Time Flies...

It is the middle of April and I am posting again for the first time in a couple of months. It's weird how fast life seems to go. In January I was going stir crazy waiting to find a job and now I have been there almost 3 months. Sean is plugging along and slowly gaining speed. I will hit the high points of the events of the last two months.

I am going to attempt to catch you up to speed on what has been going on since my last post. I will try in the future to not go so long in between posts...

I am full swing into work. The kids I work with as well as the teachers are already for school to be out. There are 23 and 1/2 days left before summer vacation. I have started working towards a Certificate of Specialized Training in Schools and Children Crisis Response Specialty. This is through the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF). I love what I do and feel blessed to have found a position like this straight out of Southwestern.

The end of February I embarked on an unique journey with Sean. Even though this trip only took us 30 mins south of here to Franklin it was a craz ride. The last weekend of Feb was a convention call Twist and Shout. Believe it or not there is a national convention for balloon twisters. Thats right I said balloon twisters. I only wish that I could post pictures of this crazy weekend. I actually had fun. I was around crazy people all weekend. Not necissarily crazy in the bad sense. Maybe unique would be a better word for this group of people. That being said, the things they created were amazing. I saw a large triceratops, a bride and groom, a giant laying being strapped down by tiny villagers, an underwater display and even clothes made out of balloons. Yes, actual people wore nothing but balloons at the banquet on the final night of this weekend. I watched some very funny routines and some not so good routines that weekend. I am having a hard time putting into words what that weekend was like. I am going to head to the Boston area with Sean this summer to attend a clown convention. I am not a huge fan of clowns but I am going to spend an entire weekend with them. Or... I may head into Boston and hang out at Harvard? :-)

The first weekend in March I had the opportunity to go back to my hometown and celebrate the retirement of my former music minister. That weekend was a memorable one as well as a time of reconnecting with people I have not seen in 10 years give or take. The church got ahold of as many former choir members as they possibly could. When all was said and done there were about 90 of us that showed up. For those of you have been to that church you know that it is not a huge church. The choir loft was not meant to hold that many people. (Although several choir members sat on chairs and the front pew while we were not singing).

The next weekend Sean and I were blessed to host the 11th grade girls for Livin XL weekend. I may have mentioned before that we do not have a large home. It is actually just a hair over 1000 sq ft. Friday night we had 6 girls, the Bible study leader our dog and us all under one roof. Saturday night we added 2 more girls to the mix. Now, if you could see the room they slept in you would wonder how they managed. (Again I wish I could post pics so you could see). The girls brought all of their stuff into the living room and layed side by side like sardines in a can both nights. We were blessed to have several good friends and a Sunday School class help us out with food. We had enough food to feed a small army and then some. Our kitchen counters and table were covered with food, not to mention that our fridge had fod stuffed in every nook and cranny. The music and the speaker that weekend were amazing. I am sure that the Lord was pleased with what went on that weekend and lives were changed.

One of the perks of my job is that I get to be out when the kids are out. So, for Spring Break, I loaded up my car and headed north. Thats right, I left comfortable spring like temps to go freeze in MI. I have to admit that hanging out with my sister, bro-in-law, neice and nephew made the cold temps and the rain ok. I got to hang out with with the kids in their schools and be a teachers helper for a day. Then I went to school with my sister (a kindergarten teacher) for a day. I love her and have a great deal of respect for what she does. I could not do what she does and remain sane. I also got to see family members that I have not seen in a good long while as well as meet a soon to be new member of the family (we hope). On the way home I stopped in northern and southern IN to do something I love to do and that is shop!!!

Easter weekend was a special weekend in our home. My mom came up from AL and my cousin came in from NC. Friday night I had the special privilage of singing in "Saviour." Sean's mom also joined us that night. On Sat, mom, Christine (my cousin), Sean's dad and I went to watch Bama play Vandy in baseball. I sat in the cold stadium and watched my boys (Bama) lose to Vandy for the 2nd night in a row. On Sunday my family and I headed off to church to worship our RISEN SAVIOR and then headed home for a feast. We had a grand total of 8 people in our home for that wonderful meal (that my mom cooked most of). That afternoon my father-in-law called and let me know that Bama had beaten Vandy! Later on that night Sean and I took Christine to see Opryland Hotel and made a pit stop at the Godiva store!

This past weekend. I dragged Sean to Judson for J-Day and introduced him to the unique world that is my alma mater. He experienced his first step sing. He met my Judson big and little sister, along with other friends and a couple of profs. He also had the pleasure of meeting some of the MMI cadets that I hung out with that were in town for the MMI homecoming weekend. Sat afternoon after all of the activities were over, I had the privilage of being a part of a recording of senior songs, that will be compiled for a CD. We recorded 3 songs that weekend. They will be put with the songs recorded last year and the ones that will be recorded next year to be sold to students and alum. This is also a way of teaching future Judson Girls the songs of their history. Sunday we worshipped at Siloam Baptist Church, which is the church I attended while at Judson.

I know this has been a long post. I apologize for that. If there is anything that I did not post and you want to know, post a comment and I will let you know. I hope that this finds all of you doing well and I pray that the Lord will bless you this next week!