You know you're tired when . . .

You start trying to fit words that apply to your life into old nursery rhymes and you don't even know the original words to said nursery rhymes. I would give you a taste of my poetry, but I stopped short when I rhymed "shoe" with "kangaroo". I know, I said before how these poems apply to my life. Is there a kangaroo in my life? Sadly, no. Hence why I stopped my poetry career short. I kinda wish I had a kangaroo now . . .

So far, I've had a typo on almost every word I've written in this blog. Just a random fact I thought I'd share.

The point of this blog is not to show you how random and spastic my brain is, although that is true too, but to tell of how life has been and give you a day in the life of a nanny. Here goes nothing:

I woke up at 5:40 this morning and drove through the Wisconsin tundra, while listening to a book on tape (A Tale of Two Cities. I'm about 8 chapters in and still don't know what the book is about). I arrived at the house of my employer, sat on the couch and pounded out some school for an hour and a half and then woke up Jack, got him ready for school, and off we went. After dropping him off at school, I stopped at McDonald's and got myself the only man-made sustainer of life: Diet Coke. I arrived home at about 9, did school, practiced piano and my guitar, named Clarence. Oh, and I did a little Ab Ripper X (just gettin' the beach body ready. Oooh, yeah). I actually finished all my school work today, which is a lot to be said of a Monday. I left for my piano/guitar lesson at 1:45, arrived early, for once, and actually got to go to the bathroom before my lesson (a serious accomplishment). After playing my competition pieces a few hundred times, I left for my 2nd nannying job of the day. I got to their house on time and was on the go most of the night, feeding kids, picking kids up, driving to the wrong school to pick said kids up (totally not my fault), and finally giving the little kiddo a bath. Then I came home . . . to an empty house :( My whole family does a Bible study at our church on Monday nights. Fooey. But that brings us to now. I hope to have some good babysitting stories ahead. I'm hoping to kinda reconstruct my blog into "A Day in the Life" as I said early. Future posts won't be this detailed i.e I won't tell when I did and didn't go to the bathroom as I did earlier. But I seriously love my job. Where else can you seriously ask, "Did you just pee in your pants?" or hear things like, "Rianne, can you go clean up the dog puke?" or watch Alvin and the Chipmunks 15 times in one week . . . when you only work 3 days a week? God has truly blessed me with awesome families who are willing to let me hang out with their amazing kids . . . and not so amazing dogs.

In Christ,

Rianne

Hockey, Hot Chocolate, and Argyle Socks

The only good things about winter: hockey, hot chocolate, and argyle socks. Seriously, those are the only things I can think of. Yes, snow is pretty and fun, but th only day it should be here is on Christmas day. I think on the night of Christmas Eve, God should dump a large surplus of snow on Wisconsin, and then on December 26th, it should be 70 degrees and all the snow will go away. Then, all the snow that would normally be dumped on us will be saved up for next Christmas. At least, that's how I would do things, but it's probably a good thing I'm not in charge. But enough of snow. Let's talk of the pleasantries of winter. Hockey is, in my mind, the undisputed greatest sport on the planet. It combines soccer, blood and guts with pure awesomeness. I pretty sure hockey is how Adam and Eve passed time in the Garden of Eden before they got booted out.

And so we come to another wonderful part of winter; hot chocolate. It's creamy, it's delicious, it's LIQUID CHOCOLATE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Need I say more?

Finally, argyle socks. You may say, "Socks are socks. Whether they be polka dotted, striped, or (dare I say it?) plain white, socks are socks." Nay, I tell you. When you have a happy pattern on your socks, it makes you altogether a happier person. At least that's true for me. Although polka dotted or striped socks are wonderful (no, plain white socks are not wonderful. Plain white socks are the bane of my existence), there is something about argyle that make my toes feel like ten friends on a camping trip. I have purple, pink green, black and pink, and many more constantly being added to the collection. But what do argyle socks have to do with winter? Well for me, I wear flip-flops every day until the first snow. Then I wear tennis shoes until the snow melts enough that the road is dry, then I still pull my flip-flops out for a little bit. My point is that I generally don't wear socks or shoes, unless it's winter. :-)

Have a happy day,

Rianne

Failure...epically.

