Taking a Poll

So I just want to try something because I'm curious.

How many people think that it is the man's job to lock the doors and shut off all the lights every night?
Who thinks it doesn't matter?
And how many have mother's who always did it?

You see, Richard and I have this debate every once in a while in our relationship. Now don't get me wrong, this is not a big issue at all, and I still love him (even though you can probably tell we don't have the same opinion on this). I grew up where my dad is always the one who did this sort of thing. Richard grew up, where I guess, it didnt' really matter and it wasn't a big deal (Gardner's correct me if I'm wrong about this). So for me, when i have to be the one to turn out the lights because he didn't even consider it?!!! for some reason, its a big deal. So I have a very strong feeling about this (especially since I've been pregnant :-)) and just want to know what people think about this, or if other couples have discussed this before.

(Now please no one take me the wrong way, this is not an issue that matters for life, and I still love Richard very much. ) Just Curious

Update

Hello Everyone,

We have been pretty busy lately with things. Richard has finals this week and then will be done with a very hard semester (Last mandated class of Greek, first Hebrew class, and a theology class, very demanding all 3). He has been so busy and has had so much regular work (he works a 24 hour response job, and has had some long days and nights in the cold weather) and school work and other things that demand this time (visitors, moving, and a pregnant wife), that this semester has been so tiring for him. But we can see the end now and are so thankful and he has learned a lot.

I love this time of year especially this year. I am always comparing it to last year at this time. We had just moved and had just found jobs and hadn't really gone to church much. So I made a ton of cookies and had no one to give them to and no Christmas parties to go to. It was kinda sad, but we were excited about our new life at the same time. This year, we have a wonderful church family and friends, and work is very steady and fine and have a very nice apartment, and I am pregnant. :-) So this year is so much fun for me. All the events and planning to do. All the people to share my baking with, which I love to do. It has just been very fun.

Also in about a week and 2 days we will be flying home to Ecuador and my whole family will be together!!!!!! (another huge thing that is so much fun for me).

One thing that happened last week, is that my mom had a mini stroke from high blood pressure. We got the news on thurs early afternoon, and the news was pretty bad at first. slowly we started finding more out, and finally by Saturday I had talked to my mom and she is doing much better. We were praying so hard for her, and it was hard not knowing what actually happened or not being able to talk with either of my parents. (We are so thankful to the Dull family for keeping us updated so often though). it was a very scary thing for her to go through and for our family. She fell from a high chair when she passed out, and hit her head. She did have some memory loss for a few hours, but now she at least remembers she has 4 kids and 3 married daugthers. :-) (Richard said, I'm glad she remembered who I was. :-), he is so funny). She is on bedrest now for a few more days, and is taking it seriously which I'm happy for. And now has a doctor in Ecuador that is helping her monitor it, and gave her a better medicine for the high altitude. All in all, God protected her and worked out the situation because it could've been a lot worse, but it is good now, and she will take it more seriously now. :-) Here is a picture of my mom with my twin and I, its not that good of a picture of her but I love her to death.

I love my mother very much. She is so organized and on top of everything, and always very even-keiled (sp?) about everything. Never overreacts about things and always does everything she has to do in plenty of time. She did teach me about getting everything on the list done. :-) She is the most thoughtful person that I know, and I hope that one day I will be like her in that way. If you think of it, still pray that the blood pressure stays manageable and that nothing like that happens again.

I am now 24 weeks pregnant (almost 25) and feeling great. I still have one pair of pants that still fit me from my pre-pregnancy days, which I was excited about. I am starting to gain weight steadily now, which hopefully I can keep under control. The baby moves a lot and I like that feeling most of the time.

So I will probably not write until I'm in Ecuador or possibly back from Ecuador, and we are just basically enjoying Christmas parties with friends, and a 1st yr bday party for my nephew, and going to Ecuador. I can't wait, and we will have an extra sweet time with my mother now, cherishing her. :-)

2 Year Anniversary

Well Richard and I are celebrating out 2nd anniversary today!!!

