Holiday Projects & Home "Improvement"

Yesterday I finished making Kate and Zachy's Christmas presents. I made them each a fleece blanket! Most of you are probably quite proficient at making these blankets but this was my first attempt! So, as I take this moment to take a break from posting about my trip and to bring you a little variety, I'll share a few pictures of the blankies!!

Here is Kate's blanket:

And here is Zachary's blanket...a lot smaller thank Kate's...whoops!


I also have done a little sprucing of my living room area...for those of you who have been in my home, its the front room that has been sorely neglected for the last two years. But, due to some events occurring at my home this last month, the sprucing became a top priority! I bought a sofa table and coffee table that will eventually be moved into my family room. But, for now, they are assisting to make my front room a bit more cozy. Then, I added some throws and pillows (over the comfortable but ugly couch and chair) and some lamps. I snapped these pictures in a hurry a few weeks ago so they don't really rank among the greatest ever..maybe someday I'll give a real tour of my home with pictures that are decent!! Until then...

My living room...



A view from the hallway...



My new sofa table..
There is always room for more TLC but I've already seen my front room used more in the last few weeks than in the entire 2 years I've lived there! Amazing!! And, until I have the time and money to continue with the sprucing project.....

....I'll just kick up my feet and relax...

....feel free to stop in for a spot of tea!!

Coming Soon...

...to a blog near you...more posts about my trip to Ireland! I really haven't forgotten! I promise! Life has been in overdrive since I've gotten home. I got home on Tuesday August 19th and started back to school on Thursday August 21st and then was back to work within a few days of that! I'm presenting a little something about my trip at the discipleship conference (prayers wanted!) so hopefully after preparing that I'll have my thoughts a little more organized and ready to post!

Giant's Causeway

Not to mention I have a ton of various post ideas running through my head and am quite discouraged that I don't seem to have the time to actually put something together that sounds intelligent! Frustrating!! So, here are thoughts I'd like to post about if I ever find the time:

• N. Ireland Adventures Continued: What were we really doing in Belfast?
• N. Ireland Adventures Cont: Eagles Camp!
• N. Ireland/London Adventures: Sightseeing!
• Relying on the grace of God for our salvation and for how we live our lives afterwards!
• Reaching MY neighborhood with the love and good news of Christ: Thinking outside the box to get the gospel out!
  
• MAPIT--A concept to organize change that I'm learning in class. Sounds weird to blog about but I always like organization and this seems to provide step by step processes on how to organize change, specifically in our communities....perhaps I can use this to be creative about dispersing the Good News!!

And, those are just the ones I can remember right now...and for those of you that know me..my memory is not the greatest! Hopefully I'll get to these posts someday.....but, for now, don't hold your breath!

Northern Ireland: The Adventures Begin!

My trip began by flying out of Kansas City into Newark on Wednesday, July 30th and then flew from Newark that night, arriving at London, Heathrow the next morning. I tried to sleep on the flight over since I was told that was the best way to combat jet lag! Despite my great attempts, I didn't sleep all that well...shocking since those seats are so comfortable! :-) Anne Marie and I met up in London and thought we would have ample time to kill in London before catching our flight into Belfast. But, that was not the case. By the time we walked across the airport to the correct terminal and got checked in, it was nearly time to board. We were met at the airport by a familiar face when we got to Belfast...Andrew K. from Wichita! He and Claire took us to our little flat that we would call home for the next 3 weeks. The girls who live there were out of town so we were able to use their place as home base during the duration of our stay!

We had an amazing meal at Claire's that first evening and enjoyed some great conversation, catching up on all of Anne Marie's adventures at Chitokoloki, Zambia! Then we were off to get some rest!

Our first full day was full of great intentions! Andrew said he was going to pick us up, take us to a park, and just go check out Belfast! Well, he picked us up, we went to Subway and then did this...


...while we waited for Andrew to finish his paper for school! We ended up going back to our place, walking to Tesco's (the local grocery store), making dinner and then doing this....


...and this...


...before finally resigning ourselves to going to bed! :-)

So, that's how my trip began! My next post...coming soon to a blog near you...will tell you more about what Anne Marie and I were doing in Belfast!

Enjoying my...

...new camera!

Small gift from Debby for my 30th!

"Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because 'All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the LORD endures forever.'"

I Peter 1:22-25

Guess what?!

I'm going to Ireland!


A few months ago, I was sitting with Anne Marie at lunch asking her about her travels to Africa last year and she asked if I wanted to go to Ireland with her. I paused and then said, "Yes!" Several weeks later, I asked her about it and she said, "You really want to go?" Sadly, in this day, many of us say we will do something and really mean that we WANT to do it but can't necessarily commit. But, when I agreed to go, I really meant it. You see, I had been praying that the Lord would give me an opportunity to travel, but to travel with a purpose. And, this opportunity was what I had been waiting for. I leave at the end of the month. I'll be meeting Anne Marie in London (on her way back from Zambia) and we'll be flying into Belfast together to spend a few weeks. While there, we will be helping some local assemblies in outreach. We'll be involved in VBS, door to door, and whatever else they have planned for us. We will do some sight seeing, including Giants Causeway (pictured below) and we'll be spending a few days in London on our way home.



http://www.discoverireland.com/us/about-ireland/

Sunday School Picnic

A few weeks ago, Pam and I took the girls to the park for a picnic. It's such a blessing to spend time with each of the girls and to get to know them! Each one of them has a heart of gold and I just love spending time with them! We had stimulating conversation over our burgers about the message we had heard at chapel and how we can be creative in the ways we share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. These girls are amazing and it was such a great afternoon!

