Sunday School

Today in Sunday School one of the boys was writing on the chalkboard after the lesson. I looked over to see him drawing the ACDC logo. Oh yes- so spiritual. This is also the same kid who wanted to color a second picture and picked out from our "extra picture drawer" David and Goliath. The conversation went something like this:
Me: Who is that?
Ronnie: Goliath
Me: Who's Goliath?
Ronnie: The giant
Me: Who's that? (pointing to David)
Ronnie: The kid
Me: What's the kids name?
Ronnie: (looking a little dumbfounded)......Harold?

Oh boy, we've got some things to learn I guess!

We're headed up to Tennessee to the Fellowship Center this afternoon for a cookout. It should be good- it's usually times like that when I just love being here in Athens. Hope y'all have a good day:)

Well Here She Is, Folks

My new roommate/co-worker/travel partner/young group/etc. etc. etc., Cassie Bertsch. She says she found my blog and checks it now so we'll see if she really does and comments.

Glad you're here Cassie:)

For My Darling Kristi

When Kristi got married and moved to Mexico, I was lucky enough to inherit some of her decorations from Queenwood. I got some of her shelves which then sat on my bedroom floor for two months until my dad came down and hung them for me. Sunday when I was talking to Kristi she said I should put a picture of them, particularly my new vases on my blog so she could see them. So, here they are.

I was pretty excited about my vases. I found them on sale at Kirkland's for like, 15 bucks.

Welp, there ya go, Kristi. I love you!

Take Me To The River

This weekend I went to a director's retreat with Miss Louise. It was at a state park not too far from here. I had to live with a view overlooking the Tennessee River for a couple days. It was rough, let me tell ya:)

I was kind of nervous about going because I really didn't know anyone besides Miss Louise. I'm perfectly fine with getting to know new people but when most of them already know each other it's hard to just jump in and start talking. I'm always afraid I either come across as a snot or painfully shy. So I said a little prayer before hand that maybe I could make a new friend. Well, before supper, they took us out on a pontune boat ride and I saw a girl walk up and thought "That's my new friend." I sat by her on the boat and we started talking. She's a Christian, single, 27, and we had enough in common to keep the conversation going easily. She said how great this was because she had come alone and prayed before she got there that God would give her someone to talk to! I wish I would have gotten a picture of her but nobody else had their cameras out and I didn't want to be the only picture happy person there. But it turned out to be just fine thanks to God and my new friend Teasha:)

After I got home on Saturday I called Jessica. Kerwin's brother's company had the opportunity to do the wiring for an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition house and wanted Kerwin to come help. So him and Sara took off Friday morning and I said I would do something with the girls on Saturday. I ended up with Jessica, Amber and their two neighbor girls, Sydney and Bailey. We had a good time. We went out for pizza and then a free Rush of Fools concert.

The concert was....... loud. I didn't really get into it until about the last song. Probably because that's the song I knew. But the girls had fun and it was something to do. They went up and crowded the state with all the other teeny boppers. I was the fuddy duddy who stayed back to keep watch over our stuff. They were pretty excited after the concert to get their shirts signed, too.

I spent the night at their house with Amber and Jess and brought them to church with me. It was fun playing mom for the day. We had one nearly major catastrophe between Jessica and Emily (she came home from her friends Sunday morning) when they started beating each other up in the middle of the second service. Thankfully Emily was distracted easily with a game of dots. By the time church was out they were all friends again.

Now on a completly different subject, we have a new teacher!!!!! Miss Cassie Bertsch from Bluffton will be moving down here tomorrow and will start working on Tuesday. Just in time too because our enrollment has been exploding. We're not completely full yet, but we're getting there. Our prayer is that we get up to between 30-35 kids. But we are very ready for another set of hands and I'm sure that the set we're getting will do a great job:) Thank You, Jesus!

