Coming to you from...

Hey there!! I'm coming to you from the big city. We are having a good time here visiting with Trukerman's cousin and his wife.

Truckerman had his registration today and things went well. He got some good news today, while he got his papers for registration he found out that one of the classes that he had taken that he thought was not going to get credit for he did.

I had my job interview today. I went great!! If I wanted to start tomorrow I would have a job but because we are moving 4 months from now he can not give me a 100% yes but a 99.6% yes. I am to keep in contact with him until just before we move. YA!!!

Wish Me Luck

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. Isaiah 43:2

I finished my business assignment last night and am so relieved that it is over. I was dreaming of the assignment last night and I kept waking up and thinking that I forgot to do part of it and send it.

I write my Funeral Director 2 final this afternoon. I'm hoping this lack of sleep is not going to affect me.

After the final is over we are leaving for the big city. Truckerman has registration tomorrow morning and I have my job interview.

While we are there we will be staying with Truckerman's cousin and he will be home this time. I also have a baby shower to go to on saturday and then sunday we are going to welcome him into God's family. He is being baptised.

By grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:5

Today I have the day to myself. Meaning I have alot to do and no one to bother me.

I have gotten dishes washed, laundry going, showered, kids to school, some wall paper striped, garbages emptied, some cleaning done, etc.

Note that there was no studying done yet. I just can't seem to stay focused. I am going to have to sit down and just do it. I did manage to get most of the written part finished but there is still some left to write and then there is all the numbers parts to do. :-P

Found out that I can't paint where there was wall paper in the living room. While striping the wall paper off the walls I found out why there was wall paper on there in the first place. Seems there was some patching done on the paneling (yes there is paneling in my house). That doesn't make me so thrilled about things at the moment. But then things could be a lot worse then having to wall paper.

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! Psalm 27:14

Yesterday I drove the boys to see Truckerman and to drop off Pete. Truckerman took Pete with him for the day and night.

Repete and I had the place to ourselves. We watched a movie together and snuggled on the couch. I watched him ride his bike (a favorite pass time since the snow started to disappear). We had a nice time together.

This morning we decided to drive to another town for church this morning (a friends congregation). It was a nice change for us and was nice to see our friend. After church and visiting people we went to pick up Pete and have lunch at Subway.

Pete did not get enough sleep so he was a bit grumpy so it was an early bedtime for the boys tonight. They did enjoy playing outside when we got home and spent the whole afternoon until suppertime out there.

I had started my final assignment yesterday and got intimidated and had to stop. A call from one of my classmates helped everything but at the same time made me more overwhelmed. The way she helped was by making a few things clearer to me about some of the things that are needed and with that it was made clear to me that the 4 pages that he was expecting was just the written part not the numbers part. The numbers part is at least another 4 pages if I'm lucky. :-P

I just need to tell myself, "Only four more day!" Maybe not! There is only four more days that I have to get all of this done and study and write my other final. YIKES!!!

And then there is the general house work and the kids and renos that need to be done (we have someone maybe coming to look on the 30th and then if they don't want it we were going to list right away). Goodbye any free time I thought I might have had.

Well this is taking up the time that I should be using to get things done.

WOO HOO!!

Life is so great!!!

Why do you ask?

I have a job interview when we go to the city next weekend!!

Plus he wants me to quit seding resumes out and if he could he'd have me start right now!!

Can we say, "It's a small world." Oh yes it is. We started talking about where we grew up and when he found out where I was from he asked me if I knew a certain family from there. Turns out the person from that family that he was refering to was my cousin. The two of them worked together and his wife is still really good friends with my cousins wife. Weird stuff!!

Musical 2

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair. 2 Corinthians 4:8

Pete did even better today at the music festival. He received an 86% and tied for second place. For this he received a certificate.

He is pretty happy with himself and he should be. He has worked very hard on these songs. And considering that he was a bit behind because of his last teacher I think he has come a long way.

Musical

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:14

Pete played in his first music festival today and did really well. He was in a group of 8 and you could tell that he was a first year student and the rest were not but he did well just the same.

