Cruisin' (Part 2)

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I know I did. Roman and I were finally able to use the graduation gift my parents got us (a couple's massage at Mint Julep) *yay*! And then Saturday we went to eat at Red Lobster for my pre-birthday celebration. My birthday is on a Tuesday this year so we just decided to celebrate it on Saturday. We finished up our weekend with great services at our church and swimming at his parent's house. So all in all, it was a great weekend. Yay for great weekends!

I don't have a lot of time today, so I figured I would share all of the great towel creations left in our cabin while we were on our cruise. I also included a couple that was left in Pastor Stephen and Christy's cabin since they got something different than us on a few occasions. So I hope you enjoy!  :)

We are assuming this was a walrus or something like that.

This one made us miss our Dukey-Bear.

This little guy was hanging from the air vent in Stephen and Christy's room-so cute!

This is a note that Christy left on the monkey for their room steward. They were hoping to get another monkey the next night, but it didn't work. Oh well!



A frog, we assume?




Scary Scorpion!!




A heart on our last day.  :'(




And Stephen and Christy got this adorable little elephant!!



This is just a picture of our room. That actually isn't a window, it just looks like one. It was a good size in our opinion, considering there are like a billion rooms on the boat.  ;)

I will leave you with a passage of Scripture that our pastor used in his sermon yesterday morning. It was a great service, so I'm sorry if you missed it!

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."          ~Ephesians 6:10-12

Cruisin' (Part 1)

After much growling at the computer screen, I have finally fixed my dilemma. Which means I can finally start sharing pictures from our cruise last week! Wahoo! So, I called this Part 1. I don't know how many "parts" there will be...I guess whenever I decide I've shared enough LOL. So let's get started, shall we?

So we were on the Carnival Paradise, which was such a great ship. We decided that we could probably wad our town up and fit it on this boat. There was so much to do!! The picture below is my favorite place on the boat: The Serenity Deck. The Serenity Deck had two things that I love: 2 hot tubs, and an age limit. You had to be 21 to chillax here, so this place was always calm and relaxing.

This is a picture of what is called the "Atrium". I'm standing on the eleventh floor looking down. They had the big flag up because it was Memorial Day. I was honestly quite impressed at how they honored our Veterans. There were several mentions of Memorial Day and the show singers/dancers in the theater even did a few patriotic songs to commemorate the day. Very cool.

This is just another view of the Atrium, this time from the bottom looking up. The ceiling up this place is glass, hence the name "Atrium". I may have been a little to excited to ride the glass elevators....  ;)

The next picture is the "top" of the boat. I say the "top" because this is actually only the tenth floor, known as the Lido Deck. There is actually twelve floors so there are actually two more decks higher than this one, but this is the largest deck on the boat. And yes, Roman and I did ride down the slide like happy little children. The pool is saltwater too, which would've been cool had I known and kept my eyes shut while going down the slide. Salt in eyes=not too good.

Below is "in my opinion" the coolest room on the boat. I'm not sure why I liked this room so much, I think it has something to do with the billions of round couches and all the lights. Anyways, this is where most of the karaoke was and also where the comedy shows were. If you went out the glass doors (one of them is shown on the right), you found yourself on the Serenity Deck. Maybe that influences my decision??

 This is just a pretty light to me. So I posted it.  :P  It's on the ceiling in the theatre.

And this is a picture of one of the life boats. This puppy holds 150+ people!!! And supposedly, even if it is filled with water it still will not sink. Thankfully, we did not have to test that theory out. And yes, that is a building you see in the background. We took this picture while we were docked in Tampa on the last day.

Alright! I think that is enough for now. I have thoroughly made myself sad because I'm on land again and not on the ship.... haha. I think I should go find some chocolate or something to cheer myself up.  ;)    I hope all of you have a great weekend!

"I will give thanks to the Lord because of His righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High."   ~Psalm 7:17

He. Is. Faithful.

