wow!!

oh my goodness!! has it really been since May that I've blogged anything!?!? shame on me!! guess I've just been busy w/other things. O is 16 now. hard to believe that's possible, but the date on the calendar doesn't lie. this years birthday celebration was so much different from years past. part of it wasn't even spent w/us, but w/Kyle. so now she's of the age that it's not as big a deal as it once was. I remember when that happened to me. she's been shopping for cars w/her dad, but has't had much luck. I keep saying that there isn't a rush since she doesn't have her license until February anyway. so she can just keep looking and if nothing presents itself right away, it's not a big deal.

she's still working every day delivering papers. doing well too. she likes having money. I know I always did when I was her age as well. and she likes that it doesn't conflict w/her extracurriculars since she delivers in the morning. I keep wondering if another job will present itself though that will be more appealing to her? we'll just have to see about that.

we've been looking around for scholarships that she can qualify for when it's time to apply. making a folder to keep them in so we won't have *as much* searching and reading to do when it comes time to start filling out applications. praying that it all goes well.

guess I don't have much else to say, so I'll close this out for now.

blessings all around!!

Ok, so the last time I wrote it was New Years. Amazing how this time has flown by!! Now it's the end of the year, and O has already performed w/the Swing Choir at the Commencement Ceremony last night, and summer has now officially begun. For the next few weekends we'll be attending Graduation parties and such. Should be fun. Nice to be able to wish kids good luck as they head off to college and begin their new lives. :o)

In the meantime, O will begin driving classes on June 1st and another phase in her life is here. I'm not feelng melancholic about this one, but once she drives away on her own, that may hit me. I don't know yet. She has a job actually two jobs for this summer and beyond, so she'll be working hard and sleeping a lot. And when she's not doing that, she'll be laying out in the pool trying to be brown for summer. And of course there are rehearsals still. And since McHale flooded, the play has been moved from June 13 and blah blah other dates, to July 16. So that is prolonged, which I wish wasn't the case, but that's life. So once that's over, then maybe we can breathe a sigh of relief and relax a little.

O will be heading off w/her dad here in a bit to look around at a car lot for a car for her. I find that exciting!! I know O does too. She might not like that she's paying for it herself, but hey, it will be hers. And that's pretty cool!! :o)

Ok, enough rambling. I'll post a pic from yesterday before the ceremony.

Blessings,

Margo

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!! Hard to believe it's 2009 already. The time has flown once again, and I find myself looking back @ a year that's past and I wonder, what the heck did I do w/those 12 months!??!?! By the looks of my calendar, I was one pretty busy woman. I had a lot of good things going on, getting together w/friends and forging new friendships. Trying on new roles in committees *that I'm not sure about still* and finding a new love. That would be our kitten Tiger btw. I don't want anyone to think I've traded Brian in. *lol*

As far as O goes, so much has changed in her life this past year. She's amazing!! She applied for a job after Christmas was over, and we're sort of waiting to hear about that. And once Sonic opens she plans on heading there to put her pen to paper and fill out an application. She's a little freaked she may have to learn how to rollerskate, but we'll just see. My thought is, at least she would get excercise. ;o)

Once school starts this week, O will be directing LCTV solo w/out Senor Kimbler looking over her shoulder. She's pumped about that. I know she'll have some bumps along the way, but I do know as well that she'll do a great job!! She's just loving this new role in her life.

She's been checking out colleges too. So she's thinking further down the road and deciding she wants something more for herself than her parents have. Good girl!! Right now she's talking Anderson and DePauw. She's really interested in DePauw and even went online and did some research yesterday and took some notes. So we may be making a visit someday in the near future to see what it's like up close & personal.

Right now I guess that's about it. The family is still sleeping. Guess that's ok, it's Saturday and we have no place to go today and friends aren't coming over till later tonight, so.......

Happy New Year everyone!! Be Blessed!!

It's nearly Christmas!!

It's been a crazy few weeks. SO many things going on. Concerts/performances, etc. I'm actually surprised that I'm home this afternoon for a few hours. *lol* Life has gotten somewhat complicated over the past month w/all of the bad news about the economy. Brian is now working a 4 days work week, which is a little scary, but thankfully he still has his job and there is a pretty good chance he'll be back to a 5 day week after Christmas break. So we're tightening our belts and praying we can weather this storm together. God is good and He always provides. I know He will this time. Surprisingly, O has done well w/this news/tightening. She understands that there are certain things we can't do anymore as a result. I'm thankful that there's no moaning and complaining about things.

So on to different subjects. O is the editor of the high school TV channel ~ it's called LCTV. And w/this role she's definitely matured some. She has a lot of responsibility to get the broadcast on every day as they go live. She is handling it well. I'm proud of what I'm seeing. To know that if she continues for the rest of her high school years that she will have been the first editor for LCTV, she wants to make sure that it's a good legacy and one to be proud of. She's teaching her staff how to do things and making sure that she's fair in her decisions. She takes the reins of actually directing solo after Christmas break. Her broadcast teacher will be handing over the *God mike* to her. She's jazzed. And I'm jazzed for her.

She knows that she needs to treat people w/kindness & respect. And to not think less of someone because of their place in class rank or whatnot. But to get to know people and then make a judgement about who they are. Valuable lesson indeed. :o)

Ok, I'm rambling, she's blowing behind me, I'm having trouble concentrating, so this is a short blog. But at least I posted a picture of the Winter Concert. ;o)

life lessons

You know, we can't shield our kids from the world, but there sure are times that I would like to. This past week has been rough on O for a couple of reasons. She's in Cinderella, so there have been a lot of late nights and just waiting around for her scene and whatnot and of course tempers have flared amongst other cast members. O is not new to this, she's been doing plays since 3rd grade. But I think she saw a side of some girls who are supposed to be leaders amongst her peers that really put her off. If that wasn't enough, she experienced it last night at the hands of a girl from our church when we went for dessert after the play last night. And seeing as I had experienced her rudeness earlier in the evening by way of a snub, I certainly wasn't in the mood. We talked a lot about things that have been going on and the mean way some kids have been treated this past week and my lovely funloving daughter informed us that she learned that she won't treat others this way. That she's supposed to be an example to those that are younger than her. And even though we don't like the way that some of the girls have been behaving, we know we're told to love them in spite of how we *feel*. So that's what we are going to have to do.

Sure would rather get in bed and throw the covers over my head though and just wrap ourselves in a protective cocoon and be done w/it. We sort of did that today by not going to church and sleeping in before she had to be up to the play. But it shouldn't have to be that way. 'Ya know? Attitudes are definitely painful. That's why we need our attitude to be like Christs. As hard as that may be, we are going to live that way.

So that's my ramble for today. Wish I had some decent Cinderella pix to post, but unfortunately the lights don't make for good pix so I'll keep them to myself. ;o)

Be a blessing to someone today. Let them know that they are loved.

Love to all!!