Lifechanging Life and Song

I'm no Theologian, (No...seriously. I'm a mom and I sell underground fences, but that does not necessarily mean I am a Theologian.) but I have had a faith in Jesus since I was young.  Since High School I have had questions about my faith and the realness of Jesus.  Not necessarily doubts, but questions.  Don't judge.

Example, if God doesn't give you more than you can handle, why do people commit suicide?  I know, I know...With Jesus' strength we can handle it all.  When we are weak, He is strong.  I believe that.  I also know all of the arguments against my question.  On the other hand, that person in that situation couldn't handle it at that time, cutting their life short.  The didn't/couldn't/wouldn't turn to Jesus when they need Him most.  In the end, they could not handle it. 

Believe me, I believe all scripture is God breathed and fully true, but because I'm human, I have questions that my little noggin can't fully understand.

Ok, change of scenery, but we'll be going full circle before long.
 
This summer I joined a fitness club.  I joined in an effort to socialize my daughter and transform myself from the skinny fat girl to a toned babe (ha)!  Not long after joining the club, I learned I don't like to run in place and I don't enjoy lifting weights. 

Then, with a few of my neighbor girls, I took a Zumba class.  Zumba is a choreographed dance workout.  I was hooked from the first class on.  Seriously hooked!  The music was relevant and fun, the energy was high and the instructor was inspiring!  Each class I'd leave feeling stronger, more confident, sexier and revived!  As a non-workouter, (please don't look that word up) I always wish that 1 hour class was 2 hours.

I think it's a mix from the fact that (although I'd sweat buckets and burn 500+ calories per workout) it is FUN and the instructor is real, authentic, and passionate about life, family and about Zumba.  Her following is huge, which isn't surprising if you've been to any of her classes.

I went to Zumba last Wednesday night, but slept in through the scheduled Thursday class.  Feeling guilty I missed a class that I could have gone to, I looked at my instructor's Facebook page to read all of the rave reviews from other Zumba-ers. 

My heart skipped a beat when reading tons and tons of people telling the instructor she was in their prayers and they were praying for her family, specifically her daughter.  I don't know them personally, but was immediately concerned because A.) I'm my daughter is my world and B.) This instructor has made a huge impact on me.

I try not to be a tweenager; checking Facebook minutely.  However, I checked my Facebook page all throughout the evening.  Before long, I learned through fellow Zumba-ers, that our loved instructor's precious 4 year old daughter suffered from aneurysm that Thursday morning.

With everything I had, I prayed for the adorable, beautiful, beaming 4 year old and for her whole family and all of her friends.  Jesus heard from me more than normal that night.  I literally couldn't sleep thinking of what this family was going through.

Mid morning Friday, I learned the little girl passed away.

Why Jesus?  This doesn't make any sense.

I didn't personally know this girl, but even writing this now I have tears in my eyes. 

Can you imagine being the little girl, or her parents, or her siblings, or her grandparents, or her friends...  Think of all the people missing this seemingly healthy 4 year old that was taken before their eyes.  It's unimaginable.

It didn't/doesn't make sense.  This pure little girl, from a loving, Christian family, passes away out of nowhere.  Why didn't God intervene and save her?  It baffles me.  Jesus is in control and He's bigger than everything, but a young girl dies.  I want answers, for my faith's sake, so imagine how her family feels.  Again, it's unbearable.

I struggled with whether or not I should go to the funeral.  Nobody likes funerals.  Nobody telling me I should go.  Nobody would expect me to be there. 

At the same time, nobody could tell me I couldn't go.  This little, innocent girl could be anyone...It could have happened to my family.

I went.  The funeral, from beginning to end, has made an enormous impact on my life.

  Please listen to the song linked up below.  A beautiful slideshow was prepared to this song.




The words from the song answer more questions than I realized I had.

Honestly, why do I think we should all be saved from nightmares?  The Bible never says we will be saved from all heartache.  Jesus' promise is that when everything falls (because of sin) we'll be held.  Jesus will hold us, walk beside us and rebuild us when life doesn't go the way we planned.

This beautiful young girl's life has shown me that our life on earth is not our whole life.  Jesus has way more in store for us after our stint here.

My prayers, thoughts and best wishes to a beautiful family who has touched my life!

Cheers!



