I've been tagged!

Let's see...rules first. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names.

What I was doing 10 years ago: :) Working, preparing for Jason's graduation party, enjoying life to the fullest...

Five things on my to-do list today:
1. Go to work
2. Go to eat with my in-laws, celebrating my father-in-laws last radiation treatment today
3. Laundry
4. Call all of my kids
5. Update my blog

Snacks that I enjoy: Regular Potato Chips, Pecan Sandies Cookies

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Buy a new church and parsonage
2. Make sure I was completely debt free
3. Pay off all of my family's bills
4. Buy an expensive car and house

Three of my bad habits:
1. Interrupting People
2. Procrastinating
3. Neglecting to clean out my car

Five Places I have Lived:
1. Adrian, Michigan
2. Belleville, Michigan
3. Romulus, Michigan
4. Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania
5. Taylor, Michigan

Five jobs that I have had:
1. Driver's License Bureau (gave road tests, written tests and issued licenses)
2. Undercover Police Officer in Belleville Michigan
3. Receptionist
4. Elementary Teacher's Aide
5. High School Secrtary

Five people I want to know more about (A nice way to say TAG!)....
1. Kara Watters
2. Hannah Avery
3. Sue Arnold
4. Cathy Avery
5. Sarah Watters

Back to the 'grind'

I had a wonderful time at IHC. I love the fellowship, busyness, services, music and just being with family. I thoroughly enjoyed being with people I haven't seen in a long time. The Women of Worth meeting was so divinely inspired by God from the congregational to the final amen. The Cassidy family did a phenomenal job in singing and Louise Crouse was a magnificent speaker. Her 'message' was for me. Sometimes it is easy to 'get in a hurry'. I just want God to show me what he has in store for my future. I never want to open a door or even close one but sometimes I wish God would move faster and show me what HE has in store for my future. The loneliness of being in this big house all by myself is sometimes overwhelming. I just want GOD to direct me. I have been feeling so restless for about a year now and I'll be anxious to know the reason but I know that God will show me in HIS time. Louise's illustrations of her life were great examples as to why it is best to wait on God for direction.

I was quite busy with helping Ryan sort pictures. He was the photographer for IHC this year, so he would bring the memory card to me, as I sat in the bleachers, then he would go back out and take more pictures while I downloaded the card onto his laptop. Then I sorted and sorted the pictures, so he could put them on a CD and give them to the Convention staff. After sorting over 4,000 pictures, my eyes were very tired and watered a lot. I'm not used to doing that, but at least he was able to have help so he didn't have to do the sorting at night, after the final service. He wouldn't have had time to sleep if he had done that. If you want to see any of the pictures he took, go to http://www.ihconvention.com/, click on the 2008 tab and then click on photos.

After the Thursday evening service, Jason, Kara, Katie and I went to Cincinnati, where we stayed for a few nights. We went to the Newport Aquarium on Friday and had free tickets to go to the Creation Museum on Saturday. That is a remarkable place. It would be so interesting to take an atheist to that building and let them try denying the existence of God. They had salvation presentations throughout the museum. It was great! We then went to the Burlington Bible Methodist Church on Sunday morning and enjoyed the service. We went back to God's Bible School with Ryan and ate Sunday dinner there at the campus before heading back to Michigan. It was a great weekend.

Now, it is back to work. Trying to get my desk back in order and figure out what happened in the week I was away is a challenge. Since I am responsible for attendance for 350 kids, plus selling tickets for our school play, and everything else associated with being a high school secretary, it is a challenge to be away during the busy time, but that is just the way it is. IHC is worth it all.

Heading to IHC

I'll be heading to IHC first thing Tuesday morning. I'm very excited about it. It is a tiring three days but so rewarding! I love attending the services! I love going to Women of Worth and being a part of the organizational part of the special service. Being with family is especially nice. I'll miss Andy & Jenn, JeNa and Jaxon being there this year, but they are heading for Florida tomorrow for their vacation. With Andrew's line of work (construction), it is hard to have time off during the summer, so they decided to go in April. Jason, Kara and Katie and I will be traveling to Dayton together. I'm looking forward to that. We'll have a lot of fun, especially with Katie and mamaw in the back seat. I'm going to take some M & M's with me. They work great for bribes. :-) Ryan will be there when I arrive, as he has to be there EARLY to start his new job as IHC photographer. He is quite nervous about it but will do a great job. He shadowed Steve Stetler last year and did good, so I am confident he'll do fine this time too. I remember after the second day last year he couldn't hardly lift his arms up, and that was from taking so many pictures. I had never thought about the fact that you don't usually hold your arms in that position for extended periods of time. Megan is going to come and stay with me. That will be nice to have her there. I just hope I don't snore too much and keep her awake. :-) I hope to see a lot of you in Dayton.

