My week

Thursday was a really nice day cuz I didn't have any shows to go on!! YAY!! I did bake cookies for the party at work in the morning. At about 12 I went over to the office and helped them set-up for the party. I worked with Shayna, Damon, and Rob for about 2 hours. I really like Shayna and Damon, and I think they really like me too!! :) I'm not really a huge fan of Rob, but then and again, most people aren't. He tends to be really pushy and shovey, and if it isn't done his way, or in a way that he thinks makes sense, then it's completely wrong! UGH! Oh well, I just tend to hang out with Shayna and Damon, they are gonna be the ones that I work with once I go to college anyways, cuz Rob and Michelle (the other office girl) are going to Lafayette about the same time I'm going to college to open up a store there. So, I guess I'll put up with him for now. LOL! I had a good time helping set up, it included a run to Dollar Tree which is just down the road, I think it was a sort of test for me from Damon and Shayna cuz they gave me the money for the things that they needed and told me to come back with the receipt and change, not a big deal for me, I've done things like that before. I left around 2 and came home and did various things before leaving at about 5 for the party. I get there and Damon walks out of the back and said, "Shayna wants you to run to Staples on your way here to get a ream of paper and then we'll pay you back." LOL! Guess I passed the earlier test! :)
The party went well. I think there were about 8 or 9 of us at the party. We had pizza and chips and cookies. Then we hit the phones setting up appointments. I managed to set 3! YAY!
Friday morning I went to Syracuse (about 25 or 30 minutes north of Warsaw) with Damon on one of his shows. For me, the highlight of the trip for me was the stop on the way home at a REALLY good coffee shop! I had an blended latte, the consistency of the latte was along the line of a milk shake...I LOVE MILK SHAKES so it was GOOD!! :)
I did some more calling in the afternoon trying to set up appointments and then at 3 I had a show in North Webster, which is about 15 minutes away. Michelle went with me on that one, and my personal opinion is that we could have gotten a sale if she had tried harder, but no more on that!
In the evening I went to a MasterWorks concert with my former manager, Nan. :) It was REALLY good and a lot of fun! :)
When I got home from that, about 10:00, my family was playing a game of Phase 10 so I played with them.
This morning was jail ministry Bible study, and then I had a show once again with Michelle. It was with friends of mine and they didn't buy, but gave a bunch of referrals! :)
This afternoon I did some work for Wes and packed for our trip tomorrow. This evening Samuel and I are going to another MWF concert!! :)

Whatever in general!

My brain has been kinda blending everything together the last several days, so I'm gonna try to remember everything, but no promises!!
Yesterday I actually got out in the sun a little bit! It was sooo nice and really the first time that I had been outside all summer! I've been so busy that some things just don't work out the way that I want them to! It's kinda funny cuz here it is already nearly the end of June and I'm still REALLY white!! LOL! I also got to mow a little bit of the lawn that Samuel didn't get to on Monday. :) That was the first time I've mowed all year too!
I had a 6:30 demo in South Bend (the one that was supposed to be shown on Friday) and Damon went with me. During our drive he told me that he and Chris had decided that Damon would do some major in depth training with me over the next 2 months until I go to college, and then they would let me lose in the Louisville area, pretty much on my own. They would still keep tabs on me, and they would ship me Rainbows whenever I needed them! How cool is that?!
Today was a little on the wacky side! I had to be in Fort Wayne, which is about 45 minutes east of me to go to the dentist! My appointment was at 9:00 so I left about 7:45 and stopped at the Dunkin Donuts in Columbia City! Gotta love the iced lattes....sigh... Dentists are just royal pains, so no comments on that! I put a some gas in the van cuz I was almost out and then drove home. I got home about 11 and at 12 I met Wes at Courthouse Coffee about the PowerPoint. I got another latte, this one blended, so it was more like a slushy, and worked for about 2 hours for him. At 2 I was supposed to go with Damon on one of his shows in Middlebury, which is about an hour from Warsaw. We left about 2:30 (the show wasn't until 3:30). It took us a little bit to find the house cuz the road that it was on was SCREWY! We were going to show it to an Amish family, which I know sounds really funky, but they actually show to a lot of Amish people, AND they buy! Totally whacked! So, we get to this house and get all the stuff out and walk up to the door and the guy comes to the door and said that they called and cancelled it earlier this week! AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! The office didn't know anything about it! GRRR! Sooo, there were a couple of things that needed delivered and stuff up in that area, so we did all of those things. We were supposed to go on one of my shows in Milford at 7:30 together. The original plans were to do the show in Middlebury and then go to Milford which is about 20 minutes from Warsaw, and right on the way home from Middlebury. We still had plenty of time, but it was pointless to go all the way back to Warsaw, so we stopped at Burger King, and YAY they had free WiFi!! :) I think I killed about an hours worth of time on the internet, which made me happy!! LOL! We were on our way to our show when we decided to call the office, just to make sure that it had been confirmed. Long story short, we didn't do that show either! UGH! We went back to the office and Shayna, who is the marketing director, had the 2 of us sit down and try to set shows....we ended up managing to get her side tracked, so that we could get out of that!! LOL! Tomorrow night we are having a "phone-set party" everyone is getting together and making phone calls and setting up shows! There will be food and the theme is the 60's and 70's! We have to dress up like something from that time period....it was WAY before I was born, so I ain't got the foggiest what to wear! I was hoping to get a poodle skirt and go with the late 50's early 60's thing, but that didn't happen, so I think I might wear a denim skirt, flip flops, a bandana, and a tie-dye t-shirt (if I can find one)!

