Busy with Snow, Snow, and More Snow

Hi! This is Rachel (for once).
We have had a very busy past week. On last Sunday, the boys had their CHRISTmas play @ church. On Monday, my musical practice was canceled because of the snow. (Thats 1). Mom, Dad, and the boys had to still go to the last puppet practice before the performace. On Tuesday, I had to deliver the Advance newspaper, go to an appointment, and then finish delivering while everyone else went to the Y for Joshua's swimming lesson. Wednesday was the usual bussiness only Grandma Joyce was here too now. We had the puppet performace for the Awana kids. I taped it with the heavy camera above my head. That hurt. But we did have a little time to celabrate Mom's 40th birthday. Thursday was our band concert, but Dad had to go the Y for basketball practice. Friday we woke up to find that we had a snow day. (Thats 2). I was also supose to have my birthday party, but no one could make it. But Mom and Dad took just me and we went and saw the movie The Boy With The Striped Pajamas. That was sad. Then we went to Denney's for dinner, then to Cold Stone for ice cream, and then to Blockbuster to rent videos. When we got home, Mom went to work, everyone else went to bed, and I stayed up and watch movies. Then yesterday, (my 14th birthday) we had to go to the school because Stephen had 2 basketball games. Then all of us went to Cold Stone. After that Mom, Dad, and Grandma went to a banquet leaving me to babysitt my brothers. Not a fun birthday. Today, we got up and got ready for church. JUST before Mom got home from work and Dad got home from going to Lowes to pick up the snow blower that we bought yesterday, we got an e-mail saying that church was closed. (And thats 3). The reason I was saying thats 1,2,3 was because there has been three things canceled because of SNOW. We are getting dumped on and its not supose to stop until AFTER CHRISTmas. Grandma is supose to go home tomorrow. That might not happen. Well maybe now that church is closed we can finally get out the CHRISTmas decortions out, along with the tree. Well I have got to go.

Survived Tuesday

and that was rather "iffy" for a while. Here was yesterday's itinerary: After getting about 5 1/2 hours sleep, I picked up Stephen, Joshua, & Sarah (neighbor girl) from school @ 3:15. I actually made sure I was there when they got out so we could get everything accomplished. Rachel stayed at school for musical practice. The boys had a quick snack & then we had to deliver the Advance Newspaper that we do once a week. The fact that it was cold out made it easy to motivate them to keep up a quick pace so they had time for hot cocoa. We did have approx. 15 minutes after we arrived home for us to enjoy a cup while the boys worked on homework. It was then back in the car to run out to the school to pick Rachel up from practice. The kids & I swung by a Little Ceasar's to pick up their hot & ready pizzas for dinner. As soon as Mark arrived home we had approx. 20 minutes to eat dinner. Then I dropped Mark & Rachel off at the school. Mark had a parent committee meeting at 6:30 & Rachel had to be there by 6:45 for Parent Awareness Night. The boys & I proceeded to the Y where Joshua had swimming lessons from 7-7:45. After a quick shower, we headed back to the school. Parent Awareness Night continued till 8:30 so Mark & I had a few minutes to go around and see some presentations that the kids had prepared on issues that teens are having to deal with such as alcohol abuse, cutting, suicide, teen pregnancy, & more. It was all very interesting. (Rachel did hers on teen pregnancy.) I did have about 1/2 to sit & rest after the kids finally got to bed before I had to go to work. So that was our Tuesday! Most of the time, life isn't quite that hectic but it does seem as the kids are getting older that they are happening a little more often.
Other than that, Mark has been struggling with a cold for 2 weeks now. We haven't been at the Y as much because it is hard to work out when you can't breathe. As you may have noticed, Joshua is now in swimming lessons. Stephen is now signed up for a Y basketball league. The practices are on Thurs evenings. This is also keeping Mark busy as he is the coach of the team. The first night of practice there was no coach so Mark stepped up to coach so they wouldn't cancel the team. They had the first game last Saturday & they lost. Also, Mark & I are now directors for the puppet team at church & we have a performance coming up on Dec. 20. Our church is changing the curriculum we use for Discipleship Hour so since we are both working in that program, we have extra things going on. There's definitely always something going on here.

