Random thoughts and wanderings

Five and half months

2009-11-02T20:35:00.000-08:00

Before Jonathan was born, I planned on posting on a regular basis and then life happened i suppose. On November 14, Johnny will be 6 months old which hard to believe. I thought I should probably post again before we hit this marker. The first 3 months were great but pretty challenging. None of us got much sleep and the poor little guy was pretty colicky but it was fantastic getting to know our precious little guy that his father kindly refers to as "fuzz head". At 3 1/2 months, I had to go back to work which was hard in itself but he had really started to become a new kiddo.

A week ago Johnny boy started sitting up. He's never wanted to just sit on your lap, always preferred to stand unless you were in constantly moving, even at a few months of age. I've been curious if this had something to do with the fact that i worked till a week after his due date. But now he loves the fact that he has use of both of his hands and affectionately grabs anything that is near, his favorite being his daddy's chest and facial hair. Our little man his an outdoors man for sure. From about a month on, if he was having a hard time a little trip outside could fix almost anything. Right now he loves to stand in his bouncing orb and watch the leaves falling. He never enjoyed the car much till we got an upright car seat for him and now he loves it, if we are moving. The fact that Dusty and I's families both live over 3 hours away was challenging. This summer, Johnny and I were able to take 2 trips by train down south to visit Grandma Cindy and he loved it. Well the first time he was still pretty little but napped most of the time. The second time he loved standing on my lap and looking at the fields going by.

3 months of age

with daddy

On father's day

Johnny is very passionate about his food...usually very smiley, this can change in a second if he sees us eating and it is anywhere near time for him to eat. Like his daddy i suppose :)
It was extremely hard to go back to work and take of other peoples kiddos but financially it was needed so God truly blessed us with a wonderful lady to watch Jonathan. Amy's kids go to Endeavour (where i work) and so i take them to school after i drop Jonathan off. She then brings him to school to meet up with me when i get off. It is amazing each day to get off and see instant smiles and flailing when he sees me. So very thankful for this precious gift.

Well, Dusty is getting home from work soon and i should probably get the dishes done so this is all for now. I have so much more i could say but it'll have to wait for another day.

Introducing Johnny

2009-06-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

So, again it has been quite awhile since I've done a post. Facebook is a bit easier but I'll try to get back on the ball and I'll start by introducing our little man while I have a moment.Jonathan Dean Ahrendt was born on May 14th. He was 8 lbs and 8 oz at birth and 21.5 in long. He's been a great baby! Jonathan is a big eater. I'm breast feeding be he's not picky about where he goes to try for some grub. If he's hungry, anybody who's holding him will get pecked at or sucked on. His carseat straps have little stuffed cloth monkey heads on them and this is a favorite treat.

My sister Christa and Jonathan share the same birthday. My mom and Dusty also have birthday's in May so it falls to me to celebrate them. :) I'm honored so i built them a cake.
Grandma Cindy and Grandma Lillian have both had the chance to spend some quality time with us since Jonathan was born. It's been fantastic! Well i now I have a very hungry little boy so i better go.

33 weeks prego

2009-03-24T22:13:00.000-07:00

So, it has been way to long since I've blogged and now a lot has time has passed. We'll be in our 34th week of pregnancy this week and everything has gone really well. I truly can't believe we are this close. This last weekend was our baby shower down in North Bend. Molly and Corban drove down the coast with me which was a blessing so I would not have to drive alone. I'll be getting pictures soon and post a few. It was a lot of fun and it was great to spend some time with people that i don't see very often.

I'm sitting here watching Biggest Loser and watching my belly do a dance. Speaking of biggest loser... I had one of our kiddo's come up to me the other day and put his hand on my belly. He said, "Mrs. Ahrendt, are you going to join biggest loser?" I didn't really know how to respond except to laugh and tell him that maybe after I have a baby. It was priceless. Later, he told me his mom had joined a gym in the area that has a biggest loser program. He was pretty proud of the fact that she's on the green team.

We had our hospital walk through the other week and the reality of becoming parents soon was pretty overwhelming. We'll be delivering at SW medical center here in Vancouver. It has been a lot of fun setting up Jonathan's room and going through things.

I have been feeling pretty good but being exhausted has become a part of life. I'm very thankful that till now this hasn't been much of a problem and this is my only complaint. I would like to ask for prayer on some decisions we need to make soon. My plan has been to nanny for a family in our church after Jonathan is born but have started to wonder if this is the best plan. It would be 9 hours a day but they are struggling financially and don't know how much they could pay. Staying with the job i have now is still an option but it would mean putting Jonathan in day care at 3 months old.

Dusty has been working as a pharmacy tech up here in Vancouver. It's been awesome for him not to have to drive into Portland every day. It has been a challenging job but things have been going smoother recently. This last weekend he past his National certification!!!! It was a pretty burly test and I'm so proud of him. He has the state test still but he might have to wait till the fall to take the classes and test. We were hoping to have it done before JD was born but I think now that he's past the one test it'll be a bit easier even if it means studying for a big test with a newborn in the house.

Well i better get going. It's time go to bed.

Till later....

A few prego pictures

2009-02-28T14:18:00.000-08:00

During the snow madness, around Christmas time.

Taken in Febuary down home, at about 25 weeks.

I'll try to get some more recent ones up soon but i keep being asked so there you go. :)

Jonathan Dean Ahrendt

2008-12-23T20:32:00.000-08:00

Oh Boy!!!

2008-12-16T16:06:00.002-08:00

Almost half way to our due date and we found out last night that we are going to have a boy! Just a bit excited and haven't decided completely on a name but that will soon come. Wahooo!!

2008-12-16T16:06:00.001-08:00

Taking bets on what you think our kiddo will be.. :) thanks for playing!

2008-11-19T15:46:00.000-08:00

http://www.mybabysweepstake.com/BetPage.aspx?Id=323

We'll hopefully be finding out the gender of our little one in a little less then a month, if they cooperate!

Happy guessing!!

Why do we have school on Halloween?

2008-10-31T13:02:00.000-07:00

This week has been conferences at our school so for three days we had half days. But on Halloween, they decided to have a full day. The level of energy is pretty incredible. They served chocolate cake at lunch and then some classes were also handing out cupcakes because they probably won't get enough sugar tonight. It's been raining pretty good today and kiddos are still allowed on all the playground equipment, so we have hyper and wet children who are racing down the slides and everthing else.... oh what a day. Ok I'll stop my rant. I'm very thankful Halloween is on a friday this year. Last year the kids were all coming down hard from sugar rushes and expected to still be successful in school.

We hit thirteen weeks this week. It's pretty exciting. We got to hear the heart beat last week at my twelve week appointment.

Well i better get back to class. I'll try to write more later!

Wahoooooooooooo

2008-10-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

In one hour, Molly and Corban are taking me to the airport. For the last hour, I've been at Ellsworth where i worked last year. It was pretty fantastic. They had made me book and i got lot's of hugs. Oh i miss those boys. For a few hours before that, i was at school. But we need not bring up work till Tuesday...

