A Dozen Dozen...

So, my Young Adult group is feeding the homeless at church tonight...

          So last night, I baked cookies....

          A lot of cookies...

My favorite stage to eat is the tray second from the right.  Still warm and gooey, and just about ready to come off the tray!! YUMMY!!  Although the far right is great in ice cream! ;)

          I find this stage whets my appetite the best though...

When they are melting in the oven, all gooey and delicious smelling! :)

I want coffee... whoa, sorry, my mind went off on a tangent there for a second... Although, coffee and cookies does not sound like a bad idea?  Perhaps I should run off to the kitchen and brew some... I digress... So, back to the cookies...

Now, when I say I made a lot of cookies, I wasn't kidding.  I made a dozen dozen cookies!  That is 144 cookies in approximately two hours. I maintain that I am a Rock star for accomplishing this feat, no matter how crazy Alicia says I am! Love ya chica! :)

          This is what 12 dozen cookies looks like...

A giant bundle of goodness... At shortly after midnight, I could definitely say,
          "my work here is done."

And then I went to bed...



Love y'all,

Jules

...so about that coffee...

Snipets

~Sunday I got home from Iowa.

~Yesterday was the first day back with Chuckles :)

~Christmas is everywhere :) ( I am good with this now that it is AFTER Thanksgiving)

~Started some great recipes

~Chuckles took his pants off, twice, it was funny!

~Chuckles got into my fave summer makeup... That was also funny... but my camera is broken so no pix :( Needless to say he was bright and shimmery... all over his face! :)

~Spent an HOUR at the grocery store: poor Chuckles!

~Found more recipes to try: liking the ones I can freeze and pull out later when I don't feel like cooking. Planning ahead is always a good thing!

~Had Tex-Mex night on a Monday, it was delicious! (Chuckles got Mac'n'Cheese)

~I worked on my my blog post from Thanksgiving!  Man, do I write like I talk?  If so, how do you guys follow along???

~Monday flew by... looking back... Chuckles slept a lot.

Love ya guys!

"Turtle" Park

Dear Friends,

First of all... SORRY!!! I know I have not written in FOREVER and a day... So, again, sorry!! Also, again sorry for the randomness that is my brain, and the lack of organization...

Oh Turtle Park! So much fun!!! We can easily spend three hours at the park... and I still have to make Chuckles to leave. To have a better understanding of my favorite park, here is a rough outlay...

I generally park in front of the soccer fields. This is usually where we start our play... Chuckles loves to play soccer (kick the ball around the field) and watch people practice or play soccer... So we could actually sit contentedly for a good 20 minutes at least just watching some guys play soccer... another 10 to play soccer himself... then we move on to the pond.

To the right of the soccer field is a pond. In this pond there are turtles, fish, frogs, lily pads...etc... At least during the summer all these critters are present!! Chuckles is obsessed with water critters... Turtles especially (he really loves sea otters a little more but that is not relevant to my story... I digress) Because of this fascination with turtles, we (and by we, I mean I) have dubbed the Mason District Park-"Turtle Park." Rolls of the tongue a lot better and sounds way more fun to little kids!! So, naturally, we spend a bit of time feeding the turtles (they like goldfishes best and there are NO signs posted to NOT feed them... I walked all the way around to make sure!), and listening to the bull frogs and watching the dragonflies and bees and once there was a blue heron in there... SO PRETTY! Unfortunately I only had the camera on my phone! :( Sadly none of the pics came out. :(

Okay, so just up from the pond, across the sidewalk and down a small hill is the playground. He climbs and slides and jumps (not off the high stuff) and has a blast there! Then, further up from the playground and a little to the right is the tennis courts.

I park at the tennis courts when I only want to be at the park for an hour or less... I just keep Chucklesfrom going down the path that returns us to the playground or the soccer fields... We throw tennis balls up and down the courts and chase them. He just got a kiddy tennis racket so now he attempts to hit the ball... when I bring the racket... But that is still pretty new. If there is someone playing tennis, we sit and watch for a while. This is a good time for a snack... usually. Then we either take the long path through the woods or the short path directly to the amphitheater.

