Please don't die of shock! I haven't posted in FOREVER... then two posts in an hour?!?!?! I KNOW!!!
Since the Christmas letter:
We have SO enjoyed our church services with our new pastor. We love Bro. Lonnie, but there's just some differences in the way a mid-60 year old man does things, and the way a 28 year old man does things! :-) Pastor Dave has made quite a few changes, and we are loving them! Our church feels more alive and vibrant now... though many times I wonder if a lot of it isn't my own heart becoming more alive and vibrant! Last night, we started the Master Clubs for the kids on Wednesday nights. I am really excited about this... even though we don't have kids of our own. I think it will be a great discipleship tool for our children, and will be such a tremendous benefit to our church as a whole!
My job situation has changed, once again, and I no longer have work again. We are praying that I will be able to find something more stable, soon, and closer to home. I miss the little one {I think he was possibly the sweetest baby EVER}, but I sure don't miss the hour one way commute. We'll see what God does!
Thankfully, the dealership business has picked up some, so that is a blessing. There is nothing new as far as we're concerned with the full-time ministry position. We were told this week that our name had been recommended to someone, but we personally have not heard anything from them, so we're just waiting on the Lord.
The situation with the Jeep (that was in the accident) is a huge mess, too. Thankfully we got a lawyer right away to help deal with the situation. Chris was rear-ended, and the other person's insurance agent is only claiming less than 50% liability, which is a joke... and not a very funny one at that! :-( I know that God will take care of all of that, but sometimes things are just downright ridiculous! On the blessing side of things as far as that is concerned... Chris' boss has been kind enough to let him drive a vehicle from the dealership for a while until we get this all settled. We had a rental car until 12/30, and since then Chris has been driving one of their vehicles. Also, Chris was not seriously hurt (as in nothing was broken, etc.,) though his back and neck have been bothering him pretty consistently since then. He is being treated by a chiropractor, and also gets massage therapy there, so he doesn't complain too much! Those massages are AWESOME!
We are still also contemplating the vehicle situation, since my lease is up in April, and the whole thing with the Jeep. We are trying to be good stewards and decrease our outgoing bills in preparation to go back into full-time ministry. The LAST thing we want is to hinder God's will for our lives because a car payment was too much! Please keep us in prayer in that regard!
We have been busy with other things, as well... youth activities {Laser Tag}, stamping parties & a Pampered Chef party for me, football parties {SEC Championship & BCS Championship... ROLLLLLL TIDE!!!}, having friends over for homemade pizza and RAGE, fellowshipping in general {since our Sunday evening service was moved to 6pm from 7pm, it makes it a lot easier to get together with people after church Sunday night}, and this past weekend we babysat Dakota from Friday night through Sunday. It's been busy, but very enjoyable!
We were thrilled last night to have a visitor in church with us. Our massage therapist at our chiropractor's office had told us that she was looking for a church, and lo and behold, we know of an EXCELLENT one! :-) We pray that she felt welcome, and will be integrated in our church soon! :-)
In family news... we are thrilled to be having a new niece or nephew due August 1st, Lord willing. My brother, Steve & his wife, Kathryn, are expecting baby #2! It was funny as I was writing the Christmas letter, I was thinking that this was the 1st year in a while that no one on either side of our family was expecting a baby or had a baby this year. Well, about a week after the letter was written and printed, we found out about Steve's baby! :-) We are also looking forward to a family reunion of my mom's side of the family the 1st weekend of August for my grandparent's 50th Anniversary, Lord willing. My grandma will be 82 the end of March, and my grandpa will be 92 in September. We are also waiting for the news of an engagement of one of Chris' family members... ;-) I hope it will be coming soon!
Well, I think that's about it for us! I know I don't update this often... it's because I am now addicted to Facebook! So if you want to know what's really going on with us... look us up on FB or we both have Twitter accounts now, too!
Since it is now 2:14am, I think I might be able to sleep. Good morning, everyone! :-)
Showing posts with label misc.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label misc.. Show all posts
1.28.2010
A little belated Merry Christmas 2009 and Happy New Year from the Mitchells
Dear Family and Friends,
Christmas 2009 (written Dec. 3)
Merry CHRISTmas to you all! We trust this past year has been a good one for you, and that you are enjoying the Christmas season. Our year, as always, has been eventful (like most people’s lives!) We have been able to enjoy many events and also many blessings. Of course, we have had some rough patches as well, but God has proved Himself faithful as always. I’m so thankful for a personal relationship with the God who never changes!
Many things in our lives have stayed mostly the same… same church, same jobs, same address… which is a miracle for us! As a matter of fact, this year made it the longest that we have ever lived in one place and one address in our married life!
We continue to work at the same jobs, but Chris has been given more and more responsibility as a manager at Cross Chrysler/Jeep. These past 3 months have been really slow, but God continues to provide. I still work as a nurse with special needs kids, but had a lot of changes in my cases this year, including almost 2 months of no work. It was nice to be home and have more opportunity for ministry and projects, but not so nice for the checkbook! :-) I know MANY of you know how that is! November 10th I started another case that is M-F, 7a-3p. Not too bad, until I found out it was an HOUR away! It’s been a struggle for me to get up early, but God is teaching me to be dependent on HIM to get through the days! I’m tired! I’ve also been sick off and on for the past 6 weeks… pink eye, two ear infections, and a horrible cough for about 3 weeks! Thankfully, I am FINALLY feeling better!
We continue to serve in the same ministries in our church here as well. This past Wednesday was our beloved pastor’s last service after serving as pastor for 37 years here at Shawnee. We are looking forward to what God will do as our new pastor, Bro. Dave Delaney, takes up the torch. Pastor Dave was our youth pastor for 5 years, so we already know and love him. Chris also has started singing solos in our church, which is an honor for him!
Other than our normal everyday work and church, here are the highlights from our year:
January - we had an ice storm at the end of January. I know for those of you up north, that’s not really a big deal. However, down here, they aren’t really prepared for this kind of weather! Thousands of people were without power for over a week! Thankfully, we were not one of that group, so we opened our home for a few days to some friends who were without power.
February - Chris sister, Tiffany, came for a long weekend the last weekend in February to spend some time with us. We had a blast! Unfortunately, Chris had to work most of the time.
April - I was COMPLETELY surprised on the 14th when Chris came in the door from work carrying a 4 month old little girl… our niece, Raegan! Chris sister, Kim, and her daughter, Korissa then stepped out from behind him! They came to visit us for a week while her husband was overseas on business. We were thrilled to be able to meet Raegan, and SO enjoyed having them here. Korissa LOVED “Uncle Chis” (pronounced kiss) and always wanted to be wherever he was. While they were visiting, we were able to enjoy Thunder over Louisville… the fireworks kick-off to Kentucky Derby Festival. The girls did really well through the fireworks, too! The house seemed a bit more quiet and lonely when they went home! At the end of the month, I was able to attend the Sword of the Lord Ladies’ Jubilee in Murfreesboro, TN. It was a great time of spiritual encouragement and refreshment.
May - The first weekend of May is the Kentucky Derby, so we always try to “get out of Dodge” for the weekend. This year, we took a quick road trip to Atlanta to attend a game at Turner Field. We were able to have lunch with my Uncle Dave, and then meet up with some friends on Sunday for church. The next weekend, we flew to Maryland to see my best friend. That trip was my Valentine’s/Mother’s Day gift from Chris. It was a wonderful long weekend, but went MUCH too quickly!
June - On June 30th, I headed to Cincinnati to meet up with my Gma & Gpa Decker at the Creation Museum. They came down from MN with a group from their church. It was 2 years to the day since I had seen them. Again, the time went WAY too quickly, but it was such a blessing to see them again!
July- We celebrated Independence Day at our camp, Indian Creek. Chris was thrilled with the opportunity to preach the service there that night. On July 24th, we celebrated our 9th anniversary (hard to believe it’s been that long already!) by staying here and visiting sights in Louisville. We went to the Mega Caverns, the Louisville Slugger Museum (we just couldn’t do an anniversary WITHOUT some kind of baseball!) J We walked around downtown enjoying the time together, and then ended the evening at Morton’s Steakhouse, where everyone that served us in any way said “Happy Anniversary” to us! We thought that was pretty cool!
August - We started out the month with the 25th Youth Conference at Shawnee. Having 1,000 teens at your church for the week just to hear preaching is pretty amazing! That Thursday, we had a major flood! They were calling a Flood Emergency (which I had never even heard of), telling everyone to stay wherever they were to avoid getting caught in flood waters. Crazy weather this year! Also, that week, I was able to visit with a dear friend who was in town for her granddaughter’s birth, as well as one of the little boys (and the family) that I worked for in Maryland.
That Saturday, we flew down to West Palm Beach, FL, to visit Chris’ sister, Sandy, & family for vacation. We made a couple visits to the beach, and attended a Marlins’ game and Rays’ baseball game. At the Marlins’ game (which was also Chris’ birthday), we made it onto the BIG SCREEN at the field for the 1st time! We discovered that it helps to have very few fans at the game, great seats close, and an adorable 4 yr old nephew! J It was a wonderful vacation!
October - October was a busy month for us, with something going on every weekend! We attended a University of Louisville football game (my first big-time college football game), one of the biggest high school football rivalry games in the country (St. X vs. Trinity), Youth Retreat (which Chris actually took off work for), and then I was able to meet up with a college friend and visit for the day. It was so fun! The last event of October was Trunk-or-Treat. We participated this year by actually decorating our “trunk” (the back of Chris’ Jeep) with a replica of his car dealership!
November - We started up the month of November by heading up to the Upper Peninsula of MI to visit my brother, Greg & his family. My nephew, Caden, had just turned 13 months, and we hadn’t met him yet! We were able to spend a week with them. It was probably one of the most relaxing vacations we’ve had in a while! Unfortunately, both Aksana & Caden got sick, as did I! We went to Tahquamenon Falls on Saturday, and it was a GORGEOUS day (for the UP). We spent Thanksgiving Day with some friends of ours in Cincinnati, OH. With the nature of Chris’ job, we don’t get to travel far for the holiday season, so it was wonderful to be with friends for the holiday.
The most recent thing that has happened is that Chris was involved in a major car accident on 11/29/09 on the way home from church. I was home sick with a terrible earache. Chris says that he’s never been more thankful for a horrible earache in his life, since it meant that I wasn’t involved in the accident. I already have a lot of problems with my back/neck! The abridged version of the accident: Chris was rear-ended on the freeway by a 24 foot box truck. The truck hit the back passenger side of the Jeep, going up on two wheels, and sending the Jeep spinning into the concrete barriers between the east/west lanes of the freeway. Thank the Lord, Chris is OK… just a stiff and sore neck/back. We are praying that the insurance will total the Jeep, and that there will be no hidden injuries when Chris goes in to get his X-rays read on Wednesday. We are SO thankful for the Lord’s protection in this situation! Please pray with us that his Jeep will be totaled, and wisdom as to what to do as far as a vehicle is concerned… we won’t be able to afford to replace the Jeep, since it would cost about $6,ooo MORE to get the same exact Jeep now! Also, please pray with us about God providing for us to go back into full-time ministry. We have been praying about it for almost a year now, but God hasn’t seen fit to open the door yet. NOT that we really want to move again, but whatever God wills… :-)
Well, I think that’s all the news for our year. At this time of celebration, please don’t forget the REASON that we celebrate. Jesus Christ came to earth and was born in a manger for the sole purpose of becoming the PERFECT sacrifice for our sins. He died on the cross and rose from the dead the third day so that we could have the opportunity to go to Heaven with Him when we die. Jesus gave the Ultimate gift… His life for our sins so that we could have the gift of eternal life. Have you accepted His gift? All you have to do is admit that you are a sinner, believe by faith that Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for your sins (breaking God‘s law), and ask Him to forgive those sins so that you can go to Heaven when you die. Have you done that? If not, you are missing the GREATEST CHRISTMAS GIFT of ALL! (If you have questions or want to know more, give us a call anytime!)
