Poker night

Tonight was poker night! I learned how to play this summer and played off and on with friends until school started in August. I didn't find the time to do it during the fall semester, so it became one of my goals for Christmas break to have a Poker Night. It was a lot of fun. Megan and her husband Dave came, as did Love. Kyle from church came and brought along his friend - Lindsay who used to live in my residence hall back when I first started at GC. It was a nice mix of people and a pretty relaxed game. I was the second one to lose all my chips, but that was ok with me. I realize that I'm still not very good at the game, so I don't expect to win. We, as always, did not play for money - just bragging rights. Love walked away with the bragging rights this time! People brought yummy snacks and were here for about 5 hours. Overall it was a success! I'm looking forward to when school is out and I can host these games more often.

p.s. I love you

Today I cried and cried and cried...over a movie! The Rissers, Cara (home from Texas), and I went to see the new movie "p.s. I love you" starring Hilary Swank. It was such a good movie. It made me laugh and made me cry. It dealt with a woman's grief over the death of her husband. It had flashbacks of their relationship and promises of hope for her future. She didn't deal with her grief in entirely healthy ways (or moral ways at times - this was made by Hollywood afterall), but I don't think any of us deal with grief in accordance with the "5 stages of grief", instead we sort it out as we go along with the help of those around us.

Much of the movie rang true to me and offered something I could relate to. Of course I haven't dealt with the loss of a spouse, but I do face the uncertainly and scariness of a future alone. I think it hit me in a poignant way with this being the Christmas season with its focus on families and "that special someone" in your life. I appreciated how the movie didn't end all neatly wrapped up in a predictable "chick flick" ending, but instead left the viewer with a sense of hope for the future amidst the uncertainty of the present.

It is my prayer that during this holiday season and into the new year that I am able to carry that same sense of hope for my own life - that while not entirely sure what is next or if I'll have another person by my side, I am able to continue to hold on to the hope that whatever it looks like I will be ok - more than ok in fact...I will be great!

Snow!

I LOVE snow! The world looks lovely with a nice thick blanket of powdery snow covering it. I was delighted this weekend when we received a generous amount of the pretty white stuff while the family was down at Camp Mack. Here are a few photos of it...

The Wampler Lodge sign covered in snow.

Our cars during the night.

The bushes covered in snow.

Camp Mack

This past weekend was my family's annual Christmas get together down at Camp Mack in Milford, IN. Here are a few photos from the weekend...

Gary and Daisy

Mom with Gavin & Lily

Kathy & Chris...newly engaged!

Santa...aka my brother Mike

Today is a day of great accomplishment!

About 2 years ago I found myself in a heap of financial trouble. I was at the point of despair and didn't know where to look for help and was pretty certain there was no way to ever get out of the pit I was in. Two very loving people stepped up to the plate and talked straight to me...laying out the consequences for continuing along the path I was on and offering a life preserver for me to grab if I chose. I chose and it's made all the difference! They helped me secure a loan that would consolidate all my credit card/car debt and have helped keep me on the right path. Today I paid off that loan. I have never been prouder of myself than I am today! It has not been an easy journey and I know I still have a ways to go until I am "debt-free" but this first hurdle has been crossed and the others don't look nearly as tough!

Chocolate!

Here's a photo from an event that I held a couple of weeks ago. Each fall I host a girl's movie night. We watch a chick flick and eat chocolate. As the photo shows we had a large amount of chocolate goodies to choose from. I'm sure the woman that checked me out at Meijer when I bought all of it must have thought I was going through some sort of life crisis to need that much chocolate! :)

Thanksgiving

Today was Thanksgiving. It was a very nice Thanksgiving overall. Most of the family had other plans, so I hosted Mom, Johnny, Jake, and Mike for lunch at my place. Mom is always talking about how tired she is and how much work doing stuff like this is, so I wanted to let the day be restful for her. The only real task I had for her was to cook the sweet potatoes....she does that MUCH better than I do! I was pleased with how the food turned out, but found that it was more work to make Mom sit down than it was to do all the cooking! She wouldn't stop doing stuff. I found that slightly amusing, but kept sending her back to the living room!

After lunch Jacob left, but Brenda and her kids dropped by in shifts. It was really good to see the twins again. I've been keeping in touch with them more during the past year thanks to the wonders of text messaging and Facebook. It was good to see them face to face for the first time in a while.

We also planned the menu and talked about gifts and exchanges and such for Camp Mack while Brenda was there. For those of you who don't know about the Camp Mack experience...our family rents a lodge for a weekend around Christmas and all go hang out together. It's the one time a year when most of us are there. I think that this year there will be about 18-19 there. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm sure we'll get on each other's nerves, but I think overall it will be a good time.

Well, back to studying for Hermeneutics....

Final class of the semester

Today is my final class of the semester. I wish this meant my work for the semester was over...it is not.

I will be finished with Principles & Theories of Counseling in about 5 hours. We met this morning for lecture/discussion and then spent the afternoon recording ourselves working with a classmate in a counseling session. We each took turns doing and being counseled. I was SO nervous about it! I left the house this morning feeling fine about it, but as the time got closer I was trembling inside. It was crazy because I thought I felt OK about it, but here my body was shaking inside something fierce! Once we started the session I calmed down and actually think I did a pretty good job of counseling the woman I was working with. Myself and about half of the class will meet tonight and go over the tapes of us counseling one another - critiquing our counseling skills. I think I did an OK job, so that part doesn't worry me. I will turn in my workbook and then all that is left to do is email my final paper to my professor! I will then have one grad school class completed! :)

I still have 300 or so pages of outside reading and a final project due in my Hermeneutics class. I have until the 30th to complete that work. I then have a month off of school. This sounds great, except that I already have my syllabus for the winter term and have 38 chapters that need to be read by the 3rd of January! The books are big, but look interesting, so it's all good!

A wonderful weekend!

This weekend was wonderful! It was my weekend off and I did so much great stuff that it felt like more than just a weekend. Awesome!

Avalon sings
Greg, Melissa, Janna, and Jeremi

Friday night the Rissers and I went to Spring Arbor, Michigan for an Avalon concert. It was in an area that is not the Christian music mecca that our county is, so we were some of the few people in the crowd that had been to an Avalon concert before. Denise is a member of the Avalon fan club, so we were able to go to a private "meet & greet" after the show. It turns out that she was the only person at the concert who was from the fan club, so it was just the Rissers, me and Avalon. We got to visit with them for about 15 minutes or so. They are very down to earth people and we had fun chatting with them for a bit.

Avalon and their fans!
Denise, Greg, Melissa, Deanna, me, Janna, and Jeremi

After the concert we went to a hotel about 30 minutes from Spring Arbor for the night. We stayed up late eating junk food, watching stupid tv and talking. It was a lot of fun! I absolutely LOVE staying in hotels, so that would have been fun enough, but to have such great traveling companions was icing on the cake!

Saturday we spent several hours at the outlet malls in Fremont, IN. I did some Christmas shopping at the Bath & Body outlet store and some shopping for me at Dress Barn. It was a successful shopping day!

