poinsettia show weekend

Too tired to have much to say, but here's what I'm up to this weekend...(stole these pics from Beth - thanks Bessie!!)...if you're in the area come on by Glick's Greenhouse and check it out! (My baby sis created this display...I'm really proud of her!!) I'll probably post more pics...eventually!

Candy Land Board... ...Candy Land Display




Gloppy the Molasses Monster and Grandma Nutter's House (aka to the Glick girls - "Grandma's Nut House") and the Candy Castle.

jolly 'ol...pappy?

Today riding in the car to mom's we had the following discussion:

Seth: So Mom, when you were little, did you leave cookies for Santa but Pappy actually ate them?

Me: (With a knowing look) Yeah, Pappy did eat them. (I guess maybe he's starting to accept the 'Santa's not real' thing...)

Luke: (After about 3 minutes...incredulously)Pappy is SANTA?!?!?!?

15 years strong

We had a WONDERFUL anniversary last night. My mom took the kids, and we stayed home and had a nice, extremely quiet, relaxing dinner. I think I lit almost every candle I own (plus a few of Betsy's), put on some nice music, and made a really good (if I do say so myself) dinner. Actually, there wasn't that much cooking involved, but it was a good meal. We had shrimp cocktail, crusty french bread with a balsamic and basil dipping oil, spring mix salad, and crab alfredo over angel hair pasta. It took me about half an hour to throw the meal part together. I spent all day setting up the 'ambiance'. Totally worth it - I think it was way better than going out for dinner. AND to top it all off - my hubby brought me flowers and a card - and in the card he had written this note:
"PS - Would you like to go to Hillside Farm B&B December 14-16? If not, I'll be lonely there!"

Hillside is our FAVORITE B&B ever, and we are going for 2 nights!! Woo hoo! I'm so excited - can't wait!!!

Yeah, this definitely might top of the list of really GOOD anniversaries!!

On a more contemplative note, we talked about how things were the same and how they were different for us now than 15 years ago (the obvious 4 children aside!) I think it's good to reflect like that now and again - it reminds us to appreciate the good, and be aware of and work on things that might have gotten lost in the shuffle of life and need some attention. Thankfully, when we took 'inventory' I think we are coming out strong on the positive side!! And occasional evenings like last night are vital, at least for us, in keeping things healthy and vibrant!

forgivable environments

I'm totally stealing everyone's thoughts today, but here's another blog post I came across (from Ben Arment's blog called 'History in the Making' - a church planter in VA) that left me saying, "Yes, oh YES...that's how I feel too!"

Forgivable Environments

On Sunday, our church's nursery suffered a blow with some illnesses in our volunteer ranks. We actually had to start turning babies away. On top of that, the flu got the best of our road crew, which left us with mostly our musicians to do the heavy lifting. It was a hard Sunday. God definitely showed up... but it was hard.

In Andy Stanley-speak... our environment was not so irresistible.

But I'm grateful for guests who minister back to the church. Did you know that a congregation can actually minister to the pastoral staff? By showing up, for one! But also by forgiving environments that struggle. I do this every time I visit another church plant. Not every congregation has a great children's area... Some can't find musicians to save a life... Some churches aren't welcoming. But it doesn't mean they're not great churches.

Every church-goer wants grace from a church... but sometimes they have to offer it too.

Christmas questions

Hey, I posted some questions about the Christmas season over at our church blog "koinos" - I'm looking to hear peoples' thoughts, so why not pop over there and leave me yours!

Jesus trampled by Christmas shoppers

The 'article' below appeared this morning on another blog that I read. It really made me stop and think and I thought it was worthy of posting here. What a great thing to keep in mind as we all throw ourselves into the mad rush of the holidays.

Jesus Trampled By Christmas Shoppers "Thou Shall Not Miss a Sale"

Boe J. Engles 12/21/2003

Jesus Christ appeared this morning with tidings of great joy, to a crowd of shoppers who were waiting in the parking lot for the opening of Wal-Mart. What might have been a wonderful, unprecedented miracle of happiness and celebration ended tragically when the front doors to the store were opened and the famed Savior of the world was trampled in the mad rush to obtain a hard-to-find set of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.

