The Curry's

What Happens at the end of a day with Molly plays...............

2010-02-26T10:02:00.008-06:00

She sleeps! This was after she followed Jason around all day yesterday! Haha! She was out from 7:00 p.m. to this morning!

Do you notice the red around her paws and face? Well that is from a chewy that was given to her, that she loves. But we will no longer get them because they dye her fur!!! She will miss them I know :).

Jason didn't fully understand why Molly continued to push him off the couch. She's a Diva, what can I say? She likes her space! Isn't it amazing though, that something so small can take up so much room?!

Mollys new Friend

2010-02-26T09:41:00.007-06:00

Molly got a new friend in January, and her name is Bella. Bella is a yorkie-malti-poo (yep three). She is about 3 months old now and I think she weighs around 3 pounds! She is super tiny. The pictures below you can barely see her eyes. Her and Molly like to chase each other up and down the fence for hours. They have been in our yard together at times but Bella likes Molly best from across the fence :). They like to get in trouble, and our neighbors (Bella's Mom and Dad) Wanda and Ray, have have had to "barricade" the entire fence! You see, Molly and Bella like to dig together to get to each other. So Ray and Wanda had to put up bricks and other fencing along the fence to keep them from doing it. What a mess they are. But we all agree, we like for them to play all day like that (running up and down the fence) because at night, they are pooped!

Saying "Good Morning"!

"Can I pleeeease come over??"

See how tiny she is!!!

Ms Wanda can I please have another treat?? (Wanda will bring Beggin Strips, Milkbones, etc. Molly loves her for that :) )

:)

2010-02-25T23:08:00.003-06:00

A Man and His Wifes Dog

Working Hard!

2010-02-25T20:39:00.011-06:00

Today Jason did a lot of "Honey Do's"! He cleaned out the shed, fixed my cabinets, fixed a few other things, and so on! He didn't rest until about 5 o'clock then he grilled some yummy steaks!

I'm a lucky gal!

If you notice in these photos the lil white puff. Yep, that's Molly. She kept following him all day. Whenever he went out she went out. It was adorable! Even tonight when he was putting away the grill she ran to the back door, looked at me and if she could of said "Hey, Dad's out there, let me out! (duh Mom)" she would of. She thought that she needed to help him all day! What a dog! What a day!

The One about the Dog...........

2010-01-22T23:13:00.013-06:00

So, if anyone knows me (Tonya), they know that I love animals and I have wanted a dog for a looooooong time. But, we knew (me not always agreeing), that it was not time to get a dog, while in seminary. Which, was very true. So, once we moved up here, I was ready to get one, then I saw the price tag (had to get a hypo allergenic for J's allergies), and the vet bills to come along. So I let go, and knew at some certain time, I would eventually get one. I had no idea, how much God would bless me, with my patience and waiting. Here is my story of Molly.

In November, I got a text message from our old neighbor Christy, she texted "are you still wanting a poodle?", which I said "yes, why?". She then went on to tell me that a friend of hers, daughter piano teacher, had gotten a puppy and was no longer able to keep her. I then texted Jason, he said, "lets go look at her", which made my day! So after a few more text messages, I was getting ready for a phone call from the owner. But that night, she didn't call. So after a couple days of not hearing, I thought maybe she was able to keep the dog. But then, I got a phone call, from a very sweet lady. She had bought the puppy 3 weeks ago, and was unable to keep her due to personal circumstances.

Talking to her, she said "I do not want money, just a good home for my puppy". I thought "wow" is this really happening? After speaking to her, I found out that "Mindy" had been fixed, had her shots, and would come with a kennel. This was overwhelming, all the major expenses were taken care of! Next, we set up to meet on Friday before Thanksgiving at Petsmart in Fort Worth. I spoke to Jason and he said "you can have her", I gave him a huge hug and said THANK YOU! He said "Well I told you, when the time was right, we could get a dog. The time is right." I love my hubby :).

That Friday, I was excited and nervous. I went and got my oil changed and called up Amy (sis n law), and asked, "do you want to go w/me to get my puppy?", she screamed, "you're getting a puppy?!", I said yes! We then went to Petsmart and I saw her, the cute lil fluffy bundle of joy. Her owner was holding her, and I went up and introduced myself, she then handed me "Mindy", and she had me at first lick :).

We walked around Petsmart, visiting, seeing how "Mindy" and I did. You could say we hit it off. So, if the offer was still standing, I was gonna take her, and I did! The owner, also blessed me with prepaid training classes, I was in shock. She truly loved "Mindy" and it was not easy taking the puppy away from her. We then went outside and loaded Amys car with the stuff she had boughten. Let me tell you, this puppy was loved! She had sweaters, shirts, toys, chewies, back packs, food, treats, a bed, blankets, and a few more I can't think of! After loading up, we went back in the store to get a refund for training. Last, the owner, gave me a hug and said "I have to go", she was crying as she walked out, and it was very hard to see.

I now have a puppy is what I though, wow, this is gonna be a big change. We got her in the car, got my car loaded up and I headed to back home to Irving. "Mindy" and I hung outside for awhile, waiting for J to get home. He saw her and had a big smile on his face "shes cute" is what he said.

That's my story of who I now call Molly. She has been a joy for both of us to have, a ball of energy. She has a shirt that says LOL "Lots of Licks", which is truly her! She has given me a reason to get up early and not focus on my RA, which has been needed. I love my puppy, and can truly say, even the smallest things you wait for, God will bless you. He may not always give you what you want, but He will give you what you can handle and need. I truly believe I needed Molly and she needed me. I thank God for her everyday.

Here are pics of our bundle of craziness:

First couple of weeks with Molly. She has decided its fun to steal our socks!

Molly "came with" little chewies. At Petsmart they were 21 bucks a bag fpr 6, but for 12 bucks, I could get a 2 ft stick, which J could chop down, well, she loved it so much, we kept it long! She is now about done w/it!

Walking at the park.

What a pair! Allegro and Molly, they have tons of fun together!

Molly after being groomed. I liked her fuzzy look, which came back sooner than I thought.

There are many more stories to tell of Molly. How she terrorized my parents dogs, b/c of her hyper self, how she likes to jump over the baby gate we own, how she has peed on my couch and chair (not good moments), from playing to Allegro to her new favorite hobby eating pecans. I will try to share the stories weekly. Each day is a funny day with this little pup, and I hope to entertain you all!

Blessings,

Tonya

Update on Us!

2010-01-22T22:36:00.024-06:00

Our new life here in Irving has started in full swing! Jason has been busy with his job, his first assignment was going to camp, which he got a departing gift when he came home, Influenza type A. If only I had pictures of the good patient (HA). After that, we moved. We then painted the house, and Jason was starting up with the beginning of the school year at church. Which included, Sunday School, Kidstuf (a drama presentation done every Sunday morning, Preschool (nursery), RA's, GA's, Mission Friends, and thats all I can think of right now. He's a busy guy, trying to coordinate these programs with an amazing group of people, that without their willing hearts, these programs would not be functioning!

Jason and the church's 1940's firetruck.

At our local Sonic, the Sonic Guy is always showing up. :)

In the middle of all of this, I got invited to start a neat bible study, called BSF (Bible Study Fellowship). I have really enjoyed it. If on Sunday mornings, I'm unable to get to service, and get "fed" with the message, I get a "fed" on Wednesday mornings! I am so happy to be a part of this!

Fall Festival was a great time. It was J's and I's first time being involved and running this type of program. With the team Jason has at work (Brenda assistant and Sue Ann preschool director), the festival went great, and had a great attendance. Amy, Jason and I all dressed up as 80's/90's "peeps", some thought J was more 70's, but we had fun! Lynn did my updo, and helped w/makeup, all to say, I'm glad I'm no longer in the 80's! After the festival, J and I celebrated with FREE chipotle, a nice finish to a crazy evening. The next morning, J preached, he did a great job, and I was extremely proud of him for achieving this, after a crazy week.

Allegro even got dressed up!

Above is Lynn and her dog Darby. Darby was not too excited about the big crowd, so Lynn put him in his house. The funny part was his house was by the bowl of candy that Lynn and Amber were giving out, so each time the kids reached for candy, they heard "GROWLLLL" and each kid jumped. It was better then any haunted house! :)

Soon after that, we got to go my parents for Thanksgiving. We spent a busy week there, which I got to bring a third somebody w/me, my new puppy Molly! (which I will blog next about) So the week was spent w/family and intense potty training!

December was pretty busy with Christmas parties. We were invited to quite a few, and had a lot of fun!
The picture collage, is a group of photos, for the Christmas Party that Jason and I held for all the workers in the children department. With help from Sue Ann (and family) and Claire, who are such talented people! We had On the Border Catering, and played "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader".

We also got to be part of a Christmas parade for the city of Irving. Children workers rode the firetruck. (We have a 1940's Firetruck, it's pretty cool.) We then did a small KidStuf production for the Christmas Eve service, and immediately made a 3 hour trip to J'Ville (which is usually 2 hours or less) due to the snow. Had a great Christmas, then Lance and Elizabeth (my bro and his wife) came to visit! We made homemade ravioli, went to Central Market, and just enjoyed visiting.

January then showed up somehow, and we are now here. A lot has already happened, which will again, be another blog.

Thanks for reading an update on us!

~Curry's

House Warming Party

2010-01-22T22:12:00.016-06:00

Jason and I thought a housewarming party would be a great way to meet our neighbors and church family. We had a great time meeting people and visiting. We feel that this is not our home, it is God's, and want others to know they are always welcome! Our new home is a dream, I didn't know would come true so quickly after seminary. One day, I may write more about closing day, but today is not the day. We had the housewarming the first Saturday of October, it was a beautiful day. My mom even flew down from Kansas for the event! She helped me prepared the place, set up the kitchen, and gave tours of the house so I could rest :). I have a good mama. Amy (J's sister) took a ton of pictures for me and helped me out as well, shes a great sis in law and I'm lucky to have her! My dad was unable to come, and so were J's parents and sister Amber, but his Grandmother and Aunt Gail were able to come. It was so great to see everyone.

To prepare for the housewarming took a lot of work! After closing at the end of August, my parents came down and helped us pick out paint, curtains and a few extra things. We then began the process of painting the entire house. Now, the house had newly painted walls and new carpet, but the walls were a bluish white (kind of like the hair color some older ladies have). I was tired of white walls, I wanted a warmer color. So I chose warm caramel for all over the house, besides the kitchen, which I chose an olive color. I think they turned out great. Rodney came down and he and I painted the guest room and the master bedroom, then the following Saturday, Jason (he was unable to help due to work), Lynn, Amber, Amy, and Cliff and Angie Walker came to join us. We are incredibly thankful for everyones help! In about 5 days, my house looked transformed. Then before the party, Jason spent his day off, helping me get pictures, mirrors, accessories out throughout the house. I think he's pretty great!

So all to say, it took a lot of preparation to get the house ready, and I think it turned out pretty good! Here are some pics to show ya'll.

Our New Home!

Front door, J put in a new floor for entrance.

Awww, My Chair :)

My favorite furniture, from my brother and sis n law :).

My new Kitchen :)

My mama helping!

Down the hallway, we had plastic down b/c of new WHITE carpet.

Our bedroom, its so big!

Guest room.

Office

The Big Move

2010-01-22T21:49:00.008-06:00

Ok, so I realize this is about 7 months overdue, and I apologize. Life got really busy when we got here, and it seemed I never had time to blog. I am now scheduling a blog day, to at least blog at least once a week!

Here are some pictures, that my wonderful BFF :) Amanda took. The move and moving in days were crazy. Even with packers and movers, it was a bit insane. Yes, the church blessed us tremendously, with movers and packers, I know. They were informed of my RA, and said you don't need to be packing, they were wonderful to us! (and still are ;) ) Without the help of Rodney, Amy, and the Ericksons (David and Amanda), I'm sure it could not of been done.

This is a simple THANK YOU to all those that have helped us get to where we are, with the move, with the first 5 years of marriage. We know that it was God, who got us to where we are today, we never knew that we'd be able to buy a house. We are blessed!

Here are some pics (all courtesy of Amanda):

I'm surrounded!

Ericksons helping us move stuff!

Moving company.

The crazy old man who showed up
to help us, aka father in law :).

Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning!

Saying goodbye to a
great house and friends!

Our New Home!

My BFF :).

