And there was much rejoicing!

Jeff posted in his blog! There's been a lot going on... so here's a brief (and I mean BRIEF) recap:

Traveled to IL to visit Benji & Liz. Doggies got along well with Sampson... we'll be going back for Christmas, so the fact that they were able to hang out with each other in close quarters was a good thing.

Big E had his 2nd Bday party! He's getting older every day... (duh) and is learning things at an incredible rate. He knows shapes, colors, numbers, letters, instruments, notes of the scale, sings songs with Sarah and even can tell you his favorite "fa-tah" (football) team -- "EAGLES -- Yay!!!!" Yesterday he learned numbers 11-15 in about 5 minutes. It's really scary how quickly he's learning!

We're giving up on the moving company and ordering a new table and filing an insurance claim. I don't want to talk about it. Tried filing a police report and we need to travel to MD to appear, so that's not reasonable. There's no regulating agency that can help us, and I had assistance from 2 or 3 difft consumer-run groups trying to track them down. Apparently they are GONE. No phone number, no forwarding address -- NADA. I may decide to hire a lawyer to send registered mail to that address, but haven't made the decision on that yet. Soooo... we're filing an insurance claim. Yet ANOTHER reason why you shouldn't always go with the lowest quote when hiring a mover... :-(

Getting ready for a trip East for my cousin's wedding... and an extended vacation and trip back to JC and to visit friends. Really looking forward to it. I'm sure there will be plenty of people to see and places to go, and hopefully we have time to squeeze them all in.

We FINALLY moved everything out of Mimi's place -- Sarah and I disassembled the crib and packed all the remaining items in the car and Mimi's place is officially "Rezer-free" -- with the exception of a few toys and whatnot for when Ethan visits. Now we REALLY have to clean the house and find places to put all this stuff...

Got an Email the other day from the lead worship guy (Charlie) over at Vineyard and he wants Sarah and I to come to a rehearsal! YAHOO! Apparently the audition a few weeks ago went well, and we really are looking forward to connecting with some new people there and will heopefully be able to start serving, if even on an interim or substitute basis. I know Sarah misses it and she's really excited to be able to just SING and not to have to lead. I think it's ashame she hasn't been able to use this gift much at all for the last 6 months or so, and I know it's something we need to plug back in on. Hopefully things will work out and we'll be able to get involved in some level with the band. They already have full teams, but you never know what might happen -- and it's always good to be ready to step in when asked.

We've also had a chance to join a small group at church with a few friends and meet some new people too... we've been participating in a church wide series caled 4Ward, and it's all about serving others and being outward-focused. One reason we decided to come to Vineyard was their passion for serving and outreach -- something Sarah and I are also passionate about. In fact, the term "servant evangelism" was basically coined by the folks here at Vineyard... and now you can probably Google it and find a bazillion mentions. Cool.

Tonight we're going to an event being put on for this series... it's an all-worship evening at church, something we haven't been able to participate in for a LONG time. Really looking forward to being a little selfish and not leading, serving, managing, organizing or playing... just BEING. Should be an awesome time to "quiet down our busy minds and find a resting place..."

Money's been stressing me out more than normal these last few days... it's been hard trying to predict what our expenses will be, and we've been spending more money on eating out and other things like that than we really should have. One of our vices is eating out -- and we LOVE to do it... so that's something we probably need to cut back on. Well, not probably. DEFINITELY. It's a convenience and a vice at the same time, which makes it EXTREMELY difficult to pass up. I'm sure some of you have been there...

I tell myself that there are good reasons for why we've been spending more lately, but the truth is that there will ALWAYS be things like this, and we're going to have to make an adjustment to either our lifestyle, income level or the way we manage our finances -- cause we're lurking on the edge of falling right back into the hole we were trying to climb out of before when we were in DC. I have to keep reminding myself that money shouldn't control us and that it all belongs to HIM anyway, but honestly that doesn't help very much most times. We still have to pay bills and would like to enjoy our lives at least a little.

It's been difficult to settle in to a new routine as of yet and I still don't feel like we've "settled". There's always too much going on and we seem to fall behind on keeping up with things -- laundry, dishes, finances, cleaning -- you name it. There's still junk all piled in our "living room" and it's really quite a mess. And it's not going to get any better with the holidays coming up... ugh. I like to think that if I "just had a few days" I could get it all straightened out, but that's never the case... the truth is I really need a few days of "a few days" in order to make a dent in the chore that lies ahead... and that usually comes at the expense of something else -- time with Sarah, Ethan, work, the dogs, "down-time"... you name it. Ugh.

So this post has gone on for longer than it should have. And now I'm starting to feel a little depressed, so I'm going to stop and remind myself of the good things.

SARAH - ETHAN - FAMILY - DOGGIES - MUSIC - GOD - My JOB - Our HOUSE - LIFE - oh, and FOOTBALL... :-)

These are all more important than anything else that comes our way. I just have to keep reminding myself of that... OK, I'm back in my happy place.

Thanks for listening...