Some NEW, Long Awaited Changes!

This passed month, Alex and I have had to make a lot of adult decisions. Decisions that we have definitely been waiting to make, but it never makes it any easier. With a lot of prayer and patience, we have recently made two big changes in our lives!

The first change is that Alex got a new job! He is now the “Youth Director” at a church here in Omaha! Although we are sad to be leaving our church and all of our great friends, we are excited to be moving on so that Alex can take the next step in his career. The best part is that we are still in Omaha, so we don’t have to say good-bye to our friends and family!

The second big change is that we bought a HOUSE!!! With Alex’s new job, and the overdue stay at our place of residence now, we figured buying a house was the next big change we needed to make. It is very exciting, but a little bit stressful to be buying a house. I mean I felt like I was signing my life away when we had to sign all the housing papers! Ha! And now….so many more decisions; what furniture to buy, how to decorate, where to put things! I can’t wait!

I guess you could say that March was pretty life changing for us. We are happy with the changes we have made, and we can’t wait to see what these changes will bring about. 

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." -Joshua 1:9

Spring Break 2012

Now that I am a little older, my idea of a great spring break is definitely not the same as it was when I was 19 years old. With that being said, my spring break is coming to an end and I have done some great things this week and have enjoyed every minute of it. I decided to make a list of the top 10 things I enjoyed doing the most this week! They are not in any particular order....so here they are:

1. A new haircut - this was very much needed.

2. Caught up on some reading!

3. A head-start on some spring cleaning (This included cleaning out the closet, taking some stuff to Goodwill and going through a ton of files and shredding a bunch of old paperwork).

4. Lunch date with my good friend Amy G.

5. Nap Time - I was able to get a couple naps in, I can't remember the last time I did that.

6. Listening to Dave Barnes new CD, "Stories to Tell." - I think I have it pretty well memorized!

7. House Hunting!

8. Baking - I love to bake, but can never find time to do it!

9. My parents are coming to town tomorrow, can't wait to see them!

10. Spent some quality time and special moments with Alex!

McCabe Family Irish Weekend!

This past weekend, the McCabe Family was together at last!!! My mom’s side of the family is pretty big, and might I add pretty amazing, so it is sometimes hard for ALL of us to get together around the holidays.  So, this year my brother Danny decided we should all get together and run the Leprechaun Chase on March 10. Although some refused to run, it was a great excuse for all of us to rent some cabins at Mahoney and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!

Friday night a bunch of the cousins got together and spent the night hanging out in the cabins. It was great to see everyone, catch up, and reminisce about stories of Grandma McCabe and the adventures we used to have when we were little. 

 

Saturday morning we went for a walk with my two older brothers (Jason and Danny) and their significant others (Stacie and Whitney), and hiked up the Mahoney State Park Observation Tower. It was extremely windy out, but the tower had some great views and we got to take some cool pictures. 

Jason and Stacie

                                                               

Whitney and Danny

                                                                 

My Brothers (2 of them at least)

Then.....3:00pm rolled around and it was almost race time. Everyone was feeling a bit nervous and excited, mainly they just wanted to get the race over with. I had previously signed up to run in this 10k, but due to the pain in my right knee and the doctors orders, I was not allowed to run. So, my wonderful husband represented both of us in the race! At least I was able to get some pictures of all our family runners, and spend quite a bit of time laughing with the help of cousins Tim, Bret, and Justin and my Aunt Katie. 

Go Danny!

Yay - Aunt Sheila!

Get it Alex!

Yeah - Mama Pfister!

Good Job Lindsey!

Ryan - Looking good kid!

Way to go Michael!

Whitney and Jenny - We love you gals!

After the race, we feasted on corned beef and cabbage and various other dishes. It was all so great and the perfect end to our McCabe Family St. Patrick's Day weekend! It was such a fun weekend and we just might have to make it an annual event! 

