Secret Lives of Bees

I just got home from a fun night out with my favorite Hackenberg Sisters.... we went up to the mall to return some things and then went to see the movie - which I had heard was good but had never really seen an advertizement about it. Anyway - it was a great movie!!! We laughed and we cried - it wasn't even really a girlie movie - it was educational (and acurate according to the Hackenbergs and they know their bees) and it was well done. I highly recommend seeing this movie - I would not say that it is appropriate for kids but young adults and up - it is a must see. Check out the trailer.

http://www.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK//video/screenplay/vi437321753/

My New Raspberry

Okay - so I finally broke down and changed my cell phone service from Verizon to At&T because that is what Joel has and let's just say it will save me lots of money especially after getting my last cell phone bill when I went over by 435 minutes - you do the math! It was really bad.

Anyway - so with the new service I got a new phone - I am not good with technology so I was just going to get a basic phone that I could text, call and take pictures....well they were having a sale.....a big sale - they had a blackberry that was 235 dollars but then after rebates it was only 50 dollars. That is cheaper than all the simple phones. So now I have this fancy phone and I can't even figure out how to use it. So if you call or text me in the next couple days and I don't return your call....sorry it is because I can't figure out my phone. I am assured that I will at some point love it, but right now I am just frustrated....I wonder if that is how married life is going to be....????

Oh and one last thing - I know that my phone is a blackberry, but since it is red I am going always refer to it as my raspberry!

Billy Graham turns 90!

I was going through my email today and got a message that said that Billy Graham was turning 90 years old and I could send him a message. I am not sure if he will actually read my message or not, but I figured it was the least I could do - wouldn't be amazing if he got thousands of email messages from people around the world.

I have never heard Billy Graham speak personally but I know many people who have and many people who gave their lives to Christ because of him. He is a faithful servant of God who models Christ in his actions, and in these days that is something that can be hard to find.

Anyway if you are interested in sending him a birthday wish you may do so at https://www.billygraham.org/bgbirthday.asp

The Man, The Myth, The Legend!

So here is .....the man that is crazy enough to want to marry me! He is an amazing Godly man! He is strong and stubborn (oh I mean bull headed) just like me! We are a perfect match. Actually in many ways we are opposites. I love camping, he loves his bed (or couch). I love to listen to music all the time, he is fine with quiet in the car. He has to have a TV in the bedroom - I don't even have a TV with cable in my house. I love details and organization and he let's just say doesn't really care too much about the details unless it is a production then details are very important.

As much as we are different, we are similar - we share a passion for God and for kids to know Him personally. We love to laugh and have adventures (especially if they includes not camping) We love life and hope to live it to the fullest! He is my best friend and he has been a rock for me on so many occasions. I hope to be that for him as well.

So here is my "hubby cakes" to be! I will get in trouble for that later, but I am the only one allowed to call him that, just like his football players are the only ones that can call him "Babycakes" so unless you are me...don't call him that....or else!!!!!!

Anyway that is Joel Wade Snyder, my man!

The Ring

Well it has been several weeks since I have written and to be honest - the reason....I have been planning a wedding!!!! I would have blogged about the engagement sooner but I wanted to wait until I got my gorgeous ring!!! I have included a picture...the picture is not the best quality and does not do my ring the justice that it deserves however...I think you will see just how beautiful it is. Joel and I are so excited about getting married...the planning is going fairly well so far, we just need to get a florist and a caterer, oh and we need to pick out some music - so if you have any suggestions for good, clean, but fun dancing songs feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. Our wedding date is Dec. 13th - less than 3 months - so crazy, but so exciting!

The Pink Brothel

A fun title for a fun house....so a couple weeks ago, I decided to go along with Joel to a football meeting in Wilkes Barre (sometimes that is the only time we get to see each other, especially during football season) Anyway - it was nice to be able to chat and catch up a bit. But back to the Pink Brothel....we found a well lite parking lot and I did some work in the van while he was at his what was to be brief meeting..(over an hour) As I sat there I looked out the window and realized that I was staring at the largest pink house I have ever seen in my life...had it been another color it would have been amazing. Anyway as I sat there one of my friends called and I was telling him about the pink house and he said, isn't that the brothel house that was in the news....hmmmm - I wonder, anyway - I just thought that it was funny that I was in the parking lot of a random town looking at a pink house.

