Thursday, February 28, 2008

I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream!

Hello Lover...
I just can't seem to get enough of you!

Monday, February 25, 2008

Hay Bales to Highways Chapter 4

When we last left our story S and I had gone our separate ways and had only shared a few passing "hellos" and "goodbyes" on campus. My sophomore year I started working on Saturday mornings at the dining hall scanning students in to eat. One of the highlights of my mornings was scanning in S who never missed the ever famous Cedarville biscuits and sausage brunch (like so totally gross! gravy and sausage? for breakfast?!?). He would come on those mornings with his roommate Josh who told S later on that he "knew" something was "there" between us--it must have been in the "special" way I scanned S's i.d. card! Ha!

I had been in "like" all year with a friend-boy and had gone on dates but it never amounted to anything and I distinctly remember lounging in my dorm room with my friend Rachel and comiserating about our single status, "If I don't start dating someone soon I won't get married at the end of my senior year!" (Cause, THAT would have been the end of the world!) "The only person I even know who I could possibly see myself dating or marrying is S but I think he's dating someone else...." (See, S--I TOLD you that I always loved you!).

Spring quarter finally came and my friend Sarah, S and I all started taking a class called God and History. We weren't in the same section but it turned out that our schedules worked out in such as way so that we could eat lunch together and sometimes S would even CHOOSE to sit next to me *gasp*! I was so silly back in those days--goodness knows my cheeks are red just thinking about it!

It came to be time for finals and Sarah asked me to join her and S at a local ice cream place called Young's to study for our exam. Sarah was dating a boy who she spent a lot of time with and at the last second told me I was on my own to study with Steven! I couldn't believe it! I told her there was NO way that he would just want to study with me if Sarah weren't there and then I begged her to change her mind and come! She didn't and I'm so glad for it!

S picked me up in his car *gasp* and took me to Young's where he bought me ice cream *gasp* and we studied. My husband always had the best sense of humor and kept me laughing all night (and he still keeps me laughing all the time!). After we studied he asked me to play mini golf *gasp* with him and we had a fabulous time where I totally beat him, although, I'm sure he will deny this ever happened or say that he LET me win.

We got into his car and headed back to campus talking about anything and everything and all the while I was thinking how much I liked him and that it was a shame he was graduating this year and that I wouldn't see him anymore and that there wasn't much of a future for our friendship. Little did I know he was going to stick around a bit longer....

The Family That Wii's Together....

Wonderful's family tradition dictates that the W boys and their ladies must play video games! We love having them all over on Sunday nights for a little Gamecube/Wii action. A loves playing with Aunt Micayla and Ali and running away from Uncle Jon and Uncle Ryan. It is a blessing to have family nearby--we love spending time with them!
When I took this picture S said it wasn't enough of an action shot!
Uncle Jon is very serious about his game playing (he's also the best of the bunch!)!

Watch out for Aunt Micayla--she is dangerous with a Wii controller! Ha!

A LOVES playing basketball with Ali and Jon (who are very good sports about playing with a bossy toddler!)!

Uncle Ryan and Aunt Micayla!

Don't mind Uncle Jon-- he's not as scary as he looks--he just likes to make funny faces when his favorite (ha!) sister in law takes his picture!

Nothin' Says HOTT Like....



A husband who organizes the cupboards, on his own, without being asked!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Long Lost Blogger

Pardon me, my fingers have been busy elsewhere....

I've been spending far too much of this:


Playing with them (when A isn't around of course, it's hard for a princess to share!).

And taking too many of these...

And these

And of course, these
For my own good!
And like it or not, I'm back now.


I promise!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Promises

While the earth remains,

Seedtime and harvest,

And cold and heat,

And winter and summer,

And day and night,

Shall not cease.


Yep, the cold and winter sure aren't ceasing anytime soon it seems!

Monday, February 18, 2008

Isn't it Ironic?


Guess who I saw on a 60 degree day? That's right! The heating oil truck--filling up fuel tanks on the warmest day of the year....go figure!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

What do YOU think?

