Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it's all right

I've had a decently busy last week or so. I've been in Cleburne all last week and will be for the remainder of this week before going back to training in Dallas next week. I've been busy copying files (as we now use the term of endearment in our house, "Copy Girl") for case mediations and adoptions, been to placement visits, taken sweet kiddos to get immunized, and get to go to mediation today on a case where a father learns that his kids won't be coming home to him. I'm not sure how I feel about all that. It's crazy to think I'm walking in a room, the same room as this father, although I'm walking out having learned a process of my job, and he walks out learning his kids aren't coming back. But, it is what it is, and I can't allow myself to delve into that any more than that. We're also moving into a new office Thursday, where I'll have my own office and all that jazz! Moving's never a smooth process and by the looks of what's been going on around here, that notion is pretty dead-on.

Brandon and I were able to have some down-time last week, which was such a blessing for us! We really enjoyed being able to just talk about some things and really lay them out. It's so nice when you're able to run with an idea. We also found out Friday that our dear friends Chris and Kristin are expecting! We're so excited for them, they're going to be such amazing parents. I have to laugh when I see how I'm surrounded by so many pregnant women, both in my personal life as well as professional (there were seven women pregnant in my office when I started), but it's so neat to see the miracle of life all around you! I know that will be such a blessing to Brandon and me when we start having a family of our own later on.

This weekend we went to Temple to see our wonderful friends, Adam and Alisha and their two sweet boys. It was so much fun to be able to hang around and visit, as we were able to stay the night this time. Our visit consisted of playing in a corn field to playing cards, going to a wonderful Bible class and worship service and having some fantastic Mexican food, with all kinds of random fun in between. It was relaxing for us, and we enjoyed it so much.

I've been really debating so many things right now that are going on in my and Brandon's personal life. We have so many decisions and choices in front of us and we're really seeking out what God's plan is for our family. It's hard to know that no choice is 100% win and that in any we will miss out on something, but we know in the end, our goal is to do what pleases God and what is best for our relationship. I wish I could go into details, but at this point, I really can't, but please be praying for us as we continue to seek counsel in each other and in our Father. We're hoping to make a decision soon so we can move forward with life.

I guess maybe that's why I feel some sense of tension. I know it'll be alright, I'm assured of that, it's just coming to that end that can be nerve-racking sometime. But I know that each morning, when I see that sun a comin', that everything is alright.

1 Day Total Is...

$10.84. I know, I went over 84 cents, but Brandon just laughed when I told him how sorry I was. He said as long as I stayed under a dollar, we're good. :) Dinner tonight was southwest chicken and broccoli and cheese bake. Tomorrow is chicken and veggie pasta. This is fun!

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

Ok, so the title really has nothing to do with anything I'm writing about. Truth be told, Brandon and I were just sitting here bouncing off catchy titles for this blog post and he mentioned trains of some sort and behold, the title came to me. This week seemed so long for both Brandon and me for some odd reason. I went to training in Arlington all week, which can sometimes make it seem long, but the days just seemed to go by so slowly. However, this week was wonderful and brought much good conversation.

Brandon and I have been going over our plan for the next several weeks, and we're realizing what a wonderful opportunity this is to really experience humility. I don't think I always realize what a luxury it is to have the opportunity to go out to eat or grab a coffee if I so choose and how tempting it is to go when others are all going! I really experienced this at work this week when we would break for lunch. Everyone would go out to get something to eat and I would be the sole person left in the room, going to grab and heat up my lunch that I brought from home. It amazed me and humbled me by how tempted I was at first to just leave my lunch in the fridge and go get something as well. It wasn't even that I needed it or even really wanted it, just knowing that everyone else was bringing in food and that I knew we could financially, was a force by Satan I didn't quite expect. I was figuring out the menu and grocery list for next week and I am so excited to try some new recipes! This is going to be such a wonderful journey for us to experience together. We talked earlier this week about how blessed we are by what all we have and how so many (including us at times) feel living on ten dollars a week for groceries is insane, but we then realize how much of the rest of the world lives on less than a dollar a day. It really starts to put things into perspective when you look at it that way.

Well, here are some fun pictures from the past week showing a little of what's been going on at the Lehrmann household, enjoy!

