Quietly

Last night, while I was in the Pathways class, we sung this song called "Quietly". I opted not to sing due to not feeling well. My voice was raspy and scratchy. Instead, I listened to the people around me, their voices ever so softly singing praises to God. The man leading worship stated that the song was actually a Chinese Christian song. Him and the other Chinese people in the room then sang the song for us in Chinese. Now, if you know me, you know that I love worship music in other languages. Just this Sunday at church, we sung, "Inside Out" from Hillsongs. Amongst all of the people singing in English was my small voice worshipping God in Spanish. I honestly can't sing the song any other way, the English version of the song seems so foreign to me. So, when these people blessed us in my class by singing in Chinese, I was in awe. That version was way prettier than the English version. I looked for the lyrics in English and the video on You Tube, but came up with nothing. I shall ask the guy at class about it and will post the song when I can.

This past weekend, I took a short trip to California to visit my niece and great niece. Rosie wasn't home when I got there, but called and said she was on her way. She gets out of the car and gives me a huge hug and proceeds to say with her hands on her belly, "Guess what?" I guessed immediately that she was expecting again. She got a huge smile on her face and told me she's been dreaming it was twin boys. Oy vei. Now there are twins on her dad's side of the family and her generation would be the one to have twins. She's only about 6 weeks along and it's too soon to determine if there are two babies or one. Either way, I'm going to be a great aunt again. :)

Paige is absolutely adorable. She's talking up a storm, laughs at everything, and loves books more than anything. It took her a few minutes to warm up to me, but once she realized I wasn't a stranger, she became my best friend. I spent a good portion of my small vacation in her toy room playing with her. I didn't take that many pictures, because we really didn't do anything.

Look, there's a book in her hand. :)

She refuses to sit in a stroller or cart. When you're at a store, she must walk behind the cart and help push it.

See? That is what she does. Look how fast her little legs are going.

Yep, she's a momma's girl to the max.

Gotta go!

Adios,

Bran

Quote of the day: "You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance." ~Franklin P. Jones

Aftershocks

Happy Wednesday everyone! Despite the fact that there was an earthquake in LA yesterday, I'm still heading out there on Friday. My niece lives about 30 minutes outside of LA. As soon as I heard what happened, I called her. She answers the phone this way, "You must be watching the news, Aunt Brandy." No, actually got a breaking news text. She said they were okay, they definitely felt the earthquake. Her husband called to say that he was okay as well. He said if it would of been any worse, he probably would of been killed. He works in construction and was on a lift of some sort when it happened. I'm thankful everyone is okay and from reading the news, there doesn't appear to be any injuries. I hope there are no aftershocks. I did see on the news that this earthquake was a moderate one, but California has a 99% chance of having a major earthquake in the next 30 years. It could be tomorrow, it could be 30 years from now.

Do you ever find yourself wondering about the future, what your life is going to be like? I do that a lot, I constantly wonder about if I'll ever get married and have children, will I ever get to South America, will I ever finish school, am I going to live in AZ forever. These are things that go through my mind. I am constantly talking about moving somewhere in the states or another country. I know it's not for us to determine our future and we really shouldn't stress about it. The Bible says in Philippians 4:6-7, "Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life." That is the Message version....the version that spoke best to me.

I have a dear friend who reads my blogs, after reading my last blog, this is what she had to say about my future, "I remember when you told me that story (talking about where I felt I had disappointed God). God will use you in His way and I think you are on the path. OK, here is my opinion. Stop talking about leaving the country, stop talking about moving to California and no more about Central. I think you are being used here and now the way God is wanting to use you. If you just take a step back and look around, you are here for a reason. I personally don't want you to leave and I don't want to see you go anywhere. I am going to do anything to keep you here. But I think you are in the right place for now." *Sigh* as someone who does plan things out and does worry about the future, that is not exactly what I wanted to hear. But coming from her, my upfront friend....she's so right. I need to stop worrying about what is going to happen tomorrow and focus on what God is doing in my life today. And today....oh today, God is doing A-M-A-Z-I-N-G things in my life. I am blessed beyond comprehension with everyday occurances, humbled by His love and grace, and in constant awe of the beauty He creates in people. I just have to have faith in God and know and trust it's going to be okay as far as my future is concerned.

