A Place of My Own

A Special Project

2012-01-21T15:29:00.000-08:00

Thursday evening, we attended a reception for participants, and their families, of a recent project done at Loma Linda University Medical Center, the place where Rachel has had all of her surgeries, where her team of doctors practice.

The special project was that of a makeover to a major hallway on the 1st floor of the hospital. It's the hallway that leads from the elevators to the cafeteria as well as connects the Medical Center with the Children's Hospital. So it's a highly traveled hallway. The project name is called the "I Am Hallway". And in this hallway, now hangs about twenty pictures, up and down the hallway. These pictures are huge, maybe three feet by three feet?? If not bigger. The individuals chosen for the project have each been given an "I Am" statement. For example, "I am a Survivor", "I am a medical marvel", "I am Loved", and the list goes on and on. In the corner of each of these pictures, there is a paragraph that tells the story of the person and how it is that they represent their "I am statement".

Rachel's "I Am Statement" is "I Am Beautiful". To read and see pictures of it, visit her blog, Rachel's Journey, and read the post titled "The I Am Hallway".

So back to Thursday evening, this reception was attended by all the amazing people that participated in this project. There were young (one little girl was younger than Rachel), there were not so young, there were men, there were women, there were perfectly healthy looking individuals, and there were some that weren't. But every participant had a story. And as we got into the car after this event, I felt exhausted, emotionally and physically exhausted. I'd been fighting tears back most of the evening.

When Rachel was born with undetected birth defect, we were devastated. Deep down, we knew things were going to be okay, she had a long road ahead of her. But it was still hard nonetheless.

The evening represented a few different things in my mind.

For us, it was a celebration of how far we'd come with Rachel. That picture that now hangs on the wall in a major medical establishment, is a testament to God's unfailing love, His unfailing concern, and of answered prayer, many, many answered prayers.

The evening also made me think about people's outside appearance. To look at quite a few of those people, you would have no idea what things people had gone through. Others, it's obvious what people are going through, or gone through, - the boy in the wheelchair suffering from muscular dystrophy or the little boy about Rachel's age walking around the room with a walker and a tracheostomy, living his life with Spina Bifida, but just as happy and outgoing as he could possibly be. Every person has a story, some stories just aren't obvious. I need to take more time to learn people's story, who they are, how far they've come in life, do they know Jesus.

This week, one morning while the girls are in school, I want to go back to the Medical Center and stroll down the hallway, looking at every single one of the pictures, reading each and every one of the stories. The few I did read the other night were touching, I'm sure the rest will be too...

Happy New Year!

2012-01-06T18:57:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012!

It hardly seems possible that Christmas has come and gone and we are almost a week into the New Year! Growing up, I always felt as if it were a lifetime between Christmases and now that I'm grown up, it just doesn't seem that way.

The last month has been a busy one with lots happening.

The last week of November/first week of December had me living the Single Mom life, as Steven went to Maryland on business for a week. I was up really early most of the mornings, and staying up late most evenings. I don't sleep well when he's away, which isn't very often. And life around our house is very different when Steven's gone. He works from home and very rarely leaves the house with the exception of Bible Study every other week and a meeting here and there. So to not have him home, is strange to say the least. But we all survived. :)

The early part of December, our school district and the teachers were struggling to come to an agreement on their contract that was time for renewal. Upon returning to school from our Thanksgiving break the teachers were working only their contracted hours (7:45-3:00) and nothing extra. There was so much going on, and for someone like me who is always at the school, involved, I had no idea. So at for our December 6th PTA meeting, I invited the Superintendent to come speak and give the district's side of the feud. When opening the meeting, I said that PTA was not endorsing one side or the other, but were acting as a means to getting the word out. Sadly, the responses following that meeting that I received, as well as other PTA board members were not good. Some of the teachers became bullies and told PTA we needed to pick a side, and it should be the side of the teachers. It became a huge mess that resulted in myself, the Vice President, and the Parliamentarian having a meeting the very next afternoon, whereas all but six of our thirty three teachers were present. They gave us their side, and we were able to share how we'd felt after being treated the way he had in the previous 24 hours, and defend ourselves. In the end, for the most part, things are okay between the PTA and the teachers, but upon going on vacation, there were some teachers who still were not speaking to us. Time will tell how things are next week when we return to school after a three week holiday break.

The final week of school, both the girls tried out for our schools musical production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. And after four days of auditions, letters went home on that Friday letting the students know if they had or hadn't landed a spot. I was very skeptical of my girls trying out. I know the commitment for this production is HUGE. And I was praying that both the girls got a spot, or neither of them did, so as to not mean so much running for me once rehearsals start (next week!). I am proud to say that both the girls were accepted and will be performing in this grand production. Dates are April 12, 13, and 14th.

On Monday, December 19th, Steven and I went into Hollywood to the Pantages theater to see WICKED! He bought me the tickets for my birthday as I absolutely fell in love with the production when we saw it for the first time three years ago. It was amazing. I loved it and of course left wanting to see it again, just like the first time!!

Christmas was very different this year as it fell on a Sunday. Not only did our church have our usual Sunday morning service, but we also did a Christmas Eve service. We attended both. We had a good Christmas. And again I'll say I can't believe it's come and gone. Every year, I say to myself that I want the season to just slow down so that I could enjoy it, and while I did enjoy it, it wasn't quite slow enough for me. LOL. Picture taken on Christmas Eve
With the way the holidays fell this year, and the need to take a personal day from work, or he'd loose it, Steven had two four day weekends! We did several fun things as a family.

On Friday, December 30th, mid morning, we headed into Hollywood to the Pantages Theater to participate in the matinee lottery for $25.00 Orchestra seats for WICKED. With the girls getting ready to embark on their own broadway-like adventure in performing Beauty and the Beast, we wanted them to see something big and spectacular. And with the months and months of being subject to the listening of my soundtrack, as well as viewing a recorded show on DVD, Hannah was interested. Unfortunately, not one of us won the lottery, but following the ending of the lottery, the Pantages offers discounted tickets for $45.00. We decided that price was still a great deal and got in line to purchase tickets. Originally they had announced these discounted tickets were for the Mezzanine seats. But upon my purchasing the tickets, we were given seats for not only the Orchestra floor section, but it was the 9th row, four seats on an inside aisle!!! I was so excited to discover the location of our seats, and for the price!! We paid $45 a seat for seats that normally go for $163.00!!! The show was just as amazing as it had been eleven days earlier. Although this time we were close enough to see a lot of detail you miss when you sit in the balcony, even if it is first row balcony. This time, not only did I leave loving it just as the times before, so did Hannah, and before we were even out of the theater, she was stating the fact that she'd love to see it again! That day will forever be etched in my memory of a wonderful spontaneous adventure!!

The consolation adventure, had we not scored tickets in the lottery for WICKED, was that we had free tickets to the Long Beach Aquarium that were expiring on the 31st. When Rachel learned that we would not be going to the Aquarium that day, we promised we would take her the very next day. Which was the adventure for New Years Eve Day. We hit the road by 8:30, stopping at McDonalds for breakfast and got to the Aquarium an hour after it'd opened. Steven and mines goal was to get there and get home late afternoon/early evening before the craziness of New Years Eve set in. We met up with our good friends who also had tickets for the Aquarium. We spent the day together admiring the beautiful creatures that God placed in the sea and ended our time together with a late lunch / early dinner. We spent New Years Eve home, just the four of us. It was a quiet evening and relaxing for me as Steven worked on church work on the laptop. It was a nice way to end our two days of great adventures!

The New Year is off to a good start. I hope do get back to blogging more regularly in 2012. The girls go back to school on Monday, so it's back to our school routine. The next few months are going to go by rather quickly I have a feeling. And before too long, we'll be attending our daughters promotion ceremony from Elementary School!

This and That

2011-11-30T05:16:00.000-08:00

The girls returned to school on Monday after having had a two week break.

It was a nice break from the regular routine of getting up and out the door so early every morning, from homework, and for me, the busyness of being so involved at school.

While we were off, I didn't touch my black PTA bag once! I vowed to finish up all my little projects on the last day of school and then put my bag away for the two weeks and I was able to do just that! Yea Me! LOL.

I had every intention of catching up on my blogs while we were off, but I never accomplished that. I'm such a slacker. I do miss blogging.

We had a great time off. The girls and I got one trip in to Disneyland, in addition to the private annual passholder party that Steven and I got to go to one weekday night! The girls spent the night with my parents and Steven and I went with some good friends of ours. It was a great date night and we had a great time! I love Disneyland this time of year!!We had a nice Thanksgiving. I cooked this year for the four of us, my parents, and my brother and sister in law and two nieces. It was a quiet very low key day with lots of yummy leftovers!

This is the second year in a row that I've pulled an all nighter for Black Friday shopping! And boy, is it ever fun, especially when you go with a couple friends! I scored some amazing deals and think this very well be my new tradition of literally shopping til I drop. LOL.

We went back to school on Monday for three weeks and already I'm back to the busyness of projects. The PTA recently sold See's Candy for a fundraiser and that arrived yesterday, which required it to be sorted and bagged for all the orders the kids brought in. Today is pick up for the candy. So I'll be at school a few hours today for that. Next week is Hannah's Christmas Choir performance and the teacher has already cornered me into video taping it and processing it, there's the December PTA meeting next week. The following week is our last week of school before going off for three weeks for Christmas and the New Year. And that week holds a field trip for Hannah to Medieval Times, musical auditions that Rachel is participating in, and Christmas parties for each of the girls classes. This busy and this is just my school projects. LOL. But I love it and I love being able to stay home and be so involved...

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

2011-10-29T22:21:00.000-07:00

For most of my life, I've always had long, long hair. But at the beginning of summer, two years ago, I had ten inches taken off and I donated my hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.

I donated my hair on behalf of three women. My longtime friend Diana, diagnosed with lung cancer in the summer of 2008 and went home to be with the Lord in January 2010, and for the sister-in-laws of my friend Amy, both who had been diagnosed with breast cancer earlier that year.

You can read about it and see the before and after pictures on the post I wrote "Taking a Load Off".

Who would ever have thought that as my friend Trudi cut my hair that warm summer evening, that less than two years later she too would be diagnosed with breast cancer.

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This afternoon, I went to "Dancing for a Cure", a dance recital put together where all proceeds go to breast cancer research. This afternoon, and at the show this evening, Trudi got up before two almost sold out audiences, and told her story.

She told her story of how one weekend morning, as she rolled over in bed, she found two lumps and how she put off going to the doctor until weeks later when she couldn't lift her arm up to get something high out of the cupboard without pain.

She told of the day she and her husband were told that the biopsy revealed, "it's Breast Cancer".

She told of how she thought that having only 9 of the 31 lymph nodes testing positive for cancer was a relatively positive thing, while her doctor thought otherwise and upgraded her to Stage 3.

She told of the two rounds of chemo. The effects of loosing her hair. The five weeks of radiation, five days a week.

She told of the booth at opening day of our local town soccer club. They were taking pledges for an upcoming walk for Breast Cancer. Trudi signed up to walk. A year ago, breast cancer awareness wasn't as close a topic as it had become in the last nine months.

I'll never forget the morning she told me. It was at school, kids were running about on the blacktop, waiting for the bell to ring to begin their school day. She wanted to be the one to tell me before I heard it from anyone else. Her news hit me hard.

I've known people who knew people diagnosed with breast cancer, or so and so's Mom, or the friend of so and so. Or so and so. But never had I had a friend who'd been diagnosed with breast cancer. Now I personally KNEW someone who had breast cancer. She's my age (a couple years older, but close enough). She had two kids the same ages as our girls. I remember calling my mom once I got in the car and tearing up upon telling her. Trudi's cancer has touched many a hearts.

This is Trudi with her eight year old daughter. Trudi is a Breast Cancer Thriver. The last eleven months have been horrible ones. Filled with doctor appointments, Chemo appointments, radiation appointments. But she's alive. She's thriving. And she's an inspiration to many....

It's been a Busy Month!

2011-10-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

October has turned out to be a very busy month for me. And slowly, one by one, I'm checking things off my list!

Myself and another Mom were in charge of the 6th grade fundraiser that ran the last part of September into the first week of October. The kids sold raffle tickets and are raising money for Science Camp in April. There were three different deadlines for the kids with and each deadline meant a trip to the classrooms to pick up any tickets that had been turned in. And then there was the counting of the money and the raffle tickets, etc, etc. The buying of the prizes to be raffled off, etc. I spent countless hours working on the record keeping and making sure everything would be easy for the teachers to stay informed of the students who paid, who still have a balance, etc. Last week, myself and the other Mom were finally able to turn over all the money and the balances to our office manager and to the teachers in preparation for parent conferences to be held this week. I was sure happy to hand all that over!

On October 13th, our family attended our first Fall Ball at the school. In the six years that Hannah's been attending the school, we've never once gone to any of the dances. But this year, rather than the traditional Monster Mash that's been done in recent years, our Fall Ball Committee did a Country Hoedown! I had the best committee chairmans overseeing and planning the entire thing (Thank You Letti!!!) It was a fun evening of line dancing, face painting, food, and a country photo booth! We had all kinds of props that made for great and fun pictures! I've heard nothing but wonderful things about the evening and how much fun families had and what a great change it was from years past. I think we may have a new tradition!Members of the 2011-2012 PTA
In addition to to 6th grade fund raiser, and the hoedown, I also had a school wide Box Tops contest come to an end last week. Which for me, means counting all the Box Tops that have been held on to until the last minute and then verifying the count and ready them for shipment, and then printing up notifications for the winning classes, etc. We collected almost 20,000 Box Tops!This is what 15,800 individual Box Tops looks like. 316 bags of 50!
The other thing that's been on my plate this month is a project at church. October is Pastor Appreciation Month and for the second year in a row, I've taken on the project of collecting donations and special cards, etc, and then purchasing gift cards and putting together a gift for our Pastor and his family. Numerous emails having gone out, as well as printed copies of the letter handed out at church, proved very successful and we were able to bless our Pastor and his family by presenting them with a package of beautifully written cards, gift cards for dinners out, as well as a Visa gift card to go away as a family for a few days. That was presented to them yesterday, and thus another project finished for me for the month...

My Day in Pictures...

2011-10-04T19:12:00.001-07:00

I had nothing on the calendar today. Nothing going on that needed my attention at school (PTA, 6th grade science camp fundraiser, Box Tops, etc). My laundry is all caught up. It was a day that was totally open. So what better way to spend the day than make a trip to My Happy Place. It's my favorite time of year at the Disneyland Resort - Fall and soon it'll be be Christmas. I dawned my tennis shoes, transferred the necessities from my big purse into a small shoulder purse, and once the girls were dropped off at school, I was on my way.

There was a little hesitation when I first hit the freeway. The weather forecast had rain forecasted for tomorrow, so I thought I'd be safe. But there were reports of rain in the neighboring cities between here and Disneyland. I called Disneyland to see what the weather was like there, and while it had already rained there this morning, the sun was beginning to make an appearance.

I debated back and forth on whether to continue going and finally came to the conclusion to go anyway, no matter rain or shine. I hit patches of sprinkles here and there, an the morning traffic was cooperating all the way from here until I had to get on the other freeway. And then it was STOP and GO for the entire time until my exit!!!! Which I think is approximately 20 miles. It took me an hour and a half to get to Disneyland, when it normally would take me about 50 minutes!!!

This picture was taken as I was getting off the freeway! Yippeee! I reached my off ramp!Upon arriving to the parking structure I had already decided to throw caution to the wind and just deal with the sprinkling rain which had started when I exited the freeway, but once a few cars from where I'd parked, I noticed it had begun to rain harder, so returned to the car to get my umbrella. Now only if I'd had a jacket in the car, I would have been set!

And this is the view I saw quite often throughout the morning, the bottom of my umbrella in my line of vision. It began raining once I got inside the gates. Main Street was clear as most people had gathered into the shops of Main Street or under the eaves to get situated with rain ponchos, etc. I had my big umbrella so I waltzed my way down Main Street. I strolled through Tomorrowland to see what the wait was for Star Tours, only 30 minutes, but the line was outdoors and I didn't want to wait in the line. So I kept strolling. I ended up riding the Monorail and taking in the soggy sights of the park and some of the construction going on over at California Adventure that is hidden to the eye at street level.

People everywhere obviously came prepared, or found the nearest Dollar Tree, and had ponchos. I couldn't help but snap a picture of this adorable line up. All these little Asian girls had matching rain jackets!! That was sure going to make keep track of them all a lot easier!! And for the rest of the people who didn't come prepared, good ole Disney was prepared with their ponchos for sale! There were lots of these! Walking close to any of the people who had Disney ponchos on you could smell the newness of the poncho. LOL. I must have hit the line in the bakery just right, it was actually short. So a chocolate chocolate chip muffin and a nice cold Coke was my breakfast for the day and I staked out a dry table along Main Street to sit and people watch. I love to people watch at Disneyland. It's entertaining. I browsed through the stores of Main Street, and then through the big Disney store in Downtown Disney, as well as the candy store in Downtown Disney. I eventually made my way to the car. I wanted to give myself some extra traveling time back to the school just in case there were accidents on the freeway from the rain. I stopped off at the discounted Disney Warehouse to see what they had in stock. Christmas is coming and I was keeping my eye open for POTC shirts for Hannah. The warehouse didn't have much that caught my eye, except for this purse. It's a pin collectors bag really, that comes with an album to display your collectors pins, but I've had my eye on it for a long time to use as a purse. It had been $64.95 when it was in the parks. And now at the discount warehouse, it was $49.99, which really wasn't that great of a deal, so I passed. I left empty handed. And on the freeway I got.

Heading back towards home, there is one more Disney discount warehouse right off the freeway on the way home. I wavered back and forth on stopping. I decided I had the time to stop, so I might as well stop. They had practically all the same stuff, a little more clothes. But they also had the purse I had just seen!! However, here, at this Disney warehouse it was $20.99!!! Almost $30.00 cheaper than where'd I had just seen it a half hour before!! I had a gift card I'd recently been given by a teacher at school, so I bought it! I have a discount card for the discount Disney warehouse (isn't that a funny one) and it gave me an extra 15% off! So I got it for $19.80!!! When it was originally $64.95! I was pretty happy, even more happier that I hadn't bought it at the previous discount warehouse!

