My mind.

I have so much on my mind that I can't even seem to think right. I can't even remember stuff. I don't think I even brushed my teeth yesterday morning!! Last night when I was getting ready for bed, I went to brush my teeth and I couldn't find the toothpaste. I had gotten a new toothpaste out of my bag I got free at CE. Well you would think that if I got it out in the morning it would be opened and in the bathroom, but it wasn't. It was sitting on the desk by my bag in the office. I took it out yesterday morning, and must have gotten distracted and left it lay. I forgot to drop Grandma's chairs off again. They've been in the trunk of my car all week. I've been forgetting about the stupid medicine I'm suppose to be taking for my toothache which isn't feeling too much better yet! I kept forgetting that my son's birthday is on Monday.......had to send a last minute gift. My car is acting up, and I'm driving to Fargo today to move my daughter who still doesn't have a move-in date! We want to move on Sunday, but don't know if we can.
But it's just little things that will all work out...so it's ok. I just need to chill a bit. :)

And I found this quote on another blog. It's so good.

"many people are not reaching their full potential because their thinking patterns are defective. you cannot think negative thoughts and expect to live a positive life. you can't think thoughts of failure and expect to suceed. your life will follow your thoughts." joel osteen

Happy Birthday Scarlett!

It's your day today! I hope you enjoy every moment of it...you deserve it. :)
I will never forget the day that you...the new girl on the street.....came over to introduce yourself to me. What a blessing you have been from that day on. I treasure your friendship! God is good.
Have a wonderful blessed day my friend...and if I get to see you later, I have something for you. Notice previous post, I made those for you. Sorry they didn't turn out as good as they were suppose to, but I tried. :)

What I am not!

Ok, so I just had to try the lovely Cake Balls that I've been reading about on www.bakerella.com
Well.....let's just say that I need to work on them or just admit that I have other talents and let it go. I am not a Cake Ball maker!
Here's my picture:


I will say though that I've heard that my brother is saying that his surprise Party was the BEST party he's ever had! I'm ok with that! Billie Jo and I did alot of planning and I am pleased that he is happy about the day.

I am not so happy about the fact that now I have to go visit the Endodontist! The very same tooth that has given me problems in the past and has been opened twice already....needs more help! I guess it's possible that it has an accessory canal somewhere in there. Well there's definitely something in there causing the pain. And now I'm back on antibiotics again. I'm starting to wonder if this one tooth is worth all the trouble. It is tooth number 31 so yes, I suppose it is worth it. I just hope that the Endodontist isn't going to cost more than I can afford. We'll see.

The Party!

The Birthday Guy:


Well we did it! Larry was surprised. He said he kinda knew something was up...but we did surprise him after all. There were about 50 people there including the kids. We got home about 12:30 last night....people stayed late! Everything went well. Everyone loved the "old" candies on the tables. I think it brought back memories for many people. I know for myself going to the store with 25 cents to buy candy was a good day! We got alot of stuff in our little brown bags!
We served chili, beer bread, crackers, corn salsa and chips, Glen's kettle corn, soda, and cake.
As usual, I forgot to take pictures of the tables before anyone got there! I would like to start keeping a book of these ideas, etc, but I do need to take the pictures. Here are some of the pictures from the night.
This picture is from Friday night....Glen made a 13 gallon bag full of his Kettle Corn. There was only about 3 cups of it left after the party! :)

Popcorn containers I bought at Hobby Lobby...they were perfect!Tables:


Alittle messy already but this is the idea...Old candy in containers, photo confetti, Candles, candy cigarettes.

Another Hobby Lobby purchase...the plate stand.

The silverware and napkins all wrapped.
The soda's ready for the ice!This is where we had the sodas.....so fun.

Party Planning

Ok, just have to say my Party Planning doesn't include cleaning out old sheds! Glen and I went to Larry's to "decorate". Before we could do that though, we HAD to clean. Old stuff had to be moved out of the way. Well in doing that....I saw MICE running away!!! I was done touching anything after that! There were boxelder bugs, nats, and spiders too! YUCK YUCK! And it's hot out. I guess that it wasn't that bad considering it IS a farm shed that houses Tractors, etc. I know Billie Jo would have helped us but she was mowing all day.
I also cut my hand (ok, not bad just a tiny cut) on an old rusty sign I'm using so all the while I'm working in this Mice infested shed...I'm thinking now I'm not only going to get tetanus, but hantavirus too!!
I got to thinking about family during this episode and this is what I was thinking. I'm thankful that my brother has someone in his life that cares enough about him that she would want to do this for him. And I'm thankful that Glen was so willing to help me because I would have walked away and not got it done! All my planning for nothing.
I feel bad that Billie Jo still has so much to do. I hope she will be able to get it done.
I'll post a couple pictures after a bit.
This is while we were cleaning....floor is wet.
Banners and lights are up.