The adjudicator tested them on how they played their pieces not by how difficult they were. That was nice for him since his was a much simpler song than the rest.

The adjudicator was really good and made all the kids feel good about how they had done and showed them in a really nice way and in ways that they could understand how to improve on their playing.

Pete received an A- for his piece which is an 80-84%. Great job for his first.

I'll update tomorrow on his second piece that is being played in the morning.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:14

Yesterday Cookie and Jo came to visit the school and put on their show. The kids had a blast and everyone seemed to love it. The looks on some of their faces were priceless.

Today we had to go to the city for Truckerman's uncle's funeral. We had to leave earlier than expected because I have come down with a case of the eye infection and had to see the doctor. What fun!! NOT!!

We were able the aunts and uncles and some of the cousins. I also saw a few friends of mine and my 9th grade English teacher. She even remembered me.

Unfortunately when we were leaving the hall we found out that down the street a young girl was struck by a car while riding her bike. I pray that she is okay because we heard conflicting stories as to what happened to her.

We then went to my parents and Cookie ordered pizzas for us all and we all had a great visit. While visiting, we went and looked at different things on U-Tube. There are some very funny things on there. If you go to Rebelious Pastor's Wife there is a really cute one on there. We all had a really good chuckle over that one.

Tomorrow Pete plays his first of two songs at the music festival. He is getting excited and should do well for his first time.

Crazy!!

You have come...to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. Hebrews 12:22-23

Wow, the business never seems to end or slow down.

This past week a young man decided to take the life God gave him into his own hands and end it. I had to work 2 days this week for that. I did get to see my aunt and cousins at the funeral. But I will try and remember not to wear brand new shoes to work again until they are broken in. OUCH!!

Saturday I was asked by the school to work their booth at the spring fair selling tickets. I went there and worked the hour I was asked and then quickly looked at the other booths. I found myself some more charms for my watch band. They read, I Love Jesus, Luvn' My Kids, and I Love My Trucker. I also bought Pete and I Dawg Tags for our shoes. Repete decided that he didn't want one so I ended up with it.

We had found out that morning that Truckerman's uncle had died the night before from a heart attack. So after the fair the boys and I went to the city to see Truckerman's aunt and cousins. This is a really big shock for us all. Wednesday we are going back to the city to the funeral.

Tomorrow my brother, Cookie, will be coming with Jo to put on a magic show for the boys school. The boys are so excited about it all. It should be really fun to watch the kids are going to enjoy themselves. Cookie and Jo are going to stay afterwards to visit and have lunch with Truckerman and myself. That will be nice and Truckerman will finally get to meet Jo.

Thursday and Friday Pete will be playing in the music festival. He is getting excited about that as well. He has been working on the 2 songs that he needs to play. Next week he has to sing 2 songs with the school choir and speak to poems with his class. He is quite the busy boy.

I have to work at the music festival Thursday while Pete is playing. I am doing the numbers (posting who is playing) so I will be able to see him. Thank goodness Truckerman and my mom and grandma are going to be there because it would be difficult to keep Repete from talking (he can't help himself from always making some type of noise at all times) and getting restless.

So in all of this I have to get some things finished around here and get my assignment finished for friday night and then start on my final assignment and study for finals next week.

Wish me luck and pray for me that I do well. Oh ya, please pray for Pastor Alex, Kelly, and wee baby that everything goes well for them. Kelly is pregnant with baby and is having some problems right now.

where are the days going

At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Ephesians 5:8

I can't believe that it is almost the middle of April already. Where is the days all going?

I was looking at my school work to see what was left to do and what the assignments all consisted of. The assignments are large ones and then my FD final is coming up as well.

I was also looking at the lists that I had made of things that needed to be done in each room of the house. Things are going much slower then we were hoping.

Truckerman has finished the flooring in the dining room and has done a few more things in the basement, but with Easter things were slow going this set of days off.

I have started on the painting in the dining room. I just need to remember to change into my painting clothes before I get into it because I have a tendancy to get paint on myself. You would think that I would learn.

This week I have been working as well. I had to do a transfer and embalming and tomorrow I have to pick the person up and go and work at the funeral. It is a really sad case.

