J.Lynne

Be encouraged!

2009-01-25T17:56:00.000-08:00

This morning at church our pastor was really challenging us to get back into reading the Word daily. To make it a priority to memorize verses and immerse ourselves in scripture.

These are just two scriptures that stuck out to me while I was reading this evening-

Isaiah 40:28-31 "None can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. Even youth will become exhausted, and young men will give up. But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint."

Isaiah 41:10 "Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand."

Yeah, I'm still around!!

2008-12-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

It's the last week of college before Christmas break!! That means finals! This morning I had my A&P final, and in about 2 hrs I'll have my Math final. Then it's the big nursing final on Friday.

Unfortunatly I haven't been able to get much work over Christmas break, which was stressing me out at first. However I've decided that I'm going to choose to enjoy my time off, free of work and studying, and have a great time. Maybe I'll be able to finish some projects that I've started oh so long ago!! I'm actually beginning to look forward to the free time that I'll have and I've already begun making a mental list of everything I'd like to get accomplished.

Mom and I were taking yesterday about the traditions of Christmas and where they all origionate....why do we celebrate Christ's birth on Dec. 25 anywhy?? Anyhow it stirred up some thought, and interstingly enough after reading some information Mom found it actually began to make me wonder if we really realize why we have the traditions we do, such as the mistel toe, holly, christmas trees, even the date Dec. 25 etc.

I'll have to post the article that Mom found and let you guys read it for yourselves. (I'll add that to my list of things to accomplish next week :) haha.

Also we currently are taking care of a homeless ferret that our lovely doberman found Sunday night. Apparently our dog was barking up a storm late Sunday night, and upon inspection Sam found a ferret hiding up against the side of the house. I got home about 11pm to find Sam waving his flashlight at me... asking me to give him a hand as everyone else was in bed and didn't want to contribute to the cause. lol. So Sam graciously rescued the ferret while I held the flashlight and convinced him (and myself) the terrified ferret wasn't going to bite his finger off. He's actually quite a friendly fellow and now lives in our kitchen in an abandoned bird cage. It all works out!
Needless to say Rochelle fell in love with him before she set eyes on the thing. We call him Garret the Ferret (who can't eat a carrot). We were told vegetables are hard on their digestive tracks and should be avoided. I really don't know what we'll do with it, we called the humane league hoping the owners called in to report it missing, but thus far there's been no word. So, for now Rochelle's very happy to have another pet around the house!

A weekend in NY

2008-10-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

I've finally found the time to upload my pictures from the Long Island trip. It was a great weekend. Friday night Kim and I met up with one of her friends at a local Bar. Going to a Bar was a first for me. Kim felt convicted for being the one to introduce me to that scene, and thus corrupting me....haha. I really enjoyed it though.

Saturday morning was filled with running errands, going to the gym and spending 2hrs at the hair salon. Early that evening we met up with two of Kims friends, Lauren and Lisa. It was Laurens birthday and she wanted to celebrate it in the City. So the four of us hoped on a train and within an hour we were in NYC!! Woohoo!!
I love NYC and it has been at least two years since I've last been there. We didn't stay long though, just long enough to grab some supper. Lauren had plans to meet up with some other people later on. But I enjoyed the few hrs we were there anyhow!!

The pictures below are from Sat. evening in NYC.
Kim, me and Lauren at the train station
Kim and Lisa hanging out on the train
Lauren and I
We went out to eat at some Mexican restaurant
They sang Happy Birthday to Lauren and gave her a beautiful sombrero
NYC Yay!!!
These girls were great!! Wish they lived closer :)

Kim and I

Leaving Nyc :(

We had great fun....yes great fun. :) Sunday I was able to go to her church and eat lunch with her and her sister before heading back to the dorm Sunday night.

Yay for the weekend!