Life in the Fast Lane

Ok, I know that if I put every little detail about my week down in writing it will take a LOOOOONG time! So, I will just briefly sum up each day.
Thursday I worked for Wes in the morning and in the evening I attempted to sell a vacuum! It came SOOOOO close! Seriously, I'm still trying to figure out why in the world I didn't sell one! At the end of our shows we almost always do a "phone closing" where we call some of our bosses and they will talk to us and sometimes the customer, and they can a lot of times convince the customer to buy. Ben and Krista were already really close, then I called Matt, who is the manager of the store in Valpo. He talked to Ben, and got him even more interested. After the phone call Ben all of a sudden decided he didn't want to do it! UGH!! Soooo, no sale. It's too bad cuz that would have been my first sale on my own. It was so close that Matt called me while I was on my way home asking if had done all of the paper work! Neither one of us are sure what happened! :(
Friday got really exciting! All day it had been stormy and yucky! We were, at the least, under a severe thunderstorm watch all day, and a couple of times it elevated to warnings, and tornado watches. Nothing new for Northern Indiana, it happens all the time. I was supposed to go to South Bend in the evening to do a show. Where I was going in S. Bend was about an hour away. I really didn't want to drive up there all by myself in the wacky weather. So, I talked to the people at Rainbow and they said that Damon could go with me. I was very relieved. We were supposed to meet at the office at 5 and then proceed to S. Bend. As I was leaving home dad called and said that there was a tornado in Mentone, which is about 6 or 7 miles from us! Oh well, I had a show to go on. So, I got to the office and the tornado sirens were going off when I got out of my vehicle. Creepy. Soon after we left the office I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the storm that had gone over us, it was BLACK! We didn't sell a vacuum, nor did we even show it, which is a really long story.
I went to the jail Bible study Saturday morning, but had to leave early cuz I had a show in Logansport, which is about 1 1/5 hours south of us. Damon went on this one with me as well. We did sell a vacuum which was WONDERFUL!! PTL!! Then Damon, bless his heart, drove a few miles further south and went to Kokomo and stopped at Dunkin Donuts for me!! YAY!! I got a large iced latte, with whipped cream, of course, and totally enjoyed it! ...sigh... We got back about 5:30 and I went to the Hampton Inn in Warsaw where Wes was showing the PowerPoint to a group of his friends so that they could critique it! UGH! It would have been one thing if these were all people who understood what you can and can't do in graphic design, but most of them weren't! There were only 2 people there, mom, and a recording engineer, who understood. I only got in on the last half of the presentation, which was actually a good thing, cuz if I had been there the whole time I would have been crying! By Saturday I had only gotten about 14 hours of sleep the entire week, cuz I was trying to get this project completed for Wes, and then to have people who had NO idea what they were talking about critique it, well, lets just say I was slightly frazzled!
I went into the jail on Sunday morning. It was really good. Unfortunately one guy, Michael, who is actually one of my former bus kids and neighbors was in the solitary confinement cuz he had been wrestling! I told him I was gonna smack him for doing that, but I couldn't cuz he was locked into his cell. Pray for him, he has a lot of potential. We had several people over for Sunday dinner since it was Father's Day. That was fun.
I took yesterday off. I did NOTHING when it comes to work. YAY! At 6:3o there was an open house for Rainbow, so I did go to that, but there was really no work involved there!
Today it is nice and hot and sunny!! I was outside for a loooong time, just enjoying the sun! :) I also did a little bit of mowing, which was fun cuz I haven't mowed at all this year!!

