i work
and
i work
and
i work
and
i work
and
i work
and

i.
work.


for...?

BLEH.

Frank's in Vegas until the 17th, so I'm at home with Ruby until then. It's times like this I really wish I had friends here. Making new friends in a new place is probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do. It's not like there are steps to making new friends, it just happens. You meet someone, hit it off, and BAM--BFFs for life...pretty soon you're getting matching unicorn tattoos on your lower back.

This constant rain is killing me. I really thought I'd love it, but it's just such a downer. It does make you insanely grateful when the suns out though, haha.

Guess that's it for now. I'm gonna go have some Cheerios for dinner. YUM.

I'm well aware that I haven't posted a blog in a long time. I can't really say TOO much has gone on since my last post,
but I'll bring you up to date on the few things that have transpired...


First of all, I fractured my finger. Frank and I were moving our new tv into the house (all 160 lbs of it) and dropped
it on the tip of my right index finger. I tried to just leave it alone, I thought it was just a crushed finger..I didn't
know there was a broken bone! So after about 4 days I finally decided to go to urgent care. It's terribly inconvenient
to do any and everything with this splint on my finger. I've got to leave it on another month and a half, so I guess
I'd better suck it up and get used to it. Ugh.

Frank is doing a guest spot in a tattoo shop in Las Vegas. I've got kind of mixed emotions about this. I want him to go
because it's going to be a good move professionally, and he's already got a ton of worked booked, so that's great, but
it's going to be hard to be alone with Ruby for a week while he's gone. I know I can do it, it's just going to be
lonely!! He leaves the 10th, so he'll miss Easter with Ruby and I, but we might just celebrate early.

Ruby's saying a few new words. She says "bunny", "piggy", and "backpack". (She got "backpack" from Dora.)

I think I've finally settled into a new church here in Woodland. It's hard to make yourself keep going to church when
you don't know anyone there, and Sunday after Sunday you feel isolated in service. It's hard to make new friends, not
gonna lie. I mean, *I* know I'm awesome, but these people don't know that. Haha. I think my tattoos can scare some
people off sometimes, too. People automatically assume I'm going to eat their babies and punch them in their faces. It's
always fun to surprise them by going against the stereotype.

I watched a series on Angels, Demons, and the Holy Spirit on this church's website... MarathonChurch.org I highly
recommend it to everyone. It was CRAZY GOOD! (haha) Seriously though, it was amazing. The series is called "Supernatural".
I came across the website completely on accident, which was kind of cool.

Off the subject a bit, I just want to say that I think a lot of Christians wait for some kind of sign or miracle from
Heaven before they give. I don't just mean tithing, I mean giving to one another. We shouldn't have to be TOLD to
give, we shouldn't have to be prompted by the Spirit, or wait for light from Heaven to show us who to help...if you have
a brother or sister in Christ who needs something, and it's within your means to help, DO IT. That's who we're
supposed to be as Christians.

Proverbs 11:25 says:

"The generous will prosper;
those who refresh others will
themselves be refreshed."

I'm not saying you should give to get, but you don't have to give thinking that you're getting the short end of the
stick. Give and it shall be given, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, right? I believe that
this applies to all areas of our lives. Good and bad. So watch what you're sowing!


That's pretty much it, I guess. Nothing terribly exciting, just though I should give a little update.


Yo Gabba Gabba is about on, Jack Black is the guest star. Hahaha, this should be good.


All my love to all you guys (and gals!)

Oswald Chambers said: “Consecration is not the giving over of the calling in life to God, but the separation from all other callings and the giving over of ourselves to God, letting His providence place us where He will—in business, or law, or science; in workshop, in politics, or in drudgery. We are to be there working according to the laws and principles of the Kingdom of God.”


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_Chambers

Well Frank and I kind of decided on a whim to pick up and go to the coast for a few days.

We stayed in Lincoln City, OR, at a resort RIGHT on the beach. It was so gorgeous. The only bad thing was the wind. Ugh, it was TERRIBLE! Also the first night we were there, it hailed and woke us up. Other than that, the weather was alright.

SO guess what?

Well i was feeding some seagulls from our 3rd floor room. I had the window open a bit, and was just kind of tossing crackers out for them to catch. Frank was sitting nearby and we were laughing about it. I said something like, "I've got them trained to do my bidding!!" Just then, a seagull took a nosedive right for my hand and BIT MY FINGER. This is not a joke. It hurt so bad!! It didn't bleed or anything. Frank thought it was hilarious and told me to go wash off the bird flu. hahaha. I'm fine, but it was scary! Those birds are insane. They'll do anything for some Cheeto crumbs.

