Heading Out

Very early tomorrow morning I am heading to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I'll be up there for two weeks. I'm excited to return for my 4th summer in Calgary. We are again partnering with Southwinds Church and hosting several sports camps. The first week we will be doing soccer and basketball, with the help of First Baptist Church - Kings Mountain. The second week we will be doing double T-ball duty with Taylors Baptist Church from South Carolina. I am looking forward to meeting new people and working along side them as we plant seeds for the new church plant that is going to be opening this fall.

Here is a link to Andrea Whitesides blog that she is keeping well up-to-date this summer:

http://missioncanada.org/

Andrea is the lady from Kings Mountain that worked at KMMS the same year I did. We established a great friendship last summer and I look forward to spending time with her again this summer.

I'm supposed to have internet access up there but sometimes it's sporadic. I'll update when I can but just pray for us. We're a team of 9 the first week and 7 the second week. Much work to done and the laborers are few. God bless!

The dreaded comment...

On Saturday, my good friend Rena, got married. I was one of the bridesmaids (Pictures coming soon hopefully). I arrived on Friday morning at the appointed time to sit and wait for at least half an hour before the bride herself arrived with the decorations. Granted, I should've known that Rena would not have been on time. I spent 12 hours at the church, setting up, preparing food, decorating, etc, etc, etc. I experienced my first rehersal in sneakers. I had a very cute outfit picked out for the rehersal but no one else changed so I wasn't going to either. It was a busy day to say the least.

I must say that for the first time in a long time I felt pretty. I have finally gotten my hair highlighted and cut. I scrounged up enough money to get a much needed pedicure. I felt good. Wedding time rolled around and Kayla, Rena's sister, did my hair for me. It held the "do" most of the day - despite the wicked heat. I had a great dress that I looked and felt good in. I was pretty tired when the actual ceremony rolled around. I was escorted up the aisle by one of my favoritest guys of the moment. One who I wish would notice me more and want to be a better friend with me! We have the same sense of humor and competed most of the weekend to get the one-liners out. We chatted up and down the aisle and maybe it was imagination but I swear he kept looking at me during the ceremony and smiling. He's just an all-around nice, grown-up, single, Christian guy.

Now back to my point...I was feeling pretty good about myself. I had received several compliments from Rena's friends and family. Then came the downer...after many rounds of pictures after the ceremony we entered the reception. I knew some of the people there and they were waiting to speak to me when we entered. My loving former Sunday School teacher from West Asheville was one of the first to get to me. Here is what she said: "So how does it feel that Rena (who's younger than you right?) got married before you?" WOW - punch in the gut! I know she loves me and I know she wants God's best for me but I hope she realizes that the way she just said it wasn't nice. I struggled my way through the rest of the conversation. I was told that when I do finally get married that I needed to remember to invite them as well. The bridesmaid standing next to me said "Do you get that question a lot? How does it make you feel?" I went on to explain to her that I get it sometimes and I respond to it differently at different times depending on the circumstances of life at the moment. The sad part is that it most often comes from well-intentioned Christians. There is a whole generation of Christian women who believe that in order to serve God fully and be happiest in life you have to be married. I disagree - yes, I do desire to marry someday but I also know that if God wants me to be single forever then I can't do much about it. Whichever way it happens, God has my best interest at heart. Does that make it any easier - absolutely not - but my head knows He loves me more than any man ever will and He'll care for me better than any man too. Did that question sting -yes! Is it a familiar sting - yes! Know that single or married, I'm pursuing what God has for me because He knows what's best.

Good Ending for a Sad Day

After a long and somewhat depressing day at a summer workshop, I was treated to an extremely early birthday present by a wonderful friend who is visiting from Louisiana. She took me to Longhorn Steakhouse and this is what I had for dinner:

Rocky Top Chicken
Two juicy grilled chicken breasts, basted with our signature BBQ sauce and topped with hickory-smoked bacon, melted cheese and diced tomatoes (got rid of those). Served with seasoned fries and choice of side.

Then for dessert:Chocolate Stampede
Great for Sharing! Two peaks of chocolate cake packed with six types of chocolate, including chocolate mousse and fudge icing. Served with vanilla bean ice cream and real whipped cream.

Needless to say I have leftover chicken for dinner tomorrow night and cake for breakfast in the morning! I received some much needed encouragement and had a good chance to catch up with Lori. Courts - Mom liked your strawberry salad.

Slacker that I am

Yes I know it's been over a month since I've blogged...yes, I know that way too much has happened in the past month to include in one post...yes, I know that I should be working on round two of my counseling licensure program...yes, I know that I haven't gotten caught up on everyone else's blogs in a LONG time...yes, I KNOW!

