Friday, February 27, 2009

Question #5

On whose life have you had influence outside your immediate family?
Journaling: "My best friend Angie doesn't understand why I love her the way I do. I don't think that I tell her enough how dear to my heart she is. I think I love her because I hope to be like her someday. She brags about her mother being the Proverbs 31 woman, but I think she is well on her way to being just like her mom."

It’s very humbling when someone says something like this about you. She’s right that I don’t understand. I can be very selfish. I’m not a very good friend. She has other friends who are much more involved in her life, more generous, more loving. What have I done to deserve the place she gives me in her life? I’m the one who doesn’t tell her enough how I appreciate her in my life. She has influenced me.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

I'M BACK!

About a month ago, my computer crashed, horror of horrors! I have had occasional access to computers, either on Dean's work computer or the library, but the worst of it was that I couldn't digi-scrap AT ALL. This was very bad. Anyway, I finally have my computer working again. We had to get a new hard drive. Fortunately, all my pics and digi-stuff was on an external hard drive. WHEW! So, now I'm behind on my 'You in 52' challenge. I finally got to scrap again last night and caught up on a couple more questions. Here they are:

Question #3 - If I could change one thing about myself, what would it be?

Journaling: As a grown woman looking back, there are many things I would change. Most of them, however, are a result of choices I’ve made or things I could still fix if I really tried. So, I decided to go back to when I was young to answer this question, back to when I was more or less content with who I was. I WISH I COULD DANCE! In highschool, I was in an ensemble for two years. I loved to sing and dance with ‘Windsong’. Being in Windsong was the highlight of my highschool years. The problem is, you can teach me the choreography and I will get it right. Technically. I was a bit stiff and can’t dance at all without knowing the moves. I certainly wouldn’t look cool trying! That’s what I wish I could change. I wish I could just dance what feels good and look good doing it.

Question # 4 - What 7 decisions changed the course of your life?

Journaling:
1. My parents trained to be missionaries in Mexico. Mom was pregnant with me when they decided God was leading them in a different direction. I was almost born in Mexico!
2. We moved to Clearwater, FL when I was 4. Dad became pastor of Maranatha Chapel. I grew up there until I got married.
3. My parents gave me the choice to attend college or not. I chose not. It was perhaps not the wisest choice, but it put me where I am today.
4. Dean came to Roan Mt. when I was 19. My cousin Dan knew Dean liked me and they offered to pay for a plane ticket home so I could drive up with them to visit my cousin, Tami. At first, I wasn’t interested in Dean and thought it would be taking advantage if I accepted knowing what they were after. But they knew how I felt, so I said yes. I talked to mom the night before we left and asked for her advice. I rode with Dean and Dan to Connecticut. By the time we arrived 12 hours later, we were holding hands!
5. 2 weeks after Dean and I got together, I left for 4 months to YWAM in Scotland. While there, Dean and I wrote many letters but they were full of superficial “I love you’s”. One week we had a great speaker who spoke on ‘binding words’. I called Dean and told him I didn’t want us to say ‘I love you’ anymore. I tried to explain, but he thought I was being brainwashed! I sent him the cassettes so he could hear it for himself. He was only 18 but he listened to all 10 hours! Then he called me and agreed. From then on, our letters were full of content and we began to get to know each other for real. He even sent me a greeting card that said ‘I like you’! This made it so much more special when we were ready to say we loved each other for real.
6. We chose to get married pretty young. We were married right after Dean’s sophmore year of college.
7. We waited 6 years to have kids. When we had Alyssa, we decided that I would stay home with her. It was a real sacrifice to eliminate my income, but totally worth it!
Life in general has been kinda crazy lately. In addition to my computer problems, Dean's car died! It was a red, Mazda Protege. We've had this car since 1993. He has nursed it along and was determined to make it last as long as it could. It was a good little car. Dean affectionately called it 'Red'. Red lasted 220 thousand miles. So long, Red! Thanks for the memories!

I've also started working this past month as a substitute. I've taught kindergarten, 3rd grade, worked in the school office, was a cafeteria monitor, and I've worked in the cafeteria. Believe it or not, I like the cafeteria best. As soon as things settle down for us a bit, I may try to get a permanent job there. We've also been trying to fix up the house to sell, but have had very little time to do so. Right now we're working on painting the interior. So far, we've done one bathroom. *Sigh* MORE TIME PLEASE!

Another thing that has happened since I lost the use of my computer is that my nephew was born!!! But Oscar deserves a post of his own. So tune in next time for a little bit of this... and a little bit of that:

Friday, January 16, 2009

Hubby, Too.

