God is so faithful

I must confess that my life hasn't been filled with trouble. I have always had food, shelter, and many opportunities. I have also always known that no matter what, God is in control. He will provide for my every need.

At the beginning of the summer, my husband got laid off. This was quite a shock to us, because he was working on a job that had a contract through the end of the year, for a company that is one of the most stable companies in the area. After taking a look at our bills and remaining income, we figured out that we would have $500 a month for food, gas, and any other unexpected expenses that might come up. So we have been living frugally as much as possible. God provided Chris with unemployment insurance. It wasn't what he was making before, but it was more than enough to cover our monthly expenses without dipping into our savings.

Chris was a trooper and spent hours on the computer each day searching for available jobs and honing his resume and linked in profile. He had a number of phone interviews, and several in person interviews. But nothing ever seemed to come of these as there was always a more well qualified candidate who applied for the same positions.

The other day, Chris got a call for another phone interview. The interview went well and they said that he'd probably get called in for an in person interview. We didn't get too excited because this has all happened before. A lot. But then in the afternoon, the same recruiter called back and said - instead of an in person interview, we'd just like to offer you the job. Wait - what?!

So yesterday was Chris's first day on the job. He is working for the same well established company that is so stable, although with a new set of people and with a new group. I believe God's hand was on this whole situation. I am amazed at how he worked out the job and put us in a better place than we were in before any of this happened. Chris was able to essentially have a summer vacation to regroup. I treasure the time we were able to spend together this summer (I work from home, so we got to have lots of lunches together). I think the only ones who are upset about this are our dogs, who at 4 pm yesterday started to get antsy and sat by the door until Chris came home later that evening.

I am reminded of this verse:
"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." - Romans 8:28

I can honestly say this is how I feel about our summer. It was a challenging time, but God was so faithful to us, and will continue to be. Of that I am sure.

It's crazy around here!

It's been a while since my last post... life was calm and there wasn't much to post about. All that is about to change!

My brother and sister in law are in town to celebrate their daughter's 1st birthday. We had a celebration yesterday (in sweltering heat) and it was a lot of fun (except for the sweltering heat). I'm excited to spend more time with them this week and will be sad when they leave.

After they return to Indiana, it will be wedding season here - both my brother and sister are getting married within a week of each other at the end of the month. Let the insanity ensue! It should be a fun couple of weeks, but I think I will be glad when everything is calm and back to normal.

On top of all these activities, all computers in our household have decided to go on strike. My work laptop runs at 100% CPU for no forseeable reason - no rogue processes have commandeered the machine, it's just windows. New memory should be on the way from Dell, but today I learned that despite delivering packages here for almost a year, Fedex has decided they don't know where we live. Oh Fedex, don't play games with me! My personal computer - which is at lease 5 years old, probably closer to 6 is on its last legs too - it takes about 30 minutes to fully boot, and any program you launch takes ages to start or respond. Time for an upgrade, but that will have to wait until life is more back to normal. Hopefully the PCs stay up and running, otherwise it will REALLY be a long time before my next post!

Hope you are enjoying your August! Try to stay cool!

Is it really summer?

It sure doesn't feel like summer here in the Pacific Northwest. We have seen many cloudy and cool / rainy days since Memorial Day (and even before that). On the one hand, I'm extremely grateful for the cooler temperatures. I don't do well in the heat, and even though we have air conditioning in the house, it is not my favorite thing to be all hot and sweaty. (This may have something to do with my disdain for exercise... hmm...) On the other hand, I have been finding myself longing for warmer and sunnier days. This is so unlike me!

Anyway, it is actually summer here. I am enjoying the longer days and tending to my flowers in the back yard. Speaking of which, I broke down and bought a beautiful hanging basket. It's a new variety of petunia this year with green edges and purple centers. You just have to see it to believe it!

Close up of "Probably Picasso"















The entire basket:


And, some other photos from the back yard:

Pink:

and you have to have a fuchsia!


last, but not least - my favorite photo of the day:



Even Sydney knows that sometimes, you just have to stop and smell the flowers!

Have a safe and relaxing 4th of July!

