January 31

I really love my Jonah Bible study - I'm learning so much. I am SO thankful that I serve a God of second chances. A God who is sitting in heaven just WAITING for me to ask for another chance - how amazing is He?

We officially gave back the keys to the Greenbush house tonight. It was a bittersweet moment as I pulled out of the subdivision. I remember the first day we arrived - it was SO COLD and I was clueless on even how to get to our house. But now we're done...moved on....I'm wondering what awaits us at the Osage house.

Started my first book of the year - I'm so embarrassed to say that :/ seeing as it's the last day of the month.  But I'm excited to be reading the Anne of Green Gables series for the first time ever - I think I should be even MORE embarrassed to be saying that, seeing as I'm a HUGE Anne fan!  Reading the first few chapters made me want to sit and watch the movies all over again - I'm thinking I'm going to try and talk my youth group girls into watching it when they do their sleepover here at my house next month....we'll see!

January 30

I am a failure.....

I didn't post yesterday - the first day this year that it didn't happen. Can I tell you a secret? I don't feel all that bad ;) I've posted 20 + more times than I did last month so that's got to count for SOMETHING right? LOL  I actually did think about posting last night as I was getting comfy in the couch last night and said to myself ....nah, you can do it after you watch Castle....well I fell asleep during Castle and went to bed right afterwards.

So yesterday went something like this:

Woke up
Showered
Left for Church
Got to Church 8 minutes late (I hate being late) had to sit in the balcony because the lower level was full - a good problem, except I don't enjoy sitting up there - I feel like I'm going to fall through the floor :/
Switched cars with Brian
Drove home
Microwaved leftover Chili (it was still super yummy - but it was the last day we SHOULD be eating it ;))
Went to the Greenbush house with Brian to get the Jeep {did I tell you I was in my pajamas - well I was, and since I didn't have to get out of the car I didn't get dressed} Had to get out of the car and help Brian - thankfully nobody was out and about in the neighborhood - although our older neighbors from across the street were watching us, I'm sure.

Came home
Did a few random things around the house
Watched a show while Brian was working in the garage (which he did a GREAT job at - looks pretty amazing!)
Stopped the show to close Tina's Pampered Chef show - She got $240 worth of FREE products - pretty amazing huh?
Cooked Dinner - and Monday's dinner. {large salad with lots of veggies and a cut up chicken breast - yum!}

Cleaned up - YES my kitchen was spotless last night - yay :)
Went to the basement and helped Brian put together the sectional, and was pretty excited that we could both lay on the couch at the same time again! I've missed my comfy spot!
And watched Castle until bed.

whew.... yeah it was a busy day ;)

Today was a little slower - Monday is my "Washing" day - which reminds me I need to go get the last load out of the dryer.
Then I met with Sara  - who is my co-leader for our Small Group in Youth Group. We planned some really fun ideas for the girls this semester - I hope they like them!  I might be crazy though - we planned a sleepover at my house ;) should be fun!

Do you have a schedule that you keep on a weekly basis - like my "Monday is my washing day?"

January 28

Happy 1 year in Iowa to us :) We've officially lived in Iowa longer than we lived in Missouri...crazy thought huh?

Today started off with our land lord waking us up by coming into the house - we had heard him knock, but we were still in bed, and didn't quite know what to do since neither of us were "presentable" at the time! So as we are trying to throw clothes on he walks in and thankfully called out to us.  Brian thought he said he was coming later in the day - not before 9 a.m. ;) lol  oh joy...  He obviously has forgotten that people without children don't get up early on Saturday mornings ;)

So I made dinner for the first time tonight for us - Chicken Breasts in a bourbon sauce by Tastefully Simple, Green Beans and "mashed potato style" Cauliflower - it was all pretty good if I do say so myself ;) AND I got to play with my new immersion blender that Brian bought me for Christmas - it was fun :)

Brian had Tech Team at church this weekend so while he was gone tonight I was SUPPOSED to get caught up on a few things...it didn't happen - I ended up watching Marley and Me. I KNOW how the movie ends, yet I choose to watch it and bawl my eyes out...yea I'm a crazy one!

