Cleaning up the yard

Andrew has been working really hard on our yard. We had to purchase different types of clippers, a rake, a leaf blower, and gloves to start this project. We have beautiful trees that take over most of our backyard, which is wonderful in the summer for shade...but now that it's fall, there are several inches of leaves EVERYWHERE!! Andrew took it upon himself to trim the Japanese Maple that sits beside our driveway. Trimming that tree took a certain pair of clippers, and then trimming the hedges beside our house (that are horrible) also needed different clippers. The hedges beside our house start out very large beside the road and they taper down as get to the back of the house. Andrew had his work cut (pun intended) out for him. He did a very good job at not making our house look like it belonged in the trailer park.

Raking the leaves is another issue entirely. Portia has made herself at home in our backyard and marked her territory by digging "booby traps" in the yard. The trees then cover these traps with their leaves. The holes might be a foot deep, but you won't see it until your ankle has completely twisted or you have stumbled over yourself in the yard. I think that Portia and the trees have a conspiracy against us. The leaves have to be moved, not only for the grass to grow but for our safety as well. The leaves are so bad that you can't even see the walkway or the steps to take the dog out at night.

During the process of working on our yard, Andrew was able to meet our neighbor on our left side. We have lived here three months and we hadn't even seen her outside to introduce ourselves. It turns out that she has been in China! I haven't been able to meet her yet but I'm sure that she has plenty of good stories.


Over this weekend, I watched the movie UP with some of my clients. It was the sweetest animated movie that I have seen in a while. I loved it! I loved it so much that I made Andrew watch it with my that same day. I highly recommend it to anyone, but get your tissues out. My children (clients) didn't understand why Ms. Dana was crying,haha.

First Women's Retreat

Friday afternoon, I left on my first ever Women's Retreat. This was very exciting for a few reasons:

1. My first Sunday night in my Discipleship Training class, over a year ago, was the Sunday they had come back from last year's Women's Retreat. It's amazing what has happened in a year. I never would have guess that not only would I be attending the next year's retreat, but that I would be teaching the youth and children, and my husband would have been the interim music minister. So much had happened over this past year.



2. I have been on many many retreats/camps BUT this was my first ever WOMEN'S retreat. Many of the women who attended have been married longer than I have been alive and I was the youngest one there (only by 3 years) but I had a great time worshipping with these ladies.



Two of the oldest women there were Ms. Nancy and Ms. Barbara. I hope that I am as spunky and funny as these ladies are when I'm their age.



What was different about this retreat was that it lasted for less than 24 hours. Many of these women had to get back to their "mens" and their children. The speaker was Mandy White who had just moved to Nashville a little over a year ago. Mandy talked about Friendships.I really enjoyed hearing what she had to say because Andrew and I are at the same point as she is. Luckily for me, my best friend currently lives 35 minutes away, but Andrew's best friend is currently in Oklahoma. It would be wonderful to have a friends who are in the same place as we are. I found out that the Youth Minister from 1st Baptist and his new wife live right by us. Through befriending the husband on Facebook, I found that we have several interests in common. His wife also looks very friends and we both drive Altimas (that should stand for something). They got married six months after Andrew and I did. I am going to have to be the one to initiate the first contact, so I am either going to go knock on their door and ask if his wife can come out and play or bake them some cookies. His wife is not from around the Bolivar area either and I know that it would be nice to have someone to talk to that isn't related to anyone.

Amazing what Laziness Can Do

Tuesday night was just one of those nights. We didn't want to do anything. We didn't want to go out to eat, but we also needed to go grocery shopping which we also didn't want to do. Andrew and I took our kitchen apart to find what we had lying around to cook. I found some Tilapia in the freezer (You know that you buy, but you never cook) and rice. We had enough sugar to make sweet tea (which we hardly ever make). I usually use my George Foreman grill to grill fish, but I decided I was going to be a little crazy and bake the fish. I rub some spices on the fish and Andrew discovered the ingredients the possibly make biscuits. Andrew quickly grabbed the laptop and began searching for how to make them and luckily we had everything we needed for homemade drop biscuits! He made the biscuits and I cooked the fish and the rice. After the meal was done, I noticed that everything had a white color to it and I thought that my mom wouldn't be too happy with this meal. The fish turned out delicious, as did Andrew's biscuits.

I'm not sure if we enjoyed this meal because it was so good, or it we only enjoyed it because we didn't have to leave the house for it. Either way, it was good.

Holidays are Coming

This is my favorite time of the year. What I love the most is not about the presents or the food, but about the time we get to spend with our families. Being married makes things a little difficult though.

Andrew and I are used to spending time with our families separately and then one would drive to the others' house and see that side and then we'd go to the other. Now that we are married, we are going to have to figure out how we are going to see each family equally. No wonder people gain so much weight this time of year, it's because they are having to eat huge portions of TWO Thanksgiving meals and Christmas dinners.

Andrew and I are lucky that we don't have to have the discussion on which family we are going to visit this year because everyone lives in the same town. Andrew's schedule at work is making things a little more difficult. Luckily, he won't have to work Christmas Day!! We haven't quite decided how we are going to spend Thanksgiving. Andrew will have to work the night before and the night afterwards. I'm not sure yet if Thanksgiving is worth him driving and being so tired that he can't enjoy himself. Maybe I'll just have to cook (heat up) him leftovers.


Good News!!! Andrew met with Bro. Jimmy (our preacher) this morning and they have decided that Andrew doesn't have to lead the worship service or pick the music out any more. He's been doing it for about 8 months now and it stresses him out. Now he can just play his guitar on Sunday morning and sing in the choir. When Andrew called and told me, I could hear the relief in his voice. Andrew #2 will become the official interim music minister in place of my Andrew and he would get paid. That's exciting because that means more resources to go towards his girlfriend's engagement ring. :) God really does hear our prayers and knows when we are at our limits.

1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.