THE WHOLE GANG
Back row: Rikki
Middle row: Julie, Bethany
Front Row: Ingrid, Hannah, Michelle

Bethany & Michelle

Michelle & Julie

Michelle, Julie, & Me

Rikki

Rikki, Ingrid & Bethany

Rikki, Ingrid, Bethany & Hannah

Me, Hannah, Rikki & Ingrid

Special thanks to Pam
who tirelessly slaved
over the fire for our burgers!

Tired...

Tonight, I'm feeling tired. I'm tired of the snow. I'm tired of the cold. I'm tired of the winter that brings the cold and the flu bugs and the pneumonia bugs... But, I'm mostly just tired! I'm too tired to even get up to go get dinner. My stomach is growling, actually it's rumbling! And yet, here I sit, too tired to get up. I can almost smell the chili that is waiting for me (even though it's still thoroughly frozen in the freezer)! It's been a long two days at work and the only thing I can think about is the fact that I have to get up and do it all over again tomorrow!

Not only that, but in the midst of my tired state, I want to ward off any grumpy, mean, irritable attitude that can often accompany my exhaustion! I want my attitude tomorrow to glorify the Lord just as much as if it were my first day at work! I don't want to allow my "weak" state to falter my guard that is up against gossip, complaining, anxiety, or any other things that are so easy to succumb to on a "good" day, let alone a day where I feel like I'm already starting behind.

So tonight, I'm saturating myself in this:

"Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praise worthy--meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you."

So now, I am going to go shower off all those germy bugs, defrost my chili and then snuggle down for a winters night and pray that the peace of God will be with me tomorrow, no matter what it holds, and that my attitude will reflect the things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtue and praise! I pray that your tomorrow will reflect these things too!

A reminder to all those with cabin fever:
There really is warm sunshine out there
somewhere...let's just hope it visits us all soon! :-)

Isn't snow wonderful!?

This is what I woke up to this morning! A blanket of snow! Isn't it lovely?!

Rise Up & Look: The Pictures!

Here are the pictures that prove all the fun that was had at the conference (in between all the teaching)! Hannah, Heidi, Sara and I rode to St. Louis together! So much fun!

Quote of the week: "What happens in the car, stays in the car!"

Heidi & me at Steak & Shake

Sara & Hannah at Steak & Shake

THE St. Louis ARCH:

Beth & Robbie




Me & Robbie




The Roomies: Beth, Me, Robbie & Ruth



Me, Beth, Ruth, Jason, Errick (plus the scary bear in the background!)

Melissa in all her distress as she lost "her group"!

A random picture!

Fall continues

This last week I've spent some time enjoying the outdoors...
and playing around with cameras. This blog is a result of all that fun!

An area with some fallish trees that I used to take some pictures of friends.

This is the same tree from my last post but it's much more orange than the first day I visited!

Kris and Kathy:
Happy One year Anniversary

Fall...

I just love the fall! The crisp air, the beautiful trees, the falling leaves! I just love it! In light of my love for fall I grabbed my camera and went out in search of some fall pictures! Here's what I came up with...the rest are on my other camera, that has film and requires a little more work to get them posted! So...enjoy and there are more to come soon....

A beautiful tree at the park

Don't you wish you had mums like this?
Maybe you already have some...I know I don't!

Grab a book and relax!

Breckenridge Colorado Vacation

My family went on a vacation to Breckenridge, Colorado a few weeks ago. It was so much fun to have the family together for a week of relaxation and fun. Kate woke me up every morning...I'd hear the "pitter patter" of her feet and then my door would open and she would say, "Kelly, wake up" in her beautiful little voice. Then, she'd run out and shut the door! Sooo sweet! There's nothing like waking up to her beautiful smile and voice!

Our vacation began with a stop at Grandma J's in Nebraska. I'm sure we were like a whirlwind of activity coming through her home for the night but it was so nice to see her and spend time with her.

Grandma J. & Me

This was the beautiful view from our house.

We lost Kate's Nemo cup at one of the stores in Breckenridge so Dad and I rode our bikes into town (just a few miles!) to pick it up. On the way back, we decided to just keep going and bike to Dillon...we ran out of time (and perhaps energy!) and turned around within 1/2 mile of Lake Dillon!! So close...by the time we were done, we had biked about 18 miles. (I thought I was going to die!) It was so much fun! :-)

On the ride, we found these horses/mules!

Lake Dillon

Scott, Dad and I went on a nice refreshing hike one afternoon. It was gorgeous! Once again, I remembered that I really love to hike! (I remembered it last year when I hiked in Aspen but apparently needed another reminder!!)

Scott & Me

If you look closely, you can see the town of Breckenridge below!

This is not a picture of me taking a break. It's actually just a picture of me holding a tree up...I was just helping this poor little tree out!! Really, I did not need a break!!

Kate and I had lots of fun making cupcakes together. She was very good at sticking the spoon in the batter for one good swirl and then shaking the spoon so the batter splattered! It was fun! Unfortunately, I've decided that I should not bake anything at a high altitude! My cupcakes looked very pathetic, as evidenced below, but the good news is that they still tasted delicious!

Overall, our vacation turned out to be quite relaxing and fun. It's always a blessing to be able to spend time with family and it was just the dose of relaxation that we all needed. It was great to spend a week with Kate and Zach and watch them in action, learning and playing with never ending energy! Kate and I had special time in the car, reading books, listening to music, and making funny faces! Lots of fun memories!