$2.22/gal

That's what I last paid for gas! It only took $18 to fill up my little Prizm! Prices have fallen more since then, as low as $1.96/gal in an outlying area called Plainwell according to the news. It is down 1/2 of what we had been paying. I wish it would stay this way but I would lay money on the fact that it will probably be back over $3 by the time everyone starts travelling for Thanksgiving.
Well, the first marking period is over for the kids & they all did very well. Rachel made the TCB Club & probably both her & Stephen will be on the Honor Roll. Joshua had a bit of an incident on the playground the other day but otherwise is doing very well too. We had parent/teacher conferences earlier this week so Mark & I spent Wed. afternoon going from teacher to teacher around the gym which is where the middle school teachers are all set up. Having 2 in middle school, there were only 3 teachers that didn't have at least one of our students. Some of them actually have both.
All three are a bit disappointed in the election outcome but it was interesting to see them get involved with all the discussions. Rachel's history teacher held a debate where 4 students were designated as the candidates & had to research their stand on questions the rest of the class had researched to ask them. The teacher said this really brought Rachel out of her shell to the point they think she will either be a reporter or a lawyer. Rachel, of course, was armed with a lot of the information that we had received via email concerning some questionable stands of Obama.
Other info, we are most disappointed in our last washing machine. We bought it less than 5 years ago & went with a Maytag thinking reputable namebrand. Well, it is dead. At first, we thought it was just the timer but when the repair man listened to it they said it would be over $350 to fix because it needed an entire motor & probably the timer too. So we have had to go washer shopping. So much for a laptop for a while. I've actually had to be taking all the clothes to the laundry mat for several weeks. That gets really tiring really quickly, not to mention getting very expensive.
Mark is going to Lake Ann Camp tonight for a Camp Captain's retreat. He took the day off today so he can leave for up there earlier than getting out of work. I think it actually starts around 6. So this morning he is volunteering to help with "centers" in Rachel's Language Arts class. He then meets with the guy he has been doing accounting on the side for and then it is down to his office to get his flu shot before he can leave town. He'll be back tomorrow afternoon though.
He also took off Monday & Tuesday because the kids are off of school on those days. The plan is to get lots of cleaning done during those days. With everyone here, working together, hopefully we can get some cleaning & organizing done that has been put off way to long. There are a few other things on the agenda for those days too such as visiting a high school that we hope might be good for Rachel to try to get in to next year but cleaning is highest on the list.

Back to blogging

Sorry. It has been crazy around here. I so wish I had a laptop. I'd have lots of time to blog at work but need a laptop to do it. Maybe by Christmas. I'll try to keep this somewhat short but hit the high points of what has been going on in our lives.
School is off to a very good start this year. Rachel is in 8Th grade but doing 9Th grade algebra this year. She has a wonderful homeroom teacher that said how much she had been waiting for Rachel to get to her grade & was excited to have Rachel in her homeroom. Rachel's weekly progress reports have been coming home with incredible percentages. Several classes she has had more than 100% score as an average for the class (including Spanish which is her least favorite class). Since this is Rachel's last year at Chandler Woods, they almost treat this as a senior year with lots of special activities. They started the year with a "sneak" field trip that went from 8 a.m. -10 p.m. It was really focused on team building but also memory building. They highlight of the year will be a trip to Washington DC in May. Hopefully, I will be going to as a chaperon.
The rather big news that Rachel has is that she has a part in the school's musical this year. They have already started practices but the performance isn't till February 10, 2009. It took some doing to get her to try out as she was afraid of not being chosen but at the last minute she did & she will be the "minstrel". She even has a duet to do with the "jester".
Stephen has the most adjusting to do this year as it is his first year in middle school. He has the same homeroom teacher as Rachel did & she is very encouraging to the kids. She does great for Stephen as she uses food (candy) as incentives a lot. He had a few adjustment issues as he has had 3 detentions so far. (Detentions are served during lunch time with sitting, eating, & no talking under the supervision of the assistant principal or social worker.) They were rather minor offenses & I think he won't be getting any more. He is trying to make the TCB Club that the school has to earn a trip to Cedar Point at the end of the school year. TCB Club is based strictly on behavior & responsibility & not on grades. If students obey teachers and turn in assignments, there is no reason not to make it. Each quarter there is a party for TCB & if they make it 3 of the 4 quarters, they get a day at Cedar Point while the others are still sitting in classes. Stephen's grades are doing well too. The biggest challenge is to keep things neat & organized.
Joshua is in second grade this year & has the teacher he was hoping for, Mr. Steinbacher. He has been struggling this year with making sure his homework gets turned in but we are working on that. The GREAT news is that I have not had to make a single trip out to school to clean him up since school started! He still has accidents sometimes but so far not during school. They are definitely getting fewer & farther between.
I think that covers the highlights of school. As for me, I am now working 40 hours every week. We had some switching around of aides & I ended up with an extra day when the schedules were adjusted. I am also now a "lead" at least once a week. That means I am the supervisor of the shift. I am also responsible for handing out all meds during that shift. It also comes with a raise which is nice too. It is taking some more adjusting on the home front. It is strange that just one more night a week affects the family so much more.
Mark just passed his one year mark at URS. Things are still going really well there. He even got a former coworker from Camp & Cruise a job in his department. So now he has another man to talk to since they are up to 3 in the dept and 11 ladies.
The other big news is that we have joined a YMCA. It has been great! We are there 4-6 days a week. Stephen took a basketball class this fall & now wants to do the Y basketball league. He hopes to be good enough to make the school team by next year. Joshua has been playing in the Y flag football league this fall. They practice on Tuesdays & have games on Saturday mornings. I don't know what their record is but they are doing rather decent. He is not the best player but also not the worst & he is having fun. There are 6 different Y's in the area & we can go to any of them. We mainly go to the one by the kids school because they have a great family area where there is weight machines that the kids can use as well us as adults. They have cardio there too & some other fun activities including a Wii. So we can all do whatever kind of workout we want and we are at least in the same room even though not necessarily right with each other.
The kids also completed a "marathon" this fall. It was called the GR Kids' Marathon & we just finished last week. What they had to do was walk 1 mile 3 days a week from mid-August. They had a chart to track their miles on. They had to have 25 miles done by Sat. 10/18. Then we went downtown & finished the last 1.2 miles on their course. The kids all received a packet of prizes, certificates, t-shirts, & medal. It was rather fun!
So much for keeping this short! Oh, well. I think that is about it for now. At least I hit the highlights. We'll save the "low lights" for another time.

