For Jacob (or) Elley...

I may not be a mom, but my friend Erin soon will be. So this is in honor of all the things the unborn Rockey baby will hear in its lifetime. Enjoy!

Almost 2008, baby!

Stole this from one of the blogs I stalk. Thought it was a good summary of the year without some of those annoying questions that are usually there.

1) Where did you begin 2007?
In my house with my roommate and a delicious ice cream sundae... sad, huh?

2) What was your status by Valentine’s Day?
Blissfully taken and moving (fairly) quickly ;)

3) Were you in school (anytime this year)?
Does Sunday School count? Then, uh, no. But I've been researching some Master's Programs that I'm hoping to start in the Fall.

4) How did you earn your money?
Playing with and planning for my kiddos. Not bad. Not bad.

5) Did you have to go to the hospital?
Nope. Thankfully. But I did visit one of my kids who had heart surgery.

6) Did you have any encounters with the police?
The closest I got to any police was when my plane taxied to the back-40 and was met by 12 cars and the FBI. Does that count?

7) Where did you travel this year?
Um, yes. A bit-- Portland, St Louis, Springfield (MO), Orlando, New York, Greece (Athens & Corinth), Israel (Joppa, Tel Aviv, Tiberias, Jerusalem, etc), and Sacramento.

8) What did you purchase that was over $1,000?
My trip to Israel & Greece.

9) Did you know anybody who got married?
Uh, lots. 'Tis the season.

10) Did you know anybody who passed away?
Several folks from my church family.

11) Biggest surprise?
I'd probably have to say the boy. I wasn't exactly expecting to feel this way or be with someone this long-- but I'm definitely glad it happened.

12) Did you move anywhere?
For the first time in years, no.

13) What concerts/shows did you go to?
I went to a few concerts in Florida with the kiddos and another one at the Alaska State Fair, though at this point I have no idea who they were.

14) Are you registered to vote?
Yes I am!

15) Who did you want to win Dancing with the Stars?
Didn't really pay attention.

16) Where do you live now?
In a beautiful house with a horrible driveway atop a hill with a wonderful view... but, it's not mine.

17) Describe your birthday?
Spent in several airports and a few long plane rides with 18 high schoolers... then I promptly curb-checked our packed 15-passenger van and blew the tire. Ah, yes, great celebration of my 25 years :)

18) What's one thing you thought you'd never do but did in 2007?
Met a wonderful guy... online. Got in a dog sled. Went to Israel. Purchased a third red bridesmaid dress (ugh).

19) What has been your favorite moment?
Hyperventilating and everything that followed.

20) What's something you learned about yourself?
I'm a confident woman who loves her job, family & friends.

21) Any new additions to your family?
Technically, no. But I will say I absolutely LOVE the boy's pups.

22) What was your best month?
They've all been pretty wonderful :)
January, July & November top the charts though.

23) What music will you remember 2007 by?
Absolutely no clue.

24) Who has been your best drinking buddy?
Not so much into the bar scene. Though my Alaskan DCE folk certainly make the bar scene more fun! Oh, yeah, I guess the boy.

25) Favorite night out?
Century 16 + Icee + Sour Watermelons = Ideal :)

Well, I hope y'all have enjoyed celebrating our Savior's birth and will also enjoy celebrating the coming of 2008-- I'm sure it'll be much better than '07!

Happy Winter Solstice!*

*This title has nothing to do with this post.

Talked to the boy yesterday.

He's in Chicago @ MidWest Conference.

He's being schmaltzy.

I like that.

That's all.

:)

The Reason for The Season

I tend to procrastinate at different points in the day by reading the updates posted by my blog-friends listed to the left. Today, as per every Monday, I caught up with the adventures of Brandt, a friend from college. Yesterday he posted a rather long post that concluded with the most beautiful poem about this season of Christmas and I'd like to share that with you (just in case you haven't read it yourself!)

“For to us a Child is born, there is no better friend;

He hears us when we cry and saves us from our sin.

