Beware Lovers of Power Rangers...

Two weeks since my last post, I'll try to catch you all up!

First, let me say that we got above freezing today and it felt WONDERFUL! We have spent most of January in the teens (or less), and I couldn't believe how good 40 degrees felt today. Maybe there's hope for February. Olivia and I had lunch at Steak and Shake (Kids eat free on weekends-love that!) and went to see Inkheart at the movies. I thought it was very good, Olivia was confused in a few parts, but she did like it.

Since Laf's been off work, Olivia has been riding the bus home from school. She'd always wanted to ride the bus, but the excitement has worn off. Apparently, there's a boy on the bus that's told another girl in her class that he likes Olivia, but she has reassured me that there's no way she'd ever marry anyone who likes Power Rangers. Good to know!

Last Saturday night we went out for pizza with our neighbors from the campground. Out of the 4 couples, 3 of them have either the wife or husband laid off. Caterpillar announced several more hundred layoffs yesterday, so the recession has finally caught up to us here in Peoria.

My class for this semester started last week. It's a sociology class studying gender. So far, it's not too bad, there's a discussion question each week for you to post messages, some lecture readings and a short paper due this week. It's just hard getting back into the habit of homework after the long holiday break.

Olivia's report card confirmed another "C" in math. She's very disappointed as this is the only grade keeping her off the honor roll. We keep on working at it! This week they had spirit week at her school and everyone had a great time. Monday was Bee Day (Big B's are part of their behavioral system), Tuesday was crazy hat day, Wednesday was sports day, Thursday was crazy hair day and Friday was pajama day. The kids had such fun with all the themes. Would you believe I didn't take one picture???? I can't believe it myself, the mornings are always so rushed.

I've had a bad chest cold for the last couple of weeks, I can't seem to shake the cough. I haven't had a chest cold in a long time, and I am definitely tired of coughing, it's even waking me up in the night. All the over the counter stuff hasn't really worked, I'm sure it's just taking its course. So keep me in your prayers for healing!

Please continue to pray for the Pequettes, they are checking out treatment options and I love Kim's fighting spirit. Please also pray for all those out of work, including Lafayette. I hope something turns the job market around (sooner than later!)

Thanks to all who bought Girl Scout Cookies! Olivia exceeded her troop goal and sold 180 boxes!

I do have an awesome praise to share! I always do our own taxes as they are very simple. I was comparing this year's state return to last years and saw that last year's refund was larger. After recalculating the math, I realized an error in my math in last year's return, and so we received too much refund (Olivia has apparently inherited my math genius). Just as I was worrying where I was going to get the money to repay the overpayment, I got a check in the mail Friday to cover almost all of it!! I had forgotten that I was due a payment from the retirement system from when I was off for surgery last month! I was so thankful for this very timely blessing!!

I hope all is well with you.. Let's hope the Groundhog leads us to an early spring on Monday!

Be careful what you wish for...

Remember last week, when I made that comment about the fact we never get enough snow around here to have any fun? Well, I guess that "prayer" went from my lips to God's ears because we got 6 inches of snow on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, it was followed by BITTER cold weather, so it still wasn't much fun. On Thursday, the temp never got above five below zero, and Friday wasn't a whole lot better. Peoria schools were even closed on Thursday and Friday, which is kind of a rarity, so with Monday off for the MLK holiday, Olivia "enjoyed" another long break from school. Every cloud has a silver lining I guess, since Laf is laid off, we didn't have to worry about finding daycare when school was closed! But he and Olivia drove me crazy, they really drive each other crazy. The funniest was Olivia calling me Thursday around lunch time, wailing..."He wont let me eat cereal for lunch!!!!" But they made it through just fine. They also mapped out Olivia's future occupation...she told me they watched "COPS", so now she wants to be a police officer so she can catch "crinimals".

So the weather was the big story in our household this week, otherwise it was pretty lo-key. We went to see "Hotel for Dogs", which was very cute. Olivia also attended a birthday party at "Fired Up" in Peoria Heights, and it was so fun! We've heard of the place, but hadn't been before. You pick out a piece of unpainted pottery (They have everything from cups/plates/soup bowls to candle votives, jewelry boxes and piggy banks). You pick out your paint colors and paint your piece(s). Then they "fire" the pottery and you come back in a few days for your finished product. Since the painting colors are really different than the final product, I'm really anxious to see how they came out (Olivia did a teddy bear bank and I made a soup bowl). We can't wait to go back sometime!

