food, food and more food

today's fare has a much better appeal than my last post. i have discovered that once again, i like Chef Boyardee. and surprisingly, it's actually pretty good for you! so on the days that i just don't know what to eat for lunch, i pop this in the microwave and presto! a decent meal. i'm satisfied. as long as most of what's in it has the nutrients i need, i will eat it. it has been somewhat difficult lately in the food arena. in the past few weeks, i have found that my appetite is growing, and growing, and growing. i have started joking with dave that i must be carrying a boy, because i am hungry all the time. i mean, ALL THE TIME. i eat, go do stuff, then all of the sudden my stomach is growling again. so i eat something. and it just keeps going around and around. i can't believe how hungry i am! unfortunately, there is a catch. there's always a catch. i still get kinda queasy with a lot of food, so while i'm hungry, i feel like i just can't eat. it's weird. before i was pregnant, anytime i was hungry, everything looked good! anything could satisfy me. not anymore. everytime i get hungry, i think "again!?? i don't want food! i don't want to eat! why am i hungry again! i just ate!" i am finding that there is not much food that i stock my cupboards with that i can actually throw together and eat. it's rather very frustrating. and since dave takes the car to work most days, i can't just run out to the store and buy whatever i feel like eating. i have resorted to munching on alot of grapes, apples and yogurt. and occasionally a p.b. & j. sandwich. but the jelly is too sweet for me now. that's another thing, i'd rather have salty than sweet. good for the pounds, but not so much when you have more sweet things than salty things. SO...here's the thing...i would love to know what you're favorite snacking food is. i have run out of creative ideas so let me know. but the rules first: nothing mint, nothing with cucumbers, nothing with chocolate or coffee. those are the foods i can't do now. i hate even writing them...yuck! makes my stomach turn. oh, and no carrots. i have always hated carrots. ok, so fire away, let me know!!!

split pea and ham soup

i thought that i would sit down and write something...but it did not know what to say. i am staring into a bowl of split-pea with ham soup, trying to muster up the courage to try it. i would show you a picture, but it might gross you out. it's all green and mushy...kindof like what i'll be finding in my baby's diapers come next year. but...i know i need to eat it. you see, today is one of those days where you don't know what to do, can't go anywhere (since dave has the car at work) and have to make due with whatever ingredients you can scrounge up to make a decent meal. it's cool and rainy out, dark clouds pressing down. it's rather comforting in a way. it makes you want to stay inside curled up with a blanket and a good book. which is what i've done for about 2 hours this afternoon. then i realized i hadn't eaten anything except a yogurt this morning, and if i don't eat something soon, the nausea is going to hit hard. i need to be eating more protein and so i searched the labels of everything i had in the cupboards. what i really wanted was french toast. but it's 3 pm and i need to give this baby some nutrition. there was the split pea and ham soup, complete with a whopping 12 grams of protein. great. why did i buy it in the first place? i could've chosen to eat the chef boyardee's ravioli, but that only had 8 grams, and i've been lacking in the protein area a bit. it's all for the baby! i keep telling myself. i'm eating now, and it's not really as bad as it looks. thank goodness! maybe writing about it is giving me the stomach to take it.

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anyway, david is working again today. this is his 3rd day of working open to close. he's getting tired. i can't really complain about how lonely it is here alone all day with just my book to keep me comfort. he's been working so hard this week. his schedule has been like this. every morning since thursday, he has woken up at about 4 am. he sits at the kitchen table with his breakfast, bible and journal. he prays every night that the short hours would be redeemed by starting his day out in the Word. he tells me it has kept him going. then he gets ready for work, comes in and wakes me up around 6:15 to say goodbye and leaves. he works all day, all afternoon and all evening until around 9pm when he can finally lock up and leave. then he comes home, sits for a while to unwind, takes a shower, we talk in bed about the day and fall asleep around 10:30. and he wakes up again to face the next day. tomorrow he gets a short break and is able to go to church, but then he has to go back to work sometime in the afternoon to finish out the day. monday starts a new week with normal hours hopefully. pray that he finds new guys to hire to fill out the schedule so he doesn't have to do these insane hours. i do love my husband...he is a hard working man that doesn't complain about his responsibilities. he will be a good father. i look forward to how our children will learn and grow from his influence.

