Made Me Think

My little nephew turned 2 this weekend. These birthdays make me think about how time flies, what my little man was like at 2, what The Little Nephew was like 2 years ago when I went to Seattle to meet him. Makes me kinda sad that it all goes by so fast. Here, if I am going down memory lane, you can go with me...

The Prairie Kid on his 2nd birthday

And The Little Nephew when I met him

And a more recent pic of The Not-So-Little-Anymore-Nephew

Maybe We Should Try Again

What's wrong with this picture? Can you tell?

Now do you know?

Prairie Cops

I forgot about some pictures that I was going to share with you all in January. The Prairie Daddy received some sunglasses for Christmas that we had fun with.

At first I was calling him "Maverick" from Top Gun. Hubba-hubba, this is MY Tom Cruise.

But then I decided he looked more like a cop to me. Pilot or cop...still cute!

Now this one is cute too!

But better not break the law 'cause this Law Dawg will get ya!

Maybe

Do you think The Prairie Kid needs a haircut?

One Of Those

Have you ever had a friend that you can just pick up right where you left off? Even if it has been 5 years? I have a few of those. One of them decided to venture our direction from Texas with her brother on their Spring break. It was so nice to have them here.

I felt like I was on vacation too. We did fun vacationy things; ate out, went on drives, sat around and talked, played games, ate chocolate, visited a museum, went shopping, slept in. Ahhh, it was so nice to go on Spring break with my teacher friends.

The Brother took most of the pictures for their trip but I talked him into taking a few with my camera. I forgot to unload the ones from his camera before they left. Thank God for Facebook!
I miss you guys! I hope another five years doesn't go by before we do this again!

The New Comforter

Queen comforters handed down from eons ago don't really go well on new king beds. So, we got to go shopping. I had a pretty narrow idea of what I would want. The Prairie Daddy is awesome and leaves those things up to me. However, I always "check in" with him and get his opinion. Shopping online and checking out designs and prices helped before our first trip to mattress buy. I was thinking brown and white. I would have loved to have down black and white but our mix-matched bedroom furniture is all brown (accept the white-washed log stuff we turned into nightstands).

When we actually started hitting the stores I was disappointed. I am too frugal to commit to something I am not thrilled about and pay what they were asking. We also didn't want anything shiny, slippery, silky or with a gazillion (meaning any) decorator pillows.

We were in the last store we would be visiting with comforter sets. It was expensive. I found a couple of sets I liked but they were overpriced. I stumbled across a table with a sale set on it. $78.60. WHAT? But it was too bold. I mean, we are pretty safe decorators. We always go with neutral so that we can use it "forever" with accent colors that are changeable. I showed The Prairie Daddy. I said, "No, its too bold." We walked around. I came back to it. We walked around. I came back to it. Finally, we made the decision and bought it.

And I love it! I need bold! I am tired of neutral. And it was MY PRICE! Oh yeah, makes something all the more lovable to this chick.

I would have loved to have redone the whole room but my time, success at finishing long projects (long meaning more than 2 hours), and my frugality prevented me from going all out. I did, however, find two great pictures on stretched canvas at Hobby Lobby on sale for $12.50 each to go on each side of the bed on the walls. I like them because they say "Royal" on one with the definition and "Crown" on the other with the definition which makes me think of the crown the Jesus has given us when we enter His kingdom. And the pictures have just slight accents of the teal in them so they went nicely with the bed.

Okay, wanna see it?

It is actually a linen material, although soft, not scratchy. The flowers are embroidered on.

Here are the pictures...but remember the walls are really white around them, I just couldn't use the flash without getting reflection
See the hint of teal?

New bedroom decorations are such soul food. Thank you again, Lord, for soul food. And even better when they are dirt cheap!

Oh Please Let This Be It!

We were in "need" of a new bed. I put quotations around "need" because what is a true need? Something you can't live without. We can live without a new bed. So technically we were in "want" of a new bed. However, my back has been bad in the old one and it was caving in. Sure, it is still much, much more than the majority of people around the earth get to sleep on. That makes me sad. The other thing that makes me sad is having to go to the chiropractor/acupuncturist every other day. A different kind of sad? Yes. But sad all the same.

The chiropractor recommended a good, plain mattress. No foam. No pillow top. No air. No water. No frills.

