My New Bathroom

It has taken me about as long to put up pictures of my new bathroom as it did to get it completed! Lawanda has been waiting for me to put up pictures for a very long time! So here they are my dear friend:) Lawanda's husband
The Cabinet Maker made this beautiful vanity for my bathroom. Chad did all of the rest of the remodel. Unfortunately, I forgot to take before pictures. Imagine the old mint green tiles and the little 1 inch white tiles on the floor. I love my new bathroom!

I went to my chiropractor again today. Everything was out of place again. He is wandering if my preschool job is getting to me? Hmmm, hadn't really thought of it but I do alot of bending and I sit on the floor alot too. Who knows?? Another thing I thought of is that I am getting alot more sleep now that I have started teaching preschool. I try to make sure I am in bed no later than 11pm. Sometimes I get 10 hrs of sleep. That makes for a lot more laying in bed than I have ever been used too! Up until I started teaching preschool I typically got 4-5 hours of sleep tops. Maybe the extra time in bed is bad for my back? Even though I have a sleep comfort bed? All I know is I hope we can get something out so the pain will go away!

Chad has scheduled for me to go to a liver specialist at Cleveland Clinic. John Fung is suppose to be #1 in livers. Hopefully that will give us some answers. I go to Dr Roberts here in Parkersburg Nov 26th, he is a general surgeon, but my Dr wanted me to go to him so he would be familiar with my case if there was an emergency situation.

Snow Day

The weather outside is frightful...but we only had a 2 hr delay. Since my preschool is only open for 4 hours we just do a one hr delay when the county calls a two hour delay. At first I thought a delay would be nice, an extra little bit to sleep in....well I got to sleep in, but the day at preschool was a little chaotic to say the least! The kids were out of their routine, and things were just crazy! one little boy slipped and fell and hit the back of his head so hard. I was so thankful his daddy was still there when it happened! In about 5 minutes he was smiling and back to normal, but he had a huge bump on the back of his head.:)

I got two early birthday presents in the mail! One from my dear friend Sunny in Utah. She sent me three shirts and a bunch of scrappin goodies! I hope to create something with the new pebbles stamps she sent....I will post a photo as soon as I make something with my new goodies!!:) Oh she also sent me the cutest card I have ever seen! ADORABLE...it has a little slider on it! Gotta figure out how she made that so I can make one too!

My other present was to myself...hehe...Bad I know! We placed an order for the studio and I splurged and bought the Page Maps book. I just love sketches and this book is full of fabulous scrapbooking sketches! I have been wanting it for a while...and now it is mine!

Now to just get my scrapbook room organized so I can sit down with my Addison Road CD and get some scrapping done! Maybe someone will want to send me a professional organizer for my birthday...hint, hint!!:)

My scripture for the day "For with God nothing shall be impossible." ~Luke 1:37
Hmmm...maybe I can accomplish getting my scraproom organized:)

Great Concert

Jenny from Addison Road and Me!

Wow! I wasn't feeling well Sunday. I went to church and came home exhausted. I took a nap for a few hours in hopes that I would feel up to going to the concert to see Addison Road. Thankfully, with a pain killer and the nap, by 4:30 I was feeling a bit better. I headed to the concert. My sister had volunteered us to help at the merchandise tables for the bands. Heather Sloan and I worked the After Edmund table. I had never heard of this band...but wow! They rocked our socks off! I was totally impressed with them...and had I been feeling good I would have probably been up there bouncing around in the front row! I just had to get their CD. Love this new band and I am totally sure we are going to be hearing lots more from them! They put on an AMAZING show!