In His own hands we see, the limits of His love,

And through those wounds He gives us healing from above.

Although we oft have strayed, he comes to us in grace

And tells us of that day when we will see His face.

Oh Jesus stay with us, with mercy ever new,

That we might know Your peace and always be with You.”

Brandt Klawitter

Oh Baby, Oh Baby

Seems I'm in a YouTube mood lately... BUT this is fantastic!

What I Really Want For Christmas

(This is also my second favorite Christmas movie. And, yes, I do watch it year-round!)

It's THAT Simple!

It's by far my favorite Christmas movie. In fact, I don't consider it Christmas until I watch it. It's that important. And Linus, my sister's favorite, sums it up quite well!

Dear Santa...

On Wednesday I asked my kids about some of the things they had on their Christmas lists this year-- 4 of the 5 had NEVER made a list. That is ridiculous. Who doesn't make a list? It's like the Ultimate Hint Guide for those of your friends & family who stress over getting something you'll love. So, in an effort to help some of you last minute shoppers, here are some of the things from my Ultimate Hint Guide...

• Mad Gab
• Apples-to-Apples
• Bag for my Snowshoes
• CamelBak
• Fiestaware
  (Bakeware, Utensils)
  Tangerine, Scarlet, Sea Mist, Periwinkle, Sunflower, Shamrock
• Necklaces
• Auto-Start for Dean
• And, of course, World Peace :)

Bear in mind, procrastinating friends, that online orders need to be made by Monday! Oh, and if I bought you a gift, you should be getting it Monday.

On a side note: I've been in a "I'm-sick-of-my-hair-so-I-want-to-chop-it-off" mood lately and thought about this cut...

Yes, it's Katie Holmes, but that's not the point. I think her hair is cute, if a bit short? What do you think? Yes? No?

The Truth

Whew!

I should've gone to work today. I've been gone since November 8th. I should've gone to work today. I should've done LOTS of things today but instead I slept. Hopefully, sometime soon, my body will recover and finally decide which timezone it is.

For those of you who have no idea why I've been out of the office for nearly a month, welcome back from life under a rock. I just got back yesterday from taking a total of 14 flights and countless hours in airports. (At one point, I literally had been on a plane or in an airport for a total of 50 hours.) It's been a L-O-N-G month. I'm tired. Hence the sleeping.

So, in lieu of recounting the past month day-by-day, I'll post some pictures. If you're lucky, maybe I'll get around to explaining them sometime.

New York & Ground Zero

Athens, Greece
Sunrise, Olympic Stadium, The Acropolis, Olives, Mars Hill, The Plakka

Corinth Canal & Ancient Corinth, Greece

(Yes, that does say 'Concordia')

(Erastius' name written in stone near Ancient Corinth)

This is the COOLEST BRIDGE... it goes down...

Pictures from Israel will come later...

2 More Days...

of traveling then I'm done for a while. Right now I'm at my ol' alma-mater showing one of my Seniors around the campus and visiting with three of my kids who are here going to school. Perhaps I'll even get to see my friend Rene and her husband Matt who live in Lincoln. Other than that I'm just trying to figure out what freakin' time it is!

Hopefully Monday I'll be able to get some pictures downloaded and uploaded and get this thing updated so the angry commenting can stop.

Free Internet?!

As I type this I'm sitting in the Tel Aviv Airport in Israel. Four of us got bumped from our original flight which meant 4 horrible hours waiting in line BUT we also got passes to the Lounge. Oh, yes, it is as wonderful as it seems-- free food, free soda, free beer, free food, free beer. We have a few more hours until our flight leaves at 10:40am (Israel is 7 hours ahead of New York) so I'm taking advantage of the FREE INTERNET. No more quarter-a-minute computer codes. Sweetness.

Yet, we are at the end of an amazing trip. A trip I seriously want all of you (all 3 of you) to consider taking sometime. It's been awe-inspiring to see the places mentioned in the Bible and to do some hands-on stuff like archaeological digs and floating in the Dead Sea (AWESOME!). I've got presents for some of you and pictures for all but that'll have to wait until after Thanksgiving.

