About ME!

Good morning! Mama said that a bunch of you were asking questions about me, so I am going to tell you a little bit about myself.

The other day, she told me about this book she found when she and my aunt were going through some of their old stuff in a place called an attic. She said that I should learn not to collect so much old stuff because it will just weigh me down over the years. The book was called MY Book about ME, and you know what? The book was about my Mama! She says that one day, she will buy me a book just like hers, but I have to be older first.



She wrote it when she was almost 9 years old... WOW! That is REALLY old!!! I am only 5 weeks and 5 days old. The 5 days counts! I can't wait to be bigger!!! :o) This is how big her hand was when she wrote it.



Mama said that she always wanted a little baby, and that God answered her prayers with me! She talks to me about this God person a lot, and says that He loves me and that He has a special plan for my life. I think I need to hear more about this God person! She says that she prayed to Him for a really long time for me! I guess I must be special!

Mama also says that I need to stop spitting up so much of my food if I want to grow big and strong like my Daddy. He says that he loves me, too, and ssshhhh... don't tell Mama, but he knows how to make me quiet better than she does! I like it when he holds me, and bounces me, and pats me on my diaper.

I told my Mama that I don't spit up as much of my new food, on account of 'cause I like it better. The other one she gave me hurt my tummy a lot. I think it had yucky milk proteins or something like that in it. At least, that's what Mama says. :o(



Mama also says that her favorite foods used to be pizza, spaghetti, and macaroni & cheese. She says that she used to eat them all the time and that is why she used to be really big!!! My Aunt Jennifer says she can attest to that. I don't know what that means, but I trust her. Mama says that she didn't used to like spinach, either. Now, she likes it, but not cooked. Just raw in salads. Daddy says that I will learn to be a better eater like him. Aunt Jennifer says that Mama used to even eat macaroni & cheese for Thanksgiving, and that one time, my Mama spit up all her spaghetti and her Daddy had to carry the tray back to the bathroom in the restaurant to clean it off. That is yucky! I would never do that! My Mama says that I shouldn't eat so much of those things because they are not very healthy for me. I think I want to try them, though. Maybe just one bite. Mama says everything is okay if you have just a little.



Did you know that Mama lives in the United States? She says that she always has. She even wrote it down in her book, but...



...when she wrote it down, she didn't know about my Daddy, or the place that he used to live, even though it was written down right there in her book. I guess she didn't pay too much attention when she was 9, but it was written right there. Romania. Guess how old Daddy was when Mama was 9?!?!?! He was 17 years old! She likes to tell that story! She says that he robbed the cradle. Now, why would anybody want to rob a cradle? I'd rather sleep in one! Daddy says that robbing the cradle doesn't count once you get past the age of 20!


So, did you know that my Mama is a girl? She says that my Daddy is a boy, and that so am I!



Mama says that when she was little...



...she wanted to be a nurse. She is not sure why 'cause she doesn't like that kind of thing anymore. Way back then, though, she knew that she wanted to be a mother. Wow! She really did wait a long time for me! Ever since she was nine years old!!! She says that God knew exactly when I would be born and that she just had to wait. She says that she was not very patient, but that I should learn to trust God better than she did. She says that He made the WHOLE WORLD and that He knows what is going on and that I can believe Him.



So. Here I am. My Mama says she can't tell you my real name, but that she is giving me a very special name on her blog. I don't know what a blog is, but she likes it, so I guess I will, too.

She says that she asked all of her blog friends for suggestions about what my name should be. She says that lots of people made really cool suggestions and that some people even told her names in email and in person and that they were all really good! She says that she decided on the one she chose because it combines her bloggy name and my Daddy's bloggy name, and she thought that was appropriate. I don't know what that means, either, but I trust her.

So, my new bloggy name is.... drum roll, please...

I think I might like to play the drums someday.

Oh, sorry, back to my name!

