Caiden's eye exam...

Caiden's eye exam is tomorrow (Thursday at 8:20a -usually it's at 7:35a - Yes, the doctor always comes at 7:35a - just an inside joke for us :) I'm glad that it's later. Can sleep a bit longer). I'm scared for the results. Very. I'm planning to go but am having a hard time wanting to go (b/c I'm scared, and b/c I think I've reached burn-out and the thought of getting up at 6:00a after working 12 hrs. today - well that explains itself...) I'm asking for prayer for Caiden and for peace of mind for us all regardless of the results. Thank you in advance for your prayers.

God is strong when we are weak.

Total Axxess!

Total Axxess is BACK!!! Jayar declared me THE VOICE for Grand Rapids for JQ99 on Total Axxess tonight! I talked to Jayar (on the radio :D) and it was broadcast live nationally! TOO FUN and TOO COOL! In fact, he played my call twice tonight and I heard it both times! Yes, I am one of the 12 listeners! :D LOL Visit his site at Total Axxess.

It is snowing like crazy over here! This is the most snow we have gotten in a while! And quite slippery! Is it really almost February?! Doesn't seem like it! Hope this snow doesn't stick around till June. That would be so sad to have snow on my birthday...

Article One

New WaYfm group, Article One, stopped by the studios today and gave us our own private concert in the new, yet still under construction, WaYfm studio. They are great! They just signed a record deal with InPop Records (Newsboys, Superchick) and their first album with InPop Records debuts in May. I can't wait!

Above is me pictured with the guys. On the left is their lead singer, Nathan Piche; then next to me on the right is their drummer, Dave De Smit, and on the far right is their fiddler, Matt Piche. (Matt & Nathan are brothers).

To check out their music click on either of these links...

Article One
Article One on MySpace

So worth checking out!

My New WaYfm shirts :)

Rich gave me a few AUTHENTIC WaYfm shirts since I didn't have any... Thought you'd like to see me "modeling" my new shirts as I am getting ready to play volleyball that night! In fact, both Rich and I were cool and wore the Life is Short... Don't Waste It shirt today at the station :)

Well, I saw Brook, JB and Chris off from the station for Colombia! They were nervous and excited... Please pray that everything will go smoothly on both ends as God uses us to bring sponsors to these children. Pray that all the glitches will be worked out and that glory will be brought to the name of Jesus these next 2 days.

Tune into 91.3 WCSG FM to hear the updates from Brook, JB and Chris. And also check out WCSG.org and WCSG.org/morningshow to follow what's going on these next 2 days! God is going to do some awesome things so be prepared to be amazed!

The bestest and longest day...

I had a very long day yesterday, but it was an awesome day as well. B/c of HIPPA, I can't go into any details as to why it was a good day but to those of you who know where I work, you may understand this... I sent my primary home to 2 wonderful parents. :D So made my day and then after seeing pics on their carepage... Wow. God is amazing!

It was also the longest day I ever worked -> 17 hours straight. Yeah, and then sleep was come and go last night after working - not a good combo. We were so short on nights that they needed extra help. So I stayed as long as I was able to legally, but that was long enough. I worked hard for that time and a half! Those last 5 hours just flew by b/c I had SO much to do! Don't know that I want to do that again too soon... but we'll see. (Obviously this jargon isn't too clear to everyone d/t the nature of my job. For inquiring minds, ask me about it in person. I'm just "journaling" on my blog.)

I do have a prayer request: Please pray for safety for my friends, Brook Taylor, Chris Lemke and John Balyo - all from WCSG, as they head over to Colombia for a 5 day mission trip w/ Compassion International doing live broadcasts in order to bring awareness to the needs of these children for sponsors. And also please consider sponsoring a child yourself! It is so worth it! Compassion International

Days of Compassion with WCSG

Jesus said, "Let the little ones come to me and do not hinder them for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

Jesus calls us to minister to those in need ~ to feed the hungry, give shelter to the poor and to love the unloved. He has asked us to show his love to a cold, depraved world. Will you step up to the challenge and be Jesus to the least of these?
Please consider taking the initiative today to sponsor a child in need; therefore showing the love of Jesus and giving hope to a child who would otherwise have no hope in a poverty-stricken land.

