A child of God educating other children.

Everyone needs to go out and buy "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. Tim and I met with a financial adviser in our church this morning, and I am so excited! He told us to read this book and then we'll meet again. Today was a very busy day at work for me, but I still got to page 79 in here. The other girl called in sick, so I had double the work to do, which today the machines weren't running smoothly, so I actually kept busy. But this book is so good I was reading it every chance I got.

We are putting off buying a house. We've only been married for one year, so we can stand renting for a while longer. But I started calling around tonight when I got home for other rent homes we can move into with lots cheaper rent. Turns out we're renting for about $200 more than we should be if we want to get out of debt. We don't have hardly any debt compared to most of America, but any debt is not good, and we want to get rid of it. So we already agreed on a couple monthly payments that we don't need, and will cancel. And we've got a plan on how to pay off our credit card and car note and student loans.

Last night when I was thinking renting for cheaper would be helpful I wasn't looking forward to moving so soon, but now after meeting with the financial adviser and reading this book, I am very excited. 'Cause the sooner we do this the sooner we can stop worrying about interest rates and save up to buy a house!

Posted in: on Thursday, August 02, 2007 at at 7:25 PM 0 comments    

Last night I cooked 2 of my favorite foods. It was such a great dinner…random, but very tasty! I grilled corn on the cob and salmon. I have been craving grilled corn on the cob since Saturday. Tim and I went to a fair in the town near by, and I got an ear of corn, and wanted more, but fair food isn’t cheap. So I went to a produce stand in town and cooked 6 ears of corn for Tim and I. I ate 5 of them. He said he only wanted one or two, I did leave him the best ear though. Then the salmon was awesome. I haven’t ever cooked fish before. So I did a lot of research on line on how to grill corn and salmon the best way. I seasoned the salmon with lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and dill. It was tasty! We still have a little bit of salmon left over, but the corn is gone. I was impressed too that Tim ate salmon. He’s not a big fan of fish, but I asked him before I bought it at the store if he wanted that or something else, and he said he would try it. I’m so proud of him!

At work they have had the radio going which is a nice entertainment while I sit and wait for the machines to get going in the morning. Today was pretty funny, I couldn’t believe my ears.

In Texas a mayor is trying to pass a law that sagging pants is illegal. There is a county in Louisiana that has already passed this law and it is 5 days in prison if you are caught with your underwear showing. Is there nothing else going on that needs more attention than this? Things have got to be going pretty smoothly if the law is worried about people’s pants. I remember this being something the principals would crack down on in high school. I'm surprised to see it become a law.

Posted in: cooking on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at at 7:48 PM 0 comments    

Tim and I went around town today with our friend Doug who is a Realtor. We looked at a few houses, a couple that are do-able. One that is really nice, but we're not sure if it's in our price range. We have no clue what we can afford 'cause we've never owned a house and know what all that entails. And Tim has the great point that what we can afford right now might not be what we can afford later on when we have kids.

The first house we went to the family was just leaving when we got out of the car. And the first person we see is a girl in our youth group. We were excited to see her and didn't know they were planning to move...out of state! :( So we asked when they're moving and she said, "As soon as our house sells. ... Don't buy our house." She is such a sweet girl, and that is sad news to hear that they'll be moving. So we walked around the house to look at it still knowing that we can't buy her house, 'cause if we did then that would mean she moves, and if we had any youth activities at her house her friends would all know it as her house.

We did find one really really nice house, with an unfinished basement, but we're not sure how much they are willing to come down, and we're not even sure what we can afford when we have kids. Trying to figure out expenses Tim text'd his brother Dan asking how much a kid costs each month and almost immediately Dan called back asking when I was due! :) haha! I just thought that was the funniest thing, it didn't even cross my mind that they would get that idea, Tim and I were just trying to figure out what we can afford for a house.

So I started researching some cheaper homes in case we're still above our price range. We've already dropped our price range by $30,000 from when we first started looking around. We'll see. I think we're going to meet with a financial adviser to get some help figuring these things out.

