Lapse in Posting

So sorry for my recent lapse. I have been doing lots of traveling this month, along with many other fun things. My most recent trip was to Monetery California for an all expense paid trip that I earned with Creative Memories. It was amazing and wonderful! I was pampered and had an amazing time. I plan to post a few photos of it soon.

Anyway, this past week has been spent trying to get caught up on everything that was neglected the first 3 weeks of May, such as laundry, bills, and housework. Plus I had a lot to do at work since I had used so much vacation time this month. It's amazing how much doesn't get done that other people are perfectly capable of doing... Hmmm - well, I guess that's why they call me a supervisor and pay me to do that stuff.

Well, I have a dentist appointment at 7:30am tomorrow - not looking forward to that at all. In the long run, it's a good thing, but I just have never enjoyed going to the dentist. I must get some sleep and hope that I wake up feeling much more energized and less lazy than I did today!

Things To Do

I'm a list person. I write lists to keep track of everything that I need to do. So, here's a few things I need to do tomorrow:

• Go to work (8am-8pm)
• Do laundry
• Pack for trip to California
• Pay bills
• Make phone calls
• Pick up stuff from a friend
  
• Drop off an album to another consultant
• Go to the post office
• SLEEP!
  

I leave for California Thursday morning, so tomorrow seems like it's going to be crazy. I am regretting not requesting tomorrow off and just taking one long vacation instead of 2 shorter ones. However, it will be good to get caught up on work stuff and see how things are going at the group home.

Well I must go, as I need to head to bed (been up since 4am today... driving from PA to home).

Pennsylvania

So we're on vacation in PA. We drove down on Friday and we're returning tomorrow. I have a few minutes so I thought I'd post. This has been a wonderful trip so far. We arrived Friday night around 7pm, not in time to go to my sis' baccalaureate service. So we just stayed and hung out at Kev and Amy's. They live about 1 hour east of Eastern (where my sis graduated from), so Saturday morning we got up bright and early to make it to the graduation. There we met up with my mom, stepdad, grandparents Pier, grandmother Lawrence, and Uncle Norman. We also managed to find Rich (Naomi's fiance) and Shannon (her friend). The graduation was long but good. We could just barely see Naomi as she walked across the stage to receive her diploma, but we cheered loudly.

After all the graduation proceedings and photo ops, we headed over to Bertucci's. This is one of my fave restuarants, but we don't have one in Maine (silly!). We ate with our family and Rich's parents, which was really nice. I had never met his parents before, so it was good to talk with them for a while. Plus, we had the Silano pizza which is wonderful! Unfortunately, the waiter was horrible - and since we were a large group, he automatically got an 18% tip. Urgh. I hate that, especially when you have a bad waiter. It's like they don't even try because they know they're going to get a good tip. After lunch we spent about 3 hours helping my sister pack up all of her stuff and load it into 3 different vehicles (mine, my mom's, and her's). I helped take some stuff over to the place where Rich and Naomi will be living after they get married. It's a beautiful house, and they'll be having an apartment in this old woman's home. They also get a den downstairs, which they'll need to clean up - but it'll be worth it since it has a fireplace!

Well other fun stuff - we went with Kev and Amy to their church Sunday. We've also had fun playing games (such as Boxers and Briefs) and also watched the Survivor Finale. Today we're headed to watch a movie and go out to lunch. FUN FUN!

I must be going as Kev and Amy have returned and we're leaving soon for our movie. Woohoo!

Well other fun things -

We're Back

Well I haven't posted in a while. This past weekend, my husband and I traveled to Portland for a marriage conference. Most people, when I told them we were going to a marriage conference, gave me sort of a funny look. Almost like - wow, they have those? Or, hmm, you guys must be having some problems....

Well, for Scott and I this wasn't the first time we'd been to a marriage retreat or conference. In fact, we had planned to go to one this past January - but those plans were cancelled due to my grandfather's death. I had no idea that just a few months later we'd have the opportunity to do something similar, but of course, God surprises us sometimes. The first blessing was that Scott and I were able to attend free due to the fact that he the youth pastor at our church. And once we got there, I knew we were there for a reason.

So to answer the first questions - no, you don't have to be having huge problems to attend a marriage conference, and yes, they do have them. This particular one was put on by Family Life, and it was definitely a wonderful weekend. I can't even begin to summarize all that I learned. But I will try a mention a few key points:

• God's purpose for marriage is oneness, and Satan is our enemy. Your spouse is not your enemy!
• We should not base our love or respect for our mate on their performance (how much or how little they meet our expectations), but rather on the fact that they are God's gift to us in this marriage.
• Forgiveness is both an event and a process - reconciliation after deep hurts can take time and forgiveness may need to continue to happen over time.

In addition to all we learned, the speakers were also AMAZING. You can go to some conferences and feel like falling asleep. I especially enjoyed Brett Ray - he is a wonderful story teller and has an amazing testimony of God's grace. The other speaker was Gary Stanley, and he was good too. I bought his book What My Dog Has Taught Me About Life. I also bought the books When Life is Changed Forever and For Women Only (I began reading it on the way home - outloud - Scott thinks it's a great book). I am looking forward to reading all of these in the near future.

Well I have rambled on and on. One other great thing about the weekend was seeing our friends Becky and Andy. We stayed with them Saturday night, and they are so great. We talked, laughed, and even convinced them to maybe go on a marriage retreat sometime...