Christmas 2011 is Gone Already :(

I got some really cool gifts for Christmas this year!  I got a ShopVac, Level, some Halo and MegaMan action figures, DJ Hero 2 for Xbox, a MegaMan blanket that my wife is making me (I'll post some pics when she finishes it), as well as some other stuff!

One cool gift I got is a U-Socket Outlet that has USB ports to charge your USB devices!

It replaces your normal 110v outlets in your house and allows you to charge two low powered USB devices at full speed (such as cell phones that only require 5v.) or one high powered USB device at full speed (such as an iPad that requires 10v.)  And obviously you can use the normal outlets at the same time as well.  It is energy efficient in that it doesn't provide power to the USB outlets unless there is something plugged in, so it won't run up your power bill.  You can order it from FastMac.com for $24.95 or from ThinkGeek.com for $29.99.

What did you get for Christmas?

Finished Christmas Tree! (Almost)

Here is a picture of the finished tree, except for the star!  And well, some presents :P  It looks better in person by the way :P. I've been meaning to post a picture (since the day after my last post), but I've been sick and busy with work. 
I got sick last Friday and have been fighting it ever since.  The fever is gone, but the congestion, sore throat, weakness and cough decided to stick around a while longer.  Hopefully I'll be better here soon.  I don't like being sick, especially when I have to work.  And on top of that I think my voice is trying to leave me, which is not good since my job requires a good deal of talking sometimes.
Oh well, just gotta roll with it right?   Well I'm gonna try and get some sleep now.  I hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far!  Only a few weeks til Christmas!!!

Christmas Tree!

Here's the project for the night! <(^^,)> I'll post pics of the finished project ;) Yay! It's Christmas!

Oppose the PROTECT-IP Act and Stop Online Piracy Act

Dear friend,

I just emailed Congress to urge them to oppose the Internet Blacklist Legislation, known as the PROTECT-IP Act in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House. This legislation seeks to give the executive branch power to conduct slash-and-burn campaigns against websites that allegedly host – or even link to – content that infringes on intellectual property rights. That would “disappear” whole domain names, fundamentally undermining Internet security, and/or choke off their financial support. The Internet Blacklist Legislation puts more sites than ever at risk, effectively upending the DMCA safe harbors that have been crucial to the growth of Internet innovation and creativity.

Sadly, these short-sighted and dangerous bills won’t do much to stop online infringement – but they will jeopardize our ability to speak and read online with the kind of freedom we cherish in the offline world. Deep-pocketed Hollywood lobbyists are aggressively pushing to control and censor the open Internet, willing to sacrifice free speech and our Internet culture in hopes of controlling how people view their movies and products.

We need to stop this bill before it goes any further. Will you contact your representatives in Congress and urge them to oppose the Internet Blacklist Legislation? Visit: https://eff.org/r.C8A

Please do your research and really consider how much this would hurt the online community.

Google Music!

Welp, Google just made my day!  They have gone and released Google Music!  You can buy music or upload your current library.  One of the best things about it is you can listen to your music anywhere!  The web, your Android enabled device!  That means no more syncing, no more losing your music because your hard drive crashed.  Although if you have a music library greater than 20,000 songs, you're out of luck for now, Google has 20k as the limit right now.

I just got the Music Manager application installed on my computer to start adding my music library and told it I use iTunes to manage my music.  It surprised me, it found ALL of my songs and is currently uploading them!  And I just downloaded the App for my Android phone so I can't wait to try it out as well!

So if you have a Google Account you should definitely check out Google Music!  If you want to watch the release presentation you can view it on YouTube Here.  The first part of the video is just music with swirly lines :P so you might want to skip 29:30 into the video ;-)

NOTE: Google Music will not upload your songs that have DRM protection!

Grain/Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

We all need to have some treats sometime or another, we can't eat healthy 100% of the time, can we?  Here is a recipe my mother-in-law found for Grain/Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies, and they taste amazing, almost like regular "unhealthy" chocolate chip cookies!  The original recipe is from http://thisprimallife.com
 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 ¼ cup almond flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
few shakes of salt
5 tbsp melted butter
3 tbsp Honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, set aside.  Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl, add to dry ingredients and mix until well combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Spoon batter onto parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake for 10-13 minutes until set and slightly toasty.  These will firm up as they cool.
Yield: 12 cookies
 
Double Chocolate Chip Cookies:  Add 2 tbsp of cocoa powder to the dry ingredients.

