vbs days 4 & 5

i took almost no photos the last 2 days of vbs - too busy putting together the slide show for sunday!

i did manage to catch this lovely shot of gerry making cotton candy, however. he almost set off the fire alarm with the cotton candy machine!

(what you can't see here is all the smoke in the room!)

vbs day 3

who needs hands? i mean really...

snack staff ... apparently it's a fun job

day 3 bible teaching. so far chuck has been blind, paralyzed, and stricken with leprosy. but healed!

singing her heart out...

vbs day 2

the skit cast, in character



light from heaven on the song leader ;)



the kindergartners are riveted on chuck as he explains what it's like to have leprosy



clowns, storm troopers, and laura ingalls race during game time

vbs day 1

it's vacation bible school week at grace!
my favorite week of the year, with the understanding that nothing else will be accomplished.

except ... this year, i'm also moving my office, finishing a big photo project, hosting out of town guests, and visiting relatives in eastern washington (for one day). by sunday. ah well, business comes and goes...

but so far, vbs has been a blast! i'm doing the slide show this year, and have lots of fun photos. here's a few from monday:




cuties in the nursery



the kindergartners knew their verse!

joby thinks he can threaten me...



2nd grade boys against girls. the boys won...

lots&lots of kids!

breaking news!

make your own at http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/

shopping for men's clothes

i went shorts shopping yesterday.

and, fed up with being forced to choose between ribcage-hugging grandma delux and the cellulicious thigh display, i decided to check out the men's department. after all, i like cargo pants.

my shopping mate was my husband, dually qualified because: 1: he wears men's shorts. 2: he thinks i look hot in anything.

the chronicles of narnia action scene music provided an inspiring soundtrack for our adventurous mood. first we hit levi's, where we somehow ended up in the back, looking at boy's pants. confused, our confidence slightly eroded, we left. next joel suggested eddie bauer. no comment.
we drove to zumiez on joel's suggestion we try a "skater-ish"store.
have you ever been inside zumiez? just because i'm looking for boy's shorts does not mean i'm a "skulls and plaid" kind of girl.

desperate, hot, and hungry, we stopped at pacsun for a last ditch try. (clarifying, i hadn't actually tried on anything at this point.) i marched past the tiny, perfectly dressed faux-surfer girls and picked out a likely pair of floppy tan cargos with a useless striped belt.

once in the dressing room, i realized that i shouldn't have taken my darling husband's word on the size. the dear man forgot that i have hips. after [ahem] a number of size trials, i settled on something i could live with. i won't be sharing that size, since i'd rather not have my hips compared to those of my readership's skinny husbands.

overall, i consider my first experience shopping for men's clothes a smashing success. i doubt if i'll be going back to women's shorts anytime soon. i just have to keep reminding myself that the little number isn't really my waist size....

properly socialized

i was homeschooled.

my poor mother. every few days or so: "aren't you worried that they won't be properly socialized?"
that infamous question burned into every homeschooler's mind, coupled with the fear that their child will grow up to be a dumpy math whiz with a stutter and shyness rivalling wall-e.

i am now 21. i'm very good with names, know 90% of our 500 member and growing church (and they know me), have good friends in all age groups, and am active on more social networking sites than all my friends put together.
but .... i don't have many close friends, i don't tend to connect well with other women, and i don't hang out with acquaintances in my demographic very often.

am i properly socialized?
what are the indicators of "proper socialization"?

i'm curious to hear y'all's thoughts....

a real, honest-to-goodness update, kinda

in the last month we...

~took our home off the market
zippideedooda ... you know the rest! yeah, we're excited. we like our little home, and we're stoked to be able to stay in it a while longer. we were able to work things out financially and we're planning on staying for at least the next few years ... which is convenient since it wasn't selling!

~refined career goals
joel is still pursuing a career in the medical field, but is now planning on becoming a nurse-practitioner.
lots of reasons: the flexiblity that nursing allows, less time until he finishes school, less intensity of schooling (which = less strain on our family)... we're both excited about this shift. he'll be hopping into chemistry and anatomy/physiology in the fall, plus keeping his full time job. we're in the eye of the hurricane now, enjoying a school-less summer.

~took up gardening
yes, you read that correctly. we of the infamous lawn, the pale, sitting-next-to-each-other-with-our-separate-laptops-equals-quality-time roberts's have taken up gardening as our new "together hobby". we put in an herb garden, flower beds (we even lined them with bricks!), and we have great plans for the backyard. i'll post photos sometime soon ... when i catch up with photos from the past 3 months.

~did nothing with my photo website
it's still in the works ... i haven't forgotten ... but my computer has been having issues. i've had to reformat twice, and only yesterday did my darling husband get my wireless working. i'm way behind on projects for others, so personal projects are taking a backseat right now. it'll come out soon ... when you're least expecting it... ;)

~got haircuts
yes ... we finally buzzed joel's yearlong experiment. i don't have before-after shots, but i do have a photo of the resulting mess. btw, it was the first time i've ever cut anybody's hair. (except my bangs. once.)

the church secretary

a typical conversation:

sweet, well meaning church person (swmcp): "i know you! you're the ... what ... aren't you the church secretary?"

me: uh ... yeah, i'm the office manager. [smile sweetly]

swmcp: "oh wow, do you manage very many people?"

me: um ... one. but we're hiring another if the budget passes.

swmcp: "congratulations! so, do you have an office?"

me: aahh well ... no. but i'll get one when the building project is over. (sweet smile is now desperate)


this job is good for my pride.

spelling nazi strikes again

have you ever read those church bulletin funnies?
you know, like:

"a worm welcome to all who have come today."
"the pastor will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing, 'break forth into joy.'"
"low self-esteem support group will meet thursday at 7 to 8:30p.m. please use the back door."

i, the spelling nazi, almost had one of my own today. i send a weekly email update to our prayer team - about 40 people. i always proofread this update at least twice. today, i decided on a whim to proof it a third time.
i am so glad i did. i discovered, to my chagrin, the following typo:

pray for *name omitted* and family – her father passed away last week after a battle with lunch cancer.