You're So Pretty!

I love my sister! Seriously! She makes me smile and laugh and I know I can tell her anything!

But sometimes, and by sometimes, I mean quite often, she has blond moments. When these do occur, I smile at her and stroke her hair and say, "oh Brittany, you're so pretty!" At least she has THAT going for her!

Don't get me wrong, she's very smart when she thinks, the problem is, there are definite moments where thoughts escape and her mouth just takes over...

So this post will be short and sweet, much like Brittany Ann!

Here is a recent conversation we had this last Sunday:

Me: (to no one inparticular) "seriously! David, come on! I need to be back at church like, now!"

Britt: (trying to help) "Well, where is David?"

Me: "In the shower"

Britt: "Well, what is he doing?"

Me: _____(blank stare). "Oh Brittany, you're so pretty!"

Me Me Me Me...Now You!

So I am now currently totally consumed with needing to read Big Mama's Blog on a daily basis because she writes on a daily basis! So with not having much to do at work today, I started reading older posts from previous years that's she wrote.


Here is one that I decided to follow in her more experienced blogging shoes with. It's called a meme and it's much like a survey you forward to people and answer yourself, just the blog version!


1. Favorite Memory of your Mother?


My favorite thing about my mom growing up was when we were sick, she babied us! She set up a bed on the living room couch or in her own bed and would give us a glass of water, a bucket (in case we needed it) and a beautiful golden bell. It was in case she wasn't close enough for us to call her, we'd ring the bell and she'd be right there to see what we needed and how we were feeling.
2. Favorite Memory of your Father?


Almost everyday, my dad would get home from work and all 6 of us kids would start yelling and jumping around saying "dad's home!" We would be like monkeys waiting to jump on him as soon as his shoes were off and his coat was hung up nicely in the closet. Then he'd turn around and let us jump on him and tackle him to the ground. We would then wrestle with him until one of the kids got a little hurt and he said, "ok, that's enough" and would make sure we were all ok before heading into the kitchen for dinner! The fact that he did that with, again I stress, SIX kids! That's a great dad!


My newest favorite memory of my dad was just recently I had him over to my place for dinner and a date. We both had prayed and made a list separately of qualities we wanted in a husband for me. My dad had verses listed by all of his qualities and we prayed and ate and talked and hugged and he helped do the dishes! Probably my favorite right now!


3. Favorite Memory of your Siblings?


Oh wow, where do I start? With 6 siblings now (we adopted a beautiful blonde 14 year old last year!) the memories range from some with just sisters to just brothers to a mix and to all of us together....I think my favorites are the big meals we all sit around and talk and then spontaneously break into song with harmony....my heart is happy when I think about my family!


4. What one skill would you like to wake up tomorrow and be able to do (though you’d never learned it)?


I wish I could dance really really well. I mean like, REALLY well! All kinds. Hip hop, ballerina, jazz, heck, even the fox trot! I'm not bad and I don't have 2 left feet, I just never have been given an opportunity to learn...yet!


5. Which one of your dreams has come true?


I met the man of my dreams! I'm slowly seeing the dream continue to unfold and I'm totally loving every moment! Sometimes I worry that it is all just a dream, but then I tell him to pinch me and he looks at me funny then I pinch myself, and yep! It's real!

Ok, so now you can do these too! Just copy and paste the questions and fill in your answers...then let me know! I'd love to read them!

Oh Dontcha Know!

I love Minnesota...it has such character!
So I actually started the blogging frenzy back in 2006 when I first started my blog on Myspace (it's all about facebook now tho!) I was looking through some of my old blogs and I came across this one I put up back when I lived in Dallas....Enjoy!

Jeff Foxworthy on Minnesota :
-If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, You might live in Minnesota .
-If you're proud that your state makes the national news 96 nights each year because International Falls is the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Minnesota .
-If you have ever refused to buy something because it's "too spendy", you might live in Minnesota .
-If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Minnesota .
-If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, you might live in Minnesota .
-If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in Minnesota .
-If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Minnesota .
-If you know how to say...Wayzata ...Mahtomedi, ....Cloquet ... Edina and Shakopee, you might live in Minnesota .
-If you think that ketchup is a little too spicy, you might live in Minnesota .
-Vacation means going "up north" for the weekend, you might live in Minnesota .
-You measure distance in hours, you might live in Minnesota .
-You know several people who have hit deer more than once, you might live in Minnesota .
-You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day .and back again, you might live in Minnesota .
-You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching, you might live in Minnesota ..
-You see people wearing hunting clothes at social events, you might live in Minnesota .
-You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked, you might live in Minnesota .
-You think of the major food groups as beer, fish, and Venison, you might live in Minnesota .
-You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them, you might live in Minnesota .
-There are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at Mill's Fleet Farm at any given time, you might live in Minnesota .
-You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you might live in Minnesota .
-Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you might live in Minnesota .
-You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, you might live in Minnesota .
-You can identify a southern or eastern accent, you might live in Minnesota .
-Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce, you might live in Minnesota .
-Down South to you means Iowa , you might live in Minnesota .
-If a brat is something you eat, you might live in Minnesota.
-If you find 0 degrees "a little chilly," you might live in Minnesota