Its so much fun being married. Richard was just saying yesterday that he can't believe we have probably spent more than 720 nights together (we didn't add them up exactly). That is one of the great perks to being married is that we can go to bed together and wake up together, that is so comforting. (especially since I always hated sleeping by myself before and always got scared). Richard is an amazing man, so wise and patient with me. I have loved every journey that we have embarked on together so far. We are about to enter a completely new phase of life with children but we both keep saying how nice it is that we are doing it together.
Thank you God for planning to bring us together and to use us and our relationship to glorify your name. Thank you God for protecting him and guiding him. Thank you Lord for seeing fit that we live this life together and Thank You for Richard!!! :-)

Pregnancy pics

This is me at 16 weeks!!And this is me at 18 weeks. (this was after the big move, in our new kitchen which is so nice. I am very tired at this point, but making it through. I still have been working full time and organizing the house in 4 days with now hot water, heat, or cooking gas. Thankfully the gas did get turned on at about 8:30 last night. But the house is ready for visitors coming today and we love the new place.)

A Big Week

Oh Man, I don't even know where to start with this post. Life has been a little crazy around our house. it started out with us finding an apartment. And all the details fitting in to place, for this wonderful new apartment, with great tenants next to us and a wonderful landlord who so generously has lowered the cost and made things very convenient for us. (I feel like there are so many details about this whole week, I will probably forget some). We were trying to think about when to move and how everything would work out. We were looking at guests coming, and school work and projects, work, and weather, and everything. Well come last monday about a week ago, through some circumstances and thinking, I said to Richard "We have to move this weekend, or we won't have time to move". So we thought about it that night, he called both landlords (old and new) and by tues night we had just decided to go ahead and move. Things kept falling into place, and God made it so obvious the rest of the week that he was guiding us and we were following His direction. Tuesday night was the only night that I didn't have anywhere to go. So Melissa (richard's sister) came over and helped me get started and we got a huge chunk of the apartment done. Slowly in every spare moment I packed up as much stuff as I could. My sister Jerelyn and her family so graciously told us that they would come up to help, and that was so huge. I'm telling you, we are forever indebted to them. They did so much for us this past weekend.
Quite a few people offered to help us move and by Saturday morning they were showing up and I think we did pretty good with getting our stuff in order before they all showed up considering the circumstances. God also worked it out so that our old landlord found someone to move into out old apartment and said he would not hold us to our lease, so that was a huge answer to our prayers and we will get our months rent and security deposit back and are not responsible for the utilities in that apartment. And our new landlord is only charging us $250 for the month of november and then starting the lease in December. God is providing for us in amazing ways. Oh I forgot one thing, throughout all last week, Richard was trying to find time in between his usual busyness to put in a washer/dryer hook up with a friend of ours. So that took up a lot of time.
Oh and Friday we also took the afternoon off and had our first ultrasound. It was amazing and so cool. We found out we are having a BOY!!!!! Richard is very happy, and I am excited now. I'm just so glad that everything is healthy, I am healthy, and the baby is kicking like crazy. :-)
So we got completely out of the apartment on Saturday (by the way, I think Jerelyn cleaned my whole old apartment for me, and I am so thankful for that, even my bathroom and oven).
We had a lot to do in the next couple days because we have guests arriving tomorrow!!!!!
Richard's brother Jason, and his wife Autumn and daugther Aspen are coming to visit!!! I am so excited to see them and cannot wait. It will be such a nice time.
But thankfully with so much help from so many people the house is livable and pretty inviting for guests. Stuff isn't out on the walls or set up really, but furniture is in place and boxes are at least stacked (the ones that are still unpacked, I have gotten to quite a few of them). The wasehr/dryer hook up is finally ready to go.
The only downside to this whole story is that there was a big miscommunication with the landlord and our gas has been shut off. There was nothing we could do about that over the weekend, and when we called yesterday, they couldn't come until today. So we have had no hot water, heat or cooking gas. But today I hope it wil be fixed. The heat situation is great though, no heat and we are still very comfortable in the apartment (very contrary to our other apartment) and we have been borrowing showers from friends for the time being.
Richard has thankfully been able to keep up with his homework on top of putting everything together and fixing things. Not as much as he would like, but at least enough to turn things in and take quizes and tests.
God is good and leading us and providing for us, and loves us. We are so amazed at how through just trusting him he has provided for all our needs. I am very very tired and exhausted from moving, lifting probably more than I should and staying up late, but we are nice and comfortable in a wonderful apartment that is a perfect place to start a family.
I will post pics of apartment and my belly as soon as I find time to find the jump drive and copy the pictures onto it to load up. :-) Thanks all for reading this.

Feeling the baby Move!!!

