Family Fun

Matt uploaded some pics for me! Here is a picture of my three brothers:
Ok, so just Taraz and Rahmat - but that stuffed animal would fit in so nicely with our family with THAT hairdo!
My sister made breakfast for us after our morning run on Saturday :)
Matt's twin was on the cover of The Economist last week....
Matt figured out a way to read his Bible with better lighting while at Laurels...he is so cute...

Matt and his brother were both in bands, and here is Ireland playing a few new songs for us in his garage. Good times!

Matt's parents are flying home as I write this - they should arrive in the next couple hours. Matt's grandma is not doing well and they have come to say goodbye and we will all be together as a family for awhile. They had not planned on a a trip until Christmas, so a lot of details on their stay are up in the air so I am not sure when we will head over to the west side to be together. So, I will be signing off from blogging for the remainder of the week as we get set to go.

Please be lifting up Matt's folks. This is hard on them and the whole family. We are grateful that we were able to score some time off of work to prepare for her passing. She is currently comfortable in hospice care.

In the meantime I hope you all have a great week and fun trick-or-treat adventures!

Best Laid Plans...

I stole this photo from my mom's blog! :)

We had a great weekend. Matt and I were able to both leave work early on Friday, get over the mountains during daylight (bare and dry) and be at my sisters by 7pm. We relaxed, talked, and watched a movie before bed. So wonderful to just be!

Saturday morning Matt and I set out for an easy 10-mile run. A slow pace with occasional walk breaks. There was intermittent rain but overall, really enjoyable. However, Matt's bruised (cracked?) rib is inflamed as it goes through the healing process and was causing him some pain. We managed to complete the two hour run with smiles, nevertheless.

My sister and I took off for an afternoon of shopping while Matt tackled his final paper. We hit up Top Foods, Whole Foods, and Fred Meyer - and battled crazy traffic everywhere! Bellevue was nutty. I was happy to get back to her house and find everyone had arrived for the party! A wonderful potluck followed, and lots of laughter, as always. My youngest brother made a wedding video compilation for us to watch - as we are two weeks away from our one year anniversary, it was perfect timing to watch. Sniff sniff! So beautiful!

Sunday morning we left early to go visit Matt's brother & family before hitting the road home. We needed our "Maddie" fix - time with our adorable almost 4-year-old niece. Gorgeous drive home - if I could have safely taken photos of the trees along the way, I would have! We were safely home by dinner time and Matt finished his grad paper by 10pm. A huge blessing was the car adapter tool that allowed him to type the whole drive!

It is a new week, and everything is up in the air.

Matt's chest injury is too painful to run. This morning when he sneezed, he was keeled over in pain. It is a huge blow to our marathon plans, but the reality of the situation is that his health is far more important. Additionally, we got word that Matt's paternal grandmother is not doing well and was put into hospice care this last weekend. We may need to use our time next weekend for a trip back to the west side. The only good thing out of all of this is that Matt's dad and hopefully mom too will get to come home. We eagerly await getting to see them!

So - mixed emotions today. Gratitude over Matt's grad class and just how wonderful he is. Sad and prayerful about grandma's health. Excited to see more family soon. Bummed about our second canceled marathon (7 months of training!). There is the Seattle marathon in November but we cannot make it due to Matt's work schedule (and there is no more daylight for training during the week).

On top of all this? My meal menu for the week is all CARBS! Pasta, lasagna, pizza, potato bar...

...who wants to come over? :)

Happy Monday, all.

Giving It Over

This has been a week, folks! Do you ever feel like you need to just stop and shake it all off from time to time? I do. Especially this week...

Matt found out he may have to work on our anniversary - the weekend I'd planned a little getaway for us. I was worried at first, but now I just feel like I need to surrender it over. ("Lord, I know you are in control...")

We want to keep this on the DL - but the car we bought in February got in a little fender bender on Monday. It will need a little body work done, our insurance will cover all but $500 (our deductible). ("Lord, I know you are in control, and You have provided for us our savings to deal with these hiccups)...

This is a funny one: Matt has some great guy friends here. One of them over the weekend went to give him a big ole' bear hug, and injured Matt's chest! It may be a bruised rib. Still, it hurts him and keeps him up at night. (Lord, thank You for a sense of humor! I pray for Matt's healing, and thank You for the great friends You have given us here...")

We are going to visit family this weekend, and I am driving us as Matt has a HUGE final paper due on Sunday. I am just as worried about the driving conditions as I am Matt's paper getting done. ("Oh Jesus please give Matt clarity of mind and wisdom as he writes his final paper and give me traveling mercies!")

We also plan on doing a 10 miler tomorrow - a "short" long run as we prepare for the big marathon next weekend. Matt's first one, my third (but in never gets "easier"...)

NEXT WEEKEND?!?!!?

Lord, I give over our marathon efforts...and feel free to use all the humor You want on this one...

;) Have a great weekend, all!

Lists & Reminders

I have a to-do list on my desk. And a "need to organize" list. And....

