When God Moves He MOVES!

I haven't blogged in along time, thought about it but never did.  But God's working in our lives this past week just couldn't be kept quite. 

About 6 weeks ago I just had a burden to pray for a new house, it was weird. I love our current house it is in a great location it is more than big enough. Joey was not aware that I had been praying this.

Part 1:  That God would provide a home.  I decided to pray specifically about what I wanted in a home since I was pretty sure this was just a far-fetched idea.

                1) in town but felt like the country 

                2) plenty built in of character  

                3) needed some work so we could make it our own 

                4) It would be cheap

                5) I wouldn't look for it, if it was really his will it would just happen.

Part 2: God would provide someone to buy or rent our current home for what we would need to get out of it.

Last week started like any other week, Sunday we went to church, Monday  Joey went to work, Bryce and I chilled and Tuesday was a little different Joey worked in DC. But that was still pretty normal, 90% of the time Joey works from home or rather coffee shops and McDonald's but the other 10% of the time he travels between Boston, New York, and DC. 

Tuesday:

I digress so back to the story, on his way home from DC Joey texts "Let's go look at this house".  Now for a while we have been looking at houses up for auction to purchase as a rental, something cheap enough we could pay cash. My response was " if you think it's the right place and its less than 35K I trust your judgment."  I figured it was over.

Joey arrived home and asked again about seeing a home, my response was the same.  Joey replied, "I really want you to see it" Again I responded I trust you.  His response  "I saw this place last night and couldn't sleep so around 2am I drove out to look at it. I really want you to look at it." 

Ok I figured what does it hurt. So we drove up and walked around the house, WOW. But Joey's self employed, I'm unemployed and we already have a house (mortgage). My thought was I love it but there is just no way we'd be able to get a loan.  As we left Joey said "this is like the man who found a treasure in a field and sold everything he had".  So we prayed.

Wednesday:

Joey called the Realtor and set up a walk through for Wednesday.  We meet at the house at 11:30 am and the Realtor sure didn't try to sell the house, she made sure we knew every possible thing wrong with the house, and we would have to make some improvement (roof, windows, H-Vac).  Plus the house only had one bedroom, but the 2nd floor contained a 32x18 foot room that would need to be split into bedrooms.  We left with mixed feelings, things could get expensive quick.  So we prayed and prayed some more.  The house had been inspected in June and it included estimates for many of the repairs.   It turns out that with the exception of one issue everything else could wait a few years.  We prayed some more.

Thursday:

We decided that it wouldn't hurt to go to the bank and see if there was any possibility we would qualify for a loan.  After about 15 minutes the bank had given us pre-approval for the list price of the home (146k).

We prayed some more and contacted the Realtor that evening to make an offer, now we figured they would be willing to settle between 132K and 136K so we offered well below that in hopes that a counter would be somewhere in that range.  So at 9pm that night we made an offer on 525 Atkins Dr. (link to photos)

Friday:

Around 1pm just over 48 hrs after we first saw the house, we got a call that our offer was accepted. No counter just accepted.  The As-Is assessed value is 220K and we purchased it for nearly 100K less than that.

Remember my prayer,  part one had been more than answered.

Still don't know what we are going to do with our current house, but I'm not worried about it God is the God of the impossible.

Sweetheart Banquet

Last weekend Joey and I had the privilege of hosting a sweetheart banquet for our church.  The planning was pretty intense.  Collectively Joey and I put in about 60hrs of work, but it was well worth it.  Thank goodness for our Sunday school class who co-hosted and helped by cutting tons of paper for our center pieces, making cupcakes so we could have some delicious deserts and helping set up.

To the left are the centerpieces we made. They are paper roses handmade in various shades of pink, cream and yellow hot glued to a bowl with the center cut out and put around a vase. 

Our class decided to make cupcakes instead of the traditional frozen pies and cake that the hall usually provided for its dinners. Each lady made one type.  Since I'm not much of a baker I was very proud of my Raspberry filled lemon cupcakes.

Above are the tickets Joey made, so cute!

In order to make the eveing more enjoyable we asked some of the teens to help by refilling drinks and cleaning up plates.  Some of the teens are going on a missions trip this summer and this served as a way for them to raise some money, they also provided childcare at the church to raise money.

