Busy

I've been on the computer twice in the last week for about 5 minutes both times, so I feel a bit out of the loop, but I'm catching up. As you know, I started my job last Tuesday. I had four training shifts on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. I go in anywhere between 4 and 5, depending on the day and get out of there anywhere between 9 and 10. All the people I work with are super nice and friendly (well, all the ones I've met so far... they have a lot of people on staff), and they have a great set-up. You can tell that it is a chain, but in some ways it is a good thing. Everything is organized and done in a universal uniform fashion. I like things to be lined out, so this has been right up my alley! I was worried about everything coming back to me, but it has been like second nature. I took a few of my own tables on Wednesday and I've been doing more and more on my own since then. I pretty much took all the tables in my section on Saturday night and handled it well! So far things are going great! All the people that trained me were great and easy to get along with and all were pleased with me, so I feel good about the whole thing. On top of everything the servers are making an average of $80 a night on the weeknights and $100 on the weekends! I can handle that! I thought I was busy before...

Regardless of Who Wins

I finally got an email that gives me some perspective and hope after all of this mugslinging and nastiness! Hope it can do the same for you!

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, Jesus will still be King.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, our responsibilities as Christians will not have changed one iota.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the greatest agent for social change in America will still be winning the hearts and minds of men and women through the gospel, not legislation.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my primary citizenship will still be in this order - (1) the Kingdom of God, (2) America, not vice-versa.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the tomb will still be empty.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the cross, not the government, will still be our salvation.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, our children will still be more concerned with whether or not we spend time with them than with who is President.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my neighbor will still be my neighbor, and loving him/her will still be the second greatest commandment. (Do you know the first?)
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the only way to see abortion ultimately overturned will still be winning men and women to a high view of life through the gospel of Christ.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the only way to see gay marriage ultimately defeated will still be winning men and women to a biblical view of marriage through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my retirement will still not match my treasure in Heaven.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, "Jesus Is Lord" will still be the greatest truth in the Universe.
True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, we will still know that God is in control.
How did you score?

Must See!

Sunday afternoon DJ and I left the kids with Amie and Papa and we headed to Pueblo to go see the movie Fireproof. We'd heard from a couple of friends the movie was great so we thought we should go check it out. I am so glad we took the time and didn't wait until it came out on video! It is by the same people that made the football movie Facing the Giants. Both movies are Christian and they focus completely on God and salvation. If you haven't seen Facing the Giants, I would go rent that one as well. Fireproof is about a married couple with a rocky relationship on the verge of divorce. It's got some funny parts and some tear-jerkers. It is an awesome movie, I hope all of you will make it a point to go on a date and see it with your hubbys and maybe some friends. You won't regret it!

Current Events

The last couple of weeks since Di's wedding have been pretty eventful. I think you all know the story about DJ's chin (Whit I know you do...) but I'll recap.
Thursday night Whitney was over and I was giving my kids a bath so that they'd be sqeaky clean for Di's wedding. DJ was out fiddling around in his garage. So as we were talking in the bath room with the door shut, DJ comes to the door and asks if I can talk to him. That moment I knew he had yet another power tool accident. I gave Whitney a significant glance and met DJ in the kitchen. He was holding his chin with a paper towel, with silly grin on his face. Anyway, he'd been working with his lathe and the 18" 4x4 had flown off and slashed his chin open. At that point, I took a moment to panic, then organized my mind to take care of business. Whitney and I pulled the kids out of the bathtub while DJ cleaned up. I called my mom to have her come over to put the kids to bed (it was 8pm) and we headed out the door with Whitney to drop her off and run over to the ER. It was quite hillarious, looking back, but somewhat stressful at the time! A $150 co-pay, 4 hours and 9 stitches later, we were home and examining the wood wondering how on earth his face wasn't demolished! Anyway, God was looking out for him. Now we just hope God is looking out for our pocketbook... we haven't received the bill yet....
Next.
The Saturday after Di's wedding DJ had let me sleep in. He had to head out the door to go to work at 9, so he came in at 8:30 to get me up. He crawled in to cuddle up behind me and Bailey and Jerome came in to join us so DJ lifted Bailey up on the bed, then Jerome. We were teasing both kids, then Jerome tried to get down, so we both grabbed one arm and pulled him back on the bed. Suddlenly he let out a loud cry so we knew something wasn't good. We let him settle down but every time he moved just a bit he started bawling. We thought maybe he'd snap out of it so I got up and fixed my hair and put on makeup, but he wouldn't let me put him down, so we stared getting worried. In the mean time he's still crying at the drop of a hat. So again, I call my mother to help me out since DJ's boss wouldn't let him take time off to take his son to the ER! Goodness gracious...he was ticked! My mom called my dad and he offered to take Bailey off our hands and finally DJ's boss called back to say he could take the time off. (Good thing... they were about to get an earfull from the mama! Just kidding, but it crossed my mind!) So I loaded Jerome, DJ and my mom in the car and headed to Pueblo to the Urgent Care. Anyway, to make a long story even longer, we got right in and it was just what they call Nursemaid's Elbow. Which is a fancy term for a dislocated elbow. The doc popped it right back into place and immediately he was a changed boy. All better, with sucker in hand we walked out the door. So... one sucker, a happy boy and only $10 later we were outa there! Thank you God for Urgent Cares, Thank you!