The other thing I contemplated briefly buying, was for my Star Wars loving geeks in my family...They were $27.99 each. So I passed.

It was a wonderful day! I love my quick trips to Disneyland. I love strolling through the park, seeing what's going on, people watching, and just taking a day off from the busyness of life outside the magical gates. I'm thankful to be able to do such days! And I look forward to more in the future!!

A New Bible Study

2011-09-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

Fall.

The time of year when the kids have been back in school for a while.

When the weather starts to cool down a bit.

And the time of year when new Bible Studies within churches typically start up.

The Women's Ministry at our church offers a Women's Bible Fellowship, however, it is held in the evenings. I am one of the very few women in our church who do not work outside the home, and after a long day of playing taxi back and forth to school, household chores, school obligations, and an afternoon of homework, toss in preparing dinner... I'm simply ready for a quiet and slower paced evening with my family. Not to mention that by the end of the day, my brain is fried and I just can't concentrate very well, therefore evening Bible Studies just don't work well for me.

A few months ago, my Mom approached myself and my sister-in-law, as well as her mother, about starting up a Beth Moore video series. The four of us don't work outside the home therefore a morning Bible Study was PERFECT for us. As I've mentioned before, we've been watching Beth Moore's video series called Wising Up, a study in the book of Proverbs. It's been wonderful and full of applicable things.

It's been working out perfectly for us and Beth Moore is an absolutely amazing Bible teacher. The Lord really blessed her with a gift. As our video series has been winding down, we've decided to start another of Beth's Bible Studies. This one has a workbook and homework to do.

Today was the start of our New Bible Study! And now until the Spring time, we will be doing Beth Moore's Believing God series. "Originating from a concept introduced in Isaiah 43:10, Believing God examines what it means to believe God rather than only believe in Him. Participants study the lives of Abraham and others from Hebrews 11 as examples of people who believed God. This study parallels a personal journey Beth took in coming to understand what it means to believe God."

Today was our first day! And not only are the four of us continuing, but the girlfriend of one of the nephews is joining us as well! She's young, a fairly new Christian, never been part of a Bible Study before, and is excited and hungry for what the Lord has in store for her. And we're excited to have her join us!

Today was the introduction. We have our workbooks, our index cards for writing down scriptures, and our schedule for the year ahead. It looks like it's going to be a GREAT study and I am very much looking forward to it!

Tired?? Nah, Exhausted is More Like It.

2011-09-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure anyone could be more happier than I am that today is the end of the week and the weekend is upon us.

This week has probably been one of the busiest weeks in my grown up life. LOL. Yesterday when I was grocery shopping I felt as though I could have just sat right down in the canned good aisle and have a good cry, that's how exhausted I am.

On Tuesday, when I left here to take the girls to school, we did not return until twelve and a half hours later. I had Bible Study that morning, a PTA meeting, following by a parent meeting for 6th grade Science Camp. Which may not sound like a lot. But a lot of preparation work goes into my PTA meetings, and for the Science Camp, I am one of two Moms who are heading up the fundraiser, which has had me busy as well. Last weekend, I counted out 5500 raffle tickets and divided into 100 envelopes and stapled and sorted packets for the meeting Tuesday night.

It's still the beginning of the school year (even though we've been in school almost 2 months), and things are still getting going. We've had school wide fundraisers, PTA membership drive, planning meetings for the upcoming Red Ribbon Week and the first ever Family Country Hoedown! Lots going on, especially this last week. In a few weeks, the fundraiser orders will arrive and then we'll kick off our Christmas Sees Candies fundraiser, and then officially be in the final months of 2011 and the holidays will be upon us.

Devotional by Liz

2011-09-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

I have 'met' tons of people over the internet through the years. Quite a few of them have become good friends.

Liz is one of those friends in particular. While she lives in Texas, and we've never met face to face, she's a true friend who I've emailed on occasion sharing prayer requests, life frustrations with, and answered prayers.

She keeps a blog, which is how I 'discovered' her so many years ago. Recently, she shared this devotional on her blog and I loved it so much that I thought I wanted to share it here, on my blog.

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I didn't forget 9/11.

On Sunday, I remembered where I was on the morning of 9/11 like so many of you did. Our pastor's sermon began with remembering the day, telling us where he was when he heard the news. We talked about it with our kids like we always do. We watched videos on youtube about the planes crashing into the Pentagon & World Trade Center towers. I paused to think about the awesome stories of heroism in the biography I read a few years ago "Let's Roll!" by Lisa Beamer, whose husband was on the ill fated Flight 93 that crashed into an open field.

But something struck me part way through the day.

I am, by no means, diminishing the power & importance of September 11, 2001. I will never forget the horror of that day. But it hit me like a ton of bricks that so many of us have our own 9/11s in life. We measure life that way, creating a roadmap of our life based on what happened before or after our 9/11. Those milestone dates will never be erased from our memory. Without thinking at all, I bet you can tell me exactly where you were when you got the news about 9/11. You can tell me how old your kids were. You can tell me what you did the rest of the day. And maybe even the day after. You can remember vividly who told you what was happening or whom you were with when you found out. And most of all, you can remember the terror that filled your heart. The questions that spewed from your mind. The fears that we all felt.

Maybe your 9/11 was the day you found out you had cancer. Or the day your child died. Or the moment that your spouse came to you & said that he/she wanted a divorce. Your 9/11 might be when the doctor walked in & told you that your dad was dead or that your friend would never walk again after the accident. Maybe it was the day that you lay in a hospital bed & handed your child over to his adoptive parents. It is different for all of us.

Life is like that. Horrible, awful things happen. We think we are safe, protected, secure....and then something slams into our life that reminds us we are just humans and that we're as fragile & weak as the rest of the world.

Today might be someone else's 9/11. Keep that in mind when you face the world today.

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Fall Has Arrived...at Least at our House

2011-09-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

My favorite season, if you can call it that here in Southern California, is the season of Fall. Love the warm colors, love the coolness of the mornings, love the clear views of the mountains once the Santa Ana Winds have come and done their thing. I usually wait until October 1st to decorate for Fall, that way it's up the month of October and November. But this year, Fall came early for our household. I had some ladies over from church last night as we finished up a book that we are going through and I wanted the house to be decked out for Fall. So I decorated over the weekend. I'm ready for Fall. I'm ready for the recipes I only cook in cooler weather - stew cooking all day in the oven, tortilla soup, chili, and other recipes I don't cook when it's hot. I'm ready for a trip to Oak Glen and to the Pumpkin Patch. I'm ready for Fall to fall upon Disneyland. I'm just plain ole ready to be done with summer. LOL. Even though we really have had a mild summer for the most part here in Southern California.

Remembering 9/11

2011-09-11T00:39:00.000-07:00

Every blogger across the internet world will be dedicating a post today to the significance of today's date and what happened to our great country ten years ago.

September 11, 2001.

It's one of those days in history where you know exactly where you were. Much like the events of the Challenger explosion (for me), or an example of my parents childhood, the day that President John F. Kennedy was shot and assassinated.

It was a Tuesday. Hannah was almost 17 months old, not walking, and an only child at the time. She'd had just woken up for the day and Steven had gotten her up, and was changing her wet diaper.

The phone rang, it was my Mom calling. She knew we weren't morning TV watchers, therefore she was calling to tell us that the Twin Towers had been hit. We turned the TV on and there we sat for hours and hours and hours on end, glued to the ongoing news, just like everyone else in the country.

I remember going over to our neighbors house and telling her to turn her TV on. I remember Steven not working that day. I remember at the end of the day sitting outside with the neighbor friend talking and taking a break from the nonstop coverage on TV. I remember hearing reports of people we knew, acquaintances from the church we were attending at the time being stranded somewhere as air travel had been stopped.

What do you remember about the day?

Helmets

2011-09-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

We've always been a family that pushes the wearing of helmets. The girls wear them when they ride their bikes, their scooters, and I've even made them wear their helmets when we've been the local skating rink.

When my brother was 14 years old, back when helmets weren't a law, he had a skateboarding accident. His skateboard hit a rock and he landed on his head, resulting in a basal skull fracture. He survived and didn't suffer any long term brain damage. Although he did loose some capacity to smell and taste as a result.

So helmets aren't ever not an option in our family.

What happened on July 20 of this year only confirmed the importance of helmets.

Hannah was in an accident on her bike which resulted in her being transported via ambulance out of the campground to the local trauma hospital whereas she was diagnosed with a pretty bad concussion. To read all the details, visit the post on her blog.

Her concussion was pretty bad and she had a helmet on! Had she not been wearing a helmet, the outcome would have been a lot different than it was. After a few hours of repeating herself and asking the same questions over and over and over again, she was practically back to herself by the time we were discharged from the ER shortly after midnight. Had she not been wearing her helmet, she might have ended up with a much more severe head injury.

The purpose of this post you might wonder?

It's for those of you who don't enforce your kids wearing helmets. This post is to hopefully to get you to change your thoughts and views on helmets. And start making your bike riding, scooter riding, four wheeling kids to wear helmets! Helmets can save lives!

August 31, 2004

2011-08-31T15:22:00.000-07:00

On this day, seven years ago, in the early hours of the morning, I was admitted to the hospital to be induced. An ultrasound done the day before estimated the baby I was carrying to be between 9-11lbs, with eleven days left until my due date. Given my history with my pregnancy with Hannah, going over two weeks and her being 10lbs at birth, my OB felt it best to induce me, and avoid the baby getting any larger. Shortly after arriving to the hospital, I was hooked up to the drugs that would bring on labor and after ten hours and not making any decent progress, my OB felt it was in my best interest for the safety of the baby, and for me, to proceed with a c-section. I was prepped, Steven was gowned up, and two hours later I was wheeled into the delivery room.The delivery room was cold and sterile. Nurses were busy about their business while they finished up last minute preparations for the soon to be delivered baby. They made Steven sit on a chair just outside the door until they were ready for one more body to be in the room.

And then the time came...

My wonderful OB came in, and someone escorted Steven in to be by my side. I could see nothing as a curtain had been put up across my chest. Blocking me from seeing what was going on. There was the smell of cauterizing flesh. There was tugging. And then there was complete and udder silence. It was my OB who kept moving forward in a business fashion sort of way giving the medical team in the room the news they all needed to know, "We have a baby girl with a unilateral cleft lip and palate". The way she said it, was calm. And upon hearing that, I knew I had just given birth to a baby born with an undetected birth defect. I remember that moment like it happened yesterday. I can tear up just thinking about it, as I am writing this post, reminiscing about the day our Rachel was born.

The days that followed Rachel's birth were very tough ones for our family. We had been praying for nine months for a healthy baby. We had already had a difficult babyhood with our first baby, we were ready for a healthy, normal baby. It was very much like a time of grieving. I remember being very removed and detached for the first few days in the hospital. I know a lot of it was due to an anti-anxiety drug I'd been given in my IV following the immediate delivery of Rachel. One thing we did know was that we had a long journey ahead of us with Rachel. A long journey that has been blogged about and shared all along the way at Rachel's Journey.I had Rachel on a Tuesday night (9:21pm to be exact) and I remained in the hospital until Friday. In the evenings, after all the visitors had gone home, after Steven had stayed late into the night and went home for some rest, I was left at the hospital alone. The baby went to the nursery. I had my iPod with me and the song I remember listening to over and over and over again was Fernando Ortega's "The Joy of the Lord". And that's kinda been my 'theme song' all theses years...

The joy of the Lord
Will be my strength
I will not falter
I will not faint
He is my Shepherd
I am not afraid
The joy of the Lord
Is my strength

The joy of the Lord
The joy of the Lord
The joy of the Lord
Is my strength

Thy joy of the Lord
Will be my strength
He will uphold me
All of my days
I am surrounded by mercy
And grace
And the joy of the Lord
Is my strength

The joy of the Lord
Will be my strength
I will not waiver
Walking by faith
He will be strong
To deliver me safe
The joy of the Lord
Is my strength

Here we are seven years later, and I am extremely thankful for the gift the Lord gave us in Rachel, birth defect and all.

God Works the Night Shift

2011-08-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

I read the following devotional on Greg Laurie's blog over the weekend and I wanted to share it...

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It is 3:00 A.M., the house is quiet, your family members are asleep, it is warm, it is dark, and you should be asleep too . . . but your mind is racing, your heart is pounding, and worries overwhelm you. You might be thinking about the pressing needs of a tomorrow that will find you unprepared, or it may be an area of concern—financial, relational, or employment. You may even continually find yourself in a place where you are out of hope and out of peace. A place that points to a spiritual separation from God that leaves you vulnerable and open to attacks of anxiety from the enemy. There is something about this part of the night that seems to magnify all of these problems, and I am not sure exactly why that is. Maybe that is why the psalmist said "He guards us from the flaming arrows at night."

I am convinced that we need God's help, not only when we are alert and awake, but even when we are sleeping. As you get ready to go to sleep, I think that it is a great thing to end the day in prayer. It has been said that God works the nightshift, and it is so true.

The best place to start is back at the beginning of each new day. Start your day in prayer, committing your decisions, your challenges, and whatever you are going to face that day to the Lord. Then, as I suggested, end your day with prayer as well. In each instance, our prayer should be, "Lord, here it is. I commit it to You." It reminds me of a quote from Martin Luther, "Pray and let God worry." I like that. Not that God worries, but the idea is that you should pray about it, rather than worry about it.

Let me ask you right now, is there something troubling you? Is there something eating away at you? Bothering you? Irritating you? Causing you to be afraid? Pray about it, right now. Just say, "Lord, I can't handle it." Philippians says, "Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. The peace of God that passes all human understanding will keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus."

So don't worry. Pray. You will sleep, and live, much better.

********************************************
I love the title that Pastor Greg gives this devotion, "God Works the Night Shift".

It is the nighttime when I often find my mind unable to shut off.

Just like Pastor Greg wrote in his opening of this devotion, it is in the darkness and the quietness of the house, when the girls are sound asleep, Steven is sleeping, when the day has come to an end, it is then that the enemy gets foothold of my thoughts and I start thinking, dwelling on things, worrying about things, pondering things.

Often times the longer I lay in bed, the worse it gets. So most often times I get up, sometimes busying myself with surfing the internet. But more and more times, I'm going into our family room and praying. There's always things to pray about. People to pray for.

Perhaps there's someone reading this today that needed to hear, needed a reminder, of who they can call upon in the night, when they find themselves lonely, alone, and afraid. Always remember, that while stores have closing hours, God is always working, and He's always working the Night Shift!

Pioneer Woman is Coming to Food Network!

2011-08-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

I don't think there's many people out there in the internet world that doesn't know the name "Pioneer Woman".

Her blog 'Confessions of a Pioneer Woman' is read by thousands every day. She has a cookbook, a book sharing the courtship with her now husband, and starting this weekend, she's coming to Food Network!!! We already love to watch Food Network, and I love to read PW's blog, (even met her in person once), combining the two are going to be awesome!

Check your local listings for the Saturday Premiere specifics. For me, its shows at 8:30. In honor of the day, I think a special PW breakfast might have to be in order!

Being a Wise Woman

2011-08-23T12:09:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned before how much I'm loving these Beth Moore Bible Studies?? LOL.

The last Beth Moore video we watched was on being a wise woman. The wise woman...

...Is a former fool - Proverbs 26:11, Proverbs 22:15, Proverbs 15:5

...exercises patience - Proverbs 14:29. Proverbs 29:11, Proverbs 14:16-17

... is not easily annoyed - Proverbs 12:16

... makes amends - Proverbs 14:9

... knows that God's way is life's ultimate way - Proverbs 19:3, Proverbs 19.8

So, truth be told, Beth was going through the first part of her message, and nothing was hitting home for me. In fact, I was thinking about some women who'd I'd encountered in recent weeks that were acting as fools. LOL.

And then, Beth got to her third point. The wise woman is not easily annoyed. And had scripture to back it up! YIKES!

Am I an easily annoyed person you may ask? Yes, yes I am.

You know what Beth had to say about the person who is easily annoyed? That it is a character flaw in me, not that of the person who I am being annoyed by!

Since watching that video, I've really, really (and man is it hard sometimes!!!) been trying to remind myself when I find myself annoyed at someone, that it's me that has the problem, and not them. It's been tough. But I am finding myself just a little bit more accepting.

How Quickly Life Can Change

2011-08-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

Last week, I learned that a little girl who was in Rachel's class last year had lost her Daddy unexpectedly. He had died the Thursday before, due to a massive heart attack.

As I learned more details throughout the week, I learned that the morning he died, he had actually gone to Urgent Care with chest pains, they sent him home with an aspirin and never batted an eye any further than that. No EKG. No blood work. At the end of the day, he suffered a massive heart attack in the midst of his seven year old daughter.

He leaves behind a loving wife. His seven year old daughter as well as a five year old daughter.

I didn't know the man other than the fact he was "Lindsey's Dad". Every day last school year he would walk hand in hand with her in to the playground, and stand with her until the bell rang. Always smiling, always the example of a loving father.

Since school started this year, the girls and I have been walking in with Lindsey and her Mommy. Always nicely put together, on her way to work, a beautiful woman, on the outside and the inside. This last week my heart has been so heavy for her. In my thoughts and prayers. I could barely hold it together when I offered her my condolences last week when I found out.

Her life is forever changed...

Her kids lives are forever changed, as well.

It really struck me this week just how quickly life can change. Who would have thought that at as the sun rose and the day began on August 11, that by the end of the day, her husband, and their Daddy would be forever gone. Thankfully, this is a believing family, and they have that hope of seeing him someday again in heaven...

What a Week

2011-08-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

The end of another week and what a week it's been!! I've been the PTA President officially for over 2 weeks, but I feel like this week was the first real week of that position. And I'm tired. LOL.

Tuesday after school we held our first PTA meeting of the new school year. I must say I was nervous leading up to the meeting. I kept hearing that many people were coming, but truth be told, people like to talk, but not commit, so I wasn't really holding my breath until the meeting actually came about.

