A Long Lost Update(s)

Well, since my trip to California in 8/06 a bit has happened. I took a few graduate classes at Maranatha for Biblical Counseling and they were a blessing. Then we decided to move to a new apartment on Halloween (10/31). Our new apartment is great. I love it. It is bigger and has a washer and dryer IN the apartment. We now have a garage and plenty of room to store all of our junk. There is also more room for Clarence to run around.

These pics are of my Christmas village and tree.

For Christmas Ralf came up to visit for 3 weeks. It was a blessing to have him here with us, even if he did talk to Adria almost the entire time. =) He did help me clean and organize the apt while he was here (as seen in the pic on the left).

While he was here, he was trying to be a blessing to a family moving in to our apartment complex and dropped a brick on his toe and broke it. The first pic is of his toe when he came home bleeding all over the place and I was trying to clean and bandage it. I could not get the bleeding to stop so we went to Urgent Care and found out that when he dropped the brick he split his TOE wide open and cracked the toe bone!! (As pictured in the second pic as the doc is suturing up his toe and sewing his toenail back on. Sick!)

On December 31, 2007 my friend Sarah and her husband Jerry had a baby girl, Emily Jane Chappell!

Ummmm.... In January I had a doctor's appointment and they discovered that I have a cyst in my thyroid gland. I had to have a nuclear thyroid scan to see if it was malignant or benign and it is benign PTL! Then the youth group went on a ski trip to Cascade Mt. and for the 3rd time skiing ever, it was fun. There wasn't a lot of snow so I couldn't snow plow very well and became fearful and quit a little early. After skiing we had an all-nighter at the church with the teens, eating, playing games, playing video games, watching "Cars" and then finishing by eating prepared by Chef Karen Robotti! Ummm........

In January I also took a trip to Chicago with Chef Karen and kids. We drove to Chicago, a first for Karen and kids, and ate lunch at the 7 story Market Place mall and then went to the Apple Store to look at computers. Then we went took the kids to Shedd Aquarium. Good Times!

In February we got quite a bit of snow. Just take a look. It covered the bushes!! I think that we got about 12 inches or more all together. It just started snowing and didn't stop. Morning church was even cancelled for road safety. I have never even had a snow day @ Maranatha! I was able to make my 2nd snowman ever with my friend Karen and her kids, my favorite kids ever!

The day of the incoming snow storm we had the Wisconsin Youth Conclave. Brian Trainer was the evangelist who spoke. If you click on the link above you can download some of the messages from the conclave. Mr. David Hockman spoke on Walking in Light of the Cross and it was a great blessing and reminder.

In March it was Pastor and Mrs. David Smith's 12 year anniversary @ Gethsemane Baptist Church in Long Beach, CA. I also took a weekend trip to IN to see some long lost friends. First I traveled to the Terra Haute area to see the lovely newly-weds Jeremy and Julie. They are doing very well. Their new portable home is very nice and very accomodating. I stayed the night with them. The next morning, after the time change and the change from CST to EST I travelled to Indianapolis area to see Troy and Charity. I have not seen them both since I was in their wedding in 1/03. The lived in the UK since they got married and just moved back to the states. Troy is a youth/assistant pastor at a church in Zionsville, IN. He and Charity are both doing very well, and Praise the Lord, faithfully serving Him too! I attended their church, Mts Runn Baptist Church, and was able to be there for the prayer of dedication to the ministry there. After church we went to lunch and got to have some very good fellowship after so many years. Pray for them as they get settled here in the states and start purchasing various items that they either had to sell before coming back here or broke on the way here.

--After lunch with the Adams I proceeded back

to CST to see my friend Neema. She teaches English @ Fairhaven Baptist Academy. I went to church with her @ Fairhaven and then drove back home for a grand total of 900 miles in 1 1/2 days!! A definite record for me. Through the 900 miles I was able to stop @ 3 Starbucks!! Yeah!

March was a busy time for birthdays. Our friends, the Robotti's have 3 of 4 birthdays in March.

First there was a party for my favorite boy, John-John who turned 2!!!

Second was a party for my favorite girl Alyssa. She turned 5!!

Chef Karen Robotti @ work yet again!!

Third was a party for Greg who turned 19!! =)

Fourth was the birth of Elijah Ronald Caucutt.

In March I went to the WFBC Ladies Retreat held @ Northland Baptist Bible College.

It was a blessing to be with various ladies from the church and get to know them better. The Lord really blessed me through the main speaker, Jen Janz.

The Lord has really blessed her with a great speaking ability. She taught the Word of God with ease and strength conveying our absolute need for it in our lives and to be lived out in our lives. The Lord really helped me to get back focused on Him and His will for my life instead of me and what I want. Praise the Lord for his goodness and forgiveness.

In March we also went to all-night laser tag

with the teens! That was a very fun first for me. We went with some teens from a few other churches and met together for a message from the Word and then to Laser Tag!! It was a little hard to catch onto right away, or at all for that matter. I can't play worth a lick but I had a good time. I also met a very nice man @ McDonald's named Zell. He distributed much sustinance for our teens and coffee for me to stay awake.