School here I come

Back in October/November I learned that I had been accepted into a parternship program between Trinity Bible College and the University of Wales. I have been accepted to a long distance learning program that will allow me to receive my Masters in Theology. They are graciously accepting by BA in Accounting and my many years of youth work as a substitute for a BA in Theology. There will be some basic Theology classes that I will need to take but otherwise I should be well on my way. I start in April and am getting pretty anxious about it. You know I wasn't very good at school the first time around; I joke that UWF gave me my accounting degree out of pity & to get me out of there. I know this time will be different, but that doesn't keep the butterflys from coming around.

For my birthday Kevin bought me a new desk (as a way of showing support & encouragement). The landlord of the house has agreed to put a wall between the living room and the dining room since I will be using the dining room as my office. It is amazing how things keep coming together...

Tonight I shared with my UK youth group what my future plans held. They were amazed. I have to admit I am amazed at times that God would trust me enough to place this calling on my life. I want to learn more & more about Him, about the Bible (His Love Letter to us), and how to work in ministry. I am not sure what all of the future holds, but I do know I am going in the right direction.

Please pray for me that I will keep the faith, I will trust God, and I will stay focused on the prize. Pray for my family, that I don't become too overwhelmed to be the mom & wife I am called to be first and foremost. I just keep reminding myself that with God, all things are possible. You know I preached that on a weekly basis to the youth back at Willow Hill, now I get to actually put it into practice.

I promise to keep you informed of my progress. Right now all the paperwork is complete, scholarships funded, remaining payment made, office setup - just waiting for the final green light (April).

Ready, set, wait...

Nintendo DS

How come a 4 year old and an 8 year old can figure out how to work this little machine, when I couldn't even figure out how to turn it on. I have finally mastered turning it on, inserting a game, communicating with the 2nd DS in the house, and playing some games (at a very low level of course)... but my kids, there is no stopping them. Kevin & I will walk by their bedrooms at night to see this funny glow under the covers... you guessed it, is the DS they are playing. I have even resorted to buying extra games for them from ebay. Wow, this was a pretty amazing Christmas present. Thanks Granny & Popper!

Switzerland 2007

You know, Kevin & I have been asked many times what our dream vacation would be and we always said skiing in Switzerland. Well, now we have lived the dream and can only hope we can live it many more times. Switzerland was awesome. The views were breath taking, the weather was cold but great, the snow was awesome, and no one got hurt - yeah!

Since we were not going home to the US for Christmas we decided to live our dream & along the way were able to invite some wonderful new friends we have - the Hunters (Paul, Claire, Hannah, and Emily). Kevin found a great apartment in Interlaken owned by the Schwizi's. It was a 4 bedroom, 2-1/2 bath apartment with a fully stocked kitchen and a washing machine. There was a fireplace and a beautiful view out of all the windows. Did I mention breath-taking...

Since we had a stocked kitchen, Claire & I had decided we would try to cook as many meals as possible. With that in mind, I needed to buy lots of food before we left. So on travel day, I left for Tesco's at 4:30 in the morning. Hardly any traffic I made it in record time, got a fabulous parking spot, and decided to start the day off right - with a Diet Coke. That is when I realized to my horror, I did not have my wallet. So I had to drive all the way back home to get my wallet, only to find Kevin up watching a football game on tv (grrrr), I drive back to Tesco, make the necessary purchases, and head home to finish packing.

We get the families divided between the 2 cars, get all items necessary packed, and head off on our adventure. What Kevin did not take into account when planning the needed travel time, was this is a major holiday week/weekend. It seemed everyone in the UK was on the roads. But finally, we made it to the car ferry, loaded the cars, and found our seat for the 1+ hour tour. Cathy got a little sea sick but was able to drive once her feet were back on solid ground. We spent the night in a quaint hotel, got up bright & early, took an extra tour of the village before finding the McDonald's for breakfast, and then were off to Switzerland. Many hours later we arrived at our apartment & it seemed like heaven. It was dark, we were all tired, so we did as little as possible before sending everyone off to bed. The surprise would be in the morning...

Once day light hit we were able to see just how beautiful our surroundings were. WOW, what an amazing sight. But no time to enjoy that, we have to get off to skiing. But before we can go skiing we need skis... Once that was finally done, we were off to go skiing - but not until we ate some lunch (priorities you know). The place we had planned to ski had many options for eating, but we decided to enjoy the views and eat outside. Now I know that sounds crazy when you consider the weather was -10C, but it was actually quite warm ~ the sun was shinning, your dressed in plenty of layers, and you just want to enjoy it.

See next posting for more...

