I think this is the longest I've ever gone without posting . . . its kind of odd. I keep forgetting that I need to post, sorry!!!

Anyway. Thanksgiving is tomorrow!!!!! (I don't know why I'm excited, all I should eat is turkey.) But my grandparents are here, that's always entertaining. And I'm home until Sunday - which is definitely happy news!!!! AND I not only got to have my best friend come home with me for a while yesterday, but the two of us got to go get my other best friend from the airport!!!! Good times!!!!!

As far as the past month . . . I've been home every weekend, which makes it kind of difficult to study a lot. Last weekend was our annual MPM Retreat, and that was fun. We heard happy news (YAY for Rufus Kumquat the 3rd!!!!) and went door to door on Saturday morning; the rally went really well and it was REALLY great to be at MPBC once again - I missed it!!! Sunday night was fun (singing with Doug and Corinne) and the food was pretty good (Baptists sure do know how to do Thanksgiving!) This week was short (we only had two days of classes) and that was DEFINITELY a happy thing!!!!

In other news - still looking for guidance and direction. Praying for those who ask for it, still willing to know more.

Trivia - YES Lesa!!!!!!! And yay Google!!!!!

New question - what 7 partners just joined together to build a fusion testing plant in France?

Love to all!!!!!
Skippy

What is this? The Andrea and Brady show? Doesn't anyone else have some input???

Correct Brady!!!!!! Angel Falls in Venezuela is the highest waterfall in the world.


Well, we're full swing into basketball...okay maybe half swing. We had a Women's Basketball tournament this weekend: three days, four teams, six games, 18 hours on the time card. Our girls did pretty well, and we were mostly injury free until tonight.

We have a tournament just after Thanksgiving, but that's it for the month of November - which is SUPER exciting because it means I might be able to concentrate on only 10 things instead of 12 for once.

Home is interesting as ever, I really will have a nice long blog about the whole story the first week in December. Until then, just keep praying.

Which brings me to another point - prayer request.
I have several, but I've shortened it down to this: I need some guidance and reassurance from God about everything that's going on and where He wants me to be headed. If you think to pray for me, I would greatly appreciate it.

And again - if you have anything you would like me to pray about, just let me know and I'd be glad to do so!!!!

New trivia!!!!!! Africa has three 'great' lakes - what are they?

Love to all from the beautiful Simpson bubble,

Skippy

P.S. Duane-n-ator - you called me General the other day on the phone - does that mean I get another promotion?

Delayed for reasons out of my control.

I really REALLY would have posted on Wednesday, but Blogger wouldn't let me. And I have tried several times since then, and FINALLY today it let me on.

So there's my excuse. Deal with it.

K. Updates on the home front - life is interesting. That's all I'm saying. I'll fill ya'll in later.

Updates from the school front - Soccer is OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I managed to survive through Midnight Madness!!!! Yay God for strength and patience and factors out of my control!!!!!!!!!!!

Updates on . . . another front - I got glasses!!! Oh wait, I told you all that. Well, you'll just have to wait for me to have a cute picture and then I'll put it up. Maybe.

Trivia answer - Yes dear Andrea!!!! That is correct!!!!! The Great Antilles are made up of four islands, five nations. Haiti and the Dominican Republic share an island, then you have Jamaica, Cuba and Puerto Rico which is actually a dependent and not an independent state.

New Trivia: the highest water fall in the world is?????????

Love to all from the Skippy!!!!!

Major Skippy

P.S. MPM folk - Retreat weekend the 17-19, RALLY on the 18th!!!

Lala, whatever.

Lalalalala - so its been a while.

I'm SORRY Brady!!!!!! (See, I can write to you other than in an email!)

Things have been INSANE!!! I know that I say that all the time - but for real - INSANE!!!!
School and work and school and work and homework and coming home to have a crazy weekend and then back to school and work and school and work and then maybe I can sleep after.....oh say - finals?