Before I say anything else, I want to wish my husband a Happy Two Year Anniversary! Wahoo!!! It has definitely been a great two years, but it has also been difficult with school and our otherwise crazy schedules. But Hallelujah we're graduated from college now so no more of that stuff going on anymore. I am so thankful that God created such a great man for me to marry and I'm so excited we get to spend our lives together. I love you "punkin' butt"! ;)

I was supposed to start posting pictures from our vacation last week, but I'm still working on choosing which ones I want to post so hopefully tomorrow I'll have all of that worked out. We had such a great time though. It was so nice to just be lazy bums and stare at the ocean. We are totally hooked and are already talking about how we are going to save up enough money to take another cruise next year!  :)

Now to the heart of what this post is about. Before I begin, please understand that this is meant to be a testimony on the faithfulness of God. I am not writing this to put anybody down or to boast about Roman and I, so please don't take it that way. But when God does something really cool, I feel like I just have to tell somebody about it! Okay, now I'll get started.

Two Sundays ago, our Pastor spoke on tithing. Tithing is something that I have always done. My parents taught me to tithe at a young age. I even sent my tithe to the church when I wasn't actually going to church. I have just always had some very strong convictions about the need to tithe. God gives us so much everyday, so surely I can give him 10% back of what He gives me.

Roman and I right from the start of marriage continued to tithe. But I'm not going to lie, there were some Sundays where I wrote that check in tears. Being a newlywed while both husband and wife are also full-time in college was NOT an easy financial situation to be in. There were times where I dropped the check in the offering plate with a prayer that goes something like this, "You promised You would take care of us. I'm still being faithful to You with our money. So I'm claiming that promise. I have only half a tank of gas and the light bill still hasn't been paid....."

And you know what?? God came through every single time.

There were several times that our parents would buy us groceries or help us with some of our bills. (Thank God for both of our parents-they have been such blessings to us while we've finished out our school.)

I dare you to tell me He isn't faithful.

There was one week where we started off with only 3/4 of a tank of gas in Roman's truck. Normally, if we drive the truck into town every day it will drink a full tank of gas plus some. But that week, we finished out with 1/4 of a tank. No refills. Same amount of driving. God just made the gas last the week.

I dare you to tell me He isn't faithful.

I remember one week in August, right after we got married. I had just emptied out our checking and savings account to buy our college books, and we still had gas and groceries that we needed. I opened up the mailbox to find a check for $100. A friend of my parent's had sent it to us with a note that said something like this: "Sorry, I was not able to make your wedding-and then I lost the card! I found it the other day, so please accept my belated wedding gift." I cried in the yard as I read it. Our needs were met that week.

I dare you to tell me He isn't faithful.

I could carry on with several stories, but I'll get to my point. Roman and I have been faithful in our tithing, and God has been faithful in providing for our needs. And several times, He's been more than faithful. Several times, He's just plopped a really big blessing in our laps that we didn't even deserve, just because He loves us. And sometimes, God just likes to prove Himself because we need little reminders every now and then.

I have two favorite numbers: five and fifteen. Don't ask me why, I've just always loved those two numbers. God decided yesterday to take one of those favorite numbers and twist it into a testimony for me to pass onto you.

Lately, I have been "whining" to God. Roman and I are graduated from college, but he still has not found a job yet. So even though we aren't spending the money for school, things are still pretty tight. Gas prices with his giant truck are not kind to us. So I've been asking God to improve our situation somehow. We've got some debt from school that we need to pay off and we will have to buy tires for both vehicles by the end of this summer. So I've been affectionately 'reminding' God about the promise He made to us if we are faithful in our tithing. Yesterday, God affectionately 'reminded' me to hush and let Him handle it.

I got a phone call yesterday morning from Roman. His part-time job changed his schedule. He will now be bringing home five times more than what he made last semester. (Remember my favorite number? It gets better.) And he also won't be working on Saturdays anymore. Oh happy day. I was so excited thinking about all of the bills we were going to pay off. When I took his paycheck from this past Friday to the bank yesterday afternoon, God told me to give him 5 more dollars than what I normally would when I wrote the tithe check. I happily agreed. What's 5 bucks when God just did something so huge? I went on through my day and bought groceries and a new comforter for our new bed (another blessing that we didn't actually need-God just gave us something we've been wanting for a while.)