This amphitheater is pretty cool. It is just to the left of the tennis courts only a few hundred meters... We come in at the top of the seating... There are probably 7 rows of wooden benches. These benches are pretty tall. They are probably about bar height to Chuckles… We play with acorns, and rocks and bits of mulch. He really likes acorns though. We have even found some walnuts and pine cones on the ground. My favorite time however is when we actually get to the actual theater! There are 3 doorways on both the left and right and two in the center. The center is actually a floating wall with one doorway behind it; you can go out either way… It is so much fun to play hide and seek. Or to just go into a different door than Chuckles went into and scare him when he comes looking for you! We throw a tennis ball around here too!! It is so quiet there and we always have the theater to ourselves. Chuckles also uses his imagination to play at the amphitheater which is probably the other reason I like it so much. Got to keep that little mind going!! 

Now, when we head out, I usually take the route down to the soccer field. (The other option is to take a path back to the playground) I prefer this route because it is so much prettier, there are trees everywhere and even a small stream that Chuckles likes to stop and watch. Also, I only have to hit the soccer field on the way back to the car, and by this time we have usually been at the park for 2-3 hours… and I am probably hungry… I mean Chuckles is probably hungry…LOL… ;) If we go back via the playground, we stop and play at the playground again, then the pond and the soccer field. I usually try to skip the second round of soccer field if we go this way.

Well, that my dear friends is “Turtle” Park. My favorite place to go with Chuckles on a nice day… I am going to have to come up with something new now the weather is changing…  But with Chuckles, I know we will have a good time!! 

God Bless,

Jules

So Sorry!

Okay guys! I will start by apologizing for my long absence! Please forgive me!

WOW! So A while back I went to Ft. Lauderdale with the S and Chuckles! It was a lot of fun! I got to walk on the beach and hang out with Chuckles in the sun a lot. And we all know how much I love warm weather and the sun! The last day of the trip we got a babysitter and went slogging! :) Slogging is basically hiking through the swamp. It was amazing! Some of S's friends run this program called Science Eye where they teach kids about the swamps and the ecosystem of Southern Florida. They did some of that with us so I actually learned quite a bit about it. It is really fascinating. I will have to put another post up soon about all of it. Then we went on an air-boat. The driver was crazy! He actually got into the marsh and was purposely trying to attract an alligator!!! CRAZY!!! The alligator actually had a name... BOB... Because he would suddenly bob up out of the water! Yeah... good thing we had someone who knew how to drive the air-boat back!!! Bob did not show up... Probably a good thing!

Since then it has been pretty much business as usual. I went to a Nationals baseball game with a group from Iowa I joined. It is called States Society of Iowa. I found out about it from Stacy (from High School) and her boyfriend Elliot, and Brooks (from New Providence). I have been hanging with them quite a bit lately. For Elliot's birthday I actually went hiking on a really hot day... We hiked 5 miles in about 2 hours! It was a lot of fun!

I don't remember if I have mentioned this, but I have found a church. Annandale United Methodist, they have a website. I officially join August 22 of this year. It will technically be a transfer from Audubon First United Methodist. I really like the pastor... what a hoot! :)

I am trying to give up Starbucks and go back to making coffee here at home. The $$ saved I will donate to Skip1.org. Skip1 is an amazing charity!! 100% of proceeds go to feeding children. The shipping and other costs of running it are donated by corporations and run by volunteers and such so it is really great. Right now I am focusing my donations on the Lumbrera de Caballona School in the Dominican Republic. They are trying to build a kitchen so the kids can actually eat during the day! :) Okay so basically how Skip1 works is that you skip something like eating lunch out or in my case Starbucks and you donate what you would have spent on that cup of coffee or whatever to Skip1. So if I skip Starbucks, that $3 cup of coffee now becomes a $3 donation to Skip1. It is pretty cool. That charity and Voice of the Martyrs are what I am focusing my giving on.. so yeah... Also, my friend Kyle is going on a mission trip soon, so some of my giving will go thata way! LOL. More on his trip later!!

