What keeps you up at night?

Well, to be completely honest...the idea of my kids doing something stupid. Sound strange? Well, I think that most parents nowadays would agree with me. It is just that we want our kids to be safe and we want to do everything in our power to keep them from harm...physical or otherwise. As a Christian I have to monitor so much stuff in order to accomplish my goal.

Here is a good example...
At work a few months ago we had a problem with someone being on MySpace almost the entire time they were at work. Nothing was getting done. That's a problem. What's worse, it was a student who was working for us and we were somewhat responsible for her behavior during work hours. Because I had the lightest work load of anyone at the time I volunteered to get an account with MySpace and see exactly what we were dealing with. Well, I was amazed at how much crap is on there. A very good friend put it best, "it's basically a soft porn site". I agree. I have never seen anything like it. If you spend any amount of time on there you will know what I am talking about.

Well, after we cleared things up at work I just let my account there sit idle. I didn't even think about it. Then I was told by a relative that "MySpace really is not that bad...hey, I'm on there!" Okay, I just had to learn more. So I got back on so I would be armed with the facts. I looked at her site, and a few others, was not completely appalled (even though I should have been) and decided it wasn't all that bad.

Lately I have gone deeper into it. There are some Christians out there that have sites on MySpace and so I just assummed it would be fine if I did too. And, yes, in case you were wondering, with that mentality, if my "friends" on MySpace jumped off a cliff then I would too. After thinking about it for the past few days I have come to realize that I am just not at all comfortable with being a part of it. There are people out there that I know are Christians and yet there is stuff on their sites that would just blow your mind! Not even stuff that they have put on there, but things that other people have written in their comments section.

I have felt guilty for the past few days because I have spent time away from my family in order to "play around" on MySpace. Why? Don't know...stupidity I guess. I am happy to report that I have cancelled my account and should be completely off the site in 48 hours. And don't ask...I won't give you my address for it. I'm not ashamed of what is one my site, I just don't want to be the reason that someone is on there. I don't care what anyone says...if you have children in your home then you should monitor their time and effort on MySpace. It can be a dangerous place for kids...of any age.


Okay...I feel better.

Missing the girl

I have done rather well this past week with missing Nele. It is not neccessarily easier, but I have handled it better. I did get the chance to talk to her for 45 minutes on Tuesday morning over skype.com, and again for an hour and a half over icq chat on Tuesday night. It was one of our late night (11p for me but 5a for her) talks like we used to have...it was awesome!

I have noticed that it is the little things that I miss more than anything. Like talking to her everyday, hearing her practice guitar, listening to her CDs of german bands, hearing her laugh, seeing her smile when talking to friends or family, and yes even watching her come out of her room in the morning grumpy because she had to get out of bed. Sadly...I even miss washing her clothes. Why? It was one of the things that meant she needed me...sad, but true.

I won't get to talk to her for a few days because she is gone to a music festival. I know that it starts today, but I have no idea how long it lasts. That girl loves her concerts. :) Yet another one of the many things I love about her.

She did tell me on Tuesday that she has booked her flights and will be here October 14th-29th. I am very excited about seeing her again and getting the chance to have Kristin meet her, too. They will get to spend some time together which will be good for both of them I think.

Joseph is so happy. He said it was awesome that she is going to be his sister again. Of course, he also said we needed to go to Germany and get Nele because she has spent enough time there...it is time for her to come home. It was very cute. He really does love her very much. He is excited about Kristin, too. He asks everyday when his new sister is coming and wants to know if he can go and visit her house next summer. We are already planning on taking two weeks next summer to go and visit Nele so hopefully we will get to visit Kristin and her family then as well.

I have been emailing with Kristin and I think we are going to have another great year as a host family. We are all looking forward to having her here and adding another person to our family. Don't worry...I will keep everyone posted. :)

Update on the sync

After the Mr. helped me with syncing up my Treo for the first time on Sunday I went to my contacts list to add a few more. To my surprise there were hundreds of contacts on the list. I'm not kidding...it was hundreds. For some reason it synced up my contacts from my Outlook account which contains phone numbers and email addresses for everyone having the slightest thing to do with the College of Agriculture at the University of Kentucky. Folks, this includes ALL people from summer interns up to the head of the college. And it's not just people at UK...it covers people at the research farms, all camps and conference centers, and all 120 counties--in other words, it's a MASSIVE list. It is insane. I am now on day 2 of deleting people and I am only up to to the R's. I just hope the next time I sync I remember to NOT check the box to sync my contacts. :(

