"So they can sleep..."

Well, Steve has arrived safely in Moldova. PRAISE GOD! I don't know why, but I was a nervous wreck waiting to make sure he arrived there. I think I mentioned his flight from Nashville to JFK was delayed by about 90 minutes but when the flight finally left, it was uneventful. They were supposed to have a layover of about 2 hours in NY, but that turned into about 6 I think. They finally left JFK headed to Budapest. I got a call at 4am our time that he'd landed safely there. I think I slept the last 3 hours of the morning better than the previous just to know his long leg of the flight was over. It was a very brief conversation given the time (and the cost of $3.50 PER MINUTE!). He was supposed to call me before he got back on the flight into Moldova, but he didn't. I woke up about 7am and couldn't go back to sleep despite staying up until almost 11pm. I finally tried to call his cell about 7:30 knowing even if they had landed, the phone wouldn't work. I had spend quite some time on the phone with "the new AT&T" on Friday and was told that while there were cell towers in Moldova and there was a signal, the phone Steve had was more advanced than the tower there and the bandwidth wouldn't work. So, we didn't expect to have any phone conversation once he left Budapest. However, while Jenna and I were eating breakfast, my phone dinged and I had a text from him stating they were on the ground in Moldova! I was so excited! I texted him back and he received it and said we could text, but he couldn't call out.

Jenna and I finished eating and headed off to church. I thought I might try to call his cell just to see what would happen and much to my PLEASANT surprise, HE ANSWERED! I think he was just as surprised as I was. The connection wasn't the best, but I certainly could hear him and him hear me. We again, spoke briefly and he was able to talk to Jenna. He sounded so good. In the days leading up to his leaving, he expressed several times about his uncertainty about going. Well, it wasn't "going", it was more or less leaving Jenna and I behind. And he sounded just normal until I spoke with him upon his arrival in Moldova. And there he sounded excited and happy. He said it was very hot, but he was laughing and cutting up with the others and that just thrilled my soul.

I have a feeling that Steve is about to experience way more than I ever thought I could in Thailand. It's one thing to go to a modern, westernized country like Thailand and stay in a 4 star hotel with air conditioning, eating at Amercian restaurants, working with missionaries from the US AND where everyone speaks English. It's quite another to go to a third world country, stay in a guest house, work in th 100 degree heat, work with kids who have no parents to speak of and have to use an interpreter and eat no telling what! I can't imagine what God is going to do in Steve's life this week (as well as the other volunteers). And I'm praying all the while that Steve is open to the changes in his life. To all of you who are praying...thank you. Words can't express how appreciative I am (as the one "left behind") for your prayers especially for his safety.

OK, so, yesterday after my last post, Jenna watched TV and I read some of my Harry Potter book. Doesn't look like I'm going to have it finished by tonight...it's 700+ pages and I don't have as much time to devote to it being a single parent as I would if Steve were here. But I finally put the book down and got showered and ready to go to Hannah's birthday party. We left and made a couple stops on the way and arrived on time. We were there until 6pm and then Jenna started getting antsy to get home to the kitten, who has migrated from "Lovey" to "Tiger", to "Marshmallow" to now, "Smoky". Not sure where we'll end up on that. I might try and figure out how to get a survey on here to let you all vote for your favorite...Last night we just sat around and watched TV and read.

I put Jenna to bed in her bed because if I'm not sleeping with Steve, I prefer to sleep alone as does Jenna. But by my bedtime, I started hearing noises and getting really lonely, so when I went to bed, I carried her there with me. It was comforting to have her there rather than down the hall.

Church was good today, although I felt weird being by myself in Sunday School. I can tell you right now, I'm NO GOOD at being single. I guess that's why God introduced Steve and I before I had the chance to move out on my own, alone. After church, my dear, dear friends the Morgans asked us to lunch. I originally thought we'd just come home and eat, but after we went (yummy Mexican), I was so glad we went. Now that we are home, I've cleaned the kitchen, moved the garbage to the street and started the laundry. Now, we are again, watching TV and I'm about to read. It's 5:30 and I'm not yet hungry for dinner, but think we'll have Mexican Casserole tonight. I made a list of things to do this week while Steve's gone. I won't mention them here as some of them will be a surprise for Steve when he gets back (not the carpet, honey!)...

So, all this to say, nearly 2 days down and 6 more to go. This week will be over before we know it and I will be thrilled to have him home in bed with me again.

OK, more time for Potter. Until next time...

P.S. Don't forget to check the blog... www.sweetsleep.blogspot.com for updates on his trip. There are several posts there already for the team...

S-

Steve-if you are reading this, Jenna and I miss you and love you so much. We are so proud of you for hearing God's call and being faithful to answer! LOVE YOU and be safe!

It's a boy! A departure and arrival!

It's a boy!
The kitten is officially a boy. We ran by the vet's office right before they closed to let them do an age and gender check and she said I was right...it's a boy and he's about 5-6 weeks old. He's quite fluffy, but underneath all the hair, it's mostly skin and bones. Unfortunately, he has fleas, so I bought flea meds for him and the two big cats...Maggie and Molly. Jenna's decided since we know he's a boy, we'll call him Tiger for his stripes, but I think we should think of an "M" name to go with Maggie and Molly (Mack and Missy dogs). We're about to surf the net to see if anything else suits him. Stay tuned...

A Departure...
As I type, Steve is in the air on his way to JFK airport and my life as a single mom has begun. He called about a half hour ago to say he was boarding the plane (which was 20 minutes late already). From JFK, he'll fly to Budapest and then from there to Moldova. I'll keep you posted on his goings on. So far, so good. He said he forgot his check card, but he has cash and the card was only in case of an emergency which I'm praying doesn't happen!

An Arrival..
Of course, I'm talking about the last Harry Potter book! After I dropped Steve off, I stopped by my brother's house and then my dad's and then we came home. On our way out of the house to the vet, I ran by the mailbox and it was already here! YES! I'm avoiding the internet because I'm afraid there will be spoilers...I'll probably have the book finished by tomorrow night at the latest. So...with that said, I'm off to begin reading.

For those of you that are interested, you can keep up with Steve's group in Moldova through their blog (which Steve will be writing one day this week I think)...it's www.sweetsleep.blogspot.com. Keep those prayers coming!

The time is near...

...for Steve to take off for Moldova and boy am I in a F-O-U-L mood. I'm sure it has to do with him leaving. I just don't even want to think about it. Again, it's not that I'm not confident in my ability to parent without him...I just...don't want him to go is about the extent of it.

I know he's doing a great thing and I know he'll be fine and we'll be fine, but I just can't get out of this mood. I'm grouchy with him, Jenna and everyone in between. Of course, we've had a pretty interesting turn of events in the house this afternoon.

Yep...that's a kitten you see. He's (at least we *think* it's a "he") a sweet little thing. Steve said he showed up early this week at his office. He was scared of everyone and wouldn't get near them. Steve was afraid he was going to starve to death. Or worse, die in the heat (it was near 100 degrees this week). So, Tuesday, he went out to Publix and got some food and he came right over. He gobbled the food up, but then he disappeared for a day or two. Steve figured he'd wandered off into the woods behind the office and became dinner for some larger animal. But apparently he got hungry again and showed up today. Of course, Steve, the man who "hates cats" just couldn't leave him there today because he knew no one would feed him while he was gone and he didn't want to think of the little guy starving to death. So, when I got home, I came upstairs to this site.

Jenna is smitten. She's never been around a little baby animal before. Our cats and dogs were here long before she came along. Like any small child, she wants to touch, hold and carry this cat everywhere. We are threatening her in order to convince her to leave him alone. He's pretty thin and dirty. I need to get him to the vet next week if possible. Like we have the money for that. I haven't decided whether we are going to keep him or not. Our other two cats, Maggie and Molly are nowhere to be seen. They are off pouting somewhere.

I'm torn. I don't know what to do. I'm tempted to put him on Craig's list. I had a pretty good response from my other stuff, so why not? Well...for one, Jenna is going to be heartbroken if we get rid of him. But she will get over it quickly enough. I mean, I can put it out there and if I get no hits, then we can keep him. I just really don't want another cat. I always said if I had another cat, I'd adopt an adult one from the shelter and here I am with a kitten again. Of course, the good deed is that we saved him from certain death... And now Steve's leaving in less than 12 hours and leaving me with this decision to make. And without him here to distract Jenna, there's no way to slide this past. We'll see. Right now, she's calling him "Lovey" but she says she also likes "Tiger" because he has stripes on him.

Well, I'll keep you as posted as I can on all that develops this week while Steve's gone. You that are praying folks, keep us all in your prayers.

4 Days and Counting...

Steve leaves in 4 days. I already feel like I'm going to cry. I think about having to sleep in that bed alone for a week or more and I just cringe. My friend, Rachel, made a good point in that the weekends are the slowest. This weekend we don't have much planned because we have to drop Steve off at the airport (another one of those things that make me cringe!) I think his flight leaves about 11am, so we'll have to drop him off no later than 9am. Jenna and I are planning to go visit my brother and then my dad while I'm on that side of town. Then it's home to relax for a while and later that day we are going to celebrate "little Hannah's" birthday at McDonald's playland. I was thinking that Sunday afternoon, we might go to the park and have a picnic. I'm not sure about that yet. We might go to a matinee movie instead.

