Bye Bye Summer, Hello School!

Before I write about what I was really going to write about, I would like to take a moment to brag.  Not on myself, but on my baby girl!  She has been working so hard this summer on reading, and I am happy to say that she has succeeded in learning it! (she still has a lot to learn of course, but she is doing great!)  She reads EVERYTHING!  Signs at the grocery store, labels on food and other items, titles of movies and tv shows, and of course some books!  I signed her up for the summer reading program at the library this summer, and mostly I read her American Girl books and what not, but I think that really helped to spark her interest!  She then started carrying this little book around called "I Am Skippyjon Jones" and would read it over and over and over again!  After that, she would teach herself how to read other books and then come down from her room all excited and read them to us!  She is such a smarty!  We also did some math review this past week to see if she remember anything we taught her in the Spring, and she is doing even better now than she was then!  I think she is going to be pretty bored this year in school...which means only one thing!  She is going to get in lots of trouble for talking....we sort of expected this anyway.  Hopefully though, she will prove us wrong and be very well behaved! 

My little bug starts Kindergarten on Wednesday!  She is so excited, she's had a count down going since around day 8, and every morning it's the first thing she mentions!  Tomorrow we go to meet her teacher, who I have heard is amazing.  Jaidyn's best friend Charis is going to be in her class, which I hope doesn't end up getting them into trouble (they are both social butterflies!).  But I am excited, because hopefully that means our two families will grow closer together!  I can't wait to post some first day of school pictures!

Now, to kill the excitement, mommy also starts school soon.  Don't get me wrong, part of me is excited, because this is my last semester of biology classes, then I will only have two more random classes and an internship and then I graduate!!  But, the fact that I have to suffer through genetics is the bummer part of it.  I like genetics, but there are two professors to choose from, and they are both a gamble.  The most exciting part is that I will be back in the research lab again!!  I can't wait!  And, I will be working on a new biofuels project, while hopefully helping Paul out with the old project.  I pray that this year will be awesome, rather than overwhelming.  But, it will require a lot of effort.  With Kyle working two jobs, and Jaidyn in school, and a home to keep clean and tidy, and meals to cook, and studying and lab time...it will be crazy.  I will have to push myself to study a little every night, instead of waiting until close to exam time.  The best part though, is that I will have my husband home with me every night!  No more second shift, at least for now!  Today marks his first day of day shift!  Yay!
     
Things at the new church are going swimmingly!  We are making some new friends, and having a blast with the youth!  We had a Soul Surfer movie night last night, and saw lots of new faces.  We had around 17 kids show up, which is awesome!

Just a quick update on the 17 Day Diet.  It has been nearly 17 days, and Kyle and I have decided that this diet isn't really for us.  I think it works better for people who have a lot of weight to lose.  On the facebook support group, people are like "I lost 15 pounds in 3 days!"  Well, we have been following the diet and we haven't gotten those results at all.  Kyle lost a lot the first couple of days but none since then.  It does mention in this book that the lower the amount you have to lose, the longer it will take.  Anyways, we aren't giving up totally though.  We have learned a lot about eating healthy, and honestly, when we think about bad for you food now, it isn't even appetizing to us.  I had a diet soda the other day, for the first time in like 2 weeks, and it made me sick to my stomach.  I will probably still occasionally get a soda, like at the movies and stuff, but it's nice to know that our bodies are getting used to not having bad stuff in it.  So, we are skipping to the 4th cycle of the diet, where you follow the cycles and eat healthy all week long, then from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening, you eat what you want, in moderation of course.  And of course, exercise!  I have been doing Pilate's this summer, but I have just gotten really into kickboxing lately.  Hopefully I can get Kyle to do it with me :)  I would just like to add that Kyle and I have more control than we ever imagined.  We went to a church pool party Friday where there was guacamole, the most delicious looking chocolate cake, and sprinkle covered cupcakes...and we only had water!  We rock! 

Meet Your New Youth Pastor!

Today was our first day at Immanuel Lutheran church, and boy was it a long day!  We attended both the 8:00 am and 10:45 am services, in order to get a feel for both of them.  The first service is very traditional, while the second is contemporary.  It brought back a lot of memories from when I attended the Lutheran church back in the day with my friends Rachel!  Although we didn't know many people, we did know Libby, who was sweet enough to come to both services in order to help us feel right at home there!  She is such an awesome woman!  In between services, we all gathered in the reception hall for a meet and greet, complete with yummy donuts that Kyle and I couldn't eat because of this diet!  But, I don't think we would have had time to eat anyways, because we met and talked to so many people.  They all seemed wonderful though!  They really made us feel so welcome.  You could see how excited they all were to finally have someone leading their youth ministry!  Libby even gave me a dozen roses...again, she is just the sweetest!  After the last service, a group of us went out to lunch, and we got to know some people even better.

Haha, ignore the heaping pile of recycling in the background!