Aaron Williams (December 7, 1972 - June 22, 2007)

"To Where You Are"'

Who can say for certain

Maybe you're still here

I feel you all around me

Your memory, so clear

Deep in the stillness

I can hear you speak

You're still an inspiration

Can it be

That you are mine

Forever love and you are watching over me from up above

Fly me up to where you are

Beyond the distant star

I wish upon tonight

To see you smile

If only for awhile to know you're there

A breath away not far

To where you are

Are you gently sleeping

Here inside my dream

And isn't faith believing

All power can't be seen

As my heart holds you

Just one beat away

I cherish all you gave me everyday

Cause you are my

Forever love

Watching me from up above

And I believe
That angels breathe

And that love will live on

and never leave

Fly me up

To where you are

Beyond the distant star

I wish upon tonight

To see you smile

If only for awhile

To know you're there

A breath away not far

To where you are

I know you're there

A breath away not far

To where you are

~Josh Groban

Today is the two year anniversary of the home going of my hero, Aaron Williams. Some of you may know his story, but others of you may not yet know it, so I will at least attempt to explain the type of man he was and what he means/meant to me.

Aaron was born December 7, 1972, I think he was the 4th of 9 children, but don't hold me to that! All of his life he was a jokester! He loved to make people laugh and feel comfortable around him. Aaron was one of the few people who had no enemies!! He was a friend to everyone.

I'm not quite sure of his entire timeline, but I do know that he joined the Marines (sometime when I was pretty little), and HE LOVED HIS COUNTRY! My favorite thing in the world used to be to tease Aaron about being a "Jar Head" in which he would always reply "I'd rather be a jar head than a squid like your dad!"

My mom is Aaron's dad's secretary, I remember the day that the office got the discharge papers from the military for Aaron. I can remember wondering who was going to have to hand those papers to Aaron, I wasn't there when that happened, but I can only imagine the look on Aaron's face when he was given those papers. I know that was one of the hardest things for him over the entire duration of his sickness.

In 2004, shortly after completing special forces training in the Air Force, Aaron was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and told that he had 6 months to live! Thankfully, God gave him to us for 3 more years. Those were years full of sorrow and tears, but also full of laughter and joy.

Throughout those 3 years Aaron had his ups and downs. He had to have surgery and something went wrong when they put his scull back together so his head was sunken in! That didn't bother Aaron, he used to make jokes about his head. He often would forget things, yet another thing that didn't drag him "down in the dumps" he made jokes about that too.

There was never a time when you were with Aaron that you weren't laughing. I have so many memories stored up inside that would take forever to write.

Probably one of my favorites is a phone call I got from him about a month before he died. He was driving to his home in PA after spending several times in IN with his family. I had asked him when I saw him at church the day before to stop by the office on his way out of town to say good bye, he had assured me that he would. Well, he forgot. I really wasn't surprised, or hurt because I knew that most of his short term memory was gone. Several hours later, I was at home when I got a phone call. It was this guy who had a strong Kentucky accent claiming that he had just moved to the Warsaw area and he had a teenage son who went to school with some friend of mine and this son had a huge crush on me and he wanted to take piano lessons from me. I was freaked out! I had NEVER had anything like that happen to me in my life. We spoke for about 5 minutes about how I taught piano lessons and what I required, etc. I finally got him off the phone and immediately called Mom. She calmed me down, and then said not to worry about it. A few minutes later my phone rang again. It was Aaron, laughing hysterically! He had made that whole thing up and had figured that I would figure out his fake accent like I always had before. He had seriously called to say that he had forgotten to say goodbye, so he was calling to say bye. That was the last time I had a coherent conversation with Aaron. From that time on he went down hill REALLY fast, it was about a month after that that he died.

The following month or so was very difficult on Aaron. It included a trip to Mexico, grasping at last straws, hoping that maybe something would work. Finally it was obvious that he was not going to make it. So he came back to Indiana to die.