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Do you like it??? They are going to call me "CTC", for short. Mama says it is because her name is Cinnamon Crunch and Daddy's name is Double Toasted! Get it??? Cinnamon. Toast. Crunch. ?!?!?!?

I like it! Mama says that her bloggy friend thinks that I might eat a cereal called that someday. I think I would like to try it, but not until I get bigger! Mama says that she actually met this bloggy friend and a bunch of others in North Carolina one time. Mama says that she has a lot of friends in a place called North Carolina and she thinks she ought to plan a road trip with Daddy and me to go see everybody! Of course, I had a hard time on our last road trip because I was only 4 weeks old and I was still drinking that yucky old formula. I told Mama I will be better this time, now that I am older! ;o)

Well, I guess that's all I have to tell you about me right now.

Wait... Mama tells me that I forgot to tell you how they found out about me. Oops!

Well... on April 11, Mama and Daddy's social worker emailed them to tell them about me. She told them that I was born on April 7th and that my birth mother wanted to meet them and ask some questions. Mama says that she waited to get an email like that forever. She says that for a long time, she had not believed that God would answer her prayer for me because she had waited so long. She even said that she thought she had heard God wrong. :o( Silly Mama. Now, she says that God knew all along just when I would come. So, Mama and Daddy got this email, and Mama says that she knew right then that this was going to finally happen and that I was going to be her little boy! She said that she had not trusted God before, but that she was going to trust God, now! The social worker said that they could meet with the birth mother that Thursday, but that they might not want to say anything to anyone yet, because nothing is for sure. Mama knew, though. She knew that God was answering her prayer and she wanted to believe Him, even though the outcome had not happened yet. So, she and Daddy told a few people, and everyone prayed. They didn't tell anybody on Facebook, though, because that is like telling the whole world! Mama says I need to be careful about things like that! :o)

Mama and Daddy met with my birth mother and the social workers that Thursday, and they had a really good time over lunch. That night, Mama and Daddy learned that it was for sure and that my birth mother wanted them to be my mama and daddy. Mama says that my birth mother loves me so much and that I will get to see her again sometime soon. I will like that, and I will tell her thank you for letting me come to live with Mama and Daddy!

Then, on April 29th, we had what is called a placement day at the adoption agency,



and everyone came to have a party for ME! That was fun, and a day I will never forget!

Well, my Mama says I have talked on here long enough. She says that when I get older, I will have a limit on computer time. I don't like that very much. She also thanked me for letting her get more sleep last night. She says that I slept for 7 whole hours without waking up to eat! Wow! I don't remember that! :o)

Ok. Come back to see me again, soon, and stop by the house sometime, too. Mama says she likes visitors! :o)


Living in His JOY, HOPE, and PEACE...

Sweet chocolate dreams...

Our time with family has come to an end, and it feels like a distant dream. A sweet, yet also bittersweet, chocolate dream, perhaps. I had lots of energy the day after we got back, but there is a reason it is called jet "lag." While I had no trouble getting back on my American schedule, there was definitely a "lag" for me before my body started to feel the exhaustion. Perhaps, until then, I was still running on travel adrenaline!

I have plenty of content to share, but until I catch up with myself, allow me to share these pictures. We have never gone to a restaurant in Romania before, instead enjoying lots of home cooked yummy things. This time, though, we ventured out to two places, where we ate the amazing things you see below. It was quite a treat!



Yeah, we split that. Now, we need to learn how to make the chicken snitzel with cornflakes. The polenta, we already know how to make! :o)



This, I ate all of all by myself! The chocolate ganache was A-maz-ing!!! :o) I am certain, I will never know how to make it. :o(



This was D.T.'s. A crepe resting in a vanilla sauce...


...filled with cream and fruits.

