Under Contract

The house that could be our home is officially under contract and our settlement date is set for March 25th. This week has been a whirlwind with busy work schedules and signing lots of papers, but there is now an end in sight. We have 7 days to accomplish a page long "to do" list including anything and everything related to home buying.

If you think of us, please pray that we would be able to get the water turned back on in the house within the next two days. The water has to be on to get a home inspection done and we only have seven days to complete that. We can't buy the house without one and if you go past seven days if there is something wrong with the house we would lose money if we backed out of the contract.

These words comforted my soul this morning as I thought about all of the uncertainties that lie ahead:

"Praise Him for what is coming. Adore Him for what He is going to do. I do not think there is a sweeter song in God's ear than the song of one who blesses Him for grace that has not yet been tested, who blesses him for answers that have not yet been received but are sure to come. The praise for past gratitude is sweet, but even sweeter is the praise of full confidence that all will be well."- Charles Spurgeon, Beside Still Waters

Deuteronomy 33:27 "The eternal God is your dwelling place,

and underneath are the everlasting arms. "

5 AM Club

It's not entirely official, but I'm joining. This week me and two girls from our singles CG are going to be starting a spin class at our gym that starts at 5:30am. So here goes nothing.

Seth's response to my announcement about taking the class: "I don't think I have ever seen you at 5:30am."

It's true. I'm turning over a new leaf and preparing myself for the worst. The first week is going to be bad, I haven't intentionally woken up at 5:30am since the day that Seth proposed to me. It's been awhile.

One Step at a Time

Good news this week: the bank has finally accepted our offer! We are excited to say the least, but trusting God that he is going to make it clear if this should be our home. We are in process of ratifying our side of the contract and then we still have to have a home inspection done on the house to make sure that everything checks out ok.

Please pray for us:

• that God would make it clear if this is the house for us.
• that God would give us wisdom and peace as we move forward.

One of the best parts about this house, is this dear family lives only a few doors down!

Your Upper Lip is Curly and it Smells Funny...

Many years ago a friend of mine, a dear old friend by the name of Joe Mancuso, had a funny saying that makes me laugh (or chortle, if you prefer) whenever I think about it. Sometimes, when silence woud fall for a few moments, he would look at either myself or my friend Jared and say: "You got a curly upper lip and it smells funny."
I began to tell Jan how her upper lip is curly and how it smells funny whenever I remembered this. Now we both tell each other this on a regular basis how our upper lips are curly and how they smell funny and we laugh every time.
WELL, tonight, after dinner, I couldn't shake this funky smell that I kept smelling every few minutes. I sniffed around the dining room, aound the kitchen, I even "smelled my fingers," and I just couldn't find the scent aywhere.
I can even smell it as I type this post. I found the smell. It's my upper lip. My upper lip smells funny right now. I can't get away from it. It's a cruel form of torment. I even had Janet verify that it is indeed, my upper lip that smells funny. Who would've thought, except maybe for Joe Mancuso?
Question for all you bloggers out there: Is my upper lip curly? Cause it def smells funny right now.
Jan says YES! Your thoughts!?

Do You Have the Keys?

Is often the refrain that I repeat to Seth every time we walk back to our car. On Saturday we were meeting with our pastor, Isaac, at Starbucks and as we were walking back to the car I asked Seth this very question. I was kind of chilly and ready to jump in the car and the key fob would give me a nice head start to jumping into a warm car. As Seth began to feel around in his pockets he quickly realized that he didn't have the keys. I got that sinking feeling in my stomach but for some reason in my moment of distress I decided to open the passenger door (Seth often also leaves the car doors unlocked too!) and discovered the keys in the ignition of the car!

As we were driving home Seth commented that he would have been happy to have someone "steal" our car so we could get a new one. To which I let him know it would have been one thing for our keys to have been stolen but it is another thing to give the car away (I seriously doubt that insurance covers those kind of mistakes)!

He's So Good to Me

My hubby knows that the way to my heart is through this store.

And he surprised me with this for our new house!

On the house front...instead of celebrating Valentine's day with all the other millions of couples of the world we went to look at two more houses last night. We still haven't heard back from the bank about the offer we put in so at this point we are seriously praying about other options. We looked at one we liked and are considering an offer. Please pray for us!

Also, please pray for little Sarah today.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love you with all my heart. You make me smile a smile that is just for you.

Life is so much better with you in it. You are my best friend.

I'll be the phonograph that plays your favorite albums back as your lying there drifting off to sleep

I'll be the platform shoes and undo what heredity's done to you...You won't have to strain to look into my eyes

I'll be your winter coat buttoned and zippedstraight to the throat with the collar up so you won't catch a cold

I want to take you far from the cynics int his town and kiss you on the mouth

We'll cut out bodies free from the tethers of this scene

Start a brand new colony where everything will change

we'll give ourselves new names (identities erased)

The sun will hear the grounds under our bare feet in this brand new colony.

The Postal Service, A Brand New Colony

Boys can Cook!

This past week, I finally decided to make some good use of my comp time and take a day off. It just so happened that my good friend Steff had some time to use up too so we took it off together. Girls days are the best! We shopped in Leesburg, went to the Aveda spa for some spoiling and then when we came home the boys made dinner for us and it was outstanding. I had to pass the recipe along:

Cayenne Rubbed Chicken Serves 4

Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 to 8 ounces each)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium red onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 Hass avocado, pitted and cut into chunks

Directions
In a small bowl, combine 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cayenne; rub all over chicken.
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium. Add chicken, and cook until browned on the outside and opaque throughout, 8 to 10 minutes per side.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine onion and lime juice; set aside. Just before serving, fold avocado chunks into onion mixture; season with salt and pepper. Serve chicken topped with salsa.

I can't wait to make it again!

Grocery Store Musings

• I like the little cart option now that Safeway has. For some reason they make me feel cute just to push them around the store.
• Music selections in Safeway today: "Bad to the Bone" I kid you not. I had to stop and think that something really was off when I look up and see grandma pushing her cart through the milk aisle with that song playing in the backround.
• Moms need to get out more. There was one Mom in particular that was literally trying to have a conversation with her 8 month old about some product in the baby aisle. "Dominic, now what kind of blah blah blah does your cousin Lauren use?" It could have been a normal conversation and had I not turned around I probably would have never known she was talking to her baby in the stroller who was more concerened with his pacifier than what she had to say.

Ahh I love being a wife.

Hard Work...lots of it.

What can I say? I love my job. It has provided me with so many opportunities and there are countless moments throughout the day where I stop and think, "I can't believe I get paid to do this!" This past week was full, 60 hours were clocked in, including full days of work when I was home for 3 days caring for a sick husband, and an event this past Saturday. Whew. What a whirlwind.

Amongst other things that keep me busy aren't just keeping up our own blog, but editing, managing and writing for this one.

With all this busyness there is something to be said for an awesome boss who tells me that I am not allowed to work more than 3 hours today and that I should work from home.

Hooray for rest! I needed it.

And on the upside, today was Seth's first day back to work. I am praying he is really on the mend. The flu rocked him this year. And the funny thing is, he fought me tooth and nail to not get a flu shot. Thanks to Jess I got one and stayed flu free even after being surrounded by his germs all week long.