whoa

Hi all,

These past few weeks have been pretty busy. Let me tell you of a few things that went on. I'll start with Valentine's weekend. My wonderful dad came down to visit me over the weekend. He was here from Friday night until Tuesday morning. I enjoyed spending time with him and really appreciate him coming down to see me. We went to Raven Rock state park, went out to eat at Red Robin, (which I hear you northerners are getting up there, try it out, it's good!) we also went to church, watched some movies, and played a few games. Seeing my dad make the effort to drive all the way to NC just to spend a few days with me makes me realize how wonderful my parents really are. They are a true example of the love a parent should have for a child. But thinking of his love makes me think of just how much more love God has for His children. How could He love us anymore than our parents love us, or we love our children or our spouses? I don't have the answer for that but I know He does and I know I'm thankful for that love and forgiveness everyday.

The weekend after that I had some girls from Bible study come over for a girls night in.:) We ate tacos, played games, and watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2! It was a fun time to get together with the girls and to get to know them more. It also made me realize how much I love hosting things at my house. I don't get to do it often because I live so far away from everyone and I'm all alone. But I think I'm going to try to do it more often because it was way better than staying home alone on a Saturday night. There are so many women here whose husbands are deployed and we're all just sitting home alone. Why not get together and enjoy the time that we can be with our girlfriends? God is giving us that time so we should use it up.

And last, this past week was chock full of "stuff" to do.

• Monday I took dinner to a friend who had just had a baby, met with my financial adviser, saw Lindsay's new house she is renting, and was blessed to have dinner with my friend Emily. It was a busy night and I didn't get home until after 7:00 that day but it was worth it.


• Tuesday I had my bimonthly staff meeting after school then stayed and worked until Bible study which was at 7:00 so on that day I didn't get home until 9:15. Another long day.


• Wednesday I started tutoring after school, then I went to a National Board meeting from 4:15 until 6:15. Which by the way I'm working on and hopefully will be able to attain by the end of school year 2010. Teachers you should look into it. It's a big pay raise and your state should help you with some of the costs. I know in NC they pay for you to go through it and in the end it's a 12% pay increase!


• Thursday I left school asap and went on post to get my taxes done! I waited for about 45 minutes and then actually sat with the tax guy for about 2 1/2 hours! But I can't complain. Fort Bragg does them for free for military, we got a huge chunk of change back thanks to the new homeowners stimulus, and I invited the tax guy out to bible study and he seems interested! So even if it took a good part of my afternoon, it was all worth it.


• Friday (finally!) I tutored after school, then I HAD to go run. I hadn't been able to all week long and I was feeling the stress levels rise. So I did a quick run then had to get to a friend's house to babysit for the night. Unfortunately traffic in the middle of the city on a Friday night at 5:00 on payday was not very conducive to my amount of time I had to be there. So even though I got there a half hour later I still made it on time. I enjoyed watching Wall-E with the kids, playing games and just hanging out.

And now I can relax a bit. Even though all the activities kept me busy and the time went by quickly, I still like to have some down time to just sit and relax. Oh, and let me leave you with this. Steven emailed me and told me he got a new puppy! I know what you're thinking. "Isn't he in Iraq?" Yep, he said he found it around a dumpster, took it for his own, and is calling her Scout. I don't think I've seen him with such a big smile on his face since he's been there so of course it made my day and made all the worries and stresses of the week disappear. So even though Steven and I are thousands of miles apart, he can still put me in a good mood. God is good! Have an awesome week everyone!