My Summer (So Far) Part 2 By Rachel

So I left off at Canada Monday. Well I should describe the place we were at. We were on a island on the French River, 4 hours east of the Sault. The only way you can have electricity is by a generator. There are 3 cabins. The middle has a kitchen, 2 bedrooms, and a bathroom with a toilet and a hot shower. This was the girls cabin. The boys had the other 2 cabins. The only electricity they got was from a light bulb. The boys got to use an outhouse for the week! And if they wanted a shower they got to take it in the river! Now because the girls had the kitchen, we spent most of our time in our cabin. At night after the boys left we had to get our sleeping bags out and lay them out on the floor. Then in the morning we had to pack it up and get dressed by 8:30 so that the boys could come in. Well everyday there was a kitchen and boat crew. The kitchen crew made the meals and the boat crew took care of the boats. Every morning after breakfast we went out to the rocks and did our God and I time until lunch. After lunch we got to do different activities that Art had. (Art owns the camp and is a pastor. His wife Judy was there too along with Sharon (Beaver) the nurse). On Tuesday half of the group was blindfolded. the other half was to lead them and follow Art. We had to go around trees, OVER DITCHES, and over a beaver dam. The reason that I capitalized over ditches is because my leader lead me into a little ditch and I twisted my ankle! On the way back it was really hurting. Also it was thundering. When we got back, that was when it started to rain. Well part of the boat crews job is to got all of the water out of the boat after it is done raining. So after they thought it was done raining the boat crew went done to bail the boats and everyone else who had nothing to do went with them. When they got down there the whole back of the biggest boat was underwater!!! They came back up to get Art and some buckets. As they starting it begins to rain again! It then turned into a big water fight and everyone was soaking wet when they were done. I did not have any part in it. I was watching from the cabin and keeping off of my ankle. After the rain stopped and everyone was dry and done eating Art did a devotional on John chapter 21 every night. Afterward we got to play "Simon Says." Now you may say what is the big deal, but you have not played "Simon Says" until you have played with Art. He is so good at getting you out. He got one girl out by asking what her name was! On Wednesday afternoon we got to go tubing and skiing!!!!! That was a lot fun! When it was my turn, I had a rap around my ankle and when I fell off I felt like seaweed was tangled around my foot but it was the rap mostly undone. I just took it off. Before we went back to the dock to trade with some kids so take they could tube, one of the leaders named Avery was trying to windsurf. She was a ways away and she was to tired to swim back with the board. So we got to bring her back. That was interesting trying to get the board back. Later after the devotional, Art made a circle with a rope and had us kids try to pull on it so that we didn't fall on each other. After we did it the leaders got to try it. We then did a challenge were we all had to close our eyes and keep them closed. We all were put some where on the rope by Art. Well when he said he had everyone on the rope I to say that I was not on there. He forgot me because I was behind someone. So while keeping our eyes closed we had to make a square without Art and Beaver's help (Judy was sleeping). We did a good job for the space that we had. Well on Thursday the morning schedule stayed the same but lunch was postponed until later so we had a snack and we got into canoes and started our trip. We were supposed to go 2 hours have lunch then go 2 hours back. We didn't even get 1/4 th of the way and there was thunder, so we had to turn around and go back. So while it was raining, we did another challenge. This one two people were tied with shoe laces that crossed each other and the object was to undo it. The girls didn't give up, every one else had Art tell them how to do it. Afterward we got to go to a different island and climb up the rocks. It was an amazing view! We then climbed down and went swimming. Friday, we all got on boats and they spread us out at different spots close to the camp for a hour. That was a nice quiet except for when a train went over the bridge. When that hour was over we went and had a picnic lunch on "exile" island (the island across the river). We then came back, got our bath suits on, and went cliff-diving. I only went once, but everyone else was doing a lot. For devotional we went outside and had a fire. We got to tell everyone what choices we had made that week. After the generator went off we waited a few minutes and we scared the boys by making them think there was a bear outside when it was only the female leaders. But when they came over to our cabin to make sure we were all right, we went outside and we saw the stars. They were amazing! Well Saturday, we were getting on boats and leaving and started the rain, again. That was a terrible cold ride. We were going to try to leave by 8:30, we didn't end up leaving until 9:30! We had so much fun on the 12 hour ride home. Except for 1 boy who throw up. We were hypper then we all fell asleep then we were all hypper again. We ended up back at the church at 10:30 p.m. The next morning, we got to sing our theme song for the week for the church wearing our Canada shirts. That was fun! I ended up sleeping in until 11:30 to catch up on sleep on Tuesday becase on Monday I had to babysit. But I had lots of fun in Canada!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Summer (So Far) By Rachel

