Back from the land of school work...

Well 1 week away from school... I got my grades. All things considered, I did pretty well. B & B-. My friend reminded me that success is doing all things you're able to do well. I'm going to need to review and redo some Greek this summer. Next semester, we'll hit the ground running again with exegesis.

I've been catching up on rest and time with the hubby. He's had a bit of a challenge with Costco lately. He was booted out of the department he had been working in for the last 8 months or so unexpectedly, and when he tried to contest it, it took a union rep to convince the store manager to give him another chance. Will read, reread and reread again the forklift driving manual. We waited in suspense for the time when he would be retested, then confirmation that the union rep (also a former forklift driver) would make it a priority to be there for the testing, and then when the testing came, they gave him a few hours and then told him he didn't pass. We were disappointed, but accepting of this in light of the fact that he's given it ALL that he could and prayed. God answers our prayers. We'll wait for His plan.

Meanwhile, I'm making some transitions at work. No review yet, and it appears that I'm going to have to insist to get one before I leave. I want to do this with grace, and yet be firm. When an employee is promised for months that a review is coming, and even that a back-pay raise would be instituted, you don't just shrug that off, ya know? Seriously folks! I have to say that I'm noticing some bizarre things lately at work. God protect the credit union! We're more busy now than we've ever been! In the month of April, we funded $3M short of what we had funded for the whole first quarter of '08! Crazy!

I'm making more lists for the summer for things to get done. Of course, relaxing is also important to me. Will and I are going to Canada, it appears. With the stress/suspense at Costco (and frankly, not knowing which department to petition for time off), we're still trusting we can go this summer. Life is full and we're happy!

We were able to go to Olga's mother's birthday party yesterday. That was the first time I'd been to their house in years and the first time Will's gone there. It was VERY nice to see everyone again! I never expected a celebrity-like greeting when we walked in. What was really embarrassing is that one of the kids (who's now 8) recognized me and I honestly had no idea who he was (still kind of don't). It's clearly been too long!!

Anyway, we have another voting event coming up! Get out there and vote folks!

And on a different note, God is so good! Have you reflected on this lately? I'm just blown away by His creativity with the flowers... and trees. Have you ever thought about how crazy it is that from the dirt, a tall stalk grows upwards, blooms and bears fruit? Crazy huh? How great is our God!

BO-YAH!!

100% on test #2! Praise the Lord!!

Good day!

Sorry… I’ve been bad about this blogging thing again! Too many things going on.

Namely, I believe I mentioned several months ago that I met up with an old friend who lives in Salt Lake City… a devout Mormon. He got email and, well, let’s just say, he’s not a techie. Suddenly, I started receiving invitations to go for workouts in SLC and a bowling invitation. Fun stuff, but nonetheless, puzzling. Then, one day, I received this e-mail forward from someone I've never met, full of pictures of prominent Mormons leaders and even the picture of what’s-his-face in TX, in chains. The point was that all Mormons aren’t scandalous, like what’s-his-face. I responded with some Scripture passages pointing out that Mormons aren’t true to Christianity or their own history about polygamy… I figured that would be the end of the dialogue - but, I was wrong! I received a 2 full typed-page response arguing some of the more obscure passages in the Bible and an article put out by FAIR responding to the polygamy charge…. 65 pages (including footnotes)! Well, between school, and everything else, I was stunned and haven’t been able to respond, just yet (other than to tell him I received the e-mail and I will respond). Anyway, that’s been one element of our lives lately.

The other is that Will’s back to battle with Costco… Unfortunate circumstances and a bad attitude from some of management has caused some frustration, on all fronts! We’re still working through these issues… at least for the next month.

On a completely different note, I have several birthdays and mothers to acknowledge this month. CONGRATULATIONS all you mommas out there! May God bless you with strength and endurance!

I’m also making some moves now at work. They are still working on my review (sigh) and have committed to doing that sometime this month. I’m praying for the Lord’s will…

Will and I participated in an unusual and yet FUN event recently – a puppet show! The Canada Team did this for a fundraiser. The leaders gave us a couple of CDs and asked us to learn how to “talk” with our hands. That was fun, especially since it was in Spanish! One day, while “rehearsing” I was driving home from work, I received a couple of odd looks and one wave from a stranger. Fun! And, when we showed up for the official rehearsal, I was very surprised to see actual puppets – not just socks – and props! We even had a stage! It was very fun! And a great team building process!

Anyway, the truth of the matter is I have a test in about an hour, and I’m stalling. The last test I received 100% - did you catch that? That’s quite an accomplishment since my prof seems to take great delight in tripping us up! YEAH! So, I better get to that now…. So, thanks for checking in!

Our Latest Project

So, we've been busy... I mentioned a couple of posts ago that we were discouraged with our HOA and one of the main issues was our dogs. There is a clause in the CC&Rs saying that we cannot keep our dogs on the patio or in the garage, even if they're quiet. We've gone around a bit with them, obviously looked into other options, but the bottom line is: we had to get creative....
So, we took a look at our place and started to dream.

Dream, how we could keep the house relatively clean and not split up the family. So, we cleared out the downstairs...


Bought & scrounged up some supplies...

Put a little elbow grease into the mix....

And we got a couple of happy campers...

So, what did you do over Easter break?

Well, I didn't do any Greek homework (may still tonight) but I did make some milestones on my Historical Theology class...

