Halloween

This is going to be a quick one this week. Tonight is Halloween. The boys are excited and ready to go for tonight. We saw Monster House this weekend, which I did not like. The boys enjoyed it, but I didn’t care for it. Dusty didn’t pick up the boys this weekend. He emailed Friday afternoon and said he had to work. We also got to go to dinner with my in-laws. We had a really good time and I know the boys enjoyed seeing Grandma and Grandpa again. Plus they enjoy being at their house in the country because they can truly be “boys” out there.

That is it for now. I know there are more things to tell, but today I am not really in the mood to write much…so maybe next week I will be more motivated. Have a great week and don’t forget to let me know how YOU are doing!!

Cell Phone vs. The Bible

I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treated our cell phones?

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we used it to receive messages?
What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it as we traveled?
What if we used it in case of an emergency?
What if we upgraded it to get the latest version?
Oh, and one more thing.
Unlike our cell phones, we don’t ever have to worry about our bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.

Update...

Well, I am a bit late with my update again this week…but I have a lot to tell.

Last week I was very blessed. I got three…yes three…refund checks in the mail (none of which I was expecting.) God must have thought we needed a bit extra cash. I got a refund from PGE (from our old house…over six months since we moved), plus a refund from our garbage service from the old house. I also got a refund from the boy’s doctor for an immunization he had last month. I also ordered a cute book called “The pumpkin parable.” We are going to read it in kids church when we teach next weekend. It talks about a pumpkin and focuses on fall instead of on Halloween (which Joe isn’t a big fan of…so say the least.) Well, I ordered the book online from Amazon and received it…but inside were not one, but TWO books. Now we just have to figure out who we want to give the book to. Maybe we will give it away as a prize for kids church…not sure quite yet.

Friday night Joe took off for Pullman to watch the Cougar football. The boys and I went to a carnival at their elementary school. We had a blast. I even won a pie on the cake walk (maybe I should call it a pastry walk since I won a “pie” and not a cake.) The boys both got balloon hats and played all sorts of carnival games. It was definitely a grand time.

Saturday I worked for a few hours and my dad watched the boys for me. They went to McDonalds and had a great time together. As long as my mom is feeling okay, she is going to have Will overnite tonight for some one-on-one time. He is really looking forward to it. Saturday night we went to Family Night at church. I haven’t been before, but I had a BLAST! We broke up into teams of two families each and competed in a contest where we went to different rooms in the church and did different activities. Our team came in 2nd place. It was a great experience. In one room we were working on a memory verse about unity and love in the family (which was the theme for the night.) After we constructed the memory verse on the floor the leaders asked if we lived in unity. Well, William instantly said no… Everyone is room chuckled a bit and then burst out in laughter when he said, “we live in Washington.” It was the cutest thing ever.

Sunday we went to church and found out that a water main had broken overnite and there was not water in the whole church! It wasn’t a big deal except when I realized that my kiddos in Kid’s church all had to go to the bathroom. We took a “field trip” across the parking lot to our Senior Center (which had a different source of water) which used up half of our class time. It was quite an adventure to get 20 4, 5, & 6 year olds across a huge parking lot without them running wild!

The boys and I also went to see Cars. We bought some tickets through the boys school for 10 movies for only $7! Such a deal. Next week we get to watch Monster House.

My friends from church have been really struggling and have been praying for more hours and God answered their (and my) prayers. They not only got the guaranteed hours that they needed but also a raise! God is so good to those who love Him:)

Our new employee started yesterday, Sterling. He is very nice and we are happy to have another set of hands on board.

To top by busy week off…I have a cold…poor me:( I expect a bunch of sympathy!! Just joking… (kind of…lol)

Important Recall Notice!!

The Maker of all human beings is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to a serious defect in the primary and central component of the heart. This is due to malfunction in the original prototype units code named Adam and Eve, resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. This defect has been technically termed "Subsequential Internal Non-Morality," or more commonly known as S.I.N., as it is primarily expressed. Some other symptoms:
1. Loss of direction 2. Foul vocal emissions 3. Amnesia of origin 4. Lack of peace and joy 5. Selfish, or violent behavior 6. Depression or confusion in the mental component 7. Fearfulness 8. Idolatry 9. Rebellion