Just a quick note to tell everyone that I'm pretty sure I can feel the baby moving. I have wondered for at least a week or more now. I"m pretty sure now that it is the baby moving. I love the feeling and it is not too often. Well actually the last 2 days I have felt the baby multiple times on multiple occasions. I know everyone describes it differently but for me it is literally like someone or something is brushing their arm up against the inside of me. It is a little weird but so nice at the same time. I wish that I could feel that all day long, it is sort of a comforthing thing. I know in like 10 more weeks I will want it to stop and it will disrupt my sleep (I add that for all those mothers who will probably already say that to me. :-)) but for now I am enjoying it.
My ultrasound is exactly a week from now, and as the date approaches I get more and more excited to see the baby and find out what we are having. :-)
We also found an apartment and now are trying to work out all the details of timing for moving and all of that stuff. Kinda a little stressful, but I need to be patient and trust that God knows how it will all work out already.

Fall!!!

Yes, I'm one of those crazy people that love when the weather starts getting colder. Fall is my favorite time of year. The crip weather, the colors. Its just seems so refreshing after the hot summer days. I love the clothes too, Jeans and sweatshirts are my favorite.

Pregnancy update: I am currently 15 weeks pregnant. My belly is starting to pop out, and starting to not fit inot very many clothes. I'm at the stage now where I look like I have a pot belly, and feel like I should wear a sign, "its not a pot bellly, its a baby". :-) Here is a recent pic I took.

Richard has had the month of October off of classes. (the school has module classes going on this month). But instead of working on homework, his job has been so busy. So we are just plugging along, hoping to make it through. (I know we will).

We are also looking to move to a new apartment when our lease is up in November, so we are in the middle of looking all over for one. Please pray if you think of it, for a perfect price and situation.

I have made the move to the Scranton office, so my drive is about 10 min, and that is only because of traffic lights. :-) Its only 2 miles from my house. I love the change, and so far everything is going well.

A Praise: All of us Mayfield kids will be in Ecuador for Christmas time. We all bought tickets, although expensive but we all have them. It was a big relief to finally get them, and we will all love being together. I will be about 6 months pregnant, and Jerelyn will have her baby. Our family is expanding, but we love it. We are going to cherish the times we have together so much.

No Good, Very Bad Day

Have you ever had one of those days where everything seems to be bad, and you just want to start a new day or go on vacation? Today was one of those days for me. :-) I'll try to add the positive things in as well though.

It started out feeling very very tired. I seem to be more tired the last week or so. I got to work and found out one of the other receptionists was not coming in.(Positive #1, The store that I get a muffin from had resees chocolate muffins today, they were so good) Ok, I thought, thats fine. Usually my job is not very demanding at all. But today was a new thing. I was so busy talking to so many crazy people. (I do applications over the phone for legal aid) I hardly got to eat anything for lunch, which for a pregnant person, that is not a good thing. I had to leave work a little early to go to the dentist and get a cavity filled. That in and of itself would make your day bad.
So I got my cavity filled and it was very painful. I hate the dentist. Meanwhile, I'm still starving and can't eat anything because my cheek is numb. So I came home and layed on the couch for a half hour or so, and Richard came home. And he had a nice little yellow slip to present to me (he got a speeding ticket). That really throws everyone for a loop. He was irritated and I was trying really hard not to be for his sake.

Then I had to go grocery shopping. (postivie #2, I saved $37 on my bill, now that is pretty good). I always feel like I spend so much money so that isn't very fun. We are going on a mini vacation with Richard's brother and fam, and sister and Fam on wednesday, so I had to get a bunch of stuff for that. We are all kinda splitting the food. When we got home, I realized that I had forgotten the ingredients to make puppy chow that I was going to make for the trip. So Richard went back to the store for me.(Positive #3, I have a great husband who will do that for me, even when he has a lot of school work to finish before his 6:30 A.M. class) Meanwhile I'm making another kind of cookie (Centennial crunch) that requires melting butterscotch chips and peanut butter together. OF course I must've burnt the chips or something becuase it started to turn solid. but I still managed to get somewhat of a cookie made out of it, and it still tastes the same. But I'm embarrassed to take my famous cookies on the trip becuase they aren't normally that weird looking.

So Richard gets home from the store and I go to make the puppy chow, and I have to mess that one up too. Who messes puppy chow up? I am usually a pretty decent cook. But again I feel like I wasted all those ingredients, and of course I'm embarrassed to take not very good puppy chow on our trip with us. UGH!!!

