livin life by the BOOK

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T07:29:00.001-07:00

What a wonderful way to celebrate our Savior, eternal life, and new life.

This will be an Easter I won't soon forget!!!!!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY!

WOWZERS!!!!

2010-04-04T06:59:00.000-07:00

Abigail Ruth McMillion was born on April 1, 2010 at 2:54pm. She weighed 6lb 8oz and was 19 inches long. She is a beautiful, healthy little girl, and has two very proud parents!

24 hours ago I was sitting at home cuddlin with Marranda cuz she spent the night and we were getting ready to head to Hudson for an Easter egg hunt with Caleb and fam. About 24 hours ago James was on the phone with a potential buyer for our truck. (We found out it wasn't legal height~ too big ~so we put it up for sale.) 24 hours ago while doing all of that I received a phone call from Jerry Callens about a baby girl who was born on April 1st. All of that was happening at 9am yesterday (Saturday) morning. Many of you know that we have been working with this agency and trying to get everything squared away so that they could show our profile to birth moms. We hadn't completed that process so I wasn't expecting any phone calls. We had no clue that our lives would be drastically different in a matter of 14 hours. It took about 14 hours from the time of the phone call to the moment we met our daughter.

We took a few minutes to talk over the situation and called our parents to receive their blessing and then called Jerry back to accept this little girl. We did all of this while on our way to Hudson. We called many friends, booked our flights, made arrangements for Easter Sunday at Wapella, sold the truck (for 2000 more than we paid), packed in a flurry of emotion, got James an updated physical at OSF, and jumped on a plane at 6:44pm to head to Jacksonville, FL.

Last night we arrived at the hotel at about 11:45 Florida time. We knew that the baby was at the hotel, but we didn't know that she was in the lobby waiting for us. When we walked in the door with all of our baggage I spotted her in the arms of Monique (she's the office manager at the agency). They had her dressed in pink and wrapped in a pink fluffy blanket that said I Love Mommy. She walked over to me and placed her in my arms and of course I cried. That was the first time we saw her dark brown hair and her deep blue eye. Jerry was taking some pictures which I hope to get soon. I probably look like I was the one who gave birth... tear streaked, red, blotchy face... oh well... such is life. :0)

We sat in the lobby for a few minutes while James took care of the room. Her eyes were open and she was looking all around. Not to shabby for a 2 1/2 day old baby. We got to our room around midnight and Jerry and Monique stayed until 2 or so going over all the paperwork and new born baby gotta knows. Her birth mom had already signed away her rights, so all that was left for us to do was sign the papers to make her ours... at least until the court dates that make her ours forever leagally. It should take about 3 months to finalize all of it.

For now we have to hang out in Florida until we get permission from Interstate Compact to travel accross state lines. That could take anywhere from a week to two weeks. Maybe as soon as Thursday or Friday. We're praying for sooner of course. But we won't know until we get a phone call from Jerry.

We are probably going to meet the Birth Mom on Monday. She at least wants to see us with the baby, but we don't know if she wants to talk to us or not. I hope that I can talk to her and find out a little bit more about her, and maybe even get a picture, but that's all up to her. I'd like to have as much info as I can for AbbyRu. I know it's important for her to know where she has come from. We don't know much right now.

It is all so surreal right now. I know that she likes to cuddle. We tried to get her to sleep on a soft blanket on the floor last night, but she squirmed until I put her on the bed close to me, but then I didn't sleep. I know she loves to eat. She'll down a 2oz bottle in no time. She slept for 5 whole hours in between feedings this morning and she knows how to fill that diaper. Which by the way are way too big. She's been snuggled up close to her daddy for about an hour now, both are sleeping.

I think that should do it for now. Keep an eye on Facebook for the pictures. If you don't have facebook, let me know and I'll email some. Thanks for all your prayers. Be carefull if you offer to help... cause we'll let you! I can hardly believe my reality right now! God is so good. He worked all this out according to His perfect will and His perfect timing. He will take care of us.

life

2010-03-29T06:47:00.000-07:00

Been a long time since I blogged... A few of you have asked about it and requested an update via blog and not facebook. It's true, there is much you can't say on facebook, not all 300+ friends on facebook want to hear the ends and outs of the infertility, adoption, ministry/job issues we deal with. So, for all of you who are wondering what life is like in the McMillion household, I'll provide a more detailed update. There are lots of new pics on facebook and most of you are on facebook, so go check them out.

Ministry: in the past few months James and I have been asking God to show us where He is and what He wants us to do/be here in Wapella. He has made it abundantly clear that this is where He has planted us and where He wants us to be. He is here; He is working; He is faithful. We are so incredibly blessed to be in this town and with these people. There are many opportunities for ministry here. I'm working on developing a friendship of sorts with one of our neighbors who doesn't really care much about church. This is something I have not really ever tried before, so I pray for grace and courage to make sure I am Jesus to her. James is having a great time on the Fire Department. He loves hanging out with the guys and building relationships with them. He's doing some extra FF training at Richland CC and will take an EMT course this summer. He's also decided to switch back to the MDIV from the MA so Greek is in his future next year. Hebrew is almost done. I have finished my MA and it is already framed and on the wall. I'll graduate officially on May 16. May 18 we'll fly out to NH for a week to visit Jo and Dave. I'm still subbing, watching Skye, and working at being James Secretary. Most of the time these three jobs are great and fit together nicely.

Adoption: Our homestudy is finally done. We have sent everything to an agency in Florida who works with Christian Church families. We are waiting for a financial agreement statement from them so we can pay them and they can start showing our profile. Illini has our profile, as does the Crisis Pregnancy Center, and a lawyer in Champaign. We have a nursery all ready to go and are simply waiting on a match. It's been about a year since we started this process. We are ready to move foward!

Infertility: I don't know what is happening in my body. I go for a check-up tomorrow. I'm afraid the endometriosis is back with a vengeance and is attacking my only ovary. I'll spare you the details. After the last surgery Dr. Nord said I'd eventually need a hysterectomy. We thought we'd be able to put that off a few years, but I'm afraid that we won't be able to. If what I think is happening is actually happening, it may be just around the corner. The suggestion of IVF has been brought back to the table for discussion. This may be our last chance. There are so many factors that play into the discussion... ethical, theological, financial, emotional, physical... I was prepared and OK with an answer from God of "Not now, maybe not ever" but I wasn't prepared for such a firm and final "No." We have prayed for guidance, the ability to hear His voice, and the grace to live with whatever should happen knowing that we have trusted in Him. We have once again said no to IVF and yes to adoption and we have complete peace about that decision; we know God will honor it. We will trust in our Savior and follow His lead.

In spite of all the messiness of life we look ahead to the future and press on, knowing that there is a prize at the end of this journey and that this journey here on earth is only the beginning.

Newly Painted Room

2009-10-24T07:51:00.000-07:00

Here's the progression of our room. I don't have a picture of the old wall before the fireplace. We're lovin it. I need to get some color on that wall. Time to look for some kind of pop of color. Makes me want to decorate for Christmas.

adoption update

2009-10-07T17:02:00.000-07:00

Well, we thought we'd try to go with the BabyFold, but they were jerks, so we're sticking with Illini. We're just gonna have to get the paperwork straightened out and do the foot work to find a birth mom. We're pretty content with all that, so that's good. Perhaps we needed this little hiccup to remind us why we chose Illini in the first place.

hiccups with the Adoption Process

2009-10-05T07:36:00.000-07:00

Well, we had some hiccups with the paperwork for the Adoption. Evidently we still have paperwork with the Baby Fold that is active and an Adopt Only License is pending. We can only be licensed with one agency and Illini is telling us we probably need to finish with Baby Fold because Illini has no birth moms (that's not a good sign). So we're trying to sort the whole mess out and figure out the easiest/best fix to this problem. We're also trying to not feel like the last seven months were wasted time in this process. We know God can use mix-ups too, this is just a little frustrating. We're not really sure what is going on and are waiting on phone calls to sort this all out.

Best case scenario... Baby Fold accepts Illini's home study (so we don't have to do that again) and finishes our "pending" license, gives us their training and puts us on a list.

Worst case scenario... we have to start all over with Baby Fold or fix things with the paper work with Illini and then be put in a drawer until they have a birth mom come through their doors.

We would appreciate some prayers for guidance in this mess.

It's been a while!

2009-09-29T08:38:00.001-07:00

Wow. It's been a while since I blogged. It was a crazy busy summer. The last post was in June and so much has happened since then. We did a week of service in the community with the youth group, James did a week of fishing camp at little Galilee, I had two surgeries, we did VBS, went to NC for a week in August, and so much more. School started for both of us last month. James has two firefighting courses at Richland in Decatur to get his certification. (He volunteers in Wapella.) He is also starting Seminary by taking Hebrew, an intensive on Preaching the Parables, and an independant study on Jonathan Edwards/the Great Awakening. I officially passed my Thesis in August and am taking an internet class to finish my MA in Christian Education. Not my favorite thing to do.

This past week has been really busy as well. The Apple and Pork Festival was in Clinton and the church sells corn. It was rather chaotic getting all of that put together, but we made it. I started substitute teaching this year (in addition to taking care of Skye) to make some extra money. Hopefully it will pay for our new lazy-boys and our new bed. Then I'll be shopping for a new washer and dryer. So far I really like it. It's a good way to work part time doing different things and still have the flexibility to do things here at the church. So you could say that I'm back to having 3 jobs: Secretary at Church (very part time), Nanny for Skye (part time), and Substitute Teacher (part time). I also decided to do two sessions of Bible Study this fall. We have one on Monday Nights and one Tuesday Mornings. Both are going well. We are doing a study by Carol Kent (carolkent.org) entitled Becoming a Woman of Influence. So far, it's a really good study.

It may seem like we have a lot going on. We do. BUT we finally were able to hire a part time youth minister. We hired Tim Barbee just in time to start youth group stuff up. He is doing a great job and the weight of doing it all has been lifted and we feel great. It's good to be able to focus on areas we are truely gifted in. We still go to the youth events because we love the kids, but it's so nice to not have to plan everything and run everything.

Yesterday I subbed at Washington for a couple kindergarten classes. I took care of the kids, while the teachers tested their math skills. They wear me out by the end of the day. I'll do it again tomorrow. It's nice to have today to relax and catch my breath. Thursday and Friday we'll be in Rockford. Joanna and Dave are coming for a visit and we get to go see my new little niece. She'll be 1 month old on Thrusday. It's so much fun. I really can't believe my brother is a dad. Scary! We've got our homestudy done and are on a couple of waiting lists for adoption. We continue to pray for God's timing. It is perfect even when I don't understand it.

That should do it for now. I have posted lots of pictures to facebook of summer events. Most of you who read this are also on facebook. Be sure to check them out. I'll try and get back in the habit of updating this. It's easier to type more here, than on facebook. We'll see how it goes. Later alligators!

the surgery

2009-06-10T11:44:00.000-07:00

Well, the surgery went well and I've been home for 2 hours. But Dr. Nord did not have good news for us. The outlook isn't too good. He said that we need to get preg in the next few months or it looks like our only other option is in vitro fertilization. The endometriosis is stage three (of 4) and Dr. Nord said my tubes are too tired from the endo and that they aren't able to get the egg into the tube to be fertilized and then into the uterus to implant. He likened it to trying to use your arm after your arm has been injured and it just doesn't work like its supposed too. He also said that eventually I'll probably end up having to have a hysterectomy after we are done having kids because the endometriosis grows so quickly. Evidently mild and endometriosis does not apply to me. He said that endometriosis really likes me. We'll see what happens in the next few months. Thanks for the prayers, keep them coming.

