to prayer news!

2008-12-02T20:07:00.000-08:00

My wonderful parents decided to pass on a blessing to us. They recently were given a nice truck, so they decided to give us their older car!!! So now we can sell our volvo to pay for getting it fixed and finish paying it off, and then we won't owe anything on our new Oldsmobile!!! It's a 1997 Cutless Supreme, and it's a rather nice car for us. Andy's been driving it around and we both like it. Not as much as our beloved Volvo, of course, but it's a great car. The Lord provides for us right when we need it. Always. Someday we'd like to get another Volvo, but just to let you all know, don't ever get a turbo!! It costs a bunch more to fix and is not worth it.

It's also our anniversary today. 2 years! It's been such a wonderful 2 years. On our anniversary every year, we read the letters that we wrote for each other on our wedding day. It always makes us cry, they are beautiful letters. I will treasure them always. I think we've come to a very special place in our marriage. At first it was the honeymoon phase, then it was getting used to living with each other, and now we're so happy to spend time with each other and we appreciate our differences. I'm not saying it's perfect, but we're falling into a lovely rhythm of life and happiness together. And our dog and cat provide much enjoyment to round out our little family. So here's to anniversaries!

Very very sad news (for us)

2008-11-20T19:33:00.000-08:00

After much thought and consideration, we have decided to sell our beloved Volvo. It's just costing too much to fix all the time, and there are several things that still need to be done on it that would equal a lot more money. Stupid car. So we're going to buy a cheap, easy to fix car that won't kill our budget. Also, I might have some good news regarding my job, but it's still up in the air... I'll keep you posted.

In other news, I am heading to Revolve tomorrow and Saturday. It's a conference at the Rose Garden for middle school and high school girls and their moms, and for youth workers. So me and two friends are going up, staying in a hotel, and we're going to have a marvelous time. Oh, and a bunch of girls and their moms from our church are going too. I'm so excited to learn and hang out with people. Poor Andy has to stay at home with the dog and cat, but I think he'll be fine.

Our cat Kyle likes this clear plastic bag. I'm not sure where it came from, but he often thinks it's his bed and he sleeps on it for hours, and he plays with it all over the house. Yay for animals being entertained by extremely cheap (free) things.

I cooked pork chops and mashed potatoes and salad for dinner tonight. It was delicious. I often don't feel like cooking after I get home from work, but tonight was just a pork chop and white wine night. The wine was delicious. We don't have it very often at all.

I hope to soon give you exciting info about my job, but we'll see. Please pray that this possible situation works out. It would be a huge blessing to several people including me.

Warning

2008-11-18T07:29:00.000-08:00

I may do some complaining in this post.

Our stupid Volvo is broken again!!! We've fixed it about 3-4 times in the last two years, with our mechanic bills totaling about 1/2 the price that we originally paid for the volvo. And now it looks like it might be a whole bunch more money. And money is very tight. And I might not have a job after January!

But the Lord has been teaching me a thing or two about not worrying about what we will eat, drink, wear (or drive). Maybe He's testing me. He has not let us down yet, and we've always been able to pay our bills on time. So I'm going to not worry and trust that it's in His hands.

A huge plus at work...

2008-11-12T18:19:00.000-08:00

I found out the other day that in the morning at work they take a whole bunch of different frozen vegetables and vegetable blends and thaw them out to make sure they are correct amounts and are quality. They do it every day, then at lunch they throw out all of the food... that is unless we get to it first! So I had a big huge salad of corn, green beans, carrots, peas, black beans, red peppers, etc. And it was free! I'll probably do that every lunch, because it's free AND healthy. It was a tiny bit frozen still so I heated it up for a little in the microwave. And I brought home 2 ears of frozen corn for Andy and I to have for dinner. I've been stressing out lately at us not having enough money to buy lots of veggies because they're expensive, and the Lord provided!!!

Story of Stuff

2008-11-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

Everyone needs to watch this.

www.storyofstuff.com

Pass it on.

Update on the Pullens

2008-10-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

Andy and I have moved into a different house. And oh the difference it has made!! This house is out in the forest and is much roomier than the last one. We were so tired of being cramped (especially Jeffrey), and now we have room to move around without bumping into way too much furniture for a small house. I have to drive a little farther to work, and when I go running, I have to start up an extremely steep hill, and the house is incredibly hard to heat, but other than that, it's wonderful. We have a sauna in the bathroom, a much bigger kitchen, a living room, office, and a down stairs room with a very large tv that we haven't used yet. We're at this house until May because the owners have gone to Florida for the winter. God has given us so many blessings! I will post pictures of our house when I get a chance. For now, I have to go back to work.

A survey

2008-10-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

The questions are as follows:
1. Where is your cell phone? plugged in
2. Where is your significant other? the office
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? in California
5. Your father? same
6. Your favorite thing? warmness
7. Your dream last night? that I was teaching police class to all of my friends
8. Your dream/goal? owning a health restaurant
9. The room you’re in? living room by the fire
10. Your hobby? cooking
11. Your fear? debt
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? debt free!
13. Where were you last night? Pietro's Pirate Pizza place - dressed as a pirate
14. What you’re not? bored
15. One of your wish-list items? sewing machine
16. Where you grew up? Grenada, CA
17. The last thing you did? burned a huge burn pile with Andy
18. What are you wearing? jeans & t-shirt, the usual
19. Your TV? off
20. Your pet(s)? Jeffrey and Kyle
21. Your computer? a Mac :)
22. Your mood? relaxed
23. Missing someone? parents & siblings
24. Your car? in the garage
25. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
26. Favorite store? ashland food co-op
27. Your summer? over
28. Love someone? always
29. Your favorite color? green
30. When is the last time you laughed? while we were burning the burn pile
31. Last time you cried? i don't remember

Everyone meet Kyle!

2008-10-18T16:20:00.001-07:00

This is Kyle Brodie Pullen, our new kitty. We decided that since Jeffrey's older, we would try this whole kitty thing out again. Kyle is about 4 months old. We rescued him through Salem Friends of Felines. He is a gorgeous tabby cat and is very sweet and cuddly. We just introduced him to Jeffrey and so far they don't know what to think about each other. I think that with time, they will get along splendidly. Now our house is full of boys!
This last picture is not a very good picture, but I wanted to show you the cute little white feet that he has. Hopefully he and Jeffrey will be best friends, and Andy and I won't have cat allergies. If we do, we can take him back, but I'm hoping that it all works out.

