unexpected blessing

I woke up this morning knowing that one of my main priorities for the day was getting to the grocery store to buy laundry detergent.  I had let mine run out and didn't want to just go anywhere to buys some.  You see, I REALLY want to use my coupons, but I've gotten a few weeks behind on cutting them.  Over the past several days I've been meaning to get my coupons up to date and then look and see who had detergent on sale and then go use my coupon there.

Well...I had waited to long, and had resolved to just going to the nearest grocery store this morning and buying detergent without a coupon.  I went to Food Lion at 8am this morning and headed directly to the laundry isle.  There were several brands on Food Lion special, so I was happy that I was going to save aleast a few dollars.  I ended up getting the Arm&Hammer brand (never got it, but how can you go wrong with A&H?).  I found a good deal on razors and honey nut cheerios.  I was quite happy with my belongings and headed to the checkout.  The sweet sweet lady behind the register saw that my laundry detergent was on a good sale as well (made me feel good).  She then said something about there being a coupon???  huh?  She pulled out an envelope with several pages of coupons printed off the internet.  She found one for my detergent and cut it out and scanned it.  I saved another $1.00 on it!  I was so thankful.  I then asked her, "do you just keep these up here?"  She then told me those were her own personal coupons!  She was giving me that one.  I didn't know what to say.  How kind of her!  I told her thank you many many times and that I didn't deserve it, but she assured me that I did. 

What a sweet blessing from this lady.  I walked out thinking about making her some cookies or brownies and bringing them back to her to show my appreciation.  Over the top?  maybe?   But still, I was so blessed by this small act.  I've got my 2nd load of laundry going already :-)

buying and selling

Does it seem to anyone else that buying goes in spurts???  It kinda seems that way to Devon and me.

this week Devon purchased this

we are trying to sell this

and this

and this

Oh, and last weekend we drove down to Greenville, SC cause we found a great deal on Craigslist for this

baby furniture

Cause God is blessing us with this come sometime around March 5th

1st pic of Baby Raisch

I think the busyness has ended...

Devon and I have been going non-stop for a while now...but I think the busyness has ended.  Here's a brief description of all that the past 7-8wks have included:

May 1-2 we fly to Milwaukee for Grandpa's 90th b'day (the flight experiences are a blog all in themselves)
May 7-9 camping with great friends in the moutains (can't wait for the next one already)
May15 day trip to Roxboro for Philip's graduation (woohoo!)
May 21-23 trip to Warrenton, NC for my cousin's wedding (and great family get-together!)
May 28-30 hosted the appgirls reunion at our house (so wonderful!)
June 9-13 i went to Seattle for Joe's graduation from grad school (congrats again buddy!)
June 20 day trip to Ashville for some time at the Biltmore (we finally used our annual passes)
June 26-27 trip to Greensboro for Heather's baby shower (she's beautiful) and then toRaleigh for a last min overnight with Rosemary & Jeanett and then to Cary to spend time with Grandpa Joe and Grandma Betty (adopted grandparents of mine)

We're home for the next few weekends and then headed on a little weekend trip for Devon's b'day.  I have truly loved everything we've done and people we've been blessed to visit with.  I am glad to be home for a few weeks straight now :)

Thanks for listening to my ramblings!

a confession

A confession for the few of you who read this blog...Devon and I have let our garden go. Everything is overgrown almost completely. We were out there a couple weeks ago working hard and feeling like we were getting no where. We looked at eachother and agreed...lets forget the garden FOR NOW. We want to try and make some raised beds and transplant the few plants that were actually growing. Now, it is 3 weeks later and we haven't made our raised beds and...well...thanks to our neglet and God's great rain...the garden looks horrible.

BUT here's the thing...three things seem to be surviving all on their own. Kale, 3 tomatoe plants, and brocolli. I actually cut some kale this afternoon and we're going to have it with our dinner tonight. It'll be the 1st time we've ever had kale and the 1st time I've ever cooked it...so I guess I should say, we HOPE to have some kale with our dinner tonight :-)

A second confession...I'm writing this blog when I should be mopping my floors for the 5 adults and 3 children who are going to be our house guests this coming weekend...

Wisconsin or bust...

Grandpa's 90th b'day!

I am so very thankful that Devon and I were able to make the quick trip to Wisconsin for Grandpa's 90th birthday party.  I don't get to see this side of the family very often, but they are so great to be around.  And I love the above picture!  Look at how similar grandpa still looks to the framed picture of him!  Handsom!  And, check out the cheese sandwhich on his cake :-)  Perfect for grandpa's cake! 

