Lost and Found- Friend edition

I logged onto Facebook tonight after a LOOOOONG day. Woke up this morning and cleaned part of the house, then my sister and Dad came over for a few minutes since she was in town. A few other people dropped by had coffee and before I knew it my morning was GONE! I ran out to get measurement of the Kids Church room at church so I could make some curtains that I PROMISED would be finished today (which is why I was up so late in the first place.) After I got back home I got ready, went to a birthday party, then the whole family went to dinner and shopping with my Grandparents. Tons of family fun!

So back to the original story.... I logged onto Facebook (like I do every night before going to bed) and got a great surprise. A friend I haven't spoken to in about 4 years started a 'chat' with me! What?! Seriously?! At first I thought it was going to be a quick little "Hi what's new? Bye" kinda thing, but it wasn't and I was THRILLED!

This guy was my best friend at one point in my life, and when Dave and I started dating the friendship dwindled. Not that I wanted it to, but he had feelings for me and I think he was hurt. ANYWAY we haven't talked in about 4 years and it has caused me a lot of turmoil. Over the past few years I have told Dave COUNTLESS stories about Chuck and how much fun we had together. I tried calling him early on and seeing if he wanted to hang out but got no response. I commented on his blog and got no response, so finally I just gave up.

But tonight was different. Tonight was the "old Chuck and Jenna." I felt like I had my friend back and I loved it! Nothing huge was talked about, just catching up on life but it was so good to have him back. Even now I feel like some part of my life has been restored that I never realized I was so hurt about. How strange is that?! And right now- the total NON CRIER that I am has tears running down her cheeks because I'm so happy.

Chuck and I will probably never see each other face to face again since he lives in Hawaii now. We'll never have movie night. He won't teach me how to play video games again, or take me bowling, but I'm still happy. It took 4 stinkin years for us to come back to this point, but I'm glad I found my friend again.

Daddy Day Care

So I PROMISE I'm going to share some of the stuff I've been up to, but all my pictures are at home and I'm at work of course!

My friend and neighbor is out of town for the weekend for a wedding and her husband is watching their 2 kids ALONE! He does this every Thursday anyway, but several DAYS alone is another story. Well yesterday on his Facebook he kept giving "Daddy Daycare Tips" and it apparently inspired him to write a blog of tips! How adorable huh?!

The Daddy Daycare Tips blog isn't just about how to wipe snotty noses and potty training, it is also going to be about being a Godly example to your kids and being the Godly husband a wife needs. I can personally attest that he is a WONDERFUL example for his family (who I adore to pieces!) So please go over and encourage him since he is just getting started.

Love ya'll!!!

Making friends- and maybe an enemy or two!

I feel quite special today- a friend gave me a "Blog Award" and it's my first! So exciting!!! Here it is- the "Honest Scrap Award"

Lyryn thank you so much! I enjoy reading your blog so much and I appreciate your honesty and transparency about your life and what God is doing in and through you. It's an inspiration and I pray that in some small way, God allows me to be the same for you.

So here goes the 'rules' of the award- In order to accept I must post 10 things you might not know about me AND award 4 others. So I'm sending this award to 4 fellow bloggers because of their amazing testimonies, true hearts, and partly because I want to see their 10 answers about themselves! :) Truly selfish aren't I?!

Here goes:

1. It took me 20 minutes to compose this post because I was cornered in my office by a wasp I was scared to death of. (One of the ONLY things I am scared of!)

2. God has blessed me as a worship leader. I love singing. BUT when I was younger I couldn't carry a tune! My Mom even told me that she and Jesus loved to hear me sing, but that I shouldn't sing for anyone else. (She was trying to be nice!) :)

3. I LOVE my feet. It's one of the only physical aspects of myself that I have never criticized. They don't get fatter even when I eat too much ice cream, they don't break out when I PMS, and they don't turn red when I cry. I love them!

4. I've had a lot of tragedy in my life- but I wouldn't trade it for anything cause I've learned so much.

5. My husband is NOTHING like I imagined he would be- I love when God puts something better into our lives!

6. I've had gray hair since I was 15 so I have to dye my hair regularly to keep it looking nice.

7. My memory is TERRIBLE. I come across as ultra organized, and I am to a point- but I also come off as a ditz due to my horrific memory.

8. When I was 4 my dream in life was to work at McDonalds because my Mom told me once that my Dad worked there in college. (Still NEVER worked there or any fast food place, and I pray I never do!)

