I'm still around! This week has been very busy. We've had VBS each night from 6:00-8:00, so by the time I finally get home I'm usually too tired to blog. This will be short, I'm sure. I've been working the registration table and also been taking pictures for "Spotlight Drama". It's a slide show at the end of each night. It's been fun, but crazy getting all the shots that I need. I haven't loaded the pictures on this computer yet, but I'll post some hopefully this weekend either here or on Facebook.
Last year the highest attendance was 44 kids. Tonight we had 57! It's been great seeing kids actually bring their friends. Not to mention they already surpassed the offering goal on the 4th night!
I've been sticking to my diet and already starting to see some results on the scale. I've cut WAY back on the amount of food I'm eating and I'm not even letting myself participate in the potluck at work tomorrow. I'm doing too well to screw up. I haven't even eaten chocolate since Saturday. I've had some sugar withdrawal headaches though. I've also walked 4 of the past 5 days despite the blazing heat.
Next Wednesday night we're off to St. Louis for another Cardinals game. Jacob was able to get 4 free tickets, so we invited his parent's to come along with us. It's a 7:15 game which means I will be one tired chica next Thursday at work since we'll be getting home so late. I'll probably get 5 hours of sleep if I'm lucky. The seats are in Big Mac Land. I've always wanted to sit there! (And by always, I mean since I started caring about baseball last year) I have this dream of Albert Pujols hitting a Grand Slam into Big Mac Land while we're sitting there. I hope it becomes reality. Haha!
I suppose I should go to bed soon. Tomorrow will be here too fast!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Here I Go Again
I'm in the mindset to lose weight. It's been building for awhile now, but until I could actually convince myself to do something about it I continued eating.
I am the ultimate excuse maker. I can come up with an excuse for anything. I put it off, but now it's time. I've really packed on the pounds. Especially after getting married. Now it's time to "re-train" my body again. It has to be about portion control, self control and exercise.
I'm trying to come up with some healthy things to eat. I'm going to attempt the low calorie thing again because it worked for me before. If I remember right, the first week is the hardest. The hardest part is getting my stomach to stop growling every 2 seconds and coming up with low calorie snacks to eat. I really don't want the 100 Calorie packs again. It does help portion control, but some of those things taste like cardboard and they're expensive.
I bought a little bit of fresh fruit today and I'm hoping I can get myself into the habit of eating it. In fact, I had an apple at supper tonight.
I told Jacob a few days ago that I knew I needed to start walking again...and I would once it wasn't 100 degrees outside. He then reminded me that I was making an excuse. Dang. Busted. I found my MP3 player yesterday and charged it. I told Jacob before I went to bed last night that no matter what he HAD to make me go on a walk today...the only exception would be if it was storming.
Despite the heat...which wasn't too bad, I walked for 35 minutes. Not sure how far I walked, but it felt good. Then I came home and did crunches just like I used to do.
I would like to lose 20 pounds, but I'm making my initial goal 15 pounds. At that point I think I could comfortably fit into my old jeans. I also have another rule. No DQ (or any ice cream) until I lose 10 pounds. Good incentive. Another goal is to drop that weight in 3 months. I've done it before, so here's hoping!
I know I'm not fat, but I also know that my clothes do not fit right and I'm not feeling that great about myself. I think it's guilt. My options were either buy new clothes or lose weight to fit back into my own clothes. I started crying thinking about getting rid of some of my favorite outfits, so losing weight seems like the right thing to do!
I'm praying for God to provide me with willpower and to help me resist temptation (because I'm very good at caving).
I have to find a way to still workout this week. We have VBS from 6-8 each night. If I can manage to get off work early this week like I did last week it should be no problem...but I have to stick with this!
I am the ultimate excuse maker. I can come up with an excuse for anything. I put it off, but now it's time. I've really packed on the pounds. Especially after getting married. Now it's time to "re-train" my body again. It has to be about portion control, self control and exercise.
I'm trying to come up with some healthy things to eat. I'm going to attempt the low calorie thing again because it worked for me before. If I remember right, the first week is the hardest. The hardest part is getting my stomach to stop growling every 2 seconds and coming up with low calorie snacks to eat. I really don't want the 100 Calorie packs again. It does help portion control, but some of those things taste like cardboard and they're expensive.
I bought a little bit of fresh fruit today and I'm hoping I can get myself into the habit of eating it. In fact, I had an apple at supper tonight.