I felt like a kid again!

2009-10-18T16:48:00.004-05:00

Our church did an outreach event this afternoon. As we were driving by our last house to visit, we drove by Sonic, and what did we see?

I felt like I met my superhero!!!!

Anyway, thought I'd share, while I'm sipping on my Happy Hour Diet Cherry Limeade!

~The Curry's

We're Back!-- with new recipes!

2009-10-15T21:23:00.009-05:00

Hello to all of those that read our blog (which consist of maybe 5 people :) ). I have a lot of blogging to catch up on. From the move, to settling, to our house warming party. A lot! But for now, I wish to share a recipe with you. Tonight we had over some very special guests. They were Linda and Jon (our Real Estate agent and her husband, which he did a lot too!), and our broker, Jeanette. I call them our friends. Well last night, I did not know yet what to cook. But I knew I had a roast to cook, and thought, Mexican food sounded good. So I decided to try a new flavor, I have a Weber marinate seasoning and added a lil bit to it.

Tonight's Menu:

Chipotle Lime and Cilantro pulled beef
Jalapeno Honey Lime Vinaigrette w/a nice side salad w/chopped romaine lettuce, sliced red onions, tomatoes, and avocado.
Amy's Salsa :) (super yummy, a chunky salsa)
Pico De Gallo
Cilantro Lime Rice (like Chipotle's)
Homemade Guacamole
Grande Tortilla Chips: Salsa Limon- J and mines new love :).

Dessert:
Strawberry Shortcake (not the best, but it was good)

Roast Recipe:

2 lb. Roast
1 pckg. of Weber Chipotle Marinate Packet
3 Limes
Oil- use the amount the packet calls for
Cilantro- a handful

You put the roast into a zip lock bag (easy cleanup), next I microwave my limes to get the juices flowing as Rachael Ray says, and then I slice it in two, and poor all the juice I can get into a container, then I add the oil and cilantro with a bit a of salt. Mix it and poor it over the roast. Shake it up really good, and I had mine marinate for about 10 hours (overnight).

Next step, put it in the crock pot on low for 8 hours, by pouring the entire contents of the bag (including marinade), and let it cook! (I also added a few tbsp of water).

I let it cook until it pulls apart (or when the guest arrive!). Very important for the meat to absorb most of the liquid, if it doesn't transfer to a pot and cook it on the stove stop until it does.

I hope you enjoy!

Next the dressing was amazing, here is the link.

The rice was great, here's that link.

My friends Amy's salsa is great, super yummy!

3 Bell Peppers (red/orange/yellow)- chopped fine
1/2 Red Onion-chopped fine
1 can of Rotel
2 cans of Black Beans (or I've used black eyed peas or kidney)
1 package of frozen or can corn
salt to taste
1 tbsp of cumin seeds (she toast hers)
1 tbsp of garlic
1 Lime Juices
Handful of cilantro---adds a lot of flavor! (chopped)

I think thats it! I just usually use what I have, this time I used a can of diced tomatoes and a can of green chilis. It worked, thanks Amy for all those office partys you made this!

The pico de gallo was similar, just tomatoes, garlic, cilantro red onion, and lime juice. I added it to the rest of the salsa at the end.

Guacamole was about the same:

6 Avocados
Handful of cilantro, chopped
1 clove of garlic
1/4 cup of onion
1 Lime Juices

Mix it all up, and put it in the fridge, w/the avocado pits, the lime juice and pits, keep it form turning brown!

Well, the dessert was simple, already bought shortcakes (dry unfortunately) w/strawberries and cool whip.

They seemed very happy with the results. Which made me very happy because we wanted to say THANK YOU for all they did for us! So, if you want to try any of these recipes, let me know how it turns out!

Good night!

~The Curry's (Tonya :) )

P.S.-- Amanda I hope you are happy with the one updated blog entry ;).

Pretty Exciting News for the Curry's!!!

2009-07-14T17:45:00.019-05:00

Ok, well the last blog shared how our life may of had a few bumps in the road. Through all the bumps, God has still been there. These past couple of weeks we have been overwhelmed. As I've told you before Jason's resume has been out since August 2008. There were times we've been discouraged but we knew God had something in store. Well what has happened these past few weeks, have been a whirwind!

Jason has had a couple of interviews with Search Committees from about 3 churches. (1 in Louisiana, 2 in Texas) We were excited about these and Jason felt good about each of them. Our prayer was to go where God wanted us. A church in Irving, called and asked for a third interview (Jason had two prior interviews with them, one phone, the other in person with just him, this third interview, included me), we were pretty excited, and the search committee team we met were great, including the Pastor and Executive Pastor. We were not sure how it went, until..........

June 23, Jason called me and said "How are you?", I said "Good, how are you?", his response "I'm on cloud 9, Irving offered me the job." My response "Seriously?!?!". We were overwhelmed and excited. The next steps would be prayer and asking a few more questions. Jason wanted to talk to Keith (chairman of the search committee), and ask a few questions. He called him on Wednesday and they spoke, after prayer and talking with each other, we thought "God, this is too much, is this where you want us?" We knew it was. Jason called on Thursday to say "I am humbled and honored to accept." From then on, confirmation after confirmation, told us this was where we were suppose to be.

The next step was to be prepared for a place a live. I say, prepared, because we still had a meet and greet with the church, and they had to vote on us. So we decided to go Apartment Hunting, not fun! We then, for entertainment applied for a house loan to see if we were approved, and we were.Which then started a new phase.........housing hunting.

Through the house hunting process, we found an amazing lady who is a member of the church, Linda Stone. Such a wonderful lady, who has made this process so easy. We could not imagine doing this with anyone else! She has helped us with every step of the way, including helping us meet another great lady, Jeanette, who has been working on our loan. We plan to use Linda each time we move, regardless where! :) After a couple weekends and many phone calls and emails, I am happy to say we have found a house and are under contract. And as long as all goes well, we hope to sign papers end of August.

So, to conclude this story, Keith came and brought us info on the church, it was good to start to see what and who the church was. Next we met with Larry the executive Pastor and his wife, Carrie, we went to Pf Changs (very good!) and had a great tme. We had a meet and greet, where we met with the church family this past Saturday, such a precious/loving/fun group. Had a tour of the church, signed a contract for the house and then went to relax!The church gave us a great weekend with putting us up in a room at the Embassy Suites, such a relaxing and fun time. We really needed it! Then on Sunday, we met with more workers and volunteers and Jason got voted as the new Minister of Young Families for Plymouth Park Baptist Church!

We are so excited and scared at the same time. Jason has already worked two days and is blown away at how blessed he is, we hope to move in about two weeks to temporary housing and then in September move into our house! In the meantime I am finishing up my job at SWBTS, my last day being July 22. I am asked if I'm going to find a job, currently not right now, going to focus on the move and my RA, as well as getting involved and knowing my new church family. I hope also to blog a little more with recipes and life!

We right now want to pinch ourselves, because life is pretty amazing. Thank you all for your continued words of encouragement and prayer! (felt those prayers all the time!) Please don't stop praying though, please continue praying for us as we enter this next step in this thing called life.....

Here is our future home

Blessings,

The Curry's :)

Update on Life and hopefully more blog entry's to continue....

2009-06-07T15:56:00.004-05:00

Well the last blog I wrote was about a recipe, almost 3 months ago! A lot has happened it feels like. April kind of flew by, finishing up classes and working, and Jason working as well. May was not the greatest month for us, Jason got "let go" from the seminary. That was on a Wednesday, the Monday before this we got a rock thrown through our window at about 3 a.m. Funny thing of it is, that J woke up from the sound, I did not. I woke up to J calling security and then we called the police. You may of seen pictures of our porch, w/the pretty swing and the outdoor plastic furniture and table. Well they took the plastic furniture, and left the swing, took the table but decided two doors down they no longer wanted it, but left our swing :). So Jason went and got it. But hey, that is life, and we were not sure why people needed to steal our furniture for, all we knew to do was to pray for them. Jason spent all day cleaning up the house, he's a pretty good guy.

Jason has also been going back and forth to J'Ville to help his dad remodel his parents house and for Memorial Weekend we got to go to KS and see family! Including our nieces :)..... who we get to see in a few days! This past Friday, Jason and I celebrated 5 years of marriage. We cooked at home and had a nice meal, did not feel like going out, have had a rough couple of weeks and a night at home and a movie was the perfect recipe. I can't believe its already been 5 years, and they have been good years, some rough days/weeks/months at times, but we have been through it together, and there is no one else I would rather go through these times than Jason :). He's my best friend. We honestly have made it because of God, when we were going through the bad and good times, I would think, "how do people make it w/out God" for us, its unimaginable.

A quick update on our status, I have decided to no longer continue school. My RA(rheumatoid arthritis) has been one big factor in this decision, working full time, being a wife and a student. Has been too much for me. Jason is actively seeking ministry positions, and we are currently praying where God wants us. (he has had a few interviews, so that is good!) In the month of April, we sat and talked and felt God calling us to childrens ministry. This is something you could say we have been saying "no" to or didn't think we were called to. The more we talked about what God wanted us to do, we knew that we were called to Childrens ministry. So, after J's resume being out for about 8 months, and never getting any phone calls, we are now getting phone calls and emails. I guess when you finally do what God calls you to do, things start happening :). So we are ready to do full-time ministry, and I will either stay at home and help J, or still help J and only work part-time due to the RA.

Keep praying for us, we will be having some decisions to make soon about what we are to do and follow where God wants us.

Recipe

2009-03-09T12:14:00.005-05:00

So, I had a roast that I needed to use. I created a pretty good yummy recipe, I'd like to share it w/you:

Roast (I had a 3-5 lb roast)
2 packets of Taco Seasoning
1 can of Chipotle Tomatoes or Hot Rotel

I cooked this in a crockpot all day (started from a frozen state, so I cooked it on HIGH for 7-8 hours). Cook until Tender. Once the meat was tender, I broke it up and let the meat soak up the juices. (cooked for about another 30-60 minutes)

To serve, I had tostada shells, then spread refried beans on the shells, added the meat, topped it with cheese. Cooked in the oven until the cheese melted. Topped with lettuce, gaucamole, sour cream, and salsa. Pretty good!

Served with rice.

Anyway, just a thought if you need to revamp a roast recipe.

~Tonya

Coupons

2009-03-08T23:10:00.005-05:00

I have an article on my coupon blog to explain the beginning of the coupon game.

Link here.

~Tonya

Need Valentines Dinner Ideas??

2009-02-13T11:52:00.004-06:00

Well Papa Johns is the answer for you............

I found this cute and amusing. So for an affordable movie night at home and pizza, have fun on Valentines Day, whether it be with that special someone or a group of a bunch of friends, or a family night! Its something a little different than your "ordinary pizza".

Happy Valentines Day :)!

Coupons

2009-02-05T11:41:00.007-06:00

Some have asked me for coupon help. I am currently working on "Step by Step" how I do this. First off I learned by doing all of this by joining the Grocery Game, www.grocerygame.com. It is a big help. But I will hopefully w/in a week have the instructions all laid out of how I have acheived by only paying 75% for my groceries on average. You can go ahead and see my savings by clicking on labels "coupons, grocery games".

I am also starting a new blog for this, click here.

Thanks,

Tonya :)

The Results Are In..........

2009-01-30T14:48:00.011-06:00

Well some of you have emailed me asking me the "results" of shopping, I got guesses of $38 , $15, and $56.43 :).....

Well heres the results:

McCormick Taco Seasoning-----20 at 12.5 cents a pack
Rosas Refried Beans------------20 at .50 a can
Lysol Wipes (BOGO)------------------4 at 1.00 each
Frenches Mustard-------------12 at FREE :)
Pace Picante (full size 16 oz) ------23 at .50 a piece (my husband fell in love w/me all over again)
Hormel----------------------------8 at FREE
Nestle Cookies (Break n Bake) ------------12 at 1.00 a pack
Triscuits/Wheat Thins-------------------24 at .89 box
Gold Fish---------------------------------11 at FREE
Kroger Pam------------------------------1 at 1.99
Pam Olive Oil----------------------------1 at 1.89

Nestle treasures-------------------------1 at 1.00
Vitamins--------------------------------1 at 5.99
Ragu----------------------------------10 jars at .25
Ragu-----------------------------------2 jars at .50
Hunts----------------------------------4 cans ( 8.oz) at .10 each

A Total of 154 Items

So original cost before savings would of been $300.00

After SAvings and before coupons-----------$200.00

After Coupons (drum roll please)------------$75.00

Each item averaged .50 /item :)

I saved 75%... it still amazes me. Alone in coupons I saved $125.00, isn't that just crazy??? Well if you want to know more of the "secrets" shopping with coupons, let me know.......stay tuned til next time!!

