Please Pray for my dad

Hi Friends,
Could I ask you guys for prayer? My sister called last night to tell me that my dad fell off of a ladder yesterday while trying to clean dead leaves off of the roof of the house. The pavement was slick from an earlier rain that day and when he was almost entirely on the roof, the ladder slipped and pulled him down with it. He fell flat on his back and fractured a vertebra, broke his wrist and his elbow. He is in excruciating pain because of his back. Fortunately he is not paralyzed, but I can't help but think of the worst that could have happened. It reminds me how fragile life is. Please pray for ease of the pain for my dad and for strength and comfort for my step-mom-- she's pretty shaken up from all of this, too.
Thanks, guys!

I cried!

It happened on Wednesday. I had a difficult hour with my 5th hour government class. It has to do with a variety of things that are constantly bubbling right below the surface including the routine disappearance of school supplies during the hour (read: someone steals my stapler and board eraser because they know how upset it makes me) and a particulary disrespectful drop-out from the alternative high school. After an after-class confrontation with said student, where he told me I was a terrible teacher because I was always bitching at him, I let him go to his last hour. As my last hour kids are coming into class, I turn around and see that my board eraser, once again, has been successfully stolen. And then- it happened. BIG TEARS START ROLLING DOWN MY FACE. Trying to divert an emotional disaster, I head to the office where my principal looks at me with such sympathy that the floodgate of tears is unleashed. Balling. I'm balling. I attempt to return to my 6th hour. I open up my mouth to speak, and the tears come again. My principal tells me to take a day off. I do. I sleep in until 11- go running- go shopping- go tanning. Meanwhile, I'm fielding phonecalls from more than a handful of students all around the school who have heard the rumor that I have quit my job. Expressions of embarrasing (for me) love and admiration pour out- but the battle lines have been drawn. The administration uses this last episode from the surly student to finally expel him for good. (He's been on the journey to expulsion for months- is not allowed to attend his math class anymore because he is such a disruption). And while I am shopping on my "mental health day", certain students stage a protest to keep this student in school. How- you may ask- did I get caught up in this drama? I cried. I cried hard and in front of people. I feel weak, manipulative, and misunderstood. I wish the situation could just be "someone stole her eraser and she was upset and emotional and cried". But's its not. People think I have an agenda against this kid- they assume (wrongfully) that I hate him. Sometimes it is hard to be a Christian when dealing with these types of situations- that lack a black and white. And sometimes, girls just cry.

An Invitation

All you ladies are invited to Rachel's baby shower this coming Saturday at noon. I know I didn't give you much time to plan, but if any of you could come it would be great. If for some reason you can't make it, we'll be thinking of you.

The format of the shower is a competitive potluck; Simone has already submitted an imaginary entry consisting of Gumbo with (I think) both wild turkey and venison. Any other imaginary entries are also welcome!

Happy Baby Shower to Rachel!

We're so excited for you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DENISE!!!!!

26!!!
Yeah! Yipee!
Thanks for being born!

Home Sweet Home

Hey Guys! It was so wonderful to see many of you over the holidays and being in Holland was probablyl our favorite part of the trip. However, now I understand why all my friends who have kids become a major party pooper soon after the said kids arrive. Not only does getting out of the routine lead to havoc at the time, but for days after you can still feel the wrath. Sienna was pretty good though, and as soon as we got home she got back into the groove. She's eating solids now, I was so proud when she finished that first bowl I almost cried, I'm close now just writing about it. Here's some pics of her over break, she's discovered her feet and she went on her first sledding trip!

Lost Wager...

It was a sad day today when I had to admit that the mighty Indianapolis Colts had played a horrible game on Sunday. I had a friendly wager made with one of my students (a big Steelers fan) and I had to concede victory to him. The wager: if the Steelers won, I would make and wear a special shirt to school on Tuesday (Monday was a Professional Development day without kids). If the Colts won, he would bring me a refreshing Diet Mountain Dew. As you can see from the picture....

latest adventure

I went hunting again, this time for deer. I loved it. Shot two dear. Yes, I enjoyed pulling the guts out. It was like biology class. I wish Jason had been there. We could have been like, "Look, at the liver just fall right out when I cut through the diaphragm!" Or, "So that's what a punctured lung looks like!"