I forgot that on Saturday that I was to work the school's booth at the spring fair. OOPS!!! Mom and Dad were going to come and bring our new couch and chair (well, new to us they decided to buy new furniture even though there is absolutely nothing wrong with the funiture that they have). Now I just need to figure out where to put the other furniture that is in the living room right now. We plan on having a garage sale and sell it (the couch) but until then I am not sure as to what to do. I think I will be rearranging the room until then. Thank goodness that it is a large room to begin with.

Anyways, about mom and dad coming. I am not sure as to when they plan on getting here so I have to phone tonight and fingure things out with them. I was hoping to get to the city that day as well to get a few things that are needed.

My head is spinning from it all. I think I will just let it happen when it happens and just make a big list of what needs to get done each day and then try to follow it (Ya right, like that ever happens :-))

EASTER!!!

He Has Risen!! He Has Risen Indeed!!!! Alleluia!!!

Mystery

Does it not puzzle you when you get mystery stains on your furniture and carpets?

I have that. We have mystery stains on the carpet in my office. We shampooed them and they did fade a bit but not enough. I thought about it and thought about it, and I have found a solution.

What is that you may ask yourself. It was in my cupboards the whole time. It is something that one would not think of for their carpets. But I thought, "What the heck, let's try it and see. If it works great! If it doesn't whats it going to hurt."

I had a bottle of Spray n' Wash with Oxi power. That stuff is great on grass stains let me tell you. If it works so great on them it should work on carpet stains.

It removed some of the stains and the rest I let sit and then scrubed with the hand held shampooer and it really faded the rest.

I'm happy with the results that I am going to buy a box of the Oxi on monday and some more Spray n' Wash.

Stains, you better run and hide because I am on the war path and I am going to win!!!

Yipee

So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. John 19:42

My, I mean our new desk is put together!! Truckerman and I cleaned out my office and he vacuumed and shamppoed the carpet. And then he proceeded to put the desk together.

I love it!!! It gives me so much more room and yet takes up less space it seems. The glass top also helps make the room seem bigger. That will be a plus when selling this place.

My friend Jannie came by to visit today. I haven't seen her since Christmas. I stayed with her for a week when I was taking my summer classes last summer. It was really nice to see her and to get caught up with each other.

Tonight we will watch "The Passion of the Christ" together and have a nice quiet time to talk and reflect on what Christ has done for us.

I LOVE EASTER TIME!!!

Good Friday

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice,"Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" Mark 15, 34

This morning I was hoping to go to church in another town but my family had changed my plans. I ended up taking the boys out to the farm to color Easter eggs with my family.

The boys had a good time coloring the eggs and playing with their cousins. They ran around the farm and climbed around on the bails. Climbing on the bails is one of their favorite activities. Hopefully they should sleep good for grandma tonight.

Grandma has the day packed full of thing for them to do. One of the things they are going to do is make chocolate bunnies. They haven't done this before so they should have a good time.

Tomorrow night my cousin's two girls are being baptized. I am so excited. I would love to go but with all that is going on here and having to drive there today, Sunday and then Monday, it is a lot of driving and Truckerman gets tired of driving. So the boys are going to represent our family there.

I made it home early enough to go to service this afternoon here in town and I was pleasantly surprised to see Truckerman get home just in time to leave for church. It was a nice service. I love Good Friday service because of having to really focus on what Christ did for us. I have to keep myself from crying during the service.

Truckerman and I always watch "The Passion of the Christ" on Good Friday since it came out but tonight I had to finish up an assignment and Truckerman is tired, so we will watch it tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, we will be putting together our new computer desk! I can't wait! I wish that it was together before I started my assignment because it would have been a lot easier to do the assignment when I could leave my books out instead of having to mark them and then put them to the side so I could open another and look at it and then go back to the first one. It will be a much better day when it gets finished.

I saw that eagle again today. It was sitting on a fence post so on my way home from the farm I watched for it and wouldn't you know it but it was still sitting on the same fence post a couple hours later. So I pulled over and took pictures of it. It ended up flying into the field so I had to zoom in and then enlarge it on the computer when I got home. I'll have to post the picture tomorrow.

