Graduation Party

Well, as I told you in my last post we went to Hontoon Landing for Faith's graduation party. I must say we enjoyed ourselves tremendously. Even Jake was good all weekend except for when we decided to tube down Blue Springs. He wanted to go, we walked the mile long trek to get to the spring head and then when we got there he changed his mind! He kept insisting that he couldn't swim (which was pointless any how since he had his life jacket on!). I told him he would be on the float with Cody and I and that he would be fine. He then proceeded to throw one of those fits than makes you, as their parent, want to crawl in a hole and die. I told him he WAS going to ride since every one else was already in the water. He did the whole "cat in the bathtub move". His little fingers grabbed a hold onto the handrail and as quickly as I would pry one hand loose the other would grab back on like Velcro! Then the screaming began. By the time I got him on the raft I had probably 10 people staring at me like I was the worst parent on the planet Earth! Needless to say, I refused to look at them in embarrassment. I just hope they came down to the end of the run where 15 minutes later Jake was jumping off the dock and swimming like a fish (Not drowning, obviously!). Other than that memorable moment, we rode the pontoon boats up and down the river and swam, fished, and just sat and talked in a peaceful environment. It had rain the entire weekend at home but since we were and hour and a half away we only had a few passing showers on Saturday. We took advantage of the rain by going to the boats and fixing lunch under our canopies, so the rain was actually nice since it cooled everything down a little. The only thing that was bad about the weekend is the fact that Mark now wants to do it every weekend! If that's the only bad thing, well, I can live with that!

Happy Mother's Day!

I had the best Mothers Day this year! The kids all decided to plan the day. They took us (Faith's mom and I) out to the lake with the Air boat, the jet skis, and a friends bass boat. We rode the tube behind the boats, rode the jet skis, and went sight seeing on the air boat. We played in the lake all day and just relaxed. Faith's mom experienced a few new things. She had never ridden on a jet ski or an air boat. She was a little apprehensive about riding the jet ski at first but after a few times around the lake she commented that she is gonna have to get one of those. She also wants to get an air boat too! She's so funny! We are all planning to go out on the river for a few days after Faith's graduation and rent a couple of pontoon boats and head for Blue Springs. I am really looking forward to that weekend too. I think this summer is going to be full of outdoor activities since we got the jet skis. I know Johnnie would be on it every day if we lived on a lake. (and I probably would be too!LOL)
I hope all Mothers had a great day themselves! Happy Mother's Day

Wow, it has been a while since I posted! There has been many changes since my last post. I started working in October. It has been a big relief to the budget. The income hadn't increased but he cost of living did, so we were really starting to struggle. I know we are not in that boat alone. I really know God has blessed my family with this job, I haven't held an office job since 1994 and all I could do was pray. I got the job over 52 other applicants and I know that was only through prayer.
My oldest son Johnnie, just graduated from the Police Academy and then took the state certification test and passed it! He has made us so proud. He is now working until the next semester starts again. He won't pursue becoming an officer until he completes his BA and BS degrees. He only has 3 semesters left and then he can start applying to the different police departments. He really wants to work in the Gainesville area but until he is 21 they won't consider him, which is actually a good thing. That way he won't be tempted not to finish his college education. He is seeing a wonderful girl named Faith. She is so much like him it is scary. She is a Senior in hign school, goes to College full time, works and is still has time for him. They are inseperable ands I think we love her as much as he does.
Jacob and Cody are doing good also. They are going to school and seem to be adjusting to me being at work now. I was really concerned about it since they had never known anything except me being at home. But as they say, kids are resilient. I think maybe more resilient that I am. it has taken quite a while to get in the groove of work and home responsibilities. Mark has also had to adjust. He helps with the dishes and vacumes and what ever else I can't seem to get done. He has really stepped up.
I must say. I am blessed!!

