My Weekend Review!

Well hello there. First of all, to all who left me encouragement yesterday, THANK YOU! Stupid satan is like a virus and he made me sick yesterday - but today, I am better. I think I need a little more meds to knock the satan virus, but I feel a ton better. I want to say that I know my friends love me for me and are not my friends out of obligation - and I love them too, so very much! :)

Moving on...

This past weekend was BUSY! Thursday, my in laws got in town and we were able to relax and eat some KFC and just chill!

Friday was busy - we got up and headed to the zoo. It was so fun and cool, which was nice! We took a lot of pictures (all are still on the camera - as I am bad a dumping it!) I even got some fun pictures of the tigers. If you know anything about the Columbus Zoo, you know that the tiger exhibit has a big glass wall so when the tigers walk by, it's like you can touch them. Tigers are so beautiful! Parker liked watching them and touching the goats and watching the geese! We packed a lunch and enjoyed that. I yelled at two kids throwing rocks at a goose - no parents in site, so I said something! I can't stand when parents don't control their kids. Ugh - Parker helped me feed the lorikeets - he loved it!

After the zoo we came home and slept. We were all very very tired! After the nap we headed out to Marcella's up near Polaris. Friday was my mother in laws birthday, so we took her there. I got my gnocchi Bolognese (gnocchi with lamb basically!). After we got some cheesecake at the cheesecake factory, came home and played games. I kicked everyone's booty in Life - oh yah, I started as an artist with 10,000 to my name and 60,000 in loans. I ended with 1.5 million as a doctor. Too bad it's not real life! :) I think my favorite thing was my father in law - he didn't go to college, became an athlete, was beating us all in money, had a mobile home and then had a midlife crisis and lost most his money! Oh Pete, you make me smile :) We watched Red, White and Boom on TV.

Saturday was so much fun. We met Tabatha and Logan down in Hilliard for the Hilliard 4th of July Parade. it was a fun parade. The boys seemed to like it a lot and it was fun to feel like a big family with Tabatha and Logan, because honestly, they may as well be our family! The parade was long and fun and I got to pet a beautiful dog! By the end though, Parker and Logan were tuckered out, so we headed home and rested, Drew and his dad went and saw transformers and mom and I stayed home. I made a flag cake and watched Clean House (I am not addicted to the show!) I made Ham and Cheese Veggie Lasagna and we had fun just staying in that night.

Sunday - oh sunday. I was in charge of Kids Ministry. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Church was good, the whole 20 minutes I was actually in service that is, and I think for the most part, Kid's stuff went well. Both Amber and Cindy (the director and sunday manager) were gone. Being that I used to be heavily involved, I stepped in. It was hard because our normal classrooms were blocked off because of resurfacing, so we ended up scattered around. I had to make some executive decisions and make sure it was all going ok. I certainly am glad I don't do it all the time, but I did my best!

After church, we went out to eat with Mom and Dad and they headed back to Buffalo, we came home and did nothing all day!

Tomorrow - some pictures!

A Little Tangent

I have a little tangent I would like to discuss. Why, well because I want to gloat about my church. Well not so much gloat as just share with you while I am proud to call myself a member of Vista Community Church.

1) Our Minister: Mike Smith is hysterical. Great guy and really just something else. He will rightfully admit that he had no intentions of being the preacher of this church, but boy has God blessed him. In the two and a half years I've known him, I have seen him grow in his speaking capabilities. He does such a great job delivering the message each week and he almost always adds in a little humor. That's just him though!

2) Our Staff: Seriously, they don't get any better, from the quirky adorable Mary Kate to the awesomely talented Justin, to the practical fun loving Brain, to my personal fav. Amber (ok so maybe she is because I work with her a lot!) the precious! I love our staff! And believe, me there are more - Cindy, our Kids Community director (whom I worked with from day 1 to help get this kids stuff off the groung) she is a beautiful human being. I adore her.

