Snow Day

Woo-hoo! No school, and no daycare today! It's been snowing like crazy off and on all day! What a blast! I love snow, and it takes me back to winter in Montana.

We woke up to this, this morning.





I had to get pictures of the little bird prints.





Then I let the cat out! She's hilarious! The most snow we got last year was a little skiff, and she apparently didn't remember what it was like!






Then Arianne and I headed to Barnes & Noble for some Christmas shopping. We had to stop in Starbucks there and get a treat, first, of course!



The parking lot from the window

Arianne enjoying her treat!


And last, we played in the snow!

Changes for the better!

I have made a huge leap of faith today. Well, actually, I made the leap last week, I just took the final step today!

I have turned in my notice for my job with Bunce Rental.

The faith part has to do with money, of course. I am so excited about this change, but so scared at the same time. But somehow totally confident that God will work it all out. The job I'm taking is with my church and will pay me 1/3 of what I was making at Bunce. However, I will have NO gas to pay for, NO more commuting, and twice as much time with my child as I've had since I got my full-time job!





In some ways, making this decision was so hard, but on the other hand, it just brought me closer to God. I had to pray like I haven't prayed since my daughter was conceived. Plus, I had to LISTEN like I've never listened before! And I actually got it! I never "heard" God speak, but He definitely let me know what was going on! Man, I just LOVE GOD!

Ministries in all sizes

Sometimes I have to wonder...God, are you talking to me? Or am I just so passionate about something that I "make" you talk?

With that said, I'm going to try and go for it anyway! I know that music is not only a hobby for me, but a whole hearted passion. I have wanted to direct a young chorus since I was 20-years-old. "So what has that got to do with anything?" you say.

I want to start a church choir.

Before you groan, and hiss, listen up! It would be comprised of mostly "young" people (I am hoping for "kids" between 13-40), it would be audition only, and it would be SMALL! 8-12 people TOPS! That would put 3-4 people per part in a four part chorus.

Now, some might still be groaning. "Church choirs have to wear those dumb robes, and sing such boring music." HA! Have you got me wrong! I'm talking modern arrangements of old songs, new music, contemporary music...a capella music, barbershop style, old African spirituals (which are VERY fun to sing, by the way!). This would be something that, once heard, people would WANT to join!

This is my vision. I wanted to share. Now I have to talk to the folks who would make this possible (ie my pastor, elders, deacons, etc.). Pray!

Trials of Motherhood

It has donned on me this year, that my life is compacted into this funny little window of non-eventful events! A typical day goes something like this:

5:00am: Alarm goes off...sometimes I get up!
5:15am: 2nd alarm goes off...usually I get up
5:30am: 3rd alarm goes off. I get up. Do the morning routine (ie shower, dress, contacts, brush hair & teeth, etc.)
6:30am: Get Arianne up (very grudgingly, usually) and get her dressed, hair brushed, and teeth brushed.
I then proceed to run around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get breakfast for Arianne, make sure she has lunch or money, get her backpack, get her coat, get my purse, my cellphone, my keys, feed the cat...I'm sure I've forgotten something!
6:50am: When I SHOULD be leaving, but usually I'm not ready yet!
7:00am: Get in the car, realizing I'm running behind...AGAIN! Take Arianne to daycare, drive for 40 minutes to work.
7:45am-4:45pm: Work.
4:45pm-unknown: Drive home! Gotta love Ft Lewis traffic! The clincher here is getting to Olympia by 6:00pm to get Arianne from daycare before they close!
6:00pm-6:15pm: Arrive home, get dinner started. Try to get Arianne to get her homework done (20 minutes of reading, write one or two sentences about each book read).
7:00pm: By now, homework is usuallydone, but not always. If it is, get Arianne working on her "getting ready for bed" list (Snack, brush teeth, take bath, pj's, story, bed).
8:00-8:15pm: Put Arianne in bed. Watch a movie, or clean, or work on photos, or something until my husband and I decide we've been up too long and crash.

Like I say...uneventful! I have yet to figure out how to make my life less mundane without making it more stressful. Hmmm....

Just to get it started!

This blog isn't going to be very fancy or informative! I just wanted to get something up here so I don't have a blank page!

It's Halloween! I have many pictures I will put up here (probably tomorrow) of our pumpkin carving, Arianne's trick-or-treating, and more!

I hope to use this as a tool to keep people informed, since I can't seem to find time to call or write to everyone that I want to!

Thanks for reading!

~Raegan