Christmas 2011, New Year's and turning 50

Christmas 2011 has come and gone, we've rung in the New Year 2012 and I'm turning 50.  


Christmas was spent with Eric, the girls and Eric's parents, Money and Nancy.    We have the pleasure of being in driving distance from Money and Nancy and that they are still willing and able to make the 12 hour drive!   They are 76 and 72 and it hit me this year as I wondered how many more Christmases we will be able to do this.  At some point the drive will be too much for them.  I also realized that I wanted to make sure that I had all of Nancy's holiday recipes.  I do, but she always adds or deletes something in the recipe to make it her own!  These are things I need to know!  


I feel like this sounds a bit morbid and it's certainly not meant to!  It just hit me this Christmas that our time together is precious and we have no idea when the big guy will call us home so I'm feeling a sense of getting things in order.  


And have I mentioned I'm turning 50 this year?  It's not until October which I understand is 10 months away..... but it's freaking me out just a bit.  Turning 30 was terrible for me, 40 was great!  I loved my 40's so much!!  But 50?  Not sure how friendly we're going to be towards each other.  


Ok so back to Christmas.  The highlight of the week was when Eric was messing with the oven and accidentally changed the temperature from farenheit to celsius.  Nancy was baking chex mix, it was in the oven about 5 minutes, I turn to see smoke coming from the oven!  Now that was exciting!  


Gift giving/receiving was nice and fun as always!  The girls enjoyed buying presents for each other and put thought into what they got each other so that was fun to watch!  Nancy scored big time on one of her gifts for the girls!  She called me and said that she had gotten a coupon to purchase fleece blankets with a picture on it.  I told her it was a brilliant idea!  The girls were thrilled with them!

iPads were the big gift for the girls this year.  They of course, love them.  Emily had wanted one, Sarah and Lizzie hadn't asked for them.  It was interesting because as Emily was doing the happy dance, Sarah and Lizzie were contemplating if they would really use it.  Wow.  We of course told them to make 100% sure because if not, we would return them.  We loved that they thought enough not to open them up, power them up and then say "I don't think I want it". They decided they did want to keep them and haven't looked back!  

We brought in the New Year at home like we always do.  The girls had some friends over, Emily made some healthy food and we ordered pizza!  At 11:30pm we all head down to the basement to watch the ball drop.  We watched the Dick Clark New Year's Eve show and I have to say that I'm saddened to watch him.  It made me sad last year and sad again this year.  On the one hand I think that at least he is on there and pushing forward but on the other hand, it's hard to understand him when he talks so that makes it sad to watch him.  But back to the New Year!  Honestly, I was ready for bed at 9:30pm.  I did laundry.... fun.  Kept the kitchen cleaned up... double fun.  Just waiting for midnight to yell Happy New Year so I could head to bed to then be up at 7am to shower and head to church!  It was awesome, we typically have anywhere from 60-80 jr high kids at our 9:15am service and we had approximately 18..... Happy New Year!!  


Have I mentioned that I'm turning 50 this year???  Ahhhhh!  I feel that this will not be my only blog on turning 50.  Why do I hate that age so much?  I know I should embrace it and be thankful, blah blah blah.  But 50?  I feel old just saying the numbers.  

Five Christmas parties, church and life crammed into one fantastic weekend.

As I sit at my kitchen table on a Monday morning drinking a cup of coffee I'm able to reflect on this past weekend.  I will say up front that I would do this weekend all over again!  I will be the one waiving my hand in the air with a smile on my face when asked "who would like to host not one, but two Student Ministry Leader Christmas parties?"  Oh, and they are on the same weekend!  Oh, and so is your Women's Bible study Christmas party.  Oh, and so is the Jr High Christmas party (at church).  Oh, and so is the High School Christmas party (at church).....

Ready, set, let's go!

I absolutely love hosting parties at our home.  We have the room, we have a great set up in our basement and we have teenagers we are able to "employ" to "work" the party.  Keeping Emily focused on her job was a challenge as she clearly inherited the gift to gab from me!

