thank you Lori

I think I've said this before - but I am really excited about my life lately! I feel so in control. Not like in a god-complex way - just realizing how much say we really do have in the daily. I am so excited about our future! For the first time I'm not just panicked about money! Now I need to say - I wasn't panicking because there wasn't enough (not this past year). I just panic because of a lack of say over where our money was going. Does that even make sense?? Surely, I have had control all along, but no. Our money has been ruling us, rather than the other way around. Dave Ramsey (my hero) has patiently taken my by the hand (via his audio books and best selling hardbacks) and showing me the path to our financial future. I need to thank Lori this evening, because she spent a good three hours on and off the phone with me writing out an adhere able budget. I can't wait to show Rob, I just know he'll be excited because there is fun money factored in! Cool, huh?? And we will be steadily working towards our goals of paying off his student loans and establishing a emergency fund. I know I've said this a ton, but I can totally see where God is bringing all this together for us now, He has a plan. And I am going to be ready!! So excited for the future - just you wait!!

Lots going on today.

at least in my head anyway! :)

I'm so excited about life right now. I don't know if you can tell from my blog posts the last few months, but I just feel this change in attitude and lifestyle coming on. It started with Uncle Joe's visit, and then meeting Josh Schuette, our financial guy. Then Lori started talking to me about grocery game. Then Dave Ramsey came into the picture and all of the sudden I don't feel like the same person. Make any sense?

I'm listening to "More Than Enough" by Dave Ramsey right now and it is perspective changing. He talks a lot about having a long-term (horizon) view of things and making small sacrifices now for big rewards later. He tells us that people who are financially successful are so because they are always thinking about that 5 year plan. Writing out goals is crucial. Being cohesive in your marriage about your goals is crucial too. Rob and I are totally on board with this together, and that is super exciting. We are going to devote these next (gulp) couple years to paying off his student loans. It seems like a ginormous goal, but how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. :) I keep imagining the feeling we will have when that last loan payment is made, the feeling of freedom and accomplishment. I daresay it will rival the day he walked the line!

Grocery Game is really making me happy lately too. I did my rounds last night and spent $77. Of that $77 I need to return $9.29 because two items misrang and I didn't catch it. I will also receive $26.49 back from CVS in Extra Care Bucks (CVS is my favorite place to shop - it's like christmas every week). So my total spending will be $41.22 - pretty impressive when you consider I bought 4 containers of ALL small and Mighty, 6 12-packs of Dr. Pepper, 2 toothpastes, 4 bags of tortilla chips, 4 boxes of Post cereal, 8 boxes of popcorn, 8 boxes of granola bars, 1 full-size Keri Lotion, one medium size Suave lotion, 4 deodorants, a child's toothbrush, Maybeline eye shadow, 2 boxes of Altoids, 2 boxes of Tylenol to-go, 1 package Stayfree Maxipads, and 2 boxes of frozen pretzels, 5 cans of mandarin oranges, 3 cans pork and beans, 2 pumps of SoftSoap. Can you see why I love this game?
Rob was so impressed when I got home. He reminded me that I went to Walmart Sunday afternoon for supplies for youth led service and I spent $45 on items for the game, a prize and sandwiches for our students. He was comparing it to my haul from last night. It is absolutely amazing to me how far you can stretch a dollar compared to how easy it is to spend it without even putting any thought into it.
The other exciting thing about this game is that I can totally buy household stuff too - the deodorant and toilet paper and paper towels. All that stuff drives up your Walmart bill and just makes me sick, personally. A lot of it you literally buy and then bring home and throw away. Not any more for me. Now it's literally a game I play and I'm winning!
Ok, so now the pictures. I'm sure you are wondering what these pictures have to do with what I'm posting. These are from youth-led on Sunday night. Rob and the i-Evans played their gi-tars and drums. It was amazing. They totally sound like a band. Worship was awesome. Loud, but awesome. Sarah kept saying to me "It's too loud Mommy". he-hee. She was funny that night because she would also say "Good job singing Daddy!" every time Rob finished a song. Too cute.
I have a ton to get done today. I'm finishing up laundry and getting it put away. I'm uploading Rob's videos to expo. He's decided to do a few to help towards those student loans. I've got lots of random cleaning/dishes/organizing to do. But I'm feeling super motivated today, so that's a good time to do it. And hopefully I will get to scrapbook a bit today - if Sarah decides to grace us with a nap. And I might drag the kids to the library today too. We will see.

