Catch Up

Well, Again, I have not been so faithful with blogging. It just seems like I haven't had as much to say. Here are some pictures though that might get you caught up on what's going on with me:



A picture of my Christmas decorations.



Here is a picture with the Christmas lights on. I love Christmas lights. I'm looking forward to driving around and looking at all the pretty lights. Josh is not such a big fan of Christmas lights but that's okay... :-)

We have had several stray cats running around the neighborhood and so Josh decided to catch a few in a live trap (they don't get hurt). Well, the first cat he caught was a grey kitten that looked like it was very hungry. So, I let it come in the house and eat but then it got really upset with Oscar so we didn't keep it. That cat got taken to the animal shelter.

Next we caught a girl cat that looked an awful lot like Oscar. She was pretty cute and friendly too. I named her Lucy. The problem with Lucy was that she was the most annoying cat I've ever been around (and this comes from someone that loves cats). She would meow loudly all night and caused both Josh and I to lose sleep and would constantly walk in front of you to the point that you either accidentally kick her or trip over her. Needless to say she didn't stay long either.

So, I decided to look online at animal shelters in the area and I found a nice orange cat that I liked. He is fat (which just means there is more to hug) and friendly. I named him Charlie. Here are a few pictures:



Sticking his tongue out :-P



He has a funny expression in this photo. Charlie does resemble my last orange cat (Leo) quite a bit except that he is fatter. I've caught myself a few times thinking "Leo" instead of "Charlie" when I see him walking around the house.



It looks like he is playing football in this picture.

Oscar was not really a happy camper yesterday when I brought Charlie home. Here is a picture of Oscar yesterday:



Well, that's about it for now. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I'm really looking forward to starting my own "family traditions" with Josh.

Ups and Downs of Life

Life continues to go on with many ups and downs along the way. Josh has been busy some at work (gone for several days at a time) and then unexpectedly home for a week (up) and then gone again (down). He is currently gone but on vacation this time. Josh is at deer camp with his dad and some family friends (down). I'm hoping he gets a deer so we have some meat to eat (up). Hopefully I will get to join him in one week from today (up) because I really miss him. I think him being at deer camp is even harder then him working on the road. Part of the reason for this is that there is such bad cell phone reception there it's hard to have a reasonable conversation. You get so tired of repeating yourself that you just give up and either shorten what you were going to say or not say it at all (down). I thought I had a cat sitter all lined up for when Josh and I will be gone but that fell through (down). On a positive note I got a new somewhat part-time job that will help me get through my licensure faster and with some extra income with we need (up). I got an explanation of benefits from my insurance company saying they are not going to pay for my recent eye exam or glasses/contacts which is expensive(down). The weather outside is beautiful and I've gotten to enjoy several walks up and down the hills/streets in my neighborhood (up). Clients at my other job either not showing up or not paying for their session (down). My parents will be moving here next Friday (UP).

This is life the ups and downs. Some days I think it's much harder then I had anticipated to do life and I guess on those days I'm reminded of how much I really need God in my life on a day-to-day basis. I'm not made to do this alone and frankly it's frustrating that I forget this so often and try to do it on my own anyway. God knows all the details of my life and has promised to never leave me. I don't know how some of these downs in my life are going to get worked out but I'm trying to cast my cares on Him because he cares for me and therefore I don't need to worry about them.

Quilt

So, after 3 months I have finally finished my quilt that I was making for our bed. When my mom was here in July, she helped me pick out the fabric. In May, when we were at Josh's mom's house I saw the sheets she had on her bed and decided I liked them enough to incorporate them into my quilt and to also buy a set for our bed. Picking the fabric out was harder than I thought it should be but we got it done. Here are a few pictures of the process along the way:



The quilt is made by sewing strips of different colors together.



There are 36 squares on this quilt plus the border. This was a very monotonous step and somehow (probably due to mistakes I made along the way) I kept running out of cut strips so I kept having to cut more cloth or sew scraps together. You can see that the center piece is from the sheets I bought and cut apart and again we have the same sheets on our bed.



Here is the finished product. When I originally started the quilt I thought Josh and I would be getting a King sized bed but then we ended up only getting a Queen sized bed so the quilt is really big.

