There, I said it. I am doing my best to not complain about the heat but it is really hard. I can't help but think of winter and the cold, spring and the rain and fall and the wind. We sure do complain a lot.
I'm trying to be thankful for the weather we have. It could always be worse, right? Admittedly, I do horrible in the heat. My face feels like it is going to explode because of allergies and I get hives as soon as I walk outside. The hotter it is, the worse it is. I become super whiny and miserable. I get the same way during the winter when there is no sun for weeks on end (minus the allergies and hives).
I would love to live in perfect weather. Sunny all the time, 70's everyday and 50's at night. That would be perfect to me. Cooler in the evening and morning, and really no bugs. Oh, I hate mosquitoes. The reality is, I think that is what heaven is going to be like. Bright everyday (will there be a "sun" in heaven?), no bugs and just plain perfect. Really, thinking about Heaven like this makes me wonder about it. Like, IS there a sun, moon or stars? Is there a day and night? Do you sleep in Heaven? Ah, all of these things I think about...
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
It's been 2 years...
So I have been thinking about getting back into the "blogging" world again. I follow a few really great sites and wonder if maybe deleting Facebook would allow me to blog more (and provide less drama).
My last blog post was about Jordan. I am happy to say that Jordan is still a huge part of our family and it has been almost 2 years. He has grown so much in these past few years and we are beyond proud of his accomplishments. He is actually starting college in the fall. We have a college in our town and they offer a co-op program with the high school. So Jordan will go half day to high school and half day to college. When he graduates high school he will have some of his mechanics certifications for the state and will have to take about a year of community college to have all of his certifications. He is very excited and proud to see where he has come from.
Elijah is growing like crazy and is still quite the ladies man. He is a twinkle in my eye. He learns new things everyday and cracks me up frequently. He is handsome, and will look at himself in the mirror and say it. He has his father's personality and his mother's features. And really, he brings joy to everyone he meets. I don't know if he will be a genius or the next sports super-sensation but in his mama's mind he will be. I look forward to seeing him grow into an amazing man someday.
We are still in Michigan and have bought a house. We have gotten a new dog and some fish. I have had 2 "new" jobs since my last post and am hopeful with this job we will be out of all debt in 3 years (including the house). We have been on the receiving end of God's blessings more than we can count and usually see it after the fact.
I hope to continue to post and hope that it will bring joy to someones life.
My last blog post was about Jordan. I am happy to say that Jordan is still a huge part of our family and it has been almost 2 years. He has grown so much in these past few years and we are beyond proud of his accomplishments. He is actually starting college in the fall. We have a college in our town and they offer a co-op program with the high school. So Jordan will go half day to high school and half day to college. When he graduates high school he will have some of his mechanics certifications for the state and will have to take about a year of community college to have all of his certifications. He is very excited and proud to see where he has come from.
Elijah is growing like crazy and is still quite the ladies man. He is a twinkle in my eye. He learns new things everyday and cracks me up frequently. He is handsome, and will look at himself in the mirror and say it. He has his father's personality and his mother's features. And really, he brings joy to everyone he meets. I don't know if he will be a genius or the next sports super-sensation but in his mama's mind he will be. I look forward to seeing him grow into an amazing man someday.
We are still in Michigan and have bought a house. We have gotten a new dog and some fish. I have had 2 "new" jobs since my last post and am hopeful with this job we will be out of all debt in 3 years (including the house). We have been on the receiving end of God's blessings more than we can count and usually see it after the fact.
I hope to continue to post and hope that it will bring joy to someones life.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Welcome to the Family!
It has been a whirlwind two weeks. I don't know where I should start....
A little over two weeks ago we were approached by a parent of one of our students. Long story super short, she wanted to give us guardianship of her 14 year old son. At this point, her reasoning doesn't matter. He was not in a good situation and when Thadd and I started dating we agreed that we will always open our home to our students and whatever situations they might be in. God is funny about things you are willing to do. He usually takes your "ideas" of what it will be like and totally throw a little extra in to take you out of your comfort zone. :-)
So needless to say, we now have a 14 year old son named Jordan. For all of you math majors out there, he is 14 years younger than me and yes, that means I would have had him towards the end of my 8th grade year. We have a hearing for permanent guardianship on September 30th. Currently we do have power of attorney over him. Please pray for this transition for both Jordan and us. Pray that his parents do not cause a problem for this to happen (we do not anticipate this happening, but it still doesn't hurt to pray). Elijah already loves him and loves it when Jordan plays with him. They get along great.