Friday: Velocity (High School) Leader Christmas party

The tables and chairs were set up (4 tables, 32 chairs!), the turkey, stuffing and gravy were heating up as people started arriving!  Each person brings either a side dish or desert and of course, a White Elephant gift!  The food was amazing and being able to sit at a table with seven other people who you typically see in spurts because we are interacting with students, was priceless.  What I also love about this group is that we range in ages from 20 something to 40 something.  Some of us are too close to being in the 50 something category but we won't go there.... we'll enjoy the 40 something category!  We all come from different walks of life but the one thing we have in common is we love God and we love high school students.  I know I speak for others as well when I say that 1) I am continually amazed that God would use me to lead students 2) I learn so much from students and to see their passion for God and want to grow in their relationship with Him is amazing 3) To walk along side students in their journey of life with their struggles, their fears, their mistakes, their successes, their failures, their smiles, their love of mission trips, watching them grow from Jr High students to watching them graduate and much more.  So many things that will literally bring you to your knees with joy and sadness, none of us would trade or walk away from.  Each leader, I know, would say that through the good and the bad, the smiles and the tears, we wouldn't miss any of it!!
Sorry, got off on that little tangent, back to the party and now on to the White Elephant exchange!  We gather our chairs and sit in a circle with all the gifts in the middle of the floor.  We each draw a number starting with 1 and ending at 25 and await our turn to choose or gift or steal someone elses!  This game was going along nicely until Zach arrived late and as the last person was to go says, "will this make a difference" and pulls out a Starbucks gift card he brought for the game...... the entire room went silent... what had been a rather nice game suddenly turned.  The love of coffee in this group is unbelievable.  Adam and I were scheming on how we could trade/steal/beg/borrow to get the gift we wanted and that Starbucks card turned us into evil/manipulative people!  Thank goodness it was frozen after three turns!
The party that was to end at 10pm lasted well past 11pm and honestly, could have gone longer.  Such great people, such fun, so many laughs and as I reflect on the night, it makes me realize that we shouldn't wait until the Christmas party to get together as a group..... I see another party being planned in my head!

Saturday: My women's bible study Christmas party

I am fortunate to be part of women's bible study that is truly a family. I believe we've been doing studies together for 3 years.  I say this unknowingly because it feels like we've been together for years!  We came together as a very mixed group in ages from twenties to sixties and everywhere in between!  What a blessing it is to be doing life with women of all ages and life experiences!
One of the ladies in our group is a teacher in Milan, Mi. who spoke to the school guidance counselor about our group adopting a family for Christmas.  We were fortunate to receive a family with 5 children!  We got their "wish list" and the excitement began!  E-mails going between the group of "I'll take this child" "I've got mom covered" "let's add some family gifts also", etc.  On Saturday we arrived at Elise's home to begin our wrapping of gifts!  Listening to the chatter, laughter and the excitement felt in the room was magical!  We were all beaming just picturing their faces Christmas morning!  The parents decided that they didn't want their children to know about the gifts and plan on putting the them under the tree to awaken to Christmas morning!!  I can only imagine the looks on their faces!!  Every item on the family's wish list was purchased and then some!!  Mom, Dad and all five children will have everything they wished for!! 

away we go!

wrapping delight

We loaded the cars and headed to the home of our adopted family.  We stopped at Bob Evans and picked up dinner and pie!  Dad had taken the kids for a drive because of the surprise so we were greeted by mom who is such a sweet lady and couldn't believe the amount of gifts bestowed upon her family.  Clearly overcome with emotion, we all hugged her, told her what a blessing it was to each of us to do this and invited the family to Christmas Eve service.  We then left and headed to our group dinner!  When we arrived at the restaurant, Valerie told us that the Dad had called her, overcome with emotion himself and said that this was more than they could ever had imagined and how thankful that they were.  We all smiled, knowing we had been just as blessed by this event!  I know I speak for us all by saying, I can't imagine life without this group of ladies and I'm incredibly thankful for what they mean to me!

Thankful for these ladies and the ones that couldn't make it!

Sunday: Three parties in one day!  Wha hoo!

