I’m back in Minnesota but I’m not actually home. I’ll be there later this evening. My little cousin Jane got married yesterday to Phil. It was a beautiful wedding even if it was a bit cold!

Chirs and I found the beautiful bride Jane!

We were standing around watching the festivities ...

Got home from New England to cold, cold weather … it even snowed on Friday night so I had to go get a new outfit for the wedding. Don’t think my cream strapless dress would have been warm enough. Also wish that I had brought some of my purchases back instead of leaving them on the bus with Wayne! The black wool pea coat and Himalayan wool mittens I picked up on the trip would have been nice to have this weekend. Oh well, I’ll have them next weekend.

One last update from the trip (I will again urge you to visit mom’s trip diary because she does a good job and there are lots of pictures posted. I’ll post a few more here.) We did have a fantastic trip  complete with seeing the peak of the autumn colors in Vermont. I’ll post pictures later, my sister Jennie and her boys just got here we are off to the pumpkin patch and corn maze after all we are hearty Minnesotans we will bear the cold and have fun.

Again you’ll have to visit mom’s blog for the real story (http://suediary.wordpress.com).

Hildene Masion Garden (fortunately it was a beautiful day)

I’m told this is pink foxglove … for those who don’t know foxglove is the flower/plant that digoxin comes from.

Dorothy and mom pause while enjoying the mild weather and gardens

The rooster in the barn at the Shaker Village

Pumpkins grace the window ledge in the round barn at the Shaker Village

I liked the decorations on the window ledges but there was just a little too much light in the background.

Hancock Shaker Village

The famous round barn in the restored Shaker Viallage

We’ve seen lots of cows but not much other “wildlife”

I’m only sharing pictures today. If you want to know what we did go to mom’s diary it has all the details.

This one's for Doug ... Dorothy at the Morse Farm Sugar Mapleworks

View from Morse Farm

Just thought this was cool!

Fall decorations at the Trapp Family Lodge

Trees at Trapp Family Lodge

Taken near the Trapp Family Lodge where we enjoyed a wonderful buffet and great views just before it started raining.

The Trapp Family Lodge with glorious fall splendor

A view of the Rock of Ages Granite Quarry

I learned all about granite at the Rock of Age Quarry

Yes this is a granite bowling alley no I did not get a strike but Wayne and Claire did!

We finally saw the sun today! It was a spectacular day with lots of great fall colors and many memories. You’ll have to get the real story from mom’s blog, she took a little too long so I need to go to bed rather then stay up writing. I’ll share one picture here in case you don’t feel like going to mom’s blog to see more.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the lighthouse that I took today. I would have loved to have spent more time taking even more pictures but we had to go! Bummer!

Rain was the mantra for today. It rained and rained and rained some more. We awoke outside Boston to rain. We loaded the motor coach and headed for The House of Seven Gables in Salem … witches anyone? HSG is really cool, just wish it hadn’t been raining so we could have enjoyed the grounds more. It was still fun to look out and enjoy the views of the ocean.

This is the Atlantic Seacoast port behind House of Seven Gables in Salem

Then it was off to Ogunquit, ME for lunch at Billy Barnacle’s because of the rain, we were unable to go on our Lobster Cruise big time bummer but we still had a great time.

Dorothy, Mom, me, and Wayne enjoying lunch on the Maine coast

Then we headed out to Kennebunkport but first it was a stop for a photo opportunity at The Wedding Cake House!! I was super excited. I even sent Karla a text message with photo because I knew that she would be really excited for me that I got to see it. It was fun.

The Wedding Cake House which thanks to Hank Guse I was the only one who knew about the house.

After that we headed into Kennebunkport for shopping. Despite the rain we had a good time walking around and enjoying the shops. Alright mom wants to write her blog so I better let her or I’m going to get in more trouble. See more photos at Sue’s Diary.

For those who don’t know, I’m on vacation this week in New England with mom and our friend Dorothy. It’s a Four Seasons Vacation Tour. (Check out http://suediary.wordpress.com for mom’s updates and pictures.)

There’s nothing like a miniature panic attack at 6 o’clock in the morning!

I had a moment of extreme panic this morning. I went from group check-in with a couple with a wheelchair and we didn’t have to wait in the really, really long security line. I got through security with only one minor issue … word to the wise don’t wear metal combs in your hair if you are going through airport security.

