By the Way....

Does anybody know when GH is going to put the new appointments on the church website? Just wondering.

AND THERE'S A NEW POST WITH PICTURES!!!! LOOK BELOW!!!!

Two More!!!! Wa-hoo!!!

I got two calls today. Thank you for all those who are praying for us. I know God is working it all out and I'm soooo very thankful to Him.

One class I'm being offered is a Monday night Academic Skills Advancement Writing Class at Ivy Tech Comm. Coll. where I'm teaching my freshman English Comp class. I'm definitely taking that one. The other is a Tues/Thurs ESL class (English as a Second Language) that meets from 12-2. It's in Dowagiac, MI, pretty close to our pastor's house. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to take that one because I don't know who'd watch Jackson. I'm going to check with Sister Bentley to see if she or someone she knows might be able to watch him for a few hours. It'd probably only end up being a little over three hours each of those days that I'd need someone to watch him. We'll see. I'm praying about it. The cool thing about this class is that the students are from Korea and Japan. Japan!!!! I could very possibly get to practice my Japanese skills. I've been wanting to brush up for so long now, but I don't have anyone to practice with. It'd be so very cool if one of the students would be willing to drill me or practice with me. English lessons for Japanese? Sounds good to me. ;-)

In other news, my youngest brother got to come see us for a few days last weekend. We had fun one night but then he woke up the next morning with what I think was a sinus infection, so he slept most of the rest of the time he was here. Poor kid. Anyway, on Friday night we got to play miniature golf. We had a coupon so we only paid $9 for all four of us!!! It cost that much for one person in a lot of places. But we had fun. Thought I'd post a couple of pics.

Here's Jackson trying his best to look sweet ;-)

A victory stance ...

Here he's attempting to block his Uncle Christopher's shot. Little twerpie.

Well, I'm trying to finish my syllabus for my class tomorrow night. I'm having a hard time deciding which of these readings I want to assign. There's one I KNOW I'm going to require. It's called "Becoming Literate: A Lesson from the Amish". It's neat. The author lived with an Amish family for some time as part of her research and analyzed how the Amish introduce reading and writing to their children and how it's followed up in the Amish school. I find it really fascinating. Even small children are encouraged to "read" along with the family. If they play Scrabble or Boggle, 3, 4, and 5 year olds are included and are helped by the older children and the parents with no one hollering about cheating. They don't go past the eighth grade generally, but they still encourage and practice literacy in the home starting at younger ages than some "Englischers" start their children. It was a neat journal article.

Anyway, I need to get going. Thanks again for the prayers and keep 'em coming. We're still looking for some answers about some things. G'night, all.

Anthony Made the Cut!!!!!

Because we're so close to Chicago, the local NBC-affiliate news station did a story on the candidacy of Chicago for the 2016 Olympics and asked Anthony for an interview on the impact it will have for the local hotels. :D Here he is, my star, who now has a bigger head than he had when he left for work this morning! ha!

We do feel the Lord allowed this to happen. It kind of looks good for him at corporate office.

Please keep praying. I still need a job and we're still trusting God for it. A weird thing happened today. Terry Ammons (Brother Ammons's son) met with a guy who owns a Fairfield Inn in Cleveland. The guy was practically begging Terry to manage this hotel for him but Terry's pretty happy with what he's doing, so he threw Anthony's name out for the guy to consider. Well, apparently the guy wants to see Anthony's resume. We just really need to know God's will and we really need you guys to help us pray so we can find exactly what we're supposed to do.

PS ... I FIGURED OUT HOW TO TURN OFF MY MUSIC FINALLY SO YOU CAN ACTUALLY HEAR THE NEWSCAST.

Pleeeease pray for us

Anthony and I have a very serious need and we reaaaaaallllly need to see God's hand move in this. Please pray for us. We need God to move, like, today. There's no doubt Satan's attacking Anthony on his job to the point where we feel it may even be in jeopardy, and I still haven't found one. We cannot be o.k. financially without me having some type of job and we'd be dead in the water if Anthony lost his. We've felt for some time that the answer's on the way, but we really are running out of time. Please pray for us. Please.

