Just Jenn

2010-07-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday night I get on a bus with about 50 other people, mostly teen's. I think it might be a crazy moment in my life, but we'll see how it goes. I started out going simply because I wanted to see Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio in concert again. I said I would be happy to help with food set up and such. As it turns out I am in charge of leading the junior girls small group. ROFL I think this is God's sense of humor coming out. Truly I have never really helped with the youth. Yes, they help me out during VBS, but I've never sat down with them for a long period of time. This should be a good growing time from God. I am curious what he plans on doing during this week. :)

today

2010-06-29T19:25:00.000-07:00

I am an absolute book nerd :) Our local library has an adult summer reading program. I signed up. I loved the summer reading program when I was a kid. It brought me happiness to sign up as an adult. I only have to read 4 books. ROFL I can read 4 by next week if I wanted. I think I will drag them out a bit. The 1st place prize is 200.00 to a book store. I would be beyond happy to win one of the gift cards :)

Soccer

2010-06-26T12:04:00.001-07:00

I love soccer. I have watched almost every World Cup game and have loved every minute. I love the intense 90 mins. that can change in a second. It's a contact sport like no other.

I love that we have our own MLS team the Houston Dynamo and that we have season tickets for it.

Can you tell I love soccer? Truly I want the US to advance, but if not I will cheer on a few other countries :)

June 14

2010-06-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

June 14th is such a special day for 2 reasons. Most important to me is that's when Ryleigh came into our lives 11 years ago. The only daughter and the youngest. Very loved and very welcomed, and spoiled :) Of course she only stayed with us for 6 1/2 yrs. so the other June 14th's have been celebrated without the birthday girl.

The other reason its special is because Ryleigh LOVED her birthday. A day for her to celebrate getting bigger. The last year she was alive she counted down that days from June 1 til her day! She's been known to sit at the table and wait to sing happy birthday and eat cake.

So, it makes the day even harder to celebrate because she's not here to do it. June 1 comes around and I start counting down, and I just don't do it justice. She was sorely missed yesterday, on the day she came into this world and God blessed us with her spirit.

In honor of her though we quilted on her quilt. Told Ryleigh stories and ate lots of food. How blessed I am to have friends that will celebrate my daughter with me. It made the day less sad by celebrating out loud :)

2010-06-12T18:31:00.000-07:00

We had some friends come to visit for a bit today. Some friends that we've had since our apartment days. It was so nice to see them and catch up. I've been working on the house for Monday. I can't believe Ryleigh would be 11 on Monday and she's not here. It should be so much fun to finish the quilt on Monday. Food has been purchased and I am ready for a party :)

2010-06-07T15:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I try to keep up with this blog thing, and I just don't manage.

Let's see:

Thomas passed 7th grade along with passing the math and reading state tests. I knew he could do it, even though half the school doubted him!

I am going to have to be happy with C's because he really is not motivated to make better grades. His philosophy is as long as he's passing the class-who cares. LOL

Gary went to a college dual-credit workshop today. He loved the lecture on sleep psychology. I am not making him go to college until at least the spring of next year.

I am having a quilting bee on the 14th to work on Ry's quilt and celebrate her birthday. This will probably be a bittersweet day.

I have finished another quilt top for a wedding and I am very excited to gift them with it. Debbie is quilting it for me and then I will bind it with some help from Lynn.

Busy days

2010-05-11T13:40:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's May 11 already. Good grief!

I got to meet MercyMe today. Fun! I stood in line for an hour and was thru the autograph line in less than 2 mins. LOL but so worth it.

Thomas turns 13 on Friday. Where did the last 13 years go?

I am about to be 39. I can't believe next year I will be 40. Party in Vegas next year though :) I am going to celebrate that birthday.

I finished my college course last night. I am so glad to be done with that class, as it drove me crazy the entire semester. This summer I am taking Deaf Community and this fall I will hopefully start my Interpreting classes.

