Our home

So the most exciting thing in our lives this summer was most definitely purchasing our first home!  Here is is:

Now with a house comes a relatively long to do list.  Here are just a few things on the list:

• A new deck (the current one is warped beyond belief)
• Paint the living room, hallway and dining room
• Paint the master bedroom
• Paint the kitchen
• Weed the garden
• Remove the ugly bushes we don't like
• Furnish the house and more specifically
• a living room chair
• master bedroom suite
• bedroom furniture for the 3rd bedroom

So we have a lot to do (and some of it has already been done, I'll post pictures as I have them).

Happy homemaking to us :)

The Prayer that Never Fails

Grandma Marnie and Me Last July :)

I never really thought that I would love the books my Grandma reads.  Not that she has bad taste, I just didn't think certain books would span the generational gap.  I was wrong.

A few weeks ago, not knowing what else to take from the church library, I started Jan Karon's "At Home in Mitford" series.  I'm five books in and loving it.  Thank you, Grandma, for making them familiar!

One of the things I love about Christian fiction is the way the characters can so encourage me in my walk.  The main character of the Mitford series often talks about "the prayer that never fails".  I may read a bit too quickly to pick up details, because it took me a good while to realize the prayer he refers to is "Thy will be done."

Wow!  I needed to hear that!  I have been praying for some really hard situations and my do-it-myself and let's-find-a-solution brain keeps trying to find the good in the situation.  My plans and intentions are nothing compared to what God can come up with- and he uses things for our good (good meaning to conform to Christ, see Romans 8:29).  I can see Mom and Mel laughing we me, as we over and over again say "or maybe...".  I need to hand all my maybe's over to God and simply trust and pray that HIS will would be done.

Who would've thought all that realization could come from fiction:)

Meal Plan for the Week

Joel grilling kabobs and trying to avoid the Camera :)

I've gotten into quite the routine on Sundays.  Church, home to meal plan and then hit the grocery store.  Here's what's in store for this week:

Monday:  Church Small Group, Kimberly is bringing dinner
Tuesday: Burgers on the grill and stovetop mac and cheese
Wednesday:  Youth Group at Church, we'll eat there
Thursday:  Lasagna Casserole and garlic bread
Friday:  Chicken Spaghetti (Mom and Melissa in town)
Saturday:  Graduation Party for Lexi!

Homemade Wheat Thins

Joel loves to have Wheat Thins with his lunches.  When they aren't on sale they are at least $3/box at our Kroger.  I can't handle that.  A few months ago I saw this recipe for homemade wheat thins and today I decided to try it out!  I've snacked on a few and think they're great.  Joel is out playing basketball with the boys so I'll have to patiently wait for his opinion.

WOL at Work

This past week I needed volunteers to help with a task at work- packing backpacks for our weekend snack program.  Look at this great group of volunteers I found!

Meal Plan

This week is already flying by, but here's what we have eaten/will eat:

Sunday:  Plan was for White Chicken Chili, went out to dinner instead
Monday:  White Chicken Chili for lunch, Spiced Pork with Rice for dinner
Tuesday:  Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Wednesday:  Taco night at church
Thursday: Chicken Fried Rice
Friday:  Lasagna
Saturday:  Chicken Parm.

Faith

This morning I had small group with Mel where we talked about having God's peace and filling up with him before interacting with others.  We're going through Beth Moore's Living Free and it is so good!

My devotional this morning was about active and passive faith- and having confidence that when we ask God hears and it is as good as done.  I'm not sure my faith is there yet, but I want it to be.  It's especially exciting to be learning so much about relying entirely on God as we are moving forward with exciting prospects.  Our showing from last Friday got rescheduled to sometime this week- not entirely sure yet when that will be but as I wait on the realtor I want to wait on the Lord's timing and grow!