For Your Viewing Pleasure

I have a stye in my eye. Since my family is not here to see it or to throw me a pity party, I will show it to them on here. I think if feels worse than it looks. I took the pictures and thought "Oh no- everyone's going to think I'm a weenie because it really doesn't look that bad." But let me tell you- it HURTS! I got some drops today and I plan to lay down with a warm washcloth on it here shortly. But I just wanted to see if I could get any sympathy out of the deal before I do that.

Since I'm sure y'all are real intrigued and want to see more, here's a close up for ya.

Kay, ready? 1.....2.....3..... PITY, Pity, pity.

Goodbye Jena, Goodbye

The title of the post is actually stolen from a Babysitters Club book. One of the books in the series is about when Stacey McGill moves from the little town of Stoneybrook, CT to New York City. The title of the book is Goodbye Stacey, Goodbye. And now whenever I tell someone goodbye, that title runs through my head, only with the name of the person I'm saying goodbye to. Yes, I was a hardcore BSC girl. And now I'm in the mood to go to the library and check out some books at start reading through the series again:)
But anyways, Jena left for Purdue right after church today. I really didn't think I would cry. But I did a little. I'm on my own now until a new teacher comes. We did finally get a call from someone who is very willing to come:) It's not official yet, but hopefully it will be sometime this week. Praise God, that's for sure.

The top picture is overlooking the city of Birmingham when we were there visiting a friend. The bottom picture was our Christmas picture, so most people who read this have probably already seen it. But I was a big fan of it so I though it was worth putting up here for all to see again:)

But now she's going back to school. She's only been gone a few hours so I haven't really had the chance to miss her yet but I'm pretty sure I will:)

Just For Angie

After this post, a certain someone can quit complaining that she's never made it on my blog.
My, my- wherever do I begin? I can never remember a time when Angie was not in my life. She is 9 months younger than me, we grew up about 3 miles apart from each other and we are double first cousins. (Moms are sisters and dads are brothers.) I never had a sister before my brother got married, and Angie was a great stand in. There were a lot of times that people thought we really were sisters. Let me see if I can't sit here and come up with a few memories....

Some of these probably mostly just Angie will appreciate, but, as the title of the post says, this is just for Angie anyways so that's okay:)

1.) After persuading our parents to let us spend the night at each others houses after every family get together- (it's like we thought we were being so cool and sneaky- that the parents had no clue we were going to ask EVERY time) if we were at her house her dad would sit us down and tell us "Herman the Mouse" stories. My favorite was the one where Herman was in a helicopter. The helicopter went chopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchop and there were had motions to go with the chopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchop.

2.) Lots and lots and lots of MASH games.

3.) If, while at the aforementioned family gatherings, one of us had to go number 2, the other one would stand in the bathtub that was directly across from the toilet and entertain the one doing her business. Usually by singing, dancing or telling stories. Angie's stories were almost always about a boy named Jonny.

4.) Silent treaments. This is what she did if she was mad at me. I would cry and beg and plead for her to talk to me but she just wouldn't. She was cold and cruel. When she did that I would usually give up after awhile and go play with her sister Erin. Erin was much nicer. I'm scarred for life from those silent treatments.

5.) And rather than tell the story and completely embarrass her, I'll just say one word. Boogers.

Obviously, after a lifetime together, that's nowhere near all the memories. But for the sake of time and for the sake of not boring anyone else, I'll quit with those. Angie is just one of a kind. She has a quirky sense of humor and can always make me laugh (unless she's giving me the silent treatment). She is one of the best friends anyone could ask for, she's doing a great job as a new mom, she sings like and angel, she is super duper creative and she can burp like none other:)

I love you Angie! Now quit complaining that I never talk about you.

