Peanut Butter Toast, Memorial Day, and Other Ramblings

In my job teaching preschool, we had breakfast with the kids every day. One day I saw on the menu "Peanut Butter Toast". Peanut Butter Toast? Honestly, I thought it was soooo strange. But, to encourage my students to eat, I graciously ate the peanut butter toast, but certainly did not like it. This morning, I woke up, exercised, watered my plants outside, wrote up a list of things to do and all of a sudden got this extreme craving for what? Peanut Butter Toast! I'm eating it as I speak and I actually like it now! You should give it a try :) Funny how that works!

This past weekend was a bit crazy, but turned out to be a very enjoyable weekend! We had planned on staying at home for the whole weekend but a few difficult circumstances happened on Sunday sending us to our knees praying and leaving us emotionally drained. We looked at each other and both said, "We need to get away." It was 2:00 Sunday afternoon and Aaron said, "Do you think we could visit our parents for Memorial Day?" Our parents only live an hour apart from each other so we called them up, worked out the details and packed as fast as we could to make it to Mankato on Sunday night and then headed over to Forest City on Monday morning. It was incredibly refreshing to see not only our parents but our siblings and to clear our heads.

I may be a bit more of a sporatic blogger in the next few weeks. We have an incredibly busy schedule! Aaron's sister is getting married on June 13th so we have showers and rehearsals until then and next week is our church's VBS which both Aaron and I will be helping with. I'm trying to figure out how to make a boat for 20 kids to get into...any grand ideas, send them over my way! Hope that you all have an incredible Wednesday!

Gas Prices

I know everyone is suffering from these awful gas prices and extremely high food bills. Today I filled on gas AND bought groceries and I have to admit I was more than a little depressed! How can a middle class family get by these days? I have been reading a ton of ways to save money in the grocery store and I tried to use the advice today....no buying fresh fruit (which is so sad!), no pre-packaged fruit, buy store brand products, cut out unnecessary items, buy a lot of freezer things and canned goods. It helped, but still my bill was crazy high. Not to be depressing, but I looked up the differences between what gas prices were when I graduated from high school - only 6 years ago and what they are now. It was ASTONISHING!

Just in case you can't see it, it says the average was $1.31 a gallon!! Now, it's $3.82 a gallon and I'm betting that it will be $4 in less than 2 weeks. I guess that means less traveling, and using our stick shift as much as possible. Actually, as we look back, buying our Mazda Miata was SUCH a God thing...it has certainly saved us money with the rising gas prices. I hope you are finding ways to cut costs as well...if you have any more good ideas, this middle class married woman would love to know how to save more money!

Extremely Motivated...hope it stays!

My second day of "summer break" was nothing like my first. Yesterday Aaron and I went to lunch, talked about summer schedules, when to fit in a vacation, etc. I laid out in the sun and just enjoyed not working. However, today, I was extremely motivated. I only have three months to get in alot of work! If I'm as motivated as I was today, I think I could build another house for us by the end of the summer! haha! It feels so good though. Having a purpose, responsibilities, and a passion to get things accomplished is a wonderful feeling. This morning I went for a run around a beautiful park a few blocks from our house. Not only did the run feel great, I was in awe of God's creation. If my entire summer is going to be as wonderful as yesterday and today was, I'm in for an incredibly blessed summer! Alright, enough on the internet, I need to keep enjoying this GORGEOUS weather and find another project to do!

Content

Today, I experienced contentment and peace. Although laying out in the sun, reading a book while petting my dog and talking to my husband may have helped, it was not the main cause of my contentment. My attitude is different. My perspective of the life that God has given me is different. I am finally surrendering and beginning to look to Christ to help me in the times I am not content and wanting the "next step in life" to happen. Whether that be going back to school, making new friends, having kids...I was so focused on the future that I was not focusing on Christ and the here and now. Finally, today, I experienced the most inexpressible joy I have in a long time. Not happiness.... it was pure joy and real contentment in my life.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:6-7

Chronicles of Narnia

We're missing a few students...especially one that came as Aslan!

I'll put a few more pics up when I have time next week.

Landscaping

Although you really can't see the full effect of our landscaping because the shrubs are so small, at least you can see a few improvements in our front yard. We're trying to add that "curb appeal" :)

Tis the Season for Allergies

I've diagnosed my ongoing "cold" finally by deciding I have allergies. I've heard they have been at an all time high this year and I believe it. Sneezing, sniffling, runny nose, coughing, and the like....hopefully this "season" will be gone soon so I can breathe a little better. On a happier note, Aaron and I are preparing for our big movie night tonight! We are taking our youth group to Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and are dressing up as our favorite characters. We went to Goodwill today and picked up some AWESOME fur coats! I cannot wait to wear them tonight...too bad it's not winter time! A few updates:

*I am done with school! Our last day with the kids was Wednesday and we cleaned our room out yesterday...it hasn't exactly hit me yet that next week I will be at home...doing whatever my heart desires.
*We were able to see my mom on Mother's Day and get to see Aaron's mom tomorrow for Mother's Day. I am so blessed to have an amazing mother and mother in law and I'm glad I get to celebrate with both of them!
*My garden is coming along! It's so fun to watch things grow...I think it's the teacher in me..
*I found out how talented my husband really is...We landscaped our front yard this past week and it looks great! I didn't know he knew how to do all that stuff and he was able to teach me.
*It has been a great week!