Olivia and I were watching some inauguration coverage today and she asked why some people were crying. I explained that they were crying "happy" that Barack Obama was becoming the President, because some believed that a black man would never become president. "Why?" she asked, "it doesn't matter whether or not you're black or white, what matters on the inside". I hugged her and told her that she was right. Is it really going to be that easy? Is her generation going to grow up understanding that God made all men equal? I can only hope so!

Speaking of the soon to be President, he and all of our new leaders are at the top of my prayer requests this week. Please pray for them as the choices and decisions they make in the next few months controls the direction of our country and all its citizens. I would also like continued prayers for the Pequettes, as Kim was hospitalized with seizures this week. Please pray for me as I start my next class, a Sociology class that is based on gender equality (like I don't already believe that men should work as hard as women! :>), and for Lafayette, as he continues to think about changing careers to help find work. There were so many prayers for jobs on the church prayer list today, I pray each and everyone isn't out of work for long.

We hope you all have a wonderful week!!

January is extra "blah"ful

January is always a really tough month from me. Like most people, I begin to emotionally feel the effects of winter weather, the lack of sun and the cold combine to irritate you. In Illinois, we rarely have enough snow to make winter fun, so you're just stuck with the cloudy skies, cold temps and bare trees. There's also the natural let down that comes after the holidays. The weight I gained over the holidays followed by the annual January diet, and you're looking at the checkbook and saying, "We spent how much???" But for me, January has an extra negative factor: it's the month that my Mom passed away. January 19, 1996. I can't believe it's been 13 years, but yet I feel like that was a whole lifetime ago. She never got to meet my husband, or meet her granddaughter. I never really appreciated her, not like you do once you have your own family. I miss her advice, her infectious laugh and her kind spirit. She was a special person and I'm sure she's one of the brightest starts in God's kingdom. Each anniversary is a little easier than the last, but I still miss her very much.

Our lives this week didn't do much to help shake the January "blahs". It was my first week back at work after being off for my surgery. I spent most of Monday unpacking in my new office. I made some real progress in the work backlog, but will spend alot of time on the road this month. Then on the Thursday, we got some really bad news in the form of a letter from Laf's job: "As you are probably aware, the poor economy is having a rippling effect on many industries and now it is affecting Alcast Company. Due to the dramatic reduction in customer demand, Alcast Company is forced to reduce or workforce." Yep, Laf got "pinked". We half expected it, as all the temps were laid off in December, the holday break was extended, and all overtime hours were cut this week. It's an indefinite layoff, they have orders filled until mid-May and Laf is low on the seniority list to be called back. So he'll start looking for a new job. Manufacturing jobs are hard to find anymore, so it's going to be tough. I am faithful that God will provide our needs, and will bring him a new opportunities.

So Olivia and I had "the talk" about cutting back costs and expenses. Until her Dad finds a new job, she'll be riding the bus home instead of going to latchkey. She actually likes this, as she has a couple of hours at home to play until Mom gets home and cracks the whip. She has come up with ideas like sellling eggs (like her American Girl doll, Kit, did in the Depression). When I asked where she was going to get the eggs, since we don't have a chicken, she looked at me like I was dimwitted and said..."the store!" As always, she's my bright light in the darkness. She lost another tooth this week (see pic), her second in a week. She was channel surfing when I was making dinner the other night and stopped on a channel with opera playing...I asked her what type of music that was, and she said "Oprah". Tinkerbell got a haircut this week, reclaiming her title as "Tinky...the hairless wonder!" (see pic) After watching the new Beethoven movie yesterday (Beethoven's Big Break), she's trying to teach Tink some new tricks so that she can put Tink in the movies, and then we'll be rich. I'll let you know how that plan works out.

And if we didn't want one more kick in the wallet...Tinkerbell chewed on the power cord to my computer this week. (Why she's started chewing now, I don't know!) So I went to buy a new one, thinking 10 bucks, maybe? $80! E-i-g-h-t-y dollars! $8-0!! I couldn't believe it!! So Tinker got a lecture when I got home...I'm sure by the look on her face that she understood every word of Mommy's hysteria.

But God always puts your life into perspective and did so again for me this week. It was very hard to be hosting a pity party for our family on Thursday while my friend Kim was undergoing another surgery to remove a tumor under her skull. Our problems seem so minor compared to what Kim, Troy and their family is enduring. Please continue to keep them in your prayers. We also want to pray for the other Alcast families that lost their jobs this week, perhaps they lost their only working family member or have other special circumstances. Please pray for us as well, that Laf will use this time productively to strenghten his relationship with Olivia, and with God, and that new opportunities will present themselves. And an extra prayer that he will have dinner ready every night...Ok, that's probably asking for a miracle!!

