Windy Walk

Just a moment I wanted to share. Everyday when I come home from work, the first thing I do is take little Sting'em for a short walk down the street. We walk in front of a big tree just down the way from us. There are usually many leaves laying on the ground and on the road that have fallen from this tree. Sting'em usually likes to pick a leaf or two up and carry his new found possession back to our door. Yesterday, when I came home from church, it was very windy. Well, poor Sting'em didn't know what to do with himself , as there were many, many leaves blowing around him in the wind. He was chasing them frantically down the street, trying the catch them. He would capture one and drop it to chase another. I found myself laughing out loud. It was a pretty funny sight. I am glad that we have Sting'em, the little joy that he is.

80 Degrees and Beautiful

We have been enjoying the beautiful weather here in Florida. For the past few days it's been around 80 and just gorgeous outside. Our family, who has been on vacation, left the beach early to spend their last day with us before heading back to cold Ohio. We had a great day...a busy day. After lunch we all headed out on the boat to Lake Dalhousie. Lake Dalhousie is a lake near our house that we always go wakeboarding on. It is spring feed and at certain points you can see the bottom pretty clearly. We try to go as often as we can and it usually isn't too hard to find more than willing friends to go with us...the boat may even be the reason we have friends. Just kidding. Sting'em even loves to go out on the boat. He loves to lay there and bask in the sun- a true Florida dog. I had to cut the trip short to go home and start cooking for the missionaries. So Sting'em (who was ready to go back home and take a nap) and I headed back home while everyone else got to stay a play a little longer in the sun.

If it was up to our little dog, Sting'em, he would spend all day outside enjoying the sun.

After the boat and feeding the hungry Elders, we took the family over to see some of our friends, the Shofkoms, in our ward who own horses. Vanessa and Isabella, our nieces, had never ridden horses before, or at least not since they were very little. And us, now living in the "country" part of Florida, there are many horses around. So we finished out the evening riding their horses Logan, Sugar, and Dollar.

It was a wonderful day. We were very thankful that Jeff, Rita, Vanessa, and Bella were able to spend the day with us before heading back home to chilly Ohio...brrrrr.

Burning Hut

My wonderful visiting teacher-Debbie C.- came by last night to share her monthly message. I am so grateful for her. She is a wonderful person and I have the great privilege of serving with her in the YW presidency. She shared this poster from this month's Ensign. I just love this picture. I think sometimes we forget how much we are loved and looked after- I know that I am guilty of this. It just so happens that earlier that day,I received an email from my friend Melissa with a pretty amazing message. It was:

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, "God! How could you do this to me?" Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.
The Moral of This Story:It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground.

I must have really needed to hear this message, and I am so grateful for it. Life is very hard sometimes. We all go through trials and it is hard to understand why. A few weeks ago, I was having a very ruff week. I felt so horrible and wondered if I had been forgotten. Sometimes I dwell too much on what is lacking in my life and fail to see all the wonderful things that I am continually blessed with. I have an amazing and wonderful husband, who is my best friend in every way. There is really no one that I would rather spend my days with. I have the gospel in my life. I have an amazing family-both mine and my husband's. We have a beautiful home and all the comforts we could possibly ever need. I have a great calling that is so fun and brings me great joy- I love all my YW and I get to serve with great women. Plus, I get to work with my husband in church, since he is the YM president and I am the 1st counsellor in YW-we get to go to activities together, and I love that. Not to mention the cutest little puppy that loves to give little kisses when we get home from work. I have great friends. I am truly blessed. I just wanted to write this down...

Opening Day

Just a quick story I would like to share. My husband is basically obsessed with sports. He LOVES sports. Especially College Football and Baseball...but he'll pretty much watch anything. One time I was actually forced to watch a Curling Event. I know, weird. But anyways, today was officially Opening Day for MLB. Yes, very exciting for everyone. So last night, he was actually contemplating whether to wake up early to watch the first game at 6 AM (It was in Tokyo) or not! He probably would have if it was anyone other than the Red Sox-not really Greg's favorite team (he hates them with a passion). Well...he decided to not get up to watch the game when it started. But, sure enough when he got up at 7, the game was on. This is my life until October. Enjoy.

(I do love baseball too, Go Rays...but never at 6 AM)

Rainy Saturday

Yesterday we drove down to Palm Bay, where I grew up, to attend the annual Berger Family Easter Egg hunt. Of course praying that the rain would hold off for the hunt! (It was looking to be a dreary day). This has been going on every year since I was a kid. So we went down to see my family and good friends, and of course my niece, Mattie. She's two and a half and just about the funniest little person there ever was. It was so much fun. We got to dye eggs with the kids. And then we had the Easter Egg hunt. My friend Alex Berger (we grew up together) and I were put in charge of hiding the "Golden Egg" for the kids that are eight and older. The Golden Egg is what all the kids try their hardest to find beacuse it has money in it. We'll...we're pretty sneaky and decided to hide the egg at the bottom of the pool. Hey, don't think that we are cruel. When I was a kid I totally would have dove to the bottom of the pool for some money! Plus, we got permission from their parents. Anyways, it had to be one of the funniest things ever as Spencer and Adam Jarvis jumped into the pool at the same time, fighting for the Golden Egg!! Spencer was victorious! Poor Adam, he dove to the bottom to come up empty handed. All and all we had a great time. Sting'em even came along and swiped a few eggs from the kids. The kids had a blast with him and pretty much wore him out for the rest of the day.

We then drove up to Viera to meet up with Greg's family, who is in town this week for their Spring Break from Ohio. It was Greg's brother, Jeff, his wife Rita, and their two beautiful daughters (our wonderful nieces) Vanessa and Bella. Viera is where the Washington Nationals have Spring training. So we got to go to one of the last Spring training games before the season starts. They played the Braves. Of course we rooted for the Braves. Too bad they lost. Sad day. We still had a great time and it was good to see family. Lucklily for us the rain at least held off until the game was over. Even though the Braves lost it was still a great day. We even got to see a few players after the game as they came out. We got a pic of Chipper Jones. Can't wait for the seaon to start. Go Braves and Tampa Bay Rays!!!

Silly Puppy

So here we are. We have finally started a blog like everyone else in the world...we're a little late. Greg and I don't have any kids, it's "Just Us" for now. We do have a little mini dachshund. For now, he is the closest thing we have to a child. He does keep us on our toes. It's amazing how much like a kid he is. Sometimes when we go on walks he will stop and whine at me until I pick him up and carry him the rest of the way. He is perfectly content on being carried down the street back to our house. But the latest thing he has been doing is being a picky little eater. We have been trying to change his food from puppy food to adult food, seeing how he is almost 1. Well, at first he liked the new food. We are talking about top of the line dog food for this little guy. Only the best. Well, then he started to get picky. When I would give him his food in the morning and at night, he would walk over to it, sniff it, take some, then spit it out! Seriuosly spit it out onto the floor! Silly Sting'em. So today I had to go to the pet store to get him his old food. As soon as he saw that bag he started going crazy. Needless to say, he is finally eating again. I know, we're a little bit nuts about our little guy, but hey, when you don't have kids...