Interrupting the hiatus...

I'm such a sporadic blogger. I seriously think about blogging at least a couple of times a day...then by the time I get home from work it escapes me and I put it off for another day...Plus with the layout I have picked out I can't blog from my iphone...darn it! :(

My life has been anything but dull, though. Last month my sister Megan and her friend Cathryn flew down from Michigan to visit us for their spring break, and while they were here we took a little vacay to DISNEY WORLD! We did all four parks -- Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios -- in just four days. Holy exhaustion. But SO much fun. Here's a few pics:









We had SO much fun. Scott and I always said that we wanted to go to Disney before we had kids so we could do what WE wanted to do and then once we have kids take them and do the things THEY want to do. As we were walking around the parks, Scott and I kept turning to each other saying "I can't wait until we have kids so we can bring them here one day!" To see kiddos experiencing the magic of Disney was a big part of it being such a great trip.

Work has been good...A was pretty upset she couldn't come to Disney with us. I took Meg and Cathryn to say hi to them the day before we drove to Orlando, and A definitely tried to get in my car to come with us. Soooo cute. She got sad when we told her she couldn't go but then convinced her that her mom would miss her too much. :) She is also in a stage where she likes to wear four or five outfits a day with at least one of them being a bathing suit. M is quickly becoming all boy. He's 4 1/2, so I know he hasn't been a toddler for awhile, but I'm still shocked at how grown up he is. Last week was spring break for them, so I got some quality time with T and G too (they're usually in school while I'm there). We went to the playground and played Play-Doh and listened to heavy metal SpongeBob music (don't ask!). We had a pretty fun (and pretty un-exciting) week together...

So, as I'm typing this I have two pups leeched onto me. Cash is in my lap and Rosie could not be laying closer to me if she tried. I'll admit that I'm a little worried about when we have a baby. These two are used to being the babies. They are snuggly and needy most of the day. Our friends Jon and Rachel watched them while we were at Disney (thanks, guys!) and Rachel said that a lot of the time she had both dogs PLUS both of her kids (a toddler and an infant) on her lap all at the same time. WHAT A TROOPER. And what a glimpse into my future. :)

p.s. We're not pregnant. Yet. Not officially trying. But it will probably be soon. Yikes.

There's always a reason...

So, Monday is my piano lesson day...I drive over to Baxter Village and give lessons to four students who all live within about ten seconds of each other. Even though the kids didn't have school today, we still planned on doing lessons for all of them. To make a long story short, ALL of the lessons ended up falling through for one reason or another, with me finding out about the last remaining one WHEN I GOT TO THEIR HOUSE. Twenty minutes away. Their mom was very apologetic, and typically the first time I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to stuff like that. Thankfully, the trip was not a total loss...

I've started downloading sermons from Matt Chandler at The Village Church. I've been trying to listen to their podcasts when I have a substantial amount of time in my car by myself, just because I'm not usually in the service at Crosspoint and it's important for me to hear sermons every once in awhile. :) The sermon that I listened to in the car today was called "Two Great Temptations" and he talked about how the biggest temptations keeping us from God are not "bad things," but actually our families (putting them - especially kids - before Christ) and seeking happiness (rather than the true joy that comes from Christ). Although the kid issue doesn't really apply to me (yet), I realized how easy it is to focus on finding happiness in people and things rather than the joy that comes from walking hand-in-hand with Jesus. It was just a great, Biblical message about making sure God is the ultimate priority in our lives. So even though I made took a 45-minute drive today for no apparent reason (thankfully, with the Prius I didn't waste too much gas!) I really feel like I was supposed to go so I could spend a little quality time with God. And my prayer for my own life is that I would strive to pursue the joy for Christ rather than the happiness that things can bring.

On a side note, I've joined Weight Watchers with some friends, and I'm trying really hard to stick to my number of points. That may be easy to say since I've only been doing it since Saturday... ;) Tomorrow, I'm going to Zumba class with my friend Miranda, so hopefully that will kick my butt into gear a bit. I've always wanted to go, but I get anxious about doing things like that by myself the first time, so I'm glad I get to break the ice with a good friend! I just want to get into the best shape that I can so that whenever we decide it's time to start a family I can already have healthy habits established... :)

It's about bedtime...I'm going to fall asleep hoping that there will be SNOW on the ground tomorrow! Seeing snow on a regular basis is probably the thing I miss most about living in Indiana (except for the people that I love, of course!)...we got to see just a little bit when we were there for Thanksgiving, so I'm praying for a SNOW DAY! Plus, if the schools cancel, my boss is off from work, which means I may get to sleep in a bit...that's just a side benefit. ;)

My new endeavor...

So, for those of you who don't know, I am learning to play the hammered dulcimer -- and contrary to popular belief, it has nothing at all to do with alcohol. :) You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard that joke already...

For awhile now, I've been feeling the need to do something creative. I've played piano for years and years, and studied musical direction for theatre in college. Even after I graduated I played piano at my church until I moved to Lynchburg to be with Scott. After I moved, it all stopped...

Believe it or not, I was totally okay with that. I was suffering from an extreme case of burn-out. I had a passion for music and theatre, but when they became something that I had to do for hours and hours every day, it became tedious and I lost the love of doing it. It took about three years before I got that craving back. When I finally started really wanting to play again, Scott very graciously let me sit in on keyboards in the Crosspoint band...that was sooo much fun because it was a totally different type of music than I had ever played (contemporary worship music with the occasional secular song thrown in). It's fun to fill in, but my responsibilities with the children's ministry don't let me do it too often.

Then, this summer I found out from my friend Bridgette that she was moving from her one bedroom apartment into a room at her sister's house and she was worried she wouldn't have room for her stuff. She owns a hammered dulcimer that's in pretty great shape and when I mentioned that I thought it was a cool instrument she asked if I wanted to borrow it while she lives in Charleston. It worked out great for both of us -- one less thing for her to fit into her new room, and I could try it out without investing in an instrument.

Once we had a little money to spare for lessons, I contacted Susan, a dulcimer player from York, SC who teaches lessons. I just had my second lesson today, and I'm loving it so far. She's helping me develop my ear and not rely on written music as much, which for a visual learner like me is no small task. :) I'm attending a workshop at her house next weekend about arranging music that I think will be super beneficial. I have no idea where I'll ever play the dulcimer, but for now I'm just enjoying getting to know the instrument and fulfilling my neglected creative side... :)