I was told that I had to write about my trips I took this summer. We got out of school June 6th. When we got home we left for Detroit so we could go to my cousin's open house. That was a really hot ride. On the way home we had to travel through a lighting storm. The follow 2 weeks I helped the church prepare for the garage sale. Whatever money that we made was divided up between the people who worked, and it went to their summer trip. After that was over we went to Lake Ann on June 30th. That was a lot of fun! I got to do the Flying Squirrel. What that is is where one person with harnesses is pulled 40 feet into the air by everyone in their cabin. Going to the sleeping bear dunes was fun too. When we were to come down, they recorded everyone doing it all at once. We also got to race blue barrels with people inside. It was awesome!!!:):):) And because we were there on the 4th of July, we got to see some amazing fireworks over the lake! Well we came home on Saturday, but we all wanted to stay. I am hoping that next year I can work there. Grandma had her surgery while we were there, so when she left she took Stephen with her!! Hey!!! That meant 1 less brother around. On the 13th, we went to Birch Run to help celebrate dad's uncle's retirement. We also met Grandma so that Stephen and I could switch places. I had fun. We went to the museum and I really enjoyed that until when we were coming out and I wasn't paying any notice that a curb was there. I tripped and scraped up my knees. We also went sidewalk shopping at the mall. On Friday and Saturday we got to go garage saleing. On Sunday I went to the ditch that is at the end of the driveway and as I was going into it, I slipped and scraped the side of my left leg. Well on Monday we drove 5 hours home. Starting the 28th, I helped take care of the preschoolers during VBS for the week. On Saturday, we left early in the morning to go to a campground in Omar (the smallest city in MI) for the Berry family reunion. We left later that evening. I spent most of Sunday packing. Monday, at 6 in the morning, I went with 16 others kids and 6 adults for a 12 hour bus ride to CANADA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus when we got there we had to go another 35 minutes on a boat!!! And because not everyone got to go at once we all weren't there until 8:30 p.m. We endedup going to bed at 11:30! Have to go will finish blogging later.

Canada

Well, Rachel is off to Canada for the week with our junior high youth group from church. They left at 6am this morning & have a 14 hour trip today (10 to the Sault then another 4 to the east), then they unload the bus & put all their stuff on a boat for a 1/2 hour trip to the camp. It should be a great experience for her. She paid for it all herself between her Advance newspaper route & all the fundraisers that the church put together. They will be coming home on Saturday. They don't even give us an estimated time of arrival for Saturday because of the length of the trip. When they have a good idea of when they will reach town, they start a "phone tree" to notify parents.
There were 17 kids & 6 sponsors that are going. What is really interesting, is that we just had a new "Pastor of Family Ministries" that officially started with our church on Aug. 1 & he left with the group this morning. How's a trip to the Canadian wilderness with 17 junior highers sound for the first full week on the job for someone?! Hopefully, we don't have to start a new pastoral search the minute they get back! Also interesting, is that our "Lead Pastor" will be at home with his 3 children all week as his wife was one of the chaperones that went on the trip.
I had to work last night & am not supposed to get off till 7:30a.m. I didn't tell Rachel but I made arrangements to have the last 2 hours of my shift covered so I could see her off. She was really excited and came running across the parking lot with a big hug when I showed up at the church. It feels rather good to know that it still matters to her whether I am around for things like that.
Last week was VBS & I'll have to blog about that later. I need to get a few things done around here this afternoon.

Big "E"

No, I'm not talking about Dale Earnhardt Senior. I'm talking about the one that eye doctor's put on the wall when checking your eyesight. Mom was down for her 2 week checkup since her surgery & it took a little doing & wasn't clear but she could see the big E on the wall with just her left eye. She hasn't been able to see that since her last surgery 8-10 years ago. The doctor was a bit concerned with some clouding but says that should still clear with time. She doesn't have to come back to see him for a month now.
The summer is rather flying by. Of course, I feel like I am sleeping most of it away. My job is going well and the kids are doing ok at letting me sleep during the day. They are getting to watch way too much t.v. but other than that it is going good.
Rachel & Stephen have each gotten to spend their week at Gramma's house. She took Stephen home after her 1 week checkup. Mark's family was having a retirement party for his uncle in Birch Run the following weekend so we met up with Mom at the party & traded Rachel for Stephen. Rachel then was able to come home with Mom when she came down for this week's appt.
There really isn't much to write about as things are mostly right in the norm for us. Very busy but nothing too exciting. No major vacations or other excitement going on. I have a wedding cake to make this weekend & need to do the purchasing for it today as well as go to a staff meeting. But we are all fine. I'm still trying to get the kids to do some blogging but that hasn't happened yet, obviously.