I love you grandpa!  Happy 90th! 

garden woes

So...Devon and I are beginning to wonder if the garden is gonna produce anything this year.  Maybe we're not being patient enough.  It is the first time for both of us doing this.  We tilled up a pretty big area of land and one of our biggest problems is weeds (aka:  grass and clovers!)  I truly cannot keep up.  I'm able to keep the tops of our rows pretty clear, but the sides are beginning to look like full rows of grass.  That cannot be good.  Some of this grass is so deeply rooted, that all I do is break it off. 

I was really excited about our radishes.  They seemed to be one of the only things really growing.  I looked at the seed package and it looked like the radishes met all qualifications for picking.  I was beyond excited to go out there and pick them after church on Sunday, I could hardly get home fast enough.  Well I went out there took the below picture...picked a radish only to not find a radish at all.  I dug deep thinking that it had to be down there somewhere!  (i've learned where it should be now, don't worry).  I then saw the tinyest little bulb that I believe was suppose to be the radish.  Sad.  I put it back into the ground hoping that maybe a little more time would make it plump up.  Who knows... 

Our Spinach is little, but it's there.  Our tiny little kahl plants are being nibbled away.  Our broccoli has little plants, so here's hoping!  We got one tomatoe plant budding up...which I was very excited to discover!  Nothing coming up in the carrots or peppers areas. 

The question is...do we perservere and go ahead and plant our beans, squash, and zuchnni? 

I know one think I've learned is that I think we need to start our plants ahead of time next year, in those little black plastic trays (don't you love my garden lingo).    Nothing like learning as we go :)

Easter Weekend

We had busy, but great Easter weekend.  It's hard to start the work week after such a nice weekend together.  Devon thankfully had Good Friday off.  He did get called into the airport for a couple hours Friday morning, but it worked perfect cause I was on a quest to find some cheap shoes to wear while working in the garden.  I went to about 6 different stores searching and ended up back at the first place we went...Good Will.  I got a $3.49 pair of Avia tennis shoes...and also picked up a $2.50 pair of camoflauge pants :)  You see, Devon has a pair that he wears all the time doing yard work and I couldn't pass them up.  So we both had on our camo pants and then Devon brought down two of the below hats for us to wear.  I wonder what the neighbors thought...

We worked in the garden for about 5 hours Friday afternoon.  One of the hottest days of the year so far...in the mid 80's.  Needless to say, we both started our farmers tan in style.  Devon worked hard tilling up the ground (for a 2nd time to make sure it was good and ready for planting), while I worked on getting all the weeds and rocks out and raking the soil into our rows.  We planted spinach, kahl, broccoli, radishes, tomatoes, green/red peppers(we don't know which), onions, and carrots.  We still have some more tilling and planting to do, but that'll be in a couple more weeks.  We have green beans,  lima beans, cucumber, squash, zuchinni, cantalope, and watermelon to plant.  I'd like to get some sweet potatoes too!  And, we've talked about getting some blue berry bushes and maybe doing a few strawberry plants.  This is the first time for both of us doing a garden...we may be being a little over zealous on our first try...but we'll see! 

Saturday we worked on Devon's house.  He's got a little one bedroom house that is located in one of the...hmmm how should I say this....well, the house isn't located in the best area of Shelby.  There are break-in's, fights, and gun fire on a regular basis.  We're wanting to fix the house up a bit and sell it.  So, if you're one of the 3 people who may read this...pray that we get the house fixed up and sold quickly.  It will definitely be a weight off our shoulders to not have this house over our heads anylonger.  Devon spent the morning working on the yard and I spent the morning puddying holes and dry-wall.  I'm honestly excited to see what this little place is gonna look like when we're done!  I pray that the right owner comes along. 

Saturday evening Devon's sisters came over and we all went over to Annie & Robbie's and dyed Easter eggs with them.  It was a lot of fun!

Devon's sisters spent the night with us.  We got up at 3:20am (yes you read that correctly) and got ready and headed to the Easter Sunrise Service at Chimney Rock.  it's an annual tradition for the Raisch family.  This year Devon and I were the only ones who were going to be able to make it, so the girls stayed with us.  It was a beautiful beautiful way to begin Easter day.  I'm so thankful to truly understand the significance of what Easter Sunday represents.  So thankful that Jesus Christ conquered death and now all our sins are forgiven and we have direct relationship to God Himself!  AMAZING!   That is another entire blog post all in itself...

We made it back from the service in time to go out to Ihop for breakfast and get to the YMCA where our church meets.  Devon was falling asleep to the left of me and his sister, Jamie, was falling asleep to the right of me.  It was hard not to chuckle.  At one point I put my arm around Jamie and put my hand on her head so it would stop bobbing up and down.  We definitely enjoyed a long afternoon nap yesterday!  We decided not to work in the garden or on the house yesterday afternoon, but just relax and enjoy some time together.  I'm truly blessed...