Wishing you the very Merriest Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Chris and Heather Beth Mitchell
Christmas 2009 (written Dec. 3)
Merry CHRISTmas to you all! We trust this past year has been a good one for you, and that you are enjoying the Christmas season. Our year, as always, has been eventful (like most people’s lives!) We have been able to enjoy many events and also many blessings. Of course, we have had some rough patches as well, but God has proved Himself faithful as always. I’m so thankful for a personal relationship with the God who never changes!
Many things in our lives have stayed mostly the same… same church, same jobs, same address… which is a miracle for us! As a matter of fact, this year made it the longest that we have ever lived in one place and one address in our married life!
We continue to work at the same jobs, but Chris has been given more and more responsibility as a manager at Cross Chrysler/Jeep. These past 3 months have been really slow, but God continues to provide. I still work as a nurse with special needs kids, but had a lot of changes in my cases this year, including almost 2 months of no work. It was nice to be home and have more opportunity for ministry and projects, but not so nice for the checkbook! :-) I know MANY of you know how that is! November 10th I started another case that is M-F, 7a-3p. Not too bad, until I found out it was an HOUR away! It’s been a struggle for me to get up early, but God is teaching me to be dependent on HIM to get through the days! I’m tired! I’ve also been sick off and on for the past 6 weeks… pink eye, two ear infections, and a horrible cough for about 3 weeks! Thankfully, I am FINALLY feeling better!
We continue to serve in the same ministries in our church here as well. This past Wednesday was our beloved pastor’s last service after serving as pastor for 37 years here at Shawnee. We are looking forward to what God will do as our new pastor, Bro. Dave Delaney, takes up the torch. Pastor Dave was our youth pastor for 5 years, so we already know and love him. Chris also has started singing solos in our church, which is an honor for him!
Other than our normal everyday work and church, here are the highlights from our year:
January - we had an ice storm at the end of January. I know for those of you up north, that’s not really a big deal. However, down here, they aren’t really prepared for this kind of weather! Thousands of people were without power for over a week! Thankfully, we were not one of that group, so we opened our home for a few days to some friends who were without power.
February - Chris sister, Tiffany, came for a long weekend the last weekend in February to spend some time with us. We had a blast! Unfortunately, Chris had to work most of the time.
April - I was COMPLETELY surprised on the 14th when Chris came in the door from work carrying a 4 month old little girl… our niece, Raegan! Chris sister, Kim, and her daughter, Korissa then stepped out from behind him! They came to visit us for a week while her husband was overseas on business. We were thrilled to be able to meet Raegan, and SO enjoyed having them here. Korissa LOVED “Uncle Chis” (pronounced kiss) and always wanted to be wherever he was. While they were visiting, we were able to enjoy Thunder over Louisville… the fireworks kick-off to Kentucky Derby Festival. The girls did really well through the fireworks, too! The house seemed a bit more quiet and lonely when they went home! At the end of the month, I was able to attend the Sword of the Lord Ladies’ Jubilee in Murfreesboro, TN. It was a great time of spiritual encouragement and refreshment.
May - The first weekend of May is the Kentucky Derby, so we always try to “get out of Dodge” for the weekend. This year, we took a quick road trip to Atlanta to attend a game at Turner Field. We were able to have lunch with my Uncle Dave, and then meet up with some friends on Sunday for church. The next weekend, we flew to Maryland to see my best friend. That trip was my Valentine’s/Mother’s Day gift from Chris. It was a wonderful long weekend, but went MUCH too quickly!
June - On June 30th, I headed to Cincinnati to meet up with my Gma & Gpa Decker at the Creation Museum. They came down from MN with a group from their church. It was 2 years to the day since I had seen them. Again, the time went WAY too quickly, but it was such a blessing to see them again!
July- We celebrated Independence Day at our camp, Indian Creek. Chris was thrilled with the opportunity to preach the service there that night. On July 24th, we celebrated our 9th anniversary (hard to believe it’s been that long already!) by staying here and visiting sights in Louisville. We went to the Mega Caverns, the Louisville Slugger Museum (we just couldn’t do an anniversary WITHOUT some kind of baseball!) J We walked around downtown enjoying the time together, and then ended the evening at Morton’s Steakhouse, where everyone that served us in any way said “Happy Anniversary” to us! We thought that was pretty cool!
August - We started out the month with the 25th Youth Conference at Shawnee. Having 1,000 teens at your church for the week just to hear preaching is pretty amazing! That Thursday, we had a major flood! They were calling a Flood Emergency (which I had never even heard of), telling everyone to stay wherever they were to avoid getting caught in flood waters. Crazy weather this year! Also, that week, I was able to visit with a dear friend who was in town for her granddaughter’s birth, as well as one of the little boys (and the family) that I worked for in Maryland.
That Saturday, we flew down to West Palm Beach, FL, to visit Chris’ sister, Sandy, & family for vacation. We made a couple visits to the beach, and attended a Marlins’ game and Rays’ baseball game. At the Marlins’ game (which was also Chris’ birthday), we made it onto the BIG SCREEN at the field for the 1st time! We discovered that it helps to have very few fans at the game, great seats close, and an adorable 4 yr old nephew! J It was a wonderful vacation!
October - October was a busy month for us, with something going on every weekend! We attended a University of Louisville football game (my first big-time college football game), one of the biggest high school football rivalry games in the country (St. X vs. Trinity), Youth Retreat (which Chris actually took off work for), and then I was able to meet up with a college friend and visit for the day. It was so fun! The last event of October was Trunk-or-Treat. We participated this year by actually decorating our “trunk” (the back of Chris’ Jeep) with a replica of his car dealership!
November - We started up the month of November by heading up to the Upper Peninsula of MI to visit my brother, Greg & his family. My nephew, Caden, had just turned 13 months, and we hadn’t met him yet! We were able to spend a week with them. It was probably one of the most relaxing vacations we’ve had in a while! Unfortunately, both Aksana & Caden got sick, as did I! We went to Tahquamenon Falls on Saturday, and it was a GORGEOUS day (for the UP). We spent Thanksgiving Day with some friends of ours in Cincinnati, OH. With the nature of Chris’ job, we don’t get to travel far for the holiday season, so it was wonderful to be with friends for the holiday.
The most recent thing that has happened is that Chris was involved in a major car accident on 11/29/09 on the way home from church. I was home sick with a terrible earache. Chris says that he’s never been more thankful for a horrible earache in his life, since it meant that I wasn’t involved in the accident. I already have a lot of problems with my back/neck! The abridged version of the accident: Chris was rear-ended on the freeway by a 24 foot box truck. The truck hit the back passenger side of the Jeep, going up on two wheels, and sending the Jeep spinning into the concrete barriers between the east/west lanes of the freeway. Thank the Lord, Chris is OK… just a stiff and sore neck/back. We are praying that the insurance will total the Jeep, and that there will be no hidden injuries when Chris goes in to get his X-rays read on Wednesday. We are SO thankful for the Lord’s protection in this situation! Please pray with us that his Jeep will be totaled, and wisdom as to what to do as far as a vehicle is concerned… we won’t be able to afford to replace the Jeep, since it would cost about $6,ooo MORE to get the same exact Jeep now! Also, please pray with us about God providing for us to go back into full-time ministry. We have been praying about it for almost a year now, but God hasn’t seen fit to open the door yet. NOT that we really want to move again, but whatever God wills… :-)
Well, I think that’s all the news for our year. At this time of celebration, please don’t forget the REASON that we celebrate. Jesus Christ came to earth and was born in a manger for the sole purpose of becoming the PERFECT sacrifice for our sins. He died on the cross and rose from the dead the third day so that we could have the opportunity to go to Heaven with Him when we die. Jesus gave the Ultimate gift… His life for our sins so that we could have the gift of eternal life. Have you accepted His gift? All you have to do is admit that you are a sinner, believe by faith that Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for your sins (breaking God‘s law), and ask Him to forgive those sins so that you can go to Heaven when you die. Have you done that? If not, you are missing the GREATEST CHRISTMAS GIFT of ALL! (If you have questions or want to know more, give us a call anytime!)
Wishing you the very Merriest Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Chris and Heather Beth Mitchell
5.01.2009
A month later...
Wow - this month has been really busy, even though I didn't know it was going to be this way! I'm all for surprises, and I got a great surprise this month.
On April 10, I went with our teens on a laser tag activity. It was VERY fun; I'd never played laser tag before. I didn't do well, but I didn't come in last, either, so I was pretty good with that!
My great surprise came on April 14. That night, Chris texted me to ask me what I was making for supper. Now, mind you, I don't ENJOY cooking... I don't even LIKE cooking, so I try not to think about it until I absolutely have to. Part of the problem is that Chris and I don't often eat together, b/c he doesn't usually get home until around 9pm. I am still TRYING to lose weight, and try not to eat after 8pm. I hate cooking for just me, and having him eat leftovers when he gets home, so I usually just cook for him when he's on his way home, and then I eat the leftovers for lunch the next day. ANYWAY, I told him that I hadn't planned anything, and left it at that. Well, he called me at around 9:15pm, and told me that he was on his way home, and that he was REALLY hungry, so I needed to make sure that I made enough dinner. As I was finishing up dinner, he walked into the house and said, "Hey, Babe, I'm home." My back was to the door when he walked in, and as I turned around, I saw that he was holding a blonde little girl...
SURPRISE!!! Many thoughts were reeling through my head in that moment until I recognized who it was... our niece, Korissa! I said her name, and her mom and sister stepped out from behind Chris! They live in Vegas, and we hadn't seen Korissa for 9 months, and hadn't had a chance to meet Raegan, since she's only 4 months old now! I was totally surprised... I had no idea! They had planned this for over a month. Kim's husband is overseas on business for 4 months, so they broke up his absence by coming here for a week in the middle of the four months! It was SO FUN having them here. Korissa just LOVES Uncle Chris, and I loved holding Raegan. Chris and I both still had to work while they were here, but I got off about every other day, so it worked out OK.
That weekend, the 18th, was Thunder Over Louisville... the big kick-off to the 2 week long Derby Festival before the Kentucky Derby. We all went down to the riverfront for that. Chris had a friend from college that lives in Nashville come up for Thunder, and he and his wife joined us, as well as a couple that are friends of ours from here. We had a great time! Even the girls loved the fireworks; Raegan fell asleep half way through them, in spite of the fact that one of her earplugs had fallen out.
We SO enjoyed having kids in our house, and it was very lonely when they left!