Posted in: marriage on Saturday, July 28, 2007 at at 8:56 PM 0 comments    

I was craving Mexican food yesterday and the only place to go for some good Mexican food here is my own kitchen. We always have left over chicken when I cook a whole chicken in the crock-pot, so I come up with different recipes to use it for. Usually the chicken goes to fajitas and chicken sandwiches.

Yesterday I was thinking about doing quesadillas, and went to the store to get tortillas and sour cream, but saw a can of cheese sauce for putting on top of burritos and chimichangas, so I figured I'd try to make chimichangas for the first time. I read the recipe on the back of the can, then did my own thing.

I saute'd onions and the chicken together with Tex Joy Fajita Seasoning. Then rolled them up in a tortilla and baked it for 10 minutes at 400. Then spread the cheese sauce on top and ate with sour cream and avocado. And of course we had the staple sides of beans and rice. I was really surprised with how good the chimichangas were. I'm still not too confident on my cooking skills, especially just doing my own thing, but this was great!

I didn't have to work today, there wasn't any data to be taken today, they're moving all the machines around. So I made quesadillas for lunch with the rest of our chicken and took it to church to eat lunch with Tim. The quesadillas are made the same way, except just lay a tortilla flat, but a little cheese down for glue (and 'cause it's yummy) then put the saute'd onion and chicken, a little more cheese and another tortilla. And I again baked it at 400 for 10 minutes. 5 minutes on each side. The church secretaries and Pastor Rol tried them and said they were fantastic. I am proud of myself with my cooking skills lately. :)

....
Pray for one of our youth, Tyler. He is in Panama with Global Expeditions and either got a spider bite or mosquito bite and is in the hospital there with a really high fever. That is the last I heard, there are a couple different stories going around about it, so I'm not sure what exactly is going on, but pray for his health so he gets better quick.

Posted in: cooking, ministry on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at at 9:54 PM 1 comments    

Happy Anniversary Tim! I really enjoyed this last year spending it with you and all the experiences we had together. I am blessed to be your wife!


Tim and I had a wonderful time celebrating our anniversary. We stayed at the resort in town, did some putt-putt golf there, had a nice dinner, exchanged gifts and ate dessert in bed while watching our wedding video which was one of my presents from Tim. (This is the view from our room.)

At dinner there was a small vase on our table of daises which were in mine and my bridesmaids bouquets. Perfect table decoration for our anniversary! :)

Then today (our actual anniversary) we ate lunch out at a fun restaurant in town that we have not tried yet, and then had Wake n' Ski with our youth. I skied for the first time and Tim slalomed.

Well, Tim actually tried to slalom, he was learning today, which was his third time to ever ski. Pretty impressive. Look at his muscular arms! ;)

Here is our wedding video Tim put together:

Posted in: marriage on Sunday, July 22, 2007 at at 6:25 PM 1 comments    

Wanda, we have got to be thinking with the same brain! Yesterday and today I listened to Chris Tomlin on the way to church, at lunch break and on the way home. I caught myself yesterday on thinking any words, and would talk to God when I heard the words. I also found out that I was repeating in my head the phrases that I heard people say, so I cut that off before it even started yesterday morning. Praise God! I'm sure it'll still be a struggle that I'll have to stay on top of and give every instance to God every time it happens.

Most of the way home I had tears of joy. God has totally amazed me with all He has done for Tim and I since we moved up to Minnesota. And today God did it again! My job really isn't all that bad. It is boring, but I learned to bring something to read, and they don't mind if I play the games on the computer for when the machine is down and the guys are working on it. I've also learned some about the machines and catch some things the guys don't, and I have helped figure out a couple problems now! :) I am told a couple times a day though that they plan for me to be completely bored because that means that the machines are running smoothly. So they want me to be bored! What a job! And when the machines are running smoothly I can't read or play games 'cause I have to keep alert in case something does happen.

