GRRRRR

I'm having blogger stress on multiple levels

1. I don't like blogging out of order. So, I'm waiting for some pictures to blog about my weekend trip to Chicago. I didn't take any of my own. And I'm waiting for more Arizona pictures to blog about my trip to Arizona. Than I have other pictures I want to put up.
2. I tried to give you a tease of the pictures from a few my mom sent me, but blogger is not cooperating two days in a row now. Which means that even if I had pictures this moment, I would not be able to do anything about it.
3. I have had writer's block lately, so I haven't really known what to write about (shocking, I know, since not having anything to say has rarely stopped me before).

So, eventually I'll blog something :)

Busy but oh so good!

I am currently blogging from my mom's apartment in Chicago. I will soon be saying goodbye and heading back to Peoria where I will work tomorrow and then get on a plane on Tuesday for Arizona!

I was so excited on Friday to see my last client for the next TWO WEEKS! As much as I enjoy my job, I am ready for a break. I have to go in tomorrow to get a ton of paperwork done before I can officially be on vacation.

It has been fun to spend time with Chris, Ann, and John. I wish I had a little sound bite so everyone could hear how John says my name. He draws out the ee's, like Treesa, but I also think he says it with a little bit of a southern accent. So cute!

As has become my norm, I brought my camera but didn't ever take it out of my bag. Why should I when I travel with the paparazzi! So, I have some stories to tell, but they will be better told with pictures along with them, so I will wait until mom makes a disk of her pictures for me.

Maybe I'll post some stuff while in Arizona, but it might be a week before you hear from me again.

Thinking in Facebook Status Updates

Sometimes, as I'm going through my day, status updates run through my mind. Sometimes I think it's a little sickening. Sometimes it amuses me. Sometimes I think people would de-friend me if I put all the status updates on Facebook as I think them. So, most of them I think to myself. Then I remembered, wait...I have a blog too, I can just put them there! :) Here are some from this evening:

I drank milk out of the carton for the first time in probably about 15 years!

I just went outside to get something out of my car in shorts, snow boots, and my winter coat! The thermometer read 8.2 degrees! I almost took a picture of myself after I looked in the mirror :)

I got more accomplished in two hours at home this evening than I did all day yesterday being snowed in. Exercised, finished Christmas cards, paid some bills. Getting ready to eat dinner, wrap some Christmas presents, and then watch Hawaii Five-O.

There's a peak into my evening and my mind! :)

I'm Finally No Longer Bitter about Christmas Trees :)

So, (I feel like if I start my post this way, I'm in the middle of a conversation with all my readers!) on Wednesday night I asked Emily if she wanted to shift the Christmas tree to hide the non-lit strand. She quickly agreed! This required basically redecorating the tree because we had to turn it about 2/3 of the way around and don't have enough ornaments to decorate the back of the tree. But, so far we have not had any more light strand casualties.

As in years past, I will start with the previous year's Christmas tree picture. At the end of the year, Emily threw this tree away. We had to string it up to keep it from tilting last year. She bought a new tree that is a couple feet taller. Last year we had to buy lots more strands of lights. I prepared Emily that we would probably have to buy more. We estimated how many more. Neither of us estimated this many:
YIKES! I'll admit, I was a little ashamed to admit how many lights are on the tree this year. Emily let the cat out of the bag on Facebook. The problem is, once I start one way, when I run out of lights, I have two options: 1)take them all off and start over. 2)go out and buy more. Emily, yet again, was a good sport and went out twice to get more lights. The end result. 35 strands. But remember, one strand doesn't work :)

It's like a Where's Waldo...can you spot where the original missing strand went out? After this strand, the one right next to it went out. That is when I began to lose all love for well-lit Christmas trees. Once I replaced those two, the strand up from that went out. It is still currently out, but at the back of the tree now.

A close-up of the unlit strand.

And one last shot with the pretty snow from last weekend in the background. I think this was after I replaced the two strands and before the third strand went out. So this is the Christmas tree with 3500 lights lit in full glory!

I'm still here

Just a quick note to say...I'm still here. I have been equal parts busy and unmotivated. Emily is pestering me to post Christmas pictures. I believe the exact quote was, "You take pictures of spiders and put them on your blog. You have to take a picture of the boxes of lights we bought this year." But the tree has been a little bit of a fiasco. Three different strands going out on three different days. I wouldn't even let her plug it in for about a week because I couldn't deal with it. So, until the tree pictures go up...how many strands of lights and/or lights do you think are on the tree? If you already know the answer because you have talked to me or Emily, you can't answer the question!

A Conversation with Wheat Thins Girl

Here's the conversation:
Her: "I saw someone who looked just like you this weekend and she was scary!"
Me: "Do you think I'm scary?"
Her: "YES!!!!"
Me: "What makes me scary?"
Her: "You're short!"
Me: "And you think short people are scary?"
Her: "Well, George, thinks that Midgets are scary."
Me: "I'm not a Midget."
Her: "But you're shorter than me!"
Me: "But I'm still not a Midget. And I'm sorry you think I'm scary!"
And on the next subject we went...

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY JOHN!!!!

Today is my nephew's birthday. Very exciting. I got to talk to him on the phone as he opened his present from me. And then he got on the phone and said, "Thank you Teresa! I love you!" And then he blew me a big kiss! Definitely the highlight of my day.

A couple of weeks ago me, my roommate, and one of our friends were arguing over whose nephew was the cutest. To stop the debate, we decided that I had the cutest almost 3 year old nephew, Emily had the cutest 13 month old nephew, and Joanne has the cutest nephew under 1.

So, I guess now I have the cutest 3 year old nephew!

Select Thoughts from Teresa's brain on a Friday evening after a long week of work and two days of a cold!

That's the title you get when I'm not in the mood to be creative, just get the information out for the people to read! And by "people" I mean...hmmm...I never know who I mean. It's a funny thing when random people come up to me and comment on my blog. Oh, you read it too? Granted, I've started putting on Facebook when I blog a new post, but for some reason, I still only think that the people who comment on my blog are the only one's who read it.

On another note, when I read books, I get so involved in them, that part of me is sad when I am done. I mean, sometimes I have invested a couple weeks into reading a book. I just finished a book that was the second in a series. So, for the last three weeks, I have been reading these two books in my spare time. At the end of the book, I just want to know what happens next. I like books that have epilogues, but I want them to be 20 years down the road so that I REALLY know what happened with these characters. For instance, in this book I want to know
1. where was the location of their wedding?
2. where did they end up living (he lived in California, she lived in Iowa)
3. what about the foster kid he took under his wings? was he adopted by the family who was trying to straighten him out, but that he didn't like very much?
4. did she ever reconcile with her parents? did they come around after she had a child within the bounds of marriage (she had gotten pregnant in high school and they made her give it up for adoption)?
5. how many children did they end up having? and what did they name the child that was born in the epilogue?

I can just hear my brother's voice now...nothing happens after the end of the book. It's not real. But in some small part of my brain those characters become real while I'm reading the book, so I always want to know more.

On to the next thing...Today I was with a client and was getting hungry, so I ate a granola bar while he ate fruit snacks. He asked me, "Are you trying to lose weight?" because apparently that's the only reason one can eat a granola bar.

I lost my voice yesterday, so I got to stay home from work. I won't lie, it was nice. But I also stressed about all the appointments I had to cancel. And my voice did come back for the most part in the afternoon, but not enough that I felt I could talk a lot to clients. I never got dressed, which also meant I didn't take a shower (ewww....).

