Validation

PLEASE pray NOW for a little baby named Stellan. He is a newborn and is in the hospital NICU after contracting RSV (respiratory virus). They are holding off a little longer before they put him on a ventilator - so PLEASE pray that he turns the corner tonight! He has been through so much in his short little life, and this is a hard one for their family. You can read their story through the link on my sidebar: "My Charming Kids." PRAY! PRAY! PRAY!

Papa and Nana's house! Papa and Nana at the park Christmas Cacti singing "O Holy Night" Desert beauties Kids enjoying the sun.... Our first night in Arizona - Christmas dinner! Present time! Mom took a nap in the sunshine. Ahhhhhh.... The kids took a ride to the community center. The neighborhood Papa and Nana live in is part of a master planned community with lots of amenities..... The kids at the neighborhood park. Ben begged Papa to drive him over in the golf cart to to play. :) The kids at a prehistoric ruins site called "Casa Grande." Ben in his "room" (Nana and Papa's walk-in closet) with Toby The fam on Papa's golf cart again - probably the highlight for Ben. Mel even got to drive it! What we came home to - a Christmas we won't forget!! BBQ anyone?

After a flight delay on Christmas Eve, we made it home. Yay! We arrived too late to attend our church's Christmas Eve service, but we were just so glad to be back. After a quick trip to Taco Bell to fill our tummies we made it home. What a great feeling to walk into our warm home with our Christmas presents waiting under the tree. Our kitty was so happy to see us (she has hardly left my side since we got back). Ben developed a skin staff infection that we had to see a doctor for in Arizona. We think he had it before we left, so our first task was to disinfect all of our bathrooms and wash all our bedding,just to make sure. Once we had the house cleaned up, I stuffed our stockings. One of our Christmas traditions is to open our stockings on Christmas Eve. Papa and Nana had given us a DVD of a fire in a fireplace, so we put that on as well as some Christmas music and opened our stockings together. The kids woke up about 7:00 am on Christmas morning. Santa had left a remote con...

After two days in a row of flights cancelled into Seattle, we are back at Joe's parents in Arizona. The airline is saying we might be able to get home on Christmas Eve morning, but I'm not going to get my hopes up too much because the weather is still bad there. It was a sad thought that we might not be waking up in our own home on Christmas morning to open presents. Amanda and Ben were teary, and I was fighting mine back for their sake. Melanie is happy-go-lucky, and is perfectly happy coming back to Nana and Papa's. I told the kids that whenever we get back, we'll still have our Christmas. I tried to keep them cheered up, and asked each of them if they would like to know what one of their presents are. They thought it was pretty funny, so I told them each one present. Their dad was down at the ticket counter, so I told them it was our secret, and not to tell dad that they knew. :) I enjoyed the lifted expressions I saw on their faces, and decided to make sure ...

Flight cancelled again. Trying for Christmas Eve morning. Kids sad. Mom sad. Dad sad. Dog in the kennel sad. Kitty home alone sad. Pray for us.

Hey from the sun! We are packing up to leave Joe's parents in Arizona, and I would like to ask for your prayers for our return flight. Our flight home yesterday was cancelled due to the severe winter storm in Washington. We will be coming home to several inches of snow I hear, plus freezing rain. We have a 35 mile drive from the airport to home once we get there. So, please pray that #1: we get to fly into Seattle today; #2: safe driving once we get there. Thanks so much my blog friends!

I got 'em. My final grades. My little heart is pounding out of my chest. Abdominal Sonography: 95% A Abdominal Lab: 89.5% B Pathophysiology: 89% B PRAISE THE LORD!! Oh. Here comes the tears....