I packed in several days of work after they left, then last Thurs. headed down to Murfreesboro, TN, for the Sword of the Lord Ladies' Jubilee (conference.) I took two of my friends with me, and joined a few more mature ladies from the church to caravan down there. We had a wonderful time. It's so amazing how God always gives you JUST what you need, when you need it! I have recently been struggling a lot with the fact that God has chosen not to give us a baby right now, along with some other things in my life. There were 3 different sessions at the conference about God working through the trials in our lives. One of them was entitled, "God Works the Night Shift." The speaker was talking about how some of God's greatest work is done in the dark... a baby being formed in the darkness of his mother's womb, the rest and recovery our bodies do while we're asleep, etc. It was so encouraging to me! (I'll post the notes on another post here in a minute!) It was an encouraging, fun, but emotional weekend for me.
This week, I worked a lot to make up for the time I will be gone this weekend.
We're leaving later today to head to Atlanta, GA. The Kentucky Derby is this weekend here in Louisville, and we get Saturday off (because most everything around here closes for the Derby.) The kids in KY actually have today off school because it's Oakes Day (the "local's" Derby). Anyway, we don't really want to be a part of all that, so we've been leaving town for this weekend ever since we moved here. The past two years we went to St. Louis to watch the Cardinals play baseball, but they didn't have a home game this year. So, we decided to cross another baseball park off the list of parks we need to see, and so we're going to Atlanta. My uncle lives near Atlanta, so he'll be meeting us for lunch tomorrow. On Sunday, we are going to church with some long ago friends that we haven't seen in a while, and then doing lunch with them, and heading home.
Whew! Life has been busy! God is good, and we are thanking him for DAILY loading us with benefits... even our salvation! :-) (Psalms)
My baby brother is graduating from Maranatha next weekend, though we won't be able to be there. He and his wife are moving this weekend, so pray for them, and please pray that Nathan can find a job in Madison. Also, my brother Greg is graduating with his Master's Degree this weekend. (Not from Maranatha... can't remember the name of the school.) I have lots of cards to make! :-)
Well, I better get going... too much time on here already! I'm going to try to post some pictures, but if I can't get them on here, you can check my Facebook page if you are interested.
Thanks for stopping by! :-)
On April 10, I went with our teens on a laser tag activity. It was VERY fun; I'd never played laser tag before. I didn't do well, but I didn't come in last, either, so I was pretty good with that!
My great surprise came on April 14. That night, Chris texted me to ask me what I was making for supper. Now, mind you, I don't ENJOY cooking... I don't even LIKE cooking, so I try not to think about it until I absolutely have to. Part of the problem is that Chris and I don't often eat together, b/c he doesn't usually get home until around 9pm. I am still TRYING to lose weight, and try not to eat after 8pm. I hate cooking for just me, and having him eat leftovers when he gets home, so I usually just cook for him when he's on his way home, and then I eat the leftovers for lunch the next day. ANYWAY, I told him that I hadn't planned anything, and left it at that. Well, he called me at around 9:15pm, and told me that he was on his way home, and that he was REALLY hungry, so I needed to make sure that I made enough dinner. As I was finishing up dinner, he walked into the house and said, "Hey, Babe, I'm home." My back was to the door when he walked in, and as I turned around, I saw that he was holding a blonde little girl...
SURPRISE!!! Many thoughts were reeling through my head in that moment until I recognized who it was... our niece, Korissa! I said her name, and her mom and sister stepped out from behind Chris! They live in Vegas, and we hadn't seen Korissa for 9 months, and hadn't had a chance to meet Raegan, since she's only 4 months old now! I was totally surprised... I had no idea! They had planned this for over a month. Kim's husband is overseas on business for 4 months, so they broke up his absence by coming here for a week in the middle of the four months! It was SO FUN having them here. Korissa just LOVES Uncle Chris, and I loved holding Raegan. Chris and I both still had to work while they were here, but I got off about every other day, so it worked out OK.
That weekend, the 18th, was Thunder Over Louisville... the big kick-off to the 2 week long Derby Festival before the Kentucky Derby. We all went down to the riverfront for that. Chris had a friend from college that lives in Nashville come up for Thunder, and he and his wife joined us, as well as a couple that are friends of ours from here. We had a great time! Even the girls loved the fireworks; Raegan fell asleep half way through them, in spite of the fact that one of her earplugs had fallen out.
We SO enjoyed having kids in our house, and it was very lonely when they left!
I packed in several days of work after they left, then last Thurs. headed down to Murfreesboro, TN, for the Sword of the Lord Ladies' Jubilee (conference.) I took two of my friends with me, and joined a few more mature ladies from the church to caravan down there. We had a wonderful time. It's so amazing how God always gives you JUST what you need, when you need it! I have recently been struggling a lot with the fact that God has chosen not to give us a baby right now, along with some other things in my life. There were 3 different sessions at the conference about God working through the trials in our lives. One of them was entitled, "God Works the Night Shift." The speaker was talking about how some of God's greatest work is done in the dark... a baby being formed in the darkness of his mother's womb, the rest and recovery our bodies do while we're asleep, etc. It was so encouraging to me! (I'll post the notes on another post here in a minute!) It was an encouraging, fun, but emotional weekend for me.
This week, I worked a lot to make up for the time I will be gone this weekend.
We're leaving later today to head to Atlanta, GA. The Kentucky Derby is this weekend here in Louisville, and we get Saturday off (because most everything around here closes for the Derby.) The kids in KY actually have today off school because it's Oakes Day (the "local's" Derby). Anyway, we don't really want to be a part of all that, so we've been leaving town for this weekend ever since we moved here. The past two years we went to St. Louis to watch the Cardinals play baseball, but they didn't have a home game this year. So, we decided to cross another baseball park off the list of parks we need to see, and so we're going to Atlanta. My uncle lives near Atlanta, so he'll be meeting us for lunch tomorrow. On Sunday, we are going to church with some long ago friends that we haven't seen in a while, and then doing lunch with them, and heading home.
Whew! Life has been busy! God is good, and we are thanking him for DAILY loading us with benefits... even our salvation! :-) (Psalms)
My baby brother is graduating from Maranatha next weekend, though we won't be able to be there. He and his wife are moving this weekend, so pray for them, and please pray that Nathan can find a job in Madison. Also, my brother Greg is graduating with his Master's Degree this weekend. (Not from Maranatha... can't remember the name of the school.) I have lots of cards to make! :-)
Well, I better get going... too much time on here already! I'm going to try to post some pictures, but if I can't get them on here, you can check my Facebook page if you are interested.
Thanks for stopping by! :-)
4.06.2009
A LITTLE taste of motherhood...
Hello! Well, it was an interesting weekend at our house.
First of all, I have been going to a new chiropractor. I REALLY like him, and am so glad that I am finally getting my back taken care of. Unfortunately, I have to go through some extra pain as my muscles SCREAM at me because they are so used to being in the WRONG position, but it will all be better in a while. I'm VERY sore today... some because of the adjustments and muscle work, and some because of taking care of Dakota this weekend.
Second, I oriented at my new work case on Friday. It made me cry as g-ma of the patient explained to me that she is caregiver of the little one because the parents abused the patient so much. She was only 8 pounds on her first birthday. How could ANYONE do that to their child?!??! Anyway, she is doing much better now, and g-ma is thrilled that I am coming to work there. Another dose of encouragement that was desperately needed.
Got a phone call at 12:30am Saturday morning informing me that *J* was being admitted into the hospital. Thankfully, after a few tests, they decided that there was nothing wrong with him, but I missed a couple of hours of work, besides getting the living daylights scared out of me when the phone rang in the middle of the night! :-) I also got to sleep in a little bit, too, so that was a blessing.
Dakota's mom called Saturday afternoon, asking if I still wanted to watch Dakota, since he was sick with a low grade fever. I told her I didn't care if she didn't. I knew she really needed a break. I overheard her asking D in the background if he still wanted to go to Heather's house, and he said "YES!" Then she asked if he wanted to stay with mommy since he was sick, to which he replied, "I not sick!" That was it... I told her that she could bring him anyway. I ended up getting up with him twice in the night because he woke up and then needed medicine. We did try to go to church (I kept him with me instead of putting him in the nursery.) He fell asleep on the bus ride (we went on the bus route with Chris), and slept about 15 minutes. He woke up at church, and was VERY whiny and wouldn't be quiet in the Sunday school class, so we went home. He fell asleep at 11:45am, and slept til 2:30 or so. In spite of him being sick, we enjoyed having him here. I'm not sure that Chris slept much either after D woke up the first time. :-) He's so smart, and it is so fun to hear all the things that he is learning. He did really well!
I finally fit into a dress that I bought a while ago, and we got pictures taken for the church directory. Hopefully they turn out nice. They looked a little iffy on the camera.
After life being so mundane for a while, it seems like life is going crazy the past two weeks! Also, got an e-mail from my bro, Steve, today, and they resigned their position at the church where he was youth pastor. They are headed up to Wake Forest, NC, to go to Southeastern Seminary there. They will be moving the week of May 24. Please pray for them and the youth group as they adjust to this change. Steve has been youth pastor there since April 2005. Thanks!
That's about it for now, I believe! Hope everyone had a great weekend! Oh, yeah... we have snow forcasted for tonight here. ???? The weather has been CRAZY! At least it melts fast here! I am thinking I still didn't move far enough south! :-)
First of all, I have been going to a new chiropractor. I REALLY like him, and am so glad that I am finally getting my back taken care of. Unfortunately, I have to go through some extra pain as my muscles SCREAM at me because they are so used to being in the WRONG position, but it will all be better in a while. I'm VERY sore today... some because of the adjustments and muscle work, and some because of taking care of Dakota this weekend.
Second, I oriented at my new work case on Friday. It made me cry as g-ma of the patient explained to me that she is caregiver of the little one because the parents abused the patient so much. She was only 8 pounds on her first birthday. How could ANYONE do that to their child?!??! Anyway, she is doing much better now, and g-ma is thrilled that I am coming to work there. Another dose of encouragement that was desperately needed.
Got a phone call at 12:30am Saturday morning informing me that *J* was being admitted into the hospital. Thankfully, after a few tests, they decided that there was nothing wrong with him, but I missed a couple of hours of work, besides getting the living daylights scared out of me when the phone rang in the middle of the night! :-) I also got to sleep in a little bit, too, so that was a blessing.
Dakota's mom called Saturday afternoon, asking if I still wanted to watch Dakota, since he was sick with a low grade fever. I told her I didn't care if she didn't. I knew she really needed a break. I overheard her asking D in the background if he still wanted to go to Heather's house, and he said "YES!" Then she asked if he wanted to stay with mommy since he was sick, to which he replied, "I not sick!" That was it... I told her that she could bring him anyway. I ended up getting up with him twice in the night because he woke up and then needed medicine. We did try to go to church (I kept him with me instead of putting him in the nursery.) He fell asleep on the bus ride (we went on the bus route with Chris), and slept about 15 minutes. He woke up at church, and was VERY whiny and wouldn't be quiet in the Sunday school class, so we went home. He fell asleep at 11:45am, and slept til 2:30 or so. In spite of him being sick, we enjoyed having him here. I'm not sure that Chris slept much either after D woke up the first time. :-) He's so smart, and it is so fun to hear all the things that he is learning. He did really well!
I finally fit into a dress that I bought a while ago, and we got pictures taken for the church directory. Hopefully they turn out nice. They looked a little iffy on the camera.
