domestic day...

i had the most fun hanging around the house today than i have had in a while...i chopped up a flat of strawberries and used half of them to make 5 quarts and 3 pints of strawberry jam. i can't wait to try some tomorrow on my toast. Yum... my favorite!!! i tried making jam two years ago and it didn't work so well so i crossed my fingers and this time it worked so i have LOTS of jam to eat. :)

after i was all finished i managed to hang up all 16 pictures up on the wall that has been so bare. little by little our house is feeling more and more like a home. all i have left to do is to print new pictures and put them in the empty frames.

tonight after my hubby got home from a meeting i let him relax for a bit and then we decided to get KFC since its been a really long time since we've eaten there. it wasn't the greatest and they are getting picky about their portions so....yea... but it was fun to get out. after that we went to books a million. he loves to look at books and i love to check out the decorating magazines. i have lots of great ideas of things to do and inexpensive ways to do some decorating. it was a wonderful day and i am feeling so refreshed for the week. i think God knew i needed to be so refreshed especially before these next few crazy weeks. this week i have no office helpers and next week is missions week. i am excited to have some friends come into town for missions week. that's one of the neat things about being in ministry and having some of your closest friends in ministry too..

Happy Birthday!

Today is my hubby's 20-something birthday! Happy Birthday Ben! I love you so much!

thursday

I can't believe that this month is almost over. I do have a feeling that this year might fly by. Well, we have some amazing things in order to reach out and share the gospel with those in our area. God has really been teaching me some great things lately and I am having to make sure my heart is ready for the things He has for me. Pray that my heart remains open and soft. Well on that note, I am excited about visitation tonight. I really enjoy spending time with the teens and we have a wicked awesome activity planned for tomorrow.... Nerd Night Putt Putt. I think we can muster up a couple of outfits for us to wear.... hopefully pictures will follow... :) Hope everyone is having a great day!

busy season... christmas decor

we had our christmas cantata last night. its amazing that we people get together to honor God He works out all the details that we think we can handle. needless to say there were a lot of people there and it turned out really well. now i am really in the christmas spirit. i can finally relax and enjoy this season. here are a few pictures of our house all decorated for the season...

a LITTLE overwhelmed

yea... why is December always so crazy. It seems like as a kid you can't wait to get out of school and enjoy the holidays... and believe me I still do enjoy the time off, but it seems like as I get older the busier I get and that is definitely what is happening this year. between lots to do at the office plus all the additional changes that we are making there, and the church parties, cantata, events, decorating, shopping, cleaning, unpacking, christmas cards, health insurance.... i could go on but i am done for now. thank the Lord i have a husband who is willing to help me plan everything out so i can hopefully manage this mountain of tasks...i need to take a bath and relax... i believe that is just what the doctor has ordered for tonight. :)

well, off to go finish the tree... it will look so priceless when we are finished! :)

Jen- you are making me sick with your advent calendar and all the fun stuff you are doing each night. how is it that you have 3 kids and time while i am stuck under a mountain of tasks?? is this really fair?? (its totally cute by the way.)

a work in progress

decorating a new home is so much fun. i have really taken the challenge to try and make the most of our money and make it feel as warm as possible. Here are a few of the rooms that i have worked on the most lately.

Here is the dining room before the paint, furniture, new light fixture and decor.




Here is the finished product... The entire room only cost us 102 for everything you see in this room.






This room was my inspiration for my little hutch area... I am still working on it...








Here is a picture of the guest bathroom before any paint or decor... the entire bathroom was under 50 bucks for everything











This was my surprise for Ben a few weeks ago... he said he wanted some cork boards in the office to put reminders and stuff on so cork boards we have...



I covered the cork with fluf and fabric to make them a little more fun to look at! really cheap to do and they add a wonderful demension... I already had the black mirrors from a long time ago... less then 20 bucks.


