Wednesday, May 22, 2013

A Holy Experience

One of my friends on facebook posted this article from a website that I just couldn't not share! The author of the website is actually the author for  the book "A Thousand Gifts" which I have been meaning to read! She is a farmer's wife and has 6 kids but this particular post was about the tornado that struck Oklahoma on Monday. The tornado was an F5 and the death toll is at 24 which includes many children.
After
As you can see the houses in the tornados path were leveled

map
Astonishing map showing the path the largest recorded tornado in 1999 and the now largest tornado path. Literally  being in the exact same spot at one time! What are the chances?
This aerial photo shows the remains of homes hit by a massive tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, on Monday
you can see the dirt that was tore up where the tornado hit

Kay James holds her cat as she sits in her driveway after her home was destroyed by the tornado that hit the area on Monday

All this woman has left is the clothes on her back and her little kitty.



http://www.aholyexperience.com/2013/05/how-god-feels-about-storms/

This article really made so much sense. Some people that aren't believers and even believers struggle with the fact that "if God is so Great then why does he allow bad things to happen?" My only answer is that these storms, shootings and hatred are all a result of the devil and his plan to knock us down causing frustration and widening the gap between us and God. Or maybe the answer to that question is that in order for us to see all the Good in this world we must first live through the bad. Because why would we even need God if our lives were perfect? Yes He would be there to thank but how grateful do you think we would be for all these blessings if the blessings were all we had and we didn't have the bad days.

Lord God I pray for every soul affected by these tornados. I pray that they may find a glimmer of hope in all this distruction and that they may become even a little closer to you through all of this. Help them to understand you hold all their tears in Your Mighty hands! Lord please bless Oklahoma with the money, supplies and volunteers needed to recover from this storm.

Here is another post from her site that I really enjoyed. It is so beautifully written and expresses what a lot of Christians feel I think.

You shut off the screen, pushed back the chair, found your feet, didn’t come up with an excuse or a distraction or an eyeroll, but you simply came to the child, to the man, to the lost, with the name of Jesus on your tongue and the fire of Christ in your belly and the heat of your Savior in your bones and the thing is: When you’ve been saved, you can’t stay.
When your Savior is in you, you can’t stay still.
When you love God, you have got to go.
Yes, there is no other way to begin or become or be: Be still and know He is God. And once you know He is God… how can you not let other people know? Experience Him? Know. Him? There’s simplicity for a soul: Stilling. Knowing. Then Going.
And it comes unforced, like a reviving wind – When the gentle stillness of God fills you … the burning love of Christ fuels you.
To. Go.
Christianity means someone goes. Christianity means someone comes. SomeOne left heaven, SomeOne went to a manger, to a Cross, to the dying and trapped and the buried. And if no one goes across the room, across the house, the sidewalk, the street, the country, how many will grow cold and fall asleep and drift off and away?
How many will be held captive and chained and bound and who will go and break down doors and break down walls and break down small boxes and the only way for your life to yield anything is to go.
Take one step, reach out your hand.
You don’t have to have anything — but Christ.
Don’t let the Great Commission be your life omission by thinking it’s a function of distance — instead of going the distance right where you are.
You’ve just got to go down the hall, across the room, to the end of the street, across town, over high walls, across county and state and country lines and reach right across barbed wire fences. If we’re the hands of Christ — how can we just sit on them? If our feet are shod with gospel of good news — how can they not go where there’s bad news?
Isn’t this always the holiest work of all — to lay aside an agenda to carry a cross and the presence of Christ just. one. step. further.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Birthday Weekend!

