"I see some changes 'ol Max"

Movie quote!
Anyone? No?

Dirty Dancing. Its only one of the best films of all time!

Anyway, guess what?

Just in case you missed it!


We're pregnant! We're about 5 or 6 weeks along. No, we haven't been to the doctor yet. We're still trying to pick one actually. Any suggestions? We'll take them!

Make sure you check the blog out because we'll be posting regular baby updates right here :)

Lions and Tigers and Preteens! Oh my!

Since I'm no longer spending my days with Caroline and Caelyn (man, I miss those two little squishy cheeked girls!), I've found myself with plenty of free time this week.

What have I been doing with this new-found free time you might ask?

Well, cleaning. Lots of cleaning. Its been a blast really. I couldn't be enjoying myself more.

So when our church sent out a shout-out begging for female sponsors for youth camp next week, I obviously told them I was WAY too busy cleaning. All of the cleaning was just too much fun to leave behind.

Yeah, right.

I'm chunking the deuce to all this cleaning and going to youth camp next week!
I'm super excited about this because I've been praying for God to open the door for me into the youth ministry at our church and this certainly seems to be it. Can I tell you why I've been praying for this? Please let me!

This is my life's testimony and the good work that the Lord is doing and has done in my life to redeem me from myself. I'm so excited to share it with you :)

I grew up in a house with the best mother on the planet. I know that God knew just how badly I would need her and all of the beautiful memories I have of my childhood because of her. My dad, while fun sometimes, was mostly absentee or abusive. I discovered from a young age that to be present in body doesn't mean that you are present in mind. There is no need to go into any detail here because my intent is not to defame or throw blame. My desire to be loved by my father was so deeply rooted and so completely un-fed that I threw myself into pursuing fulfillment elsewhere. Sex, alcohol, drugs...nothing worked.

I just dug myself in deeper and deeper until I couldn't care if I lived or died.

That's where God found me. And He picked me up out of some crap...a lot of crap actually and gave me a firm ground to stand on. He sent me a new place to live. New friends. A new husband who shows me every day what real love looks like. A new church. A new spirit. A new heart. A new me.

This new me....this new heart remembers what it felt like all those years ago in junior high and high school to want my father's love so badly and for it to always be just out of my reach. And the saddest thing about that is: most teens these days have the same problem. This is an epidemic in the upcoming generation and God has given me a heart, and a testimony to make a difference.

Please pray for us this week as we take on Flight360!
And pray for me that my testimony can be used by the Lord in my church!

Tap Tap...This Thing On?

So, its been a while eh?

I needed a vacation. I still need a vacation!

Whats been going on:

-Paul and I moved into our new house!

-Paul and I realized that we don't have enough furniture.

Really, thats all.

EXCEPT: The girls that I nanny for are going to day care starting next Tuesday. Because of the holiday weekend, Thursday will be my last day with them. I'm having trouble deciding how I am supposed to say goodbye to these little ladies. When I started spending all of my free time with them, they looked like this.

Totally presh right?

Now they look like this!

I don't know what I'll do without them everyday.

I'm moving on to an IT internship which should start in a couple of weeks or so which will be exciting!

Much love,

K

Picture Perfect

I've been trying my hand at photography because, lets face it, I'm restless sometimes and need new hobbies!
My posse and I went on a road trip a couple of weekends ago and took along the ol' camera.

Here are just a few of my favorites. Tell me what you think!












People pictures coming soon!

Chicken Fried Chicken

I cooked last night because, well I usually do. And because this man is handsome and I like to feed him.


Pioneer Woman (www.thepioneerwoman.com) rocks my face off and inspired me to share some of my recipes with you guys. Most of them are family recipes, but some of them are just plain made up!

So lug your computer to the kitchen, roll your sleeves up, and lets cook!

Chicken Fried Chicken
Disclaimer: This is not for the faint of heart or anyone on a diet...just run...run now
Here's what you'll need! Except eggs. Please pretend that I remembered to put two large eggs in that picture up there. In case, those cute little bottles are too small for you to see: boneless skinless chicken breast, season salt, pepper, salt, garlic powder (not garlic salt), Vegetable oil, and flour...

...and eggs. Don't forget the eggs.

First, you need to pound your chicken breasts. I really only pound the really thick part so that its about the same width as the skinnier parts of the chicken breast.

Go ahead and poor about half an inch of vegetable oil into a good size skillet. Put it on medium.

I would like to take this opportunity to point out that if you "theoretically" put your skillet on high instead of medium, and if you "theoretically" took too much time getting your chicken ready because you "theoretically" were too busy taking pictures of your chicken for your blog, then you "theoretically" will cause the oil to start smoking and just MIGHT "theoretically" make all of the smoke detectors go off in your house...theoretically speaking of course.

