Jenn's Blog

It's been a while since I blogged. I was sick. Then Luke, now Gabe. It's been rainy and gray. We did have a couple of nice days this week, which was awesome, but today it's back to blah and rain.

I've been knitting again. I finally bit the bullet and purchased some double-point needles and have been knitting up some mittens. The first one was terrible because it turns out I was reading part of the pattern wrong. I figured it out, though, and have knit one adorable mitten and am half-way done with its twin. I have a whoooooole list of new things I want to try, now that I knit in the round.

I was given a recommendation for an endo in the city. Called only to find out she's not accepting new patients. Was totally bummed. Finally decided to call a doctor here in town who's supposed to be good at treating thyroid issues. They scheduled me for an appointment this coming Thursday, so that's awesome. I've been doing some research and have a whole list of things I want him to order bloodwork on. So maybe I'll get some answers???

Genevieve's birthday was on the 6th. Here's a (late) shout-out to you Gen! I think of you guys every day and pray for you.

It looks like Chelsea has another regular babysitting job - for a new MOPS group that Lauren has been attending. It's every other Wednesday from 9-12. She'll be in charge of teaching the 2-5 year olds. She and I taught the class together last week and had fun. I think she'll do really well. She's going to be taking an infant-child-adult CPR class in December. I'm really glad she's doing that and told her we'll pay half the class fees - it's totally worth it!

We've started our Christmas cookie stash! Chels has been making batches of cookies here and there and freezing them. We are starting to run out of freezer room, but we'll be set for Christmas! I'm starting to accumulate Christmas gifts and have several people already done! No last minute running around!

It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is less that 2 weeks away!!

The boys had a wonderful Halloween! Luke was so excited he was beside himself! Brad and Karen came over and sat in the driveway and passed out candy while we made the rounds. The boys got boatloads of candy and we didn't even hit all the houses in our subdivision! Our neighbors are so generous! We had a great time meeting new neighbors. After all the excitement wound down we sat and visited up at Jeff and Jen's. They had a fire in the fire pit and the boys had kids to play with. We were out until 10:30ish and had a great time! Gabe actually wore his costume all night which was a surprise! He was so darn cute! I'll have to get pictures off the camera soon!

Ty just redid her website and it is full of super cute stuff! Check it out! Little Elephant Company.

I went to see Dr. Salter today. She was Luke's doctor yearrrrrs ago. We stopped seeing her when Gabe was born and we tried to make an appointment for him and could never get through...anyway, I'm still dealing with health problems that fit the sluggish thyroid bill. My friend, Julie, said that she has a sluggish thyroid and that tests show that she's within the normal range, but that Dr. Salter treats her based on symptoms, not on tests. I've done a lot of research and have found that it's very common for someone to be in "normal" range but still have a sluggish thyroid - many doctors fail to realize that "normal" looks different for different people.

I finally got an appointment to see Dr. Salter. I was so excited. I had my list all written out: what supplements I take, etc.... She has an online appointment database. I took my time and filled out all of my information, including insurance info. I drove up to Brentwood Blvd, had a heck of a time finding the new location, made my way up to her office feeling really frazzled...only to find out they don't accept my insurance. Out of pocket would be anywhere between $125 and $300+. Not gonna happen. The receptionist said she tried to call me. I don't know what phone they called and I don't understand WHY they didn't leave a message...So I got back in the car and drove home. At first I was frustrated and sad...then I remembered that I had entered my insurance info into their system and I was TICKED!! I haven't had time to call them and talk to them about it, but I plan to do that this week. Ben has been looking into switching to BCBS soon so I can try again...if I feel lucky.

Fast forward to 2008. 3 houses, 1 home business, 2 beautiful boys and 10 years later and here we are! Ben kicked off the anniversary celebration by surprising me with the delivery of a large gift basket full of cookies, candy, candles and sparkling wine. Then we enjoyed a wonderful, delicious, relaxing meal at The Melting Pot while Ben's parents looked after the boys. Tonight we opened up the sparkling wine, broke out the VCR, and watched our wedding videos! We laughed and cried (well, I cried) and had a blast reliving our wedding day!

More than anything we are humbled and grateful. God has really blessed us with wonderful friends and family! We are so blessed to have enjoyed 10 years together and are excited to see what God has for us in the next 10, and the 10 after that and so on. There have been some rougher patches here and there, but I can honestly say that we have been very happy these past 10 years and have felt very blessed with how easy and enjoyable marriage has been for us! May it always be so!!

Sunday, October 25th, 1998 at about 7:00pm. I was 18, Ben was 20. We were young and in love. Now we are just in love.

This past Saturday Ben and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. I was too busy to blog about it, but we had a wonderful time. But more about that in the next post. I want to focus on our wedding in this post, if you don't mind the ramble down memory lane...

