July, 2012:

Since I disappeared from the blog world for so long I thought it would be a good idea to go through my iphone photos starting in February and share with you my favorite ones. If you follow me on facebook you have probably seen most of these but they are obviously worth seeing again.

But first a little update on my day/week. I know when I blogged in the past I was very detailed of what my daily life consisted of. I didn’t think I would miss that aspect of blogging but I sort of do. I had friends of mine that I think liked that part of the blog so I am going to try over the next few months to develop a blog schedule where I can start including day to day things like workouts, kids activities and what we eat in our house. This will be especially fun since we are about to become a very frugal family and I am going to be striving to safe money while still maintain a healthy lifestyle.

So today consisted of the Couch 2 5K workout from week 6 day 2. I have been running with a group from the Y that is doing the program together. I am doing this program as a way to motivate myself, meet new people, rekindle my love for running and to get faster at my 5K time. So far I am meeting all of those goals and am seeing improvements in my time which is making me very happy! Our 5K is coming up quickly and I am so excited about experiencing this with all of the great people in our group. We normally meet early in the morning (6:15) but today it was storming and we can’t meet outside in the lightning so everyone was responsible for getting their run in on their own. I briefly thought about heading to the y when I was already up for the run but decided sleeping a couple extra hours would be more fun. In fact, Lew decided to go with me and do the workout as well which was great motivation to go fast and try to beat him. Even though I know running isn’t necessarily a competition it is to me. Always. I think it just helps me push myself. After our treadmill workout we went to a gentle yoga class which was an amazing way to stretch and recover after our run.

As far as food for the day, it has been pretty boring. I am doing weight watchers and have lost about 25 pounds and am working hard to keep that off and lose a little more. So my food isn’t always that great to show off. This week I am trying to really balance everything because we are having VBS at church in the evenings and are eating there. So today has consisted of eggs, corn tortillas and strawberries for breakfast and leftover tacos made with lean beef for lunch. I told you, very interesting

Now, on to the fun stuff for the day…the photos! I hope you enjoy!

Lew and I celebrating my 25th birthday!

Daisy being beautiful

Daisy the morning of her 2nd birthday party!

LB rocking Daisy’s sunglasses while we were at the beach over spring break.

My toes in the sand…with the tattoo I got over spring break. It is a Daisy with LB written in the stem/leaves.

LB and I riding the train at Dollywood.

Daisy and I on the ferris wheel at dollywood.

Enjoying Japanese food. Daisy wanted to show off the chopsticks!

LB playing golf on our summer beach trip.

We all had the stomach virus while at the beach and didn’t have much beach time so our last night we went out to play after dinner. The kids had a blast!

Daisy making herself at home in the new house while we were getting some work done.

Do you see those sweet fingers stealing my blueberries! Yes, I am still gluten free and these are my favorite gluten free pancakes (made with gluten free bisquick) topped with peanut butter, cinnamon and blueberries.

Daisy saying “I work out!”

I think she is amazing!

And last but not least, we are still making salsa!

In my last post I referred to some changes that are going on in our life and I thought it would be good to fill you all in on what has been going on lately.

In May Lew was approached by the Veteran’s Affairs Hospital in Johnson City about interviewing for a position as a Resident Chaplain. Lew and I had been seriously discussing a change in ministry to the Chaplaincy setting so he went to the interview and within a week was offered the position. The very short version of the story is that he accepted the job, we began researching places to live, found the perfect house and put a contract on it all within about two weeks.

Now here we are two months later home owners and about to embark on a ministry/adventure that neither one of us ever expected. The most amazing part of all of this is the reassurance that God keeps showing us. The position comes with a dramatic pay cut along with a lifestyle we are completely unfamiliar with. However, every time I have a concern or doubt in our decision God sends a sign to show me that we are exactly where he is calling us to be. It is the best feeling in the world!

So, lets start with the house. Like I mentioned my big fancy camera hasn’t seen much action lately. I kept meaning to take it with us to the new house while we were doing some work last week but kept forgetting. So I snapped a few photos with my iphone and would love to share them with you!

I will try my hardest to remember my camera next time I make a trip over there so I can show you some of the details of this perfect (for us) little house!

This house was built in 1942, has beautiful hardwood floors and pretty much has been completely remodeled. I absolutely love it! I also love that the mailbox is on the front of the house next to the door and the mail person (sometimes a man and sometimes a lady) walks to everyone’s door to deliver the mail.

The red front door! When we saw this house in a book while eating dinner one night the very first day we looked at houses Lew said “you will love this house, look at the door”. He knows me very well.

When we visited the house the two times before we decided it was the one I noticed there was no lighting in the living room. Me being the person that I am thought, “no big deal, I have a lot of lamps.” Well our friend Ricky (aka handiest person alive) comes to see what all needs to be done and says “you really need a light and ceiling fan in here, let me just climb through the ceiling cut a hole and make it happen.” That night before we left the house this ceiling fan and light were ready to go.

Here is the dining room. We went ahead and moved our dining room table because we own a smaller one as well as the one that belongs in our parsonage. Now we don’t have to eat on the floor while we are working over here. The door on the right goes into the kitchen and the door on the left goes into a small hallway with access to the kids room and the bathroom. Ricky also added a light in hallway because that’s apparently easy to do.

Everything in the bathroom was gold when we bought the house. We are in the process of getting rid of the gold in place of a brushed silver look. We have everything switched accept for the shower stuff.

This was a gold light fixture with three bulbs. For $13.00 plus the cost of the bulbs this was definitely a nice trade out.

This is the kids room. It was dark paneling. My sweet husband who desperately hates to paint did a great job making this room much brighter and far more appealing. It makes me much happier where it was so dark and gloomy.

Lew also showed off his mad painting skills in our kitchen. The kitchen was also paneled and had white cabinets along one wall with white counter tops and a white back splash. After a little pinterest inspiration I decided I wanted green cabinets and cream colored walls. So, even though I am not sure of Lew’s thoughts on these colors he went ahead and appeased me. The kitchen is not finished but he made it through the walls. Now all that is left is some touching up of the green and I am going to trim the windows and such in white. I am also going to do the wood trim on the cabinets in white. Until then I know it looks very unfinished but I am hoping the finished product will be what I was going for.

That is it for now. I didn’t snap a photo of our room because it is ready to move in and needs no work. (Other than curtains I am going to make) It is a blueish color with a slight teal tint.

I also didn’t mention there are two closets and one bathroom in the whole house. I am thinking I will be doing some serious organization! Stay tuned!