Settling in...

We moved into our new home just under 2 weeks ago, and things are good.  A little messy, but good.  It feels like we're slowly getting into a rhythm/routine but doesn't feel like "home" home yet, if that makes any sense. 

My clothes are not hanging in my closet (I'm stilly trying to sort them through), and we don't have toilet paper holders in our upper bathrooms, that's what the tub's edge is for. 

But on the whole, we're loving the journey of making our house into a home.  Can't wait until I hang our first picture frame! 

A 'Sharp' Revelation...

Don't you love it when God speaks to you in weird ways that you can't help but know, without a shadow of a doubt, that it's God speaking?  Yesterday, God spoke to me through a knife.  Yes, a knife.  While attempting to make my first 'from scratch' dinner (Shepherd's Pie!), I opened a new box of knives that we had received from our wedding.

In the past, I always used knives that were sharp (for obvious reasons) but the instant I sliced my first potatoe, I felt like I had never used a real knife before.  I was shocked at how easy it was to slice the potatoe... and that's when it hit me.  The purpose of a knife is to help us cut things, with ease.  Using a blunt knife would be silly because it defeats the purpose of using a knife in the first place.  

So how does this relate to my life?  God's sharpened us all a certain way.  Some of us are adept at teaching, and others singing.  No one person's gift is better than the other, but it is noticeable that we have gifts and talents; and it's not by sheer coincidence that we do. God gifts a person with the ability to preach in hopes that they will fulfill their calling... and preach.  Just like a knife's purpose is to cut, so is a preacher's purpose to preach.  

But many people serve in ministries, work jobs or are in relationships they are not called/purposed to.  They struggle endlessly, and find themselves questioning God as to why things are so difficult.  It's like a knife wondering why it's having such a difficult time taking pictures.  It was never meant to take pictures!

I believe I've found my purpose/calling/gifting in life, I just need to figure out how to best utilize it.  Children's Ministry at church has been a great way for me to channel that passion... but I feel like there's still so much more I have in me, to give.  

Here's to trying to be the sharpest knife!

Tomorrow, tomorrow..

...it's only a DAY away!!

Super big day tomorrow. I can't express how excited I am for tomorrow

to come, so I won't even attempt to describe it.

!!!!

Swatches, Colours & Paint... Oh My!

There are times when I enjoy having choices.  Like when I'm eating lunch at Swiss Chalet. I like being able to choose between their famous french fries, sweet corn and sautéed mushrooms as a side.  Sometimes I'm feeling the fried potatoey stuff, other days I'm itching for veggies drenched in oil.

But when I walked into the paint department today and saw shelves of tiny paint swatches, it was more overwhelming than seeing the many aisles of granite slabs. There were soooo many colours! Pale Cucumber, Cilantro Cream, Organic Field.  Ummm... I'd refer to them all as "green".

So why paint colours?  We were shopping for our future master bedroom wall colour.  Because our bed set is ridiculously heavy, we'd rather paint the room now than have to move (and struggle with) the thing later.  That leaves us with 3 days to find a paint colour we like, paint the bedroom, or at least the one wall, before our mattress and bed set arrive.  Talk about pressure!

The colour we want is a very pale-grey green.  Nothing too bright, but enough to strike a subtle contrast with the 'warm grey' we chose with our house.  So the search begins for our perfect green wall colour.

Granite & Tile Shopping

Long.  That's what today was.  We were scheduled to visit a couple of granite/marble shops and what I thought would take a mere few hours ended up lasting an entire afternoon. We looked through aisles and aisles of slabs only finding a couple we liked (which is pretty good considering the wide selection).

What we are looking for is something that will match our kitchen cabinets.  Many people today were lugging their actual kitchen cabinet around, comparing it to the slabs (smart!)... sadly, we couldn't do that.

What we are looking for is something dark brown (but not black), not sparkley/speckley and not overly swirly.  The one we liked best is called Antique Brown.  The picture below looks a lot lighter, because of my flash, but is actually quite dark in person.

Also, we'll be switching up the tiles in the foyer.  My father-in-law found some he really liked, mostly because of their uniqueness in size and shape.  I like how one small change in tile size can make such a big difference in the overall look as a whole.

Wow.  There is so much we want to do, and we don't even have our house yet!  3 more days until we get our keys!!

Pst... Can You Keep a Secret?

...

I've never had to cook for myself before.  There, I said it.  Deep breath now.  Even after being married for almost a year, my mother-in-law cooks pretty much every night (talk about being spoiled, huh?).  But that's about to change.  And I'm scared.  Yep, I am.