I have about a month of not much going on and I am glad to be lazy for a bit. I do have 2 meetings this week though.

Off to read.

Strawberries

2010-04-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

Gary and I went and picked strawberries today. The strange thing was that Thomas wasn't there. Really I thought about Ryleigh not being there, but that's normal :) Thomas has spent his whole day taking math TAKS (state test). They give them the entire day to do the test. Total waste of a day if you ask me. Total waste of the last few weeks. They've spent all this time cramming for a test that they now have 7 hrs. to take. Along, with all kinds of rules about what you can and cannot bring to school. Oh, and the cafeteria doesn't provide hot lunch on the days they test. Seriously? you can't feed kids a hot lunch, but you can take away all their electives because their grades are bad and you are worried about them failing your precious test? Can you tell I don't like the TAKS test :)

Anyway, back to the important stuff- strawberries.! We had a fun time picking them and I have now eaten way more than I should've but they are so good. Poor Thomas, stuck inside on this most beautiful day!

2010-04-22T06:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a hilarious story for everyone. I had a workshop on signing last night. More specifically on facial expression. I ended up demonstrating a sentence about my snake being cute, soft and warm.

Now the whole thing was it took 2 people. One did the facial expression (me) and another did the signs (Warren). If any of you have watched Who's Line Is It Anyway? you have seen the skit where one person is the hands and the other one talks. Well, that's how we were supposed to do.

Ok- are you even getting a picture in your head yet? If I was the facial expression- I was in front. Yes, that's right Warren was the hands behind me.

Yes, I was touched where no woman wants to touched in public, by a strange man. My face must have showed the violation, because the entire room burst out laughing. Even I was laughing. I think back on it this morning and I wonder if the teacher didn't really realize what happened. My teacher sitting in the class did and they talked about it for at least 15 mins. after class.

So yes, I was touched on my breast in a room full of people last night. Yes, I took it graciously. No, I'm not scarred for life, nor was I mad at Warren. It really was an accident. I still can't believe I ended up being the topic of conversation afterwards though. I'm ok to be a wallflower, but that was not to be the case last night :)

2010-04-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

I wonder if I should only post nice thing on here?

I had a rough Thursday night. All of the sudden I was just overwhelmed and done. I went to Ladies Night Out at our church and I came home to nothing being done. NOTHING! All three of them sat on their butts all night, while making sure to not wash out their dishes, or put the laundry in the dryer. Now after saying that, I mean that is what pushed me over the edge, I loaded the dryer, washed out the dishes and laid down. Never saying a word to them about it, because in the end it was my issue.

I haven't felt that sense of panic in awhile. It lasted for 2 days, and by Sat. I was much better.

Aaron will have been gone 12 yrs. next Thurs. and I think that was part of it. I really hate housework, and here lately I seem to be doing most of it. I really hate that. We are cramming a whole bunch of units in a short amount of time in college. While I can do it, doesn't mean I can handle it well.

Sat. I got to go scrapbook all day. It was nice to do that. I got some projects done, some pages done and attached. WooHoo! Also, I cleaned out the room while I was packing up my stuff.

I am slowly working on both quilts. I am also reading with the WEM group again. I confess it doesn't work well for me. I like to read things on my own time apparently.

2010-04-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

Ok- that test last night was hard. The lesson in that was I didn't study enough, so I am going back to my study everyday routine. I am now moving on to the next thing due for that class- signing a children's book. I have picked Dandelion by Don Freeman. Hopefully today I will have it glossed and will have videotaped a 1st run just to see how long it will be.

I really can't wait to move on to a school where the students really truly want to learn and be challenged. I haven't really found that where I am now, except for my friend Tina. Sad really.