I was looking through the Bed Bath and Beyond catalog today and found several things that were slightly alarming:
1. a machine that turns water into soda (it just sounds yucky)
2. an inflatalbe Wii Racing cart
3. a "sound asleep pillow" with a built-in speaker that you hook your iPod to (iPod not inlcuded, just in case you were wondering)
4. a "rechargeable mangroomer" which is a do-it-yourself electric back hair shaver

Okay, that's all the randomness I can think of for now!

Maybe I'm dying?

Yesterday morning I noticed I had a rash on my neck. The only time I've known myself to get this rash is when I have a fever, so I kept feeling my forehead, but I didn't feel hot. Funny though, that I started talking myself into not feeling well... Anyway, when I got home last night, the rash was even worse. I took my temperature and it was 97.6. Later in the evening, I took it again and it was 97.1 The rash was still present this morning and has faded some throughout the day, but when I got home, I took my temperature again. Now it is 96.7. Maybe I am slowly dying. Is body temperature the first thing to go? I just don't know.

On a funny note, I called my mom last night. When she answered the first thing I said was, "In the 31 years you've known me, have you ever known me to get a rash on my neck for anything but a fever?" Her answer: "You get rashes on your neck when you get a fever?" : ) I guess that answered my question and than some!

Nostalgia

My first car as a junior in high school that I bought (if you can call it that!) with my own money was a 1983 red Honda Prelude. Here is an image I found on the Internet: And here is a Honda add for the Prelude. I laughed when I read it.

First of all, my car was NOT new when I bought it. It was about 12 years old. Secondly, I don't think there was much precision in my car! :) And by the time I got it, it was definitely not this pretty. It had peeling paint (the guy I dated in high school called it "the chameleon"). In the mornings, even though it was an automatic, I used to have to shift between the different drives to get it to accelerate. It no longer had air conditioning (unless you count low: one window down; medium: two windows down; high: two windows and the sun roof open). But if you had the sun roof open, you better make sure that it didn't start raining because you had to hold the button with one hand and push it closed with the other...yes, I had to pull over a time or two! I don't think the speedometer worked very well. The person who sold me the car taught me how to "judge" my speed by the rpms. I guess it worked, I never got pulled over. Until I looked at these pictures, I had forgotten the pop up lights. Although if I remember correctly, my lights no longer closed.

But did I mention it was all mine. A friend of my mom's sold me the car, so I paid $50.00 into a savings account each month for the car. And I paid the insurance and gas. I loved this car! I will always remember it with fondness. And when I see one on the road, which I did the other day (the prompting for this post), I miss my first car, even as I sit in the "luxury" of my almost 4 year old car.

Pain = No Gain?

I can't decide if it's a good thing that I can't stand or sit without clenching my teeth and holding my breath. Or that I have to talk myself into moving before I actually do it.

Yesterday I decided to enter into the land of the exerciser again. Stupid exercise tape! :) I got through it yesterday and woke up feeling somewhat sore, but my goal was to complete the tape again today. So I did it. But now I can't move.

I started thinking about the saying "No pain, no gain." But considering I am exercising so I don't gain weight, I figured the better saying should be "Pain, hopefully no gain." We'll have to see.

Last night before I left the apartment to hang out with some friends, I cracked my window so that it would cool off for bedtime. I was driving home thinking it would probably be somewhere in the mid fifties in my room. Ummm, no. It was 48 degrees! I can't really say I minded. I did close the window. But it still felt wonderful to curl up under an extra blanket and drift off into peaceful slumber! Crazy, I know!

Okay, off to find something for lunch, but I have to steel myself, get some momentum up, use the table as a brace to push myself up. Hmmm...maybe I should browse a little longer :)

Hanging out with High Schoolers

I was able to tag along to Tanners with Emily and her some of her small group girls. I was excited for two reasons: One: I was determined to make it to Tanners this year and I really wanted to do the corn maze (which closes at the end of October). Two: I love when I get invited to hang out with Emily's small group because they are a fun group of girls. Only some of them were able to make it, but we still had a blast! A lovely roommate portrait! :)

We were on our way to the corn maze, but it took a while to get there because we had to stop and play a lot! The girls are showing their personalities in this picture!

The girls decided we should race through the maze, so we decided to divide into two teams. Emily and I were "captains. The established rule was that we could only stay on the real paths of the maze, which is really difficult at this time of year, because people create shortcuts to get to the checkpoints. My team won. We didn't take pictures during the race, because, well, we were racing. No time to stop and smell the roses!

A really bad roommate self-portrait. My arms are just not long enough! :)

The girls really wanted to play on the playground (which, I'll admit, is a really cool playground!) but we told them no at first because it cost money to get in. However, they asked and we didn't have to pay, so we played quickly because it was almost time to go!

They had these bikes that we all paired up on. Let's just say, Keely and Emily had some difficulty driving :). Just kidding, I think they were purposefully going the wrong way! Emily looks like she is doing a really good job steering, but really, the passenger steering wheel didn't work at all. I know, because I was the passenger on my bike.

Jenni did an excellent job driving us around. She even stopped and threw herself into harms way to get my apple cider donuts when they fell out of the basket! It's sad to say, but I'm so out of shape that I'm pretty sure I am sore today from peddling so hard during our ride.

The girls were so excited to get on the bus. They even picked up some extra passengers along the way!

I love this picture of Emily and her girls. They are a photogenic group, that's for sure.

Another roommate picture. The "serious" one. Although I told Emily that it looks like we're holding hands (which we are not. My hand is behind her!)

After Tanners, we went to Avanti's for dinner. The conversation got interesting. We may have giggled and talked about boys some. Emily and I may have participated somewhat (while still maintaining some sense of being the adults in the group, of course!) The girls are so cute. They insisted that as soon as Emily starts dating someone, she must bring him to a small group event because they need to approve of him if she is going to continue dating him. I just sat back and decided that, although I love hanging out with them, I'm glad I work with 3rd-6th graders!

Dreams, Part Two

So, last night I had a dream that I was back in college. How weird is that?! That was fast. High school to college in two days! Look out Doogie Howser!


In other news, I had a busy weekend! I went up to my mom's on Friday night. Saturday morning I attended the wedding of some Peoria friends. It was beautiful, the reception site was amazing! After the wedding, I was able to meet up with most of my girl cousins for some shopping and eating! It was a lot of fun!

Here we are. Michelle, Sara, me, Katie, Marta (plus two), Carin, and Kammy. The only Illinois cousin we were missing was Missie, who got sick. And then we were missing three out of state cousins...Ann, Jenniefer, and Cherisse. We told lots of stories that I won't repeat on here. After all, what happens with the cousins, stays with the cousins! It was a really good day. Then Sunday I got to see my grandma. She is recovering from a fall she had about 3 weeks ago. She is still her spunky self. When I got there, she said, "I'm not getting up to give you a hug!" so I leaned down and gave her one in her chair. Then when it was time to go, I started to lean down and give her a hug and she said, "Well, I'm getting up to give you a hug! But it's only going to be a one-handed hug!" Okay, Grandma!

Dreams

How can I still be dreaming about high school at the age of 31? And the dreams don't ever change. I had a dream that I was late for class. But I couldn't remember what class I was supposed to be going to. Or where the room was. And I couldn't find my schedule to find out any of the answers. Here's a new part though...once I got to class, I was digging through my bag to find something and my iPod kept turning on and playing music really loud (which isn't really possible, but it was a dream!).

