Dear God,
You are in control of everything. Thank You so much for that! You are all knowing and because of that sometimes I feel stupid asking You for things becuase You know if it won't work out.
But please dear God, if this house on 3rd Ave is meant for us, please let doors keep opening.
You have already answered my prayer of changing Rick's heart and mind about the house, and I thank You and praise You!! Please give him a peace and assurance that if this is Your will, everything will work out for Your glory.
Please help us as we full out all the financial papers, as we go for a second look with our fathers and as we consider putting a bid in.
Dear God, we want to serve only You and do only Your will, and if this house will help us serve You more, than please continue to show us that this is for you glory and not for our selfish impatient human bodies.
I thank You Lord for listening to the cries of my heart and for loving me uncondintianly. I am so unworthy to serve a God like You but I am also so thankful that I can know You on such a personal level! You are so awesome and powerful and I praise You!!

Amen

Thanksgiving was weird this year without Grandma Rodgers running around. All of her kids made sure that everything was going to happen like it does every year, so that part was normal but on Friday morning everyone went over to the nursing home to visit with Great Grandma and Grandma Rodgers. I wasn't able to go cause I have this stupid allergy junk going on. My nose and head are clogged up, my chest is heavy with junk and I have lost my voice cause I have been coughing so much. I stayed home and was very sad. I haven't seen Grandma since August and I was excited to visit with her and see all of her progress in person. Oh well, I will do my best to be heathly at Christmas so that I can go and visit with her.

November so far in pictures

Rick and the puppy dog watching the soccer game


A view of the field


Chad - the head coach


The entire soccer team after they won


I loved the colors in the sunset!


The Ronk Family


Sarah and Joe


I took Coopers 7 month pictures. It was so warm outside for being November!He kept being distracted by other things around us, so I had a very hard time getting him to look at me! :0)

October Pictures

Rick's handywork


A co-worker's wedding








The hammy enjoying a treat


Charlie dog and Spunkette


Our Spunkette


Rick playing with Cooper and the puppy


Finally! My very own camelback backpack! Thanks hubby!


Cindy and I blowing out the candles our shared birthday cake


My new ride - that is for sale if you know of anybody interested. :0)


Chet and Jenna (Chet goes to our church and I clean his house, Jenna is so sweet and very smikley once you get to know her)


Jade and Jenna getting to know each other. (Jade is the daughter of Rick's ex-girlfriend - Rebecca and I love that little girl to death!)


Charlie dog ready to trick and treat


Our Tigger


'Wanna have a taste?'


Me and Tigger


Tigger rolling around the floor

November so far

I suck at blogging. I have lots of post in my head and I have every intention of typing them up every night - but along with everything else in my life that I don't get done - blogging is suffering.

The first weekend in November, Friday night, we went out the farm, visited and played cards with my Grandma and Grandpa Ronk. On Saturday, Rick I went to a Charleston University soccer championship game. The head coach went to school with Rick. They won. That evening, we went back out the farm for a bonfire and to hang out with Sarah and Joe. Sunday we did the church thing, went back to the farm for lunch and a nap and then back to church for the Men's chili cook-off.

The second weekend, Rick went to camp with Hurly and I went on the church womens retreat. Rick had a good time and I had a good time. On Sunday afternoon, I spent the day with my mom-in-law, sis-in-law and nephew. We did some shopping and ate Chinese for lunch.

Last week Rick had to go back to Richmond and I had to stay here and work. It wasn't so bad except that we had already been apart over the past weekend and I knew that we would be apart the next weekend. Quality time is becoming more and more my love language!

As far as the house hunting goes - we have moved onto our 3rd Realtor and really like him! We haven't looked at a ton of houses recently, but we have seen alot online and have driven by a few. We looked at a house 2 weeks ago, that I fell in love with. Rick has not fallen in love, but I am working on it. :0) The yard is something that is not ideal, but the house has so many of the qualities that we are looking for. So, please keep us in your prayers as we keep searching.

Spending my first year of marriage - our first Christmas married - living with my in-laws was never something that I imagined for us. Still trying to be patient and waiting on what God has in store. But I am not going to lie - I am struggling big time! It is a day to day struggle with fighting against Satan and the thoughts he is planting in my head. Not just about our house situation, but about myself, my body, my failure of school, my marriage. Pretty much my whole entire life. Most of the time, I don't do a good job of turning to God and I totally let Satan drag me down. And I hate it. I haven't worked on school work in over 3 months, my weight is getting out of control, I am still living out of a bag and a laundry basket. I feel like I have no control over anything on my life and I am letting that control me. Grrrrrrrr...........

Rick is on his way to Richmond. I wanted him to go so that we could make some extra money for Christmas but I really hate it when he is actually gone. Plus I think that it is a little bit harder because we didn't get to spend the weekend together and next weekend he is going to camp agian to hunt. I am just hoping that this week goes by fast and that nothing drasict happens.

KWCC Womens Retreat

I am at the womens retreat for our church. There are 14 women here and I am the youngest and there is none beside me who is even in there 20's. But other than feeling miserable from a miagrane last night, I will have to say that I am having a decently good time. We have already enjoyed lots of fellwoship with one another, sharing of raw cookie dough and some wonderful bible study.
Our study this morning was led by Debbie and she talked about the armor of God, what it is, why we have it and how we should use it. It has been a really long time since I have really stopped and looked at this scripture and so I would like to share it with you.
I like the way that The Message worded things:
 "Ephesians 10-12 God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
 13-18Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them throughout your life. God's Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other's spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out."

Promised

I am sucking at blogging! I have so much that I want to blog about - including pictures, but alas - I have to time.
I am busy with working - have added on some new responsibility, church stuff, family stuff, so on, so on. School work is none. House looking - still looking. Very thankful that the stimulus bill has been extended!
Holidays are coming up and we are trying to figure out how to get to all the different family.

Alright, my time has ended and I have to move on to other things.

Grandma Rodgers update:

Written mother-in-law :

October 8
Dad had a good report from the team of doctors today. They are pleased with her progress--they put her recovery right now at over a 3 out of a scale of 8 (I think that's the top number Dad told me). The speech therapist got her to say "Hi" today, and Dad said that she very clearly said "No" to him several times when he was going to put her mitt back on because she would not leave her head alone. Unfortunately, the doctors said that she was probably get angry with everyone when she gets to the next stage, but my dad seems to be all right with that because he is seeing progress.
 
She goes back to Allegheny General in Pittsburgh on the 21st to have the piece of bone they took out during the original surgery put back in, and she will be there a couple days. They have moved her to a different room on the floor she was on because she needs less care, but they would like to move her to a different floor at Trinity West if a room becomes available. The good thing about her being in the specialized hospital is that they told my dad today that Cindy can bring Cooper up to see her when we go up this week-end (right now she is actually in a specialized hospital that rents space from Trinity West).

November 2

Please be in prayer for my mom (and my dad because it is upsetting to him). She has been crying over the week-end--even though this seems bad, it may be a good sign. The doctors have told us that when she gets to stage 4 she will get agitated or angry or upset. Hopefully, this is a sign that she is progressing. She has to be at stage 4 and able to do therapy for 3 hours before she can go to a rehab facility.