But it was getting so good!!!

Imagine that you are sitting on your couch, late in the evening, with your favorite snack (or snacks if you were me), and your most comfortable blanket. You are preparing yourself to watch the BEST movie of your life. You have been thinking about watching this movie all day, and the anticipation is enough to make you giddy. You start the movie and you are instantly engrossed in the story line and you invest your emotions so much into this movie that you begin to feel that you are actually a part of it. The story's characters are introduced and you begin to feel connected to some, trust little in others, and you may even begin to hypothesize where their stories and plot lines may take you. You begin to learn about the main characters, which includes a villain (there's always one to some degree in every movie!), and all of the "little people" who support those characters.
The story is compelling and with each passing minute, new and interesting facts come into play. And with each new fact, what you thought was true is beginning to become doubt. And with each doubt, you try to chase down a new truth. Almost to the point where you are mentally exhausted!
The plot thickens and your heart begins to jump at every sound, your knees are pulled up to your chest and your eyes are as wide as the moon. You don't dare blink for the fear that you might miss something and you catch yourself holding your breath. The peak of the story is upon you! You are about to be revealed all truths, who did what, who said what. The characters emotions have turned into your own as you feel the tension in every muscle. As the climax reaches it's peak, you listen with ears perked higher than Dr. Spock. And then!, then!, the moment is finally upon you! The moment you have been eagerly waiting for. Here it is! It's......darkness. Silence. Nothing.
Your power has gone out and you are left with silence so loud that it's deafening. At first your mind takes a split second for it to fully comprehend what just happened. At when it does, you just may fall down on your knees and scream to the heavens..."NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
That's how I felt today. We had a great witness on the stand and the lawyers were asking the good questions, really getting down to the heart of the matter. "Yes!" I thought. We were getting there! I wanted the lawyers to keep asking and the witness to keep telling. Then, the power went out. The Judge adjourned us for the day, and we were left screaming "No!" in our heads. Well, the witness will be there tomorrow and we will in fact get to the bottom of things, but somehow I feel that it won't be as exciting as today. Stupid power company.

This Ain't Matlock, Baby!!

Well, I am fulfilling my citizen duties this week by being a juror! I have only been at this 1 day, and I have already experienced quite a bit.
I have been called for jury duty in the past, but due to family needs (ie - a nursing baby) I was excused. So when I got my summons to appear for another possible case, I was excited! I'm one of THOSE people who actually enjoys this type of endeavour! (I get it from my dad....thanks Pops!)
So I had childcare arranged for today (thanks mom!) thinking that I would not be called, and if I were, that it would be a day case. I really just wanted to experience the process and see what it was like. So we all gather in a room and we are called into line by a certain order determined by the court.
The court was looking to fill 7 juror spots, and there were a possible 23 jurors in our group. The first 14 potential jurors are put into the jury box and asked questions by the judge and the lawyers, while the others sat in the "audience". (Sorry, I don't know the technical term for where they were sitting)
As they were asking questions, it came about that one person has narcolepsy(!), one young gal has her voting rights taken away for having commited a felony(!) and one guy has some weird nerve damage so he has to take narcotics(!). So that cut the number down by 3. Some had experienced lawsuits, some had experience with the lawsuit topic, and some had work and/or travel obligations, so one by one, the panel was being narrowed down. At the end of the questions, they named 7 of us to stay and informed us that we were the jury selected. I felt like I had won a pagent or something! Bad news.....the trial is going to last all week!! (Sorry Kent!)
Well, with some schedule scrambling, we have childcare all worked out, so I will be able to fully enjoy this time. I will write more on my experience later, but nothing regarding the case. (That's a no-no)!
Stay tuned!

Hole in One...Or Two!

Ah, I love 2nd chances - don't you? I love 3rd and 4th and 5th chances even more!
During a particular difficult time in my child raising, I knew that I needed to gain more patience. And I asked God to please, oh PLEASE(!), grant me that. Well, come to find out, God doesn't really work that way. He gives us the free-will to change ourselves - with HIS strength.
As I prayed (ok, begged) for help with my patience one day, something inside of me realized that God was NOT going to just automatically change my heart, but instead, provide me with situations in which I would have to practice my patience. In my heart, I knew that God understood that I really wanted to change and he would supply me the opportunities to do so.
Then I realized, what an awesome God we have! He has faith in me...he believes that I can do this, since he provided me with opportunities to practice what I was asking for! And how nice is it that we have a God who will provide opportunities over and over again until we get it right!
He doesn't just give us a chance or two. He will give us as many as we need until we get it right, and have achieved what he wants us to achieve.
Have you thanked God for all of the chances he gives you? When you see an opportunity open up to change or better yourself, thank God for having as much faith in you as you do in Him, and for giving you the abundant opportunities to grow and to be more like him.

Buongiorno!

Here are some pictures of our trip to Italy. Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoyed taking them!

I like this one...it looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa is just peaking around the church!

We bought some really good home made pesto in this little shop.

Here's a picture of our boat through some ruins.

Another picture of our ship.

Here is a small sampling of treats that awaited us around every corner! There were shops like this everywhere we went!

These were some fun tomatoes I found in a small market.

This statue was made in the modern day, but made to look like an old ruin. I got a kick out of this one!

These, um, strapping young men were outside of the Colosseum for pictures. You could have your picture taken with them for a small fee. Somehow I doubt that the gladiators back then were that scrawny and did not smoke cigaretts with filters on them!

Here's a picture of me and Kent at the Colosseum.

Outside of the Colosseum.

A picture of me and Kent at dinner the last night we were there.

This is the town of Portofino. Lots of fun little shops right along the water's edge. There were tons of fishing boats and private yahts to look at, too!

This is one of my favorite pictures I took. This was a little villa in one of the cities and it had this beautiful covering of white flowers on the side!

Things I LOVE!

1) Being home again with my family!
2) That my super great friend, Katie, just got engaged to my brother-in-law Kevan!
3) The villages in the northern part of France and Italy.
4) Not having to be on an airplane right now, after being on one for over 11 hours.
5) My new found favorite treat, Gellato - especially from a small cafe in Florence - YUM!
6) Being home again with my family!

Kent and I just got back from our really great trip to Italy, and I hope to be able to post some pictures soon. We ate way too much and gained a few poundages, but it was worth it!