Pet Therapy

Animals have a way of accepting without qualification. They don't care how a person looks or what they say. An animal's acceptance is nonjudgmental, forgiving, and uncomplicated by the psychological games people often play. They accept you the way you are. Their love is unconditional.

Dollia, the chubby cream colored cat (referred to by the Kraft family as "Fat Louie" ha ha) was my daughter's best friend. She told Dollia all her secrets... about how hard it was to grow up, about how mean the girls at school were, about how hard it was to be one of the only sweet Christian girls in junior high, while the others were going to drinking parties and being promiscuous. She loved that cat, and was devastated when we had to have her put to sleep in 2005. As a momma, it broke my heart to watch my daughter grieve for her best friend, which happened to be a cat. At that moment I didn't truly think that we could ever have another indoor pet. Losing Dollia was too hard, emotionally... and while I was sad, I was tired of my house not being my own. If my husband bought me flowers... I'd catch the cat on the table chewing on the leaves, if I had something pretty on the coffee table- the cat would knock it down. It just seemed like having a pet in the house was a total hassle.

My feelings about all this changed last year when I started thinking about getting a puppy. Normally I wouldn't have even had these thoughts... but my kids were growing up and it was becoming glaringly evident that they didn't need their momma as much as she needed them. I knew I had no choice but to accept that, since it's part of the normal progression of raising children - they're gonna leave the nest eventually! Well, the thought of this started to cause me no small amount of stress. I NEED my kids. I love to care for them, nurture them, love on them... only problem is - a 15 year old boy (man-child) doesn't exactly appreciate these things from his momma at this point in his life. When my son was a little guy, he gave me the best hugs and always told me he loved me. Even up to 5th grade he hugged me when I dropped him off for school. My heart soaaared! Well times have changed... and I'll take whatever hugs I can force out of him and the grunts I get in response to my "I love you's." That's where my precious fuzzy baby comes in.

March 2008 I began looking at puppies online. I thought I wanted a tea cup Yorkie, but a friend of my daughter's advised me to consider a YorkiePoo (Yorkshire Terrier/Poodle). Coincidentally, there was an ad in the paper for a litter of YorkiePoos from a local breeder. I called and drove about 30 miles to take a look at the only girl in the litter. She was precious!! Goodness, my heart just melted when I picked up the round, fuzzy little 2 pound bundle of love with the shiny brown eyes. Could you resist this?

Well I couldn't either... so I put a down payment on her and waited very impatiently for her to turn 8 weeks old so I could bring her home. Everyone loved her. Even her big sister, Trixie (who became a prison dog as a puppy- it's said that pets cut down aggression in the inmates ~ they taught her not to bark, to sit, to shake, etc. She was adopted from an animal shelter when she was 2 years old, we adopted her when she was about 3)

Having Sugar in the house seemed to bring our family closer together, I was especially fond of my fuzzy pup... I never expected to get so much love from such a tiny creature, we spent lots of time together, even though I was still actively running my soap business. Shoogie helped:

She went to softball games

And track meets

She even went on our Rocky Mountain vacation with us

Ah, yes... she was quite popular wherever we went and everyone wanted to know about our little YorkiePoo


When we first brought her home and she cried all night, and during the potty training process I wondered if I had made a mistake... but once we got through those adjustments, I realized that this precious pup was exactly what I needed. She snuggles with me at night when my husband's away on business, She always has hugs and kisses for me, she always loves me. In the midst of raising teenagers, often being the only parent home, running a business and dealing with the every day struggles of life ... something strange happened. I felt LESS stressed and more relaxed. Unbelievable! This tiny puppy gave me a new purpose in life... something to focus my attention on... but more than that - she gave me unconditional love.

I know people that aren't animal lovers can never comprehend how deep human/pet relationships can go, but I say they're missing out. Maybe one day those people will find themselves in need of a companion and they'll change their minds about pets. I know I did and I just can't imagine how I ever lived without this little doll. She has such personality, and so much love. It's so sweet how she comforts me when I'm sad and even how she drops her toys on my face trying to get me to play with her when I'm on the floor trying to exercise. She always likes my attention. She needs me and I need her. Win win. Now that's what I call pet therapy!