I made tons of mistakes along the way and you can see most of them if you really look closely at the quilt. There are lots of squares that didn't match up nicely with the squares beside them and that caused problems. The batting also gave me some problems because the quilt is so big that I don't have a room in my house wide enough (unless I took out all the furniture)to lay it down without it bunching up. Eventually Josh helped me out by rigging up some rope thing in the garage to hang the quilt from so that I could pin the material in place. This helped some but again, if you looked closely at the quilt you would see that at some point during the sewing process the batting moved away from some of the edges.

This is the fourth quilt I've actually made. With this one I had thought about possibly having it machine stiched together like you see most quilts. The problem with this is that I don't have a sewing maching big enough to do this. I was excited when I found a place near here that offered to do this for you but then disappointed when I found out how much that would cost and how long it takes them to do it. So, I finished the quilt the same way I have done all the other ones by just tying all the pieces together with string. This also is a time consuming process especially on a quilt this large.

I'm happy with how it turned out (mistakes and all) and I like the nice touch it adds to the bedroom with the decorations I already have there.

Laughter

So this weekend we went to Springfield, MO because we had tickets to go to a comedy show called Stand Up 4 Marriage. The show didn't start until 7:00 but we decided to go up a little early and just mess around. Springfield has a wonderful store called Mardels which I love. Basically it's like a discounted Christian book store. If you know me at all you know I love to read and I love getting books even more but hate paying full price for them. So, we went there for a little bit and I got some good deals.

After this we went to Bass Pro. Apparently Bass Pro's home office is in Springfield and this was the first time I had been to this particular store (I had been to the one in Branson once). I must say I was somewhat amazed at just the shear size of this store. Unfortunately for me there were not very many things in that store that interested me or that I would buy. Josh however liked this store more than me (however I think he still prefers Cabellas over Bass Pro).

We had a little time after this and before the show started so we got something to eat and then walked around a park some. It was a nice park and had a ton of squirrells that we enjoyed watching. Springfield is a college town (Missouri State Univ.) and overall I would say that I would not want to live in that town. It kind of looked run down (at least the parts we were in).

As I mentioned before the show didn't start to 7:00 pm but we got to the building about 6:30. We got a message that they weren't going to open the doors and let you sit down until 6:50 so there were a ton of people crammed into the hallways. It was a little crazy. Unfortunately our seats were about smack dab in the middle of a row (of 60 seats) so that was a bit of a pain to have to walk over so many people just to get to our seat.

One nice surprise (and maybe why the doors opened so late) was that there was a rose glued under the seat of every-other chair so that the husbands could give it to their wives. It was a nice surprise.

The first act was Yakov Smirnoff who also has his own theater in Branson. He was very funny and actually is the one who organized this whole night. He shared with the audience that he is very passionate about saving marriages because he actually had a marriage that failed. I thought that he did a really good job and I love the cause he is working for.

Mark Gungor was the second act of the night. He was funny but for me personally he didn't say very many things that I hadn't already heard before in school before. The third person to speak was good also but not quite as funny. His name is John Gray and he is the person who wrote the book "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus." His act went way over his allowed time but that was okay. The last comedian was Chonda Pierce. I love Chonda Pierce and this was my first time of seeing her in person. She was really funny and one thing I like about her is that she tells it like it is. At the very end we were in line to get a copy of the show on DVD and she walked right in front of me, not more than 2 feet away. That was neat too!

This night was really fun. I got to see Josh laugh harder than I've ever seen before. There is just something special about laughter and getting to experience it with someone you love. I think laughing together could help many couples feel closer to each other.

Sunday we had to make pumpkin cookies (wonderful recipe from my sister-in-law) to take to Community Group. Josh and I went to town and ate out and then went to a corn maze. I've been wanting to go to a corn maze for awhile but this is the first time it actually worked out. I must say I was a little disappointed because it was way too easy to find your way in the maze. Josh had a good point in that kids are going to be running around the maze and they can't make it too hard because of that. I kind of wish I had thought of that before we went. Oh well, you can't win them all.

After that we went to Bella Vista and walked around a lovely walking trail. I wish we lived a little closer to such a trail because it sure does beat walking around the same .21 mile track over and over again.

