Praise God!

I can't stand having a rental house. I really can't stand it. Not the work involved (which varies) but the uncertainty of having renters/not having renters and then possibly paying two mortgages a month! YUCK! And this month, in less than 24 hours, the current renters went from wanting to renew their lease for 6 months to moving out in less than 30 days! But, I am happy to report, that the Lord has once again proven Himself faithful in providing. THANK YOU, GOD!! It is really convicting to be worrying about having renters while watching the Veggie Tales' "Gideon" which is all about trusting the Lord, or to be reading David and Goliath to your two year old. Kids are good for a lot of reasons :)

As a side note, if you want something beautiful to look at, check out this:

http://www.uppercaseliving.com/OurProducts/InspirationalIdeas/

This stuff is awesome! I have no idea the cost...I'm in process of getting a catalog...but it still makes your home look like something out of Pottery Barn, which should truly be the goal of all of our lives (read ladened with sarcasm). But, in honesty, doesn't it just look like fun??

Montana Caucus

For those living in Montana, the Republican Caucus is next Tuesday, February 5th. The Democratic Primary is June 3rd. That's right--if you are a Republican, you get to be a part of "Super Tuesday"! I'm not nearly as involved in politics as I feel that I SHOULD be, as is my responsbility as an American to participate in my government, but I have been trying to stay on top of the world of politics in regard to the presidential elections (Isn't there already a lot that we are all doing in our lives?!?) I have a feeling that many of my "readers" feel the same, so I wanted to pass along a link that is a "quick reference" of sorts on hot topics you might be interested in:

http://www.afa.net/pdfs/08vg.pdf

I encourage you to participate. We can't complain about the way our government is functioning when we refuse to be involved in that Government. Not that I feel the Gospel (or even morals) can be forced through legislation but our democracy was designed as a participatory government. Are you participating?

Southern Living Magazine

Somehow I've managed to get a full year subscription to Southern Living Magazine for just $2 for the year. Not even $2 an issue, which would still be a phenomenal deal, but $2 for the year. While curled up in my bed with less than a full brain cell functioning last night, I turned through the beautiful pages of my favorite magazine in the entire world. And as I forced myself to close it's pages and go to sleep, I thought about how I should blog to the world how much I love this magazine. (Yes, Christi, these are the riduculously random postings that make you NOT want to blog!)

When the mailman brings my monthly issue of Southern Living to my door, it's like he is delivering a little piece of home. In every single magazine there is at least one article about either a place I have lived or a place I have visited. I see pictures of beautiful, stately mansions of different cities, the Blue Ridge Mountains that I called home for so many years, or the leaves in many shades of reds, oranges, and yellows. I read 10 pages articles on how to have a great tailgate party (because who DOESN'T like football in the south??) and find mouth-watering recipes to add to my repetroire of Foods-That-Make-You-As-Round-As-A-Southern-Mama.

I used to read the magazine and ache. Now, with the Lord's help, I can read it and be filled with the warm peace that comes from being home. I can't wait for the next issue! (And don't worry Rachel, I love it so much that I never throw an issue away...)

As a completely tangent side note, one of my fabulous friends from church is in labor and will have her little girl tomorrow!! YEAY for not being pregnant anymore! YEAY for being able to sleep on your back again and tie your shoes and eat without having indigestion! And, of course, yeay for meeting the little person God has been forming for 40 weeks!! Congratulations, Tosha!

It's about time...

For those of you who faithfully check my blog to find out any little tidbits I may actually get around to writing once a month (or so it has been...) you have hit pay-dirt because I'm actually blogging. At least for the month :)

December, of course, was a whirlwind of family activity with my parents visiting for three weeks. It was a blast, it seemed like normal life, it was way too short. If only they would realize that they need to move here...

Jeremy had three weeks in a row with three days of work or less. And in that time he only used two days of vacation. You can see the look of pure joy on his face. Really. That's what this face says. In additional news, he may have found the much prayed-for "hunting buddy" last night. He is already counting down until next year's hunting season!

I did as any normal, loving daughter would do and put outside life on hold for those three weeks. Christy and Becca did not, thankfully, and this is my first chance to say via blogging-world

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Also, congratulations to non-blogging friends Heather and Christine on the arrivals of their bundles :) And to Mary, we are thrilled to hear of your SON to come in May!

The day my parents left I fought tears and fought tears. And then the Hokies lost yet another BSC bowl. The next day I started busy season hours and ended the day sick. I stayed sick for 10 days with a nasty cough and zero energy. It's been a fun week and a half.

On the upside, we got a "roommate" that weekend. Alisha Grubb recently came back to Great Falls after finishing school at Portland Bible College. She is getting married on April 26th and is staying at our house until then. Quite the social gal, she isn't home much, but when she is, we have a ball talking about weddings and marriage and, well, all of those things you worry about before you get married! (She is the gal on the far left.)