I saw a deal coming through Costco on a Sealy Posturepedic. It was a regular mattress but had latex foam on the top. I did a bunch of research. Iasked people about their beds. I didn't come up with a clear consensus. The deal was awesome, the return policy was awesome; we went and bought the bed.

I was so excited that The Prairie Daddy willingly helped rearrange mattresses up from the upstairs to the basement and so forth until we had our bed ready late that first night. I was thrilled when I nestled into the new bed. And it was a king! SPACE!!! YAY!

I didn't sleep well. My back hurt pretty bad. Same with the next night, and the next, and so on. By the 6th night the old queen was hauled 2 stories down and put on the new king box springs. I slowly began sleeping better but my back still isn't right. : (

I did a bunch more research. I was getting discouraged. Finally, I had peace about a mattress online. The Prairie Daddy said to call on it. I did. It was $100 LESS then the first one! Whoa!

Yesterday we drove the 2 1/2 hours to the nearest Costco and took the new bed back. Then we went to Denver Mattress where our new mattress (without foam, pillow top, air, water, frills) awaited lengthy trial runs on the floor. The Mattress Man fitted me for a pillow and evaluated my sleeping positions. I got into trouble. I guess I am a naughty sleeper.

We came home with another new bed and new pillows. I slept okay. My back didn't hurt but my shoulders and neck are mad at me for trying to sleep "right." Should just take some getting used to. You don't rest well when you're constantly in check of your sleeping position.

Please, Lord, please...let this be it! I just want to sleep well with no back aches and definitly no more mattress hauling!

Here's One For Ya

I was sitting in the office yesterday on the phone with my sister. The Prairie Kid came in from the yard with a special surprise. I gasped when I looked over and saw my preschooler holding a..."what is that? Oh my! Uh, what is that?"

A mole.

"It's alive! Get out! Hurry! Go back outside! You can't have that in here! Thank you for wearing your gloves, that was a good decision, but get that outta here!"

We were watching my sister-in-law's dog and he must have caught this mole and was playing with it in the yard. I think he half killed the thing when The Prairie Kid discovered it. I was pleased to know that my previous instructions of wearing gloves when you pick up dead animals had sunk in. No, I didn't teach my son to pick up dead animals. But he is a boy, on the prairie, so I at least taught him to wear gloves. However, this wasn't dead....yet. Shortly thereafter The Prairie Kid was standing on the deck with a dead mole in his glove-covered hands. I took a deep breath and realized "well, here's a blogging story." I grabbed my camera and headed outside to catch the moment.

An all-too-proud boy

Checking out the catch

Story-telling

Eeeewwww.

How's that for a Prairie Adventure?

Do I Know How?

I barely know how to blog anymore. It isn't a lack of things going on but are there things to share? I'm sure if I think into the last busy weeks there would be great stories but I am going at a pace that reflection is challenging! And time doesn't allow as things happen to sit down and tell you about them! Also, the nature of my experiences has changed so much. Instead of the Prairie Adventures it is Adventures of Church Ministry. Wouldn't be so appropriate to share much of my new adventures. Posting funny stories of other peoples kids or sharing their journey...uh, inappropriate to say the least!

I can however share about me. I am learning a lot. I am enjoying this new adventure although many days I am exhausted. My back seems to be where my body dumps the stress so I am trying to figure out how to best deal with that. Core exercises are the first effort I am attempting; along with sitting on an exercise ball while I work on the computer.

The Lord faithfully and continually reminds me that He wants to work through me and in me. He rebukes me when I try to do the work. However, I am well aware of my willing obedience to participate in the process. He has allowed me already to walk through some pretty rough terrain but as I am making progress on the path I realize that He has provided all of what I need and a whole lot more. Do you know the song "More Than Enough?" I am living in that. He is a lavish God and continually provides more than I petition and pray for with thanksgiving (Phil 4:6).

I am so thankful for the people I work with. Again, God has given more than I asked and I am continually grateful for the support I have, the fun we have, and the unity we're experiencing as we each obey God in the different call on our life. I enjoy playing ping-pong between staff meetings and teasing each other to break up the details during the meeting. We have laughed a lot.

I have cried some too. Not surprising considering I am the Queen of Crying. I am learning to yield more, honor more, delegate more, and pray more. What great things to learn. I still am in awe that God would let me be a part of His Big Story. I am still in awe that He uses the least of us. I am still in awe about Him. He is amazing.

Now that I am getting into the swing of this blog post I feel like I might have more to share in other posts! We'll have to see if time will allow. I do miss you!