Welcome September!

I love the month of September, and not just because it's the month my birthday falls in!

But because, for me, it always feels like a good time to organize and renew for the last few months of the year.  There's just an all together feeling of starting over- maybe its back to school, I'm not sure! (Although back to school here was 2 weeks ago, but September is back to school in my mind, I guess because that's always when I went back to school).  And summer is un-officially over.

So in light of my renewed feelings of organization and starting over, I thought I'd look at my resolutions from the new year and see how I'm doing! And maybe make a few new ones for the rest of the year!

1. Start and keep a blog- I think I've done very well with this one!

2. Spend less time on Facebook- eh! I've done okay with this one- I "try" not to spend so much time on FB, but sometimes my work gets really quiet and boring.  But I generally do not get on Facebook (or the computer for that matter) at all in the evenings or over the weekend.  I spend too much time on it at work during the day.

3. Health-  I kind of added to this one at the beginning of the summer when I decided I was going to start running, unfortunately I haven't hit the 3 mile mark by the end of the summer as I had hoped, but I am okay with that because running 3 miles takes a long time and a lot of energy, but I am well on my way to reaching that goal! I run for about 30 minutes and I can usually run 2.6 miles and then I do a 5 minute cool down, so I usually on the treadmill for about 2.8miles. I think if I can run for 35 minutes I should be able to reach that goal!  In terms of other health- I have done great! Still drinking lots of water and eating plenty of fruits and veggies! I've even lost a few pounds over the summer, so I am pumped about that! And now that Brayden is here, I am even more active than I was before! He keeps us busy- I think I've lost 5 pounds since he's been here!

4.  Personal Quiet Time-

•  I am trucking along in my 180 day reading that that has taken me a lot longer than 180 days, but I am almost done! I am thinking and praying about what I want to tackle next in terms of a reading plan (I like to have a plan- it keeps me focused!) 
• Memory verses- Okay, so I have done SO BAD with this.  I think the last verse I memorized was in March! So very, very bad! Confession- I am really bad at memorizing verses- not that I can't memorize, but its the act of doing that I am so bad at.  I need some hard core diligence.  

A few new ones...

5. Organization- Our house is pretty organized- or it appears that way- don't look in the closets! ha! But I would really LOVE to change that!  All of our closets are FULL of junk (yes, junk) that I would love to go through and get rid of!  So my goal is go through everything and decide what to do with it- trash, Goodwill or yard sale it! We have tons of clothes and stuff that we never touch (mostly because something might eat you if you try to get it from the closet! ha!) A little extra closet space and a little less stuff never harmed anyone! I think Metochai is hosting a yard sale in October, so that will also help with my next goal...

6.  Start saving and planning for our trip home at Christmas-  I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner! Ahh!!! I always intend to start saving earlier, but it never works out.  But saving even $10/week will help and buying things whenever I can will also help.  General goal, I know, but I need to start thinking about this- yesterday! 

So really I am only adding two new goals, mostly because they are both big goals and a few of the other ones still need some work! 

About the boys-

Donald is back to school and he has survived the first couple of weeks! This semester he is taking Hebrew, Preaching, Evangelism, and New Testament.  He's got a full plate for sure- with working, going to school and taking care of B after school and work, and making sure to spend time with me, he's one busy guy! I am so blessed by him and his hard work! 

Brayden is doing awesome!  The adjustment has gone so well for us all! We've gotten him into a good little routine (and we've adjusted to our new routine) so that's huge! I am a BIG fan of routines! He's talking like crazy and sometimes we even know what he says! ha!  His favorite words are: Mine, No, Go, Cow, kitty cat, and dog.  And he can say the sounds moo and meow.  He will repeat everything we ask him to say: he's working on outside, shoes, bath and Amen (he says them or says something that sounds like them!) He's very good at identifying things- if we say shoes, stroller, outside, snack, books, cup, etc. he can go get it or go to it.  Also, when we say "lets take a bath" he runs to bathroom wanting to climb in; when we say "do you want to brush your teeth?" he runs to the bathroom and takes out his paci; when we say its time to eat, he stands by his highchair and if we say "where's your paci" he can find it and sometimes 3 others.  We are also working on "where's your..." he knows "where's your ears", but when we ask him wheres your mouth, eyes, nose, etc. he points to his ears.  (The boy knows where his ears are!) He loves watching Yo Gabba Gabba and will dance and clap his hands when it comes on.  

But, I think that's a long enough post! ha! 

