Week One

Well, we've been away from St. Louis for one week. Now that most of our boxes are put away & life is starting to take on some semblance of routine, I have had time to let myself feel the weight of our decision to follow the leading of God. It wasn't exactly what I had planned to feel.
I was pretty sad on Sunday. I didn't feel how I thought I would at church & I was more homesick than I could ever remember being in my life. I missed Destiny.
Well, Sunday was a beautiful day, so Matt thought it an excellent idea for all of us to go outside & enjoy the weather (in hopes to lift my mood). I got PoPo's shoes on and proceeded to follow Matt & Charis out into the back yard only to begin to slip & sink in the mud. "Oh, I forgot to tell you it's muddy," Matt hollers from across the yard. Perfect. My day was just perfect.

A couple of days ago it was a gloomy rainy day & I thought, "hmmm, how befitting of how I feel."

After a nap & a McDonald's Coke my mood lightened.
I HAVE found much joy in our new (well, new to us) retro leather couch we bought for $35 just before we left St. Louis. It fits perfect in our new living room. When I feel lonely I sit on it. It makes me happy.

Charis & Porter have adapted well. In fact, Sunday at our church's welcome potluck, Charis sat at her chair saying hi & holding a complete conversation with everyone who walked by.

Porter just enjoys chillin' with his dad & tries to sneak in some typing when daddy's not looking.

Kate Taylor Eberts...

I love this baby so much & I only hung out with her for a couple of hours. She was so sweet & finally got tired of us moving and posing her and went to sleep.

My Love Language...

I saw this on Jess Stern's blog, so I had to find out my love language!

The Five Love Languages

My primary love language is probably
Quality Time
with a secondary love language being
Acts of Service.

Complete set of results

Quality Time:		10
Acts of Service:		8
Physical Touch:		6
Words of Affirmation:		5
Receiving Gifts:		1

Information

Unhappiness in relationships, according to Dr. Gary Chapman, is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. Sometimes we don't understand our partner's requirements, or even our own. We all have a "love tank" that needs to be filled in order for us to express love to others, but there are different means by which our tank can be filled, and there are different ways that we can express love to others.

Take the quiz

Charis Turns 2

My Care Bear turned two last week. I had fun scrapbooking her day!

Charis adores Elmo. She loved her Elmo cake I made, but was rather leery of the lit candle.

Charis & cousin, Cameron


And who could forget my little man?

What Happened to Charity?

Though seemingly it's as though I have fallen off the planet, that is, in fact, false. For the past month a swirling vortex of chaos has engulfed my life. In short:
1) Matt has taken a worship/young adult pastor position in Rantoul, Illinois. Which is outside of Champaign, which is outside of no where.

2) Matt & I decided, in order to save money, we would move into his parents' house until we move to IL at the end of February.

3) My computer is packed away, so I must share my in-laws computer (a PC, none the less).

4) I have decided to no longer continue my photography business in St. Louis (sniff, sniff).

Here's the church we are going to.


A couple of pictures of our new house in Rantoul.

Upstairs living room:

Downstairs family room:

Charis' room:

Porter's room:

Digital Scrapbooking Advice

I've had a few inquiries about digital scrapbooking, so I thought I would post my feeble attempt to share this wonderful world of memory making.

First, you will need a photo editing program that allows you to work in layers, such as Photoshop. Usually the program that comes with you digital camera will work, but I know there are different programs that you can download. Paint.NET & Pixia are a couple I found online.

Next, you will want to download scrapbooking "papers" & "accessories". Something Jessica Stern taught me, "do only free". That means when you google digital scrapbooking use the word "freebie". Warning, this is a black hole. Trust me, there are thousands and thousands of freebies to download. It would be just a matter of days and your hard drive will be in overload.

Here are a few of my favorite sites to start with:
ikeagoddess
digifree
shabbyprincess

Also, if you download kits, you will get everything you need to design a page or two, so those are a nice place to start.

Finally, there are companies online who print 12x12 or 8x8 pages.

This site may answer any more questions you may have.
http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/digital_faqs.asp

I hope this helps. Happy Scraping!

Slazas Family Christmas

Couldn't you just eat this Christmas cookie?