Fear of the Unknown

Several years ago, I got video footage of my then almost 3 year old child laying on the floor crying and yelling, "I don't want to be a big boy!" He was upset with me for putting training pants on him and insisted that he didn't want to "go poopy in the potty". Fast forward 14 yrs to last night. We had a talk with him about getting a job, he will be 17 in April ya know, and he seems to show no interest in filling out any job applications. He got very upset with us for putting the pressure on, and although he didn't lay on the floor and scream, he did punch a couch pillow a few times. He is afraid, but I'm not sure what he is afraid of...failure? He has always been a perfectionist, so much so that he dropped his AP Literature class this year after staying up until the wee hours of the morning several times to perfect his writings about the literature he had read. He was complimented by the teacher on his writing, but his other classes were suffering. Toward the end of our conversation with our son last night, he brought up the video taped incident and its similarity to last night's incident. He laughed a little bit that here he was, doing the same thing many years later. I'm glad he realized the silliness of it. Anyway, he will be filling out some job applications very soon, and I think he will find that working isn't so bad after all. :)

I am Loved Much...

This morning I am wondering why. Why do I forget to count my blessings? Why do I take for granted these blessings all around me from God? Why do I do this? I am so loved, yet I often choose to look right past it all. Please help me, Lord. Help me to remember to see your blessings everywhere in my every day. Thank you for loving me.

Happy Birthday, Steven!

God blessed me tremendously when he gave me this handsome boy 18 years ago. Happy Birthday, Steven! Thanks for being silly with me. I love you!

Sick Pup

Something is wrong with Koty. He had to sleep in his crate last night (which he hasn't done in a couple of years) because he pooped on the kitchen floor the previous 2 nights. At leat he didn't poop on the carpet, so the cleanup was pretty easy, but still... This morning there is a little bit of something in the crate, not quite sure what it is. While the kids were having breakfast, he started heaving and was put outside to vomit. Poor thing, I feel bad for him and I wonder what to do. :(

Brrrr!!!

Winter has finally arrived in our area. The morning commute to work wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be after hearing the weatherman's predictions last night. I have snow tires on my car, thanks to my wonderful husband, but I don't think it was very slippery this morning, although it sure is cold! Right now the thermometer reads 7 degrees, brrr! Today I am thankful for a nice hot meal and a warm house....and snow tires!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year! Looking forward to 2012. I have a wonderful new job (well, I've been there for almost 10 months, is that still new?), Steven is a Senior, and Michael is a Junior. Dave's job of about 16 yrs remains stable and so...this year, after 3 years of being begged by Dave's dad to go on a trip out west with them, we are finally going in July...I think. Nothing is official until plane tickets are purchased, so we'll see. Steven is taking driver's ed and will hopefully take his road test pretty soon. He just took an online test to see where his strengths are as far as a job is concerned. He isn't really sure what he wants to do yet, but maybe the test will help him a little bit. I am hoping to grow more in my walk with Christ, and to be more disciplined about my daily Bible reading and study. Michael and I are planning to read through the Bible, along with many people at our church. I lost a friend to stomach cancer in December, and her walk with Christ was amazing. She left behind such a wonderful legacy for her children (as did my own dad). I often feel like I am selfish with my time, and basically don't feel like this is all God has for me or desires of me, so I am praying that I am willing to trust God 100% with this wonderful life he has given me, and that I allow him to use me in any way that he desires to grow his kingdom. Please pray for me.

"If you count each "Fear not" in the scriptures, there are apparently 366, one for every day of the year. That means even on a leap year you have to have enough faith to jump into His arms — every day.” - The Farmer Voscamp

Mmmmm!

I just love it when the season changes, because so does my dinner menu. It got up to 64 degrees today, and after not grilling all winter long, I made grilled pineapple chicken.

Even the pineapple goes on the grill with the marinade.

It was super yummy, served with white rice and a salad. :9 Oh how I love spring!

New Job!!

Last Wednesday I had an interview, and on Monday morning I got a phone call and was offered the job!! I will start March 22nd since she thought it would take her a while to find someone she liked, so she had hired a sub for 8 weeks while she looked. I am honored to work for this person. She is a great prosthodontist and is a Christian to top it off! I will work on Tuesdays and Thursdays fron 8-5. Her office is gorgeous, but there were no pictures onine for posting.

Hopeful

Okay, I have to admit, I'm a little tired of seeing the photo from my last blog. It is a sad reminder to me of how great things used to be in my old office, therefore I will post something new! On Tuesday this week I subbed at this beautiful, friendly dental office.

It is not only warm and inviting, but is all about giving the patient the best care possible

The equipment was a plus too, very up to date. I could definitely see myself at this place permanently...if only they were looking. The staff was like a happy family. He may possibly be looking for someone for 1 day a week pretty soon, and I am VERY interested. In the meantime I will continue to sub and get myself known out there. I need to remember that "All things work together for good..."

