New blog

Hey all -

I have moved my blogging over to a new shared blog with my hubby at wordpress. Check it out here.

In the beginning was the Word

Eliminating weak vocabularies and hungry tummies, one word, one grain of rice at a time.

Play now: www.freerice.com

p.s. Thanks to Anna for the great link!
I just donated 5 bowls of rice and have a vocab score of 41 !

Indeed

Indeed...what have I been doing for the last 109 days (aka: Since the Last Time I Blogged!)?

Here are a few updates:

Marriage? Love it!

Josh and I will celebrate 11 months this week, and I'm finding our marriage to be a source of great strength, joy, growth, and peace. We're not without our challenges, but we are so richly blessed. Josh has many more deep thoughts in this season of life, trying to figure out his/our future jobs/degree/housing locations/finances/goals/purpose/etc. I'm learning to take more and more pleasure in walking with him and being a wife.

House Projects? Check!

We're done with all the trim painting and grout scrubbing we're gonna do. Now we just have to keep it clean... It turned out really cute, thanks to a million hours of labor. I think the time sheets go like this:


Josh--999,483 hours Sarah--326 hours Assorted Family and Friends--281 hours


Our house officially went on the market a few weeks ago, and we've had several open houses and agents' walk-through tours. No offers yet, so you can join us in praying for the right buyer.


Work? We made our Count Day Goal!


It's kind of too complicated to explain here, but basically for the last 6 weeks, I've been working a ton of overtime for Count Day, which is the way our school gets funded, based on the number of attending students we have. I've made literally hundreds of phone calls trying to convince former students to return to school for this semester and put in their Count Day "time". Many of my students' lives are heartbreakingly chaotic, which makes attending school difficult. Lack of transportation, day care, working phones, bus fare, safe home environments, the list of obstacles is overwhelming.


But we did it...or actually, they did it...for themselves, for their children and extended families. Hopefully they'll stick around this year, finish their classes, and be able to walk across the stage in May.


I really am enjoying this job, even through the Count Day craziness. I'm glad for the relaxed change of pace now (as I'm blogging at work!), but it was worth it. As the big rainbow with the pot of gold nuggets (each representing a student who did Count Day) proclaims..."Education Promises a Brighter Future." I believe that, at least in a secular sense, and am continuing to seek ways to make this about God's kingdom, not just a diploma.


Small Group? Multiplied!


At the beginning of September we multiplied into two groups. Ben and Leah are leading one group at Phil and Cassie's house, and Josh and I now meet at Chad and Becky's. We're reading a book by Jack Deere called Surprised by the Voice of God. It's about hearing God's voice specifically through the Holy Spirit, and is an introduction to prophesy and the various gifts of the Spirit. We've had some great discussions, and the Lord has been answering my prayer that people in our group would not only read the book, but start to experience some of the "stuff" that the book talks about.


Our friend Denise had a cool experience recently where the Lord healed a pain in her neck and head, and we're anxious to see what else God's going to share with us us as we learn to ask Him and then actually listen.

Fun Adventures? As often as we can!

Over the past few months, we've been to the Renaissance Festival, OctoberFest, the Weston Apple Festival, the Plaza Art Festival, Independence Wild West Days (or something), DesMoines for a business trip, Omaha to see Anna, Wichita to see my college girls, Chapman to visit the 'rents, and Josh's brother Jared and our sister-in-law Heather came to visit us!

We've watched Cam and Shar's 4-year old son Caleb play soccer, our cat Rio has put on 2 1/2 pounds, Halo-3 came out and Josh's XBox360 tragically went on the fritz, the upstairs shower floor finally stopped leaking, we started to plan a backpacking trip to Europe, the RAV got new tires, and God's grace sustained us through it all. He is truly good.

So there you have it...Apologies for the long absence...Hopefully I'm back to my on-line life.

I'm the show! Don't miss the show!