We then went to church followed by community group. I'm sure glad that God connected us to this group of people. I love getting together with them and fellowshipping with them. I look forward to growing in these friendships and creating more.

All in all, it was a great weekend and I'm so thankful for the time and memories created...

Camping Trip

For awhile now I've had the camping bug which if you knew me several years ago you would be surprised about. However, since I met Josh I have started to enjoy camping more as long as I don't run into snakes or many bugs. So, this weekend with the cooler weather Josh and I decided to go camping. We went to a national park named, Shores Lake. This is the place that we went last December when we went camping.

We left Huntsville Friday afternoon and it was about an hour to Shores Lake. The timing of this trip was actually good because this past weekend in NW Arkansas was a festival called bikes, blues and BBQ. This meant that thousands and thousands (more than I've ever seen before at one time) were driving all of NW Arkansas. I don't have anything against bike riders but it does present a bigger driving hazard for regular vehicles at times.

We got to the camping area and were somewhat surprised at how many people were already there setting up camp. We found a site that was pretty good and not directly by a bunch of other campers. It turns out that this weekend was the start of bow season for deer hunting which accounted for some of the campers there. Josh and I then cooked hot dogs over the fire and had smores for dessert. It was yummy.

On Saturday we woke up and had a wonderful breakfast of scrambled eggs, fried potatoes and onions and bacon. It was sooo good. We then attempted to go hiking on a trail at this park but a little ways into the trail you could tell that it had not been kept up and was completely over-grown. So Josh started walking across a creek and through woods that did not have a clear trail. This kind of hiking (without a clear, cut trail) makes me nervous but not because I think Josh will get us lost. Rather I get nervous because of my really big fear of anything other than cats. To me it just seems like you are more likely to run into animals I don't want to see if you walk where there is no trail. However, we made it safely on our little trek and made it back to camp. I was surprised because Josh bought me new hiking boots (my last pair my parents bought when I was 13) and they really were water proof. I walked through the creek and my feet didn't get wet. It was nice!

Later that day we decided to go to White Rock (another national park) and hike there since we were so disappointed with the trail at Shores Lake. This park we also visited in December and it has beautiful views. Unfortunately when we got there we soon realized that this park too had trails that were overgrown. I guess the government funding for keeping up federal parks has been cut or something. It's a shame...

When we got back to camp it turns out that even more people wanted to camp and we had two groups of people that were camping directly on either side of us. For supper we had hamburgers and baked potatoes cooked in the camp fire. They were the best potatoes I've ever eaten and if you know me you know I love potatoes and have eaten tons of them.

Unfortunately one set of our new neighbors were very loud and did not follow the posted rules that said you were supposed to be quiet between the house of 10 pm to 6 am. It was getting close to 1 am before they quieted down. I was really tired before 1 am and not able to sleep and after 1 am.

Sunday we got up (even though it was so cold I didn't want to get out of the sleeping bag) ate breakfast, relaxed a little and packed up and headed home. It was a good camping trip and I was so glad that I got to spend more time with Josh. I love sitting by a camp fire and eating "camping" food.

Here are a few pictures from our trip:



View at White Rock



Another view at White Rock



The leaves have just started to change and that made me happy. I love Fall and the changing of the leaves. I can't wait to see more in the next few weeks.



This is a pretty butterfly we saw on one of our hikes.



Another pretty tree at White Rock.



Josh made some pine needle tea which he said wasn't as strong as some he has made in the past. I tasted a small sip and it wasn't that bad but I don't know that I would drink a bunch all at once.



Our tent



My wonderful husband and best friend. There is no one I'd rather go camping with.

Indiana

At the beginning of September through Labor Day Josh and I traveled to Indiana. I had been looking forward to this trip for awhile. This was the first time Josh had gotten to see where I grew up and he actually met my brother Ben for the first time.

On the way to Indiana we drove through St. Louis. It had been many years since I had been to downtown St. Louis.



When we were kids my parents took us to St. Louis a few times. One time we rode up into the top of the arch which was fun. There used to be a McDonalds that was right beside the arch that was a riverboat that we also ate at a few times. I just remember being excited about eating on the riverboat. Unfortunately the McDonalds is no longer there...

