Tears and Stress

That's what the last few weeks have been full of. It's like J and I finally ssee a light at the end of the tunnel, where we'll be able actually make all of our bills and everything and -- gasp -- still have money leftover for US, something happens.

On June 17 (a Wed.), I got home from church just fine. Then J and I realized we needed to make a Wal Mart run and got back in the car about an hour later. And it didn't start. Had it towed Thurs. morning, had a new starter put in, took it home. Got back in the car and it wouldn't start again. Luckily my stepdad got it started and i drove it to the shop where they put in aNOTHER new starter the next day. It's been fine. Till today. When it didn't start. AGAIN.

So the shop is paying for a tow, and they better be paying for the repair, as well, because it's obviously more than a starter, which means it's something they should have caught. I love our mechanic -- I never feel like I"m getting ripped off, and he knows me by name. However, this is TICKING me off.

Needless to say I've been crying lots of tears of frustration, especially sicne I still haven't found a teaching job. Not for lack of trying, of course. THankfully, I've been busy with babysitting and working at the bookstore, so while money is tight, it's not penny pinching tight anymore. My student loans set in this month, though, which I'm not looking forward to paying... Grr.

Anyway, on to better things. Because money stresses everyone out, right?

I've spent what little free time I have had recently reading. As a result, I've gone through about 20 books this summer already. If I get the time, I'll list 'em all, but I want to mention one book right now: The Chosen One. It's a YA novel, and as a result I read it in about a day, but it was soooo good. Kyra is 13 and lives in a polygamist compound in the middle of the desert. She is told by the Prophet that she will marry her uncle in one month, and Kyra flips. The whole book is told from her POV and you really ache for her.

I've managed to make it to camp a few times this summer. Once for campfire, and one time (each) for picking up t-shirt designs/money. I was down just this past weekend for First Aid Training with my girls. I can't believe they'll be FORMER CITs in just three days!! It feels like I was jsut meeting them last summer! They've had a good time, though, despite having brand new staff to adjsut to -- I (obviously) didn't return because I got married, and Bunny, their counselor last summer who was supposed to be their CIT Director had to take a class this summer in order to finish her degree. I missed hanging outwith them, though. That was, like, the best thing about my job: developing friendships with my girls.

SO EXCITED

The trailer for The Time Traveler's Wife is out:



IT LOOKS SOOOOO GOOD!!!!

Ever wonder what my church band sounds like?

Well, now you get the chance! Our pianist this morning has coworkers who don't believe that she plays piano, so she recorded our music at our 10:30 service. (Or, rather, Blake recorded it on her camera!)

Here they are, in case you want to kill about 20 minutes. We're not too bad, if I do say so myself, and you'll get to hear me sing a small solo. ;-)

Prelude:

(It Is You by the newsboys and God With Us by MercyMe)
[Diana on keys, Charles on guitar, Brad on drums, and me on bass guitar]

Opening/Call to Worship:

(Song of Love by Rebecca St. James)
[same instrumentals as above, plus Kathy, Rich, Kelsie, and me on vocals]

First Set:

(Arise by Paul Baloche, Jesus Messiah by Chris Tomlin, and Isn't He by I don't remember)
[I've got the first verse of Jesus Messiah, around 3:12]

Second Set:

(You are My All in All by I don't remember)

Closing:

(Jesus Messiah, then instruments on God With Us (1:37), then we fool around a little and play Heart and Soul(3:12))

I've Been a Busy Bee

And I will be for the next week. I'm working a regular sitting job in the morning, my bookstore job at night, this past week I had VBS at church, AND my car broke down. Sheesh. Things will slow down around the 4th, so I"m hoping to give you a substantial post then. I want to post about my trip with the middle schoolers to Penuel and another post about my camp history (as staff, sicne yu've seen my camper post). plus I want to resume Worship Wednesdays. We'll see...

But this post is to say happy birthday to Makenzie and Lily!

My bestest friend had her daughter makenzie 3 years ago yesterday. I went up to see them on my first night off from camp that year and I remember her being sooo tiny! Now she's like, 3 going on 25. Too cute! I went over to see her yesterday before work and when I had to leave, she said clamped onto me and whined, "I want to go with you." Broke my heart! I love her so much.

AND my bestest friend from childhood had her baby yesterday! Baby Lily was 19 3/4 inches long and about 6.5 lb. I cannot be more happy for her and her husband because they had trouble getting a pregnancy to stick. Right now, Lily is in the NICU fighting an infection, so please pray for her!

A woman at my church is due to give birth to her son any day now (scheduled a C-section for Fri. June 26), and if she had her baby yesterday I'm going to laugh so hard. What are the odds??

I'm a Teacher!

No job yet, but I want to report that I am officially certified to teach grades 1-6 in missouri! Woo hoo! Hopefully the job train starts chuggin' a little faster now...

Movies from Books I'm Excited About

A lot of people don't like movie adaptations of books, because either the book is ruined or it ruins their perspective of the whole book... But I actually like movie adaptations of books. Yes, some of them are TERRIBLE, but I like seeing how other people interpreted stuff. So here are the movies I'm excited about:

The first trailer for the newest Twilight book was released last night:


It comes out November 9.

Then there's the new Harry Potter flick, which I hope and pray will be better than the 5th. I'm interested to see how the 7th (and 8th??) films will turn out, considering some of the details they've left out in these movies that come into play now. Almost makes me wish they had waited until all 7 books were out before making them. Oh, well. The 6th one looks AMAZING. This first one must be old because at the end it says "November," but WB pushed the release date back to July and released Twilight in November instead.





By the way, I just realized that the movie is rated PG... interesting, considering how dark and scary the book is... I hope that means stuff wasn't sacrificed.


My Sister's Keeper: (Notice a theme here at all??)


There is no trailer, but I can't wait for the movie adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife on August 14.

AND I JUST SAW that The Lovely Bones is being made into a movie, set for release in December.

Apparently, Emily Giffin sold her movie rights to her books Something Borrowed to Drew Barrymore's and Reese Witherspoon's production companies and wants Patrick Dempsey to play Dex. I don't think I like this idea.