Financial Peace University

Last night, I started taking a class at my church as a part of our Wednesday Night Family Thingy. The class is Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. It is really exciting to be taking this class because Ted and I have listened to Dave Ramsey for a couple of years whenever we hear him on the radio, and we think it is a great way/strategy to handle money...especially when you don't have a lot.

I have to thank my husband for letting me take this class because it is at the exact time that Jr. High Youth Group is and I am usually his #1 volunteer. So...THANKS!!! He is going to be going through the class vicariously through me, because this is a thing that married people are supposed to do together. But, really I am kinda in charge of all the money happenings anyway! :)

Another cool thing about taking this class is that one of my best friends, Jamie, from high school and her boyfriend, Steven, showed up to take it! And this is super exciting because we never see each other and we only live 20 minutes apart. So, now we get to have dinner and class together every Wednesday night for the next 12 weeks. :) YAY!

If you don't know anything about Dave Ramsey you should check him out. He is on AM radio stations and he has a show on Fox News (I think). He also has a website (of course). He is also going to be in GR (for all you down-staters) on Feb. 19th.

I kind of feel like I am being a spokesperson for him, but I am really excited to be able to learn about what he has to say about money and how to save/invest it, so our little children can have lots of money when we are gone. Ted and I have kind of thought about that for a while now..since, you know...the whole baby thing. :)

11 days!!! --- till we know what our little baby is.
And then we can reveal some name options!

An Ode to the Sun

After what seems like weeks, and feels like months, I have seen the sun in its crisp blue-sky home! I almost forgot what a blue sky looked like and I definitely forgot what it feels like to have the rays of the sun warm my body through a window.

This morning I woke up before the sun was up, but then something different happened. The sun actually came up!! It wasn't hidden behind gray, dreary clouds that promised snow and cold. It was popping up right in our back yard trying to shine through our shades (which have worked out really nice, by the way.) So, when I got out of bed I opened the shades and I could FEEL THE SUN'S WARMTH...that lovely, relaxing warmth that makes you feel like it is not winter anymore. So, I closed my eyes and I soaked it in, pretending that winter was gone, my toe nails were painted and I was down at Michigan beach. It was PERFECT.

Of course, I eventually had to open my eyes, realize winter is here to stay at a solid 9 degrees, and get ready for work. But, it was nice while it lasted. :)

Very nice.

So, here is my ode to the sun...well, actually it belongs to the Beatles, but the sun could not be more perfect. :)

Ode to the Sun

Just be sure to listen with your eyes closed and pretend that it is summer!!

B E A--utiful!!

Here are some recent pics of some of my neices...Olivia, 5 and a half, and Izabella, 1 and a half. They are so precious and I can only hope my babies will be as beautiful. :)

@ Christmas

Izabella

Olivia

Tsk Tsk

So....about that appointment that I have been telling everyone about. You know...the one where we get to find out if the baby is a boy or girl. You remember, don't you?

Well...I lied. Turns out we will find out what the baby is on February 2nd. I have to go to the hospital that day for an ultrasound and they will tell us then.

Sorry to let everyone down. :) I guess we will just have to deal with the anticipation for a little bit longer. About 2 and a half weeks to be exact.

But here is good news from the baby visit:

1. Baby's heart beat is 158 bpm. Which is good.

2. I gained 3 pounds. Which is good.

3. Starting this week (week 18) I should be able to feel the baby's movements. They should feel like butterflies or nervous feelings inside my tummy. And then as the next couple of weeks go by I should be able to distinguish which side of the tummy they are coming from.

4. We were given the a-okay to go on a little pre-baby vaca in the middle of March.

That's it for now. :)

A Post from My Pastor

Here is a link to a post my pastor wrote today. Click here to read it.

It's a really simple concept to grasp really, but it is even easier to forget or even choose to ignore. When we forget to put our hope or happiness in the right things, we become more and more hopeless and unhappy.

There are some people in our household that need to refocus on what is really important and what we can be truly thankful for (myself included).

Thank you Jesus!


(I will post about the baby later today. I PROMISE!!!)

More than Bears Love Honey

Tomorrow is the Big Day! (Well at least that is what I expect.) Hopefully, tomorrow Ted and I will get to find out if our little baby is a boy or a girl. At the very least, I hope that we get to find out WHEN we can find out if the baby is a boy or a girl. :) I just hope it is just a teeny tiny bit warmer outside tomorrow. But, I doubt it. I think it is supposed to be a high of 8! EIGHT!!!! That is just a tad bit ridiculous, even for someone who really does love Northern Michigan. 8 Degrees!!! Ahhh!

