Lately.

I’m back. Not that I ever meant to take a vacation, but life has been so busy, I haven’t simply had the time or motivation to blog. So here’s a little glimpse as to what’s happened the past 4 months. 1. I was accepted to Wichita State’s Graduate Program! I will be getting my Master’s in Social Work beginning in August. This is a huge blessing that has a long story behind it demonstrating the grace and sovereignty of God, but we are VERY excited for this new chapter! 2. These people moved in with us. We’re going on 4 weeks now. For those who don’t know who this adorable family is, see that tall guy who looks just like my husband? That’s E’s brother, and his wife and 4 children. So the Woods have grown by 6! They bought a new house and have been waiting on the renovations and the closings before they can move in. Of course, since they let us move in with them when we first arrived to Hutch, we returned the favor. We try to practice grace in this family :) And grace has been exactly what we needed.

I’ll let you guys in on a secret….I’m kinda crazy. I see crazy everyday in my job, and I have a degree in psychology, so I feel totally justified saying that I too have a crazy side. My friends have always joked I’m slightly OCD…and having 4 children under the age of 6 move in my house has jarred me. Here’s how it all went down…we knew they were going to move in for a couple weeks. My sis told me on a Thursday the people who bought their old house wanted in sooner. She decided they weren’t moving in until two more weeks. E and I went out of town the next day. I get a call Friday night that they are moving in TONIGHT. WHILE WE ARE GONE. AND MY HOUSE WAS NOT PERFECTLY CLEAN. I freaked. Mildly. I get home Sunday. Stuff is everywhere. Stuff is in my refrigerator and freezer and cabinets that I have not purchased. It wasn’t messy by all means, but there was more stuff than I was used to. Then we learn that the two weeks they were supposed to live with us became six weeks.

I tried to contain my crazy, or at least hide it.  By day 3 of living together, E came home from work to find me on my hands and knees scrubbing my kitchen floor with wet wipes since I couldn’t find my mop. I was working up a frenzy because there were spots EVERYWHERE. (not really but in my crazy mind, there were). Bless his heart. He just shook his head at me and said, “How are we ever going to have kids like this?”.

Ouch. I let it slide for a little bit. Then another few days went by. I had been late to work a couple days in a row, because there were dishes that HAD to be done before I left the house for the day.  I was exhausted after a few late nights of finishing cleaning and tidying up before I had to go to sleep. I’ve never been able to sleep knowing there is a mess in my house. Then E’s words hit me. I was crazy. I was acting like a cleaning machine because I could not relinquish this control I had to have over my house. I cried a little, as I realized I wasn’t really hiding my crazy that well. Control has always been a struggle in my life – and even in little things, God is continually teaching me to rest in his peace instead of trying to micromanage and control everything…whether it’s in huge issues like Mom’s cancer, or my housekeeping. So no, my house is not perfect and tidy every day. And that’s okay. Because I get to come home to these faces every day from work, and that makes it all worth it.

3. My sister got married in Mexico, and we welcomed a new brother into my family! My sister’s story is one of God’s sovereignity and patience that is truly beautiful – she waited until she was in her 30’s to find him, refusing to settle for many (horrible) men she brought home. We couldn’t be prouder of her or love her new husband more. Mexico was beautiful.

Unfortunately, my body had a horrible reaction there. The night before the wedding, my legs locked up completely. I couldn’t straighten my knees, and could barely walk. Everything from my knees down were red and swollen to twice their size. I sucked it up for the next two days, and saw a doctor as soon as we were home. Thankfully, my kidneys were fine, which was our biggest concern. I was placed on a diuretic to reduce the swelling, but then began to itch like mad. The doctors placed me on a steroid for a week, and finally I’m beginning to feel back to normal. Still no idea what caused this reaction or what happened, but I’m thankful that my body is finally filtering out whatever had gotten in my system. It wasn’t a pretty picture – E kept laughing at me attempting to walk and yelling “ow…ow…ow ow ow ow…” with every step. I just yelled “in sickness AND in health, you promised!” He still laughed. Rude. Also – side note – how BEAUTIFUL does my Mother look?! Her hair has started coming back in, and it’s baby soft. Seriously. I just keep touching her hair in amazement. Luckily she just laughs. She has finished chemo and radiation and we will know more in July what her prognosis is. Prayers would be greatly appreciated as we are all super anxious!