Jason and I truly praise God after each of our grocery runs. God has blessed us with the "grocery game" that I am now been trained because of the website (http://www.grocerygame.com/) and am able to do it on my own. We are able to have food on our table each night, share with others (including Ms.Ella at Krogers), and be able to pay our bills and not worry.

Have a great weekend!

~Tonya (and a very proud hubby)

Can you guess how much I saved???

2009-01-25T22:18:00.007-06:00

These are the pictures of what I bought. Yes ....... I did buy a lot, for only 2 people. But I do share :). The point of the "grocery game" is to stockpile. So I stockpiled on a lot of items. I will not need to buy these items again in a long long time.......so here are the pics of what I got.......Guess how much!! (Everyone expect Amanda can guess, b/c she went shopping w/me)

So here is all I got........Can you guess how much??????

McCormick Taco Seasoning	20
Rosas Refried Beans	20
Lysol (BOGO)	4
Frenches Mustard	12
Pace Picante (full size 16 oz)	23
Hormel	8
Nestle Cookies (Break n Bake)	12
Triscuits/Wheat Thins	24
Gold Fish	11
Kroger Pam	1
Pam Olive Oil	1
Nestle treasures	1
Vitamins	1
Ragu	10
Ragu	2
Hunts	4

A Total of 154 Items

And if you want to know how I stored all of this.......well I can post those on another blog!

Prayer for my Grandparents

2009-01-22T15:36:00.004-06:00

I usually don't post these, but since this is now connected to my facebook, I thought I would be able to get a prayer request out faster.

My grandma back in December hurt herself and has a pinch nerve in her back, she is 80, and shes in a lot of pain. And my grandpa, (83?) on the same day broke his hand. I am just asking prayer for them, and here is what my mom emailed me:

Daddy wanted me to email you guys to let you know that gpa has a growth on his prostrate gland. They don't know for sure if it is cancer. He has a biopsy scheduled for two weeks in Salina but daddy is going to try to get him in at Topeka. Don't worry... lots of prostate cancers and conditions are fully treatable in a non-invasive way. Pray for him.Also, pray for gma. She has another shot this Friday. Pray that things go well and her pain decreases.

So I'm trying not to worry, but its not always easy. I don't get to see them but about twice a year and that part is getting hard. So if you think about, say a prayer for Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Kathryn.

Thanks,

Tonya

Jason the Graduate!!!

2008-12-31T23:55:00.010-06:00

I am so proud of Jason!!! He graduated on December 12, 2008 from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He completed a 64 hour Masters degree in just a little over 2 years!!

This is us before the Graduation Reception at the EM (Educational Ministries) school and Pecan Manor (Presidents home):

The next day was Graduation Day!!! Here are some photos of the graduate with family and friends!!! (Even my dad came :) )

Proud Mama.

Before the Ceremony!

Its official!Group Pic!

Co-worker Jacob and then a pic with sis in law, Amy :).

Father and Daughter and then sisters!

Proud wife and proud father in law!

Jason's family, sisters, parents and then aunts :).

Jason with his Grandmother and then our Pastor, Scott.

Frito Pie Spread

Right now J's resume is "out there." We are excited for what God is doing in our lives, would like to know what the plan is, but "patiently" waiting.......:). I am still working on my Masters so we'll be in Fort Worth, until God tells us to go :).

Congrats Babe!!! I'm proud of you! -Love-your wife

The Legacy of a Man...

2008-12-19T23:23:00.012-06:00

A week ago today, a very close family friend passed away. He had battled non-Hodgkin lymphoma (stage 4) (I believe this is the accurate diagnosis), for about a year and a half or more. I grew up with this family, I remember playing barbies with Mel, and Lance and Nathan producing their own show "My World". (I was the behind the scenes cameraman and Mel was the commercial gal) We had grown apart throughout the years (different grade levels and etc.) but I believe we all knew that if we needed each other we were there.

I will not claim to know Eldon on a very intimate level. I knew Eldon as Mel's dad (and Nate's) and Lorna's husband. Still knowing this very little of him, he was still the most happy guy you could meet. Many times you realize as you grow older, you wish you could of gotten to know somebody on a more personal level (talk about life, etc). Eldon, would of been one of those men, that if not me, even if my husband could of known him, I think would of affected him in many ways.

At the celebration of life, I got to hear of a man I never knew. I got to hear of a good friend, a wonderful colleague, a man of many deep discussions about life and faith, and somebody who was there for you when you needed him the most. The letters written from his son, daughter, and wife spoke words of love, admiration and thankfulness. But the neatest thing to hear of this mans life, was his passion for God.

I always knew Eldon was a Christian,we attended the same church and lead music at the church us kids grew up at. When we (both families) left that church, we looked for a new church home, and both families ended up at the same church. To my knowledge, our dads, attended the most. I know my dad always looked forward to each Sunday morning getting to say HI to Eldon and catch up on the week. They would according to my dad, sit by each other or behind or in front of one another (depending on who got there on time :) ) The pastor who spoke, spoke about the time when they were colleagues, and he could tell that something was different about Eldon, later to find out that something different, was the evidence of Christ in his life. Eldon had a daily quiet time, something that his parents embedded in him. My dad said that every Sunday Eldon was able to be there, he was always taking notes, as my dad said "he was a student of the word." From what was said of Eldon, he knew who his God was. What an amazing testimony. The testimony of his wife, in the letter she wrote to him to say "goodbye" was amazing. Lorna, also I was amazed by and challenged by. In her letter she said "sweetheart, you've got the best retirement package." To know that she misses him, I can't imagine how much, but to the point that she too, knows where her husband is, and would know that he is with our Heavenly Father, what a testimony. Thank you Lorna, for the strength that you wrote in that letter. The words said about this man were words, that many would want said of them. But, the words said about Eldon, were words of truth.

This celebration of life was truly an amazing celebration. Many tears were shed for this amazing man of God. His son promising to go on that motorcycle trip next Spring, his daughter saying "I don't want to say goodbye daddy", and his wife saying just the word "sweetheart" almost brings tears to my eyes as I write this. I cannot imagine the pain and grieving they are going through, and honestly, I do not want to ever experience it.

In the pamphlet given, in the inside was a scanned written note of Eldon's that had the verse: Psalm 29:4 "One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to mediate in His temple." After this verse, were the words "This is what I want...3/11/2007 ELR" Eldon knew his God, no matter what trial he was facing, he kept his faith and he fought the good fight. The legacy of this one man has challenged me in my own faith, I want to know the God I worship on Sundays and throughout the week. I want to truly say that "This is what I want" when I read Ps. 29:4. I have a long journey ahead of me. Thank you God, for letting this man be part of my childhood that one day, his life would be one that I would like my own life to resemble.

After the celebration of life, my husband looked at me and said "I have never been so impressed by one mans testimony." This truly sums it up, I know that I have left some things out, but this is what I felt compelled to share. The legacy of a man, can truly change your life and challenge it for the better. Jason and I are going to strive to have faith like Eldon and Lorna both had and have, faith like Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

God Bless.

(This was published by permission of Eldon's family)

New Info Regarding Santa's Reindeers:

2008-12-19T13:41:00.003-06:00

Hehe, though this is not the true meaning of Christmas at all. This is just a funny little story, and continuing the battle of how men have no sense of direction and women do. Although I cannot claim that to be true in my marriage at all times, (believe me, you'd rather have J driving you), its just pretty funny. So heres a little laugh for you during this Christmas season:

REMEMBER THIS AT CHRISTMAS TIME

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December. Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring. Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl. We should've known... ONLY women would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.

Merry Christmas!

Since the Great Smoke of '08!

2008-12-09T10:32:00.005-06:00

Well J and I have officially named this incident as the Great Smoke of '08. :) This past month has been a whirlwind. It has not been a lot of fun, but we have survived. Lynn (J's mom)has been down quite a few times to help, I know we would not have got as much done as we did without her. She came pre-clean with Rodney (J's dad :) ) and they helped us pack up the house. She then came after the company cleaned the place with a chemical and wiped down our kitchen, then put my kitchen back in order. So thank you Lynn!

So if you ever have a "Great Smoke" here is how the process works. J and I first tried to clean the house ourselves with vinager and a carpet cleaner. Give up now, do not try, it will not get the smell out. Call the company to come clean your house. There is no use in you wasting your time cleaning and having no results. (FYI :) )The seminary brought the company in for us, at their own expense, and we are so grateful. There are two options with this company, 1. they come in, pack up your house, and take your items to be cleaned at their warehouse and then clean your house or 2. you pack up and then they will clean the walls and carpet and get the smoke out of that. Choose option 1 if it is up to you, we were fine with packing, we're not complaining, but we pray this doesn't happen again, but if it does, we will choose 1. So they come in and do one round of cleaning, then they do another round that is a therma fog that will "kill" the previous chemical smell. This chemical they use. It does not go away, you have to wipe down everything, like a deep deep spring cleaning. So that was our Thanksgiving break. We cleaned every item we own, with concentrated Lysol. And we slowly moved back into our house after living at J's sis apartment for 3 weeks. We were happy to be home. The smell is still there, but we are thankful for hazelnut candles and apple cinnamon, they make the house smell like home again. I'm told the smell never goes away (unless a new paint job is done I assume). So as long as we live there it'll be there, but we're happy to be home.

It was a long process, imagine deep cleaning everything you own. The baseboards to every dish you own. Some things still smell, so we'll see how it goes. We are so thankful that we were cleaning items and not sweeping them up. We were very lucky. We also had a company come in and clean our carpets and furniture.

We are thankful for the prayers and support from friends and family. Our parents have been willing to help us with anything and everything we need. We are blessed with great parents ;). And family that lets us stay with them (thanks Amy (and Allegro :) )) and store stuff in their homes. A great "landlord" that has helped us to the end (Housing Director and Associate Director of the Physical Plant at SWBTS.

Like I've said, it has not been fun. But we have survived. We are now waiting on what God has for us next. Jason graduates this Friday with his Master of Arts in Christian Education (emphasis: Teaching). He has worked extremely hard and I am so proud of him!!! We are still all packed up, waiting to unpack until after Christmas, so we'll see what God has in store!

We will be seeing J's family during the week of Christmas and mine the week after! We are both excited to be seeing family and relaxing. And J will be singing "No more papers no more books, no more teachers dirty looks!" (he has a revised version, but I can't remember it :) ) Thank you again for all the prayers and we have a few blogs to post that were "Pre-Great Smoke of '08" :)

Merry Christmas and enjoy and savor the time with your family!!!

Blessings,

Curry's :)

A message from the Smokies...........

2008-11-05T13:49:00.006-06:00

As some of you already know, last Monday an accident occurred at the Curry’s residents. I (Tonya), went home on a break to start boiling chicken, Jason was home, so he would be able to turn it on low, well he left for class and forgot to turn the burner down (not putting blame on J, it was a joint effort :) ), we came home at 1:00 p.m. to a house full of smoke.

Since then, we have had to pack up about ¾ of our house, and prepare for a company to come in a and clean. The smoke was in everything, not one thing did not smell as smoke. We had begun that Monday night working until Tuesday morning at 4:30 a.m., cleaning ourselves. My boss (aka: Housing Director) on Tuesday , learned of the events, spoke with the physical plant, and they graciously brought in this company to clean out our house of smoke smell.

On Wednesday, Jason’s parents came and helped us pack up our house from 9am to 8 pm that night. Having to clean every single item, sort out food, and etc. The prior night, Amy came and helped. Also our friends the Ericksons, took us out to Souper Salad and then today her David brought us soup that Amanda had made :). Amy Welker, my co-worker, has offered to come over tomorrow night to help with the putting the house back together. We were very grateful to all of them.