Here's the Reader's Digest version: The month of May was full of school, school and some more school. I was spending extremely long days at LMS getting my kids ready for their EOGs. I spent several afternoons a week tutoring and getting in some extra practice. I also brought home some projects to make reviewing a little more exciting in the classroom. I also took three days to complete my bus driver training. I slept occasionally on the weekends, but even those filled up fast. I had my "Nicaraguan" friend here for a weekend visit. I had a random trip to Asheville to spend some quality time with the soon to be bride. Then EOG week hit. This time of year is incredibly busy and stressful for NC teachers - not to mention the threat of job loss hanging over our heads and a pay decrease for the month we work the hardest! I came through it with a contract for next year, a school bus driver's license, and less pay!

June came in quickly with us scrambling to remediate and re-test of first time failures. The bomb was dropped on the last Friday of the year for those who are potentially losing their jobs this year. It's not a good time to be a NC teacher!!!! Despite all this bad news, I believe that for the first time ever (unofficially) LMS has made AYP! We were told by a county office official at our end of year luncheon that we just looked tired. How encouraging but true!!

Finally, Dad gave Mom tickets to see Phantom of the Opera in Charlotte this past Friday as a Christmas present. This included tickets for Pastor Todd, his wife, all three kids and a date. That was easy for my brothers because they have wives! My search was a little more complicated. Even if I was talking or casually seeing someone right now I wasn't ready to expose him to the entire family this early. Realizing how few friends I have close by, I decided to drop a few hints to a certain friend who can usually travel pretty easily. Needless to say she came to be my date for the weekend. I REALLY enjoyed the show. I sat next to Jenn, who is trained in opera - among other types of music. She loved it, I loved it, but the boys I'm not so sure. At one point, Tim, Joe and Todd all had the same bored posture going on. I laughed at them. It was a great dinner and show with the family.

Summer vacation has started! Today was my lazy day - probably one of the few I'll get this summer. I've read through almost an entire book today - will probably finish it before going to bed. Tomorrow I start on volleyball plans, my lawn, maybe Majesty Motors work, laundry, and any other things I put off today. The summer is pretty busy but I hope to post more often. Thanks for reading this long to get a brief catch up on the last month of my life! Happy Summer!

Family Gathering

We had a wonderful family gathering this weekend. The entire Procita side of the family gathered in Hickory this weekend. Unfortunately I don't have any of the pictures at the moment. I made two trips to the airport on Friday to gather the Brown and Kitlas families. I haven't seen them in several years. I finally got to meet my cousin's baby, Nathan. He's going on 2 and has the cutest head of blond curls. I had a great conversation with my forever-a-student cousin about education - her specialty. She gains more degrees in it but hasn't spent time in the trenches of a classroom yet. She has so much to learn from real life!

We celebrated three different graduations by the various girls of the family. My sister-in-law is now officially Dr. April. Courtney wants to be police officer so she can carry a gun. Felicia might just go back for another degree if she can't find a job. We had a photo shoot on Saturday afternoon - which brought out all the old pictures of the cousins in group photos. Zeke and Jasmine recognized their dad in every picture but had a hard time finding Joe and myself. We ate for about four hours straight and the neighbors were probably surprised to hear so much noise coming from our normally quiet house. Overall it was a great weekend and time with family. I hear the other side of the family will be gathering while I'm in Canada - sadness. I haven't seen that side of the family in more years than this side of the family.

Sadly we were one member short. My sister-in-law, Jen, lost her grandfather on Thursday. She was so torn about where to go, but ended up with her side of the family. Fortunately Tim and the kids made it to us in one piece. I was a little worried about Tim traveling with his young daughter - especially during potty stops. They made it without much trouble - just a few fun stories. I'll post pictures as soon as I get my copies of them.

Spring Break

I'll let my pictures speak for my spring break. It was a good week at home to accomplish much around the house and catch up with great friends. It was good to have adult conversation ALL week long. I ate good too! :)

My new yellow bathroom! Aunt Barb helped me paint my bathroom. We only managed to dump some paint on the floor - it was cleaned up before it caused too much damage! I love my new purple accents too!

This is the 2nd half of my reading list for the week. I made a trip to the library about half way through the week to restock my supply. I'm down to the bottom two books on the right - of course the left side are ongoing reads.

I spent one whole day working on the landscaping of my yard. I have purchased a riding lawn mower but that's a whole 'nother post to say the least. Here are my new holly bushes and flowers:

Finally, here is one of my contributions to Rena's bridal shower on Saturday. I spent most of my time on Friday dipping pretzels in chocolate or creating the blue wedding bells. Mom also made the cake, but I forgot to take a picture of it. I think Rena or Adam have copies for me so I'll post it when I get it.

One Thing to Change

If You Had One Thing To Change, what would it be? Are you willing to share the answer to that question with others? Would you allow others to benefit from you good decisions, bad decisions or what if I had chosen this path stories? Do you want to hear about others' changes or life lessons learned? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then please visit the following website. It's just starting and needs the support. If you have questions about it then feel free to contact me. I'm trying to help the webmaster get started!

One Thing to Change

I've also added a link to it in the sidebar of my blog for future use. At least go and read some of the stories that have already been submitted. More will be added as the webmaster finds time to sort through them. Check back regularly!

Easter Music?

