Jumping In

What a busy morning! I've received more than my normal share of people coming and calling in with questions. It's been fun though :) I like to stay busy. And for the week before a brand new semester of classes start, it's not as busy as I'd expect.

So I'm back, like I said I would be last night. Here are some of our upcoming events:

• Our trip to Maryland to take part in a baptism ceremony as godparents
• Chaperoning a Middle School retreat
• Finishing and moving into our house
• Chaperoning a High School retreat

To go one by one, I'll start with the trip to Maryland. The beginning of last month we got a message from Caleb's cousins asking us to be godparents for their son. We were honored and said of course. So, this Thursday, we fly to Maryland. We're super excited to see the family, and to be apart of this special event.

Next, chaperoning the retreats will be fun, as always. Please pray that our students will be open and receptive to what God is going to teach them through these retreats, and that as leaders we will be able to be used for God's glory and helpful to our students.

Last but not least, we are looking forward to moving into our house more every day. I haven't been around much to work on it, but Caleb has, and we've been blessed to have people there working almost every day to help get the house ready. We're now down to the last few weeks before we move in, and mentally we are very much ready to get move in get settled. We just need to get appliances ordered and some other things finished up, and we'll be all set. Soo until then, its a waiting game.

That's all for now. If I don't write much more for a while, you'll know we're busy and have jumped into this new year at full throttle.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a good first two days of this new year. Caleb and I spent the first few moments of 2012 with my great-grandma in her living room, popping green grapes into our mouthes. For as long as I can remember my family has always done the same thing for the first few moments of each new year: eating 12 green grapes and thinking of resolutions. This year it was different to spend it with my husband and great-grandma, but it was a great experience.

New Years morning was quite eventful, and because of that, "breakfast" at my grandparent's didn't happen until 1pm. After that we bummed around for the day and didn't leave for home until 5:30pm. A drive that should've taken us just under three hours, took us four and a half... I guess thats just one of the perks to living in Michigan, winter. We haven't really had much bad weather up until now, and this was really the first batch of snow/ice/sleet/etc., that our (and the surrounding) town has gotten. But anyway, the roads were bad and traffic wasn't moving very fast. We had the classic experience of a first storm of the year; being behind people who seemed to have forgotten how to drive in winter weather. We had a car in front of us slam on their breaks and decide they didn't need to use a turn signal, a genius fly by us going way too fast, and we even saw a motor home with its rear end in the ditch and its front end sticking up into the air...  yeah, it was a 'great' drive back. All in all, it was fine, we got back safely and without any issues. Praise God for that.

As of now, I'm sitting on the couch at my in-laws typing this. We're staying here for a few weeks until we move into our house. I'm sitting on the couch next to Caleb, remembering how convenient it was to have a working tv. At the other house there was a tv, but no cable or even five channels, just a tv. We watched a lot of dvds. Needless to say, there has been a lot of channel surfing since we sat down two hours ago :)

Well, I think that's all the updates I have for tonight, you'll probably hear from me tomorrow.
Night.

Recap - 2011

Hellooo blogworld! Life has been crazy lately, hence me not writing. Well, this morning I have time, only because of my wonderful husband. Listen to what he had up his sleeve: this weekend is the family Christmas on my mom's side, so we had planned on coming to this side of the state for the weekend. A few days ago, Caleb told me he had a proposition. Naturally I asked what it was, and he said that if he got a certain amount done on the house, we could leave a day early, and he would have a surprise. Needless to say he got the stuff done at the house that he wanted to, and yesterday we left town around 1:30. What was my surprise? Two days of shopping at the Birch Run Outlet Mall, and an overnight stay at the hotel on the complex. So, right now, I'm sitting on a king size bed, and sipping hot tea in comfy clothes writing to you all, and Caleb is reading a book in the jacuzi tub in our room. Not going to lie, I feel like a princess =) We shopped last night, so after we get ready and check out of this hotel, we've got more shopping to do and then we will head out to see my family. This weekend is off to a great start!

Overall, we've been crazy busy. There's work on the house to do, we had to move out of the other house, stuff at church, work, Christmas activities, etc. Last week we took the youth group shopping, the Tweens swimming, and this week, we were going to take the youth group ice skating, but due to the power outage scheduled (that we were never told about.. haha) that fell through. Instead, we had everyone come to the church for dodgeball tournaments, playing on the wii, games, and snacks, and the afternoon turned out great. They say one of the most important things in ministry is the ability to be flexible, and over the past few months I've been learning more and more about that truth. I had never thought about the application of it before, but someone in our staff meeting the other day mentioned that us being flexible allows God to do what HE needs to do in us and our students, regardless if that is what we had planned. Besides, who are we to stand in His way..?

