good morning world!
the title is a quote from my little man! makes me a proud Mama!
today its 8:08 when i'm finally up and moving. i dont have to make it in time for breakfast, i'm not showered, and i didn't have to deal with a power outage! its wonderful to be home!!!
yesterday was the longest day of the conference. we still got some good information and had some good discussion. but they could see that we were all burnt out! so it was a slower day with not too much going on. the conference ended at 3:00 and sadly, i had to get in my taxi by 3:15. so i had to say quick goodbyes and rush out. that was sort of okay because i started to get teary! i made some good friends, i know i keep saying that, but i really did! we all just connected on both a spititual level and a "were all going through the same thing" level.
its funny because the 2 girls i spent the most time with were from Mississippi so now my inner monolog has a sounther accent! i also spent time talking with Father Dan who came over from England. so that british accent keeps coming up too! Father Dan is a hoot too! hes so quick and witty, we laughed at him SO much!
after saying my goodbyes i hopped in the taxi. luckily i had another lady, Virginia, that had a flight shortly after mine. so we rode together. the 12 mile trip to the airport takes about 45 minutes..... and thats one big fat reason i dont want to live in a big city anymore! once i got there getting through security was quick and easy and i just had about 20 minutes to wait to get onto my flight. the flight home was cool because we flew most of the way up above the clouds! they just surrounded us and it was so awesome! i had turned my phone totally off, otherwise i'd have a sweet picture to show you. :(
i got back into Des Monies about 7:00. Matt and Ethan were there to greet me! after stopping off to grab me some dinner we headed back to home sweet home! it was so nice to sleep in my own bed! however, i don't miss having to share a bed with someone!!
Matt got up early to go help Bri Guy's mom roof her garage. they didnt do much of anything yesterday because of the "chance of rain". which sucked because yesterday would have been a perfect day for it! hopefully they'll get a good chunk done today!
other good news is that we have 2 showings of our house within a week! i got a call that someone wanted to come and look at it Friday morning, and then another that someone will come Monday afternoon! yeay!! Lexie(one of the southern girls) told me that if you bury, upsidedown, a statue of St. Joseph in your backyard its supposed to help you sell your house..... ssooo i need to find myself a St. Joseph statue!
Ethan and i are going to take a walk to see how the roofing is going!
have a great Saturday!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
""when i wake in the morning, give me Jesus""
good morning all!
today i was pleasantly surprised when my clock read 6:35, instead of 5:53. one reason might be is that i was up until 11:30 last night and had a beer and a glass of wine. either way, i slept "in" sorta. and it was good!
obviously i'm blogging this morning because i crashed hard last night! my day yesterday was just as good as the others! we are all hitting the overwhelmed point now though. we have so many notes, ideas, and things to think about that we are all about to just shut down! but one more day of information-we think we can squeeze it in!
one very nice and totally awesome thing is that we've gotten a LOT of free material! St Marys Press and Ave Maria Press are 2 leading publishers in the Christian book writing world. they have, along with our speakers, sent numerous books as gifts for us! i seriously have like 7 books and 2 DVD's that i'm bringing home! PLUS 2 free 1-year subscriptions to online materials! HOW COOL IS THAT!??!!?
one thing that IS overwhelming is looking at reading materials from these publishers and deciding what to purchase. i'm spoiled in that fact that i can basically just call up Pat and he'll tell me what he thinks is the best and what he's seen work for others. since not everyone has a Pat like me, this is nice because now we have these new materials to read over, and if they are good then we can purchase more to use for our parishes!
Eric from Out of da Box productions did a little presentation for us last night. they are a production company-duh-that has written and produced a bunch of films that are relevant to Christian learning. some of them are super funny and some are super insightful! they just came out with a new DVD and the name is CateQUIZem. its, as you guessed, a quiz on catechises! this one just happens to cover the 4 things that OUR books have been covering over the last 4 years! (Divine intervention?) so he was nice enough to give us this dvd, plus 2 others AND a free subscription to their membership that will give us access too ALL of the videos they've ever filmed! we can then download these and use them in our parish as we wish!
