October - My favorite month

I love October. It is my favorite month. Mostly due to the wonderful weather, honeycrisp apple season, and anything pumpkin flavored. Might as well get in one of my quarterly blog posts while it is still my favorite month. I don't know why it is so difficult to blog. I want to have an up-to-date blog so I can look back and remember what all went on, but usually the idea of blogging just overwhelms me.

Since my last post - a lot has happened.

First, we have been so blessed to have 2 new additions to the family - and they both happened the same week! First, my most precious, perfect little nephew was born on July 8th. We all went up to Dallas for the birth. Greg had to fly in the day after, but that was probably for the best. There were lots of labor/deliver/anatomy vocabulary words used that make him cringe. My poor sister had a difficult labor, but after hours of pushing and a c-section later, she had Kyler.

This picture cracks me up because he looks SO chunky.

So adorable.

A few days after Kyler was born, Greg's brother, Jameson, proposed to Michelle! Now I have another sister-in-law - yay! We drove from Dallas to Waco to be there for the engagement. They are getting married next June and I am so excited for them.

Then in August we went on the Grosse Family Vaca 2k10. We stayed in a lakehouse on Lake Caddo with my parents, and Lauren & Cody & Kyler. We relaxed, fished, kayaked, went on a pontoon boat tour, played games, and played with Kyler. It was wonderful. My parents are so amazing to plan great vacations that we can all enjoy together.

The lake was absolutely beautiful. Who knew? I had never even heard of Caddo lake before this vacation.

I think I am busy rescuing a small frog with my paddle in this picture. (microscopic frog not pictured)

I hope it's genetic to look this good after having a baby.

Ok, what next? Oh yeah, August was also the month for hosting showers. We had a baby shower for my BFF Lindsay, who is due in November (less than one month from today!!). Also, we had a wedding shower for one of my childhood friends, Christine, that I grew up on Heaton Drive with. She moved away when we were kids and now lives in Missouri, but we have visited each other many times over the years. We are flying to St. Louis for her wedding at the end of this month and I am so excited. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures from Lindsay's shower, except the cake. Even though I am sort of retired from cake making (for now), I made an exception since I was one of the hostesses and we have been friends since...oh...second grade!

I copied these monkey cupcakes from some I found online. They took for-ev-er. There has got to be a faster way...

This is Christine and I at her bridal shower.

After the showers, it was finally time for Greg and I to go to Guatemala! It was such an amazing trip. It will have to be a blog post of its own since there are so many wonderful pictures and stories, but for now I will leave you with my favorite picture from the trip. Greg took this and I just love it. Praise God for clean water!

Summer Happenings

We have been staying busy so far this summer. 2 weeks ago we got to go to Camp 456 in Huntsville with our youth group kids. It was a lot of fun.

Who doesn't love slip-n-slide kickball? Giant tarp + baby soap + sprinklers + over sized kickball = FUN. Didn't exactly get to play...I guess it is sort of for the kiddos ya know...but Greg and I did have a race to see who could slide the farthest while the kids took a water break. Here are Greg and Thomas racing around the bases.

In addition to kickball, other fun activities included swimming, staying up late with the girls, improving my french braiding skills, playing "Little Sally Walker", practicing my runway walk, playing "Categories" off the diving board, and just spending more time with my 6th graders. Not only was Greg there, but two other girl friends were counselors there so that made it really fun.

Here is one of the really cute brunette counselors and his cabin :)

I didn't get any pictures of me with the girls, but here is a good one of some of the girls in my cabin. They are so cute! Way cuter than I was when I was in 6th grade.

Then the weekend after camp we went to Waco to visit with Greg's family. It felt like forever since we had been to Waco and it was fun hanging out with them. Hollyn (our niece) just gets cuter every time! She was talking so much. She loves to go hide and have people find her. She also like to tell people "clap for me!" after she does something neat. We went fishing in the morning and then bowling in the afternoon. It was a really nice and relaxing weekend.

Now I am eagerly waiting the arrival of my nephew, Kyler. My sister could really go into labor any day now. Lauren is hoping she has the baby this week. I am hoping Kyler comes this weekend. Should I get my go bag ready? Charge the camera? Top off my car with gas? Hopefully I will have an update soon.

Also, the other night while I was reading a book in bed, I hear talking coming from the living room. Greg talks to himself a lot, so this was not that unusual. However, he was talking in Spanish. To the computer. Turns out he was doing some online Spanish lessons, ha! So we did a couple of them together. We need to memorize a few key words and phrases before our Guatemala trip so looks like we might be doing nightly Spanish lessons together.

Oh, and in other news this week, I may or may not have eaten a maggot worm. When I looked down at my HALF EATEN peach, there was a small, yet lively white worm crawling about my peach. Sick me out. The piece I was chewing fell out of my mouth. At work. At my cube. Very professional.

I was also held hostage by a roach this weekend for 45 minutes. I REALLY dislike roaches. Really. I have bad dreams involving roaches/bugs on a regular basis - about every other month. Sometimes people like to roll their eyes and tell me things like "They aren't going to hurt you". Please. Roaches are fast, and aggressive. They run toward me. One time when one crawled up the armoire while watching a movie with Greg, I ran and hid in the bedroom while Greg went after it. Next thing I know, the roach is in the bedroom with me! I even had the doors shut. Well I guess it doesn't help that there is a 4 inch crack under all the doorways in our house. Not very roach proof.

