The Colonel tagged me...so now here it goes...

Okay...so I've been thinking about this all day and I don't think I've ever sat down and just pondered my "weirdness."  I think I've waited so long that there's not a whole lot of people left to tag!  GREAT!!!  But oh well, here goes nothing...

My Weirdness:

1.  I have a special blankie that I love to sleep with.  I've always loved to rub silky things and guess it just gives me a sense of security!

2.  I'm 8 1/2 soon to be 8 3/4 come the end of February!  Yes, folks...I some how managed to be born on the only day that comes once every 4 years -- Leap Year!!!  And to answer your next question...the next one comes in 2008 (I'll be 9!!!).  And it doesn't really matter what day I celebrate it on now...I mean, after 30 who really cares!!??!

3.  I've had the same cellphone number for over 10 years!!!  The only thing I've had longer is my dog, Tigger...and that's only by a couple of months!!

4.  Parkview High school, in Springfield, MO was the only school growing up that I went to for more than three years.

5.  I could eat Mexican food 24/7 for 366 days a year (gotta figure in Leap Year!!)

6.  I was visiting a family in England in the mid-90s and asked the daughter (an 8 year old) to help me buy a current music CD of an English pop band -- and thus, bought my one and ONLY Spice Girls CD!!

Okay...so now I have to figure out who to tag...

myglasshouse

samsonkitty

Petereit

SciFi_Whacked

sansmail

borger4902

Here's the rules:

• Each player of this games starts with six (6) weird things about himself/herself.
• People who get tagged need to write a blog posting their own six (6) weird things, as well as state this rule clearly.
• In the post you need to choose six (6) people to be tagged and list their names.
• Leave a comment on their blog letting them know that you've tagged them and to visit your blog for the rules.

Okay...so it's a week into 007 and I'm just now posting our exciting New Year's celebration!  Hopefully you all will have a little grace on me!

We started our New Years Eve at the Daniels (aka briansbabe and daniel6pack) having a superb time snacking on munchies and playing some serious Phase 10!  SciFi_Whacked and my hubby caught on EXTREMELY quickly for being newbies at the game!!  We sure had fun planning out our skip cards!  My hubby Curt was went away smiling cuz he walked away the winner of the evening.  I personally think it was beginner's luck!  (Sorry...no pics here.  I forgot to get the camera out of my coat pocket! UGH!!)

From there we went to WOLC to ring in the New Year!  Pastor's New Year message (watch for it at that link)was inspiring, exciting and filled with anticipation for this next year.

  

Then my favorite part of the evening when the clock strikes midnight...

and balloons fall from the sky!!!  Children and adults go nuts!!!

Here's our FIRST New Years together as a married couple...everyone, ahhhhhhhh!

Here's a picture to make you thankful for our faithful clean up crew!!  God bless 'em!

Here's my good friend Katie (aka Samsonkitty) with Hannah Victoria (the bun in the oven)!!

We left the church about 1ish and then decided to go to Sampsonkitty & husband's house for a game of Monopoly.  We started this game at about 1:30 AM with the intent to play and then go to Cracker Barrel for breakfast!

The Banker!!

Curt (my hubby) licking the last drops of his "Full Throttle" energy drink and hugging the chocolate chip cookie batter bowl!

Needless to say we had some great laughs while playing.  I was doing pretty good...at one point I had the most money than the other players.  And then players started to drop out like flies.  And then, it was down to only Jeff and I!

It's serious folks!

While we played...the rest of the house slept!

 The sleeping beauties!!

We started off with me owning half the board and having more than twice the money that Jeff had (at one time he was down to only $100).  He kept landing on Chance and no $$ spots and I kept landing on all his properties with mega hotels time and time again!  Needless to say, he cleared my clock and robbed me blind!!  We finished the game at 6:30 AM and spent the next 30 minutes trying to wake everyone up for our Cracker Barrel run!!  

It was a yummy breakfast...but I was WAY TOO tired to fully enjoy it!

 

Can you see how tired we are??

All and all, I've learned that I'm too old for staying up ALL night AND totally despise Monopoly!  I swear, I'm never playing that game ever again...not unless it's Monopoly Jr. and I'm playing with children!!

Hope your 007 is fruitful and bright!

