Oh yeah

I forgot. I better let you know or else someone I know will be disappointed.

This post is to inform you that my wonderful husband downloaded and installed KDE on our computer. This post and the last two post were written using KDE's internet page. (or something like that).

Now KDE is part of LINX. Don't ask me any questions about it. All I know (and I am not really sure if I am right about this) is that LINX is suppose to be better then Microsoft.

I am told that I can not use Microsoft internet (or whatever type of internet or computer thing) anymore.

Anyway... I don't see much of a difference.

crazy people

Along the road home are some railroad tracks that run parralle to the road. We don't have to cross them. We were at a stoplight when I noticed that the railroad bars (or whatever they are called) were down. Now correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it wrong to deliberatly go through the bars. I saw 4-8 cars go from our side of the tracks to the other side of the tracks while the railroad bars were down. I call that an I d 10 t problem. I am glad that there weren't any accidents (at least I didn't see or hear of any).


SOME PEOPLE!!!!

We have a car...

After are little (or should I say big) water incident with the car, Jesse has declared that he does not like rain. Well, I don't really think he means exactly that but puddles of water mean something different to us now.

People at church helped us out a lot. We were given rides to church (we were in the midst of our revival services). One nice thing that happened was that we got to meet a nice, older couple from our church. Actually, they have been sitting on the other side of the pew all this time but we had never talked to them. We were introduced to them when I asked a friend for a ride to church. This couple live right outside of our housing development (2 blocks from our house). They gave us a ride to church every night.

We went to the Saturn dealership and looked around the lot. The vehicle that we chose was Chevrolet. We really wanted to stay with a Saturn but the ones in our budget were not good. We also wanted to upgrade since we had to get another vehicle. So it has 4 doors, 7 seating capacity (4 of which are captian chairs), and OH did I say it is a van, a 2003 Chevrolet Venture.

Update on our car

Our car is totaled. The water got into the engine, transmission, electrical system, etc. So Jesse and I are needing to see about another vehicle. Dad, Mom, my siblings and their families all came down to go to the zoo and other places yesterday. We were just about done with the zoo when Jesse called me about the car being totaled. Dad, Mom, and I went to the car and took all our stuff home. It was a HUGE blessing that they were here. I possibly would have been able to find someone else to help me but it was nice to get it over with.

Today at 9:30, a friend, is going to take me to Jesse's work and then take both of us to the insurance place.

Flash flood?

Yesterday Jesse worked all day. I took him to work and then went and picked him up from work after church. It was raining hard and I mean hard. We had the windshield wipers going at full speed.

To make a long story short - the car got stalled in water when we "hit" a wall of water. Water came into the passengers side about 1 or 2 inches. Jesse climbed out of the passengers side window (I grabbed his work phone before he made it all the way out, it's notorious of getting lost or something) and started pushing the car. 2 guys came and helped Jesse push the car while I steered it to higher ground and out of the busy highway. Only that car stopped to help us.

We sat there for a long while and in the mean time Dad called. It was nice to talk to him during this time. I was praying the whole time. We finally had to call for a tow truck and we also were trying to find some one to take us home. After racking our brains and call some people to no avail, Jesse shouted out one of his coworkers name. He called him and the coworker "B" came with his wife and their truck. They are letting us use their 2nd vehicle for as long as we need it. We would like to give it back ASPA.

I called every family member up that knew about our predicament (Jesse's grandma, aunt, and Dad).

I am glad we were not hurt and that we are fine.

Family gathering

We had a family reunion Saturday. Dad (Grandpa) and Mom (Grandma), my siblings, and my nieces and nephews. Oh and of course myself. Jesse had to work both Saturday and Sunday so he wasn't able to come. Instead Dad, Mom, Robert, and Alissa came to see us. It was a very nice visit but unfortunately Jesse had to work until 7pm so he wasn't with them for long. Everyone got to see where Jesse works and then we went to the house. Mom, Alissa, and I had already made supper. I had planned to have a chicken and rice casserolel but we changed it to something else that I had never heard of. Mom and Alissa called it Hawaiian Stacki upies. I possibly spelled it wrong. Anyway it consisted of: (Mom please correct me if I don't have this right)

Rice
cut up chicken
gravy
cheese
pineapple chunks
raisins
tomatoes chunks
celery diced
nuts
coconut

You place everything is separate bowls and then people go and fill up their plate starting with the rice and then chicken. They put what they want on it. I believe there might be more that can go on this but I can't remember. All I know is that it was very good.