All my time is filled

2008-10-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

with WORK!!! I'm so grateful to the Lord that He provided me with a full-time job that pays well. At the same time I wish that I didn't have to work so that I could take better care of our home. Since I started working, I've found it very hard to find the time to do things like dishes, laundry, and cleaning, much less knitting, doing fun projects, grocery shopping, etc. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I'm really enjoying my job, and I'm trying to keep the right attitude in focus and to be content with where I'm at. There will be a time for me to be home (hopefully) in the future and to raise a few kids, but that's not what God has for me right now. He's been teaching me a lot about having faith in Him and not doubting. Fear and doubt are the tools of the devil, not of God. He bestows strength and courage on us when we have faith and ask for them.

Work...

2008-10-03T17:21:00.000-07:00

I just got home from an 8 hour day of work. Yay for earning money! My days are filled with a lot of numbers (since I work in the accounts department), lots of blue pieces of paper (soon some green and pink ones when I learn how to do those), lots of time on a PC (I hate PCs), and lots of times when I'm thoroughly confused. I think I'm getting it pretty fast, but I still have lots of questions on lots of things. I do mostly invoicing of orders from Norpac to places like Fred Meyer, Winco, Albertsons, etc. It also includes a lot of problem solving when anything is wrong with the order/shipping/quantities, etc. It's not too boring and today actually went by pretty fast. I get to come home for a 1-hour lunch every day, so that's nice. Today I ate curry with Andy and Jeffrey (except Jeffrey didn't have any). Jeffrey does not like it when Andy and I are both at work, he gets bored and lonely. Right now he's sleeping in front of the fire, one of his favorite things to do.

I got a job!!!

2008-10-01T10:33:00.001-07:00

I got interviewed today by NorPac (a food processing company which is right down the street from our temporary house) and they hired me on the spot!! It's a full-time job, but it's only temporary while the actual person is on maternity leave for 4 months. But it's a job! And there might be another person on maternity leave after that, so that's up to 7 possible months of employment. And then if I have my foot in the door, I might get a more permanent job.

The only thing that's not so great is that I'm not sure I'll 100% enjoy my new job. It will be a lot of computer time doing invoices and things like that. I like working with people more, so we'll see how this goes. But I'm so thankful that the Lord has provided for us!

Small Group

2008-09-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

We joined a small group with 6 other young couples 2 weeks ago, and it has been fantastic. If you're not currently in a small group, I highly suggest you find one. It's a great way to get to know people in a similar stage of life and to share what you're learning and how you're growing. Right now at our church we're having a series on sex. That's right. So small group time is very interesting and often very funny. It's fun to have other people to talk to who are going through the same things. And it's a great way for us to make new friends since we just moved to Stayton a few weeks ago.

I had a smashing interview today, so we'll see if I get a call back. There might be way more qualified candidates than me out there, but I think the interviewer really liked me. You never can tell though. Keep praying! I found out that the Vet hired someone else before they even interviewed me. How upsetting. I'm going in for an interview with them anyway in case that other person doesn't work out or they have a position open soon or something.

Washington Mutual

2008-09-26T09:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our bank failed and was bought by Chase. I am very frustrated about the fact that every time something starts to look a little bit down, people freak out and withdraw everything they have from that thing (i.e. their bank). That is the sole reason that WaMu failed: everyone withdrew their accounts and they lost tons of money. We did not withdraw our money. We did not participate in helping WaMu fail. Our money is now safe and secured by Chase (as well as the Federal Government). If your money is FDIC insured, there is no chance that you will lose it. The worst case scenario is that you may have to go without it for 24 hours or so. I feel like talking to all of the people in the United States and urging them to not freak out at the drop of a stock, because that only causes it to drop further. In the Great Depression, everyone freaked out, and that caused a gigantic snowball effect on banks. I personally do not want to live through the Great Depression II, because that would suck. So unless all banks are beginning to fail and the government is no longer going to insure our money, my money stays at the bank (now Chase).

A few possibilities

2008-09-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

I got called for an interview today! It's at a vet's office as a receptionist, which I would love. My interview is next Tuesday. There's also a possibility of me working at a little cafe here in Stayton called the Gardner House. So that would be fun too, but probably not full time and less money. So obviously my first choice is the vet's office. Hopefully one of these will work out. I'm getting tired of not working.

It's official

2008-09-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

We went to the DMV yesterday, and we are now official Oregonians again! Yesterday was nice and cloudy, so it felt more like Oregon then it has in the last few weeks. And the good news? It only cost $293 at the DMV instead of $435 like I thought. That is awesome, since we are quickly starting to run out of money, with me not working. I still have not found a job, which stinks.

On a better note, Andy and I joined a small group in our church with 4 other younger couples, and we love it. It's so nice to be around people our age. I also joined a Bible Study doing Beth Moore's Believing God series, and it's good so far. And we got library cards yesterday too, so I borrowed some healthy cook books for more yummy meal ideas. And a non-healthy French one because I like French food.

Interview

2008-09-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

I had a job interview yesterday. I think it went well, but they interviewed 5 other people just yesterday, and maybe more today. So if I don't get this job, I'm sure there will be more to apply for. Just scoring an interview is a step in the right direction. Also yesterday was Andy's birthday. We had Becca and Aaron over and watched Baby Mama. Hilarious. A very funny movie. And I made Chicken Parmesan which turned out very good and a healthy blackberry pie. It wasn't quite as good as unhealthy blackberry pie, but still delicious.

I've been struggling a little bit the last two weeks and feeling a little bit depressed. I have to get a job in order for us to keep up on our bills/loans/expenses, etc. So I've been searching and searching and getting frustrated. Maybe I just need to work at Starbucks or something. But I don't think that would pay all of our bills either. Frustration!

My cousin's wedding

2008-09-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

We went to Yakima, Washington for the weekend to attend my cousin Ryan's wedding. Andy got to be one of the photographers, and he did really well. My whole family (parents, siblings, sibling-in-law, niece and nephew) hopped into the Pullen's 15 passenger van and headed up on Friday. We stayed at a hotel and had a marvelous time. We ate lots of yummy apples. Here's a few of the pictures.