I'm just a bit excited to be heading to Chicago. My flight leaves at 4:45 and I'm getting back at around 11:45pm on Monday. I'm going to visit my friend Heidi and I'm not sure what all we are doing in the big city but am absolutely stokefied. But i haven't finish packing so I'm going to get on that.

Well I'll be writing all about my trip next week so this is for now. See you all on the other side!! :)

Bethany

Pregnant

2008-09-17T20:48:00.001-07:00

So, I just realized that I had posted countdown on this blog but hadn't actually said that I was pregnant. So there you are. I'll be seven weeks tomorrow and we had an ultrasound this last Monday, do to past issues. It was great to see a little heart beat! It made it a bit more real. The due date should be May 7th. My sister, mom and Dusty, all have birthday's in May so i really shouldn't be surprised.

I'm going to go to bed now cause I've been a tired zombie all day. My kiddo doesn't deserve that so it's time to hit the hay.

till later

bethany

A bit of the summer of 2008

2008-08-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

So, I realized I hadn't blogged for a big portion of the summer so here are a few pictures for now.

We are celebrating Dusty's 28th birthday and he's bit excited about his cake. He'd also been playing a lot of Guitar Hero so this is a common expression these days.
Dusty and Corban... a future Guitar Hero lover I'm sure. They start them young around these parts.
Micah, Seth and Dusty on the Sticklers roof, watching the Fort Vancouver fireworks.

Dusty and I celebrated our 4th anniversary at Crater Lake and Klamath Falls this year. It was a lot of fun to get away which we haven't done for awhile. I love you dear!

A pretty fantastic coffee shop, in Astoria. It's right on the water and serves great coffee too!

A good friend I met this summer. Erin and I worked together at the Marshall Community Center with the Inclusion kids this summer and I also got to show her around the area a bit before she headed back to Nebraska.
Here are a few of our kiddo's, that we worked with this summer. This was after our hike a Multnomah Falls.

We got to go to the Red bull Flugtag, in downtown Portland, which was a lot of fun. It was packed so i didn't get the best pictures but here are a few of the flying contraptions. Hmmm...it would be a lot of fun to enter, next time it comes to Portland. Any takers!? :)

Kristie and I at Family camp.

A few of the little ones at Family camp. That wagon was very popular with the young crowd.

Corban and I chillin' at our Church family camp. We got to spend a lot of quality time together while his parents and Dusty swam. No complaints here.

This was a pretty good summer...I can't believe school is starting again in a little over a week! We only have a week of camp left...hard to believe. I'll continue teaching swimming lessons during the school year and possibly soccer too ..oh and I'll start as Sparky director at Awana which starts in a month and a half...oh my

Well i better go finish the laundry.

Till later....

The happenings of this week and weekend....

2008-07-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

To follow up with my last blog...

52 kids and 12 staff (most of us being Inclusion staff) headed for the Oregon Zoo. Luckily someone came early and purchased tickets and so we got to bypass part of the insanity, which is $2 Tuesday. I have never seen the zoo so packed. Most of the kids had a lot of fun but we were there a bit long (especially for our kiddos)so by the end, we had a lot of complaining but we all survived. None of our kids jumped into the lion enclosure, as my dream the night before had predicted, so that was nice. Tomorrow we are going canoing as a day camp. I'm really looking forward to this.. i love being on the water, not that it will be quite as relaxing with 52 kids, as it was back in the day.

My friend Heidi came in last night and stayed with us, on her way to Chicago. I took the day off and we headed to the beach which was fantastic 73 degrees. It was a lot of fun hanging out and doing the usual CB activities... and being greatly entertained by little Nora Duff who is now walking.

Dusty and I are celebrating our 4th anniversary tomorrow. We are heading for Klamath Falls on Saturday for two nights and we are both really looking forward to this. We'll be going to Crater Lake on the way down which is something we've been wanting to do for awhile. Does anybody know of any other places that we shouldn't miss while down there?

Well i need to get some laundry done...

till later..

Zoo

2008-07-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

The day camp is heading to the Portland Zoo today. It's $2 day and so i'm sure it will be busy but the kid's are going to have a lot of fun. It's supposed to be almost 90 degrees today so we'll see how that goes. But tomorrow I'm going to the beach for the day so what ever today brings, I'll have that to look forward to. One of our girls really likes to climb things and then jump off. I woke up this morning with the thought in my head that she's goint to climb into the lion enclosure. Anyways...tomorrow I'm going to the beach...tomorrow the beach....

Dinner and Enertainment

2008-07-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

It was decided last night that their's a lot of people that are missing out on a delicious combination of food. Molly and I decided to get some Indian dishes from Trader Joe's and eat it along side Dusty and Micah's delicious barbecue hamburgers. It was excellent though and it was brought up while we were eating, a bit ironic. Later in the evening we enjoyed watching Corban try to roll over (supposedly he already has like 6 times but I'm starting to think it's made up). Then we watched WipeOut and I survived a Japanese Game Show on ABC which are pretty stinking funny. I think we'd all like to try the obstacle course on Wipeout.

How did you spend your evening, last night?

98 degrees and climbing

2008-06-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

It's hot ( no i could not tell you one song that that band sang)... I love the sun but it doesn't make me very motivated to clean my house and Dusty's cousin plus a friend are staying her tomorrow night so, i need to get on that. Washing the van sounds much more enjoyable...hmmm

Today it cost $79ish to fill the van... I'm very glad I'm going to be riding my bike or walking to work next year. I should get one of those kid bike carriers to go grocery shopping with...

It's really tempting to take a drive today and put my feet in the water!

By the time i finished writing this post it was 100 degrees!

New stuff that's going on...

2008-06-26T07:13:00.000-07:00

Ii got a job at the Marshall Center, here in Vancouver, as an Inclusion Mentor. It's been a lot of fun so far but it's definitely going to be a busy summer. I'm excited to finally have a summer that I'll be spending a significant amount of time outside and in the pool. On Monday's and Wednesday evenings I'll also be doing swim lessons.

Due to the fact that I was a one on two this last year, in the SLC classroom and they both are moving to Portland this summer, I've had to pursue new employment. Well I've had a few interviews this week and I found out Monday afternoon that I'll be working at Endeavour Elementary, which happens to be very close to us. This is exciting because it's a brand new school and I won't have to drive, saving lot's of gas money. So, i can justify drinking more Starbucks!... ok probably not.

Well i better get to work....

2008-06-08T21:38:00.000-07:00

So, this has been quite a week. On June 2nd, Molly and Micah welcomed this wonderful little man into the world, Corban Michael Stickler. He was breech so Molly had to have a C- section but things went smoothly. He had to spend a couple of days in the nursery, do to an infection but came out of it fantastic and they were able to go home on Thursday as planned. It's been a lot of fun to watch Molly and Micah be parents. I got a job working for the City of Vancouver this summer. I've been an Inclusion Mentor during swim lessons on Sunday's and have had a few other sub jobs and classes to keep my evenings rather full. I'll be working in the summer camp programs, working as an Inclusion Mentor which means I'll be working with kids with special needs. I'm pretty excited about it. I don't know my exact assignment yet but I'm excited that I'll have the chance to spend some quality time outside this summer.

