Archives for 2011

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus – Charlotte

January 20, 2011 by Amy Leave a Comment

I can not believe the circus is going to be in Charlotte NEXT WEEK. I haven’t reminded the girls about going since we first found out in December and I can not wait to get them psyched up for it. I’m planning to use some coloring sheets that Time Warner has provided and am happy to share the link so you can do the same if you’re going. Or not. Free coloring pages are always a plus in my book.

Also, I may as well talk about the elephant in the room. Almost literally. Not my room but you know, they will be in the room. So I know circuses get a lot of pressure because of the treatment of their elephants. If that is a concern for you, here is some information about the care and concern for the elephants in the show. I feel confident that the show will be safe and that the elephants are taken care of sufficiently.

The circus will be in Charlotte at Time Warner Arena Wednesday through Sunday January 26-30. And don’t forget I have a coupon code for you to use to either have a fun date with your significant other or take your kiddos.

Check out this page for more information, a show schedule, and how to purchase tickets.

And be sure to let me know when you’re going. The four of us will be headed out for the January 27th 7pm show!

I received this opportunity including tickets to the show because of my participation in the NC Blog Buzz network. I have pledged to give my honest opinion of the product/event. All opinions are my own.

Wordy Wednesday

January 19, 2011 by Amy 2 Comments

I feel like the last week and a half has been a month. After a long snow week, we basically slept through the weekend. Sunday night Lexi got sick so we’ve been home, trying to nurse her through that. Looks like she’s coming out of the woods today. Although it feels a bit like everything has been on hold, there are a few highlights.

Addition of the house variety

Tomorrow morning we have a designer coming to look at the house and help us brainstorm about how to set up the addition. I am ITCHING to see what she comes up with.

We are having a friend come over after that and give us a ballpark estimate. Hoping that will happen this week as well.

I’m supposed to be talking to a bank about the loan today.

So yeah, we ARE moving forward!

Addition of the family variety

Friday we met with a couple from our church that is adopting. She filled us in on her story and what they are doing, gave us some contact info, answered our questions and gave us some books to read. I read Adopted for Life this week and can’t recommend it enough. For EVERYONE. It gives you a Biblical representation of adoption, helps families of those thinking about adoption and lots of tips for adopting parents and even adoptees.

So we haven’t physically done anything about the adoption. Initially we thought we’d be adopting from Haiti but so far that doesn’t seem to be the direction we’re receiving right now. We know we want to adopt 3-5 years old and feel like our local DSS is where we’re headed. I have to admit, it’s scary. These kids have baggage, no doubt. And this isn’t the pound, you can’t take the child back if it doesn’t work out. I hate to sound so callous but it’s actually quite the opposite. This child will be ours forever, I truly believe God had picked this child for us since the beginning and they will be a Bennett. Emma and Lexi’s brother. Our son. And to type that is overwhelming. And thinking about my son with baggage is hard. So to make that first call is like signing up for life, not just getting some info. So yeah, I guess I’m scared to do anything. But we will. We will. I feel like the rush is on the house right now so that’s what we’re concentrating on.

Feeling crafty

Monday I was feeling inspired by this post, so I got out by myself for a bit and went to Michael’s. I had a 40% coupon and I was gonna use it! I ended up stumbling on their 80% Christmas sale where I got lots of little red stuff for only .20 each that I could use for crafts. They also had paper on sale and I used my coupon for a little heart wreath. I spent a few hours after getting home making a few crafty layouts with the paper for Valentine’s Day and just fun ones for my office. I may not keep it around or I might. Each one only costs about a quarter since I already had the frames lying around.

Is that owl not so cute? That is an owl from one piece of paper I painstakingly cut out and taped on that awesome, colorful paper behind it. The bird on the top left one says “tweet”. It of course reminds me of Twitter. I had to literally, yes, literally, cut and paste some of the birds around that piece of paper to make it look right in an 8×10 frame. I love the heart on the picture of the Eiffel Tower, which yes, was part of a piece of craft paper for 19 cents! The flag one was hard. I don’t have a Silhouette so I had to break out the razor blade to make the flags. The last one on the bottom right is simply a sticker with a bunch of romantic words and definitions (which I already had in my craft supplies) stuck on a red piece of paper. So simple and only 25 cents!

Feeling clean

With all the time in the house, I’ve spent some time cleaning out my closet and kitchen drawers the past week. Can’t tell you good that feels. I’ve debated consigning some of my clothes but I’ve never done that. Is anyone familiar with the process? Wondering how much you actually get. Our local ones either do 60/40 or 50/50 split but I wonder how they price them and if the split really makes it worth it.