But, even though the weather kind of brings me down, there were some good things throughout my day as well.

Number 1: The new Boden catalog came in the mail. (see here)

Number 2: I discovered some new music while working at the biblioteca.

And

Number 3: Ted said to me (with a huige grin on his face in his little Theodore way), “I love you more than bears love honey times a million. And, bears LOVE honey a lot!”

He always knows how to put a smile on my face because he knows that I love silly things that are cute. Like the image of a bear eating honey…but not just any bear, a really, really, cute bear. Weird… I know. :)

So, as you can see…not a very eventful day. But, tomorrow will be more exciting…I promise! :)

6 Days!

In six short days I get to go to the doctor again and I am 99% sure that we get to find out whether our precious little baby is a boy or girl. I almost cannot stand the anticipation. I want to get started on the future nursery ASAP! :) My friend Maggie introduced me to the the site Etsy, and I have found so many cute little things like stuffed animals and art for the walls for the baby and his/her room. I will be sure to let everyone know what I find out.

Look at these CUTE things! (Just a tiny sampling of all the things I have looked at)

If we have a boy he will definitely play drums!!

But before I get to January 14th I have LOTS to do. I'm working today (library), then doing lots of laundry and packing for a weekend trip. I am subbing tomorrow in a second grade classroom in CHX, which I am excited for because I feel like I haven't been in a classroom for a while. At 5pm tomorrow Ted and I are taking 14 high school kids to Springhill. Springhill is a super fun camp that I have been to as a camper in high school, a volunteer in college, and now as a leader. I am not sure what I will be doing since I can't really go sledding, tubing, rock wall climbing, etc (all the things I usually do) ...because of the little guy (or girl) in me. :) But, it is going to be a super fun weekend. There are way more guys going, but I think it's going to be great just hanging out with the 5 girls. :)

So, after the weekend is over, it STILL won't be the 14th. But, Monday and Tuesday I don't have much planned (unless I get called to sub) except for tutoring. I just started tutoring two boys; a 2nd grader and a 4th grader. I am thinking about actually starting up a tutoring business of sorts. I have discovered it is a great way to make some extra money AND a great way to keep in contact with schools and families...ya know for that job opportunity that is just going to jump out and surprise me someday! :)

I'll let you know if more comes for the tutoring thing... I got really excited about it last night around 10:30 and couldn't fall asleep because I was planning all the details. :)

Also, keep checkin' back if you are as nearly excited as Ted and I are about finding out about the baby!

And the Highlight of the Weekend was....

....a flat tire!

Haha, just kidding, just a minor road bump (literally) in our last-of-the-holidays-weekend. But, the hubby got a new tire today, so the Subaru is all set to go. :)

Our weekend was fun though. On Friday we got to have lunch with our friends The Whitley's (who are just the cutest couple, btw). Ted and I then went to Lowe's and spent waaaaay too much time looking and discussing blinds for our newly painted bedroom. We finally decided on these shades made out of bamboo sticks (as Ted calls them) and they are an espresso color. Super nice, BUT we discovered the wondow on Ted's side of the bed is a fancy-shmancy custom sized window, which needs custom sized shades. So, my shades are going up and Ted is just going to have to wait a little longer. ;) It's okay, we both enjoy the view of the garage from there.

We also bought a new ceiling light for our bedroom which is very pretty. Something Ted and I have both discovered through these little Lowe's trips is that we have different tastes and different stlyes. But, that's okay because life would be boring if we agreed on every little thing. Right? (Sorry to Ted for calling his shades choice "ugly and old lady") :)

On Saturday I had to work till 5pm but then we got to go to John and Anora's house. They are some super cool friends of ours and Ted is writing songs with them (along with another guy, Pat) that they will play in public someday. I think a band type thing may be forming, but they don't have a name or anything. On Saturday they wrote a song about a captian, first mate and the captian's lady. At the end of the song the first mate kills them both. It's a nice love song.

On Sunday, the weather was nice and pleasant, with freezing rain, wind and ice pellets. :) But, church was nice with Jan preaching. She is the Director of Spiritual Formation at our church. She's awesome! Then I had to go to work for 4 hours. It was at work that I decided to get a subsrciption to Mothering Magazine. It is a magazine about raising and caring for your children naturally. I am super excited to get my first issue in 6 weeks! You can check out their website at http://www.mothering.com/

Bye for now.