I think I mentioned Mark Schultz in the post about the Extrodinary Women Conference. I brought back a CD for Shan, and he has been playing it almost non-stop since I got back. I enjoy it as well, so I've been playing it a lot too. When Jo and I got in the car to meet my mom for lunch yesterday she asked for a specific song,

"make a little noise for the Lord"

. It is a phrase from the intro to When you Give I couldn't find that song on playlist.com but I added all the Mark Schultz music I could find on there. I will leave it up for a while so if you aren't familiar with this guy you can listen. He is a Kansas native so give him a listen.

New Look

I tinkered with the colors and picture for my header. That is the girls on Easter morning before church. I rolled their hair in sponge rollers the night before (just like my mom used to do with my sisters and I) It really curled well. A few years ago, I tried to roll Je's hair, but by morning the rollers all came out. Jo had curly hair until she cut it last year. Now it is pretty straight. My sister and her family were in town for the Easter weekend and Friday the girls stayed over with their cousins at Nana's for a slumber party. Big fun! Nana rolled Jo's hair and the cousin hair. She didn't have enough rollers to do all three girls' hair, and said if she had done Je's hair, she wouldn't have had enough rollers to do anyone else's hair. I went out last Saturday and bought enough little rollers to do both my girls hair. They loved it so it will be a treat for them.

When I look at the picture above, I am struck by how classic it is of my two. They are pretty joyful little girls. Jo likes hats and fancy shoes. Je does too, a little, but her hats never stay on long. We signed Je up for softball at Ken Berry League this year. She was dead set against it until we told her she had to try it this year, and if she didn't like it she didn't have to do it again. She is anxious of new things. She has had two practices and found a little girl from her school is on her team. It is growing on her. She is trying to talk Daddy into helping coach. We will see how that goes. Jo already said she wants to play next year.

I've been a bit under the weather today. I've had a little cough and congestion for a couple days then, last night around 12:30, I got so cold I was afraid I would bite my tongue with the shivers. Shan piled four down throws on me to warm me up. By 3 am I had to kick them all off and turn on the fan. Needless to say I didn't sleep well. Hopefully tonight will be better, I am supposed to substitute in Jo's Sabbath School class tomorrow. Her regular teacher will be in Shawnee for her son's installation as a Deacon. I grew up with her son. He has been a good friend,and was an usher in our wedding. But when I think about him being grown up enough to be a deacon it shocks me. Of course, he's been married for over 10 years, has three kids and a doctorate so what's up with that.

I just heard my husband return with dinner. Saturday is pizza night at our house.

Funny Kurt!

Our mechanic is a friend. His son wrestled for Shannon for four years before graduating last year, and he and his wife are wonderful people. When our previous mechanic missed a couple of repairs we switched to Kurt. Our car dealer gave us a free oil change, and then I had to have some minor warranty work done, so I haven't had the van in to our mechanic. Shan's pickup needed an oil change and a little work on the gearshift, so he took it in this morning and I picked him up before our day. We got donuts and took the girls to the zoo. We were taking advantage of the nice weather and spring break. This afternoon we went back to pick up the truck. Kurt was just closing down for the day, and was outside the shop when we got there. Shan went in and I got out to get in the driver's side of the van. He hollered a greeting over. A few minutes later I he walked over:

K: "You didn't get rid of your jeep did you?"

Me: "Yeah, it was time"

K: "Man, I still have a kid to put through school"



Very funny, Kurt. That's why we got rid of it, it was keeping mechanics in business.

Extraordinary Women

I attended this conference over the weekend and had a fabulous time. My BF Ellen and I left the kids with our husbands and took a road trip to Tulsa. It was an adventure. We were a bit late getting to the auditorium because of of typo on the ticket address, but we made it in time for the last of the praise and worship time and for all of the speaker. We took Ellen's GPS since ours had to be mailed in for service, and she had entered the address from the back of the ticket. She had pre-entered the destinations before our trip so we didn't have to worry. I had printed out maps from Yahoo, but since she had the GPS I didn't even look at them. The ticket had a misprint. Instead of 7777 South Lewis Ave. it directed us to 777 South Lewis Ave. The correct venue was the Mabee Center at Oral Roberts Univ. and we ended up at a liquor store in a very seedy neighborhood. It gave us quite a trip to turn around and get back, but we made it. It was such an invigorating conference.

The theme this year for Extraordinary Women is "Discovering God's Dream" the theme verse from Jeremiah 29:11:

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

I have only recently become aware of this verse. I have claimed it for this year. And as is usually the case, when God wants me to learn something, He puts it in my path repeatedly.

We had such a good weekend and it was refreshing. What an experience to worship God with 3000 other women. It was reminiscent of Calvin (RP International Conference), but shorter and with only women in attendance it was a little different dynamic.

We also got to hear from some incredible musicians over the weekend. The praise and worship team was very talented and very energetic. The highlight for me was the two concerts. Friday night, Richie McDonald performed. He was the lead singer for Lonestar, a country group, until last year when he felt that God was calling him to switch gears to a solo career so he could be a more full time family man. He and his wife have three young children, and he noticed how fast his oldest son was reaching toward manhood. He wanted to be more of a day to day presence.

Saturday, we had the privilege of hearing Mark Schultz. He mentioned that he graduated from K-State and grew up in Kansas. I knew Shan would enjoy his music, so I bought him a CD. I had a chance to meet him, and Ellen asked where in Kansas he was from. Turns out, he is from Colby, and was in school at the Community College there at the same time Shan and his sister attended. His sister even sang with him in the college music group. Now I wish I had known that before I met him. Shan really likes the CD I bought for him so that is good.

My sister, a brand new blogger, chided me yesterday on the lack of postage around here. It has been either feast or famine in the material area. Either I have nothing to post, or too much to post and no time to do it. I thought I would share this little story and the lesson I learned from it.

Last week, my friend e- had a minor urgent need for childcare after Bible Study. I had plans that could easily include a couple more so I agreed to take one boy with me to pick up the other boy at home on my way to help my mom with a rental house. As we drove over, Jo asked me if the truck next to us was a chip truck. I looked and sure enough it had Doritos on the side. The three children began talking about a love of Doritos. Typical conversation for the younger set. Older boy said that he can't stop eating them until they are all gone. Which led to a discussion of how sad that is. Then he remembered that "if you are a Christian you can ask God and He will give you more Doritos" I am not making this up. He is six. He said that he is a Christian so he just asks God for Doritos. Jo said, "I am a Christian so I can do that, too" This conversation went on for a bit. (Neither Older Boy or Jo sees a need to say things once when 25 times will do) Then Youngest Boy (he's 3) chipped in, "I a Christian!" So I guess he can get Doritos too.

Now the lesson I learned here is a reminder of faith like a child. They believe that God will provide for them. They believe that all they have to do is believe and ask. Nothing more complicated than that.

Can't it be as simple as I believe: I am a Christian. For those kids it is. I doubt that any of them will remember that conversation. I will.