Barber Shop Is Open!

Hello to all! How are you tonight? My family and I are well.

I got up and made a scrumptious breakfast! I made sourdough blueberry pecan waffles and turkey bacon. I haven't made waffles in such a long time. I really enjoyed eating it!

We had a full house at church this morning. There was wonderful singing and Tim gave a great lesson. After church let out, I stopped at the office supply store while Nathan stopped at the pet store. He bought ten gold fish to see if our fish tanks are stable. Nathan went ahead and ordered our tilapia. He ordered nine of them and they should ship out on Wednesday and arrive here Thursday. I am very pleased with how well the fodder is growing.

Aaron had invited Jenny Trillo over to our house for lunch and to just hang out with us this afternoon. She is a beautiful, sweet young lady. I hadn't realized she had never been to our place. She was so excited to meet all of our animals! I made Chicken Alfredo with sautéed vegetables. I really appreciated all the help Jenny and Aaron gave me! It was yummy! Then we ate jello fruit salad for dessert.

After the evening church service, we came back to the house. I made some fried rice, meat and potato eggrolls and some chicken and vegetable eggrolls. Gave joined us for dinner. After dinner, Gabe sprung a question on me. He asked if I would cut his hair!!! I haven't cut hair in a while and I was pretty nervous doing it for him since he is a professional businessman. I would hate to miss up his hair! Good news...he survived the haircut and he really liked it! I finished his haircut and then I tried to get both of my boys in my "barber chair", but I couldn't get either one to sit down!

It's been a busy but fun day. Tomorrow the boys plan on hanging out with their Uncle Gabe. They hope to help him with the car he's building. It'll be a great learning experience for them both! I'll be praying that God will grant Gabe the patience of Job tomorrow!

Well, good night and sleep well. God bless.

Prepping Fish Tank

Good evening everyone! How are you? We are all well. We had a pretty busy day.

Got up this morning and my sweet hubby made us breakfast. I had some biscuits already made. He heated them up, cooked sausage gravy and scrambles some eggs! It was absolutely delicious!

I spent a couple of hours cleaning up the entire kitchen and doing the dishes. Wow! It looks clean, too bad it'll only look that way till in the morning! It's amazing how it never seems to stay clean for very long!

Nathan had me back up the truck to the garage. Jordan and I started to pick up the little bit of clutter that had accumulated over the last few weeks. I organized some things and got rid of several boxes that were cluttering the garage. I think about one more hour with Nathan's help and the entire garage will be entirely clean again. I bet he feels about the garage like I do about my clean kitchen! Why doesn't it ever stay clean???

Nathan and I got a free 55 gallon fresh water fish tank last week when we purchased a huge 300 gallon gas tank! Jordan and Nathan dumped out all the gravel out of the tank, cleaned it up, filled it with water and checked for any leaks. Surprise, surprise...no leaks! Nathan put two over-the-back water filters on the back of the tank and put in a water heater. We went by Walmart tonight to buy a couple of goldfish to see if the tank is safe. The was only one fish alive in the tank who appeared to have ick and the rest of the goldfish were all belly up floating in the top of the tank. I suppose we'll wait until tomorrow and get some healthy ones from the pet store.

We got almost all of our fodder trays up and running as well. Things are getting set up real well. I am so proud of Nathan how he has master planned all this and put it into action. I hope the fish survive so we can order our real fish soon.

Today was my daddy's 67th birthday. I was saddened that I couldn't be there to celebrate with him and my mom. I'm glad he had a good day though. I hope today was special for you Daddy! Love you!

As far as Nanny, she had a really good day today. She surprised everyone by how far she walked with the physical therapist. Jerry had a positive day as well. They had him off his CPAP machine for most of today and only used a nasal cannula. He was able to communicate better today. God is the true healer and we thank him for the progress Nanny and Jerry have made. I haven't heard any more about my Uncle Yoyong. Please continue to pray for all three of my family members.

I am ready for bed. Sleep tight. God bless!

Carding Alpaca Fiber

Good evening everyone! How is everyone tonight? I pray everyone is in good health.

I woke up this morning and baked some cinnamon rolls, fans fried up some sausage patties and scrambled eggs. I was pretty sad because after breakfast, Natalie, Ben, and Aleah packed up and left for home. Then my great friend Robin had to leave for home today too... :( I will definitely miss my "twin" sister! Just so I wouldn't cry, I had to clean my house!

I was so tired after I cleaned the entire house, I cranked up my heating blanket, curled up and passed out! I woke up and I decided to card my alpaca fiber. Carding is the process in which you take washed fiber that has been allowed to dry and you "comb" all the fibers so they are all facing the same direction. It's amazing to see and feel the before and after fiber. This is kind of a slow process. I have already washed this fiber, but it still has a bit of vegetation trapped in some of the fibers. I still have to pick it out by hand as much as possible before I card it. I feed the fiber through the feeding tray and spin the handle. As I turn the handle, it turns two drums that are lined with very fine teeth that combs the fiber in one direction. Once the length of fiber is combed onto the drum, I take a knitting needle and remove the fiber off the drum. I hand pick any vegetation that I can see or feel, then I send it through the carding drum two more times. Then if it is picked clean enough, it is ready for spinning. Like I said, it is kind of a slow process.

I am trying to rest tonight, so I am taking it easy sitting by the great fire that I built myself! I think I will make myself a cup of homemade hot chocolate with peppermint marshmallows!

Here are the updates on all my prayer requests. Nanny is doing somewhat better. Her white blood cell count is down. She is still on IV antibiotics today, but they may try and move her to Hacienda Rehab tomorrow. As for Uncle Jerry, please remember him as he's had to be put on temporary dialysis. Also an urgent prayer request for my Uncle Yoyong Legarda. He was vomiting blood today and had blood in his stool. My aunt called 911 and they rushed him to the hospital. I'm not sure yet what's going on, but any prayers would definitely be appreciated.

Well, rest well my friends. Be safe especially as the new year approaches. Treasure you family and friends. Life is precious and way too short to not savor every special moment. God bless!

Ice Skating With the Girls

Good evening. How are you tonight?

I am tired tonight. I actually slept in this morning! I got up and made buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy. Had a leisure morning and did a bunch of dishes and tried to get my kitchen somewhat back in order!

Some of us girls decided to go ice skating today. Nathan's sister, natalie, loves to ice skate, so she invited me to go. Then my Sensei's wife, Aysha, and daughter, Jasmine, and step daughter, Larissa met us there. Aysha used to skate a lot when she was younger. She was really good. Jasmine and Larissa had never ice skated before. This was my third time ever to ice skate. It came back pretty quick. I didn't even fall once...well, one time, but it was NOT my fault. I went the entire afternoon not falling once, then towards the end of skate time, I was standing off to the side talking with Natalie. There was a couple pair skating. I saw them a long ways off. They were headed in my direction. There was plenty of empty space all around us. I still don't turn,start, or move too fast right away. I assumed since they were a lot more experienced than I was, that they would turn or go around. There was no one else in the vicinity! They saw me and didn't move. They crashed into me and I went down on my knees. I know I've lost some weight, but I thought I was still plenty visible enough, lol!!!

After skating, I walked Jasmine to her car. She had made me a woven pot holder and asked me to show her how to finish it off. Then she gave it to me! What a cutie pie!

Natalie and I went to Walmart so Natalie could hit the after-Christmas sales event. She finally got her four foot pink Christmas tree just for baby Aleah! Then we met all of the family at Dion's for pizza and salad. When we finished, we went to church and had some really great singing.

Over all, it was a good day. I am pretty tired. Tomorrow I know I'm going to be sore! I am going to turn in for the night. May you dream sweet dreams! God bless.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family out there! I pray you had a very blessed day.

We woke up and Nathan's sister, Natalie, volunteered to make an absolutely delicious ginger bread coffee cake this morning. I fried up some potatoes, eggs and bacon to go along with that.

After breakfast was over, I baked two pumpkin pies, a peach pie, a batch of hot rolls, and my friend Robin made a wonderful dark chocolate cream pie which we topped with whipped cream and crushed candy canes! Nathan smoked a turkey, a chicken, a pork loin and a pheasant. Tonya, my sister-in-law, hosted the dinner at her house and she baked a ham. She also made four kinds of candy, steamed cheesy broccoli, salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, corn casserole, and cranberry sauce. The food was fabulous!

After lunch, we played games. We played several rounds of bananagram. I'm getting to really enjoy that game. My mom would be great at that game...I'm not sure I'd want to play against her!!!

We came home tonight. Nathan built us a great big fire. The boys did evening chores. Gabe came over and watched U of A play their championship basketball game tonight...way to go Wildcats!!! I worked on some music with Aaron.

Btw, I wanted to give an update on Nanny. She has developed a slight case of pneumonia on one lung. The doctor has her on IV antibiotics and is watching her carefully. Please continue to remember her in your prayers.

Nathan is waiting for me to turn in, so sleep well and God bless.

Girls' Day Out And An Answer To Prayers

Good evening everyone! How are you doing? I am doing well.

I couldn't go to sleep last night...ended up making myself go to bed at 2:00 A.M. I still wasn't sleepy, but I forced myself to go to sleep. Woke up and got Nathan off to work. I made out my cinnamon rolls for my Sensei's wife and kids. After I finished getting the rolls made, I went back to bed and just checked my email. I was supposed to have breakfast cooked and ready for all the guys (Nathan, Jordan, Aaron, Chad, Haven, Avery, Gabe and Ben). I told them I would have breakfast ready at 8:00. I thought it was probably about 7:30, so I checked my clock and it was 8:15!!! I jumped out of bed and started frying bacon. robin rushed out and helped me scramble some eggs. Natalie had made a chocolate orange zucchini bread and served it for breakfast. I also had a fruit tray left over from my recital, so a pot of coffee and the guys were set to have a feast without us ladies.

