Out of Pocket

My Grandad died early Saturday morning. My Mom flew out this morning to start taking care of the details and we drive over to OK on Tuesday for a probable Wednesday funeral. I'll be burning the midnight oil the next few nights as I get Noelle and myself ready for the trip and take care of my work responsibilities this week. We'll all in a little bit of shock. The Drs. were saying this week that he could live another 3-4 years if he would perk back up a bit, but he just gave up. We would appreciate prayers for safe travel. We'll be driving over with my Dad and my sister and her two. Travis is out of town on business so we'll cross paths going and coming. Plans are to be back home on Saturday at the latest.

I'll have a laptop so I can check email and stuff and may be able to update while we're gone . . . we'll see.

I'm under the pile. Yesterday Travis and I both started coming down the cold that has been circulating our family for a week or two now. Stopped up, sore throat and I was running a little fever last night (and today as well). Travis leaves town tomorrow for 5 days for a business trip so I figure that Noelle and I will coccoon ourselves at home for a few days and rest. I think I'm going to try and go to the grocery store tomorrow, too, after we drop him off at the airport . . . it will give Noelle and me something to do to take our mind off of Daddy leaving and then the cupboards will be stocked full so we can stay in.

My Grandad isn't doing so great. He's in a nursing home in Oklahoma and getting discouraged and down about his health. It was easier to watch my Grandma decline with her Alzheimer's - she didn't know she was sick. It's different because Grandad has all his facilties and knows that things are changing. My Mom is trying to take care of him and help with decisions from 700 miles away and I know that's becoming a strain on her and our family.

Noelle has mastered the art of climbing on to ALL our furniture. :-) She can now scale both couches and both big comfy chairs, as well as the computer chair (oh no!), the dining room chairs (uh-oh!), and, worst of all, the chair at my scrapbook table (double oh-no!) We're trying to nip this climbing thing early. I don't mind if she wants to sit in the chair at the dining table, but standing in the chair and then climbing up on to the table itself, I'm not into that so much. And for now, I'm trying to teach her that my scrapbook table is completely off-limits.

She has also learned what a horse and a sheep and a lion say. Her "roar" is so sweet - like a whisper. She can also say "ready" now when I ask if she's ready to go, or eat or whatever. Love. Her.

I have several card making projects in the work - and I'll get paid for some of them! :-) Yeah! Here's a few pictures of them (some are works in progress). This one is a baby shower invitation that I did for my friend Laura. This one isn't finished yet, and the purple is going to be pink on the actual bridal shower invitation, but you can get the idea of what it will look like. (The purple paper looks bad in the scan b/c it's just plain typing paper - it will be pink cardstock on chocolate brown.) :-) I have also been asked to make Change of Address cards and the wedding program for the girl who is having the wedding shower, and I've got another job that will hopefully work out doing wedding announcements for another girl from my church. God has been good to provide these little jobs for me to fund my creative outlet. I don't really make any money at this - just enough to pay for my supplies and restock my scrapbooking stuff when needed.

And, oh yeah, my nephew's birth announcement is finally getting done.

I want to buy some stamps from Cheryl when I can afford to. I have the new Stampin' Up catalog and there are several in there that I'm drooling over.

I've been reading through the New Testament with some of the W@H girls. Today I start Luke.

You must see this precious adorable yummy new baby boy my friend Amy had. *sigh* So. Cute.

I don't think I ever posted anything really about meeting the W@H administrators (or at least 8 of the 12 of them) this past weekend. I was able to hook up with them for dinner on Saturday night and we had such a fun time. It was so neat to spend time with these women in person and realize that they are just as great off-line as they are on and just the same. Travis and Noelle went with me to the restaurant so that they could meet them and vice versa. Click the picture below and it will take you to a few more:

I have to admit, I was pretty nervous doing something like this . . . not necessarily meeting folks that I've only known online, but meeting folks in general. It's so SAFE just hanging out with the same church folks I see week in and week out and it's easy to get too comfortable and not push myself to make new relationship. It was a good stretching time for me.

Another perk was that Skipper and Say-ruh are just plain fun and they were probably the two that I knew the least. :-) And Say-ruh coveted my camera . . . what's up with that?!

I've been pondering lots of things lately . . . most are still too muddled in my brain to communicate effectively. Things like Biblical submission. Boundaries in church leadership. Disappointment in God. Inquiring of the Lord. Just a few things...

Got this from Zoe . . .


You are 'Gregg shorthand'. Originally designed to
enable people to write faster, it is also very
useful for writing things which one does not
want other people to read, inasmuch as almost
no one knows shorthand any more.

