I Am Blessed!

     Last night I realized once again just how blessed I am to have the husband that I have!  I love him dearly and it is times like last night that I am reminded again how much I do love him!
     I woke up yesterday morning with a pinched nerve, and my right leg was hurting terribly!  No matter what I tried to alleviate the pain during the day, it did not work.  Our dear little son seems to be doing that to me A LOT lately!  By the time we got home from work and from visiting someone in the hospital, it was past 6:00. Just the thought of making supper and cleaning up made my leg hurt worse!  As I headed toward the kitchen, I heard Tyler say, "I'll make supper tonight".  Oh what blessed words those were!  I asked him if he was positive that he wanted to do that.  He reassured me several times, and then told  me to go sit in a nice, warm bath, which usually seems to help when I am having back problems.  While I did that, he cooked up a wonderful supper!  I definitely ate too much!!!  When we had finished, I got up to do the dishes and clean up.  Then Tyler said, "I will clean everything up tonight!"  He had to reassure me several more times that he was perfectly fine with doing dishes and cleaning and sweeping, etc.  He made me then lay down and rest!  What a wonderful night it was for me! 
     The Lord has definitely blessed me, and I am so thankful for my husband.  I think that as wives, we don't let our husbands know how much we love them and how thankful we are for them as much as we should.  I praise the Lord that he brought Tyler into my life 3 1/2 years ago and that He has blessed us already with so many wonderful times and memories!
    

Laundry Detergent

During our Ladies' Retreat in March, we had a few "FYI" sessions where some of the ladies taught us how to do different things.  One of the sessions was on how to make your own laundry detergent.  At the end, we were told that in doing so, we would be spending only a penny per load of laundry that we did!  With a baby coming, which means more laundry, I thought that it was something I should look into doing!  I printed the recipe off from online, and bought all of the ingredients the next time we went grocery shopping.  The night that I made my first batch of it, I was very determined to take pictures of it.  It was then that I remembered that my camera was at the church!  I had to take the pictures with our phone.  That, combined with the fact that I am not that great at taking pictures, produced the pictures that you will see.  I am sorry that they are not the greatest pictures.

 Here are the ingredients:

1/2 cup of Borax (I bought 20 Mule Team Brand)

1/2 cup of Washing Soda ( I used Arm & Hammer)

1/2 cup of Baking Soda (You can use more or less depending on how fresh you want your clothes...I also used Arm & Hammer for this)

1/3 bar of Fels-Naptha soap

The first step is to grate the soap into a pot.  It was kind of funny because it did look like cheese, but by the smell you can tell it is not:)!

This is what the soap looked like after it was grated...it also smelt very good.

You then put in 6 cups of water and heat it until the soap has all completely melted.  You of course need to make sure that you are stirring it.

Then add the borax, washing soda, and baking soda, and stir it until it is all dissolved.

Put 4 cups of hot water into a bucket, and then put the soap mixture in and mix it up.  You will then add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and you are done!!!!! 

I doubled the recipe, so it made about 4 gallons of detergent for me...I bought this 5 gallon bucket at Wal-Mart since I did not have one large enough.  I was a little nervous about this whole endeavour, but it actually turned out to not be very hard, and I am very glad to be saving us some money.  One more thing about this detergent that is nice is that you do not have to use dryer sheets if you wash clothes, so that is another way that we area saving money.  One last note--you use 1/2 cup per load.

**Make sure you continue down and read the next post...Tyler and I both happened to have time today to write one, and I do not want you to miss his since it has been a while since he wrote!

Sheddin' the Pounds!

                About a month ago, I decided to start yet another diet! I know! You have heard so many different people saying that they are going to start a diet, but this is not just any diet! It actually is not a diet! It's eating the foods that God intended for us to eat! (Of course, I am not saying that a little sweets here and there are forbidden by God, but God intends us to take care of our bodies!)

  This diet is called "Eating for Life"! The name sums the diet up in a nut shell! 

(For my "Fairhaven Fans", many of you probably are familiar with this diet!)

