Church Update 4

Today was the day our church voted on a Pastor. The vote was 76% YES. The call will be made this week, extending the position to him. He will have up to 15 days to give an answer. So, we pray, wait and see! God is in control!

Guess Who's Back...!

My cutie husband is finally home from Camp (more on camp in another post)! When the van pulled in the church parking lot, I was there waiting for him. I loaded all his stuff in the car and when he was finished doing all the 'responsible' stuff (cleaning the van, putting gas in it...etc), I whisked him away - and took him to get a sno-cone. We sat outside enjoying our sno-cones while filling each other in on our weeks.

Our dinner included all of Nik's favorites: Grilled Steaks, Bacon-Cheesy Mashed Potatoes, Salad and...

Dark Chocolate - Chocolate Chip Cookies! YUMMY!

And no, we did not eat all those cookies in one setting! Ha!

It's always good to have him home!

We just finished a work day at the church, and I'm about to go see about mowing the lawn...

While Nik is Away ...

While Nik is away I am:

   * Working late.

   * Attending an Adult Wednesday Night Group instead of Youth Service (It was a nice change of pace filled with some really thought provoking discussions).

   * Making the bed every single morning after I get up (this is not normal, because Nik usually sleeps until after I have already left for work; and he never makes the bed).

   * Not taking any pictures - Nik has my camera.

   * Parking my car in the middle of the garage.

   * Mopping the kitchen floor.

   * Riding my bike; and taking walks with friends.

   * Cleaning the bathroom; and the living room.

   * Eating dinner in my bedroom, watching a movie.

   * Talking to my mom on the phone, way past my bedtime, sitting outside.

   * Planning a party (more details to come)!

   * Making travel plans for July.


I can't wait until Nik comes back home - I miss him while he is gone! I am making some special dinner plans for Friday night. Then Saturday we have a work day at the Church...and who knows what we will end up doing the rest of the weekend. No matter what, I'm sure it will be fun!

Meal Planning Idea

We are bored with food these days. Can anyone else relate? It seems we cook the same stuff - over and over again. And when we talk about what we want to eat for our meals, we both stare at each other, waiting for a great answer from the other person...which hardly ever comes!

So I have decided to challenge myself: To create a 4 or 5 week meal plan! (This meal plan is only for dinners).

Which means I have to somewhat organize my recipe binder; actually cook some of the new recipes I have (to see if we like them or not); and figure out a good system to create this plan.

The more I think through this plan (in has been spinning around in my head for a couple of weeks) the more in-depth it gets!

Here's what I have so far:
     4 or 5 weeks worth of complete dinner meals (sides included)
     6 dinner meals per week (day 7 will be 'eat-out' or 'leftovers')
     1 dessert per week
     Cooking instructions / Recipes for every meal and dessert
     And...
     A grocery list attached to each week

Not that hard, right? Right... (sarcasm).

The grocery list is simply so I can pull out (for example) 'Week 2 Dinner Meal Plan' (grocery list attached) and go straight to my cabinets and fridge to see what I need (instead of pulling out every recipe to see all the ingredients). That way, each week my shopping list is already made (for dinner meals anyway)!

What I am hoping this will accomplish:
     To have a variety of meals each week
     Not to struggle each week with what to fix for dinner
     Always have dinner ingredients on hand so we don't eat out as much

This is not to say some of the easier meals won't show up in a couple of different weeks...and also - I know that life happens and there will be days when we don't have time to cook dinner, or we forgot an ingredient, or ....(enter any 'life happenings' here).

But - I think if I can get it together, in a USER-FRIENDLY way - it could work!

I'll let you know how it all goes...I have barely started!

Nik(s) + Camp Essentials

Tonight when we walked into church this is what we saw:

Two of our teens, with new haircuts (their hair was long), wearing sunglasses, polos and a nametag that said: "Hello, my name is Nik"! Ha! It was sooo funny!

Nik left his sunglasses in his vehicle. Other than that - they got him spot on! (And yes, Nik is one of the shorter ones in our youth group - a majority of our teens are over 6 ft.)

Nik has the joy of taking these 2 guys, along with 4 others to Teen Camp this week. I have heard him say, more than once "You better sleep with one eye open!" We'll see...!

Some camp essentials:

Backpack, Beef Jerky, Fruity Snacks, Cards, Sunscreen, Kleenex and Fiber Plus Granola Bars.

Hope your week goes well!

Extravaganza 2011

You are about to read an incredibly long post....It just keeps going....

You were warned!

What a weekend!

We took our teens to Extravaganza 2011, which is an annual Nazarene Regional event. Teens from all over the region (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisana) gather at Southern Nazarene University to compete in sporting events, talents, and Bible quizzing. There are services each evening and Sunday morning. Over 900 teens attended this year. It was a whirl-wind but we had a great time!

We hit the road Friday at 12pm (11:56am to be exact). I can hardly believe we left on time (1st time out of 3 years to actually leave on time); and headed to Oklahoma....

We stopped for some yummy Braums for dinner (and dessert) and then registered for the event and got settled. We had service that night and then everyone went to bed early - for a FULL day Saturday.

