Saile Christmas : divine intervention & surprises

This year because of Christmas falling on a Tuesday and limited days off work, we celebrated with my family the weekend after.  Originally, we were going to do our Christmas Eve traditions on Friday and then Christmas day on Saturday, but that changed when Zack got his job and would be leaving with my dad to drive to L.A. on Saturday morning.  We geared up to squeeze it all into Friday night once we all got to my parents' house after work that evening.  However, due to car issues, Zack ended up flying out on Sunday afternoon, so we got our weekend-long Christmas after all!

Friday night we ate our roast beast (mom always called it that, like in The Grinch!) dinner complete with figgy pudding (yes, she actually makes the stuff mentioned in the song We Wish You a Merry Christmas - it's more like a bread cake).

Saturday morning we got up and did our stockings, then had the traditional giant homemade cinnamon rolls.  This year mom added a full breakfast of eggs, sausage, and bacon to the mix because we weren't eating until later in the day.  We then opened presents with Christmas music playing the background, and it snowed all day long (making it seem like Saturday should have been the actual Christmas day!).

The biggest surprise of the weekend was when my mom told me that a bunch of my extended relatives from both sides of the family were coming down for the afternoon/evening to have dinner.  What a wonderful surprise to get to see them all and celebrate together!  My grandpa Grower, grandma Saile, two uncles, aunt, and two cousins drove through the snow to visit.  We had a feast complete with ham, scalloped potatoes, rolls, veggie casserole, and fruit salad, all wonderfully homemade by mom.

After dinner we enjoyed playing games and catching up, and it was a treat to have dad home and off for the weekend.  The whole weekend was full of tons of food, games, and relaxing with family.

Sunday morning after attending church together, the five of us drove to the airport.  We watched Zack through security before giving a final wave goodbye.  It was sad to see him go, but so exciting for him to start his new job.  And, I am so thankful that by Zack's car acting up, God showed us that He agreed we all needed the full weekend together :)

our current state of existence

This is what our apartment looks like right now:

There are packed boxes in almost every room of the house.

Most of our things are in those boxes, so we are living out of our closets and on paper plates/cups.

(Thanks again to my mother- and sister-in-laws for packing our kitchen for us!

It was one room I didn't think I could handle.)

And if you know me at all, this means that I feel completely discombobulated and stressed.

I am even more excited to move and unpack into our new home.

Counting the days and anxiously awaiting a closing date!

happy snowstorm everyone!

Col deciding how to start un-burying our cars :) 

We can't complain, it's 12/27 and this is our largest snowfall so far this year.  It was actually kind of fun (and it's so pretty!) to get an early morning workout and dig out with Col this morning (and no, I don't think I'll like doing this on a daily basis once we have our own driveway to clean out). 

I'm very thankful for having my grandpa's car this week, because my little Sookie Suzuki would not have made it through the deep snow very easily since it's so light.  So hooray for big ol' boat car.  I plowed out in no time!

Happy winter everyone! 

Merry Christmas from the Leathersich's!

Merry Christmas to us!

Col and I received a very happy Christmas gift today: the arrival of our commitment letter for our mortgage!

So many steps closer and closing is in a couple weeks.  Can't wait! :)

Breaking News!!

My brother is awesome!!  My mom called today and filled me in on a change of plans for our family's Christmas celebration coming up this weekend.  The change was that we'd have to squeeze our time into just Friday night because...

my brother got his dream job!! 

Even though he recently moved back from a couple years in L.A. to NYC this past year, he will be relocating back to L.A. on Saturday.  He had an interview and was hired by CBS to be a videographer/video editor, which is what he loves to do.  This time in L.A. will be so different for him because he'll have a steady, contract, full-time job.  Even though I'm sad that he'll once again be farther away, and that we will have to cut our Christmas short since he and my dad are driving out there Saturday morning, I couldn't be more proud of all his hard work.  Zack, this opportunity is amazing and I'm so happy to share in the news with you (and obviously brag about you a little).  It's just another excuse to visit California since we didn't get to last time.  I love you bro!!

