Yay! My friend from Northland has started a weekly plan to post works of God each Monday and allow others to link their own stories of how God is working in their lives. This originated at NBBC while we were in college. Each Monday during chapel they would allow testimonies of works of God that we had seen in our lives. Without a doubt this was a highlight of each week because we were reminded again and again that we serve a living God Who as work in our lives each and every day. We only have to look around to see it. I remember hearing how God provided from the small to the mighty. Sometimes it was a school payment just in the nick of time. Sometimes it was the opportunity to lead a child to Christ on extension over the weekend. But no matter who stood up and what they said, we were always pointed back to God and He was given glory. I'm so excited about the opportunity to go each week and read on others' blogs what God is doing in their lives. Thanks for the great idea, Jenny! You are already an encouragement to me. If anyone else wants to read the works of God each week, you can view them over at mjmuth.blogspot.com.

My praise for this week is that God has given me peace. Mike and I have finally filled in all applications, completed our adoption profile and had our home study. There is nothing left for us to do. Some have said that now is the hard part - waiting for a birthmom to pick us. However, the moment I turned in that final application on Monday, I had complete peace. I'm done. I don't have to do any more work, stress about making sure my house is clean enough for the home study, or worry about when we will get picked. Now I have the privilege of sitting back and waiting to see the ultimate work of God - a new life placed in our family for us to rear for Him. I am at peace and I view that totally as a work of God.

I LOVE CLEARANCE SALES!

Normally I don't shop at Sears, but for the last several weeks they have been running a clearance sale. Many of the items have already been marked way down and then they marked them another 75% off of that.

So, in the picture above you can see my take from Friday. There was a windbreaker/windpants combo, two sweater shirts, 5 pairs of pants and 3 skirts. The original retail value of the items was $387.00. I paid $40.00. WHOHOO!!!! The windbreaker/windpants set alone was originally $50.00. The pinstripe skirt rang up at $1.74 and it is nice skirt with a liner.

So yeah. Needless to say, I was excited.

Tilly

Well - here she is. This is Tilly. An almost one year old purebred staffordshire pit bull. She belonged to our neighbor down the road, but he didn't really have time to take care of her and she ended up escaping regularly. During her great escapes, she would often come down by our house. She looked kind of skinny, so when she came down I would give her food, water and love. Long story semi-short, she is now living with us while we seek to find her a long term home. As you can see from the pictures, she is very loving. I think she needs a home with someone at home during the day because she loves to be by people. She also needs a home where she can get tons of love and attention. With our four rotties, we already have a full house and although I'm becoming quite attached to her, I just don't think it is fair to her to keep her here where she has to share her people time with the other four.

If you know of anyone who would like her and will take good care of her, please let us know.

Score.

I love checking out and having your total come to over $58 (having already saved $9.60 on in store savings), hand a pile of coupons to the cashier, have your total come to $4.54 and then get your extra care bucks print on the receipt saving more than that $4.54.

I went in to CVS today with coupons in hand. I found the above shown items. I paid $4.54 out of pocket, used $22.99 in extra care bucks and left with $34 extra care bucks printed today. So basically they paid me $6.47 extra to take all of these items off their hands. Whohoo!!!!

In the picture are 3 different Sunsilk cremes (which will hopefully either straighten, curl or moisturize my hair), 1 Sunsilk Shampoo, 1 Sunsilk Conditioner, 2 Boxes of Excedrin Extra Strength Pain Killer - 24 count, 3 Nail Brushes, 6 Exfoliating Facial Buffs and best of all - 2 CoverGirl TruBlend Whipped Foundations (normally costing $9.29 each).

Oh yes...this totally makes me happy. They were, unfortunately, sold out of a few of the other items I planned on picking up for free which would have made the picture look even cooler, but I haven't given up. I have about 3 weeks left to find those available before the end of the month.

If you have CVS in your area and would like to get some of the same great deals, check out moneysavingmom.com for some help in where to find online coupons and other great deals. I have found that website to be a huge help.

Okay, for awhile now I've seen posts on blogs of Jenny, Pam and others that are the excellent bargains that they find and I've been wanting to learn and attempt to be as cool as them. So, after my outing today, I decided to post my own success. These were my CVS finds for today.

Glade - normally$1.69 a bottle, On sale for $0.99 each, One $0.99 extra care buck awarded & one $0.99 coupon used. Overall cost $0
Jelly Beans - $0.99, one $0.99 extra care buck awarded. Overall cost $0
Oral-B Toothbrushes - $4.49 each, $9.98 in extra care bucks awarded. Overall cost $0
Vitamin C Bottle - $2.99, one $2.99 extra care buck awarded. Overall cost $0
1 Bic Soleil Razor - normally $6.99, on sale for $5.99, one $3.00 extra care buck awarded, one $2.00 coupon used. Overall cost $0.99

So basically I got all of this stuff for $0.99. Oh yeah. Score!