And thank you.

Ecstaticism

I've been really trying to work with Jackson this summer for him to learn his letters and the sounds they make. We've been playing games (let's go on a letter hunt) and singing a cute little song from the Leap Frog DVD ("The A says ah ... ) and I've even tried to show him simple words and tell him how the letters sound to form the word, etc. I really didn't think it was taking. But last night Anthony and I were playing Scrabble and Jackson had to get his own rack and letters. And much to Anthony's surprise and to my sheer ecstaticism (my made up word for the day, I guess ... tee hee), he began pointing to some of his letters AND MAKE THEIR SOUNDS!!!!!

"Mommy, this is an R. rrrrr rrrrr. This is an S. ssssss. This is a U. Like uh, up." (A word, too!! HA!!!)

After some drilling from both parents, from what we can tell, Jackson knows more than half of his letters and the sounds that most of those make AND a word that begins with a few of those letters as well. Yayyyyy!!!!!! I'm so happy.

But why did he have to make me go through the agony of thinking I was doing a pitiful job teaching or that he was having difficulties learning. Little twerpie.

Anyway, we'll be continuing our lessons ... with renewed enthusiasm. So happy. :D

I Just Won a Prize!!!!

Just walked into my son's bedroom. He points at some crumbs in the floor from his "stolen" chips I didn't give him permission to get.

Here's the conversation:

Me: Mess?
Jackson: Yes.
Me: Why?
Jackson: Because it's a prize for you.

I couldn't stop laughing long enough for him to get in trouble.

Good thing for him I'm in a good mood.

I guess I win.

(That's four posts in two days. Three just today. I'm on a roll. )

The Professor

I don't believe it!!!!!!!

I'll start at the beginning.

Applied for a job in April at Ivy Tech Community College to teach freshman College Comp. Never heard from them but knew the position hadn't been filled.

Preached at church the other night about trusting God to be our provider. "Consider the lilies ..."

Incorporated the idea of not worrying about this and that because Jesus said, "Consider the lilies", right?

God spoke to me during that sermon because I've been looking for a job and simply said something to the effect of "Ivy Tech will be part of the answer".

Got a call today with an offer from Ivy Tech.

I am now an adjunct professor teaching one freshman comp class. It's only one night a week and pays VERY little. But it's my foot in the door. And it'll look good on a resume. The guy who hired me said there'd be other class offerings to come later.

I am a professor.

Wow.

Who would've ever thunk? tee hee.

Applied for a high school teaching position Wednesday. If this is the job God has for me (with the college job on the side), it's really neat because they have a full-fledged Japanese program at the high school. Have been wanting to brush up on my Japanese. If I get that job, I can probably do that with some sort of arrangement with the Japanese teacher. Then I can get my certification in Japanese by passing an exam.

Teaching college Japanese could become a possibility for me. :D It's really what I would LOVE to do.

Ahhhhh..... God is sooooo very good to me.

"Consider the lilies ... and how much more precious YOU are in His sight." :D

Certified ... or certifiable????

So yesterday, in a frenzied attempt to fulfill all requirements to obtain an Indiana teaching license, and the requirements are many (some being ridiculous), I had to take a CPR class. I am now certified to help any victim who is choking, experiencing a heart attack, fainted, etc. That kind of frightens me. It's overwhelming, anyway. I mean, if I come upon an emergency situation like that, I am obligated to offer my services. Can I go back to my hole now? *shivers* I don't think I want to know how to do this. What if I mess up? Does it create a certain degree of liability? I'm sure it probably does. People sue over anything these days.

I am also supposed to ask for a letter of employment verification from each school where I've taught. Do you know how many that is? 4! I'm supposed to get four letters like that. It's ridiculous. GA and MO just accepted your word for it. No proof needed. Arrrrggghh!!!

Then, because I didn't go to college in IN, I may have to take additional testing to prove that I'm worthy of teaching in this state. WHAT????!!!!! So they're saying that GA and MO, who gave me professional-level teaching certificates without a glitch, don't know what they're doing? That IN is a more prestigious state in which to teach????!!!! Come on, their nickname is Hoosiers! Give me a break.