Brooke and Nic with After Edmund

Addison Road was awesome too. My sister and Angela Marshall were working the merchandise table for Addison Road. When Jenny came up for autographs at the merch table I was excited to tell her how Hope Now had really blessed me. When I started to tell her about it she said wait, you are the girl from the blog! Her mom has google reader and gets messages whenever someone posts about Addison Road! So "HI to Jenny's mom!!!" Leave a comment:)! Anyways, she had texted Jenny to tell her to look for me at the concert!:) that was so neat! This was probably one of the best concerts I have been to...and I have been to alot. All three bands were phenominal!! Remember, I wasn't feeling that great, so the pics of me are not the best...my hair was looking a little slept on because of the long nap! LOL Me, Brooke and Nic with Addison Road

Today has been a crazy day. It started out all wrong and just kept going crazy! Tyler woke up sick, so he had to stay home from school. I called mom to see if she could come stay with him but she had to go to the hospital because my nephew Cole was having tubes put in his ears. So Tyler stayed alone with my sister, Chad and my mom calling frequently to check on him until I got home at noon. I went through McDonalds this morning for breakfast since the morning chaos left me rushing and not grabbing something on the way out. I paid at McDonalds and then drove off without my food!! DUH! Here is the crazy thing, I was already at the mineral wells exit, approximately 10 miles from McDonalds, before I even noticed I didn't have my food! That was probably the dumbest thing that happened all day but more random craziness has been going on all day...our lights in the upstairs level of our house just quit working, everyone one of them except the bathrooms! Chad is trying to fix that right now. The most recent thing being that our studio downtown has been broken into and someone apparently slept there last night????? CRAZY! So anyways, thinking I might just go to bed early and hope for a more pleasant, normal day tomorrow! Get behind me satan!

Here are some more photos from the concert!

Heather Sloan, Christina, Jenny, Angela and Me

Me with After Edmund- those guys are a blast!

Hope Now

This past month has taken me through many emotions. I experienced sickness like I had never dealt with before...scared me pretty bad to say the least. I am still not certain what is going to happen as far as the catheter that is now in my liver. The Lord has used this song "Hope Now" by Addison Road to give me a peace with life right now. I have been belting this song out all the time lately. My little Nic said a few minutes ago, "mom, you really love that song don't you."

Tomorrow, Addison Road will be here in Parkersburg, WV with Building 429. My sister picked up our tickets today and I am just so stinkin excited! I don't think it is a coincidence that they are coming here...I am looking at it as a another comfirmation from the Lord...I am not my own, I've been carried by Him all my life:) No matter what happens, everything is going to be ok.



Hope Now by Addison Road
If everything comes down to love
Then just what am I afraid of
When I call out Your name
Something inside awakes in my soul
How quickly I forget I'm Yours

I'm not my own
I've been carried by You
All my life

Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

When my life is like a storm
Rising waters all I want is the shore
You say I'll be ok and
Make it through the rain
You are my shelter from the storm

Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free
You've become my hearts desire
I will sing Your praises higher
Cause Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free

Still Alive!

Hello Blog world! A bit beaten and battered but still alive.

I have been sick. They thought I had kidney stones and in the process of testing for stones they found that I have a catheter in my portal vien in my liver. Apparently the catheter is the result of a blood transfusion I had as a newborn.

My doctor had the hospital pull my birth records. My mom was mortified to find out that I am truly lucky to be alive. The Drs had told them that I had spit up a bit of blood. According to the birth records I had uncontrolled internal bleeding. They gave me not one but two blood transfusions. My parents knew about one. Then apparently...considering I have a catheter in my portal vien. The catheter broke off into my vien. Interestingly enough there is no mention of the said catheter in any of the medical records.

So I go to a surgeon on Nov 26th to see if the catheter needs to come out or if I can keep it since I have already had it for 33 years.

Really stinks that we are having to pay all these medical bills for all the testing they have done. Seems that the hospital should be covering it free of charge. I am just praying that I stay healthy and don't have to have surgery.

So that is what I have been up to lately. Been pretty freaked out. Found out that I have had a rib out of place...so that might be what was causing the pain that lead them to find this catheter. So now that I have been to the chiropractor several times...I am now feeling better and hopeful that it isn't the catheter causing my pain.

I am also teaching preschool now! I have been since school strated in September. I am loving my job. Just wishing I could be feeling good so I could really enjoy it more!

I hope to be a better blogger now that I am feeling better!

Faith Sisters Birthday Bash Cyber Crop

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Who: YOU are invited!
When: September 26-28th
What: Challenges, Prizes (traditional and digital,) Sales,
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Where: http://www.faithsisters.com/
Why: To celebrate our 1 year birthday!

Earn points toward winning prizes by doing challenges, purchasing digi kits from our shop, and more! Earn an EXTRA 5 Points for inviting a NEW friend to the crop and have them sign up and participate in the forum!




