Looking Forward!!!

I have BIG news!!!! Yesterday, I received my official ACT score report in the mail!! My composite score is 21. Soooo I passed. :) (I even got a higher score than Maria..hahah...shhhh) What a relief to not have to retake it!

Second news....This morning, I applied to FAFSA and also BJU!!! Now I'm all ready to roll!!! AND I just heard from BOSS that my last day of school is May 8th....in just about 2 weeks! Needless to say, I'm a happy camper!!!

College is coming up soon....But for now, I'm working at Essex, TRYING to save up money...I would love to be able to buy a laptop before I go to college. We'll see. I also want a car, but that's not happening...YET!

Pretty soon, I should be working almost full-time at Essex....I'm hoping really bad that Maria, Jonny, and I can all work the same shift this summer (like 6-2), so we can coordinate our schedules and be together at the same time. That would be AWESOME!!!!!!

I have about 8 more hours of PE to do before May 8th. We've been bikeriding lately, and the other day we went about 10 miles on a beautiful trail nearby! I'm dying to go camping and get outside in the fresh air!!!

Have an awesome day, everyone!!

Whatever! haha

Long time no post....Life is good. Spring break just ended (we only had 3 days off anyhow!). I'm getting my PE hours in, which is great!! I have about 15 more hours to do...And we found a cool bike trail down the road, so I hope to go there on nice, sunny days! :)

I'm reading Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. It's fun to read!! So far, it's been fairly close to the movie, but I'm starting to read some new things that are not in the movie. I've been reading it out-loud to Jacob recently...I love doing that! It's fun, and besides it's good for Jacob to be doing something other than his computer games...I read The Hobbit a loong time ago (can't wait for the new movie to come out!), but this is the first time I've actually gotten into the LOTR trilogy books...

In just a few weeks Maria and Jonny will be home!!!! I'm soo excited, and plus Maria will be working at Essex again, so we'll be working "together"...at least in the same building...we'll probably see each other every now and then. :) it'll be fun! Hopefully we'll work the same shift...I'll most likely be working full-time pretty soon, so....

How was everyone's Easter?? And when do you all finish school? Let's roll, grads of '09!!!! :)

ACT...DONE!!

Yes, I just took the ACT this morning at KSU Salem....It was.....ok. I must be a really slow person, cause I was only able to get through HALF of both the Math and Science tests!! UGH But, I did pretty well on the English and Reading tests I think. At least the whole thing is over with! I canNOT wait to get my results back!!! I'll just DIE if I find out I didn't get a high-enough score....lol

Has anyone else taken the ACT?? If so, how did it go??? (Christina, how was urs????)

Well, I'll give you guys a break and make this post short, so have a great day!! :) Here's a really cool pic too!! These types of nature pics make me want to be a photographer!!!!!

God's Word!!!

Lately, I've been really struggling in my spiritual life....I've been falling back into my old sins and habits....And, honestly, it's all just because I haven't been reading God's Word! I haven't had the peace or joy or closeness to God that I used to have...I remember when God was working enormously in my life, and I felt soooo near to God. I would find myself talking to Him throughout the day about little things even, and I had the highest JOY possible just being in His Word and feeling His love....It was AMAZING!!! But for the past several months, my spiritual life has just been at a stand-still. Yesterday I decided that that was enough....I got right with God once again and finally read His Word for myself in the morning. I confessed and prayed for strength. Then I looked up verses with "delight" in them....It was sooo good to get back into the Bible....I had a pretty good day too yesterday, making an effort to talk to God in my heart...I also wanted to end the day with Him, so when I got into bed at around 10, I turned on my little lamp and opened up my old Bible that sits on my head-board...Then I noticed that I had opened up to the very beginning of Psalms, so I figured I'd read that since I love the Psalms!! I read chapters 4 and 5. They were very appropriate for what I was going through...And this might sound stupid, but I get kinda scared in my room at night...I know, I'm a big sissy! Well, I don't know how to explain it, but when I'm deliberately sinning, I feel like I'm opening up myself to Satan, and then, it's almost like I can feel an evil spirit in my room....And, the dark plus the fact that I'm alone doesn't help. (ok, and it doesn't help that I saw this weird TV thing about an evil spirit in a house....creeepy) BUT God's Word is the best cure!! I went to sleep feeling fairly calm....Actually, I almost fell asleep reading my Bible since it was pretty late AND I was lying down....

Well, this morning I woke up and had my devotions...I read Proverbs 3. (I am terrible at keeping a regular Bible-reading schedule!! help!) I try to take notes whenever I read, so it's easier to remember and understand....I also like to illustrate some of the verses or ideas....so I have these funny little sketches in my notebook ...haha Oh, and I got this brilliant idea of making a macrame choker with the words "mercy and truth" on it....inspiration from verse 3: "Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck..." AND when I read verse 9, I remembered that I need to be giving God tithe since I'm actually making money now! :) God's Word is very practical, you know! I could go on and on about what I learned or just the verses that really stick out to me!!

It really is amazing how much the Bible affects our walk...Never underestimate the power of God's Word!!!!

SCRUBS

I got back from work today and decided to get a pic of my scrubs! So, here you are...Enjoy! oh, and in case you're wondering, I have a little Winnie-the-Pooh shirt peeking out from under my scrub top....It's just a habit to wear something under the scrubs...don't ask why! And I'm wearing my little kitchen cap. :) AND my Kermit the Frog top....hahaha And my weird expression.....