Hot Sync'd and ready

I have officially joined the realm of Treo users. I cannot decide if I am excited about this or not. This new phone is courtesy of the Franklin County Extension Office since I am out of the office so much with school clubs and need to be able to be reached by phone or internet. Well, the Treo fits the bill...unfortunately. I don't think I like being this connected to the world. Right now there is a list of about 40-50 people who have both of my phone numbers so if I want to take a break that is just not going to be possible. :( At least now I know that every teacher within Franklin County can reach me at any time...what a comfort!

Lonely...

I have been having a rough day. It started out just fine, but for some reason I can't shake this lonely feeling. I have been around people off and on all day so there really is no reason to feel this way. Is this something that everyone goes through or is it just a female thing (which, of course, means that the Mr. will not really understand although he will try and be supportive)?

I am missing Nele more today than I did yesterday which is weird. I thought it was supposed to get better with each passing day...not worse. Maybe it's just because I haven't talked to her in a few days and it is finally starting to hit me. We are scheduled to talk tomorrow afternoon so hopefully this feeling will pass by then.

I wanna be...

For the past several weeks we have been asking Joseph what he would like. "Joseph, do you like these shirts? What shoes do you like? Would you like to play guitar or drums? Would you like to get your hair cut?", etc.

Well, all of his answers have had a common theme...Derek Hughes. That's right, the little guy wants to be like Derek. Every shirt that I showed him..."No, momma. That isn't like Derek's shirt." I asked him about taking lessons for guitar or drums..."What does Derek play? I want to play that." When I tried to get him to go get his hair cut..."No, momma. Derek has long hair. I don't want to get my hair cut." I know--Derek doesn't have long hair anymore, but I haven't had the chance to show Joseph that so I am still fighting that battle. Plus, since he is only six, he doesn't really understand that his hair is not at all like Derek's...not blonde, not curly, nothing. Oh well.

The final straw was this afternoon at Walmart. I asked what shoes he would like to get for school..."Not those, momma. Derek wouldn't wear those shoes. I want shoes just like Derek." Okay...fine. I don't know what shoes Derek would wear so I am at a loss as to how to get the boys feet covered. He did say today that he is ready to be a drummer like Andrew...that I can handle. I know how to get drum lessons, but how do I get lessons for playing bass for a 6 year old? Do they even make basses that small? Again...I'm at a loss. The shirts I can handle. I can even get the hair thing taken care of next week by taking the boy to Kroger. I just pray that the Derek obsession ends soon and he goes back to being crazy about pirates--they are everywhere these days! :)

From Africa to Iceland in 24 hours

Thought I would update everyone on the status of our internal home cooling system...IT WORKS!! (thanks to Rhonda for reminding me about updating.) The following will be boring to some of you...sorry. It ended up being a rather complicated problem. First, the guys came out and said it was a problem with the thermostat, then they fixed it by replacing the old one (old--it was 4 years old). They also said our sump pump was not working and that was causing water to get up to the furnace which was causing the fan to just paddle water instead of forcing air. So, they then came out the next night and dug a new hole for a new sump pump bucket and reconnected the pump which helped to get the crawl space dried up. Still...the air didn't work. So, they were back out the next day to trouble shoot again...and then they decided to flush out the coil even though it looked perfectly clean. The guy said it was gross and he has NO idea how it got that way. At any rate, they flushed it, added more freon and now it is cold enough that I have to sit here under a blanket. :) I am one happy camper.

Another update on the heat front...I have talked to Nele and her mom and apparently there is a sort of heat wave in northern Germany right now and they are dying! They both said it is bad because they don't have air conditioning so they are just having to wait it out. Here's hoping that they get some much needed relief soon. We are praying for you little germans!!

It's Africa Hot!!!

I think I see a wildebeest in my living room. No, wait...it's just the heat playing tricks on me. Yes, folks...it is that hot in this house. 92 degrees at 9pm to be exact. I know I shouldn't complain because there have been centuries of people who have lived in hot, humid, nasty weather without air conditioning, but holy moly!...I am a wimp and simply can't take it!!!!!

It's hot in here...AGAIN!!!!!