Anyway - prayer group is going well . . . classes are going well (think I'm gonna meet my grade goal!) and work is going well. We're gearing up for Midnight Madness - if you read this and you go to Simpson, you had BETTER be there!!!!!!! (for those of you who don't know - Midnight Madness is an event put on by the Athletic Department once a year in October to get the students pumped up for basketball season.)

God is good - all the time!!!! Just thought I'd throw that in there, to remind you all in case you forgot!!!

I got glasses today - its been interesting, to say the least!!!! Maybe, if you're lucky, I'll a post a picture.....maybe not.

Congratulations to both Brady and Andrea!!!!! You are both correct - isn't it crazy that a lake is almost 10 times saltier than the ocean?!?!!?!? It's crazy!!!!!

K, new trivia. This is a multi answer question - what are the Greater Antilles???

Love to all!!!!

Skippy

MY FEET HURT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And that's how I feel about that!!! Just thought you like to know!!!!! And so far tonight, homework seems to be going fairly well, so I can take a moment and post!!!

Two days!!! Do you see that?!?! TWO DAYS!!!!! Since then, I'm back at school. Today was okay - but I've been on the run since 8 this morning, and I'm tired!!!!

We had two soccer games today - Men and Women vs. Menlo. Both teams lost, but they both put up a good fight!!!!

Other than that...not much is going on. I can't post a new trivia question, because no one answered my last question!! So get on it people!!!

Love you!! Skippy

Hey folks.

Well, its been a long week. Lemme give you the Cliff Notes version:

Disneyland was GREAT!!! We had a blast!!!! The flight home was good, the drive up to Biggs wasn't bad. When we got home K and the kids had moved out, so we had lots of adjusting to do. This week was okay in classes, although I had a LOT of catch up work to do. Work went well, but I was exhausted by the time the week was over. We had a long weekend this weekend - THANK YOU JESUS!!!! So I didn't have classes on Friday and I won't have classes tomorrow. Because of that, I have appts tomorrow, and the last - my favorite!! - is with my chiropractor!!! So after over a month, my hip finally gets to go back where its supposed to!!!!!!! YAY ME!!!!!!

Last night I spent 9 hours babysitting 5 children under the age of 11. It was great. No really, it was fun!!!

Okay, leaving now because, well, because I want to.

But wait!!!! Trivia!!!

The last question was about Czech and Slovakia - brownie points to Lesa for getting the right answer!!!!

This weeks question is . . . what percent of the Great Salt Lake is salt? And what is the average for the Oceans?

Love to all!!!
Skippy

A week and a day - I'm back to long periods of time between posts - SORRY!!! I thought that I had posted something last Sunday night, apparently it didn't go through. I don't remember everything that was in it, I do know that I said I was VERY excited, but I didn't tell you why. In fact, I believe I said that it would all make sense on Tuesday night. The reason? Lemme tell you:

Monday - I went to three classes and then my sister picked me up and we rushed home and picked up mom and then rushed the airport. We flew from Sacramento to LAX where my grandfather picked us up and took us back to his house.
Tuesday - we got up and that afternoon my sister took me to CBU (California Baptist University) to surprise (and I mean SURPRISE) my best friend, Rebecca. She had ABSOLUTELY no idea that I was coming!!! It was SOOOOO much fun!!!!
On Wednesday Grandpa brought us into Anaheim and dropped us off at the Disneyland hotel. We spent Wednesday in Disneyland and went to dinner at a place by the hotel called Hook's Pointe.
Thursday we went into Fantasyland (early entry!!!) and then over to California Adventure. This was Mom's first time on Soarin, and she loved it!!!!! Jocelyn, although she has been on this ride several times, still loves it, as do I.
Today (Friday) we're headed to Goofy's Kitchen for a character brunch, and then into Disneyland to finish up. We're watching the parade of dreams this afternoon, and the last thing on the agenda is the 50th Fireworks show. Inbetween the parade and the fireworks is my FAVORITE part of the whole place - Fantasmic. It is the best music!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!