3) Worship: I pretty much leave church EVERY week pumped. I could sing and worship for hours at that place. We have an incredible amount of talented musicians, drummers, guitar rocking individuals in our church. And worship each week is just awesome. I am never bored and I love the types of songs we sing! Oh man, seriously a lot of times I almost break out in dance each week. I tend to twitch to the music alot because they rock it. Seriously - oh man... INCREDIBLE! I wish you could all hear it. I really really do!

4) Kids Community: So I may be tooting my own horn here a bit since I've been pretty involved with this area since the beginning, but I can't help it. We have a wonderful paid staff that works with our kids every week. We also have wonderful volunteers that help out each week. I love being a part of this kids community, putting my 2 cents in here and there and developing the curriculum for the toddlers. I ADORE MY TODDLERS! It's really a happy place for me! And i am pretty sure the kids love it.

5) My friends: I have an amazing group of friends at church. I have a life group I can't get enough of. I love that everyone is nice and even people I may not know well invest in me and my family. I never feel hated or unloved, in fact, I feel way over loved at times. It truly is a church of very loving people.

I just can't get enough of my church. I don't know why I am feeling led to write this tonight. I just really love it. We just recently launched a new website, that is a lot more user friendly than our old one and we are really growing as a church. We have grown a lot for a church of our size. I love that our church cares about the community and wants to get involved. Just these past two weeks we've been talking about Social Justice and Multi-Cultural Churches. It's fascinating really.

i am really blessed to call Vista my church home. I am really blessed to be a part of the kids community and blessed to have been allowed to develop a curriculum for the toddler room. I love it!

God is so good. And I am thankful for that!

Clearing out my head, talking to myself, things like that.

First of all, I am so so excited! Today we went to Babies R Us to find an umbrella stroller for Parker. We don't really need our bigger one anymore and for our vacation in a couple weeks, we want something more compact. So we went in praying we'd find something affordable, durable and decent. We had had one on our registry at one point that was 130 some dollars, but we really wanted to try to keep it under 100 if we could. Well, we did, the stroller we bought ended up being on sale, marked from 139 to 99 and we got 10% off because it was the last one they had! I love it, it's cute and nice and totally perfect for Parker!

I was just reading some of the reviews on it from the Babies R Us site and I am struck that there are some negative ones. One, I find more funny and complain-y then helpful, was a lady saying that she couldn't maneuver it, that the wheels got stuck and she couldn't push it with one hand while holding her child. Maybe hers has some problems, but I pushed Parker around the store in it and I didn't have any issues. Sometimes I wonder about the reviews, ya know? anyway, it's going to be awesome to have something smaller and more compact on our trip!

On to other things:

Speaking of our trip...if May 11 doesn't get here soon, I may go crazy. I just really need to get out of here. Out of this house, this city, this state; away from bills, and laundry, and my cat, and grocery lists and negativity. I need a break so bad. My patience is worn thin, I am about to fall in to a quick sand of anger and frustration and depression. I want to get away, go to Tennessee, meet relatives, take my son to Gatlinburg, hike, get a sun tan, no strike that, knowing me it will be a burn. I am so ready to go, well except that I have like no summer clothes that fit me. Need to find some shorts or something. I have my packing list all ready, I have Parker's stroller, just need to get his new car seat. If May 11 doesn't come soon....oh boy am I in trouble.

I am struggling right now in general. I struggle to enjoy Parker's new found crawling and standing up on things expertise. I thought it was going to be awesome, but I don't know. I think I worry too much. If I didn't worry about every little fall, every little bump or bruise or this stupid H1N1 (which seriously is a dumb name) flu. Why do I worry, I mean really, what's the point in it? I worry about everything, I worry people will judge me and hate me and make fun of me (for what, I don't know!). I worry Parker's little falls will result in a concussion or scrape - a Scrape, big deal right? I worry about Drew, the stress his job is currently causing because of changes that (if you ask me) seem kinda stupid, then again, I am not an Apple employee. I am a worry wart (or as Drew says, I have cancer of the worry!)

