"Chiple"

In Spanish (at least in this part of the world) that means "spoiled," although not necessarily in a bad way. When you are someone's "chiple" it means that you receive lots of wonderful things from that person (either physical or otherwise) in such a way that they "spoil" you. For example, when Stephen was a bachelor, he had a custom of picking a Senior in High School to be his "chiple" for the year. He would take this person out to eat every once in a while, take them to the movies, or find other nice ways of encouraging them through the year toward graduation. Of course me, growing up as an only child I OFTEN heard "Oh, you must be spoiled rotten!" My mom's response was always, "No, just extremely blessed." I totally agree.

Since I have known him, Stephen has talked about how he feels like he is God's "chiple." He can tell countless stories of they ways that God has arranged things in his life in extraordinary ways that can only be attributed to God's goodness - not any merit or effort on his part. I can think of many MANY such situations and circumstances in my own life - there was just never as good a word for it in English as "chiple."

These last few weeks - months - years really have made us feel, over and over again, that we are God's "chiples" and we thank and praise Him for every single one of the blessings that He has brought into our lives. Material things, ways He has provided for our needs at the perfect time, friends, family...... AND, we strive to find ways to "chiplify" others as often as we can. Truly everything that we have, experience or encounter in this life is under the control of God's Almighty hands. And BOY am I glad that HE knows SO much more than me!

These past couple of weeks have been very busy for us. We've finally gotten around the crossing some of the things off of the "To Do Before Baby Heimer Arrives" list. We picked our hospital and started pre-natal classes and HUGE relief to have out of the way. This last week we received a stroller and car seat in the mail, a gift from some in our lovely family. It is SO WONDERFUL to have this already in hand and assembled and, since it is the first LARGE Baby item that we have gotten it is really starting to make the whole thing seem VERY real!

Here are a few pictures of "daddy" assembling the stroller.

Yes, actually the DIRECTIONS called for use of a hammer!

The finished product complete with infant car seat attached (there is also the base for the car seat that you leave strapped in your car.

Another thing that has been our "TO DO SOMEDAY" list since this summer was the get a washing machine. Although we love going to Stephen's parents and watching movies while using their laundry (and they tell us they LOVE having us come over) we finally decided that it was time to get our own washer before Baby Heimer shows up. I was already tired of 1) running out of clean clothes to wear before getting around to laundry 2) loading up ALL of the dirty laundry in the truck, into their house, back into the truck and into our house clean 3) NEVER making it all the way through everything to be done (especially rags or blankets or other non-essentials for clothing) and 4) RUNNING OUT OF CLOTHES (especially since I have WAY LESS clothes that still fit me these days!)

So, we went washer shopping. Thankfully, right around the time we decided it was THE TIME, we got a discount coupon via email from my aunt. And, when we went to Sears we found a GREAT deal! See, Stephen and I had both always thought it would be GREAT to have a High-Efficiency washer. Yes, the "treehugger" in each of us LOVES the idea of water conservation and energy savings but, couldn't get our brains around so many $$$ for a WASHING MACHINE! However, again, we were "chiplified" by God to provide just what we needed at just the right price at just the right time! Not only did we have the coupon from my aunt, Sears also already had 20% off of some appliances. AND we found out that the water company is giving $200 back to people who have High-Efficiency appliances (although this program may end in January!). So, when all is said and done, we got a High-Efficiency washer for about the same cost as a regular old washer. It's pretty slick!

Again, we had some help with the moving/assembly/installation!

Ahhh...isn't it nice?

So, apparently we save about 22 gallons of water per load. That means that we've already saved MORE THAN 250 gallons! WOOHOO!!! And, I can't TELL YOU how nice it is to throw in a load of laundry ANY TIME I WANT TO!!!!!

In my life of privileged existence, a washer doesn't seem like a luxury item. However, after not having had one in our house for several months, I feel like it is.

Honestly, considering all the need in this world and people without even the basic necessities, aren't we CHIPLE?