Some Days I Could Just Scream or Cry or SOMETHING

This isn't going to seem like a big deal to you when you read all this, but today when everything was happening one right after another...it was not cool, and I was not doing so hot...

Why today was a bad day...

• I don't even remember how (it happened so fast), but somehow in the midst of me pouring a glass of water I dropped our Britta pitcher and water and pieces of the plastic were everywhere.
• Titus screamed/cried for over an entire hour. I have no idea why and no matter what we did he wouldn't stop.
• Titus and Damaris managed to get flour all over themselves, the flour, and the counter
• Eve peed on the floor when I was already overwhelmed with trying to get dinner
• Stephen has been gone since 6:30 this morning and won't get back until very late tonight.
• The washing machine broke

Why today was a good day...

• The kids had fun playing with flour and pretending it was snow all over our little decorative pumpkins
• The kids picked what we had for dinner...homemade biscuits and gravy and doughnuts (the kind we make ourselves with tubed biscuit dough) - which also explains why I was overwhelmed - because I was trying to keep track of the kids, watch the dog (and clean up after the dog), make the biscuit dough, fry the doughnuts, make the gravy AND make the icing all at the same time... :)
• The washing machine wasn't really broke...the button just got pushed in and I didn't realize it (we always leave it out because the knob is broke). Too bad it took calling our treasurer who is also an electrician to come over to figure out such a silly thing. Embarrassed - yes...
  
• I was able to get the house picked up and clothes washed
• Titus gave me a big hug and kiss good-night and told me he was going to use his words tomorrow instead of just screaming/crying
  
• It is quiet and peaceful in the house right now...
  

Lions vs. Rams Game

Stephen found some cheap tickets on eBay so of course we had to jump on the opportunity since neither one of us had ever been to a regular season game for the Lions, especially not at Ford Field! If you remember from our blog last year, a guy from our church in Indiana took Stephen to a Colts/Lions preseason game last August. And I had never been to a professional football game before, so it was fun to be able to go! Of course Stephen had to take a vacation day :) :)

We had tried to find two other people to go with us, because Brent (at our church) had two extra tickets, but we couldn't find anyone on such sort notice, but then Brent and his brother Brian (who also goes to our church) changed their minds and decided to go. It was fun riding down and back together, and getting to know them better - and they knew where to park where it was close and we didn't have to pay $20-$30. But don't tell anyone from the church that we skipped and took two others with us ;)

Did I confuse some of you? This is actually the Detroit Tigers...not the Detroit Lions...but since the Tigers field is right next to the Lions stadium, of course we had to go see it :)


Here is Ford Field


Warming up before the game...




Running out of the tunnel to start the game


As you can see, we had great seats! Lower level, 5 yard line. It was so much fun (even though they lost, but that wasn't a huge surprise :) But hey, like Stephen says, a true fan sticks with their team no matter what)!!!

Today

Damaris + Fever = Michelle Stays Home

Titus + waking up before we do + letting the dog out of her crate = poop on the floor

Not happy. But Titus had to clean it up, so hopefully he learned his lesson...

And I really hope this doesn't set the housebreaking back. We were doing so well :(

House Pictures Part 3 (last one!!)

BEFORE

Kitchen




AFTER



The church surprised us and redid the floor. It looks SO good.

So you can see the color a little closer...as you can see, it matches the counter really good!



AFTER
Dining Room

No real change here, but just so you can see the room at least :)





BEFORE
Laundry Room
(no real change)


AFTER



This is our work in progress...but it is all we have left to figure out places to put things. I would like to finish, but with only one closet in the whole down stairs, and it is already really small, we are a little limited. We already have filled two cabinets in this room, and don't have room for a third. We will come up with something!



BEFORE
Office


AFTER
Office

This doesn't show it, but I just bought a used piano bench that matches really good. You will have to check out the post below where my sister is playing the piano with Titus and Damaris sitting with her on it.


Still a few more pictures to hang up in the corner...