Wish he thought of putting the flower in his teeth himself!

After dinner, I asked Ben if he could get us a bottle of wine.  He came back about twenty minutes later.  Walking in the door with what looked like a case of Captain Morgan, I was worried he had a bad day.  Who needs a whole case of spiced rum on a Tuesday?  Oh no, what Ben had inside was a case of my favorite Sauvion Blancs and some I hadn't tried.
He is so good!

Of the dozen Sauvion Blancs, eleven of them were from my favorite wine region in New Zealand, Marlborough.  The other was a Yellow Tail, which I love, but only 14% of the grapes are from New Zealand.  Ben said that's for "cheap nights".  I'll take the Yellow Tail, but couldn't take a picture of it because of my reverence for Marlborough. 

Look at the assortment he picked out! 


Can't wait to try them all!  We probably won't get through all of them eleven bottles tonight, seeing it's just the 2 of us.

Peer Pressure Below

I wasn't always a (wine) snob.  I have loved wine for years, but I used to be satisfied with boxed wine;** as long as it was Angel Juice, Bota Box or Black Box.  Lately, however, I've only liked it straight from the bottle.  Well, in a wine glass from a bottle, don't worry. :)

We've tried all different types of wines.  Ben, along with our houseguest, Katie, and I realized Sauvignon Blanc is all of our favorite.  It's my favorite by long shot;** even considering I had to google the spelling. 

Trying different bottles (ooh la la) of Sauvignon Blanc means we've been trying many different brands and regions of wine.  We've narrowed our favorite wines down to the following:

• Cupcake Vineyards (~$10/bottle*)
• Starborough  (~$14/bottle*)
• Kim Crawford (~$17/bottle*)      
• Nobilo (~$13/bottle*)

Any of those four wines will make your mouth water and your taste buds tingle (I am a dork). 

Here's the sad part thought - A bottle of this deliciousness goes fast.  See below:


Here's the fun part though - They are all from the same region, Marlborough, in New Zealand.  What a coincidence!

So I thought...Hmm...We should save up for a trip to the Marlborough region.  Well ha ha ha - Joke is on me.  Check out the tickets for plane tickets alone.  Gross!

Anyway, PLEASE, if anyone is reading this, PLEASE buy yourself a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.  You will not regret it. 

Everyone's doin' it (in our house)! 

*Prices are all total guesses!
**I am trying to learn the correct usage of the semicolon.  Please correct any mistakes I made.

From Boring to Soaring

Our house, as I've mentioned earlier, was in serious need of a place-lift!  I love our house structure, but it wasn't showing any of our personality.

We've made changes - finally! 

Take the niche in our entry way, pictured on your right.  We thought the plant would spruce it up. 

Embarrassing.

But look at it now!!!  The alcove actually pops as you walk in!

The mural hung on the wall and the mirrored table in the center shows that the house is owned by a quirky little family versus a spud!

We've made other changes too and have more to come!

Fun!

Greek Spinach Dip

Dear Ben in Lakeville,

I saw your comment to this post and wanted to provide you (and the millions of other readers) the recipe.

Seriously, this dip is amazing and super simple.  It's a tweaked version from the Knorr Vegetable package.

1 package (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup Mayo
1-1/2 cups feta cheese
1 package Knorr® Vegetable recipe mix (THIS IS KEY)
1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 can (8 oz.) water chestnuts, drained and chopped

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 350°

Combine all ingredients except 1/2 cup of feta cheese. Spoon into a 2-quart casserole, then top with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.
Bake for 35 minutes or until dip is hot. Dip it like it's hot.

Serve it with anything - It's that good!

Frog Potty

Ben decided not to sit on the frog potty for a picture.  I decided picking between just Piper and me for the game here would be too easy.  :)  So... I'll spoil the game and let you know that Piper has been (on very rare occasion) tinkling in the frog potty! 

She used the frog potty just now.  I offered to bring the froggy basin to the big toilet to flush it.  She declared, "I want to carry my pee, mom"!  I don't blame her!

HELP!

I wanted to create a blog a looong time ago. Because of this, I made a blog. Smart! Since then, I have nothing to say! This had NEVER happened before.

Because I have nothing to say, I just show pictures of my stunning little muffin head (aka Piper) and comment on her perfect little quirks.