This past weekend we went to Jacksonville to do laundry, Jason’s family all lives on the same land (aunts, grandmother, and his parents) We had 3 washer and dryers this way. We did a total of an estimate of 20 loads of laundry, this was from every sock to the curtains on the wall, the bath rugs and etc. We got home this morning at 1:00 a.m., well to our temporary home, Jason’s sister Amy’s apartment. She has let us live w/her this past week now. Along with her puppy Allegro,which if you see us, ask Jason how he likes his "nephew", Allegro and Uncle Jason have a special bond... hehe.

The next few weeks will be long, we have to wipe down furniture, clean the pots and dishes that were left in the house, and unpack and put our house back together. Unfortunately, we will no longer be going to Kansas to see my family for Thanksgiving, we are going to spend the week putting the house back together and organizing. We are grateful that we only had to wipe down our belongings, and not have to sweep them up. We feel blessed that the situation could of been worse and it was not.

We would appreciate your prayers, as this is going to be hard with final projects for school to be completed and in general for our health, as well as for our sanity and just to bring peace. The moving and bending hurts Jason’s back and the packing and wiping things down flares up the Rheumatoid in my wrists. Many thoughts go through our minds like "are we moving" , "what does God have in store for us?". We really do not know why this happened, but we are getting through with a lot of help from prayer. We are tired and worn down, but are doing good! We thank you again for those who have been praying for us and we want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! (We will be celebrating with my co-worker Norita and her husband Earl. And Norita has graciously offered for me to help w/decorating for Christmas :) )

I will end with a quote from Jason, as we are sorting laundry, he says "Well, that was that was the most expensive pot of soup we've ever made, and we didn't even get to eat it! :)"

From the one and only.....JASON!

2008-09-25T10:48:00.005-05:00

Ok, My first try at this blob, I mean blog thing.

I hope all know that I am finishing up my Seminary Masters degree this December, Very important for everyone to know this. I hope to be serving in a church soon, in the capacity of Minister of… have absolutely no clue. God has always called me in steps, never revealing what is next until His perfect timing comes about. I pray that He moves in our life in this manner soon. I am looking forward to serving the Lord doing what I hope He has been preparing me for.

Tonya’s Work, I think, is going great. I do have to continually remind her that she is talented, capable of making good grades, the best cook a man could have, good looking woman. She also as if that was not enough has a great deal of potential to serve God in ministry. I would not have made it where I am without her, God planned her to work in my life the way she has. She is my help mate. So it has now passed to me to be her help mate. So her studying habits still need working on. The one thing about trying to get her to study, I love her cleaning the house, love it, love it. (this means I do not have to clean) But she has been cleaning the house to “get out” of doing school work, see my problem. On the one hand: I am a selfish man, I don’t want to clean the house. On the other hand: I know she needs to study so I want her to leave it to me. So if you see her, tell her “read every chance you get, let the Husband do the cleaning”.
Glad that was said.

Well in other news. My Bro. in-law has mono, if anyone remembers or cared I had mono last year and I felt for the guy. He had a chance to possibly get a job but he had conflicts getting to the interviews because of… you guessed it mono. God must have something better for him because he has not been able to get back with them and they essentially have moved on. We talked on the phone for about 15-20min I shared some groans and moans of my experience with mono. And tried to encourage him with wise words like: “don’t worry you’ll feel better in 2 or 3 weeks.” “Only exhaustion awaits you after the aches and pains go away.” Make sure you spray disinfectant after you’ve used something.” “Hand sanitizer will help people not fear your disease.” Get the idea, the guy still said thanks like I had actually given him hope that this will go away. I still get exhausted abnormally after a days work. I wish that could improve, but it seems that I must feel tired more than usual a bit longer.

My sister Amy got a job this week after visiting with one of my teacher, Dr. Marcia McQuitty, about Amy looking into children’s ministry studies. I had no idea of what would happen for Amy this week but Monday morning she met with Dr. McQuitty, I took her over to the Day Care center on campus, and left her getting an interview with the boss. She got a job that day, on the spot, and started the next day. All on a Monday. God does some things when we least expect and most of the time when we quit looking for it to happen. This was an answered prayer. She is applying for seminary now and we hope that she will get in with no problems or hold ups. She going to pursue a Masters in Christian Education in Children’s ministry.

I will leave you with a thought I have had for a couple of days now. I wish that ya’ll, could appreciate the art of listening to scripture, or hear it the way I do. Not that I have the marked on it or something like that. Just strictly for conversation reasons. I listened to first and second Samuel. I find myself just amazed by Samuels words to Saul. God will choose for himself one after his own heart. (1 Samuel) when referring to David I know not one man that could say he was better than him. My hope is that just like I did, you could hear that we are all after God’s own heart, adopted children that God chose himself. Listening to David’s life anew and hear all his struggles, victories, sins, joys, and sorrows, this man chosen by God, helps to give me courage, hope, and assurance of his love and power in me to do whatever He has for us in our future. My prayer is that He shows you that you’re His child and if you become president, get a doctorate, become homeless, get it all or lose it all, you still never lose that standing. You’re a child of God that is the least you or I will ever be. You are a child of God that is also the greatest you and I will ever be. No matter what, we are His children.

In Christ,Jason Curry

Look in the sky.....is it a bird, a plane? No...........Its Indiana Jones?

2008-09-24T12:00:00.004-05:00

Well this past weekend the Welkers invited us over to play their cool new Wii. Amy and I had planned on going to downtown to Uno's Pizza but the plans changed at last minute when we heard about 5 times each from our husbands, "are you sure that'll give us enough Wii time by going downtown, eating, then getting back that late?" Ok, let me clarify, "that late" is about 7:30 or so. So we get in the car and I look at Amy and say "are you sure we need to go downtown?", she gets the clue, and says "no, lets go to this pizza place that Jason (her Jason) and I love". So we go.

Then we get back in time for the boys to play Wii. The played Indiana Jones, and before we got to the Welkers I asked J if he wanted his Indiana Jones hat, he said, oh yeah! So here is the boy w/his hat playing Wii with his buddy Jason Welker.

Here he is concentrating really hard! (And don't be confused this is Jason not Indiana Jones, for those that may need clarification :) )

You may be thinking, what did Amy and Tonya do? Well we went shopping to Cotsco, Bed Bath and Beyond and Krogers. We got ready for the party the next day at the Welkers. :) When we got back though, it was time for me to try the Wii. I played Tennis, bowling and cow racing! All in all the Wii is a pretty cool little gadget, quite fun. And we enjoyed our night with the Welkers!

Welcome Basket (A Work in Progress).........

2008-09-09T14:21:00.008-05:00

Jason worked hard to put together some Welcome to our Neighborhood baskets on Sunday while I read on my Swing may I add :)......

The awesome guy even made cookies and here is the documenation to prove it!

He first tried the bowl (please notice my nice China bowl, but the wife does not complain when the husband makes cookies)......... he then transferred them to the Kitchen Aid Mixer (which helped make the chocolate chip cookies into chocolate cookies :) ).......

The finished Product! Good Job Babe!!

A little Video for your enjoyment!

My New Swing.......

2008-09-09T14:17:00.003-05:00

Jason worked hard and got this swing put together from a frame that we got from our neighbors. This is my new spot at home, I love it! Thanks Jason :).

Didn't he do good??!!

Busy Weekend........

2008-09-09T13:33:00.007-05:00

Jason and I had a pretty busy weekend. First thing we did was go out with the Ericksons Friday night and went to Souper Salad!, our favorite place to go :). Then Amanda and I went to Garden Ridge and we bought some items to decorate for fall. I bought 4 wreaths, they were all from the summer and were 90% off, so they were from $1.00-2.00 :), and then I bought a "garland type" of leaves, and a few things to stick in my wreath, to make a Fall wreath! I looked at all the wreaths for sale, and they just were not in my "budget". So for 7.50 I made a wreath that looks like the ones for 25.00, tell me what ya think:

Next items up that I bought were little porcelin pumpkins and squash to make a centerpiece, and I bought a cheap mat to put under it, again, tell me what ya think:

So we "decorated" a small bit and the next morning we cleaned up the front porch. Jason was awesome and painted a table, made a swing (from a frame that the Mays gave us) and cleaned up our "landscaping" area. So here is our front porch!

This is where you'll find us now!!! :)

The rest of Saturday we got to watch an adorable little guy Eli until Sunday after church! We played outside, saw fish up here at the seminary, and even got to see the one and only Noche (our Presidents dog). We had so much fun and were ready for rest!

My Brothers Wedding 8-8-08

2008-09-09T13:28:00.003-05:00

My brother got married last month and I wanted to post a few pics of the very happy newlyweds! :)

And here is one of Jason and I with my grandparent's! :)

A good day and night :)

2008-09-03T20:55:00.005-05:00

I went to class today and chapel today and both were good! After work today I thought what can I do for dinner? I forgot I had steaks that I bought on quick sale, so we had steak, free wild rice a roni (coupons rock :) ), cheap broccolli and cheese, and free croissants! Thank you grocery game for a cheap and delicous dinner. I keep getting reminded how lucky Jason and I are, to never worry about if there will be food on the table, we are very blessed and God takes care of us everyday, its a good reminder :).

On another good note, I got to talk to an old friend, that I haven't talked to in about 8 years, it was really good!

Hope you all have a great evening and I'm going to go start that thing they call reading.........

"He" works hard for his money.........

2008-09-02T14:48:00.005-05:00

Well Jason went to his parents this weekend to start the many phases of remodeling their home. They are doing room by room and the first room was Amys "old" room. Amy just moved out, so it worked out really well.

The whole process took 3 days, that was preppping/kilz/painting walls and doors,pulling up carpet, putting down laminate wood floors and adding white trim. It looks awesome! When the whole house is done, it'll look new! :)

I studied all weekend and read theology books that didn't make a whole lotta sense to me. We stayed at Jason's grandmothers house and it was nice and quiet.

On Labor day, we labored all day and cleaned, put up laundry and washed laundry for about 5 hours. From mopping the floor to my awesome hubby scrubbing the bathroom even using a toothbrush at times! That night we went to Jonny Carinos and got the family platter (half off Monday nights) and got lasagna, pretty good! (had it for lunch the next day too!)

So that was our Labor day, we were pretty pooped from a long weekend of working and studying so we went to bed at 9 and woke up at 7 this morning :).

Hope you had a great day too and got a lot done too!

Where have we been?

2008-08-24T16:51:00.005-05:00

Well after the cruise, life got crazy. Jason had wisdom teeth surgery, and two weeks later and dry sockets he survived. My office got busier, we have moved in quite a few people over the last few months. I had a root canal and found out I am claustrophobic. I rode my new bike once before the chain broke. We celebrated Lynn's 50th and first ever birthday party! :) Amy, J's sister moved up here and is job hunting. Its pretty fun having her and her dog Allegro up in DFW :).

Some of the biggest news is that Jason and I no longer felt called for Jason to do the Ph.D. program, after talking and praying we made a decision not to even apply. So we thought we might be done, but oh no..... I am now the student! I am pretty excited about it, I will be getting a Master of Arts in Christian Education with a concentration in Women's Ministry. Pretty exciting news :). Jason has been very supportive and excited for me, there was a little sadness in him no longer pursuing the Ph.D, he had worked so hard on it. We are now looking for ministry positions, to where we do not know! :) I am starting my classes, and there is so much reading to do I should not be updated my seriously past due blog. But I needed to do it! Jason is taking one class and will be done in December with his MACE in Teaching :), that's not a teaching degree like a high school teacher, its more like teaching others to teach in the church (Sunday School, small group).

Other exciting things have happened, my brother Lance got married to his sweetheart :) Elizabeth, and we got to go home to KS for this event and visit with family including my brother and sister in law as well as our nieces :). We got to go to Chuckie Cheese as well, all to say it shows that Uncle Jason and Aunt Tonya do not have kids, we liked the games, but it was loud! Us and my parents were overwhelmed and ready to leave the noise :) haha. We had so much fun though and would of done it again in a heartbeat! To play with my niece was priceless and get to meet my new one was amazing. Its fun to grow up some days, and this was one of them. Its pretty neat to see my brother a daddy, and I have to say he is one darn good dad, I'm proud of him. He has an awesome teammate as well-my sister in law is an amazing mother.