Relief Finally

So as I was just looking back at many of my recent blogs about the steroids and the treatments and such I was realizing that I didn't really follow-up in the past week with some great news....they worked!!! They meaning the steroids. For the first time in months I feel good (at least my body does!) I can take Tucker for a walk - which makes him and therefore me very happy. I cleaned my bathroom closet, my hutch, part of my office, I have been like super woman on these steroids....it just feels so good to finally feel good.....but with the good does come some continued side effects...the racing feeling of my heart, the anxious thoughts, and feeling like I am running around and talking at mock speeds, but to me that is a small price to pay when I finally feel good physically. So if you ask me to go for a walk - I will probably say yes, but I must warn you...I may not be nice (but it's the steroids I promise, well okay...plus a little of my own fistyness!)

Labor Day Family Fun

Two weekends in a row I got to see my niece and nephew, Kamyrn and Hayes, however this weekend I got to see both of my nieces and nephews and get a few pictures which is nice because my mom always wants a picture of the grandkids for her Christmas card. Anyway you will see below some pictures of the kids.

Please Vote

I just got home from an evening at the river with Joel and his friends. It was so much fun - we had a fondue dinner which was excellent! Anyway on the way home we stopped at Walmart and we saw Jenna (Joel's niece) and I can't remember how it came up in conversation but he mentioned that he did not see Jenna at the hospital or any other of his nieces or nephews...oh my goodness - I couldn't believe it, I thought everyone at least went to see their nephews and nieces especially if they are within driving distance - so the whole way home we talked about this topic and we are on way opposite sides of the spectrum, so we need your help - please take a moment and vote in our poll. Thanks!

The Progress of a Steroidal Couch Potatoe

Sick definately describes how I feel still...yuck...maybe stoned, or dizzy or some other drug adjective would also be appropriate...if only I could sleep through the worst of it, but alas no sleep is in the cards for me at least so far anyway....today despite not being able to sit up or walk around without falling over I was able to accomplish a huge amount of stuff...I was super steroid worker today from the couch....listen to what I did.

• Sent over 100 emails
• Cleared and organized both my email accounts (that was huge over 500 emails)
  
• Put together two slide shows
• Blogged several times
• Solved crisises in the lives of people around me
• Got all my mile logs done for the last four months
• Updated my sports calendar
• Talked to several nurses on the phone
• Caught up with some friends that I haven't talked to in years (by email of course)
• Planned a party
• And lots of other things that I can't seem to remember right now
• But I did more I promise!!!
  

Okay - I just needed to try to find a bright lining in the crusty cloud of steroid treatments thanks for listening to my venting! Now I just have to get a couple more things done while my fingers are typing in super steroid mode!!!! If I could just sit up while doing all this I could almost feel worthwhile again!!!

Twitch Family Reunion

Nothing makes me happier than meeting up with old friends and sharing some great memories. A couple weeks ago - I got to see a couple of my boys that I haven't seen in a long time. They were students of mine at times, part of our community youth ministry, and part of the band TWITCH. Now they are all grown up and doing great things to make the world a better place. I am so proud of these guys and it was so fun catching up with them. Paul and his wife Katrina are going to be parents soon - and just got back from Tanzania and they are now heading to Penn State to work with their international studies. Sean is in Buffalo working and leading worship to which he has a great gift that God is using in amazing ways! I love you boys and I am so proud of you!!!

And the other part of the story that is funny is that while we were sitting having lunch at Perkins in Williamsport we looked over at another table and there was another girl that went to Clearfield and I had as a student and was in the same church as the two guys I was sitting with - she is also married and has a child and she introduced me to her husband as Miss Grant - wow that has been a long time since I have been called that.

Tucker and Mini Me (Angel)

At the beginning of the month I had an opportunity to spend some time with the Ptacek family dogs. Of course Tucker went along because he loves to make new friends....but look at this picture - doesn't it look like they should be related? They even have the same white patch on their stomachs. Angel is a mix between a lab and springer spaniel and Tucker is a pointer lab mix. Funny isn't it! They are so cute together...when they aren't trying to jump all over me.

