Opening Night

Went great, btw! My mom, dad, little sister, a friend, my grandmother, my aunt, and my cousin all came--plus a couple of family friends whom I haven't seen in probably 10 years! It was a good show--not too many slip-ups for the first night. I could hear my mom laughing during one of the serious (melodramatic) scenes, and it was so hard not to burst out laughing! But I managed. I must say that Sarah really got into character and made an excellent granny as well. I hope to have pics very soon--we had a lady come in and take pictures during the final dress rehearsal, and she'll have those ready sometime next week.

The only black mark on the entire evening is that my phone has disappeared. Since we don't have a home phone, it is the connection to friends, family, and of course, all my students. I was certain I had it last night as I got out of the car and entered the dressing room to prepare for the final dress rehearsal. But as I was leaving 5 or 6 hours later, I couldn't find it. One of my friends called it while I went to the car to listen, but it wasn't in the car. The building of course had been locked by then, sigh. So we called it today when we got to the dressing room, and it went straight to voice mail. Hmmmm. Meaning the phone's been turned off. Even though I had it on the last time I had it with me. And I charged it up just yesterday morning. And it's set on the loudest ring. Which makes me think that it's been found by someone, just not someone who knows me. Neither the theatre staff nor my fellow cast members have seen it. So, worse case scenario, I dropped it, someone picked it up around Highland Avenue, and doesn't plan to give it back. Sigh. This is only 3 months after the last phone fiasco, and I've just gotten 175 numbers stored on my sim....

So pray that my phone turns up. If it doesn't by tomorrow night, I plan to contact Cingular and cancel that number just in case whoever has my phone is trying to call Timbucktoo. Which means I will need to get a new phone and a new number. So I'll let you know when you can call me.

Catching up

Into the Woods is seriously taking up a lot of time. But I am not regretting one minute of it--it is so much fun! If you are in or near Birmingham, you should totally come see it. You could come see me have a hysterical fit and die onstage! I have such a fun character. If you are interested, check out the website here. Tix are a little expensive, but if I can get a group of 10 or more to commit, I can get them for you for $15.

I am sad...I've been so busy, I feel like I haven't seen any of my friends in forever. And now Kim Hill is leaving me so her husband can go to seminary in Mississippi. Slacker. I can tell she is totally not committed to our friendship. huh. I must go see her and try to explain the repercussions of moving out of the state to pursue education. I must make her understand that I will be lost without her. Maybe she will change her mind...
see you thursday Kim!

Speaking of folks moving, so are Shane and Amy, Kelsey and Shayna. Bum! Why does everyone have to leave? Don't they know I need them? lol. (btw, Shane is Frank's brother). No, actually, we are very excited/happy for them--Shane has a great opportunity/job in Nashville, so they are in the process of moving. But at least they're not moving 36 hours away. not like some people we know...
It will be easy to see them--only 3 &1/2 hour drive, not too bad...

Burt's sermon today made me uncomfortable. How does he do that? By telling me to be missional--leave my comfort zone and share the gospel with everyone around me--believers and nonbelievers alike. thanks for the kick in the pants Burt. Btw, I am excited at the possibility of a Community Pres campus in Springville! I will be praying.

I have been working hard to get in shape--part of it is getting ready for the show, another part of it is just knowing I need to lose 20 or 30 pounds to get in shape. Well, happy to say, after 7 weeks of counting weight watchers points and excercising, I've dropped 9 pounds. yey! Slow and steady wins this race. There are several things I like about weight watchers: counting points--it seems tedious I know, but the way they have the system set up, you follow your specified points and you can earn extra by how much excercise you perform. So, I feel like I can "spend" my extra points if I excercise that day. Also, I think it is kind of fun to try to figure out how to make my points last as long as possible. Which basically pushes me to eat as healthy as possible, b/c the healthy foods have the fewest points, of course. Then at the end of the day, if I have any points left, I can "reward" myself with something sweet. And I definitely have a sweet tooth. So, it is a good system for me.

I just visited Rebecca and Keith's little boy, Jonathan's blog. He is adorable! I am so happy for them...and will continue to pray for them as well.
Speaking of babies, Tracy is due any time--please say a prayer for her as well; for a healthy, uncomplicated delivery. We are excited to be getting another little cousin hopefully very soon.

Ok, gotta go get the kids in bed. later,

Star Wars and the Chronicles of Narnia

I love Star Wars. I remember when VCR's got really popular when I was a kid...about the 4th grade for me, and one of the things my dad did was buy up some movies, among them, the original Star Wars trilogy. (The others that stick out in my mind are Dumbo and The Little Mermaid, which contributed to my love for Disney and its music.) But I remember Star Wars as this cool epic story of good vs. evil, and for awhile I even wanted to name my first girl Leia. She was such a great character. We watched those movies over and over again and probably wore out the tapes. Well, now my children are in on the Star Wars craze. My dad watched it with them one night during a grandparent spend-the-night party, and now they are hooked. Star Wars this, Luke Skywalker that, Darth Vader's breathing, 'I wanna be Darth Maul for Halloween'. We have 2 Star Wars PS2 games, 3 light sabers, a Vader helmet, a Vader cape, and own/or have seen all 6 movies.
Here are a few comments I've heard over the past few weeks:

"I'll name my kid Luke Skywalker, and you can name yours Darth Vader."

