The Big 3-0

Guess who just had a birthday?  I probably mentioned it before, but my wonderful David had a birthday recently.  I was just reflecting on what an event it is to turn thirty, but mainly what a special, amazing man I have for a husband.

My Wonderful Husband

I feel like the luckiest woman in the world to get to go through this life with such an awesome man.  David is one of the most thoughtful, considerate, and kind people I know.  He is intelligent, creative, loving, and warm.  He is kind, funny, caring, and lovable.  I respect his thoughts and opinions about things so much- it's always a treat when he shares little nuggets of what he's been thinking.  I love how he is a man of concrete virtue- he sticks to his values even when no one is watching.  He is absolutely generous, and has such a heart of gold.  He is a true follower of Christ, and has a faithful heart for God.  He has matured so much in the time I've known him, and has really come into his own as far as being a spiritual leader and an inspiration.  I love him so, so much!

Sunday School

I think that my church might have dibs on the award for "Church with the Cutest Kids".  I teach the Pre-k/ Kindergarten Sunday school, and I have the most adorable little kids in my class.  This morning was a particularly good morning- the kids were all really into the lesson, and it seemed like they absorbed a lot of the content. There was a little girl there for the first time this morning, and had come to church with her next-door neighbors, who are members at our church.  She was an incredibly good listener- I don't think she had ever heard the full acount of King David before.  By the end of class she took delight in repeating back to me all the major points of the lesson (and some not-so-major ones, like a story I told as an example of disobedience about when I was five, and tried to trick my mom into thinking I had taken a bath when I hadn't... Let's all hope she doesn't choose that as the tidbit she shares with her mom when she gets home).

Also, before class started the kids were gathered into a big room to sing a few songs with one of our acoustic guitar-playing deacons, and one of the songs they sang was a more contemporary song.  One of my little bundles of sugar was rockin' it out in the front row.  It was like she was having a personal little concert experience- bouncing around, waving her arms, singing, and using her charm bracelet as an instrument, shaking it to the beat of the music.  She was too cute! I had a hard time not laughing...  I'm so glad that these kids have such a fun and positive experience worshipping and learning about God!

It Is Time...

for another post!

Wow, I can't believe I have left it so long in between posts.  This doesn't mean that nothing has been happening.  So much has been happening!  We've had lots of family visits, birthdays, holidays, time with friends, and fun!  A lot of days, though, I put off posting because I wanted to be able to be at least a little humorous, and I didn't have the energy to do so.  Then it became an avoidance of posting out of guilt.  Now I have decided to just bite the bullet and go for it, funny or not.

I have spent every day of the last month crocheting stuff.  I crocheted gifts for almost everyone for Christmas, and I was surprised at how well-recieved they were.  I think I probably don't give myself enough credit for the things I make.

Also, Wonderful David is now 30.  It's such a big milestone, but I'm not sure that the importance of it has sunk in yet.  His birthday was yesterday, and we spent lots of time together and went out to eat at Freebird's- his favoritest restaurant.  I also gave him several things.  He got a few books, a couple of board games, and a couple of extension packs for Settlers of Catan- a game I gave him for Christmas.  I absolutely adore Amazon wishlists.  I have about 10 pages of things I want on there.

December was also a good month because we got to see our excellent brother and sister, Aaron and Amie. Twice. The first time this past month was when we visited them at their place down in the Beaumont area of Texas, and that was super fun.  Amie and I did some mall-cruising and lots of shopping.  We also made lotion to give as Christmas gifts and stayed up until midnight to go to Walmart and get the latest release in the Twilight saga.  I think it was Eclipse.  We watched it together when we got home, and I have to say- it was enjoyable.  I might read the books eventually.  It was definitely interesting getting to hear the little details about Stephanie Meyer's version of vampires.  I think, though, that Edward's self-deprecation, moodiness, and sulkiness were a little extreme.  I did enjoy the lack of sexuality in the movie, and the special effects.  The best part was listening to Amie explain the intricacies of the storyline that I needed to be caught-up on.

