Sunday, October 30, 2005

Fried Chicken

We have lived in our house for about a month now and my parents had not seen it yet. So yesterday they drove up from Austin and we had lunch. My Mom brought her electric skillet and we made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and salad. It was wonderful! And I think that I might actually be able to make my Mom's fried chicken now. I did discover that I really do need to get an electric skillet though. That way you can regulate the temperature that the chicken cooks at.

We had a very good visit. We sat around and talked after lunch and we gave them the grand tour. My dad checked out the air conditioner, hot water heater and approved of all of the ceiling fans. He and Jonathan watched some football and did the male bonding and he took a nap on our love seat-the most comfortable couch in the world! Thanks Mom and Dad, it was great to see you again!

Speaking of eating, we got to eat on our new table. It has a leaf in it that tucks away inside when you are not using it. It is called the butterfly design, and it is very handy. Here is a picture of it.


On the table are some roses that Jonathan got me the other day. I got home from work Friday night and they were on the table along with a card. The card was beautiful and said how much he appreciates me. I thought he was so thoughtful, it was very sweet. He started a new schedule at work, he works Monday-Wednesday, open-close. Then he is off for the rest of the week. So I got to spend Thursday and Friday nights with him at home. I was telling Mom, I don't know if he has ever been off on a Friday night since we got married. I feel very blessed to be able to see him on a more regular basis now.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Retreat


Jonathan and I got to go on a retreat this weekend with our young marrieds class at church. It was in a little town about an hour and a half away, but don't ask me what it was called. It was a beautiful facility; they had paintball, volleyball, baseball, paddle boats, and a hay ride. One of the best things about this weekend was that they had cafeteria where we ate all of our meals. We didn't have to clean up, and the food was really good! It was nothing like the places I have always "camped at." But I must warn you so that you are not shocked, that it was not a Church of Christ establishment.

We got there Friday night and played games and talked, most of us went to bed by 11, we are so old. Then Saturday we got up and had about 4 hours of a mini marriage seminar given by the parents of one of our couples in our class. It was very good. We talked about spiritual leadership, roles as husbands and wives, and money. Jonathan and I have declared a war on our debt! They had some good pointers about paying off your debt, and Jonathan and I are going to try to implement them over the next year.

We also got to ride out to the retreat with some of our first friends that we met when we moved here. In fact for a while, they were our only friends. They recently placed membership at our church and it was good to see them again. Here are some pictures from this weekend.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

How do you loose a child in your own house?




Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. Lots has happened. Last weekend, I kept Christ and Ruth Ann's little ones, 2 and 3. Jonathan was supposed to be here to help me, but he had to go to his grandfather's farm to help clean up after the hurricane. The kids were very well behaved, I was just exhausted. Wow I gained new perspective because this is the first time that I kept both of them. Go Moms!

Emmy gave me quite a scare on their fist night here. I woke up about 11 and I looked over to check on the kids. They had both fallen asleep in the bed with me. Nathaniel was snoring away, but I didn't see Emmy. I made palates on the floor for them before we went to sleep, so I thought maybe she had gotten up and gone to sleep on her pallet. But I looked there with no luck. I began to look around my room, under the bed, in the closet, no luck. I went into the living room, still no luck. I looked in Jeff's room, I looked in the kitchen. Then I started to panic, "I lost their baby!" then I realized that I had not checked in the office. I opened the door and there she was curled up on the one corner of the fouton that was not covered with boxes. She had to have crawled over a fan that was taken apart and lots of boxes to get there. I grabbed her and hugged her. When I put her back to bed, I made sure to lock the bedroom door so that she could not escape again.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Sleeping Through the Night

For those of you who know me well, you know that I am the biggest scaredy cat. I have never lived by myself except for the couple of days that I lived in our apartment before we got married. So I have never had to sleep at home alone. Well Jonathan closes periodically and it seems to be happening more often lately. He had to close on Sunday night and I wasn't sure how I would do in a new house. I usually try to fall asleep for about an hour, then my mind plays tricks on me and I get really anxious and hot. Then I end up going and laying on the couch and watching TV and dozing until Jonathan gets home. Well I guess I feel completely safe here, I had no trouble falling sleep and I slept all through the night. I think it helps that I have a false sense of safety from our 6 foot fence that surrounds all of the house except for the front windows. So I guess the house is a keeper!

Friday, October 07, 2005

A Sweetheart

Today as I was driving to work, I realized how much I missed Jonathan. No he's not out of town, he sleeps in my bed every night, but I just have not gotten to see him for more than 20 minutes all week. He has been working a lot of hours. Don't get me wrong, the money is good, but I miss him. If he is not closing, he gets home around 10:30 or 11, but I go to bed at or before 10. I get up at 5:45 and am off to work by 6:45, while he gets up for work about 9:30. He did the sweetest thing the other morning. He got up and ate breakfast with me even though he hadn't gotten home from work the night before until like 11:30. What a sweetheart. The way that I knew that I was really missing him...I heard I Will Be There on K-Love. We played that in our wedding and I just started crying. I had to quickly change the station when the song was over, I needed something upbeat. Elementary kids get very worried about you if you are crying! Mix 94.7, a secular station (don't worry I will go down front on Sunday), provided a little rock and roll to get me back on track. I slapped on a smile and greeted all my kids.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

What a Weekend

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted, thank you to my loyal readers who actually will look at this even though it has been so long. We closed on our house on Friday! We moved in over the weekend. A group from our church arrived at our apartment on Saturday morning at 7:30 and we totally unloaded and the beds were even put together at our new house by 9:30!

We also got to see Karen this weekend and meet Scott. He was very nice and even laughed at some of my jokes, so of course he is in. He seems really sweet. I hope he realizes that every time he visits, we won't be putting him to so much work.

Poor Jonathan, he has not rearranged the living room about 3 times for me. We finally had to put the piano in the office because we could not fit it and the love seat in our living room. It is kind of a small living room, but don't worry Dad, we are going to get a coffee table for this one.

My bathroom and kitchen are completely unpacked, but I can't say much for any other rooms. I know that it will be a slow process. It is still weird to come home to this house and realize that it belongs to us. I had a renters moment when we moved in. The blinds in one of the bedrooms got bent by a mattress and I looked at it and said to myself, "We better fix those or we will be charged." Then I quickly realized that the blinds belong to us! God has really blessed our lives with this house and we hope that we can find a way to use it for him. Or hopefully we can find many ways!