P.S. I'm totally pulling for you to eventually get a job as a cameraman on The Amazing Race, so once you find out who to speak with, I could put in a sisterly good word for you ;)

"See you later," not, "Goodbye"

My friend whom I've known since Kindergarten is pursuing her dream and moving to Nashville in the coming week.  It's so hard and so scary to put yourself out there and jump into the unknown (I was similarly petrified when I moved to Spain for 5 months to study abroad), but I couldn't be prouder of her for taking the risk.  Saturday we got to spend the afternoon together in our hometown exchanging Christmas gifts, making truffles, and getting smoothies from this tiny coffee shack.

Her impending move made me remember how I felt when I left for Spain as a 20 year old college student.  I had my freak outs, bawled my eyes out saying goodbye to family and friends, and thought more than once, "What the heck am I doing?!"  However, that 5 months was so much more than I could have ever imagined and all my fear and tears were worth what I gained while there.  At the end of my journal from that time, I wrote these lyrics from Superchick's song Suddenly:

"And suddenly it isn't what it used to be,
And after all this time it worked out just fine.
And suddenly I am where I'm supposed to be.
And after all the tears, I was supposed to be here."

Isn't it funny how God knows what's best for you even when it feels like the worst idea ever?  Even when things don't turn out the way we imagine them, He stretches us, grows us, and shows us His love all along the way.  I am praying that the same will be true of Deanna's quest to Nashville.  As I wrote in her Christmas card, "Go get famous!"  I love you friend!

i L.O.V.E. coming home to this

we interrupt this busy season with a long overdue blog update

December has always been a busy month with Christmas and holiday celebrations, not to mention both the birthdays of my brother and I.  This year has been no exception plus add in the fact that we are buying a house and closing in early January.

Thankfully I've had time to enjoy the season and therefore my blog has suffered a little.  Here are some highlights:

-yearly holiday brunch with friends

-Deanna's going away party

-babysitting 3 precious babes over the course of a couple days

(nothing better than a baby falling asleep in your arms!)

-birthday dinner with my in-law family

-cookie swap with work ladies (we each had to make 96!!)

-dessert with Rach for my birthday
-my car looking like new after 10 days worth of repairs thanks to the hit and run before Thanksgiving
(and a small rust spot from another incident being repaired for free!!)

-holiday breakfast with tons of yummy food and a funny white elephant gift exchange at work

-first legit snowfall of the year, 12/21/12



on this, the day of my birth

I was born 26 years ago at 5pm.  I came out screaming and starving; barrel-chested with huge round cheeks.

I wasn't screaming my arrival this year, but I'm so thankful to celebrate another birthday.  Most of the day was spent at work, but I was spoiled by gifts, lunch, cake, and everyone's favorite song, Happy Birthday.  Afterwards I enjoyed chai with my most wonderful, cute pregnant roomie.  Once Col got out of work we headed over to Label 7 for dinner to redeem a Groupon, and it was so so good.  We stopped at Wendy's on the way home to grab free Frosty's as dessert with some coupons that we had, and topped the evening off by watching Parenthood (which, by the way, was a heart wrenching episode!).  And this is not to mention the extended celebrations with friends and family before today and planned for after.

Once again I am blown away by the amazing people that God has blessed my life with.  Blame it on just watching It's a Wonderful Life, but the famous line from it is so true, "Remember George, no man is a failure who has friends," and I'd like to add family to that too.

Life is short, and we've been reminded of that once again recently.  So this year, more than ever, I want to remember and be thankful for the blessings that God has given, especially in the form of relationships. 

