Happy Birthday To Me! :)

Today my birthday!

Last year, here I posted 23 things I wanted to do before I turn 23...  Let's see how I did!

23 things to do before I turn 23
Buy a house  (yaaaay!!!)

Buy a puppy  (oh Barkley, how you have changed our lives!)

Get customized return-address stamp  (it's so cute, too!)
Make new friends  (at church and at work and elsewhere)
Bring a dessert to someone for no reason  (didn't really do this one...  Brought plenty of desserts to people but they were always for a social, thank you, or get-well gift.  Bummer)

Make wedding Photobook (LOVE it!  It came in a month or two ago)
Go camping in our backyard  (didn't do this.  :(  )
Look at the stars on the roof  (or this...)
Go to Six Flags  (4 times...  we had Season Passes last summer!)

Make lasagna from scratch (Made Spinach lasagna and it was really good!)

Have people over to grill out  (A few times...)

Help someone in need  (Hopefully more than a few times, considering where I work!)
Volunteer somewhere  (Volunteered at DG on a day I had off to help with their Talent Show!)
Buy something from Craigslist (Barkley, and a dresser set!)

Do something for Steven as a surprise  (nothing BIG here, but did lots of little things.)

Paint a room  (Painted first and second coat in TONS of rooms!)
Really decorate for Christmas (yep!)
Plant a tomato plant  (planted three!  And they're looking great!)
Get a job in St. Louis using my degree  (YAY! only part time but I'll take it...)
Get a massage  (Thanks to Steven's birthday present to me last year.)

Plant flowers (Did not PLANT any...  I have one in a hanging basket but didn't plant it.)
Get a nice white Christmas tree  (Got a nice Christmas tree but it isn't white...  The white ones that weren't tacky were EXPENSIVE.)
Take “family” pictures  (Thanks to my mom and dad taking pics for our Christmas cards!)

I will post again soon with a list of 24 things to do before I turn 24... wow that sounds old!

Eat Vegetables With Every Meal

One of our youth group counselors had surgery a few weeks ago, so last week Steven and I provided a meal for her, her husband, and their 5 kids.

Cooking for 7 is way different than cooking for 2!  But I thought that what I made turned out pretty good so I wanted to post it to remember for the future!  This could easily be adapted to feed more or less people.

We started out with pulled pork sandwiches (great for Summer!)(adapted from this recipe) and the fixin's for them... cheese, bbq sauce, and cole slaw.

Add in fresh pasta salad, fresh fruit (grapes, pineapple and strawberies), and peanut butter bars from here.

Everyone likes flowers, especially when you aren't feeling well!

Also included was some Raspberry lemonade and paper plates so there aren't so many dishes afterward!

Their family is a blessing to us, so I hope this meal was a blessing to them!

 

At the Zoo

We had a great time with my cousins last week!  They were here for almost 5 days but it flew by!

We got to see little Liam again...  He was almost 8 months old and this close to crawling.  The last time we'd seen him was at Christmas.  He was so much fun!  Barkley LOVED him too and I think he will be a great "big brother" when the  time comes.   :)

We took them to two fun restaurants we like here.  The first was McGurk's Irish Pub which is pretty close to our home.  The next day we went to MillSteam Inn in Downtown St. Charles.  We all got the Prime Rib sandwich... it was bigger than Dayna's head!

Tuesday we went to the Zoo!

Liam seemed to enjoy some of the exhibits!

I love the freaky face the monkey is making at Liam  haha!

We took them to Fritz's and Liam got his first taste of custard!  I think he liked it.  :)

 

We also fit in about 15 games to the weekend.  :)  We had such a great time with them...  it's great to have family that is are also friends!

On that Sunday, Steven and I were called in front of the church to celebrate our one-year anniversary.  The Students all brought a single stem and when them got to the church, arranged them in a bouquet for us!  It was so sweet and thoughtful.  It's funny...  I had actually seen one of the girls holding the bouquet before church and asked her if a boy gave it to her.  She said "don't ask" and I figured she was just embarrassed. 

Here are the flowers.  They were obviously much prettier when we first got them but I never took a pic till they were already dying.  :(

 

Before and After!

I am sitting here with Steven waiting for my cousin Dayna and her family to get here! I have another 3 hours so I thought I would put up a few projects I have finished lately.

Here is our EntryWay a couple of weeks ago...

(sorry for the blue tape... but doesn't it make a nice effect to the pic?  haha)

And here it is tonight!

Much prettier!


As you know, I was DYING to get a dresser for our guest bedroom.

I spent the last month scouring Craigslist and Goodwill, but never found the right thing at the right price.

A few weeks ago, I found a pretty antique dresser in St. Charles that was listed for $15 over what I wanted to spend.  I asked the guy if he would come down but he said no.

