A spoonful of events (like alphabet soup or something...)

I made the granola bars yesterday, yummy! I ate one for breakfast this morning. Really quick and easy to make, the are a keeper.

Also tried a yummy new black bean soup recipe from the More with Less cookbook. I use that cookbook at least once a week, it has been a good investment. The recipe called for a pound of dried black beans, 1 green pepper and a ham shank. Pretty simple.

::Here's a recap of the past couple of weeks::

Mike and Edna (Hubie's sister and brother in law) had baby Emmett. Don't they look like a fun bunch of people?


Hubie took a week off work to rehab more of the house.

New window in the dining room- looks great! (There used to be a steel door in its place)

Hubie and I spent some nice time on our back patio. I am so glad we put that in last summer. Now is the perfect time to enjoy it, no bugs (only raccoons when it gets dark!!)!!


Take a look at this guy!

Before...

And After...

No More Braces! Hube got his braces off after only having them a year!


This is our orange wall...it was only orange a few hours before we painted it over. Just thought people would like to see the evidence.


We had a wonderful time at Heather and Ryan's wedding. Heather wore her grandmother's wedding dress. Isn't she beautiful?

We spent time with Kenny and Melissa and Melody (pictured above in the black and white dress) too! Went to a cute coffee shop with them in between wedding day things.

Here we are all spiffed up, I even bought a new maternity dress for the special event.


...we've had a busy couple of weeks right?

Lastly, but certainly not of least importance! Amanda Davis's 25th Birthday celebration! She invited us out to Distrito for brunch after church. We had a nice time dining together:).

As you can see, we have been busy. We definitely needed some time to just relax and be silly the past couple of weeks.




Hope you all enjoyed Easter, and had time to reflect during Holy Week. It was a meaningful time for us.

Birthday Today!

Today has been such a blessing! I can tell that God is pouring out good things on me. More to come on what exactly he blessed me with today!!

surprise, we had company!

Hubie's friends from a few year back were in town today. They stopped by our house, and then came over for dinner tonight! Ross and Jessica lived in Philly for a number of years, moved to Vermont, and now are in Virginia.

I am usually not very calm at the proposal of hosting spontaneous dinner at the house. It was fun though, no need be anxious.

This weekend we went to Indiana to visit to my parents at their lake cottage. Hube and I stopped in my home town to look at my mom's grave, since it will be 10 years this year since she passed. We got flowers and cleaned the stone. This little stop made our arrival in IN later than we wanted, but it was worth it for me.

Saturday Courtney and Kevin came over to IN to see us! They brought their cute kids too:) It was nice to catch up in person, since we rarely have time other than on the phone to do that. We went on a boat ride and watched Luke do some tummy time. Emma warmed up soon enough and loved being outside on the deck.

Mary bought us food we like and cooked it up real nice:). We had potatoes and bacon for breakfast and this yummy raisin bread toast. We had a good time just being together for a couple days. My brother Ryan and sister in law Britt came up on Sunday. It was sort of a quick time with them, since we drove home that day. Chad and Jeannie surprised us and came too! It was great to see everyone, Uncle Bob and Sharon, Grandma Knox and McCullough too!

My Grandma McCullough gave me her old sewing tin. It was sweet of her, she is such a giving and thoughtful person. Always thinking of some one else.

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As you go on your way,
May the Lord walk beside you to comfort you.
May the Lord walk above you to watch over you.
May the Lord walk behind you to keep you safe.
May the Lord walk before you to show you the way.

This was the benediction my mom left, as a reminder of God's amazing comfort and presence.


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People keep saying summer is almost over...

Here's what I've been up to.

making tablecloths

Nicole, a college roommate got married this weekend.

Ruth invited us over for a dinner party, to meet Daniel.

We welcomed Hannah Kiruba to the Paulraj family! She is darling. Thanks to her, I now know what the "squirt" is, how to burp a baby and swaddle one too.
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Hubie and I are going to be in Indiana this weekend visiting my parents. It will be a quick trip.
O yeah, and I am eating homemade plum sherbet I made yesterday. mmmm...yummy! Thanks, Juliana for the inspiration!

Trip to Knoxville

Two weeks ago Hube and I made the trip out to Indiana to see my parents. We were able to stay with them a whole week, and enjoy their lake cottage!










My grandma's both had us over to their houses, below is Grandma Knox.

And...Grandma McCullough.


A few more pictures to chronicle our trip:



Courtney and I smiled for Emma, she liked taking pictures.













Ryan and Brittany's bumper fell off the car while driving...hilarious, however costly injury to the car! Ryan was a good sport about it...

We played a golf scramble, since we are all so terrible at golf! My dad and brother are pretty good, but Hubie and I really brought down the team. Britt drove the golf cart with some force...Ryan even fell out (;


My brother Ryan, Dad, and Hube.


We did some landscaping on the lake front. My dad built an irrigation system to water the plants with lake water...brilliant!






Jeannie stayed over night with us one night.