Okay, I have to go now. I must finish getting ready so we can be down at the restaurant on time.
Love to all!!!
Skippy

From the Skippy . . . take 2?

So. What do you want? Updates? Trivia questions? RBI's? (Random Bits of Information - I just came up with that myself, right now!!)

K - updates = life is crazy. Class is awesome. Work is tolerable.
It has been brought to my attention again that I have learned a lot this summer. Through the whole thing with Dad I was learning; and the month at Magalia was an EXTREMELY educational experience. Now I'm back in classes (which is the obvious place of learning) plus I'm in meetings and at games and being a prayer leader and all that stuff. So all around - I'm learning a lot.

Random bits of information - we had a theft in the dorm. It's a sad thing when your home isn't safe. Like my home-home is safe. But this is my school home and it makes me sad that the home that I'm at now is not safe.

TRIVIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When did Slovakia split from Czech? And what is that split known as?

Skippy

God is good!!! All the time!!!!

Three days!!! How's that for a change?!?!?!?

Not a WHOLE lot has happened since my last post. But there are a few things. First off, Harold got to come home from the hospital yesterday!!!!!! The second thing is that the rally went really well!!!! (Thanks again Duane!!!) And the third thing is . . . last night I had a conversation with an old friend, and I feel like I have the friend back better than ever. YEAH GOD!!!!! Oh, and another thing to say YAY God to - my financial aid is (finally) finished and I get to continue to go to school!!!! God has blessed me (once again) with money from an unexpected source and has continued to provide for me!!!!

Lastly - I REALLY love my sweatshirt!!!! And I love sleeping under so many covers that you don't really move throughout the night because of all the weight. Good stuff!!!

Okay, going now. I'm starting to get back into the swing of things and I'll begin to post more often and post shortened posts.

Coming next time:

the first trivia question of the semester!!!!!

Until then;

Major Skippy

From the Skippy:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. That's about how I feel, and about how I'll continue to feel, until oh . . . say . . . graduation????

So I know its been a while (18 days to be exact, although the first 10 don't count cuz I TOLD you I couldn't post then) and I really am sorry. Every time I go online I keep meaning to post, and then I forget or I don't have time or I have to work on that pesky little thing called homework.

And I know that you all know that my life is CRAZY insane, but let me give you an idea of my normal week. 15 units (that means 15 hours of in class time and 30 hours of homework). 15 hours a week for my Athletic Student Clerk job; three hours a week for my Book Repair job; plus whatever home games we have that week (I'm working pretty much all of them.) So pretty much - life is insane!!!!

However, there are some other things going on in my life that I'd like to share with you!!!! This year I'm a prayer-leader on my floor. I have ten girls who have been 'assigned' to me, and we meet once a week and pray and hang out and talk and whatever. We had our first real meeting on Monday night, and it went really well!!!! We talked about the ground rules and about the importance of going to God with confidence. I had 8 out of those 10 show up and we just about filled my room!!!

That's a total praise, here's a total prayer request: my brother-in-law is in the ICU right now, he had a series of small strokes. They are running all sorts of tests (yesterday and today) and we don't have a prognosis but it looks like he's getting better.

In other news - we have a RALLY this weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm SO excited!!!! I can't wait to see everyone again!!!!!! (Heather, are you coming? I still can't finish that scarf!!!! :( )

Anyway, I think I'm done now . . . . . . so love to you all,

Major Skippy

So, I week and a day . . . I'm on a roll!!!!!

Actually things have been crazy this week . . . wait a minute, that's nothing unusual. I moved to school this week, but I'm home for the weekend: RALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I go back to school tonight, but I'll be home next weekend for the baby's 1st birthday party, and then I go back to school and start classes.

Anyway, I won't be able to post much for about a week and a half because I don't have my computer so I can't post from my room and that's really the only time I have to post. I did get all the way moved in to my room. I know who my suitemates are, and I can't wait til they get here!!!! (there, whatever) But it turns out that I won't have a roommate, which is pretty awesome. It means that I have more space and I have alone time. And it also means that when I have prayer meetings I won't have to talk to anyone about making sure its okay that the group of girls is in my room.

