middlemarch

I feel like I'm always playing catch up. When I'm busy I don't have time to blog, when I'm free, there's not much to blog about. :)

Two weekends ago, we spent Sunday evening with the extended Braker family. We had a nice evening at the park. It was my first cookout of the season. :) Nathan's siblings came over and hung out at our house for a while after, which was good.

Last Monday, one of the last warm days before it got chilly again, Nathan and I had a date night of sorts. We picked up Buffalo Wild Wings and went to the river front. It was fun.  

 

We went shopping afterwords anf bought a hammock. I'm excited.

We hung it between two branches in our tree. 

Yay.

Friday night, we went to Matthew and Rebecca's to visit baby Isaiah.  Yup that's right, I'm an aunt again! My fist nephew. :)

He's a tiny little bugger. A whole 5 lbs 6 oz. and he has tons of hair.

This past Saturday and Sunday, the Wyss family was in town for Kayla's  baptism. It was a marvelous weekend: beautiful testimonies on Saturday evening, family around for the weekend, and a quiet Sunday evening:)

Not much else has been going on. I'm just waiting, with much anticipation, for when I can start working on my garden and landscaping and flowers. :)  I hope I've warned Nathan enough about how much I plan to spend on plants and flowers. Hehe. :)

In Christ

~Michelle

Spring has arrived!

I am adoring this weather.  I love spring and all things warm and sunny.

The weekend of the 8th, Nathan and I went out to Kaylyn's wedding. We stayed at Reilly and Katie's, which was fun. 

Here's a picture of the lovely couple. :)

 I snagged it of of Facebook since I always forget to get a picture myself.

We had a bee's hive on the side of our house and all winter long we planned to take it down. We finally did while it was a bit chilly out still and the bees weren't awake. 

The hive

It's really is amazing how detailed and perfect these things are. 

I finally think I've found a hobby I enjoy. :) i completed my first wood burning project this week.

I used carbon paper to trace on the map, and then burned the outline. 

The completed outline

And the finished project :) 

This past weekend was the nursing home benefit auction.  They always have a bake sale so I took the opportunity to do some baking. Lena come over and helped. It was fun, and for the most part, everything turned out well.

Our evenings accomplishment.

My experiment. A gigantic cinnamon roll.

Kuchen, kuga, kugan .... However you say/spell it. I used a bit to much dough per pan, but other than that it tastes wonderful!

I had an empty Saturday so I spent it enjoying the great outdoors. 

Flowers are spring up everywhere!

I rediscovered the park. It's really nice for such a small town.

 I spent most of my time soaking in the sun on the bench. :)

My mood is pretty closely correlated to the temperature and amount of sunshine. So this was a fantastic week! :) haha.  I think most everyone else is too. People are way chattier and have more energy now that the weather is nice. It also means that my clients at work start to do more crazy things. Which keeps work interesting  :)

So welcome, warm weather, you were dearly missed. 

In Christ,

~Michelle 

Ten

This week was a busy week.

 Work was busy but good. On Tuesday,  I drove nearly 10 hours straight. It was also the really icy day.  I had to drive to court an hour away with one of my clients. She's facing 4-14 years in prison, so it was interesting.  After sitting through court for a while, I've realized that people, including my client, need to learn how to be respectful to the Judge.  One woman was so rude that the Judge just started laughing. I couldn't believe that anyone would act that way in court. 

I got back from court with my client around 11:30 and left again at 12:15 for Chicago with another client. 

Monday night Nathan and I went to the distribution center to sort clothes for Eastern Europe. It's always fun. I love seeing the clothes that are so ridiculously out of style. Some of the things that people donate really should just be thrown away. We had to be pretty picky about what we sent.  Only nice, modest clothing met the criteria.  If you would never wear it, then those in need probably won't want to wear it.

sorting the clothes.

bagging and baling the clothes to ship out. 

one of the best finds of the evening. 

What a lovely sweater, right? Totally appropriate to send to Christians overseas. 

Thursday and Friday I sang for the Zion's Harp recording project.  I've sung on the CD's a few times before and each time is a wonderful experience.  

This week, the 3rd to be exact, was my 10th birthiversary  of my repentance.  It makes me feel a little old at the same time that it makes me realize how young I was.  For it being ten years I still feel so young. I think the more I grow, the more growth I realize I need. 

My ponderings on this commemoration:
 In recent years God has been teaching me about fear.  I have a lot of fears and those fears hold me back from what God has called me to do.  I had a fear of marriage, which resulted in a stubborn battle for three months before I surrendered to God. And, I have been so blessed. I had a fear of  working with sex offenders and teen males. But, once again when I surrendered my fear and took the job, I was blessed with incredible opportunities to show God's love.  I still have fears and they still hold me back. But, I fight them daily because those fears are the fears that "perfect love" casts out. "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: becasue fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4:18.  
I't not that I don't still feel the natural fear of certain situations, that I don't realize something is dangerous, that I take dangerous situations lightly, or even that I don't think I'll ever be attacked or hurt. I have just learned that It would be a sin to know good and not do it. It would be a sin to allow fears and self preservation keep me from doing God's will. 
God has protected me thus far, for that I am grateful.  But, it is not my physical life on earth that I should have fears about, and that I need to remind myself daily. "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28

"The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do to me?" Psalm 118:6  

In Christ
~Michelle

odds and ends

Work has been slowing down a bit, but it still has been pretty crazy.  In the past few weeks, I've been traveling a lot for work.  I actually enjoy traveling. It gets me out of the office and gives me time to relax.  Last week I went to Mt. Carroll and to Quincy.  Mt. Carroll is a gorgeous little town and the drive up is beautiful.  I had been there before with my client, but this time I was alone, so I took the chance to look around a bit more.