I got home and I was so happy because my budget had worked out perfectly. We had exactly enough money to get us through the rest of the week AND I had finally been able to put something into our savings account...something that hasn't happened in months.

I opened the pantry door, only to have my good mood crushed. I had forgotten to add $20 into the budget so we could buy more cat food. I sighed one of those big dramatic sighs and thought "Well, I guess I'll just have to take a little bit out of savings. Lord, why did You have me give you 5 extra dollars when You knew I had to buy cat food??" Cue God's faithfulness.

I then walked over to the table to look at what my Mom had brought to us earlier that day. On top of the coupons was a card. Inside was a check for $25.

God asked for $5. I willingly gave it to Him. I got home that day to find the $5 multiplied. Five times over. The cat food will cost us $20. I'll have $5 bucks left. I could just hear God giggling as the Holy Spirit spelled everything out in my mind. And then I laughed too and apologized for ever doubting Him.

I dare you to tell me He isn't faithful.

I believe in the need for tithing. I believe that no one has any excuse to not tithe. When we serve the God of the Universe who owns all of the world and all of the money in it, then who are we to withhold a measly 10 percent? Who are we to say that He is not capable of taking care of us? So take that leap of faith and give like He has called us to give. He won't let you down.

I dare you to tell me He isn't faithful. Because I have a $25 check in my purse that says otherwise.

"'Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob Me. But you ask, 'How are we robbing You?' 'In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse-your whole nation-because you are robbing Me. Bring the tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,' says the Lord Almighty, 'and see if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,' says the Lord Almighty. 'Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,' says the Lord Almighty."   ~Malachi 3:8-12

It's Almost Time!

I have less than an hour now before I leave work. Then it's a week long vacation for me! Wahoo!!
So yes, I know it is just so very sad, but you will have to live without me for a little over a week because I will NOT have computer access where I'm going!  :)  But no worries, I will definitely share pictures and stories with you when I get back home.

I realized today that I forgot to keep my promise to Brooke from two weeks ago. Oops.

If you remember, I was in training two weeks ago. While I was in training, Roman wanted me to write him a story. I was complaining about how sleepy I was and how I was running out of doodle ideas so he says, "Write me a story. It has to be like a fable. With a moral to the story. And characters that have names. And oh yea, over one page long." I know, bossy huh? But me, being the loving (and sleepy) wife that I was, granted his request. And then I promised Brooke that I would post the story to my blog so she could read it.....which I never did. So here it is, Brooke Massey, in all of its glory. haha.

ChenHong and the Golden Eggs

ChenHong was a little boy responsible for his father's chickens. Every morning he would wake up and feed the chickens and gather the eggs. Every evening, he would feed them again and lay new straw in their pens. One day, as ChenHong was gathering the eggs, he saw something shiny. ChenHong snatched up the shiny, egg-shaped object and stuffed it in his pocket. After giving the eggs to his mother, he ran back to the room to look at the object in private. It looked like real gold!! ChenHong wanted to be sure though, so he decided to take it to the jewelry store.

"Mr. Hully!!" exclaimed ChenHong as he burst into the store. "Calm down son, why are you running? What's going on?" ChenHong put his hands on his knees, gasped for air, and then stuttered, "I......I.....I need you to look at something. I need to know if it's real!" Mr. Hully looked confused, but held out his hand. ChenHong slowly reached into his pocket and put the egg into his hand. Mr. Hully put on some goofy looking glasses and walked back to his work station. ChenHong impatiently paced the store while Mr. Hully examined the egg. After what seemed like ages, he finally stood up and slowly walked back to ChenHong. "Where did you get this, son?" he quietly asked. ChenHong replied, "I found it, sir." Mr. Hully handed the egg back to him, "It's pure gold. You need to try and figure out who it belongs to and return it. It has incredible value." ChenHong tried to hide his excitement as he thanked Mr. Hully hurried out the door.

