My Little Man

Since I have a ton of random pictures of my dog, Tucker, I figured I would do a special post just for him! So, without further ado, here goes...





This picture was taken within the last year. He's still a puppy here and he looks all cute and innocent. What you don't know is that we no longer have this couch anymore...





Why you ask???





Because he chewed the cushions...all three of them...to some degree. Some had very large holes that couldn't be hidden by flipping the cushion over. Others had minor holes in comparison. Needless to say, we have a different couch now...





Thanks Tucker!

This picture here was taken right after I had brought him home...probably within the first three months of him living with us. He was such a little squirt then! Again, he looks cute and innocent. But don't let that face and those eyes fool you! The chair he is sitting in...don't worry...we still have it. However it doesn't look like that anymore!!!

It looks more like this. I zoomed in on a picture of the chair in the background. If you look at the arm of the chair, you can see it's been chewed beyond repair. It actually is just a wooden arm on the chair now that the stuffing and leather has been chewed off!!!

Here's the story behind this one. It all started one night when I slept in the living room on the couch. Tucker was just a little pup at this point and I wanted to give him a night out of the kennel. In the past he would sleep on the couch with me and be fine all night. Well he had had more kennel time that day than he usually got so I wanted to let him sleep out of the kennel. I awoke at three in the morning to wierd noises coming from across the room. I sat up and fumbled around to find the switch for the lamp. When I finally was able to focus my eyes in the bright light I saw Tucker standing up on the arm of the chair, staring back at me with a mouth full of stuffing. Now it was only a little rip at that point, but over the past year and few months, it has turned into what you saw above...

I thought this one was just cool. His eyes are glowing and somthing happend with the flash to give him a bit of an eerie look. There are wierd streaks of glowing light all around him. I still don't know what happened and have not been able to replicate the glowing streaks of light since.

This picture and the following pictures were part of a random picture post effort. He was so sleepy and I kept waking him up to take the pictures. I'm sure he thought I was crazy! All he wanted to do was sleep. This is the dialogue I imagined was running through his head (in barks and woofs of course) while I was snapping shots.


Jess: Tucker...Watch me...it's picture time...

Tucker: I don't wannaaaaa...I'm too tired...Too sleepy...Sigh....

Jess: Come on Tucker! Tucker! Tucker! Watch me! Tucker...what are you doing little boy???

Tucker: I can't believe you won't even let me sleep! Fine...you want a picture, here's one...up close and personal. Now can I go back to sleep??? Sigh...

Jess: Come on Tucker...Watch me...One more baby...

Tucker: But I just want to go to sleep... I'm tired....Sigh....

Jess: Just one more Tucker...If this is a good one you can go back to sleep...I'll stop bugging you...Okay now, watch me...

Tucker: You promise? Just one more? Here goes...but you better keep your word! Sigh...

Jess: Good boy Tucker! What a good boy! Watching me for the picture...Okay...Go to sleep...Good boy!!!

I Know It's Late...

But Merry Christmas!!!

And a very Happy New Year to all of my friends!!!

I love you all and I pray you have a blessed and wonderful year ahead filled with God's grace and mercy!!!

Please Pray

This is just a quick note to ask anyone and everyone to pray. One of my staff is in a bit of a domestic situation and is having a very hard time trying to be strong for her children and do what's best for them. I just ask that you could all pray for peace and strength for her!

Thanks Everyone...

Official Random Post #1

So here it is... After talking with Ellen the other night I decided to do a random post. Well what's more random than taking pictures of the TV (I was watching a Hallmark movie) during the commercials. These are all pictures of various commercials from the second to last commercial break in the movie...

See if you can figure out what they're for. Some are easy...Others I've NEVER heard of...

So there it is...my first Completely Random Post!!!

And there's still more to come...But I'll save it for another day.

My Little Engine That Now Can

2002 Hyundai Accent...

New power steering line...$99.00

Brake Inspection, new wheel cylinder...$128.70

New timing belt...$336.00

New DMTL motor due to check engine light being on...$168.30

Four new studded snow tires for Upstate New York winters...$496.00

Replaced valve cover gasket due to burning oil smell...$69.30

Replace spark plugs...$79.20

Manual transmission flush...$48.26

Replaced air filter...$19.00

Clutch flush...$49.50

Replaced worn out tie rod end...$49.50

Wheel alignment...$99.50

Coolant flush...$91.95

Labor...$1326.66

Grand total including labor and tax...$2572.05

Mom who loves me enough to give me this early Christmas/Birthday present.......