Friday before Steve comes home, we are going to the Nashville Sounds game. It's Faith Night and also fireworks night. I hope we can make it that long because Jenna loves the fireworks. Saturday afternoon I'm planning to take Jenna horseback riding...not sure where yet...having a time trying to find a reputable place.

To add to the fun, I have a couple of crafty things I want to try. I guess I think I'm going to have all this free time, but that's probably not going to be how it is. I will have some quiet time at night after Jenna goes to bed. I'm not much of a TV watcher. I'm into watching all the episodes of The Wonder Years right now so I'll watch an hour of those, but other than that, I'll mostly read, surf the net and catch up on my magazines. Saturday is when the last Harry Potter book comes out and I have pre-ordered from Amazon, so it's guaranteed to arrive that day. I'm oddly enough looking forward to it!

Well, I have to get busy helping Steve pack or else he will be going to Moldova with an empty suitcase!

I've grown up.

When did THIS happen???? I realized this afternoon while standing over my washer and dryer that somewhere along the way, I'd grown up. The realization was a total bummer.

A series of events led me to this realization...first of all, I've been worried sick about finances all summer long. With paying tuition over 12 months and then the additional cost of camp during the summer, we are barely scraping by and we typically live very comfortably. When I was a kid, it was my mom and dad who did the worrying about money. Now...it's me. UGH. That's definitely no fun.

Then yesterday, I woke up before everyone else (another bad sign) and my thought was, "I want to clean out the garage today". Yah? What is THAT about? We will have been in this house for 2 years in October this year and I still had one corner of the garage to go through boxes and clean out. And I wanted to use my Saturday to do this. And that's EXACTLY what I did. I guess I got started about 10am. And I quit about 6pm. The garage is definitely neater, but there's still some stuff that I gotta get rid of. I have a huge amount of 2T and 4T clothes, a karate punching bag and some strollers to find homes for. I put them all on Craigs List and believe it or not, the punching bag is gone. I have a meeting with a lady on Tuesday for the 4T clothes and might have a bite on the 2T clothes. Anyway, I digress...

So, after I finished cleaning the garage, I had to go inside and clean the house where I'd dumped all the boxes and stuff that came inside. I think I finally sat down about 9pm and put in Coyote Ugly from Netflix. I fell into a restless sleep until I woke up this morning.

And today...went to church (drove separately), grabbed some lunch, then dropped Steve back at the church for his last meeting before leaving for Moldova. Jenna and I stopped by Best Buy to pick up something Steve needed for his trip. Then home to finish cleaning the kitchen. I threw a load of laundry in then left to get groceries before Steve went to bowl. (breathe) Got back, unloaded the groceries and put them away all the while putting laundry in the dryer and more in the washer. Steve left to bowl and I did some pictures of the clothes for Craigslist and sent them to the interested parties. Then I made 2 chicken pot pies and some cookies...one pot pie for us for dinner tomorrow and the other (and the cookies) for a family in our Sunday School class that just had a baby. Got Jenna some dinner, put a DVD on for her, finally sat down about 8:40pm for a bite of dinner myself. Finished that and got Jenna in bed and sat down to relax and...FOLD THE 4 LOADS OF LAUNDRY I JUST DID! (big breath here).

And somewhere along the way, I realized I'd grown up into a full fledged adult who if she doesn't do the dishes, laundry, clean the kitchen, feed the fish, answer emails etc., then it just won't get done. On the contrary, Steve does more than his fair share of the work around here...he mowed and weed eated the grass yesterday, cleaned the deck and helped me clean out the garage. He leaves in 6 days and he hasn't packed the first thing for his trip. That's one thing I haven't done yet is make him a packing list. Maybe I can do that tomorrow during lunch at work...

You know, I'm not sure I like this growing up thing.

Not one little bit.

A Child's Prayer

For the first time, I can't do it. I can't make my child happy...here's the story:

During our sermon last Sunday, our pastor, Mike Glenn, stepped on our toes in talking about getting families to pray together. So, beginning Sunday night (again) we started praying together as a family. Every night so far, when Jenna has prayed, she has said something along these lines, "Dear God, thank you for this day and please, PLEASE give me a baby sister. Mommy and Daddy both have to work and I really want to play with someone. So, please, PLEASE give me a baby sister." Ouch.

The first night, it bothered me, but I figured it was just a passing thought...you know how kids are. But night after night, she's said the same thing. And so I began to think about it. Jenna has friends at school. In fact, we are told by her teachers that she is friends with all the kids and doesn't gravitate to any one or two. I thought that was good...she's just an all around friendly kid. But then, when there are parties, several of the kids spend the night with other kids and their parents are going on vacation with the others etc. We are normally not in any of those groups. At church it's the same way. She's friendly with all the kids, but there's not one she always gravitates to. Same way in the neighborhood.

But when it comes to those places, she is what I call "desperate for friends". She BEGS us at church and at home to go to other kids' houses, play with them, spend the night. Like I remember a time not so long ago where I stopped by a friend from Sunday School's house to look at some clothes she was going to put in consignment. She has a little girl a few years older than Jenna. While we were there only a 1/2 hour at the most, she was instantly all about the little girl. They played while I looked and for a day or two after we visited, she talked constantly about going back to see the girl, spending the night with her, asking her over, going to her house etc. She just became obsessed with seeing her again. And that's the way it goes.

And then comes this prayer...this constant prayer. Every night. For a sister. Or a brother. I think she'd take either one at this point. And like most parents, there's not anything I wouldn't get, buy, find or fetch for my child. I would go to the ends of the earth for her. There's not anything I wouldn't do to make her happy.

Except this. I can't give her this. I can't even come close. And I have no idea what to do.

I've come far enough to know that this hasn't happened for us because it's just not the Lord's will. But how do you explain that to a child? How do you explain that a God who loves us, answers our prayers and wants the best for us could answer "no" to her request? Shoot-I'm not sure *I* understand God's will with this much less trying to explain it to her.

I think of myself when I was her age and even older. Living in a neighborhood with no kids my age, I had no siblings, all my friends from school lived "far away" in Antioch, so it was "too far to drive" to go to their houses most of the time. And here, I've re-created this same life, same longing, in my child.

There's no way I can express how it breaks my heart to hear my child ask for something that I can't give her. The thought has crossed my mind to adopt a child just to give her someone to play with! This isn't so much about my wanting a child anymore...it's about not being able to give the child I DO have something she wants...I can't give her this.

But God can.

I know that God can answer any prayer.

And He might answer hers yet.

Poppop turns 80 and other celebrations!

Sounds kind of like a Curious George episode doesn't it? :) I haven't posted in a while and have lots to catch up on! So, here goes...we'll do this in chronological order...

Happy Birthday Debbie!

My sister, Debbie, had a birthday on July 3. I don't really know how old she is and even if I wanted to sit here and figure it out, I'm sure she appreciates me not announcing it to the world on my blog. Not to mention, I saw here (and much of my other family last night) and didn't bring her Thailand souvenir or her birthday gift. I'm such a loser! She brought my gift and it turned out to be the book by Randy Alcorn entitled "Heaven" which I had in my hands to buy yesterday afternoon, but didn't. Little does she know it was a book Steve had gotten interested in also, so she actually killed two birds with one stone! Anyway, Happy Birthday Debbie! Sorry it's late in coming (on all accounts).

Happy Birthday Steve!

As many of you know, Steve's birthday is on July 4, so I had the privilege of having the day off with him (as I do every year!) We started our day in Pegram where Deanne (Steve's sister) lives. We saw the parade and that's a big hit with Jenna...always getting a bagload of candy...we also had baby Gage with us which was nice for a change. He spent the night on Tuesday, so that was fun (he sleeps through the night of course!) Here's Jenna, Steve and Gage getting ready for the parade.

After leaving Pegram and dropping off Gage, we headed downtown to Riverfront to watch the big fireworks spectacular down there. We sat on the lawn of the Titans Stadium (more recently named LP Field). My former boss, now co-worker, Sherri invited us to join her family there. The fireworks were absolutely awesome. I got some unbelievable pics...But trying to fight the traffic to get out was almost unbearable. The fireworks ended about 10pm and my head hit the pillow at 12:01am. So, you can tell how long it took us to get out and get home. I think we'll probably stay at home next year (after Pegram), cook out with friends and watch the pretty spectacular fireworks from our deck. We did that last year and discovered our neighbor in the next subdivision does a bang up job (pun intended) on his fireworks display.

Happy Birthday Poppop!

"Poppop" is what Jenna calls my dad. Several of the other grandkids call him Pappy and a couple more call him Granddaddy, but Jenna wouldn't do either. She picked Poppop. Poppop turned 80 YEARS OLD on July 5! And to be 80, he has very few health problems (hence living till 80!). He has the run-of-the-mill "old folks" problems like aches and pains, bad teeth (but still his!), shortness of breath (from COPD...smoking most his life, though not anymore) and forgetfulness. But to our knowledge (and trust me, he's see ALL the doctors) he has no heart, blood pressure or stroke problems. It's slightly amazing if you want to know the truth. He's not really taken care of himself that well over the years. But he's made it to 80 which I think is a true milestone! We had dinner with him on Friday night. It was so nice to see him in good spirits and Jenna just loves her Nana and Poppop. We don't get to see them nearly enough. Anyway, it was a nice evening and I'm looking forward to doing it again.