So, my only question really is, "when will I outgrow high school nightmares?"

Testimony Night

Last year in AWANA, we had our first Testimony Night. Last night was our second. I love testimony night for many reasons, but last night I got to add one more reason to my list. Generally, one of the leaders will give their testimony to get the ball rolling, and then the floor is opened for the kids to give their testimonies. It is so much fun to watch the kids bounce in their seats to get picked. As adults, we would never be that excited to get up in front of a room full of people and tell them how we came to know the Lord as our Savior (to which we should be ashamed, by the way!). So, one of my new leaders for this year gave her testimony last night. Then, about six kids gave their testimonies before it was time to go. While we were herding the kids off to game time, I noticed several of the girls hanging back to talk to a few leaders. I went on with my administrative duties, so that I would be ready to give the girls their awards at the end of the evening. I went into game time toward the end of the evening and one of the leaders informed me that HER DAUGHTER HAD ACCEPTED CHRIST! :) :) :) :) She's a fourth grader and had been struggling with the concept of not being able to see God. Something in the leader's testimony hit a chord with her and she talked to her afterward and prayed to receive Christ! I was amazed at God's goodness! And it was great being able to see this through her mom's eyes as she told the story! God is so good!

Scripture Saturday plus a Song

I've been listening to Sara Groves since I went to her concert. Everyone kept telling me that they loved the song "Painting Pictures of Egypt," but every time I heard it, I wasn't really paying attention only heard the line with the title of the song. Today, I finally paid enough attention to say "Wow!" :)

The song is based on Exodus 16:3. The Israelites are wandering in the desert after the Lord has led them out of Egypt, where they had been in slavery. The verse says, "The Israelites said to them, 'If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.'"

I know in my own life, it is so true that I look back on the places I've been and sometimes choose to only see the idyllic part of the journey, not the sweat and tears that were involved. Sometimes, even when it's a painful place, the familiar of the past is so much easier to handle than the unknown future. But I love the line in the chorus of the song that says "the places that used to fit me cannot hold the things I've learned." Going back wouldn't work, even if I could do it.

Here are the lyrics:
I don’t want to leave here
I don’t want to stay
It feels like pinching to me either way
The places I long for the most
Are the places where I’ve been
They are calling after me like a long lost friend

It’s not about losing faith
It’s not about trust
It’s all about comfortable
When you move so much
The place I was wasn’t perfect
But I had found a way to live
It wasn’t milk or honey
But then neither is this

CHORUS:
I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
The future seems so hard
And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I've learned
And those roads closed off to me
While my back was turned

The past is so tangible
I know it by heart
Familiar things are never easy to discard
I was dying for some freedom
But now I hesitate to go
Caught between the promise
And the things I know

BRIDGE:
If it comes too quick
I may not recognize it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?
If it comes too quick
I may not appreciate it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?

Don't Count Your Chickens Before They're Hatched

I think that is the right saying for the story I'm about to tell.
I haven't told any funny client stories lately. Maybe I'm losing my touch. Anyway, this is what happened on Tuesday. My client is 14. I see him Tuesday's 15 minutes after he gets home from school. Monday was a holiday.
Me: Knock, knock on the door.
Client opens door looking dazed in sweatpants: Is it Tuesday?
Me: Yep. Were you sleeping?
Client: No. I was watching a movie.
Me: Did you go to school today?
Client: No, I'm suspended until Thursday.
Me: Stunned Silence. (which is very therapeutic, I'm sure)
Client: Let me go get changed. Closes door.
Me in like 2.5 seconds flat. All internal dialogue and very loud, thus the all caps: I CAN'T BELIEVE HE GOT SUSPENDED. HE FOUGHT THAT KID WHO HAS BEEN SPREADING RUMORS ABOUT HIM. WE HAVE TALKED FOR THREE WEEKS. THREE WEEKS. ABOUT HOW THIS IS NOT A GOOD IDEA. I CANNOT BELIEVE HE DID THIS. I GIVE UP. WHY DO I EVEN DO THIS JOB. UGGGHHHH.
Door opens and out walks Mom.
Me (in a very calm, professional voice): So, he got suspended...
Mom: Yeah, he had too many tardies and missed the Saturday school, which is an automatic two day suspension.
Me: Internal sigh.

:)

But, really, I'll never understand a school's logic. A kid can't get to class on time, so we're going to suspend him for two days! That'll teach him. Maybe we should make the kid come to school two hours early. Or have him escorted from class to class. But no, instead we send him home to sleep in and watch movies all day. Great idea! When I was in high school, it didn't matter what class you were late to, after so many tardies, they took away your parking permit. I mean, it makes sense if you're late to school every day. But what does driving have to do with being tardy to 3rd period?

My weekend

I have had several relaxing weekends and it has been really nice. Nothing to report there. But this was the best kind of weekend (minus the 90 degree weather in October...but that's a story for another time). Relaxing but with things to do. Friday night, after working a 9 hour day at work (I know, don't go into shock...just breath, get passed it, and keep reading), I met friends for dinner and than we went to see Life As We Know It. It was a pretty good movie. Typical chick flick. Very predictable. One of my favorite quotes (maybe it shouldn't be, but it made me laugh out loud) was when the male lead said to the female lead, "Women your age aren't considered single, they're considered complicated." So, apparently that's me...complicated. I might just have to agree!

Saturday I was able to sleep in (Yay!). I made my way slowly from bed, meaning I woke up at 8, got out of bed around 10, and made my way to the couch to read a book until 12. But than I slowly began to complete things on my to-do list. I changed out my spring/summer comforter for my fall/winter comforter (even though it was almost 90 degrees in October). Than I cleaned my bathroom, paid some bills, read some more. You get the idea...relaxing, but getting things done.

Saturday night I went to a Sara Groves concert at a church in Morton. I love church concerts (as opposed to ones in big civic centers). They are intimate and you feel like you're among friends. I went to a Nichole Nordeman concert with friends while I lived in Texas. So, this already brought good memories, even before the concert began. I was struck by several lyrics that Sara (see, I can call her Sara, because she feels like a friend now!) sang. One song was titled "Different Kinds of Happy." It was an interesting concept that I have been pondering the last couple of days. She also sang a song about the house she grew up in. She told stories about the house before she sang it, and she suggested we think about that place that brings back good memories. I immediately thought of my Grandpa's house. There are so many memories from that place for me. It is where the idea of family was cemented for me. The concept of play. She quotes a passage from Psalms in the song...He has withheld no good thing. The last song she sang was titled "Joy Is In Our Hearts" and ends with the line..."for good reason, joy is in our hearts." I have such a reason to be joyful, which takes me back to the idea that there are different kinds of happy. There is giddy happy, and there is joy in the pain, knowing that I have His joy in my heart. Last, she sang a song called "Twice as Good." It was a song about friendship, and the chorus states, "life with you is half as hard and twice as good." It made me think of friendships I value in life.

Then we started a new sermon series in church, which is always exciting because it doesn't happen very often. Sometimes Pastor Ritch's series last over a year.

So, that was my weekend! :)

Just a little catch up

Okay, my own title makes me laugh, because the first thing I was going to say in this extremely random post is that lots of ketchup can cover up a lot of poor choices...like a really old bun for your hamburger at dinner.

