Saturday, September 3, 2016
Happy anniversary, dearest love!
Happy happy anniversary, babe!!! I LOVE YOU!!! God's so incredibly faithful to us!! I'm so thankful for you and our marriage!! God's grace is so abundant!
Thursday, September 1, 2016
sweet day
While I have the laptop up and running (it's rare these days), I just wanted to record what a sweet day it's been! We've had the chance to spend lots of time with dear family and friends today, school is going well, Jasper has been so thankful and joyful (something we've been working on lots with him recently), our dog is such a joy to us, Brody is continuing to talk more and laugh lots, a sweet friend got a bible in her own language, Andrew got home in good time, our house is lovely, our marriage is precious and tender, etc. All of these are gifts from the good, good hand of God, and I'm so thankful.
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
sweet life
Life has been full speed ahead with so many wonderful changes for our family. Jasper started kindergarten, we took a trip to Ohio, and we got a dog! These sweet changes, added to the previous changes we went through this summer like buying a house and andrew starting a new career and moving and such, have made life feel like it's blazing by in super sonic speed. But all of these changes have been sweet, very sweet, and we're very thankful for everything! Our dog is the sweetest dog on planet earth, Jasper LOVES kindergarten, the trip to ohio was a blessing in every way imaginable, andrew's job continues to be a huge source of blessing for our family (both in provision and in sweet ways like the close proximity to home and such), Brody just keeps blooming and developing into a fun-loving joyful little boy, and our home and our neighborhood are just so precious to us! It's been quite the crazy summer, but I wouldn't change a thing. :o)
our new doggie
first family pic in a looong time
J made a birdfeeder in class today
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
the beast
A few days ago, our sweet neighbor gave us a bag full of delicious, juicy peaches that he picked from Gregg Farms. And that's when it happened.
That's when the canning beast inside of me came unleashed. The beast comes unleashed each summer, it's just a matter of time. I knew it would happen. I could feel the canning beast rising up in me, yearning to be free. Every time I went to Sprouts or Aldis and saw all the cheap produce, I just yearned to let the beast out. I knew it would happen before too long. And on Sunday, it happened.
The beast came unleashed. And it's wild and free.
In other words...
I've been canning. A lot.
When I'm not canning, I'm dreaming about canning. When i'm not dreaming about canning, i'm searching for new recipes for canning. And when I'm not searching for new recipes, I'm running to the store to buy pectin or lids or I'm sanitizing my jars or searching for the rings.
The boys love to can, too, which has been sweet. So the last few days, ever since the beast came unleashed, the littles and I have been canning a lot together. Granted, it takes 18 times as long and it always looks like a bomb exploded in my kitchen, but it's worth every ounce of extra work when I hear Jasper, on his own initiative, explain to Brody that the reason he's adding a tsp of butter to the homemade blueberry jam that he's stirring is to reduce the amount of foam on top. Or when Brody knows, on his own, what the next step in the jam process is. Jasper made the last batch of homemade jam, almost completely on his own, measuring out the correct amount of smashed blueberries and sugar and pectin and butter. I, and the beast inside of me, love passing on the canning passion to the next generation!
So, farewell for now, b/c I'm yearning to find the bourbon vanilla peach jam recipe that dearest Mo made for us last summer.
That's when the canning beast inside of me came unleashed. The beast comes unleashed each summer, it's just a matter of time. I knew it would happen. I could feel the canning beast rising up in me, yearning to be free. Every time I went to Sprouts or Aldis and saw all the cheap produce, I just yearned to let the beast out. I knew it would happen before too long. And on Sunday, it happened.
The beast came unleashed. And it's wild and free.
In other words...
I've been canning. A lot.
When I'm not canning, I'm dreaming about canning. When i'm not dreaming about canning, i'm searching for new recipes for canning. And when I'm not searching for new recipes, I'm running to the store to buy pectin or lids or I'm sanitizing my jars or searching for the rings.
The boys love to can, too, which has been sweet. So the last few days, ever since the beast came unleashed, the littles and I have been canning a lot together. Granted, it takes 18 times as long and it always looks like a bomb exploded in my kitchen, but it's worth every ounce of extra work when I hear Jasper, on his own initiative, explain to Brody that the reason he's adding a tsp of butter to the homemade blueberry jam that he's stirring is to reduce the amount of foam on top. Or when Brody knows, on his own, what the next step in the jam process is. Jasper made the last batch of homemade jam, almost completely on his own, measuring out the correct amount of smashed blueberries and sugar and pectin and butter. I, and the beast inside of me, love passing on the canning passion to the next generation!
So, farewell for now, b/c I'm yearning to find the bourbon vanilla peach jam recipe that dearest Mo made for us last summer.
Thursday, July 14, 2016
cloud 9
oh my goodness! This kindness of the Lord astounds me. I wake up every morning and think to myself, "Is this really my life?!" and then I go around all day in a dream and then I go to bed at night thinking, "I can't believe this is my life!". Everything about our life and new home has been just such a gift from God. I'll try to mention a few, but my bed is going to be quickly calling my name...