What better way to start off your Sunday morning than with 6th, 7th and 8th graders than lots and lots of sugar, games, music and overall fun?!!  Our junior high group at church is called Rustproof and I have the honor of leading a group of 8th grade girls who I've had since they were in 6th grade!  It has been such a pleasure watching them grow, change, mature, struggle with life, etc.   I love each of them as if they were my own and tend to fuss at them from time to time like they are!  Unfortunately for them I'm not one of the cool high school leaders but they continue to return week after week so it works!!

 

We left church and headed home for:

Rustproof Leader Christmas party!!

Thankfully we had Friday night to use as a guide for this leader's party!  We had 28-29 leaders descend upon our home with appetizers, sides and deserts!  Again with our turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, we enjoyed spending some quality time with each other that we typically don't get to have.  The great thing about Rustproof is we have adult leaders and high school leaders.  To listen to the high school leaders talk about what an impact it's been on them to lead is so nice.  To be in the midst of their own high school struggles, peer issues, etc, they have a heart to make a difference in a younger students life!  I can't tell you what a heart warming thing this is to see and to hear.  We had our White Elephant game and this was a bit intense!  There were definitely "prized" gifts people wanted and many were "stolen" from each other until they were frozen!  Who knew that someone elses "stuff" could be anothers treasure! 

And then it was time to head to:

Velocity High School Christmas party!!

This was the only Sunday in the month of December that the high school group met. It was another party filled with lots and lots of sugar in the form of cookies and hot chocolate!  There was a DJ, games, worship and a talk.  There are a couple of hundred students that come to Velocity on Sunday nights.  Why this is an amazing thing is because these students have to want to come.  It's every Sunday evening so there isn't a parent saying, "come on, we're going to church!"  They want to come and learn about this guy we call God and how He can help them through their life filled with doubt, peer pressure, confusion, happiness, accomplishments, etc.  Tim Tebow his huge right now.  You've heard about him unless you live under a rock, and in that case, you probably wouldn't be reading this.... Tim is vocal about his faith in God and for a high schooler to see that makes a huge impact when it's so easy to fall off track.  I've been fortunate to lead a group of 11th grade girls that I've lead since they were in 7th grade!  I'm thankful to be part of each of their lives and to hopefully make a small impact.  I tell people that I've learned more from them than they will ever know and I'm forever thankful that God put our group together!  It was no mistake!

I will finish up with a video I took.  I was talking to someone, turned around and a line dance was taking place.... only in our church!!  I will say that although the parties were fantastic and spending time with other leaders was great, the end was the best.  When I got home Eric was reading in the living room.  I sat down and we started talking.  One by one, each girl came downstairs at different times.  We ended up having great conversations and laughs!  I remember thinking, "This is what it's all about.  Family"  So from my own family to my church family, I am forever thankful for each of you and what you bring to my life.  I am a better person because of each one of you.

http://youtu.be/FSJw4npq7GA

Sarah wins 2011 Pennsylvania National Children's Jumpers!

I want to start by saying that Sarah never had the desire to do Jumpers.  It was too "fast" for her.  She was content with doing Hunters and Equitation.  That is, until the girls started training with Aaron Vale and Sarah met and fell in love with Vigo.  It wasn't love at first sight though.  Vigo arrived in Lexington, Ky by way of Europe in May of 2011.  Fresh off the truck, Aaron put Lizzie on him.  That didn't turn out very well.  He then told Sarah to get on Vigo.  Sarah, never one to talk back (to anyone other than her mother!) got on Vigo and was in the schooling ring.  I was standing at the top of the hill and happened to look down at the ring just in time to see Vigo standing on his hind legs and Sarah going straight to the ground!!  Oh my heart!  I hopped on my golf cart, sped to the schooling ring as fast as the rental golf cart would go!!  Aaron was on Vigo, Sarah saw me and came to the cart.  We didn't speak.  I've learned as the mom of three riders not to say anything but observing that she was in fact, ok.  She got back on Vigo and they showed.  Sarah would get dumped off two additional times by Vigo that weekend.  We leased Vigo at the shows the rest of the summer and Sarah was winning and checking her standings.  She announced to Aaron that she wanted to take Vigo to finals.  He smiled and said "ok!"  Sarah ended up qualifying for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC!!  They take the top 30 riders in the country and Sarah was one of them!  She ended up winning Pennsylvania which was so incredibly exciting!!  We went to Washington two weeks later and she ended up having the first rail down.  That is horse showing for you!  Up on minute and down the next!  But it keeps you humble and that is a good thing!  Here is Sarah's winning round at Pennsylvania!