I am praying that the rest of January perks up some...just think...only 11 weekends left until camping season starts!!

Getting life back to "normal"

I was sitting in church this morning, thinking...wasn't I just at church just a couple of days ago?? This week has flown by, and we're looking at Monday morning with a little sadness. We've all three been home for two weeks (I've been home three), and we all head back to work and school tomorrow. On one hand, it's been great having the freedom from bedtimes and homework, but it also has taken it's toll, since our schedules are so out of whack. A couple of days this week, breakfast was more like brunch and then we'd have an early dinner. Olivia kept asking..."how did we miss lunch?" But all good vacations must come to an end!

Olivia and I started the week by visiting the American Girl Store in Chicago on Monday. We've been twice before, but this was our first visit since the store moved into Watertower Place. They have a lot more room, which basically means they have room for more stuff! Olivia took her doll, Julie, which she got last Christmas. We went to the "doll hospital" because we were having alot of problems with Julie's hair...it would tangle all the time and alot seemed to be coming out when Olivia brushed it. The "nurses" said that the longer haired dolls do require more hair care and are usually recommended for older girls, so they let us swap Julie out for another doll. Since Olivia got the Kit Kitteredge doll for her birthday, she decided on Kit's friend Ruthie, so to Olivia, it seemed like she got a new doll. We took several hours just browsing the store (with a lunch break thrown in) and and it was soon time to head back to the train station for out 5:15 train home. We were on a city bus heading back to Union Station when our bag with our AG purchases broke and all dropped to the floor! We really had a mess, when another passenger offered us a grocery bag that she had with her. Who says there aren't kind people left in the world! On the way home, Olivia met two girls from Champaign who had also been to the store, and they played with their dolls all the way home. To Olivia, it was one of those "best days ever!"

My great niece, McKenna, came to visit on Tuesday and stayed until Saturday. McKenna is 10, but she and Olivia play so good together, she is actually more patient with Olivia than I am! We saw two movies, Bedtime Stories, and Marley and Me. Bedtime Stories was really funny, the girls really enjoyed it. They also liked Marley and Me, but were making fun of me as I began crying (actually sobbing) toward the end. We spent New Year's Eve afternoon swimming at the Riverplex with some kids from Olivia's class. I thought 3 hours of swimming would send them off to bed early, but they actually made it to midnight. We blew our horns and danced around and then all were in bed by 12:08. There was lots of Wii playing, and they liked playing school and office. McKenna got an Ipod for Christmas, so that prompted Olivia to get out her Barbie MP3 playing that she got last Christmas and give it some use. It's so funny to hear kids singing along to songs when we can't hear the music! We went to Barnes and Noble one evening and just lounged around looking at books. I bought a new devotional for the year, am hoping that it will help me stick to my only New Year's resolution...to spend more time in study and prayer with God. The girls each picked out a book, and Olivia picked out a knock knock joke book. Hopefully she'll have one to tell you if you ask her, but here's one: Knock Knock! Who's there? McCaw! McCaw who? McCaw wont start, will you give me a ride?

So, now it's back to reality. After three weeks off from work, I'm sure I have a bazillion emails to go thru, phone calls to return and mail stacked to the ceiling. To top it off, I was moved to another office within the building while I was off, so I'll spend a good part of tomorrow just unpacking. But I'm actually looking forward to going back to work, having some adult conversations and NOT cooking, cleaning or doing dishes! There's been alot of that while I was home! Olivia is looking forward to seeing her school friends, but there hasn't been much enthusiasm for school work. Trying to get her to do any reading or workbooks during the break was like like pulling teeth...speaking of pulling teeth, McKenna lost a tooth while she was here...which gave Olivia the incentive to pull one of hers that was extremely loose! (One little tug did the trick) So they both lost a tooth on the same day!

I have neglected my prayer requests in my last few posts, but always have these people in my prayers. Please continue to pray for my friend, Kim, as she awaits news from the Mayo Clinic. Our friend, Gardner (and Olivia's surrogate grandpa) is having another knee surgery on Tuesday, and my friend, Holly is trying to find a job. For our family, I would ask that you pray that Laf's job continues to be stable, there's so many companies in the manufacturing area that are laying off. We pray our financial situation stabilizes and that we are able to work towards paying off debt, and please pray for Olivia's success at school. We're looking at two C's on the next report card, and I need to find creative ways to help her learn the subject matter (math and english). For our country, please pray for our leaders, for financial stability in our financial sectors and that we find peaceful solutions with our enemies.

For all of you and your families, I pray that 2009 brings you peace and hope, that you come closer to God, and that you are able to appreciate life's small victories. Happy New Year!