Those are probably the three biggest life events that have been going on in our household. I love that God teaches us something in every aspect of our lives…whether it’s the value of patiently waiting in Him for His timing, relinquishing control, or the everyday blessing of good health that we so take advantage of. God is good, in every season.

Grandpa.

This past Sunday, my sweet Grandpa met Jesus. He’d been sick and in and out of the hospital for the past year or so, but it still came as a shock. We learned on Sunday that he had pancreatic cancer, but it was too progressed to do anything. The doctors told us we had a few weeks, then changed it to a few days. We got two hours. Once Grandpa knew this was the end, he told my Grandma, his wife of 45 years, “it is what it is, God’s will be done.” And he peacefully let go.

My family has been scrambling this week trying to get to him and my Grandma right before Christmas. Right now, I’m driving the 24 hour trip back to Kansas after only spending a day with my family. But how encouraged I was within that one day.

My Grandparents love Jesus so dearly. I came into the situation expecting my Grandma to be a mess. She had just lost the love of her life, and was surely to be deep in grief. And she was grieving – just not the way I expected. God was so evident in every part of the weekend. Grandma was running cookies to the hospital, to thank the nurses for doing all they could and loving them. She and I both started crying when we left the hospital. As she hugged me, she told me that Grandpa’s favorite book of the Bible was Revelation, and in Revelation there’s a verse about God holding all our tears in a golden pot. She joked that God was going to need to get another pot for her. And just like that, my Grandma was back to her normal self, comforted by this verse Grandpa used to say to her. The night before the funeral, my brother dreamt that he had seen Grandpa and couldn’t explain to us all that he wasn’t gone, he was here! As my brother told us this before the funeral, my Grandma just nodded silently and said “he is here, honey. Grandpa’s here.” I was so encouraged by my Grandma’s attitude throughout everything. Sure, her heart was broken, but she had the hope and peace that he was, as cliche as it sounds, in a better place. I hope and pray I can have that kind of heart when it comes time for E.

My grandma told me that if one person came to know Jesus through the funeral, then it would all be worth it. Throughout the service, the gospel was preached in every aspect, as we all repeated this was a celebration because Grandpa was in Heaven. And you know what? Somebody accepted Jesus at his service. Praise The Lord – even this one request from Grandma in the midst of her grief was answered. God just kept extending His grace to my family throughout the entire week, and I was continually reminded that God’s grace FINDS us. How precious that we don’t have to search for it.

My grandpa was a quiet man, of few words. He had a gentle, loving spirit. He put his faith and family first. He would do anything for us grandkids. Today, I was greeted and hugged by so many people who knew and loved my Grandpa. Selfishly, I wish he was still here. I wasn’t ready to let him go, but I’m reminded that he wasn’t any of ours to claim. He was God’s, and God called him Home to save him from the pain his cancer was going to give him. And this Christmas? He’s celebrating with the KING. I can’t imagine a more beautiful celebration of Christmas than in Heaven.

Eternity.

We’ve been getting a lot of snow lately in Kansas. Actually, scratch that. Kansas gets more ICE than snow.

Pretty isn’t it? And don’t get me wrong — I’m a Kansas girl who loves snow. But ice….man, ice is evil.

Ice did this to my poor car:

I was driving to work, minding my own business, when the highway curved. Like usual, I let my foot off the gas, and turned my wheel. In the middle of my turn, my front wheel caught a patch of ice on the otherwise clear highway. BAM. Instantly, I lost control. I flew down the ditch and started spinning out…and my first instinct was to slam on my brakes. Now here’s my little disclaimer — I’m not an idiot. I grew up in Kansas, so I know how to drive in snow and ice. I know the number one rule of driving in snow is to NEVER hit your brakes…it just makes things worse since you get zero traction. But here I was, spinning out of control, and all I could think was BRAKE. So I did. Braking sent me into more spinning, and I heard a huge thump, as I took out a road sign. [ironically, it was the sign telling you the highway was approaching a curve, but I digress.] After only a few seconds, my car came to a stop. I assessed myself, made sure I was okay…then I looked up. About two feet in front of me was a 10ft tall electrical fence. This fence guards the power plant that’s in town. If I hadn’t slammed on my brakes, there’s no doubt in my mind that I would have kept going until I hit that fence. Braking made me spin out more, yes…but it saved me a lot of hospital bills..if not my life. My instincts were the TOTAL opposite of what they should have been…I’ve been trained to never hit your brakes in ice.  Yet as I was spinning out, all I could think to do was slam on my brakes [not just tap them, but SLAM] with everything I had.