And just remember while you read all of this, I am pregnant,(maybe I can blame all of this on being pregnant, at least my mistakes) very very tired, and all I can think about is laying down and sleeping.
So its 8:15pm right now, I'm ready to give up on everything, go to sleep and hope that when I wake up tomorrow things will be brighter and better. :-)
And in one more day I am going on vacation to the Beach!!!!

First Real Doctor's Appointment

Friday Sept 5th I had my first real Doctor's appointment. If you have talked to me about the doctor already you know what I'm saying real. I had an apointment near the beginning of August and had high expectations I guess. But they only took us into an office and asked us our family medical history and sent us away. They didn't even weigh me or anything at all. So I was kinda annoyed and still wondering if things were ok. I thought that appointment would give me some relief of the worry but it didn't do anything. Plus I knew my next appointment wasn't until Sept 5th and that felt like so long to wait.
But the day finally came. It was so amazing. The appointment itself was really quick but she said everything was great and looked completely normal and good. The best part was that we heard our baby's heartbeat. Richard said it was one of the coolest things he has ever heard. :-) She pointed at my stomach and said we should be able to hear it right here. As soon as she put the thing on we could hear it right away, loud and clear, and very fast and steady. Not much else to say about it, except it was so cool. I wish I could still hear it and listen to it. :-)
Its so amazing that its only the size of a Kumquat this week, and weighs less than an ounce, but we can still hear the heartbeat. God is so amazing, and we are learing so much more about his work of creation through finding out about our baby. Its so cool! :-)

My birthday

It seems that we always do something big for my birthday instead of our anniversary. The timing has just worked out better. Last year we were still in CO for my bday and on our annivesary we had just moved to Scranton. This year, we knew that NOvember would be a terrible time to try to do something because its close to the end of the semester for Richard, we will probably be moving into a different apartment, and I will be a lot larger (bellly wise).

So we planned a little gettaway, and tried to do it as inexpensively as possible but it was really fun. Friday night after work we got everything packed up and drove to a state park not too far from here and camped. Of course the weather here has been so AMAZING for like 2 weeks prior and the whole weekend/week after our camping trip. But the one night we decide to camp there is rain predicted, and yes it did rain. But it was just a steady drizzle and didn't really make it miserable. We got there and set up camp, then took a walk, (we had rain ponchos) and then when it got dark we went inside the tent and just read for a while. We were both pretty tired from the whole week, (and I seem to be constantly exhausted lately) so that wasn't bad for us, and we really had a relaxing time. By morning the rain had stopped and it was a beautiful camping morning. We lounged around a little and then went for a hike. Of course if I was my normal self this hike would've been a breeze, but by the end of it I was pretty tired, but very glad that we did the hike. We had lunch by the lake front at the park, then started our drive down to Doug and Steph's house.( Richard's brother and sister in law).

There we chatted for a while, then went for supper with some old friends from college. Its so fun to reconnect and spend some time together. Its fun to chat about how our lives have changed now. I think I will forever be friends with the people I went to school with. There is just a funny connection.

We woke up early Sunday morning and started our drive to NYC. I had never spent very much time there, but it was so cool. Doug and Steph helped us a lot with knowing where to park, and explaining a little about the subway/train system. We didn't have much planned but just wanted to see the city. First we went to Battery Park where we were going to get in line for the ferry ride, but we would've had to wait for a very long time and it was more expensive that we originally thought. (and we were trying to do this as cheap as possible). Richard had done it before and I was fine with seeing the Statue from far away, and so we were both content with that. (we both are pretty layed back about things like this). Then we went up to Times Square and walked around a lot. There is so much to see and all of it is so interesting. WE took a walk up to Central park. But come to find out, that park is huge with so much to do in it. We only saw a little part on the southern end of it. But it was still cool. By that time I was pretty tired. So we rested and just people-watched. NYC is the best place to do that. After that we walked back down to 34th Street and saw the Empire State Building, walked through the famous macy's, which by the way is so big. It was so incredible how big it was. By about 3pm we started heading back to our car.

We had made reservations at a restaurant called the Melting Pot that was located on the Jersey side on the water front facing the city. It was pretty easy to find and was such a great experience. It is a little pricey(the only thing we splurged on:-)) but you don't regret it. I could go on and explain all he food we tasted but it really wouldn't mean that much to you guys. But needless to say, the atmospher, the food, the experience was all so much fun.

