19 August 2009
The Trip Down River...
I know this is late, but I just have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my river canoeing and tenting experience with the 10th graders. It has been such a wonderful 3 years watching them grow and growing and learning right along with them. The transition trip was a great way to end one season of their life (and mine) and start the students off positively on their next journey. Both Jr. High and Sr. High pastors are amazing and I feel blessed to know them, volunteer for them and learn from them. The hardest part of this whole thing was the first Sunday back. I felt lost because I only had "BIG church" on the docket. Well, this is the start of my year off (hah!). Who know's what types of opportunities will present themselves - only God. I do know that I won't really be doing nothing...I especially would love to chaperone that canoe trip again! (Even ending with the hill of death.)
24 July 2009
Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its on the river retreat I go...
I am so excited! I leave Sunday morning with 'my girls' on our last outing as Jr. High students at Grace Fellowship. Actually the guys going into the Sr. High program are going too.
We are going on a true roughing canoe trip! I got new Keene shoes! I will be hitting up Target tomorrow for sunscreen, bugspray, batteries and ziplocks. This group is such a great group of kids, I know I am going to have a blast. It will be so wonderful to be out in God's glorious creation seeing with this group and without most of the modern age 'trappings'.
This is also my last year officially with my girls. I am stepping back as they head into Sr. High. It is hard to think about that, but I know I will get to see them all regularly! I am taking next year off from any formal kid ministries, but will be back at it when G-guy hits the Jr. High (if they need me).
We are going on a true roughing canoe trip! I got new Keene shoes! I will be hitting up Target tomorrow for sunscreen, bugspray, batteries and ziplocks. This group is such a great group of kids, I know I am going to have a blast. It will be so wonderful to be out in God's glorious creation seeing with this group and without most of the modern age 'trappings'.
This is also my last year officially with my girls. I am stepping back as they head into Sr. High. It is hard to think about that, but I know I will get to see them all regularly! I am taking next year off from any formal kid ministries, but will be back at it when G-guy hits the Jr. High (if they need me).
11 July 2009
13 May 2009
The End of an Era...
My great aunt Kat died late Sunday night. She was 104. She had been fully able almost to the end - her prayer. It is hard to say goodbye, but she had a long and full life.
Can you even image all the new things and changes she encountered in her long life? Born in 1905.
Would love any additions that you can think of.
Can you even image all the new things and changes she encountered in her long life? Born in 1905.
- Her favorite: toilet paper
- Great Depression
- WW1
- WW2
- Vietnam War
- Korean War
- Gulf War
- Iraq War
- Indoor Plumbing
- Riding in horse drawn wagon with heated rocks to church
- Automobiles
- Electricity at the farm
- Phone - the party line
- Phone - single line
- Phone - long distance
- Phone - cell
- Phone - a computer in your hands
- TV, Cable...
- Man on the Moon
- Space ships to other planets
- Submarines
- Affordable Flight (flight?)
- Computers (rooms, desktops, laptops, palm sized)
- Combines
- Cigarettes...Cancer
- Prohibition
- How many presidents?
- How many popes?
- Flappers?
- the 50's
- atomic bomb
- nuclear power
- solar energy
- digital photography
- internet
- ...
Would love any additions that you can think of.
28 April 2009
Busy, busy, busy...
I actually have not excuse for not blogging for almost 2 months other than every time I started I couldn't find the words, the picture, the desire. You get it - lazyness.
A great deal has happened!
A great deal has happened!
- My great aunt celebrated her 104th birthday & a van of her female relatives drove down for a visit (me, Stephanie, Marissa, Kirsten, Callie, Katie).
- My SIL is PG (as my great aunt would say) and it is sooo cool.
- I got older.
- My sister visited from Oregon.
- My son is playing Lacrosse, went to state for Destination Imagination & made the gymnastics team.
- DD is doing well in school, has a social life that makes me jealous and has taken on our housecleaning as her new job. She also was accepted to the MAT (ministry assistant team) at her favorite summer camp. She will be gone for 5+ weeks this summer.
- Mocha got a huge haircut - will post a picture when I find one.
- I had my once high gloss white walls on my main floor painted into 4 different colors.
- The family has geo-cached - it replaced Easter egg hunting this year.
