A few new things...

It finally feels like stuff is starting to change and things are happening in life. Does anyone out there know the cycle that I speak of? Months and months will go by with what seems like nothing happening and then all of a sudden everything feels like it's changing!

This weekend we went on a junior youth retreat. We had close to forty 12-13 year olds up at Camp Arnes from Friday evening until Sunday noon. It was a busy weekend (needless to say), but it was also a good time of connecting, reflecting, enjoying nature, learning about God, and, even though it's near the end of the youth group year, learning names. We had the perfect leaders up there with us and the speaker was also a God-send. Last year, Nathan planned the retreat and spoke. This year, we were smarter and brought along Dan Derksen from Winkler EMMC to do the speaking. Much smarter!

When we got home from the retreat, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the entire world had exploded into a green, alive place. While we were gone, grass grew, trees budded, and the world became alive again. It was wonderful to come home to. This is my favorite time of year...

A couple weeks ago, I was invited to apply for a full time position doing reception at the company I am with. It was pretty much the exact job that I've been doing since September (and last winter) but it would be full time hours instead of half time. I thought about it and prayed about it alot and in the end decided that summer was just too important to me and working full time just wouldn't be worth the extra $$. That same afternoon that I declined the job, a friend of ours, Dwight, came by and asked if I would be interested in doing paperwork at the lumber yard where he is the manager. What a great answer to prayer! I hadn't really wanted to be done working all together, but wasn't really excited to be job-hunting either. The interesting thing about this turn of events, is that I'd often thought that it would be fun to work at a place like that, doing paperwork (like I am) or other. Now, my hours are super-flexible, I'm working with a bunch of guys who are very funny to listen to, and I enjoy the work. I started last week, and today was my 3rd day. God is so good!

Today, Nathan and I also took Lennox to the vet. The time had come for him to...umm...become neutral. He went in quite excited about the new place and came out slightly less excited. He has been sleeping and hardly moving since we brought him home. I suppose that is to be expected...

So that is life around here. No huge changes happening, but just enough to keep us on our toes and keep things interesting. It's a good thing too...we were beginning to get restless...

Whew...haven't posted since March, eh?

As I was going through the blogs that I regularly read, I realized that I everyone has posted at least once since the last time I did! I'm getting pretty bad at this. Oh well...when you don't have internet at home, it makes for a good excuse.


Easter weekend was good here in Altona. Nathan's parents and brother and their dog, Sheila, were out for the weekend. It was a short trip, but it was good. It was fun to watch the two dogs play and determine who was dominant. (Most of you can probably picture what that looked like!) The black dog in the picture us our Lennox and the golden retriever is Sheila. They look very calm and well-behaved in this picture, but they had food being dangled in front of their noses. We can count on one hand the amount of hours when they were completely calm through the weekend (except for sleeping). It was alot of fun though. Don't they look great together?

My Creative Memories business is kinda having a slow start. It's been fun, but I definitely haven't reached the "out of the investment hole" mark. It's coming, but it might be a while. I have another Get Together later this month, so maybe that one will help me out a little bit!

A couple weeks ago, I had a consultation with an oral surgeon...has anyone out there ever had their wisdom teeth out? How was it? Nathan was out of commission for at least 3-4 days when he had his out. Other people say they were back to work the next day. I am being put completely under when they do it because they have to cut them out, not just pull them. I'm not terribly excited about it at all. And cost...it is stinkin' expensive to have anyone even look into your mouth these days! We have insurance but how can the insurance company top out at $1000/calendar year? My wisdom teeth alone are supposed to cost $1650! So now we're trying to decide if we can wait until next year and start saving now! It's not like they're a real huge problem so I have a hard time spending that kind of money on it, but Nathan keeps reminding me that it's better to do it now than when we have kids and I'm 40 and we don't have the money and it's harder to take them. I guess. Ick!