TOP

Coming up next week I'm going to have a little series on the blog that I'm calling "TOP" for at least 5 days I'm going to give TOP lists of some of our favorites. It may be anything. I'm just going to add as I feel like doing! Hope you'll read next week and see what some of our favorites are!

When Tragedy strikes...

Post originally written on 2/19/13 

I grew up in a small town. Fluker, Louisiana. A town that had a few businesses all owned by the same family, a post office, a stop sign and more cows than people.

This town was surrounded by many other small towns.

The small towns that you think nothing could ever go wrong in.

You grow up thinking that crime happens in larger cities. That troubled children are the ones at public schools not the private school you attend. That people who are in church never get divorces. That...you get the picture.

I was blessed to grow up in a small town. Blessed to attend a small, private school. Blessed to be sheltered from so much of the world's troubles.

I was cursed to grow up in a small town. Cursed to attend a small, private school. Cursed to be sheltered from so much of the world's troubles.

I am grateful for my upbringing but if any of you have had a similar experience then you might agree that this good thing can also be tough.

Because of how I grew up, I had this thought in my head that those bad things that happen don't happen in the area we live in or to people like us.

Today, a guy that I went to school with who is now 30 years old shot and killed his wife who was 26 and someone I also went to school with. Then, he shot and killed himself.

Seriously?

I might not be so shocked but about 3 years ago, another guy that I went to school with shot and killed his wife in the front yard. Then, he shot and killed himself.

Seriously?

When I heard the news of this most recent tragedy, I was shocked, breathless, stunned, overwhelmed and completely saddened.

And then? Then, I was grateful that this wasn't my story. Grateful for God's protection in my own life. Grateful for the good things I've received though I don't deserve them. Grateful for the path I've walked down.

Dear Lord, Please bring peace to your people. Help us to draw near to you. Remind us that none of us are out of harm's way but lead us in your care. Protect us. Guide us. Deliver us. Heal us.

Oh, Home Depot Customers

Matt always has good stories to tell about customers when he returns home from work. His most recent story was this:

A customer comes in looking for a carpet for a room. Matt helps her look at several carpets and suggests that area rugs may be better. Customer says that she has measured the room and has the rope she utilized in the car. She goes back out to the car and comes back in with a ziploc bag that has sewing thread in it! This precious, sweet lady used sewing thread to measure a large room with!! Needless to say, it's probably not very efficient. Matt ended up assisting her in purchasing a area rug. Good times!!

One of Matt's hobbies

Matt has always loved doodling and here are a couple of his latest drawings. More to come about these soon! 

So proud!

We just found out that DMX lives locally and that he was arrested. We found proof on Wikipedia. So proud! ;-)

Recycling/Reusing K-cups

One of the things that Matt and I have learned to do over the last two years since we were gifted a Keurig Machine, is to reuse K-cups by refilling them. We were also gifted the refillable cup but we found that no matter how many times we used it or how we modified it, it didn't work for us. So, this way works best for us. Hope this tutorial helps someone out there!

Items you'll need:

-Cleaned out K-cups
-Coffee (medium grind works best for us)
-Foil
-Shallow dish

First, after you use each K-cup, remove the foil top, empty the coffee and rinse well. After drying, the cups should look like this. Make sure they are COMPLETELY dry before refilling. 

This time, we used Community Coffee! 

For ease, Matt usually puts the coffee into a shallow container. 

Take each K-Cup and dip into the coffee. Fill until near the top. 

Matt then cuts small pieces of foil for each K-Cup. Place the small piece of foil over the top of the cup and secure around the edges. 

When you finish, they should look like this. 

Each cup should have a hole in the bottom from being used originally. When you reuse each cup, try to line the K-cup up so that the hole lines up with the "spike" inside the Keurig. Doing this will prevent from having multiple holes. 

ENJOY! 

It should be noted that sometimes the coffee is a little bit weaker so we use stronger coffee to combat that. This is such a HUGE money saver. One box of K-cups can cost $10+. You can refill up to 30 K-cups with 1 bag of coffee!

Please let me know if you have ANY questions!

Lela is 1!

I was going to post about Lela's 1 year pictures but then I decided I would just direct you to Matt's blog so you can see them there! They are adorable! Check them out and leave him some love!

Lela is 1! 

SUYL: Nieces and Nephews

So excited to be linking up with Kelly @ Kelly's Korner for SUYL: Nieces and Nephews. We love ours and can't wait to show them off! 

Lucas: Lucas is our oldest nephew. He belongs to my older brother, Anthony. 

Silas: Silas is our next oldest nephew. He also belongs to my brother.

Malachi: Malachi belongs to my older sister, Brandy.
(he's in the middle)

Layla: Layla shares my birthday and she belongs to my brother, Zeke.

Luke: Luke is our next nephew. He belongs to my sister-in-law, Holly, and brother-in-law, Mitch.

Kieran: Kieran brings up the end of the nephews. He also belongs to Holly and Mitch.

Lastly is Emelia. She is the newest niece. She is due March 19th but could be here any day now! 

We also have some other pretty special kids to us.

Silas: Silas belongs to my cousin, Bonnie. We decided it was easier if we were Aunt and Uncle instead of Cousin.

And, then the Moody Kiddos. :)

Ollie 

Savell 

Lela

Thanks for stopping by!

Did YOU Hear about the Morgans? 

Matt's girlfriend

We always joke that the Moody's older daughter is Matt's girlfriend because she just LOVES him. This weekend, she crawled into the bed when I got up and pretended to fall asleep. This was right after she made all of the farm animal sounds possible! 

Sharing his coffee with him! 

We are blessed to have them as extended family and consider this little girl an extra niece! Now, Lela loves him too! 

Magpie's KNOXVILLE!

When we were in Knoxville, we got cupcakes from Magpie's! They were delicious and made me wish for a Magpie's here!