"I heard on the radio yesterday that this Wal-Mart was one of the last places in the state that still had this set of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards left in stock," said shopper Shandra Locke, 35, as she held up the prized pack she had just bought. As she wiped the blood of Christ off of her Italian leather shoes she almost showed remorse concerning the incident.

"I'm awfully sorry about steam rolling Jesus, but little Jordan is just going to LOVE this present."

Witnesses say Jesus appeared before the astonished crowd and began to say something about wishing everyone joy, hope and love. But before he could finish his profound message Jack Hogan, the store manager, apparently unaware of the appearance of the Lord, unlocked and opened the front door to the store.

"At first we were all like, 'Oh my God! It's Jesus'." reports shopper Mitch Llewelyn. "The woman next to me said, 'He so beautiful!' Then the doors opened. We all paused for a minute, but, well, he didn't get out of the way."

Store Manager Hogan would not answer any questions instead pointing reporters in the direction of Wal-Mart's national public relations office.

The Messiah was unavailable for comment, but witnesses say he miraculously seemed to sustain only cuts and bruises. He apparently stood up bloodied and confused after being trampled and then simply disappeared.

Thanksgiving/Anniversary weekend!

Well, Thanksgiving weekend is coming to a close. Yesterday we got together with Todd's extended family for Christmas...which we do every year the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It's sort of the official kick-off of the Christmas season for me. And I found out there's lots of Clemmers reading this blog, apparently, so just let me say it was really great getting to see you all on Saturday!

Thanksgiving weekend is also usually when we try to celebrate our anniversary, but this year schedules didn't permit it. We got married on Black Friday evening, a candlelight service. It was snowing when we came out of the reception to leave. Amazingly (at least to me) that was 15 years ago! That still seems incredible to me...I'm approaching being married for half my life! :) Anyway, Tuesday is our actual anniversary, and I am ashamed to admit I have nothing planned yet. I've had a few ideas bounce around this brain, but haven't had the time to really pursue making them happen. It looks like maybe we'll just try to have a nice dinner...though with the budget being screaming tight, it might be dinner at home! That's OK, as long as I can get a sitter, that could be just as nice anyway. Todd's been spending much time online planning a 'surprise' for me, so I'm pretty excited about that. I asked my sis if she knew what my surprise was, to which she clammed up and said "Are you trying to get me in trouble?!?! Yes, I know, but I'm not saying anything!" I pushed just a bit more and asked her to at least tell me if I'd like it, and (though I couldn't see her face to get any reading that way - we were on the phone) she said yes. So, I'm excited, but trying not to get my hopes up for anything too big!

Thanksgiving at Mom's

Thanksgiving was great...we all crammed in my mom's newly fixed up house (not quite finished yet) and had a 'big-family' good time. That means everyone was loud, we laughed a lot, and things got spilled. Good times, good times. (And no children got in any real trouble or were injured throughout the course of the day! Success!!)

I, of course, as ALWAYS, forgot to take pics!! I get so mad at myself - I never remember to bring my camera places! Yesterday I remembered to bring it, but in all the chaos forgot to get it out!! Arrgghhh....

The realtor came through my mom's house and was pleased, and came back with a great number. I thought we were done the work, but he pointed out a few more things we should do to help the 'sellability'. After he left I nearly cried. Not because it's terribly major things (and least compared to what we already did), but because I thought we were finally done. Not. Anyway, we're trying to quick finish those things, and we (meaning Mom) signs the papers and lists it on Monday; then we are praying hard for the right buyer to come - QUICKLY!!

It's become more emotional than I thought thinking about selling the house. Maybe even more so after we put all the work into it. But we talked again with Mom about her feelings, and she's sure about selling, not only because she is not able to do it financially, she really doesn't want the weight of the responsibility for it either and all that goes along with that. Which I completely understand and agree. But it's still hard just the same. So we'd appreciate your prayers, as it doesn't make it any easier that all this is happening in the midst of the holidays, which are still rough, even though it's not our 'first', without Daddy.

Grateful

While I have lots of other life tid-bits to catch you all up on, I don't have much time, and I'm extremely tired, but it seemed only right to share some (and this is the short list!!) of the things I am thankful for. So here goes...

