What a {Week}

Well it's 1 AM... way past my bedtime :) ... but it's the first night since Colton has been home that he hasn't been home. He's going on a ride-along with the LAPD, which on a Friday night I'm sure will be exciting :) . In the meantime, I'm having to keep remind myself that this isn't deployment-- he'll be home in a few hours... Silly right? But honestly, after 6 months of being alone every night, it's hard not to fall back into that mentality all over again. I took a nap after work, and now I'm staying up until he gets home. :)

Anyways, praise the Lord it's Friday! It's been another long week of work, and on top of it all, some big excitement-- I have been having pre-term labor contractions {not false contractions/not Braxton hicks--the real kind :)} and didn't really know it...I just thought the pain could be blamed on being tired or just plain ol' pregnancy weirdness that happens. But after over 24 hours hours of intense pain {3 hours at a time of intensity} that distracted me so much at work that I couldn't even focus on teaching, I called my Doctor, and she told me to get to Labor and Delivery right away. Contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes and I was hooked up to monitors to make sure baby is ok-- and by God's grace he is.  The nurse kept saying how "happy and healthy" he looked. Such a blessing!! After lots of tests to rule out things like dehydration, baby's stress, etc., my sweet husband by my side after having to leave a funeral early, and 3 hours hooked up to the monitors {I loved getting to hear Ty's precious heart beating for 3 whole hours!} it was determined that there is a 95% chance I won't be having Ty in the next 2 weeks {which is good news since I'm 32 weeks along!} because even though Ty seems excited to make his grand entrance to the world, my body isn't totally ready to get him here {except for the contractions, of course!}. After that,we'll see! :) We're really excited we might get to meet our baby boy early especially since he's already so big and healthy. {At my last appointment at 29 weeks, we found out he is in the 100th percentile of weight-- already at 3 pounds! ha! We'll see how big he's gotten since!}

our beautiful little baby who happens to look like an alien in this picture! ha :) 

I'm excited for my Dr. appointment on Wednesday to see more of what's going on and see how little man has grown. My doctor gave orders to take a week off of work, but because I got home from the hospital so late, i wasn't able to get a sub for a few days but I'll be taking one day off at least this coming week and Colton has the day off too-- which means its going to be a 4 day weekend with my man! SO excited and so thankful!

Happy weekend, everyone! 

Our {Shrinking} Countdown

We have 8 weeks or less to get ready for baby to be here! Wow I can't even believe it. Every night before we go to sleep, we pray for our baby boy and the feeling of excitement and anticipation for his arrival is growing and growing with every minute. We can't wait for Titus! 

There is so much that is going to be happening between now and then, and with teaching full time, my “free” time is very limited right now. I’m more motivated than ever though to make the most of my work days so that I don’t have to bring work home {time with Colton and the time before he gets home to clean and cook and rest and work out is a much higher priority than grading papers for me J}.  

This week, Colton has an even longer work day than usual {our alarm clock goes off at 3:45 AM!} and while I get to be home by 3:30 every day, he doesn't get home until at least 7 or 7:30. So, with that few hour gap while I'm home alone, I have been convicted of my need to use that time as best as possible {like I should with all of the time God gives me no matter what!} and fight through the laziness that is so tempting when I'm physically exhausted from work/pregnancy or just feeling overwhelmed from the long to-do list. 

To free up more time, I will definitely be using our crockpot for dinner a few times this week! Tonight is creamy crockpot chicken and rice! Depending on how the recipe turns out, I'll post the recipe and some pictures this week! :) 

Here's my {basic} plan for this week:

Monday- creamy crockpot chicken and rice

Tuesday- ground turkey and bean burritos 

Wednesday- omlettes 

Thursday- homemade bbq chicken pizza {chicken cooked in the crockpot and homemade dough already made in the freezer} 

Friday- steak {grilled} and roasted potatoes {crockpot}

Happy Monday! 

{Burn} Out

It's been a long {good, but long} week! I'm so thankful it's Friday and thankful that my husband's plans got cancelled for tonight so that he gets to be home and we get to have the weekend together after all! :) 


I wanted to share a mini blog series from one of my favorite blogs that I thought might be encouraging to some. I am not at the point where I feel completely burnt out {I've just been feeling extra tired lately thanks to baby growing and getting ready to come out :) -- we're already at 31 weeks as of yesterday! So exciting!!} but this series is so practical and has a lot of wisdom that has been an encouragement to me this week! 

Enjoy!

