Chore Charts

My boys are finally old enough to be able to handle a few basic responsibilities around the house.  They now can help Jared clear the table after meals, help me carry in groceries from the car and even feed Caramel (with supervision.  One boy has a tendency to overfeed her and one has a tendency to only give her a few kernels)

 I decided that since they enjoy being big helpers I would make a chore chart for them not only to remind them what they need to do everyday, but also to give them an extra incentive to complete their jobs so they can mark a chore as complete.

This is what I came up with:

I used cookie sheets from the dollar store and then just dug through my scrapbooking supplies and found the letter for their names and the "to do" and "done".  I put magnets on the back of the "to do" and "done" words because I like versatility and wanted the option to use these pans as regular magnet boards or craft boards in the future.  The chore magnets are just magnets we had laying around the house ( I believe they were purchased at IKEA many years ago) and I just mod podged clip art images onto them.  

The hardest part of the project was poking holes at the top to run the ribbon through.  I started out using a hammer and a nail to do it, but ended up using a screw because a nail did not make a big enough hole.  It was also difficult trying to hold the pan in place and hammer into it at the same time.  But I got it done and without Jared's help so that's something to be proud of!

Overall I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  The boys love moving their magnets from the "to do" section to the "done" section.  And the total project cost was abuot $5 by the time I bought the two pans and added a few more scrapbook letters I was lacking to complete their names.

Upcycling Shirts

Recently I have been feeling like being creative.  I think it all started when I made a quilt for my new nephew who is due in a couple of weeks.  I suddenly wanted to keep making things and sewing, so I've tried a couple different projects.  Here is my most recent one

I had a few shirts in my closet that I never wear anymore.  The one below is the one I used for the base shirt because it still fit me great.

Please ignore the goofy look on my face but you can see that it still fits pretty good.  One reason I didn't like this shirt is that no matter what my bra always showed through those holes so I wanted cover them up.  I decided to add ruffles as a way to cover up those holes.

The second shirt I picked was just one that was really short on me.It was made of jersey so I didn't have to worry about fraying or trying to hem it.  So I cut the shirt apart.  I just cut right along the seams.  Then I cut the fabric up into 3" wide strips.

 Then I basted the strips.  I did this by using the longest stitch on my sewing machine.

I then took the bottom thread and pulled it so that the material bunched up.

I then arranged and pinned the the strips to the shirt. 

Then I sewed the strips in place on the shirt and trimmed off all the excess threads.  And Viola!

So What do you think?  I like how it looks laying down on the table.  I'm still deciding if I like how it looks on me, but either way I had a lot of fun making it!

Gas Station Restrooms

As many of you know, Jared and I travel a lot. Since both of our families live out of state we travel to see them often. When we travel we drive most of the time. (let's face it, even with gas prices being high, it's still cheaper than buying 2 plane tickets.)

Since we've travelled a lot, we've seen some very interesting bathrooms. I could write an entire chapter of a book about bathrooms that we've seen in our day. But today I will just tell you about our most recent bathroom experience.

We stopped at a dodgy looking gas station just outside of Kansas City. I desperately needed to use the restroom (having those refills on my soda at lunch was a mistake in hindsight) So I decided to brave the bathroom. When I got in there I saw this sign above the toilet.


At first I didn't even understand what to do, so then I looked down at the toilet (which conveniently had the lid off, thank you management) and saw this:


So apparently I needed to tip that water tank forward to get the toilet to flush. I just started laughing because, when you need a sign giving step by step instructions on how to flush, and your CUSTOMERS need to put their hand in their innards of the toilet, it's time to call the plumber!

Security System

When Jared and I bought our house we were excited it came with a security system. We didn't want to pay for the monthly monitoring system, but thought it was nice to have the doors and windows all beep when they are opened, so we would know if someone was entering our house. The previous owners didn't leave us the code so we can't do anything with it, but it's nice to know it's there.

Today the power went out for about 5 seconds, but that was enough time to make our security system have a complete melt down. The alarm came on, and we couldn't turn it off. The alarm was LOUD. We could barely hear each other even though we were yelling. I tried everything I could think of with the keypad, nothing worked. Jared tried to go to the fuse box and cut off the power to it. Nothing worked. After about 7 minutes Jared called the company that made the alarm to see if they could help. The conversation went something like this.

Jared:(having to yell into the phone) Hi, my alarm system is going off and I can't turn it off.

Alarm Guy: I'll be happy to help, what's your address?