on our evening break, before dinner, me and Kim and Lexie(2 girls i've been hanging out with from Mississippi) took a walk around the grounds here. they have a bunch of buildings, including the church buidling, and a couple ponds, a bridge, walking path. its simply beautiful! and it was so very nice yesterday(mid 80s) that we couldnt not be outside! after our walked we met up with Dominik(i know i didnt spell that right) and chatted with him for awhile. we then kept seeing girls with lacross gear walking past us. so we wandered over there because we were all interested in lacross! Dom pretended like he knew a bunch about it, but then kept saying "sure, i'm sure thats what its called!" so we talked to a couple of the girls and one very nice mother and found out a little more! if you've never seen lacross played its amazing. we only got to see them practice a little, but that was still crazy! Lexie and i wated to ask the girls if they'd teach us how to throw with the sticks,... but they were getting ready for some championship game, so we figured we shouldnt bother them. these girls were between 6th and 9th grades! i told Dom i hoped Ethan played lacross. it should be in Iowa by the time he's ready to play right!?
well, today is Friday. i'm happy and sad all at once. i get to go HOME today which i'm SO excited about! but i'm sad to have to leave all of my new friends. i've gotten close with quite a few of them! but we are getting everyone emails, facebooks, ect, so i know we'll all be keeping in close contact! its a wonderful feeling to know that you'll hear from more than just 1 person after leaving something like this!
bad news, i have to pack up all my crap and check out before 10..... so i have to find something to do with my suitcase so i dont have to take it to class!!
one more day then i'll be Iowa bound once again!
today i was pleasantly surprised when my clock read 6:35, instead of 5:53. one reason might be is that i was up until 11:30 last night and had a beer and a glass of wine. either way, i slept "in" sorta. and it was good!
obviously i'm blogging this morning because i crashed hard last night! my day yesterday was just as good as the others! we are all hitting the overwhelmed point now though. we have so many notes, ideas, and things to think about that we are all about to just shut down! but one more day of information-we think we can squeeze it in!
one very nice and totally awesome thing is that we've gotten a LOT of free material! St Marys Press and Ave Maria Press are 2 leading publishers in the Christian book writing world. they have, along with our speakers, sent numerous books as gifts for us! i seriously have like 7 books and 2 DVD's that i'm bringing home! PLUS 2 free 1-year subscriptions to online materials! HOW COOL IS THAT!??!!?
one thing that IS overwhelming is looking at reading materials from these publishers and deciding what to purchase. i'm spoiled in that fact that i can basically just call up Pat and he'll tell me what he thinks is the best and what he's seen work for others. since not everyone has a Pat like me, this is nice because now we have these new materials to read over, and if they are good then we can purchase more to use for our parishes!
Eric from Out of da Box productions did a little presentation for us last night. they are a production company-duh-that has written and produced a bunch of films that are relevant to Christian learning. some of them are super funny and some are super insightful! they just came out with a new DVD and the name is CateQUIZem. its, as you guessed, a quiz on catechises! this one just happens to cover the 4 things that OUR books have been covering over the last 4 years! (Divine intervention?) so he was nice enough to give us this dvd, plus 2 others AND a free subscription to their membership that will give us access too ALL of the videos they've ever filmed! we can then download these and use them in our parish as we wish!
on our evening break, before dinner, me and Kim and Lexie(2 girls i've been hanging out with from Mississippi) took a walk around the grounds here. they have a bunch of buildings, including the church buidling, and a couple ponds, a bridge, walking path. its simply beautiful! and it was so very nice yesterday(mid 80s) that we couldnt not be outside! after our walked we met up with Dominik(i know i didnt spell that right) and chatted with him for awhile. we then kept seeing girls with lacross gear walking past us. so we wandered over there because we were all interested in lacross! Dom pretended like he knew a bunch about it, but then kept saying "sure, i'm sure thats what its called!" so we talked to a couple of the girls and one very nice mother and found out a little more! if you've never seen lacross played its amazing. we only got to see them practice a little, but that was still crazy! Lexie and i wated to ask the girls if they'd teach us how to throw with the sticks,... but they were getting ready for some championship game, so we figured we shouldnt bother them. these girls were between 6th and 9th grades! i told Dom i hoped Ethan played lacross. it should be in Iowa by the time he's ready to play right!?
well, today is Friday. i'm happy and sad all at once. i get to go HOME today which i'm SO excited about! but i'm sad to have to leave all of my new friends. i've gotten close with quite a few of them! but we are getting everyone emails, facebooks, ect, so i know we'll all be keeping in close contact! its a wonderful feeling to know that you'll hear from more than just 1 person after leaving something like this!