In the evening we ended up in Van Wert, Ohio at our friend Jill Fast's place. Jill went to college with us and is married with two little adorable boys - Zane and Jace. We watched the Ohio State game, ate, caught up on each other's lives, and played with the boys. We had to leave long before we were ready, but the two hour drive back to Goshen couldn't be avoided.

Jill's husband Mike and their youngest- Jace

Deanna, me, Jill, and Denise

Sunday was pretty much business as usual...Living Room, church, lunch with the college students, shopping, and dinner & meeting with the RAs. I've been working on homework and baking cookies for a floor meeting that is happening at 10:30 tonight. Until later...

A weekend off!

I am SO looking forward to the weekend! It is my weekend off! It's kinda my first weekend off of the year. I had one in September, but stayed at my mom's one night, got up at the butt crack of dawn to work at the relief sale and spent the rest of Saturday shopping and cooking for church stuff...like I normally do on Saturday. In October I didn't take one because I knew I wanted a night off in December, so I decided to forgo a weekend in exchange for that night. So, this is my first real weekend off work and out of Goshen! The Rissers and I are going away. We'll be back late Saturday night and I'll hopefully have some good photos to post of our adventure. I'm not going to say where we are going so that you check my blog next week to find out! I will tell you that we will be in 3 different states! :)

In the meantime I've been busy working on my paper that is due Friday, participating in discipline meetings, and having late night floor meetings to discuss housing for spring term & RA evaluations. It's been a hectic week.

On a super exciting note...the residence halls close for Christmas break one month from tomorrow! Then I'll have a month off just for relaxation...and catering, celebrating the holidays, working in ITSMedia, doing reading for next semester's class and sleep!

Weekend fun

On Saturday night my friends (Daniel and Kassidy) had me and a group of people from church over for games and hanging out. I had SO much fun! Even though I was the oldest person from LifeSpring there (not counting the random parent that one of the admissions counselors brought along), I had a really great time! We played several games, ate snacks, laughed, told stories and just hung out. I stayed for 4 hours and left feeling so happy inside! I haven't had a good hang out session like that in a long time. My life used to be filled with that sort of connection every weekend. Oh, how I took it for granted!

Sunday was busy with my regular flurry of activity....Living Room duties, worship service, college student lunch, homework, cook for and meet with RAs, followed by a little luxury of tv watching! I love falling into bed after a day of activity like that...it makes my heart happy! :)

Happy Halloween!

I worked last night on a fun little project. I made "Spooky Gloved Munch Mix" from the Kraft recipe website. I took food service gloves and put candy corn in the tips and then filled them with a mixture of popcorn, m&m's, and alpha bits cereal. I made 17 of them - one for each of the RAs and RLs on our staff. I love being able to do special little things like that for the students. Here's a photo of one of them...

Applesauce!

Last weekend Deanna and Denise came over to my place and we made applesauce. The Rissers had gotten some from their mom and I just have the freezer portion of my refrigerator in which to store it, so we made a smallish batch...maybe 15 quarts or so. Even though there wasn't a ton of fruit from our labor, it was a very fun time and the sauce that we did get is quite tasty! I've been serving it at each student meal that I've had since we made it....I only have a couple quarts left. I'll be sad when it's gone, but throughly enjoyed making it....and eating it!

I look forward to when "someday" comes and I have my own freezer so that I can make tons of applesauce and eat off my supply for more than a few weeks. Until then I'm just glad that we had this opportunity to make a little.

I stole these pictures from Deanna's blog....

me and Deanna cutting apples into quarters

me and Deanna making the applesauce in her mom's victorio strainer

The finished product!

Too hard? Not hard enough?

Too hard? Not hard enough? I've been to all of my Hermeneutics classes and to 2/3 of my Counseling classes. I'm also working on choosing my classes for next semester. In that process I've also been evaluating my experience thus far. I think my deduction about grad school is that is is not as difficult as I had imagined it to be, and yet a lot more work that I imagined it would be.
I thought I'd be overwhelmed and feel intellectually lacking in my classes. This has not been the case. I am learning a great deal and having my mind stretched, but not in a way that makes me feel ignorant or incapable of handling the material. I find that my favorite parts of the class are when we are having group discussions. I enjoy the sharing of ideas among a diverse, yet common hearted, group of adults.
The work load on the other hand has been the shock! I was able to get by in my undergrad with minimal study efforts. And, even though I saw Deanna study her tail off during grad school, I still imagined that I would be able to do grad school with minimal work. This is not the case! I find myself reading so much of the time! (I think that may be why I've been having so many headaches!) Despite these surprises, I am still thoroughly enjoying my school experience and am looking forward to more of the same In the months/years to come!

Time to post

It's not that my life has been boring per-say, but it's just lacking much "noteworthy" stuff. Here are a few things that might interest you...

-My brother, Jack, was in town for the weekend. I saw him (and Mom and Mike) several times over the weekend...usually during a mealtime! My family LOVES to eat!
-Sunday lunch was a group of students and recent grads with me at El Camino. It was a fun mix of people and quite yummy food!
-Sunday afternoon I went to the "Best Dam Neighborhood Association" neighborhood picnic and open house tour. I went with Rebecca. It was the neighborhood where the two of grew up (and met) for a good chunk of our childhoods. It was fun to walk around and reminisce about when we were kids. I spent quite a bit of time after that pondering how our friendship has grown through the years. I am very blessed to have her in my life.
-Sunday evening I went to Chicago with Deanna. Denise had been in Virginia with the GC volleyball team and flew into Midway airport around 8:00ish. So, Deanna and I went to pick her up. We drove up early and had a fun dinner together at Giordano's - tasty sausage, onion, and double mushroom deep dish pizza!
-Monday was lunch with Tracy, studying at the Brew, dinner at the dining hall, and studying/watching DVDs of the Gilmore Girls/playing on Facebook until much too late!
-Today I had lunch at Panera with the RDs and then came back here to study/watch DVDs of the Gilmore Girls/play on Facebook. I made a yummy dinner of oven fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and creamed corn....just for me! :)

That's all for now. Students come back from fall break tomorrow, so things should liven up a bit and then I go back to school on Thursday, so that should be exciting! Until later...

I finally joined!

Well, I finally joined Facebook. It is "THE" social networking site! Now that I am in grad school I hear how many people in my classes are on Facebook and the amount of connections that happen via it. So I decided to join! I really admire and respect the people that I am going to school with and I want to find more ways to build connections with them. Granted this is not the same as spending time with them. I do hope that with all of us living so far apart, this may be a good way to keep and strengthen the connections we make while in class. We'll see if that proves to be true.

I have always wanted to join Facebook (it sounded fun!), but chose not to join out of a desire to not "stir the pot" in my work environment. It was expressed by a group of students a few years ago that they felt like if the RDs showed up on Facebook it would be because we were there to "catch students." This was a reflection of the general mistrust that some of our students have of the administration here. That would not/ is not my motive for joining, but it just seemed easier to not join than to explain that to them.

I finally decided that this was something I was going to do even if it brought about negative feedback for me among students. Facebook is so far beyond this campus. Ive been amazed by the number of college friends (esp from my undergrad experience), and former church friends are on it! It's so fun! If you aren't a member yet, you should really join! Just be warned...you can waste a lot of time on it - though I've been told the excitement wears off after a few weeks and doesn't occupy nearly as much of your time after the initial curiosity wears off.