Tonight I get to go watch some friends and my roommate play softball in truly fall weather. I am VERY excited. I have almost two hours, but I am savoring what I might be able to do with this hour in the cold. Long sleeve shirt... hoodie sweatshirt... blanket... thermos of hot chocolate. Oh my goodness...I wish you could truly understand my excitement! :)

I've been sleeping with my window open, even though it's gotten down into the 30s the past few nights. Monday morning when I woke up, it was 55 degrees in my room. Which is all good until I actually had to get out of bed and make my way into the bathroom which is attached to my bedroom. Needless to say, 55 degrees is great for snuggling under blankets, but not for undressing and getting into the shower! But I survived and repeated the process again this morning :)!

I was going to continue with some very boring commentary on the rest of my life, but maybe I'll save it for another day. Does anybody really want to hear about the movies I have been renting the last couple of weeks?

Feeling kind of old and doubling over laughing because of it!

As you can see from my last two posts, I'm in a random mood. And I keep forgetting things I want to blog about so you're getting lots of small posts instead of one long one. Plus, my roommate might kick me out after she sees that I did, in fact, publish this story!

Tonight she asked me how long high school football games are. First of all, I'm not a football fan. Second of all, my answer was "I haven't been in high school in 13 years. No wait--12. No wait, it was 13." (Remember, I'm not so good at math).

But that reminded me of a conversation that has been ongoing in our apartment because it tickles my funny bone. I was telling her a random conversation I had with someone else that ended with us talking about me dating a pro football player and having to be interested in football. At the end of the story, Emily said she didn't think I should worry about dating a pro football player. She stated that at this point in our lives we could maybe date retired pro football players, but not actual pro football players. And that means I wouldn't have to worry about looking interested in football on national TV! Okay, that didn't sound very funny when I read it. But while the story doesn't translate well onto the blog, rest assured, it has brought great amusement to some pretty stressful days this week!

Odd reminiscing

I started a new Bible study a couple of weeks ago. The book we were given is loose-leaf, so I needed a notebook to put it in. Check. Then I decided that instead of taking notes from the video in my little church notebook that I usually use, I would use good ole' college ruled loose-leaf paper. So, last night I pulled out my paper at the table to watch the video and take notes. It was a major deja vu moment. I guess there are times I really do miss school. But I'd much rather relive it this way with no tests or stress! Did I mention my notebook has a big ladybug on it...no boring colored notebooks for me! :)

So maybe I'm a little "quirky"

If I get an email that someone has posted a comment on my blog, I delete the email, go to my blog and read the comment directly on my blog. I never open the email.

If I get an email about something from Facebook, I open the email and read what the comment was. I rarely ever go to Facebook first.

If I'm on Facebook and I see that someone has posted on their blog, I never click on the link from Facebook to read the new post. I always go to the person's blog directly.

Sometimes I don't even understand my own quirkiness, let alone trying to figure out the quirks of others! :)

Knowing people's names

Creepy? Kind? Good customer service? Pathetic? Those are the words that come to mind, but all for different situations.

Today, I stopped by the Chinese place by my old office. I walked up to the counter and the man said, "Teresa, what would you like to order today?" Granted, I have been eating there for 4 years, and most of the time I call in my order and give him my name, but it still made me feel...pathetic. Because I eat there so much. But it also makes me feel good that he remembers my name.

And for another story...I know, two in one day...I hope I'm not giving anyone a heart attack. The way my schedule is right now, I go to Pekin 3-5 days a week. They are doing construction in a very inconvenient place that I haven't figured out a way to conveniently bypass yet. And I often forget that it's there so I don't always give myself enough time to get where I'm going. Luckily today I just went from one client's house to Pekin even though I would be getting there early (or so I thought) because it took 45 minutes to get to the house! It normally takes me about 20-25 minutes. But the thing that irritates me the most is the drivers who decide to ride in the lane that is closing until the last possible second and cut in front of all the other cars who have been waiting a really long time because of the cut-in-front cars! But then I felt really bad because I was purposely riding the fender of the car in front of me so that no one could cut in front of me. I mean, seriously, those cars probably added 10 minutes to my trip. Okay, deep breaths. I'm over it now. Well, until tomorrow when I have to sit in the traffic again. If my car was bigger, I would straddle the two lines so no one could get through, but I'm not quite that aggressive :).

Waiting

Don't worry...it's Saturday. I'm not waiting for anything profound or mysterious. But I'm a little ashamed to admit what I am waiting for...

The return of prime time television. I have been waiting for NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles to start since the beginning of September! I just finished watching the last two episodes of each show from last season to prepare me for the new shows on Tuesday! :) And every week I go to cbs.com to see if they have any previews for the new shows. I even set up the VCR (aren't I old-school) on Tuesday to record so that I could see if they put any previews there!

And I'm thinking of watching the first episode of Hawaii Five-O. The previews have me intrigued. We'll see if I continue to watch it.

A funny (or gross) story...all about the perspective

I almost forgot this client story until this morning in supervision. Last week I had a 7 year old male client. I took him to the park. Not my first choice because he is severely ADHD and doesn't often think about the consequences of his actions. But we normally meet at my supervisor's church and it was locked. Anyway, we went to the Pekin lagoon. While we were there, my client had to go to the bathroom. Since they were setting up for the Marigold Festival, there were port-a-potties close by. We ran (only because he doesn't really know how to walk). When he came out of the bathroom, he exclaimed "That was awesome!" He couldn't stop talking about how totally cool that bathroom was. He described it to me. I tried to sound completely interested (since that's what a good therapist does) but inside was gagging because I didn't think ever in my life I would use the word awesome and port-a-potty in the same sentence! Like I said...it's all about the perspective!

To Blog or Not to Blog

It has been 3 weeks since I have blogged! To say the least, my life got a little bit crazy once I got back from vacation! And then the decision becomes, do I play catch up on the last 3 weeks, or do I just start from today (this is why I don't keep a journal, because I get frustrated when I don't write in it for awhile and then I just stop writing altogether).

I don't want this to be a melancholy, woe is me, post, which is part of the problem. I want to give some honest answers to what has been going on, but I don't want to complain or sound like I have a horrible life :). Because I don't. I am very blessed to have family and friends who love me.

Dad, Amy, Daynah, Josh, and the 3 cats left for Arizona on Wednesday morning. It has been an up and down week emotionally. This weekend was hard because, being a holiday weekend, I would have spent quite a bit of time at the house with them. I get teary at random times, and have been over the top emotional anyway. I cried buckets reading a book that I have read at least 5 times. I cried during at least two movies I watched this weekend. I cried when I talked to Dad on the phone to see how they were settling in. I cried when I had to eat frozen chicken fingers for lunch yesterday instead of something cooked on the grill.

But I've also laughed a lot. Kari's family adopted me Saturday night for dinner and games. That was a lot of fun. Emily has been a great roommate and kept me company throughout the week and listened to me, no matter how silly or sappy I would get.

And always, I have a great Lord who wants to shower me with His blessings. Two weeks ago I went on a weekend retreat with my Sunday School class. The speaker spoke about God's will and also gave us some tangible ways to break down affliction/suffering/trials so that we can see what God is up to in our lives. With that, he gave us lots of Scripture to apply the questions to. So, I have been going through those Scriptures each morning to discover what I can learn from this particular trial in my life. Over and over again, I come back to several facts. First, God is a God of love. Second, God calls me to suffering so that I can share His glory and goodness with others. Third, God has a good purpose for my life. Fourth, God does not have a plan B for my life and He knows exactly what He is doing. Fifth, I need to stop trying to what-if my way through this situation and move on to the what-now. Sixth, God fills His Word with "so that" statements so that I can know His purpose. It is not a mystery. They have been good lessons to learn, and I look forward to continuing to learn them in the coming weeks.