We will definitely, without question, be back! Fortunately, God was gracious to us in our weight loss journey. When you go somewhere like Romania to see family who are amazing cooks, there is incredible temptation to eat far more than you should of things you would be better off avoiding. Fortunately, family understood and were incredibly supportive of our efforts. Other than the things above, we kept our discipline reasonably in check. After my one week, 10 pound increase at Disney World in December, I was scared. Very, very scared. I am proud to announce, though, that this time, each of us came home only 2 pounds heavier than when we left. You have NO idea how truly amazing that is!!! Praise God! Plus, I have already lost .8 of those two pounds. On my way down! For the last more than a month, I have been very stuck where I was on the scale, plus incredibly hungry ALL. THE. TIME!!! So, I am changing up my strategy for the next 40 or so pounds, and will share more of this with y'all soon!

I may also post some more small tidbits about our trip here and there. Until then, have a great weekend! :o)

Living in His JOY, HOPE, and PEACE...

Inching closer...

Veeerry slooooowwwlly, but surely, I am approaching the realization of my (first) weight loss goal. Make no mistake about it, I will not be done losing weight when I reach that goal. No, my intention is to continue moving onward and upward downward until I reach a body mass index that could be considered normal. Right now, I am just overweight, but at least, I am no longer obese. Hey, guess who else is no longer obese?




Doesn't he look fabulous, daaahling? :o) Yes, I realize his head is missing, but it was the least blurry picture I had of him getting ready for church, and I liked the outfit on him. I think it shows off his skinniness, too. LOL! :o) Don't you love all the dog toys in the picture? They are ev-e-ry-where! :o)

Oh, wait... here's the head!



That's much better!

Anywho.

I have been stuck in the same two pounds for the last month, so needless to say, I was a bit frustrated. So, I have been kicking things up a bit, and I started running. Not much. Just 3-minute increments, 3 times during a 20-30 minute workout on the treadmill. Surprisingly, I like it. I am down to a 14 minute - 08 second mile. For you runners, that might seem really slow, but I am shaving the time down as much as I can without doing damage to my body. I just need to get some good running clothes and SHOES. Goodness, I need different shoes than what I am wearing to run right now! I am seeing results, though! My ticker finally moved, and I am a mere 2.2 pounds away from my goal!!!

But... Romania. We leave tomorrow, and I have great fears that I will return heavier than when we left. A friend (who is teaching me lots about running! yay!) did give me a good quote to keep in mind, and I. like. it!!!

“Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels!”

Isn't that SO true?!?!?! It has been running (hahaha!) through my mind all day, and I intend to say it to myself before every bite I eat on this trip. Please pray that I can have the self-control I need!

By the way, did I mention that I fit into and purchased a pair of size 12 pants the other day??? I did! Seriously, I know that might not be a big deal to you skinny-minnies out there, but I haven't seen that size in decades.... and speaking of decades, this morning, I finally broke through to the next decade of pounds, which I actually don't remember from the first time I was in them. Back then, I think I jumped over about... um... 3 decades of pounds. Yep. It feels much better this time around. You know what else that means? Yep! Size 10 is just around the corner! :o) :o) :o)

Guess that's about it for now. Please pray for us as we travel to see family. I'll try to hop online a time or two while we are over there... in between doing the stairs in the apartment building for exercise! ;o)


Living in His JOY, HOPE, and PEACE...

God is über-Good!

We all know that, right? Well, there are other times when we actually experience it... even in the little things. This was actually a fabulous weekend... after a pretty good week, too.

Allow me to share. :o) The other week, I was looking for a devotional book to download on the reader app for my iPhone, and I went back to a tried and true favorite. You can actually read his devotionals every day online, but I wanted something that I would have with me everywhere, and the electronic version was really cheap, so I bought it.

Here's where the God part comes in!!!

