Daddy's Home

It's been just a little over a week since the Lord called my dad home to Heaven.

Everyone has been so gracious with their thoughts and prayers to the family. I can't say for my other brothers and sisters, but as for me, I do not mourn for my dad, nor do I mourn for my mom, who has been gone now for 1 1/2 years. God has given me sweet peace. Yes, I miss them both terribly, but I know where they are at. There was no doubt about their salvation, and I know that they are singing and shouting around God's throne. They are both in no more pain, have no more suffering, and no more tears. Only joy! Dad is with mom walking on streets of pure gold. I think it would be different if they hadn't known the Lord. Because then it would be goodbye forever. But this is not goodbye. I know the Lord, and I know that I will get to see my mom and dad again in Heaven. So for now dad, tell mom hello, and I will see you guys later. I love you both!

Go BLUE WAVE!!!

Well tomorrow night is Anthony's first official performance as a Blue Wave band member. I couldn't be prouder. He looks so good in his uniform. (although they are not wearing their uniform tomorrow. Shoes and gloves have not come in yet.)
He is doing very well at playing his trumpet. Danny and I are excited to be members of the pit crew also. I know, we are band geeks through and through. If you need something to do tomorrow night, 8.27.10, you should head on out to Hillcrest. Football game starts at 7pm. The Blue Wave band will perform the half time show. See ya there!! ;-)

Welcome To America!!!

This has been a huge weekend for our family. We are hosting a foreign exchange student from Germany. Danny and I both have always thought that the program was very interesting. But never would have dreamed that we would be able to be a host family.

Lisa arrived Thursday night around 9:37pm. She had been traveling for 26 hours. We were all so very nervous, but very excited to meet each other.

When she arrived, I walked up and gave her a big hug, and the poor thing is so tiny, that it was like a whale swallowing a guppy!!! (oh come on, you know that was funny! You are reading a blog from the funny fluffy fat chick ya know!) We brought her home, and our journey has begun.

I don't think we could have matched ourselves with a more perfect student.

Candi and Lisa have just became like two peas in a pod. We went shopping today at the mall, and they were even buying coordinating clothes, and matching shoes. They are both in heaven. Lisa doesn't have any brothers or sisters, and has always wanted some. Candi has never had a sister, and is loving every minute of having Lisa here.

Even though we have just met, I feel like she is already a part of our family. I am looking forward to a very exciting year getting to know her and all about her country.

I have my friend Charlene to thank for this oppurtunity to host a student. She is the coordinator of this area. Without her, I would not have even known where to begin to host a student. Thanks Char!!

There's Gold in them there Hills!!

Ok, I have not blogged in a while. Back off people, I have been busy!!! :-)

So I have told everyone about our Pikes Peak adventure, now it is time to tell you about the Panning for Gold that we did. I LOVED that day!!!!! I could have spent all day there and been perfectly content. We go to this place in the mountains called Country Boy Mine. It was founded in 1887 and is one of the oldest and most famous mines in Summit County. ( There, you have learned your history lesson for today.)
ANYWAY, back to me.....
You go inside and pay 9.95 a person to pan for gold as long as you want. You can take a tour for double the price, but I don't like going underground that much either. With freaking out going up Pikes Peak, and not wanting to go down in a gold mine, are ya kinda catching the hint, that I just like to stay on flat ground????
ANYWAY, back to me.....
So, we grab our pans, and off we go. We had been there for maybe 20 or 30 minutes, and Candi and I found some pretty good looking stuff. So we put it in our little vial. The vial is about as big around as a pencil, and about 1 inch long. NOT BIG at all!! Mine and Candi's vial is pictured above.
1 vial equals 1 ounce.
1 ounce of gold equals $1200.00...

