Old college friends...

Awhile ago, through this blog, an old friend and I got in touch with each other. It was so neat when we discovered that we lived not too too far from one another. After I got home from teaching, Melinda came over for the evening. We had a lot of fun! We made dinner together, talked, and caught up on all kinds of stuff. What memories! I believe it was very encouraging for the both of us to see a familiar face.... a familiar Northland face! :) I enjoyed having her sweet spirit and fun-loving personality. Please come again Mel!!!

HollyWild Field Trip

Today, summer camp went on a field trip to Hollywild Animal Park. It was so neat. It's kind of like a zoo, but not really. They have many of the retired animals from Hollywood. Next to the animals or their cage was a sign that showed you what all movies, commericals, advertisements that that particular animal was in. It was cool. They also take you on a safari where we got to pet and feed many odd animals....since they are mainly tame animals. It was very very hot but we had a great time. I love field trips.
Here's a few pics.....

We got to pet this buffalo or bison thing . He was licking the kids- He has a 17 inch long tongue!

Check out the face on that kid!! I thought this was sooo funny. This is actually not a camel...it only has one hump- i forget what they called them, but they kept getting right in our faces!

These guys were coming right at me. You should see the pics from when they got a little too close. :) They like to spit

I got to pet the zebra behind the horse!!!!!! I was so excited about this one. I never in my life thought I'd touch a zebra. Super neat, huh? This horse was in a movie, but I don't remember which one.

I thought this was one of the coolest things I'd seen. It's called a Zdonk- it's half zebra, half donkey. I got to touch it too. His face is in the above picture.

Please pray...

Please pray for our friends Mike and Misty Ticknor. Misty is 23 years old and is in the hospital. She had a stroke and doesn't seem to be doing so well. She was 2 weeks from delivering their first baby boy. The baby is doing great thankfully. Misty has swelling in her brain and severe pain. The doctors are keeping her for a week hoping for the swelling to go down so they can deliver the baby next week. The doctors will then do brain surgery on her. Please pray - she is not able to eat anything and not even able to have an IV b/c of too much fluid to the brain. She is very pregnant and not able to take the meds, etc. This an absolutely precious couple- God is using them mightily....please pray for the family with us. Thank you!

Learning A Lot...

Last week and this week I have been substitute teaching at our summer day camp and I have been learning so much! I have the age group of 1st-5th grade. I have enjoyed them very much and I am grateful for what I have learned so far. I certainly have had my struggles but I'm thankful for the opportunity the Lord has given me this last week. It has prepared me some for the school year. Please pray for me these next 2 days as I finish up. Tomorrow we get to go on a field trip to a nearby Animal Park. I'm looking forward to that.

Tim's work schedule has changed a little bit for the rest of the summer. He is still working 2nd shift but now everyone is being required to work for 12 days straight, then they get a saturday/sunday off. 12 days and then sat/sun off. Tim only has 1 more month of this job....HALLELUJAH!!! We are excited to actually have a whole day together-- Tim has not had 1 saturday all summer, but we knew it was just for a season and soon we'd be together each day again. This coming saturday is his first day off(other than memorial day)!! And we are going to rest a bunch and also Tim says he is going to take me to the mall.....two very sweet ladies gave me a gift card for my birthday!!!! yippee! (love you)

I'm sorry noone has heard from us recently-- it's been very very busy! But I really can't imagine what it's going to be like when school starts. Tim will be assist. coaching the men's soccer team (in training for head coach next year), and we will be team coaching the girls basketball team.. How fun is that, huh?!? We are so excited about this opportunity together. It should be super fun.
Well I'm exhausted and heading off to rest. I just wanted to give you a little update of our happenings.......

Something New!

I don't claim to be a great theologian, nor do I claim to know a whole lot about anything. But I (Tim) thought that I would start something new to be an encouragement/challenge to those who may need it. I have developed a series of thoughts from the 119th Psalm and will be posting them (as well as thoughts that the Lord has given me on other Scripture) under the "To Be An Encouragement" link that is off to the side. Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments. I do not intend for it to be a forum of great theological debate, but it is to be used for the glory of God and the good of others. And I hope that it will accomplish exactly that.

We love Mom and Dad!

Mom and Dad Harney came from IL for a quick visit. It was so wonderful to see them. We absolutely love our parents. They are the greatest ever! It's always a blessing to spend time with family. We had an awesome time all together. Mom has a sweet, fun-loving, caring spirit; Dad is just a riot to be with. He's so fun- always knows how to put a smile on your face, and always there to take care of his family no matter what the circumstance. You can tell its important to him. I'm grateful for my husband who takes after his dad in many areas. He is also like his mom in many areas too- I'm so blessed to have the best of my "in-loves" living with me every day! Tim is very close to his family, and that's something I've always been very grateful for. I wanted to marry a man who loves his parents very much, and boy did I ever marry right. God is so good.
We have such a wonderful family. Mom and Dad got to stay with our sister and brother "in love", Sara and Jon. They arrived there Tuesday night. We all got to spend the day together on Wednesday. Yes, Guess what??!?!? Tim's supervisor let him have the day off and Jon got to take the day off work, so we were all together for the whole day. What blessings! We were so thrilled!!! Mom, Dad, Jon, and Sara all came to our place Wednesday morning. We had a blast! Mom and Dad brought us FURNITURE! PRAISE THE LORD! YEAH!! We got a couch and a chair and a bed for our guest room, and a couple boxes of Tim's old things. We are so grateful. Our apartment now feels like home. Dad was a blessing and helped Tim fix a little issue we had in our closet. The family did lots of talking and reminiscing. Mom also brought us some bulletin board items for our classrooms. Hallelujah! (THANK YOU MOM!!!!) How exciting. We made many memories in just 1 1/2 days. We also got to go to church together at our new church. It was so nice! They went home after church and then Tim and I drove to Jon and Sara's thursday morning. We went out for a little bit, then met Jon back at the house for his lunch break. Then we parted ways. Tim took me home and went to work and Mom and Dad started their journey back to IL. We praise God for the time we got to spend together...It's always sad to part. When we spend time with family, we find ourselves loving them more after each time we see them. We hate to leave our family and we hate it when they have to leave us, but we are thankful for that day, that blessed day, we'll be together forever praising Jesus!
Thank you Mom, Dad, Jon and Sara--- We love you!
(Can't wait to see you again Nick, Josh, Di, Braden- we love and miss each of you, too!)

A Thought...

"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." (Ps. 32:1)

are YOU happy?