I have my options set up online for one-click buying. In other words, I don't have to go through a bunch of annoying steps to make my purchase. I just click on one link, and I'm done. Off to the download. So, that's what I did. One click. Download. Then, I saw what I did not expect. TWO books downloading. Both of which I apparently purchased somehow... unintentionally. No surprise to God, though, and OH-so-worth the second, also cheap price. I don't even know how it happened, except that God intended for me to have it. Both books had such a similar title that they had both showed up in my search results. I love this second book, though! I am actually wondering how I made it this far in my spiritual journey without ever reading anything from this man. His writing is completely amazing! Direct! Cut-to-the core. Challenging, yet easy to understand. IMHO, something that every Christian, without exception, needs to read!!! Another interesting fact... he was born a mere 51.1 miles from my home town! Of course, that was 114 years ago. I imagine the place looked different back then. Still. Cool. :o)

Then, this weekend. Y'all know how much D.T. loves to cook, right? Well, he loves to grill, too, and grill he HAS! We bought our grill 3 or 4 years ago, and we have used it well. I do mean, REALLY well. Now, spring is coming (YAY!!!) and we need to be prepared to contribute to our weight loss efforts with some yummy (and healthy) grilled favorites! So, we needed some new grill plates, because the old ones had pieces of metal coming off onto our food.




Yuck. Gross. Unfortunately, the manufacturer of our grill went out of business. It figures. So, off we headed to our local home improvement store with one of our yucky grill plates in hand (in a plastic bag, of course) so we could compare the size to any other grill plates they might have in stock. Not much luck, though. Nothing really matched, and if it even came close to being the right size, it wasn't the kind of material we wanted. We were hoping to find something cast iron since everything ceramic-coated quickly deteriorates and leaves off it's... well... coating. Alas, they had none. Except... that a sales person was very helpful and offered to look through their leftovers. Their spare parts. Until he found three smaller (to match the total size of our two bigger) grill plates that were, in fact, cast iron (woohoo!) and that he said we could have for... get this... NOTHING. Nada. Free. Can you believe it? He GAVE them to us, and walked us right out the front door.




Wow. God is good, regardless of whatever happens in our lives... but He also really showed His goodness to us this weekend. We certainly didn't want or need to pay for new grill plates. We had just returned from spending money on our upcoming trip to Romania, on a few new clothes for Mr. Skinny, and on some organizational things that make me über-happy. :o)

Our other shoe rack just wasn't big enough to fit
all of both of our shoes.
So, we bought this one for his shoes. Hehehe! :o)


Look! Now, there aren't any more shoes
piled up in our entry way!!! :o)

Of course, we tried to be good stewards of God's money by making our purchases at T.J. M@xx. You know, there is a reason I don't ever go in there. Good prices or not, it is really easy to spend a lot of money in that place, especially for two people that really like to spend $$$! :o) The best part of the day, though, was when D.T. tried on and purchased a pair of $17, size 34 jeans. Seriously! I am SO proud of that man! über-cool! :o)

Church was really good, too. We are starting to settle into this new place. We are still seeking God for which Sunday School class He would have us attend, but I really believe we can grow here. I am attending a women's Bible study that begins this Wednesday night. I can't tell you when the last time I attended a women's Bible study was. I also can't tell you when the last time I attended church on a Wednesday night was. Actually, I have really allowed the schedule of my life to get in the way of my spiritual growth, and I want to intentionally change that. I want to get back on His schedule. I am glad that God led us here.

How has God shown His goodness in your life lately?


Living in His JOY, HOPE, and PEACE...



P.S. oh, I almost forgot! I got an über-good sale on Sobe yesterday! You had to buy 10... like I wouldn't anyway??? and they were all $0.49 each! When I heard about that sale, I jumped right in my car and hopped on over! 40 bottles later... (for those of you trying to figure it out in your head, that's $19.60 all at once instead of $40 here and there!)

:o)

It did take awhile to find room for them everywhere in my kitchen. LOL!





P.P.S. Did I tell you? The temperature was 55 degrees here yesterday! In January! The dogs enjoyed their walk and being outside very much!


Our backyard did not enjoy their digging quite as much.



We have some serious fixing to do once spring really comes. :o)

Snowy Afternoon!

The weatherman said it was supposed to be bad, so we were hoping for a day off... or at least a delay, but no such luck. We waited until the last possible moment to begin getting ready this morning. Fortunately, our place of employment decided to close at noon, so we at least got the afternoon off!