On top of my family moving, I have been getting geared up for AWANA. It starts this Wednesday and I am getting really excited for the new year. It is daunting to think about but also something I am familiar with. I am ready for the school year routine to settle back in. I also start a new Bible study on Thursday night, different from the Career Impact study that I normally do, so I'm excited to see what God is going to do through this study. My work schedule has been crazy since school is back in session and clients haven't gotten used to the new schedule yet. I'm ready for that to settle down a little bit.

This three day weekend could not have come at a better time. I have filled it with basically nothing. My only plan was dinner on Saturday night and church on Sunday. I have completed two puzzles. I finished a book and am pretty far into a second book. I have watched five movies. Basically I have relaxed. Today I need to get some things accomplished, like cleaning and doing some organizing, but other than that, I'm going to continue to relax.

There you have it, a "brief" catch up on my last three weeks.

A Postcard from the beach! :)

Top Five Highlights so far:
1. The obvious...relaxing at the beach with a good book, family, and lots of fun!
2. John (2 1/2) and CJ (3) running up to me to tell me "I went pee-pee in the sand!" with the biggest grins. ever.
3. Ridin' the waves.
4. Yesterday, while my cousin and I were in the ocean she said "I think it might be raining." I stopped paddling but didn't feel or see anything. She starts laughing because she realized it was her own splashes hitting her in the face. :)
5. Showers after a day at the beach are simply amazing.

A couple lowlights:
1. When I found out we were going to St. Augustine, I googled Chick-fil-a to see if there was one. The only one listed was in the college in St. Augustine, which Chick-fil-a college food is sometimes a little iffy. So, I looked in Jacksonville where we would be flying in. There are 12 Chick-fil-a's in Jacksonville, so I looked to see which ones might be on the way the condo, googled directions to one and printed them out. Chick-fil-a, here I come! We got the rental car and were on the road in record time. Followed the directions to the exit for the Chick-fil-a, took the first turn. I was a little suspicious because it was right downtown and there were no businesses around. Took the second turn, into the hospital complex. So, sad. We used my aunt's phone to try and find another Chick-fil-a. Long story short. No Chick-fil-a for me. So, almost an hour later we were on the road again for the condo (it should have only taken about that long to get there in the first place). We were about 10 minutes from the condo passing through town when I look to the left and see a Chick-fil-a. Too bad we had already eaten lunch! Teresa and I were able to laugh about it while it was happening, but I'm not sure if it's still all that funny to Mom because she was starving while we were driving around trying to find the Chick-fil-a.
2. Yesterday, all of us were on the beach (by all of us I mean about 14 people, although, come to think of it, we were missing about 6 people who were in the condos for different reasons). We have quite the setup on the beach. 3 beach tents, about fifty chairs, twenty coolers, enough sand toys to dig up the whole beach, and all the other paraphernalia that comes with taking 3 toddlers to the beach (the only non-exaggeration in that sentence was the 3 beach tents and maybe the toys). All morning some pretty menacing clouds had been coming and going, but then the sky got pretty dark. All of a sudden it started POURING rain. WE decided to wait it out and began to lower one of the tents to get all nice and cozy under. But then one of the tents started coming out of the sand, so Mary and stood there and held it down. One of the Chris' was starting to lower the middle tent when it flipped and started to blow away, so he, in the pouring down rain, collapsed the tent. The whole storm passed over in about 15 minutes and then the rest of the afternoon was completely sunny and gorgeous. It was quite the adventure.

And one for the road:

Turns out, name selection is not our strong suit in this family. There are currently 15 people in our little entourage. Among those 15 people there are 3 Chris's, 2 Teresa's, and 2 Jennifer's (well, technically a Jenniefer and a Jennifer) It gets a tad bit confusing! :)

Having a great time! Wish you were here!

Praying for Others

There are random things that happen throughout my day that cause me to think about other people and pray for them. Some of these things are long-standing and others are new. Today, I had a couple of new things that happened for me to think of someone to pray for.

But first, an example of a long-standing reminder. When I was little, my dad drove a semi truck for Yellow Freight. I have no idea how long he had this job, but ever since then, it was a game to see who could see a Yellow Freight truck and call it first. To this day, when I see a Yellow Freight truck, it reminds me of my dad and often I take that opportunity to pray for him.

Today, I saw a Mazda 6 which reminded me of my friend Lisa, which caused me to take a few minutes to pray for her. Which led me to look at the clock and see that it was 4:50. 4:50 our time equals 4:50am in Bangkok, which means that my friend Celeste was pleasantly sleeping (at least I hope she was). But it allowed me to pray for a productive day for her, time with the Lord, and an opportunity for her to minister to the Ladyboys in the bars.

What a mighty God I serve that He would give me reminders throughout my day to pray for others!

To be 11 again :)

Last week I had this conversation with my brother Josh:

Me: Did you swim a lot when you were on the cruise?
Josh: Not really.
Me: When I went on a cruise, we didn't swim at all.
Josh: You've been on a cruise?!
Me: Yeah, right after I graduated from high school. But I'd like to go on another one, maybe next year.
Josh: Who's going to pay for you to go on a cruise?
Me: Well, I will.
Josh: You can afford a cruise?!
Me: Well, I would have to be the one to pay for it, unless my imaginary husband wants to pay.
Josh: Well, that's not gonna happen.

Doesn't he boost my self-esteem well? :) Then, today we had this conversation after he found out I'm going to Florida next week:

Josh: Are you driving to Florida all by yourself?
Me: Actually I'm flying.
Josh: You can afford to fly?!
Me: Yes, I can. What's with you not thinking I can afford anything?
Josh: Well, you live in an apartment.
Me: Yes.
Josh: You don't even live in a house. You can't afford one if you live in an apartment.
Me: Actually, I don't own a house because I don't want the responsibility of a house, but I could afford one if I wanted to.

I don't know what his obsession is with me not being able to afford things, but the logic that it all boiled down to me living in an apartment cracked me up!

my "moment"

Okay, now that we've gotten 500 posts out of the way, on to the more serious things in life.

Tomorrow after work I am heading to Dad and Amy's to spend one last evening with Daynah before she leaves for Arizona on Wednesday. I am so excited for the adventure she is going to have this next year. As is natural (I think) I worry about her adjusting to a new school, making new friends, being away from her parents for over a month. Mostly, I am still just being selfish. I am going to miss her. Many of you know her as shy, quiet, and contemplative. But I know her as crazy talkative, with a dry sense of humor, who can make my name about 8 syllables when she's frustrated with me. She can make me laugh just by looking at me. I love playing games with her. I love fighting with her about who has to do something. I love having the never ending "I'm taller." "Well, I'm older." argument. I love these things about her when I am close to her. The hardest part about her leaving is that on the phone she becomes quiet and contemplative even for me. Getting her to answer with more than one word is a lot like pulling teeth. I guess I should just become a dentist...then maybe the teeth pulling will be easier!