After life being so mundane for a while, it seems like life is going crazy the past two weeks! Also, got an e-mail from my bro, Steve, today, and they resigned their position at the church where he was youth pastor. They are headed up to Wake Forest, NC, to go to Southeastern Seminary there. They will be moving the week of May 24. Please pray for them and the youth group as they adjust to this change. Steve has been youth pastor there since April 2005. Thanks!
That's about it for now, I believe! Hope everyone had a great weekend! Oh, yeah... we have snow forcasted for tonight here. ???? The weather has been CRAZY! At least it melts fast here! I am thinking I still didn't move far enough south! :-)
4.02.2009
Two posts in one day...
AMAZING! Well, I just had to write this... because I feel like I'm about to burst! Of course, I can't share any details (no, I'm not pregnant - though I WISH that were the case!) I just had a very unexpected bit of news fall into my lap, and it's just something so unreal, I'm surprised that it didn't come yesterday because it would have made for a very good April Fool's joke. Actually, it's one of those things that almost seems like an April Fool's joke, even though I know it's for real. (Now do I have your attention??!?!) I guess I'm just throwing it out there to ask you guys to pray for Chris and me in this situation. If you don't ever hear anything more about it, I guess it just wasn't God's will for us. However, if it does come to be, then you will DEFINITELY hear more about it! It's so amazing how God works!
I had the chance today to go out and take some more pictures. The weather again was beautiful... until some thunderstorms rolled in and it poured rain and there was much lightening and thunder for about 30 minutes. I wish my trigger finger was fast enough to catch lightening on camera! :-) It's calmed down some, so I'm going back out. I'll post more pics later... took a bunch of pics of tulips... they're my grandma's favorite flower (she's Dutch... you know, Holland and tulips are almost synonomous!) I'm going to make some cards for her using pics with text on them that she can send to her friends.
Please keep us in your prayers! Appreciate it! :-)
I had the chance today to go out and take some more pictures. The weather again was beautiful... until some thunderstorms rolled in and it poured rain and there was much lightening and thunder for about 30 minutes. I wish my trigger finger was fast enough to catch lightening on camera! :-) It's calmed down some, so I'm going back out. I'll post more pics later... took a bunch of pics of tulips... they're my grandma's favorite flower (she's Dutch... you know, Holland and tulips are almost synonomous!) I'm going to make some cards for her using pics with text on them that she can send to her friends.
Please keep us in your prayers! Appreciate it! :-)
2.09.2009
First post of 2009...
...and it's February 9th already! I can't believe I'm such a slacker! Well, I do have an excuse; several of them, actually! First of all, I've been trying to spend a little more time with Chris, and a little less time on the computer in general. Secondly, I've been working 10 hour days, then working out at the gym 4 days a week. That cuts down on computer time, too. Thirdly, I'm totally addicted to Facebook, so the majority of computer time is spent there, not here!
So - this is what we've been up to this year so far:
New Year's Eve: We went to Don&Brenda Choate's house for a party. There was plenty of good food, fellowship, and fun. We played the TV version of Mad Gab, which was fun... I LOVE that game anyway. Chris and most of the men were downstairs watching a ball game on TV, I think. Very manly thing to do. Just before midnight, we all went outside in the backyard to bang pots and pans to welcome in the new year. Well, I videotaped it on my new camera, and Don ran upstairs, got his gun, and fired a couple of shots into the air, much to our surprise. Then we watched some guy ride his motorcycle to the top of a building in Vegas, to free fall off onto a ramp on the way down. Crazy, but pretty cool.
On January 9th, we joined the youth group on an ice skating activity. I took a LOT of pictures, and had fun trying to figure out my new camera that Chris bought me for Christmas. I'm still not all that great, but I get lots of practicing in! I did ice skate for a while, but the ice was REALLY rough, so it was difficult.
January 27-28th brought a huge snow/ice/sleet/"wintery mix" storm. It didn't look like a lot of snow to us (since we both grew up "up north.") However, it knocked out a lot of people's power for several days, and the roads were treacherous for a while. It was absolutely beautiful, though, to see the ice on the trees glimmer like dazzling diamonds when the sun came out. Of course, I took MANY pictures of that, too! :-) Because of the power outages, we had a couple come and stay at our house for a few days until their power was restored.
We had a Super Bowl "party" at our house after church on Feb. 1st. We got home in time to watch the 4th quarter, and had two other couples enjoy the game with us. I was really hoping the Cardinals would win, but the two other men were Steelers fans, so they were happy with the outcome of the game.
February 7th was a SS activity for the couple's class that we used to be in until we started working with the teens. We did Wii bowling... it was very fun, and the first time that I have used a Wii.
This week I missed a couple days of work. Little D that I've worked with for the past 2&1/2 years no longer needs home health care nursing, since he is doing so well. Good for him, hard on me! :-) I'm picking up another case on Thurs., Lord willing, to fill the gaps in my schedule that D left. On a brighter note, D's mom wants me to take D and his 9 yr. old brother to church with me every other weekend when they're not at their dad's house. Two good things about that... I get my "D fix," and they get to come to a good church, learn about God, and hopefully get saved! Works for me!
Other ongoing events included a LOT of work getting my family photo calendars finished, printed and out to family members... they were only about a week late (thanks to my procrastination and the storm that knocked out the power!) Also, we had a Dec. college grad from our college living with us for the month of January since her arrangements for an apartment fell through at the last minute. We've had several game nights at our house with our newly married friends, JR&Abby. They don't live far from us, and are usually ready to drop anything else for a good game of RAGE! :-) We enjoy their company.
Other than that, it's basically been the usual... work, church, try to sleep... :-) I've lost 16.5 pounds and 8&3/8 inches off my body since the end of October. I'm pretty excited about that! I'm also doing some things to try to make my body healthier for a couple of reasons... better sleep, fertility, and just overall health. I'm tired of feeling so OLD! :-)
Oh, yeah, we are refinancing our house... Lord willing closing on Wed. That is a huge blessing as our interest rate will drop 1.5 points, saving us a lot of $$ in the long run. We also were able to see our former pastor from MD at a music conference our church hosted the last week of January... Bible Truth Music. It was one of the most enjoyable conferences that I've attended in a LONG time, and it was a wonderful visit with our former pastor, too.
Please pray with us for wisdom, as we have been presented with an opportunity for ministry. We are not sure of all the details yet, nor if it will work out, but we would appreciate your prayers that the Lord will make His will clear either way. Thank you! :-)
Well, I'll close for now. I think you're pretty much up to speed on life at the Mitchells! I'll post some pictures on a different post... maybe a slide show or something.
So - this is what we've been up to this year so far:
New Year's Eve: We went to Don&Brenda Choate's house for a party. There was plenty of good food, fellowship, and fun. We played the TV version of Mad Gab, which was fun... I LOVE that game anyway. Chris and most of the men were downstairs watching a ball game on TV, I think. Very manly thing to do. Just before midnight, we all went outside in the backyard to bang pots and pans to welcome in the new year. Well, I videotaped it on my new camera, and Don ran upstairs, got his gun, and fired a couple of shots into the air, much to our surprise. Then we watched some guy ride his motorcycle to the top of a building in Vegas, to free fall off onto a ramp on the way down. Crazy, but pretty cool.
On January 9th, we joined the youth group on an ice skating activity. I took a LOT of pictures, and had fun trying to figure out my new camera that Chris bought me for Christmas. I'm still not all that great, but I get lots of practicing in! I did ice skate for a while, but the ice was REALLY rough, so it was difficult.
January 27-28th brought a huge snow/ice/sleet/"wintery mix" storm. It didn't look like a lot of snow to us (since we both grew up "up north.") However, it knocked out a lot of people's power for several days, and the roads were treacherous for a while. It was absolutely beautiful, though, to see the ice on the trees glimmer like dazzling diamonds when the sun came out. Of course, I took MANY pictures of that, too! :-) Because of the power outages, we had a couple come and stay at our house for a few days until their power was restored.
We had a Super Bowl "party" at our house after church on Feb. 1st. We got home in time to watch the 4th quarter, and had two other couples enjoy the game with us. I was really hoping the Cardinals would win, but the two other men were Steelers fans, so they were happy with the outcome of the game.
February 7th was a SS activity for the couple's class that we used to be in until we started working with the teens. We did Wii bowling... it was very fun, and the first time that I have used a Wii.
This week I missed a couple days of work. Little D that I've worked with for the past 2&1/2 years no longer needs home health care nursing, since he is doing so well. Good for him, hard on me! :-) I'm picking up another case on Thurs., Lord willing, to fill the gaps in my schedule that D left. On a brighter note, D's mom wants me to take D and his 9 yr. old brother to church with me every other weekend when they're not at their dad's house. Two good things about that... I get my "D fix," and they get to come to a good church, learn about God, and hopefully get saved! Works for me!
Other ongoing events included a LOT of work getting my family photo calendars finished, printed and out to family members... they were only about a week late (thanks to my procrastination and the storm that knocked out the power!) Also, we had a Dec. college grad from our college living with us for the month of January since her arrangements for an apartment fell through at the last minute. We've had several game nights at our house with our newly married friends, JR&Abby. They don't live far from us, and are usually ready to drop anything else for a good game of RAGE! :-) We enjoy their company.
Other than that, it's basically been the usual... work, church, try to sleep... :-) I've lost 16.5 pounds and 8&3/8 inches off my body since the end of October. I'm pretty excited about that! I'm also doing some things to try to make my body healthier for a couple of reasons... better sleep, fertility, and just overall health. I'm tired of feeling so OLD! :-)
Oh, yeah, we are refinancing our house... Lord willing closing on Wed. That is a huge blessing as our interest rate will drop 1.5 points, saving us a lot of $$ in the long run. We also were able to see our former pastor from MD at a music conference our church hosted the last week of January... Bible Truth Music. It was one of the most enjoyable conferences that I've attended in a LONG time, and it was a wonderful visit with our former pastor, too.
Please pray with us for wisdom, as we have been presented with an opportunity for ministry. We are not sure of all the details yet, nor if it will work out, but we would appreciate your prayers that the Lord will make His will clear either way. Thank you! :-)
Well, I'll close for now. I think you're pretty much up to speed on life at the Mitchells! I'll post some pictures on a different post... maybe a slide show or something.
8.11.2008
So much has happened...
Wow - so much has happened since I last REALLY posted (other than our anniversary post, that is!) Here is the (hopefully) short and sweet run-down of what we've been doing since our vacation in June!
But first, I just want to say HAPPY 33rd BIRTHDAY, CHRIS!!! I am so thankful that God brought Chris into my life, and I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful husband! :-) God knew I needed Chris in my life!
OK - here's the history to go with the pics: 06-20-08
Our pastor and his wife (who are THE BEST!) attended a Bat's game with us! They are such fun "old people!" We love them to death and are so glad that God brought us here to our church and that we can be so close to a pastor of such a large church! (sorry, the pic is a little dark!) They had fireworks after the game, which was pretty cool, too.
06-22-08 - Between Sunday morning and evening services, we had a 9th & 10th grade SS activity. We had pizza and brownies, then the girls went swimming at one house, and the boys played video games then went swimming at a different house (no mixed swimming here!)
:-)
The guys playing video games...