It turns out that having a pet is even good for your health! Here are some facts about the benefits of owning a pet, I found this to be really interesting:

• Pet owners have lower triglyceride and cholesterol levels than non-owners
• Companionship of pets (particularly dogs) helps children in families adjust better to the serious illness and death of a parent
• Pet owners feel less afraid of being a victim of crime when walking with a dog or sharing a residence with a dog.
• Pet owners have fewer minor health problems
• Pet owners have better psychological well-being
• Contact with pets develops nurturing behavior in children who may grow to be more nurturing adults
• Pet owners have a higher on-year survival rates following coronary heart disease
• Medication costs dropped from an average of $3.80 per patient per day to just $1.18 per patient per day in new nursing home facilities in New York, Missouri and Texas that have animals and plants as an integral part of the environment.
• Pet owners have better physical health due to exercise with their pets.
• Having a pet may decrease heart attack mortality by 3%. This translates into 30,000 lives saved annually
• Dogs are preventive and therapeutic measures against everyday stress
• Pets decrease feeling of loneliness and isolation
• Positive self-esteem of children is enhanced by owning a pet.
• Children's cognitive development can be enhanced by owning a pet.
• 70% of families surveyed reported an increase in family happiness and fun subsequent to pet acquisition.
• Children owning pets are more involved in activities such as sports, hobbies, clubs or chores.
  

Ok... go hug your pet, it's good for your health! :)

A Move, A Funeral, and Pound Plunge

Things have been rather eventful around here. It was nice to have last week just to rest and recover from the rough week before. I know I've posted on my anxiety about "baby girl" moving out for college... but the day finally came. Ciara moved into one of the dorms on campus on Monday, Jan. 11th.

My girl at "HER place"

It was quite a process going through 2 closets and sorting through all the stuff she's dragged around for the last 18 years. I couldn't help but get teary when I discovered things like the diary that she wrote in after her best friend (pet cat Dollia) was put to sleep. It was heart wrenching as she poured her heart onto these pages about the pain and loss she felt when she had to say goodbye to her kitty. There were also photos of old boyfriends, clothes that never got worn or were worn out, and lots more! We hauled off 3 large bags of trash and a couple boxes of items for Goodwill. She gave some fun things to her little cousin Abbi who reacted as if she'd won the lottery! So the big day finally came and we loaded up the Luke's Tacoma and the entire back of Trailblazer. It all fit! Yay! We made it in one trip. Thankfully the weather cooperated and it took us only about 2 hours to get everything moved in. Luke went back to work and Ciara and I got busy setting up her room. She is in a double with no room mate so she has a bit more space. The room is super cute and she was pleased with it all (except for community bathrooms) About 6 or 7 hours later I hugged my grown daughter and headed back home. I think I was too tired to really think about what this all meant when I got the call from Mom.

As I traveled back to the house I got a call from Mom. Grandma wasn't doing well... again. We had been through this half a dozen times before. We knew that Grandma was going downhill fast with her Alzheimers, but I just don't really think anyone would have guessed even a couple months ago that we would have to say goodbye so soon. Grandma fought... but took her last breath Monday, January 11th at 11:15 p.m. So I moved my daughter out of the house, then received news of Grandma's passing all in the same day. I don't really think I had the opportunity to process all this. The rest of that week was a blur. Of course Ciara didn't wanna be at the dorms by herself with the sad news and all the family gathering - so she came home and stayed. We hosted my cousin's family and my brother's family for the funeral and spent lots of quality time with extended family. It was hard to say goodbye to Grandma, but good to reconnect with family we hadn't seen in so long. I pray that with Grandma gone this family will tighten up long term and enjoy one another. If the family stays close that would really honor Grandma's memory, so I hope we can all make that happen.

The Wolf Grandchildren - well, most of us. :)

So the same week as all this was going on - pound plunge began. This is a city wide program with the purpose of dropping pounds. Teams of 4 are formed and everyone gets serious about losing weight and being healthy - then we weigh in individually once a week. Stress and funerals aren't great for weight loss, so I really only began my process the following week. According to my scale I've lost close to 5 pounds last week - but for some reason (the scales not all being calibrated the same at weigh in?) they said I only lost just under 3. Oh well... a loss is a loss and my total is now at close to the 10# mark. I had already begun healthy eating and exercising a couple of months prior to pound plunge so I feel like that helped. It's hard to say "I better not" when someone wants Freddy's Frozen Custard. UGH. I can still have things like that in small doses once in a while - but yesterday was Sugar's birthday

Shoogie ready to "blow out her candles and eat that puppy cake!

and I ate a cupcake (a chocolate human type one) and scoop of vanilla ice cream so that was it for me for the week. It's strange how you train your brain to calculate that kinda stuff and make good decisions about what not to eat. I really think I've finally found a good method with the Mayo Clinic Healthy Eating Pyramid (http://www.mayoclinic.com/ ) No restrictions on food, only quantities. I like it.

