American soil....

22 students, 3 professors and 2 spouses...destination England, Belgium and France. This was the group on our second to last night in France.

The trip was an intense two weeks of work and play. It was an amazing experience that I am so gratful for. Landing on American soil was an experience as well. After two weeks of traveling through three countries, it was a blessing to be able to return to the United States and be able to call the USA home.

Learning the subway system in each country was certainly an experience. The sights, smells, tastes, and experiences were all amazing. I had the opportunity to see Westminster Abby, Parliament, the London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Downing Street, changing of the Guard, and go to the theater were just a few of the things I got to do while in London. Paris, Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame twice, Saint Chapel, the Louvre, and a Seine river cruise were all incredible as well.

Being in any foreign country is certainly a humbling experience. Learning a piece of the life style, the tastes, and how to get past the language barrier are all an experience in their own.

As I sit here looking back over the past two weeks, I am hearing of an Air France flight that was due to land in Paris this morning that has disappeared. What a humbling experience to hear of an international flight headed for the exact airport I flew out of just yesterday. The families of the potentially lost victims on this missing flight are certainly in my thoughts and prayers at this time.

I have come to appreciate my own bed and my vehicle so much more. My girls, Maddie and Bailey survived...the yard not as well! My girls became gardeners while I was gone and learned how to dig up a rose bush and buried it in another spot. Gifted and talented?

New beginnings

Spring semester has quickly come to an end. I am delightedly down to 4 classes between myself and my Masters in Public Affairs being done!! I am also suddenly just under 68 hours away from boarding a flight that will lead to so many new experiences and new beginnings on the other side of the world. My adventure is suddenly sinking in very quickly as I am in the midst of going over last details with the amazing family that will be taking care of my not so little anymore puppies, my coworker that is delightedly going to watch over my home and smaller four legged critters, scrambling to finish packing, running all over kingdom come to get foreign currency, etc, etc, etc. growing up, I was always the adventuresome type never questioning anything and was always ready for the next "big" adventure. Suddenly, here I am facing one of the greatest adventures of my life so far and am unsure of so many things. I was raised to be independent and able to take care of myself...suddenly I am leaving everything I know and am familiar with and responsible for in the hands of others. My greatest fear right now is that something will happen while I am gone with any number of my responsibilities. I am headed into an environment that I have only read about in history books and seen on TV. I am headed into this environment with a group of people I have never met before yet will rely on throughout the two weeks for the In's and outs of being in a "foreign" turf. Is it safe to say that I am excited and scared at the same time?!?!
My learning lesson in all of this...is to be able to regain enough trust and faith in other people that I don't know and to accept the help from others I do know so I can better myself while my daily responsibilities are still being cared for. I know I will have many stories and adventures to share after I return from a trip of a life time!!!!

Spring flowers bring May showers

It has been a few weeks. Life has continues on in so many ways over the last few weeks. Spring is certainly here...70 degrees and blizzard type weather in one day! This morning I work up to hearing the birds in my back "yard." What a blessed sound to wake up to.
The last few weeks have brought on personal challenges for me as I continue to struggle my way through some heart ache and emotional recovery from my August 5th "character building" experience. The nightmares and lack of sleep are back but God continues to find ways, through others, to remind me of His love and reassurance that I will get through this...just like every other struggle I He has gotten me through.
I am finally in a season of being completely content without the desire of wanting to be in a relationship. I have had several recent conversations with several friends that have been married and divorced at least once and are desperately seeking to be in a relationship. It amazed me as to what people will do for companionship, any companionship. It is through His love that I am so amazingly content without the need or want for marriage proposal "just because."
My overseas adventure is just 5 weeks away. I have so much to do between now and then that I feel as though my trip is a life time away yet I know I will be boarding the plane in Paris to come home before I know it. I have two amazing women taking care of my critters while I am gone...my critters are going to be spoiled!
I have finally started putting order back into my life at home which has been such a blessing. My home has been in total chaos for 4 months now between the tiling and flooding. It is so nice to be able to finally have my living room back to normal!
Each new days brings challenges yet each new day also brings new opportunities and opportunities to experience His grace and mercy.