Until next time, friends, have a wonderful Turkey Day and an even more fabulous Black Friday!!

Redesigned Procrastination

Well, I've jumped on the redesign bandwagon. I should've been in the shower and/or cleaning my room in preparation to head out for my trip, but instead I redesigned my blog. Gosh, I even procrastinate on getting ready for vacation!

So, at this point, it's t-minus 20 hours.

I'm excited.

Too excited to really blog at this point. So you'll have to wait until I get back-- either after Thanksgiving or in December.

Patience, my friends. Patience.

SNOW!!!!

Take a gander, folks. It's the season's first official, substantial snow. JOY!
Now I get to leave for Israel & Greece where it's 70 degrees. JOY!

Whew!

I'm a list maker.

Always have been.

Consider it a curse of the slighty-OCD, Type-A personality of yours truly.

Ever since I was in high school, I can remember making weekly to-do lists every Monday. I still do that every Tuesday (my new first day of the week) but this past weekend I've made probably 15 lists... all about the same thing, including the same things. The OCD part of my list-making obsession means I rewrite them until they look perfect. If I misspell something or have to change colors of ink, it means a new list must be made.

So, to make a long story short, I've been making lists of the things that need to be done before I leave on this trip-of-a-lifetime AND lists about what to bring. They go something like this:

Before I leave...
Volunteer Retreat Bible Studies
Email Eric Bible studies for Wednesdays
Get Eric key for Youth Room
Set-Up substitute for Confirmation
Rent 'Prince of Egypt' for Confirmation
Get movie night arranged
Council & Voter's Meeting Reports
December Newsletter Pages
Etc

Must Pack...
12 Tops, Underwear, Socks
Jeans, Khakis, Black Pants, Grey Skirt, Capris
Chacos, Black Sandals, Tennis Shoes
Shampoo/Conditioner, Facewash
Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Floss
Books, Bible, Pig
PASSPORT & Tickets

So, basically, that's what I've been up to these past few weeks. List-making. Before these aforementioned lists I was busy making lists for our Annual Youth Dinner Auction which happened this past Saturday. Except for running out of food (oops!) all went well and we ended up making about $5,000 for the youth program. Now I have to copy, enter, deposit, and transfer all of that money before I leave. That, and everything else I have scheduled before I leave Sunday morning--

• Tuesday: staff meeting, AALYG meeting, dentist appointment, date night.
• Wednesday: Confirmation, Youth Group.
• Thursday: WORK!, ACYB meeting.
• Friday: Volunteer Retreat shopping, prep and programming.
• Saturday: Volunteer Retreat con't, final packing, movie night, party.
• Sunday: Airport before 8am.

Sounds nice & relaxing, huh? Good news is I'm already packed (mostly) so all I have to do on Saturday is throw in my toiletries. So now this post'll have to suffice until I get back into the states and/or to Alaska. Hope it's interesting enough to calm those clamoring masses.

Rollin' rollin' rollin'

If you've never visited or lived in Alaska, you never have any right to complain about the cost of transportation. YOU get excited about a flight for $150, WE get excited about flights for $400. Case-in-point, the boy's reason for not Californianing. (I'm just giving him trouble... tee-hee... he loves it!) Also, the reason most, if not all, of you have for NOT coming to visit me. But, perhaps, if this goes through, in a few years we'll be able to be world travelers for a less significant cost-- and a much cooler trip. Pun intended.

On a lighter note, I'm beginning to get terribly excited about my upcoming trip to Greece & the Holy Land. I recently received a box of presents from my parent's trip to Greece a few weeks ago and I'm pretty sure that's what triggered the endorphins to start spreading.

T-Minus 22 days.

Yes, I speak another language

I wonder if there's a One Semester of French Love Song... Hmm...

Help

I'd like to frame one of my pictures and donate it to my Youth Dinner Auction. Which do you think?