And so, thank you to each and every person who shared in my birthday by wishing me a happy one.  You are all dearly loved and appreciated!  Here's to 26!

good things

-a night of volunteering with small group
-having our upstairs neighbors over for a fun evening of dinner and games
-dinner with small group girls
-decorating the tree and front porch with hubby
-seeing old church/Batavia friends, despite difficult circumstances
-2nd annual soup and sweats party with small group
-Christmas music and movies

visit to Geva

For my birthday this year mom and dad took us to see A Christmas Carol at Geva.  I've always wanted to go there, and it was great!  Afterwards, we drove by our new house to show it to them and enjoyed dinner at Napa Wood Fired Pizzeria.  Thanks mom and dad!

Q Christmas Party

All dressed up with a work Christmas party to go to.

  

We compromised events tonight and not only enjoyed the party 

but caught half of the Knighthawks exhibition game too.

mini birthday party

homemade crunchwrap supremes

delicious mini chocolate cake

Thanks to Deanna for throwing me my own two-person birthday party! So glad to have a fun afternoon with you before you move. Love ya! :)

time to get the Christmas tree!

my hubby is the best and cut down our tree for me this year; a first for him!

we went in the pouring rain, but still had fun

we got a clearance tree, which was cheaper and is bigger than last year's!

Happy 24th birthday, little bro!

*winter wonderland open house*

Today we held our last get together at our apartment.  We had a "winter wonderland" theme, and I tried to make all white foods (which half worked and was tasty nonetheless).  We had a great time with everyone and even were able to enjoy a little of the South Wedge holiday fest.  Thanks everyone who celebrated our last in the apartment!

a little Christmas cheer at work

the 14-feet-tall tree at work that my co-workers and I decorated :)

[and you know I've already replaced the regular Muzak CD with the holiday one]

THE REAL DEAL!

We happened to be in the neighborhood and mapping out new ways to work, so we drove by our house last night.  I absolutely HAD to stop when I saw this had gone up!

(I know there was some confusion about my last sale pending picture, so let me assure you, this one is most definitely planted in our soon-to-be front yard!)

Happy Thanksgiving 2012

So much to be thankful for this year, and every day.

Here are some of my traditional favorites:

-watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade

-and consequently the dog show that's always on afterwards

-eating turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, squash

-spending the day with family

And a few new ones this year:

-spending most of the day at home getting long-neglected things done around the apartment

-waking hubby up with chocolate chip pancakes

-receiving a picture text from my brother of the Kermit balloon live from the parade
-enjoying the evening with 42 family members from the Leathersich clan

(side note: I'm still slightly upset at myself for not trying the deep fried turkey option)

The night ended perfectly when as I was getting ready for bed my husband asked from the living room if I could stay up for another half an hour to cuddle on the couch and...he paused until I came in and said, "We haven't watched this yet," and pulled out Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving.  If anyone knows him and knows me, this was huge!  I LOVE, or perhaps am obsessed, with watching holiday movies and he is a little, or a lot, less enthused.  So thank you Col!

Friday to Sunday we got to spend at my parents' where we ate even more, had another T-day dinner on Saturday, played tons of games, watched movies, and enjoyed the first full snowfall.

And true to form, I carried my camera around with me all day and all weekend and didn't take a.single.picture.  I really have to get better at this.

apartment vs. house addendum

reason #1 why I'm glad we found a house : driveway parking

my car was brutally side-swiped this morning between when Col left for work at 7a and when I left at 8a.  not only did I look out the window to find that my driver's side mirror was helplessly lying in the street feet from the car, but the entire side of the car is scraped up.  I will have to have all three panels of the car fixed.

[let's just say I was not a very happy girl this morning...or now for that matter]

however, in the spirit of Thanksgiving:
-I'm thankful for a very nice police officer who came to my work and wrote up the report
   (especially thankful he didn't remind me that I shouldn't be driving without a mirror)
-I'm thankful for a super awesome and helpful insurance agent
-I'm thankful for the very kind lady at the collision place
-I'm thankful for my hubby for taking it to get an estimate this afternoon
-I'm thankful for my parents and friends who have been sympathetic and offering help
-I'm thankful that I forgot we switched insurance companies this past year and that my deductible is half of what it used to be

2 more months people, then it's G.O.O.D.B.Y.E. to on-street parking nightmares!
            