- A packing list for this upcoming weekend as we are going to visit family on the other side of the state
- A "big upcoming purchases" list so we can plan ahead on some spending. Who knew that getting a passport renewed was over $100? Dang!
- A countdown to the marathon (10 days!!!! AHHHHHHH!)
- A list of people I need to send some correspondence to...
- A list of places we would like to visit someday before we become parents
- A reminder to help with an upcoming food drive
- A reminder to get my camera fixed...$$$....
- A grocery list for meals next week
- A list of household projects I would like to get to sooner or later

....and when I am at work and there is nothing left to do, I read my lists and feel like I will never get anything done. Just not enough hours in the day/week/month.

Daylight savings is Nov 7th. So is our anniversary! One year already, coming up! Now, off to write that "things to do for our anniversary" list...

Idaho Trip Photos

I remembered to take some photos! It was a busy fun weekend, and some of my favorite moments were spent outside.
The "lagoon" - just a five minute walk away from our cabin...
it was foggy out on Sunday morning....
Pine trees! After months in the desert, this sight was most welcome :)
I took this photo for mom so she could see the little cabin us ladies stayed in.
The Spokane river, I believe, in Post Falls, Idaho. It was so beautiful there!

A much needed rest. Great speakers, wonderful ladies to spent time with and get to know better, and a super sweet (much missed) husband to return home to.

Happy Tuesday, all!

Survived!

I hope to have some photos up tonight or tomorrow morning of the amazing women's retreat. In the meantime I just wanted to share that Matt and I completed our 20-mile marathon training run last night. Barely!

I did not get back until 3pm from the retreat, so we set out soon after I got home. Matt had thoughtfully already packed our running bags and such. The first 10 miles we had daylight and comfortable temperatures. Then the sun set and it got cold - fast!

For two hours we ran in the cold and dark. We'd run out of things to talk about so we quoted movie lines and told funny stories as best as we could. We were so overjoyed to round the corner to our house around 8:30 - after 5 hours of running and some walking!!

Hot showers, hearty soup, and half a bag of Hershey's Miniatures later - we were snuggled up in bed and crashed. I fell asleep in the middle of our prayers!

So it is a new day today! We are hobbling around a bit, but two weeks away from the marathon, so hopefully will feel like running again by then... :)

Happy Monday, all!

Finally Friday

I am going away on a women's retreat with my church this weekend, so I will have to say goodbye to my sweet husband! I will be back Sunday afternoon, and then we will head out on a long run right after I return.

It was a wonderfully busy and fun week, but I am looking forward to getting out of the area and enjoying Idaho, cold temps and all!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

New Shelving!

Woooo lookie what Matt got me! He sure knows the way to my heart. As an early anniversary gift I got him some concert tickets. He got me...some utility shelving! Now I can organize the stuff in the garage so we can have a pathway to haul out Christmas items from the attic next month.

What a great guy!

I hope to remember to take some before and after pictures. We really trashed the garage with all our lawn upgrading this fall. (His folks read this blog so they will love to see what we have done to the place, too!)

Addicted to organizing, labeling, and storing,
Ruhiyyih :)

Polishing Silver

I took a break from my cedar chest project, since I ran out of sandpaper...and did some housework. As I was grabbing some laundry, I saw a tarnished candelabra sticking out of Matt's folks storage area of the house. I thought it would be nice to shine it up for them!
When I worked at a gift shop in college, we would use Brasso to clean up all the metal items. I knew this would do the trick...
I took it apart, and got started...then moved out to the porch when I realized it would stink up the house!
I know, I am a weirdo...
But lookie at the finished product! Just a little bit of elbow grease and Brasso, and viola! It is too gorgeous to leave in storage, so we are putting it on display in the meantime :)

Now, I just need to get some candles...

Happy Wednesday all!

Weekend with Renee

I had a couple visitors this past weekend! I have known Renee since the 4th grade, and when she had a free weekend on her calendar, she and her precious 4-month-old, London, paid us a visit :)
This is a sweet baby!
She is so good! It was fun for Matt and I to be around a wee one.
Goodness he looks hot holding a baby....
She was content wherever she sat!
A great little eater...
...and a great sleeper....
Thanks for visiting us, Renee and London! Come back again soon :)

It was so fun to relax over the weekend. Matt worked his rear off doing a mid-term paper - from Friday night until 3 in the morning Monday....poor guy! We even missed our long run, so we will make it up next weekend and put in some more miles this week....

I did a few projects too - blog posts to come! Have a great Tuesday, all!

Oh Dear

I am married to a metal head. When we heard that a few Christian metal bands were coming to town, I knew I would soon be stocking up on some ear plugs.

It's an early anniversary gift for Matt, and well, it would not be fun for him to have to go alone. I am taking one for the team...

We got floor seats. Oh.No. VIP = meet and greet. EEEK. I'm nervous...

