Adventures in La La Land

Niki and I were in charge of favors for ladies' retreat this year. I got this idea from pinterest , but re-wrote it for our event. This is a horrible picture, but I just want to document it in case I ever want to do something like it again.   It says: The Bible is full of candy references: Noah sent out a DOVE from the ark. Moses had  BUTTERFINGERS (he dropped the 10 Commandments, didn't he?) The Israelites journeyed to the land of MILK DUDS  and honey. [Apparently I ate that one before I took the picture. Oops!] Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 13:12 to greet one another with a holy KISS . There are even M&Ms  (Mary and Martha of course). So in that same vein, we hope you enjoy this year's ladies' retreat. May your rooms be filled with SNICKERS  and your hearts be filled with [ALMOND] JOY ! 

Ladies' Retreat was a blast as usual. We went to Maranatha in Muskegon, which is beautiful, and the accommodations are wonderful. Here are a few of the highlights: 1. Staying up until 4 a.m. both nights. Whew. 2. The most epic game of "4 On a Couch" ever. (And perhaps a little cheating!) 3. Niki almost hitting a car while frisbee golfing. [Sidenote: I'm sooo sore from said frisbee golfing!] 4. Finding out Jeannette's most embarrassing moment. 5. Getting to know a few people better. 6. Jill's jokes (Hey, Jose . . .) 7. Coming home to a baby who was happy to see me! :-) If you didn't come to Ladies' Retreat this year, you really missed out! We have so much fun, bond as a church family, and make great memories! It'll be the same time next year! Don't miss it!!

I'm going on ladies' retreat this weekend, so here you have the Saturday 7 one day early! 1. We received a huge blessing last Saturday. Someone close to us called and said she wanted to buy us some groceries and to meet her at Meijer. I thought she meant maybe a week's worth of groceries and was so excited. However, when we got there, she told us to spend $200! That's a month's worth of groceries for us. Amaaaaazing!!! Of course, two hours before the phone call I was crying on the couch because we couldn't pay our bills. God is so faithful. 2. I came across this funny story this week: Students from an advanced biology class were taking their mid-term exam. The last question was "Name 7 Advantages of Mother's Milk" worth 70 points or none at all. One student in particular was hard put to think of seven advantages. He wrote: It is the perfect formula for the child. It provides immunity against several diseases. It is always the right temperatur...

Well, I'm part way through chapter 3 of Radical   and my fears are already being realized. I hate it!! Listen to this: We already have a fairly high view of our morality, so when we add a superstitious prayer, a subsequent dose of church attendance, and obedience to some of the Bible, we feel pretty sure that we will be all right in the end. (pg. 32) Uhh, yeah, that pretty sums up my religious experience. So imagine my horror when Platt follows it up a few pages later with the verse in Matthew where Jesus says, "Not everyone who cries Lord Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven," (my own paraphrase) and says, Jesus was not speaking here to irreligious people, atheists, or agnostics. He was not speaking to pagans or heretics. He was speaking to devoutly religious people who were deluded into thinking they were on the narrow road that leads to heaven when they were actually on the broad road that leads to hell. According to Jesus, one day not just a few but many wil...

1.Last Saturday, I tried one of my pinterest finds: chicken bacon pasta . It was amazing!! Although it was definitely more work than I usually put into dinner. It's such a pain cooking 4 different things (chicken, pasta, bacon, sauce) and trying to get them all to be done at the same time! It was good for a special occasion though ( we had friends over).  I'll keep it in my repertoire. (Recipe at the end of this post.) 2. Sometimes I wish I had taken a different path in life. I would like to go back and experience what it would be like to finish college, get a use-able degree. Get a big time job and make big time money. I'm a quick learner. I could do pretty much anything I put my mind to. Be an editor, a writer, maybe even something practical like an accountant. I'd like to know what it's like to live on my own, get married when I'm older, have an expensive, extravagant wedding, a real destination honeymoon. Maybe travel the world. Buy an expensive house in a...

I feel like I haven't written much about Lucy lately. So here's what she's up to: She turned 16 months on Sunday and is just as wonderful as ever. ;-) She really doesn't talk yet. She has a few words: mama, dada, uh-oh, all done, amen, hi, buh-bye, and then shoes, Chase, juice, and fish (goldfish) - which all sound exactly the same. Haha. She makes a high pitched squealy sound for "kitty," but doesn't really enunciate anything. She doesn't do "moo" or "woof" anymore for animal noises. She does hiss when you ask what the snake says. And she definitely knows what the car says. She can point out her eyes, nose, tongue, hands, feet, and belly. She does motions to "If You're Happy and You Know It," "Twinkle Twinkle," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," and "Goodbye Friends" (a song we sing at storytime at the library). She's terrified of loud vehicles. We live in the sticks where lots of loud truc...

1. Good news. I've been doing my C25K workout! You only have to do it 3 times a week, so I did Tuesday and Thursday and need to get one more workout in today. I do not enjoy it at all. But it's only 20 minutes. I can do anything for 20 minutes, right? I watch my Gilmore Girls DVDs and power through.  It absolutely kills the arches of my feet, which probably means I need new shoes, which is definitely not in the budget. And my hips hurt afterward, too. I'm an old woman. 2. We've been doing so well with not spending money this week. Until last night when I tried to make bacon in the oven and set off every smoke detector in my house. Dinner was charred, so we went to Wendy's. But we only spent $8.01. Justin is losing weight like crazy lately without much effort and he thinks it's because we've been eating out so much less. Amazingly, I have not enjoyed the same side effect! 3. Thanks to my bragging last week, I acquired some new "Words with Friends...

I can't believe summer is over. :-( I don't feel like I did any of the things I wanted to. Here are some of the goals I set for myself earlier this summer: 1. Take Lucy to the beach 2. Take Lucy to the zoo 3. Go tubing down a river 4. Go to Michigan's Adventure 5. Take Lucy to the children's play area at the gardens Since I'm not going to be working much this summer, I've decided to set some goals for myself.  Otherwise I'll just spend all summer on facebook.  My first goal is to scrapbook Lucy's entire first year.  I have 4 pages done so far.  Haha.  I'm also challenging myself to read 10 books this summer (summer defined as the weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day).   Well, we did take Lucy to the beach twice. Once to Long Lake and once to actual Lake Michigan. You know that story. And I did take Lucy to the zoo on $1 day. We never went tubing or to Michigan's Adventure - mostly just because those things cost money. Justin a...

1. Lucy's new trick this week is turning on her radio. She has one in her bedroom on top of her little bookcase.  She figured out which one is the power button, so she stands up on her little toes and fumbles around until she finds it, waits a second to hear the music, then starts shakin' her little booty with the biggest grin on her face. She's so proud of herself. 2. After having my hours cut to about 18 a week all summer, we are in a terrible place financially. I'm pretty sure this is the worst off we've ever been.  I'm honestly to the point where I don't even care anymore. God will provide what we need, but we've been doing our best to cut back. This week I hardly bought any groceries. So we had some pretty nutritious and delicious meals: Kraft macaroni and cheese, chili dogs (twice!), etc. And I have done SO well with not spending money on extras . . . like my daily McDonald's Dr. Pepper. I honestly can't remember the last time I got one! ...