I decided I want to try to do these 'You in 52' questions for Dean, too. I want to pass this information about Both of us to our kids. I'll make the pages, all Dean has to do is answer the questions. Simple right? You'd think so...
Anyway, I went out of order and did the second question first because it was easier to answer. The first one is apparantly going to require more direct questioning to get what I need rather than an email request. If I gave you the answer he gave me, you'd say "huh?" That was after TWO chances to answer the question. I need more info! LOL! Here is Dean's page for question number 2:

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Question #2

Week 2's question was, "What did I want to be when I grew up?" Here is my page:

Digikit: 'Sophisticated Grunge' by Stolen Moments, Alpha 'Grit' by Stuff by Heather T.

The journaling says: "I could tell you that I wanted to be a teacher or a singer or any number of things I thought of over the years. But what i really wanted more than anything in the world was to be a wife and mom. I wanted this so bad it hurt. God has granted me the desires of my heart in my husband Dean, and my three wonderful children, Alyssa, Kai and Roan."

Let's Close Out 2008 and Get On With 2009

For Thanksgiving we visiting my family in Raleigh for the weekend. We call it 'Thanksmas' because that is also when we exchange gifts with my family. I won't go into a lot of detail except to say we had a great time as usual and to show this one photo. (Naturally, as is my Thanksmas habit, I took very few pics for some reason.) The following pic is of Roan with his new Lightsaber by Grandpa and Grammy. Now, you should know that between Kai and Roan they probably have at least 8 lightsabers of different shapes and sizes. THIS lightsaber though, is blue, lights up, and has sound effects, hence the awed expression on his face!Amy and I went shopping on Black Friday as usual. Even Dean got it on the fun this year. Dean, Brad, and Dad went to a Duke basketball game at home. Amy and I went to see Twilight. It was fun seeing Andrea with her 7mo+ belly. Before we went home, I took a few pictures for them. Here is a digital scrapbook page I did with those pics:
The background paper is from 'Dinner Party' by Shabby Princess and Sara Carling.
Everything else is 'Wild Weekend' by Peppermint Creative.
Template by Cindy Schneider
They are obviously very excited because it's almost time! She is due January 31st and I plan to go up there the minute I hear she's in labor. Can't wait!

Last month Roan was recognized as a "Heart Act to Follow". This is a special award given each month (at school) to kids who demonstrate living the 'habit of the heart' such as:

  • Taking responsibility for self and others
  • Acting with courage and compassion
  • Practicing forgiveness and humility
  • Resolving differences in constructive ways.

This month, Kai was reconized as a "Heart Act to Follow".....twice!

For Christmas this year, we were supposed to go to Connecticut. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for us to go this time. Dean flew up to Connecticut after New Year's to briefly see the family. Christmas as home was nice and quiet. We had a friend over for Christmas dinner. Our family gift was the Wii Fit. We had a lot of fun with that the rest of Christmas break.

I finally got a job! I am officially a Substitute for the Richland 5 district. Yesterday was my first day. I was a cafeteria monitor! Heehee. It went well. I'm just very glad I was able to find a job that would accomodate my kid's schedules.

Last bit of news is that we are finally trying to sell our house. We have been here for 11 years! When we moved here, we had one 20 month old daughter. Now we have three! We are way overcrowded and need a bigger place. We've got a lot of work to do. We've already put what feels like half of our furniture/belongings into storage and now we've go some fixing up to do.

Well, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Friday, January 9, 2009

I Know, I Know....

...I need to get back on the blog ball. I'll try to catch up soon. Right now I'm just going to talk about a scrapbook challenge I'm taking up called 'You in 52'. Debby's Dare is going to post a question every Monday for this year. You use the question to inspire a scrapbook page about yourself. Debby says most scrappers spend their time recording the lives of family, friends, pets, but not a lot of themselves. So by doing this challenge, by the end of the year you will have enough pages for a whole album/book about you that you can pass down to your children. The first question of the year is "Who has been the biggest influence in your life?" Here is the page I made:

(Digikit 'Funky Retro' by Vicki-A Work in Progress and Sweet Blossom Designs)

The journaling says: My parents met in college and married three years later. They trained to be missionaries. In fact, I was almost born in Mexico. However they felt God leading them in another direction. My dad became a pastor! He served as an associate pastor at Calvary Assembly of God in Orlando, FL. until taking the position of Senior Pastor at a small church called Maranatha Chapel in Clearwater, FL in 1973. He served in this capacity for 25 years. I grew up in this church. My parents are the most faithful people I know. They are by far they biggest influence in my life through their constant love, guidance, and most of all, Godly example. My father LIVES the biblical definition of Pastor and my mother IS the Proverbs 31 woman.

I'm really looking forward to this challenge and I'll try to post my page here each week. BTW, Happy New Year!

Sunday, December 21, 2008