As people arrived there was a photo booth, a game to determine which table went first and a game to get people to mingle.  Each person had the names of a famous couple on their back and had to walk around asking questions to determine who it was.



Cuteness at the Photo Booth



Playing the Famous couple game




After dinner we played a few games.  First, four couples participated in the shoe game where they sat back to back and raised either their's or their spouse's shoe to answer questions like, "who spends more time in front of the mirror" or "who is the better driver."  It was hilarious to see the hesitation as they wanted to agree with their spouse but could not see what the other was doing.   Then we had the ladies feed their blindfolded husbands a doughnut that was tied to a stick.

Doughnut on a string, the guy who won is a cop... SURPRISE

Last we played the Newlywed game…. This was especially funny as our pastor and his wife were playing this round and a daughter and son-in-law were playing along with her parents.  Especially the question “Men, what type of cereal did your in-laws compare you to when they first met you?   Just Right, Oatmeal Squares, Frosted Flakes, Lucky Charms, or Fruit Loops.



The Newlywed Game

After all that fun we needed something to transition us to “serious.”  Joey led the group in worship, singing songs about Christ’s love for the church and talking about the impossibility to have true love without a personal relationship with Christ.  Giving us Christ’s example as laid out in Philippians 2:1-11. Then Dr. Demeritt our Sunday school teacher brought a short message on the importance of commitment in marriage and gave three ways to show commitment.   The evening ended with Joey singing “Love is not a fight” by Warren Barfield with a slide show of all the photos from the evening

Sprout 8: Photo Project

Lydia’s senior pictures:

This summer my sister asked if I would take her senior pictures for her.  This was not because I am an excellent photographer but for two reasons.

1.      She thought most of her friends photo’s looked the same and were taken in the same three locations

2.     She is awesome and even at 17 she is frugal, why spend money when you don’t have to!

So two weeks ago she came to visit with a friend and we had some fun around town.  There were tons of amazing photos; of course my sister is beautiful, although not all were “senior picture” in nature. These are a few of my favorite.

I also took some photo’s of Lydia’s friend any my other sister, maybe I’ll post some of them later.

10 Free or Almost Free Dates in Luray, VA

Who doesn't want to save money, especially in this economy?  Here are some free or almost free dates in Luray, VA.  Most of these things can be done for free, but a few are up to $15 for two people.  This can also be a resource for people visiting Luray. All of the items on the list are not exclusive to couples, anyone can attend.  Since I am sans camera at the time I was unable to post photos of some of the activities.

•  Picnic at the “Singing Tower”: Not only is a picnic romantic but the Carillon Tower is a romantic icon itself.   The tower was built in 1937 by Col. Northcott in memory of his wife, Belle Brown Northcott. The tower's actual name is the Belle Brown Northcott Memorial.  The music that comes from the tower is a result of 47 bells that are attached to pedals.  While at the Inn Lawn Park where the tower is located you will also view a cute little pond and take in a gorgeous sunset over the Mountains.  You can pack a simple picnic at home or stop by the nearby Wal-Mart, Food Lion or KFC.  Since recital times vary throughout the season check out Luraycaverns.com for up-to-date showings. 

The tower

sunset while listening to "The Singing Tower"

• Art Warehouse: This is one of the neatest things in this small town; it is one of the reasons TLC chose Luray as one of its top destinations for weddings.  The 7000 square foot space features a variety of styles and mediums of art from local artists. The warehouse does not have excellent heating or cooling so it would be best to go on a mild-temperature day.  You can bring a lunch to eat in the café or you can even rent the space for events.

•  Evenings on Main: Luray Downtown Initiative has worked very hard over the past few years to create almost weekly events in the downtown area. Visit luraydowntown.com for a list of events.  This year’s calendar started on April 9^th and the last event is Dec 10^th.   Some of these events are family-focused but still make for a fun date. Starting in June and running through the end of October, the LDI has outdoor concerts almost every weekend on the Ruffner Plaza. These concerts feature something for every taste in music.

•   Luray Caverns:  This is a huge one for locals though often unappreciated.  People from all over the world travel to the caverns and pay upwards of $20 per person. Luckily, if you have a Virginia ID card with the 22835 zip code you are granted free access to the caverns.  If you check out the web-site you can find out when they do candlelight tours for added romance and other special events.  This sight is neat enough that the Obama’s came twice in their first year in the Whitehouse. 