While watching I did get ALL the birthday presents bought for all the kiddos we buy for in a year - and I stayed within our budget - yay me ;) Have I mentioned on here how amazing Financial Peace University has been in our lives? I HIGHLY recommend it - in the short 4 months we've been doing the program it has changed our lives FOREVER in a good way! Let me know if you have questions about it!

January 27

Tonight we went to our friends Andrea & Brad's house for game night - we learned a new game called "Quelf" I"m thinking it's going to be one to add to our collection! It was SO much fun!! 

What is your favorite board game?

January 26

Hmm....nothing much interesting happened today - well except for the fact that I found out my last 3 days of posting saved as a draft and didn't post - oops!! They should be there now ;)

Spent the morning with Brian - not doing a whole lot.
Spent the afternoon going to the Chiropractor and then going to the Drivers Licence place to get my addresses updated. I seriously look SO MAD in my new picture - it's almost funny!

Then I came home - watched the Bachelor - come on, you know you watch it too!

Kacie B is my favorite girl right now - I think she is genuine and would be a great match for Ben.

The girl that needs to go home is Courtney - she's too full of herself, and kinda mean to everyone else.

We'll see who Ben keeps around ;)  You know in the past years I've been able to narrow it down to the top 3 girls - so we'll see if I'm right or not ;) Although I don't have a top 3 this time....so Hopefully Kacie wins his heart!  {oh and thank goodness for Hulu!} 

January 25

Today was a different day - different in that Brian was home all day with me :) YAY! After working some CRAZY hours last weekend (on his days off) he was able to work from home today - just taking phone calls as needed.  So we decided to go over to our old house and finish cleaning it, and grabbing the last few items that we had left there after the move on Sunday.  As I was vacuuming the carpet I thought, "Man, I'm going to miss this carpet - it's so soft" LOL - yeah I really thought that - but I was also thinking about the first day that I was the house, the same day that all of our stuffs would arrive. How weird it was that I never really got to look at the house before we moved in etc...  But I was also thinking about the good times Brian and I had in the short year that we lived there.  We had a lovely fondue dinner for Valentines day last year, I made my first Superbowl party treats (for the life of me I can't find those recipes anymore - boo!, We went on our first camping trip alone - for a week! I became a piano owner - just to name a few.  It was a good house to live in and we'll miss it!  Goodbye Greenbush house!! 

 

After we were done cleaning up the house we realized that we had a BUNCH of time left in the afternoon so we ran some errands. While we were at Menards I saw this paint display - it was SO CUTE! I didn't even realize that Crayola had a paint line out - I loved their names too - Ruby Red, Green Turtle etc... 

 Cute huh? 

January 24

My Jonah bible study was this morning - have I mentioned how much I am enjoying this study?  This morning I was running "just on time" not early and not late - but I was going to get there "just on time" I tend to like to be EARLY - I'm talking 10+ minutes! So for me I felt rushed. So I hurried into the room and there were people at all of the tables - SHOCKER right? LOL not really - but when I usually arrive NOBODY is there and I just sit down at an empty table and wait for the others to arrive. Last week a bunch of older ladies sat at my table ages 55+ - now please don't get me wrong, I love women of all ages - and obviously I attract them??? - but I REALLY needed to talk/make friends with some women that were MY age, who were going through the same things that I am going through etc...  So I come into the room and carefully look at each of the tables BEFORE sitting down - and lo and behold there was a group of ladies that looked to be about my age, AND there was a spot open at their table. YAY - so I go and sit down there - I'm so glad I did.  We ended up talking about things that I could relate to in life, how we all applied this weeks study to our lives etc... it was SO refreshing!!! I'm actually looking forward to going to the study next week - hopefully there will be a spot open at their table again!

