Pretty Proud of Myself!!

Ive gone from 162lbs to 158lbs! This is a joyous occassion! Ive been running everyday this week and not over eating-or for that matter not eating junk that I dont need! I told Noah last night that I want to set my goal for 115. That is a very healthy weight for someone of my size. That means Ive got to lose about 45lbs. That looks like such a scary number but Im going to take one pound at a time. Ive just gotten a bug to where I CANT STAND the way I look right now! I think thats whats finally kicked me in the butt to get motivated!

Ive also overcame a first! I went to the YMCA all by myself (except Oliver). For some reason I have a weird anxiety about going to the gym alone. I think people are staring at me. I know that they arent...there are much better looking people to look at, but I just have always felt that way. I think that may have also been my number one excuse to not go alone. Who knows! NOT ME! =) Anyway, I just wanted to share this accomplishment...Ive been seeing everywhere people are setting goals for themself and I really want to do that as well! Here is the first thing on my list then, Lose 45 punds in a year...(Im not sure if thats to much time or not enough(I will adjust it as need be)).

God Bless!
Shauna

Love List 7/28/10

Ive been kind of missing here recently. Weve had a lot of things going on around here...

Love List
My amazingly supportive husband
Adorable son
Getting in touch and hanging out with old friends!
Staying the night with my parents
Productive yard sales ( I sold my car!!!)
Chipotle!!!
Hanging out with my sister for three days
Banana Bread!
This shirt


These are just a few of the things Im loving right now. What do you love?

Maggie McPeek

A dear old woman passed away July 9th in Oregon. SHe just recently made the move there, but I knew her from the First Baptist Church of Belle Plaine. Maggie was such a beautiful soul! I first met her in the church choir and have always held a special place in my heart for her!She was an alto just like me and she was impressed that I could harmonize so well. I told it was because I played violin and could just hear the notes. Turned out that choir wasnt the only other similarity that we shared. She played violin! We always planned on playing for church one day but it never happened. I really wish it would of.

Anyway, Maggie was victim of a brain tumor. The best part about the whole ordeal is that she wasnt in any pain. Thank God! I was unable to make it to the memorial service...OH how I wish I could of been there! I pray that her family knows that she is in a MUCH better place now. I pray that they have the strength to push forward. I want her family to know how much their Mother, sister, grand mother, great grandmother was loved and will be missed greatly!

Parents On Board...kind of

Actually weve only told my parents. We told them last night when we were out there. It was nice to let them in on our little secret. I told Noah that I wasnt going to be able to visit with them without saying anything. I felt that they would be MUCH more understanding of our decision. They are around the idea of missionaries much more than Noahs parents and wouldnt try to convince us that it would be a bad idea.

It was actually nice because my dad told us that they were at a point in their lives that if they were called they would go without a doubt. I love to hear that! Then we went to evening church with them in Belle Plaine and afterwards talked to Nathan Gunter the pastor. We told him what we were up to and also asked if there was any guidance he could give us. He listed off so much. Noah met him for lunch today and from what Noah says they had a great conversation. Noah felt very encouraged afterwards. Actually Nathan gave us some refrences and thats where Noah is now, hunting down some of those books. We are getting a clearer path.

Here recently Ive complained to Noah that I dont have many "good" friends. Let me explain...I have friends, friends that if I needed them would be there. BUT sometimes I feel like Im completely alone. Noah says that I dont reach out ot people like I used to. I kind of agree to that...although I would much rather not! So he is giving me a chance to make a new friend who is pretty similar, while also giving me a chance to minster to a young lady. (HA! I say young lady and she is BARELY younger than me!) I feel really old sometimes! Im kind of excited about meeting Cory (I havent learned how to spell her name yet). I always get nervous about meeting new people because I worry about them not liking me. SO! This is my plan: We are going to have Cory over for dinner one night. Im going to make her a pregnancy survival kit of things that I wish I would of had in the beginning. And who knows what after that!

Anyway, theres a lot going on. Next time Ill let you know what going on with the house.

If you have any suggestions about what to put in a pregnancy survival kit let me know!

God Bless
Shauna

Stress...

