Dr. Heizer

All I have to say is "THANK YOU" Dr. Jonathan Heizer!

16 years ago I broke off my front tooth in Missouri while doing a back handspring in a swimming pool on the way home from a national twirling contest. Yesterday, while flossing right before our flight home from San Diego, I heard a ding in the sink. It was my tooth. They always said at one point the bonding would loosen and I would have to have it redone. They were correct. I avoided speaking to anyone on the plane. Jer nicknamed me "Hillbilly Misti" (no offense to anyone). Today I am fixed. Jonathan ROCKS! He's my new dentist, by the way.

Beautiful San Diego

If you're wondering where I've been on the blog updates, you probably don't know us. School did a frantic finish and with confirmation of the job share, came the moving of the classroom. That was finished with graduation, taking the final test for the NBPTS in Bedford, and then packing & flying out to San Diego. San Diego is beautiful. We have had a great time hanging out with Joey, Lisa, Caden, Carson, & Corban. Here's just one picture we took. There will be more to come.

Job Share OFFICIAL!!!

We've been unofficially official for a month + now, but official word has been slow on coming. I was moving stuff this week when my dept head told me, "I don't know when we'll find out." I knew it wasn't as official as I had been told, but that kind of set me back a little. That was Wednesday, and Marsha (principal) also told me that day that she was meeting with the slow moving one the next day - Thursday. So, when I saw her in the workroom Friday morning and she didn't say anything, my stomach dropped a little. Marsha always greets, always encourages, but nothing. I was really okay with it - moving it all to storage was my biggest concern.

At 9:12, I got this message:

I just received a call to inform me that the English Job-Share proposal for next year has been approved!

ARRGH!

Marsha

I couldn't help but squeal with delight and jump up & down (with a room full of 22 Advanced Placement Juniors who were busy playing their games designed for The Great Gatsby). One minute later, Jana, dpt chair, came in squealing, too. It was contagious (and disruptive to the whole hall which was taking finals). We are all so excited! I have a job! I have the flexibility to be with my family! I know there will be trials and setbacks and frustrations, but I am so ready to do this. This morning I saw the curriculum coordinator for English and we spoke a little. She's excited, too! It makes me feel valued, it makes me feel like I'm making a difference (hopefully this will catch on for other teachers, too), it makes me feel like I can truly put my family first. Praise God!

Pomp and Circumstance

Pre school graduation, and I cried. Subtle tears. Pre school leads to grade school which leads to high school which leads to graduation to college to marriage. Yes, that's out of control. I'll cry at GHS graduation on Tuesday night, too. It's something that just starts with that march.

Jenna's preschool graduation was tonight. We got her all dolled up - dress, curled the hair, make up (but not so that you could really see it). As we were getting ready, she asked me who was coming. When I told her both Nana & Pawpaw White and Nina & Pawpaw Fulton, she got a very sweet smile and said, "I must be pretty special." Yes, honey, you are, deep sigh as I quickly reflect on infancy all the way to now. I can be so emotional.

Pastor Austin, of Our Savior Lutheran, home of Cross Town Preschool, spoke to Jeremy afterward. He said he sure is going to miss Jenna. "Jenna knows all the answers. Sometimes I have to tell her not to answer, and then if no one else can answer, I look at her, and she answers. She always says, 'My dad taught me that.'" That's our girl! Her dad is awesome at teaching her about God and the Bible.
her diploma
Look, a picture with me! Nevermind she's looking elsewhere.
Since she couldn't have cake, they made her and H special Jello.
We're saving this one for when she's off to A&M and for her TAMU '25 graduation.
The whole crew.
Pawpaw & Nana White
Pawpaw & Nina Fulton
Jen & Miss Erin, her teacher

4.5 days

That's the countdown. If you want to be technical, with the next day as a workday, it's 5.5, but I don't count workdays. Plus, most of that work day I'll be in Bedford taking my National Board test. So, I'm in the process of finishing up, grading, packing/moving, and so forth. The job share is still not official - the superintendent has said yes, the consultant from R4 (the group running GHS) has said "we've done that for 20 years, it's the only way to keep good teachers" - (that's the first thing he and I have agreed on all year), but there is one person we're waiting on...

In other news, as I took such a long break to balance the checkbook - funny thing about that. I had just finished telling Jer that our 2005 Quicken program should be about to 'expire' at any time and not allow us to download when the screen popped up that 2005 was no longer supported. So, we're still waiting for our new version to arrive in the mail. I've made pretty good headway on Photoshop Elements, though. I've also downloaded all the pics on the camera to the computer - that's huge. I am also learning the power of the delete button. Fast camera means lots of shots so you can choose from the best ones instead of making all the yucky ones work! Granted, there is still a lot about my 'best' shots that I see I can make better. At least I see it, I figure.

