It feels good to fit!!! And other life updates...

I must say that our move to Substance Church has been nothing short of perfect. It's so amazing when you find where you fit in the body of Christ. Yesterday, in church, I just kept thinking, I am soooo glad God brought us here. This feels so amazing. I feel like we are FINALLY on track and heading in the right direction! We're finally doing something right! Haha, but seriously, I am so thankful for finding Substance. It's really not about "church". At ALL. "...it's not about church services that make you feel good, where you have an ooey gooey worship experience with God..." (Pastor Peter Haas) "...it's about having fellowship with other Christian believers that can pray with you, lift you up, and hold you accountable...that's true church" (Sorry if I didn't quote that right) But, I agree.
The stats about having close Christian friends to do life with show how much more of a chance you'll have to stay on track with God, than someone who doesn't have close fellowship with believers (we're still in the process of finding some really close Christian married friends). Jeff met a lot of married guys at the Men's Retreat and I'm excited to go to the Women's Retreat at the end of October.
God is finally ACTUALLY a part of our life instead of just being some religious legalistic ritual that we take part in because it's what we've always done. That makes me excited! I just wanna jump and run around!
I highly recommend downloading the substance church podcast! I think the new one comes out every TUESDAY! Yesterday's message was awesome, and I just feel like we're finally getting fed spiritually! With stuff that is relevant to doing life!!! I hope it's the 2nd service podcast, that's the one we were at and it was really good. Subscribe to it. Listen to it.

Substance Church Podcast Page

Another AWESOME podcast is Renee Burt's homemaker's podcast!!! I still think her teachings at homemaker's are WONDERFUL (even though we don't physically attend LWCC anymore) for ANY girl, mother, or wife!!! You can download those from LWCC's website under small groups. I think one of my favorites from last fall is called: "Complain Train" It's great! You should listen to it!

What else in life is happening...
We just found out that the guy that "installed" our floral cooler did it completely wrong. In fact, DANGEROUSLY wrong! So wrong that if a city inspector came out, they'd give us 10 days to get it fixed or get out and condemn our house! Is that scary or what? So we need some prayer with that situation because it was one of our NEIGHBORS that tried to install it for us and he's become really rude in the process and has already been paid $2100 in full. He did everything wrong and might have even ruined the compressor. Talk about a headache! Nothing God can't help us with. We really don't want to become enemies with our neighbor, but paying that much money to possibly have ruined the cooler is not a good thing...I'm pretty frustrated about it! Which brings me to my next point...
GOD LEADS WITH PEACE!!! Over the last month or so Jeff and I have had a few experiences where we felt uneasy about a situation, like the cooler, and went with it anyway, it has not turned out good. I've definitely learned my lesson! We need to listen to the peace even when in the natural everything seems like it'd be fine, and then stuff happens. So, this just prepares us for things later in life. Listen to the peace in your heart, because the Holy Spirit leads with that peace and then it can prevent situations like the cooler one from happening!

What else is new...

I got a part time job in a flower shop as well as working on my business, (Prestigious Petals) the flower shop is called, "The Flower Shoppe" creative name, right? Haha, it'll be good experience though and I'm already learning new things. Some that are a little old fashioned and 80's looking, but some that will help me in my business. I'm excited for the Holiday season because I haven't done a lot of Holiday designs.

We all 3 started going to a Chiropractor...we all have spines that are not in line in the right way and Jeff's is actually starting to form arthritis (shown on x-rays) so we all 3 will be getting adjusted 3 times a week for the next 3 months to get it fixed and then once a week after that...(we setup a family plan) It's actually really amazing how when your spine is completely in line and none of the nerves are being crushed how much quicker your body can heal itself. People think that getting adjusted once a month or even once a year is enough, but it's not because it's like getting braces...you can't put braces on one day and then take them off the next day and expect your teeth to be straightened. It takes time. Then after you have braces, you get a retainer to retain the shape. Same thing with the spine. You need to retain the alignment by getting regular, maintaining adjustments...that's another story though.

I have a wedding this weekend...fall colors: orange, champagne, and hints of blue...that'll be really pretty.