I admit, raising a 14 year old is completely different than a 1 year old. There is so much that we have to learn with him that we haven't had the last 14 years to work up to. We went home this weekend to introduce Jordan to family and while at a restaurant I saw a girl that I graduated high school with. She saw Elijah and asked if he was my son and I proceeded to introduce Thadd as my husband and Jordan and Elijah as my sons. I sure did get quite the puzzling look from her. You could see the wheels spinning trying to remember me being pregnant. I laughed.
We know that God has placed Jordan in our lives for a reason. Hopefully he will find comfort and stability in our home. He has accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior. Hopefully he will also grow his relationship with HIM through all of this as well.
A little over two weeks ago we were approached by a parent of one of our students. Long story super short, she wanted to give us guardianship of her 14 year old son. At this point, her reasoning doesn't matter. He was not in a good situation and when Thadd and I started dating we agreed that we will always open our home to our students and whatever situations they might be in. God is funny about things you are willing to do. He usually takes your "ideas" of what it will be like and totally throw a little extra in to take you out of your comfort zone. :-)
So needless to say, we now have a 14 year old son named Jordan. For all of you math majors out there, he is 14 years younger than me and yes, that means I would have had him towards the end of my 8th grade year. We have a hearing for permanent guardianship on September 30th. Currently we do have power of attorney over him. Please pray for this transition for both Jordan and us. Pray that his parents do not cause a problem for this to happen (we do not anticipate this happening, but it still doesn't hurt to pray). Elijah already loves him and loves it when Jordan plays with him. They get along great.
I admit, raising a 14 year old is completely different than a 1 year old. There is so much that we have to learn with him that we haven't had the last 14 years to work up to. We went home this weekend to introduce Jordan to family and while at a restaurant I saw a girl that I graduated high school with. She saw Elijah and asked if he was my son and I proceeded to introduce Thadd as my husband and Jordan and Elijah as my sons. I sure did get quite the puzzling look from her. You could see the wheels spinning trying to remember me being pregnant. I laughed.
We know that God has placed Jordan in our lives for a reason. Hopefully he will find comfort and stability in our home. He has accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior. Hopefully he will also grow his relationship with HIM through all of this as well.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
In a Nutshell...
There have been so many times I have thought about blogging...however, it has been just that, a thought.
There have been so many things recently to blog about. I was talking to my grandma today on the phone and I was telling her about all the new things Elijah is doing. I know that he is just developmentally growing leaps and bounds. However, I feel that this past month (June) has been such a huge month for him. Allow me to gush with pride.
Elijah has learned to crawl. But not crawl a little bit, he has actually discovered that he can crawl through one side of the bouncer and he will end up in the other side. He is just everywhere. He also got another tooth. That now totals 7! It's ridiculous. He has started to eat more solid foods. Right now we are only giving him fruits and veggies but he still thinks that most of them are amazing. He also now pulls himself up on us. This one cracks me up because every time he seems so surprised that he did it.
I have truly enjoyed being a mom. So much more than I ever thought imaginable. I've got that "Ican'tstoptalkingaboutmykid" syndrome. I try not to all the time, but it is hard.
June was also a big month for both Thadd and I. On June 28, we had to put our awesome dog to sleep. When we returned from a trip with our students we found that he had injured his back sometime while we were gone and was paralyzed by the time we came home. We rushed him to the Doggie Emergency Room but the only option was surgery and there was only a 50/50 chance that he would ever walk again. We just couldn't bear to watch him suffer and the cost of the surgery was outrageous. So at almost 7 years old, our dear Francis went to where ever it is that the "good doggies go". It's been an adjustment for all three of us as well as our other dog Envy. He was her buddy and she is lost without him. He was a lot of firsts for us. Our first dog. Our first responsibility. Our first major purchase....It is still hard...
We are nearly halfway through the summer already and we are over halfway through the year. We are looking forward to what the rest of the year has in store for us as a family and for our church as well.