Jared: (Gave Address)

Alarm Guy: I'm not finding this address in our systems. Is this address currently being monitored?

Jared: No but this is the phone number that is written on the system

Alarm Guy: Well sir since your system is not being monitored at this moment and you are not a customer, we are not able to trouble shoot with you.

Jared: (in a desperate voice) What can I do to become a customer and trouble shoot this problem?

Alarm Guy: We have to send somebody out to your house and you have to sign a contract.

Jared:(starting to panic) There's nothing you can do for me right now?

Alarm Guy: (taking pity on Jared) I would recommend turning off the power supply. It runs on it's own, not the houses.

Jared: Thanks!

We found the system in our master closet. After another few minutes trying to figure out where the power supply was. (and me worrying Jared was going to be electrocuted) we were able to reset the system.

That was definitely enough excitement in our house for the day.

Sweet Caramel

Most people know our dog Caramel. She is a 4 year old beagle. She is very sweet, playful and extremely friendly. She loves to meet new people, and she loves to show everyone how lovable she is.

In addition to being very lovable, Caramel is also very obedient. She sits when we say "sit" she comes when we say "come" she goes into her Kennel when we say "Kennel" and obeys several other commands. There is one thing in this world that makes all of her obedience go out the window, her Orange ball.

Caramel is obsessed with her orange ball. She can't think of anything except her orange ball if it is out. She forgets how to "come" and how to "sit" when the ball is out.

Yesterday Jared and I had been playing with her and the orange ball and because she had behaved herself so well even though the ball was out, we let her keep it for awhile afterwards. Well about an hour after we had finished playing with her, Caramel came up to me while I was sitting next to Jared on the couch. She gave me her "please can I come up and cuddle with you?" look. She knows she can't get up on the couch without being asked. So last night, as an incentive for me, she put her ball in my lap and then nudged it toward me as if to say "mommy, I'll share my ball with you if I can come up and cuddles you." That is hands down the sweetest thing she has ever done.



Here is a video of her with her ball after a long session chasing it.

Basketball Insults

As many people know Jared and I are huge Dallas Mavericks fans. We have season tickets and can be seen at most of the home games each year. The season started a couple of weeks ago, and have already been to three home games.

As much as both of us get into the games, I usually only yell out of delight or surprise at a play. My husband will once in awhile yell insults at players and refs (and one time during the '06 Finals at the commissioner, David Stern) Last night at the Denver Nuggets game he yelled 3 insults that just made me laugh.

1."Ball Don't Lie!" He yelled this after the refs had said that the Mavs had committed a foul against the Nuggets and the free throw was missed. This comment always makes me laugh, because Jared puts faith in the ball to deliver justice when the refs make bad calls.

2. "The refs swallowed their whistles!" I had to laugh when Jared shouted this because it was so true! In the 4th quarter the Nuggets where all over Dirk Nowitzki and fouling him left and right and the refs never once called a foul.

3. "Your wife plays better than you!" This was probably my favorite insult all night. Jared shouted this at Sheldon Williams, the Denver center. He is married to Candace Parker, who is arguably one of the best players in the WNBA. Not sure if Mr. Williams would take this as an insult or a compliment to his wife, but our whole section seemed amused when Jared shouted it.

Foster Parents

By now, if you know Jared and I you know that we have decided to become foster parents. We are towards the end of the process, but still have to go through our homestudy before we are officially licensed.

5 years ago, when we got married, we discussed having kids, and I mentioned that I would like to adopt someday. Jared agreed that was something we could purse someday, and we left it at that. Why not? We weren't even planning on trying to start our family for a few years. 3 years later we did start trying to have kids. Well, it's been a couple of years since then and after many months of research and praying we feel that fostering is the path God wants us on right now. We did discuss fertility treatments (even tried clomid for a couple of months) but felt God pulling us towards adoption. We thought about a regular domestic infant adoption, but felt God once again pull us in a slightly different direction. We landed on Foster to Adopt and knew it was the right choice for us. We know that fostering won't be easy and we aren't going into this blind, but we both feel that it's the right thing for us.

Facebook

Have you noticed how much you can learn about a person's life just by browsing their facebook page? You can find out if someone is in a relationship (usually even if who they're in a relationship with), you can find out what kind of work they do, their political and religious affiliations and much, much more. What I always find the most fun to look at are the photos not only the albums that person has posted but also the ones that are posted of them by others.