[including the every night alternate parking hassles and
             the five parking tickets that we've received since living here]

The Owl House

Thanks to a gift card from my W&B friends given to me when I left, Col and I finally got to go try out a new place near us, The Owl House.  They specialize in fresh, local, and also vegan/vegetarian food, and it was sooooo good!  It was in a small house-setting with low-light which made for a great date atmosphere too.

We started with their Cigarillos which were fried and filled with buffalo spiced chicken and cheddar cheese, then served with bleu cheese.  Delish!  I had the Matty's Moustache sandwich (pictured below) for my entree and that was too good not to take a picture.  Brie, apple, pear, arugula, and dijon on grilled sourdough.  Yum. 

WOOT WOOT!

When Col texted me that our house listing online finally said this, it was all I could do not to shout out at work.  I am soo excited!!  Almost there!

steps toward home-ownership: part V

I'm excited to announce that Col and I have bought our first house!

The process has seemed long, though I know relatively speaking it hasn't been.  When you add in the 10 months of our First Time Home Club, we've been on this journey in some form or another since December 2011 and will conclude in January 2013.  However, let's be honest, there are getting to be too many posts about this, and I don't want to have to look up any higher Roman numerals ;)

It went like this:

• A couple weeks ago I saw a beautiful house online that was just listed.  I sent it to Col and we contacted our new realtor to get an appointment to see it ASAP.
• Two days later, Thursday evening 11/1, we were able to see the house and meet our new realtor.  Before we had even gone all the way through it, I looked over at Col and knew this was the one!  He looked deliriously happy.  We had been waiting for our "wow" house, and this was it!
• Friday 11/2 we met with our realtor and signed all the paperwork to make our offer.
• Saturday 11/3, we still hadn't heard anything and our 24 hour deadline had passed.  Word from our realtor was that the seller's realtor couldn't get a hold of the seller.  We graciously extended the offer until later that evening since she supposedly didn't know anything about it yet.
• Saturday evening they counter offer, naturally, but barely lower the price.
• I have an emotional breakdown.  Apologies, but they do happen sometimes.  I was exhausted from the process, stressed about finances, and thinking way too much about all our other plans in life and how they would be affected if we did or didn't get this house.  I was forgetting that I had already crunched and re-crunched the numbers and that we were still being smart and good stewards.
• After lots of prayer and support from dear hubby who puts up with anal, over-thinking, over-practical me, and family and friends, we unanimously decide to accept the offer because we don't want this one getting away!
• Sunday morning 11/4 after church we met in a parking lot and signed the acceptance.  It goes into the realtor/seller an hour before their open house.
• Col and I attended the open house and nervously watched as lots of people go through.  We were also very frustrated with some other issues during the whole ordeal, however, we'll keep those out of cyberspace for now because I do not want to jeopardize this in any way!
• Monday 11/5 the attorneys received the offer paperwork and it's a go!
• Wednesday 11/7 we went to the bank and officially applied for our mortgage.
• Thursday 11/8 our inspection was done.
• Saturday 11/10 we met with our realtor to submit what needs to be done before we close.

Once we found this house, it was ours in about a week!  Now we wait for the bank/attorneys to do their part.  Closing is set for early January!  Hooray!

happy, warm, good happenings

Phew!  We've been "bu-sy, bu-sy, bu-sy" (name that movie!!) with house stuff.  Update on that to come very soon :)

In the meantime, how awesome was today?