And I know it's going to be okay, He's gotten me through 31 years. And right now, I'm doing pretty fantastic considering August 5th is next week. I have good days, I have amazing days, I have days where I don't feel I can go on...but through every single one of them, God has been there, will be there. He has put a small, small handful of people in my life who have chosen to hold my hand through this journey, pick me up when I fall, laugh at me when I'm being goofy, hurt when my heart is hurting and for that I'm forever grateful and immensely blessed.

Have a fantastic day basking in His love.

Bran

Quote of the day: "I know not what the future holds, but I know who holds the future." ~Unknown

Are you my bed?

Happy late Thursday evening everyone. How are you doing? I'm doing good, but pretty exhausted. You know when you're traveling or staying at someone's house, it's always good to get away from your house, but man....isn't is always FANTASTIC to come home and sleep in your own bed? Seriously, there is nothing better than that. Tomorrow, I get to do that for two nights. It will be nice to be in my bed, but since I won't be home very long, I won't even have time to adjust to being in my bed. I haven't sleep in my bed hardly at all this summer. I have had five housesitting jobs so far, one still to go. Since about the middle of June, I've only been home maybe one or two days total. Yes, horrible right. I'm so, so, so tired of being away from home, living in other's houses, sleeping in different beds. And lately, over the past few weeks or so, I seem to have difficulty sleeping. Oy vei. Housesitting is definitely a nice supplement to the income in the summer, but I can't ever recall being gone this much. Someone already booked me for next summer, still not sure if I will be here or not. Thankfully this next housesitting job is only five days then I'm done. Whew! It's been a long summer. It will be good, I want to take day trips to explore my state and very well couldn't when I was watching animals. August 1st, I am heading out to California (hopefully J is coming with me) to kiss on these adorable cheeks:

It's the Paigey!!! Don't you just want to eat her up? I can't believe she'll be one soon.

This week at church is also Vacation Bible School. Holy heel spur, Batman. My poor feet are killing me. For those of you who don't know, I have heel spurs in each foot and being on them constantly makes it worse. My job at VBS is to supervise the preschool area, which requires walking around a good portion of our campus making sure everything is okay. And it's not a small campus. My foot doctor said I should take Ibprofen three times a day to keep the pain at bay, but I refuse to do it. That stuff eats the lining of your stomach. My feet have been hurting so bad this week that I've been popping those things like my life depends on it. As exhausting as VBS is, it's totally worth the pain every year. It's just so fun to see all the kids around the campus, it's fun to hear them learn stories in the Bible. The best is when a wee little three year old is trying to tell me what they have learned, it's seriously the most precious thing. Although I had to lay the law down tonight with a five year old. He was just giving his teacher a difficult time, I pulled him aside and explained how he knew the rules and how he knows not to act that way if I were his teacher (I have had him in Children's since he was 6 months old), so I expected him to treat his teacher the same way he would if I were in the room with him. I also pulled the "mom" card on him and threatened to call his mom. He straightened up after that. He really didn't want to deal with the wrath of Miss Brandy and  his mom. I also had a parent get mad at me last night for a stupid reason. When he dropped off his daughter, she was crying, fifteen minutes later her teacher called for me and wanted me to look at something. I went into her class, this little girl still crying. Her teacher proceeded to show me a nasty cut on the bottom of her baby toe. He said it didn't happen here, but this little girl had no band-aid on and it was bleeding pretty bad. And let's not mention the fact that she had on flip flops.  I'm sorry, but if your daughter has a cut on the bottom of her toe, do you really think it's a good idea letting her wear flip flops when we are constantly rotating stations, outside? I called her parents and made them come get her. She was not letting us touch her foot and it looked pretty bad. Dad was less than thrilled when he had to come back not even 30 minutes after dropping her off to pick her up. They knew about the cut, but figured it was nothing. Not so much....the first thing the EMT that we had on site said was, "Oh". Yeah, seriously if the EMT has a look of shock that a three year old has the nasty of a cut, then it's not good.