i hope that everyone's weekend is relaxing and enjoyable!

today

our little vacation was great! much needed. way too short. we went to the ocean both days and enjoyed the waves and the fresh air. there was alot of time for just plain old rest and relaxation. i could go to the beach every day and never get tired. today was a nice day as well. dave had off, which a rarity for tuesdays, so we slept in and dave made french toast for us for breakfast!! sooo good! then we went out to do some shopping and spent alot more than we expected, but it was worth it. we needed to get some closet shelves for our hall closet because it was in desperate need of reorganization. but we needed a drill to put them in. we've needed a drill alot. we'll need it in the future. so...we looked at the choices and decided that we'd spend the $80 plus the $17 for the drill bits and just get it. i'm so glad!!! dave put up all the shelves tonight and now it's time to reorganize! i love the feeling of making something clean and organized. anyway, so we had 3 full meals together today. when does that ever happen?! we enjoyed being together, especially since dave is going to have to work open-close thurs., fri. and sat. that's about 14 hrs. a day. pray for him! he's going to be exhausted. he works so hard. he makes me proud! well, it is time to go fill my new shelves! have a great night!

beach

david and i are going to the beach!

tomorrow after work, we are packing up the car and heading to mantoloking, nj, near point pleasant, to spend a few days with my family at my uncle's beach house. i can't wait! we both need some time away, and i love nothing better than laying out in the sun with the salt air and the seagulls calling and the sound of waves in my ears. i find that to be one of the most peaceful places on earth. we'll be back friday night since dave has to work saturday morning. i'm not sure if there is internet access at the house, so i may not be available for a couple of days. but then again, that's what vacation is all about! i'll take lots of pictures!

pregnancy blog

i found a website that makes a pregnancy blog that you just fill out and put in journal entries. i just updated that, so if you're interested, you can check it out. i put more details of how i'm feeling and what's going on in there so i don't bore you on this one! the address is http://www.babycrowd.com/jr/online/lavid/welcome.html

my sick day and my husband

i had to take a sick day today. it's the first day i've had to call in sick since being pregnant. it's amazing how hard it hits you. i never knew pregnancy would be this tiring. well, i guess i knew, i just never really thought that much about it. i felt awful this morning. we woke up at 5:30. i thought i was going to faint in the shower. then the dry heaves came. as they do every morning when i get up too early. i only felt better when i went back to bed. i knew it just wasn't the best idea to try and work through it today. i think i'm learning my limits now. and they are alot shorter than they used to be. but i know that for the baby's sake, i need to not overdo it. david has been wonderful. he has been more caring and gentle with me than ever before. he knows i can't handle the smells from the garbage, so he took it out for me this morning. he called my dad to tell him i couldn't make it, and got me some cold water.



i think that he'll be a great dad. there's so much we both have to learn about, but he is very sensible and wise. he knows when to set boundaries and when to have fun. here are two pictures i captured lately. in this one, he is holding our new little cousin, will. this was taken before we found out i was pregnant. talk about a premonition! i love it.



and here is david playing hide and seek with my neice, emma-claire. sam, ashley and emma were here for the 4 of july. we had a blast!



he understands that i'm not as able to keep up with house cleaning as much as i used to. it gets done, just not as fast or quite as often. but he's ok with that. he washes dishes for me, grills dinner (not really a chore for him, i.e. his second post on his blog, go read it), runs to the store if i forgot something. all on top of working full time. he's been so tired lately. ever since that big tournament a few weeks ago, he's been trying to catch up with sleep. he's been working a bit more these 2 weeks as well. it's hard for both of us sometimes. he doesn't like coming home so tired and i don't like having a worn out husband all the time. but next week we'll have a little break. my parents are going to the shore for a few days and we are joining them we'll leave wednesday and come back friday. a little break, but much needed!
i honestly don't know what i'd do if something were to ever happen to dave. he is my best friend, my rock, my soulmate. i pray that God would give us a long life together. that we will see our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. i can't wait to see how he will change once this baby is born. i think he will fall in love all over again!

