Pinterest Project Week 1 of 52

January 1-7

I promise I have been keeping up with my pinterest projects...I just haven't posted them yet! So here goes, week 1.

For this first project I decided to do something for both me and the hubs. I did this the first week of the year, which was the last week of my Christmas vacay, so I was a little sick of projects and painting. At first, I thought it sounded kind of cheesy, but it actually turned out to be pretty cute! Here is the pinterest link so you can see where I got my idea: Date Night

12 pre-planned, somewhat pre-paid dates. My dates were not quite as expensive as these which actually pushed me to be a little more creative than just dinner and a movie. I put a little hint in each envelope of what the date was going to include. I plan on having him open each envelope on the day of the date. I went a little further than this particular blogger and actually set the date for each month and scheduled it using my iCal app which conveniently connects with my husbands iCal app...meaning what I put on my calendar he can see on his! I secretly put the initials DN (date night) and a time frame on each planned day so that he can see when the next DN is coming up and look forward to it :) I cannot reveal the contents of each envelope, but I can tell you what I did for our January date...

Spa night. And let me tell you, it was much needed! After remodeling and working on our house day in and day out for weeks, my poor hubby was exhausted and needed some relaxation. So I modeled my spa after this blogger: Love Actually, except not quite as cheesy. I started with a romantic homemade meal complete with peach champagne (our fave) and peppermint truffles :)

Why does my cola look so purple? Silly iphone camera...

By the way, sorry for the horribly pixilated photos. They were taken with my iphone.

Then, I continued with the spa-like stuff...you get the hint. I do believe it was a success. I'll continue posting monthly updates of our DN adventures, I know you are so excited you can hardly contain yourself.

New Year's Resolution

Ok so it's been like 8 months since I've posted on this thing. My name is Stephanie Beetge and I am a slacker. There, I've admitted it. Please don't hate me. Here are some pictures of some cute kids (who just happen to be my nephews and niece) to make up for my laziness:
Christmas morning

My little Brody-bro!

And the cutest baby niece EVER!

Look at those cheeks!!!

Ok, back to business. Since it is a new year and all, I've decided to make some New Year's Resolution. Brace yourself, there are a lot of them:

New Year's Resolution #1: 52 pinterest projects, one a week.
New Year's Resolution #2: Actually update my blogs...yes, that's plural, I have more than one that I NEVER use.
New Year's Resolution #3: *Cliche Alert* Lose 10 pounds.
New Year's Resolution #4: Finish remodeling my house.
New Year's Resolution #5: Spend more time in daily prayer. *Edit* Spend more time in the WORD.
New Year's Resolution #6: Run at least two 5ks and a 10k, and if I'm really feeling good maybe a half marathon.


I tell you all of this to say I am well on my way. I have already signed up for a 5K in February. I'm almost done remodeling the main part of my house (the goal is to do one house project every weekend). I have done 2 pinterest projects (posts on those are coming soon). I have started training again for the 5K (that's where the weight loss thing comes into play), and I'm trying to buy healthier foods. I've started a new blog called iwannabeaSAHM.wordpress.com and I've actually posted to it! (SAHM stands for stay at home mom. I don't want to be a mom quite yet, but someday I'd like to be a mom and when I am one I'd like to stay home with my kiddos). Spending more time in daily prayer and in the Word have been my saving grace lately. I don't think I would have made it through the past few weeks without it. Let me fill you in on what has happened in the past few months.

I got a job teaching! I have been teaching 4th grade writing and absolutely loving it...until December. In December we took our STAAR simulation test (STAAR is the standardized test we have to take in the state of Texas). Needless to say I was not thrilled with my kids scores. I felt like such a failure. This class in general did not do so hot on all of their simulations, so everyone told me not to take it personally and not get upset. But how can I not take it personally? So I've been in constant prayer ever since. I feel like I am doing everything I can to get my kids where they need to be and all I can do after that is pray that they do well come March 26th (the day they take the actual test).