You know how important it is to do things
efficiently and on time. You also value your
privacy, and (unlike some people) you do not
pretend to be friends with just everyone; that
would be ridiculous. When you do make friends,
you take them seriously, and faithfully keep
what they confide in you to yourself.
Unfortunately, the work which you do (which is
very important, of course) sometimes keeps you
away from social activities, and you are often
lonely. Your problem is that Gregg shorthand
has been obsolete for a long time.


What obsolete skill are you?
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Quickly...

We did get our dogs back . . . thank you all for praying!!

They were picked up by a nice woman on Monday and she turned them in to Animal Control Tuesday morning. It was icky Monday night not knowing where they were and having to go to bed with them out somewhere. But they are home safe now and we are in the process of figuring out what to do with the fence to stop the escapees.

More later . . . have Bible study at church today and need to pay the property tax today. Ugh. If I forget, remind me that I want to write a "review" of Super-Size Me. We watched that the other night - WoW!

States I've been to, lived in or I'm in now borrowed from Nattie . . . bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

Having a very blah day. The dogs got out about 2 hours ago and haven't come home yet. Noelle and I rode around looking for them for about an hour and a half and no sign of them. We finally came home because she needed her nap, and realistically, they aren't in the neighborhood probably any more. Now it's just time to pray that animal control or some one catches them and picks them up. I have no idea how they got out of the backyard. I looked for a new opening, but don't see anything.

Anyway, I'm totally bummed. Several other things have me kinda bummed to, so just an overall gloomy, rainy, tired-of-being-me kinda day. Off to work on my Bible study while Noelle is laying down for a bit...

Saturday...

I'm going out to dinner with the W@H ladies tonight - woohoo! :-)

From Friday's Feast

Appetizer - Name 2 things you do that you consider beneficial to your health.

Hehehe. What two things? I do eat lots of salad and love veggies. And I'm not a big sweets person, so I eat junk food (chocolate/candy) rarely.

Soup - If you made a New Year's resolution, how's it going so far?

See a recent update here.

Salad - Name something that has happened lately that bothers you.

I don't know if this counts, but the phone has lately been on my nerves greatly. It always seems to ring when I have just gotten Noelle down for a nap and I'm trying to get something done, or when she has just gotten up from a nap and I'm trying to do a diaper change, juggle the phone and get her juice all at the same time. I'm just not a big phone talker to begin with and lately it has rung off the hook. And if it's not the house phone, it's the cell phone.

Main Course - What is your favorite quote, and who said it?

I'm not a huge Winnie the Pooh fan, but I love quotes of his. Some samples:

The Wrong Answers are the ones you go looking for when the right answer is staring you in the face.

They're funny things, Accidents. You never have them till you're having them.

Lots of people talk to animals. Not that many listen though. That's the problem.

Things are always so much more grand and wonderful when your friends are there to share them.

When having a smackerel of something with a friend, don't eat so much that you get stuck in the doorway trying to get out.

When trying to ignore a knock at your door, don't yell out, "NO!" When someone asks, "Is anyone home?

Dessert - What do you collect?

Anyone that knows me would say pens and purses. :-)

Got this from Holly... :-)


You are Kip Dynamite and you love technology.


Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
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This, That & the Other

A few photos from our Valentine's photo shoot.

You can see more pictures of the boy by clicking his picture.

I'm tired today. The dogs have recently started being very "bark-y" lately and that really grates on my nerves. I don't know if it's the warmer weather or what. They are outside when they are barking, but it sets off the neighbor's two big dogs and drives me batty. Noelle and I walked around the backyard some before I put her down for a nap and she was loving being outside. It's still a little cool so when it warms up I really need to get her to the park and let her explore. Her words are increasing like crazy. Yesterday she learned that the cow say "mooooo" and the duck says "kack, kack." Her other big word is "cool." Everything is "cool." Methinks that Mama uses that word too much. :-) I'm trying to teach her that when she is ready to get out of bed to call for me. Right now, she throws her "Baa's" out of the bed and yells for them . . . like they are going to help her get up! :-)

Got a Valentine's day card in the mail from Aleta - so fun to get mail and totally brightened my day. Love, love snail mail.

Have all sorts of invitations I need to be working on . . . will start some of them when I finish this post. Baby shower invitations that need to go in the mail this weekend, then next up are some wedding shower invites. (I'm not helping with that shower - that one's a real "I'm going to get paid" type job). Last night, I also got a call about doing some wedding announcements/reception invitations - the couple is having a private beach wedding and a big reception later. That order could also include not only me addressing the invitations, but also some bachelorette invitations and possibly the wedding invitations for those actually invited to the wedding. All these invitations basically fund my scrapbook habit which works out well for me. :-)

Guess who I get to meet this weekend? Some crazy ladies are having retreat of sorts in my neck of the woods! I get to meet Dana, Becky, Heather & Nattie (Those are the ones coming that I know of!) Very excited to be spending a few hours with these ladies!