2008-10-16T16:39:00.000-07:00

Oh it's a lazy thursday night and I am putting off studying until after the Office is on tonight. So naturally I'm surfing the web :) I love reading everyone's blogs and I do check them often- so thanks for all the updates and pictures :) I wish I had some pictures to post but I haven't taken any recently.
However this weekend I am going to Long Island with my friend Kim. She is from L.I. and just recently moved to lancaster county. Anyway I looking forward to the weekend. She has a friend who has a birthday on saturday and wanted to celebrate it in the big city :) So I'm super excited. It's been so long since I've been to NYC. I know it will just be for a few hours sat, but I'm still stoked! I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories to tell as well as pictures to share!

Ok maybe I should be more productive with my time...perhaps I'll crack open a textbook and try to absorb some information :) I am feeling slightly guilty knowing there's much to be studied and I know none of that is going to happen this weekend!!

Oh by the way, just a random piece of information...this weekend that big tree in our front yard is going to be cut down. There are so many dead branches it's ridiculous and when we got an estimate on what it'd cost to have trimmed they told us the tree is dying and recommended we just cut it down. I'm a little sad to see it go....

Update :)

2008-09-29T15:59:00.000-07:00

Hello, Hello :)
It's been a while- as usual, but I thought I'd just write a little something.
Things are going pretty well right now. I'm at school in Reading during the week and have been coming home on the weekend to work. Initially I was thinking I'd spend most of the weekends up here- but it sure is nice to get away from the dorm for the weekend!
My classes are going very well. I have an A&P lab exam coming up this week. I'm being tested on the tussues and bones of the body. It is actually quite interesting.
In my Nursing class we are learning a lot about all the paperwork that needs to be filled out and the proper way or accomplishing that. We also were practicing nursing diagnosis'- coming up with a diagnosis, goals, interventions and finally the evaluation process. It's a lot to learn but it's going well.
I've been in clinicals for about four weeks now. We really are still doing very basic stuff, becoming familiar with patients charts and learning to do a little charting ourselves. As far as interaction with the patients goes...so far it's mostly just interviewing them and fixing their bed. Nothing too exciting. haha.....Oh but I know it will get more interesting (and stressful) as time goes on. There are six other girls in my clinical group and we all get along well. The one girl Anna and I have a lot in common so it's really been fun getting to know her!
This past weekend I spent some time with a friend who recently moved to the area- like three weeks ago- from Long Island, NY. She's such a breath of fresh air, not growing up around here she doesn't have those lancaster county mind sets, or preconcieved ideas- and her accent is great!! lol
After church on sunday I stoped by Two cousins (a pizza shop) to have lunch with friends and I met people from work, church, and also Jourdan, Audrey, Hershel, and Georgia. It was definitely the place to be I guess. Anyhow that was fun.
Sunday night I went to see that movie Fireproof that just came out. A Church in Georgia produced the movie and it was SO Good!! I'd definitely recomend it for anyone that hasn't already gone to see it. It's based on christian principals- it's a story of a couple that is getting a divorice and that's about all I can say. Kirk Cameron playes the husband in the movie... :)
Anyway definitely check it out....and if you are emotional like me- bring the tissues!

College

2008-08-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

Hello!! Guess I should up date everyone on the latest events in life :) Monica helped me move into my dorm room at Reading Hospital's School of Health Sciences this past Sunday. The dorms are actually Motel rooms. Its not a big school and most of the students commute. However to accommodate those of us wishing to dorm, the school rented out a wing of a local Inn. So the good thing is that all the rooms have a bathroom!!!
My roommate I Dayna and she actually lives 10 min. from campus. So I was able to hang out with some of her friends this past week which was very nice considering there was not much to do back at the dorms. Dayna is a christian which was a huge answer to prayer and she recently got back from a medical mission trip to Africia. We have plenty in common though she is a few years younger than I. Actually most everyone there (at the dorms) is about 4-5 yrs younger....though there are about 3 that I've meet my age.
So we had a week of orientation and our classes will start on Monday. I'm taking A & P, Nursing 101, and Clinical Math. That'll be enough to keep me busy for sure :)
I'll keep you posted on how things go!

A weekend with the Martins!