Today in Sunday School we were learning about Evangelism and watched the most interesting video that dealt with ways in which we share our faith with others. I think a lot of time I approach sharing my faith by living a certain way, interacting with others a certain way and waiting for a door to open to tell them why I live the way I do. However, if you look at the Bible Jesus didn't wait around for people to become His friends before sharing His faith--He shared the truth without looking to be comfortable while doing it.

So many people think of themselves as "good" people. They compare themselves to others and think--well, I"ve never done something THAT bad so I must be good. However, If you look at the 10 commandments--something almost everyone has heard of--you can illustrate how everyone has sinned. The Bible says that liars, theives and adulturers will end up in the lake of fire. Here is a conversation based on this approach to sharing the faith--I'll use Bob and Larry for illustration purposes.

Bob--Hey Larry, would you say that you're a good person?

Larry--Well sure I am. I try very hard to be good to others, to be respectful.

Bob--Would you say that God thinks you're good enough to go to Heaven?

Larry--Sure! God would let me go to Heaven. He knows I try to be good.

Bob--Well, have you ever heard of the 10 commandments? The Bible says that anyone who has broken one of those commandments will end up in the lake of fire. Have you ever broken a commandment?

Larry-I might have before, but I try not to.

Bob--Have you ever told a lie? A little white lie? Or exaggerated something?

Larry--Yes, but everyone has.

Bob--And people who have told a lie are called?

Larry--Liars....

Bob--Right. And have you ever taken something that wasn't yours? Even something small?

Larry--Yes, I've taken things that weren't mine.

Bob--Well, then you might also be a....

Larry--Thief.

Bob--That's right. Have you ever looked at a woman lustfully? The Bible calls that adulturey

Larry--Yes. I have.

Bob--And do you think that God would let someone who has admitted that they have been a liar, a thief, and an adulterer into Heaven?

Larry--Well, no.

Bob--So, do you think if you were to die and you stood before God, would He let you get into Heaven?

Larry--I want to say yes but I guess He shouldn't.

Bob--It's like this Larry--what if you unknowingly went 50 miles an hour through a school zone while they were holding a convention for blind children and the speed limit was only 15. And a policeman came up to you and said--you've broken all of these laws and even though you did it unintentionally there is a $25,000 fine. The good news is that someone, who you don't know, loved you enough to pay that fine for you. They have saved you from the punishment. Wouldn't that be amazing news?

Larry--That would be!

Bob--In the same way Jesus has paid your debts for you. You have sinned and when Jesus died on the cross He took those bruises for you. All that you have to do to accept payment for your sin-debt is to pray to Jesus. You can ask Him to forgive you for sinning. Read your Bible everyday and learn about God and what pleases Him. If you do these things you can be assured that you can spend eternity in Heaven. Isn't that amazing?

Larry--The Bible makes a little more sense now when I realize that Jesus died because there were sins that needed to be paid for. You've given me a lot to think about.


Well, what do YOU think?

Friday, February 15, 2008

Awkward Moments Define My Life: College Years

Time for the next installment of Awkward Moments--I had actually forgotten (repressed) this one until this morning when it popped into my head while I was exercising!

So, Cedarville was a strange new land and I was a gregarious, overly-confident, adventure seeking freshman with purple hair and a new freedom away from home. During my freshmand year I remember running up and down the sidewalks with my friends singing songs loudly and skipping (little did I know I would see those people the next year and think disdainfully, "urgh, freshman!"). We did everything and lived every second to the fullest! We were so totally not going to miss out on the big event of the winter quarter--T.W.I.R.P. week. T.W.I.R.P. = The Woman Is Required To Pay--this is supremely important b/c that means the GIRLS had the right to ask out the BOYS--it was a school sanctioned event!! And believe me, in a Christian school with a bunch of scared boys you HAD to ask a boy out to get a date (or so I thought =-).

My friends and I spent HOURS planning who we would ask! We went through the pictures online of all the boys at school, thought about the boys in our classes...the boys on the sidewalks, the boys in town--just boys in general until we came up with our list:
Patty was going to ask Jason Malone (THE head student pastor and BIG stuff on campus)
Rachel was going to ask Greg Fleury (a cute boy who lived in the same dorm as our friend John)
Diane was going to ask...well, I can't recall who she was going to ask--but believe me, she was going to ask someone--that Diane LOVED her some boys!!
Michelle was going to ask Eric (I don't know his name).