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a great time celebrating the day of my birth ;) just kidding! I just thought I would post a little something about the events of this weekend. Saturday Alex and I loaded up mom's pot stand gift and headed to Marcus! We got home about an hour before Mike's party started and Julie, Kim, Jean were already there getting all the food ready. I put together the pot stand in the garden and showed it to mom. She loved it! I wish I would have got a picture of her with it. Everyone thought it was pretty cool and was definitely a great addition to the house. We had lots of family show up to celebrate Mikey. Rachel, Bill, Liam and Jack came from Chicago and Randy Rupp came from Denver! He surprised my dad and we were really glad to have him there. They of course did their traditional zambuka shots where they dip their fingers in the alcohol, light their fingers on fire, take the shot and blow out the fire. Fortunately there was a lot of wind and the fire would blow out very fast.
So after all the family left and there was only a few people left at the party I took a dip in the hot tub to ring in my birthday :) Everyone sang a very off key version of "happy birthday" to me at midnight which was pretty nice!
 
Little Mikey, His cute shoes and the Chocolates Aunt Lynn made with Mike's picture on it



Hannah and Kyla feeding the Bucket Calves - I teased the girls and said that they had to try the milk before they could feed the calves...they didn't fell for it ;)

Sunday Alex and I slept in and then had a quick breakfast before getting ready for the ceremony. We got to the high school early and mom had saved us seats in the front. The ceremony was great and here are a few facts about the class of 2013 from MMC.
* They received over $430,000 in scholarships
* They were the first class to graduate as 8 man footba ll champs from MMC ( Marcus has never won first in any sport..ever)
* They lost 2 very special classmates and referenced themselves as "a Family, not just a class". Amber Brownmiller died in a car accident when Michael was in elementary school and Sawyer Leavitt died in a car accident his Junior year.
* Sawyer Leavitt's family donated $325 to every senior in his class.
* Michael received a Faith & Farming Scholarship
* The ceremony was held on a rainy day but that didn't stop the gym from being packed to celebrate this great class!






Saturday, May 18, 2013

Great Start to a Fantastic Weekend!

Alex told me a couple days ago that his family was coming over Friday night. I didn't really think to much of it and didn't put two and two together that it would be a celebration for my birthday! So when Alex got home from work he had a DQ ice cream cake in hand and was ready to mow/clean the house to get ready. I woke up at 4 pm because I had worked the last 3 nights and had to still go get an outfit for this weekend and pick up some groceries so I was pressed for time. But I found everything I was looking for clothes wise at Old Navy and got an awesome deal by signing up for their card ( I don't normally do this and would have said no right away but it was $15 for just checking to see if you were approved and 25% off additionally if you were approved = $40 savings for me!!)


After a quick trip to Hy-vee I was back home where the party was already starting. Easton was playing baseball in our backyard with Julie and Alex and Eric were getting the grill ready. We had PLENTY of food..brats, potato/pasta salad, watermelon, baked beans, corn on the cob, bacon wrapped chicken, chips and salsa. I was in Carb Heaven! This was the first day in 2 weeks that I didn't count my carbs and aim for staying below 100 grams so I indulged a bit :) I counted them after everyone left and lets just say I had never seen that high of a number before! But on Monday it is time to buckle down because I am actually enjoying this low-carb diet and seeing results!
Alex's friend Cody and his friend Megan came over too and Cody even got be a card and gift certificate to Banana Republic. Alex's mom and dad got me a fancy garden accessory and a cute card. Debbie got me a lilac plant.



"I was worried you weren't going to get a birthday card with a cat wearing a sweater on it"






It was a great time and the ice cream cake hit the spot! Alex doesn't want to run our air because we need a new filter so it has been pretty stuffy in our house but thank goodness the fans work!

I just feel so blessed to have a husband that put all of this together and remembered me on my birthday enough to plan a little grill out. And I feel especially blessed to have been welcomed into an amazing family!
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My Life This Second!

Favorite Funny Moment


Favorite Song
"Starts With Me" Tim Timmons
It's so catchy and has a beautiful meaning..Check out a sample here http://www.klove.com/music/artists/tim-timmons/songs/starts-with-me-lyrics.aspx
(Chorus)
You're my revival song, you start where I belong
On my knees, on my knees 
When I am weak or strong you meet me here
When I'm on my knees, on my knees 
Oh, it starts with me

Favorite Read 
Just finished The Great Gatsby in preparation for seeing the movie. I read it in High school but needed a refresher. Currently I'm on Book 2 of the Fifty Shades Series and I'm trying to finish it soon because the plot is kinda BLAH. 