I remember going to see him soon after he came back. I went into his parents home, and was SHOCKED!! Aaron had always been a strong, physically fit, healthy, big Marine, in fact that is why doctors think he lived as long as he did, because he kept himself healthy. Anyways, he was sitting on a recliner, and he looked awful! He was pale, and weak, and his memory was shot. He didn't even remember a lot of his family members. My family walked in together, Aaron thought my dad was one of his brothers, but other than that he remembered the rest of our names. We spent a few minutes talking, then he some how remembered the whole piano lesson thing! That was amazing, even his family was surprised that he remembered that story. The two of us went back and forth about it for a few minutes, before deciding that I would bring a keyboard in and teach him how to play! :P On the outside I was laughing with Aaron, but on the inside my heart was breaking. I finally had to leave so I gave him a hug (which was the last hug I ever got from him) and went for a walk, I hated seeing him that way!

I think that was on a Friday or Saturday. The following Wednesday we got a phone call from his mom, Aaron wanted to see my family. We went over, and he was in bed, which is where he had been for several days. By this time, he couldn't talk, and he kept his eyes closed for the most part. The only response he would give to someone was to open his eyes, or briefly squeeze a hand. When I walked in the room, death was almost a tangible feeling. My family each took a turn holding Aaron's hand and talking to him for a few minutes. My turn was last. I walked to his side and gently picked up his hand, it was so pale and weak, and clammy. I just stood there for a few minutes, the realization that this was probably the last time I would ever see him on this earth alive was sinking in, and my tears flowed. I told him who I was and he slightly squeezed my hand. After just standing there for a few minutes, I told him that he was my hero and that he was my favorite Jar Head and he always would be, he opened his eyes and squeezed my hand. That squeeze continued for almost 5 minutes, and there was no way I was letting go! That was the last time I saw him alive.

At approximately 12:30 AM on June 22, 2007 Aaron Andrew Williams went home to be with his Lord. He had fought a good fight, he had touched so many lives, and now it was time for him to go home. In his short life, Aaron touched more people than most people who live to 90 touch. He was amazing!

At his funeral so many people came who loved Aaron. Some had met him, others had not, but all were drawn together because in some way Aaron had shown them love, and in return all loved him. I really don't remember much about the viewing and funeral. I do know that he was the first and only dead person that I've ever touched. :) The funeral procession from the church to the cemetery was almost a mile long!

Aaron's life brought so much glory to God, and when it was time for him to go, there was no fear in his heart about dying. He was very peaceful. The tears that I shed were not that he was going to Heaven, but that he was in so much pain, and also that I would be losing a dear, dear friend, and my hero.

I feel so blessed that I knew Aaron for the first 16 years of my life. His memory will live on in my heart forever!

Running around and cousins

Wednesday I took the day off! YAY! It had its wonderful pros and some pretty bad cons as well...I think the pros outweighed the cons.
Pro #1: I got to sleep in until 10:00! That was AWESOME! I didn't think I would sleep that late, but I sent my alarm just in case, it's a good thing I did!! I had a little bit of running around to do and then I did a few things at home.
Pro #2 (and by far the best 1): Around 1:30 I left for Mishawaka to see Aunt Beth!! :):):) I haven't seen her since Christmas when they were living with us. It was SOOOOO good to see her and the kiddos again! She has been through so much since I last saw her and yet the love of Christ and the complete peace that she has about her circumstances amazes me! I know that I haven't had life treat me nearly as bad as it has treated her, and yet I also know that I don't have the peace and love towards my enemies and circumstances as she has. I love her to death! We had some really good chats, thankfully she TOTALLY understands some of the things that I went through this past semester cuz she's been through a lot of it before.

***********

*****Kim, she is 15 and quite the bookworm, so was I at her age, it must run in the family :)******

*****The neighbor boy came over to play and brought his rather extensive frog collection (there were at least 5 frogs)*****

*****Sorry this is sideways, I couldn't get it to flip, this is Adreonna, and if she had blonde hair without the freckles she would look just like me at her age (she is either 7 or 8) the scary thing is she acts like me...her poor mom!! LOL*****

