Hit the Ground Running

Well I have started my job at the church and already have a whole lot to get done. I have been engaged and busy every second of the past two days. It has been fun. It is also fun when you see people in the halls or somewhere else and they look at me once, then quickly look at me again. Except the second time they have their mouth wide open. "I thought you left!" or "YOU'RE BACK!" usually follows out of the open mouth.

I am staying with the Steggerda family. They have been so incredibly hospitable. They truly have a gift for that. So far we have stayed up talking for a while every night and Monday night we watched an episode of MASH with our dinner. I forgot how hilarious that show is. I can't wait to see more of them. The have several of the seasons on DVD.

My wife is flying to Monterey, CA to visit our oldest, English. As you know, English is done with one phase of her training. My heart goes out to her because she didn't pass this part of the training. There was no second chances either. She spent 16-18 months working hard and studying for something she has to scrap now. I know she is bummed. She has to pick another job now and go through that training from the start. I am glad Ebby will be there to cheer her up, at least for a few days. My mom and uncle John are going too. Those two always guarantee a good time.

Have an awesome day!

Poor Bethmom

Our children call my mom, Bethmom. English started this when she was little. Walt called her Beth and I called her mom so English just put them together and Bethmom is what she has been called ever since. Walt is Waltwee...there is nothing "wee" about this man. He is about 6'4" (I am guessing.) A person that tall can't be "wee."

The reason I titled this Poor Bethmom is because I leave today for Monterey, California...by myself. Ronnie is in Minnesota. That means that my mom is keeping all three kids for the weekend. Poor Bethmom.

Veronica has softball practice every afternoon. Hunter has Jazz Band practice at 7:15 on Thursday mornings. All three kids will have to be taken to school and then the boys will be picked up from our house in the afternoon. There is also church on Wednesday nights that they have asked to go to tonight. Poor Bethmom.

Thankfully there are some kids in my mom's neighborhood that the boys like to play with, and Veronica is staying with a friend Friday night and possibly Saturday night. Hunter likes to stay up and watch movies or sports with Walt. The boys packed a game station to have for the weekend. They also took skateboards and Hunter's ripstick with them. They should be able to stay busy and not drive mom and Walt crazy.

I am going to go and enjoy my time with English, my mother-in-law, Jan, and uncle-in-law, John. John and Jan are driving up from Southern California. It should be a great weekend.

Maybe Ronnie will post some while I am gone. I am sure that everyone would like to hear from him, too.

Have a great weekend!!

Minnesota Poem posted by Ebby

A friend left me this poem for me. I thought it was funny. Thanks Kristi!!

Minnesota Poem

It's winter time in Minnesota

And the gentle breezes blow.

Seventy miles an hour

At twenty five below.

Oh, how I love Minnesota

When the snow's up to your butt.

You take a breath of winter

And your nose gets frozen shut.

Yes the weather here is wonderful

So I guess I'll hang around.

I could never leave Minnesota

cause I'm frozen to the ground.

Eat your heart out.....

Picture this....

Ebby riding down the road with the sun roof back, windows down, hair blowing all around....in February. Hate to rub it in, but that's how we are rolling here in SC.

Ronnie made it to MInnesota

When we first moved to Tennesse in 1993 that following winter there was a huge ice storm in the Tennessee/Kentucky area. There were people left without power for up to two weeks. Our house was with out power for a little over 4 hours. When you think of winter weather Kentucky isn't the state I would think of.

Well as you know from the last two posts Ronnie left for Minnesota on Wednesday. After waking up on Thursday morning to make the rest of the treck he was delayed due to another ice storm. It was pretty trecherous outside and they were telling people not to drive unless it was urgent. So Ronnie didn't get to leave Bowling Green until around 5:30 p.m.

From Bowling Green to Indianapolis usually takes us about 4 hours. It took Ronnie about 7 to 7 1/2 hours to get there due to the road conditions. He fianlly pulled over and got a hotel room for the night. He got up again on Friday morning and hit the road. He made it to Rochester just in time to grab some clothes, shove them into a duffle bag and jump on a charter bus headed for Duluth. Ronnie was doing worship for the singles ministry weekend retreat. He barely made it. I think that they even held the bus for him for about 30 minutes until he got there.

What a crazy trip. I am sure that he is worn out, but what a fun way to start his job. He will be playing music and maybe even doing a little skiing or snow boarding.

Have fun, Hunky, but please be careful. Although the insurance money is tempting I would much rather have you around.

Quote of the day...

"When dad really, really wants to see a movie he makes sure that he is on time.

That is the only time that he is on time."

Cole Ray talking to his mom on the way to school this morning.

The bad...The good...and the beautiful!

Well as Ronnie wrote earlier today this was a hard day for the Ray family. Many tears were shed by all. The boys went into school with tears and I was crying at work. Veronica asked for prayer tonight at youth group and she was teary, too.

As sad as it may all be deep down I know that Ronnie is getting to do something that he was born to do and that is play music. Not many people I know have that little extra something like Ronnie does when it comes to music.

This is Ronnie leaving my work and hitting the road.

Ronnie and the kids as we were starting our day.

Ronnie saying good bye to me at my work.

Now it is time for the good. We may live in the south, but it has been crazy warm even for here. I can't believe that I was able to take the pictures below in February.