Anything else?

Not really. Steve is starting to prepare for his Moldova trip. He's 2 weeks out now and he's starting to realize he needs to be getting ready and packed. Yesterday we went to BassPro to pick us a gift certificate for Jim (my neice's husband) and since I had "Boat Fever" we looked around at the different boats and compared prices etc. OK, so now STEVE has boat fever too! :) It's not something we want to do this summer, or maybe even next, but perhaps something for the future. Who knows...but it sure was a lot of fun looking for them. We stopped at the book store to see if we could find a "Boating for Dummies" book, but we couldn't, however, I managed to spend $50 on books for me (as if I need more). I bought a couple books that I'd seen on a friend's website. "The Chronological Bible"...it's a read-the-Bible-through-in-a-year Bible but it groups chapters, verses, books together in the time they actually happened. So, the story of David and Bathsheba would be grouped with the Psalms David wrote during that time. I haven't cracked it open yet. It's NIV and I was thinking I might want the NLB or some easier to understand version, so I'm debating on taking it back. I don't think they had anything but NIV at B&N, so I am hesitant to return it and then get a refund and go elsewhere to find it. I also bought several other books and have started reading them.

Oh, and we are already planning our vacation for 2008...A CRUISE! We've been wanting to do this for a while and we have always chosen something else. But we are really planning ahead this time so we can be sure to get it paid for before it's time to go. The best part is that part of my family who lives in Jacksonville, FL are going to most likely join us! We have vacationed with them before (mostly down in JAX) and I can say without hesitation, we enjoyed EVERY SINGLE MINUTE of it! We don't get to see them as often as we'd like and so Steve's about to come out of his skin with excitement at the prospect. I think they enjoy spending time with us too...I know she (Tracey) reads this, so I'm going to wait for an email or comment saying they do before we get too excited! :) Anyway, we are planning for the Western Caribbean in August 2008. We haven't reserved it yet because it takes about $1000 deposit, so we are waiting unti the summer is over to commit to that.

OK, well, it's time to get the rest of the family up and ready for church. I'm showered, dressed and ready to walk out the door (as usual) and neither Steve or Jenna has rolled out of bed yet. Hope you all are having a good weekend and I'll be back later. I'm trying to figure out uploading video from my digital camera, so I'll be back to test that.

And a special parting message for a reader... TATTOO!!!!! You know who you are!

A Dream House

We purchased our dream house this weekend. Well, actually, we purchased Jenna's dream house. Here's a picture of it.

Yes, I'm fully aware that it's a Barbie dream house. But Jenna has wanted one of these since way before her birthday. But believe it or not, these things are expensive and so I didn't want to blow all her birthday budget money on one gift. So, I told her if she would save up half of the money, we'd pay the other half.

I know that doesn't sound like much, but remember, she just turned 6 and 1/2 of this house cost $60. I know none of you mom's of little kids will judge me because you're just as crazy as me for buying mess like this to make your little ones smile.

Anyway, she had about $15 from saving previously (do you know how long it take a 6 year old to save that much money?) and then she got some for her birthday. And after that, it didn't take her long to save the rest. I mean, she's pretty darn helpful around here when she's trying to earn money! Of course, we paid for the taxes and everything, but she did most of it and we were proud.

She has played with it for hours at a time and it's so neat to hear her stories and imagination run wild. I tell you, it's worth every penny I spent to see her exercising her imagination and out from in front of the TV. Awesome!

"Home"

Tonight, we had our Thailand debrief meeting. Can I just tell you how excited I was for this meeting? I couldn't quite put my finger on why...I've definitely enjoyed my Sunday afternoons being free, but I was really excited for the meeting. When I walked into the room with all my fellow volunteers, it felt like I was home and I realized at that moment why I had looked forward to this meeting as I had.

We had several items of business to take care of and one of them was regarding what is known as "re-entry". "Re-entry is similar to culture shock. Sometimes it is called reverse culture shock. In re-entry, you may feel 'out of balance'. You're not the same as when you left so there are some adjustments." There are several ways that one copes with re-entry stress, such as fun or the honeymoon period where you are just excited to be home etc. But the one I identified most with was "Imitate (be re-socialized)" Our handout explained it this way, "This is where you go back to life as it always has been and ignore the changes and struggles you are going through. You resume life as if nothing happened."

Being a preschool worker on this trip, I was unable to participate in the worship services we did for the M's. I continue to hear others speak of how they were let down in our own Sunday worship services after being on such a high in Thailand. The M's rarely (if ever) get to worship like we at BBC do, so when we arrived with our orchestra and worship team, you can just imagine how they soaked up the opportunity. I'm sure it must have been something else to see and be part of. Unfortunately, those of us in preschool had only a 10-15 minute window on one day to see what that was all about. So I really can't understand the "missing worship" part of it or feeling depressed. To me, the worship at BBC was welcome as I'd been 2 entire weeks without it. Interesting that voluteers from the same church can see things totally differently. For me, I came home, went back to work and began my summer routine all over again. But it just doesn't seem the same somehow. Anyway...

They also asked what we learned or what we think God taught us through this trip. The biggest thing for me is being convicted of judging someone because of the way I think they are before getting to know them. I was asked last night who I got to know and like better on the trip. I thought of someone right away. And the funny thing was, I kept adding to the list, telling the inquirer about all the different people from BBC I had not known before, that I know now. Some, a LOT more intimately than before...and how much I LIKE them. People who I sat near in the service or saw in the choir who meant nothing to me are now friends in this journey.

And I think...this is why I felt like I was home tonight in that room. I have formed a family with many of this group. And I won't ever be the same.

Ever.

And I hope I never am.

A Belated Celebration

...for my birthday that is.

Tonight, Steve, Jenna, Chase and went downtown to eat at the Spaghetti Factory. Our good friends from church, the Morgans, joined us. It was a belated birthday celebration and it was wonderful. Danette and I never seem to have enough time to talk and catch up with us usually being in church when we are together, so it seems we NEVER run out of things to say. Plus, I haven't really seen her since my return from Thailand and they wanted a brief synopsis of the trip.

I haven't been to the Spaghetti Factory in years (since my youth) and it was good. I also had the best dessert. It was chocolate cake with chocolate icing and chocolate shavings and chocolate mousse. You know, something chocolate. After we got done eating, Chase had to leave, but the rest of us decided to walk around downtown briefly. A friend of mine recently stated in her blog that blogs were just better with pictures, and I think I agree, so here is one we took tonight in front of the Hard Rock.

Jenna was dying to ride on one of the horse and buggies and it was only $30, so the Morgans split the cost and we took a quick tour of downtown Nashville. It was nice to hear about some of the places that we didn't know much about even though we've all been in Nashville quite a while (all our lives for Steve and I).

This is a picture of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Notice how it looks like a piano? Pretty neat huh? And if you do an aerial view, the entire building looks like a huge music note. Cool.

And lastly, here's a picture of my dear husband grilling my steaks on my birthday in the rain...how sweet...they were good steaks too.

Thanks to Dennis, Danette and Christian (we missed you, KD!) for sharing my birthday with me! We enjoyed our time together and look forward to the next time. We are so blessed by your friendship!

Well, it's after 10pm and I'm tired, so I'm going to head to bed...lots to do tomorrow...clean the kitchen, laundry, groceries etc. 4th of July is coming...more to come on that...

A New Look...

No, not for me, but for my blog. I'm wondering how my girl, Allison likes my new blog look???

I have to give props to my friend Carrie, who designed the new title bar and then instructed me how to change the background color to match.

Just to give you a little background, Carrie was my "best friend" in about the 6th grade. We even had the necklaces to prove it! You all remember those? They came in two pieces and one said "best" and the other part said "friends"? Well, we had them...anyway, I digress. As it happens, Carrie's family moved to Florida and we lost touch even when she moved back to TN. My friend Stacey somehow got in touch with her after we graduated from college I think. Anyway, Carrie and I have recently gotten back in touch and it's been wonderful (I speak ONLY for myself!) It's interesting how we were such good friends when we were kids and now, I see why...we do have so much in common. I'm so glad we got back in touch. I have to give her credit for that though...she was the one that reached out to me.

So, she does a lot of online scrapbooking and I was really digging her blog design (you can find her in my links) and so she offered to create for me a new title bar. Her first try and this is what she came up with. Isn't she awesome??? Anyway, I love it and wish I had other blogs for her to spice up!

OK, enough with the tribute to Carrie. I hope everyone likes the title bar. I sure think it personalizes the page so much more.

Memories...

So, this morning, I was riding in to work and heard a Mark Shultz song that for whatever reason, took me back to my days as a youth at Radnor Baptist Church.

I remembered a time in which, I was in the middle of a study group called Disciple Youth. As part of going through this very intensive study, we met one Saturday at the church for like a full day of prayer. It wasn't collective prayer, but we each chose a secluded room and had a list of stuff to pray for. There was nothing in this room except a couple folding chairs. We were far enough apart that we could pray out loud, cry, pray to ourselves, kneel, sit...you get the point...as my current pastor would say, it's not the outward expression your prayer takes.

