I'm Back!

i have actually missed blogging! i am not sure if you have missed reading these posts, but either way, i am back! we are all moved into the new house and we finally got internet late thursday afternoon. i havent been able to blog since thursday, because life has been CRAZY the last few days. eventually, i will post pictures of the house, but right now i dont have a single room "finished". once i do, i will start adding pics for you! until then, thanks for all the prayers! everything went great with the closing and moving, etc! we love the house! peter is still adjusting to the commute, but everything is good! i have been really good about bargain hunting for stuff...it has become somewhat of a game with myself...and one that peter is totally fine with!! :) i cant wait to have family come visit for thanksgiving!!

so, today is my birthday...yep, i am 29...i might be 29 for a while, just sayin! :) anyway, peter and i didnt have much planned in the way of birthday celebration this year, and its a good thing because this weekend has ended up being nothing like we thought it would!! originally, we knew that today would be busy because there was a HUGE "tailgate" party at church today. it was like a carnival...and it was so awesome! there was a BBQ cook-off, funnel cakes, kiddie rides, the texans football game on about a dozen big screens, and well over 3000 people! it was so fun, but after being a part of the regular 4 weekend services for middle school and the tailgate party, i am BEAT tonight...totally feeling every one of those 29 years!! :)

well, the big bummer of the weekend was that peter had to miss everything and ended up in bed all weekend unable to walk to do gout. :( we have no idea what brought it on, but it has been awful for me to watch him in so much pain! peter is not a complainer at all, so for him to almost pass out from pain, i knew there was a serious problem! saturday morning was spent in the urgent care...thankfully, he was given some anti-infammatories and medications to prevent any future flare ups. so crazy! he is feeling a little better now...able to walk some! please pray that we can find a good family practitioner and that we can figure out why he had this episode! 

i guess i was a little (maybe more than a little) emotional about my birthday this year. i really dont care about getting older...29 isnt bad anyway. its just that a year ago at this time, things were so different! this year has been so crazy! to say things have changed is a mild understatement! last year, i was 9 weeks pregnant, so we thought this birthday would be crazy because we would be lugging around a 5 month old! we are living 1100 miles away from our friends and family, who always make a big deal about my birthday with me (do you know that i LOVE birthdays??!!). and then for peter to be down for the count for the whole weekend was a major bummer! i was emotional thinking about all that i was excited about last year is now gone/different/harder. i let myself have a moment, but then sat up and counted all the things we were blessed with this year. peter has a new job (something we had been praying about for over 3 years), our transition to a new city and home was been pretty much flawless, i have made some amazing new friends over the course of the last year, and we are (mostly) healthy. the biggest blessing in my life over the last year is my growth in my relationship with God. it had gotten a little "surface-y" for a while, and this year i have been pulled right back by His side. i have open dialogue throughout the day with God, and its awesome! i am back into serving in youth ministry with a team that loves and cares about students! peter and i are growing together in our relationship with God. we each have a desire to know HIm and what He wants for us. yes, some seriously crappy things have happened over the last year, but some even better, more awesome blessing have happened too!

this year, i am greeting my birthday, not with any less cheer, but maybe a little more guarded or with a few more reservations/lower expectations. i know that God has good things for me, some major blessings...but i dont want to expect them on my schedule. i am praying this is an even bigger growing year for me than last year! i want to be better with age!!!

countdown: 364 days until the DIRTY 30!!! :) i am telling you now...even if i have to plan it myself...you are all invited to a big bash to celebrate! :)

thank you for all the birthday wishes, thoughts, and prayers! i am truly blessed!! love you guys!!