How to Overcome Burn-Out

Garage Sale!

Last Saturday, Colton and one of our friends and I had a garage sale. I’ve wanted to do a garage sale for months because of piles of unused/old clothing and tons of other unused “stuff” that has been cluttering up our tiny little apartment. With a move coming up, and baby Ty coming so soon, we couldn’t afford not to get rid of a lot of stuff! We got the opportunity to have a garage sale when our Aunt and Uncle asked us to housesit for them while they went on vacation! Because I wasn’t sure if we would have enough to sell, I asked our friend Amanda if she would want to do it with us, since she is moving to Kenya in a few months and needs to sell practically everything she has and raise over $20,000 for her trip and life overseas. She was available and I was so excited to finally get all of our junk out of the apartment and make room for baby!

I definitely have an entrepreneur side of me that was super excited to put all of it together and {Lord willing} make some money, and so for the week prior to our sale I was busy making signs, advertising online, organizing everything, and planning out our bake sale {a big success and something you should definitely think about doing when you have a sale- people love having coffee or lemonade and a treat for them and/or their kids while they’re browsing}.

Well, by God’s grace everything went so well! We had people scouting out the area the day before and at 5AM that morning, and getting to the sale over an hour early to camp out and wait {advertising on craigslist is awesome!!] and finally when the sale started at 6:30 we went non-stop until 11:30AM! Almost everything Colton and I brought sold, and a lot of what Amanda brought sold too—all I can say is I’m hooked on garage sales and I can’t wait to have another one! We made $600 in that short 5 hours and only had a carload of things to drop off at Goodwill. $600 may not seem like a lot to most people, but to us, having $300 for gas/groceries/baby Ty is such a humbling blessing to us!! God provides in amazing ways! 

I highly recommend taking the time to have a garage/yard sale if you have things to sell and a house to use. We were so blessed to use our family’s house since living in an apartment means we don’t have space to have a sale!

Check out this article that gives a lot of great tips: http://moneysavingmom.com/2010/04/having-a-successful-garage-sale.html

What in the Name of {Goodness} do you do!?

Truth Matters #47
James 4:17
Pastor Philip De Courcy

BE GOOD

Two Christian friends stood talking. One said to the other, “This has been a good day for I have done nothing today of which I am ashamed.” The other replied, “This has been a bad day for I have done nothing today of which I am proud.” In this conversation we have two very different perspectives on life and how to measure spiritual success. One is defined negatively, and one is defined positively. The first man measured success in terms of not doing what is forbidden. He believed that if you could get through a day without doing something really bad like stealing, lying, or getting drunk, you had succeeded. The second man viewed success in terms of doing what is required. He believed that there was more to being a Christian than just not doing some things.  Goodness and greatness were not to be determined on the basis of what he did not do alone.

The apostle James would agree with the second man. In his letter he writes, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good, and does not do it, it is sin” (James 4:17). In this verse, James, the half-brother of Jesus, reminds his readers that sin is not just wrong doing but failure to do right. It is not just the commission of an evil act but the omission of a good deed. For too long we have thought of sin as the presence of evil, while James suggests that it is also the absence of good. We can displease God by what we don’t do but should do, as much as by what we shouldn’t do but do. Our greatest sin as Christians is not that we do the bad things but that we fail to do the good things.

In Ephesians 4:25 through to 5:2, Paul reminds the Ephesian church that they must do more than not do certain things. Paul tells the Ephesians that they must not lie, but he also tells them they must speak the truth. Paul tells the Ephesians that they must not steal, but he also tells them that they must work with their hands. Paul tells the Ephesians that they must not grieve the Spirit, but he also tells them they must be imitators of God.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great London preacher, was once the guest of a man who made his virtues the chief topic of conversation; but his virtues were all of the negative kind, consisting in the bad things he had not done. Disgusted with the man’s self-righteousness, Spurgeon said, “Why, man, you are simply a bundle of negatives. You don’t drink, you don’t gamble, you don’t swear. What in the name of goodness do you do?”  This man like so many was working only one side of the ledger. It is a good thing not to do some things but it is not good enough. Christ came to do something more than stop us from being bad. He came to make us positively good (2 Cor. 5:17).

