Snow Days are My Favorite!!

We got hit with a big ice storm yesterday and there was no school today! Yeah! The kids and I have made chocolate chip cookies, played Win, Lose, or Draw, and just had a great time talking. They decided they wanted to go outside and brave the weather, so I let them. I bundled them up good and since we have no sled, they improvised! Here are some pics....

Snow Fun!

Redneck Sledding!!

Fighting the crowds....

O.k...so maybe I am an idiot (is there any doubt?) but I decided to get up at 4 am Friday morning and face the "black Friday" crowds! NOT a smart decision on my part! I headed first to Best Buy (looking for an mp3 player for Weezer that was marked WAY cheap) and ended up being faced with a crowd so big I thought I had ended up at a Chief's game! Stupid me, I decided to park a mile away and wait in the line anyway. It took me about 45 minutes to work my way through the line just to find out that what I wanted was loooong gone. (all this before the store even opens!) Oh well, I managed to have a good time talking to the people in line around me! One guy in front of me told me had spent the night in the parking lot with about 100 other people. Are you KIDDING me? Nothing is worth it to me to leave my bed and sleep in a parking lot! He actually was in the computer line, but he had already waited in two other lines. He said a guy brought his big truck with his big screen tv and generator in the back and they all watched the Chief's game! (Guess I WAS pulling into a Chief's game!)

So after my unsuccessful attempt at Best Buy, I headed to Wal-Mart and then Independence Center. I had more fun there! It was crowded, but I was alone, so I can maneuver crowds easier by myself! I had a good day! Got a lot of shopping done and even put up my tree and decorations! The kids will be excited to see all the presents wrapped when they get home today! Yeah! I miss them!

Yesterday I actually worked out on the treadmill and did Pilates and weights. I had a lot of food to work off....and still a long way to go! I didn't get as much studying done as I wanted, but I did get caught up on my sleep! That is very important!!

Well, church was great today. Phil, the youth pastor, preached because Pastor Vernon was gone. His sermon was one I needed to hear. I need to be set on fire again for the Lord. It is easy to get caught up in my "busy-ness" that I fail to remember there are people that need to know the hope that is within me. Search me, Oh God, and know my heart. See if there is any offensive way in me and purify me today, I pray.

Well, got to get busy writing papers and studying. My blogs were becoming scarce, but I decided to update more frequently, but with fewer words! School is over for the semester on December 8! Yeah!!!

Feeling like a stuffed turkey.....

I am not so sure that is a good feeling! :) I had Thanksgiving dinner last night at my big sis' house in Macon. Mom brought Grandpa and Cassi brought Kevin and I brought my kids! Dinner was good and it was so good to be with my family, even if it was for only a little while. Everyone left soon after dinner, but my kids and I stayed the night. Then this morning I had to take my kids to their grandma and grandpa's house in Macon. I ended up coming back home and studying. Nothing extremely exciting, but Phil and I had a great talk while I was at their house. He is so intelligent....he just doesn't like to show it off! I adore him! Beth is a lucky girl!

Purify my heart, Oh God..........

Search me, O God, and know my heart today;
Try me, O Saviour, know my thoughts, I pray;
See if there be some wicked way in me:
Cleanse me from ev'ry sin, and set me free.

My heart is very heavy tonight as I type this. I don't even have time to get into it, but I am so sad. God will lift me up and heal me and that is what I hold on to. He has never let me down and I know He will run to me when I call. I am calling today.

Laughter is always the best medicine....

Oh my, I didn't realize it had been so long since I had written. I have been soooo busy that I have not had time to write. School, subbing, kids, and just life in general has kept me very busy. But it has been good...life has been good. God has done wonderful things in my life and in my heart. He has, like he promised Hezekiah, "heard my prayers and seen my tears and He has healed me." Wow! What a mighty God I serve. Oh, I am not "there" yet....I still struggle with sin everyday and with selfish thoughts and desires, but the pain that once ripped me wide open every waking hour, has been healed. I can only praise my Savior. I want to shout His love from the rooftops. Give me joy and laughter, Lord, but always keep enough rain in my life to make me love you more. You are good and Your mercies are new every single morning. I love you!

So, I don't even know where to start really. I have subbed nearly everywhere in this town. Today, actually, I am subbing for the head football coach at Liberty High School. I am basically in the weight room all day! What fun! Some of these guys are such show-offs and I laugh and laugh at them! I love to laugh. God has given me the gift to laugh easily. I sometimes get to laughing so hard (like I did last night watching the Croc Hunter's show on practical jokes....oh man, just thinking about it makes my kidneys hurt!) that my eyes will water! I truly thank God for the gift of laughter and the joy He sends my way. I sometimes will just pray, like I did today, for God to send me laughter. Now I realize that is a dangerous prayer to pray, because God has a wonderful sense of humor, and before when I have prayed that, the joke has often been on ME! But I can take it! There are too many people that take this life way too seriously, and then there are others that don' t take it seriously enough. It is a fine balance, I guess, sometimes I cross both lines. My kids make me laugh all the time. My friend Susan just absolutely cracks me up! The guys in my class make me laugh. They all call me "notes pimp" because I put my notes on their jump drives for them. They are bums! I am not too proud of that name, but hey, it does make me laugh!

I guess why I appreciate laughter so much is because for a year or so I just really lost it. I couldn't find my humor anywhere. I was down and in the dumps all the time and nothing made me laugh much. I am glad it has returned. I am glad God has restored unto me the JOY of my salvation!

Well, I am taking tests, writing papers, and studying nearly all the time. School is getting harder! I will have 30 hours at the end of next semester if I pass all my classes! I am taking summer classes and J-terms to hopefully get finished in two years. If God is willing! I am working on a 9 member committee at church to plan the winter retreat at Youth Front camps in Edgerton, KS. (formerly known as Circle C Ranch) I am meeting new people all the time. I have even gone on a DATE! I can't believe it, either! He was a great guy and a Christian man, but I am not going to go out again. I just don't think he is the "one". I don't know if God has prepared anyone to be the "one" for me or not. I just know that I am very, very careful and prayerfully considering God's will for me always. I don't want to repeat the mistakes I have made in the past.

Well, I need to run. This class needs my attention! Weight rooms always smell the same!