My desk where I work all day! It is a very small space compared to my actual office at IWU, but it works.


I think the green pocket doors are hideous (and would be a pain to repaint), but we have to keep them a little ways out because otherwise it is really hard to get them back out, and we need to close the doors...because this is where I work while the kids are here on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (which by the way has worked out GREAT. The same girl that watches them at the other house on Thursdays and Fridays just comes here the other three days. I am SO glad that worked out)



BEFORE
Upstairs Bathroom







AFTER

This picture isn't to show you the toilet...it is to show these cool basket type things that I found at a garage sale this summer...you would have to click on the picture to see them, but they are made of red beads. I really like them!


No shower upstairs, which is a pain...but the claw-foot tub looks kind of cool. The church is trying to find a shower head that could connect to it, but the options they have found so far are really expensive, so we are going to keep looking (and keep going downstairs for our showers)!


So you can see the two colors together...


There are no counter tops or cabinets in the bathroom, which is a pain, but we make do! I would rather have no cabinets compared to what was there last time!! The mirror is old and has been painted over a few times, and we thought it looked bad, so for now we don't have a mirror over the sink.


Just so you can see a good before and after picture of the colors on the door and the furnace (this is actually a new furnace, so that helped!)!!



BEFORE
Downstairs Bathroom


AFTER

This is the bathroom where our shower is. No bathtub, but since we have one upstairs, it is no big deal.



BEFORE
Top of Stairs



I already showed you this picture, but it goes more with the picture below...

AFTER

Stephen now has a good spot for his N scale train set. He has a lot of the materials now, so he is looking forward to starting his layout.


These are really nice bookshelves! And I have no idea what we would have done with our stuff if they weren't there!

And that is it...all the before and after pictures of our house :) I probably should have broken up the pictures into 4 or 5 posts instead of just 3, but I wanted to just finish it!! :)

Puppy Update

Eve (pronounced Eva) is doing VERY well. She still doesn't cry at night, we still have had NO ACCIDENTS in the house (one VERY close call that I care to not repeat ;)), and is still a sweety!! She has been a great addition, and the kids are thankful for her too. The church officially presented her to us at church yesterday. I am glad I have been able to keep my sanity...puppies and me do not normally get along :) But thanks to some great house breaking tips and crate training tips I listened to online for a small fee, I have felt much more confident with this dog than any other we have had. The guy said if she wasn't housebroken in two weeks, than there is something we are doing wrong...so here we go!

She sleeps so funny sometimes... :)


And this dog bed is HUGE...but no point in buying twice...she is going to get pretty big!!


What a cutie!!


As you can see...Damaris really likes her too...

This has nothing to do with the puppy, but we had our very first overnight guest!!

This weekend, my sister came for a visit!! The kids were sad to see her go...and were still asking about her this morning. We miss living close to her!!

More Fun Fall Festivities

The house where the church had us pick up our puppy is right by a really cool apple orchard. It is called Anderson & Girls and it is neat because they have a HUGE petting zoo with all kinds of cool animals - even a zebra (but I didn't think to get a picture). They also have an area where the kids can play, plus hayrides. Since we were right there and the weather was really nice, we thought we should stop so that the kids could see everything. And of course we had to get apple cider...one of my favorite treats in the fall!! :) We have heard that their homemade doughnuts are amazing, but they were closing and so we were hurrying and forgot about them...next time!

Riding on the train...we thought this was so cool!!


Stephen liked this tractor a lot...


A donkey


This is some sort of deer...


We thought this bird was pretty (I have no idea what kind it is)


Petting the goats


I have no idea what animal this is...


Kangaroo

They had lots of other animals, too, but we didn't take that many pictures :)

Fall Pictures

I am much more into spring and summer, but I do like fall when it is warm outside :) And it is always so pretty with all the different colors of leaves... :) On Tuesday (when it was warm outside :) ) we had a lot of fun doing "fall" sort of things...such as:

Throwing leaves on each other...


Finding pretty leaves...


