Not all fun and games.

     Well, for those of you wondering, yes, we're still alive! We survived the 6 grueling weeks of the Foster Care classes, which means 36 HOURS of information. Including homework that had to be done in between classes and on the weekends. Not to mention we both work full time and attempt to have somewhat of a social life in between.
We made some amazing friends in the class and through this process and are truly glad we stuck through it all. We had so much information thrown at us in those short 6 weeks, we're more prepared to be parents than most of the population around here. You think I'm kidding...I'm totally not!

We learned so much about how to deal with the issues that will come with these foster children. Remember, these children are in "the system" for a reason. Reasons that can include: physical abuse, emotional abuse, starvation, sexual abuse, neglect, torture, drug addictions, etc. I don't even know where to start to tell you what kind of horrible situations some of these babies and children come from. So I won't go there... the point is, we'll probably end up with a little person who has a large attitude.

The main thing we learned about in these classes is to love unconditionally. To listen, to pay attention to what the child is freaking out about, to understand, to be there as a shoulder to cry on but not to be overwhelming, controling, or too pushy. Every one of these kids have trust issues. They don't want to become too attached to anyone because they always end up getting hurt. Yes, if we end up with an infant we might not run into this issue, however, most of these babies never had the care that a typical baby would have. Some things as simple as even being held as newborns, or maybe they cried all night and no one ever came to feed them. Maybe they spent 3 days in the same diaper. Who knows! These kids have gone through the worst, and they deserve a family who will love them! The more I learn, the more fired up I get about adoption. It's so easy. Not as easy as taking a quick trip to Target in your little mini van, but all things considered, I honestly can't believe we still have so many thousands and thousands of orphans in America. At this point I'd like to go into a very long rant but...I'll save you from Sarah's soap box. Just this once.

I've had quite a few friends and family ask me where we're at in the whole process. Well, we're kinda stuck somewhere in the middle. We still need to complete our CPR class, get ourselves fingerprinted, have physicals done and have paper work filled out by our Doctors... send in our home visit application, which can take a while to process, and have our social worker come see our house and discuss what type of baby/child/siblings we are open for.

This all sounds simple but it all takes appointments and planning which is hard to do when you're at work 5 days a week. Most of these appointments are scheduled to happen in the next month and a half, however, we still need to do a little prep-work before the home visit. Apparently, we need to have everything ready when they do the home check, including car seats, cribs, beds, etc...the only problem is, we have planned to take any toddler, baby, or sibling set age 4 or under, any sex, any race. So, preparing our house for any of these might get pretty interesting. But Matt and I are together in this and we are ready for the challenge!

On a happier note, I get to register for baby stuff someday soon! We are both super excited to get to do this together. I just have no idea what the heck I'm supposed to plan for!
Most girls, when they get pregnant, know that at the end of 9 months, they will be having a baby. I, however, know that at the end of some months from now (and I have no idea when), we will get a call and poof! There will be a baby, or a toddler, or a few toddlers, or a toddler/baby, standing at my door and we'd better be ready! yikes.
All we can do for now is continue on the path that has been layed before us and get all the necessities taken care of, along with trusting God's plan for our lives as we continue to move forward into our unknown future.

Adopting Patience.

Matt and I went to the LA County Orientation on 11/4 for our next step (which was actually a step back) in the whole Adoption process. Since we’ve moved to Whittier, we had to start over. Different Counties, different systems. But I keep hearing this LA system is quicker and easier than Orange County. Which is good for us, but sad as well. There are over 2,500 kids in the Foster Care system in LA alone! It's hard to think about only helping one or two kids for now when there are SO many out there needing loving homes. But, you have to start small before you can grow big, right?

Anyway, one thing about starting over was, we got to hear the 3 hour Orientation speech…twice. Yay. But, at least this one was a little entertaining… people showed up almost an hour late (even though all the info says “show up 15 mins early or you won’t get a certificate of completion at the end of the class.”) then they proceeded to make a scene when the social worker teaching the class told them to leave.

I’m no expert on this situation, but if I was trying to adopt, I don’t think I’d start a fight with the social worker before things even got started, ya know? Hmm.

During this exciting Orientation, we found out that the 6 week “MAPP” class that we need to take, doesn’t start until Jan. 31^st, 2012 due to their holiday break. Of course! 3 more months of waiting, waiting and waiting...Waiting. I’m pretty sure Someone is teaching me something here because as anyone can tell you, I am NOT a patient person.

