VBS Showcase, etc.

Today was a big day for me. My bosses asked me to become an expert in children's sunday school curriculum so that I could answer customer questions at our annual VBS showcase. I decided to put together a few binders of information so that I could have resources to show and share. They turned out well, and I do have a pretty good grasp of the information now. This now makes me Servant's Heart's Church Curriculum Specialist. Woohoo ;)

So there I am, sitting in the back of a room packed full of 50-plus VBS directors and helpers from the local churches, plus 15-20 presenters and store staff. I have my little table set up. it says "Servant's Heart, your partner for serving God's people in the local churches." Or something like that. I have my binders laid out, free samples, and my new "information request" form designed to funnel all curriculum questions to myself so that I can get real, personalized answers for people whose business will make a big difference in my store. I feel pretty good. Then my dear boss turns to me and says, "You know, it would just make more sense for you to actually be a presenter. We'll put you between speaker 3 and speaker 4."

Have I ever mentioned how much I loooove public speaking?

I spent speaker 1 and speaker 2 writing out what I was going to say, spent speaker 3 eating breakfast, and the break between speaker 3 and me talking to another expecting mother. She is due in March and it is her 3rd, also. Then it was time for me to speak. The thing about it is, I've been doing my job for three years now, and I actually love it. When I'm at Servant's Heart, I am relaxed in a way that would normally be reserved for home. So although I was still shaking and felt like I was speaking too fast, it wasn't that bad.

Vicky said I was perfect. And the thing about that is that She would not say that if she didn't mean it. That made me feel good because it means I represented the store well. Vicky is very picky about that, which is one reason why the store is doing so well.

Are you getting the idea that I feel really good right now? Talk about a self-esteem boost. I have been a little lonely and insecure the last couple of weeks; I really needed a day like today.

After the show, I talked with a few customers who I will be putting together information packets for. Then I went and sat with Vicky for a few minutes and talked about how we will be following up with people, and how excited we are about it all.

The rest of my shift went quickly. After that, I had to go to an "interview" with Fr. Weiss at church. It is part of the RCIA process. Partly it is to air any questions or concerns I might have, partly it is to determine if there are any problems or concerns from the other end as far as my joining the church. Really, we just talked, which was cool. There are a few questions I think he has to ask, like "is anyone pressuring you to join the church?" ROFL - as if.

Afterwards I felt tired and happy. I had gotten up an hour and a half before work even started to finish my binders, so it had been a long day. I put in my new Rocket Summer CD (my happy happy music), cranked it up, and sped home (a whole four miles over the speed limit, ouch) (yeah, actually, I have to drive through residential camp hill to get home from church, so if I was going 26 I'd be shocked but it felt like speeding what with the music and the happiness)

Was greeted exuberantly at the door by my beautiful kids who always miss me almost as much as I miss them. Boo drew me three pictures while I was gone - one was another "Boo Loves Mom" picture... actually it said something like 'Love Mom Boo' because we haven't got left to right down yet, but the fact that he wrote spontaneously was so awesome. I asked him "Who spelled LOVE for you, Boo?" thinking Daddy must have been involved. No, not quite. He ran to the livingroom and brought out the birthday card he got from "Boz the Green Bear". Then he pointed to the bottom of the card, which is signed, "Love, Boz". "That's where I got it Mom." Then, just to show off, he made the words "LOVE BOZ" on the fridge with his leap frog letters. These kids just blow my mind. The Lord knows I would rather be with them 24/7, but every second away just makes me appreciate them even more. I am so lucky. I am so blessed.

Lee's W-2 came in the mail, so we went to Wal*Mart and bought TurboTax. First he is going to file our taxes, then spend the rest of the night killing orcs on the computer. One quest after another. He has requested Ultimate Grilled Cheese for dinner tonight. As for me, I am going to put the kiddoes (the big ones!) to bed and take a well deserved nap. What a GREAT day.

Happy Birthday Me

Today I am 27 years old.

Although I am not a famous singer or writer, I have everything that they write and sing about. I am not rich, but I have everything I need.

I have family that loves me.

Three beautiful, healthy children.

A husband who I love more today than the day I married him. He's my best friend.

Clothes to wear, food to eat.

And I know God.

I have peace, love and happiness.

I don't need anything else.

I'm putting a big bow on it all and saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY ME.

