Jump on the Wagon

I know it's been a bit since we've written. Honestly, there haven't been too many exciting things happening in Eldridge. :) Well, I take that back! Heath and I have been praying for a home and just Sunday, we met up with a Christian Realtor in DeWitt who is going to meet with us and discuss possibilities. We're really excited about that because we've been praying for some obvious direction. We'll see what happens and get back to you. :)

(This is me having to share the couch with Sam)

On another note - Heath and I have noticed that, although it happened gradually, all of the sudden we're much more open about our convictions and moral beliefs - which, especially today, are constantly attacked by the government.

Though I will probably rarely use our blog as a "bandwagon" to shout out from, Heath and I are extremely concerned about the new bill the House Committee is taking up on "Hate-Crimes". This would make it a "hate-crime" for anyone to speak out against the homosexual lifestyle. I'm not saying speak out against the actual person...rather the lifestyle - it's the sin that God hates.

It's so easy to ignore the garbage on television or in the newspapers, but Heath and I are more determined than ever to keep up with it all because if we're unaware - how can we make a difference?

Okay - enough said. :) Heath and I just signed an electronic petition on the "Hate-Crime" bill, so if you want to get involved, visit Focus on the Family's Citizen Link and take a look. We also get updates from Citizen Link site - it's a great source of information!

Until our next post!

- the kelleys

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

P.S. This video is not for the faint of heart! Watch with caution!

World's Largest Dead Snake EVER!

Happy Easter Ya'll

Every year it seems that Easter rolls around and little (or gigantic) chocolate bunnies just naturally seem to jump into your mouth and squishy peeps fill your stomach with a "sponge-like" feeling that seems to absorb whatever liquid it is you're trying to wash them down with.

Christmas is the same - except you're attempting to choke and stab yourself with candy canes and drown in eggnog!

This past year (yes, our anniversary is coming up!), Heath and I have been employed in 10 different jobs, married, and lived in two equally diverse housing situations. Ants and spiders in one home and bright pink carpet in the other...I choose the other! We spent the Christmas season moving in sub-zero temperatures and this Easter, I had the "joy" of sharing Easter with several hundred, hungry families that were not my own. While I was waitressing, Heath was at home washing our dishes and waiting for me to finish at work.

All this to say...God has graciously given us a new perspective on "holidays". When the chocolate bunnies disappear and there isn't any money to buy extravagant Christmas gifts...if there's nothing to your celebration, there's nothing to celebrate when it all falls away.

This year, we both spent more time thinking about how we were going to "celebrate" Christ's resurrection - and hallelujah, He is alive - then how many family dinners we could eat. Despite the fact that we did indeed spend Easter in a somewhat less than glorious way, somehow I just don't think that was the point...

Why Does My Pillow Smell Funny?

Last night when we finally crashed into bed after having our first Easter "family" dinner for two: fresh Hy-Vee Pizza - there was the strangest smell on our pillows!

"Why does my pillow smell like hot dogs?"
"I don't know...mine smells like burnt hot dogs."
Apparently - neither of us had bothered to shower off the campfire smell from our cookout the day before. Oops!

Heath, Sam, and I spent our entire Saturday camped out around a bonfire eating hot dogs, playing backgammon, and eating more hot dogs. Heath used his mad-scientist skills to predict that we were going to have some rain because no matter which side of the fire we moved to - the wind kept shifting to blow the smoke back in our faces! It was AMAZING! Heath's face is all "fired" burned, so he looks like he got a nice little suntan and Sam was so tired he hardly moved when we got home. :)

Buoyant Boats
This was last week's lesson in Mr. Kelley's class. The kids all competed to see which team could build the boat to hold the most weight. (Left: this one was dubbed "The Junkyard") A whopping 9+ lbs was the winner! Heath loves his job and is so gifted with teaching that age group (pre-teens don't seem to be the easiest), but he really is looking forward to the summer when he can hopefully catch up with all the lesson planning and lab work. :> Me? I can just hardly wait to catch some sun rays! We keep praying about where the Lord wants Heath to be in education. He hopes to start some classes soon, so we just keep "knocking" on the Lord's door asking Him for direction.

Tae Bo Mania!
We've been relatively healthy this last week. Heath's virus is almost gone and I escaped catching it. (Thank you Lord for vitamins!) Although kickboxing doesn't seem like the best solution to a painful hip joint, it has done wonders in the last week for me...although I'm not sure the rest of my body agrees! Groan. This last month, I wasn't sleeping as well because of soreness in my hip and lower back. It got bad enough in the last couple weeks that I finally (and I do mean finally) saw a doctor who gave me a simple diagnosis of "an inflamed sciatic nerve". I guess sitting for 6-7 hours at a time designing on the computer is bad for the eyes and the hips!

So! I recruited my husband and we're both kickboxing and tae bo'ing it up! ...And am I ever SORE! I'm sore in muscles I'm not even sure I have, but I'll admit, I'm sleeping better than I have in months.

Sorry - Sam doesn't even really make the blog this week. Our home has (we hope) ceased to become a disaster zone until we decide to up the "challenge" and have real, live people kids instead of practicing on dogs. :) Until then, it's a sigh of relief that we can now live in peace and a big "Happy Easter" from the Kelleys.

"Sing for joy to God our strength; shout aloud to the God of Jacob!" Psalm 81:1

Sam caught...drinking?

This morning, we listened to a podcast from January of Pastor Korver (our pastor from Pella) talking about sharing the kingdom of God in every area of our lives.

(Unfortunately, that's not the only thing that gets shared in Heath's classroom...this weekend he picked up a nasty bug, so we stayed home from church and listened to Pastor Korver's message online!)

He spoke about praying "Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done" and how powerful a prayer that is. The most provoking statement he made was how we should view God as the monarch (king) that he is instead of treating him as a once-a-week attraction. How does that look for us? Heath and I talked about how sharing the "kingdom" looks in this generation's classroom - especially with all of the political controversy going on. How does it look for a waitress? Doesn't everyone smile and act pleasant to earn tips? ...We'll get back to you as we continue to figure out how this looks in our own lives.

We never like to miss out on a good deal - and even being sick, this weekend was no exception! After checking in at the walk-in clinic Saturday and finding out it would be at least a 2 hour wait...Heath and I slipped over to our now favorite little store to sniff out some buys. We were not disappointed! I found a fabulous end table for $1 and Heath found a game of backgammon (we taught ourselves how to play on our honeymoon) and "The Encyclopedia of Aquarium Fish" each for 75 cents! Needless to say - we're now considered "regulars".

On a side note...Sam is now an avid drinker of Pepsi products - which we must sadly alert our poor neighbor of. This morning, on the way to church, our little neighbor left the garage door open and...now that we've fixed Sam's garbage/recycling eating habits...he found a new avenue to wreak havoc! I'm not sure how many cans of Pepsi and Sierra Mist he relieved our neighbor of, but it was enough that he spent the rest of the morning sulking when I took them away!

We've decided that owning a dog is excellent training for child-raising. We have to practice patience in not: yelling or screaming our heads off when we find a prized article trashed; howling in frustration when we step in something less than pleasant; giving of our own "wants" to satisfy the "needs" of someone or something else; and finally, apologizing to other people for the pain and suffering caused by a member of our household.

That's all for now, so we're signing off!

- the kelleys

"Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! His greatness is beyond discovery!" ~Psalm 145:3