Totally Tuckered Out

We had our youth's Valentino's dinner on Saturday nght and it was a smashing success. However, I was wiped by the time it was over! :-) We had almost 80 folks at our dinner and the kids did fabulous. No one set anything on fire that shouldn't have been one fire (one year we had a girl set her sleeve on fire) so that makes it a good night in my book. My Dad was the official event photographer so if I get some photos from him, I'll share.

Anyway, Travis and I came home Saturday night and flopped about 9 p.m. We got our Law & Order: Season 14 in the mail that day and watched some of it. I made it through two episodes - only because I was eating a huge-mongous salad to stay awake - and slept through the rest. Yesterday we went over to my folks for lunch and then came home and just relaxed some more. Today I'm catching up on loads o' laundry. I hadn't been able to get to my washer for about a week because of all the supplies for the dinner piled on it and I have so much to do around the house.

I'll leave you with this survey stolen from Holly and a Happy Valentine's Day wish. We took Valentine's pictures of Noelle yesterday, but they are also on my Dad's camera - will share when I get them.

Senior Year Survey . . .

What year was it? 1988-1999
What was your high schools mascot and colors? Johnny Reb (Rebel mascot) and the confederatte flag; blue, red & white (not very politically correct in our small Arkansas town)
What were your three favorite bands? Wilson Phillips, Amy Grant and the Monkees
What was your favorite outfit? baggy clothes! :-)
What was up with your hair? About shoulder length with the required bangs.
Who were your best friends? I didn't really have any best friends but close school friends were Robin and Richelle
What did you do after school? piano lessons or work at Cloth World (after Spring of '89)
Where did you work? Cloth World
Who did you have a crush on? No one I can really remember . . . there was this guy named Aaron who led our Partners in Christ group, but he was shorter and younger than me - not a good combo. :-)
Who did you have a CELEBRITY crush on? Totally into reruns of the Monkees then . . . I'm so lame.
Did you smoke cigarettes? No
Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack all day because you were too nervous to find your locker? No
Did you have a clique? No
Did you have The Max like Zac, Kelly and Slater? No.
Admit it, were you popular? No . . . major nerd. :-)
What did you want to be when you grew up? A high school history teacher
Where did you think youd be at the age you are now? Teaching somewhere, fabulous pianist, with my own dog. :-) (Didn't really even start dreaming of boys and marriage until college!)

Lots O' Links

I'm in the mood for a links-list post. :-)

Click here and you can make your own candy hearts for Valentine's.

Mine is a tribute to my husband and Napoleon Dynamite. :-)

Is anyone going to read the next Left Behind book that is coming out? Well, it's not really the next, it's more like the previous . . . it's the prequel.

My husband just bought this on Ebay . . . I can't wait until we get it. We are big fans of this series.

I want to do this Bible study in the near future (Beth Moore's next to be released). I also want to do this study by her.

If you like fun scrapbooking type fonts, this is a great website.

I want to get this DVD and this one when they come out!

My nephew . . . he's yummy. :-) Cheri, will you be in TN next week for the big gathering . . . if so I'll warn my sister that you might be one the loose! :-)

Just a little something . . .

From Angie:

Which Website are You?

Today was errand day. We hit Lifeway (bought more communion crackers for church), Wild Oats (bought curry paste), and the library. Lunch with my Mom and sister and Subway. Noelle is now napping and I'm getting ready to pick music for Sunday's service. Here's a question for you . . .

What are your top three favorite songs to sing in church and why? I'll give you mine to start the ball rolling. :-)

1) Lord, Most High - I love the imagery in this song . . .

From the ends of the earth, to the depths of the sea,
From the heights of the heavens, Your name be praised
From the hearts of the weak, from the shouts of the strong
From the lips of all people, this song we raise, Lord

Throughout the endless ages, You will be crowned with praises,
Lord Most High
Exalted in every nation, soveriegn of all creation
Lord Most High, be magnifed.

2) You Are God Alone - this isn't one that we sing in church yet, but one I hope to add soon. (Recently recorded by Phillips, Craig and Dean on their album Let the Worshippers Arise). I'm singing this as special music in a few weeks and the words just speak to me of the power and awesome-ness of the Father. He ALONE is God.

You are not a god created by human hands
And you are not a god dependent on any mortal man
You are not a god in need of anything we can give
By Your plan, that's just the way it is

You're the only god whose power none can contend
And you're the only God whose name and praise will never end
Your the only God who's worthy of everything we can give
By Your plan, that's just the way it is.