Are you happy?

"The question has so many facets," Spoda says. And it's honestly a question most of us have to think about before we're able to answer it. There are many things I'm not happy about in my life but there are many more things with which I'm very happy. Here are just a few...

• My Alaskan Moms. I have many and I love each and every one of them for watching out for me these past few years. They continue to keep me in check and have (recently) gotten on me about my overly hectic schedule (see below) and my ability to enjoy life outside of high school, middle school and elementary kiddos.
  
• The Boy. Tomorrow we'll celebrate 9 months together. We don't get to see each other as often as I would like but the time we do spend is great. As I told a concerned friend last night, this has been the most honest relationship I've ever had. Yes, there have been many-a-high-maintenance-girlfriend moments I'm sure he loathes (I loathe them!) but I usually keep those doubts and concerns festering inside my head and heart. The mere fact that I have the ability to talk to him about it is a wonderful break. There are some things I want for our relationship that have yet to be realized (no, more than just that) but hopefully those will come soon. Besides, I'm on his list so I figured he ought to be on mine.
  
• My folks. I think I talk to them more than I have ever before in my life. Especially my dad. Growing up he was always working and never really around all that much so I never got the chance to be the daddy's girl every girl wants to be. But now our relationship is growing and that's great. I'm terribly excited about visiting with them over the Thanksgiving holiday AND shopping with my mom and sister the day after. I was hoping the boy would be able to interact with them over that weekend too but he won't be making the trip. Maybe you, dear Blogstalker, can convince him it's an important step... and for those of you who know my parents can let him know they're not so scary.
• The kids. I spend a lot of time with them and prepping for that time spent with them. I love them so much and value my relationship with them. God has truly blessed me and this church with a great group of kids.
• The gym. Some of the time I procrastinate going, other times I can't find the time to go but I love going to the gym. I like getting sweaty and gross. (I don't like the abnormal numbers of old men at the gym but c'est la vie!) Plus it feels good. There haven't been many results as of late-- hopefully due to the thyroid & blood sugar issues-- but hopefully that changes soon.
  
• Pajamas. Whether they're my beloved original moose pants, my new pink moose set or my pig capris, I love jammies.
  

Busy! Busy! Dreadfully Busy!

...you've no idea what I have to do!

These past two weeks seem to have been extremely packed full with my high schoolers. It's sad, I know, that I've spent more time with 14-19 year olds than I have with the boy and, frankly, I don't like that my life is out of balance like that. If I expect the boy to put me ahead of his dogs (and I do!) then I ought to put him ahead of the kids. Yet, I continue to schedule youth events back-to-back leaving not quite enough time for quality not-falling-asleep time with him. So here's what's gone on and what I've got going on...

• Last Sunday had a Road Rally (a.k.a. scavenger hunt in a car) where I had 20 of my kids show and another 16 from other churches. It went great and the kids had fun!
• Monday I made my bridesmaid's dress with Kathy for Melanie's December wedding.
  
• Tuesday was date night, a tradition that I'm glad has been reinstated because it guarantees I get to see the boy at least once a week. This week he ventured out to Palmer to go shopping at a going-out-of-business-outdoors store where he spent more money than he should've. But then we came back to the house and had a BBQ cup dinner after which he promptly fell asleep (another tradition) before leaving to go home.
• Wednesday marked the start of Confirmation from 2:30-5:00pm then I have Youth Night & Bible Study from 7:00-8:30pm. Busy day.
• Friday was filled with DVRd episodes of The Bionic Woman and Grey's Anatomy plus a visit to the local Cold Stone for some cheesecake ice cream with graham crackers & caramel. Yum.
• Saturday we realized our hot water heater was broken. Which means I procrastinated all morning until I finally went to the gym then to church to shower with hot water before the kiddos started showing up for a Reverse Progressive Dinner, which went very well.
  