I’m not going to sit here and give credit to my instincts. Let’s be real — there was only one reason I didn’t go through that fence, and that’s because my Protector was guiding me.  Even though I had no time to react, God yelled at my brain to tell my foot to act [to put it bluntly]. I thought I was fine after the accident — I got back on the road right away, called my husband to let him know, and went to work. It wasn’t until an hour later when I was grabbing a pen that I realized my hands were still shaking. Physically, I was fine. Perfect. But emotionally, I was still reeling from how close of a call that had been.

“You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” — James 4.14

Compared to eternity, my life is a mist. A breath. We are so fragile. Matt Chandler [he’s amazing, look him up], has always said that EVERYONE’S life can be destroyed in one moment, by one phone call. It only took a second for me to get a text from my Mom that told me she was positive for cancer. It only took a second for me to lose control of my car, driving the same route I’ve done countless times.  Life changes in seconds. We are all capable of being mere seconds away from being on our knees, every moment of the day.

I don’t mean to come across as depressing or morbid, but to remind us all that God doesn’t guarantee tomorrow. I get so caught up in the worries and stresses of my job and my everyday life, and I’m guilty of forgetting the bigger picture…His Kingdom. What am I doing in my Earthly life that is going to impact my Eternal life? Am I spreading His name? Am I loving others? Or am I too concerned with my own life and my own troubles? My Earthly life is mere seconds compared to my Eternal life…and how am I preparing for this? By hungering and thirsting for God’s Word every second of my day? Or by being frustrated with life’s stupid drama?

I can never prepare for Eternity enough.  What a scary, but necessary reminder.

[I still hate the ice though :) ]

Family.

As Thanksgiving approaches and family comes flooding in, I’m reminded of everything I have to be thankful for this year. I could go on and on, or make a Facebook status every day of the month to detail all my blessings, but let’s be real. We all know how annoying those can be. I think all my blessings can be summed up in one word this year: family.

Never have I felt the ties to my family more so than this year. When June hit and my family’s world turned upside down with the news of Mom’s cancer, my family clung to each other. That day, I called all my siblings and mother-in-law, for the first time in months.  My brother-in-law took us all out to dinner to cheer me up. And the first person to hug me and let me cry as she prayed over me? My sister-in-law. My husband rushed home from work for the day, even though it was his first day with his new boss. My sweet nephews and niece gave me hugs and snuggled me, even though they couldn’t fully understand the gravity of the situation. I was so overwhelmed by the love and the grace my family showed.

My husband is a wise man. One of the first things he told me that day, as he held me and prayed, was that God was going to use this to bring about good. And not only good for His glory, but good for our family. And as cliche as it is, tragedy and heartache really does bring people together.  My sister and I are complete opposites…and it’s been difficult sometimes to bond with her.  But this year I have never felt closer to her.  We have sat and shared our hearts together, and cried together — something that we’ve never been able to do before. My other sister would text me inspiring Bible verses when we were all having a rough day, such as when Mom had her first day of chemo or surgery. I’d call her crying, and she would encourage me.  My dad has always been so loving towards Mom — he’s got a servant heart.  But going to Dallas to visit them last weekend, I was in awe of my dad.  For the past 28 years, Mom has taken care of the house — laundry, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping…you get the drift. But she can’t do that anymore, and my dad has taken over everything, without complaint.  It’s amazing how much he is serving her, day in and day out; truly living out his vows of “in sickness and in health”.  Friends, it is beautiful to see that love grow stronger in the harder times. My sweet, sweet mother-in-law texts my Mom almost every day to let her know she’s praying for her and loves her. Friends, friends of friends, even random Facebook friends I haven’t spoken to in years, reach out to me, constantly asking how Mom’s doing. Mom’s Sunday School class is always bringing dinner and casseroles by for her.  E and I ran for Race for the Cure, and my sister and her husband did the same thing 1000 miles away.  Just the community of not only family, but the body of Christ amazes me.

Tomorrow is Mom’s last day of chemo — God willing, of course. It has been a long few months, and her battle is not yet over. We still have radiation to face, come January. But this Thanksgiving and this Christmas, God is giving Mom and us the gift of being able to rest. Being able to breathe a sigh of relief that the worst, prayerfully, is over.