• 70 degree temps.  Yes, on November 11th!
• volunteering in the bookstore at church
• watching my niece hold the church doors open for everyone who went through
• shopping with my mother- and sister-in-laws and treating myself to my first pair of leggings
• walk to a neighbor's moving sale: we scored a Land's End jacket and brand new deck of Phase 10 for $1.25
• sitting on our porch drinking smoothies
• Yolickity's ice cream
• the Amazing Race

Other good things sprinkled in over the last two weeks:

• dinner and Gilmores with roomie
• movies 10 and lunch with friends
• watching Col play volleyball again at a friend's birthday party
• worship and celebrating with friends becoming members at church
• late night McFlurry's with friends
• lunch at Red Robin (yum!) with Esh's
• work girls' night

So who else is hoping for a winter full of 60-70 degree days?! :)

Happy Halloween 2012!

we made these mummies (a.k.a. pigs in a blanket but festive Halloween style) for small group :)

good things

-meeting/sharing meals with some very awesome families

-fall pedi with Deanna

-Leathersich extended fam gathering

-small group girls' dinner

-fancy [free] dinner out to Pane Vino w/ Col thanks to a gift groupon

-lazy Friday night at home with hubby watching Hocus Pocus and Friends

-Saturday night spontaneous fun with friends

-bridal show with Rach

-rainy night in with hubby baking chocolate chip cookies and cuddling during a "scary" movie

steps toward home-ownership: part IV

I'm a terrible blogger.  I've been MIA for 10 days!

Here's an update on our house process:
Last week we experienced a new stage in our home buying process.  On Saturday 10/20 we had an appointment to see a house (we'll call it house A) that I wasn't all that impressed with online.  When we walked through it though, it was so much better in person, which is the opposite of what usually happens. 

Sunday we went to the open house and showed all of our parents that house and another (let's say house B) that we had seen previously.

Sunday afternoon/evening Col and I debated about putting in an offer on house B, and had put house A in the back of our minds as there was another offer on it.

Monday morning we decided not to put an offer on house B.  House A's realtor called our realtor and basically encouraged us to put in an offer if we were interested.  After a few phone calls and a lot of talking/thinking, Col and I decided to put an offer on house A.

Tuesday night we met with our realtor to sign all the paperwork for the offer.  Closing date of Dec. 28th if this goes through!

Wednesday morning the offer was submitted, with an expiration of 10am on Thursday.

We wait.  Wednesday evening our realtor calls and says that the seller wants to "sleep on it."

Thursday at 10am we receive a counter offer.

Thursday evening, we counter back.

Friday morning we receive word that the seller is not accepting, which for us means that we are done with house A.  We know this means that it's not meant to be and are already resuming our search.  However, house hunting/offering is exhausting!  So we'll see what is in store for us next!

apartment vs. house

reason #36 to find our own house a.s.a.p. : coming home after being gone from 8am-10pm to find that someone has been in the apartment.  after further investigation, we came to the conclusion that it was the landlord.  however, we aren't too fond of having someone in our apartment without being given any notice, whether he/she owns it or not.

[thank goodness it was decently clean]

maybe this should be higher on the list, perhaps reason #3?

My husband laughs at my OCD-ness, but the fact that from the moment I stepped up to the front door I knew someone had been there comes in handy in situations like these.  a few more clues were found inside as well.  anyways, I can't help it if I can tell that something has been moved touched.  I think Col has been unknowingly trained by me as well, because he actually noticed that something (the broken piece of our stove) was missing.

positive outcome of all this?  I'm pretty sure our dryer is new.

did he really just tell me that?

I had my regular dental cleaning this morning.  I'm a freak and actually don't mind going to the dentist because I love the super clean feeling that I leave with and I've never had any dental problems. 

Today took away a little of that dentist joy because I left with my FIRST EVER cavity, and not only one, but TWO.  How did this happen, people?!  I've never had a filling, cap, surgery, procedure, chip, hole, anything.