If you were to ask me to bake 200 cupcakes by this weeks end, I'd feel a lot more confident about that than having to cook a meal.  I'm a baker.  I do cookies and cakes.  If you give me a recipe, I can follow it to the tee.  Ask me to add a "pinch" (now what exactly constitutes a pinch?!) of salt and gauge something by how it tastes... you've pretty much kicked me off the horse.

But I'm thankful that my husband isn't a fussy eater.  I'm the one with the long, and ever growing, won't-eat list. No chili / hot sauce, nothing that has eyes and can look at me, no raw fish (I'm a all-you-can-eat sashimi waster!), not a fan of seafood... and it continues.

The extent of my cooking expertise goes as far as my brother's DS game, "Cooking Mama" (featured above).

As I said, moving out is all about adventure... and adventurous eating I suppose.

A 'Getting Started' Gift!

This is a rather late post, nevertheless, one I've been wanting to post for a while now.  Two good friends of ours were married last August and to thank us for helping them plan the wedding (and the hubby for being in the wedding party!) they gave us a unique, yet very handy, gift(s).  Voila!

It's a box of... stuff!  From duct tape to detergent to a pizza pan, they thought of just about everything we'll need once we move out.  I was shocked (and grateful) because I didn't know where to begin with buying random household necessities.

It was one of the most thoughtful (and original) gifts I had ever received!  I love how it's super practical - the items themselves AND the rubber maid box.  I'll definitely have to follow her lead the next time a friend moves out. What an awesome gift idea!

The Early Bird...

This morning, I was up at 6:45am ready and bouncing for a day of supply teaching.  I semi-curled my hair (which is something since I hardly ever do anything nice to my hair!) because I was so excited.  The last time I supplied was before the Christmas holidays, so I was eager to see the students again.

7:30am rolled around and I still hadn't heard back from the VP who called me the day before. 10 minutes later and I received the call, "The teacher who called in sick... is feeling better."  I don't think I'd ever been disappointed about someone feeling well, but I am thankful that whoever they are is better.  So, I waited until 8:05am before waking the husband up, to his surprise.

What this morning taught me was that I can indeed wake up early and not absolutely dread it.  In the past, doing morning devotions was difficult to even think about because I couldn't imagine waking up, and enjoying it, when it was still dark out.  Impossible!

But today's eagerness, and lovely hair curling, showed me that if you're truly passionate about something, you'll do whatever it takes (sacrifice a little) - even if it means waking up before the world does.  Ha! Like half the world isn't already up and on the way to work.

"Oh Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;

in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch."

Psalm 5:3 (ESV)

What better way to start the day off than communing with God and waiting and watching for what He decides to do??

On Growing Up...

I guess it hasn't hit me yet. 

In 9 days, we'll be moving out for good.  I left my parents house when we were first married, but living 10 minutes away (7 if you get all the green lights) with my in-laws hardly constitutes a permanent change of scenery.  But in nine days time, that's all going to change.  A mere 7 minute drive will now be 45 minutes. 

I still remember tearing up the first night we drove back to my in-laws.  I was so overcome with emotion (and shame - I mean, who cries over 7 minutes of driving?) that I started crying in the passenger seat of the car because I was "moving out".  But this time, I think (and hope!) I'll be able to take the change in stride. 

It's like beginning a new adventure...

Our Pre-Delivery Inspection

This morning we had our PDI appointment!  After 2 long years of waiting, we were able to see our house in its (almost) finished state.  It's amazing how much bigger the townhouse looks with dry-walls vs. just the plain framing.

Before the PDI, we were prepping ourselves to spot any and every problem in the house.  But I'm happy to say there weren't any major defects (thankgoodness!) and Susan, the lady we worked with, was on the ball, finding and pointing things out even before we saw them!

She walked us through everything we needed to do as new home owners and didn't think any question was a silly one.  She was great.  I didn't realize how much up-keep there was to maintaining a house!  Gas valves, furnace stuff, cold/hot water pipes...

We went through the entire house in less than 2 hours, but it felt like we did a super thorough job flagging things down with the super green painting tape.  I was afraid the entire house would be green... but it wasn't. Not excessive at least.

1.5 more weeks until we officially move into our new home!

Abs of steel...

I had a nasty cold this weekend.  The poor hubby had to endure my hacking (and lovely germs) these past few days.  All I can say is that coughing is a workout.

PS: our PDI (pre-delivery insepction) is this Friday!!!

Jokes on me!

So, in my last (second-last) post, I detailed wanting a Whirlpool gas range + Convection oven.  What I didn't mention was my mind being wrapped around the idea of a KitchenAid gas range.

These two ranges, both with solid functions and burning capabilities, kept bouncing around in my head.  One moment the Whirlpool range would pull out in front (especially because of the price) but a second later, the KitchenAid would manage to out beat it.... and so it went.  Until 2 minutes ago.