Alissa stayed the night with me and we stayed up until 3AM talking. I took Jesse to work by 9:00. Around 11 Alissa and I left to go to Greenville where the reunion was going to take place.
We stopped at a near by parking lot and I gave Alissa the chance to drive a little. She did an excellent job. I had her park in a parking spot away from all the cars. She parked the car better than many people at least that is what I think.
We got to Greenville shortly after 1 and then I drove Mom and Alissa to the eye doctor. After everything was taken care off we went of to see the wizard. No ... I mean to the reunion. My 6 1/2 niece came up to me and said "I am almost as tall as you and I am only 6 1/2". Well, how am I suppose to take that. She wanted me to give her a piggyback ride too. She's about 6 inches or so below my shoulders - I am 5 ft. 2 1/2 in.

We visited, ate, and then went out side to take pictures.
I had to leave early (6:30) to pick up Jesse from work. But really didn't leave until 7pm. While on my way home he called to tell me someone had driven him home.

It was nice to be with family.

Update on Pastor Kelley

In a few weeks he will be resigning from our church and moving to Charleston in order to receive the care he needs. The CJD is progressing and he needs daily care. Please pray for him, his wife, family, and the church. He is loved by everyone.

Pastor's 15th church anniversary

Today the church celebrated Pastor's 15 years at this church. I realized that I never told you his name which is by the way Dr. Bob Kelley.
The church service was different than normal. They had a "burning the note" ceremony also.
There were 3 dignitaries that attended the service in order to honor Pastor. They did this all on their own and contacted the church to tell them that they wanted to do this for Pastor's anniversary service. One presented the Order of the Palmetto for patriotism which is South Carolina's highest civilian award. Another one presented a flag that had flown over the State House. All 3 spoke high praises of Pastor Kelley and mentioned that he would often give them advice both when asked for it and also when they didn't want it. :)

The assistant pastor preached on integrity from Psalm 26:1-2 and 11-12. He talked about Pastor living day to day with integrity. Every aspect of our life should be the same both in church, at walmart, on the road, and in our homes.

After the sermon we had a reception in honor of Pastor. We had cheese balls, crackers, miniature chix nuggets, ham quiche, cocktail wienies, croissants, sandwich meats and cheese, variety of fruit and veggies, cream puffs, miniature chocolate muffins, brownies, cake, lemonade, and tea. There might have been more but I either don't remember or didn't see it. Pastor and his family sat at one table. There was a line of people going by to talk to Pastor during the whole meal. (I wonder if he got to eat?)

As I get information about Pastor I will pass it along.

Pray for our Pastor

Our pastor and our church is in need of prayer. After numerous trips to the Mayo Clinic, Pastor has been diagnosed with classic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). CJD is a rare, degenerative, invariably fatal brain disorder. Typically, onset of symptoms occurs about age 60, and about 90 percent of patients die within 1 year. There is no known treatment that can cure or control CJD. Current treatment is aimed at alleviating symptoms and making the patient as comfortable as possible as the disease progresses.
We know that the Lord is in control and if it is His wish He can heal him.

Working late, Oh and blogging late too

Ok, before anyone comments about the hour this blog was written I will confess it. Yes I know it is past 1:00 AM.

This week has been busy. Well, especially for Jesse. He has practically been working nonstop from Wednesday morning to Friday midnight. (or would you say Saturday since midnight is actually the next day.) He has Saturday (today) and Sunday to rest up before he goes back to work Monday - Friday of the next week, the total of 12 days straight. Poor guy.

I have been working off and on at the day care. Some days I like it but other days I am tired of it. I don't think I could be a full time or even part time. Last week I didn't work at all but this week I worked everyday from 3-6 except for Wed and Thurs when I came in at 11am and 12:30.

Anyway, tonight after my work I went to pick Jesse up from work. He was still working along with a coworker, "D". I read a book while I was waiting for him to finish. Around 8 or so "D" orders pizza for the 3 of us. We sat around the table talking and eating. Some time later I picked up my cup only for it to slip from my grasp and spill on the table. We cleaned up the mess and "D" checks the time 10:45. Jesse and "D" continue to work while I finish reading my book. After finishing my book 12:00 I checked the time and calculated what time it would be in different parts of the country. I decided to call up Grandma and Grandpa in California hoping it wouldn't be too late at 9ish. We had a nice time talking and actually after talking a few minutes Jesse and "D" were done working so Grandma got to talk to me all the way home.