The drive up to Indiana was very rainy but other than that somewhat uneventful. On Thursday of our vacation I took Josh around and showed him all around town and different places that had certain memories for me. Thursday night we ate at one of my favorite restaurants called the Boat House. It is a great restaurant that sits right on Winona Lake. They have the best potato soup there...

On Friday Josh and I drove to Shipshewana which is an amish community that is very much geared towards tourists. It has a ton of various shops that you can visit and has the largest flea market in the Midwest (unfortunately the flea market was not open when we went). One reason I wanted to visit this place is because of the amazing food here of which we ate a lot... :-)

My birthday was in the middle of August and Josh still hadn't gotten me a present so I got to pick out my present. I found a lady at Shipshewana that painted beautiful pictures on slate. Here is what I got:



I just thought that this was a very pretty picture. I had her personalize it by putting Jeremiah 29:11 on it which is a verse that has always meant a lot to me. My plans for my life have not always been the same as Gods but even during the difficult times I can honestly say that his plans have been better. My God has definitely been faithful even in times when I have not. My original thought with this picture was that we could hang it outside once we get the landscaping done at the house. However, I kind of think its too pretty to put outside where I can't look at it all the time. So, I guess we'll see where it ends up. I absolutely love it though!!!

On Saturday we went to the Blueberry Festival in Plymouth, Indiana. It was nice to be back there because I used to work there and spent a lot of time near Plymouth. While we were at the festival I actually saw a few people that I knew. The festival was huge and usually has hundreds of thousands of people that go through there. It was the first festival that Josh and I had gone to together and it was great. The thing I look forward to the most though is blueberry donuts. They are absolutely amazing. My wonderful husband stood in line with me for 30 minutes (totally worth the wait) just so I could get some. I also enjoyed some yummy blueberry ice cream, a funnel cake and port-a-pit chicken. Josh had never had Port-a-pit so I got to show him how yummy those are too.

On Sunday we went to Grace Community Church in Goshen which is the church I used to go to when I lived in Indiana. I love this church and the sermon was great. It was one of those step on your toes kind of sermons that if you let it could change the way you live your life. This is one thing I loved about this church. I would go and every week there was a message that was challenging and convicting. It was awesome!

Towards the end of this trip I started to feel a little sad because my parents are moving to Arkansas (which is great) but that means that potentially this trip could have been my last trip to the home that I grew up in and the town that I spent the first 27 years of my life. It's difficult for me because at least in Indiana I'm known by so many different people and have acquaintances and friends that I've known for years. In Arkansas I still feel like I don't have many friends and it's just not the same.

Here is a picture of my backyard at my parent's house:



I'm a very sentimental person which makes this a little harder. I was standing with Josh looking at the back yard and pointed out that this backyard looks so much nicer and more inviting to me than the backyards I'm used to seeing lately. To me it seems that most yards in neighborhoods seem to have wooden, privacy fences and it just makes the yard seem less inviting to me. My parent's backyard is pretty private but just doesn't have the fences.

Another thing that Josh and I noticed about this trip was just the massive amounts of good food we ate. To me the best thing about a vacation is getting to enjoy food that you don't normally get. The weight I gained on this trip was totally worth it. I just gotta work on staying on a diet now... :-)

I loved my trip to Indiana and I'm glad that I got to share it with Josh.

New Bedroom

This post has been a long time in the making. My bedroom is finally done enough to at least post pictures. As many of you know Josh's house was basically a blank slate when I got here with absolutely nothing done to any of the walls and nothing hanging on the walls. I have always wanted to decorate my own house and Josh's house represented my first real opportunity to do so. We have been working slowly through the house one room at a time and the bedroom is mostly done. Here are a few pictures:



This picture shows the new bed we just got (I love all of my new bedroom furniture) along with the walls (and Oscar). It is hard to tell (with the lighting in the room) but the wall with the pictures on it is painted a light brown color and the wall with the window is painted a slightly darker shade of brown. The opposite walls from these ones are painted the same shade. My favorite color is green but Josh was not in favor of an entire room painted green so I added a green stripe and will accent with green. Here are more pictures:



This is mostly a picture of Josh's dresser (sorry for the kitty butt -- he didn't want to move). When we got married Josh had no dresser. In fact most of the time he just would throw his clothes in these plastic tubs (unfolded of course). So, I'm really glad that Josh finally has a dresser and a nice place to put his clothes.



