This Weekend.

In fitness:

Aaron and I brought over my family’s old tredmill from my parent’s house on Friday. I used it for the first time today. Ah, I feel like I am improving already.

In coupons:

On Friday we also went shopping. We were in dire need of groceries. Before that our last shopping trip was in August! Whew, I know! I am so thankful for the coupons my mom lets me clip from her mail. She sees them as a waste of time but she gladly hands them over to me whenever they come. Along with our Kroger card, we saved $49.25 on our groceries. We would have saved around $50 if we remembered our bottle returns!

In auctions:

I went to my first farm auction with Aaron, Brian and Logan on Saturday. Aaron’s buddy Dale Jones and his wife Amanda joined us. Aaron bought a sprayer that he is going to give to his Dad so he can spray the apple trees next year. I found something that I liked. It was an old laundry wringer. It went for $45. Yeah, if it was at a yard sale for $10, I might have been more interested in purchasing it.

In weddings:

All of the Cooks had the pleasure of being invited to Chad and Jenny’s wedding. Chad is one of Aaron’s friends.

 After the auction we snagged some McDonalds for lunch. (Yeah. But hey, it wasn’t like I pigged out on that much of it.) I got a grilled chicken sandwich, a small order of fries, and water.  We drove to the Marshall’s house (Amanda’s sister, Michelle and brother-in-law, Eric’s [who is also standing in the wedding] place) so the boys could change. The wedding began at two. The Cooks sat in front of the Jones’ and the Marshall’s, who sat in the back row because they have little ones. Dale and Amanda have a 2-year-old daughter, Samantha. And Eric and Michelle have a baby, Emily. This was my first time seeing Emily. She is beautiful!

The ceremony was very nice, simple and the sermon done by the pastor was very good! Aaron and I stayed for the reception with the Jones’ and Marshall’s. We visited, ate and visited more. There were litle bells on the table that you could ring so that Chad and Jen would kiss each other. Samantha thought they were pretty neat. Afterwhile of watching her play with them I got the idea to loop them on the ribbon she had for a belt. She danced with bells around her waist and had a ball.  We left at 9:30-ish.   

In family reunions:

Sunday was the Gilbert family reunion, during Sunday school Aaron and I left and drove three hours to my father-in-law’s home town of Adrian, MI. After we arrived with ate, and visited. I finally am able to put names with faces!

In closing:

Aaron and I have grown to much closer this past year. Almost every day we mention something about that. I am so blessed to have him. There are some feelings that just don’t have words.

Current Events, Cookbook review, and this coming Winter.

Yesterday I went up to Clare to a flea market with the Lang’s and the Taylor’s. There was so much to see. There were rows and rows of vendors. At one of the tents there was this butter churn that I would have bought if I had more spending money. But I settled for a dollar package of nail brushes and a dollar package of pot scrubbers. Jimmy bought an old sturdy ice cream churn. The girls chipped in and bought a little gumball machine.

When we go next year, I will know to bring more money in case I spy a steal. After that we went to the hardware store, bulk food store and ding and dent store. I bought castor oil, soap, and the Healthy Choices Cookbook, of which I am so happy I bought, because it has recipes for REAL food, not 705 recipes for grain burgers and granola. If healthy food has left a bad taste in your mouth, then I suggest thumbing through this cookbook and seeing if you find anything that you’d eat.   At the bulk food store I bought iodonized salt, wheat bran and wheat germ. At the ding and dent store I stayed in the car with Carmen, Bekah, Abigail and Hosanna. Hosanna ate and fell asleep, while the other girls listened to Odyssey.

Aaron and I went shopping last night I told him that come this winter I would like to start sewing dresses. But first things first, I need to make myself some bloomers, patch his jeans and work on his ripped coveralls.

I am starting to look at canning less enthusiastically. I have been doing it for weeks, and now that I have both kinds of canners in my possession I will be doing it at home. Having a small kitchen has been kind of hard for me. Space gets taken up so quickly. I am trying to keep in mind of how my work will pay off in the winter when the ground is covered with snow and I will again be itching to do some gardening.

Thank you for being a friend.

Thank you for being a friend, travel down the road and back again.

Your heart is true, you’re a pal and a confidant. Thank you for being a friend. 

You aren’t critical of me, you are concerned.

You’re aren’t hindered by the distance, you accept it and make a point to not loose touch.

You are content to sit under a pine tree and tell knock-knock jokes.

I love you.

Only Child.

Reflections On Being a Spiritual “Only Child”

While I was sitting in church today, Bethany, the pastor’s oldest daughter was sitting besides me. During his greeting and opening I thought of how it must be to have a father figure such as a pastor. Then I began to think about how I  had many spiritual parents and families at Fraser Road. I didn’t really have a designated family like some would. I would go family to family and spend time with all of them. The Hine’s, to the Roy’s, to the Pawlicki’s, to the Wedding’s, the Benner’s, the Christian’s, The Youth Group and so on. I found my way into the structure whether it was looking after and keeping children in check, being an “only child”, or mixing in with the others my age.

Many, many of my Sundays were spent going to the park, playing board games, playing tennis, chasing kids, playing tag, swinging, talking, having Bible study.

Even though I had a lot of these spiritual step-families I had a lot of my own “looking after” myself to do. What I wore, watched, participated in. How much I read in my Bible, my prayer life. Sometimes I was completely on my own. Having this status was a blessing and a curse.

You were free and you were your ‘own’ but you were free and you were your ‘own’.

Reflecting on this, I will pass on to my children how I appreciated the love and welcoming arms of these families, and how we should treat newcomers, new believers, and spiritual “orphans”(for lack of better words).  We should always be willing to listen, teach, correct, guide, restore, and love whenever, however to whomever we can.

