Weekend update...

So, I don't have any pictures for this post, but I will leave links so you can click on things and be entertained. First of all, last weekend, Mom and Dad came down to visit. When you come visit me on a long weekend, this is what we do: Saturday we wake up and go to the Winter Park Farmer's Market. What I like to do is get $20 in cash and see how much I can buy for that $20. I always encourage people to buy the fresh squeezed lemonade that is always there, kettle corn (I have eaten a whole large bag by myself), and then I take you to the bakery part of the Market where you can buy Belgian waffles topped with fresh strawberry topping and cheese cake topping (you need at least three people to finish), or the fresh cheesecake "cupcakes" that come in all kinds of flavors from key lime to cookies and cream, SO good. The Market has fresh flowers there that I always think would be great gifts for the "green thumb" members of the family, and that does not include me. Very cool place.

After Farmer's Market, I would lead you to Park Ave just across the street from the Market. There are all kinds of boutiques and fun places to look at different clothes, however, these kinds of places you would buy an "investment" article of clothing, but they are fun nonetheless.

After Park Ave, we would come home and get Riley. Riley cannot come to Winter Park yet because he has not developed manners yet, we are working on that, mostly just waiting for him to grow out of being a puppy. We love taking dogs to Fleet Peeple's Park which is an off leash dog park. That kind of scared mom and dad because there happened to be a higher number of pit bulls at the park that day, but we have never had a negative experience with dogs at the park and most people are good about making their dogs behave, we love it there.

After Riley gets tuckered out, Tim and I like to take people out to "Orlando" restaurants, places that you don't have in your own home town. We do have a number of places we enjoy like, Blackhammock where you WILL try gator tail (good) and the other wonderful seafood selections offered. They also have an alligator exhibit and air boats, its a pretty cool place.

Sunday we bring you to our life group and church, which is always an experience, I like showing off my family to the group, its fun. Sunday's are always a lazy day maybe do some shopping if we didn't do any on Saturday.

So, hopefully mom will post the little pictures we took of the weekend on her post, but it was a fun weekend.

Currently, Tim and I are going to a class on Wednesday nights that focuses on the person not only finding their spiritual gift, but finding how that gift is married to their passions and how you can serve the church with the gift and passions that you have. We first had to take two spiritual gift inventories that Pastor Jimmy himself created with his wife (his ministry in the church is actually helping people find their passion and where to serve in the church) Try is for yourself at jandlministry.com. Very enlightening. I am looking forward to see where God wants me to serve in our church to better his glory. Hopefully I will have an update for you on where that leads in the coming months.

Ok, that's all for the weekend update, wish I had something clever to end this with, but oh well. Love you All!

September

So, so much has happened in September that is has taken me a whole month to think about what I have wanted to blog about. And now for some reason all of my writing is underlined. Due to the fact that blogging confuses me greatly, I will continue because I do not know how to get the underline to go away. Here are some highlights of the month...



September started out with an awesome extended weekend in New Hampshire/New Jersey. We flew into Manchester and spent a whole day with Tim's dad and the model T's driving around Keene. It is actually a very cool experience, you kind of feel like a celebrity, people stopped along the way and waved to us and honked (some good honks, some bad:)) I enjoyed the experience greatly and it was another unique part of Tim's life growing up we got to share together. Ah, the joys of being newly weds and continuing to get to know more about each other...



I don't know how many of you know this, but Tim actually knows how to drive a Model T. With some refreshment courses from Bill, Tim drove us around town in his (that's right, Tim actually has his own Model T that Bill is keeping for him for now) Model T truck.



Next we drove down to New Jersey to vacation a little bit with Kathy, Ed, Uncle Rod and Aunt Lori. While at the Jersey Shore, I was introduced to the fair, I mean the original one. So I partook of the goods and played one of Tim's childhood favorites and played Frog Bogs. I won a BIG FROG. The above picture is a picture of two grown people strategizing about how to win a carnival game... Nice...

This is all of us in front of Kelly's, an extremely authentic Irish tavern that has really good Reubens. I liked the place so much I got a shirt. I can fortell that there will definitely be more Kelly's in my future.

I know this is out of order but I am tired of trying to rearrange pictures on the blog and then having them lost. This is a picture of me in front of the Frog Bog place that I won BIG at the night before. That day we had rented bikes and you can ride through the fair because most of the shops are closed and not as many people are walking around. Fun times!

The next weekend away we spent was in GA due to the fact that Weston was supposed to be born only a couple of weeks earlier, not the day after I left from the last weekend I visited GA. So, I kind of missed my nephews "new born" baby stage, he was about a little over month old by the time we got up there. However, the boy is still so cute, a little grumpy, but very cute. He has an adorable sister, this is me, Emily, and Savannah, I like the pic!

I got the pleasure of assisting in bath time a couple of nights I was there. Those baby blues are SO adorable I cannot resist that child, her Aunt La definitely spoils her rotten!

I like this picture because this is my typical family, busy, organized chaos, and a whole lot of fun, this was our attempt at a Christmas picture, I think we should probably go with the one we took back in July, mostly due to the fact that is that picture all the girls were ready for it!