"Mama, which one was the one that got his arm chopped off by Obi Wan Kenobi?"

"Mama, which robot is it that can't get over anything?" (Steven, trying to remember C-3PO)

Ah to be a kid again and in love with Star Wars. I still love to watch the movies even as an adult.

Speaking of epic tales of good vs. evil, and I am sooooo ready for the next Chronicles of Narnia movie, Prince Caspian, to come out. May 16th baby!!!! I am not generally a huge movie fan--I don't even really like to go to the movies. I'd rather sit in my own living room and eat my own way cheaper, fat-free popcorn, and not have to pay a babysitter. But this movie is different.

While we lived in CA, Biola brought in C.S. Lewis's step-son, Douglas Gresham, as a guest speaker for chapel one day. He was promoting The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. He was a fun speaker, telling us all about the audition process in finding the 4 children; and that they really did act like brothers and sisters on the set. He told us a little of what it was like to have C.S. Lewis as a step-father--he thought it was cool and loved Lewis very much. Gresham also encouraged us as the Christian community to support the film and christian films in general, because he said, what sells hollywood is money. Meaning, if we support these films and go see them and pay out money for them, then hollywood will keep making family-friendly movies. During the question/answer time, one of the students asked Gresham if Walden/Disney would make movies of any of the other Narnia books, and he replied that only if the first one did well. Then (I quote), he said, "Go see the movie! Take all your friends to see the movie!"

And then, the first one was SO GOOD!!! Very well made and believable. He said that they added the war part in the first part of the film even though it's not in the book, to give some believability to show how badly the 4 siblings NEEDED to get out of London. But for the most part, he was proud that the movie remained true to the book.

So, it's almost as bad as waiting for Star Wars Episodes I, II, and III; or the LOTR Trilogy to come out. And, it doesn't hurt that the guy who plays Prince Caspian looks a lot like Atreyu from The NeverEnding Story. Oh yeah, love me some epic adventures....

Check out the trailer here.

Update #2

Ok, finally got THE call. Out of only 2 demos (mine being one of them) sent over, Tokyo chose the other girl. Sigh. Well, I'm actually not too disappointed. The guy called me Tuesday night late and broke it to me, but then was very complimentary. So much in fact, that he acted very sorry that they didn't choose me, and wanted to know if I was ok with his sending my demo to Disney World in Orlando, b/c he felt that I might be a good fit there. He told me I had a "perfect Disney princess voice" and he would really like to see me work for Disney. Um yeah, I think I'd be ok with that!!! I was actually rather relieved--he also told me that normally they give singers 5 months to prepare, like getting work visa and passport, and the only reason that there was a 6-week time crunch is that the original girl had dropped out. He said that it would have been very hard to get all the arrangements for me and my family to get over there in such a short amount of time. I know that with God all things are possible, but apparently this is not what He has in mind right now. And I am totally ok with that. My dad summed it up nicely: "Good. I can drive to Orlando. "

So, I am not holding my breath per se, but will just keep on living life and wait and see if they call. Oh yeah, and Billy Blanks and I will be getting together every day, believe me!

Update

Ok, here's the scoop so far. I don't know if I got the job yet, but I did make it into to the top 3!!!

Here's what happened:

I got into town Wednesday afternoon and met up with Alison, who kindly let me and mom stay at her house. (thanks Alison!) We had a good time catching up and then we were so tired we went to bed at 9:30 (11:30 cst), but I set the alarm for 7:30 in hopes that I would get 10 hours of sleep. I actually slept pretty well and got up about 7. My appointment was at 11, so we allowed ourselves a couple of hours to get there. It's only 35 miles away, but with California traffic, we wanted to be prepared. I was bummed b/c mom didn't bring the gps, and I am nervous about driving in CA. But Alison helped me google it, and we got there w/o too much mishap--I only took east instead of west once, haha. Mom was great help too--she helped navigate, and she didn't laugh when I did all the silly vocalises/warmups in the car on the way there. Thanks for being there for me, mom!