There have been so many things recently to blog about. I was talking to my grandma today on the phone and I was telling her about all the new things Elijah is doing. I know that he is just developmentally growing leaps and bounds. However, I feel that this past month (June) has been such a huge month for him. Allow me to gush with pride.
Elijah has learned to crawl. But not crawl a little bit, he has actually discovered that he can crawl through one side of the bouncer and he will end up in the other side. He is just everywhere. He also got another tooth. That now totals 7! It's ridiculous. He has started to eat more solid foods. Right now we are only giving him fruits and veggies but he still thinks that most of them are amazing. He also now pulls himself up on us. This one cracks me up because every time he seems so surprised that he did it.
I have truly enjoyed being a mom. So much more than I ever thought imaginable. I've got that "Ican'tstoptalkingaboutmykid" syndrome. I try not to all the time, but it is hard.
June was also a big month for both Thadd and I. On June 28, we had to put our awesome dog to sleep. When we returned from a trip with our students we found that he had injured his back sometime while we were gone and was paralyzed by the time we came home. We rushed him to the Doggie Emergency Room but the only option was surgery and there was only a 50/50 chance that he would ever walk again. We just couldn't bear to watch him suffer and the cost of the surgery was outrageous. So at almost 7 years old, our dear Francis went to where ever it is that the "good doggies go". It's been an adjustment for all three of us as well as our other dog Envy. He was her buddy and she is lost without him. He was a lot of firsts for us. Our first dog. Our first responsibility. Our first major purchase....It is still hard...
We are nearly halfway through the summer already and we are over halfway through the year. We are looking forward to what the rest of the year has in store for us as a family and for our church as well.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Farewell
This is a letter I plan to send to myspace:
Dear Tom,
I have decided to delete my myspace account, even though I have had one for 4 years. At one time I greatly enjoyed your services. That all changed the day I discovered that, even though you have a policy against it, you allow pornography to be posted on your site. I discovered this because someone on my friends list did just that. I was disgusted and could not believe that you allowed this to be posted.
I did delete that person's profile from my friends list. Even though I can no longer access that site, I'm sure that the pictures are still up there. I cannot run the risk of having more images like this posted again. I feel that if you have a rule in place you should make sure action is taken and that consequences follow. With the millions of dollars this site generates, I would only assume that you would have enough staff to patrol this properly.
I struggle with the fact that there are young kids on your site and could potentially see these images, especially since they are so readily available. I personally know a number of young teens that have accounts with your site. I worry for them and the fact that pornography is so widely accepted in society today. It ruins families, jobs and lives. Any chance I get to tell others what I have discovered on your site, I plan to. Especially parents who come to me and ask me my thoughts on myspace.
This same individual tried to post pictures on Facebook. However, on Facebook they were immediately deleted. I'm going to stick with a site that stays true to their values and rules.
Thank you.
Nicole Sparrow
Dear Tom,
I have decided to delete my myspace account, even though I have had one for 4 years. At one time I greatly enjoyed your services. That all changed the day I discovered that, even though you have a policy against it, you allow pornography to be posted on your site. I discovered this because someone on my friends list did just that. I was disgusted and could not believe that you allowed this to be posted.
I did delete that person's profile from my friends list. Even though I can no longer access that site, I'm sure that the pictures are still up there. I cannot run the risk of having more images like this posted again. I feel that if you have a rule in place you should make sure action is taken and that consequences follow. With the millions of dollars this site generates, I would only assume that you would have enough staff to patrol this properly.
I struggle with the fact that there are young kids on your site and could potentially see these images, especially since they are so readily available. I personally know a number of young teens that have accounts with your site. I worry for them and the fact that pornography is so widely accepted in society today. It ruins families, jobs and lives. Any chance I get to tell others what I have discovered on your site, I plan to. Especially parents who come to me and ask me my thoughts on myspace.
This same individual tried to post pictures on Facebook. However, on Facebook they were immediately deleted. I'm going to stick with a site that stays true to their values and rules.
Thank you.
Nicole Sparrow
Saturday, February 7, 2009
I should really do this more!
I have completely deprived any adoring fans I may have out there by being silent for 2 months. It's not intentional. These past few months have definitely been crazy. I'm hope and plan is to spend time weekly to write down thoughts about life.