Baby sweater

2008-09-03T15:45:00.000-07:00

Here's the finished sweater I made for my niece. I just sewed the buttons on today. I hope it fits her! I need to get better at taking pictures.

The job search

2008-09-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

I hate looking for a job. I haven't had to do it very much at all, jobs somehow usually fall into my lap. Maybe one will now, but I don't see that happening. So I spruced up my resume and I've sent it to a few people. Tomorrow I'm going to print out a few and take it around town. I'd like to something like front desk, administration, or even retail if I have to (but fun retail). There's a cute little pet supply store down the street that I wouldn't mind working at, and a cute little cafe. So tomorrow I'll go by there to see if they need anything full-time-ish. Keep praying!

For the good news, I finished the sweater I was knitting for my niece. It's adorable, I just hope it fits her! I'll post pictures after I sew on the buttons.

Andy and I have been so busy with moving and everything that we've grown a tiny bit disconnected. So we went on a nice hike yesterday, and it was lovely. I got an idea from somewhere (I don't remember where) to write down on pieces of paper something your loved one can do to make you feel loved. So we did that and put them in a jar, we'll draw one each week to do for each other. It's very fun. This week I drew one to surprise Andy at work with a picnic lunch. He took lunch today, so instead I made peach cobbler and coffee, and I'm going to pick him up and take him to the park to enjoy it. This is fun.

Life in Stayton

2008-08-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

We made it to Stayton, OR in one piece. The house we're living in for 2 months is super crowded with the owners' stuff, so there's pretty much no room for ours. The drawers are full, the closets are full, etc. So we're trying to figure out how to not live out of suitcases for 2 months. I guess the next house we're living in for 7 months is a lot bigger, so that will be nice.

Other news: the school that I was applying for the teaching job at doesn't have enough money to hire me full time, unfortunately. So I'm still looking for a job, either in Stayton or Salem. We'll see what I can find. If you would pray for that, we would appreciate it. Andy's job is just 3/4 time until July, so he's not making enough to pay our bills. Then he'll get a raise this July and next July until he's back up to where he was at our old church. I think then we'll talk about starting a family, but until then I have to work full time as well. That will be interesting.

Jeffrey likes our house a lot, there's no fence in the back yard so we got a cable around the tree to tie him out there. It's working out okay, but a fence is always preferred.

If any of you would like to come visit us, please give me a call, we love friends! We got new cell phone numbers too, so don't try our old ones. My new one will be on my facebook page.

Moving Day!

2008-08-26T07:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was spent packing up our mountain of belongings (how did we accumulate so much stuff??), packing the cars, and cleaning our house. I'm just glad we were able to sell our big furniture so we don't have to move it. Last night we stayed at my parents' house in Grenada, and today we are driving up to Portland, then Stayton. Portland first because we are housesitting for 9 months at two fully furnished houses and don't need things like our bed, dresser and kitchen tools, so we're storing them at Andy's parents' house in the meantime.

I am very tired. And I have to drive all that way (about 6 or 7 hours total) by myself. We have a total of 3 cars and a big truck pulling a trailer. But I'm very excited about moving! My parents and Andy's mom are all helping us, and they were a HUGE help yesterday. What would we do without parents? It's kind of strange moving to Stayton, neither of our families are there, and we've always lived very close to at least one of our families. I will be an adventure.

My exciting day

2008-08-20T13:53:00.001-07:00

7am Wake up... wait, it's too early. Try to fall back asleep and fail miserably. Sit up and read by Bible in 2 Kings - exciting.

7:45 Get up and make omelets for Andy and I for breakfast (with heirloom tomatoes and avocados)

8:15 Wake up Andy with breakfast in bed and eat quick

8:30 Shower

8:50 Be nervous

9:00 Phone interview with the principal of Stayton Christian School for a PE/Music teacher position (plus some office work because they can't afford to pay the teacher full time)

9:50 Finish the interview with a sigh of relief - I'll hear back in the next day or so

10:15 Take our giant pile of laundry to the laundromat - we sold our washer and dryer at our yard sale

10:20 Realize that I don't have enough quarters to wash the whole giant pile (it cost $10!), so I look in my wallet and see a $5! Get change for my $5 at the little machine

10:30 Finish starting the laundry

10:35 Head to the bank for more quarters - get a $10 roll

10:45 Wait at the laundromat... luckily I brought my knitting

11:00 Switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer (it only costs $2 to dry everything!)

11:05 Head to the Lawnmower Man to pick up our lawn mower, pay him $20 for fixing our pull cord which was chewed off by my parents' dog

11:15 See a little boy selling pink lemonade on the side of the street, buy 2 cups for $1, cute little boy

11:20 Arrive at home to drop off the lawnmower and surprise Andy with lemonade - he's not there :(

11:25 Head back to the laundromat and wait for the drying to finish

11:30 Check the drying, and it's not quite dry, add another quarter

11:45 Finish the laundry and get out of there as fast as humanly possible

11:55 Grocery shop for some produce

12:10 Crash at home and nap for a while

1:30 Get awoken by Andy coming home

That's all so far, the rest of my day will be taken up by:

-Making Harvest Apple Galette for Ryan Freudenburg, one of our high schoolers whose leaving for college tomorrow

-Folding the laundry

-Packing as much as possible

-at 5:00 heading to my Mom's for dinner

-6:30 Jr. High Youth Group

-8:00 Home

-8:30 Ryan Freudenburg coming over for dessert

-9:30 A little Olympics

-10:30 Bed

How can my day be so filled with nothing??

My cute niece and nephew

2008-08-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

Here are my niece and nephew being hat models for me. I stole them to take these pictures last night when their family was down for a visit. Quin is 3 1/2 (today) and Lia is almost 15 months. They sure are cute.

Yard Sale!

