Summer 2012

Our summer has been surprisingly eventful, particularly toward the end.  In July, we went on a vacation to the Washington coast with Stephen's parents and alllllll his siblings, including Mary and Tim and their two little ones, and also Cari's boyfriend, Eric.  We just spent a week at a resort town in the process of development, walking on the beach, hanging out and playing games at the house, swimming in the pool and relaxing in the hot tub.  We each took turns cooking dinner.  We had some very tasty steak-and-veggie kabobs by Cari and Eric, a yummy Mexican meal by Tim and Mary, and Stephen and I made spaghetti.  It was a very relaxing, laid-back vacation all together.


Shortly after the family vacation, Stephen shot his first paid wedding gig.  There is a lot invested in wedding days, so he was under a lot of stress leading up to the wedding day, and also some in the photo editing phase as well.  But he finished it, and the couple was very, very pleased with the photos, for which we are very thankful.


In August, one of my college friends got married, so I flew down to Idaho and stayed with my aunt, uncle, and cousin and attended Mindy's wedding, which was butterfly garden themed--very pretty!  They put a lot of humorous personal touches to their ceremony and the reception was one big, fun party, complete with a photo booth and props. :)  I got to catch up with some old friends and meet some new ones and had a really good weekend all together.  I am really glad I got to go.

My car's A/C stopped working sometime earlier this year, and we finally took it to get checked out in August, and found out we had to get a new part and the whole thing had to be reassembled.  God graciously provided the money for us, and we fixed it toward the end of August. In the same month, I had to get a new car key, because the buttons on my remote-entry car key didn't work anymore!  And today I got into a rear-end car accident (I was rear-ended by a car who was rear-ended by a car), but I'm not hurt at all and the damage to my car is very minimal.  The accident was not my fault at all, so insurance will be taking care of everything.

We've had an Indian summer this September, with temperatures in the high 80s and 90s.  I think the weather is trying to make up for the very cold and dark beginning of summer we had!  For now I am totally okay with sunshiny weather....I know those cold dark days are coming again!


Our church got a new music pastor, an answer to prayer after 3 years of searching for the right person.  Our church is now able to do so much more music-wise than we were before, because our temporary worship leader was doing so much other work in his position as Communications Director.  Now at our women's Bible study, Mark (the new worship pastor) comes and leads us in worship with a guitar, and we don't have to sing off a CD!  I am especially thankful for that.

Another answer to prayer is that Stephen got a nice raise this year, and we are so grateful for God's provision there!  Now it is actually a possibility for us to move into a bigger apartment, although we won't be taking advantage of that just yet.  For now it does ease up our budget some, and we'll hopefully be able to start putting more money toward debt repayment.

Overall, I think this year has been an incredible year of growth for us and our marriage.  I've grown in my faith in leaps and bounds, and as I've spiritually matured, I'm maturing in other ways.  Praise God for His faithfulness!  I sense good changes coming up for us.  I'm hoping to find my niche in the church we attend, although I'm not sure what that is yet.  And Stephen will be leading our regular small group Bible study again.  This year we will probably be going through 1 Corinthians to go along with our pastor's sermon series. You can pray for us through that.  We want to help our fellow brothers and sisters deepen their faith, as many of them are new Christians or just aren't sure how to grow deeper.  So you can be praying especially for Stephen as he bears the responsibility of teacher, and for me as I try to figure out where I fit into the mix.

Those are the biggest pieces of news.  Thank you for your prayers and your support!  You don't know how much it helps. :)

Tooth Update/God's Provision

I went to the dentist a couple weeks ago to get my crown seated; all that went well and is paid for, so now we are just waiting on news of this second tooth that might need dental work done. I have made an appointment that will be next Thursday (the 29th) to look at this other tooth. It'll go like this: When I go in on Thursday, the dentist will drill out the old filling in my tooth. Once he has gotten it all out, he will be able to determine two things: 1) if the filling is big enough that I'm going to have to have another crown, and 2) if the new decay is close enough to the root that the root is exposed and compromised and will have to be removed. One, the other, or both things are likely, and the dentist seems to realize this, but as a rule, nothing is absolutely positive until he gets into it and sees what the circumstances are.

I would like to add that we have really been blessed. In the last couple weeks, God has provided some of the cost of a root canal/crown combination through the generosity of friends and family. We are no longer worried about having to empty out our savings and pay for the dental work on credit. Praise God for his love for us!

Pray that despite the ease of this burden, we still have the strength to live carefully within our means. It's so much easier and more convenient to eat out all the time, and it has been difficult to fully make the transition to eating in more than we eat out. Continue to pray that God will bless me with a job, preferably in floristry, and that he will grant me the courage to go out looking for one. Thank you for your prayers and support. We wouldn't be anywhere without our loving friends and family, and the God that inspires the love within them.

Medical Drama and Other Drama

Stephen was supposed to get toe surgery done yesterday--just out of his doctor's office, for an ingrown toenail. Unfortunately he worked himself up for weeks about it, and then moreso in the doctor's chair, and he ended up fainting. Poor Stephen.

So the doctor recommended us to a podiatrist to perform the surgery with Stephen under anesthesia. I don't think either of us like that idea much, but we can't, of course, have him fainting off doctor's chairs. Not good.

Stephen twitched while he was out, much like his first fainting incident when we were together. That concerned the doctor some, and he is going to do some research on Stephen's medical history to see if he can pinpoint why this happens to him. He advised Stephen not to drive, although he said he didn't legally need to require him not to drive because of the circumstances surrounding the fainting.

So I will be driving him to and from work and other places this week until the doctor gets back into touch with him with further instruction. I am okay with that. Stephen is not, LOL. He knows I don't particularly like to drive--and him not being able to drive is a big inconvenience, yuck. I told him I'm not worried at all though. I really don't think his twitching is a big deal yet. There have only been two instances of it--both with me, hm. Wonder what that says about my influence on him, LOL. Anyway. I do wish we could get it figured out though. That'd be really nice.

Oh, I should mention that I have to drive Steve's car around, not mine, because my left rear window decided to fall off its track and is now stuck at about halfway. I'm getting it taken care of tomorrow. I hope it doesn't cost much. :P Steve and I are thinking of getting me a new car altogether, because this one seems to be falling apart, even though it's only 3 years old. Grr.

Anyway... Yesterday was quite a rough day for me. Found myself beating myself up a lot for different things throughout the day. I suppose I shouldn't be so hard on myself, like everybody says. I wonder if there's some miracle drug that can keep people from being too hard on themselves? :T

Anyway... So that's my life update for today... Keep us in your prayers.