Shoebox Squibs

Mike Brake Memorial Golf Classic

2010-09-30T22:07:00.003-05:00

September 19th we held the Inaugural Mike Brake Memorial Golf Classic in dad's memory. It was a chilly, wet, cloudy day, but it was fun. The proceeds were designated towards a jr. golf scholarship and Hospice of Mercy. We raised about $2000 for Hospice. It is such a great organization and means a lot to our family. For more on the tournament check out http://mbmgc.webs.com. I think dad would have been pleased with how it turned out. His presence was definitely felt that day.
Here are some pictures:
All the participants

The Mini Golf Classic Crew.

The Winners! Andrew, Stan, Tammy and Toby. 10 Under Par. Way to Go Guys!

Us.

On the road again...Labor Day Weekend.

2010-09-30T21:51:00.002-05:00

Over the long holiday weekend, we went to Ohio to my cousin Angela's wedding reception. My cousin Ashley had her baby and I got some quality baby time in with Korbin. Here is Korbin and I chillin, literally, at the reception.

Korbin. So precious.

Me and Kaiden. Ashley's other little guy is such a ham and I love him to pieces.

All of the cousins and grandma.

WOW...time has flown by...

2010-09-30T21:13:00.006-05:00

April. April was my last post. Summer has come and gone and September has ended. Crazy. Here are some pictures from Summer highlights.

In May one of my best friends got married and I had the privilege to stand up in her wedding. Here is a picture of Sarah and Ryan Hancock leaving the church and then one of Sarah and I at the reception. It was a beautiful fun day!

The end of June, I had the pleasure of going to visit my friend Erin for her wedding shower and spend time celebrating her girls 7th Birthday. Here is a collage of Bella and Luna. I can't believe how big they're getting!

4th of July weekend...well actually the 3rd. Having fun with Little Man, Brooke and Katrina.

July brought on more weddings...
With the girls at Lindsay and Justin's wedding. I think we all cleaned up nicely and look pretty sassy.

End of July, Mom, Aron and I went down to Florida for my cousin Angela's wedding. It was so fun! The mini vacation was not near long enough. Here's a picture of me with a monkey statue at Busch Gardens.

On the Beach at sunset. The beach was the only place with a breeze.

The ceremony of Angela and Zak!

Some of the family.

The next weekend we went to our family reunion in Glenwood. It was a great time, but weird at the same time. Weird because dad wasn't there and Ken is not doing well... I love when we all get together. I especially enjoyed rooming with my cousin Jen. It was great to catch up with her!
This is Sammy. The giraffe we got to feed at the Omaha Zoo. It was so fun and I certainly have never been so close to a giraffe.

Russell and I after bowling. I don't think we won, but it was sure fun.

The G4's...those of us who could make it.

Beautiful Lindy. At our last reunion, my cousin Lisa was pregnant with her. It was wonderful to finally meet her and she is a true blessing.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2010-04-21T21:08:00.004-05:00

Today is my mom's birthday! I don't know what I would do without her. She is one of my best friends and a fantastic lady!

Six Months Gone

2010-03-25T21:32:00.004-05:00

One year ago my dad told me that the cancer was back. That it was in his bones and that it was Stage IV. We would get exactly six more months with him. Today marks six months he's been gone. Of those last six months we had with him, some days we took for granted and they're kind of a blur, others stick out in my mind and as time marches on I only hope that I'll be able to remember them. I suppose that's why writing my thoughts down are so important.

I remember when he started treatment again. He was so determined! He tried to have a lot of energy and even when the chemo started to kick his but, he still acted like everything was fine. He would putz around the store and try to act busy. He would go on his "wanders" around downtown, talk to the bank ladies, schmooze with the folks in the food gallery and anyone else he would run into on the street. He would then return to his office and usually nap or "rest the eyes" for just a minute. He'd find things to do at night and on the weekends...soccer games at Kennedy, breakfast at Mikhael's, home improvement stores with mom, tearing part of the deck apart...he really was going to finish that project...and bless him, he kept going until his body wouldn't let him go anymore.

It's hard to believe how fast those months went by...yet, when he was in the hospital it seemed like time was standing still like he was there forever...when the decision was made to call in hospice, we hoped for time to stand still. In that final week, when we really wanted him to hang on and talk to us, we knew that he was ready to go. And we had to let him.

Six months gone. I think about him everyday. I miss him more than words can say. As time moves on so do we and even though he isn't here, we'll catch ourselves wondering "what would dad do".

A couple of my favorite pictures of dad and I.

Tres Decades

2010-02-22T21:18:00.004-06:00

This is overdue since I turned another decade in January, but here are some highlights from the birthday celebrations.
With the Bartlett's Celebrating the January Birthdays

Brooke and I

Gena and I at her birthday celebration

Sarah and I at my birthday celebration

Gena, Sarah and I at my birthday celebration. We enjoyed som yummy food at the Brown Bottle before going to the Piano Lounge in Iowa City.

Sarah, Erin and I at the Piano Lounge

Gettin' My Goat

2010-01-15T12:27:00.002-06:00

Maybe I should stop reading the news... Seriously. I rarely comment on controversial issues but I've read about three things today that really annoy me. Two have to do with hatred and with people doing things in the name of Christ or the church. I'm sorry but I don't think either one are Christian and as a Christian I am appalled by the behavior. This being said, the following is my opinion and if you don't agree with it then fine. It's still my opinion and I'm allowed to have one.

1st issue. Pat Robertson. Who does this guy think he is? I know he's the president of the Christian Broadcasting Network, but still...I am so utterly disgusted by what he said about the earthquake that hit Haiti. In case you're reading this and don't know what I'm talking about here is what he said.

"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French--ugh, you know, Napoleon III or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the Devil. They said, "We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French." True story. And so the Devil said, "OK, it's a deal." And they kicked the French out—you know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other—desperately poor. That island of Hispaniola is one island. It's cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti, on the other side is the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etcetera. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have---and we need to pray for them—a great turning to God. And out of this tragedy I'm optimistic something good may come. But right now we're helping the suffering people and the suffering is unimaginable."

For real? The earthquake happened because the Haitians make a pact with the devil. This was God's punishment to them? Right... God loves the people of Haiti like he loves everyone.

There's nothing like unspeakable human tragedy to bring out the crazy. Apparently he's the same guy who said that Hurricane Katrina was an expression of God's wrath over abortion.

2nd Issue: Rush Limbaugh. According to him "Obama will use Haiti to boost credibility with "light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country" Ugh... There is no need for comments like this. I hate that a natural disaster becomes political with a certain group of people. The US will send their aid and help however they can. The Cubans were there with doctors immediately afterward unannounced. Brazil, China, and France have all responded. Perhaps they are trying to influence the light skin and dark skinned blacks in their communities. We are called to help those in need and the people of Haiti are definitely in need. This is a world unifying event, especially in these economic times. I've done my part and will most likely do more. There is only one part of Pat Robertson's spiel that I would agree with and that is "They need to have---and we need to pray for them—a great turning to God. And out of this tragedy I'm optimistic something good may come. But right now we're helping the suffering people and the suffering is unimaginable." So pray people.

3rd Issue. The Westboro Baptist Church, let by Fred Phelps. This group is awful and unfortunately they are descending on Cedar Rapids tonight. Why? Because our little community theater is putting on a production of the Laramie Project. I was going to go to this play, and may still. The Laramie Project is about the reaction to the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming gay student Matthew Shepard. The play is used to teach about prejudice and tolerance. The play has also inspired grassroots efforts to combat homophobia. The Westboro Baptist Church protests all things homosexual and is sending a legion of followers to Cedar Rapids this week to picket the opening night of “The Laramie Project.” In response, a group of people in C.R. and probably a large one at that, is forming a counter protest to the Westboro Baptist Church. I know several people, quite a few of them Christian and even pastors, who are going to protest tonight and are going to do so pretty much silently. Just to annoy the WBC.

I am astounded by the idea that so much hate can be committed in the name of religion, of any religion. I can not fathom the amount of hate this man and these people have. I also read an article about how one of his sons is an atheist...which is sad that he's been unable so far, to see what true Christianity is. Here is a link to that story:http://www.atheistnexus.org/page/nate-phelps-2009-aa-speech

What bothers me and what is more offensive than the hatred they spread is that they claim it is in the name of GOD. Their behavior is unacceptable in to myself and I"m sure to God. It's too bad that Fred Phelps and his followers waste their time with such hatred instead of demonstrating Christ's unconditional love. In the midst of the devastation in Haiti and around the U.S. for that matter, maybe they could put themselves to good use and do something good for others instead of showing their hate. 1 Peter 3:8-9 says: "8Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. 9Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing." (NIV)

It’s interesting that people behave in these manners. And rather frightening at the same time.

John 13:34 (NIV)
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

The word is Fight Fight Fight for IOWA!

2010-01-06T13:51:00.007-06:00

The Iowa Hawkeyes played in the Orange Bowl last night and defeated the Georgia Tech Bees. Wooo Hooo! The Hawks are my favorite team to watch and the have been for as far back as I can remember. I enjoy all parts of the good, bad and ugly that make up Iowa football. Last nights game was no exception. The defense was Amazing and despite having been injured with only a few games left in the regular season and not having played, quarterback Ricky Stanzi was super. Oh how I wish I could have been in that Hawk dominated Miami stadium cheering the good guys on. Someday...

http://www.hawkeyebowlgame.com/2010/01/orange-you-glad-it%E2%80%99s-iowa/

I did make it to one game at Kinnick this year thanks to some tickets given to my friends Amy and Tammy. Mom and I joined them on Halloween for the game against Indiana. As usual it was quite fun and thankfully they won. It was a titch chilly out that day, but it's totally worth it. Here are some pictures from that game.

Sarah, Erin and I at Gus' for the Orange Bowl.

The following pictures are from gazetteonline.com. Great pictures. Great Game. Wish I could have been there!

Highlights of the Holiday Season

2010-01-06T13:20:00.004-06:00

The following are some pictures from this past holiday season.
The group of us at the Somethings Pajama Holiday Party. So fun! So comfy!

Scenes from Sarah...I mean Courtney's Desperate Wives Murder Mystery Party. My character was not the murderer. I played a writer who's name escapes me.
Sarah, Me and Tammy. Sarah was the perfect house wife, Tammy played a model.

New Years Eve

1st Christmas

2010-01-06T13:07:00.003-06:00

I realize it's been a while since I blogged. It's hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone. Christmas Eve we enjoyed dinner as a family minus Grandma Ruth since she was sick. We then went to the Christmas Eve service. I love Christmas services. The story, the music..everything. A couple weeks prior to Christmas I had a chance to listen to this wonderful choir in which my friend was singing and orchestra perform a Christmas musical...loved it! Back to Christmas Eve though...following the service at church we went home and a little while later I went to midnight mass with my friend Katrina. It was a really good service too. Candle lit, good message and of course music. It was a wonderful way to ring in Christmas day and celebrate the birth of Jesus.

I'll admit that I was pretty emotional Christmas morning. I've been dreaming a lot about dad...some good and some bad. Christmas morning, I woke from a not good dream and my emotions got the better of me. Christmas was good but different this year. We did many things that we normally do for the holiday, but changed it up just a tad. We didn't have breakfast as a family this year and our Christmas dinner consisted of pretty much all foods dad absolutely did not like. Ham, sweet potatoes, green beans, raspberry/peach jell-o... Opening presents had its usual share of humor and "what the heck is this for". The funniest thing said was when grandma Ruth opened a box that held a purple floral print cardigan and she called it sexy. Oh man, bout spit out my hot chocolate I was drinking on that one. Most practical gift I was given was a box of Kleenex by my Grandma Beth. Unfortunately I need them this week. Most surprising gift given to me was a guitar. I kind of joked about getting one and then I did. Now I just have to learn to play it, since I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to guitars.

New Years Eve... trip to the e.r. with grandma Ruth, four and a half hrs later find out she was dehydrated and the meds in her system weren't getting passed out causing her to be lethargic/not very responsive. They gave her this magic antidote and she snapped right out of her weirdness...was perky and making jokes, got her home, ran home quickly, and made it in time to ring in the New Year with some friends.

Some Pictures from Christmas.

Life was about to change when we gathered that Friday
We sat around your bed and began to pray

We told you it was ok to go, so you would suffer no more
God was calling you home; it’s what He had in store

We watched your rattled breaths and tried not to cry
We held your hands and rubbed your cheek as we said our goodbye

Your breathing became so shallow and we knew the end was near
We told you that we loved you and hoped that you could hear

And then you were gone. No more would we hear your voice

Our final goodbye, it was impossible not to cry

I miss you more than words can say,
Especially when I woke Christmas Day

Exactly three months gone by
I couldn’t help but cry

As we gathered to open presents there was an absence in the air
We were seated in a circle, but you were not in your chair

Something was missing with every scrap of paper we threw
That something that should have been there was, of course you

We reminisced on Christmas past
Remembering the things that made you laugh

If I could only see you for a while,
Just seeing your face would make me smile

It broke our hearts to lose you, dad
And sometimes we’re lonely and sad

We know that you are in a better place...
And no matter what life may bring our memories of you can never be erased!

I love and miss you daddy

Thanksgiving and Rememberance

2009-12-01T21:32:00.004-06:00

December 1st. Wow. It's hard to believe it's December already. Thanksgiving was last week and it was the first one without dad. It was weird. Dinner was yummy, the movie (The Blindside) was excellent...dad would have really liked it, and there weren't really any leftovers. I don't even know what else to say about it...it was just different. I cried a little bit that night, I miss him so much. I'm so thankful for the people in my life and I really don't know how I would have gotten through the last few months without them.
With the grandmas and Aron

With Thanksgiving over and the start of the Christmas season, a new chapter begins. Tonight mom and I went to a ceremony of remembrance at Mercy Hospital that Hills Bank put on. The Bank purchased a Light of Remembrance in memory of dad. The symbol of the gift was a twinkling light that adorns the Lights of Remembrance tree in the Mercy Hospital Lundy Pavilion. The ceremony itself was pretty short and really nothing like what I thought it would be. We were welcomed by four people, told that the lights on this little tree (compared to the huge ones next to it) were in memory of those we've lost, a choir sang two songs (Amazing Grace and Silent Night...I did cry a little bit during this...) and a minister said a prayer--an awkward one too, like he was flustered and didn't know what to say. Then they invited everyone to the Pulmonary conference room for cookies and punch. Oh and I got a free bookmark. It was the first ceremony of it's kind put on by the bank and I know the intention was good...I guess I thought they would read off the names or something more personal...
The plaque with the namesThe tree with the lights. One of those is a light for dad.

30 Days Gone

2009-10-25T22:25:00.004-05:00

October 25th. It's hard to believe that a month has gone by since dad passed away. I miss him so much. I remember everything about the four days he was at the hospice house and Friday, September 25th like it was just yesterday.

Before I woke up that Friday morning I had a dream that daddy was dying--fighting for breath, unconscious, and cold. I was in the dream in the room with him. I remember waking up and thinking today is not going to be a good day. I had such an uneasiness that I couldn't shake. I got dressed, threw on a t-shirt and some jeans, neither of which with much thought. Headed to the shop and after a couple of hours there and with this terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach found myself trying to figure out how I could leave for the day. I just knew I couldn't be there. Around 10:15 mom called and said I needed to get over to the Hospice House. Terrified, I grabbed my stuff and left. I cried all the way to the house and was so nervous and scared. When I got there and entered his room I saw a sight that I know will never ever leave my memory. Mom mom sitting in the chair rubbing my dads hand and the way he was laying in the bed, his face, the horrific noise of his "death rattle". It was awful. The worst sound I've ever heard. I wasn't there but a few minutes when the social worker and Tammy came in. They would stay with us for the duration of the end of his life. We were reassured that he wasn't in pain, that he wasn't suffering, but it was so hard to believe. He didn't even look like daddy. It was hard to touch him...he was so cold and his eyes...they really weren't his eyes towards the end, but these eyes were scary. I know he wasn't conscious, but they still creeped me out. At one point I had to get out to breathe. I was wigging out because everything in my dream was coming true. I was actively living it. I started rambling...saying things like "I knew it. I knew this would happen. I saw it happen..." God was there--I'm 100% sure of it, I could feel it. After a little while, Tammy wanted to see the memory book I was intending to work on while visiting him...I didn't have much done and so pretty much we just looked at pictures and laughed and made fun of clothes and hair. THEN it started to get quieter in the room. The social worker had gone to the opposite side of dad and was whispering to him, mom was rubbing his hand and Tammy said it was time to go back over by the bed. I sat by mom and and we cried and held hands and she held onto dad. He took a couple of breaths, deep ones and then when we thought he was gone he took another one. It was just before 11:30 and my daddy was gone. This scary sadness mixed with relief was overwhelming me. We sat there and cried and hugged. Mom had to go out to call Aron and I couldn't be alone with dad's body and I thank God that Tammy was there. About an hour later they took his body to the funeral home and we left the Hospice House. It is such an amazing place and the people who work and volunteer there are awesome. They are truly gifted and have a passion for the work they do. We are so grateful for the wonderful experience it was having them a part of our life.

