Vacation Weekend

This weekend was spent with some of the most wonderful friends on the face of this planet.  These are the friends that you may only get together with once a year, but it feels like you were never apart.  These are the friends that know your most embarrassing moments and love you anyway. These are the friends that know your struggles and prayed with you through every one.  These are the friends that make you laugh till you snort. (I may or may not have done this.)  These are the friends that you miss the rest of the year and wish you lived closer.

We were missing two from our little college group...Bekah (in Japan) and Becky (had family obligations).  We missed you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We met in Galena, IL this year.  It's a beautiful, quaint town.  We did some shopping, some eating, some pool time and lots and lots of laughing.  I'm very blessed.

Me, Roxi and Mary Ann

Modeling some hats.......really, we're just goofs

Isn't that hat adorable on her?

Wrestling masks....I'm pretty intimidating, huh?

I think Mary Ann looks pretty scary

Roxi always has a smile on her face

We just can't seem to follow the rules.  This is U.S. Grant's home.  Wish we could have taken the tour.

  

We were on the phone with Bekah, so wouldn't totally miss out on our weekend. 

Here's a view of this beautiful little town

This is the not-so-pleasant part of our trip.  Someone banged up Roxi's car in the hotel parking lot.  They did leave a note and hopefully take care of the damage.

Weekend Vacation Part 2
Galena is only an hour away from my brother and his family and my aunt & uncle.  I couldn't be that close and not go see them, so I headed over there on Saturday afternoon and came back home on Sunday.  It was wonderful to hug my niece and nephew again and see how big they are getting.  It seems like only yesterday I was holding those little bundles in my arms.  I had a great visit with all of them.  My sister-in-law, Jamie, reads my blog, so this is my shout out to her.  Love you, Jamie!!!! (Scott too!  And Donna and Rog.....can't leave out anybody.)

Here's our goofy shot.  It's much better than the good one....it shows our personalities.

Ethan's Birthday is Nov. 14, and I gave him is gift early. This was his reaction...I think he liked it! :)

It was a great weekend packed full of wonderful people.  I'm very blessed with a wonderful family and fabulous friends.

Birthday Celebration

Wednesday was my first Birthday away from my camp family and Mason Church friends.  I had a bit of a breakdown the week before.  You see, my camp family and church friends always made my Birthday so special since I was far from my family.  Thinking of celebrating without them just made me miss them even more.  Besides that, I simply love my Birthday!

It turned out to be wonderful. Tara, my co-worker, made me a cake, gave me a funny card and a gift.  The guys at the office bought me a cake, gave me a funny card and flowers.  My parents sent me beautiful orange roses and had them delivered to the office.  Bekah sent me a scarf from Japan.  I received many wonderful cards in that mail and some great phone calls too.  To to top it all off, three friends from Mason City met me in Des Moines to have a Birthday dinner.

It was a great celebration.  God knew I needed every one of those bits of encouragement.  He knew that I love my Birthday and made it special even though I'm in a new place and making new friendships.  I'm very blessed.  And I'm very thankful that God even cares about Birthdays.

I'm so thankful that Stacey, Mary and Keri made the trip down to celebrate.

This was our yummy dessert.  We went to Hu Hot for dinner.

These are those beautiful roses.

Party!!!!

I hosted a Premier Jewelry party last night.  I decided to do this as a way to get to know my neighbors better.  I also love any excuse to have people over.  I forgot to take pictures of the actual party, but I did get some pictures of some of the preparations.

I thought it would be fun to share some of the entertaining aspects.  I don't know what this is called, but it's the first time I've used it.  I think it was used at my parents' wedding, but I may be wrong about that.  (Mom, if I'm wrong, let me know.)

The next one is a trick my mom taught me.  She always liked to make the napkins look nice like this.

And this is how you do it.  Just put them in a stack, take a glass, press down and twist.

 I knew I'd forget to take pictures when the food was all ready and set out, so I got one before I was busy fixing the cheese bread.  Here's the spread!  We had Olive Cheese Bread (not pictured here), Veggies/Dip, Ginger Sugar Cookies, Almond Pie Bars and Chips/Salsa.

 Here's the bread before it was baked.  I promise it's much more appetizing when baked.

The party was a great success.  I had two neighbors come and they seemed to have a great time.  I also had several ladies from church attend as well.  Like I said, any excuse for a party.

