I will give Joy in the God of my Salvation!

Habakkuk 3:18

Ok...That is a wierd place to read your morning devotions, but I just really wanted to read something different! So, I read in Hab. I read the following, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall the fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the feilds shall yeild on meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will give joy in the God of my salvation." Hab 3:17-18

I have been very sad lately over the fact that our church is different. Our thoughts right now are mainly focused on preparing each family to go out and minister better. And while this is exciting, it is hard to not see a lot of number growth. And it is hard to watch your friends move away, even if it is a GOOD thing that they are moving to do. It is hard to look at empty stalls and it is hard to see our flock be cut off...Even if it is a good thing. BUT...I must go on to verse 18. YET I WILL REJOICE! I WILL GIVE JOY~ As I looked down on the notes that I had written for this passage about 10 years ago, I smiled...I had taken notes on a message that one of my friends from High school had preached, his name was Jason Wampler. Here is the main thing that stuck out that he said..."Joy is like a Peanut Butter sandwich...once you start spreading it around, it sticks to everything!" I am going to be off to do some sticking...:)

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Gazelling it....

Is this what it feels like when you are doing what you are supposed to? No real anxious feelings. Nothing that is super exciting or frustrating...just life. I have my checklist of everything to do today. Got 2 of them checked off already. 6 things left to do before I go to bed. What? Really?? That is it??? lol. Guess so. Just added another $2.00 to my savings account. Not a huge amount, but it felt good. Abbie is crying because she doesnt understand why we put the $2.00 in an envelope instead of spending it. Looks like she will learn soon enough huh??? Exciting! I am intense on getting this all done. I am intense on doing RIGHT...I am a GAZELLE....

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A few church Picts...

Ok...First one is of some of us girls on our last night at the old church. Next one is of Sunny at her Baby shower...The third one is of Brian and I at the Bass Pro Shop...and the last one is of the Priest family in front of their cabin. Sorry for all of the typos and improper grammer tonight...not in the mood to do it right...horrible huh?

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So Late on These....

Added a few family pictures on here. I PROMISE that I will get renovation picts up soon...right now, I am trying to get the house done. All the little touches still need to be added! This picture is of us on a carriage ride while we were on our mini vacation. We desperatly needed time away after this rough year, but didnt want to spend much money, so we took a one nighter to Indy. Our favorite place!
Abbie took this one in front of the window of our hotel room. We got a GREAT deal on the Hyatt! Priceline is wonderful. We stayed in a $400 room for $65!!!! And we had a corner room with huge windows that showed Indy in all her glory.
This was Abbie and Isaac on our last night in the old church. It also happened to be the 4th of July! Have no idea what Isaac was doing...he looks kinda wierd.

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90 Day Power Make Over...

So, we begin. Tonight we started the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makover program! Our goal is to be financially fit. That actually is an inaccurate statement. Our goal is to be physically fit, financially fit, emotionally fit, spiritually fit... We have 90 days to acheive these goals: (Some of these are personal goals, some are goals as a couple)

1. Save at least $1,000
2. Pay off at least $2,000 in debt
3. Have enough money saved for the purpose alone of enjoying Christmas.
4. Finish all the painting of the house.
5. Landscape the exterior.
6. After the house is finished, go 30 days with a clean house.
7. Be in a size 6-8 jeans by Christmas.
8. Stay on a budget for 30 days.
9. Stay on a schedule for school for 4 weeks.
10. Go 30 days without missing devotions/prayer time.

My goal is not to do these all at the same time, but to start one and then after I start feeling better about that one, start working on another one. I desire by the New Year, to not have to feel bad that I never achieved my 2007 goals. I desire that when I take communion this year on New Years Eve, that my life is glorifying to God.

I am praying that God will keep me accountable. I am praying that He will give me strength. On my own, I can not succeed. On my own...I will fail. I need discipline. Pray with me???

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Week 3 and 4

Well...since it is now Thursday of week 4, I thought that I would just post an update for both weeks.

We now have the siding finished. We have a finished front porch and deck. We have finished wiring. We have a finished roof. And now...onto the FUN STUFF!!!! We are starting the inside this week!!!!! YYYIPPPPPPEEEEEE!!!!! Ok, so actually this is the cheapest part of the whole renovation process, but it the part that I will actually notice ;)

The contractors started the bathroom today. And it is lovely. lol. Right now there is a green ceiling and untrimmed walls and doors. We also got our new front door today. Looks good. We started tearing off the wallpaper today. (Yes it was a busy day!) And we will start patching tommorow and hopefully painting on Sat. We need to have at least 2 of the rooms painted by Monday.

And

all the patching needs to be done by the end of next week. So, we have a lot of work to do. I threw in a before picture of the kitchen just for fun! The majority of the renovation is set to be done by next FRIDAY! Can you believe it???? Cant wait to show you all the finished house! I'm so excited...and I just cant hide...I'm about to loose control and I think I like it. Have a Cheery Day!

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Meet Jack...

Jack, the newest member of our family. He is a Boxador, part Boxer, but mostly Lab. At 4 months old, Jack weighs in at 45 lbs, and his paws are every bit as big as Zeke's. (And Zeke is a BIG boy!) We were told that he could easily pass Zeke in height and weight, so Brian is a happy guy. He takes great pride in having a big dog...(weird huh???)

Anyhow...we are in love. He is a very friendly dog. At 16 weeks, he is still fairly disobediant. He loves Brian, and will stay right at his side, but refuses to listen to me...Crazy puppy. He also SNORES, BURPS, and GETS HICCUPS! Have you ever seen a dog have hic-cups? It is really funny. He is also a big eater. He has been eating more than Zeke. Hopefully that will stop soon, otherwise, we wont be able to afford him! Here are a few pictures of him, but I will have to add some more b/c he refused to pose for me...Doesnt he know who adopted him? He will have to learn soon~

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Week 2...

And at the end of week 2, we have a lovely siding-less home, and a NEW PORCH! lol. Also, I still need to take pictures of the deck, but it has been redone! Brian and I are going to stain the porch white (I think that it is called white washing)...should match the house.

And they started the siding trim...but no siding yet. Oh, and the picture is the UNFINISHED porch...I will post a picture of the finished porch soon! Sorry...thought I had one, but didnt... :(

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Week One...

And so it began...On July 18th, Our wonderful contractor's crew started on our house!!!! They started with tearing off all the siding of our home. It looked quite quite lovely. lol. We learned that it had some windows that we had NO clue were there...:) Here are the picts from the end of week one.

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AAAAAHHHH...THE BEACH!

We got to go to the beach last weekend. It was awesome because we did not even care if we only had money for gas...

It was just about getting away. The kids had a ball.

Abbie learned to boogie board all on her own! We all got extremely sunburned...well Brian and I did, the kids are in better shape! Oh and Isaac spent most of the day looking for bugs. What a boy! Have to say, Lake Michigan is quickly becoming our favorite get-a-way spot.

There is a picture of the view of Chicago from Michigan City. I think that is really cool. I said a mental hello to Carrie Smith!!!! ;)

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