Jenna has her pre-school graduation Friday and first dance recital on Saturday. I'm sure I'll cry at graduation. Tonight she was so funny. Very matter of factly, she began discussion the 'Engine' Turtles. I didn't even correct her because it was so cute. She's the movie/cartoon quoting diva of the world. I always wanted to do that, but I just don't hang on to stuff that well! Heck, I can't even tell a joke without messing it up. Not Jenna, she's a pro. Remember that if you say something she likes (or doesn't), she WILL quote you.

Hudson continues to be a case of Jekyll & Hyde. I don't get it. I'm trying, though.

Here are some pictures from the Baptism celebration on Sunday. The first his Hudson dunking Jeremy. Kristell was kind enough to let each kid who didn't succeed with the balls to succeed with the hand. The picture of Jenna is her demonstrating trust for Jer's illustration. It was supposed to be Hudson, but he pulled a fast one and refused.

Quick News

The kids are fantastic. They got a trip to both grandparents' homes over the weekend, so they got lots of outside time to fill them up and lots of grandparent hugs. Since then, we've been busy trying to keep them from pummeling each other. I guess it's spring fever, but they're very rambunctious. Jenna's lip was busted tonight. Hudson feigned ignorance, Jenna was screaming so loudly I couldn't get to the bottom. "The pillow just hit her," was H's eventual confession. Don't you hate when pillows just up and knock the pookie out of you? In his defense, it was the pillow fight I had told them to stop moments before heading to the closet to hang up clothes, so he wasn't in trouble. Ice, love, healed.

Church update: StoneWater has a contract on the land. We're in the due diligence period of checking it all out. But, it looks amazing. Amazing. God provides! There's a blog about land and facilities you can get to from the SWC web site (www.stonewaterchurch.com).

Job share update: there's not one. They've filled 3 of the jobs and still won't post the one vacated by the job share. Worried? No. I'm at total peace. I do find it interesting and encouraging that summer school for the first time will feature the option for teachers to job share - either morning or afternoon. That has to be a good sign, right? I still feel a peace and an excitement.

Knee: FRUSTRATION. My new shoes came in and 3 mile run - great, 4 mile run - no problem. Pain free - amazing! Shoes are a little firmer than I like, but for pain free, I'll take it. Today I set out for a 6 miler - I haven't had a good long run in weeks and weeks. Perfect temperature, great message from Andy Stanley on the ipod. Mile 4.5, mild pain, no sweat. Mile 5, intense. Between mile 5 and 6, I had to stop 3 times and anyone could hear me grunting. I'm very, very frustrated, angry, and sad. It's not the pressure of my step, it's the swinging movement from back to front with my stride. I'm just so sad. Other than the pain, it was a glorious run - refreshing mentally, emotionally (until the pain), and physically. I guess it's back to the gym tomorrow for the bike and elliptical (and miss the beautiful weather).

Sorry for the lack of updates & pictures. I'm working to balance the checkbook & credit card from March (yes, I know that's bad and SOOO not like me). Being able to always see your balance online is not very motivational for me and add to that the computer transfer. Plus, I'm working on learning my camera, re-learning Photoshop Elements (I upgraded to 6.0 from 3.0, and it's different), and, more than anything, hanging with the family. I promise I'll get better!

Have I mentioned that hanging with the family has been amazing?!

Squish him like a bug

I want to squish Jeremy. First, I love him, respect him, and adore him. But, the last week he's been like a kindergartner. I found a person with whom I wanted to strike up a friendship due to a common interest in photography. He told her, "Misti wants to be your friend." Then, I found another acquaintance's blog which was entirely different than I had imagined her due to her past work background. I told Jeremy how much it cracked me up, "Misti thinks your blog is funny." Hello, can I speak for myself, please? Am I socially awkward so that he thinks he needs to take it up for me (which does make me socially awkward)? I know he intends well, but, well, it's embarrassing.

Mother's Day was awesome - the kids remembered with no one prompting them - really, Jer was already at church by the time they got up. I hung out at my parents' new house in the country - peaceful and beautiful. This allowed me to play with the camera. Unfortunately, I didn't have one single person get a picture of me with my mom. Duh. The picture is just a week where I'm practing my depth of field and aperture relationship. I like the blur in the background, but not too much (this one is too much, but it's fun).


