A very belated Father's Day post

I LOVE MY DAD! I truly believe that I have one of the best Dad's out there. Without him in my life, I would have never become who I am today. (I wonder how he sleeps at night? :-D) He took care to raise us with an instilled fear of the Lord that helped me to grow into a faith and love of God that I can call my "own." He taught me by experience to work hard to pay off debt. He taught me to respect my elder's. He created in me my passion for camping, history, designing my own home, the smell of fresh earth and timber (he built homes and we would visit him on the job site), football and my Scottish heritage.

Though I am told I look exactly like my Mum, I believe I act a lot like my Dad. I have a strange and inane hatred for the telephone (which I am pretty sure he gave me), but it's a good thing. It allows me to be able to break free like other people can't. I tend to both think things through and do things on the spur of the moment which he definitely does. I am a complete introvert at heart, which I definitely got from him, but I work hard to combat it and step out of my comfort zone to be part of an "extrovert" life. I most definitely have his nose!!! (it's big :-D) I generally tend to hold my frustration and annoyance in until I reach a point where I can no longer do so, but I don't have a tendency to yell at all. I don't like to be told that I am wrong unless you can show me how I am wrong. Definitely qualities I get from him. To think of it, I don't know if I have ever even heard my Dad yell in anger or frustration. I have heard him yell to be heard above the work site and to get people's attention from a distance but HHHMMMM, yeah can't think of a time.

My biggest frustration with my Dad is that he refuses to see how great he is!!!! I fight every day to not feel like a failure because HE believes he has failed in raising his children which in turn conveys to me that no matter what I am doing it isn't enough and I am a failure. That is rather frustrating to deal with every single day. I mean none of us still live at home or rely on him to care for us. My brother is an amazing Marine and wonderful man, my sister is growing into her own person and learning how to do life, and I am living in my dream American city and soon to realize a whole nother dream. I mean SERIOUSLY!, I call that a man who has definitely succeeded.

Now that is not to say that at times things haven't happened that make life look bad but there comes a time when a parent has GOT TO REALIZE that they have taught their children to the best of their ability and that no matter what that child is still a human being with their own free will to make right and wrong choices. I mean seriously. It would be pretty sad if at the ages of 24, 25, and 27 my Dad was still teaching us right from wrong and disciplining us. NOW THAT would be utter failure.

At the same time, his utter refusal to accept success makes me fight even harder to do something that will make him realize what an awesome job he did and to say he is proud of me and what I have become. I hope that some day he will view me and his family as a success and in turn I will finally feel as if I have accomplished something in my life.

Things I remember doing with my Dad that I love:

Camping at Gettysburg
Camping in general
Highland Games
Snipe hunting
Job site visits
Pink things (Canada mints)
Spearmint leaves
Campfires
Family devotions at the table
Sunday nights playing boardgames and eating popcorn
Cookouts (master griller)
Long drives to Virginia
Vermont
Dirt Roads (he has a thing for finding at least one on any give trip we take)

"milestones"

I chopped off my hair on Wednesday night and I absolutely LOVE the result! It is so short, easy to care for and refreshing.





Today I finally paid off enough on my school loans to break under 12,000. I am so excited. While I was paying on them between school, it felt like all I was doing was paying interest and I wasn't seeing a reduction in the overall at all. Since being in school and getting my new job I have decided to continue paying on the loans though they are in forebearance. Because of this I am paying on the principal and not the interest and actually starting to see a reduction in how much I owe! I LOVE IT!! It makes me feel like there is hope and someday it WILL all be paid off. Yippee!!!!!!!!!!

verrry interesting *thoughtful skeptisism*

I am not sure if I 100% agree with this, but then I am not sure where I stand on theology anymore. Being from a Baptist upbringing and attending a Baptist College where theology has been shoved down my throat, I have found that theology is the grounds for a lot of division in the church.

I do know that I firmly believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that we are here on this earth to bring Glory to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I believe that without Them I am nothing. I believe that as a believer it is my duty and privilege to tell others about Them. I believe that the Church is a global body of believers and not a building where believers meet. I believe that God has granted us all gifts and we are to use them to glorify Him. I believe the Bible is 100% right and true.

As for the other things I choose at this point in my life to not deal with them. I don't believe that what you believe about the rapture and the millenium will make a difference to whether or not you will get into heaven. I also do not believe that being a Calvinist or Arminian makes a difference. The Bible specifically remains unclear about many things. Also it seems everyone who has a differing belief or opinion can each back it with Scripture.

Seems to me that this means we should spend less time fighting and arguing about who's right about what and more focusing on telling others about the awesome and amazing Grace of God.

You scored as Reformed Evangelical, You are a Reformed Evangelical. You take the Bible very seriously because it is God's Word. You most likely hold to TULIP and are sceptical about the possibilities of universal atonement or resistible grace. The most important thing the Church can do is make sure people hear how they can go to heaven when they die. Reformed Evangelical 61% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 57% Fundamentalist 57% Emergent/Postmodern 50% Neo orthodox 43% Classical Liberal 43% Charismatic/Pentecostal 36% Roman Catholic 21% Modern Liberal 11% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

My Bug-a-boo

My precious little Bug-a-boo
Happy Birthday you're TWO!!

I pray you'll grow in knowledge and grace,
And always learn to seek His face.

When push comes to shove
May you always show/know love.

How exciting that soon you'll be a big brother
And you'll get to be Mommy's extra special helper.

As you enjoy your toys, especially Thomas,
Know that this I solemnly promise....

Your Aunt Jo will always love YOU!!

Things to do today

___ Talk to a friend about getting a ride to the airport early Friday morn.
___ Write Aunt Karen in PA
___ Write Andee in Virginia
___ Write Kate in Iraq (I've been very bad about this) SORRY!!!!
___ Write Aunt Karen in Scotland
___ Finish writing discussion paragraph for the first part of this weeks assignment
___ Clean kitchen
___ Fold and put away clothes
___ Call Virginia State Police :-/
___ Read chapters 2 and 3 and take quizzes
___ Call Beth and Sarah

My Brother the Marine

I think that way too often I have taken for granted the fact that I have the best brother in the world and he came back to me and my family from Iraq not once but TWICE. I love him so very much and wish there was some way to express how much I love him and am so proud of him. He is an amazing man who overcame, what he was told were insurmountable obstacles, to become an extremely competent and respected United States Marine.

I also had the awesome opportunity to see my Grandfather honored on Memorial day this year. It was amazing and had me crying. My PopPop is WWII veteran who served his country with honor. He was honored by a local TV station in Southeast PA.

I also had the chance to be able to stop at Ft. Indiantown Gap National Cemetary and pay my respects to my Grandpop. He served in the Navy during WWII. Unfortunately he died before I ever discovered my passion for understanding the war and hearing my grandparents stories. I miss him and wish that I could have just one more day with him.

I know it's a little late but a great big THANK YOU to all our men and women who have served and are serving our Great Nation!