A new location for my thoughts...make a note of it

I am in the process of moving everything from this blog and my other one to a new location. You will still be able to read these, but any new posts will be over here....I wanted to have just one location for everything and this seemed to be the easiest way. Hope to see you over there!

More about Logan...

For any of you who may be interested, click here for daily updates about Logan's missions trip. You will get to see some of the crazy pastors from our church, and learn a little about what is going on in the community where they are serving. Be sure to watch the video for the post titled 'We're on the News!'....watch carefully and you will see Logan in one of the clips. I also just got to see a photo of him doing crafts during VBS with a sweet little boy. He looks as if he is finding joy in serving.

My latest Goodwill finds

The hideous orange dog she just had to have....Some books for Corbin...
A grocery cart....we have one we bought for Emma but for $4.24 I couldn't pass this Little Tikes one up.
A desk for my corner.....hoping to reduce some clutter in the kitchen.

More about Autumn, and Logan's trip

Autumn has gotten her 2nd tooth, and is now working on a 3rd (popping through now) this week. Guess where it is? On the bottom right.....not the top, which is where all of our others' (third tooth) came in. It's strange...guess she's not gonna be one to follow the crowd. Her birth was completely different, her personality was completely different, her development has been completely different....not sure why it still surprises me when she is not doing 'the norm'. =)

Logan is on his 2nd day of his mission trip. We don't have any contact with him but I've been praying for him. We are allowed to send an email, but with the understanding that we won't get a response. They will print it out and give it to him. I think I will send him one today, just to let him know we miss him and are praying for him.

Logan's missions trip is tomorrow....

We drop Logan off at 7:15 a.m. tomorrow for his local missions trip....6 days he will be gone. He will be helping with VBS, among other things, while there. Prayers for our boy are much appreciated. We will give an update once he returns. :)

Saturday Confessions #8

1. I went with my family to an Ikea store today...it blew my mind. I could totally spend a ton of $$$ in there....not that I have a ton to spend. Just sayin'.

2. I took pictures while there...that bloggin' thing ya know, it's with me all the time.

3. My husband and I decided we will need to get someone to keep the kids so we can go back to spend a day there deciding what to get....it's that amazing!

4. The kids' play area and the restaurant were closed today....a boil water order or something. We were taunted throughout the store by signs showing delicious food and low prices. We totally would have eaten some $1.99 pasta! Next time.....

5. After 'the store' we went to Pollo Tropical....only Karl had been before. It was quite delicious and we will be frequenting the one right down the street from us. I love me some Mojo Roast Pork in guava bbq sauce, with rice and beans. And yucca fries? Mmmmm....

6. I am totally in love with the video feature on my new phone and will be using it a lot.....probably annoyingly so. Emma is becoming quite skilled at performing for me. =)

7. I am so tired tonight...should probably go to bed...but I won't. I never do what's best for me, even when I know what it is. (well, maybe not never, but often)

A Thank You From Logan...

We have been meaning to get this letter out to all of you who helped with Logan's SLU trip. He had a great time, learning a lot and meeting some goals...one of which was to ride the coasters at the amusement parks, which he had kind of avoided before. I'm posting it here for those of you who read our blog and I may send it to some of you via email. We are so grateful for your support and prayers!

Dear friends and family,

Thank you for helping with my expenses for the Student Leadership University. I had a lot of fun there, and I learned a lot, too! I’m going to tell you about the silly and serious parts of my trip.

The trip begins in the bus. Almost to our hotel, we were now well acquainted with each other. We started dancing to the music on the radio and the van we were in shook a little. Then we organized a game.

We started shaking the van until it really started tipping. Then we saw the girl’s van in front of us shake. As you can see, even the bus ride was entertaining! Once we got to the hotel, my Pastor, Ryan, told us where to go to get to our rooms, and told us when to be at the conference room. My roommates were named Jim, Trey, and Erik. We went to our rooms and unpacked, and then Jim and I explored the hotel complex.

We went back to our room to get our books and then it was time for the first conference.

I knew one of the speakers, Brent, from a leadership thing I had at church a few months ago. A new speaker was named Dr. Jay Strack.

The first session was about excellence, the Latin word meaning “to rise above”, and mediocrity, which means“to go halfway, and then stop”. Another point was “I’ll miss 100% of the shots that I never take”.

That night, once the session was over and we finished a very, very fancy dinner, Pastor Andy and Bene took us to Target to get snacks and such.

Once that was finished, we returned to our rooms (it was 12:00 am), and slept.

I woke up to a clock alarm and quickly shut it off. Then another alarm went off. Trey, Erik, and Jim woke up to that alarm. Trey tried to figure out which one was going off, and Erik discreetly left to the bathroom.

He returned to Trey getting ready to throw the clock alarm. Erik pressed a button on his phone and the alarm stopped. We all laughed.