Cedarly Retreat

2009-06-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that last week we went to a place in Wisconsin called Cedarly for a retreat. I can't count how many people have called it a vacation. It was not vacation, it was retreat. Many times we go on vacation and come home to get a break from the chaos of vacation. This was not vacation. We spent so much time in prayer and seeking God. Two things not often done on vacation. The retreat center is on lake front property and has quite a history. It's been a retreat center for ministers since the late 90s. There were five other couples there with us. All of us had such unique stories. We enjoyed every one of them. It was an amazing week of making new friends, eating fantastic food, spending time with James, and most importantly seeking out God's will. It was so peaceful. The only time we drove off the property was to make a quick run to walmart. We biked and walked. We went to a prayer service at an Episcopal Seminary that was just up the road. We canoed in the lake. I caught a couple of fish. The lake water was so clean you could see right to the bottom through most of the lake. Amazing! There was no tv, no computers, and no phones.

This is the prayer house or Wood Shed as they call it. It's a one room log cabin style house with a wood burning stove in the corner. Many pastors from the area rent it out for free most days, but there were a couple of days no one had it rented so we could use it. James and I spent most of Monday morning reading and praying in there.

Here are some pictures of the house. There was a wrap around screened in porch, sitting room, library, entryway, dinning room, and more sitting areas. The dining room had to be my favorite place. All fourteen of us sat at the table and ate most of our meals together. One meal a day (monday through friday) was prepared by a chef. He was quite a chef. Mike made us some amazing gourmet meals. Steak and Potatoes, Apricot salsa chicken, pistachio glazed salmon. I seriously gain 4 or 5 pounds last week. The other meals were served buffet style, but they were yummy and we usually ate them together as well. We didn't have to lift a finger to clean a thing. There was also a bottomless jar of "pastor power pills" (peanut m&ms) that we made sure we ate plenty off.

Most of the time we spent doing what you see here. We enjoyed the peace and quiet and came home rested and ready to go.

If I think of anything more, I'll write later. I've got to go to bed now. Been a long day. Tomorrow morning I have to have some minor surgery to clean out all that endometriosis that has probably come back. Yuck! So much for peace and quiet! I'll let you know how it goes.

piles and piles and more piles

2009-05-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

There's not a whole lot to update this week. No drama in our lives which is a good thing. We've got dinner at one of the elder's houses tonight, a baptism tomorrow, and we're getting ready to head off to our retreat in WI Sunday afternoon. James brother is running a marathon out in San Diego on Sunday. Can't wait to hear about that. James is out on the front porch working on his sermon...at least he was until his butt fell asleep in the chair. I made bagel chips this morning and need to get off my butt and clean the house this afternoon so we can come home to a clean house next Friday. I guess I always remember Mom wanting to have a mostly clean house when we came home from a vacation. It's like getting into a nice warm clean bed at the end of a long day. Speaking of which...I need to change the sheets on the bed. I've got lots of work to do. There are piles on the kitchen and dining room tables, and more piles of clothes to be washed and folded and piles of dishes to be washed and put away. I know...me...piles...never!!! I love my piles. James hates my piles. Such is life.

Graduation

2009-05-17T19:12:00.001-07:00

Before the day began...

So awesome... They gave Tom Ewald his doctorate.

Yep... That's my Man.

Go Sis. Joanna and Dave are moving to New Hampshire in July to take a Preaching position at Londondary Christian Church. But evidently during graduation they said that Joanna was taking the preaching position, not Dave. So we had fun calling dave the preacher's wife.

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Caleb is captivated by his Uncle James. My smart man graduated Magna cum Laude. I'm so proud.

Dad and Barney... Old time college buddies.

Graduation party time. Sunday after church we had James graduation open house. My mom and Shannah stayed after to help me out and I'm so glad they did. I needed help. Dave and Jo came over about 2 and helped out as well. Just before we left to get the cake at 12:30 James and I went for one of our last rides in the truck. A guy came over from Galesburg and is buying the truck. He'll be here to pick it up on Tuesday. James pointed out later that he's always prayed for God to get him through college with that truck and that it is no coincidence that God sold the truck the day after graduation. It's a sad day. That truck holds sentimental value for me. I might have shed a tear or two. Oh well. All of this marks a new chapter in our lives.

Wowzers

2009-05-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

In the last 3 days James brother graduated, James and Joanna graduated, we had two rockin parties, church, the last youth group of the year, and sold the truck. The last three have been nuts and the last 8 have been quite full. I will break up the posts so that they won't be so long. I have pictures to share. :) For starters. Last Sunday morning the kids planted flowers for Mother's day at the church. Gisela, this pictures for you.

I also got the garden planted. James tried to sneak up on me, but I was already done and couldn't get the tiller started again, so I just posed. That thing jerked me all over the place. I planted corn, beans, peas, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, and cantaloupe. Now we wait to see what happens. Hope it grows! James has his "play in the dirt" shirt on, but he wasn't playin in the dirt!

Busy Day

2009-05-09T14:33:00.001-07:00

Marranda spent the night last night and James got his cuddle time in this morning. They sat and read a book about firefighters.

We went to some garage sales this morning, James friends house, James parents house, then we took Marranda home and came home so that James Mom could put up the border in the nursery for us. It looks really cute. Here are some pictures. (The border says "Now I lay me down to sleep.") We have a meeting a week from Monday with Mike from Illini. Hopefully we'll be able to get this homestudy done soon. :) Now we are off again to another friends house to talk about their wedding. I'm tired! :)

Firefighting

2009-05-07T07:06:00.000-07:00

James got up at about 1:30 this morning to the sound of his pager going off. He ended up going to the a big fire in Clinton that made headlines in the Pantagraph this morning. You can read the story here. He even got his picture in the paper, but you can't really tell it's him. He said he could tell because of his coat.

photo ops

2009-05-05T17:07:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when the cookie monsters requests cookies and his request is denied. He tries to do it himself, messes with my tools, and leaves a mess behind.

This is what will be the nursery. Spent the last few days painting. Now we wait on the border. Should have it up by Sunday. Don't have any new news on the baby front. Still waiting to hear from Illini.

This is James new ManCave. You may remember the one in the basement. The picture of that one was posted a few months ago. This one is much more manly.

Dreams and Blessings

2009-04-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of developments in the last few weeks since I last posted. I figured I give you guys our general update separate from the post below, so here it is.

After I blogged about selling the boat, we did a lot of looking into two different adoption agencies. We looked at the Babyfold (the agency we worked with when we had Marranda) and Illini Christian Ministries. We decided to go with Illini Christian Ministries and sent our application with the application fee. We promptly received an email with some instructions and stuff to get started on for the homestudy. I've just about got everything together that they need, but we need to wait until May to schedule a visit to do the actual home study. Oh well, I know the process takes time. A lot of people ask us if we'll still try and have kids naturally and of course we will. We just really feel like we needed to pursue adoption first. I'm not sure why God is having us go this route, but we're sure this is where He is leading so we're going to follow. I'm going to take the risk and share a dream I had last week concerning this adoption process. Now, I know everyone dreams and sometimes dreams mean things and that they come from our subconscious. But, not very often do dreams come with an immediate interpretation. It was so weird, I'll make it short and you can take it as you wish. I had been doubting this direction and had asked God to make His will for us clear. That same night I had a dream that someone gave me a stack of papers to fill out. I worked on them and then laid them down on the ground. After a short while the papers began to cry. I picked them up and began to run with them. As I ran with them they turned into a baby. I immediately woke up and understood this dream. The papers were the adoption process, me running was the process moving forward, and the stack of papers was the baby that will come into our lives. It has stuck with me clear as day. I don't think I'll ever for get that dream or what it meant. Take it how you will, but I am taking it as a sign to trust God and move forward with the adoption process. So that's where we are with that process. We wait for a meeting.

Earlier this week James preached his second funeral. He did a good job. Unfortunately it's not gonna be his last for a while. We have a few who are getting closer to Jesus.

Two weeks ago I took a job watching a one year old 2 days a week. For a while I thought that God was going to have me doing odd baby sitting jobs to make some extra cash, but then that job fell through. So we're not sure what to do. I'm still waiting to get back the fifth chapter of my thesis so that I can turn the whole thing in and get the whole thing approved and finished. So I'm at a resting place in the thesis writing. I've got one part time "Nanny" position that pays pretty well. We can pay the bills and that's a blessing in and of itself. But we must now tackle the issue of me getting another Job. We were hoping to have kids by the time this thesis got done, but that hasn't happened and there really is no telling how long adoption will take so I'm stuck with what to do in the meantime. I've sent my resume out, but we'll pray and see what I need to do. It's not easy getting a job in this economy. So we know that adoption is next, but that's not all that's next. So what next?

James is graduating from college next month. That is an exciting milestone in our family. It will be a welcomed event. We're really looking forward to it. We're going to have a cookout here with his family and my family. Joanna is also graduating from the college. Sunday we'll have an open house for the church so that they can celebrate with us. Good times. God is good.

Easter was amazing. It was so much fun to have my parents and both my siblings and their spouses and Nana over for church and dinner. I really like having everybody together. It was the first time Nana got to hear James preach. My family rocks. James family came down to join us for dessert. We love having them around as well. We are so blessed. Once again, God is good.

I guess that will do it for now. Talk to you all later.

by the grace of God

2009-04-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

It is only by the grace of God that we live and move and breath. It is a realization that often times hits me on the forehead. I'm not exactly sure why God chose to hit me with it today, but He did. James preached a good sermon this morning talking about what happened after the Resurrection. "Now What?" was his question. He spoke on the last few verses of Luke and the first few verses of Acts. He talked about the mission of the church and what we are to be doing and offered up a challenge he is calling "Connect4." This is the challenge to connect 4 people to Jesus by repentance and baptism in the next four months. I have to admit, it's not an easy challenge to take, but I decided to take it. James even had a sign up sheet in the back for people to sign up for the Challenge. Not too many people took the challenge so we were a little disappointed. It is after all a challenge to carry out the mission of the church, not a challenge to raise money or do something off the wall. But I guess not to many people take seriously the mission of the church. I know it's not something I have taken seriously too many times. I openly confess that. I have fallen way short when it comes to reaching people who don't know Christ.

Anyway, while James and I were talking this over, two strangers pulled up to the church and James went out to see what they needed. They said they were hungry and needed gas for the car. James invited them in for lunch. It just so happens that we had just put 4 chicken breasts on the grill and I made extra potatoes so we had plenty. They spoke very little English, but we were able to feed them and share Jesus with them. Their names were Jose and Eva. Jose looked to be about 50ish and Eva is 90. Grandma and Grandson have been in the US for about one year and he is on his way to Moline to look for work. I hope he finds what he is looking for. I know it seems like such a simple thing, but it is so awesome to see the strange ways that God works to use us to encourage them and at the same time use them to encourage us. Don't know if I can explain it, but if you've been there, you understand. I hope that some of what James shared with them took root and that Jose is able to read the English Bible James gave him. We really need to get some Spanish Bibles.