Our first Christmas together was great. It was busy, but we're used to the business of life, so that part didn't surprise us. Christmas eve day was spent at my parents house for me, as my brother from Missouri was here. It was fun for all five of us to be together again. Later that night, my family and Caleb's family all attended the Christmas eve service at our church, which was a good time. Then Caleb and I went to his parents to open gifts and didn't get home until after midnight. We opened our gifts to each other, and turned in about 2:30am. Christmas morning came early, and we headed to my parents to open gifts at 7am. After that, we were at church by 9:30am, and ate dinner at Caleb's parents' at 1pm. Then to my grandpa's for Christmas dinner at 3:30pm. We got home around 8pm and were spent.

So, sitting here in this hotel room, with the whole weekend ahead of me, I'm thankful for the opportunities to do everything I have been able to do. See my family, spend time with my husband, and in Caleb's words; "have some R&R" (which, I figured out means rest and relaxation). It has been a busy year, but a good year, and I can't wait to see what God has planned for us for this year. As we finish out the year, we reflect on a few of the big things; our wedding and life started together, purchasing a house (without debt!), traveling to Seattle, our ministry involvement, getting to spend time with family... we are blessed beyond measure and very thankful. There are so many other things big and small that have happened, I don't mean to exclude them, but I just can't write the whole list here. I hope you take some time to think back about this year, what you're thankful for, and start preparing your mind for the coming year. Don't forget to count your blessings.

I hope your Christmas, New Year, and any other holiday you celebrate, is a time of blessing for you and your family. To God be the glory!

Christmas Trivia!

Ready for some interesting trivia?! Do your best to answer the questions, and then look to the comment underneath the post; I'll put the answers there. Good luck!

1. What Christmas plant is "Viscum" used to label:

      -Mistletoe, Holly, Ivy, or Sage ?

2. The name of Scrooge's dead business partner:
     -James Willcot, John Mantis, Jacob Marely, or Jimmy Booth ?

3. Which author made the remark "I gave them for Dinner a Piece of rost Beef and plumb Puddings – and after dinner half a Pint of strong Beer apiece. ":
      -Philip Larkin, James Woodforde, Samuel Johnson, or Evelyn Waugh ?

4. Who tried to steal Christmas from the "Whos of Whoville" in the 1966 cartoon based on the Dr. Seuss Story?:
      -The Grinch, The Snowman, Hattie Jacques, or Ian Holm ?

5. What was the film called in which Peter Auty sang Walking in the Air?:
     -The Grinch, The Snowman, Hattie Jacques, or Ian Holm ?

6. What Christmas food is made from "marsh-whorts":
     -Stuffing, Sweet Potatos, Marshmellows, or Cranberry sauce ?

7. Which ocean is Christmas Island in:
     -Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, or Arctic Ocean ?

8. Who wrote the poem, "The Cultivation of Christmas Trees":
     -Paul Thereaux, Walt Whitman, James Joyce, or T S Eliot ?

9. Which continent is the turkey from:
     -South America, North America, Europe, or Australia ?

10. In which author's novel is it "always winter but never Christmas":
       -C S Lewis, John Masefield, Jacob Marley, or Sherlock Homes ?


(Above is the link where I found this quiz and many others if you want to explore and try some more trivia!)


Leave a comment and let me know how you did!

Concerts, Family, and Christmas

I don't have much time today, so I'll keep it short and sweet!

I'm pretty behind in my posts this month. But I'm pretty behind in everything this month is seems. Less than a week from Christmas, my shopping is far from done, we don't know what we're doing with the families yet, etc., but we DO get to see my brother and his girlfriend! They're coming up from Missouri, and we can't wait! We also get to see some of Caleb's family from Seattle and Kentucky around Christmas. Then it's a family Christmas on my mom's side over new years, and then we get to fly out to Washington D.C. for a weekend to take part in the baptism ceremony of a cousin's son because we were asked to be godparents. Busy busy! We also just got back from the other side of the state for a Christmas party on my dad's side. Loads of fun!