Oh. My. Word. I was 18, fresh off the farm and thought he was sooooooooo dreamy. It didn't matter that we didn't have classes together, we had never formally met and he had NO idea who I was. I knew who he was and that was ALL the mattered =)

So, we asked out the boys with varying results--Patty didn't get the date with Jason (he had a girlfriend), Rachel god the date with Greg but we had to double with some boy whose name I don't remember--we dressed like twins--it was SUCH a disaster!! Diane asked her boy and didn't get the date and with this blazing track record I decided to call my boy.

However, I didn't have the guts.

So, being the good friend that she was, Diane decided she would intervene and called this boy for me, pretending to be me and asked him out!!!! Well, later that day she came and told me what she did and what he said (no!) and I figured that was the end of it. It wasn't....

Fast forward 2 years!

I was sitting at the lunch table with my friend Jenny Lynn and she took me to sit with her music friends. Sitting at the table of music friends was the boy who was roommates with Eric during my disastourous twirp invite. Worse still, he KNEW who I was! Apparently they had looked up my picture when Diane called pretending to be me and found out who the crazy girl who asks out complete strangers was. He remembered this and started to grill my IN FRONT of my friends about why I asked Eric out etc...

I was MORTIFIED! I told him all about how it was Diane but he didn't believe me! He kept saying, stop lying! You know you did it! This went on foreverrrrrrrrrr--like for an hour until I got up and left the lunch table! From then on everytime he saw me on campus he would laugh at me! It was humiliating! Now everyone kenw my dirty little twirp secret. Urgh.

Oh. My. Word. I so totally never asked out (or had a friend ask out) a boy like ever again.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day Honey Pie!


From this moment life has begun, From this moment you are the one!

Right beside you is where I belong--

From this moment on.

From this moment I have been blessed

I live only for your happiness and for your love I'd give my last breath

From this moment on

I give my hand to you with all my heart

Can't wait to live my life with you, can't wait to start!

You and I will never be apart

My dreams came true because of you

From this moment as long as I live I will love you, I promise you this!

There is nothing I wouldn't give

From this moment on

You're the reason I believe in love and you're the answer to my prayers from up above
All we need is just the two of us! My dreams came true because of you!

From this moment as long as I live I will love you, I promise you this!

There is nothing I wouldn't give!

From this momentI will love you as long as I live.

From this moment on!


Muah! and xxooxoxxoxoxox









Wednesday, February 13, 2008

I Did It!

Remember this?



So, I was feeling guilty about wanting to spend some of our tax return money on it so I decided to sell some of the textbooks that I've accumulated from teaching art. Well, I would have done this A LONG time ago if I would have known/remembered how much textbooks cost! In 3 days I have sold 3 books and made enough money to buy my Cricut! Woot! Now that I've "earned" the money I'm going to enjoy it A LOT more!
P.S. Note to Self: after children are in school go into textbook writing/sales--THAT is where the money is my friends!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

All Before 9...

..I did the following things:

1. Checked Email

2. Researched digital cameras


3. Exercised


4. Did devotions


5. Ate breakfast


6. Got dressed/ready for the day


7. Cleaned around the house

8. Watched this movie




And...now that the girls are up I plan to do nothing for the rest of the day--I'm only ever productive when my children are sleeping!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Uncle Sam Says

Go ye into Target and simulate the economy! Here are my plans (after paying bills of course) for this:






Guitar Hero for my new:



Wii


MM...Tastes Like a Rebel Digital SLR



Cricut!


Don't know what a Cricut is? Please find out here--you'll kick yourself if you don't! Scrapbook lovers unite (and Brie, I hope you know this is totally YOUR fault!)!!


Well, hey, don't blame me for getting these things--Uncle Sam made me do it! (Well, that's what I'll tell my husband anyway!)