The last couple of days have been so stressful, to the point that Ive been snapping and very cold to the ones that I love. Noah, my husband, deals with a lot on a daily basis. He watches our son during the day, works at Atwoods, teaches karate in the evenings, and also goes to school. I go to work and come home. If anyone should have stress, then it should be him! He has stress, but hes able to handle it with much grace. I on the other hand, do not! I can get frustrated to the point of Im full blown angry. Its something at I really need to work on because its not healthy!

I think some of the stress is a result of not knowing how long its going to take to sell our house. Alot of it is due to a lack of organization on our future plans (not our fault). The only reason I go to work is to make money to save up for the aformentioned plans. We have no money! All of our money right now goes to bills and our house payment. Im ready for everything to start taking its place.

I thought about this post earlier but I just cant think of what it was going to be. OH! COMPLETELY RANDOM TIDBIT! Noah got me a seat for my bike for Oliver! I have pictures and want to show them but the camera is in Noahs car right now. That little boy is adorable! We played in the water and soaked him! He learned how to squeeze the trigger to work the sprayer and LOVES it. He rode so well, Im so proud! He says ke-ke (kitty, kitty). Our little man is growing up so much!

God Bless
Take a minute to relax and de-stress!

Shauna

Love List 7/14/10

Love List

NOAH!!
Eclipse
Narnia
Our future plans for our little family
A SUPER clean house
Selling things on Craigslist
Spending some quality time with my sister
6 year old niece


These are a few things Im loving this week. What are you loving?

Wanting to know you Wens

Micaela over at Dolce Vita is wanting to know...

what time is it where you are?


what are you doing?


and describe how you're feeling at that very moment.


It is 8:19 am in Wichita, Ks

I am at work trying to get past the system failures.

Im feeling kind of snappy. Im really wanting to go home and start this day over. Noah and I got into a disagreement last night and has gone into today. Im trying figure out how to apologize.

Thanks Michaela for wanting to know whats going on. Ill be back later with my love list.

1st step in the right direction

So Noah met with our realtor this morning. I came home at lunch to find a for sale sign in the yard. It really struck home! I know that we are serious about wanting to move to so that we can save as much money as we possibly can to uproot and move to the green isles, but it made it a reality! So now the next step is to get the house sold and then decide whether or not to move to an apartment or back to the little house. The good thing about the apartment route is that we still have our boundaries in place with the inlaws, but we are still shelling out precious money that we could be saving for the move. The good thing about the little house is that its more or less free, with some exceptions. We would a ton more with living there. So now thats the dilemma.

On top of everything else...we havent even told our parents about our decisions. This should be interesting! Anyway, I need to jump off here so that I can make the house spotless! Our realtor is going to be showing the house THIS SUNDAY! Thats amazingly quick!

God Bless!
Shauna

Since nobody else reads this...

I feel pretty safe sharing some things about my little family's upcoming future. We are moving to Ireland! I know what you are going to say..."sure you are" but really we are! We are meeting with the woman who helped us buy our house and going to putting it back on the market. There is no way that we can save the much needed money to completely uproot our family and start anew. With that said, we are looking into apartments and possibly even thinking about moving back into the little house that we dread! HOWEVER, with no rent and hardly any bills we will have saved enough money to go and check it out and then 6 months later make the huge move.

Noah and I have been doing a lot of research about moving to another country. There is alot involved but we are up for it! Ive wanted to travel ever since I can remember! Ive wanted to explore new lands and go places Ive only dreamed of! Now we are making that a reality! Noah has shared the same desire and we both came to the same conclusion. This means that we are going to have to basically sell everything and start fresh! We are simple people and dont need much anyways. I will share more of what we find out and how things develop.

So first things first,

Sell the house
get passports
save LOTS of money
make an exploratory trip
sell possessions
and much much more...

God Bless!
Shauna

Love List 7/7/10

LOVE LIST


Fireworks!
Impromptu family gatherings
Paid days off
Drive-in with my boys
Saturday mornings
Noah's new haircut
Watermelon
How Oliver says bye
Cuddling with Noah
Watching movies with Noah
Reuniting with sisters
FRAMES!!

These are some of the things that I have loved the last two weeks!