Wednesday Morning Update.

Another Snow Day. It is really blizzardy and slippery and just plain yucky. I think every school AND university in the vicinity is closed today, but, of course, I don't typically teach on Wednesdays so it doesn't really feel like a snow day for me. But, I'm loving that both kiddos are snuggled under warm blankets watching Clifford, and we have nothing to do today but hang out and play and rest. Like an oasis in the middle of a hectic week. Thanks, God, for snow days!

As for last night's hamster adventure, I was able to locate 2 more babies behind the refrigerator today, so that means we are still searching for 1 baby and for Mommy Midnight. It makes me feel a little better that there are only 2 loose now as opposed to 7.....that was a little too creepy for me to know that that many critters were loose in our home! I once heard of a family in our town who had a pet snake that escaped. They would see glimpses of it every now and then in their house, but they were never able to catch it. How's that for adding resale value to a home??

In my creative world, I have a very special project that I am going to be working on for the next few days. I have a few ideas mulling around in my head so am going to spend a few hours getting it out of my head onto my art table today....more details to come.

Happy Snow Day, West Michigan. Stay Warm and Safe and Home!

Hamster Drama, Act II.

The bedtime routine started like every other night. Take a bubble bath. Get dried off and fresh jammies on. Brush teeth. Cuddle in for a bedtime story for Hayden and a couple of chapters of "Henry and Ribsy" for Kennedy. Then my husband comes us. "We have a job, family" is all he said.

Yep. And this is where the evening goes down hill, and fast. You guessed it. Someone--one of the little people in our house--left the cage door open. And of course, it wasn't the cage of the single hamster. It was the cage of mommy Midnight and her 6 little babies. Empty cage. Completely empty.

So, the next 2 hours was spent scouring every nook, cranny, crack and crevice. As of now (10:30 pm) we have located 3 of babies. Every one of them in different rooms of the house, mind you. And we still haven't found Midnight.

Yikes.

Double Yikes.

My daughter is worried that the babies will be scared separated from their Momma. This Mommy is worried about getting a hair-raising surprise.......I think I need a vacation. I will update you as to the search-and-rescue mission in the morning.

In the meantime......we will have at least 3 hamsters available for adoption. And sooner than later!

Monday Weekend Recap.

It's Monday....no snow day. Instead, the forecast is calling for temps in the 40's and the likely melting of all the snow. Michigan, gotta' love the variety of weather.

We enjoyed a nice weekend. I squeezed in a lot of creative time between family time. I was able to finish 2 sets of ATCs for swaps that I have going, and I even finished a page for a 60-minute challenge last night over at SIS. This is kind of what my table looked like....that's a cool wooden palette that my sister bought me for Christmas, and I am loving how it is beginning to look with all the paint smears. In other weekend happenings:

• Cornerstone University announced a new president and I, along with my colleagues, couldn't be happier. Dr. Joseph Stowell, a well-know author, speaker, and past-president of Moody Bible Institute, will be taking over at the helm of our university. We are so excited and thankful that God brought us such an incredible leader!
• I did some scrap shopping....picked up the new lines from Basic Grey and the new Valentine's line from Making Memories. I hope to get some more play-time today to do some creative.
• I am meeting with a local scrapbook-store owner this week about teaching some classes. I haven't taught scrapbook stuff since I quit Stampin' UP a few years back, so I am excited. I'm trying to finish up some fun projects to WOW her.
• There is a great auction going on over at E-Bay. Donna Downey, a notable scrapbook and multi-media artist, is donating some painted canvases to benefit Hope Network in the name of Teagan Ferlaak. Teagan is a little girl who was killed in a horrific accident that left her sister, Wyndham, with severe head injuries. However, the story doesn't stop there. The Ferlaaks have lived with such incredible faith and optimism during that time, while trying to honor Teagan and reach others for Christ through a message of hope and forgiveness. If you haven't yet, you can go to Nitty.Gritty link on the left-hand column of this blog to read a big about Jody, Teagan, Wyndham, and their story. If you would like to bid on these awesome canvases for this very worthy cause, you can do so here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220196193995
• We enjoyed a nice dinner with my parents yesterday. They came down and met us, my brother and little Samantha for dinner. It was nice to get together.
• The baby hamsters are getting big and so fun to watch! We have 6 that will be ready for adoption in a couple of weeks, so if you have kids and are in the market for a hamster, one of them can be yours!
• Today is all about catching up with laundry, getting caught up on my grading from J-term, and making some final arrangements for next week's trip. On Tuesday, I leave for New Orleans.....yes, I am arriving on the final day of Mardis Gras, so this will be an experience!
• Have a great Monday!

All About My Hubby!

I visited a friend's blog this morning and was tagged! So often, these tags are all about us, but this one is cool because it is all about my husband. So, Julie, here goes.....