WE finished pretty early about 8pm and walked around the waterfront which was so cool. Then drove the 2 hour ride home. It was such a fun weekend. We enjoyed ourselves so much. And one of the best parts of the weekend, is we still had labor day off (my actual birthday) so we could rest and get ready for the busy week ahead. It was so great. We will remember it forever. :-)

Then on Monday night, Melissa (richard sister that lives here in the area with us) came over with a beautiful cake that she made for me and a very very cute purse that she made. Perfect way to end my birthday. (Although I did miss being with my twin, and the rest of my family)

Prego my eggo!!!

Well I waited long enough to let the cat out of the bag!!!
It actually hasn't been very long at all, it has just seemed like a long time for me.
We found a couple weeks ago that yes, I indeed am Pregnant. I am 7 weeks along today!!! I know not very far, but I would rather people praying for me this whole time. Its just my personality to let people know about me. :-)
WE are very excited about this news. My due date is March 31st. Most of the time it doesn't really seem real to either of us. It just seems like something that would never happen to you. But we are so thankful and anxious to enter this new stage of life.
I think that it makes me love Richard more. I have been pretty sick (not throwing up yet at all but very nauseous, and very very fatigued). So Richard has stepped right up and helped out so much. I know he won't be able to much once he starts school but I'm thankful for it right now.
So I need to update about the job situation too. I didn't want to until I made the announcement because they are very intertwined. :-) So I had 2 interviews with the elementary school. The week I had the second interview there was suspicions about pregnancy but not sure yet. At the end of the week I took a test and found out the suspicions were right. Now the situation is very difficult. During that same week, I had let my managers know about the possiblity of me leaving. Of course they were very sad, but understand and were thankful that I had let them know instead of surprising them. But they did offer me a position at the office very close to my house if that would make me stay. (Right now I travel about 40 min one way every day) At that time, i was pretty set on taking the job offer. It was a crazy week of wondering if I was pregnant, making the difficult conversation with my current managers and interviewing for the new job. God was very clear to us what we should do. Once I found out I was pregnant for sure, it was pretty obvious what I would do. So I regrettfully had to turn down the job that I would love and thrive at mostly because they did not offer any insurance and I wouldn't even be able to stay for the entire school year. Of course my present managers were very happy, and I am moving to Scranton office. (yay) The administrator of the school was very understanding, but I still felt bad. I told him the same day he offered me the contract. But God was working everything out. I hope they find a secretary soon!
There is a great support group here at our church. The young married Sunday school class that we attend all have kids, and are so helpful and giving about anything. So I'm glad about that.
Please stay in prayer for me and the baby, and for safety. A whole new wave of worries start to overcome me, and I just need to trust God and his plan. But so far so good.

Parties

Last weekend we were so busy. Lots of stuff to do with all our new friends here in Scranton PA. Satruday morning we went to our friends Ben and Cathy to help them out some. They have a huge project in their yard to do, so the guys went out and worked hard on that. Me and cathy stayed inside and got all the food ready for her Daughter's 2nd bday party. I was so glad that we could help them and we always have a fun time when we are together. Saturday night we went with our young married class to a Triple A baseball game. We had a tailgate party in the parking lot before the game. That was fun. I'm not a big fan of baseball but it was fun to talk with everyone there. WE got home pretty late but it was nice.

Then Sunday evening was the big 2 year old bday party. I didn't take my camera so I don't have pictures. I've been waiting for Cathy to put pics up on facebook to steal them for my blog but she is a busy mother. And I wanted to post this before another weekend goes by. She made cakes out of cupcakes shaped like Bob and Larry from Veggie Tales. They turned out so cute. There was so many people there and you know me, I love all the social activity. :-) There were two new couples there too so it was fun getting to know them. All the people there had tons of kids, so it was so fun to see them interacting together.

Monday night, we went to a surprise bday party for another new friend of mine, Caren. She is the mother of a 2 year old and twins about 10 months old I think. She was turning 30. That was a fun night, and I do have some pics of that night that I stole off of her facebook. :-) Again another night filled with socializing with all our new contacts.

We are so thankful for the friendships that have started to grow since we moved here. It is very encouraging to us.

