"it's just not quite what I was thinking"

Seth and I have developed a phrase since we’ve moved here: “It’s just not quite what I was thinking”. It doesn’t mean bad, it doesn’t mean good, it just means…different. Even down to the little things like groceries or haircuts. It’s just not what we are used to- but that doesn’t always qualify it as bad either.

 Somedays it feels like EVERYTHING is different, other days it feels more manageable and I can find the familiar again. Sometimes I wonder if  familiar isn’t always good either. Some days I feel like a box of crayons that someone dumped upside down and now I’m trying to figure out where to put all the pieces again- do I want them back in the same order they were or do I want to try something new and different?

Well, aside from the rambling of my heart, here are some pictures of what has been going on lately:

Our Anniversary Celebration

Seth decided to surprise me with a weekend away. It was so needed. He wouldn’t tell me where we were going, but told me a few things to pack.  We ended up at an amazing bed and breakfast in hot springs! It was great to just get away and relax!

                                                       Picture of the awesome room we had!

View of the back of the bed & breakfast. It was gorgeous.

                                                 My boy at the fisherman's wharf for dinner...so handsome!

                 what would a bed and breakfast be without BREAKFAST! This was the first course of breakfast...mmmm

Main meal at breakfast- some type of porkchop, and this AMAZING french toast! I've never eaten porkchop for breakfast, but it     

was good!

We took a canoe ride...the inn was against a lake and they had a free canoe we could use.

Haha- I hardly have words for this one! So we are driving along, headed toward downtown hot springs, to go hiking, when all of a sudden we see this HUGE thrift store! We quick turn around and pull in the lot. We walk in all excited and expectant we are going to find some hidden treasure here! oh my word- no treasure to be found. I'm pretty sure that everything in here has been in there for at least 10 years and not moved at all. We were just cracking up as we walked through thinking "who would buy one=eyed doll or and old cookie tin- probably with cookies still in it!"...there were maybe a few kinda neat things, but waaay overpriced. Needless to say, it was worth the experience.

We went hiking in hot springs. This is the only picture I have of us hiking- but it's a super awkward picture- we had it on timer and ran into place- hence our interesting pose, :)!

Chick-fil-a Grand Opening

…Chick-fil-a grand opening! We were part of the crazies that spent the night at chick-fil-a. Not only do you spend a night, you spend a whole 24 hours in the parking lot. We arrived to Russellville at 5:15ish in the morning along with many others that were crazy like us! We stood, shivering in the parking lot until 6:00am when they had us form a line and take a number. If there were over 100 people, then they would draw numbers and who ever got picked would be eligable to win a year of free chick-fil-a. There were 104 people. Our chances were looking pretty good. Both of us were selected and we set up camp. And I mean camp...a tent, air mattress, the whole deal in the parking lot. We went with a group of friends so we just hung out all day- because the rule is- you cannot leave the parking lot for ANYTHING, if you do, you are disqualified. You can use the restroom inside the restaurant, but that's it! We also got free breakfast, lunch, & dinner! Honestly, it was a blast, but it wears you out- doing nothing all day & eating fried chicken, haha :).

                                               This was taken about 3:30 am! Are we nuts or what??

                                    Picture of everyone setting up camp at about 6:30 in the morning- it was coooold!

                                                 Our friends, Emily & Dan- camped right next to us!

Darling little drew was such a trooper!

We played lots of games throughout the day- blokus being one of them :)

                                                 Emily & I are trying to get our bible study reading done

                                                                    More games!

chick-fil-a also facilitated games throughout the day- this one came at good time because it was getting hot outside!

                                       Cindy, Keri, & Kari & the babies watching the guys play games!

                                                                  Steven and Emma

                                                        

The Helmick's

                                                                   This was our home for 24 hours!


My Parents came to visit!

