The Happy Life Wife

Sorry kids...I've been slacking this week, but for good reason! It was hubby's birthday and we both were a little under the weather..yuck I know! Let me catch you up on the first part of this week.

Valentine's Day (we actually "celebrated" this on Sunday) we treated ourselves to the AMAZING Emeril's Chop House here in Bethlehem, and YUM-O! Seriously, best steak I've had in my life. I now actually know what it's like to have steak melt in your mouth. We then were just a bunch of bums on the actually Valentine's day, we just love each other, we don't need no stinkin' special day! 

Tuesday was the hubs birthday, he's the big 2-9! We had his mom, dad, and sister over for some yummy dinner and chocolate cake (the hubs fav). It was great fun and great company.

Then I worked all day today. That's the extent of our week thus far. I promise to be more exciting tomorrow!

Sunday, is honestly my most favorite day of the week. I really hope that one day I can have a job that ensures that I have every Sunday off. It starts by attending church, then teaching an amazing group of 4h and 5th graders Sunday school, followed by brunch with the fam, and usually concludes with several hours of hopping from one open house to the next.

This week, I think I discovered a dream house for us...I adore it! Ok, well I found two that are just great, and are at total opposite ends of the spectrum.

First, there is the move in ready house (other than buying a washer/dryer and getting a fence). It's an amazing brick house that has been recently renovated. We basically would never have to move and could raise our family here. However it may be at the top of our price range right now. Check it out here.

Second, it's a total fixer upper with lots of potential, but lots of work. We'd consider this a starter home and want to either re-sell or consider it for a rental property by the time our kids were going to go to school. It's a great area, but not so great schools. It's a great price, but like I said we'd spend a lot of time/energy to get it up to par. Check it out here.

Please feel free to comment and give feedback on if you guys like/suggest.

Back to Sunday school...something I look forward too ALL week. One of my most favorite ages of children, these kids are amazing. This week we started discussing parables. It's awesome to see these kids dig into God's word and get excited about it. They worked together and got into some really deep stuff. Seeing it "click" for them and relate it to their lives as 4th and 5th graders is such an amazing thing to witness. We decided to start a blog for them and their families, and they are going to do weekly podcasts about what they are learning, and it's so exciting! 

Tonight we celebrated our lurve early (we celebrate it as often as we can), but you will here more about that tomorrow. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Pawley's Island 07.08.09

I think like many other people I know, I can't STAND chain mail. They take up space in my inbox, and I rarely ever even open them, and they go straight to the trash. I did read a fun post about 7 things on my good friend Lauren posted, and I decided to jump on the bandwagon for once. My blog is new, and why not let you all know a little more about me :)! So here goes...

1 - I met my oh! so fantastic husband online, just like Lauren, and I will give her credit for convincing me to go onto Christian Mingle and it actually working (seriously, it's great!). I almost wrote the hubs off because I found out he was in the military and was stationed in SPAIN, while I was finishing up nursing school in Cincinnati, Ohio...talk about long distance. However, I couldn't resist his charms and fell in lurve.

2 - I am totally a dog mom. I have always loved animals, but I never really pictured myself as a "dog mom", but I totally am. People share stories about their kids, and I then have a story that I think somehow relates to raising a child, to raising our dogs. Our dogs are 130 lbs, and 90 lbs and sleep in bed with us (this soon will change with the purchase of new dog beds), thank goodness for a king size bed. 

3 - I am a true nerd at heart. In high school I was a cheerleader, ran track, grew up playing select soccer, all while belonging to science club, competing on science Olympiad, working as a lab assistant for our biology teacher, and working on yearbook. Not too mention, I LOVE Harry Potter. Yes, I am 23 (almost 24) and will be at the midnight showing, as I always am, for the next movie....I even have a shirt I wear to it!

4 - I want to run my own business. I love working as a registered nurse, but I strive to do something else. I love photography, baking, cooking, crafting, and event planning. I'd love to really get my photography business of the ground, open a bakery, start an organic baby food company, become a wedding planner, flip real estate, or really anything. I just want to have something that is my own, that Kurt and I can run together and be flexible when we have kids.

5 - My parents get along great! When I say my parents, I mean ALL of my parents, including Kurt's parents. In fact we all vacation together every year (can you believe it!), to Pawley's Island, SC where Kurt and I got married.

6 - I'm neither a wino, or a beer fan...I'm BOTH. I love wine of sorts, but mostly reds (especially in the winter!). I love beer, and my fav is pretty much anything from a local brewery here in Bethlehem, PA named Bethlehem Brew Works. 

7 - We want four kids, yes four. We're each one of four, and love it! Let's get this family growin'! (after we get insurance, and I lose the lbs!)

So, this post is inspired by a Valentine's Day Card competition. This photo will soon grace the wall of our bedroom. It's our wedding bands with a portion of scripture read from our wedding, and many other weddings, 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7.

The photo, taken by me one day at the first house we had together in Cincinnati, represents us a lot. Our marriage and lives are Christ centered. Christ is who brought us together, and we try to live our daily lives putting Him first, and letting our love grow in His image. The scripture is right, Love never fails. Our love for each other, for Christ, and His love for us never lets us down. Times may be tough, not always a walk in the park, but our love for one another, and our love and trust in Him gets us through it all...the good, the bad, and the sometimes ugly. 

Spoiler Alert: I think photo may be the winner for the homemade card that the hubs gets this year :)

Along with Valentine's Day comes another great day, the day after in fact, which is the hubs birthday. Seriously, we jam pack events in a couple of months. Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day, Kurt's Birthday, and my birthday all before April. Not to mention that the Momma-in-Love, both Scott and Jana's (brother/seester-in-law), my dad, my aunt, and my uncle's birthdays are all in the mix as well, yikes!

Sorry, to the few readers that I have, for the delay this week in blogging. It's been a week full of work, job searching, and family time. The week started off with Kurt's grandfather, Pop, in the CICU at St. Luke's this week, and then moving to St. Luke's Hospice on Wednesday. We're headed there soon for more family time with Pop and others.  It's been a bit of an emotional week, as an RN I have more insight into what is going on with Pop, I see the benchmarks that he is hitting in the hospice process, and it's all bringing me back to when my grandfathers were on hospice in 2009, both a bittersweet experience.  I seem to almost have flashbacks to moments with my Grandpa Jerry from when I was taking care of him during his final days, and I've made a couple tearful calls to my mom back in Ohio sharing memories with her, and her heart and prayers go out to the whole family here in PA during this time.

The hospice care is wonderful, the staff is great, many memories, stories, and laughs are shared, along with tears and hugs. While many of us were there yesterday the St. Luke's Hospice chaplain came into the room and visited us and was so pleased to see us smiling, and telling stories and he said well "you all seem to be doing great. What a great environment for Hal to spend his final days, with all of this love surrounding him." I think in that moment we all stopped the idle chatter and story telling and looked up at the chaplain as he said, "You only get this kind of love, unless you've given that love out your whole life." I think that chaplain successfully brought a tear to every person in Pop's room right then.

It's so true that in the final days of someones life, you can really see how that person must have lived their life and the legacy that they built. It really is ALL about love. Giving love and support to one another. Families rally together to be with the loved one and with each other. I remember the camp out we had of inflatable mattresses and my grandparents home in Ohio while Grandpa was on hospice. We cooked together and shared stories, and it's the exact same experience we're having here now with Kurt's grandfather, Pop. 

It seems that there is no better way to leave this Earth into the Lord's arms than to be receiving the love from your family, friends, and loved ones that you gave our your entire life. 

You really do get what you give.