bad news, i have to pack up all my crap and check out before 10..... so i have to find something to do with my suitcase so i dont have to take it to class!!
one more day then i'll be Iowa bound once again!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
"" come on you can, count me in! ""
title song: Count Me In by Leeland
once again, its 10:53-ARG! i didnt realize it was THAT late!
i'm such a old fogie... i need to be in bed at 9 or i'm in trouble. ah well., i'll survive!
today was again great! we do a lot of laughing here, and thats wonderful! our speakers have been awesome! they give good information, they tell heartwarming stories, and they have a wonderful way of making us crack up!
we had 3 great speakers today. Ela Milewska does our opening prayer and worship. she then talked to us about re-thinking some adolecent catechesis. she had some great ideas and information. some different approaches to things that i hadnt thought of. and she had us make lists of questions, pertaining to different categories, so that whatever we didn't touch on in these 2 days she would get to talk about on Friday. so thats great! at least we'll all get our questions answered!
we then had Mike Patin - Part 1. Mike is SO funny! he told some amazing stories that had me tearing up, and then he'd yell out something to wake us all up! he mainly talked about how to get and hold on to volunteers. because, we all need volunteers!! its just that getting them is hard. he talked about approaching them with a different .... way, i guess you'd say. picking out their personal stregnths and asking them in a new way to use those to help our youth grow in their faith.
i wish i'd brought a highlighter so every night i could have gone through my notes to highlight what i really wanted myself to remember! i'll have to just do that as soon as i get back!
our final speaker was Michael Novelli. he talked to us about Storytelling. yes, its exactly as it sounds! he has this awesome approach to scripture!! if you've ever sat down and read the Bible, its a little daunting... and sometimes really hard to understand even what you are reading. he's taken parts-stories-and reworded them in a way thats easy to understand. tonight we did an excersise and he used the Creation Story - but only up until the part where God created Eve, nothing past that. no snake, no tree, no fruit. so he had us get comfy, close our eyes or whatever we wanted to do so we could stay focued on him. he told this story - it took about 5 mintues or so maybe - and then asked us a few questions about it. we discussed this short story for 45 minutes! it was amazing to hear everyone talking about what they saw in their heads as he read this story. what we never noticed before about the story and what we felt when we heard it! everyone had different answers, but in a way they were all sort of the same.
i'm really excited about this particular excersise because i immediatley thought of an adult that would be so perfect to run sessions on these! Michael told us he ran numerous sessions using this sort of storytelling and the kids really got into it! its something about a story that makes people relate to it easier and better.
okay, its after 11. i could write much more but i really need my sleep! otherwise i'll be useless tomorrow!!
night everyone!
once again, its 10:53-ARG! i didnt realize it was THAT late!
i'm such a old fogie... i need to be in bed at 9 or i'm in trouble. ah well., i'll survive!
today was again great! we do a lot of laughing here, and thats wonderful! our speakers have been awesome! they give good information, they tell heartwarming stories, and they have a wonderful way of making us crack up!
we had 3 great speakers today. Ela Milewska does our opening prayer and worship. she then talked to us about re-thinking some adolecent catechesis. she had some great ideas and information. some different approaches to things that i hadnt thought of. and she had us make lists of questions, pertaining to different categories, so that whatever we didn't touch on in these 2 days she would get to talk about on Friday. so thats great! at least we'll all get our questions answered!
we then had Mike Patin - Part 1. Mike is SO funny! he told some amazing stories that had me tearing up, and then he'd yell out something to wake us all up! he mainly talked about how to get and hold on to volunteers. because, we all need volunteers!! its just that getting them is hard. he talked about approaching them with a different .... way, i guess you'd say. picking out their personal stregnths and asking them in a new way to use those to help our youth grow in their faith.
i wish i'd brought a highlighter so every night i could have gone through my notes to highlight what i really wanted myself to remember! i'll have to just do that as soon as i get back!
our final speaker was Michael Novelli. he talked to us about Storytelling. yes, its exactly as it sounds! he has this awesome approach to scripture!! if you've ever sat down and read the Bible, its a little daunting... and sometimes really hard to understand even what you are reading. he's taken parts-stories-and reworded them in a way thats easy to understand. tonight we did an excersise and he used the Creation Story - but only up until the part where God created Eve, nothing past that. no snake, no tree, no fruit. so he had us get comfy, close our eyes or whatever we wanted to do so we could stay focued on him. he told this story - it took about 5 mintues or so maybe - and then asked us a few questions about it. we discussed this short story for 45 minutes! it was amazing to hear everyone talking about what they saw in their heads as he read this story. what we never noticed before about the story and what we felt when we heard it! everyone had different answers, but in a way they were all sort of the same.