I told Jacob a few days ago that I knew I needed to start walking again...and I would once it wasn't 100 degrees outside. He then reminded me that I was making an excuse. Dang. Busted. I found my MP3 player yesterday and charged it. I told Jacob before I went to bed last night that no matter what he HAD to make me go on a walk today...the only exception would be if it was storming.
Despite the heat...which wasn't too bad, I walked for 35 minutes. Not sure how far I walked, but it felt good. Then I came home and did crunches just like I used to do.
I would like to lose 20 pounds, but I'm making my initial goal 15 pounds. At that point I think I could comfortably fit into my old jeans. I also have another rule. No DQ (or any ice cream) until I lose 10 pounds. Good incentive. Another goal is to drop that weight in 3 months. I've done it before, so here's hoping!
I know I'm not fat, but I also know that my clothes do not fit right and I'm not feeling that great about myself. I think it's guilt. My options were either buy new clothes or lose weight to fit back into my own clothes. I started crying thinking about getting rid of some of my favorite outfits, so losing weight seems like the right thing to do!
I'm praying for God to provide me with willpower and to help me resist temptation (because I'm very good at caving).
I have to find a way to still workout this week. We have VBS from 6-8 each night. If I can manage to get off work early this week like I did last week it should be no problem...but I have to stick with this!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Thunder Rolls
As many of you have read on Facebook, yesterday was a pretty crazy day!
The morning started out normally. I was actually having a pretty good day at work and because numbers were so low I was going to get a half day and leave at 1:00!
1:00 rolled around and we had been watching the sky get blacker and blacker for the past 15 minutes. The rain started pelting down and the winds started picking up. I obviously knew that I wasn't leaving and neither was my co-worker who has infant twin girls. As the winds starting howling through the door in our room and the windows started shaking we decided it was probably best if we take all of the babies into the bathroom in case something happened. Right about this time the lights started flickering on and off. They did that about 3 times before they went out for good! Once we were in the bathroom the tornado sirens went off, so we did the right thing.
One of our babies mom's was there also because she comes every day at lunch to feed her. By this point there are 4 adults and 6 babies crammed into a small bathroom! Not to mention our flashlight died and the new batteries wouldn't work in it either. I was sitting in the bathtub with 2 of the older babies, who were completely terrified of the thunder and the dark. I was using my cell phone for light. It helped a little, but one baby was clinging to me for dear life!
All the while I was getting worried about Jacob. He had sent me a text saying that I needed to stay at work. He and Seth were at Wal-Mart and part of the roof had started to come off, so it was raining in Wal-Mart. I texted a few more times and was shooting up prayers for their safety and for our's. I finally heard back from him. My texts took awhile to go through because they were all corralled into the back of Wal-Mart after 1 employee went running through the store yelling, "CODE BLACK!!!" Haha!
Anyway...we were in the bathroom for probably a half an hour and the storm had passed. The toys out on the playground were all pushed up against fences and one of the big climbers was knocked on it's side.
Jacob and Seth came back to the house to make sure things were okay here. We still had power and the only near fatality was one of my potted plants. Our basement was okay too. Just a little bit of water.
I left work at 1:45 and just had warned me the streets were flooded. They flood bad when it rains here because we have an old sewer drainage system. Yep. I drove through some huge puddles. I probably could have swam down our street. Good ol' Lola got me home...although I did almost hydroplane past the driveway!
The news said we didn't have a tornado, just VERY damaging straight line winds. Taylorville and another small community were hit the worst. I drove around later in the afternoon to check out the damage. I didn't hear of any injuries and I'm extremely thankful for God's protection.
All of my pictures are up on Facebook, but here are a few.
The morning started out normally. I was actually having a pretty good day at work and because numbers were so low I was going to get a half day and leave at 1:00!
1:00 rolled around and we had been watching the sky get blacker and blacker for the past 15 minutes. The rain started pelting down and the winds started picking up. I obviously knew that I wasn't leaving and neither was my co-worker who has infant twin girls. As the winds starting howling through the door in our room and the windows started shaking we decided it was probably best if we take all of the babies into the bathroom in case something happened. Right about this time the lights started flickering on and off. They did that about 3 times before they went out for good! Once we were in the bathroom the tornado sirens went off, so we did the right thing.
One of our babies mom's was there also because she comes every day at lunch to feed her. By this point there are 4 adults and 6 babies crammed into a small bathroom! Not to mention our flashlight died and the new batteries wouldn't work in it either. I was sitting in the bathtub with 2 of the older babies, who were completely terrified of the thunder and the dark. I was using my cell phone for light. It helped a little, but one baby was clinging to me for dear life!