2008-08-17T06:32:00.000-07:00

We had our moving/yard sale yesterday. We got up at 5:15am to get everything ready by 8. People around here have a problem: If a yard sale is advertised to start at 8, they come at 7:15 to try to get in on the stuff first or to get a good deal or something. I think it's extremely rude and annoying. So we kept shooing people away and we started at 8. We had a huge morning crowd when it was cool outside, then it ended up being one of the hottest days of the summer so far. So we sat in the shade and a few people came in the afternoon. I should have taken pictures, because we sold a TON of stuff and only had 3 boxes of it left at the end. And the best news: we sold our furniture and our washer and dryer! So now we don't have couches, an entertainment center, coffee table, or any way to clean our clothes except the sink. It's nice that my mom lives close by. We did, however, make off with... over $450!! Yay for moving money!

My awesome husband

2008-08-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

I've been really sad that our TV doesn't get NBC, therefore no Olympics. I love the Olympics. So Andy decided to move the TV and the antenna around, and voila! The Olympics!! Now I don't have to be sad and I can knit (and pack) with something to watch. Although I do think that some of the events are terribly boring, I like most of them. Especially gymnastics, swimming, volleyball, and some of the track and field events. YAY!

Massageness

2008-08-12T20:44:00.000-07:00

I got a massage today. Andy bid on it at our Mexico auction for me and he won. It was LOVELY! My back has been in knots, and it was so nice to have them worked on. This was my third massage ever, one from my volleyball team last year, and one a few years ago when I was having more shoulder problems. My doctor said that I need them weekly in order to work out my shoulder knots, like I can afford that. If only I had amazing health insurance that would cover things like massages...

My 4 Things

2008-08-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

I found this on someone's blog and thought it was fun. Plus I'm a little bored.

4 Jobs I've Held
Nanny

Sales Associate

Office Assistant

Gym monitor (yay...)

4 Movies I Watch Over and Over
Pride and Prejudice (BBC version)

Pride and Prejudice (New version)

Best in Show - it's hilarious

The Little Mermaid (lately)

4 Places I've Been
Brussels

Uganda

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

New York City

4 Places I've Lived
Northern California

Portland, OR

Vancouver, WA

Lake Oswego, OR

4 TV Shows I Watch
Seinfeld

The Office

Scrubs

Lost

4 People Who E-mail Me Regularly
Andy

Mom

My blog - with comments

Facebook

4 Favorite Foods
Sprouted grain bread

Chocolate

Green lemonade (it's really yummy)

Peaches

4 Places I Would Rather Be
Anywhere in Europe

Portland

Disneyland

Hiking somewhere

4 Things I'm Looking Forward To
Paying off our school/car debt

Buying our first house

Birthing our first child (planned for approximately 3 years into the future)

Moving to Stayton

Crochet market bag

2008-08-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't like to knit, I have the pattern for a crochet market bag that is very similar. Yay for patterns on the internet!

Bag pattern

2008-08-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to the pattern I used for my market bag. I tweaked it a little bit: I used size 4 needles for the bottom, 11 for the middle, and then size 8 for the top and handle instead of continuing on 11's. I also made it a little longer and the handle longer than the pattern said. I like how it turned out better. It's a fantastic bag.

Finished bag and Jeffrey's salad

2008-08-10T16:39:00.000-07:00

Jeffrey had a salad today. We had left over lettuce and it wasn't enough to keep for anything, so I fed it to Jeffrey. Here's what happened:

He ate it! Well, lots of it. And then the rest of it was strewn around the floor for a while. It was very cute and healthy. I also gave him an olive which he didn't like. One of the first foods I've found that he didn't like.

I finally finished my market bag today. I finished it the other day with a double handle and it looked horrible. So I undid a big part of it and redid it with a single handle which I like a lot better. Here it is with a bunch of yarn in it. Sorry about the bad quality pictures, I didn't feel like turning lights on, it's too hot.

Here it is without anything in it. It compacts rather nicely when empty.

And here it is layed out to show the pattern more. If you recognize the couch, yes, it is from Memorial Dorm before they redid the upstairs furniture. Andy grabbed them when they were hauling them out to the dumpster. They're still in great shape, but we're selling them as we will have no storage for the next 9 months and we're house sitting for some nice people in Stayton.

Yay for visiting friends!

2008-08-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

Our friends Jake and Cassie and their baby Elizabeth came down to visit us for the weekend. It was a blast and very nice to have friends here for once. We played lots of games, went to our county fair, went hiking up to a gorgeous lake, and they came to church with us. I don't have any pictures, but it was very nice to have them here. We're excited to get to hang out with more friends now that we're moving closer to most of them!

My cute boys

2008-08-05T12:36:00.001-07:00

Knitting

2008-08-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I was inspired by my friend Emily to pick up knitting again. It had been a while, and I have two old unfinished projects. I decided to get some yarn and needles, and knit a hat. My first hat turned out great, and I have since made 7 more I have yet to finish my unfinished projects (one's a baby blanket for my 1-year-old niece started when she was in the womb, and the other is a black felted bag that I am very excited to use once I get the guts to go ahead with the felting). I used to buy all my yarn and needles at Wal-mart because that's the only place around here to get supplies. I have since become a knitting snob and won't knit with acryllic or metal needles anymore. I've moved on to 100% cotton, wool/mohair/angora/silk, etc. and bamboo knitting needles (my soul mates). My latest project is a farmer's market bag out of cotton and linen. I'll post a terrible picture of my bag as it sits now. Not much to look at, but it will be once it's done!

Amazing people

2008-07-29T20:02:00.001-07:00

Last night we went to an amazing couple's house for dinner at 6pm and ended up talking with them until 12:30am. They are an older couple from our church with the most incredible hearts for ministry. They're so encouraging and at the same time they want to learn as much as they can from us. I love having a relationship like that, they've pretty much been our mentors while we've been in Yreka. I'm sure going to miss them when we leave, but I know that God will provide more people like that in our lives. He gives us what we need when we need it.

Giant spiders, not one but two

2008-07-28T08:24:00.000-07:00

We had TWO giant spiders at our house the other night. One right outside our back door and the other right inside our garage door. They were about an inch in BODY length, not counting legs. They were huge and brown. I've never seen that kind before and they were gross and scary! We killed them with very toxic spider spray (I tried not to breathe it in). I did not like it, and neither did Andy. Now I'm freaked out to go in my garage. I can't figure out what kind of spiders they are either, so I don't know if they're poisonous! AHHHHH! I hate spiders!

News...