Blood:Water Belt

We’ve picked up a little steam on the Blood:Water Belt this week. Several ladies have sent in their pictures and have done some more posts about it. We’ve gone over the 50 mark, with over $1500 raised. So amazing. When I see the pictures of everyone in it, I’m just amazed.

Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights is coming to a close. After tonight, only 3 weeks left. Kaitlin and I have continued to do our fan site and podcast. We had the pleasure of interviewing Connie Britton “Tami Taylor” last night. My favorite interview to date. She’s so well-spoken and really knows her FNL. She’s not doing any TV or movie projects right now and is doing some charity work. You can tell she lights up when she talks about their projects. It was a little sad afterwards to be making plans with Kaitlin for when to shut everything down but it’s been fun. I have made a life-long friend with Kaitlin through this, had a blast doing the podcast and even going to Austin to meet some of the cast. It sounds a little trivial at times but I’m glad to have spent the time on it that we did. At the same time, I think it’s good timing with the above-mentioned stuff going on that I move on from this. A time for everything right?

Bible in 90 Days

Today is the half-way mark with reading the Bible through in 90 days. I’ve managed to stay on time every day and oddly, God has been stopping me from reading ahead even when I’ve had time. He’s showing me it’s my DAILY bread, not a sprint to completion. And still, I can’t recommend doing this for no other reason than it forces you to stay in His word.

So that’s a lot! I think that catches you up and I keep saying it, but I really want to get back to daily postings here!

Snow Day. I Mean, ICE WEEK.

January 13, 2011 by Amy 3 Comments

What do you blog when you’ve been ~~snowed~~ iced in for 3 days? What do you blog when your husband has worked 7 evenings in a row? What do you blog when your day has been a monotony of wake, cook, work, cook, eat, cook, entertain kids, cook, sleep?

Well, if you’re me, I guess you don’t.

As I imagined, this week was tough. Not tough, tough. No crying spells or pulling out my hair or yelling (and I have PMS—it’s a miracle!). Just having to keep-on-top-of-everything- I-don’t-have-time-for-anything-else. You know, PARENTING. So I don’t have anything amazing, blog-worthy things that have happened this week. Just a lot of good home time. I have enjoyed the late mornings and not rushing to go anywhere and eating in and lack of drama. It’s actually been a nice week now that I think about it.

Wednesday afternoon we managed to get out to the bank and post office and stopped my parents’ for a few minutes. Their yard was still very iced over and the girls had a blast playing in it for a few minutes. Of course they thought it was like a skating rink. And in fact, some spots did hold Lexi up. So here you can hear my mad parenting skills and if you watch to the end, you can see Lexi take a couple falls. And yes, she IS wearing her Halloween costume and a lightweight jacket.

Hope you guys are having a great week!

My Provider

January 10, 2011 by Amy 12 Comments

I sold my mac two weeks ago after being prompted by God to use the money to buy World Vision and Compassion gifts. The total was $800 plus what ended up being $31 for shipping. I tell you not to brag on me. Oh no. Giving glory to God today. Because today, I received notification that one of my advertisers on onetreehillblog.com had an accounting error over a year ago over several months and OWES ME $1631. Exactly twice the cost of the mac plus shipping. Just a coincidence? Could be. However, I choose to believe He opened the windows of heaven. I mean, what’s the chances? The error was over a year ago. I JUST sold the mac 2 weeks ago. The numbers are astounding. He’s so good. I was worried about how we were going to pay our tax bill this year for that site and now He has provided!

"Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it." Malachi 3:10

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning." James 1:17

Weekend Recap and Snow Day

January 10, 2011 by Amy 7 Comments

Weekend

So I finally set down my ruler and pencil and have given the floor plans a break. No floor plan pictures today! I think we’ve done all we can and we’re just going to have to wait until the snow melts enough for someone to get over and look at the house.

We had a low key weekend this weekend. I had to work on and off through the weekend on a conversion we’ve been working on for six months. It went smoothly and it feels good to have it out of the way. Other than getting out to the mall, the grocery store, church and Sunday dinner, we were at home doing stuff like laundry, cleaning, cooking and exercising. Yes! Exercising! I bought a few new workout DVDs with my Swagbucks and Opinion Output rewards at Amazon. I’m not committing to any exercise goals but I have been trying to do some type of something in the evenings. How’s that for noncommittal?

Snow Day

As for today, I’m sure you’ve heard that we are getting 4-6” of snow dumped on us as we speak. It’s beautiful, but really, a pain. The kids are home basically going back and forth between 2 rooms. Scott is sleeping from working this weekend so they’re having to be quiet. I work from home so snow is not stopping me from having to work today. And to top it off, Scott has been called in for two additional 12 hour shifts this week, totaling 7 days straight working. So now he actually has to be out in this mess working all the wrecks out there. Yay us! So, besides the snow cream, I’m really not jumping for joy over this snow. If I didn’t have to work then it might be a different story. But no. I hate to be a buzzkill but keeping it real!