Yesterday

2010-04-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

My weekends in April are turning out to be busy, or at least one big thing going on. This weekend was a workshop and a Deaf comedian performance. Because I had that going on it got me a weekend all by myself. Gary and the boys ended up going to his dad's house for the weekend. It was so nice to have some peace and quiet for a day. Yesterday I spent the day with my friend Tina at a workshop on classifiers and then we went back for a performance by Crom Saunders who is Deaf. It was hilarious and I was reminded why I love sign language. It was such a good day and I learned alot and loved spending some time with Tina. I cam home with my brain overloaded with ASL. All I have done today is church and being lazy. Nice weekend.

Good Friday

2010-04-02T09:37:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's April already. I'm trying to figure out where the first 3 months of March went.....

April is a hard month for me. Aaron died almost 12 years ago on the 29th of April, and no matter how hard I try my brain knows it's coming. I almost feel like this might be the week I lose it. After all these years I still miss him. The sadness is not quite all consuming, but at some moment this month it will be. The rest of my siblings and I will get together and I still feel one is missing. I look at them all and I expect him to be standing there......

We had a great sermon last week about Jesus being nailed on the cross, and most times I take it as it is and don't get too wrapped up in that, but last Sunday was different. Randy was so passionate about it all that I got so caught up and just wanted to lay on the floor and sob. God so moved in me at that moment. I can't wait for tonight and Sunday. I bad thing about tonight is that Gary's dad and stepmom will be accompanying us to church. I am less likely to be moved when they are there. Why you ask? Because 9 times out of 10 if I cry anywhere near anyone who knows me they automatically assume I'm crying over Ryleigh. Newsflash, it's not all about her. Most times it's simply words that touch my heart.

On a much lighter note :) I have been quilting this awesome quilt for some dear friends who are getting married in July. I think I will have it done, but I will have to tie it off versus quilt it. They were both so beneficial to Thomas (mostly) and to Gary at grief camp less than 4 months after Ry died. I have been forever blessed by them, and thought this would be a great way to show it, and I love doing it :) I have 2 rows out of 6 put together and almost all the fabric picked out. I will hopefully post pics when I'm done and the wedding is over.

Off to get out of my pj's and quilt.

Trying this again.

2010-03-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

I am going to try this blogging thing again :) Not sure if I will make it, but who knows.

Let's see in the past year since the last post I have:

1. Taken a position on our homeschool group committee. I have enjoyed it. This fall promises to be harder, and while I'm capable I'm not sure I have the time, which leads to #2 and #3.

2. Thomas decided he really wanted to go to public school. So nine weeks into the 7th grade we sent him to Space Center Intermediate school. He loves the social part. I mean LOVES it. The academics and the school structure- not so much. ROFL He's had a hard time learning all the jargon. Also, all he does is work on passing the state test- I dislike state testing :)

3. I am back in school this spring. It's been a rough semester. The professor is fine, and the students think they are entitled to complain about everything that doesn't work for them. UGH! At least I've been easy going for the teacher and she likes me.

4. My plan for the fall is to drive about an hour and a half to school, so that I can take interpreting 1 with the best program director in this area. It will be worth the drive and I'm excited.

5. Gary is still at home and now a freshman in high school- Scary I know. this fall he'll be able to go and get his driver's permit. Watch out Houston he'll be on the road soon. We are also hoping to get him in San Jacinto Community College soon. He's not excited about that one.

2009-05-05T14:09:00.000-07:00

Under Orders by Dick Francis- This is the first book I've read by this author. I really enjoyed reading it. It was full of action and left me hanging until the end. Sid Halley is a former horse jockey turned private investigator. He struggles with his past injuries that ended his jockey career, while trying to decide what he feels about his live in girlfriend. I really felt for him throughout the story. He was a believable character to me, and I enjoyed watching his life unfold during the story. I also enjoyed his girlfriend Marina. I love a woman who doesn't back down from a threat. The mystery part of the story was good. I'm not one to figure it out early, so I was left wondering until towards the end. I look forward to going back and reading more by the author.