My friends, Brook Taylor, Chris Lemke and John Balyo, from WCSG are headed over to Colombia, South America next week for WCSG's Days of Compassion. They are going to visit a Compassion Project in Bogata, Colombia and broadcast live from there. Please pray for their safety and that God will use their work to bring the love of Jesus to these children and also to encourage listeners to sponsor children in need.

Visit www.compassion.com to sponsor a child.

Balancing checkbook, 2 hour nap, & Snow

As you can tell by the title of this blog... this is a multi-subject blog of random subjects thrown together. I haven't updated in while and decided I had a few things to talk about ;)

Balancing the ol' checkbook
Yes, I'm doing the chore, (YES CHORE), of balancing my checkbook right now. Not a fun time to say the least since I haven't done it since Dec. 26... Yeah, I've got my work cut out for me :`(

Okay, make that since Nov. 9 that I hadn't balanced by checkbook with the bank that is... so sad. BUT GUESS WHAT??? It balanced! Once I corrected my adding/subtracting, it balanced to THE PENNY!!! :D YEA! It only took me a couple hours, but it's completely up-to-date! Can you tell I'm thrilled?!? ;-P

2 hour nap
Two hour naps are great! I took one on Monday after working 3 12 hour shifts in a row - that nap was fabulous! I then attempted to play volleyball that night and my mind was in such a fog that I think my teammates wish I had stayed home (I think I wish I had stayed home...)! :O

Snow
I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's kind of nice to see snow for a change. The weather has been so dreary that I actually don't mind the snow probably b/c I have a garage to park my car in this year!!! :D That is a fabulous luxury to have. Although scraping off most of the ice from my driveway was not a fun task... Took me at least an hour to an hour and half to get it off. My hands and arms are shaking from doing it... But I can say that it was nice to be outside for a change and be in the SUN! :D

God working in children...

I had to share this recent letter I received from the child I sponsor through Compassion International. It is amazing. My child is a beautiful 8 year old girl from India. She wrote it herself! (This is a translation which explains why it doesn't flow too smoothly or why it doesn't sound like an 8 y/o writing...):

Dear Amanda,

I feel very happy to write letter to you myself. I am in good health. I passed in Annual Exam and I am studying in 3rd grade. I like all the lessons. Through the letter which you sent, I came to know the details of you. As I belong to a Hindu family, I did not know about Jesus. After coming to the Project, I came to know more about Jesus. I like Jesus very much. I am studying to write Quarterly Exam. I pray for you. I finish this letter with love.

Yours lovingly,
Priya

God is amazing. Priya came to know Jesus b/c of Compassion and God has placed me in a position to help nourish her faith and help bring her out of poverty through Compassion!

Please consider sponsoring a child. It is SO worth making a difference in the life of a child (or children in my case). I love sponsoring these kids and I like to call them my girls as I don't have any of my own yet :). I have 3 girls thru Compassion. One from India and 2 from Uganda. The 2 in Uganda live in an AIDS affected area where Compassion has an AIDS initiative program set up to help children and families affected by HIV/AIDS.

Being a sponsor is so rewarding and challenging. I love receiving letters from my girls. The more I sponsor, the more letters I receive!! (and the more I get to write...) I'm trying to get better on that end ;) When you have 4 to write to (b/c I have another girl thru World Vision who lives in Cambodia), it's hard to keep up!

For more info, here is Compassion's link: Compassion International By going to this website, you can choose your own child. You can even choose what country, age, birthday, etc... of the child you would like to sponsor. Take my kiddos for examples... Priya (India) has the same birthday as mine :D Juliet's birthday is one day before mine and lives in Uganda. Sandra (Uganda) and Pheaktra (Cambodia / World Vision) are just too cute!

