A while back, we received a notice from our insurance company that informed us they no longer wanted to cover if our house stayed the way it was. They requested we remove the wood burning stove pipe that was left in the house, since it wasn't being used (which wasn't a huge deal) and to paint the exterior of the addition. What? In the middle of Winter? I can't say we were terrible happy. Thankfully though, the Lord blessed us with some gorgeous weather, so we were able to get the mud room painted in time.

Markets have started up again! We went to the KC Food Circle expo at the Sermon Center on Saturday and will attend the next expo this weekend at the Shawnee Mission Civic Center. It is nice to have a few Saturday's off in the Winter time, but by the time warmer weather is here, I'm ready for the markets to start up again. Its like a homecoming when you go to the first one and see all your favorite venders and customers.;)

We are working on our gluten free site, which the lovely Miss. Laura is helping us design. I'm afraid that there isn't much to the site (http://sweetsistersgfbakery.com) at the moment. We are working on adding some content to the site. I do believe that is the hard part, attempting to come up with something interesting and engaging, and yet to the point.

Might not be the stuff I would choose, but this is the stuff You use. Francesca Battostelli

This winter has made me seriously reconsider my choice in a vehicle. I used to love it, but somehow, with all the Winter storms, I have lost my appreciation for my car. Why, you ask? It is rear wheel drive.
Just last week I was driving to my parents house, on the way home from work, when I wound up in the ditch. My youngest brother was in the car with me and lamented that "Every Winter I wind up in the ditch with you!". lol. (It's not quite that bad!) His comment made me realize that he was reflecting my own thoughts. Instead of realizing how blessed we were that no one was behind us when we spun all over the road, we were focusing on the inconvenience. There have been several instances like this one over the last couple weeks. Like, the time we had to cut into the newly painted wall to replace the shower fixture. It was sad to have to take a step backward. Yet, we found that some of the plumbing had been cross threaded. It was better to find that out now, rather than waiting till it caused problems!
Its made me think of the things that happen every day that I count as an inconvenience, rather than to see if for the blessing it is.

We have another niece or nephew on the way! 2011 is going to be a joyous year indeed.;)

This old house

So, I have to admit to my own stupidity and ignorance. With owning a old house now, there are some things that I just don't think about. Like, say, tearing into the wallpaper, little thinking that there could be lead based paint in there. Thankfully, God is good and sent me a father in law who could test the paint to make sure it was safe to proceed.;) The tests turned out to be negative, so I could proceed and rid the room of its 5+ layers of wallpaper and paint.:) Ah, the adventures we are having with our first home!:D
We also were quite blessed to discover that the linoleum we tore out was not asbestos, which was a huge blessing, since the deed was done and the linoleum removed. It is nice to know we didn't stir up anything hazardous.
It has been amazing to see how many ways God has already blessed us and the lessons He has started to teach us with the house.

If all goes according to plan, we should close on the 24th! Andrew told me that mean Thanksgiving at our house.;) (with the bat and unfinished rooms. lol)
There have been a lot of set backs with the house, with waiting on the title company, and then having the bank back out on us. But, God has blessed us through it all with a temporary place to live (one that we didn't have to rent for a set amount of time) and a better loan now then what the first bank offered us. Its hard to know what why things happen that way they do until you see the bigger picture.

Our house! We had to fill out paperwork today to get the extension needed by the title company. So, it could be at least another thirty days before we are in it. I would complain about that, if it meant we would be on the streets once we are married, but we have been incredible blessed to have relatives offer a empty house to us until ours is ready. *confetti*
Things are coming together nicely for the big day, though I find myself making massive to-do lists of all the things we can't do until the week of.;) I just hope that I don't wind up losing one of those lists, since they are the equivalent of my brain these days.;)

So much to be thankful for

Lately, I have been rather blown away at the amount of answered prayers there have been in my life. After hearing "wait" for Dad to get a good job for so many months, he recently got hired on by a local college. I'm thrilled that he is working for a place that values all his gifts and areas of expertise! The job has been a huge blessing so far.
We are finishing up the last minute plans for the wedding, which included finally sitting down and writing up a schedule to make sure everything is done in time. (finally, those nightmares regarding a half planned wedding can stop! lol) Right after we finished, I had several friends offer to help with whatever needs to be done the week leading up to the wedding. *whew* Now I don't have to try and figure how to decorate the church with just three pairs of hands or plan on a all nighter working on flowers.;) I feel incredibly blessed by the friends I have!
Is it wrong for me to be super excited about how the cake is looking to turn out? I think it is one of the things I am most excited about, since I have had a clear picture of how I want it to turn out for so long and yet didn't think it was possible. I want the cake to taste good, and then the look is second, so I didn't want to have to go with fondant as the design seemed to call for. Well, Poppy came up with this ingenious plan to do buttercream frosting on the actual cake, but then make the flowers out of fondant. So, it will both taste good and look the way I want.:D Because, it is just wrong for the baker to have a awful tasting wedding cake. lol.
We started the gluten free bakery and it has been amazing to see the doors open for that! God has richly blessed my family.