Vacation Bible School

Just wanted to say that I will be helping out with VBS. Actually it is Hispanic VBS. I will be teaching the 4-6 year olds with the help of 2 other people. We are doing the life of Daniel.

June 11

June 11 was our anniversary. We went to TN close to Gatlinburg for the weekend (Sat-Tues). It was very nice and relaxing. On Sunday (11th), the church we went to have a wedding during the sermon. The sermon was "The Covenant of Marriage" and the wedding was the illustration for the 3rd point of the message. The entire wedding just included the wedding march, vows, and the "I do's". So it took maybe 5 or so minutes.
Monday we went to Dollywood. It was nice and we did lots of walking. I think we went on 5 or so rides. Maybe more but it did seem like we had to walk a mile to get to each ride.
Tuesday we came home and it was so nice to be back. Our kitties didn't want to leave our side because they were afraid we would leave again.

Prayer request

One of Jesse's friends, Josh Chandler, was in an accident a week or so ago. Please pray for him as he is in the hospital. There is a blog that has been set up by another one of Josh's friends. http://chandlerupdate.blogspot.com/ I will also be adding it to my links.

Graduations

Last Thursday (May 25th) I went to a friend's (David) high school graduation. David is the grandson of the lady that introduced Jesse to me (or was it that I was introduced to Jesse). Who knows.
Jesse wanted to go to but couldn't get off work so I went for both of us. All of us were amazed that during one of the speeches given by a retiring teacher the words "my Savior Jesus Christ" were mentioned. And that was not just one time but TWO times. Oh, by the way this is a public school. After graduation we all went out to eat at Crazy China Buffet. That is where David wanted to go. I was ready to pay for my part of the meal but David's father told me that he would pay for it. He was really impressed that I had come to the graduation. I suppose he didn't realize how much Jesse and I think of his boys. They are really nice kids.

Today I went to another high school graduation. This time it is for a young lady I work with sometimes at the day care. She will be going away soon to PCC. The graduation was held at our church. It was a very nice ceremony. They asked the parents to stand as their son or daughter's name was called and stay standing as they crossed the stage. They also asked that no separate clapping or other noise indicators be made until all the graduates had crossed the stage. I would say that about 25% or so did not heed the announcements. The funny thing I think is that the Commencement Speaker had just finished challenging the graduates to "grow up" and be mature adults. He said that there are 5 different types of adults.
1. the infant adult (they want everyone to do things for them. They are the whiners when things don't go their way)
2. the toddler adult (they have very short attention spans and go from one hobby to another quite often. )
3. the 10 year-old adult (they dedicate themselves to on area and become experts in that area but forget about everything else. they are very unbalanced)
4. the teen adult (they fall prey to peer pressure and won't stand up for what they know is right if it is the unpopular idea)
5. the mature adult (they are balanced and controlled)

Anyway so after all the graduates had crossed the stage the president (or someone else) commented to the commencement speaker "Mr. so and so I believe we have many 'teen adults' in the audience." Boy you should have heard the clapping of all the disgruntled people that were annoyed with those who don't listen.

Next week Jesse and I will be going back to where spent our honeymoon in TN. We will leave Saturday morning and come back Tuesday evening.

Summer is here.

Summer equals hot and humid. Hot is fine but humid ... Uggh. At the daycare we aren't going outside in the afternoons anymore except for snack. We are outside about 10-20 minutes and that is enough for me. I am still subbing. I was asked if I would work 3-6 in the baby, 1 yr old, or 2 yr old rooms. I declined but said that I would be willing to sub anytime. Over time I have been in every room at every time so I am pretty versatile. What do I like best? ummmm, NAP TIME! Yes nap time is the best time because that's when I can read a book and get paid for working! I've made many friends (or just very good acquaintances) that I wouldn't have made if I wasn't working at the day care.

FUNNY STORIES

Once when I was in the 2 yr old room during the morning we sat down to have Bible time. We sang some songs, I told a Bible story, sang another song or two, and then I prayed. During the prayer I said something about "help us to be good while we are at day care". I was later informed that "This isn't day care it's school!"

