Dinner and Enertainment

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

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...

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....

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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?

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

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.

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

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.