Blessings!

Thank you for all your prayers for my step-sis Liana & her husband Curt!  The power is now on at the hospital and both Santana and Sublette.  Liana said the storm had knocked down a total of 3,800 utility poles!!  The Govenor, senator and other state leaders have been in the area taking care of things! 

Liana said that the community really did pull together! She was at the American Legion when the power came up...and stated it was as if the New Year's ball had dropped!!  The celebration was amazing!

Keep the rural folks in your prayers, as I'm sure many of them are still without power!!  Thank you so much for all your prayer support.  Liana said that she could really feel the prayers of many!!

God bless!

Thank you for your prayers as they are making a difference
in Sublette and Santana, Kansas!!
 Things are getting better…however, the
area still greatly needs your prayers!

I just heard from my sis, Liana and the ice/snow storm has
left a HUGE mark in their area!  What I
didn’t realize is that the ice (a foot or more covered with at least 6 inches
of snow!) caused many power lines to fall, which greatly affected travel on area
roads and highways…making it very difficult for the utilities crews, National
Guard and Red Cross to help with emergency efforts.  The power initially went out in that area on Friday.
The Red Cross was finally able to get their cots and supplies to the area late
yesterday (Monday) due to the road conditions just being cleared.  Some people are able to heat their homes via
gas heat, however in some areas even the natural gas lines are frozen/broken
making the situation even more challenging. 
The local water is now on a boil order as well.  Due to these struggles, many are staying in
local shelters or have left the area to go to hotels or family/friends.

At the local hospital where my brother-in-law Curt works
– the natural gas generator did sputter out sometime yesterday midday due to gas lines being frozen/broken in
the area.  They were able to hook the generator
up directly to a natural gas tanker truck, however had no idea how long that supply
would last.  That truck ran out of gas,
leaving them without power for an additional hour.  Now they have a second generator (diesel) up
and running with LOTS of diesel available. 
The report from the electric company says the hospital should have
electricity up and running by tomorrow (keep praying though – they have said
this for the last 2 days!).  Ultimately
power was down for 3-4 hours in 2 or more spurts yesterday at the hospital.  The trauma and cardiac patients were transferred
to another hospital once the roads were cleared.  During one point Curt realized he needed a
refrigerator truck for medications…after overhearing him place a call for one
and coming up empty handed, a local community member was able to donate one for
the hospital to use in a matter of minutes. 
The oxygen supply is being taken care of via mobile units.  Curt has been sleeping on an air mattress in
the chapel (as it’s heated) getting an hour or two of sleep at a time.

The community – my sister says that NO one has power
and that all the local grocery stores and Wal-Mart are sold out on regular “emergency”
type supplies – bottled water, batteries, camping gear, etc.  The Red Cross has supplied generators for the
some of the community in the area who are unable to leave their homes, such as
the elderly, etc.  With the power now out
in the community and rural areas for 5 days the main concern has now shifted to
food, water, and of course heat, etc. 
They say that the town of Santana
hopefully should have power in a couple of days and it may be Friday or Saturday
before Sublette (the town where my Curt and Liana live in) will have power.   Unfortunately for those living in rural
areas, it is reported that it could take up to 3-4 weeks to get everyone up and
running with electricity again.

This has caused me serious ponder my own personal emergency preparedness
– which right now is nada nothing!!  Flylady.net has
a list to help you think about what stuff you’d want in case you were caught in
an emergency crisis. Besides the items on her list, I would probably think
about adding batteries, bottled water, and food stuffs that don’t need heating
or refrigerating.  I think we all should try
set aside 10-15 minutes a day for a week or so to help get ourselves organized
if an emergency event would happen in our area! 
How nice would it be to know that there is a Rubbermaid tub filled with
all the proper stuff!!  It’s better to be
safe than sorry!!

So thanks to your prayers, things are getting better…however
things are still no where close to normal in Western Kansas.  I believe there are lessons here for all of
us!

God bless!

First of all, I and all my family are well.  Let me explain...My Dia (step-mum) just called to inform the details of what is happening in Santana, KS where my step-sis and her family live.  Sanata is a couple hours from Denver, and if you've been watching the news any, you know that they have been hit by a MASSIVE snowstorm.  The Santana, Kansas area has been without electricity now for 3 days.