I drove and Natalie, Aleah, and Robin went with me to go pick up Tonya and Savanah. We met up with Paula Yarbrough. We went to our favorite breakfast place in all of Albuquerque...Mimi's! Robin has NEVER been to one before...boy, she just hasn't lived a full life yet, lol! We ate a scrumptious breakfast and then we sat around and visited for a while. Paula had to leave right after we had breakfast. All the rest of us girls went to one of my favorite shopping stores...Now We're Cooking! My piano and voice students went together and bought me a gift certificate to that store and I found some really cool stuff! From there, we drove to Coronado mall. Gabe bought a shirt from JC Penny's and it ended up being the wrong size, so I returned it for him. Natalie also had to return some clothes for Aleah at Macy's. After the mall, we drove over to Sensei's house. Sensei and his youngest son are in Columbia for two weeks. His wife Aysha and two other children were home. I gave them the fresh baked cinnamon rolls and they were so excited. We left from there and dropped Tonya and Savanah off at home. Robin, Natalie, Aleah and myself went to Walmart to do some grocery shopping. Robin was looking for a specific type of calendar, so I drove her to Tractor Supply. They didn't have it, but Nathan found what she needed at a Hastings in town.

We came home. I then cooked the filling for egg rolls. We wrapped three packages of eggrolls, made fried rice and pancit (similar to Lo Mein). I hosted dinner again here tonight for everyone. After dinner, robin and I made "adults only" Deep Dark Brownies (with espresso powder and strong coffee) and another batch of regular kid friendly brownies! Yummm!

I am about ready to fall asleep as I write this, so I am going to turn in for the night. Here is a picture of us ladies at breakfast this morning at Mimi's.

Btw, thank you all so much for praying for Nanny and Uncle Jerry. They both came throughout their respective surgeries really well. Am glad that all has appeared to work out. Well, good night and God bless!

Homesick For Nanny

Good evening to everyone. How are you all tonight?

Just a quick recap...over the last week and a half, my dad fell, had to get stitches, then later in the week, went to ER and was admitted for several days. Praise The Lord, dad went home Friday! Thank you for your prayers on his behalf! I still ask that you continue praying for him that he continues to heal well.

Nathan's Uncle Jerry, had a mild heart attack earlier this week. Due to some complications, they were not able to do another catheter, so he is expected to undergo a quadruple bypass surgery. I believe he is supposed to have surgery in the next day or so. Nathan got to speak with him today and he seemed to be in good spirits.

As if that wasn't enough, Nathan's grandmother (Nanny), was visiting Anita in Arizona. Nanny tripped and fell on her way into church this morning and broke her hip. She is in the hospital tonight and is supposed to be in surgery at 10:00 A.M. We definitely would appreciate prayers for her as well.

On a positive note, Natalie (Nathan's sister) her husband and daughter drove in safely from Texas. We are sure blessed to have them with us for Christmas. We are saddened that Duane and Anita won't be able to join us, but are thankful they are able to be there with Nanny. Nathan is planning on telling his boss that we are planning on going to Sierra Vista next weekend so we can see my dad, Uncle Jerry AND Nanny...surprise Mom and dad!!!

We are getting ready for a girls' day tomorrow. I will definitely write about it in my blog. I am so excited! Robin and I have been having a total blast together ever since she got here! She's my long-lost sister that I never had. Nathan saw us tag-teaming it in the kitchen this morning and he made some comment on how alike we were and that he noticed that she and I shared a lot of the same idiosyncrasies (in a positive way, he assured us...ahem)! I finally got my kitchen clean tonight. The dishwasher is running. All my other dishes are hand washed and drying. I made some homemade cinnamon roll dough and letting it rise right now. I just got done boiling two chickens. I am planning on making egg rolls tomorrow. Busy, busy, busy...but fun, fun, fun!!!

Well, I need to go tuck Nathan in and see if he needs anything for tomorrow. Please take care of yourselves and may God bless you with peace, love, health and happiness!

Soooo Proud!!!

Good evening to everyone out there! How are you tonight?

Today was crazy as I was busy in my kitchen. My good friend Robin is visiting us over her Christmas break. We had cinnamon rolls that the Kuhen family made for us, scrambled eggs and sausage patties for breakfast. Robin also shares my passion of cooking, so it was great to have help in the kitchen. I baked a pumpkin spice cake for the recital and also some cream cheese drop cookies. Cream cheese drop cookies are like chocolate chip cookies, except the cookie dough is made with cream cheese and they are divine!

I ran to town and did some errands today. Aaron and I topped off our day my stopping at Starbucks! I discovered that I do NOT like their peppermint mocha SKINNY! It tastes like water with peppermint flavor! Aaron ordered a regular peppermint mocha and he topped mine off with the real stuff and boy, did that ever make a difference!!

Aaron and I stopped at Walmart to pick up some final supplies for the reception following the recital. I had absolutely no idea how many people were going to show up. I didn't know how much to bake. A lot of my students baked things and brought stuff to share! It was so nice! I usually prepare everything myself. I love doing it for all my kids! I am truly blessed to have them as a part of my life. They have enriched my life and made me a better person for having known and worked with all of them!

We had quite a few people show up for the recital. Of course, EVERYONE did excellent. Anyone can get up and sing notes off a sheet of music, but each of them truly sang from their heart and honored God with their singing and playing! I couldn't have been prouder! One of the parents offered the use of their church and he also ran the sound system. He is a God-send! He recorded the audio form of the concert and is going to try and get me a copy of the concert! I can't wait!!! One of my dear friends, Sarah Heckendorn was a doll and she videoed the concert. Bless her heart! I had no idea she was doing that! She is also hoping to make me a copy of that as well. Each of the students did their absolute best. I was sitting in my chair balling my eyes out since they moved me to tears as they sang. It was truly a touching recital. The songs they all picked were incredible. If you weren't there, you really missed out on something truly amazing!

After the recital was over, the kids presented me with 2 dozen white roses that were gorgeous! Then if that wasn't enough to make me want to cry (again), they all kidnapped me to the back room and they all pitched in together and presented me with a gift certificate to one of my favorite shopping stores called Now We're Cookin! Many students gave me gifts, but I was extremely moved by one particular gift. One student made me a quilted wall hanging with a music motif. She personalized the back with an inspiring inscription and her signature. I will treasure it forever. I hope to hang it on my wall right above my grand piano! Again, I am blessed beyond measure!

Well, it's almost 1:00 A.M. and I'm completely wiped out. Christmas break has officially started for me now that the recital is over, lol! Sleep well my friends. May God bless you!

More Prayers For Dad

Hello out there! I want to thank everyone for praying for my dad. Unfortunately, dad took a turn for the worse. He was taken to the ER in Tucson. After he was seen, the admitted him to the Hospital. He is still there. Not sure what's going on or what the plan of action is yet. His leg started really swelling up and they feared he might be bleeding internally. They ran tests, which they think shows no internal bleeding, but they're not sure why he is as swollen as he is. Granted, there will always be swelling when one falls, but to what extent? Mom thinks he may go home tomorrow, but I don't see how they would release him if he is still pretty swollen. I just told dad to follow whatever the doctors told him to do...if they tell him to stay, then stay. I am pleading for more prayers on his behalf. Thanks to those of you who are already prayer warriors for him. I am so torn. I wish I was closer so I could help mom out, but I'm not. I feel so useless. I will leave him in God's capable healing hands.

Well, I need to make this short. I have to be up in about 5 hours so I can bake some more stuff for my students recital tomorrow! I am still very excited.

Until tomorrow...God bless!

Three More Sleeps...

Good evening to all my friends and loved ones! How are all of you doing? I am doing great!

I woke up this morning feeling better than I have all week. My throat was a little scratchy and dry when I first woke up, but the further in the day, the better it got! Thanks for your prayers.

I woke up early and made out the Cranberry Christmas Wreath Sweet Bread that my dear mother-in-law makes. She always makes it every Christmas. She was such a doll and shared her recipe with me...thanks!!! I had all my choir kids over for breakfast. I served the cranberry bread, fruit salad, egg nog, apple cider, coffee and hot chocolate. The kids (and moms) loved it! :)

We had an awesome rehearsal! They all did wonderful and I can't wait to share with everyone the talents God gave each and every one of them! After everyone left, I spent the rest of my free time (about 1 1/2 hours) prepping for the recital. I had to redo my program for the recital. I left one song off that I had to add, I rearranged a couple of pieces, and I had to move the lettering to fit on the special paper I'm using. I also rehearsed Aaron's songs with him. Btw, when Aaron was younger, he had a hard time counting how many days until something happened. So, just so there was no confusion with him, he did understand counting sleeps...how many sleeps until something happened! I thought it was really cute and it has stuck over the years. We still count things by how many sleeps!

I got ready and left for karate. I had a great day at karate. We worked on some simple basic stuff, but we worked on perfecting it. It was hard to do, but fun! Sensei actually pulled me forward to demonstrate on how to do it right!!! It's been a while, but I thought he only used me to show how NOT to do it...lol! Sam and I stayed after class and worked on team kata. He and I are starting to read each other pretty well, so we really enjoy doing team kata together. Sometimes when you get paired with someone whose desire is not as strong as yours, it's really hard to time everything together at the same time. Sam moves tons faster than me, so he is constantly having to slow down for me and I am constantly having to speed up to push me to be faster and keep up with him. He and I worked on Bassai Dai and we finally got our timing down pretty well.

