Project 52 Date #13

This week's date was an easy one for us. Once a month I get together with a small group of my friends for girls night! This month we decided to make it a couples night instead and headed on out to some free country dance lessons. So the Geis', McClenny's and Tidden's all arrived at 730 and waiting in anticipation for them to call out that they were ready to start. I would say there was about 20 guys and probably 15 girls there. There were two instructors that taught the guys there part and then they teach the girls there part. The fun part is that they take the line of guys and the line of girls and have them meet in the middle and dance your way down the floor with a random partner. And because the number of guys was different then the number of girls, you always got to dance with somebody new. I absolutely loved this idea because the majority of the guys on the floor were pros and I was just fumbling along! The BEST part was that each of the girls had their favorite guy "dance tutors" ... and none of them were their husbands :) Afterwards Barbie made the fantastic suggestion of Marble Slab and luckily we made it right before they started closing down PHEW! Check out the photos below to see how much we really did love our group date!

The Geis'

The McClenny's

Tearing up the dance floor!! BTW my favorite is the guy to my left in the long sleeve black shirt!

JT with his favorite partner... because their dancing skills were equally matched :)

Girls in the middle of the dance lesson.... oops

Guys Taking a Break

Girls Taking a Break

YUMMY Marble Slab

Love is . . . sharing your blessings (Week 13)

Thanks to the 5 Wednesdays of March I get to guest blog this month :)

In 2009, when we found out that we were expecting Jocelyn, JT and I started talking about moving into a home that would accommodate our expanding family better. There were a couple other things to factor in as well.... we knew that we planned to have more then one child, we knew that we loved having our family stay with us when they came into town, and we knew that we loved hosting get togethers for our friends and family as well. So with all this information, we started looking for homes. We made our list of MUST HAVES and WANTS and started browsing until we found the perfect house that had all of our MUST HAVES and many of our wants! So, with me 9 months prego we decided to make the move.

This house has been such a blessing for us and has already held so many amazing memories. It has hosted holiday get togethers, birthday parties, congrats parties, hometeams, dinners with friends etc. It has been filled with laughter, funny stories and love. This year we decided to add one more thing that it needed to host.... College aged hometeam.

Earlier this year, JT and I made a tough decision to stop doing our hometeam (a group of friends from our church that get together weekly to discuss a plethora of things). With JT's schedule changing month to month and us only finding out a week to two before the month end, it was just too hard to keep changing things around. But then I heard that the Student and College aged ministries at our church were looking for houses to host their hometeams. I heard this and knew this was a perfect fit because all we had to do .... was provide the home!

I decided to go for it and WOW it has been such an amazing blessing to US! We happened to already know the leaders so we already had a relationship there, and they are two of the most kind, compassionate, caring kids I know! All we do is clean the house before hand, put out sodas, plates cups and silverware, and pop in some pizza bites, or other college aged snack, in the oven and we are done. They get run of the house for the rest of the night.

I had one friend ask me " Aren't you stressed or worried about having all these people in your house" .... Nope not at all. All these young adults have been so sweet to us, they always come up and say thank you for letting us use your house, or thanks for the snacks and drinks, what can we do to help out next time. That same friend said " I'm not ready to do what you do, but can I help out and make a dessert for your hometeam?" and wouldn't you know .... she has made a fabulous dessert for EVERY hometeam that has met up!

So in short... We were/are so blessed with our home that we never thought that we would be able to bless others with it as well. So is there something in your life that you are blessed with, that maybe you can share or pass on to others??

Love is ... Serving Others (Week 12)

I was so excited to get to guest write for Tidden Tales, for the Love is... series. I found myself thinking of simple ways to show love. All of which are great, and important. However, as I came to what will be my last entry I felt a responsibility to take things a bit deeper. Love is is so many things, but ultimately love is serving others. As a follower of Jesus Christ, it is clear from His example that we should be serving others: But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve... (Matthew 20:26-28) This translates love into many languages. What better way to communicate love to family, friends, a complete stranger, than by serving them, expecting nothing in return. So, then the question is, What does this look like? Service looks different for different people.