Here are just a few things I wanted to share from this weeks study:

"Partnering with Him [God] doesn't mean having no plans and ambitions of your own. It means holding them loosely, always leaving room for "the word of the Lord" reshaping your purposes and aligning them with His own"

"Believing that divine interruptions are a privilege not only will cause us to handle them differently but also to await them eagerly"

"Whatever God has called you to do should be a privilege for you to undertake. While it might not be easy or convenient He offers you a chance to write a story of significance for eternity"

Insignificant PERSON + Insignificant TASK = INTERRUPTION
Significant PERSON + Significant TASK = DIVINE INTERVENTION
Divine Interruption + Yielded Submission = ETERNAL SIGNIFICANCE

"Giving God a position of significance - the primary role - in your daily living is of paramount importance. This means more than simply receiving Him as Savior. In the tale of your life unfolding right now, He, NOT YOU, must be the one in the spotlight. Your life involves you but is not ultimately about you.  Knowing this allows you to be more willing to relinquish control over your life and yield to the divine intervention"

"God's plans for us are so overwhelmingly beyond anything that we could ever imagine that our feelings or ability to reason His directives cannot be the determining factor for choosing obedience. Making sense of what God has asked or feeling compelled to cooperate cannot be the prerequisite for choosing obedience.  His Word must be enough"

And here is a question for you reader:

What is your life telling others about the God you serve?

January 23

Musical Mondays:



I heard this song today. It is totally where I'm at with a few friends and some family members. There is nothing left for me to do for them but pray, and lift the up to God - he alone can soften their heart and turn them back towards him.

January 22

Moving Day!!

This morning seems like days ago, we are so exhausted! I am SOOOOOO thankful to everyone who helped us out. There is NO WAY Brian and I could have done it ourselves.

We have 99% of our items here at the new place, now I just have to go clean up the old house and get my cleaning items, and a few dishes that are in the dishwasher and we'll be done!! This is such a good feeling!! And I'm pretty excited that we will be saving almost $300 a month in rent!

Did I also mention that we are going without cable here at this house? It's going to be a big adjustment for us, but a good one, we'll also be saving some $$ there as well! 

I'm going to end with a few pictures, yes, I just looooove unpacking ;)

January 21

So....yeah, we didn't move today. Brian got called into work at 3 a.m. and didn't get home until after 6 p.m. so needless to say it didn't happen. Thankfully we were able to move the truck rental to tomorrow and a few of the people who were originally going to help us are still able to help.

We ended the night by playing games at our friends house...buzzword and a new one I hadn't heard of before, guesstimates. Both were super fun and we found out that we are actually pretty good at buzzword ;)

Yay, now hopefully we can do this tomorrow!!

January 20

Last Day at our Greenbush House - moving to our Osage house tomorrow :) Pretty excited!

To be sentimental we ordered Chinese for dinner - it was our first meal we had in this house, and it will be our last....yeah I know, we're cheesy like that ;)

January 19

Whoa....busy day today!  It started with me heading to the new house so the guys who were there to hook up the phone/internet could get in - it was REALLY cold!!!! 

Got to the house and the fire alarm was going off - REALLY loudly....so the guy who was there to hook up the phone/net and I got friendly real quick - I had to get up on to a stool and unplug the battery so it would stop and then I basically fell into this guys arms trying to get down off the stool...yeah, so not cool! lol!

After hook up guy left I worked on our guest room and got it FINISHED! So now all of you guests who want to come and visit us can ;)

My grandpa made the doll house in the corner when I was 7  :) It really needs new carpet and curtains put in, but I'll probably wait until my (someday) little girl wants to play with it :)

I then spent the afternoon with the 2 little handsome men I've been watching - littlest man wanted a bite of my orange - and lets just say it wasn't the sweetest orange I've ever had - and he made the FUNNIEST faces! Too bad I was too slow to get them on camera :)

After I was done watching them I went back out to the house and unpacked a BUNCH of stuff in the basement - no pictures, sorry :)

Just before I left I headed into the main bathroom and saw this on the calendar (yes I'm aware that it was yesterday's date ;))

What do you think? Agree or Disagree?