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Summer Reading

This summer has been so swamped that I haven't had much time to read! When the kids had tennis I would read while I waited for them and that was about all the reading I got in until vacation! While on vacation I read 3 and 1/2 books!

I am reading the Lauraine Snelling, Red River of the North Series. They are FABULOUS books! I finished book 4 while Brooke had Cross Country practice today.

I had a huge surprise in the mail on Monday! Laura Childs, the author of the scrapbooking murder mysteries that I reviewed at Bella a couple years ago, has a new book coming out in September! She sent me the proof copy...without the cover even. So I have another book to read and write a review for BellaOnline Scrapbooking!

Meal Plan Monday

Here is one of my favorite poses at the beach! I am going to turn this one black and white or sepia...haven't decided yet and blow it up prolly to about 16x20 to frame and hang in my family room.

I have been flying by the seat of my pants lately when it comes to cooking. That is not always a good thing...especially when everytime I think I will make something I go to the kitchen to discover I am missing ingredients! That drives me nutzo!

My earthboxes are really producing...I will post some pictures of them later. We have harvested lots of squash, tomatoes, banana peppers and cucumbers (my favorite)! Our eggplants are just now about ready to harvest!! WOOHOO!

In the hopes of getting back to better menu planning so I can grocery shop accordingly I am gonna try to start my meal plan Monday's posting again! If you want one of my recipes just let me know!! Oh yeah...my sister and I are contemplating a cooking evening where we cook up a bunch of our favorite dishes and then freeze them for future busy evenings. Anyone tried that and have advice??

Menu Plan
Monday:
Tyler's Choice of Birthday dinner ~ He chose eating at Grand Ranchero..our favorice Mexican place!

Tuesday:
Curly Noodles, squash & onions, sliced tomatoes

Wednesday:
Grilled chicken, grilled corn on the cob, baked beans and more squash (my squash is really producing what can I say!)

Thursday:
Eggplant Parmesian (as long as the eggplant are ready to harvest...I think by Thursday they will be! Fresh green beans in the pressure cooker.

Friday:
leftover night because I have crop club!!

Saturday:
Grilled hamburgers and corn on the cob and you guessed it ~ grilled squash!!

Sunday:
Deer steak with tomatoe gravy, some more fresh green beans.

Back from the Beach

Wow! What an awesome vacation we had at Myrtle Beach, SC! Such a relaxing time to say the least! We have officially been labeled Beach Bums! Our friends Randy and Diana Riffle were vacationing at the same resort with us. They were shocked at the amount of time that we spend ON the beach. Pretty much most of the daylight hours!

The boys LOVE to dig holes in the sand. Brooke and her best friend Jennifer spent their time in the ocean or at one of the 6 pools at the resort...the loved having some freedom! Chad mostly hung out with the boys either in the ocean or digging holes..he did get a a little reading in as well. I am a sun soaker! I wade into the ocean just enough to get cooled down and then I relax in my beach chair with a good book!

I read two and a half books while at the beach! I am reading the Red River Valley Series of Lauraine Snelling books. EXCELLENT author...I have loved every series I have read of hers so far! So I read the first two books in the series while on the beach and I did stay up a couple late nights to finish them as well! They are just so good I can't put them down! As soon as I am done with this post I am going to go relax in my recliner and read some more of the third book!:)

I am uploading pictures right now as I type. I took LOTS of course! I had planned to get some photos with all of us in white shirts and jeans on the beach but that didn't work out so well. I got pretty upset by the lack of cooperation from my family so the day that we were leaving the beach I was pleasantly surprised that Chad wanted to have more family photos taken. So we weren't in our white shirts and jeans...but the pictures turned out great!

I will be posting pictures throughout the week! I am really hoping to have a couple of great quality ones that I can have larger sizes printed for frames in my living room! Keeping my fingers crossed! They are taking forever to upload!!

Worship - Much Of You Jesus

Wow! God is so awesome!

We had an amazing pool party to get the kids excited about VBS coming up! We expected maybe 100 and had WAY MORE than 100! We never really did get a count with so many running all over the place and going under water etc! Now just praying that all of these kids will be at VBS and many of them will come to know Jesus as their personal savior! Such an EXCITING night!

