Better Late Than Never

Well, things have been chaotic lately, and I haven't been able to get the Easter pictures from Jill yet. Solution? Steal pictures off Brandon and Jill's blog. I only posted two, but there are a few more at http://fourbishops.blogspot.com if you'd like to take a peak.

Can I just say that we have the cutest nephew and niece ever!?

Decisions, Decisions

This is our first time to buy a home, and therefore our first time to face the many, many decisions that homebuyers must make.

Some of the things we're pondering:

1) Paint - this includes which brand to buy, which store to buy it from, the tons of colors to choose from, which type (latex vs. oil), what to do with the wallpaper that's up

2) Flooring - wood (again, which brand, which store, which type, which color), carpet (same decisions)

3) Appliances

4) Garage door openers

5) Door knob for the front door

You get the point. While all these decisions seem somewhat silly in the grand scheme of things, they are decisions that have to be made. Anyway, I thought I would take this time to ask for any advice on owning a home, painting, where to get stuff, etc. We're new at this and appreciate any tips you can give us. Also, prayers as we go through this whole process are always welcome.

Our New Home

Well, it’s almost official. Ryan and I are in the process of buying our first house. We are definitely excited about it, but it needs a lot of work—floors, paint, etc. We had the inspection done today, and everything looks good.

This whole process has been pretty fast, and man have we seen God working through all of it. We actually had a contract on another house, but ended up finding this one, which is a much better fit for us. Anyway, everything has worked out really well, and our closing date is May 9. Our current lease isn’t up until the end of May, so that will give us a few weeks to do some work on the house before moving everything into it.

Anyway, we just wanted to share our big news with you. Here’s a picture of our new home.

Easter in Nashville

God is good. He has blessed us beyond measure, and that was evidenced again this weekend in our trip to see Brandon and Jill (and of course Joshua and Aby) in Nashville.

We drove down to Nashville after I got off work on Saturday. The original plan was to drive back early Monday morning so I could be back in time for work. However, while I was working on Saturday, I was told I could take off on Monday if I wanted to. How perfectly that worked out! That enabled us to stay until early Tuesday morning instead.

Ryan’s mom was also able to come in for Easter, so it was a big family weekend. When we got in Saturday evening, they were about to start making Resurrection cookies. Jill found this really neat recipe that was a great way to teach Joshua and Aby what Easter is all about. I don’t remember all the instructions, but the kids had to crush some pecans, which represented the was Jesus was beaten. They smelled some vinegar, which represented what Jesus was given to drink while He was on the cross. They tasted some salt, which represented Jesus’ tears. There was more to it, but basically, all these ingredients were blended together. They preheated the oven, turned it off and let the cookies sit in the oven overnight. The next morning, the kids bit into the cookies and found they were hollow, just like Jesus’ tomb. Anyway, it was pretty cute.

Easter morning, we all went to Brandon and Jill’s new church, which, by the way is the same church that our dear friend, Amy Ostrander’s sister, Sally, and her husband just got called to. Small world. It sounds like Jill and Sally have already hit it off. Anyway, we were blessed by the worship and message.

We came home, tasted the Resurrection cookies and then started on preparations for dinner. Jill made a wonderful dinner, and I was able to “help” in the kitchen by showing off my skills with a knife. (Not really. It took me forever just to chop up an onion.)

Brandon and Jill also had some friends come over for dinner, and then all of the kids did an Easter egg hunt. The kids were cute. Sweet Aby liked to open each egg to see what was inside before trying to find the next one.

Ryan and Brandon set up a net in their yard so we could play badminton and volleyball. We didn’t play much volleyball, but we had uncontrollable fits of laughter while attempting to play badminton.

On Monday, we went out to eat for breakfast, and then Ryan and Brandon went home while the girls and Joshua went shopping for a little bit. The day went by fast, but we managed to squeeze in some more badminton, as well as teach Brandon and Jill how to play one of our new favorite games, Rook. They were really good at it. Ryan’s mom had to fly home that night, and it was really sad to say goodbye.

Before the kids went to bed, we all played Hide and Seek, which was really fun.