All the while I was getting worried about Jacob. He had sent me a text saying that I needed to stay at work. He and Seth were at Wal-Mart and part of the roof had started to come off, so it was raining in Wal-Mart. I texted a few more times and was shooting up prayers for their safety and for our's. I finally heard back from him. My texts took awhile to go through because they were all corralled into the back of Wal-Mart after 1 employee went running through the store yelling, "CODE BLACK!!!" Haha!
Anyway...we were in the bathroom for probably a half an hour and the storm had passed. The toys out on the playground were all pushed up against fences and one of the big climbers was knocked on it's side.
Jacob and Seth came back to the house to make sure things were okay here. We still had power and the only near fatality was one of my potted plants. Our basement was okay too. Just a little bit of water.
I left work at 1:45 and just had warned me the streets were flooded. They flood bad when it rains here because we have an old sewer drainage system. Yep. I drove through some huge puddles. I probably could have swam down our street. Good ol' Lola got me home...although I did almost hydroplane past the driveway!
The news said we didn't have a tornado, just VERY damaging straight line winds. Taylorville and another small community were hit the worst. I drove around later in the afternoon to check out the damage. I didn't hear of any injuries and I'm extremely thankful for God's protection.
All of my pictures are up on Facebook, but here are a few.
A sign fell off one of the buildings up on the town square.
I thought this tree looked pretty cool. Just hanging on by a thread.
The high school football field was heavily damaged.
A big metal building landed on top of a house!
Back view
Back view
Front view
Sunday, July 18, 2010
The Confusion That Is My Life
I used to blog all the time. Lately I have a hard time coming up with stuff! I used to talk about work a lot when I lived in Iowa. I try not to write too much about that anymore. All I'll say is that I've been really stressed out with it lately. I've got daycare burnout again.
It's always times like these that I think, "I should have gone to college and gotten a degree." Although if I had, it would've been in Early Childhood Education, so where would that have gotten me? I'd still be in a daycare and probably making the same amount of money!
Jacob suggested recently that I enroll at a nearby community college and go for a 2 year degree. Here's my problem. I don't know what I want to be "when I grow up"! Would I be that happy with anything? The only job I've really ever wanted is to be a mom, and God willing he'll provide...but it's not something I can go to school for. :)
School intimidates me. I was never that great at it. I just kind of coasted through not really caring. I fear I would be the same way. I hated homework. I was known to finish homework 5 minutes before it was due. I'd feel pressured and instead of letting it drive me to do better, it just made me not care. I somehow still squeaked by at graduating with honors though.
Not to mention, some things just do not click in my brain. I can't retain that much. I'd go through confusion, to frustration, to complete stress, to just giving up! Sometimes I have to make Jacob explain things to me like I'm 5, because I get so confused. I think my brain is slightly messed up!
Anyway...I think my biggest fear is the unknown. I'm too scared to take a leap. Not that I know what I want to leap into, but even if I did I would probably chicken out. So, I continue to be stressed out.
I came home crying on my break on Friday over things that happened at work. As I told Jacob everything he prayed for me that God would show me what I needed to do. I went back and a parent of one of my babies showed up. He wasn't even there that day, but she popped her head in to tell me how much she appreciates me specifically and is so thankful for the care that I give to her baby.
Talk about confusion. I LOVE babies. So, am I in the right place regardless of my stress?
I have no idea.
I had no idea where this post was going, so if it's all over the place I'm sorry. Well...no I'm not. My blog title is "Randomly Rachel" after all.
It's always times like these that I think, "I should have gone to college and gotten a degree." Although if I had, it would've been in Early Childhood Education, so where would that have gotten me? I'd still be in a daycare and probably making the same amount of money!
Jacob suggested recently that I enroll at a nearby community college and go for a 2 year degree. Here's my problem. I don't know what I want to be "when I grow up"! Would I be that happy with anything? The only job I've really ever wanted is to be a mom, and God willing he'll provide...but it's not something I can go to school for. :)
School intimidates me. I was never that great at it. I just kind of coasted through not really caring. I fear I would be the same way. I hated homework. I was known to finish homework 5 minutes before it was due. I'd feel pressured and instead of letting it drive me to do better, it just made me not care. I somehow still squeaked by at graduating with honors though.
