Merry Celebration of Our Savior's Birth!

Yes, it has been since June since I last blogged! Yikes...sorry!

Well, it has been a year of rejoicing and HOPE- with its share of struggles and sadness, as any year has. This will sum up the year for all my dear friends and family!

January -

Nephew #2, Caleb turned 15!

Nothing else too notable occurred in this month...I can't remember anything anyway :)

February -

Volunteered to help at a Biblical Counseling Training Conference that is held annually at our church. This year I am actually going to attend!!!

My sister, Pam, had surgery to put an end to her cancer...for that we are grateful!

Please pray for her as she continues to have some health challenges.

March -

Started to mentor a young lady at our church's residential treatment center. It was a time of growth for both of us. I had opportunity to sit in on her counseling sessions each week and felt like I was being counseled often myself! Unfortunately, this young lady left in rebellion in October but it was not wasted time. I pray that the teaching she received at Vision of Hope will continue to stay in her mind and heart.

April -

Celebrated Our Savior's resurrection at Kyra and Nate's new house! We played games and enjoyed a great time together - as usual!

May -
Our church experienced a great tragedy with the loss of a mother and her two young children in a house fire on the night of May 15th. Hardly a day goes by that I do not think of Leah, Sophia and Harrison - and the husband, father (Brian) they left behind. I had the privilege of teaching Sophia and Harrison in Sunday School. We grieve but also rejoice for we know where they are today - each confessed Jesus Christ as their Savior, so we know they are in Heaven today.

Rounded out a great year with my students! I'm so grateful for the job that I have that I REALLY enjoy. I am often overwhelmed with the incredible opportunity I have to reach these young lives.
June -

My friend, Melissa and I took an FABULOUS trip to Hawaii! We took a 7-day cruise to visit four different places. It was relaxing and very enjoyable! To read more about that in detail - you can see an older post I did :)

I also taught the Kindergarten group in Vacation Bible School. Noah went with me again this year and enjoyed his time with his buddy Jackson!

My youngest nephew, Daniel turned 5! For the first time I got to take him out to lunch at Wendy's (his favorite!), a movie and to choose is gift! (I do this with each of my nephews)

July -

Pam, Connor, Caleb, Noah, Daniel and I went to Pennsylvania to visit family and friends! It was a fun trip as usual - we went to Hershey Park, had homemade ice cream, corn on the cob, Dutch Blitz, and much more!!!

Nephew #3, Noah turned 11! I took Noah and his buddy Jackson to Tropicanoe Cove water park! They had lots of wet fun!

For the second year in a row I went to Kentucky Lake in Murray, KY with my brother-in-law's side of the family. It was a wonderful relaxing week - they always make me feel like a part of the family!

August -

Started my fourth year at Nora Elementary School. I began with smaller classes (20 and 21). I am now up to 24 and 25. The two classes are VERY different! They are making very good progress and I am excited to see where they will go from here! It is again a very diverse group of kiddos- which I LOVE!

On August 14th we remembered the fourth anniversary of my parents' deaths. I am glad that I am often so busy on this date so I do not have a lot of time to focus on it. My friends always do something with me in the evening so I don't wallow :) This year Melissa, Kathy and I spent the evening with Pam and the boys at the Indiana State Fair. It was a special evening as usual. I am grateful for the opportunities I have had to share my testimony of how God's grace. love, faithfulness and provision have changed me through the loss of my dear, dear parents. They are missed every day - but not without hope.

On August 16th we remembered my fourth nephew, Jonah, that we were not able to get to know - as we lost him even before he was born. I bet Jonah and his grandpas and grandmas are having a fun time! I can't wait to meet him!

September -

Celebrated a milestone birthday for my brother, Sean with a surprise birthday party by his wife, Debbie. (The party was actually late in August - but his b-day is Sept.1)

Noah played his first season of football! They even made it to the championship game!

My Sunday School class had its annual retreat at Camp Tecumseh! It was time to get to know my friends better!

October -

Began to mentor another young lady at Vision of Hope. Please pray for her as she experiences challenges and for me and her counselor as we help guide her to truth.

November:

Nephew #1, Connor turned 18! Very, very hard to believe! Connor also found out that he was accepted to Indiana University with a $5000/year scholarship! His Aunt Jodi is exceedingly proud of him!

Celebrated Thanksgiving at Kyra and Nate's house - my team even won Trivial Pursuit!