My garden is growing wonderfully right now. We have a bit off veggie jungle look but i like it... everything is hanging out by the porch right now because Lua (the Stickler's dog) was here for a couple of days and she has a tendency to eat plants.We've already enjoyed some strawberries and a rose or two but everything else still needs time. I have strawberry, raspberry, tomato, pepper, beans, cucumbers and lot's of flowers.. oh and a Japanese maple tree that I'm excited about. Hopefully the tree will be ok in a pot till next year because I don't have a good place to plant it yet.

Well i had some other stuff to share but i think I'll wait till I'm more awake..

till later

2008-05-30T07:25:00.000-07:00

I know your right here with me Lord. Please give me the strength to get through today..not to just survive but to lean on you for a positive attitude and even the smile on my face. You know my struggles and how I'd rather just hide in a dark room then face today. Please help me face it and be an encouragement to my coworkers and the kids today....let them see that not an ounce of good could possibly be from me. I'm a broken vessel... search my heart and i want my only desire to come from a thirst to love you more...whatever is the end result of our struggles.

3 days

2008-03-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

I have to head to work. But it's getting harder to get motivated to leave the house. The last two days were pretty tough. Two of the ladies were gone and we had subs. Even though they were two of our favorite subs, the kids seemed to know how best to take advantage of the change. Three days till spring break....fantastic!

Please pray that all of us who are working in the schools..have energy to finish strong, during these last few months of school. That our testimony's will be evident and we'll take every advantage to share the love of Christ to these kids.

update and stuffers

2008-03-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

On friday night, Dusty, the Sticklers and I tried the new restaurant across from our house. It's called the Firkin' and Frog. It's a pub that has english ties. We had fun doing the trivia game on the big tv's and eating good food. Afterwards, molly and i went to our house and watched Anne of Avonlea and the guys went to the Stickler's house to concure the world.

Saturday morning i drove down to my mom's house. It's been quite awhile so it was fun to be down there for a bit. We had lunch with my dad's mom. My grandpa is doing so much better. He'll be 90 soon and had some pretty bad strokes last year. It's amazing how much he has recovered. He's using a wheel chair now but that's just because it's safer. He also has lost is preferral vision in both eyes but he can deal with that. For awhile he couldn't walk or talk at all and had lost a lot of memory and the use of his right side. He's doing so well and has gotten so much back...it was great to see, a huge answer to prayer.

Today at school i got bit pretty bad. I'm heading to urgent care later. I'll be totally fine and i'd like to just ignore it but it broke the skin a bit so i guess i better go get my shots updated. OH what a day. I should post a picture. The kid was in crisis and i was getting his shoes off him after he'd hit a kid. I felt the bite but ignored it. It's not the first time but this time it instantly swelled and bruised pretty good.... but it's just part of the job.

2008-03-02T20:41:00.000-08:00

Sticklers and us in Florence. We had lunch with Molly's mom and my mom and then headed home!
Dusty and Augie are ol' buds...reunited after many years :)
Writing on the wall, in our new church building.
Showing our pastor how much we appreciate him by sharing our donuts.

2008-03-02T19:54:00.000-08:00

Our Sparkies :)...go red team!
The Anchorage girls at the Ecola Reunion and a few add ons :)mmmm...cheese...At sunset, in Yachats

Dusteeeeee and Matthew, working on crossword

my day

2008-02-25T13:26:00.000-08:00

So it's almost 1:30 in the afternoon. I'm spending my day watching The Office highlights, while in my bathrobe, and listening to Dusty as he saves the world. It's very exciting. I don't think i've ever spent this long just hanging out in bed. I suppose i'm sick but i still feel extremely lazy. So i'm laughing a lot and wheezing a lot. My temp has gone down and so i was going to go to work but then all i could think of was caring a kid across campus and then them escaping because i'm having a coughing fit and the top of my head falls off ... cause that's what it feels like. (it was early in the morning when i thought of going to work and i don't think i was fully awake) Oh well..there's always tomorrow.

Time to do something productive...

Time of worship

2008-02-23T08:30:00.000-08:00

After i got off work yesterday, i went through my music on my mp3 player. I had a few doubles and wanted to add some more. Before i go to work recently, I've been sitting in my car and listening to some music and spending some time in prayer. It's been pretty awesome and i highly recommend it.

I used to love listening to worship bands practice . I'd go early to the chapel at Ecola and lay on the chairs and just listen and at Hauser and even a few times at Evergreen.

When we were in Junior High, my friend Naomi, Liz and i would take the sound track tapes of Braveheart and Apollo 13 and play them in the old wooden chapel at Camp Fircroft. We'd lay on the floor and just listen. Oh such sweet times.

To me, good music is like sitting on the beach, it's cleansing. Or laying in a field with a blanket around you, watching the clouds roll by or on a clear, star filled night.

Peter pan nights, oh how i miss thee. :)

I have many great memories of good friends, a guitar (or just voices) and beautiful nights, just hanging out and worshiping our Savior. Sometimes their was sand and a camp fire or a high cliff, or in old building in Bangkok(with the doors wide open for everyone to hear), sometimes on a boat ramp, other times it was sitting on the most fantastic couch known to man or on an outlook towards the ocean, or on a roof of a friends house.

What are some of your favorite memories of times of worship?

2008-02-23T08:24:00.000-08:00

I'm really surprised i don't i have nightmares . On most occasions, i go to sleep hearing the World of Warcraft in all it's happy hostility. This morning i woke up to it too. Happy times.

Writing on the wall

2008-02-23T07:57:00.000-08:00

I like writing on the stuff. I guess when i was like four years old, i was taking a nap in my parents room. During this time i also practiced writing my name in permanent marker on there bed spread. A few years later i practiced writing on the base of a lamp, in the living room. When i was older, before JHigh i think, i was waiting for my dad to get home and i wrote a novel on the porch (it was in pencil). Back in North Bend, a friend of ours built a house. She invited everyone over to write on the walls before it was drywalled. We wrote scripture all over the walls and dedicated the house to the Lord. It was pretty cool.

Our church is in the process of building a new building. The walls are up, windows put in, and the roof is on. Last night we had a time of worship and praise, then we headed over to the new building for more prayer and then we got to write all over the inside walls. It was pretty sweet. Some of the kids didn't know what to do with themselves, with this much freedom :) I love our church family.

2008-02-07T21:39:00.000-08:00

There was time in my life that i loved to write. I was never high up there with quality or grammar or anything (if you haven't figured that out) but it was a great way to just get things out. But now it's easy to be in the mood only when there are highs and lows.
Anyways.... A few weeks back, most of the Anchorage 2000 girls from Ecola got together for reunion. It was a blast! Lot's of babies, lot's of chatting, many hours down memory lane and just catching up over the last 7 years..if that's possible. We lot's of laughing but also a few moments of everyone honestly sharing how things were going. mmmhmmm....i love the beach...it's cleansing.
Last weekend we watched the superbowl. Well Micah and Dusty watched the game and then Molly and i headed out to a baby shower after making food for our hubbies. A lot of the ladies talked about being glad for something to do during SB day but sheesh...not every lady hates football. It was good to be there :) and we even made it back for the end of the fourth quarter..Go Giants!

