The Good and the Bad

Last weekend was crazy!

On Friday, I went to get my hair cut and pulled into the parking spot and heard a loud crack.  It didn't sound good.  This is what I saw:

Yeah, not good!  Unfortunately the sound and look was all too familiar, and I knew that the ball joint was broken.  The same thing happened last year, but on the opposite side!  So I called the tow truck and had the car towed to a local mechanic.  The mechanic couldn't fix it until Monday, so I went the weekend without my car.  I did get it back on Monday, all fixed, and for almost $50 less than the quote he gave us!

Then on Saturday, I ran my second 5k.  The weather wasn't the greatest, but at least it didn't rain the whole time.  There was one hill right before the race was done that was a killer, but I survived!  I beat my previous time (31:51) and finished the race in 30:33!!!  I was proud of myself for running in the time I did, but I was disappointed that I walked 3 times (just short amounts but still....)  I had side aches really bad, but I need to figure out how to work through them and keep running!

Then I rushed home so Mike and I could look at a new vehicle (we've been looking since we got our tax return back...time to replace the Stratus!)  We had a little trouble finding the dealership so we called and were told he just sold the vehicle we were hoping to test drive!  So much for that!

Sunday was relatively quiet.  Church, then lunch at my parent's house.  Then I froze my butt off (quite literally!  metal benches are cold!) watching Mike practice with his work softball team.  We went home and had a nice relaxing evening together.

All together, a pretty good weekend.  Then I woke up Monday morning and saw this:

Gotta love this Michigan weather!

We have another busy week coming up; between work, car hunting, youth group, baking, Good Friday, Easter....gonna be another crazy one!!!  How is your week going?

April Showers

They say April showers bring May flowers.  But, I don't know what kind of flowers these kind of showers are going to bring!  This was what we saw Sunday afternoon at my parents' house!

Forget the showers, I'm ready for flowers!

Snowed In!

In case you missed it on the news lately, Michigan got slammed by a huge storm last week.  Huge enough in fact, to shut down many local businesses and schools!  Go big or go home, right?  In our case, we stayed home!  It was nice to have a day off of work, both offices I work at closed for the day.  Mike and I enjoyed a nice day at home!

Mike's friend Brett coming to our rescue!  Our snowblower was broken, but they managed to fix it and then they had 2 snowblowers running.

The amount of snow in front of our garage door

Our back deck

Our picnic table is kinda buried!  We have another one on the deck (I think) but you can't even see it!

I hope this shows how deep the snow was!

We think we had between 12 and 15 inches of snow, it was hard to tell because of the drifting.

Two at once...that's how we roll!

Nice mound of snow, huh?

As White As Snow

Driving home from work the other day, I noticed the dirty brown/grey snow piled up along the side of the road. It made me think of how snow is like our lives.

The Bible says "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." (Isaiah 1:18)

God sends the snow to cover up the ugliness of the dead grass. It falls white and beautiful, like a new beginning. But then along comes the snow plow and mixes the white snow with sand, salt, and other dirt, destroying its beauty. So God sends another snow fall, covering up the ugliness and replacing it with beauty again. And so the cycle continues.

The same is true in our lives. We were given a fresh start when Jesus died for us, but along comes sin and time and time again, we mess it up! But God, in his grace, forgives us and washes our slate clean once again. Lucky for us, this isn't just true during winter, but each and every day of our lives!

Praise God for his grace and forgiveness!

Winter Wonderland

This is what I woke up to on Saturday morning!!! Absolutely stunning!