Friday Favorites

My favorite of the week was spending time with my greats.  I hope to spend some time with them each month so I can get to know them and help their momma out too!

We tried out the Colombian restaurant in town and it was very good!

The cheese empendadas were delicious.

I also enjoyed patacones and one of my favorites, lulo juice!

Memphis chiva :)

I used a groupon and had a water massage and oxygen for a little pampering this week.

Last but not least, we are closing on a house and plan to move this weekend!  It has been 2 1/2 months and we are ready.  Not sure when we will get internet, but I will resume blogging when that happens.

Have a great weekend!

Crawford & Campbell

It's time to share another edition of Crawford & Campbell, my adorable great niece and nephew!

This girl is so sweet.  

And this boy.  His personality is contagious.

He turned 3 months this week and is doing great.

I love these two so much and am so excited to be their great aunt.  I have waited a long time to hold these babies in my arms.

What's Up Wednesday ~ January Edition

Today it is time for January's What's Up Wednesday.  This is a blog series posted the last Wednesday of each month and is a fun way to reflect and look forward.  This month's edition definitely has a theme :)

What we're eating this week

Monday - chicken and rice with raw veggies

Tuesday -  Colombian restaurant

Wednesday - church

Thursday - breakfast food ??

Friday - pizza at the new house

What I'm reminiscing about

When life seemed somewhat normal

What I'm loving

Being able to communicate with people in the moving process and getting errands done

What we've been up to

Avery has been working, the girls are doing school, and I am trying to get little things for the house.  In the midst of this, I did get some sweet cuddle time with my great nephew and niece this week!
(more on that later)

What I'm dreading

I have a lot of work before me this next month, but I am actually looking forward to the unpacking and organizing.  So I'm not dreading the new start!

What I'm working on

Many checklists in my head and on m phone to get done these next few weeks

What I'm watching/reading

I am enjoying my chronological bible and a study guide that goes with it has been helpful too.

What I'm listening to

Right now, the sound of the heater in the house where we are staying.  I still enjoy hearing that sound after not having central air or heat in Bogota.

What I'm wearing

Pretty much the same thing I have been for the last 2 1/2 months!!  Jeans and a sweater or leggins and a tunic!

What I'm doing this weekend

Lord willing, we are moving into our house!

What I'm looking forward to next month

Getting our house organized, maybe painting the girls bedrooms, and progress on our kitchen remodel.  Also, this girl turns 16 so we will celebrate her!!

What else is new

I am finally feeling better after a month of back and forth ear and breathing problems!

Please pray all goes well with our closing and we are able to start moving in Friday.  

Show and Tell Tuesday ~ Steal and Splurge Edition

Welcome to the first Show and Tell Tuesday of 2017!  Today's topic is a little challenging for me because I am pretty much a saver when it comes to money, but every once in a while, I do splurge for something that I think will last.

Household & Food

When it comes to saving, that is my go to on most day to day products.  I am totally okay with store brand products for the house and groceries.  There are a few products where taste does come into play and I will buy a name brand over store brand, but basic ingredients are not a splurge for me.

I do splurge on facial wash and products for my skin, so I use Rodan and Fields.  Check out the website and complete a solutions tool to see what products you need.  This is a great skin care line I have been using for a few years now and am also selling it now.  They have skin line for wrinkles, acne, blemishes, and sensitive skin.

Depending on how I am feeling and where I am, I do like to splurge on dessert at a restaurant.  It is a simple, yet fun way to splurge and that way I have dessert, but don't have the dessert sitting around at my house to eat on a second time!

I also am a fan of Bath and Body Works, so I do splurge on using good quality and smelling body soap and lotion.  I stock up on these supplies during the semi-anniversary sales in January and July, so basically my splurge becomes a steal :)

Clothes

Like most people, I love a sale on clothes and get most of my clothes at an affordable price. I tend to buy most of my clothes from Old Navy & Loft (who often has great sales). However, I do have a few pieces I have splurged on in the past 2 years.  I invested in 2 good pair of shoes.  Before I left Bogota, I gave away some shoes that I only wore from time to time and that honestly were not comfortable for me to wear or walk in over a few minutes.  I bought a pair of shoes here to replace them and I am so pleased with them.  I also splurged on a pair of UGG boots last year I have mentioned here before. I still have no regrets because I wore them so much year round in Bogota and will wear them every fall/winter here.

These are so comfortable to wear all day long!  (side note....I was able to buy mine lower than the current sale price).

These shoes can be worn tall or folded down and it feels like you have on slippers yet they are fashionable!

Vacations

I like to travel, and I fall somewhere in the middle in this category.  Right now, I am just excited about small trips that we can do as a family.  I am all about saving money on a vacation, but not going to lie, I do want a clean, safe place to stay as well!

With the upcoming move for our family, there are some areas we are splurging in to upgrade our house, but within that splurge category, we are looking for the most affordable options. We are buying whatever we can at Wal-Mart in the meantime to help offset costs & I am trying to think about making decent one time purchases on items so that I am not replacing something in a year because I was just trying to save $5-10.

