Tankful Tursday (yes the "h" is left out for fun)!

I (Steph) am digging the idea of listing a few things I'm thankful for TODAY!

* I'm thankful for people who research health and medicine. Because of these people, there's so much to learn about a developing pregnancy. I'm so very appreciative for the people that have taken the time and interest to research and write about it all. Information has come a long way.

* I'm thankful for Sonic coneys and chocolate shakes that feed my prego cravings for that apparently scrumptious (at the moment) unhealthy fast food. One more week, and it's time to crack down again on the eating habits :)

* I'm thankful for great conversation. I'm definitely a one-on-one kind of gal and had a great chit chat with a co-worker/friend this morning. I feel refreshed with those people you can be real and "unchurchy" with.

* I'm thankful for the community and love I still feel from my far away Oklahoma crew since we've announced our pregnancy. They've all sent ecards, emails, and Facebook congrats that have made me feel very loved, not to mention they LOVE my hubby. Not that our Durango crew hasn't shown excitement and care, it's just encouraging to STILL have such a connection from a place that was home for so long.

* I'm thankful for my Nanny Carol's weekly emails. We love to chit chat about anything and everything. It brightens both of our days to keep up with each other.

* I'm thankful for my husband's work shift. The people on this shift work awesopme as a team together, even cooking and eating together. They're almost like a second family in some ways. For me that is very important to know that they really do look out for each other and work hard at taking great, efficient care of people that need help. This is a comfort to know when it comes to his type of work.

* I'm thankful for Study Buddies each week that has given me an opportunity to help mentor a kid, in the 9R district, academically and build a friendship. He's a cool kid!

* I'm thankful for boundaries. I'm still learning to implement them when needed, but what a great concept to live out that helps keep some situations that happen in life in check.

* I'm immensely thankful for time. Time to learn to forgive and what forgiveness really is. Time to adjust to a wonderful new life here in Durango with my husband. Time to learn to build new friendships. Time to relax and have fun!

* I'm thankful for the small group we've connected with. It's perfect for Mike and I both to get to know people better in a small setting. It's great because these people are quality people who love to have fun!

*Lastly, I'm thankful for canned peaches. They are my FAVORITE at the moment when it comes to fruit...num, num!

Our little Grape

Inside of my beautiful wife grows our newest member of Team Krupa. Our tiny child is 10 weeks along and is the size of a grape. It's really amazing that as small as our child is- fingers, finger nails, and hair are developing this week.

Okay so if you haven't figured it out from the first sentences...
WE ARE PREGNANT (and yes this was planned)!!!
Stephanie and I are absolutely ecstatic to bring this little one into the world. We have known for oh about nine weeks now but decided to wait to announce it until we heard a heartbeat. So this morning at Stephanie's first check-up, we were able to hear a very loud and strong heartbeat. What an amazing sound. It is completely awesome that the sound of thump, thump, thump, thump at a rate of 180 beats a minute can tear the eyes up instantly in pure joy. We feel so very blessed that God has given us a precious gift and is allowing us to be parents.
What a joy it will be!!!

Oh how I LOVE, LOVE...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mikey is on shift today. What better way to surprise him with a bloggy note of how I love him? Silly? Yes! It's been a challenging week, and I hope it makes him smile today. Here's for you my Mikeys-what I love, love about you and us!

• That we are always learning to communicate in better/fun ways with each other. Sometimes it seems like we're speaking Navajo. Lucky for us, we are both fluent :) ...
  

That you have KILLER dance moves that make laugh hysterically. You definitely know how to shake your groove thing (that's right song #2 is dedicated to you also)...

How we BOTH cook and clean without having to really ask each other- a rare domestic stud and great cleaner (wink) you are...

That you have a new appreciation for stocking up on cheese in the winter time...

That we can look back at getting a $100 boot on our car last night as "an expensive date" and hopefully laugh at it soon, especially after a week of a car accident and learning we owe a good chunk on taxes for the first time...

How you love to hug and cuddle mostly anytime...

Your oh-so-handsome looks and that you like to look sharp...

That you have grown into an absolutely rockin husband, and I have no doubts you'll some day make be a rockin father. Should I add an amazing firefighter too?

That we've never had a fight about money or finances. It's the one thing we've always instantly meshed on and for that I'm so very thankful...

When we do our devotion together before bed and spend time praying together. Love it...

How we've come SO far throug a rough first year of marriage and now couldn't be in a better place. Now, comes growing old together... bring it ON, and NO I'm THAT not old yet :)

So my Mikeys, consider this a modern way (blog) of professing my love for you. I love you today and forever!

-Stephy

PS-Had to do this song. It reminds me of such a good turning point for us

Our new Car......Part two :(

So yesterday morning as I (Mike) was driving to work, a vehicle slid sideways in front of me. Unfortunately I was unable to miss the truck and wrecked our new car (I almost made it to work, only about a 100 yards to go). Kind of a bummer feeling wrecking a car, especially only owning it for 5 days. Nobody was hurt so that is obviously the positive side of the incident. The car pretty much needs a new hood, bumper, grill, lights, side fender, hood, maybe a door, radiator, etc.

Oh well though, its just a car right!

