Whew!  Floyd & I had quite an eventful weekend.  We went on a whirlwind house hunting tour Friday & Saturday in West Virginia.  In amidst it all–we got an offer on our home in Waterloo and were negotiating with the buyer on that deal!  Now, I’m thrilled to report, we’re under contract on both our house here in Iowa and on a beautiful home in West Virginia!  Thanks to our awesome realtors Gloria & Duke on both ends for helping coordinate everything.  It was a great getaway weekend, mini-vacation of sorts, for Floyd & I.  My parents stayed at our Iowa house with Drake so we could maximize our house hunt time.  It was hard to be away from our little man for four days but we had a nice time together as a couple, and got a lot accomplished!  I wanted to share photos of the new house for starters, and I have some other pictures from the trip I’ll share soon!

We’re reminded–All the time, God is good…God is good, all the time!

 

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We had our good friends Josh & Michelle over for supper Saturday evening.  They have a little boy named Everett, who’s a half-year or so younger than Drake.  They were so cute together!  Everett had a bottle with some juice, but doesn’t hold his own bottle yet, so Drake stepped up to the plate…had to share this!

 

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My Bible study small group has been going through a book called “Tangible Kingdom”.  The book focuses on being more proactive in the community environments we’re surrounded by everyday–from  neighborhoods to friends, co-workers, family, etc.  Part of that also involves giving back and serving the “least of these”.  So recently, our little group did a food drive for the Northeast Iowa Food Bank.  With just a few streets in our neighborhood, we filled a 10 gallon bucket of items!  I was really pleased with the support.  Now a lot of area families will benefit from this, and we made a positive connection with people in my neighborhood through our simple act of kindness.

 

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Last night, Drake baby woke up at about 1 a.m.  I went in to check on him, laid him back down in his crib for a few minutes of gentle back rubs and brushing through his hair.  This usually helps him fall right back asleep,  but not always.  This was one of those occassions where he wasn’t falling back asleep, so I brought him into our big bed to settle down. 

Floyd snuggled up with him, and Drake went out like a light.  I squirmed back and forth and was trying to fall back asleep, but kept having these strange flashes of parts of a dream that I couldn’t quite decipher, and couldn’t get comfortable to boot, so I was just doomed. 

Just when I thought my brain was starting to settle back down, Drake randomly sat up in bed, spit out his binky, and said “Dadda, Dadda, Dadda.”  We couldn’t find his binky again, so I had to race downstairs and grab another one.  He then quickly fell back asleep. 

But once again, no such luck for me.  I tossed and turned and tossed some more.  All of the sudden, I was stressing out in my brain thinking about all the things we have to get done in the next few weeks to prepare for our big move!  All these scenarios kept playing out in my head, and despite my best attempts to settle down, I just tossed and turned, tossed and turned. 

Finally, when Floyd woke up for work and put Drake back in his crib, I sprawled out in bed.  The dreams resumed.  I started just telling myself in my head this simple little message, “God is in control.  God is in control.”  After a few minutes of just repeating that back in the middle of wild dreaming, my brain finally quieted itself and I was able to fall back asleep.  It’s incredible that little notion helped settle me down.  God is in fact in control, and sometimes I literally have to remind myself of that.  I’m sluggishly tired trying to do my job now, but feel a certain sense of zen, too…comfort in my blessed assurance.

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Have to do a big blog shout-out to my husband and two of my brothers-in-law.  They all did a great job this weekend putting the finishing touches on our now fully finished basement!  As you loyal readers may recall, when we bought our house it had an entirely unfinished basement.  Before Drake was born–Floyd and several family members and a good friend helped install framework for the new basement layout and hung drywall.  Floyd mudded and taped like a madman and did all the painting.  Family came back to install the floors.  The basement was put together as a new guest suite with bathroom just in time for my parents to use it leading up to Drake’s birth, and it’s where Floyd & I spent our first few days as a new parents with Drake since it was much easier for me to get in and out of the bed down there with a c-section healing up.  The shower access was also much easier for me.  So now–this weekend, the guys came back and finished the project fully, adding in our ceiling!  It looks great–hopefully enticing to a buyer to put an offer in on our house!!! Here’s a couple pictures of the project start to finish.  Thanks Floyd, Vaughn, CJ, Matt, Tony for all your hard work!!!!