Reason #114 why marriage is awesome - husbands kill bugs.

Reason #237 why marriage is awesome - you always have a partner for the HOV. (That is one of Greg's reasons)

This 3 Day Weekend

We hung out with friends.

I might have taken a couple of naps.

We watched more Lost.

We found out the first 5 seasons of Lost are only available on Hulu until the end of this year. Now we have a deadline. A goal. It is like we are running a marathon. We may be tired, but we must press on.

I did normal weekend chores like grocery shopping and laundry.

We went to eat with my parents at Ciros. One of the best things about Ciros is that they have bocce ball outside. Sometimes I just want to go there to play and not eat.

I went kayak fishing with Greg for the first time. Greg caught one catfish and I didn't catch a single thing. It was fun though.

I fed a bunch of greedy ducks and ducklings. I fed them tortillas cause I am from Texas and that's what I do.

And that is pretty much it.

Oh and as a side note my sister is due in just a little over a month. Can't wait for a nephew! Everyone is excited. My mom keeps saying things like "We are going to have a baby!!!". Yes, she says WE. All of us. Collectively. We are all getting a family baby. All equal part owners. Poor Lauren, she still thinks she is the one having the baby. Don't worry sis, we will let you see Kyler every now and then :)

Lost

Is it ironic that the same weekend that the Lost Series Finale aired, Greg and I started watching Season 1 Episode 1? It’s true. I’ve never seen an episode until this weekend. I blame it on the youth department at Church.

Greg and I are going to Camp 456 in June – our church's summer camp for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. The theme: Lost. At the leaders meeting a couple weeks ago they played clips from the show that they put together that they will be showing to students at camp to tie in to the theme and the lessons. Oh no, their plane crashed! How are they all going to make it on that island? I had to know.

So this past weekend we were taking it easy one night, and trying to decide what movie to rent. We always have a hard time trying to find good movies, so we decided to watch the first episode of Lost on Hulu, because you know, Matterns love free. 4 episodes later we are hooked. Watching Lost is like eating thin mints. You are always left wanting more.

Apparently Greg and I just love tv series where the hero's name is Jack.

Before we go any further into Lost, I think we need to set some ground rules. Last time we watched the 24 series we had to set boundaries. It started out with setting the limit of no more than 1 episode per "school night". Then I think we just started rushing through our evening routines/bible reading time/etc, just so we could watch it. So then we moved it to only on the weekends. But we are sneaky and started expanding our definition of "weekend". We will need to clearly define all terms and conditions of our Lost bylaws.

Guatemala Anyone?

Greg and I have been looking into different mission trips because we really want to go on one soon. We found a great one through Living Water International. They send out teams to drill a water well or repair a water well for a community. It really is an amazing organization. Here are a few facts from their website.

- At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water-related disease.

- Nearly 90 percent of all diseases in the world are caused by unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene.

- The weakest members of communities are the most vulnerable; every day water-related diseases claim the lives of 5000 children under the age of five. That’s roughly one every 15 seconds.

Those are crazy statistics. So by the time I get done writing this post multiple children have died of unclean drinking water. I never see this, so I never really think about this. It is heartbreaking though.

Living water not only drills water wells to provide people with clean water, but also tells people about the LIVING WATER, Jesus Christ.

We are applying to go on the Guatemala Trip, September 4 - 11. It is not through First Baptist (although they do a have a Living Water Trip in October). It is directly through Living Water. There are 7 spots left open on this trip.

If you already have off for Labor Day (Sep 6th), you only have to take 4 vacation days. Only 4!

I am hoping my company will pay for the trip. Ya know, since I am in the drilling biz and all. It would kind of be like field training...right?

Ok, not really.

Sooooo, if anyone is considering going on a mission trip this year, this would be a great one to go on. And then we would know someone else on the trip!

Random

I am going with the random list because I don't really have anything too interesting to write about.

- This weekend was the first restful and relaxing and slow weekend I have had in quite a while. It was nice.


- I watched my first episode of Modern Family. Lots of people I know think it is hilarious. I thought it was just OK. So sue me.


- I tried out a neti pot for the first time this week. I found it to be unpleasant yet moderately helpful.


- Lately I have really been into making homemade pizza. I made 4 pizzas this weekend to freeze so that we can have something already prepared on a night where there is no time to cook. I use Money Saving Mom's pizza dough recipe except I used some wheat flour in addition to white. I almost hated typing that because of my next point below.


- It bothers me when I read recipe reviews and people say things like - "this recipe was great except I substituted a for b, used c instead of d, left out the e, and added f, g, and h." Um, then basically it must not have been that great of a recipe.


- And yet, sometimes I do that.


- We bought a filing cabinet this weekend. There are always so many random papers / bills/ etc. that I don't know what to do with, yet I feel I shouldn't throw them away. My current file folders are bursting at the seams which causes me to hate using them for fear I will not be able to close them again. So I am hoping the filing cabinet will help us to get super organized and make me more inclined to file things away sooner instead of letting papers pile up.