We've got some new neighbors living behind us. They don't go to church, but we've kinda hit it off with them. They've got a couple of little boys. One of them comes over after school on Wednesday's for our kids program. We need to get to know them better. Who knows, maybe they could get connected to Jesus in the next four months.

A New Adventure

2009-03-31T17:39:00.000-07:00

Well, God sold the boat tonight. I've got 3500 cash sitting next to me right now. I wanna explain that God part. As I was sitting down to look for a ski boat online...cause that was the plan all along. Sell the boat and get a new one. Well, when James came back inside he had a look on his face and said we needed to have a family meeting. Well he dropped a bomb shell in my lap. He said that he'd been praying and God has really laid adoption on his heart. That was not new news, but what shocked me was when he said he didn't want to get another boat and that he wanted to sell the truck as well. Instant tears filled my eyes, but I gotta admit I couldn't quite figure out if it was cause I was sad tht we were selling our only toys or because of the way I could feel God at work in this situation, I think it was for both reasons. Wow. I never thought James would agree to sell the truck and not get another boat or truck. Well, off we go toward the unknown. God is good.

friends, overnighters, and copiers

2009-03-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

We had a fun weekend around here. On Friday I got some much needed hang out time with 3 of my friends from Lincoln. We met at Medici's in Normal for dinner and then came back home to play Euchre. I miss haning out with friends like that. There aren't too many people we can just let lose with and have fun with around here with James being the preacher and all. For some reason most people don't think we're real people who sin and have our own issues...even if they know it in their heads they don't act like they know it. I wish they wouldn't feel funny around us...hopefully all in good time. Then there's the rest of the people who think we're in a totally different generational age range who think we don't want to go out with them cause we're young so they never ask us to do anything. ugghhh! Who would have thought friendships in ministry would be so difficult. blah. oh well, enough about that.

We had Marranda come over and spend the night with us on Saturday and go to church with us yesterday. We had so much fun with her, she didn't act weird and she slept all night long without any problems. She was also a very well behaved little girl. Perhaps she remembers that there are rules in this house. Everyone at church was so glad to see her. She's talking very well and growing very fast. She will be getting tubes in her ears in a couple of weeks. Hopefully that will help her speech even more. We hope to be able to have her over more often now that we know everything will go alright. We were pretty nervous about how she would sleep when she stayed over. Yeah for fun cuddly Marranda.

After a long weekend we finally got the newsletter out this morning. The lightbulb in the copier broke halfway through printing them this morning, so we had to use a crazy copier that was in the basement. It got done and all is well, but the copier that broke is 15 years old and they don't service it anymore. The guy told us that it would cost $2-300 to fix it if they could find a replacement bulb. James said no and went and got his drill. The copier is now disassembled and the bulb is removed. James found a replacement bulb online for $40. We'll see if it works. Hopefully its just that simple. Leave it to my husband to take apart the top of the copier... oh well, we got the truck fixed, now we've moved on to the copier. Fun times on a Monday morning at Wapella Christian Church. Now my handyman is asleep in his lazy-boy. We sure act like old folks much of the time...and we're not even old. Sometimes it's just sad. ;-)

Seminary, Trucks, and Retreats

2009-03-25T10:08:00.001-07:00

Well, not much is new with us. I've got one more chapter to complete for my thesis and it will be done, except for a final go through after my professors read and critique it. It feels good to have it almost behind me. I registered for two seminary classes for next fall. One is an internet class and the other is greek. I'm not to thrilled about either, oh well, what am I gonna do... James has to go through orientation before he can register, but he's planning on taking greek with me. Hopefully that'll be a good thing.

Last week we gave the truck a tune-up...and when I say we, I mean we. Here's a couple of pictures. I may be smiling in this picture, but neither of us were smiling much as we worked on the truck. This was the first time I've ever crawled under a truck or under the hood of a truck to actually do anything productive. I had to crawl under cause James couldn't get to what he needed to in order to remove the old spark plugs. I have now decided that I never ever want to be a mechanic, but I did enjoy helping James with the truck. We like to fix things together. He did a good job at holding his temper. He tends to get really angry when he's trying to fix something and it's not working right. I don't like it when he does that and would have quit and gone inside and that's no fun either. So I'm glad we avoided that and I'm glad the truck still runs.

James and I are both looking foward to summer. James found a place that hosts retreats for ministers and their wives for free up in Cedarly, WI. Check it out here. There will be 5 other ministry couples there at the same time. It lasts 5 days and they provide meals and everything. They take care of everything. It's going to be a lot of fun to get away and not have to worry about anything. We have another retreat to go to in August, but that will be more like a vacation than a retreat. James really wanted to get away after graduation before summer really gets going. It's going to be another full summer, but a really good summer.

Sheep

2009-03-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

Skye and her mom raise sheep and right now the sheep are having babies. Skye and I had our first overnight last night and we had to go out to the barn to give the sheep water. When we went into one of the pens we found two little surprises waiting for us. The mother sheep had just given birth to two lambs within the last hour. As a courtesy I cut out the gross stuff for you. :) It was pretty cool. I'd never seen a lamb before, let alone two less than an hour old. I wish I had some profound spiritual analogy for you, but all my profoundness is being used up in my thesis... It's coming along... almost done with chapter four. I'm on page 30 and still typing... I'm hopeful that it will be done tomorrow.

Bathrooms and Timeshares

2009-03-14T08:41:00.000-07:00

I've been working on my thesis this morning, but thought I'd take a break to introduce you to our new bathroom floor. I know you're probably not as excited about it as I am, but I don't care. It's pretty stinkin awesome. After a year and a half we finally have a bathroom we'll let people use when they come over. When we first moved in the bathroom in the parsonage had a painted black floor. Over the past couple of years the paint has chipped and has been impossible to clean. Well, this week it finally got replaced. Yeah for clean looking bathrooms. Here is a before and after shot.

On another note, James thought it would be fun to drag me to a timeshare presentation yesterday morning. He said he was getting even for me making him go to a pots and pans presentation for a free vacation (that we never actually took) before we got married. This was the same deal, we had to go listen and take a tour and get hammered with all kinds of numbers, half of which made no sense, all so we could get a free trip to Orlando, $40 cash and some goofy gas voucher thing. We drove 3 hours round trip for this thing. He claimed he was doing it to get more sermon illustrations out of it....we better have kids soon, just so he'll have sermon illustrations besides me and the stupid stuff we do together...anyway. We used to forty bucks to get gas, lunch, and for me to go to Flat Top last night with Kassi, so it wasn't a total loss. The lady who gave us the tour was goofy. She didn't normally do it and I think she was nervous or something cause she said over and over... "i know, right" in a stereotypical "blondish" sort of way. Poor girl was preaching about that resort in vain. What was funniest was when she was trying to tell us what we'd spend in 20 years vacationing in hotels. We told her that we normally try and spend 500-700/year on hotel type vacations and somehow that ended up being $140,000.00 over the course of 20 years... No idea where she got that number. Cracked me up. By the time we were done wheeling and dealing we had them down from a 3000 down payment and 450/month to 500 down and 100/month for some ghetto deal and then we left. It was kind of fun to see how much they were willing to deal.

Oh well, if we had extra $$ right now it would go into the savings account and not into a timeshare. What crazy things preachers will do when they want to get out of the office.

So goes life in Wapella.

the man cave

2009-03-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

James has taken to calling our little section of the basement his "Man Cave." Here's a picture of the "man cave"...you can see why its in quotes and I'm being sarcastic. It's about as far away from a "man cave" as a man can get. At least its not pink and purple. But there is laundry and a broken washer that we don't know what to do with and a rack full of "stuff." So it goes. He is trying to make railing for the boat and since it's cold outside he has moved to the basement. I'm not sure what's going on down there. I just know I better stay out of the way. I don't care what he does as long as it doesn't look ghetto. He wants to try and sell the boat so that we can get a fish and ski. I don't know how well that will go over, but it's his project for the spring, so in the words of my mother I say "hey, you go man." Mom usually says "hey, you go girl" when i've got something to do. The older I get the more I sould like my mom, but that's not a bad thing.

By the way, I'm done with half of chapter 4 of my thesis. It helps that I've been thinking about chapters 4 and 5 throughout this process. They should go by without losing too many brain cells.

It's been a couple days since I wrote the draft of this blog. We've got the boat done and listed on ebay, the tradin post, and craigslist. We'll see what happens.

Finished

2009-02-27T07:45:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally finished the third chapter of my thesis. I turned it in on Wednesday. I took a break yesterday and worked on other things I had been putting off...like preparing for Bible Study. I enjoy Bible Study night. We always have good conversation and a good time. Wednesday night was no exception, though I couldn't get the names in the Bible straight and kept confusing the poor women I was trying to communicate with. It was quite frustrating, but also comical. Considering the days prior all I could do was laugh at myself along with them. Oh well. So goes life as the "humble" preachers wife.

Skye (the girl I'm helping take care of) has come to Beacon Kidz the last couple of weeks and came over last night for her first extended visit in our home. She's a very outgoing little girl and incredible easy to take care of and get along with. She has swimming 2x/week in bloomington at ISU. Last night we went to Bloomington for her hour and a half long swim session. I forgot how much I hate bleachers, though it really made me want to jump in the pool, I love swimming. It caused me to think back to my own days on swim teams and lessons. As much fun as that was I think I'll be using that time to go to the store or go to a coffee shop. :)

On the way home last night...in the middle of a massive thunderstorm...one of my windshield wiper broke. Unfortunately it was the one I needed to work in order to be able to see, fortunately I was just outside of Wapella when that happened. James isn't too happy about having to fixing it. I need to go to the Gym today and am all ready to go, but the rain froze on the winshield and the wipers are stuck in place. We love our new car, but the wipers don't mix well with ice. We've replaced them a few times already this year, so I'm just gonna let James mess with them later. That's the man's job anyway, right!?! :) At least it is in this house.

James wants you all to know that he went for a ride in the firetruck and is now an official firefighter... even though they didn't let him go in the house that was on fire... :)
He is super excited about that.

Time to get to work... talk to you all later.

Complete Chaos

2009-02-24T19:14:00.000-08:00

Hi Everybody,

I thought I'd take a moment to give you all a picture of what my life looks like at the moment. Are you ready for this...

Complete Chaos characterizes my life at the moment. I have five weeks to finish this awful thesis. In the far chair are the books that have been used for the first half of the third chapter (which is done for the time being), the pile of papers on the table is only one pile of many spread throughout the house of notes and articles and writing. This particular pile is for the second half of the third chapter (the chapter from hell). There is a book under that stack entitled You Just Don't Understand... it's about the communication differences between men and women. It not only relates to my thesis, but my marriage...but that's another matter for another time. The 2 stacks of books are waiting for my eager (not so much) hands to search through them for chapters 4 and 5 as is the stack of papers and books on first chair. the chair I sit in is padded nicely cause I spend so much time in front of the slowest laptop on earth and my butt gets incredibly sore, not to mention my back. I haven't even gotten to the vast amount of articles and word documents on my computer. Fortunately Chapter 3 is almost done, I hope it's good enough. There have been whole books written about the amount of information I'm trying to fit into this chapter and I've read many of them. There is my never ending glass of water that is usually a cup of caffeinated tea. There is also my mp3 player cause James and I try to go to the gym 3x/week. my phone and the church phone for other business at hand. and lets not forget the never ending flow of mail on the other side of the table.

