the insanity never ends...

if you want to see a few recent cool pictures of what we've been up to, check out our family blog. there are some cute pictures of thad at the beach, and other stuff too.

after my last post, elisabeth got sick and ended up in the hospital with a kidney infection for 5 days. my classes got put on the back burner, and i'm still catching up on some of them (and retaking two of them, thanks to a "wonderful" prof). then we had some other stuff come up that makes life "fun". then after all of that, thad rolled off the bed and ended up breaking his arm. (he'll be fine, just immobilized the humerus for 2 weeks, one week left to go.)

this week nick finished 8th grade, and then our friend came down from tennessee with his two boys. they "guys" all went to a rays' game on wednesday night, where they got to be eyewitnesses to zobrist hitting a grand slam. on thursday we headed to ft. desoto state park beach, and except for some bad burns (sunscreen must've been a dud batch), we had a great time. we went out to eat at a local seafood restaurant tonight, after getting ice cream at a quaint little old-fashioned place this afternoon. they leave tomorrow morning and we're heading back to the beach with some families of nick's classmates for another "8th grade celebration". should be another fun day.

but for now, time for bed!

goodness, it's been a long month...

since i last posted. actually a little over a month now! sorry i've been m.i.a.

nick had to have sinus surgery again (he had it last april over spring break...which is where we are now, april and spring break...), the first one was on february 26th. he had polyps form in his nasal passageways and nearly close them off, so he also ended up with a staph and fungal infection in his sinuses. poor kid! two weeks later he went for procedure number 2 and they did a culture of his snot and found out he had pseudomonas bacterial infection in his sinuses and put him on cipro. four days into the treatment he developed weird vision changes where his eyes were seeing things in weird colors. we ended up having to take him to the optometrist to be checked for eye damage and changed his antibiotics. between all of that and school projects for both kids, it's been an interesting month to say the least!

...and now i'm behind on my class work and am desperately trying to catch up on everything. i'm almost caught up on three classes, am caught up fine on another, and have three others to work on...nothing like taking 7 college courses like an insane maniac, it's been interesting! my financial aid check finally came...and went quickly too. it was nice to be caught up on bills for a few weeks, now we're back to trying to juggle it all. i know everything will work out, so i'm not letting myself stress over it, it always works out one way or another.

so here we are on spring break (the kids are anyway) and it's chilly out, so we haven't headed to the beach like i'd hoped or done much of anything else. no biggie, there's plenty that needs done around here and there's not a lot of time for running around right now. i am hoping we can hit the beach this weekend though, it would be nice to get some great beach-y shots of the kids. thad's 7 months old now, it's high time the boy went to the beach!

where does the time go?

first of all, my baby boy will be 8 weeks old tomorrow! i can't believe how fast the time is going. he's smiling and cooing, and has even let out a bit of a laugh lately! he's such an amazing baby, so sweet and not fussy much at all, it's so much fun having him in our lives!

secondly, fall semester is half-way over and i'm so far behind in my classes it's not even the least bit amusing! i sat down this morning (it's taken me 3 hours) and have organized all of my assignments and given myself deadlines for all of them (the profs are amazingly flexible, but i need to get on top of all of this). i also sat down and wrote out a daily schedule that includes household chores, schoolwork, errands, etc. (i have to make myself stay home and put all of my errands together so i don't end up wasting too much time on too many days...too easy to do for me!) i also wrote out a "home projects" schedule/list because we need to paint the whole inside of the house, along with finishing the nursery, and other things...it includes sewing/crafting/decorating projects that i need to do for each room as they get painted. (i broke it up over the next few weeks and the focus is on a specific area of the house in regards to all categories)

third, soccer season is well underway, i want to re-join the worship team, school projects are coming for the kids, the holidays are around the corner (have halloween costumes to finish putting together this week), i have business-growing stuff i need to get around to focusing on (which is somewhat on the back-burner at the moment), and it seems that the clock is just going faster and faster!

i needed to take this time this morning to get organized mentally and put it on paper! i'm going to have to go back to work part-time (need to schedule in a trip to talk with a boss and fill out an application), so i need to be on top of my "game" so that i can throw that into the juggling act too!

good thing i had my mochatonix because it helps me to focus and actually helps me find some "drive" to get things accomplished!!! yum!

i love autumn...

this is my favorite season, and october and november are the best months for decorating and eating!!! so i decided to change my background too, to celebrate the season. the cutest blog on the block has some great background layouts, check them out!