Some of the girls in the van... (I didn't take pics while we were swimming!) :-)
07-12-08 Chris played in our church's softball league. Not really too competitive, but it was nice to get out and fellowship outside of the church and play some ball. Here's a pic of Chris at the plate (and I think he's pretty good, too!) :-)
But first, I just want to say HAPPY 33rd BIRTHDAY, CHRIS!!! I am so thankful that God brought Chris into my life, and I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful husband! :-) God knew I needed Chris in my life!
OK - here's the history to go with the pics: 06-20-08
Our pastor and his wife (who are THE BEST!) attended a Bat's game with us! They are such fun "old people!" We love them to death and are so glad that God brought us here to our church and that we can be so close to a pastor of such a large church! (sorry, the pic is a little dark!) They had fireworks after the game, which was pretty cool, too.
06-22-08 - Between Sunday morning and evening services, we had a 9th & 10th grade SS activity. We had pizza and brownies, then the girls went swimming at one house, and the boys played video games then went swimming at a different house (no mixed swimming here!):-)
The guys playing video games...
Some of the girls in the van... (I didn't take pics while we were swimming!) :-)07-12-08 Chris played in our church's softball league. Not really too competitive, but it was nice to get out and fellowship outside of the church and play some ball. Here's a pic of Chris at the plate (and I think he's pretty good, too!) :-)
07-13~16-08 We had our Kids Krusade at church (our version of VBS.) There were over 200 salvation decisions made during the Krusade, and 82 baptisms, PRAISE THE LORD! 3 or 4 of our bus kids got saved during the week... it's so awesome to see elementary aged kids respond to the gospel. The pic is of the drawing for a PS2 for the best behaved child from every bus route. Our little boy is the 3rd one from the left... and HE WON! We were so excited! (as was he!) I love that our church loves the kids and teens!
07-16-08 CHRIS GOT PROMOTED!!! (Sorry, no pic of that - I KNOW... it's a SHOCK!) I am SO PROUD of him! After only 19&1/2 months in the auto industry as a car salesman, Chris got promoted to Business/Sales manager! It's not totally unheard of to be promoted so quickly, but it is VERY rare, especially when your degree is not in business or business management AT ALL! I just thought it was so cool that the guys that work with him on a daily basis, including his boss, really pushed the upper management to promote Chris. What a great testimony! He is doing very well at the new job. Also, this job allows his paycheck to be a lot more stable (as opposed to comission only!), and also allows him to actually TAKE his days off. I'm so excited to be able to spend more time together with him! YEAH!!
07-17-08 I took a day trip to Indianapolis to visit some college friends of mine. I hadn't seen them in over 8 years, I think, and had totally lost track of them until Jess found me on Facebook (LOVE IT!) about 2 weeks before that! I went up and spent the day visiting with Jess, then we met Kelly and her kiddos at the pool, then spent the evening at Kelly's house visiting together. It was great to see them again, and I am always so amazed when friendships pick up right where they left off! It was like I had seen them the day before, and we just picked up the conversation again! God is so good to give friends like that!
Kelly, me, and Jess
Jess' daughter, Abby
Kelly's daughter, Jenna
Kelly's daughter, Olivia
07-27-08 Good friends of ours, the George's, came down to go to Sunday AM services with us. They are missionaries to Romania on deputation. They live about an hour from us, so we have been able to visit with them I think 3 times in the past year. We love getting together with them. Here's a pic of their family:
Noah, Sara, David, Bethany, Brent, and Danae
Oh, a side note here... everyone thinks that Brent and Chris look so much alike, they are always asking if they are related. Sara and I don't think they look that much alike at all! :-)
I have to run now... Chris is on his way home, and it is his birthday, so I should probably make dinner for him! :-) I'll post more on Youth Conference and other goings on later. Thanks for "listening" to what's going on in our lives! :-)
5.29.2008
Tagged
Tayler tagged me on her blog, so here goes...
The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
Each player answers the questions about themselves.
At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.
What were you doing five years ago?
1. We were living in Pensacola, FL, while my hubby was in the middle of getting his Master's Degree
2. I was working nights as a nurse at Baptist Hospital
3. Wishing we were working at Northland Camp again for the summer
4. Going to the beach as often as possible
5. Loving sunny, warm weather
What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?
1. Laundry
2. Dishes
3. Making all the birthday/anniversary/graduation/Father's day cards for June!
4. Go to the Library
5. Clean the house.
What are five snacks you enjoy?
1. Anything with chocolate and peanut butter!
2. Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips
3. fruit & cottage cheese
4. CANDY!
5. Nuts
What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?
1. PAY OFF DEBTS!
2. Give to our church/missionaries
3. Invest & live off income
4. Travel around the world, helping missionaries and seeing sights
5. See family more often!
What are five of your bad habits?
1. Being judgmental
2. Being critical
3. selfishness
4. Wasting time
5. not having devotions/prayer time
What are five jobs you’ve had?
1. Mowing lawns
2. Janitorial
3. waitress
4. Camp nurse
5. home health nurse for special needs kids
What five people do you want to tag?
1. Whoever wants to do this can do it.... a lot of my friends have already been tagged!
2.
3.
4.
5.
The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
Each player answers the questions about themselves.
At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.
What were you doing five years ago?
1. We were living in Pensacola, FL, while my hubby was in the middle of getting his Master's Degree
2. I was working nights as a nurse at Baptist Hospital
3. Wishing we were working at Northland Camp again for the summer
4. Going to the beach as often as possible
5. Loving sunny, warm weather
What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?
1. Laundry
2. Dishes
3. Making all the birthday/anniversary/graduation/Father's day cards for June!
4. Go to the Library
5. Clean the house.
What are five snacks you enjoy?
1. Anything with chocolate and peanut butter!
2. Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips
3. fruit & cottage cheese
4. CANDY!
5. Nuts
What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?
1. PAY OFF DEBTS!
2. Give to our church/missionaries
3. Invest & live off income
4. Travel around the world, helping missionaries and seeing sights
5. See family more often!
What are five of your bad habits?
1. Being judgmental
2. Being critical
3. selfishness
4. Wasting time
5. not having devotions/prayer time
What are five jobs you’ve had?
1. Mowing lawns
2. Janitorial
3. waitress
4. Camp nurse
5. home health nurse for special needs kids
What five people do you want to tag?
1. Whoever wants to do this can do it.... a lot of my friends have already been tagged!
2.
3.
4.
5.
4.14.2008
Busy, busy, busy...
Wow - our lives have been busy the past couple weeks. So - here's the rundown of what has been happening here, and I have just linked words to pics so I don't have to download them...
The first week of April, D (the little one I take care of) was in Cincinnati, OH, for pre-surgical testing. Thanks to all of you who prayed for him. Thankfully, he does not require throat reconstruction surgery. He only needs his tonsils/adenoids removed, and some minor eye surgery to correct a muscle condition resulting from prematurity. This condition causes his left eye to drift in toward his nose when looking at things close to him. Other than that, things are going pretty well for him. His mom is hoping to get her doctor to authorize him for nursing at least through the surgeries, and hopefully for another 4 months until he can get his feeding tube out and recover from surgery. We'll see...
Anyway, in the few days that he was gone, I was able to visit 2 of my good friends here. I spent over 5 hours at my friend, Beth's house. She is such a blessing to me. Her hubby, Luke, was teasing me when he came home... asking me if I was working on another calendar. I printed out the date pages for the family photo calendars at their house since we didn't have ink in our printer. (We now have ink for our printer... we've gone without it since we lived in MD)! I worked on it for several hours I think 3 or 4 different days, so now it's a standing joke that I only visit when I have to work on the computer. It was nice change to be able to spend a few hours visiting and not having anything else to do.
Tuesday of that week, I stayed home all day waiting for an overnight package that was supposed to arrive at 10:30am. Apparently all the FedEx planes coming here from Memphis were grounded due to severe thunder storms. Chris called them around noon, and the person he spoke to assured him that the packages were being trucked here, and would get there sometime in the afternoon. When the package STILL wasn't here by 6pm, Chris called again, only to be informed that the earlier person had misinformed him, and the package would be here 10:30 am the NEXT day! I did get a bunch of stamping done, though! It's just difficult to be waiting all day, and thinking of all these things that you could do if you could just run down to the ___!!
Wednesday, the package showed up at 10:15 am! YEAH! I then went and visited another friend who had been having a difficult time the past few months. I was glad to be a blessing, and amazed at how I could share with her what God has been doing in my heart & life through IVF, even though her circumstances are completely different - God's word still applies! :-) (DUH!)
I then got to take Chris' package to him and we ate lunch together. That's always a nice surprise. He got a new watch... it's REALLY nice! He was going to resell it on Ebay, but he liked it so much that I told him that he really should keep it. It's not very often that Chris finds something that he REALLY likes/wants, so I was glad that he found that and I believe he is keeping it. Now, if only he could have waited until his birthday... :-)
I also joined the gym again! My chiropractor finally OK'd me to do cardio workouts again, as long as I don't over do it! I'm excited to be able to be active again!
The Friday night of that week, I was at the gym just getting ready to work out when Chris called me. After he asked me about 20 questions, he asked me if I could get changed back into my normal clothes so that we could meet Jeremy, Misha, Tommy & Corey Frazor for dinner! They are close friends of ours that travel in evangelism, and we don't get to see them very often. However, they manage to travel through Louisville every once in a while, so they usually call and we meet up for a meal or something. Anyway, we were able to meet them for supper and then they came over to see our house for a little bit. Although the time was WAY too SHORT, we enjoyed seeing them again. Last time we saw them they came through on Chris' birthday last August. They are great "iron-sharpeneth-iron" type friends, and they are also the type of friends that no matter how long it's been since you've seen them, you pick up the friendship like you saw them yesterday! What a blessing to have friends like that!
The following week (the 7th - 10th) our church hosted the Revival Fires conference. With that, the choir sang every night for the services, so it was a busy week! I was busting my tail just to get home from work and then rush off to church in order to sing and attend the services. It was a blessing, though.
Early that Friday morning (the 11th) Chris and I headed north. We stopped in Indianapolis to visit some friends of ours... Jeff & Colleen McQueary (and kids, Cole & Sage). We were able to enjoy breakfast with them before our friends, Steve & Joy Francis met up with us. They came over from Cincinnati, and we left one of our vehicles at the McQueary's house. Steve, Joy, Chris and I then drove up to Chicago for an overnight "double date." Steve is a big Chicago Bulls fan, so for his birthday, Joy bought him tickets to a Bulls game (vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers). Well, they bought the tickets in October... and put them in a safe place. So safe, in fact, that they couldn't find them for that weekend! We all decided to go ahead and go up there anyway.
For lunch, we went to a Brazilian steakhouse called Brazazz. It's all you can eat - meat! It was SO DELICIOUS! They had little discs sitting beside each plate. One side is orange and says, "Yes, Please." The other side is black and says, "No, thank you." The waiters, all dressed in authentic Brazilian outfits, come around with these long skewers of all different kinds of meat (and roasted pineapple). If you want some, they cut you a slice and lay it over toward you. You then take a little pair of tongs, and put it on your plate. Joy is a missionary kid and she grew up in Brazil, so she was talking to the waiters in Portugese and stuff. It was pretty cool. I felt like I didn't have to eat for about 3 days after that! We enjoyed it immensely!