OK, so I get an epic fail when it comes to blogging. I have had this blog for three years and have posted roughly 6 times. What can I say, I'm a busy lady (not really). :-) But I feel like God has been working in my life, and if there are people out there who want to hear and listen (yes, hearing and listening are two VERY different things), then hey, I'll tell my story. And, my sister just started her blog back up, and I've always been the younger sister who likes to follow in the older sisters footsteps (and at the same time try to one up her, but, shhh, don't tell her that :-)

Anywhozels, I'm going to start by saying how much I love to read. I think the obsession started a little over a year ago on the plane ride to China. A few days before I left I walked into a Christian bookstore, went to the teen fiction aisle, grabbed the first book that caught my attention--which of course was a book with a pig standing next to an A&M purse on the cover--and determined to read it on the plane to China. Well, I sat down on the plane, and five hours later I had finished the book. I've been obsessing ever since. Well anyway, the reasoning behind that boring story was to give a little preface to a BIGGER story: my life. :-) Sounds THRILLING, right? The books I read are mostly Christian fiction books about girls like me trying to some how be a light in this fading world. Most recently, the series that I read pretty much changed my life. You know how God's the potter and we're the clay? Usually it seems like God "molds" us over our entire lives and we don't realize it until years later and look back and are like, "Woah! Was I REALLY like that back then?" Well, in about two months, it felt like God was doing as much molding in my heart as He usually does in an entire lifetime. Some times it felt like I could actually feel His presence.

Anyway, I wasn't planning on going on a whole tangent about that. If you're still interested, this is what I was going to say: I'm the kind of reader who reads about an adventure and then goes "Wow, I wish that would happen to me!" After taking a step back, I realize that the things I've been wishing for are happening as we speak. Adventure: traipse around Europe, check. Adventure: go to Asia, check. Adventure: do Tae Kwon Do, check. Adventure: witness to a fanatic non-believer, check. Adventure: go to Caymen Islands, uhh, yup, in 18 days, check! Adventure: graduate from high school, in 6 short months, check! OK, so the list can go on, but I will spare you.

Now, for a quick paragraph on what's been happening in my life. since my last post, I got a job at Cousin's Subs, a year and a day later, I quit, and I now have been working as a nanny for four girls for a little over two months. I have been taking Tae Kwon Do with my 3 sisters for a little over a year and I am a blue belt (blue is in the middle on the scale of white belt to black belt). I turned 18 last month! Woot! Yeah, I'm legally an adult, but I'm not sure the maturity level has gone up ;) My brother and sister-in-law are expecting their fist baby! A girl! Oh, and one minor detail, I'm graduating in June and going to New Tribes Bible Institute next fall! God is Awesome!

Rianne
Philippians 1:7

Headin' Out!

Katie and I are all packed and ready to go! Our flight leaves tomorrow morning at 7, which means we have to leave our house at 5 to get there in time to check-in. I don't think either of us is going to sleep to much tonight, even though I am incredibly tired from a VERY busy week! I can't begin to describe how excited I am to meet the rest of our team and be with those precious babies God has given us the privilege to be with for two weeks! I apologize for the shortness of this blog but as I said I'm very tired, and I still have a little bit of work to do before we leave, plus try to get a little sleep! Thank you everyone for your prayers! It means so much! I'll be updating this as often as I can!

In Him,
Rianne

PS If I could ask one minor thing, if you could all pray that my suitcase isn't over the limit, that would be fantastic! :)

Excitment Approaching!

I haven't posted in a long time because not much has been happening in my life! But, something very exciting is approaching, and I figured I would blog about it as I will be updating as much as possible in the midst of the excitement. What is this excitement you may ask? Well, in 16 days my sister Katie and I (along with 17 other people) are leaving for a mission trip to China! We will be staying in an orphanage caring for special needs orphans and also working on the grounds of the orphanage. The orphanage we will be staying at is called Maria's Big House of Hope in Luoyang , donated by Steven Curtis Chapman and the Show Hope Foundation. We will also be staying at the Hope Healing Center, another facility used for caring for special needs orphans. While at the Hope Healing Center, we will be staying in Mongolian style tent called a "Yurt." I can't even begin to explain how excited I am to be going back to China with my sister and to be doing 2 of the things I love most in life...serving Jesus Christ and playing with and caring for babies! It will be such a joy to be able to serve with my sister and the amazing people God has planned for us to have on our team!