My brother-in-law Curt is the Hospital Administrator for the local hospital there in Santana and has lived at the hospital for the past 3 days as they have been without power, but been okay to this point with a natural gas generator.  The hospital and local nursing home are at capacity, with the hospital even having a couple trauma patients. 

The generator is currently not working well because it is running out of gas.  AND they are VERY low in oxygen!  There are several utility poles near the hospital that are bent over...so they could be without electricity for a couple of days.  Currently there are some ambulances there to help with the limited oxygen supply, but the demand is quickly getting growing greater than the supply.  The roads have JUST been cleared so a Gas truck is FINALLY in route.

Please pray for:

• Supernatural wisdom, strength & energy for my BIL Curt.  That he will have a supernatural peace run through him and be able to respond and not react to the crisis at hand.
• the Generator - they are hoping to hook the gas truck up directly to the generator to restore "power" ASAP.  Please pray there is no difficulties with this process.
• For the patients & oxygen supply - that the O2 will continue to flow supernaturally.  That patients will remain calm and that no one's health is compromised during this crisis.
• For all the employees currently working during this crisis -- it's a holiday so I imagine they're short handed.  That they too have supernatural wisdom, strength and energy to help the patients.
  
• Communication lines...with no power, cellphone batteries are dying!!
  
• That this area will see and recognize God's hand at work!!  That they might be "shaken but not stirred."  That there will be many testimonies to God's goodness at work in this small rural town.
  
• And for anything else God places on your heart as I'm sure I haven't even touched all the needs there!!

Thank you so much my Xangaland buddies!!!  I will try to keep you posted as I hear an update.  My sister's cellphone is dying, so I have no clue when I'll hear from her.  I imagine that this will take a day or two to work through...so just keep praying for everyone involved!!  My husband, Curt is on his way to the Upper Room to pray as I try to contact as many prayer warriors as possible! 

Please feel free to share with others!  Thank you!

---

I just talked to Dia (my step-mum)...she hasn't heard from them but did tell me that the National Guard and various others are there and helping Curt (my brother in law) in this situation.  Thank you so much for your continued prayers!!

Although we didn't have ANY snow for a White Christmas, it was still a pretty nice Christmas this year.  Earlier this month we began our "Christmas Season" by visiting Silver Dollar City and seeing the lights with our good friend Natalie.

       

The lights were beautiful and the funnel cake scrumptious...but the crowd was ridiculous, hence it is still the same ole "Steal Yur Dollar City" as my brother used to say!  We spent that same weekend at Big Cedar Lodge and enjoyed the stuffed critters all around!!

     

Pondering our recent Israel trip helped me to remember the true reason for the season.  Here's 2 beautiful pictures of children carrying lambs...one in Bethlehem and the other at WOLC's Christmas Eve program. 

The candle lit service and beautiful nativity and decorations really helped to make Christmas spirit right this year!

   

As stated in an earlier blog, we spent Christmas day in Manhattan...the LITTLE APPLE in Kansas with Curt's brother's family.  They had a beautiful tree with a plethora of presents!  We spent 2 hours opening gifts, of course one at a time...and then had a delightful turkey dinner to the point where we all "rolled" out of the house and into the car when we left for home!

 

Curt's special gift this year was a set of new irons and a putter.  He's a huge golfer and just recently broke 2 of his current set of clubs.  It makes one wonder...did they really break or was this a ploy to get new clubs?  I never saw the broken ones...but I trust dear hubby that they're really broken! 

  

He was practicing with his new clubs in the house, gearing up for the New Year's Polar Club (which should be renamed to the Luau Club as the weather hasn't cooperated with the "Polar" part for the last 2 years!!).  He was using Tigger's toy, Piglet as his ball and drove Tigger, our Lhasa Apso, absolutely bonkers! Tigger finally ran off with Piglet and hid in our bedroom.  Just the look in his eyes said, "My toy daddy!  Not yours!  Find some other toy to hit!!"

                               

It's kinda of funny now because every time Curt touches his clubs Tigger very quickly picks up his toys and "hides" them away from Curt!  Maybe I should keep a club in the house...it might be one way to keep from tripping over the dog's toys!!

