April is here

The gray rainy sky made me think "yes, April is here. Time for the April showers so we can have pretty lawns and flowers in the summer." What a good day to hang out inside. After Joel left for work, Stokley and I cuddled up in the recliner and he took a name on my lap while I read "Blue Like Jazz." We've continued to play and cuddle all morning.

Reading "Blue Like Jazz" reminded me of how much people want to be loved and how much they want to be cared about. One of the stories in the book discussed how she didn't think, if God were to meet her, that He would like her. What a sad thought. Because I have a relationship with God, I know that He loves me and accepts me. I know others don't view God the way I do, but it really hit me that there are people in the community around us that think that God wouldn't like them. Think about that for a while.

On Monday I was sitting in a panel for LCC on diversity. One instructor in the ESL program said that when her students came to class, she wanted them to feel like they were coming home. What an amazing mission statement. I have decided to adopt this phrase as my mission statement for my classes.

Stokley's First Visit to the Vet

This morning, Stokley had his first trip to the vet. He enjoyed it greatly because he got to play with other dogs in the waiting room and got lots of treats from the staff who loved him and wanted to keep him. He received two shots and found out he weights 27.5 lbs. He's in great health and doing fine. However, we found out something that is shaking his manhood. Not only does he need to be neutered, but they could only find one testicle. While not being male, I'm sure if he were human, he would be greatly disturbed by this fact! The vet thinks it might be right inside his skin or it could still be in his abdomen. We'll have to wait until the next visit to find out!

Easter

This Easter was wonderful. On Thursday our small group had dinner together and watched the Passion of the Christ. Watching the movie really helped me get into the mindset of Easter and it's true meaning. On Saturday I helped out with Riverview's Easter Egg hunt. We had about 150 kids and about 75 parents. It was so fun to see all the kids together, hunting for the special eggs with verses in them that told the Easter story. On Sunday, we had Joel's parents, my parents, Molly and Myron, and the Millers came over to celebrate with us. We had a great dinner together. I loved having all of my families together!

But now it's been back to the grind of a normal week. This week I have all these little things that I need to accomplish. So I better get to them.

The small things in Life

Today I was finishing painting in our spare bedroom so it would be ready for our guests this weekend. Stokley decided it would be fun to come in and help me. However he found a much more fun game to play --- He would crawl underneath the bed, bark, then pounce out and attack me. He was having such a blast! Having such a cute puppy has made me slow down and enjoy the little moments like these instead of always being so driven to accomplish tasks.

I received some good news at work this week. Next fall I will be teaching two LCC classes at MSU. I'm really excited about this opportunity because I'll be able to get to know people at MSU and perhaps open doors there. Also, my classes are from 4-6 Monday through Thursday. So I'll be home by 6:30ish each day! YEAH! No more working until 10pm! And I'll actually be able to have dinner with my husband!

Craziness

My mom called me yesterday. She told me that they'd be bringing my dad's truck up for Easter. So I thought to myself "Why not bring the Blazer? Did you get into an accident?" No --- She had been shopping at a strip mall and came out of Bed Bath and Beyond only to wonder through the parking lot and not find her beloved Blazer. After wondering if she was losing her mind and had just forgotten where she parked, she decided that yes, someone had stolen it. She found a cop driving around and he helped her look for it for another few minutes and then they filled out a report.

If any of you know my mom, her blazer is her prize possession. Ever since I was little, her dream vehicle was a Chevy blazer. Finally when I was a sophomore in high school her dream came true --- she became the proud owner of what became know as "Linda's Dream", a blue Chevy Blazer. Because of her fond affection for this vehicle, even though it was 10 years old, it still looked quite new. So the money from the insurance company won't cover the actual worth of the vehicle --- not to mention that my mom is just heartbroken.

Hopefully they will find the vehicle somewhere downtown Gary with only the tires missing. Because if someone needed to steal a car, they probably don't have enough money to put gas in that thing! -- and my mom only left them with less than 1/4 of a tank. The blazer didn't even have a CD player in it.

I'm a bad mommy!

I realized yesterday that I am only supposed to be feeding Stokley one cup of food per day, but instead, I had been feeding him 1 cup three times a day! I was trying to make my puppy fat! What an aweful mommy! I was wondering why it took him forever to finish his food.

The crazy side of Stokley is starting to poke its evil head out. He's moving into the biting stage, but each episode usually only last about 15 minutes. He's also become a pretty good escape artist. Today when I came home from a meeting at church, I found him asleep in front of the door instead of in his kennel area downstairs. He figured out how to climb the gate or was able to jump over it. However, I didn't find anything chewwed or out of place in the house --- and he didn't relieve himself anywhere. I guess he just doesn't like to be locked up.

Today I bought Stokely a long leash and tied it around the big pine tree outside so he can start being outside more often with out us necessarily being out there.

On my way home from church today I stopped at Meijer and the cleaners. At both places I had nice conversations with people in line or at the checkout counter. I always like when I can converse with others when I'm out. I always hope that the little conversation or just a smile can make their day a little happier.

Well, I've left the dog alone for a while, so I better go check on him.

I'm a bad blogger!

So I was on spring break all last week and only managed one post! What a bad blogger! But I guess that it's due to the cute little puppy with whom I know spend most of my time.

I spent this weekend at my parents home in Indiana. My sister-in-law, Jennifer, flew up from North Carolina for her baby shower. It was a wonderful time to see all my family! Jennifer is so adorable pregnant. She is a tall skinny girl with a little basketball for a tummy. From the back you can't even tell she's pregnant! She got all kinds of stuff from her shower --- enough to fill my parents full size blazer with barely enough sitting room for my mom to drive!

On Friday my Gramma Schwuchow/Wells turned 70, so we had a suprise bash for her.

Well, I need to have some lunch before I head off to work!

Stokley

Shoot! I just tried to publish this post and it lost it! So here we go again --- This weekend my biggest wish came true! Joel and I became proud owners of a three month old black lab/Newfoundland puppy. He's all black with a tiny white stripe down his chest. He spends most of his day sleeping --- he loves it when he can snuggle up next to someone. He already plays fetch and likes to carry things around in his mouth. I can't wait for you to meet him. I'd put a picture of him on here, but I can't remember how Joel showed me to do it. So you'll have to check Joel's blog (www.wjoelsmith.blogspot.com) to see pictures.

Sadness

Isn't it odd how waves of things come into your life all at once? For example, in August I found out a good friend of my was pregnant, then both my sister-in-laws became pregnant and a couple from back in BG. While that topic is really exciting, it seems that the last few months has brought a wavy of sickness -- and not just the flu. Our good friend Dan's dad is struggling with cancer which has overtaken his lymph nodes and nervous system and things are not looking well for him at all. My mother-in-law is working with doctors to try and figure why she has cirrhosis of the liver when she's never had a drop of alcohol in her life. I've been thinking about their situations and what it would be like to be personally dealing with each issue. It's lead me to think, how do people go through such things in their life without Christ? Such deep thoughts to ponder so early in the morning!

On a lighter note, we have about 8 inches of snow on the ground, which most came last night. Hooray for living in Michigan!