- We forgot to buy hanging file folders when we were at Walmart buying the filing cabinet. So it looks like we won't be getting organized quite yet.


- Somehow we did manage to buy the little file folder labels though. Cause we are just that good.


- I have been on an extended "cake break", as I like to call it. With the exception of my sister's baby shower, I have been taking some time off from making cakes. While I enjoy it, it just takes up so much time. And I feel like there are always other things being left undone when I spend so long making cakes. It has been nice though. So I am sorry for those who have tried to order cakes, but I feel like my time needs to be spent doing other stuff right now. Not exactly sure what that other stuff is...but anyway.


- Greg and I walked to Mytiburger last night. It was such a nice night and we didn't even realize we live with in walking distance. So fun!


- We also didn't realize how easily this neighborhood floods! We were out driving on Friday night and some of the streets had such high waters. They even closed down one of the streets near our house.


- Well, this concludes my random list. Ciao.

Radical Series: Beware

Greg and I recently started listening to the Radical Series. I had never heard of this Pastor before, but read about this series on the Hendricks blog (who i stalk because she is so stinkin' hilarious and yet an amazing Godly example who is encouraging and challenging all the time), and also Katie's blog (who I heard about through the Hendrick's blog).

Seriously, you should go read Katie's blog. She is a young, single, beautiful girl who lives in Uganda. As in, she LIVES there. Not coming back. She has adopted kids. 11 of them. Or 12. Or some number around there I can't quite remember. She is simply amazing. Greg and I are both addicted to reading her blog. I check her blog all the time and cannot wait until she posts. Then Greg and I just look at each other, and ask - Why are we so lame? How can she serve God 24/7, have given up EVERYTHING, and I mean everything, and we are just living life for ourselves?

Start with this post. That is the one that got me hooked. I will even post a picture just like Heather did in case words are not convincing enough.

Why does she have to be the cutest person ever?

She is wise beyond her years. She also challenges me to read the scripture in a different way. A scary way.

Anyway, back to the Radical Series. There are 8 sermons. We have only listened to the first 3 so far. They are TOUGH. They bring up so many questions. I need other people to listen to these so I can have others to talk these things through with. Actually, more than that, I need to be praying for a changed heart. But also it would be great to talk this through with other people.

The other night Greg and I were at our friends' house, the McNallys, for dinner. We had finished eating and had talked for a long time without actually getting to the point of what we had met for (Houston Project). Then Kevin said - ok, 1 more thing and then we can get to our agenda. Radical Series. Have you heard it? Um, why yes we have Kevin. Just recently. We hate it. Well, not exactly hate, but I am selfish, and these sermons point that out even more and that is hard.

How will I give account to God for how I have spent my money?

God, I didn't know that every day tons and tons of people die of hunger. Of no clean water. Of preventable disease. Oh really? You didn't know? You thought everyone had food? Ok, maybe I did know, but I live in America, in Houston, not far from Highland Village, and I don't see it so much, and I forget. Forget? Ok, maybe I don't forget, maybe I purposely ignore that fact because I like buying clothes, and going out to eat, and buying throw pillows.

I am pretty frugal. More frugal at some things than others, but still frugal (by my standards at least). Greg is too. We like to buy the grocery store brands. We order water at restaurants. I use coupons. I reuse foil. Greg puts the peanut butter jar in the microwave when it seems there is nothing left so that not a single molecule of peanut butter goes unused. We only eat half a stick of gum at a time. I am serious. We shared this fact in Bible study once and have been made fun of ever since. I don't think Greg has bought a belt since high school.

But I have been thinking - why am I frugal? Is it so I can give more? So I can give more to missions? To feed the poor? To support ministries? No. Unfortunately no. I am frugal because I like getting good deals. So I can buy more cheap stuff. So I can have the security of knowing more money is going into savings. Sometimes I like to pat myself on the back for being frugal. But then when I realize WHY I am actually frugal. Not awesome.

Anyway, I am not really sure where I am going with this. These are just thoughts. My recent ones.

Back to our dinner - Kevin said - "Can I REALLY say that my 401K is not storing up for me treasures on Earth?"

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Mt 6:19-21

Oh wow, don't even go there. I never even thought about that and now I have to. Don't worry, no one is cancelling their 401K, these are just questions. Questions I had never really thought of. Because America and the church, and myself, am so conditioned to think a certain way, that I would never really think about doing something crazy risky to serve God. Yes there is wisdom in saving & planning. I am not saying there is not value in that. I am just sayin. That is what David Platt mentions in the Radical Series. His teachings sound so radical, because the church has gotten so far away from those hard truths in the Bible that they sound exactly that - Radical. Kinda sad, eh? I am accountable to God, and that is a scary thing. Not that any amount of works could get me into Heaven. Far from it. It is by grace alone through Jesus Christ that we are saved. But I am still accountable for how I used what God has given me.

So if you have listened to this series and have thoughts on it - let me know. Or if you start listening to them, lets talk!