Our plan was to meet for breakfast at 7:30. Nik texted me at 6:25 telling me the boys were showered and ready to go...What?! Seriously?! Needless to say, they had to wait on the girls!

Saturday was packed full. All day. 4 Flag Football games. 3 Volleyball games. 4 Soccer games. 3 Basketball games. And 5 of our kids participated in a talent throughout the day. BUSY DAY.

That night, we went to Frontier City (a small theme park) where the kids ate dinner at hung out for a couple of hours. I rode a couple of roller coasters. Fun!

Sunday started out (not as early as Saturday) with a Service and then some free time. YAH! The teens enjoyed playing (and trying to beat Nik) at pool.

After lunch, it was back to more sports competitions. Soccer won the championship - and all other sports got to the semi-finals. The teens were a little bummed they did not make it to the finals, but I think they were some what relieved as well. They were tired!

Three of our teens who participated in talent, received a 1. Which meant they got to try-out to be in the big Talent Show Sunday night. So, in between all the sporting competitions, they did their talent again and one of our teens made it to the Talent Show!

Sunday afternoon, Nik found time to play in a Sand Volleyball Tournament with other sponsors on our district. They took the championship!

After dinner, before service, our teens and sponsors had some fun 'planking'.

Sunday night we had a great service. The band was good, the speaker was good. He brought a message that really seemed to reach all the teens and sponsors. Nik has received some really good feedback as to what each teen 'spiritually' received from this weekend - and that is what it is all about! The band sang a song, "I'll Stand". I think I have heard it before, but I didn't know all the lyrics. Here they are. Read them. The message of this song is amazing and really speaks to me.

You stood before creation; Eternity within Your hand
You spoke the earth into motion; My soul now to stand

You stood before my failure; Carried the Cross for my shame
My sin weighed upon Your shoulders; My soul now to stand

So what can I say; What can I do
But offer this heart O God; Completely to You

So I'll walk upon salvation; Your Spirit alive in me
This life to declare Your promise; My soul now to stand

So what can I say; What can I do
But offer this heart O God; Completely to You

So I'll stand; With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all

So I'll stand; My soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours

After service we watched the Talent Show (our teen was the closing act - and did AWESOME). By that time, it was past midnight.

We headed to the dorms to start packing and try to get some rest. The girls were in bed and asleep by 1:30am. The guys, however, had a little too much fun with 'Toilet Paper Bombs'. I don't know the whole story (they tend to keep things like that from me - me, being the responsible sponsor and all). Actually, they did not share this with me at all until as they said "we were a safe distance away". But I do know, if anyone asks...the correct response is "We are from Arkansas". Enough said! Ha!



Monday we hit the road and were home by 3:30pm. Once we unloaded (not unpacked...still in process) we hopped back in the car and headed to Kohls. We are not really obsessed with the store, but Nik needed a swimsuit for this next week, and we could not find one he liked anywhere else. Of course, we had some Kohls Coupons and ended up purchasing a swimsuit, 2 new shirts for Nik and 1 new shirt for me. Not too bad.

When we got back to Temple we ate dinner, watched a movie (because we could not imagine using more energy than that to do anything more productive) and were in bed, asleep by 8:00pm. 

Luckily, we both had Tuesday off. Kind of. I had the day off, but Nik was at the hospital by 8am to be with one of his youth sponsors during surgery. I stayed home to work on laundry, water the grass, and make a slide show of our trip for Sunday service. We ate lunch out (and ordered dessert even) then went grocery shopping. We did relax a little more Tuesday evening but we still went to bed early again!

We have finally recouped (I think)!

This post is getting long. Sorry if you are bored. Stop reading if you want. But sometimes it takes a lot to recap 'The Days of Nik and Carla' Ha! I'm almost done.... one last thought:

It was so nice to be out of town, having FUN with our teens and not worrying about stuff at home or our jobs. It seems like for the last couple of weeks all we hear about and talk about is the potential new pastor, and changes that might or might not come about, how this all affects us and Nik in his ministry and we hear everyones opinion (good and bad) and everyone keeps talking about the 'what ifs' .... It's exhausting! We both loved the break we got. We know we cannot 'hide' from the changes and not, not talk about them - but I think we both came back refreshed, renewed (mentally and spiritually - not physically) and ready for what God has in store for us. Changes and all!

What we are looking forward to the rest of this week: a short work-week; Volleyball Friday night; planting trees for the City of Temple Saturday; building a cross with our youth; Church; and getting Nik ready for Teen Camp!

Summer is definitely here...!

Church Update 3

Last night our Church Board met to discuss the potential pastor they brought in last week. After praying and talking with the church members and staff, they have decided to ask this pastor if he will let them present his name to the congregation for a church vote, to bring him in as our new pastor.

If he says yes, our church will then take a vote (in a couple of Sundays) for him to be our new pastor.

If he says no, our Church Board will keeping looking and praying for God's direction.

******************

We had a great weekend with our youth group - update on Extravaganza 2011 coming soon!