The Manufacturer, who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect, is providing factory authorized repair and service free of charge to correct this S.I.N. defect. The Repair Technician, JESUS, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs. There is no additional fee required. The number to call in all areas is: P-R-A-Y-E-R. Once connected, please upload your burden of S.I.N. through the REPENTANCE procedure. Next, download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, JESUS, into the heart component. No matter how big or small the S.I.N. defect is, JESUS will replace it with:
1 Love 2. Joy 3. Peace 4. Patience 5. Kindness 6. Goodness 7. Faithfulness 8. Gentleness 9. Self control

Please see the operating manual, the B.I.B.L.E. (Believers Instructions Before Leaving Earth), for further details on the use of these fixes. WARNING: Continuing to operate the human being unit without correction voids any manufacturer warranties, exposing the unit to dangers and problems too numerous to list and will result in the human unit being permanently impounded. For free emergency service, call on JESUS. DANGER: The human being units not responding to this recall action will have to be scrapped in the furnace. The S.I.N. defect will not be permitted to enter Heaven, so as to prevent contamination of that facility. Thank you for your attention! GOD

Better late than never...

So sorry I am late this week with my update. Work has been so busy. This week is start week, when new classes start and new students are coming in. For the past few weeks we have had roofers working on our roof (including jackhammers, tar, and sticky adhesive…not fun) and as my fellow Portlanders know…we had quite a rainstorm on Sunday. Well…the roofers thought they were done…but instead the entire 6th floor flooded! We had garbage cans collecting water all over the place. The bathroom ceiling caved in. One office, computer and all, is completely ruined. Plus the front desk is missing part of the ceiling. Poor Tanya was straddling a garbage can all day Monday to catch the steady stream of water. It was quite a day!

I had a wonderful time at Women on Faith this past weekend. It made me laugh, cry, rejoice, and more… Plus, I got to take my mom. Another lady from work had tickets to both days, but couldn’t attend on Saturday and gave me her ticket. It was great to get to share the conference with someone who wouldn’t otherwise get to go. She really had a great time. I bought a few books. One was written by Robin McGraw (Dr. Phil’s wife.) I am really going to enjoy that one (although Joe is going to keep it for me and give it to me for a Christmas present so I will have a wait a few months.) I also chose a child from a charity to sponsor and I am going to start writing a letter to him. He is so cute and just a year younger than William. We are going to enjoy corresponding with him over the years. My sister-in-law has been sponsoring a child for years and really enjoys it. They have received many letters and feel they have really made a difference for him and his family. I can’t wait to make a similar impact on my little guy.

Last night our family got to go to a church family’s house for dinner (Jeff and December.) We had a wonderful dinner and really enjoyed spending the evening with them. As I have mentioned in previous emails, Joe and I are starting our own Life Group. We are very excited. Jeff and December has been mentoring us and last night was our final meeting for our Shepard Leadership training. We are planning to do our group on Friday nights. What a better way to kick off the weekend and end a long week at work! If anyone wants to come you are more than welcome. It will be near our home in Vancouver and we are excited to kick it off!

Well, I have lots to say, but I must go. Talk to you all next week!

Fun stuff going on...

Work usually doesn’t have much to update, but last week was the end of a term for our students and one student came up to visit me on Thursday. He is one of my favorite students. He is in a wheelchair and is full of joy. He loved school, was there everyday, and had great grades. I really enjoyed his outlook and determination. As I said before, he came up just to say goodbye because he was graduating. It was so great. You could truly see how proud he was. He said he couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to his favorite loan officer. How sweet! He really made my day.

We finally got the okay to hire someone at work (yippee!!) Hopefully that person will accept the position and will be able to start soon! I will be great to finally have a full crew once again.

I had a wonderful weekend. It all started Friday night when my office got to go out with our representative from Sallie Mae. We went to Huber’s for dinner and it was DELICIOUS. Anyone who knows anything about me know I LOVE food. I had a delicious pepper steak with a wine sauce and shitake mushrooms. The taste was so good I thought I had gone to heaven. I think they serve that steak in heaven…I truly do! LOL

