Gardening, gardening, gardening...

We had a gardening class at church today. 8:00 am is too early for anyone to function, but with lots of coffee and a strong will I met everyone at the Salt House to learn. Pepper Ashford, M.D. taught the class. He has beautiful raised beds in his lawn, which we went to after the class and that's where all the pictures came from. He taught us simple steps:

1. Find a place to garden
-Where does the sun rise and set? Any obstruction?
2. What kind of garden?
-Veggies? Fruits? Flowers? etc.
3. What kind of Soil?
-Clay soil? Sandy soil?
4. Do you have the right tools?
-rake, hoe, shovel, trowel, gloves, hose pipe, etc.
5. What are you going to grow?
6. Prepare the soil. Based on what you are going to grow you can figure out whether you need more calcium in your soil or more potassium or phosphorus. There are parts of your garden that need a low pH and parts that need a high pH. Tomatoes, being acidic, don't need soil to have a high pH. Stuff like that...I don't quite remember everything he said.
7. Till the soil, add your compost, fertilizer, sand, and till the soil.
8. Plant your seeds in rows, measuring for plant growth.
9. Weed plants regularly, inspect plants regularly. Deal with pests and bugs.
10. Harvest. Pick, freeze, can, etc, etc...


O.k. so maybe I forgot a lot already and maybe I remember some things wrong. It was so informative! But mostly, Dr. Pepper kept telling me to calm down (this was not a college course with a test at the end). It's a hobby that truly allows you to COMMUNE with the Living God in His fullness. I truly believe that Pepper knows what He is talking about, and I really want to commune with God in this way.

Father, please bless my thumb. Make it green. Amen!

Princess Party!

Well, I knew I wanted to do it! And I finally did! I invited 7 little princesses over to my house for a slumber party. There was no playing favorites or anything from church, just a few friends I randomly invited until I decided 7 was enough and it would be too stressful for more. Here are some of the fabulous pictures!

We had so much fun! The girls arrived around 6:30 on a Friday afternoon. We played tag outside while we waited for Calvin to bring home the pizza. The girls found their place mats, tiaras, and party favors on the dining room table and settled in for some yummy cheese pizza and pepperoni for me and Calvin (who also had a place man and tiara). After pizza, we played tag outside again and went to the park down the road in my subdivision. We came back home and as a group made brownies and chocolate cookies. Baking with the girls was the messiest, funnest thing ever! The little ones had shorter attention spans than the older girls. They were running around upstairs and tying Calvin up and it was all pretty funny. After baking, we all sat down and ate the brownies and had a little bible study (when I say little I mean like 5 minutes). I tried to explain to the girls WHY they are princesses...because God is King and He is our Daddy. Then I painted each girls' toe nails and after that we went upstairs, locked ourselves in my bedroom and found outfits from my closet for each girl. I did each one's hair and let them put lip gloss on and we had a fashion show that we made Calvin watch. The girls got to pick my outfit, but they didn't like the outfits I picked for them. They all traded like 20 times before settling on the final outfit! Elizabeth's outfit looked hilarious!!! She looked like a little Miss America! Cate had on the cutest blue dress, but then she put on my black (very large) pointed go-go boots. It looked hilarious!!! Olivia had on a cute dress and actually looked like she could wear it in public. Emily was so tiny, I couldn't keep anything on her. Molli Beth is the funniest thing in her prom dress. Carah put every dress I had on backwards...she liked her back showing! She was a sassy little thing! Abby had left by then, but it was a fun fashion show. I narrated it in a french accent! After the fashion show, we put in high school musical 2 and by 12:30am everyone was asleep. Funny thing is...the girls woke up at 6:00am ON THEIR OWN! We made huge cinnamon rolls and had an early breakfast. Me with my coffee, them with their milk. It was a beautiful princess weekend! :)

House Updates!

