Life

So, it has been quite a while since my last post. I thought I would blog more, but as time breezes by me at an alarming rate, I find myself at the end of the day and not taking the time to write.

Over Spring Break, we went on a last minute trip with Shane to Arizona. He was supposed to fly out on Sunday, but his boss said he could drive with us all going, so on Thursday evening, we were booking hotels and planning our drive. We got to stop at a lot of neat places along the way. Places we have never been. We went to the Grand Canyon on our way back home. It was an awesome place. Scary as anything I have ever seen, but awesome. Definitely something everyone should see at least once.

The last few years I have contemplated going back to school to get my bachelor's degree. I have humhawed about for years and since Shane has a good job, and Cameron is quickly creeping up to college age, I decided it was now or never. So I picked myself up by the bootstraps and decided enough was enough. I am tired of settling for jobs that aren't fit for me. I loved being an instructional assistant before and a substitute teacher now. I have always wanted to be a teacher, so why not? I tried to get into a four year school, but because I have no prior college credits and poor math skills, I had to settle with Ivy Tech. Which is smarter as it is much cheaper alternative for me. I am going to get my associate's degree in early childhood education and then transfer to finish my bachelor's degree in elementary education. I went and took my assessment test and passed reading and writing with flying colors. Math, on the other hand...not so much. But, I can take some brush up classes in math and begin this crazy journey. I am officially enrolled in classes for the summer. Starting with 13 credit hours! Yikes!! But, with having a 15 year old who basically takes care of himself and has band all summer, plus not working in the summer, I can definitely make it.

Cameron turns 15 on Saturday, May 12. EEK! Where in the world has the last 15 years gone? I was looking at him the other day, taller than me, glasses on, hair cut, deep man voice, and all I could see was this little guy about 3 years old. Sitting in his bedroom with the big chalkboard easel, reading words I wrote, singing ABC's, reading books, reciting numbers, doing simple addition and subtraction. And then the reality sets in that he isn't this little boy anymore. He is growing into a man. He has been such a blessing to us. I thank God every day that He gave Shane and I this wonderful young man to raise. He is such a great kid. I know he's going to turn out to be such a wonderful adult.

Well, that is about it for us here at Frye corner. Until next time!

Crazy Game of Life

It's official! I am a student! I just got my acceptance letter and have signed up to take an assessment (eek!) and speak with my counselor! I have already talked to a four year college about transferring my associate's degree over when I finish and they are happy to accept me to finish up my bachelor's degree in Elementary Education! I am over the moon! God has been so good to us. I have prayed for his wisdom and guidance every step of the way. I have to leave a career behind, but I really feel like this is the path God has had planned for me all along. It just feels right. And by going this route, it is the absolute cheapest way to get a four year degree! Yay!

I should be able to begin the Summer 2012 semester and get moving on this adventure! Like I said, this girl is over the moon!!

Later!

The End of an Era.

Okay, so this is a different post than I would usually blog about. Today, the television show I have watched since I was 11 years old, is coming to an end. It is truly an end of an era. One Life To Live is a daytime soap opera. I typically wouldn't watch soaps, but my best friend when we were in middle school got me hooked and off and on through the last 21 years, I have watched this show. I literally grew up with a few of the actors and actresses, as they aged along with me and their drama that was going on was similar to my own drama I was living. I know it seems silly and childish, but I literally feel like these actors that invade my tv every afternoon are part of my family. Like I said, I have watched some of them grow up before my eyes. I have dvr'd OLTL for two years now and was able to watch every single day, whereas before, I would watch only when I was home or able to catch it at 2 o'clock.

The last two weeks have been filled with drama on the show as true to soap opera form. There have been people leave the fictional town of Llanview, and as their tears fall for their family member leaving town, tears fill my eyes as I watch them leave, knowing that like all the times people have left before and come back, there is no coming back. It is over. I have to accept that and move on. Nobody in my family understands. They think I am being completely overdramatic. I told Shane it is like if they took the NFL and said "we are taking this off and never showing and NFL football game again. Ever". What he doesn't get is, I don't watch a lot of tv. I don't like most shows. I get hooked on one thing and that's it for me. When the show I get hooked on goes off, oh well. But this is different. I have watched this show for most of my life. It has been on tv for 43 years!