And get this ... Anthony and I have to retake the written part of our driving tests in order to get Indiana driving licenses. Does any other state do this? I think it's absurd. Like, we're studying the stupid driving manual now because I don't remember how many feet you have to signal before making a turn. And a lot of good it does anyway for me to know this trivial info because I can't judge the difference between 15 feet or 50 feet in distance ... I just know when is a good time to put my blinker on. My theory is that I've had a driver's license in TN, GA, and MO, and I have a good driving record. Why does IN question my ability?????

So my question is this ... and forgive me if anyone out there likes IN, but ... WHO DO THESE PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE making newcomers to their state feel beneath them with all these ridiculous requirements!!!!!!

So, yes, I'm certified to administer CPR, but with all this junk we're dealing with, I also think I may become certifiable ... certifiably insane, that is. *rolling eyes* Grrrrr.....

Good ole' Indiana. *smirk*

Well, It Makes Sense

I got this in an email this evening. Had to share because I thought it just made a lot of sense:

Three Things to Ponder:
1. Cows
2. The Constitution
3. The Ten Commandments

COWS
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow born in Canada almost three years ago right to the stall where she slept in the state ofWashington? And they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow.

T H E C O N S T I T U T I O N
They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq . Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore.

T H E 1 0 C O M M A N D M E N T S
The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this: You cannot post "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thou Shalt Not CommitAdultery," and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges, andpoliticians....It creates a hostile work environment.

Happy Birthday to Becki Horne!!!!!

can't have a birthday without a birthday CAKE!!!!

How's that fast coming????? he he he he

Testimony from Niles, MI

The Great Lakes region has yet another reason to shout the victory. The Church at Niles, MI, recently was blessed in the extreme. I'll start at the beginning ... "a very good place to start" (Julie Andrews, The Sound of Music). :D

Anthony and I weren't here for all of what happened, but we've heard the testimony of it by those who were. Niles, MI, is a church of ours on the southern border of Michigan. The Lord started the local church in 2005 when the small congregation began meeting in the pastor's house. They knew they wanted a building to worship in and the people have testified that they really thought they would only be afford to find a small "shack". It wasn't long before someone who knew Brother Bentley (the pastor) and the church's situation called him with news about a church that had gone up for sale and thought he ought to go take a look. Well, Brother Bentley went over and took one look and immediately thought there was no way the church would be able to afford the building. It was older, but big and pretty nice. An old Presbyterian Church. So he went home with little belief that that could possibly be the church for them.

But the Lord began to deal with Brother Bentley and told him to have faith to believe that He would provide. Brother Bentley called the congregation and had them meet him at the building. The Church laid hands on the corner of the building and began to pray in faith and claim the building for God's Church. Then Brother Bentley called the number and worked out a deal where the church could rent the building with the option to buy. The minister from the Presbyterian Church agreed to the proposal and allowed them to rent the building for a fairly low monthly rent.

The Lord was still dealing with Brother Bentley about purchasing the building, but Brother Bentley knew the building had been listed for around $130,000, (I might be a little off on that price, but I know it was pretty close to that) a price not affordable to our congregation.

They continued to rent the building and pray for God's leading. During one service Brother Bentley announced to the church that God had put a figure in his mind of $50,000 for the building. Sounds ridiculous to the flesh, doesn't it?

Soon after that, Brother Bentley had been on the phone talking with the other minister and the other minister admitted to Brother Bentley that the church was really a nuisance to his people and they really wanted to get rid of it. They had dropped the price to $100,000. Significant drop, but still not within our means. Brother Bentley explained that he still didn't feel we could afford that price. The minister then asked him what figure he had in mind. Brother Bentley didn't want to say $50,000, sure that the other minister would laugh or scoff or worse at such a ridiculously lower figure than what they were asking. But an amazing thing happened. The Presbyterian guy actually made that exact proposal: "How about just $50,000?!!!!!!!" The two came up with a $250 payment a month for ten years with a balloon payment at the end!!!!! And that was the deal we accepted.

