Ladies. Lumpia. Lessons.

My church hosts monthly Women's Ministry events.  It's a moment for all the girls to come together and enjoy each other's company - building relationships (with God, with fellow Christians, with yourself) is what church family is all about.

I'll have to share the story of RLCC's move into the new building.  It is a POWERFUL example of God's grace... One day I'll get into the details but, for the sake of today, I'll share that we sublet our building to another church family. The other church has a large Filipino population.  We opened our doors for their Sunday afternoon services and we love to fellowship together.  They attended our grand opening celebration and brought several traditional Filipino dishes to share.  I didn't even know how much I loved Filipino food until the Grand Opening (hosted September 2012)!

We were so excited when one of their Filipino cooks volunteered to host a lumpia cooking class for the first women's fellowship of 2013.  This event was hosted by my fabulous mommy.  For realz, everything I needed to learn about being a great hostess I learned from my mommy; it was an awesome day!

We spoke about gifts and how to use them properly.  Mommy started by talking about some of the "misses" that come with utilizing spiritual gifts.

MISguided.  MISused. MISunderstood. MIScreant.  MISgiving. and many MANY more. 

She stuck post-its with the 'MIS' words all over a wall and, some of those that applied to her, she stuck to her shirt as an example of how quickly we can take MISlabels and put them on ourselves:

Scripture teaches, as Christians, we all have spiritually-endowed abilities over which God calls us to be stewards. The Bible refers to these special abilities as spiritual gifts. In 1 Peter 4:10 we are told:

"As each one has received a special gift, employ it serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." 

This fellowship was a great reminder that each of us has at least one gift and the lesson emphasized how each of our individual gifts plays an integral role in God's kingdom work.  Sometimes, as women, our jobs are thankless.  It's good to get a reminder that we play an important role especially if you've ever been like me and felt unnoticed - bleh.

If you would like to join us for the Women's Ministry or any other RLCC event, stay connected with the RLCC calendar!  If you're far away but want to dial-in, we'll make a way for you to join us!  Leave a comment and I'll be sure to send you the next event's info!!

OMG! I didn't realize this post would get so long so fast.  Tomorrow, I'll share the lumpia tutorial.  Sorry... but it will be worth the wait, I promise!

Happy MOTIVATIONAL Monday!

Sore Nonetheless

I'm tired.

 

My bones hurt from lifting. My eyes burn from lack of sleep.

 

I'm tired.

 

... It's like the sting on your lips after overeating sunflower seeds.  You know, where your entire lip burns but you can't stop...  Yea, like that. 

 

My legs hurt from lifting... But I've also been happy dancing in every room everyday.

 

My eyes burn from sleep deprivation but that's because I take 1 hour to walk around and look in every room before I "officially" wake up or go to bed.

 

I am sore with gratitude and in pain from praise.  My eyes burn from looking around at God's awesome blessing.

 

I'm excited.

 

 

 

 

 

But sore, nonetheless.

 

Update: The Move.

Hi-ya!  It's me.  Checking in.  We're officially out of the townhouse and into our new home.

 

It's been a LONG process. By long I mean that kind of process where you stop and wonder, "WHY the HECK am I doing this again?"

 

I also wondered, "where are all of those people I've helped move?"

 

Then I remembered, TABITHA! YOU JUST TOLD PEOPLE THE OTHER DAY!!!

Self, you're right.  I appreciate those who offered to help and Dani who came by the day before she caught a flight to Miami.
 

This move taught me a lot.  I learned that I have WAYYYY more craft and event supplies than I ever knew.  My supplies accounted for a little less than HALF of our entire shipment to the new house.  So many times Hubbs just stopped and stared at me like I needed to be on the next episode of Hoarders.

 

Cotton candy maker? I have 2 (plus a cake pop, pie pop, donut and shaved ice maker).

 

Apothecary jars?  I have about 30 (for candy buffets HELLOOOoOoOOoo) and vases for just-about every centerpiece you can imagine.

 

Table linen? Check!

 

Paper?  Tubs of it.

 

Ribbon?  I have close to 200 spools NOT counting the other hair bow making supplies.

 

AND THIS is just the beginning.  Paper punches, dowels, things I purchased to make into new things but never did, things I purchased to organize the things I purchased.

 

IT'S JUST A LOT.

 

I let a lot go... A LOT.  I also realized just how badly I needed a craft room.  I vow, however, to develop a system to keep tabs on my things to ensure I never wind up in this situation again.