 One change to the original recipe is we like to use Honey instead of Agave Nectar.  And instead of Almond Flour we like to use "Just Almond Meal" from Trader Joe's 

 We also don't mix the wet and dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  We just mix the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients and mix them all together.  I hope y'all enjoy these cookies as much as I do! ^_^


Note: Pretty much all pictures used on here are my own :-)  (I can't think of any I've used so far that weren't, but just in case anyone was wondering)

Spanish-Style Quinoa

My brother-in-law was coming over to hang out this evening and I was planning on making some grilled chicken and needed a side dish to go with it.  I remembered I had some Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) on hand because I've been wanting to try it for a long time. I didn't have the guts to eat it plain for the first time, that would just be weird :P , so I Googled me up some recipes! 

There are many great sounding recipes for Quinoa out there, but I needed one that I could make with what I had on hand.  I stumbled upon a recipe on Allrecipes.com for Spanish-Style Quinoa, and I had all of the ingredients except green bell peppers, which works for me since neither my wife, brother-in-law, or me are too crazy about 'em, and it's simple.


Spanish-Style Quinoa

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the quinoa, onion, garlic, and green pepper. Cook and stir 5 to 10 minutes until the onion is tender, and the quinoa has lightly toasted. 

Stir in the tomato sauce and water, then season with the chili powder, garlic powder, and cumin. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes. Stir the quinoa occasionally as it cooks. 

It turned out really good!  It reminded me of the rice you get when you go to some of these Mexican restaurants, just without all of the vegetables in it.  And the texture of the quinoa itself was very much like rice, to me anyways.  I might try and play around with this recipe a bit next time, but it's definitely a keeper!  And the quinoa itself is a keeper as well!  I look forward to trying out some more recipes soon!

Grilled Chicken

Yep, Grilled Chicken was for supper!  And yeah, I know you're jealous! :P

Grilled Chicken is one of those go-to meals that are simple, easy, and taste great.  When cooking chicken you want to make sure the inside is completely white, no pink!  If you like to be specific, the internal temperature should be above 165° F.

There are many variations of seasoning/marinating you can do with chicken, they possibilities are practically endless!  When marinating chicken you get the best flavor if you let it marinate over night.  If you're in a pinch with time, marinate it no less than 1 hour.  But the longer the better!

Some of my favorite ways to grill chicken are marinating the chicken with Italian Dressing, Balsamic Vinaigrette, and Bethany's favorite, Lawry's Seasoned Salt.

Homemade Turkey Sausage

Well this morning I finally decided to make some homemade Turkey Sausage!  The recipe I used is from http://heavenlyhomemakers.com

Homemade Turkey Sausage
1 lb ground turkey
3 Tablespoon minced onion
¼ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon marjoram
¼ teaspoon ground pepper
¼ teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon thyme
½ teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 egg

 (only some of the ingredients :P )

Mix all ingredients.  Chill for about an hour.  (If you forget to chill this ahead of time…it cooks up okay anyway!)  Form into patties.  Saute in butter.

They turned out really good, although I did not have any marjoram or cayenne pepper.  So this is one of those recipes where you can just add what you have on hand and it should be pretty good! (key words: should be)  :P 

I ended up using about 1 1/2 pounds of ground turkey because that's all they had in the packs, and all of the sausage patties still had plenty of spices in them.

There's one spice though that I'm not too crazy about, it's either the Basil or the Oregano, I can't tell which, or maybe both.  It seems to over power the other spices. 

And next time I make theses I will be sure to have some cayenne pepper, because I think it would make a huge difference in the taste.  I also want to try this with ground beef, instead of turkey, because the texture of the turkey is kind of weird. :P  I like ground turkey in recipes, it's just different by itself.

Baby Shane is Here!!!

