A City Life For Me

This year I moved away from the Homemaker's Friend planner to try something new.  I really  like the layout of the Homemaker's Friend, and I LOVE the Scriptures on each weekly spread and tabbed divider.  But, I felt like the cover stock was a little too thin and I just wore it out far before the year was done.  I also did not use several of the sections at the back on a regular basis.  I tried having the coil removed and punching the pages to put in a binder, but I lost too much of the edge in doing so. A friend had been posting about Bullet Journaling on her blog, so I decided to give it a try!  I really like it!  I purchased a Moleskin hardbound journal with grid lines inside, and each week I hand draw my planner spread.  I now follow several "bujo" (bullet journal) idea pages on Instagram, and I have incorporated several of their items into my own bujo planner.  However, for me the bullet journal is not an art book or a mood tracker....

Something that I have been learning about recently is the practice of Sabbath.  I always equated the practice of sabbath  with the Lord's Day.  My husband preached from Luke 14 a few weeks ago, and in that passage we examined the sabbath principle.  Because Sunday is one of our biggest "work" days as the church staff, it's hard to think of Sunday as a day of rest like it was when I was growing up.  But I have also been realizing that I cannot maintain the speed and pressure of everything on my list at this season of life, so looking for a rest day has been in the forefront of my mind. The word for sabbath  just means seventh, so a true  sabbath would be on Saturday.  Again, this is not practical for our family as a lot of ministry and ministry preparation for Sunday takes place on Saturday.  This has led me to evaulate what and when we could do to create a culture of rest in our home on a different day. We had been taking a half ...

I, Andrea, take thee Ben, to be my wedded husband.   As the Church is in her relationship to Christ, so will I be to you. I will joyfully give you my life, and in confidence submit myself to your leadership, as to the Lord. I will live for you - loving you, obeying you, learning from you. I will always strengthen, help, comfort, and encourage you. Therefore, Ben, throughout my life, for better, for worse... for richer, for poorer... in sickness and in health... at home or abroad... I pledge you my life, as a loving, faithful, and obedient wife,  to have and to hold from this day forward, 'til death do us part. Happy {ten} year anniversary, Ben.  I still do.  

I wrote this post on Friday, but I wasn’t ready to publish it yet.  While most years find us remembering this “Good Friday” as the day Jesus bore our sins at Calvary, prior to celebrating a glorious Resurrection Sunday, I was all set to enjoy this day, April 14, 2017, as a good Friday for another reason.  Today, at long last, we were to close on the house in the Bronx. Three years ago we began a life changing journey of deputation.  I admit, it wasn’t anything I had planned on doing (even as a missions major…I thought there must be a way out of it).  But it was good, and hard, and growing, and we crossed the finish line of that season of life on November 28, 2016, when we pulled into our temporary driveway after our last deputation trip.  Near the end of that process, we gave up a much-loved apartment in Brooklyn.  We moved into missions apartment in upstate New York, 2 long hours from my beloved Brooklyn, to save money on the rent.  It has been 19 ...

At the end of July Ben took me on a date.  {He spent his birthday cash on me…aren’t I special???}  We thought it might be the last for a little while with baby arriving soon.  We had planned to go to the 9/11 Museum.  However, the day turned out to be absolutely gorgeous so Ben decided to scratch something off my NYC bucket list – the Top of the Rock.  The Top of the Rock is an observatory deck in midtown Manhattan on the top of the Rockefeller Center.  The view was so worth it! Empire State Building, Freedom Tower, and Statue of Liberty (it’s bigger in the next picture) Looking Downtown Looking Uptown – Central Park Ben used Central Park as an illustration of holiness in a recent Gospel message.  To be holy is to be totally separate.  When you are in Central Park, you can so easily forget that you are even in New York City.  From the Top of the Rock, Central Park takes up a major part of the city.  It gives urban dwellers a re...

I had this all written up two weeks ago to share with you, but computer issues prevented its publishing.         We arrived back in Brooklyn on July 15, 2015.   This left us just two months as Brooklyn residents.   Realizing this is definitely bittersweet for me.   Around Labor Day, and until September 15 th , we will be moving into temporary missionary housing until our deputation phase is complete.   This will allow us to save money on expensive NYC rent so that we can better prepare for moving to and settling into the Bronx next spring.   We are making preparations to put all of our worldly goods into storage and then we will mostly be on the road until next March.   For my non-NYC friends, many times it is required to put three months rent down in order to secure an apartment.   We are estimating that an apartment to fit our family of seven will likely cost $2000+ per month, so that is a sizeable “down pay...

I often think that I should write a post about products that have worked well for us, but I never get around to it.  So here it is…a few of my favorite things! APPS I have an iPhone, so these apps are all from the Apple Store :: Build a Menu – this allows me to take my menu planning service on the road with us. We often try to stay in Prophets Chambers so that we can have some routine and stability for our family even on deputation. But that means that we are responsible for preparing all of our own meals. This helps me save money, time preparing the shopping list, provide variety in our meals, and keeps all the recipes in one place! :: Blue Letter Bible – I started using this Bible Study app when I began the Busy Mama Bible Studies for my devotions. Some of the features are only available on wifi/data connection. But it gives me a Strong’s concordance, lexicon, interlinear definitions, related word studies, commentaries, and more at my fingertips. I love it! :: Waze – we use ...

Tomorrow I will be 16 weeks along in this pregnancy.  So far things are pretty smooth sailing.  Traveling makes things a little more difficult because of the inconsistent diet and a different bed every place we go.    I have traditionally had a lot of acid reflux during my pregnancies.  It is starting to kick in again, but its not a constant daily occurrence...yet.  My cravings include saltine crackers, chocolate, and bacon.  Coffee is not as appealing as it used to be either.   I won't be back to the doctor for another two months when we get back to NYC, so we are just assuming that everything is progressing well.  We haven't decided if we will find out the baby's gender at the next ultrasound or not.  There are several boy names that we like quite a lot, but can't seem to find a good girl's name.  Feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments...but no promises as to whether or not we will put them on our list!  If...

On Monday night I got to have a date with Elaine in the City.  It seems like she’s gone backward in some of her obedience and respect lately, and we thought perhaps she was getting lost in the shuffle of deputation.  Ben was home on Monday so it was the perfect opportunity for us to head into Manhattan. Though I had everything planned, it was a total surprise to Elaine.  She got dressed up and wore her pretty dress coat.  We exited the train at Rockefeller Center and walked up to 5th Avenue.  I kept asking Elaine where she thought we were going.  She didn’t realize it until we were right in front of the window display at…American Girl Place!    Selfies on the train We checked our coats and enjoyed the store for a while.  Elaine got to pick out a couple of dolly purses (the only things in the store I could afford!) and some pictures and a catalog to “dream about.”  Once I showed her that the doll outfits and accessories all say “8+” o...