I am struggling with my family. I love my family, don't get me wrong, but I really am hurt at times by them. There are certain people in my family that hurt me more than others. Let's just say they are emotionally unavailable. I want to say that I believe they care about me and my family, but at times, I truly wonder. It hurts, to feel like I can't turn to them or that they don't want anything to do with me. In the back of my mind, I know they do care and want to have a relationship, but it's hard to put in the effort when you feel it's all for nothing. I don't know...I just have some deep scars, wounds, seeping boo-boos in this area.

I struggle with my faith and relationship with God. I believe in him 100% - its more about my daily, personal walk with him - or lack there of. I keep telling myself, I am going to start doing daily devotions, read my Bible more, pray, and then I just don't. I am sure if I did have that time, I would feel better. I did decide to get a book from the library, it's called "Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God" - have any of you read it? It sounds good and maybe it will give me some hope and peace and get me on the write path.

I struggle with personal bubbles. I live in one, I won't lie. (This I think goes back to my fear of rejection and judgement.) I desire so much to put myself out there and get to know other's - especially neighbors. I don't have a play group anymore, which is sad, because it got me out of the house. I want to find something to do. I know one goal of mine is making baby lap time a priority and weekly event. I want to get to know my neighbors here, many have young children and I think it would be nice to be able to just walk over and play. But I am scared too. Most have already existing relationships and I don't want to come in and ruin them.

Sigh....

I just feel heavy and burdened and drained and tired and blah! Very blah! I should go now and work on finishing the lesson for Sunday, especially since Parker is asleep!

Thanks for listening. Sorry I don't have more happy things to post about right now!

Well Hello There!!!

Parker's 1st Easter - and his special outfit!


Hello there friends,

It feels like I haven't written in a while. This weekend I was busy busy with Easter and choir and family and just never had a chance to sit down and share anything with you. And as far as yesterday - my excuse is I slept in till noon and then attempted to clean, relax and get some grocery shopping done. Plus my mind was in off mode so I am not sure I could have pulled together a comprehensive post.

So here is a much deserved update.

I will go back to Thursday - not such a great day for me because I hurt myself - bad. I was putting something in the oven and ended up having the oven door close on my arm. I burnt it bad...Friday it was blistered and icky! Before all this, I met up with some friends at the zoo and spent the afternoon there. It was a blast!

Friday - we took Parker to the doctor for a follow up on his skin irritation. Basically, we just have to continue with the special cortizone cream we have a prescription for. Do that for 3 weeks and it should be completely gone. I will say, his skin looks almost normal after just a weekend of the stuff - so that's positive. While I was there, I had Dr. D look at my burn and he told me how to care for it. I love that he is my son's ped. but will take the time to look at my arm so I don't have to go to a clinic. Friday evening Drew's parents got here and we attempted to go to the good friday service. Parker had a melt down so we ended up leaving early and coming home.

Sat. - I woke up too early for a Sat. and headed to church for a choir run-through. It was a long rehearsal! But it was so worth it. Drew and I worked hard all week to make a slide show to a song called "I Will Rise" and we got to show it for the first time at the rehearsal and everyone loved it. I loved it! I worked hard on it, I basically spent hours staring at pictures to pick out the perfect ones. Drew really just edited it! After rehearsal I came home (the grandparents had watched Mr. P.) and relaxed and then the four of us hopped in the car and headed to Easton to meet Drew for lunch. It was a good time!

Sun - again, woke up WAY to early for a Sunday and headed to church for our last run through before the actual services. It was awesome to see God work. One of our songs was so challenging and even in rehearsal before the service we were struggling with it. But during the service, it came out great and perfect. I was moved several times to tears during the service...mainly because of I Will Rise! The song gives my goosebumps. Pastor Mike delivered a fun and very insipiring sermon.
Both services were good and Parker was so cute in his little outfit (I will post a picture later once I dump the camera). We had Olive Garden for lunch and then came home for a 4 hour nap!