We were still so prepared that we got there an hour early. So I had to sit and and be nervous in the car until I couldn't stand it any longer, and went in at 10:25. They were already accepting folks at the sign-in sheet and I was second. I waited for about 20 minutes and then they called me back. I sang my song for them (30 seconds anyway) and then they gave me another song to learn. I was nervous, but the song was actually easy, and very pretty. It took me about 20 min to get it, and they were patient. Then they recorded me, which I didn't realize they were going to do, but it made since b/c they needed to send a demo to Tokyo. They gave me another song to learn, and sent me out with a cd to learn it, while they went on with more auditions. That song was really pretty too, and I came back and recorded it as well. Then the head guy asked me a series of questions; I guess this was kind of the "interview" part. He wanted to know if I had a passport, did I want to go to Japan to perform (um, yeah), and did I have any tatoos? Hahaha, that one kind of threw me, but they were looking for unmarked bodies, and I was happy to oblige. Then he asked me to speak into the camera and tell a little about myself and why I wanted the job. All in all it was easy. The people were so nice, the pianist was good, and the longer I was there, the more I enjoyed myself and quit being nervous. The head guy gave me a little info about the job, and I was able to ask some of my own questions, like, can I bring my family (yes, but we would have to find a different place to live), can I get passes for my children for the park (yes), etc. They would also help me get a work visa.

Then I asked him, "well, I kind of need to know if you think this will be a go, as I'd like to let my husband know so he can start making arrangements." He told me that they will send the top 2 or 3 demos to Japan by fedex, then those folks will decide who they want. Then he told me, "you are definitely in the top 3--your demo is going over; then it's up to Tokyo Disney to decide who they want." Whooooooooh! Yippeeeee!! But how nerve-wracking!!!! Anyway, they thought they could have an answer for me that day, but of course it would take longer. So they told me I'd know something by next Tues or Wed; and that they'd call and let me know either way.

It looks like a great show--I went to Crissy's last night, and we googled it til we found a recording of the show!!! I am so excited b/c its the real thing. And of course it has the 2 songs that they had me record. You can check out the show here. I have to warn you though, the show lasts about 20 minutes, so make sure you've got time to watch it. Also, the first number is only instrumental, and the vocalist comes on later.

I'm ok either way: if I don't get the job, I still had a great time in CA, visiting with friends and jamming with the folks at Disney--and I get to stay home. If I do get the job, it will be a fun, hassling, educational experience. As soon as they call, I'll let you know.

Cali, here I come

Ok, booked my flight and I'm gonna do it! I am nervous but excited. I will leave next Wednesday, audition on Thursday, and fly back on Friday. I think it is a win-win situation. If they like me and offer me the job--great! I get to go to Japan for 8 months with my family. If they don't offer me the job, I get to stay home and NOT leave comfort zone--which is also great! we'll see...

Oh, forgot to mention in all the excitement that I got a role in "Into the Woods". I got Jack's Mother. It is a great character role and will be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, if I get the job at Disney, I will have to leave the show, bummer. So, life will be um, exciting, either way...

Check out the audition info here.

Out of the blue...

Ok, just got an email from Disney, CA; requesting me to come and audition for Tokyo Disney--they need a Celtic vocalist. Agh! how cool is that? I think I might do it (audition that is..)
who knows? I might just get it.
Here are the details: Thursday, 1/17 in North Hollywood. They even offered me an appointment and greeted me by name in the email! I can't believe they kept my info for so long--I auditioned for "Aladdin" in June 05! They had told me "thanks for coming; you're not quite right for Aladdin, but we'll keep your info." Well, I guess they did...

It would be an 8 month run from March to Nov if I got the job. But I could sing "celtic woman" all day long. and homeschool my children in a foreign land. How cool would that be?!

I'll let you know if I decide to go...

New pics of us

Merry Christmas! Crissy kindly took our family pics this year. I am so pleased with the results--thanks friend!

Chris's work party was the other night. I was at work for most of it, but got invited to come up and sing with Adam when I got home. Found out that while I was not there, my child party crashed in my place. He had those folks laughing so hard Crissy told me. Every 5 minutes, he would go back for more food, and all the grandmothers in the room were right there to help him if needed. Crissy finally had to tell him no more food or he was in trouble. haha. I am so glad she and I have that kind of relationship. I told her she shoulda just told him to GO HOME. But she said he was too entertaining.

As far as the entertainment goes, singing with Adam was a BLAST. Thanks Adam for letting me sing backup. It has always been a little dream of mine to do backup singing in a band. I can do solos ok, and I do enjoy them. But I am a team player, and love to do things with other people. I think that's why I enjoyed being a choir teacher so much. (Although that comes with its own stress).

Speaking of team playing, I auditioned for a show last night. "Into the Woods", a Sondheim musical; which is basically like "fractured fairy tales" on Rocky and Bullwinkle. It combines Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and maybe a couple others. It takes a humorous and sometimes cynical view of what happens after "happily ever after".

The audition was actually a lot of fun. I wasn't too nervous. I got to read the parts for Red Riding, Jack's Mother, the Witch, and the Baker's Wife. Jack's Mother was my favorite. I'd forgotten how much I love to perform in musicals and stuff. I've been thinking of doing a show lately, as I think it helps in teaching. It gives me a better perspective as I am trying to get certain concepts across to my students and it keeps me on my toes. I won't know until after Christmas if I made it into the show but I'll let you know. I went with my boss (the owner of the music studio) and my sister. I would love it if we all made it into the show together. I am not keen on doing a show "by myself", with no friends I mean. It is hard to do a show or be a part of a group when most or all the folks around you are non-believers. Been there done that.