After 9 long/short months of waiting, he is finally here!  Shane Michael was born yesterday afternoon!  He weighed 6lbs 11oz and was 19 1/2 inches long!  Both mom and baby are doing really well!

Bethany's water broke at 1:38am, and Shane was born at 12:10pm. So it was a long night for everyone :)

Roller Coaster

You know how when you're on a rollercoaster and sometimes all you can do is hang on? ...well yeah, that's my life right now

Megaman Legends 3... Canceled

Yes, it is very sad news. I just found out last night. I was so disappointed. I was going to buy a 3DS just for this game! The Legends Series was one of my favorites of the Mega Man games.  Capcom says it was because of "lack of support/interest" come on! What is that?  There are plenty of people who were looking forward to it (not to mention Megaman Universe, which was also canceled)! Part of the problem was there wasn't enough publicity, I mean unless you follow this stuff actively or heard it by word of mouth you probably didn't know anything about it.  Oh well, Capcom is really missing out.

On a good note though, my wife and I went to see Transformers 3 last night and it was Amazing!! I wasn't expecting it to be that good. We saw it in 3D (that was all the theater had that late) and I am very impressed with the advancements made in 3D technology. It actually looks like all the commercials said it would back in the day with those blue and red glasses!  So if you havent seen Transformers 3 yet, you definitely should!

Found one!

Well I just found the official Blogger app for Android. Gonna give it a shot and see how it does :) now I really wish I had my G1 keyboard :/

Compassion + Mobile Updates!

Here is a video of the child sponsored by Shaun Groves, it just shows one of the many Amazing ways God uses Compassion International! http://youtu.be/ZKqg2HjdrIQ

Definitely pray about it, and if you feel led, get involved! <3




Yes, it has been a while. So I figured since I'm on my phone a lot, why not use this new feature that Blogger has and link my phone to my account? So I did! Now I can post short updates to keep you all tuned in! I'm also going to try and find a mobile app for blogger so I can post full messages on the go! Also don't forget to check my twitter feed on the right for updates!

AT&T = Bad

I just read that as of yesterday, AT&T is going to cap their DSL users, not just their cell phone users. You can read about it here: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/13/atandt-will-cap-dsl-u-verse-internet-and-impose-overage-fees/

Thanks for the tip Ethan!

I understand wanting to charge those who use more a higher fee, but I think they should also lower the cost of those who don't come anywhere near that cap limit. It should work both ways. I am not a big fan of internet caps. Which is why I have had my cell phone service with T-Mobile for years now. I had considered switching to AT&T for better cell coverage, but now I will never switch to AT&T for anything!!! If AT&T buys out T-Mobile like they are wanting (hopefully the government will prevent this), I will be switching to Verizon, which everyone that knows me knows it's like a sin! Or possibly Sprint, you know, go with the underdog

So for those of you who don't like Caps on your usage, you should leave AT&T, and fast! Boycott them! We should not let AT&T control the market, it's not fair.

What do you think?

Food Lion Auto Fair

Well this past weekend was the Food Lion Auto Fair at the Charlotte Motor Speedway (which is really in Concord, so don't know why it's called Charlotte Motor Speedway and not Concord??? oh well), and fortunately my wife and I were able to finally go!!! They had a lot of cars already there, and they were still bringing some in while we were there! We had a great time and hopefully we can go again next time! It only costs $10 per person to get in, pretty sweet deal. Here are some pictures of some of my favorite cars there:

If you want to see more images you can go here

The News..

Hello dear readers! I hope everyone is doing well! Sorry for the break between updates. My wife and I have been doing pretty good lately. I just wanted to post a quick update before we leave for the day.

