thosewhowait

Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

Sunday, August 29, 2010

feel good conversation...


as you all know by now i have only two kids left at home with me...meg signed a one year lease on an apartment out in state college and the twins are home with one year of high school to go.


sometimes i get feeling guilty that i can't do "stuff" with them...especially on the weekends that i have to work. but regardless of what i can or can not do...they know that on sunday they are expected to go to church (even if mom doesn't go).


this was one of those weekends. i have been a bit flexible on the location of where they have to go to church...apparently they have quite a few friends who also have to attend church so they decided a while back to go church-hopping. each week they would pick a friend and they would ALL attend that sunday morning service together and then go out for lunch afterwards. they have been having a blast. (and i think it is great that they are being exposed to a variety of different types of services and also great to know they have friends whose parents have the same values)


today was "our" church. i just talked to them and they had a really nice time...yes...teenagers can have a nice time in church (hopefully without being too rowdy...honestly i think they were good because i am sure they feel that their dad is somehow watching them)


i have to admit i was a little nervous about them going this morning because it was the 7th or 8th week of a series finishing up on the end times...BUT when i asked how it was the response was awesome. "it was good. he talked about RESERVING A PLACE IN HEAVEN"...she said he cried when he talked about it but that was ok. what an awesome way to spend a sunday morning with your best friends!!! a passionate preacher who isn't afraid to talk about the end times and what is to come and how to be ready and teenagers who "enjoyed" the service.


life is good.


thanks for checking in


tammy



Tuesday, August 24, 2010

hard to believe...


...that this is my LAST time going to staples to get ready for that "most wonderful time of the year"


the girls are finally where they have always dreamed of being...high school seniors.


(if they only knew)


this will be an interesting year to say the least...


the last time for taking SAT's

the last time for buying yearbooks

the last time for buying high school lunches

the last time for having study halls

the last time for having to wear gym clothes


the list could go on and on and on...


our high school starts back on august 30th, 2010

our high school commencement is on june 8th, 2011


NO...i am not rushing it


megan got all moved in this past weekend. go PSU.


the girls and i will be heading out for the first football game on sept 4th


(exciting times...one in college and very happy and two starting to look for where they think they may want to spend their next 4 years)


keep my girls in your prayer the next few months...it can get quite stressful having to make these college decisions. (meg was easy...she always knew she wanted to go to penn state)


thanks for checking in


tammy









Wednesday, August 18, 2010

the difference...


...between a dorm and an apartment IS HUGE!!!


(well, at least the preparation part is huge)


did you know that other than the monthly RENT check that is due on the first of every month you ALSO have to supply your own toilet paper...


and paper towels

and salt and pepper

and vacuum

and plunger

and coffee maker

and shower curtain

and dishes

and cups

and silverware

and sugar (for the coffee)

and mugs (for the coffee)


(when exactly did my daughter start drinking coffee??)


and apparently it is also a necessity to have...


a george foreman grill

a waffle maker

a quesadilla maker

a magic bullet


(i think we need to have "off to college" showers instead of "bridal" showers for these kids)


then the mom in me is off buying...


the tylenol (if you can find it anywhere)

the advil

the cold medicine

the stomach medicine

the band-aids

the neosporin

the germ-x

the anti-bacterial soap


then we need to buy school supplies


then we need the food to stock the cupboards and the refrigerator


thank goodness this is a furnished apartment...and she is sharing some of the above items with a roommate from harrisburg.


say a prayer for us this weekend. i am working the midnight shift on friday and saturday nights and we are moving meg to state college sometime in between. best of luck to all the students heading back to school in the next couple of weeks. for those of you who have been hanging out at our house...i will miss you (a little).


thanks for checking in


tammy










Saturday, August 14, 2010

proud mom


i imagine that IF you do not have children you will not understand the significance of this statement...but if you DO have children...especially teenagers you will totally understand where i am coming from.


