Got Toys?

We really need to get some kid toys for our small group. This is what the kids play with when they come over!



Last night was our cell group celebration time and graduation party. We had four graduates that we honored. During the celebration time, we had our four small groups give testimonies. It was really neat to hear how this small group atmosphere can really help people grow spiritually.

Enjoy the video. Not much more going on our way to blog about. Today is Jess' first REAL day at work. Orientation is over. Fun times begin.

Thursday's Video of the Day

Last week was for Katelyn...this week is for Jeremy. No Justin, this is not the Gospel Gangstas....but if I could find a video, I would post it. Anyways, I love Christian Rap. This video shows the raising of Jairus' daughter in modern language.

I'm off to the library where I will bury myself for the next couple days. I have a 20 page research paper on Baptism in Acts to write. Wish me luck!

Fact: A Senior Program Counselor has bigger super powers than a regular program counselor

Today in Orientation there was a guy that looked, talked, and acted like...you guessed it...Dwight K. Schrute and not on purpose either. When he saw a paper w/his name and job title he was upset b/c it said "Program Counselor" not "Senior Program Counselor" (neither title makes a bit of difference in reference to the other one as far as job duties go). He opened his phone on the break and started saying commands into it just like Dwight would. "Mailbox! Mailbox! Maaaiiilllllllbbooooxx!" And everytime I got up to go out the door or throw something away he would stand up and jump in front of me so he could go out first. I felt just like Pam in the first episode where Jim is gone and she is looking at Ryan to make fun of Michael with her and he just looks at her like she's crazy. That's exactly what happened!! No one else got it!!! There was also a girl who kept asking people what their credentials were. She even asked one of the presenters when they paused to ask if there were any questions about the subject matter! There was also a very confused woman who didn't know her job title, job description, who her actual supervisor was and I'm pretty sure she was even confused over which location she is working at. I was about to lose my mind so I started drawing pictures of everyone and their sayings. Too bad we don't have a scanner. The past two years have really made me question a lot of people in the mental health field. Wait...what does that say about me???
P.S. Seriously - he even LOOKS JUST LIKE HIM!!!

I don't have to pay taxes!!!

Tennesse is having a special tax free weekend Apr 27-29. How awesome is that!

What I Do

O.K. so I guess I didn't actually post what my job is. I spoke to a lot of you about it but not all of you soooo in case you were wondering (this is for you Matt) I am working for a large health cooperation called Covenant Health. Under that cooperation I am employed by Peninsula Lighthouse. There are three Peninsula units in Knoxville, an inpatient hospital, an adolescent residential facility, and an outpatient center. I am working at the outpatient center. I will be doing groups for kids ages 8-11. These are for kids who are not making progress w/their regular therapist and are having behavioral and emotional problems at school and home. One group comes in the morning for three hours and one group comes in the afternoon for three hours and I will also be doing family therapy. I'm not w/the kids for the whole three hours, just for their group therapy stuff. I'll be working w/a program counselor who does a lot of activities w/them. I'll let you guys know how it goes! Speaking of.....I probably need to leave for orientation now.

First Day

Well kids today was my first day at my new for-real job. It was kind of frustrating b/c human resources told me that I would start today but they didn't communicate that to my office so no one was expecting me until next Monday. These are the first words out of my new bosses mouth: "Hi!!! [cheesy smile] It's so good to see you!!![cheesy smile] Are you sure you're supposed to be here right now?? [cheesy smile]" She thought that maybe I was supposed to be at an orientation across town but somehow human resources got their wires crossed again and I wasn't enrolled in it. Luckily it doesn't start until tomorrow anyway so I didn't miss anything. So I spent the day shadowing the lady who I am replacing (she will now be my clinical supervisor) as well as the girl that I will be partnering w/in the groups I will be doing. I think it went well minus the whole awkwardness of being introduced to people and them saying "Oh, I thought you were going to be here next week! [cheesy smile]" I'm looking forward to getting settled in and getting to the point of comfortability, I hope that happens soon and I think it probably will. It seems like a really great place to work and the people were friendly. I will be spending all day Monday-Friday at orientation at a different facility. I'll keep you posted.

Funniest Video EVER!

Ok, maybe not...but its really funny...

Thursday's Video of the Day

This one is for Katelyn (and all you other Hawk Nelson fans). Please enjoy and have a great Thursday!

Bad Coaching

Ok, I'm new at this and don't know much about baseball...but I am sick and tired of watching bad coaching by the Reds! Could someone explain why in a 2-1 ballgame, someone as tired as Coffey comes in for a hold and not their best reliever...Mike Stanton? Coffey just gave up five runs two days ago and then played again last night. Here's another question...why's Griffey batting clean up? They have a consistent 40 home run guy in Dunn, Hamilton is hot with four home runs, and even Conine has been pretty hot here lately. Speaking of, whatever happened to him? I'll tell you what happened, Narron put together a crappy line up, misused his best reliever last night (keeping him in one inning too long), and then left Cormier in there to screw up the rest. Yes, my friends...this is what happens when Jessica goes home for a few days...I get bored and try to analyze Reds games. How sad is that?