david is on blogger

here is david's blogger address, www.davidasiegrist.blogspot.com.
yea for husband's who blog!!!

siegrist news

well, i know the picture just gave it away. this is a picture of what babies look like at 7 weeks. and that is how far along i am with baby siegrist!
i'm sorry it has taken me so long to put this update. there were alot of people that we wanted to tell face-to-face and alot of those people read my blog! so for my friends who are far away, i'm sorry i have to surprise you on the blog, but that's just the way it goes. this is what has been going on in our lives for the past few weeks!!! we found out about 2 weeks ago, and we're thrilled!!! my first dr. appt. is august 10, but i have figured the due date to be march 17. just before spring. i have been doing pretty well for the most part, just really tired lately and really nauseous. but no throwing up yet, thank goodness! and i have started a pregnancy blog, so you can read details of how things are going each week. the address is http://www.babycrowd.com/jr/online/lavid/welcome.html it's a preset layout that i just fill stuff in. i have been trying to update it every week. we don't really care if we have a boy or a girl, and i think we're going to try to wait to find out what it is. but we'll see. i might break down. so, there it is! our big news. david wants to start a blog, he asked me to help him with it, so maybe this week you can hear things from his point of view! this is the busiest weekend at the country club, it's the nolan tournament, the highlight of the year. so he may be too tired to get the blog up this week, so if not, we'll do it next week. hope you are all having a grand tuesday!!

i know you all are waiting for a new siegrist update...please be patient with me! i will try to work on it soon! until then, have a good weekend!

Mint Lemonade
Serves 4 to 6

1/4 cup sugar for simple syrup
Ice cubes
1 2/3 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tbls. julienned mint, plus leaves for garnish
1 lemon, sliced 1/4-inch thick, plus more
for garnish


1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1/4 cup water. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat. Let stand until completely cool.

2. In a large pitcher half-filled with ice, add 2 cups water, lemon juice, simple syrup, mint, and lemon slices. Stir to combine. Serve over ice. Garnish with mint leaves and lemon slices.

this is a Martha Stewart recipe, and i thought it appropriate for a pick-me-up on this rainy 4th of july. i promise to update soon. this weekend my brother sam, his wife and their 19 month old daughter, emma-claire are up visiting from housten, tx. i have been able to take alot of great pictures, so as soon as i can get them developed (sorry, no digital yet!) i will post. until then, have a great day!!

david's job promotion

well i have some very good news to share! david's boss at the country club of scranton has decided that he needs some personal time. he is married and has 4 little girls and has worked very hard to provide for his family, but it has been taking a toll on him. so, he offered dave his job so he can leave the country club. david's job now as a starter has been a very good job for him. what the starters do is basically take care of the c.c.'s members' tee times, making sure their bags get put out in carts and making sure the bag room boys are doing their job correctly. he gets tips and has a fair amount of responsiblity. what he was offered is a step up, as Head Starter. he still does some of the same things, but he is in charge of alot more. not only is he in charge of the bag room boys, but also the other starters and the caddies. he will be posting all of the tee times for the following day on line, making up the special days (tournament's and stuff), making the employee schedule each week, appeasing the cranky old members, hiring and firing. it's a big step up, but not more than he can handle. there are 2 awesome perks to this new job, one being that a good chunk of his work needs to be done online and he can do that at home, which means we need to get internet at home, which will be so great! the other, is that he will be making twice as much as he's making now!!! however, the job is only seasonal, lasting from aprilish-octoberish. so what the c.c. does is tell the employees to apply for unemployment during the winter months. so that is our plan. he can work some at the roadhouse then, but we don't know how much. he starts this week, and it happens to be the worst week of the summer! there are about 5 guys that are gone all week, which means that everyone left will be working overtime. please pray for him as he's adjusting to this new job. it will be a stressful week, but we'll make it!