I love grad school!

I am finished with day two of my three day Hermeneutics class. It's been another great week of learning from Dr. House. I'm amazed at how much clarity comes to what I've read when I listen to him lecture and then do the group worksheets. I think I could almost do the worksheets just based on what he lectures, but I don't want to try that! He announced today that he's going to drop the final exam! WooHoo! It was going to be a take home exam, so I think I would've done well on it, but it will be nice to not have to put the time into it. This way I can spend more time on the exegesis project and the 600 or so pages that I have to read before the end of the November! (Not to mention the work for my counseling class!)

Rather than stay at my brother's place this time I got a cheap hotel for the two nights I am here. It's been an OK experience. I have gotten LOTS of reading done for my counseling course, but I do miss interacting with other people. I think I may stay at the monastery in Huntington sometimes this winter. I think that might help me focus on studies, but there will be other students there that I could do dinner with or something. We'll see how it works out. I still want to stay some at Gary's cuz I love hanging out with them. I just need to use some of these evenings to fully focus on class and I don't want to wear out my welcome at their place.

I want to give another round of kudos and appreciation to my fellow RDs - Chad and Alex! They are so supportive of my pursuit of this degree and have been so willing to pitch in during my absences from campus. They truly have no idea how much their support means to me! I don't think I could do this nearly as well if I didn't have them in my corner! What a blessing! Especially Chad - who had to be up at 2:00 this morning cleaning up a prank in my supervision area...especially when he HATES pranks! Chad rocks!

Well, I've been at a coffee shop studying since class got out- studying and consuming lots of caffeine! I think I'm going to sign off and go find some dinner....probably at Panera...before heading to the hotel for the night. Later!

Recipe of the week!

A local radio station around here has a recipe section on their website and takes new recipes each week. On Fridays they draw a "recipe of the week" and that person wins a $25 gift certificate to Martin's Supermarket - a locally owned grocery store. Earlier this week I sent in my favorite fall recipe - Pumpkin Bars - and I won! :)

The web address for the radio station's website is www.ilovemyfroggy.com. On the left side of the screen there is a "Cooking with Katie" section. Click on it and you will be directed to the recipes.

Bratz doll feet

Have you ever seen those Bratz dolls? They are kinda like Barbie dolls, but a little more urban looking. Plus rather than changing their shoes, you actually pull their feet off and put new feet on the doll with shoes to match the new outfit. I'm sure you are wondering why a woman of my age is babbling on about some silly Barbie-esque doll. Well, I've decided that I want to be a Bratz doll! Not because I like their uber trendy clothes or want to live on the floor of an eight year old's room, but because my feet ache so bad right now that I'd like to pop them off and replace them with a pair that don't ache...preferably in some cute soft slippers! :) I catered a dinner for the alumni board tonight and was on my feet for about 7 hours straight. I had on a cute little sleeveless shirt, so I wore my tan sandals...not a good idea when you are going to stand for that long and have crazy Lambright nearly flat feet! So, since I'm not a Bratz doll, I'm going to go wash my feet, slather them with lotion and head to bed....before 11:00 PM! Night! :)

Cooking, cooking, cooking!

Cooking - that seems to be what I have been up these past few weeks. I've had company at least 4 day a week the past two weeks. I am working hard at connecting with students over the dinner hour on the weeks that I do not have any classes - so there have been folks here Sunday thru Wednesday for the past few weeks. It's been a lot of fun.

Typically I go to the grocery store on an almost daily basis to get ingredients fresh for whatever I am making that day. In an effort to preserve my time this year I've been making a weekly grocery list and trying to get all my shopping done on Saturday. This is how most of the people I know do their grocery shopping. It is more time efficient, but I actually miss the way I used to do it.

I miss the grocery store - weird, I know! I LOVE walking the aisles and looking at the food - wondering what new dish I could create, comparing prices between the various stores in town, and running into all sort of people I know. Plus I miss the checkers at my favorite grocery store, Aldi's - I liked seeing the regularly and being able to give them an encouraging word each time I was there - something you need when you do a job in customer service.

Welp, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll have a more exciting post next time!

Academic success!

OK, it was just one little reflection paper that I did, but it WAS the first paper I've written since the Spring of 1993. So I was more than a little nervous when Dr. House found me after class today to give me back my paper that I had written for Hermeneutics last week. I waited until I got to the car to look at it because I was afraid that if I received any negative comments that, while they would be helpful, my initial response would probably be tears. (Another piece of evidence to support Chad's comments about my being "uber-sensitive.") I needn't have worried! I received an A on the paper and had several positive comments..."good point", "good questions", and "thoughtful reflections." It was a great way to start my grad school academic career!

New toy!

Earlier this month Apple announced a new product...the iPod Touch. It's sort of like the iPhone in design, but is still an iPod. Now, lest you think I robbed a bank and shelled out the $399...I did not, but my friend Chad did! He's a computer techy guy and loves gadgets, so he dropped the cash on the latest toy out there. To recoup a bit of his expense he offered to sell me his old iPod photo for a very nice price...about half of what they are currently selling for on ebay. I was tickled to get the opportunity to purchase it at such a great price...plus he can be my own technical support guy! :) I erased his 2064 song library tonight and loaded my 77 song library on it! It's obviously not quite as full, but it sounds better in my opinion! I will keep adding to it as I put my CDs on the computer, but until then I have my favorite songs to listen to! WooHoo! Yay for new toys....at great prices!

The past few days...

Life since getting back from school on Wednesday evening has been busy... Thursday I had a dentist appointment (no cavities!) and some meetings. I spent the rest of the day getting settled back into my life and studying.

Friday I had coffee in the morning with Tracy and Amanda. Tracy hears most of my thoughts in a pretty uncensored manner, so it was a stretch to share that openly with Amanda - not because it was particularly shocking stuff, but she is a recent GC grad and I'm used to filtering what I say to her through the RD filter I use - no talking about work frustrations or future plans that don't include GC unless they are very abstract in nature, etc. Amanda responded well to it all - I hope she wasn't uncomfortable with what I said. I'll have to follow up with her the next time we connect without others around.

Later that day I had lunch with one of my old roommates. She brought along her sister-in-law, who is a mutual friend. It was fun to see them again. In the afternoon I had supervision with a couple of my students and then did some grocery shopping for the event that my staff and I were hosting that night.

We had karaoke and late night activities that night. It was an overwhelming success in my opinion. The RAs did a great job advertising and lots of folks came. A wide variety of students sang with the karaoke. After the singing was done we had crafts and henna in the coffee shop with a DDR tourney up in the 3rd floor lounge. I headed to bed around 1:30 while things were still going strong in the Connector!

Saturday was grocery shopping and cooking prep for Sunday's cooking commitments. In the evening Andrea and Amanda came over for dinner and to watch "High School Musical 2." When the movie was over it was still early so we played a game of Dutch Blitz! I love that game! :)

Sunday was church, lunch at the Becks, dinner and meeting with the RAs, and walking the floors. Pretty standard fair minus a movie or cards with the Rissers.

