a look at my dining room table this week

so my hubby is preaching at church this week, due to the fact that our pastor is heading to a conference all week and needed to begin focusing for the next week's sermon now. he and i are super excited bc he doesnt get this opportunity all that often... but here is what my table looks like: 

haha! normally this table is completely clean (well with the occasional bill sitting on the corner reminding me to pay it), but this week Justin has brought home a million books and papers and declared this his desk. it is so sweet watching him get so passionate and serious about preparing this message. 

dont misinterpret what i am saying to think that he doesnt prepare well for all of our youth lessons, but because of the short notice this week he has to cram alot of study and research into a few days. so be praying for my dear husband as he challenges my church body from the text of Luke 5 & 6 on the importance of discipleship (a topic near and dear to the both of us)!

so i am just a little quirky...

for some reason today, i seemed to really notice all of my quirks or weird things about me. so i decided i should share them, then i will have them neatly written out if anyone ever asks me to list them... bc that happens all the time.

1. i run into things alot. i guess i have no peripheral sensor, so i run into the sides of door frames or ends of furniture often. i remembered this one today after i ran into the open car door that i knew was there but thought was further away from me. i proceeded to get angry with myself and the door (it really hurt)

2. having more than 15 emails in my inbox freaks me out. seriously i get hardcore stressed. so i make folders. i have over 15 folders in my hotmail account. did anyone see me last week (pre-Veritas)? i will blame any craziness on my inbox, which had over 50 emails in it that were all pertinent at the time and could not be pushed aside! 

3. i hate to be left out of conversations. but not in the way most people do. see, it is not that i want to really know the info or am hurt that a group wouldnt include me. i just have some internal need to know everything that is said around me. its like i cant stop myself from asking "what did you say" even when i know it is none of my business and i wont care anyhow. forgive me people- just amuse me?!

4. i pick. lips, skin, nails, scabs, pens etc. i pick at things. i love to tear things apart. my husband hates this, and i hate that he hates it. as you can tell it is an issue in the pate house. if you see him flick me bc of my picking take up for me please!

5. i have an amazing ability to tune things out when i am either a) watching tv or a movie, or b) reading something on the internet. ask the millions of people i share an office with, they will tell you. ask my husband- another thing he hates. (i promise he loves me, despite the way it is looking in this post)

6. i have an inability to not be bossy or dominant in my demeanor. i try very hard. i try to convince myself and others that i am infact very laid back or passive. but lets be honest- i am not convincing anyone. it is ingrained in me. often i hear myself and think "sabrina stop it! you are so overbearing sometimes!" but there is no stopping it. (i do want to state that this is not always a negative trait, just for the record)

well i am sure there are many more, but for now this will have to do. i gotta head back up to campus for 180. hope you enjoy my weirdness, or at least i hope you find it endearing instead of annoying haha! 

oh the joys of homeownership!

everyone should know there are lots of things to think about when deciding if you are ready to buy a home or should continue to rent. 

i spent all my precious "free time" or non- work time this weekend on one of these:

yardwork

now that Justin and I are proud "homebuyers", we are learning to take care of this place that is supposedly an investment in our future. it has been an interesting journey so far. only a month after we moved in we had plumbing problems, and we had to learn how to figure out what is wrong, who to call and how expensive it all is! we have been researching and praying through what updates (that we can afford) will bring back the most worth to our home. it makes you grow up quickly, that is for sure!

but it is spring. and in spring things come back to life. with life comes growth. so what we have is lots and lots of growth in our yard. so this weekend we began to tackle the problem. can you tell?  

the people who lived here before us apparently really liked gardening. so they planted stuff everywhere... i mean everywhere. we have random junk popping up all over our yard, in the most random places. we spent most of the last two days digging up these bulb things that look like onions on the bottom. they are in the front, back and side yard. here is a pic of the side yard and my darling hubby working hard at digging up those onion things. 

All in all, I am just glad we are learning how to be adults and get the job done. It was a productive weekend, and I guess it was better than taking an afternoon nap?? The jury is still out on that...

joey pate

well, at the very beginning of december our family grew to four. 

we got a dog. joey. he was already named- we weren't trying to be cute and have the names of our pets sound so alike. (anytime we say on

e of their names they both turn and look at us like "what?") 

since my old computer was so slow and hated pics, i never got around to introducing him to the blog world. so here are some pics of my fabulous, large and cuddly boy joey!

Isn't he cute?

He has claimed this chair as his own...

He smiles! He is a happy go lucky doggie. 

He really thinks he is a toy poodle... he loves to sit on top of you- literally! 

And so that I am not playing favorites... I had to sneak one of my fat cat  zoey in! (as she sits on my freshly cleaned towels!)

 

inside the life of campus ministry

i love campus ministry. i have spent the last eight years of my life devoted to it in one form or another. and as some of you know, i will be saying goodbye to a direct role in campus ministry this may. my heart breaks as i type the words. so this post is just going to be some thoughts on recent happenings in campus ministry and my thoughts about leaving.

any of you that know me well (i love how i act like there are tons of readers to address, hehe), know that i love the movie "You've got mail". I could watch it over and over (wait-i have watched it over and over). there is a part in the movie where meg ryan is talking about closing her store and she says "its as if a part of me is closing with it". I feel the same way with leaving my beloved job at the BCM. It is time for me to go, and while i am excited just for a change in my life, I am also so sad to have to say goodbye. So much of who I am has come out of this ministry. 

last night another campus minister from the state spoke at 180. he is always a great speaker- funny but full of depth and wisdom. it just made my heart happy, bc it reminded me how fun campus ministry. students are so full of life and funny, never the same and always figuring out who they are. they have the whole world at their fingertips and the sky is the limit to what they can do. they get to be with friends till the wee hours of morning. they can live, work and play all at the same place if they so choose. college is really the good life. the funny thing is- you never know it till your out i think. 

the past three weeks in college ministry have been very very very busy. spring break in a  blizzard, council interviews, veritas planning, a good friend having a baby, seeing family, youth events... busy. so i have determined that one thing i wont miss is being so so busy. but then i have to wonder, what will i do? i am sure i will be able to find a million things to fill up my time, but it is a strange thing to imagine staying home on a tuesday night for awhile.  

well... i know these have been short random incomplete thoughts on things... but in my head it all made complete sense. welcome to my head!