random thoughts power blog

too many different things to really write about, i'll try to just get it out:

1. went today to work with glass artist (i'm going to call her 'dee') to make pink's 10 year birthday present - made daisy earrings, matching little barrettes and a matching pendant with transparent aqua glass and beautiful milliflori glass of daisies to be forged in/on whatever the real term is - they are BEAUTIFUL! and i really hope they are a treasure for her. i really wanted to get her something memorable as she is turning 10 on the 10th and growing up that was called our 'golden birthday' and my mom made a big deal when i turned 13 on the 13th - and you know where we have been financially, so buying a REAL piece of jewellery was out of the question - and so i got to MAKE REAL jewellery - and it's going to be even WAY better! i'm so psyched! can't wait to see it out of the kiln tomorrow!!

2. dee and i have put together a proposal for our town to start a local market. when our only income was going to be from our own little hands we needed an outlet to sell in the summer - and so we brainstormed the idea of the market. we pitched it via email to the town this morning and we'll be meeting with the mayor next wednesday to do our presentation! YIKES & YIPEE!

3. i also had sent out a family update bulk email to notify family and friends of the big stuff that's happening, one being our current landlord and future professor at the university - he and his wife will be moving up here from texas in june - they informed us of how thrilled they were for us and that they decided since they were going to update the furnace to natural gas when they arrived we didn't have to re-fill the oil tank before we left - probably about an $800 gift - god is so good, and they are SO generous! what a blessing!

4. liam's last day of cooking at the university is today - he has been such a trooper doing this to keep us from drowning. it's been a hard job as the kitchen just isn't made for someone his size. he's done an amazing job and the students and staff have been overjoyed with his abilities and menu. i just want to say publicly how much i love him and appreciate his willingness to do whatever it took to get through the past 3 months.

5. pink's project for the heritage fair was chosen to go to the 'regional level' and she did such an amazing job on it - the only 4th grader using technology and she really impressed the judges with her knowledge and presentation. one of the judges stopped her mid-sentence to call over another judge who happened to be on the town council because she needed to hear what pink had to say. she chose to do her project on how litter affects natural landscapes, making them 'un-natural' landscapes - and remarked that the park we cleaned didn't even have any garbage cans so even if people didn't want to litter there was no place to put their trash.

she jumped into my arms when she got home yesterday with the joy of telling me she was picked for the next level. this has done more for her confidence than anything else has ever done. what a joy!

6. liam begins his new job tomorrow and is so excited to map out what this is going to look like. he has been given a lot of discretion to create a program that really meets the needs of the community he'll be working with, it's really a blank slate and he can work within a large framework. it will be so great to see him flourish in this kind of an environment. the last two positions he held had very determined controllers at the helm who kept him on a pretty tight leash. i think he'll just fly here. too bad those churches never got to experience what he could have done if given enough slack. i tried to explain it to leadership - that they can either be the anchor on the boat, or the guy holding the kite string. the anchor only has so much distance - the kite string can be given slack and pulled in if necessary - much more freedom and opportunity to fly - i can't wait to see where he takes this.

well, i'm off to pick up pink from science club - hope you are all having a great day!