Now for the beautiful. Today my friends John and Sarah had a little baby boy. His name is Malachi Winston. Malachi is a special little guy. Earlier in Sarah's pregnancy they were told that he had something wrong with his heart (you medical people don't ask me what was wrong...I didn't understand it all) and would need surgery after birth. He was born this morning shortly after midnight. He was stable so they kept him at Methodist Hospital until early morning when they took him to the NICU over at St. Mary's. After some tests the doctors were happy to tell John and Sarah that there is nothing wrong with his heart. Did you get that...NOTHING WRONG WITH HIS HEART!!

He was going to be moved back to Methodist to be with his mom who had a c-section and then will be able to leave with his parents when his mom is discharged. The doctors will do another test on him before he leaves just to make sure all is well, but what wonderful news today.

The Carlson's had been going to specialist a Mayo and you trust that they knew what they were talking about. I turst that they were correct in their diagnosis. How do you explain the new diagnosis of nothing being wrong? Let me share with you that prayer works. The power of prayer is just that....powerful. This little guy has been prayed for by so many people. The is a blessing and I can't wait to meet him.

Here is Eric Edward...I mean Malachi Winston. Isn't he georgeous?!?!?!

Congratulations John and Sarah. Much love to you all!

Leaving is Hard...

As most of you know, I accepted a job at Christ Community Church in Rochester. I am so excited about the job. It is rare that you find a job that is so incredibly well suited to who you are as a person. I am a lover of the Lord, Jesus Christ--I get to serve at a church, full time. I am a musician--I will get paid to play music. I love to inspire and motivate people--I will get paid to speak and lead worship for the college-aged group. Can you imagine!? I am so grateful and thankful for the Lord giving me a job that I can thrive in. I go bananas when I am stuck doing a job that is mundane and menial. I was meant for bigger things.

With all that said, my sad soul is heavy as I write this. As soon as I am done writing this, I am getting in my car and leaving to go back to Minnesota...for good. My family will not be joining me until after the end of the school year, which makes me sad. It never occurred to me just how much I will miss them. As I was dropping the boys off at school we each shared a moment, some hugs, and some special words. As Veronica was leaving for school with Ebby we exchanged hugs and special words. And, yes there were tears all around.

I love my family so much! I know we will communicate over the phone or through e-mail, but it is just not the same. There will be a void in my life until we are together in the same house again. Having each of them in my life every day makes it rich and meaningful.

A Brief Glimpse in Veronica's Life.

Hello everyone. So this past Saturday was very hectic for me. Here's the story:

Friday night I accidentally fell alseep on the couch. Ususally it's not an accident but this time it was. My parent's youngest child Cole is an early bird. He doesn't wake up early to get any worms, he wakes up early to play video games. Saturday he came down stairs at 6...a.m. As I told you before, I was asleep on the couch when Cole comes running down stairs and turns on the TV. He tries to get me to go up stairs, but I was out of it so I just laid there and tried to fall back asleep. No such luck. Eventually I get up, walk up the stairs, and fall on my bed. That was at 6:30.

9:30 rolls around and my dearest mother comes in and wakes me up. She reminds me that I have to go clean the softball field. Joy. The head coach says that the softball field is ours so we should take care of it. Woo. Anyway, I had already decided I was going to volunteer for the bathrooms because I know alot of girls that don't like cleaning bathrooms and such. I'm soooo glad I chose the bathrooms. Yes, it was nasty. Yes, it was a lot of work. Yes, the electricity didn't work, but we got finished at least an hour before any of the other girls. We had fun. We got wet and laughed at the nastiness. The only bad part was there wasn't any hose and i was on water duty. I had to carry big buckets of water. It was alright though.

When my mom picks me up we head over to Bethmom's house. Right after cleaning bathrooms, so you can bet I looked lovely. We headed over to Sheppard's, this store in Longs. Before I get to the trying on dresses, I'll describe my dishevelment, if that's a word. I had bleach and dirt on my sweatshirt, my chucks were orange from the clay, my jeans were filthy and my hair looked marvelous I'm sure. When we started looking for dresses it was crazy. There were so many dresses. I'm really picky so i felt bad for bethmom and mom because I kept telling them i didn't like any of the dresses they chose. We finally found that white one and I like it but I wasn't sure if it was THE one. So we put the dress on hold and drove to the mall to look some more. I found this really pretty white dress that was tight on the body and then flowed out at the knees. It was gorgeous. This girl saw me in it and wanted to try it on, so I let her. This girl looked great in it and was in love with the dress. I liked it but not as much as she did, so I let her have it. Bethmom thought I was crazy. Oh well. After that I didn't want to try on anymore dresses so we went back to Sheppard's and bought the dress. I was so exhausted I even turned down ICECREAM! I was delusional.

Well that was my Saturday. Fun, huh?

Veronica and Prom

Below is a picture of Veronica in her prom dress. My mom, Veronica and I went shopping yesterday. Poor Veronica tried on so many dresses. She even tried on some that she didn't want to try on, but mom and I wanted to see her in (just to see what the dress looked like.)

This picture isn't very good and doesn't show the details of the dress. I took it with my phone.

I think that it is beautiful. The way I described it to someone this morning was that Veronica's dress is red carpet and the dresses that some of the other girls were trying on were stripper dresses. One girls had a dress on that was literally cut down to her belly button in the front. I don't mind a backless dress, but one that is so revealing in the front bothers me.

Veronica's dress was about 1 1/2 sizes to big and we are having it altered. I will post some more pictures when prom day arrives and she and her date are together.