David and Goliath

The picture says it all :) Aaron's friend, Jordan, came to visit this weekend and brought his German Shephard! It was hilarious...and although Sadie thought she could play with Aris, she found out quickly that Aris was much bigger than her and by the end of the weekend, Sadie was rather scared of Aris.

I still think Sadie could take her...:)

The Garden

The pictures I promised to put up:

Side view of our little garden. I've heard to start small, and small it is!

Front view...we're hoping to put a little flower garden by the windmill as well to spruce our backyard up a bit!

Last Week of School

Today marked the last full week of preschool this year! We have three days next week and then we will be done until September! I cannot believe this year has gone by so fast. It seems like yesterday I was still subbing and praying God would open up a teaching position. He not only opened up a position, but one that I love and students that I have come to adore. I now know why my teachers were so sad (although some of them were a little too happy!) on the last days of school...even in four months time, I have grown to love my students and am sad to see them go! I want to cherish every single moment with each of them next week! As we're approaching the last day, I've been thinking about what I'm going to do this summer! Since moving into our house last June, I have not had even a week off of work to do things in my house, so I'm just a little more than excited to have an entire summer to do projects both in my house and outside! My first project? We planted a vegetable garden today!! I feel like such a grown up! Pictures to come tomorrow! :)

In A Year's Time....

Alot can happen in a year.....Yesterday, Aaron and I celebrated our one year anniversary of being in full time ministry. In some ways it doesn't feel like that long and in other ways, it feels like we've been in ministry for a long time. I was thinking about all that I've learned in this year and was feeling a bit overwhelmed to write last night. I may not be able to write it all even now because so many mixed emotions are going through my mind as I think back a year ago!
A few things I loved this year were:

*Having a very intoxicated man try to break into our house our very first night in Cherokee :)
*Hearing the phrase "Pastor Aaron" for the first time
*Leading our first youth trip to the Boundary Waters...on our one year anniversary :) ha!
*Having one and one lunches with girls
*Our dear junior girls who make us CD's of random music
*Seeing one student make a life change and become a leader in the youth group
*Aaron training the junior high boys how to serve girls
*Campfires that lead to incredible talks
*The students God has given to us....
*Working with my husband
*The lonely times when I have realized that it is ONLY God and Him alone that can satisfy me...it has been a hard lesson, but He has humbled and shaped me this year through my loneliness and for that, I thank Him.

A Beautiful Weekend

I don't get to see my extended family very much anymore so whenever I have the chance, I try to jump on it. This past weekend, my cousin Brian got married and Aaron and I made the trip up to North Dakota. It was a beautiful weekend and very encouraging to see so many of my dear relatives. Thursday night, we were blessed to see my cousin Amber and her husband Ben in Fargo. We spent the night and had a great talk the next morning....I absolutely love how it doesn't seem like a day went by since the last time I talked to Amber. Our conversations always pick up where they left off and Amber always encourages me soooo much.

Friday was the day of the wedding and it was sooooo fun! I have always loved weddings....when I was single, however, I loved weddings because of the colors, the dresses, the flowers, etc. Although I still love those things, I love them even more now because I see what an incredible thing marriage is. I love sitting next to my husband and squeezing his hand as the couple recites their vows. My grandparents always resaid their vows during weddings and Aaron and I do as well, especially the "For richer, for poorer" part. That always brings a laugh to our lips! The year following our own wedding was tough and money was hard to come by, but because of it, we can say that even through the hard financial times, we stuck with it...maybe we can get to that "for richer" part soon (haha! Just kidding!)...:) The other vows are a little more serious and we take them to heart as we resay them... I also love applying the sermons to my own marriage....weddings really are special in more ways than one. It was a beautiful weekend!

The Driving Lesson

After my last post, I thought I should give a little update...I can now officially drive a stick shift and will never be in that position again (I hope!) Aaron got home from his retreat on Tuesday and said, "Erika, are you ready for your driving lesson?" "What?" I was not ready at all...BUT, I hopped in the car and only killed it a few times....you see, I was forced to learn because this past weekend, we drove to Bismarck, ND, for my cousin's wedding. Since it was a 9 hour trip, we decided to split up the driving....and since gas is so expensive, taking the car with the best mileage was the only way. I actually find enjoyment in it now and even catch myself pretending to drive a stick when I'm driving our automatic. What a funny thing though....having another driving lesson...I felt like I was 16 again :) Anyway, just a little update :)