             This all came from the fact that we are going to have a baby very, very soon! (about 6 short weeks! Trust me, I am not excited at all! HAHA LOL!) Especially, when I heard that we were going to have a boy, I began to think about what kind of dad that our boy would like to have! After the Lord convicted me about the way that I had been eating, I decided to start this "diet"!
              At first, it was very hard, because my body had been accustomed to eating large amounts of food or pretty much whatever it wanted! Then all of sudden, it was only eating certain portions of food and only certain kinds of food! But over time, I began to realize that this diet made me feel good and energized!
              The food that I am able to eat is not nasty or packaged food. It is normal food! The claim to fame and success of this diet is: THE RIGHT FOOD, THE RIGHT AMOUNTS, THE RIGHT TIME & THE RIGHT COMBINATIONS! My favorite meal of the meals that I have had so far is the Chicken Enchiladas! They are delicious! And guess what, my portion size is 3 Enchiladas! AMEN!
               Of course with every diet, there is a period of time that you are able to eat something different than the diet food! In this diet, it gives you one day of your choice to eat whatever you feel like eating! No joke! Well, the first day off came around! I woke up and had a desire for some pancakes or french toast! So my wonderful, beautiful wife made me some delicious french toast and a big glass of milk! Well, as the day went on, my desire of eating whatever I wanted soon decreased, because I felt full and nasty!
                Soon, I found the difference between eating right and eating whatever my pea pickin' heart desired all the time! The climax of my "day off" experiences was this last Friday! I woke up again with a craving for some french toast and again my beautiful wife fixed them for me! Then we decided to go to Chiles for lunch! I had a Chicken sandwich, fries, probably 4 glasses of Strawberry Lemonade (the all-time best!) and a Brownie delight, which is a warm, gooey brownie with ice cream on top! Am I making you hungry yet? Needless to say, after eating all of that, I felt so full and sick! When we were ready to go, I could hardly walk! Then to top it off, later that night, I went to Applebees with some guys since my wife was having Ladies' Bible Study at our home and I definitely was not going to stay around for that! WOW!
                 In the last month or so, I have lost 15 POUNDS! PRAISE THE LORD! By His grace, I am going to continue to "eat for life"!

FOR MORE INFORMATION, GO TO: http://www.transformation.com

(Also, just a tip, go onto EBAY and look for the "Eating for Life" Book. In the store, they are $35!)

Student Convention

     Well, we returned on Saturday evening safe and sound from our A.C.E. Student Convention in St. Cloud, Minnesota.  We had a great time while we were there!  If you have not figured it out yet, Tyler and I are not the best picture people, so I do not have any pictures to post for you to see.  I did take two pictures while I was there, which I will tell you about later...they will probably not be posted though.
     For most of the trip over there I rode in the boys' van, since Tyler was driving.  It was quite an adventure!  They did not stop eating from the time we pulled out of the church parking lot until we pulled into the hotel parking lot.  At one point I heard one of the boys say, "I don't think I have eaten anything for a couple of minutes, so I better eat something!"  There were also a couple of the boys that did not stop talking the whole time we drove!  For the last couple of hours I transferred myself to the girls' van for a little bit of sanity!
     Wednesday morning we were up and running early in the morning.  I had an early bird in my room who's alarm went off at 4:00 a.m., which was only 3:00 at home because of the hour difference.  We were all ready to leave the hotel by about 7:30, and thus started 3 days of extreme busyness!  On the first day I volunteered myself to time the track events as well as be in charge of the long jump.  About 15 minutes into it I was wishing I could be back inside.  It was cold and very windy and gloomy.  I was thankful after a couple of hours to finally be able to go back inside.
     That evening we heard our first message from Pastor Robert Watkins, who is pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Yucca Valley, California.  He was the perfect preacher for a large group of teenagers.  He kept them in tune with him and listening the whole time.  As a young boy he was sick often because of respiratory problems, and he spent that extra time in his room practicing magic tricks and ventriloquism.  I have never seen anyone do ventriloquism as well as he did!  I sat in amazement as I watched a lamb, a duck, and a spider take on personality and come to life right in front of my eyes!  I remembered how I struggled and struggled in college when we had a section on ventriloquism in one of my storytelling classes.  He "threw his voice" so well, and not once did any part of his face indicate that it was him speaking and not the lamb, duck, or spider.  He preached some very convicting messages for me, and I am sure for the teenagers as well.  You could tell that he loved teenagers.  He spent a lot of time during the day talking to them and playing games with them, etc.
     Something fun that I was able to do was judge the instrumental competitions.  As I sat in the room, looking at the nervous kids who stood in front of me, it brought back memories of me having the same nervous look and sick feeling in my stomach that they probably had.  It was very interesting to be on the opposite side of it all, looking for mistakes and giving notes on how they could improve.  I tried to be as positive as I could, remembering how discouraging it can be to get the judges' forms back, showing what all you did wrong.  Each person did a good job, and I comend them all for the work they did.  I think that playing an instrument in a competition is one of the most difficult things to do.  I would rather sing or give a speech any day!
     One minor difficulty that I developed during the trip was with my feet.  By Wednesday night they were HUGE!  I have never seen my feet this large...they were at least twice their normal size.  It was not only my feet but also my ankles and legs.  I could feel the skin on my legs stretching.  It was a very odd feeling!  When I looked down at my feet with my shoes on, it looked like bread dough rising out of two black pans.  When I took my shoes off in the hotel room I had to laugh because my feet looked like two ballons with little toes wiggling at the end.  I did take two pictures of my feet, but I really do not think that anyone wants to look at my nasty feet!  By Thursday morning, the pastor's wife, who is also a nurse, told me to go take my shoes off and put on flip-flops.  It was a blessing to be allowed to do that, even though it was not according to their dress code.  My feet are still balloon size, and I am afraid that they will remain that way until this little boy of ours is born!
     Our students did a great job in all that they competed in, and we were proud of them.  They also all had great attitudes the whole time, even though they were very worn-out and tired.  On Friday evening, after all was said and done, we celebrated by going out to Olive Garden.  It was also a nice way to sort of celebrate Tyler's birthday a day early.  We pray that the Lord was able to use the week to deal with the hearts of our students.
     For the return trip, Tyler drove the girls' van, which was so nice for me! The wonderful South Dakota wind was horrible on the way home, and it took all of Tyler's strength to keep the van, with the trailer, on the road.  I am sure that he was the most thankful to be home out of all of us!
     All-in-all, it was a good trip, and we are praising the Lord for that!  I am looking forward to next year!