I am currently reading the Bible in a Year in chronological order for personal. For book club we are reading the Girl with the dragon tattoo series. :) Both are good! :)

I have actually been working out a lot. I decided that I was not satisfied with my fitness level, so now I work out 3-5 times a week. Yeah! And I am still out of shape!! That is pretty bad! :( But I will get there! That is my hope.

I really do need to get on here more often so I can actually relate what is going on and not skip a bunch of stuff!!! So, yeah, sorry I will make an effort to keep updating on a regular basis again!!!!

Sorry for all the rambling!! Just typing fast and getting the post out!!! I did not proof read it so, yeah, sorry for any typos or whatever!!! ;)

I miss you guys!! God Bless!!!

Jules

Not A Lot

That is right folks, "a lot" is two words, not one! Moving on!! There is not a lot going on right now. But here is what I have got since being back from the trip!

I am fairly certain I have made a decision on my home church. I will know more after I meet with the head pastor. Just a few things to check out! :) It looks as though there will be plenty of volunteer opportunities, which I hope is the case... I will let you know when I know. It is the Annandale United Methodist Church. It is about 5-10 minutes away depending on traffic, so that is nice and close. The head pastor is a hoot! He looks for responses from the congregation when he asks us questions that may seem rhetorical, they aren't! And he is absolutely on fire for the Lord. He loves to worship... AWESOME! He notices newcomers and guests and has sent me an e-mail (since I actually gave it this Sunday) to welcome me and offer a meeting. I have been praying about it and it feels like a good fit!

I have joined a book club. It is the one Sharla is in and it is a great group of ladies! This month we will be reading a Chelsea Handler book. Talk about lewd! I think I can handle it so I said yes... Here we go! Buffy, I know you love her! I will let you know how the book reading goes.

As far as personal reading is concerned, I am re-reading "Christy" by Catherine Marshall! I forgot how much I love this book. Has it really been that long since I read it? Apparently! I am not that far into it at this point, but already I am touched by things Miss Alice Henderson has said. I was not in the same place spiritually when I first read it, so I wonder if the words are speaking to me differently now. Some of my favorite quotes from Miss Alice (so far): "Evil is real-and powerful. It has to be fought. It cannot be explained away, not fled. God is against evil. So each of us has to decide where we stand, how we are going to live our lives." and, relating to how a guy felt the urge to visit this young girl but waited two days, and when he went she had died. If he had gone when called she probably would have lived... (read the book) "...God's clear order went unheeded. And evil had it's day. The result of our disobedience is that simple, that terrible." This last quote spoke to me because I don't know that a call God has made for me to follow has resulted in something so devastating, however, it can. If we don't stop and listen to what God is calling us to do, only He knows the true impact of that call going unheeded. Like I said. I love this book. So many lessons in it...

Okay, today was a good day with Chuckles, and he took a good nap this afternoon. This is great because he has been cutting down to one nap, and not really getting enough sleep in that one nap. Just waking up cranky and not wanting to go back down! He has been sleeping in a bit later, which I think is helping with that! :) I was actually productive during his nap today! I got the last two blog posts up... the ones you all have been waiting over a week for... Yes, I am still sorry. I also got quite a bit of cleaning done too! Yes... I am not used to being quite so productive... But it opened up a lot of evening time for a bit of a change, so I was able to read and relax... Ahhhh....

Well, it seems I wrote quite a bit about not a lot! Hope you all are doing well! Miss you!

Peace and God Bless,

Jules

Cancun

Cancun-Great time!! And definitely DO NOT pay any attention to grammar (or lack there of) in this one!

So, directly after the UM Conference, I flew to Cancun. Well, I skipped Tuesday and went to the airport instead! So, IT WAS A BLAST! Except that I lost my wallet... It is okay, everything is getting replaced, the most annoying thing is my driver's license but that is getting figured out too! Pictures are up on Facebook, but I will try to get them added here...

