It's Me Again Lord!!!!

Thought I would tell you something about myself. I am 30 years old and graduated from Champaign Centennial High School in 1995. In 1996, I met the most wonderful guy in the world and we got married in 1997.

I attend Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church in Urbana, IL and am a Sunday school teacher there for 4-5 yr olds. I also help out with the extended session during church in the nursery and 2-3 yr ols when needed. If it weren't for Pastor Richard Gregory and God I would probably have went insane with everything that has went on. There are some people there that have been interesting to say the least but for the most part, everyone has been nice. I am also the church clerk which means I take the minutes at the business meetings for the church. We actively go to church on Sunday morning, sunday evening and Wednesday evening for prayer meeting although I have not went recently since my surgery. I am also trying to start up the TeamKID program for school age kids and preschoolers on Sunday evenings which is proving to be more of a challenge than I thought it would be. Pastor wants me to have everything ready so that we can promote it at our Harvest Festival on Halloween. The issue that I am having with this is that the curriculum that I am wanting to use is from 1995 and Lifeway does not make the activity books for the kids anymore for this one. I am hoping to get another meeting with pastor about this soon. I hope this all works out because I really do want to do this for the kids. I feel that this is what God is calling me to do at this moment. I see a lot of churches around town that are starting the Awana program but that costs so much money and you need so many people to do it that our little church would not be able to. There was another program that I saw called Worship: Kid Style that looks neat but we already have about 8 yrs worth of TeamKid stuff so I would rather do that to try to save the church some money. We will see how this goes.

Today is proving to be a busy day. I had an appointment to have my blood drawn for my calcium level because it was a little high before my surgery plus I am having liver function tests and thyroid tests done to make sure that my medication for my depression and bipolar are not messing with my systems. I have been really tired recently and I hope that there is nothing that comes back abnormal. It is just probably because I have been off work for so long and I have gotten used to my naps. :-) I also have an appointment at 10:15 for my foot to see how I am doing after surgery. Then I have to come home, get my disability check and go to the bank. I have a little bit of a reprieve before I have to take Zach to school then we have an appointment with the lawyer about Mikey's disability (which I hope is a good sign). After that, we have to go to Sam's to get hot dogs, buns and chips for Mike's multi-church paintball/cookout tomorrow. Jamey gets off the bus around 2:30 from school. Zach gets out of school at 4:30 and then we are going to Mike's moms house to have pizza with them. Needless to say, I will probably be one very tired person tonight.

Well, that is all for now. I have to go to my next appt.

Day #2 of this Blog

Well, here it is another day and it is way too hot outside. It is supposed to get to around 90 today. Not a lot going on right at the moment just sitting here playing games and staying cool in the basement. Mike isn't feeling that well today. He can't even go to workout like he does in the mornings. Zach is just playing in the TV room and Jamey is at school. Zach goes to school at 1:00 so we have about an hour with no kids. I go back to work on Monday after my surgery on 9/5/07 on my foot for plantar fasciitis. The surgery doesn't seemed to have helped much as my foot is still hurting just as much as it did before. I go to see the doctor tomorrow about it and to see what she says. Mom is sick with the flu which is never any fun. She just went to the doctor yesterday for a physical and ended up with a fever of 101.3 and both her blood pressure and her heart rate were up.

Hi!!

I am new at this blogging stuff so you will have to bear with me. My name is April Colleen and I'm 30 years old. I have been married for almost 10 years to the most incredible man in the world, Mike. We have 2 kids, Zach and Jamey. Zach is 4 and Jamey is 8. I also have a wonderful step son named Ryan who is 16. Yes, we have them scattered all over. But it is fun when they are all together. Ryan lives in San Diego, CA while we are in Savoy, IL. We get to see him every summer and we just cant wait from one summer to the next.

I have done some really stupid things in the near and distant past that I really regret and wish I could go back and change. Some times I feel that God is punishing me with Mike's illness because of what I have done.

My husband has been sick since October 1998 with Crohn's disease. It is a disease that can basically eat away at your digestive system. His seems to be located in the small and large bowel. He has only had one case where he has had an ulcer on his tongue. We have been dealing with this for about 9 years now. We live with my parents because he has not been able to work since 5/2004 and my income was not going to allow us to keep our house. Unfortunately, we have been here for 3-1/2 years now and it is wearing thin on everyone.

We have been fighting for mike to get Social security disability since we moved here 3 yrs ago and we are just now getting a letter stating that they just need a little more information and then they will try to make a favorable decision without a hearing. We will see about that.

As for me, I have worked at a call center for AT&T Mobility for 3 years now. I hate that job. I can't stand sitting and talking to a bunch of crabby people all day. Everyone wonders why I come home so tired when I have a sit down job and I tell them that it is because of how mentally draining this job is. The only thing that is keeping me there is the bet that my mom made with me that if I can keep this job for 5 years that she will pay for a cruise for me and my family anywhere we wanted to go. I am over half way there. I think and hope I can make it the last 2 years.

Zach just started preschool this year and so far is doing ok. He had a shaky start with some time outs but has done ok so far this week. Jamey is in 3rd grade and also had a shaky start to his year but I think after a few stern talks, we have nipped that in the butt too. I cant believe that they are that old already. Not to mention the fact that I'm 30.

The holidays will be here soon and I can't wait. I am hoping that Grandpa Gillen and I can figure out our finances enough to where we can get some christmas for people but it may just be for the kids this year. I will never let any of them go without christmas from us.

Well, it is getting late so I will continue this another time.