Nathan and the boys went to a Bible study at Chad and Tonya's house tonight. I needed a little break from the boys, so sometimes they make it a father/son outing. Sometimes I join them and I learn a lot. Other times, I just need a break! Nathan and the boys just got home a little bit ago. I am going to run for now so I can get the boys going on what they should be doing right now! Rest well. May God bless you and your families!

Getting Ready For Tomorrow!

Good evening everyone! How are you all doing? I am doing better. Sorry I didn't get my blog entered in for a while. I've been a little under the weather. I spent the last two days in bed trying to head off whatever is trying to get a hold of me! I am feeling better though! I just hope and pray that I can at least keep my voice until after Friday night!

Well, my students are all coming over to my house in the morning. We are going to be rehearsing for my students' recital Friday night. I am soooo excited for them all! They have all worked very hard and I'm sure proud of them!

I stayed up tonight trying to clean up my kitchen (and the house in general) since I haven't been out of bed to keep up. I also made a dump fruit salad for in the morning and I made my dough for my mother-in-law's Cranberry Wreath Braid recipe. I will need to be up by 6:00 A.M. To roll it out, let it rise and bake it before all the kids get here. I already have my coffee pot set to brew so it should be done at 8:50. I will also thaw it some of our fresh apple juice we froze this fall. I just love all these kids. They are such wonderful people who love The Lord. They sure bless me in my life by just being who they are!

I know this is short, but I have only a few hours until I have to be up again! Btw, I spoke with my Dad and he is doing real well. His stitches are healing up quickly! Thanks again for your many prayers on his behalf. Sleep well and God bless!

End Of The Year Training

Good evening everyone! How are you? I am pretty sore and tired!

I woke up at 6:00 A.M. So I could get Jordan up early to get chores done early today. He still didn't get up any too quick! Everyone got their chores done by 7:30.

I made whole wheat oat pancakes and fried eggs. I wasn't hungry and couldn't eat a bite. Got ready to leave by 8:50. We left for Albuquerque to go to the main dojo in town. Sensei Nagatomo held his end of the year training today.

Nathan was pretty nervous. He had never been to the other dojo as a student before. We were supposed to do our basic training for an hour, then they were supposed to have team kata competitions. Nathan, the boys, and I have been practicing Hein Shodan as a team. The boys and I have been working really hard trying to finish learning Jion. Well, after the regular training was over, Sensei Nagatomo surprised everyone and totally "rearranged" teams. We had our family as one team doing Nathan's kata. Then we had another team of brown belts from our dojo supposed to do Jion, but Sensei divided us differently. Three of the four of us knew Jion, so se decided to Bassai Dai instead.

Nathan was one of the first teams to compete. There was only two on his team, himself and another young lady. The idea of team kata is to perform all the movements as one unit. The young lady was pretty nervous and messed up. She skipped two movements and Nathan did not. He saw she jumped ahead and instead of continuing doing the full kata correctly, he jumped ahead to match the other girl who seemed to be oblivious to what happened. I was so proud of Nathan! He did the absolute right thing. I was impressed!way to go Honey!!! Nathan's team won 2nd place in their division!

Aaron and Jordan ended up on a different team from me. The both did very well. Aaron was the leader of their team and he did the best I have ever seen him do leading. Jordan led a little and when he did, he did an excellent job. I was proud of all my guys! My boys represented our dojo well! I always get stopped and complemented on both of my boys. They are really great young men!

I was on a team with Sam Hoffman and Luke Drennan and one other guy from the main dojo. We did pretty well. There were three teams that ended up tying for third place. So, Aaron's team, my team and the other senior brown belt team had to compete again for a tie breaker. Aaron's team scored an 18.0, the senior brown belt team earned 18.0, our team scored an 18.3, so our team took third place! We had so much fun!

Then Sensei Nagatomo held an end of the year Christmas party at his house. We attended that this evening. Every year, they provide some awesome sushi. Nathan and Aaron sure got their fill of the "good stuff"! Well, that pretty much sums up our day today. I'm starting with a sore throat tonight, so I'm already in bed nursing a cup of hot tea. I hope I sleep well and wake up feeling better tomorrow morning.

Much love to all. Sleep well and God bless.

Update On Dad

Good evening everyone. How are you?

I wanted to give an update on my dad. I spoke with him this morning and he seemed to be in good spirits. He slept well last night, but as is to be expected, he was really sore this morning. He was planning on going up the the VA Hospital in Tucson this morning, but postponed it till tomorrow morning. He didn't seem too concerned about internal bleeding. He said it is nothing like what happened last time when he bumped his leg.

I am so proud of my mom. She has been a real trooper and has demonstrated her servant's heart. Thanks mom for taking such great care of dad. Wish we all lived closer so I could help you out.

The boys had a "Boys Night" here at the house tonight. Nathan and I attended his company's Christmas party. They catered it from a local Mexican restaurant and made it potluck too. I made my famous Upside-Down Apple Pie. We had so much good food. I actually ate tonight! Hopefully this will continue! I was glad to finally meet some of the people Nathan's been working with.

Well, it's really late and I have an extremely early start in the morning. Will blog about it tomorrow night. Sleep well. May God bless you.

Prayers For My Dad

Good evening everyone.

I have an URGENT prayer request.

My dad lives in Arizona with my mother. He was home alone this morning baking a ham. He had been mixing a glaze to pour over it. Mom's plant humidifier leaked some water on the floor. Dad slipped and fell on his knee, drop the glass bowl he was carrying, and his arm landed on the broken shards of glass. Since no one was home with him, he dialed 911 and the paramedics got him loaded up in the ambulance and rushed him to the emergency room. From what my mom said, he cut an artery, so it was shooting blood every time his heart beat.

The nurses called my mom and she joined him at the hospital. I spoke to them tonight. They did do X-rays and nothing appears to be broken at this time. He got a couple of small cuts, but a couple of large ones as well. He ended up having to get 12 stitches. Mom just got home from the pharmacy with some pain meds.


I am begging for prayers on my dad's behalf. The last time he bumped his leg on a stool, he almost lost his entire leg. He is taking coumadine (a blood thinner) so I am somewhat overly concerned about him. Mom is planning on taking him to Tucson to the VA Hospital tomorrow since they know his health history better. I hope the doctors and nurses do well to prevent what happened last time.

I will post more tomorrow after they get back from Tucson. I thank you for your prayers.

Sleep well and God bless you all!

Feeling A Little Better

Good evening everyone! How are you tonight? I am feeling a little bit better.

I slept really well last night. Nathan's alarm didn't wake me up this morning at 4:00 A.M.! I woke up, got the boys up doing their chores, and I began to wonder if I was going to be able to eat today. I ate a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee.

I decided to try and accomplish a "big" project today (any big project outside of my normal chores). I enlisted both boys' help and I got a bucket of hot soapy, bleach water and I sterilized the trays for our hydroponics system. Aaron helped me get all set up and helped me carry trays back and forth. Then he went back to doing school. Jordan helped rinse off the trays and got them back in the frame. Then Jordan and I scrubbed out the fish pond and rinsed it out really well. Aaron and Jordan moved the fish pond back underneath the aquaponics system and they propped up the shallow ends with cinder blocks. They then filled the pond up with water.

I went inside and took my first fleece from one of my alpacas and washed it. I soaked it in warm soapy water two times. I rinsed it with warm water, hand-squeezed it dry, and then set it out to dry on my 6 ft. table in the living room. I don't know how it's going to turn out, we'll just have to wait and see! I can't wait till its completely dry so I can card it and then I'll be able to spin it!

I taught two hours of piano and voice lessons. Had a fun time! My three students helped me to plan the recital format. This is the first time I've asked students to help me plan it...it was kind of fun to see them all get excited and voice their opinions!

I fixed tacos again for lunch and I was able to eat two! Yaaaaay!

Good news...Aaron completed his math assignment deadline for today. He's still got another math deadline by the end of the week, so PLEASE, keep him in your prayers!

I've been debating whether or not to get a boxer puppy. I found one and went to look at it. I was supposed to go pick it up this coming Saturday, but I finally decided not to get it. I would have to spend a LOT of time training a new puppy and driving into town several times a week for obedience school. I realized that my next big goal for myself over this next year is to begin my extensive training, test and earn my black belt in karate. If I got this new puppy, I would not have any extra time for karate. My training is going to be very demanding. I told Nathan, "As much as I would love getting a puppy right now, I want to earn my black belt even more!"

Since Aaron finished his deadline in math, I asked him where he wanted me to treat him for dinner. He was craving a sub sandwich from Dion's. that's where the boys and I had dinner. I was only able to eat one piece of pizza. Even though I usually eat more than that, I was able to eat three small meals today! Yay for me! Thank you for praying for me. I know I should be eating more, but that's the most I've eaten in almost a week! I am trying to fill up on proteins first. Then veggies next (if I still am able to eat). Great news is that I didn't have a headache, no dizziness, and no jitters! Much improvement from yesterday! Again, thanks to all who have prayed for me!

I am feeling pretty good tonight. We came home from church and Aaron wanted me to teach him Jion in karate. After doing it only three times, he's got it memorized! It makes me sick! I have to study, study, study, and study some more before I am able to memorize things! Some things just don't seem fair! I am getting better! It only took me three days when it usually takes me two weeks!

Well, I am getting tired, so I am turning in. May you have a good night's rest. God bless!

Early Morning

Good evening! How are you? I am not feeling so well tonight. Please pray that I might feel better.