We had a bbq last night and it was a great turnout! 14 people came! (8 of which were married couples! yay!) It was funny because as people left last night, the only people left were the married ones and we all sat around the bon fire and talked...we had...Jeff & I, Ryan & Alisha, Brian & Michelle, and Joseph & Moriah. It was really fun. I thought it was so cool that we finally have some married friends after 3 1/2 years of being married!!! But, we're going to get even more married friends from going to Substance and going to the married subgroup and all that. Yay!

Now I'm just having a nice Monday...Jeff and I found ourselves waking up at 9:30a.m. to Ethan talking in his room...either the alarm didn't go off or Jeff turned it off in his sleep! So, we had a late start to the day, but sometimes you just need a little rest.

Sometimes these update posts are a little boring, but I really just like to journal about life and look back to see where God is taking us...I recently had someone write on my "Wall" on facebook this, and it completely touched me, it was about one of my former posts. It inspired me to post.

"Hi Nicole, I think I told you about the upcoming book on Jeff's family. Today Candice sent me his birthday. But not where he was born. From about 3 this afternoon I have been updating material and looking at verious family si... Read Moretes to try to get a grasp on their lives. Having said that I went and looked at some of your blogs and started to cry. You really need to keep doing the blog thing it will touch people. Here is what I read. Last week I prayed with a girl in my group to receive the evidence of speaking in tongues and then this week I prayed with ANOTHER girl in my group to receive the gift of speaking in tongues! Last week was the FIRST time I'd ever prayed with anyone to receive tongues...I've done the salvation prayer with people, but never for speaking in tongues. If that doesn't get you excited, I don't know what will! I'm so excited for these young girls to experience what tongues is all about!!!!!!!! That's when I realized how on fire for Christ you are. I truely was touched!"

It's just cool to hear comments like that from other people.

We had one of our last boat charters of the season on Saturday night...and we might not work on the boats next summer...so we took some fun pics...enjoy!

I love working with Jeff. Do you like our uniforms?
Who knew you could make $30 an hour while being with your best friend?!?!?














We're having so much fun















Can you find Jeff in this picture???














Today is the first day of Autumn! I love the Fall! I say that Summer is my favorite season and then Fall is my 2nd favorite! I love it. I love sweater weather and the cool air and the changing of the tree leaf colors. It's so wonderful. I hope everyone has a perfect Autumn day!

(Ethan and I outside today on the first day of Autumn)
He's reaching for his nuk! (It's hard to get rid of that thing!)

Tribute to "Quail Man"

Goodbye, Quail Man...

Well, 2 days ago, Ethan goes up to the fish tank in his room and says, "Pish, pish" (Fish) But Fish (Quail Man) was laying on the bottom, dead. My heart kinda sank. Jeff got "Quail Man" (That's what Jill and I named him because he traveled from Jeff's parents house to where we live on Quail Avenue, I also know Doug Funny was Quail Man...anyway) before we got married.
Jake & Sheena gave Jeff the tank for Christmas 2004. Jeff went through a couple fish before Quail Man, all Cichlids, meaning they eat other fish. We went together to get Quail Man downtown at a pet store off of University Avenue.

Quail Man was a very pretty color, white with an orange belly, and he'd turn purpley blue when he was scared or we moved his tank and he got a little startled or stressed out. He's been with us since we've lived here on Quail Avenue and Ethan has gotten to have him in his room since he was born. It's the only pet Ethan's ever had.

About 6 months or more ago, Jeff was tired of taking care of Quail Man (though he was easy to take care of...we'd feed him once every 1-3 weeks and fill his tank up the same amount of time apart). One night, while I was at work, Jeff decided to flush Quail Man down the toilet and sent me a text saying he was doing so. I didn't get the text until it was too late...or so I thought. I got another message saying he tried flushing him TWICE and he would not go down!!! I said, "Take him out of the toilet! That's sooooo mean!!! I will take care of him!" So, Jeff did just that, and he's been with us ever since. The only thing is, I kinda forgot to take care of him sometimes. Sometimes, I remembered to feed him maybe once a month...
But he hung in there! He was great. Very low maintenance. I'm not sure if he died of starvation, or of some other tank error, but he died shortly after I filled about 4-5 inches of water in his tank. I wonder if I did something wrong, that was my first time filling the tank. I didn't put any stress coat in the water, I think Jeff always did that. Whatever it was that caused it, he's gone now. :( It kinda makes me sad!
But, there is something a little weird or ironic to the story...
Ethan has been getting Chiropractic treatment since he was born (because of his torticollis, but that's another story) and recently at the Chiropractor, Dr. Brist said that something electronic in his room was disturbing his treatment progress. He did some tests and nailed it down to the fish tank! Isn't that crazy? Well, we've been talking about it and didn't know where to move the tank to...and then boom, Quail Man dies! Like it was a sign that we really needed to get the fish tank turned off or out of his room. Well, we turned it off, and it's just sitting with water in Ethan's room...so empty. But, for the better I guess for now. Who knew something like that could affect so much?

