2012

January 2, 2012. I cannot believe that it is 2012 already! It seems like the years just fly by now. Christmas is over, my birthday has come and gone again, and now it's time to get settled into this new year and see what's gonna happen! Christmas was wonderful. I got to hang out with lots of family and just play. It was probably the best Christmas in a few years. My birthday was pretty awesome too! We had a group of 18 go to O'Charley's and eat and hang out. The combination of friends and family that came was pretty cool and, while at times it was quite awkward, it was a pretty cool "golden" birthday.

There are a lot of things that I would like to see happen this year, but I am just going to list a few "resolutions" that I would like to accomplish this year. Hopefully by writing them down where I will see it everyday will help me stick to my goals.

1. Drink more water. I started drinking water in April 2009. I decided I wanted to see if I could give up pop and focus on the water. Anyone who knows me knows that that was a big change. Prior to that I ONLY drank pop. It took a few weeks for me not to miss the pop, but I did it! I have drank mostly water since then. A pop every now and then happens, but I still mainly stick to water. I would like to drink more water though. I do really good on the weekdays when I have to work. I have to fill my water bottle 4-5 times a day. The weekends are another story. I find myself going almost all day without drinking anything. I know that isn't good, but it's how it goes. So I want to drink more water.

2. Save up for a new car. This is a big one. I really really really need a new vehicle. I love my van, but I think it may be time to downsize to a car. The gas would be so much better and overall I think it would just be better for me. So one of my major goals this year is to save up for a car!

3. Eat healthier. I love healthy food. It doesn't really show right now, but I do. It is just so darn expensive to eat healthy. But I want to make that effort. I made the effort right after I started drinking water- I would order healthy things from the menu and actually took my lunch to work instead of eating whatever Brenda fixed. And, surprise surprise, I actually lost weight. I want to do that again. I have been craving salads, so that is probably where I will start. And I want to stop eating out so much. It is so easy, as a single adult, to just grab something on my way home. But that isn't good for my bank account or my body. Overall, I just want to better watch what I eat this year.

4. Work out. Ugh. Lol. I really need to make the effort to get moving more this year. My sister and I have talked about joining the Y. We want to be accountable to each other for this one. Whether it's chasing the kids for the entire time that we are playing in great hall or going for a walk when I get home or even both, I want to get at least an hour of movement in a day- real movement that will help me become a better me.

5. Deepen my relationship with God. I have gotten so far off track it isn't even funny. My bible sees the light every Sunday morning. My quiet time hasn't been quiet for some time. I just need to get close to Him and everything else will fall into place. This probably should have been listed as number 1, but these aren't in order of importance. This IS the most important one.

Those resolutions will work for now. I know- they are resolutions that everyone makes every year. January 2 is here and I haven't done anything to further any of them. I am going to enjoy being lazy and relaxed today. It is super cold outside and I have no plans of leaving the house except to possibly go to my parents today. But tomorrow- I WILL start. I will get healthy this year- or at least healthier- and I will work on my relationships- mainly my relationship with God. What are your new year's resolutions?

Change..

It has been forever since I have posted on here. 2 years is a long time and lots of things have changed. I still work at the daycare. I still help out with the youth group. Biggest change is that I have a new classroom- and it has been almost a year since that happened! Instead of 9-15 month olds, I now have 2/3 year olds. They are a joy to have and can do a lot more art and interactive class work than infants, but I miss my babies. I have come to realize that this is where God wants me right now though, so I have stepped in and am immersed in this class. It helps that I had most of these children in my infant/todd class, so it is a blast to have them as older children, as well as have their parents again! Overall, I enjoy them a lot. We have a lot of fun. Right now I have 10 children and an assistant, but that will end come June. Then I will be back down to 8 children and running the show solo. I love being down the hall from the activity- cut off from almost everyone else. The girls in the room next door are awesome and we have fun coordinating activities for our classes together. Other than that, pretty day to day stuff. I hope to start getting back on here at least a couple times a week to write some stuff down. Until next time... :)

Ben..

Where are Ben's feet?? too cute..

Does Ben want to go to bed?? He would shake his head no..

So Ben is my 1 year old cousin, or rather 2nd cousin, since his mom is my first cousin. And I am posting a couple of adorable pictures from our night together tonight. Mommy and Grammie went to a concert in St. Louis, so I got to chill with the Ben. :D We had a blast!!! So here are some awesome pictures from tonight!! * If you are my friend on facebook, yes you have probably seen these already.. :)

Busy.. what's new..