Saturday Morning Traditions

Besides sleeping in, my favorite thing about Saturday is sitting on our front porch.  We generally wake up as we please, one of us will make a pot of coffee and when its done we take our cups and sit out front.  We sip our coffee and just chat. I love it!

We generally don't talk about anything specific, we just chat and enjoy each others company.  But we've reminisced about the going to Nags Head, talked about the kiddos back home, and have even planned a few day trips.  We've talked about more serious things like where God will take us after seminary and have shared our hearts for the those who are hurting and for the lost.  I love that we can be totally serious and goofy all in the same conversation. 

We've been fascinated with the clouds (there are some pretty cool clouds here in TX!) and we water our basil plant.  We've seen a few neighbors walking their dogs and watering their plants. 

In 20 years when we are serving in a church and we think back to our time in seminary, I am almost certain that these Saturday mornings, just the two of us on our front porch, will be filed under some of our most favorite memories.  When the hustle and bustle of life is put on hold and for 30 short minutes its just us...and our coffee!

Thank you for sweet memories!

Vacation 2011: Preaching

Not only was Donald a groomsman in Kari and Matt's wedding, but they also asked him to preach a Wedding Message.  He gave an awesome message on what a marriage covenant is and how this covenant, like all other covenants He makes, demonstrates His love for His people. 

On Sunday, Donald got to preach at our church back home.  I had every intention of bringing my camera with me and snapping a few pictures of him while he was up there, but apparently my Matron of Honor duties were not officially over and I got to church as he was walking up to the pulpit and I forgot my camera.

For that message he preached about running the race for Christ and used Philippians 3:12-14 which says:

"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.  Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."   

But the most awesome thing happened, during the invitation a man came forward and gave his life to Christ! Putting his trust in the one who saves! It was awesome to see how God was working through Donald to help that man see his need for Christ.  Praise God!

P.S. The reason I was so late was because I had to meet Kari and Matt out near the Richmond airport to pick up Matt's tux so it could be returned.

I didn't get any pictures of Donald preaching, but I did manage to snap a few pictures of the 3 girls before church. They are getting so big!

This was them being silly!

Update

It's been a while since I blogged, so I thought I've give an "update" blog.

Donald is working 3 days a week and the other two he is doing stuff with our church. Even though school is out, he has been super busy!  He has been sub-teaching for various Sunday School classes the last few weeks and for the next two weeks.  He has also been teaching a series on "How we got the Bible" for the Wednesday night Bible Study.  I've really enjoyed getting to hear him teach and seeing how passionate he is about the Word.  Also a few Sunday's ago he preached a message on Sunday night.  I love watching this man preach.  I am looking forward to him being my pastor one day!! When we go home in a few weeks he will be preaching at my sisters wedding (a mini sermon) and then preaching at NCBC on Sunday morning. 

I am still working and trying to find a teaching job.  Unfortunately, is does not look good at all! But I will keep putting myself out there and trying to find something!! On Monday I have been summoned to jury duty! Donald is a little jealous because he would love to serve on a jury, but I am not as excited! Knowing my luck I'll be picked to actually serve! We'll see! I'll keep you informed!

We have had a slightly "rough" week! Last Friday we had the pest control people come because we have seen a "Texas Bug" (aka Waterbug) and so we thought we would call before we saw more.  Well, they seem to have made the problem worse.  This week we had seen 4! Yesterday morning Donald found one (bug #3) sitting in our cup cabinet when he went to get a coffee mug and that was the final straw for him!  So yesterday afternoon he clean under the stink, like scrubbed it down and  filled in any holes, we think that's how they are getting in.  BUT we were wrong and I found another one last night.  We are mortified.  We are scared to go into our kitchen in fear of being attacked by bugs.  I want to move, but I think they are everywhere.  We are hoping that the last one was already in the house before we filled in the holes and we will not see anymore.  And the worst part, we ran out of bug spray with number 2, so the last two we have been dealing with without any defense mechanism.  I will be getting more when I go to Wal-mart, even if it causes me to go over my grocery budget, yes its THAT bad!

We are so looking forward to our "vacation" in a week and a half! (I say "vacation" because I am not too sure how much of a vacation it will be!)  Kari and Matt are getting married and we will also be going to Philadelphia with Jackie and Jared and then to the beach, and then to Lynchburg.  I will have to say that I am excited that we do not have to drive.  We decided it was actually going to be cheaper for us to fly because after the rental car, gas, food, and a hotel each way we were going to spend close to $800 and we were able to find tickets for around $580.  Woohoo!  And we will be able to spend more time there cause we will not be in the car for 4 days of our 12 day vacation!

