Tuesday, November 23, 2010

movingggggggggggg

the day has FINALLY arrived that we are moving to our new apartment. we are thrilled. I'm ready to have these boxes out of my line of sight. PLUS, it's just fun to be in a new place. :) Last night, I had a moment. The place we are in right now was the start of our young marriage. We've shared LOTS of memories in this tiny place the past 8 months. We spent a few minutes sharing our favorite memories & laughing all over again. Ventura flats apartment will always hold apart of our lives. :) (cheesy...i know)

bad news: we went over to the apartment last night when we got back into town (more on that later) I wanted to take care of the inventory sheet before we moved everything in. We walked into our apartment and found these little "bug bombs". Well, those didn't work. There are little baby & tad grown roaches that were all around. NO WAY! i hate roaches. This morning as soon as the office opened I called to ask to get something done IMMEDIATELY before we move our stuff in. I can't have roaches hanging out in my couches or enjoying MY food. pshh. So HOPEFULLY something will be done ASAP.

good news: I think we will really enjoy this place. I'm pretty sure i'm already in love with it & we don't have any furniture in yet. It's a little old, so our bedroom & living room don't have lights. ANNOYING. So we will be buying something. And we have this "amazing" gold chandelier for our dining room light. hilarious i tell you. I guess some people might think it's cool & vintage, I personally don't like it. But I'm already over it. Not to mention that our bathroom counter top has this ridiculous brown marble look...ha! It will be ok though. i love the space.

I've still got a few things I need to pack up. You know, the random crap that never seems to make it into a box. But for the most part, we are ready for 2:00. I am picking up the uhaul at noon with my mom & dad. :) yahooooooooo

I will add pictures soon. Note: we won't have internet probably until the end of the week in our new place.

-Kells

Monday, November 15, 2010

tears...

I don't know if any of y'all have watched Undercover Boss. It comes on every Sunday after The Amazing Race. I enjoy the show. But geez it's emotional. I tear up EVERY time I see it. But I would still highly recommend watching it.

Today, I went to the store to pick up a few things to hold us over until this weekend when we leave. First, know that I don't really like the grocery store. Yes, the Lord has changed my heart on this (no joke) so I'm able to serve Teddy more...but I still don't HIGHLY enjoy. It's become bearable. Anyways, I grabbed my shopping cart & away I went. I was about 5 mins in (few things in my basket) when it started making this horrific high pitch noise. I was embarrassed. :) But it kept coming and going the entire time I was there. Sure, I could've traded out, but that would've been too much of a hassle. So I walked through quickly, ekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk happening every 2 mins or so, and just smiled. Another reason not to like it.

We are heading out of town this weekend to Tyler, TX. We stay at the Pine Cove camp there for our regional staff retreat. I'm thrilled that Teddy gets to go with me this year! It really is a fun time for everyone! I think we will REALLY enjoy our time. The day we get home (monday) we get our keys to our new place. And Tuesday we start moving. My family gets in town Monday too! (mom & dad)...Grandma arrives Wednesday. I'm excited for my family to be here.

These next couple of weeks are going to fly. It's about to be December & I will probably have another blog post about "Where did November go?" :) Christmas is around 40 days away!

Hopefully I won't be gone for that long. I will try to post pictures of our new apartment ASAP. You better believe one of the first things I will be doing is putting up our new christmas tree. CAN'T WAIT!!

-Kells

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

summer project!

Last night our ministry hosted a Summer Project Dinner. We had over 50 students come to hear more information about SP's. If only you could even understand a LITTLE about how much that makes my heart so HAPPY. I love summer project.

Why?

Because my life was changed at Hampton Beach Summer Project 2006

It was there that I realized I don't understand Prayer or have a prayer life. I joined the prayer team to learn more & ended up leading it once the staff left. GROWTH.

It was there that I finally understand what vulnerability is. I shared things with people that I never thought I could share about. This summer changed my relationships back home forever. It shaped my future relationships. I know understand why "being in the light" with sin is incredibly important.

It was there that I realized the guy I was dating wasn't who I was suppose to marry. I thought we had a healthy, good relationship. I had friends & staff point me to the Bible and when I started comparing it to the Word I realized QUICKLY our good Christian relationship, really wasn't that at all. We broke up after the summer. Praise the Lord for this, because I got to meet & start dating Teddy 2 years later.