I just bought Hillsong United's CD, I Heart Revolution. It's a double CD. It was at Berean for $18. I was debating on getting it, but there are so many amazing songs on the album, all live. I decided I would get it. I was super excited when it rang up for $14.50. Sweet! All the more reason to buy it. I've really been loving the song, "The Stand", it's just amazing and brings chills to my arms and tears to my eyes. When I think about how amazing God is, what He has done to this life of mine, and how how I'm crazy blessed by the people He has put in my life, I'm in complete and full awe. Sweet diggity dog, God is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Here is part of the song, my favorite part of the song.

So I’ll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all

So I’ll stand
My soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours

Shh...

Happy Sunday everyone! How are you doing? I'm pretty fantastic here. I'm typing this from my niece's house in California. The house is quiet and the only sound I hear is my fingers typing. Everyone is still asleep. I am always the one to get up before everyone, no matter where I am. I've always been like that. I enjoy it, it gives me time to think about things, my day, and plus I can use all the hot water that I want.

Being here this weekend with my niece and her family makes me miss them. I am really close to my niece and seeing her this weekend, makes me just want to pack up everything I own and move out here to be closer to them. Paige has grown so much since I've seen her in January. She's talking a little saying mama and dada. Her favorite thing to do is to say "Ah", all the time. I think she likes to hear her voice. She's sitting on her own, occasionally falling over. And although she's not crawling yet, she will be soon. She's doing the whole rocking thing right now. She's absolutely hysterical and is constantly making us laugh. Yesterday my niece brought her out to me so she could get more sleep. For about 40 minutes yesterday, Paige and I just played, just her and I. Those are the moments to be treasured most. And as everyone began to wake up in the house, I heard them all singing, humming, or whistling the Barney song I was singing to Paige during our play time.

This weekend has also made me realize how blessed I am to have Becky in my life. Not that I didn't know that before, but became more aware of it this weekend. When you look at my close friends, the ones who know me inside and out, Becky is one of them. When she left for college, we still kept our friendship going, kept it strong. It seems as though we've been friends forever, but in reality, it's only been about 3-4 years. We've gone through joys, sorrows, family crisis', deaths, sharing silly inside jokes/glances, and stupid boys breaking our hearts; deepening our friendship through the entire way. And even now, our friendship was deepened this weekend and she got to watch me interact with my family.

Looking at the redness on my face, it would indicate that I got a little sunburn yesterday while at Newport Beach. All day Friday from Arizona to California, it rained. The sky looked really dark and I didn't think we would be having a sun filled day at the beach. My little cousin, Dominique, said she would pray for good weather so we could enjoy our time at the beach. God decided to show favor on us and we had a BEAUTIFUL day. It was about 75, sunny, and a little windy. I could sit at the ocean all day long, listening as the waves crashing in, basking in the warmth of his love. As Becky, Dominique and I sat upon the rocks, I began to think about my life. I always do that when I'm in awe of God's creation. I began to think how far I've come. I came from not knowing God at all to someone who wants to be a missionary in a third world country. I came from not willing to die for anyone because I was selfish to willing to die for Christ no matter what the cost. It's simply amazing to me and I know God's hand has shaped it all.

I shall have pictures for you when I get back to AZ.

Have a great day, basking in his love,

Bran

"If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a rain that would be..." Part of the Barney song I was singing to Paige.