• Sunday (obviously) was church, where I had Children's Message & Children's Church to do. Then a meeting to decide when Weekday School was starting back then home to make lunch for our young adult group's Bible study. After Bible study I watched part of Sunday Night Football then left to meet the kiddos at church for FISH at Our Redeemer in Chugiak. When I finally got home (around 10pm!) I got to talk to David (a.k.a. Mullet) for a bit which was really, really nice.
  

Well, that took up enough room. Geesh. Believe it or not the next few weeks are going to be busier. So here's the quick play-by-play:

• Youth & Church Stuff:
  Wednesdays are Confirmation & Youth Night. This Saturday is Movie Night. Sunday is church, Sunday school, youth board meeting and council meeting. The next Sunday (21) is FISH in Wasilla. Then Friday & Saturday (26-27) is 30 Hour Famine Lock-In. The 27th is also St John's 70th Anniversary Dinner. The 28th is church and 3rd grade bible presentations in addition to additional anniversary celebrations. Then Wednesday is Confirmation and Youth Night but it's also Halloween which means there's a Fall Festival (yet to be planned or PRd). Then Saturday, November 3rd is our Youth Dinner Auction fundraiser. Then November 4th is church, Children's Church, and FISH. The November 10th is Movie Night. November 28-December 2 I'll be in Nebraska with one of my seniors and her mom visiting Concordia then the evening of December 2nd is our annual voter's meeting. December 8th is movie night. Children's Christmas program is December 9th during late worship. December 15th is Cookie Extravaganza. December 27th is Football 401 (we'll watch my Rams lose horribly I'm sure!). Then we have a tentative lock-in December 27-28.
  
• Alaska Circuit Business & Alaska Conference Youth Board:
  October 15-17 is our Fall Retreat for all Alaskan churchworkers. Our ACYB meeting is November 8th. Volunteer Retreat is planned for Friday, November 9th through Saturday the 10th.
• Personal (finally!):
  Tuesdays is date night. I make sure to plan nothing but Boy-Time on Tuesdays except for the Tuesday of the Fall Retreat but I did invite him to join us for dinner. Sunday, November 11th I leave for my trip to Greece & Israel, about which I'm terribly excited. I get back to the states from that November 21st then jet down to see the fam (sans boy) for Thanksgiving. I'll be back to Alaska the afternoon of November 28 (just in time to teach Confirmation and Youth Night.) December 8th we're throwing a bridal shower for Melanie then she gets married December 21st. Sometime during that week we're also throwing a baby shower for Erin & Josh.

Basically, in case you haven't read the above novel, I'm busy. Very busy. Dreadfully busy.

Funny for the Day

God is sitting in Heaven when a scientist says to Him, "Lord, we don't need you anymore. Science has finally figured out a way to create life out of nothing. In other words, we can now do what you did in the 'beginning.'"

"Oh, is that so? Tell me..." replies God.

"Well, " says the scientist, "we can take dirt and form it into the likeness of You and breathe life into it, thus creating man."

"Well, that's interesting. Show Me"

So the scientist bends down to the earth and starts to mold the soil.

"Oh no, no, no..." interrupts God.

(I love this)

"Get your own dirt!"

For the boy...

No Explanation Necessary

People always ask me how I came to be a Director of Christian Education, why I would choose a career that makes no money, deals with people and has absolutely no time off?

I have no summer break.
I have no weekends.
I make pennies an hour (if that).
My life is an open book.
I'm constantly "on-call".

Yes, there are days when I hate my job. Every excruciating moment of it. And, honestly, I think those days out number the good. But...

The days that are good... are GREAT.
The days they "get it"... are AMAZING.
The days they relate with one another... are FANTASTIC.
The days when you feel God working... are STUPENDOUS.

Maybe someday those days will be like this:



It sounds ridiculous that I'd want kids to call my home and leave messages all the time. It sounds insane. I know. But I want it. Like the boy wants a dog team, I want to be there for these kids. I want them to feel like my home and I are a safe place for them to be...

I may not be going to Canada in November, but I love this promo. It explains a lot... not everything I want for my life (that's another post) but one thing at least.