Peace and quiet again

After 9 weeks of chaos, my house is finally back in one piece. All of the repairs have finally been completed and my house is slowly but surly being put back together. I have completely rearranged all of the furniture in my basement and now have lots of misc items I need to either keep and find a place for or throw away.....the joys of spring cleaning. This was certainly not my way of getting started on spring cleaning!! I cleaned my carpets today.......two active puppies that are continuing to need a little assistance with potty training (my schedule certainly does not help in this case), people coming and going in an attempt to get tiling, painting, new sheet rock, and carpet padding replaced does not make for a clean carpet. Having such a beautiful Colorado day certainly helped with the process of spring cleaning.

Work continues to be full of changes and adjustments being made since the detox unit closed. Each new day with a job is certainly a blessing though. Knowing I have funding coming my way to keep a roof over my (soggy and all) and a safe vehicle to take my girls for rides in is a daily blessing. Maddie and Bailey continue to amaze me each and every day with their personalities and goofy little things they do. They loved getting baths last week....Maddie especially enjoyed rolling all over mommies bed just after her bath! Bailey on the other hand enjoyed rolling all over mommies lap just after the bath, which in turn caused mommy to have to change into another set of pj's. Bailey is becoming my guard dog yet continues to be very affectionate. Am still trying to figure out how she managed to get out of her collar on Monday without it being chewed on or torn. Maddie continues to be my little one and loved to share mommies pillows at night. Anyone that has seen the movie Marley and Me can appreciate the scene of Marley running around with the bra...in my case it is Maddie and Bailey playing tug-a-war with my underwear or socks. They certainly keep life at home entertaining!

Back into routine.....

As I am winding down the end of another busy day at work...I thought I'd take a moment to play catch up. :-) Well, knock on wood the flooding has stopped once and for all in the home front. I have someone coming in on Wednesday to finish up the repairs and then it is time to put order back into all three levels of my townhouse. Life at work has settled down a bit now that the detox unit has officially closed and good byes have been said. The staff that remains continues to go through many changes and adjustments. Each new day is another day to be grateful that I have a job. Maddie and Bailey continue to amaze me each and every day with their innocence and sense of adventure. They have done well at picking up "mommies" routine and love their play time and snuggle time with "mommy." My tabby Oliver loves to torture the girls as he sits on top of the fish tank or on the kitchen counter looking down and the dogs. Spring semester is in full swing...the classes I am taking this semester are not the most ideal as they are on ethics & leadership and democracy............having a professor that has no clue as to what he is doing and a professor that is rather dry makes it a challenge to keep myself focused and motivated! Each class is a class closer to being finished. I have two adorable (not that I am biased or anything) to get home to...ta-ta for now.

Another day another dollar.....

As I sit here at work...yes, rough end to the day at work! I am surrounded by some of the greatest people I have ever worked with. The laughter is filling the room in the midst of much change and sadness as the detox unit will be officially closed at this time a week from now. Each new day here at the Lighthouse is such a blessing in disguise. Discussions of what everyone is having for dinner, Quizzno diets, turbo tax, kid troubles, movies recently seen, coworkers getting together later in the week outside of work, midgets, when I was born, and grunting are just a few of the things discussed all within the past 3 or 4 minute time frame. Odd conversation topics for some but a "normal" conversation for this crowd. As I look at the past two years of my career at the Lighthouse and looking to the future, I couldn't be any more content right now with where I am working. As challenging as some of my clients are at times and the names I am called (one has to love the clients colorful vocabulary at times), I work with a great group of people. With the economy the way it is at this time, I live from pay check to pay check but am truly blessed to have the crazy job that I do have with the crazy group of people I work with.

Bad house!