As I was reading through my blog, I found this post from several years ago. These are the types of things I will miss about living close to Daynah:

This is what I came home to on Friday. Daynah (on the right) and her friend Jordan were laying on the kitchen floor. Why, you ask. I have no idea. They wouldn't tell me. They just giggled a lot. Then when I got the camera, they got all shy and hid their faces, as if that would stop me from doing anything with the pictures : ).
Okay, now that I've shed enough tears while writing...

Did I mention I am excited for her? I really am. :)

Dilemmas

Hmmm...now I have a dilemma. I got on here to be sappy and have a "moment." But when I signed in to blogger, I realized that this is my 500th post! Wow! I feel like I should have a completely different "moment" now. So, here's my solution. Make this about 5oo and then post again right after it... :)

Who would have ever thought I would have kept up my blog for almost 2 years! I love to write. I love the idea of keeping a journal/diary. I am a horrible failure at actually doing it though. So, when I started this blog, I honestly expected it to be something I would do for a couple of months and then get tired of and not do again. I guess I was wrong.

Other than that, nothing profound to say on this, my 500th post. Don't worry, I won't bore you with 500 things about myself, like I did on my 100th post.

Vacation in less than a week

Yesterday was one week until the beach. This is the conversation I had with my roommate.

Me: I think I'm going to do laundry today instead of Wednesday.
Me (a little while later): But since I'm doing laundry today, the dilemma becomes whether I hang the clothes I plan to take on vacation back in my closet or put them in a pile to pack. If I put them in a pile does that make me too much like my mom?
Emily: Well, since you won't be putting them into your suitcase, but just starting a pile, then you're not actually packing them. I think you're safe.

My mom started packing a week ago. I just couldn't do it, though. The clothes went into the closet. I'll pack on Friday. I'm going to have to do laundry again anyway. Whew, I'm not turning into my mom after all! :) (I love you Mom!) I did start my normal packing list last week, which is probably a trait I got from my mom, but I'm not sure it's ever been confirmed or tested.

A Literal Birthday Month

Today marked a grand day in my life :). It was the day we chose to celebrate my birthday at work!! A little late, yes, but still in the birthday month time frame, so it was okay. Apparently, moving to a new building the day after my birthday put a little damper on having time to celebrate a birthday. I assured everyone that I did not mind...it was all within the realm of who I am, and the longer I can celebrate, the better. (In case you were wondering, we went to the Dynasty Buffet. Sometime around January I announced at a team meeting that I knew exactly where I wanted to go for my birthday lunch and that we wouldn't have to stress over the decision when the time came. In case you weren't wondering, I'm just curious...why do you read my blog anyway?! :) It's all in the details.)

Now, in my birthday card from my aunt, she promised ice cream for my birthday when we are on vacation. Technically, that will be the week after my birthday month. But would I deny her the pleasure of buying me an ice cream cone? Of course not. That would be silly!

Plus, one year, I celebrated a birthday season. Two friends had ideas for birthday presents that took a little planning and I don't think I actually finished my birthday season until November. Definitely didn't complain that time either.

So, the conclusion I have come to is this...while my birthday is the day to celebrate my birth, it really doesn't inflate my ego at all to celebrate me all year long. Go ahead, celebrate...I won't object!

Still processing but now I can share :)

Those who know me well know that I don't always handle change very well :) And I've had a lot of change in my life in the last 3 months. The Lord is faithful. He will not give me more than I can handle. That is the pep talk that I give myself most days. Some days it works well and some days it doesn't. Thus, the emotional roller coaster I mentioned earlier.

In February, my dad and stepmom applied and interviewed for a missionary position to a children's home in Arizona. Two weeks ago they found out they were accepted. They will be house parents to kids who live at the children's home. My sister leaves in a week and a half with her grandma so that she can start school in Arizona. The rest of the family will go as soon as they get everything settled here, which mostly depends on the sale of their house.

I am excited for them as they follow the Lord's leading and leave the comfort of where they have been for 10 years and embark on a new adventure that will stretch them in ways they cannot imagine.

Right now I am grieving the loss of having my family 10 minutes away. I moved to Illinois, and Peoria specifically, so that I could be close to my dad. I wanted to be around to watch Daynah and Josh grow up. I assumed that if anyone would move away, it would be me. I am sad that I will miss being close to Daynah for her last two years of high school and being close to Josh as he enters into his teenage years.

Here are the things I am trying to remind myself:
1. This is the Lord's will.
2. Planes travel to Arizona all the time.
3. People keep telling me it's a great place to go in the winter (I tend to disagree, only because I will probably visit at Christmas, and I don't really want to be in 70 degree weather for Christmas)
4. I have done this (been away from my family) for all but four years of my life. And for 3 1/2 of those years I was in a state where none of my family lived.
5. God has graced me with an amazing church family. They are not moving away :). I will need to rely on them in different ways and I look forward to learning the meaning of the body of Christ in a whole new way.

Many have asked me, "So, what are you going to do?" Some of that I have already answered above. But my first answer is that I'm not going to follow them to Arizona. I have no immediate plans to move anywhere. I have a job I enjoy and a church family I love. My mom is 3 hours away. For the time being, I will trust that this is where God wants me, with or without my family. And I will (this is partially a pep talk :)!) enjoy the journey!

Kids say the darndest things

Today I was playing with Play-doh with a client. I was making feeling faces with my play-doh.
Client: What are you making?
Me: What does it look like I'm making?
Client: It looks like you!

I'm still not sure whether to be flattered or offended that she thinks I look like a play-doh smiley face!

Just because

This story might fit into the "I shouldn't universally share it" category, but hey, I'm living on the edge today!

Half of the time I left the bathroom today, I realized that I had not tied the tie on my new capris. I was beginning to think I had gone crazy. Until I realized something about my old capris. I have two pair of capris that just tie. I have one pair of capris that just button. This new pair of capris button and tie. So, as soon as I buttoned the capris, I assumed I was done, because that is the case with my other buttoning capris. Not so much. I must retrain my brain.

Also, my new capris are white. So far I have survived the day without getting anything on them!

Satisfying some curiosity

Apparently, Sunday's blog entry sparked some curiosity and some strong opinions :). But shouldn't all blogs do that? No? Oh, sorry.

Here is some fill in information:
The stuff I don't really want to talk about: I moved buildings at work at the beginning of July. It wasn't fun. I'm still getting used to it. Thus, I don't want to talk about it. (Is that better, Todd?)

Stuff I'm processing: This could also fit into the category "stuff that isn't really my information to share" so I'm still going to leave that one alone for right now. I'll peak your curiosity even more by saying that I love roller coasters, but I'll be ready to get off of this one!

Stuff that isn't that interesting: I had a spider that lived on my car for two days. Every time I went out, the web was built between my mirror and the car door. It became a game to see if I could throw the spider from the car. :) The web would really get to blowing, but the spider kept managing to swing itself over to the mirror and crawl behind it until I stopped the car again and it would build it's web all over again. I was kind of sad to not see the web on Sunday when I went out to my car.

Stuff that I can't universally talk about: hmmm, nope, still not going to go there :)

I'm assuming this didn't really satisfy anyone's curiosity but it was fun to elaborate in my own special way.

Being a softball fan is not for the faint of heart :)

If a picture is worth a thousand words, and I don't have a picture, does that mean I get to use 1,000 words to describe the event? Just curious...

Let me set the stage (if you don't need the stage set, just skip down to paragraph 3)...