Tonight was the first official youth gathering, where we got to meet most of the junior high youth group, and some of the high school youth group.  A lot of the high schoolers were gone tonight, so we are looking forward to meeting them all soon!  The gathering was at Libby and Mike's house.  We chatted, played games, ate, and swam in the lake!  It was such a great night.  I can't even tell you how excited we both are to be at Immanuel Lutheran!  Some people may be thinking...but hey, you aren't Lutheran!  Well, we are all believers in Jesus Christ, and that is all that matters!  And nothing that I heard during service today conflicted with anything we believe in.  It's really best just to drop titles in this situation, because we are all wanting the same thing...to teach these awesome kids about Jesus! 

Some of Kyle's youth group

Diets, Books, and Broken Computers

I knew that I would slack majorly on my blogs, oh well, there is just too much to do in one day!  I have come to realize since I got married that I do the dishes at least 3 times a day...but most of the time I don't mind this.  I like spending my time in the kitchen, with Jaidyn in the next room.  It's the only time I have to myself.  I can listen to music, talk to God, or just be in silence.  I wont lie though, sometimes I bring my laptop with me and watch a little Hulu while cleaning.  Currently, it's The Bachellorette....that show makes me so mad, I don't even know why I watch it!  I don't think anyone on that show is ever really looking for love...just hook ups and air time. 

Kyle and I started the 17 Day Diet on Monday.  We are on day 6, and so far it hasn't been too difficult to follow, but it's so frustrating to watch Kyle drop 8 pounds in a day, and me, well, I am stuck on the 3 pounds I lost after the two day mark.  Granted, I only have 10 pounds to lose, while he has 30, so it is destined to come off slower.  Anywho, don't be fooled by the name.  If you havn't heard of this diet, it consists of 4 cycles, 3 cycles at 17 days a piece, and the 4th cycle basically goes on forever, it's where you maintain your diet.  We are on cycle 1, where you can only eat lean meats, veggies, yogurt, and SOME fruits.  The fruit rules are very specific...no Banana's, which are my favorite, and no fruit after 2pm.  I have learned though that I love fresh pears, with a little Truvia sprinkled on top.  Yummy!  You can have a few other things, like a bit of olive oil, vinegar, mustard, etc.  and obviously, Truvia.  Truvia is amazing, and smells like marshmellows....but I have read some conflicted stuff online about whether it's safe or not.  But, nothing is safe these days.  Everything causes cancer, it seems.  We have actually done very well so far.  The first few days are hard, you can feel your body detoxing...it's crazy!  Lots of headaches!  But, we have made some amazing meals!  Kyle made these General Tso Chicken Lettuce Wraps last night that were to die for...and followed the rules of the diet!  Next time we makes it, I will take some pictures and post the recipe on my other blog!  We havn't touched a soda pop, or juice, or milk....we try our hardest to drink the recommended 8 glasses of water on this diet. (I seriously pee every 10 minutes, it's rediculous!)  Dr. Mike, the author of this book, is a water freak, as well as a hot green tea lover.  I have become dependent on my candy cane green tea at night, while I lay in bed and read a book. 

Oh, books....how I love my Kindle!  I have read so much since I got it!  I just finished My Antonia last night and it was so good!  Willa Cather is genious.  I have read 60% of Pride and Prejudice so far, which I am trying to finish before school starts.  Also, a wonderful book!  Since I finished My Antonia last night, I added another book by her to my Kindle, called The Song of the Lark.  I also added The Secret Garden, which I started reading last night.  It will be a quick read, and then I will begin the other.  I hope that once school starts, I will still have time to read. 

Let's see, what else has been going on?  Oh!  I am typing this up on our brand new computer!  We have 3 other computers, and none of them work!  Very frustrating!  For the past week, we have been using Kyle's small netbook, since my two weren't working....but then Kyle accidentally stepped on it and broke the screen....woops!  Let's just say that I saw my husband really angry for the first time :)  But, he was angry without sinning! (Something we've been talking about at church)  Speaking of church, tomorrow is our first day at Immanuel Luthern.  I am pretty nervous about it.  I hate being the center of attention, and tomorrow all eyes will be on us.  They are even having a brunch for us in between services...which unfortunalty we wont be able to eat much of :(  I am really happy for Kyle though.  He is back in full youth pastor mode, and he seems a lot happier!  He's been playing events and stuff all week!  I am so excited that this family is back in the youth ministry again!  Kyle was made for this job.  And he is an amazing man for continuing to work a job in costumer service that, trust me, no one would want to have, all to keep his family afloat while I am in school.  I am a very lucky woman.  I used to be told that I would never find the man that I was looking for, because that man never existed, and I was asking for too much.  Well, how wrong those people were.  I found something even better than what I was looking for!  I love my Kyle Matthew Creel :)

Our First Pic Together :)