the Magic House

We really enjoyed the magic house. Sarah loved the water table the most. I was totally impressed that the water in it was warm! Plus, you could build dams and divert the water. Very cool. Also, she loved the mini-kitchen. She spent a lot of time on the phone (with Kim, of course) and pulled a chair over to the sink to cook. Eli loved the construction site and they were both pretty impressed with the painting area. I felt bad that we didn't get to spend a lot of time hanging out with Sara and Aunt Boo and Karl and Erik, but the Magic House is pretty hands on and busy with a six year old and a two year old. We ran the whole time. Everyone enjoyed lunch at MCD afterward. It was a great day. We did pictures in the afternoon and went home in time to make fettucini for supper. Yum. It really was a great weekend!

There is also a picture here of Sarah wearing Kimmie's eye makeup. She told me 'I'm pretty like Mommy!" (now how can you be mad at that??)

Kim and Ricky

We had a lovely visit with these two. The time went so fast! I took them to Forest Park in St. Louis on Saturday afternoon for a photo shoot. They were both great sports - it was all of 29 degrees that afternoon. The wind was biting and the light was harsh. But despite all the barriers, I think we still got some great pictures. This couple was so much fun to shoot because they just kept cracking up! I have more pictures of them laughing or sharing funny faces. So many of the pictures I took - she's got a great expression, eye contact, etc and he's doing something else entirely. Or I've captured his great expression, etc and she's rolling her eyes back in her head. It was hilarious!! I don't think I've ever laughed so much in a shoot. They just have a lot of love for life and each other and it showed right through the lens. Anyway, I had a blast, even though I couldn't feel my fingers when we were done and I struggled with seeing through the viewfinder because of the wind, coldness, and brightness. Still, it was a treat to capture their essence. I maintain my offer, please let me photograph you, I have so much fun doing this!!

Oh, and I think the off kilter black and white picture of Kim sassing Ricky is my favorite of the day!

Six Years

I decided today that Eli should be giving me a gift for bringing him into the world six years ago. Conceited, I know, but seriously, I should have gotten something for his birth - it was awful! :) I guess I did get something - him. When I think about his birthday and his birth I feel like I owe my mother a thank you for me. Know what I mean?
Crazy to think this journey of motherhood started six years ago. I remember waking up in that recovery room like it was yesterday. "Did anyone tell her she had a little boy?" The beginning of a great adventure. Shoot, I still remember that silly stick turning with two purple lines! Yep, Sarah and Eli are my best achievements to date and that's mostly because God has had the most say in it.

PS - I need to remember to stand up straight!

Tough Cookies

I love this picture from Halloween. Sarah talked about her 'tatoo' for a month after that. Love their little tough faces and their buff arms.
This Kaboom paper was pretty fun. Expo bought it for me! :)

I'm feeling the compulsive need to blog...

Sounds strange.

but it's me, so you aren't surprised.

I've been kind of slacking off on my blog lately. Just business I guess. Got out of the habit of blogging.

that's bad.

I love my blog. I feel so interconnected when I blog. I can see answered prayer so much more easily with a written record. Know what I mean? I love looking back and seeing how much I've grown.

Anyway. Lots on my mind today. All random stuff, so bear with me.

First of all, I adore the grocery game. Today, I had a $5 credit at CVS because the clerk messed something up the last time I was in. I bought 5 bottles of shampoo (two Pantene Pro-V and three Intensive Selsun Blue) and my total was $ .34. I may never pay full price for anything again, this is so addictive and SO MUCH FUN!!