The Wedding

Yesterday was Greg and Keri's wedding.  It was the first outside wedding I've ever been to and it was absolutely gorgeous.  The bride was absolutely gorgeous as well.  I'm so thankful I got to be part of her day.  I was a little busy being Keri's personal attendant, so I didn't take many pictures.

Congratulations, Greg and Keri Gosnell!

She was such a beautiful bride!

Anna and I got to be her attendants.  It was so much fun and it was such a privilege to be part of their wedding.

After driving to Ohio in one day and coming back the next, I'm zonked.  I'm very glad I have tomorrow off.

Biblical Counseling

I attended the Biblical Counseling Training Conference at Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette, IN this past week. My parents have both gone through their training and my dad warned me that it was like trying to take a sip from a fire hydrant. He was right!

Even though I don't see myself as every counseling in a session type environment, it was such a helpful conference. It will not only help me in helping others, but it was very convicting in my own life as well. I came away with several areas of my heart exposed.

I got to hear incredible speakers such as Steve Viars, Mark Dutton, Dr. Wickert, James MacDonald, Paul Tripp and too many others to list.

It was also wonderful to attend the conference with some of the camp ladies and spend some time with them. Anna and I stayed at the same home and had several late nights of iron sharpening iron. I'm very thankful for such wonderful friendships.

Becky did provide us with flannel sheets! :) I had a great time catching up with a wonderful college friend though our time together was very short due to the conference schedule.

I hope to be able to attend again next year...on to Track 2!

Quickie

Hello, All!

Just want to let you know I'm headed to Lafayette, IN tomorrow. I'm attending Faith Baptist Church's Biblical Counseling Conference for the first time! For those of you who have no clue what it is, check out their website.

I'll be staying with my college friend, Becky. She and her husband are graciously opening up their home to me, Anna (from IRBC) and another couple attending the conference. Get this...she's even promised we get flannel sheets. You can't get that at a five star hotel!

I also want to let you know that I'm officially buying a house pending the inspection, which will be done Monday! The closing will most likely be Feb. 19, but it's not set in stone yet. That means that I'll be moving less than a week after I get back from the conference. Lots to get done in that time.

And in other totally unrelated news, I got new dishes today! The two Corelle sets I had were very dated and used before I had them. I left them at the camp to be used by volunteers or in the dorms. See, I left them so I'd have to get new dishes. Very clever; don't you think? I've been looking every time I go to Kohl's, Target, Wal-Mart, etc. I found a set that I really liked at Wal-Mart, but it just wasn't perfect. My parents and I were at Wal-Mart today and I walked by an end display that had them...my perfect stoneware. My mother bought them for me as a house-warming gift.

I took a picture with my phone, but I can't figure out how to download the picture to my computer. I'm so sorry because I know you are dying to see them. I guess that means you will all have to come to my house for dinner when I'm settled in.

AND my dad also gave me a house warming gift. He set me up with tools, tools and more tools. He's says I'm going to be a home owner so I need to be prepared. He even bought me this set ladder thing! Isn't he wonderful. Now, I just have to figure out how to use them.

I've been told that I'm getting too wordy lately with no pictures. So I'm sorry that I once again have a post without a single picture. I hope to change that very soon.

Overview

I thought I'd give you a little overview of my time with Bekah thus far. (Don't I sound smart by using words like thus?) Bekah did a much better job on her blog, so you can stop over there to get a better idea of each day.

Day 1
I flew into the Philadelphia airport. I was very tired from getting up at 3:00 that morning, but who can stay tired long when spending time with Bekah? We met her sister, Penny, and her two kids for supper at Chick-fil-A.

This is my new favorite restaurant, by the way. We ate there three times total. Oh, how I wish they had these in the mid-west, but it's probably best that they don't. I'd go broke eating there all the time.

Penny & Kathy

Penny & Billy

Day 2
Bekah's sister, Jane, couldn't meet us for supper the night before, so we met her for lunch at guess where...Chick-fil-A!!! It was fun to catch up with her as well.

Bekah & Jane

We did a little shopping in the afternoon and then met some college friends for dinner. Sandy was my roommate my Freshman and Sophomore years of college and Sonia was a good friend. Sonia's husband, Luis, was also a college friend. It was so neat to catch up with them and meet their families. Their kids are adorable!!!

