Calvinism vs Arminianism

Ohhhh, you know, it's a hard life, but someones got to do it.

I've spent my week helping a friend decorate her living room, which requires lots and lots of shopping. I got a massage monthly massage this week. We went to the beach last Saturday. We had a little Jeremiah's Italian Ice for date night and sat at the park on Friday. And I've been loving my new car.

Of course it hasn't been all fun and games.... Live to work, work to live...

I did have to work two nights, but I've been training a student, so she took half my patient load. It made for some really boring nights (AKA Is it STILL 3am??? Could these hours go by any slower???)

And this week Jordan and I met with our pastor to go over some stuff that has been a thorn in Jordan's side. He's struggling with the fact that the church (as a whole) seems to suck. We got to talk with Pastor Mike for about an hour and a half. He was compassionate and got right down to the "how do we fix this" - that's my kind of person. Not only that but we also got to ask some questions about Grace Fellowship. After attending the membership class last Sunday we had some stuff we wanted to follow up on.


Also, Pastor Mike believes in Calvinism and we believe in Arminianism. You can get a concise comparison from this website. These are two completely different beliefs on how God has saved the world. After researching we have decided we definitely lean towards Arminianism. For me personally it's just the God that I have come to believe in and love. So then our question was, how does that affect us attending Grace? Pastor Mike said it was really up to us whether we wanted to continue with Grace or felt like we should go somewhere that also believes in Arminianism. I know it shapes the way he preaches, but I actually like the idea of my beliefs being challenged. In truth, we will not ever know how God works exactly, so to swear off either idea completely would be ignorant. Pastor Mike could be right, so why not hear it sprinkled in a service once in a while? Either way, Jordan and I have chosen Christ, and that's the bottom line. If anyone out there has an opinion leaning toward either side, I'd love to hear it. I'm open minded to the idea.

I'll quit my rambling now! Tomorrow, Saturday, we are going to watch friends skydiving and go to a BBQ. Now, I have to go wash my car before it starts raining.

Catching Up

So much to update!

I did buy my car this past weekend. It wasn't the same car that I originally posted about on here, but it looks exactly the same. I spent yesterday morning washing and waxing it. I really love it, it fits me perfectly. I'm glad I went with the fast, fun car.

Saturday night we had a BBQ and had a bunch of people over. It was a lot of fun to catch up with those we don't get to see all the time. We had enough potato salad, beer and desserts left over to have a second BBQ. It's definitely something I enjoy doing.

Sunday we went to a membership class for our church. I was satisfied with what was talked about, but I think Jordan wants more details so he's gonna meet with Pastor Mike to get some questions answered.

I've been helping Jaime with decorating her house this week. It's fun helping other people spend their money, and since I love making homes beautiful it's just a win win situation! We till have a lot to do though, cause most of our time is spent talking and drinking tea....

My father in law was laid off from his job this week. Now he has to begin the challenging task of finding another job. In the long run, it's a good thing.

I got a call from my maid of honor, Gwen, saying she was in town from NC. I haven't talked to her in probably 2 years. She has a baby, 10 months old! It was fun having a chance to catch up with her and meet the baby. Hopefully we will get to go up to NC and visit them soon.

I've lost 5 lbs and 1 inch in my waist using EA Active and trying to eat smarter. I'm going to continue these things and when it starts to cool off outside I want to try training for a 5k. We will see about that one....

Mmmm...Speed....

Sunday Jordan and I were driving around in my car when all the sudden we noticed the dash was cracked. Right down the middle. This doesn't come as a surprise, as the car has gone down hill pretty fast over the past year. It was sending out signs left and right that it needed to be retired. And I hate it now.

We started looking around online for cars (I've done this about every week for the past 6 months of so). I wanted a Cadillac CTS, but the 2008 model is still too expensive. So we started looking into other luxury cars, namely Acura and Infiniti. I test drove two Acuras and they were nice cars, but I want something that is super fun to drive (ie SPEED!). So after driving the Acura TSX and TL I drove the Infiniti G35. Holy Moly that was fun.

The G35 rear wheel drive (like a sports car), 3.5L V6 engine, 280 HP automatic. It's fast and it drives so smoothly! Not to mention it looks awesome on the inside. Can we say sold? Ya, hopefully tomorrow we will be picking it up, if the inspection from Infiniti comes back clean and the guy fixes some scratches in the paint.









We are also getting this car at an unbelievably low price with no accident history! We have a friend who sells cars and he said he couldn't find a better deal for us. And he's taking my hunk of junk off our hands!

4 Day Weekend, 2 Thumbs Up

It was a four day weekend for us and it could not have been better!

Thursday

Jordan took the day off to finish the backyard. He spent his day shoveling, hauling, and unloading dirt and grass. The backyard is done. D-O-N-E. I spent the day sipping tea with my good friend Jaime and pinching Gracie-poos cheeks (her baby).

Friday

We spent the day running around mindlessly doing nothing due to some unfortunate communication glitches. We did find wood floors we want to put in the house though! And I found the exact model of CTS I want. And we went to Habana Grill to enjoy some Ropa Veija. Yum.

Saturday

Jordan got the backyard set up with an automatic, 2 hour a day watering system (don't tell Apopka Utilities). I made brownies, lots and lots of brownies, and we went to a 4th of July neighborhood BBQ. We got to meet lots of neighbors and Jordan sang karaoke. It was nice meeting those who live around us, and I know where the cop lives *just in case*. After the BBQ, we met up with my BFF from Atlanta, Steph, and her boyfriend, Eric, at Elephant Bar. I savor every minute I have with her since we only get to see each other a couple times a year now (it was a couple times a week when she lived here!). We got to talk about our trip to Savannah we are planning for August, yay!

Sunday

We made it to church for the second week in a row, woohoo (but next week I'll be working again!). After church we went to the beach, New Smyrna. It takes exactly 1 hour and 10 minutes to get from my front door to the sand. We have to do that more often, it's so relaxing and it makes my freckles magically appear. After we got back from the beach, mom and dad came over to see the backyard. They spent the weekend in NC visiting dad's mom. And this evening I watched Braveheart for the first time ever, thanks to one of our conversations with Steph and Eric.


I vote for four day weekends every week.

Backyard

After two months and a wheelbarrow full of money, the back yard is done besides needing a little more mulch. Jordan laid all the sod yesterday because I was busy drinking tea all afternoon with my friend. Electrical, patio laying, fence repair, fountain, lots of planting, weed killer, weed killer, weed killer, and laying sod. We won't be doing this again. Stupid yard.

This is the before picture. Jordan raked up something like 40 bags of leaves.



Pre-patio extension.




The extension from our patio for the BBQ grill. Eventually it will be filled in with grass between each square. The lattice has a vine that will eventually fill it in. And this is also the area that still needs more mulch.



The fountain.



And the new sod that will drain half of Florida's water reserve to keep it alive.




An old bench left by the previous owners, but I kind of like it.