Where did the term go?

So I realized that I haven't done a good job keeping this updated as much as I would have liked. I just got on to see whats up with my peps, and jumped over to see when the last time I posted was....January (really K...what have you been up to? Inquiring minds want to know!!)

First, let me apologize for being MIA.  

Looks like winter term took over my life.

I was taking 3 studio art classes. (Enough said)

With that I have also been doing some soul searching. Amidst the term, I realized that I would yet again evaluate what I was doing and what my Goal in life was...as far a Careers go.

I have decided that I will no long peruse an Art Therapy degree. Lots went into this consideration.

1st: I hated being in class so much...is it completely impossible to stack 3 art studio classes into 2 days and be home by 3. ... You cant even do that with 2 art classes.

2nd: I have totally fallen in love with Premier Design! 

(another blog post on that later)

3rd: I enjoy being my own boss

4th: What can I do that requires less class time so I can enjoy being a mom and wife as well.

5th: With the credits I already have, what other degree could I get.

So after all considerations I am going to be getting my second Bachelors of Science in Psychology. 

(the irony is this was what I started working on when I 1st transferred to PSU back in 2004) 

I only have 3 terms left...including the current term. I am 9 classes away from finishing and should be done this fall term. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer.

The second thing I have decided is to go for my MBA. This was decided with many of the same things I considered above. 

Pluses to this choice is, most schools allow you to do the program completely online, or partially. Im planning on doing a little be a both..online and in the class room. 

Next step is to figure out where I want to go. Fun Fun Fun. Any input on this would be greatly appreciated. 

I’ll let you know what I come up with too. 

(i know what you are thinking...what nothing on d2.... thats another post to come soon too!)

Feeling inspired!

Well, Its the new year! My hopes were to get a blog post up here of the good things of last year, and things I hope for, for this year.. That hasn’t happened. Among other things that are still on my to do list. I will hopefully find time by the end of the month to post that on here. But for now, here’s a couple stories.

d2 is getting smarter (an ornerier ) then ever! All I can do is smile. It gives me joy, as I correct his tone, and attitude, but most the time he is being just plain silly. 

He has discovered that he has the same name as his father. No I never use my husbands full name when I need him to listen. This in part because he is 30, and usually listens right away, & second it is saved for my child, when he is not listening. You know that tone of voice your mother uses, with either your full name, or first & middle? Well I happen to just use his first and last name. Something about having a 2 syllable name followed by a single syllable. It just flows nicely. 

So the other day d2 comes from the play area screaming his name, he said it like 3 times...beckoning for this person. I waited to see what he was doing, a little confused at to why he was called for himself, but also wondering if maybe he wanted daddy. Then he stopped, looked at me and said, mommy where’s daddy? Thats when I knew that he was called for D. I replied...I’m not sure, I think he is upstairs. He then continued to call for daddy using his full name. I waited to see the look on my husbands face. It was priceless.

With the orneriness comes a sweetness too. You see, d2 has been coming up every morning, yelling at me, ordering me to get up. I finally just decided to ignore him till he could ask me nicely. I didn’t want to encourage his behavior. So today, he came it quietly, I had heard him playing in his room and laid there waiting for him to come in and “wake” me up. He took is small sweet hand and brushed my cheek, and said “Sweetie, its time to wake up, you want to get up please.” (LOVE)

He has taken to calling me Sweetie, that is was D calls me. Didn’t really realize it, until our toddler picked up on it and decided that was what he would call me to. 

It is interesting to watch him as he choose different names to call me... Sweetie, Mommy or Mom & what it is he wants. I am amazed at how quickly it catches on to things and am enjoying every minute of it!

Merry Christmas!

Dear Family & Friends,

I hope this year has found you well. It’s hard to believe that its this time of year already. 

Last year we left you with me working & D unemployed. With that being said, this year has been soo good to us.

I started taking classes in January, while D looked for work. In March, D was blessed with a job through a Temp Agency, working for CH2MHill doing drafting work. It was a 4 month contract that continues to be extended & and we rejoice in how the Lord is providing for us. His current contract is good through the end of January, and we continue to pray for extensions or something permanent. 

When D went back to work, I took a term off to figure out how family & school would work out. I also began a new journey working with Premier Designs Jewelry & we have been truly blessed to be apart of such an amazing company! Over the spring and summer I was able to stay at home with our little guy, and hold Jewelry Parties at night after D got home. It has helped bring in some much needed extra income, and I enjoy it so much. I get to hang out with awesome ladies, give away free jewelry, eat brownies & get paid for it! Being able to do this has also allowed me to return back to school this fall, and not worry about work. I have been able to take my classes and schedule my work around family & school. 