The more I read...

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:17

I was doing some more reading for my next assignment in Funeral Directing. It seems the more I read the more I get worked up and the less I am motivated to get any school work done.

The most recent thing that I read was this:

"Without a eulogy and/or other personalized means of acknowledging this particular life and death, the funeral becomes an empty, cookie-cutter formality."

Pardon me?! A funeral in a church is about worshiping God and thanking Him for all that He has given us and thanking Jesus for dying on the cross so that we may have eternal life with Him in heaven.

I'm not even going to go into what the back of the book says. Well, maybe I am. It says that we have the right to do anything that we want at a funeral. Maybe if it wasn't in a church but they don't bother to mention that. Oh, does that ever get my nickers in a knot. I am really wishing this class was over.

In other happier news. Pete had a practice on the baby grand piano that will be used for the music festival in a couple weeks. It definately sounds much nicer on that piano than ours. Ours really needs to be tuned but with us moving there really is no point in paying for that right now. I think that he will do well, he just has to remember that on one of his songs he needs to hold 2 of the notes in it for 2 beats and not 1. He is so excited about it all.

Repete is now going to school 3 days a week. Yesterday I helped out his class while they made Easter baskets. Today they asked that grandparents come if they could. Well with Grandpa G working J came to help. She was excited to go. They were coloring Easter eggs. We will see them tomorrow when he comes from school.

Then things will get busy here. I have 2 assignments to finish for friday night plus I have to finish all the required reading. Tomorrow night is service and that is out of town. Hopefully I am far enough ahead on my assignments that I can go. Friday is service, and then to the farm. Saturday is work on the house and work on my next assignment. We will also assemble the new desk that we bought. I can't wait because I will have more room in my office with the desk in an L shape I will have more room to spread my books out to study. I'm so excited about it all.

Well I better get going and do some more of that oh so fun reading that I have. :-P

Safe and Sound

There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12

This morning we woke to snow covering everything. The highway hotline said that there were some icy patches and when I went to town the road was just wet and sloppy. So much for my car staying clean. ;-)

So off I went to the Boarder City with Repete, Cranky Momma and her son. Things were going just fine when after about 45 minutes the snow was sticking to the roads making us have to travel a little slower. That is fine until we were stopped on a hill 25 minutes from our destiation because of an accident. We sat for about 15 minutes when we were finally let through. Not sure what happened there because there was no sign of an accident that we could see. Must have been minor we hope.

We got to the city and I got our new desk! YA!!! I can't wait for Truckerman to come home to help put it together. This will help make studying so much better. I can lay out my books and work on the computer and not have to move things all the time. And I also can leave them out when I want a break instead of having to mark where I left off and put them all away in case someone else wanted to use the computer. I'm so excited!!

We went to Walmart and I picked up a handhelp shampooer. Yes we bought a big one on Saturday but this one will do stairs and furniture so we decided to buy it. We had looked at one saturday and I found this one for half the price and it has a rotating brush where the other on doesn't. It is a Dirt Devil and it is just like those hand vacs but a shampooer. I sure hope it works well.

I found the first Miranda Lambert CD for Truckerman. I have been looking in the Walmart where mom and dad live but haven't been able to find it and now I have. He is happy that I have finally found it. It actually is pretty good. Truckerman will say that the cover looks good too. LOL

At Walmart I got the rest of the paint and primer that I need to do the rest of the house. Wow did that take a long time. The colors that I had chosen most worked out to be pretty close to the paint chips except the color for the diningroom and living room walls. It was so off that they couldn't figure out how to fix it. So I ended up taking on can instead of two and am going to use it for something else and am going to use the lighter color instead. But them the first can of that worked and the second can is off. Not sure how that happened. So Cranky Momma's husband gave me a pail to mix the two together to get one color. What a hassle to get paint. OY! Oh well, it will all work out in the end, I hope.