1. Andrew. Andrew and our proximity to his job is my absolute, hands down favorite part about our new house. I see Andrew all the time, and it's amazing. I see him in the morning for breakfast and deov's. Because we live 5 minutes away from his work, he doesn't have to leave home until 8:10ish, so he gets to run upstairs and see a quick hello to the boys before leaving for work. We see Andrew for lunch. And he gets home before dinner. We run out of things to talk about b/c we see each other all the time. And it's such a dream. He's our favorite, of course, so any increase in the amount of time that we get to see him is worth it's weight in gold.
2. The house is gorgeous. It's way, WAY more than we deserve. I love the layout and the floor plan, I love the windows, I love the paint color, I love the stairs, I love the woodfloor, I realllllly love the kitchen, I love the master on the main, I love the back door that opens straight out to the back yard, I love our furniture and the teal table and the china that's set out on the dining room table. I love the attached garage. I really love the keeping room where the boys hang out and play while I wash dishes. We super duper love the bar, where all 3 guys hang out while I cook. I love all the bathrooms and the spare rooms and the attic! We are really, really thankful for this blessing of a home. One of the things we really wanted in a new house was extra room so we can host Ohio visitors. Well, the Lord answered our prayer! We've been here for 2 weekends, and both weekends, we've had ohio friends and family come visit us. And this upcoming weekend, we'll have Ohio visitors again! We LOVE it! And when our company comes, we hang out here, AND we go to the pool! It just blows my mind with how the Lord gave us all our needs and also all our wants. He's so kind.
3. I love the neighborhood pool. The boys ESPECIALLY love the neighborhood pool. We truly go there every single day. And no, I'm not exaggerating. I make it our goal to meet 1 new neighbor every time we go, and as a result, we now know a lot of the ppl at the pool. In fact, as we walk up to the pool, I can tell who is there based on which golf carts are parked out front. It's so fun and truly lovely! I don't think we have ever eaten lunch at our house, bc we literally always eat lunch at the pool or at CFA where we meet andrew for lunch. We literally haven't eaten lunch here yet.
4. I love the neighborhood! It's nice and quiet and ppl are very friendly and lots of folks ride around on their golf carts in the evenings or going for runs or bike rides. I thrive off of people and general "energy in the air", so it's been such a blessing to live in a neighborhood where neighbors are always out, walking, going to the pool, whizzing by on golf carts, going to downtown Senoia, etc. The guys and I love, absolutely love, being in an active community where there's always something to do or someone to talk with. We love it! The little boys thoroughly enjoy watching the traffic out their bedroom windows in the morning while they wait for their alarm to go off and it's really sweet for me to listen to their running commentary on everything. In every single way, the Lord has blessed us huge.
5. We love working on the house. I'm sure at some point in the future, all the chores won't seem quite as fun, but right now, we're lovin' it! In the mornings before we head to the pool, I've been edging and trimming the yard and trimming bushes with this white trash saw thingy (Dad Meade, could I please borrow your power saw sometime?) and pulling weeds and working on landscaping while the little boys sweep off the driveway and sidewalks for me. Andrew and I cleaned and conditioned the leather couch the other night and we're hanging pictures and fixing little odds and ends and replacing shower heads, etc, etc. And it's all so FUN! We love working on our new house together! It's a blessing to be able to do so.
Someone at the pool asked me the other day how long we've lived in the neighborhood, and I thought about it and replied, "I guess we've only lived here for 2 and a half weeks!" They were COMPLETELY surprised, and asked if we've started unpacking yet. Yes, I have. lol! We've been completely unpacked since our 2nd day living here (I didn't tell them this). But they were so surprise b/c I knew everyone at the pool and they thought we'd been here for years. And it's honestly felt like we've been here for years. It just feels so perfectly and so completely like home.
There's so much more I could write, but I'll head to bed now. I mainly wrote this post for my beloved, who just teased me about not having a blog anymore. Haha! I told him I've been too busy playing with power tools and saws to bother with blogging. ;o) But, I, too, miss blogging, so I'll be on here a lot more in the future.
Stay tuned for what the boys are saving their money up for.... bwah hah hah.......
1. Andrew. Andrew and our proximity to his job is my absolute, hands down favorite part about our new house. I see Andrew all the time, and it's amazing. I see him in the morning for breakfast and deov's. Because we live 5 minutes away from his work, he doesn't have to leave home until 8:10ish, so he gets to run upstairs and see a quick hello to the boys before leaving for work. We see Andrew for lunch. And he gets home before dinner. We run out of things to talk about b/c we see each other all the time. And it's such a dream. He's our favorite, of course, so any increase in the amount of time that we get to see him is worth it's weight in gold.
