Someday I will...

be a homeschooling mama.

maybe be closer to grasping the concept of the submissive wife.

have enough pens. :-)

have a housefull of little ones.

be out of the Bob & Larry phase and stage of life! :-)

This meme compliments of Swonderings at Women at Home. If you haven't come by and mingled with these fabulous, Godly women, you are missing out. :-)

I've been buried under card making projects the last few weeks . . . maybe that's why I haven't been posting as much? I finished some bridal shower invitations a couple weeks ago. They were a pain to get laid out right. The design is not original to me but they turned out cute. Now I need help! I was assigned 4 p.m. as my "time" - what do I get a bride for 4 p.m. in the afternoon? I'm stuck... I also wrapped up some baby shower invitations this weekend (this is front cover, but it was purple) and some wedding programs and change of address cards for the bride and groom. I think I have a window now with no pending jobs, which I'm thankful for. It's time to put my energies for some other things.

As I've mentioned (I think), I'm the administrator for my church (read: pay bils, buy toilet paper, church calendar, print bulletin, etc.) I'm also one of the music coordinators. I'm praying through and seaching where my role needs to be with our church music team. It's a busy job - even when shared by two people. Gina and I (the other 1/2 of the team) met a few weeks ago and have been processing where we are now that we've working together for 9 months or so and what do the next few months look like. Our strengths and weaknesses compliment each other so working together has been a huge blessing and helped share the load. However, she's got a little one that is nearing a pre-school homeschooling age and we're wanting to add to our family. Personally, I go back and forth to wanting to jump in even more with the team, to being ready for a break from being in charge and wanting to hand it off. I'm trying to seek and discern whether this is where the Lord wants me to be serving or should we be praying and seeking the next person to step into this spot and so far I'm just doing a lot of waiting. That's probably the answer for now, but I admit it makes me feel anxious that I don't know what's coming up. We have an Elder/Deacon/staff retreat coming up in a few weeks and it's the first one that I've been part of so maybe that will help clarify some of my feelings. Having some direction from where we think the Lord is leading our church . . . all to say, I'm looking forward to the get-together.

I think some of it, also, is the tiredness that just comes with several activities winding down for summer. We have 4 more weeks of women's Bible study and two (maybe 3?) more of Awana and our small group that meets concurrently. I'm looking forward to free evenings where we can sit out side and watch Noelle and the dogs run in the grass and watch my garden come up. (Speaking of which, I think we lost some of the cherry tomatoes in the frost we had last week. But there is other stuff coming up!) :-)

Just a couple pics of my girl to end. I am amazed by her vocabulary still . . . today she told me she wanted some "pack-kie" (popcorn) and told her Daddy that she saw a "frock" (frog) yesterday.

Is she a budding artist? (A rare picture of her actually using the crayons instead of eating them.)

Or a musician like Daddy?

Productive Monday

I love Mondays. When I was working at the job I was at before having Noelle, I loathed Mondays. I was struggling so much at my job and dreading Monday mornings, especially because of staff meetings. But now, my perspective has totally changed. Mondays are great! A fresh week. A chance to get back on track with house cleaning and with eating poorly over the weekend. Back to Noelle's regular routine instead of the one that we creatively come up with when Daddy's is home and we want to hang out with him! Monday means recovery from Sundays around here. A Sunday morning playing hard with the kids in the nursery, and then Sunday lunch at Grandma and Grandpa's means Monday is a good day for Noelle and I to stay home all day and get back to a normal routine. I'm thankful for Mondays.

That being said, we are having a great day at home today. Laudry is happening - the last load is in the dryer right now. I made a new recipe for lunch - Szechuan Chicken w/ Peanuts. Very. Good. W@H mail is going out tomorrow to Skipper, Amanda, Tammy & Annemarie.

Noelle is up from her nap now . . . I'm off the computer!

Appetizer
Which keys do you have on your key chain?

One car key, four church keys (front door, side door, baptistry door & playground padlock), Kroger plus card, 2 library cards for me, 1 library card for Travis, CVS card, Disney keychain with an "S" on it that my friend Jen gave me many moons ago. :)

Soup
What is the most spontaneous thing you've ever done?

Get engaged - six weeks after we started tentatively dating. For me, HUGELY spontaneous.

Salad
Who is the best cook in your family?

Depends on the dish. For example: grilling, my Dad. Coconut creme pie and cookie sheet cake, my maternal grandmother and my Mom. Homemade pizza, me.

Main Course
If you were to write a "how-to" book, what would the title be?

Ummmm, I don't know. I don't feel like I'm much of an expert in any area. :-)

Dessert
Name a recent fad you've tried.

I don't know that I've tried anything recently. I'm so un-hip, if I did, I probably didn't even know it!

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

From Cheri

How many hours of sleep do you get in a day?
Right now, I'm averaging probably 8 hours a night - in bed by 11 p.m. and up around 6:30 or 7 a.m. My FAVORITE routine is to go to bed at 10 and up at 6 or so before Noelle gets up but that hasn't been happening lately.