My sister, Danelle, and her family (this picture was actually taken around Christmas):

This past week while I was up in Michigan I was able to spend some time with Danelle and her family. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them. The kids are tons of fun. We sang lots of fun songs together (they especially loved the ones that ended up with them getting attacked and tickled). :) I also enjoyed spending time with Danelle shopping (she saves me from myself when I try to buy "Old Woman" clothes). I will miss them tons, but look forward to seeing them this summer on vacation.

A friend pointed out to me today that it has been awhile since I've posted anything new. It is so easy to get caught up in the busyness of life and find yourself barely able to keep your head above water, let alone take time for facebook and blogging and real emails to friends. I feel like I have been in that busy mode since about August of last year. With the completion of basketball season this past week, I should be a little less busy for the next few months and I'm very thankful for that. I love my girls and the opportunity to work with them. I also love getting back the 16+ hours a week I've spent in the gym and on road trips since August. So hopefully I can be a little more faithful in updating...
For today's picture, I thought I would share my "baby" (or at least what used to be my baby). I always wanted a convertible. When I was in Guam, the Lord saw fit to allow me to have that desire of my heart. This is Austin, my Ford Mustang Convertible. He was only a few years old and had less than 13,000 miles on him when he came to a tragic end due to a head-on collision. I miss him. He made me feel young. I enjoyed driving around with the wind in my hair after a long day in the office. I currently drive a Chevrolet Malibu and "it" (not even worthy of an affectionate name) makes me feel middle-aged. Maybe one day the Lord will decide I need to feel young again and grant my desire for another Mustang Convertible. Maybe not. In the mean time, I can look back at this picture and be thankful that the Lord allowed me to have him in the first place. :)

Score!

I love garage sales. Living in Florida gives me the opportunity to hit a good church garage sale even in the beginning of January. For some reason, Michigan never had that.

As every avid garage saler knows, there are some where you can tell the sellers are clearly trying to make some money and others where they are just trying to get rid of stuff. This one was the latter. When you walk in and hear them say "everything is just a quarter unless marked otherwise", you know there is some good potential.

At this particular garage sale, I was able to get stuffed animals for all my dogs ($1.00 for hours of contented chewing = priceless) as well as 2 textbooks and 2 video games all for $2.00 total. I anticipate that I should easily be able to make at least $20.00 on the textbooks and video games selling them on Ebay, thereby allowing me to add $18.00 into my budget just from making a 5 minute stop.

Score!

This is a picture of Vanesa and I at a place called "Top O' the Mar" on Guam. Vanesa and I met in college and quickly became best friends. Thankfully God led us both to the pacific where I went to serve in Guam and she went to teach in Saipan. Since these islands are only about an hour flight apart, we were able to spend many of the major holidays together which helped us not miss home quite so much.

This is my friend Sarah. She was one of my soccer players and my office assistant. She was also a great friend. We had a few great adventures on hotel row with my cool convertible.

These are a bunch of my sports players at Nikka's big birthday party. I had just returned from Bali, which is why my hair was still in braids.

These are my friends, Karen and Holly. Karen was a teacher out in Guam and became a good friend. Her husband was one of the principals I worked for, so I was able to see her on a regular basis when she visited the office. Holly was a friend of mine from college, who eventually became a roommate on Guam. We had awesome times and have great memories. No matter how long between conversations or seeing each other, I know we will always pick up right where we left off.

This is Mrs. B. She became one of my closest friends while on Guam. She accepted me exactly as I was. I have great memories of Kmart at 6 a.m., tons of meals together and a summer of riding around on a golf cart on "granny patrol". She took care of me when I had my wisdom teeth removed. I'm very thankful that the Lord allowed me to know this special lady.

These are a bunch of the really cool people we hung out with and had awesome fellowship with on a regular basis. From left to right: Mike (my handsome husband who was only a friend back then), myself, Jason Scheck, Tim Harmon, Julie Plonk, Noel Infante, Jonas Macapinlac, Lisa Flower and Emily Davis.

I miss them hugely and cannot begin to express how much their fellowship was a blessing in my life.

Here's to friends near and far: (though most of these are VERY far).

I was just thinking today of how much I miss some of my friends. The Lord blessed me indeed when He led me to Guam. Each of these friendships were either started there or continued there. Thank you to those of you who invested your lives in mine.