David went hunting with his brother Aaron while we were there, too.  This gave Amie and I the time we needed to discuss Twilight in detail, shop, and make lotion.  Plus, he was so manly all dressed in hunter garb! :)

On Christmas Eve we saw my family for a little while and opened presents.  Shayce and Kylie were both incredibly adorable about opening their gifts.  We didn't go as overboard getting them stuff this year, and they were still just as cute!  I made them each their tradtitional Christmas hats from Aunt C (me), and this year I made their Mommy one, too.  They all matched, and were the ultimate in cuteness.

Christmas Day David and I slept in and opened our gifts for each other.  He got me lots of books from my wishlist, and a clock (as pictured above) and a few other things.  I got him several books and a Dilbert calendar, and a couple of other things I can't quite remember.  We actually put a tree up this year, and that was present enough for the cats.  And then we sprayed it with bitter spray and spoiled their fun.

For the Br-- family Christmas (David's family) we drove down to his parents' on the 29th and stayed through the 1st of January.  We drove back home in time for a New Year's party at our friends' house- Brian and Brandy. That was a lot of fun, and their sweet little daughter sent me home with a picture she drew for me.  She was very excited to see us, and Brandy told me that her daughter feels I'm her special friend since I teach her in her Sunday School and Children's church.

It has been quite an adventure teaching the Children's church and Sunday school.  For Sunday school I teach the Pre-K and Kindergarteners.  The curriculum is very different from anything that I have ever seen before.  I grew up going to a church that had some major theological differences from the church I go to now, and that is a long story in and of itself, but the biggest difference curriculum-wise is the emphasis on SIN and our utter helplessness to save ourselves.  The last 12 weeks of lessons have been a skimming through of the major points in the Old Testament, with great focus on our fallen nature and the consequence of our sinfulness.  It's a little odd to sit in front of a small sea of chubby cheeks, bright eyes, and button noses and deliver a message of hellfire and death.  There's a huge part of me that wants to just be like, "but not really... we just make mistakes, it's not that bad. Jesus still loves you!" because that's what I was raised with.  I know, though, that it will do them no favors in the long run to allow them to believe that sin "isn't that bad".  Plus, these hard weeks will make the story of Jesus and salvation all that much better.  It's pretty heart-rending to think of the generations of Israelite children before the time of Christ who grew up with only the hard part, and the knowledge that they couldn't measure up to the standard set before them.

Another big change that's happened in the last month is that I've been back to my OB/GYN a couple of times, and he put me on a medication to help me lose weight! I am so excited about it! I've lost about 15 pounds in the last month already.  At the beginning of this week David and I joined a nearby gym, and we've gone twice together and I've gone once by myself.  I have really enjoyed swimming laps in the pool, and it has helped me to refocus after the holiday celebrations.  We'll see how it goes from here.

That's about all I can think of right now, but hopefully I will get into the habit of updating more frequently.

Attention

Attention, kind readers: the dogs have been returned to the state of happy puffs.

I was informed by one of my good friends a few days ago that Mackenzie especially needed to be walked every day.  You see, this is an upgrade from our regular schedule of once a week, maybe once every other week.  So, I have increased the frequency of our walks to once every other day.  I will hopefully work up to walking every day. Maybe.

Today I just got back from walking them for 25 minutes around our quiet neighborhood.  They both had a great time, and we got some good obedience/ dominance training in.  I was also told by the aforementioned friend that I needed to seriously consider letting them know who is top dog around here.  So, we've been working on that.  Mackenzie still struggles with not going into hyper-blur speed every time she's in my presence, so it is definitely a work in progress with her.  Zenzi totally gets it, and is fine with it- most of the time.  Unless Mackenzie starts getting a little uppity.

Plus, I brushed and cuddled each of them for awhile after we got back, and they were both very appreciative.  Mackenzie was actually calm in my lap after our walk.  I was amazed.  So now they are both happy puffs.

