I miss her!!

Kati has been out for the evening because she serves our church on the finance team and they were having a meeting tonight. Let me tell you, life is just never as good as it is when she is around! Having an entire apartment to myself for the evening is just not as much fun as I might have thought when I was single. Gaming, listening to music, watching movies, whatever, it just doesn't even begin to compare to having my Kati, my wife with me! She is the sweetest and I just miss her so much when she's out...like she is tonight.

/sad husband

Saturday breakfast!

Nom nom!

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Happy Friday!!!

we got to hang out with chris and reka wednesday, and have jackie and jaime over for dinner last night.....no pics, sorry!!  our goal has always been not to fall off the face of the earth once we were married - not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that, but we're just so blessed with such amazing friends that we didn't want to squander months of getting time with them.  :-D

one of the things i've been chewing on a lot is the idea of loving the Giver rather than the gifts i receive.  it's a simple concept, but one that i fail at so often.  in this season especially, there is so much laughter and happiness and blessing - we're FINALLY married, with so many fun and faithful friends and family, and even material blessing (i sometimes can't believe our apartment is truly ours, and that i'm not just borrowing someone else's space!).  it is a sweet and happy time, and we are being so refreshed by it!

and yet, this is all from God's hands - a little kid who receives gifts for Christmas and scampers off to play with them without saying thankful could rightfully be described as a spoiled brat.  it is my constant prayer that i not be this way towards my God - and more!!! that i not lose sight of the gift of the Cross while i enjoy these other gifts.

happy friday, all!!  thanks for reading my mutterings! ;-)

Answered Prayers

I was thinking this week of my answered prayers just over the last two weeks, and am just freshly in awe of a God who listens to my requests and pleas, and answers them.  What sort of God is this, who would love an unimportant girl among millions, to hear my quickly lifted prayers?  By all measurements, it should be too good to be true.....yet here I am, with more answered prayers than I even remember, loved and saved by the Creator of the world!!!

Father's Day, and New Home!

Last weekend post!  We celebrated Father's Day with my dad Saturday night, and Sunday with Pop.  So far, Mike and I have had a pretty easy time juggling the holidays - things fall into place without a lot of manipulation.  We know this won't last forever, and have been enjoying each time that we don't have to "choose" between the families, or just straight-up miss something!  My family went to the US Open on Sunday (I went one year, but can't even fake being a golf fan, so not again!), so Father's Day was no exception.

The only pictures I have from Saturday night - Muv brought candy up to spoil everyone while we were hanging out, and my Dearest was multi-tasking it with the Reeses Cup and peanut M&M's.  His sugar overload filled me with affection for him, so a picture was necessary:

I've found that the nieces and nephews are much more open to candid shots than the adults - can't blame the adults!  Here's the munchkins, pre-hot-dog-devouring!  

And this one is really precious - the DeCarlo men!  I can't remember who suggested shooting one of just them, but so glad they did.  And the guys were patient to sit through probably 5-6 shots from the different cameras and cell-phones!

And now, the apartment!  We've been working hard since March to add to the apartment, and clean/organize it!  There is still much work to be done (both the last two weekends have included trips to Home Depot!), but I thought I'd start celebrating the parts that are "done" by posting pics as we go.  :-)

Our book corner, right inside the door:

Our dining room, shot 1:

And again, trying to capture more of the room:

And our view from the dining room - this view is 10x better with leaves on the trees!  And Mike's shirts, since weekends now = laundry loads.  For those that know me well, this is a dramatic change from my single days - I used to dread laundry!!  But staying on top of it does make it a much less painful task.

Such an active and busy weekend - we were sleepy kids by the time we got home from church last night!  But loving this season, and trying to remember to thank God for the sweet things that are "normal" right now.  Seasons come and go, and I want to savor this one!!

YPHH

Ahhh, and Young Person Happy Hour - Friday night!  Mike, my siblings, Jaime, and our friends Sue and Ben, met up in McLean for HH......Mike, Peter, Sue, and Ben work in McLean, Jackie and Jaime live in McLean, and Eli is a sweetheart and will drive to be with his family!  Jaime and I had some adventures getting out there, but it turned out ok......some shots!

Jackie and Jaime - posts without pictures of at least one of them don't feel like legit posts!

Eli and Sue, after Eli finally waded through DC's nasty rush-hour adventures.

Peter and Ben were mildly hostile to having their picture taken, so thankfully Mike just kept clicking til they looked away....

Another Jackie and Jaime - how could I stop at just one???  <3

And my Love!!  I can't believe how much more I loved him the instant we were married - I'm so very happy he's mine!!

And then Bethany came at the end - it was nice to get to see her for at least a little bit!!  More and more pics and posts later - it was a busy weekend!!!

Weekend Pt. 1 - Freezer, plants, and food!

Happy Monday!  It's a rainy one here.....but my heart is so full of thankfulness!  We had a busy one.....as Mike mentioned, there was need for caffeine (thankfully in the form of espressos!) to keep us going!

I've been chewing through going more....organic......in my approach to our food.  Mike and I are blessed to not really have allergies to food, so the necessity of eating organically isn't there.  And let's face it - I'm not an organic type girl, at all!  But, food is expensive, and growing some of our stuff, or buying fresh beef in bulk can help us to cut costs while still eating well.

So this weekend, we bought a large freezer chest - fattest little guy!  Obviously, I found one of Craig's List, so we had a bit of an adventure strapping it into Mike's car, and getting it home.....but it's safely in our kitchen now!  We plan to buy a quarter of a cow, which we're both so excited about - we love beef, and it will be grand to have it regularly without needing cut the budget elsewhere!  And our new freezer will be helpful with storing all that meat.

We also bought a tomato plant and several herbs (cilantro, basil, rosemary, chive onions, and one that we can never remember....) because I've been horrified with how much fresh veggies cost, and decided to start baby steps towards someday growing our own - this summer will a be a test run garden, and hopefully I'll learn from our mistakes and be able to expand next year.  Some pics!

Tomato plant:

Herbs!

More pics and stories later!  It was a full and sweet weekend - we loved the time with our fathers, celebrating them and their care and service to our families!!!