Easter 2011

This Easter weekend we spent 4 days in Iowa, visiting my college roommate, Sue.  We had a WONDERFUL TIME!! 🙂  Thanks, Sue, for being such a great host!

We started our trip in Moline, IL, so I could have this!!

Chick-Fil-A!!

I LOVE Chick-Fil-A!

You can "Deep" or "Squeeze"-how cool is that?!

We also stopped by there on the way home.  Chick-Fil-A twice in 4 days!  YUMMY!!

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Paul and me at Pulpit Rock (at VCBC)

me in my Easter dress (primarily so my mom could see it)

me, Paul, and Sue (at the Chinese restaurant for lunch)

(Some people take pictures with a cross in the background for Easter….we had Buddha)!

my college roommate, Sue, and me

Thank you, Sue, for a wonderful weekend!!

We All Scream for Ice Cream!!

Lacon has a new ice cream shop.  I’ve been a couple of times, and it’s pretty good.  But, here’s the bad part….

This is what is printed on the side of the cup:

“Nutritional Information.  Don’t even ask.  This is the best ice cream made in Wisconsin, and it tastes so good because it has gobs of rich Wisconsin cream, tons of real ingredients for boat-loads of luscious flavors.  That means it’s not low-fat, low-calorie or low-anything, and that’s why everyone loves it.  You want nutrition, eat carrots.”

And, that my friend, is why I’m drinking a shake made of Espresso Oreo ice cream and why my pants don’t fit anymore!!

S*hiloh Christia*n Child*ren’s Ra*nch

I just got back yesterday from a 2-day mission trip to Shil*oh Christ*ian Childre*n’s Ranch in Missouri.  It was an all girl’s trip.  We took 10 girls, 6th-11th grade.  It was an interesting trip, but overall, I had a good time.  Some highlights of the trip were:

• spending time with Paige
• getting to know the CCC youth girls
• not having any boys around
• eating some great meals (it’s like Thanksgiving at every meal with some fantastic desserts)
• gettting shocked by an electric fence
• realizing that as I get older, 15-passenger vans get harder and harder to get into
• driving for 6 hours in POURING down rain complete with thunder/lightning and a wicked HAIL storm

Here are some pictures.  I think you can probably click on the individual picture to make it bigger.

girls at Wendy's

Alyshia, Jamie, and Shelbie playing with kittens

Abi and Hannah

Paige and me

Paige working hard

Arieyll

eating lunch on Tuesday

all the girls

me breaking the window in the dumpster

the whole group (the boys arrived as we were leaving)

putting new fence posts in

 

Outer Beauty

Watching this video made me so sad….

What has our world come to that a parent alters their child’s looks, so they won’t be bullied (in the future)….

“You’re not good enough/people would like you more if you looked different/I think you would feel better if we altered the way God made you/You’re not pretty enough….”

This is the message this video is sending out….

Let’s not forget Psalm 139….

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.

I pray to God that parents would be strong enough and persistent enough to instill in their child’s life confidence, encouragement, love, and strength and to look beyond outward appearances and stand up strong against bullies. 

Here is a great song by Jonny Diaz….

God Bless–

Video

I’ve never tried to link to a video before, so I thought I would test it out….

This is me going down the zipline at camp.  (We had a day a couple of weeks ago where we just played on the ropes course)….

Just click on this:  Zipline

It might “pause” during the video, but just keep watching….it’ll come back on after a few seconds….

The Zoo

On Wednesday I went to the zoo with one of my TRAIL girls, Shannon and her kids, and our friend, Julie, and her son, Leo.  Here are a few pictures from the day….

Shannon and Andi at the petting zoo

Shannon, Ethan, and Andi at the zoo

Andi, Ethan, and Mimi playing on the rockwall

Mimi and Andi climbing

Andi and Ethan sliding

Andi and Ethan sliding

Ethan and Andi sliding

Andi and Ethan sliding

Julie, Shannon, and me

Thanks, Peoria Zoo, for the free zoo day!

Blah, Blah, Blah

I feel bad for not writing but nothing much is going on….

I was gone for 14 hours straight today: from 8:45AM-10:45PM….that is too long, in my opinion, but it did make the day go by a lot faster….

Tomorrow I am hanging out with my TRAIL bible study girls.  I am taking one of them to the zoo and out to eat and I am taking the other two to a movie. 

Two of my TRAIl girls are cousins, and most of their family lives in Peoria (grandparents, aunts/uncles/cousins, great-grandma, etc)…..it is always SO COMICAL trying to figure out where to pick them up and drop them off.  I never know where I’m actually going to get them.  It’s a circus trying to figure it out with all the phone calls and the messages I leave…..tonight, I wasn’t sure we were ever going to reach anybody….apparently, according to the girls, I was supposed to drop them off at Red Lobster for some dinner (at 8:00PM)….I nixed that idea and finally just took them to one of their houses…..but tomorrow I’m picking them up at their cousin’s house (at least that’s the plan now).

Paul has been sick the past two days with a fever, a runny nose, and a cough (and, just for the record, as I was typing that sentence I wrote “a runny HOSE and a COUCH”; it is too late and I’m tired).  He preached all three services this past weekend at church and I’m pretty sure he was running fever in both the morning services.  But, I think he’s on the mend now.  I’m still pumping him full of medicine and making him drink a lot of water.  (Hopefully I don’t catch whatever he had).

As I said, Paul preached all three services this past weekend and I am singing in all three services this weekend…..it’s like the “Tanner Family” show…..

This past Sunday it was 81 degrees outside…..Sunday night I had the A/C on in our bedroom b/c it was so stuffy….Monday it never got above 45!  Oh, Mr. Winter….GO AWAY!!!  I’m ready for some 60 degree weather (especially tomorrow, since I’ll be outside at the zoo).

Tonight we went to Five Guys for dinner.  It’s fairly new in Peoria, but supposedly they have the best burgers.  I will say the burger was pretty good, and in my opnion, though expensive, it was worth it.  It’s not somewhere I would eat a lot (it costs $20.00 for both of us and we shared fries and a drink-the fries are CRAZY expensive), I did like the burger.  In fact, next time, I wouldn’t even get fries…..just the burger was good for me.

Well, I think it’s close to bedtime.  All my words are starting to blur….

I do enjoy watching “B” three days a week….something new and different….