Oh me oh my, you will not believe my weekend. First off, I have to preface this story to say that Jeff often makes fun of me for losing things. I will admit I have misplaced my keys a time or two, and even my BFF-iPhone. Everyone loses things, that’s neither here nor there. But Jeff likes to rub it in until it bleeds. And I find it very annoying.

Now back to the weekend. We left Friday night for Washington, DC, for Adam and Jenn Wilson’s wedding. Adam and Jenn are on staff at CRU here at VT. They are members of our church. Adam has been so faithful to Sam in discipling him and even taking him hunting. Jenn has stayed the night with our kids while we were out of town. They are precious and priceless to our family and church. I thank God for them. Needless to say, we were all looking forward to their wedding.

We got up early Saturday morning with all intentions to take the kids to DC to go to some of the Smithsonian museums. The wedding was later in the day. After breakfast we headed back to our room to hit the road. We stayed at a nice motel outside of DC. Our car was parked close to our room. Once we got back to the room we could not find the keys. In my mind I immediately took the blame. Since I have been ridiculed many times, Jeff immediately asks me where the keys were. My mind started racing, reliving the night before. I didn’t drive. Jeff drove. He had the keys. I didn’t have the keys. Oh wait, did he give me the keys? Where did I put them?  I quickly searched through my clothes and bags. No keys. After Jeff stops looking over my shoulder during my search, he starts looking through his things. No keys. Now the kids are involved. They look through their belongings as I tear apart the beds making sure they are not in the covers. No keys. Jeff and Sam race to the car, thinking they must be in the car. They looked through every window. No keys.

The kids head back down to the motel’s cafeteria to look around where we ate. The hotel manager gets involved at this point and keeps an eye for the keys as well. My hope was that someone picked up the keys in the parking lot and would turn them in. After the kids head back to the room with no key, we realize we will have to call a locksmith. The only logical explanation was that the dumb key was in the trunk. We wait around for about 20 minutes until the locksmith shows up. Adelyn and I stay in the room while Jeff and Sam watch him perform his $130 magic. It literally took 2 minutes. Sam comes back. No key. Immediately, I yell at the kids to take everything out of their bags and put it on the bed. I empty all my bags and Jeff’s bags too before Jeff gets back in the room. I knew that he would be on a rampage when he came back in from throwing a big wad of cash out the window. I pull the beds from the walls, turn the furniture upside down. No key.

By this point, our trip to Washington DC was out of the picture. It was around 11:00 and the wedding started at 2:30. Jeff starts calling other locksmiths who can actually make a key. The one who unlocked our car, of course, couldn’t include that in his $130 fee. He called around to several locksmiths, all of them concerned about making a key for a first generation Toyota Prius. This eleven year old, 200 thousand mile, high-tech automobile has some fancy chip inside the key which can only be replaced my a Toyota car dealership. So, we call a couple different dealerships close by. The long story short was that we would have to have our car towed to the dealership, the mechanic ‘would see’ if he could make a key but it would range from $250-$900 because we didn’t have an extra key for them to copy and they would have to make the key from scratch. I don’t know what they were smoking but we were not asking them to make the key from 14k gold. Needless to say, we didn’t go that route. Instead, we decided we would rent a car. I would bring the rental car back to DC the next day, with the extra car key that we have at home and we would be another $130 poorer.

The next problem was the time. It was 11:30 at this point. The car rental places close at 12:00 on Saturdays. They were too busy to come pick us up. Google map said we could walk to the rental agency in 37 minutes. The motel didn’t have a shuttle. So we called a cab. I’m sure he laughed to himself when he just drove us a couple blocks away saying to himself what lazy middle-aged white folks we were. We get our rental car and head back to the motel. By this time we are exhausted and hungry.

When we get back to the motel Jeff drops me off at the office to renew our plastic keys. They had expired and they had graciously gave us a late check out. I’m standing in line to talk to the manager and Jeff calls. “Carolyn! I found the key! Hurry! Get in the car and follow me back to the rental store! Quick!” He hangs up and literally leaves me hanging. What the heck! He found the key. Where? I run (which is a funny site) back to the car and there sits Adelyn in the passenger seat with the key. Jeff and Sam are speeding back to the rental store because by this time it is past 12:00. I follow not far behind. Adelyn said that Jeff had found the key in the outside garbage can under a stair well.