i'm really excited about this particular excersise because i immediatley thought of an adult that would be so perfect to run sessions on these! Michael told us he ran numerous sessions using this sort of storytelling and the kids really got into it! its something about a story that makes people relate to it easier and better.
okay, its after 11. i could write much more but i really need my sleep! otherwise i'll be useless tomorrow!!
night everyone!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
"" holy, holy, holy ""
doing: getting ready for BED!
feeling: great!!
after all the apprehension about this week. the not wanting to go, then the can't wait to get there, then missing my boys... i'm here and i'm glad i came!
its a smaller group that we have here, about 30 including the speakers/putter oners of the whole thing. so its been really nice to actually get to talk with everyone! i think theres only a couple people that i haven't actually talked to yet. since this is a conference for NEW youth ministers, everyone is - you guessed it - NEW! therefore, everyone is in the same boat as me. most of us are less than 3 years into the job, and all of us are still learning a LOT about it! its been awesome to make some new friends and talk to people that know what and where i'm coming from. i've met people from D.C. to Southern Cali. and everyone is eager to share their resources and their experiences with anyone who wants or needs the help.
its the end of the first day, we've only been together since 2:00 this afternoon and already we are getting along wonderfully! i know i'm going to come home with new ideas for the Youth Group and for myself. but also with some new friends, faces and email addresses!
its now 10:41, and since breakfast is at 8, and only 45 minutes long, i should go to bed....so i dont sleep through it!
good night friends!
feeling: great!!
after all the apprehension about this week. the not wanting to go, then the can't wait to get there, then missing my boys... i'm here and i'm glad i came!
its a smaller group that we have here, about 30 including the speakers/putter oners of the whole thing. so its been really nice to actually get to talk with everyone! i think theres only a couple people that i haven't actually talked to yet. since this is a conference for NEW youth ministers, everyone is - you guessed it - NEW! therefore, everyone is in the same boat as me. most of us are less than 3 years into the job, and all of us are still learning a LOT about it! its been awesome to make some new friends and talk to people that know what and where i'm coming from. i've met people from D.C. to Southern Cali. and everyone is eager to share their resources and their experiences with anyone who wants or needs the help.
its the end of the first day, we've only been together since 2:00 this afternoon and already we are getting along wonderfully! i know i'm going to come home with new ideas for the Youth Group and for myself. but also with some new friends, faces and email addresses!
its now 10:41, and since breakfast is at 8, and only 45 minutes long, i should go to bed....so i dont sleep through it!
good night friends!
"" your grace is enough..""
doing: relaxing in my hotel room
where: Chicago, well-a suburb of Chicago.
feeling: worn out already. and ready to get this shin-dig going!
this week..... will be different. i am currently sitting in Techny Towers (www.technytowers.org) in Techny, IL. a suburb of Chicago. i am getting ready to attend the Institute for New Youth Ministers. since i just signed on for my 2nd year of Youth Minister at our church this turned out to be the perfect convention for me to attend.
honestly at this very moment my heart isnt in it. i know that once everything gets started God will tap me on the head and i'll get into it! but after the long trip to get here i'm happily just sitting on my bed!
i am, however, looking forward to it. this last year has been a huge adjustment for my family, for me and for the church. for my family because now i'm always doing either photography stuff or church stuff. and for most of the church stuff i'm asking for Matt to help me! for me because, well, i've never done this before! theres lots of expectations that i dont feel like i'm meeting and lots of things i feel like i need and should be doing. and for the church because they havent had a true Youth Minister for quite some time now - and our High School program hasnt been that great for a number of years, until just a few short years ago.
i'm looking forward to this conference because i know it will give me some more ideas and some different approaches and perspectives to look at things. i have a great group of people helping me, but i dont always want to be relying on them. i like to bounch my ideas off of people, but again-i dont always want to be doing that. so hopefully these 4 days will gear me up for a new year and fill my brain with new ideas. i'm hoping to get some ideas on how to get more kids involved in activities as well as our Sunday night gatherings.