Here are a couple pics....

There he lay...gone...(He doesn't look very pretty in this picture)















Ethan looking at the dead "Quail Man" (A Firemouth South American Cichlid)

We are... CNN Grill

What we've been doing for the past week...















REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION...

Working at "CNN Grill"

Pictures to come...

People I've personally given restaurant service to...sorry if the spelling is wrong:
Anderson Cooper
John King
Wolf Blitzer
Alex Castellos
Gloria _____
Candy Crawley
Owners, CEO, CFO, of Google and Yahoo
Others...I will post when I find out their names...

I will post pictures soon...

But, for now, a Seattle Newspaper writer posted an online blog about Jeff!!!! Check it out~!

http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/09/this_is_jeff

A little clip about the grill...or search cnn grill MN on google!

Eagle Street Grille becomes CNN Grill

"Let Go and Let God"

Ever heard the saying, "Let go, and let God"?

It seems that when we strive for more of God that the devil tries to come at us even more, or we notice it more. It's like, you get soooooooo excited about hearing the Word and are sooooo excited to act on it, and then boom! The devil throws things your way!!! I was having a pretty good week and then yesterday I was just feeling really lost like I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing and just had all these cares. When I got home from working on the boats last night, I was talking to Jeff and he was like, "You just have to give it to God." And my rebuttle in my mind was, "But if I give it to God, then I won't have anything to worry or care about." EXACTLY! DUH?!?!?!? Sometimes I feel like we (or maybe just me) get so greedy with our cares that we just want to carry them around and baby them and get attention from them because if we give them to God, then we won't be all mopey and down and sad and greedy or needy for attention anymore...hmmm...meaning we'll be happy! So, in the shower this morning, I was like, Ok, God, I just give it all to you. And it's like from then on, you just have to not think about everything. Just stop worrying about it all. We need to live in the PRESENT and stop trying to figure out our entire lives! God will lead us in the right direction as we follow Him and GROW in Him and as HE finds us ready to move to the next step. What a great revelation! Thanks, Jeff, for hitting me in the noggin with such an obvious reality!

Fruits of the Spirit

Lately Jeff and I have been listening to a lot of podcasts. We've been listening to a "nightly message" too, and we have been striving to actually grow closer to God. In a lot of the messages, I feel like they're saying, we crucify ourselves to be one with God, we put our flesh down, we don't even have a "hint" of greed, and when we do these things and truly seek God, the fruits of the Spirit will flow freely from us.

That is something I love. When you truly find who you are IN CHRIST, things of this world do not matter. I feel like I don't have to be in competition with people. When we try so hard to be perfect and compete with everyone to have the nicest things, what is the motivation? Self and greed. I feel like when we strive to be a woman of peace, joy, love, patience, kindness, gentleness, self control, that we don't even DESIRE to be in competition or greed. We DESIRE to be a woman of GRACE. I feel like God has been speaking to me about that lately. That I just need to be a woman of GRACE. Loving and not criticizing, not judgemental, not selfish, not greedy, JUST Loving. It's so easy to get distracted when people around you only care about me, me, me and what they have...but it gets tiring to try and compete. Why even try? That isn't what God is calling us to do. Who cares if we've downgraded our cars! Hahahaha I just have to laugh about it because I could so easily think, "It's not fair, I wish I had a nice car...I wish I had a bigger house...I wish I had..." That's not where I am supposed to be. When the time comes for me to be ready, will I still want the best of the best in the material world? Probably not because I would rather give more money into God's kingdom and missions and church planting. We can get by with something that works and is nice, but we don't need to have the best of the best.