After leaving the House, we grabbed a little bite to eat, made some calls and went to tell grandma. She handled it very well. The rest of the day is kind of a blur. Sarah and her mom came over and we had dinner and then she helped me get a display ready for the celebration of life service. Saturday mom, Aron, grandma and I met Pastor Jim at the funeral home. We made arrangements and said our final goodbyes. I really didn't want to go into the room where dad was. When it came time for the viewing, I just sat in the hallway and started to cry. Then I got to thinking what would dad say about me sitting in the hall and I got up and went to the doorway and took one step into the room. Mom, Aron and grandma were all huddled together and Jim said a prayer. Then mom and Aron went up to the body and had their time. I looked from the doorway. Relief came over me when I saw that he looked like he was asleep. He didn't look scary like he did the day before. His mouth was closed and he looked peaceful. Shortly after we left, they took his body down to the University of Iowa Med School. The rest of the day and weekend are kind of a blur. Except for when I read an e-mail from my friend Erin. She e-mailed me to tell me that she had a dream that she was in a room and dad was dying and there were two little girls in the room both with blond hair and one had curls. It was her and I in the dream. Pretty much Erin dreamed the same dream I did except she was it hers with me. The crazy thing is that Erin's dream was the same night as mine was. We also learned later that several other people felt things around 11:30 on that Friday. Yes, God was there.

The visitation was held on Monday. I'm so thankful for all the family/friends that were able to come. Dad's Celebration of Life service was on Tuesday. It was a nice service, we tried to do it the way dad would have liked. Oldies were played and funny stories were shared. There was laughing and crying and again I was and am so thankful for the family and friends who were able to be there.

A month. Its been a month. In some ways it seems like it was forever ago. One of the hardest things has been having to tell people about dad if they ask about him or for him. It's a constant reminder that he isn't here.

Life is going on and for the most part we are all doing pretty well. We miss him like crazy, but know he's in a better place. He's free from pain and suffering. Little did I know how appropriate the t-shirt was that I put on the Friday he died. It was a shirt from the Chris Tomlin concert I went to with the lyrics to I Will Rise printed on it. Part of the lyrics are "I will rise when He calls my name...no more sorrow, no more pain."

I love you daddy! I miss you and though it's kind of silly to say...good job coaching up there. Your Hawks are doing great. 8-0.

In the Nation's Capital

2009-10-20T14:11:00.007-05:00

I recently got back from a fantastic trip to Washington D.C. I went to visit some friends who live out there and my friend Alex in a play. I had an excellent time. I wish I could have been there longer and seen more of the sights, but I don't think my feet could have handled any more walking. (More on that later.) The following are a few pictures from my trip.

On Saturday my friend Lia and I met around lunch time. The first place we went was the Old Post Office Pavillion. This is a view of the National Mall from the top of the Old Post Office Pavillion Clock Tower. The view was amazing from up there.

From there we had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and then set out for a walk. Ford's Theatre is practically next door to the Hard Rock and the place where Lincoln died is actually across the street from where this picture was taken.
We decided to go to the National Portrait Museum. This is the painting of President Obama. It's really neat up close. The painting is painted on newspaper clippings that appear to be just random headlines.

Some funny sculpture in the museum

This was pretty neat. It's all made out of tin foil! And it is huge.

These are liscense plates from every state in the country and they form part of the Declaration of Independence.

President Lincoln's national portrait. Pretty suave.

President Kennedy's portrait. Pretty different than the others in the gallery. It was huge too. I'm standing and the painting is that much larger than me.

After visiting the Portrait Gallery we went on to the National Archives. It's a bad picture but this is the Constitution. Kind of a funny story about how I came to see this. Ask me about it sometime.

The traveling exhibit was BIG. It was a bunch of random stuff in one room. Really it was a little weird and I wasn't sure why it was in the National Archives but whatever. Examples of stuff in the room: President Taft's bathtub, Shaq's shoe, a dinosaur print, a President Kennedy Lithograph, a really long telegraph, a globe and the Articles of Confederation.

After the National Archives we went to meet our friend Laura for some tea. Along the way we stopped at the National Navy Memorial. Both of my grandfather's served in the Navy, so I thought I'd pose with the fountains.

Lia and I before she headed home for the day.

Laura and I before we headed out for the evening.

Once Lia headed for home, Laura and I set off on what would be Laura's Washington. She's lived there for 11 years and wanted to show me her favorites. We went by the Capital, the Supreme Court, National Building Museum and then headed to the mall. We wandered around down there for a while looking at all the energy houses that were on display. Some were kind of neat. At sun set I snaped this picture of the Washington Momument. From there we headed to Georgetown for dinner and even got to watch the Hawks play for a little bit.

Sunday I spent the day with Lisa and Curt who I was staying with. We went to church, I went shopping and then watched Graham play a little baseball. Sunday night Lisa and I went downtown and ate at this amazing resturant called Jaleo and then went to see Alex's play the Alchemist. The play was funny and it was really fun to see Alex perform again.

Monday Alex and I spent the day together. I met him at the Eastern Market in Capital Hill and we had brunch. Yummy omlets. Then we hoofed it down to the mall. We passed by the Library of Congress, but it was closed due to Columbus Day. Next stop was the Capital.

From there we went throught the Sculpture Garden and then to the National American History museum. Here are the ruby slippers Judy Garland wore in the Wizzard of Oz. They were tiny. Size 6.

The chairs from the show All In the Family. When I was a kid I called the show the Archie Bunchers.

We headed up to the Presidents section. This is Abe's hat. I really thought it would have been taller. I'm sure he had a taller one, but still... Very interesting exhibit.

Julia Child's kitchen. Really fun and interesting exhibit too.
After the museum our feet hurt so we went and grabed a Starbucks and decided to go to the movie. We headed to the theater to find out we had an hour to kill so we decided to wander around in Chinatown. We went to this shoestore and had an analysis done on our feet. Apparently I have one low arch and one medium arch and should be wearing a size 6.5. Then we wandered to an Aveeda salon and smelled some stuff and got our shakra back in balance...or something like that. :) We grabbed a quick bite to eat then went to sit while we watched the Informant.

After the movie we headed over to see the White House. Funny story about that too...ask me about it. This is what the White House should have looked like. But instead there was a GIANT tent covering the fountain area so you really couldn't see anything. From there we walked to the Mall and saw the WWII memorial. It was really neat. This is the fountain in the middle of it.

Then we walked up to see the Lincoln Memorial. It was quite a long haul. Looked closer than it was. Probably seemed longer since we had been walking all day.

Me and Alex.

It was a fun trip despite the fact that I came home with the worst blister ever on the bottom of my heal. It was seriously the size of a fifty cent piece, worst part of it was I didn't know I was getting one and it wasn't until my shoes were off at the end of the day I could survey the damage of a foot that was "just sore".

Can't wait to go back and see more.

In the dark scary tunnel

2009-09-24T09:50:00.002-05:00

I haven't blogged in a while, my time has been spent with my dad and at the shop. I figured however that it was time for an update.

Dad continues to grow weaker and is less "dad" everyday.

When he came home Labor Day weekend he was awake alot, talking quite a bit and even moving around. Friday night was his best night back home and that was spent having dinner with his nieces, nephews, Aron, mom and myself. Saturday he watched the Hawks play with Zach and Uncle Tony, between naps chatted up with his nieces and joined everyone in the living room for dinner, which he ate. Sunday, he stayed in bed most of the day. At the time we didn't know that would become the norm.

The following week he pretty much stopped getting out of bed and walking. This made me so upset that he wasn't trying to get stronger. His appetite was minimal, but did eat and drank lots. Sunday, Sept. 13th I remember getting a look from my mom...the do not ask about that look...when I asked him if he tried to walk. I also was annoyed when I saw her spoon feeding him some chocolate cake. She says she was doing it because she didn't want crumbs everywhere. After a little fit and mom telling me that I should read the literature that the hospice people left..I didn't..., I went home irritated by the "lack" of doing anything.

By Tuesday the 15th, dad was complaining that the spoon was too heavy when he was trying to eat his jello and I think it was then that I finally came to realize that he really isn't getting better. It was also on Tuesday that they started him on Morphine...which was scary to me. Like a lot of people I guess I equated Morphine with last resort. It was this day when his sleeping all the time really started.

Thursday the 17th I had a talk with my friend Tammy, who happens to be a hospice chaplain. She is wonderful and it was nice to talk about what was going on and be reasuured that my feelings and all are "normal" if there is a normal in these situations. For the most part I'm handling everything really well. Occasionally, I get emotional and want to cry and do for a little bit and then move on. I'm really ok with him dying. I know he will be in a better place and his hurting will be over.

Friday the 18th was when we came to the realization that it was just getting too hard for mom to take care of dad by herself. It took both of us to move him and after cleaning up an accident we were spent. He was no longer able to stand and support himself. It was also this day that I had what so far has been my last daddy hug. Where he was able to put his arms around me. Oh and I read the papers on dying...

Monday the 21st the hospice nurse Jenny said they had a room available at the Hospice House and that she thought it was time he go there. We all agreed.

On Tuesday September 22 dad was officially taken to the House. His room is beautiful. The staff is wonderful and we know he is getting taken care of better than what mom and us kids could do at the house. We took grandma to see him. I'd like to say it went well, but it didn't. We tried to prepare her as much as possible for what she would see. Dad asleep, not really able to talk...Grandma was spooked when she walked into his room. Her eyes bugged out like a cartoon character and she said "Is that how he is now? That doesn't even look like him." I don't know why, but I just started laughing and had to go in the hallway so she wouldn't see me. Was seriously on the edge of hysteria....I guess it was either that or cry. Mom told grandma to go sit by dad and he mumbled something to her...she sat down and cried. We were there only about 15 minutes and grandma was ready to leave. She's convinced he doesn't know her, but we think he does. She didn't really say good bye to him and as of Tuesday didn't want to go back to the House.

Then there was last night.

I arrived at the Hospice House about 3:30. Dad was asleep, so mom and I just sat there and talked. At about 5:00 mom decided that she was hungry and to go get dinner and then go to the bowling alley since it was her night to bowl. I was going to go with her to eat and then come back and spend the evening with dad. When she decided to go, I was in the restroom, so I told her let me grab my purse and then we'll go. I went back into the room and dad was so restless and agitated. I grabbed his hand and told him that I was going to get supper and be back in a little while. He said no and with all the strength he could held on to my hand. I said ok. I won't go. Then he grabbed at me with his other hand and kept saying no, no, and moaning. I said daddy, I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay right here. Pulled my phone out called mom and told her what was going on. I held on to him and rubbed his hand and stroked his temples like I used to do when putting my preschoolers to sleep. He was so restless...he kept mumbling stuff and it killed me that I couldn't understand him, that I couldn't help him. I tried really hard not to cry but to get him calm. He kept looking at me with those hallow eyes that aren't really his eyes. It's those eyes that bother me the most. They are eyes that tear up and I don't know if he's crying or if like the liturature says, part of the dying process. I wiped his eyes and told him that it's going to be ok and we're going to be fine. That it's ok for him to go. He struggled with his breath and then those eyes kept rolling up and for an instant I thought he was going to die, right there with me holding his hand and stroking his brow. Eventually he went back to sleep and mom called to say that she was bringing me a sandwich and to meet her in the hallway. She didn't want to come in since it would upset him. I went out to meet her and just bawled. She wanted to know if I wanted her to stay and I said, no it's ok and she said she would talk to the nurse on the way out. I went back in the room and thankfully he stayed asleep with me just sitting by his side. Mom came back when she was finished bowling and we stayed for a little while longer...

I know in my heart that he doesn't have much time left with us and it's a hard pill to swallow. The tunnel wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be until last night. I'm afraid that when I'm need to be strong, I'm going to fall apart. Hoping that peace comes soon.

We are all so very thankful for the hospice workers...ALL of them. They are truly wonderful. Though I've only met a couple of them, mom and dad think the world of his nurses, the social workers, massage and music therapist and of course Tammy.

Labor Day Weekend. Family Fun and Surprises.

2009-09-08T10:01:00.009-05:00

This Labor Day weekend was filled with a visit from my family from Ohio. I always enjoy it when family comes to visit. Most of them live pretty far away and I love chatting and reaquainting with them. Our visit was pretty uneventful. LOTS of sitting around mom and dad's house. The following are a few snapshots from the weekend.

Kaiden. He's going to be huge. He's so long already. It's amazing how much he's changed since May. He loves to jump and coo.

Praying the poor thing gets some answers to his stomach issues.

Saturday night the cousins broke out of the house and went bowling. The scores weren't very good, but we had fun.

Amanda and I

Amanda, Ashley and I
Aron and I Angela and I All of Us Zoe and I on Sunday afternoon.

Kaiden and I on Sunday afternoon. You can't really see it but his shirt says rockstar on it and he did have on jeans and these cute little Puma shoes.

AND THEN THERE WAS MONDAY
Monday morning I told mom I'd stop and pick up some breakfast and coffee for her. My intent was to pick up doughnuts. The Doughnutland was closed so I ended up going to Hardee's instead. As I was pulling into the Hardee's parking lot I hear this pop sound. There are several cars lined up in the drive-thu line and as I creep forward I begin to realize that the pop sound was in fact my tire. As soon as I'm handed the coffee and biscuits I pull into a parking spot and get out. Sure enough, my tire is flat. Not what I had planned for the morning. I now have to call mom for the third time in 15 min and tell her that her coffee might be a while. Thankfully my friend Toby was not working and was able to come and help me change the tire. What a pain. Eventually, 2 hrs from the start of my coffee and breakfast quest for mom I was able to give it to her.

The dead tire.

Presidents Address to Students

2009-09-04T12:15:00.003-05:00

I don't normally comment on political things, so these are just my thoughts/some ramblings I have in regards to the upcoming Presidential address to students after reading numerous articles and comments about the pending address.

According to the Department of Education “The President will challenge students to work hard, set education goals, and take responsibility for their learning." He wants them to take their learning seriously, find out what they’re good at and set goals. Is this a bad thing? I don’t think so. I don’t quite understand why people are getting their panties in a wad over it. President Bush made a similar address to schools in 1991. What’s the difference? Did that turn out horrible? Not that I can recall.

The full text of Obama's speech will be made available on Monday, a full day before it is to be delivered so, if a parent doesn’t want their child to listen, they won’t have to.

In regards to the whole lesson plan/curriculum thing I’m under the impression that what was created was a resource for educators to use to go along with what he is challenging the students to do. Some of the questions are: How will he challenge us? What might he say?What other historic moments do you remember when the President spoke to the nation? What was the impact? What do you believe are the challenges of your generation?Another suggestion was to have students write a letter to themselves about their goals for the year. What is wrong with any of this? They are just ideas meant to go along with what he will be saying. What is the difference between ideas for discussion before and after his address and a discussion before or after a science documentary? If for nothing else it can be a way for students to debate what they agree or disagree with.

For all the people who think this kind of address should be done in the evening so that students and parents can watch it together, I think that is a fine idea, but honestly how many families would actually do that. Really, I don’t think many would… especially with how busy people are these days. Would those families have detailed discussions about goals and such afterward? Probably not.

And people who are saying it’s a way for him to push his political agenda, I don’t agree. If he speaks about what the Department of Education is saying he will speak about, I’m not sure how this is a political agenda. I remember in government class watching political debates, those were full of both parties pushing their political agenda.

There’s something to be said for students hearing from the president of the United States, who was duly elected, about the importance of education. We listen to our presidents all the time, whether we agree with them or disagree with them, out of respect for the office.