Well...it's about time for bed and tomorrow is another work day, so I spose I should close for now. Please pray for college girl as she learns to live on her own and also as she has started seeing someone new. (they're not calling it dating yet) My guess is that spending time with a certain cute guy will make her adjustment just a bit easier. ;)

Until next time...

California Dreamin'

Santa Monica Beach

I have been dreamin' about a family vacation like this since my kids were too little to even consider taking along on a vacation! When Ciara was young, she carried on about wanting to go to Disney World. We told her that when she was 10 we would go to Disney. Well... we're nearly 8 years past that promise and now her and I both get sick on rides at the amusement park (bummer) - so when the opportunity came up for the kids and I to join Luke on business and mix in a little family fun in the sun... we jumped on it! If we wait much longer, our precious grown up daughter will be too busy living her own life to join us on such a trip. Brandon and Ciara have never flewn on an airplane or seen the ocean... so we're gonna wrap it all up this go around and I can't wait!! Luke's travel schedule has been horrible the last few months. I feel like we've barely seen him. He's been flying all over takin' care of business for his ever growing division. (that's another post all together!) He will attend 2 meetings while we're in California, but we can handle that - there will be things the kids and I can do to occupy our time in sunny California until Big Daddy can join us. :)

We will leave Wed. a.m. (that's tomorrow!!!!) and drive to Denver, Colo. where we'll catch a 3:15 flight into Los Angelos. That would be enough travel for one day, but once we arrive in L.A. we'll take a rental car down Pacific Coast Highway and go on into San Diego where Luke will have a meeting on thursday a.m. Once that's done, it's Sea World. Should be a fantastic time. I checked the show schedule and it looks incredible! We are gonna try to get in some beach time too. Then on Friday a.m. we drive back into L.A. where Luke will drop us off in the Santa Monica Boulevard area to hang out while he gets his meeting there out of the way. I'm sure we'll find plenty to while we wait for him... what with the pier and beach right there and shopping galore! After the meeting we'll hook up for lunch and then spend the day sight seeing. Each of the kids picked one BIG thing that they wanna do. Brandon wants to go to the Getty Villa Museum which is a Greek and Roman Museum, Ciara wants to check out Santee Alley which is supposed to be pretty incredible shopping. Also on the list of things to check out are Rodeo Drive, Hollywood Sign, China Plaza, and Venice Beach. I hope we can squeeze it all into a day! :) Doesn't it sound fun??!! The girls wanted to go on a celebrity home tour - but I don't think the guys will go for it. Maybe we'll get lucky and see a celebrity or 2 out and about on our L.A. exploration. That would just be too cool! Saturday morning we catch an early flight out of L.A. back into Denver - hop into the hespe mobile and head for Larkspur, Colorado where we'll take in a Renaissance Festival. I think the whole family will will be highly entertained by that activity! We'll rest Saturday night in a hotel in Castle Rock then once we're up and about Sunday morning we are homeward bound.

We've never taken a vacation like this before - could be a once in a life time for all 4 of us... so I'm really excited about this precious time together experiencing something new. My cousin is staying at the house with little Shoogsie and taking care of the house and outdoor pets. I'm so thankful! Now we can just enjoy our getaway. Please pray for our safety and with a shutterbug like me... you can count on lots of photos when we get back!! Until next time... PEACE OUT!

"The Whirlwind" - warning: long post

It feels good to be back on blogger!! It's been so long since I've been able to enjoy reading updates on my friends and family and sharing about what our family has been up to. I could have shared so much along the way... but to catch up on everything now would be impossible, too much has happened since my last post (May 14th!) . So... I will share bits and pieces of the whirlwind, but apologize in advance for the length of this update. That's what happens when you go a whole month without posting! :) So.....

Ciara graduated on May 16th and it was a great day! Her reception was really nice and we were blessed to have so much family there to help us celebrate. Here are a few photos of the graduate:

Mama steals a photo with the grad before the ceremony

Diploma in hand... she's a happy girl!