This is a picture of my dresser. The bed also has four drawers on it so we officially have plenty of storage and more drawers than we know what to do with (a good problem to have).



This picture shows just the top of the night stands we have. The bed we got is actually very tall and these nightstands are nice because they are equally tall. So, we don't have to reach way down to put things on the night stands...

Actually getting the bedroom furniture was quiet the ordeal. I never would have thought it would be so hard. At the store there were just a ton of options and then you factor in the prices and my goodness you can spend a lot of money quickly at those stores. At the time we purchased it they said it would be delivered in 7-10 days. So, getting close to the 10 day mark I called and they said that some of the items were not available but that they would come in the following Monday and I scheduled the deliver for the next Tuesday. This was my first disappointment because I was really looking forward to getting my new furniture and didn't want to wait any longer. Well, when Tuesday came they called to say my furniture was still not in and it would be the following Monday before they could get it in. I was irritated at this point because they had said it would be in 7-10 days and at this point it was going on three weeks. The other irritating thing was that I had rearranged my schedule to make sure I had the day off work so they could deliver my furniture. To make a long story short the following week came and they made a partial delivery of the bed and one dresser. This also irritated me though because it meant one more day of trying to accommodate and coordinate my schedule so they could deliver my furniture that they kept promising me. Finally last Monday all of the rest of the furniture was delivered. The unfortunate thing was that the dresser they delivered had three spots where the finish on the wood had been rubbed off. This was of course the icing on the cake. At that point I was done dealing with these people. I just wanted them to leave the furniture and I told them I would never shop at their store again. I paid a lot of money to have new furniture delivered when they said it would be delivered and it just didn't happen. If you live in NW Arkansas then I do not recommend shopping at Furniture Row... Okay, that is the story and I'm done venting. I am very happy and thankful to have my new furniture (I've never had such nice, matching furniture) but I just wish the whole process had been a little easier.

As far as the rest of the decorations, there will be a quilt on the bed eventually. It's only about 80% completed but I'm hoping to make some real progress on that this week (Josh is gone the entire week). There will probably be some green curtains of some sort and I'm thinking about getting some dark brown, vinyl lettering to put on the wall but need to figure out what I want it to say first. After I get this done then I believe the room will be complete.

Good Bye 20s

Today is officially my last day as a 20 something. Tomorrow I will turn 30. For some reason that number feels big to me. I know logically that I won't feel or be any different tomorrow than I am today but it still just seems big.

I remember one year walking on a school side walk with my mom going to some pre-school year function and talking with her about how I thought being 12 was old. I think she told me I wasn't and the conversation ended. So now, here we are 18 years later...

I really loved being a kid. I remember running around and playing imaginary games like cops and robbers with my brothers (when we were getting along), being in elementary school and having friends and people to play with, being involved in sports, music stuff, plays, etc and all the memories those events create. I loved being a kid. I didn't have to many cares or responsibilities at that time.

As I got older life definitely got tougher in just about all areas of my life but even so I still had parents and friends who loved me and helped me get through those times.

My 20s has really had a lot of ups and downs. I officially moved out of my parents' house when I was 20 (after 1 year at college). I learned how to become an adult and all the responsibilities that being one entails. I went to school, picked a career, finished school, moved to Arkansas, started my career and got married all in my 20s. Life did not always go the way I wanted it to or planned it to in the past 10 years but looking back I can honestly say God used those times in my life to draw me closer to Him. He has taken care of me in so many amazing ways even in the times when it felt like I had no one who really understood. He has provided all that I needed (and sometimes even more) at just the right times.

I think one reason it just seems a little hard to say good bye to my 20s is because there has just been so much that has happened in my 20s. I am not the same person today that I was on my 20th birthday (thanks to God's strength and grace).

My friend Marti told me a few times something to the effect that your 20s are filled with so much work and struggle but that your 30s are when you get to enjoy the fruit of all the work/struggle you did in your 20s. I'm not sure what the next 10 years has in store for me. I guess with God's help I'll take it one day at a time and see what happens. Today though seems a little bittersweet to me.

