10 - The Busiest Day Ever

I have been going non-stop since 7 this morning, but it has been such a good day I've hardly noticed... that is until I sat down to write this post and realized it is 11:22. I still have some lingerie shower invites to design, but those might have to wait.

We started this morning by visiting a new church and we really enjoyed it! Everyone was super nice and the message was wonderful. I really liked that the pastor even went to the Old Testament for a bit. We've been where we are at now for almost 3 years and I don't think I have heard the OT mentioned once... I know that it isn't the happiest, but it was nice to hear it be acknowledged! I know that is probably a silly reason to like something, but I'm just being honest. The size is WAY smaller than where we are, but it didn't really bother me at all. It was kind of nice. The second we walked in, every person in the church introduced themselves to us. I don't think anyone at FBC has actually come up and said hello unless we were introduced by someone else. It was super laid back and just made us feel very welcome. And when I asked the husband what he thought (before service started) his response was "They have pigs in a blanket, I'm sold." haha! That man constantly makes me laugh!

The whole goal in this is that we find a church that gives us a chance to worship together and helps us grow spiritually. The problem with the church I grew up in is that we weren't worshiping as a couple. That is really important to me, and JC seemed to do the trick. Our second main interest is that we find a place that I am comfortable going to alone. I think this is why we are looking at smaller churches. With T working so many Sundays, I need a place that I can go, worship, be with friends and be comfortable. I don't like  to feel out of place or like people are staring at me. I have only been to FBC a few times without Tyler, but every time I go, I feel awkward. To the point that we've only been to church maybe 3 times in the last 3 months. Since Tyler has started school, he has to work so many more weekends. I hate it, but it is what it is and we have to pay our bills somehow. T will be working for the next few weeks, so we won't be visiting any new churches, but I do think I will try to get back to JC on my own and see how it feels.

After church, we headed out to go shopping for cameras. Ours is just a point and shoot and is now showing a black dot in the middle of every picture i take. I've had to edit like crazy just to get a picture scrapbook-able or frame-able. And I have wanted to get an SLR for quite some time and it just makes sense. We have known for a while that we wanted one before kids came into the picture and we think now is the best time to just jump in and get it! I think I have decided on a Canon T1i. I am going to go the actual camera store tomorrow to talk to them and make sure it is a good choice. They were closed today or that would've been taken care of.

After camera shopping we ate some lunch and came home to do laundry and clean... blah. Not anything fun to blog about there!

And after all of that came the best part of the day! WICKED!!! Woohoo! I met my girlfriends at Cantina Laredo first for dinner and we had a nice time! I miss 'em so much sometime, it was nice to get to just relax for a bit. I seriously did not take a single picture all night. How sad is that? The guy in front of me had a bit of hair sticking straight up and it was kind of distracting! ha! I kept wanting to smooth it down for him. Also, as soon as we got to our seats, someone called my name and when I looked it was the pastor's wife from the church I grew up at. When I took a closer look a HUGE group was there! It was nice to catch up a little bit with them. I still love that church and the people in it dearly, they did basically raise me.

Wicked was absolutely fantabulous. haha! I mean, it was just great. They did a fantastic job with it and we had a great time! I have to write a paper about it in my theater class and I am honestly debating going back again. I was just so taken by everything going on and listening to (and singing along silently) it all that I feel like I didn't get everything I need for my paper. We will see how the rest of the week goes and I am going to talk to my teacher about exactly what needs to be written before I decide. If you haven't gone yet, figure out a way and go! It was so much fun and the show was to die for. I loved every single minute of it!

All in all, I'd say today was a win. I love getting to spend so much time with Tyler. It is pretty rare these days to get so much uninterrupted time together!

9 - Holiday House and More!

Today was quite a busy day! I went to Holiday House this morning with my best friend. I don’t know if it is just me, but I just cannot stay there for long! Some folks stay for HOURS and that is so not me. I am in and out. I guess it is about the same as not being able to shop at TJ Maxx unless I am in the mood. Which is pretty rare. HH was pretty good this year, but I suppose since I became an adult and had to pay my own bills, buying cutesy stuff isn’t just as important. I did buy my 2 regular purches, Cherry Republic mild salsa and my refill calendar from Cary Collins. And that is it. But… on the way out we were headed up the escalator and a group of people were stopped near the top, so what does everyone else do… STOP… on a moving escalator!! I just about beat some folks. Haha! I mean, really, who stops at the top of one of those?! So dangerous.

After HH I went to babysit MM and E and we had a blast! We took a walk to a local pottery painting place. E painted a cute little peace sign ornament (why a 4 year old chose a peace sign, I will never know…) and I painted an ornament to give my aunt for Christmas with Weston’s initials, birth date and the verse “Let the little children come to me.” I have made some sort of ornament for her other two kids and wanted something special for W. I am pretty happy with the way it came out. And MM just stayed and chilled in her stroller. She was really good! And once she got a little wiggly, I strapped on my Moby wrap and just wore her while E finished painting her ornament. She had a really good time and I was super happy to have had something to do on this beautiful day!