Now, moving on, you'll want to pour some flour on a plate and season it with the garlic powder, pepper, and season salt. I don't really measure this, I just give the flour a good coat like so:


Then mix it all in!
Dip your chicken in the egg (which came first again?)...

...and then in flour (which definitely didn't come first)...

...and then repeat. You can give your chicken as many layers as you want. I wouldn't do more than 3 or 4 though. You'd just make a huge mess in your pan and it would be too heavy to stay on the chicken. Now just plop it in the pan which did not "theoretically" start to smoke and almost burn your house down.

It will take about 5 minutes on each side, but I'm not gonna lie, I don't time it. I just check the color of the side in the oil every couple of minutes. When its golden brown, its time to turn it over! Since it's cooking on medium heat, you're sure to get the center cooked by that time. Do the same thing for the other side and you should end up with something like these babies!
I usually pair this with mashed potatoes and packet homestyle gravy from the grocery store. Listen, I work a lot and don't have time to make my own so just get off my back about it! Just kidding. Love you. I do. I really do.
Goodnight.

Red Riding Hood

The hubs called me a couple of weeks ago whilst (I love that word) I was on my trek home from work.

"Um, Kristen. I'm holding in my hand a photo of your car."

I'm thinking that the paparazzi has found me finally. It must've been that Vogue cover I did. Or the concert at the Sydney Opera House.

"Wake up woman! Its a ticket! You ran a red light"

Of course I didn't I say. The camera thingy had to have malfunctioned. My sweet husband believes me.

Five minutes later, whilst (there it is again!) still on my trek home, he calls again.

"So I'm watching this video on this website. Its you."

It must've been that rock band I started on that...

"Running that red light"

Man, he's always bursting my bubble.

Anyway, it all comes back to me and I remember running that red light. I remember that I had a good reason for it too.

My breaks went out.

No? Don't believe me honey?

I went temporarily color blind.
I left my glasses at home.
A can rolled under my break and no matter how I tried, I couldn't press it down.
I forgot that red means stop and green means go.
My dog Gus died a few years ago and I was crying. Who can see through tears?
A drunk driver pushed me over the line into the intersection so I figured I better just go on thru.
Someone was stalking me! I had to get away!
The devil made me do it.
My brother was in the car with me and he just reached over and pushed the gas peddle down.
A terrorist threatened my family if I didn't run that red light.
Bin Laden said he would tell me where he's hiding if I only ran that red light.

I think a few of these have potential with the judge. What do you think?

Dancing Queen(s)

Meet Thing 1


and Thing 2

Adorable, no? Thing 2 is a Scrabble Champ.

See Thing 1 Dance

See Thing 2 cheese it for the camera

See Thing 1 and Thing 2 dance

They're dancing to "Gypsy" by Fleetwood Mac. They like the beat. Its easy to dance to.
Just ignore they're stringy, unkempt hair, saggy britches, and tee shirts down to their knees. We're free spirits. We can't be concerned with the sensibilities and rigors of civilized living.

That, and we're too busy dancing.

Casa Del Kibbe

I feel a bit faint...

...Its just that I've been deprived of the blogging world for so long!

Life has been utter chaos lately with work, school, church commitments, and now!!! the new house!!

Speaking of the new house, you've begged for pictures. Now I oblige! But only of the living room. Because I'm stingy like that.

Before: Just get a load of that wall color!
Looks awful with cherry wood floors!

That dude there is the best taper-offer in the world
aka my brother!

Look at those hard workers!

After: Pretty, no?

This lovely remodel was brought to you on the backs of Paul & Kristen Kibbe, Lana & Dudley King, Brad Riley and Kimberly Ann Mathis (who spent her birthday celebration day painting my house). They were paid in pizza. A round of applause is in order here folks!

This concludes this episode of Invade My Space.


PS And on a totally different note: Take a gander at all of the custom upgrades to the blog. Impressed? Have a blog? I'll fix you up for free if you'd like! Message me on facebook and we'll get at it. Let me know what you want done (ie: custom banner in any style - a scrapbook look, a more sleek photo design, whatever you come up with!; custom fonts; custom signature) even if you don't see it here.
Act quick! I'm only taking on one right now to help build up my portfolio.

Hitch Your Wagon to a Kibbe

It is tradition in our house to change various songs and sayings to include our last name. For example:

"OOO Kibbe I love your ways! Everyday!"

"Kibbe come back! You can blame it all on me,
I was wrong, and I just can't live without you!"

So you can imagine my joy at finally becoming a Kibbe and getting to join in Paul's extremely ridiculous, yet endearing, karaoke. I've always loved karaoke.

Anyway, on to the real purpose of this post!