Things Learned

For some reason yesterday worship really struck me. Obviously it always strikes me since I get the priveledge of worshipping my God but yesterday was special-- and particulary interesting since Pastor Allen was preaching...

One particular verse from the Epistle Lesson from Paul's first letter to Timothy really stood out because it describes my opinion of this crazy profession I've chosen:

I thanks Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. (1:12)

Then we sang a hymn that I love. (Yes, I used the words "hymn" and "love" in the same sentence. Get your jaw off the floor.) There are many reasons why I like this song. For one it continually reminds me how horrible I am but how wonderful God and His love for me. It's strangely comforting to know that, as in the final verse, we can ask God for His grace and His direction in our lives. This also in my opinion is a great eye-opening song of witness...

Chief of sinners though I be,
Jesus shed his blood for me,
Died that I might live on high,
Lives that I might never die.
As the branch is to the vine,
I am his, and he is mine.

Oh, the height of Jesus' love,
Higher than the heav'ns above,
Deeper than the depths of sea,
Lasting as eternity!
Love that found me-- wondrous thought--
Found me when I sought him not.

Only Jesus can impart
Balm to heal the wounded heart,
Peace that flows from sin forgiv'n,
Joy that lifts the soul to heav'n
Faith and hope to walk with God
In the wasy that Enoch trod.

Chief of sinners though I be,
Christ is all in all to me.
All my wants to him are known,
All my sorrows are his own.
He sustains the hidden life
Safe with him from earthly strife.

O my Savior, help afford
By your Spirit and your Word!
When my wayward heart would stray,
Keep me in the narrow way;
Grace in time of need supply
While I live and when I die. LW285

For your knowledge...

Ah, the clamoring has returned once more. Hard to believe some people expect others to post so often when they know how busy life gets...

Life, as I said, is busy. We're slowly but surely getting into the full swing of things at church. Starting that first week of October, we'll officially be into the full swing of things since Confirmation starts that week. (Which reminds me of something to add to my to-do list...) Sunday was the first Sunday School class (19 were there!) and the first FISH event of the fall, where my ordinary group of 4 youth multiplied to 13!! Hallelujah! I'm looking forward to see how many show up tonight at Youth Night... my typical 3-5 is getting kinda old especially for those regulars. Thirteen-twenty certainly would widen my ideas base.

I'm terribly excited about my sunday School staff-- mainly because I no longer have to teach every week. I love my high schoolers, don't get me wrong, but it's nice for them to have other adults to lean on as well. (After all, isn't a DCEs job to work oneself out of it?) So we'll take turns each week teaching a different lesson from the Student Life Bible Study-- Christ Series. VERY excited for the kiddos to get a bit more in depth even on a Sunday morning.

I've also been toying with the idea of adding a Tuesday morning coffeehouse thing to our schedule. Haven't quite worked it all out yet but I thought we could maybe do a "book club" type thing reading something of interest to them (i.e. Case for Christ or Next Door Savior or even some fiction like Eli or Narnia) OR we can just do a simple morning devotioning thing. Of course this would mean Jamie'd have to get up MUCH earlier and be ready to lead. We'll see if that happens.

Enough of the shop talk.

Life outside the office is good too. My folks bad it back safely from their 2 weeks in Greece. Hopefully they'll share pictures so I can have a taste of what to expect when I go there in November as part of the Holy Land tour I'm taking (YAY!). I haven't really seen my roommate all that much but we have started our Sunday afternoon Bible study crew again. We're starting a Bible study looking at what the future holds so I'm excited. If you're in the area, feel free to join us. Otherwise, be jealous. The boy is great too. It seems he is quite patient with me and my episodes of being a high-maintenence girlfriend, which hopefully end rather soon because frankly I'm getting tired of it. We've officially reinstated our Tuesday date nights which makes me happy. For some reason I actually like spending time with this guy. Go figure.

