Soo-EE

I got my application in to the University of Arkansas and they replied saying that it would take a couple weeks to get it processed. I have my new University of Arkansas email account all set up and ready to go for next sememster. I should be able to enroll in a few weeks. I'm so excited!

Spring Break

I'm ready for school to be out for the summer. Not just a tease like Spring Break. I enjoyed my Spring Break, but it just didn't last long enough. It rained on the days I was home all day on my period. Then when the weather got to be really nice (nearly 70 degrees) I had to go to work. Go figure!
I got mad at Mike, what's new with that, huh? I got over it. Shael went to work with me one night, that was an experience. I had to work on Easter. That sucked, but oh, well, it was basically like any other day. Two days in a row I tried to do something to help people and got jumped for it. See if I try to help one of those people again, forget it! The other person was at church and she did it in front of all the kids in my Wednesday night class. All over something stupid. I made a list of do's and don'ts for the special needs kids (we have 3 of them now and two of them are autistic!) and this lady said, and this is verbatim, "If they can't be treated like all the other kids at this church, then maybe they shouldn't come here". Whoa! Back it up, she said WHAT? Yep, she said those very exact words. She thinks we should let her kids get away with whatever and that's the whole idea behind her rude words. Her kids don't have anything wrong with them except maybe brat-itis. Or stupidmother syndrome.
The other incident happened at work the very next night when I tried to help the clerk before me get out earlier by taking her trash out for her. She got mad and let me know about it. See if I take her trash out again. Not even when I find it laying in the floor in the back room will I take out her trash. I will leave it right where it is for her to take care of on her next shift. Even if that means (and it will) that is has to sit in the floor the entire weekend until she gets back on Monday. Which is what happened this weekend. Her boxes that she didn't break down and take out to the recycle center. I left them in the floor, not exactly where she left them, because if I'd left them where she left them, I would have been tripping over them on my way to the cooler all weekend long. So I moved them to where they couldn't be missed but wouldn't get tripped over either and let the assistant manager know why they where there. She said "no problem" and gave me a knowing look.
Okay, my biggest piece of news is.....
Drum roll please...
I'm going to Africa in 15 months.
I made the commitment last weekend at the ladies retreat to go with my Senior Pastor, Sister Lynda and a boy from the youth group that she's taking. It's just going to be the three of us going and my main purpose of going is to take care of Sister Lynda. She needs a woman to go with her and make sure she's taken care of and that woman is me. I'm not sure how much money I'm going to need, but it's going to be taken care of, I'm not going to worry about it. An offering was taken up during the ladies retreat and over a thousand dollars was received. That's to be distributed among the three of us, but it's still a healthy start. I'm excited.
And now for my most precious of news. This is the piece of information I hold closest to my heart. Mike came to church with Shael and me Sunday. He came in late and we left early, but he was there. I don't even care that he sat the entire time with his arms crossed. He was THERE! I thought I'd float away on a cloud of happiness and Mike could tell and I knew if made him feel kind of good to know that he was able to make me so happy. It took a lot of effort for me to ask and it took a lot of effort for him to walk through those doors. Some day, some day. I still have faith that he'll be running to those doors like I do. I love my God and I love my church and without both I would not have made it these past few months.
Gotta go now. I've got homework to type up since I don't have a computer at home anymore.
Later!

Don't Get Comfortable

Dear Stacie,
Comfortable, don't get comfortable.
I am gonna' move this mountain then I'm gonna move you in.
Yesterday, this is not yesterday.
You were standing on my shoulders now;
you're standing on the edge.
You've been looking for a sign all this time.
I am gonna show you what I mean
I am gonna love like you've never seen
You are gonna live like you used to dream
This is your new song
So afraid but you don't have to be afraid
Even if you make mistakes
You know that I'll remain
You've been looking for a sign all this time.
If you seek you'll find me every time.
So I am gonna show you what I mean
I am gonna' love like you've never seen
You are gonna live like you used to dream
THIS IS YOUR NEW SONG
Can you feel the call of love?
Is it moving you to be a child of God of love?
Is it reaching you?
It's everywhere the call of love.
I just want to show you what I mean
I just want to love like you've never seen
Do you want to live like you used to dream?
Then I've got a song for you
Cuz I am gonna show you what I mean
I am gonna' love like you've never seen
You are gonna live like you used to dream
This is your new song
You've got a NEW SONG

Love,
God

Apology

I'm so for any readers there might be left out there. It seems I have basically lost all passion about blogging. It takes nearly all my energy to make it through each day and it leaves me having no desire to post a thing.
So, stick with me, checking back about once a month. Maybe it will return.

What's Up?

Sorry if I haven't been very faithful to blog these days. I really haven't had much extra time for blogging. I've been working a lot of extra hours these days. The two people at work that I didn't like much both got fired on the same day and, though it made my life at work much easier and fun, it made my life more busy because I'm having to pick up a few extra shifts. They hired a new girl and she worked a week and got real bad sick and had to admitted into the ICU in Joplin. So, now I'm back to picking up some extra shifts. That's okay. I could really use the money.

So, the job is going okay. I've got the hang of it and have made some new friends. School is going okay, too. I've made it past mid terms, which was a breeze, seeing as I didn't have a single mid term test. LOL. But now that they've come and gone, I see how close the end of my NEO career is getting. Maybe the next couple of years will go faster than I at first thought it would. I can only hope.

My home life...well, I don't even know what to say. I'm still married. That brings little comfort to me, but what can I do? I'm praying and believing. That's all I can do.