But, life goes on. Now I have an extra hour in my day to get other things accomplished. So in closing, let me just say goodbye to all the people of my favorite fictional town of Llanview, PA. Goodbye, Vicki, CLint, Joey, Kevin, Chord, Tina, Jessica, Natalie, Ryder, Liam, John, Marcie, Al, Asa, Dorian, Kelly, Blair, Todd, Starr, Dani, Tea, Cassie, Jack, Sam, Victor, Addie, Brody, Nora, Bo, Matthew, David, Nigel, Roxy, Shane, Rex, Gigi, Cristian, Antonio, Will, Jen, and the brood of others that I have watched over the years. Goodbye to the end of an era.
Now excuse me while I wipe my tears...

Fall: A time of transition

Fall seems to be upon us. It is only early September, but you can feel the crispness to the air and the feeling that the autumnal equinox is upon us. While I love summer and swimming and shorts and tank tops, I always end up looking forward to fall every year. Kids go back to school, excitement for what classes they have. Marching band is on our schedules this year at the Frye house, and i couldn't be more excited for Cameron. I think we may have finally found his passion. Music. Which happened to also be mine and Shane's passions as well in high school. Even now we love music so much. It is just a part of our lives. We are always singing, or playing an instrument. Love music.

Fall brings thankfulness at Thanksgiving time. This year, since I am finally rooted into my own home, I can decorate for seasons. I enjoy changing colors and getting the pumpkins and the fall leaves and all things fall out to decorate with. It has been many years since I have been able to do this.

Leaves fall onto the ground, fireplaces crackle, outside weiner roasts start. It's the time of year that people get settled in for the winter. Hats and coats come out of the closet, dust shaken off of the pants and sweatshirts. Flip flops are traded in for sneakers or boots. It's a transitional time.

My thoughts come back to my own life. Fall is transitional, and what transition will I be making this fall? It has been a year since we left our old church (the second time) and moved on to College Park. Will there be another transition this fall? Or will we stay where it is comfy and quiet and let God just wash over us while we are just being? There are so many times I feel the nudge to move to a smaller church and get involved again, but am scared. I am afraid to put myself out there and go through that all over again. It takes a lot to put myself out there in front of the world. Am I ready yet? Or should I just sit back and enjoy the music at College Park? The sermons are wonderful. I can be anonymous there. I am not Kristian the singer, or Kristian the piano player, or Kristian the children's ministry teacher, or Kristian the youth group helper. I can just be Kristian. I kind of like it that way for now.

maybe the transition this fall will be that I enjoy the quiet and just sit back and relax and not worry about it. Just love God and what He has in store for us and just let it go. He will take us where He wants us in time. maybe this fall, maybe not. Doesn't matter, all I know is that He is the only one that knows when that transition will happen and I am okay with that.

"Lord, love us. Heal us. Keep washing over us with your holy spirit. I am looking up and closing my eyes and worshiping you. Flood my heart with your neverending love and forgiveness." Amen

Williamsburg, VA trip Days 3-5

A whirlwind of history! I love it here! SO much rich history here in Virginia.

Day 3- We arrived in Williamsburg, after driving by Monicello on our way here, but we didn't go on the tour as there wasn't enough time. We arrived and basically checked into our hotel and chilled the rest of the day.

Day4-Jamestown. We went to Jamestown Settlement on Thursday. It was a lovely day and we spent it looking around at the settlement and seeing them doing an archaeological dig. It was awesome!

Later in the afternoon, we stopped by a Salt Spa. This was a place that had drug several tons of Polish salt from Poland over here that is therapeutic. It is heated and produces negative ions, which I guess your body doesn't get enough of. Anyway, it is supposed to relax you and help with allergies, asthma, etc. We went it. If you now me at all, you know I do not sit still at all and find it very difficult to not fidget. I was a little nervous that I woudl be a pest to the 6 other people in there, including Cameron and my grams and pap. It was 45 minutes of sitting in a gravity chair with a blanket and it was quiet and there was soft music playing. It was comfy and nice. However, everyone else is falling asleep and I don't do 45 minute naps. Therefore, I stayed up. After about 5 minutes, I started to fidget, but remembered I had a book in my purse, so I sat there and read. It was nice. I have horrible allergies and within 5 minutes, I was able to breathe out of my nose with no clogs. I can't honestly remember the last time I was able to do that.