**Note:  I really am sorry that no pictures have been posted for months!  I will try to post pictures about something sooner or later!
    

Life is Marching Forward

     Our life has not been too exciting lately, but I thought that since I actually had some time, I would update you all on what is going on in our humble little lives!  These little chunks of time that I get are not very often, so I take advantage of them when I get them!
     This last week at school has been spent in preparation for A.C.E.  Regional Student Convention in St. Cloud, Minnesota, for which we will be leaving on Tuesday.  By we I mean:  Pastor and Mrs. Williams, Dad and Mom Brock, and Tyler and myself.  It is for the kids in our school that are ages 13 and older, so it does not directly affect me, but it does indirectly affect me since Tyler is very involved with it all.  The kids have spent a very busy week practicing and perfecting anything that they are going to compete in.  There are a wide range of competitions, such as:  art, speaking, music, athletics, and others I cannot think of.  We have discovered some talents in our teens that we did not know they had before!  It should be a fun 5 days that we spend there, although I am sure we will be tired when we get home.
     Tyler's birthday is coming up on the 21st of April, which will be the day that we are travelling home.  I have been saving my pennies from my allowance to get him a gift that I have been wanting to get him.  After I bought it, I discovered that I had some extra money left in my little savings, so we went to eat lunch at Sonic today, which was very yummy.  It is one of those places where you drive up and they bring the food to you in the car.  Tyler had a Chicago style hot dog--I thought it was amusing to have one of those in the wild west of South Dakota, but it looked pretty good.  We also got a Strawberry Limeade, and finished it off with Strawberry malts.  Tyler thoroughly enjoyed himself, since he has been keeping a strict diet, and this was his day off to eat whatever he wanted. 
     Speaking of his diet, it has been an experience for me, since I have had to completely change my menu plan.  He has been on the Eating for Life plan, and so far has lost 8 pounds!!  I am very excited for him.  It is good for me, too, since it is a much healthier way of eating.  What we have both enjoyed about it is that the food is very yummy, yet good for you.  Well, all the meals have been good, except for the tuna casserole which I WILL NOT make again.  First of all, Tyler did not really like it that much, and second, the tuna made my kitchen stink!!  Our favorite so far has been the chicken enchiladas--they are amazing!  He also has been very faithful with working out, which has benefited me because it keeps me working out, although definitely not 6 days a week as he does!
     As far as I am concerned, I am almost 32 weeks along with little Boy Brock.  We still have not decided on a name for him, but he will have one when he is born, don't worry!  For anyone that is interested, he is about the size of a pineapple right now, according to statistics.  He is nearing 4 pounds!  I cannot believe that, because it seems like he was just the size of a peanut.  I am beginning to get less sleep at night as it gets increasingly difficult to be completely comfortable.  Today was my day off, and I was looking forward to sleeping in, but there was no such luck!  At 5:30 a.m. I was wide awake, and there was no way I was going to be able to fall back asleep.  Of course after I had been up for 2 hours doing things, I suddenly was extremely tired again...I guess nothing is predictable when you are expecting!  My school kids and I were talking about the fact that our baby was going to be a boy.  My little kindergartner, who is one of 5 boys in his family said, "That's good, because we need more boys in Rapid City!"  I thought that was pretty funny.  He's not very outspoken, but when he does say something, it is always interesting to hear what he says.
     I cannot believe that after we return from our trip there will only be 5 weeks of school left.  That is exciting and a little stressful at the same time.  My class always puts on a program for the parents, church members, etc. at the end of school and I still have A LOT to do to get them ready for that.  I definitely will have a very busy 5 weeks!  I always have the great reward of summer break to look forward to! 
     Our van ministry is also going well!  We had 27 come out on Easter Sunday, including some parents, which was a big blessing.  This Sunday we are going to have a candy scramble for the kids, so Tyler and I went out to get everything for that today.  When we got back to the church to put everything away, we realized that we got more than we thought!  Oh well, the kids will enjoy it!
     The Lord continues to bless us, and we are very thankful for that!  Since there is nothing else that I can think of, I will close for now!