Well that is us summed up in one blog over the last two months, from weddings to birthday parties and having fun in the sun during the hot summer days, we are ready for Fall! I would blog about the Olympics like some are, but I'm sad to say I have not been watching them :(. I saw a few races of Michael Phelps, but not enough to be a Phelps Phan :). Jason just built me an outside swing out of an old swing that he "refurbished" in a sense for me, I"ll get pics up of it soon :). (Elizabeth-the one you gave us :) )

We have new neighbors, two guys Chris and Tim, we plan to have them over soon and visit. Our first neighbors the Mays left in May :), and then the Sixes left about a month ago, its been sad not having them here, but I'm excited to meet our new neighbors :). Well time to wake up the hubby from a afternoon nap and time for me to get some reading done.

I pray that if you go to Church, you had a blessed morning and message like I had, and if you don't I pray that you go visit a church some Sunday morning and you'll be blessed :).

In Him,

Jason and Tonya

Last Few Days and Comments

2008-08-24T16:41:00.003-05:00

Well after all the shore excursions, we got to rest for a couple more days on the cruise. It was a sad day when we left, the Cruise was an amazing trip. Jason and I really needed to get away, and this was honestly an Answer to prayer. I hope you enoyed reading about our cruise, it was so much fun. This was truly a relaxing time and we honestly think God for it! :)

Thank you mom and dad Curry for answering our prayers!

Day 6: Cozumel

2008-08-24T15:45:00.010-05:00

Day 6 of our cruise.

We went to Cozumel, Mexico. All 6 of us decided to travel to see the Mayan Ruins in Tulum, Mexico. Getting there was an adventure itself. To get to the Bus to take you the the Mayan Ruins, you must first take a ferry. These ferry's are pretty much a big speedboat that holds a lot of people. If you don't take the nausea medicine ever on the cruise, take it for this ride. You will be very nauseous. So this ride lasted about 30-45 minutes to get over to Playa de Carmen. We arrived at the dock and people were very happy to get off!

We then get off meet our tour guide and wait to walk to the bus. The walk to the bus was only about 5 minutes, we get on and our adventure begins, we are on our way to Tulum, Mexico. Raul,was our tour guide, a very nice man and a Mayan himself, he had a lot of historical facts about the Mayan ruins (hes a history teacher as well) and very passionate. We stopped at a little shop on the way there, Jason got his shot glass for his collection (it was started by family- some gets spoons, my husband gets shot glasses). We then got back on the bus and traveled to Tulum, once we got there, it was like a shopping center of the front of a Zoo, very interesting. We walked about 10 minutes to get there and finally did. The pictues will say the rest!

Jason, Amber and Lynn probably enjoyed this trip the most, but the rest of us did have fun.

I got to play in the ocean, get taken down by waves, and walk with sand in my feet. Overall this was a very cool place to visit, enjoy the pics!

Day 5: Grand Cayman Islands

2008-08-23T21:17:00.000-05:00

Day 5 we arrive in the Grand Cayman Islands. Gorgeous is the word for this place!!! The photos above are of us arriving.

The shore excursion that Amber and us decided was the Pirate Ship, while Rodney, Lynn and Amy chose to go on a tour of the island. The ship did not dock, so we took a ferry to shore whre we waited for our excursion. We waited for quite some time to go on our excursion. Here are some photos of Rodney and Lynn waiting as well as the ferry we took:

We finally get to the pirate ship, and its pretty exciting!

When we got on the pirate ship, there was about a 10 minute "dramatic act". It was pretty funny. From making the kids scrub the deck to tying a poor guy up until he answered questions right! It was a lot of fun then we got to explore. You will notice one funny photo, this actual pirate ship from the 1800's has been modernized.... you will see on one photo the "speed boat" part of it, and the best part...the captain was talking on his cell phone the whole time! Hahahahahaha. This was a fun excursion, we would reccommend though if you do want to do this, they have a longer ride where they actually take the sails down at night. But you have to stay in Grand Cayman for that. So oh well! :) But if you do this, you get to go swimming in the ocean as well!!! Hope you enjoy the photos:

Here now are photos of all 3 of us, you see Jason made friends with the "pirates" and Amber is sporting her new braids!

Day 4: Montego Bay Jamaica

2008-07-17T09:47:00.000-05:00

Day 4 we wake up very excited to know that we are in Montego Bay! We go out on the front deck and see that we are really here!

These are just a few we took!

Waiting for Excursion!!

The shore excursion we all chose was riding in a semi-sub and see coral reefs! We were pretty exited, we also were going to get the chance to go snorkling! Well we ride a bus to the spot that was literally a five minute walk, why ride a bus? I have no idea. So we get there and get on the semi-sub.
We ride the ship out a bit into the ocean. The guide then directs us to go down the ship to see the Coral Reefs. We were pretty excited, but unfortunately when we got down there, the windows hadn't been cleaned for awhile. An the view was not so pretty at all. You can tell by the pictures:

The next (and most) exciting part of our excursion is snorkling! We had a blast with this. Amy and I had a few difficulties, Lynn couldn't see, but Jason, we thought he was going to swim away! He had a lot of fun and almost went around the whole boat. Rodney refused to go in and Amber had an ear infection, but she took the pictures for us!! :)

Jason, me and Amy,Us snorkling,Lynn and I,Rodney and Jason Amber and Amy and then Amy snorkling!

So after snorkling we get back on the semi-sub and head back to shore. Amber starts to get her hair braided. We get back to shore and I take no time to stop at the little shops because, sorry for too much info .. but I had to pee, and I decided that I was not going to pee anywhere but in my own cabin! So poor Jason is following me and somewhat wanting to stop and look, but I am on a mission and am not looking back, even to see where my husband is...... sorry babe. We get to the cabin, I take care of business, get dressed and go to lunch w/Amy. Amber at this time is still getting her hair braided and so Rodney and Lynn wait on her. After lunch we decide to play on the ship and go swimming. Most people are off the ship and so there is no one on there really and so we decide to swim and then go on the slide!!!!

That night we took a photo before dinner. Again, had a wonderful meal, and talked about the next day.... Grand Cayman Islands!

The Cruise: Day 2-3: Day at Sea

2008-07-17T09:46:00.000-05:00

Day 2 we woke up still feeling like we were in a dream. We decided to try the dining room for breakfast, it was interesting. We found Lynn and Rodney and they joined us. Amber and Amy, we did not know where they were. We went and got seated with 6 other people. Very intersting table can I say. One lady from New York, now in TX was not happy with the past nights food and let the waiter know about it. Then this older lady's daughter and son in law, didn't act like it was anything odd, so the daughter and the lady I sat next to had a interesting conversation about re-encarnation. Lynn and Rodney met some fellow Texans and they talked. Jason and I , really didn't fit in, we were ummmm about 20 some years younger. So we talked :). After breakfast we went walking around and found Amy and Jason, Amy and I decided to get in the Hot tub, it was nice :).

After that we went walking around and found Deck 3 again, we went out on the deck and took some pictures, it was amazing!

Afternoon of Day 2: We obviously had lunch, I think I had a burger, it was great :). Jason had one too, and of course ice cream. Then we went walking around and saw the photo we took when we first got on ship was able to buy. They had photos everywhere. They took photos of when we had dinner the first night too. Fun photos too, so we bought the picture of us all arriving and then Lynn bought all of us at dinner. The photos were great, and worth the money! :) I then decide to join Amy on the deck to tan, and Jasons joins us , he sits in the shade. (this was after he had to walk halfway down the ship to get a lounger". So we sit out and try to tan, and we all attempt reading. Jason succeeds, he starts reading "A Man Called Peter" and Amy and I try to nap :).

After "tanning" we went to the room and got ready for the first formal of the evening. :)

It was fun being dressed up and going to a nice dinner with Ni and Igede waiting for us :). We tried the shows they have each night, but they're Vegas style, and not really for us! So we skipped out on it, and heard we didn't miss much! :)

Day 3: We went and got breakfast at the buffet and I got an omelet, yummo! And if you are wondering, "Did Jason have ice cream then even?" Oh yes he did, you see Jason made a coffee drink for himself, he used coffee and chocolate ice cream with a lil bit of ice, honestly it was good, tasted just like and Ice Mocha.

We then go walk around the ship, still in shock we are on a cruise! That afternoon started the afternoon of taking naps! After lunch we'd go walk around and then feel very sleepy. So we'd go the room, you see our room had no windows. So it was dark 24/7, very nice :), we'd fall asleep around 2:30 and get up at 5:30 for dinner! It was soooo nice!!!

That evening we went to dinner and we got prepared for our First shore excursion... Montego Bay Jamaica!!!!!

The Cruise...being a told a few weeks later.......very long long long long weeks later.......

2008-07-17T09:45:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't blogged about our cruise yet! Boy did we have a good time :). So here is the blog from our wonderful cruise, Thanks Mom and Dad Curry, it was the most amazing trip ever :).

Day 1: Traveling to Galveston

Jason and I traveled to J'Ville Saturday night so we could all leave Sunday morning together. We met Jasons parents in Tyler to get a Tux for the wedding, 20 minutes prior to closing and for only $50 we got a tux for the week of the cruise. Next Mom and Dad Curry took us to dinner for my BDay, we went to Cotton Patch Cafe, they are really yummy FYI. Then after that everybody helped me make my last errands, and then we got all packed up and ready.

We left about 7am Sunday morning, it was an interesting ride. Rodney only stopped 2 times, we are quite proud of him. We stopped at a HEB on the way and picked up a few last things. About 11 am we arrived, and then we saw..... the Boat. (Wow) It was amazing, so pretty and big! IT was like, "this is really happening".

So when we arrived Lynn had bought parking spots already for the week, we just didn't know where to park, so the guys drove us up front, found out where, and we unloaded luggage and they went and parked. Then we waited in line, first they took our luggage, we took our carry ons, got checked in and then went up escalators for the Longer wait. It was baggage check and then getting our keys. 1:30 we got our keys, took a group picture by the very nice Carnival Cruise photographers, and then it was time. After a few tunnels we were on the ship, once I stepped foot on what I now know as Deck 3, Rodney looked at me and said "Tonya you're on a ship" and then in case I didn't know for sure the guy working said "Hey Tonya, you're on a ship." :) Thanks. But at that point I did not care, I was on a cruise ship and there was nothing to do but relax, so he could repeat I'm on a ship and I would grin and grin :). We get in and theres a bar, we were going to buy a drink card for Soda's, decided since it was $50.00, we could do without it. Next the long waiting time for the elevator, you see we were on Deck 3, we needed Deck 9 Lido Deck. A lot of people were needing a different Deck than Deck 3, so me patient I waited, Jason not so patient, 12 flight of stairs later, we happily met him as we were getting off our elevator :). Lets just say he could not breath for about 3 minutes. Next we get in our room, we were in a stateroom with no windows, which at first we thought this was going to be bad, but when we saw it, it was going to be ok. I highly recommend these rooms, no window=nap any time! :) So we get in the room, Rodney and Lynne are in the same hallway as us, down 2 doors, and Amy and Amber on opposite of us in another hallway. After a "pit stop" we go down to the buffet. Which you see is on the Lido Deck (which is our deck), so we walk down, and we walk outside to a beautiful deck. A pool and two hot tubs. We then walk in and its a huge buffet, after walking around we find a place to sit and Amber and I get the buffet and eat a salad and some other stuff. Amy and Jason have gone off and Lynn and Rodney are no where to be seen at this point. About 10 minutes later, Amy and Jason have found us and they have huge grins. You see they found the Grill, they both got burgers (and Jason got a hot dog as well) they were happy, Amy smiles and goes, we got to eat Ice Cream while waiting, I said "what?", yep we got ice cream. You see, while standing in line at the grill, there is a 24 hour ice cream machine, aka: Jasons New best friend. I just shake my head and say "Honey, remember our door is not very big in width, its pretty small." He says "Leave me alone, I'm on vacation." I say, 'true'. So Lynn and Rodney find us, we all eat, and I call my parents to say "Hi and hope to talk w/you on the Internet. and I love you :)." Well this was before I found out Internet was .75 cents a minute, so plans changed. Then Amy and I go exploring, we go look around and then decide being on Deck 5 we can walk up to Deck 9, then it was a good idea. little did we know that in 4 minutes we would be walking down those same stairs for a "Emergency Drill"... on Deck 4. So we went out on Deck 4 and got taught what to do in case of an emergency, those lil boats you see on the side of the boat can hold a lot of people just to let you know. So the drill ends and then we are off to our rooms, climbing up the stairs, and yes we are out of shape. After passing out in our rooms at 4:00 we woke at 5:00 for dinner :), just kidding, but we were out of breath. We freshened up and then we were off to dinner for our reservations at 6:00 p.m. at Table 116, little did we know this would be our favorite part of the cruise.