Reflecting Pool Luray Caverns 

• The Shenandoah National Park:  The Park is amazing. You can follow the scenic drive or be a slight bit more adventurous and take a hike to a beautiful overlook.  There is a cost to get on the drive - $15 per car for a week pass or $30 for an annual pass. If you travel to many parks you can purchase an annual National Park Pass for $80 that grants admission at all the national parks.   If you don’t have a pass and are not interested in purchasing one you can always hike Mary’s Rock for free.  You can do this hike from the drive or you can access it from Panorama - a closed restaurant across the street from the Thorton Gap entrance station. There are bathrooms and a parking lot.

Sunset at Mary's Rock via Panorama 

•             The Shenandoah River:  The twisting, turning river offers many date opportunities.  During the warm summer day you can hop in the water at the river’s many public boat landings.  You can also go fishing (a license can be purchased in town if you don’t have one).  Tubing is a fun daytime activity when the temperature rises.  As you lazily float down the river you may hear tunes such as “Country Road” (quite apropos when I took friends from Switzerland on the river and that was their only previous reference to the Shenandoah).  You can use a travel service or venture out on your own.  Shenandoah River Outfitters will drop you off, pick you up and provide you with a tube at $18 per person and $6 for a cooler tube. If you really want to make it a day you can also add an all-you-can-eat steak dinner in the evening after your trip.  If you are visiting Luray and are not adventurous or fear getting lost I would recommend going with the Outfitters.  They also do canoe and kayak trips.  If free adventure is your thing, you can brave the river yourself.  You will need two vehicles and a tube for each person in your group plus an additional tube for each cooler you take.   You can use a tractor tire or pick up a tube at a store (Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, etc).  I use River Rats, picked up at Wal-Mart for $6.00 each.  You may also want to pump your tubes up instead of blowing them up.   One vehicle will need to be dropped off at the end of your trip and the other will take you to the start of your trip and you can pick it up your on your way home.  For a 2-4 hour float you can start at landing #8 (Bealers Ferry) and end at #11 (Fosters Landing).  Each is marked by large red and white signs that are visible from the river. This is also where Shenandoah River Outfitters does their floats so you will often see people at the #11.  If you need help finding these locations the Outfitters is very nice and you can call for directions. Here is a river map.

Tubing is a great double date or group activity

• Restaurant.com: This web-site offers “gift certificates” for purchase.  For example, you can purchase a $25 certificate for as little as $2, the catch is that you must spend $35, what you end up spending out of pocket for dinner is around $12 plus tip. The price of a $25 gift certificate is usually $10 but the site often has discount days where you can purchase the certificates at 60, 70, or 80% off, thus the $2 cost (you can find the coupon deals here). The gift certificates are usually good for a year and be sure to read the fine print, some restaurants exclude certain menu items.  Participating restaurants in Luray are Mindies and Uncle Bucks.  Money saving tip: This site is also great to use if you are going on vacation; you can find restaurants all over the United States.   Now there are some other great restaurants in Luray. Rancho Viejo sends out coupons quarterly, two people can split a meal for as little as $5.99 or Fajita’s for two with the coupon is $14.99.  Dominico's has daily specials and their grilled chicken salad is divine and is under $5.00.  Anthony's Pizza offers a large cheese pizza for $5.00 on Mondays.

• Main Street and Mural walk: Luray’s Main Street is recognized as one of Virginia’s Historic downtowns, boasting many mom and pop shops and a series of murals painted by local artists making for a nice walk. You’ll love stopping and talking to the owners of Appalachian Outdoor Adventures - some of the nicest people you will ever meet.  There are 13 murals with plaques about the artists, here is a PDF (page 1, page 2) of the murals with a walking map, two have been painted since this was published. One next to "Natures Tribute Nine-Eleven" and one on N. Broad St on the old Ford Motor Company building, worth the walk there is a cute shop across the street

•   BB&T performing arts:  Many of the events here have an admission fee, but they offer live plays, dinner theater, concerts, and more. However each month they open their doors some free events, an open stage night and/or an improv night.  Additionally they offer many free outdoor events on their patio.  For more information, dates, and times see their web-site performingartsluray.org.