January 18

Nothing much exciting happening around here today :)


I did order some new business cards from www.inkgarden.com for my Pampered Chef business - they are SUPER cute. I was able to design them myself - I think I'm going to love them :)  


InkGarden is having a sale right now - 100 FREE business cards - Use codes100FREE for one sided cards and 100FREE2 for two sided cards. These business cards are free, you just have to pay a shipping fee of $4.99. 


Even if you don't need "business" cards per-say you could always get some personal cards - just so you have your information handy, OR you could get Mommy cards that say something like "I'm Jack's Mommy" etc... OR you could create some really CHEAP valentines like these ones: 

Have fun - be creative :) 

GIVEAWAY

The Vintage Pearl is giving away this SUPER cute owl Necklace - go and get your entries on!! 

January 17

Today I started a new bible study at our church titled "Jonah" by Priscilla Shirer - I think it's going to be fantastic - here is a video where she is talking a little bit about a "Life Interrupted" - which seems to be our life the last 4/5 years!

January 16

Not much happening around here today. Monday is usually my laundry day. Today I got it all done including our sheets. It's weird to NOT be putting any laundry away, just putting it in baskets to take to the new place.

I spent the afternoon with two handsome little men. We played cars, watched some snippets of a few movies, and built a bunch of different things with wooden blocks. Littlest man loved knocking everything over that we built. So fun :)

January 15

Another day full of moving stuff! I think we have about 95% of our stuff at our new house - all the small things that is. All the furniture & big items will be moved on Saturday - YIKES, how did it get to be moving day so fast?

We moved all of our extra clothing today - boy, we have ALOT of clothes....I'm thinking it's time to get rid of a few things!



As we were leaving the new place the sun was going down - these pictures don't do the sunset tonight justice - it was GORGEOUS!! I'm so glad that I serve the worlds BEST artist!!  Who else could come up with the beauty that is sunrises and sunsets?

January 14

Whew....I'm exhausted. Brian and I did ALOT of moving today - and the house is getting emptier (is that a word?) Next Saturday is the big move - and hopefully we'll just have the "big" stuff to move - no boxes or small items - that's the goal anyways ;)

Have I told you it snowed this week? yes, yes, glorious snow.....umm....not. I am not really a fan of the white stuff....if it would stay off the roads and sidewalks I'd be happy and you wouldn't hear a peep out of me, but it doesn't so I complain...deal with it ;) lol
BUT, I will admit this is very pretty ;)

 It was on a weed/plant outside of our new house - right next to our hitching post - you know if you ever want to ride your horse over to our house ;)

Today was also the last day for us to get mail at our PO Box - I'm not gonna say that I will miss having to go to the post office on a daily basis - but I'll miss seeing the VERY friendly staff at our little post office :)

And to end this post - go and watch this awesome video :) Love it!! So much truth!

January 13

Ack....my house is driving me crazy!!  I can't wait to be all moved in and things all in their places! The big move is next weekend - if anyone would like to help we would REALLY appreciate it! We will feed you breakfast and lunch!! Can you tell I'm trying to bribe you? But really, I'm serious we would love your help! 

January 12

Busy day today! Went out to the new house and started unpacking a bunch of stuff. Got all of the books in the bookshelves - except the shelf that is going in the guest room - I'll have to tackle that another day. 

among all the unpacking.....

I came across my grandma's china  - this is the first house that I'll be able to actually put these gorgeous dishes in a cupboard and maybe even get to use them :)  I had a ::warm fuzzy feeling:: when I realized that my momma was the last person to touch many of these dishes - she packed them all in newspaper and boxed them up before she gave them to me. :)  

The pattern is so beautiful - sadly I don't have the entire set - I *know* I have enough for four people to have dinner, and six people to have tea :)  I'm also missing the sugar dish. Maybe one day I can search ebay or some antique shops and get the entire set - maybe, one day ;) 

 Now if I can get our landlord to FINALLY get all of their junk out of the house - we've only had the key to the house for 12 days now, it's rather annoying.  I sent him the following picture today when I found this cupboard still FULL of stuff - and something in there is rotting - and it smells.  Hopefully they will come and get it moved SOON. I've already packed up a box of stuff they left behind - I'm not packing this one up.  I've never had this issue before, and I'm trying not to be "mean" about it - but seriously, how hard is it to take all your stuff with you? 

