It's Sunny and I'm Hopeful

It's been raining here alot lately. today is sunny and i'm loving it, even if it is a bit chilly outside. the leaves are starting to change color and the drive in the mountains this weekend is going to be amazing!

my friend, lauracious, is coming into town this weekend and we are looking forward to her visit. laura always brings a ray of sunshine. she and i have been friends for a long time and we have some crazy memories together - like sleeping in her bed under the stars and driving on the golf course in south dakota. good times. should i be scared that she gets in on halloween - and that she might get off the plane in some wild costume? oh well, we've come to expect the best in each other!

Troy has been doing an amazing job on the house. he cleaned the closet doors and he did a great job! they had years of dirt and muck and spider webs embedded into them. they look so much better now. he's learned the secret is krud kutter. vesty is really beginning to take shape. can't wait to continue to see its transformation as the year progresses.

talked to my parents last night. they are both sicker than a dog. (not sure where that phrase came to be, but decided to use it!) mom has a terrible head cold with a horrible headache, and dad was barfing during our 5 minute phone conversation. nothing like being sick together. so far troy and i have been sick at different times which i think works out a whole lot better. by the way, he's feeling much better and is back to work now.

my dad got a new job on monday. he's working for wilson trailers. it sounds like a pretty decent company to work for, and he's glad to have left the last company. grateful for this new opportunity for change. my mom is still working for the the school system in sioux falls. they also help out at their church with a little custodial work during the nights.

a beautiful weekend

friday:

troy and i hosted a little get together with some our friends on friday night. it was a dress-up party. i'll have to post some pictures later because they are on troy's camera. let's just say that we had a good time with our friends. it was an informal meeting; just sat around the table. it was hard on my sides; we laughed so hard and so long. we were glad to enjoy some good laughter with friends. super excited Troy was around to enjoy the party also. the phrase that came out of the night is: 'That's cool. That's Kentucky.'

saturday:

we had a lazy morning, loafing around the house. went on a date lunch to Chili's. Spent some time talking at the park. Between Troy's random schedule and moving to Vesty, we've not had a weekend to relax in about 6 or 7 weeks. on saturday, Troy was supposed to have a trip to Tampa, but before he left for atlanta, he called the freight company, only to find out they had canceled the trip. (that was pretty exciting for me.) I've missed having a full weekend for just Troy and I to hang out and re-connect. With him being gone 3-4 nights a week, one being the weekend night, it has put a strain on our relationship. Probably I need to be more specific; it has put a strain on my side of the relationship. When I'm the one sitting at home, it causes me to be not as thrilled regarding Troy's job. It's easy for me to get down on Troy because of our lack of communication since he's gone so much. There's something amazingly reassuring by having him fall asleep next to me, and to be able to wake up next to him.

After finding out about his canceled trip, we decided to get out of the house. We took a little trip to a fabric store, then out to one of our favorite dinner locations: huddle house on cobb parkway. we got home in time to watch the 2nd half of the Florida football game. Go Gators - chalking up another win.

sunday:

we played the role as secret shoppers on sunday morning. liked the experience, much different than what we're used to. heated up left over chili for lunch, which hit the spot on nascar and dallas cowboys vs. atlanta falcons game day. took a long nap. woke up in time to see denny hamlin pull off a win. headed over to our pastor's house for a meal with some volunteers from our guest services members. had a good time discussing church stuff.

and that's about it for the weekend. i was awakened to having bad dreams last night. proceeded to wake troy up to pray with me, cuz i was pretty freaked from my dreams. it was the type of dream where you wake up scared, get calmed down, only to fall right back into the dream. it continued several times like that before i finally woke Troy up. think i've been watching too much news, seeing too many scary costume ads on tv, and hearing too much about kids being abused or killed. hopefully the dreams will not return any time soon.

Bugs and a Party

Troy's been wrestling with a gnarly bug since last Saturday. He thought he was about over it, but this morning it has returned with a vengeance. We ate lunch together, but he's looking a little rough. Hopefully he's able to beat this thing soon.

We had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. So glad Troy was able to go with me to see photos of the baby. The Lil' Tater wouldn't stop moving long enough to take the photos. Go figure! It's pretty cool to see the kid bouncing all over inside, even though it's only about 2.5" long. It's about the size of a matchbox car. Everything seems to be progressing very well. And some good news, I'm feeling so much better. Think the morning/evening sickness has finally moved on and I'm able to hold down my dinner. It makes a world of difference when I feel well. Now I can start to be excited about this Lil' Tater.

It's a rainy day today. Could go for some vanilla ice cream from DQ. That sounds tasty.

Feedback for Another Day

Since I've not blogged for awhile, I've lost most of my regular readers. I
have to admit that sometimes it's great getting some feedback from my posts.
But then I'm reminded why I blog: to vent, rant, rave, express, or simply
journal what has been going on in my life. Sometimes blogging has helped me
stay on a good track with my spiritual discipline of digging into God's
Word. Sometimes it's provided a place to express my concerns. Sometimes it
has offered a place for others to connect with me. I specifically remember
those posts when I was living in Africa, and people were hanging on my next
post, waiting patiently for me to tell of my beautiful adventures.

So what beautiful adventures have I been trekking upon lately? I guess
buying a house and traveling down the road of pregnancy has been somewhat of
a beautiful adventure. Most though to be completely honest, those two
adventure haven't really brought me much bliss. I've been pretty sick with
the pregnancy so that has definitely caused some ill feelings regarding the
joy of carrying a baby. And you top that with the stress of buying a house,
cleaning the house, packing and moving into the house, living out of boxes
while the house gets painted. And that's where we still are: living out of
boxes while the house gets painted. I keep telling myself that maybe tonight
I'll feel like doing something with the house, but that just doesn't seem to
happen during the evenings. I get home from working all day and the last
thing I want to do is try to put down contact paper for the cabinets. This
pregnancy has caused me to be exceptionally tired, and my morning sickness
starts about 6 at night and last until I fall asleep. It's been an
interesting journey with Vesty and the kid.

Looking forward to this weekend.

testing

testing how this things works with some email accounts and not with others. I don't quite understand but that's just life. Maybe one day I can be smart enough to figure it out.

Updates on Vesty

Vesty is slowing becoming our home. We've nearly finished painting in the living room, dining room and master bedroom. After we're finished painting those room, we'll be one step closer to getting the boxes unpacked and the house becoming settled. As it is, we are sleeping on a mattress on the floor in the pink room. We're using the upstairs bathroom for the time being, until we can unpack our clothes in the master bedroom. It's been mostly like camping for 2 weeks.

We have a party coming up next weekend, so we'll be pushing hard to clear the house by then. It's a good thing to have some timelines.

Speaking of timelines, our church will be moving to a new location on the first of November. Hopefully that transition will go more smoothly than our house.

Work has been pretty slow lately. Hoping it picks up in the next couple of weeks. The temps are supposed to drop this weekend, so that should offer a few furnace calls. We're also pushing some advertising both on TV and the radio.

Beginning to pray for someone who I'm gearing up to ask to our church. Praying she's open to coming, and perhaps even her husband. Would be great for them to get involved. They're great people and I can see so much potential in their service.

So glad that Burke and Jamie are coming thru this operation with flying colors. Burke offered his kidney to Jamie because hers was faulty. Now it's a healing process for both of them.

One more thing I'm seriously praying about: Troy to find a job where he could be home every night. His schedule has been ridiculous the last couple of weeks. Would love for him to have a steady income, also.