Another Day Another Dollar

Ok, so seriously? Work for the business is going pretty well! The sales guys are doing what they do best and selling steel...sadly for me, we're not buying as much so I have less and less to do as the days go on. I'm the kind of person that NEEDS to keep busy! So this stinks being done with what I can do by 10 or 11 in the morning and then having to sit at my desk and just WAIT for the phone to ring so I can answer it...

But, I get paid for being here 40 hours a week, so that's what I need to do. Even if that means bugging co-workers and bosses for things to do or sitting around hoping a fax comes over with the words "receiving report" on top!

So as I sit here and twiddle my thumbs and try to get up and walk around every-so-often, I read emails! (thanks to those of you who forward good forwards to me! Gives me something to pass my time!)

Today I got one called "Pennies." Seemed like something I normally just skim through and then use my cursor to drag it to the file marked "delete."

But this one really caught my attention!

So here it is, for you to enjoy as well!

You always hear the usual stories of pennies on the sidewalk being good luck, gifts from angels, etc… This is the first time I've ever heard this twist on the story. Gives you something to think about.

Several years ago, a friend of mine and her husband were invited to spend the weekend at the husband's employer's home. My friend, Arlene, was nervous about the weekend. The boss was very wealthy, with a fine home on the waterway, and cars costing more than her house.

The first day and evening went well, and Arlene was delighted to have this rare glimpse into how the very wealthy live. The husband's employer was quite generous as a host, and took them to the finest restaurants. Arlene knew she would never have the opportunity to indulge in this kind of extravagance again, so was enjoying herself immensely.

As the three of them were about to enter an exclusive restaurant that evening, the boss was walking slightly ahead of Arlene and her husband. He stopped suddenly, looking down on the pavement for a long, silent moment.

Arlene wondered if she was supposed to pass him. There was nothing on the ground except a single darkened penny that someone had dropped, and a few cigarette butts. Still silent, the man reached down and picked up the penny.

He held it up and smiled, then put it in his pocket as if he had found a great treasure. How absurd! What need did this man have for a single penny? Why would he even take the time to stop and pick it up?

Throughout dinner, the entire scene nagged at her. Finally, she could stand it no longer. She casually mentioned that her daughter once had a coin collection, and asked if the penny he had found had been of some value.

A smile crept across the man's face as he reached into his pocket for the penny and held it out for her to see. She had seen many pennies before! What was the point of this?

'Look at it.' He said. 'Read what it says.'

She read the words ‘United States of America’

No, not that; read further.'

'One cent?'

'No, keep reading.'

'In God we Trust?'

'Yes!'

'And?'

'And if I trust in God, the name of God is holy, even on a coin. Whenever I find a coin, I see that inscription. It is written on every single United States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in front of me telling me to trust Him? Who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I pray, I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him. For a short time, at think it is God's way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies are plentiful!

'It seems that I have been finding an inordinate number of pennies in the last few months, but then, pennies are plentiful! And, God is patient...'

kids say the darndest things!

"Who do you think you are?!"
"Nobody"

That was one of the interesting things that came out of my mouth as a child! I had taken some gum from the ashtray in our van and I was caught...my mom DID NOT like that one bit... But what makes it so great was my mom ended up not getting mad because I made her laugh! :D

Sometimes as adults, we say the darndest things too... for example, as posted before, I am a leader for our youth group drama team (e.drama) with Angie. Well, Angie and I try to make it a point to get together at least once a week in addition to practices to iron out "leader" details! (We've become pretty good friends thru this as well). Well, one day we decided to meet over dinner at Green Mill. We were trying to figure out exactly what we wanted to line up for our Fine Arts deal and we had paperwork and folders everywhere while trying to juggle the plates and bread basket and drinks as well!
Angie looked at me and said "I want to take advantage of Mike and Matt" then she continued to rustle thru some of her papers. I just stared at her and started laughing! Now, she didn't literally mean "take advantage" of them (get your head out of the gutter! But she did mean to take advantage of the fact that they are twins! (Identical in fact) and we could use that for a really neat human video!
Adults say the darndest things!