Favorite Moment
Tonight Alex's brother Eric said that they have been doing a bible study with their neighborhood block. Eric told Alex that he would really enjoy it and he told me that he is going to try and get Alex to go. Makes my heart jump for joy because Eric is one of the biggest influences in Alex's life right now and I know that if someone he looks up to can give him the push to go to a bible study then Alex would really enjoy it :)

Favorite Goose-bumps Story
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/51904669/ns/local_news-chicago_il/t/man-finds-million-lotto-ticket-cookie-jar/#.UZc2bLWUTmg
I heard this story briefly at work this morning and then heard more about it on Klove today. This man lost his 14 year old daughter after she had several seizures in August 2012. He was finally cleaning out her room and found a winning lottery ticket priced at $4.85 Million. The man was facing foreclosure and now he can pay for his kids to go to college and is even donating some of the money to his church. His daughter listened to Klove and it is just so amazing what God does when you least expect it! I truly believe this was a way that the girl could wrap her arms around her family after her loss and let them know that everything will be ok.

Favorite Piece of Mail



My business cards came in the mail today for my Etsy Shop :)

Friday, May 17, 2013

Whew... Blog Transfer Complete!

Well thank goodness I decided to switch servers now rather than later because that was kind of a taxing switching everything over. I wanted to have everything on one site and one blog so I switched over all my pages and posts. And added category labels to make things easier to find. I think I will like this blogger site...I have been using it for my personal blog for a while now.
It is my last shift of 3 and my last shift until Alex and I go home for Mike's graduation! I am super excited!!!
I am happier than this kitten with ribbons!


and I will be also celebrating my Birthday at home with my family which is always a good thing!
I will be a quarter of a centery old! Holy Crap!

My Brother will be going to Iowa State in the fall and I am very happy for him. I know he will love it there and have lots of fun..and hopefully learn a little something too. A lot of Marcus people go there so he will feel right at home. And I'm also excited to tailgate and go to some ISU football games.

On a separate topic, I wanted to post a really good article about my low carb diet that I found helpful and motivating. Here is the link http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-primal-carbohydrate-continuum/#axzz2TWeBYNwg
It explains that 0-50 grams of carbs a day is for rapid weight loss/ketosis and is helpful for diabetics. and 50-100 grams of carbs (which is what I am doing) is beneficial for steady weight loss such as 1-2 pounds a week. I have noticed a 2 pound weightloss in about 1.5 weeks but I don't like to go off weightloss so much as to how my clothes fit. The article discusses that depleted energy is normal and I sure have felt that which is not good in conjunction with the night shift. But I think that eventually my body will get used to it. And thankfully the author of this article also discusses how it is good to take days off and eat carbs to replenish.

Another exciting thing is that I found out what resort we will be staying at when we go to the Dominican Republic. It is Ocean's Blue & Sand Resort..Here are some Pics!

It is an all-inclusive resort with a rock climbing wall, bowling alley and 2 huge beautiful pools. It will be the first time Alex and I have been to an all-inclusive and I'm sure he will be very excited about all the food! I can not WAIT and it is a great place to celebrate Dacey and Kyle. I have a feeling after looking at this place we are going to want to stay longer than 4 nights.

That's all for now, have a great weekend and I will post lots of pictures soon from Mike's graduation.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Lots to Blog About...