2008-07-18T15:08:00.000-07:00

It was refreshing to spend a weekend away from home and very exciting to see everyone again! Michawn and Kendie I wish you both could have been there! Because of being at a wedding friday evening I didn't get to the cabin until late. I spent Saturday hiking to the top of the mountain. Barry said there was a trail that lead up the side of the mountain and so a group of us went to check it out. The path ended a quarter of the way up the mountian....but we were determined to make it to the top...so we blazed our own trail, and it was a steep one!! The hike up was challenging, but coming back down was rewarding! The rest of the afternoon was spent being lazy, reading, playing volleyball and some cards. Of course the night was finished off with a fire work display thanks to Jay, Steve and Hershel! Sunday we spent time sharing testimonies of Gods faithfulness in each of our lives. It was very good to be reminded of how awesome our God is!!

Below are some pictures from the weekend!

The "new" Cabin....and it's actually called the Martin's Cabin :)

A wonderful shot of Nick :)
A game of Haus anyone??

The weekend would not be complete without at least one wrestling match!!

Rose and Nick
Alexa, Pricilla, Cassandra, Monica, and Savannah watching the guys get bombarded with H2O balloons :)
Pricilla, Rochelle and Kari

These are pic.s of our hike. Here we are starting our descent...lots of loose rocks. Below Jay is tossing a rock to see how far it would roll. It was quite steep.The few, the proud, the most adventurous of hikers :) Thanks to Barry for blazing the trail....literaly!
THis is the view from the front porch....that mountain in the distance....yeah that's the one we hiked :) (can you tell I'm still impressed we did it??)Micah and Pam
Sitting around the campfire saturday night. Barry, Grandma, Grandpa, and Ben
A little midnight volleyball....ok so maybe not quite midnight :)

Evan found a turtle!

Twins?? Nick and Alex
Chanel, Cassandra, and Savannah

Alexa!

Judy and Chanel
Jackie, Doris and Les on the back porch
Awww...

And last but not least....my favorite picture :) Monica taking a break during our hike.

Washington DC

2008-06-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

Hey!! Yep, I am still around in spite of a sever lack in my blog posts!! Saturday a group of 6 friends went to Washington DC to visit my friend Lisa, who is interning there for the summer. I had a great time. Lisa is working in two congressional offices, and part of her job includes giving tours of the Capital building....so she gave us her tour! We spent the rest of the day checking out the different monuments around town. I'd love to go back sometime soon and go through the museums too! Below are a few pictures from Saturday.
Group photo...Lisa is in the front, far right
There was a folk festival taking place on the Mall. Below is a native Bhutan dance.

Jefferson Memorial
Washington Memorial
Abraham Lincoln Memorial
Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial

Monica's Graduation!

2008-05-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Monica's graduation from Messiah College! The weather held out, they were calling for a chance of rain, but it held off. It was a bit cool and windy, but nothing we couldn't deal with. It was great to be there to celebrate this incredable moment with her.

She also recently started dating a guy named Matt. They met through mutual friends last summer. He actually attends our church. How awesome is that! So that has been exciting as well.

I still haven't sold my motorcycle. I'm a little disappointed, but I'm sure it will come about soon enough :)

God has been revealing Himself to me recently, and that has been exciting. There is such peace, hope and joy in experiencing His presence. I've been facing some uncertainties as I plan for school in the fall, along with other area's in my life. God has reminded me He is in control, and I can trust Him. His loving kindnesses is everlasting and I know His heart is for me. He is faithful, and I believe He has some awesome things in store for me as I venture into this new phase in life.

I have a few pictures from Monica's graduation yesterday that I thought I'd share with you!

Ben, Rochelle, and Sam patiently waiting for the last of the 650 names to be called!
Rochelle, Monica and I
Monica and her brothers!
Matt & Monica

This summer...

2008-05-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I am one day and one final away from being done with my second semester at HACC! I found out a few weeks ago that I've been accepted into Reading Hospital's College of Health Sciences nursing program starting in August. Reading is only a 20 min. drive from home, however I am planing on dorming for the soul purpose of staying focused. I've learned from commuting over this past year that once I am home, the hopes of getting any studying done greatly decreases! There are way to many distractions.