Grandparents come to town

This weekend Richard's parents and one set of grandparents came to NE PA. We had a great time and it was so nice to see them. His parents stayed with us and grandparents stayed with Melissa and Jon and Chase. They got here thurs night and RIchard and I took Friday off of work. I love taking days off of work. So we planned a picnic at a state park but first Richard and his father went for a round of golf. We took subway there and then we went paddle boating and enjoyed the nice warm weather. I had everyone over to my house and cooked them all stromboli and salad with the produce from the Farmer's market. It all turned out great. I am so happy to be able to host people. I think everyone liked it too. Then after that we went mini golfing, which turned out to be very fun. Then back to my house for brownies and ice cream thanks to melissa.

Sat we took our time waking up and then I made waffles for the Gardners. Then the ladies went out shopping and the boys accompanied us for a little bit, mostly until they had eaten lunch with us. Sat night we had a cook out at Melissa's. Then we just enjoyed eachother company and played a funny game of Apples to Apples.

Sunday we went to Jon and Melissa's church because they had their baby's dedication that day. Jon's parents were also there. It was so nice that all of us could be there for that event. WE went out for lunch after that. Then we all crashed at Melissa's house for the afternoon. In the evening we went to a very nice park in Scranton called Nay Aug (I have no idea what that means). I was a beautiful little place. i was glad we went there. WE had fun, and saw a little bit more of scranton and its potential to be cool. :-)

They left on Monday morning so I worked at getting my house back in order. I love having the company though.

Tonight I have a more formal interview for the secretary position. So I will have to update you later on how that goes. I'm kinda nervous but mostly because I don't know what is going to happen or how to plan. I need to trust that God is in control. But I am still going along the process of getting hired. :-)

Random

Hi, It's been a few weeks. It seems like a lot has been going on, but nothing overly exciting to write about. So here is just a little about what has been happening.

One thing that has happened and been a big part of our lives lately is Richard's work. Its been frustrating at times and i have to learn to be very flexible with it. He works for a company that is a 24 hour response to water and fire damages. So he has to be very flexible. Without going into too much detail, they are very unorganized and I feel like they take advantage of Richard a lot. Things could be run a lot better. But in the midst of this complaining about them, I will make sure you know that we are thankful for the job for these reasons. The last semester they had been very flexible with his school hours, and he was still able to get close 40 hours almost every week without having to work every evening like a lot of seminary husbands do. So even though he would be gone late some nights and sometimes it was unexpected, there was still some nights where he was home with me. So even though its frustrating, for now it is working out. They did tell him that he would get a raise after 3 months. It was coming up on 7 and he hadn't gotten one yet. Also he has had to drive like 3 hours one way sometimes to jobs, and he has been driving his old truck a lot for that. He does get paid for drive time, and they cover his gas though. This summer too he has been getting a ton of overtime hours. (which is nice for the paycheck, but not so nice with him being gone so long) But two things have happened recently that have made me thankful for it. He did get a $2 raise which we were so thankful for and it was long overdue. But it is so nice. And he has a pretty old truck that we bought in Grand Junction, CO. He has been driving it a ton. Recently he had to compelety fix the rotters (sp?) and break pads. Then the other day he was driving it and the wheel on the other side almost completely fell off. WE thought it was going to be very time consuming and expensive to fix. But his boss took care of fixing it and paying the bill and it was ready by the time he was done work that day!!! Praise the Lord. So even though there is a lot of negative things about the job, I can still be thankful for it.

Fourth of July have come and gone. Jerelyn was going to come visit for the weekend but ended up not coming becuase of car trouble. I was sad, but we were with Melissa and Jon (My sister in law and husband) and had a nice cook out. WE found a great place for fireworks too. Sat we went to some outlets I had wanted to go to since we got here. So that was fun cause Richard and I spent the whole day away and together. It was nice and relaxing. I just have a couple pictures from that weekend. Chase (Melissa's boy) is the baby I"m holding. ( I babysit him quite often so Melissa can work. I love the time I can spend with my nephews and niece) The pic of the two of us is at the fireworks. You can't tell by the picture but it was by a beatiful lake.

My brother is still living with us, and it has been working out very well.

Please pray for me on Tues, I have a meeting with the school administrator for the highschool our church has, he has asked if I would be interested in being the school secretary and I think he thinks he could use me for the Spanish aspect too. I know I would love it, but there are a few things to consider and talk about with him. I will know more after I talk with him. But we do have some decisions to make soon about that area. I am ready to be done the job am doing now, especially if something like that arose. So please pray we follow God's leading in it.