I waited a few days to find anything, but had no luck.  I asked Steven if I could spend the extra money to get the dresser, but he said we had to stick to our guns.  That day I drove to the St. Charles Goodwill and was VERY tempted to text the guy and ask him to please let me come pick it up!  But I knew that would not be a fun conversation when I got home so I withheld.  :)

THAT night, I found a beautiful antique SET on Craigslist...  a dresser, night table, and dressing table.  The whole set for $25 more than I was willing to pay for a dresser!  This was the without a doubt the best deal I'd seen in the month I looked, so I e-mailed them right away and told her I would take it off her hands the next day if she wanted!

Didn't hear back from her that night.  I laid in bed and prayed that God would bless my respecting my husband's wishes and our sticking to our budget.

When I woke up, I had a missed call from the girl!  Called her back and she said she had 6 e-mails about it, but mine seemed the most sure that I wanted it.  We picked it up that night.

Steven had to get very creative to fit this all in my SUV!

They have the original pulls/knobs and rollers on the feet.

Dresser before:

 Dressing Table (and my reflection) before:

Someone even wrote us a sweet note inside of one of the drawers!

I debated over painting the set Aqua or Coral... Ended up choosing Aqua because I already had some paint I got for free!

Here it is!!  Painted the pulls white.

My mom gave me the idea to tape wrapping paper in the drawers instead of shelf liner...  I love it!

 And the long-awaited dresser in our guest room...

Steven came home from FedEx on Wednesday with Tulips for me!  When we were dating, I told him they were my favorite flower.

I LOVE them!

Have a great weekend!

 

525,600 Minutes

One year ago today was our first Sunday at (what was then) DPBC!

I remember that first Sunday.  It got off to a rough start because we woke up to find that Steven had forgotten to pack any of his nice dress pants (all he had was khakis) or a tie!  I remember arguing over what he should wear and I was upset with him for not bringing those items so we could make a good first impression.  Really, I think we were both just nervous and taking it out on each other a little bit. 

We got to the church early and Pastor Dan took our picture (and didn't say anything about Steven's lack of a tie).  The other thing that stands out from before church that morning, was one of the teens (Chris) who was then in 8th grade, came up and welcomed me, and then asked me if I was in the Jr. High or Sr. High class!  I knew I look young for my age (which will be nice in 10 years... not exactly now) but Jr. High was an all-time low! haha

 
During the announcements portion of the service, he had us come up and introduced us to the congregation.  He gave me a bouquet of flowers, and handed us a jam-packed full envelope.  He was saying that the members got together and wanted to help us out... for some reason, the first thing that popped in my head was that he was giving us an envelope full of their photos so that we could learn everyone's name easier!  What was coming knocked nearly knocked us off our feet... Weeks before we arrived, Pastor Dan and Susan asked all of the congregation to be a blessing to us as we moved to the area, and donate gift cards to help us with our expenses.  We couldn't believe it.  Almost half of them were to Target (already, they knew me well!), then the rest were places like Panera, Outback, Walmart, or even Visa gift cards.  We were so thankful for this help... moving is not cheap... and had absolutely no expectation that this would be coming!

Over the year, a lot has happened.

We have, most importantly, built relationships.  The youth group fell in love with Steven immediately.  They could feel his enthusiasm and love for them and were totally open to him.  It took me a little bit longer to get to build relationships with the girls (probably partly because I'm not as outgoing as Steven, and partly because I think girls are a more hesitant to trust just anyone).

We went to Camp last year and it was amazing.  I never particularly loved Camp as a teen, but these teens LOVE it and now I know why!  We stay at Logan Valley, out in the middle of nowhere.  The Camp has a creek to swim in and a huge water slide.  We go to Johnson's Shut-Ins and on a Float Trip.  Last year's camp was awesome, and we had only been at the church 2.5 months, so I know this year's will be even better because we have established even better relationships.

We have had our share of confrontation... parents or members who held the opinion that we should be doing something differently.  Now, we have had a year to establish trust.  One of these members ultimately ended up leaving the church (the issue with us was just the straw that broke the camel's back for the church leadership), but some have come to us later and apologized and have supported us ever since.  People not liking us is something that I know God prepared us for long before we got here... and I am thankful that as long as Steven and I are a united front, following God's plan for OUR lives, He gets us through it!

We went through Discipleship 1 and are on our way through D2 right now.  It has been great to listen to Dan teach the Bible in a small group setting. Many of the things in the first class were Review, but I think it was very beneficial for us to hear from Dan why our church believes what we believe, and it was just a good refresher since we will likely be taking students through this course (actually Steven is taking 2 through it right now).

We have learned a LOT.  About teens, about people, about God.  We truly have a LOVE for these teens... some of them have been through more in their 15 years than anyone should in a lifetime.  Our prayer is that through us, God will reveal Himself to them and they will become true Worshipers and Followers of Christ... grasping His love for them and His plan for them.

It has been an amazing year.  Not all rainbows and butterflies, like you can see from my below post.  But knowing that we are in the Center of God's Plan is the only place I want to be.