For Christians, the New Testament is clear that as a believer that each of us has different spiritual gifts, but they are all given by the Holy Spirit (1Corinthians 12:1-7), which we receive the moment we accept the gift of Jesus Christ’s salvation. In verses 8-11 Paul specifically lists the various gifts. There are other references in Romans 12 and Ephesians 4. “God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well.” (Romans 12:6) What better way to use our abilities than to show love.

If you are not a follower of Christ, you aren’t off the hook. You still have talents and abilities that others around you can benefit from. As you can guess from my earlier post this month, I love food. I also love to share that food with others, especially when it can be a gift to them. I am part of a group within our squadron that makes meals for families who have just had babies. Another area I feel “gifted” in is teaching. For many years I volunteered as a teacher in my church’s children’s ministry. Today, I volunteer every week with our AWANA club.

If you don’t know where to start, look at yourself. What do you feel like you are qualified to do, but also love to do. Then take the next step and volunteer to serve others.

As a former children’s ministry director, I promise your churches children’s ministry is always looking for someone to hold a baby and change some diapers. Maybe kids aren’t “your thing.” Maybe you are more of a behind the scenes type of person. Then as a teacher I promise there is a teacher somewhere in your town, or a school looking for a volunteer to make copies, staple packets, or distribute flyers. You may even be able to look down the street and see that the single mom that lives on your block hasn’t been able to mow her lawn because she had to work the late shift the past few weeks. How amazing would it be if she came home to a kept lawn?

When I was writing this I looked up what the definition was for serve. There were quite a few, but my two favorites were “to render assistance; be of use; help,” and “to have definite use.” I love having a purpose and when I serve someone else I a definite use. The important thing is not what you do, it’s that you are doing something for someone else, to benefit someone by showing them love. In showing love the most important step is the first one. To take action, because love is serving.

If you are interested in learning about your spiritual gifts here are a couple resources I found that may help.
http://www.kodachrome.org/spiritgift/
http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.1355371/k.9501/Spiritual_Gifts.htm

Project 52 Date #12

Tonight's date was to have a dinner completely by candlelight. Now yes I know that sounds fairly easy so I had to work a little to make it above average. I bought some scented candles that fit the bill for scent and color (these things are important). I picked up a skillet meal so I could cook quick and still serve something good. And I found these tiny little tiramisu desserts to top it all off. So we put Jocelyn to bed and I started cooking and timed it pretty much spot on. It was all ready at the same time. We both changed into something nice for dinner(it makes a difference). Dinner turned out really good, grilled chicken and fettucini with mozzarella and zucchini in a red sauce! I had the windows open all evening and it gave the house a nice airy cool feeling for dinner. The little tiramisus were incredible, almost as good as the secret family recipe. Overall a nice quiet evening together with some really good food by candlelight.

Mia says:
This was a perfect quiet evening to end a very busy day. JT had me get ready in the bedroom and I wasn't allowed to come out until he let me. So he came to "pick me up" and the kitchen was completely dark and I could see a little light in the dining room, as I walked in, I saw a romantically set table, with wonderful smells (from the dinner and the candle) and just the perfect scene! The dinner was filled with good food, great conversation and wonderful company. Good job babe!

Project 52 Date #11

So last nights date was our St. Patricks date but since we have an odd work schedule this week we had it one day early! Our "challenge" was to get two small flower pots and make them into our pots of gold. Out came the stickers, markers, paint and creativity. Inside the pot, we had sheets of yellow paper that we had to write our favorite memories of each other inside, and then read them to each other!

So the prep for this date started kinda early. I woke up early and started dinner, I had already picked out the recipe that I wanted to do so it was easy with just a little prep time. Dinner recipe in case anyone is interested, because it was really fantastic and so easy! So when I got home from work the house smelled fantastic as though I had been home baking all day! All I had to do was set up the table, chill the wine and the date was all set.

