Grandma

Di's grandma is in Seattle visiting some friends. She called the other day to share how much fun she is having there and can't wait to visit again! She said it is so beautiful there and that if she were young again, she would start a Seattle job search, which is kind of funny to think about! I am sure the job search market has changed since she was looking for jobs. I am glad to hear she is enjoying herself so much, but we are excited to get her back home so we can see her and spend time with her! We also were able to get her a tv for her room, so when she comes home she will be very surprised to see her new LED TV in her room! :)

Great Weekend!

Well, it was busy with getting ready for the Farmers Market, but it was fun! We are almost ready! Mike was busy with the church all weekend, lots of meetings about building a new church. Probably need to look at land stuff, architectures, money.. heck, even pressurized pond filters that they probably need if they have water on their land..haha.. I just know he was really busy and we didn't see him much, but we did have fun spending some time in a real house, with a real lawn, and real neighbors.. Not that we don't like our neighbors in the dorm, because we do! But, neighbors in a real life neighboring house.. that's what I mean.. It was fun to play house for a weekend :) haha

Catering

We are getting to cater an event at the Center Point church tomorrow night. It will be a great way to make some extra money and will be a lot of fun too. Emry has been a big help with making the cupcakes for the event. He wishes he could eat them all, I am sure! haha.. It is a crazy week with the catering event and with the Farmers Market coming up this weekend. Gonna be fun though!

More on self improvement

Let's focus on one area of self improvement.... Dieting! It seems like everyone diets now! And it isn't that people are eating healthier... the term diet doesn't mean "eat healthy" any longer. It means, "give me whatever you have to in order to make me smaller!".... notice, it doesn't say "healthier"... just "smaller." We don't care about our health, only our looks. We can look at all the top diet pills we want, and even take them, but will that really make us happy? No, I would argue it won't. It will put a band-aid on our pain for a while, but the emptiness will come back and we will start searching again. Well, open up your Bible and continue your search for happiness. Take some time to read through John and pray that the God of the Bible meets you where you are at! HE WILL! End your search for happiness, by finding true happiness in Christ!

Hail Damage

Good old hail damage! Good thing we didn't get the hail damage fixed while we were still in Texas. We almost did, but it would have meant nothing since it just happened again! of course, we didn't get money for the same damages, but we did get some added money that we have decided to put down on the loan of the car, which will pay it off. NICE!!! We have loved our insurance company, after looking at all the insurance advertising there is out there, we found one we really like! We wouldn't change companies for anything. We even got a better rate when we moved from Texas to Iowa. NICE!

Yum!

We are fortunate enough to have many Italian restaurants in our area. We are constantly trying new ones and finally found our favorite in town, Montage! It is great food and service! I had an awesome meal... I forget the name of it, something like prevera or something close to that. All I know is that it was amazing! I can't wait to go back and eat there again. Diana had a great meal too, which I would try next time. She had Thai Pasta. Very good! I would highly recommend the place to anyone looking for a good Italian meal!

Always trying to improve!

I think it is our nature.... to always want to improve ourselves... to not be happy with who we are or where we are at. I think some of that is healthy, but it is important to find a balance, or it can become an obsession. An obsession to find the best gym, to find the best house, to find the best weight loss products, etc. I know that I want to improve myself and my family, but not at the cost of contentment and happiness. Maybe that is the point. Maybe people are searching so much for happiness, that it turns into this constant search for happiness, through making themselves better.. in whatever form that may take. Maybe they need to realize that won't make them happy, and that only Christ can fulfill them?

Recalling Israel's birth

What a glorious day it was!!!! We didn't have the birth center experience that we had with Emry, but it was still amazing! Before we selected the hospital to go with, we visited each and got a tour. Both were nice but the one we selected had walk in tubs, big tvs, and even cd and dvd players. Not that these things are most important but it was nice to play our own music and create the atmosphere we most wanted on that day. He did have to go to the NICU for a bit but he is healthy as an ox and we are so blessed to have him with us!

Taxes

Good old taxes!!! We are getting an awesome return this year (thank you grad school, kids, etc.)... but it isn't always easy tracking down everything we need to turn in, in order to get the return. We spent hours tracking everything down and then had to look into our life insurance premiums that we paid last year, so we can maybe claim that... or something like that..haha. I'm not exactly sure how it all works.. but hey, we get a great return, so I am not complaining!!!! :) Hope you all experienced the same as we did and got great returns!

Helping Family

Last Fall, my brother moved into a new condo. He was lucky enough to get a main level condo with a patio on it, which was really nice! No stairs AND he can sit outside when it's nice out... He spent a lot of time looking for good, affordable patio furniture but didn't have any luck. We happened to be in a local store and found a real steal-of-a-deal on some and bought it for his patio. It is really nice furniture and even has patio furniture cushions on the seats. He was really happy with it and it seemed to hold up over the winter!

LOST

So, it's the last season and it is getting GOOD! I am still very "lost" most of the time, but they are starting to answer some questions.... which is a first! This last episode had to do with Desmond, which is one of my favorite characters. He had all kinds of memory issues and flashbacks. It is like he had a system memory crash during one part where he wasn't sure what was reality and what wasn't. I can't wait to see the three hour finale in a couple months!!!!