April 21

I still haven't figured out yet why the website won't allow me to add pictures.

Of course, in order to figure it out, you have to actually sit down and fiddle around with the website. What a novel idea ;-)

Today I took the last of my tests to try for my NY teacher certification. 

Anxiety seems to be a dominant thing for me lately.

Test anxiety

Anxiety about if I don't make it

if I DO make it

if I don't find a teaching position

if I DO find a teaching position

if I am required to get my masters

UGH!

So, sounds like fun, right?

Well, God has been working on me a lot lately.

Such an uncomfortable process.

Can I get an Amen?

Well, it has all been good.

Painful, but isn't all growth painful? My aunt helps grow butterflies. As in she plants the milkweed and sets up a protective net as soon as the chrysalis is formed. Once the butterflies emerge, she unzips the net and allows them to fly free. It is a beautiful and wondrous event to witness.

Long have I been told that our lives are similar to the butterfly's. 

I now believe it. I feel as if I am in that chrysalis becoming goop (very technical term) so that one day, He might use me for His glory. Oh, how I wish that day were now! I seriously feel as if all I am doing is blundering from one mistake to another.

That is the real reason I have not been writing. My eyes were so blinded to my own foolishness that all I did was point at everyone else. God is so good though. So very patient with this stubborn, strong willed, hard headed child. No, everyone else is not perfect. However, how can God get to them and help them if I am constantly standing up and hollering and causing such a ruckus that everyone else cannot hear His still, small voice?

Two people have been extremely instrumental in my rather obvious epiphany. They may not know it, but they have been. They will deny it, but it is true. Some days I call twice a day, sometimes every day, sometimes every other day. I am sure that at times they just shudder and think, "PLEASSE just drink some tea!" (because they are CONSTANTLY riding me to stop drinking coffee - devil water they call it. ;-)

Instead of soothing me and saying, "Poor Elizabeth, your life is so terrible." 

They said something more along the lines of, "Dear Elizabeth, our God is so much greater than your anxiety, your pain, your bitterness, your (fill in the blank.)"

Of course, they are right.

They are always right.

*shudder*

Those words are like vinegar in a child's mouth, just in case you wanted to know.

What have I changed?

I have changed my routines. God has dropped some amazing things into my life and I am attempting to make the most of each thing.

1. First5 app

No, I am not gaining anything by telling you about it. However, if you have an android or an iphone, I highly recommend downloading this free devotional app. It has been a huge blessing and opened my eyes to so many connections within Scripture. It is wonderful!

2. Discipleship study

This one is tough. Very tough. It has caused me to squirm and attempt to get out of the nitty gritty questions that are posed. God has been using it to help me grow. Between these two studies, I have to spend time in the Word 2x/day. It is FABULOUS!

3. Fitness

I am attempting to become more consistent. Through much trial and error, I have discovered the magic formula for what my body requires. It is tough. But!!!!! the First5 app opened my eyes to how God sees my body - His temple. 

Granted, He is not only interested in me, He is interested in all of His children! I just have to be a good witness for Him and take care of what He has blessed me with.

4. My perspective.

Perspective is everything. It is literally ridiculous how much perspective changes everything. There are many things that are being adjusted in reference to my perspective. One day I hope to share them. However, today is not that day.

I will try to share more as I can. But it is just so wonderful to see how faithful God is through all of this. God has provided an AMAZING support network for all of us up here. WE have a wonderful church. We all have extremely great occupations (jobs and schools - kids and adults) We have the sweetest neighbors! AH! So many great things going on with our neighbors!!! I will have to write about that another time. God has also blessed me with some WONDERFUL, FABULOUS, MAGNIFICENT, SWEET and INCREDIBLE friends to help me through my fitness/nutrition/life. LOVE those sisters SO much! More on that later as well. Love you all! Keep it real!

Nov. 26 - I just found this again...oops! April 17

As I sit here, in my kitchen, smelling pumpkin pie baking, thinking about last year at this time and looking to what God has for us in the future - I am in awe.