On the way home I heard this song by STevin Curits Chapman...then I got on FaithSisters.com and my dear sister Kay had posted the lyrics and youtube video of this song! Reading those lyrics and singing that song just sets my soul to worshipping and I was sitting here in front of my computer just singing and praising the Lord.

As I spend tomorrow prepping some more for VBS I just want to keep on praising Him. I want all of us to be making MUCH of Him at VBS!!

I hope this song will lift your spirits and set your soul to worshipping too!:)

Steven Curtis Chapman - Much Of You
From the album All Things New


How could I stand here and watch the sun rise
Follow the mountains where they touch the sky
Ponder the vastness and the depths of the sea
And think for a moment.
The point of it all was to make
Much of me
Cause I'm just a whisper
And You are the thunder and …

I want to make much of You, Jesus
I want to make much of Your
I want to live today and give You the praise
That You alone are so worthy of
I want to make much of Your mercy
I want to make much of Your cross
I give You my life
Take it and let it be used
To make much of you

And how can I kneel here and think of the cross
The thorns and the whip and the nails and the spear
The infinite cost to purchase my pardon
And bear all my shame
To think I have anything worthy boasting in
Except for Your name
Cause I am a sinner
And You are the Savior and…

I want to make much of You, Jesus
I want to make much of Your
I want to live today and give You the praise
That You alone are so worthy of
I want to make much of Your mercy
I want to make much of Your cross
I give You my life
Take it and let it be used
To make much of you

Eggplant

Cleaning, packing, finding pet sitters, finishing up VBS stuff, completing my last online class! That was yesterday...and most likely today too.

Last night we had a Cub Scout party at the water slide! The kids had a blast and I got some fun photos!

Here is a picture of Brooke from our photo shoot the other day! She is getting so grown up looking:(

Josie is needing my eggplant recipe...so here's to you Jos! I have two eggplant recipes that we really like.

Here is what we call

Eggplant Lasagna
2 med eggplant
1 lb ground chuck
1 lg can tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 lg bell peper
1 lg onion
Parmesian Cheese
Mozarella Cheese
3 eggs
1 c flour
1 tbs oregano
olive oil


Slice eggplant 1/4 inch thick and soak in salt water for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute onion and pepper. Add burger and brown. Add tomatoe and paste. Cook until sauce thickens. Add water and season as needed.

I do this assembly line style! Mix flour and oregano in flat dish. Dip eggplant slices into egg and then dredge in the flour mixture. Heat oil in large pan and then
add the slices as go. Lightly brown each side.

Layer sauce, eggplant, parmesian cheese and mozzarella cheese until the pan is full.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.


Eggplant Parmesian
2 med eggplants (sliced and fried)
2 cans of Italian tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped
salt
Mozarella Cheese
Parmesan Cheese (I prefer fresh)
1 1/2 tsp oregano
2 1/2 tsp butter

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Line the bottom of a buttered baking dish with a single layer of fried eggplant slices. Top this layer with chopped tomatoes. Add a pinch of salt, a generous sprinkling of mozzarella and a tablespoon or parmesian. Sprinkle a pinch of oregano and cover with another layer of sliced eggplant. Continue building layers of eggplant, tomatoes, cheese until you have used up all the eggplant. The top layer should be eggplant. Sprinkle the remaning parmesian cheese over it and dot with butter. Place in the upper third of the preheated ove.

Bake for 20 minutes. Pull out the pan. Press with the back of a spoon to check if there is an excess amount of liquid. If there is, tip the pan and draw it off with the spoon. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes. Allow it to settle and partly cool before serving. It should not be piping hot.

Note: this is a great dish to prep ahead and refrigerate. It also makes for fabulous leftovers!

Enjoy! I need to get back to my school work! I hope to get my final lesson plan completed today so that summer school will be over before I head off to the beach! WOOHOOO!

Catching Up!

Jeesh! The summer is just flying by like crazy! I can not believe that we will be leaving for vacation this Friday! Myrtle Beach...here we come!!