i'm finally starting to hear people coming into rooms now. i was afraid i was the only one here! hehe! check in has starte(at noon) and i've had 2 poptarts today to eat. i might head on over there and check out the vending machines...yeah they dont start feeding us until tonight.
i'm already missing my Ethan. Matt will make fun of me but i dont care. i haven't ever been so far away from him for so long! sure Winter Convention is a Friday-Tuesday, but its only in Des Moines. i'm in Chicago now! i'm sure he'll be an angel for Matt(he usually is... then hes a monster for me). and i'm looking forward, already, to seeing his face when they come pick me up at the airport on Friday night! (see that Matt... SEE MY SON AT THE AIRPORT!!) ;)
i'm going to go see if i can meet some people!
adios!
where: Chicago, well-a suburb of Chicago.
feeling: worn out already. and ready to get this shin-dig going!
this week..... will be different. i am currently sitting in Techny Towers (www.technytowers.org) in Techny, IL. a suburb of Chicago. i am getting ready to attend the Institute for New Youth Ministers. since i just signed on for my 2nd year of Youth Minister at our church this turned out to be the perfect convention for me to attend.
honestly at this very moment my heart isnt in it. i know that once everything gets started God will tap me on the head and i'll get into it! but after the long trip to get here i'm happily just sitting on my bed!
i am, however, looking forward to it. this last year has been a huge adjustment for my family, for me and for the church. for my family because now i'm always doing either photography stuff or church stuff. and for most of the church stuff i'm asking for Matt to help me! for me because, well, i've never done this before! theres lots of expectations that i dont feel like i'm meeting and lots of things i feel like i need and should be doing. and for the church because they havent had a true Youth Minister for quite some time now - and our High School program hasnt been that great for a number of years, until just a few short years ago.
i'm looking forward to this conference because i know it will give me some more ideas and some different approaches and perspectives to look at things. i have a great group of people helping me, but i dont always want to be relying on them. i like to bounch my ideas off of people, but again-i dont always want to be doing that. so hopefully these 4 days will gear me up for a new year and fill my brain with new ideas. i'm hoping to get some ideas on how to get more kids involved in activities as well as our Sunday night gatherings.
i'm finally starting to hear people coming into rooms now. i was afraid i was the only one here! hehe! check in has starte(at noon) and i've had 2 poptarts today to eat. i might head on over there and check out the vending machines...yeah they dont start feeding us until tonight.
i'm already missing my Ethan. Matt will make fun of me but i dont care. i haven't ever been so far away from him for so long! sure Winter Convention is a Friday-Tuesday, but its only in Des Moines. i'm in Chicago now! i'm sure he'll be an angel for Matt(he usually is... then hes a monster for me). and i'm looking forward, already, to seeing his face when they come pick me up at the airport on Friday night! (see that Matt... SEE MY SON AT THE AIRPORT!!) ;)
i'm going to go see if i can meet some people!
adios!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
"" she thinks my tractors sexy...."
ugh country music!! JEFF!!! he's got a country station playing and i feel like i only hear the same 5 songs over and over!
well, i got a new hair cut last night! i'm literally 4 weeks past my "normal time" to get it cut! so my hairs been going crazy and i LLOOVVEE it! she didn't do much to it, usually she does tons of layers and choppy. but i wanted it a little longer and a little less layers. and curls! i know i know, "you don't want curly hair" but i DO i DO! i have always wanted naturally curly hair! i know that if i did have it, i'd hate it. but i do like the curl!
anyhow, Jess did great and showed me how to curl and style my hair and i just love it! i have to go buy myself a curling iron, but i'm going to master my messy curl!
last night when i got home Matt took me out on a date! Ethan was his the Russell's at the ICubs(double header) so we had a night to ourselves! we went to..... Hardees for dinner. not very romantic but it was good! then we met Ann and Adam at the theater and went to see Inception! i wanted to see it as soon as i saw the first preview. the idea looked interesting and, lets face it, you can't go wrong with Leo DiCaprio! later i found out that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was also in it and he's one of my favorite actors!
Ben had told us that it was awesome! people had said it was mind blowing. and it did not disappoint! i have to say it was the most stressful movie i've sat through in a long time! a good stress.. .but still, i think Matt might have a bruised arm or hand because i kept hitting him!
the movie its self was brilliantly written. it blows my mind how people can come up with such a solid story based on something that's completely unnatural! the basis is that these people go into dreams to steal secrets. i can't say much because it ruins the plot. but they explain everything pretty well so you aren't totally lost.
