Back Home

And hallelujah, am I ever happy to be home.

It was a fantastic conference, but it's great to be back in NC again.

I'll have to come back and post the pics of the last couple days before I forget, hopefully. I tried to do it every night, but I would get through the days pics and then run out of steam because I was so tired by bedtime and the days were way too busy to fit it in during the day.

According to my step counter, over the last five days, I've walked around 30 miles. It's no wonder my feet hurt and I'm exhausted. Lol.

Anyway, I'm home, and it's great. :) hopefully more on the trip tomorrow. :)

Opryland

Oh my word. This is crazy. This hotel is insanely confusing.

It's in a circle. ....kinda like a clock....I wonder if this is where the concept of the arena of the hunger games originated?

Besides drama over room arrangements, our group is pretty much settled in here at Opryland. Imaging starts tomorrow and I'm pretty excited to see how this will go. Hopefully smoother than musical rooms. Lol.

Also, my computer bit the dust so all blogging is from my phone now and I can't get to comments easily. I see them but I can't reply...so in answer to last post comment, I use a hard copy calendar because I always forget to add events to my phone calendar. It's just that I occasionally forget to check my hard copy calendar. Oops. But only occasionally.

And because my computer died, so did my cool blogging app that let me move photos around in a post. Grrr. So. Oh well.
Time to go call the kids.

Later, y'all. :)

Stuffed to the Gills

#1 – my belly…

And on that topic, let me just say that it’s a skinny girl problem that when you gain a few pounds and it’s pretty much only noticeable by you, you really don’t get to talk much about how you need to work out and get that jiggle back off, because everybody just hates you. No, I’m not fat, but when I gain ten pounds (and I have), I feel it just like everybody else does. I’m smiling. =) So. I ran that 5K back a couple posts ago (or a couple months, but who’s counting) and I survived. I even ran a few miles a couple mornings in the following weeks. Then I kinda fell off again. BUT…a couple of us girls get together and walk anywhere from 2.5 to 4 miles through town a couple of days a week, so that’s something. And then I thought that was good enough but the jiggle wasn’t going away, so when we girls were talking, my friend was telling us how she had started doing a Jillian Michaels 30 day shred video on YouTube and it was killing her even though she didn’t think she was in that bad of shape…

Yep. I decided to try it. And…I’m not in shape either. Holy sha-moly, my abs and legs are KILLING me. I’m on like day 3 and the jiggle is getting better already. But then I sort of ate at a buffet tonight. And now….oh my belly. I’ll be good again tomorrow. =) =) Here’s a picture I forgot to share from a few weeks back when we were at this same buffet for the Munchkin’s TENTH birthday! Oh my. And yes, she has one candle and zero more candles…that stands for 10.  hahahahaha

Before I move on…today was my first Dr Pepper in like, weeks! I am so proud of me. It’s only my 53rd time quitting. ROFL.

#2 – my suitcases

Okay, they’re not stuffed to the gills right this moment, but they are sure getting a work out in May/June. So far in May, I’ve went along with Munchkin’s fourth grade class to the Outer Banks on a school field trip and then to Myrtle Beach with my family. My friends on FB have probably already seen most of the pictures in this post, including this one, but I’ll share here anyway. =)

This one is from our family trip to Myrtle. I didn’t take a ton of pics on this trip…I was too busy trying to recover from the terrible awful field trip chaperoning the week before…haha.

Here’s a couple of pics from the chaperoning weekend…

On the bus:
During the 45 minutes of beach time we got for the entire trip…lol.

And a couple from Munchkin’s camera:

#3 – this blog post

Because that’s what happens when you don’t post frequently enough to update everything in a couple of small paragraphs. LOL.

And here’s where I just jam everything else in:

Father-in-law wanted his antique crosscut saw painted, so I painted it for him for Father’s Day…gave it to him tonight. =) I think he liked it. It looks cooler in person than in pictures, but it was a pretty fun project.

I finally cleaned the kitchen up really nice and took pictures to compare to the before pictures of this project… (in case it’s not obvious, the second ones are the AFTER photos…lolol)

My last studio lighting project for school. Food photography…totally fun!!

And I think that’s PLENTY for one post. I’d promise to come back more often, but June is INSANELY booked, so I better not promise NOTHIN. LOL.

If you’re still here, still reading, wow, you’re awesome. Have a lovely evening!! =)

Haiti–the pictures

So I’m finally getting through all the pictures.  My mouse finger has gone on strike from all the resizing for the web.  I didn’t do much in the way of editing on most of these…just simply too many to go through.  But this is a window into our week in Haiti.  If I can come up with the time later tonight, I’ll try to come back and edit this post to include a little more of the written highlights of the trip.
*EDITED TO ADD TRIP HIGHLIGHTS BELOW PHOTOS*

Haiti - 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Okay.  It’s not last night, but I’m back.  Our internet was fritzy last night.  I finally gave up and went to bed.  But anyway…highlights of the trip. 