As odd as it is, I remember very vividly my room. It was one of the smaller rooms off of the Joy Explosion room (another memory). There was a desk and several folding chairs lining the wall. To be honest, I don't remember alot of what I prayed for that day except I prayed for my sister, Cindy. Cindy had been missing from my life for some time and she was my "favorite sister" in childhood (i.e. she bought me the most gifts). I prayed that God would somehow bring her back because I'd missed her so much. After that, I remember telling my mom all the things I'd prayed for. And that probably would have been the last I thought of it. However, later that night, the "buzzer" rang (our makeshift doorbell) and I looked out and it was Cindy and Garth Brooks! Later, I found out, the big guy with the black cowboy hat wasn't Garth Brooks (much to my dismay!), but Les, her about to me and still today, husband. All I could think was that God had answered my prayer. And not only did this direct answer prove to me His power, but also most likely impacted my mother as well. I don't know if she ever told anyone that story...I need to check her diaries to see if she chronicled it there also, but I'm sure she did. It was a big day for us, in so many more ways than one.

I don't know what in that song made me remember this memory, but I'm glad I did. We all need to be reminded from time to time the power of prayer. Sometimes it is a direct answer just the way we asked for it and other times it is an answer, but nothing like what we expected. And then the hardest time is when the answer is either "No" or "wait"...because we, as humans, are instant gratification people. We want to tell God how we want Him to do it. Yet, when WE do it, it just gets all messed up. You'd think by now, we'd learn.

Well, that's my deep thought for the day. For those Radnor folks, I hope Disciple Youth and Joy Explosion take you on a trip down memory lane!

Happy Birthday all around!!!

Welcome to the World Kaleigh!!!!

I'm a tad bit late on my welcome, but very close to midnight on June 25, Kaleigh Alecia entered the world by c-section! Kaleigh was a tad early in her arrival, but she was fine, weighing in at well over 7 lbs. Mom, Nova, is one of my bulletin board friends. I had the pleasure of meeting Nova and the other "Mamas" from our board about 2 1/2 years ago in NJ. These are the ladies that I mentioned in my post below with the video. Nova tried (as did we all) for years to conceive and after several failed cycles of IUI and IVF, she and her husband decided to start adoption papers. Well...she had no more than gotten her portfolio ready when God blessed her with the biggest miracle of her life (at least so far!! ;) )...she got pregnant!! So, on June 25, when baby Kaleigh entered the world, all of us Mamas were part of one of the greatest miracles ever! Congratulations Nova and Chris and WELCOME BABY K!!!!

Also, I'm sending belated happy birthday wishes to myself! I turned the big 3-3 yesterday! Woohoo! Yesterday was exactly like every other day except I got free lunch from my co-worker Erica (thanks E!) and a gift from Steve and Jenna (speakers for my iPod!). I did get well wishes from most co-workers and calls from my Dad (which was good since he forgot last year!), sisters, brother, stepmom and bunches of friends. I was trying to plan a night out with them all on Saturday, but as it turns out, no one can come, so it will be just myself, Steve and Jenna and we're going to the Spaghetti Factory downtown and walk in "the city" as Jenna calls it when she seems the skyline. I'll have to hook up with everyone else another day. While I was a bit disappointed that my birthday plans for Saturday fell through, I was a happy woman to spend the evening with my two favorite people in the world. Steve even grilled IN THE RAIN...steaks at my request. And for the first time since mom passed away (almost), I had a birthday cake! So, all in all, this Momma had a wonderful day!

I would die for that...

Below is a video whose link to YouTube was posted on IVF Connections, a board for those battling infertility and the place where I have met some of the most wonderful women in my life.

For those that have children or are expecting, please listen and be oh, so thankful for your miracles. For those of you that are in this battle, this one is for you. There is ALWAYS hope.

Scolded again...pics from Thailand!

Good grief...my friend Stacey has scolded me again for not updating my blog! Just so you know (and to make her feel guilty for giving me a hard time ;o) ), I've been sick as a dog since returning from Thailand. I believe what I have is a cold due to good old fashioned allergies in the US. Gotta love it!

For those that have wondered, I did finally get my bags from the airport. Apparently, someone turned the church loose on them and gathered all the bags and brough them to the church for pick up. It was a very nice gesture and surprise. It saved me a trip to the airport, which I appreciate. I took off again on Wednesday, but went to work Thursday and Friday and it would have been fine had I felt better. I'm starting to feel better today, but still so tired (even after 12 hours rest last night). I'm going to google "jet lag" after this post to see if I can find some tips on making myself feel better.

Now, on to what you have been waiting on...because I was working while in Thailand, I didn't get the chance to do much sightseeing, but I did get some pictures and some I stole from a fellow traveler. Our day started at 5:50 when the alarm went off and then we were out the door to breakfast by 6:30am. Typically, we'd have breakfast and then run to the computer/phone room to use the Skype phone and log on to the internet to blog or what have you. Because of the 12 hour time difference, this was about the only time to call back home where we wouldn't be waking folks up! After all that, it was time to head to our classrooms and start the day. VBS was from 8-12 and then after that we had lunch, nap, snack, recreation, swimming and then home for the kiddos (at 5pm). The days were long...

Here is a picture of the elephant ride we took...

Our elephant was Poo Boonpeng and he was 29 years old. The girl elephants had names starting with Mae (pronounced Ma) and the boys were Poo. It was unbelievable to go and I would highly recommend it if you have the chance. The elephants are treated very well in Thailand. The other picture is one of me posing with an elephant who decided he liked me enough to give me a big, ole, sloppy kiss. Rachel, who had my camera, had perfect timing on this one!

There's so much to tell, but for today, for this post, I'll leave you a picture of the whole reason I went to Thailand...

Home Sweet Home

Just so you know, this post was written at 4:48am on Tuesday morning. In the last 24 hours, I have been in 3 countries and 4 states. I began my journey home on Sunday afternoon about 5pm (Thailand time). The flight to Bangkok was only an hour, on time and very uneventful. We spent the night in Bangkok and had to be up at 3:50 to be to the airport in time to make our 7am flight to Tokyo. The flight from Bangkok to Tokyo was about 5 hours, on time and uneventful. I finished reading my book and put back about 4 magazines I had packed. We had only a short layover in Tokyo and then began our long leg of the trip…13 hours…to Chicago. It was another long flight, but I had an emergency exit seat, so no one in front of me and lots of leg room. Problem was that I wasn’t able to sleep much and I finished my last magazine the first hour on the plane. I watched Catch and Release and Music and Lyrics (which I highly recommend) several times.

Even thought the flight was long and we hit a few minor turbulents, it was uneventful. We didn’t have a long layover in Chicago and had to go through immigration, customs and security (AGAIN!), so we had to really rush to make the 4pm flight. The majority of us were on the 4pm flight and the rest on the 7pm flight. Soon as I re-checked my bags, the gentleman in Chicago told me which terminal/gate to go to, but said our flight was delayed. When I got to the gate, it was delayed until 7pm. I was so disappointed because I was looking forward to getting back to Jenna and Steve like you wouldn’t believe. The only way I have been able to make it through the week and ½ was to not allow myself to dwell on how much I missed them. If I allowed myself to sit and think, I would have been a basket case and never able to do what I was sent to do there in Thailand.

We hadn’t been at the gate more than 15 minutes or so when the announcement came…our flight was cancelled. Well, after 36 hours of no sleep, being back on American soil and so close to home but not able to get there was more than I could take…I just lost it…

Unfortunately, the weather (which was apparently bad in the Midwest) was causing many flights to be canceled. The lines at the customer service counters for United were very long and when we finally got there, they told us the rest of the flights for Monday night were either already canceled or full. All direct flights from Chicago to Nashville on Tuesday were completely booked and the earliest they could get me out of Chicago was Wednesday morning about 11am, connecting through Dulles and then on to Nashville, arriving about 5pm! So, our travel leader began to work on chartering a bus to drive to Nashville. The second flight only had about 15 of us (including Rachel) on it and they were delayed. However, by 8:30, the bus had arrived and the decision had to be made on whether to leave those people behind hoping their flight would still arrive and be able to fly out or not. Each person had to make their own choice. The original flight was 7:14pm, was delayed once to 7:48 and again to 8:48. All of those that had confirmed seats on that flight, stayed and took their chances that the flight would make it. The rest of us boarded the bus. The sweetest words I have ever heard were, “Let’s go home”.

The bus idea wasn’t too bad…there were so few of us that we each get our own row of seats, so sleeping was very feasible. The bus driver stopped every 2 hours, so we could get out, walk around, use the bathroom and get a snack if we wanted. So, I slept for 2 hours, then would wake up and walk around and then sleep again. Right now, we have already made our final pitstop of the journey and have crossed the Tennessee state line. We are going to stop at the airport to see if any of our bags made it to the airport on the flight last night. Then, we’ll get on to the church and Steve and Jenna will meet me there. I can’t say in words how much I am looking forward to seeing them. I think I will cry I will be so happy.

