Four Years!!

Today is 4 years exactly since we got married...and what a crazy four years! They were definitely not great, easy years, but times of stretching and growing. There has been a lot of laughter and fun times, but there has also been many, many tears and lots of pain. Overall, I think our experiences have brought us closer together and closer to God. So, that does make them good years!

On a lighter side, we sat down together and made a little quiz to see how well you know us (sorry Deb, I stole your idea - it was just too good!), or to allow you to know us a little better. No peaking at the answers!!!!

1. Since we have been married, how many dogs have we had?
2. How many places/houses have we lived?
3. How many siblings does Michelle have?
4. How many siblings does Stephen have?
5. How many bridesmaids/groomsmen were in our wedding party?
6. What were our colors?
7. Where did we go on their honeymoon?
8. What does Michelle do for a job?
9. Where is Stephen the senior pastor?
10. What colors are our vehicles?
11. What does Stephen collect?
12. What is Stephen's favorite sports team?
13. What does Michelle collect?
14. What was Michelle's major in college?
15. What does Stephen hope to do in the future?
16. What does Michelle hope to do in the future?
17. How many children do they want?
18. What cities are we each originally from?
19. What is Stephen's favorite book in the Bible?
20. Which one of us is nicknamed "stinky"?

ANSWERS:
1. 4
2. 5 (four were in the first year we were married!!!)
3. 3 (plus 2 in-laws)
4. 2
5. 5 of each
6. Cranberry and silver
7. Gatlinburg, TN
8. Works at IWU as an administrative assistant to Dr. Bud Bence, Vice President for Academic Affairs
9. Main Street Wesleyan Church, Jonesboro, IN
10. Blue (car) and Gold (truck)...Yeah, that's right, Ohio State stinks...go U of M!
11. World War II memorabilia
12. Detroit Lions football
13. Nothing :)
14. Math
15. Get masters degree in Church Leadership from IWU, be a good dad, and retire someday after years of being a senior pastor
16. Possibly get a master's degree in business administration, possibly go into administration???????
17. 2
18. Stephen: Evart, Michigan; Michelle: Allendale, Michigan
19. James
20. All 3 of us :) :)

Another question to ponder...which of the two of us has changed the most in the last 4 years (you will have to look at pictures of us in previous posts because it won't let me add another picture)?

Pictures...and Other Ramblings

I was able to get pictures uploaded again, so I figured it would be a good time to throw a lot of them in here :)

Titus "attacking" us with his milk mustache
Our good friends Josh and Jamie at Family Camp - they are moving to Wisconsin :(
Titus playing in the back of the car - it makes a great play pen :)
Stephen and Titus
One of the very funny, serious faces Titus makes that just cracks me up :)

As for an update, Stephen and I are down to two rooms left to unpack and settle into...I know, kind of sad that we have that much left when we have been there almost two months! We have come a long way, and we are excited, even if it is pathetic! :) Stephen has decided not to pursue his masters this year - which means waiting two years for the next program to start up, but he really wants to focus on our family and the church - which I can completely respect!

Titus is still not walking - not that he can't - he just won't. I know he will walk eventually, but I have a hard time being patient...and I am tired of people asking me if he is walking yet - and me feeling like a bad mother because he isn't walking, and I am tired of the comments and "seeing" what people are thinking - maybe I am just being an overprotective mom here, but HE IS NOT DUMB JUST BECAUSE HE CAN'T WALK YET. Ok, I will get off my soap box now. :)

As for our Marion house situation - we have been amazed at how God is overwhelmingly answering our prayers, even if it is not the answer we wanted or the timing we wanted. We really wanted to sell it, and sell it before July - but it just didn't happen. We then were desperately trying to find a renter - because our funds were quickly depleted from having to get a second car and not planning on a car and house payment at the same time. Well, God provided a renter (by August 1st!) and on top of that, we had other blessings: 1) we received a nice check back from our mortgage company because our escrow account had a surplus from last year. 2) our house payment dropped by over $50 a month. 3) We may be getting a check back from the government from a mistake I made on our taxes this year (oops!). So, I can breathe a little easier at least for now and not have to worry about how we are going to pay our bills.