I went to a funeral today. I usually can't go to a lot of church members funerals because they are during the week and I cannot get off work. This funeral was quite eye opening on the fragility of life. Although this woman was in her 60's, he was so vibrant and very active in our community and church for many years. However, 10 weeks ago her life changed. You see, she found out 10 weeks ago that she had stage 4 pancreatic cancer that had metastasized to her liver. She tried chemo but it ended up making her sick and it just wasn't worth it. Although she would rally at times, they would be followed up by worse times. Thadd and I figured out today that we last saw her in December at the Bob Evans.
I've only seen more people in our church on Christmas Eve or Easter. I was blown away by how many people were there today to pay their respects. Thadd had to take care of the funeral. It was not the plan but due to a sudden health situation of our senior minister (and a phone call at 6 am) Thadd was called in as a pitch hitter. Fortunately, everything was in place and Thadd could step in seamlessly.
I'm trying to live life with no regrets. I don't want to miss out on anything in life. I've learned with Eli (or Mr. Cheeks) that I cannot take anything for granted. I try to enjoy every second that I spend with him. Life is too short not too.
I went to a funeral today. I usually can't go to a lot of church members funerals because they are during the week and I cannot get off work. This funeral was quite eye opening on the fragility of life. Although this woman was in her 60's, he was so vibrant and very active in our community and church for many years. However, 10 weeks ago her life changed. You see, she found out 10 weeks ago that she had stage 4 pancreatic cancer that had metastasized to her liver. She tried chemo but it ended up making her sick and it just wasn't worth it. Although she would rally at times, they would be followed up by worse times. Thadd and I figured out today that we last saw her in December at the Bob Evans.
I've only seen more people in our church on Christmas Eve or Easter. I was blown away by how many people were there today to pay their respects. Thadd had to take care of the funeral. It was not the plan but due to a sudden health situation of our senior minister (and a phone call at 6 am) Thadd was called in as a pitch hitter. Fortunately, everything was in place and Thadd could step in seamlessly.
I'm trying to live life with no regrets. I don't want to miss out on anything in life. I've learned with Eli (or Mr. Cheeks) that I cannot take anything for granted. I try to enjoy every second that I spend with him. Life is too short not too.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
One Year Ago...
This weekend was a great Christmas time weekend. I baked cookies, we put up the Christmas Tree, and I felt that I channeled my mother while baking.
However, these past few days I have taken a look back at the past year. It was one year ago tomorrow I found out the actual date that I was losing my job. I was given a little more than a month's notice. So I was bummed. I was wondering how God was going to work and what we would do financially after my salary was cut out completely.
When I got home from work my crummy day just kind of continued. It was a rough night. Thadd and I had started to try for a baby a few months before and well, there were signs that we may, in fact, be pregnant.
I took a test in the midst of chaos and found out I was pregnant. It was a time of rejoicing as well as a time of fear and worry. How would we provide for our child? What would happen financially? Would I be a good Mom? I had always wanted to be a stay at home mom, would I be able to?
It's amazing how much your perspective changes once you find out you are pregnant. You see things in a whole new light. I'm more aware of the weather, people with colds, crazies...etc. This past year has been a whirlwind. It's been good, and I'm so blessed with my son, his health and the ability to work only part time. God has truly blessed our year. I'm thankful for that.
However, these past few days I have taken a look back at the past year. It was one year ago tomorrow I found out the actual date that I was losing my job. I was given a little more than a month's notice. So I was bummed. I was wondering how God was going to work and what we would do financially after my salary was cut out completely.
When I got home from work my crummy day just kind of continued. It was a rough night. Thadd and I had started to try for a baby a few months before and well, there were signs that we may, in fact, be pregnant.
I took a test in the midst of chaos and found out I was pregnant. It was a time of rejoicing as well as a time of fear and worry. How would we provide for our child? What would happen financially? Would I be a good Mom? I had always wanted to be a stay at home mom, would I be able to?
It's amazing how much your perspective changes once you find out you are pregnant. You see things in a whole new light. I'm more aware of the weather, people with colds, crazies...etc. This past year has been a whirlwind. It's been good, and I'm so blessed with my son, his health and the ability to work only part time. God has truly blessed our year. I'm thankful for that.
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