Keeping The Secret

2010-11-10T21:32:00.000-05:00

This blog is no longer in use.

Please visit me at my new location!

http://www.graceincreased.blogspot.com

Sister Time

2009-12-02T23:56:00.001-05:00

Enjoying God's great outdoors this Fall on

a Sunday afternoon walk with my sister

November, 2009

Girl Gab

2009-11-19T22:44:00.005-05:00

Tonight was the first night for our new group 'Girl Gab'. I recently decided that I wasn't getting nearly enough friend time during the week so I sent out some letters.....as did mom, since we decided this would be a group for women of all ages.......and waited to see what kind of response I would get. And I must say that for the first night we had a great time! Plans were made for future Thursday nights, and I was able to reconnect with friends that I haven't seen in years! Literally!

I also enjoyed the time with my sister. Now, I know I see her quite a bit through the week, but ( as much as I love and adore my niece and nephews ) it was nice to sit and have some conversations with her without a little voice interrupting :-)

We read through Philippians tonight and had a great discussion afterwards. Melted chocolate squished between pretzels was on our menu for this evenings snack (since we all decided that chocolate is a MUST have for these gatherings) and we split into teams and played that game with raw spaghetti and gum drops. For those of you who have never played I think the picture below explains it all :-) Our team won by one inch, with a whopping 27 inch tower!

Looking forward to our next meeting!

The Champions

(L-R) Heidi Redmond, Mary Heath, and Me

It's a Wonderful Life

2009-11-05T21:20:00.002-05:00

The first week of my new job has been amazing! I never thought I'd hear myself saying this, but I love my job! Since there is so much to learn about working in a doctor's office they are training me on one thing at a time and giving me several days to catch on before they show me anything else. So all this week I've been working in the intake room. The first two days I was being trained by a co-worker, and the next two they gave me charge of the room by myself :-)

The intake room is where you call the patient back and get their vitals , talk to the parent/guardian about the reason for the visit, and answer any of their questions. If you feel it necessary you also order any flu or strep tests to be done in the lab. You also keep track of which rooms are empty and show the patients to their room to wait for the doctor.

The best part of working in the intake room is that you get one-on-one contact with all the patients......get to hold the 2 days old babies and everything :-)

The hardest part, however, is when you get a patient form and realize that you can't pronounce the name! Or, like what happened yesterday, you get a name like Geronimo and feel like if you go to the waiting room and yell 'Geronimo'! everybody is going to get up and run away :-) Or you get sister's named Ackinzie and Danae and accidentally call for McKenzie and Renae! Oh well.

I had to stay home sick today. My co-workers told me that I would most likely get sick within the first two weeks of working there, and they were right. A little boy was afraid of my temporal thermometer on Tuesday so I bent down to his level so I wasn't so intimidating and he coughed right in my face.....they said eventually my immune system will be strong enough to deal with it.

I'm also learning to be a 'holder'.....which put simply, is someone who helps hold the child down while getting a shot.

I want to thank everyone who has been praying for me. If my first week there is evidence of how all my time working there will go, then I don't see why I won't be there for years :-)

I'm Baaaaackkkk

2009-10-26T23:55:00.004-04:00

After a long absence from blogging, I'm back. I haven't been feeling the greatest for the past few months, and blogging has been at the bottom of my 'motivation-to-do' list. So I thought I'd do a picture post and just start where I left off in August.

I'm starting a new job on Monday, so I'm going to try my hardest to keep up at blogging during my first few stressful weeks. While I was taking some time off from work due to medical issues, I got a call from a pediatricians office that I had sent my resume to waaaaay back in August. I had been praying for a job in a pediatricians office, so I was thrilled when they called and asked me to start November 2nd!

Other than that, most of whats been happening is laid out in the pictures below.......

After finishing my CNA classes this summer ( and receiving my license/certificate ) my family had a party for me. We had it at a local restaurant, with just a small group of family and friends

L-R: Wray; Cosette; Jaime; Noah; Joel; and Eli, waiting on dinner to be served at my party.

L-R: Sarah; Jenny; Adam; Bito; Dad; Me; and Uncle Chris.....also waiting on dinner :-)

This is my Grandfather, demonstrating to party guest how 'Kristin baby' crawled. This has become a tradition of sorts at any event that happens to be in my honor........I do believe that other restaurant customers were quite amused.

This September one of my Mom's childhood friends brought her family to visit and spend the day with us. It was the first time for some of us to meet, and it was cool to finally meet the friend that I had heard so many stories about. This is Cosette with Sarah, one of the younger children in the family.

It was such a nice day that we spent most of it in the yard enjoying the sunshine!

In the beginning of October, my Mom and I took a trip to visit Ken Ham's Creation Museum. We had a two day pass, so we spent a few days on the trip and were happy with our hotel room and a King size bed :-) Traveling from our house to the Museum, we were in 6 states in only 6 hours.....my new personal record

Some of the displays were so life-like! If you ever plan on going to CM, I definitely encourage you to buy a two day pass, as there is sooo much to see and read.

The Gardens located behind the Museum were beautiful. We went at the time of year when it was starting to get a little chilly out, but it wasn't so cold that we couldn't enjoy walking around.

On our way back to the hotel after our first day at the museum, Mom spotted a cloud in the sky that looked strangely like a dinosaur head! Maybe it was just because we had them on our mind after being at the CM all day, but I think sometimes God likes to let you know he's watching what your doing :-)

Noah absolutely loves to ride on the 4-wheeler. This was his first time riding, and he just stuck his thumb in his mouth and sat there, as if all was right with the world now. Each time Wray would pass the porch where we were all sitting, Noah would laugh and wave as if to say, "Look at me!"

This is Cosette and I watching The Swiss Family Robinson. Although she enjoyed the time at our house, she admitted later that this was not her favorite movie.....The next picture explains why..........

......There were some 'slightly scary for a 4-year-old' parts....so Cosette was glad to have a blanket to cover her eyes....

Well, that's all for now! You've been updated on my summer, and I'll try better to keep you updated a little more often.

*Bounty, the quilted quicker....er....uh, the mess inside my washer...

2009-08-29T23:19:00.008-04:00

The Day: Thursday, August 27th, 2009

The Time: 1500 hours

The Scenario: I'm really dumb! Ok, so this is what happened....

We had company coming to our house Thursday evening so I was straightening up the house a little. I got a new roll of paper towels out of the cupboard and the Windex off the laundry room shelf....and then noticed that my laundry basket was about to over flow. So I sat my supplies on top of the dryer and threw in a load of laundry real quick and went back to my prior task, which was Windexing the bathroom mirror.

Hmmmm I thought when I turned around and didn't see a roll of paper towels sitting next to the windex on top of the dryer.

I know I got out a roll of paper towels. Oh well, I'm in a hurry and don't have time to figure out what I did with them. I'll just get a new roll out.

So, after our company left that night, I went back to the laundry room to retrieve my black capris from the washer...the pair I planned to wear to my job interview the next morning.

I open the washer lid.....

I stare......

I stare a little longer.....

I rub my eyes.....

What in the WORLD!

I could not see the clothes in the bottom of the washer due to a thick layer of this white-ish brown stuff. It was way to much to be a tissue that I had simply left in my pocket. I dive my hand to the bottom, and pull out a shirt that was covered...and I mean covered....in white fuzz...lint....stuff. It's almost midnight and I'm way to tired too figure out this white-ish brown mystery, so I close the washer lid and head to bed.

The next morning mom inquires if I know what happened in the washer. So I told her what happened and cleaned out the washer. I threw the clothes in the dryer hoping that the lintish looking stuff will fluff off a little; it didn't, so I re-washed the clothes.

You know those brown paper sacks that you get at the grocery store? Well, with all the lintish stuff that I got out of the washer and dryer lint trap, I filled one of the bags almost half way full! It blew the vent cover off the side of the house and this white-ish lint stuff was in our back yard!

Mom and I spent the remainder of the day trying to figure out what had happened.

And then it hit me!

That roll of paper towels...the one that I had been too busy to look for.....had some how been knocked into the washer and washed with my laundry! I have no idea how this happened, and most of all how I didn't notice!

The Lesson Learned: Bounty is not only quick at cleaning up messes.....its also really good at MAKING messes

The Quilted Quicker Picker Up-er

Bounty!

The Finish Line

2009-08-22T21:51:00.001-04:00

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race ---2 Timothy 4:7

All the tests have been completed, all the forms have been signed, all the class work has been completed. I thought it would take forever, but in what seems like the blink of an eye the summer is almost gone and all the classes are over.

Now, its time to get to work :-]

Clinicals....Almost done!

2009-08-07T17:59:00.002-04:00

If you had told me on June 15th when classes started that this day would come so fast I probably would have just laughed, thinking 'yeah right' in my head. However, believe it or not, the past 2 months have flown by and there are now only two days of clinicals standing between me and my certificate! To be honest, I have a problem finishing a lot of stuff that I start, so the fact that the end is in my grasp amazes me....and my family :-)

There are several people who have really helped me in making through a summer full of classes, and I would like to thank them publicly.

Dad: Making phone calls to the business office, calling me off sick when I caught a stomach bug from the nursing home, and those much appreciated extra tanks of gas are just a few of the things you did that made this summer less stressful for me.

Mom: I would be in such a hurry to get to class in the morning that my room would always look like a tornado went through it when I left. However, every day when I came home my room would be in perfect order. I know we joked about the little elves that cleaned it up, but I want you to know how much such a simple act means! And most of all, thank you for my daily proverb. Every one of them hit a place in my heart...usually exactly what I needed to hear that day!

Wray: I so appreciate your encouragement! You may not realize it, but your text messages to me every morning before class started put me in better spirits for the day. Just to know that you were thinking about me made me feel like a pretty special sister :-]

Joel, Jaime, and Kids: Thank you so much for your prayers. You both reminded me that you were praying for me and were always interested in how my day at school had gone. Thanks for being there in thoughts and prayers!

Just a few more days! I can hardly believe it!

Clinicals....One Day Down....

2009-07-28T16:48:00.000-04:00

The first day of clinicals was a success...meaning no harm came to the residents while my class was on the property :-] I worked on the 4th floor, which houses patients who are still mentally healthy but need some help with daily care. Over the next few weeks, I'll have the chance to work with rehab and Alzheimer's patients as well.

Mom snapped my picture as I was coming home from my first day of clinicals.

I'm not a doctor, but I'll take a look....... :-)

I Have Only One Word For You

2009-07-09T23:18:00.002-04:00

Whoops!

A Hint of Laughter, a Dash of Fun, and 4 Wheels

2009-07-08T22:43:00.001-04:00

I spent Tuesday evening in God's great out-doors, enjoying the fresh air after being stuck in the class room all day. The 4-wheeler is always a good way for me to forget about up coming exams and just relax :-]

Wray doing a wheelie on the 4-wheeler.....

Me laughing at myself after trying to do a wheelie......

....everybody sitting on the porch was laughing, so I figured I might as well too :-]

Thankful Thoughts #7 --- Each New Day

2009-06-30T21:09:00.002-04:00

I thank You, God, for Your Guardian Angels that were watching over Wray and the other driver Saturday morning

I thank You, God, that no other cars were near by

I thank You, God, for seat belts!

I thank You, God, that Wray's car did not flip over when it started to spin

I thank You, God, that the other driver escaped her over turned car with only a small scratch

I thank You, God, for the EMS and EMT

I thank You, God, for insurance

I thank You, God, for sending my brother home to me

And most of all, God, I thank you for EACH NEW DAY!

The Love of My Life......

2009-06-18T23:06:00.001-04:00

...is spending time with my niece and nephews! I especially enjoy having some one-on-one time with them, when I can really focus on one little person :-) Here are some pics of a recent Mall Day with Eli and a Girls Night with Cosette

Unfortunately Eli was the only little boy in the play area at the mall that day. As you can see, the girls weren't too welcoming...

This little guy loves, really really loves, to ride the rides in the mall. As soon as they are in sight, he asks me, "Aunt Kristin, do you have any 'warters (quarters)?"

Bringing back many childhood memories for his Aunt, Eli hid behind every box on every shelf :-) Can you "Find It" ???

All little girls need to express their creativity on someones hair at one point or another :-) I can remember doing this same sort of stuff to my mom's hair (Thanks Mom!)

Jaime didn't believe that I would actually post these pictures....

And last but not least, my three little treasures playing in the window.........

Thankful Thoughts #6 --- To Train Up a Child

2009-06-11T09:31:00.001-04:00

Here's a peek into a recent conversation I had with Cosette. This Thankful Thoughts post is for my Sister and Brother-in-law. I love my niece and nephews and am so thankful that they are being raised with a strong foundation in Christ.

