Provision

It's been a great year... and I've been blog-M.I.A. for most of it (yeah. Sorry about that!), but it's been great, nonetheless.

With so much that's happened this year, I can't help but see God's hand and provision in our lives. Even through that crazy chaotic man-made house flood of ours, we received new carpet throughout the house, tiling in the bathroom (which we would've had to pay for ourselves), fresh new paint in various rooms... we couldn't have PLANNED that!

When McStudly was diagnosed with Crohns' disease, even after several hospital stays and medical appointments... countless pills and medicine trials... we hardly payed a dime for any of it (I actually don't think that we payed anything for any of it). We had amazing medical coverage through the military, fabulous doctors and facilities in our local area, understanding bosses and co-workers that covered for us, supportive family that checked in on us, and fabulous friends that helped make sure we felt loved and were taken care of. We couldn't have ASKED for anything better!

Even in our finances I can see him working. When bills came in higher than planned for (like when the electric company WAY overestimated our charges: think 8 months worth of bill credits) and life just... happened - cracked windshields, a sick dog, and home makeover mishaps (plenty of those in this house) - we were covered.

Just this month, Austin had quite a few dollars spent on vet bills... and by quite a few I mean the total is now over $1.2k on something as simple as ringworm (PS: much more serious on dogs, than humans, fyi). Somehow we were able to pay for (not charge) his vet bills the first time around... don't ask me how! But I thought for sure that there would be no way we could do it again. And I was right - we could not. But with God, all things are possible - and we are able to do it again. The vet said he needs one more round of meds to be sure it doesn't come back, and "somehow" we have the extra money to pay for that and his boarding expenses. I noticed last week, after doing some quick budget math (am I the only one that keeps a spreadsheet for each month that details how much goes to which bills for each paycheck, how much into savings, how much for spending, etc? Okay... call me precise and just shy of obsessive, but it works.) that we had about an extra $1k in savings that I couldn't really account for. Every bill is payed and already pulled up to date. There are no pending checks, and no pending withdrawals. We had planned to use the extra money to pay off our credit card, but when Austin needed vet visits, I knew it would be going towards that instead. But here's the cool part: we somehow didn't spend much (hardly any) of our allotted spending money over vacation... That's about $150 that we didn't use. And $269 just came in the mail as a reimbursement from our first round of vet bills (have I mentioned that I absolutely LOVE having pet insurance? Cause I do.) which I had totally forgotten about.

That's a total of: $419.00 that I had no way of accounting for beforehand. It was like surprise money... bonus cash.

So when I went to pick up Austin this morning from the vet's office, where he was boarding and had been re-checked by the vet, guess how much I had to pay?!


*drumroll please*


That would be a total of $406.68!



Isn't that amazing?! Not only are the vet bills covered out of pocket without even remotely affecting our regular monthly budget and bills, but we can also afford to pay off our credit card, now, with the extra money I "found" in savings.

Because we have been faithful to him in our finances and tithing, God has blessed us more than we could even IMAGINE through our finances.




As 2009 comes to a close, this evening, I look back and can see how God has blessed us way beyond what we could ever have planned, asked or imagined.




With this kind of provision from a truly wonderful, loving God that cares enough about me to even notice and cover the "little" things in life, I can't help but feel a peaceful confidence over whatever will be thrown our way in 2010.

May God continue to bless and care for you and yours, and may you be able to someday look back and see his hand in everything.





Happy New Year!

Who'd-a-Thunk?!

(click to enlarge, if you can't read it like it is)

Any takers? Ha ha ha...

Maybe this'll come in handy when McStudly is deployed? :-P

McStudly Rocks!

My Husband Rocks because he meets me for lunch on his days off, even though it takes another 20+ minutes for me to get there and he's already STARVING and super exhausted because he's been up since 4 am *deep breath*... wow... talk about a long sentence!

And McStudly Rocks becuase he knows how much I care about my best friend, and he tries to help me when I'm worried about her and just want her to be happy!! He acts as though she's his best friend, too... and I love that about him.