Today I studied for a couple hours and then did supervision meetings for a couple hours. I snuck in a fun lunch with Deanna too! For dinner I hosted another "Supper at Susie's." I had 7 gals over. It was a really fun group! The rest of the evening was spent doing office work that needed to be done. Now I'm heading to bed! Night! :)

Day 3 of Hermeneutics

Day 3 of Hermeneutics was the best yet! I am finding that I seriously enjoy the classroom setting. I like wrapping my mind around new concepts, the exchange of opinions of other students, stories and wisdom from my professor, and the confidence is building in me! I was mentally pooped by the end of the day, but I wished a little bit that I had class again tomorrow - I will miss sitting in that big circle talking about new hermeneutical tools and God's word.

Being back on campus has brought comfort in the familiar, but frustration with the problems of the day. It makes me long to be at the end of the educational process and working in a different field. I love my job most days, but the discipline part gets old. I understand the principle that each year we get new students and have to teach them our community expectations - a task that is repeated each and every year. Even though I understand that, it gets a little wearing to be describing the "whys" behind our expectations for the umpteenth or umphundredth time. I would love this job so much more if I didn't have to do the discipline! But they couldn't really justify paying me to have that much fun! I have to earn my pay with a little bit of the yuck work.

Well, this tired girl is heading to bed!

Another great day in class!

Today was day two of Hermeneutics. It was great! Dr. House started with a devotional about DL Moody and how important prayer is. I was challenged to increase my prayer life over some important issues at LifeSpring and in my own life.

Our morning discussion was on topic of "Setting" as a focus in hermeneutical study. Dr. House lectured for a while before letting us loose to work in groups on 6 problems in the library that used the tools he had covered in the lecture. It was exciting to use the resources in the library to explore the passages. I was particularly struck when studying Jesus' use of the terms "shepherd" and "door" in John. Our group found a reference that contrasted that passage against the same terms in Ezek 34. It provided additional insight into our role as shepherd's of the flock we are given. Good stuff!

Jessica (my new friend) and I had lunch at a fun little Mexican place (similar to El Camino, but not quite as good.) We had a great conversation about our faith journeys and how we think we will be changed by this experience in grad school. I love it when I have significant conversations with new people! Funny how one of my concerns when I as a young adult was that my bubbly personality would hide the ways I was striving to lead a life of significance. I am thankful that I have been able to find a way to balance the two.

The afternoon was spent doing "word studies." There was another lecture followed by more time to work in a group. I like the format and am learning a lot this way. The group I work with is great. Each person is working hard and there seems to be a real collaborative spirit among us.

One more day and then I head back to the land of Goshen. I'm excited to see everyone, but I will miss the academic focus of these first days of class.

Education has begun!

Today I learned a lot. We spent most of the day talking about the various faulty approaches to Biblical interpretation. I had completed all of the required reading, but the differences were a bit muddy in my mind. Dr. House did a great job explaining the differences - giving us examples. After he lectured we broke up into groups to figure out several more examples. I was pleased that what had seemed quite confusing before was becoming clearer to me. I was feeling quite confident about the class until the prof told us that what we covered today was the easy stuff. sigh.

We also had a good discussion about several contemporary issues facing the church...the emergent church, the lobbying bills that congress is trying to pass, the history and possible future of the Christian university system in the United States, etc. It was challenging, energizing, sobering, and thought provoking. It has me excited about how my vocation and Christian life might be walked out in the future. I was challenged to do more reading on these and many other contemporary issues. It will be interesting to see how I can fit that into my life these days on top of studies and work...but how can I NOT fit it in?!

First day of school!

I survived my first day of school! I actually did more than just survive it...I actually enjoyed it and am looking forward to going back tomorrow! My class has 19 people in it and I think I know the names of 6 or so of them already. The professor was wonderful. He's doing a great job of explaining the concepts and using some humor in the process. The day went quickly and I felt like I left understanding much more than I did when I arrived...which is what is supposed to happen, right?! :)


We went to the Salvation Army at lunch to buy sweaters since the conference room we meet in had the AC running full power! Then we headed over to Wendy's for lunch. When we pulled into the parking lot I noticed the van next to us was from Goshen College. When I went into the restaurant I looked around for students, but didn't see any. I got in line and the glanced out in the restaurant again and saw some old friends sitting at a table eating lunch. Dave Lehman and Rodney Schrock (friends that used to go to church with me) were in Huntington working at a job site and were having lunch there. They didn't know I was taking classes, so they were as surprised to see me as I was to see them. I visited with them a bit before getting back in line. When we went back out the car the people in the Goshen College van were coming out of the Pizza Hut next door. It was the athletic department that was in Huntington for some conference meetings. So lunch was full of familiar faces in a place that I didn't expect to see anyone I knew.

That's all for now. I'll write about my actual class...maybe later tonight.

Tomorrow I go to school!

Tomorrow morning I head back to the world of academia. I'm feeling mostly excited about it all. I met my Hermeneutics professor yesterday at orientation. He seems likes a wonderful, intelligent, kind older man. I'd guess he is in his late 50s or early 60s. I talked with him a bit about my fears of being overwhelmed by the class and he set me at ease. He said that most people coming into the class don't have a lot of experiences with what we are covering, so I will be in good company. We won't actually become experts in the process - we'll more just be gaining the tools of the process and how to use them.

I am excited to meet the other people in my class. There are 17 of us in the class. I hope that there is someone there I can connect with - the idea of making some new friends is something I am eager to do. I haven't made many new friends in the past couple of years, so it will be fun to go through the process of getting to know some new people. OK, I do that every fall with my students, but I'm talking about peers - like minded adults who have a bit more life experience.

Well, I need to get to bed....5:00 is going to come awfully early! I will try to post at some point this week to let you know class goes! ps....Keep me in your prayers this week!

Supper at Susie's

I love to cook and students love to eat. To help all of us do more of what we enjoy I run a program called "Supper at Susie's." Students from my residence hall are invited to send me an email saying that they would like to eat at my place. I create a list of all interested parties and invite groups of 5-7 students to my house for dinner about once a week. Tonight was my first one of the year. I had a group of 8 freshmen women over. It was a lot of fun! We talked about all sorts of stuff...our favorite tv shows as children, our earliest memories, campus activities, our siblings, all sorts of stuff! It was great.

I made a dish from one of my Rachael Ray cookbooks, "Chicken in orange-scallion-sesame sauce and big fat spicy sate noodles." It was spicy and absolutely wonderful! I think it was a little "wilder" than some of the girl's were used to, but once they tried it they ate it up....some even had seconds! We finished off with a frozen fruity dessert.

I love feeding the students! They really appreciate something different (and better) than cafeteria food. And I think the feelings of home that being in my apartment brings helps them adjust a bit better too! I look forward to more and more fun evenings like this!

My new RAs!