I HAD A WONDERFUL WEEK'S VACATION...now keep in mind that i drove 12 hours down and 12 hours back plus stayed in a hotel with three 17 year olds and three 19 year olds for 7 days...AND I HAVE NO COMPLAINTS.


these girls were amazing.


i have to admit i was a little nervous about taking that many kids to the beach for a week...and other than a couple of them getting sea-sick while fishing and one mild case of sun-poisoning we had a fantastic week. the weather was great. the accomodations were great. the attitudes (most important) were great.


i had a few hours one day when i was a bit out of sorts...but nothing related to the kids. after spending all the time fretting over "my first solo" trip to myrtle beach and the stress of the drive down and checking in and getting everyone all set (which was a breeze on all counts) i had a really rough time on the beach. i am a huge people watcher and i love to just sit and watch people interact with each other...and you guessed it...we were surrounded by dad's and their daughters. lots of them. playing catch with a football or frisbee. jogging together down the beach. body-surfing on the waves together.


because i am living in a different time zone as my kids i usually was up and walking on the beach around 6:30am and then just sat under an umbrella on the beach until i got the 10:30am call for breakfast. the one day i just sat down there with tears running down my face...i thought by now i would be past this annoying emotional stuff...but tim was such an interactive dad and it hurts me to know that the girls are missing out on that aspect of their lives. i had a friend remind me that the few short years that tim did have with his girls he spent more quality time with them than most dads do living a full long life. i know that is true but it still hurts.


this morning before we left megan and i were observing a dad that was over-reacting to something his son did while at breakfast...i just wanted to go over and smack him on the side of the head and tell him to chill-out and enjoy these moments with his kids. life is too short to sweat the small stuff...


it was not a long drawn-out experience BUT there is not a day that goes by that i don't still miss having that guy around.


thanks for checking in


tammy



Wednesday, August 11, 2010

myrtle beach

just checking in...i am in a hotel with 6 teenagers ranging in age from 17 to 19 and we have wi-fi

so...just so that i feel like i am part of the crowd i told them i needed the computer...then once i got it i wasn't sure what to do with it. i am on vacation so i don't really want to do anything computer related so i thought i would just say HI.

tonight is our "off" night. we have been so busy since we got here that we decided that we needed a "chill" night...pizza delivery. it actually tasted pretty good. went deep sea fishing today...7 gals on a boat in the atlantic...5 gals fishing and 2 gals chummin' two of the girls got so sick...i am thinking that they just did a "one and done". doubtful that either of them will ever try that again. our wish list was to see a beautiful sunrise (which we did) and see a dolphin (which we did) and to catch a shark (didn't get that one but a couple of the kids did see one right off the side of the boat). we caught some spanish mackerel and some sea bass.

we are having a wonderful time...everyone is good (now that we are back on land) and actually we are all getting along quite well.

thanks for checking in

tammy



Saturday, August 07, 2010

r and r

took some time off work

it is amazing how much more you appreciate your time off when you work full-time...who knew?

the kids and i are off on a last horrah (?). soon meg will be heading back to state college and the twins will be starting their senior year.

for those of you praying and keeping track of craigs progress...he had his first round of chemo yesterday. i checked in on him a couple of times and he seemed to be doing REALLY well. thanks for all your prayers. he came home still "hooked up" to one of the drugs. it will run the chemo into his system until sometime on sunday but he was made "portable" and will have a home care nurse come in to unhook him when it is done.

well...heading out

thanks for checking in

tammy

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

AAA


we are getting to know the tow truck drivers in harrisburg pretty good these days...


having AAA was one of our better ideas...we are definitely getting our money out of the deal.


not sure what is up with the old dodge stratus but...it had become a yard ornament. just sat in front of the house unable to get enough umph to start. i know it is getting up there in age but i was hoping that it would last the girls one more year and get them through their senior year.


even had a couple of "guys" look under the hood and no luck...so off to a mechanic. today i will find out the damage and decide if it is a keeper or if we push it off the south bridge.


wish us luck...it is a challenge having 4 drivers and only 3 vehicles that run (one of which has no air and a psycho window)


heading off to work...on my long post-weekend stretch


thanks for checking in


tammy


ps...craig starts his FIRST round of chemo this friday. pray that all goes well and that he tolerates this chemo well.