When God tells us something, we can believe it is the truth. I am amazed at the deal that was struck. In the flesh, it is unbelievable, but in the Spirit, we can know that God will do what He says He will do. And we know that ALL things are possible .......

Memories

Got this Idea From Kasey's Blog:

Memories:1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that we had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot; anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.If you leave a memory about me, I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. Have Fun!

Also, I think Angie Munoz has started blogging again. :-) Go check it out at angieshouse.blogspot.com.

And maybe Marsha's going to start blogging again???? marshasblog-mylife.blogspot.com.

Yay!!!! More blogs to read.

CAMP ... I MEAN CAMP!!!!

In the recent post about camp, I wrote that it's been a few years since our region's had a convention, but I meant to say CAMP. I've changed it, but I know some have already read it and wanted to correct my mistake. Oops. Sorry

Our Shocking Regional Convention

One of the prominent adjectives that comes to mind when I think about convention is shocker!!! We had such a wonderful time in the Lord. He truly blessed the folks that were there, including me. I haven't shouted like that in a while and it felt so liberating. Anthony preached his voice away ... literally. I was so thankful the Lord anointed him so.


So why is shocker the word that comes to mind, you ask. THAT has to do with appointments. Anthony and I have been out of active ministry for I guess three years now and have been desiring to get back into the ministry. One of the things the Lord told us about moving here is that we'd be used again and we were so excited about that, but we didn't know the extent to which we would be used. But we're fired up and ready to get in there and really work the positions we've been given.


Anthony was appointed regional ABM coordinator and Evangelism coordinator. And district overseer for Michigan, Northern Illinois, and Eastern Wisconsin. Sounds so weird, doesn't it? The Dyers working in WISCONSIN and MICHIGAN and NORTHERN ILLINOIS. The Dyers who started their married life and ministry together in GEORGIA. I'm still in a little bit of shock that we're so far north. The district overseer position was a HUGE shocker for us. We want to be used, though, and we're sooo ready. I was appointed editor for our regional paper and regional WMB coordinator. I'm so excited about the work. I loved doing the school newspaper at the high school where I taught in MO, so you can imagine my excitement about doing something similar for the church. We're beginning to plan for trips and can't wait to meet the rest of the region and see all the churches. I've begun looking into ideas for ladies' retreat and am really excited about planning that. So we're just praying for direction and God's blessing on the work we do for Him and for The Glorious Church of God.


I did somehow get one picture of our water baptism at camp. Hopefully, I'll get some more pics for the paper when I call some of the pastors and ask around. Here's one pic, anyway.

OK, I guess it's really a video. Dork that I am, I had the camera set to video instead of portrait while taking this "picture". *rolling eyes* Anyway, it was Anthony's first time to help with water baptism so it was really neat for him.

Anyway, we had a wonderful convention and are now looking forward to Minister's Convention. We are probably not going to get to go to the Assembly unless the Lord makes a way, which is something we're praying for because we'd really like to go, but we were so blessed to get to go last year. We'll see what happens. The hotel's been a handful for Anthony lately and I know he's not too keen on the idea of leaving right now with several problems at hand. But we'll see. I know God can make ways where there seems to be none. :-)

Camp and Stuff

So here are some pictures of where we live. We've never lived in an apartment complex before and were apprehensive about it, but we weren't yet ready to buy and the apartments are nice. There are benefits to living in an apartment, which are a tremendous help to us right now, mainly no yard work or maintenance to the place. The other thing I'm loving about choosing to live here is that our gas and water is included in the rent payment, which will be a HUGE blessing this winter.