(other than braces, but that doesn't count in this scenario because that wasn't the dentist, it was the orthodontist)

I don't think anyone understands how much I enjoyed always getting to say that I had never had a cavity.  When I exclaimed my dismay, the dentist thought I was worried about the actual pain of filling them, when in fact I was in shock at having to say goodbye to my dental work-free mouth.

Goodbye happy, healthy, no-cavity mouth, it was nice knowing you while it lasted!

love.love.love

I'm SO excited for my friends right now!

-one of my friends from home asked me to be her matron of honor
-one of my friends from college just got engaged
-my roomie is pregnant with her first child and I already love the little bugger

-bonus: Col got a full-time job


Life is full of blessings, and I'm so happy to get to enjoy them with my friends (and hubby)!

refresh, then start all over again

Enjoyed dinner with my parents, gma, aunt, and cousin on Friday night.  We finally got to catch mom and dad up on house hunting and all the millions of things going on in our lives lately.

Basked in my first ever stay-in-your-pj's lazy Saturday morning since quitting W&B.

Met with our realtor for two hours and came up with a game plan.

Attended a Young Life reunion, where hubby got to catch up with some old friends.

Loved an early Christmas present from Col's parents - dinner and Mary Poppins!

Shadowed children's ministry at church.

Went to multiple open houses.

Caught up with newly engaged Katie and Aaron!

Did loads of laundry and then had to spread it out around the house since our dryer is broken again (third time this year, ugh).

Had a game night with our upstairs neighbors!

Monday, here I come...

desk re-do

When Col and I inherited this desk from his parents to move into our apartment when we got married, we decided that we would re-do it over the summer.  Well, one summer and almost this next one went by and we hadn't touched it.  However, thanks to Col's initiative one afternoon, we squeezed the project in before it got too cold to work on it outside.  We've done smaller DIY projects together before (our unity candle for our wedding being one of the best), but for our first larger/furniture project, I'd say it turned out pretty darn good!

the desk was painted white, which underneath had a black lacquer, and then a blonde veneer

underneath all three layers was a pretty reddish wood

chipping away for hours at the paint

and yes, we did some of this inside

after our kind neighbor lent us his heat gun, our paint chipping and sanding time was greatly decreased

 this is after a couple layers of polyurethane

final product! (last step: find new handles)

{ keeping s.a.n.e. }

thank goodness for complete surprises delivered at the exact moment they are needed

steps toward home-ownership: part III

Tuesday marked our meeting with the bank for pre-approval!  Although we were a little disappointed because all we did was hand in our final paperwork (we thought they would at least give us an estimated range to work with), it was given to the underwriter to look over, so at least when we receive it we'll get our official amount.  The rest of the day and this morning we waited eagerly to hear back.  Col had to send something else in, and when he did he received an out-of-office reply.  We wanted to know, so he called the other employee that was listed to contact and he said he had gotten everything yesterday afternoon!

Since I was at work, when Col got the email I called him so that he could read it and we'd find out together.  We are pleased and have already narrowed down our choices within the price range!  Our realtor is on-board, we're meeting with him on Saturday, and probably seeing some more houses on Sunday.  Home-ownership, here we come!! :)

social weekend

Eileen came from New Hampshire to visit us this weekend.  Friday we had a game night and Saturday we traveled to Syracuse to visit Katie at her new apartment.  We went to the Apple Fest, a haunted house at Aaron's family's campground, and of course ate a ton.

It's always fun to get the old college crew back together, and it was the perfect overnight trip!

A dinner out with family to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday was the perfect cap to our fun weekend.  It was so relaxing to eat great food, sit by the fire, talk about life, houses, and babies with my mother- and sister-in-laws, play, laugh, and dance with my niece (can not WAIT for our next niece or nephew!). 

