Froelich's Frolics

I made these gift card holders for my Grandma, my Uncle Hugh, and my Uncle John. I found the pattern in a Christmas book, and went from there. Front/outside... Inside...

From our house to yours... Have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Our Pastor and family, the Forsees, dedicated their baby Caleb this morning at church. We had Rev and Sister Southerland there with us, as Brother Southerland perform the dedication. The Forsee boys sang the special song today with Sister Forsee. They did a good job. The pictures that I took didn't turn out too well, but here they are. The boys singing The Forsee family at the front of the church Brother Southerland praying at the end of the Dedication

I have the greatest Mom ever! She is always there for me, whenever I need her. I was having a horrible day today, suffering from a major headache. Plus, I was stressing out about stuff. I just felt like I was coming undone. With the holidays, wedding plans, CRAZY work, missing Dad, and 10,247,965 other things going on (or so it seems), I was definitely stressing out... Mom could sense that something was wrong when she called me this afternoon...without me even having to say anything. (Crazy how moms can do that...) When I got home, we talked about what was going on. She is helping me out with some stuff, and I know that she is always praying for me, which means a lot to me. Mom is the best!! Thanks, Mom! You are the greatest! I love you!

I have a new cousin. My cousin Robin had her baby yesterday. His name is Riley Jackson Rodarmel. He joins his big brother Ryan, Mommy Robin and Daddy Rick...lots of "R's" in that family. That makes 7 great-grandchildren for Grandma Miller. Riley is really cute! Here is a picture.

Carl and I went to Monument Circle on Saturday night. We had to pay a visit to our Spot...the spot where he proposed. It was very special...sigh! We also enjoyed some hot chocolate from Starbucks. I had a Zebra hot chocolate and Carl had a regular. They were great, of course. Here are some pictures: IPL Building Looking up at the Monument In our special spot

I finally ordered my wedding dress! I am so excited! Mom and I made a trip down to Loiusville, Kentucky today for me to try on a dress. I am actually getting the first dress that I loved. This was even before Carl proposed...hahaha We ordered it today and was told it could take up to 16 weeks to come in. I can't wait! Insert a BIG sigh of relief here! Now I need to decide on bridesmaid dresses....but I am glad to have a major item checked off my to-do list!

Carl and I had my cousin Mindie take some pictures of us today at Grandma's since it was a nice day. What do you think of them? Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4

Tonight was Ladies night at church. Carrie Slaughter showed us how to make Christmas Wreaths. It got me a little more into the holiday spirit. It was a good time of fellowship and we learned a new craft. This is Mom's wreath... And this is the one I made...

Last night, I went to the Pacer game with two girls from work, Julie and Amber. The Pacers were having a special where all seats were $25 or less. We bought 3 Upper Level or Balcony seats for $5 each. I had actually ordered them on Saturday and opted to pick them up at Will Call last night before the game. We were in section 226, in the 13th row. We were just minding our own business, enjoying the game. Close to the end of the first half, a younger-looking guy in a suit came up to our section. He had a portfolio and a walkie-talkie with him, so I thought to myself that he must work for Conseco or the Pacers. Well, he sat off to the side for a few minutes, then came and sat behind us. He asked if one of us were Vanessa, so Julie and Amber point to me. I told him that I was Vanessa. He then handed me three tickets for the Lower Level. He said that he was told by his boss to find some people in the balcony and give them Lower Level seats. These seats were in section 20, which is just behi...

I am in the midst of changing my blog template. I am not sure if I am going to keep this background or not. I tried another one that 3 coloumns, but it didn't work for some reason. I lost my list of links so I am having to re-add them. I am too tired to finish it tonight, though. I am going to bed...*yawn*!

If you want to have some new Christmas music, go get the Casting Crowns "Peace on Earth" CD. It is very good. I like all the songs on the CD, but my favorites would probably be "God is With Us" or "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," which is an istrumental. Here is their website... And, yeah...I broke my own rule of no Christmas music before Thanksgiving.

Mark Schultz - I Am From the album Mark Schultz Live I am the maker of the Heavens I am the bright and morning star I am the breath of all Creation Who always was And is to come I am the One who walked on water I am the One who calmed the seas I am the miracles and wonders So come and see And follow me You will know Chorus: I am the fount of living water The risen Son of man The healer of the broken And when you cry I am your savior and redeemer Who bore the sins of man The author and perfecter Beginning and the end I am I am the spirit deep inside you I am the word upon your heart I am the One who even knew you Before your birth Before you were Chorus: I am the fount of living water The risen Son of man The healer of the broken And when you cry I am your savior and redeemer Who bore the sins of man The author and perfecter Beginning and the end I am Before the Earth (I am) The universe (I am) In every heart (I am) Oh, where you are (I am) The Lord of love (I am) The King of Kings (I a...

