Mexican Vacation...

Wow, what a week! We arrived back home at 2am on Monday after travelling for almost 12 hours from LA... who knew that waiting around airports all day could be so tiring! However, the week we had was incredible. We took a Mexican Riviera Cruise (I knew nothing of swine flu until the day we got home) and stopped in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. It was an amazing week. After the craziness of life, that seems to surround me day in and day out, it was a much needed week. Darrell and I spent some fantastic "us" time together, and after 3 kids and 14 years, that in itself is much needed.

We did so many things during the week-a jeep trip through the Sierra Madres, a Catamaran ride in Cabo, an secluded island getaway-and it was all amazing, but I haven't quite recovered enough to blog about all of it. But, here are a few pictures!

Cabo San Lucas, and all the rock formations (covered in sea lions), was my favorite place!

And yes, the infamous pyramid, which we do on every vacation. Although we were much younger when we started taking vacations!

My dear hubbies note to me in the sand.... awwwww.... not sure how many years it's been since I received a love note from him!

My favorite sunset picture of the Pacific Ocean....

My most favorite dinner date of all!

One Year...

We found out yesterday that I have one year from today, and then those of us in the Michigan office will be receiving our 90 day termination letters. Our office will be closing in July of 2010 (Michigan economy really, really stinks right now). We kind of new it was coming, we thought it was possible, but we hoped otherwise. I love the people I work with, I love the flexibility of my job, and the balance it is giving me between home and work. I can try and keep a job, I have to reapply, and I would be based out of Ohio, and I'm not sure I would be given the opportunity to work from home for another unit, and there is no way that I am moving to Columbus.

The timing works out well. We couldn't ask for more time. A whole year plus the 90 days. I will graduate in June of next year, and will finally have my bachelor's degree. So, when the time does come, if I haven't found a transferable job within my company, I will have a degree in my pocket while looking for a new job. The part that stinks is that I don't think I will ever find a job that allows me the freedom that I have right now. I can work 10 hours a day, but it can be from home, and my lunch hour can be spent doing laundry or dishes. I can pick my kids up from school, go to their school events, and still put in at least my 8 hours if not more.

But, I'm trying not to dwell on the bad. I'm trying to focus on the fact that I have over a year to finish my degree and keep my fingers crossed that I can find something that will allow me the same freedom that I have right now... I'm trying to have that Faith that will allow me to breath and relax, and know that when one door closes that He will always open a window!

Mission Statement

So for my class, one of the projects is to create our Personal Mission Statement. I've gone through a few different versions. But I believe that this is my final one. I figured where better to post it than here. So here it is, my Mission in Life....

Personal Mission Statement
I will live my life deciding each day to face the day with a smile on my face. I will choose happiness and love in my life; I will share this love and happiness with my family, friends and with the community around me. I will grow old with riches beyond measure, the eternal types of riches – love, Faith, family, friends and happiness. And, when God unleashes a thunderstorm, I will marvel in the beauty and the blessings of his work, and put my worries in His hands.

Mr. Right

I blogged a while back, over a year ago, http://thoughtsofval.blogspot.com/2008/01/my-one-person.html, about My One Person, My Dear Husband. Now, I know as well as most of you that in almost 14 years of marriage that we all give a lot of ourselves, and we also give up pieces of us to make the whole that much stronger. God gave us our partners in marriage because they make us the complete person that we are. I know I would be lost without my other half. I look at couples that have made 30, 40 and 50 years of marriage, and I know that is what I want. I want to know that I can stick through all the ups and downs and when I'm 85 years old and dancing at my grand kids weddings that I will still be dancing with the love of my life.

I am thankful everyday for the husband that I have. Not that marriage is perfect, if you know the secret to a Perfect Marriage, make sure to let me in on that, but I really believe that the whole give and take balance is what makes it work. You have to give some to get some, or something like that. So recently, my husband found something he wasn't comfortable with, it is nothing "bad" in any sort of way, but it wasn't something that he felt good about. And asking me to give that portion of my life up was part of the give and take of our relationship. I was shocked at first, taken aback, but when it came down to it, I knew that if I approached him in all honesty about something that I wasn't "comfortable" with, that he would love me enough to do the same.