blessings, ALo

This and That

a whole week without blogging...weird! i cant even say that anyone was really missing out. nothing "big" happened...well, at least not anything i really felt like blogging about. we did have inspections done on "the house" and ended up doing some shopping this weekend. house decor/furniture shopping with my husband was fun/interesting. when we bought our home in ohio, we didnt have to buy very much furniture...everything had been given to us/handed down from family (thanks again, family!!) we still have most of those pieces, but since we are pretty much tripling the square footage of our home, we need more furniture. what has made all of this so interesting is that my husband actually has an opinion about all of it. most guys would tell their wives to just go pick something out so that they could stay home to watch football. well, peter could care less about football AND he does care about what goes into the house. its fun because that means that i have some with a vested interest shopping with me. its interesting because we disagree about pretty much everything in life, including house decor! :) we did find a few things to agree on...score! on saturday, after shopping for several hours and walking through 4 stores, we found a cool cajun restaurant for lunch. if you have plans to visit us here in texas, dont be surprised if we take you to "ragin' cajun" for a meal. it had good food, outdoor seating, and a fun atmosphere. so, back to the inspections, we have to get 2 new water heaters (the existing heaters are more than shot) and repair the air conditioners. the draw back of buying a foreclosure is that we can not ask the seller to replace/repair items...the house comes as is. but, those things were still out weighed by everything else that we liked about the house (not excluding the cost!!!). we are hoping to close the deal on wednesday, but friday at the latest, according to the bank.

things at the church are going great. this weekend i came home after the 5pm sunday service, exhausted. i love middle schoolers, but i get worn out mentally with them! right now, i am still on a volunteer status at the church, but i am doing everything that i will be doing when i do take the job. i am calling this a trial run. november 1st will be when i make the "official" decision. peter and i have been going to the 9:30 am service together and volunteering together for the 11:30 am service. i am also there for the saturday night and sunday night services. we really like the church. the worship was awesome this weekend...i didnt want it to end!! so...still excited about being a part of COF and really looking forward to being a part of the "team" with jason, blake, and rachel! again, if you are planning a visit, you will have to come on a weekend to experience all of it with us! :)

so, i am addicted to pinterest. its not a secret. it has been true for a while now, but it is just getting worse! i am like my friend, elizabeth (btw isnt she so cute with short hair??), in that pinterest is killing any type of weight loss i thought i had going. not completely, but mostly at least! :) i have found so many good recipes! the crock pot chicken-n-dumplins were awesome! tonight i made hawaiian chicken with pineapple...soooooo gooooood! peter had been craving some cinnamon buttercream, so tonight i made some sugar cookies and brown sugar cinnamon buttercream to top them off...uh, i dont think i need to say more! if you are not on pinterest yet, let me know...i will send you an invite! :)

today, while surfing the web, i came across this recipe for marshmallow bon-bons. dont they look good? well, i thought of my mom immediately and our good friends, the jones boys. growing up, zach and aaron jones lived down the street. i honestly cant remember how much older than me they each were...zach was probably 6 years older and aaron 4? either way, they would babysit and were a riot. they would hide the remote controls from my mom before she would come home. once she for real could not find them and she had to call and beg to have them back. well, the joke was that since my mom didnt have a job outside of the home, that she must sit around in her robe watching soap operas and eating bon bons all day. it would make my mom so mad when they would tease her, relentlessly! zach and aaron were like a part of our family! one summer night, while driving home from his job at american eagle, zach lost control of his car and died. we were all devastated!!! i will never forget where i was and what i was doing when my mom called me and told me. i missed the funeral because i was in michigan visiting my dad for the summer, but it was probably better for my 12 year old self that way. i still think about the jones family. aaron is married with at least one little one and as far as i know, mr. and mrs. jones still live in their house in rivercliff subdivison. and as long as i live, when ever i see or hear about bon-bons i will think of those boys and the crazy chaos they brought to our house!! :) so, in honor of them, i will be making the marshmallow bon bons this week some time...dont you wish you were visiting?? :)

i think there have been a total of three plugs for you to come visit now, but in case you need one more...today's high was a glorious sunny 84 degrees with very low humidity. thats right...the heat has broken (for now)!! so, book a trip! we will sit on my new flagstone patio and eat something sweet! :)

i hope you all have a great week! thanks for caring enough to read all the mundane happenings in our life! hopefully, the next time i blog, i will be the proud resident at 8407 gentlewood ct. houston, tx. 77095!! :)

blessings, ALo