A {Sure} Thing

Truth Matters #46 2 Timothy 1:12 Pastor Philip De Courcy A SURE THING I heard the story of a polar bear and her young cub living in the frigid extremes of Alaska. One morning the cub came to her mother and said, “Mom, are you sure I am a polar bear?” “Of course you are,” the mother calmly replied. The cub went away reassured. But the next morning the cub asked again, “Are you 100 percent sure that I am a polar bear?” The mother seemed confused, “I promise you are a polar bear. So, why do you keep asking?” “Because,” said the cub, “I am freezing out here.” There are a lot of Christians who can identify with that little bear. I have met them and you may be one of them. Although we know ourselves to be Christians, and others know us to be Christians, there are times when we need to be reassured of the fact. There can be days when as Christians we don’t feel very Christian at all or look it. On those days the knowledge and guilt of our sin cling to us like skin to a bone. On those days heaven seems like it is a million miles away, and God just as far. On those days we wonder if salvation is a sure thing. Listen! It is a great thing to be saved, but it is an even greater thing to be saved, and know that you are saved. We are persuaded, like the apostle Paul, concerning God’s saving and keeping power (2 Tim. 1:12; Rom. 8:35-39). With that in mind, let me share three truths that I trust will act as anchors when our souls are tossed about with doubt. Anchor number one is God’s Word to us. God’s Word is forever settled in heaven, in fact, heaven and earth will pass away but not His Word (Psa. 119:89; Matt. 24:25). When it comes to the assurance of our salvation, we must not rest our confidence on the shifting sands of our own moods or feelings, but on the solid and eternal rock of God’s written testimony in Scripture (John 20:31; cf. 1:12; 3:16; 5:24; 6:37). Anchor number two is God’s work for us. In the death of Christ as our substitute, the debt of our sin has been fully paid (1 Peter 2:24; 3:18). The sword of God’s just wrath has found its sheath in the atonement of Christ for us (2 Cor. 5:21). Therefore there is no condemnation to those who are trusting in Christ (Rom. 8:1). Jesus paid it all! Anchor number three is God’s witness in us. Alongside the promise of God and the work of Christ, we have the inward assurance of the indwelling presence, and regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:16; Gal. 4:6). The Spirit of God produces a hunger for the things of God, and this new appetite is a sure sign of life. The Christian is a different person and that makes a difference to our assurance (Gal. 5:22-25).

Pantry {Challenge}

Today is the start of my monthly “pantry challenge”. It’s been a couple of months since I’ve done it {after being inspired by this blog}, since the hubby came home early and we have been eating out a lot more than usual and I’ve been trying to make more creative dinners {which has meant more grocery shopping, since when he was gone I wasn’t creative with my cooking and I didn’t make much variety either :/}.

But now that he’s back and we’re getting back into a work routine next week after our last days of vacation this week, it’s time to buckle down with our budget and with using up the food we have in our refrigerator and freezer and pantry. This means I’ll be working on my menu-planning creativity {which I don’t usually have!} and trying to come up with a variety of healthy and filling dinners for us. This week we will only be eating at home two days, because of dinners with families from church, my birthday, and a 3 day vacation {or, as we call it, another mini-honeymoon ;)} to Palm Springs {SO excited!}. So with today and tomorrow to plan out the budget and meal ideas for the rest of the month, I’ll be prepared for getting back to our routine come next Monday morning.

So, to help myself, I made a list {I love lists—yes, that makes me a little nerdy} of the big things I have at home and from there will come up with a menu plan. Things like milk and fruit go quickly in the Haney home, so this month isn’t necessarily a “no-spend” challenge, but I’m definitely hoping that “shopping” in our pantry will help keep our grocery trips down, and keep us under budget this month.

Here’s what I have:

-       frozen hamburger meat

-       frozen chicken breasts

-       mozzarella cheese

-       cheddar cheese

-       black beans

-       pinto beans

-       one and a half loaves of bread

-       pasta: lasagna noodles, rotini, and spaghetti

-       2 jars of pasta sauce

-       brown rice

-       2 boxes of rice-a-roni

-       tortillas

-       greek yogurt

-       large russet potatoes

-       bacon

-       6 dozen eggs {yes, we keep a lot of eggs around here}

-       baking ingredients for bread {which will come in handy to make more sandwich bread, as well as hamburger buns and dinner rolls}

From the looks of it, it’s going to be hard for me to get a lot of variety, but im confident that I can get at least 2 weeks of meals with no need to go to the grocery store except to get some milk and fresh fruit. 

I’m excited for a new day, a new week, and a new month! I can’t believe it’s May already! Only 2 and a half months until my due date-- we can’t wait to meet our little man! The next few months are going to fly but we’re trying to soak up each day as best we can!

By His grace alone, 

K