Got Milk?

This Sunday we are hosting the Wyss's for Easter, so my mom spent most of the day pre-cleaning the house and mopping all of the floors.

Tonight I decided to have chocolate cake and milk for a little 10 o'clock snack with my dad. The was no warning, no ominous music or sudden darkening of the room, no little voice, nada. Just a jug of milk sitting inconspicuously on the table. I really don't remember what exactly happened, my mind must have tried to block the event from my memory. It could have slipped from my hand or sprouted legs and jumped. Who knows? Well, I remember vainly grasping for it as it flew through the air. And then it hit. Milk was everywhere, all over the cabinets, the table, the refrigerator, and the floor. I laughed. My dad laughed. My mom just kind of pretended she didn't see it.


sigh. :(

So, guess what I was doing at 10 o'clock tonight. I had to scrub the kitchen floor. Very reminiscent of the great milkshake fiasco.

In Christ
~Michelle

It's a Mystery

Well, actually not any more...but that's what last weekend was -the yg Mystery Trip. :)

All we knew was that we were going somewhere, about 4 hours from here, in some direction, to spend the weekend and we were supposed to be at church at 10am on Sat. to load the bus. I was extremely excited (to put it mildly :D ) and spent a lot of time trying to pry where we were going out of my cousins. About an hour into the trip we had it narrowed down to about 3 possible places and not much longer after that and it was announced: we were headed to Bloomfield!

So, I was once again thrilled. Some of my cousins live there and out of approximately 100 churches, I had been to 51 (woohoo!) Bloomfield made it 52!

When we arrived Kendra W. (my cousin) and my uncle Russel was waiting to greet us. He is very close up there as one of the sweetest old men ever. The rest of their yg joined us on the bus and took us on a tour of Amish country. We went to a furniture store, a horse collar shop, and a buggy shop. I learned way more about horses then I ever cared to, but it was tons of fun anyway :).

They gave us one of the most delicious and original suppers I've ever eaten. We started out by playing a mixer game and then went through the line with those we didn't know. We were served soup and salad and sent back out into the main room. There we played another game to mix up for the main course which we also did again for dessert.

Joy and I stayed at Jackie W.'s house. We had an amazing time and some rather humorous conversations.

Sunday was lovely all around (though I found it is quite universal for men to assume that because they are hot, everyone else is too. Therefor, how about turning the thermostat down to an insanely cold temperature while the women huddle together in the benches trying to stay alive). Also, I learned I am related to about half of the church in Bloomfield. After church we sang for the elderly and had yet another wonderful meal before heading home.

So, Washington's first annual Mystery Trip can be declared a success :).

Ooo...and I am absolutely loving the warm weather :). It can stay as long as it wants.

In Christ ~ Michelle

I need a job

yup. that's right. I just quit and I need a job. I'm glad I quit. I really was getting too burnt out to do my job as well as I should. But, now I need to get a job for the summer :P. I've been looking into day cares and social service agencies, the problem is most summer positions in anything social service oriented are volunteer. Which is great, but I need money. sigh.

So, I started looking into nannying. And I found the coolest position ever! Two kids, they speak three languages, pay well, three days a week and offered to keep me over night when I work! Awesome, right? Well, I emailed them and told them I was interested. Only a few hours later I got an email back. The email sounded good, real good. Almost too good to be true. Then I saw the email address, it was a completely different name than the husband or the wife. hm...

This is part of the email: "I believe you are fit this position in as much you will prove yourself to be a reliable and good person. We will be offering you $400 weekly and if you accept this position, I will instruct my finance manager to forward to you a check for your first week upfront payment by express mail so that i can be rest assured of your availability for the job. If you're accepting this job position, Kindly email me the following details so that the payment can be issued: Full name, Contact Address: (No P.O. Box) , Apt #, City, Zip Code, Home & Cell number."

Anyway...At the advice of my parents I email them and ask for references from their jobs before I gave them any of my info. They wanted me to start work the on the 12th so I replied on Wed. night. I still haven't received a reply. I am now convinced that who ever that was, he is a creepy stalker or something. :P

After all that, I'm still unemployed.

In Christ~Michelle

At it again

Well, school is in full swing after break. Everyday is full of pretty much the same thing as the day before. ugh. At least spring is finally starting to show up a bit more.

I quit work officially last Thursday. I have plans every weekend until the end of May. So, I had to quit. I'm going to miss parts of it but, it is so nice to have my weekends. Now I need to find a job for the summer. Right now I'm doing a real good job procrastinating. :)

Last weekend our yg had an invite a friend. It was a really good turn out and a ton of fun. I helped out in the kitchen before supper. It was a little hectic. Less than half an hour before we were supposed to be eating we realized that some of the chicken was still frozen. The chicken on the sides of the roaster was burnt and getting dried out. So, some of the guys went and bought BBQ sauce while us girls ran around the kitchen shuffling chicken to and from the oven. It turned out ok I guess because people ate it and went back for seconds.

This week I finished reading As I Lay Dying by Faulkner. That was probably one of the strangest books I have ever read in my life. If you think I'm being dramatic read it for yourself. The shortest chapter reads: "My Mother is a fish." And it gets weirder than that. "The reason for living was to get ready to stay dead for a long time" says the main character who is actually dead the majority of the book.