As most of you know I am a fanatic about Christmas music. I have Christmas music on my IPod year-round. My CD player that I listen to as I go to sleep still have this year's Christmas CD's in it so the songs come up on the shuffle cycle frequently. So my question is why is there not an equal amount if Easter music? Easter is just as important from the Christian standpoint, if not more important than Christmas. It gives us great cause for celebration. Without Easter, Christmas would be pointless. Christ's resurrection is the only reason we have a relationship with the Father in the first place. Without Good Friday and Easter Sunday, Christ would've just been a great prophet or teacher. Is it because we are celebrating something as "dark" as the death of a human? Is it because of the senselessness of it happening from the temporal perspective?

So again I ask, why do we not have the same amount of Easter music as Christmas music? I can happily say that a CD was recently released that I consider Easter music. It has some of today's top Christian worship leaders singing about the Crucifixion and the glory of the Resurrection. I managed to get a copy of it through the help of my high-speed Internet brother. I actually have some of these songs already, but I like them in the sequence of this CD. It's called Raise Up the Crown. It may be an older CD but it's new to me. Take a minute and think about how important Easter is to us as Christians and how we don't give it the same hype and energy as we do Christmas. I'll get off my soapbox for the moment.

A New Baby

Here are some pictures of Isaac Matthew Shell. He's the son of Matt and Sonya Shell. He was born on February 22. Staying true to form, Mom just now sent out his birth announcement - a month after his birth. I am hopefully going to get to meet him on Wednesday of this week! I'll get my baby fix that I've needed for the last few months.

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PS - Saturday school yesterday went well. We celebrated Pi Day! Attendance was high so I only had a few pies left after our celebration.

Only in NC

Here are some pictures from our snow storm last weekend. It started on Sunday around noon time. By Monday morning we had four inches of snow! We were out Monday and Tuesday and had a two-hour delay on Wednesday.
Those were some pretty big snow flakes to start!Monday morning's sunrise! It was pretty and I went back to bed after taking this picture.
A good picture of my car and driveway after the snow stopped.

But of course as only can happen in NC by Saturday I was walking around outside in short sleeves. I was in Greensboro for the Women's ACC Tournament with my basketball team and we had to turn on the air conditioning in the car. Yesterday, a week after these pictures, I was debating turning on the A/C in my house because it was above 80 outside! Sad to say that my lovely school system decided to make-up these snow days on SATURDAY!!! The first make-up day is this Saturday, making this a 6 day week! I'm tired already.

Craziness

Two things to share in this entry because I haven't posted in so long. First is that I finished my basketball season tonight. We finished with an overall record of 9-3 and a conference record of 7-3. We won the Buck Dellinger Holiday Tournament at the beginning of the season. We finished 2nd in the conference. We were the only team to beat the #1 team in our conference - and we beat 'em GOOD! It was a good season. I had a great team of girls and some very supportive parents. Unfortunately most of them are going onto high school next year. I'll have five returning players from this year's squad. It was a good team to "re-cut" my teeth for coaching basketball. I haven't coached a basketball team in three years and I think we did pretty good despite that fact. My body is realizing that my coaching job is "over" for the year. I've been coaching one team or another for 7 months straight! I've already got volleyball players asking when we're going to start our spring workouts!? I told them to let me unwind from basketball season and then we'd get into the groove of workouts again. I'm giving myself two weeks of leaving school by 4:00 at the latest - most days it will be sooner!

Secondly the picture above is from some crazy adventures this weekend. I travelled quite a bit and didn't stay in one place for too long. I reconnected with some great people and became quite popular by phone this weekend too. I had some good time in the car with some sermons on CD and my IPod filled with Jesus music. It filled my need to drive for awhile and I even survived driving through the snow in the above picture. I'm pretty tired from missing my Sunday afternoon nap and I missed my weekly visit with the parents and the Dog. Overall, I'm in an unwinding phase for a few weeks so I can get geared up for what I'm teaching my crazy 8th graders in the coming weeks. We're finally getting to some good stuff that I love to teach. OK, so hopefully that's enough of a post to satisfy my fans for now. I hope you're all doing well!

Where?

Where did January go? One minute I'm ringing in the New Year and now I'm already into the second week of February?! Wow, this year is going to fly - I can just feel it! I'll sum up the past month is a few words:

1. School
2. Basketball
3. Majesty Motors
4. Church hunting
5. Prayer Time
6. Small Amounts of Snow
7. Sickness

I guess if you want to know more, then you'll have to call me! Beware right now I'm having a hard time breathing so talking on the phone is a very exhausting, challenging thing for me! Text me first and I'll tell you if I can talk to you without passing out. Now you know I'm alive!

My Weekend

This is how I spent my weekend:

Not bad for a first time head basketball coach...I've got a great team. If I can just keep the cockiness under control and help them realize that they need their teammates, it should be a great season! I am enjoying it. It comes naturally to me! Good times!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009! So far it's been a great year! It's been very restful. Here's a few pictures for those of you who haven't been by my house this year. I've got the best decorations on the block!

It was a little chilly today! Isn't that just a great hat!