Work today was.....slow....I have soo much to do, and it takes me forever to get everything done!!! ahhhh, stress. lol it's not that bad....I'm soo happy that I work with nice, helpful people. :) Thanks, guys! (even though you don't read this blog...)

Well, that's it for now. I need to get a second top for work soon...This week I only work 2 days, cause I REALLY need to get on the ball with the ACT....I'm soo gonna fail....

Weekend at the Farm

I had an AWESOME weekend!!! Mom, Jake, and I drove up to MI for Grandma's 78th birthday! It was a BLAST!! We stayed with Uncle Ken and Aunt Michelle Deschepper and their three all-country boys (Kenny, Nate, Danny). Their farm is cool! They have lots of land and a pond out back. They've got cattle, steers, turkeys, chickens, dogs, cats, etc. They normally have pigs too. Anyhow, we had a crowd join us for the bday party: Tim and Cheryl Gross, Uncle Mike and Aunt Mary Wiggett, Uncle John and Aunt Debbie Labadie and their kids JD and Nicky, and Uncle Bob and Aunt Marilyn Labadie. It was almost a family reunion!! Just missing three of the Labadie kids and their kids...It was really nice, since we rarely get to see family! :) We're trying to make it a tradition to get everyone together for Grandma's bday! We did this last year too.

Ok, so, some things that we did....Well, we arrived right at supper time on Friday night. We ate, then we hung around and chatted in the living room. Then, we broke up the party and started to work to get the bday meal all ready....I helped peel carrots. But Jacob and Danny were starting to watch The Pacifier, and I really wanted to see it, so Mom told me to go watch it. haha...gotta love moms! :) The Pacifier is HILARIOUS!! After the movie....I can't exactly remember what we did...I probably hung around Danny and Jacob like I always do. Oh, we played 5,000 a lot...That was fun! (you know, like up-for-grabs, where one person throws the football and everyone else tries to catch it...) It was BEAUTIFUL outside!! Danny, Jake, Naters, JD, Nicki, and I ate outside on their porch for most of the meals. The weather was amazing... :) Ok, what else did we do....? Uncle Ken took Danny, Jake, and I to this cool "toy show" at Perry High maybe 20 minutes from them...It was in the gymnasium, and there were a bunch of tables set up with farm toys (mini farm stuff..very cool hobbie!), books, quilts, crafts, candles, the whole caboodle...And what was funny is that as soon as I walked in, I was like, "no way...I totally dreamed about this several weeks ago..." I'm not kidding! I had a pipe dream...weird. Ok, well, when we got back and some more family arrived, we all took turns riding Nate's four-wheeler!! Danny gave us all rides. lol BUT I wanted to drive by myself on it, but I wasn't sure where I could go exactly (their farm's changing a little...they've got new fences up for cattle, so it's different...), so I drove and Danny jumped on behind me. Poor guy, I gave him lots of heart attacks!!! hahah....it was FUN though!! We went back into the woods and into their big fields behind the pond...it was cool!! Then we had Grandma's bday party with Uncle Mike's wonderful cooking (yeah....NOT good for my diet...)!! Grandma was sooooo funny, I wish you guys could have seen her!! She was cracking us all up when she opened her gifts.....She was reeally enjoying herself! :) Then later that night, Danny, Jake, and I watched Africa Screams (Abbott & Costello...Yes, I love them!!)....I was laughing so hard....Good times, good laughs, good cries....

Sheesh, don't let me be so long-winded next time!!

SOS!! I've got this song stuck in my head......

Summary of Job

Phew....Just got back from work, still in my cute Kermit the Frog scrubs. :) Btw, for those who are clueless, I just got hired at Essex, a nursing home down the road...I am a dietary assistant, working in the kitchen. I even get to take myself down in our van! (I LOVE driving) Anyways, so I had 3 days of training with Anna and then Larry, but today I was officially on my own for the first time (wow, I make it sound like SUCH a big deal...haha)

It went pretty well! Mary Jo and Ray were a big help!! They kinda kept me on track, and I rarely looked at my cheat-sheet. No time....lol I BARELY finished everything on time, even with Ray doing some of my work...BUT I'll eventually catch on. Soooo, if you all are interested at all, here's what I do (and sorry, but i'm not gonna explain everything in detail...):
1. Clock IN
2. Put a little "kitchen cap" on (anyone know the name?!)
3. Cut breakfast cards (tells what each resident likes/dislikes/eats/blablabla)
4. Gather/prepare snacks for residents
5. Portion cereals in individual bowls
6. Sweep and mop entire kitchen and stockroom
7. Take out boxes and trash
8. Bring in dinner lids
9. Put drinks on trays
10. Start tray line (Ray dishes up food, I put it on trays and tell him the names/dislikes of residents)
11. Record temps of freezer, milk cooler, two-door fridge
12. Set up breakfast trays for next morning (6 racks of varying amounts of trays--condiments, cereal, silverware, etc.)
13. Help dishwasher with putting clean dishes away
14. Take snacks down to nurses' stations
15. Help make silverware packets
16. Make sure things are closed up for night, lights turned off
17. Clock OUT! (drive home! yippee)

So, there, you have my job in a nutshell! There are a lot of little details to remember, but it'll come with time.

Tomorrow is my first Payday!! :) I think I'll just get paid for orientation, but at least it'll be something!

Oh, AND tomorrow there's a mandatory meeting at Essex at 10 am....And since my mornings are basically free, I'll be there! We just sit there and listen to someone talk and maybe do paperwork, is what they tell me....

Gotta get out of these scrubs! signing off.....