Growing up....

My girls are growing up. It's been a while since we've done pictures (other than school pics) so I had the girls scheduled to have pictures taken on Saturday morning.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't very cooperative in the morning to get some good outside shots. It was really cold and it was really windy. Their hair is blowing all over in all the proofs.

Once we got home the sun came out and the wind died down a bit so I decided to take them over to my neighbors house to get some outdoor pictures with my own camera. My neighbor has a great backyard. It's all lined with pine trees (which blocked the wind) and she has flowers and fountains. They really have a great green thumb and I don't!

I think I got some good shots. You can tell I'm not a professional because I didn't pay attention to shadows and seeing my reflection in Katie's glasses.....but to the unprofessional (like myself) I think they turned out pretty good.

Chuck E Cheese....

Saturday we went to Chuck E Cheese for our small church outing. It wasn't high on my list of fun things to do over the weekend but the kids had a great time!

Keri had Nicole Flickinger come with us and then she spent the night with Nicole. All the kids had a lot of fun playing games and then picking out their goofy prizes. Did you know that for $20 you could get a pair of designer glasses like the ones that Keri has on?!

If you haven't been to Chuck E Cheese in a while let me just tell you that it's exactly as you remember it......LOUD!

Stubborn....

Two days ago my husband managed to drop a concrete block on his foot at work. I'm pretty sure that at least two of his toes are broken!

This man is so stubborn that he will not go seek medical attention for his foot. He's in so much pain that he rummaged through the cupboards until he found some Darvocet that I had taken for pain management when I had a root canal. Now don't you think that if he's in enough pain to take that heavy of a pain killer that he'd seek some medical attention? Heck no!

He told me that he was unloading this concrete from his work truck and he lost his grip on one of the pieces and it landed right across his toes. At the time he knew that it was bleeding because he could feel the warmth from the blood in his sock. This happened right around 7:00 am. Did he take his shoe and sock off to see how much damage had been done? No! He sat down for a moment to catch his breath and then he continued to work......all day long! He didn't look at his foot until he came home that night!

He literally cannot put any pressure on the front of his foot and he walks to the side of his foot so that his toes never touch the ground. I'd say this is a problem. He's stubborn as a mule! The next time you see him tell him he should go have the Dr. take a look at it!!!

Tugging at my heart....

Yesterday I had a client at my desk that was inquiring about making air reservations. Nothing out of the ordinary except that he was a real talker. I'm guessing he was in his mid 70's and he was really very sweet. I could tell that he was lonely and enjoyed having someone to banter with.

During the course of giving him the information that he came in to get he had told me about winters that he and his wife had spent in Phoenix, stories about his children, places that he wanted to see before his time was up, etc. Then he became very still and quiet.

I wasn't sure what to do exactly. A fair amount of time passed and I finally asked if there was anything else that I could do for him. He looked at me and said, "It's really hard getting old and I miss my wife so much". Then he started to cry.

Now I'm a sympathy crier so I started to panic a little because the last thing I wanted to do was start crying in front of this man that I didn't even know! I kept thinking, "Oh my gosh, what do I say to this poor man?"

He apologized for his reaction to his thoughts and of course I could only tell him that he needn't worry about it. I felt so bad for this man. He loved and missed his wife so much that even after six years of being without her his heart still ached. He told me that it was unexpected and that she died of a brain tumor that she never realized she had.

I told him how sorry I was. What else could I say?

After he left I couldn't shake the thought of how amazing it is to love someone so much that you can't fathom ever being without them. I hope that everyone that I know and love will experience that in their lifetime.

5 Things I Want My Kids To Know Before They Grow Up.....

I've been tagged by Shelley, which is like being challenged, so I must do this post!

1. I want my kids to love God and make him their #1 relationship in this world.
2. I want my kids to know that their parents love them unconditionally. There isn't anything that they could ever do to change that!
3. I want my kids to love themselves and not compare their bodies or their minds to their peers.
4. I want my kids to know the value of being truly happy vs. being just satisfied.
5. I want my kids to know how to manage money! Anyone willing to teach them this because I really stink at it!!!

I can't really tag anyone because I don't know that many people that blog! Sorry!!!

Not what I expected....

Yesterday's Connection service at NMC was amazing. I'm only sorry that they decided to do this type of service during Spring Break! I wish I would have taken a picture with my camera phone but I didn't so I'll try to set it up for those of you who weren't there.

As we walked through the doors there were candles lit everywhere with signs that read "What would you do if no one was here to greet you? Would you turn away?", "What would you do if you had to worship in silence?", "What would you do without music?", etc. (I may not have them all correct but you get the idea).

Once inside the setting was just beautiful. The stage was in the middle and all the chairs were arranged around the stage. The lights were down, except for a couple that were strategically placed on the cross, which put magnificent shadows of the cross on the outer walls and there were so many candles. It was just really a sight to see. We did celebrate with music but it was more of an acoustic sound and it was a really nice change of pace. I didn't think that I would be so affected by the sermon and the music because I am all for the upbeat sounds that we typically get in the Connection.

Chris Knight gave the sermon and the main message was about standing up for our faith and our love for Christ. Would we "stand" when the time came or would we fade into the crowd and try to go unnoticed? He made references to the number of Christians that lay their life on the line every hour of every day to stand up for Christ. He asked us some really tough questions and it was amazing to see how the people responded.

I was especially touched when my youngest daughter started asking me questions about the message and what was going on during the sermon. We had a chance to write our name on a canvas board (if we were willing to take that step and stand up for Christ) plus take an act of communion. She asked me if she was able to do his because of her age. I was really touched that she was putting so much thought into the whole process. She was asking a lot of questions about what it meant and the best that I could describe for her was to basically say "would you give up your life to stand up for Christ". Of course she translated that to being beaten and nailed to a cross the way Jesus died for us so I decided that I really didn't want to get into that detailed of a conversation with her right there at church so I downplayed that a bit. In the end she really wanted to get up and write her name and take communion. We ended up going up as a family and it was hard for me to hold back the tears. It was really touching and meant so much to me. (of course anyone that knows me well knows that it takes very little to make me cry based on my weak emotional state!)

So for those of you who missed this type of service I hope that NMC does this again some time. It was nice to have a change and it was wonderful to see that young and old responded to this message and take it to heart.