I waited for the couple as they got the full search deal and then we headed down to the gate … it was a nice relaxed walk, as Roy didn’t want to walk so we took the people mover. As we were approaching the end of the second moving sidewalk my phone started ringing … mom was calling to let me know they were just getting to the security checkpoint and I should let them know at the gate that she was on her way and that she was the tour director and would they please wait.

The woman at gate counter was very nice. She asked if I knew how many people were with mom. I said I didn’t know and she started giving me names and fortunately I knew that a few of the people were with our group. I also knew that Dorothy was with mom. She checked me in to get me off her screen and this is when I started to panic … finally the rest of the people from the group arrived and it was only mom and Dorothy left. The agent at the gate counter asked me to board and I said “Ok but you have to wait for them, Sue is the tour director and we really need her.”

I boarded the plane and found my seat … this is when I really got panicky because I couldn’t get mom to answer her phone. I kept thinking ok she must be running and that’s why she’s not answering but I was getting really nervous that Dorothy and mom weren’t going to make the flight! Finally I was able to relax, Dorothy came on first and mom was right behind her, they ran all the way from security to G12 and barely made it but thanks to a nice gate agent they were able to make the flight and we were on our way to Boston.

Our step on tour guide in Boston was great! Lots of history lessons and refreshers. Wayne met us at the airport and he was guided through the city by Bob for a good afternoon. I appreciate and understand Old North Church and it’s history a lot better after today! Then it was off to the hotel, we had dinner with Wayne. Exhaustion has set in … I’m looking forward to sleeping!

It’s move in weekend at Drake. A while back Laura asked me to come down to Des Moines with her this weekend. I decided it was incentive to get Jennifer and Kevin’s wedding gift to them finally! So I agreed … and that weekend is here!

Unfortunately Jennifer had a death in the family so we were only able to get together last night but it was wonderful! Jennifer met me at Cheddar’s, in old school fashion we shared a Cookie Monster while we told stories and just talked. Then since Cheddar’s closes at 11:00 and it was after 11:00 we came back to my hotel and talked until after 1:00 AM! Oh just like old times! I love Jennifer and I miss her terribly!

You might ask why should I care that it is move in weekend at Drake. Well, I’m just sitting here thinking about the first time I moved in at Drake … it seems like August 1994 was FOREVER ago … and I guess it kind of was 15 years ago. I remember being ready for college. I was excited and nervous at the same time and boy I’m glad I jumped right in with both feet. I remember meeting John Chadwick during New Student Days and going to Grace for the first time. Surprisingly I don’t remember actually meeting Jennifer as much as I remember meeting Jen or Shauna. Wow the memories!

I drove to Rochester today for the  T.E.C. 75 reunion, Kate and I carpooled. It was great to have someone to ride with and talk to. We kind of talked the whole way back and it was really good. Our conversation has had me thinking.

I decided to read a little of “Today’s Christian Woman” before I went to bed and the article I was reading happen to be an article primarily about expectations and Good Friday. The author gave four principles for changing your expectations related to Good Friday:

1. Check the Definitions: “God’s definition of “good” undobtedly confounds and far exceeds my own.”

2. Re-evaluate Death: “The rumors of our demise, it turns out, are greatly exaggerated. With God, the end is the beginning.”

3. Keep Time: This one is about the church calendar particularly Lent and the meaning it can hold for Christians when we know what it means. “Lent, they claim, can faciliatate a small death to self that becomes an opening to new life.”

4. Expect the Unexpected: This was by far my favorite principle. “The world offers promises full of emptiness. But Easter offers emptiness full of promise.” She’s talking about the empty cross, empty tomb, empty grave-clothes … all full of promise. “I’m going to believe that if I’ll just leave my empty spaces empty, he’ll fill them. That, I’m convinced, is a reasonable expectation.”

I really enjoyed this article and it reminded me once again that “Without Good Friday, there would be no Easter morning.” I wanted to share this with you all even though Easter and our Lord’s resurrection was a few weeks ago because it is always a good reminder that on your Good Fridays you need to remember that the resurrection isn’t possible without Good Friday or in other words we need to have our bad days for the good days to be that much better! I pray for more Easters in your lives then Good Fridays.

Then I was flipping the pages and I was really reminded fully of the conversation that Kate and I had in the car … This is for you Kate!

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” — 1 Peter 3:3-4

Disney Vacation with Family (December 2008)

I have neglected my blog for a long time! I can’t believe that I haven’t been blogging lately but life has really gotten away from me. I was going to blog while I was in Florida with the family in December but that trip was just far too much fun and I was so exhausted the second half of the trip that I slept instead of blogging! It was an amazing trip to Disney World with Mom, Dad, Chris, Jennie, Greg, Ryan, Jacob, and Aaron! We had a blast!