I also know that in today's world, when half of my friends are divorced, facing divorce, or single parents from the get go, that keeping my marriage happy, secure and focused on each other is the only way to secure that in another 14 years we will be so close to that 30 year mark. That we will be able to look at each other and know in our hearts that each and every sacrifice that we have made has taken our marriage to a new level, and that we will make the best out of the relationship that God has blessed us with, and in doing so, we will teach our children how to treat the ones that you love and care for.

On the Praise and Coffee site (see my blog list), she had a video posted, "I'm Singing"... I'm Singing right now because I have a husband that I am proud of, who loves me, and who I love in return.

Wrestling

Yes, I will admit, that I am a fan of wrestling. Not the WWF stuff, but real school wrestling, folkstyle they call it. I've been around the sport almost 2 decades between watching my husband in high school, then my brothers, then watching my husband coach my brothers, and now my son. And, I have to say that it is a tough sport. Think hand to hand combat with technique and rules.

I know I posted before about the sportsmanship aspect of some of the tournaments - http://thoughtsofval.blogspot.com/2009/01/sportsmanship.html and, there will always be parents and kids, coaches and refs that may not always act as they should. I could name more than a handful of incidents from the last two days of sitting in gyms; however, I also feel that this unfortunately happens with every sport. Anyway, today and yesterday, it was the "good" things that hit me about the tournaments and the sport.

I saw one of my husbands favorite wrestlers, fight off his back and turn around and pin his opponent. It was so great, because it was a JV kid that my husband pulled up because he has a heart the size of Texas. This kid will give it 110% all the time, and while he is not even close to having a winning record, he earned a spot yesterday based on his heart alone. This kid is, too put it nicely, height challenged and a little on the heavy side. All of his opponents are much taller and built stronger than he is, but for the life of them, they cannot pin this kid. He may lose, but he will last the entire three periods and give it all he has the whole time. We all love this kid, we love to watch him wrestle, win or lose, just to see the display of guts that he has. I think a lot of his opponents are shocked after they go three rounds with him, as I know some of them initially think, "easy pin ahead," and then find it's not so.

When this kid one, the whole crowd cheered, one of our coaches had tears in his eyes and jumped about 18 inches off the ground. It was such a "feel good" moment that all the other stuff that is usually annoying at tournaments just didn't matter anymore. It was all worth it to see that one kid get a win.

Now, as a female, I don't remember that many individual matches. My brain just doesn't function that way, whereas, all the guys can say remember 25 years ago when so and so wrestled so and so, at such and such school, and won 5 - 4... What? Who remembers that stuff? Like I said, not many female brains work that way (generalized gender comment maybe, but I believe it is fact). But this match, I will remember. I will remember seeing this kid gut it out, and give it all. As they say, "The first period goes to the kid with the best technique; the second period goes to the kid in the best condition; and the third period goes to the kid with the biggest heart."

"Bring The Rain"

Today is a beautiful day, and I am just feeling thankful. I haven't had time to sit and blog in a week - since last Tuesday's cram session. But, I have been blessed to rediscover the way God works in our lives, and I always find it amazing. Some call it fate or destiny, today they might call it the Luck O the Irish, but I believe that He has a hand in this.

Last week, there was so much going on. It was a crazy week, first was the flooding which put me in physical, mental and emotional misery. Then the car blew a tire, and when we took it in we found out it needed new front bearings and a hub assembly (I have NO idea what that really is) along with two new tires, it probably could have used four, but sometimes you do have to put a hold on these things.

So anyway, the insurance guy came out on Friday to look at the mess that remained of our basement, and he ended up writing me a nice little fat check for $1200.00 for cleaning, dehumidifying, drying, and all that good stuff in my basement! Granted, I do feel like I put in enough time to deserve that check, and there is still more to do... Needless to say, in the meantime, I had just found out that the car repairs were going to cost me $800.00!!

Normally, I would be pouring over all our bills, etc... trying to figure out what was going to get neglected to pay the extra $800. Yes, we should have a savings for this type of situation, but right now that would end up being the credit card, since the economy here in Michigan is SO BAD, and my hubby has been cut down to 4 sometimes 3 days a week at work. Anyway... it still all worked out. I didn't have to stress, I didn't have to pull my hair out while trying to make it all work, I simply had to be thankful, very, very thankful.