Hi Everyone & Happy Belated Mother's Day! I did not get to see my mom today however I did text her and talk to her on the phone! She spent most of the day cleaning in preparation for Michael's graduation party next week! I am so excited to be home in 5 days to help him celebrate. He is the last Deichmann child to graduate and then he will be off to Iowa State! Alex and I will drive up next saturday after my shift at the pregnancy center and that is when the fun will begin. Then the next day is Mike's actual big graduation day and my birthday ;)
I will have to import my posts from my other blog just to keep everything in one place but for right now I can't access it because the site is down and hopefully it is just lasting during the weekend and will be up and running soon!
This past week I started my low carb (sorta high fat) diet and it went pretty well. I tried to stay between 50-70 grams of carbs a day which is really hard to do once you start adding everything up. I have been mostly filling up on string cheese, chicken breast, eggs, almonds and salads. I learned about the low carb diet from a friend at work who is diabetic and she has lost over 30 pounds. I was tired of exercising and not seeing any results so I decided to try something drastic. So far I am down one pound and feel pretty good and have tried to "enjoy" figuring out low carb meals. Alex hasn't liked it too much until I made chicken breasts with cream cheese wrapped in bacon and then he didn't think it was so bad ;) The trickiest part is getting enough calories so that I can work out and not be so drained before and afterwards. On days that I workout I tend to cheat a little bit and my carb count is closer to 80-100 grams. I urge you to count your carbs for just one day just to see how little 100 grams is and you will be surprised!
On Wednesday I went to the eye doctor because I hadn't had an appointment in probably 2 years and really needed some new contacts. The check up went fine and I looked at the glasses afterwards because my current glasses I'm not able to wear in public because they are in pretty bad shape. I tried on a few and sent pictures of 3 options to Kendra, Megan and Alex and they all agreed that they liked this pair the best.
image.jpeg

 So I'm going to go order those this week sometime :) Big frames are really in right now and I was hesitant to go with a trendy pair but I actually really like them and they are comfortable. I think these will be a pair that I will be more apt to wear in public.
On my days off I went to Hobby Lobby and Lowe's to get supplies for more listings to my shop and also for garden pots and flowers for my Mother's Day project. I really actually love Hobby Lobby a little too much and after spending way too much there I was equipped to make more decor to sell. The shop hasn't taken off yet but I did order business cards and am close to having over 20 items listed. I continue to look at discussion boards to get more help with selling and other tips for my shop. I am also going to set up a little table at my aunt's garage sale and have sent emails through work to everyone. I really hope I can make something from this (and get my money back from what I spent at Hobby Lobby)
Here are a couple of the new listings and again the link to my shop.
12" Circular Navy Yarn and Yellow Fabric "Hello" Wreath    Black Wooden "Love" Decor with Mosaic Mirror Accents
Personalized Wedding Couple Glass Block with Picture and Flowers    Yellow Floral House Number Wreath
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SomethingBeautiful19

Please tell all your friends and family about my new shop and remember that I can do custom orders for weddings, showers or your home.

Ok, enough about that... My mom's gift I worked on turned out great! I got the idea off of pinterest of course and spray painted clay plots and filled them with flowers from Lowe's. Here is the finished product!
image.jpeg I have to add one more coat of spray paint and also another pot to the top of it. The project was really simple and I'm going to have to make one for myself really soon! The only bad part was that I got in big trouble when I got a little spray paint on our drive way :( Alex was not impressed and I made sure I had plenty of cardboard the next time around so that it wouldn't happen again. Since the pots already have a center drain hole in them it was easy to thread them onto a piece of rebar and tilt them side to side. I am going to add a little sign on it that says "Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?" because I think that would be appropriate ;) I know she will love it and I can't to see her face when we give it to her.

The other big endeavor that I have been working on is potty training Kobe. Yes you read that right...I am trying to get Kobe to go in the toilet! I bought a kit off of groupon and have heard success stories about it and my friend Kaela has even used it on her cats. There are several steps and the whole process will probably take close to 2 months but he is doing well. First we put the litter box on top of the toilet. I rewarded him with treats each time he went in the right place. Now we are at the stage of filling the trays and setting them right in the toilet seat. He did ok with this step but has yet to go #2 in there so I'm worried he is either going somewhere else (which I don't think is the case) or he is holding it in because he doesn't like the new toilet idea. So it is a work in progress. Here is what our

basement toilet looks like currently (because I know you are dying to know!)
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Fingers crossed he will get used to it because it will save on litter cost, better for the environment and is less messy! After all that hard potty training work this is what he looked like afterwards...
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Gosh isn't he Cute!?!?!