tomorrow i am going to pull out my box of autumn stuff and decorate the house.

also on my "list" of stuff for tomorrow...
*arrange furniture in carpeted rooms once carpet is fully dry from cleaning
*paint kitchen island wall
*sew burp cloths
*pull out cloth diapers and try them out on thad
*get caught up on laundry
*take preventive stress mid-term
*get caught up on some other school stuff
*go to my school (for work) and do stuff for my leave

i got a lot of errands done today and have a few other things to follow-up on too, but i feel like i'm doing pretty good at getting back into the swing of things. in-laws have left, i'm feeling a lot better (most of the time), and my house is relatively clean (except for being all screwy from moving furniture to clean carpets)...now to get on top of everything i let go for the past few weeks... i do have to brag on my hubby though, if it weren't for him and his ocd-ness, there would be a lot more to do around the house, so kudos to him for helping to keep things in order the last few weeks of my pregnancy and the first few weeks of having a baby around!!!

insomniac...

yep, that's me! i can barely sleep through the night, and when i get woke up i can't get back to sleep. they told me to take benadryl, but i don't want to take it too far into the night and have a hard time getting up to get the kids to school!

the kids started back to school this week, and it seems weird not to be going with them. i know this leave is a good thing (for baby and college classes) but it's hard not going to work every day and wondering what i'm missing out on too! i miss hanging out with my coworkers...guess i'll be meandering down there to volunteer so i can still feel like i'm connected a little!

second day of school was canceled for tropical storm fay...and nothing happened, we barely even got a sprinkle of rain! now "she" is still hanging around and it's kind of windy out and we've gotten some rain tonight from her. my friends over in cocoa haven't gotten flooded in their house, i hope it stays that way since they just bought it and moved in this month!!!

my fall semester started this week, so i need to get on top of my assignments and not let them get out of hand at all. i have 2 extensions that i need to complete too, so we'll see if i can get them done soon! i should take my insomniac time to work on them. i've been trying to get myself tired so i can go back to sleep, but i guess i'd better roll with it and use the time from now on to work on school stuff...since i like to sleep a lot during the day!

i had some stuff i wanted to blog about a week or so ago, after reading a book for one of my summer classes, but i never got around to it. there was some pretty good stuff in there. i'm sure i'll have some interesting insightful stuff to blog this semester...i'm taking 4 psych classes and i'm sure i'll be psychoanalyzing myself! one of the classes is "preventive stress maintenance"...the guy at the book store said i'll need that one with all of my psych classes and a statistics class on top of it! greeeeeaaaaat!!! the other classes are "biblical counseling" which should be pretty good, "contemporary issues" which covers some interesting topics like divorce/remarriage, homosexuality, and a few others. then i have "social psych" too.

okay, i think i'm rambling now, but wanted to post a little update here.

still waiting for baby to decide to come...little stinker isn't cooperating with what mommy wants! (hopefully that's not a sign of things to come! haha) i just need to quit being pregnant already. the pain and dizziness and fatigue is all i can handle and i'm over it. now my ganglion cyst is back in my right hand, and i'm mentally fuzzy...i want my body back to myself!!! (well, except for the breastfeeding part...i won't have it "all" back for awhile...)

hopefully i'll have something more interesting to say next time...

baby pic!!!

here he is, isn't he sooooo cute?!? i love how his hand is smooshing his little nose!

i went for my ultrasound this morning and everything looks good. the placenta has moved up, so no worries there. the little guy is measuring 2 weeks bigger than his gestational age, so yeehaw...we're going to have another big 'un! i almost blacked out yesterday when i was outside (just leaning against the car, not even exerting myself at all) so i mentioned that to the doctor i saw today and he said i'm not hydrated enough and to drink so much water that i feel like i'm turning into a fish...fun! (that means tons of bathroom runs too...yay.) he also suggested being in a pool as much as possible...just like the other doc did a few weeks ago, guess i need to work on that one! so baby boy is head down, so it's his butt that keeps poking out around my belly button and his feet that are going up under my ribcage. sometimes he pushes on my hip bone with his hands and his butt pops out on top, it's really funny to watch my belly move like an alien is in there!

so there you go, baby update...i'm still having pain, but dealing with it. now i'm just trying to drink as much as possible (and shuffle to the john every little bit)... just a few more weeks, am i ready for this?!?!? (i really don't know!)

crazy week...