Not to mention, some things just do not click in my brain. I can't retain that much. I'd go through confusion, to frustration, to complete stress, to just giving up! Sometimes I have to make Jacob explain things to me like I'm 5, because I get so confused. I think my brain is slightly messed up!
Anyway...I think my biggest fear is the unknown. I'm too scared to take a leap. Not that I know what I want to leap into, but even if I did I would probably chicken out. So, I continue to be stressed out.
I came home crying on my break on Friday over things that happened at work. As I told Jacob everything he prayed for me that God would show me what I needed to do. I went back and a parent of one of my babies showed up. He wasn't even there that day, but she popped her head in to tell me how much she appreciates me specifically and is so thankful for the care that I give to her baby.
Talk about confusion. I LOVE babies. So, am I in the right place regardless of my stress?
I have no idea.
I had no idea where this post was going, so if it's all over the place I'm sorry. Well...no I'm not. My blog title is "Randomly Rachel" after all.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Girls Getaway...IN CHICAGO!
I don't even know where to start! My weekend actually started on Thursday evening when I drove to Bloomington to meet up with Jacob for the night. We grabbed a quick supper at Burger King and headed back so that I could watch a concert that he was preforming in. Oh my goodness. It lasted forever! It was good though, but it was nicer to get to spend some time with him back at the hotel. It was a nice, swanky, Marriott. The next morning we had breakfast at McDonalds before we parted ways again.
I was on the road to Schaumberg at 9:00 and got there just after 11; about an hour ahead of the girls. Fortunately there was a Target across the street, so I killed some time there before meeting up with everyone in the hotel parking lot.
Food was on everyone's mind so we headed off to find a Giordano's. The GPS took us on quite the journey filled with, "Make a legal U-Turn" and "Re-routing". As it turns out, the one we picked was non-existent and we ended up in an condo parking lot. Our next attempt to find one was much more successful.
(As always...you can see all of my pictures on Facebook)
We went back to our hotel for the night and had a great time just hanging out. We even had a good round of Truth or Dare which was an app on one of the girl’s phones. Most of us did “truths”, but September enjoyed dares and got to kiss people. Haha!
I was on the road to Schaumberg at 9:00 and got there just after 11; about an hour ahead of the girls. Fortunately there was a Target across the street, so I killed some time there before meeting up with everyone in the hotel parking lot.
Food was on everyone's mind so we headed off to find a Giordano's. The GPS took us on quite the journey filled with, "Make a legal U-Turn" and "Re-routing". As it turns out, the one we picked was non-existent and we ended up in an condo parking lot. Our next attempt to find one was much more successful.
(As always...you can see all of my pictures on Facebook)
Ordering appetizers was a must.
We were stuffed after lunch and headed back to our hotel to check in. We all relaxed in the room for awhile before venturing out to Target (2nd time for me!) and the to Woodfield Mall. We spent a lot of time shopping and I actually enjoyed it a lot!
We had planned to have supper at The Cheesecake Factory, but most of us were still pretty full from lunch. Emily and I split some nachos and then all of us got cheesecake. Mine was yummy, but very rich.
We found a great way to save space with our roll away bed!
Saturday was our day to go downtown. Because there are just so many things that we did I’ll just have to recap:
*Rode the Metra into downtown Chicago. Sheila was extremely excited about her first train ride and her first ever trip to Chicago. She kept the enthusiasm going ALL day!
*Realized that there was some kind of filming going on for a movie. They were filming scenes for Transformers 3.
* Went to Millennium Park to see the bean. Lots of photo ops there!
* Walked to Buckingham Fountain. It was beautiful!
*Walked for miles to finally reach a lunch destination. Ate at E.Leaven. A sandwich shop that was very tasty!
*Went to Moody so Emily could show everyone where she went to college.
*Had a snack at Ghiradelli and then chased down a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup!
* Walked down to the beach. Sheila, Cynthia and I waded in Lake Michigan. It felt great to get our feet wet and we wished we could’ve stayed longer!
*Went to Navy Pier. One of my favorite places! September, Sheila and I rode the Ferris wheel, while Emily and Cynthia waited on the safety of land. Shopped and took pictures.
*Road a water taxi back to the Metra station and ran to catch our train!
*More fun ensued as we returned to our hotel and went out for supper at TGI Fridays!