*****Aunt Beth*****

*****Wil*****

Pro #3: Mom and I, mostly mom cuz I was gone, were able to clean the house and then vacuum with the Rainbow that I have as a demo model!! YAY! I mostly just did my room, I think mom did the rest, but I had to clean the Rainbow once we were done, YUCK! Oh well, the house is clean at least, and it is still clean cuz dad and Samuel went somewhere (Ohio I think, but I'm not sure on that) overnight to do something with an alarm syster! So the counter is still cleaned off, and there isn't junk all over the place!! LOL!! :)
Now for the con, there is only one, but it is pretty BIG!
CON #1: I stayed up all night working on the PowerPoint for Wes. I briefly explained in an earlier post what I'm doing but I will go more into detail now. Wes is a missionary of sorts. He leads a LOT of Christian tour groups into many countries all over the world. He also has smuggled Bibles into Communist countries. I'm not quite sure all the detail on that though. One of his main countries is Israel. (YAY!!) What I'm doing is a PowerPoint presentation for him to use when he speaks at churches. This is actually like his sermon notes, he thinks the entire presentation will take about an hour! He wrote a script that I'm taking key things from and putting on slides. It's like a travellog of a trip through Israel. It is REALLY cool and since I want to go to Israel SOOOOOOOOO bad, I find it very interesting. Well, Wes has a little "debut" thing scheduled for Saturday evening! I need to have it completely done, or at least almost done by then! I think I'm on page 25 or 26 of 34 his notes, and at slide 128! UGH! So, I was up ALL night long working!! Finally at 6 AM I decided to stop working. I ran to the store and got milk, and then ran to the coffee shop and got a latte!! :) I got back around 7, did a little more work and then was able to read my devotions and get ready to meet Wes at 9. I worked with him for about 2 hours before I decided I couldn't think anymore...LOL! I got mom her favorite drink from the coffee shop that I do most of my work at, and then ran next door to Subway and got a foot long sub for mom and I to split for lunch! It was really YUMMY!
I then came home about 12 and went to bed. At 1 I was rudely awakened by Rainbow calling me to see if I would come in and work on setting up appointments for this weekend cuz there is a contest going on for dealers, and we are supposed to do at least 3 shows from Friday through Sunday....anyways told them that I would do that, so I ahve to go in at 2:15 for that.
I have a show in a town about 1/2 an hour away at 4 and then I have to come home and work more for Wes this evening.
Soooo, I'm not bored at all...if any of you have a boring life and would like to switch, just for ONE day, I think I would consider the prospect! I JUST NEED SLEEP!
Anyways, the Lord is still good, and He's gonna have to get me through cuz there is NO other way that it will happen!

YAY!! PTL!!

Today was a crazy busy day for me! I worked this morning for Wes and then went to Diamond Air for some more vacuum training. I walked in the door and Damon, who is one of the "higher ups" looked at me and said "What do you have?" (I was carrying several things in my arms and it was kinda hard to figure out what everything was....") I was like, "umm..." He said, "You mean you didn't bring anything to eat?" I had some m&m's with me, so I told him he could have some, he said, "Well, if you didn't bake them then I don't want them!" LOL!! I had taken some rocky road fudge bars in with me the other day, and he immediately termed them "bad brownies" and told me I could bring food in any time!! LOL!! (He did eat some of my m&m's) So, I told him that I'd bake something and bring it with me tomorrow... Shayna, one of the girls in the office, requested cookies, so I told em that I would make some.
I had a chiropractor appointment this afternoon, it went well....
When I got home from that I made cookies! I made the Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe. I found half a bag of Andes Mints pieces, so I used half Andes and half chocolate chips....YUM!!
At 5:30 I had an appointment to demo a Rainbow. It was with some people that my parents had referred, and go to my church. He has a lot of health problems and the Rainbow would have REALLY helped them, but at the moment were unable to purchase a system. I might have been able to sell one, but had to leave fast because I had another appointment at 7:30. At least they are neighbors of mine, so they weren't very far away.
Michelle, who had gone with me on several other demos, came with me because these people had an older Rainbow and I had never done a Rainbow trade in show before. She managed to sell them the new Rainbow!!! YAY! So, I get commission off of that!! That was the 7th show that I've done, and my first sell!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a craaaazy week!!!

This has been one of the most INSANE weeks of my life!! I'm not even sure where to start, so I guess I'll start at the beginning:
Monday: I had to work in the morning with Wes on the PowerPoint. At times it seems like he wants miracles worked, but I love him to death, and have a hard time telling him that it won't work. I guess I will just have to try to work miracles...lol! In the afternoon I had more advanced training with Rainbow. I had a chiropractor appointment and then a dumb half hour session that is held every Monday night at the chiro's for new patients called "How to stay young for the first 100 years" it was interesting and BORING!