Survived Storms

We had major storms come through West MI yesterday. They made quite a mess but we survived them just fine. The biggest excitement was that the neighbor next to us lost a BIG tree! The good news is that it fell out in the street where it did the least damage that it could have. Had the winds been out of the SW instead of W/NW it could have brought it down on the front of our house. The other thing is that it covered the place on the street that we often have a car parked but all our vehicles were in our driveway (or Mark's was at work) at the time. It did hit a car parked on the other side of the street but that thing only had 1 scratch on it. This event brought out the whole neighborhood. Amazingly we even had the city here around dinner time cleaning it up. Of course, the fact that the road was completely blocked might of had something to do with the speed. There was a wire down with it as well but we all still have power in the area. We think that it must just be for the street lights. We're really fortunate since there is 150,000 without power through MI & they are saying that it could be Sat before it is all back on.
The other good news is that Mom's eye surgery went well (& we were home before the storms hit). The dr was very pleased with how it went. We go in here shortly for a check up on it. We don't know how much more we will know about the success of the surgery at this check up or whether that will take longer. Mom is hoping she can get the ok to stop looking at our ceiling when she is there. She didn't have to stay flat on her back but she did have to keep her chin pointed up all day.
Rachel & Stephen are up at Lake Ann Camp near Traverse City this week. This is something they look forward to ALL year. So it has just been Joshua here with Gramma & I. He is enjoying that but he is also excited about going to camp. He is going up with Mark & the other chaperones for the return trip tonight. They are going to tent camp on the camp property & then observe the campers for the day on Friday before bringing them home on Saturday. This is a treat for all of them & only happening because of the holiday tomorrow so Mark has the day off.
Well, I have to get busy. We have the appointment & packing to do plus I haven't even started fixing a rather large hole in the ceiling that occurred last week.

Quick update

I can't figure out where the time has gone since my last blog. But it has prompted several emails & phone calls from Dad checking to make sure we were still around & surviving.
My part-time first shift job has now become a full-time third shift position. I love the work that I am doing & in a way miss first shift because I don't get as much interaction with the residents on third shift but we really feel this should be a great change for our family. I even thought I might get to blog more because I can do whatever I like when my cleaning is done & as long as I do the bed checks each hour but I havn't been able to get permission to use the computers there yet. So now I'm thinking I might write out the blog long-hand & have a child type them in while I am sleeping the next day. We'll have to see. But that is why I haven't blogged, working lots of hours, adjusting to working nights, busy with kids finishing school, & I just finished my training for work the first week I went full-time.
I don't have much time to blog now but wanted to let you know that we are all fine. The kids all finished up school & are happy for summer break. I'm hoping that I can even get them to do some blogging over the summer too.
The biggest news that I wanted all to be aware of (& I don't know that Mom will inform everyone) is that Mom is going to have eye surgery here in GR on July 2. She has been coming down here every 4-6 weeks over the past couple of months and seeing an opthamologist here. She didn't like the care of the one in Alpena & there aren't any other choices there. She was really getting concerned that she was struggling with her right eye which is her good eye. The first dr. here gave her some drops & ointments to help with that. Then he referred her to a cornea specialist in the office. He feels that he might be able to get her vision better in the left eye which she had really given up on. He says that there is no chance of harming the right eye & not even any extra risk of going under anesthetic even though she has had a heart attack. It is outpatient surgery & should only take an hour or so. She will then go back in for a check up on July 3. After that he will determine how soon he wants to see her again. She may need to stay in town for a week or so for another check up.
Well, more news later. We have lots going on right now. Mowing, weeding, laundry, preparation to go to a wedding later today, & Mom just got back from taking Stephen for his birthday breakfast. His party was Thurs. so at least that is out of the way.

Job News!

I officially have a job! I am a Residential Aide for Harbor House Ministries. This is an adult foster care facility that has 3 homes with 12 residents in each home. The residents are severely, & multiply impared. I will be doing personal care of them. I have to get some training which they will pay for but I think I will be able to do well at it. I'm mainly working 6-10 a.m. & every other weekend. We aren't thrilled about the weekend hours but then again, it is better than nothing in this economy. It is only 15-20 hours to start with. Training is paid at minimum wage but then I'll be getting $9.50/hours which isn't too shabby. (It's more than I was getting for decorating cakes.) Mom, I hope you don't mind some babysitting while you are here during Spring Break while I get some training in. I have to work classes around their schedules & I have to have everything complete in 60 days.
The kids are a little disappointed that this came through & we haven't heard from the Christian radio station about the morning co-host position. Actually, I talked to the director of the station last Saturday at the AWANA games. He said that they had received 105 resumes and so far had only gotten through 80 of them. They were hoping to go through the remaining 25 this week. The only thing is we don't know if mine was among the first 80 and they weren't interested or if I'm among the last 25 and might still get called. I told the kids that I will still pursue that position if they call me for an interview but that I wasn't turning down a "sure thing" for a "slim chance".
Now we just have to get a second car by Tuesday because there is no way to tackle this without a second vehicle. We know that God will provide & we do know of a couple of possibilities but haven't gotten anything definite yet.

Dateline

There is a special 2 hour Dateline tonight on NBC that deals with a family from West MI. It is about Mistaken Identity the family that found out their college daughter was alive & mistaken for a classmate for 5 weeks. This all happened 2 years ago with students from Taylor University in IN. The families were from MI though. They are strong Christians and have written a book about the experience. If you can't catch Dateline, you can probably find the Today Show interviews on their website because Matt Laur interviewed both families for the last 2 days.
There was also an interesting show on CNBC a week or so ago on a show called American Greed. It was all about CyberNet Engineering and Barton Watson. Mark used to work for this crook. We seriously suspected something was crooked but not as bad as it was & definitely didn't have any proof we could take to authorities. We sort of wish we had taped the episode but hindsight is always 20/20.

