Rainy Monday

Well, we were supposed to go rock climbing today with a bunch of home schooled kids but the rain canceled that trip. Oh well, there's always next time.
DeWayne, Dane, Jean and I ended up in Paducah to try to find a kayak paddle for DeWayne. He needs a new fancy one so he can "roll" his kayak better. We didn't find one. He's going to have to order one from the internet. We went to Gander Mountain and the Mall and we ate at McAllister's Deli. We switched cars before we left and I misplaced my phone. Needless to say, I was a little worried because I thought I had lost my phone. No lost phone though, it was in the backseat of my car here at home. Yay! I was afraid I was going to have to pay full price for a new phone. YUCK!!! But I don't and all is good.
It's a lazy afternoon because of the rain and I'm a little off schedule because of going to Paducah early this morning. "I feel funny!" :D
Church yesterday was awesome. Ed spoke instead of Jeff. He was talking about us being the salt of the earth. I learned some really cool things about salt and what kind of salt the Bible passage is really talking about. I've always been taught that it's talking about table salt and how we are to add flavor to the world and preserve our Christian walk. NO, it's talking about the salt that the people of that day harvested from the Dead Sea. It was potash and it was what people used to fertilize their fields and cover up the stench of the manure pile. It has to have the right amount of ingredients to be effective. Just like me as a Christian. I have to be salt to the world and not be worthless and not of any use even to the manure pile. (I'm writing this without my notes and I probably could do a better job if I looked. :D)
Last night instead of going to LCC, DeWayne and I went to McKinley Church to their book group meeting. Their group just finished "The Rain". We read it for our March Book. The author of the book works at EEI in Joppa where DeWayne used to work. One of DeWayne's friends, Mike, still works there and his wife is in the book group. They set it up for so we from LCC would be able to sit in on their discussion and to meet the author too. It was really interesting to hear about his stories and how they came about and how he went about getting published. I really enjoyed it and I was thankful that my friend Lynette invited us to be a part of their group. I'm sad that I won't be able to attend book group this month. I will be in St. Louis at a tech conference of sorts. I get to be more geekier that I already am. :D I'm most sad that it will be my turn to pick the book and I won't be there. Brigette will get to go next then it will be my turn. I already have my book picked out!!!

It's been a long time...

I'm back!!!

This has been the longest that I have gone without posting. I finished school on the 5th completely exhausted. I love all the women I work with but they sometimes wear me out. :D

My computer lab is clean and polished and ready for a new group of little people next year. Yay! We start back the 17th of August and it will be here before I know it.

I made a list of things I want to get accomplished before I start back to work. A "home" list and a "work" list. They each have several attainable items on them. My biggest goal is to paint the living room/kitchen and the bathroom here at home. Getting the wallpaper off will be my biggest challenge. It's been on for 13 years and I'm sure that it's more that a little STUCK. Ugh! Oh well, I just need to jump in. Maybe I can get my sister to help me on that one. She helped me hang it. :D

Today marks the end of my official first week off. I went to an Internet Safety Training class on Tuesday. The curriculum presented was very good. I think we might try to implement it. It will take some planning and commitment from everyone on all grade levels not just from me. The class was 6 hours long. The guy started at 9:30 am and didn't break until 12:30. OK, I'm a baby. I eat lunch at 11:15 and by 12:30 I was STARVED! and I had to go the bathroom. I also felt like I had sat through a 3 hour informercial. But that was what he was there to do, introduce us to the curriculum. I learned some very useful information. It's called iSafe. I think that it could be used in church settings also for youth groups or church camps. The whole basis is to educate kids about the choices they make and not punishment for the places they might accidently have tripped upon on the internet. Of course, we also talked about sexting and using the cell phone inappropriately. We have 1st graders at our school who have their own cell phones. It is never too early to tell children how to make "Better" choices when using their "tech" toys. Talking about the choices and the outcomes of these choices. I liked that guy who presented. He was obviously a Christian by the way he spoke and his attitude. He made reference to the Sunday School class that he taught. He had some very profound thoughts on pornography. Cool guy!