With the new time change, Jocelyn goes down between 7:30-8 now so we had our dinner a little late, but it was well worth it. So while eating dinner away we went on decorate our pots of gold. I was a little worried about Jonathan's because he never put his down and he began to have his little creative face on (you know the home schooled concentration face). He definitely had me beat on creativity and his "gold" on the inside, even though it was thought up within 15 minutes, was AMAZING! I loved his scary looking leprechaun guarding his gold... and in case anyone wants to know why there is a peanut on my pot, its not... its an Irish Potato :)


For desert we had mint chocolate chip ice cream (gotta have something green) and just read over the gold in our new pots of gold! This really was a fun, creative, EASY date, so I posted this early in the day in case anyone wants to go out and get the supplies and try it tonight! I found the pots at Michaels, I think for .39 cents. Good luck, we can't wait to hear about your St. Patricks Dates!

Jonathan Says...

Dinner was fantastic! I'm not always a huge fan of crock pot meals but this roast turned out so good. Enough said about that. So the meal's over and Mia explains that we're making pots o' gold and putting little memory notes about the other person in them. I set to the task and try my best to not let her see till I'm none. And then she asks me why I was drawing peanuts on mine. Umm it's an Irish potato! Hmm soo anyways we finish and trade pots. Mia had some really good memories about me in there and I had a few good one's myself. (Regina don't bother zooming in to the 100X to try to read them because we moved them so the good one's are in the back) We finished off dinner with some green ice cream (mint chip Blue Bell!) It was alot of fun to get a little creative and competitive and remind and re share some good memories. Loved It!

Love is . . . Worth a thousand words (Week 11)

Any relationship you have, romantic, friendship, parental, etc. goes through, stages, or chapters. Many of those chapters can be captured through photography. This “love is” is not the typical, make a scrapbook of your favorite photos of you and your friends, instead this is simplified. The idea behind this love is, came during Valentine’s Day in which we were on a budget. Now just because I did this for my husband, doesn’t make it a “romantic” gift only. Instead it is a gift that can capture some of the greatest moments, in some of the greatest chapters of any relationship you have.

This is simple, but sweet, and it is a gift that can be added on to as the years and chapters fly by in your friendships.

In all relationships we have places and moments that are special and memorable. Maybe it is because it was an event, a birthday, or maybe it was just a brunch on a random Saturday morning in which you and your friend couldn’t stop laughing... for no good reason (those are the best). Why not capture those in film?

One Saturday morning I drove by the Indie Theater in Corpus Christi, which is now closed :(. As I drove by I remembered that this was where my husband and I spent our first Valentine’s date. In that moment I wanted to take a snapshot and keep a photo of this place for nostalgic purposes. As I drove off, I kept thinking about various places around town that were great “firsts” for us.

After I thought about it long enough I drove around town, from the Island to Brewster’s Street, and took photographs of places. No one was in the photos, they were just spots in Corpus; however, these random spots all played a roll in the first chapter of our lives together. I had the photos developed and put together a photo book, Chapter One: Our Firsts.

As I was arranging the photographs, I thought about how this was something I wanted to continue doing. Not just for my husband, but for friends. It is a unique glimpse at places I think are important to the relationship. And the best part is this gift can be added on to as often as you want. The first chapter for Zach’s book was firsts, the next chapter can be Chapter Two: Going to the Chapel, Chapter Three: Married Life... With friends it can look like Chapter One: High School, Chapter Two: What Were we Thinking? One special occasions, or just because send a dear friend a new chapter to add to the photo book of memories. Of course you can always put together photos you’ve collected throughout the years, but how cool to have a
collection of the places you’ve been together.

Project 52 Date #10 Slumber Partayyy!!!

So I pulled my ticket from the almighty jar and low and behold I am to create a slumber party....um I'm a man, like a man's man so what do I know about slumber parties??? Nada, zip, zilch....ok so maybe that's not entirely true but don't tell anybody or else!