Priceless!!!!

Random Post Coming...

I was "chatting" with Ellen on her comment section of her post titled "Going a Little Overbored?" During the course of this chat it came up that I haven't posted in a while so she suggested that I do a completely random post. So as soon as I get my camera, cord and laptop together in the same location, I will doing couple of new posts!!!

Keep your eye open...

They will be coming...

Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to give a quick wish of warmth and love on this Thanksgiving Day!

I'm so very thankful for every person that I have in my life, friends, family, pets, etc. I pray that you all have as blessed a thanksgiving as ever!!!

Love you,

Jess

Isaiah 65:17-19

New Heavens and a New Earth

17 "Behold, I will create

new heavens and a new earth.

The former things will not be remembered,

nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever

in what I will create,

for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight

and its people a joy.

19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem

and take delight in my people;

the sound of weeping and of crying

will be heard in it no more."

A Manhattan Adventure

Well I certainly had quite the adventure on Sunday. It was the day after the wedding and I was taking Forever Friend and her Husband down to JFK for their flight to San Diego. I had made arrangements to take God Daughter to the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan, but none of us had a chance to print directions to there or the airport.

We miraculously made it to the airport and got them squared away and then Forever Friend had me use her phone to map quest the directions into the City. I got them all written down (had a writers cramp after) and God Daughter and I were on our way. About an hour later, I made it into Manhattan and was driving around looking for somewhere to park. I had found a spot but realized after I parked that there was no parking there, including Sundays. At the same moment that I noticed the sign and man came out of the building I was parked in front of and I asked him where the nearest public parking garage was. He told me it was only two blocks away.

I made it to the parking garage on the corner of E 68th and Lexington, the Imperial Parking Garage. Sounds so noble, huh? Got God Daughter and all of her things together and began the 5 block trek to the Central Park Zoo. Keep in mind the blocks in NYC are smaller than the ones in Albany so it really wasn't that bad of a trek. What made it interesting though was that God Daughter didn't want to walk so I had her on my shoulders the whole time.

We got to the zoo and she was so excited. Walking around and looking for the gate we saw a sign that said last tickets sold at 4:30pm. I looked for my cell phone and it was 4:51pm. I knew I needed to make this up to her somehow. She was very disappointed that she didn't get to see the "aminals." So I decided we would go to FAO Schwartz. If you have never been there, it is 3 floors of majorly impressive toy store!!! But I'll get back to that in a minute. I started heading down 5th avenue in search of FAO Schwartz. I had never been there and was never able to find it when I went to the city...maybe I wasn't really looking that hard for it but I had heard it was incredibly fun! So I began asking street vendors if they knew where it was. When I saw the puzzled look on their faces I explained it's the really big toy store. A couple didn't know so God Daughter and I continued on.

We passed by a really big brass band. It had about 3 trombones, a tuba, some trumpets and they were really, really good! There was a child in the band (I'm assuming it was a family/friend thing) who couldn't have been more than 5 years old and another no more than 8, both playing trombones. So we listened to them for a while and continued on our way. I finally asked one more vendor if she knew where the store was. Again I explained that it was the really big toy store and she pointed across the street and said, "Did you try over there? That's a big toy store over there." I thanked her over and over again and we made our way across the street.

At this point my shoulders were throbbing and I was glad for the relief of God Daughter walking on her own. As we entered the store there were massive amounts of people all being greeted by someone dressed up like a giant toy soldier. Once inside, there were toys everywhere! It seemed like they were stacked floor to ceiling with displays everywhere! God Daughter immediately made her way to a display of Accredited dog breed stuffed animals...Translation...$25.00 for a little stuffed k9! I told her we'd look around and maybe we would come back to it.

We made our way past a huge candy store section, past the Make Your Own Muppet section and down the escalator to the toddler section. There she found a ball that she liked that was pink and had "sunny flowers" on it. She opted to get it and I was okay with that choice. Then we made our way up to the third floor and checked out the giant stuffed animal zoo display (she did kind of get to see the zoo after all) and all of the other toy displays. They had the Barefoot Reading Room and we opted for a book called Shopping With Dad. It's really cute!

One last stop and we would be ready to head home. When I checked out in the Barefoot Reading Room I made sure I asked about the Big Piano. Thankfully it was still open and we made it just in time for the second to last group of children to make their music on the Big Piano. We got in line and got her shoes off as I prepared my camera. I wasn't about to miss that! She had a blast dancing away on the Big Piano as the keys lit up and sang notes underneath her.

