Two Boys and a Girl

Changes, they are a-comin'

2009-01-26T07:26:00.000-08:00

As promised, a long time ago, we posted the pictures from our Florida excursion. You just have to go to our home page and then click on Florida Christmas '08. There are a lot of pictures.

In other news, Amandromeda will be opening its doors for the first time on Friday, February 6, 2009!! I have been working super hard getting everything ready, and while there's still loads of things to do, I feel better prepared every day and so excited to get started.

And, just so you all know, Matt has been a big help. He designed my logo and I have him working on a few other projects for me too. Thanks so much, honey!

And Isaiah still doesn't know that he's going to be my "business partner" a couple days a week. Please pray that we work well together.

So stay tuned for more on the Grand Opening!

Belated pics

2009-01-09T21:15:00.000-08:00

These are a few moving day pictures. I just want to give a shout-out to all those who helped us, you know who you are. I know it wasn't easy. Those stairs are brutal, especially when you are having to carry a fridge, washer and dryer, a sofa, and the countless other things that we own. Thanks so much guys!

You win some, you lose some

2009-01-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I thought that was a pretty sorry game last night. It didn't go the way I had hoped. We had a few friends come over to watch and I was not only the sole female but also the lone Sooner fan. Which also meant I was the only one who was sad at the end. Well, there's always next year, right? Bummer.

Christmas in Florida 2008

2009-01-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

Ok, so here are some of our pictures from our big Florida trip. It is just a small sampling of what we did. I'll post more pictures to our home page later.

Go Sooners!

2009-01-08T14:11:00.001-08:00

There's a big game on tonight. I know I'll be watching. Will you?

Happy Birthday!

2008-12-28T18:35:00.000-08:00

Today is Matt's 30th birthday!!! We are sitting on the balcony at the Resort at Singer Island in Florida. It is a little bit north of Palm Beach and we have a great view of the intracoastal. A bit earlier we went for a walk down the beach in front of our hotel before we had our steak, shrimp, asparagus, artisanal bread, and goat cheese dinner. Which, by the way, we bought at Whole Foods. Love it!!! I would shop there everyday! And tomorrow is our 7th anniversary. We'll be heading down to Islamorada in the keys in the morning. I can't wait to see it. You know, the HGTV design house for 2008 was down there. I'm planning on looking for it.

Well, we will keep you posted!

Merry Christmas everyone!

2008-12-25T10:58:00.000-08:00

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

Greetings from sunny Florida!

2008-12-21T19:00:00.000-08:00

We made it! However, we did drive the Nissan 240 all the way down to Lake Worth. I heard it was really cold in Siloam today. I wouldn't know, it's pretty warm here right now :) But, yeah, we did have plans to fly stand-by but at the last minute the flights going into Miami got booked so we packed on Saturday morning and headed out.

We also had our little family Christmas on Saturday morning. It was so great. We put an unopened gift in Isaiah's room so he'd see it when he woke up. And all the wrapped presents had his name on them so he'd know that they were his and not mine or Matt's. He was so excited! It is pretty neat to see how he recognized all the toys that he put on his list. I love to see Christmas through his eyes. Reminds me of when I was a little girl.

We have a busy day tomorrow. We're going to the beach and playing some ping-pong and eating a lot of good food. I need to go get rested up for it!

Downtown Train

2008-12-19T17:48:00.000-08:00

Ok, so we don't need to take the train home but we are officially living downtown. I LOVE it!! It's so great. The Christmas lights look amazing outside our windows. Things are slowly coming together inside. Most of the boxes are gone but we don't have the shelves up in the kitchen so our dishes and stuff are all over the place. But, I don't care because I am finally in my house. Oh, and we don't have hot water because our tankless water heater is acting up. We've even replaced the whole unit and the pilot just won't light. Yeah, it's a bummer. We've had to go and take showers at Matt's sister's house. Oh, and we don't have cable. No tv, no internet. Yeah, it's a bummer. But, I don't care because I am finally in my house.

I will post pictures later. We're at the coffee shop down the street and I don't have the pictures loaded on the computer yet.

We are leaving for Florida in a couple days! And we get to fly. Such an answer to prayer. We are looking forward to a vacation!

I will most likely post some pictures when we are in Florida and have internet. We will see everyone later!

Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-15T21:17:00.000-08:00

We get to move!!!! We still haven't officially closed on the loft but we have been given the 'ok' to move in. Thanks, Ron! Such a blessing since we are leaving on Saturday for Florida. I can't wait to post new pictures!!!!!! (I'm pretty excited, if you can't tell)

In other news, Isaiah had his first snow day from school today. We played, colored (a lot!) and went to Fayetteville to the mall and shopped (please don't tell my mom, she might get mad at me!).