God brought the floods just in time to make me work my little rear off, to make sure I had the money I needed to pay for a car that now has a lifetime warranty on the front bearings and hub assembly; again, I don't know exactly what those parts are, but if my 12 yr old son decides to drive this same car in 4 years, they will still be under warranty!

It all made me think of the song I recently downloaded onto my Ipod, "Bring the Rain" by Mercy Me,

"Bring me joy, bring me peace, bring the chance to be free, bring me anything that brings You glory, And I know there'll be days when this life brings me pain, But if that's what it takes to praise You, Jesus, bring the rain."

Tuesday Night Cram...

Well I can see already that my Tuesday nights are going to be spent "cramming" for Wednesday nights class. Unfortunately, I tend to procrastinate... A paper, due Wednesday... no problem. Just remind me at 10:30 on Tuesday night, and I got it covered.

Funny enough, for this psych class we spent the week studying personality types, and get this, I am a person who prefers to use my Perceiving process in the outer world and like to live in a flexible, spontaneous way, seeking to experience and understand life, rather than control it. Detailed plans and final decisions feel confining and I prefer to stay open to new information and last minute options (must be why I chose to be a full-time, working mom of 3 very active children, a husband whose hobbies drag me along for the ride, and a student - who can plan for that until the last minute?)... It goes on to say that I am "energized by the resourcefulness in adapting to the demands of the moment" and that I am "energized by last-minute pressures." Hmmmm... so that's why I procrastinate!

It's kind of scary how on target this little test was. if you ever get a chance to take the Meyers Briggs testing you should try it. My complete personality type was INFP, which means an Introversion, Intuition, Feeling and Perceiving. In a nutshell:

Introversion - I focus on my own ideas and experiences, reflecting on my thoughts, memories and feeling; prefer to communicate in writing (always)...

Intuition - like to take in information by seeing the big picture, focusing on relationships and connections; imaginative; trusting inspiration...

Feeling - use of Feelings in decision making by considering what is important to others; mentally placing myself into someone else's shoes; empathetic; guided by personal values; strive for harmony and positive interactions; compassionate; tenderhearted and fair...

Perceiving - flexible; casual; adaptable, energized by last minute pressures...

Kind of neat, at least for me. I've always loved psychology, I find it interesting, even some of the theories that I think are way off base, are still interesting to read. So, it was an interesting homework week and now, it is 10:16 pm and I still have a paper to write... :-)

Anyway, besides school, another quick update, my insurance (so good to work in the claims business at times like this) WILL cover my basement. My dad and I went out in the field behind my house yesterday and ran a snake up our storm drainage pipe and unplugged it, dug it up and found the source of the plug - a big nasty clump of black goo... So, because I have the Back up of Drain/Sewer coverage I can try and recover some of the damage. I'm afraid the carpet in the basement is shot, but will find out soon enough. I still had to do some more drying to day and it's still a bit wet down there. The smell has started to subside, and the pain in my body from all the extra work is also starting to subside. If nothing else, the water damage made sure that I got in a workout this week. A pretty darn good workout, too! Swimming didn't even come close to how sore the "shop vac, dump the water, ring out the towels, carry the wet towels up the stairs, dry them, repeat" workout did! Oh well, gotta find the good or the bad will drive me crazy!

So good night all, I'm off to try and procrastinate no more tonight. I have to be in the office (dreaded of all places - I so love working from home) bright and early tomorrow morning and I still need to iron clothes and do dishes! Ah!

The Rains Came Down...

And the floods came up... the rains came down and the floods came up... That song from childhood Sunday school days is HAUNTING me right now. My peaceful Rainy Sunday became a night mare!

Shortly after 6pm, my laptop decided to make this very loud "whirring" noise, so loud you couldn't hear the tv over it. This is the laptop that has spent about 6 weeks with the geek squad because it's still under warranty, and tomorrow it will be going for another visit and I'm about ready for a brand new laptop... Then, Jessi was going to help with dishes while I re-did all the wrestling stats on my work laptop, and she busted a glass, which isn't a big deal, but I had to tell her to leave the rest of the dishes until I had time to get the glass out of the sink, etc...