So I was waiting for the shuttle downstairs as we had already checked out of the hotel that morning... and there was NO COFFEE!! Now, I forgot to mention in my previous post that I was living off coffee at the UM Conference... FOOD? That was just to keep my stomach from going haywire from all the coffee! Especially Saturday. I gave Dad a run for his title of major coffee drinker that day!! And they had the gall to close down the coffee stand at like 7pm!! I know!!! CRAZY!!!! I made it through however... anyhoo back to the Cancun story... So it took them 45 minutes to get coffee and by that time, I took the shuttle to the airport...

I sat at the Des Moines airport for a while, (these were times I wish I had a laptop... then you wouldn't have been waiting for the blog... maybe the posting of, but it would have been easy as they would have already been written, LOL) I kept myself busy with books and people watching... I do love people watching... you have to be careful though... You don't want to be caught staring incredulously at people... Trust me on this ;)... Again, I digress... the flight was on time, and I had about a three hour layover is Dallas/Fort Worth... I wish I had stayed in the terminal I arrived in a bit longer, as there were a bunch of cute Army guys heading to OCS... Nothing like "people watching" to pass the time... Just kidding... Anyhoo, in Terminal D, where my departing flight was, there was this really neat sculpture thing... I really cannot describe it, well I could but there are pics instead! LOL, anyhoo, when you walk through this structure, it makes music... It was pretty neat! I then board to Cancun... I was very excited, and I got lucky sitting next to this nice couple who were doing trivia games and stuff like that. They were from Iowa too... Just goes to show that Iowa people really ARE nice!

Well, we landed and I took a cab to the hotel... Well, it was really a resort... I basically had an efficiency apartment all to myself... I let Chuckles come in to play a bit too! The room had laundry and a kitchenette as well as an amazing tub, an ocean view and a little living room area that led to the balcony... They had a series of pools which were infinity pools. If you are unfamiliar with infinity pool, if you are in the pool and look out to the ocean.. it looks like it never ends... that the pool goes straight into the ocean... Pretty amazing.

If you don't know me very well, you may not know that I absolutely LOVE the beach!! The smell of the saltwater and seaweed (I know it sounds kinda gross, but it is my happy place) the sound of the waves, the sand beneath my feet, the beating sun, the smell of sunscreen, the lightening of my hair... yes, I totally heart the beach! Anyhoo, I seem to be using that word a lot this post, It was amazing, that first day was kind of my free day... I spent time in the pool with S and R and Chuckles, and at the beach, swimming in the ocean... getting salt in my suit and my eyes... yes, it gets everywhere... Still love it though... The next day we spent more time in the water and even went to the aquarium... a waste of money, by the way... go to Xcaret... but I am now getting ahead of myself...

The day I spent alone with Chuckles, we almost lost his sand bucket... well we did lose it, just not permanently... Chuckles accidentally lost it when the tide came in, and I almost had it but a big wave came, and as I was holding Chuckles, did not quite catch it... I did not see it again for about ten minutes, when Chuckles and I were walking along the beach (yes it was a ways down the beach) this really nice guy found it and returned it to us... :) I was glad... The reason I was holding Chuckles is because he was going in after the bucket... I was sad when I had to tell him it was gone!! :) God looks out for us! :)

On Saturday, our last day, we went to Xcaret. It is pronounced like Eesh-kah-ret... Check it out at www.xcaret.com. If you ever get that way, you should totally go to Xcaret!! It is an eco-park. While that meant nothing prior to me going there, it is AMAZING!!! It is kind of like an aquarium and zoo and beach and pools and scuba diving and all kinds of stuff wrapped into one! Everything is natural so there is no real maintenance of things like pools. They have pools but they are fed by the ocean. There are underground rivers which you can snorkel through. Which I did and it was really neat... Also a great way to cool down around mid-day. The water is very cool... Almost too cool to begin with but you get used to it pretty quick. It is hard to describe. It is amazing! And totally worth probably two days of your time... We didn't get to everything in one day.

