I got a Brand New job. . .

YEAH!! You are looking at(err at least reading) the brand new casemanager at the Normile Family Center in Kirksville! For those of you who don't know, it's a juvenile justice residential facility for kids who have gotten in trouble and need rehabilitation to be reunited with their families or foster families! I have worked here before but only as a staff person. I will now have my own office, my own case load and be making a lot more money than I was before!
This process has been so long, almost a month! For those of you i've talked to, you know i've been on pins and needles worrying about it. I went through two interviews and they finally made the decision today and they PICKED ME!!! I will begin my new job August 14 and to be honest, am starting to get a little nervous! However, tonight i have no time to be worrying because my wonderful boyfriend is taking me out to the Pear Tree for a celebratory dinner! i will post pics later!!

New Law

(MISSOURI) A new Missouri Supreme Court ruling changes the way the state handles its sex offender list. What does that mean for you? It means a convicted sex offender could be living in your neighborhood, and you would never know about it.
According to Megan's law, offenders must register their names and addresses at the county sheriff's department.
The new ruling says sex offenders whose convictions occurred prior to this law taking effect in 1995, can't be forced to come in and register.
So now, unless someone's a persistent offender or considered a "violent sex offender", he or she will be off the hook when it comes to registering.
"In Adair County, we have 43 registered sex offenders. That number keeps going down, but we could possibly lose 12 more, and of those 12 individuals, some of those charges could be rape, but they're still going to be removed from the list," said Chief Deputy Larry Logston with the Adair County Sheriff's Department.
Those in support of the new ruling say most individuals who are convicted of sexual offenses are not repeat offenders.
Missouri now becomes one of only four states in the nation that doesn't require certain sex offenders to register at their county sheriff's department.

This makes me sick to my stomach and angers me greatly. Basically this law will state that anyone who committed a sexual offense before 1995, will not be known and will not have to register. I cannot for one minute fathom why they would change this. The article states that people in support of the ruling says that most who are convicted of sexual offenses are not repeat offenders. That is absolutely false and misleading. In fact, people who commit sexual offenses are the most difficult to rehabilitate and the reoffending rate is extremely high!! I think this is dangerous for our kids and for society and is another example of our government protecting the guilty, rather than the innocent.

Nights 2 and 3 of the fair!

Yea! On Tuesday night, we got to see Dierks Bentley at the fair! He put on an incredible show and even got out into the audience and sang a song and danced with some people! This night was a lot more calm than our previous night. Last night we saw Phil Vasser perform and he too put on an amazing show! I think his concert was my favorite. There was not one song he sang that i didn't know. He played his piano and jumped on top of it! For the encore, they did a medley of different songs ranging from ACDC "You shook me all night long" to "play that funky music white boy". Some of the juvenile delinquents from Brandy's work were sitting by us and were teaching us how to dance! It was a great fair week. The fair continues on but I really have no interest in seeing the bull buck out or the demo derby...but you never know. i may attend just for the colorful blog posts i am sure to have!

Night 1 of the Fair

So last night marked opening night of the NEMO fair. My friend Brandy and I headed to brave the heat and the crowds to listen to Keith Anderson sing XXL. We got there an hour early, as any good fair goers would do and secured our seat in the metal grandstands and listened to some terrible hometown singers sing. As we were sitting there, chatting away and checking to see people we knew, I looked towards the Northeast and made a comment that they were getting some storms over there. It began to lightning a little, but it was pretty far off so we thought nothing of it. Finally it was time for Keith to come on but the news station here kept giving away free crap(which i got none of) and introducing the fair queens! Meanwhile, the storm that once seemed so far away was getting closer and closer, which lightning that pretty much looked like the picture above, happening on a consistent basis.
We all got excited and lept to our feet when Keith Anderson FINALLY came out on stage! He was doing a great job as the lightning was drawing closer and closer. Brandy and I kept debating back and forth about whether we should get off the metal lightning rod we were sitting on but didn't want to miss the show. After his second song, a man came on stage and interrupted and said, "Folks, i hate to do this but we've just been informed there's a big cell heading right towards us and we had better get everyone out of the grandstands". Groans from the crowd and then mad rush off the bleachers was what ensued next. So we head to our car in the field and try to make a beeline out of the fairgrounds, knowing the traffic was going to be horrendous.
This is where the story gets good. We pull in line behind a van and we sit....and we sit some more....and we sit some more. Menawhile, all around us the wind is picking up, the lightning is non-stop ground action now and we just heard on the radio that Kirksville is under a severe thunderstorm warning, right before the radio cuts out. So we are still sitting there as this van lets more and more people in line, prohibiting us from moving an inch. I warned Brandy that i sometimes experience road rage and she informed me that she does too. My big concern was that the rain would start and my little 92 toyota corolla was not going to be able to make it to the main road. Brandy is cussing up a storm and i am screaming at the van in front of us to go. That is about the time we realize that the van in front of us was full of juvenile delinquents from Brandy's work and some kids who are on my caseload. You would think that this would calm us down but no, it only infuriates us more. Brandy is threatening to fire the staff who is driving(over which she has NO authority) and continues cussing at them from our car. At one point, she gets halfway out of the car and yells, "what the F#$%, I'm going to kick your A$%" at no one in particular. I am laughing so hard i can't handle it. This goes on for about half an hour. All because of the incompetent staff driving this van. We spent 35 minutes sitting in line while they let everyone and their mother out in front of them. When we finally returned to the facility to get Brandy's car, we went inside and made a calm, collected comment to the staff that was driving the van," It was a mess out there huh?" to which he replies, " Yeah, man, people don't know how to drive!!"....we just sat there stunned and turned and walked away quietly, all of our energy spent yelling at him earlier from our car. I have not laughed so hard for such a long time.