So, by the time I actually post this blog, I will be home. I intend to get a quick nap this morning when I get home (depending on what Steve and Jenna do) and then take at least another ½ day tomorrow at work. I’d intended to go in to work, but I’m just not sure I can make it. I’ve been in Thailand, Japan and the US and in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee all in the last 24 hours. I’m tired and want to be with my family that I’ve missed so terribly.

Thanks to all my prayer partners and others for supporting me while I was away. The prayers were needed and felt. I have lots of thoughts and insight as to all I learned this week, but going on just a few hours broken sleep in the last 48 hours means I cannot get them down now. I’ll try to get more a blog with some pics posted soon. I have so much to tell and share with you…

Edited at 5:44pm: I'm home, but my luggage is not. I've slept most of the day and am still beat. I hope to have my bags with my souveniers tomorrow, but we'll see. I think they may still be in Chicago. More later...

My last Thailand blog...

I can’t believe it’s almost my last day here. Unless something changes, this will be my last post while I’m actually on my trip. Again, I’m writing as my kids nap. They had a big night last night with their parents and so they are more tired today than normal.

Yesterday afternoon, we got to take “off”. We went to visit an elephant camp. I’m sure right off, that doesn’t sound like much, but it was very interesting and we even got to ride the elephants. Let me give you a little history of the elephant and Thailand…

Many years ago, the elephants were domesticated and used for logging. What that means is that they would take the elephants up on the mountain to bring down trees for wood. This wood was used to barter with other countries in order to avoid them attacking Thailand. The elephant was big and strong and the best “vehicle” to bring the trees down from the mountain. As time went on, tractors and other things were found to bring the trees down, but then more, smaller trees would have to be cleared for tractors to get to the trees. Eventually, it was found that the elephant was just the best source of transporting the wood.

Unfortunately, after a while, the king of Thailand said that there would be no more wood trade with other countries. This left huge amounts of domesticated elephants, with no where to go. Thailand decided to re-introduce these animals into the wild. The US liked that idea and partnered with Thailand in a program that would take domesticated animals and release them back to their natural habitat. Of course, after spending so many years in captivity, this did not work. Many of the elephants could not survive the wild and many were killed for their skins and tusks by poachers.

Today, most of these domesticated elephants are now in elephant farms or sanctuaries in Thailand. These elephants are used to give rides to visitors (and we are talking 30 minute – 1 hour rides, unlike the circus) which are considered very easy work for them (considering the size logs they used to transport!). They are trained to do “tricks”, but they are trained in a kind manner and most of them are not what we would consider “circus” tricks. They aren’t things taught that isn’t already somewhat natural to the elephant.

All that to say, the trip was unbelievable. These huge animals were so gentle and loving…we have some awesome pictures and I can’t wait to get home and post the pictures.

Speaking of home…Jenna’s birthday was yesterday and I think she had a good one. Steve told me he was taking her out to dinner. I’m curious as to how many times they’ve gone out to dinner since I’ve been gone. But they still seem to be doing well and I will tell you, I couldn’t be more proud of Steve. I mean…he has done exceptionally well. Now, he might be not telling me everything, but it seems he is really doing well.

At any rate, we’ll leave around 7pm tomorrow night to fly to Bangkok where we will spend the night. Our flight from Bangkok to Tokyo leaves early Monday morning and we’ll arrive in Chicago about 4pm their time. I should get back to TN by 7pm on Monday night. I took Tuesday off (thank goodness) and then it’s back to work on Wednesday. Well, I’m going to run…get a few things done before the kiddos wake up. I may not get to blog again before I get home, but I’ll definitely post pics when I arrive.

Day 4 from Thailand

I just wanted to quickly share with you some pretty amazing things that have happened so with the children…

On Tuesday, we were asking for prayer before snack and one of our little boys raised his hand to pray. He asked for permission to pray in Thai and then proceeded to pray over our snack in Thai. It nearly brought me to tears to hear this 4 year old boy praying in a language that I can’t begin to understand, but knowing that God understood every word.

We have a child whose parents are stationed in Cambodia and one in Vietnam. Best I can tell from our conversations with them, the boy from Cambodia has recently moved there. Seems to be about a year I guess. The girl from Vietnam doesn’t seem to remember anything other than Vietnam, so perhaps she was born there. The interesting thing about her is that she is blond hair/blue eyed, so I’m sure she sticks out in a country of mostly olive skinned/dark haired inhabitants! One of our other girls parents are about to go “stateside” which means on stateside assignment. For those of you who don’t know, stateside assignment is what was used to be called furlough. They are moving back to Alabama (I neglected to ask for how long) and they will have to continue to minister there by speaking at churches, going to conferences etc. A boy that we feel like we know personally through his grandma is living in Chiang Rai, Thailand. His grandparents are here on the trip with BBC and are truly enjoying their time with son and daughter-in-law. He can also speak a little Thai after only being here a short time. It’s amazing what little minds can learn.

On a different note, let me tell you a few things that are different over here…first of all, they call air conditioner, “air con” and they never use it. The rooms do not have air on (or lights for that matter) until you put your key chain up on the little magnetic strip. Now, you might be thinking, well, just remove the key fob from the key and leave it on, but the key hook is soldered so you can’t do that. They only provide you one key, so when you leave the room, you must take the key with you which means the air and the lights go off until you return. The hotel lobby, elevators and other common places are not air conditioned, so it stays quite warm.

There are children here from all ages…BBC is responsible for bed babies up through 6th grade. The rooms that we are keeping the children in are hotel rooms. The beds are cleared out, but the only room we have to play, do crafts, do music, tell stories etc. is the size of a standard hotel room without the double beds. Now, imagine we are in here with whatever age we have, for a full 8 hours a day. It can get quite cramped and the kids can get restless. So far, the Lord has provided and we’ve had everything we needed. You have no idea what kind of planning this type of trip takes. The sheer numbers of supplies that have to be carried is just amazing, yet somehow, the group of planners from the church has made this happen. Wow.

Something else in Thailand, they drive on the opposite side of the road from us. And there are TONS of little motorbikes. They make our stupid cyclists look like amateurs. They weave in and out of traffic and never hit the breaks. If any of these people came to the US, they for certain would get run over. The other night, coming home from the night bazaar, Rachel and I rode a tuk-tuk back to the hotel. What an experience! I’ll have to post a picture here as soon as I can.

There’s so much more to tell, but I can’t get it all onto a blog. I’ve read all the comments, gotten all the prayer-grams and felt all the prayers. Continue to pray as I am starting to really worry about and dread the flights home. I’m looking forward to getting home to Steve and Jenna though. All week, I have refused to think about them because I just can’t hold it together because I miss them so much. Although I’ve talked to them a couple times this week and they seem to be doing well, so either Steve’s a good liar or they really are surviving which makes me relieved, happy and proud. Jenna is counting the days until I’m home and that makes me happy. I know I’ll cry when I see them. In fact, just writing this is making me tear up so I need to get on with something else.

I’m writing this as my kids nap. They are leaving at 3:30 today instead of 5pm because we are doing a parents night out tonight, so their moms and dads can go on a date. I’m leaving at 3:30 with them, going to grab a bite to eat and then walk around the mall that is attached to the hotel and have to be back to sit with the toddlers tonight during the Marketplace which is what they are doing for the older children for parents night out.

Last night, we went to the gem factory which was really a glorified jewelry store. Most everything I picked up was about $500, but in the US it would be double or triple that. Steve will be happy to know that I only spent about $60. Tonight we work here, tomorrow we are going to ride elephants and probably back to the night market. I have more Baht to spend and I don’t intend to have to take it back home and exchange it to US dollars!

Well, more later if time allows.

More from Thailand

I can't believe I'm able to blog as much as I am, but here I am again...

Last night (Tuesday in Thailand), we visited the night market. It was very interesting. It's like a huge flea market and the Thai people show their wares. It is custom here to negotiate a price, so it was weird getting the hang of that. But once I watched someone else do it, I was buying stuff left and right.

On our way back to the hotel, we rode on a tuk-tuk. I took videos of our ride. It's definitely an experience! The driving here is unlike any other.

Tonight is a visit to the gem factory. I'm guessing there will be plenty of jewelry to be bought. Things here are really cheap compared to the states.

Well, I better get moving along. It's morning here in Thailand and we are about to get started for another day.

I'll blog more as soon as I can.

Sandra

Another post

First of all, let me thank those of you who have sent prayer grams to me. It’s like a little taste of home and it’s just wonderful! If you want to send me one, go to http://www.brentwoodbaptist.com/, click on the missions area and you should be able to find a link there.

Today (Tuesday in Thailand) was our first day of the conference and VBS with the children. We have 8 four-year olds. There are 5 boys and 3 girls. They come from places all over the globe…Vietnam, Thailand, Texas (?-but that’s what he said), Laos etc. So many different cultures but all children nonetheless. Hopefully I’ll be able to post pictures of these unique and interesting children once I get home.

