Adventures of Life

Hi there everyone! 

That is, if there is anyone out there who still reads this thing...
It's been rather neglected, to say the least.

I write to you not from a seat with a view of the lake, where I would normally write, but instead, several hours south from our new home in Kentucky.

It has been an adventure.

It's different here in the south. They drink Ale-8-One instead of Vernors (they don't even know what Vernors is), Walmart runs out of bread when we get 1/4" of snow, and it gets so humid in the summer it looks like I got a perm.

Life is different, but life is good.
God is good.

You would think that after moving to another state I would spend some time there before I left, but the adventures called me elsewhere.

I originally moved to Louisville to teach preschool, but after two months I migrated farther south to spend a month in North Carolina. The craziness we call film making called once again and I assisted catering on the set of Princess Cut.

Just to clarify, when I say craziness, I mean craziness. Asking a restaurant owner if we can cook dinner for the crew in his kitchen because the kitchen we were originally going to use fell through, going nearly 48 hours on 1 hour of sleep, transporting lunch to, and eating on the side of a mountain, playing the "lock it up" game with kids on set to keep them quite during filming, jam sessions on the porch late into the morning... I would say night, but it was already morning by the time we started ;)

No matter how crazy it gets, it is always a blessing to work with friends who push on and encourage those around them when the going gets tough!

In February I headed back to Michigan to help costume Oxford High School's production of Beauty and the Beast. What an amazing and talented group of girls I got to know!

We laughed, and cried, ate too much, stayed up late hand sewing and watched movies, prayed together, danced together, encouraged each other, made mistakes and learned from them.
 We were all stretched to our limits, and saw God's faithfulness in so many situations.
"The God of angel armies, is always by my side!"

Here's a few more picture just because :)

And what do you know, but the very week after the show wrapped (is that the correct term for theater?) I ended up in Cincinnati catering another film, Wanted.

Rejoining the craziness with friends I had worked with on Princess Cut, and Beyond the Mask, we somehow made it through the week cooking in a kitchen which was also a hot set! Talk about a challenge! But we made it, and I'm pretty sure no one left hungry.
And can I add how much fun it is to watch movies with film makers? Winter Soldier for the wrap party any one?

Coming home, after I caught up on sleep, I set to work job hunting. I was blessed to find a job as a veterinary technician at a vet hospital only 15 minutes from our house! Between learning a new job, working part time, and all the little extras that come from living in a new house I've kept busy enough. I cannot help but think there is something on the horizon though.

I watch and wait, listen and learn.
I do what I can to be ready for the next adventure.

Because, you know, there will always be another adventure.

Today

Today was a good day.

A sunshiny day.

A bare foot day.

An over 70 degree day.  (Yes, I'm still in Michigan!)

A day I got to spend with some very special little people.

All those reasons gave us much cause to smile :)

And so we did.

 

Some feet have seem more of the outside so far this year than mine...

  I promise he's not falling on his head, just showing off a flip!

  

 

See? Safe in one piece.

 

I hope you all had as beautiful a day as I did!

Sledding Done Right

First, make friends with someone who has (or has access to) a good sledding hill.

This is more easily said than done, but I've been blessed with some good contacts :)

Next, wait for snow.  In Michigan it may come as early as Thanksgiving, or as late as January, but the fun is always worth the wait!

And by "good sledding hill" I mean a hill with an iced starting ramp and big bon fire warming area!

And is lit all the way down the hill, through the woods, and over the neighbor's driveway :)

Mr Reiche and Lydia make the inaugural run

And Mom went down a few times too!

Now, you can have fun with all sorts of variations. You can ride single, double, or even tripple!

Be warned, its hard to stay on when you are the one on the top!

Mary Ellen and I decided to ride double and tape the ride.  Here's a glimpse of the fun!

Thank you for the wonderful evening Mr. Reiche!

Happy winter everyone!

Life In General These Days.....

Clay worked the rappelling
tower and rock climbing wall

Yes, that is me!

Wow. It seems like all summer has consisted of is being home for a week, then leaving the next! Today Mom and I returned from visiting Clay in Texas for two weeks. (yes, almost as soon as I published the post titled 'home again' I wasn't!) Mom and I had fun working in the kitchen with a great group of girls during family camp, but as you can see from the pictures, we found time to have fun outside of the kitchen as well! The highlight of the week for me, (aside from visiting with Clay) was seeing Lew Sterrett for the first time! The way he draws life lessons from horses and applies them to our life makes you look at life with a completely different perspective. I could not help but buy one of his books, Life Lessons From a Horse Whisperer. In one chapter he tells of a horse he trained that knew him so well he could blind fold the horse and direct him with without a bridle. The horse was solely directed by his master's voice and promptings. It made me think. When I don't know where I am going, when I'm seemingly 'blindfolded,' do I get frightened because I cannot see, or does it cause me to listen all the more closely to the master?