Disclaimer: While there were many other close friendships developed on Guam, these were the pictures most quickly accessible and in my quest to blog more often, they became the ones I grabbed first. I'm sure more of you will find yourselves featured here in the future. :)

Also - no matter how much time I spent playing with the formatting on this, I couldn't get it to line up how I wanted it. I finally gave up, though every bit of secretarial perfectionism in me fought it.

Continuing Randomness...

Here is yet another random picture from "the old days". This was taken sometime in 2002 I believe. Next to me is the beautiful Mabel Duguies (I hope she forgives me for posting this picture). We were having a youth group unique dress day. Really, I promise we didn't normally look like this.
Working with the youth group at Harvest was awesome. I am so thankful that both Mike and I had the privilege to do that. I miss that type of ministry. Thankfully I still have the outlet of coaching at Providence to get my time with high schoolers. Oh yes, and if you do happen to read this, Mabel, I would LOVE to have you come show my girls how to drive to the basket.

Well, I admit to being kind of at the lack of ideas/not sure what to write point in blogging. I'm sure this isn't a shock to those of you who randomly check and find out that I haven't blogged anything in a month and a half. So, I thought I would start posting some random pictures. This is the first of said pictures.

This is from the trip I took to Bali, Indonesia in 2002. I went with April Briggs, Bob Shuck and Dr. and Mrs. Watson. Good times were had by all and I loved getting my hair braided by locals on the beach and having the awesome opportunity to touch and hold various reptiles. Maybe later on in my random pictures series I'll break out some more Bali pictures.

Whohoo! Here is a picture of my team after they won the championship match. They finished the season 17-2 in conference games and most importantly, pulled off the championship victory. They lost the first game, but then came back to win the next three. The 4th game was really exciting. The girls were down 7-16 and ended up coming back all the way to win the game 25-19. Check out their super cool socks they received right before the championship. They loved them and I think it helped take their minds off being nervous. Way to go, Lady Knights!

These pictures basically sum up my life right now. You can see first of all the crates for the dogs. Then you see the four dogs. I find myself understanding stay-at-home moms more. Yes, I realize they are just dogs. However, every time I come home to smell aromatic fragrances in the house as a result that the puppies left me a present, and as I find myself continually cleaning up after them, I can imagine that they could be sort of like kids. The pile of dirt was one I couldn't resist taking a picture of. Each day I have to sweep the floor. That pile was accumulated in less than 24 hours in our living room alone. I'm amazed by how much they can bring in. So, I sweep. We talked about using the Swiffer, but we would have to buy stock in the company for how many of those little Swiffer sheets I would go through in a week.

The last picture is of my volleyball girls. I'm spending lots of time with them these days. We have games about 2 nights a week right now and practice on the other 2 days a week. I'm enjoying working with them and especially enjoying the fact that they are currently undefeated.

So, this is my life right now. Volleyball and the dogs. I do try to spend time with Mike as much as possible, but he has had a super busy work schedule lately. It's a good thing business-wise, but not so much fun timewise. I have had the opportunity to work with him several times in the past three weeks, so that has been a blessing. I enjoy helping him and it lets me see him during the work day.

Call us Crazy...we've doubled our pack.

Yes, friends, we've done it again. We've added to the family. We'd like to introduce you to our new "kids", but unfortunately we still don't have names for the newest members of the family. They are both girls and both desperately in need of names. Since they are of the rottweiler family first and foremost, my husband would like to point out that they will NOT have sissy names. So, calling out to all of you who have some measure of creativity...we'd love suggestions.
The vital stats...both originated in Farmington, Iowa. They are half sisters (both have the same father), purebred rottweilers. One was born on April 13th and one was born on May 25th.
Let us know if you have any great name ideas. :)

My Kids

Here is an updated picture of "my kids" for those of you who may be interested. Each day when I come home from being gone, I open the door and say "Hey Kids" and you can immediately hear Sheba's tail start pounding the edges of her cage. Poor Cody is left with only a silent wagging of his stub.

We had the Herrons here for volleyball camp this week and they would rotate who got to say "Hey Kids" upon the opening of the door. The response was always the same though - ecstatic waving of the tail and stub. Maybe that was just because they knew they could finally go outside to the back yard and relieve some pressure.

I'm thankful for the companionship of these dogs. They give me someone to look after and "mother" around. They give me someone else in the house during the days and in the evenings when Mike occasionally has to work late. And even though I do recognize that they are "just dogs", they'll always have a special place in my heart.

Basketball -
Thanks to Kassy Harper for the picture. This was taken on our last night of basketball summer practice (two hours each Tuesday night). I was so excited because it was the first time we only had 9 girls (WHICH MEANT I COULD FINALLY PLAY AND NOT JUST REF). You might note that I have a very red face - which usually follows anytime I play. The girls improved tons over the summer and I'm looking forward to seeing how the season goes!