I have been super busy as usual. Working on my online classes for continueing Ed to renew my teaching certificate is taking a lot of time! Getting ready for the This Is My Story class that I am teaching at church-an awesome faithbooking class that I am so stinkin excited about! It started this past Sunday night. Also trying to get stuff ready for VBS which starts the Monday following the Sunday that we get back from the beach...so everything has to be ready before I go! I am seriously going to be ready for that vacation come Friday!!

Friday we took the kids to Forever Memories photography for a photo shoot. Stevin will be leaving on the 28th to go back to Seatle for the year with his mom so we needed to get our Cousins photos taken before he heads back. Cathy Freed did an awesome job on the photos! I can't wait to show some of them off! But for now..here is one that I took after the photo shoot with Cathy! Since I had all the kids matching and photo ready...I ran over to the park where we spend all of our time at tennis lessons! Beside the tennis courts is this tree that the kids LOVE...so we got a few shots in the tree! Now I just need to get some photoshopping tips so I can brighten them up a bit!

Family Visiting and the Motherload

It has been an exciting and busy past two weeks! First of all cousin Josie and her three children came to visit for a week. While Josie was here I got a call from one of our scrapbook customers mothers. My scrappin friend Teresa Wince passed away from a long battle with a pulmonary disease. Her mother was calling to tell me that Teresa wanted me to have all of her scrapbooking stuff. Josie and I dropped the kids off to visit my mom and we headed to Ellenboro (approximately 45 mins away). I had commented that I hoped it would be worth the trip since gas is so ridiculously high.

When we walked into Teresa's home there was TONS of scrapbooking stuff. Her mom was giving it ALL to me! We put the seats down in my stow and go mini van (man I love those stow and go seats...they sure come in handy!) and packed the van full from front to back and top to bottom. The whole way home Josie and I were just giddy! When we pulled up to the garage we immediately started sorting and trying to organize and oohing and ahing over all the new stuff! It was better than any Christmas presents I have ever had. Teresa had more scrapbooking stuff than I have had in my personal stash...and for those of you that have seen my personal stash...I am sure you are amazed that anyone could have more than me! LOL

So I inherited the motherload! I am still trying to organize all of it but thanks to Josie, it is somewhat under control! I am not sure what I would have done without her helping me!

Josie came on Monday and then left the following Monday. We didn't do much more than organizing the motherload all week! Well ok, we did take the kids to tennis lessons every morning. Brooke to Cross Country practive nearly every evening. Wed night we took the kids to church and then went to the Drive in to see Indiana Jones and Speed Racer. Other than that we organized and then got a little scrapping done at crop club on Friday night...which by the way, turned into an all nighter. Josie and I didn't get home till after 7am! EEEK!

My little sister Julie arrived for a weeks visit the Sunday before Josie left. We spent the evening playing canasta. We had a little INCIDENT involving a sleepwalking child...but I will not go into that because I am sure he would kill me when he was older if he found out I blogged about it!

Julie stayed with mom and dad but visited me everyday. It was so nice having her in town all week. She is usually just here a few weekends of the year. So having her here for a full week was a treat! We got lots of Canasta games in this past week! We also took the kids to the Marietta Aquatic Center. Wed night we went to the Drive In to see Kung Fu Panda and Spiderwick Chronicles. Both of which were super!

Julie headed back home to GA today. Was bummed to see her go back but hopefully we will get to visit GA before school starts in the fall.

So now the company has all returned home and we are trying to get back to normal. My laundry is overflowing. My house is kinda messy. I am overwhelmed with my two online classes and all the work I need to accomplish before vacation. I have to get stuff together for the "This is My Story" faithbooking class I am starting for the summer session at church. Plus, I got all my VBS materials tonight and have to start getting ready for that because it starts the day we get back from vacation! EEEEK!!

Well, writing that to do list has made me exhausted! I better sign off for now!

States I have Visited

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Karma had a map of all the places she has been on her blog...or wait. Maybe that was places she has lived? hehe!

Anyways, I thought it was kinda neat so here is mine! I have been to all the pink places. jeesh I still have lots of states to visit!

Decluttering and Online classes

Wow! Where has the week gone? I have cleaned and decluttered my week away! With the exception of a laundry, cooking, dishes, a couple baseball games, a tennis tournament, church and an orthodontist appointment...I have literally been decluttering and cleaning all week....oh yeah throw in a little sleeping too!

