Funny Ad

This is a link to a hilarious ad on Craigslist. http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/cto/1257065913.html

Ryan's Singing Debut

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmJQkZzNzvs This is a link to a video of Ryan. Shelby recorded it using Bill's cell phone so it's shaky and blurry but it's classic Ryan. He's singing his favorite song "Never Let Go" by Matt Redman. Be sure to watch to the very end....the kid cracks me up!

Fuller's Follies Update Summer 2009

Nothing new and amazing to write about - I just hadn't blogged in awhile so I figured I better post a Fuller family update. We are all doing well, praise God.


Zack finally left his job at Hertz. He worked hard there but they really don't value their employees. That job served its purpose but I'm glad he's out of there. He is now working next door to the Hertz office for Redding Distributing. He works at night loading the trucks for their shipments to stores. He got a decent pay increase from switching jobs and he will get health insurance after 90 days on the job (which should be soon). It's hard work and tough hours but he's already earned a bonus for working hard. He and Brittni spend as much time together as they can. He has a motorcycle which scares his mother to death but you know how boys are. He lives in an apartment here in Redding with a friend that he has known since childhood. His friend is getting married soon so he'll have to drum up a new roommate eventually.


Josh turned 18 in December and lives with his girlfriend Amanda in Shasta Lake City (just a few minutes away from Redding). He is currently looking for work and is finishing up his senior year of high school this summer. He enrolled in Shasta Adult School and just has a few credits left to complete his high school equivalency. He broke his collarbone in January while riding his longboard. He had to miss almost all of the snowboard season because of it. He has his first car - a zippy little Acura Integra. He recently travelled back to Pittsburgh with his dad (Bill Hartman) to attend the wedding of a cousin. He was able to meet family that he had never met and get to know family that he hadn't seen since he was too small to remember. They had a nice trip.


Shelby completed the 5th grade and is now a middle schooler. How did that happen? She is still a very social character and like her Papa, knows everyone everywhere we go. Even if she doesn't know them, she will be their best friend before long! She is a very loyal friend and sometimes gets hurt when friends are more fickle. But she's learned some excellent life lessons and is always willing to forgive. She is certainly growing up to be a lovely young lady - that is if we can keep the attitude in check! She just got back from church camp with 6th, 7th and 8th graders. Feels weird to send her off with boys that have peach fuzz!


Ryan is getting to be such a young man rather than a little boy. He will enter the first grade in the fall. He's a little worried about that because, "first grade is hard." He's a bright boy and we reassure him that he will be just fine as a big first grader. He is enjoying his summer and pretty much plays until he collapses on the couch. He still needs a nap now and then (so do I) but he sure does resist them (I don't). He has learned to swim this summer which is a great accomplishment.


Bill is in "a season of change." He finally had enough of things that were going on at work and quit his job. He is currently spoiling us rotten. The kids get to spend the summer hanging out with Dad and I get to come home after work to a clean house and hot dinner. Wow, I could definitely get used to this. We're committed to things staying this way until school starts and then re-evaluate. That way the kids don't have to spend 40+ hours a week in daycare. One of the benefits of this change is that it's caused us to take a good look at our budget. It's so easy over the years to commit to $9.99 here and $19.95 there that you don't realize how all those things add up to a significant spending habit!


A few weeks ago our dog Roxie (8 year old Mini Dachshund) had to be put to sleep. We are now completely "petless." She woke up one morning with her back legs paralyzed. We spent the next week pouring money into vet bills to no avail. She got to the point where she couldn't go potty any more and we decided that it would be best to end her suffering. It sure didn't help to see her wag her tail when we took her to the vet that last time. :-(



I am doing well. I like my job as the Education Coordinator at the hospital. I still work a couple of nights a month as nursing supervisor so I can keep up on my clinical skills. The new job keeps me very busy. It's been nice having nights, weekends and holidays off for the first time in a decade. It is hard to get used to working 5 days a week though. I have been having a problem with my eye for a couple of years but it's been getting really bad over the last few months. It's called corneal erosion and is very painful. When I have a recurrence I become basically useless. I can't keep my eyes open because of the pain and the light sensitivity. I recently saw a specialist who gave me some options for further treatment so now I just have to see what insurance will cover and what I want done. Hopefully I'll get that taken care of before the next recurrence.