our indiana/ohio trip

last thursday, dave and i woke up at 7, packed our car, headed to the cafe for some sustinence and hit the road bound for Greencastle, IN. first however, we drove 8 hours to Columbus, OH and spent the night with dave's brother, jon. when we got there, a nasty thunderstorm let loose and we barely made it inside alive! well, not really ALIVE, but there was thunder, lightening and lots of rain! jon brought us to one of his favorite restaurants, The Bag of Nails. after a couple of hearty appetizers, hot wings, fried pickles, and nachos with black bean dip, we dug into our meals. i forget what the boys got, but i had a marinated portobello mushroom sandwhich with zucchini, mozzarella on a rosemary foccacia bread. (ash, are you hungry yet???) makes me want one again! anyway, we stayed there until it stopped pouring and then jon took us on a mini-tour of Columbus. what an awesome city! dave and i both loved it. anyway, we crashed at jon's bachelor pad and the next morning woke up and stopped at an awesome cafe called Caribou Coffee. it is a chain coffee shop that i had heard alot about, but never been to one. (check out their website, http://www.cariboucoffee.com/) after grabbing a muffin and a cup of strong coffee, we headed out for the last 4 hours of our trip. now, the reason, you may be wondering, why we were planning this trip, was because one of david's friends, dan, was getting married and dave was the best man! Greencastle is a bit west of Indianapolis, so we chose to split the 12 hour trip between 2 days. Anyway, to make this long trip shorter for you, we got the our hotel, checked in, and headed another 45 min. to the bride's parents house for the rehearsel and bbq. dave's dad was marrying them so bob and sandy were there. i was very glad to hang out with sandy. neither of us knew anyone and felt a bit out of place. (think: a dad with 1 earring, snakeskin belt and boots and a mullet, and a controlling mom who could be smiling at you 1 minute and snippy the next). the groom, dan, is a marine and was in Iraq most of last year. since september however, he has been stationed in San Diego, CA. but, in their great wedding planning, dan wasn't getting back from CA until midnight the night before his wedding! at the bbq, we found out that he had barely made his plane b/c he didn't have his paper signed by his commanding officer to get leave. this wedding was off to a great start. after hanging around for hours, the rehearsel was about 2 hrs. late and sandy and i were getting very tired. so we left to go back to the hotel. the 4 of us (me, dave, bob and sandy) shared a room which saved some money. anyway, the next day, we got up, ate and got ready for the wedding. checked out and headed back to the bride's parents house for the outdoor ceremony. again, more bad things...one of the groomsman never tried his shirt on (we had to buy them at Kohl's) and it was too small. so he had to drive 1/2 hr. away to the store, hope they have his size, and get back before the wedding. unfortunately he didn't make it. we started 45 min. late. and on top of that, although we were sitting under a tent, it was very hot and sunny out, and they didn't provide any water for the guests. a very cheap expense, but then again, the way this was going, we weren't surprised. sandy and i were restless from sitting in the heat, but the ceremony went ok. a couple of minor problems. i.e: music that you can't hear, bug flying down the bride's dress which was funny and a tape track that the bride and her dad were singing was on the wrong side, the side without words. yes, they wanted to sing with the choir on the other side of the tape. so, stop, flip the tape over, rewind, not there, stop rewind stop rewind, ok there now. oh wait...they don't really know the words, and you can't even hear them above the choir. but hey, if that's what they want! sandy put it perfectly: different strokes for different folks. they didn't seem to mind at all that their wedding barely happened! and happened roughly at that. one thing i can say, the reception was pretty good! the food was great, light fare with lots of veggies and roast beef wraps and sweet tea! i did like that one! and it was short, so it was easier for dave and i to leave. we drove back to Columbus and stayed with jon. got some much needed sleep and left at noon for the 8 hr. drive home. and boy, was i ready for home! all of that driving in such a short span of time really wiped me out. but now, after working yesterday, on my day off, i feel relaxed and rested. i'm at my parents doing laundry waiting to pick up dave from work. in reflection, the weekend was good. it was great to see bob and sandy and jon. dave and i had some good quality time and dave was happy to see some buddies from high school. but now, i'm glad to be back to normal life.

