My Life in Pictures

As I've mentioned, I know that people look at blogs to see pictures of people's lives. So, here you go! These are pictures of our small group potluck at our house this past Sunday. We had eighteen adults & kids and with the dishwasher we had the kitchen clean in 15 minutes. It was glorious. We realized that due to the size & layout of our house & yard that during the summer we could have as many as 50 people over to eat. Sounds like a graduation party to me....just 15 years away! HA!

It's really happening!!

I'm really leaving! I really do get to be by myself for seven hours of traveling--oh the reading, people watching, journaling, silence-enjoying I get to do! I really do get to visit with my friend Becca and meet her daughter! I really do get to spend an entire day scrapbooking with her! I really do get to FINALLY have some Korean food and go to HOBBY LOBBY!!!! I get to have Chick-fil-A! I get to go to their house church and meet all of her friends!

And I really do get a full four days of mommy-vacation!!!

THANK YOU, JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Start of our Garden

We have decided that our vegetable garden is going to be a family affair. Last night we got most of our plants into the ground. (We haven't figured out where to plant the miniature pumpkins and it is still too cold to put out the pepers.) The kids played in the dirt (and the baby pool!) and Hannah helped to plant seeds. We were out there for almost two full hours after Jeremy got home from work. I'm really hoping that I can actually GROW things. If I am able to, I can easily see gardening as being theroputic for me in Montana. The short season of warm (and shorter season of hot!) is something that is very hard for me to cope with. I need something to connect me to the outside world as intensely as possible before I have to hybernate again! I've even thought about a greenhouse just to give me a place that is humid and growing in the winter time! We'll see how it goes :) For now, gardening seems to be giving me and Jeremy something fun that we can enjoy together during the week, an element of our relationship that we both identified as lacking.

Grow, grow zucchini, grow, grow squash, grow, grow beans!

As a side note, if anyone in the Great Falls area knows of someone getting rid of a pressure cooker and/or a canner, please let me know! The optomistic side of me needs to develop a plan for what to do with my delicious veggies when I harvest them!

Because there's nothing else to do...

Because there is nothing going on in my life, Jeremy & I decided to try our hands at gardening this year. So, we've bought some starter plants, potting soil, seeds, etc and tonight Jeremy dug up part of the yard where we plan to plant. Why is it that the best place for the garden is where the grass is growing well?? I'm excited to have something to do outside while the kids are playing apart from digging holes in the sandbox. But I sit at the computer tonight and think "if we hadn't started this vegetable garden plan of ours, maybe the bathroom would have FINALLY gotten painted...after 10 months of construction..." Hopefully before September I'll be able to announce that the bathroom is finally finished. Maybe. But if not, we'll have fresh zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries to blame!

My life

I was thinking this morning that since I'm not very regular in my blogging, as some of my fabulous friends are, I don't know that I have a picture of my life painted in the world of blog. And as I continued thinking I don't know that I have a regular life yet! I feel like I'm getting there. It's been almost 11 months since we moved to 3805 5th Ave South. I can't believe it. It has been a very physically and emotionally exhausting year. But, things are starting to finally settle. I know, just in time for Levi to arrive! But, here is kind of what life looks like for me right now :)

5:45am--try to force myself out of bed and take a shower, have a quiet time, drink coffee by myself sitting at my lovely island and looking out the window at GREEN GRASS (that deserves another blog all by itself!)
7:00ish--kids wake up; or, if kids have woken up against my will before 7am I finally allow them out of bed. I have a "no kids before 7am" rule unless they are sick or nursing!

Morning time--there is breakfast making and cleaning up (of course) but now there isn't 45 minutes of dishes to do! YEAY! Since it is warmer outside, we go for a morning walk 2-3 times a week and then start piddling either outside or in. Sometimes I do some cleaning, depending on what is driving me crazy on that particular day. I learned a long time ago that I could never have a cleaning schedule...I'm wanting to add some fun weekly activities to the mix. Bible study is over (and there are no Bible studies in the summer, much to my chagrin). I'm planning to start a weekly playgroup the first Wed of June. I still haven't really connected in my church yet (this deserves another blog!)

Lunch time--more food prep, mess making, and clean up. We've been eating in the kitchen, though, which requires less prepping and clean-up!

Naptime--I either work my job or sleep during naptime, depending on how much I think I can handle when the kids wake up.

Post nap--all depends on how much "work" for GVF I need to do. This past week I was in the basement working from 6pm til' bedtime while Jer feed/played with/bathed/put the kids to bed. Usually by dinnertime I'm all done mommying. I feel so depleated that I don't think there would be anything else to give other than a body to sit in the rocking chair in their room while Jeremy reads stories!

Recently I have been trying to do a little reading right before bed. I have found that it helps to shut off my brain. There are three Grisham books that I haven't read yet, and I'm hoping to make some dents in that list this week and on my PLANE RIDES TO ATLANTA!!! Yeay!! I'm going to Becca's house next week!!!!

I know. There are a ton of details out of the mix. And in many ways it probably sounds very similar to the lives of most other stay-at-home-moms. But I hope it helps!

Today is a playdate with a friend named Heather. I made some yummy cucumber sandwhiches for the mommies that I'm VERY excited about! (Thank you, Scott, for the Chapel Cookbook!)