• Catch a Baseball game: the Luray Wranglers are a local team comprised of promising players from colleges around the country. The season starts in June and usually ends in August. Tickets for games are $4.00 but there usually is an abundance of free tickets floating around. 

If you are visiting  Luray other fun things to do include: seeing a movie in the retro- page valley theater; dinning at the swanky Speakeasy (in the basement of a old hotel) cost $10-30, Artisans Grill cost $6-30, and Gathering Grounds (the place the Obama’s eat while in town), seeing cloggers at Skyland Lodge on the Skyline Drive.   

Yummy Chicken Salad

A twist on the traditional chicken salad, this recipe I made up does not use mayonnaise.  Using a some non-traditional spices, this chicken salad is perfect for a warm summer day!

I cooked for the first time in years using measuring utensils when I made this yesterday for two reasons:
1. Have an exact amount for the ingredients for people who don’t use the measurement… “oh about a palm full".
2. Offer some nutritional values,the following recipe makes 6 one cup servings at 294 calories, 2.3g fiber, 29.5g protein, and 20.5g carbs.

Curry Chicken salad:

4 cups- diced chicken

1 cup- dried cranberries

1 cup- walnuts

1 TBSP- sesame seeds

1 TBSP- poppy seeds

½ cup- plain low-fat yogurt

4 TBSP- low fat sour cream

1 TBSP-curry powder

1TBSP- steak seasoning(includes salt, pepper, and a variety of other spices)

Fresh Chives (optional- as much or as little as you like

Place walnuts in a pan and toast them on medium heat, after about 2 minutes add the sesame and poppy seeds.  Toasting brings out the flavor and smokiness of the nuts.  When the nuts become fragrant (about 5 minutes) remove from heat.

In a small bowl mix yogurt, sour cream, curry, and steak seasoning.

Place chicken, cranberries, nuts, chives in a large bowl. Stir in yogurt mixture and add chives if you choose.  Place in the refrigerator for 20-30 to chill and allow the flavors to come together.

Serve on whole wheat toast or on a bed of salad greens 

Money saving tip: Purchase a large Turkey when on sale and roast up however you like (Cook 20 minutes per pound at 350).  Have the turkey for dinner then dice/chop the remaining meat and place 4 cups in freezer bags for use in soups, casseroles, and other things later on.  This will save you time and money in the future.

Sprout One: the beginning

For years my mom has been encouraging me to share my ideas and the things I am passionate about.  I’m a tip junkie and love sharing these hints that I have discovered.    Most of the things I’m interested in can be wrapped up in four words: Temple - based on the biblical concept that your body is a Temple, this area to me includes fitness and food.  Travel – My husband  and I spend a lot of time traveling and on a tight budget.  Talent -  the things that you enjoy doing.  For me this is DIY projects, decorating, party and event planning, and arts and crafts.  Treasure - I teach personal finance. This area includes consumer research and wisely using the resources you have to accomplish your goals.

Back to mom’s encouragement; until recently I was not aware of a way to share my ideas.  I had seen blogs, but they were awesome; why would anyone want to read mine.  I have two friends, one from college and one from high school, who have what I would consider to be amazing blogs.  Although they are an inspiration I could never produce anything that neat (52 projects and Probably Actually).  Both of these amazing ladies have done a recent series of postings on DYI and to-do list projects, Project 25/25 and 52 Projects based on one project each week of the year.  Now both these women are very artistic and creative.  Although I do not have the artistic talent displayed by Laura and Rachel, I was inspired by them.  Each summer I make a huge project list and accomplish about 2 or 3 things on the list.  So about 2 months ago I decided that I should create a blog, but alas it was part of that to-do list that never gets accomplished, so this blog is project 1 of 10, my husband thinks I should call them Sprouts.  My goal is to post 10 accomplished summer project over the next 8 weeks.

Once this series of projects is completed I hope to continue blogging about the areas that I am passionate about.  This is based on a book I recently read by Elizabeth George, where she suggested that every woman has “fat files.”  The idea is that you have areas you have studied and are passionate about that you can use to encourage and assist others in your life.

To Clarify I’m not a gardener, just think Sours Patch is a cute name.