2008-07-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody. Some of you know already, but some don't. At the end of August Andy and I are moving to Stayton, OR (15 minutes East of Salem). He got a job as a Middle School Pastor at Foothills Church. We're really excited about it, but also very sad to leave my family and the people at our church here. Now we just have lots of packing to do and I have to find a good job in Stayton or Salem. Pray for us as we do all that stuff and don't have a lot of time.

In other news, we went camping with my whole family last weekend, which was a blast. Then this week was our church camp, so we were camping for that all week and just got home today. Next week we're taking our Jr. Highers to the lake and our High Schoolers to the coast for 3 days. So needless to say, we're a little busy. I'm definitely getting back into a mostly raw diet after eating terribly in the last week. My choices weren't great, for lunch yesterday there were hot dogs, chips, cookies, and fruit salad with tons of whipped cream mixed in. Yuck. Now I have a headache and hopefully I can detox again this week!

Bad news about Raw

2008-07-21T00:26:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm afraid that I won't be able to continue my raw food challenge for the full 30 days for several reasons. First of all, I'm so busy that I don't have time to prepare enough nourishing raw meals to last me through every day. I'm constantly running around, grabbing a salad here and some fruit or nuts there, but simply not enough calories to get me through the day. I've lost about 8 pounds, and for me that's way too much. I've been doing Fitday, a nutrition calculator online, and I've only been getting 900-1200 calories per day with what I've been eating. Enough protein (at least 30 grams), but just not enough calories to keep me going. This evening I felt like I was going to pass out, which is not a good sign.

Another reason is that I went camping over the weekend and that was fine doing raw, but this week I'm going to our church camp and helping all day with preparing the food, and it would be very hard to stay all raw because I would have to bring my own food, store it, and prepare it all on the side.

The last reason is that our budget is super tight this month and all raw fruits, veggies, and especially nuts are not cheap, so it would be great to eat the free food at church camp.

Some day when I have more time I might again attempt 100% raw, but for now I'm going to drop to about 70%. The other 30% will not be anything processed and will not contain any refined sugar. I refuse to eat those things because they are nothing but bad, cancer-and-disease-causing foods (if you can even call them that).

I will continue to eat lots of green smoothies, green juices, salads, fruits, etc. Just not quite 100%. Thanks for cheering me on, and I'm sorry to have to tell you that I can't continue.

Raw Day 8

2008-07-17T07:55:00.000-07:00

I totally forgot to add this video on Monday! It's now raw day 11 for me and going well!
Raw Day 8 from Jill Pullen on Vimeo.

Jeffrey

2008-07-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

I found this very cute picture of Jeffrey, so I thought I'd share it. He's 1 1/2 today. I love this dog.

P.S. It's Disneyland's Birthday too!

Raw Day 7

2008-07-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

Raw Day 7 from Jill Pullen on Vimeo.

Raw Day 4

2008-07-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

I don't know what's up with my shiny tooth in this video. It's not really like that.

Untitled from Jill Pullen on Vimeo.

Zucchini Pasta

2008-07-09T14:55:00.000-07:00

I made this for lunch today. It's totally raw, and the noodles are actually zucchini. The sauce is made of water, pinenuts, honey, garlic, nutmeg, lemon juice, almonds, all spice, salt, and pepper. It was really good, and Andy even liked it!

Raw Food Day 3

2008-07-09T09:38:00.000-07:00

Raw Food Day 3 from Jill Pullen on Vimeo.

My 61st post

2008-07-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

Exciting milestone for blogging! J/K

I'm just trying to recover from all of the exciting things that have happened lately. After Mexico Andy and I went to Portland. It was only supposed to be for two nights, but our car wasn't all the way fixed (it cost $1800!!!!) so we had to wait until Thursday to come home. Andy's brother got engaged while we were there, so we went to their engagement party at a bar. It was interesting.

When we got home I was in my friend Carrie's wedding, so I had rehearsals and dinners and things to go to. It was a beautiful wedding on Sunday night, so that was fun. But I'm tired. This week is VBS at our church and we are in charge of the Jr. high kids for that. We're planning camping trips, waterslides trips, getting lots of event requests from the kids, etc. Busyness! I just finally cleaned up the house, did some grocery shopping, and balanced our checkbook yesterday. Life can be crazy, and there's no end in sight! The good news is that my friend Cassie and her husband and little daughter are coming to visit us in August. We're excited about that! I'll video blog later about our raw-foodness.

30 days of RAW

2008-07-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

Raw Day 1 from Jill Pullen on Vimeo.

Home at last...

2008-06-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

I'm home from Mexico! Whenever I leave the country, it feels like life stops at home and when I get back, it doesn't feel like I was really gone. It's like a chunk was taken out of my life.

But anyway, about our trip: It was great. The kids were great, we had an awesome time, and I think they learned and grew a lot. Check out mexiblog.gcbcstudents.org to see our video blog and pictures from the trip. I'm super tired now, so I think I'll go to bed super early tonight. Until next time.

Mexico

2008-06-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

We're leaving for Mexico in the morning. I would be more excited, but I currently have a 100 degree fever and don't feel so well. I think, if I get better, that it will be a fun trip and a good first missions trip for our High School students. I think they're all nervous. This is also Andy and my first time leading a missions trip, so pray for us! We'll be back on the 27th, so I probably won't be posting until then. Also please pray that I will feel 100% better by morning!

Old job

2008-06-12T11:45:00.001-07:00

So I just got the news yesterday that Kidder Creek figured out that they don't have enough money for me to work there anymore. Sadly, I was let go. It's because there aren't enough campers signed up for the summer. I think there are two reasons for that:

1. The economy is down and people can't afford to send their kid to camp for $400 a week (or over $500 for Ranch Camp).

2. KC merged with Mt. Hermon camp in Santa Cruz a few years ago to expand their program. I don't think anything good has come out of it from my perspective. Prices for camp have gone up hugely since the merger. KC used to be a fantastic camp for local kids to go to and could afford, but now they're getting some kids from Santa Cruz and not thinking locally as much. On top of it, they're not really advertising outside of our area and Santa Cruz.

I love Kidder Creek and I'm sad to see them not doing so well this summer. I plan to go out there to visit every once-in-a-while for sure. So now all I have to worry about is all of the time on my hands that I will have after I get back from Mexico. Andy can probably use the help.