Our church was offered to buy a piece of land on Purdue University's campus to build a Biblical Counseling Center - to offer free biblical counseling to Purdue students. It is prime property that faces Mackey Arena and Ross Ade Stadium - where Purdue's basketball and football teams play. We are excited about what this will become with God's help!

December:

Went to Yuletide Celebration with the Indianapolis Symphony with Rose, Lori and Melissa. It was great to be able to spend time with them!

Celebrated my 36th birthday with my friends. Lunch with friends, The Blindside and our church's Living Navitity.

Served at our Living Nativity and Christmas For Everyone (gift distribution for needy families).

Excited that our Indianapolis Colts are 14-0! Could it be another Super Bowl year?! We hope so!

AND A GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFT: Sean and Debbie got a referral on December 17th for the adoption of a baby girl in Ethiopia! We are so excited! Miriam Tseganesh Miller will join our family, Lord willing, in 3-4 months. She will be a year old by then. Baby Miriam was named for my mom. Tseganesh is her Ethiopian name which means Grace - "She has been found". Tseganesh was the name given to her by the police officier that found her. Miriam is my first niece and I have to admit there is a package under my tree for her - those little girl clothes are hard to resist! I can't wait to get to know her!!!!

AND OUR GREATEST CHRISTMAS GIFT EVER: We celebrate the birth of our Savior - Jesus Christ! Our only hope! This year has been a great time of growth for me. I have learned how to trust him more. I am learning more what it means to have faith in the birth, life, death and resurrection of my Savior - and what it means to trust in the removal of my sinfulness and the gift of His righteousness. It is really quite unfathomable and seems impossible - but His blood was enough to satisfy God's wrath.

My prayer for those who read this Christmas blog is that you too will find love, peace, faith and trust in Jesus Christ - our Only Hope!

(Some books that I have read that have helped me grow in Christlikeness are Trusting God by Jerry Bridges, Because He Loves Me and Comforts from the Cross both by Elyse Fitzpatrick AND OF COURSE THE BEST BOOK - God's Word.)

God bless you all!

Hawaii 2009 !!!!!!

Yes, I've been traveling again! The surprising thing is that I hadn't been in an airplane since my trip to France in 2007! Sad, I know!

I am going to chronicle the trip day by day...I'll spare you too many details but I will add a picture for each day :) (The pictures for each day are below the daily description.)

Day 1 - Melissa and I got up bright and early at 3:45 AM! The early hour was softened by the knowledge of where we would be at the end of the line :) We flew through Salt Lake City and arrived in Honolulu at 2:00 (they are 6 hours different than EST). We rented a car and Melissa drove us to Waikiki. Our hotel was a couple blocks from the beach. I was so exhausted but in order to overcome the time change Melissa MADE me stay awake until 8:00 :) We walked to the beach to look at it :) and we did a little bit of shopping...

Day 2 - We got up early-ish and went to Pearl Harbor...This was a neat, yet sobering experience to hear about that horrible day in US history. We visited the memorial for the USS Arizona, toured the USS Missouri and the Bowfin submarine.

We arrived at the port to board our cruise ship at about 3:30. Let the fun begin! We spent a good portion of the afternoon on the deck by the pool...rough times! We did have to take a break to do the mandatory drill on the ship. Those life jackets are so cool...just kidding!

Day 3 - First stop - Maui! We had a shore excursion on this day to the Haleakala Crater. We took the bus up 10,000 feet with some switch back turns! Boy was it cold and windy up there! The colors of the crater are beautiful! After we returned to sea level :), we spent some more time by the pool and walked into town before dinner. Melissa had to buy some Pepsi in town. It was cheaper there than on the ship.

Day 4 - Second day in Maui. We had another shore excursion on this day. We went on a rainforest/waterfall hike! Melissa was skeptical about this one at first but I insisted we go :) We had a great time seeing the things in the rainforest and being able to swim by the waterfalls. Our guide Helga was great and showed us a lot of really neat stuff - pineapple plants, flowers, banana trees, coconut trees, etc. More time by the pool when we returned :) We had another yummy dinner on board the ship that night! I believe this was the night we had lobster for dinner...yum yum! We went to different shows on the ship almost every night. I think this was the night we got to see an improv group called "Second City". They were hilarious! We left port that night for Hilo - on the big island.

