Van...

My van is sick. Went in last Friday for some repairs and should have been done Saturday.

They broke a part. Won't be ready 'til Tuesday. Never called. Hmmmm.

Today. Ryan and I go to pick it up. They are acting all funny. Still don't know if we got the whole story, but the part (not the one they broke, but the original one we went in to get) is possibly defective. Have to order the part.

Ryan was in a hurry to get back to school or he would have asked more questions. Wish they would call and let us know what is going on. Wonder who has to pay for the extra labor time? Us?

At least we have a very nice vehicle to use in the meanwhile. What would I do without a car for what will be a week Friday? We are thankful for that. I am sure we WON'T be thankful for this bill. Ick.

Such is life. *sigh*

TONS has been going on here. We had 11 people in the house all weekend.

My husband coordinates our church's men's conference each year. This year there was almost 200 men. Milton Vincent author of The Gospel Primer was the speaker. I had the privilege of spending an evening and morning with his wife. She was so wonderful.

Since it was the men's conference, my in-laws came up for the weekend for my father-in-law to attend and Ryan's mom hung out with me. We also have a friend staying with us (my personal assistant) :) and I have my sister's two youngest (Ella, 3, and Eli, 2) because her mother-in-law just passed away Friday morning. Having my in-laws here was a big help. I wished we had a little more time to chat, but my mother-in-law is very understanding and jumped right in to help.

It has been a whirlwind to say the least.

God is good. I love having a busy life. Full of opportunities to serve His people. He also gave my husband and I a night away last week to one of our favorite places (Lake Placid). It was so relaxing as it is a very quiet time for the town right now.

On top of all of that we don't have our van because we left it with some old guy named Pearl to have a bunch of things looked at. Hoping he takes his time because we are "suffering" using our friends Cadillac Escalade. LOVE. IT. Might be hard to get the van back. :)

My friend who is staying with us is a photographer. She did a photo shoot with our family last Sunday. Can't really post too many pics because my mother-in-law reads this and (sorry, mom) I don't want her to see them before Christmas.

Here are a few cute ones...

Ouch!

I have shingles. IT HURTS!

I am WAY too young for this. It is common in people over 65! I am 38...doesn't it know that?!

I am thankful for my friend who listened when I was complaining about my aching back and my rash...looked at it and said, "That looks like shingles". (She had it last year. She should know.)

She was right! Thankfully if you get on meds within 72 hours of the rash (not fun) it makes it not quite as horrible, but still pretty yucky.

I wouldn't have thought of shingles but I went to see my doctor first thing this morning and she knew right away that is what I had.

Apparently, if you have had the chicken pox, it lays dormant in your body and something can trigger it, mine, they think, was triggered by my Remicade treatment. Possibly.

Anyway, the question that keeps coming to mind is, "How can I glorify my LORD in this situation?" I just want to complain, I want sympathy. (So any is welcome.) :)

We have a meeting with Social Services Friday. It is REALLY messed up (their fault). Long story that I probably can't print here anyway.

Side note: We are flying to Florida this February and weren't going to tell the kids until Christmas. I was so afraid I would slip (and have several times, but no one caught it). RYAN slipped (RYAN!!!) last night and Dallas caught it. I am sooooo excited that he slipped and not me!

I got to tell the rest of them (girly heard with Dallas) and they are so excited. None of them have ever flown before. Now we are all going to be researching and they will be able to help us plan what we want to do while we are down there. We are thinking Disney and/or Sea World will be on that list. Ethan wants to see an alligator....and look down on the clouds.

Ethan's Theology

Ethan was singing his heart out in the back of the van yesterday. I loved it because I got a glimpse into his little mind and what He really believes about God.

Here are some of the things I heard:

God is AWESOME.
God never changes.
It's a good thing He sent Jesus because we sin.
He is so good.
God is amazing.
We need to have Jesus in our hearts.
We will get to go to heaven someday instead of hell.

(Remember, this is all to music...made-up Ethan-style...there was more but I can't remember it all)

I LOVE IT!