As far as other happenings, this past week and a half has been very eventful and fun. The weekend before last we went down to central Texas to visit the Br--- side of the family (David's family).  We spent just shy of 24 hours there, but it was a good visit nonetheless.  I went with my wonderful sister Amie and mother-in-law Nancy to a craft fair the local town was having, and we saw lots of cute crafts.  I got several ideas for making Christmas gifts. 

Then we had a wonderful lunch, and stuffed ourselves (preceded by a delicious roast beef dinner the night before). Then, we drove home and headed straight to my friend DeAnne's house for our church ministry group, and to celebrate the baptism of their two daughters.

We missed getting to see the actual baptism of the girls, but I got to see pictures afterwards, and I was so impressed at the way they did it.  They had their daughters write personal testimonies (about a  paragraph each), then at the meeting they read it in front of everyone, then their father baptized them in their swimming pool.  I love that the girls got to share their testimony, and that it was such a personalized thing for them.

The next day we went to church and I did the art project with the 2-3 year old class, then taught the kindergarten Sunday school, then taught the bible lesson for the older kids in children's church.  We covered the Ten Commandments in the Sunday school class, and the jury is still out on whether or not my sweet little four and five year olds in my class absorbed the point of the lesson.  But, they enjoyed playing the game that went along with it, and I promised them that if they memorized the commandments and told them to me the next week they would get a prize.  They really liked that part.

After church we went out to lunch with some more good friends and their three little kids to Ali Baba's.  If you are ever in the Dallas metroplex, you need need need to look up one of their locations and try it.  It's the very best Mediterranean restaurant chain in the Dallas area, at least that I've been to so far.  Their gyro meat and tzatziki are the real deal- just like the stuff they make in Greece.

Monday I slept in, worked on the house, and cooked.  Tuesday I woke up with a sore throat so I slept in again. Wednesday I got up a little earlier, worked on the house, and cooked.  Then, late that night David and I went to the store to get some last minute items for Thanksgiving.  Thursday we got up early, cooked some broccoli cheese casserole, and then headed over to DeAnne's and had lunch with her and her family.  Then we visited a little while and had dessert.  Then, we headed over to my sister's house for a little while to see my side of the family.  It's nice that we only live about 5 minutes away from Melanie's house now.

After finishing at Melanie's house we went to Toys 'R' Us  for their Black Friday sale.  The doors opened at 10pm, and we got there at around 10:30.  We stood in line outside in the cold until just before midnight, then we finally got in the door at just before midnight.  We finished shopping in just less than 30 minutes, and then stood in line to check out for 2 hours.  The line wound its way all around through the store, up and down the aisles.  I don't know how anybody managed to navigate to shop.  But, the good part is that we saved a lot of money. We got a bunch of stuff for just less than 80 dollars.  And, we made friends while in line! One of them shared a coupon with us for 6 dollars off, and another one shared her cart with us so that David didn't have to stand for two hours holding a tower of items.  And, while we were in line we got to wind our way through the baby section and ogle all the cute little things!

Friday we slept in, and then I went and looked at puppies with my good friend Summer.  She had a puppy in mind at the city shelter nearby (which I totally love- they are a no-kill shelter), but we went and looked at Petland anyhow just for fun.  And it was a lot of fun.  They let you hold their puppies, no strings attached.  I held a little shih-poo that was cuddly and adorable.  I wasn't too tempted to take it home.

After the puppy-holding, we went to half-price books and shopped the clearance section.  It is seriously addictive.  It's way too easy to walk out of there with 15 dollars of books that were "only a dollar or two apiece!"  When we were done at Half-price books, we went to Golden Corral with David and had dinner.  I got to have turkey and stuffing again!  I have to admit, it's one of my favorite meals.

Saturday totally felt like Sunday to me.  I kept losing track of what day it was.  I can't really remember what we did, so we must not have done much.  Sunday I taught my little kindergartners in Sunday school again, and 3 of them were able to say all of the ten commandments! I was impressed.  And then another one was able to say the memory verse as well!

