Jenn's Blog

We have been so sick lately! Really, we've been sick more in these past 7ish months than we have in the past 10 years combined - no joke. I don't know what's going on but it's ridiculous. The ONLY thing that has kept us sane is that several of our friends have the same thing so at least our misery has some company, but we've missed so much church and life group they're going to forget who we are!! I really hoped the warmer weather would make all of this go away, but no such luck there. Grrr.

Brandon and Erin are up and they have been sick also, so we've been able to visit with them, which is better than nothing, but we are all so lethargic that we haven't been able to do anything fun! It's gotta get better, right?

Last night we hosted a little reunion for some of the people who used to attend Ben's Youth Group at the church we grew up at. Everyone brought a snack and food and good times were had by all. I didn't know some of the people at all and weren't close to many who were there, but I still had a great time getting to know everyone better and just hanging out. One couple brought their boys who are close in age to our boys and they played SO WELL!! They stayed late and the kids just had a blast! We are definitely getting together with them in the future and plan to have reunions on a regular basis! Good times!

Behind the couch, from left to right Josh and Katherine Bissey, Mark (?), Me, Tim Nolen, Clay and Terra Caspari, Erin and John Graham and children Marcus and Connor. On the couch, from left to right, Jeremy and Mandy Brown, Ben and boys, Brandon and Erin Brown, Holly and Ravi Kommina. I may have misspelled names, sorry!

Ben spent the whole weekend being sick, but he still managed to to buy a card and some chocolate and breakfast from Bread Co. Mmmm, chocolate croissants! We just stayed home an did a whole lot of nothing. My real MD gift was a purse that I purchase before Easter because the one I had was gross and falling apart.

I had to take Chelsea home on Saturday because she was really sick and needed to go to Urgent Care or the ER. She's been having bouts of stomach pain for years now. They took out her appendix 2 years ago and that helped some, but it seems to come and go more and more lately and it finally wouldn't go away and nothing I gave her helped. Sigh. Poor girl!

We saw Ben's parents on Sunday and Karen gave me 2 crocheted bags that she'd made! Love them!!

Last night we went to The Loop with Brandon and Erin. We had a great dinner at Cicero's. I ordered the Fruity Beer Sampler (loved it!) and then we walked up and down The Loop for a bit, ducked into a few stores and just had a nice time with B&E. Stopped for ice cream from Maggie Moo's on the way home.

Luke was devastated to be left out of the activities, but we needed to get out!

Brandon and Erin are up here in St. Louis for 4 maaaaybe 5 weeks! Woohoo. Of course, they have to spread their time out between family and friends, but we are hoping we get to see a good deal of them. The guys went and saw Wolverine last night while Erin ate dinner with us and watched the boys dance to the Gummy Bear song. Well, we might have busted a few moves ourselves...shhhh, don't tell anyone.

Woohoo! In celebration of Earth Day we are making a few more Earth Day resolutions.

1. We are getting a rain barrel: http://stlouis.craigslist.org/grd/1130813350.html
2. Saving coffee grounds for our plants. (pathetic, but better than nothing).
3. Reusable produce bags. We buy a lot of produce and I'm tired of tossing those plastic bags away.
4. I'm buying a few compact reusable bags for my purse so I can get away from using paper or plastic at places like Target or the mall, where I always forget to grab my stash.

This is all we have for right now. What are your ED resolutions?

I've been hearing good things about the Roomba for years now, but just wasn't sure it was very practical for the money. Plus, I didn't want to buy something gimmicky that looked cool, but didn't really perform. But...I also hate cleaning the floors! Our friends in TX have a Roomba and we discussed it last time we were down and it really made me want one. Ben and I looked on Craigslist and found a few that seems well-priced, but we never really did anything about it. Then, one day, Ben found a decent model for half off, online. He bought it to surprise me and boy was I surprised. I wanted to try it out for a while and get a feel for it before I blogged about it. After using it for about 3-4 weeks now I have to say: I love it! Really, the best thing about it is that it is low-profile and can get under our couch, beds, side tables, etc.I run it every day and love knowing that those otherwise seldom-touched areas are getting cleaned EVERY DAY!

The only downsides are that you have to clean it after every use. You have to empty the collection bin, clear the roller brush, etc. It's not bad at all once you get the hang of it, but you do have to do it every. time. Also, for our house, it can clean the kitchen, breakfast room, and living room at a time, but then it needs to recharge (and get cleaned out) before moving to another room/area. Also, you have to make sure everything is off the floor. There is a bit of a learning curve as to what items (say, throw rugs) it can and cannot handle and thus have to be picked up prior to vacuuming. I can honestly say though that that's the extent of my complaints!

Now I just need the mopping version and I'm good to go!

And the thrift store! I dropped by the Salvation Army today and left with 2 bags of books for $13. On all kinds of subjects. I love my Kindle, but there's just something I can't resist about a book.

Now if only I had more shelves to hold all these books...

Have you seen cardboard testimonies? I've seen this video a couple of times and it always chokes me up. Our church did this at the Easter service today and it was SO moving. It's amazing to see what God is doing right here in the lives of people I see on a weekly basis, in lil 'ol Jefferson County, MO. What a blessing. And you know which testimonies moved me the most? Two testimonies of people who lost a loved one, but know that they'll see that person again in heaven. No miracles, no last-minute cures, but praise God that even when the worst happens we can STILL have hope. A promise to cling to and look forward to - that we will meet our loved ones again because of what Christ did for us on the cross! I'm so uplifted just thinking about that!

After the service, the kids got to hunt eggs. Gabe only got about 3, but he was thrilled with that and got a ticket for a prize. Luke found a basket-full of eggs and won several prizes, which thrilled him to no end. The hunt was really well done. It just reminded me of how much effort Eagle Point people put into everything they do. The "baby" eggs had no candy, but treats especially for little ones: Fruit Loops, marshmallows, etc. Everything was really well done and ran so smoothly. I so appreciated that!

We ran home, grabbed our food and such and then made the trek out to my Uncle Steve's house. We had a great time together, eating, hunting eggs (kids AND adults) and just enjoying each other. This was the first big get-together since Aunt Sandy passed away. Uncle Steve is probably going to move and wanted to make sure we all celebrated Easter at his house one last time. It was bittersweet. Everyone pitched in and helped, but Sandy was much missed.

Now we're at home and tired and sugared-out, but blessed and happy.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=473342

The theme of the St. Louis, Missouri, John Burroughs School prom is "The Seven Deadly Sins." According to the head of the school Keith Shahan, the sins were not to be glamorized but instead to be parodied.

"The class was trying to make fun of the sins for the prom theme. They were going to parody things like gluttony and sloth," he explains. "They were actually going to call the food table gluttony and the place where you rest sloth, and so forth."

But the theme was not necessarily the problem. The prom invitations actually sparked the controversy.

"It was sent out unauthorized by the school. No one took a look at it, and the sponsor was more concerned about getting it out on time than what it actually said," Shahan notes. "And the student who did it thought he was being funny, but obviously it was (sic) extremely disturbing images on it that he took from the Internet."

Those disturbing images included a pentagram and a scantily clad lady. The invitation also included the text, "Let the sin begin." The school has since issued an apology.