Hannah now has a "big girl bed" as I converted the crib to a daybed. She didn't fall out or get out without permission for the first week. It was great. A flip has gone off in her head, though, and she has decided that getting out of bed is worth the spanking. Everytime. Hopefully that won't last long. Much to my chagrin, she still has no interest in using the potty. One sweet day, one sweet day.

Benjamin took positive "steps" today toward walking. He'll actually walk behind the push toy! YEAY! The kid just loves to investigate and play with toys (and mommy's plant) and is too consumed in these activities to pursue walking. I really wish he would. I've been carrying kids to the car for 2.5 years now and would really like to walk to the vehicle without a child in arms! He has been wearing 18 month clothes since before Christmas and will celebrate his first birthday in less than two weeks!

The most important thing to celebrate, however, is that I gave up nursing the little man the day after Christmas. I was D-O-N-E!!! And it has been such a liberating feeling! I had a pretty good streak going--I was either pregnant or nursing a child for 38 straight months. Time for a break! Second runner up in the "best things to celebrate" catagory is the fact that I got a brand new DOUBLE OVEN! I actually have an oven that cooks the food! It cooks it so well that I can bake two pizzas at the same time--in just the top oven! For those who have been within earshot of me (whether in person on over the phone) you probably know just how much I loathed my last oven. I'm THRILLED with the new appliance that my husband so lovingly installed for me!!!

More to come...but probably not until February! :)

Christmas pictures

I know, I know--I'm partial (and suppose to be!) but they ARE pretty cute, huh?!? :)

My mom and dad finally arrived in Great Falls yesterday for a three week visit. We are so glad they are here! They got here just in time for the church children's Christmas program tonight, of which both Hannah AND Benjamin were in!

This will make your brain hurt!

Dilbert's "Salary Theorem" states:

"Scientists and Engineers can never earn as much as administrators and sales people."


This theorem can now be proved mathematically:

Given:
Power = Work / Time
Knowledge = Power

Therefore:
Knowledge = Work/ Time

It is commonly understood that time = money

Then: Knowledge = Work/Money

Solve for Money: Money = Work/Knowledge

Therefore, as knowledge -> 0, money -> ∞ infinity, and is independent of the amount of work accomplished.

Conclusion: the less you know, the more you make.

Pictures!

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

You have to be kidding me

I'm doing some research on financial planning for work. According to one website calculator, in order to pay for four years of public school for both kids, I need to save $1200/month for the next 18 years. That is more than my mortgage, mortgage insurace, RE taxes, property insurance, and the $175 in extra principle I pay per month. Seriously, do "people" really think that the average American family has a snowball's chance in hey-hey to save for something like that?? And if they can, they are definitely not a "middle class" family!

Ok, enough of that...

In case you didn't know

ABC will be airing a HUGE game tomorrow!

GO HOKIES!!

Sewing Projects!

Check out my recently completed sewing projects! It's amazing how much can get done when Jeremy goes away for a four day elk-hunting trip!

Yippy!! Rejoicing! Time to Party!

It's finally done--I not only completed my CPE (continuing professional eduation) for this year, but I'm up-to-date for the CPE I need to be "current" over the past three years. I've done a whopping 70 hours of education in the past three months. I'm SO GLAD that this is over! One of the major benefits of my job is that my firm will now pay for my CPE as well as pay me while I'm taking it! What a relief to have it done!

On a much more significant note, here is a belated CONGRATULATIONS to my dear friend Christy for passing the California Bar exam! (You little smartie pants!) California needs more Christian lawyers!

In unrelated news...
-Jeremy filled both deer tags this season and even though he wasn't very pleased with the sizes of his "kills" we will still have over 40 lbs of meat in the freezer due to his "hobby."
-My parents will be here three weeks from today and are staying for three weeks. This will be the first time they have been able to visit my home since I've become a mom. I'm REALLY excited about their visit!!
-Jeremy & I stayed up Thursday night and put up all of the Christmas decorations. Poor man ended up spending over an hour working on the Christmas tree lights. It didn't help that we have five trees :) I'll post pictures soon (hopefully).
-We deep-fried a turkey on Thanksgiving. It was quite the adventure and let me warn all of my cold-weather friends that peanut oil will, in fact, freeze if left in the trunk of your car. We had to put the oil in a bathtub of hot water to thaw it out before we could cook the bird!
-It snowed last Sunday and the snow has stayed on the grass, at least, all week. We are suppose to get more snow on Tuesday and Wednesday of this upcoming week. Definitely helped me get into the Christmas spirit. Surprisingly, the humidity was at 60% (which is HIGH for here!) on Saturday and with the highs in the upper 20s, it felt like east coast winter weather :)
-last but not least.....