Until then (aug.) I have a great many pieces of paper to fill out for the school, along with finding a health care provider, financial aid, back ground checks, CPR class to take....and the list goes on. Too much to try and keep track of....it's driving me crazy!!

I am scheduled to take Microbiology this summer. It will be two days a week for 8 weeks. Because of that I am sticking to my crazy work schedule, juggling my two CNA jobs, trying to attain as many day shift hours as I can get my hands on. Some weeks I do better than others. This also can be frustrating. I suppose I could work more steady hours, but that would require me working 2ed shift, and I DO NOT want to give up my evenings!! ugh!

So besides that, whats new??

Well, I have finally decided to sell my motorcycle. I must say, I am a little sad to see it go. At this point I'm thinking maybe after I'm through with my nursing class maybe I'll look into buying another one. We'll see. I've decided to hang on to me helmet and jacket for that very purpose.

Also Monica graduates from college next saturday 5/17!!! How crazy is that?? I really can't believe four years have passed so quickly. It will be a blast having her home again!

This is a good friend of mine, who happens to be a nurse also :)A friend and I went for a ride last sunday, it would have been more enjoyable had the weather been a little warmer :) It was fun none the less.

Here Sam is making some BBQ chicken for supper. Yumm yumm!!

Finishing some drywall'n

2008-04-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

Before moving back home, sam patched up the drywall in his room. He currently has his own business doing this, working along side an experienced friend until he knows the ropes well enough to be completely on his own.
Anyway, this was the first I've actually seen him on the stilts he talks so much about. So I took some pictures. It made me laugh just watching him. At one point he actually kicked a bucket in attemps to strike a pose for me and nearly fell. We laughed soo hard! He was a good sport though, I distracted him for longer than he would have liked.

Weekend with Monica

2008-04-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

Rochell and I, along with another friend spent the weekend with monica at Messiah. Probally the last time that will happen before she graduates! So hard to believe she's been at college four years already.

Anyway, I have the pictures of the two paintings she's been working on this year. Her inspiration was worship .

She states: " Over the past year and a half I have been pondering the idea of worship, and what it means to be a true worshiper of God. Through this exploration these paintings have been conceived which compare two different attitudes of worship; habitual verses spontaneous. Many times worship can simply be something we do out of habit or duty because our faith demands it of us. It can become a formality, dull and lifeless. However, as being created to workship, there are also times that worship simply flows out of us with out any effort or thought. Neither one is better then the other, but both are needed in their own respect. God honors dilligence, however there is a need for pure emotion, it keeps us going giving us life and passion. A true worshiper finds a ballance between these two extreames and is content to worship where they are at."

A visit to Messiah

2008-03-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

I have spring break this week and spent Tuesday at Messiah visiting Monica. We had a great time. She was showing me her two paintings she is working on for her senior art show next saturday. She's painting two realitivly large self portrits. They are each about 4 1/2' tall. Her theam for them is worship. If I get a chance I'll take a picture of them next weekend for you all to see.
Monica also has break this week, but stayed behind to finish those paintings. (she's coming home tonight for the weekend). After checking out her paintings, we went for a walk and spent the rest of the day chat'n, and hanging out with her roommate. It was short and sweet.
Next weekend Ben and Sam are moving back home. Ben bought a house and the two of them moved out back in Oct/Nov sometime. Ben's purpose in buying the house was to use it as an investment property. So now that he has the place fixed up, he's decided to rent it out. We'll see how long he stays at home..... I don't think he'll stick around long. He's had that taste of independence, and I don't think there's any turning back!! He and a friend are already discussing renting an apartment. Sam will probably stick around for a bit yet.
As for me...I'll be here a while. The thought of moving out is becoming more and more inviting....but being in school, and working 16-24hrs a week, I'm thinking home sounds pretty nice for the time being. :) (unless Mom and Dad decide to kick me out....j/k I won't be her that much longer) One of these days it will happen!

More Pictures!