Today is Monday, which at the Orcutt house means Monday Night Football!!!! We have a bit of a tradition of eating steak and what not while watching the game. Very sacred. There is not much that will come between me, Matt, and MNF (we didn't even have cable until MNF moved to ESPN). Tonight was special. It is Faith's last week with us and it is the first time we invited someone to join us in our festivities in 6 years. I think she had fun. Who wouldn't?

The new fridge

2008-12-12T20:26:00.000-08:00

This refrigerator was a hand-me-down from my parents. When I got it, it was an off-white color. Not cool, so we painted it white. Well, that got boring so we decided to wallpaper it (seriously, don't ask). A couple weeks after that we bought new handles and rolled on some green chalkboard paint. Super fun, but yesterday it got even another makeover: black chalkboard paint. You can still see a little bit of the leftover green peeking out by the doors but I can't finish it until we turn it off to move, if that ever happens :( But, I think it will look great in the loft. Even though green is the new black, I think it looks very sleek and modern.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2008-12-12T19:52:00.000-08:00

Last night we made Christmas cookies. It was actually my first time to make sugar cookies from scratch (I even made the icing!). Let me just tell you, they were delicious! Isaiah had a great time spreading the icing and shaking out the sprinkles onto the trees, stars, and guy shapes. Thanks Aunt Faify for the great idea!

Still Waiting

2008-12-12T14:54:00.000-08:00

That's right. Another week has gone by and still no closing date. We still can't move. Awesome.

A Little Update

2008-12-10T07:29:00.000-08:00

Just to let everyone know, we HAVE NOT moved yet. The loft is finished just sitting there lonely and empty. We are waiting for the appraisal to finalize and different legal loose ends to get tied up. I am getting restless.

We are leaving for Florida for the Christmas, Matt's 30th birthday, our 7th wedding anniversary holidays in less than two weeks. We were planning on driving because plane tickets are ridiculous but there might be a chance that we could get some stand-by tickets for free. Please pray that it works out because our plan included driving Matt's two-door, hatchback, Nissan 240 (that also has over 200,000 miles on it!) all the 24 hours it takes to get to West Palm Beach.

Isaiah can't wait for Christmas. Everyday he adds something to his wish list. His favorite movie right now is "The Nightmare Before Christmas." I know...we do talk about how Christmas is really about how Jesus came as a baby to live a perfect life and die for our sins that we may have eternal life though.

My shop downtown (Amandromeda) is getting closer to Grand Opening day. We plan to open mid-to-late January. I am really excited and nervous about it. There are so many things to get done! But I can't wait to start.

Hopefully soon I'll get to say that we're closing on the loft! I'll keep you posted.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-25T09:58:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! We are heading over to my parents house tonight for the holiday and they do not have good internet access which is why this post is a couple days early. I hope you all have a wonderful day with family and friends. We have been so blessed this year and have so much to be thankful for. And all of you are a big part of that. So have a great time eating a lot of good food and thanking the Lord for all that He's given!

Congrats are due

2008-11-23T20:36:00.000-08:00

Matt's sister Faith got engaged this weekend! We are so excited. Her fiance is Dan Sturgis and he is a wonderful Christian guy. It is a little bittersweet though. Faith has been living with us for a year and a half while going to JBU and now she is moving back to Florida to plan the wedding and be near Dan. I am really going to miss her. To me, she is more than my husband's sister. I think of her as a close friend and the house just isn't going to be the same without her. And Isaiah is going to really miss his Aunt Faify. So, Dan, you better treat her right!!

No, not yet

2008-11-23T20:34:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we haven't moved into the loft yet. I think we will this week. At least that's what I'm hoping for. I can't wait!!!!

Blessings

2008-11-17T10:28:00.000-08:00

This weekend was filled with many blessings. I was able to attend the women's conference at my church where Vicki Dees was the key speaker. For those of you who don't know Vicki, she has been battling a severe form of cancer for the last few months. She spoke about what God had been teaching her through her illness and treatments. It really was amazing. I've known Vicki since I was in 8th grade. I feel like I've grown up with her in my life. Through all those years, she hasn't changed a bit. She's still the same Godly, hilariously funny lady. Vicki, I am so thankful for what God has taught me through you.

Not only was the conference a blessing, but so was getting to spend time with other Godly women. My mom for one. She came with me and also spent the weekend at my house. It was a great time to get to talk with her and to worship beside her at the conference. And getting to see a lot of my best friends from high school. I was so surprised to see so many people that I grew up with. Cherissa, Casey, Rita, Sarah, and Mandy, it was so awesome to spend time with you and we totally need to do that more often!