Nothing else is really going on . . . that I can think of. Lemme know what's goin on with y'all - I feel very far out of the loop/

Love to all my Magalians!!!!

Major Skippy

Okay - so it's been a whole week. Sorry - I've been a little busy. Nothing really is new, worked all week and did a destructive recovery on my dear Jimmy - I've finally gotten everything downloaded again and all is well!!!! The problem is that now all the hardware still needs to be fixed but its taking forever!!!

Congrats to Chris and Mandy on their beautiful wedding today and good luck for your future!!!!

It was REALLY great to get to see everyone (Doug, Duane, Corinne, Lesa, Cathy, Heatherly and Sam, Rebecca, Debra etc etc) and great to hang out with Lesa!!!!

Tonight I'm in Corning (go figure) with my sister and her roommates, I'm going home tomorrow for Church. Monday I've got stuff to do in Chico and I have to say goodbye to one of my best friends. Tuesday is goodbye to two of my other best friends. Wednesday is load up day and moving day and saying goodbye to my other best friend and my mom! :( That's the plan for next week - and after that its all work and school.

Going now, stuff to do - people to email, organizational needs to be met!!!

Well . . . my wonderful lovely absolutely awesome southern girls and guy are gone. :) I took them out to LP's house last night, and we shed lots of tears, and then I found out I had locked my keys in the truck. I'm so brilliant, I know it, you don't have to say it. So my sister came and bailed me out and then I came home and stayed up too late knitting and working on my computer. This past week has been interesting. Monday I did lockers, and since then I've done locker combos and entering them into the computer, and between the girls and I we finished two hundred packets and sorted all of the stuff that needs to be filed. Yesterday Karen and I cleaned the house like CRAZY before the summer missionaries came over (Erica is allergic to cats). It was really fun to get to spend all that time with my nieces and my sister while we were actually getting something done!!! I can't wait to get to church tomorrow and see all the kids and Grandpa Emmons!!!!! I smile just thinking about it!!!

Also, I have an announcement to make: as of Tuesday evening - thanks to the Duane-n-ator, I am officially-

MAJOR Skippy.

Yes, that means that I got a promotion!!!!! And it makes me very happy!!!! And I have every intention of living up to that promotion!!!!!
So, on that note, I'll sign off:
Yours forever,
Major Skippy

So I'm home now. I'm still sad that I had to leave Magalia. I should have posted before I left, and the day that I had to leave, but I didn't have time. So here's some back tracking.

Last week we had two VBS's. We had around 100 people every day at Magalia, we had three kids make professions of faith and we had lots of fun singing the songs!!!! Saturday I was up at the crack of dawn to go down to Yuba City to help set up the tent for the Migrant VBS that is taking place this week. We got back around 11, and I crashed out for a couple of hours. Sunday was a long, LONG day, and it was a sad day. The evening service went well, I think. I miss everyone so much already its not even cool.

Today I spent the day at work with Mom doing lockers - yeah! not really, but I got them all on!!! - and then I sorted the filing. There was a whole mail tub of it that hadn't been filed since spring of 2005.

This week I'm working with Mom and spending time with my wonderful missionary friends before they leave. :(

Here's some pictures!!! The first two are of the putting up of the tent.
It went from this:


To this:


And ended like this:


And this is me and my WONDERFUL missionary friends:


So I'm going now, what with pictures and all this post is long enough.

Love to all - Skippy

I of course forgot to post a picture - thanks for pointing that out!!!!

So here is Georgie (foreground, big and black) and Gunner (smaller and brown and in the back) along with Doug (green shirt) and Duane (he's with Gunner). Getting up on Gunner was new and interesting. Getting up on Georgie was an adventure.