If you haven't watched the video located below this post, I urge you to do so! It's AWESOME. My favorite part is when he says the "people you're supposed to love." HAHAHA! Perfect! Anyway, Joe and I had a picture-perfect outing to downtown Seattle on Saturday night. It was SUPER cold, so we bundled up in our scarves and gloves, and headed over to the Cheesecake Factory for a delicious dinner. I was in the mood for Famous Dave's grilled salmon, however (I get these things stuck in my head sometimes) - but lo, and behold, the Cheesecake Factory presented their new menu with grilled salmon! They even had onion strings just like Famous Dave's! Mmmmmmmm......Joe and I shared a slice of heavenly Tiramisu cheesecake afterwards. Mmmmmmm again...... After dinner, we walked off some calories shopping a bit downtown. There were so many PEOPLE! And, there were lights everywhere, and a carousel, too. Inside one of the malls, there were choirs singing Christ...

I'm taking a quick break from studying to ask for your prayers as I embark on my last four finals. I am most nervous about my Thursday final, so pray for skilled hands and quick thinking will you please? Amazingly, I am finished with my Christmas shopping. I have done most of my shopping online, plus quick stops on the way home from class. Amazon, Avon, Best Buy and Overstock.com were my friends this year. If I were to have an addiction, it would be to receive packages in the mail. It is so FUN! I proclaim "Santa's elves came!" when a package arrives. And, did you know that a lot of stores have a set-up where you buy stuff online, and then pick it up at the store? I kinda like that idea for the fact that you don't have to fight any crowds to shop - you get to shop at home in your jammies and have the item waiting for you at the front of the store when you're ready to pick it up. It also means no shipping costs - yay! Another "almost addiction...

One final down, four more to go....I took my Pathophysiology final on Tuesday and I felt very, very good about it. I think I only missed a few, but then I'm pretty sure I got all of the extra credit correct, so that might make up for what I missed. Next week I have finals in Abdominal Sonography, Ultrasound Physics and Instrumentation, Cross-Sectional Anatomy and Abdominal Sonography Lab. I'm quite nervous about my Lab final. We will given six images to scan, and fifteen minutes to do it. We will not know who we will scan ahead of time, which means no practice time on that person. I will have a teacher sitting there watching my scanning techniques, and then judging my images afterwards for their clarity, etc. I'm scared! So, again, if you think of me, I could use your prayers!

My first out of five finals is on Tuesday, the 2nd. If you think of me, say some finals week prayers!!!

Melanie decided that she wanted to be baptized at her youth service last weekend. Something like 31 kids got baptized all in one night! It was AWESOME. There were about 400 kids standing up and cheering the whole time......I was very proud of Melanie. She was baptized at about 8 years old, but she really wanted to do it again because she felt like she understands it better now, and wanted to do it to show her commitment to God. Pretty cool if you asked me....

For the last several weeks, our pastor has been speaking on the "end times." So, on the way home from church tonight, we got to talking about Heaven. My 17-year-old, Amanda says, "So, are we going to be naked in Heaven? .......Because, that would be really awkward."

My family and I are crazy about Christmas. Before Halloween, there was a radio station that played Christmas music for a day. I told Amanda, and she freaked. We listened to it all day. Another radio station has been playing it everyday since November 1st. I love it, but my husband is not quite ready to get into the Christmas spirit. :) He tried to change the station yesterday! I called him a Grinch. Me? I'm ready. I like Christmas to last as LONG as possible.... We got a fake Christmas tree two years ago. That means we can put up our tree early and leave it up as long as we want. This year, we're putting it up the day after Thanksgiving - I can't wait!! We're also going to go to a live Nativity again this year, as well as our church's Christmas Eve services (my absolute favorite). But, back to the music....I don't know if I have a favorite Christmas song. The song "Breath of Heaven" comes to mind, as does "Chestnuts Roasting On An Op...

Etiquette Everyday ~ Communications Being Thankful: A Thank-You Note Q&A (From www.emilypost.com) We all have to write thank-you notes. Take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone staring down your stack of cards and list of names. Before you start, remember that thanking people needs to be about just that: expressing thanks. So refocus, reorganize, and rethink the process. Get in touch with the sincerity of thanking people for thinking about you and sending you something—even if it’s a hot pink polyester sweater. Here at the Emily Post Institute, we’ve assembled some simple answers to the most commonly asked questions about the post-holiday thank-you note blues. Who needs a note? All gifts should be acknowledged with a note, unless the goodies were opened in front of the giver—then you have the chance to thank them in person. An important exception: many of an older generation expect a hand-written note. Providing them with one is an appropriate gesture of respect and considera...