It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife

This past Saturday, my mom, Jaidyn, and I went to visit my brother Jon in Carbondale.  It is, regrettably, the first trip I have made to see him, and he's been there for quite some time.  Mom didn't tell him we were coming, so it was a nice surprise!  I figured out on that trip how alike we are, something I never thought that I would ever say.  We are both constantly complaining about the way we look and about our weight....a not so great quality that we got for our Dad!  It's funny how when you grow up you start to see the qualities you share with your loved ones.  I always thought I was so much like my mom, but I think I am actually more like my dad!  Anyways, we ate DiMaggio's, a yummy pizza place that my brother used to work at.  I think Jon was enjoying all the attention he was getting from his past female co workers, since they thought that his little niece was just the cutest thing! ;) .  After lunch we went to Walmart to get Jon some groceries.  And there is was, just staring at me, beckoning me to come check it out.  A Kindle.  Something I recently decided I wanted to spend my birthday money on.  My mom decided to get it for me as an early Christmas present though, because she is awesome.  I love it!!  Books written before around the 1920's are free, and those are just the kinds of books I love to read, so I knew it would be a good investment!  I originally said that I would never own one (just like my ipod, or my pair(s) of skinny jeans...but I always end up owning them anyways!), mainly because I thought that they were backlit, and I didn't want to ruin my eyes, but also because I love books.  I love the way they feel, the way they smell, everything about them!  But, I have a trillion books sitting on my bookshelf that I have never read, some that I have hardly even touched.  Maybe, just maybe if I got the Kindle I would read more!  So far, that has been the case.  Sometimes, when I am lying in bed at night, I really want to read, but I am too lazy to go downstairs and grab a book, and I'm embarrassed to say, sometimes I am too lazy and tired to even flip the pages!  The Kindle makes it hard to come up with an excuse not to read!

The first day I got it, I read a manuscript from a conference called Going Green: A Day on an Organic Farm.  I know...I am a nerd.  But, it's my passion!  I am currently reading three books.  I picked up where I left off on Pride and Prejudice (hence, the title of this blog entry).  That book it so wonderful.  I love the language, the characters, and the conversations in her books.  She was brilliant.  I am also reading My Antonia.  A couple of summers ago, I took an online literature class to keep me reading throughout the summer.  We read a book called Oh Pioneers!  by Willa Cather.  I fell in love with it, so my professor suggested that I read another book by her, called My Antonia.  I am enjoying it as much as I enjoyed Oh Pioneers!  I just love her writing style, and her descriptions of the United States before we put in our highways and factories and shopping malls.  The third book is one that I am actually reading with Kyle.  We decided to start choosing a book together, and reading for a bit in bed every night, as a way to bond.  We chose Dracula, which I am super excited about!  I took a class this summer called The History of the European Witchhunts, and we discussed this book a bit.  Since then I have been itching to read it!  It's a very long book, but so far it's keeping our interest. 

On another note, my poor baby girl left TKD with a bloody lip tonight.  She got kicked in the face while sparring, which happens to her a lot, because she is so much shorter than the other kids.  She always gets hurt by the same girl too!  But tonight was by far the worst.  She walked off the floor crying, but left with her chin up, determined to keep trying.  It's been very difficult for her, because she is so scared of the bigger kids.  I would be to, they can be vicious!  An icecream from DQ made everything all better though :).  Early today, we went to the swimming pool for a bit (and a very little bit at that, as there were lots of wasps so we decided to leave).  Daddy Kyle bought Jaidyn some Tinkerbell goggles and a pool ring to float around in.  Well, she loves them both so much that she has been wearing them all day.  She took a bath....with her goggles and floaty on.  She wore her goggles while playing in her room, in the car on the way to TKD and the grocery store, and in DQ.  She is so silly, and I love her so much! 

Pictures to come! :D

The Vine and the Branches

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the fruit that I may or may not be bearing, and I stumbled across John 15 this evening.  I've read it before, probably more than once, but never really thought much about it until tonight.  Jesus really did make it so easy for us, if you think about it.  LOVE!!  Just LOVE!  We just can't seem to get this loving each other thing figured out though.  Anyways, here are the verses that I read.  It's exactly what I needed to read tonight, and you never know, someone out there may be reading this blog that needs to read it too :)

 ¹ “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
   ⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
   ⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other."

Summer Fun and Water Bugs

This summer we have been trying very hard to eat better and be more active.  Kyle and I started playing tennis a couple of weeks ago, which has been quite the experience!  We are pretty terrible, but get a little better each time we play.  It's fun just to volley back and forth for awhile.  We usually play on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  This Tuesday was so hot!  We were dripping with sweat by the time we got home, and realized it was only going to get worse because we needed to get a ton of laundry done at our apartments laundry facilities.  Buut, we thought of a brilliant plan!  Honestly, I'm not sure why we didn't think of it sooner, but the swimming pool is right outside of the laundry room, so we put in our laundry and hopped into the pool for an hour!  It felt so nice!  This morning when we woke up, we decided to play volleyball at Sister City Park instead, so Jaidyn could have the opportunity to play on the playground on such a beautiful day!  She's usually pretty bored at tennis, except for this week, because she brought her bike and rode around the outskirts of the tennis courts....again, I don't know why we didn't think of that sooner!  We played for about an hour, then decided to go to the pool again!  Jaidyn absolutely adores the pool.  She has always been a little water bug!  She and Kyle have so much fun together.  She loves to jump in his arms, or ride on his back all around the pool. 
I don't know what I am going to do when school starts back up and we are too busy to do these kinds of things :(  This summer has been amazing, and I wish it didn't have to end!