 

I'm creating a cheery space that will serve as the perfect place to create.  Everything in it will make me happy.  I'm one step closer to achieving my Dirty30 goal of my MOM DEN!!

 

Remember my list?

 

 

Stay tuned for the room reveal.  It'll come in the next few weeks.

 

Just thought I'd give you an update...

 

Join me for the real fun when I FINALLY share the lumpia tutorial!

 

See you then,

 

Good News: The Move.

I've mentioned our major life changes going on.  Well, I think I'm ready to share what's happenin' 'round these parts. 

 

My life is, well...

 

 

Like, seriously.  My job is crazy busy, my hours are all over the place (remember the daycare incident? Well, we're still dropping her off and picking her up), I'm the MoH in a Vegas wedding in a matter of a few weeks (bridal shower and bachelorette parties, helloooo) and, to top it all off?

No, seriously.  Packing.  Yep, moving.  Closing...

 

Within 24 hours.

 

It's kind of a major deal, I know.  I'm late sharing, I know. It's just this market and this process has been full of question marks. 

 

Wait.  What's that you say?  How'd we get here?

...

Hubbs and I have been discussing the purchase of our new home for about a year.  You're never going to believe it BUT all of this talk stemmed from our typical home update conversation.  Hubbs was fed up with all my talk about granite (you know I want granite... and new kitchen, bathroom and entryway flooring...) and blurted out, "WHY would we waste money on this place when we're moving?!"

 

Yes, I knew we would eventually leave but right now (and for the rest of my time here and for the resale value) and-- did he just say we're leaving in a year?!

 

When did WE decide that?

 

We had been putting money away but not actively saving like we should.  Long story... Hubbs was a victim of auto fraud and we emptied our pockets to win the case... By "win" I mean we got enough back to negotiate a payoff for the vehicle he traded in on the new vehicle (to an unlicensed dealer who never paid off his loan i.e.  we had two car loans, one for a car we no longer had in our possession - and could not find because it was sold to someone else - and one for a car we had but couldn't technically own because the "dealer" did the same thing to someone else)... Maybe one day, I'll get around to telling you about that.  Between the two luxury vehicle payments, the luxury auto insurance, the new car's maintenance, the travel to Virginia Beach for multiple hearings, the lawyer fees and much more, we were out more than $70K in just-under 3 years... From our pockets...  From our savings... Thankfully, our lifestyle didn't have to change too much to accommodate the bills.  For me, it meant getting comfortable in our townhouse... Working harder to make it a townhome. 

 

With the auto drama behind us and money coming back in our pockets, we worked to rebuild our savings.  Sure, life happened but we were on the mend.

 

Maybe we could get a house in a year.

 

I didn't want to nag at the idea.  I said what I wanted and I knew Hubbs would tell me when it was time.  I continued to make small updates to our home.

Remember the front yard face lift?

 

 

On our way home from Miami (February 3, 2013), Hubbs was on his cell phone.  Scrolling and clicking and tapping his screen...  He looked at me grinning and whispered, "wanna see what I'm looking at?"

 

Sure he'd been interested in the HGTv shows. I may have dropped realtor cards on the floor in the bathroom (in front of his throne).  Conversations of the next house update were creeping into our pillow talk but HOUSES?  He was looking at houses.

 

We spent the next few hours in the airport excitedly looking at houses.  The two of us sat down the following evening to discuss our path forward.  We looked at the savings account, identified the debt to remove and paid most of it off (freeing up close to $2,000/month).  The next day, with our pre-approval in hand, we were narrowing our requirements for our next home.

 

That's right.  Monday, February 4, we were scrolling through listings of homes discussing what we each of us wanted... We were excited at the possibilities.

 

After seeing some great properties and quickly learning the market is not as slow as it once was, we were ready to make an offer.

 

February 15, we had an accepted offer on our dream home.

 

Our plan is to rent our current property (we've got a tenant!!!!!) and enjoy all the amenities of the new place.

 

Property Deets?

 

A realtor-purchased flip property, the new place has been completely renovated and remained in its vacant state.  It's in an awesome community and we are very excited to join the activities!  It's got plenty of room for us to grow and to contain my crafts. I am just certain right now, with all that I've got going on, my excitement is what's fueling me.

 

God is so good and has shown himself faithful in every adventure of our small family.  I'll be back to share pics and such... I just have to figure out how to work this doggone PACKING TAPE!

 

'Til next time,