La, la, la, la

So the carnival went REALLY well. We did have the dunk tank and the bounce house and the pony rides!!!! And I got to help with the horseys!!! Duane and Doug brought Gunner (who belongs to and is strangely similar to Duane) and Georgie (who belongs to and is strangely similar to Corinne) to the church for the pony rides. Doug led Georgie with Jody walking behind him with her hand on the saddle in case the child started to slip. Duane led Gunner and I walked behind him doing what Jody was doing. I held the lead rope while Duane loaded kids and Gunner kept snotting all over me and biting me (he got smacked for that) and nudging me (he kinda got smacked for that). We had over forty helpers and at one point we had over 100 people there. And, after it was all over and done with, I got to ride the horses!!!! Both of them, not at the same time. I had never ridden a horse, and so I told Duane that I didn’t want a pony ride, I wanted him to teach me how to ride, and he did…kind of. Anyway, so I got up on Gunner and rode around the building pad (they’re getting ready to build another building, so there’s the pad that they’re going to build on.) once and then I got up on Georgie (that was an adventure, you can see why in the picture) and rode her for quite a while – at least it seemed like a while, I’m not really sure how long I was on her – but it was REALLY fun!!!!!! And then I cleaned up and then I went to a concert at the church where I got to see a few of my favorite people.

Sunday was fun: church, lunch (at Happy Days, where else when you’re going with Doug?) and then the missionaries and I went back to the church and started decorating for VBS this week. About 4:30, the four of them found out that they were not only speaking in the evening service, they were leading the music as well!!! So we went to dinner (GREAT pizza – I have really got to stop eating that stuff, but its just SO good!!!) and then we rushed back to the church and started to frantically get ready for the evening service. I ran the power point, so I was trying to put in all the words for the songs they were singing. And then Matt got up and gave a presentation on his trip to Brazil which lasted . . . a long time. What was funny was that he thought he was controlling the power point with the remote, but he wasn’t because for some reason the remote wouldn’t work. Anyway . . . then we did a slide show of the pictures from the carnival, and that was fun. And then . . . we were done. So I went home with Duane and Corinne (YEAH for the Honda!!!!!!!) and took a shower and went to BED!!!!

This morning started bright and early; up at 6am, ready at 7am, out the door at 7:20 when my ride got there. Rewrote the Bible study that I was going to do; did the power point for the worship rally; learned all about hooking up the computer to the projector, and had Chex Mix (traditional style) for breakfast – good times. The actual VBS went really well: we had 64 kids and 34 helper-teacher-leader people. We were late getting started, but that’s usual for Monday of VBS; but the rally went well and the kids liked Arctic Edge fairly well. The time between the rallies I did my Bible study and I walked around taking pictures. The closing rally went well, Erica taught them “I Know that I Know that I Know” and we sang Arctic Edge again.

Then we went down to Stirling City (oh, side note, they almost forgot my lunch!!!!) and did VBS there. We had 10 kids, and it went fairly well. But it bugged because we didn’t have as much time . . . and I REALLY wanted to make a scrapbook and didn’t get to – but it’s okay because there’s still time!!!

Anyway, I’m leaving now, because I have things to do and sleep to catch up on etc.

Love from: Skippy

Free Carnival Today!!!! (Tomorrow) from 10 am til noon!!! Dunk tank! Bounce house! Pony Rides! Games, prizes, food!!!! That's what I'm doing tomorrow, the kickoff Carnival for the Magalia Pines (and Stirling City) Vacation Bible School(s) 2006!!!!

Other than getting ready for VBS, and the Carnival, I haven't done much. VBS this and VBS that and Carnival this and Carnival that and we're doing two VBSs so that adds to it all the more!!!! Magalia Pines does their own VBS and then they put the VBS at Stirling City on as well. It should be fun!!!!!

I'm finding more and more that I am less and less of a perfectionist . . . in some things. Some things that I used to FREAK OUT about, I don't so much care anymore. Other things I still definitely care about, but there are some things that I'm losing my perfectionist grip on.