Jeff later said that when he passed by after he got back with the rental car something inside him said to look inside the trash can.  Sam and I had searched all around the trash can and grass area several times. This trash can is one of those rock paneled trash cans with a big metal lid. Never in a million years would I have looked in there. But the night before we had stopped to get gas at a gas station that had a Dunkin Donuts. Jeff had put the trash from our car ride in the trash can when we got to the motel the night before. So on Saturday at 12:00 and after the trashcan god’s prompting, he looked inside. There sat our trash from the night before. He searches around. No Keys. But then he looks INSIDE the Dunkin Donut sack and there they were! Praise the Lord and the trashcan god!!!

I have to say that I totally admit that I made a complete fool of myself at the car rental place once Jeff was able to return the car. The lights were off inside the store and the employees were locking up the store once Jeff made it inside. The kids and I waited in the parking lot. Jeff came out smiling. They had cancelled our credit card charge and let us return the car. Once I knew things were good I was overwhelmed with relief, joy and exhaustion. I couldn’t stop myself and my teenage children were beyond embarrassed but I just started yelling to the top of my lungs for all to hear. ‘THANK YOU JESUS THAT IT WAS JEFF AND NOT ME!!!!! THANK LORD! THANK YOU LORD!!!’

Everyone quickly got in the car to hide from my outburst but I had to say it! It was NOT my fault. I did NOT lose the keys. They once were lost but now they are found. Praise Jesus!

Don’t lose your keys,

Carolyn

I sit here writing you from my new job. It’s official, Jeff is my boss. Wow! I don’t like the sound of that. Haha. I started working this week for the church as the administrative assistant. I like it. And I really like that I am working to help justify the ungodly amount of money the church pays for my medical insurance every month. The church graciously pays for our health insurance and it is truly a blessing. But I struggle with guilt as to how much my part of the insurance bill is, but that’s neither here nor there. By working at the church I feel like I am at least contributing.

It is crazy the circumstance of my job hunting. I have applied for countless jobs and have even had several that were promising and seem to be a perfect fit. But none of them amounted to anything. Nothing. I applied many times and had several interviews to be a case manager for a counseling firm here in town. That was exciting for me because I felt like I could ‘officially’ use my college degree of counseling. Nothing. I applied for a coordinator job for a nonprofit here in town and even had connections. Nothing. I applied for two photographer jobs. One of the jobs, the head of the department was on my resume and I still didn’t get the job. The other photography job seemed to be molded just for me and the owner seemed so promising. Nothing.

It’s crazy! So I wait patiently. I really don’t want to be outside of God’s best for me. I have to admit though that is hard. It is hard to not take it personal, time after time being denied. Do I have cooties? Am I too brash? Does my breath smell like my kids say?

It always seem to come back to dependence for me and God and our relationship. I have to admit that I come from a long line of women who have the will power to do anything. That you know well. That is why I think we are friends. You kind of come from the same line of women. Just think back to our time in Monticello where we would put our game face on and accomplish anything; garage sales at the last minute, rearrange our furniture in an afternoon, clean out a child’s clothes and toys in an hour, shoot! even start a church! Haha! We were dangerous. Maybe it’s good we live half a world away.

Dependence, that is where I was going. It seems to be a never ending lesson for me. I am at the point in my life I realize it will be one I will never complete, get a final grade on and graduate. It is a daily thing. A place I surrender everyday to the Lord. If I don’t then I can find myself in the pit of despair. I am so thankful that I have the ability to look back and see how God has worked over and over again in my life. He is constant and trustworthy. He always provides despite by efforts to try to make things happen. I guess I will be at peace with learning for today that my dependence is minute by minute and never ending, despite my efforts to make it a project I must complete.

Gotta go! The boss is here. He just gave me a kiss and said he liked kissing the secretary when he came in to work. We are in trouble.