• My mom...something one might not give much thought to, until suddenly they're gone. I'm missing my dad, but being reminded through the his absence to be more thankful for my mom, and grateful I have her.
• My wonderful husband who has willingly and tirelessly, without complaint worked many hours on my mom's house with us.
• My adorable kids...who have been particularly trying the past few days...it's good they're so stinkin' cute!! (Especially the 2 year old who has discovered his will...)
• My family...sisters, brother-in-laws, neices and nephews...all 19 of us will be together feasting tomorrow on turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, corn, green beans, limas, rolls and assorted desserts...my mouth is watering already!!
• Great in-laws - it seems like so many people can't stand their in-laws and are always upset and offended at them. I am really blessed to have wonderful ones who I truly enjoy being with, who are always there for us, and I am honored to call them family.
• An amazing church family - and especially our leadership team at Koinonia House. They have been God's hands on earth and have both held and carried us more times than I can count, or probably than they realized over the past 2+ years since we started this adventure. You are the best guys...there's no one else I'd rather be in this with!!

I could go on and on, but I really want to hit the pillow so I won't be a tired crank tomorrow as all 19 of us cram together for a day of food, games, football, dishes, probably a few time-outs (or spankings if it gets really ugly), maybe some spackling and painting...but I digress. In all honesty - I can't wait. I love holidays and I love my family. Hopefully I'll have some fun family pics to post by the end of the weekend!!

Have a great thanksgiving - and take time to ACTUALLY give thanks!!

I'm dreaming of a white...Thanksgiving????

I had two very disappointed little boys yesterday. They had sent out invitations to 8 of their friends inviting them to a 'sports party'. Bryce has been asking to do this since summer, but, all excuses aside, I kept putting him off. So I finally got around to finding a date that worked, we made the invitations, everyone was planning to come, and low and behold...it SNOWS!!! The boys were really bummed at first, but then both of them ended up getting to go over to a friend's house (one who was planning to be here playing football!) to play, so that definitely eased the blow. I never would have thought the party would be snowed out! It actually started as rain, but ended up as snow. Yep, that's right folks, November 18 and we got the white stuff already!! Not tons, but this morning when we got up the kids were excited to see the yard covered in white. Let the holidays begin!!

superheroes

Today Seth came to me and asked "Mom, which superhero do you want to be Supergirl or Batgirl?" (I hadn't realized we were playing, but hey, if I get to be a superhero, I'm gonna go for the gusto!!) My response - "Actually, I think I like Wonder Woman." With a serious face and tone he replied "Mom...she dresses inappropriately." OK, then!! Supergirl it is!!

So then I took this quiz... disregarding the green lantern, I guess I can be either one I want!
Your results:You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern 70% Wonder Woman 67% Supergirl 67% Spider-Man 65% Robin 55% Superman 50% Hulk 45% Catwoman 40% The Flash 35% Batman 25% Iron Man 20%

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

clarification

Just to clarify...crocuses in march will still be my personal blog...koinos is going to be our church blog. Hope you enjoy both!

a new blog

I'm not sure if I posted on here before that I and others on our leadership team were launching a new blog called "koinos". We had tried to kick it off before, but our lives all became extremely busy over the past few months and none of us really did anything with it. But in my 're-structuring' of my priorities, I have been thinking through things that I have to do, want to do, and should do. Blogging for me is both something I enjoy, and also something I feel that God is using to reach and encourage some people, so it's something I want to continue to cultivate. The "koinos" blog is geared much more toward spiritual matters (not that this blog doesn't include such), but it will be much less my personal stories, random thoughts and occasional recipes. I'm hoping it might be a new avenue for discipleship.

Feel free to stop over and check it out!

exploring a new concept...balance

Every-other month the DOVE pastors' wives get together for a few hours. I absolutely LOVE this time, for several reasons. First of all, it's a time for me to simply be encouraged and poured in to, with nothing expected of me, and I hold no position. I'm not leading, hosting or planning...I'm not doing anything but showing up! I love the opportunity to do that once in a while!

The other thing I love is being challenged and encouraged by other women who have walked the road before me, and being able to draw on their wisdom and insight. Yesterday two of the wives strongly encouraged me that we need to make a set-in-stone family night. It's something that has been suggested to us before, and we've thought about, but never really committed ourselves to. Yesterday two of the women stressed to me the importance of it, and the sense of stability it will give the kids, as well as something they can look forward to and enjoy. I've been thinking that as we come to the end of another year, something I want to do is take a look at our life in general and regroup. I want to take a hard look at our schedule, our priorities, our goals. One thing one of our overseers keeps reminding us to do is put the 'big rocks' in place. I think it's time for us to do that again. (By 'big rocks' I mean putting in place the immovable things in our life - the things that should not and can not be changed - and everything else will just have to fit in around those things.)