You can even visit the child you sponsor. Compassion coordinates various trips to make that happen, and it is something that I would like to do someday.

It is an amazing opportunity to make a difference in the life of a child in a country where there is little hope for these kids.

My challenge to you: Take the initiative today to give hope to one child to overcome poverty.

Wow, what a week...

It was quite a week last week. I've never put so many hours in at work for quite some time. 50+ hours. Yeah. I was completely exhausted come Monday. I was never so grateful for Monday to come around - although it's usually my favorite day of the week anyway. Took a good 2 hour nap. It was heavenly. My brain was then in a fog after waking up from it... Then I played 2 volleyball games that night and my brain was so out of it the first game, and being the setter, that's not a good thing! Once I got into it, things got better...

In the midst of working the 50+ hours, I also worked at WCSG and then stood in line at the Ford for 3 hours and 45min. Then Thursday was Caiden's eye exam and I was up at 5:30am for it. Then Friday, my friend from Colorado came home briefly and we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. So sleeping in last week was a rarity. Now my body has been waking up at 5:30am as I'm used to waking up at that time... Fortunately this week is a little less demanding. Although I'm still doing a 3 day weekend this week for work, plus working at the station and meetings for work. Then my house work and trying to scrape wallpaper in my house... The work is endless, but the paychecks are great! :D

Loving the Single Life!

Thru a recent encounter, I realized that I'm loving the single life. Until this point, I was really feeling kind of depressed that I didn't have a signifant other in my life. That has now changed. Someone wanted to set me up with someone they knew (I usually shy away from this anyway) and after thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that I am not ready to be married. The thought actually scares me, b/c it would mean giving up a lot of what I'm currently doing in life. I'm NOT ready for that. I love my independence. I am having so much fun living life to the fullest and allowing God to use me as a single to make an impact on the world.

Pictured above is me with my good friends, Anna and Kat. Anna came from Colorado for a visit. I haven't seen her since May. It was so good to see her again! And all three of us are singles! Rock on! :D

Missing Man Straight Above Me

Wow, that fly-over today was amazing. I had prime viewing at the hospital at work today. It flew right in front of us. The missing-man plane flew straight up RIGHT above us, and I could see the orange flames from the jet fuel shooting out the back. It was SO cool.

We also heard the cannons go off at work as well. Very cool to hear.

The atmosphere at work was so energizing and fun b/c we were all waiting and watching for the fly-over. The doctors and nurses and much of the rest of the staff were just waiting for it to happen. And I think we had the best view. :D

I shook Steve Ford's Hand

I had the honor of shaking President Ford's son's hand after viewing President Ford's casket last night. It was a great honor and privilege. He is a very humble man and expressed his gratefulness for all the support given to his family in Grand Rapids. We are very honored to have the Ford family present in our city.

Steve Ford said, "Dad would be proud of this line." And after someone said to him, "Our prayers are with you." He responded, "Pray for mom, b/c she's going to make it through." When I shook his hand and said, "Our prayers are with you," he responded by pausing, giving me eye contact and holding my hand a little longer. Yes, an honor to say the least. The Ford's are so grateful for the support Grand Rapids is showing them. They are amazing, humble people.

I stood in line for 3 hours and 45 minutes to view President Ford's casket and it was worth every minute of it. I made some good friends while standing in line even if I never meet them again. By the time I had made it thru the line at 10p, the line had lengthened another 1-2 hours. It was amazing to see the outpour of love and support for President Ford and his family and to be able to be apart of it.

I also saw the processional of President Ford's body from the airport to the Ford Museum earlier that afternoon. We had a mini tailgate get-together on the back of Brook's Bravada. Good bonding time ;D. And it was an honor to see the processional go down the highway.

It was also an honor to be able to pay last respects to President Ford and to be apart of history in the making. What an amazing time to be alive.

God bless the Ford's. Remember them in your prayers.