Andrew Takes a Crack at It

This is a blog. Sarah said she'd post it. I wroted it by myself. I liked it gud. The ENd.

We got...MARRIED!?

Summer is ALMOST OVER!!! How did that even happen!? I am sitting here feeling so insane thinking that in only three months Andrew and I will be celebrating our FIRST ANNIVERSARY!!! WHAT!? It's strange because in some ways it feels like we have ALWAYS been married (And not in the snarky sit-com way people say it when they mean they feel like they have always been married because it's felt like it's been FOREVER...I mean it in a Good way!). I think in some ways it's because it's hard for me to even remember what life was like before I met Andrew. I feel like I have always known him. IN some ways though it feels like we just got married two weeks ago. I was just trying to remember what it was like getting married the other night when I was trying to get to sleep, I had my eyes closed and in my mind's eye I was trying to picture everything as it happened that day. That was when it struck me....'We...got...MARRIED!?" It's this major life thing, something that you do once in a lifetime...and we did it already!!!!! It's just so nutty! But it's good nutty!

I think the one thing I have been experiencing these past couple of months since we got married is that I WANT TO DO IT AGAIN!:) It was so much fun! (Which is why I have told Andrew repeatedly that he better watch out because I am pretty sure we are going to have to do a remarriage ceremony on our 5th year anniversary...also I did warn him that we are probably going to have to get remarried in the SUMMERTIME, so I can have huge glass jars of lemon aid. And this time we will be able to stay as late as we want and dance all night with our family and friends. It just seems like it would be so much fun!)

We have been having such a wonderful time together. Actually sometimes I get freaked out and more paranoid bause I love being married to Andrew so much my human side is thinking "What can happen to mess this up, now?" But I have been giving that burden to God and learning to just enjoy the marriage without worrying about something messing it up. (Especially because if you make God the center of your marriage, if something DOES come that seems to mess up your marriage for a while it always turns out making you grow closer and more in love once you get through the struggle with God holding your hands and leading you out.)

It's amazing how many little things in life can make you more in love and grow closer together. We were going through a semi-rough time for a week or so just where I was being impatient or we were misunderstanding each other and getting frustrated. And on a sunday we decided to go swimming at a lake nearby, and just spending that time together swimming and talking and joking in the BROWN BROWN water (it was one of those lakes where the water, as gross as it sounds, is this really deep brown. You come across that kind of water a lot in the Poconos too (don't worry...it's not brown for any sinister reason..!)) was like this healing balm that made things so much better! It was like a salve for our raw nerves/emotions and we have been just reaping the benefits from it ever since. And I realized that just taking the time to just BE with each other is so important. Sometimes you think you ARE being together when you are sitting together watching a movie or something in your home, but sometimes it takes "being together' somewhere else, breaking from the routine or breaking from where you usually are together (not that i am saying you can't grow closer at home, but sometimes when you hit a tricky patch getting out of the normal is a needed thing). Like going to a park and sitting on a bench and just talking to each other or imagining things, taking a swim, walking around the neighborhood.

I am continually amazed at all the different things Andrew and I are learning from being married. It's DEFINITELY educational! ;)

So....the sink is leaking again by the way! If that sink goes more than three months without leaking someday...I will be amazed!! I have just been sticking a trash can underneath it because i have been too busy to get maintenance over. The apartment has really been feeling cozy though this month because the weather has been so so nice and cool. I am surprised because i thought that summer ending would make me really sad, as summer is my most favorite month. But I am excited about spending my FIRST married Fall with my husband!:)

We love you all and hope we will be able to see you soon!

Coming SOON!:)

The misadventures of Andrew and Sarah Gilbertson....in a Canoe! :)
This blog will be updated rather soonly, especially after tomorrow night when I have pictures of Andrew's Taco Birthday Party! I will have stories to tell of our canoe afternoon and of Andrew's Birthday! Check back soon!

Someone Stole My Marshmellon Dispenser!

