Word Wednesday: Hebrews 6:10-12

I came across this verse in a bible study and it made me think of Ethan and my brother, Sam, two loving servants.

"For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

What else would I be doing at midnight?

Can't sleep.

I was thinking, why not do some sort of fun blog for every day of the week? Who knows if I'll actually stick with it, but it could be fun. My ideas so far:

Minute Monday: You know how you take "minutes" for a meeting? I'm pretty sure that's an old school term. Or maybe I just made it up. I used to take minutes for our Young Life team meetings, only it wasn't on the useful stuff. I would write down all the crazy/funny stuff that was said and do a recap at the end of the meeting. Well, these minutes will describe the Stonerook weekend (which I know you are all dying to hear about by time Monday rolls around).

Teachable Tuesday: I'll share a craft, recipe or some other idea.

Word Wednesday: That's a capital W, as in scripture (not the segment on the Colbert Report...although I usually enjoy that, too).

Thrifty Thursday: My favorite deal of the week!

Foto Friday: Most likely, this will be a picture of Carver.

I Think She Had a Baby

I find myself avoiding all the extensive topics I want to blog about because I know how much time it'll take. I'm not one of those people that just writes as they think and then...boom! Posted! (Kind of like Michael's "boom...roasted" from The Office) See, I've already edited this first paragraph.

Anyway, instead of some great story or update, I'll just tell you:

Carver is grabbing everything out of my hands these days. He loves water bottles and cell phones. We've started him on solids. Did I already tell you that? He's tried peas, bananas and carrots. He seems to really like all of them.

We bought tickets to see Harry Potter 6!!! I'm so excited. It comes out midnight of Carver's half birthday. Any volunteers want to come babysit/spend the night at our house (I think the movie is 3 hours long)? You probably won't have to do anything and I'll make you cookies! She doesn't know it yet, but I'll try and trick Kari into it.

I have a side ponytail right now.

I'm so relieved with the state of our bedroom. It was becoming the project/junk room and hardly looked like a comfortable place for two newlyweds to relax. Ignoring my list of to-dos on Friday, I cracked down and rearranged. This also involved a lot of dusting and vacuuming as it had been a while. Saturday I tackled my surprisingly large closet that not only contains my clothes, shoes and bags, but all other kinds of random storage. Everything from Christmas decorations to beach towels end up in there because we don't have the luxury of a linen closet. And honestly, with the 100 degree weather, there was not much else I would have rather done with my weekend. Mmmm, how I love organizing...

Going through my old maternity clothes brought back some fond memories, but who the heck let me buy so many maternity clothes? I had more cute clothes that fit me then than I do now.

Carver's getting baptized July 5th. Ethan's afraid I'm going to dress him up "like an angel." At first I was a little offended by this, but thinking about it now, I'm very amused.

This is the kind of little stuff Lauren and I used to talk about when we worked for AmeriCorps together. I miss you, LC. I also miss working with other adults and kids I can talk with. I saw two old students of mine today. They were at my pool. I think its really funny that little kids have no intention of lowering their voices when they talk about you. I saw the older sister first and said, "Hi, Jane. Do you remember me? I'm Ms. Valerie." She then turned to her little sister and said, "Erin! Its Ms. Valerie. I think she had a baby!" I was literally 5 feet away from them in the pool.

All Needs: Met

I'm feeling extra sentimental tonight because Lauren and Nick are moving back to the Jers, so bare with the cheese.

I would just like to declare to the world and myself that though we're broke as a joke, I have never felt so rich. As Carver, Ethan and I rode our bikes home from Moe's tonight, I looked up and saw a beautiful Florida sky. Not the most beautiful I've ever seen, but awe-inspiring enough for me to pause and listen to the beads on my spokes sing a song about this life.

I wouldn't give up our modest living room full of friends for a mansion, nor would I trade my weekly $5 burrito for lobster or steak.

I think tonight I have a better understanding of what Paul meant by "glorious" when he said,

"And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

Phillipians 4:19

2 Things I LOVE

1. My new contact Rx. Somehow, my left eye got sharper, yet my right eye has significantly worsened. Either way, I can see again!!! Making out the leaves on the trees reminds me of when I first got glasses in elementary school. My sister got a pair and I was jealous, so I claimed I had vision problems too. Turns out, I did.

2. Carver sleeping through the night again (not to mention this 1 hr. 10 min. and counting nap he's taking as we speak)! We let him cry himself to sleep when he woke up during the night before last. I wasn't sure what I thought of the plan, but if that's all it took for him to get 9 straight hours of sleep, call me Babywise. Now if only we could go to sleep when he does...

Summer

Family Reunion

Getting ready for Carver's 1st flight!

We went straight to the Matyja's basement to play!

We started off the weekend with lefse-making, a throwback to our Norwegian heritage.

Lots of grandkids!

We missed you, Sammy!

Carver's excited to meet great grandpa, Vern.

Nothing says Nebraskan like a family bike ride.

An intimidating putt-putt team if I ever saw one

We can't wait to come back next year!

Preparing our camper stew... Horihans are serious about their food.

Feels Like Beard-picking Weather

Right now my hands smell like bleach because I was sterilizing the bottle and pump I took on our trip that had remnants of 5 day old breast milk in them. Sick. Tomorrow we walk with LC, host play group, go on a much-needed trip to the grocery and work on a project for a certain lovely lady who's birthday is this Saturday. Oh, and how could I forget Moe's? I wish I had time in there to tell you about my AWESOME family reunion! I miss it already! But right now, Ethan's beard hairs are calling me, "pick me...pick me..."

TMI?

Quote of the Day

I'm reading a piece of historical fiction that led me to ask a friend "Why did everyone hate the Jews so much?" To which my friend said, "They are God's chosen people. Same reason everyone hates the Gators."
Oh geez.

Procrastination

Where are all these ants coming from?

Gator baseball & softball= FUN.

Drinking a glass of not-yet-frozen homemade ice cream (egg yolks, heavy cream and chocolate) will not help you loose baby weight.

Gotta go pack.