He made it!!!

November 15th, 2008 Grandpa Beal got to see Jesus!!! We are so, so happy that he is with Jesus. What an amazing legacy he left with us. He served the Lord faithfully his entire life and is grandchildren are reaping the benefits of it. We will miss him a lot but are so eternally thankful that he is with the Lord. It makes heaven so sweet!

WATCH THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is soooooooooooooo good. Pass it on to everyone you know!

Im not lying.....I have been busy

Here are a few pictures of the things that we are doing around my parents house. This is mostly for my sis who lives in Monroe and Curts Mom who wants to see what we have been doing around here. Everyone else can enjoy it if they want :) Now mind you, my Mother has been convinced that she likes white walls and that is what has been in their house for 7 years. So the color may no be a big deal to you but to my family it is a huge mile stone in my Moms life :)
So in the family room Jay and Curt just finished building in the builtins around the fireplace. Now I am painting them and not quite done, that is why there is nothing on them :)The bedroom pictures are of my parents room. They had a old water bed headboard on their bed forever, so we built them the one pictured. It turned out so good! We also had new carpet installed and I painted the base of their bed. We are trying to make it look as much not like a water bed as possible, but we cant get rid of it because my dad needs it for his back. Then miracles of all miracles my mom let me splurge and buy new, somewhat expensive lamps for their room. Miracles do happen people :)
Then of course the new tile all through out the entry and kitchen. It looks like I am doing a lot of work but Curt did the majority. He is such a great man!
Basically every wall in the house has colored paint on it and it looks awesome. Im trying to convince my Mom to paint the cabinets in the kitchen white but I think she is starting to tune my ideas out. I think I overwhelm her a bit. Slowly I am determined to wear her down. The picture of the front door is also a small miracle because my parents let me get new hardware and it makes the door look so nice. The random paint next to it is my big mistake in the color of paint that I bought. It looked so nice on the swatch but turned out to be a horrible yellow color. I love yellow but not this yellow and it just looked wrong in her house. So I had to paint small patches of paint everywhere until I found the right color. Finally I did and it looks great! I also made covers for the couches in the living room. They look a bit disastrous in this picture but good in general. Some day I will be a master sewer.
Hopefully soon we will get carpet everywhere but my parents told me that I need to quit spending money everywhere else so that they can spend it on carpet. Ha!

I've been tagged...

This is for Julia, because I hate her so much! :)

Rules of Engagement:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post rules on your blog (copy and paste 1-6).
3. Write 6 random things about yourself.
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

SIX RANDOM THINGS ABOUT Julia:

1. I love projects and like to get them done as soon as possible so that I can see the fruit of my labor and how great it looks.

2. I freeze during the day and roast while I sleep at night. I usually only use 2 thin blankets to cover up. I think its because Curt is an oven.

3. I have only ever owned Volkswagens and hope that I never own anything else.

4. My middle name, Kyllo, is my Grandma Beal's maiden name.

5. I have broken both of my arm's but not at the same time.

6. I would choose sweets over real food any day.


Okay, here we go:

People I am tagging:
1. Elizabeth
2. Judy
3. Jenn
4. Kate
5. Lei
6. Suz

Update!