I guess time will tell. Unless it turns out what he is going to say will be absolutely crazy, and the country will know on Monday what he'll be saying, let the man give a begining of the year pep talk to students. What's the harm in that?

End of Summer Fun

2009-09-01T16:31:00.005-05:00

The following are some August highlights. One Friday Tammy and I decided to head over to the Iowa State Fair. It was a chilly day and sort of crazy that we were wearing long sleeves and a jacket. It was also a bit rainy, but that didn't stop or fun.

In the butterfly tent. Of course this butterfly picked a great spot to land.With a little pig. Yes, we posed with the silly cut outs.Also saw these weird goats that had no "normal" ears. Just these spots on either side of their head. Got up close and personal with an ostrich and saw the ginormous bull and hog.

Celebrating Brooke's birthday. That white thing in the background is a bat. Gross. We were laughing because we thought we were going to fall into the pond and I'm sure Toby said something funny.The last full weekend in August Sarah, Tammy, Teresa and I went on a road trip to Wisconsin Dells. Along the way we stopped in Mt. Horeb...a.k.a. Trollville. What a fun town! It is home to many trolls including the Grumpy Troll brewery and grill. It is also home to the Mustard Museum.

Here we are at the mustard museum, I don't really get the sign but whatever.
At the Mustard Museum was Poupon U. (University)

At Marley's in the Dells, a fun Caribbean Restaurant where we got these fun umbrellas in our drinks and holding out sandwiches together.
Drank this drink called Cool Breeze...um Yum-my!
Sarah and I during the Upper Dells Boat tour. We stopped at this place called Witches Gulch. It was a beautiful cavernous place.
In a section of Witches Gulch.
In the gulch.
Our second shore landing was at this place called Stand Rock. This picture doesn't do this rock formation justice. This place was made famous by H.H. Bennett a landscape photographer who invented the shutter and made the Dells famous by capturing his son jumping between the rocks, thus capturing motion. It's hard to see, but there is a German Sheppard jumping from one rock to the other.
This isn't one of the better pictures of the river, but I like it because of the color. That color is Tannic acid that is in the water. Apparently it's not a bad acid but rather one that is common in several beverages and foods. It's the stuff called "caramel color" in the list of ingredients.

Update on dad...day 37 in the hospital

2009-08-31T20:32:00.002-05:00

It's the last day of August. Hard to believe it. Dad is still in the hospital, but at least there is what is looking like, a light at the end of this tunnel. That light however is leading to another tunnel, one that is dark and it will be interesting how we navigate through it. I am hoping for little lights to come and help make this part of the journey not so scary. What's this new journey? Let me back up a few weeks.

On August 15, we had a family meeting with dad's oncologist. Long story short, cancer wise, dad isn't getting better. His pain is bad and getting worse and since he is weak and his body can't handle it, he's no longer going to have chemo. The doc suggested that we consider bringing in hospice. He also talked about doing palliative radiation to help with dad's pain control.

The following Tuesday, we as a family met with "Kramer" a hospital hospice nurse. He talked about what all hospice would do and all that jazz. Kramer seems very nice and immediately got the ball rolling on dad's pain control. That day he ordered for him a pain patch for his back and that seems to be working.

He's had 10 radiation sessions. He will have 4 more and then hopefully he will get to come home. Dad is very nervous about this. He has had less pain medication injected in him since getting the pain patch and his spirits seem to be pretty good...for the most part...

Some GOOD NEWS is that he SAT UP IN THE BED all by himself for the first time in a month on Friday August 21st. Since then he has continued to regain his strength, passed his therapy tests and manages to make his therapists (and radiology crew) crack up. In order for him to be able to go home, mom said he would have to be able to get out of bed or a chair and go to the bathroom by himself. He can slowly do this however one thing we learned from Kramer and the radiologist is that dad will not be able to be left alone by himself for more than an hour. His bones are too weak and he is a prime candidate for a broken bone(s) if he fell.

Today he had a setback. He almost fell getting up and it really shook him up. It "scared the crap out" of him. He is afraid that he's not getting better and that this is the beginning of something. We tried to reassure him that he didn't fall, that he caught himself before he did and remind him that since it was Monday, he's usually weaker because he doesn't get therapy on the weekend.

Right now we are processing and adjusting to the news about him needing to be in hospice and the changes to life that that means. While I've heard wonderful things about hospice, it is my hope and prayer that they are little lights in the tunnel of unknowns ahead of us--helping to lead us through the dark.

Crazy Animals

2009-08-25T22:02:00.004-05:00

I've had some pretty interesting moments with animals in the last week. Some were just bizarre.

Thursday: Walking to my car from the shop when this chipmunk darts off a tree right in front of me scurries down the railroad track and the back to the sidewalk. As I'm cutting into the parking lot it jumps up on the little two foot wall then jumps off it right at me. He missed jumping on me...thank goodness.

Friday: State Fair. Saw lots of animals. Will post more on that later.

Saturday: Driving to Brooke's birthday bash and along the way three dogs ran out into the street I was driving on. Not sure if they were suicidal or what. One was in the neighborhood where I live, but it quickly turned and went back in it's yard. The second was one of the Spud Mackenzie dogs. It ran out on 1st Ave. A busy portion of it. Several people screeched to a halt. The third was a really tall poodle looking thing on 34th St. It ran down a side street turned the corner on to 34th and proceeded to run after a car at an amazing pace.

Sunday Mid Afternoon: Fell asleep on my couch and was awoken by a very annoying scratching noise. I peered outside and didn't see anything. The scratching and what not continued and finally I saw it. It was a squirrel in the tree trying to get a walnut open. Ridiculous as it sounds, I watched that squirrel for a good 10 min try to eat that nut with all the power he could muster up.
Sunday Evening: Met my friends Toby, Lynn and their son Teagan at Noelridge Park. The T man wanted to feed the ducks. It was a nice evening out and though I'm not a fan of birds, ducks don't really bother me. Get to the pond only to discover it is swarming with geese. There are geese everywhere. On the side of the pond, on the grass on the opposite side of the pavilion, in the water. EVERYWHERE. Ducks are fine, but angry geese, NOT SO MUCH. We get out and grab the bread and walk towards the water. I'm careful not to look at any goose too closely. T man starts throwing bread into the pond and the few ducks that were in the water swim over. Apparently the million (ok so it was only like 50 or 60, but that is still a lot!) geese that were there decided they needed some too and soon they start inching over to where we are throwing the bread, us older folk start chucking it as far from us as possible. They keep getting closer. Then Toby decided it would be funny to throw bread at me. YEAH, NOT FUNNY. I quickly grab what is situated by my feet and hurl it away from us. The creepy geese are coming at us. Some of them were very aggressive. I totally ran back to my car and got in. I know, wussy of me. They also frightened T man and he jumped into Lynn's arms and soon they were backing towards the cars. A few geese attacked each other, some nipped at others and there was a lot of squawking going on, the poor ducks didn't get much of a snack. Toby was eventually the only one of us still outside the confines of the bunker (the car) and they were really close to nipping at him. That was the final straw. He hurled the last of the bread and high tailed it to the drivers seat. Crazy possessed geese. Go back to Canada and let the ducks be. Needless to say, I will not be venutring out to feed ducks anytime soon, nor will I use that particular part of the park for trail walking. The geese have overtaken it.

Dad update...day 10 in hospital

2009-08-05T21:46:00.003-05:00

I really wish this were a happy update. It's not. Tonight was the WORST night by far I've ever had with my dad.

First I'll rewind a little bit. He was moved from ICU a week ago Tuesday. He started having dialysis last Tuesday and then had it again Thursday, Saturday and this Tuesday. Good news is he went two days without needing it. Other good news is his cretin level is lower than it was the last time he had dialysis. They determined that he has bacteria in his blood and they are treating him for that. Other levels seem to be better, calcium is a bit low. He's been in pretty good spirits, getting up and walking around and with it.

Tonight that was all different. I was on my way to the hospital and mom called to say that he was pretty out of it and acting really weird. She said I might not want to come up. She was going to stay since the doc was to be coming soon. Since I was pretty much there I decided to go up.

When I walked in, he was laying in the bed with his mouth wide open mumbling nonsense. He looked at me and I said hi and he mumbled something. I took a seat on the couch next to mom and he closed his eyes and began fidgeting and grabbing for stuff in the air. When he opened his eyes again he wanted to know where the people were. Mom said we were right in front of him on the couch. He asked where the person was that was in the chair...who was in the chair--there was no one there. Then he asked where Peggy's daughter was and I said I'm right here...he mumbled something then said no not you. He then shut his eyes again was way fidgety and wouldn't leave his sheet alone. He started mumbling some nonsense and random things then he tried to eat a hamburger--which he didn't have and chomped on the air and his hand. He stopped and then mumbled more nonsense and then tried to sit up. He couldn't do it by himself so mom tried to help him and in a mean voice he snapped at her and said, "hey you" to me "get over here and work!" So I helped get him to sit up only for him to curse and lay back down. Mom tried to adjust his bed and he complained that his rectum was sore. Then he nodded off again. We sat down. After more fidgeting and playing with his sheet and trying to take his port off he tried to turn on his side when he announced that he "birthed a 48 lb baby". More mumbling and such and snapping at mom about stuff we couldn't really understand. She tried to help get him more comfortable and he barked to her "I always do everything wrong!" Closed his eyes, mouth still wide open, grabbing for more stuff in the air.

Nurse came in. Didn't really know what was going on with him and announced that the doctor would be there in a few minutes. Doc comes in, does some tests. Asks him some questions.. Where are you, "hospital" What year is it, "1979" Who is the president, "the one that's going to get us all killed" He thinks that he's experiencing some drug induced delirium. He asks for some blood tests to be run and orders that his anti nausea meds and the antibiotic be stopped. Then he tells us he could be out of it for the next day, but that he would "come back to us". Doc leaves. Aid comes in to take his dinner order. We order him a hamburger.

Dad nods off or goes to la la land again then barks "stop staring!" We weren't looking at him. Then he motions for mom to come close to him, she does and he barks "you quit yawning. Don't yawn! It's not nice!" She wasn't yawning. She says ok. I'll stop. He doesn't talk to me or really even notice that I'm there. He wants to move again so she tries to help him sit up and he says she needs to gain 80 lbs to be of any use. This is all very difficult to deal with. Mom is getting emotional and holding her own, but I needed to get out of there. I got up and told him "dad I'm leaving now" He says "Whatever. You can just go." I go in the hallway...ready to breakdown. I can hear him talking to mom. "I thought you said you were going." She said no that was Dina. He said something like "no. she's not here."

I hold it together long enough to make it to my car. Then the tears came.

An hour later I called mom. She left the hospital. Dad ate a little bit of his burger. Mostly played with it and threw it on the floor like a child. Then mom said he snapped at her "by burger is on the ground!" She said yup. Right where you threw it. She then tried to help him eat. He told her a few times she could "just go away!" She said he asked about where Aron was, but didn't mention me or wanted to know where I was. Then he went on mumbling and not making sense.

I know that the person in room 81-09 was not really my dad. I know he will probably have no recollection of what he said or did. I also know that it hurts terribly knowing that he didn't know who I was or that I was there. He said some pretty hurtful things and was downright mean at times. I know he didn't mean any of it and that it's not his fault, but it still hurts and is scary and I NEVER EVER want to see him like this again. It's my hope and prayer they figure stuff out soon!

2009-07-29T14:18:00.002-05:00

Here are a few snapshot from July.

Me and my giant "small' lemonade from Hardee's on the 4th. It was crazy chilly that night. Katrina and I on the 4th.

Celebrating T's birthday at Texas Roadhouse. YUM!
At Brucemore for the production of To Kill A Mockingbird. It was very good.
Brooke, Tammy and I on Tammy's last day as pastor at church. :(

RAGBRAI story to come...

Updates Coming.

2009-07-27T22:32:00.002-05:00

Several things have happened since my trip to Washington, and I will post them here soon. However, there is one update that I need to post--mainly because I haven't in a while. Update on dad.

Yesterday mom took him to the ER. After a bad week of confusion, sleepiness, not eating and a mess of other stuff she decided to because she thought he was dehydrated. He was. Along with having a very high potassium count and not good kidney function. Doctors decided to admit him to intensive care. His potassium level has gone down, not to where they want it, but it has gone down. They haven't decided what they are going to do kidney wise. Going to run some more tests and may do dialysis. He's still not eating well, however did request a popsicle tonight. They put in a picc line and I'm pretty sure they are going to give him another blood transfusion. He's pretty weak and a little moody--although I would probably be too. He doesn't really want people to visit him. Will hopefully know more tomorrow.

Westward Ho!

2009-06-30T15:22:00.005-05:00

Last week I packed my suit case and headed out West. Well, Northwest. I went to Prosser, WA to attend my cousin Jen's wedding. The following is my tale from the trip.

Wednesday night. Drive to Glenwood. Catch up with the family there.

Thursday. Board plane in Omaha. I had the pleasure of sitting in a single seat with no one next to me. Ok, so the plane was small but still. I also had the pleasure of sitting right in front of one of those people who feel the need to talk during the entire hour and a half flight. Land in Denver. Board plane to Prosser. I now get the pleasure of sitting next to one of the most fidgety people I've ever come in to contact with. The guy at one point said, "I hope I don't have an accident here" Yeah, well I hoped he didn't have an accident either. Land safely. Uncle Bob picks me up, we go to his and Glenna's condo. Chat. Go change clothes for Jen's bachelorette dinner, come out and find out Michael Jackson died. And Farrah. So much happened while I was in the air. Jen arrives, we go to her dinner. Fun times. It was a fondu party. Good yummy cheese fondu and wine.

Friday. Hang around while the girls get their nails done. Lunch at Olive Garden with the Williams families. Run a few errands before the rehearsal. Clean up. Go to rehearsal. Have yummy bbq dinner.

Saturday. WEDDING DAY. Stop at Starbucks. Jen gets hair done. Head to B & B finish getting ready for wedding. Assist the beautiful bride. Pictures. Ceremony. Reception. Go to bed at the B & B and slept in a sleep # bed. That was interesting.

Sunday. Head back to Iowa. Go throught the most strick security I've encountered at the 5 gate Prosser airport. It was easier going through customs from Cancun... Board plane. I now get the pleasure of sitting next to this guy who looks like the guy from the movie Knocke Up...Seth Rogan or something like that. This guy however is super huge with wide shoulders and the plane is super little with tiny seats. His shoulders totally infringed on my seat, so I had to sit at the most uncomfortable angle for two hours. I hope he appriciates that I let him sit all the way back in his seat. Change planes in Denver. Board new plane...a bigger one. Guess what, get to sit next to same huge guy again. Only this time he's in the middle and there is someone on his other side as well. Lucky us. Land safely in Omaha. Dinner with Russell. Drive home. Arrive at 1:00 am.

Here are some pictures.

Helen and I

Jen
Jason and Jen

Wedding Party

Patrick and I

Miss Helen

Official

Not nice Jen...

Chris and I

Me, Jen and Jason

Sue, Me and Steve

Memorial Weekend & First Part of June

2009-06-16T08:28:00.006-05:00

Memorial weekend, mom and I traveled over to Ohio to celebrate my cousin Amanda's graduation and to meet the newest arrival to the family. It was great seeing everyone.

Me with Kaiden.
Zoe and I
The cousins. Me, Angela, Ashley, & Amanda
Went to my first official summer BBQ at Brooke and Brandon's a few Friday's ago. Had some yummy steak! If you're wondering the white stuff on my shirt is bug repellent. It helped a little bit.
This past weekend we remembered the flood that hit Cedar Rapids one year ago. It's hard to believe a year has gone by since our city was hit with all that nasty water. It is truly remarkable how much rebuilding has been done, how many businesses and homes have been rebuilt and how as a community we have all come together. There is still a lot of work to be done, but we are moving forward.

As part of the recovery and rebuilding celebrations we attended the Sweet Reunion that was held in Green Square Park.
Mom and Dad. Speaking of dad, he had his bone scan last week and the results are some of the black cancer spots are turning gray or white--which is good. Don't think they found anymore cells and since the amount of chemo he was getting was really high, the docs have decided to have him take chemo every week with less of the drug (instead of a lot in one session every three weeks)

Me, Dad & Aron
The sand sculpture that was created for Floodstock. It really is quite cool.