Life is good.

good things

-my niece's 3rd birthday party at Bounce-It-Out (only downfall: I'm too old to play)
-working part of the Fringe Festival for W&B
-continued work on re-doing our desk
-welcoming a new baby in small group with a meal
-catch up time with Teenie
-hibachi with family after a terrible.horrible.no.good.very.bad.day at work
-being cheered up by my favorite 3 year old
-dog sitting (and getting our fill of cable, namely HGTV)
-driving around to find a strong signal on Col's phone in order to make sure we can redeem our free pizza

[whoa, October!]

-watching Dancing with the Stars with Deanna
-hubby chatting with me this morning while I was getting ready for work even though he could have been sleeping (I did wake him up first...but it was for a good reason!)

kayaking

Col and I cashed in on a Living Social deal that I had bought for him at the beginning of the summer: kayaking!  He really enjoys it so I thought it would be a fun activity to do together, only minutes from our home.  It was a little cooler out and we did get rained on a few times, but we had so much fun in our tandem kayak. 

We explored part of the Genesee River, Erie Canal, and a swampy channel that wound through a residential area.  We were a little sore by the end of our trip (we were out there for 3 1/2 hours), but it was worth it.  We carbed back up that evening with garbage plates and relaxed watching the Amazing Race (yay, it's back on!).  Perfect fall activity!

steps toward home-ownership: part II

I am happy to say that Col and I have completed the 10-month savings portion of our first time home buyer's program!  We started in December 2011 and September 2012 was our last month. 

Our final step before being qualified was to take an 8-hour home buyer's class, which we did today.  At first we were dreading it a little (come on, 8 hours on a Saturday?), but it was great!  Our instructor was awesome, and we weren't bored at all [it also may have helped a little getting out at 2pm instead of 4:30pm ;)]!  We learned a lot of details that will be helpful for buying a house and got to hear from a home inspector, attorney, and insurance agent.  The information we learned got us super excited because our program is designed to have us pre-approved ready, and we now are.

Next step: meet with our bank to get pre-approved, then find a house!

We seriously got into our car at the end of the class and gave each other a high five.  There may have been people standing outside in the parking lot.  Yeah, we're cool like that.

fiddlin'

We had the opportunity to see my cousin in concert tonight for our first time!  They played a block from our apartment at the German House and my parents, aunt, uncle, grandpa, and long-time family friend came up to go with us.  We haven't seen him in a long time because he's busy touring and being awesome, so it was great to see him again and hear him play.  He is seriously AMAZING and it was so much fun to be there!

Check out his bio here.

And he has his own album.

So proud to say he's my cousin! :)

encouraging songs: "Even If" by Kutless

I heard this song on the radio the other day for the first time and was struck by how perfect it is to our situation and how I feel.  I was trying to remember a line from it so I could look it up, but once I got home was distracted by dinner, baking, and going to small group.  Thankfully, I was able to search and finally find it again!

Even If
by: Kutless

Sometimes all we have to hold on to 
Is what we know is true 
Of who You are 
So when the heartache hits like a hurricane 
That can never change who You are 
And we trust in who You are

Even if the healing doesn't come 
And life falls apart 
And dreams are still undone 
You are God You are good 
Forever faithful One 
Even if the healing 
Even if the healing doesn't come

Lord we know Your ways are not our ways 
So we set our faith in who You are 
And even though You reign high above us 
You tenderly love us 
We know Your heart 
We rest in who You are

Even if the healing doesn't come 
And life falls apart 
And dreams are still undone 
You are God You are good 
Forever faithful One 
Even if the healing 
Even if the healing doesn't come  

You're still the Great and Mighty One 
We trust You always 
You're working all things for our good 
We'll sing your praise 

Even if the healing doesn't come 
And life falls apart 
And dreams are still undone 
You are God You are good 
Forever faithful One 
Even if the healing 
Even if the healing doesn't come  

You are God and we will bless You 
As the Good and Faithful One 
You are God and we will bless You 
Even if the healing doesn't come 
Even if the healing doesn't come

this is paradise

Nothing like checking off the last of my summer activities in mid-September. 

Yesterday = boat ride.  Tonight = tubing!