We had over 40 people in attendance for the meeting!!! That is the most people we've had attend any single PTA meeting in YEARS! Last year, the most we ever had at meetings, not including the teachers and principal were a dozen. I was overwhelmed with the support and it was refreshing to see so many people come to the meeting, and offer up ideas when it was appropriate to do so.

I've learned quite a few things this week:

1) My crockpot is still my friend. There was one day I had a meeting with the 6th grade teachers after school and while it didn't last long, the other little 'hallway meetings' I ended up having did. I was happy to not have to think about dinner when I didn't arrive home until after 4:00.

2) I need to take a couple days a week where I'm not so visible at school. Because I am the new kid on the block, and people and teachers are excited that I've taken on this position, and I'm approachable, I appear to be the 'go to person' for everything, even unrelated PTA things.

3) People have misconceptions about what it is that the PTA does and does not do. Here are a few examples:
* It was not the PTA's choice to do away with the crossing guard, nor will we pay to have a new one put there.
* It was not the PTA who thought up Saturday school.
* It is not the PTA who came up with the nutritional rules that we now must abide by in our contest rewards, etc.
* It is not the PTA who buys 5-6 dozens of donuts every Friday for the staff and teachers and places them in the lounge.
* In addition to a few other misconstrued thoughts of PTA.

4) I do know it was the Lord who put me in this position. It is my hearts desire to be the best example I can when dealing with tough situations, tough emails, and tough people. The vice president is also a believer and it was such a blessing to quickly get together prior to our meeting on Tuesday and pray. And after dealing with some unhappy people this week, I think prayer is going to play a lot bigger factor for us as we endeavor things this school year.

I've probably put in 20-25 hours this week of time between the many duties I have at the school - Box Tops Coordinator, PTA President, Room Mom, and another committee I got involved in this week. My goal for the weekend: NO PTA or work associated with school. I'm taking the weekend off.

Tonight, Steven and I are going on a date night and I'm very much looking forward to that!

Separation of Church and State

2011-08-09T20:32:00.000-07:00

This evening, I went to the city council meeting in the city where the girls go to school in, the city I was raised in.

I was there as our schools PTA President, on behalf of the concerned parents and families of our school in regards to the recent elimination of crossing guards as a result of budget cuts by our school district. I got up before the council and spoke.

As I stood there, with my eyes shut, listening to the opening prayer of one of the community's pastors, and then following the prayer with the reciting of the pledge of allegiance, something struck me as funny...

The world is so worked up over "the separation of church and state" and yet, we just opened up the city council meeting with a prayer, followed by an allegiance that states we're "One Nation Under God".

What is wrong with society?? Choosing when to let God be a part of government, etc.

It reminded me that it's how sometimes we as Christians can choose the things that the we 'give' to the Lord to work with, have control over, in our own lives. Do I have a "separation of church and state" attitude in my life?? Do You??

******************* The Outcome of my Speaking: After I spoke, I left the meeting. I needed to get my girls home to bed, and about an hour ago, I received word that the city council voted to approve paying for three crossing guards for 30 days until a volunteer program can be put in place!!!! Yipppeeee!!!

Acquaintances VS Friends

2011-08-06T14:17:00.000-07:00

We are continuing on in our Beth Moore Bible Study Video Series. Last week's video was on Friendships and boy did I learn a lot and it confirmed a lot of feelings I already I had in regards to friends.

But before I share about the teaching, a little history about me and friendships:

Growing up, I did not have a lot of friends, it was that way all through school. Having been raised in a Christian home, where I knew what was right and wrong, I was set apart in High School, I wasn't doing or into the things that the other kids were into. Which also made me different, and not really wanted much as a friend.

In the years to follow, I came to realize that while it was at times painful not to have a lot of friends growing up, I came to appreciate the specialness of having just one or two close friends. The kind of friends you could confide in, share things with, not be judged, etc.

That thinking stays with me to this day. I don't need a lot of friends. I am not one of those people who share everything to a lot of people. I don't need, or want, a lot of people knowing my innermost thoughts and feelings. I have one or two friends whom I confide in, look to for support, ask for prayer from, lean on. And I am perfectly happy with that.

Beth's Video on friendships hit home in so many areas for me. It was just the confirmation that I needed to hear.

First off, Beth Moore gave the difference between acquaintances and friends.

Acquaintances can be classified as those types of relationships that are "head to head relationships" and are socially satisfying. The types of people you can sit down with and have a conversation with, doing things with, but not really sharing a piece of yourself.

Friends are the types of relationships that are "heart to heart". They aren't relationships that are staged in an environment or setting. They happen freely.

I have a lot of acquaintances. Which when you use that word, seems so unfriendly sounding. But they are those relationships that are social, ones I can carry on conversations with, are pleasant to be with. But I don't share "me" with these friends. And then I have a few very close friends whom I call upon, text, and share my heart with, prayers with, etc. Those are my "heart to heart" friends. They encourage me, pray for me, comfort me and I hope I do the same for them. They are treasures.

The book of Proverbs is full of verses on friendships. And I could go on and on about this wonderful Bible Study on friends, but I'll just leave it at saying how blessed I was from this study and how much I gleaned...

Box Tops Bulletin Board

2011-08-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

I have once again taken on the role as Box Tops Coordinator for our school this year. We are currently within the top ten schools in the State of California and I want to be the one to move our school closer to the top. How's that for being discreet about the specifics! LOL.

I hold a couple contests throughout the year and it gets quite competitive amongst the classes, and even amongst the teachers in the final days and hours of the contest. So every year a bulletin board is created that sits on the cafeteria patio to show how the contest is progressing.

This is the bulletin board I made for this year. It was my goal to have it up for Back to School night for all the families to see and remember that Box Tops collecting is important. The red colored flowers are for the intermediate classes, grades 4-6th. The purple flowers are for the primary grades, Kindergarten through 3rd. As Box Tops are turned in, flower petals will be added to the class flower stem with the amount of Box Tops turned in. I'm thinking for every 300 turned in, a flower petal will be added.

Here's to a great year of "Watching our Earnings Grow...!"

New School Year, New Position

2011-08-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

Before the school year ended, the PTA board positions for the 2011-2012 had already been filled and voted upon. But two weeks after school got out, I received a text that our voted in President had to resign. Her husband who had received a pink slip at his current job, had found a job, two hours away. She was now on a mission to seek a replacement for PTA President.

Within minutes of her text I was on the phone with her asking the details of the job, specifics, etc. And then over the course of the week to follow I thought about it. Talked it over with friends at the school, with my sister in law who was the PTA President at her school last year, and then once I came to the conclusion that I was interested, I asked Steven what he thought about it all. He was very encouraging and told me to go for it.

I texted the resigning President and told her I was interested. An email had already gone out soliciting other people who were interested and no one was, so the position was looking like it was mine. It would become official once I was voted in at the Association Meeting to be held at Back to School night, which was last night.

It's now official, I'm the PTA President for the 2011-2012 school year!

Call me crazy. Call me out of my mind. But I think I can do a great job at the position. I'm a very organized person. I can delegate things well.

I'm excited about the school year ahead. Today, I put flyers in the teachers boxes to hand out to their students to take home, inviting people to join us at our meetings. I also wrote a letter to the teachers letting them know the PTA was there to help and support our teachers and that I was available for their ideas and thoughts, including my personal email address at the close of the letter.

There's a lot of changes at our school this year. We lost a lot of longtime dedicated PTA members who put many, many hours into projects and events. I'm hoping our first meeting will be filled with a lot of new faces (fresh meat as we call them!) and that our year will be a successful one!

How We Pack for Camping

2011-07-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

We have a minivan.

When we camp, we tent camp.

When we camp, we have a lot of stuff.

When we camp for an entire week, there's even more stuff.

Which means you have to be very precise and organized as to how you pack your car.

My father in law has never seen how loaded down we are when we go camping, so I took these step by step pictures to share how it is that we pack our car.

We start by removing the last seat in our van, and switching it with the middle seat. The back seat actually allows for better positioning and adjusting than the middle seat. The spare seat is placed in our dinning room for the week. Then we load our camp box and large ice chest. They must be placed on the sides. Now is also the time to pack the boogie boards and large flexible freesbie against the seat. Our EZ Up and double camp chairs and umbrella go in next, in between the ice chest and camp box. The single camp chairs for the girls are then positioned onto the ledges of the back windows. Our small camp table is also slid in alongside of the ice chest. Next to pack are the rubbermaid boxes. Usually two are filled with non perishable food, especially if going for a week. One box has our air mattresses and tarps. The other box is a one filled with other camping necessities - hammer, mallet, air pumps, lanterns, etc. More stuff is also strategically positioned along the sides of the cars in the window spaces. Next comes the beach chairs and blankets and bedding. Chairs laying flat atop the ice chest, blankets being stuffed into every nook and cranny that could possible hold something. The girls luggage and beach bags of beach towels are backed and our tent is packed at this point. One of the last things to be packed into the car so that it can be easily accessed and set up so everything else can be loaded into it. LOL. The only thing missing from this picture is the large duffel bag that Steven and I pack our clothes for a week in. It gets shoved in last minute along with our pillows. The one picture I failed to get was the front of the car. This trip, there was an ice chest between the girls, sitting on the seat with our electric coffee pot in it, bike helmets and scooters fit in the nooks beneath the seat, bucket of sand toys beneath Rachel's feet. As well as stuff between mine and Steven's seat. We were loaded!!!

And as if the inside of the car wasn't fully loaded, we have a bike rack that straps to the back of our car. Normally there are only three bikes, but this year I had a bike, therefore Rachel's was strapped to the roof. In this picture, Rachel was upset and crying because she feared her bike would come off in the drive to the campground. LOL. Daddy assured her if it did, he'd buy her a new one...after the tent was put up. LOL. At the end of our camping trip, and we're loading up the car to come home, everything pretty much has to be packed the same way! There's no way if we want to continue camping that we could ever get a smaller car. LOL.

God's Hand

2011-07-25T11:23:00.000-07:00

Have you ever gone through something and after it was all said and done, after the dust had settled, you could see God's Hand all over the situation, all over the events of the circumstances??

The day after Hannah's accident, we saw just that. We saw how the Lord's hand was all over that day...

* My parents were at the campground for the day visiting us. Had they not have been there, they would have been the first ones I had called about the accident and I know they would have been making their way to San Diego in rush hour traffic, not really knowing where to go.

* Because my parents were visiting for the day, the friends we were sharing the campsite with parked their truck out on PCH for the day so that my parents car would be right there at the campsite for them to work out of (their chairs, extra shoes, jackets, ice chest, etc, etc). And because their car was RIGHT there, it allowed us to jump right in the car and follow the ambulance right on out of the campground.

* Hannah fell off her bike in front of a campsite that belonged to friends whom we were camping with. Our friends son saw her and knew exactly where to go to get help. Had she fallen at some other location in the park, no one who knew her might have seen her, therefore we might not have been alerted as quickly as we were.

* Hannah's accident happened in front of a campsite where off duty firefighters and paramedics were camping. They were able to jump right in there and start assessing the situation, asking the right questions, giving the right instructions until the on duty medical professionals got there. They were also the ones who ultimately cut her foot free from her bike.

* Because we were camping with friends and family, all believers, they began praying as soon as the urgency of the situation came to light. I know they were praying throughout the evening as updates were texted to them, etc. I believe with all my heart, it's because of all the prayers said on Hannah's behalf that the CT Scan was negative, the foot xrays were negative, and the blood results checking for brain trauma was negative.

I know God's Hand was probably on many of the other details surrounding this accident and we may never know the others. But His hand was on the evening, and I'm so thankful, very, very thankful.

Back from Camping

2011-07-25T08:26:00.000-07:00

We were camping last week at the beach. We left on Sunday afternoon after church and came home on Saturday afternoon. We had a great time away. In the middle of the week, Hannah was fell off her bike which resulted in being taken to San Diego Children's Hospital via an ambulance. You can read the entire account on her blog.

And now, we are vacation detoxing.

There's a ton of laundry.

A kid out of commission.

And school starts one week from today!

So much to do and so little time left!! So many more adventures I wanted to do while on break, but seven weeks just isn't enough time.

Dressing Modestly

2011-07-16T07:32:00.000-07:00

Dressing Modestly. Not a subject often talked about these days. It's certainly something that is becoming more and more less seen in today's society. Billboards. Commercials on TV. Magazine covers. Sales Ads. Are all guilty of not promoting modest dress. The majority of women, teenage girls included, lack modesty in this day and age. And sadly, a lot of Christian women fall into this category as well.

The Bible tells us in 1 Timothy 2:9-10:

"I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God."
We were somewhere recently surrounded by other Believers, where the teens were swimming. The girls were wearing bikinis. Very low cut bikinis. The lack of covering wasn't leaving much to my own imagination, so I know it wasn't leaving much to the imagination of the teen boys that were swimming in the pool with the girls, much less all the single men and married men sitting poolside.

I have two daughters and it is my job as their mother to teach them how and why we need to dress modestly. Summer time is upon us and when it comes to bathing suits, my girls wear one pieces. Yes, when they were toddlers, they had cute little ruffled two pieces, but that was when they still had some baby chub on them and it was cute. But we're at a stage now where we're trying to teach them modesty, and it's tough, especially when fellow believers don't hold modesty in the same regard.

Hannah recently attended our church Youth Lock In, aka all nighter at the church with devotions, music, games. There was a young lady who spoke on the topic of what things are pleasing to the Lord. One of the things she addressed towards the girls was the subject of dress and presenting themselves in ways that are pleasing to the Lord. The days following the Lock In, Hannah asked me if I thought the purple nail polish she was wearing was displeasing to the Lord. Of course it wasn't. But it opened the doors for me to tell her exactly what would be displeasing to the Lord as far as clothing went.

A couple weeks ago, my Mom and I took the girls to the beach, to escape the Inland Empire heat, and to have a picnic on the beach. We were all set up, chairs, blanket laid out, just chilling and relaxing under the umbrella, when a teenage girl and her boyfriend set up their spot down a ways in front of us. It wasn't long before she was peeling off her clothes, reveling the bikini that laid beneath. The topic of conversation that came next for us, was explaining to Hannah the lack of modesty the young girl exhibited.

I'm not saying that two piece bathing suits are wrong. In fact, Old Navy and a lot of other stores these days sell very cute two pieces that include board shorts and rash guard shirts. Very cute. What I am saying is that we as women, especially those of us who claim to love and follow the Lord, need to think about our bathing suits, in fact think about our entire wardrobe, and ask ourselves if the article of clothing might be lacking in modesty, perhaps even displeasing to the Lord.

A Favorite Kitchen Gadget

2011-07-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

I'm a water drinker and an iced tea drinker. I'm not really a soda drinker. The only exception to that rule is a fountain Coke at Disneyland. It burns all the way down and I cannot find Coke that tastes that good anywhere else.

I love iced tea year long, but especially in the hot summer months! I also have a sun tea jar that I take camping and make tea the old fashioned way!

New Bible Study

2011-07-12T21:48:00.000-07:00

Not only is it that time of year where the kids go back to school, but it's also that time of year where typically new Bible Study Fellowships start up. New books of the Bibles to be studied, new groups to be formed, etc.

I don't like going to the formal Bible Study Fellowships for a few different reasons. So when my Mom came up with the idea to do one together, that was right up my alley. And when she suggested including my sister in law (brothers wife) and her Mom, that made it all the more appealing. To do a Bible Study as the women of the family was going to be great!

This morning we started our little Bible study and it was GREAT!

We are doing Beth Moore's video series called "Wising Up". It's a video series that concentrates on Proverbs and focuses on practical things that women face, all pointing and steering us to be better Proverbs 31 women.

We are starting off very simple. There's no homework with this study. Our plan is to get through these videos which takes us up to the holidays. Which will give my sister in law time to adjust to homeschooling my nieces (first year!) and me time to adjust to my duties at school, etc. And then after the holidays, we'll perhaps start a series whereas a workbook is involved.

So far, I really LIKE Beth Moore. I think she'll only get better and better. I'm really looking forward to the series and looking forward to the women of the family growing not only closer to the Lord, but to each other.

It's the Middle of July!

2011-07-12T14:49:00.001-07:00

I can hardly believe that we are more than half way through our summer vacation. In less than 3 weeks, we go back to school. Back to homework. Back to packing lunches everyday. Back to getting up and out the door by 7:30 every morning.

I think that last one is really going to be tough...on ME! LOL. I've been enjoying sleeping in, lounging in bed surfing Facebook on my phone, reading devotionals, slow to getting up and dressed. It's been nice.

There's also a part of me that is excited about the upcoming school year. We unexpectedly lost the PTA president whom we voted in for the 2011-2012 school year as a job for her husband opened up a few hours away. After an email was sent out soliciting any interested in the position, I was the only one! So if all goes well, once being voted in at Back to School Night, I will be the PTA President for the upcoming school year. Which is kinda exciting. I have lots of ideas, lots of people to convince to come to meetings, LOL.

We go back to school Monday, August 1st. Which is right around the corner!

Meanwhile there's still lots to do! At least one more trip to Disneyland! Would love to make a trip to the LA Fashion Market to get Rachel stocked up on headbands and hair accessories for school. There's a few other things on our calendar as well, that I'll blog about down the road...

The Heat has Arrived!

2011-07-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

The heat has finally arrived in Southern California.

The weather has been pretty mild up until this point, and we've been thankful. The last two days have see triple digit temperatures and the humidity that accompanies the heat is almost suffocating.

This afternoon after getting home from church, I had a hard time cooling down. We decided to go grab something for lunch and had an enjoyable family lunch at Applebees. After a stop off at the grocery store for some ice and a few things from Redbox, we came home to hibernate for the remainder of the day, or at least until around 8:00 when a trip to Dairy Queen for an ice cream was in order.

The car thermometer read 110 today, which is waaaaay toooo hot!

The End of an Era

2011-06-21T21:23:00.000-07:00

I feel like some events from today mark the ending of an era. LOL.