This time last year, Stephen had been home for almost 12 hrs.

We were living in the tiny town of Vidalia, LA.

I was teaching 1st grade, Kyle was in 6th and Abigail in 3rd.

We were anxiously awaiting our orders. Secretly, I was praying for orders anywhere as far south as TN & as far north as NY. We all know how that ended up. =)

We found out where we were moving and I immediately began praying for the teachers, schools, job, home, neighbors, church and community that God was going to send us to.

Again - absolutely in awe.

God orchestrated Stephen & me dealing with moving while the children were in AR. He protected them from the frustration of delays. We came just in time to meet some extremely sweet souls and begin relationships. God had us drive past a church in town and have it catch Stephen's eye.

I cried through the first two services. 

I am extremely thankful for all of the people God has blessed us with since we have become involved at the church. We have enjoyed fellowship, worship, Bible study and more with these people. God has also allowed me the added blessing of a women's Bible Study - HELD AT NIGHT! 

What?!?!?

Yes!

Granted, I was more excited for the fellowship possibilities than the actual study - but that's neither here nor there. After all, who wants to study Deuteronmy???

Not me! 

Been there.

Done that.

NO desire to go back...

God has sent me back to Deuteronomy. Just 2 weeks in and my eyes have been opened to how much this book is exactly where I need to be. Some of you know that I got a bit worn down. My personality is, as someone so eloquently put it, more of the "Sunshine, rainbows, fairies and unicorns." ;-) I just like the sunny side of life. My parents did an AMAZING job teaching us to always see the cup as half full. "Attitude equals altitude." (just for you, Dad!) But - when you are tired, all you see is another cup to wash. I stopped seeing the positive and strove to simply survive until I got to bed. Nope, not sick. Nope, not in financial bind. Nope, not alone. That Devil is a tricky one. He snuck in and started whispering. Slowly but surely my Bible time disappeared. 

Are you thinking what I am thinking?
Uhm, Elizabeth!

"I am the vine you are the branches,...remain in Me, as I also remain in you....IF you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much frout; apart from Me you can do NOTHING." 

(John 15)

Uh, yeah, duh! Read your Bible! Pray! Remember who God is!

Well, I still knew who He was. But I made a mistake.

So this Bible study, our key verse is, "And He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in and give us the land that He swore to give to our fathers." Deut. 6:23

I have no claim to the land, but I can claim that if God brought me out of a place, He will bring me in to His blessing as long as I stay focused on Him.

4/17/16

Yep, 11:54pm and I am sitting on my TV room floor with an adorable 97.8lb puppy snuggled up beside me. Work ended about an hour ago. It was a pretty good shift.

Granted, there are things I need to do - but, meh - who wants to be responsible all of the time?

NOT ME!

I did start the washing machine some darling somehow managed to put on hold so that it wouldn't auto start and be done washing those loverly towels by the time I got home.

After that? Well, I snuggled the most handsomest man on this planet. =)  About the time I started to doze off, I got up. 

Can you believe the kids are already 10  & 13? 

I certainly can't I was looking at pictures from when we first got married. The kids looked SO tiny!

FYI, Price Chopper has a DElicious crunchy veggie salad. I could literally eat a whole half pound container by myself.

And I just did =D

Ugh, fine, I will go be responsible.

Clean the bathroom

2 loads of laundry

Grocery list

Coupons prepped

Contacts, brush teeth and wash my face.

See you later gators

Oct. 12

Is it true? How on earth can that be possible?!

October?!

Uh, yeah, what did you expect I was going on about? ;-)

I am one of those crazies who absolutely goes bananas for cool weather. I cannot tell you how painful it was to be without the gorgeous colors of fall, the brisk breeze that awakens all of your senses, the sun waiting to wake its sleepy head just a bit later and return to its bed a bit earlier, the promise of winter just around the corner.

Are you shaking your head at me?