So, since I have 3 months to sit around and wait for the process to begin of receiving a child, you get to sit around reading about me waiting. Lucky you.

PS-MAPP Stands for “Permanency and Safety: Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting.”

Pretty much it’s just a really long name to justify the really long classes that we’ll be going to. Once we get started, it will be a 6 week course, with 3 hours on Tuesdays and 3 hours on Thursdays. It sounds like a lot but we’re still excited to start going through the whole process.

After the classes are completed and we have our Foster care license, we will be visited by a social worker numerous times to make sure we aren’t crazy. Oh wait, I mean to make sure our house is suitable for children and all the safety regulations are being met.

So there it is, your little update. I’d just like to thank the people that have been asking about our adoption process and praying for us! I don’t get to hear “how’s your fetus doing?” every other minute, so it’s nice to hear that people still remember that we are preparing for a little Mericle of our own! 

and the Due Date is...

Ha! You thought I'd just spill the beans, just like that?! Well, to be honest, I would. If I could. But in all seriousness...We don't know!

"How can they NOT know?" You ask.

Well this might shock you even more...We won't even know the sex, the skin color, or even the age of the kid until it's go time! And by go time, I mean go home time.

To put it simply, we're going to be adopting! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Matt and I have a very long road ahead of us. Classes about kids, classes about healing, classes about abuse, CPR classes, classes about classes...you name it, we will be going to a class about it, or because of it. This is quite an adventure for the both of us, and we thought we would share it with our friends and family.

At first, I thought I'd be sad that I'm not writing about the little "plus sign" or the way I left an EPT on the counter for Matt to see, or if I'm craving some random food, or the way I can't get out of bed because I have morning sickness...but, I'm not! I'm actually pretty darn glad I don't have headaches and nausea and unavoidable weight gain.

For myself, it's been a hard year and a half trying to get pregnant, I'm not going to lie. Some days I got angry, some days I became depressed, some days I just wanted to stick my tongue out at the next girl that told me she was pregnant, (no matter how happy I actually was for them). But, I have always felt called to adopt and now I understand why. I have always believed that the Lord would not give me a situation I could not handle, and now I understand why. I believe in this verse more than anything, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." (Proverbs 16:9 ) ..and now I understand why. Now, if I do end up getting pregnant while we are going through this adoption process, that is a whole other issue and we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

The biggest question I get after I tell people our plan to adopt is, "What about fertility treatments?"
Ok, here's my soap box people. You asked for it. Or maybe you didn't but you're gonna get it!
I believe that if I am meant to have biological children, then God will give me those children. I don't see the point in spending tons of money and time on treatments that may or may not work, while an abused, neglected, lonely child is waiting for a mommy and daddy to love them. I refuse to be one of the many that turns my head and says, "I'll let someone else deal with those kids, they have too much baggage."  So there it is. The Bible tell us to take care of the orphans, and that is what we plan to do. So we are asking for prayer for the strength to take care of the children that He places in our home.


I have always loved Sandra Bullock,
but now I respect her as well.



Matt and I will be going through the LA County adoption services, starting in Nov. Long story short, we had started the Orientation in the OC system, but we'll be moving to Whittier in a few weeks so we were forced to change organizations.

We have decided that we are open to Foster/Adopting kids, anywhere from age infant to 4 or 5 yrs old. We are also open to a sibling group if needed. As some of you might not realize, the older a child gets in the system, the harder it is for them to be adopted. Everyone wants infants. Which is why we will not be joining that waiting list. Yes, it might make our lives harder getting an older child who is probably emotionally damaged already, but we're ok with that. I mean hey, no one's kids are perfect... biological or not!




I suppose some of you are wondering why we have chosen to tell everyone our decision, so far in advance... well here is a list of reasons.
1. We need support, and prayer. And by that I mean lots of prayer support.
2. We're excited! And we want to share the exciting baby news!
3. I'm sick of people asking me why we don't have a baby yet. I am too tempted to tell the next person that we just can't seem to figure it all out...(tehehe)
4. We want to encourage anyone else out there that might be going through what we went, (and are going) through.
5. We're excited!! Did I already say that?

Well thanks for reading, if you made it through this long thing... and in about a year or so, you will get to find out the kid's sex, skin color, weight, age...


                                        ...hey, and so will we!

Vacations = Food.