Yesterday, I cleaned out our master bedroom walk in closet. Buried in the way back was our pack n play. I texted a friend whose daughter will be visiting this week with her newborn and I offered her the pack n play for keeps. She came and picked it up this morning.

We got the pack n play as a baby shower present when we were pregnant with Hannah. We used it with her. We used it with my niece McKenzie when she came to sleepover, and we used it with Rachel. There's no more babies coming up the ranks and thus it was beyond time to get rid of it! So long pack n play, you've served us well and now it's time for you to cradle new babies! The blonde headed baby is my niece, McKenzie. Rachel, just days old, in the pack n play.
The other event that marked the end of an era, was my listing our Little Tikes Victorian Kitchen on Craigslist. We originally bought the kitchen for Hannah's 2nd birthday. It served it's time with her and then it was passed on to Rachel. And while it's been a year or two since Rachel has seriously played with it, it's just been sitting in Rachel's room, often times becoming the collect all for toys not wanting to be put away in their proper places, clothes stacked atop to be put away, etc, etc.

Last week, I had the girls clean the dust off the kitchen with wipes as I laid out all the dishes and food and took pictures, ultimately listing it on Craigslist to sell.
Today, I was contacted by someone who was interested. And within a few hours, the kitchen was packed up in my van and delivered to its new owners. A new little girl who'll get hours and hours of play out of it. And thus, ending another era in our household.

It's all kinda sad. But nice at the same time to get things out of here that aren't being used any longer.

Ten Days

2011-06-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

It's been ten days since school got out for summer vacation. I think we're in the swing of vacation now. No set bed times. No set get up time (ahhh, sleeping in is such bliss).

The girls and I have gone to Disneyland once. We saw the new summertime parade and are very much in need of another trip, perhaps next week!The girls spent two nights with their two cousins at the annual "Camp Gramma and Papa". My parents take all four of their grandchildren and they have a night of fun playing games, special treats, and awesome take home treat bags! This year my parents kept all four girls for two nights!! They had a blast!On Sunday afternoon, following our family bike ride, we returned home to find our neighbors BBQing and hanging out on the front lawn while kids went on the slip n slide. Rachel dawned her bathing suit and joined in the on fun. We hung out and talked to our neighbors, which was niceMonday, I drove into Los Angeles to the Fashion District and took my Mom to wholesale bead stores! She was overwhelmed by the abundance, the selection, the prices. It was fun! Then we went to Santee Alley and the girls loaded up on sunglasses, headbands, fishnet gloves, and colored hair extensions. On the way back to the freeway I drove past Skid Row and exposed them to the down and out homeless people literally living on the streets in cardboard homes. Needless to say, I think they appreciated the stop on the way home at McDonalds a little bit more than past trips. Because of the upcoming release to BluRay, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was released for one night only at our local theater. Hannah has become obsessed with those movies, or is it Orlando Bloom!?!? At any rate, she was only a baby when they were released at the theaters the first time around and has never seen them on anything bigger than our 32 inch TV. A daughters friend who is also into the movies was going and she offered to take Hannah. Hannah was EXCITED! Amber picked her up and they went to the mall food court for dinner and then went to their 3 hour and 50 minute movie. She'll go again the next two Tuesdays for parts two and three. Other highlights of our week include playing games and eating lunch on the patio. Enjoying the June Gloom and mildly cool temps for this time of year. As well as making cookies! What will the next ten days hold for us vacationing folk??! Hmm, I think for sure a trip to the Magic Kingdom, at least an evening at the movies for Hannah, and who knows what else. The possibilities are endless...

I Got a Bike!

2011-06-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

Steven has been riding bikes with the girls for a long time. With Rachel's training wheels recently coming off, they've gone on several rides about the neighborhood and to the local park, about a mile away. Hannah had outgrown her bike and has been borrowing a friends bike until we figured out if that was the right size for her, etc.

Last Sunday, she found a bike she liked at Kmart. And it happened that bikes were on sale. So she got a new bike. A few days later, after looking at a few I liked, I got a bike. It's the first bike I've had in probably 25 years! LOL. This afternoon, after we got home from church and had lunch, we went on our first family bike ride. Steven still has to map it all out, but we rode at least 5 miles! We went from our house to the local park (1.8 miles) and then took the bike trail home along the River bed.
The first few blocks the muscles in my thighs were starting to scream about how out of shape I'm in, but overall, it was a great ride and a lot of fun and i look forward to many more rides, especially when we go camping in July!

It's Official!

2011-06-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

School for the girls ended on Tuesday with a minimum day dismissal at 12:40. And two hours later we were walking through the gates of my happy place.

It was a busy two days, Monday and Tuesday, but I survived. Needless to say I'm very much looking forward to the 7 week break we have. No more packing lunches every morning. No more getting out the door by 7:30 five days a week. No homework. Not to mention the break from all the time I put in at the school this year. I roughly had to estimate my PTA time for our Historian recently, and I gave a very rough estimate of 280 hours of volunteer time. That doesn't include the hours spent in Rachel's classroom, or some of the other miscellaneous things I did on campus that were not PTA related. So I'm sure my hours were way over 400, if not close to 500. Definitely ready for a break!

My school year officially came to an end this morning. We had an early morning breakfast meeting to discuss the 2011-2012 PTA budget. It lasted hours. But once it was done, I breathed a sigh of relief and bid every one a good summer break with a promise to see them in August!

And now I look forward to lazy mornings sleeping in, trips to Disneyland with my girls, outtings with my Mom, a week camping trip at the beach in July and many more adventures!

A Relaxing Weekend

2011-05-30T19:06:00.000-07:00

For the third year in a row, we spent Memorial Day Weekend camping at the beach.

We normally go camping at the beach with a bunch of families from church, but we were the only ones who secured reservations when they had to be made back the 1st of November. This camping trip it was just the four of us, and some very good friends of ours.

It's been a busy few weeks for me with school events and activities and responsibilities, and the same for Steven with work, and church and ministry duties. As for our friend, she is four weeks post op from a hysterectomy. So a relaxing, low key weekend was just what the doctor ordered for all of us.

I took a book. I took my continuing education materials for my nursing license. I took magazines. But when it came down to it, the afternoon I sat on the beach, I just sat. I sat there watching Rachel pounce about the beach. Sat watching my husband attempt to sculpt our church logo out of sand, and I sat and watched the waves come crashing onto the shore, one right after another. It was relaxing. So much so that I snuck in a little nap. My Dad will be so proud! :)

I never thought I'd enjoy camping so much, but I really do. I love enjoy tent camping. I love being outdoors. And I can't wait until we return for an entire week during our summer vacation!!

The End is Quickly Coming

2011-05-23T23:05:00.000-07:00

The end of the school year that is. The girls have only ten days of school left. Where has the 2010-2011 school year gone?? I feel as though it's flown by!

Teacher request letters were turned in months ago, but this morning, I found out that the teacher whom I requested for Rachel, is moving down to first grade! I cannot tell you how bummed I was upon learning this. I've been waiting three years since Hannah finished out her school year with this teacher for us to be able to work with her with Rachel. She is a wonderful Christian woman who prays for her students daily. She always encourages me when we get the chance to talk, even if it is for five minutes in passing in the school halls, and she's become a treasured friend. I was so looking forward to Rachel having her, as was Rachel excited to be having her for a teacher as well.

But today, a little birdie told me there were lots of changes being made for the teachers and grade assignments for the new school year. All these changes coming in just the last few days.

After confirming the rumors I'd heard with our school principal, slowly, my sadness over not having this particular teacher began to fade and I started looking forward to the great opportunity of working with teachers I've not worked closely with before. I've written up a new teacher request for Rachel for 2nd grade and I look forward to working with whoever she gets as her 2nd grade (:::WOW!:::) teacher.

The next ten days of school are very busy ones. Tomorrow I have a Box Tops contest ending. And over night, I have promised to notify the contest winning teachers, and then will announce the winners of the Year Long contest on Thursday. We have reward play days coming up, Magnet Open House on Wednesday, Perfect Attendance lunch and assembly, and year end parties! I have a feeling the next ten school days are going to go by just as quickly as the entire school year did!!!

It Happened All Too Quickly...

2011-05-22T23:23:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, we witnessed a serious accident on the freeway.

To be honest, we were almost a part of that serious accident.

We were coming home from a nice lunch out celebrating the retirement of my sister in laws mom, stopping off at Costco on the way home.

We were traveling in the slow lane of the freeway when all of a sudden traffic started to slow down. As Steven looked in the rear view mirror, it was apparent that the car behind was not making any attempts to stop. Steven continued to drive forward and even off to the shoulder of the freeway to avoid being rear ended.

The car swerved to the left and then tried to compensate for the swerve and there we watched the car spin and then tip onto it's side. At some point I remember saying outloud "Lord, be with the people in that car".

Steven stopped the car, and the freeway traffic came to a standstill. He told me to call 911 and I did. Voice shaking and all, giving a description of the scene and the location. Getting out of the car and walking toward the overturned car, there were many on their cell phones, all calling the same phone number I'm sure.

With the help of many people who stopped and got out of their cars to help, the people in the overturned Ford Expedition all crawled out of the car, non appearing to be majorly hurt. THAT was a miracle. There were a ton of people there, helping, there was no need for me to stay, so I went and got back into our car and off we went. Thankful we'd not been rear ended like it looked like we were going to be. Thankful that the people in the car appeared to overall be okay.

This was the first time I'd ever witnessed such an accident. I've always driven past the overturned car after it'd happened. I've never witnessed the overturning first hand. And to be honest, it was scary. And it was a real eye opener as to how quickly something like that can happen...

What I've Been Up To...

2011-05-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

My lack of blogging already paints the picture of how other things have taken precedence in my life. I've missed blogging and I feel so horrible that I've let all three of my blogs become so neglected.

Life the last month and a half has been crazy for me. And I'm more than ready for a few days away like I wrote about in the previous post. LOL.

The biggest thing that has occupied my time has been our Women's Ministry Spring Tea at church. This is the second year that my Mom and I have overseen it. And to be honest, planning a tea is much like planning a wedding. So many details to stay atop of. The tea was held Saturday, April 30th and it was a huge success! We had ten tea tables and seventy women in attendance. The days and weeks leading up to the tea were filled with "to-do lists", food shopping, food preparing, and a 12+ hour day at the church preparing and decorating the day before. But the day was wonderful and many women were blessed. It's hard to believe, but our school year is winding down and we only have four weeks left. My time has also been filled with school things - helping with the Spring See's Candy Fundraiser, picking up $12,000 in See's Candy in my van, separating, sorting, and being available for pick up by the students. Teacher Appreciation Week is this week at the school and I'm learning the ropes of coordinating that as I will take on the coordinator position next year. And then there's PTA meetings, nominations for next year, and year end business finishing up.

Hannah turned 11 mid April and rather than have a party, we had family meet us at Hannah's favorite restaurant for dinner. She'd let everyone know that she was saving for an iPod Touch and well, after all her presents here opened, she had more than enough and it was off to The Apple Store for her first Apple purchase. I think other than the time she's away at school, and when she is sleeping, that thing is glued to her possession. LOL. She's become quite social in her texting and.We had a pleasant surprise early last month. We came home one evening to a message on our answering machine that our sister in law and niece who currently live in Georgia were 'in town', they were in San Diego looking at colleges for our niece to possibly attend when she graduates next year. The girls and I ended up meeting my sister in law and niece at Disneyland, along with my father in law, on a Friday afternoon. And then we all met up on Saturday for lunch and visiting. It'd been six years since we'd seen them and it was so very nice to spend time with them, as short as it was. Hannah and Rachel LOVED hanging with their cousin, especially Hannah. Since getting her iPod Touch, she's Facetimed (video chat) with Alisha a few times when it works out with the time difference and being busy with school, etc. My father in law with the girls at Disneyland. Alisha, our sister in law Laura, and Hannah
I think things are starting to slow down. I'm very much looking forward to upcoming camping trip over Memorial Day weekend, whereas I can just sit and relax and unwind. About a week after that, the girls will be out of school for seven weeks and I look forward to doing some fun things and having a break from all the running, hopefully having more time to blog!

Anniversary Get Away

2011-03-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Income Tax Refunds, and the great deals on Priceline.com, we were able to get away for a few days for our 15th wedding anniversary.

A few weeks ago we used Priceline.com to secure reservations at a four star hotel in the Gaslamp District in Downtown San Diego. We stayed at The Omni of San Diego. It was a beautiful hotel, standing 21 floors tall, sitting right next door to Petco Park and across the street from the San Diego Convention Center. We arrived on Monday afternoon and checked into our room, originally booking a King Size room, they only had a room with two double beds available. We were on the 18th floor and our view was overlooking Downtown San Diego and the Gaslamp District.After checking in and dropping off our stuff in our room, we went walking and ended up walking to The Horton Plaza and then back again. It was a nice afternoon to take a walk. We decided that for dinner we would try Hodad's, a burger place made famous and well known thanks to Guy Fieri and his Food Network Show, Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. We ordered bacon cheeseburgers, fries and onion rings, and chocolate shakes. The burger was out of this world! This is definitely a place to return to in the future. Following dinner, we walked along the board walk and the Ocean Beach Pier. It was the longest Pier we'd ever seen and a Pier in the shape of a "T". The clouds were pretty and the waves were big. After finding a RedBox Movie Rental, we returned to our hotel to enjoy the room and relax.

Tuesday morning, we enjoyed sleeping in and watching the Red Box Movie we'd rented (our room had a DVD player!) and just relaxing. We've both been busy in the last several months that one of our goals for this trip was to just relax and rest.

Midday we figured it was time to start the day. We decided that taking the Trolley to Old Town for Mexican Food would be our adventure for the afternoon. We caught the Trolley just outside our hotel and made the appropriate connections to get to our destination. It was fun and we saw a lot of "unique" people. We had lunch at a place that I saw Rachel Ray feature on one of her Food Network shows, Old Town Mexican Cafe. The homemade tortillas were amazing! Once again, we were not disappointed by the recommendation of Food Network celebrities!

Upon returning to our hotel, we checked with the front desk about the possibility of a King Size room becoming available and there was!! So we went to our old room, packed our stuff, and moved into what would be our new room for the remainder of our stay. This room was on the 14th floor, with the same view. I liked this room much better than the other!We wanted to see the sunset that evening, so after hanging out in our room for a while, we dawned our jackets and our Trolley tickets and hopped the Trolley to Seaport Village where we caught the sun setting over Coronado Island. It was a pretty sunset and a nice evening. We decided to walk back to our hotel which ended up being a 2 mile walk! For a total of almost 5 miles walked that day! Yea for us! This is a picture of our hotel at night. Petco park sits adjacent to the right. Wednesday was our actual anniversary. Once again we got a midday start to our day, having enjoyed another Red Box Movie and sleeping in. For lunch we went to Miguel's Cocina for Mexican food once again. We discovered this restaurant when we spent our 1st anniversary in San Diego and have made this a must every time we're in San Diego. The food never disappoints and the hot jalepeno cheese dip they serve with chips is so good! Through the years, I've been able to perfect making it at home.

After lunch we drove out to Point Loma and visited the Cabrillo National Monument and Light House. It was a beautifully clear afternoon and the view overlooking Coronado Island and the San Diego Bay was beautiful. For dinner that evening, we did something really special (and romantic if you ask me), we took a Hornblower Dinner Cruise! The three hour cruise around the San Diego harbor included a three course dinner, music and dancing, as well as beautiful views of downtown San Diego at night. We had a private table, with our own window, and upon arriving you had your choice of sparkling cider or champagne. There were maybe forty people aboard the ship, it was a small and intimate cruise.There wasn't a sunset that evening as the storm clouds had moved in and it began to rain shortly after debarking the port. There were a few breaks in the rain that allowed us to go up and walk on deck and take in the lights of all the hotel and highrise buildings. The captain invited us into his quarters to take in the view from his point.It was a wonderful and special way to spend our anniversary evening! It'll be something we remember that's for sure!

Thursday came way too quickly. This is the day we would have to check out and head for home. We slept in in, watched TV, relaxed some more. Unfortunately, Steven had an urgent work matter that prevented him from enjoying the last hour and a half of the hotel. Check out was Noon and we squeezed all the time we could...checking out at 11:55am!

Once we got our car, it was on the road to home. The girls had been with Steven's mom since Saturday afternoon and would also be returning home that afternoon as well.

We had a wonderful and relaxing time away. And for me, living in a house with two daughters, it's always nice to get away and be the only girl getting all the attention for a change. :)

Wedding Anniversary

2011-03-23T09:37:00.000-07:00

Fifteen years ago today, I married my Prince Charming...

Missing Gramma

2011-03-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

March 11 marked nine years since my Gramma passed away. Sometimes it feels as though I miss her more NOW, than the years following her death. Maybe it's my age. Maybe it's the love and closeness I see that Hannah has for her Gramma (my Mom).

My life as a homemaker is influenced greatly by my Gramma. She taught my Mom a good majority of what she knew when it came to keeping house and cooking and baking. And thus, my Mom passed all that knowledge down to me.
**********************************Today, following church, we went to a Senior Apartment complex to have a lunch as part of our "Hands and Feet" ministry. I am really uncomfortable when it comes to these types of things. It is not within my comfort zone to sit and talk to complete strangers.

Hesitantly, after doing every possible job I could that excluded any interaction with people (wrapping hot dogs in foil, restocking desserts), the ministry coordinator asked a few of us women to fill in the spots at tables with some of the residents and talk and visit with them. I didn't chicken out completely, I found a table, a table whereas Steven was sitting. At least with him by my side, I had some comfort.

We sat across from three ladies. Each one different in their own way. Each with stories to tell.

But one lady stood out to me.

I had seen her upon our arrival. She was a tall, slender woman. With blonde/greyish hair, pulled back in a pony tail. I sat and I listened and participated in talking with them. This lady in particular was a fiery lady. She had spunk! She reminded me of my Gramma in so many ways. Right on down to the wrinkles around her lips from years of smoking. LOL.