Monday I slept in a little, then worked on the house and worked on one of the Christmas gifts I'm making.  Yesterday I went to BSF, then picked David up so he could drop me off at home and have the car the rest of the day.  We ended up talking for an hour or so before he left to go back to work.  I am so thankful for what a wonderful husband I have, who does little things like that to let me know just how much he cares about me! After he left to go back to work, I worked on organizing the garage, then I walked around the house picking things up and putting them away, then I watched some TV and had a snack, and then worked on my crocheting, and then I started cooking dinner. 

I saw a dinner idea on TV and tried it a couple of weeks ago, and it has become one of our go-to options for dinner when we don't really have anything else planned.  It's where you make mashed potatoes, then heat a can of Campbell's "Beef with Country Vegetables" chunky soup, and then serve the soup on top of the potatoes.  It is Super Yum! So, that's what I made for dinner last night, along with a loaf of  chocolate chip banana bread.  It was filling and delicious, and cheap! The entire dinner cost me less than 4 dollars.

This morning I got a call from my OB/GYN, and they were checking in on me to see how everything is going.  They asked me a few questions, and determined that they needed to see me asap to do another blood test and ultrasound  and see what is going on with me.  They are probably going to be switching medications around and going to the next step to get my PCOS under control.  The friendly nurse said that from what I was telling her it didn't sound like the medicine I'm on now is working.  So I made an appointment to go in first thing tomorrow morning, and I'm nervous because I absolutely hate having my blood drawn, and I hate being weighed, and other things and so on.  Plus, we are leaving tomorrow to go out of town to visit Aaron and Amie.  So, the good balances out the bad.  I am just praying that the outcome of the doctor visit tomorrow will be good.

Long Time No See

Wow, it has been a while since I posted!  A lot has been going on.  October was so so busy for me because every weekend was something different- the first weekend was my 27th birthday, spent out of town for a women's get-away with ladies from my church.  The second weekend was spent having birthday parties- one for family, and one with a couple families from church.  Then, the third weekend was the True Woman conference in Ft. Worth.  It was fabulous! It made for some long days, though, since my friend and I drove over early in the morning and didn't get back home until after 11 each night.  Then, the weekend after that my mother-in-law and sister-in-law Amie came and visited.  That was a blast- we went out to eat at a coupe of different restaurants, went shopping at IKEA, and did a lot of visiting.  I was excited for them to get to see the finished version of my house in person! Then, the weekend after that was Halloween weekend, and David and I just relaxed and hung out, and watched some movies.  We're not really fans of Halloween, so we just hid from the trick-or-treaters (Although it was kind of fun to peek out the blinds at the cute babies in costumes. One family actually came up to our darkened doorway, and I saw a very cute little pink ballerina fairy.). We don't want to do Halloween when we do have kids, so David wants to start creating our family habits now.  I love that he is thinking ahead- I have a man with vision! :)

Also, I have been keeping plenty busy with doing homework for BSF and another Bible study I go to with my very good friend Anne, plus prepping for the kindergarten Sunday School class that I teach at my church.  The last couple weeks I have been illustrating my own flip-books to use in class, and that has taken quite a bit of time. Plus, I've been doing my best to organize and clean my house, and keep a certain black-and-white housecat out of trouble.  Lately she's been fixated on trying to eat my rubber plant.

One of my big goals lately has been to get my house more organized and to raise the baseline on how clean it is in general.  I would like to get it where everything has a place, and gets put there when we're finished using it.

I was talking to Anne a few days ago about how I felt that now that I am 27, it's probably about time for me to start being an adult, and stop indulging myself with skipping chores and such. I've also noticed that whenever I get things accomplished during the day, my level of contentment is significantly increased. And folks, I am all about my contentment levels increasing!