Yesterday and today I helped with VBS. My job was to tell the Bible Story while the kids were waiting to start craft time. I had 10 minutes with each group, and I had to give this performance 8 times in 2 hours. Here's the story I told today. See if you can read this whole thing aloud, with feeling, in 10 minutes! Well, 9 1/2, giving them time to line up at the door at the end.

Hi guys! Welcome to day 3 of VBS! Please sit down on the floor in the middle. Not on the table, thanks! (18 elementary kids scramble around finding a place to sit.)

Please sit where you're not touching anyone else! Yep, that means you, in the cowboy hat. Hands to yourself, thanks! Everybody's eyes on me! I'm the show...you don't want to miss the show. So yesterday we talked about Joshua and his Israelite buddies who are traveling across the desert, having lots of adventures. What happened to them yesterday? They had to cross the Jordan River, but it was...

FLOODED!

You're right...and they were scared! But what can we remember when we're feeling scared? That God is...

WITH US! YEE-HAW! (in a throw-back to Pee-Wee's play-house and the word-of-the-day, everytime someone says a "VBS Truth" you say "yee-haw." )

Yep. God is always with us. (yee-haw!) Now before we hear today's story, how many of you play some kind of sport or activity where you have a coach?

Me! Me!! Soccer! Softball! Cheerleading! Football! Gymnastics! Guitar!

Awesome...the rest of you can put your hands down. Thanks for volunteering. So let's pretend I'm your coach, and you guys are all my soccer team. What if I said, "Okay, team, we're gonna have a great season! I know we can win all of our games! Here's how you play soccer. This is a ball. This is my foot. Watch me kick a goal." Now am I being a good coach?

NO!

Why not? What am I doing wrong?

WE DIDN'T GET TO PLAY!

Huh. So if I'm going to be a good coach, I have to let everyone participate in the game, right? Please quit kicking your neighbor, Dylan, thanks. Well, did you know that God wants His children to participate in His plan? Today's story about Joshua and his Israelite buddies getting to participate.

Joshua and his Israelite buddies are still walking across the desert, and they come to the town of Jericho. They're supposed to go into the city and take it over, but there's a big problem. What's the problem with Jericho?

IT HAS A HUGE WALL!

You're right! So if God wanted to, what could God have done to that wall?

Silence...NOT BUILT IT?

Well, yeah, or God could have just gone Bash, Smash, Crash, No More Jericho! But what did we learn about God? He wants his children to ...

(with prompting from a team leader) PARTICIPATE

in His...

(more prompting) PLAN!

Yep, God wants His children to participate in His plan. So He wants Joshua and the Israelites to knock down the wall. Now this wasn't any ordinary kind of wall like this cinder block here. If it was, Joshua would be able to just do some karate chops (Sarah does impressive kick towards wall) and knock it down.

(kids are impressed)

No, this was like the Wall of China. It was huge. And God had a plan. He told Joshua that the Israelites were supposed to walk around the wall, once a day, for 6 days. Now does that sound like a good plan to you?

YES!

It does? To walk around a wall? I mean, no offense, God, but wouldn't it be quicker to just use a bulldozer, or a wrecking ball, or shoot a cannon at the wall?

OH YEAH!

But when God gives us a plan, what are we supposed to do?

LISTEN! OBEY! DO IT!

Yep, so Joshua and his guys walked around the wall. Day 1, walk around the wall, go home, have lunch, take a nap. Day 2, walk around the wall, play some basketball. Day 3, walk around the wall, Day 4, Day 5, do you think they're getting dizzy yet? Day 6, walk around the wall.

Now if you were living in Jericho, standing up on top of the wall, looking down, what would you be thinking? Are the Israelites crazy? Do they think this is a track for exercising? Are they lost? What is going on?

But then on Day 7, God told Joshua to walk around the city 7 times. So around they go...1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and on the 7th time, Joshua said to his men, "Shout, men, raise your voices! Today the Lord has given us this city!" So all the Israelites shouted and yelled, like when someone scores a touchdown, or when the teacher says it's time for recess.