So God has blessed me with this great paying job, and I get lots of over time with it. I worked 47 hours this week, 10.5 of those were today. I worked from 8-6:30 without a break. I ate my lunch while I worked. The biggest blessing came as a huge surprise. Bill, the guy who hired me is with Frito Lay in Plano. He knew that Tim and my one year anniversary is this weekend and asked what we're doing. So I told him we're going to the resort in town and he goes, "Let me see if I can get you the employee discount there." Bill stays at the resort while he is here for the week and gets a huge discount there. So he called the resort up and told them that I am working with his company, and they gave us the discount! I am so so so excited! This was perfect timing with our finances too. We already have a gift certificate for the resort, and before were going to have to pay extra on top to finish paying for our room, and then pay out of pocket for dinner too. But now with the discount it covers our room and will cover a very nice dinner for us at the resort too! So what a complete blessing, not just for our anniversary but also for our situation right now! God is so amazing!

Posted in: anniversary, God, marriage, work on Friday, July 20, 2007 at at 4:59 PM 0 comments    

Work is going okay. It is super boring, but it pays well...better than any job I've had yet. And I get a lot of overtime. I work a 9 hour day give or take a little. I was told 8-5, but that's if everything is on schedule which hasn't happened yet. And we only get a 30 minute lunch break, so I get 30 minutes overtime every day at least.

Lunch is quick but nice. I work only a mile away from the church, so Tim and I have been eating lunch at the church. I'm on my own for Friday though, unless he comes to visit...which would be fun! ;)

It hasn't been as cool for night, so last night Tim and I slept in the basement. We did it Ricky and Lucy style, having our own twin beds. Tim is putting our King size sheets in the dryer right now so we can put the beds together.

We have found a house that we like, but aren't too serious on it. We've been talking a lot about finances, and aren't sure about what we can afford, 'cause we could afford something nice right now, but if we start a family and have to add on more people to pay for, then we might not be able to get as nice of a house. It's hard to keep in mind that we wont be living in what my parents have now.

Pray for me. I'm working in a machine factory, so it's mainly older men who curse. That cursing is getting into my head, and I find myself thinking those words every once in a while, and I want it to stop. If I think them for too long I could start saying them, and that would not be good. So pray that God will keep me from letting those words sink into my head and even think them.

With late working evenings (8am-6pm or so) and then youth group at our house I haven't had much time to get online. There is an Elementary Teaching position open in the district. I'm assuming that it's full time, there wasn't much info on the position, don't even know what grade. Hopefully this is the full time position I've been praying for. Pray that God will provide a teaching position for me in the Fall, that would be wonderful!

Posted in: family, work on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 at at 8:21 PM 1 comments    

Today has been pretty fun. Tim and I took it slow this morning, grilled some burgers for lunch, then went to Clara's for ice cream. I had heard from many people that it is the best ice cream in town, and so far I agree.

After ice cream Tim and I met with Doug to go see a couple houses I had looked at online. We are finally looking into houses that are in our price range instead of what we wish we could own...which is what my parents have worked up to their whole lives. It's hard to transition from what you're use to living in to what you can actually afford yourself. The two houses we looked at were okay, but I don't think we'll be jumping on them right now. If something does come up that is a good deal and we like a lot, then we'll probably go with that when ever that happens. The rent home we're in right now is incredible, but I'm with us buying a home and moving in at any point. I really like the thought of us owning our own home, and first home.

I am babysitting Davis and Bria over night. Davis was great, and I felt sorry for him 'cause Bria was fussy most of the time, so I couldn't give Davis the attention I wanted to. Davis got to sleep a little before 9 and Bria right before 10, she was fighting it like crazy.

Tomorrow is the Jr. High canoe trip. We're going to the early service and leaving after that. Amanda works in the nursery during early service so that's perfect timing with the kids. I was told that they slept all night at their grandparents last night, so hopefully that will happen again tonight. Tomorrow is going to be an early morning, and I will soon learn what it's like to get kids around for Church in the morning!

Posted in: kids, marriage, ministry on Saturday, July 14, 2007 at at 8:46 PM 0 comments    

I am trying to mix up what I do for exercise so I don't get bored and quit. So today I walked down and up our hill from the house to the lake 14 times in 20 minutes, I'll try to go faster each day I do it. Well, as I was on my way down our lawn guy's dog startled me by jetting pass and jumping into the lake. Then he would walk back up with me. He continued this for the next 3 times I went down and up which made me laugh and forget about how out of breathe I was from going up the hill. When I would do my pilates videos at Mom and Dad's house, their quaker parrot would join in with me on the squats by bobbing it's head. It's funny to watch animals join in on the motions you do.