Ben and I were married at our "home" church in Union, MO. We were both members of Abundant Life Church. Ben and his family had been there most of his life, I started attending when I was about 11. That's how we met. It's funny because Ben and I never hung out much. His brother, Tim, was a good friend of mine and Ben's parents were very involved with the church. Karen and I taught the same Sunday school class, we both participated in the Wednesday-night kid's program, worked in the kitchen together at various church camps and retreats, were both on the dance team. I liked Ben's family a lot, but didn't know much about Ben! There were a few times when our paths crossed and I remember thinking he was really cute, funny, and sweet, but he always had a girlfriend!

Then, the summer I was 17, he was free! He and his girlfriend had called it quits and I guess he was at loose ends because he suddenly started hanging out with my group of friends. I still remember the night it all started: the whole group had spent another evening hanging out at my best friend's house and after the guys left, Jess (my best friend) said that Ben said he liked me. I was surprised and said surely he meant the other Jen in our group (tall and beautiful). Jess said that she was sure he meant me. And it was alllll downhill from there.

Ben officially asked me to be his girlfriend on October 27th, 1997. He asked me to marry him the following summer and we were married in the fall. We must have looked at a dozen wedding locations, but they were all expensive or just not practical for one reason or another. Some friends finally convinced us to have the wedding at the church. The church was just not in the best shape. The carpet was HORRIBLE and duct-taped together in some places...the chairs were orange...just not what every girl dreams about as far as picture-perfect weddings go. I admit I was a bit dubious. But I think we pulled it off!

Ben's parents gave us some money and we paid for everything else ourselves. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, in the church banded together to support us and pitched in to make everything come together beautifully. While our wedding might not have been fancy compared to some, it was rich in love and service provided by the people who surrounded us.

Karen Virkler was the hair dresser and did an amazing job.
Mary Hoven, Sue Meyer, Alison Stewart and others made all the food: fruit kebabs, poppyseed muffins, mini quiche, meatballs, punch.
The Youth Group served as our wait staff. They all wore black pants and white button-down shirts and conducted themselves in the most dignified manner.
Holly Mitchell (now Komina?) took beautiful pictures and sang a song while we lit the unity candle and took our first communion.
Steve Gerdel presented a hilariously entertaining slideshow that he put together using photoshopped pics of me and Ben.
Clay Caspari sang a beautiful song for us.
Tim Nolen (Ben's brother) put together a wonderful slideshow.
Karen Nolen and I don't even know who else(!!!) did a LOT of decorating for us! Karen had the great idea of getting some lattice and spraying it white and then putting it up around the stage to camouflage it a little. She decorated it with ivy and (begged, borrowed, stole?) a bunch of plants to put around it.
Lynn Boyer made our dream cake for...um about $40, I believe!
Tom Schickler taped the ceremony.

I know there's more, too, but you get the idea of how all these wonderful people came together to help us start our new life together!

I did a lot of crafty stuff, too. We had a garden theme going on. I hand-stamped each napkin. I made all the centerpieces. I filled out all the place cards by hand. I made all the bouquets and boutonnieres. I made flower headbands for myself and each girl. I made pastel arm-bands for each guy (I'm sure they LOVED that!). It was a homemade wedding, let me tell you!

I chose pastels for the colors. I had 5 girls and they each wore the same dress in a different color. We held the ceremony on a Sunday evening and were married by candlelight which was so pretty and romantic! The Gerdels gave us the idea of setting up all the tables and chairs ahead of time and seating all the guests at the tables from the beginning. It gave the wedding a unique feel.

Our Wedding Party:

Best Man: Tim Nolen
Maid of Honor: Jessica Laycock
Stefan Adams and Jennifer Stewart (now Mitchell) walked down together
Brandon Brown and Alisha Allison walked down together
Justin Siess and Tyann Schmitz (now Marcink) walked down together
Paul Fulbright and Anna Fulbright (now Kampmann) walked down together
Jonathon Mitchell and Chrystal Laycock were our wedding-book attendants

We were married at 7pm. We didn't have a dance, but instead had various friends and family sing, present slide shows, etc, while we and the guests ate and drank. We cut the cake and had pictures taken and made the rounds visiting those who came to celebrate and then our big day was over and we were on our way to our new apartment. The next day we left for our honeymoon in Boston.

We sure look like a couple of kids, huh??

I LOVE Missouri. I like St. Louis...but...seriously? What the heck?

There was this story

And right around the same time:SLAP.

And now: DRUNK

Sad!!