We entered our Dining Room, it was gorgeous, and we asked where our table was, we were directed to it, and wow how God gave us a wonderful table. We had a window table, while eating, we got to see the ocean the whole evening. It was amazing. We then got a wonderful waitress, Ni, she was awesome, from Indonesia and boy she knew how to give Jason a hard time. You see, Jason ate a lot at lunch. He did not know of the 4 course menu we were about to partake of. Well after 2 appetizers (salad and fruit or salad and chicken strips or anything you want) you then get your main meal, well Mr.I had Ice cream while waiting for my burger, was hurting, he could not finish his plate, he told Ni, I'm done. She said "eat one more bite of your veggies!" hahaha too funny. We loved her and miss her to this day. She also was able to put up with Rodney, so Rodney and Jason, thats a lot to handle, yes we tipped her :). We also had a waiter Igede, his smile was contagious and he too was great! We were blessed with wonderful waiters, who I call my friends!

After dinner we went looking around the ship, trying to burn off all that food we've just ate, praying we would be able to fit into our clothes when we go home. We all went to bed early, being pretty tired from the full day. Next day, Day 2: Day at Sea.

Yes we are alive....

2008-06-21T23:42:00.003-05:00

Well barely, but we're still kickin. Many people ask us, "how was the cruise?". Well it was amazing, had a great time. Working on a couple blogs to post about it. A lot to write about. After the cruise Jason had wisdom teeth surgery, a couple dry sockets and 3 weeks later, I'm glad to say he is better. I had a root canal, and found out those are not much fun. We have a lot to write about and I will soon. From our 4 year anniversary to going to a drive in and welcoming a new niece! :) Jason is working hard in both school and work, he has a internship w/our church this summer and he's teaching 4-6th grade Sunday school. So we are keeping busy, but I apologize we have not updated much, but believe me its a work in progess... :).

So what does an arm and leg really cost??? I think we found out.....

2008-04-28T10:36:00.012-05:00

So about a week and half ago we found out we were going on a cruise with Jasons Family (Mom, Dad, Amy and Amber). This is very exciting, a week get away all expense paid trip (Thanks Mom and Dad Curry :) ). Well there has some very last minute planning, and three of the six have passports, so this means that Jason, Tonya and Rodney do not. Whats the plan? Well we found a place online that is based in Dallas and will expediate the process of a passport from 24hrs to 14 days. So you wanna know how it went? Here is the story of Jason, Tonya and Rodney getting Passports on a Saturday morning.

7:30 a.m. Jason and Tonya hear a knock on their bedroom door (which is ok since Lynn and Rodney (Jasons Mom and Dad stayed the night). It is Rodney saying we need to wake up. Which we did, we had planned to possibly leave at 7:30 ..... ooops.

8:15 On the Road, Have Mapquest directions ready to go. JAson is driving, Rodney and I are Riding.

8:45 I freak out, how much gas do we have? Are we ok? You see our gauge is broke, so right now we are guessing and going by mileage. Jason says yes we are ok.

8:53 Me in my mind still freaking out.

8:54 We get on George Bush Turnpike, $1.00 charge FYI.

9:00 We get off main highways and start on the street for the place, stop get gas, which yes we needed. So thank you Lord we made it!

9:05 Arrive at building, but do not know where the heck the place is. There is no advertisement, so we get worried. No fear, we go in the building which a very nice gentleman opened for us. He must of seen the look of "lost" in our face. HE started upstairs, and as I was looking at the list of Businesses and what floors they're on. JAson is walking and looking. I read it AA Passports and I say Office 429A, the guy is walking slowly up the stairs and says Follow Me. We say OK. Jason mumbles that he walked andlooked and I read... :).

9:10 we arrive in the office, nothing fancy at all. A desk and a couch for a waiting area. Then we go to his office. We walk down a 3 foot hallway take a sharp left and we're in his office. Again nothing fancy, 3 chairs, a desk, a folding table behind our chairs, and a few shevles. WHITE WHITE walls.

9:11 We find out the nice gentlemen is Sunny. Sunny is Indian and has an accent and speaks fast, he knows English theres no problem, but he has 3 people who are not quite familiar with the Indian Accent.

Now Jason and I are starting to understand him. A few times we have to look at eachother and go "ok ... um yes we have this and yes we have our Photo ID's. But Rodney on the other hand is just sitting there. If you have ever seen Father of the Bride and the scene where they are meeting Franc for the first time, and he says Cake, and the Dad says "huh"? This is Rodney.

So we try to "translate" for him. Sunny is very nice, but he is all business. He got a phone call from a potential client and while he was on the phone, he said just come here and we'll talk, I have customers in my office and I'm being rude talking on the phone to you. Ok, note #1 do not irriate Sunny. Sunny was tired as well he told us, he was out to 1 or 2 a.m., usually goes to bed much earlier because he gets up at 4:30 a.m. for FedEx to get the 24 hour passports. So we then take photos, it goes well. He then ask us how we're going to pay, we all stand up and start looking through our wallets and start to hand him a check and two credit cards. He says not now, just sit. (he had to tell us twice b/c we didn't hear him the first time evidently). So then while we are finishing up our stuff, Rodney ask about Lynn, her passport we knew would expire in June, he said you can't not use a passport within 6 months of expiring, we all look at eachother and think "Great." You see Lynn decided to stay home and work on her paper, which we all didn't think was a big deal. Sunny explained to Rodney about 3 times :) how to do Lynns stuff, he said Do Not Worry, I will take care of it. We smiled and said OK. :) Well it is now, so this will be the adventure to do after ours. Sunny in the process of this ask us about any felonies, Jason-DUI? Prison sentence? Anything?, Me-anything you need to tell me Tonya, b/c it will soon be known if you want to hide it from me, I tell him no we are boring people. He seems disappointed. Sunny then sends us to the Post Office, and tells us that they are the nicest Post Office around and had told a previous customer while we there to tell them "Sunnys says Hi.". Well in case you didn't get the Memo, you missed out. It was come get your Passport Day :).

10:00 a.m.ish We get to the Post Office. You see while we were there at Sunny's a very nice lady came in to finish her passport documents. Well that was about 9:30? She was still in line and not even in the Office of the Passport Place. She is waiting outside the door of the waiting room. So I tell Jason, you and Rodney go and get some breakfast. They go and I stand in line waiting. The line doesn't move much for awhile and then it does move. Woo-Hoo :). There is a fun mom and daughter who are in front of me having fun. So they were fun to watch interact. Then Rodney and Jason come in, they have the food, I say go Eat, then swap with me. They do and then Rodney comes and swaps with me, I then know that once I swapped with Rodney this line would not be the same. I go out to eat and when Jason and I return, my instincts were right. The thing that is great about Rodney is he's going to talk to you and usually make you laugh. He will talk to you as if you know all about him. :) So we get in there and he has the Mom and Daughter duo laughing and has been talking w/them you can tell. He also has a number for our place in line. #290. So now you have Jason and Rodney in there, you know it will not be the same. While waiting Rodney informs anyone who listens of Lynns situation and how Sunny is going to help us get the passport for her in 10 days as well.

11:25 a.m. (?) We have made it! We are now in the waiting area... woo-hoo! We all cheer and the mom of the duo (her husband has now arrived, he got them Starbucks :) ) says it doesn't feel like you made it until you get to sit down, so soon I will feel the achievement of making it in the Waiting area. We get to sit down and then the mom/dad/daughter trio go and get to get her passport! We are next. While we are waiting there is family where the little boy has a hockey game at 12:00,why do we know this? Well because the mom very nicely announced that they needed to go in front of us because he had a game at 12:00, what did we do and the nice lady who is after us (who tried to get her passport yesterday is back today(two different post offices)), we didn't say anything and went on talking :). Then the Dad of the son and Rodney joked around about being bald. Then we tell the young boy to ignore Rodney, and then they tell us, he knows, he has one at home :).. haha. Jason looks at the little boy and says sorry kid, it doesn't get better even when you move 3 hours away. Then Rodney very politely and loud says, but you want to know how to get them to like you again? Ask them to go on a cruise and they're your bestfriends again, thanks Rodney :). So we then get into the actual office where we talk to the gentlemen to get our Forms signed and sealed for the government. He is very nice, he and Rodney talk about retirement, he retires this year after 31 years. Whoa. So he ask us, "do you swear this is all true" (the information on the forms). We say yes. Jason and I do. Then Jason says to Rodney I dare you to say NO, Rodney is like no, I don't think so. So the guy laughs with us,and then switches to Post Office Worker and with the most serious face ask the question to Rodney. And of course he says Yes. So are we done? Almost! He seals all of the forms in one envelope to save us money. Which we still do not know how much this is going to cost, we think since we told Sunny that we only need the passports in 10 days, thinking it may save us some. Because a 5 day one would cost $35. We tell the employee Good Luck on retirment and say Adios. Back to Sunnys.

12:20 p.m. ish We make it to Sunny's, we hand him the envelope, he hands me stuff for Lynn's passport renewal and we head off with the bill in my hand.

You want to know how much, well Hefy if you are reading this, lets just say you could of joined us for the cost of the 4 passports we will be getting from Sunny.

We got home around 1:30 and then off to get Lynns. When we showed Lynn the bill, she almost passed out. Good times, good times. Her and Jason did not take it well, Rodney and I? We had a fun time laughing about it and making jokes.

All to say we will have passports before our cruise. (Including Lynns which involved Walgreens and FedEx :) want to know more? maybe another blog :) )Hope you enjoyed our experience, and to save yourself the trouble... go and get a passport now, unless you wish to meet Sunny........... he says Hi :).

My New Bike

2008-04-17T14:17:00.007-05:00

Well my mom and dad want to help me get in shape and exercise and fight this darn Rheumatoid! (so does my hubby) So they put money together to buy me this new bike!

Ok now that you've seen it , its more of a trike ;). The reason being that with the R.A. my joints hurt and riding a regular bike (I tried it in the store), hurt. So, April 24th or so my new trike will be in and I'm pretty excited. All I need now is a bell and some streamers :). Happy Birthday to me!

Also Prayer Request:

Jasons Family:

Uncle Lynn: Had bypass this morning, still do not know how the surgery went.
Aunt Donna: Grand Mal Seizure this morning as well.

Working Out

2008-04-10T22:02:00.003-05:00

My friend Amanda has been an amazing encourager to me! Because of her I have been working out 3-4 times a week now! I am so thankful for her! We are still trying to clean out our pantry to start out healthier diet but right now we are enjoying the leftover cheecake squares from Amy (J's Sister) recital ;).

So tonight I finally kept increasing the speed and increasing, I did really good! (pat on back!) I am really enjoying this and feel really healthy. (only if I can stop those cheesecakes and snickers I share w/Norita)

Then I have Miss. Will Power herself Amy Welker, the diet queen, she has been doing weight watchers and has been doing great. (lost over 20 lbs now!)

So all in all I have two great influences in my life!

Well I'm off to shower and then bed. Night all!

~Tonya

Coupon Savings at Krogers

2008-04-10T22:01:00.004-05:00

Here is what I got:

3 Spray and Wash
1 Windex Antibacterial Spray
3 Chlorox Bleach
3 Fritos (for a co-worker :) )

5 Soft Soap- (free as always)
5 Packages of Cottonelle 4 packs

Total about $10.50.

Aint too shabby huh?

To Explain Prior Blog

2008-04-04T08:24:00.003-05:00

I realized last night that my previous blog may have you thinking that I feel helpless and hopeless. It is not that in anyway. When people ask how are you doing and how are you coping, I was just being honest with my blog. I am doing better, not wanting to throw too many lemons right now ;). But I'm told I'm going through the grieving process, so hopefully the urge to throw lemons will stop soon. :) I did forget to put something on there, with the medication I cannot get pregnant b/c it could harm the baby, not b/c I would be unable to conceive. So in no way does the medication stop me from being able to have a baby. Just wanted to clarify that.

For those of you who read my blog I think you for the prayers. I am feeling them right now. Calmness is starting to come.