One thing that has been hard, though, about organizing closets is running into items that you know you will never use ever again, but you remember liking it at one time, and there's sentimental value, and while you have it in your grubby little hands you enjoy it so much that all you want to do is let it continue to sit in a little dark box in a little dark corner of a little dark closet, since you can't bear the idea of throwing it out, and you can't give it away because it wouldn't have any value to anyone else.... *sigh*  I will probably end up taking those things to Goodwill anyhow, just so I'm not the one placing it in the trash can.  Although, some of the items might actually end up having some value to someone.  I'll let them decide.

Gotta go- cat is playing with electrical appliances.  And the rubber tree is in her sights too.

Happenings

Well, it's been an exciting two weeks.   I have been doing a lot over the last couple of weeks, and no time or energy to sit down and write about everything.  I've been doing a lot of visiting lately, and enjoying it greatly.  My cats have been thrilled to have company over!  Also, a couple weeks ago the mentoring program started at my church as part of the women's ministry, and I have been getting to know my mentor, Anne.  It's just amazing to me how good the Lord is, and how well He provides.  I love Anne dearly, and I have been learning alot from her.  But mostly, it feels like my feminine heart is finally flourishing-- it's like I finally feel okay with being a woman.  Which is kind of weird, because it's not like I thought I was a man or anything of the sort.

At the luncheon to mark the beginning of this year's mentorship, I also learned about something incredible- Peppermint Tea.  It is the most delicious thing I have tasted in a long, long time.  A couple of days later I went by the store and bought a box of it to enjoy at home.  David and I have started drinking it at night when we read together.  Although there was a new development a few days ago- we made our tea as usual, then gathered up our books and Trinket, and retired to the bedroom to read.  While David was reading, it was a monumental task trying to keep my little furry friend out of delicious warm drink.  No matter where I put her or my mug, she just about had her head in it.  Finally, I drank it down to a couple of drops left, and offered her a taste.  I was thinking that as soon as she tasted it, she would be put off.  Boy, was I wrong! She lapped it right up and then tried to raid David's mug for seconds.

Another thing that I have been doing lately is a new Bible study with Anne.  She has been going to a small Bible study for a while, and she invited me to go with her last Friday.  It's a neat group led by a lady who worked as a missionary to the Jewish community for over 40 years.  Each week they study part of a manuscript written by a messianic Jew (who the lady taught years ago and converted).  I greatly enjoyed it because of the richness of meaning gained from the writer's experience with Jewish culture and fluency in Hebrew.  It seemed to me that the Old Testament came alive in a way that it never has before.

Today I got together with another dear friend from church, and we baked pumpkin goods all morning, then ate lunch together.  We initially intended to watch a John Piper dvd, but we got busy talking about things and time ran away from us.  I wasn't too disappointed, though, because I think that sometimes talking about personal things with a supportive and Godly friend can be as spiritually nurturing as attending a sermon.  We weren't deeply in the word, but I still felt like we ministered to one another.  We each made a pumpkin pie, and then we also made some pumpkin scones (yum!)  David is going to be so spoiled for dinner tonight....

Yesterday was also a good day- I spent a couple hours yesterday with another friend from church and her little children- she has two girls and a baby boy. We took a nice, long walk around a nearby park, and got to talk a lot about all kinds of things.  I loved spending time with them because her children are so adorably well-spoken and say such funny things, and she herself is a great conversationalist and listener. She made homemade bread, and we made sandwiches with it for lunch.  It was So Good!! I hope she and I get together again soon and exchange recipes!

Monday was a great day because I had an appointment to go get a massage, as well as a chiropractic adjustment.  While I was at the office, I found out that the doctor wasn't in because his wife had given birth to their babies (they were expecting twins!).  I was pretty disappointed because my back was in pretty bad shape-- sore all over!  However, as I was getting my massage he came by to do a little paperwork, and I saw him when I was finished with my massage.  He mentioned that he had been out of the office for just under a week, and was dying to get back to work.  So, I asked him if he would like to pop my back, and he said yes!  God is GOOD! It turns out that I had several ribs out of place and almost every vertebrae needed to be adjusted. I was poppin' all over the place!  I went in for another treatment this morning and am now pretty much back to normal.