I've had a very merry techy Christmas!  Besides the pre-Christmas and sanity-prevention purchase of a new stereo for my Gracie (02 Honda CRV aka Therapy Dream Car!!) my hubby got me a portable XM Satellite radio with car kit.  After reading the "destructions" I think I've decided to possibly hire someone to help me with installing that monster after I get the new bracket in the mail!  I'm EXCITED to finally have a radio station stay "tuned in" ALL DAY LONG if I so choose!!  No more listening to a sermon and getting two-thirds through and missing the "punch line"!!! YEAH!!  Thank you honey!!  I also got a replacement bracelet for the one that I lost in Israel.  I'll still miss the poppy red bracelet, but it's pretty special to have a piece of beautiful jewelry on your arm and say, "Oh my husband got me that!!"

I've also updated my cellphones...one for work and one for personal.  They're super cool!!  So I have even more techy stuff to play with and figure out! 

I still have 2 days of paperwork to get done before school starts next week.  Thus far I haven't been able to find the motivation to do so.  I'm believing with the start of the New Year will come a breath of fresh air and a fury of motivation to conquer, organize and prioritize!! 

Happy New Year!  It's gonna be a great 007!!!  I can't wait to hear Pastor Brian's New Year prophecy!!  If you want you can log in and watch live...it's from 10pm to midnight (Central standard time) or you can wait until later in the week and get it via Podcast.  I'm sure you'll be blessed!!

God bless you and yours as we wrap up 2006 and head into 007!!

Can you believe it???  Christmas will be here in 2 days!!  I guess in some ways it doesn't TRULY feel like Christmas because we're missing about 5 inches of the white stuff called snow!!  You see, Christmas in my family was spent (every other year of course) in Minnesota with my Grandma and Grandpa and there was one thing you could ALWAYs count on at Christmas...LOTS and LOTS of snow!!!  This brown yucky stuff we have on the ground is just not Christmas!!  And there's really no way of dressing it up to be more Christmassy.  Hmmmm....

So today feels like a 2nd Saturday of sorts!  Yesterday, Curt & I were both off.  We had the opportunity to sleep in.  I think I made it to 9ish, ooo ahhh!!  Curt slept much later...maybe 11, but he works 10 hour days and then drives an hour each way to get to work...so sleep is a precious commodity!!  Curt finished up his Christmas shopping yesterday...for me!!  He made me make this huge list of all the things I could possibly want and off he went.  The list's purpose is to help him shop and yet still help me be surprised...because he's not gonna get everything on the list!  Each year we try to set a dollar limit...this is the 2nd year he's blown that out of the water!!  God has blessed me with such a giving husband...and not just to me, anyone God places on his heart! 

Yesterday I got to hang out with Susan B. and go to the movies!  We saw Holiday with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black.  A VERY charming romantic movie!!  If you're itching for a good chickflick, ladies here it is!!  Susan cried...I didn't, but I truly enjoyed the film!

Pray for Curt & I today!  We're braving the shopping CHAOS to get the last of our gifts we still need.  The gifts for Catalyst tonight, for his brother's family, some friends of mine and who knows what else!  I'm hoping we'll start with a Starbucks run, otherwise I'm not sure how I'll get through it!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!  (If I don't blog again between now and then!)  We're mostly going to be in Joe Town for the holidays this year...with just a day trip to Manhattan to see Curt's brother and family.  Oh, and that's Manhattan, Kansas for all those of you outside the Midwest who think I might be jetting over for a day in THE BIG CITY!!!  Tee hee hee!! Oh how I wish!  We'll probably be at most of the 5 services at WOLC this weekend including BOTH Christmas Eve services!  Who would want to miss out on seeing where the camels dump their "packages"!!! 

Be blessed and have a very Merry Christmas!!  Give a little more of yourself to someone who completely doesn't expect it -- it's kinda cool!!

P.S.  Have you ever noticed just how many exclamation points I use in just one post??!?  I guess I must have something exciting to tell...or at least I hope you find it some what exciting!!

Today, Saturday is my only day of rest this week...and have I done so...nope, nada!!  I started off my morning really wanting to stay in bed.  The alarm went off at 8 am and every 9 mins on snooze, I think about 3 times.  Curt would nudge me and I would say, "One more time please."  I was so tired that in between each snooze I started a new dream...they were quite funny too!  Finally Curt got up, which got me up...with barely enough time to get ready and get to Joseph Company in time! 