It was there that I met Dena (California), Katie (Florida), Taylor (Oklahoma), Danielle (Iowa), Michelle (N. Carolina), and Erin (Indiana). These girls were my best friends. Erin and I were roommates & that was DEFINITELY a God thing. We got along PERFECT and were incredibly close. Katie, Danielle, Michelle, (and erin) were in my small group bible study. We walked through this summer laughing, dancing, crying, praying, and celebrating Christ together. Taylor was only in my "cooking group"...but we became close because we both had boyfriends back home (Erin, Taylor, and I connected about this). I'm so grateful for that, because I see her the most now because she lives the closet. I was even in her wedding 2 years ago! Dena wasn't in any of my groups. We became close half way through project. This girl was in my wedding, if that tells you anything. We became attached at the hip. I have spent the past 4 1/2 years seeing each of these ladies almost once a year. Life changing friendships.

It was there, that I realized I can be a leader. The staff encouraged me & saw things in me that I didn't see. The Lord was revealing many things through the staff women.

It was there that I worked at Mcdonalds on the beach. It was the best job I had all through college...yes really. I enjoyed EVERY day. My bosses were great. My co-workers were from all over: Russia, Romania, P. Rico. I developed really fun relationships. I even met up with one of the Russian girls the next summer in New York City.

It was there I actually started journaling. I'm still not very good at it, but I can go back and read those journals now & just smile at where God has brought me.

It was there that I wore my first one piece bathing suit to a beach. Yep, it was from target and I LOVED that suit. Now 4 years later it makes COMPLETE sense why they ask the women to wear tankinis/one pieces. My view on modesty started changing that summer. I pushed the line that summer, even brought my two piece when they told us not too. I look back and laugh that I asked a couple guys if they wouldn't mind me wearing my two piece to Six flags. It was all girls & two guys...of course they said yes. Silly me. :)

It was there that I cried my eyes out the day we had to leave. We had lived together for 10 weeks. None of us wanted to leave. We cried and cried and cried. I use to watch the Real World (mtv) and would cry on the last episode, ONLY because it reminded me of THAT day when we had to depart from one another. We had all just experienced something VERY real for 10 weeks. It was hard to go home to people who didn't understand.

ok ok, i really could keep going.
If you have the opportunity to give support ($$) to a student going on Summer Project, I would say DO IT. You will be investing in something that is life changing. They will learn what it can look like to walk with the Lord for a life time. It truly can further God's Kingdom!

LIFE CHANGING!!


My bible study. We were probably the closet bible study there. Michelle, Me, Katie, Erin, and Danielle.



Dena and I at the final closing banquet :)


Katie, Me, Taylor in Boston. It became my favorite city in America!


My home-"The Gull"...2 blocks from the beach :)
GO ON SUMMER PROJECT!!!
www.gosummerproject.com


-Kells

Monday, November 8, 2010

cheap!

1. i have a Christmas tree sitting in my living room. a nice 7ft one. Can't wait to move in 2 weeks so I can set it up. yahooooooo Now I gotta get some ornaments & such. Again, I'm on the look out for FREE ones. this freecyle thing (mentioned in last post) is BRILLIANT.

2. Electricity. There have been moments in the midst of our marriage that I don't even want to open our electricity bill. And I'm like the light nazi around this house & while in college. I'm having to remind Teddy to turn off lights or I just get up and take care of it myself. At one point this summer our bill was up to $90. Some of y'all think that's really cheap...but really we live in a shoebox. 650 sq ft, 2 windows. The only problem is its an old apartment, our little air conditioner can't quite keep up, therefore it runs all day. Anyways, we went to the mail box yesterday and our lovely LP&L bill was in. This time I was excited to open it because with the weather changing our air doesn't run hardly at all. TWENTY-TWO DOLLARS. yep, that was it. I was THRILLED to pieces. I did a little celebrating in the car. PUMPED UP. That helps us this month as we are having more bills because of moving & such.

Random post, I know. But I needed to celebrate again. :) I don't think our new place will be as cheap....we will have vaulted ceilings.