So while Mia's bathing Jocelyn and getting her ready for bed I'm scrambling for stuff while she's not looking. I know for a truly good slumber party you gotta have pillows, a good movie, and some sweets. I create a mass of blankets on the living room floor and toss our pillows down and bust out one of Mia's favorite movies, Last of the Mohican's, which happens to be one of my fav's too. Then I pull pj's out for us and tell her to get changed. She plops down on the sea of blankets and I pop the tv on and POW there's Last of the Mohican's! She pretty excited cuz "It's one of the sexiest movies I think I've ever seen" -Mia. So we snuggle up and start the movie. About half way thru I bust out my secret weapon, Tin Roof Bluebell ice cream.

****Now just a side note but Tin Roof is my all time favorite ice cream and I've managed to hook Mia on it too. I'm even more excited about it because it's not a regular flavor and they only make it every once in awhile for like a month and then it disappears again. So I make us two entirely too big bowls of ice cream and we settle in for the rest of the movie. I gotta say the music in L of the M is some of the best movie music ever I think. So it was a pretty simple date as far as planning but it's been a long while since we snuggled(yeah I said snuggled) up and watched a movie together(and not doing anything else but soak up each others company). Great date night if I do say so myself!

Mia Says: Yah that's right, I think the Last of the Mohican's is one of the sexiest/romantic movies EVER. Who doesn't want a guy to turn to her and say " I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you." And if you have ever read the book Captivating them you know it has an even more powerful meaning to me. "Everyone woman in her heart of hearts longs for these three things, To be romanced, to play an irreplaceable role in a great adventure and to unveil beauty." "To be desired, to be pursued by one who loves you, to be someones priority!" - Captivating

Anyway, the movie was great but the company was even better. I have a horrible habit, sometimes brought on by semi-good movies, of doing two things at once while I watch a movie. Either crochet, play games on my phone, make to do lists, etc. But this was too good of a movie with too good of company to not just soak it in and snuggle with my love:) Great job babe!

Love is... Food! (Week 10)

Love is... Food!

One of the simplest ideas of showing love, in my mind, revolves around food. Food can be an incredible blessing under many different circumstances. For instance...

In October of 2001, I gave birth to my beautiful daughter, Kristyn. She was three weeks early, and because she was breach I had to have a cesarean. When we got home after our stay in the hospital, I was sore from the surgery, and completely exhausted. Luckily my mom stayed for a week after Kristyn was born, but even after a week, I was in no shape or mood to make dinner. My Sunday school class organized a dinner schedule and we were blessed with meals for another week! This same blessing occurred after I had my son, Branden. It seems that this is a common occurrence for new moms. And that thrills me, because I know how much of a blessing it truly is.

What if you took this to a new level? What if you blessed a friend with dinner, just because?

Sure, we have dinner parties, and gatherings, but what about seeing your friend is rushed, stressed, and exhausted and you surprise them with a meal. This is how it can look...

When I was preparing to start my new job at the local newspaper, I was overwhelmed. I was starting not just a new job, but a new career. I also have two “big kids” that are involved in multiple extra curricular activities. How was I going to get organized, and get my act together. Before my first day of work a dear friend called and asked if any of us were allergic to anything. I answered, no, and then asked why? She informed me that a few of our friends had decided that for my first day of work they were bringing us dinner. No one was sick, I had not just had a baby, but just because it would make one aspect of my life that day a little easier, my dear
friends were bringing us dinner.

I am an Air Force wife, and so are many of my friends. While my husband has yet to deploy, I have lots of friends who are single parents for an extended deployment. Nothing makes me happier than to surprise them with dinner so they don’t have to worry about it. They can come over “just because” or I can take it to them. Either way it is a simple way to say I love you.

If you do have someone in need of meals for an extended time period, check out this website. http://www.takethemameal.com/ It is a great resource to organize meals for someone who needs to be blessed!

