Death

I don't know what is going on with our little church that so many people keep dying. Our organist at our church passed away in her sleep last night. She was in her 60's and just had a hysterectomy last week. Her husband woke up this morning and went to ask her what she would like for breakfast. He thougth that she was still asleep but then when he touched her he realized she was already gone. I've know Judi and Willi all of my life. This is just a big shock to all of us. In the little over a year that I have worked here we have had 6 deaths in our congregation of around 225. It's just getting to be a little more than I can handle as a church secretary.
We have an older man who's wife died this past summer having brain surgery to have a tumor removed this morning. My boss Dave, our pastor, just called me and he is going back and forth between Willi's house and the hospital. Dave himself is still recovering from Lymphoma. We have several others with cancer or other problems right now too. I just don't know how one little church can go through so much.

There's a lot of other things going on but I won't go into anymore. Pray for my church. We are on the edge of growing and changing and satan is really trying to keep us from doing that.

Updates and things

I thought that I should let you all know that my sister Stephanie had her baby on September 19. After 16 hours of hard labor they ended up doing an emergency c-section. David Martin Guenther was born at 11:30p.m., and weighed 6lbs 14oz. She had been told all a long that he was going to be a big baby, but they got that wrong. At least they didn't get the sex wrong. She's doing well and so is her baby. It amazes me how motherly she is.

I've recently been in contact through email with Sabrina and Jules. Jules and Steven had visited us on their way to Washington state just after I had Sophia. It was a short overnight visit but it was great getting to see them. I know that most of the time that Jules lived with us I whined and complained about a lot of things, because that is what I do, but I have come to find how much I truly enjoyed having as a friend. She brightens up my day with a quick email and it just makes me wish that I had been a better friend while we lived together. I've also come to the conclusion that I suck at living with other people. Justin would probably leave me if he wasn't married to me. Ok that's probably an exaggeration, well I hope it is. I'm bossy and controlling and I just complain and whine way too much. It's only taken me 28 1/2 years to figure this out. I've missed Sabrina and I'm sorry that I used her ear as someone to complain to all the time.

Sophia is doing well. She's growing at a normal rate. I can't believe she'll be 4 months old next week. She still comes to work with me which I love. She's a very calm baby. Right now she's being held by the ladies here for Thursday morning bible study. They love having her down there with them on Thursdays.

I think we are going to carve pumpkins with the kids this year. I recently found out that my husband has never carved a pumpkin. I think we are going to remedy that this year. Justin's home about 4 nights a week now so I've been trying to find more family things we can do together. That is when he's not out digging up my back yard. That's a whole other story that I won't go into.

Well it is Thursday which is my busiest day at work so I guess I better get to it.

My Kids

My kids are such wonderful blessings to me. Each time I look at them I am just amazed by how creative God is. Each one has their own personallity and their own look. Abbie is my whiner but she is my most creative. She can make up all kinds of stories which also means she can lie pretty well too. I look at her and I see me. Not just in her looks but in her stuborness and her moodiness. I think that is why we argue the most. Kaleb is my sweetheart. He loves to give hugs and kisses. The only problem with Kaleb is he's bigger than your average 21/2 almost 3 year old. We are still working on what it means to be gentle. He tries it's just hard. Justin has already be showing him how to be a great blocker for football. Kaleb is our boy and he is all boy. He loves to bother Abbie because he knows he can. I look at them though and I am thankful that they have each other. They may fight and yell but they have a bond that will never break. Then there is my sweet Sophia. She has been my best baby so far. She comes with me to work everyday. She is very calm which is good when there's just one of you most of the time. She reacts well to Abbie and Kaleb even when they are right in her face. This is my family and I love them and thank God for them.

Justin's grandma past away over the weekend. I remember when he took me to meet her the first time. We had just started dating and he wanted me to meet his grandma. His grandma was the image of what you typically would think a grandma would look like. She was a short, round white haired little lady. Her house smelled of moth balls and she always wore skirts. I remember her home was just full of stuff that she had collected over the years. She loved to cook and loved to bake. She made quilts and was well known for them where she lived. Everyone knew Norma Cleaveland. I wish that my kids could have known her better. I wish that I could have known her better. She would have been 90 in November. She had a bunch of Grandchildren and even more great grandchildren.

I've been in a very reflective mood lately. I've been really good at going through the motions lately. Of doing the right things and being the person everyone thinks that I should be. I'm working on finding out who I am. Who it is that I want to be. I don't know. I could just say that I have a little post pardum depression but I think it is more than that. I'm not happy with myself as a whole. It's not just my body but my heart and soul. I need a makeover of my heart I think before I can work on the rest. Wow I don't know where all that came from but that is me and where I am. Now I must tend to my calm little girl who isn't so calm at the moment.

LIFE!! Where's the pause button!

OK so Sophia will be four weeks old tomorrow. Where has the time gone. Sophia Ellen Clark was born at 9:34am on Tuesday June 28. This was after my doctor was an hour late because he over slept. She weighed7lbs. 14oz. and was 21 inches long. She looks just like Abbie and a little like Kaleb. She has been a real joy. Kaleb wanted to take her home right away. He loves his baby Sophie. Abbie is very helpful. Always telling me it's time to feed the baby. Abbie doesn't like to let her cry. She tells everyone she meets about her new baby sister. I only took two weeks off of work which were very nice. Justin was off for a week also so it was nice for both of us to be home together. Last week we had Vacation Bible School at our church. I was one of the co directors. It was a fun but very busy week. This is my first real week back at church with nothing too pressing hanging over. Sophia is coming with me to work. It is really nice to have a job where I can bring her along.

My boss Dave is still out on medical leave. He's feeling better, but still trying to get his strength back. We had another death in our church this past week. It seems that several of our older members are dying off. Since I have taken over as church secretary we have had 5 deaths in our church. That's 5 in the last 10 months, in a church of about 225 people.

If I knew how to post a picture on here I would. Just to let you know our old email is no longer working (theclarks816@adelphia.net or jennmarie@adelphia.net) Our new email address at home is theclarks816@fuse.net and my work email is jennclark@calvarychapelcma.org
Iwill try emailing pictures as soon as I can.

And soon we'll be 5

Well tomorrow morning at 8:00am I am having my c-section. It's still strange to me to have a scheduled time to go to the hospital, but it's very nice in the planning. My baby room is still not ready but I am hoping it will be done by time Sophia and I come home from the hospital. We are waiting on a piece for our changing table that was damaged. Everyone is excited and waiting. It's nice to be home in Cincinnati with my family this time. Justin's parents are keeping the kids most of the week and my mom will be with me some at the hospital. All my friends here are excited about being here for the birth of one of my kids. Although I miss all my friends in Vegas who have been there for the birth of my first two.

I'm a little nervous about being out of the office at our church. There is just so much going on right now. Our pastor, Dave, my boss is in the hospital recovering from having his spleen removed last wednesday. He was officially diagnoised with Lymphoma and the found it all to be in his spleen. When they removed his spleen it was the size of a football. Yes it was just a bit enlarged. He's been running fevers still and they are not sure what is causing them. We have several men in our church who have stepped up and are taking over the things Dave normally does since he will be out till mid August. It's been great to watch how our church is responding to all of this. Several ladies are covering for me while I am out of the office. It makes me feel better knowing that there is someone here watching the phones for me and someone else to take care of the bulletins for me. I might actually try to not worry about things here.