One of Those Mornings

     Yesterday, we had "one of those mornings" at home.  It started with something that happened because of me and my scatterbrained ways.  Tyler and I have been very faithful about eating oatmeal every morning before we go to school, in an attempt to be more healthy.  I normally run into the kitchen, turn on a small pot of water to boil, and then go and do a few more things to get ready before coming back to put the oatmeal in.  I followed my usual routine yesterday morning, and after a couple minutes, Tyler smelt something funny, so he went into the kitchen.  I had turned the wrong burner on, so the water was nowhere near even being warm.  That was not the problem, though. My nice, beautiful wooden holder for my knife set, which I really love, was sitting very close to the burner which was on. One side of it was no longer beautiful wood, but rather it was completely black.  I did not realize it until I heard Tyler's "Oh no!"  We quickly altered the situation, and still had some good oatmeal, but I will forever have a knife holder that is black on one side.
     A few minutes later, I heard Tyler say, "Oh no!" again, and ran into our bedroom to see what the problem was.  I saw him sitting on the bed, staring with dismay at his school shoes, which he had just put on.  One of them had a very large hole in it, making it impossible to wear.  Poor guy!  Thankfully he did have some other shoes that he could put on.  While he was doing that, I was running around the house lighting candles and opening windows, because the maintenance man was scheduled to come to our apartment during the day to repair something, and the smell that my burnt knife holder left was not exactly the most pleasant.
     We finally got out of the house, a little dissapointed at the 50 degree drop in temperature since the day before.  We also were almost getting blown away by the wonderful South Dakota wind that runs wild out here.  As Tyler opened the door for me to get into the car I heard him say "Oh no!" for the third time that morning.  It was then that I noticed that there was no longer a side mirror on my side of the car.  It was rather laying several feet away, pretty beat up.  He picked it up and placed it in the car.  As we began to drive away, I got a full picture in my mind of our car without the mirror and thought of how it is looking more and more like a car that the Beverly Hillbilly's would be driving, and I just had to start laughing!
     Tyler, of course, looked at me, wondering what I thought was so funny.  I just had to tell him, "You just had a Johnson morning, even though you are a Brock".  That's what seems to happen when you marry a Johnson...just ask my sister-in-law and she will say the same thing!  As we talked about everything, Tyler was finally able to laugh as well.  There were several things that we could be thankful for.  It was good that we did not have a towel or anything else very flammable on the stove to catch fire.  It was also a blessing that Tyler has several other pairs of shoes that he can wear.  We also were very thankful that we have a car that still runs, no matter how it may look.  We would rather be able to continue saving money until we can buy a nice, new car without being in debt for it. 
     We have been praying for patience, and I guess yesterday morning was a tool from the Lord to help teach us how to have patience, even when we would rather scream.  Praise the Lord He is wonderful, even as He teaches us lessons!!

Moving!!

     This is just a quick post to say that over the weekend we successfully moved into our new apartment.  I really, really like it!  I had a few sentimental moments while we were packing and moving, because we were moving out of the apartment that was our "first apartment".  I remember walking into it for the first time right after our honeymoon and being so excited that I had my own home!  I also remember putting everything away in its place, putting pictures and other things up, and making it look more "homey".  I remember having my very first guests for dinner in my little home. I remember finding out that we were expecting our first little bambino.  I remember learning together to trust the Lord as the funds that came in were not quite enough for what we needed.  There were so many more memories that came to my mind as I packed box after box.  Well, life moves on, and I guess at some point everyone ends up moving out of their very first home.
     The youth group was a GREAT help in moving!  They arrived around 9:00, and by 11:00 they had everything moved, my kitchen almost all put away and organized, and a lot of the old apartment cleaned.   Tyler's parents and sister, as well as my good friend Rachel were also a great help.  Rachel is one of those people that has constant energy and can go for hours and hours.  She spent most of the day Friday helping me and several hours on Saturday. Neither Tyler nor I can stand having clutter and boxes everywhere, so we worked until everything was in its place and every picture was hung on the wall...it took us until about 8:30 that night.  It was such a great feeling to know that we were completely done.  Hopefully at some point we will be able to post a few pictures of our new place.
     We have now enjoyed 4 days in our new little home, and are enjoying it very much.  Our next step is to get baby's room ready for him to come.  As his kicks get harder, I realize that the day is fast approaching!  Well, Goodbye for now!