I start my job tomorrow! I've already made my lunch and am taking my shower tonight. I go in at 8 and will be done at 5. I'm looking forward to having something to do every day. Pray that it wont be too boring though...I'm sure tomorrow wont be since I'll be learning everything, but pray that it wont get too repetitive after that.

Posted in: exercise, work on Thursday, July 12, 2007 at at 7:30 PM 1 comments    

Well, I thought that I would have time to slowly post the pictures from vacation, but I have been super busy. So here's one of my loyal readers. :)


Tim put up the rest of the pictures on picasa web.

I had my interview yesterday and they offered me the job. I had to do a background check and drug test, so hopefully those results will be in by Friday and I'll get a call telling me when to come in on Monday! This is for the next 2 months, and the guy said that if I have a permanent job (hopefully teaching) start up before this one is done, then just give them a heads up and it wont be a problem to find someone to fill in to the end.

I have been busy the last 2 days with that and helping set up for VBS. I was going to help out during VBS, but with this job working out, I told our children's director and have been helping out this week while I can.

We have youth group starting tonight at our house. We're doing it on Wednesdays and Thursdays for the rest of the summer. Gotta go clean the house!

Posted in: family, ministry, work on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 at at 1:13 PM 0 comments    

Tim and I are finally home. We had a great time at family reunion and are looking forward to the next one! We also spent 4 days in the Dallas area visiting more family and friends. I just did a couple highlight pictures from family reunion, I'll put more pictures up later as I have time. I'll also put pictures of after reunion up later.

Cayden is so cute and always smiling!

We rode around on the go-kart a TON and wore it out!

The Wayman Men (and me and Katelin) out at the farm for a day of guns, fishing and go-kart.

And a great night of fireworks on July 3rd. Happy Birthday Mom!


I had a message from a temp agency in town saying that a company wants to interview me tomorrow. I didn't check the message in time to set anything up, so I'm going to wake up early and give them a call and hopefully get in. Pray that it happens.

*We got a new camera, so the pictures are a lot bigger than before. If you click on the pictures to see the large picture, it may take longer than usual.

Posted in: family, work on Monday, July 09, 2007 at at 8:28 PM 2 comments    

Tim and I are at my family reunion right now. We're picking up wireless internet, so we don't have to leave technology for too long. :) We've got the go-cart going, fireworks and our own internet cafe. I'll have pictures to put up when we get home.

Posted in: family on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 at at 6:02 PM 0 comments    

I'm laying in bed after a long day in New York City. We had a great week at Camp Breakaway with the Angel Tree Kids, and it was nice to take a day to enjoy the city while we're up here. We fly home tomorrow, then Tim and I are back on the plane Saturday for vacation.

Our group in front of the Brooklyn Bridge.

We got to see a Broadway Play! Phantom of the Opera was really good!

Posted in: ministry on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at at 8:56 PM 0 comments    

I have a couple minutes before I have to announce the clean cabin award. So far things are going well, only minor problems of a couple campers not getting along. One of my girls from 2 years ago returned. She has grown up so much! I love seeing her around. She is in such a nice cabin...and actually her's is who is about to win the clean cabin award. :) Because they did a good job, not being biased.

Okay, we'll we're busy. check out the youth site.

Posted in: on Sunday, June 24, 2007 at at 9:01 AM 0 comments    

Tim and I are in New Jersey right now. We spent yesterday traveling, then at the beach in Ocean City. Today we did some training and the kids practiced their skits. Tomorrow we have more training and the campers should arrive around 3. I am really excited to get to love on all the campers that will be here. And I'm excited to get to be a support for our youth, and help them be effective with sharing Christ with their cabin kids both with their actions and by word.
I probably wont write much this week, if at all again. I'm already really tired, and we haven't even started camp!

Pray for our students that have come to be counselors. Some are nervous about doing a good job, and some are confident. I'm thinking the confident ones will be the ones to have the hardest time, but we'll see. Pray that these kids will be stretched. That this wont just be an easy week that they can fly through taking all the credit for themselves. But that they wont have any strength and that they will have to depend completely on God to get them through.