This was awesome! We hadn't seen them since July so it was soo good to have them here. We tried to cram in as much as we could in the couple days they were here! We went hiking on a much more trecherous trail than we thought it would be. To my siblings- YES mom and dad went major rock climbing and you would have been amazed! Mostly, we just loved their company and being with them again! (Mom and Dad- you are going to be so mad at me for posting these pictures- but I love them :)!)

                                Seth spotted a turtle and went to pick it up and the turtle went completely inside itself!

                          We went hiking with my parents- the trail became muuuch more rugged than any of us thought!

                                 A look up at the train we were climbing- it just kept going and going!

                                                                    At the top- woohoo!

                                                                  we made it!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                   I just love this picture- it captures them so well!

          Before heading to church for a saturday night service. I think this is one of my favorite pictures of them- they just look great!

                                       When we got home from church we made homemade pizzas!!

...and we played games!

That's all for now....hopefully i'll post sooner so it's not such a long post next time (though I tend to say that alot!). Thanks for reading!

Courageous

In case you are in need of a date night or an activity this weekend, I highly advise going to see the movie, Courageous. The movie comes out in theatres this Friday, the 30th. We had the awesome opportunity to preview this movie out in Colorado this summer & we were very impressed. The message that this movie delivers is multifaceted- it calls men to “walk in courageous faith and do what God has called us to do, specifically as fathers and men” (Alex Kendrick- director) as well as delivers the message of Jesus Christ. Also, ladies, it's not just a movie for men- it's an all around family focused movie as well! This movie is produced by the same people that produced Fireproof. I've attached a couple links so you can read more about the movie as well as listen to a FamilyLife Today radio program interviewing the producer & director of this movie.

To read more about the film: http://www.familylife.com/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=dnJHKLNnFoG&b=6196501&ct=11231017&notoc=1
To listen to the radio show: http://www.familylife.com/site/c.dnJHKLNnFoG/b.6235823/k.809F/FamilyLife_Today.htm?fromhp=TopNavAudio
To check out the movie's website: http://www.courageousthemovie.com/ 

If you're saying to yourself, "I am going to wait until it comes out on video" or "I want to wait until I hear what other people think of it before I see it" PLEASE consider this: Opening weekend (this weekend) is crucial to the life of this film. Currently this weekend the movie will open in 1,000 theatres around the country...IF enough people go watch the movie on opening weekend (this weekend), then the film with spread to over thousands more theatres & that many more people will have the opportunity to hear the Truth! Plus, it's just a good movie & you won't be disappointed :). Have a great weekend!

welcome to our home

It has taken some time but our home is pretty much all settled! We have actually loved apartment living. We are so thankful for the apartment that God led us to and have had fun making it feel like home. 

We love ...the convenience of maintenance
...living on a top floor
...having a pool (EVERY apartment in the south has a pool...though sadly we haven't used it too much)
...how cozy it feels
...all the sidewalks and nearby trails
...having a dishwasher for the first time!!
...having a guest room for all our awesome guests ;)

We miss... a yard
...not having to walk up three flights of stairs with arms full of groceries
...having a place for seth to work on his projects
...more windows & sunlight
...a garage & basement/storage
...good water pressure (top floor=bad pressure)

We've decided that you can make any place feel and look like your home. It's more than the building or the architecture. It's even more than the decorations and pictures on the wall...it's about the environment- the love and the family. Corny, yes. But so true.

Here's some pictures of our home...

                                                        As you walk in...this is the hallway 

                                                                      Kitchen 

                                                             Another view of kitchen    

                                                                       Our living room 

 Another view of living room

                                                                   Dining room 

Guest room

                                                                  Office in guest room 

                                                    Guest bath- we love having 2 bathrooms! 

                                                                 Master Bedroom 

                                                             Another view of master 

                                                                  Master bathroom

Two of my favorite garage sale find redos....

1. We found this window pane at a garage sale and decided to leave it as is...we liked the old look & then put some pictures in it!