Tuesday: I had a demo at a chiropractors home at 11:00 on Tuesday. I was a little unsure of myself, so I had asked for somebody to go with me on the show. Rob, who is actually the guy who hired me, was assigned to go with me. What was going to happen was he was going to do the show and I was supposed to take notes and pay close attention...pretty much first hand training. We met at the office at 10:30 and got everything together before heading out about quarter til 11. We get to their house and he comes out looking very disheveled. Apparently the doc had no idea about the appointment and his wife was still in bed cuz she wasn't feeling well! Company policy is that both the husband and wife have to be present in order for us to show the machine. UGH! Soooo....we went back to the office. I had some errands to run and then there was more advanced training at 1:00. That went well then I had to work for Wes later in the day.

Wednesday: My demo from Tuesday got rescheduled for Wednesday at 11:00. So once again Rob and I hit the road on our way to the show. This time however the results were quite different. :) Both doc and Mrs. were awake and ready to let us show them the Rainbow. Rob did a great demonstration and had both of them convinced that they needed/wanted a system. However, doc had to open his office at 12:30 so he had to leave, thus we did not get a sale!! :( T'was sad....if there had been 1/2 hour more for us to demo we could have sold them one soooo easily! :( Oh well I guess... There is always training for the Rainbow at 1 that is optional to attend, so I went to that and then had a chiro appointment, and then worked for Wes. Then the day began to get REALLY exciting, let me explain:
My best friend's mom had died the beginning of December. They are missionaries to Italy and she had been buried over there. Faith had just begun her second year of college at Northland Baptist Bible College in WI when Mrs. Pieri was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She got so sick that Faith went home to be with her. Within about three months Mrs. Pieri went home to be with Jesus. Faith did not go back to school, but instead stayed home and helped her family through the hard time. Joseph, who is the Pieri's son (they have 2 children) graduated from high school this year. So the Pieri's came back this summer so Faith and Joseph could both go to Northland, and they had a memorial service on Friday.
So.... we were planning on leaving Thursday morning to drive to Antigo, WI which is where the memorial service was to be held. Well, mom came up with the idea of leaving late Wednesday night so that we could get through Chicago at a decent hour. All well and good, but I still had a LOT of work that I needed to do for Wes, and I had not even begun to pack, on top of that I was exhausted. I finally completely lost it, and just cried for a LOOOOOOONG time!! I was totally overwhelmed! Mom came into my room and held me and let me cry for a while, then she ended up doing most of my packing, cuz I couldn't even think about packing at the time! LOL! We left around 9:00 for Zion, IL which is where the hotel that mom booked for us for the night was. I convinced dad to let me drive through Chicago which was FUN!! We hit some construction, and traffic, but it really wasn't that bad! :) The hotel was really nice and since we didn't have to drive the whole way on Thursday we got to sleep in a little bit! :)
Thursday: We drove through Milwaukee and right outside of it is Menonomee Falls, which is where Falls Baptist Church is, and part of the church is Baptist College of Ministry where several kids from our church have gone to school. Right now two guys from my church are on their singing tour group this summer. They happened to actually be around the entire week, so we got to swing by and see them. :) It was nice. None of us had ever been there before, so we got a tour of the church and classrooms. We also stopped at the Wings as Eagles airplane hangar in Oshkosh, WI. Dad and Mom are going to be putting in an alarm system in August while Samuel is up there for flight camp, so dad needed to check a few things out. I think around 4:00 on Thursday we pulled into Antigo, WI which is where we spent the rest of our time. Probably around 6 or 7 the Pieri's came over and spent the entire evening with us! It was really nice to see them again (the last time we saw them was when they brought Faith to the U.S. for college 2 years ago), but it was hard without Mrs. Pieri.

Friday: The memorial service wasn't until 2:00 so we were able to sleep in, which was WONDERFUL!! Around 10:30 we left so the cleaning people could clean our room. My family ran some errands, but I stayed at the hotel working on the work for Wes. It was nice to get some things accomplished. :) Originally the plans were that we wouldn't see the Pieri's until the service, but plans changed and we ended up meeting them and some of the other family at a restaurant for lunch. It was really nice. The memorial service went really well. There were so many people who were able to give testimony to her VERY close walk with God. There was a lot of praise and glory given to God, and all in all it went really well. Friday evening Bro. Pieri's brother from Michigan stayed in the same hotel that we were in, so the Pieri's came over again and stayed until around 10:00. That was our good-byes to them...it was sad. :( However, they are supposed to be coming to IN sometime in July, so we will get to see them again!! :) :) :) YAY!Saturday: We got up earlier than the 2 days before, but it still wasn't too bad. We were packed and on the road about 8:30. No excitement on the trip home. We got back safe and sound about 6ish.