Tired but thankful

2007-12-16T16:38:00.000-08:00

Ok i can't just post my last blog with out saying how thankful i am for a my students and also the staff i work with. Every day their are moments that just make me laugh and i am thankful i don't sit behind a desk. (I tried that and i really wasn't to good at it) We went on a field trip yesterday to the water resource center, a fish hatchery of sorts. The kids really enjoyed being outside and i know they learned lots of stuff. A couple of kids had never seen a fish before and so they really enjoyed feeding the 3 year old rainbow trout, in one of the ponds. Their were a few moments that made me understood why we only go out as a group once a month but the guide was a retired high school science teacher He did a great job keeping them on track and excited about what they were looking at.
I love my job and i know that God put us in this classroom for a reason. I just want the kids know that their are people on there side, who want to see them succeed and who care about them with no expectation of love back. Working with kids, really makes you go back to the basics and it makes you realize how much we have to be thankful for. I've learned so much from them and look foward to those moments of excitement and joy.

a long week

2007-12-16T16:33:00.000-08:00

I can not even express how glad i am that it is the weekend. It has been a challenging week, to say the least. I love my job but there's moments when it feels like we are running hard against a wall that likes to yell, cuss, hit and scratch a lot. When you give so much emotionally and physically for the kids but they have so much against them that it's very easy to get discouraged when progress isn't always evident.
At the beginning of the school year, I was talking to a friend who is in her first year of teaching. She was talking about how well her class is going and how she feels like the discipline plans that are in place will never be used. I remember laughing at this point because for our class, behavioral plans are a way of survival. I truly love my job and i know that i'll be excited to go back and be a part of the last week of school before Christmas break but right now i think I'm going to go to bed.

(copied from myspace on request from my adoring fans :) haha)

Post from 8/16

2007-08-17T17:04:00.001-07:00

Where the crap has the summer gone? Seriously....oh my goodness gracious. It's the 16th (happy birthday Micah) and we only have 20 days-ish till school starts again. That's exciting because it's a whole new year, new place of employment and lot's of other new stuff but still i feel like it should be July.

This summer has been a lot of fun though. Camping with Dusty's Portland relatives and the Sticklers, Women's retreat, Moving, Heatwole family camp, road trip to Spokane, our third anniversary, Summer school, Ikea opening and a bunch of other stuff I'm sure that i have forgotten, has made for a very busy summer.

It was hard to say good bye to the Clack ESD kids. I truly loved that job. It opened my eyes to a whole community of people that i have learned to adore. It was some of the most challenging moments but I learned so much i wouldn't take that time back for anything. The day after Labor day, I'll be starting at Ellsworth Elementary, in Vancouver. I'll be working 1 on 1 with a student. I'm excited about this new challenge but I'd really appreciate prayer for patience and endurance.

I'm also very excited about the fact that we are now living in Vancouver and will be able to get involved in our Church more(which is here). If we end up working at AWANA again, I hope to have the opportunity to invite some of the kids from school, to club.

Well i need to get some things done...please let me know how i can be praying for you. I'd also love to hear about some things that you are learning.

the MOVE is complete

2007-07-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all who helped us move this weekend. A few of us agreed that this was by far one of the smoothest and quickest moves we've been apart of. The U-Haul was loaded and emptied, and the Steele St. address cleaned out and had a walk through in about 4 hours.

Thank you also to Molly, Micah, Yvonne and Lillian for helping us paint. It took 2 days and was a huge project but we are so thankful we got it done before our stuff was in the house. I'll hopefully get pictures up at some point but we'll see.

MOVING!

2007-06-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

So the plan is we will be closing on the new house, this Wednesday June 27th (happy birthday Molly!) On the 28th we are getting keys and priming like mad. :) Then we are filling the U-haul on Saturday morning and moving on up to Washington land!!

Please continue to pray that closing will go smooth! need more info or if you want to help from either the Oregon side or Washington side, email me bethany_ahrendt@hotmail.com.

New House.... please pray with us that this will work out!

2007-06-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

New house preview

This has been quite a process! We knew that it would be but i guess i thought that once we found one then things would get rolling. We've put four different actual written offers on places that we thought would be right and one verbal but each time the door has been closed..some softly others more like slams. The one above, we are both very excited about. If things go smoothly we'll be signing papers on the 27th of June and getting keys on the 29th. So, if anyone would like to help us move or paint..please let us know :)

We've done the inspection and that went great...now it's all about financing :)...Please pray that we'll be patient and really be seeking the Lord in this time. What ever happens, we'll be out of this place by the 30th because our lease will be up. So if things take a few more days with the financing then that, then we'll be staying with Dusty's sister. Let me know if you have any questions!

the Old days

2007-05-12T06:09:00.000-07:00

So I'm down in Hauser right now to hang out withy my mom for Mother's day. We got a call at 5 this morning, from a lady in the park, saying the lower field was on fire. So i got dressed and ran down there and Bill (my dad's bestfriend who lives across from my mom now with his family) and Betty where already down there. Somebody decided to start a fire in the burn pile without telling anyone about it so a concerned neighbor called the fire department. Caleb(Bill's son) is a Volunteer at the all Volunteer fire department in town. So with their sirens blazing they came down to save us all. The guy got a talking to about what channels he needs to go thru to do something like that. Being the Oregon Coast, everything was damp from the morning dew but it still needs to be checked out by the Forest people.

Oh to be home again.... :)

Moving to Vancouver

2007-05-12T06:07:00.000-07:00

We put an offer on a house and it was accepted! We still have the inspection and all that but i thought i'd at least share that for now. :)

God Bless

2007-04-26T23:29:00.000-07:00

This last week or two

2007-04-11T09:09:00.001-07:00

It has been a long time since I've written in here. It seems I've had a chance to do a lot of things recently and see a lot of people but it hasn't really been our new things. A couple of weeks ago i went down to hang out with my mom for a few days, over my spring break. While we were admiring the view up near Fircroft, in Bandon, i got a call from Joy saying her water broke. I was planning on heading up to hang out with her for a few days before she had her baby, so when i got to the North coast i got to meet Nora Evangeline Duff. During those two days i stayed with the Cherry's in Cannon Beach (Dusty's relatives). That was a lot of fun and was close to Ecola so i got to hang out with Heidi Ogg and Tina. It was a great long weekend..but it was good to get home and see Dusty. We were hoping to get the Sticklers moved that weekend (i got back from the beach on Wednesday) but that didn't end up happening until the next week. In the middle of this we went up to Dusty's cousin Stevens wedding in Seattle(pictures on the Cherry blog) So that was weekend of getting there house and yard cleaned up and then getting them finally moved on Wednesay of this week the 4th. But i'm sure one of the Stick's will eventually blog all about it and you can read more details about that adventure then.

