I thought you fell off the face of the earth....

.....not quite, though it feels as though my world has been spinning fast enough to throw me into orbit!
Soccer season and school are both done! Soccer season this year kept me plenty busy, but I enjoy every moment of it! Jordan's team (though a different coach- miss you Tom!) was undefeated again this year and Jordan did make a goal! She had a lot of assists and that is usually her part in the team. Josiah's team was not quite so lucky, but he did score a goal, blocked quite a few when he was goalie and even had an assist or two. They both had fun, and Josiah is now gearing up for football in the fall!
We are revamping our youth program at church. We don't have a youth pastor, but we do have an associate pastor that oversees our youth program and sponsors (like me) that help, teach, mentor and whatever. There are some new sponsor faces in the program (like me again) and that has kept me busy! So far we have had some long meetings almost every 2 weeks, but it is exciting! For the first time in a few years the youth program will continue through the summer instead of stopping and picking back up in the fall. We are also doing a very short short-term mission project to a local neighborhood that is buying foreclosed houses and rebuilding them and placing Christian families in the houses to give the kids in the neighborhood that have no where to go a sense of family, while learning life skills in the home. ( sonnyvilla) On top of that we are revamping the youth rooms and will have a big reveal at the end of the summer.
Next on the list would be my little girl turning 12 and getting ready to fly far, far away! Jordan will be leaving for the Philippines Saturday to do some missions work and visit her aunt, uncle and cousins for 2 weeks! (Garden of Grace; Dancing with Daddy) I am a bit anxious, but know that she is in God's hands. Her uncle is looking forward to harassing her as it has been over a year and he needs someone new to pick on besides his daughters!
I would like to say this is last on the list, but it isn't.....my computer died about a month ago. Dead. Deceased. Not gonna ever work again type of thing. The motherboard (sounds a bit UFO-ish to me) was fried. We finally hooked up my brothers (the one not in the Philippines), but I just haven't had the time to worry about it! (If you aren't sure why, just reread this post from the beginning, then skip to the next paragraph....)
So, I think this is the last, except for the everyday things like work and kids and church and yadda, yadda, yadda. Okay, so here we go...
I GOT A HOUSE!!! It is a rental, but it has 3 bedrooms and a basement and it is ours!!! It was kind of a quick thing and we had to get moving (literally!). It is so cool that when we get irritated with each other we can go into our room and close the door! Or, I can send a kid to their room when there is a bit too much attitude coming my way! It is a nice little house with a yard just big enough for me to take care of. Something I can handle. It is in the city limits though, so I am still getting used to the noise, but it is a house! It is ours!
I just thought I should drop in. Not sure when I will be back, but I will be back!

soccer, seems so soon, seats- so crazy

What a week. One of those kind that you run out of the door after work screaming. Okay, it's in your head, not out loud, but you know what I mean. Soccer has started, so we dropped Jordan's piano lessons for now. So, between the strange hours at work, and practices and church, and soon to be games, I will be amazed if I don't pass out from not being able to catch my breath. Another shocking thing is that school will be out in less than 8 weeks!!! Crazy. Jordan will be heading to the Philippines for a much awaited visit to her cousins...aunt and uncle too. It will be strange to have her gone for two weeks and with the knowledge that I can't just go drive and pick her up if need be. Josiah and I will be hanging out together in the hours I am off work. I will have to think of some fun stuff to do. He probably would be thrilled if I spent my time playing on the PS2 with him! Well, Kris and I have decided that another NKOTB concert is in order, so April 10th when they go on sale, we will be one of the masses calling to reserve our seats! This time we are praying for no flat tires!! But, we would certainly take meeting a (or all the) guy(s) again and getting hugs!! ~smile~