So lately I have been working a lot, but also trying to fix up the new house here and there. We still only have two rooms painted. For some reason, we are going really slow with that. I guess both of us know if we try to paint it ourselves we'll screw up our new home and who wants to pay for someone else to do it when so many people do it so good and they could help, right? Wrong. No one seems to want to paint. People that can paint well are usually busy painting their own homes. That's fine with me, I just wish I could get it done soon. Color makes a house feel more at home and lived in. The rooms I have painted upstairs are the rooms I love the most. We also got a new chest of drawers to match our bedroom suit which is now completed! Our bedroom is ALMOST done.

I'm really trying to get some landscaping done, but I can't get past how bad the grass looks. It's not very pretty. So I tried sowing some grass. Nothing has happened with this venture except that straw got everyone (A big homeowner's association no-no). I did plant impatiens and hang them in hanging pots on my front porch and they are beautiful! I love to get up in the morning and go outside and water them. I potted some Rosemary and Oregano and placed them in my kitchen window sill. Brother David (our pastor) has been talking a lot about the last days and how things could potentially get really bad for Americans. We haven't had to grow our own food in a long time. I'm getting into gardening this year...not only landscaping, but gardening. I want to grow a vegetable garden in my backyard. Wonder what my neighbors will think? :) More later!

Updates on the house

O.K. So the only room in the house I am finally getting to look the way I want is the bedroom and it still has a long way to go. I hung some wall hangings and decluttered and thought you might like to see.

Easter Sunday

This is me and Calvin on Easter Sunday! I didn't go buy a new dress due to my shopping fast! That's right I am not shopping for a month. I've made it a week and a day already...Anyway, Calvin has a suit he wears for special occasions and he looked so handsome! It was hard to take pictures because it was just the two of us. So Easter was great. We love celebrating that resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! He LIVES, and we know He lives because He lives within our hearts! So we went to church Easter Sunday, we both had to be there at 8:00 am. I wanted to make sure Michael had enough help for Easter and Calvin led the choir at 8:30 (he is such a talented musician)! I don't know if I have told you, but I am the Children's Ministry Associate for First Baptist Church Joelton. I am constantly working with children and I love every bit of it. So Sundays are kind of like a work day for me. I get to be at church from 8:30 - 12:30 and make sure we have enough help and that Sunday school teachers have everything they need. At 11:00 a.m. I make sure there are plenty of nursery and preschool extended care volunteers and plan a lesson for them to do. Needless to say, I was worried we were going to be slammed Easter Sunday. It was awesome though. God truly provided enough wonderful helpers and volunteers and there were a lot of children who got to hear God's word!

After church, Calvin and I rushed home so I could finish dinner for his parents who were coming over to watch the Master's golf tournament. I had put a beautiful pot roast in the crockpot with EVOO and huge chunks of potatoes, carrots, and onions. Dashed it with some salt and pepper, a little secret ingredient, and 2 tbsp of butter! Poured in some organic salt free beef bouillon and low sodium organic beef broth and let it hang out and do its thang! Next, I made three cheese tortellini with homemade alfredo and fresh Parmesan. I steamed some broccoli and threw together a salad and baked off some biscuits. I also cut up some fresh strawberries. We ate like kings and queens! I LOVE to cook and haven't gotten to cook a nice meal like that in a long time.

After we watched Angel Cabrera win the Masters golf tourney. Blah, Blah, Blah...

O.K. So these are just some random images. One is of my birthday which was March 17th - St. Patrick's Day. I turned 23 years old. No biggie - we were so spent from moving all we did was go out to eat. It was pretty nonchalant, but that was fine. My boss Krinda made my birthday pretty special and so did my boss Michael. I got to work on Monday and there were balloons and cake! And Krinda, Anton, and A.J. got my a Pottery Barn gift card (LOVE IT!) and took me to lunch at a tea room. It was great! One pic is of the pink toile shower curtain I have in the guest bathroom. One pic is of me on Valentine's Day. Calvin and I went to Carabba's. We didn't even get a pic together, I forgot. The picture of me and my mom is just random.