From there, we went to the John Hancock Building, and went up to the Observatory. We had fun with some of the photo ops (Window washers, & construction workers)! Of course, Chris and Steve were being silly. It was pretty cool. When we got on the elevators to go down, Chris and I were by the doors that would open when we got to the bottom. Just before the doors opened, we stood really close to the doors and made funny faces. The doors opened, and there was a man and his family sitting on the floor facing us, waiting for the rest of the family. He cracked up laughing when he saw us, and we were laughing hysterically! I wish we could have gotten a picture of his face when he saw us... Priceless!
From there, we wandered down Michigan Ave. for a little bit. I was extremely tired and not wearing the best shoes for walking, so I'm afraid I wasn't super good company! I tried not to complain, though! It was really cold and windy, too, so not a GREAT day to be wandering outside in the city. Chris had a little fun in the Disney Store... I think he'd make a GREAT Pirate! On the way back to the car, we had to stop and take some more silly pictures with a statue of a man with an umbrella hailing a cab in front of the Four Seasons Hotel. The placard on the statue said, "Allow Me!" Chris took a little too much liberty with that statement, see the pics here and here! Joy figured she could get up close, too, but not that close! :-)
We left after that and headed down to the United Center to see if we could get tickets to the game... again! We did, and got pretty good seats! It ended up being a good game... the Bulls actually WON! The highlight of the game, though, **insert sarcasm**was the Swinging Seniors!
Actually, Chris and Steve both got free T-shirts, and since the Bulls scored 100 points and won, we all got free Big Macs! Chris also got a free coffee at Dunkin' Donuts since his character won the race on the JumboTron! All in all, it was a good game (even though I was so tired, I almost fell asleep!) We even got to see a BUNCH of dunks, and Joy even managed to get a great picture of one of them!
The next morning we got up and went to Navy Pier. It was rainy, so we stayed indoors. We left around noon and headed back to Indianapolis to go our separate ways. Jeff & Colleen had an all-nighter youth activity Friday night, so we didn't get to see them. However, we did stop at the Edinburg outlets on the way home, and Chris let me get two pairs of shoes. I really needed them... the only real shoes I had were a pair of black, ankle high boots, and brown clogs. I got these two pairs of shoes for a really good deal: 
I love them! I wear skirts or skorts most of the time, and they look really cute with them. Chris found some really nice basketball shorts, too, that he needed. It was a profitable stop! :-)
Oh, yeah...I mentioned here that I got new sunglasses... here's a pic of my new shades!
That Saturday night, we arrived home, bundled up, and headed out again to enjoy Thunder over Louisville. Thunder is the 5th largest fireworks display in the world, according to the travel channel. We missed most of the air show, since we didn't get home until after 7pm, but the planes were flying right over our house! We joined a bunch of our college kids and friends of ours to watch the fireworks. It was very cold out, but we were pretty well dressed for the weather. The only thing that we didn't like is that we were so far away, we could see the fireworks alright, but we didn't get the full affect with the sounds and vibrations of the fireworks as well. We enjoy that part, too! The other thing is that we had 4 or 5 rude kids that put their chairs up in front of us... so we moved to see around them. They then moved again, partially blocking our view. I was highly frustrated at this point. Then, on top of all of that, right in the middle of the show, 2 of the girls stood up right in front of us so we couldn't see at all. I had had enough, so I loudly said, "There are people behind you who would like to SEE the fireworks!" They turned around and gave me nasty looks, but I didn't care! People should be more considerate of those around them! You can see my pics of Thunder here.
Since then, it has pretty much been life back to normal for us. Chris let me buy these vases for our living room (I've been waiting to buy them since we bought our house last July, and they went on sale this week, so Chris let me get them):
It's hard to tell in the picture, but our paint color is beige, and the vases are red, but not as dark as they appear in the picture. I LOVE them, and they fit perfectly in those niches. I'm finally almost ready with the family photo wall, too, just waiting for pictures from a couple of family members still. I'll post pics when I get them up, too.
We got our lawn treated by company called Weed Man. The weather has been mostly beautiful lately, so I've been able to take D to the park, and the sunshine has also helped our grass to grow like crazy. Chris hasn't been able to mow it yet, so it's almost a jungle out there! Seriously, some of the grass is almost 2 feet tall! He was going to mow Sunday afternoon, but couldn't get the mower started. :-( He was rather frustrated, to say the least! Here's some pics:
Well, my hubby is home, and I think I've pretty much filled you in on everything recent that I can think of, so I gotta go! Hope you all are doing well!
Oh, wait, one more thing... another niece or nephew is on the way in our family... this makes the 3rd one that is expected this year! Two of my brothers & their wives are expecting babies, and we just found out that one of Chris' sisters is expecting a baby, too!
3.28.2008
Happenings...
HI! Just thought I'd take a minute and share what's been happening here in the past couple of weeks.
Chris and I went to our first regular youth activity last Friday night! We had a great time. I've missed going on youth activities and hanging out with teenagers. This particular youth activity was a great one for being the first... it was very informal, and there was really no scheduled activity, so we just hung out with the teens and got to know them better. It was "March Madness," so we went to a place called Mr. Gatti's. It's a pizza buffet (kind of like CiCi's) with an arcade and special party rooms. We had a room with a big screen TV, ate, and then spent some time in the arcade. It was great to get to know some of the teens outside of our SS class (9th&10th grade).
Our Easter was wonderful... we had great services, and on the way home on the bus, we stopped so that all of our bus kids could have an Easter egg hunt. It was fun. Then, for our Easter evening service, it was basically a musical service with a 10-15 minute challenge from Pastor at the end. The choir sang 4 special numbers, and then we had 6 other specials, plus a bit of narration, and the orchestra joined the choir for two of the songs, I think. It was wonderful!
I LOVE our church's music... not "contemporary," but very meaningful and a wide range of musical styles. I was pleasantly surprised by this, since we attend a fundamental, independent Baptist church. No offense intended, but it seems like most of the churches I've attended have one, maybe two styles of music that they sing constantly. For instance, one of the churches only used Ron Hamilton songs and songs from the Wilds. I have NO problem with that music... in fact, I LOVE the songs, but a steady diet of that is a little much! :-)
ANYWAY... it also snowed on Easter. What a blessing that was (*can you sense the sarcasm*?) It was a little shocking since we had a beautiful sunny 70 degree day on Friday!After church Easter night, we went to Steak-N-Shake with two other couples and their kids. We had a great time of fellowship with them! I only wish our evening services were earlier so that we didn't have to stay out so late!
This week has been a pretty regular week. I broke my sunglasses last Friday (I'd had them since I was in college), and Chris surprised me on Wed. by telling me I could go to Sunglass Hut and pick out some polarized sunglasses. WOW - what a difference they make compared to my $15 pair that I've had for ages! I was expecting him to let me get a $20 pair at Walmart, not an expensive pair from Sunglass Hut! But I am so thankful, and my eyes are thanking me every time I wear them! My eyes are incredibly sensitive to the sun, so it's nice to put on sunglasses and not have to squint... even if you DO have sunglasses on!
Yesterday I went to a Pampered Chef show... the third one in the last month and 1/2! I don't buy anything, I just go for the fellowship! It was a lot of fun! And since Chris doesn't usually get home until late, it's a great way to pass the time that he's not here!
I've also gotten a couple of free gifts of stamping stuff recently. That always makes my day! My sis-in-law sent me a bunch of stuff that was passed on to her from a friend of hers that was cleaning out her craft room. Then a friend of mine offered to let me use her hostess benefits from hosting a Stampin' Up party! That was SO sweet of her! I'll have to do some more stamping. I've been tired recently, and have been reading a lot, so I haven't been doing much stamping unless it's out of necessity! I'm going to try to remedy that in the next few days, though!
Well, that's about it for now. D - the little boy that I take care of for work - is going to Cincinnati for testing this coming week (Sun - Thurs.) Please pray that he is cleared for the throat reconstruction surgery that he so desperately needs! Thanks!
Oh, yes... one more WONDERFUL thing... after 5&1/2 months, we FINALLY got our insurance reimbursement check for our FIRST IVF cycle! It is almost enough to pay off the credit card, and we should be able to do that with our paychecks! Hallelujah... that is a HUGE load off our backs! God is good! I'm also thankful that the insurance company screwed up initially, since they paid out much more than they SHOULD have according to our policy. Yeah!
Chris and I went to our first regular youth activity last Friday night! We had a great time. I've missed going on youth activities and hanging out with teenagers. This particular youth activity was a great one for being the first... it was very informal, and there was really no scheduled activity, so we just hung out with the teens and got to know them better. It was "March Madness," so we went to a place called Mr. Gatti's. It's a pizza buffet (kind of like CiCi's) with an arcade and special party rooms. We had a room with a big screen TV, ate, and then spent some time in the arcade. It was great to get to know some of the teens outside of our SS class (9th&10th grade).
Our Easter was wonderful... we had great services, and on the way home on the bus, we stopped so that all of our bus kids could have an Easter egg hunt. It was fun. Then, for our Easter evening service, it was basically a musical service with a 10-15 minute challenge from Pastor at the end. The choir sang 4 special numbers, and then we had 6 other specials, plus a bit of narration, and the orchestra joined the choir for two of the songs, I think. It was wonderful!
I LOVE our church's music... not "contemporary," but very meaningful and a wide range of musical styles. I was pleasantly surprised by this, since we attend a fundamental, independent Baptist church. No offense intended, but it seems like most of the churches I've attended have one, maybe two styles of music that they sing constantly. For instance, one of the churches only used Ron Hamilton songs and songs from the Wilds. I have NO problem with that music... in fact, I LOVE the songs, but a steady diet of that is a little much! :-)
ANYWAY... it also snowed on Easter. What a blessing that was (*can you sense the sarcasm*?) It was a little shocking since we had a beautiful sunny 70 degree day on Friday!After church Easter night, we went to Steak-N-Shake with two other couples and their kids. We had a great time of fellowship with them! I only wish our evening services were earlier so that we didn't have to stay out so late!
This week has been a pretty regular week. I broke my sunglasses last Friday (I'd had them since I was in college), and Chris surprised me on Wed. by telling me I could go to Sunglass Hut and pick out some polarized sunglasses. WOW - what a difference they make compared to my $15 pair that I've had for ages! I was expecting him to let me get a $20 pair at Walmart, not an expensive pair from Sunglass Hut! But I am so thankful, and my eyes are thanking me every time I wear them! My eyes are incredibly sensitive to the sun, so it's nice to put on sunglasses and not have to squint... even if you DO have sunglasses on!
Yesterday I went to a Pampered Chef show... the third one in the last month and 1/2! I don't buy anything, I just go for the fellowship! It was a lot of fun! And since Chris doesn't usually get home until late, it's a great way to pass the time that he's not here!
I've also gotten a couple of free gifts of stamping stuff recently. That always makes my day! My sis-in-law sent me a bunch of stuff that was passed on to her from a friend of hers that was cleaning out her craft room. Then a friend of mine offered to let me use her hostess benefits from hosting a Stampin' Up party! That was SO sweet of her! I'll have to do some more stamping. I've been tired recently, and have been reading a lot, so I haven't been doing much stamping unless it's out of necessity! I'm going to try to remedy that in the next few days, though!
Well, that's about it for now. D - the little boy that I take care of for work - is going to Cincinnati for testing this coming week (Sun - Thurs.) Please pray that he is cleared for the throat reconstruction surgery that he so desperately needs! Thanks!