Our family at the reception

Ciara and her cake

Most of our out of town relatives left Sunday afternoon, then on Wednesday night my uncle and cousins from Nebraska came for a visit as they passed through on their way to Colorado. It was fun catching up with them, and I'm so disappointed that I didn't even get a picture of the adorable twins, Parker and Sienna. Guess I was too busy to think about it! ha ha.

Memorial weekend Luke and Brandon went golfing with a couple of my uncles and had a good time. The girls went shopping with Grandma Barbie. Well... Luke was running errands around town and called to announce that "there are the cutest puppies in front of the Orscheln Store." Oh geesh, do we need a puppy? So he tells me all about them and convinces me to go over and look at them. CUTE CUTE CUTE. This litter of pups was an accident and it was obvious that the owner could barely take care of the parents of these pups much less the 10 new arrivals that were 8 weeks old. Blue Heeler/Doberman mix. We chose a female. The thought process on the new pup was that our big outside dog, Trixie (the australian shepherd/border collie) needed a companion. She always looks so lonely and we thought a puppy would bring new meaning to her life and someone to snuggle with and play with. Enter "Snickers".

Just after we brought Snickers home, the big day finally rolled around - the day that I would transfer ownership of my Soap business. On May 27th the new owner came down from Colorado Springs to do some training. We trained Wed, Thurs, and Friday. We really did have a lot of fun. Jessica is a wonderful person and I feel like this was more than a business deal... I made a good friend! :) At the end of the day on Friday we began packing everything up. Digital scale, stick blender, oils, butters, fragrances. WHEW! There was a lot of stuff!! I put in close to 40 hours in 3 days down in the soap shop, but it was worth it. Luke and the kids helped me carry all those boxes up the stairs and into the garage so it would be ready to load when the new owners got here with the U-Haul. We had some fantastic team work going. I packed up the final items from the store room and we hauled it all out. We took a few pix along the way to document this huge life change.


Silly fun in the soap shop - I took this picture of us :)

The new owners pack their first internet order


The family is ready to go!


Going, going, GONE!

I am truly enjoying the freedom of not being the boss and making all the decisions. I find myself more relaxed and my home cleaner. The family is even being fed more organized meals, which I think they're enjoying. :) We turned the soap shop into a hobby room and it looks great. We're looking forward to hours of fun down there scrap booking and whatever else we feel like. Hey, maybe I'll finally get that quilt made for our bed that I bought the fabric for 3 months ago! :)

Back to the Snickers story... it turns out that Trixie didn't view Snickers as a companion, but rather a nuisance. She was jealous that we paid attention to Snickers - and while she did play with (tolerate) the puppy some... she mostly just ran off to do her own thing as usual and left the puppy barking/whining - which of course got the little indoor dog, Sugar, barking and whining. UGH. Things weren't working out. So, we got lucky and were able to move Snickers to the farm with my little cousins. She will be loved there, no doubt and seems to be very happy.

So what's next? I have interviewed for a part time administrative assistant position at FHSU, and should find out in the next few days if I'm employed. :) Luke is performing the wedding ceremony for my cousin and her fiance' this coming Saturday, so we will be at an out of town wedding. It's always fun to be with family, so that should be a good time! What's really special is that Jessica was our little miniature bride at OUR wedding. Oh how the time flies!! Then... on June 24th our family leaves for a MUCH needed vacation. We will drive to Denver and fly into Los Angelos. Spending some time in San Diego and LA... then finishing the trip by taking in the Renaissance Festival in Larkspur, Colorado and staying the nite in Castle Rock, nearby. Sunday we'll drive home and I'll have more to share! Can't wait. But until then... we'll enjoy our new 20 foot above ground pool. I'll leave you with one last photo until next time. Hope you're enjoying your summer too! :)

Full plate... isn't God great?

Ok, so it's 5:19 and I've been awake for about half an hour already. I woke up after having yet another bizarro dream. (this time someone had put their car in the ditch right outside my front door... I saw a guy approaching our home for help but I could see he was afraid of our dog - so I greeted him and immediately realized that there was something unusual about him. About that time - a small glowing open top bus appears in the wheat field across the road, people climb on and it vanishes into thin air.) I was glad to wake up to a shifting puppy so that I didn't have to be beamed up with this guy to some unknown dimension of the universe. ha ha. Please don't judge... I can't help that I dream this ridiculous stuff!! ;) This happens when I am exhausted. UGH... I really hate it. It's like my brain just won't stop.