11 years today

2009-04-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

11 years ago late at night I got a phone call. Actually Gary answered the phone and then he had to relay it's message. My 20 year old brother had been shot and life flighted. We arrived at the hospital to be escorted to THAT room.

My thoughts on that room- simply run from it. It won't change anything- your loved one will be gone, but you will not have had to set your feet in THAT room. Can you tell I have issues with the small room they take you to, to break the news that your loved one didn't make it? I liked the morgue better. At least there I could touch Aaron and cry on him.

I feel this year as been a turning point for me. I'm still sad and I still miss him, but I feel a bit more stable about it all. I truly would love to have him still with us. I miss his presence in my life, but I know that he is having great fun in heaven with all our other family. One day I will be there with him. That will be a joyous day.

Bible verse

2009-04-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

I think Isaiah 43:2 may become my life verse. It's long though....

"When you pass through the waters , I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;

the flames will not set you ablaze."

The other one I really like is Psalm 27:14

" Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage: wait for the Lord."

I've been pondering both of those this week. I know what it's like to wait and I know about passing through fire and water and coming out the other side, protected by God.

It was just Gary and I this week, and we had some good conversations. He is 13 and he was put in 2 opportunities to talk about his sister. He hates to talk about the fact that she died. He was over at a friends house and he has a little sister. She happened to ask Gary about having a little sister, and what else could he say? So, he told what little bit he had to say. I totally understand that. Then the very next day, with the same friend, he had to tell his mom almost the same thing. That time though he got to tell a "I remember when" story. He remembers the good stories- the little sister stories. I love them.

Both nights we talked about her. That we miss her, and how hard it is to have to tell anyone that you have someone so close who has passed away. I told him how proud I was that he talked about it.

We really miss Ryleigh.

This Week

2009-04-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

My husband and my youngest son have been out of town since yesterday. I have a list of things to do tomorrow, but I have been reading a ton. It's so funny how alike Gary and I are, so that when it's just us it is super quiet here.

Here's what I've read so far:

The Devil & Miss Prym- Paulo Coelho- This book is about temptation. The battle between good and evil. I won't tell you who wins at the end :)

All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire- Kerrelyn Sparks- I enjoyed this light read. Well, it wasn't totally light. I had to pay attention as there was romance with a mystery tied in. Of course I loved the vampire part.

Full House- Janet Evanovich- Good romance with a surprising twist toward the end. I didn't expect the extra excitment.

Dark Emerald- Lisa Jackson- Romance set in the 1200's. I love that time period. It was a good story. I'm glad I got her book to try.

So far I haven't read a book I didn't really like this week :) It's been a good reading time.

2009-04-19T18:10:00.000-07:00

My weekend has been interesting.

1. I went to a book lovers dream. A used book sale! Way fun. I came out with 50 books for less than a dollar a book!

2. It rained so hard here on Saturday that my street flooded. My boys canoed down our street. I spent the day reading.

3. We went to watch the Houston Dynamo play soccer today. They won and it was a great game.

4. Then we went to a friends for a crawfish boil. YUM!

Overall it was a great weekend. I need some rest now. My dh and Thomas are going to grandpa's house for the next 3 days. Now is the time to clean some things out, and move some things around :)

2009-04-16T17:33:00.000-07:00

So I finished the fifth book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. I still can't decide what I think. I like the series. I would recommend the series to all my reading friends, but it takes me forever to get into them and then it's over. I am beginning to think I would rather watch the TV series. I will also finish out the series. How's that for a book review? :)

Tomorrow I want to start writing about following God's plan. It's been an interesting year, and it's only April.

test run

2009-04-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

Somehow I am now blogging. I'm not to sure about this, as I really don't write well. I thought I'd give this a shot. Partly because I love to read, and this is a great way to write about the books I read.

It's also a great place to chronicle my life as a mom and a wife.

This is also a place to write about my life without Ryleigh, and my faith in God.

Welcome to my life :)