Well first off, for those who don't already know, my wife and I are having a baby! Yep! so we're excited about that, gotta lot of getting ready to do ;)

I have had a really busy week with work, well no busier than usual I'm just working harder at doing better. I've been out of state for work 3 days in a row which has been rough. And I've been doing pretty good about getting up earlier this week too! So I've just gotta stick with it so it will become habit ;)

There's been other small things going on, but not really worth mentioning right now I guess. If you want to stay more up to date with the things going on in my life, you can follow me on twitter! http://twitter.com/benjaguy or just visit my blog and look on the right side =) So anyways just wanted to tell y'all the news!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

My wife and I have been watching a show about The Duggar Family, who when it was recorded had 17 children, now they have 19! They are really thrifty (gotta be to take care of all those kids =P ), so on one episode they were showing how they made their own laundry detergent for really cheap! My wife and I wanted to try it out, so last night, that's what we did. =)


Here is the recipe:


4 Cups - hot tap water

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar

1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*

½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water.

-Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - in some stores or may be purchased online here (at Meijer.com). Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

We just washed a load of laundry with it today and it works great! It may be hard to find some of the ingredients so the Duggar's have included links to sites where they buy theirs. I found everything I needed at Harris Teeter.

Here was the cost of each item at Harris Teeter:
Borax $4.75 (it's $1.25 cheaper at Walmart)
Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda $2.95
Fels-Naptha Soap Bar $1.39

Considering that this yields 10 gallons and you only use a little of the Borax and A&H SWS, you'll have plenty of those to last several more buckets full. So it's practically dirt cheap!!! I even got the bucket free from the Hardee's I used to work at =P (it's one of the buckets they get pickles in, had to wash it a couple of times to get the smell out).

We also made some of this with my parents! They love watching the Duggar's, actually they are the ones that got me started ^_^ I like watching the show because of their Christian values, and a lot of their beliefs are similar to my own. Who knows, the Lord may bless us with 19 kids =P

If you visit their site they have more of their favorite recipes you can use! My parents had made the Tater Tot Casserole from their site, and it was delicious!!!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bread

I made some Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bread last night in my bread machine, it turned out a little different than I expected, but it's pretty good. It's from The Bread Machine Cookbook II by Donna Rathmell German. It is a really good cookbook with tons of recipes. I definitely recommend buying these.



Here's the recipe for a 2lb Bread maker (which is what I have):

1 3/4 cups Milk
3/4 cup Peanut Butter
3 tbs. Honey
1 tsp. Salt
2 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
2 1/2 cups Bread Flour
2 tsp. Yeast
3/4 cup Chocolate Chips*

*Add chocolate chips at the beginning of the second kneading period.

Cook on the Raisin, Sweet, Wheat or Basic cycle





It's moist, but dense. Not light an fluffy at all. I was surprised how heavy it was when I took it out of the pan. And I don't know if it's supposed to do like this, but the chocolate chips melted and mixed in with the bread, I think it mixed too long because I used the Wheat cycle. Next time I'll use the Sweet or Basic cycle.

I toasted a slice and put some jelly on it for breakfast this morning and it was really good! Now I can have PB&J with the Peanut Butter baked right into crust =P

I'm Tired, and I'm Trying... (what's up lately)

Well i guess it's about time for another update ;) I've been meaning to post for the past week or so now. Just never seem to do it :P

I haven't been up to a whole lot of new things here lately. I'm just getting tired of living the same old sinful, lazy, dull, boring, mundane life that I am. I'm want to do something, and do something great. I want to be somebody. Someone important. Someone who made a difference in this world. Someone who can look back on his life during his last days and say, it was all worth it, it was a life well lived. I'm tired of just being lazy when I don't have to go to work, just laying around messing on the computer, playing mindless games on the computer, etc.

There's a lot of stuff I would like to do in this life before I die (or Jesus comes back :P ). I want my life to be well spent. The older I get the faster time is flying by. I can't get over how short life really is. It's been driving me crazy. So I'm doing my best to try and do the things I want to do, need to do, and am called to do.

One of the things most people don't know about me is I love to cook, not all the time, but most of the time. If I could I think I would go to a culinary school to be a chef. Or I would really like to open my own southern cooking restaurant, or any restaurant really. But since that's probably not gonna happen, or not in the foreseeable future (could happen if I set my mind to it, maybe one day, idk we'll see). So I've decided to try and cook a lot more at home. I've cooked a few things the past month or so, but I want to do it more often. I've grilled out a couple times these past few weeks which was nice, definitely looking forward to warmer weather so I can do a lot more of it!