So, in class recently we've been discussing gay marriage...(stepping onto soap box)....arg! Really. Since when has believing something because of your religion not been accepted as an argument? Christ is why I believe what I believe. If you don't agree with me at least respect me for it instead of brushing it off as less than a reason. They are trying to separate church and me instead of church and state. :P (ok....lol stepping off the soap box) I should be used to it by now. But, I'm not and I don't think I ever will be. Oh, the joys of majoring in an almost completely liberal field. :)

Anyway...besides the everyday college annoyances, life is just plugging right along. :)

In Christ ~Michelle

Nashville!

Last spring the Cumberland River (which runs through Nashville, TN) and the Harpeth River flooded their banks.



Last week ICC yg took a trip down to Nashville with World Relief to help rebuild houses. WR is stationed at a Christian summer camp in the hills west of Nashville. The camp had bunk rooms for us, which was really nice. Each room had its own shower and only six bunks!

my bunk room

The Camp

We went to Nashville church on Sunday and after church we had orientation and learned what we would be doing all week. As is usual with a group of hyper college students we didn't go to bed until well after mid-night. :)

6:00 am - alarm goes off
6:15- roll out of bed
6:30- dressed and ready, packing lunches
7:00- breakfast and job assignments
8:00 - we arrived at the job site
12:00pm- lunch break
4:45- clean up
5:00- back at camp
6:00- supper
7:00- Bible study
9:00- games
12:00? - maybe we should go to bed ...:)


That was the schedule almost every day. So, its needless to say Monday was full of rude awakenings. I hadn't gotten up that early and worked that hard in a long time. Also, the hot water heaters didn't work, so... yah. There were a lot of shouts and shrieks and quick showers.

My job on Monday was at the McCutcheon house. I grouted kitchen floor all day long.
Tuesday I switched job sites to the Nelson house. There I scrubbed the tile floor, sealed the grout, and scrubbed it again. My knees kill.

The rest of the week I stayed at Nelson's and did odd jobs. I stained, painted, cut and hung trim, built and installed cabinets, dug up garbage from the flood, helped hang doors and put on door stops, and ran back and forth from the trailer grabbing whatever I was sent for.

The Nelson's house

We took a hike to a tunnel sunday after church :)

Another hike we took on one of the shorter work days.

lunch on the job

paint fight with Brooke :)

This was my little box. I spent a very long time cramped in here sanding and then painting it.

my crazy crew rode back to camp like this

my crew for the majority of the week

Jeremiah Sundown.

He is a home owner who comes and performs for WR on Tuesday nights. He sang, played guitar, and the harmonica. He sang the orange blossom special, Long Black Train, Ring of Fire, Angel Band, Country Roads, and a lot of other good country/gospel songs.

By Friday, they didn't have enough work for us, so we quit at noon. One of the home owners, Dave, owns Foggy Bottoms Canoe Rental, and gave us a free canoe trip down the Harpeth river. It didn't take long before we were all soaking wet. :) I was stupid and took my camera. It was in my pocket, in a zip-lock bag when I fell into the river. The bag must have had a hole because my camera was floating in water the next time I looked at it. :( My camera no longer works.

I learned a few things down south. Poor people in Tennessee all have a lot of dogs and when it floods you save all nine of them before your wife, they like hush puppies and fried sweet 'taters, rules of the road aren't that important, and if its not fried chicken its shake 'n bake. :) It was hilarious to hear them talking about "ya'll a-po-stolics," "them folks from Ill-ee-noise", "the big ol' state up by Minnesota" (referring to Canada), and washing down in the "crick."

The week was very eye-opening. Most of the homeowners lost everything in the flood. They all had amazing stories to tell. Some of them were overflowing with gratitude, and others just wanted us to leave and finally have control of their lives again. It was tough not to feel appreciated but, the whole group learned the blessing of serving either way. It was a very good experience for me. I wish I could have stayed another week.

"Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it." Psalm 127:1

In Christ

~Michelle

Classics

I'm in Lit 111 and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Frankenstein is probably one of the best (and there are many) novels ever. Jane Eyre tops it all. I absolutely loved that book. The discussions revolved around morals and principles and holding fast to Christian beliefs in the face of temptation. Awesome. :) Charlotte Bronte knew what she was talking about.

Right now we are in to short stories. Yay. Such wonderful classics like The Cask of Amontillado, The Lottery, The Bet, and They. :) Strangely (or not) I find I like the slightly morbid stories the best. Edger Allan Poe just knew how to write a creepy story. One of my favorites was The Fall of The House of Usher. Also, I will never forget The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, a creepy Twilight Zone story I read in Middle School.

After Spring Break I have to choose a book to write a report on. I'm stuck between Rebecca, 1984, Anna Karenina, Wuthering Heights or something more light, like Persuasion. So many good books :). Someday I will read them all.

Spring break starts tomorrow! :)

In Christ
~Michelle

2 things

Six years ago today I turned my life over to Christ in repentance. :) Such a wonderfully blessed feeling.

"I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD." Psalm 40:1-3


Also....

I received my acceptance letter from U of I today!!!!!!!

I am so excited :)


In Christ
~Michelle