And on Sunday, I spent the afternoon with some girls I used to work with. I hadn't seen them in about a year and it was a great time of catching up and eating ice cream sundaes.

It was a wonderful weekend filled with blessings. I've not had "girl" time in a while so it was very refreshing. But, I will say that it was great to come home on Sunday evening to relax with my boys!

New Pics

2008-11-05T20:59:00.000-08:00

We posted some new pictures of our loft. You can link to them from our home page. Sadly, the floors are still covered in these, but you can see the paint, light fixtures, and the exposed heat and air ducts. As soon as the floors are finished and completely cured I can post new pictures. Right now I can't really get in there and walk around. It's just so close!!!!

T minus 2 weeks-ish

2008-11-05T12:30:00.000-08:00

I think we may be closing on the loft in about two weeks! The projected date is November 20 or 21. Yesterday, they exposed the floors to put on the first clear coat and today they put on the second coat. This place is really exceeding all of my expectations. When I saw the floors last night, I squealed because I was just so happy. It's amazing to see your vision coming into reality.

In other news, we did have a super fun Halloween. We've already eaten all of our candy.

Also, I subscribe to thelightlist@thelightministry.com and get a scripture a day through email from them. Yesterday the verse was from John 16:33. It was very fitting for our country's present situation so I thought I'd share it with you. "Jesus said, 'I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.'"

New News

2008-10-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

Well, we have finally updated our blog! We posted pictures of the loft so you can get there by going to our home page. The loft is really looking great. They should be finished painting in the next couple days and then they'll put in light fixtures, finish the floor, put in bath and kitchen fixtures...it's getting close! We are so ready to move.

Also, two weeks ago, Matt and I ran our first half marathon. Our goal was to run it in under two hours and we made it with just a minute to spare. I was pretty happy. It was our first time to run side-by-side in a race and that was fun. We were able to encourage each other and share our running snacks, chewy sweetarts and twizzlers. My old knee injury from the Memphis marathon last year kind of came back to haunt me in the last couple miles, but thankfully I was able to run through it. I'm glad to have training over with and enjoy my Sunday afternoons.

Now we're just getting ready for the holiday season. I can't believe Halloween is this week. The rest of the year is going to be a blur!

Busy, Busy, Busy

2008-09-18T08:31:00.000-07:00

We have been pretty busy around here lately. Isaiah started preschool a couple weeks ago and he loves it. I do too as a matter of fact! He goes three mornings a week for three hours. It is amazing how much I can get done in that amount of time! The second day of school, Isaiah ran out to meet me when I picked him up and told me that he now has a girlfriend. They sit by each other and play together in the gym. She's pretty cute!

Things on the loft are coming along a bit more quickly now. All the framing is done and it's really neat to see the rooms take shape. I've met with the electrician and the plumbers have already started putting in some of the lines. I love seeing all the progress. I can't wait to move! Matt hasn't had a chance to take pictures yet, but he should be able to soon.

Matt and I are training again. This time for a half marathon in Rogers. Most of our time on the weekend is spent running. It's fun though. And so much less intense than marathon training. The race is October 11th and a lot of people from our church will be running it as well. I'm glad it'll be over soon because I'm missing a lot of football on Sunday afternoon!

Progress!

2008-08-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

There has been lots of activity at the custom loft for the Orcutt family! We have new windows, insulation between the ceiling joists, and they laid our flooring and stained it. It is so exciting to see things moving along after so many months of waiting. We think it'll be finished in October or early November. We posted some pictures so go to our home page and click on "loft living" to see them.

Also, this past Sunday was Isaiah's 4th birthday! We had a great day of grilling hot dogs and playing baseball on a real baseball field. The weekend before we had a party with some of his friends and played Olympic games and had Chinese food for lunch. Our camera battery wasn't charged so we didn't take pictures but some friends did and we're hoping to get some pics from them to post. It was pretty cute. All the kids got medals after the games. We love the Olympics in this house and we had a blast getting to share that with our friends.

Shark Triathlon

2008-08-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Matt and our friend Christine Matchell participated in the Shark Sprint Triathlon at Beaver Lake. It was Matt's second and Chris's first triathlon. They both did great! At first we didn't know how it was going to be because it was pouring rain but thankfully it cleared up enough for the race to go on as planned. Matt finished in 1 hr 20 min and Chris finished in 1 hr 45 min (these times are approximate because the final results are not yet posted on the website). Even with the rain, it was a fun time and the kids had a blast playing in the puddles while we waited. You can check out some of the pictures by going to our home page and clicking on Shark Triathlon.