The apartment's very small, but there was a blessing that went along with that, as well. Because there's very little storage space, Anthony and I agreed that before we moved, we were downsizing A LOT. And when I say a lot, I mean MEGA-HUMUNGO. (ha--my made-up word for the day) To make a long story short, when we lived in Ringgold, GA, we lived in a beautiful 3 bedroom house and each move since then has been to a smaller place, but instead of throwing junk away, we always had a garage to use as storage. This time, no garage. 'Erego, we downsized. First we had a yard sale and were blessed to make around $600!!!! Praise the Lord for that!!! The rest we either donated to goodwill or threw it away. And we arrived in this tiny apartment with no more than what the small amount of storage here would hold. It felt soooooo good. Still does. I feel more organized and just ... dejunkified. So, so, so very happy. Why do people do that to themselves? It's ridiculous.

Anyway, so here are the aforementioned pictures:

It really is pretty here. And I'm still loving the mild summers. :-)

So we got back from our regional family camp and convention last weekend. The Lord was soooo good to us. Aparently it's been a couple of years since our region's had a camp, so we didn't have a large turn-out, but it was still good. They're getting back on their feet. I think we had around 25 at the camp and others who came to visit during the days. We stayed in a cabin that had individual rooms for each family, and we all fit in the one cabin, which was great for fellowship. Jackson had a blast. I only wish there'd been a few more kids closer to his age. There was only one other. But still he had fun.

Each night the evening services were power packed. The Holy Ghost moved in incredible ways and all were blessed. I believe I have my numbers correct that there were three saved, two of which went on to sanctificaton, and nine water baptized. There were also claims of victories over strongholds and healing ... physical and spiritual. The Lord impressed Anthony to preach on having victory over fear. Great messages. Praise the Lord!!! He's so good.

Our classes were great. As I mentioned before the theme was Peace and we learned about being peacemakers. One of the most eye-opening concepts to me that we learned was about being peace fakers, which is just as bad as being a peace breaker. The peace fakers are the ones who pretend there's no problem when there is. They want to smooth things over or run away from the conflict, which just allows the problem to fester. Great Bible teaching. It's important to know how to resolve conflicts Biblically ... very needful for all of us.

I want so badly to post some pictures from camp. And I had every intention of doing so. Yep, showed up with my camera ready to snap away ... until I realized my battery was nearly dead. Yep, it was my duh action for the event. Always gotta have one of those, you know. Still kicking myself. Hopefully, I can get some pictures emailed to me from some of the others who were there.

We went into our regional convention Saturday evening, which was also greatly blessed by the Lord. I'll go into that in my next post. Until then ...

I'M BAAAAACKKKKK!!!!!

We moved. Again. And were able to get internet access. Again. So, after approximately 12 rounds of trying to remember my password and FINALLY getting it right, I'm back in business. Yay!!!!





I haven't been on the blogs in quite a while and am afraid I'm waaayyy behind on how everyone's doing. I'll try to revisit my old haunts and let everyone know I'm back. Hopefully I'll be able to find everyone's blog that I used to visit.





Well, as I mentioned, we did move again. This time we ventured north ... Indiana, to be exact. Anthony was promoted in his company and is managing a Comfort Suites in South Bend. He's actually been here since late March, but Jackson and I were finally able to get here just about two weeks ago. We're soooo happy that our family's back together. Those were the longest almost three months of my life. It was rough. I did get to make two trips up and Anthony got to come down a couple of times, but those trips were never long enough and almost made things worse when it was time for him (or me) to go back.





So we're ten minutes from the Michigan line and very close to Lake Michigan (less than an hour, from what I hear). Never dreamed we'd live this far north, but you just never know where God may take a person next. It's beautiful up here. And the weather's been just gorgeous. It's July and our hottest day so far has been 85, but for the most part it's stayed in the mid-70s. Wow!! Little humidity and mild temperatures in June and July!!!! I'm lovin' it!!! Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking. We'll pay for it this winter. I know. I'm dreading the winters up here and, frankly, almost scared of them. But we'll learn to manage. Somehow. :-/





We're getting ready to leave tomorrow for camp and our regional convention. Any tips on how to handle a 3 1/2-year old at camp would be greatly appreciated. I'm a little nervous about this. I'm teaching the senior campers, which should be fun. Brother Ammons has chosen some really neat literature. It's about being peacemakers and I've been reading the book The Peacemaker by Ken Sande. I highly recommend the book. It's quite poignant and sticks to Scripture really well. It's great teaching fodder. I'm excited about the teaching part. The part about having a very challenging 3 1/2-year old at camp ... well, not so excited about that part.