Our Sweet Family


Friday, February 8, 2008

Overheard in Dance Class


Grandmother to 3 year old Grandaughter, "Now honey, make sure you listen to your teachers and behave in dance class today or I won't take you to get your weekly pedicure!"

Send Help!

I desperately need one of these: And a box of this:
S.T.A.T.!!!!!!!!
Because there isn't enough of this:


or these:

in all of this:

to fix that:







Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Tag-a-licious

1.Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages.)


2. Open the book to page 123.


3. Find the fifth sentence.


4. Post the next three sentences.


5. Link back to the person who tagged you. (I was tagged by Julie who you can visit by clicking on that statement).


6. Tag five people.





I used the Bible, my favorite and also the closest book to me =)



"And the one who offered his offering on the first day was Nashon, the son of Amminadab, from the tribe of Judah." (Numbers 7:12)



Hmmm....interesting.



I am now going to tag the following people just to annoy them:



Marie



Amy



Janet



Megan



Sheri



You can post your answers in my comments if you like...you like, better seriously do it because you know you'll get like 7 years bad luck or something if you don't....

Because I'm Kind of an Idiot

So, today the girls and I went for a walk at the park and then decided to play a bit (pictures here). It's warm today but veryyyyyyyy windy. Anyways, I saw this nice old lady while we were walking and we exchanged hellos and she had a dark mark on her forehead--and I was sad because I was thinking that it was a shame to have such a noticeable birthmark on your face for your whole life... Later on we the old lady again (or so I thought) with the same dark mark just a new jacket on. Weird, maybe it was two old ladies with two weird marks? Huh! What are the odds...So then we finished walking and moved up to the park so that A could play and we saw a lady my age and her 1.5 year old boy--both with the same birthmark....



Hm....this is REALLY strange I thought....



About 20 minutes later it hit me--it's Ash Wednesday! DOUBLE DUH! Obviously I don't know many Catholics! Here's the story on Ash Wednesday--it's kind of interesting.



In the Western Christian calendar, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and occurs forty days before Easter (excluding Sundays). It falls on a different date each year, because it is dependent on the date of Easter; it can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10.
At
Masses and services of worship on this day, ashes are imposed on the foreheads (or tonsure spots, in the case of some clergy) of the faithful. The priest, minister, or in some cases officiating layperson marks the forehead of each participant with black ashes in the shape of a cross, which the worshiper traditionally retains until washing it off after sundown. The act echoes the ancient Near Eastern tradition of throwing ash over one's head to signify repentance before God (as related in the Bible). The priest or minister says one of the following when applying the ashes:


Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return. (
Latin: Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.)
Genesis 3:19

Hay Bales to Highways Chapter 3

Time for the next installment of Our story. First of all, read the rest of the story here if you haven't already...

...I'll never forget the first time we met. It was the first week of my freshman year at Cedarville and let me tell you, Cedarville was a strange new land. There were strange things like "ring downs," strange nicknames for all buildings such as, "the hive" and "chucks" and weird organized activities like Brother-Sister events. I suppose brother-sister outings were developed to foster relationships between the sexes since we lived in separate dorms. This new "culture" was very odd to me but hungry for friends and fun I tagged along with my girls, Rachel, Patty Lynn and Diane and met "the brothers."

My friend Diane was absolutely in love with a boy named Michael who was cute in the traditional preppy way but also an attention hog. Upon seeing all the "sisters" he dropped on the ground in some strange crying/whining routine and I couldn't believe Diane didn't have enough sense to NOT like him. You see, even though she didn't have a lot of sense about boys at the time, Diane had an older sister at school and was therefore, a great source of information. And Diane, her sister and sister's friends all sang in a choir at a local church directed by S and she had told me all about how AMAZING he was and that he was dating this girl but that, "it would never last." So, as you've guessed by now, S was one of my new "brothers" and was friends with Michael the shrieking moron on the ground and when S told him to stop being annoying and to get up--I knew I was going to have to like him...

(By the way, I MUST mention that Michael is no longer a shrieking moron; he has a beautiful wife and precious baby girls and is a respectable, wonderful person).