You are God alone, from before time began
You are on Your throne, You are God alone
And right now, in the good times and bad,
You are on Your throne, You are God alone.

3) My favorite hymn: My Jesus I Love Thee. This isn't one we sing at church a lot, but I love hymns and the deep, rich words that are in them . . . I could have picked so many here - It is Well, The Solid Rock, A Mighty Fortress is our God . . .

What are yours? Come out, come out and let me know!

Totally Random Post

My new addiction: Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi. Love it.

Noelle's late night at our music team's SuperBowl party and her early morning wake-up has necessitated a morning nap, which has been out of the norm for us lately. I'm using the extra time to catch up on some church work and make a few lists for this week. This coming Saturday is our youth's fund raising dinner - Valentino's. We serve lasagna and salad and a woman at church makes this unbelieveable tiramasu for us. The highlight of the show, of course, is the entertainment. We have some live music, a little lip syncing, a little choreography, and much corny-ness. This year, our song selection has been focused on the 80's for the most part. The kids are performing live several of the songs this year and have worked their tails off on them - Jars of Clay's "Faith Like a Child" (not 80's, I know); DC Talk's "Heavenbound" (they are rapping it with a track - it's hysterical!); "Somewhere Out There" from An American Tail - our token love song sung by a brother/sister duo; a fabulously choreographed routine to "Eye of the Tiger"; and "Don't Worry, Be Happy". Other than the choreography, Travis does all the work with the kids on the entertainment. I tend to lose patience and energy with the kids VERY quickly once they turn the music up loud and get microphones in their hands. :-)

I totally missed celebrating my Blog-versary last week - February 2, 2004. It's hard to believe that I've been doing this for a year.

I need to get to work on some invitations I'm designed for an upcoming baby shower for my friend Laura (who is soon to be entering blogworld!) and for another friend that is throwing a bridal shower in April.

I feel the need to review my resolutions from January and see where I'm at.

1. Simplicity in my spiritual life.
I believe I am making some progress here. I am becoming more aware that the days were I am completely frustrated with parenting, being a wife and pretty much anything else are days where I don't start my day in the Word. My getting up at 6:30 a.m. to ready my Bible have slipped a little with some late nights and sick baby, but I'm ready to get back into that routine again. My days went so much smoother when I started the day with my Bible. I'm still work on my Bible study in 1 Samuel in the evening, and I'm starting to take more time with it instead of rushing through it to check it off my "to do" list. I've been reading a wonderful book on women and prayer and have started a prayer notebook.

2. Simplify my schedule.
Other than a some extra errands and youth group gatherings tied to their Valentino's dinner this Saturday, I think I've made strides here, too. My ideal goal has been to have no more than 2 week nights committed and only one weekend evening committed to some sort of family activity. And, other than a crazy week last week, I've done good at limiting myself to two errand days a week: Tuesday, when Noelle and I go to the library and lunch with Grandma and her Aunt KaKa, and Fridays.

3. Simplify my possessions.
Eeehhh. Need to clean out some more.

4. Simplicity with my habits.
This is in spurts. Will drink water for a day or two and then forget about it completely. Same with food choices. Not where I want to be here. Am looking forward to more consistent and warmer weather and want to start walking with Noelle some.

Response to Comments:

Thank you all for your prayer for Noelle . . . she quit running a fever Saturday morning and seems to be on the upswing other than still playing catch up from a few restless nights of sleep while sick. Travis and I watched Kate and Leopold on Friday night and there were some laugh-out loud moments in the movie. I recommend it for a good laugh, and if you can watch it on TV - even better - it would eliminate the few bad words that I didn't enjoy. Heather, I think a fruit of the spirit study would be great with youth . . . that's something I would like to dive into myself at some point!

Swonderings

Swonderings for this week:

Meekness, gentleness and kindness - show would you define those, as it relates to being a Christian?

I went and pulled my sermon notes notebook out. We're going through the Life of Christ at church right now (combining the 4 gospels into one chronological account). What I wrote down about meekness in my notes is as follows: Meekness (or poor in spirit) means to me that I have no right to be be before the King but for grace. I must rely on Him completely and His provision for my Spirit and my life. My spirit is poor without him! I need to be completely supplies with His spirit.

Gentleness, to me, is tightly wrapped up in my view of humility. Humility is how I view myself in relationship to God - not focusing on my self esteem as the basis for humbleness or humility, but instead keeping the focus on how high God Almighty is and that in comparison I am low and humble. Gentleness and kindness both are products of being poor in spirit/meek and humble in my walk with Christ. I can't show true gentleness or kindness to others when I am not in a proper place in my relationship with the Lord.