Luke is, of course, out of town... so I'm lyin' in bed with my little fuzzy baby, Shoogs - and just thinkin' about all the things I need to do, how this will work out, how that will work out... wondering if it will rain Friday so that we can't set up for the reception early, etc. Then come the songs... I'm singing the songs in my head that I've heard the kids practicing for the last several weeks and that they performed last weekend at their dinner show. *sigh* Goodness, I wish I could be still. So then out of nowhere the song shifts, "I love you Lord, and I lift my voice... to worship you... oh my soul, rejoice. Take joy my King - in what you hear... may it be a sweet sweet sound... in your ear." I began to think about how my God is big enough to remove all this anxiety and just began to pray and ask Him to take it all away and to let my mind be still and my body be rested.

Still can't sleep - so here I am!!I open up my computer and realize that I hadn't closed out the last internet page I was on yesterday. I had typed in the search, "how much ham do I need to feed 100 people?" (decided to simplify my life and serve sandwiches at the reception rather than BBQ when we got home - great idea from my parents!!!) So the page displayed on my computer is from a cooking forum and I think, "oh yeah, I never did find the answer to how much ham I would need." I scroll down the page searching... and wouldn't you know that this is what I found:

"My plate may be full, but my cup runneth over"

Isn't that the truth? Someone had put this at the end of their post and it was given to me this morning as a reminder. Thanks, Lord!! :) My cup does run over. If you wanted to pray for me also, that would really be fantastic!

Have a great day everyone... I'm gonna spend mine reminding myself that I'm too blessed to be stressed. ;)

A Potpourri...

Shoogie had me up at 6:30 a.m. this morning, then I couldn't go back to sleep. So I laid there and thought about everything and after half an hour decided to just get up and get on with my day. I haven't been able to blog lately since things have been so wild around my house, but I've been thinking about you all and wondering what you've been up to! You probably thought I dropped off the face of the planet, but No... I'm still kickin'!! Here's what's been goin' on... it's a varitable potpourri!

April 4th the kids had Prom. They looked stunning! I was proud. :)



April 9th, Brandon is happy because he got a new 16 gb Zune for his 15th birthday. Goodness, my baby's growin' up... where does the time go?



Brandon had his cousin/best buddy Robbie stay the night for his birthday, they always have an awesome time together. They're a little crazy.



This is his handsome/distinguished look. ha ha. and the Strawberry cake he requested.




The next day... the boys saw Ciara doing yoga so they thought they'd give it a try. We nearly wet ourselves laughing at those two. What a couple of nuts!! As you can see they are highly entertaining.





A couple weeks later (April 21st) was my honey man's birthday. It was a fun day. He got a lot of nice gifts from me and the kids... but I think his favorite TOY was the Garmin GPS I got him. He travels a lot and is in new places all the time, so it just seemed like the thing to do. Of course we had to use it that night already and see if it worked. It's a woman's voice... Ciara and I named her Sha nay nay. ha ha. Don'tchya love it?





He really enjoyed his black cherry pie and vanilla ice cream too... as you can see.




After the festivities at home, Sha nay nay helped us find our way to the miniature golf course for a round. Here's daddy and the babies.

There were gorgeous trees in bloom, so Ciara and I stopped for a pic. :) It was an absolutely beautiful day. 88 degrees, then cooled down just enough in the evening. We really soaked it up!

And here we all are in the cave on the 18th hole. Someone always has to do something weird or out of the ordinary when we take pictures, most often it's Brandon.

I loved the reflections in the water at the minature golf course. It was a perfect evening and we all thoroughly enjoyed soakin' up some fresh air and sunshine.

Oh geesh, after minature golf we went to Wal-mart for a few things. I lost the boys, so I hunted them down and here's what I found! :D

The Wal-mart cowboys crossing swords. Too funny!

That night it rained, and into the next day. Then when it finally stopped I saw a rainbow out my bay window. I kinda felt like it was meant for me. Promise.

Does this look like a great spot for labor and delivery or what?! See the box under the counter, right behind the ladder? This is where Bonnie decided she would bring her new babies into the world. Looks like a good spot to me - a box full of shredded cardboard. :)

Whenever one of our Momma's has babies, all the other farm cats need to come by for a visit and check things out. Here is "VanHalen" (Brandon named him, haha) checkin' out the scene. :)

This is Bonnie, the new momma. Isn't she pretty? This is her second litter, she's a really good Mommy.

This is Bonnie's "sister", Calypso. Both girls came from my Grandpa's farm when we found ourselves without any females. Turns out she's a new mommy too, but we haven't found her babies yet. Funny thing... Calypso has babies that look like Bonnie and Bonnie has babies that look like Calypso. Weird.