I have become less fond of Thanksgiving the last ten years. First of all, me, Joe and our kids usually end up doing it alone. No big event. No warm, large, extended family gathering. We used to have them. And, sadly, we had more when we lived states away from our extended family, because we would always be invited to share the holiday with friends or families from church. I have tried to invite people over (who might not have a place to go), and create a gathering, but that has never worked out. I have tried something out of the norm, and went to Old Country Buffet. Read last year's entry about Thanksgiving, and you'll see what a fiasco THAT was. This year, Joe's parents are still living in another state, my side of the family is somewhat estranged etc., and no one has invited us to join their extended family gathering. I thought about going and serving a meal at a homeless shelter or something. It's still a thought, but we'll probably just be alone again. We do, ho...

My new favorite thing: Brown Sugar Liplicious lip gloss from Bath and Body Works It gives a hint of color and lots of long-lasting gloss. It even tastes good. :)

Amanda and Joe flew to Whitworth University, so Amanda could spend the night in a dorm with one of her friends as well as attend classes. Amanda also got the opportunity to meet with the director of music and receive a private lesson. Then, she and Joe hooked up for a campus tour, and meeting with an advisor from the education department. She received some great advice, and is now probably going to move in a direction that is different than originally thought. However, she feels that God has led her in this direction! We will have to see how the Lord's path for her unfolds! Exciting stuff, though. I'm so amazed and intrigued by the choices and interests of my kids - so different from mine. I am loving to see how God is moving in their lives as they are getting older, and making adult choices. I am now feeling that, as a parent, I am fading into the background of their lives a bit (or at least Amanda's), watching them become this autonomous, God-led person. I wonde...

A couple of weeks ago, I had a meltdown moment. My husband must have sat with me for over a half hour while I cried. I was feeling stressed about my future clinical assignment, and worried over how far away they will send me - wondering if God would really look out for me and not allow me to be sent to Vancouver (one of the locations). I thought that, because what I'm doing doesn't have any "eternal significance" it must not matter to God - whether I succeed or fail, where I'm sent, etc., isn't important to Him in the grand scheme of things...... My husband said that he didn't think that God had brought me this far, to allow something that would make it a hardship on me and our family. I said, that I didn't think God cared about it, because it was my choice to enter the program, and maybe He's just allowing me to do it...... I didn't wholeheartedly agree with myself, even as I spoke the words, but I guess I was having doubts that what I was doi...

Drumroll please... Cross-Sectional Anatomy Midterm: 103 out of 100 Physics Midterm: 94 out of 100 Thank you, Lord! All credit to You! :)

Did you know that there are only SEVEN weekends left to shop for Christmas?!! It sounds weird when it's put THAT way, huh?! I cannot advertise my website on my blog, but I am a personal sales rep for a cosmetics and gift company that starts with an "A." If you are interested in doing some online shopping, please email me through this blog, and I will give you the address. I've already done some online Christmas shopping there myself! I also found a cool site with neat, educational toys at www.mindware.com . Whaddaya know - I also did some online shopping there! I LOVE shopping online, don't you?! It's so convenient, and you don't have to leave the house! One year, I did a lot of shopping at Overstock.com. During this time of year, they have a lot of free shipping deals. You can find ANYTHING there! What was YOUR last online purchase?

Amanda had a youth symphony fundraiser concert last weekend, where the symphony played movie music and dressed in costumes. It was REALLY fun! Here's pics of our family outside of the theater. Melanie went to a Homecoming dance at another high school last weekend, since one of her best friends attends there.....They went with a big group to the dance and Denny's afterwards.....