Today is...

the last day of school for the summer! Hooray! I have a very, very simple Math test tonight and then I'm done. It's not even a final, it's just over the last chapter we did, my summer vacation will be here as soon as I finish those 25 very easy problems. Oh man, I can not wait! Summer, summer, summer! Last Wednesday, I had to do my oral final in Spanish, I totally rocked that and got an "A". However, last night was my written final in Spanish. And, I will be lucky if I got a "C" on it. Seriously, I studied all day Sunday and a good part of Monday. That was the HARDEST test I've ever had to take in my entire life. Did you know that there are like 14 different ways to conjugate a verb in Spanish? I know them, but when my crazy teacher crams them all into one final which was 12 pages long, it just becomes too much. She hardly gave any direction in the final as to put what conjugation where, so we were all left wondering. As I was trying to think of something last night, I looked up from my final and saw even the "geeks" in our class struggling. That made me feel not so stupid. People from the previous class as well as my class were all talking about how hard that crazy final was. But I figured out my grades and even if I got a zero on the final, I would get away with a high "C". Not my best work, but that class was so exhausting that I just wanted it over. A girl in my class took her last final, EVER in Spanish last night, she is graduating from ASU in a few weeks. *Sigh* I'm so jealous of her. I just want to be done with school already.

Tis' the season for graduations and weddings. Wednesday, my chica, Kristine is graduating with her Master's Degree in Teaching. I'm so proud of her, she has been chugging along and was determined to get her Master's. Here are the weddings so far this year I'm going to: Ky and Vince, Adam and Valerie, Mark and Cynthia, Rey and Beckie.

I start volunteering for Food for the Hungry on Friday. I volunteer with them on breaks from school. They are a missionary company based in Phoenix. And although I'm just doing office volunteer for them, they all know I want to be a missionary. Good way to get my foot in the door, huh? Yep, yep. I've been volunteering with them for about 2 years now. Gosh, I can't believe it's been that long. I also met the president of the Dominican Republic office when I was there, a little bug was also put in his ear about my goals. I'm learning in life, that it's about who you know that will help you get the places you want to go.

My girl, Becky is coming home in a few weeks from school...for good. The original plan was for her to come home, pack up her stuff and move back to Missouri, but things didn't work out like they planned. She wants to be independent from her parents, but realized she could do that here in Arizona and still be near her family and friends. She called me a few weeks ago, while Kays and I were having coffee. I put her on speaker phone, first she told us she was going to be an auntie again, then she told us she was moving back. Hooray! We've already planned a road trip to Cali to visit my family and to help my niece unpack. We are heading out Memorial Day weekend, I CANNOT WAIT! I talked to my niece yesterday, she said the baby is trying to crawl. I can't wait to see her. They grow up so fast. Rosie said she's also got two teeth, and another coming in. She just turned 7 months old, can you believe it?

It's going to be an exciting summer. I managed to walk 6 times last week, 30 minutes each time, which would put me at 2.5 miles walked last week. Whew! I walked again yesterday, I'm seriously rockin' such a tan right now. As soon as my tax stimulus money comes in, I'm going to use that money to buy a good pair of tennis shoes and possibly a bicycle. I'm feeling good, got lots of energy and I know it's because I'm exercising. You may think, it's only walking, but it's a start and I walk fast when I do go. Hooray. Go me. Life is pretty fantastic right now, pretty fantastic and God is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Have a great day!

Love,

Bran

Quote of the day: "In order to change, we must be sick and tired of being sick and tired." ~Unknown

Scripture of the day in English: "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance." Romans 5:3

y en español: "Y no sólo en esto, sino también en nuestros sufrimientos, porque sabemos que el sufrimiento produce perseverancia." Romanos 5:3

Happy Friday

Well, well, Happy Friday everyone! How are you doing? I'm pretty fantastic actually. No particular reason, any day I'm breathing and serving Jesus is a fine and dandy day for me! Okay, so an update on just life in general, in my favorite way (Kaysie's too) of posting...BULLET POINTS!

• School gets out in about a week. Oh boy, is there any way I can explain to you how excited I am about this? I'm seriously excited. I took my last test in Spanish on Wednesday. The only thing I have left if is my oral and written final. I'm working on my oral presentation this weekend. I have to present it on Wednesday. I was thinking about taking a summer class just to get my last Math credit out of the way, but I'm thinking that might be a bad idea. I'm not good at Math, so an acclerated summer class might make me have a nervous breakdown. Rumor has it that my Spanish final is going to be 14 pages . Seriously, my professor is a crazy woman, sometimes we call her a Natzi. But Math will be simple, it's just a test on the last chapter we've gone over. Hooray.
  