When our lunch was over and they said their goodbyes and their need to leave (need to go have a drag outside. LOL), Steven commented about the ladies, I told him that the one reminded me of my Gramma. And he agreed. He had seen the resemblance as well. And then, the tears followed...because seeing that lady, added to my missing my Gramma.

Spring Break

2011-03-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh. Spring Break 2011 is upon us and it feels great!!!

The weeks leading up to this week have been busy ones for me to say the least. I'm exhausted. Worn Out. Tired of running. And I think I need this Spring Break more than the girls do. LOL.

The past two days have found me sleeping me, lounging about in bed until close to 8:00. Course, the time change has helped make my sleeping in conditions great with it staying dark well beyond 6:00am. The girls, up earlier than they would be on a school day, of course! But I gave them the run down of the rules on Friday night, if you get up don't slam doors, there's no need for shutting the bathroom door all the way, and please shut my door...gently! Obviously my rules are working!

The weather has been absolutely beautiful. Bright, sunny days, temperature around 80 degrees. Perfect!

Yesterday, I cleaned Rachel's room, her dresser, and had her try on tons of hand me down clothes. Starting to rotate out some of the winter clothes and bring in more of the short sleeve shirts and some spring clothes. Also taking inventory of what the girl needs! I got a lot of little projects down around the house and it was nice to not have to go anywhere until mid afternoon, when I realized I needed to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy. But I did manage to drop off almost 3 bags of clothes in the Salvation Army drop off box that has been conveniently placed in the church parking lot just up the street! (Thank You Salvation Army!!!) This will make my donating all the more easier!

Today, the girls and I set out for Disneyland. I knew it was Spring Break season at The Disneyland Resort, the calendar and park hours, and entertainment schedule resemble it. However, I never thought it'd be as busy as it was today! We lasted only a few hours and then we came home. We were home by 1:30!! Hour long waits for rides only two hours after park opening, Fastpass return times of mid afternoon, yea...not good signs. So we came home.

The girls will be heading to their Gramie's house late Saturday afternoon, and staying until Thursday. They are excited to be going and spending time with Gramie. With school, and Rachel's surgery during our break in November, this will be the first that the girls have spent the night with Gramie since last summer. Gramie has to work part of the time at my in-laws shop, but the girls are looking forward to playing shop, and possibly going on Grandpa's route with him to his customers in the area.

It's that time of year to put on the "Princess Mommy DVD" as the girls so lovingly refer to our wedding video. LOL. Next week, Steven and I will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary (which is why the girls will be at Gramie's house for so long). It's hard to believe it's been 15 years.

It wouldn't be March, or nearing our anniversary, if I weren't sick. I've had a cold/bronchitis thing for the last 3 1/2 weeks. As some family and friends might recall, I was really sick on our wedding day - strep throat and an upper respiratory infection. Made for fun times on a honeymoon! For our first few anniversaries I was always sick too. Good thing the vows said "In Sickness and in Health". There were lots of sick times to be had before healthy ones. LOL. I finally surrendered and went to the doctor last week and ended up with over $80.00 in prescriptions! Thankfully, I think I am officially on the end, and have had a few nights here and there whereas I wasn't up coughing.

Anyways, We are in full swing of vacation mode around here and it feels great!!!

Last Field Trip...

2011-02-24T23:42:00.000-08:00

Today, I accompanied the entire 5th grade from our school on what is the last field trip whereas parents will be allowed to join their kids. My last field trip with Hannah. In 6th grade, they attend Science Camp for four days, where no parents are allowed, no calls home, etc. In Junior HIgh, it'll be Catalina over a weekend for Science, again no parents either, so I've heard. So after all these years of being able to go on field trips with Hannah, today was my last. I've been blessed to be a Stay at Home Mom all these years that has allowed me to be a part of Hannah's school trips and functions. I'm thankful for this time. And I'm thankful for a hard working husband that provides enough for his family that I can stay home.

Book Signing with The Pioneer Woman

2011-02-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

Early in January, Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman, posted on her Facebook status that she'd be making a Los Angeles stop on her current book tour promoting her new book, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, a book based on her moving from Los Angeles, falling in love with a cowboy she'd met in a bar, and their romance story of dating and ultimate marriage, and her moving to a farm out in the middle of Oklahoma.

Unlike the location of her previous Los Angeles stop for her cookbook release last year, this Los Angeles location was doable. She would be at the Barnes and Noble store at The Grove in Los Angeles. I've been there plenty of times. I knew exactly where the location was. So I thought about going. As the day of her Los Angeles appointment drew close, I decided I'd just skip going. The book store was giving out wrist bands starting that morning at 9:30 and surely they'd all be given out by the time I could make it there later in the afternoon. So I decided to skip it.

The day of the book signing, as I sat in the car, waiting for the school bell to ring, my sister-in-law, Grace texted, asking if I was going to see PW. We decided that we'd chance it, we'd make the drive in to Los Angeles and see if we could meet Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman, aka PW. We'd both been fans for years. Following her blog, making her recipes.

Within 30 minutes, we met up and were on the road to L.A. Talk about spontaneous!

We arrived to the bookstore to discover we'd missed wrist bands by half an hour, but it was okay, PW had agreed to stay until every book was signed, every fan had been greeted. We bought our books and eventually made our way into a stand by line. After standing in line for over 3 hours, we got to meet a woman whom we'd grown to know and love through the internet. She was exactly how she came across on her blog, just as we'd seen on TV segments, she was friendly, funny, and knew approximately how far we'd traveled when we told her where we were from. LOL. I'm glad we decided to go. It was nice to hang out with my sister in law for such a long time, having uninterrupted conversations without our girls around. LOL. Now I look forward to reading my new book!

My Poor Neglected Blog

2011-02-16T10:50:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe it's almost been a month since I posted anything here on my blog. It sure hasn't been for a lack of anything to post about, because life has been crazy busy.

It's raining this morning, and I'm almost caught up on laundry (not that either of those have anything to do with one another) but I have a few minutes to sit and write a quick blog post before heading to pick up the girls from school (Wednesdays are minimum days) and then this afternoon, Rachel has speech.

All is good. Just been busy. Crazy busy. But I do have a lot of things to write about - including a new home for our church, meeting Pioneer Woman!!, and lots of other little things!

Personal Blogs

2011-01-19T10:23:00.001-08:00

The internet is filled with a lot of sites. Sites to shop. Sites for news. Sites for this and for that. And there's personal sites, such as this blog, or many others like it.

And while I enjoy and frequent a lot of those other sites, my most favorite are the personal web sites and blogs, the windows into a persons life, their family, their ups and their downs.

In the world of blogging, there are familiar and well known bloggers. For example, almost everyone who reads personal websites and blogs knows the name "Pioneer Woman." While others recognize the blog names of Rocks in My Dryer, BooMama, and the countless hundreds of other blogs.

It's almost like a little society where people know about each other and their blogs. It's because authors of such sites do open up and through their writing make you feel as though you know them in real life (IRL). So when something happens to one of these bloggers, the word spreads like a wildfire.

Last week, as I was making it down the list of bookmarked blogs I read, Leah over at South Breeze Farm, shared that Joanne from The Simple WIfe, had suffered a stroke while walking the treadmill that morning, she was found laying beside the treadmill, in a heap, by one of her daughters. Joanne is only 38 years old. 38 years old and she is in critical condition, deep in a coma. Her husband and best friend are keeping her blog updated. Her husband keeps people informed through his status updates on Facebook. It is such a sad, sad situation. The girls, who've been home schooled the last year and a half were put into a private Christian school and they started this morning. Their little world has been rocked up side down.

Pray for Joanne. For her husband, and for her children. For their entire family.

Made a List or Two

2011-01-17T08:52:00.000-08:00

Once again a new year has arrived and with it comes resolutions, goals, and lists.

About a week ago, I sat and made a list of all the things I wanted to accomplish in the form of "Spring Cleaning". I know Spring is still a few months off, but deep cleaning really can take place any time of the year, and what better time to start than now, the beginning of a new year.

So far I have three lists. One for the family room, the kitchen, and the living/dinning room.

When I first made the lists, in my head I thought I needed to get one room done before moving on to the next, but I've come to the conclusion that is not the case. My goal is to cross off three to five things from the three lists every couple of days. Having just come off the weekend, I got nothing done on the lists, but with the beautiful weather that is anticipated today, I hope to open up the windows and get a few things scratched off the list.

And with that, it's time to get going...

Wasn't that Bad Afterall!

2011-01-10T11:53:00.000-08:00

Monday morning wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! Steven got up early, and therefore I was awake earlier and knew I couldn't really roll over and go back to a deep sleep. After reading emails and checking Facebook from the warmth and comfort of my bed, thanks to my iPhone, I was up shortly before 6:30 and got moving.

When Hannah's alarm didn't go off at 6:25, I went in there to see why it was it didn't go off. Turns out her alarm had been turned off sometime between me turning it on when she went to bed and this morning. My first thought was that she turned it off last night after I'd left the room. LOL. But no, it did go off, and she did get up out of bed to turn it off. Only thing is it went off at 12:00am! We had some power outages last month and I forgot about them, until Hannah told me her alarm went off at midnight! Oops!! LOL. Neither Steven or myself heard the alarm go off, which is surprising, because it has an annoying sound. But she did get up when I woke her up, as did Rachel, and it was a good morning overall.

I worked my usual Monday morning in Rachel's classroom and it was fun to hear the kids share what they'd gotten for Christmas and what they did over our three week break. I've gotten a few things done (call to insurance, glasses fixed, etc, etc) and now it's time to think about packing things for Rachel's Post Op appointment this afternoon. We never know how long we'll have to wait, so we go prepared - ie, laptop, iPad, snacks, etc.

The End is Near...

2011-01-07T13:55:00.000-08:00

The girls' three week school vacation is quickly coming to an end. And all I can say is Monday morning is going to be TOUGH!

The last three weeks have found us totally off schedule, staying up late, and sleeping in.

Monday morning it'll be back the grind of getting up and out the door by 7:30.

Back to the grind of homework, reading, and bedtime routines.

Thankfully next weekend is a three day weekend, thanks to Martin Luther King!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

2011-01-03T15:55:00.000-08:00

Two days ago I said rain or shine, no matter what me and the girls were going to Disneyland today. When I did my research as to what time the park opened today, the hours were holiday hours (8:00-midnight), which translated to me, they were still treating today as a holiday, which also translated to me, it could be BUSY!

So we stayed home. It rained most of the morning. And it is stinkin cold! And when I say it's cold, I don't mean it's in the low 60's. My friend Karen who lives where it's really cold (Pennsylvania) laughs at us Californian's when we say it's cold at 62 degrees.

It's cold here in Southern California today and when I say cold, I mean it's not gotten above 50 degrees today! The clouds are now parting and the sun is making a late afternoon appearance. Soon it'll be dusk, and then dark, which means it'll only get colder...

1-1-11

2011-01-01T17:46:00.001-08:00

So how can I not blog on the coolest date of 2011?? LOL.

We spent New Years' Eve at the home of friends from church playing games, eating, and seeing the New Year in. Hannah opted for staying at Gramma and Papa's house and played cards with them and some of their friends that were over for the evening. Rachel, on the other hand, our little party girl, she opted to go with us and not only stayed awake the entire evening and saw the New Year in, but stayed awake for the five mile drive home, AND said she wanted to watch a movie when we got home after 12:30am. LOL. She put her jammies on, crawled into bed, and within 15 minutes of her movie on, she was out! And slept in until close to 9:00. Which has to be a record for her!

I also slept in until close to 9:00. I woke up feeling absolutely horrible. Mid morning, I discovered why. I had overdosed on antihistamines last night in an attempt to ward off any allergic reaction I might have had to the friends nine dogs and two cats wandering about the house.

So today, was pretty much a wash as far as getting anything done around here. I'm just now starting to not feel wiped out and drugged out. But then we're approaching the 24 hour mark of the first antihistamine I took! LOL.

We have one more day before Steven returns to work after being off for eleven days! And while the rest of the surrounding school districts prepare to go back to school on Monday, my girls are off for one more week!!! And no matter what, come rain or shine, whether I have to dawn oversized trash bags and endure the rain, we are going to Disneyland on Monday!! And perhaps another day before the week is up! LOL.

A Story from Christmas

2010-12-31T08:12:00.000-08:00

In November, when Rachel was in surgery, my Mom and sister-in-law and I wandered to the hospital gift shop. We needed to stretch our legs and hospital gift shops always have cute and unique things. My Mom and I have found many a wonderful treasures inside hospital gift shops.

Anyways, my Mom loves birds and she spotted the prettiest set of birds sitting atop one of the high shelves. I got it down for her, she looked at them, and decided not to get them after all. So back up onto the shelf they went.

The next evening, as Rachel had been discharged from the hospital and Steven was wheeling her out to the car, I stopped into the gift shop and bought that set of birds for my Mom for Christmas. Christmas morning comes and we are at my brother and sister-in-laws house and my Mom opens her present from us.

It was the birds.

My sister-in-law started laughing that we'd bought them. Turns out that her and my brother had gone to the hospital to buy my Mom the birds for Christmas and they were gone! No where to be fond. Not even anything similar to it. They had been bought. And they had been bought for the same person they had in mind. LOL.

Goes to show, you never know who's listening and paying attention to your likes and dislikes when browsing, even if it's the hospital gift shop!

Dog Agility Competitions

2010-12-30T12:35:00.000-08:00

Rachel's speech therapist owns a Rhodesian Ridgeback dog and has him competing in agility competitions. This morning we went to one of the competitions and it was a lot of fun watching all different breeds of dogs complete the two different courses.
There was a break in between when Kanzu, Dr. D'Antonio's dog, could take a few minutes to meet us. He's a beautiful dog, weighing the same amount as Hannah. He performed a few tricks in exchange for some chunks of hot dogs. LOL. Hannah and Dr. D'Antonio It was such a fun morning. And it was fun to see all the different breeds of dogs. And most of all, it was fun to meet and see Kanzu compete!

Our Christmas

2010-12-27T15:38:00.000-08:00

The holidays were different for us in a few different aspects. Beginning with Christmas Eve spent differently and then moving on to the differences on Christmas Day. For me it was different that I did not cook or host Thanksgiving, nor did I for Christmas. This year, my brother and sister in law hosted Christmas Day.

Christmas morning found our house sleeping in, Rachel being the last one to get up around 7:15am. Once she was up we did our traditional opening of the stockings in our living room. Santa brought me a USB hub and the complete series of Beauty and the Beast on DVD. It was a series that I really liked and I cannot wait to watch it!

The girls opened up presents next. A new scooter, a guitar, and a few new Wii games were found beneath our Christmas Tree.

We arrived at my brother's house around 9:00am, shortly being joined by my parents and my uncle. We exchanged presents and the girls once again found themselves playing together, enjoying presents they'd just opened.

Middday we were joined by my sister in laws side of the family and we had a yummy Christmas Dinner together, followed by an afternoon of playing Bingo (complete with prizes!) and Sing Star on the Playstation.

While our Christmas holidays were different, they were great ones to say the least. I'm sad to see the season has come and gone, once again feeling as though it flew by. And here we are, just two days after Christmas and all the evidence of Christmas no longer exists with the exception of the wreath on the front door. And yet, with as quickly as time seems to go, Christmas will once again be here before we know it!

Our Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T23:06:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas Eve church service was absolutely wonderful. The children in our church with the help of five amazing women, put on an adorable Christmas performance complete with sets and costumes. The kids all did such a great job and it made the evening special. After our church service, we went to my parents house. My Mom made her famous lasagna and we had breadsticks and salad to go with it. The table was set beautifully with white and red dishes, all so festive. Dinner made by Mom is always extra special. The girls had their own table too!Following dinner, my Mom read a devotional and the dishes were started. The four little girlies dawned matching jammies (a Black Friday steal!) and then it was time for a few presents for the girls to open. After presents were opened, we just sat and chatted and reminisced about past Christmas Eves and just enjoyed being with each other.

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T06:50:00.000-08:00

Tonight, for the first time in thirty seven years, I will spend Christmas Eve in a way I've never spent it before.

All these years, Christmas Eve has always been about a big traditional dinner and huge gift exchange at the home of my grandparents, my Dad's parents.

This evening following our Christmas Eve church service, we, along with my brother and sister in law and my nieces, will go to my parents house for a quiet evening of togetherness.

Mom's making her famous lasagna, I've made a big green salad, there'll be bread sticks, and sweets. My brother is bringing his guitar and we'll sing Christmas songs and worship songs and the focus will be on what the season is all about - Jesus, who was born to die so that we would have the hope of heaven someday!

And there will be gifts for the girls to open from my Grandma and my Aunt and Uncle and cousins, some of the family we normally would be seeing on Christmas Eve.

While there are things about Christmas Eve at my Grandma's house I'll miss, after thirty seven years, I'm excited to be doing something new!

Cupcakes!

2010-12-23T07:07:00.000-08:00

Have you noticed that cupcakes are the biggest rave these days??

The Food Network and TLC both have their own reality shows where cupcakes are the focus of the show.

Cupcake storefronts are popping up all over the place. There's a cupcake store downtown that we've frequented and have had a friend surprise me with cupcakes from the store on several occasions. They are yummy and there's just something special about receiving your very own cupcake in it's very own cute box!

A few weeks back, I found the cutest holiday cupcake boxes at Big Lots and stood there and pondered who I could give cupcakes to! LOL. With upcoming plans to meet my cousins for dinner, I went ahead and bought some of those cute boxes and this last Monday I made six jumbo cupcakes and decorated each one with different Christmas sprinkles. The picture doesn't do the outcome justice. There were very cute and I was very happy with how they turned out and they were a hit this past Monday night when I passed one to each of my cousins and my brother and sister in law following our dinner out!

Homeowner's Christmas List

2010-12-22T11:04:00.000-08:00

As I was listening to the local radio station recently, a few Christmas songs played back to back got me thinking about how your Christmas List changes as you get older.

In the Christmas song, "Santa Baby" Eartha Kitt sings of wanting a sable, a duplex, and a ring.

Everyone having a friend and no more wars are the things wished for in the song "Grown Up Christmas List".