Switzlerand 2007 and Night Sledging

We decided we would like to go night sledging as a group - 4 adults and 4 kids. Now Sophie was with Kevin and the rest of us went on our own. There is NO light other than the moon and the little glow stick on the back of the person in front of you. The guide kept saying that your eyes will adjust to the moon light & you will be able to see just fine, well my eyes never adjusted. The sledge run is about 8 feet wide which isn't very wide in the night time. On one side you have the mountain and on the other side you have the straight drop down to the bottom plus some trees (to slow down your drop). If I had known what it was to be like before we went, I would not have allowed my girls to go. It was very nerve racking. We had a guide in front and about 12 of us following behind in single file. The only problem is when you can't get going and the people in front are taking off without you. There comes a point when you can no longer see the little green light - it can be a little unnerving. Even more unnerving is when Brittney & I got seperated from the pack and then she got going too fast for me to see her little green light. I found myself praying the entire way down (if I hadn't been praying I would have been cursing).

We were almost to the bottom and I could hear Sophie screaming at the top of her lungs - and make no mistake about it, this was not a scream of delight. She & Kevin had been running along at a pretty good pace when he hit an ice patch & flipped the sledge. She & Kevin went flying. She got up telling her dad off in a big way - she told him that he was FIRED and she would find another way down. Mom to the rescue, I walked her the rest of the way down (which wasn't much more).

The end to the evening was cheese fondue. It was so good. The kids weren't too impressed with the fondue so it left even more for us starving adults. The kids (& adults) were hoping for some chocolate fondue, but no such luck.

At the end of it all, I can say I have been night sledging and I will probably never do it again.

Switzerland 2007 and the Ice Castle

For Christmas we took an hour train ride to the top of Europe called Jungfrau. The girls and I got to enjoy the side affects of altitude sickness - not all of the side affects like upset stomach but irritability, lethargic, very short of breath, you name it. Brittney started to adjust after a short nap (see picture below) but Sophie didn't enjoy the experience much. It was pretty amazing to realize altitude sickness is for real, but the minute we got down to the bottom of the mountain we were all back to "normal"...

The girls weren't too impressed with all of the outside views ~ they were pretty amazing from the top of this mountain, but the Ice Palace was pretty awesome. It was like an igloo on steroids. The entire place is made out of ice. There are tunnels, ice sculptures, you name it. Kevin enjoyed sliding on the floor like he was ice skating. It was pretty amazing but VERY cold inside the Ice Palace.

To end the day we came back to the apartment and had Christmas dinner all together. Then we played UK Monopoly, Battleship, and watched a Scooby Doo movie. It was a pretty awesome day! Great memories

Switzerland 2007 and Sophie

Sophie wasn't too much into the skiing - too cold she says - but she enjoyed the snow otherwise... Between the 4 adults and 3 other kids, we took turns playing in the snow with her and sitting in a warm restaurant. We brought some coloring, but she was also known to sleep in her long johns in the restaurant. She always was a good sport though. She wanted to make sure everyone else was having a good time. She made some snow angels, lots of snow balls (for throwing at Hannah), and enjoyed tasting the fresh snow. She would play for awhile outside, but the call of hot chocolate, fresh french fries, and inside warmth became too strong to resist at times...

You know, even now Sophie still talks about skiing as if she actually did enjoy it and based on the smiles above (and in many more pictures) I am confident she had a good time. But that shouldn't surprise me, she is my little bundle of happy energy. She wakes up smiling, goes to bed smiling, and smiles most every moment of the day. I think within a few years she & her sister will be skiing down the slopes together, but until then, she is content playing in the snow.

Switzerland 2007 and Brittney

Now Brittney was a natural when it comes to skiing. She is her dad's little girl so I'm not sure why I was so surprised. After the first 2 days of reviewing the skiing basics with her dad and playing in the snow a little more than skiing, she was ready to hit the slopes full force. My fondest memory is of skiing all day Thursday with her. We would take turns leading the way down the slopes - she would follow me sometimes and I would follow her other times. Now make no bones about it, she was very comfortable on those skis and fear was just NOT a factor. She mastered stopping on command and soon was a force to be recognized on the slopes. It became a game to see who could get down the slope the fastest and with the fewest falls (she usually won). By the end of the week she was even doing jumps on the slopes ~ mom wasn't as impressed with that idea as dad was.

On Thursday we were skiing as a family (minus Sophie) down a slope multiple times. We had gotten very familiar with it, so we weren't staying as close together and stopping as much on it as earlier in the day. Well my heart stopped at one point when Brittney goes zooming by me and I realize she is going too fast to make the turn to stay on our slope and is about to enter the "intermediate" slope (in Switzerland, the beginner slopes are like the intermediate slopes in the states and the intermediate slopes in Switzerland are even more advanced...). I turned to Kevin to say you better get her! Once Kevin catches up with her, they take a mini rest, and I continued down on the easier slope to watch them from the bottom of the huge drop. I was very glad to see Dad came to his senses & made her take off her skis and slide down to me. Brittney, was NOT very fond of this idea. She gave us both an ear full, even after looking back up the vertical drop she would have had to ski. She was convinced she could have done it and if the truth be told, she might could have (but remember we are just coming off of 2 broken arms). She quickly told us that did NOT count as a fall and she would see us at the bottom of the slope. She put her skis on, pointed her skis down the slope, and never looked back. You know, I think we might have created a monster.