April Update

Graeme and I went to Wisconsin to visit my family for Easter. We had a great time. We stayed with my grandparents for the weekend because my family is moving and had no room for us! I also don’t get to see my grandparents too often so it was lovely to spend time with them. My grandfather is a realtor so he was able to give us lots of good housing advice. Hopefully we will be able to use that advice soon!

Our Easter was spent with lots of family and delicious food at my grandparents. We had lots of fruit, veggies, chicken, noodles with alfredo sauce, and several different kinds of salads. Not quite the traditional Easter meal, but it was great.

While we were in Wisconsin, Graeme and our good friend Ryan Thompson were able to meet up with a fellow blogger friend, Michael Spotts at Devil’s Lake. They took some amazing photos and had a great time of fellowshipping. During this time I was able to see my best friend Johanna (who I don’t see nearly as much as I would like). Later that evening for dinner I met up with Graeme, Ryan, Michael and Michael’s friend Erin for a yummy Mexican dinner in Madison. It is so refreshing to spend time with like-minded people.

This past weekend I spent hours cleaning and organizing our apartment. I found several items to hopefully sell at Riley and Jacquie’s garage sale on Saturday. Although, I have no idea how to price everything. Any advice is appreciated. I am getting excited for the city wide garage sale this weekend! Thankfully, I have Fridays off and am able to go Friday and still help sell my treasures on Saturday! Claire Phelan and I are going to have a baking night on Friday to sell baked goods at our garage sale on Saturday. We’re thinking of making muffins, cookies, and scotcharoos to sell. We’ll also be selling coffee and lemonade. Our garage sale will be the best and hopefully most visited!

I'm really writing a a new post

I have been harassed by a few friends to keep our blog updated. Believe it or not it was actually my New Years resolution (the one and only) to blog more. Seeing that it is March 31, I figure I have a lot of catching up to do. Although, I don't really know where to begin at this point. :)
I do have something I wrote quite awhile ago I would like to share (have a strong urge to share) but my faithful editor (husband) is going to review it for me. Graeme writes much better then I so I appreciate his opinions - especially on issues that I feel so strongly about (modesty, movies, television, music aka junk we fill our minds with, etc).
Tonight, however, I have only one thing on my mind that I would like to share: Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Female friends of mine, please read this book. Then read it again and again until you are broken and humbled and changed. As believing women in Christ, there are too many lies we believe, lies that are told to us by our culture especially. My friend Jacquie and I are doing a study on this book now (there is a companion guide also) and it is changing my life.
A reader of this book wrote:
"Today's women need to hear the truth, and I praise God for Nancy Leigh DeMoss' incredible faith in His truth and her honesty about our weakness. She refuses to compromise His Word for the world's sake."
It's very true. She is bluntly honest and a lot of times it will make you angry. I hope it does. I saw my anger as a sign that I need to change or keep living in this wretched sin. I could go on and on, but I do encourage you to spend the money on this book. It will get you into God's Truth and change your life.

Now an update on us:

• We recently went to Florida to see our good friends Tyler and Jennifer Cork now Smith united in marriage. It was a beautiful wedding and we had such a wonderful time. We were fortunate enough to rent a villa for a week in Orlando with our friends the Harlows, Millers, and Phelans. We spent Monday at the beach, Tuesday at Universal & Islands of Adventure, Wednesday-Friday helping/relaxing/beach-ing and Saturday was the wedding. We were also able to spend lots of time with David and Bethany, who are getting married soon too! I thank God everyday for our friendship with these couples. Graeme and I are truly blessed.
  

• Graeme and I are going to be an uncle and aunt respectively!! We are so excited. Stu and Becky are having a girl and Neil and Beth are having a surprise! I cannot wait for May 15th (N&B) and June 26 (S&B).

• Pitman Photography has changed from wedding portraits to children portraits. We are both excited and thankful that Graeme was able to make this change. Why did we? Ask the man himself, he would be more then happy to share. :)
  

• For those of you who follow our blog and don't know, I switched careers in August of last year. I am now a nanny for the three sweetest boys in Dubuque (technically, Asbury). Jack just turned 5, Teddy is 3, and Ben will be 2 in May. I love what I do everyday. Can most people say that? I am so thankful for this opportunity.

That is all for now. Happy almost April!

Food for Thought

Graeme and I are reading Standing on the Rock right now by James Montgomery Boice. I highly recommend it.

An excerpt:

"If there are no absolutes-no final truth as to where we are coming from, who has made us, what we are doing here, or what lies ahead-then ultimately our existence here has no meaning. If there are no absolutes, there are no absolutes for us. We are here, and that is fine. We will die, and that is also fine. Nobody will be the poorer for our loss.
We see this truth expressed in the realm of words. If there are no absolutes then words or what they stand for are not absolutes either, so ultimately words are meaningless.
Some years ago there was a seminary class in which one of the professors was expounding a relativistic view of truth. He was insisting that language has no absolute meaning. "It means what it means to you, but what it means to you is not necessarily what it means to me." He said that we can never communicate in any absolute sense.
The students were arguing with the professor because, to their 'untutored' minds, this did not seem to make sense. One said, "That is not right! It is true that sometimes language is ambiguous. That is why we write dictionaries and word books to explain what we mean. That is why we teach and argue points. We go back and forth to try to understand where the other person is coming from. But it is not true that language is always ambiguous, and the less ambiguous it is, the better."
Another continued, "For example, if you look out the window and see an airplane in the sky and say, 'Look , an airplane!' everybody looks up. Why do they do that? It is because the word 'airplane' carries some objective content. It is not an empty term."
The professor did not agree. He kept pressing his point. So, finally, one of the students said, "You know, if language is meaningless, then the language we are speaking here is meaningless. And if the language we are speaking here is meaningless, our being here is meaningless."
Then another student asked, "Well, if this is meaningless what are we going to do with the rest of the hour?"
A third student said, "Let's play squash." So the class got up, went out the door and left the professor alone in the classroom with his theory.

