Busyness & Distance

Where has the time gone? I was looking at the last time I blogged and see it was Tuesday. So I had to stop and wonder what all did we do during the past few days with all of our time. Well, Wednesday there was church in the evening, Thursday we prepared for Friday. We blew up over 60 balloons (not literally--we used our electric air mattress pump) on Thursday night and then had to keep them away from Gregory so they didn't get popped. Then Friday night we were at church for a fun night with the youth. There was a small turnout, but it helped us with getting to know some of the other staff and the youth which did come. Today we just spent a lazy day at home because we know the next week will be a busy one. Sunday Tom will be working during the day, while Roxanne & Gregory go to church and then in the evening we have a youth leadership meeting at the youth pastor's house. And then Tom will be working pretty much the rest of the week, so Gregory and I will try to fill our days with stuff...that's what it ends up becoming...just stuff most of the time, nothing significant, just stuff. I do have Friday to look forward to when I will get to go to MOPS again.

On another note...I was thinking about distance and how a long distance is just that...a long distance...it doesn't seem to really matter if you're a 13 hour drive from someone or a 9 hour flight...well cost is different, but that's about it. The feelings I have really haven't changed much from Germany to Colorado, I still miss friends and family lots. In fact, maybe more so now that I know I am almost close enough to see people, but still not close enough. Kind of an odd thought, but it sort of makes me want to be in heaven...where I really don't think distance will be an issue at all...and there won't be any more goodbyes (I know the Bible doesn't say that, but it DOES say no more tears, so I KNOW this means no more goodbyes).

So to all of you that are too far away to see right now...I miss you all....hmmm that's probably everyone reading this blog.

Happy Easter

On Easter Sunday we woke up to another two or three inches of snow on the ground...we (Tom & I) woke up to it around 3 am since Tom had to be at work at 430 am. While he was in the shower, I snuck outside and swept all the snow off the Pathfinder as a surprise. I hopped back into bed before Tom knew what I had even done. It was just a fun little surprise I wanted to do for him. He in turn surprised us when he got off work early (was supposed to work until 430 pm)--he got home about 9 am. So we got to go and enjoy our Easter service at our church together as a family. But before we went to church Gregory got his Easter basket (and so did Tom). Tom's wasn't as exciting as Gregory's that's why there's no pictures :-) We are noticing more and more signs of spring around here (warmer temperatures, some kind of flowers are coming up by our deck). It's a great time of year and we are so thankful as we remember what Jesus did for us.

Photo Remarks: Gregory with his Easter bucket; Tom reading Gregory his book. For more pictures, click on the link on the right.

Last Friday - MOPS

I've been wanting to blog about last Friday, well, since last Friday, but other things have taken up my time. So I am finally getting around to it. Once again, I had a GREAT time at MOPS. When the speaker was introduced I knew I would enjoy the day so much! The speaker was a franchise owner from Supper Solutions (a meal preparation shop). I have always wanted to go to a place like this and make some meals to bring home and to put in our freezer for later. This encouraged me even more to want to do this. The gal was a christian and she was talking about how even Jesus was concerned about food (the feeding of the 5,000)...he wasn't worried about it. She also pointed out about how it was over food/meals that Jesus imparted great truths as well....so it was a reminder that we do need to put thought into our meals, but also make sure that we have time to spend with family and friends when eating. Anyways, I really enjoyed the tips that were shared as well. I'll share later on one of the ideas once I implement it.

On a side note...when the topic for the MOPS meeting was introduced it was at that moment that I realized I had forgotten to take the dish out of the fridge and put it in the crockpot and then turn it on...so even though I had prepared the meal ahead of time...I had forgotten about it. We still had it for dinner...it just had to be put on high when we finally got home as opposed to slow cooking all day.

The other thing we did at MOPS was a craft...beading a bracelet. It was a tedious craft, but it did allow for fellowship while we were crafting. I really like how my bracelet turned out and who knows I might get inspired to make some more as gifts since they turned out so cute.

Photo Remark: This is a photo of the bracelet I made. I wore it on Sunday with my outfit for Easter.

What I enjoy most

I have been on a quest recently to figure out what I enjoy most in life, or what makes me happy. Cooking makes me happy. I LOVE to cook. I love to talk about cooking. Finding new recipes makes me happy, making a recipe and it turning out tasty makes me happier. The other night while I was getting Tom's lunch ready for the next day, getting a meal ready for the crockpot for the next day's supper AND making the current night's supper--I realized all of this. Recently we have been awaiting purchasing a new freezer--which will allow me to prepare more, so I can enjoy cooking more. So now we are watching Craigslist to try to find a cheaper freezer than what is in the stores--we'll see how long this waiting lasts before we just cave-in and buy a new one. But for now, I am just glad that I can say that I know myself a little better today than I did last week.

P.S. Did you know that if you put the lid on a pan of water that you are wanting to boil...it will boil faster? Who says you can't learn anything from watching the Food Network :-) Thanks Rachael Ray!

Photo Remark: After all the cooking I did while we were in Germany the crockpot my mother-in-law had given me had to go in the trash. So this is the new crockpot we got along with the yummy Pepper Steak that I was preparing.

A treat to myself

Last Tuesday when I went out and got my haircut it was supposed to be my "special" treat to myself. Tom stayed home and watched Gregory, while I got some time to myself. I got my haircut--not sure why I thought this would be a "treat" considering how much I stressed about it. Afterwards I went and browsed through a scrapbooking store--all this did was help me figure out how I'd "really" like to spend my time...I would have rather been at home unpacking my scrapbooking stuff or being productive on Gregory's ABC scrapbook. We are still awaiting some legs for one of my tables, so I have limited space right now to work. But for next time, I've decided to let Tom watch Gregory at home while I go in the bedroom and scrapbook. I'll update you on the progress of the scrapbooking stuff soon hopefully!

Haircuts

This past week Gregory and I got haircuts. Neither of us got the "best" haircut, but at least they are done. I decided to just trim Gregory's hair myself Monday after his bath. I did alright. I thought it looked great before it dried, but then afterwards I noticed how uneven some areas were, oh well, you can't see it unless you look close around his ears and I just won't take any close up photos of the side of his head for now :-) And my haircut, well, I wanted something different...and that's what I got...something different than the photo I took in as well :-) I am getting used to it. I'm glad Tom likes it or I might have gone back to get it redone. It's so different for me and, yes, takes work and has a style--maybe that's why I don't really care for it...I'm used to blow dry and go or put up in a pony tail and go...anyways, it'll grow.

Welcome home

Colorado Springs is starting to feel more and more like home. We are almost all unpacked and just have to hang pictures up so that our house will be put together (at least the inside). We are finding our way around without getting lost, getting used to getting snow every day and watching it melt away every day too. The mountains are beautiful with or without lots of snow though. The picture at the top of our blog is a photo I took when walking from our house to the post office just down the street.

Another thing that is helping us feel more at home here is finding a church to attend. We are attending Radiant A/G. This is where I go to MOPS, where we go to worship on Sundays and where we are planning on helping out with the youth group.

So why blogging? I think it's the best way for me to keep touch or at least to feel like I am keeping in touch :-) I really enjoy reading other people's blogs, so I hope you will enjoy ours.

Photo remark: The Spring swag hanging on our front door was something I made at our last MOPS meeting. This coming Friday we'll be making bead bracelets...sounds like fun!