Cosette: "Aunt Kristin, did you know that I have TWO dads?"

Me: "Really? Who are they?"

Cosette: "Well, I have one on earth who takes care of me. He buys me food, and clothes, and takes care of my family. His name is Joel! Then, I have one who lives way up in heaven, but that's ok, because hes with me all the time anyway. Hes making sure that when I die, there is room for me to come live with him. His name is Jesus! Don't I have two really great Dads?"

Me: "Yes Cosette, you certainly do!"

...May Her Testimony Carry On...

2009-06-01T17:26:00.001-04:00

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more death or mourning

or crying or pain, for the old order of

things has passed away."

--- Revelation 21:4

Three Little Kids Sitting in a Row....

2009-05-24T21:04:00.002-04:00

If you happened to be sitting on our front porch on this nice Sunday afternoon, this is what you would have seen......

One little girl who showed up at Grandmas house with swim suit

in hand asking "Grandma, do you have a pool?"

One little boy who hates the grass, but is quite content to sit

on a blanket and watch everything going on around him.

One little boy who was tired of the pool and just wanted

to lay on "the nice soft towel".

Add all that up and what do you get?

Three little kids sitting in a row!

The Girl Who Cried 'Nurse'!

2009-05-16T23:18:00.003-04:00

One of my dearest friends really made me think this week. Kalia's Facebook status read something like this:

"Want to make God laugh?

Tell Him your plans."

That took me back to many many years ago....let me explain....

When I was a little girl, I couldn't stand hospitals, doctor's offices, dentist offices...basically anything that had to do with doctors and nurses. I would literally start feeling sick if I knew we were going to visit a person at the hospital. The smell, the strange noises, ugh....I hated it all.

Therefore, since the time she could talk, Kristin Skidmore has made it know that "I will NEVER be a nurse!"

This proves you to be correct, Kalia! I told God my plans and he just laughed, "Yeah right Kristin! Too bad you're not in charge!"

I am thrilled about becoming a CNA. Actually, I haven't been this excited about something in a long time! I'm excited about all the opportunities that this will open up for me.

In other words, learn from my example.....NEVER, ever ever...say NEVER!

The End of the Beginning, and the Beginning of the End!

2009-05-06T20:39:00.001-04:00

Yes, the title of this post says it all :-) I took my last test at GC today, the place where I started my college experience. On June 12th, I will begin classes at AC and graduate in August as a CNA...Certified Nursing Assistant!

I am really excited about this! Graduating College, being able to do something that I (hopefully :-) ) enjoy, and best of all....never having to worry about school again :-)

We will be working in a Nursing Home the last few weeks of class; I'm not sure which direction I'm headed (ie geriatrics, pediatrics, home health etc) but I'm really looking forward to that experience.

I'm sure I'll have some fun stories from class this summer, so this blog should get really interesting in about a month :-)

Thankful Thoughts #5 --- Always

2009-04-29T00:12:00.002-04:00

I've been reminded this week that even in hard and confusing times, there is always something to be thankful for. I found this picture by complete accident....when I needed it the most. While doing a google search for something completely unrelated, I found this random picture in the middle of the other images. I saved the picture and exited out of the screen. Just out of curiosity, I went back and did that exact same search......the picture wasn't there the second time.....

Thank You God! You always know when I need a word of encouragement!

Lets Get Together.......

2009-04-22T23:45:00.003-04:00

Although it was for a sad reason, My cousins and I enjoyed being able to spend so much time together last week. Since then, we have been able to get together and hang out a little more than normal. I know Grandma Rosina is smiling down at us from heaven.....she loved when we all spent time together. One of the best parts is that our 'long lost' 2nd cousin, Larae, came back into contact with us! I have enjoyed having her back in my life!

While together we were able to 'reproduce' a picture that was taken over 10 years ago in Grandma's back yard.

Other than Skyler and Damara being switched, the picture was exactly the same. (sorry about the quality of the first picture....its just a cropped version of the bulletin boards at Grandma's viewing)

(Left to Right)

Me, Wray, Damara, Skyler, and Larae

Many Years Later......

(Left to Right)

Me, Wray, Skyler, Damara, and Larae

My Grandma.....and My Pap

2009-04-19T21:08:00.002-04:00

My heart hurts.

There is a void, a hole that can never be filled again. In my short 20 years, I have never lost someone as close to me as Grandma Rosina.

How does one recover from something like this? I watch my Pap coming and going on his own...arriving at his house to find him eating lunch alone with grandma's home-made CD playing in the background.

I watch him standing by her casket, tears streaming down his face; I can't recall a time that I have ever seen him cry.

I know grandma is in a place that she never wants to leave again, she is happy. She can hear out of both ears.....she never has to worry about being cold, taking an extra pair of gloves along.

But what about Pap? His constant friend, companion, lover, soul mate........is no longer at his side.

Is there anything to say to him?

"It will be ok Pap. We're here for you"

Nothing we can say to him will ever heal the hurt in his heart.

Grandma is dancing on streets of Gold, while my Pap is hurting.

I love you Pap!

My Grandparents on their 25th Wedding Anniversary

October 1986

A Westinghouse

2009-04-09T15:12:00.000-04:00

Maybe this is on the slightly silly side, but I thought I would share this joke with you anyway! Enjoy :-)

A lady opened her refrigerator and saw a rabbit sitting on one of the shelves.

"What are you doing in there?" She asked

The rabbit replied: "This is a Westinghouse, isn't it?",

To which the lady replied "Yes."

"Well," the rabbit said, "I'm westing."

The Last Supper

2009-04-08T23:42:00.000-04:00

During the meal, Jesus took and blessed the bread,

broke it, and gave it to his disciples:

"Take, eat.This is my body."
Taking the cup and thanking

God, he gave it to them:

"Drink this, all of you.
This is my blood,God's new covenant poured

out for many people for the forgiveness of sins.
I'll not be drinking wine from this cup

again until that new day when I'll drink

with you in the kingdom of my Father.”

This is Next

2009-04-03T23:07:00.002-04:00

I just discovered that Joshua Harris will be having a Next conference in Baltimore, MD later next month (May 23rd-26th.) This is similar to the New Attitude conferences he did several years ago, for anyone who is familiar with those. I've ordered some info packets, which I expect in the mail sometime next week. I'll hopefully be planning to get a group together, but I'll post more about that when I have more details. The conference is geared towards college students and young married couples, ages 18-29, but anyone is welcome to come. All the registration and cost info is on the website thisisnext.org Check it out and be thinking about it. Baltimore really isn't that far, and it sounds like its going to be an amazing 4 days!

Thankful Thoughts #4 --- Spare Keys and A Big Brother

2009-04-01T18:15:00.005-04:00

I was running some errands for work and talking to Wray on my phone while I was driving. Just as I was pulling in my parking spot at work our conversation ended with him telling me he was getting ready to leave the house. ( Mom and Dad were both gone for the day )

I hung up the phone, turned off the car, and got out with my phone and keys in hand.

"This is goofy", I thought, "I don't need to carry in my phone and keys, I'm just dropping stuff off and coming right back out."

Now, I normally lock my doors when I go into work, just out of good habit. So I threw my phone and keys on my front seat, and (out of habit) locked my door. As if in slow motion, I slammed the car door shut just as I was thinking " Oh darn, I'm locking my keys in my car!"

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it was too late. The deed had already been done, and there was no way of reversing the fact that I was locked out of my car standing in the parking lot at work.

"Easy enough to fix," I thought. "I'll just call Wray real quick before he leaves and ask him to bring me my spare key." So I reached into my pocket to retrieve my phone....."oh yeah, I locked my phone in there too!" Figuring that Wray was probably walking out the door at that very second, I ran across the parking lot, flew through the door, across the room, and slid over to the phone. ( Getting some very strange looks from my co-workers, might I add) I dialed the house phone, but nobody picked up. "Darn, he already left!"

So I went to dial Wrays number...and my mind went blank! "Ah noodles! What is Wrays number?" I usually just use the phone book on my cell phone, so I hadn't actually dialed it for a while. After a few failed attempts, I finally remembered all the numbers in the correct order :-)

Thankfully, Wray was only at the end of our drive way, so he went back inside and got my key for me. When he pulled into the parking lot he just rolled down his window, held out the key, and rolled his eyes as if to say, "What a weirdo".

Family Vacation --- The Last Days :-(

2009-03-23T18:57:00.000-04:00

Please forgive me for not blogging the last few days of vacation but, as I'm sure you all know, One can become very distracted on vacation!

We had a very relaxing last few days in the beach house. Lots of family game time, eating out, movie theater (more on the movie later), and just hanging out.

The drive home wasn't so great; we were stuck in traffic for several hours, and didn't make it home until 9:30 last night....about 4 hours behind our original ETA. Over all it was a nice and relaxing time, although it is also nice to get home to my own bed :-)

Since I didn't post any pictures from the last few days, here are some of the kids with their hats and sunglasses I brought back from the OBX.

Family Vacation --- Day #4

2009-03-19T23:01:00.001-04:00

Today has been the warmest day yet so me, Wray, and Sarah did a little souvenir shopping this morning and then spent a few hours down at the beach this afternoon. Therefore, not a lot of pictures were taken, but I did take a picture of the house yesterday so I thought I would share that with you.

Ta-Da!

Ha! Just kidding ;-) Here is a picture of the house we're really staying in. (sorry about the dead bush that is blocking part of the house, but I guess it kinda makes this post a little funnier :-) )

Well, I'll try to take some more pictures tomorrow! Its not supposed to be quite as warm so I shouldn't be spending as much time at the beach and will be able to take more pics.........

Family Vacation --- Day #3

2009-03-18T23:57:00.001-04:00

Here we are, at the end of Day 3 already. It was finally warm enough to walk down to the beach! (Sorry about the space between the pictures. My computer is being stubborn)

Whats the point in climbing on top of a random rock in the middle of the beach if you can't take some fun pictures, right?

My hunky-surfer-dude-brother :-)

This is Wray, SAND surfing.....and getting his shorts full! Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike sand?

The Outer Banks have some really neat sand dunes. They entertained the three of us for quite a while today.

My favorite phrase this week has been, "You two are crazy!"....talking to Wray and Sarah of course

This is me, laughing at something Wray and Sarah were doing. My second favorite phrase has been, "I had nothing to do with it! It was Wray and Sarah!"

Cosette: I miss you, little lady! I'm going to call your house sometime tomorrow! You need to tell me what you have been up to with out me.....

Family Vacation --- Day # 2

2009-03-17T23:37:00.001-04:00

The search for sea-food was a success! We found a little restaurant called 'Fishbones', and it was very enjoyable. Here are some pics from the dinner table......

Two cousins who have very different opinions of sea food....Sarah ordered coconut shrimp and crab dip, and I ordered chicken dumplings and a grilled chicken salad :-)

Wray, trying to figure out why he agreed to go on a vacation with his younger sister and cousins :-)

A lovely couple, enjoying their vacation!

.....waiting for his sea food.....his favorite part of the trip....

I promise this expression is not from my opinion of the food:-) I was just trying to make sure Wray got a picture of my better side! haha

.....And this expression is probably because she was looking in my direction :-)

As I am typing this, my family is behind me at the table playing Uno. I was playing but decided to take a break to share some photos with my friends back home.....and I lost my spot in the winners circle and moved back to 3rd place, so I escaped :-)

The weather is supposed to go up to the 60s tomorrow and Thursday, and the sun is supposed to finally make its appearance on this trip! Maybe it will be our beach day......

Family Vacation --- Day # 1

2009-03-16T22:57:00.002-04:00

(I'll be taking a break from my ' Thankful Thoughts' posts this week to tell you about my family vacation.)

Day one of our vacation is coming to an end, and I can say that we have all had a great day! For the most part we just explored all of our possibilities for the coming week.....local sea food restaurants, shopping plazas, beach access, etc. And me and Sarah also.....well, the pictures can tell the rest :-)

Two of the bedrooms have jacuzzi tubs, so Sarah and I decided to see just how 'bubbly' we could get one. So, clad in our bathing suits, we dumped in some bubble bath and started the jets! We got the tub so full of bubbles that they started over-flowing onto the floor! We spent about 20 minutes cleaning up bubbles :-)

As you can see, its rather hard to rinse bubbles off if the ENTIRE tub is over flowing with them!

This precious little girl wanted to join in the fun! haha

Uncle Chris and my cousin Adam brought home humongous gumballs. I mean they were HUGE! By the time you were halfway through it you had a mouthful of gum already.

Here is Jenny, contemplating what she is supposed to do with such a big gumball......