I’m not really sure where to start because there’s so much you could say about it.  I don’t think the pictures really give you a good feel for how life really is there—not like actually BEING there.  There are so many needs and no way to actually fill them all, that it almost just feels hopeless.  And then you realize that the Hope isn’t in “fixing” things, it’s in Jesus.  And while voodoo is huge there, Christianity does have a presence also, which is awesome. 

We visited two orphanages while we were there and did two “Vacation Bible School’s” with each (although VBS there is completely different from ours in the US).  They did the story of Noah at one orphanage and then let the kids have paper and crayons to draw/color about the story, and Daniel (complete with a puppet show) and drawing time afterward at the other orphanage.  At the second orphanage, there was more space and we were able to also get out and play with the kids (jumprope, frisbee, soccer, and blowing bubbles).  The kids were precious. 

We did lots of painting at the school in Barbancourt.  It was just concrete walls and windows and so hot and dungeon-like inside.  As much as I was tired of yellow paint by the time we finished, it was still amazing at how much it brightened the place up and made it so much cheerier.  I say we finished, but we didn’t get ALL the rooms painted.  We tried to get all the rooms painted but we were saved stopped by a bad batch of paint (wrong color and unusable) on the last day, so we had to leave some for the next team.  We painted for three days, so even though we didn’t get finished, we did get a lot done. There were no ladders, so we were climbing on barrels and buckets and desks to reach the ceiling to trim the corners and edges.  The first day, I was a little overzealous and was jumping up and down off the waist-high barrels with no thought for the morrow.  The morrow came with extreme soreness and moaning. 

Then came the day we climbed the mountain and I REALLY regretted that first day.  When I say mountain, I’m not talking a hill.  It was at least two miles up at 90% grade and no steps or handrails.  Chimney Rock times 10.  The scenery was gorgeous but I didn’t enjoy it at ALL until we reached the top.  Matter of fact, I don’t even remember seeing anything but rocks for the entire first half of the trip…all I could think about was how bad my legs were burning, I could feel my measly granola bar returning up my esophagus at approximately the same rate as the sweat was rolling down my face, and the fact that I couldn’t even see the top of the mountain, and how was I EVER gonna take another step???

No, I don’t know where Munchkin gets her tendency for drama.  LOL. 

But it’s not much of an exaggeration though.  I really was afraid for a while there that I was going to be sick and have to turn around and give up.  But we all made it.  And coming down was so much easier…which is NOT to say that I wasn’t able to fully appreciate the sight of the main road to the mission and that cold shower that I knew was awaiting…

ANYWHO.  So we worked and sweated quite a bit all week.  And by the way, those are two separate things.  They are not necessarily connected in Haiti.  You sweat whether you’re working or not.  LOL.  It’s just if you’re working, you sweat MORE.  Like a faucet that never turns off.  That was not my favorite thing, that constant sticky feeling that never went away. 

I’d have to say my favorite thing of the week was that little girl in the giant yellow t-shirt from the second orphanage we visited, that had the smile that could light up an entire village.  She was precious!  I had a hard time taking pictures when my hands were always being held by one child or another…or five. 

It was an amazing trip, but I was VERY ready to see the United States again.  I was singing God Bless America, land that I LOVE, when we started descending into New Jersey.  Just the huge difference of flying into Port Au Prince versus flying into the US.  No way to describe it.  Imagine the worst neighborhood ever, one that is completely un-inhabitable (to US standards) and then enlarge it by…oh…I don’t know….a million percent?  And then imagine landing a plane in it. 

I have a renewed appreciation for our country, to say the least. 

I know I’m forgetting a lot of great things about our trip…the evenings after working all day and hanging out with the team and playing Pit and Spoons and Dutch Blitz and Uno and Scattergories, devotions up at the cross, praying/visiting sick ones up on the mountain, playing basketball with the village kids…it just goes on…but I’ve rambled long enough.  Thanks for reading.  Pray for our brothers and sisters in Haiti…they can sure use our prayers. 

