Catching Up

So whenever I have been totally lax about updating this blog I always feel like I need to catch up on everything I've neglected. Well, March to August is like half a year, so it is overwhelming to think of updating everything. Therefore I've decided to pretend like I am not horrible at keeping up this blog, and just write about whatever I want, despite giant holes.

This is my first attempt at adding pictures to my blog. These are a couple of photos I took out in the country, less than a mile from Matt's parents house. I have a fascination with old barns, the more decrepit the better. I'm hoping at some point to make some sort of photo montage on a wall in our house of lovely old barns. These are just a few I took, and I hope to keep taking more and add to my collection.

In addition to barn sight-seeing we have continued with projects on the house. The new carpet got installed in March, which was very exciting. We have also been beginning to build a shed, which will have a major push to complete when my parents come to help the first weekend in October.

Other big events in out summer have been a cruise to Alaska in June. An awesome trip with
my parents and brother. What beautiful scenery!

That's about all for now, I'm going to try to be better about blogging :) Really

Extreme Home Makeover

Okay, so maybe extreme isn't the word I should be using here, but makeover none-the-less. In this current economy, despite both of us having good jobs, we still feel like it is a good move to stay put. When we bought our home a little more than 3.5 years ago, we estimated we would be here for 3-5 years, then move on. But, as said above, in this current economy it is really nice to have a cheap mortgage. Plus, we like our house, we like our neighbors, we like our location (despite being on the edge of a kind of sketchy area). So, I think we're going to stick around for a little while. Once we decided we weren't going anywhere, we decided it was time for a few small changes. We took all the carpet off the stairs and now have hardwood stairs (which need to be re-finished at some point). Tomorrow a guy is coming to measure for new carpet upstairs, yay! We bought new bedding and curtains for our bedroom and we bought a water softener that still needs to be installed. Next on the list is a shed for the backyard. We are becoming quite the handy little homebodies, or I should say really that Matt is becoming quite handy, though I help as able. Speaking of helping, I need to go make some dinner, then clear some more area for the measure guy. Maybe I should post some before and after pictures on here, that might be fun!

Becky

Baptism Saturday

I really am a rather pathetic blogger, but oh well. I used to keep a journal for many years when I was younger and I sometimes wonder why I don't anymore. I really did enjoy journaling, but somehow it just doesn't happen. It's interesting to note that my journaling really dropped off once I accepted Christ into my life. I wonder if it's because instead of pouring my heart into a book, I just started pouring it out to God instead. There have been times when I've tried to pick it up again, but it just doesn't stick. I am thankful that I have some times in my life I can look back at though. I have my rough adolescent years that I can be thankful I made it through. I have a complete journal from a summer I spend in California as a camp counselor (one of my brief relapses into journaling). When I look back as that summer I can see how my relationship with God grew, my young relationship with Matt grew and my own independence. I also wrote a journal entry the night before our wedding, and that is sweet to read. Life has many ups and downs, ebbs/flows, times for and not for. Perhaps blogging will be something I patter along with, or become invested in. Perhaps at some point journaling will take off again. I guess I'll just see.

Anyway, so far this post has nothing to do with the title. I was baptized (for the second time, first as a baby) this Saturday. This Saturday marked the 10th anniversary of my acceptance of Jesus (Meg, Jord... can you believe it's been 10 years since you held my hands through that Awakening retreat?). My parents and in-laws came and some friends. It was beautiful, and just a symbol for me of the path my lift has been on and will continue to be on. This event came in a very joyful time in my life, and I think it is fantastic to be able to celebrate even more fully when you are already experiencing great joy.  It was so wonderful to look to the audience and see my husband beaming back at me. To stand in front of our church and remember the day I stood there with him, shortly before our wedding, when he was baptised in the same tub. To stand in the front of that Church and remember standing with Matt as we said our wedding vows.

There are several people that couldn't be there that I wish could, but I was definitely thinking of them. 

Colleen Sargent and her family, my first introduction to a life lived in the fullness of Jesus.

Meghan and Jordan, friends that stood by my side and were there and available as I started my walk with Jesus (and are both currently serving Him in Africa).