I finally went to bed last night around 1:00. I set my alarm clock to go off at 2:00 so I could get up and punch down my cinnamon roll dough that was rising. After I did that, I reset my alarm for 4:00 so I could do that again. When I went back to bed, I reset my alarm for 7:00. When I got up then, I made the dough out into rolls and let them rise. I made a pot of fresh hot coffee and I thawed out two quarts of fresh frozen pressed apple cider we processed this fall. My students arrived for choir practice about ten minutes before I pulled the cinnamon rolls out of the oven. It smelled divine! They also melted in my mouth. I also barely had enough time to sweep my floors before everyone got here.

Levi, Becca, Sarah, Ellysia, Aaron and myself got together to practice singing an arrangement of "Angels We Have Heard On High." There are (Lord willing) going to be eight of us singing this piece. I am getting super excited! The kids are doing such a wonderful job. I am so proud of each and every one of them!

As soon as we were done practicing, I drove Ellysia home in Moriarty. I then had an errand to run to northern Albuquerque. I got home around 1:00. I made lunch for the boys, then got ready to leave for karate.

I got to karate and I don't know what was up, but it felt like I tied almost every kids' belt at class for the first class! Usually the kids come to either me or Sensei, but they all came to me today. I got pretty good at tying them quickly! As soon as I walked in the gym where we hold our classes, I immediately noticed the heater was blowing full blast!

Btw, at this point, I had a raging headache. For breakfast this morning, I ate one cinnamon roll and 1/2 an egg. I tried to eat lunch, but lately, I feel very hungry, but I can only take a couple of bites and then I totally lose my appetite. So I didn't really eat lunch...I tried, but only got a couple of bites down. So I went on to karate. The heat made me feel horrible, but they were able to get the heater turned off. I started feeling a little light-headed during the third class, so I stepped back, cooled down and drank some water. I did feel better after that. I was able to complete the last class. I even stayed after to work on Jion more with Sensei. When we finally finished, I could tell I was hungry!

I hurried home and cooked tacos for dinner. I was so relieved! I ate three whole tacos!!! It felt so good to eat! So please pray that I can continue to eat, without any more problems! Even after I ate, I still felt a little shaky. I am getting ready to turn in for the evening. I hope I get to sleep in without any interruptions tonight! I usually don't sleep too well when Nathan is gone, but I don't think that will bother me tonight!

May God bless each of you with health, love, peace, and joy today and every day. Sleep well my friends! Until tomorrow...God bless.

Late Night

Good evening everyone. How are you? I am good, but tired.

Had a somewhat laid back day, but my energy is just zapped. I had a WONDERFUL cup of mint hot chocolate to start my day. This morning was really cold. Our outdoor weather station said it was -7 degrees this morning when I got up! Brrrr!

I had three voice students this morning. It was really exciting. I am singing with two other young ladies and we are singing Dona Nobis Pacem accapella. It was totally amazing singing with such talented musicians!

I haven't been eating too well lately. I feel hungry, but as soon as I start eating, I seem to lose my appetite. Kind of weird. I ate a bowl of cereal for lunch. Nothing else sounded appetizing.

I took Aaron to guitar lessons his afternoon. He did extremely well. I am thrilled that God has blessed him with the gift of music. I also practiced some vocal music with Aaron this afternoon in preparation for our recital on the 21st. I feel he will be well prepared as are the rest of my students! I am truly grateful that God has blessed me with such wonderful students who are naturally gifted! They are such a blessing for me to teach!

The boys and I started to watch an old movie called Ben Hur. It's a classic! Aaron and I were totally engrossed in the story...Jordan managed to fall asleep!

Well, I need to get out of my recliner and finish doing the dishes and cleaning up my kitchen. Then I need to make some cinnamon rolls for my voice students who are coming tomorrow morning for an extra choir rehearsal. I promised them cinnamon rolls and oops...I almost forgot! I was a almost ready to just turn in for the night, but not quite yet! That's ok I guess...Nathan isn't home so I guess that'll be fine. He's in Utah meeting his new boss.

Good night to everyone. Sleep well and God bless!

All Done!

Good evening to all!

I am glad to finally be writing this! I slept pretty well last night. I woke up and decided to make bacon, eggs and French toast for breakfast. I enjoyed mine with my homemade apple cinnamon syrup!

I got ready for my choir performance today. We went to church. It was good to see all our brothers and sisters there. We had some really awesome singing! We got to visit with the Raddigan family after church let out.

We went to Wendy's for lunch. After we finished eating, Nathan dropped Aaron and I off at the Prince of Peace Church for our Messiah performance this afternoon. We got to see the Kuhen family, the Heckendorn's grandmother, and Amira's mom. It was great to see them all. The concert went really well. The director got wrapped up in the excitement and took all the tempos faster today! It was harder to keep up with him, but we managed! I wasn't sure I was going to get a chance to sing my solo today, but Nancy agreed to play for me and she did fabulous! Aaron did great as always on his solo as well!

I was physically and mentally exhausted after we finished our concert. We had to stop at Walmart on the way home. Nathan bought a light to replace the burnt our bulb in my headlight of my vehicle. We rented a movie, Men In Black 3. We had pierogis for supper with garlic butter steamed veggies. While we watched the movie, we finished eating some agave cinnamon kettle corn that I made the other day.

I hope I sleep well tonight. May God bless you all. Sleep well my friends! Good night!

Messiah Performance

Hello everyone! How are you tonight? I am sore, but wonderful.

I woke up early this morning. I grabbed a piece of lemon poppyseed bread as I ran out the door. My Sensei's beautiful daughter, Jasmine is in track and field this year. She qualified for Nationals which were held today at the Balloon Fiesta Park. I went to go watch her run. It was really amazing to see her run. She did a 3K in 12:27! It was her personal best to date! She took two minutes off her time from last year! I stood at the 2K marker so I could yell her name and cheer her on. Then as soon as she passed me, I ran like crazy so I could cheer her as she crossed the finish line! Wow! I am so proud of her!

Afterwards, I went to lunch at It'z. This is a pizza/salad buffet place and I sat and watched some football on their big screen tv. Kind of relaxing!

Then I met Nathan and Aaron at the Prince of Peace Church to perform the Handel's Messiah this afternoon. I was pretty nervous since I was going in cold-turkey. I had not practiced once with the choir this year. We didn't even run through anything today before the concert started. I was a little nervous since we had no violins today. I did really well though. I was grateful the director decided to slow some of the pieces down so I could keep up! I actually remembered more than I thought I would! It felt good to play it again. Unfortunately, my shoulder is extremely knotted up and sore. Aaron's been really sweet to massage my shoulder every chance he gets! What a Darlin! I just love him to pieces! Aaron also did very well on his solo tonight! Love ya son! We got this performance done and one more to go tomorrow, Lord willing.

Well, I need to get e heating pad on my shoulder. I pray God's blessings on you all. Thanks to everyone who fervently prayed for me this past week. Sleep well my friends!

Date Night

Good evening to everyone out there! How are all of you? I am doing great.

Last night, I thought I was going to sleep like a log, but guess what? I woke up at 2:45 A.M. And remembered looking at the alarm clock at 4:30 A.M. I was awake the entire time! I told Nathan, "At least I think I finally memorized the new kata!" He said, "Surely you didn't get up and practice your kata in the living room at 3:00 in the morning, did you?" I told him I didn't. I only visualized the kata in my mind and counted the movements in my head.

Got up and around as usual. Practiced my Messiah music again.

After lunch, I was so tired, I went back to bed and curled up under my heating blanket. I woke up refreshed 2 hours later! I got up and made a double batch of Agave Cinnamon Kettle Corn. When that was done, I made two loaves of Lemon Poppyseed Bread. When those came out of the oven, it was time for me to take the boys to the Drennan's house for a Boy's Night. Several young Christian men get together, the oldest shares a scripture he's been studying and then they all comment on it. Then they guys eat pizza, snacks, or whatever and play games the rest of the evening. All the parents (except for Mr. And Mrs. Drennan) get to have a date night!

Nathan took me out to eat at Ghengis Grill. It was a really cool stir fry restaurant. We had marinated fish, marinated beef, shrimp, and scallops with a variety of vegetables, seasonings, udon noodles and a honey soy sauce. It was absolutely delicious! For dessert I had a cup of coffee and a Princess Pineapple Coconut Cake.

After dinner,we had about 1 1/2 hours to kill before the boys were ready to be picked up. We went shopping at Sportsman's Warehouse, Home Depot, Petsmart and Kohl's. you know you live in the country when a date is not a date unless it involves Home Depot!

We picked up the boys, but they weren't ready to leave yet! They stayed around and talked for another 40 minutes after we got there!

Well, it is really late and I have a seriously busy day! Will blog about that tomorrow. Sleep tight. God bless!

Great Day!

Hello to everyone out there! How are you? I am doing much better tonight, thank you!

I was very busy this morning. I got up, fixed some Greek yogurt with some of our raw honey from our bees and fresh blackberries with pumpkin seed granola on top. That's one of Nathan's favorite breakfasts. It's fast and easy for me to fix! Packed him his lunch and saw him off to work.

My kitchen was a pretty big mess. I normally do not do manicures and paint my fingernails since I am always working around the farm here. There's no point in painting them since they chip almost immediately! But, I did do my nails a few days ago, so I kind of let the dishes go. Jordan is trying to save up his own money to buy a shotgun for Christmas this year. I even offered to pay him if he would just do the dishes and wipe down all my counters. He put it off for two days and just kept dragging his feet whenever he thought about doing it, so I just got up this morning and did it myself. As soon as I washed the last dish, Jordan walks into the kitchen and has the nerve to ask me, "Mom, why did you do the dishes? I was going to do it..." Mind you, it only took me about 1 1/2 hours to do it. He watched me do it all, then asked me why I did it. Does anyone else see why that question might just frustrate me just a wee bit??? When I finished cleaning the kitchen, I went and took the rest of my nail polish off.