9. I ABHOR swimming. It's nice sitting out by the pool or going to a water park for a bit, but to just SWIM... NO WAY! The thought of having to change into an entirely different outfit (with no 'support' by the way) just to get in a giant bathtub with who knows how many germs swimming around with nothing to do but float around only to have to change out of that outfit, shower, dry off and get back into my original outfit- it's just too much work!

10. Lastly- I love trying out accents. Sometimes I speak in a southern drawl or a Pakistani accent just cause it's fun. My all time favorite though- I can do a PERFECT Asian woman. I used to call my Mom at work just to fool her with it!

Hopefully these ladies will be posting their answers soon- so check them out! And if they don't, just hound them until they do!

Tami Jo- The "Scheich" Family (One of my best friends)

Tanya- The Heralds (Another one of my best friends- who happens to be my neighbor!)

Amber- Humble Reflections (I love reading her thoughts about what God is teaching her)

Erica- Team Stephens Wins (Another wonderful friend that I adore)

Life is never what we expect!

Had quite an interesting weekend and beginning of this week...

Friday I left work a few minutes early to make sure and get to the ball field early for our game. We ended up winning which means we advance to the finals! (FYI...it's all local so it's not State or anything too huge) That night Tanya and I decided we wanted a girls night so we left her son with his dad and Dave and we headed out to Chili's after the game. It was nice to chat without distractions! Then we went to see The Proposal- definitely a girl movie! The movie was cute, but maybe a little crass- both actors have a nude scene where you don't see their FULL 'personal areas' but they definitely filmed without clothing. It showed a little more than I thought it would for Sandra Bullock. Oh well! Anyway it was SUCH a fun night getting to spend time with a good friend.

Saturday morning I got up and started cleaning the house when I got a text from Tanya that she had pancakes and bacon coming out off the griddle if we wanted to come by. It was the quickest I have EVER seen Dave get out of bed! Breakfast was fun and VERY tasty! Then I spent my day cleaning the house TOP TO BOTTOM- Dave also helped a ton which was so great of him! Plus I made some cake balls since we were going to a party later.

At 5:30 we headed for dinner with a wonderful family that our family has known for a while but that Dave and I have just gotten to actually KNOW. It was honestly supposed to be a quick dinner because my boss had a party starting at 6:00! Well we had such a wonderful time and didn't want to end it that we didn't leave until 11:00 from their house. The time spent with them was much needed for my spirit. I've felt torn, broken, and just beat up lately about some things and God used them to help us feel that we were not alone in our struggles and what we are dealing with. Thank you Lord! You always know what I need at just the right time!

After we left their house we did swing by Rich's party where 'the stragglers' were gathered. We stayed for about an hour and really enjoyed ourselves while we were there. Once we got home we both crashed because it was such a full day!

Sunday morning we taught Sunday School at our church then headed to First Baptist to hear Adam preach! It was such a great message and EXACTLY what I needed to hear. That afternoon Dave had to work so I was left by myself for the day. I am convinced that Dave has done some sort of brain washing on me to make me obsessed with baseball! :) Fever Pitch was on TV so I watch that (and almost cried- weird!) then I watch The Benchwarmers right after too. It was great! Church was that night with an Ice Cream Social afterward- what beats HOME MADE ICE CREAM?!?!?! YUUUUUMMMMMM!!!!

Monday brought a NASTY headache that may have been from all that yummy ice cream. Woops! I was home all day yesterday without lights on and the TV down so low you could barely hear it. Thankfully the dogs were quiet- they must have been given a tranquilizer or something cause they normally play all day long. The headache began to subside so I planned the next two weeks of meals for us and then we watched the Home Run Derby. (I'm telling you.... brain washed!) All in all a fairly good weekend and beginning of the week.

Please keep us in your prayers for a few things though:
Dave needs to find a different job- they aren't giving him enough hours at the store
The truck's starter might be going bad- pray it isn't too much to fix!
I heard noises in the wall of the bathroom today- probably a mouse but I'm not sure- pray again that it's not too much to fix this problem!
Pray for Dave and I- we need some clarity and direction

Thank you and I pray that you all have a wonderful week. Let me know if I can pray for any of you this week also!

Food, Fun, and Foliage

So I know my title to this post is a little strange but I couldn't think of another "f" that I wanted to use. I thought about "fupdates" but that may come across a little crass! Although it's not exactly a word, it almost sounds like a bad one!

I know I promised pictures of my finished landscaping, but there is a good reason I haven't posted them yet... IT ISN'T DONE!!! We worked SO hard that day from 6:45am-4:00pm but alas we had more to do than we imagined! The left side of the house is 1 step away from being done but the right side has given us a landscaping MIGRAINE! We hauled so much rock away from that side that I think we could have repaved our entire driveway as a cobblestone. Plus there were roots galore- We might have some tree roots growing under our house which is yet another fun thing! Then this Sunday I thought I would work on the right a little more... WRONG! There is about 3 inches of SAND under where all that rock was. Yep, sand enough for a sand box people. Ridiculous isn't it?

