Yo what it be like

2007-03-13T20:41:00.000-06:00

Ok so i'm not a huge fan of college basketball. My thing is Pro football (Go Colts) and Pro baseball (Go Cards). As you can see i have had a pretty huge year, superbowl champs as well as World Series winners. My husband however is a college basketball fan. And March madness is upon us, so to inspire myself to get excited i decided to fill out a bracket, well i actually did two. In one i picked a whole bunch of underdogs and the other one is a little more realistic. I figured if i took the time to fill out a bracket and made my own predictions i might be a little more excited when the games are on. You know what.... It worked!!! I'm actually looking forward to the games now. Me, Bart, Suzie and Christian made a little game out of it. Whoever has the bracket that is closest to the final outcome gets bragging rights. Oh and this is just a side note, if my huge year continues, you can expect the Indiana hoosiers to come out victorious.

2007-03-08T23:03:00.000-06:00

It seems like i always wait a couple of months to post and by then i have so much to say that sometimes i leave things out. Or maybe i just don't have a whole lot to say until a couple of months have passed. Either way, i will try and remember everything that has happened since i posted last. February was busy, Of course there are the church duties and the babysitting the nephews, that pretty much stays the same. We haven't had a whole lot of snow this winter and i was getting bummed out because i love to play in the snow. Every time they forecasted snow we didn't get a thing so I got to the place where i didn't pay attention to what they were saying anymore. On Valentines day (which is my parents anniversary) we got some bad new about my grandma. The nursing home called and said that she wasn't eating and it was only a matter of days. I thought i had pretty much dealt with the fact that Grandma was sick with alzheimers and her days were numbered, you see Grandma hasn't been herself for a long time now, but when we got that news it hit me and after i went to see her it hit me even more. On Feb 17th (my birthday) i woke up and there was snow on the ground, i could hardly contain my excitement. I sat there and watched it until it stopped which was a couple of hours or so. We ended up with 2 inches or so. I know it doesn't sound like much but when you consider we hadn't gotten any until then, it was a big deal. That night i got the news that Grandma had passed away. It was kind of bitter sweet. I knew she was in no more pain and that she was in Heaven but it is hard to say goodbye. I also got news that we were going to have to move into a new apartment. They were going to have to do some repairs to my apartment that they couldn't really do with us living in it. So we had two weeks to move. We moved the last of the stuff over on Sunday (Mar 4th) and on Monday Bart's Jeep broke down as well as the washer and dryer. The washer and dryer belonged to my Grandma and were purchased in 1967 so they had a good long life, they were this nice avocado color and were quite loud, not to mention the dryer took 2 hours to dry a load. On the positive side, i love my new washer and dryer and i love my new apartment. It has been totally redone and it looks a million times better than my old one. So that is what has been going on here. Stay tuned for the next installment, hopefully it won't be two months down the road.

2007-01-16T22:51:00.000-06:00

What a wonderful whirlwind this past month has been. Of course this time last month i was down in Georgia we had Christmas with Bart's folks. Then when we got home we had to get ready for Christmas with my family. I waited until the last minute to shop (I know that doesn't sound anything like me, i'm not a procrastinator at all) Anyway, Christmas was good. Tina and her family were here, Steve and his unfortunately were not. That's the thing with a big family, sometimes everyone can be there and sometimes they can't. New Year's was fun. We had our first lock in with the youth group and boy was it a treat. I was a little concerned because during my training for this event, the latest i could stay up was like midnight. That was about 8 hours shy of my goal. So i decided to consume enough sugar and mt. dew to fuel an entire army and i made it (the fact that we had a monopoly tournament helped out quite a bit) Shortly after the new year we had what i call a moving extravaganza. My sister Lisa and her family purchased a new home so i was helping her pack and move and then Suzie and her family moved into Lisa's house so i was helping her pack and move. That process took about a week and a half. I am so glad it is over, and so is my body. Tonight we had the family over for an american idol party. I fixed some spaghetti with meatballs and these kick butt crescent rolls with a special ingredient in the middle (sorry guys, it is confidential, but if you bribe me i may spill the cream cheese) Anyways what was i saying, oh yeah, the party was good, it ended with some cookies and cream milk shakes and some tylenol because for some reason there weren't many talented people in minnesota. So that is pretty much what i have been up to. I'm a little on the delirious side right now. I think i need to get some sleep. Adios for now.

2007-01-16T22:33:00.000-06:00

2007-01-16T22:30:00.000-06:00

2006-11-03T09:34:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the huge delay. It seems that being an aunt is a busy job. so here is a picture of the new arrival. And of course i'm very happy about the cards winning the world series.

