A few more pics from my summer!

THE STEPHENS
I have worked for the Stephens family for two years! During that time I have become very attached to the boys. Jamie and Seth are 4 years old and Blake just turned 10! My last week of working for them was a special one. I went out on the boat with them for the last time. On my last day, the boys made a card for me that said.."you can come when you want to see us". Mom said those are the exact words of Seth. Here are a few pics.

I love these boys!

Seth and I

















Jamie and I

















Getting ready to go out on the boat!


FRIENDS
A few weeks ago I was able to meet up with a few of my old friends that I use to attend church with. It was nice to be able to be all together with them again.

My friends!!

My sister-in-law Becky and her sister Laura

End of Summer

I'm looking back at the Summer of 2008 and I am totally clueless as to where it has gone. Somehow, without any of my permission, the Summer has played it course.
I have enjoyed working for the Stephens family in Cincinnati. Since I started working for them in September of 2006, they have been wonderful people to work for. I believe that I am a little too attached to the boys. There are 4 year old twin boys and a 10 year old boy. These guys are too cute, I miss them so much. I also have worked for the past year for another family with all boys named the Kreiders. I went with the Kreiders to South Carolina on their vacation to help keep an eye on the boys. We had beautiful weather for the week on the beach.
I started my studies last week at Ivy Tech State College. I am taking a class for EMT-Basic, English and a Math class. There is going to be a lot of reading in the EMT and English classes. I am also working at the nursing home as a CNA and at a little Mexican restaurant called Garcia's. Needless to say I am keeping very busy.
I am finally going to post some pictures of my summer!!!!

GRADUATION

I was happy to have my whole family except for my brother-in-law (who chose to be sick) at my graduation!

This Summer Laura was able to stay with me at my apartment while she was in Cincinnati to work. One evening we went out to eat at Jalepenos and then down to the river to eat ice cream!!! While we were at the river I had a phone call come in, so Laura sat there taking random pictures on my camera. These are some of the results.


This one happens to be a high five!





See what I mean about her being bored?

PA Trip
In July I went to PA with my friend Tiffany to visit some of our friends from GBS. While we were there we went to AYC to work as staff. I was put on a team as the assistant coach.

My team members!

Christy and I waiting for service to begin.

Melissa, Tiffany and I watching the girls Stars vs. Stiffs softball


Heidi and I at Applebees. YUM!


Leanna, Tiffany and I at Chocolate World!


SOUTH CAROLINA
I had the privilege to go with the Kreider family on their family vacation to South Carolina! We spent two nights in Charleston and then a week at the fathers parents beach house on Folly Beach.


Me....on the pier.


Ken and baby Quinn


Pierce and Keene playing in the water!


This is a shark that a man caught while fishing on the pier.


As sad as he may be in this picture I still have to laugh every time I see it. Keene was out in the ocean with his dad trying to boogie board and he got the washing machine treatment by the ocean. Poor little fellow.


Sunrise on the beach


Pierce, Keene and I at Fort Sumter


The beach house


Keene and Quinn waiting for the taxi


Pierce does a wonderful job at reading for a six year old.

SUMMER!!!

It's hard to believe that this summer will soon be half over. There is an apartment above the garage of the people I work for in Cincinnati and I have been living there and working full-time for them. I really enjoy my work and I love the kids. I have been keeping busy running the boys back and forth to their various summer activities. I am planning on living in Cincinnati until the end of this summer and then moving back to Shelbyville. I am going to be attending Ivy Tech State College in the Fall to finish some prerequisites for Nursing. I am looking forward to furthering my education in the health field.

UH OH!

Argh! I am so bad at this whole blogging thing. I apologize for this. I was reminded yesterday by my dear sister that I do not keep this updated as I should. I keep thinking that as soon as summer gets here I will have more time to do things like this. However, I am afraid that it will not get any better. As some of you know, I am going to be living in Cincinnati for the summer. The family that I currently work for are allowing me to live in the apartment above their garage, I will be working for them full time. I am looking forward to working for them, they are a great family.
This is my final week before I GRADUATE! I cannot believe how fast the last three years have passed by. I am going to miss things about GBS. I love being so close to so many of my friends. I'm also going to miss the spiritual aspect of it. At the same time, I am ready to move on with my life.
I was able to go on a retreat a few weeks ago with some people in my organization. We stayed in a cabin up in the mountains of North Carolina. This was the first time for me to go to North Carolina, I love the state! The retreat was exactly what I needed right then. I was able to relax and forget about everything for a few days. We did some hiking, slept in, and read good books. Mr. Glick gave some sessions on disciplining yourself in your devotion life. I was able to learn some things. God revealed a few things to me that I need to change.
Well, I must bid everyone farewell for now. God Bless!

Worn Out!

What a busy week. I am sitting in the office and my body is feeling the effects of this week. The father of one of the families I work for here in Cincinnati had surgery this week. So I had to pick up some extra hours at their house watching the kids. Wednesday I went to IHC. It was great getting to see people that I do not get to see that often. Today was VIP day. As I am sitting here I am hearing the buzz of voices outside the window. They don't seem to be tired...how do they do it? Tonight is the beginning of my weekend on call. Something tells me it's going to be a long one.
With all of this being said...graduation day is quickly approaching! In exactly one month, I will have my diploma from God's Bible School & College! This fact makes me excited and curious at the same time.

Rain! Easter!

If it's not one form of precipitation, it's the other. Rain...will it stop soon? It has been raining for two days now and I long to see sunshine! I hear tomorrow is supposed to be mostly dry...this makes me happy!
As you all know, Easter is this weekend! My church is also in revival this week with BJ Walker. I have never heard Bro Walker preach but I have heard many good things about him. I am excited about this revival and what God is going to do for us in it. I am praying that God would reveal the Easter story to me in a new way this year. I have grown up in church and I feel I know the Easter story very well. But I want it to become alive to me this year. I don't want to forget that Christ died in order for you and I to have Eternal Life. I am so glad that He did not just die, but that He was resurrected! Christ truly made the greatest sacrifice!
I will be posting pictures of our senior banquet soon!

Snowed In!

Snow! According to Dictionary.com snow is: a precipitation in the form of ice crystals, mainly of intricately branched, hexagonal form and often agglomerated into snowflakes, formed directly from the freezing of the water vapor in the air. There are times when I am very happy to have snow covered roads and then yet other times when the roads are covered in snow and there is some place I would like to be rather than where I am planted. For instance, when one is in the dorm early one morning and a voice comes from across the loud speaker announcing that school has been cancelled. I cannot begin to explain the feelings I get when I have heard these wonderful words, and then I crawl back into bed without a concern about going to class. These feelings are beyond explanation. This excitement was not granted to my fellow students and I this past Friday. Actually it didn't start snowing until late morning, when we were almost finished with our classes. Even though I was very saddened by the delay of snow fall, I am enjoying this beautiful winter storm that God has showered down upon us! Everyone was pretty much stuck here this weekend. It was nice to have a weekend where everyone could relax and have fun. I think that I played more games this past weekend than in the last 7 years of my life! It was truly a relaxing weekend!