Saturday marked the one year anniversary of the floods crest. Saturday morning, mom, Tammy, Amy and I participated in the Run the Flood walk. Proceeds went towards flood relief. There were over 2,000 people who participated in the Run/Walk. It really was fitting that it was a drizzly rainy day. Exactly like it was one year before.

After the walk, I headed down to watch Jenny and the rest of the Kennedy girls soccer team compete for the state soccer title. For the last three years, they've made it and lost in the title round by one point to West Des Moines Valley. This year they played for the title against Iowa City West. And the WON! First State Soccer title! Undefeated Season. Record 20-0. Jenny was also named to the All Tournament Team.

Jenny with her medal and the trophy.
The girls and their much deserved trophy. Way to go!
Saturday night Stan, Toby, Lynn, Teagan and I went to the Healing in the Heartland Music Festival at Kingston. BarlowGirl and Newsboys performed. There were tons of people there and it was a great night of music, worship and fun. BarlowGirl perfomed some of their old stuff and introduced some new songs. They were good. Newsboys were awesome. They also performed old stuff and new songs as well as some D.C. Talk stuff. It was rockin!

BarlowGirl

Michael Tate, the new lead singer of the traveling Newsboys. Newsboys playing in the middle of the crowd. Kinda neat.

Nasty little things

2009-06-03T15:37:00.004-05:00

The weather is getting nicer out and like a lot of people I would like to be out enjoying it. Sunday I did get out and then I got attacked by these little bugs that were gnatty like. Thinking them to be just little pests I swatted them away and went about my business. A few hours later though, I had the worst itchiness around the collar of my shirt. The dang things had bitten me and holy moly did I react to them. Pictured are some of the bites, the rest are covered up.

They weren't mosquito-esq or so I though, I actually didn't know what they were then this morning on the news there was the following story...
The gnat attack: by Cindy Hadish

Swarms of tiny black flies, also called buffalo gnats because of their humped backs, are on the attack in Palo, Cedar Rapids and other areas hit by last year's floods.

Entomologist Ken Holscher of Iowa State University said black flies produce only one generation each season, with populations this year dependent on last year's water supply.

Creeks that typically dry up during the summer but did not last year could have given them additional breeding grounds in Eastern Iowa, he said, so increased populations might be because of the floods.Black flies live as larvae in fast-running rivers and streams, making population control difficult. Tom Hart, environmental supervisor for Linn County Public Health, said gnat numbers appear to be up this year, especially around overgrown lawns and homes not cleaned out after the flood.

The gnats rest at night in tall vegetation and debris, so Hart recommends keeping grass cut and discarding debris to remove their habitat.Female black flies inflict painful bites to "get a blood meal," so they can lay eggs, Hart said.

SU's Holscher said the bites can cause itching, but in sensitive people reactions include swelling. "It's not uncommon to have an eyelid swelled shut or one ear twice the size of the other," he said.

The adult gnats usually live about three weeks and, carried by wind, can travel far from where they hatched.

"We grit our teeth and tolerate them until about mid-June when they're gone," Holscher said.People can try insect repellents, citronella candles and other methods such as Avon's Skin So Soft and vanilla extract, but Holscher said black flies are difficult to deter.

Some fishermen use face netting because the gnats tend to bite around the face. ..

Here's what the nasty things look like:

So to the little gnats that attacked me, you're welcome for the feast of my blood. I'd like to say that it's not polite to bite people though and you are not welcome to do so again. Can't wait til you are gone!

What my neck line should look like.

NOT covered in red splotches!

My Swell Day

2009-05-01T23:11:00.004-05:00

Today was a swell day (said sarcastically). Started off pretty good. It was a cool partly cloudy morning and I decided to ride my bike to work. It was a nice peaceful ride. Got to work. The list of jobs for the day, long. Started on stuff, then IT arrived. IT was some documents that were in the flood that a certain bank needed copies of. These documents were in the vault which was submerged in last summers flood. These documents were SMELLY, GROSS and some were still damp. ICK! I was really hoping they had decided not to bring them to us. Not my lucky day. Suit up with my latex gloves and mask and set to work copying the crap. Man, they stunk and the papers left some nasty yellow crap on my gloves. For two hours I stood there and copied stuff, then the man came and took the icky box away. Sanitize copier, and everything I touched. Move on with day. List of jobs, still ridiculously long. Make a little headway, wish I could have worked on some of my many design projects, but no...those would have to wait. About 1:30, finally take a break for lunch. While eating, the man brings in more flood junk. Ahhhh... We shove it in a cabinet. Closing time comes, I don't want to deal with flood junk on Monday, so I decide to copy what was brought and be done with it. Suit back up in my protective gear, do job, clean up, and leave.
Me and my mask. I was wearing gloves too. I know, I look thrilled. Ride home: trucking along, get to the far side of Cedar Lake, left pedal falls off in mid pedal...what the...miraculously I don't fall. I stop, go pick up the pedal move off the trail slightly and try to fix it. NO luck. Can't get it back on. Five people pass by and no one offers to help or even says hello, then this guy running goes by, stops, turns around and asks if I need help. I tell him I can't get it back on and so he tries. No luck for him either. So off I go, hoofing it the rest of the way home, dragging the bike with me, carrying the pedal. Fun times. Just glad I wasn't that far away. Only had a mile or two. Still got to enjoy the fresh air though, which was much needed after wearing a mask for so long today. And thankfully it didn't rain on me-- that would have been super.

Broken pedal on the road.
Where the pedal should be. ON THE BIKE!
Up close and personal with pedal.

Update on dad

2009-04-30T21:22:00.002-05:00

Thought I would should post an update on my dad. This is the end of his fifth week since he started chemo again. He's had two sessions. The last being little bit worse than the first. Side effects this go around: hair loss, appetite loss, tiredness, achy feeling, nausea. I don't think he's been too terribly sick with this go around. First one he was, but for his second treatment, they gave him more anti nausea meds in his drip. In addition to the chemo treatment, he is also being treated for shingles, which have appeared on his head and his left eye lid. I guess it's painful and it looks awful. Poor guy, good thing is it's not the itchy kind of shingles. His spirits seem to be pretty good considering... He's joking around more, which is good, even though his jokes are lame.

He and mom went to Glenwood a couple of weekends ago, I know they had a good time. Last Friday, he spent the better part of the day riding around in a golf cart while his friend golfed. I think he enjoyed being outside and on the course, even though he wasn't playing. Maybe one of these days, he'll get to hit a few balls...

That's all for now. Next treatment is not for another 10 days.

Forgotten Post

2009-04-20T16:35:00.005-05:00

In January, for my birthday my friend Lynn and I went to the Chris Tomlin concert. Not sure why, but I never posted pictures from it here are a few of the better ones. Thought about that concert since I just went to the Rockin Roadshow on Saturday. Chris Tomlin was amazing! Only bummer was he didn't sing God of This City...the piped it in over the speakers as people were leaving though...not the same. Apparently I'm not over it yet.

Rock and Worship RoadShow

2009-04-20T16:11:00.006-05:00

Saturday some of us went to the Rock and Worship Roadshow. It was a great concert and the Cell Center was packed literally to the rafters. There was probably close to 10,000 people there worshiping. Flipping amazing. Here are some of my better pictures. There are more on facebook.

Amy and I in front of the back of the stage.

Mercy Me. They ended the night.
Bart Millard from Mercy Me shining the light on us.

Sanctus Real.

Lynn, Me, Brooke and Brandon in front of Sanctus Real.

Toby, Lynn, Me and Brooke in front of Sanctus Real.

Hawk Nelson

Tenth Avenue North.

And no, these pictures are not backwards. We sat behind the stage and the screen was backwards for us. Still a blast and pretty cool that they came around to the back and paid attention to the hundreds of us that were on that side.

Easter Week

2009-04-13T15:19:00.006-05:00

Last week was a busy week.

Monday: Filled like 500 Easter eggs for the H.D. Youth Center Easter egg hunt. Not really sure what Amy is doing in this picture. I think it's right before we guessed how many M&M's, Skittle's and Jelly Beans were in the egg. Tuesday: I met Pam at Java Creek to listen to this guy sing. His name is Fox Elipsis and he's from England. He's really funny to talk to. He didn't have any business cards or any promotional material at all, so I made him some on Wednesday morning. He was very grateful. I was just happy to do something nice for someone.

Wednesday: Praise team and youth service rehearsal.

Thursday: Maundy Thursday Service. This was a great communion service of reflection, scripture and prayer.

Friday: After work, speedily went over to Antioch Christian Church to the 4:00 Easter play they were putting on. Then met some friends at the newly opened since the flood, Cedar Christian Church. The Good Friday service was their first service since last summer's flood. The small sanctuary was packed. It was a nice service. This is a picture of the 1st United Methodist Church (I think) that was torn down Friday. They've decided to rebuild their entire building.

Saturday: Helped with the H.D. Youth Center Easter Egg Hunt.

Sunday: EASTER. This is the sun coming up Easter morning.

Scenes from the SONRISE Youth Service. They did a fantastic job.

Pictures with old friends. Alex, Lisa and myself.

Curt and I. I like how Lisa is walking in the background.

After church we had dinner as a family. Dad grilled. Then mom, dad and I went to see a movie that should have won an Oscar...ok, maybe not...but it was hilarious. We saw Paul Ballart (sp) Mall Cop. After the movie, I headed out to Mt. Vernon to visit some more with Alex. We enjoyed the beautiful weather by going for a walk in the woods. It was a nice visit.

Night Out with the Girls

2009-04-13T15:12:00.003-05:00

Celebrating the Peg's 40th Birthday, us girls gathered at the Iowa City Piano Lounge for some cocktails. The piano player was a bit unimpressive.

Teresa, Dana, Peg, Sarah and myself.

BUNCO night.

2009-04-13T15:05:00.002-05:00

Some scenes from BUNCO night a few couple weeks ago. If you've not played BUNCO, it's a crazy fun dice game.

Lynn and her silly cake pan. She used it as to not have the dice go all over the table and thus be able to toss the dice more. I don't think it worked too well.

It's Back... the e.b.c.

2009-03-27T22:40:00.003-05:00

Yesterday morning, I was given some news that no one wants to hear and frankly news that I didn't think I hear for a long time if ever. After telling about some brief highlights of my trip to Cancun, my dad told me that he has cancer again. This time it is in his bones.

I didn't say to much, so he kept talking. They did a bone scan the day I left for Cancun, found out the results on Monday. I wasn't informed of any of it as they didn't want to ruin my trip. He has cancer in his right hip, collar bone, and some other places that I can't remember right now because honestly, I went numb and thought I was gonna be sick as he was telling me. I started to cry and he held me and said that we'll take it one day at a time. I've cried a lot in the last 40 hrs.

He starts "fighting the battle" with chemo on Monday and will have chemo every third Monday for who knows how long. He had his year or 15 month (I don't remember how long it's been. Sad really, how you kind of forget when things are going well) post cancer check up a little over a month ago. All his levels were great except for one which they wanted to recheck a month later. That was a couple of weeks ago. Apparently they didn't like what they found so they did the bone scan. None of this I knew about. He's been having some pain in his right hip/leg which they thought was a sciatic problem...turns out it's the evil bastard cancer--that's what I'll be calling it or e.b.c.

It still hasn't really totally sunk in yet. It feels surreal. I hate that we have to go through this again. I hate that he's in pain. I hate all of it. It sucks. It sucks that one month he's ok and the next he has Stage 4 bone cancer. It sucks that they don't know why or how people get it.

My prayers are for comfort, strength, understanding, and hope for all of us. Like before, I'll post updates as I know what they are.

2009-03-26T13:49:00.005-05:00

Here are a few highlights from my trip to Cancun, Mexico. We arrived on Friday March 20th and arrived back home about 1:00 am yesterday. The trip was very fun and very relaxing. The weather was pretty much beautiful the whole time. Some wind and a little rain a few of the days, but otherwise sunny.

This is a view of the beach via the lobby of the resort we stayed at--Ambiance Villa's Kin Ha. It was a small, simple resort with suite type rooms. It had it's own private beach which was beautiful, clean and not crowded.

Our plane landed around 7:00 pm. By the time we got through customs, got luggage, and taxied it to the resort the rest of the group was ready for dinner. We ate at this place called Carlos n' Charlies. It was quite the experience. More like sensory overload. Musicians, magicians, and clowns. They sectioned our table off with caution tape and everyone was given a fantastic balloon hat.

The sand castle that Lucy and I made on Saturday. It surprisingly wasn't destroyed until late afternoon on Sunday when some dog peed on it.

In front of Senor Frogs. We had dinner here on Saturday night. Did some dancing...Y.M.C.A. on top of chairs...oh yeah...audience participation was required.

Sunday night we ate dinner at this place called La Casa de Las Margaritas. It was a fun little restaurant with entertainment. A Mariachi Band and some dancers.

Monday we left the beach and headed to the jungle where we did an extreme zip line through the trees. Biked through the jungle to a sink hole where the water was at it's shallowest like 25' deep. It was a thrilling day. I was nervous about zipping down the 12 lines. By the 7th line or so, I pretty much had the hang of it. The faster lines were better. The guiedes were wonderful and fun.

Getting ready to bike in the jungle. It was a windy, bumpy trail. We were supposed to look out for monkeys, but we didn't see any.

The Sink hole.

Monday night we ate at this place called Pericos. It was in the old part of town. A very fun and interactive restaurant with great food.

One of the waiters balancing like 16 glasses on the top of his head.

On Tuesday we went to the Mayan Ruin of Tulum: The Walled City. Our tour guide was excellent and it was really neat to see.

A view of the 2nd larges coral reef in the world located at the base of Tulum.

El Castillo. The large building at Tulum.

Me with Tulum in the background.

For dinner on Tuesday night, we ate at Chocolate City. A fun place with normal food and a whole lot of Chocolate concoctions. I enjoyed a white chocolate, chocolate mouse thing. It was very light and delicioso.

One of these birds totally flew right at my head while I was eating breakfast on Wed. morning. They were annoying creatures that would sqwak/chirp at all hours of the day. They had really long beaks. (All the better to peck with I suppose) and ginormous claws with a weird hook thing on the back part.

Introducing Baby Kaiden

2009-03-17T15:20:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to my cousin Ashley and her husband Scott on the birth of their son. Kaiden Reese was born on Thursday 3/12 at 11:57 pm. 7 lbs 14 oz. 22 inches long. After a rough start Kaiden, mom and dad are all home!

The Little Cutie!

Proud Mama!

Proud Daddy!

3:16

2009-03-16T22:03:00.002-05:00

March 16. That's today. One year ago today, it was Palm Sunday and one year ago today, I was baptized. What an amazing day it was. And what an amazing year it's been. Though there are times when I'm troubled and wonder what God has in store, I have totally felt him working in my life more than in any past years. Looking back on this day last year, I can't help but smile. I was so nervous and fidgety that morning. And then, the nervousness left and this calm over came and I was baptized into God's wonderful kingdom by someone I admire so much and am honored to be friends with.

3:16. Those are great numbers. I love this time of year. The season of Lent. The time of year that we are reminded of the great thing Christ did for us. John 3:16...doesn't get much better than that.

Today was a good day. Today was a beautiful day. So beautiful that I really wanted to be out enjoying it. I took my bike in after my first ride a couple weeks ago when the thermometer climbed above 60 to get it all ready for Spring. As luck would have it, I got the call this morning that it was ready to be picked up. Immediately at 5:00, I left for the bike shop and then to a trail close to where I had small group bible study tonight. I only had 35 minutes from the time I got to the trail to the time I had to be to small group and in that quick ride, I learned a few things.
1. I should have stopped at home and changed out of my jeans. Not very comfortable to ride in.
2. My ears apparently aren't the right shape to keep the iPod ear pieces in them when riding, as they kept falling out! There was a lot of one handed steering.
3. It's not very fun to ride on gravelish ground cover that is mushy from the spring thaw. Tires tend to sink into the ground and get caught in grooves. For the record though, I did not fall. Plus it is very hard to get up a hill when the ground is like quick sand.
4. Note to self. Do not attempt a ridiculous hill in a very hilly cemetery when you've not ridden in like 5 1/2 months. Work up to them.
5. Note to self #2. Do not have a cocky attitude when trying to attempt said ridiculous hill in cemetery. By golly I was going to beat it! Um yeah...made it 1/2 way, walked to the top went down and around and tried again...got a little further up than the previous time and then thought my lungs were going to explode and I would die, right there in the cemetery.
6. I should have worked out more during the hibernating period.
7. I need to purchase some biking gloves. As the thought of falling to the nasty rocky ground entered my head, I also thought of how messed up my hands would have been. Plus they got really dirty from the hand grips.