The Adventure Lunch to Cruisers

For my last lunch adventure of the summer I thought it would be fun to take a litte road trip and head to the other side of the mountain over to snyder county...you should have heard the kids trying to guess where we were going - they were a bit disappointed when we went through the Middleburg Fair and didn't stop but once we got to our final destination they were very excited to find ourselves dining at Mt Pleasant Mills finest establishments - Cruisers Cafe. It does help that I have a little in with the owner, but it is a fun place none the less! We enjoyed waving at the people passing by, listening to fun stories, and eating great food, and let's not forget about the ice cream! If you have never been to Cruisers you should check them out at www.cruisers-cafe.com Check out some cool pics of my kids!

Report just in: Steroids increase blogging

It seems that as I lay here and I can't seem to get up because I feel so crappy after my 5000mg of steroids in five short day, I am a bit antsy, my energy is scattered - I am exhausted, I want to throw up, so I am trying to lay still, but I can't sit still so I am blogging, sorry if none of this makes sense, but I did catch up on many of my blogs that I was behind on....don't worry there are many more to come so if I can't sleep tonight you will get to read all the rest of the ones that I haven't gotten to yet. Okay I am done with my bantering - I actually have to go take my shot...actually that is probably another great reason to keep blogging - procrastinating adding more drugs to my already overdosed body...how much more can I take without wanting to keel over and die....I can do this - I know that I can, I just wish I could knock myself out for the next couple days so I don't have to feel the awful steroid withdrawl - it is not pretty - let's just say Dr. Jerkyl/Mr. Hyde....I am not kidding. Okay did I say that I was done about five sentences ago - well I am actually done now. Thanks for listening to my ranting and raving!

Milk it does your body good!

Should I be mad or should I think this is funny...is this stealing or is it my boys just making sure they have enough calcium to make them stronger...ummm the jury is still out on this one...it was the last night of camp and I am pretty sure that they didn't need the milk anymore and it wasn't like they wasted it - they actually drank all 104 containers of milk...they are strong boys - what can I say!

Great times as a Red Shirt!

It is a ton of fun to be a red shirt at workcamps....challenging at times when you are trying to deal with your group as well as take care of programming things - however with my health it does seem to be a win win situation. This year once again I was a song leader at two camps and an MC in training at one. I think with my hands being silly this may be my last year to do music since they don't seem to like the heat or the up and down motion that seems to be required for playing a guitar...so I think it will be on to MC! Which I am very excited about. With that I thought that I would show a few pictures of my red shirt times!!

Archie's BBQ

For our fun night we decided to go out for our traditional BBQ - I guess when you do something two years in a row it is then considered a tradition. Anyway - last year we did Dirty Ernie's in West Virginia and this year we did Archie's. What a treat - when we arrived our name was flashing on the outside sign - we basically had the whole restaurant to ourselves, and they even helped us out with a birthday surprise for Mindy. The food was great and the service was stellar! We loved our time there and I highly suggest if you are in the Deep Creek Area you need to check out Archies! Here is there site! www.archiesbbq.com Thanks for a great time!

Fun Times at the Fun Land

Pictures speak a thousand words so I am just going to highlight a few of my favorites.... don't even ask just enjoy them for what you see, but feel free to comment - that would be entertaining.

Notice those great shirts

I just want to give a little advertizement to www.mytshirtguy.com About three weeks before camp I was realizing that we didn't even have our shirts ordered yet much less designed. Well in chatting with my new friend Sarah at one of my workcamps, I found out her dad Eli Bernard has a t-shirt company and does the design for free in less than 24 hours.....score!!! I sent him the info and in less than a couple hours I had a design - we tweeked it a little and I was thrilled....he was so great to work with and he is an amazing Christian guy that I would highly recommend that you would consider for your next t-shirt order. Anyway check it out!

I tried to get pictures that show the front and the back - not great back pictures but you get the idea. Anyway you should check it out - we were "pleased"!!!

Our first day at camp!

I think the front row of boys describes our group to a T! We had our biggest group ever, filled with some wild and crazy kids - but a very fun group for the most part - they actually only got in trouble four or five times (at least that I know of anyway!) They were really hard workers and people complimented their work ethic, now if we could just work on our thinking and acting skills at the same time, we would be golden. You may notice two non-yellow shirted people. Well the guy in the blue is our new friend Luke from Colorado - his dad was the MC so he needed a group to stay with so they picked up - I hope we didn't scare him too much!

And the person in the red shirt - well that is me and that is what I wore all week long! I did alternate between the red shirts but they were all red since I was on staff. You know me always sticking out like a sore thumb!