Tomorrow we will head to Journey Church to visit for the first time! We are super excited about it… a little nervous, too. But I guess that is normal. I emailed the pastor’s wife and she seems super nice and was really open to all of my questions! I can be a little picky sometimes ;)

And then tomorrow night is WICKED!! Woohoo! I am so ready for this. I actually have to write a paper for one of my classes on the show. Beforehand, we are going to head out to eat. It will be really fun to get away with a few of my girlfriends. I don’t get to see these girls nearly often enough!

I will update about church tomorrow and let you know how it goes. Keep your fingers crossed that this is the church for us and we can stop looking. I really am not too keen on church jumping, I just want a perfect fit the first time! Ha!

8 - This should have gone up yesterday ;)

Today I got to babysit my sweet little cousins. I just love them so much and they are so much fun to hang out with. They are the older siblings of Baby Weston. They told me a few times that their new baby was in heaven with Jesus. It broke my heart.

We made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and they were delicious! It was fun to have two little helpers. This is the only picture I have of our muffins, because they were gone… in an instant! I saved some for my sweet sisters-in-law though and snapped a picture when I dropped them off.

The recipe I use is from All Recipes, but I thought I would post it here for good measure. I usually switch it up just a little bit.

Ingredients

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

3/4 cup canned pumpkin

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 tsp baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin pan.

2. Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In a separate bowl mix together flour, soda, powder, spices and salt. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir in chocolate chipes

3. Fill muffin cups 2/3 with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes

The main things I change… I never have cumin in our house and I always forget to get it at the store. Ha! So I usually use pumpkin pie spice in place of it. Also, I don’t know how much pumpkin I use… I do ½ a can or so of pumpkin per batch. And the last change is the cook time. I have 3 muffin tins: 1 24 count mini muffin tin, 1 6 count muffin tin and 1 silicone 24 count muffin tin. In the mini muffin and the 6 count tin, I bake for 11 minutes and in the silicon one I bake it for about 17 minutes. Sometimes a little bit longer, but never as long as the recipe calls for. The very first time I made these, I set the timer for 20 minutes and they were scorched. Definitely don’t leave them the whole time!

I don't know if I have ever mentioned this, but I have a small at home business and one of the many things I do is design stationary. Right now, I am in the middle of designing some first birthday invitations for a client and they are to die for! She wants a vintage/tea party theme and sent me some samples of a Save-the-Date printed on handkerchiefs. My first thought was – she wants me to print on fabric? Who does she think I am? But apparently I’m pretty awesome because I totally did it! They are seriously some of my most favorite invites I’ve ever done! And that is saying a lot, considering I did my wedding invites and they were perfect! We are now trying to decide the packaging. She is only doing 10 or so and I think it would be adorable to do a little tea kettle sugar cookie in a box wrapped in the hankie or something along those lines. I know we will figure it out, but I am just so excited now! She emailed me the request at 11 o’clock yesterday morning and the second I got home from babysitting I had to try it!

I am one busy girl this weekend. I babysat M & B earlier today, I am babysitting their baby cousin right now. Tomorrow I am going to Holiday House with my best friend, then babysitting in the afternoon, and M & B again tomorrow night. Then we are trying Journey Church Sunday morning and I am going to see Wicked with friends Sunday night! So freaking excited!! Have the most fantastic weekend!

7 - A time for change?

Tyler and I grew up at different churches. I'm Lutheran (and still wholeheartedly accept the teachings) and Tyler grew up Episcopalian, but his family is Lutheran, he was baptized Lutheran and when we got married, he converted. So I suppose we are both Lutheran. Before we got married, we were attending the church I grew up in, but... Tyler was falling asleep in church. For real, asleep. I love that church so much and love everyone in it. They are wonderful people and really helped me grow to be the woman I am today. But, something I've learned along the way is compromise... if your husband is falling asleep during services, you should probably look elsewhere. So, we've been going to a "mega-church" since right before we got married. And honestly we do really love it. But I have been having some issues with the church. The biggest issue is that its a 20 minute drive to church. It really takes a toll on us. Also, I think we are a little too "liberal" to attend an extremely conservative church. I have actually walked out of service on more than one occasion. I am not someone who gets easily offended. I am pretty straight forward with my opinions and am completely open to sharing what they are and why if someone asks. And welcome people to disagree (and people do tend to disagree, particularly at church) so for me to walk out... it was kind of a big deal. Now, I still do really like most of the sermons, the people and the music is great!!

But, we have decided to start looking at other churches. In the end, we may feel like where we are is the best fit, but we feel like we need to try. This Sunday we are going to try a super small church (like 25 people) on our side of the river. We have quite a few churches on our short list, but the first step is just to go!
One of our other "problems" is that Tyler works a lot on Sundays, so it can be difficult to actually get to go. I would love to find a church that I am comfortable going to on my own. Our current church is just SO big and I feel like I get lost in the crowd! It is really hard to get connected with other people, particularly when you live so far away. We tried a community group close to home, but didn't really click with the leaders or the other members, so we still never got to know anyone. We do have a few really good friends that attend, but they are around the corner from the church!

