I've Been Tagged!!!!!

I have been tagged by my my pastors wife Sister Eisenhart to list 7 random things about myself here they are:

I am Jewish (Jews from Germany) on my Grandmothers side and Cherokee Indian on my Grandfathers.

I do not like spiders.

I work at a Daycare/Preschool.

I am not a coalcracker - I grew up in Southern Pennsylvania (and Maryland, Indiana, Northern Ohio, Southern Ohio, Arizona, Texas)

I love to be around people and am getting over my fear of big crowds.

I married my boyfriend from school - (My boyfriend in 8th grade then moved away came back and he was my boyfriend again in 10th grade, moved away again came back 10 years later and married him.)

God saved me again at the age of 30.

I went to 5 different schools in 3 different states in 4 years of high school.

I am going to tag Deanna Kennedy, Sarah Susan, Heather Dickinson.

****By the way I just realized that Sister Eisenhart and I cannot count because that was 8 not 7 random things.****

Pledge of Allegiance in Schools Today

I had the manager of a local bank email me the following.
I thought it was worthy of repeating. It is oh so TRUE!

New Pledge of Allegiance!

Since the Pledge of Allegiance and The Lord's Prayer are not allowed in most
public schools anymore because the word "God" is mentioned....
A kid in Arizona wrote the following NEW  School prayer. 

Now I sit me down in school

  Where praying is against the rule 

  For this great nation under God 

  Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites, 

  It violates the Bill of Rights. 

  And anytime my head I bow 

  Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green, 

  That's no offense; it's a freedom scene. 

  The law is specific, the law is precise. 

  Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall 

  Might offend someone with no faith at all 

  In silence alone we must meditate, 

  God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks, 

  And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks. 

  They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible. 

  To quote the Good Book makes me liable.

We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen, 

  And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King. 

  It's "inappropriate" to teach right from wrong, 

  We're taught that such "judgments" do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls, 

  Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles. 

  But the Ten Commandments are not allowed, 

  No word of God must reach this crowd.

It's scary here I must confess, 

  When chaos reigns the school's a mess. 

  So, Lord, this silent plea I make: 

  Should I be shot; My soul please take!

AMEN

Jesus said, 
"If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father." 

THE FERN AND THE BAMBOO

One day I decided to quit.... I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality..... I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God."God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"

His answer surprised me..."Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"

"Yes", I replied.

"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo". He said. "In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. In the fourth year, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. He said. "Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant. But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle." He said to me. "Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots. I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you. Don't compare yourself to others." He said. "The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern, yet, they both make the forest beautiful." "Your time will come,"

God said to me. "You will rise high!"

"How high should I rise?" I asked.

"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.

"As high as it can?" I questioned.

"Yes." He said,

"Give me glory by rising as high as you can."

Never regret a day in your life. Good days give you Happiness. Bad days give you Experiences. Both are essential to life.

Happiness keeps you Sweet, Trials keep you Strong, Sorrows keep you Human, Failures keep you Humble, Success keeps You Glowing, But Only God keeps You Going!

Have a great day! The Son is shining!!

"I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it." Maya Angelou

~Settlers of Catan and The Seafarers~

Some of our friends have introduced us to a board game called Settlers of Catan. This is a buy and trade type of game. You have to use resources such as brick, wool, wood and ore to buy and trade. Kevin & Amy bought the expansion version called The Seafarers and the second expansion City of Knights. Now, we have only played with the Seafarers so far. We want to get that one down before we play with Cities of Knights. You build settlements and cities, roads, trade routes with ships, and you can buy developement cards. There is a robber and a pirate. It really is pretty fun. Below are some pictures of our last game. In the picture of the game board there are empty spaces and as we are able to open each of those spaces we turn over a hex and it could be water or it could be land/resource. You just never know for sure what you are getting.

This is one scenario.
You can change scenarios and with each scenario you change rules.

Mark is looking like he just can not decide where to put his settlement.
Sarah and Kevin just hope he does not settle on the spots they want.

Amy is usually pretty quick with her decisions.
She is a "no nonsense" kinda person.

I had to share this picture.
Derrick and my kids all like to see if they can
do something funny when ever I am trying to take pictures.
They all think it is funny but, I do not have the humor they do all of the time.It is good clean fun and it makes us use our brain.
DeAnna is even pretty good at it.

Afton Wesleyan Daycare / Preschool

We had another open house for the Daycare / Preschool on Thursday night. It went really well. We had a couple more new families stop by. It will be open on the 27th instead of 20th (YEAH). Cheyenna finished decorating her room for the most part. She may have a few other things to put up but, she did most of it. She also has some letters and numbers coming to put around her walls that have not come in yet. She is decorating in Rainbows and Busy Bee. I am decorating in Monkey Mischief but, am not finished decorating yet.

Here are a few pictures.

~Pictures of Cheyenna's Classroom~

Here is a picture of the main play area.

Here is the picture of Amy's Daughter, Emma dressing up.Here is my Giraffe with Monkeys hanging on its neck.
I will show you more when it is all finished.
I will post more info and pictures as we get things done and get closer.