Suicide and the affects it has on many.

October 1, 2011 will forever be remembered in a sad way.  That evening, I received a phone call saying that a Alain Giannone had taken his life that morning.  Alain was from Portugal, worked for our trainer and was like a big brother to Emily, Sarah and Lizzie.  I became friends with his mom Sharon via Facebook and we chatted often.  Alain referred to me as his American mom and the girls as his little sisters.  At shows, he was protective of the girls and made sure guys didn't flirt too much with them!!  He was a talented rider and his smile lit up a room!

Alain Giannone

To say the girls were devastated is an understatement.  Alain was 28 so he was old enough to give them "brotherly advice" yet young enough hang with them and not embarrass them! :)

The girls couldn't understand why Alain would do this, they wondered if they had talked to him more often, maybe he wouldn't have killed himself.  So many things they didn't understand.  I was sad and then I was angry.  I was angry that he did this and how it affected so many people.  The other part of my brain knew that there were obviously more demons following him than most knew.  I was angry that I had to tell my daughters that someone dear to them had taken his life.  I was angry when I had to make the phone call to Emily and tell her and then listen to her cry.  I was angry when Lizzie lay in her bed crying saying she didn't understand and how much it hurt.  I was angry when the reality hit Sarah and held her when she cried.  I was angry when I thought of his mother.... knowing her heart had been ripped out.  I was angry but knew I had to forgive him because I didn't want to be consumed by the anger.

On the Wednesday after Alain died, my phone rang and when I looked at the long list of numbers, I knew it was his mother Sharon.  Hearing her voice almost dropped me to my knees.  The heart of a mother, while not knowing the full extent of the pain, understands the pain.  Sharon said that she wanted me to know how much Alain thought of me and the girls.  How he spoke of the girls and their riding and that he always referred to me as "mom" and the girls as his little sisters.  I will forever be grateful of that phone call.  It meant so much to me.

Emily, Sarah and Lizzie all went to Ocala, Florida to Alain's Celebration of Life.  Sarah and Lizzie were already scheduled to go and ride that weekend and Emily drove in from Georgia.  I had mixed emotions of them going because of how raw their feelings still were but knew that it would be important in the closure for them.  Although it was not how they had wanted to meet Alain's parents and brother, they were thankful they did.

I know that Alain is watching the girls and is smiling.  I know that he is no longer in pain.  Of course I wish I had known or had some inkling of an idea, we all do.  Suicide takes on a life (death) of it's own.  It consumes the person, the pain they feel is so real and they just want their pain to end.  What they don't realize is the pain so many feel because of it.  Lives are forever changed, families will never be the same, the lives they touched will now have a void.

I think of Alain often and I am so sad that his life was cut short.  But I'm thankful for the year and a half we knew him!  It was a good season!  We will see you again.

September 2011

Ritz Carlton on Lake Oconee

Ritz Carlton on Lake Oconee

I can't believe it's been since the end of August that I last blogged!  So much has happened and I will try to get you caught up!  September is always the "school is starting" month and the beginning of Indoors for the girls with their riding.  Coordinating both is fun and exciting with a bit of stress thrown in for good measure!  Emily started her second year of college in August.  Eric and I were fortunate to be able to drive down with her and spend a few days prior to moving her in at a resort on the lake not far from her school.  It was nice to spend that time with her with an added bonus of a Wal-Mart run for apartment supplies.  In case you were wondering, a Wal-Mart is a Wal-Mart is a Wal-Mart.... no matter where you are...

Eric and his girls!

The end of September was Kentucky Nationals which Sarah and Lizzie competed in.  This was also Maclay Regionals where they would compete in hopes of going on to Maclay Finals.  Both girls did qualify!  They were on their way to Finals!  At this particular horse show, there is also a Zone 5 Sportsmanship Class which Lizzie was Reserve Champion!  This class has 3 phases; a written, a jumping and a flat phase.  Lizzie missed Champion by a fraction of a point!  There's always next year!