On Friday, I took my last midterm of the week and our instructor let us all go home afterwards - YES!! I called up my husband (who was doing laundry) and asked him to go out to lunch! We had a wonderful lunch at Olive Garden - soup and salad, my favorite.....Throughout lunch, I could feel myself physically, mentally and emotionally decompressing. I have never worked so hard (in all three aforementioned ways) in my LIFE during last several weeks. Whew. They are driving us so hard. Basically, all I've been doing when I get home from classes in the afternoon is study. I try to make dinners because we ate out way too much last year when I was in school. I like the cooking time to get a little break from studying, but right after dinner, I'm right back at it. My husband has really been stepping up and taking over the majority of the household chores and looking after the kids' stuff. It's such a great relief to know that, during this season of my life, my husband is supporti...

I'm on my way to bed, but I had to stop and read my favorite blogs, and type a little on mine. I'm on my way to a midterm next week on Tuesday in Pathophysiology. I'm on my way to four MORE midterms everyday the week after next (except Monday). I'm on my way to having fresh, steam-cleaned carpets come Saturday morning. I'm on my way to having a toothless dog, since he had nine teeth pulled yesterday due to nasty cavities, and bad periodontal disease. I'm on my way to sending my oldest daughter to college soon, which is evident by her taking her SAT a couple of weeks ago and planning a trip to Whitworth for a visit. I'm on my way to Krispy Kreme tomorrow to buy Ben his promised donuts for reading two chapter books. I'm on my way to gymnastics season, as Melanie went to the informational meeting to kick everything off. I'm on my way to bed now, because I finished some homework and it's almost 11:00 PM.

I posted the two previous videos, because they make me laugh so much. I went back to them for another laugh yesterday to relieve a little stress. Laughter is so great for that, isn't it? I can't take much time away from studying, but I will say that "sonography school" is still intense. I can literally feel my brain forming new brain cells as I ponder the physics of sound waves and try to find my classmate's gallbladder, etc. I am holding on to A's in each class - did I mention I'm taking 18 credits? Yeah. Four classes (one of which has a one-hour lab twice a week) plus a four-hour lab once a week. Next week is week FOUR, and we have already covered the liver and gallbladder as far as anatomy/physiology, sonographic appearance and pathologies. Then, we practice, practice, practice finding these organs (and others) on our classmates. We have a 50 point assignment of 10 things we must image, and make a powerpoint slideshow out of it. Our four-hour lab time i...

Before beginning our ultrasound program, one of my fellow sonography students had attended one of the program's informational meetings. At the meeting, each person had to state their reason for wanting to become a sonographer. My fellow student explained that one interested woman at the meeting, said that she wanted to become a sonographer because she wanted to volunteer at a pro-life clinic (I'm assuming it is one of the Christian based crisis pregnancy centers located all over the country). Anyway, my fellow student made a judgment about this woman and said, "Isn't that incredibly short-sighted?" I immediately thought: "No, that's incredibly eternally-minded."

I had my latte and oatmeal, watched the end of "While You Were Sleeping," and now I gotta go study. Before I do, I have to say that I'm so proud of my husband for joining the second round of Men's Fraternity at our church. The title of this season is "Succeeding at Home and at Work." For those of you who don't know about Men's Fraternity (click on my sidebar to see more), it is a Christian series of weekly messages and small group work, going deep into what it means to be an authentic, godly man. And, they go deep. Last season was learning about what God says about authentic manhood and delving into past wounds that keep them from being an authentic man. This season will be some more of the same, but emphasis on other aspects of manhood. My husband will be heading down to church at 6:00 AM on Thursday mornings for the next few months or so. Good stuff!! Another cool thing, is that I don't have morning classes on Thursdays - thanks for ...