Lots of people told me shooting my first deer and looking into its dying eyes would be tramatic. I knew it wouldn't be. And it wasn't. I did have fun playing with the deer before rigor mortis set in, though.

Next up - wild hog and spring turkey.

Now I have a good reason to go to Cabela's.

Did our lives all get boring in the New Year, or just busy?

Hi friends. It seems slow going on the blog lately and for my part, life's boring and busy. With the new commute I'm away from home for all the daylight hours (50 of them) during the week. I'm tossing my cookies semi-regularly and sleeping for the others and feeling guilty about the state of my new home. We're also socializing a lot and realizing we need to cut out some "not see anyone or go anywhere" time. I finished my first trimester and we heard a heartbeat, which was very cool. My leopard frog died which was much more emotional for us than we anticipated. I got a new haircut with Christmas cash. I continue to enjoy leading worship at church and Michael and I are on the prayer ministry team every other month and are seeing God do some neat things. His gift of discernment is really growing and has surpassed mine, but that's OK. I'm not jealous; I'm really pleased. We're waiting for the Southfield Police to call and hire him since they've finished his background investigation, said it was all positive, and have him as third on their list of a couple hundred. We've been told 2 weeks to 6 months for a call. Personally I'm hoping by the end of February - the poor guy is fried. We love you all.

My old house

We found them! Yes, there are pictures of my house before the renovations. Jared took pictures and videos of my house when several of us went to see it before I bought it. Catie couldn't make it, so Jared took the pictures and videos and put them on a CD for Catie. Up until a couple days ago, I thought this CD and any other pictures taken may have been long lost.

So here we have a nice before and after shot of the bathroom. Please note the pink sink in the large vanity. The wood toilet seat was a nice touch as well.


And who could forget those wondeful vine things? A special thanks to whoever painted over those. And remember the green tile? Oh yeah, I havn't gotten rid of that yet.

Unfortunately, there were no still photos of the kitchen, which was the biggest change of all. There was, however, a video that went through it. It's quite amazing. I would like to post it, but as far as I know I can't post a video. If any of you are really intested, I can email it to you. I got this shot by pausing the video on my computer and taking a picture with my camera. Some things to note are the refridgerator just to the left. Just to the left of that was the large built in cabinet. To the right (Rachel is facing) the old sink. On the far wall, you can see the other cabinet. Just to the left of that was the stove. Also notice that you don't see a chimney in this shot while you do in the more recent shots (see My New Kitchen). That's because for some reason a previous owner had put a wall extending from the chimney to the wall on the far left of the photo. I took it down.
That's all I have to say fo now.

Found Wallet

You'll never guess... Last night, Steak n' Shake (in Normal, Illinois) called and said that they found Scott's wallet!!! All of the contents were still there and everything. My sister went and picked it up for us since we're back in Virigina already. My only frustration is why they couldn't find it when we went to ask about a lost wallet the day after we lost it, but they seemed to find it two weeks later? I think their employees were not very interested in helping us when we were there. But, all is bliss now that the wallet has been found and we'll have it back in no time at all.
What a relief! Thanks be to God! Now we don't have to buy Scott a new PDA! Yeah!

Lost Wallet

For Christmas this year, we flew home to Illinois to be with my parents, which was nice since I haven't seen them since Abby was born. However, the day after Christmas, Scott lost his wallet and all it's contents including an IPAQ PDA and $200 in cash that we brought for traveling money for the week. Ouch! That was an expensive loss! We searched everywhere, to no avail. At least no one tried to use our credit/debit cards by the time I called them in missing. What has God taught me from this? ... hmm, still working on that one. However, I think patience with my husband's forgetfulness is one... and maybe my need to relinquish control of all things to God. I'm sure there are many more. Man, these little lessons hurt. If only life lessons could be easier... but then, I guess I wouldn't remember them as well. Thank you God for your rod of correction.