Oh ya, and kind of a funny story to go with this one. This was a used car that we bought and the dealership had only one set of keys for it. We talked to Honda just the day before and ordered a new set, but do not have them yet. Anyway the tow truck driver dropped off the car at the body shop and accidently locked the keys in the vehicle. I actually started cracking up on the phone when the body shop was telling me this. I think he thought I was crazy. The dealership we bought it from was going to put in a new windshield today (was agreed as a part of buying it from them) so I told him to just cut a whole in the windshield to get the keys out. I think at this point he thought I was crazy again :)

Honored

Saturday night, Durango Fire and Rescue held its annual awards banquet, a night of fellowship, dinner, awards, and music. The fire department does this every year with all of our families present as well. It was wonderful being able to applaud and honor the recipients of several awards. I then was completely honored, humbled, and shocked as I was presented the Firefighter of the Year award. This award is decided on the votes from all of my colleagues and peers. I was also presented with a certificate of recognition from our training division for putting in many hours of instructional time with my fellow and brand new recruit firefighters.

Being a part of a department like Durango Fire and Rescue is an incredible adventure for me. I am absolutely honored to be able to hold a position within this department and in our community. To all my fellow team members in Durango, it is a privilege to work along side of you. THANK YOU for all your support and for choosing me as your firefighter of the year.

Our new Car !!!

So Stephanie and I started discussing new vehicles. We have a 1995 Honda Civic and a 2002 Ford F150. We are realizing that although the truck is an excellent vehicle it is not all that practical for us. We usually only use the civic to run around town, to and from work. We don't like to take it on long distance trips, due to the age and mileage on it. So with that, the truck is our primary vehicle. The truck does not have enough room to carry any guests or even a cart load of groceries very easily.

We decided to take last Tuesday and go car browsing. We made a list of vehicles that we thought we would like and headed off to start test driving. Our only intention was to test drive and see what we liked. Little did we know that we would drive a new car home that day. We found a car that we both pretty much decided in our heads that this was our new car as soon as we got in it. Its pretty cool how things work out. We ended up trading in the truck (I'm still a little emotional, trading in the truck I bought as a bachelor, in for the family SUV :) but it will be a great car for us. Our new car is a 2003 Honda Pilot. It is in great shape and will be very practical for us. Its our first large financial purchase as a couple, so that's pretty cool.

Ahh..8th grade humor

Several weeks ago at the beginning of class, one of my eighth grade students (the quiet comedian) casually asked me: "Mrs. Krupa, did you ever see the movie 'Constipated'?" I replied with a "No, I haven't" (thinking it was some independent comedy I would've never seen). His reply: "That's because it never came out". Ha! Good stuff.
I had a good laugh and had to attempt to retell this joke. It was one I couldn't butcher too badly by retelling it incorrectly. I love my students! :)

Reminiscing...

Lately I (Steph) have been in the mood of reminiscing childhood memories. As we get to enjoy more and more of our friends having children, I'm more and more reflecting back to what I enjoyed as a child. My personal immediate family has not ever been as close as I've always longed for, but I'm becoming ok with that. Instead, I'm starting to think back and treasure the fun things that meant a lot to me growing up. I'm excited to go to Oklahoma in May for my brother's high school graduation. I plan to do some digging for some more treasures at my parents' house. But for now, here we go with a couple current memories on my mind...




The above picture is of my top two favorite stuffed animals: Cuddles and Ducky! My stuffed animals were my FAVORITE as a kid. I had an easy 50 in my room at all times. My mom was great because she even hand sewed several of them with little outfits. A Martha Stewart incarnate she is. :) Ducky went with me everywhere as a toddler, but as soon as I was old enough to latch onto Pound Puppies (boy did I ever), Cuddles took first place. Recently, I was going through a box I have here at home of a few childhood things, and these guys were in there. My heart melted and a tear or two almost came to my eyes. I still love them, but no worries I don't sleep with them.

This picture is my most treasured memory so far. It's a song my mom wrote for me in 1982. She wrote a song for each of us. I have two younger brothers, Zack (25) and Joseph (18). One year, she wrote the song out, hand drew some flowers, and covered the picture frame in lace. I mostly remember my mom singing this song to me when I would be sick or had a bad dream. She would rock me or lay beside me and sing my song "You are Precious". Talk about priceless! Seriously, it's QUITE the treasure to have a song God put on my mom's heart just for ME!

Here are the words: " You are precious. You are valuable. You are special to God and daddy and Zack and me (Joseph was a surprise years later). There's not another girl in this whole world just like Stephanie. God has a part for you in His plan. You gave Him your heart. Now He'll lead you hand in hand. No other one can tell of His Son just like you can. You're important to His plan." Thanks mom for the treasure of a lifetime and all the times you sang it to me. I still tear up when I think about it. Now it's time to get her to sing it on cd to have when I need to hear my mom's voice when I get sick :)

The last memory I'd like to share today is about a Christian artist I grew up LOVING and still do today. Yep, it's none other than Russ Taff (the artist playing on my blog right now). He was pure 80s, and one thing my parents were awesome at was always having music playing. This has given me a love for music. I can hear a song and be taken back to a memory within seconds. I hear that when I was in diapers, I would shake my bootie to Russ Taff anytime his tape or record was on. I also got to go to his Medals concert at OBU in the late 80s. I had the biggest crush on him and pretended my name was Tori, his wife's name. It was always a bashful crush, nothing creepy. Today, he's definitely old school, but yes I do have several off his songs on my IPOD. I still jam out here and there. Rock on Russ. Rock on.