I also read an article today reminding and encouraging leaders that others are watching, and end up mimicking our lives in many ways. One thing this article focused on is that if we live over-scheduled, crazy-busy lives, that is what we are modeling for those who we are leading. It struck a chord of truth in me. It was confirmed this evening when someone told me about how impacted someone else was by the atmosphere of our home when they visited recently. (Thankfully, she was meaning it in a good way, and as a compliment! It's not always such a great atmosphere, so they must've caught us on a fairly good day!!) It also said that we tend to expect others to live the way we are. While I do not wish for others to live with the stress that I so often create for myself, I do tend to put somewhat unrealistic expectations on people, because it is what I expect of myself. I am beginning to recognize some of the unhealthiness of our overly busy lifestyle, and I am brought up short to realize that I am modeling this, and really, it's not what I want for those I am leading. So not only for myself and my family, but also for them, it is so important that we learn balance and learn to live out of a place of resting in Him. What a challenge for me to rise to in the coming year.

Balance...hmmm...a foreign concept to me, but one I must definitely explore...

lemon & honey chicken

Tonight I made the easiest dinner ever, and it was still one of those 'comfort food' meals that the whole family enjoyed (though the boys still say that Grammy's fried chicken is the best ever). My friend Ang made it for us after Luke was born and we loved it so much I asked for the recipe. It was a bonus that it was so SUPER easy!! (Had to give credit where credit was due! Thanks Ang!) So here's the chicken recipe...throw some veggies together and voila!

Lemon & Honey Chicken

Ingredients:
1 lemon
1 whole roasting chicken
1/2 c. orange juice
1/2 c. honey

Pierce lemon with fork (or slit with knife); put inside chicken cavity. Place chicken in slow cooker; combine orange juice and honey - pour over chicken. Cover & cook on low for 8 hours. (I usually just do it in the oven in a roaster pan, following the roasting directions on the chicken. It's usually roasting it at 425 degrees for about an hour to hour-and-a-half). Remove lemon & squeeze over chicken. Serve with juices as gravy.

I really like serving rice with it, as the juice is really tasty over the rice.

how my brain works

This is a fun brain usage quiz; an actual scientific kind, not a 'blogger' kind...here's my results (I think they are pretty accurate!!):

Your Brain Usage Profile:

Auditory : 50%
Visual : 50%
Left : 55%
Right : 44%

Jessi, you are somewhat left-hemisphere dominant with a balanced preference for auditory and visual inputs. Because of your "centrist" tendencies, the distinctions between various types of brain usage are somewhat blurred.

Your tendency to be organized and logical and attend to details is reasonably well-established which should afford you success regardless of your chosen field of endeavor, unless it requires total spontaneity and ability to improvise, your weaker traits. However, you are far from rigid or overcontrolled. You possess a degree of individuality, perceptiveness, and trust in your intuition to function at much more sophisticated levels than most.

Having given sufficient attention to detail, you can readily perceive the larger aspects and implications of a situation or of learning. You are functional and practical, but can blend abstraction and theory into your framework readily.

The equivalence of your auditory and visual learning orientation gives you two equally effective sensory input systems, each with distinctive features. You can process both unidimensionally and multidimen- sionally with equal facility. When needed, you sequence material while at other times you "intake it all" and store it for processing later.

Your natural ability to use your senses is also synthesized in your way of learning. You can be reflective in your approach, absorbing material in a non-aggressive manner, and at other times voracious in seeking out stimulation and experience.

Overall you tend to be somewhat more critical of yourself than is necessary and avoid enjoying life too much because of a sense of duty. You feel somewhat constrained and tend to sometimes restrict your expressiveness. In any given situation, you will opt for the rational, and learning of almost any type should be easy for you. You might need certain ideas explained to you in order to fit them into your scheme of things, but you're at least open to that!

gettin' in the Christmas spirit!!

If you're looking for a great way to kick off your holiday season, Berks County is just the place for you. December 1st would be the perfect time to stir up all that Christmas cheer - here's a suggestion on how to do it.