New Day Job? and a House Blessing

2009-03-15T00:10:00.003-05:00

This past week was like the week of briefs/appendices at work. Copying these is not a favorite of mine as I'd rather be doing something creative, however there are days when legal work is all I get to do. Thursday was no exception. After printing like the 20th brief for the week...normally we do like 4 or less... I was pretty much done with that sorta work. Then we get a call from an attorney at 3:30 saying that they have a brief for us and need it printed ASAP because it needs to be mailed. Normally we don't accept this stuff after 2:00 for same day service. Anyway, they don't bring the thing until 4:30 and it's not just one, but two of them. I work my magic and get it done, but while it's printing the attorney asks if I have a digital camera. Well duh. Of course I do. So I tell him yes and he asks if I'll take a picture of a diamond ring. I say sure. He goes and gets the ring, I take the picture print it out and he's all kinds of happy that I saved his rear. He then asked how it felt to document evidence. I was pretty non committal, to which he noted and asked if I'd ever consider being a lawyer. The answer is no, by the way. Here's the ring as taken with my excellent evidence documenting skills.
Friday: House Blessing
Last night I went to my first house blessing. It was at the home of some friends of mine, Rose and Hollyann. Their home was flooded during our little flood last June and they are finally back home. In June, I helped muck out the house and it was so nice to see it restored back to nice livable conditions. I felt very honored to be asked to be there for the blessing.

The house blessing was pretty neat actually. The Christ candle was lit in honor of Christ being at the head of the family and for always being present in the home. Then a little while later, all of us who were there lit a candle. Scripture was read and kind words were said and in all it was a fun evening. Lots of laughs and smiles. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of people. I was sorta spacing off into my own Dina world listening that I didn't take pictures during the blessing and was too busy gabbing to take them afterward.

Welcomed by the police.

2009-03-14T23:56:00.004-05:00

Ok. So I've been gone like all day. I left at 8:45 this morning and did not return until 11:30 tonight. In case you're wondering, I had breakfast with the parents, did a little shopping and spent the remainder of the day over at Washington High School watching/taking pictures of some show choirs. In all a fun and entertaining day. That is until I get dropped off back home.

Since my mom picked me up this morning, she had to bring me back. When we pulled into the parking lot of my apartment, two police officers were walking up to my entrance which was being held open by the apartment manager. I get out of the car, get my packages out of the trunk and with key in hand proceed cautiously into my building. Then I get the 2nd degree from the building manager asking why I parked my car where I did. I said, that's not my car, I'm getting dropped off and that I live in #11. She yells at me saying, I will not have it. You will not park there. Since the police are standing right inside the hallway, they tell me I can come in and they ask the manager if she's been drinking. I tell the police that I've been gone all day and that I was being dropped off and that my mom was going home. They say that I'm fine to go into my apartment and don't worry about anything. YEAH RIGHT. I go in and as soon as I lock my door the commotion starts in the hall. The police ask some of the neighbors to leave and as far as I can tell from here they left too. Then ten minutes later there is all this banging on the door. I can't tell if it's mine or the neighbors so I open it a crack and the manager and some guy are pointing to my neighbors door so I close mine and go back to minding my business, which is hard to do since there is all this commotion going on in the hall...

One would think that after all the times they get complaints called on them, they would start being respectful neighbors...maybe they'll get evicted tonight.

A Quick Note.

2009-03-10T15:21:00.003-05:00

So I'm ready for Spring. We were teased last week, as it was so beautiful out. To celebrate the nice weather, I dusted off my bike, inflated the tires and had a nice relaxing ride on Friday afternoon. It was especially peaceful around Cedar Lake, which was all flooded the last time I was near there...it was partially frozen over and pretty. Didn't have my camera with me, so I don't have any pictures...

Since Friday, the weather has been crummy. It's rained for three days. I guess I'm thankful that it hasn't snowed, however that is in the forecast. I'm also thankful that it isn't terribly cold outside.

So bring on the green, bring on the sun, bring on the mild temps mother nature. I'm ready.

The Heart of the Artist: Intro, Ch.1 & 2.

2009-02-22T21:19:00.004-06:00

I've recently started reading this book called, The Heart of the Artist by Rory Noland. I was intrigued by this book because of a little blurb on the back of the book that read "The Heart of the Artist will give you a better understanding of yourself and your unique place in the body of Christ. You'll find wisdom and encouragement that can help you survive the challenges and reap the joys of a ministry in the creative arts." I started getting interested in arts ministry when I was asked to co-lead a workshop on using art in the church last fall. I researched a little bit at the time, much more since then and have come to realize that there are so many possibilities when it comes to Arts Ministries.

So for the time that I'm reading this book, I've decided to blog on what I read--sort of a way to process it.

The book starts out with an introduction on "Those Artsy types". There was quite a bit of information in the introduction...some of which I agreed with, some of it not so much. It touched on topics such as Reclaiming the Artistic Temperament for Christ, Arts in the Bible, Artist in the Bible, Arts in the Church and some more topics. Some passages that stuck out to me were, "We Christian artist can't do what we do apart from the One who gifted us. Let's not forget that our message is not in glitzy demonstrations of our own talent but in demonstration of the Spirit's power."
"When God anoints the arts, there is an awesome power that He unleashes to penetrate hearts, minds, and souls. We of all people must never lose sight of how powerful the arts can be in church."
"A moving piece of worship music, a stirring drama, a dramatic reading, an expressive dance, or a gripping piece of visual art can create those holy moments when we as the body of Christ experience God's presence in a real way." I totally agree. This happens to me.

Chapter one. Proven Character.
We need to be people of proven character. We need to become the people/artist God wants us to be. "A person with character is loving, has a clear conscience, and has an authentic relationship with the Lord." Who are we really? This was a question that was asked several times in the first part of this chapter. Makes you think.

Along with character we have to have integrity,artist or not. Psalms 101:2 says I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. We need to walk with integrity in our hearts. We need to do what's right in God's eyes. Sometimes this isn't easy to do. There are so many ways in which our character and integrity can be tested, some of which aren't obvious. We need to let God mold us into the person He wants us to be.

At the end of the chapter, there was a questionnaire about where your character growth is at.
The first area of character growth concentration (Ch. 2) was Servanthood.

One of the questions raised about Servanthood was how often do you put the needs of others ahead of your own?

Noland lists three things that stand in the way of true servanthood. 1. An attitude of superiority. 2. Selfish ulterior motives. 3. Putting all our confidence in our giftedness.

Christ is the ultimate example of servanthood. Mark 10:45 even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. How often do we expect people to cater to our needs instead of seeing what someone else maybe needs? I like to think that I'm a good and faithful servant, but the truth is, I can do so much better. Noland states that servanthood starts with humility. Moving from self-centeredness to God-centeredness. Easier said than done. I by no means think of my self as self-centered, but I know I have a way to go to be completely God-centered. True humility means having an accurate view of ourselves, thinking we're no more or less than we are. I, probably more often than I'd like to admit, don't give myself enough credit and that just as bad as thinking to highly of myself. We need to humble ourselves before God as well as humble ourselves before others. Something that I'm working on is accepting compliments better. The Bible says that the way we respond to praise is a mark of our character.

Ministry is about serving others. Peter 4:10 says "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others." When we serve, we need to be serving because we want to bring glory to God, not glory to ourselves. There are times where I need to step back and think about what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. Within the past few years, I am proud to say that I've had a desire to serve. I have a passion for doing what I'm doing. I feel I've been called to use my gifts to serve Him. Serving God is a way to honor Him. It's our sacrifice of praise. What a testimony it is for a talented musician...or artist to use his or her gifts in serving the Lord.

"Being used by God in any way can be extremely rewarding. We are merely "jars of clay", yet we carry around with us a treasure: the good news of the gospel, God's play of salvation, the hope of the world. It's an absolute privilege to be used of God. God not only rescued us from eternal damnation; He's blessed us and continues to bless us abundantly beyond what we deserve." This is so true.

Noland finishes the chapter with the difference between volunteering and being called of God. Some of them are:
1. Volunteers see their involvement at church as community service, but people called of God see it as ministry.
2. Volunteers whine about what it's going to cost to serve, but people who are called are committed to serving.
3. Volunteers look upon rehearsal as another commitment, they're obligated to fulfill, but people called look forward to rehearsal as another opportunity to be used by God.
4. Volunteers want to quit at the first sign of adversity, people called dig in and persevere.
5. Volunteers find their main source of fulfillment in their talents and abilities, but people called know that being used of God is the most fulfilling thing you can do with your life.
6. Volunteers can't handle being up in situations in which they're going to be stretched, but people called respond to God's call with humble dependence on Him.
I'd never really thought about volunteering like this before. And to be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about some of the generalizations that were made (there were 10 listed). Of course, maybe it's just that I've considered myself a volunteer who was called to serve...

I look forward to what's to come in this book. It's by no means a quick read, but it's interesting.

Brooke and Brandon's Wedding

2009-01-30T13:14:00.004-06:00

One of my best friends got married on Saturday. It was such a HAPPY FUN DAY. Beautiful ceremony. Good music, friends and laughter...and some tears.

Here are some pictures.

Birthday fun

2009-01-30T12:31:00.005-06:00

For my first birthday celebration some friends and I gathered at Beckett's for dinner. (YUMMY) and then headed over to do some rock and bowl. Note to self...don't go rock and bowl on Friday nights around 9:00. It's when all the little kids are there. While we had a fun time, I felt like I was going to hit one of them with my ball everytime I threw it because they would just run up in the next lane. And seriously, I think they should have been in bed or at least winding down at home. I was never allowed out that late at night when I was 7 or 8 years old.

Some shots. Me and Brooke.

Brooke, Me, Chelise, and Katrina

Chelise and me

Amy and Me

Tammy and Me.

Katrina and Me

My 2nd Celebration is being postponed due to bad weather.

Ended up going out to random places with those of us who live in Cedar Rapids. Texas Roadhouse, put our name in...210 min wait. Bushwood for a drink and appetizers. Not hungry anymore don't go back to Roadhouse. Decided to go to movie. Have hour to kill. Get some ColdStone Ice Cream (oatmeal cookie) and go to Buffalo Wild Wings for another drink. Go to movie. (Bride Wars.) It was fun. Looking forward to the #2 redo.

However, the following Friday Tammy was celebrating her birthday so I crashed in on her bowling party.

Tammy and I.

Tacky Sweater Party

2009-01-30T12:17:00.006-06:00

Yeah, so this was like from December, but it was totally fun and the pictures are hillarious. I gut this fantastic sweater from Goodwill and the next day I was eating breakfast out and there was a lady the booth next to ours who had on the same UGLY sweater that I wore to the party.

Catch Up

2009-01-14T21:35:00.006-06:00

So for what ever reason, I haven't blogged in a while. Guess I've been busy though I can't recall what all I've done... Anywhoo, Christmas and New Years have come and gone. Hard to believe that January is half way over too. Crazy. Christmas was pretty typical around here. It was nice to have the family together, even if my grandma was a little hoo hoo...very odd day for her...not going to get into it...

Here are some pictures from the holidays.

Kim, Brooke and I at Brooke's bridal shower/bachelorette party. Good times.
The youth at our pirate Christmas party
A few of my nicely wrapped gifts.
Grandma Ruth looking at her necklace I got her...one of her odd moments followed.
Aron opening the toothpaste I gave him... yes it was from Dollar Tree. And NO it is not poisoned. Had to get rid of it somehow...
Grandma Beth opening something
Aron sporting this puppy dog hat that gma Beth gave him. Nice.
Me with the gma's I appear to be sitting sort of weird. And if I recall this is like take number 4 since gma Ruth kept making rediculous faces.
Mom and I...she almost smiled. :)
Dad and I...that's as close to a smile as he will get.
Aron and I.
For New Years, I went over to my friends Tammy and Amy house. There were seven of us. We had dinner. Yummy lasagna, salad, bread and cherry chocolate cake and then went to see the movie Marley and Me. It was very good, but I cried. I don't know how one could watch that movie and not cry. Several scenes hit close to home with what we experienced with Cody. (ahh, miss that dog...) Then we went back and rang in the New Year. Good times. For some reason I forgot to take pictures that night.

Oh man, I totally forgot about the Tacky Sweater party. I'll have to blog about that tomorrow. So fun. Can't believe I haven't posted anything on it yet. Stay tuned.

18 ehhhh 27, yeah 27

2008-12-02T22:36:00.003-06:00

So I was at my most favorite place tonight...Wal-Mart. I know. What was I thinking. I really dislike that store, but anyway went there with a friend tonight...and after looking at stuff in the electronic/movie section we FINALLY went to the checkout. Decided to do the self check out and as I was swiping the movie that I was buying the little alert message came up so that a worker had to key something in. Great. I do self check out for a reason. Anyway apparently you have to have parent permission to buy movies at Wal-Mart or at least if you're buying When Harry Met Sally. The checker girl came over and asked me for my I.D. Seriously. For When Harry Met Sally? So, I dig it out and mutter something like for crying out loud I'm 28 years old. My friend finishes in her line and wanders over and ask why I have to show my i.d. I say I guess I don't look old enough to buy a grown up movie. The checker looks at it and says they are required to i.d. everyone who looks under "eightee ehhh twenty seven yeah 27". 18...she thought I was younger than 18... I don't know if I should be offended or not! I certainly don't think I look 18. And changing mid word to 27...who says that. "Yes, you look younger than 27, so we must card you." I'm sure there will be a time in my life where I will be happy if I look 10 years younger than I actually am...but right now...not so much. Oh and for the record, I didn't realize When Harry Met Sally was an "adult" film...I thought it was a funny romantic comedy starring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal that I catch every now and then on TBS...

Question of the night

2008-12-01T23:26:00.002-06:00

Right now the women's bible study is working it's way through the book Living the Lord's Prayer by David Timms. It's been an interesting book thus far as we are only on the second chapter. Tonight a question about experiencing freedom with God's love was raised. To be honest, I'd never really thought much about it. Having freedom because of my love for God and His love for me. It got me thinking. I decided to look up freedom verses.

Galatians 5 talks about freedom. I liked how this was put in the book The Word on the Street by Rob Lacey. "Why did the Liberator free you up? To make you free. Obvious!...the only things that register on God's scoreboard are taking God at his word and loving people. You were picked out to be free. But it's not a 'license to kill' (or whatever else the Old You fancies doing) -- no, it's a freedom to work for other people's benefit 'cos you love them. What a quick summary of all Moses' Rule Books? 'Love other people as you love yourself.' if you keep on taking chunks out of each other, there'll be nothing left."

John 8:32 says You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. To know truth we must know God because He is truth. It says so. John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. For me, finally getting baptized was how I accepted the truth of what the Father had to offer. When I fully accepted Jesus Christ as my savior I think I experienced true freedom for the first time - freedom from sin - freedom from condemnation and death and freedom to really live. I'd been a believer for a whole lot of years before I finally threw my fear out the window and fully and completely trusted with my heart and head what a real relationship with the Lord meant. God created me for a purpose. A purpose I'm still trying to figure out. He created all of us. He chose us and pursues us. He LOVES us, unconditionally. He showed us his love by sending His son to die for us. We are worth something to Him. Without understanding and accepting this, I don't think we will ever truly be free. Understanding the fact that we matter and have value and worth to God can't help but set us free. From the beginning God has given us choices. By choosing Him I have freedom, forgiveness and grace. I've experienced the freedom that God gives us by my relationship with Him and trusting in Him. It's a journey. An interesting, sometimes hard journey.

Roller Derby

2008-11-30T21:27:00.003-06:00

I meant to comment on this last week, but time got away from me. Last Saturday night I went with some friends to watch a Roller Derby event. I'd never been to Roller Derby and really didn't know what it was. My friend Amy, hooked me up with a snazzy YouTube video on the sport and to be honest I still didn't really get it. So Saturday night a group of us went. It was the Cedar Rapids Roller Girls taking on the Big Mouth Mickies. I'm just going to say it was an experience. It was fun, but I sorta felt out of my element. There was this one skater who was sort fun to watch. She was little and quick.

