Monday, October 30, 2006

A week in the life of Katie

P.S. For those who were wondering how Karino reacted to the Mountain Dew, she was quite hyper for a little while. She eats anything but raw vegetables. Her favorite drink is sweet tea.=)





Two weekends ago I went to ACU's homecoming where I got to see some old friends that I haven't seen in years. It was so exciting. I had been craving that friendship for a long time.

Harding Academy volleyball went to the state tournament this week. We beat our rivals in the first match, which we already lost to 3 times this season, so it was a HUGE win. Here are my girls wearing the scarves I made them.

My sister and her family drove through Memphis this past weekend to go to Harding University's homecoming. It was Donnie's 10 year reunion. I didn't get to spend much time with them, but I got to have breakfast with them on Sunday. I gave the boys, DJ and Joey, a stuffed snake and frog for their birthdays.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Life Needs Laughter

Life can be very funny. Today, I came home from church and on the floor there were pieces of a Mountain Dew wrapper and the bottle all chewed up. The yellow cap had been taken off (don't ask how a dog takes off a bottle cap) and chewed flat on the other side of the room. Now I remember there being about a quarter of the Mountain Dew inside the bottle when I left it on my coffee table last night. However, there was not a spot of liquid on my carpet anywhere.

I proceeded to ask Karino (my dog), "Did you drink the Mountain Dew?" And without skipping a beat, she burped. It was such perfect timing. The anger and frustration dissipated and I just had to laugh.

Yesterday was my nephew, Caden's, 5th birthday. He had a soccer game to start the day. Caden was so excited. I said hello when I got there and he said, "Don't call me Caden. Call me the Birthday Boy." So for the entire day yesterday he was known as the birthday boy. =)

Later that day he had a party at a place called Pump It Up, which is an awesome place where boys can jump non-stop for hours. Of course, I couldn't just watch all the kids having fun and not join in myself, so I got in the bouncing thing and played too.

I have come to the realization that the reason to have kids is so that you can watch cartoons and be able to play on the playgrounds without looking like an idiot.

Then, last night my parents, my brother's family and I went to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner. We ate and then played games. Somehow we had 51 tokens to get rid of. Caden (all of us, really) were so tired that we each took 10 tokens and played games. As we neared the end of the tokens Caden started crying because his tummy hurt from all the jumping, candy, cake, and pizza. So, we left and went back to their house to open gifts. And in the middle of opening gifts Caden let out the loudest and longest toot I had ever heard come out of him. He laughed and I asked if he felt better. He said, "Yep" with a big smile on his face.

Life would be so boring without kids. Being a teacher and a coach I get to be around kids every day and it's times like yesterday that I am so glad I don't work in an office somewhere and that I am involved in my nephew's life. If it wasn't for them there wouldn't be much to smile or laugh about.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Life's Turns - Chapter One
















Life's road can have interesting turns, sometimes big potholes shake us up, and sometimes it can be smooth. But many times it is interesting listening to others tell their stories. Many of you reading this were at last week's ACU homecoming. I got so excited (and nervous) before that weekend that I found myself watching old Sing Song videos to see if I could remember faces and names. (I don't remember much of memory junior/senior year.)

My life in the past few years since college has had its ups and downs, just like everybody else's. When I first graduated I moved to Ridgefield, Washington to live with my grandma. Shortly afterward she found out she had breast cancer and battled with it for 2 years. During that time I substitute taught and coached softball. I spent my summers traveling to Honduras on short-term mission trips with TORCH Missions.

She died in June 2005. Two weeks after I returned from my mission trip I had moved there!!! I spent Monday through Friday teaching and coaching and then my weekends and any free time were spent doing mission work. (Since this is only being read by friends I can be completely honest.) I got burn-out very quickly, a year. For a year all of my free time went to other people and myself got pushed aside. (One good thing that came from that was I dropped 20 pounds and weighed less than I did in high school.)

I went to church in a VERY poor community (a community even Hondurans looked down upon). When we would show up for church, not 5 minutes would pass before I was asked to take someone to the dentist, to the doctor, or for my shoes. And with my limited attention span I can only think of one or two times when I actually felt like I was worshipping.

Now...I am in the Memphis, Tennessee area, know very few people, and do not have the urge whatsoever to go to church. Church is the one place christians meet other christians. I'm not the type that goes to single's bars or to go to random chat rooms (actually, I have never been to a chat room). I still read the Bible at night and still talk with Him, but the thought of going to church irritates me and rubs me the wrong way. I pray that feeling goes away soon.

The previous paragraphs make it sound like I didn't enjoy my time there. I truly love the Honduran people I worked around and worked with. It was an experience I wouldn't change for the world. I wish I had saved my blog site, so that you could read of my wild and exciting stories.

One good thing came out of my time there that I will cherish for years. She's my baby that I bought at "puppy corner." There is an intersection that has two families that have a bunch of puppies that they hold up by their little legs. One day I saw a sweet little, husky-looking puppy. A week passed while I debated to buy it and I finally went back and bought her. As soon as I held her I knew she was the one I wanted and she knew I was her new mom.=) She never likes to be out of my sight. Even as I type she is laying down beside me with her head on my lap and her paw on the computer. (The top picture was just after I bought her and the next was 4-5 months ago. She is about 15 pounds heavier now.)




These days I am teaching and coaching at Harding Academy in Memphis. I love my little 7th graders. They are little kids just trying and forcing their way into adulthood.

I am also the assistant volleyball coach. We struggled some through the regular season, but came through during the regional tournament and got 3rd place which allows us to go to the state tournament this coming week. So please pray for us that these girls will play their hearts out and enjoy themselves.