I did a couple loads of laundry, folded them and put them away. I was a good girl and I practiced my Messiah for this weekend. I made pizza for the kids for lunch. I left the house early, stopped at SAMs club and had to return some buckets. Then I went back to my chiropractor for an appointment. Boy, I feel good!

After all this was done, I drove straight to karate and did three classes back-to-back. We are preparing for an end-of-the-year training at the main dojo on the 15th of this month. Our Sensei has "voluntold" us to do an advance kata called Jion. Sorry if I have misspelled this. I have never seen this name in writing before. It is a pretty difficult kata. So we stayed after the third class and worked on it for almost 45 minutes. By this time, I was absolutely exhausted...but my Sensei actually said I was improving a lot and he was proud of me! What a way to finish the day. Got home late, but I had Aaron heat up some Chinese left-overs for dinner.

I think I will sleep well tonight, Lord willing! Thanks to everyone for your prayers in regards to my hands, shoulders and back. I can feel a definite difference! Sleep well and God bless!

Put Me Back Together Please!

Good evening to everyone! How are you doing? I am getting better.

I got up and saw Nathan off to work. I practiced my Messiah music until my wrist couldn't do it any more. I took some ibuprofen. I taught the Junglings from 12:00-2:00. We had an awesome lesson today! I am getting really excited about my students' upcoming recital.

The boys and I left the house at 2:30 to get the boys to their orthodontist appointments. As soon as we got out of their appointments, we headed straight over to my chiropractor's office. Boy, did I need to be worked on! I was soooo "out," he wanted me to come back to see him again tomorrow. I don't think I've ever gone two days in a row. Good news is that he worked on my forearm and it seems to have alleviated the pain in my left wrist!

Btw, do you all remember me telling you about when I lose things, I usually call my dad and ask him to pray that I find whatever it is that I've lost? Well, guess what? I found Nathan's shirts and ties!! Thanks dad!

Well, Nathan is already sound asleep. I had better try to get some shut-eye myself! Sleep well my friends and God bless!

Noah's Ark

Good morning everyone! Yes, I am writing an early blog today. I promised to share a farm story today. I wasn't sure what I was going to write about, but guess what? I was struck by sudden inspiration as Nathan was leaving for work this morning.

I got up, fixed Nathan some Greek yogurt for breakfast, filled his water bottle, and packed him a lunch of smoked pheasant, stuffing, and a spinach arugula salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing. I decided to walk him out to his car. We took about five steps outside and we were greeted by my friendly alpaca, Francis. It was then that we realized that the gate to the non-milking side was standing wide open...dah, dah, dah...

I turned to see our two steers, one milk cow, three alpacas, and a Nubian buck running amuck with our guineas going absolutely berserk with all the chaos around them! I ran back inside to yell at both boys to get it in gear and get outside to help me round everyone up. I am running around in my pajamas and my slippers...mind you, I was just saying goodby to Nathan. I wasn't planning on doing a round-up first thing in the morning. Jordan finally came outside with his cattleman's whip. I manned the gate. I opened the gate wide and he started cracking his whip and he herded the cow and one steer (Red, our usually "wild" one) back into the pasture. About this time, (Sir Loin, our black and white steer, usually our docile one) decided he was NOT going back in! He kicked up his heels and started running the other way whenever I tried to approach him. I grabbed a bucket of oats. He ALWAYS follows the oats (except for today). I chased him all the way onto our back porch on our flagstone. Then he turned and ran off all the way back around to Chad's barn. Aaron came out right about then and herded him back to the gate. He finally went in. Jordan and Aaron got a long lead rope and herded the alpacas back in. I felt like Noah's ark, leading the animals in two by two! What a way to start my day. This all happened within fifteen minutes!

Got another goat we're boarding. They paying us for breeding services. She's a beautiful Nubian named Peaches. Everyone is so excited to meet her, especially Old Spice!

When I got back in the kitchen, I decided to hang my Greek yogurt. It's so easy to make. I don't buy it any more.

Well, there's my story for today. Until tomorrow...God bless!

Sore And Tired

Hello to all! How are you? As I was saying, I am sore and tired.

I found out this morning that I will definitely be playing the piano for our Handel's Messiah concerts this coming weekend. Two of the main violinists quit!

Ever since I woke up, I've been practicing all the pieces that the choir sings. I have been a little apprehensive as to whether or not I'll be able to pull it all together. Tonight, I'm beginning to feel a shimmer of hope! Unfortunately, I can't raise my arm too high. My left shoulder is pretty knotted up. Aaron has been such a sweetheart today. Every so often,he comes and massages my shoulders to loosen me up so I can continue playing.

I have quit practicing for the evening. Don't think I can play another note! I'm not quite sure how I'll manage at karate tomorrow!

Tonight's blog is going to be short. Will tell a farm story tomorrow. Not sure what yet...any suggestions? Good night and sleep well. God bless!

A Definite Turn of Events

Good evening everyone. How are you? I am extremely tired.

We got up this morning and did chores. I finally made some sour cream pancakes that Anita had made a mix for. I just had to add the liquid ingredients. They were absolutely yummy! I also made turkey bacon and eggs.

I spent a bit of time curling my hair. I even managed to have enough time to even do my make-up today! We had to leave early for church today since Nathan was on to speak this morning.

Aaron and I drove separately from Nathan and Jordan since Aaron and I had our Handel's Messiah concert today. Nathan gave a very good lesson today and you could tell it was heart-felt. Was so proud of him!

After church let out, we all drove out to Nature Point in Tijeras to have our potluck get-together. Aaron and I had to eat and run. We went to our concert and it turned out pretty well. We were kind of worried about how things were going to turn out since we had a rough dress rehearsal with the orchestra yesterday. The director decided not to use a piano this year. The orchestra surprised us all and pulled it together! Aaron sang his solo today and I was so proud of him!!! Nathan posted a video clip of his solo and mine as well. Even though the orchestra did much better, the director approached me tonight and told me they really needed me to play to piano. I agreed to play for next year (at least that was what I was referring to), but he said, "No! I need you to play for next weekend!!! Next year too, but definitely next weekend!" This was NOT what I expected! So, I have one week to cram and be prepared to play Messiah cold turkey! This will definitely be an interesting week.

Well, I have practiced about 1/3 of our music before coming to bed tonight. I am extremely tired and my shoulders are already knotting up from playing. I love it, but why must my muscles protest???

I wish all of you a good night's rest. God bless and take care.

Dress Rehearsal

Well good evening everyone!

Today was kind of weird. I had so many things planned, but didn't get to do the majority of it. Nathan was wanting us to get one last piece of insulation up on the barn and about six pieces of sheet metal. It was supposed to be nice weather, but we had 20 mph winds. Not much fun trying to hang on to sheet metal as it is trying to blow away. Nathan wisely decided to put it off until another day with better weather.

I swept the entire house. I cannot believe the amount of dirt that accumulates between each time I sweep the house!

I made homemade spaghetti sauce with sausage meatballs today. It was a lot of work, but definitely worth the effort!

Aaron and I had dress rehearsal for the Handel's Messiah concert tomorrow. I am excited about the concert and hope that those who come to listen are blessed by it. I wish my parents and my in-laws could be there. I know they would be there if there was any way possible, but I totally understand its not always possible!

After rehearsal let out, I treated Aaron to Starbucks. I had a tall peppermint mocha. Aaron had a tall eggnog latte. They were both very good. We stopped to get a few things at the grocery store. We came home to my sweet hubby who was so very thoughtful to build me a nice big fire to warm me up as soon as I walked in the door!

I worked on my friend's baby blanket for a couple of hours while we watch part of Rock IV. It's been ages since I've seen that movie. I actually forgot how the story went, so it was like I had never seen it before. We'll probably finish watching it tomorrow night.

I am getting tired, so I'm going to turn in. Sleep well my friends! God bless!

Cleaning Day

Hello everyone! I am having one of my sleepless nights tonight...

I was just about asleep when I realized that I didn't put supper up yet. Got up, put it away, and then I realized Jordan was still up. He couldn't go to sleep because hhis nose was stopped up. Have him some Benadryl and put some Vicks under his nose. He should sleep well tonight!

Went to go back to bed and I am just not sleepy anymore!

I have been looking for a large plastic shopping bag that contains two more brand new dress shirts and two new ties that I bought for Nathan's birthday. We didn't open them right away since we didn't know if he'd like how they fit, so I left them in the bag. He likes the one set we opened, but now I can't find the other two. So, Dad, when you read this, start praying! For those of you who don't know, I misplace things all the time. If my head wasn't attached to my shoulders, I'd probably lose it! Whenever I lose something, I call my Dad, tell him what I'm looking for and ask him to pray that I find whatever it is that I'm looking for. I usually find it the same day!

So, I cleaned up my bedroom. I folded all the clean clothes that I hadn't put away yet and also organized my cluttered closet while I was in the cleaning mode. Still, no shirts and ties.

I know where I last saw it, but it's not there. I honestly have no idea where to look now.

I totally picked up all over the house. Tomorrow, I hope to do sweeping, mopping, vacuuming and dusting. I'll need to clean both bathrooms, then my house will be clean again. I'm finally recovering from having company over Thanksgiving! I know it's sad, but it takes me a long time to get things done around here!