I just got home from the library at ISU. That was an adventure in and of itself that caused a slight breakdown. I didn't realize you had to pay to park at the library and I had no cash on me. So I went to the gas station only to buy gas and a drink and realize they wouldn't give me cash back so the tears that flooded only a few hours earlier came back and I drove to another gas station and pulled myself together enough to go in and ask for change back...and had to buy a candy bar to do it... so all in all a free trip to the library cost me $10 in gas, 1.50 in pop, a candy bar and 2.50 in parking... not so free, but at least it was productive.

I think the life changes and challenges of the last few months have come to a head and I think my stress level hit the roof about 5 o'clock yesterday when I got home from the library in Lincoln yesterday and my poor husband got the brunt of it, when he only deserved a little of the hostility radiating from my body and lungs. Oh well, I have at least one major breakdown in the writing process of every paper. I just hope this one has run its course for the week.

I really needed to get all that out. Thanks for listening...if you are still with me there's a few things you can pray for if you would like: diligence, clarity of thought, focus, endurance, understanding and sanity are just a few of the things this household needs for the remainder of this thesis. :)

Ski Trip

2009-02-18T07:31:00.000-08:00

I don't have too much to update and I don't have any new pictures so not much is new. We're doing well. My thesis is coming along. I'm halfway done with it. I'm working on it this morning and then I have to get ready for Bible Study this afternoon. We've started working through the minor prophets. Tonight we wrap up Hosea. What an incredible little book. The wrath, pain, and sorrow of God over the sins of His people really penetrate that story. I can't imagine living back then, but then again, our culture is so similar in so many ways to that culture.

We just got back from our annual ski trip with the youth group. I wish I had pictures, but I forgot to take them. We were so preoccupied with having fun, that I forgot. We had a great time. There were 22 of us. 18 kids and 4 adults. We borrowed a bus from 1st Christian in Clinton so that we could all be together and headed up to Cascade Mountain. We hung out at the hotel on Sunday and went skiing all day Monday. I don't know how I did it but I bruised my left heel and it hurts like crazy. It should be fine in a couple days. This year we knew the kids a lot better than we did last year, so it was a lot easier to hang out with them. James loves skiing straight downhill on the blue hills. He likes to go downhill fast. I like the green hills... they're the ones that are fast, but less of an angle downhill...I hate hate hate going downhill fast. Big drops are not my thing, so I hung out with some of the slower skiers. We had a blast. I did absolutely nothing yesterday, I felt sick and couldn't move. I was going to go to the Gym this morning, but can't stand too well on my bruised heel... i know, i'm a sissy...and i have many excuses.

I'm also going to start watching a girl named Skye part time while her mom works. Skye is 7 and in first grade. Her dad died in December. She's a sweet little girl, we're gonna have lots of fun together. It's a good thing I don't like to talk all the time, cause she does. I'll post some pics when I get some. She and her mom live on a farm outside of town about 8 miles. They raise sheep and have lots of babies right now. I can't wait for them to take me to see them. I've never seen a real lamb before. Oh well, I think that's all for now. Time to get back to the thesis...

First Call

2009-02-10T13:56:00.001-08:00

James got to go on his first call with the fire department today. I saw him drive by the house riding shotgun in the ambulance. It was a medical call, a little old lady was having trouble breathing. The clinton ambulance took her to the hospital. James was out the door and the first one to the fire station. He's still looking foward to his first real call to a fire where he gets to put on all his gear and ride in the fire truck. He's like a little kid in a candy store. Give James a call if you want more details. :)

It looks like I may be taking a job as a part time Nanny in the near future. There is a lady whose husband just died and needs help with her 7 yr old daughter. I've talked with her over the phone a couple times and am going to meet her and her daughter on Thursday. She seems really nice. It'll be a good oportunity to get out of the house, help someone out, minister to a hurting family, and make some extra cash all at the same time. I'm looking foward to meeting them.

I always look foward to Game Night here at the church. One of the gal's is turning 50 this week so we're gonna party tonight. It should be lots of fun. Talk to you all later, B

going to the gym

2009-02-09T06:15:00.000-08:00

I don't know what it is about going to the gym... maybe i haven't been at it long enough, but James comes home feeling like a million bucks and i come home wanting to die. There's a machine at the gym that this one lady come in and goes to town on for about an hour. It's like an eliptical machine, but a little different. you have to go somewhat fast on it or not do it at all. I jumped on it for five minutes today and couldn't walk straight for a while. I'm determined to conquer it... i don't want to go an hour, but maybe 20 min or so. I think i might be out of shape... :) We're trying to go for an hour 3x/week. We'll see how that goes.

a volunteer what?!?!

2009-02-03T14:11:00.000-08:00

Well. James is officially a volunteer fireman here in podunk. He went to the station today to pick up his pager that I'm told can wake the dead and to get his gear in order. He's not had any training yet, they just told him that when the pager goes off he's supposed get to the fire house, put his gear on, and wait to get told what to do. I can't wait to get a picture of this on here for all to see. He's really excited about it, but doesn't like not knowing what to do. He'll get training, but I guess when its volunteer training is not a must. Oh well. I told him he can't run into any burning buildings... fortunately for us... we don't have too many of those. This will be a great way for him to get to know some of the men in town. It seems like everybody our age is on the fire department and doesn't go to church. When all you've got is Casey's, the Post Office, and 3 bars it's kinda hard to meet people. How you supposed to reach out when you never cross paths.

He's preaching on prayer this Sunday. He spent all of yesterday afternoon typing up a list of everybody in town so that he can start praying for them. He's really getting a fire going for this town and that's good to see. If I could get one going that would be good, I've been kinda ho-hum lately. He's been reading 12 pages a day in his Bible. He's trying to get the whole thing read in under 100 days. I've fallen a little behind since I don't read as much as he does. He's into Deuteronomy and I'm still in Exodus. I'll catch up... in a few months.

We've started a study in 3 of the minor prophets for ladies Bible study so that's where my reading has been. James is going to try a men's bible study as well next month. Hopefully he'll have a good turn out for that. Evidently they haven't tried a men's bible study before. I love the fact that he doesn't have to drive to lincoln every day for class this semester. His stress level has been way down which has been super nice and we've had more time to do other things. The youth group is finally warming up to us and relaxing around us and starting to open up to us. That's also super nice. Sometimes we wonder what we're supposed to be doing, but it seems like we're doing well for the time being. God IS Good!

Because Amy did it...

2009-01-27T08:43:00.000-08:00

OK, so you're supposed to go to your 6th picture folder and pick the 6th picture and tell a memory about it. Then I'm to tag 5 of you to do the same. So considering that MAYBE five people may read this consider yourself tagged... ditto on the MAYBE... I have no idea who reads this thing besides Amy and Stacy.

This picture is from May 2008. This is our boat after we replaced the carpet, painted the rails and replaced the boards, but before we got seats for it. We fixed it up while the roof was being replaced on the church and the parsonage. The guys replacing the roof on the parsonage put a big hole in the driveway with their equipment. Evidently there's a big empty space underneth part of it. they proceded to fix it by filling it with concrete. It's now ugly. Anyway... that boat has provided us with many headaches and many fun times. It's covered with a tarp right now and hopefully won't cause us nearly as many problems this year. If you look back to some summer posts may-july you could find some stories involving this redneck pontoon. I'm sure there will be more.

Our Getaway part 2

2009-01-14T15:35:00.000-08:00

In the barn.

The Hot Tub

This is the crazy cat that sat outside all day. We called him One Eye. He liked to claw at the screens.

The Kitchen... fully stocked. We brought food with us and cooked most of our meals. Up to the loft. There is a queen bed upstairs. The master bedroom is the middle door and the bathroom is on the right. Right of the bathroom is the door to the back porch with the hot tub.

Here is a shot from the loft. There is a really comfy futon that will also sleep 2.

That fireplace was awesome.

I have no explanation. We had a great view into the valley outside this window.

Our Getaway part 1

2009-01-14T14:44:00.000-08:00

We have now found our new favorite getaway spot. This week we went to Cabin on the Hill right outside Carbondale. It's about a 3 1/2 to 4 hours from Wapella. James found it while surfing the net. He likes to look for places for little getaways. It is resonably priced, so we decided to use our christmas money and get away for a couple days. We left monday and just got home this afternoon. We pulled into this place and our jaws dropped. It really is on a hill. The owners live on the first hill at the entrance. They you go down hill, drive by the barn, and up the hill to the cabin. We weren't sure our little car would make it up that hill, but it did. :) It doesn't look like it in the pictures, but it's quite a hill, not very big, but steep. James loved the front porch and was a little sad he couldn't sit on it more. It was pretty cold and windy. We loved sitting inside by the fire. We took some books with us to keep us busy. We played Yatzee, read, and hung out in the hot tub. We now know why people love private hot tubs :). We also were able to get fresh farm eggs from the owners. I could tell there was a difference from walmart eggs, but not a big one. It was still fun to have fresh eggs. The looked cool. (for some reason i copied and pasted but it underlined everything and i can't fix it) Anyway. I'll post more pictures of the inside of the cabin in the next post. We stayed in mostly. We ventured out and stopped by one of the many vinyards on the wine trail and then went to dinner with Dave's parents on Tuesday. It's lots of fun. You should all go.

James beloved front proch.

The farm. (part of the view from our cabin.)

The Front Porch

Here's our cabin.

This is the entrance.

Taxes Taxes Taxes

2009-01-07T06:37:00.000-08:00

Well, we got our taxes almost done. It's a relief. Clarence Barney of H&R Block in Lincoln does our taxes. They are so confusing. He trys to explain them, but I only get about 60some% of it. I don't know how much we pay him to do our taxes, but it's worth every penny to have him sign on the dotted line. If we get audited... they take care of everything... I love the peace of mind that provides. What's even more exciting is that we get some back this year even though we pay our own taxes quarterly. In addition to that we saved extra every month in case we had to pay in. So it's like getting a bonus. I think when it's all said and done we'll be able to almost double our emergency fund in the Savings account. I know there are some things coming this year that are going to take us over our monthly budget. So now that our taxes our done. our Savings account is sitting where it needs to be and our budget for the month is done and we can still get grocerys and gas. Yeah!!!

The other cool thing is that we figured out how much we need to pay every month to pay off our student loans in 10 years... we made the first payment toward that goal this month. I'll finish my thesis in the next 3 months, then i'll get a job and every penny of that will go to pay them off earlier.

Yeah for money in the bank and a plan to keep it there... at least for now. Who knows what the future holds in terms of jobs, family and schooling.

one more week of crazy... then a getaway

2009-01-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

This week James has an intensive week from 8-12 monday thru friday. For most of that time my butt will be in the Library workin on the third chapter of five for the thesis that has to be complete by the end of March. On Monday at 1 we go to the tax guy to get our taxes figured out for last year. I've been trying to get together all our numbers for that fun adventure. Tuesday night James has Area Men's. Wednesday afternoon we start Beacon Kidz. Thursday and Friday are still open, but in there somewhere James has to write his sermon and come up with a year long sermon plan for his all day retreat on Saturday.

and then.....