Monday Lauren and I took the kiddos out to Meg's to visit with her and her girls. Lauren and Carrie rode with us which made for a pleasant drive. The kids had a great time. Luke LOVES going out there. In the short time we were there they:

Raked leaves and jumped in the piles
Jumped on the trampoline
Visited the horses and chickens
Played in the sandbox
Climbed a couple trees
Climbed on hay bales
Ate lunch and TWO snacks!

AND took a quick trip through the back pasture to eat a persimmon or two. We had no idea where they went and I was good and worried for about 5 minutes before Meg tracked them down. Whew!

Meg fed us lunch and we chatted and got caught up a little bit. Gabe crashed on the way home and Luke and Carrie kept each other entertained.

Tuesday, Chelsea and I ran a few errands with the boys. I picked up a few Christmas presents. Got a call from one of the pastors at Eagle Point asking if Ben and I wanted to have dinner that evening. Kind of late notice, but we didn't have anything going on so we went for it. Had a nice time. The couple had 4 kids so Luke was in HEAVEN. Both boys (all the kids actually) were very well behaved. We had a nice time getting to know some other church people and are hoping to get involved with a small group.

Today was just an "at home" day which was nice. I did more holiday planning and made a list of all the baking ingredients I'll need to get from Costco. The holidays will be here before we know it and I can't wait!

Tomorrow I'm having breakfast with the pastor's wife and then running errands and grocery shopping with the kids.

Friday I'm going to Paul's new place to give him paint ideas.

Saturday and Sunday should be fun. Saturday we are taking Luke and Gabe to the Trunk or Treat at the church up the street. Ben and I are going out for our TEN YEAR anniversary!! Sunday we are going to church and then to the Apple Butter Festival to meet up with Chels and, well, buy some Apple Butter!

At church this morning we found out that there was going to be a Fall Festival tonight. We went and really had a nice time. They had chili and hotdogs and desserts. A bunch of carnival-type games for the kiddos to play as well as face painting, cookie decorating, color sheets, play dough, door prizes, and probably the craziest hayride I've been on!! It was a good time. The boys got treats, but not an insane amount, and they had fun with everything.

Next weekend we are going to a Trunk or Treat at the church up the street as well as the Apple Butter Festival in Kimmswick. So lots of fun stuff going on. I love this time of year!

I wrote up an entire post about this and it got deleted! Grrr...

Here it is in a nutshell:

I've been reading a good bit about this Proposition A business and am not pleased with what I'm finding out.

Proposition A looks all innocent and sweet....it's all about the kids and education. You'd be foolish to vote against it, right? Right?

Wrong!

Basically, MO is the only state that has a $500-loss limit and our casinos don't like that. They also want to limit the number of casino licenses to reduce competition (that part doesn't bother me - the fewer the better, I say). They've already repealed the loss limits and lost. So what to do? Just appeal to people's better nature and tell them it's all about more money for education, of course!

What they don't tell you and are hoping you don't find out:

- The percentage of money the schools will get will rise from 20% to .....wait for it....21%!!
- Over a quarter (and some sources say half) of MO school districts, including St. Louis schools I believe, are not eligible for the money and therefore won't benefit at all.

- The millions "they" say the schools will be given is all just speculation. Remember, it's a percentage, so not set in stone.

- Once the loss-limits are done away with, gamblers won't have to identify themselves. Identification has helped law enforcement officers solve over 95% of gambling-related crimes.

Law enforcement officials are concerned that if Proposition A passes it will take away an important tool—mandatory identification requirements—which is now used to track crime. For example, thanks to the players card which is tied to the loss limit, Missouri Highway Patrolmen last year were able to solve more than 95.8 percent (1,611) of 1,682 casino-related crimes committed. It also would take away their ability to enforce the Missouri Disassociated Person List, which involves more than 13,000 gamblers who currently are banning themselves from the casinos.

“From a law enforcement perspective, this is downright dangerous for Missourians,” Silvera said, noting that a “Yes” vote on “A” also would remove current and future identification technologies.

And, for me, most importantly, the ethics involved. Do we really want to count on money from gambling to help pay for education? How long (some say we are already there) until we are dependent on these funds? Do we really want that? It may seem like "easy" money, but there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Also, I really hate the shady promotion tactics of the casinos. I have no doubt that if Proposition A passes, it's not because MO citizens are concerned for the welfare of the casinos - it's because people think it's all bout money for education. The casinos try to persuade us that passing this bill is in the best interest of the children...but aren't children the ones who are hurt the most by gambling?

My opinion? Vote NO on Proposition A. It's a gamble we can't afford to take.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/editorial/local_story_277103205.html?keyword=topstory
http://www.nopropa.com/point_dishonest2.html
http://www.missourinet.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=D97988AD-5056-B82A-37EEE57C62DB6600
http://www.mbcpathway.com/article155869c1538274.htm