Depending on Him,

Carolyn

I can’t tell you how happy I was to see you finally! Wow, can you believe it’d been 2 years? Technology these days makes it so nice, and weird at the same time. Mike’s mom felt the same effect, like we’d never left or something, because we are constantly talking and seeing videos and pics of one another. I often think about the pioneer women, like the Little House on the Prairie series that I’ve read with Abby, when they took off with their strappin’ husband and everything they could fit in a covered wagon and headed west… facing peril, silence, animals, nature, and adventure. Who can resist adventure? Sometimes I think of myself as boring ol’ Kristy, but then I think of this grand adventure that God has given us and chuckle to myself. In a new millenium way, we jumped into this grand adventure, shoveling snow, dealing with darkness (the very real kind), and cabin fever like few will ever experience (it’s a very real phenomenon). Why? To live the life God has designed for us. Sometimes the idealist in me desires for things to be grandiose and perfect. Remember when I had the audacity to say I wanna live like Paul, a life that seems extreme and wildy unpredictable. He definitely abandoned all and sold out to the Christian calling. But this morning at church, the pastor’s sermon reminded me that it’s in the ordinary, day to day life of believers where Christ is evident, and where we have impact through him. It was good for me. It’s my attitude and words when my kids are losing all sense of sanity and having hissy fits, when Mike is grumpy and grouching, when my students have meltdowns or won’t stop making animal sounds, when someone at work is grating the very last nerve that is barely hanging on by a thread … my reaction in those moments is what makes or breaks my witness for His glory. It was sobering to think of the things I’ve complained about at work and I must say I’m convicted. Thankfully, tomorrow I will have the chance to get up and do it all over again, and again, and again for as long as my days are numbered… that’s the great news, His mercies are truly new every morning and we get a do-over of sorts.

At this time of year especially, I’m full of hopes and dreams, and sometimes even regrets. Looking back at the past year has been both good and bad. I can easily focus on my failures (the seemingly endless run of bad attitude), my challenges (going back to work and leaving my sweet 2 year old in someone else’s care), my limited successes (gee, I can’t teach all first graders to read in the first semester of school nor will I ever get all the special ed paperwork right) and get depressed. It’s the focus on self that is depressing, though. When I look at who God is, how He’s been abundantly sufficient in our family, and how by His grace, we are here and thriving, I am amazed. At Him..A.Mazed.

This new year, I have thought about some goals, although I really haven’t done any in years (that nagging feeling of incomplete tasks and not measuring up just aren’t worth it). I’m reading The Happiness Project and One Bite at a Time, and these have both been good for getting me to have a little more grace for myself…that being perfect isn’t the goal, rather doing things with excellence, and trying again tomorrow when we don’t have raging success for a few days.

Reading Tsh Oxenreider’s writings about New Year’s resolutions has really helped shaped my thinking this year.

So, here’s my goals, some serious and some not so important:

• eat more veggies
• go to gym on Tues/Thur. morning
• floss daily (got a head start in December and so far have only skipped 2x)
• read through the Bible this year (I’ve yet to do this in one year, but am determined, plus I have an app for that, ha!)
• commit to and complete a marriage class with Mike (began last week)
• skinny white chocolate mocha on Friday only
• write more (blog, prayer journal, letters to my kids, etc.)

It seems like a long list, so I’m tackling a little at a time, not expecting to have this all mastered by next week! I’ll try to keep you posted! Any resolutions and reflections in your neck of the woods?

Love,

Kristy

You are right! I know we can both say with complete confidence that God is faithful. In these big times of change, I can rest easy and be at peace knowing that He has got it all. The girls are working on memorizing Proverbs 3:5-6 right now, one that I treasure:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.”

I am really living this out right now (to my best ability, which falls short so often). There’s a lot of uncertainty as a teacher. Not uncertainty of whether I should be a teacher right now, rather things like: Am I doing the right thing for these kiddos with special needs? How can I serve them best with such a limited view of their situations and backgrounds?… a ton of heartache and questioning over their little young lives. Thankfully, God is directing my path because my own understanding is so very limited.

