Moments of Insanity

Sophie has no claws. One of the reasons we took her home was because she had already been de-clawed. It is great because we never have to worry about her tearing up our furniture. And Dustin thinks it is great because he can annoy her and not worry about getting scratched.

Have you ever seen cats sharpen their claws? They stretch up and dig their claws into something over and over again. Well, Sophie does this every now and then, even though she has nothing to sharpen.

Sometimes Dustin and I will be sitting on the couch and Sophie will walk in slyly, look up at us with disdain, and attack the ottoman. You can see her doing this in the picture above. She puts her ears back against her head and looks really angry! Once she is satisfied with the sharpness of her non-existent claws, she abruptly jerks away and takes off running at full speed into another room. Sometimes it is so abrupt that it startles me.

It is hilarious! Apparently Sophie is either taking her cat-anger out on the ottoman, or she is having "a moment of insanity."

A Tour of The "New" House

Some of you have asked to see pictures of our "new" house. We will be moving in on February 9-10. Dustin's Grandaddy has been sweet enough to make the house available to us for a great rent rate! We will be here until we can save up and find a house to buy.

The house has a lot of character! It is old, and it has alot of really unique features that I love. It does need alot of loving' though. There is some work that needs to be done, but that is to be expected with an old house. We are looking forward to the big move! Enjoy the tour!

This shot was taken from the living room toward the front door. This is one of the unique parts of the home that I really like! The foyer area has a great storage closet, and it is seperated from the rest of the house by a french door. Love it!
This is the living room. The couch is not ours, hopefully it will be moved out this week. This is a dining room that we might use as our library/office. It is bright and airy! There is a door on the left that exits to a side porch.
This will be the guest room. Come and stay with us!
This is the master bedroom. I'm glad there are great windows to lighten that wood panelling!
Here is the kitchen, and you can see the dining room straight ahead.
There is a built-in hutch in the kitchen, another unigue part of the house.
This little area is next to the kitchen and exits to the back yard. We may use this as a table area.
This is Dustin walking from the back door through the fenced-in back yard to the car.
Thanks for stopping by! We'll post more pictures once we get settled in.

Boxes and Tape

I love packing!! Don't bother telling me that it's weird; I already know. There is just something great about a big empty box just waiting to be filled up. I love to try and fill each box with as much as I can, positioning everything perfectly so more will fit. It is like a puzzle to me. Then when I am satisfied that the box has fulfilled its potential, I fold down the flaps and tape it up, happy that I have made a perfect package. Then I get to find another empty box!! One of the parts I like most about packing (and unpacking) is that I get to organize everything! I think I would call organizing one of my hobbies. It's just fun to "make a place for everything and put everything in its place."

In honor of my love for packing, I have asked Dustin if I can do all of it. He was very willing to let me have my way on this one! However, I did tell him that he could load all of it up on the truck (and I'll help too, of course).

The problem with my packing is that I'm a little over-zealous. This past weekend was great because I got to pack the whole time, but now we feel like we're camping. We still have two weeks before the actual move, and we've already missed a few things that I figured we would not need before that time (besides, I had the perfect space for it in one of my boxes!).

Sophie has been very helpful in this whole process. You can see below that without her the couch would surely start to drift toward the ceiling.

Nothing Like a Bowl of Soup!

I have wonderful memories of being a little girl in cold weather! My parents had a working fireplace, and my Daddy would build a big fire and all of us would gather around. My Mom would spread out a big blanket and make hot chocolate for me and my two sisters (this was before my two youngest siblings were around). Daddy would sit nearby and read his Bible, a book, or the newspaper, and Mom would read aloud to us. It was a magical time for me. Everything was so cozy, and I loved having everone around me while I enjoyed hearing a great story (by the way, my Mom is the best ever at reading aloud!).

Another thing I remember about those cold days is Mom's soup. Whenever it was snowy outside, our house always smelled like delicious soup! Daddy would take us out to sled, build snowmen, and have snowball fights, and we would come back in to the yummy smells of the house! I am thankful to have grown up in a house so full of love. My parents are incredible, and they knew how to make every day special to me.

I have followed in the tradition of making soup when it is really cold, and I wanted to share one of my favorite recipes with you. It is so easy to make too!!