• In case you haven't been watching the television, or you're living under a rock, baseball season has started. And the Yankees are doing good so far. I have yet to see a game, I'm kinda of a busy woman, but I get the score updates. I'm working on getting tickets for a Yankees game in California in September. I mean if I'm going to be a fan, I should at least rock my hat at a game, right? Basketball playoffs are also going on right now. I haven't really been following it, but I can tell you I've watched the Spurs beat the Suns twice and have enjoyed it. Jason and his family has so turned me "Anti-Suns". Oy vei.
  
• Recently, I've been to the doctor and although I'm not posting my current weight on here, it's apparent that I need to lose some weight, so says the doctor. Well, duh.. you think? *Stands up* In case you haven't noticed, *Points to self, turns around* I'm a thick chick...you know a gal with some serious meat on her bones. LOL. But all joking aside, I do need to lose some serious weight. I don't want to die at a young age. I am meeting Monday with a nutritionist to help me with this whole weight loss thing. The doctor said it's something that needs to be done slowly. And for encouragement, I went to Urgent Care in March and from that time to today, I've lost 6 pounds. Yeah, just got to keep it going. Doctor says to stay away from carbs or do a low carb diet. She's advising me to have surgery, the lap band surgery. Yeah, I'm not ready for that and I know most of you don't know me, but for someone my weight, I'm pretty active. You know, like walking up three flights of stairs and barely getting winded, those kind of things. I would like to try to lose it naturally first. But I need you, especially the people who actually know me, to help me through this. It's not an easy process, but encouragement is always good. :)
  
• Road trip to California, the weekend after Mother's Day. I'm so going and I'm going to recruit Kaysie(although she hasn't been informed of this yet) to see if she wants to come. My niece will have moved and I'm going to help unpack and also get some serious family time and of course...KISS on some Paigey toes.
  
• That's it for now....I could write more, but I'm so longwinded. And for everyone who gave me encouragement on my last blog (The Flame), you guys are the BEST!!!

Love you!

B to the Squared. :)

Quote of the day: "Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better." Emile Coue (Oh this quote so applies to me right now, in many different areas....you might know what I'm talking about).

"If we fall, we don't need self-recrimination or blame or anger - we need a reawakening of our intention and a willingness to recommit, to be whole-hearted once again." Sharon Salzberg

Something still missing

Happy Monday everyone! How are you doing? I'm pretty much fantastic! Boy, I sparked some conversations with my last post about tattoos! Both online and in real life. It was quite interesting.

Ladies and gentleman drum roll please...I have an announcement. It has been over 10 years since I've had all brown hair. Yep, I no longer have any type of blonde in my hair, it's all brown. Highlights are crazy expensive. I can't even remember the last time I had all brown hair. I got it done on Friday, I love the color! I will have to post pics when my computer is running.

Anyways, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Yes, I know, hold on to your hats folks, me thinking is never a good thing! I have enjoyed going to Broadway, I really have. But I still felt like something was missing. I'm not sure what it is, but something is still not there. Yesterday, I was scheduled to attend their membership class, but had called them a few days ago and told them I wasn't able to make it. I just wasn't sure if that is what I wanted. J had told me he wanted to check out this church called Poiema. Yesterday, we decided to take the trip to Phoenix and check it out. Wow...the worship was awesome, the sermon was awesome. It was just awesome. It's a small church, there isn't even 100 people there. We definitely had "Visitor" stamped on our foreheads because of the small amount of people there. But, the people were really friendly and they made Jason and I feel welcome. We probably met like 7 different people yesterday, including the pastor. He came right up to us after service. It was a good day to go and visit them, they talked about persecution. Something that is near and dear to my heart. I left the service just feeling amazed by what I had just encountered. Good stuff, I tell you, good stuff. So, it appears that J and I are going to start attending that church. They only have one service, which is kinda nice. But then I started thinking, well if I serve there, what can I do? I'm sure God will find something for me to do.