- I have spent the weekend in Duluth with 3000 youth and lived to tell about it
- Mocha is having fun in Agility class - Pat says there are have been some owner errors.
- Pat and I have started Financial Peace University and hope to be debt free at some time in our lives.
03 March 2009
Pat's Birthday today...
Pat is 45 today.
Because I am really poor at planning for things like this, I have amazed myself!
- Pat had frosted cinamin rolls left out for him this morning
- Marissa & I went shopping last night and she is cooking dinner
- We have a pecan pie for 'cake'
- I have a present (actually came 2 weeks ago) and a card
- Gunnar is wrapping present
- Kids have cards for him
- The kids have cleaned up the main floor
- Pat has tomorrow off so he can sleep in & then help M paint her room.
Funny saying I found (i do believe in term limits):
Politicians and diapers have one thing in common.
They should both be changed regularly and for the same reason. (stinky!)
02 March 2009
From my knitting calendar for March 1
"If your're crazy, there's two things you can do to make yourself feel better: One is to get yourself cured. The other is to make everyone you have to deal with crazy"
Alan Dean Foster
This is the reason every knitter tries to teach everyone she knows to knit... or at least suggests that they should try it.
Alan Dean Foster
This is the reason every knitter tries to teach everyone she knows to knit... or at least suggests that they should try it.
01 March 2009
Classics? Copy and update your reads...
Key
1) Bold the books you have already read
2) Italicize the books you intend to read
3) Notes in parentheses next to note-worthy titles.
1) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (and have seen every version I know of the movie - theatre would be fun!)
2) The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (wonderful)
3) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
4) Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling (read with kids - we all loved it)
5) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (and the movie)
6) The Bible (took me 2 years)
7) Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
8 ) Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell - started, but it was too late
9) His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
10) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
11) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
12) Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
13) Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
14) Complete Works of Shakespeare (nope - and no plans to start!!)
15) Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
16) The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
17) Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
18 ) Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
19) The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
20) Middlemarch by George Eliot
21) Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
22) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
23) Bleak House by Charles Dickens
24) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
25) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
26) Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
27) Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 ) Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
29) Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
30) The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
31) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
32) David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
33) Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
34) Emma by Jane Austen
35) Persuasion by Jane Austen
36) The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis
37) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
38 ) Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres
39) Memories of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
40) Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
41) Animal Farm by George Orwell
42) The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
43) One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44) A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving
45) The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
46) Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
47) Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
48 ) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
49) Lord of the Flies by William Golding
50) Atonement by Ian McEwan
51) Life of Pi by Yann Martel
52) Dune by Frank Herbert
53) Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
54) Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
55) A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
56) The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57) A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
58 ) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
59) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
60) Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61) Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
62) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
63) The Secret History by Donna Tartt
64) The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
65) Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
66) On The Road by Jack Kerouac
67) Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
68 ) Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
69) Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
70) Moby Dick by Herman Melville
71) Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
72) Dracula by Bram Stoker
73) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
74) Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson
75) Ulysses by James Joyce
76) The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
77) Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
78 ) Germinal by Emile Zola
79) Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
80) Possession by AS Byatt
81) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
82) Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
83) The Color Purple by Alice Walker
84) The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
85) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
86) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
87) Charlotte's Web by EB White
88 ) The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
89) Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90) The Faraway Tree Collection by Enid Blyton
91) Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
92) The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93) The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
94) Watership Down by Richard Adams
95) A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole - yuck!
96) A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
97) The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 ) Hamlet by William Shakespeare (was bribed by a trip to the Guthrie)
99) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
100) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
1) Bold the books you have already read
2) Italicize the books you intend to read
3) Notes in parentheses next to note-worthy titles.
1) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (and have seen every version I know of the movie - theatre would be fun!)
2) The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (wonderful)
3) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
4) Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling (read with kids - we all loved it)
5) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (and the movie)
6) The Bible (took me 2 years)
7) Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
8 ) Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell - started, but it was too late
9) His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
10) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
11) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
12) Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
13) Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
14) Complete Works of Shakespeare (nope - and no plans to start!!)
15) Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
16) The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
17) Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
18 ) Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
19) The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
20) Middlemarch by George Eliot
21) Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
22) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
23) Bleak House by Charles Dickens
24) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
25) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
26) Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
27) Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 ) Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
29) Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
30) The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
31) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
32) David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
33) Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
34) Emma by Jane Austen
35) Persuasion by Jane Austen
36) The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis
37) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
38 ) Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres
39) Memories of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
40) Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
41) Animal Farm by George Orwell
42) The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
43) One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44) A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving
45) The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
46) Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
47) Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
48 ) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
49) Lord of the Flies by William Golding
50) Atonement by Ian McEwan
51) Life of Pi by Yann Martel
52) Dune by Frank Herbert
53) Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
54) Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
55) A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
56) The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57) A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
58 ) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
59) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
60) Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61) Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
62) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
63) The Secret History by Donna Tartt
64) The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
65) Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
66) On The Road by Jack Kerouac
67) Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
68 ) Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
69) Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
70) Moby Dick by Herman Melville
71) Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
72) Dracula by Bram Stoker
73) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
74) Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson
75) Ulysses by James Joyce
76) The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
77) Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
78 ) Germinal by Emile Zola
79) Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
80) Possession by AS Byatt
81) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
82) Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
83) The Color Purple by Alice Walker
84) The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
85) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
86) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
87) Charlotte's Web by EB White
88 ) The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
89) Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90) The Faraway Tree Collection by Enid Blyton
91) Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
92) The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93) The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
94) Watership Down by Richard Adams
95) A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole - yuck!
96) A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
97) The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 ) Hamlet by William Shakespeare (was bribed by a trip to the Guthrie)
99) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
100) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
29 January 2009
It has been a while...
I believe that it really has only been about 2 weeks, but it seems like a VERY long time. This has been a wild month! Here are a few of the things that occurred:
• Rear ended a co-worker early one morning while sliding happily along on black ice. Ironic thing is that the man I hit is the one and only teammate of mine located in MN. His car was a 2008
• Received a Blackberry phone, but because this is strictly business I am now a techy geek with 2 smart phones
• Spent way too many hours shopping for the first “Snow Daze” dress for Marissa. This is the official first high school dance for her – thankfully she is going with a group of friends
• Survived many commutes to and from new job, most now with a dented car (will be fixed in Feb).
• Gunnar has skied every Saturday this month.
• Co-worker and project mentor gave her notice on 1/9 – boy am I busy now!
• Joined sock clubs, received STR January shipment – WOW!
• Marissa went on a weekend retreat in northern Minnesota
• Gunnar made his first 911 call
• Pat rode in an ambulance, with us all thinking he was having a stroke or heart attack. We later learned it was an anxiety attack. We are still researching that.
• Worked on socks that are now referred to as Emergency Room Socks.
• Went shopping for furniture, thinking maybe time to replace Mocha devoured couch.
• Gunnar conferences
• Hardly enough knitting
• Gunnar chose between Percussion over French Horn for his instrument next year.
• Marissa has completed one semester of high school and most probably will be keeping her phone
• Pat is now official ‘car pool’ dad. Too bad car license plates are not transferable between family cars, but at least the kids can tell his van from all the other gold Honda’s due to the LADEB plates
• As of 1/29, Christmas décor still up at our house
• Today are a couple of meetings about the dreaded word “reorganization”. I think I should be fine.
• Now this may seem light to many of you seasoned pro’s, but all this is in addition to the ‘regular’ stuff and we haven’t had to combine regular & unusual with me working FT in over 10 years.
God is teaching me something – anyone have any ideas what?
• Rear ended a co-worker early one morning while sliding happily along on black ice. Ironic thing is that the man I hit is the one and only teammate of mine located in MN. His car was a 2008
• Received a Blackberry phone, but because this is strictly business I am now a techy geek with 2 smart phones
• Spent way too many hours shopping for the first “Snow Daze” dress for Marissa. This is the official first high school dance for her – thankfully she is going with a group of friends
• Survived many commutes to and from new job, most now with a dented car (will be fixed in Feb).
• Gunnar has skied every Saturday this month.
• Co-worker and project mentor gave her notice on 1/9 – boy am I busy now!
• Joined sock clubs, received STR January shipment – WOW!
• Marissa went on a weekend retreat in northern Minnesota
• Gunnar made his first 911 call
• Pat rode in an ambulance, with us all thinking he was having a stroke or heart attack. We later learned it was an anxiety attack. We are still researching that.
• Worked on socks that are now referred to as Emergency Room Socks.
• Went shopping for furniture, thinking maybe time to replace Mocha devoured couch.