On a high note, I did make some very yummy French toast this morning. I’ve never been good at French toast but I think it’s because I never used French bread. I took a note from my mom’s friend that cooks it when we visit in Pennsylvania and bought a loaf at the store yesterday and then followed these instructions. Enjoy!

I’ll leave you with a sure-to-be-famous “Amy story”. I have many in my past.

Last night the girls and I were trying to switch from Wii Sports to the Wii Fit DVD. I put the Wii Fit DVD in the Wii but it wasn’t recognizing it so I tried to eject it so I could clean it. Nothing! I went online and then followed all the online recommendations for ejecting one. I put out a complaint/plea on Twitter about what to do. Best I could tell, I was going to have to get it sent back to Nintendo to get fixed. It was REALLY stuck though. I could even get another DVD in the Wii and get it to eject that but the Wii Fit was lodged somewhere that couldn’t get out. Well. This morning I told Scott about it hoping that he would have some magic fix. Turns out he did. He hit the eject on the PS3…right where I had put in the Wii Fit DVD. Fail, Amy, fail.

Oh wait, in other big news today, Lexi lost her front tooth. She now looks like a legit kindergartner.

OK, now my blog has been down so long that I have a few snow pictures. Girls eating snow and then jumping on the trampoline with 4” of snow:

Custom Bathroom Floorplan Numero Uno

January 8, 2011 by Amy 5 Comments

OK, so after many attempts this is what we put together from the floor plans I posted yesterday. Certainly not set in stone. I’m looking forward to having some builders and/or designers over here to see what they could do with it.

The fact that we have to build in the closet from the second bedroom makes it a bit more challenging. Since I couldn’t figure out how to close off half the bathroom like option 3 with a sliding door, I went with a room for just the toilet. I think it actually fits nicely. And trust me, it’s going to be beneficial for all of us if we can close that off ;)

Still debating whether to make the shower a linen closet. The dimensions are a little weird for one. If we do a separate shower, the tub would be more like a spa tub and might need more room into the closet which is not a big deal because right now it’s 9.5’ long! If we don’t do a full linen closet, I’m thinking we can use the space under the counter since it’s twice what we have now or some space in the closet. Really we don’t NEED another linen closet but it would be nice.

While I really wanted a separate his and hers closet it’s just hard to do because of the closet in the girls’ room. The square in the middle is a bench for dressing. Scott really needs an area to hang his uniform and get dressed when he gets up at 4am. Right now he hangs his stuff in the laundry room and it drives me nutso when he puts his bulletproof vest and jackets on top of the washer/dryer. Sorry, random rant there.

Make sure to check out the oh-so-awful 3D rendering I did. While awful, it did help me picture better what we would see walking in.

UPDATE:

Ended up doing another new one while I had some down time working this morning. I still like the thought of the countertop at the back and separate closet spaces. Downside is the toilet is not separate and we don’t have a separate shower.

The first I posted is still our favorite. Thoughts?

Bathroom Floor Plans

January 7, 2011 by Amy 8 Comments

All pistons are firing here on the addition. We have a friend coming next week to help out and then possibly two different designers coming to take a look. Even Scott has been sketching out floor plans in his spare time. Our headache right now are the bathrooms. We have an 11×19 rectangular that we can do whatever we want with as long as it holds our closets and the bathrooms. The options are endless and quite overwhelming.

My idea now is to put the bathroom in dead center and a his and hers closet on either side, with the openings from within the bathroom so we have no closet doors in our bedroom. I am SO tired of staring at two sets of bifolding doors from our bed.

Here are a few plans we’re working from right now:

Option 1

This first one we’d add a door and come into the bathroom from the bottom and then go into each closet on either side of the sink. This is my favorite I think. I like the long countertop. I like the idea of natural light at the sink. The bad news is this is a tad larger than we have space for.

Found here

Option 2

Scott couldn’t get around the idea of a bidet but I don’t know, I think we could work from this. I like the double sink and the possible makeup area and especially the linen closet. We NEED one in a bad way.

Found here

Option 3

I think on this one I just really think it would look nice coming in and our sink areas are definitely separate. I also like the sliding door that could close off from the shower and toilet, especially with the kids getting older. Just not sure I like the lack of countertop. Also, the window would need to be a door to the bedroom and we’d have to add a window between the tub and toilet.

Found here

I know it’d be hard but if you have any recommendations, throw them at us. I love this kind of thing! So fun to make something beautiful from nothing!