The sad part is that I am still not done. Even after a weeks worth of almost non-stop decluttering there is still more! ARGH! We have to much stuff. And why in the world did I want a big house?? So...have come to grips with the fact I will never be completely caught up with all I need to have done around here. It sure feels good to have gotten this much done though! Still have my storage basement (with tons of homeschool curriculum that needs gotten rid of), my office which is almost done, the game cabinet and last but most certainly NOT LEAST my scrapbook room(might take me a week all in itself!)

I am taking 6 graduate credit hours this summer. Thankfully the classes are completely online. I need the six hours to renew my teaching certificate this year. With the cost of gas and the poor economy it looks as though I am gonna have to start applying for full time teaching jobs. I enjoy teaching and being with kids..but I really hate the early morning part of it all! Why can't school start at 10am?? I am a night owl you know...mornings are just HARD on me!

Learned something really neat in my Read/Write Web 2.0 class this week! Have you heard of Social Bookmarks? It is so cool. It is just like the ole favorite on your personal PC except that you can add your favorites and categorize them and share them online! It's pretty cool and I have all sorts of fun ideas running through my head for this! Here is my start using the del.icio.us social bookmark...pretty lame so far but hey I just found out about this...and you know...I haven't had much online time cause of the nonstop cleaning spree this week;)

My goal for Saturday is cleaning the scrapbook room...cousin Josie will be arriving Monday and since that is the room we will be spending most of our time in (I hope!) I better get it organized so we can both have a place to scrap! Oh yeah...Nic has double header baseball games starting at noon....so will be getting some serious sun too. You know it has been outrageously hot here lately?? Mid ninties with extreme humidty. What is up with that? It isn't even officially summer yet!

Amish Country

Chad surprised me with a romantic weekend away this past weekend. The boys were both going to Camp Cowan church camp for the weekend...and Brooke had plans of her own. The last time the two of us were on a trip alone together was before Brooke was born! So this was a long overdue weekend away! I have been begging and begging but Chad refuses to leave the kids with someone so we can run off by ourselves. Thank goodness for church camp! ;)

We had a fabulous time in Amish Country! We left home around 2ish Friday. Our first stop was Lehmans and WOW! It was awesome! So many things you can by there! Some of the things brought back childhood memories of things my grandmothers used to have at their houses! I was super excited to be able to gather some canning supplies that we most desperately needed! I got a jar lifter ( no more burning our fingers!) I also got a boiling basket and a Ball canning book! So I am ready for the garden harvest this year! We will be canning in style!

When we left Lehmans we headed down the Amish byway to Millersburg. we stayed at the White House guest suites and had the whole downstairs and porch(complete with porch swing) all to ourselves! It was fabulous! I loved how it was decorated!:) Funny thing....the bed was one of those super tall beds and the comforter and bedskirt are exactly the comforter and bed skirt on our bed at home!

Once we had checked into our hotel we headed to Troyers Amish resteraunt for dinner. YUMMY! I was so stuffed when I left that it hurt to walk! Once we were back to our house we decided to take a little walk in Millersburg...even though we were stuffed! Then we stopped at the little ice cream parlor beside our house and Chad got ice cream...I took a couple licks but couldnt handle anymore than that...I am not sure how he could have possibly fit in his stomach after that Amish dinner!

Saturday morning I woke up at 6:30am! What is up with that??? Well there were only mini blinds on the windows and I am used to it being fairly dark in my room. So I guess the brite room woke me up?? Yes, I know...it was totally weird cause I never ever wake up on my own at that crazy house of the morning! ;)

We headed to Boyd and Wurtham Amish Resteraunt for breakfast and once again were STUFFED! I didn't even eat my whole plate of food. They serve enough for two Amish farmers on one plate! Delish but gosh...my belly!! Right behind the resteraunt was a scrapbook store...but since we were such early risers they weren't open yet...yes I even woke up Chad early! Now that is unusal..he ALWAYS is up before me! LOL