A picture of some of the group. The entertainment between periods. Belly Dancers. Yeah... I don't think I need to say much more.

The Cedar Rapids Roller girls are in black and pink.

And the SERIOUSLY ?!? moment of the day...

2008-11-30T15:14:00.003-06:00

So, I'm just going to say up front that this particular post will probably get a little rambly.

I'll begin with some good stuff and then move on to one of the most ridiculous thing I've heard in a long time.

Thanksgiving was on Thursday. It was a good day. I had breakfast with and old friend and we had a chance to catch up and then it was off to the parents for the real deal. Turkey was fantastic. The rest of the food was pretty tasty too. There was no food coma, as I wanted to enjoy the day. I have many things to be thankful for and this past year, has had its share of trials and praises of which I'm not going to get into at this time. Let's just say, I feel blessed!

Friday, I did join the millions of other people and go shopping. It wasn't as crazy as I had expected, of course I also didn't go until later in the day...I might add that I'm pretty proud of the deals I snagged. (1/2 price Cuddleduds and a few others). Saturday, hit up a few more stores including a trip to Target. I really enjoy Target. I usually have a pleasant experience when I go there--almost the complete opposite happens when I'm at Wal-Mart, but that is another story. So anywho, considering it was the biggest shopping weekend of the year, people I'd encountered had been pretty cheerful and polite. I was proud of the way people were behaving. No pushing, whining, arguing, that sort of thing. But then...at the Target looking at a particular item, trying to decide if it is something I'd like to get a certain member of my family when this 75 to 80 year old man takes said item out of my hands and walks off with it. Flabbergasted I just stood there. Yes, the mouth was open. I could not believe he took it out of my hands and just walked off with it. Yes, it was the only one left on the shelf...but wow, he must have needed it way more than me. I could have said something or as someone suggested used my sweet karate skills on the dude, but I didn't. I just let it go.

Now it's Sunday. Woke up to some beautiful snow. Went to church, had lunch with some friends and then decided to run some errands. To set the mood, I'd like to say that I was in a pretty good mood and in no particular hurry. Little did I know, in an hour I'd be irate. Went to a few places and decided since it was on my way to stop at the Dollar Tree and return some items I'd purchased, but ended up not needing for some Operation Christmas Child boxes. (A great ministry by the way.) I go in and tell the checker that I have a return. She tells the manager and I find out that they don't do cash returns. That I'll have to find new items for the items I'm returning. Ok. Fine. So I look around, pick out some stuff and get back in line. By now there are ten of us in the line of the single checker. The other checker is now off work and the managers are nowhere in sight. I patiently wait my turn and when I get up to the gal put my stuff on the counter and explain to her that I was told I have to do an exchange. She looks all confused and what not and says she can't do it. So we wait for a manager. Meanwhile checker who just got off work is standing there complaining that the checkout line is so long (about 8 people now) and where are the managers... Finally a manager appears and they'll "have to get me over here". So I move. It's the same manager that told me to pick out new stuff...she was confused as to what I was doing. So I explained to her what she told me not 15 minutes before. I told her I had a receipt and she opens my bag. Takes out everything and in a condemning voice tells me that she can exchange everything except the toothpaste. Then our conversation went something like this:

Dina- why, they weren't opened. The original seals are still sealed.

Manager- toothpaste is a liquid and you can't return it because you could have poisoned it.

D- Seriously? Poisoned it? Is there something posted that states your return policy? ( I looked at the back of the receipt. Nothing. Nothing in the store either.) (Also, I don't really think toothpaste is a liquid, but whatever.)

M- Probably not. But you could have poisoned it, so you can't return it.

D- Really. You should state someplace your return policy. (Now, I should have let it go, but the way she was looking at me and how she was talking to me, I had to ask) How could I have poisoned it if it is still sealed up? You can look at it and see that it's still sealed and never been opened. Poisoned. That is ridiculous.

M- It could have got poison in it from the air.

D- Are you kidding me? It's in a SEALED PLASTIC tube, in a box that HASN'T been opened. Again. This is ridiculous. Whatever. Just give me these three things for those three things.

M-How would you feel if you were the person who purchased the toothpaste and it was poisoned because someone returned it? Or responsible for poisoning someone by returning bad toothpaste?

D-How would I know if it was returned if the box hadn't been tampered with? I wouldn't and furthermore I wouldn't buy toothpaste or anything else for that matter from a package that had been opened. These weren't opened and you can see that. How do I know that what's on you shelf isn't poisoned? Poison could have seeped in your air and contaminated all these goods. Seriously. Can you just finish this transaction please. I'd like to leave.

M- Our air isn't poisoned. Here you go.

D-Whatever. (I grabbed the bag and left.)

I was huffy when I left and I know I had an attitude with the woman, but seriously! I don't think I was out of line asking her questions. Especially their return/exchange policy. I came home and decided to google toothpaste poisoning. A couple of things came up. One that there was a bad shipment of toothpaste from China at some in June of 2007 in the port of Miami and port of Los Angeles and Puerto Rico. Then most everything else was about toothpaste poisoning and how you can get it if you swallow too much toothpaste. According to Wikipedia, most toothpaste contains chemicals which are toxic when ingested, and is not intended to be swallowed. (Duh) With the exception of toothpaste intended to be used on pets such as dogs and cats, and toothpaste used by astronauts, most toothpaste is not intended to be swallowed, and doing so may cause nausea or diarrhea; fluoride toothpaste can be toxic if swallowed in large amounts. If a large amount of toothpaste is swallowed, Poison Control should be contacted immediately.Extended consumption while the teeth are forming can result in fluorosis. This is why young children should not use fluoride toothpaste except under close supervision. There are several non-fluoride toothpaste options available in the market for those who choose not to use fluoride. Natural toothpaste can contain peppermint oil, myrrh, plant extract(strawberry extract), special oils and cleansing agents.

I also googled airborne poison entering through sealed plastic and really didn't have any luck on finding anything and toothpaste deaths...almost all of those hits had to do with the bad knock off stuff from China.

And because I'm feeling feisty. I looked up as to whether toothpaste is a liquid or a solid. Here's what I found. Toothpaste is a paste for cleaning teeth. It actually has characteristics of both. If you leave the toothpaste tube cap off, the toothpaste remains inside the tube. The toothpaste does not flow out of the tube like a liquid. The toothpaste retains its shape and acts like a solid. When you squeeze the toothpaste tube, toothpaste flows out of the tube like a liquid. A certain amount of force must be applied to the toothpaste before it will move. Toothpaste is a special kind of solid-in-liquid colloid known as a 'paste' because the solid concentration is so high.

Weekend in Las Vegas

2008-11-17T20:30:00.007-06:00

This past weekend I went to Vegas with some friends to celebrate Jess's 30th Birthday. It was a great time.

Our flight was supposed to leave at 8:30, but due to a mechanical malfunction on the plane, we were delayed for an hour. This sort of delay is fine with me. The trip was pretty uneventful. A rude guy sat in front of me and a smelly lavatory near us wasn't kosher, but what are you gonna do? We landed around midnight Vegas time and were starving. We decided to eat at this Coffee Shoppe thinking it would be Coffee Shop ish...umm turns out it wasn't. We ordered our food and proceeded to people watch. The thing about Vegas is that there are all types of people there and in the Coffee Shop this was no exception. There were three guys who were particularly intriguing. One wore a black and white checkered shirt. Not little check, big ones. His friend had on an orange Zoot Suit and the third guy was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. Anyhoo, the checkered guy and the orange guy were sharing their meal and drink. What caught us off guard though was the fact that they were not using silverware. They were literally eating the steak with their fingers and gnawing on it like animals. To make this even weirder, at the table next to us these two couples were eating and the guys at that table were also eating their steak without forks or knives. Just picking it up. The girls however, were cutting up their french fries and eating them with a fork and a knife. Where I'm from, I cut my meat and usually eat the fries with my fingers... We finished and then went to bed.

Friday morning went to the Sahara for breakfast. It was supposed to be the best breakfast buffet on the strip. I'm not sure about that, but my omelet was good. I particularily enjoyed the sign that said the dinning experiece had a two hour max. We then walked up to the Stratosphere. I'd never been there. It's tall. Along the way we passed a couple of hotel dives and a cute little wedding chapel. They looked fun. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at Circus Circus, again another place I hadn't been yet. There we sat and waited for the circus to begin. We thought it would be a decent show as there were trapeze things and other circusy stuff. When the ring master came out he introduced this guy who would balance on these poles. He was interesting to watch. Very strong, but the way he slinked around in his tight belly shirt, I had to wonder if it was rally appropriate for little kids to be watching. It felt weird. He finished and we were expecting another performer. However, the next performance wouldn't be until 30 minutes later. Some circus. One act.

We headed back to T.I. and Sarah and I decided to go over to the Fashion show mall. While there we actually got to see a fashion show.

Friday night we went out to celebrate Jess's birthday. We fancied ourselves up and hit the town in our cute shoes. After much debate and menu reading decided to eat dinner at this restaurant at the Venetian called the Lux Cafe (I think). It was incredible food. There was so much of it, but man it was delicious. My meal...The Chicken Royal. YUMMM!
After dinner we headed down to NY, NY Hotel. We went to see the dueling pianos. We were too early so we decided to have margarita at this little Mexican restaurant there. It was tasty. From there we headed over to the Bar at Times Square to get a table for the piano show only to learn that they now charge to sit at the piano bar-- $25 a seat! It sure doesn't say that in the tour guides! We didn't stay.

Off to Coyote Ugly...heard that place is fun. We were given a free entrance ticket and went in. Yeah, it wasn't like the movie...or in Jenny's case, like the Coyote Ugly she'd been to before. There were no dancing bartenders, no fun music, just a Coyote yelling into a microphone. So we left and decided to see if there was any standing room at the piano lounge. There wasn't so we sat outside the bar for a while, but it's just not the same. Oh, we also scored a free entry ticket to the new club ROX and a chance to help celebrate Lindsay's (? I think that was her name) birthday, whoever Lindsay is...

Off to Excalibur to a restaurant called Dick's Last Resort. That place was fun. the servers are rude. They make funny hats for people to wear and it's just comical. While there our server asked us what else we planned to do for the evening. We said we were thinking about going to the ROX just to check it out and she said it was an ok place, but there were more fun places. She asked us where we were staying and upon learning that it was T.I. suggested we go to the Christian Audigier club. She said she had connections and would get us on the list. She made a call and next thing we knew we were on Carlos's list...
Back to the ROX we went, only to discover that the line was insanely long to get in and we were much to covered up to go in, not to mention old. Back to Treasure Island. I might add that by now our feet were killing us, the price to pay for cute shoes. Back at T.I. we changed shoes, or all of us except Sarah and went down to find Carlos. Sure enough we were on the "list" he let us in. There was good music playing, but it was so crowded that we went out the deck. We got a drink. The d.j. announced that Jeremy Jackson was in the house, people cheered and the dancing continued. We were wondering who Jeremy was. (I googled him when I got home...he's an actor, played Hobie on Bay Watch) We finished our beverage and then left. Tired and with dead feet we went to sleep. It was a fun day.

Saturday we went to Planet Hollywood had lunch at this sports bar called Blondies and watched the end of the Iowa game. We were lured in by the shouts of "GO HAWKS! WOO HOO!" After the game we shopped for a while, went over to the huge M&M superstore...it's crazy how much M&M stuff there was...borderline creepy... Then went to MGM, saw the lions...learned about them... On our way back to T.I., we stopped at Casino Royal...gambled a little...didn't win. :(

Saturday night we watched the Sirens of the T.I. outdoor show. The weather was perfect and I finally go to see this show. I have to admit it was sort of cheesy. Enjoyable though.
For dinner we decided to go to this place called Kahunaville. It was supposed to have good food and the bartenders put on a show, like Tom Cruise in that one movie. We decided to get the appetizer sampler and share it. Around us folks were getting appetizers and they were huge, we figured the sampler would be plenty for the four of us. Yeah, right. It was the biggest rip off. The bartender show was good. They guy on our side had been on a show on the Food Network.

After dinner we checked out the Mirage. Then Sarah and I headed down to the Bellagio to watch the fountain show. It was neat. We then went over to the Paris and did the Eiffel Tower experience. Got a little queezy going up, but once at the top, the view was totally worth it. It was spectacular. And so peaceful. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Carnegie Deli and had a fantastic piece of cheese cake and people watched as these GINORMOUS sandwiches were being brought out to people. Seriously, three or four people could have eaten one sandwich. Exhausted, we left and went to bed.

Sunday before heading back, we went to check out the Wynn Hotel...it is so beautiful, especially the waterfalls. Headed to the airport. Waited. Waited some more and finally boarded our plane. Lucky for us we got to sit in front of the seat kicking, non-stop talking Captain Obvious sisters. Not sure what we did to deserve that special treat. Thankfully my ears eventually plugged up and it was hard to hear them.

Fun Times!

R.Y.E.

2008-11-13T11:00:00.004-06:00

This past weekend our church hosted the Region Youth Event. I had the opprotunity to take part in it, not only as a youth leader but as someone who led a workshop. The weekend was amazing! I had so much fun and I know the kids did too. The theme for this years R.Y.E. was Foundations and the large group sessions focused on the Foundations of our faith. Among them prayer, discipleship and living the out the Great Commission. The speaker, I can't remember his name, was very good. The band, The Scott England Band, was fantastical. Scott has a gift for song and a voice that I for one could listen to all the time. He's also very personable and I really admired the fact that he actually took time to talk with, laugh with and play with the youth. Sometimes at these huge gatherings, the "entertainment" doesn't interact much. Long story short though, I'm excited to get his new cd in December...

One of the best parts of the weekend was getting to know the youth a little bit better. It is such a joy to be a part of their life, to watch them grow and mature into the people God has called them to be. One of the things the speaker stressed was How are you living your life and who are you being accountable to/for? It made me think and it also made me thrilled that some of our youth took the questions seriously too. At our "back home" session we talked about this and listening to the responses from the kids was refreshing. Hopefully, they take what they said and do it...and not just for the next couple weeks when their on their R.Y.E. high.

On Saturday afternoon, I had the opprotunity along with my friend Katrina to host a workshop on Arts in Chuch. I was a little nervous about doing it, but in all, I think it turned out well. We pretty much focused on four different things.

1. That God gave artists their gifts and that their gifts are not only for their use, but to share with others. We used the example of the story in Exodus 31: 1-11. Here God told Bezaleel and Oholiab what to do with their gifts and they did it.

2. How to use art as Personal Devotional Time. We talked about the key to finding out who needs your talent is by staying connected to Christ. Within a relationship with Christ, we communicate with Him daily through prayer and reading of His word. Through this connection, the Spirit of God allows us to cross paths with those that are in need of our talents. We can also use our talent to grow personally with the Lord. Devotions don’t have to be only reading. Start with scripture. Beginning with the Bible leads to amazing visual insights from the Holy Spirit. Ways to do this included meditating with art. The voice of God is often "heard" through image rather than sound. Hidden within the silent metaphors of artistic impressions, whispers of the Holy Spirit can be known and felt. Art can be a "window" or a "meeting place" between God and us. Have you ever read a passage in the bible and been inspired to create something? If not, try it. You may find a capacity to move through and beyond to "contact" God in a direct, personal way— creating a time of communion in which you can be inspired, healed, reconciled, challenged, and nourished. The presence and strength of God are all around us, all the time. Whenever we reach out in Faith, God will meet us there with power.

3. We talked about how you can use artistic talent in church besides being a craft leader for V.B.S.

4. We ended with Using your Gift to Reach out. Servanthood. Perhaps the most important aspect of Jesus Christ's entire ministry can be summed up in one word…servant. As artists in the Church, our ministry is to serve. Although there is a performance aspect to what we do, this is not the place to show off our monster chops or make a name for ourselves. It is a place where we learn to "serve for the greater good" while using our talents.
The kids that came to our session were pretty open to what we had to say and even had their own ideas. Researching for it has made me want to pursue some avenue of an Arts Ministry. I think it's a great way to minister...

I'll end with one of my favorite passages from the bible. 1 Corinthians 12:6. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. How is God working in you? What do you have to offer?

A few pictures from the weekend.

The Group

Scott England

Scott England Band

Lynn and I

Election Day

2008-11-04T22:11:00.004-06:00

For the last four years, I've been waiting to vote. I became very interested in the election this year for many reasons, I read more, listened more and participated more in political events than ever since I registered to vote 10 years ago.