It's time...know what it's time for? ROAD TRIP! Hooray! This coming weekend, I'm heading out to Cali to see the family, munch on some fish tacos, and let the sand from the beach cover my toes. I haven't seen the sun set on the beach in a long time, I'm determined to watch it this weekend. I'm dragging J with me to keep me company. We are only doing an overnight trip, and that's okay with me. I'll get my baby fill by visiting my niece and her baby. I mean seriously...who wouldn't want to see this ADORABLE face? I CANNOT wait to kiss on those baby cheeks of hers and her baby toes and her baby belly. *Giggle*

Anyways, I gotta go for now! Have a great day!

Bran

Quote of the day: "Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be." ~Grandma Moses

Uh huh...

So, I was at the grocery store today and saw something that completely stopped me in my tracks...There he was, I couldn't believe it was him. Walking towards me was the one and only The King! Yes, that's right, uh huh, Elvis was in the Fry's building! I wanted to bust out in one of his songs, but contained myself. Lol, it wasn't Elvis, but man, it sure looked like him! I giggled to myself the rest of the time I was in the store. It made my day.

He looked like this, but had glasses on.

Oh wait, wait, I found him!

That's what the guy looked like and you were wondering why I was giggling. Heehee. Yes, I get amused by the slightest things, I know.

Okay, I'm done posting Elvis pictures. So, how ya be? I be pretty much fantastic. So, on to Thanksgiving. It was an awesome time visiting my family. My great niece is so cute. She's such a sweetie, she just sits there and smiles and coos. She definitely got her momma's personality. There were a few days that weren't so awesome, but I managed to survive. I filled out a survey yesterday that asked what I did three nights ago. My answer? Broke up a fight between two men, literally. But I'm not going to get into the details, they are too long. Yes, I broke up a fight on Friday night between two men and yes, I had somewhat of a nervous breakdown on Saturday. That's all I'm going to divulge for now. The people who need to know about the details, know them.

Sitting in Psychology class, I had my theory confirmed. I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Yes, all of you probably know I'm crazy anal about many things, but Dr. D. confirmed it for me. He even said it sounds like I have a slight case of it. I show symptoms. Oh joy! How fun is that? This semester is almost over. Hooray! I'm so ready to be done. This week is busy, I have three tests to do this week. One is Spanish tonight, I have to make up the one I missed last week in Psychology tomorrow, and I get the chance to retake one test that I didn't do so hot on. I have to do that one on Friday. In between all this studying I have to do, I have a wedding to attend on Thursday at Central. I even got myself a hot date, Jason is joining me at the wedding. *Grin*

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...at Brandy and Lisa's house. I got the urge to decorate. Granted our tree isn't up yet, Lisa puts that up every year and I decorate the house. Lol, we don't even have a tree! We need to buy a new one. Ours had been handed down to us and was beginning to look like a Charlie Brown tree, so we gave it to Goodwill. We shall get another one, but it has to be fake as I'm allergic to pine trees. *Shrugs*. Looking at my Christmas stuff, I might have a little obsession with snowmen. They are all over the place in my apartment. Every year I buy an ornament for myself. It's just something I do. Now that Paige is here, I'm going to carry on that tradition to her and begin to buy her an ornament every year. I've already purchased her Baby's First Christmas one while I was in Cali. I want to go Christmas caroling this year. I've never done it before. Anybody wanna come with me? Right now, my singing posse consists of....ME! My roomie says I'm crazy and to have fun with that. It will be fun, I think....If not caroling, I want to get some people to do something...maybe taking blankets to homeless people? YES!! We can give them blankets while we sing Christmas carols to them! Perfect!!

Ah, I'm a smidgy hyper today. I'm not sure why, but it always makes me feel good when I realize how much God loves me. My church hunt still continues. Jason and I are hitting up Real Life Christian Church on Sunday. They just opened the end of October, it should be fun!