Leo is the head honcho of the mission and i just think he's a wonderful actor. he has so many levels that anything you put him in he's brilliant at! also, hes yummy to look at! ;) JGL (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), i've loved him since 3rd Rock from the Sun, and as he gets older and older rolls in movies he seems to never miss! i'm totally smitten with him, and i'll see anything that he's made! but i love that hes a such a bad ass in this movie, complete with guns and everything!
Ellen Page is also in this and even though she hasn't had many movies, since Juno, i think shes wonderful. she brings that "younger" feel to the movie but is also full of brains. she figures out things that others don't even come close to! the other actors are great as well, but these are the 3 that i know well.
in the end, if you like a little suspense, a little drama, a little eye candy(ladies only), and a story line thats a little off the beaten path. this ones for you! i'd suggest going to see it in the theater, but if you have to wait just be sure to get it on BluRay and watch it on a big ass tv!!
back to work kids. have a good one!
well, i got a new hair cut last night! i'm literally 4 weeks past my "normal time" to get it cut! so my hairs been going crazy and i LLOOVVEE it! she didn't do much to it, usually she does tons of layers and choppy. but i wanted it a little longer and a little less layers. and curls! i know i know, "you don't want curly hair" but i DO i DO! i have always wanted naturally curly hair! i know that if i did have it, i'd hate it. but i do like the curl!
anyhow, Jess did great and showed me how to curl and style my hair and i just love it! i have to go buy myself a curling iron, but i'm going to master my messy curl!
last night when i got home Matt took me out on a date! Ethan was his the Russell's at the ICubs(double header) so we had a night to ourselves! we went to..... Hardees for dinner. not very romantic but it was good! then we met Ann and Adam at the theater and went to see Inception! i wanted to see it as soon as i saw the first preview. the idea looked interesting and, lets face it, you can't go wrong with Leo DiCaprio! later i found out that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was also in it and he's one of my favorite actors!
Ben had told us that it was awesome! people had said it was mind blowing. and it did not disappoint! i have to say it was the most stressful movie i've sat through in a long time! a good stress.. .but still, i think Matt might have a bruised arm or hand because i kept hitting him!
the movie its self was brilliantly written. it blows my mind how people can come up with such a solid story based on something that's completely unnatural! the basis is that these people go into dreams to steal secrets. i can't say much because it ruins the plot. but they explain everything pretty well so you aren't totally lost.
Leo is the head honcho of the mission and i just think he's a wonderful actor. he has so many levels that anything you put him in he's brilliant at! also, hes yummy to look at! ;) JGL (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), i've loved him since 3rd Rock from the Sun, and as he gets older and older rolls in movies he seems to never miss! i'm totally smitten with him, and i'll see anything that he's made! but i love that hes a such a bad ass in this movie, complete with guns and everything!
Ellen Page is also in this and even though she hasn't had many movies, since Juno, i think shes wonderful. she brings that "younger" feel to the movie but is also full of brains. she figures out things that others don't even come close to! the other actors are great as well, but these are the 3 that i know well.
in the end, if you like a little suspense, a little drama, a little eye candy(ladies only), and a story line thats a little off the beaten path. this ones for you! i'd suggest going to see it in the theater, but if you have to wait just be sure to get it on BluRay and watch it on a big ass tv!!
back to work kids. have a good one!
Monday, July 19, 2010
new hair!
Katie Holmes :) this ones extra short but cute and choppy.
i like this one because the bangs are longer and its all straight
this is sort of like i've had before, but the layers are less. i'm thinking about going for not as many layers and chunkyness, keeping it closer to the same legnth
i just love this one! yes, even after all these years i still wish for curly hair! if i could get this look i'd happily curl my hair everyday!
i'm excited for a new haircut!!! so i've searched a little for some new styles, now i just have to pick one and go with it!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
"" i'll take your breath away! ""
doing: a quick blog
feeling: VERY lighthearted!
Matt just told me that we GET A NEW ROOF! he finally decided to have someone come and check it out, he found a bunch of spots. even on the newest part of our roof(which is only a year old) so we had insurance come today and they cut us a check! for the house AND the garage!! okay, so the garage isn't rreeaallllyy nice enough to get a new roof.. but still, that'll be nice! nice for us, nice for selling the house, nice for Matt because he won't have to re-roof it, and nice for his parents because they were fronting the money for it!