Shopping trip

2008-06-10T07:22:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Andy and I went clothes shopping. This doesn't happen too often, as we'd both rather spend our money on other things than clothes. When it does happen, we do it all at one time. So yesterday we bought several items (about 8 or 9) between the two of us, and it was expensive! Like $120 at Target! I would like to buy more, better clothes, but they cost so much. Stupid economy. We don't even have any good thrift stores here, they all sell old lady clothes (and very poor quality).

The dumbest thing ever

2008-06-04T20:54:00.000-07:00

This is a very funny story. It got me laughing so hard that I was crying, and any of you who know me well will know that this thing would only happen to me.

So I was in the bedroom on my laptop (this was just about 10 minutes ago) doing some online shopping for my raw food challenge coming up. I'm buying nut milk bags for juicing, chia seeds, nori sheets, ph testing tape, etc. Naturally when you want to buy things, you usually need a credit card or some form of payment. I asked Andy to hand me my purse, but it wasn't in the room where I thought it was. I realized that I had left it on the kitchen table. I went out to get it and it was dark. I thought I saw it in the middle of the table so I stuck my hand down to grab it (pretty forcefully) and got a shooting pain through the palm of my hand. It turns out that I grabbed a CACTUS!! that Andy brought home from church a few days ago (a very sharp pointy one). I totally forgot it was there. Andy and I laughed about it for a long time. So now my hand hurts.

The cactus looked like this by the way:

Chocolate

2008-06-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

I made my Dad some Father's Day presents today (I'll freeze them until the day). It was a raw chocolate day. Everything is made out of raw things, sweetened with agave nectar and hardened coconut oil/butter.

I started out with chocolate squares with almonds:

Then I made almond joys. I made a coconut inside with an almond on top, then covered with chocolate and froze them:

Next came those delicious Ferrero Rocher chocolates. They're not exactly like them, but similar. I made a hazelnut-chocolate paste, wrapped that around a hazelnut, and then covered it in raw chocolate:

And lastly, I took the leftover dipping chocolate and made some little chocolate bar-type things:

They all taste pretty delicious, and I know my Dad will love them.

New job

2008-06-02T17:56:00.000-07:00

I started my new job today. I loved it! I'll be working a lot in the office, but at least there's other people in it with me!! I won't be so lonely, and the other leadership staff will come and go throughout the day. I'll also have lots of meetings with people. I thrive on relationships and they energize me. I feel much better after 7 hours there than I do after 6 hours working in the church office. Besides, my work at Kidder Creek is challenging, yet enjoyable. So yay for a new job! Oh, good news, I don't have to work tomorrow, so I'll get that much needed day off.

My life's about to get crazy...

2008-06-01T17:45:00.001-07:00

I start my new job at Kidder Creek tomorrow. So this is what my week looks like: Tonight is High School youth group. Tomorrow I go to KC from 9am probably until about 5 or 6pm. Same thing Tuesday. Wednesday I work at church from 9am-3pm, then Junior High youth group at 6:30pm. Thursday I'm back at KC, then my cousin's graduation in Weed in the evening. Friday I'm back in the church office, then we have a concert in the evening. Saturday morning is High School graduation then at least 4 parties to go to. Sunday is church, I'm cooking lunch for the elder board that my husband's on, then HS youth group. Like I said, crazy. Barely a minute to spare. And it won't stop even after I come back from Mexico at the end of June!!! AHHHH! I have no days off.

A little bit of heaven

2008-05-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

It's the beginning of Cherry season! I've been devouring them the last 2 days. I found some perfectly ripe (on sale!) ones at Raleys the other day. I think you should go get some and enjoy.

Eating more raw food has helped me get a handle on when produce comes into season. I've always tried oranges in summer, peaches in the winter and have been sorely disappointed at the lack of flavor and juice. So recently I've been researching when things come into season. For example, navel oranges are about done and strawberries are nearing the end of their season. But cherries, melons, and lots of greens are just starting! So go out and pick up a delicious watermelon or some bright red cherries and enjoy.

Raw Food Challenge

2008-05-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

I've been inspired lately. I'm going to start a 30-day, 100% Raw Food diet on July 7th. I'm waiting until then because I'm going to Mexico June 15-27, and I'm in a wedding July 6th. I might possibly start it on June 29th, I'm just not sure yet.

I've been going more and more raw, but still giving in to terrible cooked foods often. I want to get ahold of my acid problem and prove to myself that I can eat only healthy food for once. I find it easier to eat healthy on the days that I work, because I have to choose the food I'm going to bring before I'm hungry, not when the cravings hit. Maybe I should work more.

Rain, rain, rain...

2008-05-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

It's been raining here for a few days, and I love it! It reminds me of living in Portland... I miss it there. We went on a nice hike (it didn't start raining until this afternoon, although it was muddy) with my cousins and Jeffrey this morning. It was nice exercise, which I need to do way more often. I've had these huge shoulder knots that have started to constantly ache for about 7 years now and exercise seems to help them out a lot. Not necessarily walking, but arm things like volleyball, lifting weights, yoga, pilates, etc. Anyway, Jeffrey loved our walk and had a very good time. We put a little blue bandana on him to be a little patriotic for Memorial Day. Later we went to my Grandma's house for barbecued lunch and then went out to my Grandpa's grave at the cemetery. It was a nice day. Now we're home, I just woke up from a nap, and Andy and Jeffrey are still sleeping. We'll probably watch a movie later, and I think I'll eat a nice salad.

By the way, if anyone's up for an amazing salad, you need to try this. It's fantastic.

Mango Avocado Salad

This really is one of the best combinations ever.

2 Ripe Mangoes, peeled, pitted and chopped

1 Large Avocado, peeled, pitted and chopped

1 Tablespoons Lime Juice

1 Tablespoon Tangerine Juice

2 Teaspoons Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Cilantro Leaves

1 Tablespoon Black Sesame Seeds

Add all ingredients to a bowl and enjoy!

I didn't have any black sesame seeds, and it's still delicious without them.

Vitamix 5200

2008-05-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

So my awesome, rad husband decided to get me a present. Since we got our economic stimulus we have a little bit of extra money so he got me a Vitamix 5200 at Costco (you save a bunch of $ there!). Let me just tell you, it's fantastic. I've been blending like crazy. I used it 3 times today for smoothies and juice, I've made raw dressing for a delicious salad, chocolate dream cake, chopped nuts, etc. This machine is amazing. I heart it.