it started monday with my car breaking down on my way to run errands...thank goodness for a friend who rescued me, took me on my errands run and was there for me! one of the belt pulleys apparently fell off on the way to church sunday morning, so God's hand was on our car while we drove to the game and back. the belt broke on me on monday, and we were able to get it fixed quickly that evening.

tuesday and wednesday i wasn't feeling well, worked on school assignments and had business meetings both nights.

thursday, still not feeling great, more school assignments, and worship practice.

so here we are at the end of the week, i have an errand to run this afternoon and am debating about heading to a pool to "float" like the doctor told me...but i'm so tired, and still have more school work that needs to be completed. i couldn't sleep last night because every time i was lying down my back and baby belly would kill me. i think i got 2 hours of sleep and then went and laid back down around 6 this morning for a few more hours, but definitely not enough time! so i just answered my own question, not going to mess with a pool today, but i'm thinking definitely tomorrow! (too much school work to do and 2 tests to take this weekend)

i want to crawl back in bed, but i have to get this errand done... bleh.

just want to lay down and die....

not really, but there were moments today that i was in enough pain that it sounded like a good idea...or at least take some strong medicine and go to bed. neither of which i could do...i was at work, and i'm preggers...no bed at work and no strong meds for my mommy machine! i had a major ligament cramp last night and it's been sore all day today, i think i had a definite preggers walk going on, but it felt more like an old lady walk than anything! and this is supposed to go on for another 4ish more months?!? yikes! little dude is moving around a lot, and i don't feel like there's anything "wrong", just pain thanks to the monster baby (as my o.b. referred to it) from the last pregnancy...love ya elisabeth! ;)

speaking of elisabeth, she's growing up so fast! she missed part of her reading time yesterday morning because i had to take nick's c.t. films to the doctor and i took her to school late. silly girl decided to try to read fast and cram a.r. tests in and bombed one so it made her total fall below 80% and she didn't get to go to the a.r. celebration today. her teacher said she took it like a trooper and didn't get upset at all.... well, that didn't totally last though because she was upset when she saw me after school. but she also told me that because she was trying to get her total up (it's over 80% now), she took some a.r. tests today and not only raised her score, but broke 50 points for the year! since she worked hard and rectified her score AND surpassed 50 a.r. points, told her i'd reward her by buying her some books of her choice so she can get a good start on her summer reading. she thought that sounded great and has asked that i get her the "spyderwick chronicles"...so we'll be heading to a bookstore in the next week or two and picking them up. growing up, acting mature....my baby girl isn't so much anymore!

and nick update...since that's what this is turning out to be...for those of you who have been following the "saga" the doctor called me personally yesterday (wow...usually it's a nurse) and he gave me specifics on what kind of hypertonic saline to get nick for him to flush out (ewwwww) his sinuses. he said he's pretty sure the staph infection isn't the current issue, it's mostly post-surgical swelling, worse than usual because of the prior chronic sinus infections he's endured. he did say that it will be at least 2-3 weeks before he'll be feeling better, so to continue pain meds as necessary and do the hypertonic saline wash 4-5 times a day....well, stuff is moving and it's gross...i'll stop there and spare you the details, but keep praying for him to recover. this school year's basically a wash, but i really hope he can get back to himself and have a good summer and feel up to having some fun. (it's pretty bad when he's not even feeling well enough to ride in the car to wendy's to eat supper...)

so there ya go....i'm not really suicidal, just in pain...but some good stuff too. :)

wow...i'm exhausted!

so nick is still sick, and we're going in for another ct scan next week because he still doesn't feel great after being on antibiotics for almost 2 weeks because of the staph infection. he went to school for 1 1/2 days this past week.

i've finished 3 of my classes: OT survey, math applications, and psych testing and eval.... i, so far, have gotten all a's!!! i have to finish biblical worldview and personal evangelism in the next week or so. soon it'll be 15 hours down and 34 to go... i'll be registering for 4 more classes this summer, then 4 in the fall also. that should be interesting with labor, delivery and a newborn thrown into the mix! at least i won't be working...

there are only 3 1/2 weeks left of school....yay! i can't wait to be finished with being an instructional assistant! if i go back for the 09-10 school year, i'll be a teacher, not an ia. (i say "if" because i'm hoping to build our business enough that i can just do that and not "have" to go back to working a regular job...though i may decide to just because i love working with kids...we'll see.) i'm taking next year off to be a stay-home mommy and full-time college student...and work on our business. i think that will be enough to do with my time, don't you?