Well, Cancun is very American. 99% of the people speak English and most are quite friendly. Probably because Cancun was created to be an American tourist spot. But still. We got some gas outside of Cancun on our way back from Xcaret and had to speak Spanish, we got a bit more IN Cancun, and English worked just fine! LOL. Sunday we headed back. My flight was before theirs so I took a cab to the airport and barely made my flight! And I was there early!! Still, it was a great trip. minus the loss of my wallet... I bought a new one the other day... The only real money lost was my Metro Card... I did not have it registered... But there wasn't a lot of money on it anyway so that wasn't that big a deal. The real bother was my driver's license. But that is getting worked out.

WOW, looks like I had plenty to write about. And I fell sure I left stuff out... Well, until next time!! Hasta!

Jules

United Methodist Iowa Annual Conference

Catch up time... to start I had a blast seeing who I got to see... So thank you all for making time, as mine was limited! I hope to see more of you next time I am in Iowa, which will probably be this fall/winter. I will keep you updated! :)

The Iowa United Methodist Annual Conference was awesome!There were a few things on the business end that frustrated me! However, Corey was a sport and just laughed at me!! Thanks for that! :) One of the highlights was a guest speaker named Bishop Kulah. He was from Africa. (I cant remember where, and didn't put it in my notes, sorry.)

Bishop Kulah said many things, and some of it related to where he came from. One of my favorite analogies has to do with walking. He started off by saying that where he comes from, walking is not a sport. Not a way to get fit. Walking is community, fellowship, meditations, questions and connections. When we walk in life we meet people in a community and fellowship with them. We meditate on things, ask questions of others we are waling with and make connections. (He put it much better than I, of course, I am not a Bishop either though, LOL.) So we should walk with Christ. Build a community, fellowship with other Christians. Meditate on God's word, allow Jesus to ask us questions, and make connections with Jesus and God, and our community! I love this. I cannot quite seem to put it into words that show how it makes me feel. I haven't been doing all that, and this was a good way to put it into perspective for me! WALK WITH CHRIST! :)

One thing I absolutely related to that he said, "Scripture is primary, discipline is secondary." This just may be my new motto! LOL. How often do we read scripture to make sure that what we are hearing is the true word of God. Are we learning and meditating on God's word? Or the word of our Pastor, or neighbor, or fellow Christian? Now don't misunderstand me. I am not saying that I am perfect, or that those listed above are not well meaning, but I believe this helps us to keep accountable to God, not to people. This leads to another quote: "Some people believe the Bible contains the word of God. I believe it IS the word of God" Which I too believe. We should follow the word of God! I feel that the Discipline of the UMC is rooted in the word, and as hard as it may seem some days, hours or minutes, I am trying to live my life through His word. I often fall short! Former Iowa Bishop Ruben Job said, "regardless of circumstance, you are a child of God." Regardless of the many times I fall, or fail, I can always remember that I am a child of God! And I hope you all do too!

Out in Fort Dodge there is this ministry that "takes it to the street." It is an outdoor ministry in which started out as a children's program, but now reaches those from infant to 92 years of age! It is a summer ministry in which they have sites outdoors where they do mini church services. The coordinator sometimes gets slack from some members of her congregation because this ministry does not necessarily bring more members into their church. But as she points out, it is not about filling the pews, it is about bringing the gospel to those who won't hear it anywhere else! Kudos Jennifer!! YOU ROCK!

Pastor Dwayne had a retirement ceremony that some people were able to make it down to Des Moines for! Which I am glad for, because my dad was one of them!! I love you Dad! ;)

Well guys, my next post will be about Cancun, it will probably be shorter than this one, but I hope you enjoy it! And I am sorry it took me so long to post this! LORI, I am sorry, I know I told you it would be up Saturday night! I fail!! The family had guests over and it was late before I got back upstairs! Sorry!

Til next time!

Jules