Here is a picture of our BARGAIN bar stools.. why are they soooo expensive?? Well rather than paying 100 bucks for each stool we purchased on of these for 40 minus a $10 off coupon... and then the other 3 we got for 20% off... so in the end we payed for 3 stools and actually got 4! Totally crazy about that deal!!!

another wonderful day off

today has been a much needed day. i have to say that i have been looking forward to it for the last 2 weeks. thank you Lord for allowing the day to go by slow and to allow us to get a lot done while we also spend some much needed time relaxing. here's just a list of the things we were able to accomplish...

• sleeping in til 8:15 (which felt like 9:15 since time just changed a day ago)
• enjoying the cool morning air while eating breakfast with the windows open
• putting our november budget together
• attacking our overgrown plants in front of our home
• went to lunch at chick-fil-a and got a free sandwich
• made it to the bank to support our november budget
• picked up a money/coupon pouch at office depot to organize my printed coupons
  
• attempted to visit the library (closed on Mondays? lame)
• got a few needed items at walmart
• visited michael's since they have their fall decor 70% off (i will show pictures later)
• headed to bed bath and beyond where my husband found a great deal on some bar stools (those pictures will come later on)
• came home and made dinner while ben put the 4 stools together (they look awesome babe)
• gave my wonderful brother a recipe for breakfast casserole
  
• relaxed and watched jeopardy then went through some decorating boxes that i haven't unpacked yet.
• decorated the dinning room, guest bedroom, and guest bathroom with a few accessories (more pictures to come)
  
• now i am so ready for a relaxing bath and a trip to bed

GOODNIGHT!!!

refreshing

WOW its gotten cold quick. We have dropped from being in the high 80s to being in the mid 70s. Its cold for being in Florida. The coldest is at night when it actually gets down to 50 something. :) I have been drinking hot cider everyday and have been loving it. Thanks God for giving us a little fall... now if only we plant some trees that the leaves actually fall off of and change... then we will have our own Florida-fall... :)
Lately our faith has really been tested through a variety of things that I can't really say but it just seems like the more we try to do what's right the harder satan tried to push back at us. Ben and I are really trying to seek what God would have us do in each situation and we have come to the conclusion that we are here for a reason and we're learning some valuable lessons that if we were some place else we might not have learned... and if Ben might have been a Pastor might not have understood the fulness of the situations. Either way we are just fine and are growing like weeds. God is sooooo good!! One of the ways I am growing right now is taking ownership of discipling one of the young girls in the young married class. We had our first session tonight and it was so much fun talking through some things and really just getting to know each other. We are similar in a lot of ways and so we can really relate and understand one another... and yet we have completely different backgrounds and I have a feeling that God will really use our time to do some amazing things in both of our lives!
On a side note, I have called the doctor and my insurance company to see what I need to do to get all my ducks in a row for this procedure so we shall see when it can all go down. Hopefully soon. :)

a real day off

Ben and Pastor went to a conference in southern GA so I am keeping the fort down. Lets just say today has been a day of days!!!

Last night I was wanting to wake up early but when my alarm went off at 7:30 I decided to sleep in and thus begins my day off

-Doing my devotions on the back lanai with a cup of hot cider and some birds singing
-Getting my things together for my long list of errands
-I found treasures and good deals (some of which I will end up taking back)... but the stores that I hit today were...
Marshalls, Michaels, Pier 1, BofA, Chick-fil-a, Blockbuster, Ltm Party Store, LaFrance Drycleaners, Home Depot, Kohls, Walmart, and Savon Furniture Store.

The things I ended up getting...
Towel rack for guest bath, flowers, table cloths, plates, cups for this weekends banquet at church, returned a movie, ate lunch, took Ben's jacket to the drycleaners, got two pillows and 4 bar stools, purchased some ant killer, extension cord, closet shelf, bedroom lights, shovel, toothpaste....

then I came home and started working on a project for my husband... I have 3 surprises for him when he comes back home.... and then i baby sat Will for my amazing friends Lee & Katie! Then I worked on some laundry and finished a project for my husband!! :) All in a days work!

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