Here's how it went! :o)

We stopped at Food Lion on our way home to purchase some carrots to make soup. You know, it being a cold day and all. $52 later. Please tell me we aren't the only ones who come out of the store with more than what is on the list.

Then, we slid (literally) down to the stop light next to our road. It was really not a pretty sight.

We got home and let the puppies out for some well-deserved play time in the snow!



I wish I had their energy to run circles like that! Goldie really wanted to come inside at the end. Meanie me. They didn't end up staying out long. They must be like me. Not so much the fans of winter!

Then, D.T. and I did a bit of cooking, and I noticed this in our cupboard.


Um... yeah. Does anybody else find that you bought two of things and didn't even realize it?

Then, I remembered that we have a whole bunch of fresh thyme left over from our summer gardening efforts. So, then, why exactly do we have two containers of dried thyme?



D.T. brought the plant inside last night because of the weather we expected today. Now, it is sitting in our downstairs bathroom so that Ben doesn't eat it. He tried. The plant on the left is oregano. The one on the right is thyme. Otherwise known as cimbru in Romanian. They put it into EVERYTHING, so imagine D.T.'s delight when he actually discovered the name of the plant in America! We LOVE it! :o)

Here is the rest of what we made this afternoon.



As much as D.T. loves to do the gourmet cooking thing, we also like it simple sometimes. What you see on the right is Tys0n Southern Style Breaded Chicken from W@lm@rt. We spray it with P@m and bake it in the oven. Yum! On the left is Dreamfield's pasta (good if you're watching your carbs... you're welcome for the coupon :o)) with some pesto from S@m's Club and walnuts. I LOVE walnuts in pasta. :o) It all fits in the diet, too. The key is portion control. Measure everything you put in your mouth! :o)

Well, how random was that for ya? LOL! :o)

Back to the bath, proof-reading my hubby's class assignments (yes... he is taking another class!), and then to work out a bit on the treadmill. I am still WAY full from the food we made, so dinner will be the leftovers I didn't finish, and it will be MUCH later.

I hope y'all got a nice snow day today, too. Any chance we'll have a repeat performance tomorrow? I could only wish. :o)


Living in His JOY, HOPE, and PEACE...

Thanksgiving ~ Romanian style! :o)

Y'all can be thankful for your turkey. We will be thankful for our pig! Seriously. I'm okay with turkey, but the hubby ~ like any true Romanian ~ is more a fan of pork. So, that's what we're having! LOL! What tradition breakers are on your Thanksgiving table???

It will be SO nice to have four days off in a row! I am so excited. We are sticking around the house this holiday which is kinda nice and kinda sad. We've been doing so much traveling lately that we thought we would just chill out for awhile. Plus... Disney is coming soon... 10 days to be exact! :o)

I am truly grateful for so many things. My family, my job, my husband, my LORD! Not necessarily in that order. :o) What are you grateful for?

obligatoryquestionthatallbloggersmustaskoftheirreadersatthanksgiving#

:o)

Seriously, though, how has the LORD blessed you this year?

Living in His JOY, HOPE, and PEACE...

Weighing my words...

Alternately titled: Open mouth...insert foot!

Alternately titled: FAITH!

Does anyone besides me have the tendency to just blurt out what they think? I think there are both positives and negatives to doing this. I do realize that it can often be a bad habit, and a lot of times, there are consequences. My only justification is that a.) I am not perfect and b.) I speak the truth.

Yesterday was one of those times that I, unfortunately, regretted what I said. I must interject that I am amazed at some of the paths that God allows me to cross. Seriously, I could not have written this story if I even tried to imagine it. So, here it is (and I am carefully weighing my words this time).