I'm pretty excited about my Bible reading plan. I will be halfway through at the end of this month. That means I will have read the entire New Testament and the book of Psalms plus Proverbs 6 times. I really like the way this plan is broken down. It doesn't feel like a burden to read. It usually makes me want to read more. I am so thankful that God gave us The Word to get us through the day. Every day it is new and refreshing. I can read the same passage two (or more) different times and each time it is applicable to what is happening that day. How cool is that?

Monday we are taking the home schooled group rock climbing. It has turned in to quite the outing. Dane is off on Mondays so he and Jean will be going with us. Evan and Jackie will come down when Evan gets finished with school. I can't wait to hang out with my family and a bunch of fun kids on Monday!!!

I'm still here. Just trying to make it to the end of the week and the end of the school year. Only a few more days. Perhaps then I can start posting more regularly!!!

Rainy Sunday

Here I am again and it's a rainy Sunday. Nice day to read, watch a good movie, drink a cup of coffee and blog. :D 

Jeff talked about fear this morning. What am I fearful of? Well, the list consists mostly of critters: mice, snakes, and spiders. The mouse fear is mostly about not being startled. I know they have no power because they are so small. I also don't like the mess they make and leave behind. So my fear of mice is really a "hatred". ha!!! Now spiders and snakes... I don't like at all and I really am afraid of them. Not heart attack fear but just a general dislike. I guess my fear of them stems from being bit. Oh well. I can remember a time when DeWayne and I first got married and we were robbed. I lived in fear of just going in to my house. I was afraid when people drove down our road. I was afraid when people would visit us at night. (We didn't go anywhere without a gun and I didn't walk through my house without knowing where a gun was. That's not REAL heatlthy.) Looking back, as soon as I started growing closer to Christ and allowing Him to be in charge of my life, the fears in my life subsided. I can't remember being scared about the dark or traveling in a long, long time. I don't like coming home at night by myself when it's dark but I'm not scared. It's kind of funny, I remember the fear being very strong and I don't remember when I released it. It's just not there anymore. (Thank you Jesus!) Jeff was talking about how we as Christians can't live in fear of the end times. Bad stuff is going to happen. It's going to happen to the earth. It's going to happen maybe to me. It's going to happen possibly to family members. I have to live in a strength of faith that allows me to face the fear. I have to live strong in Christ. Bad things have already happened to people in my family. I have had not great things happen in my life. Did I live in faith or did I live in doubt? Did I trust in God or did I trust in man? What I show to the world defines me as a Christian. 

No school tomorrow for the holiday. DeWayne has to work second shift though. I think we are supposed to have a picnic somewhere before he goes to work. 

Dane and 4 of his friends sky dived yesterday. DeWayne and I went and took pictures of Dane and Lee. We only got to stay to see them because DeWayne had to go to work. I have no desire to jump out of a plane, but they looked like they were having a great time. Dane said it was amazing. I took a little video and lots of pictures. Oh to be young again. Not!!!

Sitting and Waiting

It's Thursday and I'm sitting here in the "Procedure Waiting Room" waiting for DeWayne to have his "procedure" done. He's only been back there for about 15 minutes so I will probably be here for another hour or so at least. And the only good thing is they have public internet here at Deaconess, Yay!  We weren't sure where this clinic was because it is a Deasoness Clinic. It's in the old Welborn Clinic where I came for ob/gyn appointments. It's also where Dane came many times for after-hours doctor appointments when his asthma flaired up. The building has been remodeled but it's the same parking lot and building. 