So I am finally getting time to post about our life. I seriously dont get to check my email these days so sitting down to post about life is majorly overwhelming and a nice break.
So for those of you who dont know it, we made it to Washington....but barely. I dont know if ya'll heard about the tornados in Colorado at the end of May??? We were fortunate enough to be able to miss them by just a half hour on our way out of the state. We came upon Fort Collins right after the tornados had hit in neighboring citys. Had we not had a few delays on our way out of town we would have been smack in the middle of it. Thank God he kept us safe!!! We ended up staying the night in Fort Collins (just an hour outside of Denver) that night just to be sure all the crazy weather had passed. There were tornado warnings in effect until 8pm that night and Curt didnt really want to drive our huge truck in windy weather. We saw overturned semi's and didnt really want our truck to do the same. I dont think I would have been mad if our truck had overturned and runied all of our things but I would have been ticked because of all the work we did the day before to pack that stupid truck with the utmost care.
So Friday morning we made it an all day event and drove 19 hours to Spokane. I drove the truck too and reconfirmed to myself that I would make a great trucker! That thing was fun to drive!
We had about 5 days in Spokane before we drove to Seattle and flew out to the East Coast. My sister from across the state was here with her 3 kids to add to the chaos of just moving. And our things were everywhere so it made packing to travel and real treat. Probably not the smartest move to go on vacation 5 days after you move to a different state but none the less we had no choice at that point and had a really nice time with Sky and Suz. I will make a whole other post about that later.
We got back to Spokane on the 10th of June and have not stopped moving. I have been helping my parents re decorate their home. I have the whole main floor of their home almost painted and all last week Curt and I tore up the entryway/kitchen/dining room floor and laid tile all the way through. It looks really really nice but what a huge project it has been. Nothing is ever as simple as you hope it will be. We arent quite finished yet either. Tomorrow I need to spend the day grouting all 340 sq feet and then seal it and put all the trim back up. Next we will be recarpeting the whole house. I love projects like this so I am really having a ball but its definately hard work. I wake up early and dont stop until my body cant move anymore. One thing I hate is unfinished projects and I cant rest until its all done :) I will post pictures when everything is done.
So thats our life for now. Curt has been crazy busy with web stuff or doing little projects for me. I am leading worship on Wednesday night for the womens group, I spend as much time as possible with my nephews and family. I cant express how wonderful it is to be here. We get to see Jenn and Bill a lot too and that is just fabulous!!! So nice to be with them again. Part of me feels like Colorado was just a dream but when I have time to miss it I miss our friends a lot! Life is good! God has blessed us.

Dont be jealous

This is what I get to go home to!!! Yay! Arent they just stinking adorable. Dont be hatin because I have such cute nieces and nephews!
So its my last day of work! Hallelujah! Tomorrow we get the truck bright and early pack and clean all day and then Thursday we head out.
I hate goodbyes.....they are the one of the worst things in the world. But I love hello's and usually they go hand in hand.

Packing!

Ok, so I have a little bit of a problem. Our social calendar is full from here until Tuesday night and I am not done packing. We honestly have every inch of our life scheduled out so that we can see everyone before we go, even lunch time.
So this has been my plan all week and will be until we pack the truck......I leave work, go hang out with my friends, come home, pack at least four boxes and then jump into bed around 1am, get up the next morning and do it all over again. I think it should work just fine.
One thing that is challenging about packing this time is I have to seperate what I want to take to my parents and what I want to go to storage. You see we will be living with my parents until we find a house, which goodness knows when that will happen. I have the perfect house in mind and wont buy it until I love it :)
I have so many pictures to post of fun things that we have been doing but I just have not gotten a chance to steal computer time from Curt. He has been crazy, and I mean crazy busy with building websites and all our pictures are on the computer that he works on. Poor guy comes home from work, works on the computer till about 11pm and then crashes into bed. He is awesome! Im sure its making him a little nutty.....
So I usually prefer posts with pictures but I dont have any right now.
I may have a mental breakdown in the next 3 weeks. Here is our schedule, hang with friends from today until Tuesday night, finish work on the 20th, pack the truck on the 21st, drive out of town early the 22nd, get into Spokane sometime on the 23rd, settle in, Monday the 26th sister and 3 kids come from Seattle to visit, Thursday the 29th drive to Seattle and fly out for New York at 11pm, get into New York at 7:30 and start our vacation with Sky and Suz.
Whoooo, I am tired just thinking about it. But it will be fun!

Life after 30!