I know that every year for Thanksgiving, family is at the top of my list for things I’m thankful for. But this year, family has taken on a whole new meaning to me — my family this year is composed of not only blood relatives, but my wonderful in-laws, my friends, and my family of believers. This year, I’m thankful for the grace and the love Christ extends through His Church.

And her.  I’ve always been thankful for her.. but this year, I’m not taking her or anyone I love for granted.

Makeovers.

This year, E and I are hosting Thanksgiving for the first time ever! The thought of having a house full of family has been the kick in the pants I needed to complete all my projects I’ve put on the back burner. So, without further ado….

Pillows.

A few months ago, my sweet hubs bought me fabric to make new pillows. You can find that post here. I had made those pillows, but had no other pillows to match. Challenge accepted.

I bought some green and yellow chevron fabric at the wonderful Hob Lob and sewed four pillows out of it. The only problem was there was a slight miscommunication with my sister [perfect example of why you should always call and never rely on texting], and we bought WAY more fabric than we needed. So I had to get creative with all my extra fabric.

We have lots of extra burlap table runners from our wedding still. I just paired it with some pumpkins and cut a simple table runner — no sewing required [my favorite]. Me and my sewing machine butt heads every time I use it.

I then used the rest of the fabric to put over plain old canvases and pinned pictures of our families up on them.  I need to get some more pictures of our nieces and nephews, but my plan is to have them covered with their faces. I used both the extra yellow and green fabric, and then put them on a wall that has this sweet sign from Mary and Martha that says “this home is blessed by God’s sweet grace”. love it.

Dresser.

our old TV stand. Yawn. Boring. And notice those cords poking through the back!? Hate it.

E and I picked up this dresser on the side of the road for FREE. I couldn’t pass it up. I’ve seen all these projects on Pinterest about making dressers into entertainment centers, so I gave it a shot. After all, it was FREE!

The first step was to take all the drawers out [most were broken anyways], and sand that baby down. E did this for me.

Then it was time to paint. I chose a yellow without even comparing it to my yellow in my living room, but it turned out pretty well! Now here’s the tricky part…all the drawers but two were broken.  We had to lay down a board in the middle and a board in the back to cover up all the wires and cords.

We bought some plain old plywood to cover the back and for the two shelves. Don’t worry — I painted the other side of it. We just measured  the dresser and cut the plywood accordingly.  Super thankful for husbands who handle power tools so I don’t have to :)

Here’s with the plywood nailed onto the back and with the middle shelf nailed in. E also drilled a hole in the back for the cords, but I forgot to get a picture of that.

Look at that beauty! I love it already.  It brings some color to our living room, the TV is up higher than before, AND LOOK, NO CORDS!!!!

Super easy projects too — this dresser took me a weekend to complete, and the pillows take about an hour each [but I’m super slow]. I normally do those while watching some Breaking Bad with the hubs.

Next stop: our bedroom! I’ve been putting that one off for months… Silly me :)

IBS.

Hi, my name is Lindsey, and I have IBS [Irritable Bowel Syndrome]. Oh, and Acid Reflux too. Woot, glad to get THAT off my chest.

Yep — this has defined me since I was 12. I was your normal kid growing up — maybe a little more anxious or easily stressed than your average kid, but no biggie. I was just a planner, and if things didn’t go according to this plan, I would mildly freak out. Mildly being the key word here.

little Me, stressing out already. Silly Me.

I had lived my whole life in a smallish town in North Carolina. My family was all there, friends, church..you name it. I had gone to a tiny Christian school where I had known the same 18 classmates since kindergarten. I lived in a bubble. And I was happy in this bubble.

And then Kansas City happened. POP went my bubble. And I vividly remember walking into my new junior high — public school, no less — where there were 500 people I had never met in my life. I was alone. And I stressed (just a little). I spent the majority of my 7th grade year sick, every single morning. I started waking up ten minutes earlier in the mornings, because I knew my stomach would act up. That’s when you know it’s bad — budgeting bathroom breaks into your morning routine. The nurse and I became quite close that year. At first, my family was sympathetic, and let me stay home on days my stomach felt like it was ripping me apart from the inside out. But eventually, they started realizing this wasn’t going away, and I couldn’t stay home forever.

