You are a child of God...

"Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" in John 1:29

As Todd and I are preparing for not only his Baptism, First Holy Communion and Confirmation into the Catholic Church this coming Holy Saturday, we reflect on knowing there are things for which we have sinned against and regret. Yet how wonderful and truly miraculous that our Lord can forgive us, and we have the ability to ask for His forgiveness and for His grace to be with us during this most holy of weeks?!

I'll never forget when I truly understood the real sacrifice and true love for the world and His people Jesus gave to us when he died on Good Friday. My family and I went during our regular CCD class during Holy Week to our local movie theater with other families from St. Ann's to watch the Passion of the Christ movie. I don't ever recall up until that point that I had truly understood what it meant to give up your life for the ones you love, and our family among many of the others left with tears rolling down our face and left in total silence as we drove back to our homes.

As I remember, Christ's last seven words:

For our Savior said, "“Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.”
(Luke 23:34)
“I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
(Luke 23:43)

“Dear woman, here is your son.”
(John 19:26)

“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
(Mark 15:34)

“I am thirsty.”
(John 19:28)

“It is finished!”
(John 19:30)

“Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!”
(Luke 23:46)

      I am called to come back to the church (though I fell madly in love with my purpose while in college, I had a few years where I didn't quite understand why things had happened and left with a big hole in my heart) and now more than ever believe with my most perfect soulmate by my side this coming Easter, I am so excited to reflect on the gift He gave us and see how much the Lord will bring joy and happiness into our lives and be there when we need Him most.

I am so very humbled and thankful the Lord knew what He was doing when He brought Todd into my life. I cannot think of a more selfless person (sometimes I wonder, hee!) to be with me in life. Todd has gone through 10 months of preparing for this coming Saturday and to truly understand a God-filled, purpose-driven life that's in store for us. I cannot wait to share a few snipits and photos from Saturday when he becomes Todd Ryan Francis Chesnut in the Catholic Church!

I'm leaving you with one of my all-time favorite songs from Third Day!

Spring Fever (Decorating)

This past weekend and the first few days of this week have me itching for spring more than ever. I don't know if it's because I'm finally into a running routine for training or if it's because I'm so excited every spring to plant our garden (though I rarely do any work in the dead of the summer heat, poor Todd!). Or it could be that I'm looking forward to making our house a home this year with new finds like my buffet from a few weeks back and all the wedding gifts we'll receive. Or (are you tired of those yet!?) that there are the most precious baby calves right out my kitchen window looking at me each morning. That's why I love spring time! The newness of a new year finally hits me when it's not gloomy or dark any longer, we can get outside and enjoy God's creation and observe the awesomeness of His gift.

With all that said, I'm so looking forward to home projects. Here is my latest find for the dining room thanks to The Pioneer Woman's blog I read regularly. It was such a cute idea that I had to purchase these right away. We love to entertain and I think once the house is pretty well put together we'll have more friends and family over for dinner. I cannot wait to put these on the table (as long as I don't have to stare at a real turkey decoy staring back at me on my dining room table right now! Oh the joys of a serious hunter as a future husband!).

Until next time, enjoy being outdoors and be thankful for all He has given to us!

Weekend Bliss

We live a pretty simple life here in Missouri. Nothing too exciting nor boring. As I am sure you love to read about my weekend, here is how it went!

First, and actually a couple of weeks ago, I borrowed an idea from a sorority sister's blog and bought a calendar so Todd and I could plan out our meals. I had done this a week at a time, but this whole month thing has us excited for date nights! This weekend happened to be one of them. And it makes it so easy to know what to prepare ahead of time or shop for, and even Todd can help in the kitchen a time or two when I'll be late from work. Here is our little calendar on the fridge and our first meal made from the calendar, super yummy corned beef and cabbage with new red potatoes and parsley!