Here's a photo of me and my new RA team from move in day last week. They are a fun group of people and are doing a great job so far. I have enjoyed getting to know them and am looking forward to the year ahead. Maybe I'll have time to write more later this week after my paper for Hermeneutics is done. We'll see... :)

ouch

Tonight I was walking across campus after picking up yet another stack of papers and such from my mailbox over in Student Life. I ran into two international students along the way that were visiting. One is a new resident of my building, so I stopped to see how his first day on campus and in the US was. We chatted a bit and his new acquaintance - another student from him home country - chimed into the conversation. He commented how he had worked here this summer and had cleaned my residence halls. He said that he thought that I should have cleaned them because I am so fat and I could have burned some of that fat off while cleaning. I stood there with eyes wide and I'm sure my mouth dropped for at least a few seconds. I gained my composure and laughed it off saying that I had other work to do during the summers. Then I wished them a good evening and headed back to my apartment.

As I walked across campus I warred inside my mind about whether I could be offended or hurt, or if I just had to let it roll off my back. After a quick call to a friend, I knew that I had to let it roll off my back. I'm sure it was an appropriate comment where he is from and that he didn't intentionally mean to hurt my feelings...at least I hope that's the case!

The joys/sorrows of interacting with those from different cultures. Should I have told him it was an offensive comment? Did I do the right thing by laughing it off? Is it better for him to not be embarrassed by knowing that he insulted me or is it better to let him know so that he doesn't make comments like that to others? Or do I just let it roll off my back and expect that others should do the same? I don't know what the right thing to do in that situation is.

RA training is over.

RA training is over and the first years move in tomorrow! It's an exciting time of year around here. I'm never sure which day of school I like the most...the first or the last. Both bring their own joys and change of pace.

I am very excited about the staff that I am working with this year. They seem to be excited about the job and ready to do it. The men bring a lot of maturity (2 are juniors -one took a year off before coming to college, so he's actually the age of a senior) to the team. They are able to see the big picture of their actions and how it affects those around them. The women are a good crew also - having lots of excitement about the role and what they will be doing with their floors this year. I think that we will work well together. It might be the perfect group to end my career as an RD with...we'll see! I make no promises about the future. :)

I told my boss today that I think this is the best RA training that I have been a part of. We started out with an overnight retreat at Merry Lea, which was AWESOME...a great time to get away from technology and just be together - casting vision, playing together, and eating good food. We were busy everyday, but had time to do some personal stuff in the midst of it all. I remember the first several years (every year if I'm totally honest) that I would break down in tears - usually in the middle of the student life office because I hadn't had any time to take care of myself. This year I had time for taking care of myself...heck I even dyed my hair last night and am going out for dinner with the Rissers tonight! So, I've been going strong for 10 days so far and no tears! yipeee!

Well, I need to go do something with my hair before I head out for dinner with the gals. bye!

I did something today that I have never done before.

Today was my last day of freedom before the school year starts. I should have spent the afternoon with my head buried in a book for school, but instead I went to an afternoon movie...alone! I have been wanting to see "No Reservations" starring Catherine Zeta Jones and saw that there was a matinee showing today at Linway Cinema, so I went....by myself. It was a little weird in that I couldn't whisper to someone when I had a thought about the movie, but other than that it was no big deal. It was actually pretty fun!

I am slowly getting used to doing social things like that alone. It's not my favorite thing to do and I doubt I would ever go to a evening showing (esp on the weekend) alone, but for a matinee I didn't feel like too much of a freak!

BTW -I'd give the movie a 7 or so. It was good, but not great. :)

Too cute!

I found a website with photos of cats on it.

Isn't the face on this kitten just too cute?

It's almost time

Wow! Where did the summer go?! The school year is quickly approaching and I can hardly believe it's been almost 3 months since the students left. It was a good summer. Not the best ever, but good none the less. I got to travel a bit, work with some fun folks, and rest up for the upcoming onslaught of busyness.

I'm having a few last hurrahs with friends before I disappear into the world of GC for the next 10 days or so. I'm getting together with a friend who is visiting from Minnesota this afternoon and then will go out with the Rissers and Rebecca this evening. Tomorrow evening I am spending some time with Mom.

I have faculty retreat on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. I have mixed feelings about it as usual. I am always eager for the opportunity to connect with others after a summer of everyone off doing their own thing. There is a buzz of energy and excitement that I really enjoy. It gets a little long and heavy on the academic side of things, but will be more fun this year since Deanna is coming for the first time!

On Friday my staff arrives. I am very excited about this. I enjoy working with them so much! I'm eager to get to know them all better and to see them grow in this role! We are going up to Brunks for the weekend to do a retreat. It should be a good time - relaxing, fun, and full of laughter!

I'll try to post again soon.

It's been a while....

I think it's been about 2 weeks or so since I last posted. I don't really have a lot of new stuff to say, but thought I'd jot a little something before you all write me off and stop reading my blog.

I've been doing a good job of connecting with people the past little bit here. Having folks in for dinner, making plans to meet friends for a meal out, hosting another poker night, stuff like that has been keeping my extrovertedness fed! :)

My friend Rebecca got home from a year in Oxford, England on the 20th. It's been great to have her around and we have seen each other or at least chatted on the phone a bit every other day or so. I LOVE not having to check and see if she's on skype just to talk to her. And being together in person is so much better than on the phone.

I go back on contract on Wednesday. It is with a mixture of contentment and dread. I know my job and do it well, so there isn't any anxiousness about it - just contentment that I'll be back doing what I enjoy. The dread comes in when I think of how I am going to manage my schedule this year. I know I can handle the work from Grad school, but I don't know where having a personal life is going to fit into things. I'm also a bit worried that I will have to take my "weekends off" as the nights I'm in Huntington for school and will end up feeling like I haven't really had a break until Christmas break. I'm also not sure how the other RDs are going to be with me being gone so much. I know they are supportive of the idea of me going back to school, but when it really starts happening and they are covering for me I'm not sure how supportive they are going to feel. I'm planning on having some good discussions about it before the school year starts so that we can set up a plan of action if any of us are feeling uncomfortable with the situation - a plan for discussing it as a team rather than it becoming a 2 against 1 situation.

That's all for now!

Strawberry Pie

Tracy invited me over for dinner with her family and in-laws this evening. It was a welcome diversion to my day alone. Tracy hinted that it would be nice to have one of my desserts, so I made a quick trip to the grocery. Strawberries were on sale for a really good price, so I decided to make a strawberry pie. I have a pretty good sugar free recipe that I used to make for Dad, but since I have been good about watching my calories today I decided to go for it and make a full sugar version....one with no jello used for gelling assistance. I found a great recipe on my favorite food site www.allrecipes.com. It was very very yummy! Everyone enjoyed the pie and I came home feeling like I hadn't totally mooched off the Buller family!

Here's the recipe in case you need a good Strawberry Pie recipe...

• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
• 1 quart fresh strawberries
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3/4 cup water
  

1. Arrange half of strawberries in baked pastry shell. Mash remaining berries and combine with sugar in a medium saucepan. Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water. Gradually stir cornstarch mixture into boiling strawberry mixture. Reduce heat and simmer mixture until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour mixture over berries in pastry shell. Chill for several hours before serving.
   

An oddly un-busy period of time

I LOVE to be busy. I enjoy days when I'm running from one thing to the next and end up at home after being gone for 12 or so hours. Falling into bed exhausted feels good to me.