Last night we got back from hanging out in Yakima with Dusty's parents. We got to Yakima on Saturday night and stayed with the Ahrendts. Aunt Elaine, Nicole, Tristan, Little Caileen, Shellie, and Matt all came over to play games. (i hope i didn't forget anybody) Then on Sunday after Easter Service, we went up to Leavonworth for a night. That was fun and very beautiful. The snow is still all over the hills and it's a beautiful place anyway. I'll try to get some pictures up sometime. The next day we headed back to Yakima for the night. Before we headed back to Portland we hung out with Grandma and Grandpa and then went out to Dusty's dad's school to see his classroom. He's a second grade teacher and it was cool to see his classroom even if we were to late to see his kid's.

Ok this has turned into a journal...i'll write more later.

Chuck E. Cheese

2007-02-18T17:09:00.000-08:00

Today i went to my cousin Tanya's daughter Kaysha's 3rd birthday party. It was a lot of fun and the Chuck E. Cheese in Beaverton was pretty nice compared to the one that's near our house, which hasn't changed since the 1980's. It was sensory overload but the kid's had a blast. Here are a few pictures.

Beachy

2007-01-17T09:44:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures that I got from my mom, of Cannon Beach last weekend. One of the Pastor's at Hauser Church, were at the Conference Center and took them. I thought they were pretty awesome and wanted to pass them on. This will always be a place that will feel like home to me. So many good mem ories and what a challenging two years it was, that i spent there. I have never seen Cannon Beach with this much snow but there's something sweet about place that is so beautiful seeing a and
treasured in it's dress up clothes. It would not have been so special if it happened every day or every year.

Right before Christmas, my friend Heidi was flying thru Portland and we decided that it'd be a good idea to get a few of the old cronies together for the weekend. Heidi flew in on friday and hung out with Amelia till i got off work. We headed down to a little town that i can't even remember the name of, outside of

Newberg and picked up Julie. She works at Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch, outside Bend and was able to hitch a ride up that far. The next day, Heidi, Amelia, Julie and I headed to Seaside to see Joy. There was no electricity over there so we hung out at Joy's house and had a small baby shower for Joy and Amelia who will both be mommy's in the next few months and then headed to the beach. We were in Gearhart so enjoyed the beach there. It was clear and beautiful, we couldn't have asked for better weather after such a big storm that same week. After goodbyes, we headed back to the city and had dinner at Red Robin. It was Heidi's birthday so she got sung to and then we headed to Melissa's house for some more hanging out time.

World of Warcraft wives

2007-01-15T15:32:00.000-08:00

Below the spider image it says: Gamers other half
http://www.cafepress.com/gamerwidow/690242

on my heart

2006-10-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I've really blogged what's been going on. If you even check on my blog, then you probably already knew that my dad passed away October 4th at 2:15am. We had his graveside service last friday and the memorial service was at HCC on that saturday. The Church was packed and the service went very well. The reality that my dad is gone has finally hit me, during this last week. Little things like saying i'm going to call my parental units and then rephrasing it to, i'm going to go call my mom. After a year of dad being so sick, i'm very thankful he's finally Home but still it's hard because i miss my daddy and am sad that my mom is alone at home.

I knew that someday it was very likely that one or both of my parents would go Home before me. It was a hope that it wouldn't be before a lot of stuff in our life happened such as giving them grand kids. I knew my dad would be an awesome grandpa.

But now i look back at what i've written and this is the reason why i had a hard time blogging over this last year. I don't want to seem ungrateful for everything the Lord has blessed us with during this last year. I'm very thankful that dad was able to be healthy during the time that his girls got married back in 2004. I'm thankful that they've been diligent about getting things payed off and a lot of house stuff updated, so it's not a burden for my mom to have. I'm thankful that the church back home was so encouraging and helpful with my parents this last year, so my mom was able to take time off and take care of dad. I'm so very thankful that they're surrounded by handy people who were able to do so much around the house they didn't have to hire out for people they didn't know. I'm thankful that we still live close enough that we were able to spend some quality time with dad before he passed. I'm thankful that the job i have prepared me to see dad in such a needy place physically.
I'm thankful that we got to see such an awesome example of a godly marriage, how hard times can bring the best of marriages even closer.

We saw a t-shirt the other week that said, "Live your life so that the preacher doesn't have to lie at your funeral." That has stuck with me during these weeks because i know my dad did. He was not perfect by any means but he was a man who truly loved others and put other before himself. Go ahead and click here if you want to get to know a little more of what my dad was like from my perspecitive and what i said at the memorial service.
Thanks for reading all this. :) I wanted also to thank all of you who have been such an encouragement to me during this last year. :) ....

plans

2006-09-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

I got a call last night from my mom. They are giving my dad just a few days to live. Christa and i are heading down to North Bend tonight to spend time as a family. I'd really appreciate prayers right now for strength and encouragement i can give to my mom and sister. Thankyou...I'll update when i can or give you a contact who can email or call with questions.

till later

The start of a new school year...

2006-09-01T08:14:00.000-07:00

Tuesday is the first day of school. I remember the feeling back in grade school when you started counting down the days till school started again. I loved the summer...it was always busy and we went on lot's of adventures. But there was something great about getting your class list of supply's and heading to Bi-mart for all new pencils, paper, and a sparkly purple pencil boxes that just made me get excited. I'd lay all my new school supplies on my bed, looking at them for awhile and then packing and repacking my backpack a few times, to make everything just right. From 1st- 5th grade, getting ready for school for consisted of wondering if i'd be going to private or public school that year.

As i got older, the end of the summer started early because of daily doubles in Volleyball or Soccer but still there was a jittery anticipation of another year, about ready to begin.

When i started with the ESD, it was near the middle of November and being a sub, i was going from school to school. This year is completely different. I got hired on at the Clackamas HS LEEP classroom full time. We've been busy going over the kids IEP goals and getting the room set up. I'm going in as a teacher rather then a student, but yet i still have the butterfly's in my stomach of what this year could hold. Here come the new haircuts, Home coming assembly's, and the smell of fried cafeteria food, all over again.

Being 25

2006-08-07T14:44:00.000-07:00

I feel the need to write in my blog right now but i really don't have a specific subject..so let's just see what happens. I turned a quarter of a century last week and it's hard to believe, i suppose. It doesn't seem to long ago when i thought this was the start of being old. :)

I can't believe this summer will be leaving us behind in less then a month. We only have 3 more days of summer school. I haven't hear yet if i'll be working as a Temp in a classroom or back as a sub, for the fall. This summer has been great...lot's of camping and sunburns but it really has flown by. Hmm...what will this next year hold? My dad is turning 58 in four days and it will be a special birthday i am a thinking. This last week, it seems, the turn around that we've been praying for for months is finally upon us. My mom thinks he's gained two pounds and his mouth was full of walnuts (and he seemed to be enjoying them) when i called yesterday. These things are huge blessings.