I think it will be good for me too as I've been feeling a little restless lately. Not sure, but thinking it's probably the health and emotional things we've gone through lately. I think the show would be a healthy and fun, well, not diversion, but a therapy, so to speak, to get me back on my feet and give me something fun to help me move on. God has given me a gift and I'm thinking this would be a fun way to use it.

Christmas it coming faster and faster every year. How come it is not still the first of November? or the middle of October for that matter? My mom and dad are going out to see Jacob for Christmas so we will celebrate with them a little early. But good thing for us is that Tracy, Justin and Solomon are coming out for 2 weeks, yippee! I can't believe they will be able to stay so long. I am looking forward to having a long time to visit and catch up. We won't have to play family tag either, as my family will be gone for 8-9 days. So I will have plenty of time to hang out with Frank's family.

Well, speaking of my mom, gotta go so I can get to her house today. Catch you later!

bothering

Something's been floating around in my head bothering me lately, so I think I'll get it off my chest and feel better. I know you understand.

I am not a good picture taker. I have not taken nearly enough pictures of my children. Then I think 'what's enough'? I went back to work not long after Steven was born and had suffered post-partum depression mess, so I just didn't care for awhile. Another part of me doesn't consider myself a good photographer, and it's an insecurity--therefore an excuse to not take pictures. Also, every time I go to use the digital camera, I've used it so infrequently that I can't remember how to get the pics onto the computer once I've taken the pictures, can't remember how to charge the stupid thing when it's going dead, and can barely remember how to turn the dang thing on.

But something got me thinking the other day. I've finally got our home in order and pulled out all the pictures we had stored while away and put them back out. Steven went around to see all of them and kept asking me: "mama, is that one me? is that one me?" over and over. And I saw that most of them are of Frankie! Agh! A terrible sense of guilt washed over me as I realized that I have slighted Steven by not taking any pictures (or as many) of him. What's bad is his babyhood is a little blurry to me as we were trying to get enough money to go to school and I was working sometimes 50 or 60 hours a week. Frank pretty much was raising the boys during that time. (Thank God that time is over!)

So I went into the cedar chest and pulled out every picture of Steven I could find and framed about 4 pictures and set them out. Even the newborn picture. When they get home from grandparents on Saturday I plan to take him around and show him all his pictures.

Anyway, I have a renewed sense of duty to my youngest to make sure he knows that he is loved as much as his brother. Even if I have to resort to good 'ol archaic film camera. I know how to use those! Anyway, y'all gotta help keep me accountable.
thanks.

movie quotes

Since we've been sick, there have been many movies watched over the past couple of weeks. here are some of my favorite quotes; see if you can guess which movies they came from:

(whoever guesses them all will receive a hearty congrats comment from me to their blog.)

"But I don't want to go among mad people..."

"Hey! Now those were alphabetized!"

"You gots to puckah up yo lips like dis..."

"Virtually indestructable, yet breathes like Egyptian cotton."

"I think it would help, if you'd sort of open your umbrella and say, 'tut, tut, it looks like rain'."

"If he were here right now, I'd kiss'im--right in front of everybody!"

"Some children just don't know when to stop pretending."

"Are they gone yet? My cheeks are killing me! I think it's time for a little break..mm-hmmm...time for a little break..."

"Let's go meet the Pansies!"

"Are we THERE yet?"
"We get there when we GET THERE!"

"Hey fellas....we got ourselves a nodder..."

"You must pull yourself together! Go! Fight! Win! and call me in the morning, dahling--you know I love our little talks..."

"I'm just thinking about the first time I laid eye on you."

"She just loves me for my body."

News

We have been sick for almost 2 weeks now. This is the second Sunday in a row that we've missed church. I hate that. Paige M. and I had a conversation that even when you miss one Sunday, you are completely out of the loop. It started on halloween with Steven coughing and throwing up. ( I knew they must have called it the devil's holiday for some reason). Then Frankie got a fever, then it spread to Frank and then to me. I guess I could be thankful that we weren't all sick at the same time and I was at least able to take care of my boys. My sickness is the tail end of it I think, with a bad cough, sore throat and post-nasal drippy mess.

On another note, the Church Christmas Bazaar was yesterday. I had a jewelry booth and did pretty well--so for the past couple of months, my life has not been my own. It has belonged to this crazed woman who is up at all hours of the night trying to put together jewelry sets to sell at the bazaar. I haven't added up my costs, but I came home with $140 more than what I started with. Yippee! I notice that more of the less expensive necklace/earring sets sold, and lots of the earrings sold. Which doesn't surprise me: most people are like me--they like to spend 10 dollars or less at a booth at a craft show. That's totally fine with me. I am good with bringing home 140 bucks. I will just use the sets I didn't sell as gifts. Oh, I also got about $50 worth of orders; that helps too.