images from our backyard

our backyard is full of interesting things....these pictures are from this past spring. we love birds and have thoroughly enjoyed this bird feeder, left by our landlord. i finally was able to capture this chickadee coming for food. unfortunately, we haven't been able to afford birdseed since they will gothrough a 25 lb. bag in about a week! i miss our friends...i may break down soon to go buy some more. we also have a huge lilac tree that makes our whole yard smell heavenly! i took this picture just when the flowers were starting to bud. this little guy has been a visitor quite often. he's our bunny rabbit. Peter. we don't know where he lives, or if he (or she) has little ones around. but he lets us come pretty close, within a couple of feet. i think he's cute! these two birdhouses are our landlord's as well. they were both hanging in our lilac tree, but the chain on one of them broke, so now it just leans against the tree. we love our backyard, it is pretty spacious and we have a private little porch. i will have to take some pictures of that as well. our porch is our favorite place to hang out on the warm summer nights. i can't wait to use it more!

family

these pictures are a few months old...but i love them. my brother sam and his wife ashley and their 1 1/2 year old daughter emma-claire live in housten, texas. very very far away from us. we found out a few weeks ago that ashley is pregnant with their second child!!! we are so excited! they haven't found out if it's a boy or girl yet, but hopefully soon they will. she is due the day after thanksgiving...so i doubt we'll see them at christmas. maybe we will be able to fly down and visit them in their 80 degree weather at that time of year. we miss them. sam is just about 2 years younger than me, so we were always pretty close. emma looks alot like him when he was a baby. i wonder who the next one will look like? emma is our parents first grandchild, and they are proud grandparents! my dad loves being a grandpa. i wish they were able to spend more time with them too. that third picture is our cousin ava (3) trying to kiss emma. although emma isn't sure if she likes that! it was one of those sweet innocent kid moments, when you wonder why they are being so cute! i love my family!

vacation days with joe and ash

these past 2 days have been a blast! dave and i drove to Williamsport, PA to spend wed. night, thurs, and today with our best friends, joe and ash. ash's parents live here in williamsport, and they had a week vacation with them. we have not seen each other since last september when we went on our beach vacation in NJ. so it was a much needed visit! berry drove down thursday morning while we slept in. bummed around for a while, and then eventually went out to A.C. Moore and then to see MI:III, which was a great movie by the way. came back home where we took naps and then went to eat at an awesome italian deli with steve and dottie (ash's parents) and then to the trout run roller skating rink! yes...we went to the golden oldies skating night! what a riot! we had so much fun, although i had a difficult start. i'm so used to ice skating, that going on 4 wheels with no toe pick totally threw me off! but i managed to get the hang of it. we got tired and came back home and just hung out watching t.v. and playing video games. today, we slept in, had coffee and ash worked on painting some menu boards for the cafe. after a pancake breakfast, dottie, ash and i went out for some girl time. we walked around downtown williamsport and stopped in some jewelry and art stores. some of the things these local artists create are just amazing! we stopped by an italian bakery where ash used to work and picked up some cannoli's and had some coconut gelati and then to another new coffee shop for coffee. it was so nice to have good old-fashioned girl time. we felt so relaxed and refreshed.

right now, ash is outside cutting dave's hair. i don't want to watch. i like it long, but they've decided to buzz it. i'm cringing as i write this! i'm afraid of what it will turn out as! but, it can always grow back! well, that pretty much summed it up. we're going to be leaving here in a few hours, so i need to go get packed up. have a great weekend!

today has been a pretty good day. it's about 3:30...i'm done with work and waiting for dave to pick me up when he's done at 4. so i'm just trying to enjoy my time until then. i am pretty much over being sick, just a little stuffy still. but meg, you are right! it was wonderful to have a solid 3 days of rest! i actually feel a bit refreshed despite being sick. i really didn't do much at all except stay home, curled up on the couch with a blanket and movies. it was nice. and it was completely justified!! but back to the daily grind...since i missed work sat. night, i work tuesday, my normal day off. but that's ok, i think it will be kindof nice. my normal days i am baking food in the kitchen and doing random odd jobs, but tuesday i will be behind the counter making drinks and i really like that part of the job. so it will be a bit relaxing i think. this picture is similar to what we do for lattes. it's called latte art. it's not mine, but i will say, it could be! i like the artistic part of the job. i'm always learning, always creating. it's more than just serving coffee. there's theories and philosophies behind everything we do. and i like becoming better. there's a finesse to being a barista. sometime i will have to write more about it, but david just called and it's time to go!