You know, I was gonna' try really hard to blog consistently, but it is hard. I don't really like to blog. But here goes, I'm gonna' try. Calvin and I had our world turned upside down when we decided to buy a house. It started last year around January 2008. I decided - with Calvin - that this was our year. We were going to buy a house. I prayed a lot, and I remember even asking God in complete faith for around 14,000 dollars. I figured that's what we would need to get out of debt and to have a decent down payment. I completely forgot I prayed that and over the spring and summer of 2008 we started getting serious about saving alot of money. Every week, when I would get paid I would designate money for bills, for our Dave Ramsey envelopes, and for savings. I saved ALOT of money. Anyway, We got really serious about being wiser with our money and the next thing we know, we're ready to start looking. The crazy thing is, we didn't start really looking until around December 2008 and January of 2009. I prayed alot, everytime we looked at a house and we liked it we put an offer on it. We put an offer on two or three different houses that didn't work out.

Finally, one day in late January we went to see a house in Pleasant View and a house in Hendersonville. We loved them both. We weighed the pros and cons, we prayed, we went over and over our budget. We went to my dad's house the next night (my dad is my real estate agent) with intentions to put an offer on the house in Pleasant View. We liked the house in Hendersonville better, but thought it was a little out of our budget. Well, LONG story short...after praying some more and talking with my dad we put an offer on the house we REALLY wanted in Hendersonville. The offer was accepted and we had to wait a month to close. It was a LONG wait. In the mean time, I had started packing up the apartment. The more I packed, the harder it was to live in the apartment. It was starting to feel less and less like home, which was sort of exciting!

So, February 26, 2009 closing date arrives. I had to watch A.J. that day and left early to meet Calvin @ the mortgage place. Everything went really smoothly, no glitches. The first thing we did after signing millions of documents, and selling our souls to the mortgage company...we drive to the new house!!! The first time we walked into the house as homeowners was an AMAZING feeling. This was our house - Our first Home - most likely where our first baby will be born - where we'll make so many memories - where we can have parties and I can have sleepovers and dinners and decorate and paint and grow flowers! (I am the queen of run on sentences, I know.)

It is so awesome. Friday after we closed i spent the whole day moving boxes all by myself. Calvin had to work so I spent the next three Fridays moving us. I used my dad's big white dodge Ram and moved and moved and moved. My muscles got really big. It took two weeks, but we finally got moved in to our new home. We both walk around all the time saying, "I can't believe we live here." It's so nice! We have really grown closer throughout the whole process. Calvin has been very involved in picking our furniture, paint, lamps, etc. He's got a say and that's cool with me. Anyways, This is as much as my blogging self can get out in one sitting.

We've been here over a month now and it feels like home more and more. I can't believe God gave me such an amazing home.

p.s. Remember how I said I prayed for 14,000 dollars? I forgot I prayed that until two weeks ago. We were already in the house and settled. The Holy Spirit revealed to me that he had indeed given us MORE than 14,000. Between the savings, my dad's commission, and the new housing stimulus, God gave us above and beyond what I asked for. He is so GOOD and I give Him ALL the glory. He was answering a prayer i forgot I had prayed AND I will declare His mighty works. He provides for His children. AMEN!

So, after months and months of looking...we finally closed on our new home!! Calvin and I got really serious about saving up for a new home last July 2008. I took over our finances (because I am the free spender, of course...this was to help me be more respobsible!) and it worked! I got really excited about saving money and with Calvin...we would search the MLS for hours. We looked at several homes two or three times a peice and made 2 offers on different homes, but they never worked out! I was really bummed when I didn't have a house by Christmas!! But I kept praying and saying to myself, "I trust God! He has a plan. He has the perfect house for us." I kept reminding myself over and over that God had a better house for us than I would ever have picked out. Calvin and I really learned to work together throughout this whole process. God's really grown us closer in our marriage. We've gone from being very dissappointed over issues, to ecstatic over others! This whole house buying thing has been one emotional roller coaster after another...but Praise God! I LOVE our new house!!

We still haven't moved in yet, hopefully all will be done by this Friday! PAINT help is welcome as our gift cards to Lowe's! Haha...just kidding! Thanks for praying for us through all this...I know I asked just about everyone to. It's perfect for us...just perfect!