Here's a picture of the hotel my husband's managing. It's in South Bend, IN, which is where the famed University of Notre Dame is. We went and toured their campus in February when we came up to check this place out and decide whether this was somewhere we wanted to live.

I'll try to get some pictures of the area up soon. There is some really pretty scenery around here.

Our church is in Niles, MI. We love our little church. We're small but we're fired up and I believe this church has a shared vision about where we're headed. It's exciting. We're believing the Lord will do great things for Niles. Pray for us.

Well, some laundry's calling my name. I'll try to get those pics up soon. Take care, all.

Not so sure whether it's a good thing or not ...

I think I've mentioned before how my husband is definitely not a fan of games. It's very rare that he actually gets in the mood to play a game, so when he does I jump at the chance. And, generally, I'm nearly always in the mood to play a game. Well, last night he actually played TWO GAMES with me!!!!! I was so excited. We played Rummicube first and he won and then we set up the ol' chess board. I pulverized him!!! Hahahahahahahah!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited that I won ... until the realization hit me that he might not want to play with me again for a really long time with me beating him so badly. I mean, it didn't take long and there was really no competition any more. I'd taken nearly all of his pawns and several of his other guys and he only three of my pawns and a knight. ;-) It was great. But then again, he might be out for revenge and challenge me again really soon. I hope it means the latter. I might even go easier on him next time if so. ..... ...... ........ Nah. It'd be against my nature. ;-)

I know it's been a while since I posted. I'm teaching two weeks of summer school and have one more to go. It's actually not as bad as I envisioned. You know, at the high school level, summer school is for kids to make up credit where they've failed, so it's not like I've exactly got the cream of the crop. But they've actually been pretty good kids, so maybe I'll survive the last week.

At the end of May we went to Georgia and visited Anthony's folks. They're all doing pretty well and we had a good visit. Jackson had fun playing with his Aunt Charity. (Sounds funny, huh? Anthony has a 8-year-old sister, for those of you who didn't know that.) Those two are so funny together. She tries to be big Aunt Charity and help Jackson with everything and Jackson's just at that age where he doesn't even want help from his mommy any more, and Charity doesn't understand that, so it's quite a riot watching them. They both tend to get into trouble whenever they're together--Jackson for pushing her and Charity for pestering. His grandparents sure did enjoy getting to see him, though.

We went to church at Rossville and enjoyed seeing everyone there. It was a little like coming home. (It's where we pastored when we were first married.) After church we went out to eat with the Munozes and enjoyed seeing them. The next day we made a brief visit to Cleveland to see Terry and Shaye Ammons and then we headed down to Alabama.

Down there we stayed a couple of days with the Deitzes in the Fort Payne area. We had a good time with them as well. Jackson found a pal in their 12-year-old daughter Megan. She was great with him. She made an awesome obstacle course in their living room for Jackson, complete with a cardboard box-turned slide, a playhouse tunnel to crawl through, and a tiny Nerf basketball goal at the end. They had also bought a 4-foot deep pool for their backyard. We got Jackson out in it one day and he hung on to me for dear life. He was so scared. We'll have to keep working on not being scared of the "great big bathtub". It may be a feat that'll take another year to conquer. He was pretty scared.

We also all took a trip to Nakalula Falls park. It was really neat. There was a small petting zoo and a little train that took a ride around the park with great vantage points to see the falls although they were a little weak due to a little bit of a drought they'd been going through. Jackson LOVED the train. There was also a neat little pioneer-era village you could walk through with a post office, a mercantile, a meetinghouse (church/school), and other interesting buildings. I always enjoy looking at such things and thinking about how they lived back in those days.

After all our good time fun and fellowship we came home and just relaxed a couple of days before returning to work. Even though we didn't get to go somewhere extravagant or luxurious, it was still a nice little vacation that gave us some relaxation. What's best is that we're always thankful to have fellowship with church members.