2. The house is gorgeous. It's way, WAY more than we deserve. I love the layout and the floor plan, I love the windows, I love the paint color, I love the stairs, I love the woodfloor, I realllllly love the kitchen, I love the master on the main, I love the back door that opens straight out to the back yard, I love our furniture and the teal table and the china that's set out on the dining room table. I love the attached garage. I really love the keeping room where the boys hang out and play while I wash dishes. We super duper love the bar, where all 3 guys hang out while I cook. I love all the bathrooms and the spare rooms and the attic! We are really, really thankful for this blessing of a home. One of the things we really wanted in a new house was extra room so we can host Ohio visitors. Well, the Lord answered our prayer! We've been here for 2 weekends, and both weekends, we've had ohio friends and family come visit us. And this upcoming weekend, we'll have Ohio visitors again! We LOVE it! And when our company comes, we hang out here, AND we go to the pool! It just blows my mind with how the Lord gave us all our needs and also all our wants. He's so kind.
3. I love the neighborhood pool. The boys ESPECIALLY love the neighborhood pool. We truly go there every single day. And no, I'm not exaggerating. I make it our goal to meet 1 new neighbor every time we go, and as a result, we now know a lot of the ppl at the pool. In fact, as we walk up to the pool, I can tell who is there based on which golf carts are parked out front. It's so fun and truly lovely! I don't think we have ever eaten lunch at our house, bc we literally always eat lunch at the pool or at CFA where we meet andrew for lunch. We literally haven't eaten lunch here yet.
4. I love the neighborhood! It's nice and quiet and ppl are very friendly and lots of folks ride around on their golf carts in the evenings or going for runs or bike rides. I thrive off of people and general "energy in the air", so it's been such a blessing to live in a neighborhood where neighbors are always out, walking, going to the pool, whizzing by on golf carts, going to downtown Senoia, etc. The guys and I love, absolutely love, being in an active community where there's always something to do or someone to talk with. We love it! The little boys thoroughly enjoy watching the traffic out their bedroom windows in the morning while they wait for their alarm to go off and it's really sweet for me to listen to their running commentary on everything. In every single way, the Lord has blessed us huge.
5. We love working on the house. I'm sure at some point in the future, all the chores won't seem quite as fun, but right now, we're lovin' it! In the mornings before we head to the pool, I've been edging and trimming the yard and trimming bushes with this white trash saw thingy (Dad Meade, could I please borrow your power saw sometime?) and pulling weeds and working on landscaping while the little boys sweep off the driveway and sidewalks for me. Andrew and I cleaned and conditioned the leather couch the other night and we're hanging pictures and fixing little odds and ends and replacing shower heads, etc, etc. And it's all so FUN! We love working on our new house together! It's a blessing to be able to do so.
Someone at the pool asked me the other day how long we've lived in the neighborhood, and I thought about it and replied, "I guess we've only lived here for 2 and a half weeks!" They were COMPLETELY surprised, and asked if we've started unpacking yet. Yes, I have. lol! We've been completely unpacked since our 2nd day living here (I didn't tell them this). But they were so surprise b/c I knew everyone at the pool and they thought we'd been here for years. And it's honestly felt like we've been here for years. It just feels so perfectly and so completely like home.
There's so much more I could write, but I'll head to bed now. I mainly wrote this post for my beloved, who just teased me about not having a blog anymore. Haha! I told him I've been too busy playing with power tools and saws to bother with blogging. ;o) But, I, too, miss blogging, so I'll be on here a lot more in the future.
Stay tuned for what the boys are saving their money up for.... bwah hah hah.......
Monday, June 20, 2016
The Lord is so kind!
The Lord is so kind!!! He's so incredibly kind to us, and keeps lavishing gift upon gift upon gift on us!! I don't have time to recount all He's done for us this past week, but the latest thing that He's done is to let the paint color in our new home be beautiful.
Painter Wayne started today, and I rushed into the new house to grab the pool key for Mom Meade and the boys and I kinda forgot that the walls might be newly painted. I turned the corner into the formal dining room and I lost my breath! In a good way!!! It was painted my Magnetic Gray and it's gorgeous!!! Painter Wayne had the dining room, kitchen, eat in space, and keeping room painted and I was in love with the new color and am so thankful!! I know that the fact that I love our new paint is nothing less than a gift from God's good hand. I prayed and prayed and prayed about the paint colors and was so nervous about picking out 17 gallons of paint for a house that I had barely been in... the last time I'd been in the house was a month ago, up until this weekend! The Lord is so kind!
Speaking about not being in the new house much, some guys from Best Buy brought our new fridge and washing machine to the new house this afternoon. When they first arrived, the guy came up to me and asked me to show him where the laundry room was. I took him to where I thought it was. Nope. Lol! So then I took him to a different place where I thought it was. Nope! Lol! So then he and I searched together and we finally found the laundry room. it was humorous... and slightly embarrassing and somewhat telling about how little I've been in the new house. I'm so excited to be in it!! I can't wait!! I wish my phone would let me upload phots to my blog- I would totally show you all pictures of the before and after paint.
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