As I sit here watching the election results, I can't help but get excited about the fact that history is being made. I Baracked the Vote. I can't help but feel proud to be an American right now. This country needs change and change it's going to get.

What gets my goat though is the people who are booing right now as Senator John McCain is talking about congratulating Obama. We are people who need to be united. Someday, maybe we'll get there.
Just now though, (I think) is the first time John McCain has said something I agree with. We must move together to get our country moving again.

I'm also grateful that a lot of my friends won't be moving to Canada or Australia...

I'm sure I'll have more tomorrow.

Those blustery fall days.

2008-10-27T21:06:00.004-05:00

I really enjoy the changing of the seasons. Probably a good thing since I live in the Midwest. I've mentioned this before but I absolutely love the fall and we've been blessed with an absolute beautiful one this year. A huge improvement of our non existent one last year. However, I prefer the gradual change.

Saturday was a gorgeous day. I assisted with photographing a wedding and along with the wedding party couldn't have been happier with what we were given to work with. (It rained practically everyday last week.) The weather on Sunday was a different story. I went to church and it was chilly out. I was supposed to have a photo session that afternoon, but that had to get postponed due to the hurricane winds that descended upon us, dropping the temps in to the below zero category...ok not so much, but it felt like it. It's been a really long time since it was that windy out. The wind blew over port-o-johnnys, ripped apart playground equipment, downed trees and who knows what else. It was CRAZY. And if that weren't enough it started to SNOW! The weatherman called it flurries. Yeah, whatever. It was SNOW and leaving church last night it was a little blizzard like on the road. I'm of course stressing the word little. I like snow (everywhere except my parking lot and on the road), but I like it when it is WINTER and the last time I checked, the season we're in is autumn. You wouldn't know it though by the temperature at the store.

The steam heat isn't working yet in the downtown area we're in and we won't be getting any heat for a couple more weeks. The temperature today in the shop was like 52 degrees. Normally I would say 52 is balmy...nice jacket weather...crisp. Not so much at the shop. It was freezing. My fingers were like little ice cubes all day. Shivering is not conducive to good work. Aron brought in his little space heater, but it really didn't help much. I would just turn around and rub my hands together every 20 minutes or so to warm them up. The heat on my hands lasted a whole 47 seconds. Dad joked that we could possibly go ice skating on the marble floor. Thankfully, we should only have to endure a few days of really cool weather as it is supposed to warm back up towards the end of the week. So, I guess I'll just throw on the parka and wear gloves all day.

Ok. Probably not, but I will definitely be layering up.

I might add, I have not turned the heat on in my apartment. I refuse to do it until at least November. Going to try to make it to Thanksgiving. Having a small apartment sandwiched between other apartments does have some perks--sucking up other people's heat.

Open For Business and the Jesus Police

2008-10-16T19:42:00.005-05:00

It's about time.
The Copy Shop is back open for business. We've been open for about a week now, with full operation beginning yesterday. It's been a week of catching up on jobs that were placed before we were back open, notifying people that we've relocated (would have been easier if our previous landlord would have let us post a sign at the old location stating we'd moved), figuring out how to use our new machines, greeting new and old customers who've stopped in, trying to get the answering and fax machine to function and pretty much getting back into the swing of things.

The view of the shop from the front facing the back. My desk is on the right.

These were the instructions for our hole driller that were inside a box that was surrounded by a wood frame and screwed to a pallet. Note the first and second instruction. I might add that I used my woman power to successfully extract said box from the wooden frame and pallet.

The view of the check out counter from my desk. And my lil pumpkin.

The view of the space from the back of the store facing the front.

View of the self serve area.

Another view of the work area.

The Jesus PoliceThis is my paparazzi picture of the day. And people thought I was making it up.

There is a story behind this picture... This guy came in on Tuesday. He was super excited to see that there was a place to make copies downtown again. He's probably late 70's in age and something else. He came in wearing this same coat the other day. He entered and said that he was the Jesus Police. I didn't quite hear him, so I said excuse me and he said it again. He proceded to tell me that he used to be on tour with Johnny Cash and that's where he found Jesus. He then went to work for the police and was in the National Guard. His hat says National Guard on it. Any way...he wanted a few copies of these book marks he said he got from Johnny Cash. One was of a Santa Claus and the other of Jesus. On the Santa one he wrote God and I can't remember what was on the Jesus bookmark. He said isn't it great that Santa is like God and that he and Jesus work together and that kids like getting these kind of bookmarks. I didn't really have a response. I was a little preoccupied looking at his giant gold cross necklace with a police badge attached to it, his gold rings that were on every finger and all his religious buttons and flair hanging on his fanny pack. I rung him up and he got out his money...only after putting a washcloth on the counter to pour out his change on, of which he had lots of. Then he got back into the wallet where the bookmarks were, fanned out about 15 of them and came to a wad of cash. Boy hooey I was surprised. The thing is, I'm not sure how much of this guy is legit and how much is that he's a little on the crazy side. He came back today do get the bus schedule copied. Friendly guy, I wonder if he's going to become a regular?...

Enjoying God's Creations

2008-10-02T21:37:00.004-05:00

This past weekend I went to Green Lake Conference Center in Green Lake, WI. It is truly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I absolutely love it there. It was the annual work weekend, where folks from our church go and help prepare the grounds for winter/ fix things up. This year, we painted some cabins...yes, more painting...and some of the group took out docks. It was loads of fun fellowshipping with friends and just relaxing. Here are some picts.

Judson Tower as seen from the pontoon we had available to us.

The House we stayed at

The cabins we painted.

The road in front of the house we stayed at

A window from one of the prayer towers looking out to the prairie

The prairie...this reminded me of the movie The Lion King.

View from the pontoon of the Inn.

Out side of the Kraft Center. There were several butterflies, but even more bees!

Katrina and I on a rock in front of the lake

The Lake near the house where we stayed.

Oh, my aching back...a whole lot of painting

2008-09-21T21:09:00.009-05:00

Well, I'm finally getting some pictures up of the new location.

This is the front window as it was decorated when the space was the New Orleans Cafe
The mess after the gunk and drywall was ripped off after the flood... the south wall and back part of the store
The back of the store with the framing of the restroom. Aren't the shingles fantastic. :p
They are the ugliest things.
The new framing of the North wall at the back of the store and the back door. The stairwell to the basement was here.
We were able to start priming on Thursday afternoon. We did the majority of the priming on Friday and were able to get the first coat of paint on many of the walls/trim. 8 hrs of painting. I don't recommend it.

Aron priming dad's office wall. Proof he did help.
The store from the back facing the front. Note the icky ceiling.
Dad and Aron being productive...
In the hallway near the future drinking fountain and mom sink, facing dad's office. Yes, the nasty shingles are still up.

At the front door facing in. Brandon working on the front counter. All the priming is finished.
On to the color... This is dad's office. Dad picked out the color and yes this is a lavender. Actually it's like crushed grape or something like that.
The kiwi green bathroom. Yet another color picked out by dad. It was so bright, it appeared to glow. Dad claims it's not the color he chose, yet it's funny how it matches the swatch. I was in favor of green, just not kiwi...sage would have been better.
In the middle of the shop facing the back.
Again being productive. Middle of the shop facing the front. In case you are wondering Aron is sporting an Ideal Construction koozie.
Middle looking to the front.
Front looking towards the back/South wall.
Day three of painting. Saturday. We began painting after about twenty minutes of sweeping up the mess the drywaller's left.
At the front door facing the back.

The South wall.

At the back facing the front.
Milt and Jim working on our bench.
At the front counter facing the back. The color looks funny in this picture, but the walls are a light gray, silver mist and a light blue.
The kiwi bathroom toned down. The blue helped.
At the back facing the front. Note the new ceiling grid and 6 new ceiling tiles.
This is what was done after two days of painting. 15 hrs. As of the typing of this, we have pretty much finished with the painting. Only a little bit of trim and touch ups left. They are supposed to finish with the ceiling tomorrow, finish up with or almost finish up with the electrical and Dad and Brandon will probably finish the counter tomorrow as well. Carpet goes in on Friday. Will update soon.

Store Update

2008-08-28T23:44:00.002-05:00

There have been some new developments with the shop. We have decided to relocate. Basically our old landlord was feeding us a bunch of crap and we were sick of it. After telling us that he would start and have renovations finished by Labor Day and then pushing things back weekly and monthly, we decided to look else where. The latest was that we wouldn't be able to get back until Thanksgiving. Unacceptable. Dad actually went to the old location yesterday and said the floor seemed softer, so we're thinking now that the inspections aren't going very well for the old shop. I really won't be surprised if they tear it down. While it is cute with all it's character and charm and history, in reality it probably isn't very safe.

So 3rd St. here we come. We will be taking over the Uncle Tony's location. It's a better location for us. It's more centrally located and has more square footage and we're getting it for what we were paying at our old location. It's only about a block and a half from where we were and very close to the sky walk. Right now it's right across the street from the only food place that's been able to reopen.

The maintenance guy seems to be really on top of things. The moment mom and dad expressed interest, he was all over working out a deal. Since we got the ok to take the space, he's been working very hard to get the space ready for us. Already in a week and a half they tore out the old kitchen, gross ceiling tiles and counters. They've put up the studding for the bathroom and "mud" room, started the plumbing for the bathroom and mud room, put up new drywall where it had to be removed b/c of the flood on one side of the space, (It only got about 4' high) enclosed a doorway and the stairwell and purchased a toilet, bathroom door and more drywall/studding stuff to make the office wall. I also believe carpet was picked out, but I didn't see that.

I am so thankful the guys who are working on the space are working so hard. I had a chance to go in there today and I can not believe the difference in a week and a half. The guys working on the space are very friendly and truly seem to enjoy what they are doing. They welcomed the break from working to chat with us a little bit about the store and said they predicted they would have us back in operation before the predicted start time of the renovation of our old shop. This is such great news. I should have taken a picture of the guys working, but I didn't. I did take some pictures of the space, but they're on camera that I left at mom and dad's. If I remember, I'll upload them soon.

There weren't too many people milling around downtown, but I have a feeling that will be changing. You can see progress being made in several of the ground level store fronts and in listening to the news, there are quite a few that are nearing renovation completion. Some businesses are not returning and that's sad. There are others who weren't going to come back, but have changed they're mind. It's interesting to see the reemergence of life downtown.

Not sure what to call this...

2008-08-28T17:55:00.004-05:00

It's been about two and a half months since the great flood hit and turned life upside down Wow. The first month went by so fast and at the time I welcomed the "vacation". The second...not so much and I can honestly say I don't know how much longer I can take things not being "normal".

I am bored. Plain and simple. I'm irritated that things aren't happening quicker work wise...even though since we've decided to relocate they really are moving along. (Drywall was going up today and plumbing fixtures being installed, but I'll update on that later.) I'm frustrated, very worried about financial issues, lonely and would really like to have a pity party some days, but know that won't help or be beneficial so I don't and try very hard to stay positive and find things to occupy my time. Thank goodness the Olympics were on as I caught up on some sports I actually enjoy watching...like beach volleyball, swimming, and others.

I feel like most people don't understand me (right now). I feel they think it would be great to have an entire summer and then some not to work. Yeah, maybe under normal circumstances it would have been. But most people who have this much time off prepare for it. There are lots of things I would like to do with my time, but they're not possible when one lacks regular income. I get tired of people who tell me to go somewhere. I would love to. But seriously, where can you go for free or really cheap and how fun is it to go on vacation alone?

That being said, I have gone to visit some friends/family and done some very fun outings with friends. It's been those outings that I look forward to and really appreciate once they arrive. For crying out loud, I even ended an 11 year hiatus and went canoing/tubing last Saturday and I don't like to canoe. The day was sorta fun because I was with fun people. It started out horrible, with me practically getting swallowed by nasty dirty river after stepping from very shallow...like a foot...water into five feet of water. Then having said water in my eye and not being able to get it out all why trying to get in the stupid tube which took all my effort b/c I had no leverage since I kept sinking...eventually all was fine. Whole horrid ordeal probably took less than five minutes, and once we were on the way, was pretty much smooth sailing. Except when we got stuck on the tree and a couple other mishaps. I've also had some very fun photography sessions, had a chance to volunteer at the church, enjoyed this beautiful wonderful Earth God created on bike rides and hikes and catch up with family members with the writing of really long e-mails, all of which I really enjoy.

It would just not suck so much if I weren't the only person in my various groups of friends "laid off". I hope I'm not being annoying when I call people to set up a get together "after work", that is not my intent. I know they've had a long day and probably would rather just go home, but I've had a long day too and just want the live interaction. Not gonna lie, it can hurt to hear repeatedly "uh, I can't" or "not today, but thanks for asking". Am I disappointed? Sure. Do I understand? Yes. I pray that the busyness in peoples lives would let up so that they can have time to just enjoy being with family or friends. All this has made me appreciate more the time I spend with people and to realize that it's important to make time for people.

I'm not sure why, but I didn't really think we would be out of business for so long. I really thought we would be reopening right about now, not just getting started on the renovation. I think it was this false hope that has made the last few weeks so horrible and the realization that it's not just about me and what I want, but rather the (somewhat ridiculous) steps that have to be taken in order for anything to get accomplished and the patience needed to endure.

Joshua 1:9 says to Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you where ever you go. And John 14:1 says Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. Try as I might, this is not easy to do some days. My patience has really been tested this summer. It's been tested within my own self, with my family, with people I don't know in the city, and even friends. I pray everyday for the strength to get through, because I know that "normal" is coming.

Ahhhh... the count down is almost on.

Relative Invasion

2008-08-21T14:52:00.004-05:00

One week ago we had our bi annual White Family reunion here in Cedar Rapids. I love family reunions. We always have a fun time and this year was no exception. Obviously it would have been nicer if more of my cousins would have been able to attend, but as always those of us who are there make the best out of catching up. There is always lots of laughter, memories and of course food. It seriously made me laugh that everything was timed around eating... I was especially happy to see my cousin Lisa and finally meet her little boy Jeb. Jeb is just about two years old and has the most gorgeous eyes. He is such a sweet happy boy despite his occasional very loud ear piercing screeches. She's pregnant again and I can't wait to meet the new little bundle of joy. I also loved hearing stories from my grandma and her brother and sister and my dad and his cousins from when they were younger. With each passing year, the generations get older and at the same time newer. This was the first reunion with the fifth generation present. This was also the first reunion without my aunt Genny. To honor her we all ate a Life Savor mint after Sunday lunch. She always had those with her and her memory and spirit were alive with us along with the others who have passed.

A tradition we didn't do this year, and I'm blaming it on the fact that we were missing some key family members. (Wink, wink to those of you in Washington and Glenwood) was the singing of the Squirrel Song. It's an old folk song that my Great Grandmother sand to her children and has since been passed down. It's really not a very nice song, but we always sing it and laugh at it. The lyrics go like this:
Out in the woods in an old hollow tree
Lived Frisk and his wife and there little ones three
The mother stayed home and she kept the house clean
while Mr. Frisk hunted those nice nuts to eat.

One bright summer morn Mr. Frisk did not come
The mother said children I must bring him home
so many bad people are traveling about
stay still in the nest and don't you come out

So she put on her bonnet and started to run
a very bad man came a long with a gun
He lifted the gun, it was loaded with lead
he shot Mrs. Frisky , the squirrel quite dead

He took her home and he cut off her tail
He hung the skin up on the wall with a nail
and when the skin was quite dry and quite tough
He made little Betsy, his daughter a muff

The poor little Frisky's they cried and they cried
No one came near them and so they all died
and now in the winter when lofty winds whirl
Betsy keeps her hands warm in the skin of the squirrel

I really don't understand how this became a tradition, but it has.

I can't wait until we all get together again!

The G2's: Uncle Bob, Grandma, Aunt Carol

The Brake's

The White Family Reunion 2008: Back Row: Glenna, Bob, Richard, Peggy, Barb, Carol, Mike, Aron. Front Row: Lisa and Baby Bielss, Jeb, Dina, Ruth, Larry, Frances.

The G 3's.