In Him,
Rianne

My Sister

In that past couple months or so, Katie has become one of my best friends and I love her very much!  I want to share a few stories about her and the relationship we have.  But first I need to explain a few things.  Right now we are watching my dad's personal favorite movie Iron Man.  At night we always either watch a movie or M*A*S*H, I Dream of Jeannie, or The Odd Couple reruns together.  All day we quote funny movies together (my family has seen more movies then anyone I've ever met!) and quite frankly, if it never gets old!  At least not for us.  Sometimes Katie and I will be with our friends and I'll say something to her and we both will burst into laughter.  Our friends usually look confused for a second, then they'll just say "Oh, it's just from another movie."  Well it doesn't matter, we always know what each other is talking about!  Which brings me to what I want to say.  Some of my friends I'm sure have heard me say that Katie and I share brain waves.  Sometimes we'll hear some one say something that kind of reminds us of a funny line from a movie and all we have to do is look at each other and we both start laughing!  Katie also does a lot for me, not just helping me laugh all the time.  I recently read a book called Twilight and I loved it!  Although I would recommend it to any girl, if I saw any boy reading it, I would immediately want to slap him.  Anyway, the movie version of the book just came out on Friday and I had planned to see it by myself.  Katie had told me that she didn't want to see  it, so I showed her a trailer to see if that would get her interested.  After the trailer ended, all Katie said was "Hmmm, I might have to see that."  So being the awesome sister that she is, she came with me and ended up liking it!  And of course, I loved it!  Hopefully she will see it again with me!

In Him,

Rianne

About me

So it's been a while. I've been kinda busy with school and volleyball. And I had nothing exciting happen to me in the past two months or so. So, for this next blog it's gonna be a little bit about my self. Not that I think I'm a particularly interesting person, I just think I'm different then your average girl. So to start, I'm ALMOST 16! I'm pretty excited for that! I love to drive, I don't entirely know why, it's just fun! As my best friends said, I am all the way girly and all the way tom boy. Let me elaborate: I love sports! Hockey is my personal favorite and I think everyone should play. To me, there is nothing like scoring on my older sister (which doesn't happen to often, Katie is an amazing goalie, and she is going to make it onto a college team!). I also love to play soccer! I thought it was pretty cool how close our team was, and I can't wait for spring to come again! Volleyball is also a favorite. I made it onto Varsity this year which is pretty exciting! So far my team is undefeated, 21-0 I think. Our team is going to the National Homeschool Tournament in about two weeks, were the team took 10th out of 40 teams last year! I love all the girls on my team and I have so much fun with them! I also love to watch sports. Football and hockey the most. My favorite hockey team is the Pittsburgh Penguins and of course, I LOVE Sidney Crosby! I pretty much hate basketball! As my dad said about pro basketball players: "They act like big pimp-daddy's then slap like little girls." Oh dad, I love you! As for my girly side, I like doing my hair and wearing make-up. I also love getting dressed up and taking CRAZY pictures with my best friends, Sara, Liz and Brittany. One of my favorite movies is the Dark Knight, but I also love Hairspray. I love music so much! I play the piano and I attempt to sing. I've been told I have a good voice, but I don't think so. I've also been told that I'd make a good politician someday! Now I thought that was funny! A friend of mine told me that, and I told my sister and she agreed! I said that I'd get into to much trouble, and Katie said that's why she thought I'd be a good politician! She said that I'm passionate about what I believe in and that I would make my voice be heard! Well, maybe someday! Anyway, in addition to being completely opposite of myself, I love hanging out with my family! My family is amazingly fun! We do pretty much everything together, from playing golf to watching M*A*S*H re-runs! I get a lot of help from every family member. My mom helps me with a lot of girl stuff and just encourages me to do everything God's way not my own. My dad helps me with sports and really helps me to be reasonable, and most importantly, my dad teaches me how to think. My brothers help me toughen up. They show me not to be a little sissy. My older sister has taught me a lot in the last year, I think without her even knowing! She taught me how to let go, and no matter how hard it is, some friends you just have to let go. My younger sisters help me with patience! And they also make me laugh a lot! I love my whole family in an unexplainable way! Telling about my life would not be complete without mentioning Jesus. Jesus is the most important person in my life! Without Jesus, life is completely pointless and I am SO grateful for him! "In Christ alone, my hope is found, he is my life, my strength, my song." I hope this glimpse into my life has shown you the kind of person I am, and I hope you like who I am!


Farewell,
Rianne