How often do you bath your baby/kids?
Usually just once or twice a week. Now that she is outside more, I have run her through the shower. Noelle has eczema on her legs and the Dr. has suggested no more than two baths a week so we have lots of little sponge baths. :)

How often do you do laundry? How many loads a week?
Right now, I can managed most of the laundry by doing about 4 loads on Monday and then 2-3 loads on Thursday or Friday. It's not unusual for Noelle to go through 3-4 outfits a day with being outside, messy meals and diaper issues (don't get me started on the diapers I bought recently - I'm going back to Pampers!!)

How often do you and your husband get out of the house for a date?
Ummmmmm. I had to look on my calendar - January 7th was the last one. We watch movies after Noelle goes to bed some - maybe go out to eat every 2-3 months. We're already looking forward to Star Wars III coming out - big date night for sure then! :)

How often do you grocery shop?
I was doing once a month shopping with weekly runs for eggs, milk, etc., but I've gone to every two weeks now. I try and keep more produce and fruit around and you just can't buy that only doing majoy shopping once a month - it gets naaaaaasssssttttyyy.

How often do you go out to eat?
As a family, not often - maybe once every 2-3 months. I do have a standing lunch date with my Mom and my sister every Tuesday. Every few months I'll go out to dinner with girlfriends to celebrate a birthday or because we all need out of the house . . . but that's about it.

How many diapers a day do you go through?
Eight-ish.

How often do you clean your house?
Basic cleaning a little bit every day and every 2-3 weeks have a big Saturday clean out/throw away/overhaul day.

What are your favorite household cleaning products?
Whatever cleans the best in the least amount of time! :-) Love lysol wipes for the bathroom and a regular old broom for basic sweeping in the kitchen.

How often do you watch television?
Hardly ever. Sometimes we watch Law & Order on Wednesday night, but it's not set in stone.

How often do you have alone time?
During Noelle's afternoon nap, I have about 1 1/2 hours to get stuff done or rest and then I have from 8:30 p.m. until I go to bed to be "alone" (hanging out with husband, reading, relaxing, etc.) Enough that I shouldn't complain if I'm not managing my time wisely! :-)

So Surprising!

You Are a One Piece! Surprise! You're not a bikini at all ... and chances are you don't wear one in real life. You're a tad on the modest side, but your modestly is not going to keep you from summer fun. You know that the right one piece can be as sexy - or even sexier - than a bikini. What Kind of Bikini Are You? Take This Quiz :-) Find the Love of Your Life (and More Love Quizzes) at Your New Romance.

*sigh*

Noelle is getting so big. She says Daddy all the time now. It's so precious. She calls for him and says it to get his attention now. (She says Mama a bunch now, too, but it's just really cute when she calls for her Daddy). :-) This morning we were playing and I was stacking some of her blocks and they would fall over. She watched me do it once or twice and then she took over playing with them.

She has several new words popping out: chair, "hoh" (help), "eeee" (eat). I'm so glad she can now say "eat." She can tell me when she's hungry - I love it. Her teething seems to be going a little better - she's really not ever that fussy. I just hate it when she wakes up at night just whimpering in her sleep. Last night she woke up as we were getting in bed around midnight so I took and rocked her for about 5 minutes and she went right back down. I've been giving her a little Motrin and some Triaminic for the perpetually runny nose and I that's has helped her sleep better. She took a couple big naps yesterday so I think we're starting to kick it. She even went down for a bit this morning which is good - even if she just naps for about an hour it will make a huge difference.

We have stuff poking up in the garden! Travis spotted it last night - it looks like some of my green onions are through the soil. Pictures will be taken but not today - it's rainy and bleah outside. At the moment I have a chicken stewing on the stove and the house smells so yummy. I'm going to freeze the meat and the broth for some recipes and then I need to cook a 2nd chicken later this afternoon. It's so much cheaper for us to buy whole chickens and me stew them instead of buying either the boneless/skinless to stew or buying it canned. We do buy some of the boneless/skinless, but I can make them last a lot longer if I don't waste them on chicken salad and stuff. Plus, you get such great flavor from the stewed chicken.