Our weekend was supposed to consist of building a Habitat for Humanity home in St. Joseph on Saturday, but as Missouri/Midwest weather would have it was freezing cold Saturday. So instead we still were outside for 4+ hours at an auction. This is one of Todd's favorite things to do, and he rarely buys anything but we were pretty stoked to spend $19 on a whole lot of stuff. Plus the people watching is to die for! Here is a pic of my $8 find (included in the lot of stuff was the buffet, two organizer shelves, about 50 cookbooks and about 100 children's books!)



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I'll show you later what I'm going to do with this, but I am really excited!

 Then we went out for dinner and I had delicious shrimp! Yummmm!

We went to Mass this morning, made homemade pizza for lunch and I had a MK party with a good friend in the afternoon! Life is good and God is ALWAYS good and I'm very thankful for our very calm, quiet weekends together!

Oh, and Willie wanted to leave you with a little humor for your day! He's a pretty funny-looking guy (er dog!).

Life update

I am totally sorry that I have been MIA for the last couple of weeks (I'm not sure any one really reads my blog, but ehh I'd like to think so).

Here are just a couple of highlights from the last couple of weeks:

First, stop for a second from reading this and say a small prayer for those in Japan and other islands for the mass chaos and destruction going on with the tsunami, earthquake and now nuclear reactors melting. It is very, very sad and for all humankind something I hope none of us wish upon any where in the world. I pray they have speedy recovery, funds to help repair their livelihood and plenty of support as they move on from lost family members, homes and jobs.

Secondly, going back a couple of weeks...I decided upon a totally different car than my last post. I was about 95% sure I was going to walk into the GMC dealership and get the new 2011 Terrain. Reality set in on the Friday before I was going to go buy it, and thought in five years, when I may or may not have children will I have daycare, household expenses twice what they are now, a job, etc? So I decided to be smart and go with an amazing deal on a new Honda CR-V. It's cute, peppy and super reliable. So I went with it. As Todd said, "When you're 50, we'll get you that Cadillac." I sure hope so, honey!

My first new car on my own! It felt pretty awesome to walk away with a great price and cute car!

So as I've put almost 900 miles on it in two weeks, I have been shuffling back and forth to work, doing MK appointments and going to my great friend, Lacey Altwegg's wedding in Junction City/Manhattan over the weekend. It was such a special experience to be there with her family and do her makeup. She looked stunning and Kasey sure was proud of her. It was also a great time to spend some time with my brother, whom I don't see often enough. It was Fake St. Patty's day in Manhattan and he had a little fun before we went to the reception, but I was glad he came with me to spend a little time together. Our days of being able to do that are limited and I want to cherish what we have before he leaves.

I wish I took time to take photos. I guess that's why I don't blog often enough either. I have no photos!
Either way, aren't Kasey and Lacey (love the names too) the cutest!?

My job has been going extremely well. Some may know this, some might not. But in October I took a position back in St. Joseph at Community Action Partnership of Greater St. Joseph. I guess I just can't get away from doing good by my job and that's helping people who are less fortunate that myself. I do all things fundraising and marketing for the agency. I love it! I have total freedom to be creative, talk to donors, be in the community and spread the message about CAPSTJOE, and feel I am totally making a difference. I sorely miss working in agriculture, and I gave it my best shot. Maybe just the wrong time in my life. Someday I hope to find a good mix of agriculture and doing good at the same time. You'll have to read my next post to find out more of the exciting, yet challenging things going on!

Oh, and about Todd and I's adventures. Backtrack a couple of months to the day before Christmas Eve and he and I went deer hunting with his muzzleloader. He had already gotten the HUGE buck (read more about the Monster Buck here) so it was my turn to try. We went out right after work and sat in the timber near the farm Todd is purchasing later this year. We sat near a log on the ground and waited around 20 minutes (I think I'm pretty luck, each time I've gone we haven't had to sit for hours) before a buck came out. Todd was like shoot em, so I tried. I sincerely thought I had  missed him because a. I couldn't see through the black powder smoke from the gun to see where he ran b. thought I closed my eye in fear of the scope hitting me in the eye. So we looked and looked. Todd even looked the next day to see if there was any blood on the ground. Nope, nothing. Well he was shed hunting this past Saturday while I was in Manhattan and what did he find? My buck! I know a little cruel, but we honestly didn't see anything when we searched for it. I know I should have been more excited when he told me, but this is also 2.5 months after the fact and I couldn't get a picture to show for it. Todd said of course there is so one day after work this week, he made me take a photo.