I hate cold water. . .and other weird quirks about me

I hate cold water. I hate drinking cold water because i can't gulp it down.
I love the smell of elevators...i truly do
I think i would like to live in the rainforest someday.
I am a cereal addict. i could eat it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
I've always hated running(but am working to rectify that)
I used to play competition softball but would always pray for rain so I wouldn't have to play. . .
I love scary movies but can't watch them because i have nightmares and obsessive thoughts afterwards
i'm addicted to my cell phone
i secretly love 7th heaven
I've gotten more conservative as I've gotten older.
My parents are democrats and I'm republican
i like Family guy
I think House is the best medical drama on tv
I've never seen Grey's Anatomy
I was obsessed with American Idol when Carrie Underwood won
I bite my fingernails and pick my skin
i'm unnaturally scared of storms yet somehow drawn to them
i have to sleep with a fan on or can't sleep at all.
I'm crazy, i know

Mega Churches

This weekend Dan and I ventured out of our little small town of Kirksville into the big city life of St. Louis. We attended church down there and I felt this warranted a new post and maybe a little bit of a rant on churches.
We attended a church the one might label a "mega church" or at least on the path to being a mega church. When we walked into the sanctuary, I knew that I was really going to have to start praying that God opens my heart and not allow my preconceived notions to interfere with the message and the service, IF it was honoring to Him. My first impressions saw a stage with multi-colored lights, tv monitors down in front facing the stage for what i assume is the people on the stage. The music minister comes out and encourages us all to enter throne room thru worship and to really focus our hearts, while the music is slowing down and a couple come out right on cue to begin a prayer. While the couple is praying, the music minister(who was just encouraging us to prepare our hearts for worship) is rearranging the choir and getting people in their proper places. The pastor went on to give a pointless message that he applied random scripture to and stated more times that this is "all speculation". I've been to a few other churches like this, where it's so big and seems more like a production that is so perfectly choreographed. i mean, at this church, there was a lady sitting down in front with a freakin headset on talking to who knows who..! I just felt a sadness in my heart. I have nothing against churches that incorporate different ideas and thoughts into their services. However, i do have a problem with churches who spend so much money on making things look good and cool when there are soo many other needs that need to be met, probably within their own church.
I think i am coming to the conclusion that churche need to be kept small. There is NO way you can have community with a church of 10,000 or 20,000. How can you know the needs of your parishoners if you don't even know who they are? How can you make sure people are being actively involved in discipleship and are thirsting after the Word of God if you have 5 different services? I think when a church gets too big, it should break of and start a new church. I think too many christians think that numbers are a good indicator of spiritual growth for a church and I think that is a dangerous assumption. I can barely stomach some of these churches and wonder if Jesus was on earth, if he would enter in on a Sunday morning and start driving out people with a whip.

The 4th

These pics were taken on the 4th of July! Danny and I went to KC for the 4th and spent it with my family. It was a busy weekend, but very fun. On Saturday, I finally got my gehtto muffler fixed for a mere $150...because they had to replace EVERYTHING!!! good thing i got a bonus this month! Then we spent the afternoon at a water park, floating around the lazy river and identifying on the sexual perpetrators in the park...we really are jaded. Saturday night we went and saw "Click" with my mom and step-dad. Don't really like crying in Adam Sandler movies...but it was alright.
On Sunday we went to church and then did a little unproductive shopping. During the shopping trip, i got momentarily stuck in my car because the seatbelt was stuck and i couldn't move!!! Dan had already gone on in because i was taking a phone call. i thought i was going to die of a heat stroke until i remember that my car is SO old that the seatbelts are separate and the shoulder belt releases at the top of the door(yes it's attatched to the door). sweet, made it out.
Sunday night we went to my aunt's house and played texas hold 'em. It was a lot of fun because most of the cousins were there, as well as aunts and uncles and girlfriends and boyfriends of cousins. I think there were 16-17 of us in all. I made it to the Winner's table...not so for my fun loving boyfriend. Luckily he can hold his own with my fam and they all really like him.
Monday we had lunch with my friend Leanne and her new husband Will, at a freakin habachi grill type place where they cook the food right in front of you and throw stuff into your mouth! it was awesome!! then we went to check out their new house they just bought! very cool and we all took turns battling with a ceiling fan until the boys finally got their revenge by sawing part of it off!(don't worry, the company is sending a new one).
Monday night we had dinner with my dad and then got to hang out wtih my best friend Meagan, who just returned from India! It was soo good to see her and get to hear about the amazing things God did during that trip!!and also to be challenged on some things! had a little cold stone creamery, did the I-Hop thing until we were all so tired we had to go home.
And finally on the 4th, hung out with Meg some more and looked through her amazing pictures of India! had a bbq for my step-dad's bday, learned that my boyfriend lived a deprived childhood and never shot off parachute fireworks(you know the ones where you all run after and chase down the parachutes), shot off some fireworks and headed back for the ville about 1030pm!
So, now that you all got a detailed agenda of my weekend(which i know only a few of you will appreciate and others will laugh at me), the real question is "is anyone else worried that N. Korea is shooting Missles at us?" just wondering if i was the only crazy one.