Day 5 - Hilo, Hawaii - on the big island. Before we left home we had decided not to do an excursion here. Instead we took a taxi into the town and did a little shopping. I found a couple of mango wood vases that look great in my bedroom and bathroom! Being the adventuresome girls that we are, we decided to walk a little ways back toward the ship instead of calling the taxi to come and get us right away. It was SO hot walking back and wouldn't you know...there wasn't a pay phone around to make a call! We took a break on the back at a little beach. We finally found a pay phone after that. I felt like I owed the taxi driver my first born child because I was so grateful to not have to walk anymore! Everyone kept telling us that Hilo is usually overcast and rainy but it was a very sunny day. Again, (are you noticing a trend?) we spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool! We left port that evening to head to Kona. On the way to Kona at night, we went past an active lava flow. It was absolutely incredible to see the the lava spilling into the ocean! Of course no picture could ever do it justice! I think I said wow about a million times!

Day 6 - Kona, Hawaii - on the big island. Here we the ship couldn't dock because the water was too shallow so they "tendered" us in using the lifeboats. We had another excursion scheduled for today. We went 100 ft underwater on the Atlantis submarine. The crew on the submarine were very funny and made the trip underwater very enjoyable. On our way out we saw a pod of dolphins playing in the water! After getting back to shore we were surprised to find it raining. Unlike Hilo, Kona is usually very sunny...hmmm. Seems like they got their locations mixed up. It rained all day...so we made the most of it by doing some more shopping :) We were anxious to get back to the ship to get something to eat early afternoon at one of the many restaurants onboard the ship. I don't recall actually having my stomach growl throughout the trip! Plenty of food was available! Of course we ate dinner not too long after that!

Day 7 - First day in BEAUTIFUL Kauai! I am so glad that we didn't have any excursions planned here on the first day. We rented a car here and enjoyed driving around the island seeing different things. It didn't take long to get from one place to another. We got to see a couple of different waterfalls, took a riverboat cruise to see the Fern Grotto and FINALLY we got to spend some time on the beach. This island is what you think of when someone mentions Hawaii. It was beautiful, there is not doubt about that!

Lucky me, lobster was served for dinner again tonight! Melissa opted out as she did the last time :) We did enjoy the food of course...it was fun to be able to order an appetizer, a main entree and a dessert...more than one of each if we wanted to :) and it was already paid for!

Day 8 - Second day in Kauai. Another excursion planned for today to see the Grand Canyon of the Pacific - Waimea Canyon. This was a really interesting excursion...we saw one of the places where Jurassic Park was filmed, were awed by the canyon, saw the Spouting Horn (a blow hole) and a sea turtle! Melissa and I were always almost the last ones back on the bus because we wanted to enjoy each thing as long as possible! Just to imagine that One, True God who created these things is stronger than the surge of the waterfall or the waves crashing on the rocks....it was almost overwhelming! I feel priviledged to have experienced it. We kept talking about what else we would see if we every have the opportunity to return to Kauai.

We had to be back on the ship early because the ship was taking us by the Napoli Coast that afternoon. This is a place that can only be accessed by air or sea. Other parts of Jurassic Park were filmed here. We got a nice spot on deck to await seeing the Coast - it took several hours. As we were viewing the coast from the deck we saw dolphins jumping by the ship! The two days in Kauai were definitely the highlights of our trip for me! I have posted several pictures for this last day!

Day 9 and 10 - Traveling Day :( It was hard to leave our home away from home. It was a long trip home and I do not sleep well on planes but the memories of our trip made it a bit more tolerable. Let's just say I was really happy to see my comfy couch when I got home! We are looking forward to our next trip there :) whenever that may be!

Time Flies!

I've been meaning to post this for awhile...
I was doing permanent files for my students the day after school was out and I looked at each name and thought..."Hey, didn't I just meet these kids?" It was a great year and those little kiddos learned so much! God is good :) Just had to share!

Race for the Cure

In honor of my sister I walked in the Race for the Cure today with my friend Kathy and her mom and sister. It was neat to see about 40,000 people out there to support breast cancer awareness and to raise money for the cause. It was incredible to see the number of people affected by breast cancer as well - lots of survivors and people walking in honor of survivors or in memory of those who didn't win the battle. Praise the Lord that research has come a long way! Thanks for all who supported my walk!