Ridin' on the boat



Time to go....):




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For Courtney...

This is a blog for Courtney, my friend from Ohio. She recently got the internet, and told me she read through my old blog posts. How sweet! She is a really great friend. She definitely deserves her own post. (I should have done this for my husband too, he read all my posts when we started dating:).

Here is a picture of our house, in honor of Courtney and Kevin, who also looked at our house on the internet, through Google maps. By the way Court, I just looked at it too, and Hubie's red truck is out front of our house!

Our house is the one with white around the windows on the 2nd story, and a while storm door on the front.

Below is the video Hube and I took this winter of our neighborhood. Check it out, I am waving in front of our house!



Talk to you soon my friend, you are awesome!

remembering our big day...

Hubie's friend Lauren got married at the same church we were married this summer. It was fun to be back!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Valentine's Day is one of those weird holidays that make some people sick with vomit and other sick with love (or hope for love). In the past I have celebrated with good friends or tried to forget the day. Often I finished out the day saddened by the sight of no flowers, chocolate or a swooning boy at my window.
Two years ago, I wondered what would happen on Valentine's Day. Hubie had asked me on a date in early January, but we weren't necessarily dating. I had to brace myself for a regular night at home, as I did not want to be too disappointed if he did not ask me out. But, of course Hubie came through. He asked if I wanted to go out for dinner "tomorrow night." Failing to mention, "for Valentine's Day," for sake of possible embarrassment on his part. Good job Hubie!! (Thanks to Rich and his brother's excellent advice).

so I was a little nervous with the whole V-day dinner, especially since Hubie and I had not known each other for long. I could tell Hubie was too, hence him not mentioning this dinner was for V-day. I asked PJ, the guy I was co-leading small group with how I could overcome our anxiety about the Valentine's day subject. He suggested that I make a little joke about it. He even demonstrated how I could phrase the joke (he could see I really needed some help). I figured PJ is a guy, and maybe Hubie would respond to his guy lingo.

...he didn't get the joke...more awkwardness endured.

This year Hubie started off Valentine's Day early with red roses and monkey bread (in the shape of a heart) yesterday. Tonight we are going to Vietnam Restaurant. It has been fun!

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Here I am with my new reading glasses. Pretty hip right??


The optometrist said the glasses will make reading easier for my eyes if they get tired. He said I could wear them on the end of my nose for knitting... Talk about GRANDMA!!!
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It snowed in Philly, and we took pictures of our backyard. Hubie and I are so proud to have outdoor space. It is rare in the city to have such a large space.


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Juliana's 29th Birthday!!


Bethany, Juliana and I celebrated Juliana's birthday at Las Cazuelas restaurant on Girard Ave. It is a great place to dine, and no wait to get a table. We got arroz con pollo, saite of some kind and chile relleno. The owners are from Campeche, one of the places I traveled in Mexico.

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I can't wait to take pictures of our kitchen at our house in Kensington. It looks so much better with the back splash tiled and a couple more finishing touches. My dad will be very pleased! He rehabbed it a year ago October.
The porch is almost redone, just need to fill screw holes when it gets warmer. Plus, the new outdoor light fixture really makes the place look better.
Hubie and I enjoy rehabbing together. It feels nice to make a home into something more functional and aesthetically pleasing.

O, and I started to volunteer in a nursing home near our house. It is good for me- I got dressed up- almost like going to work. It felt good to do something outside the house. I haven't experienced that for four months now.

That is what I have been up to in Philly! I do love it here! Come and see this wonderful/crazy/dirty/work in progress city sometime:)

March Update

This past weekend I traveled to Nashville, TN to visit Betsy. She has 2-4 weeks left of her pregnancy! It was nice to see her and Mike. Their ministry school community is so vibrant and growing. I enjoyed relaxing with them.

Wedding plans are coming along, getting the main planning done has not been super difficult. Hubie has helped out tremendously. We used most of our spare time in February to plan, and it paid off!

Three people recommended this photographer to me, finally I got her website info this week. Her photos are amazing! They are elegant and artsy, she just graduated from art school. We are meeting her Thursday, this is our last major planning adventure for the big day!

My uncle has been sick with cancer for a bit of time. I finally touched base with family who said his tumor is shrinking! He is planning to get alternative treatment in Freeport, Bahamas, I think he left last week. My mom also went to this place, so we are pretty familiar with the treatment (IAT clinic).

Small group has been so much fun lately. The folks all have so much to offer. It is a lot of fun trying to facilitate the discussion and growth.
Worship at small group has been fine, but I was glad to have more time to practice this week. I was even able to practice a song ahead of time for next week. Now that wedding planning has slowed I have more time to enjoy playing.

Nicole, a friend of mine had surgery last Tuesday to remove a tumor from her spinal cord. It was a major deal, they opened her body on both the front and back to get the vertebrae out and secure her spine. She is doing a lot better now, hopefully will get out of the hospital this week. It was neat to see God working through this procedure, redeeming an evil work in her body.

Happy belated Easter!