Wow! I can't believe how long it's been since I last wrote! Times have been busy, but also crazy. :-D I did update the blog a week and a half ago but ended up having to take it off due to problems. So hopefully everything will work out with this one!
Me and Andrew have been having a series of very interesting Adventures lately (that's what marriage is right? :-D) I don't know if he's told anyone about how our packages when sent to this location get stolen right off of our doorstep? It's actually Q-UITE frustrating and makes one very susceptible to sin in the form of cussing the person out in ones brain. (Why in the world is it that when we get mad the first thing we want to do is curse? It's so strange when you think about it! It's not like our parents were continually cussing and encouraging us to do so...but it's like it almost doesn't matter how you were raised, for some reason curse words just rise to surface when your anger is tested, I guess it just goes to show you how strong our sin natures are!)
Back at Christmas me and Andrew were ordering a couple of things and they NEVER showed up, at the time I was suspicious enough to think that maybe someone had stolen them, we called the USPS and they said that they were confirmed delivered and they weren't really sure what had happened. We had a whole fiasco with checking for keys to 'package lockers' and checking with the office and everything but they never showed up! Luckily for us we were refunded the money. Then one night shortly after we had called the USPS and everything, we had a knock on the door (we were watching On Her Majesties Secret Service on a friday at like 1:00 at night so it was kind of strange to be hearing a knock on the door!) and Andrew went to it (I hid as per usual, making the excuse that I am in my pajamas when really I am just ascared of the peoples! :-D ) and I heard this guy saying "I hope you don't take this wrong but this is your package and I was holding it for you because when I first moved in here I was getting stuff stolen." to which Andrew replied "Yeah...I think we may have had some things stolen just recently too". And the guy felt really bad about that, he was REALLY really nice, explaining that he was worried about our package getting stolen and so he kept it in his apartment until he could give it to us. We definitely appreciated that!
Around then we had finally started to decide that perhaps we should have all packages sent to my mom and dad's house so that if someone was indeed stealing the packages they would be safe! But just recently we had another package sent to our apartment...a present from Andrew for our five month Lunaversary, and it was the same story...second verse. The UPS confirmed it delivered and it wasn't in the office, and the mailbox was key-less. And so we realized...someone really WAS taking our packages...it was for sure now! It was kind of maddening for the both of us, especially since we thought we had a good idea who was doing it. I kept thinking to myself "The only way I can keep my sanity about this is to forgive whoever is doing this!". So Andrew decided to reorder the package, sad and dissapointed that it wasn't going to be here in time for our Lunaversary...and I decided I was mad enough to do something about this whole thing.
The next day I plastered our door in signs written in red Sharpie (Red Sharpie makes people take notice, you see!) that said things like: "DON'T LEAVE PACKAGES HERE! THEY ARE BEING STOLEN!!". I was a little bit freaked out about doing it because I kept thinking, whoever is doing it is going to walk by our door and realize we know...but at the same time that gave my immature side a feeling of "HAH! SO THERE! NOW THEY KNOW WE KNOW!"satisfaction.
So we leave for Bible Study (which is now availible online for anyone who is interested to be seeing our teacher's lessons at:http://www.ustream.tv/channel/keys-to-dynamic-bible-study )
and we are both thinking "When we get home they will probably be torn down or something like that"! But we get back and the signs are still up and we go inside our apartment and start getting ready to relax when there is a knock at the door...! Andrew goes to answer it and I....being me...go into the bathroom and keep the door partially open so I can hear! (I think I may have some kind of social problem...:-D ) And I hear Andrew talking to the same guy who held the package for us. He says "This morning I heard tape in the hallway and was wondering what your wife was doing and then realized she was putting signs up!" and he was laughing and saying how great they were. And then he told us that he was pretty sure he knew who was stealing our packages and that it wasn't anyone who lived here but someone who visited someone who lived here! He said he had seen this person walking away once or twice with a package actually in their hands! He also said he felt really bad about this package because he had kept feeling a voice telling him to grab it and take it into his apartment til we got back but he ignored it. (Boy do I know that feeling!) And he said that next time he saw the person who this thief was visiting he would talk about it and try to figure it out, and that if we ever want to have a package sent here we can always let them know to send it to his apartment because he is always home and he will hold if for us (which I thought was REALLY nice!!!). And then he says goodbye and I come out and me and Andrew start talking about the whole thing...and then...I stop talking because I realize that he has gone to the apartment of the guy and is talking to him NOW! I was a little afraid about what was going to happen and me and Andrew prayed for his safety...next thing we know he comes back down, knocks on the door and hands us our package UNOPENED! He yells to the guy that we "...GOT THEIR PACKAGE!" and Andrew stands there with it in his hands...stunned. And I am standing behind the door...stunned. And Andrew thanks him over and over and then shuts the door and we are both standing there amazed at what's just happened. And amazed at our neighbors generousity and fearlessness in this situation! It was really amazing that he went that extra mile for us, that he retrieved something that was special only to us...acting like it meant just as much to him! It really showed us a really wonderful example of a good neighbor. (The funniest thing about the package was that if the person who took it had opened it we are SURE they would have been thinking "What...in...the WORLD!?!" as it was a Plastic Kraft Marshmallow Dispenser made for the release of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier...or as Spock and McCoy say "Marshmellons")
So sufficed to say it was an amazing experience and Andrew was able to give me that special gift on our lunaversary celebration!
Our Lunaversay for our five month was SO WONDERFUL! And not only because of that miracle that happened with our neighbor but also because Andrew planned the most wonderful evening for me. We went to a park in Haddonfield (when you all visit again we REALLY need to visit Haddonfield...it's the most gorgeous town!) and ate sandwiches that I had made for us on lone stone steps in the middle of the woods and the dirt path near the stream. We talked about dissapearing from the modern world into a fantasy world, like Narnia and what we would do. We talked about the Cosby Show and Newhart (I am really excited about someday getting the Cosby Show on DVD and being able to share it with Andrew like he has been sharing Newhart with me), and Andrew's "Signs a SitCom is in trouble!". And then after we had walked for a while and it started to get dark we rode to see Haddie the Hadrosaurus statue in the town of Haddonfield. Anyone who knows me knows I dislike crowds of people, and the city and loud noises....so I was surprised that I loved the little city of Haddonfield SO MUCH! It was just gorgeous, and soft, and well made, and dreamy! It reminded me of those places you dream you are going to go to in France or Italy and meet tons of exciting people and eat loads of amazing food.
My favorite was the fact that so many places had live music playing! It made the atmosphere so much more enjoyable. It was all in all one of the most amazing nights me and Andrew have ever spent together! It was perfect!
We miss all you guys so much! Remember that you are in our prayers and that we are thinking of you often! And Gramma Pat I am sending you a letter but I just really really wanted to thank you for the Card and the gift you sent! I appreciate them SO much!!! I am so bad at remembering things so I wanted to make sure I thanked you!
I really really really really really REALLY plan on writing this blog more regularly even if it's just to post a short update and some pictures. I really hate that I let it get this far without updating! BUT I AM DETERMINED! Just like I am determined that I shan't let dishes pile up so much in my sink! :-D
We love you all!