last night we went to the school carnival from 6-9, and then jerry and i went to the wrhs relay for life for a couple of hours. i'm fighting a cold or allergies or something, and can't sleep lying down, so i had the pleasure of trying to stay propped up on the sofa all last night to sleep...i feel like a train wreck!

today is the mother's day tea with the ladies in our church. i almost forgot about it. i hope it's casual, because i will be! i am not dressing up for it...not that i could anyway, i'm very limited in my wardrobe choices these days!

okay, well it's time for me to lounge around some more...hopefully this headache and stopped up nose and exhaustion will go away so i can think and focus on some schoolwork later this afternoon!

so much going on...

nick's follow-up was yesterday and it went really well. they had to suck out some gunk that was stuck in his sinuses, but the doctor said it should all be good now. he did have a headache early today, but when we got home he seemed much better. i love that the dark circles are finally going away from under his eyes. i'm just praying that he'll continue to get better and that the neurologist will take him off the meds she prescribed...we'll see her on tuesday.

i'm super behind in schoolwork. i have 2 tests this weekend, and about 10 papers to do. once we get past tomorrow i'll be able to focus on it all. we have a youth fundraiser at our house...parents' night out...how things like this happen sometimes is beyond me. they just seem to appear out of thin air sometimes, and end up at my house. lol

pregnancy issues...pelvic bones are shifting too early, so i'm in a lot of pain...along with lovely round ligament pain... went to the doctor wednesday afternoon, got checked out and everything is fine. so i'm told to stay off of my feet as much as possible...i work at a school, are you kidding me? also, i'm having people at my house tonight...not staying off the feet today...gotta clean the house and then help watch at least a dozen kids! on the plus side, my ultra-sound is tuesday. i can't wait to find out what kind of little bun is in the oven! i've got so many sewing and crafting projects in mind, but need to know what's coming first! then we'll find out if we need to actually agree on a boy name (which we haven't been able to do), or if we'll get to use our chosen girl name... stay tuned!

i sooo need to update more!

nick's headaches have actually gotten worse recently. he missed all of last week from school and we're on spring break now. he's having sinus surgery to remove a huge polyp from his left maxillary sinus, along with scraping everything out and removing a few other smaller polyps/cysts. i sure hope this is the answer to all of his medical issues, at least the headaches if nothing else!

elisabeth went camping this past weekend with her brownie troop and had a good time. she can't remember everything she did, but she said it was fun. lol she sure missed us though, she was really clingy all day yesterday after she got home. it was kind of nice being missed. saturday evening, when jerry and i were watching tv and nick was playing xbox, it was so quiet around here...i told jerry i'm sure glad we have more than one kid, it would be too quiet and life would be boring. he agreed...now we have another one coming...definitely won't be boring in a few months!

on that note, everything is going well pregnancy-wise. i'm now 17 weeks along, almost halfway there...that blows my mind that it's going so fast! after spring break, there are only 8 weeks left of school and i'll be on leave for the next year and then some...except for a possibility of needing to go back in august for a bit, but i'm not sure about that yet. it's just flying by though.

i go in for another appointment next monday, hopefully my weight gain will be along the lines it's been so far, i really don't want to gain too much. after that, i go in 2 weeks later for my 20 week u/s and hopefully we'll know what we're having so we can focus on baby names and cute little baby things. i've started feeling the baby move lately, so it's helping me to get more excited...it's still overwhelming too though!

so much better...

since the bronchitis/cold has resolved itself for nick, things have been awesome with him. he's been to school for 7 school days in a row with no headaches and no coughing. i think i can see a light at the end of the tunnel now! maybe we're even out, i surely hope so! tuesday we go to the neurologist for follow-up, then he has a ct scan since he's finished with the round of antibiotics prescribed by the ent. all that's left for him after that is follow-up with the opthamologist for one more test, but it's not going to show us anything for the headaches. so i guess the key turned out to be the elavil, which is fine with me as long as it's working. eventually i'd love to get him off of it, but for now it's definitely better than the alternative. i have my kid back, he's not dizzy, in bed, and in severe pain that makes me want to cry for him...it was so hard for me to watch him deal with all of that because he's such a good kid and hardly complains about anything.

on to other things...