NICE!
its seemed like nothings been going our way for awhile now. specifically since February. so this is a wonderful breath of fresh air! and a beautiful reminder that God is still up there and looking out for us! i thank Him every day for Matt and Ethan, and for all our families and friends. but its nice to know that He has a special push towards something that we really needed.
now that i'm literally on cloud nine! this honestly made my whole week!! i have to get back to getting some more work done! we've been rocking through our sessions this week so we need to keep it up!!
feeling: VERY lighthearted!
Matt just told me that we GET A NEW ROOF! he finally decided to have someone come and check it out, he found a bunch of spots. even on the newest part of our roof(which is only a year old) so we had insurance come today and they cut us a check! for the house AND the garage!! okay, so the garage isn't rreeaallllyy nice enough to get a new roof.. but still, that'll be nice! nice for us, nice for selling the house, nice for Matt because he won't have to re-roof it, and nice for his parents because they were fronting the money for it!
NICE!
its seemed like nothings been going our way for awhile now. specifically since February. so this is a wonderful breath of fresh air! and a beautiful reminder that God is still up there and looking out for us! i thank Him every day for Matt and Ethan, and for all our families and friends. but its nice to know that He has a special push towards something that we really needed.
now that i'm literally on cloud nine! this honestly made my whole week!! i have to get back to getting some more work done! we've been rocking through our sessions this week so we need to keep it up!!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
"" 3 in the afternoon,... felt like a lifetime... ""
doing: trying really hard to get some work done
listening to: Jango - Matchbox Twenty - radio! i like it!
feeling: weird.....
for the last couple days i've felt like i'm a step behind myself, of where i usually am. things i do every day, like driving my car, seem a little foreign or like i havent done it for awhile. its been a little odd. my bodys been off too. i just feel weird!
i hope that goes away soon and i get back on track.!
so, my brother went to Ireland earlier this year. this is the time when i get to be jealous of my little brother! i got to go to Rome, sure, and it was fabulous and i wouldnt trade it for anything! but i didnt get any opportunities in college to go overseas. he got to go to Greece and Ireland! i was glad that the Ireland trip was a "photography" trip. so they literally just walked around and took pictures the whole time! now i can live his trip through his pictures!
so i happen to have stolen them and now have them on my computer at work... thus making it easy for me to "take a break" from my work and play with some lovely pictures!
i'm trying to get him to pick out some so i can make him an album. but hes slow....:)
but i wanted to show off some of BEN'S beautiful work!
i love it all! and he took tons more! someday i promised myself i'll go there. he actually go to go check out the library in the township that our family is from! pretty sweet!
i should pry work on actual studio stuff...
listening to: Jango - Matchbox Twenty - radio! i like it!
feeling: weird.....
for the last couple days i've felt like i'm a step behind myself, of where i usually am. things i do every day, like driving my car, seem a little foreign or like i havent done it for awhile. its been a little odd. my bodys been off too. i just feel weird!
i hope that goes away soon and i get back on track.!
so, my brother went to Ireland earlier this year. this is the time when i get to be jealous of my little brother! i got to go to Rome, sure, and it was fabulous and i wouldnt trade it for anything! but i didnt get any opportunities in college to go overseas. he got to go to Greece and Ireland! i was glad that the Ireland trip was a "photography" trip. so they literally just walked around and took pictures the whole time! now i can live his trip through his pictures!
so i happen to have stolen them and now have them on my computer at work... thus making it easy for me to "take a break" from my work and play with some lovely pictures!
i'm trying to get him to pick out some so i can make him an album. but hes slow....:)
but i wanted to show off some of BEN'S beautiful work!
i love it all! and he took tons more! someday i promised myself i'll go there. he actually go to go check out the library in the township that our family is from! pretty sweet!
i should pry work on actual studio stuff...