Too Funny Not To Blog About

Here's something I just had to share with you guys. Since Sarah Palin's kids' names are pretty different, some goofy person came up with this thingamajig that tells you what Sarah would name you if you were her child. You type in your name and it generates a new name for you. It is pretty funny what it comes up with!
My name is Jeep Pike Palin. Bailey's would be Package Wichita Palin, Jerome is Revolver Trooper Palin and DJ is Fork Decoy Palin.

Enjoy Playing!



http://politsk.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah_13.html

East Slide Rock Ridge Fire

Here's a picture of the fire DJ is on right now near Jarbidge, Nevada. (Yeah, Nevada has some dumb names for their towns. Winnemucca, anyone?) He finally got a minute to call (four minutes exactly) and said the fire is around 35,000 to 40,000 acres now. He sounded totally exhausted and said that he's had lots of long days and short nights. He also mentioned that he's really having a tough time being away from us this time. I know it's tough for them when they're sleeping in a tent on the fire and not being able to call home. Maybe if you girls think about it, you could say a quick prayer for him that he'll have plenty of strength and be alert enough to stay safe. His last day on the fire should be the 7th and then he will have two days travel home. It seems like forever away, especially when I know he's having a hard time. Anyway, I'm doing pretty well considering. I hate going to bed (hence it being 11 pm) when he's not home, so I've been a bit tired. We're staying busy so hopefully the 9th will come soon!

Rain

Since DJ left for a fire in Nevada on short notice yesterday I'm trying to be excited about his time away and see it as a chance to do some fun things with the kids. After their naps they were pretty restless (as usual) so I thought, "Hey, I'm wanting to get more exercise so I should take them for a stroller ride!" So I look out the window and it is starting to cloud up but even though it has thretened rain for several days now, it hasn't actually done it. So I was thinking that even if it did rain while we were out that it wouldn't be long or hard. (And here DJ would say, "That's what you get for thinkin'!")
I get tired of walking them up and down the streets around my house because the sidewalks are all broken and some sections are raised a good three inches above the one before from tree roots growing under them. So I packed up kids and stroller into the car and we drove just around the corner to third street by the train depot and walked on the riverwalk there. I've never been on that part since they opened it.
As we were unloading we could hear some quiet thunder and the clouds were a little heavier, but I still wasn't worried. A little rain never hurt anyone! We got out of the parking lot and walked across the bridge over the river and looked a minute or so then continued on. A lot quicker than I expected we made it to 9th street and I decided turning around would be a smart plan. I walked a bit faster this time since the thunder was getting much louder and tiny rain drops were starting to fall. Just as we got within 20 feet of the bridge the train uses (which goes above the riverwalk) it really started to come down. So I ran under the bridge and we sat there. And sat there. And sat there. The rain got harder and the thunder and lightning got louder. We sat there about 45 minutes before it finally got back to sprinkles! The kids had a great time under there and even would run out into the rain and stand there for a second. Really the whole thing was pretty humorous!
So when we headed back I put my jacket over the opening of the stroller and I ran about 150 yards back to the car. Didn't get much of a workout, but we did have a good time and we ended up with a story to tell!