Someone once said to me, "If you have people over and there isn't a spec of dirt, every little thing is perfectly in order, not a sight of any sort of a mess, the home doesn't feel like a home anymore and there is no feeling of hospitality, because what the point of getting it to that degree of perfection is so that you can IMPRESS someone. We should not be trying to impress people because it will just make them feel more uncomfortable in the end. Plus, then the motive is wrong." (That was just a paraphrase)

We ALL like our homes to be clean and in order and nice looking, but we need to examine ourselves so that when we're doing it our motives are correct. I don't know why I'm saying all this, I just feel like God has really been working on me to not compare myself with others and to just be a woman of grace. The woman that God truly wants me to be. Just to focus on Him and not care about what others think. Seek after the fruits of the spirit instead of seeking after material things. It's funny now when I hear people talk about me, me, me and what they have and what they're getting, and all they're doing...is that really what God wants our conversations to be like? In the end, those people usually don't have it all going on and maybe they don't have a great relationship with God, or a great marriage, or God's provision or God's protection, or blessing on their life. I don't know...I guess I just really want the fruits of the Spirit to be EVIDENT in my life!!! I'm so excited to finally be GROWING in God. Finally. (And I like to journal about the journey...it's always fun to look back and see just how far God is really taking you.)

Happy Birthday, Jakey!

A lil gallery all about Jake...

Look how "Cool" he looks in this pic at the AR Razorbacks game...














Ope, here's the real deal: Christmas with a new babe.















Wearing his Easter Egg Cookie Mask...what a chappy!





















I guess he cleans up well! (Sheena, "[Insert loud whistle here]"

















And then he of course, manages to work the "Sass" with my Son...















Today is my brother Jake's Birthday!

I hope you have an amazing day, Jake! (since I know you'll read this!)

Jake is a great older brother...he likes it when we pull things from the childhood "memory box" so I'm going to try real quick...

I remember when he used to drive us to school in his black z34 all decked out. It was great. On mornings when I was crabby, he'd put silly music on and do the kangaroo dance just to annoy me. In my head, I actually thought it was funny and admired him for not being crabby back. He always made an effort to get to know the 3 younger siblings. I loved that about him. He cared about us! When I was old enough to drive, he even let me drive his pimped out car. All of my friends were like, WHOA! Jake lets you drive his car??? I'd smile and be like, "Yeah, duh!?! He's coo like that" What a nice big bro.
Now he lives in Arky and we all miss him here in MN, but are happy that he's pursuing God's calling on his life. He is married to a beautiful girlie named Sheena who I couldn't be happier to have as a sister (in-law, whatev). He also has this cute smiley little big cheekies boy, Jeremiah...what a blessing.



Love you, Jake! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!


















(What a cute family he has)

Sunny Summer Days...

Summer is finally off and running!

Yay!!! There are blossoms on my squash and tomato plants...yay I can't wait!!! We had some summer squash from Jake & Sheena's garden last night...it was delicious...thanks for sharing the wealth you two!!! We sauteed it in a little olive oil, when tender added some salt, pepper, and soy sauce...it sizzled nicely and had great flavor! Bon Appetit!!!

Here are a few beach pictures...







Wednesday we went to Lake Calhoun...Sailboats in background...





























Ethan kept picking up the rocks and was trying to eat them...















Thursday...We went strawberry picking yesterday...(Mom, Sarah, Ethan, and I) delicious strawberries...we were eating them while we picked.






































Today...Ethan got into a little trouble when I forgot to shut the bathroom door...look at that guilty face! Ethan: "What'd I do? I'm just playing with my truck, see?" (That was a brand new MEGA roll of toilet paper...looks like less here than it really was) He unrolled it all the way to the cardboard! Must have been fun!


















And right now, I'm updating my blog while Ethan naps! (Oh, and enjoying this too...)
(It's called a Venti Iced "Starbucks Double Shot on Ice" (containing 5 shots of espresso) It's just like an iced latte...it's probably the best deal they have right now...for summer. I ask them to substitute the classic syrup in it for vanilla syrup, but tell them to only do half the amount and I add a little extra milk...it's perfect. Only $3.04 with tax. Jeff and I sometimes split one of these (Who says it has to cost $8 everytime you go to Starbuck's?) Try out my discovery! You can substitute any flavor for the classic syrup...and 5 shots...come on! This would normally be atleast a $5 drink!
(I needed a little motivation to clean...hahaha oh lovely Friday!)