Happy Easter!

Good morning, all! I want to start by wishing everyone a Happy Easter! Yes, of course we could have more beautiful weather, but I really think God gave us what we needed with this rain... hopefully it will help to contain the near by wildfires.

This week has been an interesting week in the Covey family for some of the "firsts" that we've encountered.

Earlier this week, on Monday, my cousin Melinda delivered baby Abigail Patsy into the world. Both are healthy and doing well. This is the first great grandchild on my mom's side of the family, so everyone has been very excited about it. If you could, please keep Melinda and Abby in your thoughts and prayers over the next few weeks. Congrats Melinda and Aaron!!

Rusty and I tried a new church last night. It is the second church we've tried since moving to Frisco. I don't think we have specific expectations for a church, outside of making sure we are at a church that follows our beliefs. That being said, the first church we tried was lovely, but just didn't do it for us.

Last night's church is very different from any we've been to in the past, but Rusty and I left intrigued, wondering more about it. The first song of worship for the night featured two artists that shocked me... a rapper and a guy on two turntables (I don't know what they are called, but they wear the headphones and like scratch the records around??).

I don't remember much about the first song, for just kind of staring at these two the whole time. After the first song, the church's worship leader came forward with more traditional worship - he did really well. He had one of those voices that makes you wish you could sing, ya know??

Next came the sermon. The Senior Pastor who delivered it did a good job. Rusty and I both really liked the message. I most enjoy listening to Pastors who can make me laugh, but also draw me into their sermon. I also enjoy those messages where I can specifically take something out of it, and think about it/use it in my life.

Last night I heard a Bible verse that I want to share with all of you, as it stood out to me during his sermon more than anything else I heard.

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Matthew 6:27

It reminds me of a movie quote from Van Wilder (yes, very different from a Pastor's Easter Sermon...) where Van Wilder says, "Worrying is like a rocking chair - it gives you something to do, but doesn't get you anywhere."

The service ended with the rapper singing an entire song, featuring the record scratcher guy again... The whole time I'm sitting there wondering all sorts of things like if this is an every week occurrence and how the members of the congregation react to his performances. I will say that when he finished, the roof was nearly blown off of the church by all of the applause he received. I guess I was so shocked by never having seen a rapper in a church, that I was so surprised at this. I won't lie - he did a really good job and deserved the praise - I was just so shocked!!!

I think Rusty and I are going to give more of our time to this church to see if it is somewhere that we could attend long term. Hopefully so!

Anyway, as we begin this Easter Sunday, I look forward to the family fun later this afternoon! I hope everyone has a great Easter, and even better week!!! :)

TTFN!

Setting Boundaries

One of the most rewarding aspects of owning a home is to be able to take on the miniature projects that come up without calling the local handyman. Rusty and I have been very open minded and tried a lot of things on our own. Luckily, we've had a lot of success thus far (knock on wood)!!

Our biggest adventure yet has been tearing down the old fence and building a new one in it's place. I will not lie - it has not been easy, but we are so pleased with the final result! We knew when we bought the house that we needed a new fence. Prior to us, it just wasn't taken care of like it should have been, unfortunately. Oh well though - right???

Anyway, thank goodness my parents have built a few fences in their day. They were able to help get us started and more than half way through with the project over the course of 2 weekends. Rusty and I were on our own for the third weekend. We did have his dad come over and help us with some stuff the third weekend, just because we needed an extra pair of hands. Chuck was a great help to us also!!!

Anyway, here are some before and after pictures of the new fence. Enjoy!! And no, we will not build a fence for any of you now. :) We are all fenced out.

TTFN!

Free Time?

I know many people, especially married couples, and those with children, typically have their weekends planned weeks, if not months in advance. Rusty and I are no exception to this rule.

Four of our last five weekends were cram packed with just stuff. The first three of the five were time that Rusty and I spent building our new fence. We didn't expect for it to take quite as long as it did, and I will admit we have a few little things still to finish, but we are more or less done. The fourth weekend was designated my birthday weekend, as that is when we had a little get together. Of course our entire Saturday was consumed with getting ready for the party, and then Sunday was spent cleaning up after the party. (It's amazing how much we worry about cleaning for something to get dirty.)

This past weekend, though, was our "exception." We did not have a single thing planned for the entire weekend - it was the strangest thing!!! Rusty ended up having to work Saturday morning for a few hours, so I ran some errands and cleaned up while he was gone. Once he was home, we got outside for a little while and did some yard work. At about 3p, we found ourselves just kind of looking around for something to do - we had no idea what to do with the free time!!! Rusty ended up playing his new Wii Baseball game, while I watched (aka napped) on the couch.

Because we could, we went to an early dinner at On The Border Saturday evening and sat out on the patio for about 2 hours while we had a couple of drinks and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. It was only about 7:30 when we left, and we weren't ready to head home yet, so we decided to go walk around the Shops at Legacy, just for something different. We ended up stopping in Fox Sports Grill, just to grab a quick beverage and to check the place out - it was a really neat bar with about a gillion TVs. They seriously had probably 30 TVs, most of which were showing the Duke - Texas basketball game. (insert gagging noise here.) After that we decided we to head home, as it was cooling off, and most places that weren't restaurants/bars were closing.

Rusty and I have been committed to getting a little healthier lately, so on Sunday morning, we bit the bullet and got up kind of early to head to the gym. High five team Ruslie! After that, we did a little more yard work, and then decided to clean up and head out to the Allen Outlets. We ended our day trying to get a little bit of sun in the back yard so we aren't so pastely white on our cruise in a few weeks.

I have to say, it was so relaxing with no where to be. We just went and did as we pleased (or in some cases didn't go and didn't do!!). Please understand I'm not complaining in the slightest - it was just so strange to not have plans. I'll have to remember how great this weekend was, as we do have plans the next six weekends in a row... so much for Saturday afternoon naps, and Sunday shopping strolls...

TTFN!

Busy, Busy, BUSY

Rusty and I have been SOOO incredibly busy lately!!! There are so many fun (and not so fun) things I've wanted to post about, but just haven't had the time. :( Things are finally starting to slow down though, so hopefully I'll be able to catch back up again soon!!

Hope all is well with you!

TTFN!

Rusty: The Handyman

With each new project Rusty and I take on throughout the house, I have to say I'm so pleasantly surprised with how handy Rusty has been, and that he's done a really good job on everything!

Let me first preface this by saying it's not that I didn't think he could do it, it's just I didn't expect him to be so open to trying things himself. I know most of it isn't Rocket Science, but it darn sure does take some willingness and effort to give it a go.

Since our house was built in 1996, there are a lot of "originals" left in the house that are just a touch antiquated (in our opinion.) Not to offend anyone out there, but I'm not a fan at all of two-toned metals. I like silvers and bronzes (no gold, no brass, yuck!). In our bathroom, almost all of the metals (faucets, hardware, etc.) is either two-toned or gold. About this time last year, we bought new towel holders, toilet paper holder, and sink faucets. With the exception of the sink faucets, all of it was installed soon after buying.

Rusty finally bit the bullet and installed the sink faucets last night! He did a really good job, and they look SOOO much better!! It's amazing how small cosmetic "face lifts" really can make a difference in a room.