Happy Birthday, Sam!

I was hoping for a fun picture to of Sam to share, 

but no such luck!

This will have to do . . . 

 

Thankful Thursday!

Wednesday had been a long day at our house and by Wednesday night, I had had it!  Micah had been home from college for one full week and I was done.  She had done absolutely nothing towards helping with the yard or the house or looking for jobs.  My bottom line was, if she couldn't pay for it, she wasn't go back to North Central in the fall.

Fast forward to Thursday night.  Micah and I were going to a meeting at St. Paul College to learn about their culinary arts/baking program.  I stopped by the computer to find the room number where we were meeting . . . and there it was . . .

A job offer from Cub Foods to Micah for a part-time cake decorator job!  She had actually interviewed last week.  A portion of her interview was to decorate six cupcakes and two cakes, but she didn't know she was being timed.  She had been decorating toward beautiful, not fast.  She was sure she didn't get the job!

But she did!  And for that I am so thankful - for more reasons than one!  Congrats to you, Micah!  

Two Men and Microwave

A few weeks before his birthday (April 16), Dad said he was having problems with his microwave.  When I called him back on his birthday, he said it worked just fine!  No problems!

Fast forward one week and it was dead.  So I talked to my sister and we agreed, "Happy Birthday, Happy Father's Day and Merry Christmas!"  We were getting Dad a new microwave.  Like he said, it wasn't that he really needed one, but he sure did enjoy using it!

Last week, Micah and I bought a microwave and on Sunday, she and Sam went down to install it.  Sam said what should have been a one hour activity, stretched in to three.  But Dad is happy and my sister owes us some money!

Only at Sand Creek

I pulled into Sand Creek this morning three minutes ahead of schedule.  I put out the sign and went up to the welcome center.  Obviously, I was the first one there, so I got out the Bob Cat and the gear, knowing Tim was most likely running late which would be par for the course.  Ten minutes later, I gave Tim a call.  No answer.  I gave Duane, the owner, a call.  He said he'd be right there.  Just as Duane pulled in, Tim called.  He was on a youth retreat with his kids from church and had no idea he was supposed to work.  So that left Duane and I and another wonderful day at Sand Creek.  

Let me just share two quick "shoot-the-dog's" from the day:

1. Duane was going down the slide on platform three when BAM!  He realized he had forgotten to unhook his safety tether!  All I can say is that had to have hurt.  I helped pull him back up the slide, unhooked his tether, and sent him back down . . .
2. Maybe it was just a bad day on platform three because our other incident happened there, too.  One of our guests (who knew no one else in the group) came out on to the platform as I was hooking up Ben.  "I'm sorry.  You can't be out here without a safety tether."  "I need to take a picture."  "I'm sorry.  You can't be out here without a safety tether."  "I work for the Star/Tribune and I am going to take a picture."  "Not without a safety tether . . . "  Arg!  You'll be glad to know I won the battle . . .

Otherwise, it was a lovely day.  Lots of zips.  Lots of sun.  Lots of fun people.  No tips, not even chocolate.  

Sunshine

For those of you not in the know, there is more than one kind of sunshine!  Yup, you've got the sun God gave us and it definitely shines.  Then you've got the sunshine that comes from the cow - more commonly known as "manure" - and it definitely stinks!  Unfortunately, yesterday the farmer next to Sand Creek was doing what we call "spreading sunshine on his fields" in Northwest Iowa which simply meant our high ropes course STUNK!!!

Only at Sand Creek . . .

I knew something was up at Sand Creek today when I pulled in to find our parking lot filled with men vaping and smoking.  It turns out my group was from the Recovery Academy, a comprehensive, highly individualized recovery program for young adult males who struggle with finding sobriety from drugs and alcohol.

They looked a bit scary initially - after all, they were all bigger than me.  But fun - oh, my goodness yes!  And encouraging to each other!  And hard working!  I thoroughly enjoyed them, even though they taught me a lot of new words!  And they managed to use God's name in vain far too much . . . but I am called to be light in the darkness and to love all God's children . . . 

Today's tip?  They shared their chocolate with me!  All is well!

Thankful Thursday!

Yesterday was rather a rough day with one bright spot - Micah had a job interview at Cub for a part-time cake decorator!  Since that is her passion, we were quite excited for her.  She went to the interview at 3 and never came home.  Cub is only five minutes away and yet she didn't come home until 4:30 p.m.  I had begun to wonder . . . 

She thought the interview went well.  While she was there, they had her decorate two cakes and six cupcakes.  Sadly, no one told her it was a timed interview.  She did her best to make everything gorgeous when what she needed to do was meet a certain time . . .

So while I was thankful she had the interview, I will be even MORE thankful if she gets the job!  In fact, any job would be good . . .