School is crazy right now. The kids and the adults are ready to be out. The kindergarten teachers are working like crazy to get their memory dvd's finished. I burned and labeled 2 teachers yesterday. That means only 6 more to go. A few of the second grade teachers are also doing dvd's; so they also need help. It's just hard to be in 4 or 5 places at once. :D Makes me feel needed! The newer version of iMovie (09) is awesome and so much more user friendly. The same teachers who made movies last year can't believe how much easier it is to make their movies. I have started two "test" movies to just show some of the features of the program. The nice part is that I can burn it to such a small file that I could post a short movie here. ( I think I might before the summer is over..:D) Another aspect of our crazy school is the schedule for next year is being working out. Everyone wants their specials (art, music, pe, media, and computers) in the afternoon so they have the morning free for instruction time. I understand the teachers wanting this but oh, my. There are 8 kindergartens, 8 first grades, and 7 second grades. This does not even count the 8 pre-k slots. There are not enough afternoon slots to put people in. It's a mess. Someone or several someones are going to have to be flexible. :D

Evan is working like crazy to get here yard sale stuff priced. We'll have to move it all to Jackie's tonight. I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel. I hope they make good money. I think they are going to use their money for a short trip to Florida to Angela this summer. (Angela is going to work in Orlando this summer. 

We've had a change of vacation plans. We had planned to go to Gatlinburg for a few days in August. DeWayne checked all the prices and found we could go to the beach at Seagrove Beach for 5 days just as cheap. Sooooo...we're going to the beach!!! Yay!!! We leave on the 9th of August and return on the 15th. I start school on the next Monday. So we'll be tanned and rested to start back to work and school. Sleep, eat, and play, my 3 favorite things. :D

I went to a mother daughter banquet with my mom Tuesday evening at her church. It was very enjoyable. The lady who spoke talked about different kinds of shoes and how your personality and your attitudes change with what kind of shoes you wear. I had heard the same analogy at a women's retreat with my sister's church. They both brought something different in to it though so they were both good. 

More another time.

Just a quick note to let you all know that I haven't completely disappeared. :D  

It's the time of the year that every week has been "one of those weeks."  The weather has been crazy. I have a lot of things to accomplish at work and it seems like not enough hours. And I have a lot I want to get accomplished here at home. So, it's really one of those months. 

Evan had been slowly going through her stuff this week. I can see a path in the living room. And I can see the floor in her room. Hopefully we'll spend a little more time working on it tomorrow. 

I'm ready to dig a little deeper and post something that actually has purpose. :D

Just Another Monday

I am truly sorry that I haven't posted in over a week. Last week was one drama after another! I went to St. Louis to an iLife 09 Summit. It was awesome, great, and quite overwelming. A lot of information was given to me in 7 hours time. 

I took Friday off for Evan's birthday and we went to O'Charley's in Marion to eat lunch. After lunch Evan, Jackie and I went to Carbondale's mall to shop. It had rained like crazy while we were eating but as soon as we got to Carbondale it started raining again. It didn't just rain though. There was a tornado (actually an inland hurricane {whatever that is}). We had to sit for about an hour in the tornado hallway at the mall. We could hear the roof rumbling and the walls were a little shaky. I wasn't too scared just concerned about getting home and the kids at school who were probably getting ready to go home for the day. After we got to leave our little hallway we were hoping and praying that our car was not covered in debris. Thankfully it wasn't but there was a lot of stuff all over the parking lot. There was obviously no power in Carbondale so the stop lights were a trick. After we left Carbondale, there was power until we got to the airport. Then from the airport to the east side of Marion it took almost 2 hours. UGH!!! The damage was unbelievable. I wish I had had my camera. By the time I saw the semi turned over on the highway about 5 miles from home, "I JUST WANTED TO BE HOME!!!" We had no damage to our home. Only one tree down and the gas grill blown off the deck. Thank you Jesus!

Saturday Dane and Evan and I worked on cleaning out their rooms and sorting out stuff. The throw away, give away, and sell piles are huge. Evan and Jackie are going to have a yard sale in 2 weeks. So yay!

Mother's Day was grand. Saturday evening we went to my sister's and had graduation and mother's day celebrations. It was great to all be together! Sunday Dane and Evan went early to church with me to cook breakfast. Dane bought Evan and I a Wii and a Wii Fit. So we played and made fun of each other all evening. :D

I will update more later.