Just my thoughts on a Saturday morning . . .

Noelle is still sick so quickly saying hi while she is napping. Called the Drs. office and they said it sounds like she has the same thing everyone else does and just keep plugging on. She and I were up for about 3 hours last night with her coughing, poor baby. :-(

If I don't get back on before Monday, have a wonderful weekend. We're having pizza night and a movie tonight - Kate & Leopold. After so many of you recommended it, I needed a refresher in viewing it again!

Catching Up...

I feel like I haven't caught up with anyone in ages. This week has been busy, busy. But, Noelle and I are home ALL DAY today and I'm very excited about that! Actually, Travis and I have a music team thing at church tonight, but Noelle will get to be here with her Grandma for a few hours which she will enjoy immensely.

• Monday was major errand day - two bank runs; two trips to Cosco to drop off and pick up photos; trip to Target (why do you run out of all of your cleaning supplies at the same time?); trip to Factory Card Outlet, Michael's and Joann's for supplies for our youth group's Valentine's dinner; and some sock shopping for my W@H sock exchange!

• Tuesday was grocery day. I made my monthly trip to Aldi's and a quick trip to Kroger for a few items that Aldi's doesn't carry. I like to buy fat free on some things and Aldi's doesn't do much in the way of fat free. Stopped at the library and then we had lunch with my Mom and sister at Captain D's. Home to put away groceries and I spent the evening (after Noelle went to bed) working on my Wednesday Bible study lesson. I was majorly behind, but got to spend about 2 1/2 hours working it and had a great time in 1 Samuel. We're one week away from finishing this book, and then we are starting the precept (Kay Arthur) study of 2 Samuel / 1st Chronicles. I was also on for snack for Bible study this week so Tuesday afternoon found me making a batch of Leann's Double Chocolate Chip Cookes - Fab. U. Lous.

• Got up and made a veggie pizza for Bible study (the rest of my snack) and then at church until 11:30 or so. Ran to the post office to mail my packages to my W@H girls and then Noelle and I ran back to the library to re-return a DVD. (Note to self: when returning DVD's, check to make sure that the DVD is actually in the case!) We had small group at our house Wednesday evening, which means my sister, neice and nephew come over for a bit before they go to Awana and hang out and catch up. After small group over, put Noelle to bed, and finally whip up some dinner for me and Travis. Curl up in our date chair with the new John Grisham book and read until my eyes won't stay open . . . which, sadly, was about 9:45 p.m. :-)

• Today is print day for church - bulletin, prayer list, sermon notes/outline. I (and my co-music coordinator) have meeting tonight at church with someone who wants to join our music team and Travis is coming along, too. Also, have been on the phone this morning some for our youth dinner - reserving tables, making babysitting arrangements, etc. Noelle started running a fever last night when she got home from Awana and it's still up today around 100-101. :-( Earlier this week she had had a fever around 99 and her nose had been running so I thought we were maybe just cutting another tooth. Apparently we may have caught a germ, so she's been pretty whiny and cuddly. Quite the combination!

Noelle has also added several new words in the last week or so . . . the most important of which is (insert drum roll) MAMA!! Needless to say, I'm pretty thrilled. :-) She has also started saying her own name - it comes out sounding like "noah" and is so cute. We can now identify Junior Asparagus (Veggie Tales) as "juh" and we say "book" and fish ("sah"). "Sah" (fish) is not to be confused with "Saaaaaaaaaah" which is Sam the dog. Very different. :-)

Off to work some more while Noelle is napping, poor baby. Soup is in the crockpot for dinner and dogs are sleeping on the floor. A few photos since I haven't posted any in a while to close . . .

My sick girl . . . who can say Mama!

Our other babies . . .

Sam had stolen Baa and it looks like he is laughing at the camera!

Comment Responses...

Hey Ashley! This Present Darkness would be very interesting to see as a movie. It's been so long since I've read it. I loved those two books of Peretti's (This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness), but afte those two, his books got too scary for me to enjoy. The Oath gave me the willies.

Becky, I must confess that photo was taken in Ohio when we went up a few weeks ago to finally celebrate Christmas with Travis' family. There definitely hasn't been much snow here to speak of!

Mrs. Darling - stick with them!!! Mitford is so fabulous and homey and wonderful. You will be hooked before too long. :-)

Would like to type more, but Noelle is pulling my leg as I sit here and needing attention. I think she is trying to cut some teeth - she has been very whiny, fussy, clingy for a few days now. Off to cuddle and hopefully catch up with ya'll soon.