I am going to start off by letting you know, this blog has no real purpose. There is no hidden message and no profound thought at the end. There may not be any witty jokes, we'll see. But I figure, since we all love vacations, and we love food and the two are always tied together somehow, I'll let you know about this last week.

We spent 7 days at my Aunt's place in Arizona last week. She is always gracious enough to let Matt and I stay at her place during the Summer, (while she is still in AK), and enjoy her pool and beautiful "winter" home. One thing we love about this place is the large kitchen which we are definitely not used to, because we love to cook together on vacation. Weird, I know, but true! 

The very first thing we try to figure out when we get there is: What kind of food do we want to go shopping for?

So the list begins.

Eggs? check.

Milk? check.
Bacon? check.
Cheese? check.
           ...Matt is very into breakfast, can you tell?



Matt's Breakfast Tacos!

 Here is one Breakfast creation that Matt came up with. Here we have a homemade taco shell, scrambled eggs, garlic seasoned potatoes, jalapeno sausage, bacon, cheese, salsa and cilantro.


Yum! That is all I'm going to say about this one.

I am not, however, going to say how many calories I think are in these special tacos. That would ruin the whole point of being on "vacation" right?


Since this IS vacation, and I hate doing dishes, with a passion, we did occasionally eat out during the week. We also ordered Pizza, which is always amazing. There is a place called "Da Boyz Pizza" in Yuma, AZ that we love. If you're ever there, try it. and get some wings. According to Matt, they have the BEST WINGS EVERRRR!!!



Here we are enjoying our hardy meals



One night we visited a fun restaurant called Cracker Barrel.

It's good Southern style food with a feeling of the Pioneer days. We actually had to come back one more time for breakfast the morning before we  left Arizona. Matt had to try their breakfast. He ordered some kind of everything-sampler and I had some good 'ol home made style French Toast.

This place reminded me of the Little House on the Prairie series. (Did they even have French Toast back then?)

                                                                                                         

All in all, it was a very enjoyable place to eat at. We spent some time in their little General Country Store and even had to buy some Cracker Barrel Apple Butter and Pure Maple Syrup to take home. Yummm!

One night Matt made us some amazing steak for dinner while I grilled some veggies. Another night I just couldn't put down the book I was almost finished with, so he made a chicken dinner all by himself. I'm not sure exactly how long he was in the kitchen, but I got through quite a few chapters... and by quite a few I mean about 2 hours worth of reading. so...

 Let me just say, it was WELL worth the wait! When we finally sat down to eat, Matt presented this beautiful, colorful, stuffed chicken and vegetables! The chicken had cheese and green squash stuffed inside, with avocado, cilantro, bell peppers and grilled squash on the outside.

 Amazing. Delicious. Beautiful. Perfectly cooked. Can I just brag a little bit here? My husband is pretty cool. I love to cook but this guy makes food look better and taste better than I ever could!

So there it is my friends. I think I gained about 5 lbs. this week. In fact, I know I did. But hey, it's vacation right? 

                                   Tonight's special dinner menu:

                                            Salad ...and water.

                                                                                     

 I

My Father's Daughter.

The other day, some of my co-workers told me that I look like my dad. Which is weird because I've never really heard that before from anyone and it got me thinking about the resemblances (if any) between my dad and myself...I mean, we're both kinda skinny and almost the same height now, but that's all I can think of at the moment. Well, with Father's Day coming up, I figured I'd share a little bit about what it means to be my father's daughter other than the width of our stick legs.

The very first thing that comes to my head when I think about my dad is this verse:

 "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not part from it."    Proverbs 22:6

(This is pretty much what I believe to be the opposite of what my dad had in mind for me, although, as we all know...I'm a rebel!)

I don't know if I can be considered "old" yet, but I do know that no matter what I am doing, or where I happen to be, my dad's voice "training me" will randomly pop into my head and I don't think I'll be parting with it any time soon. Some words of wisdom just never leave you:

Dinner table, school desk, church pew, fence, you name it, I must always, "Sit up straight."

When someone says thank you, "It's not 'uh-hu', it's: you're welcome"

When my name is called, "It's not 'what?', it's: yes?"

When telling a story, "It's not 'me and him' it's: He and I."

                                                               oiy.

A few dad related fun-facts I've learned over the last 26 years would be:

-If you want a cute lab-mix puppy, tell your dad he needs a big "manly dog" around. It works.