Garden Update & Girlfriend Date.

My borage is opening! It is so pretty! I tasted a blossom and it has a very light cucumber taste. There is a little pea pod that just grew overnight or something! It came so quickly. One of my broccoli plants is starting to show a broccoli head. Two days ago I made two trellises one for my beans and one for my cucumbers.

 

Today Carmen (Aaron’s cousin and our pastor’s wife) took me out to a local coffee shop in Midland. Her youngest daughter Hosanna came. We both had iced mochas. I spied a health store and I eagerly asked if we could check it out. Carmen said she also has been wanting to go see it. So we ventured across the street. I loved it there! I wanted to get so much! But I practiced self-control. I purchased diatomaetous earth, because something has been after my basil and I pulled off two green wormies from my broccoli. Folic acid, Betsy told me that anyone of childbearing age should be taking folic acid, and an herb handbook.

I have been having a great week so far!

Another nice day.

I took a little walk to our garden today. My poor hail-beaten tomato and pepper plants are doing better. They are going to be a little stunted, but I think they’ll do okay. A few of the broccoli plants are perking up. I hope they all make it! It has been rainy and drizzly this past week. Ugh. I hope my pea seeds won’t get drowned! When it gets sunny again I am going to sow bush beans and pole beans. I was talking to Aaron about purchasing trellises for the beans to climb. Aaron told me not to bother with doing that, he said he could make me some. Could I be more blessed? It is great to have a husband that is so handy!

I have found another beautiful blog – aspiring-homemaker.blogspot.com. Mia’s photography is so pretty! I enjoyed reading posts on what they do and how they live. It was very relaxing to read.

Friends of mine, Amanda and Josh,  just moved from their one room house to a two bedroom house. Amanda is taking pictures of everything and posting them on Facebook. She asked if anyone had a dresser because their one-year-old Emilea needed a dresser badly. In our house we are three dressers one for each bedroom, and at my parents house I have a dresser that belongs to me, so Aaron and I are going to give one of our dressers to Amanda and Josh.

Ahh, it has been a lovely day so far!

Look Mommy…

Look Mommy, I’m on another blog!

http://acooker.blogspot.com/

Saturday was about as random as “Chocolate Rain” I went to the chiropractor to get my back straighten out. I can’t feel my knots, or the shooting pain down my leg anymore. All that hurts is my lower back. And that pain is on and off. When I got home, I went to different places and bought plants with m mom then we went to Cold Stone and had ice cream.I couldn’t finish it so I gave the rest to my dad when I got home.

I went for a walk later that evening. It was very nice out. My walk was shorten by a dog sitting on a front porch. I wasn’t sure if it was tied up and I didn’t feel much like running. So I turned around and swiftly walked the other way.

Yesterday, I went to church in the morning, the sermon was on a few of the attributes of God. I couldn’t play with or pick up any of the kids. Silas tried a couple of times. Zipporah said that I am no fun when my back is hurt. I went to the Cook’s house after church. After we ate my back began to bother me. The rocking chair I was sitting in wasn’t holding up my ice pack very well. Julie said that I could lay on the floor, I was hesitant for a split second, but then I figure that the Cook’s are more like family to me, so I got comfortable on the floor.

Then there was the issue of getting back up. Julie and Aaron explained it to me a couple of times. I started laughing really really hard, when Mr. Cook came into the living room and had a comment. I was quite entertaining for about three minutes.  Aaron even got down on the floor to show me. But I was too nervous about hurting my back.  I managed to get up after all of that.

After we went for a walk, Amy, Julie, Betsy, Brian and I all went to Aaron’s house to have ice cream. Most of us had cherry ice cream. Betsy had a Klondike bar.

Then I went with them to their church. Mr. Cook was preaching. He talked about John the Baptist, the old covenant and Jesus, from John 3.

The Cook siblings have very interesting conversations. Sometimes, actually most of the time there will be more than one over lapping the rest. At first this racked my brain a little. I didn’t know who to pay attention to, because in my family we rarely have multiple conversations at the same time on account of our family size. I was telling them last night that is why sometimes I don’t talk because I don’t know when it is my turn! Only recently I have been able to carry on a conversation while overlapping another. I start out quietly though.

I also met their cousins again, and their Uncle Wayne and Aunt Gera yesterday. After church we went to the Byler’s house for fellowship.

My back is doing well this morning, I can reach itches that were bothering me last night, stretch to a certain point and reach for my coffee on the nightstand. Thank you for your prayers!

Thank You.

Thank God for His Word without it I would be lost.

Thank God for friends without them I would be lonely with no accountability.

Thank God for Jesus without Him I would be living life for me.

Amanda came up with a possible reason to why my hip and back are hurting. Due to my weightloss I probably carry myself the way I used to when I was heavy. My body is used to having extra to carry!

Rock hopping in Narnia at Cedar Campus.

The water! We are close!

The bugs were really bad up there.

Not the greatest picture of my rock hopping, oh well.

I’m not too sure what we are doing in this picture.

Nikki and I. It must have been red shirt day.

Blog-worthy.

Sorry for my lack of posts. Most of the last ones have been videos.

Yesterday I went to the Cook’s house. I was very nice I missed them so much! It seems like I was gone for more than a week!

Beth came to visit also. We had girly-talk, I showed Betsy my pictures from CFW, they showed me theirs, we took a little walk outside, and had more girly-talk.

____________________

Me- “I ate a brownie today.”

Paul- “Good for you?”

Oh, one more thing, I love God!