Some prospects

Well, I have a little update on the job hunt. I did a typing test for Spectrum Health where I am still up for a Registration Specialist position. They were looking for the typing speed of 35 WPM and I had a 43 WPM. Now that I have that on file it may help my apps get more attention there.
Also, I had placed an application at a place called Harbor House Ministries on Monday. They had a posting on a bulletin board at church. It would be for a Resident Aide position as this organization has 3 long-term homes for developmentally & physically handicapped people. I received a call to go for an interview there tomorrow morning. The posting said that they had 6 full-time positions but they asked if I was willing to consider part-time. I said that I would consider it but it is a bit of a drive there so I'm hoping that they are still talking about 8-10 hour shifts instead of 4 hour shifts. We'll just have to see how it goes. How do you dress 1 level above scrubs?

Same old...

Nothing much new to report here. I'm still looking for a job. I have several applications and resumes out but haven't gotten any interviews. The kids are busy with school. Lots of projects to work on and, of course, with March being reading month, pushing for lots of minutes reading for a competition at school.
Mom was here last weekend. We had a nice visit with her. She stayed with the boys while Rachel, Mark, & I went to a church ministry conference Friday night & Saturday. She also went to an opthamologist while she was here. She wanted a second opinion & that's not possible in Alpena. He put her on some drops & ointment. She has to follow up with him in a month which is fine by us since she has to come for Joshua's birthday breakfast about then anyway.
Well, it is time for me to go get the kids. I just wanted to let everyone know we are fine. No major illnesses or injuries lately & really nothing new to report.

Job Search

Well, no word from UPS and it has been almost 2 weeks since the interview. So I have still been out searching. I applied at a gas station and a hotel (front desk) earlier this week. Now, today, I have put in 5 more applications. Gotta love modern technology. With 3 kids at home, I was still apply to put in apps over the internet. I applied for 4 different clerical positions. These all pay better than UPS and the work wouldn't be as physically demanding so maybe one of these will work out.
The other position that I applied for today was as a Morning Show Co-host for the Christian radio station that we listen to. I know it is a long shot but it doesn't hurt to try. I actually know several of the people that work/run the station since it is run by my alma mater. I do have radio experience (haha) since I worked with Uncle Bill in Alpena so you never know. I also figure that I may be a good fit since the other co-host is a single young male. Being older, married with kids, and female, might just help since a lot of ladies listen while getting kids ready for school in the morning. The last duo was a male/female team that abrutely left and joined a secular station right here in town. It seems like a strange switch but no one has said much about it. I actually was joking with Mark about it just a couple of weeks after the last team left that I should apply then I found the ad today.
I don't know if any of these will pan out but we know the Lord has something in store. We are trying to stay patient while we look for the one He has for me.
By the way, taxes are DONE! This is a record for us! We have them done, efiled, accepted, and now just awaiting the direct deposits into our account. We have to file the city by snail mail but that is ready for Mark's signature and it is in the mail too.

Snow days #5 & #6

Yes, the weather has continued to be crazy around here. The kids had last week Thursday off since we recieved 10 inches of snow on Wednesday afternoon & evening and the blows just couldn't keep up. It also doesn't help that we had rain before the snow started falling. Now they have today off too! There were actually over 400 churches cancelled last night and numerous school systems called off before bed last night. We have some counties that the plows don't work on weekends so there was no way to have school today. We really didn't get a lot of snow with this system but the temps are so cold that they can't salt the roads and what snow we got blew around and drifted pretty bad. If you paid attention to your national news today you probably heard GR mentioned. We had 3 major interstates closed in multicar pileups at different times yesterday. One of them involving 50+ cars! Fortunately, we are safe and warm.
This is really going to make for an interesting week. The kids were only scheduled for 3 days as it was. Thursday & Friday were Teacher Inservice Days. And now they are forecasting the temps to stay cold and another 2-5 inches of snow overnight & into tomorrow. The kids may only be at school on Wednesday which, of course, is the day for all the Valentine exchanges.
The good news is that it appears that we should get to hold the AWANA Grand Prix this Wed. It was scheduled for last Wed but had to be postponed due to the weather. The thing is that the Regionals are this Saturday so we have to have our church one before then. They announced last night that if Wed is cancelled, we would do it on Thurs evening (or Friday if need be).
Other news: Joshua's allergy testing came back negative. That dr. thinks it is just a matter of going through that "potty training" stage again. Not what I wanted to hear! I'm more than tired of this already & would like to move on.
I spent this weekend sick. I started not feeling well Friday morning but thought it was just over-tired. By early afternoon, I had diahrea and it was so bad that I knew I couldn't pick up the kids from school or Mark from work. I had to call on friends to help with both. I had to stay on clear liquids till yesterday morning. I felt a little better or at least like I should do some things Saturday evening but could only be up for a few minutes at a time. I stayed home from church yesterday morning and started back on a bland diet throughout the morning. By evening, I was able to attend church. (Yes, of the over 400 closings, ours was not.) I was a bit back down when we got home but part of it was that we stayed to help with track setup & it was more than I had done all weekend. Also, it could be that I needed more in my stomach because I was also having lots of sinus drainage which often bothers me on an empty stomach.
Well, I am back on my feet now and playing catch up. So I better get at it. My main focus of the day is our taxes. (YES MOM, our taxes are almost done!) I spent time last week doing them most of them and just have to do my AVON business part of it. I hope to have them efiled later this week.