Throwing leaves in the air...

Taking silly pictures...


And of course some cute ones...


Awww...I think they like each other! :)


Jumping in leaf piles...


Playing in leaf piles...


And more playing in the leaves...


And of course what would fall be without carving a few pumpkins?!? :)
Titus designed the one on the left, Damaris designed the one in the middle, and I did the one on the right :)


Titus with his finished work of "art" :)


Damaris with her finished work of "art"

Pastor Appreciation Month

October is Pastor Appreciation month...and you will never guess what the church got Stephen...I don't think they could have picked out something better...he always enjoys animals and was already missing not having a dog around...so let's welcome Eve (pronounced Eva)...named by Titus after the robot from Wall-E.

She is a registered chocolate Labrador Retriever, 9 weeks old and is a sweety. She is also surprisingly quiet (not even wimpering in her crate - which is almost all puppies I have ever known do at first). The kids are SO excited...they are very happy to have a dog again...and we are too :)

This evening when we got home from getting all the "dog stuff" that we needed, Titus informed Stephen that Eve is not Daddy's dog but that she belongs to the whole family... he heard me say that the church was giving the dog to Stephen for Pastor Appreciation and must have felt the need to "stake his claim" in the dog. :)

Yesterday

Did you miss me not posting yesterday? If I had posted, it would have been a post every day for a solid week (did you miss any of my posts since I did so many?!?). I have never done that before, so I probably should have posted...and I even had something to post about...but it is not good, which is why I probably didn't want to write about it at first.

I found out yesterday that my boss is going to post my position and find a replacement...which makes me sad, because I would love to work for IWU longer.

At first, before we moved, I wanted to find a job up here, but was thankful for the opportunity to work from home for the university and keep my job. After being up here, I really felt like it was going well. I like the quiet, and I could get a lot done. I told my boss that I would be willing to stick it out long term, and wondered what her thoughts were. She said she wanted a month to think about it. At first I was upset, because anyone else I would have worked for would have probably been all about it...but then I realized that it really is a big decision...and it was more than fair for her to take time and think about it.

Well, yesterday I asked her about it again because it had been over a month, and that is when she told me she was posting my position. I am trying to stay positive in the midst of it...because it would be WAY too easy to get discouraged. I have been looking and applying at a LOT of places in the area (and even had an interview), but there really is nothing. The unemployment rate in our county is almost 20%. We are in the middle of nowhere, so most likely if I did find something, it would be a long ways away, which would be hard. But I know that God will provide. As a good friend/coworker of mine (who has really been my inspiration because she telecommutes too!!) emailed to me: God didn't bring Stephen and I up here to abandon me now. Maybe God will provide a job that I like even BETTER. Who knows, maybe IWU won't find someone, and I will be able to keep my job. If nothing else I REALLY hope that I can keep my job through the end of December.

As my little note by our picture on the side of this blog says...praying for God's timing and direction...and also trying to trust.

House Pictures Part 2

I have to warn you on these next few pictures...it seems like the new colors are plain and boring, but I think after seeing so many colors (and bright colors!), I just wanted to go neutral for a while! These next few pictures are all a khaki color now, even though that is kind of hard to see in the pictures...

BEFORE
Hallway


AFTER

Looking the opposite way, but I think you get the picture :)



BEFORE
Upstairs, in the landing area above the stairs.
There are 5 different colors in this picture...can you find them all?!? :)


AFTER




BEFORE

Entryway


AFTER






BEFORE
Stairway


AFTER




BEFORE
Living Room




AFTER








Only a few more rooms to show you!
Part 3 coming soon...I hope ;)

Titus

I think Titus looks so cute in these pictures... :)

The next few pictures are ones that Titus took...can you tell what is important to him??? :)

His dog "Sandy"


His convertible from Tony


His Daddy...(with a sneak peak at the kitchen!)

His sister...


Damaris and me from his perspective :)


I am not sure about this, but I am pretty sure he took a picture of himself inside his sweatshirt...what a nut!! :) :)


And of course making funny faces!