I'm finishing up my last shift of the weekend and am halfway through. I have a young girl tonight that took a bunch of sleeping pills because she got in a fight with her boyfriend. It is so sad and I just feel for this girl. I try to think back on when I was her age and if I was in a situation like that. I won't ever understand how someone gets to that point and I wish people would ask for help or talk to someone. Luckily she will be just fine and the medication she took is not too harmful on her body and will be fully reversible. I have one short day off before another 3 days stretch and I think I might go to "The Great Gatsby" tomorrow night even if I have to go by myself because I really want to see the movie. Megan saw it and said it was really good but that means I have to finish the rest of the book tonight at work.

Well I think I'm all caught up for now! Talk to you guys soon!
-Lauren

Sunday, May 12, 2013

New Server = Switching Sites

Well Blog.com has been hit or miss. The times that I have really wanted to blog something it seems to always be down and as much as I love the format of everything I just would like something more reliable!

Monday, May 6, 2013

First Weekend in May: Insomnia & Sleepovers

Hi everyone! Hope you are having a great weekend and a wonderful start to your Sunday! We are having a great but busy weekend and it is going splendid minus my case of insomnia which is normal for me I suppose. I can not wait to be on the day shift (which who knows when that will happen!) I will explain why we are having such a busy weekend. Fidel, the boy Alex takes care of at school, is staying here this weekend with us because his mom is having a baby! She had a little baby boy named Victor Alexander yesterday and Alex offered to take care of Fidel this weekend. We are glad to have him here because he is such a great kid and always makes us smile. We are finding out what it is like to have a child..haha! If you remember from an earlier post, Fidel has Muscular Dystrophy so he has very little control of his movements and can only really move his head, hands and toes. He has to stay in our basement because his wheelchair can't be carried upstairs so Alex and I have been switching off being downstairs with him. Friday night he went to Iron Man 3 with Alex and Cody and then played video games. He is enjoying staying up late ;) And then yesterday when I got home from work I fed him breakfast and slept downstairs so that if he needed anything he could just wake me up. Alex was back on duty after he got of work and helped Fidel eat supper. Then last night Eric, Joel and Zach came over to watch basketball and play videogames with him and they also helped Alex move him because it is a two man job.
Fidel is a great kid and he is always saying something funny! The little things we take for granted like just being able to itch our nose or move our arm to reach something, he isn't able to do which is a big reality check. I take care of patients in the hospital that have MD or are paralyzed but in the hospital there are luxuries like automatic beds, lifts and lots of manpower available when moving patients. But in the real world everyday can be a struggle and you have to get pretty creative. Fidel counts on us and it is crazy (and kind of scary) knowing we are responsible for him this weekend. However I wouldn't trust anyone else to do the job but Alex! He is so great with him and Alex knows that there wouldn't be anyone else to take care of Fidel while his mom is in the hospital. Alex did not even hesitate when he knew Fidel would need a place to stay this weekend and that is one of the reasons I love him so much!! Alex has patience and strength that is beyond measure and I'm so thankful I get to see how he interacts with Fidel because it is truly something beautiful!

I have 5 days off of work so I'm sure I will add some items to my shop and finally get some exercising in! I can't wait to take a zumba and kick boxing class or go for a run if it gets nicer outside. Really wish this weather would start acting like the month of May instead of the month of February. Today I'm hopefully going to Sioux City with Kendra to Josh & Jamie's graduation parties and would love to stop by my sister's house :) But I will post all about that later I'm sure!
Have a blessed day! and remember to check out http://www.etsy.com/shop/SomethingBeautiful19

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