Dad, Sarah, Jen, Chris, and Mom in front of the Magic Kingdom Mickey flowers

Ohana (Jennie with Aaron, Sarah, Chris, Greg, Dad with Jacob, Ryan, and Mom)

New Job?!

Now let’s jump forward to 4 weeks ago! Wow, that doesn’t seem like that long ago and it wasn’t! So what’s so special about 4 weeks ago … well, I felt a nudge from God that it was time to make a change. I had considered applying for this position several months ago when Greg was first promoted but decided the timing wasn’t exactly right. Well, the timing seemed right now, with the potential changes in the Shriners contract in a few years and some other things I prayed hard when I found out that the position was going to be available again. I considered the advantages: no weekends, no holidays, no evenings, combing two things I love (pharmacy and computers), not having to pay for parking anymore. I considered the disadvantages: driving to Roseville everyday, no more shift differential, salaried position (rather then hourly) … If I could make a lateral pay move this made sense.

So I decided to go for it, I had a telephone screening interview on a Wednesday, HR called Friday to set up a in person interview for the next Tuesday, I had my in person interview where I got to meet with Karen, Jeffery, Kelly, Greg, and other IT team members and then on Thursday when I had the day off I was called by HR and offered the position. I accepted and called Bill to let him know. I knew that Kelly wanted to transition me as soon as possible because Children’s has CPOE (Computerized Provider Order Entry) go-live May 8th. Bill and Kelly ended up fighting over me and I have been shared the last couple of weeks in order to facilitate my transition to IT.

Bill told me in my year end review that my transition was “bittersweet” because he was losing a great clinical asset but gaining a great technical support member in the IT department! That made me feel really appreciated and confident in my decision to make this move!

Now with Go-Live only 2 weeks away I’m as scared as ever but learning quickly and finding the work highly enjoyable! I’ve decided that I’m a computer geek more then I ever knew. I never thought when I was graduating from pharmacy school that I would ever find myself in a position like this but I am really excited about the challenge and the opportunity it has to offer!

T.E.C. 75 God’s amazing mystery

God also gave me a great reward two weekends ago when I worked TEC 75. Chris called me when she was putting the team together. I had signed up to be an ATL because I wasn’t sure that I could make it to all three team meetings and the leadership meeting. My second choice was Wheat. Chris called to find out if I would be willing to work Support because she needed the experience. My first reaction was No. I just worked Support and don’t really want to work Support again. It isn’t my favorite team and it wasn’t really where I wanted to be obviously God had other plans. We talked a bit longer and I agreed to be on Support. When the team was initially released I got excited because there were some great kids that I was excited to get to work with … then it started changing … Chris had a record number of both adults and youth drop off team but God obviously knew what was going on because in the end God provided the most amazing group of youth for our Support Team! I’ve never worked with such hard working kids who were truly motivated to serve God. We bonded before the weekend through great talk discussions during the team meetings and then really bonded through our work and through our down time when we shared stories and our faith! I couldn’t have asked God for a better weekend.

Amazing Support Team from TEC 75 (they really clean up!)

Sarah, Howie, and Janet (I love these two!) at TEC 75

I also got to bond with Kate while I took her to the ER on Friday and was amazed that my team got everything done while I was gone! Oh what a great weekend! Thank you God for knowing better then me where I was meant to be for TEC 75!

So I’ve updated you on my life and hope that I will be back again soon with another update!

Even though I had to work last Sunday I was able to escape and run to the Lake for Garrett’s baptism. I was so glad that I got to go and I know it meant a lot to Caroljean that I was there! Here are some of the pictures I took during the baptism.

The proud Mom and Dad listen as Pastor Jim explains the responsibilities of baptism.

Family listening as Pastor Jim explains everyone's responsibilities to Garrett in this important first step in Garrett's faith journey.

Caroljean smiles at Garrett as Jon looks on ... (My favorite picture!)

Sarah and Caroljean look on as Pastor Jim baptizes Garrett

Godparents and parents smile as Jim blesses Garrett

Garrett is shocked by Pastor Jim

Pastor Jim blesses Garrett and talks about his necklace, Caroljean wore it at her baptism

Caroljean holds Garrett after the baptism

Caroljean, Garrett, and Sarah (me) just before I leave to run back to work!