tuesday i also have an ob appointment, i'll be in the 2nd trimester tomorrow. i can't wait to hear the heartbeat again! nick will be with me this time, elisabeth was there the last time. (she saw the ultrasound, nick will just get to hear the heartbeat) i think we'll take the whole family for the next ultrasound, so everyone gets to see the baby...if they can all make it depending on what's going on with school and work, etc. morning sickness is better some days and back others, the exhaustion is still there, but if i could get a full night's sleep i'm sure that would be better. all of my clothes are getting tight on me...boo. i don't want to gain much with this pregnancy since i'm already above where i should be, so i really need to get my butt moving and exercising...along with eating better. at least the girl scout cookies won't be an issue for much longer. (i have some in the freezer, hopefully i can keep them there instead of my mouth!)

i'm behind in my schoolwork, but my profs were pretty cool about it. with dealing with nick's issues, it's really thrown me off the schedule i wanted to keep with my classwork. i have a test today and some chapter reviews i need to complete this weekend and i'll be okay. i'm going to catch up on all of the other stuff over spring break.

well, i think we're going to go stuff eggs for the EGGStravaganza at church tomorrow. so i'd better get myself together and ready to go. i'm so not ready for easter, i need to get on it for sure! just one more thing to juggle, right?!?

my busy schedule...

is really getting to me. i'm so tired when i wake up in the morning (pregnancy fatigue is just great!), i just want to sleep all day...but since i'm a working mama, i have no choice but to get my booty up and moving and ready for the day. (jammies all day long is always nice...can't wait for presidents' day!!!) my house is a mess, dirty dishes are piled up in the sink, trash is overflowing, laundry is overtaking my house (both clean and dirty)...i just don't have time to stay on top of it all. jerry's just as busy as i am, so it's not like he's sitting around doing nothing or something either. as much as i like going to bible study groups, i'm glad this series is over (as of last night) so i can have one more free evening to work around. soccer, thank goodness, will be over very soon too. then i'll have more time to focus on the house, my studies, my kids, and my hubby.

so here i sit, dreading to go to work, but needing to get up and get going... lol

on another note, i took nick to the ENT yesterday. he's pretty sure sinus issues are not causing his headaches, so we'll have to see what the opthamologist says on friday. hopefully we'll have a "reason" after that visit. i hate not knowing "why" he's having such horrific headaches, it's hard to watch him in such misery too. poor kid's missed more than half of the days so far this quarter, it's not a good thing where schoolwork is concerned, that's for sure! so keep us in your prayers, hoping we find an answer so they can stop and he can get on with his life...

college courses + no books = insanity!!!

i ordered my books for my courses last week. i was assured they'd all be at my house either saturday or monday, minus the math book that was out of stock but on order. saturday, nothing. monday, nada. tuesday, zip! wednesday, i call the bookstore...the math books came in today, and we'll be sending it out with the rest of your books today too...WHAT?!?! so i had the pleasure of emailing all of my profs and letting them know, i'm sorry, but i can't do any of your assignments until i get my books, hopefully i can turn something in early next week for you! yep, that's the first impression i wanted to make.....not! ugh!

looking at the syllabi (is that proper plural form of "syllabus"?), i'm starting to wonder what i've gotten myself into! i could drop a course, but i'd really hate to. if i can manage it, i will take the full load of 15 credits this semester. summer is much shorter, so i'm not sure if 15-18 is realistically possible or not, and who knows what the fall term holds...many surprises, i'm sure! (if you're reading this from "gtgf" go check out my "overwhelmed and over-extended" post) i'm beginning to wonder if graduating in december will be possible or not. i'd probably ought to start changing my mindset to a may '09 graduation instead of december '08.

_________________________________________________


so tomorrow, we go in for the EEG and MRI. nick's EKG turned out fine, so he's on the new headache meds and they really seem to be doing the trick. he's been hyper and crazy and basically "normal" (if there is such a thing for him) for the past 2 evenings, it's good to have my son back after a 6 week hiatus! i hate it when my kids aren't feeling well, even if it means i get a little peace and quiet, because i hate to see them miserable.