-There are things my dad taught me, and things I taught myself because of my dad.

-Bike rides can make for great memories.

-His need for perfection became my obsession for imperfection. And now I can accept my every flaw and am the happiest me I could possibly be.

-Bring your dad to hockey practice, the horse stable or on vacation and there is a 98% chance you will be embarrassed at one point. But hey, he was there! And for that, I am thankful.

-The grass in your front yard can also be a part of your family. So next time around, give it a name.

-If you want your dad to like your guys friends, pick friends that are on the wrestling team.

-I tend to be too sarcastic when we are in serious situations. Sometimes I wonder how many times I actually got the car "pulled over" because of something I mumbled from the back seat.


-A piece of computer paper can be used as a child's punishment. Long story.



-No matter how many years you argue and fight with someone, one day it will finally stop. You just have to move out.

-Dads can also climb trees, so if you're 10 and you're upset about your 1st dog being put down and want to be alone, don't get stuck at the top branch, pick a small tunnel somewhere or something.

-Difficulties we had in the past are now pieces of dust I can shrug off my shoulders. What doesn't kill ya, makes ya stronger. (I'm SO buff!)

-I still don't like math. Dad tried. The greater than, less than (< >) blah blah blah...I just wanted to doodle alligators like the pictures in my math book!

-You can't make your friends or anyone else believe that you're adopted when you look like your dad's entire side of the family.

-If you want to ace your English essay, have your dad proof-read it. Just be prepared to re-write pretty much everything you just wrote in the last 5 hours.



I have to admit, there are some pretty useful characteristics I absorbed from my dad over the years...


-Like the way I love a good challenge, and I won't give up until I get what I want out of a situation.
-Or the desire to grow in wisdom and understanding.
-My mom says I am a romantic just like my dad is. I'm not really sure about that...He writes love poems to her, and I like Wuthering Heights, where everyone is dead, betrayed and tortured by love in the end. But ok Mom...
 -Or maybe the way I like to take notes in church during our Pastor's sermon.
-The way we both like little creative projects. Although, I tend to say, "forget this" if it gets boring, while he will do it until the job is perfected and finished.
 -I'm pretty sure I got my hard work ethic from him too.
-And the way I enjoy helping make others in our community happy. He's good at that.
-Without a doubt, the way I learned to go straight to my Bible and not a bottle of alcohol if I'm having a ruff day...Or a ruff year.
-And the way I am always thinking of how to be a better example of God's unselfish love, in the back of my mind. I saw that in my dad. (And yes, yes, in my mom too of course, but this is a fathers-day blog, so shush.)
 -We certainly have the way I am so hard on myself in common. We are our own worst critics.


I think I do have more differences than resemblances from my dad that I can think of...which will keep me thinking about how to improve what I've just written, for days, even after I finish, edit and post this blog.




                     And that definitely makes me, my father's daughter.

4 Wheels and Road Kill

So much can happen when you're on the road in the middle of the desert. And sometimes nothing can happen. Sometimes you can make something happen out of nothing! So really, road trips are great, right?

Like getting to see all the road kill, but sleeping through all the "live" animals along the road.

Nooo guys, I didn't take any pictures of the road kill. That's gross. And I couldn't take any pictures of the live animals because my sweet husband kept waking me up after we passed the animals. So thoughtful.




I've found that maturity can change your point of view about road trips. When I was little, I couldn't believe I'd be stuck in the car with the 3 people I spent all day trying to get away from...Now I kind of miss that. Well, maybe...maybe a little tiny bit. Anyway, now that Matt and I hit the road so often together, we love having the time to talk to each other or listen to music...and I've come to realize there are more things that can keep someone occupied than whether or not your little brother's elbow is on your side of the single arm rest or not. (Which, Mom, his was totally over the line!)



One thing I love about sitting in the car hour after hour is getting to listen to my ipod. I spend hours putting together a nice play-list and then get to spend hours listening to it! So it's perfect. Until Matt wants to put his play list on. Then he throws off my groove. So, we came up with an unofficial rule: Whoever is driving, picks the music. Ok fine, Matt's going to call me out on this one. It's more like, "if Sarah is driving, she picks the music. and if Matt is driving, she still picks the music.


Another thing I love is getting to yell at the retarded GPS machine...obviously I am right and the stupid thing doesn't know what it's talking about. "Make a legal U Turn, make a legal U Turn"...blah blah blah. Zip it Betty! (That is what we call her. Don't ask.)