Here are the precious children. Can't wait to find all the rest! Isn't life sweet? I love these little babies and can't wait to hold every one of them!!

It's been so busy around here, I barely have time to breath. Maybe the end of June I can relax. Upcoming we have Forensics night at school on Monday nite, then our anniversary on the 28th (Luke will be out of town on business), the weekend of May 2nd is state forensics in Wichita, then on May 9th is the kids' Railairres dinner theater at school, Ciara's graduation on the 16th and then on May 24th I will be training the new owner of Jinny Crickets Soap & Stuff. Yup... my business has been sold! It was a total God thing. I've been considering selling for a long time because I'm completely overwhelmed and not able to commit the amount of time and energy it would take to grow my business to its fullest potential, so I felt I should pass it on to someone who has the ambition and desire to do that. I basically emailed a friend and asked if she knew anyone that would be interested. Within a day she responded and said her sister was interested. Just 2 weeks later she came for a visit and signed an intent to purchase agreement. Isn't God amazing? So... transition happens the end of May and I'll be "free" from the stress of owning my own business before the end of the month. *sigh* It's bittersweet. This business has been kind of my baby. I grew it up and it's been an exciting ride, but I feel that this season is over for me. I'm looking forward to what's next and have already begun a new part time job. I am working for a Home repair/remodeling company from home 10-15 hours a week taking care of all the office stuff and building a website for the company. So far I love it! Even though life has been super hectic and I don't know if I'm coming or going most days lately... I am totally blessed and praise God for all he's doing! What a truly awesome God we serve. :)

Catching Up...

The last couple of weeks I haven't felt like I really had anything worth blogging about, but when I think about it - there's always SOMETHING to share. This morning I woke up feeling dizzy and nauseous. UGH. As luck would have it, this was the day I was to drive Luke to the airport to catch a flight to California for a business trip that's keeping him away for the rest of the week. He drove to the airport and graciously offered to let me just drive home rather than wait for his flight with him. I really was wanting to have that last little bit of time with my man, but must admit I was relieved when he told me he thought I should just go on home since I wasn't feeling well. It seemed like traffic went on forever. I finally got home and couldn't wait to get back into jammies so I could lie down and make the room stop spinning. YUCK. Suddenly it became clear to me that I wouldn't rest with all the rumbling and wooziness going on in my tummy. I did get sick twice and couldn't wait to just sleep. I slept for three hours straight with my precious Sugar baby by my side making me feel loved. I sure do adore that little miss fuzzy buns. :) So I began feeling better around noon and managed to actually eat this afternoon and this evening and keep everything down. Now I just feel super tired and weak. I hope tomorrow I'm back to normal because I have more soap to make for a private label order I'm filling.

After taking it easy most of the day and catching up on a good episode of Dr. Phil and Oprah, I am resting in the King's recliner, (if he was home he'd fight me for it) :) Brandon is goofin' around on his computer,

Ciara is playing the piano - music from Pan's Labrynth and Pirates of the Caribbean "Davy Jones" (love it)

and Sugar is dragging all her toys out and bringing them to me so I will fight her for them and throw 'em so she can go fetch them.

It's a relaxing night and even though I still feel a little punk, I'm enjoying it - but I miss my sweetie. He was in Los Angelos when he called to let me know his flight had landed safely. I was glad for that, but of course they lost his luggage so it was catching the next flight and he would have to wait for it - which meant that he could be late for the meeting he had scheduled. He wasn't too thrilled with that. He called later then and said he had dinner on the beach in San Diego. I have to admit, I'm just a little jealous that he's in Cali and I'm here in Kansas with the raging winds. My poor tulips are weather beaten. I watered them tonite and they didn't seem to care, they just hung there - as weary of the wind as I am. On a happier note, my chives are growing and greening up. Can't wait to get some fresh chives on a baked potato. YUMMY!

So here's what else is going on: the kids were on spring break and I loved it. I took a few days off with the kids and one day we went to Salina shopping. We are on a fairly tight budget here lately with his company being so kind as to issue paycuts and all... but we decided we needed to get away. The few things we purchased were bargains. I had a ball at Hobby Lobby. Mostly I bought a few things for scrapbooking (even managed to turn out about 6 pages in Brandon's book over spring break! He doesn't really appreciate it now, but I think he will one day - at least I hope he will). Also they had a lot of stuff on sale for 50% off so I got this adorable metal sign for my kitchen for only $5!! Can you believe that? It says "Bless this home and all who enter here" - which matches my wallpaper border and country kitchen decor perfectly. I was pretty happy with that buy. Then Luke met us for supper at Red Lobster. We only eat there about once a year, so that was quite a treat. Seafood is my all time favorite!!