.....ah, now she figured it out! :-)

I believe we're going to look around in some shops tomorrow, and hopefully find a nice restaurant to eat dinner in. So far, the weather has been very cloudy and chilly. It rained on our drive down and rained this evening as well. We talked to a local lady today who said it was 75-80 degrees last weekend, so we have hope! haha At this point I think we would all be happy with some sun shine :-)

Jaime: If you read this, please give Cosette and Eli and Noah a hug and kiss for me. Tell them I miss them already and wish they were here!

More pics to come tomorrow.......

Thankful Thoughts #3 --- Vacation :-)

2009-03-11T18:11:00.003-04:00

This post is on a slightly 'easier' topic than my last. Next week this time, my family wll be looking out over this ------------>

We're leaving this Sunday after church and will return late the following Sunday. We're all looking forward to some relaxation and time spent with my uncles family.

Mine and Sarah's spring break from school just happened to fall on the same week, so we couldn't pass up this opportunity
:-)

So, I suppose this post is about being thankful for some away time. Although I'll hopefully blog a few times while we're down there, I'm looking forward to getting away from everything for a few days.

Look out warm weather....here we come! :-)

Thankful Thoughts # 2 --- Pizza Ponderings

2009-03-06T21:25:00.001-05:00

Mom and Dad were out for the evening, so Me, Wray and Luke ordered a pizza from a local pizza shop. I called and placed the order at approximately 7pm; they said they would deliver it ASAP. So, we waited.....

and waited.....

and just to make things interesting,

we waited some more.

We all started complaining about how hungry we were and how ridiculous this was. Two HOURS later we finally heard a knock on the door, and lo and behold....there was our pizza! Finally we were able to satisfy our grumbling stomachs.

So here I sat, so happy to be eating my pizza, and agreeing with the others that we won't be ordering delivery from that pizza shop again, when a little voice popped into my head. It was Cosette's voice. I was remembering a time she was telling me about a little girl who lived

"far, far away in another country. She doesn't have any food,

and she is always hungry. Wouldn't that be awful, aunt Kristin?"

Yes, indeed it would. And here I was, complaining that the pizza didn't show up at our front door fast enough. How thankful we should be that we live in a country were we have food available to us....24/7. We don't have to worry about whether or not we'll have any food tomorrow.....or for the next week.

Think About It!

Thankful Thoughts # 1

2009-03-04T21:37:00.002-05:00

(As per the suggestion of several people, I am going to be doing multiple posts about things that I am thankful for, "Thankful Thoughts". I hope you enjoy reading them! )

What else should my first 'Thankful Thoughts' post be about other than my niece and nephews? To me, they are...oh, whats that word I'm looking for? ....adorable, maybe ? :-)

Here are some thoughts in pictures....just to prove my 'adorable' point....:-)

Cosette spent the night at my house last week. We were laying on my bed reading a bed time story when a thought suddenly hit me. I mean, I had obviously thought about this before, but this time..for some odd reason...it really HIT me. Here I was taking care of my SISTER's daughter. I was reading her a bedtime story just like Jaime used to read to me. How precious the memories we make!

This little man has the cutest little laugh. He loves to laugh when I make funny faces at him ( when no one else is looking, of course :-) ) However, you can't count the times he makes his Aunt Kristin laugh! I watched them last Friday evening while Joel and Jaime went out; I'm not sure how it happened because he had a cup with a lid, but Eli spilled his juice on the kitchen floor.
"Uh-oh, Aunt Tistin! I spill' my yuice!" I went to the counter to grab some paper towels and turned back around to find Eli down on all fours, sucking the 'yuice' up off the floor. Well, I guess it saves on the cost of paper towels :-)

This little guy will always have a special place in my heart. He has an older sister and an older brother, just like me :-) I find myself taking up for him more often than not, and I believe that is the reason why!
Last Friday evening after his mommy and daddy had left, he crawled over to me, pulled himself up using the bottom of my pants, and looked up at me with a slightly concerned look on his face. So I picked him up and he snuggled up real close to me. It makes this Aunt pretty happy to know that when mommy isn't around, I'm a pretty good replacement :-)

My favorite Cosette and Eli sayings :

Eli: Aunt Tistin, you're my best friend!

Cosette: Aunt Kristin, when I grow up I want to be a ballet-er...just like you!

.....More 'Thankful Thoughts' posts to come soon.....

Encouragement....Or Not?

2009-03-03T23:27:00.002-05:00

I couldn't help it! I came across this cartoon and it made me laugh...

...cry maybe... haha

Just thought I would share it with you

Enjoy your day and until next time, be Encouraged :-)

".....but let us encourage one another daily....." Hebrews 3:13

Celebrate LIFE!

2009-02-25T23:53:00.001-05:00

Where do I start? I've been an absent blogger of late and I'm not sure where to pick back up.

I originally started this blog with a specific purpose in mind.....that purpose has since 'died' for lack of a better term; although when I think about it, that is a pretty appropriate word for the situation.
With the 'death' of my reason for blogging, I simply stopped. I felt like there was no reason for it, and that it would only bring back memories lost.....
However, this week I have been reminded again how Christ came to give us LIFE, and that we are to have it more abundantly. Here I've been just sitting here, when I should be celebrating LIFE each and every day!
While I've been sitting around complaining about LIFE, I've forgotten how much celebrating there is to do everyday!

Everyday there is something to be Thankful for.

Everyday there is something to Rejoice about.

Everyday is an opportunity to spread some Cheer into someones LIFE,

even if it is through the use of a blog.

So look out blogging world! Kristin Skidmore is back and on FIRE! With God's help, I am celebrating LIFE and pushing the darkness back into Hell. I'm spreading the word to celebrate LIFE! Satan shall not have victory in any part of my LIFE! Where he tried to put darkness, God is spreading the LIGHT!

So here I am, giving a small testimony as a new start to my blogging. Seems a good way to end the old, and start the NEW!

Romans 8:37-39

"In all these things we are more than conquerors

through him who loved us. For I am convinced

that neither death nor life, neither angles nor demons,

neither the present nor the future,

nor any powers, neither height nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us from the love of

God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

I'll be blogging again soon....for each day there is something to Celebrate.......

Hopes and Dreams

2009-01-21T20:21:00.003-05:00

Yes, the title of this post says it all. I had the hopes and dreams of blogging many many times over Christmas break. And I did mean to.....but you know how the Christmas season goes; it was pretty crazy around here a few times :-)

So here I am two days into the new semester and finally posting some pictures from Christmas!

Cosette went to the Christmas program at my Grandparent's church

Grandma Carol with Mariah, my cousin's baby

Eli with his new bike from my parents

Wray in a Christmas program at my Grandparents church

My brother-in-law Joel opening his gift from me....

one of my favorite gifts I gave this year. haha

No need to buy Noah any gifts, he just enjoys eating the wrapping paper :-)

I love this little man so much!

Me and Jaime with her gift. As soon as I saw the picture frame

I knew I had to give it to her. It said "Having a sister

means having a best friend for life"

You're the greatest Jaime! I love you!

Christmas night playing "Would You Rather" in our rec room.

haha What an experience :-)

Well, that's all for now. I'm sure I will have some stories from this semester real soon :-)

From Me to You........

2008-12-25T14:21:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a blessed Christmas Day!

Semester Memories

2008-12-17T00:56:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I know I said I'd post after my final last Wednesday, but I decided to wait a little while so I could remember every thing I wanted to tell you about my semester. In the past week I've remembered lots of fun...and not so funny....memories from the semester. Some made me and my friends laugh, while others made us want to cry (or loose our lunch, but hey, its anatomy class...what do you you expect :-) )
So my hope is that this post will make you laugh and bring some joy to your day.......

We were warned on the very first day in anatomy class that we would be dissecting a cat mid-semester. Yeah, not exactly the news you want on the first day of class. However, we all tried to joke about it and tried not to dread that day too much. So, a few weeks before 'cat day' me and my friend Ashely were in the lab room studying some slides before an exam that afternoon. While we were there a rather large box was delivered to the room with our instructors name on it. Convinced that the box contained our little cat friends, we tried to ignore it and continue studying our slides. However, curiosity got the best of us and we wandered over to get a closer look. Everything about the box said "MEOW" to us :-) We decided to take a peek inside.....A copier machine! Relief and disappointment hit us at the same time :-)

Cat day came! Clad in aprons and a double layer of plastic gloves is how you found Me, Ashley, and Shayla. Its not that we didn't want to do it, we were actually getting kind of excited...we just didn't want it on us. However, somehow in the process of pulling off cat fat, Shayla slipped with her tweezers and sent a HUGE piece of fat flying toward Ashley. It landed right in the middle of her arm and sent fat juice onto her face. Needless to say it was a topic of our discussion the rest of the semester :-)

Ashley and I were studying in the Library for an exam that afternoon when the fire alarm went off. Everyone was evacuated from the school and sent to the parking lot. However, as soon as we got outside they sent us back in.....We figured it was just a drill. I was talking to another friend later and found out a theater student was practicing his scene with the smoke machine and set off the alarm on accident. "Whoops" is about all he could say :-)

Due to having some house guests, I missed a day of school. We had a quiz in math that day, so I had to go to the math lab to make it up. I sat down to take the quiz, and quickly began to freak out! I didn't know anything that was on the quiz! None of it looked familiar; even the way it was set up looked different than the way my instructor normally did her quiz'. Nobody was in the room, so I sneaked into the file cabinet with all the quiz' and found that the 'math lab person' had given me the wrong quiz! *breaths a sigh of relief.....*

Word of advice: never listen to the conversation of your classmates who sit behind you in class.....you probably don't want to know what they're talking about.....'nuf said :-)

In my sociology class I was often know as 'the pencil girl'. How college students can show up on exam day without a pencil is beyond me! I always carried extra in my bookbag and let me assure you that every week in Sociology, every one of those pencils was being used by my classmates.

Due to two weeks of Sociology class being canceled, me and my 'team members' put together a 20 minute presentation at 7:00 one Tuesday evening.....class started 7:30 :-) Hey, what could we do...it snowed for two weeks! The pressure must of helped because our group received one of the highest grades on the presentation.

There was a guy in my Sociology class from Ethiopia! How cool is that! He has only been in the US for a few months.....well, since the beginning of the semester. None of us could say his name, so we all just called him Hizzy.

Well, that's all for now. I'm sure there is more, but I have all of break to remember and post :-) I'm glad to have a break, but I'm looking forward to next semester. I really enjoyed meeting so many new people, and classes kept me occupied. In fact, I feel lost without my friends and classes.......

For Your Enjoyment

2008-12-04T20:16:00.002-05:00

Well, blog readers, I don't have much time to post but I have several pictures that I've been wanting to share with you. Enjoy!

My family's Thanksgiving day table. Before we ate Cosette and Eli both said their 'thankful' Bible verse and then Cosette said the blessing on the food

Afterwards a stressful game of Cooties was won by my mom.....aka Grandma Karen. Grandma Rosina (background) was an amazing referee.

In the end, the winning and losing teams kissed and made up :-)

We celebrated my cousins birthday on Thanksgiving too. Grandma Rosina was quite creative and brought along a pumpkin shaped birthday cake.

Cosette and I after a long evening of playing. She spent the night with us a few nights ago and I realized even more how much she is growing up

My dad with his namesake, Noah Shaun.

On November 1st I took a bus trip to New York City with some friends. We had an amazing time! We were very amused, however, to discover that the only place you can find trees in NYC is on top of buildings! And even then they're more like little twigs stuck in the ground.

On September 27th, I took a bus trip with my friend Lacey to Washington DC. We spent the day visiting the Lincoln Memorial, World War 2 Memorial, Washington Memorial, the Arlington Cemetery, Vietnam Memorial, the Tomb of the Unknown soldier, and the Holocaust Museum....quite the busy day! We had a blast though...

You probably won't hear too much from me in the next week or so. This is where you will find me....comfy on the couch studying for finals next week. It seems like just yesterday I posted about the beginning of the semester....now its finals week already!

Well, I'll post next week when my stress level has dropped a little...probably Wednesday around 3pm, after my last final.... :-)

Have a blessed week!

Mood Music

2008-11-19T15:54:00.003-05:00

Have you ever heard the statement, "The music you listen to will decide what kind of mood you're in"? I read an article in a magazine last month that said just that. It caught my curiosity so I decided to do an experiment.

I have a lot of time when I'm just riding in my car; 20 minutes to school 3 times a week ( an then again headed home), 15 minutes to the church several times a week, any other time I do stuff during the week usually involves at least a 15 minute ride down the mountain.

