but He delights

(1) Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. (2) The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. (3) He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (4) He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. (5) Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. (6) The LORD lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground. (7) Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre! (8) He covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills. (9) He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry. (10) His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, (11) but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Psalms 147:1-11 ESV

funny stories friday

So… I have the habit of saying goofy things when not intending to do so.  When I was younger, probably middle school age, My great grandfather had just passed away and my mom told me he was being buried in a mausoleum (yes I had to check the spelling on that one).  So I rightly responded, “is he Muslim?”  After a good long laugh at my stupidity innocence, she explained to me what a mausoleum was.  I learned that my great grandfather was not Muslim (I didn’t think he was anyways).

  or  ?

In more recent days, on the way home from a very loud - yet awesome - Toby Mac Concert, I was checking my ear drums for permanent damage, making sure I would be able to hear again.  I told Mike, “I think my ear drums need to be moisturized.”  He said I had to add that to the list of things Katie says without thinking.

So to tell a story on Mike =) I was sitting in a large client meeting earlier this week, when I realized that Mike had called me twice on his way into work (which is not normal). Here is the text message sequence that followed:

Me: Is everything ok?

Mike: Yeah, took out my contact on the way to work [45 minute drive in a stick shift car], tried to put it on my tongue, thought I had swallowed it

Mike: Checked the car at work, could not find it, drove home [45 min drive], tried to induce vomit, no contact came up, so thought I might have inhaled it

Mike: so put in a back up lens, then checked the car one last time

Mike: saw a small shiny glimmer in between the seat and center console

Mike: so cleaned it up, took out the replacement, put in the original, and drove back to work [45 min drive], got in around 9:45, long morning

Me: [hahahhaha] glad you found it

 

 

Plus the best video I’ve seen recently

 

I hope each of you have a wonderful weekend and a happy Friday!

as promised

Toby Mac and Francis Chan Concert VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Yes, I only took three pictures.

Garden Box Construction VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

You can see the new pine straw and newspaper idea around the boxes as well as the wood rick we built earlier this year to hold wood for our wood stove.  Mike has worked many long hours filling it up with wood for next year.  He just purchased a new axe which is making his life way easier.  Even I can split wood with the new axe =) and a little coaching from a professional.

 

 

 

Here is some of the new growth in our yard.  We didn’t get any berries last year (more than 3 and they never made it to the house) but the second year of growth is supposed to be the most productive.  We have huge vines of blackberry, raspberry (yellow, red, and crimson) and even blueberries from last year that are all budding.  The berries all shot out new plants as well so we’re going to have lots of bushes in no time at all.  I can’t wait.  We even planted some new strawberry plants we purchased this year in hopes of expanding our strawberry patch. 

I did not make it to the front of the house with the camera to document the tulips and gladiolas that are growing. Nor did I document the “hair plugs” that are growing in our lawn =)  But spring is here! 

Have a fantastic day!

It’s been a while

It has been quite a while since I posted. I wanted to update you on what all has gone on in the last few weeks!

in biggest news

MIKE TOOK A NEW JOB!!  He will start next Monday at a company called URS as an engineer.  We are very thankful for this opportunity.  He actually applied to this company during his year of unemployment and even interviewed with them.  They liked him but the position that was available was not the right fit.  He had since applied to other jobs and finally they found one that they thought would be a good fit!  I do believe that he was actually not initially accepted to URS because God had a few divine appointments in store at Yamaha.  It’s awesome that God allows us to see why he has orchestrated events the way he has.

Trial:

Well… I was supposed to be in trial all last week with work.  We prepared (even worked over last weekend) and went in Tuesday at 8:30 to begin trial.  Our entourage, as well as the attorney for the other side, started to unpack and the court reporter came in and said, “the plaintiff called and said he was at the ER and checking into the hospital.”  We were like, this is crazy!!  The guy didn’t even call his own attorney.  (and we later found out he was never admitted to the hospital, and discharged by 10am).  So the trial was postponed to the next available date… which turned out to be April 2012!!! and no that’s not a typo.  So, my week opened up quite nicely and I was even able to work out and get a few things done. 