Another time in the same room during inside playtime the kids were playing with baby dolls and tools. One little boy came up to me "Miss Corene can you help me take my baby to the Dr."
I affirmed that I could and went over to see what was going on. I asked him "What are you doing?"
"I'm getting my bag ready."
"What are you putting in your bag?"
His answer: "my makeup."

Again in the same room we were lining up to go outside for snack. My "helper" which happened to be one of the main morning teachers said that we should start teaching the boys to be gentlemen. We told the girl to line up and told the boys that they needed to wait for the girls to go first. We had to tell some of the boys to sit down repeatedly as we were trying to accomplish this task the first day. Some of the boys weren't very happy about being last as you can see with one little boy's comment.
"I'm gonna be a girl."

Computer update

I will try to write fast and send this off as it seems as the computer is being good.
Jesse ran Scandisk and defragmenter. Nothing worked. Right now I am learning patience and working with what I got. Sometime in the near future Jesse will salvage what he can from this computer and build me another computer. There is a driver that is not compatible with the motherboard and this is causing the computer to shut down unexpectedly.

Two weeks ago we were invited to help surprise a friend of ours. He was down in SC from Northland Bible College doing his student teaching. He wasn't able to go home (GA) for spring break so he was feeling down. We really got him good and had a wonderful time. There were 4 couples, a single guy, and then our friend.

Computer problems and birthdays

My computer is going caput. Right now I am using Jesse work laptop which uses a wireless connection. My computer will not stay on for long and then restarts itself. I have had a hard time checking my e-mail and sending e-mail. Jesse is running ScanDisk on the computer and it is running veeeeeery sloooooow. The computer might be out of comission for a day or so. Or until we get new parts for the computer. I might have to make more use of this laptop to blog and do e-mail until then.

March 30, April 14, and April 19 are birthdays to 3 very special people.
My nephew Victor turned 4 on March 30th. I am telling on myself right now because I can't believe that ME who has graduated from a University did this. I sent Victor's birthday card off so that it would get to him a day or so befor his birthday. "Hey," I thought, "I'm doing good here." Well, the next day guess what I saw in my mailbox!? Victor's birthday card. I had addressed it wrong. ugggg. Anyway I got it sent again ADDRESSED CORRECTLY this time. Happy Birthday Victor.

April 14th is my Daddy's birthday. He, as most of you know, is a missionary in Mexico. Ummm along with the family of course. He and Mom have lived in Mexico for 25 years. I also sent him a birthday card but unfortunatly I sent it late. "sigh" Happy Birthday Daddy.

My brother Robert celebrated his 22 birthday on April 19th. He is taller than I am. Actually everyone in the family except for nieces and nephews are taller than I am. Robert helps Mom and Dad with the ministry in Mexico and does a very fine job of it too. I did not forget to send Robert a card but I did send it late. "sigh" Happy Birthday Robert.

A week a DayCare

I am working all this week at the DayCare. One of the teachers is on vacation so I am doing her room. I have 4 or 5 one year olds to take care of. It is quite interesting. We go outside to play and I have to make sure that one boy does not do anything "fun". Yes, I said "fun". You see in his eyes I don't let him play because he wants to do what others do - play on the playground slides. Practically all the other 1 yrs olds and all the 2-3 yr olds get to play on the slides. But he and a girl can't because their mothers or grandmothers are afraid that they might get hurt.

I don't understand it because he has been in the room for 3 months and has not learned how to go up the steps and down the slides which are appropriate for his age group. He did go up and down 2 times with me there watching him. By-the-way he did fine. After that I tried to get him envolved with other activites - like playing in dirt? ha ha

They eat lunch there and are learning to use the spoon. Some just dig in with their hands others are doing ok with the spoon - sometimes. One boy was told to use his spoon so he picked up his spoon with his left hand and continued to use his right hand to stuff food in his mouth. Lovely. Oh, and it is really nice cleaning them up too.

I love nap time best of all. I can read during nap time and after they are asleep I will eat.

I thought this was cute

I received this in e-mail just today. Thought it was a cute joke.


I was talking to a 5th-grader the other day about some of the animals around our area. Subject came to cattle, steers and bulls. I mentioned, "At bullfights in Mexico, matadors wave bright red capes at the bulls."
She asked, "Doesn't that make them angry so they will charge?"
"You're right. Evidently bulls don't like bright red."
I thought my agreeing with her conclusion would end that subject, but she thought a bit and said, "I think it is really chickens that don't like bright red."
"So what does that have to do with red capes at bullfights?" I queried.
"Well," she replied, "I think the bulls just get really mad that they are being treated like a chicken."
Conversation ended.

