Our life group is beginning a study on Romans chapter 12.  This just so happens to be my favorite chapter of Romans, and Romans is one of my favorite books of the Bible, so you can imagine my excitement.  We are focusing on 1-2 verses per week, so we are really diving into meanings.  To supplement our study, we are reading Chip Ingram's "Living on the Edge," also known as "r12."  How did I not know about this book?  I feel slightly ashamed (Since I love Romans) but mostly excited.  Romans 12:11 is my birthday verse- since high school.  :)  Has anyone else read this book?

In other news, Jeremy and I had granite counter tops installed in our kitchen!  (Silent/Aloud cheer here, please.)  We didn't think we'd be able to afford granite, so we went browsing Home Depot's Corian.  Jeremy's keen eye spotted granite on sale, which just so happen to match our white cabinets nicely, and was the same price as Corian.  Since granite adds more value to our home, we opted for it rather than the Corian.   The downside is that our kitchen sink plumbing and cooktop wiring won't be hooked up until Tuesday, so we've been eating, dare I say it, microwave meals for the last few days.  We did splurge and try a new Mexican restaurant and a new pizza place since the installation last week, so we have had some leftover. Here are some pictures of the granite:

A close-up of the cutting board the installation guys made from the sink cut-out

View of the granite with the cooktop stove

Last week I was able to visit an old friend and her newborn!  Anjaly and Nolan live about 20 minutes from me, which is nice, and I plan on visiting them more now that I know that.  Her family is just so precious, and I fell in love with Noah, the family pet, while I was there.  It was great catching up.   This week, I plan on buckling down and finishing some of this darn papers for my grad. portfolio, AND visiting with Anslee, who is coming to town from Austin.  I think I will also assemble a book case I just purchased from the World Market, pending Jeremy's approval.  (He wasn't there when I bought it, and I am not even going to try to lug that think out of my car before he sees the picture online, just in case I need to return it.)  That said, it looks just beautiful, distressed wood, 4 shelves with a drawer on the bottom, and I got it on sale and the cashier let me use her coupon.  I love it, and I am pretty certain Jer will also, since he has been mentioning book cases lately, and I know his taste for the most part.

Also, Powder fell in the toilet the other night.  Yes, Powder, our cat, fell in the toilet.  He was sitting on it watching me brush my teeth, and when I turned the water back on, it apparently startled him, and in he went; his whole back half.  It took him only half a second to get out but quite some time to recuperate.  

Shannon and I went to Dick's Creek Falls yesterday, which was nice.  She took her dog, Peeko.  Turns out, he is not AT ALL a water dog.  

The falls

Me and the falls