I am sure you are, but you've no idea how much this gets me excited. Take your love of chocolate, ladies, multiply times infinity and you have a FRACTION of my love of all things fall & winter. Men, take your love of fishing, sports, hunting, etc. also multiply times in infinity and you have a TEENSY fraction of my love. It is inexplicable. The pops of orange, yellow and red amidst the green of pine trees gets me so excited I just can't help but gasp, or squeal, or burst out with, "OH MY GOODNESS!!!!"

Granted, this is not always appreciated by certain peoples, my husband whilst driving for example. I am pretty sure if I wasn't a woman he'd pop me. Bless his heart he has swerved quite badly while driving because I get so overwhelmed with the beauty.

It's a good thing he loves me! I will try to take more pictures, but honestly, I tend to completely forget my camera is in my hands while we drive. The brilliant colors capture me so completely I forget to take the picture until after we have already passed that particular tree.

....

Ok, so I have tried multiple times to attach a picture so you can get a GLIMPSE of how beautiful just ONE tree is, however, the site isn't allowing  me to upload it. SO...I will be diligent to take more pictures, upload to FaceBook and tie the link into a blogpost for you.

You are welcome!

Ok, now, some of you know I went on adventure this weekend. Those of you that didn't, you do now! Haha! I just crack me up sometimes! My neighbor is huge into horses and owns three beautiful horses. She (we will call her A - no it isn't Abigail) shows her horses in western shows - aka reining, cutting, etc. SO MUCH FUN! Well, A had a show on Saturday that she was going to do a demonstration at. I was very graciously invited to ride along.  We borrowed a few of her bf's dairy cows to make sure we had cows that didn't have horns.

Seriously, imagine how awful it would be to have a cow with horns that you are driving down a fence line. All of the sudden that stinker whips around and hooks your saddle girth with his horn or even your stirrup and gives a good YANK! YIKES!

So, 4 cows, 1 horse, an adorable puppy (hers - not mine) and off we went! We were 2 hrs into our 3 hr drive when said puppy needed to tinkle. At the next rest stop we grabbed some lunch, let the pup out, checked out the animals in the trailer and struggled to pick our jaws up off the ground.
One of our two back tires on the driver side (this is important) was flat...like dry rotted and flat. Thankfully, A was level headed and wheeled us around to the air pump that was at the rest stop. She filled the tire and was assured that we would be fine to drive CAUTIOUSLY for the next hour when we would reach the rodeo and find a way to acquire a new tire.

Read that again...acquire a new tire....I just love things like that! I know there is a technical term for that...if you want to leave the technical title of that kind of grammatic via FaceBook or comments below, I'd be grateful!

Ok, so, back to the story...A put some air in but the stinking thingie (another technical alludes me - more coffee? YES!) On a small side note (yes, another one) I LOVE vanilla chai protein shake mix with coffee - so delicious! Ok, so the lovely STEM retracted inside of the tire while we were airing it up. We were told we would be fine - so we continued. In defense of the poor soul who advised us, they did not realize the tire was so ready to be buried. Can you guess where this is going? Yes? Well, I bet there are parts of this story you won't expect!

For example, Stephen (my Hero) had graciously offered to keep Kyle and Abigail after a church lock in so I could go on this trip. (getting a picture??? Lol!) Both claimed they weren't tired. One burst into tears when said child realized that sleep was mandated and not the rodeo. Add to this, before the children were picked up at 8am and before I left at that same time, our dryer kicked the bucket. Our washer was 99% in the grave also. So guess who had two sleepy, but not at all sleepy, children and got to drive 30minutes one way to go pick out a new washer and dryer????
(Did I mention this man spoils me??? He always buys me the BEST of the best and nothing less. I don't deserve his generosity!!!!)

We could HEAR the air slowly leaking out, but had no choice other than to continue our trip. Shortly after getting on the interstate, our 3 lane highway goes down into 2 lanes. We are hauling 4 heifers, 1 prego mare, driving a large quad cab ram and hauling those animals in a huge trailer. A semi was in front of us and we needed to get around it. The poor soul was going about 10-15 under the speed limit. We moved to the center lane to go around. One care passes us on our left. The semi is now on our right and we are about halfway passed him. POP! That little tire blew out. The 3rd lane is ending, a well-meaning couple comes up on our LEFT side!!!! They were frantically motioning and letting us know about the flat tire. The frantic motioning switched to frantic cursing once they realized they were about to collide with divider poles followed by a concrete divider.