I love it!

And finally, I've been contemplating a change in hair color for a while since I went to our makeup artistry school for MK back in February. I kept thinking I want to look as natural as possible on my wedding day. I went to my stylist last night and said let's go for it, we can always change it now if we don't like it. She did an amazing job and I'm officially in the brunette club and I wonder if I'll go back to blonde! I really like it! What do you think?

Car shopping

Some of you know this; some don't. I was in a pretty nasty car wreck last Friday afternoon. Totally my fault and at this point, I still don't know if I blacked out or not. Pretty scary stuff. Thankfully, no one was hurt and the other person's car wasn't too bad. The cops were really nice and I'm thankful all went pretty smoothly. I hear back today whether or not they are totaling my car or if I have to fix it.

That's where the funny part comes. My last payment, paid off two years early (thank you frugal bug in me), was this past month. My dad and mom own the car and I paid the bank for all my payments. So the title came in the mail the same day I got in the wreck, and my dad was at the courthouse getting the paperwork signed to sign it over to my name right when I called him. Such luck, right?! I was hoping to make it through at least the wedding (no car payments sure add up in extra wedding funds) to purchase another car, but it doesn't look like that's going to be the case. And dang it, I really don't want to pay to have it fixed; it's not worth anything at this point after it's all fixed with over 100,000 miles.

So I'm out on the hunt for something if they total my car. Part of me wants to go the cheap route and just purchase another used car, but the other part of me was SO SO SO excited to purchase my very first car, like brand new car, and possibly an SUV so I don't keep getting stuck in the winter time in the country. We'll see how much they give me, and after all the test-driving and wheeling and dealing if I'm really up to having a big car payment.

Pretty snazzy and oh so great on gas mileage! Todd's family is sure the biggest fans of Nissan too.

Or I've always liked the new looks of the Chevy Equinox and now that they get better gas mileage, I'm keeping my eyes on this one too!

In the meantime, you all can make fun of me because I am driving a 1997 Dodge mini-van that is hunter green. I don't mind it because it's a set of wheels, but it is kind of embarassing to be my age and driving a van. Oh well, for the time being I'll enjoy my wheels even the hula-girl air freshner on the rear-view mirror!

It's all about the commercials

Well, our Super Bowl party plans didn't go exactly as planned. We usually get together with the whole Dearborn gang, eat lots of horrible-for-you food, drink a few beers and watch the game, er commercials during the Super Bowl. But, as I was pulling out the hot jalapeno popper dip and brownies from the oven, Todd calls on his way home from work and says he's not going. Well, that wasn't planned, at all! I miss my friends, and we do not get together enough, but I took one for the team (no pun intended) and stayed at home to nurse a sick boy.

It ended up being quite possibly one of the best evenings we've had. We had about an hour before the game when he got home, so I finished up my grad school homework and made the rest of the food since I wasn't planning on making a meal but had to scramble now that it was just the two of us and some begger dogs. We made chicken wings, crab ragoon, spring rolls and had my dip and brownies. All of it was homemade I might add! 

Personally the teams were just so-so in my book for who I cared about winning, but Jordy Nelson on the other hand made me root for the Packers. I LOVE him. He's such a good-looking, K-State grad who had a great game, even though he dropped a few passes. The Pack had a great game, and I'm glad it was a close game too.

Our very own K-State boy, Jordy Nelson!