I also love my Starbucks stops. Matt knows, this is going to happen whether he wants to or not.
"There's a Drive-Thru one! Pull over Babe!! pull over!!" ...Then we cut off 10 cars, and make it to the exit just in time.

Ah, Heaven in a cup!

Oh and my favorite thing about road trips, is realizing you have to pee when you're:
 A) stuck on the 91 fwy and you don't want to lose your "parking spot."
or
B) Just passed the last rest stop for 100,000,000 MILES!
or
C) Just got back on the road after a long stop and you MUST get going or you'll be completely off schedule!





Then there's always the joy of finally picking a place to eat, and they're "Out of everything" you could possible want to eat, at the moment! (Don't ever go to the KFC in the smallest hick town you find on the way to AZ. Apparently the whole freakin' town goes nighty-night at 9pm on Friday.)

One thing I must say is enjoyable now that we're older and wiser and more mature is, you won't hear me and Matt yelling at each other to "Stop looking out my window!" or "Stop touching my side of the car!"...at least, until Matt gets bored. Then we're in trouble. You'll probably hear something more like, "Why didn't you turn there!?" and "Turn HERE! uuugh!" and "Stop telling me how to drive!" and "Just pick a place to eat before we pass everything!!!"

...Like I said. Maturity.

So, who wants to hit the road?!

Tip Your Dental Assi$tant!

That's it!! I've had it!

Unless I want to be seen as a horrible human being, I'm supposed to give a "tip" to: the chick at the Starbucks window with red spiky hair that poured some coffee into a cup and took my money, the little oriental lady that paints my nails in 5 minutes, the sweet-and-slow-moving woman that does my hair, the guy that does a horrible job vacuuming out my car at the car-wash, the man that looks perfectly fine standing on a corner holding a card board sign, the sprightly young kid that rolls my bags up to the hotel room from the elevator, the waitress that delivers the food someone else cooked...I even saw a tip jar at the Chinese food place the other night! All they do is scoop some food into a white foam container thingie!

                                                      

                                          So, where's MY tip people?!

I'm going to tell you a few things I hear and see every single day at work, and you tell me if you think I deserve a stinkin' tip!

True Story #1: A new patient shows up first thing on a Monday morning, an 83 yr. old woman. She walks into the room and I say, "How are you doing today?"
(With a smile on my face, of course.)
And she responds, "I hate you."
Whoooa whooa whooa!! WHAT?! What did I ever do to you lady?!
So I say, "Oh, uh...ok?"
(With a smile, on my face. I think.)
then she re-fraises a little..."Well, I mean I hate being here."
Ok, well, glad we straightened THAT out.

True Story #2: Man comes in, big guy, tough guy, yet he's shaking in his boots, like most of them...
and oh, "By the way," he says as I get ready to take quite a few X-rays on him, "I'm a gagger."
Oh, that's great. Me too. Nice to meet you Gagger.
So I say, "Awe, no problem, I have the same issue, so I'll be nice to you!"
(with a smile on my face. of course.)
...20 minutes later, he's gagging, I'm gagging just watching him gagging, the spider in the corner is gagging...but the X-rays look great!  Here ya go Doc, have fun with THIS guy!

True Story #3: I'm having a pretty darn good day. The morning was going smoothly, we had nice patients, easy patients, and fun patients.
Our next patient is in the waiting room, so I walk out and said, "Good morning So-and-so! Come on in, we're all ready for you! How was your weekend?!"
This is what I get from the serious-looking man in a business suit, "Wow, you're WAY to happy right now."
Uh, ok...sure, I love being stuck in a small room with people like you all day, of course I'm happy.
So I say, "Well, we'll get this done quickly and easily then you'll be happy too."
(With a smile on my face. of course.)