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I’ve been meaning to blog about this for a while, but have kept forgetting!  A couple weeks ago, Floyd was digging through some old stuff and came across this survey we did together just a few months after me met.  We first started seeing each other in September 2001.  Everyone who knows Floyd finds this hard to believe now–but he was SO SHY back then!!   So when he came on a family vacation with my parents and me in December 2001, my mom was determined to get to know him better.  She distributed a survey to each person, we all filled it out, then shared our answers.  Floyd revised the old survey and just sent it to me.  I wanted to share a couple of his sweetest responses:

FAVORITES:

Day-Saturday because it’s the day I get to be with you and Drake

IN THE LAST 24 HOURS HAVE  YOU…:

Felt Stupid?-  No.  Kera makes me feel like the smartest person alive.

Said I love you?- Every chance I get to tell Kera & Drake

ABOUT US:

Would you classify us as friends or acquaintences? - Soul mates

What was your first impression when you saw me?  WOW!

Have you ever had a crush on me?  Still do.

What’s my best feature? You are simply amazing.  It’s hard to pick just one.

Have I ever been there for you?  You’re the one I always go to.

Do you  love me?  More than I thought I could ever love anyone.

Name one impact I’ve had on your life:  You have completely changed my life in every way & I love you for this.

 

BAHHH!!  I teared up at that last one.  It was so wonderful–such a nice, sweet surprise to get that little email “throwback”.  I hope Floyd knows I’d answer just about every question the same way he did!  I guess that confirms one of those answers–yes, we’re soul mates!

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In honor of our tride & true St. Louis Cardinals home opener—Drake’s getting Red Bird fever!  We dolled him up in Cards gear this weekend, and my mom posted a fun look back at him during baseball season last year compared to now.  Crazy how much our little man has grown!

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As you know from one of my last posts, I had quite a crew over for Easter weekend!  I decided not to make the traditional ham and go for something a little different.  I recently found a recipe for a blue cheese stuffed eye of the round roast from Hy-Vee’s Seasons catalog, so I decided to make it for Easter supper and it turned out delicious–so wanted to share my variation of the recipe with you!

1 (2 lb) eye-of-round roast  ( I used two of them about 1.75 lbs each for my crew!) 1/4 tsp black pepper 1/4 tsp salt 4-6 oz crumbled blue cheese (a whole container–some are smaller than other brands) Butcher’s twine  (I used toothpicks instead) 1 tbsp thyme 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 tbsp olive oil

All you do

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Butterfly your roast(s) make a lengthwise cut down the center, cutting to within 1/2-inch of opposite side of meat.  Make a similar cut on either side of first cut.   Open meat flat.

 

3.  Sprinkle cut surfaces with pepper and salt; sprinkle with blue cheese liberally. Roll up roast tightly and secure in 3 places with twine.  (Or securely push toothpicks through the top side of the roast.  Place rolled roast in greased baking dish.

4.  In a small bowl, combine thyme, garlic, olive oil and remaining a bit more salt and pepper. Use basting brush to apply the oil mix to the outside of the rolled up roast.

5.  Roast 7 minutes per pound to sear.   Then, reduce heat to 250 degrees and roast, without opening oven door, 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees for medium doneness.  (I did right about 1 hour 40 minutes and it was perfect!)

6.  Remove from oven; cover and let rest 10 minutes. Remove twine or toothpicks and slice into 1/2- to 3/4-inch slices to serve.

ENJOY!  I served with fresh asparagus spears, garlic bread, deviled eggs, and fresh fruit salad.

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We’re making some very big news official this week!  I’ve accepted a reporter/weekend anchor position with the ABC/FOX duopoly in Charleston, West Virginia.  This is an incredible opportunity for my career, and for our family.  I will miss my KWWL family a lot.  So many people here have been great teachers, mentors, and friends.  Iowa will always hold a special place in our hearts as well, since it’s where our little Drake was born!  I will also deeply miss sharing my world with all of you.  This blog has been an awesome creative writing outlet, faith sharing journey, and connection point to the people who watch me at home each night.  You have all been a very special part of my life!  You’re welcome to look me up on Facebook to keep up with our world in West Virginia, and the development of Drake!  We’ll be in Iowa for about 6 more weeks, so there’s still time left to share–and a lot for our family to do in that time!  Thank you all so much for your love and support through our “happily ever after” journey!

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Drake had such a wonderful Easter weekend!  My parents were up visiting from Missouri, and my brother and his wonderful girlfriend also came to visit.  We went to church Good Friday evening, I fixed our “Easter dinner” on Saturday night, swam at the hotel pool where my brother was staying that night, worked Easter Sunday morning, and came home for Easter brunch with my family.  After Drake woke up from his midday nap, we let him go an a mini-Easter egg hunt in our living room and kitchen!  It was kind of muddy and cool outside, so the indoor hunt worked out great.  I was impressed that he actually got the hang of the whole process pretty easily!  He took great pride in throwing the eggs into his basket and eating the raisins and animal crackers my mom had hidden inside.  Here’s some photos of all the fun!

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