Playtimes

I watched the girls yesterday for a while. I had them a bit longer than planned since Larry forgot to stop by and pick them up! He's getting old!! 40 tomorrow!!
We had to get ice cream then go to the park. Had Rosa's Pizza for supper. Hannah beat me at 3 games of Candyland. And we played Barbies. I hadn't played Barbies in a very long time. It was fun. Our Barbies went swimming and rollerskating. :)
Hannah and I were talking about her cat and I called it a "she". But Hannah said it's a "he". I asked her how does she know it's a he? Well, her answer was this, "because my mom named him Simon". :) Guess that's all it takes to be a he or she in a little girls eyes.
I will be going to decorate today for the Party tomorrow night. I think I have everything ready.
It should be fun.

Back in the swing of things

Well I'm back to the regular stuff! Today I thought "I want to go back to Lifelight". It's so much easier to do the right thing when you are around a bunch of people worshiping God!
I've been trying to put some Worship music on at work. I need that to keep focused on good. It does help.

Things are really coming together for the big Party! Larry doesn't seem to know anything so that is good. I will post some pictures once it's all over. I wrapped silverware tonight. Need to finish one more banner and fill the votive cups...with dirt, I think and then a tealight. That's vintage, isn't it?? I went to Minot with Billie Jo yesterday and she got alot of the groceries for the meal. Fun!

I've started a new Bible Study at Scarlett's church. It's a Beth Moore study called "A Woman's Heart". It's a study on the Sanctuary, which I have studied some. I think it will be a good study.

Off Again

I have to go to Bismarck for Dental meetings tomorrow. I know they will not be nearly as exciting as my last two weekends. But Jackie is going too so that will be good.
I got to watch the little girls tonight for a bit. They are so adorable! Sierra who will be 2 in October will tell you when you ask her where Si-Si (Destiny) is that she is at "college". Big word for a 2 year old! She misses Destiny. She has started being mean to her baby sister though. She bit her this week and covered her with the blanket and then sat on her too. Gotta watch her close.
I've been franticly working on things for the big surprise 40th party coming up. I got one flag banner done today....it's 20 yards long. I plan to do 4 of these. So easy! :) I have some photo confetti to make yet. Lots of last minute stuff too. Oh well. I don't work on Monday!! Yoo-hoo! I can get some stuff done then.

What Happens When Women Walk in Faith

Chapter 18 A Promise Made Is a Promise Kept
Lysa's words in Red.
I enjoyed reading how Lysa keeps her faith in God even when the outlook doesn't seem like it will be what we want it to be. We must say "It is Well with my Soul" even if it isn't going good. Not an easy task.
She shared how she wants to adopt a little boy and the process is slow, but she realizes that "the best place for him is where he can come to know God."
Our dreams do not always happen as we think they should..."We live in a fallen world with gaps and gut-wrenching injustices. But our souls can rise above the dusty roads of this earth into the victorious heavenly realm that is our real home. We must always remember this place is but a stop along the way, not our real destination."
Kelly and I were just talking about this at work today. We forget that this is just a part of our life. There is so much more to come. Maybe we won't get all of our dreams to come true, just so we become closer to God...that's all that matters.

Chapter 19 God Brings Dreams to Life
"The joy of the journey is not simply reaching the promised land. The real joy was experiencing God throughout all the phases of faith. "
Pretty impressive statement. God is real and He is there for us....all the time. I think that in each experience we go through we have the opportunity to get closer to Him. Let that be our peace in the trials.
"As I've said over and over, the important thing is not what you do for God but rather that you come to know and believe Him along the way."
It's really all about getting to know the One who gives us eternal life. Never give up on your journey. The most important part of life is Him.

Another Fabulous Weekend!

As I said in my last post I went to Aberdeen SD to go to Women's Retreat. It was a blessing to be there! The Micheff Sisters were our guest speakers. These women LOVE Jesus! It was really good to hear their stories of how God has been so good to them and how they have put their trust in Him. Good stuff! I did get a photo with them. I had the responsibility of making sure they had everything they needed for the weekend so I thought I should get a picture with them. My job was so easy as they were just so kind and really didn't need much at all.

Brenda, Me, Cinda and Linda

We had 14 women from our church attend Retreat this year and that was so cool!! What a fun time we all had bonding together. Becasue this was Nicole and Steph's first year at retreat, we HAD to initiate them. It's tradition. Paybacks, however, are not! Karla easliy was able to get a key for their room before they arrived. We then toilet papered the room...hid the towels....short sheeted the beds....put some confetti in the beds....and wrote a few welcome notes. I think they were thrilled with our welcome!! :)
But we did this on Friday night so that left Saturday night.........not so good. Paybacks are tough!!
Our lovely newcomers decided to throw a few pranks our way. Amy and I were in our room when the girls tried to get in...but the key for our room that they got from the front desk wouldn't work so they had to run downstairs and get it re keyed. In the meantime, Amy and I decided to leave our room (bad idea). We were gone about 10 minutes and let me tell you....2 young girls can do alot in 10 minutes! We thought they might actually try to do something, but didn't think seriously about it. When we got back to our room we were welcomed by MINNOWS swimming in our sink and toilet!!! Real LIVE Minnows!

