reaching new levels of generosity

i'm here before you all to confess my irresponsibility -- it directly affects this blog in a significant way, so i thought you all deserved to know.
first a little background.
i live in the cutest house in the world, surrounded by a rugged yet peaceful yard with trees, birds and butterflies. it's also surrounded by a pub in the front, a junkyard on the side, and a trailer park on the other side. as far as locale is concerned, i may never make much of a profit on this particular investment -- but it's not the long-term benefits i'm in for -- i just really love my house.
its surroundings begin to be a bit trialsome however, when the drunken folk stagger from a night of hard boozing back to their cozy trailer in the middle of the night, and when teenage punks ride their tiny little motorcyles (that are about 2 feet high and buzz like an amped up chainsaw) back and forth in front of my house, and when unknown persons help themselves to the contents of my car which i trustingly leave unlocked for them...
about 2 months ago my cd player was yanked ruthlessly from the dash and i was sad... i chalked it up to bad luck, shrugged my shoulders and bought a new one (much cheaper than the first of course) and endeavored to keep my doors locked henceforth and forthwith... this plan worked out just super until one fateful evening when i went back out to my car to get something, was distracted from re-locking the doors by talking on my phone, and was once again taken advantage of, sometime between the hours of 1:30 a.m. and 10 a.m.
not only was my new cd player taken, but (and here's where it applies to you) also my digital camera which happened to be in the glovebox... i feel like my right foot has been cut off. i never realized how much i depend on having a camera handy. kodak moments are happening every time i turn around, and now, they're not being captured!!!
as for the cd player, i feel as if i don't deserve to own one. i'm like the person that keeps killing their fish -- they just don't deserve to be a pet owner. (actually wait, that was me too -- high school was 4 years of fish massacre. i didn't TRY to kill them -- they just kept dying...)
so the long and the short of it is, unless i turn into a picture pirate and steal from unsuspecting bloggers, this site may become more of a literary venture in the near future. feel free to send over your sympathies, donations, or disparaging remarks.
:-)

VBS fun

last week was my church's maiden voyage in the VBS realm and i have to say it was quite a successful bit of fun! i had a really rotten attitude at the beginning when we were decorating and whatnot, mostly because i was resenting the fact that i had to be somewhere at 9 a.m. every morning in the middle of my summer!! i'm a selfish girl.
i quickly recovered from such silliness after the first games session -- i was in charge of the games for each age group. they'd rotate through and have 25 minutes each. they were just so doggone cute and fun that i just couldn't have a bad attitude!


















we played wobblyball (by filling a beach ball with water).....














had sand castle competitions....














sang songs... (with allison and erica, my two pals)













laughed at funny looking people... (otherwise known as our children's ministry director, Jodi, and our pastor, Eric)














and just had some good ole-fashioned Q.T. (quality time, that is)














the week's over, but i still have my t-shirt! i just might have to pull that puppy out from time to time and remember how cute all the little kiddies were.
are you getting tired of the random-children theme yet?

it's possible that i'll be changing that theme soon as i consider dating this one good-looking fellow i know... you just might long for the days of random children!
i'll leave it at that for now and let you all stew in suspense.

have a wonderful tuesday!!

well... it's official -- july has arrived!

i do declare, time just flies on by, doesn't it? or maybe it's just summers... i keep not wanting to think about summer winding down -- we're on the downhill now, you know! but this last week i realized i'm starting to feel anticipatory tingles at the thought of a new school year. i've had my fill of r & r.

so far there's been some fun goings-on in my little corner of the world... back in june (WAY back then...) i went o'er to colorado for a week. while i was there i was able to go to the courthouse with dan and cari for the adoption proceedings to bring krista and kira into our corley clan. that was really a cool thing. i don't know what i expected, but i'm so glad i was there. i got to see dan and cari testify about their competency as parents and explain why they think these girls will be a good fit for their family... and then hear the official declaration that they will henceforth be known as 'kira corley' and 'krista corley'.

as strange as this may sound, it kind of reminded me of how it felt to watch my little niece kaitlyn be born a couple years ago. to see a new child join a family is just as amazing whether it's at birth or at 6 and 8 years old.

this picture was at the courthouse...
















here's ben's daughter, mia. she definitely has a princess complex, helped along by ben of course :-)











so then after that, i rode with the folks back to missouri and they hung out for a few days at my house -- dad did some projects around the homestead (hand washing the moldy siding!! he's a good dad)...

the latest happening was our church's 4th of july picnic -- good old fashioned fun.
here's my favorite allison -- it's her family's ranch that we were at.



















the most shocking discovery of the picnic was mark rapinchuk's golfer's tan on his feet.
have you ever seen such a thing?! i know i haven't. it warranted photographic documentation.















the next month of summer is pretty mapped out with a nanny gig that i'm greatly enjoying. the family has 6 kids aged from 1 to 12 -- they're all really good kids so it's not as daunting as it may sound!

i suppose that about brings us up to date! i'd like to extend the warmest of thanks to all you patient fans out there who have been dying to hear the latest news from branson... i know it's tough.