I think that everything kind of wore her out. She needed to sit and rest. As God Daughter was dancing on the Big Piano I suddenly realized that I had not gotten directions OUT of the city!!! And my cell phone was dead at this point. I asked a clerk if she knew where I could get a map nearby. She said I could just talk to their concierge and he should be able to help me.

Wait...This STORE has a concierge???

Yes it did!!! And he had a map! And he gave me directions to the thruway! I was amazed. I wasn't going to end up stuck and lost in the city all night! So I left the store with God Daughter and bags in tow. We were hungry at this point so we got some NYC stand hot dogs and hailed a cab. "Imperial Garage E 68th and Lexington please." I actually felt like I knew what I was doing at that point. Back to the garage and then on our way home!

We were absolutely exhausted by the time we got home and no wonder because it was almost 11:00pm! Got God Daughter settled and into bed and I quickly followed suit.

And that is the Sunday Adventure I had!

Some Silly Girls

I think there very well may be a new band at Grace Chapel!!! Move over Isaiah... There's some tough competition with these ladies. :)

We've got Becky on the Congas...

Talia on the keyboard...

And Gnat rockin the drums...

This is the next blow up band from Grace Chapel in Ravena... With their faces, hair, and talent, they're sure to give the crowd a good show!!!

Even Becky wonders..."Hey, how could you not love us???"

This is they're new album cover artwork... pretty creative if you ask me (but I didn't think of it.)

And at least we know they get along...

Well...most of the time anyway...

I am sure that you ladies will kill me but I could not resist posting these pictures!!! I think they're so much fun!!! :)

Bridal Shower Part 2

So I thought this was absolutely adorable! We had enough ribbons and bows to make three hats!!! One for the bride to be, one for God daughter...



And one for NayNay! :) She erupted into fits of laughter when wearing that hat!!!



I have absolutely no idea if this is what's happening here or not, but it cracked me up because it looks like Amy is hitting the bride to be in the head with a paper plate!

Miss Annie and Miss Barbara enjoying the festivities. Poor Barb...with the broken thumb!!! Thankfully she's got the cast off and was able to attend the wedding without the extra pounds on her arm!!! Yay!

And these are all of the shower pictures I have until I can get the pictures from my mom. Hope you enjoyed! :)

Bridal Shower

Well this is a post that I had promised a long time ago!!! It feels like forever since I talked about doing this post but haven't had any time to do it since I've been so busy with wedding things. But now that Jake and Jessica are finally married and I'm on vacation, I'll be able to get back to blogging!!! Yay!!!

So without further ado...

These are the boring food and drink tables...nothing special here...

This was the prize table. The little girl flower basket was part of a game. It was filled with red and ivory m&m's. Each person had to guess how many were in the basket. The closest guess won one of the prize bags that I assembled from Bath and Body Works (I found so many good smelling things that I even walked out of the store with things for myself...).

And this was her delicious cake... yummy!

Well, that's about it for now. I'll try and post more later. I need to double check my way through the pictures though and see what else I have that's good...

Night!

Dancing Like You've Never Seen Before

Well I got bored a couple weeks ago and created this video through www.jibjab.com.

I thought it was a lot of fun and had a blast in creating it. Jake thought it was absolutely hilarious as well as his sister and brother-in-law.

Hope you all enjoy too!!!

Riddle Me This

I recently attempted to make the work place a little more fun and give my staff something fun to look forward to at the end of the day when they return to the office. I started by putting a new riddle on our dry erase board every day for a week and suddenly one of my new staff was inspired and started bringing in riddles that she had found at home. Now it's turned into something that the whole team participates in and its given a sense of accomplishment to one of the new staff and she was able to quickly feel at home with the team.

Well this morning, I was looking for a riddle that would possible stump her! I may have found one. And since I enjoy riddles so much, I thought I would bring one onto the blog here. Maybe you guys will get it quicker than I did!

What does man love more than life?

Fear more than death or mortal strife?

What do the poor have, the rich require and contended men desire?

What does the miser spend, the spendthrift save and all men carry to their grave?

Comment with your answers and I'll tell you if you're right.

Hope you all have as much fun as I did!

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful

Wow! So I know it's been a while since I've blogged and I'm sure I have quite a bit to say and catch up on but I have been so busy with wedding plans and things of that nature that I have not had a chance to catch everyone up! So this will be just a quick blog to let all of those who may not already know...or those of my dear friends on the West Coast that today, October 28 at 3:00pm, Albany, NY is having it's first snow fall of the year!

People, it's snowing!!!!!