Every week it seems that we find out about a new friend or family member being pregnant. It's funny how this is the summer of baby's and the last five years the summers were full of wedding bells. Such is life.

Dusty has been riding to and from work almost everyday. I got a bike for my birthday so it'll be nice to meet him on his way home and go for a ride. I know that i'm not always very positive about living in the city but one of my favorite things is having so many bike paths, so accesible.
http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?a=haccb&c=deiaj

Well i'm going to leave this blog entry rather abruptly but i'd love to hear about some things you all are learning this summer. Please comment and i'd love to hear pray requests and such too. Either posted or you can email me. betany_h15@hotmail.com

till later...

Facts

2006-07-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

A) Four jobs you have had in your life:

1. Albertson's courtesy clerk
2. Barista
3. HS summer intern at HCC and RA/intern at Ecola
4. Teachers Assistant- Preschool and Specials needs classrooms

B) Movies you've watched more than once
1. Hoosiers
2. Wedding singer
3. Patch Adams
4. Fugitive

C) Four places you have lived:
1. Hauser, Oregon
2. Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
3.Cannon Beach, Oregon
4. Portland, Oregon

D) Four television shows you like to watch:
1. 24
2. History Channel
3. Everybody loves Raymond
4. Oprah

E) Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Edmonton, Alberta
2. Island in Thailand (can't think of the name at the moment)
3. Lake Tahoe
4. Whistler, B.C.

(F) Four websites you visit daily:
1. Blogspot and Myspace
2. Hotmail
3. My dad's update sight
4. WAMU banking

(G ) Four of my favorite foods:
1. almost anything Thai or Indian
2. sushi and Japanese
3. Bacon and Cheddar cheese bagels (From Bagels by the Sea)
4. Fish and Shrimp (grilled or sauteed)

(H) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. at the beach
2. traveling the world
3. with my parents
4. hanging out with friends

2006-07-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

You're Adventures of Huckleberry Finn!

by Mark Twain

With an affinity for floating down the river, you see things in black
and white. The world is strange and new to you and the more you learn about it, the less
it makes sense. You probably speak with an accent and others have a hard time
understanding you and an even harder time taking you seriously. Nevertheless, your
adventurous spirit is admirable. You really like straw hats.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Politics...smelltheticks

2006-06-23T15:45:00.000-07:00

You are a
Social Conservative
(28% permissive)

and an...
Economic Moderate
(50% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Fascist

Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Kim's wedding

2006-06-04T18:20:00.000-07:00

I wasn't able to go to my friend Kim's wedding but decided to post this picture anyway. My dad did the ceremony this last friday and the whole thing was a huge answer to prayer. It rained the day before but there was a nice warm breeze blowing through in Yachats, Oregon..can you believe it?? He was strong enough to stand during the cermony and Kim is married ..yahooo :) Oh and they had a coastie heliwopter fly by. So Kim if you ever read this..give yourself a hug from me and know that i wish i could have been there and many congrats!

memorial day weekend

2006-05-31T06:21:00.000-07:00

My mom just sent this picture from our time in North Bend, with my parents. This is my dad and baby Matthew. (Amy and Bob's baby not ours!) I thought it was precious and had to let you all see!

names

2006-05-26T23:25:00.000-07:00

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (middle name/ street you live on)
Christine Steele

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your dad's side, your favorite candy)
Marjorie Skittles ??

3. YOUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAME: (first initial of first name, first two or three letters of your last name)
B. Ah

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Blue Elephant

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Christine Coos Bay

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet's name)
Ahrrustom

7. JEDI NAME: (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards)
Enitsirhc Surrub

8. PORN STAR NAME: (first pet, street you grew up on)
Sherlock Shutters Landing

9. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, the automobile you or your parents drive)
The Blue Impalla

Hey peeps..I think you should fill in your own answers and post them on my comments...that would rock!

summer job....

2006-05-23T22:37:00.000-07:00

Ok so i'm looking for a job. Everyday i come home from work, from a job i like a lot, to look for summer employment on craigs list. After a few weeks of sending my resume to a variety of locations, I decided to post my objective on craigs list and see what happens. After about a half hour i received one email that sounded like a great possibility and we are talking. Dusty and i left to watch the some quality television at the sticks and after coming back home i found this in my inbox. Before i post the email i would like to say that i said i would be willing to do some chores to help the family out, such as cook meals for the kids, laundry and cleanup. Well Craigs list works a lot on key words and COOK seemed to be a bright beacon on someones needs list.

Hi Bethany,

I am looking for someone who already cooks for their own family to
prepare additional portions of their dinner and store them in Tupperware-like
containers. I would then buy these home-cooked meals on a bi-weekly
basis (say 5-8 meals every 2 weeks?). I am not picky about the food/menu
choices (though I am NOT vegetarian), so Western/Russian/ Ukraine/Chinese/
Mexican/etc. would work for me. I already have several Tupperware-like
containers of various sizes for storage of these meals.

I am also looking for someone to teach me how to cook, starting from
the basics like a "Cooking for Dummies" format.


Ok I just found this rather humorous. It's not that i dislike cooking or that i I'm not capable of
following cookbook directions but this is something i would never think of posting on a resume
or as a gift.   But if anybody is interested in making some money i'll send you the guys number.

Happy eating.

Hill billy rock star

2006-05-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

Your Hillbilly Name Is...

Bobbie Jean Beaver

Hillbilly Name Generator

Spring time...

2006-05-14T15:57:00.000-07:00

I really love this time of year. We have been blessed with a lot of nice weather recently so at work and after work we've been able to get out and enjoy it. During High School it was the time of year for Spring Soccer, Track, Graduations, and getting money raised for summer trips with the youthgroup. I love the green grass and all the flowers in our neighbors garden. I love the anticipation of summer and all the camping trips that are on our calendar. It's great to be outside planting flowers and hear all of the kids at the parks that surround us.

Today i got a bunch of flours planted and corn and squash. Dusty mowed the lawn and used the trimmer today so the yard looks great. So except for the beer bottles and walmart bags that end in the yard, we might actually have a clean cut yard for a few days.

So what is everyones favorite time of year and why?

it's been awhile

2006-05-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted so here i go. Things are going well at work. I've been at the same school for 6 weeksish and that's been great. Right now i'm loving my job but trying to get in the mood to look for something in the summer. I've been looking and applying but it's bothersome :)
So could someone give us a million dollars so i could stay home and be a mom? thanks!
We had awards night for AWANA, so that's over till September. We've both been fighting colds and allergies so that's been exciting. My cousin Tim is with the Army, Afghanistan as a sharp shooter, so if you think about it we'd appreciate prayer for his protection. My dad has been pretty stable recently. The doc says the cancer has progression free response and is a stable disease. So it's still all through the bones but hasn't gotten any worse. (if you click on the link that says daddy mcmahon update, you can find out more or ask me)

Well at the moment i can't think of anything else to say so i'm going to go blow my nose. thanks for reading!