Brandon in his spot at home.

Yummy mandarin orange cake!

Some of what we have to work with.

Some more. (Yes, lots of tuna thanks to Memaw and Pepaw!)

They're too sweet and supply us with so much. :)

Some baking goods.

Brandon playing his game.

Ha, our sweet Annie. She never looks at the camera! This is a treat!

The sweet guy, Huck.

These are the books our family has been reading this week!

Well, I've read the first two in the line, Brandon's read them all.

Some of the work I've been doing regarding our meals.

GREAT book if you ever know someone who's in true need.

Looking for an edger!

Fridge, anyone?

Our Annie brought this into the house...we couldn't

believe we actually had a butterfly in our home. It was so beautiful.

Different paint colors with tile.

The sister with the pups after spending the weekend with us.

Let the Countdown begin!

Brandon and I are starting something today. We've finished our book, "The Shrewd Christian" and have jointly decided to try an exercise mentioned in the book, "100 Days to Shrewdness." For us, it will mean going back to our Denton days of spending $10 (that's right, ten) on groceries a week for the next three months and not eating out at all. It also means cutting out all higher priced entertainment. Also writing down every expense for the first 40 days to see where our money is really going. Oh, and no shopping for moi. :) We're so excited! This is allowing us the ability to save some extra money to put towards a higher payment for things we are still paying off and focus to direct towards activities that don't cost money. It also gives me the opportunity to really get creative in the kitchen! This is something we are going in with a prayerful heart on and the hope of having a better appreciation for all the extras we have in life. Who knows, Brandon said we might implement a lot of this into our regular routine. We'll also start paying things off much faster, which is so exciting! Not that we have very many things to pay off, but we do have both our cars and my student loan. According to my sweet husband's calculations, we will be completely debt-free in about a year and a half...yay!

So please pray for us as we start our journey...100 days to shrewdness! :)

Feeling full...

No, I'm not feeling full from food...ok, that's a lie, I am. We ate at Cotton Patch tonight to celebrate Meme's birthday, and yes, I'm full. Still. But it was SO very good. And always nice to see everyone. Although I was unsure as to how the night would end, as Meme almost had a heart attack when the servers came out singing "Happy Birthday" to her. But she managed. She's tough. :)

Michelle surprised us yesterday by seeing if she could come down and spend the weekend with us. It's a change from how things usually go, as she's usually very opposed to coming down at all, but after sorting things out (i.e. I had to go to Cedar Hill twice yesterday to pick-up/take back a child for a visit and had no idea when I would get back to then go up to Denton), she had a friend bring her down. After cooking a dinner of tortellini with ground turkey and mushrooms (yum) and double chocolate cookies for dessert, we all just relaxed and enjoyed the quiet of our Friday evening. I love nights where you don't have anything in particular to do or anywhere in particular to be. I read for awhile, showed my sister some plans I had done for some renovating we're planning around our place, and watched a little TV with my sister and husband before falling asleep. A nice Friday evening.

This morning I woke up about 8 (oh how nice to sleep until 8!) and made some homemade whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes for everyone. We sat around, eating and discussing the day, which included a planned trip to IKEA for some ideas on renovations. We got dressed and left about 10 and didn't get there until 11:30 or so...I had no idea it took that long to get there! But it was fun to get some reading done and just enjoy being in loved ones company. When we got to IKEA, Brandon and I had already formulated a plan for what we were looking for and we found some great stuff along with some fantastic ideas for items we can make ourselves! Michelle had never been there, so she was just in shock of so much stuff in one place. We know the feeling. This was only our second time there.

And yes, this all brings me to my original point in the title. Brandon and I have been reading this book called "The Shrewd Christian." Wait. It's not a negative thing. (or maybe you didn't think that, but I sure did when I heard the title at first) It's this WONDERFUL book that talks about money and how to get the most out of life while spending the least. It has brought such a wonderful perspective on money to our lives! It focuses so much on the fact that how you spend is important. Jesus spoke on money quite a bit, as well as the fact that money and how it should be handled is spoke on more than just about any other topic in the Bible. I won't go into all the details of the book, but I strongly recommend reading it. It speaks of ways to live frugally (in monetary terms) while becoming debt-free (VERY important!) and truly enjoying life. We recently decided to stay where we live currently for a few more years as a result of studying the differences, benefits, etc. and are now looking at renovating our place to make it feel more homey and more like ours. But we're also seeing how many things we can do ourselves, and how having projects to do together is such a benefit to our marriage as well as to our checkbook! We've been talking and praying so much this week and it has just been such a blessing to see how our view of things is shifting. We're realizing what we want will not be completed in a day, but that it will be a process, but it is one we are both commiting to see through.