Oh, yes... one more WONDERFUL thing... after 5&1/2 months, we FINALLY got our insurance reimbursement check for our FIRST IVF cycle! It is almost enough to pay off the credit card, and we should be able to do that with our paychecks! Hallelujah... that is a HUGE load off our backs! God is good! I'm also thankful that the insurance company screwed up initially, since they paid out much more than they SHOULD have according to our policy. Yeah!
2.06.2008
I'm still alive...
I got an e-mail from a friend yesterday wondering if I'm OK since I haven't blogged in a while. So, for any others of you out there who are wondering about me... I'M STILL ALIVE!
We are doing well, but I'm still playing catch up with projects (as well as adding additional ones!) I FINALLY mailed out Christmas cards yesterday, so a few of you who read this might actually get a Christmas Valentine's card! :-)
I promise... I will get to catching up on blogging soon... on this blog and my stamping blog. I have been making cards like crazy, so I'll have a ton to post when I get around to it.
Our next (and last) in vitro fertilization transfer is scheduled for Feb. 18th. If you would, please pray that God gives us this baby! We only have one embryo left, so our chances for success are a little decreased. However, we know that God can do what seems to us impossible... like giving us twin boys (which is what I'm praying for!) Anyway, since I am on bedrest for a couple of days, then on light duty for an additional almost 2 weeks, I SHOULD be able to catch up on posts! :-) Please bear with me, and pray that our IVF will be successful. Thanks! :-)
We are doing well, but I'm still playing catch up with projects (as well as adding additional ones!) I FINALLY mailed out Christmas cards yesterday, so a few of you who read this might actually get a Christmas Valentine's card! :-)
I promise... I will get to catching up on blogging soon... on this blog and my stamping blog. I have been making cards like crazy, so I'll have a ton to post when I get around to it.
Our next (and last) in vitro fertilization transfer is scheduled for Feb. 18th. If you would, please pray that God gives us this baby! We only have one embryo left, so our chances for success are a little decreased. However, we know that God can do what seems to us impossible... like giving us twin boys (which is what I'm praying for!) Anyway, since I am on bedrest for a couple of days, then on light duty for an additional almost 2 weeks, I SHOULD be able to catch up on posts! :-) Please bear with me, and pray that our IVF will be successful. Thanks! :-)
10.13.2007
This and that...
Well, it's been a good week. I've read 4 books... The Still of Night by Kristen Heitzman, Redemption and Return by Karen Kingsbury with Gary Smalley, and The Princess by Lori Wick. Though they are all Christian fiction "romance" novels, I was pleasantly surprised at how the authors wove in Biblical truths and true to life situations, even very unpleasant ones. I have truly enjoyed being able to read, and am thankful that the baseball playoffs are being played right now. That means that I can still sit on the couch leaning up against my husband, spending time with him, but I can be absorbed in my book, much like he is absorbed in the baseball game! :-) That way I don't feel guilty that I'm not paying much attention to him!
Thursday night, I was able to go to my friend, Brenda's house. She is a SU! demonstrator, and we did a Christmas card workshop. I made 11 cards. 5 of them were a winter snowflake, 5 of them a nativity scene, and 1 snowman card. I always enjoy stamping, and it's so much fun to enjoy the fellowship with other ladies at the same time.
I also started my Christmas picture calendar. Each year I make photo calendars for both families, with the different family members on each month. The problem that I ran into this year is that too many of Chris' siblings have kids. OK - the nieces and nephews are not really a problem, but it does make it difficult to give everyone equal space. I decided that this year, I would put pictures of ALL the grandkids on one page, and then do 2 different pages of grandkids. (Does that make sense?) ANYWAY, I am finished with the actual calendar pages (I think) with all the holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries. Now it's just a matter of #1) getting pictures from everyone and #2) doing the layout for the picture part. Another thing that I am doing different with the pages this year is using background paper for most of the months. I am hoping it turns out well! :-)
We also met with our youth pastors this week to discuss what they are asking us to do as youth workers in our church. They had approached us about the possibility about 3 weeks ago, but we just this week were able to meet with them. We would be helping another couple with the 9th&10th grade SS class. Chris would team teach with the other gentleman who is already teaching the class. Other than that, our involvement or lack thereof is completely up to us. Of course, they would prefer that we be at every activity that we possibly can, but these activities are not required. Now, with Chris and I, when we commit to something, we try to be as faithful to that commitment as we possibly can. We would LOVE to be able to go to all the activities, etc. So - we have not given them an answer yet, simply because we are already involved in choir and bus ministry, and want to make sure we can work in all 3 without letting something slide. We want to "get our ducks all in a row" before we make a commitment that we can't keep.
If you think about it, would you please pray for our college kids? Monday night, one of our senior girls at the college was killed in a car accident. There were 2 other freshman girls in the car with her, and they both are OK (which, according to what I've heard about the accident, it's a miracle that they walked away.) A 19 year old boy on a motorcycle was going 80+ mph and hit them broadside. He was killed instantly as well. Our college kids are pretty shook up about it. For many of them this is the first time that they've had to deal with the death of someone close to them.
Thursday night, I was able to go to my friend, Brenda's house. She is a SU! demonstrator, and we did a Christmas card workshop. I made 11 cards. 5 of them were a winter snowflake, 5 of them a nativity scene, and 1 snowman card. I always enjoy stamping, and it's so much fun to enjoy the fellowship with other ladies at the same time.
I also started my Christmas picture calendar. Each year I make photo calendars for both families, with the different family members on each month. The problem that I ran into this year is that too many of Chris' siblings have kids. OK - the nieces and nephews are not really a problem, but it does make it difficult to give everyone equal space. I decided that this year, I would put pictures of ALL the grandkids on one page, and then do 2 different pages of grandkids. (Does that make sense?) ANYWAY, I am finished with the actual calendar pages (I think) with all the holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries. Now it's just a matter of #1) getting pictures from everyone and #2) doing the layout for the picture part. Another thing that I am doing different with the pages this year is using background paper for most of the months. I am hoping it turns out well! :-)
We also met with our youth pastors this week to discuss what they are asking us to do as youth workers in our church. They had approached us about the possibility about 3 weeks ago, but we just this week were able to meet with them. We would be helping another couple with the 9th&10th grade SS class. Chris would team teach with the other gentleman who is already teaching the class. Other than that, our involvement or lack thereof is completely up to us. Of course, they would prefer that we be at every activity that we possibly can, but these activities are not required. Now, with Chris and I, when we commit to something, we try to be as faithful to that commitment as we possibly can. We would LOVE to be able to go to all the activities, etc. So - we have not given them an answer yet, simply because we are already involved in choir and bus ministry, and want to make sure we can work in all 3 without letting something slide. We want to "get our ducks all in a row" before we make a commitment that we can't keep.
If you think about it, would you please pray for our college kids? Monday night, one of our senior girls at the college was killed in a car accident. There were 2 other freshman girls in the car with her, and they both are OK (which, according to what I've heard about the accident, it's a miracle that they walked away.) A 19 year old boy on a motorcycle was going 80+ mph and hit them broadside. He was killed instantly as well. Our college kids are pretty shook up about it. For many of them this is the first time that they've had to deal with the death of someone close to them.
I think that's about it for what has happened this week. I'll leave you with some pictures I took the other day... I just think the sky around here is so cool!
The lights and power lines are in the way, but I just think the clouds are so cool!
The lights and power lines are in the way, but I just think the clouds are so cool! Here's a view of the clouds between the trees
9.27.2007
Busy Week
Wow - a lot has happened in the almost week since I last posted!
Last Friday night, we watched the movie We Are Marshall. It was a pretty good movie, considering it is based on a true story, but there was a lot of swearing in it... not so great. Why do they have to ruin a good movie by throwing that kind of stuff in there?!?! It was nice, though, to have a night to spend time with Chris. I was interrupted just as we started watching the movie by a phone call from my SIL. She had a nursing question... her 2 yr old son had a 3 ft. tall speaker fall on his leg, and he wasn't putting any pressure on it. The question was whether or not to take him to the ER that night.
They ended up not taking him to the ER until Sat, since when he woke up he still couldn't put pressure on it. He ended up having a hairline fracture in the fibula (larger lower bone) of his leg. Now he's in a cast for 4-6 weeks, poor baby! My SIL says he's "eating it up" - the fact that he has to be carried everywhere for a while!
Saturday, Chris and I also spent the evening together... watching FOOTBALL!!!! I LOVE football season! I actually ended up finishing Jacquline's cross-stitch while we watched the game. Again, it was nice to have some time with Chris, as well as be able to get something finished!
Sunday, our SS teacher, who is also our asst. pastor, asked us to consider the offer to be youth workers with the youth group at our church. We are VERY excited about this new opportunity for ministry that has opened up. We are not sure if we will be able to do it, simply because of work schedules, etc. We are meeting with the Sr. High youth pastor on Oct. 3 in order to find out what is expected of us and what our responsibilities would be. Please pray with us that God would show us what he wants us to do.
Monday, I had off work - I am off work for a lot of days in the next 3 weeks or so. I can't wait to tell you WHY, but right now it still has to stay a secret. Man, I've had a lot of secrets over the past few months, huh?!?!? :-) Stay tuned... you won't want to miss out on this one!
Anyway, I was able to meet with April for lunch! She and her husband just moved down here to attend the seminary. April was one of Chris' students when he taught right after we got married. Anyway, we had a great time of fellowship... it was so neat to be able to share with each other what God has been doing in our lives. It's always encouraging to me to see former students/teens from youth groups grow up to serve God with their lives! She and her hubby are coming over Sat. for supper, and we are excited to meet Scott.
Tuesday, I worked, and then we had a stamping party that night. I was the party hostess, even though it was held at our stamping demonstrators house. I kind of like that arrangement... I bring the food, but don't have to clean the house. She likes it, too, because she doesn't have to cart her stuff all around, and she can't forget anything at home b/c we're there! :-) Look here and here for our projects that we did. I was so glad that I didn't have to work the next day, since I didn't get home until 12:15 am! :-)
Yesterday, I was able to get together with one of the college students. I actually "taught" her in our ACE school that I worked in the year Chris and I dated. (You don't really "teach" in an ACE school!) Anyway, her mom and I were really good friends, and I had lost touch with them after 4 years, other than Christmas cards and an occasional update e-mail. They were thrilled to learn that Chris and I were here when it came time to bring Casey to school. She already felt that God wanted her here, but it was a blessing to her mom and dad to know that we were here if she needed us! All that to say, we went shopping for some clothes for her, and she bought some really cute outfits. I was glad to be able to help her with what looked good, and what was not so flattering (thank you, TLC's What Not To Wear!), and it was nice to fellowship with her.
That's about all that's happened this week. I'm trying to get a ton of things done (and here I am blogging, rather than doing them!) I have a lot of stamping to do, but have been in a creative slump the last few weeks. Hopefully that will right itself since I HAVE to do it... lots of birthdays coming up soon! :-)
Have a great weekend!