Speaking of Parker - this kid is getting so big! He can scoot backwards and almost crawl. He eats puffs, even though he doesn't have teeth (well just one) and he loves um. He sits in a high chair now, though he tiny compared to them.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

I have a busy week ahead as I pull together the lesson for the Toddler Room on Sunday! I promise some more posts later too!

Writer's Workshop: Losing my mind!

Top Ten Things Swirling in my Head:

1) Where is my W2? I called my former boss in January to make sure she had my new addressed. She faxed payroll and yet no W2...now I get to wait for payroll to call...this stinks.

2) Why are people so mean? I am the follower of an amazing blog that for whatever reason is coming under scrutiny by people. Questioning this family's motives and being REALLY rude in the process.

3) When is this dang cold, snow and ice going to go away? I am SICK of it.

4) When will Parker finally sit up on his own, without some support? He does well for 10 seconds and then falls.

5) When can I get more money to go out and buy a couple of things at the flower factory? I want to get a new thing to hang on our front door...a welcome sign, but I need money first.

6) Weird dreams - I keep having very weird dreams. Tuesday night I had one where I was dating Michael Phelps and attempting to help him break his pot habit...he went psycho and tried to kidnap me while my friends (the seeds) took Parker. And then last night, I had one where I was in cambodia and wanted to go see the orphanage, but I was there for a safari and then some army guy tried to shoot me, but shot himself. It was really weird. I think I need some mental help or something.

7) Mommy Guilt - I am enjoying my book (not the side of my blog!) and I am learning a lot as I do read this book. Yet, I still feel guilty!

8) Toddler Room Stuff - I am developing structure and curriculum for the toddler room at church (and LOVING it) but am struggling with the lesson telling. I was planning to just do it the way I had seen at a Ministry conference workshop, but the more I think about it, the less I like that idea and want to do a puppet. Like a bear - Bobby Bear from the Vista Mountains. Have him help tell each weeks lesson, I think the kids would get a kick out of it and want to listen more. I just have to figure it out and see what my hire-ups think ( ore or less, do they think it would work!) I really like the idea!

9) Pregnancy - I want more kids, I do, but I am terrified of having the same issues I did the last time. At this point, I have zero desire to be pregnant again, but I keep thinking what if I get pregnant even though I am doing everything not to get pregnant. How would I handle that. I seriously don't think I would be happy about it at first. But then again, I shouldn't worry about it at all. Me and my worrying.

10) Valentines Day - Where should Drew and I eat? What should I get him? Why do we celebrate this holiday anyway? And for that matter, why do we celebrate Groundhog's Day? It's not like they have super powers or anything. And when is it Christmas again?

Your Turn, below are the prompts, choose one, or two, or all, writer up your post and head over to Mama Kat's Blog and leave your name under Mr. Linky!

The Prompts:

1.) Tell us about a lie you told that you later regretted.

2.) Choose a task you'd like someone to complete and write a poem asking them to do it.
3.) Describe a talent you have.

4.) Write a list of ten things on your mind this week.


:)

Toddler Thoughts

Oh man am I getting super excited about the toddler room at church. My mind is a mess (a great big awesome mess) of ideas and I am just giddy! I am hoping to come up with a name for the room. Preschool is Base Camp, K-5th is The Climb, I believe the Middle school is The Rapids (Our church name is Vista...mountains - a beautiful view!) And now that we are having some form of structure in the room I want to give the room a name. I just don't really know what. I was thinking like maybe The Fireflies? It's kind of hard to come up with something...so if anyone has any mountain references, let me know! 

I am just getting so excited. I am glad to be back in my element at church and working with these kids I just adore so much. Did I mention that I love the parents of these kiddos too, because I do! I meet tomorrow with my friend Amber to discuss the road set for the toddler room! 

If you all could pray for Parker and I, we both have colds, mine, I am convinced is about to kill me! My throat hurts and I am so tired! Parker's isn't terrible, just the threat of RSV of course, but he should be just fine!