"My Husband Rocks!" Friday

Katy-Lin's prompt today is to tell about when you knew you were going to marry your husband. She mentions the movie Fireproof in her post, which is funny because Jeff rented it for us to watch last night. We were going to go see it the first weekend in October, which was its second week in theaters. But as you know, Jude had other plans for us, coming into the world a month early. So instead of sitting in an uncomfortable movie theater seat, I was at home sleeping off my super short, super intense 6 hour labor.
(Side note: I know that the firefighter connection was not the only reason Jeff wanted to see it. He was really interested in the marriage theme, too. But the fact that it revolved around the life of a firefighter didn't hurt.)

Soooo. When did I know I was going to marry Jeff? Our story is kind of weird because I thought he was a moron when I first met him. (C'mon. The guy sprayed gum freeze spray in my mop bucket to see if it would freeze the water!) But as some of you know, Emily P. said to me that same week, "You should marry Jeff." and I was like, "Uh, no way." But then the next day when I saw him at work I was like, "Oh. Uh oh." In my head of course.

That was May, or maybe June. If you knew me then, you'll know that the only reason I was working at Covenant that summer was because my engine blew on the day I was leaving for home where I had a great job waiting that my grandfather helped me line up. So making a new friend while cleaning campus toilets was only a small consolation for missing out on that opportunity and being with out my car for months. And I certainly wasn't looking for a relationship. Not after the disaster that was my freshman spring and sophomore year!

Some time through out the course of the following school year, I was at his parents house. I can't remember why because I know we were still only friends at that point in time. We were sitting in the foyer and he was doing something on their computer when his nephew, Jacob crawled up on Jeff's lap with his sippy cup Jeff gave Jacob a sweet kiss on the end of his sippy cup and that was when I knew. He loved kids and I had always loved kids, too.

Of course, the rest of the story goes that we had our first date that following February (my birthday), started talking about marriage by April, were officially engaged by September and married by the next May.

Looking back, I think it is funny that we had our first date during Valentine's week ('00) because Jude was also conceived during Valentine's week last year, and we are having our first childless date since he joined us this year on Valentine's Day (Yeah! Inkheart!). Good things seem to come my way in February.

P.S. I second Katy-Lin's recommendation that you rent Fireproof and have a date night if you haven't already seen it. It's really well done for being such a low budget pic.

And another P.S. Thanks, Emily, for saying I should marry Jeff!

100 Things

100 Things I've Done

Katy-Lin was doing this over at The Great Adventure, and thought I'd play along. Everything that is in BOLD I've done. If you decide to post this, please comment so I can check your list out!

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you're not sick.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagra Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to truly be satisfied.
38. Seen the leaning tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo's David.
41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served in a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets, or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the changing of the guards in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Been to the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the paper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had Chicken pox.
89. Saved someone's life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a lawsuit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

"My Husband Rocks!" Friday

Katy-Lin" prompt for this week is:
"Tell us about a time that your spouse went out of his way to serve you, and love you sacrificially."

I have already posted this on the blog before, but to me, it is the absolute perfect picture of sacrificial love; the picture of loving your wife as Christ loves the Body.

It was one chilly day last April. As we drove back from signing our first mortgage papers a light snow began drifting from the all day over cast sky. We had already made one stop for a large bottle of ginger ale and I spent half of the time at the mortgage brokers office leaning on her desk as my morning sickness began to really rear its head at 8 weeks into the pregnancy. I kept my eyes closed most of the way home, trying to go somewhere outside of myself so that I wouldn't think about how bad I was feeling. Then, it hit. . . "You are going to have to pull over." I said. I must have mumbled because Jeff asked what I said, but I just could not bring myself to talk again. Immediately, he saw what my need was and pulled to the side of the road, but he wanted to get past this driveway, so he drove a little further. By that time, I was already opening the truck door, still in motion, but because Jeff's foot was on the brake, my seat belt locked and I threw up all over the inside of the truck door. (Eww!)

So, what did my husband do? Did he hand me a towel and make me clean up the mess I made? Not my knight. He got out of the truck and in the snow, took off his T-shirt and began cleaning my truck door with his own shirt. If that's not sacrificial, I don't know what it:-)

FREE STUFF!

I am only 18 points away from a Starbucks gift card! And all I've done so far to get it is search the internet. At random times, Swagbucks decides that I earn a certain amount of points (the most I've won at once is 4 points). It takes anywhere from 30 to several thousand points to win prizes (should I save 800 and get a drum set? Suuuure!).

So, here's what you do: click here and register. It would be helpful to me if you would say that I referred you because then I will earn points when you earn points.

Really, I think I will save up my points for the iPod Nano, since we lost my MP3 player in the move.

Angel Food

Here's Jude all bundled up for our trip to the Methodist Church to pick up our Angel Food order.




















































Here's our loot from our "shopping trip" for our Angel Food. We got there at 12:10 and were out the door by 12:18. There were a bunch of men just waiting around to help. Jeff stayed in the car with Jude (it was 12 degrees at 9 am and still only around 20 at noon) and I brought in the laundry baskets and the men took them to each station to fill them and brought them out to the car!!! I've never gotten $203 worth of groceries with such ease.
























































What Angel Food is not: It is not a welfare program. You do not base this on income.
What Angel Food is: It is sort of a (very) large co-op, where things are bought in bulk for the best prices and divided up amongst all the people who "go in" on it. You prepay and then pick up your food on the delivery day. And it is pretty good stuff. Each regular unit is $30 and is supposed to be enough to feed a family of four for a week. Then the extra boxes of meat or produce run anywhere from $15 - $22.

So, for $203 we got:
1.5 lbs of New York Strips
1 lb sirloin
1.5 lb of boneless pork chops
20 hamburgers patties (10 lbs)
3.75 lbs T-Bone steaks
6 lbs of ribeyes
16 lbs chicken leg quarters
8 lbs prok ribs
4 bls chicken fajita strips
4 lbs ground turkey
4.5 lb. (avg.) Whole Chicken
2 lb. Wings
2 lb. Chicken Nuggets
2 lb. Breaded Chicken Tenders
(If you are counting, that is more than 60 pounds of meat)
4.5 lbs cheese manicotti (frozen)
4 lbs broccoli (frozen)
4 lbs peas(frozen)
4 boxes of instant oatmeal
1 gallon shelf stable milk
4 packs of blueberry muffin mis 48 corn tortillas
4 lbs dried pinto beans
4 boxes of rice & vermicelli
4 dozen eggs
4 boxes of snack pack cookies (10 packs per box)
4 lbs russett potatoes
3 lbs sweet potatoes
2 lbs yellow onions
4 lbs navel oranges
2 grapefruits (anyone want these?)
4 tangerines
4 pears
1 lb carrots
1 head of green cabbage
1/2 lb pecans

Watching us put all of this away made Jude very happy!














If you want to see next month's menu, click here. Remember, there is most likely a distribution center near you because around 50 new ones start up each month.