• Gunnar conferences
• Hardly enough knitting
• Gunnar chose between Percussion over French Horn for his instrument next year.
• Marissa has completed one semester of high school and most probably will be keeping her phone
• Pat is now official ‘car pool’ dad. Too bad car license plates are not transferable between family cars, but at least the kids can tell his van from all the other gold Honda’s due to the LADEB plates
• As of 1/29, Christmas décor still up at our house
• Today are a couple of meetings about the dreaded word “reorganization”. I think I should be fine.
• Now this may seem light to many of you seasoned pro’s, but all this is in addition to the ‘regular’ stuff and we haven’t had to combine regular & unusual with me working FT in over 10 years.
God is teaching me something – anyone have any ideas what?
13 January 2009
12 January 2009
We should all work from home because...
- cuts fuel consumption
- minimizes road repair needs due to less usage
- shrinks cost of car maintenance
- comfort = productive
- productivity based truly on your work output, not hours spent in office (productive or not)
- won't miss work with sick kids
- significantly lowers employers office space needs & costs
- reduces utility costs for employers
- reduces or eliminates daycare fees (especially b4 & after school)
- eliminates commuting time - especially in bad weather (like 2-nites 2hour & 45minutes trip home)
- traffic jam accidents a thing of the past
- death toll due to road rage drastically reduced
- makes everyone happier due to increased family time & no road rage
11 January 2009
1 week down, life is busier...
Well, I have completed my first week of FT employment. I have to say it felt LONG. I now have some projects assigned to me, so things will be more exciting in the weeks to come. I also learned I have my first holiday on January 19 - woot, woot!
I think full family adjustment will be a few months, but Pat and the kids are really trying to pull their weight. Pat has taken over the carpool for Gunnar - only about 5 months left and then Gunnar will be a bussed kid for middle school. Marissa cooked dinner for us on Friday and is planning a few more. Gunnar is getting his piano practiced either before schoool or before I am home, that helps with less getting crammed in after dinner.
I am glad I pulled together all my tax stuff prior to starting, just waiting for my appointment. Now trying to pull stuff together for an attempt at refinancing our mortgage. This will also hopefully help us to pay off the debt we added during my unemployment - thankfully not much - but I HATE DEBT!!!
We also have to have both kids registered for school classes next year. Marissa has figured out her core classes, but is still pondering electives, with the exception of Foods II. Gunnar's electives are really up for negotiation, but he has to decide if he wants to play in band, orchestra or sing in a choir. I know the later is already crossed off his list with a BIG, DARK, BLACK mark.
Mocha will start some more obedience in February - she continues to be a class star and clown. In her last class, she and another dog were forbidden to be next to each other - they were too distracting for each other and the other students.
Finally, I am adjusting my knitting expectations. Since the total number of hours available to knit has significantly shrunk, I am hoping to finish a pair of socks and one other project during a month. I have my personal (stash based) sock club set up and a few other projects in mind.
I am getting my 'reading' done via books on CD during my commute - that is almost 2 hours a day! Also, some scrap booking is getting done - Marissa has taken over for her photo's and is having a blast with a group of friends that are also scrap booking.
One other goal: to update this blog at least 3 times a week - even if it is just a few words.
I think full family adjustment will be a few months, but Pat and the kids are really trying to pull their weight. Pat has taken over the carpool for Gunnar - only about 5 months left and then Gunnar will be a bussed kid for middle school. Marissa cooked dinner for us on Friday and is planning a few more. Gunnar is getting his piano practiced either before schoool or before I am home, that helps with less getting crammed in after dinner.
I am glad I pulled together all my tax stuff prior to starting, just waiting for my appointment. Now trying to pull stuff together for an attempt at refinancing our mortgage. This will also hopefully help us to pay off the debt we added during my unemployment - thankfully not much - but I HATE DEBT!!!
We also have to have both kids registered for school classes next year. Marissa has figured out her core classes, but is still pondering electives, with the exception of Foods II. Gunnar's electives are really up for negotiation, but he has to decide if he wants to play in band, orchestra or sing in a choir. I know the later is already crossed off his list with a BIG, DARK, BLACK mark.
Mocha will start some more obedience in February - she continues to be a class star and clown. In her last class, she and another dog were forbidden to be next to each other - they were too distracting for each other and the other students.