In other news...we bought a house!!! Pictures will be posted once New Year's Resolution #4 is complete (or at least almost complete). We have remodeled so much already and have big plans for the future in this house. We didn't want to buy a starter home, we wanted something we can live in as long as the Lord has us here in Amarillo. We love it and it's already becoming our home.

Since this summer, Roelof has been begging to get Lucy a playmate. I told him we would get her a playmate as soon as we bought a house. Well, he did not forget those words and somehow we ended up with not just one extra puppy but TWO. 3, yes count them, 3 dogs now call us Mommy and Daddy. *sigh* But they were just so cute we could not resist. Meet Oliver:

Silly puppy...

And Ricky:

Fell asleep by his food...we don't call him Hoover for nothing!

He's actually much bigger than that now (almost as big as Lucy!). Speaking of Lucy...

Isn't she cute!!!

I don't want to make this an epic post, so I am going to leave it there for now. I will be posting my 52 pinterest projects here and on my SAHM blog as well, so check them out if you want to be a cool kid!

Radical

This weekend I went to Dallas for a surprise baby shower for my sister-in-law, Kristen, and to spend some time with good ole Kim. Kim is one of my dearest friends in the world, and throughout college she kept me accountable...aka, she pretty much kept me sane, HA! Anyway, Kim is what I like to call a bosom friend or kindred spirit (if you've ever read or watched Ann of Green Gables, you know what I mean). We've always just had this connection, we get each other without even having to use words. Oh how I have missed my friend dearly. You see, Kim has been gone for two years, working in another country. She has had some crazy adventures that I'm kind of glad I didn't know about until she got back. She experienced God in a way that I don't think I have ever experienced, but yet I totally understood. We both know what it's like to live in another country and return to find that the country we've always known and loved was not exactly what we've always known and loved. Does that make sense? I'm sure Kim understands! Anyway, she has been urging me to read this book

So I did it, I finally bought the book. Can I just say that I'm only on the second chapter and it has already proven to be an incredibly powerful book?! It has not only begun to change my perspective on the American church, but on Christianity as a whole! Why have I not realized these things before? It seems so simple and it is spelled out so clearly in the Bible how we should live our lives and do our ministry, but our view of life, even as Christians, has been so messed up by what our society says is ok and right, that we are actually living the opposite of how God calls us to live! Platt describes himself as a "megachurch leader trying to follow a minichurch leader", what he means by this is that we spend so much time catering to ourselves and being comfortable in our faith, as so many Christians and American churches have done, when in all reality Christiany is about abandoning ourselves, as so few have done. Christ calls us to radical abandonment, and it is scarey and uncomfortable, I will admit that, but Jesus was not intereseted in finding believers who were comfortable. When you think about it, he was a minichurch leader. He had few followers, because what he asked for was not popular, it was not desired. I mean to give up your home, your family, your everyday comforts, we would today consider that "unhealthy".

Reading the first chapter of this book has motivated me more than ever to get back out onto the mission field. I know that God has us here (in Amarillo) for a time, and I humbly submit to that, but I know that He has called us out and we will not be living this cushy life forever. I know that radically abandoning the kind of life I have known my whole life will store up for me treasures in Heaven, but not only that, God will use that to bring light to a dark world! Isn't that incredible?!

Well my friends, I must leave you now, as I have gotten so caught up in this blog post that I forgot about dinner in the oven...I think I smell it burning, eeeek!

Roelof is a year older

On April 15, 2011, Roelof turned another year older. He might not be able to tell you his age, but I can...28. Yep, he's 28 years old. That means in just two more years he will officially be an old man. Or at least middle aged. Wow, can I just say that our 20's are flying by faster than I could have ever imagined they would! Before we know we'll look like this:
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Yikes.



Now most guys on their birthdays usually want to do something manly, but instead, my husband decided to be very sweet. He decided to share his birthday with me. My last birthday was not the best one I've ever had, so my wonderful, sweet husband showered me with gifts and on his birthday took me to the ballet! I love that guy :) So on Saturday we celebrated his birthday with a 'bring and braai' (aka bar-b-q) at our house. It was a pretty good weekend I must say, definitely one to remember.

All dressed up and ready to go to the ballet!