The MOST fun was the kids in the hammock. New experience. In, flip - down on the ground. I haven't laughed that hard in a L - O - N - G time. The picture doesn't do it justice except that it was so fast, I didn't have the shutter speed fast enough to catch it. It was a round of applause from the grandparents & parents!


The other fun was watching the kids with their frogs from the creek. Jumpy the Jump Frog (Jenna's) was all over the place. She made a bed for him in a tree (see picture). Of course, when it was time to let him go, she said he was asleep. Yes, he was, Jumpy the Jump Frog and Jenna the 5 year old had too much fun. "Jenna, I think he's dead." "No, his guts are still in, he's just sleeping really good." This is my prissy, girly daughter who is also a tomboy. Pink dress, in trees, chasing frogs & spiders, not wanting to sweat, talking about guts. She's a bag of oxymorons in a little body.


Teacher moment of the day: Phoned home to make contact on a kid who probably isn't going to pass for the semester. Habits of not turning in work, same conversation we have approximately every 3 weeks. "Well, maybe you need to make a way for kids like xxxxxxx who just don't like to do work to pass your class without doing the work." Did she really say that? Yes.

Over the hump?

That should be 'humpS.' I think I've come out of my funk after a few things were weighing me down.

Jer's been under a lot of stress the last couple of weeks and so have I, and when you combine our stress levels, we're not good for each other. We're such a team, and when one goes down (or is spiraling), the other one is there to pick him up; when we both start in a spiral, it's just not good.

One of my spirals was photography. I LOVE it. I want to be GREAT at it (I want to be great at everything I do - OCD, perfectionist, yes). I would kind of (okay, really) like to make at least a little money at doing it so I could continue to buy new stuff and feel like I'm contributing to the family financial status. But, I've always had this thing against entrepreneurship, and I have so many friends that are in the business, I don't want to compete with them. So, I was debating on what to buy to start building the basis for a simple business and found the flash I wanted super cheap. I was so excited that I didn't check the online store, and, you guessed it, not one to be trusted. After I gave my credit card info and denied their 'upgrades,' I got the email that they were 'out of stock' for my flash. I quickly cancelled my credit card which meant that I've been going through life for over a week with no way to purchase stuff. Yes, I have a debit card, but I do not use it online and usually avoid all purchases via debit. Today I received a new credit card! I'm not a crazy shopper, I'm actually very frugal, but just the ability.

Then, I've been hating teaching. I've officially released myself from being super-teacher. I have parents upset that I don't call every time their child is absent or fails a paper, and I've decided that's really not my job. I am there to teach. I study, plan lessons, and try to be as engaging but challenging as possible. I can't parent all 130 of them, too. Consequences teach lessons very well. I believe I learned that hot would hurt when Mom said hot and I touched something hot. I believe I learned (sit down for this one) that drinking would make you sick when I drank too much one night (yes, there was a little rebellious streak in me). I believe I have learned the most important lessons in life through natural consequences. And, after following students around all year, emailing home to get them to come to tutorials, I decided that my students can choose to come on their own. I post grades every Monday (also to my web site where parents can check, along with my detailed lesson plans each day, along with files of lessons and copies of notes - really, you could take my class from my web site), they have all week to come take care of business. Some are learning that skipping = missing work = zeros = failing. As a 16 or 17 year old, this is an important lesson to learn before college, when you're paying big bucks (or mom is)for school. Okay, I still feel like I'm not doing enough, but I'm working on releasing myself. Maybe part time status next year will help.

Third, what is God doing with me? I've always had such a passion for teaching and students that none of this other stuff (parents, paperwork, hoops) have gotten to me. I've always told God that he'd have to take my passion for teaching away if he wants me to do something else. It's gone. I'm trying to believe it's just 'end-of-the-semester' burnout. I've never wanted to teach or speak to women, but I feel like that's could be where I'm heading. I've never wanted to own/operate a business, but there are some opportunities presenting themselves that appear promising and exciting. I'm trying to be patient (and I'm NOT) and just enjoy the ride. I'm not scared by this type of stuff anymore (heck, I'm a church planter's wife, WHO in their right mind decides, 'let's go start a church'?), so it's kind of fun, but frustrating for the girl who likes to have it all planned out before her.

