God is Good! His Love Endures Forever!

This past weekend, Tanner and I made the trip up to Ohio to spend time with his family and to go up to Michigan to hear Ray Vander Laan speak at Gull Lake Ministries! We went up Wednesday night and got back home Tuesday night. I would love to say that we had a wonderful flight and lots of time to spend with his family because we flew; sadly, I can not. We were unable to board the plane to get up to Ohio, so we drove. 16 weary hours. What is worse is that we left after our plane was supposed to leave. Yes. We drove all night. From 6:40pm to 12pm the next day. I think I got about 1 and 1/2 hours of sleep... maybe. Tanner only got about 1 or 2 hours. I will never do that again. Ever.

So, we got there, rested for maybe 10 minutes and then kept on going. My mother-in-law threw a Scentsy party for me and Tanner got to spend some time with his best friend! It was pretty fun. His whole family (well, most of it) was there and the guys talked while us girls talked Scentsy.

Friday, we went up to Michigan and met my parents and sister at Gull Lake Ministries. My family and I went two years ago (which is crazy since it is so close to where Tanner lived.. small world!) and loved it, so I was super excited for this year! There we listened to Ray Vander Laan speak for 8 sessions! He spoke that night, Saturday morning, twice in the afternoon, Saturday night, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Monday morning! Listening to him is like standing in front of a fire hose! There is so much to learn from him! He studied under a Jewish Rabbi for a while and has taught High School Bible for 37 years! He takes tours over to Israel! And I'm sure that is just a portion of all that he has done! (Check him out at www.followtherabbi.com!) My sister and I both bought brand new notebooks to take notes in, and she filled hers half way up! I didn't write as much, but that is because I am a terrible note taker and I can only write down so much that will be coherent later. As you can assume, this was a terrible burden in High School. Ha ha!

Anyway, a short thing that I learned this time around was that the green pastures is not what we think. What it would mean to an easterner is a lot of  green tufts of grass growing up in the desert (because that is where the shepherds have their sheep since there is limited farm land) from in between rocks where the water had pooled from the rare rain. So it's not that God plops us belly deep into alfalfa; He gives us enough for today and will provide for later. This really took root in me! Especially with the new house and all it's payments and bills. Like today, I realized that Tanner had spent more than I thought he did getting my oil changed and washing my car and getting a few needed groceries, because that is the wonderful husband that he is, and we didn't have enough to pay what bills we needed to pay before Tanner gets his next paycheck. After digging up all the change and cash I could and putting in the back and we still didn't have enough, I just looked to the sky and said, "God, I trust you wholly." Tanner then texted me later saying that his boss gave him an amount of money for the some scrap metal. With that added, we had enough for the bills and some groceries to last us until next paycheck. I almost cried, saying, "God is good! His love endures forever! He makes me lie down in green pastures! Thank you, God!" It was an awesome experience.

After parting with my parents and shoving all our belongings into the car, we drove back to Ohio to spend the rest of Monday with Tanner's family. When we woke up the next morning, planning to leave at 7:30am, his dad made blueberry pancakes and thick, wonderful bacon! Then we started loading the car. This is when Tanner realized that he had left his door open all night. Normally, that would have been fine, but it had rained all night. His seat was soaked, the back was soaked, my camera bag was wet (thankfully my camera and everything in it was fine), my purse was wet (again, thankfully nothing inside was too wet), the mirror that my mom had bought was wet... It totally ruined the morning. We dried everything off as best we could, though his Monte Carlo has fabric seats and not leather seats.. but that could be a good and bad thing when it comes to water, and put a tarp and towel on the seat to keep the water from getting on us as we drove. After we carefully loaded everything in the car, met Emily's, my sister-in-law, new goat, and said our goodbyes, we drove off home bound. We got in at about midnight and unloaded only the necessities, rolling the windows down and keeping the sunroof open so the car could dry out over night and the next day in the garage, and went straight to bed. The back of the car is still wet and Tanner is working on ways to dry it out as I type. This includes kitty litter and a probably a whole roll of paper towels. This should be interesting.. ha ha! I trust him. :)

All in all, it was a very eventful extended weekend! Now to figure out what to do about the flight credit we have... :P

Keep on keeping on!

~ Elisabeth

Happenings.

Lately I have been frantically looking for a job. I've applied anywhere and everywhere and have gotten one declination letter so far. I'd like to say that I could just use Scentsy to be my full-time job, but lately I haven't had so much luck. I am desperately trying to stay positive about everything, but I fear I'm losing the battle.

I've become desperate. As much as I would loathe getting a job at a place like McDonalds or a restaurant, I may have to suck it up and apply and take whatever job comes my way. Until I get a job, Tanner has said that he will work overtime as much as he needs to make all our needs met. Already he is going to have to work two hours overtime for the next year (instead of working a little overtime over 18 months) just to pay a certain person back for the closing costs because in this certain person's mind we have to make sacrifices when buying a home even when this certain person doesn't know what sacrifices we have already made/ are already making! (Sorry.. done with that rant..)

What closing costs, you ask? We're buying a house! I am SUPER excited about it! It's brand new construction in a new development, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathrooms, two stories (bedrooms and full bathrooms upstairs), big kitchen with LOTS of storage space, big backyard, and we got it at a GREAT price! Currently, we are just waiting on the 2nd walk through and closing! :D I can not wait to move! The estimated closing date is April 15th! So, I'm looking for boxes to start packing everything! ^.^

That's pretty much what's been going on in our lives. Major budgeting, desperate job hunting, and prepping for moving!

If you are interested in buying some Scentsy (new Spring/Summer stuff is out, by the way!), just jump on over to my website! http://ElisabethEllsworth.Scentsy.us

Keep on keeping on!

Wardrobe update? What?

Recently, I've been feeling like I need to update my wardrobe. I wear t-shirt and jeans everyday. It's comfy! I don't think there is anything wrong with that. But since my closet is mostly made up of t-shirts, I figured it was time to start weeding out the ones I don't wear as often or care about as much. And I have so little skirts and blouses for church, maybe I should actually buy a few dresses and some more "girly" outfits. I've even started carrying a purse. (Look out! The world just turned upside down!) I know, it's crazy.

I think that may have been what started all this though. Ever since I became and Independent Scentsy Consultant, I have had catalogs to give out and carry with me. (Usually, people don't want to wait while one goes out to their car to get one.) So, I decided that I should give my purse a little more use than just Sunday morning. Then I started looking at getting a new purse, because mine wasn't exactly cutting it anymore, and then I started watching TLC's "What Not To Wear", and now I'm thinking about getting more skirts and blouses and dresses. Who have I become?!

So, now I am working up some money to invest in my psychotic break. :P I'm thinking things that will help me look slimmer and help me feel pretty and confidant. Though I am still going to keep some of my t-shirts, I may invest in some new jeans. Maybe even black.. or a different color..

Oh goodness. I've gone off the deep end. O.o

Wish me luck!

Keep on keeping on. ;)