Of course what is the Super Bowl without the commercials, the best part! Todd's favorite was the VW Passat commercial with the little Darth Vader. Mine also happened to be the VW commercial for the new Bug. It certainly cracked me up because I could seriously see myself with "Black Betty" blaring on the radio and driving like a maniac just like I always do if you were to ever see me on I-29!

**On a side note, I thought about my best friend, Kelsey, all day as three years ago on Super Bowl Sunday Ronny asked her to marry him! Makes me smile!

I hope everyone else enjoyed the evening with good friends and family and had lots of tasty food!

Enough of Winter, pretty please!

When I was younger, I hated my parents for not living in the country like all the cool kids. I didn't want to be known as a "townie" and I sure wanted to help with chores every day like other farm kids (I did do this when I was in 4-H/FFA with show animals, but not during the dead of winter like thankfully so many of our hard-working farmers and ranchers do).

Insert years 2009 and 2010, more specifically the winters of each, and I eat my words. Since moving to Missouri and living out in the country, I have missed a lot of work because my poor car just doesn't plow through the snow drifts like I wish it would. I thought 2009-10 was the worst winter I had seen. But actually thinking about it, I thought 2006-7 was freakin' cold when I had to train the yearling horses at K-State in January/February (it wasn't thankfully too snowy or icy, so we did get the job done), let's not forget the ice storm of 2007 and no one except my best friend, Kelsey, came to my college graduation, 2008 was okay, nothing major, and then last year was not fun with missing Christmas Eve mass and most of the holiday because of the snow.

This year though has been rough with foot after foot of snow, and I thank the Lord I work at a place that is really forgiving about "country folk" like me. I've been home because of the snow five days and it's only the beginning of February. I'm not going to complain too much about that aspect because sometimes it's just nice to sit with a hot cup of cocoa, your laptop, and a warm, snuggly Boston and get some major thinking done for grant writing. The first week of February 2011 though was brutal. I understand why watching these Alaska shows Todd and I are obsessed with always make the comment about how alcoholism and suicide are high in that part of our country. Now I was no where near suicidal but it was a little boring being at home since Sunday. They called off work Monday and Tuesday and by Wednesday they opened again, but I couldn't get out because the road was still not bladed. We did try to get lots of cooking, baking, cleaning and organizing done. I got 90% percent of my taxes done. It was a nice little break.

Here's a short recap of our days at home:

On Monday, we had ice that was just nasty and they closed work. So we decided to try some recipes from our new cookbook from the Pioneer Woman. Oh so delicious, ranch food that makes me really miss my cowboys at K-State. We made the chicken spaghetti, cowboy sandwiches and angel sugar cookies. Here are few pics of our day:

The Angel Sugar Cookies with a little bit of Valentine's love on them. Todd thought they were store bought dough! :)

Using our recipe, which I tend to be bad at and then wonder why things don't turn out well.

The YUMMO chicken spaghetti baking in the oven. Please forgive the decades-old farmhouse oven. We're slowly trying to redo things in our home.

On Tuesday, we worked on a whole lot of TV watching and snoozing. We also watched one thought-provoking show, Oprah's episode on vegan eating and meat production. It was great seeing all my friends, including myself, advocate for the animal agriculture industry using social media. HUGE props to Cargill for being so transparent and admitting how much they care for the welfare of the animals that are sent to slaughter. We truly do care as animal agriculturalists. Please view these blogs if you'd like to read more about some views from great ag advocates: Ag on the Forefront and Food for Thought.

Tillie and Willie love to lay on whomever is on the couch.

By Wednesday, we were becoming a little stir crazy, so we worked from home and helped Todd complete the puzzle of putting together our limestone for the wood burning stove we are putting in.

I can't wait to show the finished product.

And this pose from Todd sums up the feelings of being cooped up inside.

 Until the next snow falls, be thankful for our ability to go to work, eat great proteins for the nourishment of our bodies and our families! Love ya'll!