Since we had a very very small wedding, most of you didn't get to see the festivities and since I recently ran across the cd of our wedding pictures (after having lost them for over a year, but that's a different story), I thought I'd regale you with tales of the day!

This is the room I got ready in. Can you even get over
that ceiling? Get a load of how little Caroline
(my nanny-ing charge) is down there in the bottom right corner!

This is a tag-team of my mother and maid of honor shoving,
literally shoving, me into my dress.

Isn't my hair great! A family friend did it for me and she
was just excellent! And free! And excellent!

Now this, my friends, is the hubs. Isn't he
dreamy??

I'll let you in on a secret: If I could still fit into that dress,
I'd wear it every Saturday; I loved it so much!
PS Thats my stepdad doing my wedding!

This one speaks for itself :)

I need you to know that I spent the evening before my
wedding, sticking myself with the thorns of those dang
beautiful roses and chopping calla lilies. Yes, I made those bouquets myself.
PS Isn't my veil just gorgeous? Borrowed! Therefore: Free!

Total cost of this shindig: less than $1000
Not including my dress which retailed at $1875 buckaroos.
Did I pay that insane amount for a wedding dress?
Heck no!
I bought it on Ebay for $800. I am a master internet shopper and planned (and bought) my whole wedding online. Including flowers. And beverages. Don't act like you're not impressed!

Good Lovin'

The hubs is the most amazing man ever! Just in case you didn't know, I work over 50 hours a week and am currently in two fast track all-the-same-curriculum-in-8-weeks classes.

Can I just say that I'm tired?

Let me just give you a peek of what I came home to today...


If you can ignore our horrible apartment kitchen, you'll notice a dapper man cooking dinner. Now that is sexy!

Sunday Best

Do you ever walk into a church and have random people look at you like you have just destroyed their whole belief system by your very presence? The look that makes you wonder if you have something on your face? Shirt? In your hair? Then at the next bathroom you see, you dash in to find that you look like you always do? Over-worked, under-paid, and rushed.

I never can figure these people out.

Is it the fact that I come to choir practice straight from work? Usually with something the girls have spilled on my pants? Could it be the fact that I wear tennis shoes or flops instead of heals or slides? Maybe its my tattoos. I think it might be that I haven't brushed my hair for the last 11 hours, but a two year old has! And boy can you tell.

A very dear person to me was talking about how we should present ourselves at church recently and I thought I mostly agreed with him. He said that we should take our appearance at church very seriously because, after all, we are going to the throne of a King. We should polish our faces, put on nice pants, wear suit jackets, and make sure we're more than presentable. We should make sure we're flawless to show respect for our Maker.

I thought I agreed, but tonight, I've changed my mind.

My church growing up used to sing this hymn at invitation "Come just as you are"...what the heck happened to that idea?

I happen to think its a great idea and its just what God wants from us. I doubt very seriously He sees how we're dressed when we come. The Lord Himself said in 1 Samuel 16:7 "Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." Pretty great right?

I love that I can come to church at the end of a very long day when the girls have been up since four and at their winiest and just rest in the fact that my Savior doesn't see what I'm wearing or what my hair looks like or what those spots all over my jeans are. He sees me. He sees my heart. He sees my desire to lift my voice up in praise to His name, the only name worth singing.

I'm not at that church for people who see my outward appearance. I'm there to worship my Savior. And I'm going to be doing it anyway I please, whether it be in hole-y jeans and a spit-up stained shirt or in my Sunday finest.

So you there, lady, you can keep giving me the stink eye every time I show up on Wednesday night looking a little on the trashy side. I may "just" be a nanny, but I work hard! Right up until 6 o'clock every night. So those stains on my pants prove that I'm really getting down into the lives of those two little ones and loving on them fiercely. Those tennis shoes are on to help me walk those girls the mile it takes to get to the park. My hair is little windblown from that walk, but I don't have time to brush it out because twins don't usually let you have those types of luxuries. And those tattoos prove that I've been somewhere...I have a story to tell if only you'd listen. And man is it an incredible story of how God rescued me straight from the hand of the devil! Maybe you'll get to hear it sometime.

And maybe I'll have more tattoos by then.

The Parent Trap

My mom gave me a book to read last night with the instruction that it was one I absolutely had to get through if Paul and I ever planned to be parents. First, can I tell you how shocked I was that my mom was recommending a book to me?! I who have recommended countless books to her who never read one of them??
The audacity of that woman!

But I digress...

During my ritual cup of steaming hot tea this morning, I cracked that book open and delved into the life of Beth Moore via her book Feathers from My Nest. Now, I'm only two chapters in, mind you, but my view on motherhood is already changed.

