It was a busy Holiday Season

took photos at a wedding, then traveled to NEPA for Christmas with the Smalls. Trevor and I both agreed that it was the best trip we have taken in a while. We didn't have to be anywhere, didn't make any plans to see anyone other than family. We didn't leave town except for church which was like 15 minutes away. I felt so relaxed. It was nice family time.
After we got back we went down to our friends taekwondo studio and did some drywall/wood work. I was Trevor's faithful assistant. It had to be done in 3 days since they opened back up on Jan 3 after a 2 week vacation. So alllllllll weekend was spent hanging wood and drywall, mudding, sanding, routing, staining, clear coating, nailing, priming. We got it done Sunday evening. Then Monday-wednesday, I spent editing photos and putting them on CD's. so since before christmas I haven't been to the grocery store. Sooooo finally i feel like myself again and can get some stuff done.

Some other exciting news. Trevor will be traveling to Mexico with me this February. He has been anti foreign missions for a while since he feels his calling/work has been right here at home. But we happened to be at church when an open house was going on for 2 of the full time missionary staff from down there. So I told him I wanted to go. And what do you know, he changed is mind. So we rushed around and applied for his passport and got all the paperwork in. His passport came 2 days ago and hes officially going. It's funny how God worked that all out for us. Sooooooo excited for Trevor to experience this with me and for him to use is MANY handy gifts and talents for the people of Monterrey. So excited to see how God uses him!!! So exited to share this part of my life with him. So exited to serve along side him this time, since last year I couldn't even contact him the whole week. Hopefully I will get to see this precious girl again. I've been praying for her throughout the year. She lives in one of the squatter villages. Her name is Natalia and she could use your prayers too.

Breaking Free

This is the last week of this bible study with some wonderful ladies from our church. It has been a special journey. It's about breaking free from bondage in our lives so we can live free, full lives in Christ. It has opened my eyes to the things holding my back from an abundant life in Christ. It also made me realize others in my life that sadly are still in bondage and have not yet broken free. Sad because they don't realize it. So I say grab some good friends and do this study. It's really good and Beth is super funny as always.

Life is good right now I guess. I am going to Mexico again this winter. It will be good going again in a completely different spiritual place than I did last year. Manda is coming too. :)

I am loving the fall weather!

Trevor and I enjoy fall. I don't know if I would say it is my favorite season because I think I am kinda partial to summer but it is a close second. Trevor proposed to me in October of '04 :). We haven't been able to get to our favorite festivals this year due to conflicts. We missed the Potato festival and Xenia Old Fashioned Days was canceled. We did make it to the street fair and I bought a cute hat.

I do so love these things about fall, the colors especially in the mountains of NEPA, the pumpkins (the decor and the food items) and Halloween Haunt at Kings Island. They fill the park with fog machines and people walking around appear to just come out of the fog, it is creepy. And the park is open until 1:00am which makes for a fun and exhilarating ride on "The Beast" the longest wooden roller coaster in the world. It goes through the woods and through underground tunnels so its pitch black.

I am currently reading a series of books by Steig Larsson. He wrote a trilogy and its the only thing he wrote, he died after turning in the manuscripts. Since he turned them in they have been translated to English from Swedish. They are interesting. I always enjoy learning about other cultures from foreign films and now I doing the same thing through these books. The first one is "The girl with the dragon tattoo" and I am on the second one called "The girl who played with fire" they are nail biters for sure.

A Book Recommendation

Same Kind of Different as me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. It is a true story told by the 2 men who's story it is. It's hard to get started because of the dialect of Denver but once you get going and him and Ron's stories cross it's not as back and forth. This has become one of my favorite books. It makes me think, really puts things (tons of things) in perspective. It opened my eyes to things I never imagined. Everyone should read it. And its going to come out on the big screen this year by the same people that did Pursuit of Happyness. And since the direct dealings were with the writers whose story it is, I would imagine it would be pretty true to the book. So if you want a fast read that will make you laugh, make you cry and give you some perspective read this. So far everyone who took my word for it has liked it:)

Easy No Sew Bag

Took like 2 minutes after i went and bought a yard and 1/2 of a cute fabric at wally mountain. I saw one of my high school friends on facebook made one with a link here. I couldn't find a flower i liked but the fabric is cute without. By far easiest thing I have ever made.

Fair Time

So last week Trevor and I were able to go up and spend 4 days with Trevor's family. This was a blessing and a nice treat seeing as how we normally drive up there for one day and have to rush home. It was fair week, which means we went to the fair everyday we were there...because that's just what you do. And when your father in law conveniently has a tent where he sells lawn mowers you always have a shady place to sit and hang out. So I ate lots of junk...but nothing a few days somersizing level one won't fix.

I posted about my first experience at the fair on my blog 4 years ago here as you can see I have called it redneck week. Out of respect for my brother-in-law it will now be referred to as Country Week. We didn't get to go to the truck pull much to Trevor's dismay but we saw lots of friends and spent much needed time with the family. We had a speidie sandwich (something that only NEPA and southern tier of NY ppl know anything about). We have a cupboard full of speidie sauce in our house, we normally make speidies and share them with our less fortunate friends.

Oh and we helped Trevor's farmer friends bring in their hay. So I have now connected a full hay wagon to a tractor and climbed on the pile in the hay wagon and threw hay bails down to Trevor to put on an elevator where it when to the upper level of a barn where a group of other people stacked it. I think I missed my calling...I should have been a farmer.

This is going to be random.

So taco bells new cantina tacos...as legit Mexican as Taco Bell will ever be. Here is what it has that is authentically Mexican
Lightly seasoned beef, fresh cilantro, chopped onion, bland corn tortilla and a served with a lime wedge. To add to the authenticity there is no lettuce, cheese or sour cream (things that are not on a Mexican taco south of the border). However it is still taco bell so it is not real Mexican but it does remind my taste buds.

Random story: So Trevor and I are at the Goodwill Outlet. Yes goodwill has an outlet and yes it is cheaper than the regular Goodwill stores. But....everything except clothes and furniture is dumped in bins (like the kind you put recyclables out by the road in). There is no rhyme or reason to any of it. In one bin might be a naked barbie, some puzzle pieces and cards from a board game, a tupperware lid, a child's school notes complete with binder etc. And the bin stuff is sold by weight. So Trevor and I are rooting through them looking for treasures along with many local hobos and bag ladies. I find a bunch of DVD's not in cases but rubber banded together. I got excited and picked it up to see if there were any goodies and much to my shock, horror and dismay it was pornos and there were life scaring photos on the fronts of them. I quickly threw them back in the bin and then wanted to go vomit. Who donates porn to goodwill? Seriously....

Trevor might be able to switch to first shift soon but he is still thinking of a career change....still haven't heard but we are so close

As far as me, I am still unemployed, to tell you the truth it has been the best time of growth and reflection for me and in turn one of the best moments of my life. I did find something I would like to pursue career wise but training costs $15000 dollars. Hmmmm....

Lastly I my sister and I have had our first gardening experience this summer. It's actually her mother in laws garden but we did a lot of the planting and weeding. We are all inexperienced and may of lost our cucumbers to some sort of disease that spreads after it is attacked by some beetle or something. They were yummy cucs too. Sad...