Lizzie Reserve Champion Zone 5 Sportsmanship Class

German Citizens!!

We have just arrived home from Chicago.  Eric, Sarah, Lizzie and I went to the German Consulate today so that they could be naturalized as German citizens.  I've had several people ask my why so here is the story.

Eric's father was born in Germany and lived there until he was 3 years old.  Their family was forced to leave by the Nazis.  They were stripped of their citizenship and had to leave on a boat with whatever belongings they could carry with them.  Eric's grandfather was a lawyer in Germany.  When they arrived in the USA, they moved to Boston.  Speaking no English whatsoever, Ludwig (Eric's grandfather) put himself through law school while working to support his wife and two small sons.  Ludwig became a lawyer in the USA and he worked for many years helping Germans in the USA retrieve what money, property, etc they had in Germany.  He was even paid with a painting that my in-laws still have.  

About a year ago, Eric was reading some articles and one was about ways to get a second citizenship.  He found information that showed that the German government was trying to right the wrong of many years past.  Since the family's citizenship had been taken from them, there was now the opportunity to restore it to current family members.  If a family left on their own, this did not apply to them.  Eric talked to his father about this and after getting copies and information, Eric contacted the German Consulate.  Eric and the girls were able to become citizens of Germany, having dual citizenship.  This process took about a year to complete, only because a few months went by where nothing was done on our end because "life" got busy!!  

What does this mean for us?  Eric, Sarah, Lizzie and Emily will be able to live in Germany and the EU countries.  They are able to work, the girls can go to college (free)!  When the girls have children of their own, they will automatically be German citizens as well.  What does this mean for me?  I get to tag along..... !!  It won't be as easy for me, but I'm thrilled for them!  I was told today that I can easily get a green card if I wanted!!  

When we sat at the table with the lady and she said, "When I hand you these papers, you will be German citizens, congratulations to you"  I don't think that the girls realized what a huge thing it was and exactly what it meant and even the meaning behind why they were able to get it.  Much heartache had to happen for them to receive it.  

Emily's paperwork was sent to the Atlanta Consulate and she will go there to receive her Citizenship.  Because she is over 18, she can do this on her own.  

We went and had lunch and Sarah said, "We an go buy horses in Europe now!"  She wants to learn German so we'll see how that goes!!  


So it was a big day for us! 

 

Week of chaos and calm!

It is Tuesday morning as I sit at the kitchen table with coffee in hand scouring Facebook, catching up on the birthday greetings and doing my usual "research"!

 Emily is currently in Bogota, Colombia on a mission trip.  She returns home tomorrow evening and then flies out Thursday morning for Saugerties for a horse show!  She will return home on August 7th and then leave some time that week for college!  Oh the summer she's had!  So happy that she has had some great experiences that will last a lifetime!  I cannot wait to hear about Colombia!!

Myself, Sarah and Lizzie will leave this Saturday for a mission trip in Jamaica.  We will be flying into Montego Bay and driving for 2 hours before reaching our destination.  We will be doing a Vacation Bible School so our teams are preparing for this!  I am so excited to see how God will use each of us!  I'm going on this trip with my heart and mind open!  As with any of my other trips, I'm in "focus" mode in regards to packing but this trip brings a bit of heightened awareness.  If we forget something, we aren't just running to Wal-Mart to get it!!  So with this in mind, I'm trying to mentally remember all that is needed!  I've already told my family that if I'm on edge, chalk it up to the preparation!  But then I thought to myself that I'm preparing for a mission trip which should be a time of happiness.... so I'm really, really working hard to stay focused and in a happy state of mind!!

Not only will my two daughters be on this trip with me, two of my small group girls will be with me as well!  I've been their leader since 8th grade and they are currently entering their Jr year of high school!  It will be such a great experience on it's own, but to share it with my daughters and two girls I've been close to the past three years will add to the great memories!  We have a group of 20 high schoolers and 6 adult leaders on the team.  This is such a solid group!

There will be a daily blog for our trip:
prayingpelicans.org
Click on Trip Journals at the top, then Current Trips.  Ours will be NorthRidge Church July 30, 2011

Please keep up with what we are doing there!

Sharon