Scripture Circle Journal

I'm a part (actually the coordinator) of a Circle Journal on TDC, where we each make a 4x6 layout of our favorite scripture, and I'll compile them all and send them to everyone who contributed. I've actually made two at this point: my favorite verse, and Josh's favorite verse.
This has been my favorite verse since my class (at a Christian school) memorized it in first grade.






Josh loves this verse. You can ask him about it...it's fun hearing why he loves it, from his own mouth :)

Yankees Game and thoughts from another blog

The game was so much fun. They lost, 10-5, but had one awesome inning (first inning, four runs...it was so exciting!) and we got to see Randy Johnson pitch.

You know what I don't understand? Why get completely drunk at a baseball game, when your team is winning? You won't remember anything! I can't see spending $5-6 a beer for a ton of beers, plus the cost of the ticket, for a nasty hangover and no idea what happened at the game. What's the point??

And the fans in general. Mom said the commentators have discussed the fact that fans have changed the last few years. They were so rude! Yankees fans are known for being very knowledgable about the game. They will boo their players when they play poorly. They will boo the other team for things they do poorly too, or if they insulted someone on the team (like when Pedro said some rather mean things about them a couple years ago) They'll boo the umps for bad calls. But they won't boo the other team's players, just because they play for the other team. Of all games, you'd think I would have heard it at Yankee Stadium against the Red Sox on our honeymoon, but, no. They don't do it.
The fans yesterday booed every time Damon, Jeter, or Sheffield came up to bat. It just made me cheer more, but I just don't get it. I mean, it was great that Toronto finally got some fans (they kinda lost their fan base after the strike, which was when the two teams in Canada were playing really well) but they had no class, and that was hard to deal with. I told my sister, I would have prefered to be in Yankees Stadium, rooting for the away team...then again, Yankees Stadium is just amazing, and all ball players feel the electricity of that park. So that's really kind of a given :)

Melissa, someone I "see" on The Digi Chick, has a blog where she talked about some really cool stuff today. She wrote about a book she's reading:
"It talked about significance, submission, independence, etc. These sentences caught my attention... "...the man and woman are to be complementary of one another. Where he is weak, she can be strong, and vice versa. A wife is given to the man to complete him, not compete with him. If she is going to be a completer, then she needs to recognize her own competency and insights that she brings to the table. A Big Girl believes that she can be one of the best assets her husband has, and she works to be just that. She also gives credit to assets of his that enhance her life."

I think this is so cool! I've always said Josh and I complete each other, and that each of us has what the other needed. But it's also a good thing for me to think about, since I tend to belittle my contribution to, well, just about everything. That's not what God wants, and it makes Josh pretty sad when he realizes I'm treating my contribution as less important than it really is. I haven't thought through it enough yet to see what, exactly, my contribution is, but I know that I have something that I do add to this marriage :)

Isn't she lovely?

Credits: Kate Hill's Chautauqua Spring kit; stitches by me
Fonts: Cheryl Hand

papers: Katie Pertiet Web Freebie
word art: Daniela Peuss' Simplicity
flower: Summer Driggs' Blessings
Stitching: Amanda Rockwell Blog Freebie
Layout idea from Memory Creators

Yeasterday was wonderful. :)
And tomorrow is the Yankees game! I can hardly wait!!!

A quandary and another new word

Today's word: "see!" :)

Do you have a hard time watching others, especially those close to you, choose different paths from the one you have chosen? I'm not going to give specifics, because I don't want to offend, but if you chose to do something because you really felt it was the best thing you could do, whether for yourself, your spouse, or your baby, is it hard when you see someone consciously choose the opposite? Or can you just blow it off, and say "it's their own decision, it's none of my business"? I wish I could do that.

It's funny. I consider myself pretty "crunchy" (natural, closer to the hippies than the yuppies)...breast-feeding, baby-wearing, natural-birthing, some organic food-eating...but then there are things I don't have a problem with (like disposable diapers...I've done the other, and I'm just too lazy to be bothered with it with Jasmine!) I feel a little guilty defending that position with people who cloth diaper. Likely because of the above paragraph...because I know how much those other decisions mean to me.

So am I just closed-minded? Or is it more normal to feel strongly about decisions that you make with your heart, and not just your mind?

Jasmine's newest trick and new word

New word: "Pwetty!"
New trick: closing her bedroom door, with her inside. She likes the power, but doesn't like being closed in there! I've rescued her twice in the past 5 minutes. I put her bin of toys against the door, so that should work better now.

