Memorial Day

We had a great extended weekend at home with our families and friends!! We went home on Friday night for a Saturday afternoon wedding. Congrats to Andrea and Jay! We then went out to eat for my mom's birthday. It was so nice to have everyone together and just relax and laugh with one another. On Sunday Mike had to work, so he traveled back to Merrillville, but I stayed in Nappanee and went to church and lunch with my parents. Sunday evening Mike made it back into town after work and we gathered with the young adults at Corey's house for a bonfire and ultimate frisbee. This was such a blessing for us!! It was SO good to hang out with everyone in one place and enjoy each other's company. Mike and I are very blessed with great friends in Nappanee. We hope we can form those relationships with people here.
On Monday we spent the day with Jill and Corey and Jill's daughter Anessa. We went to the very short Memorial Day parade in Nappanee. Then went out to Jill's parents' house in Mentone. We love being with the three of them and couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the day! We wrapped up our weekend with visits with each of our families.

Unfortunately, the same thing happened on our trip back to Merrillville that usually happens. We began wondering and vocalizing why in the world we are in Merrillville. We know that God must have some plan for us here, but we still can't figure it out. My ultimate wish is that after this year is up, we can make it back to the Nappanee area. At least a little closer. Mike said last night he prays for the same thing. We just need to keep trusting that God has bigger plans, but he does know our hearts and our wishes. On the bright side - I do know that being away from our families and being alone here in Merrillville has really helped our marriage and our relationship with each other. So maybe that's part of the Plan.

Sidenote--after watching the premiere of Jon & Kate + 8 last night. I say to them... GET OUT and GET HELP. There's no reason to go through all of this pain in front of the entire world. It's effecting your children. As much as I love the show, I would rather have their marriage be saved then know every bit of their lives. They kept saying "We're here for our children". Well if you are ... do the right thing.

Love it or Leave It

Love it or Leave It #2:

Leave It:

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I thought that maybe this product would be worth it, but I was wrong. I really don't think it does more than soap and water. The first time I used it I needed it for some stains on my countertop caused from purple kool-aid. It did a great job and I was happy with the result. However, the second time I needed it was for something on the kitchen floor. It got the stain up, however it took ALOT of elbow grease and I had to use some other product too. I also didn't appreciate how the "erasers" fell apart. When you scrubbed hard enough like I had to do on the kitchen floor it left pieces behind creating another mess to clean up.

Love It:

Ikea!! Being so close to Chicago we've enjoyed being able to go to these bigger stores! Ikea is one of them. Before we moved to our new apartment we were able to go and spend a few hours there. I could spend all day there!! But we got a couple of great lamps and some other organizational stuff. They have great stuff for that purpose. With a one bedroom apartment you have to try and organize the best you can! So Ikea is great for this!

A day of Celebration

Today is a a day of Celebration for two reasons. Today, is my mom's birthday! Also, six months ago today, Mike and I got married.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM!

I never really appreciated my mom and all that she did while I lived at home. Not enough anyway. But now that I have my own household and am married I realize all the things that my mom has had to do for her family. She basically has had multiple jobs her whole married life. Her job that she went to during the day, then she was a cook, a maid, and a wife. I now appreciate how she didn't always have to have the cleanest house - but she took more time out for my brother and I. Thank you mom for being a great mom, a great role-model, and a compassionate person. We love you! Happy birthday.

HAPPY 6 MONTH ANNIVERSARY!

It seems like just yesterday that we got married. We'll both admit that some days it feels like longer than six months. Ha. But it's been the best six months of my life. I have loved being a wife. I have loved learning new things about Mike, when I thought that I knew everything! No one really tells you about the adjustment of marriage. And while we've had to adjust to each other and our own little quirks, it's been such a blessing to both of us. We have had to really think about each other's needs instead of our own. That helps us think about how God loves us. He's always think about our own best interests. I am excited for many many more anniversaries. Happy anniversary love!

Coming Together...

Mike and I are certainly blessed with great families!! We felt this more than ever the last few days. Last Thursday night Mike's mom called me and caught me at the wrong time. I was very stressed about cleaning and packing up our old apartment and getting our new apartment put together. Mike was working long hours and he was getting anxious about it as well. So to my surprise Mike's parents drove up Thursday night and spent the night helping me clean our old apartment and hang curtains in our new one. Mike was shocked when he got home from work to find them here! They spent the night and spent Friday helping us finish everything at our old apartment. We turned in our keys and didn't look back! We were so glad to be out of there!

Yesterday my mom came to help me decorate our new place. I still was feeling overwhelmed by the amount of boxes and odds and ends laying around, but that's the moving process I guess. My mom was a big help. We went shopping for some new things to decorate with and spent the afternoon hanging them. I think I speak for both of us when I say that we're glad that we are done with that!! There's only so much measuring and leveling that we can take! I still have a couple things left for Mike to hang, but he loved the finished result! My grandparents are coming to visit tomorrow on their way home from Florida, so it will be a nice surprise for them to see things done! I still have a little bit of work to do today to get things more organized, but that won't take long.

THANK YOU to our families for all of the help. I don't know what we would do without you!

Here's a few pictures of the almost finished living room... We bought some new pictures for above the couch and I love them! Don't they look great on the red wall?

And here's the look behind the entertainment center.

(don't mind the trash bag in the corner! or the mess on the right! ha)

And our almost finished dining room. Just a couple more things to hang.

Updates from M-Ville...

What's new in our newlywed world?
Well....

-We can finally get into our new apartment tomorrow! We're very excited to be able to start moving things over and finish packing in our current apartment. My day tomorrow will be filled with doing our laundry!! We can finally do our laundry in our own apartment, so the second we can get in that washer is going to start with our clothes that have been building the past couple weeks.

-This past Tuesday night we got together with our new small group from church. We are very blessed to have these couples in our lives! We were a little hesitant about going, but we are so glad that we did! We met some incredible people who I'm sure are going to help build and keep our marriage around Christ. We will meet with them once a month, but also the girls of the group meet once a month along with the guys of the group. So we'll see them much more than just once a month which will be great.

-Mike's job is still going well. He's taking on a lot more responsibility, which leaves him very tired at the end of the day, but he also knows it is a good thing. It's been a year this month since he moved to Merrillville and started with Aldi. He's hoping that he will soon be approached about running his own store. We're anxious to see where that might lead us!

-This weekend we're headed home for various reasons. I'm going home to help my mom host a bridal shower for my cousin's fiance on Saturday morning. It will be great to see Jackie and be with family for the morning. I'm excited to spend the day with my mom as well. Saturday night, Mike and I are going to Corey's race in New Paris. We went last week and Mike loved it, so he insisted we go back again. Of course I couldn't say no! Corey has shown such love and kindness to us through our distance and we would do anything to support him! We love spending time with him and Jill! Sunday, we're staying in town for church which will be great. It's always a blessing to go back to NMC. As much as we love Bethel and the new friends we're meeting there, being back at our home church always makes us a little antsy to move back. But for now, God has other plans for us and I'm finally accepting them!

-I have sent in my resume for a job that you can be praying about. It is for a Christian company and it would be great to work for! It's a receptionist/administrative asst. position. I would really like the chance to work for this group. So prayers would be great!

That's the news in our lives as of right now. At this point I'm not sure who really reads this anymore... besides my aunt and my parents (who I don't even get comments from!) :) But I hope that whoever is reading this is doing well.