2006-09-22T20:01:00.000-06:00

So here is the 411 on what is happening. While we were the youth advisors at church, we took the teens over the bridge to my brother's youth group. We pretty much averaged two the whole time we were doing this. We were really wanting it to take off and grow but it didn't, so when they asked us to be the youth pastor's we were excited but we were also thinking how good of a youth group can you have with just two teens. Actually that was a fleeting thought, it was only there for a moment. Deep down we knew that God had more for the youth group. At our first meeting we had 4 teens. I just about started doing cartwheels right then and there. I know that some may think whoop pa di do, 4 teens, but to me it was increase and i was super excited. The next week we had 5 teens, again i was elated. This past wednesday was our third week. One of the girls that came the week before couldn't come so i was hoping someone would show up in her place, actually four did. WE HAD 8!!!! I literally started jumping up and down right before they walked in the door. Praise the Lord! You know what i'm most excited about is the fact that the kids that are coming are not "church" kids. They haven't grown up in the church, while there is nothing wrong with kids that have grown up in the church, it is exciting to know that we can be a small part in impacting these kids' lives. All they want is love, genuine love. You know, "the no strings attached" kind of love. Please pray that these kids will come to know Jesus as there Lord and Savior. Pray for me and Bart as we endeavor to lead them.

2006-09-13T07:22:00.000-06:00

Where in the world is carmen sandiego? I know, I know, I haven't posted in ages but there really is an explanation for this, really.... I just need to think of it real quick. Lot's have been happening here. First of all, i am unemployed. It is awesome! There were several people that tried to tell me if i quit my job that i would be bored and I wouldn't know what to do with myself but Praise God they were wrong. In fact, when i stepped out and actually did it God supplied something to keep me busy. As of a couple of weeks ago, Bart and I accepted the youth pastor position at our church. This is a very interesting thing. You see Bart was approached by the pastor about this a few months back and thought he told me about it but i missed what he was saying (miscommunication) Anyways at the same time God was speaking to me about it, and to make a long story short, that is where we are now. The name of our youth group is called driven youth ministries and we have a website it is driven24-7.org God's timing is perfect, i am astounded when i think of it really. Please keep us in your prayers. I will post more soon

2006-07-20T08:55:00.000-06:00

Last night i went to a tent revival. It was just like back in the old days, there was saw dust on the floor, at least i'm told that it was like that back in the day. Anyway enough about all that. The preacher said something very interesting and i thought i would share, She asked if there were any rebekahs in the audience. Then she went on to explain herself. In Gen 24:10 it talks about Abrahams servent going to a foreign land to find a wife for Isaac. It says that he took 10 camels with him. This is just a paraphrased version, you all can look up the story for more detail but in a nutshell it says, the servent was going to approach a woman who was drawing water and ask if he could have a drink, if the woman replied yes and i will water your camels too then that would be the girl for Isaac. Ok something that i never realized or paid much attention to was the fact that she gave the camels a drink also. I always thought well big deal she gave the camels a drink but i never realized what a big deal that was. Camels drink 20 gallons of water at one setting. 20 GALLONS, that is a huge amount. Ok so we are gonna do a little math here. If there were 10 camels drinking 20 gallons of water, that is 200 gallons. Evidently back in Bible times they had a container that held around 5 gallons that they used to draw from the wells. Ok so if we estimate that it takes around 15 minutes to draw 5 gallons of water from a well and you have to draw 200 gallons it is going to take you roughly 10 hours to do this little biddy task. What a servent. I mean she went one step further, all the man asked for was a drink for himself and her response was hey here is some water for your camels too. Her actions not only changed her life but changed the lives of everyone in her family. Anyway i thought that was very interesting not to mention thought provoking.

2006-07-11T15:32:00.000-06:00

The Fourth was full of fun, fellowship, fireworks, family, and first's. This holiday wasn't the usual. Several people were missing because they were out of town but that didn't keep us from getting together. There is usually close to 20 or more for our family celebrations but this time we only had 7. We did, however,have a cookout that would have fed at least 20, i guess it is hard to downsize. After the good eats we played some games followed by icecream. Then the girls (me and suzie) watched a movie and the guys (bart and christian) played some basketball (Steve and Leslee had to leave after the games). Then it was time for the fireworks. I LOVE fireworks. There is only maybe one year out of my entire life that i haven't gone to see the fireworks on the fourth, and that is because i was little and my parents weren't going. This was Landon's first time seeing fireworks, we weren't entirely sure he would like them because he isn't always fond of loud noises but he loved them, he must take after his aunt Christa. Evansville has the biggest display of fireworks in Indiana, they actually beat out Indy. But they are funded by some pretty big wigs, so it doesn't surprise me. So that was my fourth in a nutshell.