On other news: had an awesome weekend, photos still stuck on Matt's camera. He spent 30 hours on a paper all weekend, so hopefully I can get the said photos tonight. Stay tuned! ;)

11 Months!

Woo!! Marriage is awesome!! Happy 11 months of wedded bliss to my beloved, Matt....

Thank you all SO much for all the encouraging comments you left yesterday. Matt had a great day at work all day (no surprise with all those prayers going up!). We went on a nice run last night after work and we talked about the upcoming paper he has due, our marathon in 24 days (we can do this!) and life changes. I love our runs as it is a great time to catch up after work.

I am definitely going to make some creative art for Matt to hang at his desk to brighten his day a bit. So funny - I packed him a great lunch today but put half his stuff into my lunch box! Whoops. He humored it, as usual...

We also remember to take it one day at a time. In January, we decided to read through the Bible in one year together - and we are finishing the Old Testament tonight! That "one day at a time" approach helped us finish a big goal!

I have a dear friend, Renee, coming in for a weekend visit tomorrow - so I will spend tonight getting the house all ready for a guest. She will be great company as Matt will be working on a paper all weekend...

Happy (almost Friday) y'all!

The Learning Curve

I loved this photo on I Has a Hot dog - too funny! Totally needed the laugh...)

Yesterday evening Matt and I went on a 45-minute run in our neighborhood. I could tell when I got home from work that both of us needed it - I'd been sitting all day, and Matt was pretty overwhelmed with work and school learning curves.

Poor guy. His job at Amazon is pretty awesome - great culture, fun atmosphere, interesting tech stuff (he does customer support for the Kindle). He has to learn how to give great customer service while keeping call times down low. He gets hollered at by customers a lot. It makes me sad some of the stories I hear - what in the world, people? It is just a Kindle! Matt has a great ability to smooth over most irate folks and help their issue quickly, but it takes a toll on him. Imagine dealing with that for 8 hours a day, then having to come home and do homework/write papers/do research until bed time at 10. That makes for a long day.

On top of this - it was my brilliant idea to sign us up for a marathon. A race that requires you go on at least 2-3 week day runs, and a long one every weekend. We are high in mileage right now, so this weekend? A 20-miler. I've done several of these as this will be my third marathon, but Matt's first. Those long runs take up 5 hours of precious time (when a mid-term paper is due the next day...). Obviously I did not know that grad school would be on the calendar at this time as well! We love running together and the exercise and time together is wonderful. But, it is stressful. Matt is such a trooper!

I feel like I have learned pretty well how to balance the 11-hr work day, taking care of a home, meal planning, and time for myself and Matt. I've had nearly a year to work on it though! I suppose I need some fresh ideas on how to support Matt during this time. All I can think of is make great meals for dinner and his lunch box - and make sure he gets to bed at a decent time. His love language is affirmation, so there is lots of that too :)

It is an interesting season. Lots of praying and hoping and joy too - we feel so blessed to both have jobs and our good health.

Happy Wednesday, all!

My Hope Chest Project

*Updated* - I am putting the "painting" part of this on hold until I make up my mind!
Well, I got a lot of comments on Friday to NOT paint the hope chest! I realized that the blurry photo did not really reflect all the markings and damage to it - it needs some TLC...
Lots of scratches on the top and sides...
It's been dinged up pretty bad. It was used as a toy chest, most recently....
So I started by sanding it down a little - this will be a big project!
I am excited about this project though - my first attempt at anything involving sand paper and paint!
I worked a little on this on Saturday and was too pooped from the long run on Sunday to do much more. So, I hope to tackle it a little day by day. Stay tuned!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

A Post for Matt's Dad

Ok readers - don't freak out! Matt's mens' group at church went to the local police shooting range on Saturday and played with a bunch of guns. Matt had a blast and I wanted to make sure his folks overseas got to see him have fun - so this post is just for them! I think he looks so cute in his camo vest!

These guys love Jesus!
Matt lookin' bad!
One of the guys is a former Marine, and showed them a lot of safety measures, so that made me feel better...
Matt: definitely his fathers' son! (We love you, Ron!)

Bittersweet

So I found another sweet little Craigslist find yesterday - an antique hope chest for a very reasonable price.
I went with Matt to go pick it up after work. We found out that the young woman selling it was selling nearly all her possessions in an effort to avoid foreclosure of her home. The hope chest was obviously special to her, being her great-grandmothers. I stood in her living room with cash in hand, sort of frozen. How could I take this from her? I knew the cash would help her out, so I eventually got my head together and we picked it up to haul to the car.

I told her she was doing a great job doing what she had to do - and to keep on fighting. Still, it was a bittersweet purchase. I have plans to sand it down, and repaint it white. I have been looking for one of these on Craigslist for a long time!

Matt and I prayed for her and her family - that she would be successful in raising the cash needed to save her home, and so grateful that God has blessed us with a place to live.

Happy Friday everyone - hopefully I will get the repainting done this weekend and have a sweet little hope chest to show off on Monday :)