-Kells

Saturday, November 6, 2010

christmas tree

YES!

Last Saturday while Teddy and I were out shopping for Christmas I realized that we would be able to have our first christmas ortament AND we would have room in our new apartment for a "big girl tree". I've wanted a large Christmas tree since I was in college, but never lived in a place that would allow that to happen.

Well, as I said we are moving & and have SPACE! I can't even begin to tell you how STINKIN excited I am. Well, that excitment drifted away while we were shopping and I realized how expensive trees are. Goodness!

Still determined to have our first christmas with a Christmas tree, I posted it on facebook. Hoping that maybe someone had an extra one by chance or knew someone getting rid of one tree to get a better one. I posted it & didn't get much action. So I decided to post it again, and wala started getting response. Many people told me to look here & here & here...but I was convinced the Lord would provide us a free tree. I prayed for it. :)

My uncle recommended me looking into "freecyle" group in Lubbock. I had never heard of any such thing...but it exist. It probably exist in your town too...just google it & sign up. I posted that I wanted a christmas tree and had two responses in 3 days. BAM! The Lord is so gracious.

So tomorrow afternoon I will be picking up my first Christmas tree with my husband so we can celebrate our first christmas together properly. :)

Once again reminded that the Lord cares, even for the little things.


My hopes one day is to have a "silly tree" which would include paper ortaments with our kids faces on them (you know what I mean) & a formal tree for the front window (THE beautiful tree) We have ONE down, one to go. (oh and we need children too :)

-Kells

Monday, November 1, 2010

lately!

I've been dreading writing this because so much has been going on.
1) we are moving across down in 3 weeks. Yes this was decided last week
2) I made a need recipe & we both really enjoyed it
3) it's already November & I don't know where time is going
4) processing multiple things with the Lord lately...mostly dealing with roles in marriage, stay at home vs working mom, biblical ways to raise a family...not because we are pregnant, just different things we are talking about for our future.
5) We've had two date nights two weekends in a row...it's been FUN.
so let me break a few of these down:

-We are moving. Our lease is up in December & so we started looking around. We found a place that had an opening on Nov 22nd. I asked my manager currently if we could get out of our lease early & break the 30 day notice. I got a yes on both (yay for a good relationship with her) So I went back the next day and we signed up & paid. We are moving from a 1 bedroom/1bath TINY place, to 1 bedroom/1bath/ bigger place. 811 sq ft...it feels SO big. :) One day I will probably laugh at that number as we have 5 kids & 2 adults living under one roof....one day. Things that i'm pumped about is a BIGGER kitchen (lots of counter space!), a dining space (no more dinners on coffee table), a big living room (can actually have people over), bigger bathroom (more storage for our stuff), huge walk in closet (yahoo!), and a smaller bedroom. I've realized that the bedroom isn't a HUGE deal...only Teddy and I are in there. So our values our the hosting space...which we have FINALLY. So yes, moving in 3 weeks is kind of crazy to think, but we are thrilled to pieces! I've gotta start packing ASAP!

-Let me just say, I spent 3 hours prepping for this dadgum dinner. I had to thaw TONS of chicken which took 45 mins in itself. Just lots of time...but it was SO yummy. Green chile chicken casserole. http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/quick-and-easy-green-chile-chicken-enchilada-casserole/Detail.aspx It says "quick & easy"...bull crap. But either way, it was YUMMY. We had plenty of left overs too, that tasted great re-heated.

-This past weekend Teddy and I went on a date! Being on a cash budget, we have to save for a little while in order to go on our favorite date: Sushi! So this Friday night we got to go on our favorite date. We splurged and got two types of sushi & got habachi too. YUMMY! Then we went on an adventure to try and find a normal looking pumpkin two days before halloween. Nearly impossible people. But we finally scored & came home to carve. We were up until 1am carving. We haven't stayed up that late in FOREVER. It was fun to have good quality time. :) I made a owl sitting on a branch & Teddy made a spider & web.

-The stuff I'm processing with the Lord right now is long. Deserves a post all by itself. I will see about doing that some time later. It's good though & the Lord has done some fun things in my heart lately.


Ok, I've gotta get on dinner now.
-Kells