Day 5- Colonial Williamsburg
We set out to the 1770's this morning. It was a sunny hot day and we were ready for some more history! It was great. The downtown of Colonial Williamsburg was quaint and full of buildings that were from the time period. They had actors dressed in that time period clothing and all the people that worked there were as well. They had re-enactments. They had horses. They had it all. I was in love! I was so excited to see all the history of the town and hear about the Revolutionary War time period. We especially liked the Governor's Palace. It was neat. We also went into the cellars at the palace. It was dark and creepy and felt weird down there. Yikes!
We went to the Chowning's Tavern for lunch and it was nice and yummy! It was all around a great day!

Tomorrow, we are heading to Yorktown, then we are headed toward home. We are planning on stopping at Mt. Vernon on our way home on Sunday and then home on Monday! Whew! What a fun exciting vacation!

Williamsburg, VA trip Days 1 and 2

Cameron and I have had the pleasure of going on a historical trip with my grandparents to historic Williamsburg, VA. We are going to be traveling to different places on our trip, so I decided to blog about them a day or two at a time.

Day 1- traveled from Indiana to Beckley, WV. Nothing too exciting going on today.
Day2- Left Beckley and went to Staunton, VA. Here is a neat town. On our way to Staunton, we stopped at Greenbriar Resort in White Sulphur Springs, WV. My grandpa has mentioned this place before as a place that houses an underground bunker for government officials should something happen to the country where they would be safe. I must say, this seems a little farfetched, but if there was going to be a place for them to go, this would be ideal! It is tucked away in a little out in nowhere town in the mountains and hills. We went inside the resort to look around and take some pictures. If the government thing is incorrect, then there is lots of interesting information about this resort anyway! 26 presidents of the US have stayed here, as well as many celebrities. Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, etc. It is beautiful and colorful and ritzy. I certainly didn't fit in there, but it was neat to go in and see how the rich live!! :)

After our trip to the Greenbriar, we got to Staunton. We went to the Frontier Museum, which is home of many old farmhouses from different countries. England, Ireland, Germany, Africa and America. Dating back from the 1600's, these homes were bought in their original countries and taken apart and brought across the ocean and put back together here. They have original wood, original windows in some of them, it is so neat! I love history, I love seeing living history.

On the grounds of the Frontier Museum is an abandoned, state owned sanitorium from many years ago. I had no idea what it was and asked one of the actors about it. Then got online and looked it up. Creepy!! Forced sterilizations were performed at this sanitorium when people were deemed mentally unstable and mentally incapable of having children. The sanitorium also housed mentally unstable children for a time. It is boarded up and the weeds are grown up around it, which only adds to the creepiness factor. I watched a video of some men going in it at night and running out scared when they heard screams (which I could hear on the video) and thumping noises (which I also heard) Yikes!!! Glad I am not staying there! But, we are staying right up the road less than a mile. Hope the ghosts stay away from here!! :)

Tomorrow, we are heading to Williamsburg. We are staying there 3 days and visiting Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg. Then we are heading towards home and stopping by Mt. Vernon and coming up through Pennsylvania. I am definitely looking forward to seeing history of our country the rest of the week and I know Cameron is so excited because he loves Revolutionary War era history!! What a great vacation! We are so blessed to be able to come to places like this and see things like this. Thank you grams and pap for inviting us!

Yard Work!

It has been a long seven years since I have had to do yard work.
Being allergic to grass kind of makes it difficult to mow and weed whack. But, I love doing it. Even though I end up looking like a giant red bump, I love it.
I used to have beautiful flowers in my flower beds. I haven't had anywhere to show off my flowers in so long I forgot I could even do it! But, this weekend, we are getting our yard ready! We got our sod MOnday and are going to put in a flower bed out front, and down the side of the house. We will be working the back yard as well, making raised beds for a garden, getting our plans for the back put together and then spreading more grass seed on the areas that will be needing grass. Dirt will be brought in by truck and flowers will be planted from the pots I have on my patio. Firepit will be lined up so that we can then put a path to it one of these days. The extension of the patio we will put in later on will be lined out.

