Fridays with the Neus....Photo Shoot Style....

Well...it was a busy day for sure! I had a doctors appointment and then was late for my next appointment, barely had time to eat, came home for 15 minutes to get the camera that a good friend let me borrow (thanks Lydia!) and then ran out to a photo shoot for my hairdresser Janet.

It was so much fun! Her children were great subjects and we had an opportunity to use our creativity and hopefully bless them at the same time!

We also were able to buy our long awaited camera! A Canon rebel XTI! We have saved and scrimped and worked and then I was able to sell a few things on ebay and use that money towards it and God in His wonderful kindness allowed us to get it! We are thrilled and it will be here Monday, God willing....

Another neat thing happened today. I needed an sd card because we didn't have one and needed one for today... so I only had a minute to run into Walgreens. I went in and found the card that fit my camera....$49.99....oh no....there is no way I will pay that much...it was a 2 gig and it was already 4:00, I had to be there at 4:30..I needed to get, home, eat, get everything ready and I couldn't run all over town looking for the best deal....I looked at another space where the sd cards were and there was a 1 gig card there and it looked like it also cost 49.99..I asked the cashier if she could ring it up and atleast see how much it was....it rang up $15.49 on clearance! I was so grateful to God....I prayed all the way home! Thank-you again God for working out all the details.....(even when I should have prayed about it first......)

well....here are a few photos and please check out our shoot at our photography blog which you can find here...

Fridays with the Neu's........Celebrity style....

We had some friends over for dinner and games and we thought we would do our own celebrity look-alikes. They are very easy to tell who we are...so have a peek....

I can really see all the resemblances to some very famous people. It was so funny! I matched up to Katie Couric as if we were twins!! And Joe straight away was Gomer Pyle! Libby was Laura Dern....... Mace looks like Dustin Hoffman, Jeany looks like MaryAnn from Gilligan's island and Mariah looks like Katie Holmes, Jesse looks like Edmond from Chronicles of Narnia and Emmy looks like Lassie alot!! wow! I never knew that was so fun! Thanks for the idea :) and Jesse, thanks for the fun!! What a great night we had!

Guess What? She's Driving :::)))

Libby got her permit!! What a surreal experience that was! I can't have a daughter ready to drive! Wasn't I just almost 16? not that long ago ?!! Where has all the time gone? wow......

What an experience :)

well...we captured the moment so enjoy entering our world!

Fridays with the Neus.....Where oh where have our Fridays gone?

No, we haven't missed Fridays....We have actually lived them, they have just been well....not worth blogging about! But, we will be back in swing, because we do want to share about our life...that is the point of this blog...and we love your Savior and living life...that is a HUGE part for us....so....Fridays will be more consistent...I pray!

ok, so back to our Friday...It is the morning now and I just finished a chapter in I kissed dating goodbye. Who says' that book is for those not wanting to date! How about middle aged....very hip...older women...did I say hip? yep, thats me! I was challenged to grow and fight for righteousness in my life. I will share more on that some time....Just what God is doing in my life in pursuit of Him.....

and in thinking about last night on this fine morning, we made goals for each of us in our family...I thought I might share some with you...

Last week we had done 10 and 5 year, and then last night we did 1-3 and 1 year goals. If you haven't ever sat down to do that. I challenge you to! It will tell you alot about yourself and doing it will help have order as you walk out the next few years!! (Young people, I mean you too!) I am excited that we have sort of a picture where we want to grow together!

so here are a few of mine:

My Goals for the next 10 years

Completely committed to God

To have fully walked out so that I think of it first-having faith for others(I am grateful that God is showing me this now and I do so want to be really great at it by then :)

Become a proficient studier of God's word in a whole new way!

Grow tremendously in the area of repentance and forgiveness (I am cultivating it now..but want to learn to"run to the cross first" by studying God's word in this area will help me )

Read through the bible 5-10 times by then

Understand our doctrine completely by reading bible doctrine several times!!

Read all of John Pipers books

Read all of Cj's books

Continuous growth in my relationship with Joe

Enjoying our season of not having children at home by learning more about him and what blesses him every day!

Discipling Libby as a young mother (oh yeah! that would make me a grandma!)

Traditions continuing to be built within our family and friends (I lovvvvvve traditions!)