Secondly, I've been watching some interesting movies lately. We recently upped our cable - only because our telephone was due to go up and it was cheaper to do a larger cable/phone/internet bundle. So we suddenly have access to a lot of movies. I saw "High School Musical" last Saturday night and I loved it. Why can't I do anything in moderation?? I love the music, I've been singing "Breaking Free" all week!! I love the cheesy - break-out-in-song-edness of it. Totally makes me want to sing with Rob. (then I remember I'm really not that talented of a singer)
Then, two nights after HSM we caught Fight Club. I only watched the last hour and fifteen minutes, but it was fascinating. I loved that the guy was crazy. I loved getting in his head and seeing him tick (or not tick). Brad Pitt was so hateable in that movie - I'm not a big Brad fan anyway, but I liked him in this character.
Now I'm sure you are like "Fight Club? Really Anna? That so doesn't seem like a movie you would like!" I know. But violence doesn't really bother me. And tv cleans up the language, so that was the way to watch it. But nudity/sexuality, sexual content - that bothers me. Make sense?? I was grossed out by the fighting in this movie, but the insane depth of the psychological side of it was very intriguing.
Ok, and on a completely opposite swing of things - I'm so amazed at what God is doing in me right now. I love teaching my Sunday School class and my Missionettes class. I'm so excited to study His Word right now. I can see how He's weaving all the parts of my life together to teach me things. I don't think I've ever been as excited for the future as I am right now. Crazy, huh?

Oh and I'm sharing a couple layouts I finished up yesterday. I made a few birthday cards too, but nothing picture worthy. :) Fun to be in my studio.

I'm super excited for tomorrow. Kimmie is coming. I'm going to do some pictures of her and Ricky, so that will be too fun. It should be a wonderful weekend. Now I need to decide if I'm going to scrapbook or concentrate on cleaning up the house. Hmmm. I wonder which one will win? (te-hee)

mOnsTeR CoOkiEs

We made these delicious cookies to celebrate Eli's brithday at school. They were inspired by Elsie's cupcakes, but Eli kind of went crazy on his own, coming up with all kinds of random designs. We started challenging each other - it was tons of fun. Tomorrow is his sixth birthday. (gasp) We are going to the Magic House on Saturday morning with our cousins. I can't wait!!

New Pages

I actually got to scrapbook today. In and around all my grocery gaming, that is. I hit Target (twice actually), CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and Schnuck's. It was crazy. I spent $60 total today (including tax) and brought home $171.53 worth of groceries and toiletries. Plus, I will be recieving $10 ECB (cash to use at CVS) back in two days AND I'm returning $6 worth of soup. So overall today, that brings me to a 73% savings over retail price. So now you see why I love the grocery game. It is soooo addictive! I was stalking the site for the next CVS list today! Our stockpile is growing rapidly, I am very excited to see it at the end of this first 12 week cycle.
Anyhoo, I logged on to post pictures of pages. These are my fun musings - two from the other day and one from this afternoon. Oh, and I'm well into a second page but it will have to wait until tomorrow.
Tomorrow Eli and I are making Monster Cookies (sugar cookies with monster faces) for his birthday party at school on Thursday. We are psyched!

photos

I had the awesome priviledge of photographing this couple today. Zach and Beth came over for a scrapbooking session and we did an impromtu photo session. It was SO fun. Taking pictures like this makes me want to do it all the time!! And today's pictures were crazy fast because it was 32 degrees out and we had the kids with us, so I think we were maybe out there 15 minutes. They loved them!
Anyhoo, it was fun. So, if you live near me (or you want to pay mileage) and you'd like your photo taken by me, let me know. I seriously had an amazing time doing this and want to do it again soon!

See what Expo bought me!

These came this morning. I was beside myself excited. Seriously. Pee-your-pants excited. I hosted a Pampered Chef show at the beginning of the month. We closed on friday and these were at my doorstep when I came home from Walmart this morning. (and yeah, for the record - I freaked that FedEx just casually left them there for all the world to see!) They retail at about $700 but I got them half off for hosting a show, and then Expo paid out a big December. So, to wrap this up - expo bought me a new high-end digital camera, a ton of fiestaware, all of our families christmas gifts AND new cookware in 2006. Pretty cool, huh. If you aren't convinced to start doing ExpoTv.com videos now, then there must be something wrong with your convincer.

Oh, and on the expo front - I am officially in their 100 Club - there are two of us - contributors with over a hundred videos. So my shining face is on that page now. I *heart* expotv!