We drove into Sugar Creek but there wasn't anything open there either. On our way back to Berlin we saw a sign for Yoders Amish Farm. We decided to head out there and it ended up being our absolute FAVORITE of the whole trip! We were able to tour a Dawdi Haus (were the grandparents live), a main house, the bard complete with all the baby animals, an Amish school house and even take a buggy ride on a real amish buggy driven by Mr Troyer(a real amish dude!). The funniest thing happened while we were on the buggy ride! Mr Troyer asked Chad what his occupation was. Chad said "I am an electrician." Then for the first time of the whole buggy ride there was silence....it was like he had said I am a voodoo witch or something! LOL Chad broke the silence by saying, she is a teacher. Mr Troyer then said..."oh that is good" and started up conversation with me! Too funny! I told Chad he better just tell anyone else that he works at Dupont..and just leave the electrician part out! LOL

After the amish farm tours we headed to the Holmes Country flea market. I found so many things I would have love to have brought home with me...but my lack on income right now reared its ugly head! I bought some yummy incense, some cardstock and a necklace. Chad hates flea markets and was done in about 10 minutes..when I was only at the 3rd booth! So he went out to take a nap in the car and ended up sunburned! I was in there like 1 1/2 hours. Could have stayed longer but felt bad that he was waiting for me!

We went to Heinis Cheese Chalet and were able to sample over 50 different cheeses. That ended up being lunch for us! All we needed was some crackers!

We then headed back to Berlin. Chad took me to some great shops. His allergies were going haywire because of all the scents in the shops. So once again I tried to rush through them. we walked around and explored downtown Berlin and some of the bulk food places that the Amish shop.

We ate at Der Dutchman for dinner and had another wonderful meal. I didn't want to be stuffed again so I opted for some side dishes instead of a full blown meal...and also got the salad bar. Then Chad and I shared a wonderful piece of cherry pie. MMMM!

The Amish people were so wonderfully friendly. It was just so neat being around them. Especially since I have read all the Beverly Lewis and Wanda Brunsetter books about Amish! I felt like I really knew alot about their lifestyle...and was able to tell Chad a good bit too. It was so cool to just be driving down the road and see Amish buggies traveling with you.

After dinner we went for another drive on the Amish byway. I must say that I was totally shocked at how NOT plain the Amish homes were. You really can not tell them apart from the other homes...aside from the fact that they do not have automobiles in the driveway or electricity running to their house. I was expecting the houses to be plain...so the picture in my head was obviously wrong! Actually though...the farm house and Dawdi house at the Yoder farm we toured...those were older homes and looked much like the picture in my head! Apparently the more modern houses are allowed to look just like the "English" neighbors houses!

Remember how I said our bed was really tall? Well Sat night I was getting up to head to the bathroom and forgot how tall the bed was, went to get out of bed how I get out of my own bed and landed hip first onto the hardwood floor! YOUCHERS! I have a nice bruise and woke up Sun morning feeling like I had been in a fight or something!

Sunday morning we slept in till 8:30am and then packed up and headed to breakfast. None of the Amish resteraunts or businesses...or pretty much anything in Amish country was open! We ended up eating at Shoney's in Dover. Then we headed to Parkersburg because we had to pick up the boys at the church at 2pm.

It was a fabulous trip and I was so thankful to have been able to spend a relaxing weekend alone with my most wonderful hubby! Hopefully we will be able to do it again soon!

The Marriage Protection Amendment- Send a letter to your Represenative

We aren't hearing about this in the media...so wanted to make sure that you could let your voice be heard. It is very easy to send off an email to your representative asking them to back this. If we Christians don't step up to the plate...nobody will. I have provided a link down below that will take you straight to an already typed up letter...and all you do is put in your zip code and they will find your congressman for you! It's totally easy to do.....so Just Do It!

A constitutional amendment making marriage legal ONLY between a man and a woman introduced in U.S. House

The Marriage Protection Amendment of 2008 needs your support!

Congressman Paul Broun of Georgia has introduced the Marriage Protection Amendment of 2008 (H.J. RES. 89). This amendment to the U.S. Constitution would make marriage legal only between a man and a woman.

If you haven't heard about this, it is because the liberal media opposes it. So if they simply refuse to report it, citizens will know nothing about it and will not act on it.