Monday morning we get to leave for a Cabin on a Hill in Southern Illinois. We are using our Christmas money to rent a Log Cabin for two nights. It will be a nice get-a-way. Yesterday was the first day since I dont't know when that we stayed home and did almost nothing. We're both looking foward to it. But for right now... i've got to get the parsonage and supper ready for the youth group to come over tonight. ...maybe i'll take a nap first.

You Know You're a Preacher's Wife When...

2009-01-04T10:44:00.001-08:00

Here's a fun list I found posted on another Preacher's Wife blog. It's really quite accrate.

You know you’re a pastor’s wife when…

1. ...you are rarely referred to by your given name. You are most often “The Pastor’s Wife” or a variation on that theme (”Pastor ______’s Wife,” “Married to the Pastor,” etc.). You may even be called “The First Lady” Yeah... I noticed that I sort of lost my own identity when we began this gig as Preacher and Preacher's Wife... it took some getting used to. This mostly happens when I get introduced to people.

2. You know you’re a pastor’s wife when… people act weird around you. (this is her story... I was once in a conversation with a group of adults when one woman said, “Yeah, I haven’t been to church in a while.” As soon as she said it, she looked at me with an “I’ve been caught” look and then she said, “Oops…busted.” For the record, I don’t take attendance. I am not a babysitter. And my general feeling is that adults can and should make their own decision about if and when they attend church. Heck, it takes all my energy to make sure I make it to church let alone the rest of the population.) I agree with her conclusion to the matter. I've not been at it long enough for too many people to act wierd around me... but they do act different around both of us. I don't get why people think we're supposed to be soooo much holier than they are.

3. "You know you’re a pastor’s wife when…you relate best to anyone NOT in your church. This is largely due to #2, however it’s also because you don’t know how to deal with the I - have - no - idea - how - much - to - share - with - you - about - my - personal - life - because - it - will - most - likely - involve - issues - about - my - husband - leaving - his - underwear - around - (or something similar) - and - my - husband - is - your - pastor - and - you - probably - don’t - want - to - hear - about - his - underwear." "ding ding ding..." this one takes the cake for me. I couldn't have said it better than this. It's hard to keep my mouth shut when he's driving me up the wall.

4. You know you’re a pastor’s wife when…you wish you had a dime for every time someone claims your husband said something that he never said. If you did, you would be a very, very rich woman. And if you had another dime for every time what he supposedly said was ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS and UTTERLY STUPID, you’d double your money.

5. You know you’re a pastor’s wife when…”rich” (monetarily speaking) is not in your vocabulary. Never has been. Never will.

6. You know you’re a pastor’s wife when…you’re either extremely uncomfortable or extremely gleeful (depending on your personality) when you’re in a conversation with someone who uses lots of four-letter words and then asks you the question, “So, what does your husband do?” Gotta love it when this happens.

7. You know you're a pastor's wife when... you're sitting around the dinner table with a room full of capable people and your husband is asked to pray because he's a "professional". Come on people... there's no such thing as a professional prayer.

Isn't that a fun list. I changed a few words but my added comments are in blue.

Have a great week everybody.

More Wedding Pics

2009-01-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

A Wedding

2009-01-01T06:39:00.001-08:00

What a week we have had. In case you don't know my sister got married last night. We had a great time. Everything went well even though we were dealing with the most unprofessional wedding coordinators at the venue. Anyway. The fun of planning for this wedding has been happening for a while now, but the rubber hit the road on Saturday. During the crazy weather we went to Distinctive Affairs (the venue from @#!*) to scope out the scenery, made our lists, and hit the stores to find the rest of the decor. It seems like we bought every roll of black satin ribbon and turquoise ribbon in Bloomington. Here's a great picture of Saturday nights party favor party.

On Sunday we had James family and my family over for dinner. We fit 16 people in our home for lunch. It was a lot of fun.

Monday and Tuesday were filled with more errands, lots of decorating, more biscotti making, manicures, more decorating, a rehearsal and the Bachelorette Party. Mom and Dad even practiced their dance moves.

The Bachelorette Party was a blast. We left from the rehearsal about 7:00 and made our way to flat top where we ordered Joanna their signature drink... the Horny Monkey... we thought it was fitting (It had a bananna coming out of it) Then we went to Katie Bass' house for a personal shower. I was sceptical about having it the night before the wedding, but it was a good excuse to relax and hang out.

Wednesday was a lot of fun. We got up and were at the place by 9am to get started on our hair. We also finished the decorating and the flowers. By 3 we were doing pictures. By 5 we were waiting around. By 7 we were on the move. It was a lot of fun. I don't have pictures now, but I'll post some when we get them. We packed the place. There had to be 200 people at this wedding. We had dancing, a coffee bar, hot finger foods, a cheesecake bar, and party poppers, noise makers, and balloons to drop from the ceiling at midnight. We had enough to serve an army. I know have frozen cheesecake, cheese puffs, biscotti galore. My parents are even going to start a coffee bar at church with all the leftovers. We got home about and in bed at 3 this morning. For some reason I woke up at 7:30. Go figure. Oh well, Dave and Joanna should now be on a plane headed for Texas. Everything and everyone were beautiful. We had a great time. We have a great family.

A Christmas Letter 08

2008-12-26T07:56:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Wow, can it really be Christmas already. This will be our second Christmas together as husband and wife and our first with a Christmas letter. God has blessed us richly in the last couple of years. We’ve been in Wapella for over a year now. Time flies by so fast. We’ve had a relatively busy year. Here are a few of the highlights.

In April we took James cousin Marranda in to live with us. This was a scary as well as an exciting time for us. Neither of us had ever been in charge of a 3 yr old around the clock before. But we all adjusted well and have had a wonderful time playing and learning together. We finally conquered the potty training adventure a couple weeks before Marranda started pre-school. What a victory that was. Marranda returned home December 19th. It’s hard to believe she was with us for 8 months. We have been greatly blessed by her time with us and we miss her lots.

Things at the church have gone well this year. Our numbers are struggling a little, but we’ve heard that can happen at the beginning of a new ministry. Our eyes have been opened in a number of ways to the joys, sorrows, and burdens of ministry. James is doing well in the pulpit. We are both teaching Sunday school and leading the youth on Sunday evenings and Wednesday afternoons. I lead a women’s Bible study during the week. The people here are very loving and supportive. God sure has blessed us with a wonderful place to learn about and do ministry.

In addition to working full time at the church James is finishing up his college class work this semester. He will do his internship here at the church under the supervision of an area minister and graduate college in May. Lord willing he’ll start seminary in the fall. I have been working on my thesis. I procrastinated long enough. I have three months to finish it and then find a job. I may be continuing my education in the fall. That is yet to be determined.

This past summer we had a lot of fun. For our first anniversary we went to New York City. It was our first time to visit and we had a great time. I think we covered all of Manhattan on foot. We needed a vacation to recover from our vacation, so we went to the North American Christian Convention with Marranda a couple weeks later. Then we came home and had a break. James helped to lead the jr high week of fishing camp at Little Galilee in August and we had VBS at church. Next year he will be able to Dean that same week of camp.

It has been one crazy busy year. We’re looking forward to what God has in store for us next year. This Christmas season has been a blast. We’ve seen all kinds of family and had a Christmas Open House that we consider a success. We are now home and getting ready for my sisters wedding on New Years Eve. James also has an intensive week class the first week of January. We are looking forward to a short vacation in a log cabin near Carbondale the second week in January.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
James and Beth

2008-12-19T19:53:00.000-08:00

I miss my buddy.
She went home today.

A Christmas Open House

2008-12-14T10:19:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody,
We are having an open house for all our family and friends and want to invite you. We want to say thankyou for all of your love and support. I know this time of year is hectic and crazy, and you may not be able to make it, but we want you to know we are thinking of you. Please join us if you are able and bring your families.

When: December 21st ~~~ 2-5pm
Where: The McMillion Parsonage (For those of you in Lincoln, we’re about 25min from LCC.)

Have a Very Merry Christmas,
~ James and Beth

Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-11-30T12:54:00.000-08:00

What a great weekend we've had. Marranda had a great time spending the night with her mommy Wednesday night. On Thursday we all got together at James parents house and had a lot of turkey and stuffing and pie. We had a good time hanging out with the family.

After supper we headed to my parents so that I could get up and hit the sales with my mom and sisters and Dave. We were up and at Kohls by 4am. I really wasn't looking for anything special, I just like to go and have fun, but this year I found some great deals and did most of the Christmas shopping for my family. We still have to do James family, but we'll get that done soon. James stayed home with my dad and Marranda. After we got all the shopping out of our systems for the morning we had an early Christmas party for Marranda. She had a blast opening up her presents. My family's taken her in as one of their own. Unless we make special arrangements sometime, that was the last time they'll see her for a while. I love going home to see my family. I miss them.

We had fun this morning. The kids got up and sang "I Will Enter His Courts." After lunch we took Marranda out and played in the snow. It was fun. That's the one other thing I wanted to do with Marranda before she went home. I'm glad we got to play. Tonight we have the annual "hanging of the greens" and our soup supper to follow. The gals here really do a great job decorating the church. It'll look nice. I'll post pics.

This week Marranda and I will begin baking and decorating a lot of cookies to deliver to the church people. I bought her a fun gingerbread apron so that she can help me. We're going to have lots of fun this month.

Marranda

2008-11-26T17:50:00.000-08:00

One thing I am thankful for is the time we have had with Marranda. We found out today that she will be going for good on the 19th. We're sad that she will be leaving us, but we are happy that she will be able to be with her mom. Right now the sad's bigger than the happy.

It's hard to believe how much our life has changed in the last 2 years. Even just the last year. Marranda will have been with us 8 months by the time she goes home next month.

Right now it kinda feels like we're in a room full of doors, none are open yet and there all pretty blurry. We're not sure which will open and which will remain shut and which we'll go thru. The job door has shut for now. It's not really a fun place to be, but God always walks with us. We just have to wait for His lead.

I don't mean to sound so sad, I really am looking foward to the coming months. God is Good... He will provide as He always has. It's always fun to see when, where, and how God will show up.

graduation postponed

2008-11-19T07:24:00.000-08:00

I've decided not to graduate this year. We found out that since James is going to be a full time seminary student that I get to go to school for half price tuition. That will allow me to finish the Masters of Religious Education degree instead of the MA in Christian Ed. It's a better degree that will open up more doors in the future. It was my first choice of degree until I got married and money was an issue. I'm excited about being able to finish it. The deadline for my thesis is April 1st. I am on track to finish it by then. I'll have the second chapter turned in by friday. I shared a small piece of it earlier.

That's the latest from our neck of the woods. We'll find out more about Marranda's near future next wednesday. My sister gets married next month. I can't believe Christmas is almost hear.

Proverbs 31... a real woman?!?!

2008-11-11T10:31:00.000-08:00

Here's some of my musings on the Proverbs 31 woman...