Sometimes I am missing California. My friend Deannah had given me a bunch of cute clothes before we left, and most of them were winter clothes, so I've been wearing them every day. It makes me miss her so much. Thanks Deannah! I think of you every day when I put on your clothes.
The other day I got an email from Sandra, Alison, and Amy. They were goofing off in the office and were dressed in halloween clothes. It looked like so much fun! I miss you guys! I remember Dave loves to play practical jokes and last halloween, I got to work that morning and there was a huge (fake) tarantula on my cup of pens. I did do a double take (Dave I know you are laughing right now!). Then it took us all day to try to figure out who left the tarantula. For the longest time I thought it was Martin, who is notorious for having a laugh on other co-workers...then I though it was Albert, James, or Dan, who are all deceptively quiet but have evil senses of humor. I knew it couldn't have been Robert, who is just too nice with his Texas charm. But, eventually someone (I think it was Karin) spilled the beans that it was really Dave. Haha. Thanks for the laugh!
The other day I was making one of my necklaces and I thought of Jackie too, as I made one very similar for her right before we left. Jackie, hope you and Marc and Max and Noelle are doing ok--keep in touch!

A little birdie told me Alison is on a trip to Hawaii with her husband for their 30th anniversary...Congratulations Alison and Mike!!! Hope you have had a blast!

Abraham is back in India. Sangeetha should be giving birth any day now...Frank talks to him about once a month. I think Abraham is glad to have put school on hold for awhile and be back in India with his wife. I will let you know about the baby as soon as we hear anything.

Frank is immersed in his job as a Biology/Science/Bible teacher at a Christian school. The stories he comes home to tell me!! Nothing like a first year of teaching. Makes me so glad to be teaching music lessons where I get ONE kid at a time, for ONLY 30 minutes at a time! Whew! I couldn't have any of this 50 minutes at a time with 30 kids cooped up in one room! And he does this all day. I pray for him daily: that he won't get burned out, and that he won't fall asleep in the car driving to or from work. It is a 1.25 hour drive, as the school is 55 miles away. He generally drives 55-60 mph only, as you can get up to 50 miles more to a tank of gas. Pretty cool. But he is learning a lot about teaching, kids, and himself. Needless to say, he may be looking for something a little closer to home next year.
Frank's class at BTS is going really great though, from what he's told me. I think he's even ok with it being from 6-8am on Mondays, because his students actually WANT to be there. (Not so with the high school kids). And he has a lot of fun teaching something he truly loves: Apologetics. His students are all adults and like to make him think.

My parents are planning to go see my brother for Christmas in Monterey, CA (northern). I don't know if I'd told you already, but Jacob is in the Air Force, learning Chinese at a language school out there. He will either get a job in Intelligence, or go on for Officer Training School. He and Tansy and Ashlyn will be out there for another year and then will be deployed to Maryland, Hawaii, or Japan. Their wish is Hawaii of course! I wish we could go back out there for a visit, but it will be a while, as it is expeeeeeeensive! Email and phone will have to suffice.

Steven tells me every day: "Mama, I need to tell you something." And I'll say, "What?" His reply: "I love you!". Now we all say it to each other. Each child has his own way of showing affection, it is so funny to see their personalities come out.

ok, I think that's mostly everything....

Time for a new post...

Things are going great here, but I know I need to update you on what's going on in our lives. My apologies for taking so long--we've been so busy! I know, you say "Cry me a bucketful, why don'tcha?" hahahaha...
Anyway, here goes...

I guess the biggest thing is that although the job was going fine at the funeral home, there was something still not sitting completely right with me. I've been wanting to be at home with the boys for awhile, and have been half praying that it could work out. you know what I mean, more like wishful thinking b/c you can't bring yourself to believe that God would be able to work it out for you etc. A.K.A. lack of faith. I started to seriously consider what I could do in order be with my children more. We were also struggling with the school system here. Birmingham school system is not that great. In fact, it is pretty low on the totem pole of schools in general. We will also be moving the middle of September to another district (next-door to my best friend, yippee), and were worried about dealing with changing schools in the middle of a term. I carried around a general sense of unease, like, 'I don't know what to do about this, and I don't want to think about it right now.' I was discussing my options with Crissy one day a couple months ago, and she brought up homeschool. At first, a host of insecurities jumped up: I am not smart enough, disciplined enough, lack of socialization, I'm too selfish, etc. I finally told her that if God wanted me to homeschool, then He would put it on my heart--just like He did when we decided to move to California to go to school. Heehee. I guess you probably know what's coming. Suffice it to say that we have been homeschooling successfully for the past 3 weeks, and it is going fine. There are ups and downs, but it is definitely worth it.