Speaking of the girls’ verse memorization, I’m using this idea from one of my favorite new websites, Pinterest. I just put patterned paper in a picture frame and used window markers (or dry erase markers) to write a verse. Then when I want, I can change it. It hangs in the kids’ bathroom. I’ve gotten tons of new ideas like this on Pinterest. Although at first I was a little lot click happy… I’ve pared it down to a nightly check before bed, not hours of browsing, and not every single night even! Plus, I’ve already done several ideas I found on there, including some things for my classroom, but that’s neither here nor there.

Another new find is Inspired to Action. Boy, it was just what I needed with my new working woman schedule. I’ve stuck with getting up early enough (before the kids wake me up) and really getting lots accomplished in the mornings, including using my handy iphone app for a daily Bible reading, something I’ve always enjoyed but had let slide. I even signed up for the morning challenge on Inspired to Action, which begins next week. I can’t wait for that accountability.

I found out about Inspired to Action from my all time favorite blog, Simple Mom. What an incredible resource for me! I try to not subscribe to many things that will just clutter up my inbox and create time wasting (either deleting, unsubscribing, or clicking on duds) but this is one I love to read in my inbox (I simply subscribed to the email RSS version). Tsh is a jewel of a Christian mom and calls herself a “life hack” !

Simple Mom also directed me to Pear Budget. I’m setting mine up this weekend for our new income with the new job. We are planning a fast track for paying off debt and being free from that long list that has weighed us down for way too long.

OK, just one more to link up. If you are looking for great ideas for crafts, gifts, free printables and such, then check out Skip to my Lou. I used these bookplates and these plant picks at the end of last school year for teacher & Sunday school volunteer gifts . It’s great website when you have a few minutes to just browse for ideas or have something in mind already and just need help or free printables. I’ll probably visit it for handmade Christmas gift ideas.

I think that’s it from my new world wide web of home internet. Oh, wait, no it’s not. There’s one more, Cozi. This is a website that I have used for about a week now and use it, I do. It’s got a family calendar (you can color code for each family member), a to-do list (as many custom ones as your heart desires), and a shopping list (again, you can have multiple lists). It is proving to help me sleep better knowing I can just add something to my list  on the iphone app version, and it will be there for me later so I won’t forget it. I have separate to-do lists for work at school, work at church, general family business. I even made a list for each of the kids for gift ideas as I think of them, so I’m not scrambling at birthdays & Christmas time just coming up with last minute lists for all the grandparents and Santa.

Happy clicking, if you so desire!

Kristy

Well, I have thought a lot about you today! I can not believe you started your first day of school today! Your first day as an Alaskan special ed school teacher. It still amazes me how God literally put that job in your lap. I know you will be great! I prayed for you along with my big munckins today as you all started.

Speaking of my kids, I laughed at their t-shirt selections this year as we shopped for school clothes. I had to share. Sam’s t-shirt said ‘Lazy but Talented’. Oh what a statement on the first day of high school. Adelyn’s said ‘Stand Out of the Crowd’ and had some weird alien graphic on it. Oh my. I am in need of much prayer this year, for sure. It’s neither here nor there, but we are both in for a lot of changes! So thankful God is faithful.

Can’t wait to hear about your day,

Carolyn

Can you believe it? We got internet again! It’s been a real testing period. I know there’s others out there who live without internet but I have to wonder at their main-streamedness. I mean, honestly, at times I felt all alone. It’s not a feeling I like all that much, though at the same time I felt a little prideful and set-apart. There, I admit it. I was rather proud of us. A friend told us about a little USB stick thingy that does internet wherever you take it for just $30 a month, a dollar a day. I don’t know how it works, I just know it makes me happy. I can now pin away on Pinterest, my new favorite, email work (with documents attached, can i get a woot woot?) without pecking away at the iphone ridiculously, and do other business that we’ve neglected for a while except when absolutely necessary. Do you know how long it takes to make a payment online via 3G on the iphone? Longer than our modern cultural urgency allows for, that’s for sure.

I’m sure there’s a deep lesson here, a God sighting for sure, but for now, I’m just saying hello from my trusty PowerBook G4 (whatever all that means) and listening to the hum and the fingers flying along the keys!