Though I seem to be in a particularly un-busy period of time right now. I work in the mornings, but my afternoons and evenings hold very little structured activity. Something that somewhat unnerves me. I don't like hours and hours of time alone at home.

I've spent a lot of last week reading...finishing 4 novels in a little over a week. Not little books either - each ranging from 350 - 750 pages long. It was fun to disappear into a different little world for hours at a time. A good friend told me that she had done the same thing recently on vacation with her spouse - sort of as a way for her extroverted self to keep in contact with other people on their little getaway...us crazy extroverts! :)

I combated it over the weekend by planning a busy day on Saturday and when faced with an afternoon and evening alone on Sunday I invited myself over to Paul & Kirsten's place. I was there for about 8 hours - it was a saving grace that they were home and open to my just hanging out with them. I talked with them, read my book, played with the kids, talked some more - it was wonderful! I love hanging out at their place. It's chunks of time with them that I most miss during the school year. Being at the Housholders refreshes me and is a who lot of fun too! :)

This week I see the next several days as being pretty wide open again. I'm trying to get household tasks done and to take time to enjoy it - because a month from today my staff returns and it'll be weeks until I have time to just sit and enjoy the quiet - if I can find quiet on a campus with 600 or so residents at that point! :) Even next week things will start to pick up again - my dear friend Rebecca returns from 10 months in England and I'm sure we will spend some significant time together. I just about cant wait - but I will remind myself to savor these days that I do have and to make the most of them so that I can recall the calm in the midst of school beginning.

Some days are tougher than others....

This weekend has been tough. I think it is a culmination of several things....attending three weddings last month, my sister getting married, reading "Pretense" - one of my favorite Lori Wick books, watching chick flicks while cleaning my apartment the past couple of days, PMS, being at home alone the past couple of days, and gaining a few pounds on vacation. Most of those things are good or at least a reality of life that normally doesn't bring my spirits down, but all combined together have got me in a little bit of a pity party today...asking questions like, "Why is my sister prettier than me?" "Is anyone ever going to love me?" "Why don't I have more friends?" All quite ridiculous questions when I look at them from the big picture and think clearly, but not today. Today they seem to reflect an unfortunate truth about my life.

Today I feel lonely, ugly, unloved, fat, destined to be alone, sad, etc... I know that these things are not true...at least not wholey true...
-I may be lonely today, but I won't be lonely every day.
-I may feel ugly, but I'm not really...at least not in a way that frightens small children.
-I may feel unloved, but that's SO not true!
-I may be overweight, but thankfully that doesn't define who I am.
-I live alone and may never get married, but I know that God is always with me and won't ever leave.
-I may be sad tonight, but I probably won't be tomorrow!

When I feel like this, I like to say, "It's OK to visit Pity Partyville, but you can't set up camp there!" I can cry a few tears tonight, but in the morning it will be time to buck up and look at things through clearer eyes. And since I often can't do that on my own, I'll be asking God to shine His truth about me into my heart so that I can!

Vacation...day ten

Day ten = finally home!

We left my brother's place in the morning with the intention of going straight home stopping only for fast food meals and gas as needed. Well, about 2 1/2 hours into it we decided that we needed a little visual variety and decided to go off the interstate and drive through Huntington, Indiana. That way mom could see where I will be taking classes in the fall. After we drove through the pretty campus we deiced that we should drop by and see my brother Gary's family in North Manchester. Gary was at work, but Linda was home with the kids, so we stopped there to visit for a while. We stayed about an hour, watching some dvd footage from their recent vacation and looking at some scrapbooks. It was a nice break in travelling, but then we hightailed it that last hour back to Goshen.

I was very happy to see my little Geo Prizm there in Mom's garage. I drove home and took a nap on my bed right away! In the evening I went over to visit the Housholders who had returned form Oregon on the 4th. It was good to see them and hear about their fun travels. I came home around 10:30 and spent the rest of the night reading until I fell asleep. I took my phone off the hook and silenced my cell so that I could sleep as late as I wanted on Friday!

Vacation...Day Nine

Day Nine...the 4th of July...time to start traveling home! It's been fun to see friends and family, but I am quite ready to be back in Goshen at my apartment and no longer living out of a suitcase.

Mom and I drove from Barbourville to Elletsville, IN - a town near Bloomington and where Jack (my brother) lives. We took our time, stopping to eat and shop along the way. I found a great pair of short winter boots at a Bass outlet store for a little over $7. (What a deal!)

My niece (Sarah) was at Jack's place. She is 6 and quite precocious. She had me in stitches much of the time that I was there. We all went out to dinner at Fazolis and then went back to Jack's place to talk and watch some fireworks on tv. It was a relaxing evening.

Vacation...Day Eight

Tuesday was pretty relaxed too...most days in Kentucky usually are for me! We slept in again. Mom and I went into Barbourville to do a little shopping and stopped in to see my cousin - Zach - who had gone into the hospital the day before with an infected knee wound. It was good to see Zach. He's always been one of my favorite cousins. It was disappointing that I didn't get to see him for long, but I'm thankful for the time we did have. After that we got cousin Barb and went shopping for the afternoon down to Middlesboro and Tazwel. I didn't buy anything, but it was fun to be out. I spent the rest of the day and evening reading a novel.

You may have read in my "vacation...day one" entry that I am not a friend of dogs...especially not my uncle's dog. Well, I did end up making a dog friend on vacation! My cousin Megan has a little dog named Binkie that spent most of it's time over at Cousin Barb's place. This little dog became my buddy and cuddled with me while I read on Tuesday. Mom had taken a cute photo of him with me, but unfortunately it got erased from the camera before I got it put on the computer.

Here's one of him with Cousin Barb.

And here's just him.

Vacation...Day seven

Monday was a relaxed day. We slept in, Mom made biscuits & gravy for breakfast, I dyed Deb's hair, painted Mom and Deb's fingernails, and went shopping in Corbin with Mom. Before we went back to Barb's we went to visit my cousin Brenda. She had been in the hospital until earlier that day, so it was good to be able to see her at her place. She had added on to her apartment since I had been there last (in 2003).

The highlight of my day was when I got back to Barb's and I made dinner for everyone. It was a good way for me to help out a bit and I got to cook - something I that I had missed doing! I made my chicken enchiladas, salad, and Susie's Raspberry Delight. Everyone loved the meal and so, of course, I felt good about it all. It was the first time I had made that recipe without the recipe in front of me and I was happy that it turned out well. :)

Vacation...Day Six

Sorry this all getting posted late, but I did not have internet access while I was in Kentucky visiting my family.

So, on to day six... I decide to leave for Kentucky on Sunday morning, rather than staying in NC to see Dawn & Rick open their gifts. I had spent lots of time with Dawn's family and decided that I was ready to see my family! I drove a couple of hours and stopped in Greensboro at the Harley Davidson store to buy a tshirt for my brother (Jack). He is a huge Harley fan and likes to collect tshirts from the various stores through out the states.

The sign at the Harley Store.

After I stopped there I put the pedal to the medal and didn't stop the car until I hit the Tennessee line and needed gas. It was a gorgeous trip. The mountains and trees were stunning! I would post a photo, but I didn't take any! I decided it was better to keep my hands on the wheel rather than the camera! :)

When I got to Kentucky all of my aunts and uncles were at Cousin Barb's place. Since I wasn't planning on staying in Barbourville for along time it was good to see all of them in one place. We spent most of the evening sitting around talking.