My camera has finally given up the ghost. I really wanted to take a picture of my car and post it on here. Maybe I can borrow a camera, I don't know. All I know is that it is WONDERFUL (more than wonderful, actually) to have my car back. I really don't even want to drive that Suburban ever again. I'm grateful that I had it to drive and that I wasn't completely afoot. But, gosh, it took so much money to drive that thing. I'm hoping my paycheck will actually last until my next one this time. Especially since I have a few extra hours on it.

I think that's about it. Here's my every day schedule. Look it over and then maybe you'll understand why I don't blog much.
Sunday -- church from 9:00-12:30 or 1:00
work from 2:30-11:30
Monday --lab school 9:30-11:30
class 12:00-2:00
work 2:30-11:30
Tuesday --class 11:00-12:15
work on High Point 12:30-1:30 or 2:00
class 6:00-9:00
Wednesday--class 12:00-2:00
church 6:30-8:30
Thursday --class 11:00-12:15
prayer 5:00-6:00
Friday -- class 12:00-2:00
work 2:30-11:30
Saturday -- work 2:30-11:30
Sunday, start all over again. Also add in that I've been going to the fitness center to work out for an hour on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays. I've got groceries to buy, meals to fix, laundry to do, daughter to take to her things she's got going on. Also, take in the fact that it takes me almost an hour to drive to Miami for class on M,W, & F. High Point takes a couple hours of prep on Wednesdays, that's not counting the prep I do on Tuesdays. I'm just always doing crap, it seems! Always! For a homebody like me, this is the pits.

The other day I decided to skip out on my Tuesday class this week and do something fun for a change. I went to Dallas with my sister and my mom. It was fun. I bought myself like 7 bracelets. One necklace and a ring. But SEVEN bracelets! I'm a bracelet nut, I guess. Oh, and I got a new purse, too. I like it. It's green. Imagine! But I was tuckered out. I'd worked for four days (or nights, whatever) and gotten about 14 hours of sleep in those four days, then I went to Dallas thinking I'd sleep all the way there and back. That didn't happen. We took my sister's new Saab and the back seat was not made for naps. I slept for a little bit on the way back home but not for very long. I slept from Dallas to Sherman. I don't know, that's maybe an hour. I'll have to check. All I know is that Wednesday I was worn out and ready for some serious shut eye. I finally did get caught up on my sleep. I slept in Wednesday and Thursday and I took a nap Wednesday before church. I overslept and forgot half the stuff I should've brought with me, but everything worked out without it anyway. Good thing.

Well, I'm going to go. I've got Algebra coming up in about 15 minutes and I have to do some other things here before I leave.
Have a great day!

Let It Fade, Mike

Have you been walking on a surface that’s uncertain
Have you helped yourself to everything that’s empty
You can’t live, This way too long,
There’s more than this,
More than this
Have you been standing on your own feet too long
Have you been looking for a place where you belong
You can rest, You will find rest
Let this old life crumble,
Let it fade,
Let this new life offered be your saving grace,
Let this old life crumble let it fade,
Let it fade
Have you been holding on to what this world has offered
Have you been giving in to all these masquerades
it will be gone,
It will be gone
Are you carrying the weight too much,
Are you running from the call

Love

A group of professional people posed
this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds,
'What does love mean?' The answers they got were broader and
deeper than anyone could have imagined See
what you think:
----------------------------------------
'When my grandmother got arthritis, she
couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the
time, even when his hands got arthritis too.
That's love.' Rebecca- age 8
----------------------------------------
'When someone loves you, the way they
say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in
their mouth.' Billy - age 4
----------------------------------------
'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and
a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out
and smell each other.' Karl - age 5
-----------------------------------------
'Love is when you go out to eat and give
somebody most of your French fries without
making them give you any of theirs.' Chrissy - age 6
----------------------------------------
'Love is what makes you smile when
you're tired.' Terri - age 4
----------------------------------------
'Love is when my mommy makes coffee
for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it
to him, to make sure the taste is OK.' Danny - age 7
----------------------------------------
'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then
when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be
together and you talk more.
My Mommy and Daddy are like that.
They look gross when they kiss' Emily - age 8
----------------------------------------
'Love is what's in the room with you at
Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.'
Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)
----------------------------------------
'If you want to learn to love better, you
should start with a friend who you hate,'
Nikka - age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)
----------------------------------------
'Love is when you tell a guy you like his
shirt, then he wears it everyday.'
Noelle - age 7
-----------------------------------------
'Love is like a little old woman and a little
old man who are still friends even after they know
each other so well.' Tommy - age 6
----------------------------------------
'During my piano recital, I was on a stage
and I was scared. I looked at all the people
watching me and saw my daddy waving and
smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't
scared anymore.' Cindy - age 8
----------------------------------------
'My mommy loves me more than any
body. You don't see anyone else kissing me to
sleep at night.' Clare - age 6
----------------------------------------
'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the
best piece of chicken.' Elaine-age 5
----------------------------------------
'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy
smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer
than Robert Redford.' Chris - age 7
----------------------------------------
'Love is when your puppy licks your face
even after you left him alone all day.'
Mary Ann - age 4
----------------------------------------
'I know my older sister loves me because
she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out
and buy new ones.' Lauren - age 4
----------------------------------------
'When you love somebody, your
eyelashes go up and down and little stars come
out of you.' (what an image) Karen - age 7
-----------------------------------------
'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on
the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross.'
Mark - age 6
----------------------------------------
'You really shouldn't say 'I love you'
unless you mean it.
But if you mean it, you should say it a lot.
People forget.' Jessica - age 8
----------------------------------------
And the final one
The winner was a four year old child
whose next door neighbor was an elderly
gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy
went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto
his lap, and just sat there.
When his Mother asked what he had said
to the neighbor, the little boy said,
'Nothing, I just helped him cry'