Recuperating

Well, we did get back from Haiti, safe and sound.  Thank the Lord.  I don’t remember the last time I was so happy to get home from a trip.  LOL.  I have lots of pictures that I’ve started going through, but I haven’t gotten them finished yet.  I’m really thankful I seem to have missed all but a little of the sickness that passed around our group, but I didn’t miss the exhaustion.  I’ve spent the last couple of days sleeping off and on all day and trying to slowly get back into gear.  I feel like an old lady…the folks in our group that were older than me were (and still are) totally running laps around me.  Anyway, just wanted to update and say that I’m back but not normal.  (Not that I could ever claim to know what it’s like in that seemingly unattainable state of “normal”)

But that’s where I’m at right now.  Just recuperating.  Craving chocolate and Dr. pepper in a very bad way. And working on pictures.  I’ll come back and talk about it (the trip, not the cravings…lol) soon.  Very soon.  =)

From Haiti

Well, we can use the internet for Lifeline purposes, so I volunteered for blog duty today.  Here is what I posted if you want to hear something before I get back.  Can't post many pictures without photoshop though....so more of those when I get back.

http://www.childrenslifeline.blogspot.com/2012/08/wed-aug-1st-2012.html

Holy Cow

Uh….yeah…I’ve been running so fast I’ve caught up with myself….

except I’m still behind.  I’m not sure how that’s possible. 

I shouldn’t even be here.  I have to be up in three hours to head to the airport with KC and a group of church friends.  So I’m going to be gone for the next week and this is actually a legitimate reason to not blog…I will have no access because we’re going to be out of the country. 

Someday I’ll get caught up.  In the meantime, no, it’s not vacation, it’s a mission trip…but I’ll have to tell ya all about it later because I really need to try to sleep for the next three hours.  LOL.  Pray for us while we’re gone…and for the poor folks who got roped into holding down the fort for me while we’re gone…(lol…love you, people!) and hopefully…I’ll be back in about a week. 

Back in North Carolina

What a draining week.  A huge thank you to everyone who prayed and sent healing thoughts my way…honestly, it was the fastest disappearing sore throat I think I’ve ever had.  It started Friday evening and when I woke up on Saturday morning after a long night of not being able to sleep because of not feeling good, my throat was swollen and I was exhausted.  I took advil and tylenol with me and got on the road with mom and dad about 7:30, and by the time we got to Virginia, my throat had already started feeling better and by the end of the day, it was only mildly swollen and a little hard to swallow but not nearly as painful as the usual sore throat.  Usually it’s at least a 2-3 day thing when my throat hurts like that, but this time it was only about 24 hours.  Thank God. 

Anyway, I rode up with mom and dad on Saturday and then KC flew up on Monday evening and I flew home with him on Wednesday night after the funeral.  It (the funeral) was tough.  I don’t really want to go back over that part again.  But I did want to get back on here and let everyone know how much I appreciated your prayers. 

Also, I don’t want to fly Delta again if I can ever help it.  LOL.  We were supposed to be home by 10:30 on Wednesday night and didn’t end up getting back until after 1am.  Fog, musical airplanes, double booked seats on a full flight…I’m just glad we GOT home.  lol. 

Except for the sad circumstances of the trip, it was good to see the family up there again…my dad’s siblings, plus the extended family members that you don’t see until someone is getting married or there’s a funeral.  Still sad, but you remember all the happy moments and still find something to smile about.  We spent a lot of time looking through all Grandma’s photo albums and I put together a few pages of pictures of Grandma to put up at the receiving of friends.  Here’s some pics…I didn’t get any of my dad’s sister…she wasn’t at the funeral home yet when I took these of my dad and his brother (and brother’s family) and us…anyway.

It was pouring the rain all day. 

Anyway…next subject…I’m so annoyed right now…watching Sound of Music and KC keeps making fun of it.  LOL.  I am much more comfortable with this emotion.  Sorry…I know I have a twisted personality.  =)  Follow every rainbow, til you find your dream…..

I dream of not being annoyed OR sad.  Where’s the rainbow I follow for that??  LOL.  Like I said…twisted.  HA. 

So…”twisted” is getting off here to devote all my attention to the Sound of Music…and smacking KC every time he makes fun of it….goodnight. =)

Returned

That’s me.  I brought the kids back some yard sale treasures (you know they are my kids because they LOVE yard sale treasures…bwahahaha) and when I was almost home, I thought…you know, I never found anything for KC (and yes, I did look…lol).  And then my dad said, don’t worry…you brought him back YOU.  ROFL. 

Dad was a trip all by himself.  LOL…I love him.  He was hilarious!  We did have a good trip though, but Grandma definitely has declined since we were last up.  She’s lost a lot of weight, and doesn’t have much energy to think or talk or stay awake very long.  It makes me sad to think about it very long. 

But she did have a couple of very lucid moments and she did know who I was and recalled my name several times this trip. 

And she ate pretty good, too, which was unusual for her.  Of course, dad made gnocchis so perhaps that had something to do with it.  LOL. 

Dad and I went to some yard sales but I didn’t find as much as I usually do…of course, I had to be extremely choosy about my purchases because they had to fit into my carry-on.  LOL. 