I've updated my books list recently - fyi. I'm going to try and cut back on fiction (specifically Christian) a bit. I've been binging on it while I've been sick and Noelle's been sick and that's never good for me. God so convicts me when I read too much Christian fiction. I don't know if anyone else struggles with this, but I start to read these good Christian fiction books and romance novels and then I find fault with everything my husband says and does and how I respond to him. The characters in so many of those books are WAY to perfect. The man always knows when flowers are needed and is the perfect husband - down the best massage and mushy card that he slips his wife/girlfriend. And the woman always has the right Godly counsel to give another woman in her time of need, while solving whatever mystery/love triangle/problem contained in those 350 pages or so and looks good doing it. (And she gets the guy in the end). < /soap box > Anyway, they mess with my mind. Not that it needs any help... :-)

We're going to get out in about 20 minutes to meet my Mom and sister for lunch today at Jason's Deli. I love lunch there because I can get soup and salad. Very Weight Watcher friendly. We have to run by Lifeway, too, and pick up Bible study books for the ladies' group at church and the Bible for our one high school graduate this year. The women are doing When Godly People Do Ungodly Things by Beth Moore in the Fall. (Why am I ordering the books so early? I needed to get one for the woman that is leading it and I went ahead and just ordered them all so I won't have to worry about them being in stock later.) :-) I did this study last spring with some of our youth girls and it was eye-opening for me. Satan is the master at deceiving and luring believers into patterns of destructive sin and you CAN guard yourself against him. I cannot handle sin on my own - there is no way humanly possible to do that - it will beat me ever time. But there is a DIVINE way to beat sin - Jesus Christ. Can I get an Amen?! :-)

As requested...

by Leann, here are some pictures of my garden as of Sunday evening. I'm hoping my little plants are okay because we had a cold weather weekend here.

From the front - it's 6 ft x 12 ft.

Here's one of my little cherry tomato plants that we started inside - hope the little guy is doing okay...

My big tomato plant, which was started for me by a precious octogenarian at my church who knows much more about gardening that I do.

Noelle is cutting teeth like crazy so it's been one short night after another around here - she just wakes up whimpering because her teeth hurt and seems to do better when I'm rocking her. Last night I was luckily able to get her back to bed after only about 20 minutes, but it just makes me a little draggy in the morning.

Planning on a regular newsy post tomorrow. :-)

Noelle was up at 1:15 a.m. this morning and stayed awake until 6:30 a.m.

There has been a definate lack of sleeping around here.

Managed to feed her breakfast at 6 a.m. and down for a morning nap around 6:30 - slept for 3 hours.

I slept for 2 hours. :-)

Am feeling behind, behind, behind.

Need to go water my garden, but it's hot outside.

Don't like hot.

And I get sun-poisoning if outside too long.

Did I mention we planted a garden? It's small - 6 feet by 12 feet.

I've planted cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, sugar snap peas, eggplant, cucumber, green onions and maybe something else. I can't remember.

Oh, yes. Leaf lettuce.

It's mostly an experiment this year - we aren't expecting to have much come up since it's our first try. :-)

Tonight it's music team at church.

Tomorrow night friends come over for dinner - hamburgers on the grill!

Pray for my friend Cheryl please. She's hurting. :-(

Any my friend Nattie - she's sick.

There are so many more . . . I'm tired of the hurting.

Off to water outside and then rest a bit.

Fairly productive day today around the house. In our big room that we live in I have a table covered with my scrapbook supplies. For months it's been a disaster. I've cleaned it up when I have needed to work on it or when we've had company coming over, but otherwise, it's been my piling spot. That has been bugging me like crazy! And I have needed a serious chunk of time to tackle it and make it useable again. On Saturday, I was inside while Noelle was napping and thought that I would work on my scrapbooks for a bit. It just wasn't fun. My pages were boring and stupid and I couldn't get into it. I told Travis that I thought I was a little burnt out on my scrapbooks and needed to just put all of it away for a bit. And I really wanted to have the table clear so I could spread out my Bible study material on it - up and out of sight of tiny hands. So yesterday I started tackling the table. I put away everything that was on the table. I sorted random pictures and got them back in order. I put a bunch of pictures in regular albums just so that Noelle can be looking at them and they aren't in a box gathering dust. (I'll go back and scrapbook them, but at least they are out where we can enjoy them!) While N. napped this afternoon, I finished cleaning. My desk was clear and useable again. Like I said, I thought I was burnt out on my scrapbooks, but once was desk was clear and useable again, I was in the mood to work! I made two (simple) pages this afternoon - basically mounting two 8 x 10's that I want in her baby book instead of leaving them to gather more dust. Amazing when you have a clean surface to work off of how much more productive you can be.

Kinda like my relationship with the Lord. If I'm covered in gunk and sin and yuck and I try to make my self presentable and useable for him - it isn't going to work. He's just going to shake his head at me and say, "some other time, you're not ready for me." I need to be ever-ready for him to use me - just like it is so much better when my table is ever-ready for me to use it. Just by spending a few hours on it, I was able to work on my Bible study lesson for tomorrow and work on Noelle's baby book. Surely the same applies to my relationship with the Lord, just by spending some time cleaning up myself - praying, reading the Word, studying, and listening, I can be so much more useable to him than the dirty, messy state I normally present myself to Him and present myself for service thinking "I'll catch up on the clean up later." You know what? It doesn't ever get clean if you just leave it - the dirt just piles up and the stuff piles up and you have MORE to sort through when you find you aren't getting anything done.

Major parallels for me here with my God-walk. Who knew I could learn something so profound cleaning house today! God is good. :-)