Joseph Company is pretty awesome.  Just when I think, I'm not "business-like" and "do I really need to go??" God gives me the extra nudge to go.  And on top of that...the breakfast spread they provide is the BOMB DIGGITY!!!  Today they had 3 individuals give their stories.  It was really inspiring and awesome to see how my walk with my business is in many ways similar to their individual testimonies.  Each story had moments of true despair and sadness at the beginnings which caused them to take leaps of faith to start, run or continue on with their business.  It was awesome to hear how God has lead each business and has blessed them immensely.  Made getting out of bed this morning pretty gosh darn special!  Note to self, "Never sleep in on the morning of Joseph Company - you need it more than you realize you do!!" 

It also has inspired me to write down my story regarding "Sonshine Therapy Services", aka my business.  As I was thinking about it afterwards, the Lord told me to name it "The Sonshine Story"...and then proceeded to tell me that I needed to write "The Gracie Story" (my car story), "The Haddassah Story" (my house story), "My Gramps Story" (about my Grandpa and dealing with his death) and of course, "My Love Story", which is already in DVD form thanks to the soon to be VERY famous Jason Hudson (that's prophetic folks!!).  My mother was a writer whose stories died when she died...she never got her memories written.  I got her gift for writing and am learning that God wants me to get these stories written.  He nudges me from time to time...I just haven't seemed to manage to find the time to sit down and do it.  In some ways I'm a perfectionist at heart...and if I don't have the time to sit down and do it from start to finish PERFECTLY, then I procrastinate until I do.  Ya know what....often times that time never comes.  That's why I probably should try to get back to FLYing again!  Flylady says you can do anything in 15 minutes...and we procrastinators need to learn to do things in little chunks instead of big ones. 

After Joseph Company I headed to Target...just to see what was there and to find stuff for gifts.  I basically needed to go to Target for no particular reason at all, but did find some fun gifts for my kids...and some Christmas decorations for the house, like matching Christmas stockings for Curt & I!!  Our first year for matching stockings...everyone ooo and ahhh together -- AHHHhhhhhh!!

I ran a couple other errands and then landed back here at home.  I got an hour or two before the Catalyst Christmas gathering at The Ganns.  It should be a really fun time!

Sooooo...no extra rest here today.  But I now have 6 more days until Christmas break!  YIPEEEeeeee!

Kudos go out to Peteriet for making my Christmas celebration EXTRA special.  With his resourceful knowledge of hip Christmas music, I am now the VERY PROUD owner of "Dr. Demento Presents The Greatest Christmas Novelty CD of ALL TIME!!!"  What an AWESOME CD!!!  So, now I can listen to "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" anytime I want!!  Ah, my Christmas is now semi-complete!  (All that is needed is a WHITE Christmas and it might be a most perfect Christmas season!!)

May your Christmas Season be extra special too!!  God bless!

Okay...I found out today that 2 of my schools are in session next Thursday morning!  Imagine my surprise and enthusiasm at such news.  Yep, you got it...nada, none!!  So I had to push back the car getting it's catalatic converter yet another day.  It's only the 3rd time I've rescheduled this appointment ~ surely the guys at Tron's don't think I'm a total flake!!

Speaking of flakes...that reminds me of one of my favorite winter plaques I saw once.  It said, "Some of my friends are flakes" and had a picture of a snowman and of course snow!  One of my friends bought it cuz it reminded her of me!  Thank you, I resemble that comment!

I also finished one of my reports that I needed to get done.  However, when I was going over it with the SpEd teacher I realized that I totally graphed the scores wrong and of course, I used the graph to write the stinkin' report!!!  UGH!!!  The only thing worse than paperwork is doing it over!!  I think it's a sign of the craziness of the season.  I'm not the only one this way...everywhere I go, Special Ed teachers are frazzled and ready to hang kids up by their toenails!! 

So 7 days til Christmas break!!  I promised myself that I will do NO work stuff once I'm done with the schools until AFTER celebrating Christmas.  Then I REALLY need to get some organizational projects done.