Nice Sunday - Random Thoughts about Mass

We had a guest priest at Mass today. Our pastor is in Rome studying and being refreshed, so we are having some guests come in to help Fr. Weiss with all the Masses. The priest today was the new assistant pastor from St. Theresa's - I've seen his picture on the website, and I passed him after churc one day at St. Theresas, but I've never heard him speak. He is a very young priest, just ordained in 2006. He is an intellectual type. His homily included Greek words and a lot of background information on Corinth. That was really cool. He also told us that he became a priest because of Fr. Weiss, which made me love Fr. W. even more than I already do (Boo really likes him, too, and never want to leave church without saying goodbye). Usually when Fr. W preaches, he uses scripture, movie trivia, and comic book characters to drive the point home. It works really well for him, because his faith is so obviously sincere that he just sees it in everything he looks it. I enjoy that, I really do. I always wish Lee were with me, because he would totally "get" the connection between the Superman trailer and Advent. But it was fun to have an "intellectual" sermon today. Our main pastor preaches in a third style, the "life application' style if you will. They are all great.

In Mass, the focus is on receiving communion, not on the sermon, so the priest usually only speaks for 10-15 minutes. (My ADD brain loves this - I listen to sermons all week at home in the car and while I do laundry or clean my kitchen, but sitting through an hour sermon is really hard for me. It's not that I can't sit still; I can. I just stop hearing it after awhile. In our two-hour classes, I have to take notes hard or else draw to stay focused.) I don't think it would be good for the homily to be the only teaching you had all week. On the other hand, we have a LOT of scripture in every service. Every week (every day, actually) there is a full passage out of the Old Testament, a full passage out of the New Testament writings, a full passage out of the Gospels, and a responsive reading or song out of the Psalms. What's really good about this is that you get a full scope view of scripture, rather than just studying the pastor's favorite book for two months a year every year, or focusing on one verse out of context. Not all pastors do this of course, but many do. I love having the whole church study the same thing at the same time. Before I started going to Mass, I found a devotional that was for the whole family, studies for every age level every day for a year. I fell in love with the idea of the whole family studying together - imagine my delight when I found out that a worldwide church already does this... lol

"Mommy, I can't wait to die."

I don't want to forget the conversation I had with the kids tonight. Boo wanted to talk about heaven. I don't know why or where it came from, but we talked about it. He asked me whether we'd eat there, and Olivia asked me if we could take one of her books up to give to Grandma Beaver. Yes, I told them we could eat, but no we could not take our things. Jesus would give us new clothes and new food. Elijah asked if I was afraid to die. I said no. Then he asked if I would be afraid if bad guys were killing me. I said yes, a little bit, but I didn't really need to be afraid, did I? he asked me if we would "be alive again". I said, yes, like Jesus we would have to die and then like Jesus we would come alive again.

Elijah's world is very neatly divided into Autobots and Decepticons, good guys and bad guys. Autobots follow Jesus, Decepticons don't. We talked about how bad guys can not come into heaven, but they can tell Jesus they are sorry and then they don't have to be bad guys anymore. He seemed like he got that, he even acted it out, pretending to be a bad guy for a moment and telling Jesus he was sorry.

Olivia wasn't talking much, but she curled up into my lap and listened to her brother, hard. Every now and then, she would chime in with a "me, too", statement. She loves and looks up to her brother, despite her bossy nature. I just noticed the other day that she calls him "Lijy" which no one else does except maybe my mama.

But it was that opening statement that really cut me. What do you say when your son says he can't wait to die? The apostle Paul said "to live is Christ, to die is gain," so obviously Boo has it right.

School

I should be straightening the house right now, but instead I am pouring over my new classes, reading the syllabi (IS that the plural of syllabus, I wonder?) and assignments for the semester.

For my E-Commerce class, I am required to:

compare an e-commerce store to a retail store (one choice: barnes and noble)

set up an ebay account and a paypal account and sell some items

final project: set up a functioning internet storefront (on a hacc sandbox server)

!!!

How COOL is that?! I have always wanted to know how to set up a store, and now I will have a safe environment in which to do so. And I'll get graded for it. Woot!

Meme Too

1. WHO WERE YOU NAMED AFTER? I think Rachel came from a book, but my middle name belonged to my mother's sister, and it is also the diminutive of both of my grndmother's names. I gave that middle name to Olivia, too.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? I don't remember, probably at somesappy song on the radio.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? I don't care about my handwriting, and it shows.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? I like a "cold cut" sub, which is basically bologna and a little salami.

5. DO YOU USE SARCASM ALOT? Nooooo, never. k, bad habit.

6. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.

7. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No, but I do have a fantasy about hang gliding.

8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? I like all cereal, but I especially like Life cereal.

9. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No, I don 't. But right now I have a pair that zippers, because I was tired of people always tying my shoes for me at work.

10. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Not yet, but I will be.

11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM ? Chocolate chip cookie dough. Bless the person who invented it.

12. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Everything. Their demeanour.

13. RED OR PINK? Pink, I guess, since I'm wearing a pink sweater right now.

14.WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOU?My lack of self-control with everything.

15. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Sarah Beaver and Lisa Thomas

16. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? I'm in my jamees, ok?? A pink sweater that threw on when I got out of bed, and green flannel pants that have starbursts on them. My feet are are and cute with pink toenails.

17. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? English muffin with fake butter.

18.. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Nothing, which means the kids are quietly destroying the living room.

19. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Cerulean.

20. FAVORITE SMELLS? There is this cologne that Lee used to wear when we were dating. I have an old hemp necklace of his that still has a tiny trace of that smell on it.

21. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Lisa, my manager and friend

22. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I like all the people whose blogs I have shamelessly copied this from. I wonder if anyone says no to this question ever.

23. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Lee got me to where I understand, and therefore can enjoy, baseball.

24. HAIR COLOR? Just brown, but my soul has red hair (haha), so I like to dye it to match.

25. EYE COLOR? greenish

26. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No, and I doubt I ever will. When my eyes inevitably deteriorate, I will wear glasses.

27. FAVORITE FOOD? I'm not hungry right now.

28. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? happy endings

29. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? ... I don't remember

30. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? pink, I think we've gone over this a few times.

31. SUMMER OR WINTER? Oh, summer. I miss you.

33. HUGS OR KISSES? Both, as often as possible

34. FAVORITE DESSERT? Mommi's cheesecake

35. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? I just finished "First Comes Love" by Scott Hahn, I am about to start "Teach Your Own" by John Holt (for like the millionth time)

37. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Mouse pads are obsolete lol

38. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? I unwatched the Steeler's game.

39. FAVORITE SOUND? the ocean & trains

40. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Um, Bob Dylan? :)

41. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? San Diego. I was born in England, but I don't remember it.

42. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Yeah, I'm "creative", very good at working under a deadline, and a great test taker. I do NOT possess good organizational skills!

43. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Right. England.

Ready for School

Having Lee home from school is a lot of fun - it's like a small vacation. We stay up late, we sleep in, we run around. It gives our relationship a boost, because Lee's love language is time and we get uninterrupted bursts of it. But now I feel like Marmee's daughters did after taking time without chores - I am cranky and ready to get back to semi-structured life.

So school starts next week. I was signed up for 5 classes, but my husband wisely bullied me into dropping two of them. I needed him to do that. I really wanted to take all 5, but it might have killed me, especially with Julius being due to arrive the same week as final exams.

But I am really excited about school. I am changing angles this semester - I found studying education to be really boring. I am going to spend a semester in my first love - the Internet. (Okay, its not really my first love but anyway). I am taking a course in web design (mostly HTML, so it should be eeasssyyy), a course in Electronic Commerce and a course in Marketing. All of those will give me a leg up in some of my roles at Servant's Heart, and web design is work I can always do casually from home. If I enjoy this semester, I will keep going. I only need an associates degree for Web design, so I could finish school around the same time as Lee if I want, or just keep going if I want. So we'll see. Either way, I'll be learning good skills this semester.

New Years Eve

Of course I had to work yesterday. After I got off, we had to stop at the auto parts store to get something for the car. Something about the battery terminal having trouble or something. I am grateful that Lee handles those things. He even got out of bed and completely brushed off / de-iced the car for me before work. Anyway, then Lee had to go to work in the evening. He would be home at 8:30 and he was bringing company.

Lee and I have never had company together before, Jon and our family excluded. Lee was bringing home a friend from work, Joe, and his fiancee, Nicole. I was very excited about having company, and got to whole house cleaned and made a LOT of food - enough for three times the company, really.

Here are me and the babies making Pigs In Blankets. I make them exactly the way my Mommi taught me. Elijah cut the hot dogs, Olivia put cheese in the dough, and I rolled them up. These are one of my absolute favorite snacks. Our guests enjoyed them, too.

About an hour into our preparations, poor Livvy started throwing up. Poor girl!! I had to change her jammies twice and wash a lot of blankets. This is really hard on Liv because she loves food and seeing the spread we laid out but not being able to have any was a real trial for her.

Lee wisely bought a card table and folding chairs earlier this year. We set it up in the living room and sat there all night with our friends. We watched "Hitchhiker's Guide" and laughed a lot. They are Lord of the Rings/Sci Fi/Fantasy geeks like us so it was a lot of fun. After the movie, we counted down the New Year, then listened to music for awhile. Joe is a musician, so he shared some of his music on MySpace. He is an agnostic, but still likes a lot of Lee's Christian rock, and would be interested in going to Creation next year. Nicole is a talented artist, and seemed like a really neat person. I hope we have them over again sometime.

We went to bed really late, so we slept in some. The kids and I went to the 11:00am Mass. Elijah was perfect, Olivia was... well. Olivia! :) Now we are having pork and sauerkraut, and eating piles of leftovers.

Tomorrow we go to buy books for the new semester. This is going to be an amazing year! Thanks for it, Jesus!