While the list has never made it into a song, how about the things that a homeowner would want?!? LOL. There's been so many things that have broke or on the brink of, in our home that I jokingly (well, only half jokingly) said recently that I'd take the following for Christmas:

* a new kitchen faucet - it broke a few months back and I had to put that note on the backsplash to remind me the handle is broke and flies off when too much force is exhibited when turning it on. LOL.
* a new dishwasher - Somethings changed in our water in recent months and the dishes in the dishwasher are being left with white rings and a white film about them. But at the same time our dishwasher is just plain nasty. The prongs inside are all rusting and breaking off and it's LOUD!

* Some patching up of the hole in the wall - Months ago, when we were being having a termite inspection, Mr. Bug Man pointed out to Steven that the wall in the corner of our family room, the wall that our master bath shower shares, was wet. Steven ended up cutting a hole in the dry wall and to make a long story short, the caulking had to be redone in our master shower. Praise the Lord it was just that and not something real major. And while this hole is an eye sore, it's hidden right now behind our Christmas tree, and the rest of the time, it's hidden behind the rockband drums and a ficus tree. But someday it would be nice to have it patched and painted. LOL. * Twinkling light fixture - off and on for the last couple of years, we've had problems with the light fixture in our master bathroom. Sometimes the light will come on and sometimes it won't. We have the new fixture, we (there's a mouse in my pocket) just need to make the time and find the energy to do it. * this next item isn't for the house, but for the car. Still a boring thing to list, but needed none the less. Last week, somewhere on the streets or freeways of Southern California, the plastic piece that goes over one of our van headlights fell off. LOL. So now it's exposed and with all the rain we've been having, it actually caused the light bulb to burn out last night. I need to call Pick a Part or something and see about finding one. All things very boring, but one things for sure, long gone are the days of asking Santa for a Barbie house, or a new bike, or some other fun childhood thing. LOL.

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

2010-12-18T12:08:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned before about how I LOVE Rachel's teacher this school year. But I love her even more now that she's gone to all the work, trouble, and time to make me a pan of Pioneer Woman's Famous Cinnamon Rolls!!!!

This lovely package was given to me yesterday morning as a gift of appreciation for volunteering in Rachel's classroom every Monday. I was beyond excited when I learned that they were Pioneer Woman's recipe! A recipe I've been wanting to try, but am intimidated by any recipe that calls for yeast.This morning, I could hardly wait to pop that pan into the oven and warm those sweet looking rolls up to 'warm and bubbly' as the gift card instructed to do.

The house soon began to smell like fresh baking cinnamon rolls! There were six cinnamon rolls in all, and thank goodness Rachel did not want one (she's still being extremely picky about what she'll eat and not eat), but I did share with Steven and Hannah.My conclusion: They were absolutely amazing!!!

No matter what, I must overcome my hesitation in baking with yeast and give this recipe a try and make these for myself and my loved ones!

Tis the Season

2010-12-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

Tis the Season to be busy. But than again, I'm always busy. LOL.

Two weeks ago found me "holding down the fort" all on my own as my husband was away on business for four full days. He normally works from home and when he's gone, I miss him. I spent many of the evenings once the girls went to bed catching up on things - our accounting, PTA stuff, present wrapping, cleaning, and updating the girls' blogs, but neglecting my own. :(

My Mom and I attended the Women's Ministry Christmas dinner one evening and for once it was nice to just go to an event at church and not have had any part in having to come and set up or stay and tear down. And yet, at the same time, it was weird to do so. Our church had a Christmas party, our niece had a birthday party, I had an ornament party, my parents hosted a baking day for all four of the granddaughters so my brother and I, along with our spouses, could get some Christmas shopping done, I've had one final PTA meeting for 2010, Rachel a Christmas performance, and as Room Mom, I had treats to make for Hannah's class.A try of dipped Oreo's for Hannah's class. The following day, I did brownie bites with sprinkles.
It's been a busy few weeks, and again I've found myself at the point I find myself this time every Christmas season, wishing the season was longer, more days to the week, more time to entertain friends, to do more festive things.

Candlelight Processional 2010

2010-12-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

This last weekend was the annual candlelight processional at Disneyland and we went to the Saturday evening performance. Sadly, both performances on Sunday were rained out and cancelled.Candlelight procession is a Disney tradition dating back to 1955. A procession of choir members from various schools and churches from the surrounding areas, procession from the back of Disneyland near It's a Small World to the front of the park, down main street, holding candles and singing Christmas carols. Once to the front of the park, the choir members fill the stage, the Disneyland Railroad Station as the backdrop, to form a living Christmas tree. A celebrity guest narrator tells the Christmas story (from the Bible). Throughout the telling of the story, the narrator pauses and the choir sings Christmas carols. Accompanying the choir is a full orchestra and the Disneyland fanfare trumpeters. This years' guest narrator was actor Tom Skerritt.For the past 14 years, we've always tried to make Candlelight Processional part of our holiday events. It's usually held the first weekend of December so it's a great kick off to the season. It's an absolutely amazing evening. To stand in the middle of Disneyland and hear the Word of God spoken can sometimes take your breath away. It really is a special evening, especially for those who indeed recognize that Jesus truly is the reason for the season.

I Went to Disneyland Today...

2010-12-03T15:27:00.000-08:00

The last several weeks have been ones filled with stress and anticipation leading up to Rachel's surgery and then the days and week following. The perfect remedy for a stressful few weeks - a trip to Disneyland during my most favorite time of the year.

After dropping the girls off at school this morning, I hit the freeway and within an hour I was walking through the gates of my Happy Place, walking down Main Street USA admiring the sights, sounds, and smells of Christmas. It was an enjoyable morning strolling through the park, riding rides, sitting and people watching. Strolling through the stores and looking for potential Christmas gifts.

Some people are surprised that I go to Disneyland by myself and say that they could never do such a thing. While it is fun to always go with friends and my family, I love going to Disneyland and when school and work gets in the way of others joining in on my fun, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do, even if that means going all by myself. :)

What a Deal

2010-11-28T18:54:00.000-08:00

Two years ago, I blogged about this fantastic bargainl I'd found on Kota the Triceratops interactive dinosaur. He was Rachel's Christmas present that year, and he's been a good pet. But he's never been one to be played with a whole lot. And honestly, he's taking up a lot of room.

So a few weeks back I listed him on Craigslist for $100 as I'd see him going on Ebay for at least that much, in addition to other ads on Craigslist for that much. I had someone interested in him and as I was going to meet the person, she contacted me and told me something went wrong with her husbands payroll and they wouldn't be able to buy Kota this pay period. I offered to hold Kota for her, and she never answered any further emails. :::sigh:::

So I listed Kota on Craigslist again the middle of last week. Listed him for $95.00. This time I included my cell phone number on the ad. On Saturday, I received a phone call from a man who was interested in Kota for his daughter for Christmas! Not only was he interested, he was willing to drive all the way from Oceanside (75+ miles one way) to get him from me!!

This afternoon, we loaded Kota up in the back of the van, and went to meet Kota's new family. Kota will soon become the pet to an almost four year old little girl who has this fascination for all things dinosaurs. She has a new baby brother that will enjoy him in the years to come. I had Kota listed for $95.00, the guy only had a $100 bill, and I had no change. So I sold Kota for $100, I paid $94.81 for him two years ago!! Needless to say, I am pretty pleased with myself!!

Black Friday 2010

2010-11-26T14:09:00.001-08:00

I've gone out shopping on Black Friday for several years. Last year I was at Target prior to the doors opening at 5:00am.

This year the doors were opening at 4:00 and there was one item in particular that we needed/wanted. A 2TB external hard drive for over $70.00 off it's normal price. My plan was to get up at 3:00 and hit the local Target. And then I found out some friends were heading to Target at 2:00 to wait in line until the doors opened. So I thought I'd go and hang out and secure the possibility of obtaining the hard drive.

And then...

I learned that the doorbuster deals that Walmart had for Black Friday would go on sale at midnight.

So I stayed up. I hit Walmart at midnight, got the things on my list and came home for an hour, chatting with a friends daughter on Facebook, making plans to pick her up at 1:45 to accompany me to Target where I met other friends at 2. We sat and talked until the doors opened at 4:00. It was 38 degrees and COLD!!! We were bundled up in jackets, scarves, gloves, blankets.I scored our much needed hard drive and a few other things on my list and then headed to the Mall. About 5:30am I started feeling the effects of having been up for almost 24 hours. I was done shopping...at least at that point.

I came home, crawled into a warm bed at 6:00, only to get up and be back out with my Mom at 9:00am.

Call me crazy, but it was fun, and well worth the one receipt that said "You Saved $132.15"!! It's feels great to see a great deal and get it, as in the case of our new external hard drive. Now to get it hooked up and start backing our computers.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T06:09:00.000-08:00

Today

2010-11-24T14:39:00.000-08:00

Today we are one week Post Op. Yippeee! Thank You Lord for your goodness and healing hand!

Today, like thousands of women will do tomorrow, I cooked a turkey. But unlike those thousands of women, I am not hosting Thanksgiving this year, my Mama is. We had no idea how hard this recovery would be for Rachel, so my Mom went ahead and planned to cook Thanksgiving this year.

But everybody knows one of the best things about hosting holidays and cooking is all the leftovers the next day. So last week, I scored a 15 lb Jeanie-O turkey for $5.00 and I cooked it up today just for the mere fact of turkey sandwiches this weekend while we are decking the house for Christmas!

The turkey has since been deconstructed.

The carcass is now boiling away in a huge pot atop the store. The broth and the pieces of meat that'll fall off the bone will make for a yummy soup next week.

The dark meat has all been cut and measured out into two cups and put into freezer bags for enchiladas down the road, or any other dish that calls for chicken.

And the breast meat has all be nicely cut and laid in a container for sandwiches this holiday weekend.

Today, I'm thankful it's today and not a week ago, or even two weeks ago. :)

God is Good

2010-11-19T17:16:00.000-08:00

The end of the week has come and we've made it through with flying colors. I knew we would. But it's nice to be on this end of the week instead of at the beginning, no matter how well the week has gone.

There've been many people praying for Rachel this week, and for us, and the prayers have been felt and very much appreciated.

Thank You.

I knew one of the hardest things of this week would be sending off Rachel to surgery. And it was hard, but not as hard as it could have been. For starters, Rachel's surgery was scheduled for 11:45, which gave me some time to have a bit of a normal morning. But once checked in at the hospital, the previous surgery had gone quicker than expected and they were ready for Rachel. So there wasn't a lot of time to wait for things to happen. It happened quick and fast and I think it was better that way and God knew I needed that.

During Rachel's surgery on Wednesday, while we were gathered in the waiting room, one of the hospital volunteers came and uncovered the Grand Piano sitting nearby and he began to play beautiful music. One of the songs he played was "Heart of Worship". It was beautiful. And as hard as it was to hear a worship song being played during that time, it was also needed. "Heart of Worship" is a song that's etched into a few family memories - my brother and sister in law sang it at their wedding reception, and it is a song that was played during my Gramma's memorial service. And now, Rachel's surgery will be added to that list. On Thursday morning, I posted on my Facebook status and within a post on Rachel's blog, asking for prayer for Rachel to better deal with the nasal stents. Many of you began praying for that very request and as the day progressed, Rachel became more tolerant of the stents and wasn't demanding that they be taken out. It's been over 24 hours since she's even mentioned the stents, much less asked for them to be taken out. The Lord heard those prayers.

God is good. So very, very good.

Technology ROCKS!

2010-11-17T23:29:00.001-08:00

This day is coming to an end. In addition to a ton of other things running through my mind about today, the one thing that we've used and are grateful for today was modern technology. Here are some reasons that Technology totally ROCKS:

Reason #1- We were given a pager at the information desk this morning upon checking in after Rachel being taken to surgery. Throughout the entire time that Rachel was in surgery, we received periodic texts as to how things were going, etc.

Reason #2 - Steven and I were able to keep friends and our church family up to speed with how things were going by updating our Facebook statuses through our iPhones.

Reason #3 - WiFi. Loma Linda University Children's Hospital has come a long way in four years since our last hospital stay with Rachel. Every where throughout the facility there is WiFi. Which has allowed me to blog throughout the day to Rachel's Journey with details and pictures as to how Rachel is doing.

Reason #4 - The power of texting. When we were first informed that Rachel had been taken to recovery and that I was able to go and be with her, I was able to text Steven from the Recovery Room and not only let him know how our girl was, but I texted pictures and even a video for him and my family to see who'd all been patiently waiting in the lobby for HOURS! I was also able to text several other friends from Rachel's recovery room bedside. :)

Reason #5 - Video Chat/Facetime. Hannah is too young to visit Rachel up here on the patient ward. So are her young cousins who'd been waiting in the lobby since getting out of school. Through the camera on our laptop, and the camera on my Mom's iPod Touch, we were able to video chat from Rachel's bed down to Hannah and the kids in the lobby. This was absolutely amazing that this could be done.

Reason #6 - My iPod and my music. When I finally feel like I can't stay awake any longer and must put this laptop away, I have my iPod that will hopefully not only drowned out the beeping and the alarms of the machines of Rachel and the baby in the next bed, but also the crying and the unit noise just outside this door!

Today, I'd say we've used technology to it's fullest in just about every aspect there is. Today, we were true technology geeks!

The Hardest Thing I've Ever Done

2010-11-17T07:28:00.001-08:00

The hardest thing I've ever had to do as a mother is to turn my babies over to a scrub nurse and watch them be taken away to surgery. It kills me every time.

I'm good leading up to the day. I'm good through the waiting during surgery. And I'm good once it's done and we're in recovery mode. But kissing my baby goodbye and watching her be whisked off to surgery is hard.

As I was sitting here this morning, thinking about the long day that lies ahead, watching Rachel drinking apple juice before the 7:30 cut off of all liquids, the Lord brought Jesus's Mother, Mary, to mind.

What I have to do as a mother today, handing my daughter off to a scrub nurse, is NOTHING compared to that day when Mary saw her son beaten, being nailed to a cross, dying.

So this morning, when the time comes to hand off Rachel, I'm going to remember Mary...

Feeling Blessed

2010-11-16T23:22:00.000-08:00

Tonight I am feeling blessed.

Blessed by the family, friends, and church family we have.

All day long I've received encouraging texts, messages on my Facebook Wall, phone calls, and emails. Offering their thoughts and prayers for us as tomorrow approaches.

This evening we had friends and family come to visit and bring a little something for Rachel.

We had our Pastor, who not only is our Pastor, but is our friend, come and pray for Rachel.

And Gramma and Papa and Hannah came to visit one last time before surgery. Papa bringing the most cuddliest bear that Rachel went to bed with and has now made the 'take to the hospital bag'.

So tonight, I am feeling extremely blessed by the outpouring love and compassion of so many. Thank You.

Ready

2010-11-16T07:44:00.000-08:00

The house is stocked with groceries.

The laundry is done, folded, and put away.

The house is vacuumed and dusted.

Electronics are charging.

I'm ready physically for the next few days.

Rachel's surgery is scheduled for 11:45 tomorrow morning. Surgeries past, we've always been a lot earlier in the lineup. But Rachel is older now and the OR's always schedule youngest to oldest, so there must be some young ones having surgery tomorrow. When I called to tell my Mom the surgery time, her outlook was that this was the appointed time the Lord has for Rachel's surgery. And the more I think about it, I think it might be easier, emotionally, having the surgery a little later in the morning.

Having a late morning surgery time, needing to arrive to the hospital by 9:45, will be a challenge in not feeding Rachel breakfast. But I think giving me a little bit of a normalcy to my morning by getting up, making our bed, slowly getting ready, etc, will make the whole thing not feel as jarring as having to get up and out the door before the crack of dawn. At least that's what I'm hoping for...

Where You'll Find Me Blogging This Week

2010-11-14T19:13:00.000-08:00

This week finds us dealing with an event that we've been anticipating since the early days of Rachel's medical care.

Rachel will be having surgery on Wednesday morning whereas a bone graft will be done to the cleft in her upper gum as well as a nose revision.

So I'll be doing most of my blogging on Rachel's blog this week.

If you're usually not a follower of any of my other blogs, I invite you to come and follow us on this next leg of Rachel's Journey.

What I've Been Up To

2010-11-12T08:15:00.000-08:00

I think I've been the busiest I've ever been in my life the past several weeks.

With the ending of the Box Tops for Education contest at school, I had contest reward parties to give for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place contest winners in the Kindergarten through 3rd grade level, as well as the 4th through 6th grade level. I've given five of the six parties so far, four of those parties were on the same day as another. I had one teacher request her party for this last Wednesday, which was our last day of school, but she only gave me a days notice and I already had two other parties within a two hour time frame for that day. So that party will have to be given once we return to school at the end of the month. October 29th was my birthday. My Mom and I spent the morning together and then I had a party to give at school. That evening, my parents watched the girls while we went to dinner with friends.The next day, October 30th, was my Mom's birthday (I was my Mom's best birthday present in 1973! LOL). This year, my mom turned 60 and we celebrated by going out to dinner where Mom chose, Famous Dave's BBQ, and then back to the house for presents and cake and just spending time together. I wasn't really sure what to get my Mom for her birthday this year, I wanted it to be special, and different than the 'normal' birthday present. So I put together one of those picture books through Apple. I titled it "A Decade of Memories" and filled it with pictures of the granddaughters, family vacations together, special events, and some everyday good pictures. It was a huge hit! And my Mom really loved it! Following the week of our birthdays, the girls had two full days of school and then went on minimum days so that the teachers could hold Parent Conferences. So we've had parent conferences for both girls, a performance for Hannah that we saw not once, but twice (daytime dress rehearsal and evening performance), perfect attendance assemblies for both girls, and then helping the teacher in charge of that get things in order for that, etc. A little over a month ago, Steven and I went to the school district offices and previewed a movie that the 5th graders would be shown this year about puberty, etc. They showed that movie in school on Wednesday. So for the last month and even the night before, we'd been preparing Hannah for the movie and talking about the changes a girl goes through, etc. We didn't offer any information beyond what we thought she was ready for and would answer questions should she ask, but it wasn't until AFTER seeing the movie that she came home with a certain one question that led us to have the "birds and the bees" conversation. Our little girl isn't so little (or naive) any more. LOL. Here's a recent picture of her where she's sporting only mascara and lip gloss (it was performance night). Definitely turning into one beautiful young lady! School came to an end on Wednesday at 12:40 and we are now on our Fall break until the week after Thanksgiving. Usually the last day of school is one really looked forward to - as a break is always much needed from getting up and out the door every morning to school, homework in the afternoons, etc. But this time the last day of school was a bittersweet one. I'm happy to be having the break, but at the same time, not really ready to face what's coming Wednesday - Rachel's surgery. But on the bright side, this time next week, it'll all be done, and Lord willing we'll have already been home a night, and Rachel will already be on the mend! And then the next week is Thanksgiving and the dawning of the Christmas tree, etc. The holidays are upon us and it's my favorite time of the year, so I look forward to what the season holds for us.