Fire drills

2006-04-13T07:27:00.000-07:00

Today i worked, in Estacada, at Clackamas River Elementary. It's the first time I've worked at this school so i was still learning schedules, temperments, and a bunch of other stuff that varies from classroom to classroom. The day went pretty smooth except for when we had a fire drill. This is only the second fire alarm i've been apart of since working for the ESD and this one we had fair warning. The last time, some Highschool kid pulled the alarm and there was only 2 teachers in the classroom at the time. We had just gotten one of the kids out of his whell chair and onto a mat, which takes a two person lift and there were 3 other kids also in the classroom that freaked. anyways...
We had fair warning but still it's not something you can explain to many of these kids so there's lot of yelling, hiding, and just pandomonia! It all worked out and it was nice to get out of the building and get some fresh, warm air.

I look back on my experiences with Fire drills, Tsunami drills and Earthquake drills (all which comes fequently when you grow up on the Coast) and i never realized what an effort it is to get people out of a building in a quick and orderly fashion. I remember liking it when it happened during tests, just so i could get out of it for the time being. ok that's all for now...

Slide show

2006-04-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

Hopefully this slideshow will work at places other then our house. Please let me know if it doesn't. I love pictures ! :)

Tree frogs should never be put in jars with a lid on them.

2006-04-05T08:50:00.000-07:00

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know.
You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems.
Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green.
Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

A picture of our family...

2006-03-31T19:24:00.000-08:00

I'm down at home for about five days, during our spring break. I came across this picture from awhile back. Thought I'd share it. It's my brother in-law Anthony, my sister, her dog Johnny Cash, my momma, my daddy back when he was fat :), myself and my dear husband. We are under the North Bend bridge.

Just a few pictorial images to share

2006-03-26T15:12:00.001-08:00

Dusty and the beautiful bride.
On Valentine's day, Dusty had the great idea to head back to places that
were special to us. This happens to be were we got engaged, down on the water front. :)

Head size

2006-03-24T17:11:00.000-08:00

I'm sure everybody has been told something about there birth. Some loving or excruciating story that there parents have shared. After a conversation last night...we starting wondering how big peoples heads really are. So with a little help from a tape measure a few of us have measured are noggins. If this is interesting to anybody in even the tiniest or orange sized way..please share and and it'd be fun to see the average sizes. cm or inches is fine(Inspired by a friends birth story)

Spring break

2006-03-24T17:09:00.000-08:00

Best thing about working for a school district is that i get SPRING BREAK! It just isn't quite as cool as it used to be cause I seem to be the only one... :) Oh well... We'll see what the week will hold and maybe I'll paint my toe nails.

spring time...

2006-03-20T09:34:00.000-08:00

Wow what a weekend! Baby shower, wedding, hanging out with friends we don't see very often, driving to the beach, eating way to many nachos, and just hanging out... i think it's time to sleep a bit. After a crazy weekend, I headed out to Hubbard for a nice day of work. When I got out there, their were only going to be two kids in the class, so now i'm home writing to you all! :) It is a beautiful day...an awesome way to start spring! I think today might be a good day to get some yard work done and maybe go for a bike ride.
A couple of days ago we celebrated St. Patrick's day. I've always like this holiday, not because i like drinking cause i think beer is beyond nasty, but probably mostly because the color green rocks! Ok maybe it's cause i have some Irish blood dripping in my veins! But i have to say this year is special because Baby Forgey has finally made his presence known in this world. Still nameless has far as i know... I'm wondering if Patrick might be a suitable name. I wonder if he'll resemble a leprochan...but i highly doubt it. Congrats Bob and Amy...hopefully we'll get to meet this little guy in the next week or so!

Surveys...oh my

2006-03-09T21:16:00.001-08:00

The funny thing about after writing the last post, Emily sent me a survey that she filled out so i guess I'll post my response. Yes i guess this makes me a goober.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6am -unless i have to get to a job before 7:15am.
2. Diamonds or Pearls? diamonds...
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? i think it was Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe but i could be wrong
4. What is your favorite T.V. show? 24 and House and anything on the History channel
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Cereal
6. What is your middle name? Christine
8. What foods do you dislike? creamy things that don't have good taste and ham
9. What is your favorite chip flavor? Lime
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? the new Third Day one...we've been listening to our wedding music though..
11. What kind of car do you drive? 1996 toyota that is gaining a lot of personality and bruises
12. Favorite sandwich? Turkey or Turkey pastrami w/ all the fixings ..on grilled home made wheat bread
13. What characteristics do you despise? People who are full of themselves
14. Favorite clothes? Jeans and sweat shirts or khaki's and comfy shirts......... or khaki shorts a sweat shirt and flip flops
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? oh that's hard.. anywhere and everywhere...i want a full passport. I want to meet people from all over the world and just see what makes them who they are. Africa..eastern coast, safari, ride a camel thru the desert, live in a hut. Take a few months and spend a few weeks going to the normal western europe places but then head to eastern europe Latvia, Romania, St. Petersburg, Prague, Budapest, Vienna and all the other places i can't think of. then head into the rest of Russia. Then head down thru mongola, china and hit all of Asia..this is past two months obviously so maybe a few years...oh ya and australia and south america!!!!
16. Who sent this to you? Emily
17. Favorite brand of clothing? Old navy or anything that fits and is comfortable
18. Where would you retire to? From my perspective right now i'd probably say anywhere on the Rogue river..from medford thru goldbeach, but only if i was around people we were close to cause that's themost important thing to me.
19. What was your most memorable birthday? oh man that's hard...i've had some good ones. When i was in cannon beach i got kidnapped and taken to a play at the theater in town.
20. Favorite sport to watch? Basketball and soccer
21. Farthest place you are sending this? Mass.
22. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? haha...we'll see
23. Person you expect to send it back first? Bored people
24. Goal you have for yourself? Get heathly... emotionally, physically and spiritually
25. When is your birthday? August 3, 1981
26. When is your Anniversary? July 10, 2004
27. Are you a morning person or a night person? I like to say morning but only when i get a good night sleep and if i know i'll be outside the majority of the day... I used to say night but only when i'm eating healthy and got good sleep the night before.
28. What is your shoe size? 10ish
29. Pets? i like to hang out with other people animals... like being able to enjoy someone elses kids and then give them back when you are done...
30. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? I'm crampy!
31. What did you want to be when you were little? A mom with 11 kids, a teacher, a police officer, world traveler, a mom, pilot, mom
32. What are you today? Educational Assistant Sub ( for special needs kids and in alternative schools in Clackamas County)
33. What is your favorite candy? any thing chocolate and mint or funky ( i like Japanese candy)
34. What is your favorite flower? Red roses, budding tree flowers :), wild flowers and hydranges
35. What is a date on the calendar you are looking forward to? Well.... i'm not sure of any.. CAMPING this summer and uncalendarized things that hopefully will happen this year :)
36. What do you like to do that makes you smile....or what do you do to have fun? I like to be with friends and just laugh and be open. Also drink tea and make flower chains and sing under the stars. I like to go on road trips with my husband. I like road trips with anyone who likes to sing in the car and be crazy. Road trips are anything over 20 miles and up :) I like to be outside working in someone elses garden and go to the beach and breathe. I like to look at pictures and talk about future stuff and dream of where we'll be in 20 years. i like being with children and our Sparky's. I like hugs.... and reading the bible with people...especially on the side of a river or lake with our feet in thewater :)

mindless ramble

2006-03-07T17:28:00.000-08:00

I haven't written anything for awhile but i feel like i should cause that's the cool thing to do. Being that my one obsession in life is to be freakin' cool...there you go. Maybe i should fill out one of those surveys that bring out your deepest secrets and obsessions. Or maybe not.
It rained really hard today when i was working out in Hubbard...it was cool. I saw a rainbow but no hot air balloons.- random comment on the day