What a girl :D

Maundy Thursday

Years ago, our family celebrated Maundy Thursday, talking about what all the symbolism meant as believers. It was so cool to see how Jesus fulfilled everything that they had been blindly doing for centuries before. I told Josh this morning that I'd like to do it when Jasmine's old enough to get something out of it.

Can I tell you how much I love our apartment? It's so wonderful! We put up the bookshelves last night, so a whole bunch of boxes are now empty. We took the time to sort our books a little better too, so we can actually find what we're looking for. And the "wall" of boxes and bins is now about 8 or 9 (down from 15 or 16) and those are mostly decorations, so those will start disappearing soon. But the next thing is for Josh to fix the video cabinet so we can put all our videos and DVDs out. That's another 4-5 boxes right there!
I've always love the feeling of "finished," so every empty box is a mini-thrill. But the feeling when I've emptied the last box is going to be awesome!

I've had a bit of sinus pressure the last few days, which isn't fun. I took some medicine for it that "may make you drowsy" but did okay. So, in a moment of insanity, yesterday I took Advil Sinus Nighttime (or something like that) because the other hadn't made me too sleepy. I felt like a zombie. I really felt like I was completely jetlagged. It was horrible! I was so excited when it started to wear off (at around 8). I'm doing a bit better today, but still not perfect.

And that's life from my world this morning :)

Pictures

Here ya go: kitchen

Our bedroom
Living room
Jasmine's room

Also, a woman on The Digi Chick is having a contest thing. If she gets 1000 views on her blog by midnight (she's at 915) she'll give out a free kit to anyone who scraps. So you can go look (it's a fun site to look at, she makes great kits) here!

Home, sweet boxes

We're in!
Saturday was insane. We had a lot of help, which was fabulous, but they were getting things on the truck faster than I could direct. Since most of the furniture wasn't ours, and much of our stuff will be going into storage, we had already gone through everything and decided exactly what was coming with us. I couldn't believe how quickly they had it all moved!

We've gotten a lot of boxes emptied, and important things like the kitchen and linen closet are about done. We still have about 15 boxes in the middle of the living room, though, as well as another 6-8 in the bedroom. *sigh*

I found the camera, so once I get the plug to load them onto the computer, I'll show some pictures of how things look today!

Thanks for all the love...it's wonderful to get comments and to be missed :)

And Sarah, if Frenchie's still hanging out in there, let us know! I can't believe you're due TOMORROW!!!!! You're in my prayers. Can't wait! :)

Newest Page

We move tomorrow!!!!

But I can't pack when Jasmine's sleeping in my arms...and her nap is extremely important, if I want her to get any sleep tonight (I know, it seems backwards, but she proved again yesterday that she has a hard time getting to sleep when she's overly tired). So I got to scrap (how sad!) :)
This is a scraplift of a beautiful page by someone on The Digi Chick.
Credits: Blue Heaven kit by Michelle Coleman of ScrapArtist
Fonts: Lauren C Brown, 1942 report, Century Schoolbook
MISC: Grunge border by me; "eyes" word made cool with Atomic Cupcake's "Foam Stamp" action

So does anyone want to come help me finish packing? Or come by next week to the new place and help me find things again?? Please??

D-day minus 2!

Two days to the move!

Josh got a bunch more done this morning while Jasmine slept in my arms. We're in pretty good shape packing-wise, but there's still a lot to do...a lot of half-empty bins that need similar things added to fill them up...things like that. But I think we should be ready in time.

How perfect is this??? (just in case you don't know, boston creme is my FAVORITE kind of donut. There really isn't a "second choice," unless custard or bavarian cream count :)

You Are a Boston Creme Donut

You have a tough exterior. No one wants to mess with you. But on the inside, you're a total pushover and completely soft. You're a traditionalist, and you don't change easily. You're likely to eat the same doughnut every morning, and pout if it's sold out.

What Donut Are You?

Here's a page I made of Jasmine yesterday from a kit I got from Digital Scrapbooking Place. The fun thing was that this kit was free...they sent me a coupon for a free kit for my birthday! FUN!! It seems kinda masculine, but I loved the stitching and thought her red and blue outfit would be perfect. :)
Credits: tear from http://www.digitalpapertearing.com; all else from Angie Svoboda's Dots of Lot kit
Fonts: Adler, Cheryl

Favorite Rooms, Eclectic Lunches and a Yankees update

Last things first.

Yankees lost last night :( So they're 1-1. I hope Moose has a better year than he did last year...he's such a great pitcher.

