I passed!

Don't you love the picture! BTW, I'm not that old!

Due to bad weather, my bus driving test was postponed until Thursday. Despite the fog and lingering ice, I took my test and passed! My parallel parking wasn't the best, but I didn't hit the curb. That would have been an instant failure. I had practiced parallel parking one car width from the curb. They had me park from one parking place (car length) from the curb in an empty parking lot. I finally got it close enough to keep the examiner happy. I guess I didn't mess up too much on other stuff.

Our bus driver/content mastery teacher/reading lab teacher has his last day tomorrow. I'm not sure what we will do for content mastery and reading lab. I'm sure they will hire someone as soon as possible.

We had two days off from school -- Tuesday and Wednesday -- due to weather. Tuesday they were predicting ice as early as noon. It didn't hit until evening, but it hit with a vengeance! We had to pick up my son at work at 10:00 because his heater wasn't working and he couldn't keep the windshield deiced. Wednesday the roads didn't start clearing until around noon. There are still a few icy spots today, believe it or not. The areas in the shade take a long time to melt.

I'm off to enjoy my mac 'n cheese n' hot dogs with my younger son before minichurch!

Road Test

Our school bus driver gave his 2-week notice. He's moving to Missouri to run a horse farm. In the mean time, I'm hustling to get my CDL to be able to drive the bus. I've taken the written test and have been practicing driving the bus run. I'm scehduled for my road test on Tuesday morning. Prayer would be appreciated. I have to parallel park the thing! Yes! Parallel park a school bus! I've practiced, so hopefully I'll do O.K.

Pray for my hubby, too. He's contemplating a job change. It would mean less pay but also less stress. We're not sure less pay is the way to go if you're trying to get out of debt. I'm praying God will make it very clear which would be the better choice for him.

Advances

Well, we finally gave ADD medication a try for our son. It seems to make a big improvement in his school day! I know it's not a magic pill, but it's good to see some progress!

I also got tough with my students, which seems to have helped with getting their school work done, too! It also improved the classroom atmosphere a bit. They still have their moments, but overall it is calmer.

Between the two of these things, my stress level has gone down a bit. (Not chasing as many chickens?) Still, I'm looking forward to a day off tomorrow for Martin Luther King Day. Maybe I can get some stuff done around the house -- the cleaning & decluttering chickens!

We're still playing with the pressure cooker. We're checking out buying one online, when we get the funds.
Meal #4: Pinto beans cooked with a ham bone.
Meal #5: Barbecued ribs. (Yes, ribs in a pressure cooker!) They cook in their own homemade sauce!

Today we helped cook mission meal at the church. We served Spicy Minestrone Soup (a version of Southwest Stew, for those who are familiar with it). It didn't sell as well as we hoped. I think "spicy" in the title scared a few folks away. We also had a "meet & greet" for our new Worship Pastor and his wife at the same time -- not sure how that impacted our meal. The meal raised $420 to help out our sister church in Chambellan, Haiti. And, it was nice to meet our new Worship Pastor face to face!

I am going to be leading a team going to visit our sister church Haiti in June 2009. We will be doing a marriage conference and a "True Love Waits"-type conference for the youth. I think my hubby wants to go, and we are hoping we can take our younger son as well. Since he'll be moving there before long, it would be good to see what the country and the people are like. Although he is below their minimum age for a team member, please pray that the missions organization would be willing for him to come.

Winter wonderland!

We had ice today. Nothing that was dangerous for driving (yet), but definitely wintry! I had to get out the camera and snap a few pics!

The underside of our pierced metal patio table.
Yesterday we did pressure cooker meal #3 -- a wonderful chili! Yum! Sorry, no pics. We ate it too fast!

Under pressure, meal two

Tonight we tried porcupine meatballs in the pressure cooker. They were so easy and came out great! They were done so fast that we had to wait on the black-eyed peas to finish cooking. I was also impressed with how clean the pot was both times. No sticking on the bottom or sides! Clean-up was really easy. Here's the finished product, thanks to our lovely new camera!

Chasing too many chickens

I'm a city girl. I can't say that this word picture would have readily sprung to mind, but it fits!

I visited with some friends who are leaving for the mission field for a second time. I was sharing about my worries concerning all the details to be dealt with to prepare for the mission field -- debts, clutter, selling the house, what to take, where to store it, etc.

After listening to my worries and woes, he told me I was chasing too many chickens. He pointed out that the only chickens I needed to chase right now were the debts and the clutter. He assured me I had plenty of time to figure those other things out and probably couldn't do so now if I wanted to.

Sometimes it feels like I'm not making any progress in the goal of becoming a missionary. I feel like I should drop everything to get ready, but I can't. Or, sometimes, I choose not to. It makes me feel like I'm spinning my wheels and not doing my part. But I have to remember I can only do what is in front of me at the moment and I have to trust God for the timing. Patience is not one of my virtues!

So, the plan is going to be to take it a day at a time. Pay off the debts as much as we can today. Cut our spending as much as we can today. Pick a spot and declutter a little today. And remind myself that my baby steps put me a little closer to that elusive chicken I'm chasing!

I'm not looking forward to returning to the school grind -- both for my class and for the boy. We've gotten him to do a little while on break, but he's no where near to being caught up. Once again, one day at a time. One assignment at a time.

But instead living in the pressure cooker, I'm trying out using it! I've borrowed one from a friend and have used it once. We may have to invest in one! The split pea soup I made was the best I've ever tasted! I should have taken a picture with our new camera!

And speaking of pictures, here's the Agape Flights plane with its new paint job. It's hard to believe they lost their plane just a year ago, and look how God has provided!