Another video of Leo

This is how Leo responds when you say, "Do you want to go for a walk?" He was soooo excited. So, since it was a beautiful day outside, Jess and I took Leo for a quick walk. Jess is headed to West Virginia this weekend. Its her last weekend of vacation for quite some time because SHE STARTS HER NEW JOB NEXT WEEK! She can't take any vacation for like three months. Anyways, pray for her travels...

Sad News Today

Sad news today...I took Leo to the park and he was eaten by this dog!


Just kidding...but isn't this dog freakishly big!!!

Thursday's Video of the Day

Five Crowns and a Couple Dogs

Bob and Sue came over yesterday night to have dinner and play some cards. Jessica made pork chops, hashbrown casserole and broccoli. It was delicious. I was very embarrased, because I ran out of propane for the grill! Luckily, Bob and Sue live across our yard and just ran home and grabbed his extra tank. Then we taught them five crowns...which is a new game we learned since we moved down here. I think they liked it...but Jessica schooled all. The scores were like Jessica 55 everyone else 150 or more. No mercy!

We're also watching Karen's dog Tucker. He and Leo have become best friends. She leaves him in the bathroom during the day, so we tried that...let's just say Tucker made a mess. Here are a few pics...


Here's Bob thinking really hard about what card to play next.


Here's a pic of Sue. She doesn't like having her picture taken...oh well!


Here's Tucker and Leo posing politely.


"I'm sorry Jessica for messing up your bathroom!"

Fun times in freezing Cincy

Jeremy and I had a great time this weekend in Cincinnati, although the weather was freakishly cold. We got there on Thursday and spent the evening hanging out at the Honeycutts with some of our friends there. It was like old times again! We also had a small birthday celebration for Jeremy, really could anyone forget his birthday?? On Friday we did some yard work to brighten up the house. Jeremy had to mow in the snow so that was not so much fun. I skipped out on him and hung out w/Bethany and Nick. Friday night we went to a really awesome resteraunt downtown thanks to Mindy who works there. (Mindy you are awesome!) It's called McCormick and Schmick's and it is now in our top resteraunts ever, we highly recomment the swordfish! The Lion King of course was phenomenal! The singing wa fantastic and the costumes were amazing. The set was minimal b/c they use mostly people for their set, people are grass and flowers and animals, truly amazing, you should go if you ever get a chance. On Saturday we cleaned the inside of our house and had lunch w/B.J. and Jessie. It was great to see them again and we got to see their beautiful new home. (You've done a great job w/it Jessie!) We also made a stop by Bigg's to pick up some Cincinnati must haves like Mets (we can't find them here), Grippos BBQ chips, and Montgomery Inn BBQ sauce. Here are some pictures of the weekend and I would also like to say Happy One-Day Late Birthday to Germany! I love you!

This is everyone hanging out at Bob and Sheryl's
Jeremy blowing out his candles

This is Jeremy playing Dance Dance Revolution - I think I'm addicted to this game, I totally want one!

This is me cleaning sludge out of the drain in front of our house. Yuck.

In honor of Easter...

This is probably one of my favorite songs for Easter. I think the author did a good job of placing as a backdrop to the Passion of the Christ. I am so grateful for what God did for all of us.

Opening Day

Yesterday was the Red's opening day. Going up against a very good Cubs team stacked with a Cy Young caliber pitcher and two players that could easily win MVP this year, Aaron Harang did a awesome job giving up one run in 7 innings and 5 strike outs. It also helped that Reds slugger Adam Dunn knocked out two homers and three RBI's. I decided that I would continue rooting for the Reds even though I moved to Knoxville. Surprising enough, we pick up Reds games down here. I thought we would only get Braves games, but I got to watch the whole game on Fox South (even though it was nationally televised on ESPN 2). Anyways, way to go Harang! Keep up the good work. Arroyo is on the mound tomorrow. Hopefully he'll do just as well. That's my thoughts for today!

Weekend Recap

We had a good weekend with Sheryl and Katelyn visiting. Another cool thing is that Bethany got to come too as a surprise so that was great. On Friday we went to the outlet malls, played putt-putt and ate at the Applebarn. On Saturday we saw Blades of Glory - which by the way was hilarious-, went to the mall and walked around the cool shops in downtown Knoxville. Sunday of course was church and it was hard to see them leave but we will get to see them again in four days when we go up to Cincinati!

This is Katelyn shopping and talking at the same time - she's talented like that.

This is us riding in the little train thing up to the top of the putt-putt course. We definately had beautiful weather for it.

Bethany brought the Wii again - this is Sheryl really getting into it. That was fun. We had such a great time and I would just like to say thank you to Katelyn for choosing to visit us on her Spring Break. How many 16 year olds would do that? We missed you!

By the way, I went on the first of the interviews for this week today and it went really well. I really liked the position and hopefully I will hear something by next week. Thanks for your prayers!