Northwest Counseling, Inc.

I spend a lot of time here at the office and since we recently moved to a new location/office I thought I would show off my new office a little. I think it has turned out pretty nice. It still needs a few minor things done (like curtains) but I still think it looks pretty good. Here is the lobby of my new office:



Here is one side of my office:



and the other side of my office:



I'm not a big fan of the love seat in my office but hopefully that will be changed soon. The sister of one of my coworkers is making some green curtains for my window so that will be a nice added touch to my office. I have to say I really like my office. I've never had chance to decorate my own office before so this was fun!

Here is the playroom where we do therapy with kids:



and the other side:



The playroom is not really complete yet. I would like to see some more kid-friendly chairs and more color in the room but it is a work in progress.

There are a few kinks we still need to work out like the door in my office doesn't shut nicely so it sounds like you are slamming it just to get it to shut. I used my office for the first time yesterday and had a hard time opening the door when the session was done. LOL

I really enjoy my job and I'm very thankful for the opportunity to work in a private practice (a lot less stress than community mental health) and it's a blessing to work again at a Christian company. I would highly recommend Northwest Counseling, Inc. to anyone needing counseling and I'm not just saying that because I work here. I think the other counselors here do a great job working with people.

Fun Weekend

Josh and I have been very busy lately and just felt like we needed to relax some. So, we decided to go to Petit Jean State Park again. This is the place that Josh and I did most of our dating. It had been about 8 months though since we had been there. I love this place. It really is soooo beautiful.



It was a very hot, hot day so we didn't do very much outside (no hiking for sure). We did look at a few overlooks but pretty much stayed in the air conditioned car.





This picture was taken by Josh and it is a neat picture with a great background. We should have tried to take a picture together here...

After we drove around a bit we started to think about where we wanted to stay that night. Our original idea had been to just get a motel room somewhere (I had already checked the lodge and cabins at the park and they were full - which I wasn't surprised about because they fill out several months in advance usually). Josh suggested we try to see if there is any openings in the lodge or cabins because he didn't know I had already checked on that. So I went ahead and checked just in case. Much to our surprise and happiness there was one cabin open for the night. The original cabin dwellers had left early (there loss was our gain in this case). So, we got to stay at a beautiful cabin that is located in just about the best place you could have a cabin. Here are some pictures of our cabin (with a great porch swing) and the view from our cabin:



View from outside our cabin by the porch swing:





View of the back of the cabin:



Sunset view from our cabin:







In the far left of the picture above you can see some giant rocks. Josh and I have sat on top of those rocks before and watched the sunset.

We ate supper at the Mathers Lodge (our first time eating here). Our table was right beside these huge windows with an amazing view. After we ordered our food I looked around at some other people's plates of food and the portions looked really big. Josh and I ordered a salad with our meal and you got to go to a salad bar and make your own. I was somewhat surprised and irritated that the vegetables (tomatoes, green peppers, green onions, okra) on their salad bar were not cut up very small. Sure I would like some green onion on my salad but not a whole one. The next disappointing thing was the actual food. I ordered a country fried steak, baked potatoe and house vegetable for the night. My country fried steak was very bland and really did not taste very good. My potatoe was good so I was happy about that. The house vegetable for the night (which I did not know when I ordered) was LIMA BEANS. Who has lima beans as the only vegetable they serve?? YUCK!! YUCK!! Josh had some fried catfish and he really was not impressed with his meal either. Josh had a good point about dinner. He said that there food really doesn't have to be that good because they really don't count on return customers very often which is probably true. They count on just getting a lot of different tourists in from all over the place. Despite the bad food I had a great view and wonderful company for my meal. :-)

I was really kind of sad to leave the cabin on Sunday morning. I think both Josh and I could have used another few days there to just relax and get away from everything. I think it would be amazing to have one of these cabins in the Fall when the weather is cooler and the leaves are changing. I'm looking forward to going back even if we don't get to stay at a cabin.