This week was the first real week of my sonography program. Needless to say, I won't have much time for blogging. I might try to write once a week. My brain is so tired from the intense concentration I must exert everyday, and it would be so hard to explain all that I have absorbed, but I will try to share about the experience (maybe so I can look back and appreciate it)..... I am scanning my classmates already. I found a liver, kidney, aorta, gallbladder, and inferior vena cava all by myself. I haven't done anything or lacked to do anything that has resulted in me being terminated from the program (a daily fear of all of the students). I have five classes, two of them labs. One lab is over four hours long. I found out that there were 50 people who applied to the program. 18 of us got in. Our class is all women. I am the 2nd oldest. The oldest is almost 40. The youngest is 21. I have amazing, excellent instructors. A HUGE challenge so far is learning the direction of wha...

When I have excellent food, it is impressed on my memory. I do not forget awesome food. Sometimes I will just think about some memorable food, and re-experience it all over again (without eating it, of course). I enjoy the experience of eating, which means I eat slowly (which some people find the need to bring to my attention. I already know this, however, and I am proud of it - so there) :) My favorite food is Italian. The other day, Joe and I went on a lunch date to a great little, authentic Italian cafe in Sumner. It's called Sorci's. It was sunny, so we even ate outside. This is a luxury in and of itself in our part of the country! My delicious sandwich was a grilled panini. It had three slices of tomato, big slices of mozarella and pesto spread on each piece of bread. This is my new favorite sandwich. I will think about this sandwich for awhile.....

I usually make my kids' lunches for school. Once in awhile, Ben likes to buy lunch. Last week, he actually used his own money. He brought $5, and bought one lunch. The lunch lady said she would put the rest in his "lunch account," (something the district does). She told him he had about $3.15 left. Yesterday, Ben wanted to buy lunch with his remaining money. However, when he got to the cashier, she said he only had 29 cents. They gave him a granola bar and a milk. He cried, and asked his teacher if he could call me to bring him a lunch. His teacher said "no." When Ben got off the bus yesterday, he started to cry, said how hungry he was, and relayed the aforementioned story to me. I WAS TICKED!! I called the school, which directed me to the food services office. The lady there, looked things up on her computer, and basically said, "I dont' know what to say." They didn't have record of his $5 deposit. SO - I called his teacher to let ...

Sometimes our "no's" and decisions to set limits, make other people unhappy. However, the more I learn and the older I get, it ceases to be quite as bothersome to me. Recently, I heard a speaker talking about perspectives. She had everyone stand in a circle. She put on a funny mask, and held up a picture of something. Without turning her body, she pointed to different people around the circle, and asked them what they saw. Each person had a different answer. Each one saw things from a different point of view. Huh. I think that, when people are unhappy with our "no's" and limits, it shows that they are unwilling to respect our decision, which was based on a different point of view than theirs. I can understand that they are unhappy with me since they are coming from a different place in that "circle," but it still doesn't change my decision. It's unfortunate when we are unwilling to seek to understand (or even try to imagine) someon...

The following is an article by Kim Wenzel, leader of Smoldering Wick Ministries (see sidebar), a ministry for wounded and burned out pastors and lay leaders... Stress, then Burnout It seems to me so many in the church do not understand spiritual burnout. The helping professions have always had a higher burnout rate than many other types of careers. Social workers, counselors, therapists, psychologists, and other social reform positions have scored high in burnout in the past several decades. It the past 20 years burnout and rising drug and alcohol abuse has skyrocketed in doctors, lawyers and members of the clergy. This disturbing trend also includes suicide. In fact, I am writing this article just two weeks after the suicide of one of Colorado Springs' most loved pediatricians. A man who gave so much to the community, he had nothing left. Some doctors claim stress contributes to 90% of all diseases. Even if this figure is exaggerated a tad, we all know stress plays a major factor ...