So I have been 30 for a week and 4 days now. I don't feel older and now I can see how older peole always think they are cool or good dressers. I'm not old, I'm just realizing how you still in your mind think you are 20 but you keep getting older. I still feel like I am not old enough to be 30. Ha!
My birthday was OK.....The day I turned 30 I was in Texas for Leslie's graduation. That was totally OK with me. She graduated from college and that is a HUGE deal. I am so proud of her. But it definitely didn't feel like my birthday....Then Curt threw me a party this last weekend. Half the people who said they were coming did not come, so I had made twice as much food and dessert than I needed to. The enchiladas and cupcakes did not turn out how I would have liked them to and that is always a bummer. There is always those feelings of disappointment when things don't turn out the way you want, like your party, but on the flip side you are so grateful for what you got. Does that make sense? I hate feeling like a burden to people.
I was so thankful for my friends that did come. We had such a great time! Elizabeth and Jill may have gotten me the best present I have ever gotten from anyone accept Curt. They got me a Tiffany's charm with an inscription that said "Love J & E". That is exactly the kind of things that I love....something that is sentimental and will make you remember those people for the rest of your life. And I love Tiffany's. I have 2 charm bracelets from there, one that I got when I was in New York and another that Curt got me when we got married and it has my new initials on it. I still cannot believe they did that. I'm still in shock. Its not very often that I am surprised with something that I will adore.
Curt was great! He had games planned for the party. A trivia about me and a word search puzzle and he even had prizes for the winners. He got me a new Seahawks sweatshirt with #97 on the back - Patrick Kerney is my favorite Seahawk. That dude is a machine. He also got me a Starbucks mug with pictures of my neices and nephews in it. I could not have asked for a better husband! He is so good to me.

We are busy busy packing up the little condo. I cannot believe that it is only a week and 2 days until we leave. Curt and I know that we will both be crying as we drive out of town. We have such great friends here. And so many people we wish we had a little more time with to get to know better. We will miss them all terribly.
We get the privilege of going on vacation with Sky and Suz at the end of this month. We are going to fly to New York and then rent a car and drive all around the New England states. We are all history dorks so its going to be a lot of fun! I cannot wait! I have always wanted to see the history in New England. I have already been to New York and Washington DC, but now I will get to go to Boston and see Plymouth Rock. Yay!
So we have lots of fun things coming up! Life is good!

Why is life this way?

So, some of you know, some of you dont know, some of you have heard rumors, some of you dont care....but Curt and I are moving back to Washington on May 23rd.
When we felt the Lord telling us to move down here in the Summer of 2006 I knew it was the right thing for us at the time but I was ready to get down here, get it over with and move back to Washington as fast as possible. I never ever expected to move down here and fall in love with our church and find friends that I would never want to leave.
I am a deep friendship type girl and I never thought that I would find friendships here that would last forever. There are so many people here that I just adore.....Plus, I LOVE our church. I love the people that I am on worship team with. I love Pastor Aaron and how he leads Elevate. I love Pastor Reece and Sarah and the direction that they are taking the church. I love their heart for people and the Lord.
But on the flip side....I miss my family. I think I have flown 8 times this year to Washington alone. My nieces and nephews are growing up without me and it makes my heart sad. Even before Curt and I were married it was important to both of us that we raise our family around family. We dont have kids yet but when we do we want to be close to the fam.

My favorite phrase when things are sad for me is, "why does God hate me?". Curt hates it when I say that, and of course Im kidding, but I do think that about this situation. At least God could have made all the people down here really lame so I wouldnt be sad to leave them....but no......he had to make them cool, and fun, and my friends.

So I write this post with a sad and happy heart. We are moving to Spokane to be with my parents and help in their church. That is weird and exciting all at the same time. If you are a PK you know what I mean......
We get to be near my brother and his wife and two boys who live in Spokane, my little sister just graduated from college in Texas so she will be back in Spokane too. All my grandparents are still alive and they live in Spokane so it will be nice to be around them for the last few years of their lives. Plus I have lots of aunts and uncles and cousins in Spokane that I will get to see more too.
Our bestest friends Bill and Jenn live a block from my parents house and we are thrilled to be near them again....my best friend Suz is just a few hours away, which is better than 20 hours away :)
I guess this is the great thing about life....things change, I go through different experiences, but God is still God and even when a situation, like moving to Colorado, isnt exactly what I want to do, God makes the experience really wonderful and life changing.
Definately one reason to look forward to heaven....we will all get to be together for eternity :) Wont that be fun! That and I know that we will come visit Colorado when possible.