Remember the semi?
On our right?
Yes, we tried to hug him, give room for the car to finish their ridiculous idea to pass/warn us and hit the brakes without locking up the trailer and injuring our passengers in there. Needless to say, I was screaming, A was cool as a cucumber, the car was full of terrible language and I glanced at my mirror. All I could see was the cab of the semi as the driver graciously displayed his sentiments through various motions.

No one died. No one got in an accident. Holy CROW!

Our story continues... Yes, there truly is more! Can you believe it???

We found the closest place and ended up at a Sam's Club.

Your average horse weighs about 1.200lbs. Your average dairy cow I THINK is about half that. So, we have four dairy cows (roughly 2,400 lbs) and one horse (1,200 lbs) in this trailer with PLENTY of room to spare. Sam's has this rule for safety sake that they are not supposed to do ANY work on ANY vehicle unless that vehicle is INSIDE the garage. Dairy cows are not very compliant when stressed (who is?) and we had FOUR. There was no way we could get them out and the horse and not lose them. We didn't have enough lead ropes or places to tie them.

Long story shorted up a tad - Sam's replaced the stem that blew off, changed our tire and EVERYTHING without giving us any flack.

I think they felt bad for us  - we were mildly shook up!

We finally arrived at our destination. The rodeo was over, BUT I did get some fabulous pictures! The link below is to those pictures. A did a great job of introducing a basic reining pattern, demonstrating how to box a cow and then drive it down the fence. She even got to experience my Hanger! (hunger induced anger) for some reason, she didn't leave me on the roadside, for which I am eternally grateful.

Anyhoot, fun times! Enjoy these pictures because I had a BLAST taking them!!!!!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100165930083196.1073741846.161503164&type=1&l=cd49f73055

Sept 24

First things first...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR AUNT JO!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!

The lady is amazing...just saying.

Thank you, Aunt Jo, for helping us with everything!

Thank you for being a bright, happy spot in Mom & Dad's lives. =)

I hope you had an absolutely fabulous day!!!

Ok, so, I could go on and on about my family and how fabulous they are.

Really, I mean, you might think you're family is great...and you are right.

They are.

However, mine is just FABULOUS!

This morning though I had mentioned the possibility about some moo-cows which are very different from your standard cow or even your chocolate milk cow.

We have a sweetheart of a neighbor who is dating this sweet guy who happens to have a dairy farm. Before we picked the kids up earlier in the summer, we visited the farm and met a bunch of the adorable calves. Of course, because we are so sweet to our children, we sent pictures to the kids. Uhmmmm, so that was a mistake. Since Abigail spotted those pictures it has been non-stop, "Can we go visit Mr. V and his calves!?!?! PLEASE!?!?!" Holy smokes, the girl is tenacious! Well, yesterday after our fabulous date =) , I made the kids dinner. Typical kids, they talked NON STOP until Stephen mentioned going to visit. 10 minutes later they were done, we were loaded and headed over. Mr. V was moving calves from their little pens into the big barn. He took no time in telling Abby she needed to take the rope and haul the reluctant calf to the barn. We quickly learned just how strong those  little babies are! It took Stephen, Abigail, Mr. V and Miss C (I think that's the first letter of her name) to get the calf moving and into the barn. Kyle was much more reluctant to get involved. I stopped to visit with the Momma of Mr. V. She is such a sweetie and a hard working lady! Within a few moments, Mr. V had Kyle working the wheelbarrow full of corn. He (Kyle) also had to do teamwork with Stephen & Abigail to wheel a wee little calf not even 24hrs old from one barn into a warmer barn. That little bugger was doing its best to kick and flip its way out of the wheelbarrow. Abby and Stephen had to work to hold the front legs so the calf was on its back and couldn't flip out. Sounds treacherous...right? But it is the safest way apparently to transport a calf.