Joshua's appointment

Joshua has a new appointment on Monday to see if we can figure out something concerning his bowel problems. It came to me last Sunday that I had read of kids' with his type of problems that have food allergies that cause it. So, I started by calling his gasto specialist and she said she hadn't checked for that & we should see a specialist. So then I had to call our regular pediatrician for a referral and by Thursday the allergist's office called and had an appointment available for next Monday (2/4). I don't know what we will find but it will at least rule out something else. I can't believe that we are getting in so quickly! You all know how it can take months to see specialists but less than 1 week!

Happy Birthday, Nate!

Just a note to wish Big Brother a happy birthday. I'm not good at getting cards in the mail so this will have to do. He is one of the few readers that drop by regularly (besides Mom & Dad) so he should see it this way.

Another snow day

I can't believe it. I'm not sure if there has been another year in all of Rachel's years in school that she has had 4 snow days in a year, especially since all these have been in less than a month's time. The crazy thing is that it isn't looking very good for next Monday or Tuesday either. We are supposed to be in the mid-30's with precipitation switching back & forth between rain and snow.
Stephen was actually disappointed to have a snow day today as his class was supposed to have a "Super Bowl" party today. All of the kids had to earn the right to participate in the party and he did so he is a little disappointed but the teacher assured the kids they would get to have the party on Monday if there is a snow day today. This has been good for him to have time to come up with more Super Bowl trivia that he is suppling for the class. This also means I don't have to put together a football-shaped cupcake cake till Sunday afternoon now.
I do have to get a cupcake cake decorated for a baby shower for tomorrow though. I think I'm doing an umbrella shape in blue frosting since it is for a baby boy. I made sure that we got all the stuff to do these with last night just in case there was a snow day today.
Mark & I also stopped by the library to get books for Rachel since she needs to be reading for a Jack London author study they are doing. Since the books had to come from the public library, we didn't want to wait till the last minute.
So we are homebound again. But at least we are warm and have power.

Snow day #3

Well, we awoke to another snow day. Mark almost had one too. It took us over 50 minutes to get the car open so he could even get it started. The locks were frozen and then the doors themselves were froze. We had a high temp yesterday of 45 degrees. It was 39 degrees at 7 p.m. then dropped 25 degrees by 1 a.m. The major problem with that is that while it was 39 it was raining. With the quick drop in temps, we had what meteorologists call "flash freezing". Mainly, there is a thick layer of ice under the very fine snow that is blowing and drifting and making white-out conditions. Our windchills officially qualify as "dangerous" as they are in the teens below zero. It is a good day to be inside. Fortunately, we have not lost power as a lot of people in the area have. Mark did make it to work safely although 30 minutes late.
I had hoped to go to Aunt Millie's Bakery because they are taking applications for a merchandiser today from 1-4 p.m. But I didn't feel that it was worth just putting in an application to keep the car today. If it was an actual interview, I would have considered it. We can't have anything happen to this car as it is the only one we have. I'm hoping that they may take them on another day too seeing as State Police are saying to stay home if at all possible.
I did go on an employment tour at UPS last night. It is a possibility that I could work there as a package handler nights. It would be hard work & I would definitely get in better shape then I am right now. It also has very good benefits so we are thinking about it.
This snow day also means that I probably have to cook dinner tonight. We normally have dinner at church on Wednesday, but the rule of thumb is "no school, no church". Actually, as I was typing this the official notice came through that all activities at church are cancelled. So I guess I better go get the kitchen cleaned up so I can cook something tonight.

Winter's back...

Well, we have been back to winter weather since my last post. It's typical MI. Last weekend we were in the teens or below and now we are supposed to get to 40 by Monday and have rain on top of the 8-10 inches of snow that has fallen recently. The kids have now had 2 snow days during January. One was more because of fallen power lines in the area than for the ice itself. The other one was this last Tues and it was definitely a good call not to have school that day. GR Public even called off school and that only happens on rare occassions, like every 2-3 years.
My family is going to be going through withdrawl tomorrow. No football and no NASCAR! What to do on a Sunday afternoon without either of those. That only happens a couple of times a year but this is one of them. Even though there are some weeks that there are Saturday races during NASCAR season, at our house they are still Sunday races as we tape them instead of letting Stephen stay up too late on Saturday evening.
At least it is AWANA Grand Prix time so they have their cars to work on and at least think about racing. Mark has Stephen at the church right now for what they call "Pit day" where they bring in tools that not everyone has at home and then they can work on them there. Rachel is done with making cars since she is in youth group now and Joshua is still in Sparks and they don't do the cars yet.
Rachel battled a really bad head cold this week. She missed school on Monday, then Tuesday was a snow day, Wednesday we got her there long enough to take her midterms that were that day, she missed Thursday but was back and doing better on Friday which is when her other midterms were. Fortunately, she was able to get there for all of her midterms and there weren't many other assignments that she missed when she was out because it was mostly prep time for the midterms.
The rest of us are healthy and doing fine. I can't think of much else to update you on right now. I guess I would just say to keep praying for us and our car situation (getting us everywhere with 1 vehicle is tricky) and also I am looking for the right part-time position for me. See it is a bit tough as I can't do a daytime position because of Joshua's intestinal difficulties, but I also don't want EVERY night committed to a job because of needing to be able to do stuff with the family (school & church commitments, etc) & then there is the 1 car situation to deal with too. So I am looking but haven't found the right opportunity yet.