South Beach Update

This is for Judifree :) I am no quite sure how much weight I have lost at this point. I dont have a scale at home and I usually go to the gym late at night to work out and weigh myself then. Well my weight that late at night, depending on what I have eaten for dinner, is always different. I need to buy a scale. But, good news is my pants are fitting a lot better and I can definately tell my body is smaller and more firm. Yay for me!
The one thing that was hard for me for the first 2 weeks of the diet was that I had a hard time running for long distances on mostly protien. It seriously at points felt like my legs were 50 lbs weights. Now I can have a little more carbs so running is a lot better.
I feel good! Its a fun challenge to find new recipes and fun things to eat. And it definately feels good to be disciplined :)
Does anyone have good tips or recipes that they have done while getting back into shape? Judi - I know that people want to know how you lost 40 lbs on the South Beach. How long did it take you? What are your secrets?
As soon as I can weigh myself at a normal time of the day I will let everyone know the progress.

EXPELLED!!!!!

Curt and I went and saw "Expelled - No Intellegence allowed", on Saturday night. It was such a good documentary!!! I urge everyone to go and take as many people with you as you can. It is a great move for kids 12 and up to go see too. Liberals are up in arms about this movie and I think we need to supoort Ben Stein in this.

South Beach

How to weigh yourself and get the most accurate result.

I cant believe that I have been doing it wrong all these years!!!!
We Must get the word out!!

So, I started the South Beach diet today. I must admit that this last year and a half has not been my trophy period of eating well and working out. I think the "big move" to Colorado got me out of sync with myself and away from everything and everyone that I love, which therefore made food a joy and comfort. Also, has anyone else noticed that when you get married you seem to start eating more for no apparent reason? It has been shocking to realize how much and how often men need to eat. For example, lets say that I am not hungry, or forget to eat lunch until about 2pm in the afternoon. At 6pm we are meeting a bunch of friends for dinner at PF Chang's so I know that I don't want to eat a full lunch at 2 pm because I wont be hungry at 6 pm to eat a fabulous dinner. Therefore, I will just eat something small or veggies or something like that. If the same thing happened to Curt, he would eat a full meal at 2pm and a full meal at 6pm.

Friday night we were planning on going to a really great restaurant for dinner. Curt wanted to go home first and chill for a while before we spent the night out at dinner and a movie. Well, by the time we left the house and got the restaurant, there was an hour wait to get a table. Of course I would have been just fine waiting, but Curt got a panicked look in his eyes and said quite decidedly that he could not wait that long to eat. So driving between that restaurant and another restaurant that could seat us faster, he about died from hunger. Why you ask? Because men just need to eat. They cant just make a mental decision that they will wait a little longer or they will have a nervous breakdown and get really, really grumpy. Am I right? Or is that just my husband? So I say all of that to say, when you are first married, you tend to take on the eating habits of your husband, even though you don't need to. At least I did....

I have heard that once you hit 30, losing weight is a whole new challenge. Well, I turn 30 on May 1st so I decided it was time to get on the ball before everything goes south. Scary isn't it....turning 30. Wow.....I don't think I am ready.

Here are my thoughts on the opposite side of dieting....whether you think I need to lose weight or you think I am crazy for talking about it. I am extremely passionate about this subject because I feel that our country, and even christian women have turned our bodies into idols. I am all about being healthy and exercising but our culture is obsessed with looking good! For some reason we think that the value of the person lie in how they look.

I hate, hate, hate that the devil robs us of so much joy in life because our happiness depends on whether we are 10 pounds over weight or not.

Life is so not about looking good. I think its one of the main things that the devil, or ourselves, use to distract us from what really matters in life. We obsess about 5 pounds, or the jeans or bathing suit that we want to fit into and don't fill ourselves with the things that will last for eternity.