Finally we made it to the starting line!

A sea of people in pink!

We walked past the zoo and the elephant was even in the pink spirit!

We made it to the end! Thanks Amy, Kathy and Patti for helping to walk in celebration of my sister!

Who would have guessed?! Pink porta-potties!

Kathy had to have her picture here too :)

Easter 2009

We had great Easter at my cousin Kyra's house. The kids enjoyed the Easter egg hunt - made a tradition by my mom :) I didn't go overboard on eggs this year though :) We also had to have our traditional Trivial Pursuit game. My team actually won and I contributed to a few answers belive it or not!

Landen and Cheesy-Smile-Daniel

Anti-Social Caleb :)

Noah with Debbie and her new dog

Wade! Don't steal Landen's candy!

Look at those cute cousins!

Let the game begin!

So cute :)

Noah and Aunt Jodi :)

Children's Museum

Over my Spring Break Pam and I braved taking three of the boys to the Children's Museum. Although it was crowded we had a fun time! Daniel had never been there before so everything was new to him. I would definitely like to go back again when it isn't so busy!

Poor Daniel was the only one of us without long sleeves and we had to wait outside. I let him borrow my coat :) What cute boys!

Noah at the water place

And here's Daniel :)

Noah acting like a weirdy :)

Daniel wasn't too sure about this guy :)

What a Day!!!

Its five days until Spring Break so one would expect things to be a bit crazy at school. With an exhausted teacher and 24 Kindergartners that would be expected. Well the expectation did not disappoint. The kiddos were pretty needy today wanting to tell all kinds of stories when it really wasn't a great time to do so :) Don't get me wrong...they are always needy and I do like their stories but my exhaustion didn't help my attitude :/ Anyway, the day held a lot of "Maestra, maestra!" (that's teacher in Spanish by the way) and "Teacher, teacher!" (for my non-spanish speakers). But at the end of the day is when things got a bit more hectic than I would have liked. One of my students had an "accident" that he couldn't take care of on his own so I got to do help. Oh joy :) To be honest, I have NEVER had to clean up a kid in my 12 years of teaching. I'm pretty sure I could have gone a lot longer not doing that! Then, while I was helping him another little girl was outside the door waiting to go...and well, we must have taken a bit too long if you know what I mean. All of this happened at 2:00 and the kids leave at 2:15. Yeah...I was actually kind of amused by it all. It definitely gave me some good perspective :) I am so thankful that isn't what a normal day looks like and I'm VERY grateful that the ESL teachers that were in the room could handle the other kiddos while I was "occupied". God truly has a sense of humor!

CANCER FREE!

Just wanted to report some GREAT news! My sister Pam is cancer free now! We are praising the Lord and looking forward to things getting back to somewhat "normal" in the next few months. God has been gracious. Please pray for Pam as she continues to recover from surgery. Thanks for all your prayers!

Christmas 2008

Christmas was a great time of getting together with family this year! I am so grateful for my wonderful family! Through the many difficult things we have faced together our God has seen us through.

The first Christmas was at my house with Pam and Sean's families on December 20th:

Playing a game - well, I was playing too. I was the red pawns. If you look closely, you'll see none of them are out. That's why I had time to take the picture!

Do you know how long it takes to get them all to sit nicely for a picture!

Daniel had to have some "Buckley time"!

Daniel and Debbie :)

Christmas #2 at the Schoonveld house on Christmas day. I didn't have time to take many pictures during the actual unwrapping sinc my job is to de-shrink wrap the DVD's and remove all of the toys from Daniel's boxes!

Daniel informed me that he likes to smile like this :) I think he just might possibly get that from me!

Okay, so I think this proves that he does!

Who said that they could grow up anyway?!

Daniel was trying out some WiiFit moves while he jumped on his new trampoline.

Christmas #3 at my cousin's house on January 3rd. Kyra and Nate moved into their beautiful new home on my birthday (December 13). It looks great! Not everyone could join us that day (Pam and Debbie were not feeling well and Brian P. had a tournament to go to). But we did have a great time playing games - like old times - even though we wish EVERYONE could have been there.

Sean, Brian and Shane are having some indepth financial conversation. Brian looks like he doesn't agree with Sean :)

John and Connor

Kristen and Landen - another growing boy!

Helen, Aunt Jo and Venessa

Shane and Jake

Noah

I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas with your families too!