Weather

With Big Brother doing lots of shovelling & Dad shivering, I just had to tell you that it was 52 when we woke up this morning which broke a high record for the day. It has now been 64 this afternoon! The kids would like to break out the shorts about now. But all good things must come to an end. They are forecasting snow & 36 by Wednesday again & next week it may not get out of the 20's for highs. MI--gotta love it! If you don't like the weather, you won't have to wait for long to get something different, that's for sure!

Teenager

Yes, we officially have a teenager in the house. Rachel turned 13 on Dec. 20. Tonight is her birthday party. We wanted to let her do something more than she usually gets so she was able to invite 7 girls over for a slumber party. Only 3, however, were actually able to come. 1 cancelled at the last minute because she came down with the flu. We were hoping since the holidays were over and some kids are already back in school that more would be able to come but it didn't work out that way.
We started with gifts and cake/ice cream. Actually, this time I decorated a brownie as her cake was hardly eaten that I did at her actual birthday. Mark then took our boys out for a movie (Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium with Christmas $ from Grampa). I crashed this party because the girls were watching "Hairspray" and I wanted to see it and hadn't yet. Now Rachel has a new DVD, & probably soundtrack too, on her "must have" list.
The girls are doing the HSM (High School Muscial) DVD game. It's the only board game I know that keeps the kids on their feet most of the time. The kids have to learn the dance moves from the movie and be able to figure out what moves are missing when they show a clip. I'm rather glad that we don't have many more girls because we couldn't have many more learning the moves at one time in our living room. (There goes a plate of chips!)
I'm trying to stay out of the way but yet supervise properly. Next will probably be the 2 HSM DVD's. Rachel is hoping to stay up all night but we'll have to see. I have fondue for the girls too but they didn't hardly touch any munchies during the movie so I haven't decided if I'm going to make it or not.
Rachel had to work hard to get to have her party. Besides the cleaning in the basement, she has had to help with cleaning the family room and her room as well as taking down all of the Christmas decorations from the living room. Of course, the hall getting to her room is still a mess but the room is clean, not organized but it is cleaner than it has been in months. Good thing that she had 2 weeks to work on it.
Of course, our poor cat doesn't know what to do with all these giggling girls around here. They are invading her space and quiet time with mom. She also doesn't like all the cleaning. No blankets or pillows on the floor for her to lay on and she lost most of her hiding places in the basement. Guess she'll just have to adjust.
Well, we'll need more prayers than ever to get through these years ahead. We just are going by the theme of HSM, "We're all in this together".

Holidays

Well, we had a very pleasant holiday season. It was actually rather quiet, at least as quiet as this house goes. The only travelling we did was over to Detroit on the 15th for Mark's family Christmas party. We did that as a 1 day trip and even cut it short as the weather was not very nice. We kept on eyes on weather reports through out the day as this was a fast moving system and every time we checked it, the reports changed on who was going to get how much and when it was coming.
Mark's company party was the night before on the 14th so we couldn't go over ahead of time. (Rachel also had a youth group party that night.) The URS party was at a place downtown called the BOB (Big Old Building). It has been renovated on the inside and has several different clubs (bars) and also private rooms to rent. It was definitely rather fancy and we hadn't done anything like that in a long time. I think it would have been nice to of had some little gifts or something rather then having the open bar but I'm not in charge of planning. By 11:00 p.m., it was pretty noticeable of who had taken advantage of the open bar. Quite a few from Mark's department weren't able to make it so even he didn't know a lot of the people there so we were ready for home. What I did find interesting was the number of retirees who were invited and attended the party. They also recognized people for their anniversaries and I am amazed at the people who have worked for URS for 20+ years. It must mean that URS knows how to treat its employees for them to want to stick around so long, right? Hopefully, this is a place that Mark can stick around at too.
Mom came to visit the week before Christmas. It is always fun to have her here. I seem to get to some projects that don't get done otherwise. We even did some baking this time. She had Rachel & Joshua making cut-out sugar cookies while I had Stephen helping me make carmels. This is the first time I have attempted much for baking with the kids and they really enjoyed it. We did some other cookies after she left and put together plates with cards for neighbors and friends.
It was just us for Christmas day. Mark's mom came over on the Wednesday after Christmas though. We actually worked each other pretty hard for Friday & Saturday. I had a friend from church bring over his trailer so we can start going through the basement to get rid of the radon gas in the house. Well, the trailer is almost full, we made 2 trips to Goodwill, and we made 2 trips to our church to what is called a "Paper Gator". This is a recycling program that recycles paper products and our church makes some money off of it so we helped them out for sure. The basement isn't completely done but it is definitely headed in the right direction and we wouldn't have been this far if she hadn't stayed and helped out with it.
More updates soon but just one other thing before I sign off---How's the weather, Dad? At least we have clothes for these temps and they are forecasting a January thaw by Sunday, heading to mid-50's by Tues. Stay warm=)