Yeah.. so it has been a really really long time since I have posted. Like a few weeks. School has been finishing up, thank goodness, and I may actually have some free time next week. :D Life has been going pretty good, nothing new to much report. I just thought I would hop on here and let all 3 of you who read this know that I haven't fallen off of the earth. :) Hopefully I will get a better post coming in the next few days. I have work tomorrow, then Champaign and a fish fry Saturday and church pretty much all day Sunday. So who actually knows? Hope you are all having a wonderful spring!!!

Fickle..

I learned that word in 9th grade Honors English when we were reading Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". For those who don't know what it means, it kind of means change. In the play, Romeo was the fickle one. He wanted one girl, then he would change his mind and go after another one. He basically couldn't make up his mind. I have found that life is like that sometimes. It seems like you are headed in one direction, possibly one that is not in God's plan for you, and all of a sudden you seem to be going backwards. My moods have been fickle lately, as well. I am happy and laughing one minute and the next minute I have taken something way too personally. It is something I am praying about. If you have been in the pathway of my attitude lately, I sincerely apologize. I know it hasn't been the prettiest thing ever. I am working on it, with God's help.

It has been a busy month, hence the lack of blog posts. Two weekends ago, April 10th, we had the youth's 12 hour blitz. That was a night of fun for the youth from 7pm on Friday to 7am on Saturday. Aaron and I were there at 11 to start setting up. Jen and Alyssa showed up around 3, and then some others started showing up to help. It was a blast. Last weekend, April 16th- April 19th, I was in Washington DC. Awesome trip. If you want to see pics, they are posted on Facebook and Myspace. Well, some of them are. There were way too many pictures to put them all on there. This past Friday night, one of our youth, Bridget, organized a benefit concert to donate money to Blood:Water Missions. It is a mission that the Christian group Jars of Clay started to help give African people clean water. Bridget's concert raised over $3000! It was an awesome night of music and fellowship.

Well, hopefully I will update sooner than a month from now. I hope April was good for everyone, and hope everyone is enjoying this FICKLE spring. I don't think it can make up it's mind whether it wants to be nice or cold outside. Well, summer is on it's way. And that will be HOT. Hope you all have a wonderful week!!!

Positive..

I was completely uplifted tonight by someone in my bible study group. I didn't need the validation that what I am doing is making a difference, yet I did. I needed to know that what I am doing is not in vain from an outsider. I don't feel like I am making a difference in the youth's lives, but I strongly feel that this is where God wants me. I haven't had this much peace at church in about a year. I am confident that this is where God has led me, but at the same time, I feel like I am doing no good. But tonight, someone gave me a hug and said to keep feeding myself (with God's word) and to just stay positive. I believe I have been pretty positive in this whole thing. I know we have a great group of students and leaders who want to see change. I appreciate people who believe in the leaders and the youth. We do not always feel as if we are getting approval from anyone but God and the youth. But I just wanted to let you know, and you know who you are, thank you. I appreciate what you are doing and I thank you for the encouraging words.

Thoughtful..

We had Bible study tonight, and yes I know it is Saturday. We meet every other Saturday night in a home and then the other Sunday we meet at church. We have awesome fellowship and can deeply delve into the study. No one is afraid to speak up, and everyone seems comfortable around each other. We are currently doing a Beth Moore bible study based on the Patriarchs, encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a truly awesome bible study. We were discussing Genesis 16 and we came to verse 13 and there was a question in our study that asked "what name did Hagar give God?" The answer to the question is "the God who sees me." Now, that struck a chord inside of me and I really liked that answer. But what got me even more was the paragraph that followed it. "In Hebrew, (it is) El Roi. He sees when no one else cares to look. He sees through the smile we wear when we're dying inside. He sees our hurt when we're mistreated. He sees us when we cry into our pillow because we feel unloved. He sees beyond our sin into the depth of our need. He sees when we're hiding. Running." This just amazes me. Of course, we all know that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. But this small paragraph made all of that real to me. We know that he cares for us. But do we understand how deeply he cares for us? This paragraph opened my eyes. He cares for us. He knows what we are feeling and thinking, which is scary sometimes. He will always be there when we need him, no matter what. So why do so many people turn away from Him? Why do so many people not believe in God? I know that no one but God has these answers, but this paragraph really made me think. I hope it did and does the same for you.