In other news, it's doctor appointment time for Jamie. This is typically the time of year where I found out something bad and have to start new medications. Ugh. Let's just pray all goes well with the blood work being done today, the appointment tomorrow and the one next Wednesday. Of course I'm kinda expecting Dr Barnes to yell at me for my blood sugar levels and possible beginning of the Potts Family Blessing (aka diabetes) but that'll have to wait until Wednesday.

Until then I'm going to sit back and enjoy the snow covered mountains. Yes. That does say snow. It's exciting and depressing at the same time. I love winter but I'm not nearly prepared enough for it right now.

Whew. The clamoring has stopped. Which means I can stop typing... for now. Blessings!

Everything

Way back in 2002 I spent eight weeks of my life surrounded by 15 other young adults in a place that still, to this day, holds my heart. During our ministry there we shared many different Drimes to music by Michael W Smith and Jars of Clay among others. Man, I wish we had known this one...



Not only is it one of Lifehouse's best songs, it's also a powerful drime to share with everyone-- even those who don't speak english. I'm not sure how I'd ever incorporate these into my ministry in this place but it wure would be wonderful to see, wouldn't it?

Not your usual post...

Every week I get an email from a company called Youth Specialties-- they send some great stuff but the thing I enjoy most about their emails is the "Links" section. Usually it includes a couple fun-for-procrastinating game links (many of which I have 'favorited') and a couple interesting articles. This is one of the latter.

Mark Penn makes a living by focusing on the smaller things in life-- the 1% of Californian youngsters who want to be military snipers, the purchase of fashion yarn has increased 56% in one year, the lack of math majors at Yale and Harvard... etc. (My personal favorite is the 22% of the high-earning population have either a rose or a tiger tattooed on their touckis.) What's interesting about Penn's book is how he connects all of this to the change in politics, and more specifically, voters.

He says that the views of our voting society are moving from a character-driven to a stance-driven viewpoint. Honestly, I have to agree. The things I usually follow in any political race are the issues, not the people and I think many of y'all do that as well. I'm not tempted to vote for a person simply because he/she is Republican or Democratic or whatever. But if they support legalizing gay marriage or abortion you better believe they won't be punched on my voting card.

What do you think about Penn's findings?

Here piggy, piggy, piggy!

There really hasn't been much going on in my life since the last time I blogged but I made a deal with HannahLou to post if she posted. She has yet to post but I'm doing it now... mainly so I can win :)

This past week went by both slowly and quickly. There was a lot to get done at work, but it all got done. There was a lot of wonderful weather, but it was well enjoyed. Aside from the migraine I had for four days, things were great.

On Sunday, April & I threw a BBQ for our friends since it felt like we hadn't seen them in a long time. I played Martha while April played Mary, but it was nice to see all of them. Met Melanie's fiance, Matt. He's hilarious. Love him. Got to see Erin and her starting-to-stick-out belly, which got me excited about making something for Baby Rockey. Maybe this? Sans flowers, of course, since we don't know Baby Rockey's gender! All in all the BBQ was great. Would've been better had April's PTboy decided to come... c'est la vie!

Monday the boy took me to the State Fair. Luckily it was GORGEOUS and not all too crowded. Although he didn't plan on having fun, he did. I think the real fun started when we went to watch the Kenai Racing Pigs in all of their glory. Oh was I excited.

We walked around for a few hours, bought lots of good Fair food-- corndogs, cotton candy, funnel cakes, YUM. The boy even bought sheep skin slippers and a -30 sleeping bag for 1/2 off. Pretty sweet deal. We even went against our best judgement to take an overtly cutesy picture:

Tuesday I spent the evening with the kiddos at the Fair to see the band Family Force 5. Pictures to come. The concert wasn't as bad as I expected and I like hanging out with the kiddos so overall, it was a good trip.

Tomorrow my mentee graduates from the Alaska Military Youth Academy. I'm very proud of her for the changes she's made (and continues to make!) in her life. Hopefully I can be a better mentor post-residentcy than before.

Anywho, that's about it. Au revoir!