Sunday, November 27, 2011

Pictures from November

I've been just plain terrible at posting pics of Tristen lately so here are a few from the month of November!

Hanging out while Aaron and I raked up our leaves....back when it was still "warm" outside :)

But now, the winter coat is out!

Watching Tristen's friend, Raina. They especially liked the piano!

And, emptying and filling the basket back up....doesn't take much to keep them happy :)

Aaron's birthday! Tristen practiced opening gifts so he can be ready for his birthday in a few weeks!
Okay, now off to TRY to decorate for Christmas! Although I'm excited to decorate, I'm just getting my house back in order from being gone this past week and the thought of pulling everything out and messing up my house again is overwhelming to me :) Maybe by the end of the week it will finally be decorated! Adios!

What I Read Today

I know people have many different ways of reading the Bible. My goal is to REALLY read through the Bible, no matter how long it takes me. While I've read through the Bible before, it was a quick, very fast method that just didn't work for me. So, I came up with something that works for me.

Starting in Genesis and Matthew, I started reading one chapter from the Old Testament and New Testament. After a few months of this, I realized that the Old Testament would take a while so I also chose another book in the middle of the Old Testament. Currently I'm in Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Philippians and today's passages just spoke to my heart in very different ways.

First, was Deuteronomy 4. I think I was struck by the idol section of Deuteronomy. How many times do we put things above God? Although they are not golden calves like before, we still have temptations every day to put things in front of God. Even this morning while I was going to sit down to do devos, I thought, "Hmm, I should check my e-mail since I'm waiting for someone to e-mail me a response". I knew if I made that one decision, my devos might not happen and I'm SO glad I had devos instead of wasting time on the internet :)

Second passage was Isaiah 26....I love any passage that uses the word "yearn" and this passage did just that. Talking about trusting in the Lord and how "my soul yearns for you in the night, and in the morning my spirit longs for you." There's a whole lot of great stuff in Isaiah....you should just go read the passage for yourself (and all of Isaiah for that matter!)

Third, the New Testament is easy and Philippians is one of my favorite books of the Bible so I'm thrilled I'll be spending the next week or so in Philippians. Although I love 1:21 ("For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."), the verses that really made me think today were 1:27-30 that talk about "conducting yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ". But, it doesn't stop there, it then goes on to say "Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm..." How we act at all times matters....you NEVER know who is watching you and it shows our true character, not just who we are on Sundays or around "church people". But, the only way to do that is to be filled and overflowing with the love of God and people will see Him while we are just the instrument.

So, if you don't know what to read today, here's three passages that will have plenty for you to meditate and pray over: Deuteronomy 4, Isaiah 26, and Philippians 1. That, my friends, is what I read today.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Thanksgiving

Ahhh...Thanksgiving. Yesterday was a great day with my family, eating and laughing together. I'm so thankful for my family as well as a whole LIST of other things.....I just haven't had time to reflect on ALL that I'm thankful for so maybe another day I'll make that list! But, this year, I'm especially thankful for my family and for the little family God has given to me.

For some reason, this Thanksgiving I was thinking of Aaron and my first Thanksgiving together and it is much too funny of a story not to share so, here it goes! Let's just say....I had NO idea what I was doing!

I was in the midst of my last semester of college, student teaching at a junior high, and Aaron had a security job in downtown Minneapolis until I was done student teaching. His security job required him work most holidays so we learned quickly that it is okay to celebrate holidays on days other than the actual day. I had a hard time with that at first! Anywho, he had to work Thanksgiving but got off at 5:00, just in time for a Thanksgiving dinner. A Thanksgiving dinner that his new bride of course knew how to make....*insert laughter*

He had also invited a co-worker with no family over to our small apartment so the stakes were even higher. My first mistake was thinking I could procrastinate buying food. Earlier in the week, I had looked at turkeys and decided that it was probably like making a roast and I could buy it the night before. :) Oh, and you must know that since money was tight, our refrigerator was always a bit on the empty side....

Exhaustion set in the night before Thanksgiving and Aaron assured me that I could pick up the food on Thanksgiving Day. "We live in Minneapolis...everything's open on Thanksgiving!" he said. I got up early Thanksgiving morning, made my list, and headed to Target. There wasn't a car in SIGHT and I carefully read the sign "Thanksgiving Day-Closed"

Okay, I thought. Well, obviously Rainbow will be open. Heading to every grocery store in the vicinity, I came up with the same luck. Nobody was open and there was NO way I was getting the food I needed for our first Thanksgiving Dinner! Looking back it seems odd to me because there are definitely grocery stores open on Thanksgiving but for some reason, 5 years ago nothing was open :)

Heading back to our apartment, I looked at the time....11:00AM. I quickly called my mom to brainstorm ideas for some sort of nice Thanksgiving meal. She was preparing for my brother's wedding that would happen a mere 2 days later but had plenty of time to help me out of my funny Thanksgiving mess :)

First, I brainstormed a meat idea. Finding a roast in the very back of my freezer, I quickly threw it in the crockpot with some seasoning and broth that I had laying around. Okay, at least I'll have some sort of meat, I thought.