Tonight, we are planning to go to the night market/bazaar which I’m sure will be an interesting trip. I will get many of my souvenirs there. The US Dollar goes a lot further here than in the US. The exchange rate was a little more than 33 baht to the dollar. I think I gave the exchange $200 USD and got somewhere around 6,770 baht! I plan to take pictures at the bazaar tonight and video too. Tomorrow night, we will go to a gem place which I guess will be jewelry. There’s so much to do and not enough free time to do it all. Plus, you don’t want to explore alone and my roomie, Rachel is tied up all day with the Toddlers. Speaking of, pray for her…she needs it…being in the room for 8 hours with such young children. There are 13 of them and something like 3-4 teachers. Because of their age, they are unable to leave the room for lunch or go to the pool like we are. I’m sure her patience will be running pretty low tonight.

I can’t believe the week has already begun. In the blink of an eye, the conference will be over, the children gone and I’ll be on my way back to the states. But the need in the Pacific Rim and southeast Asia will still be here. The M’s will still be here with their families. I can already tell my life will be forever changed by what I’ve experienced here. I encourage you to add M’s from all over the world to your prayer list.

While I will probably post this during the evening, I am typing it during naptime which is almost over, so I better go and get these kids up. We’ve already had lunch…3pm is snack time, then recreation at 3:30, then the pool at 4pm. After the pool we have to get the kids back upstairs, changed into their dry clothes and ready for pick up no later than 5:15. After the last child is gone, we have another team meeting at 5:25 and then free time until the Night Bazaar trip at 6:30. Then, it’s to bed until it starts all over tomorrow.

Thanks again for all your prayers and support. I truly can feel them. God is at work this week.Sawat de kaa (goodbye in Thai)
Sandra

We've arrived!

The flight from Chicago to Tokyo was a long one…13 hours! Not to mention, I got up at 2:45am in the morning to make a 6:30am flight. All the flights have been on time or a bit early.

I didn’t get in bed until 11:30 Friday night and because Micah and Gage were staying the night, Jenna was in our bed. She’d crashed at about 8:45pm on the couch downstairs. There’s just not room for 3 of us in the bed, so I didn’t sleep well for the 3 hours I slept. When the alarm went off, I was ready to get up. I got ready fairly quickly and got my luggage downstairs and then didn’t know what to do. So, I went to the bedrooms and prayed over them. Praying that the days would be good while I’m gone.

Rachel and David arrived about 3:30 and we were off! I loved on Steve and Jenna and left…with my emotions in check! We got to the airport a little after 4:00 and got checked in. There are about 20 of us traveling this leg together. We had prayer and then stood in line at security and waited for the flight to board.

We arrived in Chicago on time but then had about a 4 hour layover there before our flight to Tokyo left. I think the 13 hour flight was by far the worst part of the trip so far and it was tolerable. As soon as we took off, they served us drinks and pretzels and not too long after that, lunch (which was delicious considering!) I took a Tylenol PM and tried to sleep. The bad part is that you just can’t get comfortable in a plane. I think I slept 3, maybe 4 hours, all broken up into hour increments.

We arrived in Bangkok late (about midnight) and my head hit the pillow at our hotel about 1am. We got to sleep until about 7am, so that was awesome.

Our flight to Chiang Mai was uneventful and it is a beautiful city. We were on the go all day yesterday with the conference. Last night, I was about to pass out from exhaustion, but it was a great day. We met all the kids in our 4 year old class room. They are sweet...

As I got on th elevator yesterday (which was Mondayafternoon here), my M family got on the elevator too! I was so stunned that I could not speak...just point...but we did end up talking and they are such nice folks. I have a totally new appreciation for the M's.

My eyes have been opened like you wouldn't believe here. I think us in the US are ignorant regarding how other cultures live (unless you have been exposed to other cultures), but in reality, there's not a lot of differences...these people need Jesus just like those in the US do.

I'm missing my Steve and Jenna like crazy. I have talked to them a couple times, but it is expensive to call, so it's very quick calls and some texting. I'm not sure when this post will date/time itself, but I'm writing this on Tuesday morning about 7:30am. It is 7:30PM on Monday night in the states.

Well, I have a pretty good connection here, so I am going to send a few emails and then get to my classroom.

Keep those prayers coming and add to them the people of the Pacific Rim. Will post more later.

From Thailand....

Sandra

It's nearly time...

It's after 11pm on Friday and I'm debating on whether to stay up or try to rest a few hours before having to get up.

Everyone else is in bed. Poor Jenna crashed on the couch downstairs at 8:45. So much for spending quality time with her before I leave. :( Steve went to bed about an hour ago and now Micah and Gage have gone to bed as well. I am waiting on my iPod to charge because I just KNOW if I don't wait up and just leave it charging, I will forget it in the morning.

Everything except my makeup and morning stuff is packed. Rachel is coming to get me at 3:30am in the morning. I seriously don't think I'm going to get up until 3:00am. All I have to do is put my make up on, zip up my bags and wait.

I can't believe the time is already here. I will do my best to blog when I get to Bangkok and then when I get to Thailand.

I still covet your prayers...

In Him-

Sandra

Just a few more hours...

I thought I'd better get a post in quickly...tonight is my last relaxing night at home and I wouldn't say it has been all relaxing. I went to the funeral home tonight to pay my respects to the Hutchison family. One of my best friends from high school, Staci, went with me...we met there...and then we stood in line for 2 1/2 hours just to see the family! Yikes!

Anyway, most everything is packed. Well. I guess that depends on your definition of packed. :) Most everything is either in the suitcase or laying on/in/around the suitcase! I have to work all day tomorrow but tomorrow night will be busy.

Several of our group has already arrived in Chiang Mai and we are getting updates. Hopefully our trip will be just as uneventful as theirs!

Please continue to pray for us as I go. Pray for Steve and Jenna to get along and things to go smoothly here. Pray for me as I travel and work with these children.

This will most likely be my last post for a few days. I'll update when I can. Thank you all for your support up to this point.

First Loss...

Today has brought sad news for me. I learned late this afternoon, that my high school classmate, Kyle Hutchison, passed away suddenly this morning. As far as I know, this is the first loss from the Graduating Class of 1992 at EHCS.

Kyle and I went to school together since Kindergarten. We weren't what I would call good friends, but the type of friend you have just by being in the same place for 13 years! Because Kyle's last name was Hutchison and my maiden name started with "J", we sat next to each other frequently through the years and at graduation. Because we went to school together for so long, my mother and his mother, Linda, knew each other well. Later in life, his father took the President's position at my Alma Mater. His mother was a professor at the University I attended, so I kept up with them through my 4 years of college.

I last saw Kyle at our 10 year reunion and he was friendly as always. I remember thinking he'd turned out to be a fine looking man and seemed to be successful in owning his own business. I thought it odd at the time that such a successful and decent (seemingly) man would not have found a mate. However, in retrospect, perhaps the Lord was sparing some wonderful woman the pain of losing her husband at 33 years old (although I do hear he had a girlfriend).

One thing I do remember was that Kyle came to visitation at the funeral home when my mother passed away. She died about 6 months after I graduated from High School and I was surprised to see him (and others) there because I guess I thought no one from school knew or cared. But it impressed me and it's something I've never forgotten.

Tonight, not only do I ponder how short our lives can be, but how precious. And my thoughts turn to his parents who are now facing burying their oldest child which no parent should ever have to do. It's not natural. Kyle had two younger siblings, Craig and Keeley who I think of now and wonder how they are coping with this tragedy. I do not know arrangements yet, but you can be assured that I will be there, paying my respects to the family of the man who impressed me when he paid his respects to mine.

As we enter into the next few days, remember the Hutchison family in your thoughts and prayers.

Birthday Fun

The birthday was a resounding success yesterday. I will admit, I was a little nervous because I felt so out of control with it. The sportsplex does not allow any outside food, so I was at their mercy for the cake and drinks. They provided paper goods and everything. But the kids loved the swimming and Jenna had a great time and got lots of nice stuff. I was a little disappointed at the small number of kids from her school class that showed up...only 5 I think...out of 18. Of course, counting her, there were 6, so I guess that's about a 1/3. Just seems like last year there were more. I guess that's the vice of a summer birthday... Here are a few snaps of her.

This is her and 2 of her school friends Annabelle and Ally. Annabelle's mom was the other room mom this year and they were in class together last year in Pre-K AND will be together in class next year in Pre-1st. Ally's mom and dad knew Steve from his younger years...Ally's mom, Rhonda is absolutely fabulous too (although she somehow eluded my camera the entire party).

Finally, here's a pic of her opening presents...watching her is her other classmate, Lee. Lee and his parents go to BBC with us and they are a wonderful family. Lee is just darling and Jenna told me a few week's ago she was "in love" with him (BIG eyeroll here!)...but in reality, I wouldn't mind if she hooked up with him, later in life of course! They are such a nice family.

All in all, it was a great time and I am thrilled it was. Thanks to all who came.

"The Biggest Loser" and Birthday Fun

I thought the "biggest loser" is the best way to intro this little piece of news...as many of you know, I was in the running for a pretty big promotion at work. It would have been my first shot at manager. There were 4 internal candidates and I found out late the week before last that I was one of the final two selected. Yesterday afternoon, I found out I did NOT get the promotion, but they offered the job to the other guy.