My sister-in-law Whitney posted this quote on her Facebook wall and I thought it was so great I wanted to share it. This quote sums up my family and my crazy cousins in a nutshell. I love you guys! 

                                                           

Compassion!

So...can you believe February is coming to an end? These past two months of 2012 have flew by. We have been so busy, but it has been great! Alex and I have recently added a new little buddy to our family! His name is Orlin, he is 4 years old and he is from Honduras! We made the decision to sponsor Orlin through a program called, Compassion International.

Compassion helps children in desperate need grow to be a fulfilled adult. Through our sponsorship of Orlin, we are hoping to help change his life. Orlin will now have the opportunity to thrive spiritually, economically, socially and physically. I am so excited to get to know Orlin a little better! I know we are going to be so blessed over the years as we build a relationship with him through letters, photos and prayers. Maybe we'll even get to visit him someday!

If you are interested in sponsoring a child or you just want to learn a little bit more about Compassion International, below is a little information about the program and a link to the site!

"More than 22,000 children younger than 5 die from poverty-related causes that often are preventable and treatable. You can help turn these numbers around. Your $38 monthly sponsorship helps provide your child with life-changing benefits that include: nutritious snacks or meals, educational opportunities, health and hygiene training, medical checkups, the caring embrace of a local church and the message of God’s love through Jesus Christ."

Compassion International

Homemade Heart Day!

Well...Valentine’s Day 2012 has come and gone! It was definitely one to remember, but probably not for the reasons you would think! We didn’t do the traditional flowers, chocolate, or go out to dinner. Everything we did this year was homemade!

Alex is not a huge fan of always doing what everyone else "says" we should do on a day like Valentine's day. He says, “Why feed into all this commercialization when I could give you flowers on any other day and it would probably mean more.” Some may say that statement is a cop-out, but I kind of agree with him. So, since we (mostly Alex) have such a strong opinion about Valentine’s Day we decided we would make up a new tradition this year, and make everything ourselves! This included dinner and presents, but of course not dessert because we had to make our weekly (or sometimes 3 times a week) visit to Red Mango!

So, Alex made us some homemade dinner and then we opened our homemade gifts. Now, Alex has been blessed with many wonderful gifts, but when it comes to creative artsy things...not so much! With that being said, I was pleasantly surprised with the gift he came up with. I actually kind of love it! Below is what Alex gave me.

Below is what I gave Alex. He seemed to really like it, so props to Pinterest for the idea!

All-in-all, I would say that our new tradition for Valentine's day was a plus. We both had to get our creative juices flowing and saved a little money while doing it! Can't wait to see what next year brings!

Saturday, Shovels, and Snowmen

Hooray for snow!!! I was beginning to think that this winter was not going to happen! Although the nice January weather has been enjoyable, I have missed the normal snowfall that we should be getting this time of year. So to my delight, the long awaited snow finally arrived!

Growing up I loved playing in the snow, shoveling and making snowmen, so we decided to do just that today! With a little help from our nephew, Michael, Alex and I took to the snow with our trusty shovels.

When all the work was done, it was time to have a little fun! Michael decided we needed to make a snowman. For him, “we” meant Alex and Erin, so he just played in the snow and watched us. Ha! It was a lot of fun and something I haven’t done in quite a long time!

Alex was really getting into making that snowman. I think he secretly didn't want Michael to help us because he wanted it to look perfect! His inner child definitely came out today! It was great to be able to get out and enjoy the snow. Now, the next snow just needs to come during the week so there will be a snow day! Happy first BIG snow of 2012!

Right Up Our Alley

I don’t think I have ever known anyone that doesn’t like to go bowling. Whether you hit strikes or your ball seems to always find the gutter, if you are in good company, bowling is a great time! This past weekend Alex and I went bowling with some of our friends, and it was so much fun! We had a lot of laughs, some friendly competition, great conversation, and I think someone even got a new nickname (38).

It was a fun-filled night, spent with some pretty great friends!!! So here's to bowling - it is right up our alley! Haha!