A few pictorial images

2006-02-16T21:52:00.000-08:00

I won't explain this picture..let's just say when it's hot out, you gotta do what you gotta do!
That was a fun night...we should all do that again soon. Mystery dinner play, put on by the Mellander's if you were curious.
Does this picture even need words under it... Thank you Lord!
A picture with Dusty's sister and cousins. I have no idea where this was taken at.

Winter Olympics

2006-02-16T21:33:00.001-08:00

If you were watching the winter olympics..would you be more drawn to Snowboard cross, Luge, the Skeleton, Hockey, Bobsledding (Go Jamaica!), Men's ice skating, Women's iceskating, the Italian Chocolate, or another sport I haven't thought of at the moment? We've spent a lot of time watching the Olympics recently so I'm curious!

2006-02-11T16:05:00.000-08:00

This happens to be a day that i wish i had my Helicopter license and could just wander on over to the coast,to just enjoy that beautiful rock. Something I've always wanted to do is Kayak behind it and see the cave. One time we were hanging out at the beach, something we did often when we lived feet from it, and we were standing near a few European tourists. I have nothing against tourists, they usually were a high source of entertainment, especially when they felt they had to carry a umbrella. We'd watch it get torn to shreds in minutes. Anyways.... we were standing near the tourists and they were staring out at Haystack, admiring the rock coloring on the north side. It was a white in an area that contrasted from the green and brown. It hadn't rained for awhile and it was actually covered with bird poop but i didn't have the heart to say it. They talked about it for quite awhile...

a blessing

2006-02-09T15:07:00.000-08:00

Every Wednesday evening we have Awana up in Vancouver. After a long day of work, it can be challenging to get ourselves up there. I think especially for me because all day i work with challenging kids and then to put on that red sparky shirt, just seems exhausting(I'm very thankful that I have a patient husband that convinces me to get going). Our sparkies team ranges from having thirteen kids to down to five like last night. It's our 3rd year of being leaders together and we both agree that this is the most challenging group of kids we have.
BUT it also can be such a huge blessing and fresh breath of air. You sit there and listen to K-2nd graders recite verses and it's just great. Yes there are some kids that do it for the prizes but once and awhile you can get the kid excited about what he's reading and saying and it's just cool.

I could tell you a lot of stories but I'll share one about a Kindergartener on our team named Dara. She's a smart little gal that can read better then a lot of the 2nd graders. Well i was sitting with her and Kelsey during green meadow time (it's the lesson time where we sing songs and someone tells a bible story). Well they were talking about Heaven and I hear a little sigh and Dara says, " I can't wait to go to heaven and see Jesus." She had the most contented look on her face like you could only have if you meant it from deep in your heart. Her dad has told me that she lines up her barbies and leads them to Christ..telling them all her bible verses that she knows. It was just a blessing to hear that. After Awana we headed outside and the sky was perfect Peter Pan night..clear as could be. It was such a blessing, after a hard day. Every Wednesday it's hard to get there but 95% of the time it's a huge blessing.

My sister and I did Awana from Cubbies who are 3 and 4 yr olds up through JV which is Junior High. In the later years, game time is what i looked foward to most because sitting still was like torture. :) But I can remember a few leaders that truly made learning the bible fun..even back in the King James Version days. They would make it seem so alive and would challenge us to really learn what it meant and not just learn it for the awards, that wouldn't always mean something. It's so hard to be like that but also such a blessing when you see the kids get excited about something. I really challenge any one who's working with kids (Elementary through HS) to never just look at it as if it is a job but rather as privledge to share the most amazing gift to someone that, if no one else does, the Lord thinks is special. At least with the little kids, they have so much energy and zest for life that i truly pray some weeks it'll rub off on me.

a morning off that turns into a day off....

2006-01-31T10:24:00.000-08:00

I'm just hanging out at home this morning. I don't work till noon so i thought i'd write a bit on here before i really start my day. Looking through pictures i realize how blessed we are with the friends and family that the Lord has given us. And goodness gracious look at that sunset! How amazing is that! It's so easy to go through the day with our negative goggles on and ya maybe will smile a bit but we can always find stuff that we'd like to be different. i don't think life will every be perfect till we head up to Yonder but to be content with the lives we are living. Of course we want to strive to be better people but i think that's different from being a negative looker.
My dad called last night and said that he had a great doctor appointment and that his blood is doing great and there's no sign of cancer in the blood. Ok this rocks that it hasn't moved to the blood but it's easy for me to wonder why he's not healed yet! With the amount of people who've been praying i feel like there should be more significant changes. God's time line is so different then mine but it's still something i struggle with. This whole thing has been an eye opening experience to my own life and how i deal, when hard times come and stay for awhile. My parents have been drawn so close through this whole thing and they had a good relationship before! My mom asked my sister and i awhile back what we wanted to learn from this whole thing. For me the first thing is look at my parents marriage and see how, when conflict comes, that the best place is to rest in the arms of our Father. It's ok to ask God hard questions. But to try to deal with stuff on our own stength, when He's waiting for us with open arms, is truly wearing the stupid hat.

my day

2006-01-27T17:12:00.000-08:00

Today was a challenging day at school. I've been back in Junior High for the last two days and it makes me truly not miss those early teen years. Working in an alternative classroom can bring lot's of exciting things during the day like being flipped off and cussed at on a regular basis. It also can be blessing to be able to love on these kids that in most cases have very few people on there side. No, I can't share my faith but i can pray for them constantly during the day and really try to live Christ. I've realized that if my goal is to look to Christ for help in every situation that we come across, my attitude and patience level greatly improves.
I'm very thankful for my job. Every day brings different challanges..especially when you don't find out till 5am the morning of, what classroom you'll be working in! I like this because every day is different but it's also hard to build relationships when you are with kids for such a short time. The comparison between being a sub and and going on a short term missiontrip without planning on going back comes to mind. :) I know for those who have been on short term mission trips might disagree with me but it works well in my head!
signing off...

The starting point of yada yada...

2006-01-24T22:39:00.000-08:00

Today is a special day. I'm finally going to take a dangerous step into the realm of blogdium. Will i come out dull or profound on the otherside? We must just wait and see...