Today I made some 'pizza bread' in the bread maker we got for Christmas (Thanks Mom & Dad!! ^_^). It doesn't really taste like pizza, but it would go great with spaghetti or Alfredo, or anything Italian really. And I also made some homemade fries for the first time (been wanting to for a while). They turned out pretty good. I decided to bake them, but I think I'll try frying them next time. I made some with only salt and pepper, but I liked the ones I spiced up a bit ;) I put some garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and paprika on half of them and they tasted really good!!! Gonna up the dosage next time :P Oh and if you bake some homemade fries, grease the pan, even non-stick :P learned that one the hard way. I'll try to post what I cook with pictures, and possibly the recipe for everyone to read and see so if y'all want to try them you can! (I think I'll also do the same for projects I do and other things I make)

Another thing that most people don't know is that I have a heart for helping the poor and kids. I have always wanted to help the less fortunate (for as long as I can remember anyways). I'm sponsoring a child, well really another teen, not much younger than me through Compassion International. Her name is Andri, she's in Indonesia. I like being able to write letters to each other and hear about what's going on in her life. That's one thing I'd like to and need to do more, is write her more letters. She's planning to go to college to be a nurse which I think is awesome! So I love being able to contribute and help her! It's only $38 a month, which is only a small sacrifice, but it's something I can afford. Hopefully in the future I'll be able to sponsor more children!

I'm also hoping and planning to do more. There's a orphanage in Mexico called Rancho 3M that our church does mission trips to several times a year, so I would Love to go one time, and if I feel it's what God wants, go more. I've actually been wanting to go on missions trips for a while now, just never had the means, time or resources to do it. So hopefully soon! My wife and I also feel really strongly about adoption, which is something we've both wanted to do for as far back as we can remember. We aren't adopting right now, but we want to. So we've been looking into international adoption, there are so many rules and things though, so not sure how soon we'll be adopting anyone, but hopefully in the near future (next 5 years?). And my wife and I also feel strongly about fighting abortion. There are some women in our church who run an organization who help young women who are considering having an abortion. So my wife and I might try to get involved and help with that. She'll probably do more though, seeing as I'm a guy and it would probably be awkward for a lot of people :P

Work has been going pretty good. I've made it a point to do better this year. I'm thinking about it in a new way, and going about how I handle calls and everything a little different to try and keep from getting stressed a lot, like I did last year. It's still a pretty new job, but I think I'm starting to settle in. So hopefully I'll be good from here on out.

Another thing I need to work on is my spiritual life. It's been suffering for a while now. My wife and I decided we feel we need to stay at the church we are now, so I'm glad we have that figured out now. So now like I said in an earlier post, I'm making it a point this year (and the rest of my life) to go to church every Sunday I can (meaning I don't have to work, not taking vacation, etc.). My wife and I have missed quite a bit of church since we got married and have suffered because of it. And I also need to start reading my Bible regularly, I don't remember when I last had my quiet time. It'll be a struggle to do, always is, it go against what our flesh would naturally want to do. So I'll need a lot of prayer.
I'm also working on some sinful areas of my life, such as how I react when I get angry or upset, laziness (yep, I believe being lazy is sinful. resting is not, I'm not saying we don't need to have a day off and just to rest and have fun. but just plain laziness, doing nothing, all the time), and other things.

I'm sure by now after reading my posts y'all think I'm not really that good (for those that know me). I'm a sinner just like everyone else. Just because I'm a Christian, doesn't mean I'm perfect and that I don't sin or make mistakes. I'm just trying to be honest (it's something I've been working on, Honesty). I hope it helps anyone who reads my blog. I hope in inspires, encourages, and lets people know they're never alone in anything, there's always someone else going through the same thing, always. And being honest helps me, it takes a load off my shoulders. I never knew I could feel so good by being honest. Sure it hurts sometimes, it does to open one's self up, it leaves you vulnerable. But you feel so much better after the temporary pain. It gives others an opportunity to encourage you, help you, pray for you, and it gives you an opportunity to help others.

well I think it's time to wrap up this post, it's getting long and it's already 11:05pm so I'm going to end it by asking y'all to pray for me. Pray for guidance, wisdom, peace, and the aforementioned things in my post. We all need prayer, and we all will for the rest of our lives. If y'all ever need prayer, feel free to hit me up. Leave a comment, send me a message, hit me up on twitter, it don't matter. I'd be glad to pray for y'all!