So, bout 6 weeks ago, I put in a 3-week notice at the funeral home, and started signing up voice students. Thanks be to God, I am bringing in the same amount of $$ I was working 40 hours/week, except now only working about 15 hours! (I could still use about 5-6 more students, so pray when you think about it.) Now I teach some week-day afternoons, and Saturday; and am home most of the day with the boys. The interesting thing is, the girl they hired to replace me at work was from California and had moved to AL a little before we had! I had a week to train her, and it went well! She has a lovely little girl, and after talking with her a while, found out she's a believer! So, she is visiting our church. Very fun.

Speaking of church, we are attending Community Presbyterian. Never been Presbyterian before. It is such a great church--I love hearing the Gospel proclaimed to me every time I cross the threshold. Thanks CPC folks--you guys are great!

I have been able to reconnect with several great friends--KimH and Naomi--we've gotten together and hung out a couple of times; so much fun!!!! I see Crissy, Kim and Terri every Friday night. And lots of new faces that I am getting to know. We are also moving earlier than expected--our old home became available sooner, so we're moving this weekend. It will be nice to be in comfort zone again.

I am looking forward to a trip to California in a week and a half. Going to serve as an attendant and sing at Deannah's wedding. She has become one of my closest friends from out west. I am excited to see all my friends again and catch up. If you are reading this from L.A.--I miss you and will see you soon!!

Well, that was a lot, but I feel like it doesn't really even half cover it. Oh well. Thanks for sharing in my life. Leave me comment and let me know how it's going.

Stuff

It’s raining. And the rain is making me very happy. We’d come home to about a 6-month drought. The locals informed us that we were down 18 inches for the year, and that it was a state record. But it is finally raining. Well, Texas is finally sharing, that’s all…
After living in the land of eternal sunshine and concrete, it is nice to hear the rain on the roof, and see all the green here. I found it interesting that last week, the Governor of AL, Bob Riley, called for all of us to pray collectively as a state for rain. And the funny thing is, or miraculous for that matter, is that our fervent prayers were answered, and God sent some rain over from Texas. Thank you Jesus.

Well, bout time to go cut some grass…



I have some exciting, stupendous, and marvelous news that you will never believe. After months of battling, pleading, praying, and yes, unashamed bribing, my son is pooping in the potty!!!! (and there is a heavenly host in the background singing in 4-part harmony!!!) And it was nothing to do with me or his dad, or his brother. It had everything to do with his being ready. It was if a light switch went on from night to day—I am not kidding. One day he was using a diaper, and the next day he was going potty all day and wearing underwear. He told me he’d gone while in Sunday School (we’ve been putting him in pull-ups when we go out), but his teacher didn’t tell me, and I half did not believe him. But then that night, he asked to go again, and he actually produced! Of course that prompted a quick trip to the store to get the bribe—a ring pop! Which Frank gladly went to get. And ever since, he’s been going all the time. Decided he’s a big boy now, and talks about it to anyone who will listen—even (and especially) in public. But, I am so thankful. Now on to driving…


My brother is graduating from BASIC Air Force Training this weekend in Lackland, Texas. I am so proud of him! Now he will be off to language school in Monterey, CA, where he’ll learn an Asian language (most likely Japanese or Korean) and then be trained to work with one of those countries’ intelligence departments. Oh yeah, top secret stuff, baby! And trips to the Orient to visit family. I am trying to be optimistic and think, what a great opportunity for Jacob, Tansy, and Ashlyn, and wow, how cool will that be to go and visit them in Japan—and not think: I won’t see my brother and his family except maybe every 5 years!!! But, I could never be selfish and hold him back. He is so excited—please pray for him when you think about it.

The Drive Home

This is my first chance to talk about how the trip home went. We didn't get going on time: the goal was 6 a.m. that first morning and we didn't actually leave til about 8:30, but we only needed to make it to Phoenix by 4:30 p.m., so we did ok. About halfway between Los Angeles and the CA/AZ state line, I got a call from my sis (the one that lives in TX), that went something like this:

Me: "hello?"
Sarah: "hey."
Me: "what's up?"
Sarah: "I have some good news."
Me: "oh?"
Sarah: "Yeah. I'm tired of living in TX; the EMT thing's not working out; Subway's not working out, and I'm coming home. Just thought I'd let you know."

Yippee!! Couldn't have heard much better news than that! See, she'd moved out to TX back in September to go to Paramedic school, but didn't know til after she moved that they wouldn't pay her schooling (like she'd been led to believe); they'd only reimburse her after the fact. So she got out there and got stuck working at WalGreen's and Subway. And was totally miserable. I was so happy to hear she was coming home!!! So, by the end of our conversation, we'd convinced her to load her stuff up with ours when we got to her place, and we'd take her home too. Which we did.

So great news by the time we got to AZ. We stopped at a cousin's to attend a graduation--incidentally, it was over a hundred degrees when we got there; hot as you know where. Only a precursor for the rest of the summer too. But no humidity, so my hair did great, haha.