Looking at these photos really tells me what is truly going on with this person. Some friends from college are big into travelling, a friend from high school has adopted two adorable boys, another friend has gone on short term missions trips, and I even have a couple friends from church who are missionaries in Romania and their photos are the best way to keep up with them and the beautiful children they are serving there.

Jared has an old friend from high school that I've heard about for several years, I finally got to meet this friend a few weeks ago, and have since "friended" him on facebook. I don't know about anyone else, but when I become friends with someone I have to look at their profile right away (and of course the pictures!) Jared had always told me that this friend was a person of very high integrity and honesty, and he was someone who Jared really respected because he made his faith his own. Well his pictures told another story. Based on everything Jared had told me I was expecting a guy very involved with his church and his family. His photos showed that church and family were the last two things on his mind. I won't get into the specifics of all the photos but this man was definitely not living the Christian life. I was a bit shocked and Jared was way more than shocked.

This got me to thinking, what do people see when they look at my facebook profile. Do they see a girl who loves God? I'm afraid to say I don't think they do. I do love God, but I feel like my everyday actions don't reflect this, let alone my facebook profile. I feel convicted to start really living every moment in praise to God, and not just the moments that I feel completely comfortable doing so. I want to step out of my comfort zone and live for Christ and Him alone.

Update

Wow! It has been over a year since I updated the blog. I always feel like I have to have something that is super exciting or interesting to blog about. I just think no one would want to read about our new office furniture, but I know I shouldn't be so picky So I'm going to try to be better, but no guarantees.

Mississippi

This past weekend Jared, Joel, Michal and I helped Jared's parents, Loren and Sue, pack up their apartment in Longview and make the move to Biloxi, Mississippi.

Loren and Sue had a tiny one bedroom apartment in Longview, and even though we thought this size truck was bigger than we needed, we ended up just barely being able to close it.

The trip to Mississippi was really beautiful. It's a very pretty drive through trees and creeks.

The mighty Mississippi!

When we pulled up to the church they had a nice sign out welcoming Loren as the new Pastor!

Here is a little taste of the HUNDREDS of boxes that were unloaded. We were so thankful that so many of the church members were there waiting for us when we pulled up. The truck was unloaded in about an hour and a half!

Loren and Sue in front of their new home!

Jared and I are really glad we got to help Loren and Sue make the transition from being Texans to being Mississippians. We can't wait to come back for another visit!

Cleaning out the Garage

This weekend we took on a HUGE project. Cleaning out the garage. We have lived at our house for almost 2 years now and have never parked our cars in the garage. It was just the place where we put everything we didn't know what to do with. So instead of barbeques and cookouts and a nice relaxing Memorial Day weekend we spent 3 very full days cleaning, and reorganizing. We also ran to Lowes 4 times in 24 hours (no I'm not kidding about that. We really were there 4 different times within a 24 hour period) for different organizational tools.

I wish I had gotten a "before" shot of the garage but by the time I thought of it we were about halfway through the project. The above picture is the "after shot". Here are a few more pictures of what the finished poduct looks like.






Yup that's TWO cars in our garage!

We are very tired from all the work this weekend, but also very happy with the end result!

Dirk's Troubles

If you haven't heard about the recent troubles for Mavs superstar Dirk Nowitzki please read this first.
http://cbs11tv.com/mavericks/Dirk.Nowitzki.Dallas.2.1003168.html

Ever since my dear husband introduced me to the Dallas Mavericks back in 2004 I have been enthralled with Dirk Nowitzki. He is an outstanding basketball player. He is so much fun to watch play, especially in person. (I'm so glad we have season tickets) He is also a person I have a lot of genuine respect for. He is without a doubt the best player on the Mavericks, and one of the best players in the NBA. Yet he doesn't seem like other spoiled by the fame or money. In his interviews he always seems genuine and humble.

Dirk Nowitzki has always been great at keeping his personal life private. As much as I love to find out about celebirties and what's going on in their lives ( I think I'm addicted to people.com) I really respect that he wants to keep some semblance of a normal life.

When I read this story earlier this week and watched Dirk's statement about how he does not want to talk about it, I can't help but get a little angry at the media for trying to pry even more into this story. I will admit it is a really interesting story, but if you're a human being at all, you will see that this situation is a very hurtful one for him. As someone who was betrayed 1 week before what was supposed to be my wedding, I know a little of the pain Dirk must be going through. I think the media prying into this situation is probably making it worse for him.

I have decided that the only thing I can do for Dirk is to pray for him and that he will heal from this ordeal.