Candi and I had our vial about 1/3 full of gold. We were TOTALLY excited!!!!!! Danny, kept saying that we did not have gold, we had pyrite. (fools gold) Well, we were not gonna believe Danny boy, we had the real deal!
After about 3 hours or so, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel with our treasures.
Anthony hadn't really collected anything in his vial. Candi and I were sharing a vial, which was about 1/3 full, and Danny and Bradley were sharing one, which was about 1/4 full.
We take our gold up to the worker to see how we did.
He looked at mine and Candi's and said that all of our gold was.................................

pyrite!!! (fools gold)

Then he took a look at Danny and Bradley's vial, and said it was all pyrite, but................
he said there was 1 teeny weeny itsy bitsy piece of gold. REAL GOLD!!!! Yep, it was found, just not by the girls. The boys found it!!!
It was HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D
So big, that Danny was asking people on facebook if anyone knew of a trustworthy armored vehicle to bring it home with.
Then he was pondering on what to gold plate for me on a ring.... a piece of sand or a piece of salt.

Yep, that's how big it actually was. Just a little teensy weensy bit bigger than a grain of sand. But it was the real deal. So now we can say that we found GOLD!

Noah's Park

I am so excited that our childrens church is getting off to a GREAT start. Last week was our first week, and we had double the amount of kids that we were expecting. It was AWESOME!! We had that same amount of kids today. Oh, how I love childrens church.
We are studying on wisdom right now.
Wednesday night, I was practicing with my childrens choir, and we were going through some new songs. Jeanette, the pastors wife was telling me about one they used to do at another church. "Roman's 16:19 says" She couldn't remember all the words, so I told her that I would look it up, and learn the song. How fitting that when I looked it up, it was on wisdom.... How great is that. She didn't even know we were talking about wisdom.
God knows what he is doing. Even down to little details so much as a suddle hint of a song.

I want to do a shout out to all of my helpers that have helped me get childrens church going. And to all the helpers that their shifts are coming. Thank you, Thank you!!!

I love VBS

So we have been holding VBS this week at our church. The theme is Saddle Ridge Ranch.
I am the music teacher for VBS and look forward to this week each year. I love singing the songs and doing the motions with the kids. It is so much fun. But by the end of the week, I am completely wore out.

It's hard for a fat chick to move like that for 2 1/2 hours straight ya know. ;-)

I had a little girl come up to me the first night, who doesn't regularly attend church there. She was so excited and came up to me and said, "I remember you from last year". I told her, "wow am I that memorable?" and she said "yes, you are!" ahhhh, isn't that so sweet!!! I love VBS!!

I did it! All in the name of love!

Have you ever did something that you were totally petrified to do, but you did it anyway? For someone you love?

I did! I am absolutely petrified of heights! So where did I go being absolutely petrified of heights???? Why yes, I went to the top of Pikes Peak!! For those wondering, it is 14,110 ft in the air!!!!!!!! Why, you ask..... because I love my husband. I did not do it for me at all. It was totally for him. We just arrived back from Colorado, where Danny wanted to go to the top of Pikes Peak. We have both been there when we were little, but neither of our parents ever went to the top. It costs money ya know. So Danny gets this wild hair that he decides that it is on his "bucket list" now. So here we go. First we were going to drive up to the top. I was nervous as all get out. But then we decided to take the Cog Railway.

Was I still nervous?? Seriously, you have to ask yourself that question???? YES, I WAS NERVOUS!!!!!

I had stressed out all week long over this one day of our vacation. We arrived early for the train, and I set there and watched people get on and off the train. Everyone seemed fine. But me, NO! I had to take 2 xanax before it was all over, and had tears streaming down my face. But all in the name of love.

We make the trip up, which was 1 hr and 20 minutes up the mountain. At times, it was a 25% grade uphill. For those of you who don't know, that is STEEP!!! Got to the top, couldn't breath, but still trekked on. Stayed at the top for 40 minutes, then back down the mountain we go. I was never so glad to see the bottom of that mountain in my life. Danny turned to me and said "see, it wasn't that bad, was it?" I just looked and told him, "you want me to say that I liked it, but I am not going to, because I didn't!!" "I did it just for you, and hope you remember that."

So now, I can say that even though I had to take xanax, and cry like a big baby... I DID IT!!