"I've got to find out which chicken laid this egg so I can get more!!!" he thought to himself. He was in such a hurry to get home, that he barely heard his best friend, Brian, calling his name. "ChenHong!! ChenHong??? Hey!!! Chen!!!!!!" Brian yelled as he ran after his friend. He finally got ChenHong to slow down and stop. "Where are you going so fast?" asked Brian. "I have a mystery to solve." answered ChenHong as he pulled the egg out of his pocket. "Whoa!!!" gasped Brian. "Where did you get that??" "One of my chickens laid it this morning. I took it to Mr. Hully--he said it was real!" ChenHong answered. "I'm trying to get home so I can hide it, and then tonight I'm going to camp out and see which chicken laid the egg" he continued. "Oooooh, I want to help! But are you sure we should camp out? It's supposed to storm tonight...." replied Brian. "I don't care if it rains, I want another egg. You can either help me or stay at home!" ChenHong bit back. And with that, he took off again. Brian paused to look at the darkening clouds, shrugged his shoulders, and took off after his friend.

"Mom! Me and Brian are camping out tonight!" ChenHong exclaimed as he burst through the front door and headed to his room. "Honey, it's about to storm!" his mother replied. "We'll be fine, Mom" he shouted back as he ran back outside. ChenHong stopped short when he saw Brian standing there with his mouth wide open. The nests were full of golden eggs! The boys stood there, stunned. "I want one!" shouted Brian as he ran towards the gate. "No! They're mine!" ChenHong screamed back. "I only want one! You know my Dad lost his job last week!" Brian shouted back as he shoved ChenHong. ChenHong shoved him right back, "I don't care!!"

The boys continued shoving each other and shouting as the first few drops of rain began to fall. ChenHong's mother ran outside after hearing the commotion, just in time to see ChenHong fall into the gate, busting the pen open. Suddenly, the sky lit up with lightening as there was a loud clap of thunder. The chickens frantically ran out of the pen, straight across the road, and into the woods. ChenHong shrieked and jumped to his feet, his face riddled with anger and frustration. ChenHong's mother was just as shocked, as this was the first time she laid eyes on the golden eggs.

"I'll go get my dog. Maybe he can sniff 'em out." shouted Brian as he ran back home. "My God, He has saved us!" weeped ChenHong's mother. "Your father and I will never have to work again." But ChenHong's chin hung low. He wanted an endless supply of the eggs, not a one-time deal. He stood there listlessly as his mother gathered up the eggs and scurried into the house. Brian soon showed up, but they were unable to find the chickens. The downpour of rain confused the dog and he was unable to pick up a scent.

Brian was given an egg by ChenHong's mother, and ChenHong's parents had an abundance of wealth all the rest of their days. But ChenHong remained totally consumed in the hunt for the missing chickens. Rumor has it that he still wanders the woods every morning in search of the chickens and their golden eggs.

Moral of the story: Never count your golden eggs before your chickens cross the road on a rainy day.

I know, it should be a children's book, huh?  ;)  I'm totally kidding!!

Anyways, y'all remember that you won't hear from me over the next week or so, but when I come back I'll be sure to have lots of pictures to show you!!!!  :)  :)

"He who has no rule over his own spirit is like a broken down city without a wall."   ~Proverbs 25:28

The Importance of Marriage

Before I get started on what I really want to talk about, I thought I would share a quick picture with you guys. Look who finally got over his fear of dog bones??

Awww, we're so proud of our little puppy for finally deciding that the bone was not out to get him. Now if we can just get him to be okay with the DVD player opening and closing, we'll be doing really good! haha.

Anyways, I wanted to share with you guys something that I came across earlier this morning. I follow a really great website called Unveiled Wife (link is here). I love reading the posts on the website and even had my own article published a couple of weeks ago (if you missed it, the link for that is here). Today's post was great. She ran across a YouTube video on the importance of marriage. I highly encourage all of you to read her post and watch the video, you can do that by following this link here.

I absolutely loved the video for two reasons:

1) It was a great reminder for me that my marriage is truly important to God. It is so important that I keep my vows and work hard in my marriage so it can be a reflection of Christ's love for His church.

2) This video really puts some weight on marriage for a world that is becoming so flippant with marriage. I wish I could carry this video in my pocket and whip it out throughout the day to show people just how important their marriage really is.