Kindergarten's End

Ryan graduated from Kindergarten this month. All the children were adorable. They sang for us and told us all about themselves. They demonstrated their French skills and they even did a song using the sign language alphabet. My favorite part is always the part when your child comes and finds you in the audience and gives you a flower. :-) The first words out of his mouth the next morning were, "I'm a first grader!"

The kids had to wear what they would normally wear for chapel day which would be a button up shirt and slacks. Ryan insisted on wearing a tie so we got him a new shirt and tie for the occasion.

More Milestones

Shelby turned 11 in May. How does it go so fast? Believe it or not all the girls in the photo are the same age - check out the size difference! In fact, the tallest girl was only 10. Shelby wanted a Hawaiian party so we had hats and leis and coconut cups. We made our own little pizzas which of course included ham and pineapple. There was a pineapple pinata and games and LOTS of noise. Shelby even found a blow up palm tree that was quite the challenge to keep inflated. The party was designed as a sleepover but only one of the girls was actually able to spend the night. I was grateful for that since Bill ended up being sick and the girls were NOISY. Oh, I guess I said that before - but they were! They sure had fun though.

Eaglecam

One of my favorite websites lately is the EagleCam in Redding. We have two eagles that have a nest right next to the freeway which leads into downtown Redding. Construction on that freeway caused Caltrans to place a cone in the nest last year hoping to force the eagles to nest somewhere else. The eagles, however, liked their home and were not deterred. So the cone was removed and a webcam was set up to monitor the eagles. They are so content in their home that they have hatched 3 eggs. The eaglets hatched on March 17, 19 and 22. You can peek at the birds at this website: http://www.turtlebay.org/caltranseaglecam.php

Every morning I log onto my computer and Ryan and Shelby and I watch the eaglets have their breakfast. I'm hooked. I check on them at least once during the day while I'm working and at least once in the evening. You can't zoom in or anything so the eaglets just look like gray moving blobs at this point but I still enjoy watching them. And if you happen to catch "shift change" between the two parents it's just amazing to see them take off from the nest. Truly majestic.

The parents names are Patriot and Liberty. The babies are Freedom, Spirit and Hope. The funny thing is that one of the eaglets from the last time this pair had babies is named Freedom also. So Spirit can tell other eagles "This is my brother Freedom and this is my other brother Freedom."

The Biggest Loser

Today I joined a group of ladies for a local Biggest Loser contest. We each paid $50 into a pot and weighed in. We will weigh in once a week for 8 weeks. At the end of the 8 weeks we'll all get together for a final weigh-in and the person who lost the biggest percentage of weight will be the winner. I am hoping (and praying) that this will be the motivation I need to kick myself back into the routine eating right and exercising. I will keep you all posted as to my progress. Weigh-in days are Wednesdays. I'm going to try to remember to take a before and after photo and if I am brave I will post them at the end of the 8 weeks. :)

Vacation Report

Well, we have done it. Another family vacation success. We left last Thursday and spent 5 or so hours in the car headed to Sunriver Oregon. We traded our timeshare week in Mexico for a timeshare week near Mt. Bachelor for fun in the snow. There were only 5 of us since Josh is still recovering from his broken collarbone. :(

The condo we stayed in this year was not as nice as the one from last year, but it was much closer to Mt. Bachelor. Since Zack could only stay for part of the time we spent the first two days there skiing/snowboarding. We usually like to have a recovery day in between snow days. We had a blast the first day. Ryan took a little while warming up to skiing again but he picked it up quickly. Shelby is our little skiing maniac and was tearing it up right away. Zack really enjoyed the slopes - he has never snowboarded anywhere besides Mt Shasta. Bachelor is so much bigger and nicer. The second day we were sore and tired but it was still fun. Ryan and I had to stop early though because there were really strong wind gusts on the lift that just terrified Ryan. I took him back to the condo to watch "Horton Hears a Who" while Bill, Zack and Shelby finished out the day.






Zack had to leave the next morning and we used the day to chill out and recover. We took the kids out ot lunch and to see "The Pink Panther" at the movies and pretty much just relaxed.

The next day we had an adventure at the High Desert Museum outside Bend. It was a really cool place with displays on local Indian history and history of the local culture in the 1880s. There were around 100 live animals and some displays of stuffed bears and wolves. We enjoyed oursevles and it was educatinal to boot.

We had planned a ski day for the following morning but the winds were gusting to 45mph. So....we opened the phone book to find something to do to have fun and entertain kidlets. What could be better than bowling and the arcade?