I would close the blog down, but I just got a new camera and Ben noted I have been more active on here lately.  So...Can you please give me something to blog about?

PLEASE write a comment with suggestions!
In the meantime, I'll go to my beautiful default.

Piper reminded Ben that the tutu went with her sweat pants and hoodie.  Love!this!girl!

Just tonight, Piper started referring to Ben as "Honey".  I'm glad I don't call him swear words (in front of her). :)

Please help me people!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a wonderful holiday!  Who doesn't love Thanksgiving?

We had two Thanksgiving celebrations yesterday.  First at Ben's uncles and then at my aunts.  Both were perfect with great food and great conversation!  We had a lovely day! 

Piper (with her auntie) chose to sub her black tights with her skeleton leggings and her fancy gold shoes with her favorite sparkly sneakers.  I pick my battles and her attire isn't one of them...for now.  :)

She had to wear her sunglasses to Thanksgiving.  Fashionista!

Ben always wants me to kiss him for the camera...PSYCH or SIKE!

If I had a camera (ours should be coming in the mail any day) I'd snap and post a pic of my puffy, bloody lip.  Piper head bangged my lip, jumping up a stair at my aunts - Ouch!

I hope YOU had a wonderful Thanksgiving and have been blessed as much as we have!

xoxoxoxo

Not Gonna Spoil Her!

Who's Been Tinkling in the Frog Potty...

Stay tuned...We don't have a camera just yet (we broke our second camera in a year- yuck), but soon YOU will be able to judge who looks the most natural tinkling on our frog potty!

Parenting is humbling!

'Sweet' little Piper covered my mouth and screamed/sobbed "DON'T SING" while I was trying to sing her to sleep tonight.  Oof dah...I passed the baton to Ben who is trying to get her to sleep now at 10:15 PM. 

It's still not going well upstairs, so maybe his voice isn't all that pleasent either.

I know I have a bad voice, but didn't know my two year old daughter was so picky about how "Jesus Loves Me" sounds when she's overtired and being tucked in.

Best of Times and Worst of Times

Ben, Piper and I rented a cabin in Nisswa for a long weekend getaway!  The weather was perfect - better than you'd ever expect from northern Minnesota in August! 

Before our camera broke (ugh), we snapped a few pictures.

Ben and Piper in their sweat suits!

Piper and me in our sweats!

One of us slept through the wine tasting.  Believe me, I stayed awake!

Look at that girl...

Our wonderful weekend was clouded when we found out our perfect cat (who was more like a dog than a cat) passed away. Bubba was just six years old - he had a great (but short) life and blessed our live's immensely.

RIP Bubba.



Growing Up Fast!

Everyone told me that time would fly and Piper would grow up fast - they were all correct!

Piper came to the door with a group of neigbhor kids to trick-or-treat on Sunday.  My little elephant was screeching and squeeling with excitement, while Ben waited for her at the bottom of the stairs.  When it was her turn for me put candy in her purple pumpkin, she squealed and said, "trick-or-treating momma" and then kissed me on the lips! 

She seemed so grown up- other than that she said "trick-or-treating" instead of "trick-or-treat", she gave me a kiss in front of her friends and that she had to wait at the top of our front porch's steps for Ben to carry her down.  If it wasn't for those few things, she seemed so grown up!



My mother-in-law captured my almost 2 and a half year old beauty! 

Not too shabby...My mission to flip this house!

You say (your house has the style of a) "potato", I say "our casa needs some personality"!

 

I promise Ben and I are fun!  Our home decor, on the other hand, would have anyone convinced we have the personality of a tuber.  When Piper was under 10 weeks old we moved into our new home.  A newborn baby, full-time job, 2 cats, 2 dogs and a million other things took precedence over decorating our "crib".

 

The other day it finally hit me...Our house needs some pizazz! 

 

Our house is completely mission styled - Beige walls and dark wood everywhere. If I won the lottery, I'd have the walls painted white, the woodwork painted white, and turn the whole thing shabby chic. Not practical, but a girl can dream.  Soo...since I can't go completely shabby chic, I guess we're going to try to turn the house "not too shabby".