We left out the next morning for College Station, TX. Mapquest said it was supposed to be a 16.22 hour drive from Phoenix to College Station. Well, we decided to go for it. Left at 7:30 that morning and trucked on towards our destination. 16 hours later we'd barely made it to somewhere around San Antonio....uh oh. So, about 11 p.m. CA time, Sarah called and said "hey, are y'all getting close?". Um. no. But, we decided to stop and grab a bite to eat and then keep trucking. So yeah...we finally pulled into her place at 3:30 a.m. CA time--5:30 CST! We'd been going straight for 20 hours!!!! By the last hour or 2, we were doing everything possible to stay awake! haha. Playing the radio loud, and talking and trying to stay awake. (and praying). But thank the Lord, we made it ok, and Sarah had beds waiting for us. We slept for a few hours and then got up and packed her up. We didn't have any room left in our truck, so we rented a little U-Haul and hooked it up to the back of our Honda; which is how we'd moved to CA in the first place. We started on the last leg of our trip on Saturday morning, and pulled into Birmingham about 9 p.m. that night. So, 40 hours/4 days later, we made it home safe and pretty uneventful.
I know we had several folks praying for us...thanks so much!

Graduation

I've been wanting to post pics of Frank's graduation from Talbot so y'all could see, but I realized he did it for me on his blog. Check it out here.

I'll post more later bout how our trip home went.

I've been tagged...

Oops. This is the first chance I've gotten to sit down and catch up on other friend's blogs, and I realized Abbey tagged me back on May 3. For heaven's sakes. Where is my head? Anyway, lest I fail as a true quirky friend, let me post my seven:



1. I do not like sand between my toes. Or in any other crevice of my body for that matter.

2. I was born with a form of club feet. Yup, wore casts and all, til I was 2 years old.

3. I work in a funeral home.

4. I have been a dental assistant, a music teacher, a restaurant server, a student, a finance secretary, a grocery store cashier, an opera chorus singer, and an advocare representative.

5. I hate to excercise, but love how I feel after it's over.

6. I have a secret fear of meeting new people. I know you don't believe me...But once the ice has been broken, I'm fine.

7. My grandmother and I have the same pinkie toe.

ok, there's my seven.

I tag:

Kim H.
Crissy S.
Sandra N.
Alison A.
Megan J.
Miriam A.
Kim P.
Jenn C.
Jawan M.
Deannah E.
Jackie C.

Now we'll see who's keeping up with Amber....ok, all you Biola folks, good chance for my AL friends to meet you, teehee. If you don't have a blog, please leave your seven in the comments section. Let the fun begin!

Back in the Habit

Well, I'm back. Sorry it's been a while. I've missed posting, but haven't had a lot of time, as I got a job TWO DAYS after I got home. Agh! Talk about not letting any grass grow under my feet. Anyway, we got home Saturday night, 6/2; I was over at my mom-in-law's the next day checking the Sunday paper want ads, called on Monday to apply to the funeral home for receptionist position; had one interview on Monday; a second on Tuesday morning, and by Tuesday afternoon, had a full time job with benefits! yippee. I almost didn't take the job, just cuz they offered so quick! I felt a little jinxed or something. But, I'd prayed for several things:

1. To find a job with professional people who would be nice to work with
2. To find a job close to home, so I could go home every day at lunch (which doesn't happen very often in Alabama)
3. To find a job with benefits.
4. To find a job that was not too stressful, so I could leave it there at the end of the day.
5. To find a job quickly

Every stipulation was answered, thank you Jesus! The folks seem pretty nice (so far...); the job's only 4 miles away from home; it has great benefits; I got it quickly; and it's not terribly stressful. Weeeeelllll, I say not too stressful, except the day I started, Monday, the funeral home had 13 new cases come in over the weekend, which was a record for them. Needless to say, it was a tad crazy my first couple of days. I made it ok--nothing like jumping in with both feet! but, it helped me learn their phone system quicker, which was probably the hardest part of the job.

So, I think everything's ok...It seems about like working in a medical office. It's mostly answering phones and creating files for the cases (dead people). The work is nice and boring (Shelley, I know you get me!) But instead of working with doctors and nurses, I work with funeral directors. I think I've hit it off with them ok; they like my perky personality. Most of them are a lot older than me. Maybe it'll help liven the dead folks, who knows. I know you are probably wondering what it's like to work at a (ew) funeral home? It's not that bad, actually. Although I am front line, I get to pass the folks off pretty quick and don't have to deal with too much.

I'll let you know if anything else interesting pops up. more later.

May be the last post for a while...

So, some random thoughts before I go:

Ok, getting down to the end now. I've been busy packing everything we don't use on a daily basis, i.e. books, knick-knacks, special appliances/dishes, cold-weather clothes (since we don't have real winter here, only occasional cold weather), etc.

Mom, Gran and Maw-maw got here yesterday. Everything went well on the flight out. Maw-maw did ok despite her hip. They are all in fine spirits and it is good to have them here.

We're trying to eat up the last of the food. We've had mashed potatoes 3 days in a row trying to use up the box...I think my family is going to rebel about mashed potatoes and we probably won't have them again for six months.