Although it was a huge disappointment to me because I knew I could do the job and really felt like I'd worked my behind off the past 6 months, I was OK with the decision. One of the ironic things was that when the position was posted, 2 of my other co-workers who were really close friends of mine applied and I was very scared about going up against them. I think the world of them both and did not want this to hurt our friendship or our working relationship. Ironically enough, a dark-horse candidate from another department within HR threw his hat in the ring and beat us all out of it.

The reason I'm OK with this is because I truly prayed for God's will to be done. I know the committment this position would require and I did not want my family life to suffer. I know this was in their mind when they made the decision. And I truly think I was prepared and ready to accept the news even if it was bad. I don't know why God kept me from this. All I know is that HE knows what is best for me and for the first time in my life, I am OK with God's answer being "No" even if it wasn't the answer I wanted to receive. We sure could have used the extra money, that's for sure, but He'll provide in another way.

On a positive note, when my AVP told me, I handled myself well and kept my emotions in check (which was a big concern for me because I am by nature pretty emotional). He had so much positive to say about me and some of those things really did make me feel good, mostly because I know (at least I hope I know) that he doesn't say this type stuff if he doesn't mean it. Of course, he could have just been panicking that I was going to get mad and quit, but I think he knows me better than that. I figure, I have one week to make it through and then I'm off to Thailand and by the time I get back in the office, I will have forgotten all about it (not really) and be ready to jump back in and start putting out fires! I think the new manager will be fine and we wil make a great team. My efforts are not going unnoticed (or so I've been told) and I expect good things for my future there.

THAILAND & MOLDOVA
We have our last team meeting on Sunday and much of my stuff is packed. The excitement is building and I'm glad to have some closure at work before I go. The only thing I have left to purchase is my laptop voltage converter which should work with my iPod charger, camera charger and camcorder charger as well. I am going to have them all charged before I leave and maybe won't have to use them, but I'll have it just in case.

As I said before, my trip is paid for, but Steve's is not. Yesterday we received two $100 checks from a good family friend and mentor to me. I was astounded and wish in every way I could be like her. She's an awesome woman and I am fortunate to have her in my life. Anyway, Steve got an email yesterday that no additional money has come in to his account outside his deposit and the church's scholarship and he is pretty bummed. I know there are two checks at the church waiting to be transferred to Sweet Sleep, but are unsure of the amounts. In addition, with the $100 check he received yesterday, we have in hand, about $250 to go toward his account. My account has $15 extra that will transfer to him but past that, if he doesn't get the money from donations, he can't go. So, this Sunday during his team meeting, he will tell the leader that very thing. If they want him to drop out now, then it's better than waiting until the last minute.

BIRTHDAY FUN
Today is Jenna's 6th birthday party. We are having it at the Sportsplex and it's a swimming party. She is so excited! I'm surprised that she is still asleep. We are expecting about 2o folks (at least that's what I paid for) and no matter what, she'll have a good time. I know she'll get tons of stuff and while it really threw me for a loop having to have it this soon, it's good for us to see what all she gets so Steve and I can go birthday shopping after the fact. As you know, her actual birthday will occur while I'm in Thailand, so we'll celebrate her birthday with us as soon as I return.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
Yesterday, Steve and I "celebrated" 11 years of wedded bliss. I say "celebrated" lightly. We worked all day and then had dinner at Shane's Rib Shack and did the rest of my trip shopping at Target...all with Jenna in tow. Tonight we have a babysitter and most likely we'll treat ourselves to a nice dinner (maybe at Red Lobster???) and then probably go back to Target to do Jenna's birthday shopping! I guess after the big 10, then others are just days of the year until you get to 15 and then 20. One of these years, we're going on a cruise to celebrate. Now that's what I call a CELEBRATION!

So, I guess that's about it from here. Seems like I'm forgetting something important, but I just can't think...guess that's what I get for going to bed at midnight (WAY past my bedtime) and getting up at 10 minutes till 7am! I'll post pictures from the party later today (if I have time after we get back and unloaded before our date).

Pictures...

I figured I'd better get some pictures posted out here because I'm gonna get in trouble if I don't. Last week, Gage went to the doctor for his 2 month appointment. He got about 3 shots I think. He weighs 12lbs and I think was 21 or 22 inches long. I can't remember now...I have it written down somewhere. Anyway, he is growing perfectly. Steve, Jenna and I went out to see him this weekend and he's just so cuddly right now. What a sweet baby!

A couple weekends ago, we got outside and re-mulched our flower bed. Seems that we always end up picking Mother's Day weekend to do that...so, here we are...the reason I celebrate Mother's Day and me...in front of our newly mulched flower bed.

Lastly, check out Jenna's hair...she's got the best hair for this...

In Honor...

While I was the only one up and the house is still dark and quiet (yes, it's 8:45am), I thought I'd blog a little...

Just wanted to say how grateful I am to all the men and women over the past many decades who have risked their lives (and some lost their lives) so that I can enjoy freedom. I think sometimes those of us who have not been touched in this way have forgotten what Memorial Day is all about. It's a great, long weekend to go out on the lake with the boat, grill out with friends and most importantly (for us) NOT WORK! But the real reason for this holiday was to take time to remember the men and women who fought for the freedom we enjoy. I might challenge you readers, as well as myself, to take a few minutes today to honor those people. I am going to sit my almost-6 year old down and explain to her why today is "stay home day" instead of camp day. And why some people are sad on this day instead of enjoying being with family. I encourage you to do the same...in your own way...honor the men and women for which this holiday is all about.

OK, now that I'm off my soapbox, on to other Taylor happenings...first, let me wish my great-nephew, Garrett, an early HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY!!!!
He will actually be 6 on May 30th, but we always celebrate his birthday on Memorial day. Which is nice because we always have Memorial Day plans that include family and not sitting around the house being lazy! Although, don't misunderstand me...there is something to be said for sitting around being lazy! I will admit that I'm in the mood to tackle the garage, but we have to be there at noon, so I don't think I have time to get that started either before or after the party.

Congratulations! OK, I'm sure with the graduations, one would think I am congratulating all of them. However, I'm here to toot my own horn (kind of). Jenna came home from her last day of school with a Perfect Attendence Certificate! I am so proud of my little girl!

Thailand: My trip is coming up fast and there is so much still to be done. I need to make a list of stuff to pack and then figure out what I still need to get. Rachel and I are going to have lunch together this week (hopefully) and see if we can put our "to-do/to-get" lists together and split what we have to take in the way of snacks etc. I've begun to talk to Jenna about me being gone and she's really starting to understand and get sad. This is very hard for me because that bothers me more than actually being away. I'm hoping that the more we talk about it, the more she'll get used to it and when I actually leave, it won't be as hard. I know it will be harder on Steve and her while I'm gone than me because I'll be busy with my work in Thailand. I'm not going to downplay the distance effect on Steve and I either. Remember, just a few shorts weeks after my return, he'll be gone for the same number of days to Moldova.

Well, while I was typing, my sweet Jenna awoke, so I'm sure her father is not far behind. I'm going to get up from the PC and get some laundry folded and get things done around the house before we have to leave. Jenna is happy watching Arthur on the TV...

Happy Birthday and other News...

Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday to baby Gage! He's two months old today! Wow! He's got a doctor's appointment this week and of course, I will update then. Speaking of Gage, Mom (Micah) has decided to go to college!!! What a pleasant surprise! I think it must have been on her mind for a while and she saw an advertisement on TV for a local community college. She decided to give them a call and found out as a single mother, she qualifies for all sorts of financial aid. She went to meet with the counselor today and she is set to begin on June 18. She'll train for 8 months as a medical assistant and then in month 7, they will find her a job to start. She already knows her graduation date...February 14, 2008. I can't wait for her to start and see how she likes it. I think it's time that Micah does something for herself. Now that she's a mother, she's going to have to be able to take care of him because it might be the last thing she does for herself! Keep her in your prayers...I think she's going to need it especially getting started. That's always the hardest part.

Thailand
Have you seen the counter lately??? Good grief! I'm leaving in less than 3 weeks! Saturday we had a mandatory cultural training meeting from 9-noon. I'm telling you, it really got me pumped. I was having a little fear about the air portion of the trip, what with it being so long and all, but not now. I'm just excited. I found out my missionary prayer partner's oldest daughter will be in my class and their youngest will be in Rachel's class. I can't wait to meet them! And...here is the most awesome news of all...MY TRIP IS FULLY PAID FOR!!!!! I couldn't believe it when I asked her for the balance. I just figured it was the same amount as two weeks ago when I asked to be sure I sent out all my thank you notes. I praise GOD that He has provided through generous donations of others. Now, we have to get Steve's Moldova trip paid for. He is counting on the sole donations of others for his trip. So far, we have about $100 donated plus the $300 we had to pay in deposit. I think the church anted up $500 in form of a scholarship. So that leaves us still about $1000 to pay...if you haven't donated to me and still want to support, please PLEASE contact me and I can tell you how to support Steve. Trust me, his mission trip will be much harder than mine...he is literally going to a 3rd world country and staying in someone's home to build beds for orphans. Don't let the fact that my trip is paid for discourage you if you were planning to give. Steve didn't send out many support letters because I had already sent them to everyone for my trip when he decided to go on his. And if you can't donate, continue to pray...