Also, we drove by the world's shortest river. Look it up. It's called the "D" River. It's only like, 130 feet or something. Weird

All in all we had a great trip! Can't wait to go back.

man, i'm tired.

I just have to say that I'm so grateful for technology. Sound funny? Well, my husband and I live here in the woods in southwest Washington. We don't get cable tv, we can't get high speed internet...it's kind of sad. But I'm so grateful for the slow, slow, satellite tv and internet we get. I'm able to watch Winter Bible Seminar on tv and stream all kinds of ministers. The churches here just seem so asleep. It makes my heart sad that most of them are just going through the motions. If you can't get excited about God in church, I can only imagine what the rest of your week is like. I'm going to try this place out: www.citybiblechurch.org on Sunday. It's 35 miles each way, but a good church is worth it.

Much love to everyone.

praise God.

Ruby was drunk or something:


Normal:




Ruby eating out of her big girl plate (suctioned to the tray thank God!!) and using her fork:



I uploaded these next ones to livejournal instead of Photobucket, so you have to click on them to see full size:

So yesterday was Ruby's birthday party. She didn't have a very good time. There were about 20 people there, lots of noise, lots of kids running around..she was just so overstimulated. I snapped a few pictures, not a lot. I was really busy cooking. (We had a WHOLE salmon, frybread--YUMMY!!!-Mashed potatoes, deer meat stew, mac and cheese, lots of cookies, fudge, cake, and..i think that's it!) She didn't really know what to do with her cake. I got her started, but she started crying because she didn't like the icing all over her hands. haha. I'm going to try to get her to eat it today, we'll see how that goes!

All the decorations (courtesy of Daddy!):



Ruby & cousin Isa:






Ruby's cake:


Cake for everyone else:


Full house!:


CAKE TIME!!:


Uhm...I don't know about this:


I HATE IT!!!:



We'll see how it goes with the cake today.

Happy Birthday, Ruby!

So yesterday was Ruby's birthday party. She didn't have a very good time. There were about 20 people there, lots of noise, lots of kids running around..she was just so overstimulated. I snapped a few pictures, not a lot. I was really busy cooking. (We had a WHOLE salmon, frybread--YUMMY!!!-Mashed potatoes, deer meat stew, mac and cheese, lots of cookies, fudge, cake, and..i think that's it!) She didn't really know what to do with her cake. I got her started, but she started crying because she didn't like the icing all over her hands. haha. I'm going to try to get her to eat it today, we'll see how that goes!

So I just finished making...five Yum Yum cakes. Boy am I worn out. I made 4 regular sized ones for the party tomorrow, and a little one for Ruby to destroy with her birthday rage. haha. I'm not going to frost them until tomorrow, but I'll be sure to snap some pictures when I do.

I also painted our bedroom last night (FINALLY!!). I'll snap some pictures of that sometime soon, too. Now I just have to paint the bathroom and hallway...and maybe redo the kitchen..that green is wearing on me! :P

Okay lovies, gotta go do more stuff for the big party tomorrow. Love.

It doesn't seem possible.

Ruby celebrated her first birthday today.

What a sad, sad day. This is one birthday of many for her, and it really tears me up that she's getting older. It's intensely bittersweet to watch her grow and learn. On one hand, I love watching her experiencing new things (like eating dirt..) but on the other, she's not my little teeny tiny baby anymore. She's a toddler. :(

I guess that just means I'd better get busy making another baby. :P

Her party is Saturday, so I'll post more pictures after that. Here are a few from today:

I'm having some serious problems coming to terms with the fact that Ruby will be one year old the day after tomorrow. That doesn't seem possible. It flies by.

Cherish each day.

So I was inspired by Pastor Doug and took this personality profile test thing. Here's what I got:




Seems alright I guess. I especially like, "genius prone". It's true. :P

Well, here I am. It's Friday (i think?) morning. Roughly 9.15 am. I'm watching Wow Wow Wubbzy with Ruby. I've noticed that her attention span is longer than it was a few months ago. She actually enjoys watching the episodes now. I love when she comes and cuddles up with me on the couch to watch her favorite one. I also love it when she gets scared (usually because of the vacuum!) and hangs on super tight to me. Too cute. She just came over and is watching me write this. She's pretty interested in my laptop, especially since she's not allowed to touch it. haha. Let me also just say that she got into the trash this morning and pulled out a huge pile of coffe grounds and threw them on the floor. She was rather proud of herself.

It's a really rainy day today, I just want to go crawl back in bed.

