Our Love Story pt.1

In the fall of 1994 I was a freshman at Great Lakes Christian College.  I was thrilled to be out of high school and surrounded by new people where I felt I could finally open up and be myself.  One of my high school friends, Kelly, decided to join me at GLCC that fall and I was roommates with a girl, Amy, who I knew vaguely from Church Camp.  Early on I met a boy named Matt.  He played soccer and asked Amy and I to braid his hair for the next game.  While we were braiding he told us that his home life was not great and he was not looking forward to the upcoming fall break.  I felt sorry for him and invited him home with me for the long weekend.  We rode home to Indiana with my cousin and her husband in the front of the car and Kelly, Matt and I in the back.  By the return trip to college Kelly and Matt were holding hands.

We became a core group of four, Kelly, Amy, Matt and I.  We did crazy things like a midnight trip to Chicago.  We played lots of Foosball.  We had several others that joined our group from time to time but it was always us four.

I was pretty boy crazy that first year of college.  I was in "like" with at least a half dozen guys on campus, none of whom showed me the least bit of attention.  When I would whine about being without a significant other of my own, Matt would say to me, "You should meet my friend Erin.  He's taller than me, skinnier than me, and geekier then me and I think you guys should go out."  To this I would smile and nod.  Matt wasn't the best salesman.

Once a month Matt and Kelly would  hang around after Saturday brunch to visit with Erin who would be on campus for Bible Bowl competitions.  I always found a reason not to stick around.  I guess I just wasn't curious enough.

That Summer Matt worked with me on staff at Lake James Christian Assembly.  We weren't getting along the best at that point.  We had a few days off mid-summer because the North American Christian Convention was in Indianapolis.  Both Matt and I made our way down to the Convention.  I spent the time with my family and he spent the time with Kelly's family.

I was walking around Union Station with my brother when I saw him.  Matt was walking around with a tall guy in a big blue hat.  I thought to myelf, "That must be Matt's friend Erin, I should meet him."  I finally caught up to the two of them, and Kelly, in front of the fudge shop and that's when I gave my best opening line, "Can I touch your hat?"

So, I'm not brilliant when it comes to guys.  It worked.  Little did I know the reason he was wearing the crazy hat in the first place.  I found out later that he had several such hats and he brought them to such events  to get attention.  They were his, "chick getter hats".  He later told me that hat was the best 20 bucks he ever spent.  I agree.

Erin came to visit me at LJCA not long after that and we've been together ever since.  Today we celebrate 13 years of marriage.

 I had gone to the convention chastising myself for my boy crazyness.  I didn't need to fall in "like" with a boy for the weekend.  I needed to go and focus on what God wanted for me.  The one time I wasn't looking was the time I found the one I would love for the rest of my life.

Little J's Preschool: Letters with slants pt.1

It has been slow going.  Not because my littlest doesn't want to do more but because I am not always enthusiastic about finding time to "do" school.  JJ just finished her second session of art class and is done with that for this school year.  We are reading a few books and she has discovered Dora the Explorer on Netflix.  She also likes to watch Leap Frog videos on Netflix.  We have moved on to letters with slants.  We more often refer to them as slides.  She has a little bit harder time  making the slants but she has plenty of time to practice.

A:
A is for ants.  We made fingerprint ants on her letter A.

K:
K is for Kiss.  We put kisses on her letter K for her letter wall.

 M:
M is for muffins.  JJ made muffins for breakfast.

 N:
N is for Nibble Sticks.  Here we used the Gold Medal Alpha Bakery Children's cookbook to make Nibble Sticks for an afternoon snack.

 N is for newspaper.  JJ cut out bits of newspaper to add to her letter N for her letter wall.

V:

V is for vegetables.  JJ did vegetable painting on her letter V with celery, kale, spinach, and a carrot.

We spend a week or two on each letter.  Sometimes we have a week in between.  We go at our own pace and don't push it.  JJ enjoys doing school and she likes special projects like the ones we have taken pictures of. She  especially loves serving her brothers an afternoon snack she has made.  We are on to the letter W next and hope to get X, Y, and Z before the school year is out but if we don't there will be time over the summer.  Then we move on to letters with curves.

Coloring and counting