First of all, THE place to be the first weekend of December is always Glick's Greenhouse in Oley. They have the MOST AMAZING poinsettia show!! They have over 10,000 poinsettias of all kinds and colors. They also have live music, free refreshments, and wonderful displays that are sure to put you in the holiday spirit!! In addition to poinsettias, they have wreaths, crafts, and ornaments. You can click here for all the details (times, directions, etc.). It's definitely worth the trip!

And since you would be so close, you could head on over to the Historic Hopewell Furnace...or, more specifically, the Old Bethesda Church at Hopewell, where you can sit in the colonial church, beautifully decorated in Colonial Christmas style, and listen to the choir (in full colonial costume, of course) sing carols. Afterwards you can munch a few cookies and sip some warm cider.

By that point, you will be so overcome by the Christmas spirit that you will undoubtedly be motivated to go buy those gifts for everyone on your list, and lucky for you, you are only minutes away from the Reading Outlets!!


OK, I will throw in this disclaimer...all of these suggestions are not completely unbiased; my brother-in-law and his uncle run the greenhouse, and my sister and some of our friends basically do the displays, and in my opinion, they are masters at creativity. I know I am partial, but I truly think that every year the show gets more and more amazing. Also, as with all things colonial, my lovely daughter is part of the performance at Bethesda Church. But as for the Reading Outlets? No connection what-so-ever...just tryin' to help ya out!!

If you'd like any more info about getting in on all this fun, just let me know. I'd be more than happy to help you out!

take heart

Ever since I posted yesterday about loving my husband, God has been nudging my heart to encourage any of you who might have read that and had to deal with a bout of jealousy. I remember quite clearly a time in my life when I looked at some of my friends, and even others who I didn't really know, and started down the slippery slope of comparison. There was a time when I was quite UNhappy in my marriage, and we almost blew apart. (To read that story, go to the July archives...the post is titled 'crocuses in march'). At that time I would look at so-and-so and think "Her husband is so romantic," or "Her husband buys her nice gifts all the time!". The mind that is given free-reign to follow our fleshly desires nose-dives very quickly!! Allowing myself the guilty pleasure of coveting (that's right, that's exactly what it is when you allow yourself to focus on wanting what someone else has - check out Commandment #10) got me into hot water in no time.

But God saved and restored my marriage, and it is better today than ever! Not because Todd took a course in Romance 101 or because I lost 30 pounds and turned into Betty Crocker. No, it's because we stopped looking at each other, in our failings, and at others, in our perception of their perfection, and started looking to God. We started looking to Him to meet our needs, especially in the areas we were trying to get filled from each other (unsuccessfully), and found that when we looked more to God than each other, amazing things started happening. See, we were both trying to draw from an 'dried-up well' and getting very frustrated at coming up empty all the time. We had nothing for each other. But once we started letting God 'fill our tanks' we were both able to have something to offer the other.

We started asking God to give us a 'faith-vision' for the other one; I asked God to give me a picture of how HE saw Todd, and I began praying those things for Todd. As part of a marriage ministry course we took, we each wrote down one of these 'faith-visions' for each other and for a period of time really prayed them. Over time we gradually moved on, and forgot to be consistent with this; a few years later I came across what I had written and read over it. Amazingly, all the things I had written/prayed for Todd from that time were now realities in his life. God is always true to His word.

Today, I have a wonderful, thriving marriage, but it is certainly not because of what Todd and I initially brought to the table the day we got married. Instead, it's because we tried relying on those things in the beginning, and when they eventually failed, we finally gave them to God and let Him work wonders. And believe me, it's not like we don't have our 'bumps in the road' - sometimes we not only hit bumps, we hit craters!! But we've learned to rely on God's faithfulness and are much quicker now to run to Him when we create a mess and let Him fix things for, and in, us.