Kristen and Aaron came into town:

It was really nice to be able to see Aaron and Kristen in town the weekend before last.  We had a lovely time doing some shopping, eating good food, playing some games and just all around enjoying the time together.  Kristen and I were able to put together a new outfit for her which was very exciting!  It was even complete with some awesome knee high boots!

soon to come to a blog near you:

Pictures: Toby Mac Concert Friday night (FREE TICKETS!) complete with awesome message delivered by Francis Chan!

(No, I didn’t take these pictures. These are just to peek your interest and keep you coming back!)

Pictures: Mike and I were able to enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend. We built a new garden box (I’m super excited about the new possibilities), we laid newspaper around the garden boxes and then covered them with pine straw to help cut down on the weeds in the paths, weeded the berry boxes and even planted the forsythia from Aunt Donna.  Mike ordered some little strawberry plants that arrived Saturday, so those got planted as well.  I CAN’T WAIT TO GARDEN THIS YEAR!! I’m getting the itch for sure.  We have tulips coming up and even all the lily bushes are starting to look like chia pets.  I will post pictures soon!

the journey into march

It’s been a little crazy around our house lately. At work, I am currently helping prepare for trial.  Our firm rarely goes to trial (not a bad thing) just because of the nature of our work.  We typically deal directly with businesses helping their HR departments, drafting pension plans, keep their business in good tax shape with the IRS, drafting business deals, that sort of thing.  Well this time, one of our clients was sued by an employee and our client feels strongly enough not to settle; so much so that they’re willing to payout way more to fight the case then they could settle it for. (it really is the right thing in this case I think)  Now my boss has taken a case up to the Supreme Court so this isn’t his first rodeo.  Our trial starts next week, so if I seem a bit wide-eyes and distant… my brain is probably working on overload. 

On a more pleasant note, my great friend Jessica from Cedarville and her husband Rob came and visited us last weekend.  We had a wonderful time at the zoo, then out eating Chipotle and later heading to eat Sushi! Yum =)  We enjoyed a few games of Bang (a card game, similar to mafia) and I’d probably even give it a try again (I’m not a gamer … in case you weren’t aware) but I enjoyed it a lot.

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We were also able to bake some sugar cookies while the men went out and did manly things like chop wood.  Avi helped supervise the baking part to make sure the cookies didn’t burn.  She was rewarded for her help =) She couldn’t quite wait until they were actually done.

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Then there is the story of our dear sweet Amaryllis bulb.  During black friday in 2009.. mike and I purchased two amaryllis bulbs, one for his mom and one for us.  Ours sprouted leafs pretty quickly but no flower stalk ever grew.  Shortly after Christmas 2010… all the leaves on our bulb died! It was tragic.  I had worked so hard to keep it alive and thriving an entire year (some would say for inside plants that’s a huge success for me) to all of a sudden have the leaves just croak.  I was ready to give up, but mike convinced me to trim off all the leaves and keep the bulb.  Within a few weeks, our little bulb began to sprout a stalk!!!  It was a huge accomplishment (and even without any leaves).  It grew (no joke) probably 3 inches each day.  It would be so high when I left in the morning and noticeably higher when I got home.  While Jess and Rob were here, the “bud” started to grow and even began to open a little.  Well anyways long story short.. after over a year of all leaves/no stalk, no leaves, then just a stalk… we have two beautiful amaryllis blooms on our counter.  We even had to stake it to keep it from falling over.  It stands about 3.5 feet tall =)

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It has been super exciting to watch it grow and bloom so quickly! And we even have 2 leaves sprouting again.

 

And the blog post would not be complete without a precious picture of some of the best looking black-haired people that I know (and this is not staged!.. I just happened to catch it on camera)