Whelp, I guess that's all.  I leave you with some pictures from our last little adventure!

Camping

This past weekend Donald and I went camping! We went just for one night, but we had such good time! We did get a quick storm Friday afternoon, but other than that the weather was great!

We got to see a lot of wildlife- a baby snake, lots of frogs, a lizard and a crane bird.  We also saw 2 very common animals that were acting very uncommon- a raccoon and a squirrel. These two animals would come about 2 feet away from us and when we tried to scare them off they didn't budge! Donald tossed a rock near the squirrel thinking it would scare it off, but it thought what he threw was food and he didn't go anywhere.  The raccoon creeped me out a little- he was too sneaky!

One time the raccoon was climbing on our neighbors table and Donald ran over there a little to scare him off and when he did he tripped over the rope that was securing our tent cover down and riped the tent.

A few things that we learned from our first solo camping trip:

• Bring 2 trash bags
• Spray foil with cooking spray before putting the burgers down- I even brought the spray
• No baked potatoes-  they take way too long to cook- we ate half raw potatoes with dinner
• bring a smaller cooler for drinks and stuff to take while fishing
• Coffee took 2.5 hrs. to brew- we should have gotten up a lot earlier
• My boss' grill is no good, we should have just planned on using the fire for everything- which we ended up doing anyway!
•  If the option is available, pick a campsite closest to the bathroom!

But overall, we had a really good time.  While it was raining on Friday, we drove around checking out the whole park. 

After the rain stopped, we went fishing for a few hours.  Unfortunately we didn't catch anything, but we saw lots of fish jumping!

On Saturday we wanted to go fishing but all the good spots were taken! So we went on a hike instead.  For Texas, it was a good little hike and we got to see some cool plants!

After the hike, we went back to our site, ate lunch, and packed up to head home! It was really nice to be "unplugged" for the weekend...no phones, no Internet, no TV, just us and the great outdoors! We would like to go one more time before it get too hot, but its already getting pretty hot.  But we will be going again in the fall!

Have a great Tuesday!



Anniversary Date!

For our anniversary we decided to go to Mellow Mushroom. 

We drive by it EVERY single day and have never been. I am so glad we did, it was SO good! We each got a calzone and they were just so good! Our favorite place to get a calzone was Mio's (a restaurant that use to be in Richmond) and since it closed we hadn't found a good place to get calzones, but we have now!

We sat on the patio and we had such a good time. 

After we had dinner we went to a near by park to collect some sticks to take camping with us this weekend.  I know that sounds a little crazy...we thought so too! Ha! But you are not allowed to gather wood at the state parks here, so we are buying a bundle of logs, but wanted to collect some sticks for kindling. We were dying laughing whole time we were collecting them because we thought we might have looked a little crazy walking around the park picking up sticks.  But we got some! 

We also took a few pictures and Donald climbed a tree.  I really wanted to, but I was wearing a skirt and flip-flops!

We had a great time celebrating our 4th Anniversary! I am so thankful for this guy!

May 19, 2007

We were married four year ago today and it was a beautiful day. The ceremony was held at New Convenant Baptist Church in Richmond, VA and the reception was held at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Downtown Richmond. We had friends and family stand with us as we vowed before God to love each other until "death do us part". I remember standing in front of Donald with our hands clasped together saying those words that meant forever, and thinking how am ever going to love him more. Four years later, I love him more then I did on May 19, 2007 and I still wonder how I'm ever going to love him more. My heart swells when I see him after work and he still gives me butterflys. I love that we still hold hands and that he hugs me when I get home from work. I am so thankful to be married to my best friend and can not imagine living a day without him. He still carries me away...

     It might seem like an ordinary night

Same ol' stars, the same ol' moon up high

But when I see you standin at your door

Nothin's ordinary anymore.

I get carried away by the look by the light in your eyes

 

Before I even realize the ride I'm on

Baby I'm long gone.

I get carried away

Nothin matters but being with you

Like a feather flyin high up in the sky on a windy day,

I get carried away.

Carried away.

Donald,

Thank you for the most amazing four years...so far! I fall more in love with you everyday and I am so thankful you have choosen me to be your wife.  Thank you for leading me and loving me everyday. I am so excited to see where God will take us in the furture! Happy Anniversary! I love you!

Lyrics by George Strait, Carried Away

Photos taken by Travis Gallahan