...And, like him I did. I joined his choir with Diane and stayed through the long Sunday afternoons (it was just far enough away that we didn't drive back to dorms between Sunday morning and Sunday night services) with my new musical friends. I went to church there for a year, singing in the contatas and the choir every Sunday and I'm pretty sure I even played piano a few times.

We had so much fun those Sunday afternoons--there was the time that Michael folded himself up and took a nap in a baby crib, there were the times we played games all afternoon, we always ate lunch together--it was really wonderful. The only things that wasn't so wonderful was the fact that S spent nearly my entire freshman year dating the girl with whom Diane said it would never last. Well, last it did and she and her friends were there every Sunday afternoon with us--or on particularly devestating days S would go out to lunch with her instead of eating with us....those were the longggg afternoons.

Eventually I got a little annoyed going to a church so far away since my friends didn't want to attend there any more and started going to church with them and my NEW crush whose name isn't worth mentioning but who stole my interest away from S for a while.

It wasn't until the end of my Sophomore year that life started changing and my eyes drifted back to my Mr. Wonderful and his eyes drifted towards me....

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

The Unadvertised Special of the Day

So...I'm starting a new blog...

That's right, blog numero tres.

The newest addition to my bloggy family will cover the following topic(s):

* weight loss goals
* spiritual lessons/goals

This blog will be invite only, so if you are interested in encouraging me in my walk of faith and my battle with the bulge please comment/email and I'll send you an invitation.

I wanted to fully disclose my journey in the interest becoming more humble as I am wayyyy too prideful and to be held accountable for my lifestyle choices as I am way to chubby.

It's time for a change--wanna watch?

Monday, February 4, 2008

Action Jackson

So...I've resolved to take better care of myself and this entails two things:

* eating healthier I have already dropped my Pepsi habit (for the most part) Thank you very much

* exercising more regularly

I hate working out to exercise tapes so I'd like to walk with the girls (we live in the perfect neighborhood to do it) and I'm thinking I'll need a new stroller because even though she is beautiful:

she isn't very easy to steer.

So...with our lovely tax return I'm fixing to buy a jogging stroller:


Any suggestions/ideas out there?

Friday, February 1, 2008

Awkward Moments Define My Life: Junior High Edition

Picture this--I had just hit the trifecta of early 90s adolescence: short, badly permed hair, huge plastic framed glasses, and gleaming, silvery braces. For some unknown reason I had an over-developed sense of high self esteem and thought I was HOT stuff.

Easter time came around and I had a little money to burn for a fabulous new Easter dress so I went shopping at the Deb (like, the coolest place ever!). I scoured the racks until I found it--it was beautiful! lovely! grown up! It was a knee lenth, creamy colored, shoulder padded, button down the front-ed, short sleeved vision of a gown. I was in love with THAT dress! It didn't matter that it cost $30 (3 months worth of babysitting money) and wasn't on sale, I HAD to have it. I forked over my hard-earned dough and brought my new, fabulous dress home.

Finally, after what seemed like months, it was Easter and time to wear my awesome new dress! I still remember getting ready that day (I had to be like 12 yrs. old) and being SO EXCITED to go to church where hopefully my crush would be to see how devestatingly gorgeous I was. I walked into church and immediately received compliments and was feeling like, so totally awesome, when loudly (of course) and in front of all my peers in sunday school class (and MY CRUSH of course) a well-meaning but unfortunately loud English lady said--"OH MY GOODNESS! What is all over the back of your dress?" She followed that query with the most embarressing sentence uttered to me in all my life--"Is it THAT time of the month?" In her defense she DID whisper this, unfortunately she whispered it to my mother so everyone could hear...

I was devestated! I ran to the little girls room and took a look at my dress which was covered on the back with a thousand flecks of red something. Apparently my brothers and I had been eating red candy in the backseat of the car, which had flaked onto the seat and then embedded itself in my gleaming ivory dress.

Eventually I took the long walk back to my Sunday School Classroom, enshrouded this time in my mother's floor lenth coat.

Urgh. I'm still twitching...

The good news is I lived through that day. The bad news is that the dress was dry cleaned and it lived through that day too and I went on to wear it many a time.

I'm like, so totally glad that Junior High is so like totally far in the past...