And the people in Jericho are saying, "Hey, could you be quiet down there!" But then the dishes on the table start to rattle. And the picture frames fall off the wall. All the cats in Jericho get scared and hide under the bed. The walls start to crack, and pretty soon it's like one of those movies when all the buildings are crumbling, and then, the walls of Jericho...

FELL DOWN!

Yep, and the Israelites were able to go into Jericho and take over the city. So how do you think Joshua and his buddies felt?

AWESOME!

Yep, because they did what?

LISTENED TO GOD!!! PARTICIPATED IN HIS PLAN!!! KNOCKED DOWN THE WALL!!!

You're all right! So when we pray, or listen to parents and teachers, or read the Bible, we learn God's plan. And what are we supposed to do then?

LISTEN! DO IT! OBEY! KNOCK DOWN WALLS! YEE-HAW!

Yep! Okay, time for crafts! Line up behind your teacher!

I grab a drink of water and greet the next group who are waiting in the hall. Whew... I came home for lunch and promptly took a nap.

It was the longest series of 10 minutes of my life! Yee-Haw!

been a while

Obviously, I haven't blogged in a while, so if you're even checking this, thanks for sticking around!

You can check out Josh's blog for recent pictures of our trip to North Carolina for my brother-in-law's wedding. Congratulations, Jared and Heather!

I'm in the middle of a 3-week summer vacation before we start school again August 6. The last time I had a week off (Spring Break), I pretty much wasted the entire time. Nothing checked off the to-do list...no little gold stars on the sticker chart...not a good situation.

This week, however, I was determined to get some stuff done. We're nearing the end of the fix-it-up projects on our house, so I put my Dave's Paint Crew skills to work.

I'm proud to say that I checked everything off my list for last week: trim paint around the living room ceiling; clean the scary floor underneath the fridge and stove; trim paint behind said major appliances; catch up on laundry; pack up extra books in office; hang out with Shar and her kids; clean out leftovers from the fridge; finish scrapbooking summer pictures.

Yay for productivity! Gold star on the sticker chart! (don't worry...we don't really have one of those)

Josh has been pouring concrete and laying tile in our 2nd story bathroom, so I'm also his go-fer girl, running up and down the stairs to find mysterious things like the miter saw box, or the can of denatured alcohol, or a piece of scrapwood at least 25" but not longer than 36", or to hold the PVC pipe steady until the glue dries. I'm trying to be a good helper! Josh taught me how to use the sheet-rock saw, and I got to cut a hole in the wall for the air-return vent. Good times!

But honestly, I'm ready to go back to work. I think I'm getting house-fatigue...I like where we live, for the most part, but I am definitely ready to have a weekend without any fix-it projects.

I'm so grateful for Josh's skill and determination in getting our house ready to put on the market. We're getting better at working together on projects without arguing. I wish I had some wise insight or poetic application about the whole fixing-it-up-ness that we're going through, but my head's kind of empty right now.

That's what happens when you're on vacation.

Camping Trip!

This weekend a bunch of us from small group went up to Watkins Mill Campground, near Kearney. It was a hot weekend, but we had a shady campsite and a lake to swim in. We also had several cheeky raccoons who wanted to raid our food supply!

Here's Josh, whose fire-building skills kept him from getting voted off the island...

Here are the girls...we look pretty good right here, but you should have seen us with the sunburn/ lake swim/ no showers/ smelling like smoke and sweat and bug spray/ ketchup stains. Gorgeous! From the left are Cassie, Ashley, Becky, Denise and Sarah.


The boys invent a new breakfast favorite: scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese, and black pepper on tortillas. Camping Burritos!! From the left are Chad, Phil, Josh and Mike.

Chad prepares to cook another marshmallow. That's why they're called s'mores!
A good time was had by all! See you in September!

Joe and Mel

The school where I teach is in an old shopping mall. The mall manager is named Joe. He's in his early 60s, and he makes me miss both of my grandfathers.