sick days

i finally succumbed to the all the germs flying around me. i think i've contracted some sort of sinus head cold. at least it's not strep throat. one of the girls at work had that and i really didn't want it. david has been so wonderful taking care of me. the past 2 nights i woke up with chills and he got up to get me more blankets and the heating pad. and then he woke up when i needed more medicine. and he made me cream of wheat and brought me jello and ice pops. he loves taking care of me...and i love being taken care of! it's a win-win situation! i was a bit frustrated that i couldn't do anything. we both had off on thursday and were planning on doing alot of yard work and house cleaning and i wasn't able to do anything. david said maybe God wanted me to slow down a little and just rest. which is bitter-sweet to swallow. on one hand, i love the idea of laying down and sleeping or watching movies all day long. on the other hand, the dishes are piled high, the kitchen floor needs to be mopped, the bathroom needs to be cleaned and the yard needs to be "de-winterized". so david mowed the lawn, changed the oil in the car, bought me ice pops and got movies from the library, grilled hamburgers for dinner and said he'd do the dishes on saturday. i had some time to veg out, which despite being sick, felt really nice to relax so totally. i do think that sometimes God just knows when we need a break, even if we don't think so. or maybe He wants me to be more patient, or maybe just to appreciate my husband more. either way, whatever it is, i am glad for the break, am trying to be patient until this wears off, and i do appreciate all of the love and care from my hubby. i hope that you are all enjoying the wonderful spring weather! have a great weekend!

life updates

i appreciate everyone's encouragement from the last post i had about dave's job situation. i was not sure if i should share all of our struggle's about that, but it was something we were having a rough time with and i wanted to be honest and not portray the "everything is great!" cliche. because it wasn't. but i want to share with you now what God has done for us in the past few days. david finally was able to talk to his manager on tuesday and told him he needed to quit because of the financial strain the job was putting on us and the incompatibility it was with our priorities (ministry internship). he told him that his last day was going to be thursday. his manager tried to cut a deal with him, but we've just had enough, not to mention they only scheduled him for 17 hrs. next week when he's supposed to be at least 35. so thursday he worked and said goodbye. starting monday, he will be full-time at the scranton country club and maybe picking up a night or two at the texas roadhouse again. that alone has been a HUGE answer to prayer. we are relieved and encouraged to have a steady job with a stable income. as far as the heating bill, david called and worked things out. the letter was very misleading and was not what we thought. instead of paying $200 up until august, we just pay $200 this month and next month and then we will be done with the budget plan for this year and just pay what we use from now on. they made it seem like we would be paying more. so that worked out very well and we are relieved about that. as far as my contacts and a new car...we'll see how that works out! it may be that after a few weeks of dave's new job, we'll have enough for me to buy my year's worth of eyesight. God is providing....we're just waiting to see how He will work out the rest. thank you for your encouragement...it means alot!
on another note, i came across this article that i thought would be nice to pass along. it is called, Lunchtime Renewal. just a couple ways to rejuvenate yourself for the second half of your day. i especially like the 'feminine and masculine energy' :) read for yourself!
have a great weekend!

http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=channel2560066&navLevel=3&site=bas