...and it's that time of year again, when the insanity starts, and you're carrying around this sign-up sheet for girl scout cookie sales! we missed the meeting over the break, so elisabeth just got her information monday night. besides my big order that i wrote in last night, she just started selling cookies today. she's already sold 42 boxes and got all three of our school's principals to order from her, she's really impressing me this year. last year she was so shy and scared to ask people, and this year she's pretty bold compared to what i expected! i love how much better she is lately at having confidence and concentration. it's awesome!

okay, off to start reading genesis for my old testament survey course...wheeeeeee!!!

i know, i swore it'd be better, but i'm a slacker...

what can i say?!?

this month has been crazy and busy as usual, but even more so when you add the broken arm, chronic headaches and holidays!

nick's been having headaches since thanksgiving weekend, and it has just been insane. we're trying to get him into a neurologist, but can't get an appointment until the 24th of january. he's missed a lot of school, but the quarter's over and he's allowed to turn stuff in after break, so hopefully he'll a little of it done, but i'm not stressing him out about it. i'm wondering if the stress of school and all of his projects has exacerbated the problem.

i'm working on starting my business, which is going to focus on a proven weightloss program that focuses on lifestyle changes, not just losing weight. it looks like we're going to start out by holding two separate meeting groups, one at my school and one at the Y. i'm excited about the possibilites this business has, and how God has given me some awesome visions about what to do with the income generated with it. i just know he's going to bless this business so we can further do more to reach more people for Christ, and that's so exciting to me. my first goal is to get jerry out of his bi-vocational status, and focusing more on ministry. after that, who knows?!?

i've registered for my classes for the spring semester. i'm taking 15 hours and have enough financial aid that it covers it and then some. guess i'll use it for living expenses so i won't need to tutor on the side or work during the summer. i want to graduate and be certified by december 2008 if possible. i believe i'm going to start shortly afterward on my master's degree too, there's so much i want to do and this is opening up so many doors of possibility. having a psychology degree can go in so many directions both in education and other areas too.

christmas has come up on me so quickly, i barely got anything accomplished for the holidays until mid-week this past week. i substituted for a teacher for 6 of the last 8 days of school and seemed to have something almost every evening. we were successful in surviving the last day of the quarter, which is always amazing to me. we also were successful in pulling off an awesome youth christmas party at our house too. i didn't get christmas cards sent out, and when i was thinking about doing it last minute i realized that most of the addresses were lost when my email inbox got deleted from Rushmore, our kitty, walking on the keys of our laptop. crazy kitten, he was chasing the cursor on the screen and i thought it was cute....until i realized his feet deleted my emails! so i'm working on an ecard to send out, hopefully i can get it out tomorrow afternoon. i still have a little bit of shopping to do, but not a ton. the major stuff is done. i do have some groceries to get for our christmas eve dinner of lefse though....can't wait for that, yum!!!

well i'm off for 2 weeks, so maybe i'll stop by and babble a bit more often over my break, but don't hold your breath! i don't want to be responsible for anyone suffocating from waiting for me to come back by this week! haha i plan to post some pics of our christmas and stuff, so i might surprise you and actually follow through! until then...don't hold your breath, k? :)

okay, it's been awhile, eh?

wow, i think that might almost be a record of time between posts....

okay, so things are working out really well in some areas and not so well in others...

work---que sera, sera! i'm no longer allowing myself to stress over stuff for the most part. i go in and do what i can do, and leave it to that. it's not "fun" like it used to be, but i'm doing my job and kids are learning, so that's good.

school finances---due to unforseen circumstances that got really bad, but turned out to be a good thing... i've applied for financial aid and will most likely get a grant or two and some loans. the plan is to start in january, registration for classes begins this week.

church---the good, the bad, and the ugly... women of faith conference was really good, just what i needed when marilyn meberg totally hit me in the face with what i needed to hear (see below). we're growing, expanding and planning to move into a new facility soon too. church still hurts though, you have to actually open up to experience it fully and i try and then get smacked upside the head again, so then i close off again. i've got too many issues, and it seems to keep replaying over and over and over.

spiritually---i've been so dry for so long, ever since leaving our church in 2004 i've felt so far from God much of the time. i've pretty much put up walls every time i've been hurt, they'll get picked at a bit, but never totally torn down before another one goes up. marily meberg basically said that the callousness not only keeps us from opening up to relationships to others like we should, but keeps God out too... so true! so i'm working on that.

family finances---a definite roller coaster. summer happens and we're tight, school/work starts and we're good, unforseen stuff comes up and we're bad again...but it not only caused "good" for school finances, it's going to be good for family finances too.... merry christmas to us! and a happy new year too!