Well, my body's needing its rest and I have to wake up early to make breakfast, so I better sign off, but please keep our plans and the plans God's laying down for us in your prayers. Oh, and please pray for my sister, Michelle. While that issue is too much (to write and emotionally) to get into here, just know I ask for prayers for her and prayers for Brandon and me in relation to her.

Night!

New York, New York...

Whew! What a crazy couple weeks we've had here at the Lehrmann household! But really, how I've been seeing God working hard in my life as well, and that's something I've been really praying for/about.

I've been having training for my job still, with one week in Cleburne, one week in Arlington, and then this week I'm in Cleburne, all set to go back to Arlington next week. It hasn't been the most fun, commuting back and forth, especially when I so want to have dinner ready for Brandon when he gets home, but he's been so good about waiting (especially since when I'm in Arlington, I don't get home until after he's been home for an hour). Fortunately, training's over come the end of September, so just a couple more months and I'll be in one place!

My sister Michelle got into a wreck a week and a half ago, so we've been consoling and give her guidance as to how to deal with this situation since then. It's been difficult to not mother her through this situation, but as Brandon reminds me, I have to set boundaries as far as roles go with her and me and with her and us (Brandon and me). But thankfully, she seems as if she's managing things, so thankfully (and prayerfully!), this situation will soon resolve itself.

My sister-in-law Lindsey took off for the Big Apple yesterday and we are so excited for her! She came home last Thursday night and from Friday to Monday, we spent every evening over there, enjoying the moments we could with her. Sunday evening, the whole family threw her an amazing Tony/Oscar party, complete with the red carpet and all and it was so awesome to have everyone together, all sending wishes of hope for Lindsey. And the gifts! They were too cute! My mother-in-law had said to get her gag-gift-type presents and I had such a field day picking out fun (yet some practical) gifts for her. We got her a toy gun (for protection!), a pedometer (her own personal trainer), hand sanitizer (after riding those subways all day!), a cool lava lamp nightlight (as a security system), a jar of cherries (her first groceries- and she loves them anyway), and much, much more including a wooden star I painted gold and wrote her name in caligraphy in black on (so she can have her own star hanging on her door!). She started a blog before she left and after Brandon and I read her first entry, we felt this was such a wonderful thing for her to be doing (not that we didn't before, we just didn't realize how much she included God in her decision). You'll have to read it, I've tagged her blog on the side of my own for anyone who wishes to read it.

Monday Brandon and I called in to work (yep, we're rebels) to have a much needed day to ourselves. Our weeks are usually so filled with meetings, appointments and get-togethers with friends (which we DO love!), we sometimes forget to check in with each other. This day was such a blessing for us, as we talked over so many wonderful issues. We talked about how much we desire to actively seek God each day, about our finances (I know that may not sound fun, but it really was!) and how we can make certain changes in our lifestyle to free up opportunities to glorify God so much more, we focused on our marriage and our desires for it, children and our plans for them (so much fun), and how we need to sometimes feel free to say no to certain activities and say yes to being in prayer with God more. I can't express fully how at peace I felt that night as I slipped into my bed! God is so good and I am so motivated by all we discussed and planned!

So here are some fun pictures from our past couple weeks, enjoy!

The two kiddos; they get along so well!

Our little Annie and her very pink tongue.

That's right!

All of her wonderful gifts!

Yep, she didn't have a clue.

Can you tell?

Us with the sister. We may love New York, but we love Lindsey more!

Haha.

Linz with the sweet in-laws.

Linz and Brandon (they each have a half of a necklace with a scripture from Genesis on it)

Linz around all her gifts.

And the award goes to...

Ha! Our funny, funny Annie wearing the sunglasses Lisa bought for her...too cute.