Finally, eating & exercise. I am a stress eater. I like comfort food. I like to run to counteract this, and I'd like to lose my "winter coat." Stress means I've been eating. My knee is hurting again, and I got the $536 doctor bill (x-rays are expensive, but now I've met my deductible for the year - I'm going to have moles checked, a complete physical, you name it!). No running = either no comfort eating or no shedding of winter coat. Sad, sad, sad. Now that I have a credit card, I have ordered a different pair of shoes, I think that's the next step before going back to the doctor (who is evidently NOT in my PPO network, thus some extra charges). I feel like my feet & stride have changed, so I'm trying another type of shoe. This gives me some hope. Hope = less need to stress eat...see where this is going?!

Okay - that feels better.

Sheesh..

The standoff from last post ended with Hudson apologizing, getting a hug, and going to bed. It's been a normal, crazy week. At school we had the TAKS test all week - it's like watching paint dry. Really. Hand out the test, write down where everyone is seating, watch them - sit and watch them, write down when someone leaves to go to the restroom, watch them, watch them. Then, after testing for 4 hours (or at least being locked in a room that long), we send them to classes where they show up without anything to write with or on and with 4 hours worth of energy to get out of their bodies - AGONY!

So, I don't know if it's that or what, but I'm just sheer exhausted. Like, out of my mind tired, and I really don't get that tired usually. I pop out of bed at 5am, do my run/workout, Bible study, shower, kids up and at my day. it's 10:25 and I'm counting down the minutes until I can just crawl into bed and take a nap - and ask Jeremy not to wake me up until I miraculously awake again. Weird. NO, I'm not pregnant - don't even ask, that's not even funny. We closed shop after H for those of you who have forgotten.

Off to watch some more movie on the couch with the kids (I'm telling you, something's not right with me, I don't even want to read a book while we lay there - just lay there).

Resolute

Here is a standoff from home tonight - it's not over and it's been 30 minutes in the making. I'm not sure how it started or why, but from what I've overheard, Hudson needs to sit down and apologize. He's been standing, stomping, and screaming in the bathroom, refusing to sit down and apologize. Jeremy, the resolute father, has patiently sat on a stool just outside the bathroom door guiding our son through the apology and humility stage. And, now that it's taken a while to move the pictures around, the battle has been going on for 45 minutes and began with demands and throwing a fit over a shirt. It's a long story, but basically any thing Jer has said, H has done the opposite - sit down, H stood up; light on, H turned it off; look at me - H looks away. H told Jeremy he "won't ever apologize." It's going to be a long night...for the record, Jeremy says he was never this stubborn, but I think I might have been (and I think he probably was, too).


In other news, I got the flower girl in her dress. She's quite the model - a silly 5 year old model (the other pictures are on Flickr, if you get time). Michael & Ashley, I'm sure she'll be less of a ham on the wedding day!




I'm off to read my current favorite book: Confessions of a Slacker Mom. If you're a mom, you've got to check it out...it's GREAT!

Earrings and more...

One of the things we accomplished on our shopping trip was the piercing of the ears. We've always told Jenna that when SHE was ready, she could get her ears pierce. We were both indifferent to when. A couple of weeks ago, she declared herself reading. Previously, when she declared herself ready, we would remind her that it was going to hurt, and she would change her mind. This time, we've been steady for 2 weeks. She remembered this on the way to Fort Worth Friday. Again, I reminded her that it was going to hurt. Her mind was made up.

So, after our trips to other stores, we marched into the mall. She picked out sparkly pink earrings and mounted the chair smiling from ear to ear. We pierced the first ear - and the whole Hulen Mall heard us. I comforted, and loved, I praised. She declared she was finished. She cried so hard she had a nose bleed. I finally had to tell her that we WERE going to pierce the other ear. After more screaming, I told her to hold on to my arm tight, and the girl gave it to the other ear. She's glad she did it now, but it was rough.



Then, after we got home and rested up, Jeremy got home. So, what are we going to do tonight? We decided to go camping!Out to Jer's parents'. The marshmallow roasting was great, as were our explorations...

Goodbye

This is a purely therapeutic blog. Feel free to gloss over, and please don't respond - I just need to get it out.

Kirsti was a dear friend of mine. We met, funny enough, when she stole my eighth grade boyfriend. Mickey was a freshman as was Kirsti, and the beautiful, flirtatious blond got her hooks in him. Being the reconciler that I was, I phoned her to talk - weird, huh? What happened? We became the best of friends. We went to Disney World together on the band trip, spent hours laying out, playing with our cats, making the drag in Stephenville, flirting with boys, drinking lemonade at her parents'. I was in her wedding & she in mine. Over the years since, we've kept in touch, sometimes with long stretches in between, sometimes with frequent emails. She lived a spell in Idaho, and I never made it to see her. I had hoped to see her now that she was back in Texas. She's loved photography forever, and we just started talking "shop" since I'm just starting out.