Another good thing I've been doing this week is exercising.  I have been on two bike rides this week! Woo hoo! I have really been enjoying the nice weather, and I have been really proud of myself for getting out and about.

Pretty Puppies

Sunday David and I got a lot done- we went to church, I helped with Children's Church (fun!), talked to a bunch of our friends, went out for Chinese, took the dogs to be groomed, mowed and raked the yard, sprayed the yard for bugs (fleas, spiders, wasps, mosquitos, ants, etc.), then went and picked up the dogs, got a rootbeer float from Sonic, and then came home.  And then we watched movies and cuddled puppies.  It was a full day!

We decided to take the dogs to be groomed because they just looked so sad and pitiful out on the back porch, and unhappy with their dirtiness.  They just wanted to come in and cuddle so bad!  I didn't want to cuddle them though due to the dirt and fleas.  So, when we got back from lunch, I started calling around to different places to see if they could fit us in.  I must have called 10 different Petco's and Petsmarts, and none of them wanted to take us.  Then I just did a search on Google for grooming in our vicinity, and came up with a shop that was walk-ins only a couple blocks away.  So we packed the dogs up and headed out. We actually ended up at a different grooming shop than the one we were looking for, but the guy who worked there was willing to squeeze them in.  We went back to get them a couple hours later, and they were fresh and clean as little poseys! The guy did a great job, and our fur-babies were so happy to get to cuddle the rest of the evening.

Mack's eyes go a little wall-eyed when she's super super excited! :)

Laundry Day

Today has been a big day for laundry at Chez B--. It's not been without two little shadows everywhere I turn, however.  I piled all the clean laundry on the bed, and took a shower to cool off, and this is what I came back to:

Caught, red-handed!

A close-up of the perp.  Naughty, Gizmo!

Her Response?

Cat Update

Guess who discovered a new hiding place last night?

When we first looked at this house, we predicted that Trinket would enjoy this spot.  We made it over two months before she discovered it.  She was hilarious.  She couldn't understand why we couldn't pet her when she sits on the edge like when she sits on the edge of the bed.

Gizmo is also doing good.  She seems like she has become fairly satisfied with our food choice for her as of late, but still has moments when she clearly is holding out for something from a can (tuna, anyone?).  Plus, even when she comes up and rubs your legs, if you try to pet her, she has an immediate duck-and-weave response.  Like she's thinking, "Ack! My head! My head will come off!"

Another Good Week

This past week has been wonderful for me- full of plenty of relaxation and together-time with David, as well as lots of good fellowship with friends from church.  I feel so blessed to have so many caring people in my life to talk to!  I had people over a few times during the day, for lunch and visiting.  I so enjoyed the opportunity to chat, and felt like my social needs were well-met this past week.  David and I have had several discussions about how often is the ideal for having company.  I tend towards two or three times a week, whereas David is more comfortable with two or three times a month (on top of time we spend with friends at bible study groups, church, and group marriage counseling).  I think I just have a larger cup for the wine of socialization than David- when his cup runneth over, mine is only half full!

Also, yesterday was my first full morning helping out with the 2,3, and 4 year olds class at church.  Our church lasts about 3.5 hours each Sunday (an hour each for worship, classes, then teaching hour), and the program for the 2-4s runs the whole length. Kids that age really struggle with sitting still for five minutes, let alone for a full lesson from the pulpit, so the program provides snacks, crafts, story time, and lots time before and after for free play (with plenty of room to get their energy out).  I had a great time playing with the kids, and talking to them here and there.  During the free play time, a little girl served me "lunch", which was imaginary pizza, with bananas and syrup on top. Yum... 

When we got home from church yesterday we ended up taking a four-hour nap.  It was lovely!  Then, we watched a movie marathon, and I worked on crocheting.  I have been working on crocheting a quilt for a queen-sized bed since last April.  I am finally getting close to having it done.  David and I went Saturday and bought another pound of each color of yarn, so hopefully that will be enough to finally finish.  I'll post pictures of it when I'm finished.