You wanna know what I had for lunch? A box of brussels sprouts, chips and dip, caffeine-free coke, and a yummy Dove cookie. Can you tell I'm trying to finish up little thises and thats (I hate excessive apostrophes but this's probably makes more sense, huh?) before we move? I bought the brussels sprouts when we lived in the other house, so that box is not being moved a second time!


My favorite room in this house would have to be the master bath. Isn't it amazing? It's pretty cool to live in a house where the bathroom looks at least as nice as the amazing ones in "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"!! Unfortunately the jets don't work in the tub, but it's the largest tub I've ever been in (too bad we weren't here when I was 9 1/2 months pregnant!)
I don't have a favorite room yet in the new apartment, but I can't wait to be there :)

Woo-Hoo!!!!!

Baseball starts today!!!!

Unfortunately the Yankees are playing a 10:00 game (playing on the West Coast) so I won't be up listening to it.
But it starts today.
And next week, when we're moved into our new apartment, I'll be able to watch all the games!!! :)

Big Changes (no, no baby)

I keep getting asked when number two is coming, so I figured I should start out by saying that no, it's not a new baby.

We're moving! (and no, it's not an April Fool's joke. I don't like the feeling of being fooled, so I'd never do that to anyone else)

Yeah, it's a bit of a surprise for us. We're ready, though.

You can see pictures of the place we live in right now (I think they're still on the website); it will make you shocked that we actually want to leave. We're living in a huge, beautiful 150-year old farmhouse that's been renovated and modernized, but still has the charm of an old home. We live on 95 acres of woods, and there are amazing gardens around the house.

But you've heard about the cat problem. And it's gotten really old, hearing Jerry crying outside the window in the evening and all through the night, begging to be let back in.

And this place is expensive to heat. Even though we only live in two rooms, the rest of the house is set at 50 so it doesn't freeze...and though this winter was extremely mild, we still spent a lot on heat.

And it takes a lot to keep everything clean.

Most of the rooms aren't childproof, and actually pretty dangerous for Jasmine, who is rather fearless and doesn't stop to think about the fact that a closed door might be to keep her from falling down the single stair onto hard wood.

And, the beautiful gardens are a ton of upkeep. The woman who owns the house (we are technically housesitting) spent an hour a day out there last summer. We had gotten by with less since we moved in in August, but it still took a lot of time, which was very hard with Jasmine needing to be in my arms, unless I waited until Josh got home from work.

And, last but not least, we're a long ways from everything. In theory we're not that far away from civilization, but we're 20 minutes from Wegmans (our supermarket), 20 minutes from work, 1 1/2 hours from my parents, 35 minutes from church...I know that's not much to some people, but for us, who are used to having things closer, it's not easy.


So we talked to the owner of the house, and either she'll move back in, or she'll have someone else live here. We looked at two apartments on Friday (too far, and YUUUUCK!) and two on Saturday (beautiful and YUCK). Guess which one we're moving into?

It's 5 minutes from the ministry's new office (they move in over the next few weeks), 5 minutes from Wegmans and the city's big mall, 15 minutes closer to my parents, half the distance to church (15 minutes)...and it will cost just about the same as it costs us to live here. The whole apartment will be Jasmine-safe, not just one small room. Heat is included. So is cable. So I can watch all the Yankees games this season (minus the first week, since we won't be there yet).

They had a special offer going, that if we signed the application and gave the security deposit on Friday (the last day of the month) they'd split that cost in half. So we did it, and Tuesday we sign the lease. (happy birthday to me!) We move (get this!) next weekend!! (Josh's parents are already renting trucks and getting help from the guys in the youth group for moving the office furniture, so it made the most sense to piggyback on that!)

It's a 2-bedroom apartment, and it's really cute. Nice, open kitchen, good-sized closets, clean, very peaceful complex. We're on the ground floor right next to the laundry room (which is great...makes it so much easier to do with Jasmine!) There's a pool and a picnic area. But very little storage. Oh, and there aren't actually balconies on ours, since we're on the ground floor (our choice...it's cheaper this way!)

So we're hoping to put a lot of things in his parents' garage (they have a huge storage area, or will, once the office moves out of it!) until we move into a house (or a larger apartment, but I'm kinda hoping this is the last one we live in.)

We spent a few hours today going through the bins, figuring out what we have, what we need right away and what can stay stored. Hopefully we can see the model again on Tuesday so we know exactly how much cupboard space we have, and can figure out what we can have out and what we'll have to stash away. :)

Whew. Should make for an exciting week! :)