The Money Pit

Funny old movie.  "Meg, Meg, bo beg, bonanafana bo beg."  Classic Tom Hanks.

We have had our little version, quite a few times with the house we currently live in.

2 weeks ago:  Faucet in kids bath(single sink) starts to leak. Granted it was the original from 1974.  I guess it was due!
I had the bright idea to put in a new sink top at the same time.  The old one was, think to yourself 1974 yellow formica. U.g.l.y.
Joe decides while we are at it, lets make it a double sink.  4 kids in one bathroom, good idea.

His friend Darrel comes down and helps him install it.  Looks great and it works.  Which is a plus in our house.  Only problem is, they chip the back splash and decide to just cut it off.
No big deal, I will just tile it all around.  Good practice for El Salvador.  I get decorative tile and we are set to go.

In the meantime, I bid on a new high efficiency toilet at the kids Winter Carnival  silent auction at school.  They were mortified when I am wheeling out a toilet in front of their friends.  Other people get Colts tickets, nah, we get a toilet( only $46.)!
Joe put it in the next day.

Fast forward to today, I am trying to grout the decorative tile-UGH!  Pretty yes, a pain, yes.

Now all we have left, is to rehang the mirrow because now it won't fit with the tile, and to install the drawer thingees, and re paint, and put a new shower curtain on and......

Just proves a simple little leaky faucet can lead to a 2 week renovation.  Pictures to come.

If you need encouragement today....

Listen here  crazy love or here http://www.crazylovebook.com/videos_stop.html.
Watch the other videos too!

Joe is reading he book and I am listening to it on my way to class.  I have to stop it a lot to just digest it. 

Good read (or listen)!

Menus

Monday
Crock pot meatballs
tater tots
applesauce
green beans

Tuesday
Broccoli Cheese soup(panera style recipe)
bread
popcorn chicken(for those who NEED meat)

Wednesday
Chicken Bacon ranch calzones(new made up recipe)
salad
leftover soup

Thursday
French dip sandwiches
(crock pot beef)
homemade french bread
salad

friday
pizza or leftovers

saturday
soup or chili

sunday
group

I haven't stayed on my $500. budget.  Costco really wrecks it when I spend $150 just there.  Other than that, I am over $23 and have 1 week left.  We will be eating from the pantry a lot!
 My biggest pitfalls are organic milk and hormone free meat.  It costs more, but tastes better and is better for you.

DIY- uses for the old christmas pictures

I love Do It Yourself projects.  In fact we have 3 huge ones in process right now.  I have even more in my head, just waiting to find the time to do them.  After updating our calendar last night with the kids sports schedules, I think the next time I have time to do something is 2015!

I started doing a Christmas picture board a few years ago.  I love getting Christmas pictures in the mail, they are always pretty and keep us up to date on friends and family.  The kids love looking at it, and it makes a great conversation piece. Mine is hanging in the kitchen.

This is last years, it looks a lttle sparse compared to this years, bt we  love it.

Basketball

This was our weekend in Fort Wayne.  The Speice Center is very nice with a lot of cool memorabilia you can look at for hours.
 
Aaons team came in second aftera hard fought triple overtime! Such a nice group of sweet boys.  I am looking forward to watching them for years to come.  They just need to get much taller and stronger!

I think the families had just as much fun as they did.  I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.  We played cards(euchre, and spit on your neighbor), chatted and sat around the pool.

As a bonus, Grandma Lori, Aunt Tammy and the boys got to come and see Aaron play. Darrel, Jared and Luke came too. We went out to eat with everyone, and even got to see baby Wyatt for the first time.

I was complaining of a stiff back on Monday from sitting on bleachers all weekend.  Joe gave me the encouragement I needed: only 10 more years of it! Andrew's turn is just around the corner.

On to Baseball, track and soccer!

Circle of Life and a recipe

I was in the kitchen making meals for some friends this morning and realized they were for 2 very different circumstances.
One meal is going to a friend from work whose husband died last night after a very long and painful battle with cancer.  I wept this morning thinking of him in heaven with a new body. Walking, and talking with no pain.  Praise the Lord.  Sad though, his wife of over 30 years is left alone. She is a strong woman with a strong faith.
The other meal for a friend who is having her 5th baby soon.  Those last weeks of pregnancy are exhausting.  Hopefully we will be welcoming the little one home next week. 
Life does go on......
Ecclesiastes 3:1
" There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven..."
I thought I would share therecipe for what I am making these fine ladies:

Tia's Easy Chicken Pot Pie
Double pie crust(I use the refrigerated kind)

2 cups Chicken cut up and cooked
2 cans cream of potato soup
1 can mixed vegetables
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp Thyme
Mix together and place in the pie crust, put the other pie crust on top and crimp edges.
Bake for 40 minutes in 350 degree oven.
Let sit for 10 mnutes and serve.

I am serving it with salad and bread and chocolate chip cookies.

El Salvador

Aaron and I have made our decision to go to San Salvador, El Salvador for our 12 year old trip this smmer.  Amy has begged to come along, so if she can raise the funds, she will go too.  Its hard to tell a 13 year old, no , to a mission trip.  I think it will help Aaron too.  He is our homebody and is not too excited about the trip yet.  We have meetings coming up and hopefully they will get him more on board with all of it.

These are pictures of El Salvador, they look very similar to Costa Rica.  Very poor, but very beautiful.
We will be staying in San Salvador, the capitol city of El Salvador. San Salvador is the largest city inthe country and is located on the slope of a volcano. It's population is 1.5 million people.  The surge in population has severely strained their already weak ecomony. 

People are hungry, children are abandoned.

Here is where we step in.  We will be helping with the Exodo Orphanage.  Teaching VBS, playing with the kids, and tiling some rooms for them.  We are going with a froup from our church.  There are more people going, more kids too.  It should be a great, eye opening trip.  We pray it molds our kids view of poverty and orphans, and softens their heart to the things God loves and cares about.

We have faith that God with provide the $4800. needed for the 3 of us to go.  Letters are being sent out this week, a garage sale is planned and we made over $500. baking this Christmas. 
I will have our numbers up to the side of the blog to let people know how close we are.

" Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

More to come.....