what's going on?

so yes, that title looks lame. But really I was singing a song that says that...so in my personal opinion it's fantastic.

can you believe that tomorrow I have been a wife for TWO months. Where does time go? We are slowly getting settled into our apartment. It doesn't help that we moved in the 6 days before our wedding. So we come home, both thrown back into work, trying to figure out schedules, all while trying to make our little apartment a home. I officially have 3 things up on the walls in the entire place. But we do have a rug for the living room & coffee table. :) We have all the other normal apartment stuff...but those were things we needed.

As I've started cooking around here I quickly realized that I was missing a few things:
1) Measuring cups. Yes, i have the spoons & the BIG pyrex ones. But i need the ones that are 1 cup, 1/3 a cup, 1/4 cup etc. I literally used our ice cream scoop when i made pancakes yesterday.
2) Mixing bowls (plastic kind). I have ONE glass pyrex bowl that I've done all my mixing & prepping in. But again I only have ONE. So when i was making cookies the other day (two different kinds) it was annoying to have to clean it out & then start again.
3) Cooling racks. Again, baking cookies the other day...these would have been handy
4) I don't have any "to go" type platters/dishes things. So when i made my cookies & had to take them to Kim's shower I just placed a paper towel over it. LAME..and didn't work good. We apparently purchased the pyrex set that came with 7 pieces and only 2 lids for the smallest bowls. STUPID on our side.

Of course, these aren't NEEDS...more wants. But it would help me in the kitchen for sure. Speaking of kitchen--I cooked two new things this week. Oven baked chicken (using Bisquick recipe) & Broiled Parmesan Tilapia. Very basic things but very exciting to try it out. If you know me at all....I've been much of a cook. But I'm having fun learning and reading recipe. I'm even in the process of collecting recipes online & made a folder to help keep me organized. :) this is serious business! Oh & my new favorite breakfast is waffles...thanks to our handy waffle maker. I like to surprise Teddy sometimes when he comes home in the morning from work with breakfast ready.

We finally made a budget about a month in. Meaning...we've been on this strict cash system for a month now. It's working pretty well. I feel like we understand where our money is going now & when we are out of cash then we are out. Which means we get creative with eating at home or staying in for the evening.
We have 5 different categories we put cash into:
1) Groceries (literally make a list, calculate as we shop, and if it looks like we are going to spend over we put something back...and wait until the next time)
2) Entertainment/Dates (dinner with friends, ice cream, bingo, and any dates)
3) Restaurants (eating out period.)
4) Travel (for random weekend trips & such)
5) Allowance (we each get a certain amount every two weeks. This is helpful & cuts out stupid small conversations about finances that isn't needed. If he wants to play golf with his friends he spends from his allowance. If I want to go out to eat with my girls, it comes out of my allowance. If I want to get my nails done, buy a shirt/shoes...it comes from here. If we don't have the money, then we wait until we "reload" our envelopes every 2 weeks)

Anything else is paid for online (bills & tithe) Its fun to feel that we are exercising self-control in the area of finances. Plus, we are also doing this snowball effect on our two debts we have. Praise God we only have two debts at this point. Most enter marriage with lots of debt ours is pretty minimal. We can't WAIT to be out of debt. We will be able to put that money towards saving, travel, and maybe even our allowance :)

In 6 days I leave for Hill Country Trek summer project. It's only a one week project. Then I will come home and hit support raising HARD. I'm needing to raise an additional $1000 monthly at this point. Even though I'm shifting to part time...yes I'm raising less money. But over the last two years I have lost a handful of support...putting me in the position where I need to not only keep everyone who supports me now....but add more. I enjoy raising support. Mostly because I like catching up with people & sharing with them how college students are truly in an important point in life...life changing perhaps. AND I like to give people the opportunity to give. Many people WANT to give money for different reasons...but DON'T know where to give. HI I'M KELLI LYTLE...you can give to me & my ministry Campus Crusade :)

Teddy and I are enjoying being married. We are learning as we go for sure. The nights that he is off work before we go to sleep we pray. I'm pretty positive that every time we mentioned, "Lord, please continue to teach us how to Love one another & learn in marriage." Can I get an AMEN? I know for the rest of our lives we will be working on this. We will never "arrive" in marriage. It will always be work & extending grace EVERY DAY. One thing that has been helpful thus far is listening to sermons by Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church on Marriage. You can google his church & then search for marriage sermons on his site. There are MANY. He is brutally honest but 100% biblical...which is helpful. I recommend him.

alright...enough of this business. I have a bathroom that needs to be cleaned & our living room still has boxes that I'm trying to get rid of. Plus another run to target (3rd this week) to pick up those things in the list above. We still have around $250 to target to spend....we got SOOOO much target money & have used alot too. I'm grateful you can get lots of things there...even groceries.

hope you enjoyed this random update. Please pray for my support raising & that people would be open to giving again.

-Kells

"I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them." 1 Tim 2:1