Yep! That's me too :)

Now that I'm home, life promises to keep me busy! I have finished all my classes for medical assisting and start the two month clinical portion of my training bright and early on Monday morning. I appreciate your prayers as I step completely out of my comfort zone!

So, because it has been so long since I've posted anything substantial and it promises to be that way for the next couple of months at least, here is a link to a blog article that has blessed me!

The One Purpose Behind All Our Passions

Be Blessed!



ATI Conference '11

After SSI, with hardly time to recuperate (and trust me, you need recuperation time after SSI) Mom and I drove down to Indianapolis for the regional ATI conference.  I can't remember the last conference I was able to attend without worrying about chores or other responsabilities.  It was a perfect time of seeing old friends, and being refreshed in the Lord.  Here's a peek at some of the fun!

Esther and I maning...er, womaning, the ITG table. 
She even gave me a pipecleaner!!!
Yes, pipecleaners make me happy, very happy!
...don't ask...

And of course you couldn't keep me out of the CI room! 
Especially when two very awesome friends
happen to be in there ;)
Rissa and Lyd, you guys are awesome!

Josiah was very proud of the character award
he recieved for archery at his first year in ALERT Cadets.

Mom and one of her "honorary grandkids" :)

It was wonderful to be able to visit with
 Mr. and Mrs. Robert Staddon!

The last day of the conference, a few of us Indy staffers were able to get together at Starbucks.  It was great to see Tim, Patrick and Robert and Kendallyn again! What did we do while we were there?  We reminiced over Mr. Gergeni's Wonderful Life!  Fun times, and lots of memories.

Student Statesmanship Institute

The muses in the capitol rotunda

Who would think a week of studying bills from the house and senate, translating "legalese," writing speeches, listening to debates, giving press conferences, and surviving on cafeteria food would be done by choice?  But three weeks out of the summer, Great Lakes Christian College in Lansing, Michigan is teeming with high schoolers doing just that.  And yes, they even have fun in the process!

I have spent four weeks in successive summers at Student Statesmanship Institute.  My first year, as a state representative, I arrived having no idea of what to expect. I mean, summer camp is supposed to be fun!  Who invented government camp?  A whole week of parliamentary procedure, caucus meetings, questioning lobbyist, worrying about the press, and speech writing,  all overseen by a "sometimes benevolent dictator?" You've got to be kidding me!  But, I was hooked (I think its something in the water...besides the "swamp monster.")  So much so, this summer I could not stay away and went as a chaperone. 

The Madison committee

So, what exactly do you do at SSI?  First year students are state representatives, second year is senate (you get to write amendments to your bills! ... as long as they are germain.  No Barney amendments.)  You take the oath of office, join a committee and caucus, and start studying your bills (while hanging out with your caucus and eating pizza, of course.  Come on, this is camp!)  Throughout the week you take your bill from caucus, to committee, (at the state capitol) where you interview lobbyists and vote to pass the bill to the house floor.  You then head back to camp and start honing your caucus strategy and arguments and commence to speech writing, and rewriting and more rewriting, because on Friday you will be on the house floor debating other caucus in an attempt to pass you bill.

Caucus meetings, at this point we were not getting much done...

While the representatives are in caucus attempting to figure out what in the world they are doing, and the Senators are plowing full speed ahead, some of the third and fourth year students are quietly tucked away in a back room furiously typing at their computers, or sneaking around campus with note pads and pencils, or video cameras.  Yes.  The media.  Feared by all, with few friends as a result, the few and the proud take their job seriously as they hunt down stories, interview poor, unsuspecting representatives, and capture *misquotes for, what would probably be considered, the equivalent of the comics section of the daily SSI Observer. 