2008-03-06T13:57:00.000-08:00

Some more pictures from the weekend.
As mentioned, we stoped in Port Deposit to eat a packed lunch and tour the town on our way home. The sun was out and felt warm, the the breeze made it just a little cool to be sitting around for too long.

My pictures and not in sequential order... but these next photos were taken sunday morning before we left. As you can tell we still look a bit sleepy :)

View from the deck :)

Yaye, what a beautiful weekend

2008-03-03T18:35:00.000-08:00

I am still finding that posting pictures on here always proves to be a huge headach. So sorry for the lack of orginazation in this post. I decided to try and post something before downloading my pictures this time, and now my post is below my pictures and I am unable to cut and paste to birng it up here. So instead of spending gobs of time trying to fight the system I figured you can look at the pictures and get the full update afterwards. Grrr..

Rose was house sitting for a friend at Chesapeake Bay the past two weeks. She invited my mom and I down for the weekend. I had to work saturday, but left after work and spent the night. It was short and sweet, but sooooo worth it. There was just something about getting away, relaxing, and hanging out with my Mom and Rose that really was just what I didn't know I needed! :) I posted some pictures from my stay.
The pictures of the water (one of which is the sun rise) were taken from our dining room window. We saw some birds flying around, which is what Rose is look at through the binoculars. There are a few pictures of the house, a random picture of a cool lamp, and another sunrise photo.

Even though I wasn't even there a whole 24 hours, I throughly enjoyed myself. I can't describe to you what that night away did for me :) It just made me so happy! lol

You like my WHAT????

2008-02-19T11:23:00.000-08:00

Ok, to bring you up to speed, last year I was working as a CNA full time at Garden Spot Village (nursing home). As of August I have been going to HACC to get my gen. ed's out of the way for my nursing career. Since then I've been working flex pool and GSV, and going to school part time. Well as it turns out GSV doesn't have enough of openings on first shift for me to be working on my days that I'm off school. So I decide to pick up another CNA job at Landis Homes, working PRN (as needed). (The only difference in working flex pool vs PRN (besides the pay) is that with flex, i'm required to work at least two weekend shifts per month, where PRN I can work when ever they have hours available, no stipulations.)

Ok, all that to say, yesterday I was working at Landis Homes, transfering on of my residents from her wheelchair to her recliner. In the process of working with her she mentioned she really likes my eye...*pause (I automaticly figured she was going to tell me she likes my blue eyes, as I get that comment from time to time. Welp I was wrong!!) What she actually said was that she really likes my eyebrows!!! WHAT?? I had to bite my tounge to keep from laughing. I have never, ever, had anyone compliment me on my eyebrows before, so that was a first!!

That's one of the joys in working in a nursing home, sometimes they say the darndest things! I even posted two pictures below, so you can see for yourself just what beautiful eyebrows I have! lol

Jackson Hole, Wy

2008-02-12T14:07:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I still need to figure out how to properly arrange my pictures around my text. Anyway, Ben and Sam just got home early this morning from Jackson Hole, WY, where they spent 5 days snowmobiling with 5 of their friends. Matt, a friend of ours is working on a ranch out there, where he is curently serving as a snowmobile tour guide! So a few guys decided to go out and visit. I posted a few of Sam's pictures. Jackson Hole is right by the Grand Tetons, and not far from Yellowstone National Park. They seemed to have a great time and managed to sharpen their "driving skills" while out there. Aparently there's a trick to turning in freshly laid snow, and landing jumps, as well as climing embankments properly. tisk, tisk. :) When they initially arrived in Wyoming, there was a snow storm, and they wern't able to drive the the ranch, so they split up and found hotels to spend the night at. It snowed most of the time they were out there. Their pictures makes me want to go out west again!!

Pictures:

1. Sam on his Sled

2. Ben on his Sled

3. Sam

4.&5. Grand Tetons

6. Mike, and Ben

7. Ben pulling a wheeling

8. More Tetons

ScHoOL for real??