Work

This is something my Dad forwarded to me about work sent in an email from Institute for Creation Research. It's definitely a better way to view work. Because if y'all are a sinner like me, one thing we do is complain about work.

Labor--The Gift of God

January 5, 2011

"And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God." (Ecclesiastes 3:13)

Some people may have the feeling that having to work for a living is an imposition of a corrupt society. Since they were brought into this world through no choice of their own, therefore the world owes them a living, they think. Is working a punishment because of our sins?

Well, God did "curse" the ground because of sin, but in an important sense it was for man's own good. "Cursed is the ground," He told Adam, "for thy sake" (Genesis 3:17). It would require "the sweat of thy face" (v. 19) before man could eat his bread, and even then it would be "in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life" (v. 17).

But the work itself would not be a punishment, for even before he sinned, God had given Adam the responsibility in his Edenic garden "to dress it and to keep it" (Genesis 2:15). Furthermore, we shall have work to do in the new earth in the ages to come, for we are told that "his servants shall serve him" there (Revelation 22:3), even though there will be no remnant of sinfulness there at all.

Even in this life, work is a blessing when we see it as "the gift of God." If we see it only as drudgery and hardship, then it can indeed be "in sorrow." But the Lord Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

If having to work for a living will encourage us to come to Christ for salvation and peace of soul, then it is truly "for thy sake" that God's curse was pronounced on the ground. The key to joy in labor, instead of sorrow, is noted by the apostle Paul. "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. . . . for ye serve the Lord Christ" (Colossians 3:23-24). HMM

Still Unbelievable...

It's all still unbelievable. I was just walking through my house and it hit me again. It's so hard to believe that I am where I am. That I'm actually married to the most wonderful woman in the whole world. That we've got a house to live in that's our own. That I'm the leader of a family. That I've got a really good job. It's still so surreal... these are things that I've wanted for a long time. I've wanted to get to this point in my life for a long time. And now it's here. So unbelievable.

It's hard, lots of arguments. Some fights. Even more disagreements. But even still, it's indescribable. One minute we're having an argument, the next I feel like I've never loved her more. And I mean literally, the next minute!

The house hasn't really gotten any further, as far as painting, unpacking, etc. I guess I'm just too lazy...well I know I'm too lazy...I need to do something about that =P It's amazing how much of a mess two people can make. I guess it would be easier if we'd get everything in order and completely unpacked. Still have the den full of stuff that needs a place, and all the Christmas decorations... I have no clue where we're gonna store anything either (wish I could afford to buy an outbuilding).

And it's tough being a leader. I've gotta make decisions for my family (just me and my wife right now =P ) that I've never had to make before. We visited a new church today cause we'd like something a little closer because we would be able to be more involved in church. But I just don't know. Sometimes I feel like it's what we need to do, and then others I don't want to leave the church we're at. I don't know if it's just uncomfortable going somewhere new or, if it's not what we should be doing right now.

I haven't really made a new year's resolution cause, I usually fail only a few weeks into it. So I've decided this is my new year's resolution: to be more diligent in going to church and being involved in it. We haven't really been faithful in our attendance since we've gotten married. And it's important so I'm determined to get this area of our life straightened out. So I could use some prayer for guidance from the Lord as to where we need to be right now.

It probably sounds like all I do is complain a lot, and I do. I'm just trying to write what I feel and be as honest as possible, without saying too much. That's one thing that my wife and I have been working on, Honesty. It's tough...really tough. But it's been really great. We're doing a lot better in our communication, now that we've figured out how to be completely open with each other =) definitely one thing I encourage others that are newly married to do.

But yeah, even though it's been tough the past few weeks/months it's been wonderful. Because I know that no matter what, God is still in control, and he's always keeping us. He is faithful, even when we are not. ^_^