So many Christian women are trying to figure out what it means to be “mature.” Often times they will turn to Proverbs 31 to read about the “woman of noble character” and hurriedly run the other way. At first glance the woman in this passage looks like a June Cleaver makeover, but that is not what or who this woman was. June Cleaver is far from the ideal woman. Many have suggested that this poem is simply a picture of wisdom personified and as such it summarizes the whole of Proverbs. However, others have argued that it is a picture of a wise woman of God. Here, as a conclusion to the book of Proverbs, Lady Wisdom is indeed personified and as such gives the readers a concrete example of a wise woman. The standards for Godly wisdom and maturity are beautifully laid out in this poem. If our goal as Christ followers is to become like Christ and true wisdom comes only from God (as the Bible says), then Proverbs 31 “certainly presents a pattern for women who want to develop a life of wisdom." It can be used as the measuring rod for godly maturity, for wisdom. A mature woman is a wise woman. Many women in scripture have exemplified the qualities embodied in this text [Deborah (Judges 4), Ruth, Abigail (1 Samuel 25), Elizabeth and Mary (Luke 1-2)].Today’s women should strive to do no less. I could be wrong, but for now, I'm thoroughly that this woman was real.

The Proverbs 31 woman will look different just about every time you see her, but the same qualities will shine through. We know that the foundation of her life is a healthy fear of the Lord. She is strong, honorable, and virtuous. She knows her worth. She respects her husband and he trusts her. She is strong physically, mentally, and spiritually. She watches her tongue and speaks carefully. She uses her blessings wisely and realizes that she has been blessed to be a blessing. She prepares for the future and has a joyful disposition even in the face of hardship. Finally, she leaves a legacy for others to follow.

God does not expect perfection, but he does expect perseverance. David is heralded as a man after God’s own heart, yet he failed miserably at times. Biblical womanhood is much more than the do’s and dont's of character attributes and outward changes. It’s a matter of the heart. It’s a mindset. A heart set on Christ. The whole bible supports and exemplifies biblical womanhood. A biblical woman is one who seeks Christ first and forsakes all else. All are welcome to join the pursuit. Isaiah 55:1 says “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!”

I have enjoyed my study. It has challenged and stretched my faith and my prayer life. There are many things I need to work on when it comes to being like Christ. The 2 chapter of my thesis will probably turn into a Bible study in the near future. I've been wanting to write my own, perhaps this will be the first. We'll see where the second half of this chapter takes me.

time management

2008-11-08T09:21:00.000-08:00

What an easy concept to understand, but such a difficult one to put into practice. You’d think there’s not that much to do in a day. Take care of Marranda; keep the house clean; and do my thesis; keep up with church stuff; read my Bible and pray; and keep my sanity. Really those few things shouldn’t be all that hard to accomplish within a weeks time. I know I can’t do everything every day, but seriously. As I sit in my chair writing this Marranda has created another tornado. There are two basket’s of laundry sitting on the floor in the bedroom and more in the dryer. That pile never ends. The kitchen table has playdough caked on it and the dining room table has all of my thesis books on it. I’m not complaining, I’m just reflecting. Granted, when I get up from my chair in a few minutes I will begin to remedy the situation, but it will all be back in a mater of 24 hours… if I have that long. Some days I do well managing my time others need serious help.
This is all fresh in my mind, because of two reasons. First of all, Marranda woke up screaming before 5 this morning and none of us got back to sleep and have gotten little accomplished today. Second, I just finished a big part of chapter 2 of my thesis that describes the proverbs 31 woman. A big reason she was able to accomplish all that she did was her ability to be efficient and organized; to plan and manage her priorities. I really think that she is the picture of a mature Christian woman. I’ve got more to it than that, but her efficiency is mind boggling and is probably the thing I struggle with the most in that whole passage of scripture.
Well… James is now calling for lunch, so the tornado will have to wait and it’s time to go add to the dishes in the dish washer. …which I really think the proverbs 31 woman would have had, had it been available.

2 things...

2008-10-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

We got a new car today. Our car was beginning to make those noises... you know... the ones you hear right before you start to dump all kinds of money into it. So we decided it was time to look for a new car. To make a long story short: we drove and drove and drove on Friday until we were sick of car salesmen. They are an interesting bread... i discovered i don't like dealing with them much. When we got home we found the perfect car on the internet, at least we thought it was perfect, but it was at a dealer in Peoria. So, at 7:30 this morning we took off for Peoria. The car in the picture is not the car that we went to look at. As it turns out, internet prices are not really negotiable at all and all they wanted to give us for our car was $50. We wanted to cry and we left disappointed once again. We found this car in the trading post. It was in peoria so we decided to check it out. I knew that when we needed a car, we would find what we needed, God's pretty cool like that. He never fails and has provided once more. The guy we bought it from was selling it for his mom. His dad died a couple months ago. They are christians and when they found out James was a preacher he offered the car to us for 7000 instead of 8500. Its an 04 chevy impalla with 40,000 miles and in perfect condition. It's a great car. We were very blessed by that family today. It wasn't what we were looking for, but its what we needed, when we needed it. Although, my heart broke for the sweet lady who had to sell her late husbands car. It was hard for her. Once again God used a bad/sad/difficult situation (death) to bless someone else. We were blessed to be the recipients. God is so good.

We also had fun taking Marranda trick or treating tonight in Hudson. Here are a few pics. Sarah was Popeye; Jake was a carpenter; Caleb was tigger; and Marranda was Little Bo Peep. Marranda doesn't like scary things, so we skipped the houses that were making scary noises and went to the nice ones. She had a lot of fun. So did we. Of course we all dug into the candy when we got home. :)

Fall...

2008-10-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

Well, fall is definitly here. We have a yard full of leaves and a house full of chaos. It's been about a month since I updated so I thought it would be a good time to do that. Marranda's goin home soon. To make a long story short: We had her first and last dispo hearing a couple of weeks ago. They found her mom fit and when we met later that week to figure out a schedule we talked about a return home date for around December 19th. That's when Marranda gets out of school. We are all ready for this to be over. Marranda's been strugglin lately. She's not eating or sleeping well. She just woke up from her nap crying. We're not sure what all is going through that little girls head. Here's a couple of pictures of Marranda. She's chowin down on some corn on the cob from the apple and pork festival. Her class also took a trip to the firestation.

She's got a visit in an hour with her mom and her sister. James and I have a gift card to J. Bucks so we're going to go on a date. I had an interview with State Farm last Tuesday. We should hear something back from them in a couple weeks. Marranda and I will be in Lincoln for Harvest tomorrow. Next weekend we'll take Marranda up to James parents and hit all the rich folks up for candy so that we can confiscate her plunder. :) My sister's wedding plans are coming along nicely. James will be officiating their wedding on New Year's Eve. Should make for a good New Years Eve party.

I've got corn, pumpkin puree, and applesauce overflowing my freezer. We had free corn, apples and pumpkins given to us, so I made sure to put them to good use. We could really use more freezer space. I've been keeping my eyes out for an upright freezer. James said he doesn't want to break his back for the next ten years digging around in a chest freezer.

I can't believe the holidays are almost here. Crazy times.

boating...

2008-09-20T13:19:00.001-07:00

This afternoon we decided to take the boat out one more time before we put it up for the year. We got it going and we got about 300 yards out and the motor died. We sat there for a minute trying to figure out what to do. We eventually got the two oars out and started rowing back to the boat launce. It took us a while but we got there. I really wish we had a picture. I'm sure we were a sight to behold. We loaded the boat by hand and came home. James proceded to mess with the boat and we found out that somehow the gas switch got turned off. We ran out of gas with a full tank right next to the motor. Who'd woulda thunk it. There's a sermon illustration or two in that story. Just thought I'd share our latest boating adventure. I'm glad we got through this one without voices raised and a fight... maybe we're starting to get the hang of this whole married thing. Have a great day.

prayer requests

2008-09-13T05:28:00.000-07:00

I have 2 prayer requests: My mom called last night to tell us that my brother and sister-in-law had a miscarriage last night. Shoshannah was about a month and a half or two months along. They weren't trying to get pregnant, but were both very excited about becoming parents. My heart aches for them.

Marranda has been having a hard time lately. Her separation her mom is beginning to take it's toll on her. I think school hasn't helped that. She loves going to school, but I think that it has contributed to her anxiety. James suggested it could be that all the kids at school talk about their mommy's and daddy's. James and I are in agreement that it would be more beneficial for her to go home sooner rather than later. I just pray that Mary has learned what she needs to because of all this. It's gonna be painful and we will miss her; we have learned so much about ourselves and parenting while she has been with us. She has been such a blessing.

thanks for praying

Fall...

2008-09-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone. It's been a while since I've posted so here's an update on...

Me: Well, I turned 27 last month (the 29th). I gotta say I don't feel a whole lot older. I ended up having a good birthday. When I talked to Amy that afternoon, it hadn't been a great day, but it got better. (Amy, Thanks for listening to my rant.) That Wednesday night I had a cyst rupture in the middle of the night and spent Thursday at the Dr's and being sick to my stomach. On Friday James skipped school to work on his sermon which he really wasn't working on. grrrr. We had a meeting about a visitation plan for Marranda. We met up with James parents for some Tobin's pizza later that night. Gotta love Tobin's. That was a pretty long week, but it ended well. The last couple of weeks we've been enjoying the last of our summer freedom. Tonight we kick-off Youth Group. Tuesday night we kick-off women's Bible Study. Wednesday we kick-off Beacon Kidz. We've got a pretty good plan for the fall so we're looking foward to it all getting going. We're still working on the whole getting pregnant thing. Looks like it's not going to be as easy as we had hoped. However, that is not the case for my brother and sister-in-law. They called a couple weeks ago to announce that they were pregnant. We're happy for them. I really can't believe that my brother has reproduced... Lord help that kid. :) My brother's kinda nuts. I'll be getting the proposal for my thesis back tomorrow, then I get to write the second chapter. If they accept my proposal I'll be 20% of the way through the writing process. Yeah!!! It's about time.

James: James started school a couple weeks ago. He's enjoying getting back into the swing of things. This is his last semester of full time school. He'll do his internship here at the church next semester under the supervision of Greg Taylor. He's looking foward to that. He had a good morning this morning. He had a good Sunday School lesson and a really good sermon. I'm proud of him. The last year has been a good, but trying year. We got the truck out after lunch and took a trip to McDonalds for some dessert.

Marranda: Marranda also started school a couple weeks ago. She goes to Douglas Elementary every morning. She get's on the yellow van at 7:30 and get's back around 11:30. She has homework everyday. We have lunch and then she takes a good nap. She loves going to school. The next court date for Mary (mom) is set of October 14th. We'll have a lot of answers as to how long Marranda will be with us after that day. If Mary is found "fit" Marranda will probably be home by December. If not she'll be with us at least through the holidays. I don't know how I feel about all of that. I'm gonna miss her like crazy. We both are.

Well, that should do it for now.

A brief look back

2008-08-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

What a summer.