Potato, Brocolli, and Cheese Soup

INGREDIENTS
2 cups chopped onion
2 tablespoons margarine
2 1/2 pounds peeled and cubed potatoes
5 cups boiling water
4 cubes chicken bouillon
3 cups fresh broccoli, cooked and drained
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS
In a large stock pot saute onion in butter. Add potatoes, water and bouillon cubes. Cover, bring to boil and then reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
Remove tough outer skin of broccoli stems and cook broccoli. Once cooked add to soup.
In a blender or food processor puree half of the soup and return to stock pot. Season with salt and pepper.
Add cheese and heat soup through until cheese is melted. Serve warm.

Not Quite a Foot...

Last Thursday night Dustin and I were watching the weather on our local station. We had heard that we would get some snow over the weekend, but Greg Fishel (our favorite meteorologist), was saying that we would get more than everyone originally thought! Our section of the map was forecast to get SIX to TWELVE INCHES of snow!!! Dustin and I LOVE snow and cold weather, so we were beaming when we heard the forecast! I was praying inwardly that God would give us a whole foot of snow.

So on Friday night we went out and bought the regular staples: milk, bread, and candy. We stopped and got some movies from Blockbuster, and then we came home and got our warm clothing ready, hoping to wake up to a foot of snow! Well, Saturday came, but the snow did not. We waited and waited, and looked out the windows every few minutes. Finally, just as the sun started to go down the snow began to fall. We were as happy as two pigs in the mud (I love that expression!). But unfortunately the forecasts were wrong. We got some snow, and you will see the extent of it below. It wasn't quite a foot, but it was still beautiful!

When the snow started falling
Dustin's car at dusk
It's snowing! It's snowing!
Icy branches... I love it!

My car the next morning
Look at that sky! Proof that there is a Designer!
When we woke up on Sunday morning, Sophie was snuggled up on the couch looking out the window. She must love snow too!

The post below shows a picture of my handsome husband enjoying the snow.

My Incredible Man

I just have to announce that I have a wonderful husband!

He means so much to me, and he is special is so many ways. Two things have happened lately that have made me realize (again) my appreciation to God for Dustin. The first thing happened on Sunday night. We were getting ready for bed, and Dustin asked me a question. He said, "Is there anything that I could do better as a husband?" He has asked this question before, but this time it was totally out of nowhere, and I could tell he had really been thinking about it. That meant so much to me! It is wonderful to know that the man God gave me is dedicated to being a good husband. Wow!

The second thing happened just today. I checked my voicemail at lunchtime, and Dustin had called to tell me to be careful driving home from work. It has been frigid outside the last few days, and we had a little rain this morning. He said that there had been reports of black ice and a few accidents, and he just wanted me to be safe. I felt so loved, protected, and warm inside when I heard his concerned voice. I am so thankful that he loves me so much.

These may seem like little things to some of you, but I don't want to take anything for granted. I am incredibly blessed, and I praise the Lord for His gifts me!

Dustin has been working really hard lately. He was able to go back to work for the school part-time, and he has also been putting up fence posts part-time for our Landlord. It is really hard work! He has to dig a big hole with post-diggers, make sure the post is perfectly straight and even, and then make sure it stays that way as he covers the hole. The posts are really big and heavy. He is hoping to get alot done before we take off in a few weeks!

Look at that straight line of posts!

Just in Case...

Just in case you do not already know, our blog consists of many pages. If you would like to view previous blog entries, all you need to do is scroll all the way to the bottom of this page and click "Older Posts." Do that on each page until you reach the end. Enjoy!

Some BIG News!

No, we are not having a baby... yet. The big news is

We're MOVING!!!

To Winston-Salem!!

It is still a little hard for us to believe because it has all happened so fast. Last Monday Dustin started a new job, and we were thrilled about the pay increase and the weekends off. However, on Tuesday night we sat down with the benefits package for the new job and tried to work out a budget. It turned out that Dustin would only be making a little more than his previous job paid him. And it was not an amount worthy of driving 30-45 minutes to work (and back) each day.

It has been very difficult to find the "right" job for Dustin because we have so many criteria. We have been hoping for a job that he would enjoy, that pays well, that provides inexpensive benefits, that allows him to be off on Sundays, and that allows flexibility for time off so we can go on mission trips in the future.