This summer I was also able to go on a short trip to nepal. It was only 2 week, but I enjoyed every moment of it. I was stretched in so many ways. Thank you for all your prayers and support. God’s peace for this trip & on this trip overwhelmed me.

Our Little man, d2 Turned 2 this year, and 3 is soon approaching. He has entered a stage where he likes to push his limits & sometimes it is hard not to laugh. He loves pretending & telling stories and is a very social boy. He brings such joy to our lives and we are trying to soak it all up. He loves all things cars, trucks, toy story & thomas. His newest thing is LEGOS...thought that didn’t start till they were 5. We are soo excited to have christmas this year, as he has understand presents and even christmas. 

We are looking forward to this coming year, with high HOPES. Knowing God is good.

Things we are hoping for & trusting in the Lord for are:

D getting a permanent Job

d2 becoming potty trained

& my Year Anniversary with Premier.

There is soo much to look forward to.

We hope you all take some time to remember the true meaning of christmas & praise our saviors birth.  

Love,

The Don’s 

d2 singing

Just thought I would share this!

Oh my October!

It seems to have flow by faster than I would like.

So many times I have thought about blogging and yet it hasn't happened. And as I write this now, I have homework calling out to me.

Im gonna make it wait, and then once I get these words on the screen, then I will tackle it with no mercy.

So lets see, I left you with back to school.

d2 has adjusted to pre-school very nicely. There were a couple weeks when I thought the crying would never end, and I heart strings ached for him, and I wondered if going back to school was really worth it. (in my head I knew it was, but my heart didn't agree during the moment when my child is crying, and I am trying to get out the door.)

Now our mornings on school days consist of him asking, mommy you go to school too? and daddy go to work? and the final question.. mommy you pick me up after nap? All to which I confirm and repeat to him to insure that is it just part of the day and we will have the rest of the night to have fun.

October has been full of fall fun!

I am unsure how I will narrow down all my wonderful photos of the memories.

We made our way to the pumpkin patch, at which d2 exclaimed when his eye caught all the pumpkins

“Mommy!, Look at all the pinecones!! Love it!

He picked up the 1st one he saw, and it was the perfect size!

By the end of the month, he was calling them pumpkins, but oh how I loved that he called them pinecones! 

This is the pumpkin he wanted

The whole family

He also got to take his 1st pony ride! And really enjoyed it!

1st Poney Ride

Then & Now

4 months pregnant with david

2 and half years old... and look at him copying the pumpkin!

We also made our way out to the fruit loop in Hood River. If you have never been, I really recommend it! Soo worth the drive. There are all these orchards and you can stop by all of them and load up on fresh oregon apples and other fruit.  Heres a few photos from that. 

feeding an alpacka 

Big Tractor

little tractor

Climbing in a tree! And soo proud of himself

We carved pumpkins, and I let d2 use the “Mr. Potato head” pieces to do his pumpkin. We got them for his 1st Halloween and they have worked out quite nicely. He wasn't much into sticking his hands into the pumpkin guts so this also helped, plus his love for “tatoe heads” made it a win win!

His pumpkin

We joined his pre-school with an outing to Toy Story 3 on Ice, and he ate it up. Show started a little late, so by intermission he was getting tired. He did make it through the whole show though.

Our Family. . . . of course he had to dress up as woody!

Of course he had to share his popcorn with Rex

Enjoying the show

Then of course we had to go trick-or-treating!

It only took him 2 houses for him to catch on. I had been couching him all week on saying trick or treat, so we had that down. The Toystory Theme Continues...and I might add that he asked me to draw on his face after he saw me draw on D's!

The 1st house he got 2 bags of M&M’s his favorite.  He looked and me and exclaimed. 

“Mommy! I got 2 of them!”

After the next house, he looked at us and ask...

“Want to go to another house?”

We made it to about 5 or 6 houses, and then his bucket was full. The all gave him 2 to 3 pieces! It made it easy. We didn't have to go for very long and he was happy. 

The whole gain!! 

So that was our fabulous October!

Im enjoying my classes, taking 2 art classes and 2 psy classes. I’ll post all my art soon but you will have to check it here.

I also had 4 Jewelry Parties in October & have 5 for this month. God has truly bless me with this job & he has aslo

extended  D's job until the end of the year. 