Abigail was also chasing kittens. One is now named Whiskers and one is named Cookie Dough because it is white and that brownish coloring. Mr. V attempted to pay the kids by sending home a cat. Praise God Stephen put a stop to it. We spent well over an hour there. It was so great to see how the kids went from timid and shy to quickly telling me how things worked and what went where and how to feed the calves. So precious!

Tonight was just another example of how great this area is where we have moved.

The kids have discovered that people up here are just so sweet. Of course, you still have your typical kid moments at school, but the kids are doing SO well at school and church that their confidence has gone THROUGH THE ROOF!!!!!! =)

For example, he will probably kill me for this, but I just LOVE this story SO much!111

Ok, the other day we were at hour well check appointments for the kids. The NP asked Kyle what activities he enjoyed:

"Well, I like to play basketball, chase the ladies and play football."

"What!?"

"Basketball and..."

"Yes, I heard that and football, what else did you say?"

"Oh, yeah, I like to chase the ladies."

Back to how great the area is....at Awanas tonight, the kids learned that their schoolmates also go to Awanas. They came back tonight just SO excited that so many of their buddies attend. The adult leaders are a great example of just how sweet this area is.

Sweet dreams!

Sept. 21

Where to begin...

Well, the kids have started school.

Mom has successfully completed two home treatments.

I am in training for a job.

Dad is still rocking out at the house. (That's like a 5 post topic.)

Sarah is doing fabulously in cosmetology.

Esther is loving her internship and is, I believe, in her final semester.

Jonathan is now employed at LU. (I wish I could remember his official title! He has his name on the door and a sweet ....name plate (plaque? plack? I don't know.)

Sol, Katie & the boys seem to be doing great in TN.

Abe, Lauren & Cooper (he's 4 legged baby - so no one needs to go getting all worked up about not knowing about a family addition.)

Stephen is loving his new station!

Aunt Shawn is like an iron horse! Nothing gets her down!

Aunt Jo & Uncle Dan are still loving FL and have travelled all over the US.

Jim & Connie are loving retirement in FL. (Ha! & they lived there before ...so no...they aren't snowbirds!)

Jake, Kelly & kids are loving TN! Kelly is taking courses and being a full time mommy/housewife. (Props to her & Katie....I've no clue how you two keep up with so many littles!)

I have SO many topics that I am working on writing about.

As I take moments to sit down and write, this blog will grow and I am so excited to do it!

...well, let me clarify, IF I  stay focused it will be great!
However, I tend to not sit long enough to do much of the writing.

Sad really, I do so love to write. Think about it, you have an audience completely at your leisure. It really doesn't matter if they simply skim through a post or read each tiny morsel you write. They are yours. The space is yours. No one can impede upon it.

Technology is a wonderful thing...truly. For instance, family. Family that is as large as ours (Kafoure/Langenmayr/McKee) has a tendency to have many schedules. We branch from Indiana to Florida to Missouri and more...New York! Ha! Love that. =) Anyways, technology (quit distracting me!) is fabulous. There are some cousins that I very rarely get to see. Primarily, because we live in Missouri, Florida, Indiana and New York. It is just hard to coordinate the logistics of geography, work, and you get the idea.

However! The other day (Labor Day Sunday) God was so kind as to smile upon us! You see, my parents have always had the central location. My cousins from FL & MO came to IN to visit my folks. It JUST happened to work out that my aunt, and those cousins all descended upon my parents house at the same time! Thanks to FaceTime (and Steve Jobs) we were all able to visit and laugh and see each other!!!!! =)

Other times technology is a pain in the tail. Seriously. Have you tried traveling lately?

Without Google Maps or GPS or whatever?

Just using a paper map?

Pretty sure that is a lost art.

Also, kids! Kids have NO clue how to communicate, spell, interact, disengage from their thumbs and enjoy the good ole fashioned outdoors!

(Are you shaking your head and chuckling yet? I am, after all, only 32 and saying this...)