So we weighed our options and thought and thought and thought. Dustin talked to his Dad about the situation, and a solution arose. There is a position open at the store that is managed by Dustin's Dad and two of his uncles. It is a bike and fitness store that has been the family business for many years. Dustin worked there before we were married, and he has always said that it was the job he enjoyed most. And this job meets ALL of our criteria!

At the same time we found out that Dustin's Grandaddy has a house that we can rent at a great price! We will live there until we can afford to buy a house of our own.

All of this happened so fast! We found out about the job and the house and we decided to move all within 24 hours. It has been amazing. I never thought at the beginning of last week that we would be planning to move at the end of the week.

We are so excited about this move for a number of reasons. We are thrilled that we now know where our home base will be located. For those of you who don't know, our plan as future missionaries is to follow the example of Paul in the Bible. Dustin learned about this way to do missions when he went to Ecuador with Mr. Tim Bunn (author of God's Plan for Church Planting, a workbook that is solely Biblical with no personal commentary). We hope to go to different South and Latin American countries (week- or month-long trips) to teach people how to plant churches. Then we will go back regularly to support and encourage those churches. We have often wondered about the location of our home base, and now we know!

Another reason that we are excited is that we will be near Dustin's family. Most of them live in that area, and it will be great to be able to see all of them regularly without having to drive two hours! We are also happy because we will get to see my family more! Yes, we will be further away from them, but now we will be able to go and spend a whole weekend, rather than just going for an afternoon. AND I am thrilled that I will be close to my sweet sister, Katie. She is at UNCG, and only 25 minutes from where we'll be living!

There are some sad parts of this decision. I have had a great job as a nanny for a sweet little boy since he was three months old. Now he is 2 years old, and it will be very hard to say goodbye to him. It has been such a fun two years, and I am so thankful to God for allowing me to be a part of this little guy's life. Telling his parents that I would be leaving in a month was one of the hardest things I have had to do.

We are also very sad to be leaving our sweet little house. We have enjoyed living here so much. It has been great to live out in the peaceful country, surrounded by fields, trees, and fresh air! We will miss feeling like we live in a mountain cabin. We will miss hiking in the back woods, the bike rides, the big back porch, and our sweet neighbors.

We will also miss the friends that we have made in Wake Forest over the last five years. Thankfully we will only be two hours away, and we hope we will still see many of them regularly.

Anyway, we will be moving out of our house on February 8-10, and Dustin will start working on February 11. Once we get there I will start looking for a job, hopefully one that will allow me to use my English degree.

Please pray for us as we embark on this new journey. It will be a big change for us, but we are ready to jump in with all four feet!

Dustin's Birthday

Dustin's parents took all of us out for a wonderful Birthday dinner for Dustin. We went to a great (and very fancy!) restaurant in downtown Winston-Salem. It was delicious!!

Dustin playing Kayla's Nintendo Wii before we left for dinner The happy parents at the restaurantUs girls (Jessica, Kayla, and me)
The birthday boy!
Our dinners were delicious!! Yes, I took pictures.

When we got back to the house, Jessica and I had a boxing match on the Wii. I lost. How sad.

Christmas Evening with the Harrells

After hanging out at Grandma Angell's house, we went back to Dustin's family's home where we exchanged gifts and had a great time.

Opening gifts

Dustin's amazing parents
We both got GREAT shoes!
What causes this?
Kayla and Jessica with their owl bandannas... haha!Keep the cameras rolling!

Christmas Day with the Harrells and Angells

This year we arrived at the Harrell gathering on Christmas evening. Before we arrived we changed into our "tacky Christmas sweaters." We and Dustin's sisters planned a few weeks in advance to wear them to this event and see what people had to say. It was pretty funny. We had a great time!

Aunt Donna and Wayne
Dustin and his sister, Kayla, karate chopping each other.
Me and Dustin's sister Jessica. Complete with tacky Christmas sweaters and bows.
Jessica is whispering a sound that Dustin's Mom hates into her ear. Look at that expression!
Make silly faces!
Us with our tacky sweaters.

Dustin and his cousin, Jonathan.
Grandma Angell- she is so sweet!
Uncle Tommy