The "New" Car

2008-08-03T20:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I did get a new car. The only thing is that it is actually 24 years old! We bought a 1984 Mercedes-Benz that has been converted to run on vegetable oil. It has its original diesel tank with a separate tank in the trunk that houses the veggie oil. We have a couple of local restaurants that have agreed to give us their used oil and all we do is filter it and pour it right in! So at any point in time we could be driving around for free. She's got a couple of miles on her but she is a great car, well, at least when the mechanic is done with her she will be! We've been looking for a car like this for a while and are so thankful that the Lord blessed us with it. I'd been driving the same car for 11 years and was ready for a change, we got a great deal on the Benz, and the Lord brought a very deserving buyer for the Oldsmobile. A total answer to prayer! We posted pictures so you can see her. If you are coming from Vicki's site then you have to click on "home" to see our list of pictures. Tell us what you think!

Good Family Fun

2008-07-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

If you haven't gone to an Arkansas Naturals game on a Sunday, and you have kids, then I would highly suggest that you go some time. We went yesterday and had a great time. It was crazy hot but there are a lot of activities to keep your mind off the heat. After the game, the kids get to run the bases on the field. Isaiah had a blast. He is really into baseball right now and this was like a dream come true for him. We forgot our camera otherwise we would post a picture. It was pretty cute seeing the little guy run on that big field. He touched every base to make sure he wouldn't get "out."

Long time, No post

2008-07-26T21:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry that it has been such a long time since our last post! We have indeed moved (twice actually), and are still renting while the loft gets renovated. Things for the new house are pretty slow going. It is such a unique property in Siloam and we have encountered a lot of obstacles. But our floors are going in! I'll try to post more updated pictures when I can.

We also went to Canada in June for vacation with my (Amanda) parents. It was so much fun. We posted some of the pictures from our trip so feel free to check those out.

Also, I got a "new" car. We are going to post pictures soon. That's all I will say about that for now. It's a pretty neat deal.

And I promise to keep up the blog better in the future. I'm sure I've said that before but I really mean it this time!

Sold!

2008-03-03T15:43:00.000-08:00

We sold our house over the weekend! Such an answer to prayer. It was only on the market for 2 weeks when we got the offer and the next day it was a done deal. We'll be moving into a townhouse on April 3 and we'll stay there until the new place is finished. We still have to go through inspections but otherwise that's it. Last week we finalized the plans for the loft so it should get going pretty soon. What a relief!

For Sale

2008-02-20T19:44:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official. Our house is for sale! We placed it on the market last Friday and have been fortunate enough to already have had one showing and an agents open house. We've gotten a lot of positive feedback on it so hopefully we will get this place sold. Please keep us in your prayers. It's pretty hard keeping the house clean with a silly three year old dumping all of his hot wheels out all over the place and leaving crumbs everywhere! Not to mention the fact that we could possibly be making two mortgage payments in a few months. But, it's all in God's timing and He's got it all under control. Thankfully!

Loft Pictures

2008-02-04T21:43:00.000-08:00

We posted the pictures of the loft space, so be sure to check them out. We plan to post new pictures during the entire renovation to keep you all informed.

Loft Living

2008-02-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

That's right, we are buying a loft in downtown Siloam Springs! It's really pretty exciting. About a year ago we saw the building for sale and thought about buying it to renovate and live in. But with much prayer and consideration, decided that it was more than we could afford. Now we have the opportunity to purchase and remodel only the top floor. It is the first time that anyone has done such a thing in Siloam so there are a few obstacles. But we truly believe this is what God has for us. We do ask for prayer as we continue to make decisions on our new home and that God would send us a buyer for our current home (please if you know of anyone.....). We haven't taken pictures of the space yet but plan to do that soon. When we do, we will post those so you can see it in it's raw and untouched state. Right now it is a blank canvas of exposed beams and brick. We do have a lot of work ahead of us but are so excited to start!

The new pictures

2007-12-16T11:39:00.000-08:00

We have posted pictures from our trip to Phoenix and my (Amanda) second marathon in Memphis. Our weekend in Phoenix was so much fun. It was great to see our good friends Simon and Micole again and to see what Arizona is like. It is surprisingly beautiful! We went with Matt's sister, her husband and daughter, and the eight of us had a blast hanging out and eating a lot of good food.
The marathon was a tough one for me. At mile 18 my knee started hurting and I had to hobble the final eight miles. I did manage to enjoy the scenery and beat my time from last year by 3 minutes. All in all we had a really good time in Memphis and I am so very glad to have it over with!
Now we are getting ready for Christmas!

Phoenix, AZ

2007-11-13T19:26:00.000-08:00