The Bible and God

2008-05-19T08:33:00.001-07:00

I've been challenged lately. I think about myself far too much and too little about God and other people. I just recently started reading my Bible on a more regular basis. This has always been hard for me, I'm not good at establishing good habits at all. Maybe I'm just too lazy or too selfish, I don't really know. But reading the Bible has become very important to me. I need to know God's word in order to be changed by Him and in order to speak truth to others. Even after getting a BS in Bible/Theology I don't know my Bible half as well as I'd like to. My grandmother has always been an inspiration to me, I'm pretty sure she reads through the Bible every single year. My parents always got up early and read their Bibles together, even on the crazy days.

I want God to be more of a priority. I've been a little dry doing ministry to our high school and junior high students. I haven't wanted to go to youth group or call them or anything and I know it's because I'm being selfish and not letting God work in me and through me. But He keeps on breaking through my barriers and challenging me in huge ways. I love that He does that.

HOT!

2008-05-17T17:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the temperature was officially 97 degrees. Today it's 95 at 5:21pm, so this afternoon was most likely in the very high nineties. It's WAY too hot for May! We don't have air conditioning, which is insane, so right now in our house it's 90 (we have very thin walls). I'm boiling, and Jeffrey is not having a good time. Andy won't stop complaining. We have a little window air conditioner, but it's hard to put in. Hopefully we'll be able to do it soon. AHHHH! I'm going to take a cold shower.

New food blog

2008-05-12T19:59:00.001-07:00

For accountability purposes, I've started a new blog that I plan to update daily with what I've eaten. You can get to it here: diurnalsustenance.blogspot.com (which just means daily food). I need to eat better, and it's easy to hide the not good things that I eat. But not anymore. Yay for accountability with blogs!

Ropes Course

2008-05-10T20:34:00.001-07:00

We took our Mexico team to the ropes course at Kidder Creek today. I haven't been to it for about 2 years, so it was fun to go back. I didn't get to do any elements, but I got to belay the kids so they could do them. It's funny how I learned to belay about 6 years ago and last did it 3 years ago. When I came back to it I remembered exactly how to do it, with out any refreshers or anything. It was very fun, too.

Taking high school kids, or anyone for that matter, to a ropes course shows you what the kids are made of. Some of them surprise you with how brave they are, some of them are just brave and you knew they would be, and some of them that you thought would be brave are not at all! We had one girl who is home schooled, not very social at all, and really shy. I thought she wouldn't even try the elements, but instead she went straight up and did them with barely a hesitation. Another kid got up to the top and proceeded to stand there for 15 minutes, I kid you not, while I waited and tried to get him to go across. He really really didn't want to and I finally got him to come down. It was such a challenge for him and I was surprised. It definitely goes to show that people on the inside are NOT always what comes across on the outside.

Naturopathic Medicine

2008-05-10T07:23:00.000-07:00

I've been impressed with naturoptathic medicine for a while. I'm interested in natural healing through diet, manual manipulation (massage and things), herbs, etc. I'm NOT a fan of pharmaceuticals at all, I think they just treat the symptoms, mess with your body, and introduce un-natural toxins. America is killing itself by having a very SAD (standard american diet) way of eating - waaaay too much processed, cooked until there's nothing left but fiber in it, foods, and using tons of chemicals for EVERYTHING from cleaning products to synthetic drugs to food coloring. Do you really want those things in or around your body?? Our skin is so porous that anything we come in contact with goes straight in. Look at the ingredients on your shampoo bottle or hand soap or lotion: full of chemicals.

Sorry to lecture here, I just wanted to introduce my wonderful idea. I'm a very passionate person, but before now I hadn't found my big thing to be passionate about. I finally have!! I'm planning on going to more school to become a naturoptathic doctor! I have a few prerequisites to take and then 4 years of school. I love teaching people how to thrive and how to heal naturally. My Grandparents have all had numerous cancers, heart disease, etc, and I don't want more people to have to go through that. I honestly think that cancer and heart disease (and obesity) is HUGE in America because of diet and chemicals. Some of it may be genetic, but most of it is caused by us poisoning ourselves.

Summer of Insanity

2008-05-09T17:20:00.001-07:00

Oh my gosh, I just looked at our summer calendar. We have something every single Saturday until July and a big thing (or multiple big things) every single week for the entire summer! I know that being a youth pastor's wife you stay busy, but this is just insane! I hope we can find a little bit of relaxing time.

On a side note, Jeffrey's not feeling well today. He's been whining a lot, and I think there's something wrong with his ear. Andy touched it and he yelped, but since then we've been able to rub it and move it around with no problem. He's not playing as much as usual, although he's still eating like a champ. If he's still not his usual self by Monday we'll take him to the vet. Yay vet bills. Why does everything have to be so expensive??

No blogging!

2008-05-07T17:17:00.001-07:00

Sorry I've been away from blogging for so long! I've had a lot going on. My Grandpa died on Sunday in Wisconsin. I couldn't go to the funeral, which was today, although I wanted to. Not quite in the budget. My brother and my parents are there representing us (Cindy's at the East Coast with Dan's family). We had an auction for our Mexico team on Sunday, so I worked a ton on that. We're almost there with our fundraising, which is awesome. On to Jr. High youth group tonight. I'll update on more of my life/thoughts later.

Grandpas

2008-04-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

I've had the privilege of growing up with all four of my grandparents living and still married (in pairs). My grandparents have all had quite a large amount of health problems. After our wedding in December of '06 my Grandpa on my mom's side got a brain tumor which was operated on in January of last year. Then he went through radiation and it caused him to go into brain atrophy and he died June 2, 2007. That was really hard because I was really close to him (I grew up about 20 miles away). Anyway, then my Grandma on my mom's side got kidney cancer. She's gone through chemotherapy and is now on radiation. She's doing fine now, but the cancer will come back in a few years and then they won't be able to do anything about it.

On to the real current news. My Grandpa on my dad's side has had only one kidney since age 23 (I think he's 84 or so now). The last few years he had to go on dialysis because his kidney wasn't functioning well at all. His quality of life has been going way downhill and on Friday he decided to go off dialysis, which means he has about a week to live. My dad flew out to Wisconsin today to be with him and my Grandma until the funeral. They're all okay with him dying because he really hasn't been doing well at all.