Project 52 Date #9

SALSA..... no not the dip but the dance :)
Our date night tonight was to get a learn to dance DVD and have a learn to dance night. I actually found a beginners learn to Salsa dance DVD in my collection and set the scene for our date night.
I was going to set out chips and salsa for the appetizer to keep with the theme, but we had some friends invite us last minute out to dinner with the family. So we had a family double date before our date night. We enjoyed the company and the food and of course Marek and Jocelyn enjoyed making each other laugh as well. So when we got home, we put Jocelyn down for the night and I started to set up for date night. For the first time, I just wasn't in the mood for a date night, it was 8pm and I was EXHAUSTED. So after laying on the couch for 5 minutes, I gave myself a pep talk and got myself going and WE HAD A BLAST.
Jonathan was so surprised with the date and actually had alot of fun. We have taken dance lessons before and it really isn't his thing but doing it at home with just the two of us, we had alot of laughter, alot of rewinding the DVD, and just an all around great time. This was really fun date!

Pretty much exactly what Mia said, but I'll add my 2 cents to it. We had dinner out with some peeps and then I was told we'd have out own date nite afterwards. So we get home after dinner and Mia pops the TV on and I'm lookin at the DVD menu for a dance lesson. I'm thinkin "Oh yay, my two giant left feet get to show off again!" Now don't get me wrong, I secretlly love dancing with my wife. Problem is, I'm not a good dancer AT ALL. It was a good DVD and pretty easy to figure out(after 5 rewinds of the same step...). I enjoyed it, she was proud of my left feets valiant effort, and maybe I'll be secretly learning to salsa when nobody is around to see.....

Love is... Sign, sealed, delivered (Week 9)

Love is... Sign, sealed, delivered

Ever since I was a young girl I have been overjoyed to receive mail. (Yes, I find joy that simply!) When I was little, mail addressed to me was usually around birthdays and Christmas, and typically from the same three ladies, my grandmother, my great-grandmother, and my Godmother. Even more exciting, many times this mail would have money enclosed in it. As I got older I received other types of mail, in particular.. bills. While I don’t get excited, per sey, about bills I still love seeing my name on the receiving end of mail.

That being said, as I thought about what love is, I thought of how it is possible to simply show love. I am a writer and am always looking for the perfect words to express emotions. Last summer my family and I moved to Abilene, Texas. Before living here I had never been to this part of Texas, and frankly did really have the desire. Regardless of my opinions on the gateway to West Texas, God had a plan for us and that included packing up and moving to the “Big Country.”

Usually, when someone moves to a city to which they have never been, one doesn’t know anyone other than their family. As luck (or divinity) would have it, I knew someone in Abilene. A friend from high school had attended Hardin-Simmons University, met her husband, and they stayed in Abilene after college. I hadn’t spoken to Rachel in years, but emailed her via Facebook (what did we do before Facebook?!?!), and told her we would be moving to Abilene that summer. In fact, we would be in Abilene in May to house hunt. I have to admit I was a bit nervous, I hadn’t seen Rachel since my daughter was an infant, and Kristyn was now 8 years old. Rachel’s joyful heart hadn’t changed and she excitedly responded that she and I would have to have coffee while we were in town. When I saw Rachel, it was an instant
reconnection, and I have been blessed again by her friendship. On top of reconnecting with Rachel, she introduced me to some wonderful ladies, who have now become incredible friends, and wonderful parts of my life.

All this being said, I had told Rachel many times that I feel so blessed that we were reconnected, but I wanted to say it in a special way. Abilene is a small town, and Rachel and I see each other at least once a week, so sending her mail is not necessary by any means; however, after hanging up the phone with her one day I decided to sit down and write her a note expressing how blessed I am to have her in my life. The note was not long, it was not even eloquent by poetic standards, but it simply told her I loved her and having her in my life was something I counted as a blessing from God. I sealed the note, addressed it, stamped it, and sent it a couple miles down the road. Since then when I have a prompting to let someone know in a special way how they have blessed me, or that I love them, I sit down, put pen to paper, seal it and send it.

Few things can make someone’s day like a surprise piece of mail, just letting them know how special they are.