Also, we are trying to buy plane tickets right now for Ecuador over Christmas time. We plan on all the kids going back for this Christmas. We are praying that God leads us to the right tickets for good prices and good dates and everything.

Overall our summer has been busy with a lot of little things but very fun. Richard is ready to start classes since that is what we are here for, and I am enjoying the time he has off. :-)

Gardner's and a set of Grandparents are coming this weekend, so i hope to have a few more interesting things to write about. Enjoy the update. :-)

We also have gone down about an hour and half South to Richard's brother's house (Doug) a few times lately. Stephanie just had their 3rd and I had a great time holding him and meeting him.

Family events

My side of the family always seems to have big events and lots of things to work out. Last weekend was one of those weekends. Of course with people living out of the country that always puts a twist on things.

So last weekend we all traveled out to Boston. My brother was graduating from a highschool out there. So we had his party to plan and attend his graduation. And May was the month of my parent's 25th anniversary. So with my aunts and sisters, we planned a party for them. Of course none of us planning any of this actually live in Boston. But we do have great family friends that live there and helped out so much.

So my whole family, even Juli and Scott this time, were together. It had been a year since we had all gotten together. Someone from the church there let us all stay at their house so we could all be together. That had to have been the best part of the whole weekend.

So Friday night we had a party for my parents. Not as many people as we were planning for came, but it was still nice and I think my parents still enjoyed it. Of course we had tons of food left over too.

Then Sat, was Jeff's graduation party. And once again, we ad so much food left over. WE were eating party food the rest of the weekend. (Richard was really sick of little sandwhiches, and we even had to bring some home. :-)) He got a lot of good gifts.

Sunday was his actual graduation at night. There were 11 in his class. Its so fun that he has graduated. Good Job, Jeff!

And of course we had to take pictures of the family, and the new baby. I bet there won't be this many pics of any of the other grandchildren. Besides the fact that he is perfect, and now all of our kids will always been compared to him, "Daniel never cried like that, Daniel always smiled at me, Daniel never cried when I held him, Why can't he be more like Daniel was. " I can just hear all the comments now. :-) But we love him to death!!!

Memorial Day Weekend.

Memorial Day weekend was so much fun. I was looking forward to it so much. My parents flew to the states on that Friday night. The Kurty Family (a.k.a. the baby family) was coming up too. So Jerelyn and her family got here about 10 P.M. that Friday night. My parents were supposed to fly into Newark NJ (about 2 hours from us) at midnight but their flight got delayed until 2A.M!!! So Richard and I hopped in the car at midnight and drove to Newark to pick them up. All their luggage came which was so nice. By the time we picked them up and drove home, it was 5 A.M. the sun was rising!!! (by the way, here in NEPA the sun starts rising at 4:30 A.M. ) So we kinda missed that night. But the clincher to this whole story is that my dad didn't know that the Kurtys were going to be here. So he was so surprised and happy that he was going to get to see his first grandson a whole week earlier than he thought. We kept it a secret too. So of course we got home really early in the morning, but when the baby got up at 7, we all had to too, because we love that baby so much and had to see my dad's reaction to seeing him. It was so nice to surprise him.

I had meals planned for that weekend and it was so much fun planning and cooking. Richard helped me a ton. I made one of our favorite meals (Cajun chicken pasta), Roasted chicken, and a french toast cassarole. . . Oh man, it was so much fun finding all these recipes and planning for a group of people.

There were a couple people that live close that knew my parents, but hadn't seen them in a long time that wanted to visit with them. So we had even more people in our tiny apartment. But it worked. Its a good thing my family isn't picky.

Sunday night we all went and played mini golf, which was really fun. But I must say the highlight of the whole weekend was being with the baby of the family. He is so cute. A perfect baby, happy, easy to put to sleep, easy to feed, always content no matter what. When babies are like that, it makes it so fun to be with them. It was very stressless with the baby here.

Monday we had a cook out for Memorial Day. Richard made hamburgers, I made a very good macaroni and cheese. It was just very fun.

I love entertaining and cooking, so that was just a very enjoyable weekend for me. Besides the fact that we had a day off of work, and we were with family. (minus Juli and Scott :-( )

What a fun Weekend!

Its so wonderful to finally have events to go to with friends from our church that we have been attending. We had a fun packed weekend with people. On Sat morning Richard went out and played golf with one of the husband's of the new couples we are friends with. He had a great time because it was his first time out on the course. Meanwhile, I went with the wife and her two kids yard sale-ing and stuff like that. We had a great time.