The funny thing is, God reassured me from the beginning that He was going to take care of us - just like He always has in the past (when Stephen lost his job and I was a full time student and could only work 20 hours a week, and we didn't go anywhere or do anything - we were living on $10/week for groceries!). And I felt at peace about the whole situation (I know, hard to believe since I usually freak out about everything). I was at peace because I knew that if we didn't sell our house or find a renter that He would provide - even though logically I knew that financially we would not be able to survive without more income. It just amazes me that He chose to bless us over what we even imagined. I just need to learn to have this much faith in other areas of my life, and then I probably would have a lot more peace! I mean, why do I stress about things? He has never left us in the past; why can't I trust Him instead of doing it in my own strength? I guess I am just human and have a long way to go...

One of Those People

Well welcome to the world of blogging...all along Michelle has been doing all of our blogging for our family (being that she is at work with access to it all the time) and I would occasionally read a blip here or there (that's being generous)...but now that I have a minute, I want to catch up with times and get with it...so here it goes.

I would like to draw your attention to those people in your life that just drain the energy out of you and you just can't do anything about it...ok so maybe I just want to vent about one of those people in my life. I've got this friend (and I really do mean friend... we have some great times together) who is just to much sometimes. I mean they are always there, having to know what's going on in my life every moment of every day, getting jealous if I spend more time with other friends than with them, even to the point that I've seen them drive by our house just to see if I'm home or not. The worst part about the whole thing is that I can't even confront them about it (I've tried) because they have such low self esteem and feel attacked or that they are a failure. At times I just don't know what to do... I don't want to cut this individual off completely from my life, I just really need some space from them. Any advice?
Stephen
<><

Good and Bad News...a.k.a. lots going on :)

Good news #1...I finally am able to upload pictures again!! For example, here are pictures from two weeks ago. Now that we have three bathrooms (nice that you never have to wait, but not too fun to clean) we needed to get another shower curtain for one of them. We decided this would be Titus' bathroom and hopefully someday his sibling's as well. So, we went cute, yet neutral, with frogs. Here is a picture of Titus in his new PJ's enjoying his new bathroom:

And the promised picture of everyone in our office:

Back Row: Jerry Pattengale, Bud Bence, Don Sprowl, Kristen Willey; Front Row: Me, Connie Lightfoot, Alleta Tippey, and Pam Sempel

Bad news #1: Titus came down with a fever last Thursday while we were at Family Camp. We assumed he was just teething since he also had a runny nose and was constantly at his mouth. Well, Saturday he was very fussy and cried so much (ok, screamed) when we were in the car that he was literally hoarse and then began coughing. Sunday he was coughing so hard he was throwing up (I really took one for the team...let's just leave the details at we both had to bathe). So, we ran to Wal-Mart, missing the last service at camp :( and got him some cough medicine. Well, Monday morning while I was at work, he was refusing to eat or drink anything and throwing up without even coughing. So, we figured we should bring him in. After sitting in the doctor's office for an hour and fifteen minutes, and then waiting in the room for another half hour, he told us it is a virus and we will just have to wait it out...probably picked it up in the nursery at Family Camp because lots of others have had it.

Good news #2: Titus is doing much better, he was drinking water and the Pedialite that Dr. Wolfe gave him. He went to bed a little after 6, and was still sleeping when I left for work.

Bad news #2: Stephen has caught whatever Titus has and had a fever last night and a sore throat. I almost came down with it, but with taking a little Nyquil and swabbing my throat with tee tree oil (NASTY but works) I am feeling better other than a bit of a headache.

Good news #3: We think we have rented our house out. The couple sounded like they wanted it for a month, maybe two, which means we will be able to leave our house on the market for a little longer. Of course nothing is certain until they sign the agreement and give us the money, but we are still excited.

Bad news #3: I just tried to upload another picture, and it quit on me AGAIN :(

Good news #4: Family Camp went really well - I enjoyed the services and the fellowship with family and friends. I really felt like God challenged not just me, but our church as well. I am excited to see what He has in store for us!

I think that is all for now...