Tonight was Monday night softball. I have been a fan of the church's league for four years now. That means I rarely miss a game (and now I usually watch both teams that play on Monday night). As the school year winds down in the spring, I start rearranging my work schedule to get off by five so that I can make it to the games. There are people I only see during softball season. This year it at the first game it was great to hear, "We've missed everyone and couldn't wait to come to the game." I feel the same way. Anyway, that's all background information (I must learn to use my 1,000 words carefully, lest I run out!)

Tonight's game was the Bethany vs Bethany game. The two teams play each other twice in the season. The first game was rained out (I may have prayed that it would be rained out because I was on vacation and didn't want to miss it...) Well, of course, today there was a high chance of rain. It rained earlier in the day, but I didn't think it was enough to cancel the game. But around 6:00 it started raining at my apartment pretty steadily so I assumed the game would be cancelled. I texted Kari and she called and said it had hardly rained at the field and the sun was shining. Yay...game on.

The Bethany/Bethany games are pretty well attended, so the fans come out of the woodwork. Here we were, all geared up to watch a good game of softball when the first drops of rain started. People scrambled to run to their cars...ummm, not exactly. People pulled out their umbrellas and some people ran to their cars to get their umbrellas and run back to their seats. So hear we all sat (I'm horrible at judging numbers, so we'll say between 30 and 50 people) huddled under our umbrellas hoping that it wouldn't rain long. But it just came down harder and harder. We were pretty wet, even with the umbrellas. Just as it started to let up, they officially decided to postpone the game but the teams were still going to play for fun. Down went the umbrellas and out came the ice cream.

It was lots of fun hanging out in the rain. It would have been so boring to sit inside my apartment by myself during that storm! But really...I wish someone had taken a picture of everyone huddled under their umbrellas. Maybe someone did and it will be on Facebook later...

BTW...that was only 476 words :)

Insert Clever Title Here

A lot has been happening with me, but it's either
a) stuff that isn't that interesting
b) stuff I haven't fully processed yet
c) stuff I don't really want to talk about or
d) stuff I can't universally talk about for all the world to read (because my blog is definitely read by hundreds of people all over the world?)

I like to pretend commit to things before I actually commit to things :). So a couple weeks ago, after my trial run in my head, I officially committed to directing the TnT girls in AWANA this year. I love the AWANA ministry. When I lived in Georgia I was a listener in Sparks for a year. Then my last year in Texas I directed Cubbies (which it was a small program so I basically led the Cubbies class). Since being in Peoria I have worked with the TnT girls, which is 3rd-6th grade. I started off as a listener for the 3rd grade girls, which means I listen as they say their verses each week. I moved up with them to 4th grade and became the room leader, which was the same as listening except I also did prayer requests. Then I moved with them to 5th grade. That year I would fill in every once in a while for Kimberly who was the director if she needed me to hand out awards and dismiss the girls after game time. Last year, I became co-director, which basically meant following Kimberly around and doing things she needed me to do (not really, but for the most part). Well, Kimberly is pregnant this year, so she announced at the end of the year that she would not be directing next school year. She told me I should take the director position. I played a game for a few months where I would say "If I become director next year..." and everyone would say, "you mean when you become director..." Long story...I know...but I finally made the commitment. I am still hoping for someone to co-direct with me because I think it is daunting to do it all on my own. I am excited for the year to start, but also a little anxious. We have a directors meeting this week, so I'm about to hit the ground running trying to figure all this stuff out! Be in prayer for me, for the girls who will be coming each week, and for the changes that will probably happen due to the transition (Kimberly and I worked well together but have very different personalities!)

More to come later, I'm sure, on this topic and on other things I'm processing and other news that will crop up along the way....

O Glorious Day

We sang this at church on Sunday. It is a new song by Casting Crowns, but a remake of a hymn. I especially love the chorus. It brought tears to my eyes on Sunday. It is now officially on my Ipod. :)

One day when Heaven was filled with His praises
One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men, my example is He
Word became flesh and the light shined among us
His glory revealed

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He
Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree
And took the nails for me

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose, over death He had conquered
Now He’s ascended, my Lord evermore
Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him
From rising again

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming
One day the skies with His glories will shine
Wonderful day, my Beloved One, bringing
My Savior, Jesus, is mine

Birthday Evening

I had a very relaxing day today. I slept in, had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, read a book, read all my wonderful birthday wishes on Facebook (as they came in), opened presents, had a friend over for lunch and Dominion, and ended the day in my normal Monday way...with softball, except with a few perks :)! Strawberry cupcakes compliments of my roommate (Danell, she ran out of frosting for two cupcakes and I told her it would be okay, that if you were at the game, you would eat a non-frosted one :) )

Softball. It turned out to be a beautiful evening. There was a chance of rain all day, so I was really sad because I assumed it would actually rain. Boy, was I wrong!

Hold a baby. Hudson slept almost the whole game in my lap :)

I know, adorable.

And Taylor too :)

There were lots of other people at the games too. But I had a baby in my lap, so I couldn't venture out to take other pictures.

Birthday :)

This morning as I was deciding what I wanted to study in the Word, I began to pray. This day isn't really about me at all. My gracious God chose to give me life 31 years ago. Yippee! :) As I was praying, I wanted to commit this year to Him...I want to know Him more. I want to serve Him more effectively. I want to glorify Him in my thoughts, words, and actions. I want to see the His fruit bear forth in my life. Because I am called by His name, I want to bring His name good, not harm.

Because as much as I love celebrating my birthday, it's not about me!

Here are some of the Scriptures I wandered through today:
Isaiah 33:6: He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure."

There is so much in Isaiah that I love. Chapter 40 and 43. I love how often Israel is called God's chosen one. That through these passages I know that God has created me and called me by name. He watches over me and will not forsake me. He calls me precious and tells me He loves me. He is called my Redeemer, my Holy One, Creator, King. It says that He has blotted out my sins for my sake!

Psalm 139:13-14: "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother''s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

I thank God for the family He placed me in. I have two parents who love me and have given me everything it was in their power to give. I was given three siblings who I love dearly. I love being a little sister, knowing that as much as my brother and I had normal sibling fights, he would do anything to protect me. I remember a time, after my brother had graduated from high school, that I was having some problems on the bus. My brother told me that if he needed to, he would drive to the school, park his car, and ride the bus home with me to make sure that the problems did not continue! That was after he outgrew the phase of pinning me down to spit in my mouth, of course :). I also love being a big sister, even if Josh is about to outgrow me too! Being a big sister brings with it the challenges of being a good example, a person I want Daynah and Josh to follow. And I thank God that, even through the yuckiness of divorce, He gave me an amazing person to love through my Dad's second wife (notice, Amy, that I didn't call you me stepmom :)!) And through my brother's marriage, I have been blessed with an amazing sister-in-law, who just because I ask, even though she really doesn't want to, will make me an apple pie :). And who tamed my brother (no more burping at the table and a lot less beating me up!). And both Chris and Ann have given me the cutest nephew in the world :)

Like I said, I love my family and thank God that they are mine! He knew what He was doing when He knit me in my mother's womb!

Anyway, off to relax and enjoy my birthday! I'm eating cinnamon rolls for breakfast even as I type this!