That same illustration can be applied to the churches. If we do not have a sure word from God with objective content, then what we are doing in our churches is as meaningless as what that professor was doing in his classroom. If that is true, the most rational thing a congregation can do is get up and walk out. This is just what congregations are doing in many liberal churches. They are showing with their feet that modern theology has no meaning.
You need a place to stand as a Christian, and you have it in the Bible. The Bible speaks in absolute terms: “Thus says the Lord.” In these terms the Bible teaches about God, who brought everything into existence; about ourselves as his creatures-who we are, what we have become, and what we can be; about Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation; about a hell to be avoided and a heaven to be won.

We do not have a strong church in America today, though numerically we may appear relatively strong. Strength does not come from numbers. Strength comes from quality of character, and what is most lacking in our churches is character formed by the knowledge of God. If God is not known as the sovereign, holy, omniscient, and unchangeable God the Bible declares him to be, then he cannot care for us, guide us or protect us. We cannot be strong in adverse circumstances."

Graeme's 23rd Birthday

When: July 19, 2008 at 11:30 am

Where: Eagle Point Park - North Veranda

In attendance:
Both sets of parents
All of our siblings - Matt, Eric, Marissa, Shaylah, Neil & Beth and Stu & Becky
My grandparents
Aaron Harlow

Graeme grilled his famous Gram-burgers and brats on Neil and Beth's gas grill. We also had chips, salsa, salads, and fruit. For dessert there was key lime pie and red velvet cupcakes.

Graeme received many gifts:
Planet Earth
Toy Story, Toy Story 2, The Incredibles, and Cars (we are big Pixar fans)
Journal Bible
Glasses
Lots of music! (e-music and CD's)
Gift cards
A very cool tie with his business logo imprinted all over it!

After lunch we played frisbee and hung out with our family. It was a lot of fun.

Pictures from the party.

Saturday night we spent the night at Neil and Beth's along with Stu and Becky. We played Poker late and watched some of Planet Earth. I have the best siblings-in-law. :)

Company!

We had wonderful company for six whole days this past week/weekend. Tyler, Jen, and Jessica came to stay with us for Riley and Jacquie's wedding.

Jen and Jessica stayed at our house with me and Tyler and Graeme stayed at Riley's apartment with Riley and his other groomsmen.

Jen and Tyler met Jessica for the first time in the Moline airport! Jen and Tyler also ran into Graeme's father in the Atlanta airport and ate breakfast with him.

Everyone got into Dubuque Wednesday afternoon while Graeme and Riley were hiking at Backbone State Park. So the four of us went to visit JP, Aaron, and Gregory at the studio and then onto Culvers for dinner.

Thursday found us sleeping in, running to get coffee, and going our separate ways for a bit. Jen and Tyler went to Galena, Jessica spent some time at Miguels, I ran errands, and Graeme was preparing for Riley's bachelor party. We all met up at Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. Jen, Jessica, and I then went to Aimee and Brad's to borrow season one and two of The Office. We were going to have an Office marathon, but ended up talking most of the night. We did get in three episodes though.

Friday was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at Cafe Mana Java. We worked really hard at the rehearsal and enjoyed yummy pizza and Mana Java. :)































Saturday was the big day! We got up early to get ready and headed out to Five Flags to help with last minute preparations. Everything went well and the wedding and reception were beautiful. As were the bride and groom!

Before their flights Monday afternoon, we took a walk down by the river and ate at Star Brewery. It's a great restaurant and has a very New York feel atmosphere. Unfortunately, it came time to leave and we had to say goodbye. Until next time, friends! :)

Weekend Fun

We went to my parents house in Wisconsin this past weekend. I always enjoy our visits there. My mom fed my baby sister, Shaylah (9 months) real food for the first time - an avocado! It was fun watching her play with it in her mouth and on her face, wondering what to do with it.

Graeme held her for her first bite!




I also helped my sister get ready for prom. She went with a bunch of her high school friends. I sewed straps on her dress and did her hair. I haven't done anyone's hair in awhile!

We also taught Shaylah to dance on counters and play under her blanket. For some reason she likes to cover herself up with her blanket and play with her favorite toys underneath. Very cute.

I miss my family. It's hard to not be near them. But I am thankful for our visits! :)

Dinner with the other Pitmans!

We had Neil and Beth over for dinner tonight. I made spicy pesto chicken and pasta and scotcheroos. Both are very easy to make. I forgot to have Graeme take a picture of our yummy dinner, but I did find some on the internet.


Pesto chicken & noodes
(click for recipe)










Scotcheroos
(click for recipe)





We ate dinner and played with Guster for a bit. Then we moved on to Rummikub where Graeme proceeded to win all three games. Moving on from Rummikub we watched parts of Heima which is a video made by Sigur Ros in their native home of Iceland. It's beautiful.

Now Graeme is at Brad's playing Wii and I think I may sit down with Forever Young (biography about JFK Jr.). :)

~Ashlee