**********

*****Falls Baptist Church*****

*****Mom at Wings as Eagles*****

*****This was on the floor*****

*****Sorry this is up side down, but its cool*****

*****I'll admit it was tempting*****

*****Me and my bro******

*****Faith and Joseph Pieri*****

*****Bro. Pieri*****

*****Joseph at the funeral dinner*****

*****I was sitting on Angela's lap cuz she decided to sit in my chair!! :-*****

*****Me and Faith...best friends*****

*****Angela and Sasha, they are sisters who were adopted from the Ukraine*****

*****Chicago=traffic*****

*****This cop kinda startled me cuz I thought he was a taxi and then all of a sudden I saw THE cop!!*****

*****This truck had a really funny license plate considering one of my nicknames!!LOL!!*****

*****U.S. Cellular Field, formerly Wrigley Field, where the White Sox play...GOOOO SOX!!!*****

Micah 7:5-8

Trust ye not in a friend,

put ye not confidence in a guide:

keep not the doors of they mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.

For the son dishounoureth the father,

the daughter riseth up against her mother,

the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

Therefore I will look unto the LORD;

I will wait for the God of my salvation:

my God will hear me.

Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy:

when I fall, I will arise;

when I sit in darkness,

the LORD shall be a light unto me

~Micah 7:5-8

I'll be honest, this morning when I was reading my devotions I hadn't really gotten anything from them and almost didn't go on to chapter 7 of Micah, simply because I was tired of not getting anything. I finally decided that it was probably a better idea to go on, so almost grudgingly I continued from chapters 6 to 7. WOW!! Is all I can say, I LOVE the last part of verse 7, MY GOD WILL HEAR ME!! How much better can you get? Even when everyone and everything is against me, if I look to Jesus, He will hear me. When I fall, He will pick me up, and if I don't know what to do He will show me. Why trust in an earthly friend, who will only let me down when I have the Lord to lean upon?

SURPRISE!!!!

Soooo.....I've been a little bit busy this past week! I started training with Diamond Air, learning the ins and outs of the Rainbow air purification/vacuum system. It was a lot of fun, and I learned TONS!!
I also started working for a friend, doing a PowerPoint presentation. I love doing that, but it takes a LOT of time, and he wants it done ASAP!! On top of it, he keeps changing and adding things....I don't think he understands just how long, or how much effort goes into it! UGH!
The biggest thing in my life has been planning a surprise 20th wedding anniversary/40th birthday party for my parents/mom. I have been planning this party since before Christmas, and it has been SOOOO hard pulling it off! I haven't said anything about it on my blogs cuz mom and dad read them, which is fine, but there have been SO many times that I almost wrote something, and then caught myself. LOL!! There were SOOOOO many times when I almost said sooo many things....
Anyways, the point is, I pulled off a full scale party with around 100 people showing up for my mom and dad without mom knowing a thing!! (Dad did know, but that is because I told him).

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*****Mrs. Williams made the birthday cake*****

*****I ordered the anniversary cake from a REALLY good cake shop here in Warsaw*****

*****Comic relief!! During the set-up time one of the guys decided to set chairs up around the van that I drive....LOL! It made me laugh, which was something that I REALLY needed to do! Thanks Jeremiah!*****

*****Cake table*****

*****Food!!*****

*****Jesse M.*****

*****!!!!!SURPRISE!!!!!*****

*****Cutting the cake*****

*****Feeding cake...he was nice...no shoving...LOL!!*****

*****Uncle Jim and Aunt Lois came all the way from Michigan, and brought my great grandma with them!*****

*****Kevin H.*****

*****Various people*****

*****Mercy, Charity, and the 2 littlest Maurer girls (I always forget their names :{ )*****

*****My great grandma all the way from Michigan*****

*****A friend allowed my parents to drive his Miata home! SWEETNESS!!!*****

*****Pucker up!!!*****

*****We invited a few friends to come home with us after the party, Michael looks REALLY bored!*****

*****Opening gifts*****

*****I wonder what it is??*****

A great big thanks to all of you who helped me plan and organize the party. I really appreciate all the help that was given to me over the past several months!!