What is his name? Matthew
How long have you been married? 8 years in May
How long did you date? 7 months
How old is he? 43 (9 years older than me!)
Who eats more sweets?Me, unless it is Matt's Favorite Dessert...then he eats the whole pan!
Who said I love you first? He said "love ya" first....does that count?
Who is taller? He is.
Who can sing better? We both really like to sing and are pretty decent at keeping a tune.....I sing more than he does and can probably sing harmony better, but I think we are pretty even here.
Who is smarter? He would say that I am. I've never seen his IQ score, so not sure!
Who does the laundry? We share. He actually does really good helping me with laundry....after all, you can watch ESPN and do laundry at the same time!
Who pays the bills? We both bring in paychecks. I pay the bills.
Who sleeps on the right side? If I am standing in front of the bed, facing the bed, he sleeps on the right.
Who mows the lawn? He does. He does not let me drive the lawn tractor!
Who cooks dinner? Ususally I do, but he makes a few meals every now and then and is actually a really good cook.
Who drives? Matt. He does not like to ride with me (though he has had far more tickets than I have).
Who is more stubborn? Boy, we are both pretty stubborn and like to think we are right. Which makes for some interesting "conversations" when things get heated.
Who kissed who first? Matt made the first move here, but I participated willingly.
Who asked who out first? Matt admired me from afar for a while and asked my younger sister (who was his student) about me for several months before we met.
Who proposed? He did.
Who has more siblings? He has 6 brothers and 2 sister, WHEW! I only have 2 sisters and 1 brother.
Who wears the pants? As an educated yet pretty traditional woman, I defer to Matt as the leader of our home. HOWEVER, I always have a say!

This was fun, Julie! I think it has inspired me to do a layout about my Sweetie!

A Campus Community in Mourning.

I received devastating news yesterday. As many of you know, I am a professor at Cornerstone University, a private Christian university here in Grand Rapids. Yesterday morning, two of our young student-athletes were in an automobile accident on the icy roads. One of them, Kendra Ross, was driving the car and was killed. The other, Katie Kingsbury, is in critical care fighting for her life. You can read about the tragic story here and see photos of these two beautiful young women here:http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7761034.

This is a blow. We are mourning together as a community of learners and, most importantly, of believers. I am reminded that Christians are not immune to pain and loss and anger. And I am reminded of the fact that God wants to hear our cries....not just the cries of joy and praise. But the cries of anger. Confusion. Devastation. Despair. Questions that, in our finite minds, have no answers. God wants it all.

Please pray for these two families. For the Ross family, and Tyler Ross (one of our students), who have lost a sister and daughter. For the Kingsbury family, who is at the bedside of their daughter, Katie, who is fighting for her life. For the running teams here (both girls were runners on the teams), for our entire student body, and for the faculty/staff as we work with these students to be the hands of Christ to them. And that somehow, through all this pain and loss and grieving, God's name would be lifted up and illuminated and praised and be made known.

Praise God, we do not have to grieve without hope. Kendra knew Christ and is now in heaven with her Savior. And Katie also knows Christ, and her family is looking to Him for hope, regardless of the outcome.

God is amazing, even [and especially] through the pain.

Good Old-Fashioned Kindness.

Our son, Hayden, is one of those kids that is just happy....nearly all the time. He always has a smile on his face, a laugh coming from his belly, or a cute quirky little behavior to make us all happy. This photo is from his first year....don't you love those 2 little teeth!!--and he has not stopped smiling (OK, he has had a few meltdowns and grumpy days, but far fewer than most of us!!). That is just the joy within his personality.

Today, after I picked Hayden up from school, we decided to have lunch at Bob Evans. As we walked up to the restaurant, a kind gentleman opened the door for us and extended his hand to give Hayden a "High 5". Hayden obliged, to which the man responded, "What a fine young boy. What a gift from the Lord." That in itself struck me. Then the man, who was walking to his table with his lunch mate, turned back around, dug into his pocket, and handed Hayden a quarter. Hayden's eyes beamed.....to him, it might just as well have been a thousand dollars. The man again turned to me and said "You have a gift." He then gave Hayden a little squeeze and headed to his table.

Wow, that simple act of kindness struck me. You can picture this man. He was a large man, with a large belly dressed in worn denim overalls. He had a near-bald perfectly round head and rosy cheeks. He had dimples in both cheeks and....you guessed it, he was always smiling. I noticed that he had cooked carrots, beef and mashed potatoes for lunch.....he just reminded me of a wholesome all-American type who probably was a farmer or something earthy like that. He reminded me of my own grandfather in looks (though my grandfather was a cheap Dutchman who saved his smiles for special occasions, bless him :)). "Jolly" and "jovial" are the words that come to mind.

It struck me that this man took time not only to hold the door for us and to greet my son, but also to give him something that cost the man little but resulted in so much joy within my son. How this kind of act is missing in today's society, where we are often to busy and self-absorbed to notice children, let alone take the time to do something special for them. Hayden and I enjoyed our lunch, and Hayden walked over to the man's table 3 more times to thank him and tell him a joke and just smile at him. An instant connection was formed.

I don't know if we will ever see that kind man again. But he has impacted me and Hayden in a way that will last. I am challenged to seek little ways to give and express kindness......for it has a way of multiplying joy both within ourselves as well as in our recipient. I can only pray that when God nudges me to act in a kind and generous way, that His joy lasts within the other person as much as the joy has impacted us today, as a result of that man's kindness. Commit a random act of {Christ-Centered} kindness today!

Two Snow Days!

Wow, we are having our second snow day in a row here, which is virtually unheard of for our district (our supt. does not like to call snow days). But, for those of us professors, the show must go on, and we are still holding classes. So, the kids will once again spend their day playing, drinking hot cocoa, watching movies, and playing with the baby hamsters.



And Mommy will trudge out into the snow and brave the elements, all in the name of higher education.



Can you tell I'm having a little pity party this morning? Stay safe today, and if you can....stay home!