I do not have a picture of us G 4's because someone...Frances, took the picture in movie mode, instead of picture mode. :]
Me, Jeb and Frances

A Corn Dog, really huge animals and a butter gymnast

2008-08-13T08:49:00.003-05:00

With the weather absolutely beautiful, I decided to trek to the middle of the state and meet up with some friends at the State Fair. I'd only been to the fair one other time and that was for a concert, so I'd never really had the opportunity to do and see all the fair has to offer. We browsed the vendors, ate a corn dog, drank some lemonade, saw the animals and machinery and had a fun day.

Me as a farmer. I know, this is a classy picture.

This is the blue ribbon hog. Freight Train. This pig was ginormous! Weighing well over a ton. It's actually snoring in this picture.

A cow. This cow was mooing like crazy.
The blue ribbon bull. Flipping huge as well. Over 3,000 lbs. Eeyore. Really. A mini donkey named Eeyore. A mule! I've never seen a mule up close. Didn't know they were so large. We came upon it from the back and thought is was a thick horse. The Budweiser Wagon complete with Clydesdales, and a Dalmatian dog. No Rocky music though.Sarah and I taking a break.
The Butter Cow. There was also a butter sculpture of Olympic Gymnast Shawn Johnson, but there were so many people looking at it, I couldn't get a picture. Amazing that this woman can carve this stuff and make it look so realistic.

A mini vent on weddings

2008-08-06T11:50:00.003-05:00

I recently had the opportunity to photograph a couple of weddings. Now, I really do enjoy doing this as each one is different and they are generally a happy time. One of the weddings was very beautiful, full of love and happiness and another however, the just about the complete opposite. The latter of them not only offended me, but sadden me as well.

I'm going to get on my soapbox now.

Weddings are a ritual that couples practice to unite and share their love and togetherness to themselves and those who are important to them. They should be a time of honoring each other and those they love, a time of commitment, promise, hope and love.

Where a person gets married is an important decision. For some that perfect location is on a beach, in a park or a resort. For others the tradition of getting married in a church is important. It irritates me to no end people who get married in a church simply because it's a church. People who are not religious, could care less about God and have no respect for those who are, should not marry in a church. Churches are holy, sacred places where the God is to be honored and given credit. Not a place to be ignored and slandered. It made me so angry to have to witness people dropping the F bomb in the Lord's house, cursing God and generally having no respect for the building in which this particular wedding was being held. There were no prayers and no mention of God during the ceremony except for one song, the wedding song, in which the couple talked through. Why have your wedding in a church if you're going to behave this way? If you're gonna marry in the church, give God a shout out--or two and if that's too much to ask, at least respect your surroundings.

The other thing that bothered me about this particular wedding was the lack of respect for family members and friends. No matter how one feels about a parent, step-parent, or grandparent, when in front of friends other family and strangers decorum should prevail. Respecting people isn't asking that much of someone.

All this being said, it blesses me when I get to photograph a wedding where not only the couples are so in love with each other (and in many cases, the Lord) you can feel their love overflow to those around them. It especially brightens my day when they include God and thank God for bringing not only them together, but their friends and family. But most importantly when they finally get their pictures and as they are looking at them, the pure joy they felt during their wedding comes back across their face. When they can look at a particular picture and remember the exact moment. After the rings are exchanged, the last piece of cake is consumed, the last dance danced and final hugs and kisses are given from the day, it's the pictures that remain. And I truly enjoy being the one able to provide that for them.

Princesses, Music Teachers, and Bicycles

2008-08-06T08:58:00.004-05:00

Recently, I got to play and hang out with my most favorite twins: Luna and Bella. Being off work because of the flood and needing to get out of Cedar Rapids, I traveled the three hours to visit one of my oldest friends and her twins. It was just the break I needed. We didn't do anything particularly exciting, but hanging out and witnessing the simpleness that a couple of five year olds can bring to life was refreshing. With imaginations that run very wild, I watched and participated when prompted on how to be a princess and a student in Miss Luna's music class. Our song of the day: Baa Baa Black Sheep. It was absolutely hilarious to listen to her and Bella sing that song, mainly because they couldn't get the words right. Baa baa black sheep never any wool, yes sir, yes sir three bags full. One for the master, one for the lame. Oh man. It was seriously three days of laughing and fun. Highlights include a trip to Kay Jewlers where one of them was trying to get an older woman who worked there to say hi. Finally giving up with the very serious phrase, "I guess she just can't hear cause she's not saying hi to me" (The woman was very rude) And hearing "Oh Drat!" when they didn't get their way or messed up whatever they were trying to do. Every now and then, I think we all need to unleash our inner 5 year old. Life isn't so complicated when the most important thing is what time you can go ride your bike.
Luna
Bella
Erin and I as taken by a Bella
Bella, Me and Luna
Luna
Bella
The girls
Bella
Luna

Update: Rest of June/July Happenings

2008-08-06T08:19:00.004-05:00

June 28th, the Class of 1998 gathered for our 10 year reunion. It was so much fun! Catching up with friends who've moved away and laughing with those I see frequently was reminiscent to old times. Our reunion weekend began Friday evening at Prime Time. Saturday was the family picnic and tour of Kennedy and Saturday a few of us braved the unnaturally cold weather for late June and went to the Kernels baseball game. I was so shocked to see as many as I did. There had to been about 200 from our class show up for at least one, if not multiple events. Some people have changed a lot and for the better and some, who should change haven't. I'm looking forward to the next one...

Me, Jill and Susan
Laura, Christy, Sarah and Me
Tammy, Me and Molly
Melissa, Jeremy, Paige and Me...Yes I really am that short. These friends are tall people.
The class of 1998 who chose to wander around JFK in the dark, while being led by Mr. Benedict.
Me , Claire and Elise
The Gang: Tammy, Sarah, Lia, Me and Jess

*****

July 7th-10th our church hosted SportsLife Camps. I was in charge of organizing it and I am so thankful for what I got to experience. The headaches, frustrations with people and money worries were all worth it. Our week of SportsLife Camp was amazing. The kids had an absolute wonderful time as did our adult volunteers. Many of them showed up very early and did not want to leave at the end of the night. Several of them went home and didn't want to go to bed because they were so excited from the evening. Not knowing what to expect, we were excited, but nervous to offer the program. What we experienced went above and beyond what we thought we were getting. The staff that came were fantastic. The way they interacted with the kids, encouraged the adults, presented themselves and their love for the Lord was incredible. For many of our adult volunteers, the best part of the week was during the small group discussions when the kids got to open up and share. Though we didn't have the numbers we were hoping for, the kids that were there got a lot out of the week, learning to work together, making friends and most importantly hearing about Christ and praising

Him. We would do it all over again in a heartbeat.Me with the the SportsLife Crew: Sarah, Missy, Erica and Zach
July 26th I went with some friends to cheer on and meet up with two friends who were participating in RAGBRAI. Deciding we needed team t-shirts, I designed the following for us to wear. Our cheering /welcoming commitee was a great idea, but actual execution was a bit hard to pull off. Not knowing what to expect, I thought we would be able to get close to the finish line and actually welcome riders as they reached the Mississippi River, but because of the enormity of the event and blocking off of roads, we were subject to waiting up a hill by a grocery store and the welcome center. Then we were in said grocery store, when team Klink -n- Dorf arrived up the hill to the van. Oh well. They did good and had a good time. Maybe next year I'll ride a link of it.

Catching Up: Fourth of July

2008-07-16T17:02:00.005-05:00

With the flood and the postponement of the Freedom Festival, there was the possibility that there wouldn't be fireworks this Independence Day. However, the fine folks at Rockwell and Kirkwood Community College banded together so we could have them. I was glad. I enjoy watching fireworks. How they work amazes me. This year they were shot off at Kirkwood instead of behind the jail. We sat to the west of the college to view them and not only could we see the Kirkwood fireworks, but a few other communities as well. Earlier in the day we had a family BBQ and then I went to Floodstock. It was a music festival in which the proceeds went to flood relief, mainly businesses. The music wasn't too bad.

These are some not to shabby photos of fireworks, they usually don't turn out.

These two look better on the camera screen.

Yes, I'm wearing a sweater in July. It was super hot earlier in the day, but a cold front moved and it was quite chilly when the sun went down.

Catching Up: Flood Update

2008-07-16T14:47:00.006-05:00

So, I realize it has been a while since I've written on this. Been busy, no other excuses.

It's been a month since the "historic flood of 2008" hit Cedar Rapids. I can not believe that amount of time has passed, yet glad because it means that we are closer and closer to being back to normal (whatever normal is).

I have truly seen God working through this whole thing. Lots of people have asked why would God allow this to happen? My response is why not. So many bad things have happened because of the flood, but so many more good things are coming from it.

Not long after people were allowed to return to their homes to clean things out, I went to help a family from our church clean out/pack up their stuff. Their home is pretty much on the edge of the Czech Village about two/three blocks from the river. The day before the clean out this family learned that the water only filled their basement and went up one step to their mail level. There is NO explanation for why this should have happened. There were houses further from the river where the water in the house got well above five feet on the first floor. I seriously couldn't fathom how this could have happened and it was amazing to see. God was working here.

Me, Tammy and Amy after cleaning. Yes, we are dirty.

A few days later, I went with some others from church to help get things out of the upstairs of this elderly lady's home. Her house was on Ellis Blvd, one block from the river. Her whole basement, first floor and about four steps upstairs were hit by the water. The floor had buckled in the middle of the living room...the place was a disaster. Hot, smelly and slimy. The woman who lived there had to be rescued by boat the night of the flood. She went to a shelter. Then another shelter b/c they had to evacuate the first one. At the second one she had a heart attack and had to have open heart surgery. Despite all this, she was happy that she had people helping her, that she saved 5 "beautiful panties", 4 Iowa Hawkeye t-shirts and her "beautiful purse". How many of us would be that thankful? Her home of several decades was destroyed and the majority of the things in it. Cleaning out the upstairs we saved some clothes, Bibles, bedding, stuffed animals, a bed frame, two dressers and some paperwork. These were the things important to her. It's crazy amazing what kind of spirit this woman has.

I am also so amazed by the spirit of the community. People are really working together and many of them turning to the churches for help and guidance. I think it's great.

This last week, we had SportsLife Camps (I'll blog more about that later) and this woman called the Friday before asking if there were still spots available. I told her there were and she said that is wonderful and began to tell me her story about how the flood had destroyed her home and that her and her four daughters were now living with her grandfather and other family members making it 11 in one little house. She need a place for her girls to go so they could have fun. They came to camp and had a blast, their mother even chipped in and helped clean up after the meals each night. We took up a children's offering and I told the mother that we would like to donate the money to their family. She was very emotional over this and said that is so nice of your church, but there are people who could use it even more than me. I said, that may be true, but we want to do this for you. She couldn't believe how generous folks were being towards her and her family. She told me the day before, someone from our congregation offered to let her use half of their garage to store some of their belongings until they found a new house. She is so thankful we came into their lives when we did.

God's been working and I can't wait to see what he's gonna do next.

Store update. It got cleaned out by a demo crew and what was uncovered is really neat. Here are some pictures.

The street pretty much cleared off. A refreshing sight.

The inside of the store. I don't have a picture of it, but the floor was cleaned up and it's beautiful planking. The guillotine cutter, all rusty and broken. Some of the original brick. The building was built in the lat 1800's. The back office area. We thought that was a dumb waiter on the right, but it was actually a fire escape. Aron and Dad got it open and it's about three ft deep and steel on the inside. The original wall paper. The building was built as a restaurant/bar. A window that had been covered up in the back. The store across the street.

Holy Frijoles!

2008-06-18T16:21:00.005-05:00

The following are pictures of the shop. It is so mangled and gross, not even recognizable. I am so amazed at how things shifted around. We were told today that they are going to demo the inside, which they need to, the floor is very soft and bumpy. It was nerve racking to be in there. It didn't smell as bad as I thought it would, but boy was it hot.

This is the outside of the window. All that grime is on the inside. To let you know, the window was washed and squeegied last Tuesday.
The self serve copier. Exactly where we left it. Just a little mud on it.
The new services posters I put up last Tuesday and my photography display.
My artwork. It's really hard to tell how high the water got. The paint was pealing everywhere. Those shelves are were they are supposed to be.
This is standing at the counter like you would be a customer.

Our work stations and the beautiful watercolor of the store. That brown thing in the middle is our padder with a job on it. It was on the other side of the room drying.
In the middle of the shop. The big black and white is still under the tarp, our color copier is on the left. The color copier was behind our little black and white copier, they totally switched places. And they were covered in tarps. Note, we did not lift the lid.
A work counter. Business card cutter is on the left, folding machine on the right. On the shelf are labels. The were stacked on the shelf.
My favorite machine, the oversized printer. that is the wall cabinite behind it and the heaviest counter in the store almost pushed up to it.

A close up of our little black and white copier.

A close up of our color copier. This crate used to be underneath where the cash register was at the front of the store.

The hall where we kept our paper shelf. It was tipped over, Aron and dad set it back up. It was also down the all further.
Dad's office. You can't even tell where his desk was.
Another view of the office.
The whole view again.

This is the invoice computer and fax machine area. Notice the plastic shelves in the corner and the fire extinguisher. They didn't move and have hardly any mud on them. The plastic shelves however were twice that high.

This is our main work counter. It seriously rotated about 90 degrees. Next to it is our work table that was tipped over.

A close up of the counter

This is the cabinet that was on the wall, you can see where it used to hang. That gray thing in the front is our binding counter. It used to be against the wall. The thing weighed a ton.

The Cord Got Saved

2008-06-17T16:55:00.009-05:00

Today was the first day we could get into the store. The maintenance man had to use a crow bar to open the outside door. I actually didn't go. My dad and brother did. What they saw was unbelievable. A wall mounted cabinet was off the wall, a paper shelf that weighed a ton or two was tipped over. A counter was turned sideways, mud and gunk are everywhere. Two of the copiers are not where we left them, and one is where it was still covered with a tarp. I guess the water appears to have been 5-6 foot high in the store. The building will likely be condemned. Dad and Aron managed to "save" a few things today, hopefully we will get some more tomorrow. Among the things "saved" was the USB cord to my camera. I cleaned it off and thankfully was able to upload some pictures

These are pictures from Monday June 9th:

This was taken last Tuesday June, 10th. It's the bike trail just before the 8th Ave bridge
This is the trail over by Quaker Oats on Tuesday night
This is the 3rd Ave Bridge on Wednesday around 3:00 p.m.

This is a picture of our little black and white and our color copier in the tarps...best we could do since we couldn't move them any place else. These were both uncovered in the flood. Behind them is our oversized printer. It stands about five foot high. To the left is the huge paper shelf. That is now tipped over.
This is our big black and white copier. The tarp is still on it like this. The counter on the right was turned in the flood and I guess is pushed against the copier.
This is the journalist from the New York Times.
Not sure why we were smiling. Must have been pretty proud of the way we sandbagged. It was only supposed to get maybe two foot high here. According to Alliant Energy which is the building next door, this should have be plenty high enough. (Not 31.1 ft. or about 8 ft at the store.)
Here's a better view of our store front. The plastic was up about five foot.
This is the railroad bridge at Penford. On it are train cars loaded with rocks, put on it to weigh it down. In less than 24 hrs this bridge would be totally washed out.
This is the ridiculous traffic. It is now about 5:30 p.m. all bridges over the Cedar River are washed out and this is the only way from one side of town to the other. I was the passenger in the car. We were on our way to get more sandbags.
This is looking North. On the left is the Time Check neighborhood.

This was taken today, Tuesday June 17th. What dad and Aron could recover today. One of these is the invoice computer and the other is one of our work computer. Oh and the money bag...we saved the money from the cash register. That by the way was in the same spot as we left it...hummm.These are some of my data cds. YEA!!! Among them the pictures from my senior thesis and other pictures from my camera. Not to mention photo business cds.

These are some of the invoices.

This is the computer that I worked at. All our clients files are on it. Trying to stay hopeful that we can recover the hard drive.

I'll post more when I get in there.

A Few Flood Pictures

2008-06-15T14:24:00.004-05:00

Here are some pictures of the Flood. I will eventually get some more on here.

NOTE: I did not take these pictures they are from my friend Tammy's blog, www.gazetteonline.com, or some other site.

This picture was taken on Wednesday night. On the right is the parking ramp where I park my car. In the distance is City Hall.

I believe this is a picture from Friday.

This was the headline of our local paper on Friday.
The picture is facing North.
If you divide the picture into thirds both horizontal and vertical, our store is where the left and top divider would cross.