Life and famine

I know it has been quite a long time since I have been on here. Most nights I have absolutely no desire to go near the computer, and in the off night I do find myself drawn to it's glow, I have other things on my mind to do than a post of the comings and goings of my life. Tonight however I am drawn to the keys and the slight glow of the screen. There is a mystery of the words that are jumbled in my head that I am wanting to send into cyberspace for any and all that happen by to read that is calling me.
Wow, quite philosophical sounding considering I have nothing real deep to say. Just that normal day to day life....stuff....that seems to keep one going.
Work has been busy and for that I suppose I am grateful because it means that I continue to have a job. Some days I have to pray more than others that my attitude will adjust or that I can make it through without saying something I may later regret. I am a pretty laid back person and that is sometimes what gets me into trouble. That coupled with the fact that I do not like confrontation so will often do whatever I can to avoid it. (Yes, I realize all the bad things about that- but sometimes you are who you are.) I also am afraid that if I started to become one of those people that said what was on their mind I would inflict much unnecessary hurt. I figure if it gets to the point I need to say something, it has gotten bad.
Enough about that.
Last week, I was home sick with strep throat. Not my idea of fun, nor a way I really wanted to use my personal time, but what can you do. I slept a lot, and though I often thought of jumping on here and catching up with my cyber life, I didn't feel like it. I felt like...sleeping. The bummer part of this was that our youth group at church had a 30 hour famine for World Vision this weekend. I was to help out. I did get to help, but not like I had hoped. I stayed home Friday night and also missed the service project, but I hung out Saturday afternoon to evening with them. I also could not participate in the fast because I needed food to take my medicine. (I know that may sound like a better deal, but I was truly looking forward to all of it!)
We had 15 youth participate, raising around $900 to go towards World Vision. They quit eating at 12:30pm on Friday and didn't eat again until 6:30pm Saturday. They played tribe games while learning about communities without food or drinkable water. They did an outdoor service project in a local community early Saturday morning until around "lunchtime". They even had some blisters to prove it! With devotional times and some free time in between, it was a good thing. I realize they had not even an inkling of what it is like to starve or live in an area that has no running water or drinkable water for that matter, for 30 hours, a new thought was put into their heads. An inkling of what life may be like elsewhere. Hopefully a seed or two was planted. Isn't that what the idea of something like that is anyway? To put a thought that there is someone besides themselves- to put a thought that perhaps there is SOMETHING they can do?
What are you doing to improve the world around you?
Who are you touching with the love and light of Christ?
You don't have to go far. Maybe just next door. Maybe through a phone call. Maybe through a donation wisely made. You don't even have to give up food for 30 hours to do it.


Interested in World Vision? visit World Vision
Interested in 30 hour famine? visit 30 hour famine

Winter or Spring?

It is February 11th, and it is 51* outside this morning. Talk about a heat wave! The snow is gone and the fog has rolled in because it is raining. Yesterday we hit a high in the 60's. Of course, jackets were mostly forgotten. Today won't be much different. We are to drop again overnight after a day of thunderstorms, so we will see what happens. They are calling for snow by week's end. People always say, "If you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes." That's about sums this week up!

You thought I wouldn't get it done.....

Just another day....

Lately, my attitude has been rather.......crappy. Today, thank God, I am in a pretty decent mood. Amazing, since I had to work late tonight. I have prayed, I have asked, but it is just hard to get out of. I can find all kinds of things to be thankful for, and I do try to remember them when I am getting frustrated and moody. I can't say it has helped much. I have occasional days like this that I am in a decent mood, and life is okay. But, for the most part here lately, be afraid, be very afraid. I can go from my normal mode (whatever that may be), to very emotional, to downright witchy. This is part of the reason I have not been on much. Too moody. Don't feel like it. Don't have anything to say....at least not anything that you may want to hear. Even as I sit here typing, I just want to sit here and whine. I know that won't really do any good, and it's not really anything anybody wants to hear anyway. I mean, we all have our struggles.....
So, there you go. I apologize for my absence, I have just not been very....friendly....lately.


So, now that I have filled you in with me....
my kids have been out of school since last Thursday! They had Thursday and Friday off due to the snow and frigid temps, and then Monday off for MLK, JR Day, and today was a training day for teachers. Tomorrow it will be fun times in the morning waking them up after sleeping in so many days! I think Grandma is ready to send them back.

This weekend we had our local Ice Festival. I will try to get some pictures on here soon of that. I was going to post some pictures of a few weeks ago at Lake Michigan, but blogger is not allowing me to open the download link. Maybe tomorrow if I get the chance.

Thursday Thoughts

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.
Edith Lovejoy Pierce

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential.
Ellen Goodman

Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.

Oprah Winfrey