Yes, Damaris is eating raw Brussel sprouts... :)

Selah

If Stephen and I had to pick a favorite singing group, we wouldn't even hesitate to tell you that it would be Selah. If you haven't ever listened to them before, you seriously have to check them out (you can click here)...you won't be disappointed!

It has been 4 years since we have seen them in concert, and so we were excited for another opportunity! The concert was last night in McBain - which is a TINY town in the middle of nowhere...and the church was nice, but definitely not that big. So it made for a nice, small concert, which was fun!! No matter where you sat, you were still very close to them.

All the people in Selah are just so genuine and sincere, and sound AMAZING. Todd and his family actually have a wonderful (but very difficult) story, and I have been reading his wife's blog for quite some time. You can check it out in my sidebar - it is called "Bring the Rain" or you can click here.

Todd - I could listen to him all day! :)


Allan, Amy, and Todd
Allan is amazing at the piano, and Amy has been a great addition to the group - I was worried when Todd's sister Nicol left the group, but Amy was a good pick!


Getting our picture taken with all of them! Of course we had to get their new CD and have them sign it for us!!

All GIRL

Date Night

Stephen and I are going on a date night tonight...and I am PUMPED...it is our first real date night since we have been up here...

WE NEEDED THIS!!!!!!

Lake Ride

A couple weeks ago, when the weather was still nice, we decided to take Fred and Cheryl up on their offer to take our family on a boat ride around the lake. The kids loved it...and we did too :)




A swan...


For some reason the seagulls loved sitting all over this boat...I am sure the owners LOVE that ;)


Not really that great of a picture, but oh well!


Damaris was our little daredevil...if we hadn't kept hold of her, I think she would have jumped over the side!!


Titus took this picture of Cheryl...


I just thought this was pretty...


Titus driving the boat...he thought it was so cool. He wanted to go fast, and he had to keep honking the horn. It was pretty funny :)


Putting on the cover...


Almost there...


All done!

It is so nice living so close to a lake... :)

Our First Wedding...

OK, so it is not our first wedding ever (obviously) but it is our first wedding for a couple in our new church. And this couple is almost exactly our age - Jason is one day older than me, and Tara is 10 days older than Stephen! We really enjoyed getting to know them since Stephen did their pre-marriage counseling (which he requires before he marries couples).

Tara is really into history, and got married in this old, historical church, which apparently was used in a movie...and all the decorations, and even her dress, had a historical, old-fashioned feel to it. It was pretty neat, and it went really well with the fall season so close.

The church


I loved the doors...


Old stained glass windows...




What a neat idea for a fall wedding - throwing leaves as the bride and groom leave!


Titus is finding friends already - although this one seems leery (he's 3) :)


Damaris LOVES babies...so was completely taken by Caeden (2 months old) :)


Jackson (almost 2)

And we have quite a few couples at our church that are our age, which is nice:

Brian and Jenica


Freddie and Gina (she is due for baby #2 next month!)


Cornelius and Cherri


Gina and Cherri are sisters - and they sing together and sound amazing!!


Brent and Ashley


The happy couple - Jason & Tara
(and you can see in the corner of the picture here, we each had a little bottle of fresh apple cider to drink - YUM!)

What a great, rustic, old fashioned feeling wedding!

Childcare

You know, it seems like when it rains, it pours...and those times seem to come on rainy, cold, depressing days to begin with... :) :)

Our kids really like where they go for childcare during the day...it's a family in the church and they have kids somewhat close in age to ours. The first three days of the week the grandmother of the other kids comes to the house and watches the kids, and then the other two days another girl from the church comes to the house and watches the kids. And on the weekends, Titus is normally asking to go back :)

Well, today the grandmother said that she is not going to watch our kids after this week! I am sure Titus throwing an entire roll of toilet paper down the toilet did NOT help. :(

We really are at a loss...we don't know the area, we don't know where to go or who to ask. I have asked the girl that watches the other kids if she would come to our house and watch the kids here the first three days of the week, but even if she says yes, I am not sure if it will even work out or if we want it that way for very long. With me working from the home for IWU it makes it a little tricky...