Well, from the way things are sounding in there, I think I must be on my way. Apparently Jackson has somehow gotten a hold of my rolling pin and he's in the living room where my curio cabinet is. I foresee a great many spankings in this child's future. *taking a deep breath*

Take care.

WELL, I NEVER!!!!

I guess I am to assume not many people liked my scrapbooks. LOL!!!! Just kidding.

I had an interesting weekend. We agreed to babysit my sister's three little ones while she and her husband embarked on a fabulous anniversary weekend getaway. They stayed in a swanky hotel and enjoyed a dinner cruise in the Ozarks. Jerks. http://www.keetercenter.edu/lodging.asp?page=2 Here you can check it out; they did the Showboatin' package. She called me Saturday morning to check on the kids ... aka, brag.

"We were running late for our dinner cruise," says she, "so Matt called the hotel to see if we could just go to the boat and check in after they got back from the cruise." They were running late for a couple hundred dollar a night hotel room and dinner cruise!!!! Because they were shopping at the mall!!!!! No commentary needed there. Anyway, the hotel said that they'd have to come to the hotel to get their voucher for the cruise. When they pulled up there was an employee standing outside with the voucher in hand. And if that's not enough, when they arrived at the boat, they had an employee saving their seat!!!! The kid wouldn't let the boat leave until they got there!!!! Like I said, swanky. Jerks.

On her way back from the trip, she called and said, "Now you know we'll babysit Jackson while you and Anthony go away one weekend. Just let us know." Hmmmm, not so sure that's quite an even swap--their three to our one. I just laughed and said, "Yeah, if we ever save up the money to do something." Anyway, I enjoyed having my niece and nephews here with us. We don't get to see them too often, but three in diapers. Ugh. It was still good to have them. The only problem was Jackson. He's not used to sharing Mommy and Daddy and, well, let's just say he got his share of spankings this weekend. Broke my heart, but you gotta' do it, you know? We've GOT to have another kid before he turns into a monster. I think we realized that this weekend.

Anyway, there was lots of excitement around here for three days.

I'm requesting prayer for Anthony. He's been having some pretty bad back problems and is seeing a chiropractor, but we're a little worried. From what the doctors have said, they think he hurt it pretty bad when he worked on the moving truck for so long before we got married. We're praying it doesn't come to surgery for him. Please help us pray.

I went to our school's graduation yesterday. It was very nice. The kids were all so excited and nervous and scared to death at the same time. Brought back memories. They pulled a pretty funny little prank that wasn't at all bad. See, this year at our school, we have a new principal and she issued ID badges for all students and staff that we were required to wear at all times. The kids complained about them just because it was something different and something to complain about. Typical. Well, at graduation, as each one shook hands with our principal, they had their ID badges in hand and placed it around her neck. They were "giving the things back", those awful symbols of some kind of propriety AND SAFETY she's trying to establish for our school. It was funny but sad at the same time because they showed they still didn't get the picture. But it was funny because maybe they really did get it but wanted to pretend they didn't in order to "save face". Whatever the reason, at least the prank wasn't mean or vengeful. They were ladies and gentlemen at graduation and I was proud of them.

One more thing before I go. Tomorrow's the last day of school for our underclassmen. We had finals today and will finish them tomorrow but the kids I had today was the last time for them to be in MY class. Well, there's one student in particular that I have had some trouble with this year. I didn't think I had been getting through to her and in some ways I'm sure I hadn't been, but today I got a whole new perspective. Julia, as she left my room, gave me a hug and slipped a note on my desk. When all the students had cleared out, I was shocked at what I read on that piece of paper: "Mrs. Dyer, thank you for being a good teacher this year. You've taught me a lot about life and I'll never forget you. Love always, Julia." I still get a little teary thinking about it. Just Friday I was frustrated thinking that I hadn't made a difference, but today it was as if God reminded me that what I'm doing is indeed worthwhile. I thank Him for that boost that I really needed.

Love ya'll.