All this to say...if you are less than satisfied with your marriage, your spouse, or yourself - take heart!! I know from personal experience that God can take the most bottomed-out wreck and make it a masterpiece - if you let Him.

fuzzy sleepers

Well, with the arrival of consistent cold weather I finally switched over the kids clothes - put the shorts and tank tops in the bin and pulled out the sweats and flannels! The other night just before bedtime Lukey was complaining that he was cold, so I pulled out the wonderful 'feety-pajamas' (wish I had a pair, but Todd drew the line at me wearing fuzzy sleepers that zip from head to toe). When I went to put them on him, Luke's first concern was "Are these baby jammies??" I assured him that no, they were not "baby jammies" they were just warm pj's with feet. His relieved response cracked me up: "Now THAT'S what me talking about!!"

a pain in the neck...and shoulder...and arm

I mentioned before that I was having pain off and on in my shoulder/neck area, and it came back this weekend with a vengeance!! When I got up yesterday I could barely move my head side to side, and couldn't raise my arm above shoulder height. (Makes it very interesting to shower, and especially to wash my hair! By the time I got the to the conditioner I was in so much pain I forgot to rinse it out! I discovered this when I went to comb through my hair, but there was NO WAY I was getting back it to rinse it, so I opted to live with somewhat greasy hair yesterday...wasn't going anywhere anyway!). I called my sis who, thankfully(!!), is a massage therapist and asked for a massage. She came over last night to try to help me get some relief, but after a wonderfully long massage her assessment was that I probably wouldn't have very immediate relief, to keep it warm, and she'd probably have to give me another massage in 2 days. Awwww....poor me, having to endure ANOTHER massage!! I was quite saddened, however, to wake this morning to find my condition no better, so it looks like another bad hair day filled with very slow and gingerly movement for me!

Prayers for relief gladly accepted!!

I'm such a sap

I am feeling particularly in love with my husband today. I'm not sure what has stirred this, (not that I'm not always in love with him, but I'm feeling particularly sappy about it today I guess!). Maybe it's because I'm thinking about our 15th anniversary coming up, and being at the church we got married in last weekend brought back a lot of good memories of not just our wedding, but the early days of our marriage. Maybe it's because I am incredibly proud of Todd when he is 'on-fire' when he preaches, and when I watch him deal with people, and handle situations with wisdom and ease. (It's not a bad kind of pride, I just find him very attractive when he is 'in his element', doing what he is so obviously called to do...). Maybe it's the combination of cold weather, upcoming holidays and our evening schedule not being quite so packed that builds anticipation of evenings spent cuddled up on the couch reading or watching a movie after all the kids are tucked snug in their beds. I don't know, but whatever the source, I'm just gonna enjoy thinking about how blessed I am to have such a great guy!

what I've been up to

Apparently blogging has fallen a few notches on the priority list. Not by choice, mind you, but out of necessity. Life has been busier than I can say, and frankly, I don't want to bore you with the details. But I am hoping that we've made it through the worst of it (worst isn't a good word, because it hasn't been 'bad')...maybe I should say we've made it through the 'thick' of it, and I am expecting life to get back to some sort of routine. I did get through the mountains of clean laundry waiting to be folded yesterday, so I feel like I'm off to a good start!

We had a great time in New York City last week. We drove to Staten Island, took the ferry across to the City, then took the subway in to American Girl Place, where Kaitlyn determined she MUST have died and gone to heaven. After that we took in the cultural experience of Saks 5th Ave (when I say 'cultural experience' I mean this - when I saw the prices - $3,000 for a sweater and $900 for a purse - I felt like I was from a totally different planet!!), and then roamed around Rockefeller Center and Times Square. After a long day, leaving us almost physically unable to walk another step, we headed back. Somewhere between the subway and the ferry, Kaitlyn lost one of her brand new doll shoes. She almost cried, but fought it...I felt horrible for her! But I nearly had a heart attack when she took off back toward the subway to look for the shoe when she first realized it was gone! She did stop, and we weren't separated for more than a few seconds, but for me, not being able to see my kid when we're in the Big City, a few seconds is a lifetime!!

Had a good 'Light the Night' outreach - we figure there were about 30+ kids from our neighborhood that showed up. That's encouraging.

On Sunday Todd preached at the church he grew up at, where his parents still go. Our worship team also led worship. It went very well...we weren't quite sure how well it would go over, because they are more accustomed to singing hymns and a very 'ordered' service, where we are a bit more relaxed in the way we do things, and our worship is definitely 'charismatic' (though I have somewhat of an aversion to that word), but everyone seemed very open to us. Anyway...in my opinion, God's presence was definitely there, and several people were touched through Todd's message.

Now I'm settling back into trying to get a rhythm to school, as well as needing to finish the book I'm editing by next week.

So, in case you were wondering what I've been up to, that's it in a nutshell!!