Gone

We hugged and said goodbye to Patrick Tuesday. I sobbed and cried all that evening and have had little moments of sadness followed by tears. Saying goodbye can be really hard.

Tornado Relief

We learned last Saturday that tornados ripped through our little town of Delta. We raced home from our long vacation and viewed the devastating damage. Shocking!

Kim is the minister of our little church and so he jumped in feet first to help coordinate the clean up effort and I jumped in too! I've done a number of little things to help out, but today's assignment really blew me away.

I was asked to work at a home on Co.Rd. 7. It is an an area that suffered severe damage and many lost homes. I had been working over three hours in the hot, humid weather and felt really tired and worn out. Then the homeowner and her neighbor appoached me as I tilled, pulled and raked sod clumps from the earth. The ladies told me that the garden was being readied to transplant the landscaping flowers and shrubs. This was all the women had left of their homes. Just the flowers and shrubs. I felt really humbled. I would have replanted entire trees for them. I feel really blessed that I had the chance to serve.

You Pick

Last Sunday, I was given an assignment to speak in church tomorrow. The theme for service tomorrow is of course, Mother's Day. My assigned topic....You Pick. What kind of topic is that?

I have been thinking all week about my topic, You Pick. And so far, I haven't written anything down. Little thoughts have come my way and in my mind full discourses I have imagined. But still...nothing to write home about.

I think I will let a little perspiration happen before my inspiration hits.

Personal Enrichment

I am involved in the youth organization at my church. So, as leaders we have been challenged to complete the Personal Progress program to help and encourage the teen girls too.

Well, you see...there is this little pink spiral bound book with eight individual themes called values. They are Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Integrity and Virtue. Under each theme there is a collection of little projects and goals to set that will help increase my faith in God and Jesus Christ and it is supposed to increase faith in myself too.

I have been working on the theme of Knowledge. I enrolled in a creative writing course. It is killing me. It's hard and I'm too proud to quit the course. Right now I'm doubting my sanity and the value of this class...but hopefully it will all work out in the end. It's about line upon line and precept upon precept, right? Writing can be so hard when you know it's going to be graded!

Patrick has a blond moment.

I am not a sports fan...okay, so I'll watch the occasional Ohio State Football game and attend local high school sporting events. But, that's about it...except when it comes to the Olympics. I love to watch the Olympics and I spend as many hours in front of the t.v. as I can to see as much as possible.

So tonight has been no different...spending my time watching the Olympics with my German son Patrick. We were watching the speed skating events. The women's speed skate was in the semifinal qualifers and Patrick says..."Why is there a sponser on the German uniform?"

I say., "That says GER for Germany."...Patrick had a blond moment.

It's December Already!

I can't believe another few months has passed since I last blogged. I feel guilty for not getting my thoughts written down. I feel guilty for not reading my friends blogs too! I'm so sorry everyone...

But, it is the end of the year and that means it's time for me to reflect on what has come and gone....

Hunter is in the 4th grade this year. He has a love/hate relationship with school. He hates to go to school and loves to stay home! Hunter is now a blue belt in Kenpo Karate. He loves the class because now he gets to use weapons. I wish we were aloud to video tape Hunter during class. His expressions are priceless. The grin from ear to ear is so Hunter...I know what he's thinking when he's making karate moves..."It's so Jedi!"

Megan, my darling girl is a 3rd grader this year. She loves going to school because she gets to see all of her friends. Megan loves her teacher Miss Burkholder...and especially her art teacher. Megan was approached by her art teacher to take a special art class in an after school program. Unfortuneately we had to pass on the chance as it conflicted with Megan's gymnastics class. Megan loves gymnastics...she loves learning how to tumble and flip and looks forward to the day when she can take the back handspring class. She says the hardest part of gymnastics is the uneven bars.

Patrick...yep...he's our German son....as Hunter would say..."what's up brother from another mother"...Patrick is still our exchange student and we absolutely love him! We can't believe how lucky we are to have such a great kid in our house. He has been so good with Hunter and Megan...he teases the kids just like a real big brother would!

I was reluctant in the beginning to host another exchange student...we have had 3 students before Hunter and Megan came along...it was very difficult for us...actually...for me to share my home with strangers. My expectations must have been too high. I truly believe that having my own children has softened my attitude and my expectations more realistic. It also helps that Patrick is such a good kid. I don't think we'll host after him. It wouldn't be fair to the other student...we would always be saying "Patrick did this and Patrick did that".

This year I started running...thanks to Lyndsie (who is totally awesome!). I ran my first 5k with Nancy on October 31st...and ran another 5k on Thanksgiving morning. I'm slower than molasses frozen in January...but I still have fun. I would like to better my time and actually purchased a couple of running books to give me some hints. I have a goal to run the annual Delta Chicken Festival 5K in July...I hope to win my age division!

Kim is loving his work as an insurance agent for Banker's Life. He loves helping his clients and he has earned many rewards for his hard work. We recently took a trip to Jamaica because of his work. I loved it! The people are so friendly and we did some much needed R&R. Kim is in the running to win a new 42 inch flat screen tv...as if we need another one!

It's time to say HI!

Well...It has been awhile since I made a blog entry. I have sooo many things to tell everyone but don't know where to begin....so I thought I would do bullet points to get everyone all caught up.

• Kids are in school. Hooray! My house stays a little cleaner all day long.
• I have become an exercise fiend. I run...I bike...I walk...you would think I would lose a little more weight faster....but perhaps my chocolate addiction has something to do with that.
• I now have 5 callings at church. I'm a counselor in young women's. I teach primary. I play the organ. I am the website administrator and I am the stake assistant camp director....so if anyone complains to me about church being busy...they can just talk to the hand...my point of view is this...if your busy with church....you're not busy getting into trouble.
• We still have our exchange student, Patrick. We like him....so we keep him...check out my facebook page to view some photos.

I think that's it for now...I have nothing else to say.