SO where WAS I going with this? Oh yeah! I was going to update on a few unfinished trains of thought from previous blogs!
I had been writing about my dizzy spells and all the testing involved with that, as well as my sinus surgery...
The surgery went well! AND I haven't had any dizzy spells since! I did get medicine stomach and was out sick for a week after the surgery but I haven't had a single sinus infection in 3 months! (Seriously, I think that's a record!)

As a re-read that whole above part, I realized that the story really doesn't co-incide too well with what I actually wrote about. Oh well!

Fine Arts Frenzy

Wow. So it's exactly a month away that e.drama heads to the cities!

My head is spinning with how much we still need to do!!!

I'll fill you in on the history a little here before I head off on all my rabbit trails.

I moved home from Dallas the summer of 2007 and within a few months, I was plugged in at church as much as my schedule would let me really with choir practice Thursdays, EPIK (our youth group) Wednesdays, and church on Sundays for both services because of choir, I was really enjoying it because it wasn't TOO much, you know?

Well, in November, my youth pastor, Jon, asked me to get together with another girl (whom I'd never met before) and start up a youth group drama team. Well, we messaged eachother (this other girl and I) on facebook a few times and saw eachother in church with the occasional sweet "hi! how are you?" and of course the "we really should try to figure something out for this!" Guess what? It didn't happen. :D Well, for a year anyway. The fall of 2008 we decided to finally get our butts in gear and meet up for some ideas.

Turns out we had a TON of them!!! We even put on our own little drama to introduce the fact that we were starting a drama team. I guess it was pretty good because we thought we'd get maybe like, 7 kids who were interested come to the meeting and we were crossing our fingers for at least one or two boys....we now have 7 boys and 12 girls that come on a regular basis! How sweet is that?!?

So we've put on 5 skits/human videos in the past 2 1/2 months! We're currently working on 5 more human videos and one more skit! For those of you who don't know what a human video is, it is a story to music. Kind of like a music video, but moreso because it's on stage, we put more of a story to it then music videos usually show.

So with our 19 kids and the many projects going on at once, it is getting pretty hectic! We practice every Wednesday night before youth group and Sundays at 1pm...what makes it even MORE hectic, is that we are planning on competing in a Fine Arts Competition in EXACTLY ONE MONTH!!!! We have sooo much to do! Only 1/3 of the large group human video is planned out and the scripts for the large drama skit still need to be memorized! Luckily blocking is taken care of as well as I'm finishing up the costume side of things this afternoon at church. T-shirts have been ordered and paid for, the initial registration forms will be sent out today and the check for the competition sent out after two board members sign it on Sunday. I'm waiting on a few more parent permission slips and trying to iron out 2 more vans to GET us to the cities that weekend.

The total upside of all this happening is that I can see how I've been able to let God use me to speak into these kids' lives and how amazing it is to see them minister to their peers thru really intense human videos and cheesy/funny skits!

Even tho it's hectic, I know I'm definitely extremely lucky to be part of this! I'm excited for it all to climax and see how they do because if they get a score of Superior with Invitation, we get to go to ORLANDO, FL in August!!!!

Cross your fingers! :D

one blustery day

"A blustery day" sounds like something out of a Winnie the Pooh story huh?

Well, I definitely felt like Piglet about to be blown away in the wind yesterday afternoon at the same time as being swept away by my handsome new beau!

Let me back up. Trevor and I met in high school. He saw me first when I was in my high school's rendition of "Grease." I guess I just looked so darn cute up there in my little gray sweater and plaid 50's style skirt that he said he was immediately attracted to me! (one, two, three..."awwww")

Well, just because he liked me doesn't mean anything happened. In fact, he was so shy and a little intimidated by me, that the way he acted around me made me think he hated me! I remember one day after school had just gotten out for the day, I was hyper and standing by the doors with a bunch of friends outside of the music pod. Trevor came out of the music pod and as he walked by my friends and me, I stepped out and put my hand up and said "HIGH FIVE!" Well, truth be told, he paused, looked at me, looked at my hand, and took off. He TOTALLY left me hanging! So you can see where I thought he didn't like me!

Anywho, we continued at school together. We were chemistry lab partners as well as sat at the same table at lunch. We got to know each other pretty well, but I thought I just annoyed him still...

Well, as luck (or God) would have it, I started working at the Holiday Inn Conference Center last May. Guess who works in the kitchen as a cook for the Green Mill? Yep, Trevor.

It was awkward at first for us to start talking again, but two weeks ago, he asked my dad if he could date me....my dad said since we had known each other so long (4 1/2 years by now) and as long as he treated me respectfully, he could ask me....well of course I said yes!!
SO! Yesterday my little sister tagged along with us as we goofed around at Robins Island Park in Willmar and she took pictures of us. I played around with some of them today, and these are a few of my favorites!