Still praying that this temp job will turn into something permanent, but grateful for how the Lord is providing for us now. 

Hello Fall!

The term in is full swing with homework on my to-do list as well as everything else that has been on it.

I am enjoying classes and d2 has transitioned to pre-school very well. He loves going to school and taking his backpack or as he calls it his pack-pack. And actually last week he was asking me to go to school every day. He was excited! (confession: i am actually sitting at home in complete silence, alone, to blog, when I could have picked him up. But I paid for the whole day and don’t have to pick him up till six. You know how many things I can get done with 2 hours of me time, no interruptions? Yes, blogging is one of them!)

He is getting so big!

Excited to take his pack-pack

Ok mom, lets go!

Back to my classes. I had painting in the morning, and am loving it. I will be posting stuff on here when it comes to my art. So check it out! Well...not yet... I haven’t competed anything yet.

Then I have 2 psy classes and to my pleasant surprise, Chelle is in both of them! Totally random, but loving it! I like having a friend to sit next to and chat with here and there. And we are each others Life-Lines for one of them. (its complicated so ask me and I will tell you all about that class...or maybe I will find time to blog just about that).

Jewelry is really taking off! I am loving it. I have never had a more fun job! And I get paid to play with jewelry, wear it, and hang out with girls and eat brownies.. I know you are jealous! So if you want some free jewelry, let me know, or if you want to have an amazing job like mine, let me know! I can get you the hook up! Im your girl!

D’s temp job is coming to an end (as far as we know).  It ends Oct 21st. We keep hoping for another extension, but nothing yet. So keep him/us in your prayers. God is going to provide, but your petitions are greatly appreciated. 

So life seems to be up in the air, and changing frequently. 

That pretty much sums it up!.

However, things I am excited for are:

School

Unleashing my inner artist!

Fall!

Pumpkin flavored things

And whatever God has in store for us next!

We have arrived!

ok my friends.... I know I left you hanging there.

I was having a hard time trying to figure out how I was going to finish up this trip.

Really God moved so much before I even left, I wasn’t sure what to say.

After multiple talks at church and with friends. I have come to a conclusion, but I will save that for the end.

Check out I've Got this for the 1st part of my trip.

So we get back to the airport, enjoyed are day out in Hong Kong. Or in my case..as  much a I could. Looking back, it was great to see all that we did. Props to Alyssa for hooking us up!

Alyssa and I make are way down to the lost & found. 

We walked in the door, and the lady I had left my info with kind perked up when I walked in.

She said. “We found your bag!”

I through my upper half onto the desk and exclaimed, “Praise Jesus!!”

She continues, “We found it in...how do you say.. in toilet.”

I looked at her, thinking my bag would be soaking wet, and then realized she meant that they found it in the bathroom. 

Nothing was touched, or moved. Now from my memory, I took my bag out of the bathroom. How it ended up there we are not sure, but praise Jesus for finding it and keeping it safe for me. 

All was well in the world as we heading onto our next flight!

The Stupa

We arrived in nepal late. It was very dark, and everything was shut down for the night.

We got to the place we would be staying, and hit the sack! Excited to sleep lying down, with a pillow under head.  

We were staying in Bouda, 

which is close to the Stupa.

A majority of Nepali people are Buddhist. As part of their religion, the must pray to buddha. 

They walk around the Stupa, spinning prayer wheels, keeping track of the # of times they have prayed with prayer beads.

One of many Monasteries

We spent the majority of our time going to monasteries & hindu sites.

We prayed over them, and 

as we walked from place to place. 

Half way through a trip, we had a women’s retreat. 

There are believers in nepal, just not many. I was amazed at the turn out, we had 30 or so women from around the area. It was encouraging to me, to see that God is moving in Nepal. I enjoyed teaching them, and encouraging them as the continue to live is such a lost place.

In the end, I prayed. A Lot.

I don’t remember the last time I prayed as much. And in doing so, God was able to show himself to me in ways I could have never imagined.

Women's Retreat

One of the things I enjoy most about going on a missions trip is that I know God will show himself to me.

On this trip, I saw his heart. How he loves the Nepali people and wants so much for them to turn away from their idol gods and worship him, The one true God.

God’s love is far beyond any words I could use to express. If you have not experienced it, I encourage to you seek after him. He loves you too, and wants you to turn away from whatever it is that you worship, and worship him! Allow him to change your life! 

Here are a few more photos!

Calling Home

Prayer Wheels

The Thangka....made all from sand

  

Ladies Retreat

Nepali Church

Heading Home