Sacrifice

January 6, 2011 by Amy 15 Comments

I love when God speaks. When prayers are answered so clearly, there is no mistaking it. Follow me, it’s a long one…

Last night we had, once again, another conversation with the girls about the possible addition to the house and adoption. My kids are comforted by a schedule and set expectations. Mommy and Daddy down a back hall versus the next room over is a big deal. Giving that up for a little brother is a big deal. And I’ll be honest, the kids aren’t sold on it. Especially Emma. I haven’t broken through yet to see what’s going on but so far it’s just that she’s an “us four, no more” girl right now. So I just prayed that God would change her heart and ready her for this change. To be frank, we don’t let our kids dictate our decisions. If God tells us to do this, Emma’s just going to have to get an extra dose of grace from God to get through it. I did the same with a house move when I was 8. I remember my mom saying, “Listen, Amy, we’re moving and you can go with us or not, but we’re going.” I suppose this is “what goes around, comes around” part of my life. Anyway, I say all to say last night I prayed about the addition and adoption during prayer time with the girls. I specifically prayed that He would ready us and also prayed for the little child, if he was out there. As soon as we were done, Emma started asking questions. I could tell her little heart had already opened a bit to the idea and she was trying to get the answers she needed to be ok with it. She’s not there yet, but she’s moving.

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Last night I was reading for my Bible in 90 Days schedule and I bookmarked a verse in 1 Chronicles. I haven’t bookmarked a verse during this reading since Numbers, almost 3 weeks ago. This is it:

1 Chronicles 21:24 But King David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”

When I read that, I thought, ouch. That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking about, especially surrounding money. What good is it that we give when it’s not a sacrifice? I love what CS Lewis says

“I do not believe that one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid that the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as out own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot because our charitable expenditure excludes them.”

Now CS Lewis’ work isn’t the Bible but I think that’s what David was getting at. What good is a sacrifice if it isn’t really a sacrifice at all?

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This morning I was praying again, please, let it be clear. I don’t want to do this without clear direction. Again and again, I keep hearing. Do it! Fast!

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I started my blog hopping this morning and was reading, actually watching, this post from a new blogger I’ve been following, Laura Parker. Her and her family are in Thailand serving. The post led me over to another on her site about adopting an orphan. Those words hit me hard:

Yet, we wait.

We wait for God to speak to us in an audible voice, telling us to “GO!”—sometimes He does that audible voice thing, you know.

We wait for the perfect job to come along—orphan care demands a whole lot of money.

We wait for the bills to be paid—can’t be taking on more than we can handle.

We wait for the larger house—because adding children requires a large house.

We wait for a few kids to leave the nest before we add more—can’t be having too many children in the home.

We wait for confirmation with the perfect scripture to drop into our spirits as a sign that we need to act now.

We wait, we wait, we wait.

And while we wait—they perish. The statistics are staggering. I can’t even look anymore.

Ouch. But that’s not the end. I saw a link for a post “Being a Foster Parent”. Which it’s probably not ringing a bell for you guys but the thing we are considering right now is foster-to-adopt which our church is launching this year. She talks about the very thing I’ve gotten many comments on already…how hard would it be to give the child back? I can say, it’s hard. No denying it. My family was a foster family to many newborns when I was 6-7 and I was in the room when my parents handed the child over to the adoptive family. There were tears. There is no denying it would be hard. But guess what the post said?

Of course it’s hard. When God calls us to do something, to serve, to serve Him, he doesn’t say – oh and I have something for you and it should be pretty easy so go for it. No, He says, "…to look after orphans and widows in their distress" James 1:27. It doesn’t say, when it’s convenient and easy…look after orphans. In 2 Samuel 24:24 King David says, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." Sacrifices in the Old Testament were a form of worship and an action of obedience. "I will not sacrifice that which costs me nothing." My dear friend Laura Parker who chose to listen and obey and sacrifice for orphans said, "true worship and obedience comes with a cost." I think that is true. There has not been a doubt in my mind in the last 9 years that THIS is what God has called our family to do. To sacrifice for orphans.

Gosh, this post is getting so long but do you see that?? She pulled in the exact same verse (same instance but from it’s original context in Samuel) from David! The same one I highlighted just last night. And the post was related not to money, but to sacrificing yourself for orphans and specifically this post talked about fostering children. I mean out of all the verses, how is it that I ran into the same one just hours later and really only minutes after praying about adoption?

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I love how God uses so many instances to create a beautiful tapestry. More and more when I see God work, it’s many things pulled together to make a bigger picture. When I read that last post, it was like a ton of bricks hit my soul. That’s our sacrifice. I hope, though, it’s also our joy.

I don’t do this much but would you please pray that God moves in our family? I feel like this is the direction we are going but it would be awesome if the kids were excited. The thing is I KNOW it’s going to be a sacrifice, that’s what’s clear about what God is saying. It will be hard, there will be tears. But I also know He will equip us if he calls us.