(yes i'm still alive)

wow...i have SOOO much catching up to do!! i haven't been taking very many pictures all summer long, and so i've been blogging every single one out of desperation. however, the last few weeks i HAVE been taking a lot, but for some reason i just keep putting off posting any! anyway, now that you have read two (oops...make that 2 1/2 now) sentences that totally have no point or purpose, i'll try to re-cap what i've been doing lately. because i know you're all dying to know. ;) well lets see...i've been working a lot!! i'm so excited! one week i got in three 12-hour days in a row!! there's a lady at the shepherd's inn that, about a month ago, was put on hospice and given only a few weeks to live. at night she would get very anxious and worried and the on-duty nurse would be called in just to hold the lady's hand and comfort her. after a few nights of this, the management decided to hire someone to simply sit with her from 5pm-9pm...serve her her supper, get her ready for bed, and...other than that...JUST SIT THERE! as you've probably guessed by now, that lucky person is me...haha. :) (and one other girl that works the nights i don't) anyway, it's about the easiest money i've ever made in my life, and i feel like i'm robbing them all blind because all i do is watch this lady sleep!! (i will admit it gets harder and harder to think of "quiet" things to do for 4 hours every night though!!!) so! that's been what i've been doing for a lot of the past evenings, along with working the 6:30-3 day shift a few days a week. other than work, there's been a lot going on. grandpa had heart valve replacement surgery on the 11th, and then moved to a temporary nursing home a week later. the surgery went well, but the nursing home placement isn't going the hottest. the entire surgery AND nursing home was ALL his idea...however, he's seeming to have forgotten that small detail now. :( he'll only be there for 2 weeks at the longest, but so far, he hasn't been at all impressed with the first 4 days. :( tonight i'm gonna go get his cat and her SUPER CUTE 4 kittens (who's eyes just opened...from now until they're 2 months old is the only time i like cats :) hahhahaa!) and take them all in a box to see him in the nursing home! heehee! that will be fun. :) anyway, that's kept us all pretty busy of course going to the hospital or nursing home with that whole ordeal. last week our church had a fair booth at the martin county fair for the fourth year in a row now. this year's theme was "set free" (john 8:36-- if the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.), symbolizing how Christ can set you free, emphasizing the sins of addictions. (and not just drug or alcohol addictions, but theft, adultery, profanity, abuse, etc.) dad helped me make the "set"...pastor asked me & jes & jules to do it, and i volunteered for the jail part of it, leaving the prison-garbed dummies to jes & jules to figure out. :) however, ideas don't really get the job done, so dad helped my ideas to work, and we used 10 7 foot conduit pipes to make a jail wall. ;) jes & jules made the banner and manikins, complete with real prison uniforms! jes, jules and i worked the first day, (we've worked the booth together every year...it's always so fun!) and it was pretty slow as far as the crowd, but very interesting. a man talked to us for about an hour, mainly on the topic of end times, and the rapture. he was very confused, although he wouldn't think so. :) half the time i had no idea what he meant or where he was going, but he did know his Bible very well...just had weird interpretations and took things out of context. i really hope he comes to church or gets in touch with pastor!! anyway, that was a fun day, and exciting to know that so many tracts are out there right now, even though the fair is over!!! the same week as the fair, mr. hartung, a sweet old man from our church, passed away. for as long as i can remember, my family has sat the row in front of him and his wife at church, and i always thought of them as second grandparents. i can even remember a few times where mike and i got to sit between them, getting in on gum & candy. :) although it's really sad to have him gone, the visitation and funeral were actually a blessing to me. pastor was given mr. hartung's Bible to look through, and he used alot of his notes in the services. it was really neat to get to see into his life in that way. mr. hartung was a very humble, down-to-earth person, and after hearing some of the things from his Bible, is now one of the Godliest people i've known as well. after every book in his Bible, was a log of when he read it, and then every once in a while, there would be a side note explaining that "i didn't read the geneologies this time!" haha...like it was a confession. his family asked the voices of praise to sing at the visitation and funeral, so that was really an honor, and also fun to sing together again too. umm...what else has been going on....last saturday some of us college kids (and mike & johnathan :)) had a cook out in the park, so that was kindof a fun last hoorah. now julie leaves on wednesday, and pretty soon we'll all be back in college!!! ahhh! how weird. i think it's like, 15 days or something. :O i'm really excited too though...i get to see SAM again for one thing!! :) anyway, that's just a little (ok, a BIG) update...i am going to post a ton of pictures now, but first i better get those kittens and run up to the nursing home quick to see grandpa before they make him go night night. :)) haha!