The Final Audition!

Today was the big day for the Wheel of Fortune final audition!! I think one of my biggest accomplishments of the day was getting downtown to the place I was supposed to be, find parking, and be on time! hehe...

It was a very fun day, but kind of nerve racking at the same time. They had all the hopeful contestants in a room and had puzzles up on a projector screen. At first a  lady would randomly call out names, that person would call a letter and if they got it correct they got to keep playing. We did that until everyone had been at least one time. I am proud to say that I called the correct letters and solved the puzzle on my turn!! Hurray!!

Here's my spoils for solving the puzzle...a scary keychain of Pat!

Here's me and Pat!

Then they handed out a written test! Whew, talk about makin everybody sweat (even more, lol)... This paper had puzzles under different categories. The puzzles only had a few letters filled in and based on what was there you had to solve as many as possible in 5 minutes. Those 5 minutes went by so fast! Those puzzles were really hard, but I did manage to get several of them.

After the written test, they graded them and decided who they wanted to stay for further auditioning and more game play. I was so happy when they called my name! This time they called 6 people at a time who stood up front and played the game. We had to pretend we were spinning the wheel, call letters and buy vowels. I was able to solve the puzzle when my turn came up!!

After each group had been through a couple of puzzles they had everyone talk about themselves a little bit and took polaroid pictures of us. They said we'll find out in 2 weeks by mail if we made it or not! Thanks for everyone who's rootin me on! I hope to make the show!!

I'll let everyone know how it turns out!

The Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his JOY went and sold all he had and bought that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." --Jesus, Matthew 13:44-45

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where tieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." --Jesus, 
Matthew 19-21

Wherever you are today, think of where your treasure is. What do you treasure more than anything else...? If it be not Christ, even if it cost you all you have, run to HIM. This is what I have been asking myself lately and is what the sermon in church was over yesterday. Lord, set our hearts on YOU.

May we say, Lord,

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. Philippians 3:7-9

Thank you, Lord.

The Love of God

A couple of Sundays ago, we sang this hymn at church that I had never before sang...and it was incredible. I hope you'll read the words slowly and carefully and try to take in the description of The Love of God. If you click on this link, it will let you listen to the song (it's actually a youtube video, but you can hear Mercy Me's version).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xd4DXxMR3Y

The Love of God

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;

It goes beyond the highest star,

And reaches to the lowest hell;

The guilty pair, bowed down with care,

God gave His Son to win;

His erring child He reconciled,

And pardoned from his sin.

Refrain:

Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure—

The saints’ and angels’ song.

When hoary time shall pass away,

And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,

When men who here refuse to pray,

On rocks and hills and mountains call,

God’s love so sure, shall still endure,

All measureless and strong;

Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—

The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

I can't believe I haven't heard this song before! It made me want to research it a little bit and find out more about it. Frederick M. Lehman wrote this son in 1917 in Pasadena, California. So, from what I can find, they found the last stanza of the poem written on the walls of an insane asylum, but they are actually wrods from an old Jewish poem. Lehman says, "One day, dur­ing short in­ter­vals of in­at­ten­tion to our work, we picked up a scrap of pa­per and, seat­ed up­on an emp­ty le­mon box pushed against the wall, with a stub pen­cil, add­ed the (first) two stan­zas and chor­us of the song."

Pretty amazing the gift that God gives poeple to write....the love God is so amazing and I can't wait until we can fully know it in heaven one day, together.

Penguins and a fun weekend!

I am always amazed by the creativity and talents that God gives to people. While we were working a booth for Gospel for Asia we met a man in the Creation booth next to us. He was very nice and we all talked throughout the day. He is quite talented and had even built a replica to scale of Noah's Ark for their booth. He sent us what he made and gave out as Christmas gifts this past year! So he carves them and paints them himself! With each penguin set he includes a copy of the story of  Jesus' birth.

                                                                   They are too cute!

We praise the Lord for our brother Joe, he was an atheist for many many years of his life and now has been redeemed by the Lord! He had a hard time with the science part and did not see how the two met, but now he does see and uses his free time to share with others how the Lord saved him. God is soo good!

Saturday morning we went out to our pond and fished a while, caught the most fish we had all Spring. 

(5 total and 8 if count the ones that I lost right before I got them to shore!)

I think my fish is bigger...hehe, even though Wade caught more Saturday

I love Wade's face in this pic, hehe, I can just see him makin that same face when he was 7...

Will's Pillow

I just finished Will's pillow for his baby room!

One Step Closer...

I got an email a couple of days ago informing me that...I MADE THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE FINAL AUDITION!! I got so excited!
I've been in strict training ever since, hehe...Wheel every night and some practice rounds online. I need to go over TV Show Titles and famous people names as well. Those two areas I am weak in...come to think of it...geography's not my strongest point either...hmm...On the Map...
Now the biggest dilemma...what to wear? lol...
Honestly though, I am just so pumped that I made it and really just want to enjoy the whole experience. The audition is Thursday, May 27th at 11:00 am.
Who would've thought??
I know most people have at least thought about how fun it would be to get on there and spin that wheel! I think that's what I would look forward to the most!
Hehe...i'm going to be dreaming about this!! literally, lol... I'm already thinkin up some secret signals for my family and friends if I make the show, hehe...more to come...

Smoky Mountain Range

Whew, what a wonderful weekend! We went to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee over the weekend with some friends of ours from here in Indy and stayed at their family's cabin. The moutains were just beautiful and thankfully we were able to avoid the severe weather and the flooding. While we were enjoying beautiful weather in eastern Tennessee, from Nashville west, they were flooding...thanks to everyone who prayed for our safe travels.

This was the view from the back deck...so beautiful and relaxing!

I could rock out there every morning and night!

Here's a picture of us with Ben and Jacque, we stayed at Ben's Dad's cabin -- we all went green.

There was a pull table upstairs and we got us a few games in...Pates vs. Miliuses

Ben & Jacque won the first couple of games, but...

we came back and now we're tied 2-2, we'll have to face off again soon!

We went hiking one day at this place called Chimney  Tops and it was beautiful! The weather was wonderful for hiking

Here we are on the trail

The trail was challenging but not too bad until...the very end...I wasn't expecting to go ROCK CLIMBING! Heights is not one of my strong points...especially with no saftey gear to catch me if I mess up...

Off of either side was a drop off...directly down...

There were a few too many people up there for my comfort and I didn't like watching Wade ahead of me, so not too far from the top, I decided I had gone far enough, lol, and made my way on back down to more level ground.

I did manage to snap these photos while clinging to the rocks with my other hand, hehe... that rock face is what we were climbing on

The trip back down

Here we all are, safe and sound! What a great trip!!