The cake that Roelof's boss bought him...I love that it has pink flowers...haha.

In other news, the Lord has been showing us so many great opportunities to get involved with our community lately. We have been able to be involved in ministry, and though it's not full time, it is still very much a part of our lives. We just finished up our girls Bible study last week and are looking forward to starting in a new place in the youth ministry...middle school boys. Again can I just say it....Yikes. This is going to be interesting. Of course, Chris and Roelof do act like middle school boys part of the time, so this should be a pretty good fit for them! Despite my joking, I really am excited and looking forward to this new adventure. I know without a doubt in my heart that God is using all of this to prepare us for full time ministry. We are also beginning a new Bible study with a group of friends that are just as mission minded as we are! There are three couples in this group and we will each be taking turns leading a study and leading a missions oriented devotional each week. For the first 6 weeks Roelof and I will be leading a study on creation, while Russell and Shaela lead the missions devotional. We are so excited to have this time of growth with friends that share a passion for missions as we do! We can't wait to see what the Lord has in store and what will unfold during our Tuesday night meetings! To keep up with what we are learning each week I will be updating a blog that we have started for our study, www.heartforthenations.wordpress.com

Roelof and Chris playing 'Just Dance' after last weeks Bible study


Speaking of missions and ministry, we are still praying for a full time ministry position for Roelof. We will be speaking to our local BGCT missionary about some opportunities in the area. Please pray that the Lord will open a door for Roelof to step into a full time position as soon as possible.

And now, some pictures of Lucy...because she's just so darn cute.

Lucy graduated from obedience school...

She was very excited!

Our dog plays soccer.

Whatever she just ate must have been very yummy.

What you lookin at?

So pretty!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, guess who got a new camera? Me of course! Here is my beautiful new baby:

true love :)

We definitely had fun playing with this thing:

This is my momma, isn't she purdy?!

Tired

As I write this post I am sitting here trying with everything in me to keep my eyes open! What a day! Today I observed a teacher that I will be substituting for for 6 weeks. I am so excited an honored to be with her class while she is out on maternity leave! However, I'm tired, haha. I love second graders, but by the end of the day I'm completely exhausted. It is well worth it though and I absolutely love this class! My prayer is that these next six weeks will be a learning experience and I will be able to fully grasp the idea of what it is like to be a full time teacher. I also hope that, although there is currently a hiring freeze on in Amarillo ISD, I will be able to make some connections and contacts that will help me get a full time teaching position for next year! I know that the Lord is faithful and He will provide as He sees fit! This long term substitute position is definitely a God thing and I know He is going to teach me so much through it!

Roelof is doing well. He has settled into his job at Amarillo Clutch. We are praying that sometime in the near future he will be able to start studying for his masters degree and eventually be working as a missions pastor or professor. His heart is still fully geared toward ministry and he is working very hard to get back to the mission field.

Speaking of ministry, we have started working with the freshmen and sophomores at our church doing a Bible study for them on Sunday nights. We absolutely love the time we get to spend with them, although sometimes a challenge, it is great to see God working among these 15 and 16 year olds! I forget what it's like to be a 15 year old girl, and things are different now then they were just 10 years ago when I was their age. I just pray that we can connect with them and that God will be able to speak to them through us. We are currently studying creation and they come every week with so many questions (which can be somewhat challenging at times), but it is cool to hear them talk about how they have applied what they have learned in our study to their daily lives when speaking with friends and nonbelievers! Please pray for our group as we continue with our study. Pray that they will be able to continue to apply what they have learned, that they will feel comfortable to share and be honest about the things they deal with on a daily basis and that there will be unity within the group. Also, pray that we as leaders will be able to guide them in the way of God's will.

Well I'd love to ramble on and on, but like the title of this post states, I'm tired. So it is time for me to grab a snack, turn on the tv, and relax!

Giving Thanks

On Sunday, November 21, 2010, Roelof and I celebrated our one year anniversary!!! What a great year! I know it was filled with ups and downs, but never has my life been filled with such joy! We are so thankful for everyone that has supported us and prayed for us over this past year, we treasure you and your friendship so very much.