Jobless

The above photo was taken when part of our dental staff went to Las Vegas for a seminar in March of 2007. My boss is on the far right, next to me...happier days. Well, after almost 14 1/2 (yes, that's fourteen and a half) years of working at the same place of employment, I was terminated today. The decision was made by my employers a couple of years ago, to renovate the dental office. The renovation was completed in August of 2009. They used the best of the best of everything, and it is beautiful, but it came at a cost, one that turned out to be too high for them to afford. This brought lots of stress into the office this summer when the schedule became difficult to fill some days. It brought on many more responsibilities for the Hygienists....and a pay cut for all of us too. I became very stressed over all of the new responsibilities, and the fact that with those added responsibilities I could no longer stay on schedule. But no matter how bad things had become, I stayed. Today, after a crazy busy day, I was called into the office and terminated. I was told that I was a "great Hygienist" and they would give me a "great recommendation" wherever I went. "Well, then why are you letting me go?" I asked. There was a pause, and then the response, "Because you're not enthusiastic enough." I'm not quite sure what this means, but I do know that I have been unhappy with the stress and the changes in the work atmosphere since June, I have been unhappy that I was forced to pick up an extra day a couple years ago, I was unhappy that I was constantly having to go in for meetings on my days off, and unhappy that in spite of all of my efforts to please, I was unappreciated. I feel like I've been slapped in the face, after all, I've bent over backwards to make them happy. I know that God has a purpose and a plan that is so much better than mine, and I am eager to discover what that is. He knew that unless He booted me out the door, I would never leave because I don't like change. (I think it's my fear of the unknown) I am being given another lesson in trusting God in all things. I'm feeling like "they" didn't let me go, God did, and I am blessed.

Baby Love

Christmas Tea

Today was the Christmas Tea at my brother Tim's place. Even though he doesn't communicate with us much, I know it means a lot to him that we're there.

Steven decided that he wanted to come this year, and it was nice to have him there. Unfortunately Tim blinked for our group picture, oh well. I love him. :)

My Fam

Days Long Gone

Today I went over to my mom's house with Martha, to clean out a bit. I found this old photo of my parents, and I thought it was cute. They were so young and still had their whole lives ahead of them.

Symbol of a Promise

I love this picture. Yesterday we had a good downpour and a wonderful rainbow right after. I tried to take several pictures of it, but the colors just weren't showing up as vividly as the rainbow really was. This picture showed up in our local newspaper this morning...just beautiful!

Grimes Glen

Today I was feeling a little stressed, when my sister Priscilla called looking for someone to hike with in Grimes Glen. I thought it sounded like a wonderful idea! It was a gorgeous day, and the majority of the hike was through water. Here are our boys and a friend enjoying the refreshing water near one of the waterfalls.

Priscilla's dog was very excited to be able to come along. He loved every minute of it, and made frequent checks on Priscilla when she fell behind.

Another Gorgeous Day

Today we put our bikes on the bike rack and took a nice long bike ride with our boys and my sister in law on the Lehigh Valley Bike Trail. It was a beautiful ride through the woods, where old rail road tracks used to pass. Now there are old bridges and railroad things that are still standing in the woods. My Uncle Chuck said that he remembers when several years ago they burned down the train station. I didn't have my camera with me to take pictures of the old junction and what's left of it, these pictures are compliments of my sister in law. We saw lots of deer along the way.
We came home kinda late for dinner and were starved, so we ate grilled chicken, rice and corn on the cob at 9:00pm. :9

Drawings from a grandpa to his grandchild

I found these pictures that my dad drew for Steven in an unpacked box (from when we moved here) in our basement tonight. This picture shows what Dad loved to draw the most, ships. He loved ships and being on the water.
This one must have been inspired by Steven himself. Steven used to be a lover of chimneys and pipes, and it looks like his grandpa was playing on that. I can just imagine how intrigued Steven was as he watched his grandpa draw this for him.

Buried Treasure

Today I decided to start to clean our basement. There was a big box with some stuff in it from when we moved here, and as I began to look through it I thought that if I didn't miss it in the last 7 years, it was all probably stuff we didn't need. Well, most of it was junk, but when I saw these pictures, it was like I had found a treasure! My dad has been gone for 9 months now, and finding old photos of him with one of my kids was quite a find. Steven was 2 here, and he is 16 now. I love the look on his face in this 1st picture....I wonder what my dad was playing and singing.

Watching how his grandpa's fingers move on the strings. There's my grandpa too!

Can I try Grandpa?

Happy Mother's Day

Thanks for always being there for us Mom. I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day.