Yes, it is true. I caught this beautiful fish while we were on vacation in Michigan. For those of you who want the technical information. It is a 23 inch Northern Pike caught on a simple pole with a small night crawler. Nothing special, nothing dramatic...oh wait - it was dramatic. You see, my Dad, sister Barb and Uncle David were out not very far from the dock in a pontoon boat with all the little tykes fishing (where they could see the whole thing). I decided to stay on the dock and fish off the dock. They had the net and the bucket with them. Suddenly I thought I had a fish on and started reeling him in like crazy. Then my pole broke in half. I kept trying to reel in and finally just reached out and grabbed the line and pulled him up onto the dock. My wonderful husband was nearby and came and stepped on the neck and put his hand down on the body so the fish couldn't get away. He held the fish there while my Aunt Becky went running in to get us a bucket - all while I kept saying "Don't let him get away!!" This is without a doubt the biggest fish I've caught in life and I would also like to point out (in true Stapilian competition form) that it was the longest fish caught on vacation this year. Thank you. Thank you.

I have been tagged by a fellow blogger to list some random or weird facts about myself...

“Rules:” After posting these rules, each player proceeds to list 8 relatively random facts/habits about himself/herself. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, leaving them a comment on their blogs to let them know.

1. I broke 8 fingers during my 8 semesters at NBBC and dislocated a finger once. I guess collegiate sports weren't good for my bones, but certainly good for my spirit.

2. I have been toilet-papering 46 times in my life. Thankfully, I only chose to toilet paper people I knew and who had at least relatively understanding spirits, so I never had any run-ins with the police during my excursions. The all-time winner of home I toilet-papered the most was Pastor Mike and Brenda VerWay - yes, I believe it is a prestigious award.

3. Up until 9th grade, I was known to all as "Sandi". At that point I decided I was much too grown up for that name and informed everyone that they must now address me as the name on my birth certificate - Sandra.

4. For a period in high school, I held the state championship distance (though really our "state" only represented fewer than 10 other Christian schools - I can't remember how many) in shotput.

5. I'm a missionary grandchild, pastor kid and deacon kid all at once (since my Dad recently was a deacon following his pastoral retirement). I guess that makes me one of the biggest brats of all.

6. My major in college was "Church Secretarial Science" and I received a Bachelor of Science degree. I'm still sometimes puzzled how much science is involved in being a church secretary, but who am I to question?

7. This probably isn't really news to anyone, but I thrive on competition in almost any arena. Since growing old and leaving college, I've used coaching as my avenue to feed the addiction. I've coached girls high school volleyball for 5 years, girls high school basketball for 4 years, girls junior high basketball for one year, girls high school soccer for 4 years and guys high school volleyball (my personal favorite) for 3 years. I was even a basketball referree for one year.

8. I met my husband on the island of Guam where I served at Harvest Ministries for 4 years. He is amazing and I never could have imagined that God would bless me so greatly with someone like him. All that I ever planned on in the "perfect man" is encompassed in my husband. I praise and thank God for bringing us together and for giving Mike an extra measure of patience to put up with me.

There you have it - probably far more information than you ever wanted.

Praise the Lord!

Mike and I have wanted to have wood laminate flooring put down in our house for awhile. The arrival of one and then two beasts who shed like maniacs and who track in dirt like they are planning to build a sand castle indoors meant that our creamish colored carpet was crying out for delivery. So, we bought the flooring when it was on sale at BJs and started the project. We didn't get very far when we found ourselves very frustrated that everytime we banged one piece into place, three others that we already perfect decided to come apart. We then decided we were going to need a little help.

We inquired with some guys at church as to who might be available to help us and found someone to help. He has been a big blessing. So far the living room and kitchen are done except for the quarter rounds on the edges and I think he'll be finishing the master bedroom floor today.

I'm so excited. I keep walking out to see the progress and finding myself so thankful that we are able to get it done and so amazed at how much better it looks. Of course, I'll be sweeping 12 times a week, but at least it will look nice when I'm done as opposed to that carpet which will never look nice again.

My Three Cuties

Well, here you go. Maybe one day my blog will not refer to my husband or my dogs, but not for the near future at least. :)

This was taken a few weeks ago, so Sheba already seems to me to be much bigger than this picture. I just love it because it has Mike, Cody and Sheba all together.

I'm blessed to be able to share life with these three (though especially with my husband - I don't want to group him in with the dogs on something like that). Mike takes great care of me and of our little ones. Some people deal with diapers...we deal with housetraining a puppy. Anyway - just thought I would show you all my cuties.