2008-01-31T12:11:00.000-08:00

Oh, the joys of school!! So far my classes (English-Writing Arguments, Human biology, and pre-college algebra) have been fairly easy, that is up til yesterday! Things seem to have taken a turn, and I actually have to apply myself now. I know, I can feel the sympathy already...haha. I just finished taking an online algebra quiz, and there are just a few problems I can't seem to figure out. They are those lovely word problems....grrr, so frustrating!
In my biology class, my professor went from speaking understandable English, to a very confusing Greek..... I couldn't make sense of anything she was saying! So now I am making time to study, seeing as that might help, not to mention it becoming a good pattern to get into seeing that the classes to come are much more intense!

Costa Rica!

2008-01-20T16:09:00.000-08:00

Over winter break I spent 10 days vacationing in Costa Rica with 5 other friends. We really had a great time, it was very relaxing which was quite nice. We spent the first two days in San Jose, before driving north to Lake Arenal, where we had rented a house for the rest of our stay. When we first got to Lake Arenal, it was extremely windy and rainy. The power was out, so we hung out in the living room surrounded by candle light. By noon the next day we got our power back! The rain cleared up for about 10 min., so we were able to venture out and enjoy a little sunshine before it decided to rain again. The rest of the week it rained on and off, but we made the best of it. We spent one day Zip-lining across the rain forest canopy, 600ft above ground. It was quite exhilarating :) We also toured an active Volcano, where we were able to both see and hear large boulders tumbling down the side of the volcano...that was pretty awesome! If you go at night you can actually see some lava squirting into the air...unfortunately we didn't stay late enough to wittiness that, I think it would have been pretty neat to see! We did a hanging bridge tour of the rain forest another day, and spent on day a the beach. We did manage to have one nice, warm sunny day right before we left, but I defiantly didn't come back with a nice tan like I had hoped...haha. Below are some pictures of our trip.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-26T18:54:00.000-08:00

Here is quite a collage of pictures from our Thanksgiving Dinner! I missed you guys! Hope you had a great holiday :)

Steve reading to Cassandra

Natashia sporting her cool hat!

Jordan and Evan

Playing Hoss in the living room. (No table space available!)

Gloria, Audrey, and Doris

Jordan and Monica Georgia and Channle (sp?)

Jannah and Savannah

Little Miss Channle
)

Elizabeth, Jannah, and Kari

Channle, Natashia, Evan, and Savannah drawing on the marker board.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-17T11:35:00.000-08:00

Ben and Sam have officially moved out of the house!! Sunday it will be three weeks. Ben recently bought a house that he and sam have fixed up. They are really enjoying being on there own. It was a slight adjustment at first here at home not having them around. Currently I'm really enjoying not having to run the dish washer every night, and having small loads of laundry to do now (we throw all our laundry together), less food to cook....and the list goes on. I believe Rochelle is feeling a little bit like an only child these days, when I'm at school late or just out with friends. But she's a good sport about it. If anything it's made me appreciate my siblings all the more!
Last night a friend and I went to Messiah to spend the night with monica. It was good to see here again! She really has a full load this semester with two part time jobs and 18 credits!! We only stayed to 12 this afternoon so that she could finish up her projects that are due monday. It was a great time though. We found a recipe for chocolate cream cheese cupcakes, so we took a trip to the grocery store to pick up some ingredients, came back and borrowed a friends move Pride and Prejudice...made our cupcakes and watched the movie. Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite movies! After tossing an turning most of the night, as we were sleeping on the floor, we were, at least I was, wide eyed and aching all over by the early hours of the morning. Renee (my friend) and I made a big breakfast for everyone (Monica's got two roommates). It was nice and relaxing. We spend the rest of the morning lounging around. Very nice!

2007-10-18T14:41:00.000-07:00

Us girls and Dad :)

This past weekend our chruch celebrated it's 30th anniversary. Saturday night we had a formal banquet at the Lancaster Host Resort. We celebrated by playing games, recalling memories from the past, and eating a wonderful meal together. Below are a few pictures of us girls before we left.

Monica and Rochelle

Tootsie

Rochelle, Monica, and I

Us 3 and Mom!