Almost there

Yippee! School starts in 1 more month. This has been a long summer. We, like many others, have been so broke we can't afford to do anything. With the price of gas, we can barely afford to go back and forth to work. I told my hubby that soon it will cheaper for him to stay home than to drive to work. He kinda looked at me funny with that deer in the headlights look. I think he thought I was serious. NOT!
I feel sorry for the kids but they are managing and they are really learning the words "We can't afford that". I was talking with my college and careers class about the economy and the importance of getting right with their careers and their money. As I explained to them, their generation (those under 30, especially) have never had to do without the extras. They don't know what it means to be broke and that it doesn't mean we can only spend $300 on an Ipod instead of buying the $500 one! I am really scared for the young people that are going to have to learn this lesson the hard way. They have a very false sense of entitlement and that they deserve everything they want just for being them! Many haven't even held part time jobs, bought their own cars, or paid for their own gas and insurance let alone pay an actual bill. They are not being very well equipped by their parents and it's a sad thing to see when they graduate and don't plan to go to college and find they don't even have the basic skill that McDonald's is looking for in an 18 year old.
I just ask that everyone prays for our youth. They have so many obstacles to overcome just to get through high school let alone get out into the world and to prosper as human beings let alone financially.

Slow down world, I need to step off for a while!

WOW! Life has been extremely hectic lately and it won't slow down for at least 2 more weeks. The class I blogged about last finally kicked off this morning. We also started a new music program called P-W-P (praise, worship, and prayer). I must say it was a success! We had a great time this morning singing praises to the Lord without a hymnal. We are not actually actually singing praise and worship music, but more of the contemporary stuff. There has been some rumbling in the church that we aren't versatile in our music so we thought it would be great to offer this along with our College and Careers class. We have also invited anyone else that would like to come but we are gearing it to the younger crowd.
This Friday is graduation for my oldest son, Johnnie. We have been gearing up for the past month for everything that happens at the end of the year along with the graduation stuff. 2 weeks ago was the prom and this week will be practice twice and then graduation Friday. Saturday night is the party, so I have to finish all of the shopping for that. And then comes all of the cooking. I am planning to make about 25lbs of potato salad, 5 gallons of baked beans and 50lbs of BBQ chicken, and that's just my half. Since we are doing a party for Johnnie and his best friend Eli there are going to be ALOT of people there. We also have all of the decorating to do on Saturday morning. Jake and Cody also have their year-end water days (Both on different days) so I have that to attend also.
Just when I get through with school and parties, the VBS for our church begins on Monday at 9am. I have to figure out when I am going to get the decorating and planning all completed for that too since I am teaching the pre-K and kindergarten class. They are expecting about 30 kids for that so I will be drained by the time I get home. All of this after I run a bus to and from VBS to pick up the kids that I brought with me last year in my Suburban. I have accumulated even more kids that want to come with me so I told them I need a bus to get them all there.
You know, my life is so blessed! I wouldn't trade it for anything but I would love a little more time between everything! I'm having difficulty stretching myself thin enough and there's ALOT of me to stretch to get thin!LOL

Major Changes!