I'm currently about halfway through the book of Daniel. It's so interesting to read all these Bible stories I heard so much as a kid. I KNEW the stories, but I can't remember ever actually reading them on my own. Reading my Bible is so much more enjoyable now that I've got a NLT study Bible. Instead of stumbling all over "thees" and "thous", i find myself reading whole books at once and not even realizing it. It's nice to be able to just enjoy what I'm reading and hey, since I can understand it, I can get sooo much more out of it. :P

I still haven't really found a decent church here. That's so sad and frustrating. There's a church I want to try in Vancouver, WA, but roundtrip would be about 40 - 60 miles. I just can't do that. Maybe I'll just start my own. Hah.

I've got plans to go see Twilight tomorrow night with a friend of mine. I'm kind of excited about getting out. I can't remember the last time I saw a movie in the theater. I really want to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop. It looks hilarious. Frank and I rented "Bankok Dangerous" with Nicholas Cage the other night. WHAT A STINKER. Do NOT waste your money renting this movie. It was so cheesy.



Yeesh. Time to start our Wubbzy dvd again.

|||

My embarrassing admission is that I really like Dog the Bounty Hunter. YES, it's trashy. YES, it's dumb. I really just can't help myself. I watched it last night without being coerced into it by my husband. I felt like I was doing something wrong..but it felt SO right. Haha.

So Ruby's first birthday party is on February 7th. Frank and I added up all the people who are coming, and the count comes to right at 20. I can't believe that. Insanity. How are we going to fit 20 people in this tiny house?? PLUS I've gotta cook for all these people. I have to make enough Yum Yum cake for everyone to have some, plus Ruby to have her own little cake. GOD HELP ME.

Ruby and I took a bath this morning. Frank came and got her out so I could wash my hair, etc. I got out of the shower, and this is what I saw:














LOVE IT.


Off to town to run some errands.

Ruby's at the age now where taking things out and putting them back into something is the greatest thing ever. When she was able to help me pick up her toys today, something inside me leapt for joy. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Ruby's already learning to pick things up...and she ENJOYS it. PRAISE GOD! She's also really interested in my jewelry lately. Frank had the amazing idea of putting some cheerios on some yarn and giving her that to play with. That idea stems from his fear that the beads on my necklaces will break off and she'll choke. But with Cheerios, well, she can just eat them. Awesome idea.


We're currently watching her Wow Wow Wubbzy dvd for about the 6th time today. It could be worse, we could be watching Dora the Explorer.



Anyway....

I mentioned in my earlier post about setting time apart for God everyday. The past few days I've found that things have come up during my normal Bible study time, so it's been much harder to find the time to read. I can definitely tell when I don't spend time with God everyday. It's so easy to get caught up with doing everyday tasks- taking the trash out, picking up after your kid, chatting on Facebook *AHEM*--that you forget to spend time doing the one thing that truly matters. It can be so easy to just say, "I'll do it later"...but then later you find yourself doing something else..and you put it off again. I've talked to a few people the past few days about this and they all say the same thing: "I WISH I had time to read my bible everyday". Make time. If it's really important to you, you'll figure out a time and a way to do it.
So I guess my challenge to those of you who read this blog would be to set aside time, just try it for a week, where you read AND study your Bibles. And don't forget to pray! God loves to talk to us and WITH us. There's a difference. I don't just talk to Frank, he talks back. We communicate.


That's all for now, Ruby grabbed Frank's hairbrush and ran off...better go chase her.

Much love, my little love kittens.

So...

I haven't updated this thing since August of last year. That's insane. I've been insanely busy...not really doing much of anything, just taking care of my family and helping with our business. It's a full time job.

Ruby's birthday is in less than two weeks. I feel way too young to have a one year old. The year has flown by. I'm so grateful for her. She's brought so much joy to my life...and so much frustration! Haha. We're having some friends and family over for a small party on the 7th (her birthday is on the 4th) because it's a Saturday. Should be fun. I plan on making a Yum Yum Cake. DELICIOUS!! I've already been shopping for her presents and decorations, so now we play the waiting game. :D

I'm so tired lately. Not like, sleepy...just worn out physically. I picture myself being this:



But usually end up like this:




We got some snow last night, not much (DEFINITELY not the 3 feet we had in December!!) but enough to where it kept people from leaving the house. I think we got about three inches. Nothing to really write home about...especially since at home they had about 3 inches of ICE. No, thanks.




I've been putting time aside everyday to study the Bible and pray. I find that as I've committed to this time, God has really shown himself to me more and more. I feel like I've grown in leaps and bounds since I've set time aside for God.


I guess that's it for now, earthlings.

More later.