For those of you who know me really well, I'm not the biggest fan of winter. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful when there is a fresh coat of snow covering everything but I would much rather enjoy it from the warmth of my home and not have to go out in it. Needless to say, it is now officially winter in my book and I am now officially longing for beautiful sunshine and warm summer weather!!!

Keep those wonderful pictures of warm, sunny California coming Ellen!!! It will be the highlight of this winter... I'm just kidding. I will try and get some beautiful winter pics myself this winter, after all I do enjoy the beauty of winter!!!

Until I'm free to post again!

Bible Study

A few weeks ago, Roomie and I decided to visit a small group thing that was going on at Cornerstone Christian Church in Albany/Slingerlands. We went with the hopes of finding a small group that would be able to cater to our age group so we could meet other people our age. There are not a lot of people in my church who are around the same age as me and I was looking for some fellowship with people right around my age group. So we happened upon this one small group that is located in Delmar every Wednesday night and we decided to check it out. Well I missed last week, which was the first week, but was able to make it this week. Now we had a bit of homework as well. We've been working through a study called Made: Created To Make a Difference.

This study is all about using the gifts and talents that God gives each individual to serve others and make an impact on the world, both individually and as a body. Each day you have a chapter to read that is on a topic that ties in with making a difference for Christ. In one of the chapters it really brings home the need to be using the giftings that God gives us in order to show others Christ's love through servanthood. It references Mark 10:43b (MSG) which says "Whoever wants to be great must become a servant." In part of the workbook section to this bible study there is a Living Out section. It's basically active homework. This weeks question was this:

Look at the list below and pick one person, from the categories listed, that your are going to seek ways to serve in this coming week.

Talk about your plans with the group.

Why did you pick this person?

How do you plan to serve them?

And the list is as follows...

• Spouse


• Parent


• Work Associate


• Friend


• Someone with whom you have a strained relationship


• A person who you know is in need


• Child


• Extended Family Member


• Neighbor


• Stranger
  

We then went around the room and shared who we were picking and why. It was an opportunity to become vulnerable with each other, some of us being complete and total strangers, and to know that this was something to be worked on this week and to keep each other accountable.

Needless to say, I picked my mom.

I feel like I'm not always there for her the way I should be, being her only child and all. And as much as I know she needs help cleaning the house, getting to the grocery store, the pharmacy and anywhere else she may need to go, I often find myself unable to accomodate her needs because I'm already too busy or I'm just plain selfish. ( Yes, I'm now being vulnerable to all of you readers as well.) So I shared with the bible study group about the rough year she has had with everything and how I would make it a point to get over to her house to clean it up this week.

This seemed to spawn a whole other concept where several others involved in this bible study offered to help me clean her place if they thought she wouldn't mind. Someone even wanted to do a covert operation in which I get her out of the house and we all sneak in and clean it while she's out. I don't know that that will be happening although it does sound kind of fun and sneaky. But they also offered to take her to the store to get groceries, to take her to the pharmacy, or even to just swing by and see if she needed anything at all. The leaders decided to make her a priority.

Considering the fact that I don't even go to church with any of these people it was such a blessing to see a group of people come together and be so generous and accepting to someone they don't even know yet. So willing to serve others as Jesus would. It really means a lot to me!!!

I really look forward to continuing on in this study and serving others as I go. I know that there will be many opportunities to serve people through this bible study and I will be keeping my eyes open for any and all opportunities that may arise. I want to be able to use the gifts that God has given me to serve his people and those who are in need of His merciful salvation. After all, what's the point in recieving a gift from someone if you never open it or just put it in storage?

Well I will keep you all posted as I continue on in this bible study. Looking forward to your thoughts and ideas on serving others! And I will be sure to follow up when I have completed the mission of cleaning my mom's house this week. Until then, so long...

My Strength Is Not Mine Alone

Well this has been an incredibly hectic week! Thankfully the shower went off incredibly well! I will be getting pictures up as soon as I can remember to have my laptop, camera and camera cord in one location all at the same time. It was so much fun though. I owe a special thanks to all of those who helped organize and host, as well as those who helped clean up afterward. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you all, so thank you!!!

I then proceeded to go to a friend's house for yet another intense game of Mau. Which was incredibly fun and difficult. A lot of people had a rough time learning the rules of the game (which are not to be discussed). And Forever Friend played as well for the first time which was incredibly amusing.