Then, my kids noticed that the floor at the bottom of the basement stairs was wet. So I went out side and made sure the downspouts were firmly attached to the gutters and I made note of the enormous amount of standing water all around our house. Later however, we went to pick up the couple of towels I had put at the bottom of the stairs and noticed that the wet area had quadrupled in size. So, I went for further inspection and our room that isn't carpeted had standing water, and the rest of our basement (which is all finished) now has about 7 areas that are soaked all along the perimeter of the walls. My dad brought over his shop vac and I sucked up about 25 gallons between his shop vac and mine, while he and my hubby went for a walk to figure out what was/wasn't draining. They said it looked like it, rain, gutters, etc, were draining out into the field like they're supposed to, but obviously not fast enough.

At this point, I've used EVERY dry towel in my house, beach towels, bath towels, you name it. We've soaked them till we couldn't hardly carry them up the stairs, rung them out in the tubs and threw them in the dryer and now they are taking FOREVER to dry! I need to soak up some more, but I have no more towels... AH! I can't imagine dealing with a flood like those in hurricane territory dealt with. Mine really isn't nothing compared to how bad others have been, but I'm already thinking of screaming. Instead, I rolled up my pantlegs, pulled off the wet socks, and dug in. Of course it stinks that now the kids are in bed, Darrell had to go to work, and I'm just waiting for towels to dry to start over again. I guess it's time to start using the shop vac and see how much I can soak out of the carpets...

So while I did get the broken glass taken care of, the laptop needs to go to the dr's office, the dishes still aren't done, my towels are still drying and here I sit, venting the best way I know how. So now, off I go, I'm headed to the coffee pot to fuel up for a long night of water extraction! And will just keep thinking, it's better than shoveling snow, it's better than shoveling snow, it's better than... Ok, you get the point. But, I have to repeat it, or the frustration will settle in, and I don't work well with frustration. So positive I will be, because it's better than shoveling snow, it's better than shoveling snow..... :-)

Rainy Day Sunday...

That would be today. Lots of rain, which I am grateful for, because I was so tired of the snow. One more snowy day and I would be have to retire and bronze my snow shovel in the front yard after this winter. However, my back yard now appears to be under water. It is beginning to slowly look like a lake with spots of grass, instead of a yard with spots of puddles! Not good! I already have two areas in my basement (finished basement) that I'm drying with towels... I just keep reminding myself that I could by shoveling snow instead of drying towels. I much prefer the towels, at least it is warm in the laundry room.

Days like these though, I wish I could think myself over to a visit with my sister in Peoria, AZ. I'm sure the sun there would dry my back yard out in no time flat. I could probably siphon off the rain water and sell it by the pints down there... What would a desert ridden Arizona resident pay for pure Michigan rain water? Ah well... to dream.

Switching, back to the rainy day, it is good weather to enjoy hot cocoa! My kids and I just had hot cocoa, a handful of marshmallows for them and a half cup of coffee in mine, and that is the very best way to enjoy a rainy day Sunday! Next, some relaxing down time and maybe more hot cocoa after dinner... Then tomorrow, we will pray for sunshine!

Be Dynamic

So, I just finished my lunch hour reading on my homework and I found my spark, the one thing that made me take note and make notes. The class is a psych class on Adult Development, and the one reading was on Adult Learners, and the Chapter was on Life Long Learning.

It was talking about Organizational Diagnosis and how there are two main types of organizations, which are either Static or Dynamic. He goes on to explain them, and then compare it to the adult student, etc... Anyway, the statement that grabbed me was simple. It said, "be dynamic."

Be Dynamic!

Challenge the ordinary, look for newer and better ways to succeed, test the waters and "build a better mousetrap."

If someone was to ask, I would say that I was an "ordinary" person. I am a mom, a wife, an employee, and now a student. I would say that on most levels, I am a "go with the flow" type of person. So now the challenge, besides just becoming a student, is to "Be Dynamic." I want to be dynamic in all the areas of my life. I don' just want to look for newer and better ways to learn, i want to look for newer and better ways to raise my children and be a good wife, I want to go beyond ordinary and reach for the extraordinary....

So my new motto, is to "be dynamic"...