Last Friday night, we watched the movie We Are Marshall. It was a pretty good movie, considering it is based on a true story, but there was a lot of swearing in it... not so great. Why do they have to ruin a good movie by throwing that kind of stuff in there?!?! It was nice, though, to have a night to spend time with Chris. I was interrupted just as we started watching the movie by a phone call from my SIL. She had a nursing question... her 2 yr old son had a 3 ft. tall speaker fall on his leg, and he wasn't putting any pressure on it. The question was whether or not to take him to the ER that night.
They ended up not taking him to the ER until Sat, since when he woke up he still couldn't put pressure on it. He ended up having a hairline fracture in the fibula (larger lower bone) of his leg. Now he's in a cast for 4-6 weeks, poor baby! My SIL says he's "eating it up" - the fact that he has to be carried everywhere for a while!
Saturday, Chris and I also spent the evening together... watching FOOTBALL!!!! I LOVE football season! I actually ended up finishing Jacquline's cross-stitch while we watched the game. Again, it was nice to have some time with Chris, as well as be able to get something finished!
Sunday, our SS teacher, who is also our asst. pastor, asked us to consider the offer to be youth workers with the youth group at our church. We are VERY excited about this new opportunity for ministry that has opened up. We are not sure if we will be able to do it, simply because of work schedules, etc. We are meeting with the Sr. High youth pastor on Oct. 3 in order to find out what is expected of us and what our responsibilities would be. Please pray with us that God would show us what he wants us to do.
Monday, I had off work - I am off work for a lot of days in the next 3 weeks or so. I can't wait to tell you WHY, but right now it still has to stay a secret. Man, I've had a lot of secrets over the past few months, huh?!?!? :-) Stay tuned... you won't want to miss out on this one!
Anyway, I was able to meet with April for lunch! She and her husband just moved down here to attend the seminary. April was one of Chris' students when he taught right after we got married. Anyway, we had a great time of fellowship... it was so neat to be able to share with each other what God has been doing in our lives. It's always encouraging to me to see former students/teens from youth groups grow up to serve God with their lives! She and her hubby are coming over Sat. for supper, and we are excited to meet Scott.
Tuesday, I worked, and then we had a stamping party that night. I was the party hostess, even though it was held at our stamping demonstrators house. I kind of like that arrangement... I bring the food, but don't have to clean the house. She likes it, too, because she doesn't have to cart her stuff all around, and she can't forget anything at home b/c we're there! :-) Look here and here for our projects that we did. I was so glad that I didn't have to work the next day, since I didn't get home until 12:15 am! :-)
Yesterday, I was able to get together with one of the college students. I actually "taught" her in our ACE school that I worked in the year Chris and I dated. (You don't really "teach" in an ACE school!) Anyway, her mom and I were really good friends, and I had lost touch with them after 4 years, other than Christmas cards and an occasional update e-mail. They were thrilled to learn that Chris and I were here when it came time to bring Casey to school. She already felt that God wanted her here, but it was a blessing to her mom and dad to know that we were here if she needed us! All that to say, we went shopping for some clothes for her, and she bought some really cute outfits. I was glad to be able to help her with what looked good, and what was not so flattering (thank you, TLC's What Not To Wear!), and it was nice to fellowship with her.
That's about all that's happened this week. I'm trying to get a ton of things done (and here I am blogging, rather than doing them!) I have a lot of stamping to do, but have been in a creative slump the last few weeks. Hopefully that will right itself since I HAVE to do it... lots of birthdays coming up soon! :-)
Have a great weekend!
8.10.2007
More Anniversary Details...
So - on Monday morning, we slept in again, ate breakfast at the little deli by the Hancock Building, and then walked down Michigan Ave some more. We then took a bus to the Shedd Aquarium. In my opinion, for being the 2nd largest indoor aquarium, we were very disappointed. Most of you know that I LOVE dolphins, and I was even disappointed in the dolphin show! It was more "tree-huggin', whale-kissin' " (as my dad would put it) earth-friendly plugs than it was about the dolphins. On the way to the Aquarium, we walked through Grant Park and saw the Buckingham Fountain. We also saw a few bunnies in the park, which I thought was pretty funny for the city. They do have beautiful parks, though.
From the aquarium, we took a water taxi over to Navy Pier. We walked up and down the Pier, then did a little shopping. By that time it was time for the White Sox game, so we took the bus down to U.S. Cellular Field. The lady I sat next to on the bus was very nice, and we had a good conversation. She was actually reading her Bible on the bus in Lamentations 3, so I made a comment because my life's verses are 22-23 of that chapter.
We arrived at the game, and had a great time. As we were getting ready to leave, we were asking the guy next to Chris if we had to have exact change for the "L" to get back to the hotel. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a card with $4 on it and gave it to us to use. He said, "Happy Anniversary!" It was such a blessing to not have to fight all the crowds to get the cards, and so nice of a stranger to just give us the card!
Tuesday morning, we dragged ourselves out of bed and to the airport to get "back to life, back to reality!" We had a blast spending time together and just relaxing and sleeping in!
Now, on to other stuff... When we got home, we had to go back to work. I've been working since then to try to get the house unpacked and decorated, besides working to make up from the time I've been gone.
Yesterday, I finally finished decorating the house. I wanted a cohesive design, but as I was unpacking everything, I just couldn't bear to part with a lot of my stuff, so the kitchen/dining room is cohesive, and Chris' office is pretty cohesive, and the rest of the house is eclectic! I think it looks pretty good, though! :-) Again, when I can get the internet up on our home computer, I'll post pictures of the house, too.
Tomorrow is Chris' 32nd birthday, so we're having a party for him and having an open house party as well. I got the house done just in time! :-)
I'm still having internet issues with the computer at home, so bear with me if I don't get posting done consistently.
Other events... we have a new niece she was born this morning! She didn't want to come into this world, apparently, b/c she didn't come after her mom was induced, and they eventually had to do a C-section. I'd put more info and pictures of her on here, but I haven't asked her parent's permission, and they are pretty careful about stuff posted on the internet (which I totally respect and honor that!) We are very excited about this new little one and hope to meet her sometime soon.
This coming week will be busy for me. I'm working 5 days a week now, so that takes away some of my free time. Monday night is a stamping party, but I'm not buying anything this time. I mostly just go to stamp and enjoy the fellowship. Thursday, I get to see one of the little boys that I used to take care of when we lived in Maryland. His family is from here, and they are coming down for a visit. I'm excited to see them again! Then on Saturday, some friends of mine from MN are coming down to drop their daughter off at the college that our church runs. I have not seen them for 4&1/2 years, and am so excited to visit with them! Also on Saturday, I celebrate my 30th birthday! I know, it's hard to believe that I am 30 already, but I'm actually kind of excited about it (I know, I'm really weird!)
Oh, yeah - one more thing... my parents are moving! My dad has a job as an administrator of a school in Waupaca, WI. They are very happy to be moving back to the midwest, looking forward to settling there, and being a lot closer to the grandkids! :-) I was telling my mom that I'm glad I don't live with them... they are loading the truck on my birthday! Much of my life we were always moving or at camp on or around my birthday. Not a very great birthday present!
Well, I gotta get going! Please bear with me as I attempt to get our internet issues resolved. I PROMISE to post pictures as soon as I can, but I can't promise when that will be!
From the aquarium, we took a water taxi over to Navy Pier. We walked up and down the Pier, then did a little shopping. By that time it was time for the White Sox game, so we took the bus down to U.S. Cellular Field. The lady I sat next to on the bus was very nice, and we had a good conversation. She was actually reading her Bible on the bus in Lamentations 3, so I made a comment because my life's verses are 22-23 of that chapter.
We arrived at the game, and had a great time. As we were getting ready to leave, we were asking the guy next to Chris if we had to have exact change for the "L" to get back to the hotel. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a card with $4 on it and gave it to us to use. He said, "Happy Anniversary!" It was such a blessing to not have to fight all the crowds to get the cards, and so nice of a stranger to just give us the card!
Tuesday morning, we dragged ourselves out of bed and to the airport to get "back to life, back to reality!" We had a blast spending time together and just relaxing and sleeping in!
Now, on to other stuff... When we got home, we had to go back to work. I've been working since then to try to get the house unpacked and decorated, besides working to make up from the time I've been gone.
Yesterday, I finally finished decorating the house. I wanted a cohesive design, but as I was unpacking everything, I just couldn't bear to part with a lot of my stuff, so the kitchen/dining room is cohesive, and Chris' office is pretty cohesive, and the rest of the house is eclectic! I think it looks pretty good, though! :-) Again, when I can get the internet up on our home computer, I'll post pictures of the house, too.
Tomorrow is Chris' 32nd birthday, so we're having a party for him and having an open house party as well. I got the house done just in time! :-)
I'm still having internet issues with the computer at home, so bear with me if I don't get posting done consistently.
Other events... we have a new niece she was born this morning! She didn't want to come into this world, apparently, b/c she didn't come after her mom was induced, and they eventually had to do a C-section. I'd put more info and pictures of her on here, but I haven't asked her parent's permission, and they are pretty careful about stuff posted on the internet (which I totally respect and honor that!) We are very excited about this new little one and hope to meet her sometime soon.
This coming week will be busy for me. I'm working 5 days a week now, so that takes away some of my free time. Monday night is a stamping party, but I'm not buying anything this time. I mostly just go to stamp and enjoy the fellowship. Thursday, I get to see one of the little boys that I used to take care of when we lived in Maryland. His family is from here, and they are coming down for a visit. I'm excited to see them again! Then on Saturday, some friends of mine from MN are coming down to drop their daughter off at the college that our church runs. I have not seen them for 4&1/2 years, and am so excited to visit with them! Also on Saturday, I celebrate my 30th birthday! I know, it's hard to believe that I am 30 already, but I'm actually kind of excited about it (I know, I'm really weird!)
Oh, yeah - one more thing... my parents are moving! My dad has a job as an administrator of a school in Waupaca, WI. They are very happy to be moving back to the midwest, looking forward to settling there, and being a lot closer to the grandkids! :-) I was telling my mom that I'm glad I don't live with them... they are loading the truck on my birthday! Much of my life we were always moving or at camp on or around my birthday. Not a very great birthday present!
Well, I gotta get going! Please bear with me as I attempt to get our internet issues resolved. I PROMISE to post pictures as soon as I can, but I can't promise when that will be!
7.31.2007
It's about time...
Yes, it's true, I am finally back into cyberspace! Our internet service was hooked up yesterday, but now my computer is acting up! It is taking forever for pages to download, and we have DSL!
I am really looking forward to sharing events from the last couple of weeks with you all, but I don't really have time today. We have our annual Youth Conference this week, so I am working in the nursery tonight. I also have to finish cleaning our apt. (yes, procrastination!), make a slew of cards that I missed in the middle of all this craziness, and still work on the rest of the unpacking, among a few other things. I do have Thursday off this week, so if I can't get to it today, I'll try to get some things posted in the next few days.
Hope you all are doing well, and I can't wait to catch up on all the blog happenings! :-)
I am really looking forward to sharing events from the last couple of weeks with you all, but I don't really have time today. We have our annual Youth Conference this week, so I am working in the nursery tonight. I also have to finish cleaning our apt. (yes, procrastination!), make a slew of cards that I missed in the middle of all this craziness, and still work on the rest of the unpacking, among a few other things. I do have Thursday off this week, so if I can't get to it today, I'll try to get some things posted in the next few days.
Hope you all are doing well, and I can't wait to catch up on all the blog happenings! :-)
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