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=)

Still here

...just extremely busy, as usual. Thought I would let you all know that the kids did get to meet the 2 starts from High School Musical and get their autograph. One of them had gone from blonde to black hair and Joshua even piped up to tell him he should go back to blonde.
I'll post about Christmas soon and what all the busy-ness is about but don't have time to now.

Hockey game

Well, big on the agenda tonight is a hockey game. We are going to see the GR Griffens play at the Van Andel arena. Now seeing a hockey game usually isn't that big of a deal. We usually get to several a year. However, there are 2 stars from the High School Musical movies that are going to be at this one. They are doing a pre-game autograph session and one of them will be singing during the intermission. The kids are totally excited. They would probably like to be standing in line already even though doors don't open till 6:30 for the 8 p.m. game. We, however, have more things going on then we know how to get all done. We will probably go down around 5-5:30 to see how long the line is. If there is a chance of getting an autograph then we will stay. If the line is too crazy, we'll come home and go back in time for the game. I'll let you know.