May our decisions be wise and honoring to the Lord, whether it is a steal or a splurge!

Weekend Wrap Up

It was a good weekend and I am ready for this new week!

Friday was inauguration day for the USA. I reflected on our trip to Washington DC when we were given a behind the scene tour of the capital and were able to stand on the balcony where inaugurations have taken place since Reagan in 1981.  Prior to that year, they were done on a different side of the capital.

After watching the ceremony, we went to a walk through of our new home.  Have I said we are ready??  If not, we are soooo ready!!!  I feel like my days are full of shopping trips to Lowes, Target, Walmart, Bed Bath and Beyond and other places as the little things are constantly coming to mind of what we need and don't have.  Think of all the random little things in your house.  We are starting over with those things.  Which is exciting, but the little things do add up quickly. 

We did Friday night pizza at Garibaldis, a Memphis favorite. 

Saturday, we went mattress shopping and looked at kitchen things at Lowe's.  The girls entertained themselves :). We met the family for lunch, then had a few other things for the rest of our Saturday. 

Sunday was church, potluck lunch, then trips to the church for small groups for the girls.

Hopefully I'll be in our new house a week from tonight.  Won't have internet those first few days, but that's okay!!

Happy Monday!

Friday Re-cap

Our week was pretty simple, with some fun things in the mix.

The simple things were our new routine, such as the girls school schedule and the bible study I've joined.  I was able to have two Panera dates with people to talk about our time in Colombia.  I was blown away one morning when I was able to go to 4 stores in an hour and a half.  Those are things I am still enjoying here living back in the USA!

Last Sunday, we had some of our Mission to the World friends in town and we were able to go to dinner with them.  These ladies work in the home office in Atlanta and have become friends of ours these past 4 years.

After dinner in Overton Square, we went next door where there was live music playing.  We played for about 2 songs, then I had to leave.  Not an ideal place for someone who had been diagnosed with some hearing loss recently!!

While we were with them, Brook went to a birthday party where she went ice skating for the first time!

The funnest part of the week was seeing this lady below.   Julie is one of the few people other than family that has known me since birth that I have kept in touch with over the years.  Julie lived across the street from us growing up and is my sister's lifelong best friend.  Julie currently lives in Minnesota and it has been 11 years since she has been down south.  We actually saw her either 8 or 9 years ago when we visited Minnesota.  Either way, it had been too long and we were all so happy to see her again.  I've always considered Julie like my adopted big sister.

Lynn, Julie and I

Julie and Lynn

Today is our walk through on the house and Lord willing, closing is a week from today!  Can't wait, even though it will be crazy that first week and lingering crazy with work to be done on the house.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Slow Start

The theme to my blogging for 2017 is a slow start!  I am hopeful that even though I will be busier at first after moving into a new house, I will also establish better routines, so I hope to do better with the blog.  It seems like I had more blogging time in Bogota, but I will get back to it here because I do enjoy it.  Today I am going back to last week when the girls and I made a quick day trip to Franklin, TN.  Franklin is outside of Nashville and we enjoyed the drive.  We went to visit some of our Bogota teammates who had brought some bags of ours back from Bogota.

The girls and I with Becky and Joe

Their family home within walking distance to downtown Franklin

Part of my slow start to blogging has been some health struggles this year, mainly an ear infection, which led me to taking steroids, which led to shortness of breath, which led to a stay in the emergency room Saturday night.  Here I am smiling while hooked up to a few gadgets.

I end the medication Saturday, so I am hopeful by next week I will feel "normal" again with hearing and breathing!!

MLK Day 2017

Happy Monday!  Today is the MLK holiday in the United States.  Just knowing it is a holiday is always a nice feeling :).  I will share this that I read in an email this morning. Hope you enjoy your day whether it be "normal" or a little more relaxing for you.

Dr. King didn’t bring about racial reconciliation in America single-handedly, but he was a leader in articulating two powerful truths: that all people have worth and that social change must be advocated nonviolently. He said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” He counseled his followers to be willing to bear abuse and suffer injustice, even imprisonment, rather than retaliate.

Those ideas came from the Bible. Those ideas were taught and modeled by Jesus Christ himself and continue to inspire and guide our lives today. Perhaps you will enjoy a day off work or school on this day. Whether you are working or not, take a little time to reflect on the important role Christians can play in bringing about reconciliation in our country: “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God” (Romans 15:7).

Where in your life is there the unfinished business of hatred, separation, and anger? Where and how can you be a reconciler?

Crawford & Campbell

My niece, Nicole, and her husband welcomed a baby girl into their family last Thursday.

That morning, I was able to get some cuddle time with "big brother",

Brook and Campbell playing while waiting at the hospital for little sister.

He was so good and is the sweetest. 

Here is miss Crawford! 

I am thrilled to be a great aunt again! 

Sibling photo :) 

Family photo 

Little miss Crawford waiting to go home on Saturday