On a happier note, I am going to On the Border tonight w/the Ericksons, and I'm pretty excited to not cook tonight :). Then Amanda and I may go shopping to Bed Bath and Beyond :) while the men study! I think its an even trade right? Well it is Friday, so I'm pretty happy about that, tomorrow I hope to catch up on some laundry and then Sunday we hed to J'Ville for Amy's recital.

I think thats enough of a "blah" blog, and I promise next time there will be a happier blog b/c I've seen the grocery ads........ and there are going to be some major savings going on!

~Tonya

When Life gives you a Lemon.... and you want to throw it back at it instead of make lemonade

2008-04-02T10:03:00.006-05:00

Sometimes life can be frustrating. Right now mine is. I found out about 3 weeks ago that I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. Well I started taking a drug called Methotrexate, its a drug that you take once a week in big doses, the first week I took 4 pills and the 2nd I took 5, then the third I was suppose to start taking 6 pills. Well after the dose of 5 the Monday night after I started feeling ill, and then on Tuesday I did a half a day at work and missed a full day on Wednesday. I looked at the side effects of the medicine and it was from it, so I called the doctor and they told me to stop taking it until I could see them. So I went yesterday to see the Physicians Assistant, who sat with me and discussed with me in more detail about the "disease" I now have. I did not know the severity of Rheumatoid, I now know. I did not know the importance of a very strict "keep on the medicine and don't' forget". I didn't know that untreated you can have deformities in your hands and feet which explains why my left pinky doesn't like to bend right. I also found out that the drug I will be taking is basically like taking the "morning after pill", it aborts babies or if I do get pregnant and the baby survives it could seriously harm the baby. In three months I will start taking a new medicine along with the methotrexate. So in 3 months I will be dependent on 4 medications, and that is something I never wanted for myself. The news that made me want to "throw lemons" was that its a severe case, as from what I read and remember from the test a 80 or higher shows you have it, mine was 216. They did another test and it was high as well. So right now you could say I'm pretty down about it, I know I'll get through and there are a lot of people who are in a lot worse situations than me. But you know when you are going through something life changing no matter what its hard. So I ask for your prayers as I go through this, I ask for prayers that the diet I am trying to be on continues and that I have the "will power" I need, also that I continue to work out on the treadmill and begin water aerobics. Pray for Jason as he will be helping me through this, having no clue what I'm going through.

Well that's it, even though I would like to throw lemons...... with God giving me strength and family that loves me, I know that I will make some pretty good tastin Lemonade :).

Continued Savings :)

2008-03-24T23:19:00.004-05:00

Ok, so I dont think I posted last weeks savings but I have done pretty good!

Here is how I did tonight:

All I Can't Believe Its Not Butter Spread and Spray were 10/$10

I bought:

4 Sprays
4 Spreads with Olive Oil
4 Double Packs of Light ICB

Total-

Before Coupons and Kroger Savings: Original Price: 1.99
After Kroger Savings: 1.00
After Coupon: .20 (.40 cent off coupon- doubled to =.80)

12*.20= $2.40 (Savings of 21.48)

6 Bags of Cheerio Snack Mix-

Before Kroger Savings and Coupons: 2.49
After Savings- 1.50
After Coupons- .50 (.50 cent of coupon- doubles to =1.00)

6*50= 3.00 (Savings of 11.94)

1 Canteloupe - On sale for 2.50

Total of Savings:
Before Kroger and Coupons: 42.61
After Kroger Savings: 23.50
After Coupons: 6.70 (I had 16.80 in coupons--- again FREE money :) )

Total Savings: 35.91 (84% Savings!)

Albertsons Trip

Kraft Dressing:

Org. Price: 2.49
Sale Price: ;1.67
Coupon Price: 1.30

8 Bottles @ 1.30= 10.40

Plus 2 coupons of $2.00 off Next Order so really 6.40 for 8 Bottles= .80/bottle

Allens Frozen Vegtables

Org. Price: 1.79
Sale Price: 1.00
Coupon Price: FREE (.35 coupon *3 (triples value)= 1.00 off)

7 Bags *FREE= FREE :)

Tropicana Orange Juice

Org. Price: 3.79
Sale Price: 2.50
After Coupon Price: 2.00

4*2.00=8.00

Betty Crocker Frosting:

Org. Price: 1.79
Sale Price: 1.00
Coupon Price: FREE

4*FREE= FREE :)

Salad

Org. Price: 2.99
Sale Price: 2.50
Coupon Price: 1.50

Splurge:

Laughing Cow Cheese:

Org. Price: 4.49
Sale Price: 3.50
Coupon Price: 2.95

Total of Albertsons Trip:

Org. Cost: 62.25
After Store Savings: 40.34
After Coupons: 20.79
Total of Coupons: $19.55 in Coupons--FREE Money :)

Total Savings at Albertons: $41.46 (77%)

Total Cost of both Trips:

Org. Price: 104.86
Sale: 63.84
Price After Coupons: 27.49
Total of Coupons: 36.35 (FREE Money)
Total Perecentage of Savings: 74% :)

Hope you Enjoy :) and I hope this encourages you to use those Sunday Coupons!!! :)

Going Home! (and other Curry News :) )

2008-03-18T15:27:00.004-05:00

On Thursday Jason and I will be flying at 6:55 a.m. to go see my Family for Easter and my Dad's b-day. He will be 57 years old, this shocks me a little. I do call him "Old Man" without realizing he is becoming older :(. We are hoping to get to go see my Grandparents and my new little cousin Ally on this trip, Christmas Break was a true lazy time for Jason and I, we didn't go anywhere, and personally it was wonderful.

Personal news, I went to the Rheumotologist on Tuesday (a week ago) and it is official that I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. It was not the best news of my life, but it has challenged me to change my lifestyle as in Health. We will be starting a new diet this summer, the GI Diet. Why so late and not now? Well with the grocery game we have some food that we need to eat up first. I will still be able to use the GG, but some things like my dear husbands taquitos (Jason dont cry while reading this) will no longer be something we buy or the cheap tostitos pizza rolls. But the doctor put me on meds that I hope will work soon, the only downfall is I have to get bloodwork done every two months to ensure my liver and bloodcount (found out I'm anemic) are ok.

Good news for Jason. After this summer Jason is done w/classes and he graduates in December!!! I am so incredibly proud of that man, he is working so hard. Currently he is applying for the Ph.D. which your prayers for that are very needed. His health has been so so as well, please just pray for us :).

I am so excited to get to go home so soon again! I will hopefully get to play w/my neice :). I get to watch KU Basketball w/my Dad which I know he is excited about :), and possibly shop with Mom. I will see Lance and Elizabeth Sunday at the Airport when they are getting back from California and I am unsure if I will see my other brother and his wife. And I will let Jason watch History Channel andDiscovery Science--- MythBusters :).

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter celebrating Jesus's Life!

Blessings,

Tonya :)

This Weeks Savings

2008-03-11T11:50:00.001-05:00

I went to Krogers only this week and here are my savings:

6 cans of Mighty Dog Food- Free w/coupon (.59 each-.59 coupon)
3 Reynolds Cupcake (foil ones) 1.09-1.05cpn= .04
2 Hungry Jack Potatoes 1.00- (.35cpn*3(tripling)=1.00)= FREE
2 Sponges- 1.00 each = 2.00-1.00cpn= .50 each
6 Nissan Ramen Soup-- FREE
Nestle Flavored Water- 2.00 each (2)= 4.00 -2.00 cpns= 1.00 each
Grapes 1.99 for 2lbs- (usually 2.99/lb)
Mushrooms 1.67
Fritos for Norita and I :D--- 1.25 a bag- 5.00 (buy 3 get 1 free deal)
6 Ivory Soap Body Wash- 10/$10- I bought 6, had 6 coupons ( had to do this in 2 seperate transactions) with .25cpn (tripled to = .75) got them for .25 each= 1.50- .75 Kroger cpn= .75 for 6 Bottles of Body wash! :)
Reynolds Paper Cupcake holders- FREE w/coupon

Before Kroger Savings: $55.39
After: $38.41
Coupon Savings: $23.39

Total Out of Pocket Cost: $15.02 (including a friends newspaper I bought them)

Total SAvings of : 73% Savings (if you take the newspaper out of it its 76% savings!)

I don't think thats too bad!

Now make a note, any item that I got over 3 of I had to do them in a separate transaction: so the Ivory Soap and Dogfood I got in a 2nd transaction. The store here will only take 3 identical coupons per transaction and will only triple or double 3 identical ones.

Any questions let me know! :)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow HARDER please :(

2008-03-07T10:33:00.000-06:00

Well yesterday it snowed starting about 2:30 p.m., we were hoping to be sent home from work, but that did not happen. Also last night we were hoping for more snow, but it missed Fort Worth and went on its merry little way. Oh well maybe next year! Until then I guess I'll have to enjoy the random cold days inbetween all those 70 degree days :D.

Here is a picture of the snow:

This is Hefy the Housing Inspector in our Office, he is form Georgia and he was pretty excited about the snow! :) Norita went home early so Hefty and I held down the fort while Jonathan was at a meeting and Amy was home sick. So to do this, Hefty, Jason and I all had ice cream :D.

I have to tell you though, you would of thought the world was coming to an end the way the News channels broadcasted WINTER STORM, being from the midwest this is still entertaining to me. :) Denton did get 9 inches, and at first I though wow! But then I remembered, thats nothing compared to good 'ol Kansas :).

More Savings :)

2008-03-05T11:03:00.002-06:00

Monday Night Jason and I went grocery shopping. It was pretty successful!

Albertsons Trip

4 Boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats--1.00 each (2.00-each - 1.00 cpn off each one)
4 Bags of Croutons--.20 each (1.00 each - (.40 cpn-doubles to be .80))
4 Pizza Rolls--.20 each (1.00 each- (.40 cpn- doubles to be .80 cpn))
4 Pilsbury French Loaves--.60 each (1.00 each - (.40 cpn off of 2 (doubles to be .80 off of 2))
8 Cans of Tomaotes--.10 each (Buy One Get One Free (1.19 for 2)- (1.00 (.50cpn that doubles))

Total: 8.79 (roughly)

Krogers Trip

1 Zuchini--.29
1 Head of Broccoli--1.99
1 Bag of Fresh Spinach--.45 (1.00 - .55 cpn)
1 Box of Mushrooms--2.59
1 Bag of Cherry Tomaotes--2.50
6 Pouches of Tuna--.50 each (on sale for 1.00 each, cpn: 1.50 off of 3)
6 Boxes of Jose Ole Taquitos-- 2.00 each (cpn 1.00 off each box)
7 Cans of Various Beans---.49 each (no cpn)

Total: 26.72 (roughly)

(Had to go back to Krogers for a rebate I did not get)

Bought:

5 Oil of Olay Body Washes-- .24 cents each! :) (2.24-2.00 cpn)

Total: $1.24 :)

Before Coupons: $72.30
Coupon Totals: $35.55 (This is like FREE Money!!!)

Total Trip: $36.75

And that is one trip to the grocery store! :) Hope you enjoyed!

Our Dates

2008-03-04T21:45:00.000-06:00

Jason has been having a project called a "being project", which is aka: EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE IN SCHOOL SPEND TIME WITH YOU WIFE AND TAKE HER ON A DATE! :) So the deal is he has to plan a date that last at least 4 hours, he has so far taken me on 2 dates! (We do go out just to let everyone know, we just don't plan them like this) So its been a lot of fun. Here are his papers that he wrote about them:

Date #1

(Written from Jason's perspective :) )

I planned an afternoon that involved eating out, browsing a bookstore, having a cup of coffee, seeing a movie, and (my favorite) asking 20 questions. We had never gone to downtown Fort Worth. So we drove and parked the car, and took a stroll down 3^rd and went to eat at Razoo’s Cajun Café. I pulled the twenty questions out of my pocket and over lunch we talked about the significance of the questions and how they were true of our life.

We proceeded to Barnes and Nobles and after browsing some children’s books, and discussing how we looked forward to having some of our own, we sat and again continuing our twenty questions over a small dessert and coffee. We talked about how God had worked in the memories that we enjoyed and how his plans for us are still not known.

We then saw The Spiderwick Chronicles which was interesting. On our ride home we went the wrong way and went north on I35 but we shared what we thought of the movie and then picked up on our questions. We we had a great time just sharing who we are with one another.