Last Saturday, we had no place to be, no plans. We stayed home all day lounging about, conducting a Pirates of the Caribbean movie marathon (where #3 still needs to be watched) and doing laundry. It was nice to be home to get caught up on things. There's nothing on our calendar for tomorrow and I'm hoping tomorrow will be much like that of last Saturday, resting, being lazy, preparing for what the week ahead holds...

Birthday Bags 4 Kids

2010-10-27T18:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, as I was browsing about the internet, reading the local newspaper websites and I stumbled across this local news article. I went to the website the article listed, Birthday Bags 4 Kids and started looking around.

I found their list of accepted donations and it make me think about how I had straightened up my gift/game closet earlier in the day and how I had this abundance of gift bags. And then I got to thinking about the two rubbermaid boxes of beanie babies that someone at church had brought to me for the girls this past weekend. Both were accepted donations. So I emailed the lady, inquiring about a possible drop off this morning as I had errands to run in her neck of the woods.

She emailed back and told me they'd be there this morning. So after a couple errands, my Mom and I stopped by their warehouse.

My girls' birthdays have always been a special event in our house. When we've had parties, I try my best to theme it to the max and be as creative as I can. When we've not had parties beyond that of the grandparents and the only local uncle and aunt and cousins, I've still done their birthdays up special. Birthdays are special, and they deserve to be celebrated no matter how small or how big. So when we toured this small warehouse today, it really touched me.

With the holidays approaching, there are so many opportunities this time of year to take part in making sure those families that are in need have something. But what about the other ten-eleven months out of the year?? What about the kids' birthdays?? Birthday Bags 4 Kids is something that runs all year long and is growing and growing.

The Birthday Bags 4 Kids warehouse was just that. A warehouse. But inside those four walls, you could feel the love and generosity of many people. Generosity through things donated, through time volunteered, through the thought and care that went into packaging the bags. The space was very well organized. Pink bins for girls, blue bins for boys. All labeled and broken down into age ranges. Each birthday bag gets a large item from the top shelf, as well as a few smaller things from the bins. The birthday bag isn't just ONE present, it's filled. Besides the birthday presents, cake mixes, a tub of frosting, and candles are put into the bag as well. And as if that wasn't enough, they include festive party paper plates, napkins, cups, tablecloths, and streamers. It's a party in a bag, just waiting to fall into the hands of a special child!How many times are cake mixes and frostings on sale!?!?

How many times do we pick up a couple packages of napkins thinking we'll use them all and only open one package??!?!

How many gift bags do we have overflowing in closets, thinking we'll use them again, but don't!?!?

How many gifts do our kids get that are sometimes not age appropriate and could be used by another child?!?!?!

How many times do you shop the clearance rack at Target and pick those gifts up to use as birthday presents for any upcoming parties your child might get invited to and then forget about?!?!

Seeing this today, brought tears to my eyes. What an awesome opportunity. I asked Julie, the founder, if I could come back with future donations. And I asked her about volunteer time and coming and helping fill bags. She was a very friendly person and I'm so happy to have stumbled across this awesome organization. It really touched my heart and I hope to go back and give some of my time once we get through Rachel's surgeries and the holidays.

Box Tops Contest Comes to an End

2010-10-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

As I've mentioned before, this year, I took over the position of Box Tops Coordinator for our school. Since the first day of school, I've been collecting Box Tops out of my box in the office and keeping track of the counts for each classroom, rewarding classrooms for every 300 Box Tops brought in, etc.

That contest came to an yesterday. And I am excited to share that we collected 24,293 Box Tops just in the last 12 weeks!!! That amount is over 7,000 more than what our school collected this time last year!

Thankfully, the coordinator who I took over for already had a great system in place for staying on top of the count, etc. So when the contest came to an end on Thursday afternoon at 2:30, all I had to do was count what I had collected that day (can you believe I collected 2,604 in just one day!!) and then verify all my counts and package them up!

This is what 440 snack bags of 50 Box Tops in each bag looks like! In other words, this is what 22,000 individual Box Tops looks like organized!! And here, is the box that has those 440 bags, as well as another 6456 Box Tops in Bonuses for a grand total to send in to the company for 28,495 Box Tops! I had some Box Tops that were collected at the end of the school year last year to send in. But in December, our school will receive a check for $2,849.50! It's been fun watching the amounts come in, the competition amongst the classes rise, and the excitement of seeing our numbers increase from last year!!

Crazy Busy

2010-10-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

There's been so much going on in the last week, lots of ideas running through my head as to things I want to blog about, but I've been busy!! There were three major things that held my attention last weekend. And it was amazing the relief I felt once they were all done and behind me.

Our church has a ministry that we call Hands and Feet. And every other month or so, we take care packages out to the homeless in nearby parks and other areas known for where the homeless hang out. Donations for those care packages have been slim in recent months, so last week, I offered to go out and get the things we needed for the care packages and then put them together. I did this project last Tuesday. After three trips to the Dollar Store, I managed to make over 40 care packages for the team of people that would be going out this past Sunday following the church service.

Next on my list of things that had my attention last week was our church Harvest party that was held Friday evening. I coordinated the event which included asking Mom's to help host activity tables, worked out the details of food for the evening, making flyers, and all the other tons of details that go into planning a party. We had over forty people come and over fifteen kids participated in our nine tables of activities. The night was a success and was a great evening of just hanging out and fellowshipping and the kids having fun. Here, The Pumpkin Patch Parable is read as the kids all sat on hay bales listening.Finally, the last big thing on my plate for last week was Pastor Appreciation. October is Pastor Appreciation Month and the last week of September I sent out an email to the people of our church seeking out donations in the forms of cards or special scriptures, monetary donations, or anything else so that a gift basket could be put together and presented to our Pastor and his wife on Sunday, October 17th. It was a blessing for me to be able to put it all together, but it did take time collecting from people, going out and getting things for the basket, different places for gift cards, etc. But when it was all said and done, the basket turned out beautiful and on Sunday at the close of the service one of the church elders called our Pastor and his wife and their kids up to the stage and we presented them this basket and offered our appreciation for all they do and then prayed for them. To say they were surprised would be an understatement. They had absolutely NO IDEA! Which is totally awesome in my book.

So these were the big things that kept me from blogging last week. LOL. Throw in all the normal day to day things of our life - playing taxi, homework, speech, making dinner, etc, etc. And it made for one crazy busy Mama!

Next big thing up for me: The ending of our Box Tops for Education contest at school on Thursday!

Helpful Cooking Tip

2010-10-14T08:16:00.000-07:00

A lot of recipes call for "diced cooked chicken", which can really add to the prep time of a recipe if you have to cook the chicken before you even start putting the recipe together.

To help make those recipes a lot less work at the time, I cook my chicken ahead of time and freeze it. I buy the family pack size of half chicken breasts and cook in a pot of water.It takes about an hour, hour and a half to cook a pack of chicken, sometimes a little longer depending on the size of the chicken breast. Once cooked, removed from the pot to a plate to cool.Once cooled off, you can either put the chicken into the refrigerator to bone at a later time, or bone then. The chicken really is easiest to bone when the chicken is still warm. Either way, the next step is to cut the chicken into small pieces. And then I measure the chicken out into 2 cup portions and then place into a quart size Ziploc freezer bag, remembering to label the bag and date it. Making sure all the air is pushed out of the bag, zipping it shut, and then placing into the freezer.Now the chicken is ready to pull out, defrost, and use for whenever I have a dish on the menu that calls for cooked chicken. It's been a tremendous time saver!

**Sometimes these family pack of chicken breasts can be found on sale for .99 cents a pound at Stater Bros., making the packaged about $5-$6. I usually wait until they are on sale and then buy two or three at a time. One family pack, depending on the size of the chicken breasts, will yield about 4-5 bags of 2 cups of chicken.

A Beautiful Sunday Afternoon

2010-10-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

Our friends were camping this last weekend, down at San Elijo, where we like to camp, and most times usually all at the same time. After a couple of texted pictures and texts inviting us down, we did just that!

We got home from church, changed our clothes, ate a quick lunch, and tossed extra clothes, sweatshirts, hats, and pajamas into a bag and our chairs, beach umbrella, and an ice chest of water into the car and we were off...

Scott and Paula had said in their texts that it had been beautiful the last few days, and upon arriving, they were right. It was an absolutely gorgeous day! It was a wonderful afternoon of sitting on the beach, fellowshipping with great friends, taking in the beauty of the day, strolling the beach as the tide was getting lower and lower and there were treasures to be looked at and collected, and then eating dinner on the beach, watching the sun set. Eating dinner on the beach on a makeshift table of a boogie board positioned on an ice chest and then using a beach towel as a table cloth, we decided we need to do more dinners like this on our future camping trips. The sunset was amazing. We weren't able to see many sunsets when we camped in July, it was cloudy and overcast almost the entire week we camped. This sunset sure made up for it!After sunset, we packed up and went back to the campsite. Giving a quick shower to Rachel in Paula and Scott's trailer and dawning of the jammies, we said our goodbyes and headed for home. It was most definitely a great Sunday afternoon!

Another Book Recommendation

2010-10-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

A few months back, I recommended a book, "Her Mother's Hope" by Francine Rivers.

The sequel to that book recently came out and last week, my Mom purchased it on Amazon and she let me be the first one of the two of us to read it. I guaranteed her I'd have it done in 3-4 days. And I did!

The book book is called "Her Daughters Dream". It continues where the story left off in the first book. I don't want to give the details of the book, but just know that it's an excellent, excellent book and I highly recommend it!

Disappointed

2010-10-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of months, our Pastor has mentioned a time or two in his messages about how we sometimes wear these 'masks' or put up these 'facades". We are quick to answer the question "How Are You?" with a "I'm good" or "Fine", when in reality things aren't good, or aren't fine.

Last Sunday, I woke up with heart palpitations and some shortness of breath, and pain upon breathing. Ah, the joys of anxiety!

When someone asked me how I was, I decided to be honest...

My response, "I'm okay".

Their response, "Just Okay?"

"Yeah, just okay."

"I'm not even gonna ask" was their response, and they turned and walked away.

And this Sunday, when anyone asked me "How are You?", I had to laugh to myself and pondered how to answer that question.

It also left me wondering, truly wondering, just who in that place really did care about me? I know without a shadow of a doubt of a few people who care about me (aside from the obvious of my Mother, Father, Brother, etc). But this exchange last week, really made a HUGE impact on me.

I sat a few times and really gave it some thought as to whether or not I've ever been like that. And as a couple of old friends come to mind, if I knew they were lying to me about being "fine" when asked "how are you?", I called them on it and asked them again until they were honest. "How are you?" isn't something I'd just ask in passing without having the time to listen if someone should say they weren't fine.

If we as Christians can't expect to love each other like Jesus would, then how does He expect us to love and an extend a hand out to those who are lost? Sadly, a lot of time Christians are disappointing, and unfortunately, this time it was me that was disappointed by one...

"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."
~ Galatians 6:10

Catching Up and Cleaning Up

2010-10-02T09:10:00.001-07:00

Today has been deemed one of those days to clean up and catch up.

It's been a busy week around our house and this next coming week will be a busy one as well. So today, I'm catching up on laundry, taking care of little piles here and there, cleaning out the email box and taking care of things in there, as well as having a couple of things I'd like to tackle in the garage.

The girls are also catching up. They are catching up on chores and cartoons and are so far playing nicely together with a craft set that Rachel got for her birthday.

And Steven, he's on an overnight mens campout and is due to return sometime today...

Happy Saturday!

School Walk-A-Thon

2010-09-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, in attempts to raise money for our school, we held what we believe will be our first annual Walk-a-Thon.

In recent years, our school has done Walk-a-Thons for such disasters as Hurricane Katrina victims, where as a school we raised $24,000. And last year, we did a Walk-A-Thon for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti and raised almost $12,000.

This year, our Walk-a-Thon will be benefiting the victims of recent State budget cuts to education. This year, the money raised from the Walk-a-Thon will benefit our school directly and the 700+ kids we have in attendance.

In years past, we’ve done catalog fundraisers, and candy sales. Both in which over half of the money brought in, is paid back to the company that organizes the event. But this year, because of the State of Emergency in our school, we need every cent to stay at our school. So our Ways and Means Coordinator came up with the idea for this Walk-A-Thon.

Wednesdays are our usual minimum day, so the event was held after school from 1:00-2:00. Our principal arranged for late buses to be available to the students who stayed and participated. On Tuesday afternoon, we had permission slips signed for over half of our students to participate, with another 100 or more permission slips being turned in yesterday morning as well as right up to the start of the Walk-A-Thon.

Each grade level had a booth of some sort. The money brought in from those individual booths stayed with that grade level and they'll use the money to help off set the cost for upcoming field trips, etc. We had booths that sold nachos, cotton candy and popcorn, water bottles and flavored water packets, sno cones, juice boxes, Krispy Kreme donuts, Silly Bandz Bracelets, collecting the recycling, as well as a booth that allowed you to toss wet sponges at the teachers face that was sticking out the cut out. At the conclusion of the Walk-A-Thon, our principal stepped in and let the kids cool him off. A good majority of the teachers dawned their tennis shoes and walked right along side their classes. Our principal did the same! He'd changed from his dress pants and long shirt and tie into comfortable walking clothes and he walked right along side his students, making several laps on each of our three roped off walking tracks. I was so impressed by this, our principal is awesome and really cares about the kids at his school and is always so appreciative of the parent volunteers and the PTA and he expresses it. The kids loved seeing him out there walking as well. It was a VERY LONG day yesterday and I came home worn out, exhausted, and with a headache. I arrived to the school about 7:20am and worked until after 3:00. We spent the day preparing by cutting ribbon for balloons, last minuted registrations, setting up the three different areas, the booths, blowing up balloons, making three balloon arches, and tons of other little detailed things that made the event a success! This picture is just some of us who'd put hours into the day.And now we wait...for all the money and pledges to be brought in and accounted for, to determine just how successful our fundraiser was. Here's hoping we don't have to do any little fundraisers in the remaining school year...

Lots Going On

2010-09-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

I've got so much going on in the next few weeks that the other day, I was feeling a little overwhelmed. I knew it'd all work out and get accomplished, I just had to sit down, make some lists, and tackle some of the tasks one thing at a time.

The girls' school is having a Walk-a-Thon tomorrow. The PTA is hoping we bring in enough money that this will be the only big fundraiser we'll have to do this year. It's the PTA that supplies the monies for a lot of the things that our State budget has cut, so it's important that we raise funds. A lot of work has gone into tomorrow's event. There will be grade level booths selling concessions, mom's with squirt bottles squirting kids as they walk by, and prize raffles for pledges and monies brought in. The first graders are collecting the recycling and a week or two ago, Rachel's teacher put me in charge of taking care of it. She'd been away for an entire week at training, and I'm sure was just feeling overwhelmed with it all and just handed it over to me. With the help of some friends, I obtained a huge box from the local TV store and I've covered it in yellow paper and painted it so that it stands out on the playground. I think it will, what do you think?? LOL. So tomorrow, I'll be at the school most of the day helping set up, mark the kids lap cards as they walk past the starting point, squirting kids with water bottles, etc, etc, etc.

The next thing I have on my plate is the upcoming Harvest Party I'm organizing for the kids of our church. I hadn't gotten much planned on paper and was feeling rather stressed about it. But I had a meeting with the women who'll help me this past Sunday after church, and I'm feeling pretty good about it and now that I've had my meeting, and have delegated things out, I'm feeling less stressed about that.

And finally, as the Box Tops Coordinator for our school, the current contest is winding down and coming to an end on October 21st. Last week, I made a flyer. I then took the flyer and printed, cut, and counted enough flyers to go home with our 700+ students alerting to the upcoming contest ending. I've been working on getting the 17,000 Box Tops I have here at home organized and grouped together to make sending them off to the company in a month a little easier. I'm also responsible for rewarding the contest winners and then presenting the awards in an assembly the end of next month. I'm making some changes to how things have been done in the past and it just takes time and organization.

Add these few major things to my every day life and it's just a lot right now...

Red Box

2010-09-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

Red Boxes have been popping up all over the place. Have you noticed them?? If not, you will now that I've pointed out that they are popping up all over the place. LOL. Renting movies from the Red Box is SO easy. DVD's are a $1.00 for a one night rental, Blue Ray's are $1.50. And they only offer the latest releases.

You can rent them anywhere and return them to ANY location. We have a couple of Circle K's within a mile of our house and it makes it very convenient for renting a movie on Friday afternoons on the way home from school!

Tinkerbell's new movie was released this week on DVD therefore it's a strong possibility that'll be our movie for this weekend. Although Hannah's lobbying for Prince of Persia or Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief...AGAIN!

The New Season of Survivor

2010-09-22T17:13:00.000-07:00

The new season of Survivor started last Wednesday. Hard to believe it's the 21st season, Hannah was just a few months old when we first started watching.

This season, the tribes are divided into the "Young" and the "Old". The Young are between 20 and 30 years of age, and the Old are over 40. Seeing how I'll be 37 next month (WHOA!) I don't fit into either of those tribes. And when I mentioned that to my Mom, she pointed out that I'm middle aged. LOL. Um, yeah, thanks.