GO HOKIES!!!

My dear Hokies beat the PANTS off of our rival team (UVA) and are headed to the ACC championship game against...Boston College. For those who don't know, we had a devastating forth quarter loss to BC earlier in the season (in the only game we were able to watch!). The good news is that it is hard to be beat the same team twice in a season, so odds are in the Hokies favor. The winner gets a BCS bowl appearance! GO HOKIES!!!

ps--Did anyone other than me catch the AMAZING (and sad) Uk and Tenn game today??? What great football! Hannah watched all four (yes four) OTs with me and when I would say "Go Kentucky" she would pipe up with "Go Football!" I think we are effectively brainwashing the child...

Calorie Warning!

This website was at the top of my gmail webpage today, so I gave it a go. When checking the boxes, I thought my answers were pretty conservative. They didn't even give me the chance to pick TWO dinner rolls! Here are my results. I thought it was quite comical :)

A cup of coffee with cream and sugar, Half a cup of mixed, raw veggies, One ounce of potato or tortilla chips, One teaspoon of chip dip, Six ounces of white and dark turkey, Half a cup of stuffing, Half a cup of cranberry sauce, Half a cup of mashed potatoes, Half a cup of gravy, Half a cup of green bean casserole, A dinner roll, A pat of butter, A slice of pumpkin pie, Half a cup of whipped cream, ...that comes to 1945 calories. You will need to walk 19.45 miles, 31.37 kilometers, or 38900 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.

Sometimes I forget

Sometimes I forget that I had a life before the one I'm currently living. When a person grows up in the same town all of their life, their personal reference point of all memories in that place are as far back as they can remember. They can drive down the road and have memories of being five years old.

My life has been so broken up in time and place that it is hard for me to get a sense of continuity in my life. It feels like my life has been lived in chunks. There is the Pennsylvania me, the North Carolina me, the SW Virginia me, the college me, the shortly-lived-Boston me, the newlywed Montana me, the Korea-new-mommy-me, and now there is the I-don't-know-what-to-call-myself me. I don't keep in touch with any people from Pennsylvania. There are very few people I keep in contact with from NC, and even less people from high school (the SW Virginia chapter). And so, apart from my immediate family, the people who KNOW me and have known me the longest are only friends that I have had for the past nine years. (Thank you, God, for Mary and Caryn!)

In all of this, it is wonderful to know that God has been there through it all. He understands, even more than I do, who I am, the memories I have, and have I have gotten to the point I am at right now.

And all of this babble started because I was listening to the "Passion: Live at One Day" CD. I was there. I was part of that live crowd. And that day was such an Ebenzer for me. It seems, looking back on it, that that day, that weekend, was a turning point in my relationship with Christ and, eventually, my relationship with Jeremy. In a way, my life changed forever when that CD was being recorded. And how awesome to be able to listen to it while sitting in my basement working.

Ok, I have no idea how much sense this blog makes. It's late, I'm tired, and I am going to bed! For all of my readers who have been a part, however small, of shaping who I was and who I am--thank you :)

One of those "catch up" blogs

In the past three weeks I have...
-made the curtains for my kitchen and toy room as well as a runner for our dining room table
-managed to take care of the kids for four days while Jeremy went off to the Highwood Mountains to hunt. How is it the kids always know when daddy is away and they stop sleeping??
-went to two different classes at Harvest Springs Community Church and, afterward, decided that this is the home for us (Can I tell you how glad I am that this four month process is over???)
-had three chiropractic visits (nothing like a good crack in the back!)
-went to two full days of tax update CPE
-started cleaning out the storage room of all of the stuff that I shoved away when our household goods got here from Korea
-set up my home office! FINALLY!
-rake leaves (and raked leaves and raked leaves!)
-cleaned the garage for Jeremy
-I'm sure there is more, but my brain hurts from working tonight

Jeremy had to rip out the shower in the downstairs bathroom as well as a third of the drywall. My parents come into town in 4.5 weeks, so he doesn't have too much time left to get all of this craziness done. Right now there is a big hole in the floor where he had to jackhammer through the concrete, the insulation is showing in the walls, and the tile hasn't even been purchased. We have a long way to go...but in good news, I realized that I have enough VT fabric to attempt to make a matching shower curtain! And for those who don't know, our entire basement decor is Virginia Tech, so we have to have a Hokie bathroom!

It seems that I go in spurts with blogging....I'll get really good and then WHAM! life happens. Just want to let you know that we are alive!

