When It Rains......

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To say we are stressed is an understatement. To say we are inundated with calls and projects and places to go and people to see is an understatement. Ever since the Regional Conference we went to, what, two weeks ago, it seems like life has taken a turn and is on the expressway. Do not get me wrong! These are good things! Let me elaborate.
We were contacted at the Regional Conference by a pastor and his elder about a position at their church. We currently have an interview with said church at the end of the month (your prayers are welcome and needed!). Also, we were contacted last evening by a church that contacted us months ago, but could not afford the salary. Time has a way of sorting things out and they are now able to pay the package that we would need. That is good. However, we now have two church with which to discuss things with and that leaves us sort of discombobulated. Would this be any other job, we would interview all at the same time. However, this is not. It's so different. Do we do one at a time? Or all together? That is something to figure out. Also into this equation is 16 hour round trips, for both churches. Both are in PA, but one is north and one is south. Ugh, what to do! And how do we hear God on this? I mean both can pay what we need, yay! (Which means health insurance, which means we could have another baby!) but we don't want to go solely on who can pay more. We are not in it for that. Just what we need, thank you. And these past almost two years have shown us that we can live on a lot less than what we initially thought. We didn't have health insurance, but we have our health. I value that more. So we are trying to figure that out.
We also agreed to taking a membership class at the church we currently attend. Our thought was, this is where we are at, we could be here for another five years (yikes!) or another five months. But this is where we are at. Well we started the classes and now these things are happening.
My best friend is getting married in less than two months. I am the Matron of Honor, so that means I am throwing her a shower, just a relaxing thing. To the lake. It will be relaxing and nice, but that is right and I do mean right, after we get back from the interview at the end of this month. Also I am making her wedding dress and the jacket to go with it. Eck! It is going well, but it is cutting close. She lives over an hour away, so time together to fit and such is short. I am still working so finding time to sew is at a premium. My husband is the photographer for it (which leaves me sort of out for it, I am usually his right hand man, er, woman for weddings. I will help as I can.) And my daughter is the flower girl. We are all involved. The wedding is over an hour away.
Keep in mind that for all of the meetings we will need to take time off of work to go. That means less money coming in. It is all very confusing. I know God is in control and believe me I am excited at the opportunities. It is good stress. However, it is stress, nonetheless.
So that is life at high speed ahead, please join us in our prayers. Please pray for peace, wisdom, understanding and discernment. We need it.

The Art of Becoming

I am in the process of loosing weight. I've said that before. But I am constantly trying to think of ways to do it better. I'm here today to sort of 'put on paper' what I am planning on doing.

• I am still a part of Nutridiary.com's website. I log there daily.
  
• I am still being active, I go to the gym everyday, except sunday. I am active at home.
• I am being conscious of what I eat.

But here's where I changed some things, this is what I am going to do differently.

• I found a website that lists 100 snacks for under 100 calories. Which is awesome.
  
• I plan on eating a good breakfast, for under 200 calories. Then mid morning eating a 100 calorie snack. A 500 calorie lunch, mid afternoon 100 calorie snack. Then a 500 calorie supper with a 100 calorie snack in the evening. That will put me at 1500 calories everyday. And I'll always be shoving something in my mouth.
  
• During supper, which is when my resolve flags the most, I will make myself a cup of green tea (decaf) sweetened with stevia.
  
• And in the evening I have the tendency, if I go to bed late, to want to eat. So if I get to that point, I will pop in one of my pilates or yoga tapes and do that instead.
• I will continue with the water as much as possible.
• And while I watch tv or a movie (which isn't often) I will bounce on my exercise ball. One hour burns 250 cals. And I'm just watching TV!
  

So this is what I have planned for my weight loss. It seems to be going well. Right now I've had my lunch, I've worked out, I've had a snack mid morning and I feel pretty good.
I'm even going to see about getting a popcorn popper. Doing it in the pan is calorically expensive. The oil is what gets ya. Plus a popper will pop every kernal, we won't waste on oil, and it's soooo low in calories.

Now if I could just get to bed on time....

Nadia's room is just about finished. The carpet guy came last night to measure. We are choosing a very light green minty carpet. Very pretty. It will match the cream/tan stuff we have in the house. Hubby has the walls back in, painted and looking very very nice. He even improved the window, put more insulation in and put a frame around the window that wasn't there before. He is just about done putting the closet door in. Really all we need to have done is the carpet. He is going to wait to put the door in until the carpet is installed. Then we can put Nadia back in her room. YAY!! I can hardly wait. We need to think about how we want the room set up. I think once she is in her room we will all sleep better. She sleeps great until we get in our room, then she wakes up a lot. She takes great naps because we aren't in there.

We are still waiting to hear from the regions. That committee has their meeting today. Pray! Hubby is sending a resume to another region right now. We'll see how that goes.

Well gonna sign off. Get some other things done.
Blessings!