Nothing new to report today. Nathan has a couple of projects lined up for us tomorrow, so that's what I'll write about in my blog. Sleep tight. Until tomorrow...may God watch over you and bless you!

We Have A Pond!

Good evening all! How are you? I am doing very well.

Well, let me just jump right in with me story for today. Nathan bought a fish pond with a filter. Now before you think he went off the deep end (literally), let me explain what we plan on using it for.

As I explained in a previous blog, we were trying to grow our fodder with a hydroponics system. We have decided to switch to an aquaponics system. To do that, we plan on fertilizing it with excrements from the fish. Nathan has been doing some research and has decided to set up a pond system in our garage to raise tilapia. Yes, Mom, some of them will be for eating!!!

So anyways, we drove to town the other night and a guy had his fish pond system for sale. We bought it and Nathan and the boys loaded on top of my Honda Pilot and bungeed it down!

I'm not sure when we will have it up and running, but I will definitely keep everyone informed.

One of the reasons I am in such a great mood tonight is that we had our dojo party today. Our Sensei threw all of his students a pizza party today and it was also potluck style. First, we award everyone who tested with their certificate and their new belt. Then afterwards, we stay and eat and visit. We had such a great time today. I have officially passed to 1st kyu. Technically, I was graded a 1B. This means that I will need to test again in February to get rid of the B. I will then have to wait one calendar year to test for my black belt. I am so happy doing karate. I have accomplished so much and still have much more to do! I am grateful for my Sensei and how supportive he is. I am truly blessed to have a wonderful hubby who supports me in this. It is a big commitment and takes so much time. I am so very thankful he understands. I love you honey! Thanks for believing in me, especially when I begin to doubt myself.

Well, good night and sleep well. God bless.

Can I Walk?

Good evening everyone! I decided to get an early start on writing my blog tonight.

I managed to wake up, milk the cow and the goat, came back inside, and poured up the milk before any one of my guys woke up!

I was stinking cold from being outside, I crawled back under the covers in bed to warm up my toes. I also grabbed a cup of hot coffee with peppermint mocha creamer for myself and a black cup of coffee for Nathan. I sipped on that while curled up under the blankets. I stayed there for almost an hour and my toes STILL were like ice cubes!

I got up and built myself a fire. I sat literally eight inches away from it for about half an hour before I started to thaw out! I then made myself a big bowl of honey nut Cheerios with sliced bananas and fresh plump blackberries!

I worked on my current crochet project sitting by the fire for about 30 minutes. Then I went into the piano room and practiced for about 2 hours. I am still trying to find out what songs I'll be playing at my students' recital next month.

I was the only one going to karate today. Nathan was going to go, but he decided not to at the last minute. So, I left. I was going to attend all three classes, back to back. The first class is a beginner class and is geared more for the young kids. Usually, it is a fairly easy class...just NOT today! The second class is a beginner and intermediate mixed class and is more challenging. The last class is very difficult and is the advanced class for the upper belts. We did so many leg exercises in the first class, I was sure my legs were just going to buckle out from under me without warning! They felt like rubber and any time I really used the muscles for stances, they would shake uncontrollably. Sensei has never worked that first class that hard ever since I started taking karate. After the first class, I asked him if he was trying to kill us! My legs are so sore and weak right now, when I go to sit in a chair, I have to look first, aim, and then fall! I hope I can walk tomorrow. We did leap frogs 2 1/2 times across the gym, full extension squats so our knees touched the floor each time, and continuous front snap kicks twice across the gym. I was majorly sucking air by the time we were done!

I do feel invigorated now that one home. I'm trying to stay warm. I don't want to get chilled and stiff. I may need to soak in the tub again!

Well, my family is waiting for me. Until tomorrow my friends. God bless you all!

Deadly Chickens And Turkeys

Good evening to all my friends and family! I had a somewhat normal day.

Today, I got up and made my own pot of coffee for the first time in almost two weeks! My brother-in-law, Gabe, always made us coffee each morning. I kind of miss that! I did set my coffee pot to brew at 7:00. That'll be nice to wake up to that aroma wafting through the house!

I spent today trying to pick up from all our company. Just about got that done. Tomorrow, I hope to get to organizing my bedroom and master closet. I also need to harvest my pumpkins and store them in my root cellar. If I am able to wake up before everyone else, I might just go and milk the animals! We'll see though...

Back when we started up our farm, we only had chickens. I thought they were pretty cute. I had never raised chickens before. They were tiny little balls of fluff. Then they started growing...

I did not grow up around chickens at all. Before I moved out of my parents house and got married, my parents owned several chickens. They would send me to go gather the eggs. They had a few mean hens. They would chase me! They would peck me! They'd see me coming and they'd ruffle their feathers at me! I think this was where I learned that I DO NOT LIKE CHICKENS! They are mean AND they are fast!

So we ordered a bunch of day-old chicks. They were cute when we got them, but as soon as they started feathering out, they started chasing me. I don't know what it is about me they don't like or what, but I was not happy about it.

Then, my ever thoughtful hubby, wanted to try his hand at raising our own turkeys for meat. Who was i to say no? i had never been around a turkey. We got the day-old turkeys in. I thought they were absolutely adorable! When they started feathering out, guess what? I wasn't afraid of them! I learned to make the sounds of their calls. I would call to them and they would answer back to me! I thought that was pretty cool! They would follow me around as I did chores. I would call and they would all line up in a single file and follow me like the pied-piper.

One day, we came home from going to town and all 16 turkeys were missing. I was frantic. We looked all over the property. I told the boys to hop on the two quads and start looking for signs of a mass massacre...feathers, blood, anything that would show us what happened. I thought maybe a dog had gotten a hold of them all. I was on the cell phone with my parents asking for them to pray that I would find our turkeys. The wind was blowing a bit, but I thought I heard a faint turkey call. I listened, but I didn't hear anything but the wind. I called the turkeys and waited. I heard several faint answers. I called again and strained to hear the direction from which the sounds were coming. I kept calling and they were getting louder. Finally, I found all sixteen of them huddled together in a ditch in the front yard. I guess they either went into it to get out of the wind, or one fell in and the others followed. No one was hurt and everyone was found safe and sound.

The older the turkeys got, the meaner and more mischievous they became. In the summer, I usually run around the farm in flip-flops. This particular summer, I was into wearing toe rings. One day while I was out doing chores, I guess one of the turkeys discovered I was wearing a shiny silver toe ring. The silly thing scared me half to death by pecking my toe. The dumb bird missed the ring and got my toe. I completely came UNGLUED!!! I started running away and it decided to chase me. Then when the rest of the turkeys saw the one turkey running, they decided to follow the turkey and they were all chasing after me. I was scared out of my mind. I knew they thought they were still my "babies", but NO WAY! We actually had quite a few toms, but the main one was totally mean and nasty to me. Any time I went outside to do chores and feed the animals, if he saw me, he would turn his ugly old head and cock one beady little eye at me and hop towards me as if he were challenging me. The times he managed to get close enough, he would try and spur me. I don't understand! What did I ever do to him???

Well, back to chickens. I just don't like them because they are way to fast. If they decide to run in your direction, I just can't run fast enough in the opposite direction!

We now have seven ducks and nine Guinea hens (in addition to our ten laying hens and 160 pullets). The guinea hens free range all over the property. My adorable youngest son Jordan (loves to pull pranks on anyone as long as he can get away with it) and my ever considerate hubby, have this thing about teasing me about my fear of birds. When Nathan and I are walking outside, he'll grasp my hand and lead me purposefully towards the guineas. As soon as we get close enough for them to see me and I finally notice what Nathan is up to, they sound their alarm! It freaks me out! Nathan always tells me that they are just wanting to say hi to me. I just tell him they can just get lost!!! Jordan thinks its hilarious! Just this morning, the guineas were standing on the back porch and Jordan opened the back door and started calling guineas to come into the house to chase me! When he said, "Here guineas, guineas, guineas...", they sounded their alarm!!! I told Jordan it wasn't that funny, but I don't think he heard me between him laughing so hard and Nathan chuckling behind me.

Oh well...maybe I'll dream about putting a thousand pound bull in his place tonight...sounds like a sweet dream to me!

Well, hope you got a laugh at my expense! Sleep well. God bless!

Getting Back To Normal

Good night to everyone out there? How are you? I am pretty much tired and worn out! We had quite the busy week.

I got this morning and I made Apple Fritter Muffins, turkey bacon, hash browns and fried duck eggs for breakfast. Nathan just brought home seven ducks about a week ago from some friends of ours. We are getting about two eggs a day right now. They are just getting to be mature enough to start laying eggs. Boy, are they big! The yolks are twice as big as our chicken eggs and were thicker. They were harder to crack open because the membrane is tougher than a chicken's egg. Anyways, we had a nice breakfast.

We went to church and Audie Click from Farmington spoke for us. That was probably the best lesson I've heard him give. Afterwards, Duane, Anita, Nanny, all of Nathan's siblings and families, Darin and his family and Audie and his family all went out to eat at Dion's Pizza.

We went home this afternoon. I was looking forward to soaking in the bathtub tonight since my lower back has been hurting a little the last couple of days. Nathan's sister Natalie had to come over and pick up her diaper changing mat before they left to go back to Texas. I waited all afternoon for her to show up. I didn't want to get in the tub and then have Natalie show up so I'd have to get out! Finally, Natalie called around 4:30 and said she was on her way, so I started drawing my hot bath water. I wanted it to be ready so as soon as she left, I could just hop in and soak for a couple of hours if I wanted to! Just before I went to get in, Nathan said he was getting ready to drive to our local Tractor Supply store in Edgewood. He asked me to come along. I told him I already had my bath water ready and waiting for me. He told me not to worry and that we could easily just heat it back up. So, I decided to go with him. While we were on our way to the store, I got a call from my sister-in-law Tonya. She asked if we could all just get together and hang out at our house tonight. I told her that was fine by me. I appreciated having all the help eating all the left-overs!