Learning new things at work

Friday, March 31 I went in to work at 10:30. I hadn't been told where I was going to work. It ended up that I was in one of the 2 year old rooms. I had 8 kids to watch. Hey, I thought, this shouldn't be bad. HA! Famous last words, right? Well, first of all I had to get them all cleaned up for lunch which is at 11. They pottied and diapers were changed. But during that time two boys decided that they needed to take off their shoes. And no matter what, they would not put them on again. Uggg. Shoes on and now to put the lunch shirts on. The same two boys gave fits over which shirt I gave them but they had to wear the one I gave them. We lined up and went to lunch. As I went in I told the other teacher that I was having trouble. That settled that problem quite nicely. For lunch they had "breakfast". Yes, waffles, sausage, boiled eggs, jelly and applesauce for dessert. One little girl ate somewhere between 4-6 little sausage patties. We are talking about 2 year olds! Most did not eat their eggs but the rest was ok. We (the teachers) have to write down how much they eat. Except of the jelly each item is counted and recorded as a 1/4. So if they ate the two halves of waffles, 1 sausage and the applesauce then it is recorded as 3/4. It still sort of baffles me because what if they only eat 1 half of the waffle, half of 1 sausage, two bites of eggs, and all the applesauce. It couldn't be 3/4 because they didn't finish all of 3 things. Would it be that half of the waffle and half of the sausage equals 1? Ugggg. Confusing if you ask me. I had to ask the other teacher how to write everything down. After they ate they got wet washcloths to clean up and their lunch shirts taken off. Oh, by the way, the lunch shirt is like 3 to 4 sizes bigger then they are.
We went out to play a little and then by 11:30 (I think) we were in again to potty/diapered and put down for a nap. They were suppose to be on their cots by 12 but I think we didn't make it. They are to be on their cots until 2:30. Around 2 I saw that two girls that use the potty were awake. I told them to go potty and then go back and lay down. I did that because I didn't want them to have an accident. Well, boohoo, my plan didn't work because one already had an accident. I had to get her changed and get the cot sanitized and so on and so forth. After that I had no major incidents. But there were MANY first here. One nice thing is that this was the room that I am normally in when I work afternoons with the 2 year olds. So I know where everything is. I say that because....

Yesterday I was in a 1 year old room. I came in at 10:30 and did practically the same thing with them. But ... first of all they don't really know how to fed themselves and second I didn't know where anything was in the room. I had 5 kids. After they were cleaned up I put their lunch shirts on. They can eat by themselves if you let them grab their food with their hands and shove the whole hand in their mouth. Which means that we had to go around to everyone and "help" them spoon the food into their mouths. The menu was chicken nuggets, black-eyed beans, mash potatoes and gravy, and applesauce. Again I was baffled by the 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 deal. It is so hard because when do you say they ate everything of one item. I suppose I need to just work these shifts more often but them I can only work them if the regulars are out.
After they ate we went outside for about 10 minutes and them back inside to get ready for nap time. I practically ripped the room apart (not really) to look for everything, diapers, wipes etc.
I finally got everyone down for a nap with the last one falling asleep at 12:40 and the first one waking up at 1:50. When they are awake I have to make sure they don't get off their cots and that they don't make loud noises. At 2:30 I woke them and diapered them. Put up the cots and then walked the kids over to the next room (at 3pm both 1 year-old rooms are together). I took the trash out and then went down to the 2 year old room. I have been subbing on Mondays from 3-6 for this semester. I was already "stress?" or just plain tired because of doing "new" things in the 1 year old room. I hoped that everything would turn out OK for the afternoon. The first thing I heard from the Morning Teacher was "T" had big boy pants on but he really isn't ready for them so you need to take him to the bathroom quite often. Also he has 1 change of clothes and under no circumstance are you to put a pull-up on him.
Oh, goodie.
We went outside to play. To make a long story short. I had to change "T"'s outfit 2 times and another boy's outfit 1 time. I had to sanitize 4 books and I just wanted to cry out of exhaustions and frustration.
My supervisor jokingly said that I really did earned my pay that day.

I really do enjoy what I am doing but ... could we just spread learning new things at work so it doesn't hit me bam, bam one right after another?