Write back soon,

Kristy in cyberspace at home

So, last year for our anniversary Jeff and I got an iPad for ‘our’ anniversary. It was a gift to each other. I was suckered. That is all there is to it! I hardly ever use that iPad! I prefer my iPhone. It’s more convenient. Jeff has the iPad with him 24/7. He loves it. He has already sold his old iPad and bought the new fancy iPad2. Well, that got me to thinking. Wait a minute! It is my turn for an iPad! But I don’t want just an Apple iPad. This is the ipad I want:

Can you guess what it is? Don’t you think the digital pad on the front of a new refrigerator is as good as an ipad? Just think about it. I would use it as much or more as the Apple iPad. Believe it or not, it doesn’t cost anymore than an Apple iPad. The bottom line, it’s just more practical.

So, today I bit the bullet. Thanks to God and Uncle Sam I purchased a new two door, side by side, Samsung refrigerator. It actually is a neat story. Although, it is much more fun giving Jeff a hard time. I have been wanting a new fridge for a while now. The one we have now was here when we bought the house. It is the smallest size possible but makes for great storage on top. The only person who lived in this house before we bought it was a grad student. His parents built the house. Another story for another time, but it still baffles me that there are homes in my neighborhood that are just for VT football game weekends. I digress, that’s neither here nor there. So, for some reason the kitchen had great appliances except the fridge. I have to admit for the past month or so I have been coveting.

Well, low and behold, when our ladies’ Bible study started back up this semester we started the book Lord, Change My Attitude Before It’s Too Late by James McDonald.

And can you guess what the first chapter was about? COVETING!! I had to confess to my Bible study ladies. We had great discussions about where the line is on needing vs. wanting, enjoying vs. being a martyr. It’s amazing how many fine lines there are in this walk with Christ. There are so many clear truths that can be easy to follow, although sometimes we choose not. Then there are hazy ones where our daily time with the Lord makes a difference. We want the decisions in our life to be easy-schmeezy, but then we’d all be robots. I think my summation of it all is to live for Christ daily and don’t get caught up in all the crazy details of your life. That will keep you in a cycle of living all about yourself and instead enjoy the blessing He gives us each day.

So, here I am with a new refrigerator. We didn’t have money to get a new refrigerator. I really didn’t feel good about going in debt to get it. But lo and behold, Jeff finally finished our taxes. For the first time in forever, we got money back! When he finished, he told me “Go get your refrigerator!” God always provides. It is still amazing to me even though he continues to provide time after time.

Now I have to get busy cleaning out a spot in the garage for our old mini fridge. It will be perfect for the kids’ sports drinks and such! Talk to you later!

Who needs an iPad, I have an iCemaker!,

Carolyn

I ventured out tonight for various reasons to the local bookstore and coffee joint, pandemonium. this is sort of a long and domino effect story so let me see where to begin.  there’s lots of things i need to do on our cute little silver Powerbook G4 but it’s  been a little messed up. I think the problem is that I am as organized and clean electronically as I am at home. You know what I mean, right? I just keep stuffing photos on iPhoto and files here and there and everywhere until the computer is just plain fed up. It lets me know by a sweet little box with the message, “YOUR STARTUP DISK IS FULL!” and just generally being grouchy. So, I’ve tried to no avail to fix this a couple of times, but I just don’t have the fight and stamina in me to really figure it out and so I give up. Only, right now, there are lots of things I really need this thing for. Not to mention I’ve quit using my really nice camera because I don’t want to deal with the computer issue, no more room for photos and no internet at home to send them in emails and wait for grandparents’ sweet responses anyway.

So here I am at Pandemonium mostly because my dear friend Sarah asked me to speak at MOPS (next Wednesday). Well, sort of. She admitted she was thinking of asking me or this other lady and I acted a little interested. And I got really convicted and I decided to tell her yes before I changed my mind. And since then I’ve wavered a lot but that’s neither here nor there. It’s too late to back out now and I’m not sure I would if given the chance even though talking to this group of 50 peers and mentor moms for 20 minutes scares the mess out of me. It also excites me to be given this great opportunity to share my heart for the Lord with these ladies. A real chance to present the gospel. My topic starter is “cause and effect” because this year’s MOPS theme has been “The art and science of mothering!” I have some good ideas but need to put them together. That’s my goal tonight, to have a great basic message to pick at over the next week.