And another aside - GroceryGame.com is changing my life. I cannot believe the deals I am finding. I have started stockpiling in the basement and it's pretty cool to 'shop' down there when we need something. Rob's totally on board with it too, so that's awesome that we are on the same page. I think it costs a bit to get established, because you are buying both for now (full-price) and then the the next 12 weeks (at rock-bottom prices). But I think once my Walgreens rebates start coming in and my stockpile widens, we'll be operating at a considerably lower budget for grocery and toiletries.

So the crazy part is that grocery game has spoiled me for everything else. I can't pay full-price anymore. I went to HobbyLobby and Archiver's last night with a student and every single thing I put in my cart was on sale significantly (like 50% or greater). Two of my exciting finds were a 3 foot green tinsel Christmas tree for my office ($1.70) and winter berry spray ($.40) for over my antique mirror in the living room. I'm addicted to deals. Oh, and a slew of paper at both stores, cause I need more paper. ha ha.

Okay, and my last bit of fluff for today is Dave Ramsey. Lori's got me listening/reading him and the guys incredible. I can totally see what God's been doing in us and in our financial lifestyle the past 3 years and it's exciting to see it cumulate. Anyhoo, check out Dave Ramsey, I'm reading "Financial Peace Revisited" and it's awesome! It's amazing that I'm reading this book at all because 1) I don't enjoy non-fiction and 2) I hate finances!! But I'm still being totally blessed.

Lots of good stuff. I think Sarah's sleeping, or on her way, Lord-willing, so I am off for a few moments of downtime - hiding out in my studio. Yay!

The First Decade

Seems a little silly to be posting at 1am, but I actually fell asleep on the couch about 7pm, and Rob made me go to bed. He's such a good husband like that! Anyhoo, when he came to bed at 12:30 I realized I was hungry - and ready for some new drugs - so I'm up messing around now, but I've already had 5 hours of sleep.
Sarah's hacking up in her room. She's reintroduced a head cold to our family. I get frustrated because she gets sick when she doesn't take her nap - she's refused to the past two afternoons. Then she gets sick and then she gets cranky. Both of our cranky kids were in bed by quarter after six tonight - mostly because they were both bickering so much!
But I'm not really here to post about sleep patterns and head colds. When Rob came to bed I said "Hey, it's after midnight." and he said "you're right! I love you!"
You see, we met ten years ago today.
I was seventeen. He was nineteen. I had just graduated high school early and started college midterm. We met at a InterVarsity meeting at Morningside College. The only reason I went to the meeting was because it was causing a lot of controversy with the Campus Ministry group (I was an active part of that group) and being seventeen - I still enjoyed controversy. Oh, how a person changes in ten years! Anyhoo, I showed up that night. They had praise and worship - I remember really enjoying the worship - I know now that they were classic InterVarsity songs. Then this guy got up to preach (I know now him as Pastor Craig - our longtime youth pastor and mentor) and first he talked about some guy named Rob. How Rob came into the office and helped him out all the time, Rob was always available and willing. I remember thinking this Rob guy really needs to get a job! :)
Anyhoo, I enjoyed the service tremendously. Afterwards everyone headed to Perkins Downtown - as was the custom. All nine of us squished into a big booth and proceeded to talk into the wee hours of the morning. Being the new kid, some of the leaders were asking me questions - like what do you want to do when you are done with school? Among other things, I answered that I felt called to be a pastor's wife. The table got real quiet and Brad Nickerson says "WELL ROB'S GOING TO BE A PASTOR".
Oh that fateful night. Who knew that ten years later I'd be sitting in the parsonage, wife o' Rob for nine years now, pastoring our first church. Neat.
I think about these first ten years and I feel blessed. I know, that sounds facetious - especially if you know us and you know the kind of insanity we've lived through these past five years. But overall, I am totally blessed to be living through it, and moreso, living through it with Rob. I hear stories at MOPs or on tv or from friends or whatever about less than marriages and I am constantly reminded how much my husband loves me. He may not be the best about bringing random flowers or big birthday gifts - but I don't think he's let a day pass in the past ten years without saying he loved me. Now that's a testimony.
But that's not all... He gave me not one, but two children, when he was totally paranoid about parenting. He allows me to stay home to give our kids a better future. He trusts me with our finances. He appreciates me. He holds me when I'm scared. He talks me down when I'm upset. He allows me to go on and on and on about things. He cleans up after me when I'm sick. He watches my tv shows. He shares my taste in most everything. He appreciates my cooking. He lets me try new things. He pursues me. He teases me. He laughs with me. He cries with me. He holds my hand when we watch tv. He snuggles with me on the couch. He encourages me in all my crazy endeavors. He hems me in. He makes me smile.
Well, I'm sure you can see why life is better with Rob. I'm looking forward to the next ten.

