the rumors are true.

you might have noticed that i haven't been blogging away on here lately. you see, our life has been a bit hectic since we're moving to Vermont in ... ooooohhhh.... 12 days.

yes, you read that correctly: we're moving to Vermont. in 12 days.

Here's the story:

ryan threw out his resume to three firms in vermont in an attempt to move closer to family (we applied in roc, too, but to no avail). three firms. that's not very many in this economy. we didn't hear anything for about a month until we found ourselves stopping at a Mobil in VT getting maple creemees when ry noticed an email on his phone from one of the firms. this was great since we were in vermont, minus the whole not having any sort of interview clothes. so off to brooks brothers we went to buy some pants and a polo (yes, he interviewed in khakis and a polo) while knowing that only God could work out this timing. of course we were in vermont when we received the email. anyways, the first interview went well and we thought they'd be offering him a job. we headed back to massachusetts wondering what was to come and then he received a call for a second interview...so up he went. the second interview went well and in early july he received an offer from them.

at this point in the summer we were absolutely loving our life. we have, hands down, the best church family in the entire world and the thought of leaving that was just too hard. not to mention we were in the midst of church softball season and we couldn't leave the team hanging ;) i also was in the middle of crazy time at gordon college since the new fiscal year was kicking off. so...we turned it down.

then they called again in august and told ry that his name continually comes up when they talk about the still-open position. we turned them down as i was loving my job and we thought it best to have two jobs thanks to our education at gordon college that we are working on paying off (moving to vt = no immediate job for nicole).

so on we went with life here in massachusetts. it was going so well that we even put an offer in on a house at the beginning of september that we loved. a total fixer upper, but a house we loved none the less. the offer got accepted and on the same day the job called again. since we had just had an offer accepted on a house we turned it down again. we went through the process of signing papers, getting an inspection and getting estimates for plumbing and electric...when we found out the electric was going to cost two arms and two legs to update. it made it unaffordable. so the night we deemed the house unaffordable, we decided to call back the job in vermont.

the next morning, ry called the firm and the rest is history. both of us are excited about this decision and it's clear that the Lord was working over the past couple of months. He has guided this whole journey along and has opened both our hearts to moving up to vt. i gave my notice at work last thursday and ry gave his notice today. it's going to be incredibly hard to leave here. the people we know here are way too wonderful and it breaks our hearts to leave them. we've been so blessed over the past two years of marriage and we know that the Lord is continuing to bless our path as He leads us to vermont.

and yes, i know you're all wondering, beans is very excited to go hiking in the mountains and swimming in the rivers.

and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

fruit of the spirit: an art project.

so i saw this print awhile ago on Olive Manna and wanted to buy it. 

of course the 16x20 print is $65. yikes. too many dollah bills for the dumas family budget. after said print sighting, we happened to be at michael's and noticed canvas' were on sale so we bought a five pack with some ambitious thoughts flowing through our heads. think: a picture of a cherry blossom tree stretching across three canvas' with scripture written underneath. then reality hit. we're not artists. bummer. so ry had the idea to recreate the print i had shown him. i didn't photograph the process, but let me tell you, the cherry blossom might have been easier. we had to print out the letters and make them fit. this process alone took us cutting out the same letters over and over and over and over again. we then had to trace them and paint blue around them, twice. we then painted the letters white...three times. it took about three weeks off and on to finally finish. BUT...i'm a fan of the final product and thankful for the bright color it brings to the blah "dining room."  

but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control... - galatians 5:22-23

Dumas Family Favorites: Buffalo Chicken Dip

i've had a few failures in the kitchen lately, which is probably why you haven't seen me on here in about a week. due to the amount of failures, i knew i needed to turn to a trusty old favorite for the pats game today: buffalo chicken dip. this dumas family favorite could almost be labeled THE dumas family favorite. it's the recipe that everyone asks for after they eat it. everyone. it's that good. this is a recipe we've memorized because we've made it so many times. it's that good. now, i cannot take credit for finding this recipe. in fact, like most delicious food in life, it came to me through a lembo family party. aunt cyndi AC made this one day and since then it makes an appearance at almost every major family party. like i said, it's that good. here's the recipe so you too can enjoy the deliciousness that is buffalo chicken dip:

buffalo chicken dip

adapted from kraft, courtesy of AC

INGREDIENTS

1 package cream cheese, softened (we use 1/3 less than fat)

1/2 cup blue cheese dressing (you can use ranch if you desire, we don't)

1/2 cup franks hot sauce

1.5 cups cooked chicken (we like it shredded and we usually use two chicken breasts and today Ry decided to try grilling the chicken so it had more flavor...GREAT IDEA!)

DIRECTIONS

1. preheat oven to 350 F degrees 

2. in mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, blue cheese and franks with electric mixer

3. mix in chicken

4. spread in 2 qt baking dish (or whatever else you have to cook things in - sometimes we use the 8x8 or the loaf pan, depending on what dishes are in use) and bake for 20 minutes. Mixture should be bubbly on the edges.

5. enjoy with a bag of santitas.