2006-07-09T08:38:00.000-06:00

Here is Zach's new hairstyle sorry it took so long to get it posted but who knew you needed batteries for the camera.

2006-06-23T20:45:00.000-06:00

I have been asking mom for like a month now for some pictures of Tina's graduation and she keeps forgetting to give them to me so i figured i would just have to do this with one of my own pictures. This is a congratulations post. You see my oldest sister just graduated from nursing school and i was unable to make it to her graduation. And being the procrastinator that i am i didn't get a card in the mail or anything. So this is a very belated "congratulations". And i found out today that she passed her boards so it is official, she is now an RN. Way to go Tina Marie, I am so proud of you.

2006-06-20T10:04:00.000-06:00

This past weekend Bart and I went down to Georgia/Alabama. His family and friends live there, so we went down for a visit. While we were there we decided to check out some cool places that i had never been too. One was Little River Canyon. It was beautiful and we got some really cool pictures of it. We decided to have a picnic there with Davy (Bart's best friend). After the visit to the park we had to find our way back home. We really needed gas so we were looking for a station and what do we happen upon but Dogtown Alabama. This was quite a treat for all of us, because none of us had ever been there, don't blink guys you'll miss it. Once we made it back to the interstate we paid a visit to the biggest single screen drive in. If you guys get the chance to see cars take advantage of it, it is really cute. Well until next time this is adios and good day.

2006-05-31T22:19:00.000-06:00

If i had to pick a title for this blog it would be What's for dinner? You may be wondering what is this, some kind of cooking post or what? Well it is actually of the more spiritual nature. At church this evening the basic message was about being hungry for God. Me being the definition type decided to look up this word hungry. Websters gives this definition, feeling hunger b : characterized by or characteristic of hunger or appetite2 a : EAGER, AVID b : strongly motivated (as by ambition). What am i strongly motivated to do? What am i eager to do? Just for kicks i looked up hunger too, it is described as a strong desire : CRAVING. What do i have a strong desire to do? What do i crave? These are all very interesting questions and ones that i don't wish to answer at this time because it is extemely disappointing. When my stomache starts to growl i try and find some kind of substance to fill the void, Why do i deny myself the meat of the Word, or time with the Father? I don't wish to be spiritually anorexic. I picked a song to put on my blog to motivate me, and i hope it motivates others as well. The lyrics of the song are very simple but powerful at the same time. It talks about emptying ourselves, wanting more of jesus and less of ourselves. Everytime i hear this song i want to stop what i'm doing and sing it. Anyways i have also uploaded a wedding slideshow, i finally got it to work (well Bart did, he is the computer whiz out of this bunch) so if you want to see it, just stop the song and play the slideshow. Better yet, listen to the full song, you won't be disappointed. And then you can watch the slideshow.

2006-05-31T22:11:00.000-06:00

wedding slideshow

2006-05-31T21:17:00.000-06:00

Empty me

2006-05-25T07:59:00.000-06:00

Some people in my family like watching American Idol and i just happened to be one of them. So every tuesday night me and Bart journey over to my parents house and watch it with my mom, suzie, and christian. This past Tuesday was special, it was the finale (actually wednesday was the finale, but this was the last time they were singing as competitors). Of course we had a party, and what a party it was. Let me break it down for you. It came down to Taylor and Katherine. I don't really care for either one, my favorite got voted off a few weeks ago. Mom loves Taylor and of the two, he did the best so i pretty much knew he was gonna win. And he did, but it could not compare to the entertainment we had before the show came on. We were fixing dinner and having ourselves a little appetizer "the dip"(Only the best snack known to man) When we noticed a little something, and i just happened to get a picture of it. So without further ado

2006-05-25T07:54:00.000-06:00

Mom got in a little bit of a hurry, i guess she wanted to make sure she didn't miss anything. I thought we were going to have to pick Suzie up from the floor and what did i do, well i just happened to have taken a drink from my beverage so i spit it out all over the place. So i can surely say there is never a dull moment when it comes to family gatherings.