A small sampling

I've been wanting to (and trying to) post pictures for a while, but I've run into a lot of complications. And because I couldn't decide which fall pictures, baking pictures, and Benjamin pictures to upload, I decided just to put my favorites in web albums--at least for the grandma's :) Enjoy!

A little bit of humor :)

Why Parents Age Faster

A boss wondered why one of his most valued employees had not come to work or phoned in sick one day. Having an urgent problem with one of the main computers, he dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper.

"Hello."

"Is your daddy home?" he asked.

"Yes," whispered the small voice.

May I talk with him?"

The child whispered, "No."

Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, "Is your Mommy there?"

"Yes."

"May I talk with her?"

Again the small voice whispered, "No."

Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, "Is anybody else there?"

"Yes," whispered the child, "a policeman"

Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss Asked, "May I speak with the policeman?"

"No, he's busy", whispered the child.

"Busy doing what?"

"Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman," came the whispered answer.

Growing more worried as he heard what sounded like a helicopter through the earpiece on the phone, the boss asked, "What is that noise?"

"A helicopter" answered the whispering voice.

"What is going on there?" demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive.

Again, whispering, the child answered, "The search team just landed the helicopter."

Alarmed, concerned and a little frustrated the boss asked, "What are they searching for?"

Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle: "ME."

Working

After the kids have gone to bed, I take my cup of coffee in my new favorite mug (which I bought in Korea and will have a heck of a time replacing if something ever happens to it) and come downstairs. I piddle around the internet for a few minutes, read a few emails (that I never end of responding to...I'm sorry if you haven't received responses from me!), maybe read a blog or two, just as a small transition to the other side of my brain. I either turn on a movie that I can quote by heart (which is a very small collection) or I start a Family Life Today broadcast for some background noise. Then I log on through remote access to my workstation in the office I share with my friend Cheryl and I begin to work. Two hours later Benjamin wakes up and I take a break to nurse. Sometimes Jeremy works in the basement and I have a wee bit of interaction with him for the evening while I'm trying to find the elusive number that has thrown my work out of balance.

Giving

My dear friend Becca and I were talking one day about money. *Gasp* yes, we were talking about money--how much we made and how we gave it away. And in that very liberating conversation we also talked about how great it would be if people (Christians) were honest with each other with how they spent their money. Can you imagine the accountability that would take place? Imagine what it would be like to talk about how great it was to give a big ol' check to the local Lifeway Pregnancy Center so that young, troubled, hurting moms could get counseling and encouragement. Think about how we would spur each other on by hearing stories of the missionaries that were provided for and how God was changing lives through our faithfulness to His call. And I'm not even saying talking about the amounts--just talking about DOING it!

I heard a statistic that if all Christians tithed that there wouldn't be a governement welfare system in America because the Church would be able to take care of the needs of the people in the country. Can you really imagine that? The CHURCH could take care of the needs--hunger, shelter, clothing, you name it. What kind of testimony would that be when people knew that if they were in need that the Church would take care of them? Don't you think that people would have more of an interest in Jesus if they knew that His followers loved them in such a way? Doesn't that break your heart?

Why is it we are so comfortable to talk about the great things we found on sale at the mall or the neat things we bought at Michael's but we are scared to death to talk about the exhileration of buying $40 bucks in Halloween candy for the outreach our church is doing for the kids of the community this month? What would happen if we all went on a fast from spending and everytime we wanted to buy something for ourselves (that we really didn't need!) that instead we gave that money away? What would change in our hearts? And why in the world are we so stinkin' scared to talk about it?

Be encouraged! Be spurred on toward love and good deeds! Go forth and find a way to bless other people! And expect to be changed!

I did it!

I FINALLY got an ID to get onto base last Friday. And today, I very ambitiously took both kiddos to the HAWC (Health and Wellness Center) where there is a little room where kids can play/watch videos. I actually got to run on a treadmill! YEAY!! As Jeremy would say, it was a banner day, folks! It's been almost a full year since I've been at the gym. And now that in the land of the car drivers (instead of the stroller pushers) I'm in need of that gym. Unfortunately, it will be next week before I'll be able to go back. I'll just tell myself that I'm easing myself into it.

I won't be able to walk tomorrow.

My name is...

Hannah looked at me last week, patted her hand on her chest and proudly said "Name is Hannah!" I thought that she would be ready to learn my name and Jeremy's name so that, heaven forbid, she gets separated from us and someone asks her parents' names she would have the information somewhere in her brain. The conversation went like this...

Me: Hannah, mommy's name is Laura. Can you say that?
Hannah: (says nothing and gives a blank stare.)
Me: Say Laur-a
Hannah: (says nothing and gives a blank stare.)
Me: Can you say Laur-a?
Hannah: Mommy name--Laura Carrot!

Have we been watching too many Veggie Tales? :)