I must admit, there are some days where I am truly disappointed at how lightly even Christians take their marriages. Divorce rates are climbing at an alarming rate, even in the church! We are so wrapped up in the idea that "God wants me to be happy so if I'm not happy it's okay to have an affair or just leave my spouse altogether." We are so selfish! It was never God's intention for marriage to be taken so lightly.

Now, I do recognize that there are some situations where we need to leave, such as a cheating spouse or a spouse who is physically abusive; but, leaving someone because he/she no longer gives you that "heart-racing, butterfly feeling" is simply not an option. Leaving your spouse because he/she does not communicate well or refuses to help you with your housework is NOT Biblical. If there is something 'wrong' with your spouse, then you need to ask GOD for help, not Oprah and not Dr. Phil. You need to begin praying two things:

1) Lord, what can I do and what can I change about myself that will make me a better spouse? So many times we are trying to remove the splinter out of our spouse's eye when we have a log in our own eyes. Many times we need to have a change of heart in order for our spouse to have a change in their actions.

2) Bring your complaints before the Lord. Ask Him how to resolve conflicts. Ask Him to speak into your spouse's heart. For goodness sakes, He created the universe so why do we think He can't fix our marriages?

You see, we would much rather complain to our friends and hear how justified we are for leaving, rather than actually work to make our marriage a success. We are such a "right-now" generation that we do not want to wait for the Holy Spirit to breath life into our marriages. Remember, the grass isn't greener on the other side, it's greener where we fertilize it. So begin fertilizing your marriage with prayer. God is not going to ignore you or be mad at you for bringing your problems to Him. In fact, He will be overjoyed that you did and be more than willing to help. It may not come in your timing, or how you want it to, but just trust Him that He is going to take care of you and your spouse and help you through whatever problems you are having.

I can't stress the need for prayer in our marriages enough. We need to be praying for our spouse and our marriages daily. Wives: specifically ask God to guard your husbands minds and hearts. Their lives are filled with temptations between television and billboards. Ask Him to keep their thoughts pure and for strength to resist these daily temptations. Husbands: specifically ask God to give your wife strength. Most women are now juggling jobs and families, something that was practically unheard of fifty years ago. We have so much pressure on us to be this model-shaped woman who can work eight hours a day and then come home to prepare a two-hour dinner and have perfectly behaved children. Ask God to give us patience and strength to be the wives He has called us to be and to help us understand that we are not made to fulfill the image Hollywood fills our minds with.

I cannot get a phrase out of my mind that our Pastor spoke a few weeks ago: "It is time for someone to get angry at the enemy and to fight back."

It is time for someone to take a stand against the enemy. The enemy desires to destroy your marriage. He wants to see you have a terrible marriage. He wants to see your marriage crumble. It is time for someone to decide that Satan will not rip their marriage apart. It is time for someone to begin praying over their marriage. It is time for someone to press through the difficult times instead of giving into the lies the enemy has sang to us for so long. It is time for someone to decide that it's not about how they feel in the moment, it's about keeping the covenant they made with their spouse before the God of the universe.

It's time. Take that first step. Fight for your marriage. I promise, God will not leave you in times of trouble. But we have to be willing to press on through the fire.

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe."     ~Ephesians 1:17-19

Mosquitoes, Gnats, and Bullfrogs

The title of this post was at the request of my darling husband. I was lamenting to him over the phone about how I couldn't think of anything to write about. He replied with one of his always-encouraging responses: write about mosquitoes, gnats and bullfrogs. That man makes me laugh every day, at least once. Which is a good thing, because in his wedding vows he promised to make me laugh at least once a day (doing good so far, honey!). Generally he makes me laugh a lot more than once though. It is one of his character traits that I love-except when I'm mad at him. When I'm mad at him, he will bat those charming eyes and make what I call his "turtle face" and then it suddenly becomes much harder for me to stay mad. Which is very frustrating when you're determined to stay mad.