Long story short... if you know a great church in Central Arkansas... let us know! Preferably an open-minded church :)

6 - 10 things.

Every day, usually in the morning when I do my Bible time, I write in my journal 10 things I am thankful for. From the huge things to the little silly things, I write the first 10 that pop into my head. I have found it has really helped to humble me and make me more grateful for the little things in life. Today was a difficult day. But I still have plenty to be thankful and need to remind myself of that. Therefore, I am reminding myself, in public, of the the things I need to thank the Lord I have. I didn't get a chance to start my day in the word, and sometimes I can really tell. I need to be much better about that! So, here are my 10 things.

1. The roof over my head and the sheets on my bed.
2. My favorite sweet tea readily available in my fridge
3. Wonderful grandparents who are still alive and kicking! And take fantastic care of me.
4. My mama. We got in a huge fight yesterday, but all is better now and I am always thankful to have her in my life, no matter how crazy she makes me ;)
5.My twitter friends. As silly as it may sound to those of you who don't use twitter, these friends can be there with a word of comfort or encouragement, a promise to pray or just for a good laugh anytime!
6. My husband. He's the coolest.
7. My real world friends. I love them.
8. The fact that the Lord loves me and cares for me in spite of all of my shortfalls. It is such a wonderful feeling knowing that no matter what, there is someone who is always taking care of me. Even if I don't think its the way I want to be taken care of!
9. My daily runs. I am so glad that I started running in May. It is such a great way to clear my mind. And I always get this time specifically to talk with Jesus. This time is great for me to get outside away from everyone else and let go of all my worries and fears and give it to God.
10. And I am thankful for this sweet face:

He is super sick and we have been having to run tests all week. We now have to take him to see a specialist. He could have cancer, he could have something auto-immune. Whatever it is, we just want him to get well as soon as possible. I love him so very much! I'm also pretty fond of his baby brother :)

5 - Happy Halloween

Did y'all have a good Halloween? We did! After how difficult last week was, we really needed it. My best friend's mom had a Costume party out at her house Saturday and had quite a few people over. I have been thinking about costumes for us for months! It was really difficult to decide on something. I was a cupcake for my Preschool class party, but didn't really want to be that for an adult party. Even though my mom told me that cupcakes and Tyler go together, so I could be a cupcake and he could be himself! haha! So true! Meredith and I were up LATE Friday night trying to decide upon and put together costumes. We found a really cool tattoo at one of the Halloween stores and decided that Tyler would be a sailor. And with that came the brain storming! I decided to be a pin up girl. Way out of my comfort zone, but so much fun. We searched and searched this town for a suitable pin up dress. We ended up finding a "Marilyn Monroe" dress at a party store in town at 11 o'clock! Who knew they stayed open that late?! We were very grateful that they had one! Enjoy the pictures!

Me as a cupcake! I love this costume, I finished it the morning of! haha!

My Sailor and his pin-up!

Loved my hair!

I felt the need to censor this tattoo! lol. It was really awesome!

   

And I just love this! haha! Best. Photobomb. Ever. Also, she made the world's best pirate!

4 - Weston.

I am really just going to get on here and write, I am having a complete mental block and think this is probably the best way to get rid of it... considering I have a paper due in exactly 1 hour and the only thing written is "Niki." Also, I just love this little man I'm going to tell you about and his story lays heavy on my heart.

Last week was quite possibly one of the most difficult weeks I have had in a long time. And there have been some pretty tough ones here recently. About 2 months ago, a very good friend of my husband's and his wife, who I went to school with and have become friends with, were in a terrible motorcycle accident. After about a month of what we thought were signs of getting better, he ended up losing his battle and went to be with Jesus. It was devastating and I think the first real "grief" we have ever experienced. Yes, we have had other deaths, mainly grandparents and such, but they are supposed to die, a 26 year old fun loving guy? Not so much.

But Jake's death is nothing compared to what happened to our family last week. My aunt (who is only 6 years older than I am) was expecting their third child. We were all beyond ecstatic! They are two of the most Godly people I know and we love them and their children dearly. They went to the doctor on Tuesday to find out the gender of the baby. There was no heartbeat. The text message I got was "no heartbeat. please pray." I had to get someone to cover my class for a moment and I went to bathroom and cried and prayed for about 5 minutes. What else can you do? Because she was so far along, they had to go ahead and deliver him. She had him on Thursday. While we all know that he is in a wonderful place being loved on by Jesus, our hearts still hurt so badly. His funeral was on Friday. The casket was so small that I cried right when I saw it. Again, heartbroken to have lost such a sweet little man.

The verse they chose for his funeral was Romans 5: 1-5:
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given to us."

These few verses speak abundantly to me! And even more so now. The service was so nice and we were so thankful for that. For now we wait and know that we will again one day be reunited with him. We continue to pray for healing for M, W, M & B. We know they need it.

We love you Weston, can't wait to meet you in Heaven!

Mitz also had Weston's footprints placed in her bible at Psalm 139. I've also placed is obituary there in my bible. So I am going to close this post with that.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139: 13-16