Pray for the campers coming tomorrow. Pray that God will open their hearts and minds to accept what we have to share with them about Christ.

And pray for safety for all of us. The terrain here is pretty rough. All of us played a night game, and Tim got pretty beat up. Pray that he wont be sore, so he can direct camp with all the strength God will give him. And pray that no more injuries will happen.

If you want to keep up with what we're doing here you can check out our youth website. Tim will keep updating it throughout the day, and you can go see all the pictures each day.

Posted in: ministry on Friday, June 22, 2007 at at 9:24 PM 0 comments    

I got my hair cut on Saturday and highlighted. I was waiting for it to warm up before getting it cut short again. The highlights are something new and fun I tried. I find myself looking at them every time I'm around a mirror. :) The girl that does my hair is great. She's my age and does a great job. I think all the pastors and families go to her.

Posted in: on Monday, June 18, 2007 at at 8:12 AM 5 comments    

Tonight was a lot of fun. We had 20 youth over to watch Night at the Museum. Tim and Connor set up a projector and we watched the movie on the side of our house. They rigged up a King size sheet and we all sat in the driveway. We used a bug fogger and 10 citronella candles and lots of bug spray to keep the mosquitoes away. It was such a fun idea, and I would love to do it again. I was surprised how quickly the set up and tear down was. We had a couple girls come early and stay late to help. And then all the kids brought a snack or drink to share with everyone. Sunday school and youth group is canceled for the summer, so this was our first activity with the kids for a couple weeks. Next week we leave for New Jersey for an Angel Tree camp, then starting in July we'll do youth meetings at our house, each grade level meeting every other week.

Posted in: ministry on Thursday, June 14, 2007 at at 10:27 PM 0 comments    

Tim and I have had our Minnesota drivers licenses for a few months now, but today we went and finally registered our cars and have Minnesota plates! Now we wont get weird looks by those around us...especially when the ground is icy and we had Texas plates. People gave a worried look and stayed away...which probably wasn't a bad idea. :)

Tim is washing our plates right now so we can keep them as memorabilia. The only thing that could make us even more of a Minnesotan is if we start talking like them. But that might take some time, don't ya know. ;)

Posted in: Minnesota on Monday, June 11, 2007 at at 3:07 PM 0 comments    

Yesterday Katelin and I spent about 3 hours in the lake alternating between swimming and kayaking. We would swim until I got too cold then we would kayak until we were tired. All together we kayaked around the whole lake, but we did it in sections with swimming breaks.

And today we had the most fun of all the days Katelin has been here. Our neighbors called us up to join them out on the lake. We got to tube, knee board and ski today spending 4 hours out there. But it was worth it. It was great to watch Katelin do water sports for her first time, and she had a great time too. The weather has been poor for playing in the lake most of the time she has been here, so God was very gracious giving us great weather and the opportunity to do water sports!

Katelin and Brittany at one time went about 4 feet out of water jumping a wave and kept with it, not falling off!

I think knee boarding is my favorite, although I don't quite have the good arm strength, it's a fun challenge and rewarding to do. My whole upper body is so tired now though, and will probably be more sore in the morning!

Tim did a great job for skiing only his 2nd time ever. He got up quickly and went around the lake 2 times!

Tim and I did great balancing ourselves as Doug tried to get us off. We didn't fall off once, but it wasn't easy staying on! (Just look closely at our faces!...you can click on the picture to see it bigger.)

Posted in: family, friends, lake, water sports on Sunday, June 10, 2007 at at 10:15 PM 1 comments    

Jon and Brooke had a great idea for our parents anniversary present. We got it to them a little late, but Mom called today after they received it in the mail telling me how much they love it! We took a few sibling pictures the last time we were all together and framed these 2 for Mom and Dad. It's also great for us to have. I've been waiting a while for their anniversary to be able to share these pictures with everyone without Mom and Dad finding out. :)

Posted in: family on Saturday, June 09, 2007 at at 8:57 PM 0 comments