Lying

A new show that Jared and I have started watching is 'Lie to Me'. It's a pretty interesting show about a guy who has studied people to be able to tell when they are lying. A character on the show lives by an interesting philosophy he calls 'radical honesty'. He never lies and says everything that he thinks. It makes for some funny comments on the show, but I'm not sure it'd be a good idea to say EVERYTHING you're thinking out loud, but I think this character is on to something with being completely honest.

I have felt convicted by the idea of never lying though. Through my quiet times recently I have felt convicted about even the smallest lies I would tell. For example a few weeks ago Jared and I had some brownies in the house and I ate the last one. When Jared asked me about it, I simply said no I hadn't. I realized right after that it was so stupid to lie about that. I had become accustomed to telling what I considered little lies to Jared when I thought he'd be even the slightest bit upset by the truth. I realized this was stupid!

I have since decided to really try hard not to lie. I don't think it benefits me or Jared or anyone at all when I do this. Now I don't think I will be trying radical honesty and saying everything that I'm thinking. And there may be things I simply don't answer or honestly tell people I can't talk about something, but I have decided to really try hard to live honestly.

So far it's been about 3 weeks and is going really well. I'll keep you updated on how this is going.

Divorce

I have been hearing a lot about betrayl, adultery and divorce lately. It seems like every day this week I have heard a new story about it. Everytime I've hear a new story it hits me hard emotionally. It hurts me to even imagine the pain that each of these situations is causing.

Matthew 19:5-6 says:
‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

Jared and I took these verses very seriously when we got married. During our premarital counseling we both agreed that divorce would never ever be brought up. It's not an option for us, no matter what. I don't think that makes our marriage any easier than any one else's. But I do think it makes us more committed to our marriage. We know we each have to continually give 100% to our marriage to make it work.

So many people enter marriage with the thought 'if it doesn't work we can always get divorced' in the back of their heads. To me this isn't 100% committment.

A few years ago the actress Tori Spelling left her then husband of a year for a man that she has. When asked about the divorce, she simply said "you can't choose who you love." This statement bothered me greatly. I don't think of love as only a feeling, it's a choice and committment. It's something you do more than something you feel. I choose to love Jared and I work hard to make sure he knows that I love him.

I'm so thankful to God for the absolutely wonderful husband He has provided me with. I couldn't have imagined a better one if I tried. We have a great marriage, but we have this amazing marriage because God is at the center of it and He reminds us that it takes each of us giving 100% to it to make it great.

Job!

It's been a long time since my last post, so this is long over due. Since my last post, God has blessed me with job! I am the assistant director at Huntington Learning Center. I really like it. The first half of my day is spent doing more administrative things, that aren't as bad as I thought they would be, and even better I'm not as bad at them as I thought I'd be. The second half of the day I get to work with kids in all ages k-12. I manage their academic progress and keep teachers on track and best of all I still get to teach students. I love working with varying ages, and I've found that although I haven't had much experience with high schoolers before, I love working with them, although some of them have started testing my math memory by making me drag back my good old Algebra 2 skills, (which amazingly I remember pretty well!)

The best thing about my new job is the stress levels. I'm not usually stressed about much that happens. I don't think about work much when I leave, and I don't dread going into work every morning. I don't think I realized until recently just how much stress I was under when I was working as a teacher in inner city Dallas.

I'm very thankful to God for my job. He always takes care of me.

Consulting God

All summer, I had one goal in my mind, get a job. I woke up every morning and went straight to the computer to look at all the different school districts around and saw what job openings they had. I then spent the rest of my morning emailing principals, filling out applications (I now can fill out a job application in less than 30 minutes. It used to take at least an hour), and printing off resumes to take into schools. I would then eat lunch and begin to look at the sites again to see if any new jobs were posted. Through this process, I ended up having 9 different interviews throughout the summer. I did not get any one of the jobs.

About two weeks ago I became very discouraged. Up until this point I had been positive and upbeat and hopeful I would have job by the time school started. But as the start of school drawed near I began to realize I still didn't have a job, and my outlook started to become very dark.

All summer I had been focused on getting a teaching job. That's most of what I thought about, most of what I did, and it's what I prayed about. I even had my family and friends praying that I would find a job. Last Tuesday I suddenly realized, that my goal (getting a teaching job) may not be God's goal for me. I realized that as well intentioned as my goal was, I had not consulted God in this matter other than to say "Give me a job!" I had completely ignored God in the plans for my life, I didn't ask if I was acting in accordance with His will or plan for my life, I simply thought I knew better. Boy was I wrong.