While we don't have to mow yet, I do have a bright side. A fourteen year old! He has mowed the last two years for my grandparents and has gotten practice! We are going to get a reel mower (think old school non-powered) and he is going to be mowing for us. Along with some of our neighbors it sounds like.

Anyway, I am super stoked to get busy on making my yard one of the best in Westfield! I may be just a little biased! But I will be sure to post some pictures when it is complete!!

Until then!

Whirlwind

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. We closed on our house, finally. We moved. We celebrated Resurrection Sunday. All of this all in the same week!

This year at Easter, I was feeling sentimental. Because of our closing, which happened on Good Friday, we didn't get to go to church for Good Friday services. I was alittle disappointed. We have been attending College Park Church for several months now and enjoy it. I really wanted to experience Good Friday and Easter services there. But, alas, it didn't happen. We did go to Easter service and it was awesome! Pastor Mark is so passionate about Jesus! His sermons pack a punch and they bring on a challenge.

While this church is wonderful and we love to go and listen to the sermons and music, I must say that I don't feel like it is our forever church home. I think that God has put us on this path to College Park to rest. We go to church, we listen, we sing, we go home. We have no obligations. We have no jobs to do. We sit and rest. While this has been a nice change, I must say that I feel a pull to go to a smaller church and get involved again. God gives us all gifts to use. Shane and I at this point, have not gotten a chance to use our gifts for many months. When we left our old church, it was difficult, because we had been such a huge part of the worship that we felt let down. Like we had nothing left to give. We wanted to hop right back in and start leading again at a new church. However, that wasn't what God had in store for us. Even at College Park, we tried to jump right in and start leading. We had the opportunity to lead the kids worship and to be in choir and handbells, but it just didn't feel right. It felt all wrong. So we stepped back and are just sitting in worship and enjoying a time of rest.

But, I still feel that pull sometimes to get back to where we were before. I know at this point in time, it isn't going to work with Shane's job, but someday, I hope that God leads us in the right direction to where He wants us to be forever. And perhaps be able to use our gifts.

But through all of thes trials, we have been so blessed with health, happiness, opportunities, friends and family. God is rooting us on and we love Him so much. Thank you Lord for all yoru many blessings!

Excuse me while I puke.

My stomach turned as I read the Time magazine article. I literally felt like I was going to vomit. I happened upon it and had to read it. With all the controversy that has been going around about this particular person, I felt the need to read this article. Rob Bell. His name brings back memories of Nooma videos that I watched in a small group we were involved in once. The creep factor already had me turned away from it, but then the actual meat of the videos were just weird. They didn't make sense. They were odd. I have never been a fan of Rob Bell, nor will I ever be. I was facebooking and looking at a church facebook page and saw that they liked or followed Mars Hill church. This happens to be the church that Rob Bell "preaches" at. I went to its facebook page and was flipping through its information and happened upon the article. So I was more than a little interested in what Time magazine had to say. Love Wins is Rob Bell's newest book. I have not read this book, I do not expect to read it, I will not waste our hard earned money on garbage. Period. Now, some will say that I am judging a book by its cover, but I have read enough. I have read many quotes from Rob Bell about this book and I have seen the videos about the book. I read this article in Time and am definitely sticking to my guns on not reading this book. I believe in Heaven. I believe in Hell. I believe in Salvation. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for me. His blood shed for my sins. I believe that only the people that have been saved by grace will go to heaven. I believe that homosexuality is wrong and that the bible says it quite clearly. I believe that adultery is wrong and that the bible says so very clearly. The ten commandments are not there to look cool on the wall in your living room. They are there for a reason. While we are not without sin, we are forgiven by the blood of Jesus. I believe that the church should be full of praise to Jesus, celebrating His death and resurrection. We should have crosses lined up everywhere around us so to remind us of what He did for us. We should be on our knees at the altar rejoicing that Jesus is there to wrap His loving arms around us when we fall. Now, back to Rob Bell and my disgust for him. I know there are some out there that follow him and love him. They sit every Sunday at his church and listen to him and love it. There are churches out there that follow the gospel according to the prophet Rob Bell. I know there are. There are people that will follow him and judge people like me for not liking him or his blasphemous spewing. I know there are pastors out there that will stick up for him and say things like, "we don't know for sure that he is wrong." "we don't know for sure that there is no hell". I say there is nothing more to explain. Just look at the cross. Just look at Jesus. Read His words. Read the bible. Pray. Open your eyes to Him. In fact, last week, our pastor of the church we have been going to since the fall said if you don't want to hear about Jesus and the Cross, then you don't belong at this church, because that is all we have. All we have is Jesus and the cross. Here is the statement that most bothered me about Rob Bell's interview. When talking about the Minister in Florida or wherever it was that burned the Koran. Rob Bell said he didn't agree with that and that Jesus doesn't either. He said "I am pretty sure that Jesus is p!$$ed off about that." Can you believe that? I couldn't even read it out loud to Shane when I read that. I was so taken aback to his audacity to actually put words to Jesus. And in that way. To say He would be "p!$$ed off". I literally felt the acid burning in my throat. There are so many people out there that are seekers wanting to find out more about God and Jesus and they might happen apon this book since it is getting so much press and then end up reading this garbage and then getting the wrong idea about Christianity and God and Jesus. It makes my heart so sad to think that there might be people that fall for this man's spewing. I feel sorry for the people of his church. He is what I like to call a "warm and fuzzy" preacher. He tells you that you should pat yourself on the back for coming to church and then goes on and on about good qualitites that make you a good person and then sends you on your way. "Good for you for coming to church and giving me your money, now go on and live a good life until next Sunday". No mention of Jesus or the Cross or God. No flowing scriptures. Just a bunch of fluff and that's it. Too many churches are going that direction so as not to offend anyone. PREACH JESUS!!!! IT IS ONLY BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS WE CAN BE FREE!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, off my soapbox now. If you have a different opinion, feel free to voice it. I am open to discussion. :) I would love to hear what you have to say.