Vacations yearly with Libby's family at our expense :)

Caring for my Grandchildren by seeking to honor Libby and her Husband

Regular contact and care for our extended family (we love them so much, need to grow in showing it :)

Whole body well

Professional Photographer, or researcher, or a commercial writer, or a speech writer for political campaigns (who says we can't dream~smile)

Trip to Prince Edward Island! oh yeah!

Building memories

All pictures gone through and organized

Have a slumber party for my 50th birthday! (like my 40th-that was soooooo fun!)

See Blue Man Group

Projects that we have done-work on getting them completely finished

More projects done

More projects begun

can you tell I love projects? :)

There was so much more...but here is a small taste of how my mind works......I hope thats a good thing! ha!

well...I am off to live this Friday, as it is happening as I type! Hope your weekend is fruitful and God is glorified in each and everyone who is reading :)

The Neu Mom signing off.....

God is most Glorified in you, when you are most satisfied in Him....

We are back from our retreat and God did meet us while we were away..... We had some adventures and time to play and time to meet God in the most unexpected ways....Thank-you God that we were all safe and that was small in comparison to your great love for us!

We swam, took a walk at night...there was a beautiful breeze and wonderful memories were made. We learned a lot from John Piper and I realized after listening to him by way of a dvd, that I really am as dumb as I look! He is crazy smart!! But I did walk away with some shifting in my thinking and some paradigm shifts in my life. I am excited to see what God has for my small pea sized brain :)

I love so much John Piper's quote:

God is most glorified in you, when you are most satisfied in Him.

I had an opportunity to walk that out while we were away and I have a feeling that I will be walking that out the rest of my life....

Oh the deep deep love of our saviour! I cannot fathom how much He loves me...But I will be hunkering down there for a while....

Thank-you God for loving me more than I can ever imagine.....You are amazing God!!

Fridays with the Neus...Normal Style....

Well....it is Friday here at the Neus and it has been a normal day. I had to go to the Doctor.....Libby did school...Joe worked.... I cooked....healthy style....We loaded the dishwasher....

Talked about our class coming up...Do Hard Things.......

and then we played sequence.... Just another day...living life....hanging with the family....and realizing how very very blessed we are to be able to do just that....

God has been good and we have been grateful.....all in all that is a very good day!

Thanks for checking in on us!

Fay Did not go away and she left us a present :)

Yesterday carried the most bad weather we have seen yet through Fay's visit and then refusal to leave :) Talk about a bad guest! Geesh!She definately has overstayed her welcome. And I might add...I don't really like her kind of presents either ~smile!
We heard a crack and a hit to our house...woke us up..so we all, late into the night, were up trying to peek out windows and wondered what it was! Looking out of both windows of Libby's room, we saw this:

I truly am grateful and joyful for God's sovereign plan for my life:) even Fay! God's word says

Everything in the heavens and earth belong to you O Lord,

and this is your kingdom

We adore you as being in control of everything

Riches and honor come from you alone

and you are the ruler of all mankind

Your hand controls POWER and might

and it is at your discretion that men are made great

and given strength

2 chronicles 29:11

I love being reminded of my need for a savior and I am all the more grateful for His plan! Isn't it so good to know that we don't have to worry about my life because is taking care of every last detail and He loves me so much, he has given His greatest gift-His son for my life. How can I fathom that? :) I pray that if you don't know him, He will cause a stirring in you and He will make himself known to you.....(not sure what I mean? PLEASE ask :)

We also have a very soggy porch. Our porch now leaks....ask us how we know? So, all in all, so far, we faired well....Lots of branch clean up and leak fixing, but we are safe and we have been able to get alot done being home with an interruption to normal life. It has been a productive time :)

Lots more rain coming, but we are just hanging out.....Poor Joe is waterlogged. Ever try going through a drive through with the window down while it is raining? You quickly roll it back up because rain shoots in?

Well imagine keeping it down ALL day and putting things out repeatedly while rain pelts your arm and face and gets you all wet! Poor guy! Joe, we love you! Thank-you for your sacrifice to serve our family by working so hard! We are grateful for you! Love you babe! Stay dry!!

Well.....the day is starting and I must stay with it!

and the last update: Fay has moved about 3 miles per hour, and right now she has actually stopped! This has been the case for the past few days:

so....we wait......

The waterlogged mom signing off....