Speaking of prayer...
As you pray, please remember our family right now. In the midst of many blessings (which we are so grateful for), there are several stressors weighing heavily on us at the moment. Currently at work, I'm without a manager which puts more work and stress on me, however, it does present a wonderful opportunity for me to post for her manager position. But that in itself is stressful. I'm up against 3 other internal candidates, two of whom I count as good friends. And interviewing is a stressful situation. On Steve's work front, he is very unhappy with his current job. They have changed his duties again to something that is very complicated and requires him to work from 6am to about 5pm. This has a domino effect because he was getting off in time to pick Jenna up from school, so now she's going to aftercare which she hates and she reminds Steve frequently making him feel guilty which just adds to the guilt he already feels. We've had to call all 3 summer camps she's going to this summer to add before care and after care which is upping our costs considerably and that's putting us in a financial strain. I have her birthday party coming up to pay for and it just seems there is more month at the end of the money. I know I am called to trust and have Faith and all this seems to have kicked into high gear after we committed to giving more to the church, but it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Someone mentioned to me today that it is natural for things to go this way right now...we are both just weeks away from going on mission trips and Satan wants to throw everything in our way to keep our focus off what we are being called to do. But when you are in the midst of it, it's not easy to see past the pain and worry. So, as you pray, remember us.

Well, that's about it. I know it's not much of an update, but I figured I couldn't wait much longer to post or else I'd start getting nasty emails! :)

I've been tagged too...

So, my friend Rachel tagged me and since I apparently am one of only 2 of her friends that blog, I am accepting the tag and will tag someone too. Here's how it works...

Each player starts with seven random facts about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about the seven things and the rules. You need to choose seven people to tag and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment that they have been tagged and to read your blog! Here we go...

1) I (ahem) have 3 tattoos. I'm sure there will be family to read this that does not know this about me. Well, now they do. I have a sunshine, dolphin and butterfly...all of which have connections to my beautiful child.

2) Like my friend Rachel, I have a lot of consistency in my life. I went to the same school for 13 years, to the same church for 26 years and lived in the same house for 31 years. I'm about to celebrate 9 years at my employer, so needless to say, I'm not good with change when it happens. Oh, and just a side fact, I've known Rachel for...uh...something like 25 years too.

3) When I was a teen, I was at church alot with my friends. I was a "good girl" and didn't get into much trouble at all. However, I did date one fella who was the exact opposite of me...a rebel. He smoked and one time I kissed him right after he finished a cigarette (unknowingly). That old saying..."it's like licking an ashtray"? Pretty close.

4) When I was a very little girl, I had some piece of furry brown material that was about 18 inches long and cylindrical. I called it my "wooley worm" and it went everywhere with me. Wooley died when my german shepherd dog, Smokey got hold of it. Mama tried to do surgery, but it was a lost cause. To my knowledge, there are no pictures of Wooley Worm, but he did exist!

5) I remember when I was little climbing up on the top of my swing set and getting stuck. My mother finally did look out the window and came to get me down. Oddly enough, I remember her breath smelling like mustard from a sandwich she was eating. How random is that? To this day, I do not like mustard! And to make things even weirder, Jenna got stuck on top of her swing set last week. I was not home from work yet and the neighbor girl came to her rescue (or found Steve who came to her rescue).

6) Last year I flew to New Jersey to meet about 5 or 6 girls that I'd never seen in real life before. They are part of a group from an online posting board called IVF Connections and I met them online when I was going through IVF a couple years ago. These women are phenomenal and going there to meet them was fabulous and totally unlike something I would do!

7) After nearly 11 years of marriage (in about 3 weeks), I have never had what I consider to be a major fight with my husband. We've never slept apart due to anger or being in a fight. Something I'm very proud of.

OK, so, because I really only know 2 people that blog and one of them tagged me, I'm tagging the only one I know...Stacey. I know how she loves these things... :)

I'm ready...

Allow me to share with you some thoughts of mine from our church service this morning.

It was one of the most wonderful services I've been to in a long time. First, it began with one of my favorite songs, "How Great is Our God"...if that song doesn't make you raise your hands in praise, then nothing will! It was awesome and I just couldn't stay still. But it was only to get better...the next song was "Days of Elijah". By the time the chorus was in full swing, I looked around at the congregation and hands were going up all over the auditorium. For those of you who don't know much about my church, BBC, we average around a couple thousand in service. To look around and see so many in the congregation praising Him and the choir singing and raising their hands... I'll have to tell you, at that moment, I imagined this must be what heaven will be like. All of us singing praises and just having a good time.

The song service got better as we sang, "To God Be The Glory and then the choir sang their special which turned out to be one of my favorite songs of all time..."Let the Worshippers Arise". The words of the chorus go something like this, "Let the worshippers arise. Let the sons and the daughters sing. I'm surrendering my all. I surrender to the king." And during the second chorus, I look over (I love watching church members) and see a lone woman way over on the side of the auditorium slow rise with her hands raised. I turn to my right and see a second member do the same. Then I see our missions ministry assistant stand up and I couldn't sit still. I stood up, but by the time I had, there were handfuls of people all over rising to their feet and raising their hands in the air. It was just an awesome service. At that moment, I could have been taken up into heaven and been just fine with it!!!

OK, well, I just wanted to share my experience in church this morning. Gage and Micah are gone, Jenna is in bed and Steve is bowling. Tomorrow starts yet another day.

Scolded...

Well, I'll consider myself scolded for not updating my blog sooner! I guess there's not been a whole lot going on here, thankfully.

A week or so ago, I got the shock of my life at work. Found out my manager is leaving the company. I am very disappointed...she is wonderful and allows me to do most everything I ask with Jenna's school. I am a bit scared at who might go in above me as manager that they won't be as understanding. So, I went ahead and applied for the position myself! Of course, I realize if I end up getting it (and that's a HUGE "if"), I'll probably have less time during certain seasons to do with Jenna. But I talked it over with Steve and he's ready to step up if/when that happens. I have heard that I have some stiff competetion at work, each of whom are equally as competent and good friends as well as co-workers. I am praying daily that God's will be done. If I don't get it, then I will just know that the Lord has kept me from something that could potentially be damaging to my family.

As far as Thailand goes, as you can see from the counter at the top of the blog, I'm just a little over a month away from leaving. I've got my flight schedule and pretty much everything else in order. We leave on June 9 at 6:50AM (YIKES!) and connect in Chicago where we will fly for about 14 hours to Bangkok where we will stay overnight and then on to Chiang Mai the next morning. The 14 hours-in-a-plane-thing is starting to worry me a bit. I'm not at all afraid to fly, but just knowing that I have no choice but to be in one place for that length of time kind of makes me a bit claustrophobic. But they've given us really good tips on flying and getting our body clock regulated. Thailand is 12 hours ahead of us here in Tennessee, so that will certainly be an adjustment. But I've got my Tylenol PM, iPod and reading materials ready, so I should be fine. Plus, with my good buddy Rachel going, combined with both of our excitement, I will probably have no trouble finding stuff to keep me busy. As for the cost of my trip, I'm not sure when my final payment is due, but at last report, I had less than $300 to be paid! Praise the Lord who has provided through each of your generosity. Thank you!!!! I will let you know when I do exactly how much I raised.

Steve's in full swing preparing for Moldova. These trips are coming faster than either of us expected! I think he's about gotten everything ready (in terms of purchasing) for his trip too. He is lacking his vaccinations and so am I, but we should be taking care of that soon enough. He still has LOTS to pay on his trip. He's gotten only one donation for $50 but that is something to be proud of! Thanks to his friend Mark for being his first donator! He did send out about 80 letters of support, so hopefully these folks will start stepping up soon. Let me encourage those of you that are reading this, if you haven't sent in a donation for me and want to support, please send a check for STEVE'S TRIP. I can assure you, you will be blessed!

Right now, Gage and Micah are here for the weekend. They came down last night and we've just enjoyed them so much! That sweet baby boy is so wonderful to hold. He's a good baby and we always enjoy Micah being here. Sometimes I can't believe looking at her now that she was just a little 10 year old bob-haired blondie when I first met her! Let me tell you, there's nothing like watching the child you adored turn into a woman and then mother of her own child. Unbelievable! Micah is going to stay tonight and we'll all go to church together tomorrow. I can't wait to see Gage dressed in his church outfit. I'll have to take pictures and post them here later.

Jenna-well, not much to report on here. She's a mess as usual. We've begun to pray that the Lord blesses her with a beautiful voice because if he doesn't, it's going to be a long 18 years! That child sings ALL THE TIME! You wouldn't believe it unless you heard it. It's just all the time. And it's a different song. Sometimes she just makes up things. It's nice to hear though. She's got only about 3 more weeks of school and then she'll be going to a variety of summer camps. Also, I've been in email contact with the pre-1st teacher, Ms. Seay, at DLES. Can I just say I think we are going to get along just fine! We are going to an informational meeting on Monday at noon and I will meet her in person and learn lots more about pre-1st and the curriculum.

Well, I guess that's enough for now. I'll probably post late next week with pictures of sweet baby Gage and information about our pre-1st meeting.

Until then...