My mom with her brothers and sisters...
Ruby and Mom
Jack, Crit, and Lois

On Friday (June 29) my sister - Debbie - and her boyfriend - Wilbur - got married. They have been together for about 5 years. They made the impromptu decision to get married a week ago and went to the courthouse in Lagrange. They came down to Kentucky for a "honeymoon", so we had a little party for them on Sunday evening while everyone was there.

Deb and Willy

I slept in the camper with Mom, and while it was not the most comfortable bed, it was clean and since I was worn out I slept pretty hard.

Vacation...Day 5

The bride & groom exiting the sanctuary!

Saturday was the main event...the thing that brought me to the South...Dawn's wedding! I was the bride's personal attendant/wedding coordinator the day, so I was pretty busy all day! In the morning Dawn and her bridesmaids went to town to get their hair and make up done. I decided to opt out of that trip - I figured that since I wasn't asked to be a bridesmaid I shouldn't do everything that they were doing. I did my own hair (which ended up looking great in my opinion) and had a little quiet time around the house before all the action began.

Once I got to the church I was on my feet non-stop. Everyone (well, most everyone) was helpful and cooperative to work with. The one person who wasn't in the past has brought me to tears, but not today! I was able to keep her in her place, not make her too upset, and keep my cool! I was quite proud of myself!

The wedding went off with just a few hiccups....the bridesmaids started walking in a bit soon and the pastor called Rick the wrong name once. Not bad for a ceremony with so many people involved.

Dawn's uncle, Keith Rodman, walked her down the aisle. It was so sad not to have her dad there, but I thought it was neat that his brother was there to do it for her. There was a candle on the stage that was lit in Dale's memory. When the pastor mentioned it during the service there was hardly a dry eye in the house!

Dawn's parents wedding rings were her "something old."

Here they are in her bouquet.

The reception was nice too. The food spread was gorgeous and tasty! The room looked nice and people seemed to be having a good time. The Rodman clan from Indiana took care of the fact that there were no glass to cling to get the couple to kiss...they brought a triangle...the kind that they used to use in the old west to call the men in for lunch! They'd cling it and then the couple would kiss. One of her cousins walked around the room letting various people cling it to share the fun with the other guests.

Me with Dawn and Rick.

After Dawn & Rick left we spent several hours cleaning up the reception hall. It was so good to get back to the house and get off my feet! Later in the evening the rest of the Rodman family came over. We talked and laughed till our sides hurt! After they left around 11 we spent another hour or so sitting around chatting and then headed to bed.

Vacation...Day Four

Friday started out with a quick grab of breakfast as we headed out the door to Dawn's church to set up for the reception. When we got there we found, much to our surprise, that the room had not been readied for us. So, we searched around for extra tables and got it all set up. It took a lot of effort, but we were able to get things all set up and the reception area looks beautiful!

After setting up the reception we headed downtown to the "Tipsy Teahouse" for a ladies' luncheon. The teahouse was a little cluttered and not quite the right atmosphere for a tea party, but the food was out of this world! I had a fruity and aromatic tea named Casa Blanca. To eat we had a fresh fruit tray, warm scones with clotted cream and raspberry preserves, and amazing little cucumber sandwiches. Deana and I asked for the recipe from the shop owner. Since we were both from out of town she gave it to us. It's such a tasty recipe that I think I'll have to have a tea party before the summer is over just so that I can make them! And for dessert we had an assortment of baked goodies- brownies, raspberry bars, fudges, etc. It was a lovely break in the busy day.

After the tea I headed back to Dawn's place for a little bit. I took a quick cat nap for about 30 minutes before getting ready for the rehearsal. I was glad I did! The rehearsal was quite stressful! I am a person that doesn't enjoy conflict and I had lots of people telling me that I was doing things wrong. I did things the way that Dawn had asked me to, but others seemed to think I was trying to do it all my way, which was not the case at all. I came home just emotionally exhausted from so many people being upset with me. I wanted to fall straight into bed, but then someone called and needed help at the church with unloading some food, so I went with a few others to do that.

When we returned form that I was able to visit with others a bit and then head to bed at a fairly decent hour. Saturday is the wedding day! I'll let you know how it all turns out!

Vacation...Day Three

Day Three was spent working on wedding details....and having a little fun! We (Dawn, Deana, and me) started the day by going to the salon to get Dawn's nails done and then we headed to the mall to update the bridal registry, return some things, get her ring cleaned, have lunch, etc... Then we went home and Dawn and I worked out some wedding ceremony details so that I know what to tell people at the rehearsal on Friday night. Then we ran to Sam's Club to get the sandwich buns. On the way home from Sam's we went to Sonic for a Cherry Limeade! I LOVE those drinks, so it was a highlight for me - I'm going to try to get one each day that I'm in town! :) When we got home Deana and I cut the sandwich buns and then got the welcome bags for the out of town guests ready. Then the real fun began...

Dawn's bachelorette party! A group of us went to Moe's for dinner. It's a tex mex type of restaurant. It has very 90's named menu items...it had things like "Ugly Naked Guy", "Close Talker", "Art Vandalay", and "Fun Bobby" - all references to tv shows like "Friends" and "Seinfeld". The food was ok, but the company was awesome! Dawn received some fun lingerie from the gals - which we made her open at the restaurant! Then we went to the Bowling Alley where we bowled two games. I bowled an 86 and a 115 - pretty normal scores for me. After bowling, the married gal went home and the rest of us headed back to Dawn's place - but first we went to see if the guys were still at the bachelor party. They were...and their cars were unattended, so we decided to decorate Rick's car a bit! We went to the CVS across the street and bought some supplies. With the group of us working we were able to decorate it quick and get away fast! On the way back to Dawn's we decided to go over to her friend, Carrie's, to swim for a bit. We ended up hanging out in the pool having some "girl talk" time until about 12:00 or so. We came home exhausted, but having had a great time!

A photo of Dawn with one of her presents from the night!

Vacation...Day 2

Day two of my vacation was spent mainly on the road. I left Cincinnati at 8:30 AM and arrived at Dawn's in Greenville at 8:30 PM. It was a beautiful drive - the mountains were gorgeous! I ran into some pretty heavy rain at two points and that was pretty nerve racking, but other than that it was uneventful.

Upon arriving at Dawn's I was greeted with huge hugs from all of Dawn's family - her, her mom -Diane, and her sister - Deana, and her Aunt Beverly. I told her fiance Rick that he'd have to know me more than 5 minutes to get a big hug, so he just got a handshake. I think he was fine with that. :)

Dawn and I stayed up late talking in her room. I was reminiscent of the old days when she used to stay overnight at my place when I lived in the little white house on Main Street. I'm so glad that I am able to be out here to be a part of all the wedding fun with her!