We stopped so fast and after screaming said to each other..."they DID get in here!" We immediately ran to their room and "thanked" them! They told us to make sure we check our shower...so we did.....and there were REAL LIVE WORMS in there! Can you believe it?? Who thinks of this stuff? At least they were nice enough to put the worms in a cardboard box so our shower didn't get dirty! Here's a picture of the worms
They actually did the very same things in our ajoining room that hosted Sandi, Marilyn, Karla and Sarah. In our room was Me, Amy, Lynette and Jan J.
They also left a few notes for us such as.. "Wanna go fishing?" and "We luv you"
Here are the 'lovely' girls who sent us fishing....
Nicole and Stephanie
Aren't they adorable!!!!! :)
And here is the group of us today:
In back l. to r. Me, Lynette, Jan, Karla, Cindy, Sandi, Marliyn, Jeanette
front l. to r. Amy, Sarah, Stephanie and Nicole. Not pictured are Vicky and her mom.
Saturday night at Perkins: Sarah, Sandi and Jan.


Some of the spiritual things at retreat were the Banquet we had on Sabbath afternoon. We feasted on wonderful food....with messages from God's word with music. It was good.
Let's not forget the Prayer wall where anyone could write a prayer or praise. We did lift those requests up to God.

I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful church family. It's something that I treasure! Lynette just called me tonight and said that she had a phone call from Linda Micheff and Linda shared with Lynette that The Micheff Sisters felt so Blessed to spend the weekend with the women of the Dakota's. We are good people. I personally hope that I can continue being that good person everyday.
The Micheff Sister's Website is: http://www.micheffsisters.com/news.html

Bags are packed...Again!

Yep...I'm heading out to Aberdeen in the morning. It's Women's Retreat Weekend which means lots of work and fun, laughing, sharing and not much sleep! I'm looking forward to it. We have 14 from our church going which it just so cool. I've gone before when there are just a couple of us and it just isn't nearly as much fun. Normally we have about 145 or so women. We plan for 150. I just got an email from our Leader and she wants us to make 5 more of our favors, etc.! I was not in the mood to decorate 5 more Chinese take out boxes, so I'm just doing 5 bags and I'll save them for us girls on the Retreat Committee. I told Jen that maybe I'd just throw a apple her way and that is good enough! It's fun to make stuff but when it's 150 of the same item, it's alot. Thankfully, I did have some help this year. Jan and Marilyn were awesome helpers!
So anyway....I'll try to get more blogging time in next week....that is until Friday when I have to go to Bismarck for Dental meetings....but that may be just a day trip, not sure yet.
I'm really missing reading everyone's blogs.
Well, until next time.........Blessings.

AMAZING!!

Ok, so it's really late here and I'm so tired, but I'm going to get this post done before I go to bed.
Lifelight was absolutely Amazing! Seriously! It is on my schedule to attend every year!!
We had a good trip down and checked into our motel. I was so excited to be there and I headed for our room #237. The maids were still getting it ready and were not very happy with the guy who gave us the room when it wasn't ready yet. But we were ok with waiting a few minutes, they were almost done. They let us in...we carried our things in, used the bathroom, etc, when I happened to look at our key and see the #247! I'm like "Oh my goodness!" we had the wrong room! I quickly went to get the maid and apologized....and moved to our correct room! Amy wasn't too happy with me. But we got over it.
We had no idea that Lifelight was held in the middle of a corn field. We literally drove through a path in the corn field. Before I went to Lifelight I started walking around town because I knew that there would be alot of walking to do there...and I was right. What I didn't condition myself for and should have was: 1. Standing for 2-3 hours at a time. 2. Being outside for 10 hours at a time (I'm not an outside person normally) and it was HOT and windy! and 3. Using porta potties. I have an idea for those things.........make them bigger! It's really really uncomfortable sitting down and having a urinal right next to your face. ..but we survived.
Because it was so hot, we didn't even eat alot and we ended up getting abit overheated on Saturday so we went back to the motel about 5 miles and rested abit. Ibuprofen was also used to help with the aches and pains.
I have to say the entire weekend was so uplifting. I never stressed about anything back home. It was just so busy and so worshipful. It truly was a blessing to be there. People were free to worship. People surrendered to God. There were about 100,000 people there each day. We looked back and saw just a sea of people.
Every concert was good, but my favorite has to be Leeland. Then......Lincoln Brewster, Bread of Stone. I loved seeing these musicians praise God! They were so real in their worship.
Amy's favorite was Switchfoot. In order to get a good spot for that concert we were early and had to stand through the Family Force 5 concert. That was not my kind of music...AT ALL! It got a bit wild. And during Switchfoot we had to step back a bit...we both got very claustrophobic! I highly recommend Lifelight. It's just an amazing experience!
Here are some pictures. Remember...I'm not a photographer! Amy has some good pics but she hasn't emailed them to me yet.
Me with the wonderful umbrella...trying to shield the sun.


Amy
Remedy Drive...a group from Lincoln NE
A bunch of people

Leeland...the picture is from the big screen. We were close, but unless you were standing in the pit area it was hard to get a closeup picture.
And this picture is so blurry...it shouldn't even be on here....but it is of the main stage. There were 5 stages and 100 bands. It was hard at times to decide which place to be at.