On Thursday evening we are going to head toward Cincinnati and Jason, Kara, Katie and I are going to stay at a motel and do some sightseeing in Cincinnati on Friday and Saturday. Friday, I believe we are going to go to the Newport Aquarium and on Saturday we plan to go to the Creation Museum. We will climax the week with attending the Collingsworth Concert on Saturday night. It is a live videotaping and there are lots of fun things planned for the evening. I'm very excited about this special event. I'll fill you in on the details when I return. Have a great week.

Hearts of Praise

The Hearts of Praise Singers, from the Main Street Chapel, in Cincinnati, Ohio ministered at our church today. It was a great weekend. They were with us a year and a half ago and we thoroughly enjoyed their contribution to our service. It has actually opened up an area of ministry among some of our own people that attend our church and caused them to realize that there is definitely a need to reach out to young people who have found themselves in unfortunate circumstances, whether or not it is their own 'fault' or perhaps the results of choices that someone else has made for their lives. These young people come from the inner city and these youth live with their families and have found Christ through the Main Street Mission. This mission is run by young people from God's Bible School and College. They minister to the 'kids' of the street, lead them to Christ and encourage them to go back to school and two of the young people who came this weekend are attending Aldersgate High School (a part of God's Bible School) and one attends the college, after having graduated from Aldersgate High School last spring. These young people gave their testimonies this morning and it was touching to hear of the misfortune in their lives and to see how God has turned them around and they now serve Christ. It was very interesting to host the girls in my home overnight. They were so fun to be with and were so polite and respectful. They loved sleeping on the air mattresses. Today, while driving over the Arnold's for dinner, we went onto a dirt road. I don't think anything about a dirt road but they got so excited as they never see dirt roads and one said she had never seen a dirt road except on TV. We had fun being together and it was interesting to see Jenny Fikes and Heidi Holmes interacting with them. They do GREAT with this group of young people. Jenny keeps them right in line, that's for sure. She's still a kid at heart and that makes her such a good role model for this group. Thanks for ministering to us Hearts of Praise! We love you!

Long Hours

It's that time of year. The time when the IRS governs your thoughts and the dreaded visit to the Income Tax Office is one that must be done, no matter how you feel about what the government is doing with your money. I work at Lenawee Christian School during the day (40 hours per week), then work at Tax Pro Filers at the Adrian Mall nearly every evening and sometimes on Saturday. This makes for long hours but it sure helps me when it comes to paying the dreaded gas bills that happen to come during the winter months. This winter has been one of the highest heat bills that I can remember and it has to do with our irregular snow patterns and extreme cold. I enjoy working at TPF very much. I have learned so much in the two years that I have worked there. I have no desire to do taxes but I do all of the preliminary work, filling out the paperwork at the front desk, answering phones with a multitude of questions, greeting guests, making sure you have everything you need and the list goes on. During the busy season, I put in 70+ hours per week, but I can say this much, "I'm sure not looking for things to pass my time". It will all come to a screeching halt on April 15th. The rewards are so good at TPF. Just helping people get a refund brings joy to me. When we have to tell someone, "I'm sorry, you owe $7,137 to the IRS" (I did that today), it brings sorrow, but for the most part, it is rewarding. I love it when I say, "Your refund is, '$12,993". I marvel at how people manage their finances. The thing that I find so interesting about my job is the variety of personalities and the ability to witness (my boss is a Christian and so is everyone I work with). Today, I had a lady come in and sit and talk to me while we were getting her things together and she had been hit with a lot of unfortunate circumstances in her life. One son was killed three years ago by falling out of a tree stand and putting a branch through his stomach. Another son was in a car accident 36 years ago and is a parapalegic. Her husband died and she has physical problems. I was able to witness to her and that brought joy to me. We have dealt with a LOT of older people this year who do not normally have to file. Because of the Bush stimulus package, they have to file in order to get the bonus stimulus package and this has allowed us to see a lot of older people and it brings them joy to see that they will get 'free' money. They deserve it!!! Someday, when I am old and feeble, I trust someone takes a few minutes to 'make my day' by just sitting and chatting with me, because you all know that I love to visit and talk with people.