Hawaii Pictures

I'm not yet sure how to add text beneath each photo, so I'll just lump the descriptions into one spot down here...we had an AWESOME time in Hawaii this July! We went to see one of my dearest friends in the whole wide world - Kim! The top pic is of me, Kristi & Kim at the fireworks display on 4th of July; 2nd pic - Erik & Kristi & me at the fireworks; 3rd pic - us hiking Kanapali Trail on Na Pali Coast of Kauai; 4th pic - me and my dad hiking Kalalau (?) Trail on Na Pali Coast (sorry I couldn't figure out how to flip it around); 5th pic - Kristi...basking in the lovely waters of Hanalei Bay at Hanalei Beach on Kauai (I think this is where the song "Puff the Magic Dragon" was originated)...she absolutely fell in love with swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand, and of course...sitting in her "boat"...she is sporting her "surfer girl" swimsuit that I scored at Target! If you have not yet been to Hawaii and you ever have the opportunity to go there, I HIGHLY recommend it as a great vacation destination. It is one of the most beautiful and relaxing places that I have ever been in my life. We were blessed to be there for our honeymoon 3 years ago too...it was fun to go back with my parents and Kristi this time! I'll have to post a pic of my dear mom soon. I really didn't get any good photos with her on the trip, which is disappointing. Oh well! Maybe there are some and I just have to go back and look through to find them...

On the Market

Today was the big day! The house officially went on the market today. We have worked for many days, weeks and months to finally be at this point, and honestly it is really bittersweet. Erik & I both love our house, but we do feel it is time to move on to a different spot...hoping for better school district, a house that is not so old as our 1923 charmer so that there are less big projects to do (hopefully!), a bit more space, and perhaps the possibility of living a little closer to grandparents. We'll see where God puts us! It will definitely be interesting. I'm exhausted after not getting to bed until the wee hours of the morning the last few nights, so I should turn in soon.

Pictures soon...

I will hopefully put some recent pics up soon! But for now...here are some pictures from a year ago August! Our little Kristi was just 10 weeks old when we decided to take a family vacation to Colorado. It was SO nice to get away and to see lots of friends and family. The top picture is me and Kristi near Ft. Collins, where we were hiking with some friends. The middle picture is near Aspen, where we were hiking with friends. The bottom picture is the pickles that my mom and I made, and they were YUMMY!!! Every summer, Mom makes pickles, and I always want to help her out if I can. I absolutely love the smell of fresh dill, garlic, pickling spices and cucumbers all coming together. And the finished product is unbelievable. When I was a college freshman and brought my pickles to school, my roomates teased me and said that the pickle jar looked like a science experiment, because there were so many little spices and greens along with the pickles...but that is what makes them taste so great!

Reflections on Treasures...

God has been teaching me a lot lately about the value of treasuring Him more than the things of this world. As we have been cleaning out our home and preparing to sell it, I have gotten rid of MANY MANY things that we do not need. Our society seems to be so focused on things and more things, and I must say, I'm COMPLETELY guilty of being one of those people who likes things. But our reality is, there is just not room to store all these things, nor do we really actually look at or use many of these things all that often. Some of the things that we have been able to get rid of...books, clothes, extra kitchen gadgets or dishes, decorative items...the list goes on and on. There is SUCH freedom in releasing the things of this world!!! We have given away a lot that we just didn't need, and I have taken many trips to the Goodwill in the last few years that we have been married, and Erik has taken some trips, and my mom has taken some trips on our behalf. Hopefully someone else has been able to benefit from our things.

Tonight as I was cleaning off and "de-frocking" our fridge (my aunt reminded me to defrock), I came across a little card that our church gave us this past year. It was titled "Money Matters." There is a great verse on it from Haggai 2:8 which says "The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty." In other words, it is all HIS anyway, so why do we try so hard to hold onto it or invest it in things that don't matter? There is also a statement on the card which we were supposed to read and hopefully adopt as our own. It reads, "I recognize that God is the owner of everything. By His power, I will seek to manage the money and assets He has given me for His glory and the eternal good of others." And then there is another great verse from Matthew 6:21 which says, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." A great reminder, right?

Lord, help me to redirect my attentions towards you, and remind me that my treasures are all yours. Amen.

Ideas for Cleaning???

Hello there! Our house will be on the market probably this next week and I'm trying to figure out how to keep it clean daily as there will hopefully be lots of showings. I'm guessing I'm just going to have to pick things up all day long as messes occur...brilliant! This is not my typical behavior, the picking up regularly part, but hopefully I will adopt that behavior soon out of necessity.