Going now, hopefully for some food. Later!!

Skippy

Sunday to Wednesday, Wednesday to Saturday. It's a definite pattern.

So, last night I went home for a few hours - that was AWESOME. Not only did I get to see my cat (YEAH T.K.!!!!!!!!!!!) but I got to see all my cute little nieces (pinching the cheek, pinching the cheek) and my sister and my MOM (YEAH MOM!!!!) and my two bestest friends in the whole wide world!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I did an outreach thingy at the Billie Park in Paradise, and it went fairly well. The best part was getting to hang out with two of the girls from here in Magalia and the hike that I took with Duane before the picnic started.

Now I'm sitting in an empty church (having keys is AWESOME) doing all my 'online' stuff before I head up to my pastor's house for the night. Next week is 'call back week' for VBS: I'm going to spend the whole week calling parents back and reminding them and getting addresses for the bus route, and Cathy is going to spend the whole week calling back the workers making sure they're all ready to go!!! That Saturday is the Carnival - with horsey rides and fun games and balloons (hopefully) and snow cones (hopefully) and lots of fun stuff!!!! And then Monday starts VBS, and I'll actually be doing 2 VBSs. I'll do the one here in Magalia from 9 to noon - doing the music and one Bible study (maybe) - and then I'll do the one up in Stirling City - doing music and crafts - from 1:30 - 3:30 and then I'll come home and crash.

The Sunday after VBS is my last Sunday here, and then I'm home for two weeks and then I go to school to work for a week and a half and then school starts. 18 units, 15 hours of work, leadership position on the floor. That's the plan. Am I insane you ask? Probably. Are you? Probably, after all - you are reading this!!!

Going now, lots to do!!! Love to all, esp those I saw last night!!!

Skippy

Ya know, in the grand scheme of things, Sunday to Wednesday is not that long. Not that long at all. Anywho, so far this week I have gone door to door twice, spent yesterday putting up signs, took Duane out to lunch today for his birthday,

Happy Birthday Duane!!!!!!!!

and . . . talked to my mom a few times (she's in Nashville. Well, actually at the moment I believe that she's getting on the plane in Atlanta to come home, but that's beside the point.) And I can't think of anything else that I've done. At the moment I'm at the church in Magalia, waiting for Bible Study to start. Better go make sure they didn't start without me!!!


Love you all tons, hope to hear from you!!!


Skippy

What? You want me to update? Wait, that means that I have to think . . . and form sentences not only in my brain, but on the computer . . . and they have to make sense?????? You might be asking too much, but I'll see what I can do.

First off, typing makes my finger hurt. Know why? Because I cut it, diagonally across the nail all the way through the nail to the skin on whatever day it was that my phone got stolen. Its my index finger, so its pretty important when it comes to typing, and it hurts.

Second, its hot - but I'm much better now that I'm back inside the church building. We (Cathy and I) were out going door to door to register kids for Vacation Bible School. We got like 80% of our area done, and got one child registered and several promising families. But, like I said, I'm back in the church building now and its much better in here.

Thirdly, what else has happened? Well, this week I got my phone stolen and then returned (CREEPY situation) the same day that I cut my finger and that we went out and didn't get ANYTHING. Last night Corinne and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean II and LOVED it!!! And, it was really great to hang out with Corinnne and go to a movie and just have fun.

Other than that, not much is going on . . . I don't think. I spent the week going out door to door and getting stuff ready here for today (we had three groups of people go out door to door) and sorted through a ZILLION camp pics. Which reminds me, if you have any camp pictures, PLEASE email them too me!!! I would LOVE to have them!!!!! If anyone in your youth group has camp pictures, I would LOVE to have them!!!!

Anyway, I'm hoping to put together something soon that I can upload so you guys can see a lot of the GREAT pictures we got from camp. . . any suggestions???

Okay, I'm leaving now. I hope that everyone is keeping cool but still ON FIRE for Christ!!!

Love you all loads!!!! Skippy