Well, it's been a while since I last blogged but I have been very busy with some exciting Church changes. I have been conflicted with many things that go on in our Church lately. The elders of the Church don't seem to be very receptive to change, but change is what we need so badly. They don't realize that the youth need to be taught and "pumped up" and a different way than the 50-80 year old members of our congregation do. They don't like what is referred to as "7-11" music, 7 words repeated 11 times. Well, neither do I and that is not what we were trying to bring in. We tried to introduce mild, but contemporary music and have the words projected on the walls. They approved the cost of the projectors, had them installed, and they worked wonderfully! Until....we started using them for the purpose they were purchased for. Then the uproar began. Needless to say, we don't project music on the walls anymore. The only use they get is for re-reporting the bulletin that you are handed as you walk in the door, and occasionally for a special type of video presentation. Our music and choir director were heart broken and devastated since they felt that their ministry was attacked. They are also forward thinking people that have similar ideas of what potential our Church has for growth if we would be open minded to other forms of music and different teaching strategies. We have a big movement of young adults about to take place. They have nothing being offered to speak to their hearts in the way that their generation has been taught to experience things. Visually, musically, and technically. The youth today have been inundated with video games, music TV, cell phones, texting, and other electronic devices almost from birth. Now we are asking them to come to Church and unlearn how to be their age! You are trying to cram the "elderly church" down the throats of young adults and they are choking to death on it.
We are going to be graduating almost 75% of our high school youth group in June and as of last month we had no where for them to go for Sunday school either except in with the "adults" that range from 30-70. The class is great but it isn't really relevant to the student coming right out of high school and going into college. They need a more specialize type of class that stimulates them at this time in their life and it also needs to deal with the junk that the "world" is throwing at them at every turn. Some of the students had come to me and another lady and asked us to start this class for them. As many of you might know, the stats show that this is the age that seems to "get lost" and they don't return to Church until they are married and begin having children of their own. It breaks my heart to think that these "kids" that I have grown quite attached to might leave our church or Church altogether. In the past 2 years I have been to more teen functions than I did as a teen myself and I have been blessed by these experiences more than anything else I have done. I not only get to spend time with Johnnie, my 18 year old son and his girlfriend, but I am also privileged to be on the inside of the lives of these people. I have seen so many of them come to Christ through our youth activities and it just makes my heart sing with joy!
Our pastor, L.D. asked that we have a month of prayer in March. We planned to have people come to the Church daily and do a prayer walk on our campus and ask for God to bless everything that goes on in our classes, offices, and the lives of our members. Based on God promises to us as faithful believers L.D. scheduled a revival in April because God would do amazing things for us. I know that because of our prayers God spoke to me very loudly about the needs of our young people and placed these ideas on my heart. I went to L.D. and told him what I felt we needed to do and with God's help many of the walls were broken down and there hasn't been protest to any of our plans, yet.
Well, back to the changes. Beginning June 1st I will be co-teaching a new college and careers Sunday school class. In addition to this, we will be initiating a 30 minute praise-worship-prayer time prior to our class (which is "More MAJOR" than the SS class because of the elder difficulties). We need all the prayer we can get since this is going to be a challenge for us. We are dealing with an age that is opinionated, intelligent, "grown",(and if any of you have any kids this age you know exactly what I am talking about) and confused and conflicted,(wait, that might be me) and they need spiritual guidance, but without them feeling they are being guided at all. So, please say a prayer for us every day that we can be a conduit between them and God.
I am working on a website that will be linked to our class. When I get it up and running I will post the address on my Blog so if anyone would like to keep up with our progress you can see for yourself. I will keep that site updated more regularly than this one most likely.

Good Morning, America

I have a few minutes this morning to blog for a little while so I am taking advantage of it. I haven't been working for the past few weeks due to a budget cutback with the school board. They are associating it with the newest tax votes allowing people to get $50,000 in homestead exemptions. It just totally amazed me that within 1 week of the vote that the cuts have already affected their budget! We haven't even been given the credits on our taxes yet. I just love the politics of our state (and country, as far as that goes). We are all feeling the crunch due to the high gas prices but the government doesn't see fit to put some kind of price freeze. Our entire economy is being affected by the gas. I know that the company my husband works for has just raised their Diesel fuel to $3.66 per gallon and it will be going up again this week. Our trucking companies cannot continue to operate when the largest portion of their budget is for fuel alone, on top of what they have already been paying for outrageous insurance . The government can regulate a lot of what is damaging our economy, but chooses to allow big oil companies to ONCE AGAIN make record billion dollar profits! They are allowing insurance companies, in Florida alone, to cancel policies, jack up their rates, and then not pay out when a claim is filed! I have been a republican and plan to continue to be one but I certainly hope some one wakes up and realizes that the "little man" doesn't have the unlimited resources of income available when the cost of living goes up but the pay doesn't. Worse yet the dollar we are working for is even losing it's value so we are working harder to get less money to buy stuff that costs more! Will someone please wake up and smell the coffee!