Okay, have a fantastic and wonderful day!

Smooches!

Bran

Quote of the day: "He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree." ~Roy L. Smith

Local Animal Shelter

Good morning everyone! How are you doing? I am good. Just tired, as usual. Man, going to school 4 nights a week is killing me! I know I brought this upon myself, but I just want to sleep. And that's the weird thing, I've been forcing myself to go to bed at 9, getting up at 5, that's 8 hours of sleep. I don't know what's going on.

Outside of our front door at my apartment must be a sign that my roomie and I can't see, but everyone else can. I imagine it's a big pink neon sign, blinking arrow pointing towards our door. I'm positive the sign says "Bring your hurt animals here" or "Local animal shelter". I love animals but Lisa loves them a lot more than I do. She loves animals, like I love kids. Ever since we moved here in April, we have had a few people (mostly one) come up to our door wanting us to help them with a hurt animal they've found. Let's see since April, we've had 3 hurt pigeons (one who wasn't brought by a human, but decided to take up residence on our front porch anyways), a found kitten (I don't think it was hurt), a hurt cat, and last night, a German Shepherd. Our doorbell rang at 8:30, I went to answer it, it was one of my neighbors, the dog, and another lady. The lady said she found the dog laying in the road and she assumed he had been hit by a car. The dog physically appeared fine, but I noticed his legs were shaking pretty bad. He was super friendly. We talked to her for awhile, she wanted us to take the dog until tomorrow. Umm...no, sorry. This is a big dog and can you imagine the cats? They would die, literally! She said we could put him out on one of our patios. My roomie and I didn't want the responsibility if he decided to jump over the patio. We are on the second floor and I didn't want to wake up to a dead dog on the sidewalk below our patio. So she took him home for the night, Humane Society will be picking up the dog today. So, I've concluded that sign is there, I'm positive of it. It's hidden to our eyes though.

Last week, I was informed that one of my former bosses husband had passed away. Although I've only met him a few short times, I was saddened for her. They had such an awesome marriage. Sure, they had their problems, but the kept God in the middle of their marriage and had been married for quite some time. He was in his early 60's. I attended the funeral yesterday at their church. Every person that came up talked about even though physically, his heart was weak, spiritually he had the strongest heart ever. He loved serving God, and spent a lot of time doing that. I smiled to myself as they said "If you ever want to see Charles again, this is what you need to do.." and he went into the story of Jesus and our salvation and the only way you're going to see him again is to accept Christ into your life. He prayed the salvation prayer, I heard some people saying the prayer along with the pastor. While they were praying, I prayed that these people would follow through on their prayer. I don't know if I ever heard the message of salvation at a funeral, but it's never too late. Sometimes death is the one thing that will bring them to Christ.

I am anxiously awaiting for the phone call saying that I'm a great aunt. I talked to my niece yesterday, she is three days past her due date, still pregnant, and VERY miserable. Poor thing. Yesterday, I knew by talking to her, she was done with being pregnant and wanted the baby in her arms. I do believe she is in labor, she said she is having contractions, but they are about 4 hours apart or so. She had a doctor's appointment yesterday, I don't know the results of the appointment. Hopefully they'll put her in the hospital and break her water or something to make that baby come out. I was going to go in October to see the baby, but alas between work and school and the fact that I'm desperately trying to fight off something, I probably won't go. I never take holiday leave off, never. I always work the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's. But this year, the first in a long time, I'm taking the day off after Thanksgiving. Nope, not to shop, I'm heading out to California to spend Thanksgiving with my niece, her husband, the baby, my cousin, and her daughter. I am thinking of leaving Wednesday after work, I don't think I have school that night.

Anyways, gotta go!

Have a great day!

Bran

Quote of the day: "Most pets display so many humanlike traits and emotions it's easy to forget they're not gifted with the English language and then get snubbed when we talk to them and they don't say anything back." ~Stephenie Geist