After that, the week sort of went downhill! I came into work on Monday morning to get a message on my voicemail saying that one of my participants had passed away on Sunday afternoon and therefore wouldn't be attending program. It was such hard news to take... This participant was a very good man and will be greatly missed! I barely had time to take in the news myself when I had to gather all of my staff together and share the bad news with them before sending them on the road and saying, "Don't forget, be positive for the other guys!" That was a rough one to swallow.

Within an hour of sending them on the road I got a call that one of the other participants had hurt himself and I needed to take him to the ER. He ended up needing 6 staples in his head. From there I brought him home and then got word that we were telling all the rest of the participants about the passing. So I headed over to the church where the news had already been broken to them and we were creating a list of all the positive memories everyone had of this participant.

I spent all day being the bearer of bad news. It's not easy to be the one to have to call all the people that he was near and dear to from the program, former county managers, former staff, former day hab coordinators, and give them the news of his passing.

Last night I went to the wake and was able to face his mother. She was incredibly composed. If it had been my child I don't feel that I would have been able to hold the same composure. She deserves a lot of credit in my book. A lot of other participants and staff showed up for the wake and service. It turned out to be a celebration of his life and not a mourning. It was a very beautiful thing to see all of the people gather together in honor of someone who touched their life.

All in all, the stress of this week has not yet let up and I don't know when it will but I know that the strength with which I am walking is not a strength of my own or a strength that is of the natural. And it is that strength that I have been holding on to and will continue to hold on to!!!

Romans 8:38-39

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 8:38-39

The Bridal Shower

Well tomorrow is Forever Friend's bridal shower. I am absolutely exhausted right now from shopping all day. I have finished buying all the supplies that I need for tomorrow, gotten the gift and in the morning will be picking up the food and the balloons. I hope it all goes down good! When she had her first shower, everything was rushed. We didn't have time to put together a nice bridal shower for her...I mean, it was nice, but it wasn't what I would call amazing...and I planned the whole thing. I just didn't have a lot of time to plan a fabulous one. This time there will be a lot more people there and I just hope everything turns out amazing. I don't want it to be a dud especially with all of her family and Forever Friend's Future Husband's family there. I will let you all know how it goes tomorrow or maybe Monday. I will also try and get pictures of the shower up.

Until we meet again...

Mau...Mao...Mal...Whatever you want to call it...

Today was the first Friday of the month and for anyone who knows Grace Chapel, that means Coffee House!!! I had so much fun! I forgot how much I really enjoy being part of a worship team or band. We did a bunch of songs and then played Mau/Mao...although if your name is Isaiah, you would insist it's MAL and give penalty cards to those who do not pronounce it as such. I think it's just another reason to give a penalty card...maybe...or maybe not. But it is officially my new favorite game! Even though there maybe some parts I still don't understand. But I need to catch on quick or Isaiah will be the only Mau dealer and that might not be so good. Just kidding Isaiah! You did show mercy a few times tonight. :) So anyway get your pen and paper and copy down the instructions for play. Ready??? Okay, here goes...The rules of Mao are not to be discussed! If you want to know...we must play. And that's that! Seriously though, it's an amazingly fun game. Play it with us sometime and you will see. You will also be trying to not laugh the whole time.

Good Night All!!!

Welcome Back

Well I had recently gotten into blogging and I worked very hard creating my blog and arranging it the way I wanted. I really liked it! I had written some entries about my God-Daughter and a hot air balloon trip and was really getting into it! It was so exciting to me. But then I came across a web site that had new and different blogger layouts...And I began to get a little greedy with the layout and design of my blog. I though...If I could just have that design or that layout it would make my page look so amazing! So I tried it...I copied and pasted the html and so on and so forth and after several failed attempts I got one to work and save in the html section! I was thrilled and elated......until I viewed my blog and decided I didn't like the layout as much as I thought I would. On top of that most of my widgets disappeared. So I decided to change it back. But it wouldn't go back...and it would recreate any of my pictures or widgets or edits. And I realized something....on the spiritual side. God provides us all with a specific design or layout for our lives that is specifically programmed to meet each of our needs. But all too often I find myself looking at other people's layouts and designs wishing I had their layout or design. I often think life would be so much better if I had a cooler layout or if I had the design of someone else. But then I try to adapt that layout into MY life and it doesn't fit...doesn't work...and doesn't look the same at all. The things that I had built up in my mind to be so fabulous and so wonderful only seem to fail when I try and fit them into my design...You know, the one that God picked for me and I forget is the perfect design for my life. I find that the only time my design fits and works for the life God created for me is when I walk in his will for my life...His good, pleasing and perfect will.



Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)