Example:

If any of you have read my Facebook status over the past two days (or if you've looked at my actual face), then you know I am currently at war with a sinus infection. No really, I am at war. I am leaving to go on a cruise this Sunday and I refuse, I repeat, REFUSE to be sick on what I have dubbed "my second honeymoon" vacation. I refuse, I tell you! So, with a Z-pack prescribed by my doctor and armed with nose-spray, Motrin, water, and every vegetable, fruit (and maybe an ice cream bar too) I can find, I have officially waged war against this sinus infection. Oh, and let me also include my constant begging to God to please please please purty please (with a Z-pack on top) remove this sinus infection from my body before I leave on vacation because life isn't FAAAIIIRRR and I can't be sick when I'm on a cruise because that's just not fair. I can see God rolling his eyes and chuckling at me right now.
So yes, I am at war with this sinus infection. Back to the story. Because of said sinus infection, I had a headache last night. As Roman and I were slobbering looking over pictures of our home-away-from-home for next week, we started to act just plain silly. He reached over the couch and picked up the bone that my dog is afraid of (yea, you read that right) and lightly bopped me on the head with it. Of course, me being the girl I am, I screeched out a loud OOWWW MY HEAD HURTS WHY DID YOU THAT and proceeded to begin the pouting phase. (I will not disclose just how bad it actually hurt because my husband normally reads my blog. If you're reading this baby, my head still hurts and it's all your fault.) Okay fine, it didn't really hurt....but I did have a headache so it wasn't a complete lie, right? Anyways, my husband (who sees right through my 'that-didn't-really-hurt-but-I'm-going-to-pretend-it-did' act) immediately switched into his even goofier personality. He made the turtle face. Then he made the face where he pokes out his lip and looks at me out of the corner of his eye. Then he resorted to his kissy-face. All the while I'm trying to hide a grin and hold onto my pouty phase. I decided it was payback time. I picked up the bone and bopped him on the head. Of course, he gives an even more dramatic response than mine which only makes me giggle. And that's when I think to myself "gosh, I love this man."

This man that has loved me when I've looked and felt my worst. This man that insists I could let my hair air dry rather than straighten it and I'd still look just as beautiful. This man that pursues God and strives to have a home dedicated to him. This man that takes my breath away so many times a week. This man that makes me laugh when I'm having some of the worst days of my life. This man that stayed beside me through the struggles of juggling work and school and life in general. This man that loves me even when I'm complaining non-stop while waging wars with sinus infections.

God gave me a really good man y'all. Some days he will aggravate the snot out of me with his completely silly self. But every day he will make me laugh. Every day he makes my day brighter. And every day he makes me feel loved. And every day I thank God that He gave me someone so special to call my husband.

We are just two weeks away from our two year anniversary. I can't tell you how thankful I am to be married to a man who loves God and loves me with all of his heart. I can't wait to see what God has in store for our lives. And I can't wait to get on that boat and spend a week with my soul mate. No cell phones. No computers. No distractions. No sinus infections. Just us and the beauty of God's creation all around us.

So happy (early) two-year anniversary, Mr. Casterline. I am honored to be called your wife and your best friend. We made it through some very tough and busy times, but that has only made us stronger. I promise today, just like I did on our wedding day, to stand proudly by your side no matter what the enemy throws at us.



............that got a lot mushy-er than I planned for it too. And to think, I got all of that out of mosquitoes, gnats and bullfrogs.



"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails......."    ~1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

Mrs. Late

The title of this post is what my real last name should be. If anyone knows me even only a little bit, then they know that I am fashionably late just about everywhere I go. But no worries, one place this girl won't be late to is my cruise-vacation next week (insert muffled scream of excitement here)----okay, I'm alright now. Anyways, back to the present, er...the past. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that I am totally late on my blog posts. Let me attempt to explain....

You see, I made a post late Thursday night explaining that I was in training all week and so that means my schedule was thrown way off and then my Internet wouldn't cooperate when I did finally try to make a post. So I promised I would write a post on Friday. Only except....yea....Roman and I had date night Friday night and the last thing you should do on a date night is whip out your laptop: "Hang on honey, I know we said this night would be about you and me, but I have GOT to write a blog post right now before my millions of followers attack me in the front yard." Right. So then it was the weekend and my complete laziness/I'm-in-the-process-of-getting-sick-self took over and I didn't do much of anything. No really, I did next to nothing over the weekend. But more on that later. So that brings us to today. And as you can see, I finally got my stuffy-nosed-self  logged in to Google so I could (finally) write the next post. Whew!

