Sheep Show

Ruth had her last big sheep show yesterday, and we all turned out to watch! It was at the Boone County Fair, and loads of fans showed up for Ruth! We seriously had half of the church out there to watch her and Ethel. I was amazed at how much better they were at working together and walking around the ring. I still think it's funny that they have to grab their heads and drag them around. Anyway, it was kind of sad to see her last show, and think that Ethel is going to be sold on Friday. But it sounds like the girls are ready to do it again next year, only this time they want boy sheep... apparently Donatello and Michaelangelo. But we'll see. Whatever they end up doing, I have certainly enjoyed seeing the sheep every time I went out to Mom and Dad's! And Ruth did a great job taking care of them!! Anyway, here are some pictures from the fun event....

Waiting around with the rest of the sheeps :)

Making Ethel "stand pretty"


Waiting for the judge's decisions

A First

Today was definitely a first for me... at least a first in the last several years. Today the youth group left for a float trip, and I stayed home! I'm never one to miss a party (thanks to Mom for that attitude), but I decided that sleeping on the ground, then sitting on a canoe seat all day, then driving back may not be the best choice for me! :) Plus, we had 11 youth and 9 adults going, so I figured I wasn't really needed! So now I have an evening and all day tomorrow completly to myself, with no plans, and no husband... kinda lonely, kinda nice! :) I'm thinking I might even get the blue room unpacked... if something pressing (like reading) doesn't come up! :)

YAY!

Well, no good news on the old laptop, but we found a very similar laptop (as in, nearly identical, only more memory) on sale for $450, so we went ahead and bought it. And, actually, Josh and I are so blessed to have a church that takes care of us, and they are buying it for us. Since Josh uses the laptop so much for church, they had already decided to buy us one. So, since we had found one we liked, they're going to reimburse us. Which is definitely an unexpected blessing right now. I'm just now getting it set up (just couldn't resist a blog-stalk and quick post), but expect blogs and pictures soon!

Fun

Well, just for fun I thought you guys would like to see a picture of the bridesmaids dress that Jessie picked out for her wedding in April. The sash will be gold instead of green (red and gold to match the Marine uniforms), but other then that it's pretty much the same. Pretty cute... and GREAT motivation to lose the baby weight!! :)

No news yet on the laptop. :( Don't really expect any, so we will probably be buying a new one in the next couple of weeks. I feel like someone cut my arm off without it! Amazing how dependent you get on something like that... I can't even pay bills without it!

Big Bummer

Well, there won't be many posts for awhile, most likely. Yesterday someone broke into Josh's car and took his laptop bag, with our laptop, several of his books, all his notes, his flash drive, all of Ruth's graduation pictures... you get the idea. So if I owe you an email, sorry, but I won't be replying anytime soon because I can't check my hotmail account at school. So my school account is your best bet for now.

I don't even care about the laptop that much... it's the stuff that's on it. All of Josh's notes for sermons for the past year. Scans of all of the ultrasound pictures (some of which got lost in the move). Every picture I've taken since November. All of Ruth's graduation pictures, and the cd I just burned for her, which Josh was taking to her.

Anyway, it's very frustrating. I guess the guy pushed down Josh's window enough to get it unlocked, then just grabbed the bag off of the floor. An MU police officer came to the house and fingerprinted the window, and got a good print (provided it's not Josh's or mine), but that only helps if the guy's prints are on record. If they're not, well, we're basically out of luck. We don't have the box the computer came in, so we don't have the serial number, and Compaq can't give us the serial number unless we have the serial number (WHAT?! Talk about the opposite of helpful!). And without the serial number the officer can't put it into the system that pawn shops use. At this point, I'd really just like to have the bag back, even if the guy kept the laptop and threw the bag in the dumpster. The flash drive and cd alone would make me feel a little bit better.

It's just one more expense, and Josh and I have been trying to be very careful to keep a savings account and plan for things, and this past couple months it's been one thing after another. Outside of buying the house and putting in a fence, there's been the new transmission for the car, and the expense of the dog incident... and now it looks like there will be a new laptop, too, because we use it too much to just not have one. I mean, on the one hand, it's good that it happens when we have my summer school checks to count on. But, on the other, the summer school checks were supposed to go towards having a baby and rebuilding our savings account after the major hit it took (transmission, house, fence).

Really, it's just very frustrating, and it makes me very sad to lose all of those pictures. And Josh feels like it's his fault, even though it's definitely not. But there's still room for God to work a miracle (Josh's cell is still intact, after all), and, if not, well, it's just a laptop, and we'll survive.