and the next ten.

and the ten after that.

I hope we have a hundred years.



I really do.

Happy Birthday Lori

Lori turns 29 today. I think it's crazy, I still haven't turned 28!! Oh well. Anyhoo, here's wishing her a wonderful day. This is the card I sent her.

Professional Mothering

I've been thinking about this concept quite a bit lately. Especially after introducing the Grocery Game into my life. So much of the time we wrap up our identity in what we do, and I finally feel like what I do is important enough to wrap my life up in it. :) I'm finally really ok with being 'just a stay at home mom' because I know how much I do in a day and how much my family depends on me. I know that it's a miracle that we live (well) off of one income - a pastor's salary at that. I know that we survive and even because of decisions I make on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis.
I decided a few weeks ago on the term "Professional Homemaker" for that looming slot on the dr's office forms - "OCCUPATION". Personally, I think it's sad how much responsibility, power and privilege - or lack there of it - we attach to that ominous word. We are people, souls, mothers, wives, sisters, and YES - many of us happen to work.
Anyway, after six years at home, I think I'm finally coming to terms with being happy in my own skin. I am loving mothering, loving making my house a home, loving taking care of my family - be it encouraging my husband, teaching my son to read or trying to keep my daughter out of the refrigerator. I know that other people are never going to see the worth in what I'm doing, but I see glimpses of it in my children's character every now and then. And God has promised me that it will be worth my time and effort in the long run, and quite simply, that's enough for me.

I'm officially a grocery gamer.

Lori finally talked me into it. I signed up for the grocery game this week and this is my stash from today's shopping. I spent just under $45 after rebates. I think Rob might think I'm crazy, but he's totally on board with the idea. He was laughing at me so hard with my coupons on the floor last night - he had to take a picture. But he wasn't laughing when he came home for lunch and saw all this on the dining room table. He was impressed. He totally gets it. Love that guy.
This other picture is Sarah - after she put Floam in her hair last night and I almost lost it. I so thought I was going to have to cut her hair off. Thankfully it washed out in the tub after it soaked. whew.

More New Pages

It was awesome. Sarah finally fell asleep and I spent a good two hours playing in my studio. This morning I found some awesome deals at Archiver's - they had a lot of sale items and then I had several coupons too. My most exciting purchase was definitely these stamps. They were $9.99 and then I had a 30% off coupon. Totally made my day. Unfortunately I got them home and realized I didn't have an acrylic block large enough, but I improvised with a cd case. It worked. So, I have two layouts to share. This first one is using my new beautiful stamps - I can see I'm going to overuse them already!! The second is a lift from elsie's book, but it just worked and I don't care anymore. If lifting gets me going scrapbooking - that is ok. Plus I always wind up changing things quite a bit. Anyhoo, I am totally grateful to Elsie's book - it is a constant source of inspiration. The pictures on that page are from December's storm. Ack. Glad that's over. It's 49 degrees today and that is fine by me.

A New Day

I am always amazed about the built-in reset button that God gave us. How you can go to bed all worked up about something and wake up with fresh perspective. Wake up with fresh hope.
Today is Rob's day off, which means it will be a fantabulous day - it almost always is when we are together. I think we are going to look at office chairs. And Archiver's. Yep, definitely a good day.