Sunday, July 4, 2010
"" love will hold us together, make us a shelter to weather the storm ""
doing: just got up. needing to do laundry but i'm just not ready to yet.
feeling: hungry!!
listening to: Ethan's cartoons
this week started out with a bang! well, okay not so much a bang as a 'i need to drag myself out of bed AGAIN'
we had a super long/hot and awesome wedding on Saturday up by Waterloo. 2 hour drive. we left eary and got home late. but all in all it was a great day!
on Sunday i took 3 high school girls to Catholics In Action. this retreat is held once a year in various places. this year we were in Iowa City. i'd never been to this retreat- not even in my high school time!- so it was a new experience for me all around! i wasn't quite sure what to expect. we left about 7:30 and started our exhausting 3 days! for this retreat each church group is scheduled to go to numerous different places around the city to help with yard work, painting, organizing and any other tast they find for us. the idea is to help others in need. pretty basic concept! and always a wonderful experience for both youth and adults combined! sometimes we get so held up on our own problems that we forget that there are actually people out there that do have it worse off than us. and that helping those people, even with the smallest of tasks, will put a smile on their faces and make us feel good about ourselves.
our group had some good places given to us. we did manual labor at all of them, but that was okay with us! we helped paint the Community Center on Sunday - everyone did that the first day.
painting
Monday we went to the Neighborhood Center and helped weed their garden and haul mulch. after that we got to spend some time with their daycare kids!
Alissa and Mandi with some of the day care kids
in the afternoon we went to the Ronald McDonald house and helped them do some cleaning and organizing and baking yummy treats!
Maria baking a cake!
on Monday evening we gathered again with everyone for a picnic and bonfire!
the girls with their friends from Davenport
finally it was Tuesday. we were all exhausted! up early, working all day in the heat and then to bed late is hard on you! but Tuesdays site is what we were excited about! a Habitat House! and since we were all over 16 we got to do the fun stuff like using hammers and saws and things! they had plenty for us to do and we could have easily been busy all day! we only worked from about 8:30 to noon though. we did some siding, cut some foam insulation and a few other smaller tasks. it was great!
i cut a super straight line! thats my tough face
we had mass on Tuesday afternoon and then we all headed home. we were very excited to go home, but also excited about the ideas and possibilities that the weekend brought us. they had us all brainstorm ideas that we could bring back to our own parish community. the girls came up with some great ideas that we are excited to get into action!
goal for next year... to have 6 kids going instead of 3!
feeling: hungry!!
listening to: Ethan's cartoons
this week started out with a bang! well, okay not so much a bang as a 'i need to drag myself out of bed AGAIN'
we had a super long/hot and awesome wedding on Saturday up by Waterloo. 2 hour drive. we left eary and got home late. but all in all it was a great day!
on Sunday i took 3 high school girls to Catholics In Action. this retreat is held once a year in various places. this year we were in Iowa City. i'd never been to this retreat- not even in my high school time!- so it was a new experience for me all around! i wasn't quite sure what to expect. we left about 7:30 and started our exhausting 3 days! for this retreat each church group is scheduled to go to numerous different places around the city to help with yard work, painting, organizing and any other tast they find for us. the idea is to help others in need. pretty basic concept! and always a wonderful experience for both youth and adults combined! sometimes we get so held up on our own problems that we forget that there are actually people out there that do have it worse off than us. and that helping those people, even with the smallest of tasks, will put a smile on their faces and make us feel good about ourselves.
our group had some good places given to us. we did manual labor at all of them, but that was okay with us! we helped paint the Community Center on Sunday - everyone did that the first day.
painting
Monday we went to the Neighborhood Center and helped weed their garden and haul mulch. after that we got to spend some time with their daycare kids!
Alissa and Mandi with some of the day care kids
in the afternoon we went to the Ronald McDonald house and helped them do some cleaning and organizing and baking yummy treats!
Maria baking a cake!
on Monday evening we gathered again with everyone for a picnic and bonfire!
the girls with their friends from Davenport
finally it was Tuesday. we were all exhausted! up early, working all day in the heat and then to bed late is hard on you! but Tuesdays site is what we were excited about! a Habitat House! and since we were all over 16 we got to do the fun stuff like using hammers and saws and things! they had plenty for us to do and we could have easily been busy all day! we only worked from about 8:30 to noon though. we did some siding, cut some foam insulation and a few other smaller tasks. it was great!
i cut a super straight line! thats my tough face
we had mass on Tuesday afternoon and then we all headed home. we were very excited to go home, but also excited about the ideas and possibilities that the weekend brought us. they had us all brainstorm ideas that we could bring back to our own parish community. the girls came up with some great ideas that we are excited to get into action!
goal for next year... to have 6 kids going instead of 3!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