I had the afternoon to fix my food for the big evening event. We have been attending a young married Sunday School class, ( that is where all of our friends have come from) and that class had a planned Wii bowling night. All the couples were supposed to dress up like a team together. We supposed to bring finger foods and desserts. So I took Emerill's tortilla roll Pin wheel things, and then lemon cream cheese cup cakes (from Kraft foods). Both were very good. So we went and there were about 13 couples which is a good amount of couples. We had a great time on two big screens playing the Wii. Its so nice to have events to go to. I love thinking of foods to make, and planning in my head and looking forward to social things like this.

Sunday we went to church like normal and of course I enjoyed our Sunday School class and the fellowship that we have. (I feel like we have not had christian fellowship with young couples for so long that it is soooooooo refreshing for us).

We had been attending a marriage seminary on Sunday nights. We were watching the movie imarriage by Andy Stanley. It was very good. There was a great variety of couples in the class and we really had a great time of discussion and fellowship. It was a 6 week long seminary (meeting every sunday night for 6 weeks) and then this past sunday was like a big cookout. We were invited to one of the couples house (which by the way was beautiful and big and so much land and amazing). We all had to take a salad or dessert, so again I enjoyed thoroughly planning and making something for that. I made a double chocolate strawberry cake thing. It looked and tasted very good. Again the fellowship was so refreshing. If anyone knows me, they know that I love people and doing things, so I am so happy that finally we have people in our lives who we can do things with. Slowly we are meeting other people from the church too so that is very encouraging.

I know we are going to enjoy this summer of being here and meeting and getting to know the people that are around us.

Now we are here, my brother (thank the LORD) has found a perfect job. He is working for someone landscaping. This guy is a christian and has connections to BBC. It worked out so good for Jeff. He was nervous about working his first real job. But this is a perfect job for a hard working young man, on his way to college. God truly does answer prayers.

This coming weekend is another one to look forward to. I will have to post about it after the weekend, but a sneak peak is that my parents will be here from Ecuador and Jerelyn with the baby is coming up here too!!! Yay!. I have had so much fun planning the food and the events to do. Its going to be so nice to have them all here. :-) I will try to take pics and write about it after the weekend is over. Until Then . . .

Spring Update

Tons has happened since the last time I wrote. We have finished the soccer session last night and didn't do too good, but we still had fun. Another session starts right up.

Today is Richard's Birthday. I would love to make it a big deal and spend tons of money. But we went earlier this month to see Brian Regan live for his birthday. That was kinda expensive and we had a nice dinner so today we are keeping pretty low key. I baked him cupcakes to take to work like he is in kindergarten but its still something special. :-) I got him coffee in bed and had two books to give him, so I think he is having a good day. I love spending these special days together married.

April 12th we had a retreat with our new sunday school class. Only 4 couples total attended but it was a very nice time for us to get to know these couples better and we enjoyed the whole fun packed day thoroughly. Here are some pictures of our new friends at the event. :-)

April is also the month that my brother is coming to live with us for the summer. He arrives in Newark NJ tomorrow. So we have been working on getting our spare room set up like a bedroom. Our new friends graciously gave us a futon for Jeff to sleep on so that was very very generous of them. I'm excited to get to know my brother again. I feel like I haven't even spent that much time with him for almost 7 years (except for a little blip in there right before my wedding). So I'm looking forward to this time to get reaquainted with him. From what I hear he is a grown young man now. YIKES! He does need a job for the summer and then he will be going to NBBC in the Fall.

Richard has 2 weeks left of his first semester at Seminary. We will both be ecstatic when it is all over and we have the summer to enjoy together (of course not without my brother though :-)). Richard has been very diligent in getting his work done but it still seems endless. He has applied himself thoroughly and has gleaned so much from this semester so I'm happy for that. I will be even happier when he has some free time to spend with me though. :-)

As I look to the month of May I get so excited. Lots of stuff going on. My brother's graduation in Boston. My parents 25th anniversary party in Boston. Our entire family being together again for them both (the last time we were together was a year ago and now we have a baby to add YEAH!). Spending Memorial day weekend with my family. A trip to DC to see Wes and Katie Kouba. There is so much to look forward too. And no stress of school or those school bills. YEAH!

As you can tell I am very very happy about that! And of course I have to post a picture of the newest member of our family. :-)