My cute little bargain...

In his "free time" - Luke's been trying to finish the basement. Here's what's going on down there. My man is a sheet rockin' maniac! He truly does amaze me, and does nice work. He accidentally cut the piece for the light switch wrong and patched it so well that no one will ever know. If you saw it - you'd be totally impressed. He also built a beautiful landing out of scrap pecan wood. It's beautiful! I just can't wait until the whole thing is done. Doesn't it look great so far? I'll definitely post finished pix.

Honey Man's Handiwork.

The thing I don't like about these projects (besides the expense) is the mess. UGH. Here's the family room.

Everything is pulled off the walls and stuck in the middle of the room, I hate how messy it looks. Also, I have 5 gallons of "sycamore grove" greyish tan paint sitting in my kitchen at the top of the stairs waiting to be texture sprayed on the walls going down the stairs and on the walls around my soap shop and around to the other corner of the storage room. The bad news is that we probably still have 20+ feet of sheetrock to hang on the long wall. Can't wait until this project is complete. It's gonna look nice. Eventually we'll finish the ceiling too and I won't have to look at rafters any more. That probably bugs me the most.

YUCK.

Also over spring break... we discovered that our laminate floor was ruined in front of the dishwasher. Upon inspection we found that the floor was soaked underneath the dishwasher.

Here you see the "hole" where my dishwasher once was... complete with fan for drying the wet floor.

Luke pulled it out and took it out into our machine shed and gave it a look over. He couldnt' tell where the water was coming from - but the machine is old and we didn't want to take a chance of there being a hole in the tub or something and having it ruin more flooring. So... we had to bite the bullet and replace it. Plus the pegs that you stack dishes on were starting to all break off. Annoying. We did get a great deal at the maytag store since the dishwasher was on sale and I guess it's making good use of some of our tax refund. I'm excited about the fact that it's supposed to run quietly - the old one sounded like a freight train going through the house. Can't say I'm not glad about having a new dishwasher, it's just that it was an unplanned expense. It will probably get installed over the weekend since my handyman is out of town on business.

Brandon gleefully announced this evening that his 15th birthday is in 17 days and there are 60 days left until school is out for the summer. :) He has been driving as much as possible so that he can get his school permit. He's only got about 23 hours of driving in and needs a total of 50 - so I hope he can get that all in over the summer and be ready to drive himself to school next fall. *sigh* I can't believe my baby is gonna be driving. It's scary. Recently a friend's 15 year old daughter was in a car accident with a friend on the way home from youth group and the friend was killed. So sad. That's a hard thing for a momma to do... puttin' babies out on the road, but Brandon is a pretty good driver. I know I can't keep him from all the "scary" growing up stuff, so I'll just double up on the prayin'. ;)

Ciara is in full swing of preparation for graduation and college. We've got her pre-enrollment event at Fort Hays the middle of April - that should be fun. I'm so proud of her... she's got her first 2 years of college paid for except for books. We're still hoping that she'll receive at least 1 other scholarship to cover books. I'm also relieved that her financial aid package has come through and it looks good. (Thank you Lord!) I didn't know getting a kid ready for college could be so involved, but now I'll know what to do again next year so that's the up side.

I began planning Ciara's graduation reception and apparently it wasn't soon enough. We live 10 miles from the school and there is not a single place in town that hasn't been rented already by other kids that live in the country. BUMMER. One church that we've visited some and our kids have gone to camp with their kids refused to allow us to rent their fellowship room because we are not "church members" This was just a little disheartening. It wasn't a liability to drive our kids to Missouri, but apparently it's a huge liability to let us use their space??? I think the whole thing boiled down to the fact that we're not "members". Why do churches get so hung up on that? Renting a room in your building is an enormous outreach to the community, that is if you WANT to be a part of the community. These kinds of churches wonder why they never grow. *sigh* Sometimes the attitudes of Christians really get me riled up. In the end my uncle and aunt were kind enough to offer their extremely clean shop to have the reception in. It will be a very casual event, but I think that's alright - we're pretty laid back people ourselves. I just hope we don't have the same kind of wind we've been having or it will be impossible to do any decorating as the big doors will probably be open to keep it cool - unless it is a cool or rainy day. We'll roll with it, I'm just so glad that we will be in town and don't have to expect everyone to drive 20 miles round trip to get to our house for the festivities. Looking forward to seeing lots of family we haven't seen in a long time. Wow... the clock is ticking and May will be here in no time!