Date #2

(Written from Jason's perspective :) )

I planned an afternoon that involved my wife and I going to a favorite restaurant that had closed in a town near us a few years ago. The restaurant is San Francisco Oven; an bay area restaurant that uses a brick oven to cook its pizza, we enjoy it every time we go and this allowed us to remember some times together.
We spent most of our time on the road going and coming back from the restaurant. We enjoyed being together and taking several back roads to Euless and then back Fort Wroth. This date involved us driving to Euless, and was a long drive at that, but the conversation and time spent together was well worth it. It reminded us of our dating days when we would simply drive for the simply pleasure of being together. We had a good time, our “lunch” date.

Thanks Hubby! I had a great time! :)

Grocery Game

2008-02-27T14:45:00.001-06:00

Ok, so I love shopping. I get this addiction and love for it from my Grandma Kathryn, when my Grandma goes shopping good luck keeping up with her, she is faster than anything :). We also love to buy things CHEAP. Well being in seminary and on a budget (or trying to be on budget) you can't go shopping all the time even when items are cheap unless you need them, well food is something you need. So this past summer I started something called the "grocery game" (http://www.grocerygame.com/). This website has an automated system that generates a list for you of the deals that are that week and which coupons to use. It will give you three categories to buy: Black items-do not buy, too expensive Blue Items- buy and stock up on, and Green times, which = FREE. Well this is a pretty simple game and pretty addicting. I buy all my groceries and toiletries for about $55 a week, which is not too bad to feed us. This game has been blessing for us, it fills my "need" to shop and allows to me to buy groceries, which I am odd I love to do b/c I love to cook!

This is how the game works. When you go to Krogers or Albertsons (in DFW area) they triple and double the face value of the coupons. This means that a .30 cent coupon really = .90 cents! They will double .40-.50 and triple up to .39 cents! Some items I get a lot are Ragu, when its on sale for $1.00 I use my .25 coupon, which triples to = .75 , which makes the Ragu= only a .25! I have cans of .10 tomaotes (Red Gold Brand, very good!), free tomato sauce, pasta for free or under .50, free instant potaotes, free Soft Soap, free frozen vegtables and so on! I get cereal on a usual price of $1.00 or less a box. (Name brand) I buy all items Name Brand, it is crazy, we do not have one thing really anymore of a store brand!

Last week my friend Amanda and I went to Albertsons and got a total of 20 boxes each of Simple Harvest Oatmeal, usual price is $4.49, for FREE, she has given some to the church and kept a little for herself. We currently have some boxes left to give to those who ask!

Now some items we have is "un-healthy" we get FREE Chex Mix, we get Jasons favorite Taquitos for pretty cheap, and we buy frozen pizzas on sale for a very quick easy convenient meal :). I also get Tostino Pizza rolls for pretty cheap too (.20 a box or Free), and these make a good "mid-night" craving snack for Jason, cheaper than Taco Bell! :)

We bought a deep freeze about 2 years ago when we were doing Angel Food (http://www.angelfoodministries.com/), and this has been a great purchase for us. When there is a huge meat sale I am able to buy the family packs, bag them up and put them in the freezer! With all the savings I am able to buy REALLY good Steaks! :) yummo!!

So soon I will take pictures and you will see how we will never starve :). And how you are always welcome to come for dinner b/c we have plenty!

So this is my addiction right now, I will share with you soon my CVS Savings and more of my Kroger/Albertsons savings :)

~Tonya :)

This will be a challenge....

2008-02-20T20:31:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I am awful at keeping things updated like this. But I am going to try to do this weekly!

Here is how life has been since moving to Fort Worth (May be a little bit of a repeater from the past Post's):

When we first moved here Jason and I did not have jobs yet, I was busy applying anywhere and everywhere and Jason wanted to work on campus. I was set on working as an advisor for a university, I was in the process of being interviewed for Texas Wesleyan University when I got a phone call from a person named Norita from the Housing Office at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS), I went in for an interview the next day and the same day they called me back for a second interview. I was pretty excited but confused at the same time, I thought that I would be an advisor, not a secretary! In the 2nd interview they offered me the job, I told them I had to speak w/Jason about it, and the awesome thing is they understood that, any other business would of not understood needing to speak to my husband! After speaking to him, we decided it was the place for me to work. Jason started working for the Physical plant as a carpenter. The jobs have been a huge blessing for us, I have a great office staff of wonderful Christian Believers, I get to go to Chapel once a week, and I get to see Jason every day! For the past 3 years of our marriage we've both been in school, so we never saw eachother, its odd now, b/c we see eachother all the time. Jason has a great group of men he works with, and he has started working one day and three nights a week.

Other than jobs Jason completed his first semester at SWBTS, and did great! He found out that if he pushes himself he can get done in Decemeber '08, and he is in the process of applying for the PhD. I am very proud of him, he is doing wondeful! I took one class "Wife of the Equipping Minister", it was a short 8 week course, part of a certificate program that is offered here at SWBTS. I am not continuing the certificate program, but I did have fun.

We have found a home church! We will be joining this Sunday (February 24), the name of the church is Alsbury Baptist Church. It is such an amazing church, we are so excited to dive in and get involved.

We have a little house here @ SWBTS, it is 650 sqft, but it feels huge compared to our previous home (apartment approx. 450 sq ft?). We have a WASHER and DRYER!! :) The house has a utility room which has the washer and dryer, and we added the deep freeze and fridge to add some room to our kitchen. My mom and dad bought me a dishwasher :), its a portable one, aka LIFESAVER :). My brother gave his wife and I both huge Christmas presents this year! Meagan got new furniture for their home to make room for Baby #2, and I got their old furniture!!! The furniture they gave me is my dream furniture, for about 7 years whenever I visited them sat in their big comfy chair w/the ottoman..... and now that big comfy chair with the ottoman and an added big comfy couch! :) It was an answer to prayer and we are still so thankful for it. All in all we have a great little house that is truly home.

God has blessed us with some amazing friends already, its neat to meet people who are going through the same thing you are... Seminary :). The Ericksons are old friends from Jacksonville that really our friendship started here at SWBTS this past Fall. Amanda and I have really started growing a friendship, especially with the Grocery Game!! (Which I will explain in another post)

Mom has been down since the move to take care of me after I had gallbladder surgery and Dad has come down as well to bring me the furniture :). Maybe next time it will be both of them together!! Jasons parents have come now quite a few times to visit, and its been great to see them as well! We would love for more friends and family to come and say HI!

We are so thankful for the prayers and support for us while we are following God's will! I am going to try to this "blogger" thing weekly, we'll see how it goes!

Blessings,

Jason and Tonya :)

These are Old Post

2007-11-06T09:26:00.000-06:00

These are OLD Post from our previous Blog to update everyone.

We have been here for over a month now.............July 11, 2007

2007-11-06T09:23:00.001-06:00

Well its been a month or so of living in the what some tend to say "the big city". Here is a update on us and the continuous blessings from God!
I am now working in the Housing Office as a secretary ; I kept telling myself I will not work on campus! Well as always God said "we'll see about that." So I go for an interview and fall in love with the job; got a call back that day and 1 week later I started working on campus! Can I just say how nice it is for lunch to drive 3 min, be home truly rest and then go back to work at 2:00 and have only 3 hours left! Wow; so nice. There are many great benefits to this job a few financial benefits: Jason and I both go to school for FREE. I will hopefully be starting a Masters in Lay Ministry in the Spring; the biggest benefit is working with other Christian Believers, being a "ministers wife" its nice to meet other women who are going through the same thing, such a blessing!! Jason can come and visit me whenever he wants, he can come and sit down by my desk and talk to me! The past jobs I've had that is a NO, to me this is so nice after not seeing him basically for 2-3 years now. I am absolutely loving my job its a whole new aspect to education, student housing is fun and fulfilling, helping people who are scared and excited all at the same time but know they are called to SWBTS and are following God to I get to help them in the beginning of their journey. So neat..
Jason has gotten a job on campus as well; he's working for the Carpentary department, hes learning new stuff everyday and enjoying what he is doing. We get to have lunch together every Tues/Thurs, its been soooo nice! But he is putting in bathrooms, pulling up floors, and anything else that hes told to do! haha But hes doing great at it and I am so PROUD of him! He did some carpentary here this past weekend with his Pa; they put up a storage building! I will post pics soon! It is super nice!
We will begin classes on August 23, I will do a class called "Wife of the equippping Minister" and Jason will be taking 10 hours, pretty busy 10 hours! So I think thats a pretty good update on us, I could write forever with more but this is quite a bit to read! We are still searching for a church home, please pray that we follow God on this and not what WE want but what HE wants, its hard to not compare other church's with CBC; we miss it lots! WE know God has another Church for us while we are going to seminary!Thank you for all the prayers and please continue praying for us as we remain Following God as he leads!!

Blessings,
Curry's

"Be Still and Know that I AM GOD" Pslams 46:10

Update on the Big Move--JUNE 9, 2007

2007-11-06T09:22:00.000-06:00

Well to let those of you who want to know we made it to the big city of Fort Worth :). We moved in a week ago and as I am sitting here as Jason is working on the last room to get together, his office :). I am surrounded by books and books and books... God truly blessed us with an adorable little house and amazing neighbors already. I have a great kitchen and soon (b/c my parents love me) a portable dishwasher! :) Our bedroom looks great, for the first time we have matching furniture, and I finally got to use my new comforter set, sheets, and valances, I will post pics soon.
The job hunt is going slow but we are looking, Jason goes in for an interview for a part-time job on campus position that would be great for him, please pray, the interview is Tuesday at 9. I have an interview for a full time job on campus as well, this Thursday in the Housing office. Please pray for me on this decision, I do not know where God is leading me, there are some other positions I have applied for off-campus that pay more and have great benefits. I am unsure of what I am to do, b/c we can only be unemployed for so long. Well that is the update on us, Jasons Mom and Grandma Polly are on their way to come see the house and take us out to dinner. To everyone whos been praying for us. Thank You! To my Sunday School Class I already Miss all of you, I was telling Jason its wierd not getting material ready for tomorrow. I hope you have an awesome summer! Well I guess thats it!

Love "Ya'll" :),
Curry's
Joshua 24:15

That's My King

2007-03-17T03:26:00.001-05:00

That's My King

2007-03-17T03:24:00.001-05:00

Jason and I realized that we have 11 Sundays left here in Jacksonville, only 11 more weeks. Kinda scary. I am hoping to graduate in May, I have two correspondence courses that I hope to finish, if not I will graduate in August and that will okay too! Jason is working for CBC still as a media coordinator and I am still and Assistant Advisor. I love my job and hate to leave it, I would love to continue advising but due to lack of experience and a Masters degree I do not know if that is in my future. We are praying about me working at SWBTS, so if you dont mind please pray for me with that decision. We now know where we are moving, we got a house on campus, with a WASHER AND DRYER, yes thats right after 3 years of lugging clothes from the laundry mat , to up the hill, to Jasons family (known as Trotterville) I will now have a washer and dryer where I can do laundry anytime I want. I am unsure if our Dishwaser (Model #: Tonya Curry) will get to retire or still have a few more years. :) But I realized something the other day if having no washer/dryer or dishwasher is "hard or poverty" (why poverty I have no ida) to some, then we are majorly blesssed in the USA.

Moving to a new area is scary, exciting and thrilling all in one. Following Gods plan for you is so fulfilling, but at times you just want to make a personal requuest to God that says "can I please have the blueprints too?" All I know that in my short 24 (almost 25... :) ) years of Life that when I follow God life is so amazing/blessed/awesome and just WOW, that I have no idea why anyone would never want to follow God, and why did I ever think I didnt need Him daily in my life! I mean who wouldn't' want to follow the God who created us and loves us more than we can imagine. Who has such an amazing plan for you that if you just follow and listen (and not talk) that life is so much more fulfilling. Those that do not have God in their life, I honestly do not know how they make it. Without God, we definitely would not have the marriage we have right now, the comfort of knowing we are going to be okay, and defeating just the daily struggles and battles of life.

Above is a video that maybe some of you have seen, we ask you to watch it Christian or not, we just want you to know who our God is.

I pray that when in this video when asked "Do you know him?" you can say yes or have the courage to say no... "but I want to." Remember- Whenever we feel God is no longer there, its not because God left us, its because we left God.

Blessings,

Curry's

P.S. If you say "but I want to" please ask us , we'd love to tell you how to know Him.