But I am trying not to get too upset or frustrated...I know that everything will work out...it is just the timing of it that makes it difficult right now...

Cute Pictures

Playing with the pillows and blankets...


Cutie Pie


Titus in the cupboard that threw my back out a couple weeks ago


Both kids in the cupboard :)

I am a huge advocate for lifting with your legs, and even though this cabinet weighed more than I do, I have lifted heavy things before. The problem was that when Stephen and I were moving it (unassembled) into the house, it was falling and I reached for it - really bad idea. I could hardly walk or move for quite a few days - and I was on Alieve and Tylenol for 10 days straight! I still feel like my back is weaker, but at least it doesn't hurt. Stephen is trying to get me to go to the chiropractor, but I don't like back rubs, let alone someone cracking it...yuck!! Hopefully it gets better on its own!!

Wesleyan Married Couples Retreat

This past weekend was the Indiana North District Wesleyan Married Couples Retreat. Stephen and I were actually on the WMCR committee this past year, which is a three year commitment. Obviously with us moving, we aren't going to be able to fulfill that, but we wanted to at least finish out our first year. This all worked out perfect, because I had to be back down to IWU to work anyway.

We had so much fun being on the committee, and we will miss it!! The theme this year: Lasso Your Love. Stephen and I were in charge of Promotions for the retreat, and even though it was a ton of work, it was fun doing it. Plus, even though we really like it here in Crystal, it was SO nice to be back in the familiar for a little while - and nice to be in a big city (yes, Marion is a big city to me now :) )

Dave and Gail Deur from Central Wesleyan in Holland, MI were our speakers, and Dr. Todd Guy from IWU did the music. All of it was excellent.

Rebecca organized the kitchen...the food was AWESOME, and everything went with our western theme.


Mike and Stephen taking all the saddles to the different places for decorating


They even decorated the golf cart :)


And the horses had to sit down and talk...


Stephen on Rusty


Both of us Riding on Rusty


Tony wearing Stephen's Detroit Lions hat:)

Here are pictures from the couples that went from our old church in Jonesboro:


Jeremy and Rebecca


Julie and David


Chuck and Heather


Kelly and Tony


Stephen and I


David and Dena


The whole group from Main Street Wesleyan

Our committee decided to do something somewhat bold - as some of you know, the forbidding of social dancing was just removed from The Wesleyan Church discipline...and so we decided to invite a caller on Saturday night for Square Dancing!! Now, I am far from a country girl, and would have thought it was stupid in other circumstance, but it was a BLAST. Everyone was having so much fun, and it was hard to not be smiling and laughing the whole night. The best time I have had in a while - definitely not what I thought I would EVER be saying about square dancing!! :)

"Ladies: right three quarters"


"Promenade Home!"


"California Twirl"


"Circle Left!"


"Dosi-do!"


Rebecca & Jeremy - Promenade!


By the end we were all so out of breath and tired, but it was worth it!!


The horses - Pete and Repeat :)
(We brought someone in to give hayrides for the evening)


After the hayride
(David and Julie didn't go with us)

What a fun weekend!! Stephen and I hope we can go back again next year...we will see!!

Down on the Farm

Just a couple pictures from when we went to the farm I mentioned last week...the kids loved it...

Titus exploring - and probably trying to figure out what happened to the other half of this truck :)


Damaris exploring...


Just look at that attitude...I have no idea what she said to Titus when I took this picture, but I thought this was funny :)


You can't see it very good, but the kids were covered in corn flour from Stephen graining the cows. This couple raises cows for beef, and Stephen had a lot of fun feeding them, since this reminded him a lot of his childhood. And of course the kids liked "helping" too :)


Damaris had it all over her nose too...but it was bright out, so you can't really see it in the picture...but it is still a cute picture at least :) :)