I love you, Baby Boo!!

One Full Year

Okay - so Monday was McStudly and I's first anniversary. Can you believe it? An entire year!!





The day started off a little rocky. We slept in, and woke up to... nothing. The power was out. Yep - Happy Anniversary! Right?! It was out until about 3 or so. Nice.







Well, I got up and going while Mcstudly slept a little longer. I took Austin over to my parents' house (they were watching him so we could have a hott date that night *wink wink*), and then headed over to my Anniversary present.



Sunday night, McStudly gave me a little card with all the deets. It said "11/10/08, at 1:30, with Jeanne". Yesss!!! He got me a full body massage. SOOO amazing. And highly recommended (I think he ruined it for himself, though, becuase now I'm hooked). It was FANtastic! After the massage, I relaxed in the "tranquility" room with NO clue what time it was (and I didn't even care, really) and then headed into the ladies area where I sat in the steam room for a while and then hopped in the shower. I was taking FULL advantage of the comps, that's for sure!



When I finaly emerged from Robert Andrews, I went over to pick up Kyle's anniversary present, but it wasn't in, yet. He knew what he was getting, at this point, so there was no rush.





So I went home and slowly started getting ready. Okay, so I watched a few tv shows, first, but then I totally did start getting ready early. I straightened my hair out and fluffed up the back of it, then I slipped into my hott little black dress, and threw a sweater on with it. I think it made me look like an old lady with the sweater, but McStudly still thought I was hott. (pictures to come)





We went to Fogo de Chao in Baltimore City. TOTALLY amazing!

I highly recommend it to everyone!! It does cost quite a bit of money, but you SO get what you pay for! My drink wouldn't be half empty before it was refilled. The food was simply mathcless, and the $10 valet made it all so perfect!! Really, people. You've GOT to check it out. So what if you drop $130 in a single meal. If it's your anniversary or any other special occasion it's DEFINITELY worth it!!

After dinner, we swung by my parents' house again and picked up our anniversary cake (I totally forgot about it earlier when I dropped off the pup) and then headed home. The cake was still frozen, so we found some other things to do to fill our time... tee hee hee

Anywho - once we ate the cake (it was delicious, by the way), the night was over. By this time it was about 3 a.m. and I was pooped so off to bed I went.

It was a great night, and having the next day off was just icing on the cake. Err - extra icing?!

How Did I Miss This?

So I never could quite put my finger on it. I always knew he had a familiar look, even from the time that I first met him. I just never could pin-point it. I guess I just assumed he had "one of those faces."

But Special A (my bestie, Ashley) FINALLY figured it out. I got in to work today and had an e-mail waiting for me from her. Here's what it said:

"Okay so I know this is really random but McStudly alwyas reminded me of someone.. like he had a twin out there in the world and I finally figured out who it was! I think they look so much alike!!"

Then it had a link. So naturally, I clicked on the link (who wouldn't?!).

As Internet Explorer loaded the name of the actor on imdb's website, my first thought was no way! Then, as I clicked to look through the pictures, it was al becomming clearer. How had I missed this? How had NO one caught this before now? Are we blind? Or maybe the lighting had to hit JUST right... no. It's unbelievable! Ashley was right...

So here we have it, folks - you tell me. These are the best pictures we could find for the comparison (and honestly, I don't think they do it justice at all!), but if you think about the actor in a movie, or McStudly in person, it's like they're related. It's amazing (at least we think so, anyways).

Do you think McStudly looks like Guy Pearce?

The Final Countdown

I can't WAIT!!!

But teacher, my dog ate my -

SHOES!!!

What is WITH this dog lately?! I don't get it. He's usually fine with this stuff. He's had a MAJOR oral fixation, lately, and I wanted to kill him!!

He was SO good yesterday evening. I was doing dishes, and when I usually have to listen really closely to his every move, and wonder what he's getting in to - he just sat there in his window seat, and watched. Then slept on the floor of the kitchen. He was being awesome!