Weekends Are Supposed to be for Resting!!

Sooo....I've been BUSY to say the least!
Friday was another day where I slept in, without anything that I HAD to do early. In the afternoon I made dirt pudding, which is chocolate pudding, butter, cream cheese, and milk mixed together and then layered with crushed Oreos! It is really good stuff, but I can't eat it which is sad! I made it for the Bible study that is held on Friday nights for families of people in jail, ex convicts, and really anyone who wants to come. It did go over REALLY well! :)
Mom and I went to the Saturday morning jail ministry team meeting. It went well. I was planning on going in on Sunday, which was all well and good until I found out that the regular pianist (also my former piano teacher) was going to be out of town! UGH! That meant that I had to play, I haven't played the piano in several months, there just hasn't been time! So, not only did I have to play the piano, but I also had to accompany a guy who was singing, which was fine cuz he was just singing out of the piano. Plus, I was told that I would be helping with what would be done with the speaking in the ladies block, I wasn't feeling well, and so it seemed REALLY overwhelming!!
I had a HUGE blessing on Saturday! :) At the jail meeting some how I had made the comment that I had found a job, but I would also like to get another job as well. One of the men on the jail team, Wes Smith, who has a whole bunch of ministries, mainly involving the end times and prophecy, asked if I was good on the computer. I was like, "Uh, yes." He said, "I'm wanting a presentation that I can show at churches of pictures from Israel that I have taken, etc. Do you know how to do things like that?" I said, "Yes!" The discussion went really well from there, and I'm hired! I have a meeting with him tomorrow to begin the work! YAY!!
Saturday afternoon we went to a high school graduation party for a friend of ours. I grew up with him, and we had a lot of fun! On our way home from that Samuel and I stopped to see another friend. He is trying to sell a pick-up truck, and jokingly tried to sell it to me!! :-P He did let me drive it, which was fun! :)

*****Me n' a truck...what a combo*****

Saturday night we went to a friends high school graduation. I grew up with Brent and his older brother, Bobby and I haven't seen them in ages. Bobby went to college at Pensacola Christian College, and ended up moving back down there almost two years ago, and we haven't seen him since. They have both been like brothers to me over the years. Bobby and I sat next to each other at the graduation and we made comments back and forth the entire time!! It was fun!

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*****Brent walking across the stage*****

Sunday morning Samuel and I both went into the jail. I was excited/sad to go to into our first service which is in F block, the lock down block where guys are locked into individual cells 23 hours a day, because a guy that I've known since he was a little boy, we were neighbors, and he and his siblings used to come to church with us, was in that block. When I found out several months ago that Michael was in jail (at the time he was only 15, now he is 16) I was pretty mad at him, but I also really saddened, and as time went on I decided that I couldn't wait to get back into jail so I could give him a hug. Since he was in F block, there would be no way that I could hug him, which made me sad. So we go into F and I'm looking around and didn't see him in any of the cells, so I asked one of the guys and he said that Michael had been moved from F to another block!! YAY!! That meant that I would be able to give him a hug after all!! That TOTALLY made my day! :) After the service in F one of the guys motioned me to come to his cell. In the little bit of time that we had been doing the service he had drawn a picture of me! How cool is that??!!

*****My picture*****

The next service was all of the guys in the regular cells combined into one service and Michael was there!!!!! :) There was a radical change from the boy that I used to know to the young man that he is now! When he was younger, Michael used to be a mocker, and defied authority at any and every chance possible. Now, he is really sweet, and he listened very intently, and was even helping another Mexican man who was sitting next to him. After the service was over the jailers weren't ready to take the men back to their blocks, so Michael and I got to talk for quite a while. He has really matured! I not only got one hug from him, but two!! :)
Our church had a carry-in dinner and then an afternoon service, so we went to that. I sang a solo for church! That was cool! I sang "God Hears My Prayer." It's a song that I learned for voice lessons and I really like.
Sunday evening we had friends over for dinner and played games.
Today was the beginning of training for my job. I will be selling Rainbow systems. It's a lot of information to digest, but I'm pretty sure I will like the job! :)
I got a phone call this evening from a hotel that I had filled out an application for last week, wanting me to come in for an interview tomorrow! Praise the Lord!