In October we were blessed to find a rental house that had exactly everything we needed and even wanted! The Lord provides in ways we can't even imagine. We moved in the weekend before Halloween and feel very much at home here. I worked hard to get everything unpacked and set up because I do NOT like to live in chaos. So to say the least, we are completely settled in. Feel free to stop by anytime, we love to have visitors!! We also had a blast on Halloween by scaring the PBC senior class with Chris and Mendy Johnson! It was priceless. Roelof carved his first pumpkin and we dressed Lucy up as a bumble bee :)





meet Jethro and Jane Jack-O-Lantern


Lucy the bumble bee!

Lucy with my niece Madison


Another reason why I needed to unpack everything at a supersonic rate was because we had our first guests just a week after we moved in. We were blessed to see our good friends from South Africa, Sean and Gena Mullen. The Mullens are a part of the mission we worked for in SA. They were here visiting family and raising support and awareness for the mission. Please pray for our friends as they are still in the states traveling across the country. They will be going back home in January. We had such a great time with them, eating lots of mexican food of course, adventures at Wally World, a trip to the mall, and just sitting around and visiting. Roelof was extremely happy to see Sean, I thought he might cry! Haha, just kidding. But just talking with them has really made us realize how much we miss being in full time ministry. God was definitely pulling on our heart strings.


eating mexican food

adventures in Wally World


the creepy entry at the back of the mall


My photo business has been picking up. I've had several portrait sessions and have enjoyed each one of them. I love being taking pictures and creating something that has so much beauty in it. I get so excited at the end of a shoot when I'm on my way home. I can hardly stand it, I want so badly to upload those photos and see how they turned out! It's very exciting and something I take much joy and pride in. Please continue to pray for my business as it is still not enough income for me to take on as a career.

Here is an album from one of my latest sessions: http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=25599&id=118234508226495

Also some pics of our new house: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=546820540709&set=a.546820251289.2057911.61800164#!/album.php?aid=2057911&id=61800164

Well tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for! As you can see we have been greatly blessed and we thank God for His provision over us!

Celebrate Good Times!

The Lord has been faithful and provided once again! Roelof was offered a job at a shop called Amarillo Clutch and Driveshaft. He will be working as a counter clerk and earning about the same as he was making at the other place, however, we will now have health insurance, sick time, paid vacation, etc! And the working environment is 100 times better. We feel so blessed for this opportunity. We still want to do ministry, but we are content that the Lord has provided a great place for Roelof to work in the mean time. Please continue to pray about the ministry the Lord will take us to in the future as well as in the present.

Next week I will (hopefully) be starting a new position with Amarillo Independent School District as a substitute teacher. I have accepted the position and I'm just waiting for my paperwork to go through so I can start. We are praying that this will lead to a permanent teaching position (and preferably soon!). I'm a bit excited, but also a little nervous. Kids are known for eating subs for dinner, so your prayers will be greatly appreciated! Hahaha.

And I just realized that the word sub in the sentence above could also refer to a sandwich, HA, thats so punny.

Our beloved Lucy is doing very well. She is getting so big. This week she finally let go of the ball while playing fetch (this is a huge milestone, we've been working on it for weeks), she got her last set of shots, and she is learning to walk on a leash. She is very smart, but also very stubborn (she gets that from Roelof, I'm sure), so leash training is not going so well, haha, but she'll get there eventually.

Last week we received notice from our apartment that we have to either a) re-sign our lease and pay more on our monthly rent or b) give 30 days notice that we are moving out. This puts us in a bit of a predicament. We like where we are living now(and the current rent), but we really want a house with a yard for Lucy. If we could afford it we would buy one of these
But since we are making student loan payments, we will most likely end up in one of these

so we are currently praying that the Lord will provide a rental home for us to live in (that is not an apartment) within our budget and suitable for our little pup. Finding a home like that is an impossible task because we have a very limited budget, but all things are possible through Him!

Ok to wrap it up, please pray for:
1. our future ministry as a couple
2. stephanie's new job as a sub and her struggling photography business
3. patience with our puppy
4. an affordable and suitable rental home