2006-05-18T08:24:00.000-06:00

"The Hunt"

2006-05-04T11:07:00.000-06:00

Well Kim you asked about my Easter so i will tell you all about it in the usual Christa format. First of all the service was great, it was your typical Easter sermon, but i never grow tired of hearing how my Savior died on the cross and rose again. Everyone was decked out in our Sunday best, but not for long because "The Hunt" can turn into one ugly mess. We had a barbecue lunch, ribs provided by corey, some homemade bread, potato salad, you know that sort of food. And a made from scratch cheescake (prepared by Steve) for Dee Dee because her birthday just happened to be on Easter this year. Then came the hiding of the eggs. This was the first year that mom requested the help of me and Suzie. And it will probably be the last because that woman filled about a million eggs full of candy and prizes. Of course there is a slight exaggeration there but you know what i mean. It took about 30 minutes to hide them and only about 5 for the kids to find them all. But it was precious watching those kids look for eggs. But nothing could compare to the battle that lie ahead with the adult egg hunt. My mom and Aunt were outside hiding the eggs and you could see the game faces on everyone. There was a determination in all of their eyes, it was screaming i'm going to get that "golden egg!" (Just a side note, we didn't really have a golden egg, but we did have a plastic egg that had the 20 dollar grand prize in it.) Anyway, the on your mark, get set, go was sounded and We all took off. There were two type of hunters that day, there were the sly ones that got as many eggs as they could, they kind of took off by themselves (the women). And then there were the ones that decided it would be best to prevent other hunters from finding eggs, now this did include bodily harm. ( the men) When the hunt was over the sly hunters found themselves on top, they had more candy and less cuts. It was a lot of fun i must admit, of course it always is. I'm going to try and get some pictures posted. Until my next post remember this vital piece of information.... Violence is never the answer.

2006-03-10T09:23:00.000-06:00

Here is a quote for today, "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive!"

2006-03-04T21:27:00.000-06:00

What is stress? Another word for it is tension. I have kind of been studying this out because of some things going on around me here of late. When I go to the Bible and try and find what it says about stress it is hard for me to find specific verses that talk directly about this topic, so then I try to think of what the opposite of stress is, and the first thing that comes to my mind is peace. Now there is a whole slew of verses that talk about this topic. I have mentioned several in some of my other blogs. One is Philippians 4:6-7, John 14:27 is another one that I mentioned. One that I have recently come upon is Matthew 11: 28-30, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and my load is light." There is several things that I get from these few verses. One being the whole learn from Me part. See I know that stress is a mind thing for the most part, it is basically your mind running loose. In Matthew chapter 4 it talks about the temptation of Jesus. So many times I forget that Jesus was 100 percent man and He had to endure everything that we do. Anyways he was being tempted and every time Satan said something to Him, Jesus quoted scripture. Satan is the father of lies, and too many times I find myself listening to what he has to say, that is when I get stressed out the most. One thing that helps me is quoting every scripture I can think of that has to do with peace. That gets my mind off of whatever circumstance may be plaguing my mind at the time. Also this verse mentions rest for your souls, I have heard it taught that your soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. Now looking at those three areas I would have to say those are the areas that stress attacks the most. I find tremendous comfort in that promise. Well I could probably go on some more about this topic, but I have got to jet.

2006-02-06T11:58:00.000-06:00

2006-02-06T11:49:00.000-06:00

Alright i had a wonderful slideshow production and i couldn't get it to upload onto the blog so i will upload a few pics so you can get and idea.

2006-02-06T11:43:00.000-06:00

ok kim i'm trying my hardest to get my wedding pics posted. I'm having a little technical difficulties. The jedi master computer wizard is at work so i will have to wait until i have an epiphany or he comes home. Adios amiga

2005-11-09T22:26:00.000-06:00

The mobile home park that was destroyed

2005-11-09T09:54:00.000-06:00

"EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Search teams focused on a pond full of wreckage Tuesday as they made sure there were no more victims of the huge tornado that smashed homes in the Ohio Valley while people were still asleep.
The twister killed at least 22 people as it slashed through Indiana and Kentucky early Sunday with wind estimated at more than 200 mph.
Crews on Tuesday were draining a pond near the Eastbrook Mobile Home Park, which was obliterated by the twister. Indiana officials said emergency sirens sounded twice before the tornado struck, but many in the mobile home park said they did not hear them." This is part of an article found at msnbc.com. For those of you who don't know early Sunday morning, around 2 am, a F3 tornado ripped through my hometown. There is almost total destruction in some areas and even now when i think of it tears come to my eyes. 22 lives were lost, and 200 injured, thousands of homes were wiped out. Almost everywhere you go there is someone who was effected by it, if not physically then emotionally. This was the deadliest tornado this year. I praise God for His protection, all of my family is alive and suffered no loss, if it would have shifted a quarter of a mile one of my sisters and her family would have been hit. But i don't want to focus on the negative. My purpose for this post is to ask for your prayers. Please pray for the victim's families and for those who lost homes. Pray for complete restoration emotionally and physically. It would be greatly appreciated.