We have been going going going. And now we’re getting geared up for a new school year.
We bought a pontoon off ebay and de-ghetofied it. James sister had a baby. We went to New York for our anniversary. A week later we took Marranda with us to the North American. Then James brother Abe was here for the week after that. Joanna got engaged to Super Dave. We’ve taken the youth group to Knights action park and Clinton lake and the Zoo. We’re taking them to six flags on Monday. We registered Marranda for school this week. We’re busily putting together lessons and activities for the fall. Though with all that the kids do it's a frustrating process. Everybody in our household has one week left of freedom before school starts. Marranda and James will go to class and I’ll start cracking at my thesis when Marranda starts morning school in a couple weeks. Shortly after that we'll start Beacon Kidz, Youth Group and Women's Bible Study.

Can you believe we moved to Wapella one year ago this week. It doesn't seem like we've been out of Lincoln that long. I don't know that I could put into words what all the first year of marriage and ministry has taught me (though I bet it would be a worthwhile effort). Perhaps it'll turn into a bloging adventure soon. That's all I've got for now... Talk to ya later. It's just about time for a Sunday afternoon nap.

random pictures of Marranda

2008-07-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

She Did It!!!!

2008-07-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

Yeah... a whole day in big girl underwear and no accidents. We Did It! We Did It!

Once again...

2008-07-15T13:26:00.000-07:00

Well, once again we have Marranda sitting on the potty. This time is a little different though. Yesterday morning we put her in big girl pants and took her to the potty every 1/2 hour or so. We had a 5 victory's and 2 not so great moments. Granted the 2 not so great moments ocurred within minutes of her waking up from her nap and involved the dreaded # 2... twice. Anyway... we haven't had any accidents yet today and she just woke up from her nap in the car. We put her right on the toilet and that is where we find ourselves. She's had gas all day so we know she's gotta go. So I'm sitting on the floor in the bathroom waiting her out. That's all for now... Maybe I'll play a movie for her while she's on the pot... Who knows... we don't know what in the world we're doing. Later alligators.

another first...

2008-07-09T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well, we've made it through our first funeral at Wapella. This was the very first funeral James has officiated. He did a great job. Lots of people came and told me that they really enjoyed his message. I'm proud of my preacher hubby. He couldn't have had a greater family to work with for his first go at this part of the job. Darlene was an amazing lady and everyone knew it. Everytime she saw us she just praised God for bringing us to Wapella. We rarely saw her at church over the last few months. She was a strong woman, full of grace, love, and joy. I've never known anyone to struggle with cancer the way she did and still praise the Lord without one complaint. We will miss her dearly.

...break time...

2008-07-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

Well, we're back home again and we're finally sitting in our chairs taking a break. We got home early on Friday, but an hour after we got home James family walked in the door and shortly after that my family walked through the door. Saturday James wrote his sermon, I went to my sisters and then we went and had family pictures taken with James fam. Today we did church, ate lunch, then went boating with his family. Finally my chair calls my name and I sit. What a crazy summer. Marranda has a dentist appointment sometime this week, but I can't remember when and I swear I wrote it down.... somewhere??? I've been doing so good at keeping appointments straight, but this one got away from me. I'll be making some phone calls first thing in the morning.
We start our Tuesday and Thursday 5-7 visits with Marrandas's Mom this week. We'll do that until Mid August. Then we'll do every Tuesday and every other Saturday. Crazy schedule, but we do what we gotta do. That's all i've got for now... Love you guys...

Go...go...go...

2008-06-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

Seems like that's all we've done this summer. We've been going since last August. Summer has been just as busy as the school year, though James isn't nearly as stressed. I can tell cause his hair isn't falling out like it does during the school year... seriously. Oh well... tomorrow we're off again. The North American Christian Convention is in Cincinnati, OH and we're headed that direction and Marranda is coming with us. We'll see how that goes... early mornings and late nights. It'll be good. I have quite a bit of family that will be there and an Uncle I haven't seen in a couple of years. I'm really looking foward to getting there.

The downside of this "vacation" is that the dreaded phone call about a death in the congregation is just days away. James is getting his first taste of death, and very soon, a funeral. He's not been to very many at all and this will be his first to preach. I don't miss it one bit. Though I must admit, my first inclination is to tell him what to do, who to call, and what to say... but he doesn't respond to that all that well I think he thinks I'm bossy. I really just have the urge to just do it myself... but the elders would not like that to much. Oh well... so goes life... and death... It really really really sucks.

When we get back from vacation we get a break for about 3 weeks. We've got a couple of church events, but nothing too major... at least no more trips until CIY. Our pocketbook needs a break.
That's all I've got for now... have a great week.

Our First Anniversary

2008-06-21T07:15:00.000-07:00

Yeah... We're home. We had a great trip, but it sure is good to get home. Here are a few pics. We did a whole lot of walking and eating. I'm really gonna have to go to New York sometime with my sister so I can enjoy the culture and history of it all. My preacher husband doesn't necessarily enjoy that aspect of the city. Our goal for this trip was just to see as much as we could. We saw a lot.

Our hotel was kinda scary... but at least it was clean and in a good location. I've got pictures. Monday we got to the hotel and checked in, then we went to Times Square and walked around, then saw a movie.

Tuesday we went to The Today Show, saw more of Time Square, Central Park, a few churches, The United Nations, the Letterman Show, ate at an overpriced italian place, saw the Flat Iron building, had a drink, and called it a day.

Wednesday we got up early to take the subway down to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked across it. Then we walked to the Supreme Court House, the World Trade Center, and then to the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. When we got off the ferry we walked to a couple of old churches, then to china town where we had lunch... Gotta admit... First Wok has china town beat. Then we walked to little Italy and to Greenwich village and back to Little Italy for Pizza. It's very different from anything I've ever had, it was pretty good. It's so thin and floppy, I know why they fold it now... that's the only way you can eat it without it falling apart. After that we went back to the hotel for a break while we decided what to do that night. We ended up taking the subway back to the Brooklyn Bridge to see the skyline at night. On our way there we heard tons of motorcycles and when we came upon the US Supreme Courthouse we saw 2000 harleys and choppers. They have a rally every year where they raise money for some sick kids. It was really cool. Then we went to see the skyline and called it a night.

Thursday all we had time for was the Empire State building and the Yankees game. One of our elder's future sons in law scored us primo seats for the game. The owner of his company has season tickets right behind third base... he got those for us. The seats were awesome... unfortunately the game was pretty boring... Oh well... we enjoyed the seats.

Friday morning James decided to try a new route to the airport to save some money. On the way into the city we got on the NJ Transit from the airport to Penn Station and walked a few blocks to the hotel: $30. On the way back we saved about $20... but here was our route... Hotel to Subway, to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall Stop, walked to Path Train (by WTC), took train to Newark, Got on bus to airport (terminal A), took Airtran to Terminal B, to Check In...

We had a great trip, but we're pretty tired... The boat is fixed and we're headed out to pick it up and go to the Lake... Hope it goes well and I don't have to help haul it on the trailer again... Gotta go... see you all soon.

a new chapter...

2008-06-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

Well... Menopause is officially over!!! We're about to hit our one year anniversary!!! We're also about to leave for a week in New York!!! We need a break. I'm looking foward to gettting out of podunk. We love it hear, but right now we need a break. James doesn't have to preach when we get back so all we have to do is get away and enjoy a break. When we get back we'll start our second year in marriage and in ministy. The second sunday after we got married, James started filling in out here in Wapella. It's hard to believe that we've been out hear just about every Sunday for a year. Life goes by so fast.

Marranda is doing well, she's at least sleeping through the nights. She is going to stay with James' parents next week. I hop that goes well. She's done a ood job of throwing my back out. She's pretty heavy and likes to be held. I haven't been holding her nearly as much, but my backs not feeling any relief yet. I went to Dr. Karen, but that hasn't helped much. I hope it's just knotts from stress and they will dissipate soon.

The past year and a half have brought many changes and callenges... I wonder what the next year will bring?!?!?!

New Baby

2008-06-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

Here's the newest member of the McMillion Clan. Sarah (James' Sister) had her baby at 5:15 this morning. His name is Caleb Charles McMillion. He weighs 6lb 4oz and is 18 1/2 inches long. He's got a funny cone shapped head and is really cute. Sarah's doing great.

Stong-Willed

2008-06-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

I've never really appreciated what parents of strong-willed children go through on a daily basis. I think I have the stubbornest kid on the planet, but only when it comes to certain things... like talking, saying her colors, and going potty. Marranda has reentered babyland and won't come out. She responds well to picking up her toys and eating (most of the time). But those other things are so irritating. I know she know her colors, but she refuses to call things by the right color. Everything is green or yellow.... i know she knows them. I know she knows how to go potty... she just won't. Marsha told me to break her from her return to babyland by not letting her get away with doing "baby" things, but man is it hard. She is such a fighter. We can put her on the pot for hours at a time.... nothing... we try the rewards system with everything imaginable.... nothing... we try withholding things.... nothing...
The talking thing is something i'm not sure how to tackle. She won't look me in the face to talk and when i try to enunciate for her to repeat she sticks her tongue out and talks. Ugghhhh!!!

HELP!!!

...and then there were four... sorta

2008-05-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

We added a new member to the McMillion Fleet last week. James has been drooling over boats lately and is moaning and groaning because we live so close to the boat launch (10 min) and have no boat. He finally found a great deal on a 20ft pontoon. We looked at our savings account and decided to get it. It sure feels good to be able to pay cash for things. When we went up to Rockford for a wedding last week, James drove up to Racine, WI and picked it up. Gotta love ebay. We replaced the carpet, painted the sides, repositioned the seats and put new panels on. It's good as new. We can't wait to see if it floats tomorrow.

On a different note. My sister bought a wedding dress today. I haven't seen it yet and she doesn't have the ring yet, but it's coming very soon. They're talking about getting married in January. I really think they just can't wait any longer than that... if you get my drift. Oh well... she found a great guy. He'll fit in with the rest of us quite well.

My parents left yesterday morning for Washington State. My brother get's home next weekend. We're really exited that he and Shoshannah will be home soon. Too bad my parents have to drive his monstrous truck all the way out there. Unfortunaely, we won't get to see him until August when they come home again.

Marranda is doing well. She just got caught fillin her britches. She just won't tell us when she has to go potty. oh well. the time will come.

Potty Training...

2008-05-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

Well, we've made it two weeks with a three year old. Our biggest obstacles have been bed time and potty training. If we let her nap in the afternoon until she wakes up she won't go to bed easily at night; if we wake her up early from a nap she can be a zombie all afternoon. Nap times are goofy. Some nights she goes to bed so easily and some nights she just wakes up screeming. We're not sure if she's having bad dreams or what's going on.

Potty training is a nightmare. She tells us outright that she's not going to tell us when she needs to go to the bathroom. She will sit on the pot for a half hour, get off and 15 minutes later wet her pants. Tonight I put her in some training pants with the plastic ones over them. She decided to fill them with pee and poop... When we asked if she would tell us before she had to go next time she looked right at us and said "NO"... ugghhh. So it goes... we'll keep trying... any suggestions are welcome.

We're still looking for a place for Marissa. She's Marranda's big sister and needs a place to live. Everyone is pretty much in agreement that it wouldn't be a good idea for us to take her. My heart breaks for her, I wish we could. Both of the girls had a visit with their mom last Monday, it went very well, we were pleased. I hope that through all of this, there can be healing.

That's all for now... I'll talk again soon.

...and then there were three

2008-04-24T19:33:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody, Here are a couple of pictures of our first night with Miranda. Mac n Cheese and Dora... what more could we want!?!