One more thing...I've been listening to Christmas music on my new car stereo!  I've decided that my favorite fun song this year is..."All I want for Christmas is a hippopotamus!"  If you haven't heard it you'll have to try to find it!  It's a hoot!!  (I have NO clue who it's by!)

 

I've blogged in my head at least 3 times since my last blog...they were all pretty cool too.  One was going to be my personal review of The Nativity Story including a couple pictures I took during my trips to Israel.  If I don't get to that blog...it's a MUST see, 3 thumbs up, 5 stars, etc.  (yes I know, it's typically 2 thumbs up and 4 stars...the point is, it's off the charts awesome!)  The other was going to be about Curt & I's relaxing weekend in Branson this past weekend and seeing the lights at Silver Dollar City.  I can't remember what the third blog was going to be about...possibly a friendly rivalry blog directed towards The Colonel as he continues to have fun sharing somewhat embarrassing pictures of me which he has PhotoShopped into another picture...which equals an entirely embarrassing picture of me yawning while PBZ is teaching in the synagogue in Nazareth!!  I think most of the church has seen it...and it sounds like he may be creating others!!  At least he's having some fun doing it...and it seems that many are getting a good laugh from it as well!!  Once again...welcome to my crazy world.

On the real-life sides of things...I am EXTREMELY busy.  I'm doing my best to makeup all my missed visits with my students (from my Israel trip) prior to Christmas break.  Basically that's trying to make up a week and a half of work within 3 weeks while doing the regular load.  Needless to say, I'm tired, at times grumpy, trying to catch a cold/cough/something ruther and MORE than ready for Wednesday the 20th at Noon (the time that I'm officially finished with the year and BEGINNING Christmas break!! YAHOOOOOO!!!).  At this moment in time, I should be finishing one of 2 reports that desperately need to be finished...however, I'm tired and unmotivated...which tends to make it VERY difficult to focus on the tedious details of my reports.  So...I'm getting in touch with my Xangians instead. 

I figured out yesterday that after Christmas break I have to add 5 students onto my current caseload and test 2 others (one of which will probably end up on my caseload as well...not sure about the other).  This will mean I'm officially serving 11 rural school districts in North West MO!  Yes folks, that does mean I spend a ton 'o time in my car...which has just gotten a new stereo!!  (Can you imagine spending 2-3 hours a day in your car with no radio, CD player...nada nothing to occupy your time??!? Let me tell ya...you wouldn't like it!!)  So I'm considering that a Christmas bonus to myself for working so hard this month. 

I also took my car into the shop...the check engine light keeps coming on and off.  The news on that .... Congratulations, you need a new catalytic converter!!!  FYI - those do not come cheap folks!!  So that means I'm really looking into researching and figuring out if I need to go ahead and trade-in my Gracie (my car's name...2002 CRV with 122,000 miles on it).  She's been a great car...and has an AWESOME story of faith...and was my dream "therapy buggie" since the days of OT school.  She's not even paid off yet....but she is not upside down in her loan as she is a Honda!!!  The 007 models of the CRV's are pretty sweet...but then I have to decide, new or used and with the amount of miles I put on my cars, I want the nice warranty that goes with new cars.  UGH!!!  I'm gonna try to delay that decision until Spring 07!  I'm praying that God will bless me like he did when I got Gracie the first time! 

Back to the work stuff...so ultimately, by the beginning of February I'll have 8 new students. So one of the MANY projects during Christmas break will be...trying to figure out how to add 'em into the already crazy schedule without adding additional trips to schools (which increases driving time and totally unproductive)!  Don't worry folks, I do get paid for driving AND mileage...so my time in the car isn't TOTALLY useless!!  We traveling therapists have to do so, or we end up driving to Timbucktoo (or however you spell it) to see a kiddo for 30 minutes!!  Not fun, believe me!

So keep me in your prayers.  I'm trying not to get too overwhelmed...and then I get the notice for the next Joseph Company meeting, it's on the Jabez prayer...increase my territories!!!  Oh YIKES!!!! I guess I'm following that prophetic word already!  Now Lord just give me the energy, strength and endurance to keep on pluggin' on!!!

'Til next time! God bless y'all!! and have a VERY Merry Christmas!! 

I'll probably write again during my break!!