So I hope you're ready to read, because I have a lot to catch you guys up on. Let's begin, shall we?

Monday night was our first official unofficial okay-maybe-official band practice. It was more like a "hey, let's (get together and play random chords and call ourselves a band) practice" sort of thing. Okay, that was harsh...the guys actually do sound really good together. We just need to get more of a strategic plan together. So here are a couple of pics I snapped from the practice.



Here is Brooke Massey looking all lovely. She will be one of the singers (along with myself) but for this practice we just sat around and looked like our lovely selves.  ;)



This is Pastor Stephen threatening to sing. (He actually sings really well.)

And here are "the guys". Johnny is playing the bass. My handsome husband, Roman, is on the drums. And then Michael and Kyle are playing the guitar. Currently the band's name is "Divine Interruption", but we are definitely open to other suggestions!!






So, there we are. Woo hoo for band practice!

As I mentioned earlier, I was in training all week. There were times when I struggled to keep myself awake, so I had to resort to writing random flow charts. I know, I'm a nerd. But I decided to snap a picture so I could share my beautiful flow chart with the world.

Hopefully you guys can read my messy hand-writing.

If anyone has worked with the government before, then you know us government-folks really really REALLY love acronyms. And so I decided (after hours of hearing a million different acronyms that I did not know) to make up my own acronym. Take that, federal government!

In other news, I made a very dumb-blonde-ish move earlier this week. It all started with a desire to cook something in my oven. For whatever reason, I decided to pre-heat my oven. (I rarely pre-heat my oven because my oven runs much hotter than usual so pre-heating just makes it easier for me to burn things.) Anyways, I totally forgot that, for the first time since we've been married, I had put something in the oven to keep it away from the cats. Several minutes later, I'm standing in my kitchen wondering what in the world that awful smell was. Hmmm....how about melting plastic???

This was a "cake" that we bought at the cake auction (it's called a Mississippi Mud Cake--very very good!!). Ralph likes to eat food that we leave sitting out on the counter, and it was too big to put in the fridge, so I had stashed it in our oven. It used to be covered in saran wrap. Most of that melted....leaving a very awful smell throughout the house. Thank God for candles! Nobody can be perfect, right??

And this was a really great picture I snapped on my way into training. The class started at 7:30 but I don't usually get to work until 8:00 (okay fine....8:05....always late, remember?), so this was a different view of the sunrise that I normally don't get to see.

God's creation is beautiful, that's all I have to say!

And how can I have a long post without mentioning our beautiful puppy child dog, Duke?? He is almost too tall to fit under the bed so most of the time he lays side-ways. He still stinks at hide-and-seek....

And here is again....isn't he just so sweet???

But yes, I did a great big pile of nothing over the weekend. I started coming down with a cold on Saturday night, so I blame that for my complete lazy state of being over the weekend.  0:)

Here are a few pictures I snapped from Children's church on Sunday night. Our wonderful childrens' pastors hosted service that night. One of the games was to wrap up our Pastor and our youth leader in saran wrap and spray them with silly string. Then the congregation had to vote on whose "coat" was the purtiest.

Here we are getting all wrapped up. Luke was having some trouble getting started with Pastor....    I think the shower caps make a nice touch, don't you?

 



It appears as though Luke is doing some sort of tribal/happy dance around Pastor. Not sure what's up with that. Anyways, Johnny was dubbed the winner by the congregation. You can see how joyful he appears at his victory.

So that's all folks! Wow, that was a lot of writing. I need to not be so late next time. So yes, pray that this stupid cold goes away by the time Pastor, Christy, Roman and I embark on our cruise (6.more.days!!) and still be praying for Roman's job situation. No update at the moment but I'll be sure to keep you guys posted!!

Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation-since they will pass away like a wild flower." ~James 1:9-10