This week has been full. I have felt like I've been in a cloud, being led along by somebody else. LOTS of information, and LOTS of boring training. It started out with a full day of being scared out of my pants at all of the hard work I'm in for, not to mention all of the rules and stipulations that could mean "termination from the program," etc.....I am in a class of 18, and I feel like I am surrounded by some quality people. It's going to be great....I also learned that our clinicals are chosen for us, and not based on where we live. This means that there is a possibility we might have to commute up to 2 hours each way. Our clinicals start Spring Quarter and then our whole second year is completely clinicals. I had a SEVEN HOUR day of boring HIV/AIDS training. My rear end was ACHING from sitting so long. And, afterwards, I was so creeped out, that all I wanted to do was keeping putting on hand sanitizer. I had another half day of HIPAA training (privacy ...

It's here. On Monday, I start the Diagnostic Medical Sonography program. I am getting nervous. Nervous about the amount of studying there will be. Nervous if I can handle it. Nervous if I'll be able to be as good at this job as I want to be. Nervous if I can get the financial aid/loans to pay for everything. Nervous about the effects of my schooling on my family life. Nervous about the people I'm going to spend the next two years with. On the other hand, I'm getting excited. Excited to learn about the human body and pathologies. Excited at the prospect of becoming a valuable member of a medical team and helping people. Excited for the sense of accomplishment I already have for getting this far, and for how great I know I'm going to feel when I finish. Excited to have an education under my belt, that will allow me to earn a meaningful income for my family. Excited about the people I'm going to spend the next two years with. Excited to wear scrubs! :...

Today was "Meet the Teacher Day" at Ben's school - the day before the first day. I always enjoy observing Ben in new situations. I might venture to say he is a "slow to warm up" kind of guy. He grasped my hand tightly as we walked into his new classroom. I could tell he was a little tense. I could really tell, when he was given a list of instructions created by the teachers. It was sort of a checklist, with things to do, such as "put away your school supplies in your desk," and go check out some things in the room, etc. Ben was taking a VERY long time to accomplish this, plus he wasn't understanding everything he was reading, and seemed flustered. It was unusual for him to be this way, but I think he had anticipated this day for a couple of days now and the excitement was too much. Plus, old friends kept coming into the room and distracting him because he wanted to talk with them. His teacher commented that he was taking awhile to finish ...

When reports first came out regarding Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter, I wasn't embarrassed for their family. I didn't think less of their family. I didn't think less of Sarah Palin. I didn't think less of John McCain for picking Sarah Palin. In fact, I didn't understand how it had anything to do with Sarah Palin as a future vice-president or with John McCain as a future president. What IS embarassing is the way the media and the Democratic party is handling the fact that her daughter is pregnant and not married. MY 17-year-old daughter, who was watching the news with me, couldn't believe how it must possibly feel to BE Bristol Palin and have that very personal information splashed ALL over the United States. It's shameful. I might go so far as to say that it seems almost criminal to do what they are doing. The media and the Democratic party should be ASHAMED of themselves, and smart people in this country should think again about voting for someon...

I received my Td (Tetanus) Booster on Wednesday. When I got in my car to leave, my arm started hurting really bad. By bedtime, my body started to feel slightly chilled and achy. The next morning, my body was still hurting, and once I got up and around, I was out of commission. I took a super hot shower to try and get my joint pain to relax a little. I bundled myself up and headed for the couch. I felt SO crappy, I was in tears. It took my doctor's office FIVE HOURS to call me back after calling TWICE. I finally took some Tylenol. In the meantime, I called the 24 hour nurseline of my insurance company. She suggested I take Tylenol or Advil. Duh. She was actually the most helpful out of everyone I spoke with. I asked her about delaying my Hepatitis B shot, and she agreed with me that I should wait 1-2 weeks. It just felt nice to hear some empathy at the other end of the phone.... On Friday, I had to go into the lab to have my TB titer "read," since I received t...