Erik is painting our basement tonight, so it is going to look smashing soon! We meet with our realtors tomorrow night to do the paperwork and figure out last minute details, etc...kind of crazy!

All that being said, I best be on my way so that I can accomplish some more things tonight before going to sleep.

Any ideas from you blog readers on how to keep things picked up all the time and cleaned??? I like flylady.net for ideas, but sometimes it is just overwhelming. I'm learning that one step at a time is really the best thing.

Cleaning Frenzy

We are trying to clean clean clean so that we can get our home on the market soon! I'm in the deep cleaning mode right now...getting all the lint out of the carpet creases along the walls. Carpet is really not my favorite thing when I can see all the dirt coming out of it! I think that wood or tile floors are great because it is SO much easier to clean. My sweet husband loves his carpet though, because it "feels good in the morning!" I suppose, squishy carpet on the toes is a nice feeling, but what is in the depths of that carpet? Anyhow, I'm kind of a germ freak and I'm learning about how hard it is to keep germs out of our world. Besides that, there are the "supergerms" out there, and if we become immune to them, that will not be a good thing! SO, needless to say, my Little Bug has definitely gotten her share of germs and I'm sure she'll continue to, and I'm learning to be somewhat okay with that.

Seriously though, I do believe that God likes us to maintain our surroundings, wherever those may be. And in my case, it is our home. I haven't been very good at maintaining and keeping up with our home since having my little girl, but I'm starting to get back into the swing of things...especially with the house showings just around the corner.

It has been raining here all day and the weather is so "fall like." I LOVE cooler, Fall weather so much. It has been a good day for relaxing, eating banana sour cream waffles, dinner out with cousins, and cleaning our home. Tomorrow I get to play my penny whistle at our church. That should be fun! And we're hoping to have a date time in the afternoon, so I'm looking forward to our little getaway for a few hours.

So long for tonight...

Jewelry

Ahh...tonight I was sorting through all my old jewelry. It was like a great trip down memory lane as I found my huge white and silver hoop earrings from 7th grade...along with some lovely purple and pink crazy earrings. Bye bye Melody's jewelry, Hello Goodwill! I'm looking forward to making another drop off there soon. I have gotten rid of so many things in the last few years as my dear husband and I have been melding our lives together, and especially as we anticipate a move. It is kind of nutty to see all the things that I have held onto. I'm a very sentimental person, so I'm learning about which things really have meaning to me and which are just truly earthly things. I want to store up treasures in Heaven, not here on this Earth!

Bees

I know that God created bees to help pollinate plants and flowers, but why did He have to create them with a stinging mechanism??? Bees scare me, plain and simple. I'm allergic to bees, and although I've only had three bee stings in my entire life, I have become so afraid of them that I freeze and start crying if they come near me. And of course they do come near me...they seem to know that I'm afraid and that I don't like them, so they thoroughly enjoy sitting on me.

Today the weather is so lovely after a huge thunderstorm passed through last night and the humidity seems to have been lifted from our midst. We decided it would be nice to eat outside on our little patio. It was definitely nice for the first 20 minutes, and then the bees arrived. They must have wanted a bite of our peaches and burritos, or me. :) I did my routine - I froze and I started to cry out of fear of the sting, and I ran inside!!! I'm SO glad that I didn't actually get stung. I think my little girl was wondering what was wrong with me, and so was my husband. He was trying to tell me that I'd be okay, and in the end I was.

I'm looking forward to Fall when the bees will die off or migrate or whatever it is that they do. Now I'm curious and I'd like to read up on my fearsome foe. I'm also looking forward to the gorgeous Fall colors that will arrive in just a month or two! For now, I'm enjoying the lovely, clear summer air.

Kristi Girl and Mama

My sweet Kristiana...she is just a doll and a great kid! We have so much fun together and I am so blessed to be her mommy. This picture is from a few months ago...

new blogger!

Hey there everyone!

I finally decided to hop on the blog wagon as I have thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from reading many great blogs over the last several months. I hope that you enjoy the adventures of me and my family.

Today my dear mom came over and helped me work on packing up, cleaning out, and throwing away things in my kitchen. My husband Erik & I are getting ready to sell our home in just a few weeks and there are SO many last minute details to take care of. I had no idea just how long this process would be, but it is fun to finally be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Once we sell this place, then we can consider other properties to buy. I am certain that God has great plans for us and that since He knows where we will end up living, we can just trust in His plan for us...even though there are certainly moments where it is hard to trust and believe things will work out. But I know that it will work out!

I'm not going to write much tonight as I need to get some rest and I need to finish cleaning up the house before I can go to bed. My little girl is asleep and things are peaceful. I love this time of night!