On Sunday morning Sheila and I were going to go to Jeff and Heidi's church in Oak Forest and the rest of the girls were going to meet us all for lunch. We ate our breakfast and left for church a little after 8:30. I figured we'd have plenty of time since church didn't start until 9:30. What I didn't plan on were a few mishaps with the GPS. We got there late. Oops! At least we got to hear the sermon! Although the car ride together was really nice because we got to bond more.
After church we all went to The Patio for lunch and I finally got to hold my new baby cousin (2nd cousin, anyway). He was such a sweetheart and I even got to feed him. I can't wait to hold him again! Makes me want a baby even more!
It was nice getting to see Jeff, Heidi and Zach, if even for just a little while. One last picture to end the trip!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Welcome!
I've decided to make the leap, and I hope I like it! As much as I've enjoyed my Xanga account over the past 5 years, it's time for something new. Of course, I know I'll go back and read my old entries. I do that often because I'm better at blogging than writing in my journal. It's fun to read where life has taken me. I needed more options. Xanga has pretty much always been the same and I've been wanting new features. I love that I can post all of the blogs that I read in the sidebar now. It should be easy for all of you to leave comments as well...so all you lurkers can leave me comments! I won't have much time until after our trip to Chicago to figure out more fun features, but stay tuned.
I wanted to share this story with you. There are many times in my life that I struggle with my relationship with God. I tend to get into the mindset that I can do things on my own. Prayer lacks at times as well. I know prayers don't have to be fancy and yet I always feel like if I'm going to pray I need to cover all my bases. We talked in Sunday School one day about how it doesn't matter. A prayer is a prayer. It can be long and detailed or it can just be something as simple as, "God give me patience." I'm trying to remember that, but last night I had one of those short prayer experiences and it was answered.
I was watching TV last night and during commercials I was flipping channels. I stopped on NBC for a moment. We actually get 2 NBC's. One based out of Illinois and the other out of St. Louis. I stopped on the St. Louis station. There was an Amber Alert running across the bottom of the screen. I honestly didn't really read it and flipped back to my show. The next commercial break I landed on that station again. This time I read it and they broke in with news about it. This little girl about 4 or 5 was kidnapped from her yard by some man. I had the strongest feeling of urgency come over me and a voice inside of me was saying, "You need to pray for that little girl RIGHT NOW." I mean the thought literally brought me to tears and I was crying as I prayed right out loud, "God, be with that little girl and protect her." She would pop into my thoughts all night long.
It seems like there is never a good ending to these stories. She had already been missing for almost 24 hours. This morning I turned on the radio at work and the first thing I heard was that the little girl had been found alive and unharmed. The man dropped her off at a car wash 70 miles from her home and took off.
I'm not saying that my prayers alone saved that little girl, but it was one of those moments where I realized how powerful prayer can be and I'm so thankful that there was a happy ending.
Now hopefully I can remember that no matter how long or short my prayers are, God will hear them.
I wanted to share this story with you. There are many times in my life that I struggle with my relationship with God. I tend to get into the mindset that I can do things on my own. Prayer lacks at times as well. I know prayers don't have to be fancy and yet I always feel like if I'm going to pray I need to cover all my bases. We talked in Sunday School one day about how it doesn't matter. A prayer is a prayer. It can be long and detailed or it can just be something as simple as, "God give me patience." I'm trying to remember that, but last night I had one of those short prayer experiences and it was answered.
I was watching TV last night and during commercials I was flipping channels. I stopped on NBC for a moment. We actually get 2 NBC's. One based out of Illinois and the other out of St. Louis. I stopped on the St. Louis station. There was an Amber Alert running across the bottom of the screen. I honestly didn't really read it and flipped back to my show. The next commercial break I landed on that station again. This time I read it and they broke in with news about it. This little girl about 4 or 5 was kidnapped from her yard by some man. I had the strongest feeling of urgency come over me and a voice inside of me was saying, "You need to pray for that little girl RIGHT NOW." I mean the thought literally brought me to tears and I was crying as I prayed right out loud, "God, be with that little girl and protect her." She would pop into my thoughts all night long.
It seems like there is never a good ending to these stories. She had already been missing for almost 24 hours. This morning I turned on the radio at work and the first thing I heard was that the little girl had been found alive and unharmed. The man dropped her off at a car wash 70 miles from her home and took off.
I'm not saying that my prayers alone saved that little girl, but it was one of those moments where I realized how powerful prayer can be and I'm so thankful that there was a happy ending.
Now hopefully I can remember that no matter how long or short my prayers are, God will hear them.
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