Yesterday, D.T. had the opportunity to meet with some guests to our organization from his home country. They were here, I believe, at the invitation of someone very important in our organization's history. We learned just the night before at a funeral that we were attending that they were coming, and D.T. offered to assist, if necessary. I actually forgot about it until the very end of the day when I began to try to locate D.T. so we could leave. I discovered that he was in another part of the building where I do not generally have access, and he met me at the entrance to let me in. I was introduced to everyone, and handshakes ensued. You know, I bet they all find handshaking a rather strange custom, as in Romania, the greeting is more typically a kiss on each cheek. Anywho. D.T. and I were also speaking with a gentleman and his wife who had their lovely, young daughter with them. D.T. told me that she had been adopted from Romania, and then the gentleman proceeded to share their story with me. It was really quite amazing how God worked to bring their situation to a glorifying conclusion. I should mention here that despite the fact that I knew who brought this group of people and despite the fact that I was introduced to this man and woman by name, the full realization of who they were just did not click with me. Not that it should matter. I mean, if we are willing to say something, we should be willing to say it to anyone. If we shouldn't say something, then we really shouldn't say it to anyone. Right? But... you know.

So, towards the end of our conversation, the gentleman told us just how much his family's faith had increased because of God's working through their daughter's adoption. A great testimony! Then, I felt compelled by our commonality to share briefly with them concerning our experience with adoption and how it has affected my faith. I won't tell you exactly what I said because that would just be repetition of what I shouldn't have said in hindsight. It is safe to say, though, that I spoke out of my pain and frustration and trying to understand what God has for us. I was brief and honest.

The thing for me is that it is so hard to watch the miracles God does for others and wonder, why not us? I don't pretend to understand the mind of God. I want to have faith in what is unseen, but as a human, I feel like I need to see something. I know. That is exactly the opposite of what faith is supposed to be. When does the ending come, though? How long do we wait? More troubling is that a very significant part of me does not want it anymore. The time has passed. It has been too long. For me. I know that God is never late (that feels kind of cliche' to me), yet I feel like He has waited too long for us.

Then, what should my faith look like? I struggle with that. I have always believed that God can act, but not necessarily that He will choose to act in our circumstances. All the evidence leads me to this conclusion. Again, I know this is the opposite of what faith is supposed to be. A song came on the radio recently that spoke to this. Maybe it can say it better than I can because I am struggling for words.





So, is my foot in my mouth again? Do I have egg all over my face? Does anybody have a towel?


Embracing His Joy, Hope, & Peace...

A momentous occasion!

I could not let today go by without mentioning...

When D.T. was 4 days shy of his twenty-third birthday,
God brought him to the United States...
twenty years ago as of today!

What a step of faith! AMAZING! I'm SO glad God brought him to me!

I wish I had a picture to show his arrival as it happened, but I don't at the moment. It will take me a good, long while to find one among our many, many pictures, so expect to wait a significant amount of time. I promise, I will share one someday.


Living in His JOY, HOPE, and PEACE...

A few more pictures on the mountain...

Yep, this one looks more like two
Romanians on the mountain.
No smile.

I like this one!
Two smiling gentlemen and a lady!
Plus, I can see visible results
of my weight loss efforts!
:o)

I debated about sharing this one...
I mean, y'all know I like to talk,
but my goodness!
My mouth looks huge!!!
It does show joy and laughter, though,
so I thought I would include it! :o)
I like the looks on their faces, too.
I wonder what they were thinking???

That's it.
Over and out.

Living in His JOY, HOPE, and PEACE...

All good things must come to an end pause...

Well, six weeks have flown by. Goodbye's So long for now's have been said all around, and D.T.'s brother flew back to his home this past weekend. We will all miss him, but we hope he will be able to come to visit again next year.


One final picture for your viewing pleasure. You know, it's really hard to get two Romanians to smile for the camera! I wish it hadn't been quite so cloudy when we took these pictures. The mountains are just gorgeous from this location. D.T. and I will have to get some for you on a clear day. :o)

Living in His JOY, HOPE, and PEACE...

Coincidence? A true story.

Is there anything that God does not have His hand in? I think not. Even shopping. I just have to share this story with you because I find it very characteristic of the way God works.