So, I separated my Christian Artist CDs from my Secular Artists CDs. For one week straight, I listened to only the secular artists during drive time. Artists such as

FM Static

Plain White T's

Linkin Park

Jordin Sparks

Hello, Goodbye

I must say that I had a very depressing, emotional week! As I listened to these songs all these emotions would start popping up. My heart was heavy with hurts, I was irritable with my family, I hated school, and my life centered around my hurts.

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So, the next week I listened to all Christian Artists. ( Too many to name them all, so I'll just mention a few that I listened to)

Casting Crowns

Brandon Heath

Newsboys

Fireflight

Jeff Johnson

Chris Tomlin

It was amazing how much of a change there was! I had such an encouraging week. My heart was light, I couldn't wait 'til my family got home in the evening, I looked forward to going to school, and God turned the hurts into JOY!

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The secular songs were all about heartbreaks, relationships failing, hurt, depression, and so on. But during that second week God reminded me how much HE loves me. I don't need to rely on the things of this earth to make me happy. People will fail, hurts will come, life will not go how I planned it, and yes...that anatomy homework will still be waiting for me when I get home.....but God never fails! He is my Constant.

So the next time you go to pop in that CD or turn on that ipod, think about the message of the songs. Will they bring you down, or will they remind you of the love of God and give you a Christ centered day........

Last Chance

2008-11-14T22:22:00.001-05:00

This is how my friends and I spend our Sunday afternoons. Five of us, all on one four-wheeler with a cart attached to the back :-) It was quite fun until we ran through some groundhog holes in the field....Elizabeth and I (who happened to be riding in the cart at the time) didn't think that was too funny. Ow!

We also managed to rake up a huge pile of leaves in the backyard. Can you find the brother in the leaf pile? :-)

The next day we woke up to find this. Over night our world had turned from a sunny fall day to a day that was filled with snow. We're all happy we took advantage of that last warm day before winter arrived.

The Joy in My Life

2008-11-09T10:23:00.004-05:00

These are the three little people who remind me daily of the joy in life. I've been through some weird times lately, and when I feel my world crashing around me these little creations always pick me back up......funny how God will use such tiny people, huh?

Cosette Elise

Elias Jacob

Noah Shaun
Thank You, God, for Your smallest of people!

The Heart of the Issue

2008-10-18T01:00:00.001-04:00

Anatomy is not an easy class....in more ways than one.

Reason One:

My advisor/instructor allowed me to skip the pre-requisites for the class since I'm trying to transfer next fall. I've had to work extra hard to be able to keep up with the rest of the class. Not an easy thing to do in anatomy.

Reason Two:

The first day of class I ended up sitting at a lab table with two other girls. They seemed nice, so we just made it habit to sit together. Not long after, when I found out they weren't really interested in the class, I was labeled the 'girl who doesn't party on the weekend and never uses the F word'.

Reason Three:

I talked to my professor, and we decided I could move tables....for the sake of my finding some people who cared about the class and would study with me. I never made it that far though....

One of the girls from my table confided to me several health concerns she has:

She has cancer...shes pregnant...she already lost one child in January...Shes worried the cancer may have spread to other parts of her body.

She asked me to start studying with her because she really wants to pass the class. How could I not? It was like God was opening the door of opportunity for me.

I was having a hard time focusing in class that day; trying to figure out how I'm going to pass the class if I don't move tables and find a serious study partner. My professor then handed me my exam paper from that day...I received my highest grade yet on that exam.

His Grace is Sufficient.......

A Spooky Scene

2008-10-18T00:26:00.001-04:00

On a chilly fall day I look out my back door to see two specters wandering through my yard. What are they?

Two ghostly haunts, in search of their legs?

Or two young hobbits, looking for Gandalf's wagon

of fireworks?

No...its Cosette and Eli in Aunt Deka's Sweatshirts :-)

God is Good!

2008-10-17T23:59:00.003-04:00

Have you ever done something that took a lot of your time and energy and wondered later if it mattered to anybody? A year from now will anybody even remember anything from this event that took over my life for months?

I had been wondering that for a while after July 2007, when I hosted the Secret Keeper Girl conference. I had been praying all that summer that the conference would make a difference in someones life....their life on earth, and their eternal life in Heaven.

Summer 2008 came and I hadn't really heard any testimonies from that night.....after a while, I became a little discouraged. Over 100 people at the conference and I hadn't heard one word about it.
Then recently, a lady approached me and asked:

"Are you Kristin Skidmore? The one who did the Secret Keeper conference?"
"Yes I am, why?"
" My daughter and I attended that conference, and I wanted to tell you how much we loved it. My daughter learned so much from it! Now when we go shopping she's always looking for Secret Keeper clothes. Every where we go she finds a reason to bring up what she learned that night. My husband and I are so glad you did the conference."

Thanks God....I needed that!

Then, a little while later, I found out that two of my former SKG students started a bible study with some of their friends. They're studying the same subjects that you will find in the SKG book. And, the friends that they started the group with are two girls that had wanted to attend my SKG summer camp, but for one reason or another were unable to! How cool is that?

Galatians 6:9

Let us not become weary in doing good,

for at the proper time we will reap

a harvest if we do not give up.

Ruin Me!

2008-10-03T23:59:00.008-04:00

Ruin Me

--Jeff Johnson--

Woe to me I am unclean

A sinner found in Your presence

I see you seated on Your throne

Exalted, Your Glory surrounds You

Now the plans that I have made

Fail to compare when I see your glory

Ruin my life the plans I have made

Ruin desires for my own selfish gain

Destroy the idols that have taken Your place

'Till its You alone I live for, You alone I live for.

Holy Holy is the Lord Almighty

Holy is the Lord!
Holy Holy is the Lord Almighty

Holy is the Lord!

Be Ruined for Christ!

Dead Weight

2008-09-10T22:08:00.002-04:00

One of the requirements for my COTA/L degree is to complete a 1 credit PE class. Easy enough, right? Only one hour, once a week. After talking with my advisor I decided to take the class next semester. However, after a week of classes, I'm thinking about making an appeal to the college; you see, I feel as though I'm getting my fair share of physical education this semester......7 credits worth, actually. Let me explain.......

Take this stack of books.....

...put them in this book bag...

...and this is what you get...

27 pounds!

It only took me the first 7 hour day of school to realize that I was getting plenty of physical exercise without the class :-) What do you think?

Back Porch Viewing

2008-09-06T09:53:00.001-04:00

When you visit my grandparents house you often have the privilege of sitting on their porch while watching some sort of wildlife in their backyard. They often have deer, and sometimes turkeys wandering through their yard. Its very peaceful sitting there just watching; you can hear the drop of a pin.....

However, travel about 20 minutes west, and this is what you will find:

Oh no, we don't often have deer in our yard, and I don't think I've ever seen a turkey out my window. However, since two of our neighbors happen to be farmers this is the animal life you find in our yard......

Not quite as calm or peaceful. You can't hear the drop of a pin over, 'chomp, chomp, snort'. And if dad finds them in the yard, you can guarantee that he'll go running through the yard screaming something-or-other trying to get them to stop eating the apple tree. :-)

Focus, Kristin......Focus!

2008-08-29T00:14:00.002-04:00

No more sitting around!

I've declared a major and laid out a plan.

On September 3rd, I'll be back in the college scene!

Excited and nervous.....Pray for me :-)

I'm Goin' Back!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game.........

2008-08-24T23:42:00.007-04:00

Elizabeth and I spent Sunday evening at an Altoona Curve baseball game. Our group of 7 decided last minute to make the trip, and I must say that it was definitely worth it! The park was amazing, the fire works were beautiful, and the cheese fries were delicious :-)

Both of our dads caught a fly ball.....well, kinda. The way Elizabeths dad dove for his....gosh, he should have tried out for the team :-)

Not a Failure, but a Huge Success

2008-08-19T02:10:00.001-04:00

Its been a while, I know. I could try to blame the busy summer months, but the truth is that I've had a total lack of motivation to blog over the past few weeks. Once again, there is something that I need to post about but have had no idea where to start. Does that ever happen to anyone else? Anyway, I'll stop rambling and get to my point.....

In my last post I told everyone about this amazing guy I had met, completely fallen for, and had recently started courting. I can't really explain what happened next, because I'm still working it all out in my own head. All I can say is that we felt God saying that this was not what He wanted for us. So we decided to end the courtship.

At first, I was pretty upset. Not understanding why after only one month God would ask us to, for total lack of a different word, 'breakup'. I felt like the courtship had been a FAILURE. But then, after praying about it for a while, I had this 'conversation' with myself.
"What is the purpose of courtship?
It's to allow time to become someones friend, get to know them, and decide if you could spend the rest of your life with them.
How so?
You spend time talking to them and getting to know them, and avoid the physical side of a relationship.
Wait a minute, that's what we did! So really our courtship was a SUCCESS!"

I thank God everyday for bringing me and Adam together the way He did. I can come out of this with all the respect and dignity that I went into it with. How so? I never gave Adam anything.....and I don't mean material things, if you get my point. Adam never asked anything physical of me. He respected me as any man should respect a lady. I thank God for making Adam the man he is.

What am I saying? Through all of this I have gained a best friend! I can't tell you how many hours we spent just talking, getting to know each other. We know each other inside-out and will never look back with regrets on our 'physical side' of the relationship.

So even though we'll always have the memory of our courtship, we can look back with no regrets. We can move on in life, stay connected, and be friends with out any awkwardness.....since that is ultimately where our courtship lead us.

So Adam, if you're reading this, I want to say Thank You and let you to know that you really are and always will be my Best Friend. I type with tears in my eyes......I know you've been in Hampton less than 24 hours, but I already miss my best friend. I promise I'm not counting days, but I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving so I can cream you and Wray in Jenga :-)
And as I said at the beginning of this post, you are pretty amazing....even if you can't wink ;-P

I pray God's best for you this year; I know he has great things planned for you!

With all that said, here are some pictures of stuff that I should have been blogging about all summer :-) Enjoy.....

My summer started with attending Adam's graduation from MC.

Here I am at the graduation with one of the coolest guys ever, Adam's Pap.

This one may sound silly, but thats ok. I had to sell my first car :(

Here she is, just moments before she left my driveway for the last time.....

I also made sure Cosette had her 'summer dose' of sugar :-)

What are Aunts for, anyway?

Wray took me for a ride on his new motorcycle...of which

he is quite proud.....

......took advantage of some photo opportunities :-)

And last but not least, became the queen of Jenga :-P

November 2006 - Present :-)

2008-06-25T21:38:00.003-04:00

Ok, ok....so I lied. Its been more than a few days. Before I started this post I checked sitemeter to make sure that people were still reading my blog......it appears as though I still have as many readers now as I did a month ago, so I'll continue with this post. ( I didn't want to post this up if no one was reading....) Get comfy....its gonna be a long one.

When I start reading someones blog I like to find out why they started blogging. Many people have shared these reasons with me: boredom, 'my new hobbie' journaling, venting :-), pleasure.....etc.

Me? Why did I join the crazy world of blogging? My reason just so happens to be 6 feet 2 inches tall :-)

But let me back up to, oh, lets say November 27th, 2006. I was invited to a friends birthday party, where I met a friend of my cousins. His name was Adam. I remember driving home that night thinking, "Wow, what a nice guy. Too bad I'll probably never see him again." ( If I had only know :-) )

So, the weeks go by, and Adam starts showing up at my church on Sunday mornings and Tuesday evenings. ( he attends a church down the road) I'm gonna be totally honest here.....by Christmas, I was hooked. Any time the church was planning an event or my friends were getting together, I'd pray that Adam would show up. :-)

Little by little, we started talking. When my Mom had open heart surgery in January of 2007, I was sitting in the waiting room and I received a text message on my phone. It was Adam, checking on Mom. Over the week that my family stayed in the townhouse near the hospital, we talked just about non-stop. If we weren't on the phone, we were texting. Yes, Jaime....I do remember conversations I had with other people that week :-P

Okay, now let me jump ahead. We spent basically the entire summer together.....until August 24th, 2007. Adam left for Master's Commission. For those of you who are not familiar with Master's, its a 9 month discipleship program. ( more info at masterscommission.com ) We were both excited about this opportunity for him....except for one little detail. As a first year at Master's, you are under a covenant.....no relationships. The 9 months is meant as a time to grow closer to God without the pressure of any outside relationships. It was bittersweet: We were both excited for the time to focus on God and search Him out, but at the same time we knew it wasn't going to be easy.