Is There A God???

2008-04-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

Wow! My friend Meredith wrote a blog about this question. She googled trying to find out how to answer this question in a good way, but all she came up with were blogs and blogs of bad answers to the question. Try it. You'll find lots of blogs with people asking questions and many people saying that there is no God. They say they aren't sure. Some say that they have been "saved" at some time or another, but they don't go to church because it's corupt and they are a good person anyway so it doesn't matter. Some say it doesn't matter at all. Reading a few of these blogs and the answers is sufficient to yank me out of my little bubble I have once again found myself in. It is amazing how easy it is for my vision to be clouded. I forget that there are people headed to Hell everyday because I have been silent. What if I were to speak up... ???

Pampered Chef

2008-04-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

Hey I'm having a pampered chef party on April 29th. If you want to come, let me know. If you can't come, but want to get something, let me know. Here is the website: http://www.pamperedchef.biz/havnfun

Deal or No Deal Flunkies

2008-04-04T07:22:00.000-07:00

We were a couple of the goofs who went to the Deal or No Deal casting call. It was the first and last time I will do something like that. I had absolutely no desire to go, but James really wanted to go, so I went too. He told me I earned a lot of brownie points for that. We waited for 5 1/2 hours just to get in the car and go home again. Gotta be honest, didn't expect anything else. There were some crazy people there. By the time we got to the front of the line, they put you in lines of 10 people; then they rush all of you up to one table and you get to sell yourself to them for 20 seconds. I'm glad we didn't make it through to the next round. It was exhausting. Oh well. The things we do for our husbands... Have a great day everyone!

Finally... a job!!!

2008-03-31T13:58:00.000-07:00

Hey! Take a look at my new boss...

He's a hard working man, with a hard working wife. His secretary resigned due to health and family issues and he wanted me to be his secretary. I really think he just wants to be able to tell people that he's sleeping with his secretary. HaHaHa! I don't think I find that as amusing as he does. Oh well, now I've got to figure out what to do with my extra $60 bucks a week. I think I'll save it for our vacation to New York this summer.

Hey... I got the first part of my 5 part thesis done and turned in. The proposal is being reviewed. Hopefully I'll be able to get going on the rest of it real soon. If feels good to have my drive back. I have been avoiding that thesis like the plague. It is so good to know that spring is here. Even though the wind is blowing furiously outside, it is starting to warm up. I've got a spot for a garden that I'm looking foward to being able to plant. Things have been going well in Wapella. James is wanting to go to the casting call for Deal or No Deal tomorrow in Decatur. He's trying to drag me with him. It's at the mall... I threatened to go shopping while he waits in line. Evidently that's not going to be allowed. Oh well. Hope everything is going well in your neck of the woods.

Easter

2008-03-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody,

We had a great day today. James preached a great sermon this morning. we packed the house out at about 150. I'm pretty sure we can't hold much more than that. We had a lot of visitors today. We had lunch here at the parsonage. It was my first really big, go all out meal, all by myself. It was quite tasty, if I do say so myself. :) Anyway, my sister came over with her boyfriend Dave, James parents and brother were here. He also had three of his friends that he grew up with come and stay for dinner. That was pretty cool considering he doesn't think that they had ever been to a church service before. It was an all around great day.

Yesterday we had a community Easter egg hunt in the park for the neighborhood kids. There certainly are a lot of them. If we could just reach a portion of the young families in Wapella alone, we could fill the pews with young families. The field is there, we just need the tools to be sharpened for the harvest.

I talked to my brother today, he's doing well. He and my sister-in-law have been in Iraq for about a year now. They should be coming home the end of may/beginning of June. They'll be out of the service and living in the area sometime in August. It'll be really exciting having them close. I miss them both. I know a lot of people are against the war and what's going on over there, but everytime I talk to Shoshannah, she tells us the good news about whats happening.

Oh well, here it is after 11pm and I'm on the computer. This medicine is still running it's course in my system. I dread going to sleep. The night sweats have been crazy the past couple of nights. I end up waking up multiple times and about 5 I give up and come out to James recliner where I can catch a few zzzzz's. Oh well, soon enough we'll get back to normal. I wrote a few weeks ago that I wasn't looking foward to babies, I think that's beginning to change. James was on Week of E last week with Little Galilee and I was able to spend some time with a friend of mine who has a 1 month old. It's funny what little bundle's of joy can stir up inside you. Although the babies name is Patience... you think that has anything to say about what my friend needed to learn or about maybe it encompases a big part of what motherhood is all about.... Gnight... time to try and catch those elusive zzzzzz's.

Menopause

2008-03-07T08:53:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was my last official day of menopause. It's supposed to start working it's way out of my system now. I think that could take up to about 2 months. Who knows. I have a call into the Dr. to find out what we need to do next. It's really not a good thing to get pregnant while this drug is still in my system. I was reading other people's blogs about taking Lupron Depot and I had it pretty easy. I gained about 20 pounds, had headaches, hot flashes and trouple sleeping. Evidently that's nothing compared to what some women go through. I am looking foward to getting this stuff out of my system. So to celebrate, we're going out for steak tonight. Yeah! I like date nights. Talk to you later.

Yea Bread!!!!

2008-03-04T17:49:00.000-08:00

How's this for a loaf of bread... Not bad for the third try. I gotta say... I'm a little proud of it.

We've had a pretty good day. We got to and from Lincoln without any snow. We played in the snow a couple of hours ago. I made homemade bread and homemade noodles. Mmmm chicken and noodles.

Right now James is reading a book and I'm watching the end of American Idol. We're going to watch a movie soon. It's nice to take a break every once in a while.

Thesis writting

2008-02-27T10:15:00.000-08:00

Ugggghhh! Back to the thesis writting. I'm about halfway done with my proposal, which will also be the first chapter. Bad news is I hava a long way to go... Good news is I'm getting my drive back to get it done. I wrote quite a bit this morning and will write some more this afternoon. The sun is shinning, the snow is melting, the grass is almost green, and spring is on its way. Yippeeeeee! OK, so I haven't been outside yet, I know it's still cold, but it sure looks good from inside. Okie dokie... back to work.

Home Sweet Home

2008-02-26T13:15:00.000-08:00

Well, I had my first attempt at bread making this morning. It went OK, but the bread was a little too heavy. I think I need to kneed it more and bake it a little longer. I'll try again another time. I think I was too impatient this time. You can't beat the taste of fresh bread.

Anyway... for those of you who haven't seen the parsonage. Allow me to give you a tour. Here is the kitchen where the bread making adventure took place. Next to the fridge is the door into the dining room and I'm standing in another door. It's just to the right of the little bakers rack in this small picture. Believe it or not, but this ceiling was green before we moved in.

Here is a picture of our living room. It has a great picture window that looks over at the park. The park has a shelter, playground, 2 baseball diamonds, a tennis court, basketball court, volleyball court, and a half mile walking path. We love it. Can't wait for spring to get here.

This next picture is of our reading chairs. We sit here in the morning and watch the sun rise out our picture window. The door to the left leads to our front door and James' office; the door on the right leads to the three bedrooms and bathroom.

This is our dining room. The door on the left goes into the kitchen.

This is James office. I painted it a couple of weeks ago. It was all paneling. James felt like he was in a wooden box.

That's all for now. Just thought I'd share a few pics.

Good Day

2008-02-25T18:44:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day. Yesterday was not such a good day. Things just did not go the way they were planned. You know... you have those days when you're just focused on yourself and the whole day is crap... it was one of those days. Today I woke up with a fresh wind under my wings. We had a good day. James read 2 books, I got ready for Bible Study, and we visited with some wonderful people from the church this afternoon. We had a great Bible Study tonight. James and I watched a movie and now it's bedtime. Miss you all. Will write more later.

Making Noodles

2008-02-13T12:29:00.000-08:00

Somedays I forget just about everything. Today I have already made 3 trips to Clinton and I have to go again in half an hour. Trip #1: I went to Clinton this morning to learn how to make noodles. In the process I took both sets of car keys and the church van. I used the van because James had to go to school at noon and I didn't know when I would get home. When I got to Wilma's house I realized I had both sets of keys and had to go back home. Trip #2: Then I came back to Clinton and Wilma Jackson taught me how to make noodles. We had lunch, we talked, and had a great time. I then went to the store to get some groceries. When I reached into my pocket for my debit card to pay, my life flashed before my eyes and I saw my debit card on the nightstand at home. So, home I came to get the card. Trip #3: Back to the store I went to pay for my groceries and home again I came. It's been a crazy day. Trip #4 will involve going and picking up the kids for our after school program. Oh well... James will be home by then.

Wilma Jackson has to be one of the coolest old ladies I've ever met. She's done just about everything. She is 89, a great cook, a wonderful encourager, and good for a swift kick in the pants if you need one (I haven't needed that yet, but it's only a matter of time). She and her husband live in Clinton and are a wonderful asset to the church here in Wapella.

It's been a good day, but a dizzy day. Such is life in the fish bowl.

8 Months

2008-02-11T12:27:00.000-08:00

Wow... can you believe we've been married for almost 8 months. Life has been absolutely nuts. Shortly after getting married James took a full time preaching ministry and we moved to Wapella, Il. Who would have imagined there would have been so many changes over the course of a year. God sure does have amazing things in store for us. James and I are both pretty strong-willed, so we've had an interesting first 8 months of marriage. I've only got one month of menopause left and that aweful medicine will be working its way out of my system. Hot flashes really suck. Though I must say that I have not missed my monthly visitor and neither has James. I'm pretty sure he's morning its return. The doctor has advised us to try and have kids right away. I've got to be honest... that prospect doesn't thrill me at this point. Some days I can't wait to have kids, other days I just want to run the other way. I think I'm morning my loss of freedom. I know that new joys enter the picture with children, but so does great responsibility. God knows what's best for us and for our future, so we leave it in His hands. James is so excited to have babies, he's gonna be a fun dad. He'll be done with all of his college classes in December. He'll do his internship in the spring and graduate May '09. We're both looking foward to that. He goes to Lincoln 5 days a week and that get's a little old. Especially when he has to come home and put in a full day's work here.

James and I are pretty busy with the church. Sunday's make for very long days. James and I both teach Sunday School. I teach the 3-5th graders and James teaches the Adults. Fortunately James only has to preach once. After church we usually have a couple over for lunch or go out with someone. In the afternoon we take communion to the nursing home and get ready for youth group. We spend from 6-8pm with the youth group (we teach them too). After that we crash on the couch. On monday's we have Women's Bible Study. I have about 10-15 ladies who come over to the parsonage on Monday nights. We're studying various women of the Bible who made an impact. Tonight we're talking about Deborah and Jael: two very amazing women from the book of Judges. On Wednesday's we have Beacon Kids (like kids club) right after school. We pick them up in the church van and bring them all back to the church until 5pm. After that's all done we get ready for the next week's activities.

I've pretty much given up on the whole job thing. We picked up the youth ministry and some extra pay, so we don't need the extra job right now. My thesis has been coming along at the pace of a snail and is about to go into turbo speed. I promised James it would be done by December. We'll see how that goes...

Oh well... I guess that's all for now. I miss everybody in Lincoln... Wapella can be lonely at times.