And finally, a couple of hours before we had to fly back to FL, Uncle David gave me and Tim our first tour of the Chick-Fil-A corporate building. For those of you who don't know, Uncle David is an awesome tour guide and is extremely informative about everything in the world, especially Chick-fil-a (one time I interviewed him for a term paper and with all the info I was given by him, not only did I get an A on the paper, but the professor wanted me to do more research on it for him!) This is Tim and I in Truett Cathy's office, very cool, really does feel like a tree house.

And last but certainly not least is us infront of the famed Batmobile that Mr. Cathy bought a long time ago. I think it looks cooler in person. We couldn't touch, but the pic is great.



So, here was September in a nutshell, lots of great memories and I am glad I got this one over with so I can blog about my other topics I have been thinking about!! ha!

My Jericho Progect

So lately, I have been reading through the book of Joshua and about all the many battles that took place in order to take the land of Canaan, the future home of Israel. And as I am reading through this, I am just now realizing, through all my years of Sunday School and Bible class with Mr. Bowman (home school teacher) and all my other Bible teachers, that taking this land did not happen over night after they took Jericho, it took quite some time. However, God was trying to teach them an important lesson beginning with Jericho.

You all know, that at Jericho, the only instructions for war, beside walking around the giant city a millions times (I'm sure it felt like that to them) was to shout, but not to shout a war cry, but a shout of praise to God, for HE had GIVEN them the city. They were crying victory before the war even began!! And then God handed them the city, almost gift wrapped it for them. And as I kept reading throughout Joshua, when the Israelites had to continue to fight to win there inheritance, Joshua reminded them over and over that it was not going to be a battle, God had already PROMISED them the land, the battle was mostly just a test of faith for the people, almost a technicality. What is even more interesting is, as I am reading I am just realizing that the Canaanites were not small villages that were in the beginning steps of forming a more sophisticated government. These were highly militarized, big states (kingdoms, as the Bible calls it). And even though they had such technology as iron chariots, Joshua continued to contend that God can take them, just show up for the battle!

So, through reading this, I am realizing there needs to be some application. We all have Jericho's, you can call them what you want, your "Giant," "Goliath", "Mountain"..etc. But the key is to praise God for the victory no matter what the circumstance and how crazy it is. I like to think of Tim and I's situation as a Jericho because we do have a promised land waiting for us, no more college loans! So as we are coming up through different obstacles, waiting on the Lord, and looking into the future, I am challenging myself to praise God for all the victories that are coming ahead and hope that it will not take us as long as it took Israel to take our promised land by storm, hopefully I can practice more faith in God for victory... to be continued...

Let me muse over this...

So, this week was crazy with so many different stories, and of course, I have a million different thoughts about each different event. First I will start out with my sister, Jennifer, had my nephew, or her son mainly. I am so happy and sad at the same time. This beautiful baby comes (two days after I left town, my theory is that its because he wanted to see me so bad he came four weeks early) and as I am joyous for this blooming family, my heart cries because I miss you all SO much. I don't know if anyone caught on, but when I was visiting last weekend I stopped myself from crying at least 100 times. :) So congrats my lovely sister for popping the little guy out!

My week at work was mainly uneventful besides calling my mom all day on Wed. to check up with Jen, and the weekend had come so quickly. Tim is now back to having Sat. and Sun. off with me which means two things: 1. I am happy again and 2. We will travel. This weekend we went to Wekiwa Springs Park. And we decided that we should do a 1.9 mile hike to a place called Sand Lake, with a five month old (Riley). When we finally reached this "Lake" it was more like a pond. We thought we would be able to swim. No. It had alligators. I will post the pic's of this tiny place and our exhausted dog later. Did I mention the dog was foaming at the mouth because we hiked in the middle of a Florida afternoon in August? Not, quiiiiittte smart, however, my amazing husband did pack water, so we were at least mostly hydrated for our total 4 mile hike.
P.S. I have several mosquito bites the size of softballs (Tim had zero).

So, next weekend, we will do another adventure, maybe to a more dog-friendly place where we can let the poor canine off the leash, I keep you updated on our new adventures. All, in all, the weekend was good and now I'm tired, and I start the week over.

Dear Lord,
I know you are always with me, but let me feel the power of your presence to comfort me when I feel like I can't keep going!