A weekend away :)

2007-10-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

A weekend at the mountains is always a time I look forward to. I can always imagine the smell of the campfire blazing, and the cool wind at my back as I rost my marshmellows, knowing that I've got the rest of the weekend to do nothing...I don't know if there's a better feeling then that!
We had a great time together. Played some card games which inluded Dutch Blitz, and Hoss. We also spent time hitting the volleyball around out side. The one thing that took away from my mountain experience this year was the HOT weather!! It was in the 80"s durring the day. I could have kicked myself for not packing any shorts. I was so hot...we ended up turning on the AC in the cabin! Just not my idea of mountain weather. As you can see below, we still did cook hot dogs and marshmellows, it's just that it was in the comfort of our ACed cabin!!

Below are some pictures from the weekend:

Sam and Ben getting their fill of hot dogs.
(Yes there is a fire there, it's just hard to see)

Rochelle and Monica relaxing while they wait for hotdog
sticks....we only had two, and no one wanted to cut any
more.

Dad and Sam

Time for back rubs!! (Rochelle's smile just crackes me up in this picture!) What great brothers we have!!!!!

A sideways view out the back of the cabin.

Sunset

Sam planing out his next move.

A walk down the lane...

The leaves were just starting to change color.

The Buck

2007-10-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday night a few of my friends decided they wanted to go to the Buck for the last show this season. The Buck is this track down on the southern end of the county, not far from the Maryland line, where all the rednecks hang out and race their trucks. I have never been there before, so this was a new experience for me.

The night started out with some little beater cars competing in an obstacle course. They started out driving up a mud ramp and flying off it, they then had to drive around two large tires in a figure eight pattern, before driving off another ramp. Some of theses cars did pretty well, others had engine problems, and had to be towed off the course. One driver got a little carried away and rolled his vehicle!

Later in the night they brought out the trucks and had a competition to see who could drive the farthest through a large mud pit. It became more of a competition between the makes of the trucks (ford, chevy, dodge) than the actual people themselves :) I had to laugh.

It was fun, not something I'd do right away again though. They do have monster trucks come out and jump cars, and that I think would be fun to see sometime. Maybe next year.

Here are a few pictures from the night.

Erica and I

Bethany and Cindy sported their cowboy hats!

One of the cars doing the figure eight...

The weekend

2007-09-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

As I am writing this blog, the first essay i have written since graduating high school is printing out. What a job...writing does not come easily for me, and I find I am quickly distracted on the Internet when I become frustrated!! This is a very bad habit as the minuets fly by with out me being aware of it.

This past weekend was great. A friend and I got together Friday night and had taken a walk around her neighborhood. It's defiantly getting cool outside. This weekend I had to pull out the long sleeves!! We watched a movie called Facing the Giants...the acting isn't real great, but the movie has very strong christian morals in it, and we were both in tears at the end of the move, just in aww of Gods goodness. I guess I really enjoyed it a lot because it spoke to me and what I've been going through lately! I'd defiantly recommend the movie if you haven't already seen it :)
I am not working on a regular work schedule because of going to school full time. So Friday night was my first night back at work, working third shift (11-7). Things went really smoothly, and I didn't have any trouble staying awake!!

After sleeping most of my Saturday away, I met up with a girlfriend and we went bike riding. It felt so good to get some physical exercises, and it was a beautiful night. The air was crisp, sun setting, and we even saw quite a few deer. We could hear a speed way near buy that we decided to check out. I had never been to a speed way before, plus we weren't planing to stay long. So when we found out it was $20 to get in we decided to just watch from the gate. Well that didn't last long as we were soon asked to leave. Not ready to admit defeat, we walked around the back of the track and decided to climb the hill to the fence where maybe we could get a good view. Well we were able to see the track, but what we weren't aware of was just how fast these mini sprint cars come flying around those turns. We were soon sprayed with rocks and dust. We realized quite quickly this was not a good idea!! I was afraid I was about to loose and eye, or have stones embedded in my forehead!! Ha ha ha.....it was an adventure, something we'll laugh about for days to come. :)

Over the past month, every Sunday after Church a group of friends meet up to play some competitive volleyball. It has been so much fun. Some weeks only 6 people show up and we play 3 on 3. Other weeks there is enough people who come out to have two v-ball games going simultaneously. It's great :)

So today is Monday, and it's back to "work". I dropped my Anatomy and Physiology class....it was too intense, and I couldn't handle that along with my other classes. Unfortunately now I am only a part time student. This means I need to pick up more hours at work again. But for now I have my Mondays off, and because of the busy weekend, I have pushed off the homework for today. Bah humbug!