Mortgage

I hate having a mortgage. I love having a house, but I hate having a mortgage. I've never experienced the feelings of financial bondage talked about in Proverbs in regard to debt like I've felt since I've been back in Montana and have had my eyes open to the fact that a mortgage is in fact being in debt. (What American brainwashing I had had before!) I owe Washington Mutual six figures of money.

Now when I think of having extra money, I think of getting rid of a chunk of debt. When I see the "win $10,000" contest at Burger King I think of how much closer I'll be to getting rid of that stupid mortgage. But, alas, money doesn't come into my life that way. Instead, we cut back, spend less, apply more money each month to the principle in hopes that one sweet day we will be free from the chains of this enormous monster.

The kitchen!!

For those who haven't seen the pictures, here are the updated before-and-after pics of the kitchen. Almost everything that we have planned to do is done. (Well, the tiling of the countertops and the new fridge will wait for 2011...). I LOVE it! What a Mother's Day present! I never want to leave the kitchen now. Not that I get to do much outside of the kitchen anyway :) It was, by far, the biggest project that we "had" to get done before Levi comes, and now that it is finished, both Jeremy & I feel so liberated!

My Cute Kids

I do it, too. I check the blogs of my friends so that I can see pictures of them and their kids. And then I never end up posting pictures. Shame on me! So, here are a few pictures of the kiddos at quick glance--without having to look at a web album!

Caring for the Poor

My friend Becca and her family went to India to work with Pastor Daniel, a native of India who cares for poor children in rural India. Pastor Daniel runs the Mercy Home ministry (a link is below). I'm on Pastor Daniel's email listing, and I wanted to pass along an easy way (and small) way to care for the poor. God has really been impressing on my heart just how easily I can spend money on myself (for things I want not things I need) while believers and unbelievers all over the world don't have the money to feed their families or send their kids to school. Caring for the poor is not a choice in how we spend our money. We are commanded to take care of the poor. Here's a way to fulfill that command!

_____________________________

Dear Friends and partners

Greetings from the Mercy home ministry in India. God has blessed us with 800 children in our Mercy Homes and 300 children in our Kids club who come every week to worship the Lord and study the word. The schools in India are opening on June 1st after the summer vacation. Every child has to be sent to school with new uniforms, schoolbags, lunch box, umbrella, shoes and school stationary. Each child needs about $20 towards his school expense. Please visit our web site www.mercyhomes.org to know more about Mercy Homes . If you can sponsor any number of Kids it will be a great blessing. Please let us know as soon as possible. Thanking you so much for standing with us always for His Kingdom and the needs of the poor.

With love Pastor Daniel

Congratulations, Sissie!

My sister is the beautiful graduate on the far left. On Saturday she not only graduated from Indiana University with her Master's degree in Arts Administration, she gave the commencement speech! Way to go, sissie--wish I could have seen it!

More Randomness

1) Busy season is over. I'm two weeks into "normal" life. I love it. Still sleep deprived, but happy!

2) We had a fabulous "family vacation" to Missoula the weekend before the 15th:

3) We bought our first brand-new vaccum cleaner EVER last month. In addition to saving over $50 on the purchase (a great sale!), it works beautifully :)

4) A small group Bible study started meeting at our house on Sunday nights. We aren't sure how long it will last (Montanans typically don't meet for Bible study in the summer time) but we have enjoyed it so far.

5) The kitchen got painted!

6) We found out that we are having a boy! 'Twill be named Levi Andrew Rhodes and he is currently measuring on time. That makes this mama happy :)

7) Alisha got married and I almost cried. It was the closest I've ever come to crying at a wedding--including my own! And, of course, Hannah was beautiful!

8) Jeremy got the dishwasher installed in the middle of the kitchen. Next step is to build the island around the dishwasher. For now, it is literally in the middle of the kitchen floor and when it is not is use we keep the box over it so that the kids don't play with the insilation!

9) We are driving to Kellogg, Idaho, tomorrow (a five hour drive one way) to trade in the Impala for a mini-van. The functionality of the vehicle has taken over and I'm getting a mommy car. We were able to not only trade-in the car but we are ultimately getting a little money back into our pockets. Always a great thing! We only have three payments until the Impala is paid off, so we are making them all tomorrow and we will only be left we a mortgage as debt. Thank you, Jesus! "Before and After" pictures will follow. The best part of all of this is that we found a babysitter and we are going BY OURSELVES! This is the first time since July 2006 that Jeremy & I have spent an entire day together without the kids. We are THRILLED!!

10) On a similar note, in less than three weeks I get to fly to Atlanta to visit my dear friend Becca Mooney. I get to fly BY MYSELF to visit Becca. I haven't seen Becca in almost two years (and we've both had a baby since then!). And I haven't flown by myself somewhere since November 2004. It's time. It's really time. The anticipation of this trip helped me fight depression in January and February, and now it's almost here!! Chick-Fil-A, Hobby Lobby, and Korean food in addition to alone time, little-to-no responsibility and, of course, time with my sister-in-Christ. Does it get any better??

11) My dear friend (and college roommate) Mary had Thorson baby #3 this week. Welcome to the world, Jesse!