Well, the "joys" of being a home owner continues! As of now, I'm lucky I'm even getting my carpet in the basement cleaned...the claims adjuster is only approving the carpets to be cleaned. I went from getting the carpet replaced to "we'll at least get the pad replaced" to the carpet is only being cleaned. And the phone wars to the HOA manager continues as I'll be fighting this one! The guy that is doing the sheet rock was to be at my house at 0800 this morning...he was kind enough to be a no call no show until 1 pm...only 5 hours late. I wonder what my boss would have to say if I showed up to work 5 hours late??? Hmmm

The sheet rock in the basement bathroom is now in and the sheet rock in the kitchen is no longer being replaced...the wet spots have simply had the paint removed and the wall has been re textured. I am now responsible for providing the paint...another "hmmm". When discussing when the guy would come back I was told "I'll be back sometime Monday or Tuesday." Has anyone received the memo on my having no life?? Apparently I missed that one! I quickly let the guy know that Tuesday is out of the question as I will be at work and no one will have access to my house while I am not here. So, I now have the "I'll call you before heading over Monday." This might end out being Merlin's lucky day if he is not moving to "grandpa's" or worse!

I have officially gone into puppy withdrawals so will be going to pick my not so little girls Maddie and Bailey up from "Grandma's" this evening! In the picture, little miss Maddie is on the right and miss Bailey is on the left! Aren't they too cute??? (not that I'm biased or any thing!)

Disaster zone at home

A few day before Christmas, Nathan started the tiling job in my bathroom upstairs, in the kitchen and the entryway in my townhouse. He did an amazing job! In the midst of trying to complete the job, the only bathroom in comission for a short time was the bathroom in the basement. In the midst of the tiliing job, frozen pipes burst in my neighboring townhouse. The houase has been empty for 8 months and is in the mids of foreclosure. Suddenly, I had Nathan and Shelly fighting to finish the tiling in the entryway, 2 restoration crews coming through, the utilities company coming through, a plumbing company on hand, a locksmith on location trying to gain access to the neighboring townhouse, and the HOA manager somewhere enroute. Two and a half weeks later, the other townhouse has $50-$60 k in damage and I still am unsure the amount of damage to mine. Insurance is a blessing to have when needed but also a bear to finght when having to use it. I was spared any major damage, as far as we are able to tell at this time. THe restration crews had my house stabelized within a couple of hours but the other hosue is still being stabelized. Knock on wood, I will finally have the sheetrock in the basement bathroom and in my kitchen on my main level replaced come Friday. The painting and trim will be done next Monday. Carpet??? The restoration crew wants to get the carpet replaced yet has not even pulled it back away from the wall. The claims adjuster appears to be MIA and the restoration crew still has no idea if they are going to be able to replace my carpet. The HOA manager called yesterday to find out how things were going in my house; I laughed and said "your guess is as good as mine!" The musky smell is less than pleasant at this point and not getting any answers is becoming an even greater frustration as the days go by. The blessings in all of this....I have a home, the HOA insurance is paying for all of the repairs, and the damage was not any worse in my home. My girls, Maddie and Bailey, have enjoyed being at "Grandma's" aka my mom's house for the past two and a half weeks and the boys, Oliver and Merlin have enjoyed having more of my attention and less competition. I am hoping the carpet is replaced for a number of reasons; Merlin has been territorial since Oliver came home and has been taking it out on the carpet downstairs. As new carpet and a temperamental cat are not a positive combination, Merlin is going back to the life of a barn cat and is "moving" to "Grandpa's" barn. Merlin always loved getting to mouse at the Florissant house, so dad and I are holding our breath and hoping the move to his property will be a positive move for Merlin. The joys and heartache of being a home and pet owner!

Going international

As though I have nothing on my plate already between "demolition derby" being done at my house due to frozen pipes bursting in my neighbors townhouse causing major damage between their and my townhouse, spring semester has official started, work continues to be full of ample changes, and I have my two beautiful puppies....Maddie and Bailey, I am now in the process of getting arrangements made to study abroad. I am going to be working with the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs and the International Business Seminar Organization to do a two week course in Europe. I'll be goign to London, United Kingdom; Paris, France; and Munich, Belgium. Less than a week after finals are done for spring semester, I'll flying the friendly skies with a group of individuals I have never met and will be dependent upon in some ways as I am on the other side of the world. This is going to be an amazing adventure personally and an amazing career opportunity. Parfume "body oder" here I come!