2005-10-12T20:16:00.000-06:00

Any Cardinal fans out there????? I didn't use to be a baseball fan, in fact the only sport you could get me to watch was bulls basketball. It seems over the past few years I have become a little more interested in sports such as baseball, or football (don't get me started on the Colts). Anyhow, I'm quite excited cause the cards are playing in the championship this year and hopefully will go all the way and win the world series.

2005-10-09T19:20:00.000-06:00

"Change your stinkin' thinkin'..." That is a phrase my pastor says often and it seems to hit me every time. I sometimes watch Joel Osteen on Sunday nights and he just happened to talk about our thought life and how it effects us. There are a lot of verses that deal with this particular subject. He used the verse in Col. 3:2 "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." When I reread this verse in my Bible I immediately had a profound question enter my mind. What does the Bible say about things above and what does it say about earthly things? That is something I'm gonna have to dig into the Word to find out but I do know this. In Philippians chapter 4:8-9 " Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." Wow what a promise. If there is one thing that I know about this earth, it is that there is a huge deficit when it comes to peace. It seems that most people have some circumstance that weighs them down. It occupies there thoughts and as a result they are overcome and beat down. That brings me to another verse, John 16:33"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." Oh my, doesn't it give you goose bumps. It says "in Me you may have peace" Another promise of peace in the midst of tribulation. John 14:27"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." Whoa I could go on all night with this subject probably. One thing I want to mention about this last verse is the "let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." I think the keyword here is let. We have control over this area. We can choose to let our hearts or minds dwell on these things or we can take captive our thoughts and make them obedient to Christ check out 2 Cor. 10. Ok well I'm gonna have to leave on this note, there is so much more I could write but I need to get some shuteye.

2005-10-06T16:01:00.000-06:00

Pierogies!!! Has anyone ever tried one? Let me tell you, they are a little piece of Heaven here on Earth. For those of you who haven't tried them i will explain them to you. Imagine a won ton or a crab rangoon if you will, but put mashed potatoes and cheese in the middle. Deep fry them and dip them in sour cream and you are good to go. The reason for this random question is because this week, is our annual fall festival. It is one of the biggest street festivals in the nation. It is known for it's exotic food. It has just about everything from brain sandwiches to fried twinkies. Actually there is one booth down there that will fry anything you want them to. And the catchier the name the better. Like Zippy chicky, i have no idea what that one is. Or Kickapoo chew, another one i'm afraid to try. It is kinda bad for me this year, i'm trying to make sure i don't gain any weight cause i have a dress to fit into. But you can bet your bottom dollar that i will be having some peirogies and a funnel cake at least. Well this is goodbye for now.

2005-10-03T20:02:00.000-06:00

Me and Bartley

2005-10-03T15:42:00.000-06:00

My desire is that I create an atmosphere around me that repels the enemy. One in which he can't stand to be around me long enough to attack. One way I can do this is by having a constant attitude of praise and thanksgiving. I'm not gonna lie, it isn't easy. In fact, when i try, i feel more resistance from my flesh than at any other time. Then a light goes on, hello mcfly, maybe i am on to something here.
John 10:1-18. In v. 4 it says that the sheep follow him because they know his voice. And again in v. 14 it says "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me." Jesus wants us to know Him, not just know of Him. The whole "What would Jesus do" thing was great, and awesome phrase to put on a bracelet, but to be honest i didn't really give it a second thought. A catchy phrase is all it was to me at the time, but i ask myself the question, What would Jesus do in my everyday situations? How would He react? Do i really know? I'd like to think that i do know, but i might be surprised. I mean Jesus is supposed to be our "role model". We are Christians, the word in and of itself means "little Christ" Philippians 2 says we are to have the same attitude as Christ. Why do i forget the important detail? Why do i block this truth from my mind? Going back to John chapter 10, i see where it says. "The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. This is a reminder that there is an enemy out there, that doesn't want me to succeed, he doesn't want me to share what i know with others. He wants to destroy me. And that is terrible news, but if you keep reading, it says that Jesus came that we may have life and have it abundantly!!!!! Now that puts a smile on my face, see i know what abundantly means. Amply supplied. Amply is more than enough. Hallelujah, God is good all the time, and all the time God is good!!!! Well this is my second opener i guess you could say. Stick around and I'll give you more details about the interesting life of Christa Renee.

2005-10-03T10:54:00.000-06:00

Ok this is my first post, i'm still trying to figure this thing out. Give me a minute or two or maybe 24 hours and i might have something enlightening to say.