The town square is old and has all sorts of cute shops and cafe's 

The court house

I had driven through Mt. Carroll many times before on the way to Apple River and I always noticed that there was an old college.  I decided to drive through it this time. 

I got stuck in the snow then and chickened out, so I left. :)

Troy and Ellie were down last week. Wendi and Daniel had us over for dessert. 

It was a great evening. We are officially to the stage where the amount of conversation is about equal to the amount of laughing at the kids.  I'm pretty terrible too, they look so funny when they are mad. Tehe.  Anyway, My friends are awesome and we had fun. :) 

all the boys had to have their picture taken

their faces were priceless.

look at that lower lip

hehehe:)

Last Saturday was a busy day. We went to my mom's cousin's visitation in the morning.  We tagged along with Jenny, Cecily, and Emmy.  In the afternoon, we drove out to the Braker's. Nathan loaded up a bunch of his stuff and I helped Audrey and the girls knot a comforter. 

That evening, we went to Grandpa Wyss' Birthday Party. He turned 90!  

Grandpa and  Madelyn, she turns 80.

I can't believe that February is almost over. I know it's shorter but, man it seemed to go fast!

In Christ

~Michelle

ValenBirthday

Nathan's Birthday happens to fall on Valentine's day.  So, we get to celebrate two things at once. :)
Actually, I'm not a huge Valentine's day fan so it has worked out fairly well.  This year, Nathan and I went out to eat at Basta O'Neil's on Wednesday evening as our Valentine's night out. 

On the day, Nathan and I went to the jail for church services with Randy and Evie. It was our first experience going, and it was a good one. We are both looking forward to going more regularly. 

That evening, we celebrated at home. 
Nathan did good.

flowers, chocolates, pina colada mix, and a wood burner :)

Yes, I now have my own wood burner to start trying cool pinterest projects with. 

roses. eeee :)

table set for two

Lasagna, Nathan's favorite.

Nathan's cake.

Another hobby I'm attempting to pick up.

Aside: Nathan has hobbies. I don't. So, when Nathan does his hobbies, I'm bored.  In an attempt to remedy the situation I got cake decorating gadgets, wedding cake recipes, and frosting recipes from Nathan's aunts for Christmas. I'm trying to take up wood burning. And, if those don't pan out, I'm going to try candle or soap making.  

Anyway, Valentine's day was nice and  Nathan liked his presents and the lasagna.

I decided to at least get a little festive. I have a small chalk board, on which I like to write seasonal statements or spiritual war cries.  I went for more festive this time.

There are as many loves as there are hearts. ~ Leo Tolstoy

:) I thoroughly enjoy this quote. Maybe one of the best examples of why I don't completely buy the whole 'five love languages' thing. 

On a thought provoking note, in my job, at the jail, and in mainstream media we see the effects of people seeking love.  The man who is beating the woman, the woman who is being beaten, the women who have children too young, the sex offender, the drug addict, the person who can't afford the many pets, etc. They all are seeking for, begging for, tearing their life apart for LOVE.  Unconditional, unending, all surrounding, infinite love, that can only come from Love Himself, that can only come from the Father.  Instead they find mock love. Lust, acceptance, the dependence of a child or pet, and desire. Or, they just turn to something to dull the pain, the void of love, so they feel nothing at all.  

It gives me even more reason to share and teach God's love.

 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ~1 John 3:16  

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. ...  Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 1 John 4:8, 11 

In Christ

~Michelle

these winter days

The end of January, beginning of February, has been rather uneventful.  We've had lots of quite evenings staying home and out of the cold.  Work has been crazy, I wouldn't even know where to begin to explain, so I've enjoyed the quiet evenings  and Saturdays. 

I finally found some fabric I like for some of my windows. So, I spent an evening sewing. :) I'm not good at it by any means but the results are passable I think. 

My Brother sewing machine doing a wonderful job.

my kitchen window. 

One of the office windows. Oh, and we got a treadmill. 

In an attempt to be healthier (see treadmill above) we are trying to eat more veggies and such. So, I pushed myself the other night and tried  two new things: Asparagus and Fish.  I've never liked either, but I tend to like food better when I cook it, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

It was so amazing. 

I officially like asparagus and fish. :)

Last Friday night, I had the Wyss cousin's over for a brownie night.  I think it should become a tradition, because it was awesome. 

Everyone brought some sort of a topping.

This happened. 

This happened

Mmm. and this happened. 

This one happened too. 

Oh! yah. This happened as well.

It was fantabulous. 

Last Saturday, we went to the Goodfield spaghetti supper at the Goodfield grade school.  It was awkward. There was such a strange mix of people and lots of kids I went to school with that looked so different.  And, sorry, but when it was the Chili and Oyster supper (the Chili) it was so much better.  :) It was fun to be back in my old grade school for a little bit. 

Last Sunday, Church was canceled due to the weather. I got a little stir crazy and invited Lena and her sister Emily to go on a walk with me. It ended with us building the cutest snow-woman ever. She's French. 

Do you wanna build a snow man?

That evening, the winds picked up again. But, we braved the terrible roads to go have supper at my parents. Who says no to free food and a chance to get out of the house? :)

we couldn't see much

Our house looks pretty in the snow.

  

Other than that, life around the house has been dull. Work, however...yikes. I think I may save that until I can wrap my own brain around it all. :)

In Christ
~Michelle.