Emily, who has also been faithful in our long friendship. She is loyal and willing to make the effort to be here.

Eric, Kathleen and Nikki, they helped keep me on the path in college (and the Olsens introduced me to Matt, not a bad perk!) 

Of course there are many people that have touched my walk, my life. I am thankful to God for the path thus far and look forward to more to come!

Christmas Continues

Merry Christmas to all, hope it was a fabulous one. So far we have seen Matt's immediate family for Christmas. We got some awesome gifts, including an espresso machine from Matt's sister that we are enjoying playing with. Today we head back to Princeton to spend some time with our beloved friends, Ryan and Melissa Bebej. Tomorrow we'll see some additional members of Matt's family and Tuesday we head to Indy for some extended time with my family and some friends.  It's fun that even though Christmas day is over, we still have some Christmas fun yet to have. I'm also looking forward to a little bit of time off work. I have to admit, I have been rather lazy this morning and I am loving it! But for now I should probably go get ready to get on the road. Hope everyone is enjoying the season! 

Christmas Time

Ahhhh I love Christmas. Can I just tell you that it annoys me that I always try to make everything perfect and really feel the whole sensation of the season, but instead I drive myself so crazy doing everything that sometimes I'm not really enjoying it. If I could just take the whole month of December off and decorate to the hilt, bake complicated cookies and gift wrap boxes for the ba-zillion of needy people in the world, that would be great. But alas, "Christmas leave" does not exist. Therefore I must pick and choose and try to relax and enjoy the season. So... here's to enjoying the season. Now I'm going to go pull out my Christmas decorations and pack away the fall :)

Told You So

So, remember in my first blog, I said I was really bad at keeping up with blogs, well the last 3 months are your proof of that. Every once in a while I think about posting, but I think, it's been so long and I really don't have anything that fantastic to write about, so why even post? But then I read other's blogs and I think, I'd like to blog, why not? So over the last 3 months Matt & I have celebrated our 3rd anniversary, gone to Seattle to celebrate in Mike & Nikki MacKinnon's wedding and then gone back to life as usual. This fall we visited Eric & Kathleen for a weekend and visited my brother for a weekend, all fun events. Otherwise, life is normal.

I've had some particularly challenging patients this fall and I definitely feel like God is hand picking some of these patients for me to be a part of their lives. I definitely feel that the hospital is my ministry field, sometimes it is rewarding, sometimes it is challenging, but for now it is always where I feel God wants me to be. In many ways these patients are a big part of my day to day life, my day to day adventures. Unfortunately, it is quite the Hippa violation to talk about it in much detail here, so that's about all I can say.

In other thoughts, have I told you lately how amazing my husband is? I don't have any large, sweeping romantic thing that he's done lately to attest to this, it's just the culmination of every day in which he is who he is. Matt is always respectful and caring. I feel like we both make an effort each day to take care of each other, to go out of our way to meet each other's needs. Okay, enough mush, I just think it's good to appreciate each other every now and then.

Olympic Fever

I've got it, the flush of the face, the increase in t.v. time despite beautiful weather outside, the late nights despite work the next day ... a classic case of olympic fever. Now of course I do not have the time to watch all olympic events, but I am loving what I can get. In general, I don't watch sports. Of course I get sucked into basketball with Matt every March, but other than that it just doesn't hold my attention. But for some reason, I love the olympics. There is such an energy! As Matt and I watched the men's 400 relay last night we were actually cheering, loudly, and jumping up & down in our little bedroom in Peoria.  It is definitely fun getting swept up. I also mentioned the olympics with almost every patient I treated today - good conversation topic. I also caught myself trying to sneak a peek at their t.v.'s while we were working. Not fair, they get to sit in the hospital all day and watch the olympics ... just kidding, I would never actually wish to be in the hospital. But... if I had to be, olympic time is not a bad time to do it. 

Tomorrow after work we leave for Seattle for a mini-vaca/mostly Nikki's wedding activities. I'm really looking forward to our time there, but I'm not sure how much olympics we'll get to catch :(