On Sunday we drove the long, round-about way home that included a few stops at the Buffalo National River to do some swimming. This was a fun experience and very interesting. At times it was somewhat challenging to swim against the current. I wish I would have thought to take some pictures because it really was a pretty river with beautiful scenery around it. Josh had some snorkling gear and so I had my first snorkling experience. It does take some getting used to.

All in all, it was a great weekend. I loved every minute of it!

Been Busy!

This morning I had to get up really, really early in order to be in Bentonville, AR by 7:30 am (plus a stop to get Starbucks). On the drive there I was completely amazed at the beauty surrounding me. It had rained the previous night and there was a lot of fog in the valleys which just added to the normally beautiful scenery. As I was driving I looked to my right and there was a small rainbow. Unfortunately I was not able to get a picture of it. The rainbow was in one of those valleys that had fog all around it. The sun rise this morning was beautiful. I love sunrises (although I rarely see one) and sun sets. The fields were painted in a beautiful golden light. On my car stereo there was a song about just how worthy God is of all of our praise and worship. It was just a neat moment for me, surrounded by God's beauty and listening to this song. I'm amazed because God continues to bless me with a wonderful life, family, a job, and the beauty of NW Arkansas. I have to admit I really love the part of Arkansas I live in now. I would be sad if I had to leave because it really is just soooo BEAUTIFUL! Okay, I know I used the word "beautiful" a lot in that paragraph but it was a very accurate description...

My work location will soon be moving to Bentonville, AR as my boss has signed a lease at a new location. This will be neat for me as it means that I get to pick out and decorate my own office for the first time in my career. The other places I have worked have already been decorated or had very minimal decorations. I really enjoy doing this type of thing. With the new building/lease my boss gets a cleaning lady to come in once a week and it sounds like I might get a free membership to a local gym. That will be nice if I have a gap between clients...

Life has been very busy lately. Josh's work has picked up quite a bit which is nice due to the money but not so nice because that means he is gone more. I'm not a big fan of Josh being away too much so it takes some getting used to. My parents were down here for about 10 days and that was nice. I hadn't gotten to see them since their quick trip for the wedding and it gave them a good chance to spend more time with Josh. There are some possibilities here that I have to admit I'm looking forward to if they work out. Josh's parents came down for a visit at the end of my parent's visiting. My good friend Marti and her parents came to visit the weekend after my parents left which was very nice. I sometimes really miss my life in Indiana so it was nice to catch up with Marti. Needless to say it just has been busy. This weekend we have plans to go to a pool party with our community group from church. I'm really looking forward to socializing with these people.

Blessings!

This past weekend was one of the most busy, fun, craziest, but most productive weekends we have had in the past 3 months. It started on Friday when I got a call from the people who were supposed to clean our carpets. They informed me that they would not be moving practically any furniture in order to clean the carpets and that if we wanted the furniture moved we would have to do it prior to them coming. So, Josh and I emptied the entire house (at least where the carpets are) so that they could clean the carpets. It was practically like moving out of a house again and I'd have to say that I've done enough of that recently and don't want to do anymore. We really needed to have all of the carpets cleaned though because they really were a mess...

After we got this done, Josh and I had planned to go on a date night. It had been awhile since we just did something fun together. So, we headed to Springdale/Fayetteville and went out to eat at a restaurant called Noodles. It was obviously Italian food but I'd have to say we were not overly impressed. I did feel bad for our waitress though who seemed to be having a tough night. She was wearing a white dress shirt that was splattered with red dots... After dinner we went to a place called Locomotion which is a miniature golf place, arcade and go cart place. It was really fun. They had a really good mini golf course and it's always fun to do that with Josh. We also got a chance to play air hockey and I'd have to say that was fun too. I beat Josh on the first game we played but that was because he would accidentally get the air puck in his goal instead of mine... :-)

Saturday we got up early to get ready for the carpet cleaning guy and we were really impressed with how much better the carpets looked after this cleaning. There are still some stains on the carpet but they are much better than they used to be. Saturday afternoon we attempted to move a few items back into the house. Saturday night we went to church and then had community group. It has been really nice just to get to know people and get some connections. I really enjoy everyone in that group. After the lesson on Saturday we had a time of just socializing with them and I really enjoyed that. I feel like I have been missing that and it was just a blessing to have that experience.