I started seeing doctors, and learned what gastroenterology meant [stomach doctors]. I had a scoping done [sticking a camera tube down my throat to take pictures of my intestine], ultrasounds [a 13 year old getting an ultrasound, imagine that], and was put on so many different medications, I couldn’t keep it straight. The only way to find what medicine worked best was, unfortunately, trial and error. I’d try three meds at once for a few months, and then switch it up. Doctors couldn’t figure out exactly what was wrong, so they stuck the label of IBS on me. All they could find were strange chemicals my stomach was producing, but they didn’t know how they got there, or how to get rid of them. Basically, I was told the best way to treat my stomach pain was to get my stress under control and learn to deal with the pain.

I kept taking medicine, again changing it up every few months. I hit my teenage years, and I developed an addiction to….Mountain Dew.  duh duh duhhhhhh. Come on, what’d you think I was going to say?? I drank that sucker like it was water. I could down a 2 liter Friday, Saturday, and Sunday [that’s 6 liters for those of you doing the math].  Not to mention the Dew I’d do during the week [had to]. It was bad. And I was stressed with college, AP classes, extracurricular activities, fear of graduating, what to do with my life, etc. So my stomach condition, which had been tolerable for the past 5 years, worsened. I remember feeling burning sensations in my stomach, and started developing new symptoms.  My stomach would cramp up, and I would feel as if I had a brick sitting in my gut. I could go a week without using the bathroom, all while having a rock hard stomach [and not in the good way].  I went back to the doctor, where he diagnosed me with Acid Reflux in addition to the IBS. Code word here – stop doing the Dew [these jokes are just TOO easy]. I quit, and my symptoms slowly started getting better. I was put on new medication in addition to my IBS meds.

My stomach condition still didn’t get that much better. Senior year and freshman year of college were the worst two years for me in terms of my stress and stomach. I started throwing up because of my stress levels. I developed anxiety and panic attacks, when I felt like the world was caving in and I couldn’t find my breath. I stopped sleeping — I would sleep for about 3 or 4 hours a night. I was put on Ambien to help with the insomnia, and told to start biofeedback to help with my stress and anxiety. Unfortunately, I’d have to drive home from college twice a week for biofeedback, which just wasn’t feasible with my schedule. Once I removed myself from the stressful situations surrounding me freshman year, my stress slowly started getting under control. I still needed the Ambien occasionally, but the panic attacks and the vomiting stopped. Progress.

The rest of college, my doctor attempted to wean me off my medication.  The meds I was on are supposed to be for short term use only, and put me at a greater risk for Osteoporosis. So far, I had been taking it daily for 3 years. We decided to try the weaning off process during a Jan-term, when my stress would hopefully be at a lower level since I wouldn’t be taking classes, and I’d be at home so he could monitor it.  He gave me an over the counter medicine to help with my Acid Reflux that I was to take 8 times a day, and I went off my normal medication. I remember the first day off of it, I spent the day lying in bed with my mom, crying and holding my stomach. I felt like I was having pain contractions in my stomach. I’d be fine for a few minutes, and then everything would tighten and the pain would…literally, take my breath away for 5-10 seconds. This happened ALL DAY.  It was the worst. We gave it a week, but I couldn’t handle it. I went back on the medication.

Fast forward to a couple months ago. I’ve been on this medication for 8 years now. EIGHT YEARS. And it came time for me to renew my prescription, and I just…didn’t. I’d had it. I was done. I was so tired of taking medicine that didn’t fix my problem. Yes, it helped.  It definitely helped manage some of my pain, but it never took it away. I was still in pain almost every day, but it was just manageable pain. I started researching IBS more and more, because I realized most of my symptoms [at least the ones that caused the most pain and discomfort] were IBS related, and not Acid Reflux. And I read about triggers — and I’ve been able to identify my 4 trigger foods that guarantee discomfort for me.

Dairy. Red meat. Anything fried. Caffeine.

Modifying my diet has been SO hard. I never realized how many things have dairy in them until I spent over an hour in the grocery store, just reading labels. And I love cheese. I put cheese on everything. Don’t get me started on sour cream. Or butter?! Oh goodness. Red meat hasn’t been too terribly hard — I think it’s harder on my husband that I don’t cook with it anymore. Fried food has been difficult because it’s so hard to get something not fried at fast food restaurants.  E and I both have crazy busy schedules, and a lot of times, I have no choice but to eat on the road.  There’s only so much Subway one person can take.  When you go to fast food and take away cheese, mayo, beef, and fried food…you’re not left with a ton of options. As far as caffeine, I actually don’t miss it that much. After the Acid Reflux diagnosis, I have never been able to really enjoy soda anyways. I’ve never been a big coffee person either.