We ate breakfast and got on a bus so we could go to Sea World! We learned about relationships that day. I rode on the Manta and Kraken roller coasters, and I was very glad I did. My life did not flash before my eyes. We were going so fast, my life flashed after them!

Once we returned to the hotel, a speaker named Chuck Allen told us a generalization of people’s personalities. D was for dominance. I was for influence. S was for Steadiness. C was for correct. It’s called a DISC personality. Here is a DISC example.

A D walks in a room to move chairs. If you ask him why he’d answer with “because I can.” A few I’s walk in and one says “Let’s everybody move chairs!!!” The rest reply with “Yeah!!!” Two S’s walk in and one says to the other, “I tried to tell them…”

One C walks in and starts directing them all to reason how best they could move chairs.

I thought it was funny. You may not understand, because I’m not explaining it right, maybe.

The next day we had an entire day to ride the coasters in Islands of Adventure. The first thing we did was to dare someone named Caleb to ask for a picture with Mickey Mouse. He did it!

After that we rode the Harry Potter ride. It was fun. After more rides we rode the Hulk. My life did not flash before my eyes. My life did not flash after them. My life flashed before someone else’s eyes!

That night we went to the shop in the hotel complex to get food, and then we sat in the pavilion. Any time someone went by, we would yell “heeeyyy!!” Soon several more people gathered with us and we had lots of fun.

And that was my trip to SLU!

Best regards,

Logan Woerner

Mobile Blogging

I don't know if I've mentioned here that I lost my iPhone recently. Yeah....not cool. We think I dropped it at the theater on Tuesday and someone found it. We were able to turn everything off, changed all our passwords (probably needed to be done anyway), and Karl went out the same afternoon to get me a new phone. So now I have the 4G. There are some cool features but I'm still getting familiar with them all. I tried to blog from my phone before...never could...don't know if it was the phone or just my lack of tech-savvy. But guess what I'm going right now? Yep, I'm blogging from my phone! While I could be using my computer....I mean I am literally sitting right next to it....I had to try this out. I'm just using a FREE, lite version of....well, whatever it's called....but I may pay the $2.99 if I find I like this. There are many times I would like to post something and have to wait until I'm home. Now, I won't have to. Really cool.

And thanks darlin' for the replacement phone....I'll try to make sure I don't lose this one! :{

An impromtu family night out....

Tonight (well technically last night) we headed out to meet some friends at a local park to play sand volleyball. Even though I was not planning to play myself (could be a bit difficult with Autumn in tow in the baby wrap!), I was excited about watching everyone play. ...it's been many years since we used to go play/watch at the beach. However, upon arriving at the park our friends let us know that all 4 of the courts were taken....but we could go to a different location and play. Before we could actually get everyone back in the car and headed over to the new location though, they received a call from another family that was joining us....it was raining 'cats and dogs' at the dog park (heh heh). So, on to plan C, which was for our hosts just to say, "Come on over to our house, we'll do game night instead." Very gracious of them.....

We weren't too sure how it would be. I mean, we were just starting our night out when the babies would normally be going to bed for the night. Plus, a trip to the park meant we brought completely different things with us for the little ones than we would have had we been planning to go to someone's house for a couple of hours. We decided to give it a try anyway, and I'm so glad we did! Autumn, once fed at our friends' home, played sweetly on her blanket on the floor for a while. Emma was given some toddler-friendly Legos to play with and a mesh trash can....she was kept busy with just that....well, and the 10 other kids' antics during the evening! She even sat on Hailey's lap and played one of the games with the big kids. Corbin and the youngest son of our hosts are the same age. When they tired of playing the 'big kid' games they went and started a game of Monopoly....8-year-old-style. When Autumn got bored playing on the floor I held her a while. Emma helped our hostess get snacks and water ready, colored a bit (and not even on the floor like I was worried she would!), and generally just wandered around inspecting everyone, making friends. She's a bit of a social butterfly. =) Autumn was perfectly content to hang out with me while I talked with the grownups. It was really nice to spend some time with friends, meet some new folks, and watch the kids in action with their friends.....

I'm glad we gave it a try, and I think we've proven to ourselves now that we can be at least a little bit spontaneous.....what's the worst that could happen? Maybe the real question is, what's the best? I think we found that out tonight.

Many thanks to Michelle and Tim for welcoming us into your home.

Autumn's 9-month checkup

Yesterday was Autumn's 9-month birthday, so today she had her 9-month checkup. Thankfully, she only had to have one shot and was happy for most of the visit, really only crying when they stuck her with the needle. Her weight is 18 lbs. 13 oz and she is 29" tall. The doctor says "She's gonna be a tall girl." Her 2nd tooth finally popped through the gum yesterday and I was told by the doctor today that "the top ones will come through soon." By the end of the visit she was pretty tired so I put her right to bed when we got home. She is sleeping somewhat fitfully, but otherwise is doing well. Next checkup......after her 1st birthday. I can't believe it!