Leo Weekend

Went up to Leo this weekend for the sale. It was a good time. I was excited to go because Dustin and Mandy are there now and I could stay with them. Come to find out though, they planned on leaving right after the sale on Saturday for Florida. My aunt, uncle and cousin were out there too so I thought I could just do something with them on Saturday night. But no, they were leaving too. Jena was spending the weekend with her family so I was left to fend for myself. I ended up going to Buffalo Wild Wings on Saturday with a few friends. It was my first BWW experience and it was tasty enough that I would go back. But Sunday morning I had to brave church all by myself. It wasn't too bad though- I survived:) The only picture I got was of me and my cousin Lydia. She's........11 maybe? Going into 6th grade. She's pretty cool- she rode with me to the sale and we spent the day walking around together. It was fun because I don't ever really spend a whole lot of time with her. So despite the rain, we had a good time together.

I tried to get a couple different things but they both went over my budget. One of the things I bid on went $1100 over my budget. Yikes.

My poor car- it makes a terrible noise, but only sometimes. Sometimes I start it up and it's just fine. Sometimes it makes a super loud, shrill, ear drum blasting squeal. It only lasts for about 10 seconds, but boy it's loud. I never know when it's going to squeal, but it's humbling when there's people around to hear it. Sunday after church I said a little prayer that my car would please not squeal in this parking lot full of people. My friends, God decided that the appropriate answer to that prayer was NO! Oh boy, I just wanted to crawl under a rock. But there were no rocks in my car to be crawled under so I just kept my chin up and drove on out of there with a sheepish grin on my face!

Met up with Jena in Ft. Wayne and got back on the road to Alabama. I'm not used to the whole gaining an hour thing and so when we pulled in a little after 9:00 tonight I was very happy.

Did You Know...

"Miss Sarah, my dad says I should never put a plastic bag over my head because I'll get sophisticated."
-Cameron, age 5

Athens Invite????

Well now. Back in March the singles/young couples decided we wanted to plan an Athens Invite. We were really excited about it because we always talk about having one but never really get anywhere. So we set a date and started inviting and planning. Turns out, almost everyone that said they would come at first, didn't. At first it was a little dissapointing, but it turned out okay. See, Kentucky Lake is the Hodel family's favorite vacation spot. And while most of us haven't really been able to go the last couple years, there is one aunt and uncle that still make it. My cousin Jared was here from Denver for the "invite" and it just so happens that his family was in KY for the week. Since we were only a few hours away and he wouldn't be able to go at all otherwise, we decided to skip out on the "invite". And I was excited.

I went up to Tennessee to where Jared was staying- we were planning to stay there and eat supper with the few others that came and then head up to KY. I said "Do your parents know we're coming?" He said that yes, they did. Then someone else said "Do they know that Jake and Tucker are going?" I laughed, and then there was an awkward pause. OH! Well suprise, suprise, suprise. Yes, Jake and Tucker really were going. This was news to me. But it all turned out good and we had a great time. I dropped them off at the Nashville airport this afternoon on my way back to Athens.

We did the normal things we usually do in Kentucky. Lay on rafts, lay on the beach, read books, play a few games, eat a LOT of food, and of course, go out on the boat. Now, me and skiing aren't really the best of friends. It took me about 5 summers before I finally got up on skis and once I did, that was it. I accomplished my goal, I got up on skis, congratulations to me, woo hoo, I don't need to keep skiing. That was about 4 or 5 years ago. Ever since then I have been bugged and bugged by my dad and my uncle Ed to get back out and try. And every year I just sit in the boat and watch others go do their thing. This year, something got into me. I was out with my aunt and uncle and Jared and decided I would just try again. And you know what? I did it!!!!

And it was fun! For my family, who may not believe me, that is really me on those skis. I, Sarah, GOT UP!!!!

For about 20 seconds.

But I did have fun doing it and if I ever make it back to KY, I believe I will try again. It's not a problem of getting up. It's more that once I'm up, I'm too scared to stand so I just let go and make myself fall.

Kristi, we really really really missed you. I kind of felt guilty for your parents sake because I wasn't you and they wanted you there so bad. But we did have fun and....... maybe next year?