So after 12 years, I’m finally becoming dairy free. Did you know that dairy and red meat are the two HARDEST foods for any normal stomach to digest? So far I’ve noticed small differences — when I adhere to this, my stomach hardly hurts at all.  If I cheat, like the other night, then I regret it almost immediately.

If you’re still with me at this point, I’m impressed. Thanks for reading my long novel on my newest change in my life. :)

Change with[out] Christ.

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” — Colossians 3:17

For those who don’t know, I’m a Case Manager for children with SED [severe emotional disturbances] and mental illnesses. Lately, work has been, to be honest, burning me out. I read case notes about their horrible, sometimes unimaginable pasts, see their home lives, and work with them to manage their behaviors, for the hope that one day, they won’t need me anymore.

But how can I bring about change in them, without sharing Christ with them? How can I show mercy and compassion without being able to explain where I can get that from? How do I interact with these kids, when many of them have no father figures, and I can’t tell them about the greatest love from a Father they could ever imagine?

Sure I can encourage them to change their behaviors, or teach them how to control their actions. But all I’m doing is modifying their behavior. What about deep rooted change from the heart?

The hard part, I’m realizing, is that I can’t change these kids. I can’t help them change, because they have to want to change themselves.  Which, as unfortunate as it is, most of them don’t care.  And worse, I can’t help them change because I can’t tell them of the only One who CAN bring about a change in them.

Sure, I can read Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and find ways to spit these verses out in my own words. Treating others fairly, using kind words…it’s all there in Proverbs. Ecclesiastes is filled with verses on how to live a prosperous life. And yes, I find some comfort in that. I constantly hear my sister-in-law and brother-in-law parenting their 4 kids, and they’ll teach their kids self control, choosing joy, being the boss of your own heart, etc. Again, I tweak the Biblical approach, and tell my kids that they can choose to be happy or choose to be sad. I encourage them to exercise self control by using different coping skills. I tell them that nobody can make them happy or sad or mad, except for themselves. That they control their emotions, therefore being the boss of their own hearts. By the way, I totally think you should patent that phrase, Elizabeth. :) I am CONSTANTLY saying “worry about you”, whenever they become angry with another peer and want that peer to get in trouble. [taking the plank out of your own eye, get it??]

I can revise your life. Look, I’m ready to pour out my spirit on you; I’m ready to tell you all I know. –Proverbs 1:23 [the Message].

So there’s my loophole I’ve found — using Scripture by rephrasing it so it doesn’t come across as Scripture…even though it’s still Truth.  I can pray for my clients, that Christ will pour out His love and mercy onto them through me.  I can pray for seeds to be sown through the family.  But the heartbreaking part of this all, is that some of my clients will grow up, and never be able to manage themselves on their own.  Some may end up in an adult rehabilitation facility, or prison, or a group home. And that is just the product of sin in our world.  I can’t rid the world of sin. But thank goodness that’s not what I’m called to.

September

September is one of my favorite months — and there are SO many reasons why. Here’s some reasons in pictures — hopefully this makes up for my not blogging all month :)

1. College Football!!! Most importantly — Oklahoma State football!! E comes from a long line of OKState alumni and fans…his grandparents, parents, siblings, cousins…they all went there.  I guess we’re the oddballs for not going there!

2. Labor Day — E’s cousin got married on Labor Day in Tulsa, E’s hometown.  We spent a long weekend in his favorite place, surrounded by family. It was lovely.

3. Kansas State Fair. My sister-in-law is in charge of our town’s MOPS [Mothers of Preschoolers], and to open the state fair there was a huge parade. Even though I’m not a mom — I helped out with the float. The theme was Motherhood — it never changes; to celebrate the centennial. We won the float competition! I was a flapper from the 1920s. It was a secret dream of mine to dress as one one day. Mission accomplished.

20’s, 70’s, and 50’s

3. Baseball — more importantly playoffs! We headed to KC for a Rangers game with the kids. Also, this pic could be number 4 — dark hair! I normally dye my hair every fall to get in the spirit.

5. Friends! One of my best friends is getting married next month, so we had her Bachelorette party! SO much fun.

6. Birthday weeks. While in KC, E and I went to a little birthday lunch with my sister and brother-in-law and my brother and his girlfriend. I love birthday celebrations!!