So, I said all that to say this: that is why I started my blog. It was a way to 'communicate' with Adam, without actually talking to him :-) I had no idea so many other people would find my blog!
He came home for Thanksgiving, at which time the closest I came to seeing him was seeing his car parked in his Church's parking lot. Thankfully though, we did at least get to spend some time together over Christmas....with lots of family and friends surrounding.

He graduated from his first year back in May. Which brings me to another point.....that is why I haven't been blogging near as much. I've been a little preoccupied catching up the past 9 months.

So where are we in our relationship now? As of a few days after his graduation, we have started courting. Courting?
One of the things that made me notice Adam to begin with was the way he treated girls, and the respect he showed towards them. We soon found out that we both agreed on the way a relationship should be handled. Avoid the physical side and concentrate on become strong friends.
Which would be the definition of courting.

We have been so encouraged by my sister and brother-in-law. They also courted, and now have an amazing relationship within their marriage.
I was also on another blog, (the link on my page: High Calling ) and read the story of Beverly's courtship. It is so encouraging to read about other people who have the same experiences.

My plea: I know Jaime, and occasionally Beverly, read my blog. If the two of you (or anyone else I may not know of) have suggestions or stories of any sort, they would be greatly appreciated. I love reading how it worked out for others.

Please pray for us, as we are still seeking God's direction in this. We don't know where any of it will lead, but are keeping God in the front row.

Ok, I'm done now :-)

( Sorry I don't have a current picture. The most current one I have on here is under my April 27th post, "Prayer Request." ok, ok, so he was more than a good friend :-) )

I'm Still Alive!

2008-06-11T21:48:00.001-04:00

Yes, I'm still in blogger land......I just haven't posted in quite a while :-) Life has been crazy over the last few weeks, and my blog was put at the bottom of my to-do list. It feels good to be back though :-)

I have something I really want to post about, but it will take some thinking on my part and the next shift will soon be here ( I'm at work ). For now, I just wanted everyone (DANA) to know that I'm still here, and will actually 'post' something in the next few days.......:-)

Hide-n-Seek

2008-05-30T10:22:00.001-04:00

Cosette and Eli love to play hide-n-seek at Grandma's house. I must say that this is one of their better hiding spots. If you look from the side it just look like the hamper is full of clothes.....not two giggling kids :-)

In Memory

2008-05-20T23:46:00.005-04:00

I wish I didn't have a reason to blog tonight. But I do.....

When I got back from the funeral home last night ( Grandma Hazel ) there was a message on the phone from my friend Lacey. She sounded upset so I called her back quickly. She did not have good news.....
Our friend, Jeni Rempel, was killed in a car accident early Sunday morning.

Jeni and I became friends when she joined the homeschool group I was apart of (about 8 years ago).

Lots of memories and fun times.....but the sadness in my heart is still to fresh to list them now.

Pray for her family, who just lost their 19 year old daughter. (It was just a few years ago they lost their older daughter to cancer.)

Jeni Rempel

You have many friends who are missing you already, Jeni!

We love you

"A confluence woman was seriously injured in a single-vehicle accident early Sunday on Listonburg Road, according to Pennsylvania State Police.Jeni Jonae Rempel was transported to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., and was listed in critical condition after the accident, police said.Rempel was driving a 1988 Buick when she reportedly lost control of the car and drove off the roadway into the south berm, causing the vehicle to become wedged between two trees. A passing motorist observed the vehicle at about 3 a.m. and saw that Rempel was unresponsive in the passenger side."

A GREAT-Grandma

2008-05-18T21:20:00.004-04:00

Hazel Layman

12/13/1910 - 05/18/2008

We love you Grandma!

You will be missed

Hes Growing Up

2008-05-15T00:42:00.001-04:00

After a hard day climbing.......

.......a little boy needs his rest

The Best

2008-05-10T22:48:00.003-04:00

This is my family..........

Ok, so ithis is my family almost 19 years ago.

This post is dedicated to my Mom, in honor of Mothers Day. She has dedicated many years of her life to not only raising her children, but also giving them an education....which isn't always easy ;-)

When Wray and I were still just toddlers, she would be trying to explain fractions to Jaime while the two of us were pulling on her arms asking for play dough, cookies......

an-apple-peeled-cut-up-and-put-on-the-yellow-plate-with-salt......:-)

(just for you mom :-) )

While Mom was careful to make sure we all understood fractions, carbon, horizontal vs. vertical...etc....she was even more concerned that we all had a strong faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Hours, Days, Weeks, Months she spent with us studying memory verses, going over practice questions, and loooong drives to quiz meets where she spent her entire day dedicated to us. With some friends from church, we put together a top notch quiz team (if I may say so myself) and she was always the first to encourage and support us. This picture shows Jaime with a quizzing trophy.

Mom always wanted her three children to have close relationships with each other. Her dream was for the three of us to stay close once we were grown. And I can honestly say that she did an excellent job. :-) We obviously had normal sibling squabbles when we were young, but we remain close to this day.

Even when Jaime went off to college, we were still a 3some......

So heres to you Mom! To the years of your life you dedicated to your family ( and the years to come ). We may not express this as often as we should, but we all appreciate every thing you've done for us! From putting extra salt on that apple :-) to late night talks when we needed it most. You definitely are the Best!

We Love You Mom!

Happy Mothers Day!

This and That

2008-05-05T20:15:00.003-04:00

I feel as though I haven't posted anything for a while. Its only been since Wednesday, but last week was so crazy that it seems like forever ago! One of my co-workers called in sick all last week so I had to pick up some of her shifts......I feel like I basically lived at the Restaurant for several days.

I did manage to get a pretty cute picture of the Cosette and Eli though :-) This was taken Friday evening when I got home from work......

Cosette refused to put her tongue in her mouth while I was taking the pictures. Kinda cute though, huh?

When Cosette was about Eli's age, she called me Aunt Deka ( hence, the name of my blog :-) ). However, once she learned how to say my name she quickly forgot about Deka....much to my disappointment.

Now, as Eli is learning some new words, he has finally started to call me by name, instead of just saying 'dow'...which was his word for everything for a while. It sounds more like 'Tintin' than Kristin, but I still respond to it and am quite happy that my Mr. Eli is learning some new words.

This is a pretty cute video of Joel teaching Eli exactly how to play Duck-duck-goose. :-)

Another Conversation with Cosette

2008-04-30T21:51:00.004-04:00

Cosette told me today that she was learning her 'chores'.

Me : Really, what do you have to do?

Cosette: Puzzled look. I don't have to do anything, you just say them.

Me: Well, what do you have to say?

Cosette: A-E-I-O-U!

Me: Cosette, I think you meant that you're learning your Vowels

Cosette: Oh yeah, that's what I meant!

She had her vowels down pat, but her words were a little mixed up :-)

Prayer Request

2008-04-27T17:46:00.002-04:00

Please pray for my good friend, Adam, who will be leaving tomorrow for a 2 week missions trip in Malaysia and Indonesia. He is traveling with a group of approximately 6-7 other people. Pray for safety and lots of opportunities to spread the Word to these countries.

My Sweet Little Niece :-)

2008-04-23T14:00:00.001-04:00

We watched Cosette and Eli for a few hours this morning and afternoon. When Jaime came to pick them up Cosette jumped up in my arms.....

Cosette: I'm gonna miss you when I go home

Kristin: Really?

Cosette: Yeah, I don't know when I'll see you again

Kristin: Well, I'm going to be gone for 2 days this weekend, but I'll come to your house tomorrow to say goodbye before I leave. Ok?

Cosette: Two days! That's a long time. Are you living in a hotel while you're gone? Can I come with you!?

Kristin: Yeah, I'm staying in a hotel with some friends from church but I think you need to stay at home with mommy and daddy and Eli. They would miss you too.

Cosette: Ok......Promise you'll come say goodbye tomorrow?

Kristin: I promise.....

Cosette: Gives me a big hug :-D

Its times like this that make my heart melt :-)

Sleep over at Aunt Kristin's House

2008-04-13T18:36:00.002-04:00

It appears we have a little artist in the family. Cosette spent the night last week ( hence the fort under the kitchen table...) and we spent some time coloring and drawing at the table. I was very surprised when she said, "Look Aunt Kristin! A flower!" Maybe I'm biased, but I think that is a pretty good flower for a three year old! She certainly doesn't get her artistic skills from her Aunt, because a flower is about all I can draw :-)

She really wanted to 'camp' in my room, so she slept in a sleeping bag on my floor. She said she slept wonderfully; although I'm not so sure she did, because I watched her for a while and she rolled from one end of my room to the next......I had to keep putting her back in her sleeping bag with her pile of blankets. I gave up eventually when I realized it was a hopeless task :-) In the morning I woke up to this little voice saying, " Aunt Kristin, I'm ready to get up now! ......I'm ready to get up now!.......Aunt Kristin!..........I have to go potty!" Ok...I'm up!

Sir Eli and Lady Cosette

2008-04-08T14:07:00.002-04:00

Why, on a day when I have kitchen cabinets to clean, a checkbook to balance, and laundry to do (all before its time to leave the house for 8 hours of work at the restaurant) am I spending time building a fort under my kitchen table?

Because I had 2 friends to play with today!

I mean really, whats more important?

A Story In Pictures

2008-04-07T01:15:00.002-04:00

Last year about this time, I went on my first plane ride...

...and traveled with this group of friends...

... to visit my brother, Wray...

...who was a student in Master's Commission in Florida.

On our way down, we tried to leave this one on the plane.....unsuccessfully.

And this one obviously wasn't having a good time.

We then tried to knock this one out by hitting his head

off a few door frames. Again, unsuccessfully.

Everything that was going on made this one go a little crazy...

...she then spent the rest of her time chasing little green frogs.

It can be said, however, that we

enjoyed beautiful weather on our trip...

...and were all a little sad to get on the plane again and travel home...

...especially when 2 days after we returned,

we were greeted with this....

God's Glory

2008-04-01T18:54:00.001-04:00

"For I will see the rainbow in the cloud and

remember my eternal promise to every

living being on the earth."

---God

As seen from my front yard April 1st, 2008. This was a full rainbow......If I had been able to backup far enough you would have been able to see from one end all the way to the other. Sorry, no pot of gold, just beauty :-)

Save Me From Myself

2008-03-29T10:57:00.004-04:00

An amazing testimony of how God can take a life and turn it completely around! I read this a few weeks ago in literally about 3 sections. Once you pick it up, you won't want to put it down.

The amazing true story of an out-of-control rock star, his devastating addiction to drugs, and his miraculous redemption through Jesus Christ.

In February 2005, more than ten thousand people in Bakersfield, California, watched as Brian "Head" Welch—the former lead guitarist of the controversial rock band Korn—was saved by Jesus Christ. The event set off a media frenzy as observers from around the world sought to understand what led this rock star out of the darkness and into the light.

Now, in this courageous memoir, Head talks for the first time about his shocking embrace of God and the tumultuous decade that led him into the arms of Jesus Christ. Offering a backstage pass to his time with Korn, Head tells the inside story of his years in the band and explains how his rock star lifestyle resulted in an all-consuming addiction to methamphetamines. Writing openly about the tour bus mayhem of Ozzfest and The Family Values tour, he provides a candid look at how the routine of recording, traveling, and partying placed him in a cycle of addiction that he could not break on his own.

Speaking honestly about his addiction, Head details his struggles with the drug that ultimately led him to seek a higher power. Despite his numerous attempts to free himself from meth, nothing—not even the birth of his daughter—could spur him to kick it for good. Here Head addresses how, with the help of God, he emerged from his dangerous lifestyle and found a path that was not only right for his daughter, it was right for him.

Discussing the chaotic end to his time in Korn and how his newfound faith has influenced his relationship with his daughter, his life, and his music, Head describes the challenging but rewarding events of the last two years, exposing the truth about how his moments of doubt and his hardships have only deepened his faith.
Candid, compelling, and inspirational, Save Me from Myself is a rock 'n' roll journey unlike any other.

---Publisher of Save Me From Myself

The Purr-fect haircut

2008-03-26T23:09:00.003-04:00

Recognize Me?

The Night of the Zombie

2008-03-23T23:45:00.003-04:00

Okay, embarrassing story, but its too funny not to post :-)

A few nights ago my family watched the movie "I am Legend". (a must see.....very good movie) In this story there are, for lack of a better word, zombies. They usually jump out from around a corner, and even at times from out of nowhere. They made us jump a few times and had me a little jittery.
When the movie was over we headed back upstairs to go to bed (it was about midnight). I remembered that I had forgotten to feed my cat before the movie, so I opened the front door to check on the status of her food dish. Empty. Leaving the front door open, I ventured out to the garage to get a cup of cat food. When I returned to the front door, it was shut. Not locked, just shut.