Over the last week, I've asked God to change my heart, my desire and to help me to just listen to Him. Jeremiah 29:11 'For I know the plans that I have for you' says the Lord, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.'

Jared and I both have been trying to just sit and listen and have faith that God knows what's best for us. Please pray for us, not that I find a job, but that we are following God's will.

Welcome to X ISD!

Last year I worked for a school district that had a lot of problems. I will neither name the school district(we'll just refer to it as X ISD) nor talk about most of those problems but the most recent problem I heard about I just had to post.

My sister in law, Jenna has been looking for a teaching job just like me. Orginally all my experiences with X ISD had scared her away from applying with them, but since school starts in a few weeks and she still doesn't have a job, she decided to go ahead and apply. She started contacting schools. She was told that all of X ISD is on a hiring freeze. No Schools are allowed to hire anyone unless it's an internal transfer. So it looks like A LOT of schools will be starting the school year without a full staff. I get the feeling it is a budgetary reason they aren't hiring at all, but really, is the teaching staff in a school district the place to save money?

After Jenna told me all of this she asked me "Why would they do that in the summer?" All I could do was laugh and say "Welcome to X ISD!"

What are the odds?

The other day I came home from the store and my garage door opener didn't work. I figured that the battery had died and it needed a new one. So that night Jared and I opened up the opener and the batter that was in there, was one neither of us had ever seen before. It was about as thick as a AAA but about half as long. The next day Jared went to the battery store and found one just like it. And that's all the opener needed. Problem solved!

Last night, a remote we use to turn on and off a light in our bedroom, stopped working. Again we figured it was the battery. We open it up and it took the exact same kind of battery that the garage door opener took. We thought that was really weird. Not only that they both took the same type of rare battery but that they both died within 2 days of each other. So Luckily Jared had bought two of the rare battery so we popped that in and the remote started working again!

Today when I came home again the garage door opener wouldn't work (I had switched to a different one the other day while Jared was getting the battery) Again it is the battery, and since it's the same type of opener of course it takes the same rare battery!


The battery we had to use was the one at the top of the picture. It's an A23.

So within 3 days we had 3 remotes die and all 3 of them took the same kind of rare battery! Jared figured out the odds of this happening and we should win the lottery multiple times before this happens again!

Flooding

I was born and raised in Cedar Rapids. It's the town where all my childhood friends and I would ride our bikes around the neighborhood, play secret agent and spy on the neighbors. It's the town where I played countless basketball and softball games, where I set city records in track, and where I gave my heart to the Lord.

Today, as I look at the pictures and videos online of the massive flooding happening in my hometown. I feel part of my heart is devestated. The parks that I played in as a girl and went on picnic dates in in high school, is completely underwater. The YMCA's I learned to play basketball in are being destroyed. Even the roads I was so careful to follow the speed limits on because there were always cops there are under many feet of water. My beloved library that I spent countless hours in as a girl and an adult is closed as the water creeps up higher and higher on the windows.

The flooding in Cedar Rapids is just a horrible sight to watch. Jared keeps asking me why they didn't do something to prevent it. I keep telling him that no matter what precautions they took, it was going to happen, because this was so massive and so powerful there was no way to stop it.

I was there for the floods of '93 which up until now seemed pretty bad. People were still talking about those floods when I moved away a year ago. But '93 seems like a kidde pool compared to the ocean of a problem that Cedar Rapids is facing now.

Please pray for Cedar Rapids. http://www.gazetteonline.com

Making an Effort

Since I made my last post so late at night I realize that I left off a couple of points.

First I forgot to acknowledge that God gave me the most wonderful best friend in my Husband, Jared. He is amazing and wonderful and helps me keep a clear and not one sided view of things. I have learned lately that I have lately seemed to become a very selfish and self centered person. (as I'm learning from Beth Moore, even when you're thinking negatively about yourself, your still thinking about YOU.) Jared and God (during quiet times) have been helping me with this and helping to remind me how to be selfless and to be a good friend again.

Another thing that they have been reminding me of lately is that I am a very shy introverted person by nature. Because of this, it is harder not only for me to get to know other people, but for them to get to know me. Jared is so wise and has been encouraging me for a few months now to get out of my comfort zone and be the one to call the girls and ask to do things or just to talk.

I know God is working on my heart and teaching me how to be good friend again. Since I began making a little more effort I do feel like I have been becoming closer to some of the girls in my Bible Study. Sometimes God just has to gently say, "If you weren't so wrapped up in yourself, you'd see all the great things I have for you right here."