Last evening, D.T., his brother, and I went out shopping for a few last minute things that his brother wanted to take back with him to Romania. I won't tell you where we went because that might spoil some surprises ;-) but I do want to tell you a little bit about the lady who helped us at one of the stores. She was very nice. She had waited on me and D.T. in the past, and she remembered us. She gave us excellent customer service! Beyond that, though, we had the chance to chat a bit. She discovered that D.T. and his brother were from Romania (the accents kind of gave a clue), and she started to tell us about someone she used to know from the college in our town who was from Romania... who by the way, D.T. and his brother knew. Cool. Then, she told us a bit about her college experience and that one of her passions was painting. She asked us if we wanted to see some of her work, and she proceeded to pull out a notebook of her drawings. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!

I was able snap a quick picture of two of her
drawings in the back of her book. The one on the right
is obviously very cultural, and the one on the left
is a still, but she also did some gorgeous
landscapes and florals. The detail is phenomenal,
although I am not sure how much you can tell from this picture.

So, I asked her if she ever does any painting for anybody else, and that we might want to have a mural painted in our home someday. I said that it would be for a nursery, and she got a strange look on her face. She said, "But, you're not... you don't look like you are...". Bless her heart, what a compliment! Now, there have been plenty of times in my overweight life that people have thought that I did look... when I wasn't, and boy did that hurt on multiple levels. Anywho, I explained that we were hoping to adopt, and that I would love to call her someday if she was interested in the work. I've had my eye out for a long time for somebody with better drawing skills than me (trust me... that doesn't take much!) and she more than meets the qualifications!!! How exciting!

We continued to talk, and in the course of the conversation, she shared that she was currently in her mid-40's, her husband was in his early 50's, and that they had two daughters, the oldest being eight years old. She had that first daughter in her late 30's. There is 8 years age difference between her and her husband. Sound familiar??? Seriously? She could have been living my life. It was pretty amazing, though. I asked her a few questions about how she and her husband each responded to parenthood at their respective ages then and now, and she was very encouraging. Of course, I know that neither of us are that old, but honestly, it is one of my greatest concerns. Waiting on God to act. Wondering when. What will it be like... now... and then. Will we be able to handle it?

God is so amazing. I mean, who walks in to a store and finds someone who can provide a service (what we were planning to buy), fulfill a need (painting a mural), knows people that you know (from halfway across the world!), has the same age difference between them and their spouse as there is between you and your husband, and had their children at an older age???

Coincidence?

I think not. I think God knew I needed a bit of encouragement.

THE END.

Living in His JOY, HOPE, and PEACE...

So you had a bad good day..........

I can't believe D.T.'s brother has been here a whole week already! Time flies when you are having fun. :-) The last couple of days have been filled with ups and downs. Good and bad not so good. I must say it is very nice to have other Romanian friends in town. We spent another lovely day yesterday having lunch at their apartment, playing...


and then enjoying the lake...


and the forest!


It is very relaxing to be in God's nature!


The more challenging pieces of our day were, first of all, that our Mac is once again in the shop...


We are praying that this time they will give us a new one. Although, technically, they are saying that we haven't met the four times to be sent away for repair before you can get it replaced clause of our extended warranty because the first time was just a bad battery that was replaced by mail rather than being sent off. We'll see. This is the third hard drive that has burned up in the machine. Second, my dizziness has returned. Yuck! I've learned pretty well how to manage my body, though, when it happens, so it's not exactly the end of the world. I actually notice it most when I am laying in bed, depending what direction I turn my head. I'm going to stop by the doctor again tomorrow just to get checked out. Other than that, life is pretty good! I am looking forward to weighing in for the week on my trusty Wii Fit tonight. I can't wait to see if I have lost any more weight. I've been very faithful with my diet and exercise, so we'll see. Trusting God, and watching to see what direction He maps out for us next! :-) He is good!!!

Living in His JOY, HOPE, and PEACE...