Well...the air conditioner in our house has delivered its last bit of cold air. It is currently 86 degrees, and yes, it is 11:15pm. Stinkin' hot!!! It's like lower Alabama in the summer. How do people do this? I find it a little hard to function! Okay, granted I am a lot fatter than I should be, but my goodness, tiny children find this place too hot. I'm just glad it held out until Nele left...she would really hate being this hot. :)

Here's hoping that we can get it fixed on Monday. If not...I may be coming to stay at your house...yes, you there...the one with the killer a/c unit. Lucky!

Saying goodbye...

It is finally here. The day has come for me to say goodbye to my girl. I am not ready for it. I know, I know...she has only been here for a year, and we are getting a new student soon...but it doesn't make it any easier. Many people have talked about how she has had such a positive impact on them. No one really understands why. There is just something about her... As Billy Joel says, "She's got a way about her. Don't know what it is...". You know the song. Anyway, it is very fitting for her. I really cannot say enough positive things about her. There is not enough time and, honestly, not enough words.

We had an excellent party on Tuesday night at The Point. It was wonderful to see everyone come out to say their goodbyes to Nele. The highlight of the evening was a concert by The Josh Martin Band. They have been so supportive of Nele and her relationship with Derek (the killer bass player). They had an awesome set and Josh said some really nice things about Nele. She absolutely loved it. Thanks guys for doing such a great job. It meant a lot to all of us...your ministry is a HUGE blessing.



Well, I am home...not in Georgia. Nele's flights were rerouted through Cincinnati and so our time together was cut short. It was very hard for me to handle. I was forced to say my final goodbyes to her while I was on hold with Delta International trying to fix her flights in Germany. This was not at all what I had planned, but apparently God had other plans. (Once again...I really need to go back to Jeremiah. Why can't I get that through my head?) Anyway, I did talk to her when she landed in Cincinnati, and again before she took off from there. I am praying that she has a good reunion with her family and that she is healthy and happy while we wait for the day we see her again (planned for the last two weeks in October). I miss her something awful, but I just have to hold on to the fact that God will take care of us.

Where have I been?

Okay...wow! I did not realize it has been almost a month since I last posted. Sorry to all my loyal fans (hi, mom!). However, once you are updated on the happenings in my life you will understand the reasons for my absence.

I think it would be best to start with work. Holy moly! Work has been hard the last month. Jennifer (my boss, and the Franklin County 4-H agent) and I have been gearing up for 4-H Camp which actually ended today. I never knew so much crap had to be done for one week of camp. The paperwork alone nearly killed me. I know what some of you are thinking..."how in the world can one little county in the state of KY generate that much paperwork?" Well, I don't know how we generate it...I just know that we do. We had a total of 208 kids, 46 adult and teen leaders, and a camp staff of about 10. That's a lot of people for one agent to handle, but she did it...of course, with the help of her trusty, and may I say, FABULOUS assistant. :^) I love my job and I love working for Jennifer.

Now on to the home front. First, the children...they are both fine. Joseph is taking swimming lessons for the Frankfort Area Swim Team and he really enjoys it. I think if he could turn himself into a dolphin he would do it in a heartbeat. That boy loves the water! Nele on the other hand has not been swimming all summer. She has spent a lot of time with her boyfriend, some time with friends, and a lot of time with us. Several other exchange students went home in June, but Nele wanted to stay to the last possible minute so she is leaving on the 14th. You got it...in less than a week. I would love to say that I am handling things very well, and not getting emotional all the time, but that would be a HUGE lie! I have cried a LOT!!! I will publish a another post in a few days dedicated solely to Nele so I won't go into my feelings any further.

The Mr. is doing well. He is working like a dog with Insight Communications in Louisville (90 miles round trip each day...$$$...OUCH!) and still very much involved in the Wireless Blue partnership. He is a busy man, but happy with his work which is a huge blessing. We haven't spent a lot of time together lately, but that should all change now that camp is over. I miss my man when we are both so busy. I think it may be time for a date night. It would be good to go see a movie that is not endorsed by a mouse with his own theme park. ;)


One of the best things about the last few weeks is the new Josh Martin Band CD was released and is currently spinning in my car. If you already have it then you know the joy this music brings, but if you don't have one...GET ONE! Help the brothers out (the CDs are $10 and the money goes back into their ministry). You can go to their website (nice work, Rew!) and order it today. What are you waiting for?