True (favorite) Story #4: This is one of those patients you just wish wouldn't come back. She comes in for some small, quick, check-up visit and first thing she says to me in an upset, pouty tone, "Last time I was here, the hygienist cleaned my teeth too well!"
Me: "She cleaned your teeth too well?"
What? Seriously? Greeeat, here we go...
Her: "Yes she did! Now, I have a huge gap in my front teeth! humph!"
(by now, the receptionist that can hear everything, is turning blue from laughing so silently at my annoyed face. I turn to where the patient can't see me, put my "gun" fingers to my head, and pull the trigger. Now the receptionist is on the floor...)
Me: "Well, if she cleaned it off, then it was Tarter or Plaque, which, if left on, will give you a cavity or even worse, lead to serious gum disease or even a root canal. So the only reason she cleaned it was for your benefit and your oral health!"
(With a smile on my face. of course.)
Her: "Well, she did it on purpose then, so I'm not letting her clean my teeth ever again."
(I get out my happy/peppy voice for the third time...)
Me: "Ok, no problem! We're here to make you comfortable! I'll make a note of that in your chart."
(With a smile on my face. of course.)
Uugh, somebody shoot me!!!!

These are just a few of my day-to-day favorites. I've also been yelled at by a middle-aged Asian man for asking him to fill out the medical history form that everyone has to fill out, I've been bitten by an elderly man with dementia and dentures, spit up on by a gagging kid, hit on by creepy guys, pet on the arm by a lady who was on Nitrous gas while she told me she loved me over and over, hit in the head by the over-head-light more times than I can count, because the Dr. wasn't paying attention, hit in the face by someone's metal crown that went flying while we were removing it...
(ALL of this, with a dang smile on my face!)

                                             ...

I get the rooms cleaned, the dental instruments sterilized, the trays set up, patients sat on time (usually), get the freaked-out people calmed down and laughing by the time the Dentist comes into the room, take the X-rays, make the lab cases go out and get back on-time, pour the stone models, trim the stone models, make whitening trays, clean the equipment, etc...and make the coffee so we can all function...all with a SMILE on my face!




                                   You know what?? forget the tip!!
                      

 ...I should get an award for best freakin' actress of the year!
                                                                                   (and the raise that comes with it.)

Oh, this Wife Business!

As a wife, I've been doing a lot of soul searching about who I should be to my husband. So to help myself think, I figured I'd start at the beginning. No, not Eve, I'm holding a grudge against her for quite a few reasons. We'll skip ahead a few years to King Solomon, the wisest king in history. He kept a Proverb from King Lemuel who had a few ideas about what the "ideal" wife should be like. I've been reading this chapter at random times since I was probably 15 yrs old and highlighted some of my favorite parts in it...

Epilogue: The Wife of Noble Character
Proverbs 31:10-31

^{10 [}a]A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life. 13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.

¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
   bringing her food from afar.
¹⁵ She gets up while it is still night;
   she provides food for her family
   and portions for her female servants. ¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
   out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously;
   her arms are strong for her tasks. ¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable,
   and her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff
   and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor
   and extends her hands to the needy.
²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
   for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
²² She makes coverings for her bed;
   she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate,
   where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,
   and supplies the merchants with sashes.
²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity;
   she can laugh at the days to come.

 

²⁶ She speaks with wisdom,
   and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household
   and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
   her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many women do noble things,
   but you surpass them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
   but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
³¹ Honor her for all that her hands have done,
   and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. 

So, we don't exactly have the chance to buy some land, plant vineyards and gather grain and care for our maid-servants anymore. But as wives it is our responsibility to make sure our families are fed and healthy, our property is taken care of and our days are spent doing useful things rather than "idle" things. (Like writing in a blog instead of doing dishes?) Ouch.
After reading through these verses like I have done many times before, my mind skimmed through my day...
I get up around 5:45am, get my make-up on, hair done as I slowly come out of my sleep-coma, grab some coffee and head up-stairs to my chair and favorite window for some quiet time with God.  It's never as long as I'd like it to be, maybe 15 minutes. Then I just have to check my facebook page to see if anything "important" is going on...then I head down stairs to wake Matt up, throw some breakfast together, throw my scrubs on, walk the dogs, kiss the Hubby, get him out the door and get myself headed work by 8:15am. I spend about 8 hrs at work. As much as I love and enjoy my job, by the end of the day my back hurts, my feet are killing me, I'm hungry, I'm tired, and I can't think about anything except what I need to make for dinner after my 25 minute drive home and after I walk the dogs and straighten up the apartment a little bit. I know, "whoa is me" right? Not really, some days I'm super lazy and I get take-out or have Matt do it, or I leave the mess for the next day. I know I shouldn't though... and that bugs.
So now we come to the 1950's idea of a "good" wife. She sounds wonderful and I'd love to meet her one day... oh she looks so happy and clean!