After supper, we decided to play two rounds of a card game called Hand And Foot. We hope to finish the game tomorrow.

Gabe leaves tomorrow, but went and spent the night at Chad's since he has to leave really early in the morning. Duane, Anita and Nanny spent the night at Chad and Tonya's and plan on flying out Tuesday. So, all in all, we are done with company for a while! We made it! We sure enjoyed spending time with all our family here.

I hope to sleep well tonight. Please ask questions or suggest topics you would like me to write about. I appreciate any feedback. Good night and God bless.

Do I Remember???

Good evening to all my friends and family. How is everyone? We are still trying to recuperate from Thanksgiving dinner and Black Friday to boot!

I kind of slept in this morning. I got up by 7:30. Nathan and Jordan left to go pick up Duane so they could drive Grandmother and Kathy to the airport. They left at 7:45. Jordan almost didn't go because someone needed to milk the cow and the goat. I offered to do it for him and he said he didn't want me to do it. I think he wasn't sure if I remembered how to do it!!!!

I went out to the milking parlor and prepped the room for milking our goat, Lucy. She freshened for the first time this past spring and so my older son Aaron had to break her and train her to be hand-milked. She kind of kicky. She will do her best to "wipe" you off or put her foot in the milk pail. She's much better now than what she used to be. I don't know if we'll ever fully break her. Just to be absolutely clear...I totally hand-milked her completely by hand! Jordan was shocked when he heard I actually milked by hand and not with the machine! I guess I still have it! I managed to not get wiped and no feet in the bucket, so I will count that a success!

I let the goat out and went around the back and let the cow, Ebony, into the parlor. I was surprised how easily it came back to me. The first thing I definitely remembered to do was to hang up the poop bucket to catch any accidents. Fortunately for me, we didn't need that little commodity! I milked her also without any incidents. She produced about 13 pounds of milk this morning. She was down about 3 pounds from yesterday. We've weighed the milk and there's about 8 pounds per gallon. As soon as I finished milking, Aaron showed up to feed and helped me carry the milk up to house so I could process it and pour it up. It all came back to me as if had been milking every morning of my life! You know what the funny thing is? My Mom thought that my husband "brain-washed" me since I done seem to mind this lifestyle and that she KNEW that I was NOT raised that way! She wondered how on Earth I could actually enjoy this way of life! I was pretty proud of myself for getting the job done and poured up in about 35 minutes. We pour the fresh raw milk into clean, sterilized half-gallon milk jars. We then put the jars into the refrigerator to cool them down as quickly as possible.

I spent my afternoon picking up the house. I made 9 miniature old fashioned fried peach pies and 9 miniature old fashioned fried blueberry pies! I've never had a fresh fried pie, it was pretty impressive if I do say so myself! My brother-in-law, Gabe, had never had some of my Agave Kettle Corn that I make with cinnamon, so I made a double batch!

Natalie and Ben cooked dinner for everyone tonight. She made Mexican Stackers. It's kind of like taco salad. It was very delicious. She also made a fabulous chocolate sheet cake.

My other brother-in-law, Chad, is getting into roasting his own raw coffee beans. We had FRESH home roasted coffee tonight...what a treat! Thanks for spoiling me Chad...I think you've created a monster!

Well, Nathan is ready to go home, so until tomorrow...God bless!

Thanksgiving Dinner!

Hello to everyone out there! How are you this evening? We are having a very blessed and happy Thanksgiving Day!

We had breakfast with Darin, Leslie, their three kids and Gabe. Anita made a cranberry braid bread and fried some sausage patties and scrambled eggs.

Aaron got up early and did some school. Then all the guys went off our back porch and shot some shot guns. One guy would throw some clay pigeons and we would have a primary shooter and a couple of back-up shooters. They had a blast...literally!

Nathan did get up at 1:30 A.M. to put the turkey in the smoker. He was up again I think around 6:00 to check on it. His turkey turned out to be the absolute, hands-down BEST turkey I have EVER had!!! I had officially turned over the cooking of the turkey to him! So proud of you honey! You did a fantastic job!

Anita worked so hard to arrange all this and she did a lot of cooking. I cooked a lot of side dishes. I think we were about 1 1/2 hours past our designated eating time before we actually were ready to eat.

We had smoked turkey, smoked pheasant, honey-glazed ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, steamed green beans, home cooked cream-style corn, grapefruit avocado honey-poppyseed vinegarette dressing salad, regular salad, rolls, and stuffing. Then there was dessert...pumpkin pies, pecan pies, Dutch apple pies, strawberry cheesecakes, fruitcake, and chocolate cream pie. Whew! We were stuffed!

We cleaned up and then we sat around and sang some church hymns. The kids played some cards. I was bummed we didn't get to play Hand And Foot. For those who may not know about this game, I hear it is very similar to Kanasta. Well, maybe tomorrow...

I am completely exhausted. I am going straight to bed. I hope to sleep well tonight. God bless you all!

Getting Ready...

Hello everyone! I am doing well tonight. We had plenty of things to do today.

Got up and Tonya volunteered to bring breakfast this morning. I helped Anita bake this morning, well, Anita did most of the baking! I spent my morning making a miniature turkey dinner for an elderly couple I know.

I taught a piano and several voice lessons for 2 1/2 hours. Then, I made lunch for everyone. Ben and Natalie (Nathan's sister and brother-in-law) and their baby daughter Aleah came in just in time for lunch.

After we got cleaned up from eating lunch, I packed the food and pies on the car and took Aaron to Albuquerque to his chiropractic appointment. Apparently, he threw his back out a couple of days ago and was still in some pain.

I took Aaron to Starbucks so he could do some school work. Then we met Nathan, Ben and Jordan for dinner. We ate at a Vietnamese restaurant called Huang Tao. Excellent food!

We had church tonight and we did a lot of singing. We had a bunch of great singers there tonight!

Nathan's cousin Darin and his wife Leslie drove in from Farmington, New Mexico this afternoon. They are staying with us for a couple of days. After church let out, Leslie and I went to my Sensei's house to drop off a couple of fresh pumpkin pies.

Busy, huh??? Well, I am attaching a picture of all the pie shells that Anita made this morning! We made five pumpkin pies, two Dutch apple pies and two pecan pies...can't wait to eat them tomorrow!

God bless and sleep tight!

Surprise, My Friend!

Good evening all! How are you all doing? I am busier than a one-armed paper hanger (as the saying goes).

I got up this morning and made breakfast for our family, Gabe, Duane, Anita, Lucille and Kathy. We got cleaned up from breakfast and we took breakfast over to Lucille and Kathy at their hotel.

Anita helped Kathy move them to a larger suite while I helped grandmother get her breakfast heated up. Anita took Grandmother and Aaron and ran quite a few errands in town today.

I had a wonderful surprise for my friend Kathy...

I "kidnapped" her and I took her to see my friend Priscilla. Priscilla is a professional hairstylist. Unbeknownst to Kathy, I arranged for Priscilla to color her hair, wash, cut, blow dry and style her hair as well! What a dramatic change! I am so happy for Kathy! She was so excited. She was like a kid in a candy shop! I got to sit and visit with her the whole time and had a total blast!

Nathan and I went to karate class tonight. Sensei really worked on sparring with us. We ended on a good note tonight. I am thankful for that.

After class, we came home and we had invited Chad, Tonya and kids for dinner with the rest of us, Grandmother and Kathy included! Overall, had a super duper day!

Here's a picture of my friend Kathy. Much love to you all. God bless!

Thanksgiving Preparation

Hello everyone! How are you? I was wondering what to write about tonight.

My sweet, wonderful hubby decided to smoke our turkey for thanksgiving this year. He researched how to do it and found a brine recipe.

He did this all by himself...I didn't even ask him to do this! What a sweet guy!

Duane and Anita (my in-laws) and Lucille (Nathan's grandmother) and my friend Kathy (Lucille's caregiver) got in tonight. I look forward to spending time with them all!

Will post tomorrow! God bless!

Whew! It's Over!

Well, another busy day gone by. I was so tired last night, I just rolled into bed, I even forgot to plug in my iPad!

We had Nathan's distant cousin and her family spend Friday night with us. They live in Farmington, New Mexico. They came in just in time for the boys drama production. They said they enjoyed every minute of it. They laughed really hard! They were really impressed with the quality of our cast. They said it was much better than their drama organization back in Farmington!

After the play let out, we enjoyed a cookie reception and went home. Nathan's cousin Heather had never seen any of us do karate, so at 10:15, Aaron and I got our GI's on and performed our katas. We also did 1 step sparring and semi-free sparring. They thoroughly enjoyed it!

We woke up yesterday morning and I made scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and toasted almond coconut muffins. We also had some fresh frozen apple cider we pressed this summer. Yummy!

Nathan, the boys and I all worked together after Heather and her family left and we moved a bunch of food to our new root cellar. As we were finishing up, Ken (from Road's End Farm in Edgewood, New Mexico) came over. He owns a nursery where we have bought the majority of all our trees and shrubs from. He came to pick up a truck load of alpaca manure and composted cow manure. I also made some mizithra cheese from some of our goat milk. He was anxious to try some.