I know what I like when I see it, but certainly have never come up with a creative idea and have no natural sense of style;  I wore overalls every day until a few years ago and just minutes ago referred to our house as our crib.  Obviously, adding style to our house will take much outside influence.  With the tips and help from my husband, mother-in-law and sister-in-law, I am going to makeover our house. 

 

Goll, it would be great if I could post pictures to show the few things we've done and what we're working with, but my house is as messy as a foreclosure.  Hopefully by tomorrow I will have pictures posted of the few things we've done.  Then, if there is a single person reading this, you could give us some advice or style tips!!!

Peace out, dude.

Obviously...

Nick Nolte and I were once "linked"...Joking, but look how cute the mug shot would be of our child, if we had one together!

I gave Piper her first hair cut. The up-side is that she no longer needs to blink to see between her bangs and doesn't have as much of a rat tail as she did before the cut. The down-side is she's 26 months and looks like a spawn of Nick Nolte's.

She's growing up so fast. I keep loving her more and more.

One of those days!

Little Piper had a rough day! She was oh so cute, yet quite a sassy girl.

You can see the little princess, on the left, screaming between my legs because our dog, Blue, ate the cheese SHE FED DIRECTLY TO HIM!

It was one of those days where I could not win. Thank goodness she is typically sweet, always cute and the daughter I never could have dreamed I could have because (believe me) it was a trying day.

One of those days where by 6 o'clock Mike's Lemonade was sounding more like a good mixer than a drink itself!

A.) Piper is Two B.) Ben is Looking Good!

Updating is not my forte! Since the last update, things have changed:

1.) Little Piper turned TWO! How did that happen? Each day I think I could not love her more than I already do. Then, each day I love her more! She's everything to Ben and me.


2.) Piper got her hair cut! This beauty could pull off anything, but the very very very very thin layer of REALLY long baby hair was typically styled as a rats nest and looked out of place. Now, Piper's sporting a bob.



3.) I've become less funny. Looking back, the "Weeeee'reeeeeeeeee Back!!!" post was FUNNY! Funnier than this one.


4.) Ben got (EVEN) better looking. I'm going to frame this picture for Father's Day.

Since Ben would never read the blog, I can tell you that and it won't even ruin the surprise.


5.) We have a beautiful new son, Barry. He's a dog. Barry had a rough start to life, so we adopted him at 11 months old. Such a love bug! The carpet and I are getting excited for him to be potty trained. Some day...




6.) Piper is in a big girl bed!!! She spends her first few hours of sleep in that bed every night - 1AM until 4AM. This is our perfect little night owl in her new bed!
















7.) This site still has tons of room for improvement. FORMATTING, getting followers, including content and FORMATTING need to be my priority here!

Weeeee'reeeeeeeeee Back!!!

Hello friends, or dare I say, followers?!? (Ben says, "That comes across arrogant." However, I am just so excited right now - people are "following" us!)

It is with regret, that I apologize for not updating our little family blog. I had no idea that people were checking in until I just realized that (not to brag, but I have to brag) THREE people checked the blog yesterday and ONE did today!!! Now I'm excited and am going to go to town updating from now on!!!

I hope that you (the ONE to THREE followers) enjoy the updates! (Ben says, "If you say that, you better be serious about it.") So, I am serious about it!



Overview:

Piper is walking!!! It took just 16+ months to learn to walk and now she's the cutest little staggerer ever! She's pretty fast, looks downward and is always on a mission!

Piper is nuts about songs about birds and about Christmas! Her grandma, "Oma", makes CD's about birds and Santa and we have them running all of the time! Piper will tell you, "Christmas songs do NOT get old!"

Ben and I are in love. We celebrated our 5th anniversary December. That boy gets better with age! KEEPER!

Piper tends to place her dainty little fingers down the back of her pants (actually diaper) or in her nose. She makes it look cute!!!

The apron and tie was too much for me, so I am no longer waitressing! Thank goodness! :) I'm now working for some good friends and am going to be selling something you can't even see. More to come on that, so stay tuned!

Blue, our naughty little Blue Heeler, is the best! We love our dog and other than his struggles with drive-thru's, he's a gem. Piper is kind of hard on him, telling EVERY person we come in contact with, "Blue barking" or "NO Blueee", but they really do have each other's back.


Oh boy, you ONE to THREE! Here we come!

Love,
Ben, Mickey, Piper and Blue!