Writer's Block

Writer's Block

The time in a writer's life when they can't seem to find an idea to write about. I go through fits of this. I took a class several years ago on writing children's books. I enjoyed the class, but there were times when the assignments would be something I had to make up from scratch, without any prompts. I would sit and think and think and wonder what to write about. Sometimes, I woudl put it away and not think about it for a few days and then an idea would just pop in my head. I would sit down and feverishly write until it was finished and boom, there was my story.

When I thought about writing a novel, rather than a children's book, it seemed like a task that I wouldn't be able to finish. I had so many ideas and has written some children's manuscripts, thinking I would send them in to a publisher and see what happened, but then this novel idea came up and I felt like it needed to be done. So I sat down and started it while in the waiting room when Shane was having the second surgery on his foot after he broke his ankle. This would've been in fall 2006 I think. I then took the time to take the idea I was writing about and it turned into an 83 page novel that was published in May 2007. It only took me three months to type the manuscript. I have read many times how some author's can write a novel for years while the plot develops, while the characters get personality, etc. For some reason, the characters in my story were in my mind for a long time. The plot was in my mind already. I knew I wanted it to be young adult. I knew I didn't want to write a children's book when the words first started pouring out of my fingers.

I was surprised that the first publisher I sent my novel to accepted it and sent a contract. It was a dream come true to me. I have always been a writer. I have always had composition books full of poems, stories, etc. I had heard in the writing class I took that it was typically hard to find a publisher to accept a manuscript the first time. I was expecting to be declined and have to move on to the next guy, but it happened. Like it was meant to be published.

Since that time in 2006/2007 when my book came out, I have felt like I have had a sort of writer's block. Like all the stories in my mind are just jumbled up in my head and I can't get them on paper. When I get something started, it just doesn't look right or read right to me. I get started on a new novel, and the words just stop at an idea. I think the plot will start to come to me as I write, but alas, it does not.

I sat in my bed last night after Shane and I finished chatting online and I sat there in the quiet and thought about writing. Now that I have time on my hands with Shane being on the road and Cameron still in school, I have a lot of time to sit and think about my characters. My plots. I have a couple novels started, but none of them have gotten past the first initial character plots. Nothing has become of them. I am starting to get the writer's block out of my mind again and starting to get ideas on how to shape these characters and how to move forward with their stories. Now to get the ideas on paper!!

Who knows, maybe I am a one and done author. One novel and that's it. I will probably never be a bestseller, but I can at least write and hopefully someone will get something out of what I write about. Who knows? Maybe the two children's manuscripts are the next book waiting to be printed....

You never know what the future holds. But for now, I can at least start writing about it......