Vacation...Day 1

I am on vacation. Not just vacation from my RD job, but vacation from life in Goshen! I am in Cincinnati visiting my Uncle Jack. Today after my morning shift in ITS Media, my mom and I drove down here. We had a great time - good conversation, ruckus laughter, and comfortable silence. We stopped and ate at a Cracker Barrel. I decided to break out of my routine and got something other than my regular of biscuits and gravy. Bad decision. The chicken and dumpling weren't nearly as flavorful as my Aunt Margie's...I guess it just makes me that much more excited about eating some of hers later in the trip!

Uncle Jack's wife - Shelley - has a dog. I don't know what kind of dog...small, black & white, kinda cute, and extremely excitable! His/her (I'm not sure which) name is Tuttles. It seems to be very fond of me. Those of you that know me well are certainly aware that I am not reciprocating the feelings! It keeps jumping on, crawling over, snuggling with, and licking me. I don't want to hurt Shelley's feelings, so I let it. I really just can't wait to take a long shower tonight and wash all the dog spit off me! It's not that I don't like this dog....it's actually kinda cute and a bit endearing when it cuddles with me...but I really just don't like any dogs...especially those that lick me! I know, that makes me a bad person to some people...maybe even some of you, but I just can't stand them to lick me! ewww gross! OK, now that I've alienated my friends with dogs I will close. (Please still love me even if I don't love your dogs!)

I'll try to write again tomorrow when I arrive at stop #2 on Susie's vacation route!

Love wedding

Monkey and Love wed!

Well, my dear young friends, Daniel and Kassidy (or Love and Monkey as I like to call them) got married today! These two are GC grads that lived in my building for a period of their college experience and also attended LifeSpring with me. They are wonderful people and I'm so glad that they made the move from "student" to "friend" in my life! It was fun to see many familiar faces at the wedding - many church people were involved and lots of special folks from the college were there too!

I catered the reception. It was a lot of work, but certainly a labor of love for these two very special people. It would have been so much more work without the assistance of Amanda and Haly - they have no idea how thankful I am that they were willing to lend a hand!

Monkey and Me!

Father's Day

Today is Father's Day. This is the 3rd Father's Day without my dad. It was certainly easier that the first 2, but still quite difficult at points throughout the day. My friend - Rob - preached about fathers this morning at church. I spent much of the message reflecting on the special memories that I have of my dad. I am so thankful for those last six months of his life - knowing that he was dying helped most of us kids make those last days special and filled with memories that bring us comfort.

My favorite memory from those last six months is of Dad and I going to Wal Mart. He was having a difficult time walking very far, so we'd pull up to the curb and he'd shuffle in and get on one of the motorized shopping carts while I parked the car. We'd go shopping for items I needed to feed my hungry brood of college students. He would become like a kid again when he got on that thing - buzzing around corners, trying to beat me to the end of the aisle, almost running over little old ladies! It was fun to see him smile and enjoy himself. I'm sure that the loss of so many of his capabilities was incredibly frustrating. I don't doubt the opportunity to be "behind the wheel" again after not driving for over 10 years was a bit exhilarating! He was always supportive of me being at Goshen College and this was a way he could share in my ministry to students and spend time with me. How I wish he was still here.

One of my favorite childhood memories is our ritual of Sunday morning "Sack me up" moments. I wore lots of dresses to church in those days and had little cable knit tights of every color. Mom would be busy doing her hair and I'd try to get my tights on, but had mostly elephant ankles and the crotch was at my knees. I'd go into where Dad was reading & drinking his coffee and say,"Sack me up Daddy" He'd lift up my dress and grab my tights on either of my little hips and lift me in the air. I'd fall into my tights and the elephant ankles would be gone! He'd give me a hug, then I'd run off and find a book to read until it was time to leave. I think that memory stands out because Mom took care of me most of the time and while I loved my Dad, she was the one I usually went to for help, but for this one thing I always went to him.

I watched the video from Dad's funeral this afternoon. It made me cry...as usual, but in a way it felt like I spent a little time with him today. I'm so thankful that he was my Dad and I look forward to seeing him again someday in heaven.

A pleasant week

This week has been lovely. I haven't had a ton of stuff planned, but each day has been good. My house guest, Amanda, has been a delight to have around. She and I have enjoyed planning menus and cooking together. We had a picnic lunch in my front yard on Tuesday and spent a couple hours reading magazines out in the sun. I had lunch with friends on Wednesday and today. My home group helped do some projects at the church on Wednesday evening and went to the Chief when we were done....it was my first visit of the year...I had that Friday Crunch Sundae - vanilla ice cream with strawberries, chocolate syrup, and pieces of waffle cone...yummmm! I've also been working on some sorting of "stuff" for the garage sale that Mom is going to have later this summer. I'm trying to be realistic about what I might actually wear again and what I'm just hanging on to for nostalgic reasons. I'd love to simplify my wardrobe and all the junk in my guest room!

Amanda and I are hosting several groups this weekend for meals/games/fun, so I should hopefully have some good stories and/or photos to share with you next week. Until later...

Angela & Kathy graduate!

Mom and Kathy

Angela and me

Saturday afternoon was my twin nieces' graduation open house. It was a wonderful afternoon full of food, fun, and fellowship. I spent most of the afternoon refilling the punch bowl and the dessert trays (this was the open house that I made all those brownie bites & mini cheesecakes for) This was a good place for me, since I am used to being the woman behind the food at church and school functions. It also saved me from having to make awkward conversation with people I don't know.

It was fun to work with Angela's boyfriend's mom for a bit - the kids will probably end up getting married, so it was nice to know that she is involved with a guy from such a nice family. And talking to Kathy's boyfriend was a lot of fun - as usual.

Almost all of my family showed up -which was a feat all it's own! I saw aunts & uncles and nieces & nephews that I haven't' seen in quite some time. That was wonderful. I wish I would've had more time to visit with them, but the punch kept running out...oh well, I enjoyed the time I did get to spend with them.

A hard part of the day was the obvious absence of my brother Carl - who passed away 12-31-04. These were his twin daughters that we were celebrating with. Carl would've been bursting with pride over them if he was still living. I thought the girl's did a great job of including lots of photos of their dad in their various displays of photos and memorabilia. It's hard to believe that he has been gone almost 2 1/2 years already. Time just keeps marching on.

Baking Bonanza!

Tonight I had 5 wonderful women over for dinner. I made my favorite go-to company meal - Texas 2 Step Chicken with rice. I used medium salsa this time and it was kinda kicky, but not so much that we didn't eat it. It was weird to entertain only women after a school year of feeding both genders...no one took seconds!...at least I hope that was a gender thing and not a reflection on the meal! :)

After dinner these amazingl women spent the evening helping me bake yummy treats for my twin nieces' high school graduation open house. I agreed to make 24 dozen tuxedo brownie cups and another 24 dozen mini cheesecakes for their open house. It took about 6 hours to get it all made - though around 10:00 the crowd started to dwindle. Amanda stayed until about 12:30 - even helping me do dishes after it was all done! It feels good to have all the baking done. And the food looks great!

Here are some photos from the fun!

Sarah filling the muffin tins with brownie mix.

Denise taking the stems off the strawberries.

Kassidy hamming it up while filling the muffin tins.

Deanna was at the Kitchen Aid most of the evening mixing things.

Amanda showing off the tuxedo brownies at the end of the night!