Saturday morning Joe had to work for a while, so the boys and I took some time together to go to the Pumpkin Patch at Sauvie Island. We had a BLAST! I don’t think I have had so much fun with them in years. We were there for 4 hours (a lot longer than I ever thought we would be there) and we were all tired by the time we got home…but not a single thing went wrong. No whining, no fighting. Just a wonderful time together. We went to the barn and saw all the animals (including two cute pigs.) Next we took the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and picked out our favorite pumpkins. While I paid for the pumpkins and took them to the van, the boys played on a pyramid made out of hay bales. They boys loved it. They even had a tunnel for the kids to crawl through. Then we had a quick lunch and proceeded to the corn maze. It took us about 45 minutes to get through it (3 miles of maze covering 8 acres) and we were all tired when we were done. After a quick rest we headed to the market and bought some fresh apples, peppers, broccoli, etc. The last thing we went on was my favorite part of the day. We went on a “cow ride.” It was a mini train-type ride pulled by a tractor and the train cars were made out of barrels and painted to look like cows. They drove us around the parking lot and then took us on a tour of the farm showing the blueberry and strawberry fields. It was a blast.
When we finally came home I intended to watch the Duck game (who lost…boo hoo) but I ended up falling asleep and didn’t wake up until morning! Even though the Ducks lost, Joe was happy because his Cougars (Washington State) won against Oregon State…so at least one of us had a good sports day.

Church on Sunday was great. Since most of our ministry team is still on a mission in India we were able to enjoy a new speaker this week. He is a member of our church, but he works with Promise Keepers as the National Event Volunteer coordinator. It was a wonderful sermon. He was talking about change and how we must continually change throughout our whole life. He likened it to climbing a mountain. He talked about a lodge half-way up a mountain and half of a hiking team stayed behind because they were too tired to go on and the lodge was so nice (with couches, hot coco, and a warm fire.) The half of the team that stayed behind was feeling pretty smug because they thought they had made the better choice (instead of 4-5 hours of climbing) until the other half came back talking about how wonderful the experience had been. He talked about how we might find a place in life where we are pretty comfortable and life seems to be as good as it can get…be careful…because the summit is still in the distance and if you strive for it you will not be sorry.

After church we stopped at Pizza Hut for lunch and I wanted the stuffed crust pizza, but Joe didn’t….so we decided to order the stuffed crust for me and Will. Joe and Zan ordered mini pizzas. When our order came it wasn’t quite right. Zan ordered a pizza with pineapple and it came with pepperoni. Mine was a pan pizza, not a stuffed crust. The waitress said she could add pineapple to Zan’s for free (free topping) and she said she could either have them make another pizza OR I could have the current one for free! What a deal. All we ended up paying for was our drinks and the two mini pizzas. God sure looks out for us!

While we were at lunch my dad called. He asked if I had my Grandpa’s bible. I didn’t, but I found out that my grandpa wanted to borrow it back from whatever family member had it. I find a lot of hope in this. My grandpa was raised knowing God, but felt it had been crammed down his throat and he fell away from all God related things when he left for college. In fact he and my grandma had decided that they would not even talk about God to their kids (my dad, my aunt, and uncle). My hope is that he is striving to connect with God again. It really makes me hopeful.

This week is going to be a busy week for the boys. Wednesday is picture day. I can’t wait to see how they turn out! Thursday Will goes to the pumpkin patch with his class. Thursday night Dusty is picking up the boys early to go on a mini-vacation. They are going to Bend. Dusty’s work is paying for it. They even get to go horseback riding. They are going to have a blast and I think it will really help them build some good memories with their Dad.

I am really looking forward to Women of Faith which is this Friday and Saturday. I saved up my secret shopper money. It is going to be so great. Plus I am going to have dinner with my mom Friday night. The conference doesn’t start until 7 and I get off at 5, so I thought it would be great to spend some time with her since I will have to eat out anyway. All in all, it should be a great weekend!

Another week goes by...

The last part of last week wasn’t the best for me since I was sick. I went home early on Thursday and stayed home Friday. Thankfully by the weekend I was feeling 100% better. I just have a bit of a stuffy nose now…nothing too bad

The boys both had a dentist appointment last week. Zan came out with no cavities. Will had one, but they found the beginnings of it last time and we knew it was coming. I also found out that Will won’t need braces, but Zan is going to need them (probably when he is about 11 or 12.)

Saturday was a “veg” day for Joe and I (although he had to work a bit in the morning.) I watched the first half of the Duck game, but just listened the second half since it wasn’t very exciting.

Sunday was a packed day. Joe and I went to church and then taught Wee Worship. We are doing a series based on a song one of our minister’s wrote. In addition, we did some activities about when Jesus fed 5000. The kids really had fun with our activities. Hopefully the rest of the month goes just as well. After church we went out to dinner with my in-laws. We went to McGrath’s Fish House. It was delicious! I had parmesan crusted halibut…YUMMY! After lunch we visited for a while and then headed off to our life group to study the weekly sermon and fellowship with the people in the group. We sang some really good songs too. Plus we had Rice Krispie Treats for a snack…yum…yum…

Other than that…not much else in new. Hopefully this week of work will go by quickly!