hate

I am continually amazed at the power of hate. I can remember being a little girl (insert Eli saying "WHOA - you were a little girl once Mommy??") and first hearing about the Ku Klux Klan and just not understanding how people could hate so. Then re-experiencing that confusion when I first heard about the holocaust. And then even moreso when I actually understood what the people did to Jesus.
Hate.
I can't even stand the sound of it.
Looking back at my life, I'm trying to decide if I've ever really hated anyone. Oh sure, I've had people I really couldn't stand, people I'd avoid in the hallways or prefer to see move out of state or whatever. But I've never wished anyone dead, or hoped that something bad would happen to my enemies. It's just not the way I function. Even as a child I had a pretty solid concept of the 'love others' thing, just being a Christian and knowing that Christ died for all my sins - sins I hadn't even committed yet.
So this hate thing boggles my mind.
And yet...
I've had quite a few encounters with people who absolutely hate me.
Seriously.
I guess I'm an acquired taste - either you love me or you hate me and there are some haters out there. Well, we'll just say that hate may not be a strong enough word.
For instance, back in the day when I worked at Sears. Whoo, I torked off this girl I worked with so bad. She saw me at the mall after I had called in sick and she decided that I wasn't sick and she just started screaming at me - right there in the middle of the mall. I mean screaming!! I don't hate people, but I do hate confrontation! Especially public confrontation. I nearly died. To this day, I can see that girl's face, screaming six inches from mine. (shudders) Oh, and for the record, I was sick. I had been to the dr that day and I had pnueomonia. We were out picking up my antibiotics and I had pictures that were developed. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm One-Hour-Photo-Girl and it killed me just leaving them there, so we ran in to pick them up that day.
Mom said something to me - about how I never felt accepted by my dad growing up so I struggle with acceptance from everyone else. Interesting. I wouldn't necessarily call it feeling accepted by my dad, I just always got the feeling he was annoyed that I existed. I knew that he loved me, but I didn't understand how he could say he loved me and still treat me the way he did. So maybe I didn't feel loved?? Not sure, but something along those lines screwed me up and now, when people hate me I can't just say 'so' like some people and move on. It really eats me up inside and I want to make it right - which probably makes those haters just hate me more for trying so hard.
Pretty deep. Sorry. Just what I've been thinking about all day.

New Pages

New pages from tonight. Fun memories here. It was just great to sit in my studio and play. This first page has pictures from last March - Dad and Aunt Char drove to Chicago for a funeral and we met them at Char's house on the way there. I love all the random stuff on this page - the chipboard flourishes and floral rub-ons.

The second page is alarmingly simple, but I think I captured the spirit of that weekend. I probably need some journaling, but I just didn't see a spot on there for it. Love the photographs - still amazed by my camera's ability!! We were seriously in the back of the convention center for all of these photographs. (except for the van one - obviously)

A Great Day

.



Ok, so to start with, I slept in until 10:30am. Seriously, I can't remember the last time I slept in that late. I think Rob felt guilty about the being up at 5:30am yesterday and he snuck back to bed thing. Anyhoo, it was fantastic, I woke up so rested and recharged, ready for another day.
So then we had a leaders meeting at noon. We did lunch afterwards and Rob and I randomly decided to head out for a date. We drove to the Galleria (love that mall!) and visited the Mac store. drool. We are so excited for our tax return and our new Mac, I seriously can't wait. I didn't realize that the Monitor IS the processor. Amazing. And it's huge, but beautiful. It is getting rave reviews, too. Four and a half stars on Amazon - the only complaint is that it doesn't communicate with everything. Geez. It's blue tooth compatible, so Rob will be able to sync his palm wirelessly. It has a little remote to control music. And the screen is ginormous. I can't wait to play with photos on it. Wow. Anyhoo, check it out here.
Our computer is almost five years old (in another 2 months) and it gets slower every day, I swear. It seemed impetuous to look at Macs today, but we've been talking about it since May last year, after our DYD convinced us it was the way to go. Even before that we've been discussing it. So, our time has almost come. Woohoo.
The pictures are fun - one of me and Sarah in almost matching headbands. She always wants to wear my headbands - it's so cute. And one in the parking lot of Barnes and Noble today with Rob. Then two from dinner - we did Pizza Hut because they have a good sale on large any topping pizza. Eli took the one of me and Sarah and Sarah took the one of Rob and Eli. Good times. Off to scrapbook like I've been promising myself all day. And then, to dream in widescren full-color Mac. hee hee.