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...

Puppy Love

So, as it is with all new puppies, we are now having to weigh our options for obedience school. Our adoption place highly recommended so, and now that Riley is getting comfortable with using our apartment as his own personal chew toy, obedience classes look like a good idea.

But the one thing that I am conflicted about, is the beauty that I find in this little guy, NOT being perfect. I kind of think its funny when he plays tug of war with me when he is on a leash and I am taking him for a walk. I like it that he is the only dog at the obedience intro class that barked and whined the entire time because he wanted to play with the other dogs. I just love his little rebelousness, I find it endearing. So, we probably will do obedience school for the dog, but part of me hopes he won't stay obedient all the time...

When two people love each other very much...

And want to start a family, but can't because they want to wait to get a house and can't get a house because they have heinous amounts of college loan debt... They GET A DOG!!!

This is Tim, making sure that the cage we bought for the dog is not too big, and yes he did go all the way inside to check...

The adoption place calls him Mookie, but we will probably rename him, probably with something to do with aviation, because that is how we roll here.

If you have any name suggestions, we are open!!

He already knows to smile for the camera!!

I know he looks bewildered here, but he had a long day, and he is still shocked from leaving his home. And yes, I know he is not a dachshund or a beagle, please try to forgive us for stepping out! But we love him and you should come down to see him, with your puppy (ies)!!

A Brilliant Weekend

You might be wondering why I labeled this weekend a "brilliant" one since we (and that I mean, the state of Florida) rained, in fact it rained so much, we have had record breaking rain without need of a Hurricane. Terrific! However, I believe it was a brilliant weekend for the following:

1. We got to spend Saturday, first shopping with my sister, which I bought three pairs of shoes, and then I got to share with my wonderful sister one of my favorite stores. I was delighted to find that no only did she like the store, she loved it, so I get to share some shopping love with my sister.

If you could just ignore my facial expression, the outfit my sister is wearing is one she bought, I love it, but much more, I love her and shopping with her!

2. We then went to Lake Eola which I rarely get to do, especially with my husband and others. It was fun, and we saw probably the biggest swan, EVER. I almost wish Savannah would have been here to look at the Quack Quack, but I think she would have freaked. When this swan "honked" it sounded like a fog horn, no lie.

As you can see, it was probably the size of a 3-5yr old? Well, anyway, it was large, and I kind of felt sorry for it, due to there being no other large swan playmates for it.

I was not going to volunteer to be the swan's playmate... just photographer.

3. We did the Great Date Experiment with Jennifer and Joey, they blogged about it very much more in detail, so I will let you read my sister's blog to get the full experience.

4. My final point, but maybe my most "brilliant" point of the weekend, was Sunday school. I have an amazing teacher who loves the Lord, and might be related to us somehow because he cries when he starts to talk about what the Lord has done in his life, and if anyone comes to the Bounds/Turner Christmas Eve party, there is some cryin going on in "share time." But I digress, so we were talking... well, let me rephrase that, here is what I got out of the lesson, because I stopped listening to the teacher at one point, due to God starting to talk to me at another. We read a piece of scripture where the Lord is talking to Moses, and Moses says, "Who shall I say sent me?" And the Lord replied, "I AM that I AM sent you." And I mean, I've grown up in church and for some reason, that phrase stuck with me, this Sunday. And I think it is because I get now how much that really means. God is an exsisting state of EVERYTHING, He is constantly, continually, forever it. I will give some examples (as a disclaimer, these are just some that came to my head, not all of them are exactly for me, they could be examples for you!)

Lord, I'm hurting right now I need a comforter! I AM your Comfort.
Lord, I'm broke and in need of finances, I need provision! I AM your Provider.
Lord, I am sick and I need healing! I AM your Healer.
Lord, I am discouraged, I need encouragement! I AM your Encourager.
Lord, I feel like a failure, I need you! I AM right here Always.

The list goes on, what aspect, what kind of God do you need??? He is perpetually everything you need constantly, He has literatlly never changed. God knew that Moses was going to present himself to a people that had been crying out to the Lord for 500 years or so. God was saying, he was there for them, He IS there for them, and He will always be there for them. When the people were crying out, Lord are You there? His answer through Moses was I AM.

I wish I could convey how deeply touched I was by the Lords message. Mainly because I feel like a failure a lot, and I wonder many times if he sees me struggling, plodding, falling down, wishing, dreaming, and praying my way through my faith (or unfaith at some moments, to be honest) And His answer came Sunday, not in a whisper but in a definate unshakable answer of: I DO see you, I AM Here. Just Brilliant.