Love,
Sarah and Andrew

Some Pictures of our Park Walk!

Blog to be Updated soon!

Realized, with the help of my mom today, that it's been a month since I last blogged! Life has been so CRAZY lately but I think the time is coming when I will be able to update this thing! So be on the lookout for a new blog coming hopefully this week! Hopefully people haven't given up on this because I fully intend to get better making this happen more often! (That is: making blogs happen more often...not the lack of blogs happen more often)

Apologies! Talk to you soon!

Andrew The Not-So-Wine Taster

So I realized I had a few pictures I really wanted to show you guys! I was just uploading pictures to my desktop from Andrew's camera and realized there were some really great pictures that I could have shown everyone on here! So this is a special bonus-picture-edition of the blog!:)

For our wedding we recieved a bottle of Sparkling Wine 2004 Wedding Cuvee which we were totally thrilled about getting! How much fun is that? So I thought for the first special dinner night back at our apartment after the honeymoon that we should have some....I thought you would like to see what Andrew's reaction was to his taste of the wine:

This is Andrew preparing himself.



















Andrew tasting \/


Washing the tast out of his mouth with something.


And Triumph at having tasted it!!!!


If you were curious I did like it better than Andrew did!:) We both really appreciated the thought! And then on Chistmas Eve I actually used the Sparkling Wine to flavor my Roast Chicken! So it worked out really well! I think it was especially a good present because I got to see Andrew make those faces!....so glad I happened to have the camera with me!:)

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