My Poor Friend, The Oven.

So begins Valentine's Month (or James Bond month as it is referred to in our Apartment)! I wanted to update the blog but I must confess that I have NO idea what I am going to write about this time around! Usually as soon as I sit down I have something in mind for what I am going to say but not this time! So I think I am just going to tell you about some of the stuff that's been going on in the last month or so. (I have noticed suddenly in the past couple of weeks that I use a startling amount of exclamation points in my letters and blog posts...)
So we've found a Church that we are going to currently, we will see how it works out. It's Southwood Baptist Church. It's hard to know if it will work out right now because the Pastor of that church is currently undergoing surgery for a Brain Cancer relapse. Which if people who read this wouldn't mind praying for him I am sure he and his family would GREATLY appreciate it! It's a really cute Church and we like it so far! Last week it was really nice because the woman we were sitting next to actually welcomed us to the church after the message. It was also Communion this week which I must confess when I looked up and realized that when we sat down I was kind of nervous about it. I've taken communion before of course, but for some reason I am never really sure about taking it. I think it might be because a past pastor scared the heck out of me when I was little by saying that if you took communion without searching your heart and MEANING it you'll get sick and bad stuff will happen. Now this could just be a case of faulty hearing because we all know that little kids 'hear' things in a 'special' way sometimes. A special way that is usually not quite accurate!:) But I think ever since I heard that I have always kind of questioned myself in my 'really meaning it!" I think it's one of those silly things that the more you think about whether or not you 'mean' something the more the 'meaning' slips away...and then you are sitting there thinking "OH MY WORD! I'VE NEVER REALLY MEANT anything I've though for my WHOLE LIFE!" I don't know if this makes sense to anyone else but that's something i've had a problem with my whole life (and I am not blaming that pastor either). I remember going through a really tough time in my life where people would say "if you believe that Jesus is the only way to get to Heaven and that He died on the cross for your sins then you will go to Heaven!" and I would be thinking "I THINK i believe that...but what if I really don't?" I overthink things, which I am sure Andrew and my family can attest to! I don't know if anyone else has had a problem with that but what I have learned over the past couple of years is just to trust God that He knows how you really feel, and not to drive yourself nuts making sure you REALLY believe something because if you say you do, and you feel you do...you DO! Unless you are saying "I mean it" or "I believe it" out loud just to make someone ELSE happy. It's only God you need to make happy, it you make Him happy when you mean it just between you and Him.
Things are going much better in the Kitchen now too! I have been doing better coming up with things to make every day....that is not to say that some days I don't call Andrew and say "HELP! I don't know what to make for dinner!" :D But I have been doing better! I have been experimenting with recipes alot lately. I made this REALLY good biscuit thing the other night...I really should come up with a name for it because I can't really refer to it as the "Biscuit thing". My mom gave me a cookbook that we have used in our family for years and years and I have been finding stuff to add to my brain to make. I found this recipe for 'perfect baking soda biscuits' and I made those and used a glass tumbler for a biscuit cutter which worked really well and Andrew loved those biscuits (I get such a wonderful feeling of satisfaction when Andrew tells me he really loved the dinner I have cooked!). So I used that recipe and made the biscuit dough the other night but rolled it out really thin and then browned some ground beef, and fried some potatoes with onions and butter and then put the ground beef and potatoes on the biscuit dough, then grated cheddar all over it and then folded it up so it looked like a stromboli and baked it for like 12 minutes. It was so good that I ate it for breakfast the next day!:) And it was really easy to make too! I am having so much fun experimenting with making different foods. The other night I decided to try this recipe that I found online for a mushroom potato chicken dinner...that needed to be broiled....CURSE THE BROIL RECIPE! I wish I had never lain eyes upon it's foulness! Because as most people know I have a Gas Oven....well...I guess it's pretty old because when I used the broiler at the very bottom of the stove the whole thing kind of shut off....Permanently! Which is really frustrating...not having an oven. I never thought I would see the day when not having an oven would be like not having a thumb or something! I litterally feel like a part of me is missing! Fortunately the night it happened Andrew got my mind off it by watching some From the Earth to the Moon with me. He's good at calming me down!:) So now I am actually sitting here typing this blog out AND waiting for the Maintenance man (I know...my mulit-tasking must AMAZE you!) to come and fix my poor poor friend, the Oven.
I have learned that along with nice weather on the day of an outside wedding, going into labor in the morning when people are showered and ready, and being on time for church....Maintenance men coming when they say they will is a long-shot.
I don't know why I HATE waiting for Maintenance. I think because you feel kind of trapped...because you are limited in what you can do because you are thinking "well...if I vacuum he might knock and I won't hear him and then he will go away and I will NEVER get him back here" or "If I watch this movie, he might get here and start working on the thing that needs fixing and someone might CURSE in the movie!" (yes I think these things). And then there is the added stress of what do I do while he is working? It's just the awkward weird feeling of someone you don't know in your house and they don't talk and you kind of feel strange like you don't belong in your own apartment, like you should step out for a few minutes while they work or something!:) And of course Maintenance has the set up of only working the days of the week that Andrew is at work...which means it's my duty to bear the Maintenance Man weirdness on my own. :D


I can't believe that me and Andrew have been married for 2 months now. It feel so much longer and so much shorter at the same time! It's one of those strange things where I remember on the night before the wedding I felt like it was going to last forever somehow and now here we are 2 months from our wedding! And I know that 2 months isn't that long, but it makes me realize how lucky we are and how we really need to be enjoying as much of this time as we can because time does pass. Some people get depressed and worried because they aren't in their 20's anymore but I hate that because then they miss enjoying their 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's and so on! Because when they are forty then they will be thinking "How I wish I was 30 again! Why did I wish I was 20 so bad when I was STILL 30?!" And they waste another whole decade. Now I do realize I am only 23 years old...but I wasted some of my teen years worrying about getting older which is really sad thinking back on, I should have been enjoying being a teenager!!! So I've learned to find something you enjoy and are happy about NOW because time does pass fast and it will be really terrible if 20 years pass and I realize that all I did during those 20 years was wish time wasn't passing so fast....all that does is MAKE time go fast!:) So GET TO THE SERIOUS BUSINESS OF HAVING FUN! Whenever you can! I am not saying that Life is only for having fun, but it's a blessing from God, and you know that He must love looking down on us when we are having fun and enjoying the life and the Family He's given us!
Me and Andrew are having such a wonderful time together...I am so happy we got married. I still can't believe how stubborn I was at first. I told him the other day that partly it was because I didn't want to 'lose' him...because I had a false view of marriage given to my by the World, that when you married the person you loved you ended up disliking them and not meaning much to each other, and the romance was gone. Now I realize that while that DOES happen, it doesn't HAVE to happen as long as people care and love enough to keep things working. Once again I don't want to sound all preachy because i've only been married for 2 months after all...but I am just saying I am amazed I had such a false view of marriage, and how much being married to Andrew has taught me in such a short time. The world has such a defeatist attitude to Marriage and it can be disheartening thing. But we know how God feels about marriage and how important it really is....SO LET'S STICK IT TO THE WORLD AND PROVE 'EM WRONG!!!!!!!!! YEHAW!

We love you guys so much and we miss those of you who we are parted from by a country's width...we hope we will be seeing you soon!

Love,
Sarah and Andrew