Sunday we had a goal of getting the rest of the living room painted (we had one wall done from when we painted the kitchen). That was quiet the chore. The ceiling is 12 feet high which was a challenge. I'd have to say I'm not a fan of doing the edging work when the ceilings are that high. We ran out of paint at one point so I had to stop and drive the 25 miles to Fayetteville to get more paint. The good news is that it is finished and I am really glad about this. I like it a lot and think it makes the room look very different, more homey. Here are a few pictures before and after:







Here are the after shots:







Here is one picture with a little bit of furniture back in the room. I still have to put all the pictures back on the wall:



I am a blessed woman and so thankful to God for all the amazing things He has worked out in my life. I have an amazing husband who loves me and I love. There were many years that I really didn't think I would ever get married and I just feel so blessed that God put such an amazing, wonderful, perfect for me man in my life. I feel blessed that God knows what I need and provides it like being able to socialize with our community group and making some connections with others. I feel blessed that I have a house I can decorate any way I want to. This is something I have looked forward to doing for years. I just feel so blessed and thankful to God for what he has given to me. May I never take it for granted.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!!

Yesterday was a really fun day. It started off not so good due to our windows being open and our neighbor mowing his yard way too early in the morning. But my wonderful husband decided to take me out for breakfast which was a really nice treat. Josh has been cooped up in the house all week so he also wanted to get out and do something yesterday. Sometimes I feel like a dull person because I have a hard time coming up with stuff to do. So, our original plan was basically another road trip (just get in the car and drive). While running some errands in town first we remembered a couple things that we could do that we haven't done yet and a plan was formed.

Our first stop was at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Rescue. This place is not very far from our house and prior to going there all I knew about it was that they had big cats there. This place was absolutely amazing and I would highly recommend it for anyone who wants to see big animals up close. All of the animals are in cages but the really neat thing is that you can get like 6 feet from the cages. I've been to a zoo before but in a zoo the big animals are always in these big glass exhibits so you can't get close to them. This place was so different. The other neat thing was that all of the animals here were rescued animals. I can't believe that sometimes private individuals try to raise/keep these wild animals. Here are some amazing pictures of the animals here:



Black Leopard



White Bengal Tiger named Zeus



This is another picture of Zeus. He was amazing and sooo big too. He didn't really cooperate so much with the picture taking but you should have seen his eyes...



African Lion named Willy. I could not believe how big he was and how close I got to get to him.



Willy again. He was amazing. At one point he rolled over, stretched and laid on his back. He's just a big, big, cat.



Harley is a black bear. Again, I was amazed at how close I was to a real, big bear.



There were a lot of tigers and I don't remember all of their names or how to tell them apart but the markings on them were beautiful.



Another tiger... One piece of advice that was given to us is that if the tiger raises it's tail you need to move quickly to the side instead of backing straight up. The reason for this is that some of the tigers like to spray and in fact, Josh's brother has been sprayed before when he came to this place. Luckily we didn't have any problems with that during our visit.







Another black leopard whose name I think was Vada. She was scratching her head on a post...



This was a caracal (I hadn't heard of them before) and boy do they have some crazy ears.



A leopard. His spots were sure pretty.

I was pretty blown away by this place and I'm looking forward to going back. When I go back I'll have to make sure it's closer to 5:00 pm which is supper time. At that time you are much more likely to see more cats and to hear them roar which I think would be neat. If you know me then you know that I love cats. I loved looking at the big cats and I'm even more thankful that God made little cats that I can pet and enjoy...

After this we went to War Eagle Mill which was also nice. It was a cute little place that has a really big craft fair in the fall which I will probably go back to. The craft fair supposedly has over 180,000 people come annually to it. This place also had a lot of ducks which Josh and I fed. The ducks made me a little nervous as one mean one kept hissing and they just didn't seem that friendly to me. They sure did look funny though. Here are a few pictures of the ducks and the mill:





Josh feeding a goose. This goose and his buddy were not nice in my opinion...



Crazy hairdo duck...



All the ducks looked so different.



Pretty duck...



The mill and the river beside it.




That's the end of my pictures and even though it seems like I posted a lot there are many I didn't. I had a wonderful day seeing new things and spending time with Josh.