my herb garden

well, i thought that i would add my own thoughts about herbs. last summer i decided to plant a few different kinds in my flower box outside my kitchen window, just above my sink. i had basil, rosemary, spearmint and peppermint. every sunny day i'd open the window and let the smell waft in. it was beautiful! on the days david wanted to grill chicken, i'd go pluck some fresh rosemary, mix it with some olive oil and lemon and marinate it. brush some italian bread slices with rosemary and olive oil, grill it and you've got a tasty meal in minutes. i LOVED making sweet iced tea with fresh spearmint...i felt so domestic! i have been looking forward to this summer just for the fresh herbs. i went to wegmans the other day and bought 2 rosemary plants and 1 basil plant. they were already out of mint. so i am going to try to find that somewhere else. the peppermint was not worth it. it took up too much room and the leaves were too small to do anything useful with. plus i don't like it as much as spearmint anyway. i read on good ol' martha stewart that the terra cotta pots are the best for growing herbs, but if you don't like them, to use the plastic version. the flower boxes can keep too much water in it, promoting the roots to get too soggy. so this year i won't the box. i just bought some terra cotta pots to try them. i know ash and alicia said they didn't like them, but i'm gonna try my hand at it. i like the look of them. i'll let you know what happens. i encourage you to try growing some herbs if you've never tried it before. it's so much cheaper than buying them at the store, and you can do so many things with them that you never would do otherwise. if you can find plants that have already started growing, it is alot easier to work with. the ones i grew were low maintenance. just water them and pick the leaves when they get kind of big (for new ones to come). i am excited to hear about the 'herb tales' to come! pass on recipes when you come across a good one. good luck growing!

spring days

today has been a nice lazy day so far. david and i slept in for the first time all week. it was also the first morning we've had together for a while, so we got up, had some coffee and watched this week's episode of LOST that my mom taped for us. we are so addicted to that show! then dave read part of John 9 and prayed for our day. he had to get ready to be at work by 12 noon, and i left the house early to come down here to the cafe before i work at 3:45. i am sipping some chai tea and working on some office stuff for the cafe here on my new computer! it is a beautiful day out, not at all like yesterday. it was very rainy and dreary, but i'm not complaining. apparently, PA is in a bit of a drought. we've been asked to cut our usage of water back by 5%. so this week's rain was much needed. it's so nice to be outside without coats now. i've broken out the flip-flops and short sleeves. the buds are coming out on our lilac tree and the grass is a bit greener. and it smells so good outside! so earthy and grassy. i love it! it's invigorating after a long winter.
david and i are in the midst of trying to figure out where God is leading us too right now. it seems like the job at Staples is just not going to work out. they've been so wishy-washy with what they've offered him and how much they'll pay him and what hours he would work. it has become very clear to both of us that it is just not compatible with dave's ministry here at our church. so he has been trying to talk to the manager there but has been unable to see him, due to various reasons. there is a good possibility he will be able to have his job back at the country club, which would fulfill all of those criteria he needs. but we're still trying to connect with the manager there as well. he may have to pick up shifts again at the roadhouse (he had quit for the summer there, but he can go back anytime). the ulitmate goal for dave's jobs is to enable me to either cut back my hours or quit altogether. this past year has been stressful in ways that i didn't realize, but now the stress is taking a toll on my body. i talked to my doctor this week, and she advised me to find outlets for stress and to reach the goal we have. it's not necessarily the job that is stressful as much as it is working in general. i know that i am not a working woman, and i've been living that way for so long that i'm having a hard time handling it now. in the middle of all this, God has really been testing our faith regarding our financial situation. it just seems that one thing on top of another has been coming. but the weird thing is that it all came after we bought our laptop with our tax return money. since then, it seems God is testing us in various ways. 3 examples: first, i desperately need new contacts. i've stretched the last pair i have as long as i can and my insurance doesn't cover very much. glasses are not in any way practical for me now and not any cheaper; second, yesterday we got our monthly gas bill in the mail (we've been on the budget plan this year, paying about $80/month up until this august) and they sent a letter saying that they may have miscalculated how much we were using and were raising our monthly bill to $208/month!!! no warning that we might be using too much, nothing, until they raised it over 100% more than what we were paying; and the third, we need a new car. dave's has almost 200,000 miles and we aren't sure how many more trips to indiana it'll make.
i tell you all this, not to make you feel bad for us, but because we know that somehow God has to provide. we know our needs, we feel that we haven't been spending foolishly and we know that He is leading us somewhere for our good. sometimes it's difficult, and sometimes it's ok. but however God works, i will be sure to let you know! we are praying that it is obvious and that we will make the right choices. i think this is getting pretty long, so i will get going. have a blessed Easter!