(*Misquote - random phrases, usually taken out of context, said in the hearing of media personnel or one, Charity Malick.  Misquotes are not supposed to make sense. The stranger the better.

examples:

 "We will win by the power of rhyming, Botox, exercising regularly, and cake" -Maple party member,
"Safety is one of our... top 5 priorities." -Zak Weston,  

"Jennie is our camp nurse.  She's vicious." -Amber Thompson,

"The orange juice is malfunctioning." -Hannah Kissling,

"How do you feel about being a people killer?" -Representative to lobbyist,

"We'll have to think of something nasty to say...in love." -Spencer Field,

"The terror in your eyes keeps me alive." -Zak Weston,

"All ninjas are lame compared to me." -Evan Thompson) 

Week three was also the pilot week for the campaign tract.  That means, in addition to all the normal (if you can call them that) SSI events we also had a gubernatorial debate to attend and lots of fund raising and campaigning to put up with  ;)  The three parties were very creative in their strategies.  Not only did they have campaign adds in the news paper and commercials in the broad casts, but they sent out "mailings," and hosted events such as face painting, euchre tournaments, and sponsor dinners (which included a served cafeteria meal by members of the party, they even bussed the table for you!)

Amber and I

Oh, and you cannot leave out the annual talent show (very fun to watch!) Between the kids collecting signatures for the petition, and hearing campers practicing everything from instrumentals to stand up comedy in preparation for the auditions, the day has a climatic feel to it.  We had some great acts this year!

The County Boys at the talent show

That's what the kids do, what did I do as a chaperone?  I had way to much fun!  I was assigned to the Madison committee which was handling the "smoking ban" bill and the "adoption by any couple" bill.  (neither of which passed)  Among other things, it was my job to moderate caucus meetings, keep the kids on track and make sure they had some sort of idea about what they were doing.  I had a great group of "representatives" in my committee!  They expended lot of effort in their arguments, research, and speeches! 

If this all seem a bit confusing, I'm sorry, but there is not much I can do. It's an SSI thing.  I could try to explain it, but you will never quite get it until you experience the craziness for yourself. 

Because

SSI is really nothing more than one big inside joke. 

VBS 2011

Wow, how time flies!  I can't believe everything that has happened since VBS in June, but more about that later.  As most of you know, this year's Vacation Bible School had a military theme, which was way to much fun to work with!  There are oodles of object lessons, craft, and game ideas out there which made planing crazy fun! (but mostly crazy...)

Part of Charlie Squad at snack time

For starters, at check in, each child was given a "dog tag" (name tag) then stood next to the American flag while we took their "enlistment photo." (which was used later that week in a craft) They then joined their squad (alpha through foxtrot) which was marked with the squad guidon. We had about ten more kids than last year, pushing the total number of attendees to around fifty with several visitors!

Zach and Levi

 If you have ever worked with Vacation Bible School you know it is only as amazing as its volunteers, and we were blessed with some pretty amazing ones this year!  They helped with everything from check-ins to crafts, games, writing skits, acting in skits, listening to verses, assisting with lessons, shopping for and making snacks (thanks Mom!), cleaning up each night, leading worship, being pied (insert evil laugh), getting me coffee, taking pictures, and in general, keeping me from losing my mind!  You all are amazing!!!!!!!  I wish I could give you all the medal of honor.  You earned it!  (O.K, well, maybe a VBS version...)

Worship

Something we did differently this year was close each night with worship.  (Thanks Chad, you did a great job!) It was a great way to end a day of fun and craziness by bringing it back to what it was really all about.  As much as we try to bring the lesson across in every aspect of VBS, it can be easy to lose the point in the midst of the fun and games. But when you end the night worshiping The One who is All In All, it brings everything back into perspective.

Ben, the victim of the verses

And last but not least.... Memory Verses!!!! This year the challenge verses were Ephesians 6:10-18. I must admit, I was a bit disappointed that only one child was able to say all eight extra credit verses at the end of the week. But to make up for it, one of the three-year-olds said every single last one of the verses we said each day! Kids, next year you don't have an excuse! Each child that said the verses got a special ribbon and an opportunity to put a pie in the face of the leader of their choice! We used whipped cream this year instead of shaving cream (It tastes much better, and it doesn't hurt as badly if you get it in your eye!) however, we put the whipped cream in the pie pans to far in advance, and when it came time to pie the leaders it was soupy on the bottom and splashed every where! Lesson learned for next year! 

Here are a few extra pictures of the fun.  I owe a huge thank you to John Poma for all of the great pictures on this post! 

Fun outside!

Yes, this is usually what they were doing....

I have no idea what they are doing

My A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Brother who just happened to be on furlough VBS week *big smiles!*

Sweetness

I think he's in denial

Kiddos!