So now we have to figure out where we can dump all this sand so we can fill in the right side with top soil and plant all our poor plants that are just sitting in my garage. Thursday could be my work day/night but I'm not counting on it. After I finally get the rest of the plants in, we then have to spray paint the bricks my Dad gave us and put those in as our retaining wall. It's a long road but hopefully it will be coming to an end soon!

Off to another topic- over the weekend Dave and Adam were supposed to have their first baseball game of the summer. It did NOT end up happening because of the MONSOON season we seem to be in at the moment! Since the guys didn't have baseball, Tanya and I decided that we didn't want our whole Saturday to be a waste so made some quick clicks on the internet, made a phone call to St. Louis, put info into the Garmin, and BAM we were off! The guys kept trying to guess where we were going the entire 1 1/2 hour drive but we didn't give away our secret.

Finally we pulled up in front of a hole in the wall... Pointers Pizza. Let me just say it was AMAZING! They have been on the Food Network and the Travel Channel several times and we know understand for ourselves why. As you can see by the picture, this is NOT your normal pizza. It is 28" in diameter and is basically the size of 4 large pizzas! The Pointersaurus has a challenge (which we did not attempt) where if 2 people can finish all 28" covered in cheese and either 2 meat or 4 veggie toppings in an hour- they will receive $500! Since 2001 there have only been 16 teams that have acheived this, and one of the teams is from Salem. They also happen to be friends of my sister! All in all it was a fun day making memories with some wonderful friends. We (Adam, Tanya, their 2 kids, and Dave and I) ate almost half the pizza and took the rest home. Needless to say I think both families had pizza leftovers for dinner on Sunday!

Mmmmm!

Monday nights have become a fun time for Dave and I lately. We've gotten into a circle of friends that we really enjoy. There are 5 couples (including us) that get together for dinner, sports for the guys, and conversation for the 'gals' and I went to school with ALL of them but one wife. It's so much fun getting to know them again because I didn't really know any of them in high school that well.

Anyway, this coming Monday is our night to host everyone and we've decided to grill out since it's supposed to be pretty nice out. Then for dessert I'm making Strawberry-Shortcake Cookies from Martha Stewart. I'm trying them out this weekend, but if you try them before me, let me know how they are. I'll give our report on them after dinner Monday!

Strawberry-Shortcake Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen

2 cups diced strawberries
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 oz (6 tbsp) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup heavy cream
Sanding sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 350 Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tbsp sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or rub in with your fingers until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture.

Using a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with sanding sugar and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. They are best served immediately but can be stored in an airtight container at room temp up to 1 day.

Thank you Tami Jo!

I love having a friend that will actually hold you accountable when you ask them to! Tami Jo is one of those people and this post is my 'at least once a week' post and it shall be ALL about her! (I know you love it Tams!)

Tami Jo and I met in Masters Commission 7 going on 8 years ago. When we first met, we didn't really 'click' in fact Tami Jo thought I was quite pompous (which I was) and loud (which I still can be at times!) Our 2nd year at RMC gave us time to get to know each other better and we became QUICK friends. I spend TONS of time at her apartment and throughout the year I watched Moulin Rouge about a MILLION times at her place. They always had it on for some reason.... not complaining but strange! :)

After we finished our 2nd year we both moved on and things got crazy for us. There were MANY hours between us, yet we still kept in contact and knew that we had a special bond. We were able to move closer to each other and both made the effort to travel the 3 hours to make our friendship work and I am SOOOOO glad we did. Now we again live several hours apart and since we are both married and Tami Jo has a baby life gets crazy and we don't get to talk as often as we used to.

The great thing though is that through ALL of this, Tami Jo and I both know that the other is going to answer the phone at 3:30 in the morning when the other is having a hard time, or will drop everything when the other calls with a fun story. We pray for each other in not just the hard times, but the good ones too and when we do have those few and far between moments that we get to chat on the phone, it's like we've never spent any time apart.

My friendship with Tami Jo is one of the biggest blessings in my life and I am SO grateful for her. She encourages me, prays for me, loves me unconditionally, and of course KEEPS ME ACCOUNTABLE! I pray that each of you has a Tami Jo in your life, cause I don't know how I would survive without mine. Call your Tami Jo and tell her how much you appreciate her- or if you're like me and can't call cause you are up too late... blog about her! :)