January 11

Whew.....today was a crazy busy day! but I had so much fun! I got to spend a good chunk of time playing cars, trains, planes, lego's and puzzles with 2 very handsome little men.  I think their new train table was my favorite :) 

Then I came home - kissed my husband hello (he was gone on a trip the last few days), quickly ate some dinner and then headed to Youth group with these delicious cupcakes I made - 2 of the girls in my small group had birthdays over the Christmas break so we celebrated them tonight.

Off to bed!

January 10

Today I recieved the last of my Christmas presents from my dear Mother in-law, Norene. She gave me a few amazon gift cards on Christmas day and let me order whatever I'd like - she sure knows me well!! Amazon is one of my favorite places to shop!

Pictured above are ALL my gifts (except the necklace & earrings that my husband gave me...oops!) that I recieved - I was quite the lucky girl this year!

My husband gave me the KitchenAid immersion blender - in Red ;) he knows me oh to well! I can't wait to use it!

My husband's Aunt Johanna gave me the Bath & Body Works lotion

and My Mother in-law gave me the $$ to purchase the rest:
* Name 5 board game
* Pit card game
* Pioneer Woman cookbook
* Cookbook stand - I've been wanting one FOREVER!
* Willow Tree Nativity 5 piece set - Mary Joseph, some animals and a shephard - I've been wanting this set FOREVER - I teased my husband that he'll have to get the rest of the set for me now :)
* Willow Tree Angel & Angel Stand (part of the nativity set - but purchased separate)
* 2 OPI nail polishes - one of them came with blingged out toe separators - so cute!
* Heather Payne CD
* Michael Buble Christmas CD
* BOB CD


Gosh...I am so blessed! Thanks everyone for making this a really great Christmas!! I hope you all enjoyed your gifts from me as well!

January 9

Today I didn't do much...except decide which Bible study I'm going to do at our church this semester. I finally decided on "Jonah" by Priscilla Shirer.  In the fall of 2010 I did her study "One in a Million" and it was terrific. So I'm pretty excited about this one - especially after I saw this preview clip - it's totally where I'm at right now!

So any of you Iowa girls want to join me? The class doesn't really start until next Tuesday - tomorrow is just a preview of all the classes that the church is going to offer ;) Let me know!

January 8

Today at church the question was posed: "What would happen if we as Christians REALLY believed that those who reject Jesus Christ would go to Hell?"

The pastor gave a statistic that said only 3% of church going Christians invited someone to church in the last year - 3%!!! Yikes - and then I thought....I'm one of the 97%.....whoa....

Well I've been thinking about it and I have a few questions for myself:

1. I call myself a Christian - a God follower - but am I really reaching those in my circle for Christ? Am I showing God's love to each person I come into contact with?

2. If not - Why?

I grew up thinking that you needed to "throw up" your religion on anyone who you came into contact with - and I'm learning that isn't the case.  It's about building relationships - letting God's love shine through me. Being Jesus to other people. Because let's face it - people don't really care how much of the bible you know, until they know you really care about them as a person - not just another "notch" in your bible.

So at the end of today's sermon we were asked to think of ONE person that we would try and build a healthy relationship with and just be invitational about church, God, etc... and through the entire service I was thinking about these 3 people.  I know God has been laying them on my heart - and I need to be Jesus to them.

