kids masters youth group (haha)

so much going on lately. trying to plan the next few months: between youth group stuff, thanksgiving celebrations and christmas, too. with travelling required to see the family, it's a little more complicated anymore.

dan and i have a youth leaders' retreat coming up next month. i'm real excited for. not only is it a weekend out at westminster highlands, but we'll be hearing from other youth leaders, sharing ideas and whatnot. and, well... it's a weekend with dan at his favorite place on earth... it's sure to be a good time.

so, with everything with brandy having a baby dan and i started talking more about what we'd name our kids. i know, i know, it's early, we've got PLENTY of time... but it's still fun to talk about it. and we found 4 that we agree on, even. now, he's adamant that he wants 3, but i want 4... we'll just take however many God gives us. :) in any event here's the four names we came up with (they are, of course, subject to change at any time haha):

Calan Daniel (Cal like in California - scottish name - and daniel... well, my brother and my kids' daddy's name... )
Aric John (John after his grandpa, my great grandpa and my uncle... his dad has the same name, too, even tho he doesn't go by it)
Leila Katherine (Leila was my... great great aunt, i think and katherine was my great great grandma, also dan's mom's middle name)
Moriah Anne (the mountain Abraham sacrificed Isaac - just liked the name, and dan's grandma's name)

on a different note, dan and i have a couple halloween parties tonight. one at his friend ken's house and one at my aunt and uncle (rose and tom's) house. even though neither of us really like halloween, we figured we'd make an appearance at both to see friends and family. i'll let you know about our costume after we do it. don't want to give it all away... :)

save the date cards are coming along... started working on it more, i hope to do them next week. have to go to michaels for a few things, and walmart has the best price we've found for pictures... they're going to be so cute, i can't wait to get them done. :) then i can (FINALLY) cross it off my list of things to do! yay! i just keep transferring it from one list to the next... but not actually getting it done.

had a meeting at geneva about going back for my masters. i haven't technically applied yet, but that's what i'm going to do. go for a masters in family and marriage counseling. i recently did a spiritual gift/personality test (a pretty intense one, too. haha) and some of the results, while not surprising, were intriguing to me. my top 3 spiritual gifts were: 1. serving/ministry/helps 2. encouraging/exhorting and 3. mercy. a few things about my personality revealed i would be good at helping with hospital visits and bereavement... and the one profession that was clear through every aspect of the personality test was counseling. i think it's clear what i need to do. i've taken those before (none quite like this one) where counseling was always one of the top 3... sometimes the other two were nursing or teaching, but always had counseling in the midst. i guess i should have taken the hint and realized that's what God's been calling me to. well... now i'm doing it. i'm going to go for it and actually do it now. :) it's very exciting!

had 2 youth events so far... going to give the youth the wrong idea about youth group if we're not careful.. we have yet to have an actual meeting... just a bonfire and a tailgate party! this sunday will be our first real meeting. we'll see what happens. have had a good turn out for the first two events, so hopefully this will turn out well, too. :) they're great youth, i enjoy them a lot. they're so smart, and they're really on the right track with it Jesus. good times. the church is talking about mission trips for next year. i have just two issues with what they're discussing so far (tho, two big issues...) one. i'm getting married next year. don't know if we can go. depends when it is and such. two. three of the four trips they proposed are to go to WV. i hate west virginia and i have voted them out of the union. i have such bad memories there, and i don't know that i can spend a week there on a mission trip. we'll see what happens, though. i'm trying to be open minded about it, i'm just not sure how it will all work out. thankfully, it's not for me to work out. it's all in God's hands.

take care of you for me.

just randomness.

(that was just me practicing how to put a picture in a post... haha. and i love that one. that picture and that man, i mean. haha)

wow. where to start?

took a job as a youth leader at Concord. i'd say it's going great, but... our kick-off party is actually tomorrow! we're going to have a bonfire, complete with hot dogs and s'mores. :) it'll be great, just a fun time to get to know everyone.

having some (extended) family issues. i want to be optimistic without being unrealistic, but i hope they will be resolved very soon. can't go into more detail, just pray for it.

wedding plans are coming along, slowly. talked to a florist (don't need to make an appt til may), need to talk again to the guy we're looking to for our favors... lots of stuff left to do, but it seems to keep falling into place. i'm starting to think we should have scheduled it THIS autumn instead...

should start looking at decorations and such, a friend of dan's got married a few months back and had the same colors, so i need to talk to her about decorations. not much other wedding stuff... trying to make some decisions on save-the-date cards (why does that abbreviate: std??) bc we'd like to have a picture included, but it costs more to do that... hopefully we'll figure out something soon for it.

my great-aunt passed away on tuesday. i don't think i've seen her since i was around 10... she taught us how to crochet and knit and such. aunt foofie. she was 93. i always thought she was so cool. what sucks is that we found out from the obit yesterday. viewing and such is tomorrow, then we've invited the family back here for a wake-type lunch.

anyway, it's just been other random happenings lately. still looking for a job. something i can like doing actually. maybe God's just calling me to youth ministry for a while? i dunno. still trying to figure all that out. applied a few places recently, but haven't heard anything. dan was great helping me redo my resume (more acurately, redoing my resume for me).

... just been pretty stressed out lately. *sigh*

take care of you for me.

salted caramel hot chocolate

so much to say...

first, i got a job, though part-time. dan and i are taking the youth leader position at church. i'm a little anxious about it, but i've come to realize something important. that's what God's calling me to right now. i never wanted to be called into it. He's finally got me there - so something great's going to happen. :)

next, i talked to the lady about the favors we decided on. she said her husband should be able to do it for us, and he'd get the jars, fill them and seal them for us. shouldn't be too expensive, either. also, their daughter has a degree in photography and has done some weddings. i'm hoping to talk to her more, though i have 2 friends willing to do pictures, too. i don't think you can have too many pictures - it only happens once!

i feel like there is so much going on right now, yet can't think of a thing that i wanted to write. i've lost 40 lbs so far. it's really showing lately (not that i haven't noticed til now). clothes that used to be tight are now somewhere between comfortable and way too loose. i used to wear an xl shirt (for most shirts) and i'm wearing m or l's now. not to mention pants... i was wearing jeans 18 or 20 and i'm down to a 14. it's crazy. i mean, it's great! i'm just still getting used to it. i intend to continue losing a little more, to get to a healthy range for my age/height. another 20 or so and i think i'd be at that range - i'll have to check. BUT, that means i'll definitely need my wedding dress altered next year! dan reminded me yesterday, i believe, we were under the 300 days mark! as of today i believe we're at 297!! it's crazy! i can't wait to marry him, he is so wonderful to me.

we've chosen a picture for save the date magnets. we're going to make them ourselves. :) i want to get them out soon, so hopefully really start doing that this week.

oh, and on a random note - i tried a salted caramel hot chocolate (with 2 shots espresso) from starbucks today. it was pretty good. i forgot to ask for no whip cream, though (bc i'm sure the drink itself had way more carbs than i should have been having anyway) so dan was kind enough to suck the whip cream off the top for me. i know, way to take one for the team, schmuv! ;) it was pretty good. dan didn't like it as much but he likes the sweet drinks better. i thought it was quite good. almost tasted like a chocolate covered pretzel or peanuts... but not real sweet at all. just a slight chocolate taste to it.... i dunno. try it. if you like salty, that is. or get a pastry and try it (if you're not diabetic, too) and have the salty-sweet combo. :) yum.

anyway, i'm going to read a bit and go to sleep.

take care of you for me.