If you think about it, pray for my grandparents (Avery and Bertie) and family this week as they're going through this. It's not easy to let someone go, even if it is the best thing. All of my grandparents are believers, both of my Grandpas were pastors.

The Shack

2008-04-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

If you haven't read The Shack by William P. Young, you have to! I finished it in two days, and it is an incredible story. A lot of people are saying that it's a work of fiction, but I'm not sure I would go so far as to say that. I believe that God can do anything that He wants in how He wants to show Himself to people. I don't want to limit Him by saying that it all didn't really happen. That being said, as I read the book, I cried. A lot. It's heart wrenching and life changing at the same time. Since I finished it yesterday, I have read my Bible differently, I have looked at other people through God's eyes of pure love, I have been truly honest and real with my husband, and I have been praying for my future children. This book will touch your soul.

Jeffrey's mishap

2008-04-22T09:27:00.000-07:00

A few months ago we decided that Jeffrey was old enough to be out and about in the house while we were gone. He's usually in the kitchen with a bed and his toys. So we let him wander the first time, and when we got home it looked like he had slept on the couch the entire time. Good test run. The next time we went somewhere, we let him wander again, but this time it was for about 5 or so hours, much longer than the first time. When we got home, our dear boy had chewed a rather large hole in our carpet right next to the back door! He was in huge trouble and hasn't gotten to stay out by himself since.

The real big deal... we did NOT want to call the landlady and tell her. But we knew we had to. So we waited, and waited, hoping the other person would have the guts to call. I'm very proud to say that today I finally got up the courage and made the call. It turned out to not be that big of a deal, she told me where she got the carpet and that they could probably fix it with carpet from the closet or something. I was very relieved.

How many times do we do things like that?? Sin and then are afraid of taking it to God, or we try to hide from it. I've gotten inspired by this little mishap to come clean with a lot of my junk. To God, to Andy, etc. As we all know, honesty is the best policy.

Life in the small town

2008-04-21T15:57:00.000-07:00

I got a gift certificate to a little drive through burger joint called Gold Rush Burgers for my birthday. Last Monday (our day off) we went there at about 3:30 to get some burgers and they were closed. The sign said open M-F 11-7 (??). What's the deal? So a lady came out and said that they close at 3 on Mondays, so we went home. Today we decided we were hungry and went to get our burgers at 2:45. We got there and again it was closed. Andy knocked on the door and a guy came out and said that they close at 2:30 or 3 on Mondays. AAAHHHHH All we wanted was a nice burger (we've heard they're good). If I didn't have a gift certificate I wouldn't ever go back to this place that can't even advertise accurate hours. But since I do, maybe we'll try tomorrow. Hopefully they'll be open until 7. Stupid Gold Rush.

Survey

2008-04-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

I found this little game on a random blog. If you want to do it, just post this list on your blog with your one word answers, then let me know so I can see them!

1. Cellphone: silent
2. Relationship: solid
3. My hair: crazy
4. Work: boring
5. My sibling/siblings: lovable
6. My favorite thing: hugging
7. My dream last night: disturbing
8. Favorite drink: water
9. Dream car: saab
10. The room I’m in: bedroom
11. My shoes: off!
12. My fears: drowning
13. What do I want to be in 10 years: mother
14. Who did I hang out with this weekend: husband
15. What I am not good at: handwriting
16. Muffin: blueberry
17. One of my wish list items: Vita-mix
18. Where I grew up: Grenada
19. Last thing I did: Music
20. Wearing: pj's
21. Not wearing: makeup
22. My pets: Jeffrey
23. My computer: macbook
24. My life: busy
25. My mood: stressed
26. Missing: Portland
27. What I am thinking about right now: Andy
28. My car: Civic
29. My kitchen: tornado!
30. My weather: odd
31. Favorite color: yellow
32. Last time I laughed: 7:30pm
33. Last time I cried: weeks
34. School: done!
35. Love: forever

To drive a mile...

2008-04-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

It's official. Gas has gone over the $4 mark for us here in the middle of nowhere. And this is not premium or plus gas, but the regular cheap stuff. We're constantly trying to use less of this precious (although very bad on the environment) liquid. We walked to our favorite coffee shop the other day with Jeffrey, which was nice. We try to drive our small honda instead of our large volvo wagon when we can. You get the picture. I just wish we lived close enough to work so we could bike there. But it's 12 miles one way, so that would take at least an hour. Maybe one of these days I'll try it. Oh wait, I'd have to get a bike first, or at least get Andy's bike fixed, and a helmet. I hate money (or lack thereof).

My lunch

2008-04-16T15:39:00.001-07:00

Today I had the best lunch! It was chopped salad from a recipe in Natalia Rose's book "The Raw Food Detox Diet" (which I recommend). It's very colorful and one of the most delicious things I've had in a while, except for my raw chocolate cake. So here's a picture and the recipe.

Classic Chopped Salad

Makes 4 Servings

1 cup fresh haricots verts (green beans)

3 ears fresh corn, kernels cut from the cob

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

2 cups grape tomatoes, sliced in half

1 zucchini, chopped

3 tablespoons fresh chives, minced

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

Andy even liked the salad, except for the bell peppers and zucchini.

Mondays

2008-04-14T13:30:00.000-07:00

I love Mondays. It's our day off so I get a chance to do things like laundry, cleaning the house, paying the bills, and I always find time for something fun. Today I'm going to WalMart to buy a puzzle. I haven't done a puzzle in a very long time and it sounds fun. Here's one of my other latest Monday projects: an herb garden in my kitchen window sill. They're doing quite well and they're the first things I've been able to grow and not kill. I'm very proud. The herbs are as follows:

Oregano

Parsley

Sage

Thyme

Basil

I can't wait until they're big enough for me to use on delicious food!

Here's another wonderful thing. I got 3 ranunculus plants for my Birthday from a friend, so I took some pictures of the flowers. They're similar to roses, and I actually like them better than roses. I'm going to plant them in an ugly (it's ugly now because it has no flowers in it) barrel in my front yard. I think it gets lots of sun there, which is what these things need.