Graduation Day is coming.

Today I am working on our senior bulletin. It contains the names of every graduate, where they are graduating from, what their future plans are and a message from parents. It is a good thing that no parent writes,

"Dear Elly, this year has been a bit of a dissapointment...you really could have tried harder and worked a bit more to get better grades this year. I am really excited that you are moving away because to have you out of the house will make it way easier financially on us this next year. What a sigh of relief I feel to finally be seeing you walk out on your own. I hope you make it!"

Each year that I make this bulletin (this is the 4th one) I try to think about what I would write if I had a kid that was getting ready to graduate from HS. It is nearly impossible. I don't know what it is like to have my very own kid, but I know what I wish for the students whose lives I am a part of. To them I say.

"There are a few things I believe are 100% capitol T - TRUTH. As you are growing up, and deciding what to do in your life one thing that you need to hear is that God doesn't care how much money you make or how distinquished your job is...and neither do I. He cares about how you use the resources given you and what you do to influence the Lives of others in His name! As we read in the Scriptures over and over again, a life of following Christ is not safe and easy, it is hard and the most fulfilling way to live, becuase that is what we were created for. So follow hard after your creator who knows you hearts desire and is faithful unlike you could ever imagine. So, you be faithful to HIM and stand amazed at what He allows to happen with your life. Love to you!"

Sarah Beard

Train Ride Surprise!

Dad took the kiddos for a little ride~

So a week ago I hopped on a train to surprise my mom for Mother's Day! It was so fun. I got to the train station at 10:15 to be greeted by my brother. He took me home and I crawled in bed with my nephew! Fred. I tossed and turned cause I was so excited about seeing my my mom. He tossed and turned too. We had a "conversation" around 3am. In the morning, my dad got home from work and woke me up. I stood in the kitchen while he went down to get my mom. When she walked into the kitchen Josh and Michelle were standing in there and I was the farthest away. She looked twice and paused. Took a big breath of surprise and followed with tears and hugs. SUCCESS! It was so fun to surprise my mom. I know she misses me, and I miss her too. My days just go by with so much to fill them that sometimes I don't have time to think about it. But when I do...it isn't very fun!

So we spent an awesome 3 days together!

I also got to see Jenny and Sydney and got to meet baby Austin~

this is Syd and Fred playing together!

Did anyone watch LOST?

SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THIS WEEKS EPISODE YET!

Oh My Gosh? How could it be that the two we have been aching to see back together croak at the same time? This did have me in tears. I was watching with Lora, who is a mother, and she couldn't believe that Sun didn't even mention to Jin that he needed to go and be with their daughter. I also think this is weird, but Jin had never met the baby? Does this make any difference to you? What do you think??

Also, did Syaid know something becuase of being around "Locke"? He clearly said, "It's going to be you"...So, new theories from the galley???

The think that made me most happy about this episode was that I have been ticked about Sayid this year being so cold (after the darkness started to take over) but he definitley died in a redemptive way that is nothing short of the Sayid that we had come to love up to season 6.

Lastly, Andrew and I both think that everyone except Jack will die on the Island...and I am afraid to make any other assessments untill I see next week when we hear more about smokey and Jacob....So excited about next Tuesday.

What are your theories...if you watch....

I will have a great story to tell you next week, just waiting on some details!

Talk back to me!
Sarah

Sink in...bad shape.

So, this weekend, our dear friends, Joy and Elliot, came to visit us. So, I cooked a simple meal, sweet potato fries and nuggets BWW style. I was hurrying in the afternoon to get the potatoes peeled and I ran stuff through the disposal...I KNOW THIS IS A HORRIBLE IDEA...I just wasn't thinking. This led to a totally clogged sink later in the night (did I say that this was Sat. night?). So all day on Sunday, Andrew sat under the sink trying to get the stupid snake to run through...no go. This ate up our entire afternoon for which we had previously imagined a nice long nap. We went to LUMY and headed home where our great friend Jay Thomason came to the rescue. He and Andrew pulled apart our old metal piping and dug thier hands in the grossness...finally they decided that it was time for us to replace that metal piping. Jay is coming over again today to help finish the process...So can I just say a few things?
1. I love our friends.
2. Our lives would not be as interesting without friends.
3. We are totally okay to be DIY'ers but only if we have someone around who knows what the crap we are doing.

I have been putting together some inspiration rooms again, so be on the lookout for some fun post on ways to update your space!
Love you all.
Sarah

In the case you didn't know.

I have been doing some photos...again. So I decided to do another blog for just that. Stop by if you want to see what I have been up to.

just click here!

Hipstamatic

So if you know us at all...you would have seen us on our phones.

Andrew on his iphone, and me on my free phone that comes with the sprint plan from 4 years ago.

as you know, one of the best things about the iphone is the apps.

our friend, Aaron Seavers, told us about Hipstamatic a camera app for the iphone. (In 1982 it was a camera in Wisconsin it was an SLR and had a bunch of film options..only a few hundred were produced) Andrew has added the app and these are some of the results.

Hillsong Concert

Getting ready for prayer group

Thanks for stopping by

Dave Ramsey...

Oh, Dave Ramsey. Andrew and I have just finished our course of Financial Peace University. Was it fun? Yes, actually. Was is worth it? um..yeah! Do we love the envelope system?

YES! More than you know. We are beating down our debt and enjoying life not worrying about money. I have been taking a lot of pic's lately to help with the offset! I will add a pic of a family I photographed last week.

I was excited after 12 weeks of Dave telling me I needed to be a "winner" which I had serious issues with for some reason, to have him finish with a complete lesson on giving.

I am a 100% believer in the philosophy that stuff isn't ours, money isn't our we are just taking care of it for the Lord. Give sacrificially, give abundantly, and give with joy.

Two days ago was tax day and so the better part of yesterday's morning news was about the "white house tax returns". Andrew and I had this crazy realization that maybe our country would do a little better if the leaders of our country gave more and had that mentality. Did you know that the Obamas gave 6% of their income...which isn't too bad...but get this...

Andrew and I gave almost double what the Biden's gave. ALMOST DOUBLE. This isn't to say that we are awesome givers...this is to say that this is ridiculous!!!!!!

As a married couple we know that we receive all kinds of flavors of blessing because we give...this isn't why we give, but it is a reward. We find it hard to believe that the country wouldn't be better off if the people running it found it as important as we do.

We also learned that only 2.3% of Christians give. This blows my min

d.

People, we need to reconsider our state. We need to understand that God asks us to give! The best thing is knowing that when you give, God is going to take care of you! He promises that. And not only that, but there are benefits of giving. We get to watch the Lord in Action as he blesses those who receive and us for giving.

In our marriage, we have always been givers. This is an act of worship and we know that it has enriched our lives! We want to encourage you to do the same!

If you are interested in doing FPU and haven't convinced yourself yet...call me and let me convince you!!

love and peace to you