Feeling the pressure and Birthday Rules

I've been told I haven't blogged in awhile. Sheesh, you go on vacation, post up a storm, and then get in trouble because life gets in the way! :)

The other night I was getting ready to go to a concert at church (The King's Brass, which was amazing) and was thinking through some blog material in my head. Too bad it never made it to paper. I had been reading a book that was full of witty comments which translates to me thinking in very witty language (kind of like when I watch too much Gilmore Girls in one sitting and start talking like I belong in Stars Hollow). Unfortunately, I can't remember any of the material. Writer's block, yet again.

But, alas, it's my birthday weekend, so I should have SOMETHING to blog about. As those of you who are my friends on Facebook already know, I took yesterday off and decided it would be a wonderful idea to lay out at my dad's pool so I could add a little bit of color to my otherwise WHITE body. I didn't intend for that color to be BRIGHT RED, but that's what happened. Would it be too much to ask that this pretty pink color would turn to a deep, golden tan? Since my body has never seen deep golden tan in its almost 31 years of life, the answer to that would be a resounding Yes, way too much to ask! It doesn't stop me from trying though.

Anyway, last but not least, Birthday Rules (I might have posted this last year, but in my old age, I can't really remember...)
1. It's never too early to send out a birthday list to your family.
2. Never be ashamed of adding to the list throughout the year. :)
3. Cards can be opened when they come in the mail (after all, what if you think it's a birthday card, wait to open it, and find out that it was really a time sensitive invitation to a very important event. Granted, this has never happened, but it could, so open cards as they come in).
4. Never open presents that come in the mail early. These sit in plain sight for as many days as they come early in anticipation of the actual birthday. (and when you have my mom as a mom, that means sometimes a week early, but it's like Christmas presents under the Christmas tree. The longer you let them sit, the more you get to shake them!)
5. You can always open presents early if you are celebrating early with family or friends, but only if you are in their presence for the celebration.

I think those are the only rules I have, but those who celebrate the most with me might be able to name more rules that I have, so comment away!

Coming off the vacation high

Reality is slowly setting in.

I have no groceries. Must make a trip today.

I had to unpack my suitcase. Not a fun chore.

My bathroom really needs to be cleaned...or not, I haven't decided.

I actually had a fleeting thought about work today.

But, I've also managed to read half a book so as to avoid all of the above. I'm not willing to let the vacation die yet! :) It was a great vacation, but I'm looking forward to normal life too.

Last Day Events

The morning of my last day in Texas was spent much the same as the others. Except I woke up an hour before the girls...ugh...and I had to pack...double ugh... After that it was normal playing with the girls. At noon when the girls went down for their naps, Danell and I left for Fort Worth. We were going to spend a couple of hours with the family that I nannied for...very exciting because I hadn't seen them in about three years, maybe more. It was great to catch up on what was going on in their lives. I missed seeing Chris, since he was at work, and I still didn't get to meet their youngest son because he was napping the whole time I was there. Yay! Danell and I finally managed to get a picture together! :)

Here is a picture of three of the five boys. Samuel is sitting next to me. He was 13 months old when I moved out! Joseph is next to him. And Graham is on the end. He had turned 4 a month before I moved out. Apparently kids don't stay the same age forever! I did get to see Asher (not pictured) but he left to go on a special date with his grandpa. He is also a cutie!

The girls. Danell, Sara, and me.

Danell and I then took a circuitous route to the airport (don't ask!). I purposely got there a little early to spend some time with Lisa, who I had not been able to see at the beginning of the week like originally planned.

We had to pose in some "authentic" Texas gear. At least I think a pink cowgirl hat with a tiara on it is authentic. Right?

Yay for great friends!

OH NO!

I'm not sure I've ever posted four posts in one day. I guess that's what happens when you have no responsibility and are on vacation.!

Tonight, Clare said "Oh No" once and I repeated it in a high pitched tone. She then repeated it back to me in a high pitched tone. I then repeated it back to her in a high pitched tone. And she giggled. And she said "OH NO!" and I repeated it back. And she giggled longer. And she said "OH NO!" and I repeated it back to her. And she giggled harder and longer. :) And...oh, you get the idea?! We played this game twice...once before dinner and once after dinner. Both times she thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. I think my throat hurts from all the high pitchedness. Or from all the laughing-so-hard-you-start-crying-and-just-looking-at-the-other-person-makes-you-laugh-harder that happened between Danell and I! We drove Ken into the bedroom. He said it was because he wanted to lay under the fan to cool off, but I think that was just his polite way of exiting. I don't blame him. I would have left too. It's hard to believe I leave tomorrow. But more exciting things will happen before I go. I still have one more morning with Danell and the girls. Once we put the girls down for their naps, we will head up to Fort Worth where I am going to get to see the family that I nannied for. They have five boys now, one I've only met once and one I've never met. The oldest that I nannied for is 8 1/2! I can't wrap my mind around that. Sometimes I can delude myself into thinking I left Texas last year, but apparently it has been 4 1/2 years! Then it's off to the airport. I think Lisa is going to meet me there and wait with me while I wait on my plane (she works for the airline, so she can come back to the gate).

I didn't want to leave you without a picture, so here is one for you to say, "Am I really looking at what I think I'm looking at?"...
Danell does not live in the ghetto, nor is she a redneck. I promise. :)

Wanna go to the Zoo?

This is a huge post full of pictures followed by two more posts full of pictures. I just thought I'd warn you...

Danell and I took the girls to the zoo today. It is a completely different experience taking two toddlers to the zoo than say two adults who want to read every sign and ponder how God could create a giraffe to have such a big neck or a flamingo to stand on one leg. With toddlers you're more likely to point out every shade of color on an animal...or be just as excited about a weed growing in the sidewalk as you are about the rhinoceros (possibly more excited). Also, it is a pretty good workout taking two toddlers to the zoo because you have to get them in and out of the stroller at every exhibit and chase them down if they get away. But it was worth it, and I managed to not be too distracted to not take any pictures (I was going to "fix" this horribly constructed sentence, but I just read it to Danell and she said that it's exactly how I speak. I said, "But it sounds better when you speak it" and she said, "I just wanted you to know that when you talk, you talk in horribly constructed sentences." I think only your best friend can say such a thing and make you laugh instead of leaving you horribly offended).
Lucy's ready to go to the zoo.

A Duck! A Duck!

Oh my goodness! It's water! Really there is a bird that she was looking at :)

Lucy pointing at the crocodile.

The fish were so exciting. The girls got to run around in this room. Lucy would run up to the glass and babble incoherently but very excitedly about the fish. When she gets really excited, her hands start to shake as she is getting ready to point.

This is my favorite picture of Clare even though you can only see half of her face. She LOVES frogs. "A frau, a frau" She would keep repeating that until you acknowledged, "Yes, a frog!" Every other glass window, she would back up if something was that close, but the frog didn't bother her at all.

This was almost a really cute picture :) Apparently, that happens a lot with toddlers. She was sitting in the corner looking at a bird as happy as can be. But I took too long to get the camera out of my pocket. Shucks!

Possibly the highlight of my zoo experience. This zoo has a giraffe enclosure and the sidewalk is on the second story, so the giraffes are at eye level (or slightly higher if you happen to be a short person).

Danell and Clare.

And, of course, you can't be Teresa, go to the zoo, and not take at least one picture of a turtle. :)

Wow...we sure are thirsty after a HOT day at the zoo. Notice, there were no pictures of Danell and I from the zoo. We had originally talked about taking a picture at the zoo because we are bound and determined to have a picture of us together this trip (last year we never took a picture together).