Finally, I am adjusting my knitting expectations. Since the total number of hours available to knit has significantly shrunk, I am hoping to finish a pair of socks and one other project during a month. I have my personal (stash based) sock club set up and a few other projects in mind.
I am getting my 'reading' done via books on CD during my commute - that is almost 2 hours a day! Also, some scrap booking is getting done - Marissa has taken over for her photo's and is having a blast with a group of friends that are also scrap booking.
One other goal: to update this blog at least 3 times a week - even if it is just a few words.
05 January 2009
New Job - Day 1
God is good.
No traffic, was actually 45 minutes early!
Laptop was ready, no access to anything, oh well.
Met more people than I can remember.
Got to go home early - COOL!
Very tired because I went straight to a frustrating school meeting and didn't get home until after 9pm. Good night.
No traffic, was actually 45 minutes early!
Laptop was ready, no access to anything, oh well.
Met more people than I can remember.
Got to go home early - COOL!
Very tired because I went straight to a frustrating school meeting and didn't get home until after 9pm. Good night.
04 January 2009
The Test
I feel that I am in the midst of a great learning opportunity from God and I am trying not to fail the test.
I have been unemployed since May. I felt led to work with family for the summer and to postpone my job search - I followed. Occasionally I doubted, but not often.
In September I started to look for a job. The process was slow at first, but with a bit of help, motivation and accountability from friends, opportunities started to present themselves. My severance ran out in October. No problem - still had unemployment. By December, though trying hard not to doubt, I was concerned about our finances. The day I accepted the SuperValu job offer, the unemployment finally paid out (including back weeks) - God again, Just-In-Time, HIS. (JIT God is a subject for another day.)
Tomorrow is the first day of my new job. I have not worked FT & 5 days/week since before Marissa was born. For the last 10 years I was at only 3 days a week. I am thankful for a job. I am thankful for a steady income and benefits. I am worried about the significant changes for my family and personal life. The commute scares me to death. I am disappointed that I was unable to find something more flexible and/or part-time. This is where the fear of failure comes in. I don't want my trust in God to wain now. He has been there for me and I just need to trust, but I am struggling.
Pray that I trust God, follow instead of trying to lead/control and rejoice that I am loved, cared for and He has only the best planned for me - whether I know it or not!
I have been unemployed since May. I felt led to work with family for the summer and to postpone my job search - I followed. Occasionally I doubted, but not often.
In September I started to look for a job. The process was slow at first, but with a bit of help, motivation and accountability from friends, opportunities started to present themselves. My severance ran out in October. No problem - still had unemployment. By December, though trying hard not to doubt, I was concerned about our finances. The day I accepted the SuperValu job offer, the unemployment finally paid out (including back weeks) - God again, Just-In-Time, HIS. (JIT God is a subject for another day.)
Tomorrow is the first day of my new job. I have not worked FT & 5 days/week since before Marissa was born. For the last 10 years I was at only 3 days a week. I am thankful for a job. I am thankful for a steady income and benefits. I am worried about the significant changes for my family and personal life. The commute scares me to death. I am disappointed that I was unable to find something more flexible and/or part-time. This is where the fear of failure comes in. I don't want my trust in God to wain now. He has been there for me and I just need to trust, but I am struggling.
Pray that I trust God, follow instead of trying to lead/control and rejoice that I am loved, cared for and He has only the best planned for me - whether I know it or not!
02 January 2009
My Personal Sock Club
I have started my own sock-of-the-month club. I bagged 12 sock yarns from my personal stash that I really wanted to knit. In the bag is a pattern I chose specifically for that yarn. I will randomly select a bag each month to knit up. Since I still have more sock yarn stashed, I may add additional bags. This should (in theory) save me money by not needing to buy anymore sock yarn. Here is what I bagged up. For January, I selected #12.
- Sweet Dreams Socks by Monica Nappe
- Django by Cookie A
- Komet by Stephanie van der Linden
- Trystero by Cookie A.
- Flutter-by socks by Shannon Robalino
- Marian by Monkey Toes
- Circle of Friendship Socks by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer
- Sleepwalker Socks by Monica Nappe
- Slip Stitch Code Monkey
- Zombie Socks by Sheryl Giles
- Bellatrix by Monkey Toes
- K3, P1 plain sock
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