So far, I’ve browsed the books, drank a latte, and am watching thousands of pictures make their way to the external hard drive. I hope this works! I’m gonna go get down to my real reason for being here –  to figure out details for my message! Pray that I speak the truth in love and that God is glorified in this, it will definitely be all Him because I don’t have it in me!

Later,

Kristy

PS- I hope you’re making progress on the book – I LOVE that it’s comprised of letters and the time period in history!

OK. I am back from the land of the recovery. I tell people that I turned 40 and got a boob job, tummy tuck and 2 tattoos. What is this world coming to? I feel great, I have to admit. And I am so relieved it is all behind me now. I still am amazed by the tummy tuck. The plastic surgeon needed skin for the last part of the breast reconstruction and asked if I wanted a tummy tuck. Shoot yea! Who wouldn’t? Granted, I still could use some weight loss and exercise but you should see how tight my stomach is. Makes me want to watch what I eat and exercise so I can keep my girlish figure. And I mean girlish. But I won’t go in to how the upper part of my torso looks. Let’s just say I can wear Justice for Girls bras now. No need for Victoria Secret. I need no lift. That’s neither here nor there!

I recently downloaded The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society book that you recommended. I am reading it on my iPhone. I just started but I am already hooked. It reminded me of our blog and spurred me to write you. I want us to commit to writing each other more and calling each other less. Even if it is just a small entry, once a week. Are you in?  Then maybe one day we can write our own book and make millions. The title could be The Monticello Literary and Tomato with Cilantro Salsa Society by Kristy Hales and Carolyn Noble. How’s that sound?

Now hungry for chips and dip,

Carolyn

It might appear that I’ve been strangely absent for a while…because I have. We have gone internetless at home, can you imagine? No, I know you can’t as you guys are the most techy folks I know. We have no home internet, phone or cable. Just call us “21st century retro pioneers”. If any of our hundreds tens of  readers are left out there, give us a shout out to keep this thing a going.

At first, I was excited about it. It saves money (which is the most appealing to us) and it truly has made me less idle with my time. I really am shocked at how often I still would love to just get online and surf around craft sites, look for more knitting patterns, and let my kids play PBS games. It would be handy for things like banking and taxes too. I’m really starting to feel grumbly now that the new has worn off the idea.  It makes us really intentional when we do go somewhere to use wifi, though. And I do have to give the disclaimer that we use my iphone for some of the stuff mentioned above, but it’s not great. I can check work emails and have it as the one and only phone, and that’s the main thing. It’s not great for reading craft blogs and getting knitting patterns, though.

Not having internet (along with the nudging of a dear friend) has made me read LOTS this winter. In fact, I’ve replaced all that “wasted” time online with spending hours with my nose in a book. I’ve read lots of things. I will start with the most fun and trivial, the Twilight series. You heard correctly, I, along with a few friends, am into teenage vampire romance. It is crazy, it kept me up late for several nights during the month of January, and it got me through the darkest time (literally). The best part of it, though, was attending an adult woman’s Twilight birthday party to watch the first movie with a group of crazy women, only one of whom I know. Talk about a third wheel, but I so wanted to see that movie.  So fun and entertaining was that commentary. I do hope you will read these, becase trust me, it would give us conversation for hours upon hours. I am a loner for Team Jacob, but that is neither here nor there.

The best book of this winter was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It was recommended to me and then I realized that one of the authors is Annie Barrows, author of Abby’s favorite series, Ivy and Bean. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book. It is written as a series of letters from a writer (and a host of other characters amongst themselves) post world war two on an English Channel Island. I felt like I belonged on that island that had been occupied by the Germans by the time I was a little ways into the book. Although it’s covering a horrendous time in world history, it gives hope and it’s not sad, really. It’s just different and great!

OK, I must go. Our entire family is stricken with the flu and I’m the last one. Just when I need to be taking care of my recovering family. Where is Super Nanny when you need her?

Love always,

Kristy