Sunday, November 29, 2009

Christmas Tree

We got rid of our fake Christmas tree a couple of years ago because it was in rough shape and it was big to store and move. Last year in our itty bitty house we just improvised by making a tree out of boxes that we had in our living room. This year we are spending Christmas in Wyoming so we weren't sure if we were going to do a tree or not. The more I thought about it the more I really wanted a tree but it really didn't seem reasonable to buy a Christmas tree since we weren't going to be around to enjoy it but I did want one. This afternoon Hannah and I went to P&C to buy milk and saw a big Christmas tree box on the side of the road. I went home and told Glenn and he came with me to go and pick it up. It is a 7 1/2 foot Manhattan Pine "as seen on TV". The "1000 prestrung lights" don't work so we will have to put our lights on it but we have a HUGE tree (we have never had a tree that was taller than us and with 10 foot ceilings in our apartment it is nice to have a tall tree.) Thanks God for providing a tree for us to enjoy.

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Sunday, November 22, 2009

House Furnishings

Since church this morning this song has been resounding in my spirit: "Your grace still amazes me, Your love is still a mystery, Each day, I fall on my knees 'cause Your grace still amazes me."

Tonight as we were doing thank yous before putting the kids to bed I was again amazed at our generous God and the generosity of His people. We have been looking for a couch (you know, to replace the bathtub that had been in our living room for four weeks) on craigslist for quite some time but have never been able to find one for a price we wanted to pay at a location we were going to be able to move it from so we were being patient. We've lived without a couch for quite some time, a little while longer won't kill us. Last week at the church dinner Heather asked us if we needed a couch, she and Pastor Mark were trying to get rid of one of theirs and wondered if we wanted it. We went and checked it out this week and they helped deliver it with their trailer today. I forgot how nice it was to have a couch!!! I am so thankful. It even has recliners on both ends :) We haven't really had a couch of our own since we left 1090 because I don't think that the CLA really counted as a couch (if you ever sat on it you probably wouldn't either). Tonight we all snuggled together on it and it was so great. Thank you God for providing a comfy place to sit and snuggle and thank you Pastor Mark & Heather!

I really like the kitchen in our new apartment. There is a great amount of cupboards a very useful island in the middle of it but my biggest problem with it was the fact that I couldn't fit our microwave, Kitchen Aide, or coffee maker anywhere in my kitchen so they have been sitting on a footlocker on the floor which just hasn't worked well. Glenn thought that the best option for us would be to get a table to put under the windows to put all that stuff on. One problem with that though is that there wasn't really enough space there to be able to walk around the island with any table that we'd found yet. Glenn had seen our friend Matt and Christina's stainless table (which is only 2 feet wide) and told them one day if they ever wanted to get rid of it we'd take it from them. Today it came home with us. It is going to work great in our kitchen. I now have another huge work area. As I was taking the picture I thought of how thankful I am for the other things that God has provided on that table - the green butterfly glass bowl we use for fruit was a wedding gift, the KitchenAide my mother-in-love lent me 8 years ago (you don't want it back, do you mom??), the microwave God provided for $10 at a moving sale right after ours burned out. My God is so generous. Thanks God for blessing us and Matt and Christina for the table!Everytime I walk into our apartment I stop and think, "I just love our entryway." I think that it is partially because of this little table that is in it. A couple Sundays ago when we got home from church some neighbor kids were out and Glenn joked with them that if they found a screen door as they were traipsing around the neighborhood we could use one. A half and hour later or so our doorbell rang and there stood Kaylee and Francesca with this table. It was out on the curb in front of a house somewhere in the neighborhood and they had knocked on the door of the house and asked if they could take it and carried it to our house "because you guys don't have a lot of furniture." We looked at it and said thanks and wondered "What on earth are we going to do with this table??" We had a shoe rack where this table now sits and it was sloppy but the table has a nice look to it with the touch lamp on it for some quick light (I think that was a high school graduation gift LOL). I am thankful that God sometimes gives us pretties too :)

Monday, November 9, 2009

Glenn's New Desk!

Glenn has been dying for a place to study here at home. Our bedroom isn't big but we knew that the only place for him to get away in our apartment is in our bedroom. He likes to have lots of place to spread out when he is studying so he has been hounding craigslist for a desk or a library table or a dining room table - anything that he could have a large flat surface to study on. We have emailed about and gone and seen things for up to $400 but none of them have worked out. Finally yesterday this desk was posted for $25 and Glenn ran over and got it right away. It is big (50"x32" surface) and solid, the locking mechanism is broken right now and some of the veneer is coming off but it is a lot better than some of the other desks and tables that we have looked at for much more. I am so thankful. Interesting information about the desk - according to the people he bought it from they have owned it for about 25-30 years and it used to belong to the first female judge in Onondaga County. I have no idea how old it is but it is pretty heavy and we are very thankful to have a place for Glenn to study at at home! Thanks God for providing our needs!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

An inspirational thought

I got a flip calendar from Adrian Rogers from my dad's house. I thought that what was written on the calendar for today would be appropriate for this blog:

"I've heard people say, 'Pray for us that we'll hold out faithful to the end.' I think I know what they mean, but I always smile. I picture Noah's ark and I can see Noah, his wife and his family. Rather than being on the inside, they're holding onto some slimey pegs on the outside of the ark. And Noah says to Mrs. Noah, 'Honey, pray for me that I'll hold out faithful to the end.' But God said to Noah, 'Come into the ark.' And the same God that shut the water out, shut Noah in. Now, Noah may have fallen down inside the ark, but he never fell out of it. It's not that we hold on to Him, but that He holds on to us."

"Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:10"

The calendar asked the reader to "Spend some time today simply praising God for His faithfulness, His steadfastness, and His unconditional love for you."

I am continually amazed at God's goodness to us. He is so amazing. I have no doubt that He is going to continually take care of us - I have seen it again and again. He is holding onto me and I am so thankful! One of my favorite passages of scripture is 2 Timothy 2:11-13 "It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself."

Slippers, Games, a Fun Old Camera and Cash

We have decided that it would be fun to occasionally go to Salvation Army on Wednesdays because it is half off family day where all of the clothes and shoes except that weeks color are half off. The kids needed slippers because our floors are cold. We had a couple of pairs but not enough. We were able to find a pair for Caleb and a pair for the girls to wear. Caleb's were actually from Acorn and are in pretty good shape. I think that we'll get many years out of that $2 investment!

We were also able to pick up a couple of games. All of our games have come from Salvation Army. They used to sell them all for $2 but their prices have increased a bit. We got Last Word and Catch Phrase Junior, both of which I think will be very fun to play with the kids. We have the adult version of Catch Phrase but the kids don't know so many of the words so they have been having a blast with Caleb giving them clues.
Glenn is a bit of a camera geek. He comes by it naturally, I guess. He loves photography. He is always looking on craigslist trying to find a dslr in our price range (which he hasn't found yet) but he also would like to have some old cameras to use as decorations in our home. We have two that we got from my Grandma Hansen's house but the ones that people are trying to sell on craigslist are just so expensive. Well at Salvation Army Glenn found a Polaroid Land Camera in pretty nice condition for $3. Now he is in search of film for the thing so that he can display pictures that he took with it with the camera. It is pretty cool.

While we were at Salvation Army we ran into Joy. It is always a suprise to see her because I never remember that we live in the same city. We visited for a while while her friends shopped and after she made her purchase she gave us her change - $15.32. This is the first cash gift we've gotten since I started this bl0g so I wanted to be sure to include it.

Thanks God for giving us both needs and some of our wants as well!

Sneakers, a T-shirt and a Sheep!

Last weekend we went to spend the weekend in Fillmore with friends from Houghton. It was so fun to go to visit and catch up with people at the Harvest Party that Fillmore Wesleyan Church always has. While we were there the joke from the last time we visited that Jaynie and Caleb can share shoes came back up and she asked if Caleb needed shoes. She had a pair of Vasques that she bought but were too heavy for her for running or something like that that she let Caleb try on and then keep because he liked them so much. She also gave him a Houghton t-shirt that was way too big for her kids. As we were getting ready to leave Sophia was showing us stuff in her little purse and one of the things there was a sheep like the one we have been missing for about 6 years to our Farm Families game. I asked Jaynie about it and she said she had several pieces from the game, probably from her sister, but they didn't have the actual game. She snagged the momma sheep and stuck it in Lydia's pocket for us to take home so we now have the complete game - yeah! Thank you God for good friends and for giving us fun stuff - both needs and extras.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Free Food


This will probably be the first of many such blogs and I am going to try to start including pictures when I can/ remember to. Glenn goes to random meetings for medical students all the time. Sometimes there is food, sometimes there is not. (Sometimes, I think, he only goes because he thinks that there might be free food.) Tonight he went to a lecture for something about Rural Medicine that he said was really encouraging and came home with sandwiches and this huge pasta salad. The picture doesn't really do it justice but that is a normal 10" plate and the bowl is about 15" across. This picture was taken after my family scavenged both the sandwiches and the pasta salad. It also reminds me that we got another bowl of pasta salad this big but it was full to the top when we were living at Joel and Michelle's after some beginning of the year meeting that Glenn went to. It took the 9 of us a LONG time to finish that one :). Thanks God for free food :)

October 2009

* Since our apartment was still not ready I was free to go to Rochester to take care of the kids of some friends while they went on a cruise.
* We were finally able to move into our apartment on 10/14 even though it wasn't completely done yet. Kendra, Matt, Christina and Robert helped us carry stuff out of the attic of the place we had lived in June and July and up a block to our apartment. Matt and Christina brought us supper for the move in day and Kendra brought us a bag of random food leftover from a food distribution at their church - I never turn down free food!
* The bathroom was fixed enough for us to take showers on Sunday 10/18.
* 10# of Italian Sausage on Manager's Special at P&C
* Free Pumpkins and kites at a fall harvest party at a church nearby. We wanted to get pumpkins for the kids but didn't really want to have to pay for them and God provided pumpkins (the kids were even able to paint and decorate them there so that we didn't have a mess at home!) The kites were a bonus - we didn't have kites on our want or need list but the kids have had lots of fun with them!
* The toilet and sink moved from the dining room to the bathroom and put into service on 10/24.
* free Bounce Dryer bar because I had a coupon for $2.50 off and P&C had double coupon days.