Father God, please help me to be loving, to be kind and helpful. Help me to show who YOU really are to these people. Remove "me" from me and fill me with you. Work on my heart - fill it with you. Work on these 3 people Father - open their hearts so that they can fully receive you.  Help me to listen to them. Let me be uncomfortable - make me uncomfortable - get me out of my comfort zone so that they might see you and your love and grace.  Get rid of my excuses Lord - they are nothing when I think about people spending eternity in Hell.  Thank you for the work you are already doing and are going to do.  ~Amen

January 7

This week another Christmas gift from my mother in law arrived - this CD is not one that I would recommend you run out and buy right now - but about 11 years ago it was one of my favorites! I had lent it out to a friend and their younger sibling got ahold of it and scratched it up pretty bad, so I wasn't able to listen to the CD for the past 10 or so years. I still thought of it as a great CD with funny songs - like  Missions Trip to Mexico, Homeschool Girl, Goodwill Day and I saw Pastor Dancing.  So when the CD arrived I was SO excited to put it into my CD player and listen to it.  Well my taste in music must have changed just a little - maybe it got better? Because the singers weren't as good as I remembered them to be, and the music was very repetitious.  But, it's still a fun CD - one that I'll pull out every now and then and enjoy - but probably not one of my favorites anymore ;) LOL   

Do you have a CD that was your favorite 10+ years ago - and today you kinda scratch your head wondering what you were thinking? Tell me about it!

January 6 - Nicknames

There are so many shortenings to the name Christy - Chris, Chrissy, Sissy and the list could go on and on. Honestly I abhor (is that a strong enough word?) all of those nick names - call me Christy - or at least get creative with something else!  We have a family friend who for the life of me can't get my name correct - it's always "Chrissy" on E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. and it annoys the heck out of me. Whenever we get anything in the mail from this person I give it to my husband and tell him that Brian and "Chrissy" got something in the mail today. We also joke that "Chrissy" is my evil twin ;)

When I was little my mom (and sometimes my family) would call me "Chris." One day I got it into my head that "Chris" was a boys name and I didn't want to be called anything except "Christy" - and I would throw a  fit if anyone called me Chris. My brothers & sisters eventually stopped calling me by that name, but my mom never did :) And I didn't mind too much when she would call me Chris - even though I pretended like it was the WORST thing she could ever do.

Fast forward a few years - I was in high school and alot of my friends had nick names and I so badly wanted one besides "goodie" - My friend Adam started calling me "Grace" because I fell alot... (I called him petunia, and you'll have to ask him why ;)) That nick name didn't stick - and thankfully after college I've learned to walk just a little better  ;)

Fast forward a few more years - after college I moved close to St. Louis and started working at a church. The pastors son was teeny tiny when I moved there but we quickly became fast friends and since he couldn't say "Christy" he would say "Kiki" and it's stuck - it is seriously one of my FAVORITE nick names I've ever been given - and it's special to just their family - each time I hear it I get warm fuzzies :)

So what's your nick name - how did you get it? Do you like it?

January 5

Today I opened the mailbox to discover that one of my Christmas presents from my dear Mother in-law had arrived from Amazon :) I was SO very excited because I had wanted this CD since it had come out, but just wouldn't go and buy it since it wasn't in the budget!  Oh how I had missed Heather's voice after she left my favorite group {Point of Grace} it SO good to hear it once again!

This CD is full of hymns but mixed with some new wording and new melodies - I KNOW it's going to be one of my favorites!!

January 4

Another packing and some unpacking day. I got most of my Pampered Chef office set up (minus the desk) I thought I might dislike how PINK this room is, but its growing on me ;) it feels really good to know where all of my products are and get them a little more organized. Hopefully it will stay that way!!

January 3

Today has been a packing day. When I open this box to unpack it its going to feel like Christmas morning ;)

January 2

Printers.....they are so helpful when they are working, and you'll lose a head of hair over them when they aren't! Today was a losing hair sort of day. I was trying to print out a few sheets of address labels for my Pampered Chef business - and it would print just fine on a piece of paper - but as soon as I put the labels into the paper feed it would change the settings. ARG!!!!! I FINALLY after about 3 hours of messing with it got them to print - they weren't perfect, they weren't centered, and well...they bug me - but the information was on the label and I was able to finish the project I was working on.


oh technology....


{back to packing packing packing!}