Saturday, my aunt had some stumps from a tree they cut down in their yard.  She had a whole bunch of them and wanted to try making art out of them to plant in her backyard.  And her sister had brought over a bunch of leftover paints…so we played.  LOL.  They looked more detailed in real life but here’s an idea of how big they are.  LOL.  In case it’s not obvious, I did the yellow one and Aunt M did the blue one.  =)  

 

 

 

And the last two pictures are in flight today.  I love how it’s raining on the ground but when you get above the clouds the sun is still there.  It’s awesome.  And even awesome-er was making the descent into good ol’ big city and getting to our car and getting home. 

Oh and the steward dude on the last flight was HILARIOUS!  He actually sang the barney song at the very end of our flight….only….

We love you, you love us,
We’re much faster than the bus,
We hope you enjoyed our hospitality,
Marry one of us and you’ll fly free

And he was crackin jokes the entire time he ran through the safety instructions…and never once did the guy smile.  I’m sure he was just bored -- but it was funny!

“Should this flight turn into a cruise, your seat cushion will become a floatation device, and you should put your…”

“The cabin lights will be turned off at this time for take-off, if you need additional lighting, just press the button that looks like a sun above you and the sun will shine.”

And it just didn’t stop….everything was like that. 

And for a little bit of random…here’s another one of the stumps…this was my practice stump.  lol.  I liked it a lot though….I could totally see sitting this one up and sealing the top off to make a garden seat.  A set of four of these around a rustic table would be SO cute.  It would probably be too cute for KC but oh well…I like it.  haha. 

And that’s it.  I’m home.  I’m tired.  And I’m going to bed.  =)

I’ll Come Back To This

I can’t think of a title for this post, so I’ll come back to it…but perhaps leaving it would be a much more appropriate title than anything I could come up with…since that seems to be my motto lately.  LOL.  I don’t think I have posted since the pain from those stings finally subsided.  LOL. 

And yes, it DID finally subside.  My poor finger was swollen for around 7 days before it went away completely.  I’m so glad it is gone now.  KC weed-eated yesterday.  I didn’t offer…lol. 

It’s 4:16 on a Wednesday and it will be time for church pretty soon, but since I’ll be gone for most of the evening I figured if a post was going to happen, it better be now. 

We have been a travelling troop the last few weeks.  This last time was a trip to Ohio.  I am so thankful that my parents live nearby now…and not just because they are awesome house and puppy sitters, although I can’t say I’m not loving that part…cause I totally am!  *GRIN*  Anyway, I took a few pictures in Ohio but here’s one that I love:

Credits:
Kit: All My Love by Sweet Digi Scraps
Fonts: Pea Stacy Doodle Script and Pea Sadie from kevinandamanda.com, Stamp Act Jumbled

KC totally cracked me up with the white hair!  And it was a fun trip…mostly.  I won’t even go into the NoT fun part though.  That part only God gets to hear about…lol. 

That makes me think of a quote I saw the other day…

Patience: What parents have when there are witnesses. 

ROFL!

Any-ka-who.

My grandma in NY isn’t doing very well again (although I’m thankful she’s still with us, since they told her over a year ago that she only had a month or two left…she’s 85 and has cancer for the—I think—3rd time).  So I’m going to fly up with dad next week.  KC won’t be going this time, and KC’s mom had already wanted to take the kids that weekend, so he will just have to take care of the doggy-poos.  Hopefully, it will work out well.  Except that he’ll miss the fire out of me, particularly when he has to feed and walk the puppies himself.  He will be all bonded with them when I get back.  hahahaahaha 

K-man just shot me.  With the wordsuckerupinator that he broke and turned into a gun.  That’s what he said. 

In other news, I took two shirts back to the store today and they had a huge clearance sale, so I exchanged the two shirts for six and STILL got three dollars and change back.  I LOVE that!  It’s the little things that make me happy.  =)

Something else that makes me happy??  Pinterest.  It’s like a virtual pinboard where you have an account and you pin stuff on your boards and then when you need to remember that thing you saw online that was really cool and you want to try it…you just go back to your bulletin board.  Isn’t that nifty?  You have to have an invite to join, so if you want to join, holla and I’ll send you an invite…but it’s really neat!  And you can follow friend’s pins and everything…so fun! 

 

 

 

These are just a few of my pins…hahah….some things are just funny, some are things I want to try, some are inspiring…you name it.  Lots of fun! 

And I have an app for my iPod, so muy addicting!  hahaha. 

Well, now I have blathered on for awhile now and it’s time to get ready for church.  Mom, you happy that I’ve posted again now?  =)  This post is dedicated to my mother, who faithfully reads my blog and lovingly nudges me when it gets neglected.   LOVE YOU MOMMA!  LOL!

Adios for now!  =)