It was a wonderful weekend, and once again, we were thankful for the blessings of family, and of course, the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

(I'll post some pictures later.)

Beautiful Colors

I know I have commented on all the colors the trees turn here in the fall, but I had no clue they turned all different colors in the spring.

In the fall, we had red, orange, yellow, and green. However, in the spring, we have white, pink, purple, yellow and green.

It is beautiful here, and I thought I'd share some of the pictures I took while Ryan and I were driving around the neighborhood last weekend.

As Easter rapidly approaches, I encourage everyone to really meditate on what it is we're celebrating--Christ's resurrection. How wonderful is that!? Not only did our Savior die for our sins, but He was raised and now sits at the right hand of our Father.

Matthew 27:27-31 Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

Matthew 27:50-52 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.

These passages are incredible descriptions of what our Lord has done for us. Nearly beaten to death and then hung on a cross for crimes he didn't commit. He didn't complain or try and convince the authorities that He was innocent. He knew this was what He had to do so that we might spend an eternity with God in heaven. So that when we are face to face with God on Judgment Day, that we may be seen as holy and blameless.

I love this next passage too. It shows the simplicity of what it takes to get into heaven. Simply believing and recognizing our need for God. That we are sinners but that Christ bore the burden of our sins.

Luke 23:39-43 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Thank you, Jesus, that you did for us what we could never do for ourselves!

What a Way to Celebrate!

Ok, so I'm sorry it's taken me so long to blog about where Ryan took me for our fifth anniversary, which by the way is on Friday. :)

Anyway, I got off work at 5pm on Friday two weeks ago. I went home, changed clothes, and we were off. I had no clue where we were going and don't really know what's within driving distance, so I was definitely in for a surprise.

So after about four hours of driving, we came to a lovely little town called Pigeon Forge. Those of you who have been there will understand what I'm talking about, but this place is unlike anywhere I've ever been. There have got to be more miniature golf and go kart places there than anywhere in the world. They were seriously lined up one right after another, all along the main street of this little town. There were probably about six miniature golf places each block. It's just crazy. I don't understand how they all survive (business-wise).

Anyway, as we get off the highway and start driving through this city, I'm thinking it's a little strange but am totally trusting Ryan that this place is going to be really great.

We see a sign that says Dollywood, and we turn off in that direction. Again, I'm trusting Ryan, but things are still a little odd. We start seeing street signs with names like "Boogertown" and "Mountain People" and "Mountain Folks Way". It was bizarre, but we kept driving. We drove out away from the city and came to these beautiful log cabins in the Smokey Mountains.

It was late and we were definitely ready to be there. Ryan's brother, Brandon, recommended these cabins to Ryan, but we still didn't know quite what to expect.



We walked inside our cabin, and it just about took my breath away. It was absolutely gorgeous! Not at all what I would think of after hearing the term "log cabin". It was practically brand new and was huge! We walked in and there's this huge living area, complete with leather couches and a flat screen TV, a dining room, and this fabulous kitchen. There was a big deck with two rocking chairs that looked out across the mountains. The picture above is the spectacular view from our balcony. We walked down the stairs of our cabin and came to the gameroom, which had a pool table. There was a door from the gameroom out onto the lower deck. Again, there were two rocking chairs, but this time there was also a spa! Our bedroom was on the lower level, and in the bathroom, there was a jacuzzi tub. I'm telling you, this place was incredible!


So, basically we spent the vast majority of our time relaxing at our cabin. Ryan had planned out all our meals and brought everything we needed to prepare them. On both Saturday and Sunday we went to the nearby Great Smokey Mountain National Park to drive around and go hiking to a couple of waterfalls. Sunday's hike was particularly beautiful. We went fairly early in the morning and hiked to this waterfall that you could walk behind. It was such a blessing to be out in God's creation.



We spent Friday through Sunday night there and then left early Monday morning to drive back so I could make it to work by 11.

It was an incredible weekend, thanks to the sweet and thoughtful planning of my sweet husband. Thank the Lord for the perfect gift of marriage!