Grandpa as Santa, handing out gifts

Something else we've recently done is hosted a concert at our church. The band 33 Miles and Master Illusionist Harris 111 joined us to celebrate their Christmas tour. It was a great night and they put on a fantastic show. It was also a great outreach event for our church, as the gospel was shared. Anyway, here are a few pictures.

 Very blurry, but this is all of us girls with Harris 111

My sis, her friend and I with Jason and Chris (33 Miles)

Me with the guitarist - he's from the band Pocket Full of Rocks 

Me with the drummer - he's also from the band Pocket Full of Rocks

P.S. Happy 25th Birthday to my wonderful brother! Love ya!

Coming up this week: we're taking the youth group shopping for a day up north, we're taking the Tweens to the college to swim and play in the rec room, and all the Christmas stuff that I can't remember. Like I said, busy busy. So, if I'm not back before then,

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Three 2x4's

I know it's been a long time since I've written, but this blog has been brewing for over a week and a half, and I think it's finally time to let you know what's going through my mind.

For the past few months, I've been struggling with some issues that I wasn't quite sure how to deal with. I was getting so frustrated that I would just come home and want to cry. I vented to Caleb almost every night, and every night I would tell him that I didn't want to be frustrated, I didn't want to be angry, I just wanted to handle these situations in a way that would be pleasing to God. After many conversations with a dear friend, conversations that she and her parents had had (we shared many of the same frustrations), conversations with my mom, and even a few with the assistant pastor, I had a thought.. instead of changing those who I was dealing with, why not change myself...

So, I started to be more aware of what God might be wanting to teach me through this. I had been doing consistent devotions, so I just started to focus more, and spend more time alone with my Jesus. Not long into this process, I was looking at pictures from a friend's honeymoon and something caught my eye: on the back of some random guy's shirt.. "(2 Peter 3:18).. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ..". I stopped as the thought hit me... grow in grace ...it was like a 2x4 smacking across my head. Hm.. coincidence?... Not a chance. While looking at some other pictures, I noticed a comment someone had posted in response to someone else's frustration; "(1 Cor. 13:4) ..love is patient, love is kind..." I think that many times we only apply verses like that to our spouses or other family, and even though my issues weren't with Caleb or other family, this also hit me like a 2x4. Once again, not a coincidence. ...Maybe the first step in dealing with my frustration and issues was to grow in grace and remember that love is patient and love is kind. Well, I got my answer two days later, and growing in grace, and being patient and kind definitely was a good first step. In dealing with the people and issues first hand, I found that the issues didn't seem as pressing, and the people I was dealing with started to realize why others were getting frustrated. "Wow," I thought, "..grow in grace... love is patient,... love is kind.."  This is crazy. But not really.

That Friday I had the privilege to stop by my friends office while I was at work and tell her about this experience. She was excited to see how God was working and we joked about being smacked on the head by 2x4's. Little did I know, I still had another one coming. Saturday morning I was curled up on my couch with my Bible, reading in Matthew 12. I read about how the Pharisees were trying to find anything to accuse Jesus of, and when He addressed them  (because He knew what they were trying to do), it was like I got hit with another two by four. "(v. 34b) ...for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of." I stopped and stared at the page, and started laughing. "Wooooow," I thought, "..once again, not a coincidence." So, I sent my friend a text message, to which she replied, "lol God is just loving on you this week!" Ha... nooo kidding! So, there's a second step for me.. remembering that my mouth will speak what my heart is full of.

I put all three verses into effect the next day at church and while helping at youth group, and with them running through my head I was able to deal with the things going on in a way that was much more effective than just getting frustrated. I was even able to explain some of the frustrations of the group to someone. I was pretty excited to see God work. The quote about being the change you want to see was affirmed, and I realized that changing myself is sometimes a better option than trying to change others. After all, I got the chance to learn how to grow in grace, really love people, and let my patience level expand.

God is good.

It's Beginning to Look...

...a lot like Christmas in the Nordine household!

Today I had time to wrap a few gifts, put some bows on our tree, and get a tree skirt..

..And make cookies! 

Caleb got home about a minute after I dropped the last cookie onto the wax paper and as I turned around to do something the thought occurred to me that I should probably tell him they're not ready yet. As I turned to tell him, I saw his finger in his mouth, chocolate on his lip, an empty spot on the paper where  a cookie used to be, and a guilty look on his face.. complete with a mischievous smile =] Life is good.