The Surprising Joys of Homeownership

As some of you may know, after getting married last year we sold our respective properties and purchased a new home. It is a beautiful home with the latest colors and styles throughout. The kitchen is a dream come true - I finally have enough cupboard space for all those silly gadgets and tools I've accrued over the years.

But buying a brand new home comes with lots of surprises. For example, there were no curtains. Surprise! We have finally been able to put up some sort of window covering in each room - thankfully we live at the end of the street and not many people but the deer saw us coming and going. It did take us 6 months to finally get all the windows covered. (And who knew that could be so expensive!)

We thought we bought the house at a good time - prices were down and that put this house squarely in our affordability bracket. What a wonderful deal! What a beautiful house! Surprise! The radio news reader said yesterday on the news that the Seattle, Portland and Las Vegas areas are all due for another 20% drop in house prices. Wait - we put 20% down - that's a lot of money. Argh!

The last big surprise - Mice. You'd think when you buy a BRAND NEW HOME that it will be pest free. You would be wrong. Somehow mice have been moving in to our garage all winter. We didn't notice it until we smelled something awful in the garage and couldn't place it. It turns out, it was coming from my husband's car. After much time and money spent at the mechanic, we discovered that a mouse (maybe more than one) decided to eat a hole through one of the tubes in the engine compartment and start storing all of his winter food in the car. The awful smell was that food spoiling. So - out came the traps. At last count, we have caught and killed 9 mice. All I can say is - GROSS! However, I think we finally have stopped the mouse madness - it's been over a week since we caught another one. We put some steel wool along the outside of the garage door (between the rails for the door and the frame of the house). Since then, no more mice in traps. Man, I hope this chapter is over.

And I hope there are no more surprises!

Lost and Forlorn

Ok, I admit it. I am suffering LOST withdrawl. I spent 6 years watching this show. Loving this show and its many twists and turns and game changers. The series finale was lovely and I feel it was a satisfying ending, but now I am not quite sure what to do with myself. Sure, I could spend an hour a week doing something productive like reading, or cooking, or excersizing... but truth is, I'd rather be watching LOST. Faced with a summer-time schedule of NOTHING is ON, the loss is even more acute.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime type of show and I don't think I will find anything that enthralls me nearly as much, though I hope I am wrong.

I guess I will hold out hope for one of the many possible spin-offs, including but not limited to:
Hurley and Ben: Island Protectors
Sawyer and Miles: COPS! Hawaii
Desmond and Penny: the Lost years - We have to go BACK!!!




Yes, I am addicted to LOST. I got over Friends... I'll get over this too.

First real post!

Ok - so this is my real attempt at blogging. Not sure I'm going to have a lot to say here - even less sure that any of it will be of interest to anyone... but here goes!

I plan to use this site to talk about things going on with me, my family, and my faith. (Maybe some cooking adventures thrown in there too, just for fun!)

Let's start with the recent updates: we just returned from my third Indianapolis 500. It was SO Much fun! We were able to stay with family (thank you Cameron, Michele and Scarlett!) and spend time catching up, as well as attend Carb day and the race itself. (I have been informed that Carb day is not necessarily a day to intake a lot of "carbs" - though there is a lot of beer consumption. I guess it has to do with carbuerators. Whatever. I think my definition fits better!)


It was so hot at the track on race day - the track was 125 degrees, we weren't in the shade until the race was 1/2 way through. But it was a thrilling spectacle none the less. I look forward to this trip each year. I especially enjoy listening to my husband and his brother theorize about the drivers and make their race predictions. They are very entertaining!


Anyway - it was a great race, and superior effort by Tony Kanaan, but Dario Franchitti (aka Mr. Ashley Judd) won the race and I think he deserved it.


Now it's just back to life in Snoqualmie with Chris and our dogs. (Yes, they are named Sydney and Buddy - hence my blog name.) I'm looking forward to the longer days of summer, hoping to get some good walks in, and maybe a few BBQs with friends and family.


This is Sydney, our cockapoo:






And this is Buddy, our Terrier mix:






I guess that's all for now. Until next time!