Next, I needed sides. The more traditional Thanksgiving, the better, especially because there would be no turkey. I found one big package of frozen Iowa corn my mom had sent with me when I got married. My mom helped me think up a scalloped corn mixture with food that I had (that was delicious, by the way!!), and I set out to find more around the house. I seriously just started grabbing cans and putting them together, calling my mom every hour to have her think of other recipes or ways to make things out of what I had. I have to admit....it was slightly fun even though it was the craziest, most RANDOM Thanksgiving dinner I've ever had! Preparing a few more sides (although I can't remember what all we had!), I found some frozen rolls AND an extra pumpkin pie that I had completely forgotten about! I still can't remember where that pumpkin pie came from.....maybe an angel :)

Cooking and preparing away, 5:00 finally came and as Aaron stepped through the door with his co-worker behind, I laughed while they commented on the delicious smell filling the apartment. While it wasn't the most traditional meal, it was probably the most memorable Thanksgiving and a pretty special one at that. :) The food was actually good and somehow all fit together! I wish I remembered some of those recipes but since it was thrown together, I may never know how I made some things :)

I learned some things that day, though. I learned to never, ever wait until Thanksgiving Day to PLAN your meal. Oh my! And, obviously I know now that you cannot pick up a turkey a few hours before you plan on cooking it....I didn't have a clue all the preparation that goes into making a turkey :) But, I also learned that with a little creativity, one can prepare a pretty fun meal with very little. The best lesson though? Although food is important to Thanksgiving, the most important aspect about Thanksgiving is being grateful for what you have and giving thanks in all circumstances. What a beautiful lesson on my first Thanksgiving. :)

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Monday, November 21, 2011

In the Last Week...

*My computer monitor died, hence the lack of blogging.

*Tristen got his first really bad cold....we've all been a little under the weather lately but he had it the worst last week. Sad day.

*We traveled to Iowa to visit our old church and see friends....SUCH a good time! We wish we could have stayed another day to catch up with more friends but it was so great to reconnect with people we haven't seen for 2 years!

*While we were gone, Mankato received the first snowfall....and I'm ready to decorate for Christmas now!

In the next week.....

*Aaron's birthday is on Thanksgiving Day...what's up with both of our birthdays landing on holidays this year? Crazy!

*Umm, Thanksgiving.....SO excited for it!

*Aaron is ALMOST done with his first semester of Nursing School and it will be good for all of us to have a break for a whole month :)

*Christmas shopping/Decorating for Christmas/Planning Tristen's birthday....this month is going to be busy!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The Weekends

I LOVE the weekends.....you would think I had a job or something that I am always looking forward to the weekends but I love the weekends for a very different reason. I love seeing people....and as much as I love being a stay-at-home mom, sometimes you just need adult interaction and a break from the same old, same old routine. Thus, I love the weekends because usually I see someone, even if it's just spending more time with the hubby :)

This past weekend was no different but this time two very special guests came to visit Mankato. If you were reading between the lines in previous posts, you would have read that our trip to Ames in August was actually a plan to get my brother-in-law together with my friend, Sarah. They live near each other and kept running into each other so we just helped things along. Our trip was successful and they started dating soon after :) So, this past weekend, Nate brought his "girlfriend" home to hang out....ever since they started dating, people have asked them to put pictures up on facebook so I grabbed my camera and shot a few for their facebook profiles. Here are some fun ones:
Umm, yeah, they're ADORABLE :) What a fun twist in life :)

The next few weekends are just plain fun with baby showers to go to, visiting our old church in Cherokee, and Thanksgiving....spending time with family and seeing my brother and sister-in-law before their baby girl arrives in December :)

And, in other news....I've been quite busy lately running after the little man. One day, he just started climbing up the stairs....we had no idea he knew how to do that until we saw him on the third step and he LOVES to climb up anything and everything now! Still not walking...just a few steps (more like lunges!) here and there but I'm not expecting anything until after his first birthday....I think I walked at 13 months? But, goodness, this climbing thing is quite hilarious to watch but now I see how moms need eyes in the back of their heads! He's just too fast for me sometimes!

That's our week so far! Happy Wednesday, all :)

Friday, November 4, 2011

Why, oh, Why!?

I woke up this morning and looked out my window to find this:
Yep. A bike. IN my hedge. Intentionally put there for sure. Hahaha....I'm laughing but I also want to be just a little annoyed.....but I really REALLY want to know who would put a bike in a person's HEDGE for goodness sake's!! Is it a prank? A gift? A random act by a kid? It's slightly intriguing to keep checking on it because I really want to know who and WHY someone would do this?? Random! :)

Oh, and I'm just hoping that we don't get a letter from the city about this one.....they got mad at us when we accidentally had our hedge a half inch longer than it was supposed to be.....how were we suppose to know? We are clean and tidy people and Aaron made sure that hedge was ALWAYS trimmed and looking perfect but we had no idea it had to be 3 inches only...my goodness! Okay, sorry about the rant....I'm feeling extra sassy these days :)

I hope I catch the person in the act of trying to get the bike down....and nicely tell them to never do it again :) Or, see who pranked me and get them back :)