I thought I left the door open. Oh well, its late and I'm tired.....I must have forgot I shut it.

With that thought in my head I reached for the doorknob, turned, pulled, and came face to face with this thing that screamed in my face and sounded a lot like one of the 'zombies' from the movie. I screamed twice as loud and three times as long as this thing...... which, when finally stopped screaming, I realized was just my dad who had decided to give his youngest daughter a heart attack.

My screaming like an idiot is not an uncommon thing, unfortunately. When I'm startled my first instinct is to scream. Not gasp, jump, or even back up. But Scream. My poor youth pastors wife....We met around a corner tonight and I screamed in her face. You see, I scared her too but she didn't scream. She said quite calmly, "Oh, you scared me!"

I loved "I Am Legend" but for the sake of my families ears, I might wait a while until I watch it again......or any other thriller for that matter.

The case of the broken alarm clock

2008-03-22T01:04:00.002-04:00

Do you ever just stop and think 'why'? I did that twice this week and I still can't figure out 'why'. Here's what happened.....

I set my alarm for 6:00 Wednesday morning. I had to leave the house by 8:00am and wouldn't be back until late evening, so I wanted plenty of time to get stuff done before I left for the day. My alarm clock thought it would be funny to not go off and it kindly let me sleep in....until 7:30am. Needless to say I was running a little late all day.

Second instance.....
I set my alarm for 7:30 Friday morning. I had lots of stuff to do before work at Noon. My wonderful alarm clock felt bad for making be late on Wednesday and decided to wake me up extra early..... 1:30am!

Why?............. I had set everything correctly each time........I guess its just time to buy a new alarm............

Whoops.....my mistake :-)

2008-03-18T23:56:00.005-04:00

I suppose in my last post I should have asked, "WHO is Eli looking at in the bag?" Not "what"....my bad :-) hehe

Cosette and Eli love this over sized bag. They've had lots of fun taking rides in it while its hanging on my shoulder. Its a good thing for all three of us.......fun for them, work-out for me:-) Cosette was a little surprised when I hung it on the door, but was soon pleased when she discovered it was a great place to hide while playing hide 'n seek with Pappy Shaun :-)

Thanks to everybody who guessed. Those of you who guessed ' a snack' know little Eli too well :-)
While the right answer didn't show up in a comment, I would have to say that Dana was the closest with her guess that he was trying to see if he could fit in the bag.....which he does quit well, I might add.

A Puzzling Picture

2008-03-16T00:51:00.001-04:00

Can you guess what Eli is looking at in this bag?

Leave a comment with your guess and check back soon for the answer!

Got Variety?

2008-03-14T23:56:00.002-04:00

I got home from work tonight a little tired and ready to relax. It had been raining most of the afternoon so my family decided it was a good night to stay in and watch a movie. As I'm sure a lot of you already know, when its time to choose a movie that the whole family will like...well, things can get a little sticky.
We elected mom to make the choice ( since being a mom seems to give you a good sense of what will please all your children.:) ) Most of the DVDs we have are owned by either me or Wray, kept in our rooms respectively. So, mom goes back the hall to check out our selection and a few minutes later she comes back to the living room with an amused look on her face. She then goes on to explain what she found when she was searching for the 'perfect family movie-night' movie.
She went to my room first and this is what she found:

Titles such as: The Chronicles of Narnia, Father of the Bride, A Walk to Remember, The Wedding Planner, Princess Diaries, What a Girl Wants, My Best Friends Wedding....to name a few. Obviously nothing that Wray or Dad would enjoy.
So, she ventures over to Wray's room and finds:

Titles such as: Gladiator, The Island, Miracle, We are Marshal, When a Stranger Calls, Maverick, 3:10 to Yuma......this time, not much that she and I would enjoy.

She arbitrarily chose a movie that she had never seen before. It was one from Wray's shelf....Ted DekKer's Thr3e. We all enjoyed it

Black and White. Up and Down. Cats and Dogs. Wray and Kristin? Of course not. I actually do enjoy some of his movies and ......well, ok. He hates mine.

Got Variety?

Sisters

2008-03-12T01:31:00.006-04:00

Since day one, Jaime and I have gone through many things together. Some things caused tears, while others made us both laugh like only sisters can. Some of these occasions still come up in our conversations years later.

Me and Jaime 3/9/89

Here are 10 'life lessons' from the life of Jaime and Kristin

When washing a load of white clothes, make sure that no GREEN WASHCLOTHS accidentally end up in the load. If one does, you will hear your family complain about mint green socks for several months....and years later when they still tease you about your misfortune and write about it on their blog :-) (Jaime's doing)

When too tired to roll out your chocolate chip cookies it is NOT a good idea to put all the dough on one pan ....it does not result in one giant cookie, but rather it results in an oven with flames coming out of it. (My fault)

Climbing to the top bunk of the bunk beds your share with your sister is a BAD IDEA. She will most likely push you over the edge and onto the floor because "Mom said you shouldn't be up here!" (Depends on who is telling the story :-) )

Ask your little sister to hold onto the dog while you spray her down (the dog, not your sister) :-) That way, when the dog decides to SHAKE, your little sister is soaked while you are safely running in the opposite direction. (uh-huh. Notice the way this is written and you will know who is soaked and who is safe.)

Always put your car in PARK before getting out. It will save the garage door a whole lot of pain. (All I can say is my car has never hit anything other than the curb.)

Spraying perfume on your older brother IS NOT a good way to let him know that you're not happy with him at the moment. (yeah, I'm the culprit)

Mom does NOT enjoy breakfast in bed at 6am on a Saturday morning. Especially when it consists soggy cheerios and burnt toast. (We're both guilty here)

Tandem bikes are not EASY to ride. Take it from two girls who fell over more than they moved forward :-) ( Us on vacation many years ago)

If you want to here your little sister SCREAM, begin to dig holes in the sand on the beach. Tell her you're digging for crabs and ask for help. Like a nice sister she will stick her hands in the hole and start helping. After a few minutes scream, throw sand in the air and yell, "CRAB!". She will then scream quit loudly. Works every time. (The two of us on vacation....and yes, to my embarrassment, it was just last year)

Family is a VERY important part of life. Hold onto them close....They're there for you in good times and bad. (Our family)

* Ding* Ding Round One!

2008-03-09T23:32:00.004-04:00

Jaime shared her funny story from our shopping trip last week so I thought I'd share mine.

My rather pregnant sister (You're beautiful Jaime!) was shopping for some 'mama clothes'; I was keeping the kids occupied and happy so Jaime had time look. I was pushing Eli in the stroller and Cosette was walking about 3 steps behind me (I don't know why, but she wanted to walk behind us all day...is that a bad sign? :-) ) I stopped to look at something on a rack for literally no more than 7-8 seconds. I continue to walk along. Then, from somewhere in front of me I hear Cosette's little voice say, "I'm thirsty aunt Kristin."
I stop.
Wasn't Cosette behind me? Of course she was. Shes been walking behind us all day.
Well, she had been, but in that short amount of time that I had stopped to look at that rack she had somehow ended up in the stroller.
Ok, Cosettes in the Stroller..... then where's Eli?
I begin to panic as I imagine where my little nephew may be.
He can't be far.....I've only walked a small distance since I stopped at that rack
I turn on "Super Aunt" speed as I spin the stroller around and say "Cosette! Where's your brother?" At that point I've done a 360 and am looking right at...you guessed it.... Eli. He had been standing behind me the whole time. "There he is Aunt Kristin! I found him!" Cosette said with much enthusiasm. Eli just looked up at me and smiled.

I'm speechless! How may I ask, in that short amount of time I spent at that rack, did they switch places without me seeing them? And did they do it on purpose? Did they think "Lets see if we can mess with aunt Kristin's head!" ? If they're starting that sort of stuff already at 2 and 3 ( and its actually working ) I'm doomed! Wait 'til they're 6 and 7 and have another little brother to help them!

Spring Fever

2008-03-04T16:03:00.003-05:00

Well, that nice 8 inches of fluffy snow that I was going to ski in is now officially......melted. It went from being bitter cold with several blizzards to 63 degrees and the smell of spring in the air. Around here though, it could snow another foot before spring actually arrives. That would be ok since I didn't get my skis out before the snow melted, but I really wouldn't mind if spring were here for good :-)

Speaking of spring, once I'm sure it has arrived for good I'm going to give my cat a hair cut.

The first picture is what she looked like back in September........

This picture is from today! What do you think?

Does my little fluff ball (Cinders) need a fur-cut? :-)

One of those days

2008-03-01T22:16:00.002-05:00

When things are slow at the restaurant where I work, something strange often happens. Why? Simple, pure boredom. ....but tonight it got a little out of hand. It was extremely slow.....not just a little slow.....extremely slow. I work as a hostess so I get to see the expression on peoples face as they come out of the kitchen to tell me what happened. (The hostess then finds the manager :-) ) The person usually looks a little nervous. But I was sitting at the desk tonight and one of the cooks came out of the kitchen with an big grin on his face. Here is the conversation that followed,
(Keep in mind how slow it was. We were all pretty bored........)

Cook: Did you see the big mess in the kitchen?
Me: What big mess?
Cook: From the dishwasher!
Me: No, what happened? Did it break again? (our dishwasher has a knack for breaking :-) )
Cook: No, half a bottle of dish detergent got poured in!
Me: How did that happen?
Cook: Justin (the dish washer...the person, not the machine :-)) did it
Me: On accident?
Cook: No! He wanted to see what would happen
Me: And.....
Cook: Bubbles are everywhere! The dishwasher overflowed into the sink and bubbles where coming out of all the drains! Even the one in the back! And the floor is soaked.......hahahaha

I then walk to the back of the kitchen, and sure enough, piles of suds are being mopped up.

Needless to say, the floor around the dishwasher is sparkling, and the kitchen has a nice detergent smell to it :-)

Snowboarding Clutz

2008-02-29T23:42:00.001-05:00

The first day of spring is just around the corner (March 20th) and there is a nice fluffy 8 inches of snow on the ground :-)
Growing up living in the mountains was a lot of fun. There is usually a good bit of snow on the ground for most of the winter......which makes for lots of fun 'winter memories'. Yes, most of you have probably been reading my blog long enough to know whats coming.........

Me (at age 10) and Wray (at age 12) are trying out his new snowboard in our backyard. The house we lived in at the time had a backyard that started on a small slope that led in to a large yard that also sloped....right into a cornfield, and then a rather steep bank and deep ditch. Wray, who was pretty good at snow boarding was able to keep it under control and stop before ending up in the the corn field. Wray takes a few rides down the hill and then decides to give me a turn. I get strapped in and am feeling pretty confident....that is until I start down the hill and realize I have no idea how to stop this thing! I fly down the slope, through the yard, across hundreds of cornstalks, down the bank and land face first in the ditch! Put me on a stage with lights, and I've been told that I can be very graceful......but don't ever ask me to go snowboarding :-P

My family and a few of our neighbors used to go sled riding in this big field every winter. Corn field by summer, sled ramp by winter. One time we decided to go at night, so my neighbor put up these huge lights that lit up the whole field. The hill was a sheet of ice that night. So icy in fact, that me and a friend didn't even need a sled. We just slid down in our snow pants :-) We tried a sled but about killed ourselves :-) It made for an easy walk back up the hill!

My home school group went on a Cross-Country Skiing trip one year. We had an instructor with us who took us way back in the woods on some pretty nice trails. Now, I'm a bit more stable on skis than on a snowboard so I had a lot of fun. We got to this really big hill, and I remember not many of us made it down the first time without falling. At one point I think about 5 of us were piled up in the middle of the hill. We were all so determined to make it down without falling that we climbed back to the top to 'try, try again'.

Just a few years ago, mom and I ( and our car) ended up in the middle of a cow field. We came over the top of a hill and slid right through a fence and into a mud pit in the field (at least, I've always told myself it was just mud :-) ) Good news: it was right at the top of our friends driveway. Bad news: Their driveway is a mile long! It was really cold that night and really really windy. The driveway had so much ice on it that I just stood there and the wind pushed me the whole way to the house :-)

Another home school group trip, only this time we were going snow tubing. You know the big wires that you hook your tube to that pull you up the hill? (If you've ever been snow tubing you know what I'm talking about) Anyway, there was this big line of us being pulled up the hill when the tube that was closest to the top came unhooked from the wire, came flying down the hill and pulled several friends along with it :-) Tsk, home schoolers causing trouble on the slopes.......