I had, and still have, the best mother in the world for me. She loved and prayed me through some pretty awful years. She literally sang the night-time little girl fears out of me. She spent hours in my room at night right before bedtime just listening to what my little mind had to say. She nurtured my passionate view on life and she gave me a twin sized mattress/platform to give my very first editorials on life. She listened to my 2 year old rendition of Kokomo by the Beach Boys and she thought I was the most talented little 3rd grader in the talent show (even though later perusal of that particular video proved otherwise). She found the fine line between crushing my spirit and discipline. She encouraged my individuality and when she knew I was headed in the wrong direction, she loved me all the more and hit her knees and begged for God to change me. And boy did He hear her. I think there's nothing more powerful than a mother's prayers. I'm proof after all.

Recently I've wondered to myself how the heck I'll ever live up to my mom's legacy? My kids are probably going to have NeeMaw on speed dial.

But Beth Moore has already taught me an important lesson about motherhood. One I should've learned from my mother, but somehow missed. God is going to give me children that are the best children for me. As long as I keep the One who so tenderly stitches together a mother's heart at the center of my life, my kids will think the same way about me as I do about my mom. And that right there will be the biggest accomplishment of my life.

From Feathers from My Nest:

-"Remember, God's peace is like a river, not a pond. In other words, a sense of health and well-being, both of which are expressions of the Hebrew shalom, can permeate our homes even when we're in white-water rapids."

-"Engage in their lives, in their interests. Talk to them. And listen. Oh, what they teach us - not only about life in general but often about life at their particular address."

-"Carpool is best driven with two hands on the wheel, a heart full of love, a soul full of joy, and a head full of discernment."

-"To us, making it means that we each cast our votes in favor of family...even when we vote for different things in life. We love and confess our love to one another daily. We don't just let love and mutual concern develop naturally. I've learned that the things that develop naturally are usually things of the human nature, not the Holy Spirit's."

OH DANG! Its the PoPo!

So lately I've had some run-ins with the po-lice...

I know, I know, you thought I was past the irresponsible stage of my life. So did I.

Anyway, seems I have a foot that refuses to use the breaks at red lights and when getting on the highway.

A few weeks ago Paul called me to inform me that he got a cute little photo of my car from the gracious folks at the city of Bedford police department. I could've sworn that light was YELLOW and I let Paul know that. His response? "Kristen, I'm watching the video of you running the VERY red light online. Nice try."
I still claim ignorance on that one.

THEN! This morning I was just cruising on my way to work minding my own business when those dang lights started flashing behind me again! I honestly had no clue why I was being pulled over. The nice policeman informed me I was going almost 80 mph.
I claim ignorance on this one also.

Thankfully, he believed I was just not paying attention and didn't give me a ticket.

In other news, we put an offer on a house this week. We should hear back today! We could be home-owners soon :)

Cute eh?

Things I've learned about the law:

-When you get pulled over, pull over to the right...I think I missed this in drivers ed

-If you get a ticket for no insurance and don't go to get it dismissed, you will have to pay a surcharge fee to the state for 3 years. THIS STINKS!

-Police frown upon Mustangs in general. Remember this when car buying.

So I had an interesting day yesterday...well, interesting for me anyway. I don't lead the most interesting life, which I thank God for everyday because I used to live in a soap opera.

I went to the doctor to try and get this hormone stuff under control. What did she tell me? "Kristen, you just got off birth control. Give it 6 months. On another note, you're a fatty...work out more"
Pissed.

But she was pretty cool...and short...she made me sit on her swirly stool because I was too tall to examine. (Side note: I wonder if they make exam tables for short doctors. Must look into this to satisfy my own curiosity)

Went to work. Hiked, yes hiked, to the park pushing a double stroller with a couple of two and a half year olds in it. (Note to self: bulk up before having kids of your own...strollers are heavy...kids are heavier)

Since Doc said I needed to work out more, I decided to try out mat pilates at the local gym. Accidentally went on intermediate night instead of amature hour...almost died. I can barely walk today but Paul said I look skinnier so its all good.

Things that are perplexing me today:

~When my realtor communicates via purple scripted (and highlighted) emails, should I assume she's unprofessional? Or just weird enough to handle my eccintricities?

~What the heck is the difference between pre-qualifying and pre-approval??

~Why does Heidi Montag continue to pretend she's a real music artist? Yuck

Ahhh the blogging world...

I've been contemplating blogging for a few months. It could be a good outlet for my frustrations, feelings, and escapades...

...or it could just be something else I'll never get around to doing! We'll see!


Things I've been deeply contemplating today:

~Swear to you that Barely Breathing by LifeHouse says "may have lost my weiner"

~Girl Scout cookies are currently an obsession...getting some tomorrow for sure

~Do NOT like American Idol...do NOT like morning radio shows that can speak of nothing else