Kirsti was beautiful - gorgeous. She always made me think a little of Jennie Garth, the girl who was on 90210. I never shared my faith in Christ with Kirsti, which is what really hurts the most right now. I got a note in the mail from Kirsti's dad today, "Please call me." So, I knew something was wrong right away. But, I was not prepared for what I heard. Almost two months ago, Kirsti and her mom were walking the dogs near her parents' place in Lampasas. A car came around the corner and hit them. Kirsti was killed and her mother is paralyzed from the waist down. He had wanted to tell me, obviously, but didn't have any of my contact information. He was going through some of her stuff last week and found my address.

Oh, how it hurts. Almost 20 years of friendship and I never had 'the conversation' with her. Instead, I allowed myself to "just live a life she could see" so that, one day, when we both had time, I could stop and tell her. I never did. Please, don't wait, if there is someone in your life that you love that you're not sure about.

Home again

Back home from Florida. Good trip. Some great, enlightening information and some good affirmation. I didn't get a lot of challenge that was overwhelming, but some good nudging to do what I know I need to do anyway. It's always good to get that gentle nudge of conviction - not too painful, just right.

The kids and I went to Ft. Worth for some errands today. We got a flower girl dress!
We also pierced our ears. Pictures of both to come.

I have to brag on little man - he was AWESOME today through the shopping! Go H!

We've randomly decided to go camping - later.

Sunny Florida

We've recovered from the red card at school. Jenna's behavior has been much on the mend. Hudson, we'll he's had a few red cards here at home. I don't understand how he can be so absolutely loving and affectionate and obedient one minute and then, BOOM, he's kicking, screaming, and stomping another. I guess that's the 3 year old in him!

Jeremy and I leave tomorrow for a church conference in Florida! Yea! I'm attending a conference that actually speaks to my needs!: "In church planting a spouse must deal not only with her or his own life, but also with added expectations from others. The church planter's spouse must deal with the expectations of others while discovering her/his own giftedness-a unique "DNA" that is not always what others expect. This is a huge balancing act of time and priorities." I can't wait to hear what there is!

Otherwise, life has been pretty smooth. Hectic as we prepare for a week's absence from school and the kids, but smooth. The job share seems to be pressing forward - the schedule is made, I'll have 2 AP and 1 Sheltered class, we've chosen the room we want to move into, and we're EXCITED!

RED?!?!!!

Today was set up to be a great day. It was scope and sequence workday at the curriculum building -right up my alley! Not only do I love that stuff, but it means a little later morning arrival, more than my standard 30 minutes for lunch at a REAL restaurant, and getting finished earlier. We really do work our tails off despite how easy that makes it sound.

So, at 3:40 I arrived at pre-school (a full hour earlier than normal) and saw Ms. Erin, Jenna's morning teacher. "Jenna had a really rough day today. Her card was moved all the way to red." Hear audible gasp by me. Red is the result of multiple warnings. She had a bad night last night - disobedience and talking back. It followed her to school today as she talked back and disobeyed her teacher. So, Jenna had to have consequences. I got to use my Love & Logic skills, "Jenna, your behavior today will result in a consequence. I don't know what that consequence will be because Dad and I will have to talk about it. But, know that something will happen." Talk about a five year old sweating it out!

So, after some yard work, extra chores, and a talk, she is losing her story and book time, her High School Musical CD at bed time, and had to write Ms. Erin a letter. It's working because she "feels sad" and "has a tummy ache." Here's her letter...


There's a fine line between too harsh & not harsh enough. I don't want her to be that kid in class that says, "My parents won't care." I want her to be the kid that says, "My parents would make my life miserable if I did that." I think we're setting a good foundation.

Meanwhile, Hudson is so excited it's not him for a change! I think it's good for both of them even if it is hard to see Jenna take something so hard.

Meet Bloopy

Don't call him Bloopy II, Bloopy Jr., or New Bloopy. "It's just Bloopy," is what you'll hear. I personally think this Bloopy is ugly - physically and personality-wise. Yes, fish do have personalities, because Bloopy #1 would swim to whichever side of the bowl you were on and swim or look at you. This little guy swims over alright, but he flares his gills and fins like he would like to attack you. Same thing to Princess, the female fish in the other half of the bowl (the bowl is divided or I think he'd have killed her by now). I just don't like him.