I am determined to get my skis out this winter! I've been avoiding them because of my hands, but I really want to go skiing...so, I'm going to! Probably by next week this time I'll be posting a story about something weird that happened while skiing this week :-P Don't worry, lots of gloves will be worn with hand warmers stuffed inside. But I'm sure that the thrill of being back on my skis will be worth some extra hand therapy........

A Mouse in the House

2008-02-28T22:37:00.002-05:00

Blog world, meet Wynn....the most recent addition to our family :-)

My Little Friend

2008-02-24T23:09:00.002-05:00

I took my camera up to Joel and Jaime's tonight hoping to get some cute pictures of Cosette and Eli......success! Cosette loves to have her picture taken............

My little friend was quite happy that I had my camera with

me. She wanted me to take 'lots and lots of pictures' :-)

"What do I look like when I do this, Aunt Kristin?"

Posing for the camera........again

"Take one with Eli too!"

(Eli looks thrilled :-) )

"Ok, I'm tired of taking pictures now"

Our little man

2008-02-23T01:05:00.001-05:00

How cute is this little guy? :-)

No, he wasn't laughing.....I asked him to smile for the camera

and this is the expression he made.

Smile! You have crazy grandchildren :-)

2008-02-20T22:02:00.002-05:00

Hi Grandma! I thought you might need some cheering up since you're stuck inside with this silly weather. I'm sitting here at work trying to decide what I could say to make you laugh........then it hit me.....the one thing that I'm sure will bring a smile to your face is your 3 youngest grand-daughters, Damara, Kristin, and Skyler :-) The three of us always seemed to do something to make you laugh.....I think it was because you were trying not to cry, but thats not the point :-P Anyway, I'm sure you will remember all these occasions......

1) Sky, Mara, and myself were all spending the night at your house. We insisted that we could all fit in the bed in your guest room, and you agreed that we could stay in there ( what fun would grandmas house be if you actually had to go to sleep, right ;-). You sat up with us for a while and told us stories....and we quickly discovered that all three of us could not all fit in the same bed. The idea occured to us, for some odd reason, that if we put the matress on the floor we would have more room. I still can't figure that one out, but I remember how much fun we had trying not to wake pap up while we basically rearranged your guest bedroom so the matress would fit on the floor. The next morning we tried to convince pap that Sky had moved it by herself (I think we picked her because it was believable that she would have actually tried :-) To this day, I still don't know if we convinced him or not ;-)

2) The occasion: One of many 'birthday shopping trips'
The place: Riding down the highway in your red Tracker
The goofiness: The entire ride from my house to the mall, Sky had her head out the window singing,
'99 bottles of coke on the wall' I think we all walked 10 steps behind her the rest of the day :-P

3) There is this one other story that I could tell, but the 4 of us have sworn to secrecy. All I will say is that it involves a red light.............ok, you can stop laughing now........:-P

4) I will apologize on behalf of Skyler for all the gum wrapper that ended up in your hair from the backseat.......it was trouble to put the two of us back there.....

5) Did you know there is a sign in the store in the mall now that says, "No cameras allowed in store" ? Just kidding :-) There should be though; I thought that lady was going to kick us out!

6) We came out of "Long John Silvers" and you discovered that you had locked your keys in the car. We were there for about 15 minutes trying to figure out what to do when you suddenly remembered that you had an extra key in your purse:-) That time you made us laugh!

7) Its Easter Sunday, and we're all eating lunch at your house. Wray, Damara, Syler, and I all have a game of ping-pong going in the basement. Sky and I were on the side of the table facing the steps, Wray and Mara on the other. Mara hits the balls towards Sky who whacks it as hard as she can.....right through the curtain and into the toilet :-) I'll never forget the look on her face as she says, "I'm so glad nobody was in there!" Pap came down and made her put on big rubber gloves and fish the ball out of the toilet......after that we made her stand on the other side of the table when we played ping-pong.

Well, thats all for now. Hope this made you smile :-D

He first loved you.......

2008-02-14T22:18:00.002-05:00

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
--John 15:13

Anybody home in there....?

2008-02-12T20:52:00.001-05:00

I hadn't seen Cosette in about a week due to my work schedule and being quite sick for several days. So, she came to spend the night last night since I didn't have to work and am feeling better. She came running through the front door and squealed her 'little girl squeal' and gave me a huge bear hug. "Aunt Kristin, I am so happy! I'm spending the night at your house tonight!" Those hugs from my 3 year old niece always make my heart melt.....
Anyway, we had a fun night of reading books, singing songs....lots of songs......and eating ice cream cake :-) The real reason for this post, however, is to tell you this story....

Those of you who know Cosette know that she likes to get up at a pretty early hour of the morning. I was prepared for it this morning when I heard her come down the hall to 'see if aunt Kristin is up yet.' I'm not exactly sure what time it was, but it was still dark outside.

If I don't open my eyes, she'll think I'm still asleep...
"Aunt Kristin.....are you awake?"
Just don't move a muscle. She'll give up eventually
"It's morning time! Time to get up"
Think invisible. Think invisible.
"I really do think you should get up now."
Maybe if I started snoring......
I hear her leave the room.....
See, shes gone. That wasn't so hard......here she comes again
This time she puts her face right in mine
"WAKE UP!"
Hmmm....she had banana for breakfast
She then hops onto my bed, takes her two index fingers and opens my eyelids.
"Good morning! As long as you're awake, you might as well get out of bed!"

L1, R3, L2, R1......

2008-02-04T00:58:00.001-05:00

The right combination has to be here somewhere! It feels like my families lives are going in circles right now.
In my last (very short) post, I said that my Grandma was facing surgery this week. However, in the few hours since that post, the circumstances have changed. Her arm was still to weak from that surgery she had on Friday, and her blood pressure wasn't right to do surgery. So the doctors decided it was in the best interest of all involved to send her home for a few weeks to get her strength back. Please continue to remember her in your prayers as she will have several more weeks to think about this. And also remember my mom...its only been a year since her heart surgery (which was done at the same hospital and by the same doctor that is doing grandmas) and its difficult for her to be back in that hospital.....too many memories.

Prayers

2008-02-03T15:09:00.001-05:00

Please remember my Grandma in your prayers. She faces major open heart surgery this week....

1 Ice storm, 200 cookies, and 1 nervous little sister

2008-02-02T22:16:00.001-05:00

Wray and I had an 'ice storm' adventure on Friday. Our area had freezing rain all thursday night, and by the time morning came around everything, including the road, was covered in a nice sheet of ice. When I pulled myself out of bed I called and cancelled hand therapy and then found Wray in the driveway chipping about an inch of ice off my car. If you could have lifted the ice off you would have had a perfect ice sculpture of my car :-)

Then, we watched a movie in the kitchen while I baked a double batch of chocolate chip cookies.....we have enough cookies to feed an army :-P We then decided to 'live on the wild side', as Wray put it, and take some cookies to Joel and Jaime on the snow covered roads. He went out to warm up the car and I discovered when I went out a few minutes later that when he said 'live on the wild side' he meant taking my car! Funny how that worked out, huh?

He drove so it also included taking the back way home, "to test your car in the snow." I was perfectly happy with never finding out how my car did on the back roads with snow, but we had fun :-P Or rather, he had fun laughing at me everytime I would cringe or cover my eyes. We took the back way with the agreement that he would pay for any damages that occured when we slid into a ditch and I would drive his Sunfire until my car was fixed.....he laughed at that too, so I'm not sure if he realized I was serious :-)
Wray is a pretty good driver though, and he parked my car safely back in the driveway at which point he turned to me and said, "See, no reason to worry." I then pryed my fingers off my dashboard and exited the car silently
:-)

So that is the story of our ice storm adventure

Late night reading

2008-02-01T20:50:00.001-05:00

Hi Mom! I thought you might like some late night entertainment while you're staying with Grandma. Hope the night goes quick for you and that Grandma is feeling better by morning.

Wray and I took cookies up to Joel and Jaime this afternoon ( since we had around 120 cookies, we thought we could spare a few :-) ) We stayed for about an hour I have a cute Cosette story to tell you.....
We all sat for about 10 minutes and watched Joel and Cosette play 'football' in the middle of the living room. Cosette would get in her football position, (one hand on her back, backside up in the air, and the other hand resting on the floor), then she would say, "One, Two, Three, HUT!" And then they would tackle each other :-) She was doing all this in the dress she calls her 'beautiful wedding dress." Maybe you had to be there, but it was pretty cute.

The electicity was off for about 5 1/2 hours today. Wray and I played cards for 3 1/2 hours of that. And of course, I creamed him :-) The power came back on around 7:30 and now we're eating hotdogs with leftover sloppy joe sauce ( I made sloppy joes for supper wednesday night )
Cosette called tonight and told us that we could, "borrow our electricity until yours comes back" :-)

Everybody told me at hand therapy on thursday that my hands are looking great. I found out that I'm the first person with raynauds that they've tried this on. Bethany told me I'll probably end up being their 'spokes person' for anodyne. :-P I didn't get to talk to Laura about AC because it was a little crazy back there, but hopefully it won't be as busy when I go on Monday.

I wish I could come down with dad tomorrow, but I'm supposed to work at 3. Baylee said she will work for me but I need the hours. I'll be sending something for Grandma though. Think hard enough and you will figure it out
:-) I'm sure it will make her smile

I guess thats all thats been happening around here since wednesday. Well, one more thing, but thats a surprise and you have to wait to you get home to see it :-)
I'll keep my phone under my pillow tonight....text if you need someone to talk to.

Goodnight, hopefully I will see you tomorrow night. Love you........

Guys 'n Gals

2008-01-29T00:03:00.001-05:00

I was at Jaime's house for a few hours today for the simple fact that I needed some 'sister, niece and nephew time'. In the few hours that I was there, I learned several lessons about 'Guys 'n Gals'......

Lesson 1: Girls Delight in art projects........Guys Devour their art projects
When I got there Cosette was sitting at the table painting a picture and Eli was getting ready to color a picture.
I watched Cosette for a while; she was doing a good job at staying in the lines and rinsing out her brush. Eli was being very quite so looked across the table to check on him and found him having a great time eating his crayons. :-)

Lesson 2: Girls think of an Aunt as someone who makes great Peanut Butter balls. Guys think of an Aunt as someone who makes a great tissue
Cosette and I had fun making peanut butter balls today. I'll admit, by the time we were finished we were a bit sticky...but we had fun none the less.
I noticed Eli rubbing his eyes and I asked if he was sleepy. He said he was and laid his head down on my arm. He didn't leave it there for long, and before he pulled his head up he took his nose and ran it all the way up my sleeve; that wouldn't have been bad except for the fact that he has a rather snotty nose at the moment. Yeah, you get the picture :-)

Lesson 3: Girls eat snacks slowly.....Guys eat them all at once :-)
Cosette and Eli each had a small cup of peanuts for a snack. Cosette was eating hers relatively slow (about one peanut every 45 seconds, which considering the size of one peanut is really slow) Eli took his cup and dumped every last peanut into his mouth in about 5 seconds :-)

Lesson 4: Aunt Kristin wouldn't have it any other way
I love it! The fact that Cosette wants sit on the couch and read a book and Eli want to do somersaults off it just shows how awesome our God is. He took the time to create each of their little minds and give them their own little personalities. We can't make Eli like dolls, and we can't make Cosette eat her crayons :-) So just look to the little ones to see the amazing work of our God!

The Bubble Wrap Dance

2008-01-26T22:07:00.001-05:00

At home on a Saturday night with nothing to do, I decided to watch some old 'home videos' on the computer. I'm glad I did because I found a video that was thought to be lost forever :-) I thought it had been accidentally deleted a while ago......but that obviously was not the case because it suddenly appeared on my computer....who knows. Anyway.....this very cute moment was captured Christmas Day 2006.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I now introduce the dancing skills of Miss Cosette Elise. Prepare to be amazed........

(Cosette was almost two when this video was taken)

The Bubble Wrap Dance....

Memories

2008-01-23T13:07:00.001-05:00

One year ago today, I was sitting in a waiting room at Johns Hopkins University. Wray was sitting to my right, Grandma Rosina was to my left. Pappy John was pacing the hallway and dad had found another 'waiting room guest' to talk to. Pappy Babe and Grandma Carol were also in the waiting room, I believe sitting against a wall to my left. The waiting room was full that day, not many seats were empty. I was keeping my mind occupied with sudoku puzzles and Wray had found an activity book. The walls were painted yellow, as if trying to say, "Smile! Everything will be ok!" I remember seeing Grandma Carol with her eyes closed and head bowed, obviously in prayer. I remember watching snowflakes hit the window, stick for just a moment and then melt away. I even had a little rhythm going in my head...." hit, stick, and melt. hit stick and melt." :-) ( it was a long morning :-P )

I can still remember the feeling I had as I woke up that morning in a town house in Baltimore.....walking to the hospital....and riding the elevator to the 5th floor. It was a feeling of dread and peace all mixed together. Dread because this day had finally come.....and peace because I knew God was going to work it all out.