My day in court

So, in my job I occasionally have to go to court. Most days in court are boring. Judge asks me questions, attorneys are asking me questions because they cannot remember the cases, parents are trying to look better than they are, their attorneys are trying to make them look better than they are, and then we all go home. Occasionally though, some parents will ask for a trial as they deny all allegations against them. And that is where all the action happens... ALL of the action, I mean people will go straight Jerry Springer during trials. So, anyway, I had a trial today, and the best part was that mother hired an attorney. Why is that important, you ask? Because most people who are in Dependency court qualify for court appointed attorneys, and they do a really good job. Plus, if the allegations are not true against you, the case will be dismissed based on evidence, not what type of attorney you have. My rule of thumb is, in Dependency, if the parent feels like they need to hire an attorney, they did something wrong.
So, today, we go to court. The State of Florida's attorney is Jill. Jill my kind of person, and by that I mean she is messed up and she knows it. Jill takes a smoke break every time she goes outside. Jill is getting married to make her fiance's rich family happy. She is letting her rich mother-in-law to be plan her wedding. She doesn't see the point in being married, she's in her fifties and already been married twice, but it doesn't make a difference to her, she's pretty laid back like that. When Jill goes up to ask questions she takes her time and reads over her notes. Sometimes her voice shakes when she talks, it makes me wonder if she still gets excited/nervous about being a lawyer. She makes me think she is like me, she probably replays arguments she gets into with people back in her head and thinks of different things to say after the fight.
The CPI is an awesome black lady, creole really, she's around my age. She is thorough, and her hair looks amazing, when I touched it without thinking she didn't slap me, she smiled, which makes me like her more.
The Judge is a female Judge. She has been known to hate DCF, she held one of my former co-workers in contempt of court once. She has been known to chew case managers up and spit them out. She is intimidating, but she smiled at me several times this morning, and that puts me a little at ease.
The mother's private attorney is annoying. He has a high pitch voice and has objected to every question Jill asked this morning. At one point, I thought the judge would just tell him to shut up already, she over-ruled most of his objections, but I mean, if he is getting paid $250 - $500/hr, I would hope he would put up at lead 100 objections no matter how stupid (and most of them were) they are.
The morning went very slow, we only got a few witnesses in, an although I could not get to speak, I had to sit there to be the client for the attorney... Long day..
Jill takes me and the CPI to lunch, you probably do not know how cool that is, but let me just tell you, that is cool. Most attorneys have nothing good to say to you, let alone talk to you outside of court. Jill bought me lunch, it was a business lunch, but in my opinion it counted. At lunch we went over the CPI's testimony. Jill fulfilled my life long dream, she asked me to be her unofficial co-counsel, to make sure she does not skip anything in the CPI's testimony, she says "I'm good". I am more than excited, this has made my day. I make an outline and some notes for myself, Jill likes them so much she takes them to the stand with her... we sit there the whole day and analyze the mother's attorney's witnesses and crack knowing smiles at each other. Mom has not been the best mother, at all. This type of thing has excited me, it had made me breath heavier and makes my fingers tingle, I am loving every second of making argument points and talking between the CPI and attorney. Hoping the Judge sees it as plainly as we are, but there will be no decision made today in regards to the case. Finally, court is dismissed until tomorrow and I am a case manager again, no more co-counsel... Ah, until the next time I get to go to trial...

On the Job...

I was in a trailer park today looking for one of my children that has runaway. (Do not ask me about this case, I don't have anything good to say about it, yet) and as I was trying to locate a residence and talk to the people inside of it, a nice older man approaches me. The man is wearing a wife beater and shorts holding a cup with a "clear liquid" inside of the cup. The "clear liquid" certainly could have been water, but due to the man's lack of inhibitions and slurred speech, I believe it to be something else. The man walks up to me and proceeds to ask how he can help me (as if he the "the man" for the job) and then proceeds to hit on me, two of my favorite lines, as followed:

"Why are you not used to the heat, you are so hott!"...

me: (awkward) thanks... ( mother always said to say thank you whenever someone gives you a compliment)

"You know, if you asked me to marry you, even if I was blind, right now, I would say yes"

me: (awkward) Ok, thank you, I need to go, have a good day...

I. Love. My. Job...

Because I know you've been dying to know...

I will give quick update of our fun summer and its not even half way over yet!

At the end of June, we went to Amelia Island, the highlight of the week for me was sitting around the camp (no camp fire at least for this trip:)) and eating as we go on the many grilles! My sisters, Jen and Emily, did an amazing job of food prep, you girls are awesome, us Turners and Bounds' know how work as a team when it comes to preparing and eating food!

This is my niece, Savannah, I feel sorry for my kids, cause I don't know if they will be as cute as her, honestly!! haha! She's a firecracker of a child, such great personality, knows how to pose for a camera, and calls me LaLa, love her!!

Then comes fourth of July and celebrating our independence. Tim and I joined our amazing LifeGroup at one of our friends house for a home-made fire works show. And yes, there were duds in the bunch, and yes they did explode almost less then ten feet away from where we were standing. This is me and Ginger's (one of my good friends in the LifeGroup) reenactment of what we looked like after the explosion in our faces...

Finally, a couple of weeks ago (maybe two? they are running together so far) Tim called me and told me about some ducks that had been run over by a car. Only one survived, and we owned it for about an hour before an animal place told us they would take the duck. I kind of wish we could have kept it, I like the idea of having a small farm of animals...

And for your entertainment viewing, this it Tim, the ONLY husband that would hold the roman candles as they were supposed to shoot FORWARD, except for the dud he had gotten that shot backward, AT. HIM. I choose my battles wisely, this was one for some reason I chose not to fight, probably because I did not want to get shot by a firecracker...