September 2009

* 8/23-9/26 Joel and Michelle let us stay at their home with them with a couple of weekends where either we or they were gone.
* Dave and Hannah let us crash at their place when we had to be out of Joel and Michelle's house Labor Day weekend and then Matt and Christina let us crash for another night at their place as well.
* God in His infinite wisdom allowed us to make offers on 5 different houses over the months of August and September and allowed them all to fall through and then provided an apartment for us for at least the next 8 months just down the street from where we lived this summer that has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms that we will be able to move into sometime in the future whenever it is fixed (this was written a few weeks ago). It is only $650/ mo. and has lots of built in storage spaces.
* Glenn's Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds visited from Wyoming and took us out to eat several times and put us up in a suite in the hotel that they stayed at for a couple of nights and the kids loved swimming in the pool there.
* Julaine let us move into her furnished house that she is not living in until we can get into our apartment.
* Quantum Leappad at Salvation Army for $5.
* I found 2 nearly new pairs of jeans that fit well at Salvation Army for myself as well as a new tie for Glenn.
* Over 20# of chicken for 99 cents a pound at P&C.

August 2009

We were "homeless" as of 8/1/09 but...
* Bethany and Josh put us up for the first two nights of our homeless time.
* Chris and Miranda put us up for the next two nights of our homeless time.
* We were asked to housesit by two different couples for the rest of Glenn's break so we stayed at Matt and Christina's in Syracuse for a while to look for houses and at Luke and Christina's in Rochester for the rest of the time that Glenn had break until 8/19.
* Dave and Hannah took our kids for the night for our tenth anniversary so we could sleep in on our anniversary and spend most of the day kid free :)
* Jim and Christine gave us 5 Ride and Slide passes to Seabreeze so we could go and spend the day and only have to pay for a pass for Abigail.
* Matt and Christina let us move back into their home with them when we had to be back in Syracuse for orientation.
* Lots of yummy fruit during orientation receptions.
* Glenn's Grandpa & Grandma Nicodemus from Cheyenne, Wyoming and my Grandma and Grandpa Nelson from Waterloo, NY were able to be here for Glenn's White Coat Ceremony.
* Grandpa & Grandma Nic took us out to eat a couple of times.

June-July 2009

We were able to sublet an apartment a mile and a half from the University for $600/mo. for 2 months.
Glenn was able to bike to school for all of Summer Anatomy = no gas or parking expenses.
Glenn was able to take Summer Anatomy and so free up his fall schedule.
We were able to use our downstairs neighbor's internet for $10/mo.
We were able to buy a Canon G9 camera with lots of accessories off of Craigslist for less than $400.
Glenn had been thinking he would like a big bottle to collect loose change in and a couple days later there was one out in front of the neighbor's house. From in front of the same house we also got an office chair, a bookbag for Glenn that he used everyday up until last week, and a couple of purses for the girls (yes, we curb dive).
Glenn got a good bike off Craigslist for $30 that he only had to walk down the street to get.
We went to free movies at Regal Cinema several times.

May 2009

* Jenn and Dan drove a UHaul trailer full of our stuff to Syracuse.
* Chris helped us move that day as well as Lori who stopped by and helped entertain the kids with lots of bubbles so I could pack. In Syracuse a bunch of people who were working on the apartment we were moving into helped unload the trailer and get our stuff into the apartment/ attic.
* Our Suburban worked to get a load of our stuff to Syracuse.
* Lunch was provided our first Sunday in Syracuse by a potluck at West Genesee Hills Baptist Church.

A day that changed out lives

January 26, 2009 – Glenn was accepted for admission to SUNY Upstate Medical University's Medical School Class of 2013! After going through the application process 3 times and taking the MCAT twice this is the first thing that God had provided for us on this adventure.

Why Living on Love and Peanut Butter?

Looking back I can think of some amazing ways that God has provided for us throughout our marriage. He has given us way more than we deserve. When we were first married I am told that when people asked my mom how we were doing she would say, “You know, they're living on love and peanut butter.” I guess that that was true back then and has been true for most of our marriage through times when we were in school and when we were waiting to get back in school. God has always faithfully provided our needs and so often our wants as well. I am sure that I have forgotten more things than I remember of how God has provided for us so I am starting this blog to keep a record for me to look back and see how God has provided for us through these 4 years before we will get a paycheck again. I know that there are many expenses and needs ahead of us but I also know Who knows what those needs will be before we have them and how He is going to provide for them. This blog is to be a faith bolstering record of how God has provided for us. I started this blog on a non-internet connected computer while we were homeless in September so officially starting it in October I may be a bit rusty on my remembrances from the summer but hopefully through looking at our other blog and things I have written down other places I will have a semi-accurate account of some things large and small God has done.