But I guess... he's slept since then. Because this morning was not so cool. At first, he had gotten some mail off the table (a favorite pass time of his), and as soon as I told him to "leave it"... he did! It was fantastic. We were both happy AND he got lots of lovin' for it. Apparently he misinterpreted that to mean "Hey... why don't you go get something ELSE you're not supposed to have. That'll be fun!"

Just so you understand how this happened, let me give you a little info. McStudly is switching back to his night schedule, which means... he went to bed SUPER late last night, to sleep during the day, so he's awake for his 12 hour shift tonight. Translation - I have to get ready out of the bedroom so as not to wake him up. So... with that... I continue my story.

I brought my clothes out, and set then on the back of the couch, then let the dog out and fed him, etc. While he was eating, I did everything in the bathroom and blah blah blah. Well - I went into the living room to finish getting ready, and Austin was chewing on what I thought was his bone, over by our chair in the corner.

I finished getting dress...

looked down to put my shoes on...

and there was only one.

???

Picture my face as the SUDDEN realization hit me - he wasn't chewing on his bone - he was chewing on my SHOE!! So... I whisper-yelled (the kind you do when you can't be loud, but you want the whisper-yell-recipient to REALLY feel your anger and frustration - like when you draw on the hymnal in church - because it is, after all, a giant coloring book for young children, isn't it? - and your mother just doesn't appreciate your creative genius...) at him, and pryed it from his mouth, only to find that he had now chewed a nice, big-toe sized hole RIGHT in the front of my last pair of work shoes.

nice

And - I say last pair, because he snuck (yes - snuck. he's berry berry sneaky... we underestimate his sneakiness) into our bedroom, last Thursday evening, and ate my other work shoes.

Needless to say, whatever shoes I buy today over lunch (at the PX - ROCK ON military discounts!), in order to replace the slippers (Yes.... slippers) I had to wear to work today, will always be in only one of two places - on my feet, or in their original box, in my closet.

Dumb dog. *sigh* But I love that little dirtbag.

How can anyone resist this face?!

McStudly

I just wanted to say -

I LOVE MY HUSBAND!

I just do. He's fantastic. I can't seem to find words, and then if I try to make some up, I just sound silly - so going along with the Grey's Anatomy theme, I decided to name my husband. BUT since this is a G rated blog, I threw out several names (and will file them away for more private days) and decided to go with McStudly. It's not quite as good as the others, but again - the names that I thought would fit better were not appropriate for a public blog forum. So let's just go with it. :-)

McStudly is the best. I seriously don't think anyone could be any better (which is how it's supposed to be). You see - Kyle and I don't get to live the normal newlywed life right now. He serves in the AirForce and works crazy 12hr shifts (beyond his control) that rotate around and get us all sorts of confused. We usually only see each other in passing when he's working, and I'm not exaggerating. His schedule is 5:30 - 5:30. So when he works nights, he leaves the house at 5, which is about 5 minutes after I get home (if that). And when he works days, he gets up at 4 am to get ready... and leaves at 5 (both before I'm up), so when he gets home at around 6 (w/ driving time), he eats something small and we MIGHT have about an hour together before he goes to bed. (Getting up at 4am is NOT a small feat! So he goes to bed like grandpa-early). BUT he e-mails me throughout his shifts whenever possible, we walk down to grab lunch together when he works days (we don't get to eat together, but we can at least see each other).

The point is that he tries. And I try. We are both working at making the best out of this cruddy situation. It's not easy, BELIEVE ME when I say that, but it works. We spend all the time we can together, even if that means cancelling other plans with our friends, or at church, etc.

He's just fantastic. I'm learning so much about him all the time, and the best part about marriage, to me, is that friendship that is always growing deeper. I feel like, especially lately, we've just been talking about anything and everything and really starting to enjoy each other's company even more than before and it's GREAT!


Anywho - just thought I'd share that. I love you, Kyle "McStudly" Puhl!