Joe is in several grown-up Boy-Scout organizations like the Shriners, or maybe the Elks Club. He takes his wife square dancing on Friday night, and gives the teachers here free tickets to the Tonginoxie rodeo.

Usually Joe wears grey slacks and a Miller Security button-down short sleeve work shirt and black dress shoes, but today he came in wearing plaid golfing shorts and a white tank top.

With the dress shoes.

"Gonna be hot today," he told me.

Joe likes hearing stories about my life, and since we didn't have any students in yet, he pulled up a chair and I found all of our pictures on Josh's blog Flickr site.

Mel stopped by shortly after Joe did. Mel is the mall maintenance guy, who likes to grumble about the new mayor, the potholes in the parking lot, the worn out belt on the vacuum cleaner, and his kids who "just don't got no sense some of these days."

Joe and Mel stayed for an hour looking at pictures.

They argued about whether Josh looked better with or without facial hair, whether Anna and I looked alike or not, and which wedding picture they wanted a copy of to hang in their office (they finally decided on the one where we're putting gas in the RAV, still wearing our wedding clothes).

I showed them the pictures from our trip to the Topeka Zoo...Mel said, very seriously, that he had never liked giraffes, because they looked like they were "up to something."

Good times.

Cat & House - 2; Josh & Sarah - 0

It stormed all weekend in Kansas City, leaving us with a sopping wet yard, but fortunately a dry basement. I like thunderstorms and wish we had a bigger front porch to watch the wicked lightning and pounding rain.

Our cat, however, does not like storms. His tail gets all fuzzy, a la Calvin's buddy, Hobbes. On Saturday night, I was awakened by the simultaneous sounds of a crazy loud crack of thunder, Josh shouting in pain, and the cat scrambling out the door to find a safe hiding spot.

Scared by the thunder, Rio had used Josh's leg as a launch pad to leap off the bed, leaving behind four distinct puncture wounds and three deep scratches. Ouch! I'm not sure Rio felt all that bad about it...check out Rio's expression in this picture: Guilty as charged, Your Honor!

Score: Rio - 1; Josh - 0

-----------------------

The second injury of the weekend occurred when I was getting ready for bed on Sunday evening. Our house is pretty old and occasionally quirky, one of those quirks being the 71.5" (5 feet 11 1/2 inches) bathroom door, compared to standard 80"(6 feet 6 inches) or 84" (6 feet 10 inches) interior door heights.

So I was hopping around the house (don't ask...I just like to hop sometimes. Anna knows...I think it started when I lived with her in Sioux Falls).

Anyway, I brushed my teeth, and then hopped out of the bathroom, straight smack up into the door frame of our previously mentioned tiny bathroom door. Now I'm almost 5' 9", and I'm a pretty good hopper, so that's a whole lot of hop-power slamming the top of my head into a wooden door frame 3 inches above me.

I saw stars.

I crumpled to the floor, swearing and sobbing at the same time. I felt like a moron.

Josh quickly got the bag of popcorn kernels from the freezer for my rapidly-rising goose egg and fixed a big mug of medicine that was equal parts rum and sprite, with a little lime juice.

Oh, the headache.

I quickly didn't care that the combination of the thunderstorm and a worn-out VCR tape had only picked up the audio from the TAR finale, with little broken snatches of video. I didn't even care that Eric and Pink won, and they're like my least favorite contestants ever, being a dreadful combination of "that guy" and every girl who lets herself get dragged along through life by that guy.

Josh put me to bed and made me swear off hopping, at least until we move to a different house with people-sized doorways.

Score: House - 1; Sarah - 0

Z O O !

For Josh's birthday, my parents took us to the Topeka Zoo. Josh's favorite animal was this little tamarin.


Mom and Sarie in the rain forest jungle.











Two little monkeys up in the tree.

Happy Birthday, Baby!

Saturday is Josh's official special day, but we started celebrating early on Thursday evening with our Small Group friends at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was quite a party, complete with trivia games and the Miller Lite girls. We finished the evening back at Phil and Cassie's for root beer floats and video games. Happy 27th Birthday!