7. World, this is my godson!! He’s my best friend’s first child…and I love him already. He was born the day before my birthday…which brings me to #8…8. BIRTHDAY! I turned 24 this year. Maybe that’s why September is my favorite month…

9. This guy. Not really part of September — but he did learn to walk this month! Pretty big deal, if you ask me.

10. I know technically this is for October – but October is breast cancer awareness month. E and I ran our first 5k in honor of Mom, in the pouring rain. It was difficult with the weather, but we did it!

I can’t wait for fall!! October is my second favorite month :)

Meal Planning.

Guys, I have a confession to make….I hate meal planning. I mean, really…really…hate. Every Saturday or Sunday afternoon, I sit down with my Pinterest up, pen and paper ready. And it takes me FOREVER to come up with 5 meals for two.  I know I’m going to look back one day when we have all the little ones running around and say that I had it so easy when it was just us two with meal planning…but for now I can complain that meal planning is the PITS. For real. I know it’s necessary for budgeting and stuff, blah blah blah. I can still hate it.

So last week, there I was. Poor, pitiful me, staring at my computer and yelling I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO PLAN! My poor hubs just normally ignores me but then, like a voice coming straight from Heaven, he said “I’ll meal plan for us next week.” 

…. I didn’t question it. I didn’t ask him if he was sure. I just gave him the laptop and my grocery list and let him go. Now, don’t judge the non-healthy meals, please. Normally I try to make our meals as healthy as he’ll eat, but when he had the reigns it was all forgotten. I don’t think we even had one vegetable this week, haha.

So, here’s 4 man-approved meals [he wanted pizza one night], from my sweet hubs to you. And, here’s a plus: they’re pretty cheap to make! E is a lot better with budgeting than I am, oops.

1. Pulled Pork — this was surprisingly easy. And anything that has the word “crockpot” associated with it is a winner for me. We had all the spices on hand already, so the only expensive part was the actual pork [it calls for a lot].  But this lasted us for lunches all week, so it was a win win.

2. Bacon Ranch Chicken : like I said, no judgement for the unhealthy factor here [bacon AND ranch?! come on!].  BUT it also was crockpot – yay! And again, not a lot of ingredients here, so another win.

3. Spaghetti and meatballs : now E isn’t the biggest spaghetti fan, but if you put meatballs on it, he’ll eat it. And these are the best and easiest meatballs I’ve ever made. Seriously. 

4. Cowboy Caviar : this isn’t really a meal, but one night we had a cookout with some friends, and this was our contribution. Again, it was all E’s idea. Super fattening, but super delicious. [sorry no pic of it!]

I love that my husband chose to meal plan for me and give me a break from this mundane task. He blesses me in the smallest ways sometimes, but it makes the biggest difference to me. Love that about marriage :) 

OH — and he turned 25 this week! Yep, he’s halfway to 50. 

he got to spend his birthday with his two best friends — this is what happens when I tell them to act like they love each other. Just goes to show you’re never too old for tickle fights.

 

Carolina – pt.2

As promised, here’s part 2 of our vacation :)

Look what we found in Myrtle Beach!! A Texas Rangers minor league team — hubs was in Heaven. We couldn’t resist going so he could look at some prospects. AND we got our very first ball — an outfielder tossed it to us when we stood up in our Rangers apparel and yelled WE LOVE THE RANGERS! He laughed, probably thinking “look at those dummies who came all the way from Texas to sit in the rain” ;)

and this is how good a wife I am — it was pouring down rain the entire game. I must really love this guy.

It rained one day, so we went to the outlet malls to get out of the house.

me and mom and my niece, always being the goofball.

funny story behind this — the littlest niece, C is only 2. She found my wedding rings one day and ran off with them.  I chased her onto the balcony, and then started panicking that she would throw them off. My sister and brother-in-law had to WRESTLE the rings off of her while she screamed. Ever since then, she kept saying “I want diamond rings too, I want diamond rings!” Hilarious. So my other sister’s fiance bought them ring pops instead :)

Yep – shopaholic. See all those rings on her hand?! Diamond rings, I’m telling ya.

And purses. She loves purses.

always the diva.

cheeeeeeese!

Last morning  – definitely cried saying goodbye to them.

I said “make a sad face since we’re leaving Carolina” — this is what I got. Meanie.

What a beautiful reminder of how God’s thoughts for us outnumber the sands on EVERY shore. I can’t even comprehend it.