Labor day weeknd

2007-09-05T12:03:00.000-07:00

So 6 of us girls decided to go to Ocean City, MD for the weekend. We had beautiful weather, and a great time hang out and catching up. Some of the girls I knew, but then they got married and our lives kinda went their separate ways. So it was nice to catch up. Honestly we spent the whole weekend sleeping in, then sat out all day on the beach and went out for supper in the evening. I like the beach...but one weekend was enough beach for me for a while. :) Sorry I really don't have any pictures for ya. The one below is of Rochell and I....I became sidetracked as I was unpacking my belonging from the weekend and was taking pictures of the two of us. LOL

We hit traffic coming home from the beach monday afternoon. It took us and extra hour an a half to get back. :( I was home in time to still be able to make it to a friends cookout that evening. I really needed to hit the books, but knew I wouldn't be able to focus on them anyway. So I did the responsible thing, and rationalized hanging out one last time before the holiday weekend was over.

White water rafting!

2007-08-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend my small group went camping at Ohiopyle state park in south western PA. It really was a great get away. I typically only like to go camping about once a year, and that's plenty. But this past weekend was really very enjoyable. I'm convinced that if I'd get myself a small single air mattress, I'd love camping :) I think that's my biggest draw back to camping, is the sleepless nights and sore bones the next morning.
We spend a large part of saturday white water rafting! This was a first for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! We paddled our way through class 2 and 3 rapids...which were plenty big for me :) Between the 12 of us we had three rafts....only one of the groups flipped their rafts. They have a completely different take on rafting because of it, and plenty of bruises to show for it. Between rapids, we stopped to do some cliff jumping and swimming.
The rest of sat. we took pretty easy, as everyone was sore, and some of us brusied. It didn't rain much last weekend. (that's a surprise in it's self, The last 3 years I've gone camping it has rained, and was miserable.) We packed up camp sunday morning and then hiked a trail that led us behind a huge water fall. It was absolutely beautiful. I don't have any pics. to show, they are all on a friends camera :( So the weekend was a much needed break from life. Then monday it was back to the Books....Bio has proven to be a challenge. I know I can handle it, its just going to require a lot of sacrificed time studying away....trying to memorize, and memorize, and memorize some more!
The parts I can understand have proven to be very interesting :) haha.

Hit'n the books

2007-08-21T18:06:00.000-07:00

So, as of monday I am officially a collage student! First time back to school since I graduated 6 years ago. I'm going for my RN, taking my gen. eds. at HACC; our local community college. It's been so much fun getting back into the class room and learning again!!

We'll give this a whirl....

2007-08-15T05:43:00.000-07:00

Ok Michawn, I just want you to know I'm doing this all for you!! I hope that makes you feel important. I'm not going to make any promises, but I'll try to keep this as up to date as possible. :)
A funny thing happened to me just a few days ago. A friend of mine told me about this book she really thought I should read. So the other day I finally decided to buy the book. I went online and ordered it, and days later I received it in the mail, only to find out I ordered a miniature version!! What a shock. The book could almost be attached to my key chain! Haha. I couldn't believe it. Wait just a minuit, I'll get my camera and show you just how small this book is. It's ridiculous.

Tell me that's not crazy! I have a hard time really reading the book and taking it seriously. Oh well, next time I'll be sure to read the fine print!
Ok, I need to be going. I just got off work and my body's telling me it's time to be in bed.
Have a great day. Oh and congratulations on your pregency!!