2. We got a pair of chairs for $5 total at a garage sale...they needed a lot of work, but I love the finished product!



a little bit of recently

I have like 1,000,001 things I need to write about….I guess that is what happens when I don’t do a good job staying updated. I’m trying to decide if I should work from where I left off or from where I am and go backwards…or break this possibly enormous post into some smaller and less-time-consuming-for-the-reader posts. Well…I’m going to start with now and work backwards.

We are still adjusting to the “culture shock” of Arkansas. Laugh if you will, but it’s a different country down here. Yesterday we finally went to get our drivers licenses and do all the car change stuff. We got in line to get our new Arkansas drivers license and the lady starts asking our information…the whole time either calling me “Mrs. Braker or Babydoll” and calling seth “Mr. Braker”…it would’ve had to make you smile. Anyways…she gets all the info she needs from our Illinois drivers licenses and all of a sudden I hear a plunk!...she tossed my license into a scrambly old worn out cylinder container which must serve as a grave yard for licenses! I’m hoping I didn’t allow any of my inner emotions to be expressed on my face because I wasn’t prepared for that! As she continues doing her job and asking questions, all I’m thinking is, that’s my license! Give it back to me- I am from Illinois, not Arkansas…if you throw that away, you’re saying that I’m no longer a resident of Illinois…that sounds so permanent. As with most things, I’m a drama queen…though you’ve probably caught on to that already. Sigh…so there you have it…in my wallet, in a place where an Illinois DL used to reside now sits a license with the residence of: Arkansas.

We have decided that there are some things we like and some things we don’t like so far.

Like:

Weather (now…not when we first came & it was 110 degrees all day long)

People (oh my, have we met some incredible people!)

Living in the city (I’ll admit it’s nice to have a grocery store down the road)

Our apartment (yes, pictures are coming!!)

FamilyLife (we love this ministry. It’s definitely a change in job roles than we are used to, but God is teaching us)

Growing us & learning a lot more dependence on God

Don’t Like:

Being away from a lot of our family and friends

Missing out on things

Changing leaves

One World Café (may sound superficial but we just haven’t found a comparable place yet)

Construction & Nursing

These aren’t exhaustive…but they are some of the things we are thinking about. I was at a Bible Study last Saturday and they used the quote…”It’s not good, it’s not bad, it’s just different”…that’s true about a lot of things down here.

We had our 3rd anniversary on September 14th- but have decided to postpone celebrating it until the end of the month since things have been so busy!

We had some of our dear dear friends, Justin & Kirsten Wiegand, come and visit us a couple weekends ago and had an awesome time! On Friday we all went to a restaurant we heard about from a few people. I knew we had to try it to humor my OSF CFH friends back home who often told me what Arkansas was like…and I heard this place was it. We drove about 40 minutes, pretty much to the middle of nowhere, and stopped at a restaurant called “Cothams- Home of the hubcap burger”. To give you a visual…this place is backed up to a swamp and looks like it could fall over at any given point. The inside is an old general store where they simply pushed everything to the sides and plopped in some tables. Justin & Seth split the “hubcap” burger which is 17oz of beef. It was well worth the experience! We also did some hiking and just hanging out with them. We were sooo blessed by their visit to us!! Below are some pictures of our weekend together:

                                     Breakfast of sausage & eggs, fruit salad & muffins before our hike!

                                         They said this wasn't the first tree they saw that grew like this!

                                                                               Love them!!

                                                                The four of us

            The final night we did "mexican" night...salsa, guac, enchiladas & salad...& finish off with  blue bell ice cream!!

The weekend before that we went to the Braker reunion in Joplin, MO. We had an awesome time seeing family and talking with them face to face. We got to see our awesome niece and nephews and soaked up as much time with them as possible! Below are some pictures from the reunion and the weekend:

                                                            Little miss maggy moo!

                                                   Our sweet nephew, Rio- he has gotten so big!!

Well, that's about a long enough post for now! I'll be updating on some previous things and upcoming things as well!