Well... that's it for now. I've been working on this post off and on for several hours as I did other stuff (such as let the dog out at half a dozen times, ha ha) and now it's passed bed time. My head is whirling with all the upcoming events. I think I might be able to breathe easier about June 1st when my long list of activities is nearly complete. :)

Many are the plans in a man's heart...

But it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. (proverbs 19:21)

Yeah, we've had lots of plans - we want to finish our fenced in patio, pour a sidewalk from the house to the machine shed, plant some trees, redo our main bath - complete with a tub deep enough for soaking, replace the deteriorating shower in our master bath, get new carpet on the main floor, finish the basement and the most exciting of them all - for our vacation this year... take our kids for 2 "firsts": first time on an airplane and first seeing the ocean. Well... those were the plans WE had, but it doesn't look like these things will happen. I pray that the Lord does have a purpose in this. I'm reminding myself to be anxious for nothing... but I find myself feeling quite anxious. I woke up the other morning dizzy and nauseous and this doesn't happen very often, but when it does it seems I am nearly always stirred up about something big or a lot of little somethings.

We are the kind of family that has to work very hard for what we have and while we live a comfortable life and our NEEDS are always met, the finances are usually pretty tight. My husband's company announced recently that they would no longer be matching 401K. FOOEY. That kinda stinks because they already told him that nobody gets the bonuses or pay raises they were promised. With the economy as is, we are sincerely grateful that we have a source of income right now - many people have been laid off and are losing their homes and can't find work and have no idea how they will even provide for their family. It breaks my heart that times are so tough. I thought that after Christmas when my sales were so fantastic and I heard complaints all around about how sales were down. I guess I shouldn't have been so foolish to think that it wouldn't catch up with us too - lots of people are hurtin'.

For whatever reason (divine subliminal thoughts?) I got it in my mind this last week that I should begin looking for a part time job. I know, I am running my soap business... but it would seem that people are buying necessities more than "extras" right now so things have been pretty slow for me. My January sales were just sad and I actually felt concerned about how the dollars would stretch - but I made it ok and am praying that things begin looking up for February and the months to follow into the spring. I don't know... I just feel I need to be smart about this and I am capable of contributing to this family, so why not? So, I talked to honey man about it and of course he doesn't love the idea of me going out and looking for work, but realizes that it really would help our family. We've got a child getting ready to start college in the fall and wow... it's a bit overwhelming. I got online and found some job openings for part time office positions that I thought looked promising. All applications and resumes have been submitted, so now I guess I just wait for someone to decide they are impressed by my credentials and call me for an interview. It's been a seriously long time since I've applied for a job (about 5 years) so I had to update my resume. This presented a challenge because I couldn't remember specific dates. Geesh... some of these work experiences were a loooong time ago. But... I did get it done and got them sent off for all 5 potential positions.

The day after I made the decision to look for part time work it became clear to me why I felt the need to do this. Honey got a call saying that all employees in his company will be taking a 5% pay cut. WHAT?? pay CUT??? UGH!!! You cannot be serious. I guess for a couple of days I just felt numb about it like... "what can we do... they took away our retirement, now they're taking away $$" I think it's finally sinking in. We called and had our investment company quit taking $ out of our paycheck to put into 401K. It really kinda makes me sick, because one day we are going to need that, but we need it now to supplement what's been taken away. You just do what you gotta do, right? Surely the Lord has a fabulous plan and his purpose will prevail in the end! I trust that it will, because he has been proven faithful to our family time and again. Praise Him for that!!

Looking at the glass half full... they are cutting back travel expenses and my man will only travel away from home 1 week out of the next 4, I guess that's good. Ok, that maybe lightens the blow a little. ?? Trying to think positive here. :) Please pray for my potential job opportunities, and especially for my husband, that he wouldn't be angry and discouraged, and that our needs will continue to be met and that our eyes are wide open to what it is that we're supposed to be learning or gaining from this trial. Right now it just feels like a trial and not a blessing - but my prayer is that God will turn it into one in His time.