Doing a history check on both brands, I found out that they are, silly me, the SAME company.  Like Honda and Acura, Whirlpool is merely the mid-range brand while KitchenAid stands as the premium brand of the company.  Well then, here I was saying that KitchenAid was probably made with better quality yadda yadda...

Shows how much I know...

Cupcake Love

Chocolatey Cupcakes

+

Pink & Blue Buttercream Frosting

+

Sprinkles of all shapes and sizes

=

Happy kids & cute cupcake creations

On Sunday, I toted my new Cupcake Caddy (if you are a cupcake/sweets lover, like me, you NEED to buy this!) to church to prepare for cupcake decorating after Sunday School.  The kids enjoyed it, particularly one little boy, who didn't decorate his cupcake but simply ate it, two of them actually, plain. 

The lesson: CREATION.  Before handing out cupcakes, the kids learned that God created each and every one of them and are special in His eyes.  The kids were given newspaper and play-dough to create their own 'whatever'.  Some made snowballs, others pizzas.  In the end, they realized creating things, least of all humans, isn't easy.  That God must have spent a great deal of time, effort and love when He made each and every one of them. 

It's Raining Furniture! - Pt. 2

Two months ago, I knew nothing about ranges (I didn't even know that's what they were called - I call them "stoves") but now I know just a bit more, enough to get me through an appointment with a sales person and not sound completely silly.  

Stepping out into the world of major appliances, we had no clue what type of range we wanted.  Flat top, coil or gas?  Convection or not?  Warming tray... whaaaat?  I didn't know these things even existed!  Isn't that a microwaves job?  So after many nights of online reading, here we are, almost ready to purchase our first range. 

What we did decide was that we wanted a slide-in gas stove with a convection oven.  I've heard horror stories about flat top ranges (perhaps it's just my mom's and mother-in-law's experiences that created my bias) so that had me running.  Also, I'm a soon-to-be avid cook, or so I tell myself, and I love love love to bake.  So, many people recommended a gas range.

We're still undecided about the above Whirlpool, but we're considering it.  It's within less than our budget and seems pretty impressive.  My only question is the convection oven part.  I hear different things about it... that it doesn't bake cakes, and things that rise, properly. 

Just when I thought we had decided...

Taking the Plunge...

I've always liked children, but the one thing I like more is being able to teach them.  Tomorrow I will celebrate, with snacks, yummy cupcakes and a load of kids, my stepping off the narrow edge into Children's Ministry.  Journeying along with the kids and learning more about God awakes the inner "child" in me.

But why is it so difficult to have child-like faith?  What keeps us from propelling off the brink of our comfort zone into the hands of our Father knowing He'll catch us without fail?  Perhaps it's trust, or a lack thereof.  How many times has God asked us to do something only to have us look away (like we didn't hear Him calling), turn around and run in the opposite direction?

This year, the Lord has asked me to love his children by devoting my time and efforts into teaching them.  When He first asked me to, I wanted to turn and run (I blame it on my eager flight response) but something told me to stay put.  To turn around and look the fear of disappointment, expectation and failure dead in the eyes, and JUMP.  And I did. 

God welcomes children into the kingdom, and my passion is to help them understand as much as they can.  To demonstrate His love by spending time with them and showing them that they are important, special.

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,

for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

- Luke 10:14

His Mercies are New Every Morning

Today is Jan 1, 2010; another day the Lord has blessed me with.  What will I do with it?  Now, that's up to me.  In my hands, I hold the power to change that which is around me, or do nothing at all and let another day pass me by.

This year, my focus is to impart change.  It used to overwhelm me to think of all the many ways I could possibly change the world - petition against the latest whatever, invent the next million dollar gadget and give all the proceeds to charity, win the lottery, work full-time at a non-profit organization whose work I believe in... and the list rolls on.

Thinking about these things scared me, but making a change or being the change in this world does not entail that something big has to happen.  It certainly can happen, but it isn't a must.  Sending someone an encouraging card, offering a prayer, listening to a friend, simply doing something and being there for someone else may not seem like much, but it is.

My everyday small choices do make a difference, and so do my actions.  While my efforts may seem small, their overall impact can, and will, add up.  If you think about it, it's those small choices that make up the Christian life. It is those everyday actions that give our bigger achievements validity.  It's one thing to offer up a large sum of money to a charity that feeds hungry mouths in a 3rd world country (which in and of itself, is great), but if I am unable to support my friends in their daily walk, smile and show God's love to people who might not deserve or want it, is it real?

"Therefore, as God's chosen people... 

clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, 

humility, gentleness and patience."

- Colossians 3:12