First Day of Fall 2010

2010-09-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

The leaves on the trees don't show signs of Fall...

The projected forecast for the weekend weather doesn't show temperatures resembling that of Fall...

But the calendar says today is the First Day of Fall! And our house shows signs of the season too...
I LOVE this season and time of the year! Time to break out the soup recipes and get ingredients for apple cake!

Shifts Cancelled

2010-09-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

Last week, I had one of my closing (10-6:30pm) shifts get cancelled at the local grocery store.

After reading the message board of the nurses working for the same agency, I found I wasn't the only one to have shifts cancelled. At that time, one of the nurses was told that only the closing shifts were affected. Therefore, I was feeling pretty good as the remainder of my shifts were the opening shift of 9-3.

But yesterday morning, I received an email that my remaining five shifts at the local area grocery stores had been cancelled. There simply wasn't enough people seeking out flu shots in these venues. This leaves me with only two shifts left - one is at a senior apartment complex, the other at a corporation.

I was kinda bummed. I was looking forward to bringing in some extra money. But on the bright side, I'm ahead of the game for next season if they rehire me, then I'll have an earlier chance at other clinics. And, if nothing else, like my Mom said, going through the process and getting hired and getting 'back out there' has shown me that I can do it!

Family Beach Day

2010-09-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

Our church had a "Family Beach Day" this last Saturday. It didn't quite turn out as successful as you'd think it would have, it was us and the ministry coordinators that showed up. That's all.

We arrived to the beach at 8:00 am to secure a fire pit thinking people come during the day, come and go, stay into the evening, etc. But such is the life of Saturdays filled with soccer games, unexpected work days, and just life in general happened.

We however, had a very relaxing time. The other couple that organized the event are good family friends whom we always enjoy spending time, in fact, we camp with a lot of the time. The sun didn't come out til close to noon, but once it did, it was absolutely beautiful!!

The six of us ended up packing it up and leaving around 3:00pm. Someone sure lucked out on scoring a fire pit that time of day!!

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls taken on Steven's iPhone. And with that, we've said goodbye to the last weekend of Summer 2010!!

Book Turns into Movie

2010-09-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned before of my like for Christian fiction author, Karen Kingsbury. I've even met her once, almost three years ago.Over the last year, her fans have been watching the progress of one of her books being turned into a movie, a full pledged movie at the movie theaters!

The movie is called "Like Dandelion Dust" and it's the story about a young boy who lives with his adoptive parents. It's a perfect childhood until the parents receive the phone call one day that the birth parents want him back and the decision of the judge to take him out of the only home he's ever known and place him back with his birth parents. The trailer looks like it's going to be an excellent movie.

The movie premieres in a neighboring city near us on October 1st, and I can't wait to go and support Karen and this movie!

To see the trailer and check your city for showtimes, visit the website here.

Picking and Choosing

2010-09-17T06:32:00.000-07:00

It seems like we are living in a society where people are doing an awful lot of 'picking and choosing' in all sorts of areas.

For example, some people choose to follow the "no texting while you're driving law", and some people choose to follow the "hands free law" in accordance to using a cell phone while driving here in the State of California. I know I'm guilty of picking and choosing in these two areas. :X This San Bernardino County Sheriff was showing the public what she chose! Or how about when people pick and choose which rules of etiquette to follow and which ones not to? For example, being obsessive about people RSVPing to a party, but then choosing not send out thank you notes for a gift received?And the list could go on and on and on.

The "picking and choosing" mentality could also apply to our spiritual lives as well. Are we guilty of picking and choosing which of God's commandments we will follow? Guilty of picking and choosing which things you'll pray about, seek guidance from the Lord on?? Guilty of picking and choosing which area of our lives we'll allow the Lord to work? To have a precedence over?

Truth be told, we're always going to 'pick and choose' when it comes to everyday rules and laws.

But our lives would be a lot easier if we picked and chose the things of the Lord and let Him have reign in our entire life and not just the areas we choose.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

~ Jeremiah 29:11

A Divine Work Day

2010-09-16T17:56:00.000-07:00

After the initial rough start of last week's first day, I really did love the whole giving injection thing and didn't really mind the paperwork. My next shift wasn't scheduled until the 24th. But I check several times a day for more shifts.

Last night, a shift opened up in a city about thirty miles away. Before the possibility of it being taken, I've learned to grab it, and then look at the details. Um, yeah, so the date of the clinic...TODAY!! I tried to cancel the shift online, but because it was less than three days from the clinic date, I would have had to have called in and had a really good excuse. And the fact that I didn't look at the date wasn't going to sound really good. LOL. So I rearranged the dinner menu to accommodate me getting home after 4:00 and laid out after school snacks, etc. And I worked today!

I dropped the girls off at school and then hit the freeway and started my thirty mile commute. I made it there in about 35 minutes, not bad for "rush hour". Had no problems clocking in, but my supplies were no where to be found. After a few phone calls, I found where they'd been delivered and got set up. A lot less stressful than last week. There are usually two nurses scheduled. One that works 9-3, and the other that works 10-6:30 and closes the clinic. The second nurse didn't come and she didn't come. I didn't mind, I'd only had four injections, and it was slow. I figured by mid afternoon, if the other nurse didn't show, I'd call the company and see if they wanted me to just pack it up or stay until 6:30. I was fine either way, especially if it meant an extra 3 1/2 hours!! But shortly before noon, the other nurse arrived.

The other nurse introduced herself to me, and before she even sat down, I recognized something familiar about her face. I was 99.9% sure she had been born with a cleft lip. I couldn't help but stare at her. I had to ask, but how do you ask? So we chatted, she asked if I was a new nurse, I explained I was a nurse coming out of Stay at Home retirement for the season. LOL. She told me she was a new grad, having worked a few months in home health before she quit and had to have surgery because she'd been born with a cleft lip and palate. And there it was...the door was WIDE open for conversation. I told her I had a hunch, simply because my daughter had been born with a cleft.

I was overcome with emotion. I tried to hold it together, but there was no accident in me getting this shift today. The Lord knew I'd be paired up with this nurse. He knew I needed to meet her and see her and how far she's come. To ask her questions. HE KNEW!! And I'm so grateful for how the Lord pays attention to every single little detail, details we may not even know about. But I KNOW it was Him who orchestrated this shift today. And I'm so thankful.

I asked her if she cared if I asked her questions in regards to her cleft and all her surgeries, and she said "No, she'd love to answer any questions".

She was twenty five years old and has had at least nine surgeries regarding her cleft. She said she'd had so many she really couldn't remember how many, but she was pretty sure it was nine.

She had the surgery that Rachel will have in two months when she was twelve. She's never received any speech therapy, and there were some things she said that I could tell she'd had no speech. It promoted me to write an email to our speech therapist once again thanking her for all her work with Rachel.

When my shift ended, I sincerely thanked her for answering my questions. And as I got on the freeway for my journey home, I prayed and thanked the Lord for opening the door to today's shift and for my nurse co-worker.

Minimum Day Wednesdays

2010-09-15T11:19:00.001-07:00

The girls have minimum days on Wednesdays. Every Wednesday, which is new for our school.

It works out great for scheduling Rachel's speech in the early afternoon, opposed to later in the afternoon on full school days, after she's sat and paid attention in school for six hours.

I think it also helps break up the week. We have two long days of school, and then a short day, followed by two long days and then wallah! The weekend is here!!

Remember Our Heroes

2010-09-11T21:09:00.000-07:00

Today, as everyone in the United States is aware of, was the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the New York World Trade Centers. We spent the afternoon and evening at the local park "Remembering Our Heroes".

My brothers band, The Riverside Blues Club, played three sets through the afternoon. There were booths, and games for the kids, and free snow cones, etc.

And then about 6:00 the ceremony began.

Jericho, my brother's band that does worship music, then took over and opened the evening with a worship song. The evening then proceeded with the pledge of allegiance, our national anthem, and the recognition by the local fire department, police department, and the CHP (California Highway Patrol) of the 'Heroes' each of those departments had lost through the years, and recently.

And then Moms of the Military presented five families with banners that will hang from our city's light poles down one of our major streets each acknowledging a Hero. Hero's that have given their lives since 9/11 in the war against terrorism. Each soldier represented by a wife, mothers and fathers, children, numerous siblings, even a foster mom and dad. Each story was different, but the same. They'd all lost their life for OUR freedom.

As Jericho played another worship song, candles were being lit amongst the hundreds of people in attendance. It was amazing to see, and hard to capture by camera.

A twenty one gun salute then ended the ceremony.

It was a tearful evening. So many lives were touched on this day nine years ago. And we are a nation forever changed by the events of that day, but let us never forget who holds our future...

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD,
"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11

Progressive Dinner

2010-09-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

Last night, our church had a progressive dinner. About thirty seven people participated and it was a lot of fun.

There were five houses involved if you had kids. LOL. One of the houses was the drop off for the kids to be babysat by the Youth ministry. The church projector was set up on the patio for movies and another TV was set up for games and pizza was ordered. Once the girls were dropped off, it was off to the houses with food for us! :)

We went to four different houses, all within a mile radius. The first house was appetizers. Second house was salad and soup. Third house was the main course (chicken enchiladas, beans, sweet corn bread, chips and salsa). And the fourth house was dessert.

It was a beautiful evening weather wise. We were outside at all the houses. Dinner was served at tables that were set up poolside, as was dessert at the last house. It was fun going house to house and sitting and fellowshipping with different people at each stop.

It would be fun to do it again in a few months, but with different host families, assuming we could stay within the city and have short traveling bouts.

***********************************************
For many, many years, my Dad's side of the family used to do a progressive dinner in the early month of December, so that everyone could see how everyone decorated for the holidays. It was a yearly tradition for many, many years when I was growing up. And then there was a break for a few years in my late teenager years and then we did it again the first year or two we were married. I remember doing appetizers when we lived in the condo. Soon after, the family progressive dinners stopped, as the family was just getting larger and larger and the changing family dynamics and underlying disputes.

First Day of Work - Outside the Home

2010-09-10T16:28:00.000-07:00

Today I stepped out of my comfort zone and into something new.

Today, I dawned my nursing uniform for the first time in almost eleven years and worked outside the home as a nurse. Out of my comfort zone of being a Stay at Home Wife, out of my comfort zone of being a Stay at Home Mom.

I didn't realize just how comfortable I was in those two positions until I was up and getting ready to go to work today as a professional nurse. I was nervous. As anyone would be the first day of any new job, but I haven't worked outside the home since I was three months pregnant with Hannah, since October 1999.

I've been staying informed and gleaning information from a message board I found online specifically for nurses who work with this agency. The last several nights, I've reviewed setting up, reviewed all the paperwork, reviewed how these new syringes work via a video.

I took Rachel to school. And then off to a Sam's Club in a neighboring city. I got there early, checked ini with the RUDE manager, and went and sat and waited for the pharmacy to open so that I could get my supplies and get to work. Upon trying to clock in via my cell phone, it didn't recognize my ID number or the clinic. To make a long story short, I had to call and speak to an actual person and she was able to clock me in. I spent over twenty minutes trying to clock in. After that, I went to town setting up all the consents, etc. The other nurse joined me at 10:00 and it was me and her until I was off at 3:00.
This was before I got my supplies and had everything set up.

After the rough start of the morning, the rest of the day went great. I learned the ropes of all the consents, the insurance and Medicare stuff and I gave my first injection in over ten years. And the patient didn't even flinch. LOL. It was a slow day, and I only gave 8 Flu Shots today. But it was a great day of learning from the other nurse and getting things down pat for when I work again. Which if I don't obtain any more shifts, I don't work until the 24th.

Venting

2010-09-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

Let me just start off this post by saying I am extremely thankful for our health insurance. I know things could be worse, and will become worse if Obamacare continues to work it's way through California. But right now, I need to seriously vent about Loma Linda University's billing.

In recent months, I have spent countless HOURS on the phone with the Loma Linda billing offices and with our health insurance trying to straighten out several different problem claims, all related to Rachel.

And rather than go into all the long and drawn out details, I'll just say this and move on.....

Loma Linda University Medical Center and their billing offices are incompetent and can't even do the simplest of things right!!!!

There. I feel a little bit better.....

This and That

2010-09-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

September already. Where has the last eight months gone since the start of the new year? Did time really go this quickly when I was a kid? It always seemed like it was F-O-R-E-V-E-R between Christmases. LOL.

We've been in school for just over a month now and the girls are doing so well with getting up and dressed, beds made, and out the door by 7:30. We've been arriving to school with plenty of time to spare, except for one day when my van broke down on the way to school and Steven had to pick us up and take us to school, we walked in that day as the bell was ringing. LOL.
********************* I've found that it's become quite an adjustment to having both the girls gone all day. Despite having things I could do around the house, etc, I spent a day or two this week wasting away on the computer. What I need to do is sit down and write a list of all the things I'd like to get done and then start working on that list.
*********************Rachel's birthday has come and gone. And the next event I'm working on is planning our church Harvest Party. We did a Harvest Party last year and I'm hoping this year will prove to be a great time once again.
********************* As for the job situation, I continue to check the scheduling website. After checking for the last week and a half, I finally managed to pick up one more shift today, It's for the beginning of October and it won't be at Stater Bros., it'll be at the local Waste Management Facility giving flu shots to the employees. I check the site several times a day for more shifts. I wish I had gone ahead and taken some of the shifts that were a little driving distance when they were first available and then decided later if I really wanted them. Oh well, I'll just keep checking.
*********************The 5th grade field trip to Washington DC that was proposed, has been officially cancelled due to the lack of interest. It was for that very reason that I looked into a part time job to bring in money so that I could go. But since it's been cancelled, I'm excited to bring in some extra money to help with some major expenses(termites, van repair, Rachel's speech) we've had in recent months...

Edited to Add: Within the last half an hour, I was able to score a shift for THIS WEEK!!! I'll be working at a local Sam's Club. I'm a little nervous now that I'm faced with a shift THIS week. LOL.

Guess I'll be spending some time this week reviewing how to set up the clinic and all the paperwork, etc.

And it's time to get out the scrubs and find one that fits eleven years later, and polish up my shoes!

Job Update

2010-08-26T06:25:00.001-07:00

So all my paperwork was filled out, and faxed in, and sometimes faxed again. I got the final word late Monday evening that everything had been received and the next step would be to begin online training once all my paperwork had been reviewed.

I received my email with access to the online training Tuesday evening. I started my training that evening after the girls had gone to bed and finished it up Wednesday morning before heading to the dentist.

By days end yesterday, I was granted access to start scheduling myself into clinics. I was excited as I was logging in, but my excitement faded as I logged in and found that there weren't any near by shifts open. There were lots of shifts available in Palm Springs, Ridgecrest, Apple Valley, and Hesperia. But who wants those?? Not that there's anything exactly wrong with those places, after all Steven was raised in one of those cities, but I don't want to drive 40+ miles just to work and eat up what I earn in gas. So I was a little bummed.

But as I checked back a few minutes later, and kept checking back, I scored four shifts, all at different grocery stores within about 7 miles of our home! I even scored a shift in my hometown grocery store!! And could have scored another shift there on a Wednesday, but Wednesdays don't work out for me to work as it's minimum day dismissal for the girls and speech day for Rachel.

The anticipation of hopefully being quick enough to nab the shift before anyone else did was just like watching an auction on ebay, LOL. Within twenty minutes shifts opened up and I was encouraged by the fact that you just have to check the schedule frequently.

So as of this morning, my first shift is on September 24. But I plan on checking the site several times a day to see if shifts become available.

Thoughts from the Dentist Chair

2010-08-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

It was teeth cleaning ay at our house today, I had a dentist appointment this morning, and the girls had appointments this afternoon.

I hate going to the dentist.

Okay, not as much as I used to. But I still hate going. I think I need to change hygienists. Mine is rough. But then I don't know if the other ones at my dental office aren't. So I'm kinda in a pickle.

When I visited the dentist six months ago, my appointment was long and didn't go very well. My body was still adjusting to being off the birth control pill and when your hormones are a mess, if affects your gums. And my gums were bleeding bad, the hygienist said they were gushing as she cleaned the plaque from my teeth. So I wasn't expecting this appointment to go any better.

I get a lot of thinking and praying done when having my teeth cleaned. I simply stare at the ceiling and pray. First I was praying for my dental appointment and that she'd see no cavities, or 'spots to watch'. And that she'd hurry up and get on to the polishing, as I'm certain she suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to plaque build up and my teeth.

And then I prayed for the girls' appointments later this afternoon. It's nerve wracking taking both of them to the dentist. You never know who will have a cavity or how much 'trouble' you'll get in because they should be brushing better, flossing more, etc.

And then I started thinking about the errands I needed to run after my appointment in the short time there was before having to pick up the girls at 12:40 because it was Minimum Day Wednesday. I thought about Rachel's birthday party this weekend and the things I need/want to do before then. I thought about what else I could make for dinner and add to my menu and grocery list as tomorrow is grocery day.

All that thinking didn't make my appointment go any faster, but it took my mind off all the scraping and poking. LOL. I am relieved I don't have to return until March.

Oh, and for the record, all three of us girls had perfect reports today from the dentist. No cavities!! And we even were told we were doing a good job at brushing....boy, do we have them all fooled.

Settling In

2010-08-23T06:47:00.000-07:00

We've been back in school now for three full weeks and I think we're settling in...

...Settling in to getting up and out the door every morning.

..Settling in to the afternoon routine of homework, reading, and making dinner.

...Settling in to an evening routine of baths and to bed on time.

...And settling in to the new responsibilities I took on this year at the school.

As the schools' Box Tops for Education coordinator, I think I've figured out my groove of checking my box every other day or so, counting, bundling, and keeping track of how many Box Tops the classes have brought in. And rewarding teachers when they reach 300. On Friday, I collected 1500 Box Tops! That's a whole lot of Box Tops!

We had our first PTA Board Meeting last week and there was a lot to take minutes on and keep straight and stay on top of. But I came home that night and typed up my minutes and they are all ready to be copied and taken to next months meeting for approval.

Yep, we're definitely settling in.