This week is going to be a busy one. Today to the city, tomorrow help out in the Kindergarten room in the afternoon (Repete's class) and then Pete has piano lesson after school. Wednesday Pete has a piano practise on the piano that will be used for the music festival after school. Thursday is church in the evening (I hope that I will be able to go). Friday is well, Good Friday. I will be going to another place 45 minutes from here for service in the morning (ours is in the afternoon) then I have to be at the farm (my grandparent's) by 1:30pm the latest to color Easter eggs and then Grandma has a treasure hunt for all the kids around the farm to find their Easter presents. The kids love it. Plus I have pages upon pages to read and 2 large assignments due by midnight friday. Then there is the cleaning and renos to do. I am going to be one tired girl by Sunday. Oh, that reminds me that I need to get the fixings for a caeser salad for supper that night at the farm.

Well I better get scooting and get some reading done before bedtime. I'm not happy about it all because it is on eulogies and how to personalize funerals. The one book actually says that clergy should look at changing the church funeral to be more about the person because traditional church funerals are not good enough. (I'm paraphrasing) I feel like beating myself. Why is everything becoming so self centered?

Waste of my time...I think

There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12

Truckerman and I are very tired people. Since he came home we have done nothing but run.

I have made numerous trips to town and run around the house cleaning, fixing, and renovating. He has done the same except the running to town bit.

We busted our butts and tried to get all the things on our lists done but that never happened. We did manage to get a lot finished but there is so much more to do. The sad thing is we did so much and there is no room that is finished completely.

The people came to look at the house. I'm not sure why we busted our butts for them. They had some pretty lame excuses as to why they didn't want it. How is a 1250 sq. foot main floor and a 1150 sq. foot basement that is finished be small. They want to go bigger then what they have right now which is just over 900 sq. feet and they thought that we had that. Pardon me?! We have over twice as much space. I'm still shaking my head on that one. What a waste of my time.

I had called the realtor about a price and she is excited that we will be listing because there is a lack of acreages and a lack of 3 bedroom homes right now. The problem that we have is that we don't want to move until the end of June at the earliest because of the boys and school. If we had to put our things in storage then that is what we would have to do. I just don't want to have to find a place to rent because there is a lack of houses to rent at the moment and I would like that boys to finish out the school year here with their friends.

I am not overly worried about selling the house at the moment because I know that this is what needs to be done to do what God wants us to do and He will take care of it for us. I'm just worried about getting all the work done because the more work that we get done it seems the more we find to do so the lists get bigger and bigger.

Yesterday after the people looked at the house, we all went to the city to get a few things and to just get away from the house. We stopped at mom and dad's and they offered to keep the boys while we did our shopping. That was really nice. It seemed that half of our liitle town was there yesterday. We saw the boys bus driver and Cranky Momma and her brood were there as well among others that we knew. After we were finished getting our things we went back to my parents and had supper with them and my grandma. Two nights in a row that I didn't have to made supper! Wow that is so nice!

We found a couple of shirts at the Walmart that we picked up for the boys for their Easter presents. We gave them to the boys last night because they will be staying at my parents for Easter and Truckerman will be away when I take them to my parents.Plus we don't do the easter bunny thing so we don't feel guilty about giving them their treats early. We just have to remind them not to say anything to their friends about it. I also found them a pack of 3 dvd's of 62 old cartoons for $5. It has Popeye, Superman, Casper, Mighty Mouse, ect. The boys think it is great and they watched some of the one today.

I think I might have to go to the Border City tomorrow to get some things that we were unable to get yesterday. We had found a really nice desk at Staples for a great price and the store do not carry furniture. We really need a computer desk because at the moment we are using my brother's dining room table because it is bigger then the desks we have and we are storing the table for him we might as well use it. But it is not working well for us, mainly for me and my school work, and Truckerman will need a better desk for his school work this fall. The one that we found is an L shape and is a really great price. So if I go and get it then I will get the remaining things that we need to get this house into order like paint, and all the little minor things needed for those minor repairs.

Oh ya, the floor is coming along and is looking good. Once it was laid it looks like a slate pattern, I really like it alot and wish we had done this a long time ago. To late now I guess. ;-)