Sandy, Me, Bekah & Sonia

Day 3
This was an awesome day. We took the train into Philadelphia from Lansdale. We were a little nervous, but made it just fine. We saw Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and Betsy Ross' house. It was neat to be in the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution of the United States. It was amazing to walk where those men had walked. Wow! I didn't get a Philly cheese steak or a soft pretzel. I guess I'll have to go back.

Day 4
This was the day we went the Pioneer Woman's book signing. This day deserved it's own post.

Days 5, 6, 7
We are now in northern PA where Bekah lives with her parents. We have had a nice time just relaxing. Last night was Pastor Kuehlman's Birthday, so we went up to one of his favorite restaurants in NY. It was a lot of fun and a beautiful setting.

Only two more days left till I fly out. Time sure flies when you're having fun. I'm so thankful to have this last bit of fun with Bekah before she heads to Japan. She is hoping to leave the end of next month, but still needs a bit of support to come in and needs to finalize her visa. Please be praying with us as we hope to see this accomplished so she can head to the field of Japan.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Yep, tomorrow morning...very early in the morning...I'll be boarding a plane to go see my best friend one last time before she heads to Japan. We have lots of fun planned including a book signing with The Pioneer Woman, seeing some sites in Philadelphia, and visiting with some friends back from our college days. Can't wait!

(I have to give a very big thank you to my dad who will be driving me to the St. Louis Airport very, very, very early in the morning. Thanks Dadio!)

Weekend with Annie

Annie came up to camp for one last weekend. We had such a great time. She brought work with her and did it up in the office while I was working too. Our weekend was filled with cooking together, movies, shopping, lots of laughter and prayer. I'm thankful for such a great friend.

Here are some pictures of our fun time.

Don't know what I was thinking..."Nose check!" No boogers...good.

We bought a fresh pineapple...so good!

Our table at Applebee's was wobbly, so Annie decided to fix it.

Lynnae and Stacy joined us for lunch. We had a great time.

Oops...Let's try again.

That's better.

I'm now addicted to shopping at thrift stores and I've passed along that addiction to Annie. Don't worry, we didn't buy all that. We did in fact try it all on though. It was a shared cart and most of it was Annie's. We both found some really nice stuff for really cheap prices.

Surprise!!!

So remember when I told you I felt like this?

Well, I'm feeling much better now. But when I felt like that, it was my Birthday. I know...a pretty lousy way to spend a Birthday. Well, everyone still tried to make me feel special with phone calls and balloons.

But I'm the kind of girl that likes to celebrate. I like to go out to eat...I like when they sing to me...And I especially like presents!

Well, Judy had planned to have me over for dinner to celebrate, but since I felt really awful, she rescheduled it for this week. I showed up and she took me to the next room and it was all decorated. I thought that was very sweet. And then I look over and there are people there! The camp lades were throwing me a surprise party!!! I've never had one before and I loved it.

Judy made a delicious meal and then we played some games. I'm so thankful for my friends. I don't know where God is going to move me, but no one will ever replace these ladies. They are amazing!

Here's a few pictures of the night.

Michelle and Judy

Anna and me. Don't you like the scarf? It was my present from Barb. I love it and it matches almost everything I own.

Barb and me
Barb and Michelle

Happy 40th B-Day, Michelle!

One of my camp friends turned 40 today. We celebrated last week and I thought I'd share our fun evening with you. WARNING! Camp ladies are a bit crazy.

When we were in the planning stages, we wondered..."What do old ladies do?" Red hat parties!!! Yep, we had one for Michelle. If you are going to look stupid in public, it's important to drag all your friends along as well. We had a great time and Michelle was quite surprised. See, she was planning on a nice dinner out with her husband, but was greeted at the door of the restaurant by this! (Technically, we were at the camp office, but this is what we looked like when we greeted her.)
And this was her reaction. If you know Michelle, I'm sure you'll be surprised that she didn't even scream.

We promptly dressed her to match us.

Now for some close-ups. Sorry ladies. I know you had hoped these wouldn't end up on my blog, but here they are.




And here's the whole gang.

I love you ladies so much and will miss you more than I can say. Happy Birthday Michelle.

In other news, all the Callisons at camp and Pamela Betz are headed to South Africa for three weeks. I'm so excited for them! I really would like to crawl into a suitcase and go along.