We had a good time choosing, but all the fish were ugly. The kids had so much fun choosing and bringing home a new fish that they want to know who's going to die next so we can get another! I tried to explain the goal is to take care of the fish and have him/her live a long time, like until they're in school...but they said they like burying and getting new ones. Ah, the fun times.

OUCH!

This was my mantra Monday morning as I ran. Knee pain started about mile 3, but I thought I could 'work it out.' By mile 4, I knew there wasn't any working it out, but I had almost 2 miles to get back home. By mile 5, I was almost in tears and had a good limp.

It really all started in my big toe joint several months ago. That started hurting enough that I gave in and got new shoes, which worked for about a week. I did give in and make an appointment with a sports med doctor. After a zillion x-rays (how much will that cost?), he assured me that structurally I am fine. Then we got to the business of what had changed to cause pain and make it move up my leg to my knee.

Don't you hate it when you have to pay someone to tell you something really obvious that you really already knew?

When I started teaching 10 years ago, I had the sense to know to buy expensive shoes (Naturalizer, Aerosols) that were flat. In the last three years, I decided that heels were really cuter, and started adding them (a lot of them). Seems that a few years of teaching in heels has caused early, early arthritis and early bunions on my big toe joint. The toe joint has been sensitive for a couple of months, which is enough to cause a runner to change the way she runs, leading to tendinitis of the knee. It all makes sense, and I really figured it all came down to running differently, and I knew those shoes were bad...

So, goodbye shoes (I have several pair of size 8 1" to 1 1/2" heels that are homeless). If I want to continue to run - I need to go back to flat, wide toe box shoes after a week of wearing my runners to work (I look kind of funny in my skirt with running shoes, but they are comfortable). And do more cross training (which, I already knew would be better for my body - but it's really easy just to go out and run and not plan a trip to the Y at 5:30 am).

It's working. I've sported my running shoes to work, I've done the bike & elliptical at the Y, and taking the ibuprofen. I ran a 5K today and despite some pretty good pain the last mile, I ran a 25:44 (that's pretty good for my times).

Big News!

Last week was a big week of news!

Wednesday I got the word that the job share is official. My principal told my department chair that it is official! Yea! Since the option was not having a job at all or working part time, I'm pretty excited to still be a financially contributing member of our family. Plus, I love teaching and the position will give me a chance to excel at teaching and at mothering. I get to pick up Jenna from kindergarden and H from day preschool! Woo hoo!

God just continues to lavish his love on us.

Is the fish asleep or dead?

What do you think?

This was Jeremy's first question this morning as Jenna and I were making pancakes. Knowing that Bloopy (beloved betta fish) hadn't looked so good the last two days and that fish don't look much different asleep than awake, I knew the answer before I turned around to look. Jenna took it well, just asking when we were going to bury him.
However, when she made the announcement to Hudson, who doesn't wake up well, the result was a good cry. Sobbing, slobbering cry. What do you tell a 3 year old?

Bloopy will be interred today around 5:00 when we all get home from work and school. We will then go and let H choose a new fish and name it all by himself so that we 1) have another boy fish 2)Princess (the female betta) will have a friend.

All good things...

must come to an end according to Chaucer, and so Spring Break comes to an end this evening. We had today as a bad weather day, so the bonus was great!

The kids learned to ride bicycles without training wheels today! It was a momentous and exciting occasion, and, of course I have lots of pictures - and haven't uploaded a single one yet. I've got to learn to shrink my files in a timely manner so that I can share them with the world!

This is the last week I have to work on my National Certification, so that's priority #1, then I'm finishing up details on my sharing for a retreat (mostly done there, too) as priority #2. I hope to mail the NBPTS box on Thursday.

Church was amazing the count was 1091 adults, and we usually run 200 to 300 children (and there were far more this weekend) so we figure we can make our count around 1300 people - definitely our highest attendance! No, it's still not about the numbers, but numbers are a good way to measure growth, and if we can retain a good percentage, that will result in growth! Awesome - more people coming to know Christ!

Family wise - we had a great trip to my parents to meet my brother's girlfriend, Ashley. I gave my approval, as did Jenna, who's already calling her Aunt Ashley, and Hudson who says "she's really pretty." Hudson gave some levity as he asked, "Uncle Mike, you fallin' in love (with a long drawl on l-o-v-e)?" and "You kiss her on the lips?" Nothing like a 3 year old to ask what's on his mind! It's been quick, but I believe they have both found the real thing - of course, I've always known the lucky girl to snag Michael would have to be special. He's a good catch - patient, quiet, and dedicated.