vision and ministry---i'm starting a homebased internet business, and the potential is awesome! not only for our family's financial well-being, but also for our heart for ministry. not wanting to cross bridges before we come to them, but this could definitely end up opening some awesome doors to minister in our community and to unknown other possibilities beyond our locality. at first, the greedy side of me just wanted to "make money, money, make money, money, money" as john reuben had us sing at journeyfest. sure, i want to own my own home and have reliable vehicles that aren't on the verge of breaking down, but do i need 10 acres and a huge house with horses? (that's my "earthly dream") i've reeled it in, and if/when the business reaches its full potential, we'll live off of "x" amount of money and everything else will be tagged for ministry, helping family, college funds, and retirement, and in that order. hubby's had a dream since early in our marriage, it was long-forgotten until recently, but this could potentially make that happen. prayers for God's blessings are greatly appreciated, we want to glorify Him through this business venture and the focus is more on what we can do for the Kingdom when this is successful, rather than what is God going to give us.

family---elisabeth broke her arm last week and is dealing with some issues, and nick has been dealing with the asthma/allergy/sinus stuff and some other things as well...hopefully everything will smooth out soon and calm down! we got a new family member though....rushmore is our new kitty, and he's as cute as can be! rocky (our basset hound dog) and rushmore play and fight just like normal siblings do....so much fun and excitement around here!!!

marriage---jerry and i realized we've been together for just over 17 years now. it's awesome, and i still love this man so much!

well, that's it. much better than my september rant. now i'm going to try to post things i'm thankful for on a daily basis...i need to count my blessings more often!

wow, summer's flying by...

i haven't done everything i wanted to this summer as far as "improvement" goes, but i've been working on it.

summer school is over, i'm working at target all night now, and have been doing work for my friend....kinda busy, as usual, right?

the organization is still a work in progress, not coming along as quickly as i'd hoped, but we have company coming in just over a week, so that will be motivation to get it all done.

weightloss isn't going so well, but neither is the exercise. grr!!!

things are starting to fall into place for taking classes, just need the finances to get there too, but it's getting there.

everything else, well that's always a work-in-progress...spiritual stuff, wife/mom stuff. never gonna be perfect, but always room for improvement.

so yeah, there are only about 3 weeks left until i go back to work at school. can't believe it's gone so quickly!!! need a few more fun things planned in there, busch gardens, beach, etc.

wow, one post a month...

i'm really slacking off, aren't i?!? what can i say? life's been busy!

we went to the beach today, ft. desoto state park, with the youth group and their families. it was a pain getting there, but it was a perfect day for the beach once we got there.

i can hardly believe that summer's here again already. one more school year is over, and my kids are a grade older. i'll be working at summer school after we get back from youth camp, and i'll be working at target part-time too, along with tutoring. definitely a busy summer, i'm sure, but what's new for our family, right? hopefully i'll have more time to blog because i do miss "thinking out loud" here!

time for a shower before i hit the pillows... hopefully this is the first of MANY beach trips for the bolts this summer!

life's been so busy...

I haven't had much exciting stuff to post here at all. For anyone who happens to still pop by occasionally, sorry I've become so boring! LOL

Today our youth group is going ice skating. It was supposed to be "Serve and Skate", but the "serve" part fell through. The lady we were supposed to do stuff for (yardwork and clean-up around the house) has company coming. It should be fun, and Elisabeth gets to come, so she's excited to try ice skating for the first time.

Let's see. Our school is down-sizing on staff because of 2 new schools opening in the area. Thanks to our fiasco move to the other side of the state, I had resigned and therefore lost my position on the seniority list. So, now I'm last on the list and depending on the allocations to see whether or not I get to stay. Elisabeth came into my room at school one day this week with her face all splotchy and a school letter in hand, she had misread the letter and thought she wasn't going to get to come back to our school next year. Poor thing. I hope I can stay just because of her, but we're losing two principals, so who knows how good our staff will be next year anyway. If I do get the bump, I'm willing to go to one of the new schools. They have some really good administration people, so I'd be fine there. Plus, Elisabeth's best friend Alex will be going to the new school....it wouldn't be all bad.

So that's the excitement around here.

I do have to say though, we've met some great people through our "new" church, and have made some awesome friends. That feels nice for a change. Usually we get shoved off with the youth and none of the adults really try to let us in and get to know us. Our church is gearing up for it's first anniversary, pretty exciting stuff going on there.

yes, i'm still alive...

I've been sick for the past (almost) 3 weeks, so I've not been "here". Sorry! Soccer is over and now we're in the middle of Girl Scout cookie sales...fun, fun!