Still have to shovel out my bedroom. It is the junk-collecting place, as it's the last room that anyone sees. So, you know, you throw everything you don't have a specific place for in there, til you can deal with it later. Well, later is now, unfortunately for me.

American Idol: Kinda bummed Melinda got booted. I really liked her and thought she was very professional. So, if I hafta choose between Blake and Jordin....definitely Jordin.

LOST: Hmmmmmm.....I am probably going to miss it tonight. Several reasons: Frank is still working on that final paper, and doesn't have time to watch it. And I can't very well watch it without him as that would just be wrong. And I wouldn't do that to him.
Also, American Idol finale is on tonight and I can't very well miss that either. So....ABC posts some of their shows online, including LOST. We'll just watch it later when we have time...hahaha, if that ever happens.

Speaking of papers, yeah. Frank has one 25 page paper left on Bioethics. He liked the class but I think has been secretly dreading the paper. (Is there anyone who doesn't dread 25 page papers on Bioethics?) Anyway, I think his topic is Invitro and genetic engineering or something like that. you go babe.

Busy trying to get in time these last few days to say good bye to my friends here. I wish you all could meet Deannah, Jackie, Alison, Sandra, Miriam, Jenn, Jenn (there are 2 of them), Shelley, Megan, Heather, etc, etc, etc. These are all women that have been there for me and have prayed for me, laughed with me and encouraged me while I've been on my 2 year trip. And now I have to say good bye. I'll be back in September to serve as an attendant in Deannah's wedding, which I am very excited about!!
I love them all dearly, and want you all to know that I was in good hands while in CA...

Last tee-ball game is tonight. Tee-ball and I have had a love-hate relationship these past few years. It is p'haps the most boring thing I've ever had to endure. but, know what? It has been so good for Frankie. He is so ok in a group now, and he used to be really shy. He loves to "show off" for family members, and I do have to say, he has an excellent slide. He has also earned the "game ball" 3 times this season! (Best player per game earns the game ball.) And, it's getting not as boring b/c the boys are getting older and more experienced, so it more closely resembles a real baseball game. This year they also graduated to no tee. So we can't even refer to it as tee-ball anymore. I better start enjoying it, b/c I'm afraid I'm stuck with it for awhile...Steven has been begging to play for the past 3 years, and will finally be old enough spring '08. the story of my life...

We will also miss our housemate, Abraham. Please pray for him: his wife is expecting their first baby, and he would very much like for her to get here before she delivers (she is still in India). They are working on a visa, but the U.S. Embassy can be very stubborn. Please pray that God will soften their hardened hearts and let Sangeetha come be with her husband.
Abraham and Frank have hit it off with this sarcastic, funny, guy kind of relationship, and I know we'll really miss him.

We keep telling people that they have friends in AL now, so they should come visit. That would be so cool if some of our CA friends could come visit the South. Lots of people out here have never been to the East coast. I think it was so good for us to get out of our comfort zone and move to a "foreign" land. Our horizons are definitely broadened, and I find that I am not nearly as self-centered as I was before, and I have a new appreciation for different cultures.

Ok, well I'm tired now and I can't think of anything else to say. Pray for us that we get packed up ok, get all the details wrapped up and that our trip will go well. We leave early morning, May 30th, with stops in Phoenix, AZ; College Station, TX, and then home. So maybe pull in sometime Saturday morning?....we'll see....

See you soon!

Been Awhile

Ok, been gently reminded by my good friend Jawan (otherwise known as the "Blog Cop" *grin*) that I need to post again. Well, it's cuz I am so busy is all...we're coming down to the end, and it's starting to get, well, a little crazy. Here's what's going on:


--Frank is down to 2 and 1/2 papers.


--Both of us searching Monster and madly posting resumes and hoping for emails and phone calls offering us the most perfect jobs in the whole wide world.


--Setting up the truck rental through Penske. We are driving the truck and our car. Plan as of today is for my mom, Frank's mom and grandmother to come out and see us for graduation. Then, Frank's mom/grandmother are going to fly the boys back home while me, my mom, and Frank will drive across the U.S. Plan is to leave early 5/30 and go to Phoenix, AZ and stay with Frank's family. Then 5/31 get up and drive to College Station, TX to see my sister (16 hours to get there, ugh.) Then we'll only be 12 hours from home....so we'll see how it goes.


--Looking for someone to fill my post here in Accounting at Biola. So far, no one. But we do have one possibility.


--Madly getting everything together at work--creating a manual, just in case they don't hire someone before I leave--which it's looking more and more like that everyday....


--Pumping the boys up about going home...they are getting excited, although I don't think Steven remembers much...Frankie, however, has the memory of an elephant.


--Catching as many days of Angels' Baseball and Disneyland as we can before we go...


--Getting to all the rest of the tee ball games before we go...


--Getting sad and glad all at the same time. Sad to leave friends we've made here. Glad to be seeing family and friends when we get back.

So, 25 days and counting...