        ...from 'Good Housekeeping Magazine', 13th May 1955

THE GOOD WIFE'S GUIDE

• Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious dinner ready, on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favourite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.
• Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. he has just been with a lot of work-weary people.
• Be a little gay (happy) and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.
• Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair and if necessary change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.
• Be happy to see him.
• Listen to him. You may have a dozen things to tell him but the moment of is arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.
• Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late, or goes out to dinner or other places of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure.
• Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. have a warm or cool drink ready for him.
• Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.
• Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgement or integrity. remember he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.
• A good wife always knows her place.

 

Um....Ouuuch? Yes. Big ouch. All these rules and all I can think is, "take off his shoes? Gross!" and "what about MY day?!"

As I was looking at this article on a few web sites I saw tons of responses to it...and they were from very angry women! How dare we spend our lives helping our husbands and being happy about it! (you might be thinkin' the same thing, right?). Well, it's a tough pill to swallow, but yes. I Believe that is one of our many purposes. Why? -you ask. Because in the beginning:

Genesis 2:18 
 ¹⁸ The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

So, here I am, being the best helping-working-wife I can be, makin' dinner for my hubby...

Like I said, making a nice fancy dinner is not an every night type of thing, I usually get home and just want to throw together some quick pasta and crash on the couch...
But Matt appreciates it when I try, and he lets me know by thanking me all the time, along with hugs and kisses. He also gets in there and helps me, which I appreciate! (Men, if you're reading this, do as Matt does, he's perfect. *wink wink*)

Sometimes it's not easy knowing I'm in charge of making sure we have the correct groceries and meals and a clean place to relax, but this is my purpose according to God's will... and I will try to do it to the best of my ability.
                                                  
       Plus, I love my husband and I want him to be happy!                      

This last weekend...

I know, lame title. I sat here for 5 minutes and couldn't think of a better one, so here ya go.

Let's just start off by saying, I'm pretty much always right. With that said...
On Saturday, Matt and I decided to go to the Main Place mall to get him some new jeans.

We always have to eat at Sparrows when we go there, so that was checked off the list right away. We then decided to walk aimlessly around for quite a while trying to find a place that doesn't sell tight little booty jeans for guys. Seriously guys, FYI, ew. Anyway, we finally came around to one of our favorite stores, the C28 store that is pretty much filled with "Christian clothing", and very cool employees.

We met a sweet, talkative girl who is what you would call "on fire" for Christ, and wants to be a missionary once she's out of college. Reminded me of myself at that age, and I hope she sticks to her plan, because she'd be a great one. I then bought a very cute shirt, and we stayed there for about and hour or more chattin' it up with the employees. But, did not find any jeans for Matt.

So we headed to Macy's and long (2 hour) story short, found about 5 pairs, sat in the dressing room saying "those are fine. those are good. nope, not those...yep those..." you get the point. Matt is now a happy owner of some nice Levi's.

Ok, this is the point at which you should be paying close attention:
While we were walking to the car, we were having some kind of conversation about all the people that have had the flu in the last week, and I said, "Yeah, good thing we came to a mall that's filled with sick kids and people that don't care what they're coughing on, when there's a flu going around. What a way to stay healthy huh?" ...and we both laughed. Ha.

After the mall we thought we'd check out Mother's Market since it's 2 minutes down the street. Let me just say, this place is amazing! I love the fresh produce and organic foods.

This place had everything and we spent about an hour just walking around looking at stuff and trying to decide if we should eat there, or at this place called "The Habit" that my Dad keeps telling us about. We picked out some candles, and that's always fun, because I can never just buy something as simple as one candle. Matt made me get 2 of each one. sheesh, guys. oh and then I broke the poor lady's register. Or it didn't like me, something like that. Poor cashier. So flustered. So lost.

By now I'm starving again, it's cold, I didn't bring a sweater even though the "high" was supposed to be 57 degrees, (duh Sarah). So we ran across the parking lot to this yummy place called "The Habit" to chow down some food. They have a great menu selections and some darn good food!

Matt liked it.

The next day, Sunday, we didn't make it to church because I had my cousin's wedding shower to go to, (which was lovely by the way), and Matt was going to his cousin's to play this game I like to call life-sucker. Ok fine, it's called Settlers of Catan, and it takes them hours to play and they fight the whole time. I just don't get it.