It was hilarious today. We had the kids well-check appointments. And by we, I mean me, Stephen was at work and I am sure very thankful he didn't have to go!

Well, the doctor asked me how much screen time the children acquired in 24hrs. I sheepishly said more than 3. In my defense, ...well, that's an excuse and as we all know excuses are like belly buttons (That's for you, Daddy!) She shook her head at me! Seriously! She also asked if the kids were active. They immediately said yes, Tae Kwon Do, Gymnastics, Basketball, Football, Cheerleading!

I said, "Is there pizza or ice cream involved?"

I clarified TKD (tae kwon do) was 2x per week and 45minutes each time. The other activities were past activities that hadn't been done for enjoyment or sports team purposes since last school year.

Needless to say, both children are healthy but are being strongly encouraged to get a more active lifestyle with fewer screen time hours. ;-)

I will try to get back on and write some more soon.

Like I said, I have some topics I am just DYING to write about.

If you find yourself the central character in one, you're welcome.

If you don't appreciate...well, you are still welcome.

I will only write the truth as I see it and as I see it, there are a LOT of you who deserve to be celebrated.

You.Are.Welcome.

TOODLES!

Summer

Summer...oh summer....wherefore art thou?!

Is it just me or did summer end way too soon!? I mean! Come on! Summer was the full gamut of everything. Seriously!

Happy! Excited! Laughter! Frustration! Shock! Yuck! Change of Plans (aka STRESS!) Lost! Home! Parents! My Babies! In-Laws! School Prep! Job Search! Missing Friends!

Uh, yeah, I need a vacation from my summer vacation. Fo rizzle! If you follow me on Facebook you know what my summer theme is. If you don't, well heavens to betsy why don't you!? Lol. Just kidding. It is passed my bedtime, can you tell?

Contentment. That is my theme. God has been trying to gently persuade me to find it. He has knocked me off my feet. Forced me to sit and listen as He cupped my face in His hands and whispered. Once again, true to my ridiculous self, He had to take a 2 x 4 to my head. I wish I was kidding.

I'M NOT!

Ok, so, I had to learn how to be content with giving up two very, very precious babies for 8 weeks. I felt so lost. God helped me learn how to be ok with it. Obviously, I can't be selfish. I had to learn how to be content with not knowing a plan. (Uhm, if that were a college course or HS class or elementary lesson - I would have earned a D-...not even kidding.) My poor Hubby literally asked me to take a walk. Bless his heart! He is so good to me and puts up with SO much! Most of you know the chaos with the moving company. Those of you that don't? Well, don't use ARPIN. My hair is so much more gray than it ever was before June. I did a TERRIBLE job of letting God handle a situation and keep me in the dark. When will I learn to trust?

We finally left Vidalia and was I content? Only until I found out a friend had her baby, that I patiently waited NINE MONTHS to see, the Monday after we left. We left Friday. ARG! He is SOOOOOOOOO adorable too! Anyways, I am ok with it now. Why? Because I have MY babies back!

I am learning contentment though. Thank God (haha! get it!?) Thank God that He (God) didn't give up on me! And I am SO thankful for my parents. Seriously. My Mom gave me advice the other day. So profound. So simple! It has made such a difference though in my point of view. I would share it with you, but it is embarrassing that I didn't get it sooner. Anyhoot, LOTS of learning!

God has allowed me to connect with friends I haven't spoken to in...I am embarrassed to say this...years. I need to call another friend too. Years (shocker!) ago, she sent me a Bible study. Psh! What did I need that for? I got this! I am good!

What the what?! Life threw curves. Did I mention my reflexes aren't always fast? So, now, I have skinned knees and elbows (figuratively) and am pulling out the Bible study. (Thanks DM!)  Ok, for reals, I need to hit the sack. I will try to get on tomorrow and actually WRITE about how AMAZING the North Country is. North Country! I FINALLY LIVE IN THE NORTH AGAIN!!!!!!!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

 

Sweet dreams, loves.

I am praying for you even when I am absent from here for 3 months ;-)