Wednesday we headed home to do laundry and relax because you know you always need to recover after vacation!

Winter Vacation

We're leaving later this week for a vacation in the snow. Wahoo! We're going to Mt. Bachelor for skiing and snowboarding. We're all very excited. Unfortunately Josh has to miss out because of his broken clavicle. He got to go last year and Zack didn't get to go. Zack gets to go this year but he only gets to go for part of the time because he doesn't have enough vacation days to stay the whole week. So he will follow us up there and then have to drive back by himself early. If the weather cooperates we hope to get 2 full days on the mountain with him. There's a winter storm warning in effect right now but it's supposed to clear before we're scheduled to leave. I'll take lots of pictures and will hopefully have some good pics to post here.

Going on vacation seems strange to me this year. In years past when I worked as a staff nurse it didn't matter when I was gone. My shifts would be covered by other nurses and when I came back it was no big deal. Now that I have an office job my work will be piling up while I'm gone. I expect to come back to a lovely stack of stuff to get caught up on. It will all be worth it though!

My handsome son!

This is Josh and his beautiful sweetheart Amanda. They went to a dance Saturday night at her high school. Don't they make a cute pair?

The Conflict Within Myself

This blog has been rattling around in my head for weeks, maybe even months. It revolves around two of my current favorite worship songs. I grew up listening to my Grandpa singing hymns to me for years and they became a very special part of me. The songs often say what I am feeling way better than I could ever say. I can't tell you how many times I have sniffled my way through Sunday morning worship or wiped tears away while I commute to work in the mornings. Sometimes its tears of joy, sometimes tears of disappointment in myself, but usually they are tears of awe for my God who loves me for whom He created me to be. I struggle between knowing the right thing to do and doing what I want to do instead. As Paul says in the Bible I do what I don't want to do and I don't do what I want to do because of the war between my spirit and my flesh. The songs below describe that struggle so well. The first song describes how I want to be remembered and the second song describes where I too often find myself.



The Blessing by John Waller



Let it be said of us
while we walked among the living
let it be said of us
by the ones we leave behind
let it be said of us
that we lived to be a blessing for life

let it be said of us
that we gave to reach the dying
let it be said of us
by the fruit we leave behind
let it be said of us
that our legacy is blessing for life


this day
you set life, you set death right before us,
this day
every blessing and curse is a choice now
and we will choose to be a blessing for life


let it be said of us
that our hearts belonged to Jesus
let it be said of us
that we spoke the words of life
let it be said of us
that our heritage is blessing for life




Still Here Waiting by Todd Agnew

It's cold outside
Or is that just the chill I feel inside from standing here
Steeping in my shame


I can't deny
I'm surrounded by the very thing You freed me from
That's why I can't come home


I don't know where I turned around
From chasing what I always found completed me
More than I could dream


I don't know why I can't remain
Safe here where I always came to meet with you
And You always met with me
And You're still here waiting


I fail to see
Why You'd still be waiting to forgive me
After all that I have done


But I cannot say
That one time I returned and You had turned away
Your love never fails


You say, Come home and You'll be there
I can run into Your arms

Let It Snow!

This is our first trip to Mt. Shasta this season. Wheeeeeeeee! We had so much fun as you can tell. Zack was our photographer. He did a great job didn't he? After warming up on the bunny hill Ryan got right back into the swing of things. It was cold and a little wet and oh so much fun!

Wish you were there!

2009 is starting off with a bang!

I spent last night in the Emergency Room with the second child of the week to end up in an ER. Josh called me last night about 10 minutes after I went to bed saying, "Mom, I need you to pick me up...I think I broke something." He was right, he did. After 3 1/2 hours in the ER it was determined that he broke his clavicle. The doc printed us a picture so we could show off the gnarly boo boo. He was long boarding and fell on his shoulder. He may also have a fracture on his humerus up by the shoulder, but it's in a place that they wouldn't do anything about it anyway. So he's in a sling and on pain meds. So much for snowboarding this season :(

Shelby ended up in the ER on the 1st. Her pierced ear got infected and even though we had been treating it, she woke up that morning with her ear so swollen that you couldn't even see the earring in the front. All the clinics were closed so we went to the ER at my work. They had to inject the poor screaming child with lidocaine (3 shots in her sore ear) and dig the earring out. It was not a fun morning. She's on antibiotics now and doing much better!

On a better note, Ryan has his first YMCA basketball game on Saturday. Go Spurs!