So, what's the deal between Baptists and Pentecostals/Charismatics? Why is it that these two groups allow the non-essentials (non-essentials to salvation, that is) to divide them? I grew up in a conservative, Baptist church. Certain "things" that Pentecostals did, were basically mocked and considered "evil/of the devil." Raising hands during worship? Forget it. Praying in tongues? ABsolutely NOT. As a kid, I remember watching African-American church services on TV, and being mesmerized by their enthusiasm in worshipping God. I wanted to worship like that - to fully express my emotion and love toward the Lord with other believers. After all, I LOVED Him! He was my closest Friend since I was about four years old. I WANTED to express my love to Him. Frankly, I found my church growing up to be very BORING. Grab a hymnal. Stand up. Sing a song. Sit down. Yawn.... When I turned 18, I was invited by Joe's mom, to attend a Foursquare church where I lived. Now, havin...

Great news about our car! The guy at the autobody shop did some research regarding used replacement parts for our car. Using these parts would bring the price of the repair within range to not total it! Yes! Thank you, Lord! The doc said Amanda only had muscle strain, and we continued with the Ibuprofen and ice.

Yesterday, I received the kind of phone call no parent wants to receive: "Hi. I am here with your daughter and we've been in an accident - she pulled out in front of me. No one is hurt, but if I call the police, she will probably get a ticket, so what would you like to do?" Me: "Uhhh....No, I'll be there in 10 minutes." I went into "solve the problem mode," as I usually do and sped to be with my daughter. As I drove, I thought about the correct response I should have, knowing the significance of this moment for Amanda. I got there, and went straight to her and hugged her. Then, we began to talk about what happened. The woman involved was extremely gracious and kind. She explained to me that she had called her fire chief husband, and they had agreed not to call the police, in order to protect Amanda from getting a ticket. I thanked her profusely. We then exchanged all of our necessary information, and the woman hugged Amanda as we left. TH...

I recently spent about $460 in ultrasound textbooks! Man - that's a lot of money. ----------------------------------------------------- On Friday, it was my daughter, Melanie's 15th birthday, so my family and I went down to Owen Beach at Pt. Defiance Park. I had such a great time being with my family, laying in the sun on the beach, playing in the water, watching Ben jump over waves, having sea kelp shoved up my swimsuit by Melanie and getting in a water fight. Good stuff...good stuff...Oh YES - and there just happened to be KAYAKS for rent there. SWEET! The girls and I each got a single kayak and out we went for about an hour. Now I know where I can go for a quick kayaking fix! ----------------------------------------------------- Joe and I were invited over to the home of the gal from church, (that I went to lunch with awhile back). She and her husband are employed at our church, so they live in one of the homes the church owns, which was recently renovated. They also...

Today, I decided to go to an unofficial Kentridge reunion picnic for my 20th high school reunion. There weren't as many people as RSVP'd, but enough to have a really, fun time. I was surprised at how much fun I had. It made me wish that I had attended the reunion last night. I think the thing that surprised me was how everyone was so eager to talk with everyone else! It was really fun learning about what the people had done the last 20 years, and remembering a few fun things from Kentridge High School. Someone pulled out a yearbook, and we started flipping through it, and asking about this person and that. Some of the people were WAY cooler than they were in high school (I hope I am, too), and I wanted to get to know them more! One gal recently moved to our town and has boys my son's age, so we're going to get together. I even saw an old boyfriend from 9th grade - haha! My girls thought that was pretty funny, and even funnier to me, was when they thought he was hot. HAH...

I have one word to describe my kayaking trip: heavenly. The weather was absolutely perfect. I wasn't cold once. Even with wet feet. In fact, it was so warm, we waded around during our lunch break. My cottony, long-sleeved Under Armour shirt was perfect - it kept me protected from the sun and wicked away moisture. The only downside to our trip: no whales. The guide went on and on about how he had this amazing experience with the whales the day before, so I had my hopes up to see some. Nope. We saw some Dall's porpoises, a seal and a couple of bald eagles. The porpoises were close enough to see their colors and hear them shoot air through their blowholes - kinda cool. It was just fun being out there doing something I've always wanted to do! We learned some new things, and I even ate some kelp. I totally want my own kayak now. Really bad. Me with my coffee on the ferry to Friday Harbor. Look at the gorgeous surroundings outside! I love living here (in the summers - haha)! Joe ...