While we were finishing up loading him up, another couple pulling a truck and trailer pulled up. They were coming to look at buying the last three alpacas I have for sale. They decided to buy them, so by the time we got the three alpacas loaded, it was already after 12:00. We needed to get ready to leave pretty quick.

Our sister-in-law (Tonya), had a death in her family. Her grandpa, Don Kirby, passed away suddenly this past week and Nathan and I were asked to sing at the funeral. It was a simple, but beautiful funeral. The family invited everyone to El Pinto for lunch afterwards. The funeral was somewhat delayed since there was an accident on the interstate and some of the family was stuck in traffic so we just kept singing till they got there.

As soon as we ate, we had to rush the boys home. We left El Pinto at 5:45. We were originally supposed to have the boys at drama at 6:00 and run home to get their costumes. We didn't expect to stay in town all afternoon. Nathan decided that it would be quicker if we just went home, let the boys change, then take them to their play. It was 6:51 when we arrived at drama! The play started at 7:00. I was sure I was going to have an ulcer by the time we got there! Everything turned out just fine.

The play was wonderful! The audience was great! We had a wonderful evening.

Today is church. We will probably grab lunch in town afterwards. Then Aaron and I have choir rehearsal for Handel's Messiah this afternoon. Busy, busy, busy...what else is new right???

Well, I wanted to touch base before my feet hit the floor running this morning. God bless you!

Drama Production

Good morning all! I was so exhausted last night that I didn't even have any energy to post my blog.

Today will be extremely busy as well, so I thought I'd post now before things get too hectic.

Gabe flew in yesterday (my brother-in-law). He spent the night at Chad and Tonya's (Nathan's other brother) and will plan on coming on over some time today.

Aaron and Jordan have their drama production tonight and tomorrow night. It's called...The Last One Seen At The Scene of The Crime! It's a pretty funny melodrama. We have some friends from Farmington coming to spent tonight with us as well and they hope to get to watch the play tonight.

All the moms from the drama group put together all the cookies for the reception. Each family is to bring eight dozen cookies for the reception tonight. So guess what I'll be doing today? I also need to make a gift basket for the Mrs. Heckendorn (the director).

I still need to get my house clean before my company comes today! So, I guess I'll keep this entry short since I have a billion things to do and not enough time to do it! Take care and God bless!

I PASSED!!!!

Good evening to everyone! I am so excited! I am still doing karate. My boys and I have been studying Shotokan style karate for a little over two years now. I tested this past Saturday...all by myself! Aaron and I always seem to be ready to test at the same time. They only offer testing once every three months.

When testing came up this time, Aaron was ready to test, but he's still trying to get caught up in school. He decided to pull himself out of karate until January. So, my Sensei said I HAD to test this time, without Aaron. He said it was something I needed to do on my own, without having Aaron by my side.

After testing is completed, they usually don't tell us for two weeks if we passed or not. I went to class on Tuesday. Sensei went ahead and moved me forward in line at class. That means I passed! I am now first kyu. In other words, I am now a third degree brown belt. I will now have to wait and train hard for one year before I can test for black belt. I will actually have to wait for a year and three months since they only test black belts in August and February.

I was really not sure how I was going to do on my own, but I practiced hard and Sensei worked diligently with me on my kata. After testing, Sensei came up to me and told me that he was very proud of me and that I did VERY well on my kata. He said I did all my stances correctly and that I did all the major things they were looking for.

I wasn't sure if I was going to pass though. I did make a couple of minor mistakes. Sensei Nagatomo called on me to spar with a purple belt. He told me to kick side of thrust and I spaced out and I did a round house. I tagged the other lady on her shoulder...oops. Mistake number one. Mistake number two was during my testing. He called on another brown belt lady to spar with me. She had already tested for her black belt, but failed and is planning on testing again in February. She was told to do a round house. When I go to block, I slide out of the way, then follow through with an arm block if necessary. Unfortunately, I didn't slide far enough out of the way and she tagged me in the gut! What a surprise! She was worried she hurt me. It surprised me, but I was ready to dish it back! I recovered quite well and counter punched her like I was supposed to. I guess it turned out as good as it could have.

I was really excited that Sensei Caesar was so proud of me. He told me he would have been proud of me even if I failed. He said it didn't matter if I pass or fail, because I am a very good lady and that I tried my best and had fun.

I can't believe it...I PASSED!!!

Well until tomorrow...God be praised and may He bless you and keep you safe!

Why Music?

Hello to all my dear friends and family! I am doing great. I am recovering from testing finally. Was pretty sore and a little bruised, but much better now! How are you all doing?

Well, on last night's blog, I asked people to post comments, ask questions, or request me to talk about certain topics that piqué your interest. Here goes...

My dear friend Alicia has asked how did I become interested in music. She also wanted to know how I was so talented in so many things. Wow! What a topic!

I started off taking piano lessons when I was six years old. I don't remember a whole lot about my first teacher except that she was a chain smoker and that she never sat next to me while I was learning. She always sat across the room on her couch, smoking her cigarettes, and she would yell at me across the room whenever I would make a mistake (which was quite often)! I did NOT like taking piano lessons. This was not a positive experience for me. I wanted to quit, but my parents wouldn't let me.

Let me tell you about my mom. She is a wonderful musician. She is where I got my love of music. My mom is an amazing guitarist (which is where I believe Aaron got his love for the guitar)! My mom loves to sing as well. Mom had been the church's choir director for as long as I could remember. She would "drag" me along to all the choir rehearsals. Mom always did the "contemporary" guitar services as opposed to the traditional organ services. I sang with my little squeaky voice as soon as I learned to talk. Every Friday night was choir practice at our house. We lived in Radcliff, Kentucky. For those of you who are not aware, my dad used to be in the military and then worked civil service at Fort Knox, Kentucky. So practice would be at our house from 7:00-9:00 P.M. We would invite the choir members and any soldiers who wanted to sing and just fellowship with us. Mom (and Dad) would always serve dinner to anyone who wanted to join us at 6:00 prior to practice starting. When practice was out sometime between 9:00-9:30, we'd just hang out and visit until 10:00 or until people just got tired! It was in these early years of my life that I learned how to be hospitable. The door to our house was open to anyone. There was no such thing as a stranger!

We attended the church that we belonged to on Saturday nights. That's when they would have the guitar services. No matter how little I was, I was always at my mom's side singing. My sweet dad said he was never blessed with a singer's voice, so he was always so sweet to carry mom's guitar wherever we went. On Sundays, we would drive up on post at Fort Knox and we would do a 7:45 service, hurry and pack up, run to a different chapel, do a 9:00 service, pack up then do an 11:00 service! Boy, were we tired come Sunday afternoon, but my mom would always invite soldiers from each service to come share a meal with us after the final service. It was a real ministry my parents did for these lonely soldiers. Some of these guys were so homesick and they hadn't had a home cooked meal in forever!

I remember my next piano teacher, Mrs. Jane Carey. She was a great teacher! I learned so much from her. I continued taking lessons until eighth grade. By the time seventh grade rolled around, I was hired as Assistant Choir Director by our "home" church and also by all the post chapels that we played at at Fort Knox. I never held a traditional job like most of my friends during high school. I never went out and "partied" like most kids my age. I was too busy playing music and loving every minute of it! I never thought of it as work. Oh, I almost forgot, I had also taken to playing the flute. Mom paid for me to take flute lessons.

I never had any formal training in voice until I sang in high school. Again, mom paid for private lessons from the high school choir director, Mr. Oliver. What a great man! I sang in the Concert choir, Honors Choir and Show Choir. Concert Choir was for anyone who wanted to sing. Honors Choir you had to audition for and was for the more serious singers. Show Choir was the elite group of singers that performed a show that was choreographed by a dance instructor, Mrs. Sherry. I auditioned for All-District Choir my freshman year and I got first chair! To audition for All-State you had to use the same audition piece used for All-District auditions. Rarely do freshmen make All-State. I remember Mr. Oliver pulling me aside after auditions were over at All-District. He said that I placed first in the district and that the rules for All-State said that whoever places first, automatically goes to State! I couldn't believe I made it! That was an amazing experience.

I was also in Concert Band and Marching Band. I played oboe during concert season my freshman year. I was too advanced on flute for the freshman class, so Mr. Cornish made me pick a totally different instrument! I played in the pit (percussion instruments) my first year. Then I played flute from my sophomore year on. We had a phenomenal band. We won State every year and we seemed to win National Champions every other year. Band was even bigger than football back east!

I always competed at solo and ensemble for choir and band. I always succeeded and did very well. Both my parents encouraged me especially when it came to music. Do you realize how many nights my parents sat on the cold bleachers watching as I marched across the field? How many football games did they endure to watch us perform at half time? It was pretty cool, my brother was a senior my freshman year. He played trombone while I played flute and pit instruments. I even became Drum Major my senior year in high school.

So to sum it all up, music was a HUGE part of my life. Thanks Mom and Dad for making it possible and believing in me. Thanks for driving me to and from all my rehearsals and performances.

As for being talented in the other areas of my life, I attribute it all to Jesus Christ who is my Lord and Savior. Without Him, I could do nothing. Everything I do, I do as unto The Lord. I look at it this way...if I'm going to do something, why not do it the very best that I can? I can't stand failure. Don't get me wrong, I fail at many things, but it's what I learn from these failures that pushes me to be better. I also could not be where I am today without the love and support of my sweet husband, our kids, and his family. They introduced me to a personal relationship with Christ. I am eternally grateful!

Now that I've rambled on, I must get going to help the boys at school today. Thanks for reading. If there are more questions or comments, please, please, please do not hesitate to ask!

God bless!