And, I still managed to have a good time! =)

Will and I took Thursday off and hung out all day since he didn't have to work. It was a very nice break! We did some responsible things like paperwork (we haven't taken care of taxes yet), cleaning, and making a few necessary phone calls. Then we did some fun things like eating breakfast together, went out for a bike ride and for coffee, I did some sewing, and we got a massage. It was a very nice day!!

Kaz, who's been with us now for about a year, went to church with us on Easter. That was great! We're hoping he'll continue to come with us now that we're back to "normal" church schedules. We also went to see a movie called Vantage Point in the afternoon on Easter & visited Will's sister. Good times!

Yesterday, I was very busy around the house cleaning and wrapping up my historical theology homework mentioned above (I can now proudly say that I'm 11 days ahead on this class!).

I left work on Friday frustrated because there's so much to do! Here's a little glimpse of the April closings I have to read (2 are [sadly] foreclosures by the way!):



So, instead, I'm going to concentrate on what's beautiful and lovely... This picture was taken outside our place.



Makes you want to smile, doesn't it?

Life is wonderful when ...

• You have the hope of the resurrection!


• You're on spring break from school!


• You see your husband before he goes to work! And/because


• You get out of work early with pay! =)

I got in the office early and wrapped up a couple of things and then jetted out to find Will, who was preparing to go to work. I guess I haven't stated yet here that Will is working nights now primarily.


The house didn't work out, which was really quite alright with us. We're thinking we may stay put a little longer since it's pretty hard to predict what the market will do next & the lenders we've been in touch with seem to be disappearing. Is that a sign? It doesn't mean we've given up, but we have resolved to be content if we have to stay. [I'd also like to point out that every weekend people, like us, annoyed with the HOA rules are moving out.]


Our big guy Champ is having really bad hip trouble again and we're making a room ready for him and Buddy. We'll see how they do together... and pray! We're hoping we won't need to make any decisions about Champ now... but we also don't want him to be in pain.


My new manager didn't forget about my review, but he's not really feeling prepared to do one, since he has only been my manager for 3 months or so now. What's hilarious is that my boss' boss who's been with the company & overseeing staff for years doesn't know how to do one either so she had to ask her manager... Anyway, so the timeline on that is TBD. Fun!

We had Mormon missionaries over on Saturday. It was a very interesting conversation. They were over for lunch, it turns out, primarily. The one missionary from MI (I think) wasn't really interested. He looked bored most of the time. The other missionary (senior, returning in 2 months to SLC) was much more interactive. What's funny is in the course of our conversation, he decided it was time to go... then I reminded him about the food, and he suddenly had more time. Go figure! =) I think they're glad they stayed. They had chicken & spinach lasagna. [I honestly considered making peanut butter sandwiches because talk about an old favorite & they probably don't have that option normally available. But, Will advised me against it because he thought it should be more formal.] Anyway, we talked about the Scripture advising a believer to be ready in season and out of season to be prepared to make a defense for faith. Since they're missionaries, they should be prepared - this is their season, right? Well, they only had their prayer as a reason for their faith. Which while yes, it meritorious, it's not sufficient, and certainly not what Paul exhorts the church to do. Paul, a zealous evangelist, was speaking of reasoning with the people - even the religious leaders - through their faith. And nobody denies that there's an element of faith involved in having faith. They simply had nothing else to offer. The elder (and I mean that in terms of time on the field) missionary said the he enjoyed studying Joseph Smith, Jr.'s life, but didn't have anything to contribute on that point either. They also asked if we were Christians and which church we attended, flaunting that they could prove our faith wrong in an instant. I added, "Did you know there are over 100 different groups of Mormons in the world? Who's to say you have the correct version?" We asked them to check out some Scripture and to do a little more digging on a couple of things, and if they wanted to, we'd be happy to meet with them again. They chuckled and since today is Friday, I'm guessing that means, 'Thanks for the food, lady, but no thanks!' I always feel sad when they go away! I'd like to have a good conversation with some missionaries who are engaged, eager and ready to share the reason for their hope, but they are lacking...

HE IS RISEN! INDEED after all....

TTFN =)

Brief update...

Tonight, I took my Greek midterm… OUCH!! Verbs are kicking my butt! And now we venture into participles. I’m not sure how to express my joy at the moment…

We’re praying and working toward moving. Yes, again! We’re expecting God to open (and perhaps close) the doors for us in this regard. Complications with the HOA rules and regulations are well, making us kind of crazy. We have options to mitigate things, but quite frankly, we’re ready to get out. So, Will and I would appreciate your prayers on what options to select. We have one house in mind at the moment, but it will be a “God thing” if it happens. That’s exactly what we want too…

I’m tired these days too. Work is still busy and yes, they’ve completed all the hiring I believe they’re planning on for a while. Also, my annual review is up in a few days and I need to make some noise to remind them…

On a lighter note, I tried a new bread recipe – Irresistible Soda Bread (Irish recipe on www.allrecipes.com) and a good friend got married a week ago last Saturday. Very fun! Another friend is supposedly having a baby on tax day. Ironically enough, she’s working on becoming a CPA too… Will and I are listening to the Bible on DVD (narration really, it helps me keep up on my through the Bible in a year program!). Kaz is even listening! And most likely, we’re going to Canada on a mission's trip this summer. Cool (Tim Hortons’) beans!

More later…