lots of random.

lots of random things to share today. 

mainly because, i just don't have the time to elaborate on a whole bunch of different posts. and really, that's okay! 

shaun and i had a date night on friday. my favorite night of the month. :) i think it's been over a year since shaun's sister kimberly called me and asked "if we would mind a date night once a month". MIND?! heck no! each month we get a "guaranteed" date and we've really been blessed by them. some months we double date with friends and other months it's just us. it was "just us" this month. shaun was willing to take a picture with me, i was surprised! so here we are on our way to our date.

awwww. i can't believe it's been almost 9 years that we've been married! and together for 13 1/2! God has blessed us so much, and i love the feelings of butterflies and excitement i still get when i look at him. :) seriously. in love. 

we went to a super nice place out to eat we ended up having to wait to be seated so we sat and enjoyed our time together. i had a kitty cocktail! i love them :) we also enjoyed a super yummy spinach and artichoke dip. and bread. and then our dinners.

after dinner we went and walked around home depot. we're anxious to re-do our bathroom, and haven't had time to look in person at things. so it was fun to walk around and decide on things we liked. we found some things we liked, but i don't think it was "it". but we have time. 

tonight we have a contractor coming to look at our house for windows and siding. i'm super excited about that. i have plenty of ideas. now, it's just hoping that they fit in our planned budget.

now. not that it's your business. but i'm sure you're wondering...where in the heck did they find the money tree?! well we didn't find a money tree. but we did sell 10 acres of our land. it's not something i mentioned much on here at all, and really not in "real life" much as well. 

our neighbor called us awhile back and wanted to know if we'd be interested in selling. shaun took some time to pray about it. ((i told him that it was whatever he wanted to do. this wasn't my father and grandfather's land)) in the end shaun said that "we can't take it with us" and felt the Lord opening doors of opportunity for our family by being able to sell it. 

it took a VERY LONG TIME! to get everything situated with selling. but we finally closed on that in august. we also were in a land contract with our house and land, the contract was ending this year, so we decided to  get an actual "mortgage" and asked for a bit of extra money to fix the bathroom. ((our original intent was to start on it sooner, clearly...that hasn't happened))

we're excited to be making our house more "ours". AND really...the siding, windows and bathroom are a HUGE need for us. the siding is rotting. the windows leak tons of air. and our bathroom, is beyond awful. up until this year, we didn't have the means to do any of it. 

and again, mainly because I made some unwise choices financially that had us in debt up to our ears. NOW we're almost debt free. outside of our house we only have a small amount left on ONE credit card. and a line of credit at our bank. compared to FOUR credit cards. and a car loan. and line of credit. this is such a huge blessing for us. over the past year i've learned to be way more wise with what God has blessed us with, and have seen even more blessings in it all. i'm in awe of it all actually. i look back and realize how much anxiety i was filled with each month. how much i trusted in my credit cards, and not the Lord to provide. 

we've been at school for awhile now. but i recently switched up some curriculum. we started it this week. and we're loving it. A LOT! i love the freedom of homeschooling and being able to tailor the needs of my children each individually. 

i also started helping out shaun's cousin's son. he comes each week and we do some homework together and work on some things. it's fun being able to help out. and i'm truly happy to be able to serve in this way.

our church is in the process of planning a women's retreat. i'm super excited for that! i signed up to help on the planning team and we're going to check out a location this week. 

we're also continuing the transition into taking over children's ministry at our church. it's going well and soon enough i'll be "brave" enough to fully be in charge. ;) our church family is awesome and through the past year our church has been through a TON of things, and it's exciting to see everything the Lord is doing within the body. 

all of our crops are off the fields for the year. it always looks so weird when they're all gone. given the year we had, with weather, we're so thankful that we HAD crops to harvest. God truly protects and blesses us. 

i also found out in the past few weeks one of my dear friends is moving. it is the first time i've ever had a friend move away. i'm super bummed. but now know where we'll be going on a family vacation!! amelya is also having to deal with losing her best friend. so i'm sure when they officially move it's going to be a transition for our whole family. but we're super excited for them!! :) 

Christmas is coming rapidly. i'm not ready.

there. how's THAT for random!!