I just recently had a really long conversation with my good friend about this subject and I know that every woman out there struggles with this stuff to a point. So, work out and eat healthy if you want. I know that working out just makes me a happier wife and friend. And if you love yourself just the way you are, hallelujah! But make sure that you are working on that which lasts for eternity more than that which will fade away in the next 50 years :) And be sure to encourage all the other women you know to do the same thing.

God made us PERFECT!!!! Ephesians 6:12 - For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Friends and random pictures

My friend Jill and I went shopping together for clothes to take on the trip and knowingly bought the same exact shirt but then ended up wearing it on the same day by accident. We obviously could have changed before we left the house but we really didn't care :) There is also a picture of Jill and her husband Matt in the mix and they are one of our favorite friends here in Colorado :)
In another picture, there is a group of us praying for two ladies. These ladies were walking by the church, saw us all in their praying and came in and asked if they could receive Jesus as their Savior. Can you believe it! I was so awesome!
There is a picture of 3 African girls, Barbara, Gloria and Julie, who were our favorite girls of the bunch. They just really bonded with the girls on our team and will always have a place in our hearts!
The two pictures, before the last picture are of the group eating at a food court in the mall in Uganda. I think I had Chinese food and Curt had Greek food. There was about 6 different restaurants that you could choose from and it was all great food.

The very last picture is of Dean, (who is on the far left) he is the reason that Curt and I met, and he led our team, Pastor Robert; who is the pastor of the church we help plant in Wakiso and then Bill from China who is a great evangelist that came to minister with us.

The End :)

Noah

This is Noah, one of the boys that we support to go to school. He graduates this year and has good enough grades to get him into law school :) We are so proud of him. This was my first time meeting him, Curt millionth time. He was so sweet, very shy around me but sweet.

Curt Preaching

Curt preached Sunday morning at his friend Pastor Emmas church. I think the church was only about 3 months old. It was definitely rural :)Curt did such an awesome job. He just has an amazing way with people and they love him!
Im sure it was his preaching that kept the people so enamored, but then again, they could have been thinking, "I had no idea they made men that large". :)

Ugandan Food

Here are pictures of the Ugandan food they served us for lunch. Actually, the first picture is of a fish that we got at a restaurant on our way to the airport, leaving Uganda. The fish is called Talapia and they give you the whole fish and you just pick the meat off it. Some people actually ate the eye but I wasn't that nuts. What some people will do to get attention :) Next to the lovely fish in the green bottle was my favorite drink called, "Bitter Lemon". I had this drink a lot when I traveled Europe and I think the best in the world is in Germany, but Ugandan bitter lemon is pretty good too :)

So the food on the tables in no specific order - The stuff that looks like flour tortillas is called "chapatti". Its a thin deep fried bread that is to die for. I think I ate that whole plate. Then there is a picture of a pumpkin. They peeled the pumpkin, gutted it, filled it with veggies , wrapped it in banana leaves and cooked it over an open fire. It was pretty good and any kind of fresh veggies that you got you would eat because they don't have a ton of them.
The brown, poop looking food was peanut sauce. That was really good. They usually put it on rice to eat it. I love Thai peanut sauce, but Curt does not like it, but he likes Ugandan peanut sauce. Thai peanut sauce is sweeter than Ugandan, just to give you an idea.
In two of the pictures, there is a plate of yellow mash looking stuff that is called "matokie". Matokie comes from the banana family, it looks like a little banana when they are still green. and they grow in clusters like the banana. Matokie is a staple in Uganda; it doesn't really have a flavor, has the consistency of spaghetti squash and mashed potatoes mixed together. They pour a really good meat broth over it and eat it that way. I liked it but Curt hates matokie :)
The purple and white looking food is their version of a yam. Looks nothing like our yams, has a chalky consistency and not much taste. They always had fruit, bananas, pineapple or mango. Their fresh fruit was the best.