Happy Easter to all!!! We had a lovely weekend, celebrating the resurrection of Christ, the beauty of spring....and the blessing of family & friends.

I did some shopping on Saturday with my friend Edith and we picked out a bathroom set for the new upstairs bathroom and I bought some beautiful throw pillows for the living room. I'm having so much fun picking colors for all the rooms, and planning how I'll decorate!!

Our church has a joint sunrise service on Easter Sunday with about 5 or 6 churches in the area. I was so blessed to worship with a variety of believers and know that we are serving the same God!! Afterwards, we served a yummy brunch! We had sausage, ham & brocolli quiches, with grits, fresh fruit & pastries. So good! We celebrated Easter dinner with Eddie's family & cousins.

My camera is broke, so I can't post any remodel pictures of the house yet but hopefully sometime really soon! Have a blessed week!!!

since i didn't update for 2 months and i'm done with my jobs for the day, i thought this was a perfect chance to let you all know what i've been up to!

House

our house is in the process of being remodeled, so we moved to Eddie's parents' basement. there's 10 of us living in the same house right now!!! the packing/moving ordeal is one that i hope i don't have to go through again for a LONG time. it felt very overwhelming, but we're pretty well adjusted to our temporary living quarters. the shower has some pressure and heat issues and the only big burner on the stove works whenever it feels like it, but hey i can't complain! my dear mom-in-law puts my laundry through with theirs and even folds it, so i'm afraid i'm getting a wee bit spoiled. oh and the king-size bed. let's just say we're getting addicted! it's delicious.

as for the house: adding an upstairs level with master bedroom & bath and another bedroom, which won't be finished at this point; new laundry room, extended dining room, remodeled kitchen and office for Eddie! i'm so excited about the new look it will have!!! hopefully, we'll be moving back into the house sometime in the next 2 months.

Hobbies

getting to play with the worship team at church has been both a dream come true and a real challenge. i helped with the music 2 sundays last month, and realize i have a LONG way to go until i'm completely comfortable and less mistake-prone but wow it's been so fun too!

i also started drawing lessons with my neighbor Donna, who has a bachelor in Graphic Designs. It's something i've wanted to do for awhile, and i'm having fun doodling. i wouldn't want to be graded on some of the pictures tho....they're pretty disturbing! i really struggle with drawing portraits, particularly faces. the man that i'm currently trying to draw is looking very deformed, and the sad thing is that i don't know why!!

Work

thank God i still have a job!!! right now, that's a huge blessing when so many are getting laid off. but...it's still rather slow so i end up goofing off alot some days. i get WAY too much time on facebook! lol. my other time-killer is checking out all my favorite clothing stores and looking for the biggest bargains. that's probably a bad idea, since i'm not exactly rolling in the money at the moment.  we're in the process of building a new Premier Vinyl shop in Bridgewater and we're hoping to have that up and running sometime this summer. i am so anxious to have a 10 minute drive to work instead of 20!! i'm hoping to also start helping Eddie with his bookwork. he is staying very busy, with farm work, chicken houses, seed corn sales and his spray business. i would love to take some of the load off his shoulders and i really do love office work.

Ministry

i started attending Community Bible Study - an interdenominational organization that has studies all over US and in other countries. i am really enjoying the challenge of digging into the Word. it's so good for me to have that motivation to spend time studying and it's also rewarding. we meet on Thursday mornings once a week and the sessions are wonderful. my core group leader is a lady from our church and one of my best friends is also in my class! it's so fun to get together and fellowship with these ladies.

i'm still involved with our girls club which meets once a month. they're so much fun! i am taking each of them out for supper so we can get to know each other on a more personal level. please pray for Christy & I as we spend time with these girls. we need wisdom on the "issues" that come up when you have 8+ girls that range in age from 8-14 years. i want to be their friend, but i think it's also important to be a leader. finding that balance can be a real challenge!

Us

we just celebrated our 2nd anniversary!!! how is that possible??? we celebrated it with a much-needed vacation in Cancun, Mexico. we went with Jim & Raych and Fredi & Clay. we had SO much fun! the resort was absolutely gorgeous ~  the Caribbean water beautiful ~ the company wonderful. our rooms opened to a view of the ocean. one week of this place was not long enough for me!

they had these beautiful beds that you could relax in. we didn't use them often, since we wanted to get as much sun as possible! we often walked or rode the bus to town for our meals. we found some really cute authentic mexican restaurants with the tradition frijoles, rice and chicken. yum! this fish however did NOT look appetizing even though Raych declared it was wonderful. she can have every bite....

lots of fun fruity drinks