......why do I remember this day so well? Why the recalling of every little detail?
January 23rd 2007 was the day Mom had her Open Heart Surgery. Its been a whole year already! To see the change in moms health from one January to the next puts me at a loss for words.....

God is amazing, isn't He!?

Remember to give your mom a hug today!

Did I say nerd? What I meant was......

2008-01-22T00:15:00.002-05:00

After my last post I wanted to make sure my readers knew exactly how much my older brother really means to me. I picked on him in the last post (hey, what are little sisters for?), but in the eyes of his younger sister, this is who Wray really is:

A Protector:
-- He was my comfort 12 years ago when we would go to story hour at the Library. I would be so scared without 'mommy' close by and Wray would always sit right beside me and put his arm around my shoulder. "Don't worry, mommy will be back soon. I'll take care of you."

--When we were little, he would always hold my hand in the parking lot......he was moms little helper

--Fast forward several years, to the time I'm about 10. I'm riding the go-cart in the backyard and and somehow end up tipping it over on its side. Whoops :-P Who rescues me? Yep, Wray :-)

A Friend:
--Being only 18 months apart, we were always very close friends. From camping in the backyard to chasing chickens in the chicken house, we were ( for the most part) always doing something together. I can remember the day we discovered it was fun to jump through the vent (about 2'x3') in the hallway floor. We made a pile of pillows and blankets in the basement which made for a nice soft landing :-)

--When I was buying my first car Wray was in Master's Commission in Florida. We had always dreamed of the day we could finally drive....yes, I got my love of driving from spending so much time with Wray :-) So, the fact that he was 22 hours away while I was shopping for my first car was quite upsetting. I remember several phone calls about which was better, "a Chevy or a Ford", and, "which has better gas mileage". I even sent him pictures when I finally drove my new car home.

A ....."Help!"
--My car had a flat tire a few weeks ago........yes, Wray fixed it for me :-)

--"Wray! I just got a speeding ticket and I'm scared to tell dad!" He broke the news gently for me :-)

A Class mate:-)
--Being homeschooled, there always seemed to be a lack of students in my class :-) The one I did have though, was a pretty cool kid :-P Science experiments were fun to do together....although by the time we finished, it some times looked like moms whole kitchen had exploded.....

--"Psst. What did you put for number five?" "Nothing yet.......pass the cookies....."

A Role Model
---One of the first things you notice when meeting Wray is that he is an awesome man of God. The way he lives his life is an example for all his friends....and his little sister too.

I could go on, but I'm not going to because I think I've made my point very clear. I love my brother and I am very thankful for him.

The most awesome brother around!

Three Nerds and a 4-wheeler

2008-01-20T15:11:00.003-05:00

It was about 5 degrees outside Saturday night and instead of entertainng themselves inside, my brother and his friends decided it was a much better idea to see who could turn into a popsicle first outside. So they whipped out the 4-wheeler and away they went. My brother and his friends are known to do some pretty goofy things so I wasn't too surprised on Saturday night when I looked out the window and saw this strange site.........

Wray is driving the 4-wheeler that now has a sled hooked to the back

of it. In the front of the sled is Ryan yelling, "MUSH!". Behind him is

Luke, who I see get thrown off, fly through the air, and then go running

along behind yelling, "Wait for Me!"

A few minutes later they go through the backyard again, only this

time Ryan is riding the sled like a surf board and Wray is trying as

hard as he can to make him fall off.

Notice in these two pictures that it is not the driver of the 4-wheeler who is wearing the helmet.....but rather his two friends who are being pulled along behind :-)

So, that is my story of

"The three nerds and the 4-wheeler" :-)

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2008-01-15T21:20:00.001-05:00

The Good:

I went to the bank at 9:00am today to take a computer test because I might be starting a full time job there. I sat down at the computer, nerves jittering, and clicked 'start' on the test screen.

The Bad:

The computer promptly froze 10 seconds into the demo. "Drat!" I said, praying I couldn't be heard through the office door. I told Vickie who came and restarted the computer.......and again after it froze TWO more times! Finally she called Tech Support and they were able to restart the computer and get me through the practice questions on the test (about 15 minutes worth of 'demo')....and guess what happened......the screen froze.
So, we went over to the other office to install the program on a different computer. After about 15 minutes the program is ready to go and I sit down to start the test for a 4th time.

The really, really Ugly:

HOWEVER, computer #2 doesn't have speakers, and it impossible to take this test without sound. So, we went back to office #1, took the speakers off that computer, and hooked them up to the computer in office #2. Begin test 5th time....

Ok, nothing else should go wrong, right? *BUZZ* Guess again. The number pad on the keyboard in office #2 doesn't work....and since its a test for a bank, numbers are kind of important :-) UGH!
At that point I was done for. Even if we got everything working I had lost my momentum to take the test. I just wasn't focused anymore. So, I'm going back tomorrow morning (Wednesday) with the promise that they will have it all figured out :-) I saw enough of the test that I don't think it will be too difficult, but prayers are welcome :-)
However, more than anything else....I ask you to pray for the computer!

Just to make you smile :-D

2008-01-10T23:53:00.001-05:00

This post is full of information that is......well.....useless.

I've picked some of my favorites from "The book of useless information"

November 19th is 'Have a bad day day' (...and any day I have a dentist appointment)

Americans spend $1.5 billion every year on toothpaste (Half of which is purchased by my older sister, Jaime)

In the summer, walnuts get a tan (Someone should tell them about sunscreen)

A group of frogs is called an army (You have to go through an army of frogs to find one prince)

Elvis failed his music class in school (I'm hopeless)

The basilisk is also called the "Jesus Christ lizard" because of its ability to run on water (Yeah, but can it turn water into wine?)

Grapes explode when you put them in the microwave (I do not speak from experience....yet)

During your life you will eat sixty thousand pounds of food (In my case, mostly chocolate)

A can of spam is opened every 4 seconds (It this even real food?)

Two million different combinations of sandwiches can be created from a subway menu (And I order the same thing every time I eat there)

The Donald Duck comic strip was banned from Finland because he didn't wear pants (Feathers don't count?)

Three mile island is only 2.5 miles long (All my trust is broken.......does Winnie the Pooh really live in a 100 acre wood?)

The Bible is the number one shoplifted book in America (The easiest way to spread the Word)

Tonsurphobia is the fear of haircuts (Poor Eli.....)

True Love Waits

2008-01-08T21:36:00.001-05:00

In the past few posts you have heard about my hand therapy, my niece and nephew, fun times with friends......but so far I haven't posted about who I really am. The main reason I have slacked on doing so is because I knew it was going to take some thought and I never have that much time to sit in front of the computer and think. However, I just finished closing up at work and have a few hours before my relief comes so now seems like a good time.

When I was around 14 years old I read a book called "I kissed dating good-bye" by Joshua Harris. http://www.joshharris.com/joshs_biography.php After that, there was no changing my mind. I made a commitment to God and myself that I was going to be different. I didn't want to date a guy just to say I had a boyfriend; I wasn't going to kiss a guy just because I liked him; I was rock solid.
I have only God to thank when I tell you that I still live that out to this day. Living out a commitment like that in this world isn't easy. There are all sorts of influences telling you that you're wrong, or that your weird for not having a relationship, or someone telling you that "you will never get married because you're not allowed to have a boyfriend"..........None of that mattered to me. Yes, it hurt. Yes, it was hard. But so totally worth it.

Around the age of 17 I felt God leading me towards a ministry for young girls ( jr. high ) I wanted to be that voice of encouragement. As soon as I graduated high school I held an 8 week purity camp for girls. We went through the book by Dannah Gresh called Secret Keeper Girl. http://purefreedom.org/
Whats the big Secret? Simple: Your purity. A secret is something that is kept between 2 people. In this case, you and your husband/wife. If you spread the 'secret' around to all your friends, whats so special about it now?

This is how I explain purity to the girls. (Remember I'm talking to 8-12 year olds)
"Your purity is like a box all wrapped up in shiny paper with a beautiful gold bow on top. Now, lets say you're in a relationship with a guy and you give him your first kiss. He just tore the bow off the top of your shiny package. The next time it goes a little furter and he rips off the ribbon. Eventually you give yourself away completely and he tears off the paper leaving you with an empty cardboard box. Time passes and you both move on, becoming only memories in the other persons mind. Well, in walks your prince charming! You fall in love and get married.......but all you have left to give him is an empty cardboard box. The gold bow is gone; Even the ribbon and shiny paper are gone. Now you wish you hadn't given away the best part of your gift."

I want to reach out
To girls before they tell the secret: Tell them of the love of Jesus Christ
To girls who have already told the secret: Tell them of the forgivness of Jesus Christ

You got the short version :-) I could go on for hours on this subject......but now that I finally did this post I will talk about this again later on.
I'm glad that my readers out in blog land now know some of Kristin's heart........not just hand therapy :-)

But for now remember that True Love Waits. First find the unfading love of Jesus Christ, and use that as your example.

"I am committed to Purity for my future mate because my Heavenly Father has lovingly instructed me to do so."
--Philippians 4:8

Friday....and very early saturday morning :-)

2008-01-06T15:57:00.002-05:00

Several of the churches in my area hosted a 7th Day Slumber concert on Friday. The youth staff at my church was in charge of helping the bands to set up and tear down their equipment (which included clearing of the stage for the next band during the concert). :-D Lots of fun! The four bands were Sherif, Manic Drive, After Edmund, and 7DS.
We arrived at the church at 11:30am and didn't leave until after midnight......and then the six of us (Pastor Jim, Chris, Jeramy, both Elizabeths, and myself) decided we were in need of some early morning food at Denny's. :-) We didn't leave Denny's until 2:00am which meant that we had just spent a total of 15 hours together. We all had a lot of fun though and I'm thankful for the new friends I meant around March of last year.
Anyway......Our day was filled with lots of sound equipment, listening to sound checks for a few hours, eating dinner in the same room with one of the bands (After Edmund) and Elizabeth Taylor deciding that her dads hair was in great need a some 'Men's gray cover-up' :-D
So, here are some pictures of the bands and the youth staff dying Pastor Jim's hair in the Janitors closet.....
(I used some christmas money to buy a new camera because my old one went klapooie.....it seems to do pretty well at concerts. Elizabeth Walker was having fun trying out all the different settings.)

Elizabeth looking way too satisfied to be dying her dads hair

We had to close the door because we were getting a line of
people outside the Janitors closet watching the 'youth pastor
from Trinity getting his hair dyed'.

The finished product...

Jeremy, a 7DS band member

The lead singer for After Edmund. I had never heard this
band before but really liked them.

7DS bass player

Joseph Rojas, lead singer for 7DS

The laughter of Children....or rather, what they do to make YOU laugh :-D

2008-01-02T21:29:00.001-05:00

I spent last night and today at Jaime's house helping out with kids after her 'baby scare' yesterday. (For those of you who haven't read her blog yet, it explains about the 'baby scare')
Anyway, I had the chance to hold down the fort while she was at the OBs office. I felt like I was on a reality tv show called, "A day in the life of your older sister" :-)

Cosette came into the livingroom rubbing her neck and asked, "Aunt Kristin, can you feel the ankle in my neck. Is it ok that its there?" I laughed and told her it wasn't an ankle and that, "yes its supposed to be there. See, I have one to."

Eli went down for his morning nap while Cosette was having 'quiet time' in her room. About 10 minutes later I heard Cosette saying, "Go back to bed because you're not supposed to be here! Aunt Kristin will see you." Eli had decided his nap was over and was playing happily in is big sister's room......aunt Kristin quickly changed his mind :-)

Cosette: "Hey, will you do that upside down thing like my friend Adam does?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Cosette then faces me, grabs my hands, walks her feet up my legs and flips over backwards so she is facing forward.....but upside down....and then says, "Now walk!"

I walked into the bedroom to find Eli wearing his sister's 'big girl pantys'. Yes Joel, the ones with little yellow flowers :-)

This is a shout out to my big sister. It takes a strong person to laugh when her son pees in the hallway before his bath......:-D

A wish for you.....

2007-12-25T13:41:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas!

yeah baby.....:-)

2007-12-21T17:15:00.001-05:00

My hand therapist did a nerve test today and it showed a 25% improvement in my hands! Several other tests showed that therapy is actually helping......which is obviously good news :-)

Mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas and this is what I said......

Put a smile on your face......:-D