So I picked my mom up and we went to the wedding shower, got to spend time with all my amazing aunts and grandma from the "Morris side" of the fam. I love the idea of people getting married. To me there is nothing greater than deciding you're going to commit the rest of your life caring for someone who's going to care for you. Not to mention you get to spend every day with your best friend, and that's an awesome way to spend your life!

On the way home from the shower, Matt text me and I quote, "I'm dying." ...So I text back, "uh, oh, what happened?"....well you don't want to know. We'll just say he had a fever and was huggin' the porcelain throne.

Later that night I started getting a stomach ache as well, and we spent all day Monday (which is thankfully my day off) sitting on the couch like a bunch of bums, watching movies and cuddling with our adorable, hilarious dogs, Beans and Daisy.

We had barely eaten anything except for canned peaches and crackers all day, so around 4pm we ordered pizza. A large, very cheesy pizza. Had a few bites of once slice, and saved the rest for another day.
All in all, it was pretty nice to just sit with my hubby and watch movies and relax, not being able to do anything.

But now we come to the moral of the story:
                            Don't go to a mall when the flu is going around.



-Although, to me, it was totally worth it :)


.

Then there were Two.

Everyone’s doing it. Guess I’ll jump on the blogger train! Oh and FYI, this is Sarah. I’m kind of the spokes person for this team. Or the publicist. Whatever you want to call it.

I come from a long line of English grammar Nazis, but don’t you worry; you will read nothing but pure Sarah-isms. Sorry Dad, I know you tried!

I’m not exactly sure how to begin a blog, so I’ll just start with a few “fun facts” about myself and that guy I’ve been married to for 4 years and 4 months now. We’re a simple couple. We’re a crazy couple. We’re an all-American, God and family first couple. And we like to turn everything into a joke. Who can blame us, really, people take life too seriously sometimes!

We met in our first semester of college in some stupid cardiovascular-blah-blah class disguised as a PE class, that happened to be taught by Matt’s Track coach. I was sitting there, all shy and geeky-looking (fresh home-school-kid-graduate), in the back of the class, when this tall, amazingly hot guy walked in…15 minutes late. Every one knows, you don’t show up to your first college class late, right? Everyone but that guy I guess. (the teacher didn't even care, he just said, "hey Matt") -I should have known! I haven’t been on-time since that day, thanks to that tall, handsome guy.

Matt’s family says I’m his “stalker.” I swear, it was not stalking! I just happened to park my car in the same parking lot as he did, (after I saw which car was his); so we could talk on our way to the parking lot after class. Then one day I had to park farther out in the lot, so he offered to drive me to my car. I think I parked out there every night from then on. You’ve all met Matt, can ya blame me?!

            Anyway, the rest is history. We hung out for 3 years going to school during the day, working nights and calling in sick on the holidays to spend time with families. Matt proposed in June of 2006 and we were married in October that year. 4 years later and we’re still all mushy with each other, still hold hands, go on dates, and yes, we still like each other. Most days. Apparently I’m a little feisty? I guess Mom always tried to tell me…but who listens to Mom when you’re a smart little teen? (At this point I think I’m expected to send out a huge THANK YOU to Mom and Dad who had to deal with me for 21 yrs.) Guess its Matt’s turn now!

Our daily lives are simple, and if I had it my way, they’d be like clock work. We’ve worked hard to have weekends off and the semi 9 to 5 jobs. We both have dirty jobs so there ain’t no fancy-pantsy stuff around here. (yes, I just said, ain’t no). Matt is a part owner of his dad’s company, Vic’s Hauling, now; so he gets to clean up other people’s junky houses and apartments all day. It’s a very stressful and physical job and he works so hard all day to provide for us. Thanks Babe!!...Oh and he smells great when he gets home. (for those of you with no sense of humor, I’m being sarcastic).

I get to work with nervous people, saliva and blood all day. I love it. I am what you would call a “registered dental assistant”. I take x-rays, assist, clean, set up, make whitening trays, trim stone models, make temporary crowns, make the coffee, get the phones, whatever they need, I’m there. I work at two different offices and I love them both, along with the amazing people I get to work with! Oh and I smell like rubber gloves and who-knows what else at the end of the day. Nice huh?

So that’s us. We spend the week nights hanging out at home watching movies with our two wiener dogs, and spend the weekends with family and friends.

All in all, it’s a wonderful life.

Well this “first blog” is way longer than I thought it would be and I’m not sure how much longer you want to sit there reading about a couple of normal people, so…bye!