As you know, Massachusetts has already legalized marriage of homosexuals, while the California Supreme Court has ruled all laws restricting homosexual marriage illegal. In both places, the courts ruled by a one vote margin. The goal of homosexual activists is to see homosexual marriage legal in all 50 states.

Rep. Broun needs co-sponsors for H.J. RES. 89. Please contact you Representative and ask him or her to co-sponsor H.J. RES. 89.

Homosexual activists are determined to force homosexual marriage on America by using activist liberal judges, like those in Massachusetts and California.

A Federal Marriage Amendment will finally put an end to activist judges tampering with the will of the people.

Click here to send an email to your representative! http://capwiz.com/afanet/issues/alert/?alertid=11451996&type=CO

New Recipe- Beef and Curly Noodles

I tried this new recipe. It doesn't exactly look pretty...but it sure was YUMMY! Everyone loved it, including my picky eater!

This is one that will go into my cue of fast to fix dinners!

Ingredients: (I loved this cause the ingredients are things I always have in my cabinets!)
1 lb ground beef or ground venison
2 3 oz packages of ramen noodles (I used chicken but expect any flavor would work fine)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can whole kernel corn
1 cup of water

Heat a large skillet to med-high heat. Crumble the ground meet and brown, stirring frequently.
Drain off grease.
Break up the noodles before opening by crunching them on the counter (careful cause the end might burst)
Stir in the flavor packets from ramen noodles.
Add tomatoes, corn (with their juices).
Add water.
Add broken up noodles to the skillet.
Bring to a boil, then reduve heat to love, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until noodles are tender.
Stir occasionally to break up any noodle clumps.

Bad Blogger!

I have been such a bad blogger! My goal in my blog was to try and keep a journal of things going on in life...and I have failed terribly up to this point!

Have been substitute teaching pretty steadily...which has been tough getting used to! I am so spoiled from working at home all these years. Now that I am finally getting into the swing of things the school year is winding down. I am in need of 6 CE hours so I will be taking online classes this summer. Two classes for a total of 6 credit hours. I am kinda nervous about being a student again! It has been so long so I have had college classes. I am especially about the whole online class thing....they were just teaching us how to log onto the internet back when I was in college....let alone having the entire class online! Should be interesting! My classes start June 8th.

We have been having terrible computer problems. A virus hiding out and attacking every so often. I am not sure if we are totally rid of it yet but I have said a prayer and hoping that the troubles are over before my online classes start!

Brookes activities for the end of the school year are finally over. Now to start her summer schedule which is pretty full with camps, tennis and who knows what else!

The boys are both still playing baseball. We have lots of make up games to catch up once the regular scheduled games have finished. Looks like we might be playing baseball most of the summer at this rate!

Have been busy helping my sister get her new house painted and refurbished. Seems I have spent most of my time off there. I finally had to take a break so I could clean my own house which seemed to be falling apart all around me! Now I have to get back to helping her get things done! We are painting a mural on Dereks walls. He has a racecar bed and wants his room to have a race track on the walls! Such fun! We are nearly finished with it...will post pictures when it is done!

School is out next Thursday. Worried about the loss of income but also very excited to have the summer to spend with my kids! We got a trampoline so that should give the kids something new to do this summer. So far they have already spent LOTS of time on it! Hoping the excitement doesnt wear off!

Hopefully I will be having a little more time to keep up with my blogging! Just imagine how far behind I am on reading all of my friends blogs and the posts at Faith Sisters! EEEEK!

So Thankful...

I am so thankful that I have a relationship with my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I am so thankful that my relationship with Him is growing deeper and deeper every day. So thankful that every single day my faith grows because I am awakened to the fingerprints of God on my life.

I am so thankful that I am saved...I do not have to prove that I am a "good person" because Jesus Christ died on the cross to save me from my sins. No matter how "good" I am...I could never be sinless. Thank you Jesus for saving me from my sins!!

Just feeling so blessed to know Him and trust in His Word! If he can create the entire universe and everything in it....I know that he has the power to keep his word in tact!

Did you know that over 40 men wrote the Holy Bible? They wrote it over years, and at different times, yet all of them agreed. The Word is inspired and God breathed and I am so thankful that it is alive and means so much to me when I read it!