As I get ready to turn off the computer and head to bed, still not sure who our next president will be, I am reminded of the One who is always in control. God knows whether we will have Obama or McCain for our President...He has known for a long time. My God knows what He is doing...and that, my friend, gives me hope for the days ahead. Check out this post by Joel Rosenberg, author of the Epicenter. I thought it was very good. Remember, God is in control...always has been, always will be...regardless of who the President of the United States is. Peace...

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. ~ Isaiah 43:2, NLT What I needed today...

I want to ask anyone who read this to pray for my Aunt Halcie. She is the oldest of my Dad's siblings, and the only daughter. She has not been well for the last several weeks. She has complained of stomach pain for some time now. She had lost a lot of weight very quickly, and just did not look good. Well, this past Friday night, she was rushed to the hospital and had emergency surgery. The doctor removed a tumor that that was on her colon. this tumor was blocking the colon, causing the right side of her colon to expand like a balloon and fill up with bacteria and all kinds of yucky stuff. Well, it expanded so much that her colon tore near her appendix, causing all the bacteria and all the other stuff that is usually in a person's colon to leak out inside her body. The doctor said that it took a long time to flush her body of as much bacteria as he could. The good news is that the tumor had not spread anywhere else. But the big problem was that she had a lot of bacteria still in...

I thought I would give y'all an update on the wedding plans. We have decided on June 13, 2009 at 3PM. (Eight months from today) That date would mark 18 months of Carl and I being a couple. We officially became a couple on December 13, 2007. Colors are pink and burgundy. We are going to have roses for the bouquets and decorations. We have decided to go with 4 attendants. I will have my Maid of Honor and 3 bridesmaids and Carl will have his Best Man and 3 groomsmen. The ceremony will be at our church, the Franklin Pilgrim Holiness Church, and the reception will be in our Fellowship Hall. We have asked our Pastor, Tim Forsee, to perform the ceremony. We are going to have 2 Flower girls, my little cousin Brooklynn and a girl from church, Olivia. The Bible Bearers are going to be Carl's nephew Elijah, and one of his cousins. Brooklynn and Elijah will both be two by the day of the wedding, so we thought pairing them with someone a little older would be helpful. We haven't decided...

...are coming together, slowly but surely. Carl and I talked today at lunch about when we would like to get married. We are leaning towards late April 2009, which is 6 months away. We even talked about our honeymoon a little today as well. :) We haven't discussed colors yet, but we do know that we want to have the ceremony at our church. We are not sure yet if our Fellowship Hall would have enough room for the reception. We both have decent sized families, not counting friends and other people we know. Wow! How exciting! This planning stuff is so much fun! I can't wait to go try on dresses! By the way, if anyone knows of a place in Indy (or relatively close) that sells modest/conservative bridal gowns, please let me know.

Well, the day has arrived. Carl asked me to marry him last night! I am so excited! I never thought that I would get married, and now here I am, newly engaged. It is absolutely amazing! Carl kept telling me the whole week that he had something special planned for Saturday night. He kept talking about gifts for my birthday, as in plural. On Friday, my actual birthday, he had roses delivered to work for me. There were 12 red ones and 1 pink one. They are so pretty. Saturday, we went to wedding reception for Katressa and John. We left there pretty early to up to Indianapolis to celebrate my birthday. When Carl picked me up at my house, he handed me a card and said that was all he was giving me at the moment. He told me that he had a total of three gifts for me to open, since he knew that I like to open gifts (I am still a little kid that way, I guess:)...). He let me open two ofthe gifts while we were in the car before we went to dinner. One was a Colts fleece jacket (that is very nice and...

...I will be 30 years old. Wow, three whole decades of my life have gone by. What a sobering thought. What will the next 30 years of my life be like? Will we even be on earth for 30 more years? With the way the world is today, the Rapture could take place at any moment, and I really believe that. I want to make sure that I am living my life exactly as God wants. He knows the plans for my life, and He knows what is best. Well, I didn't mean to go in a serious direction with this blog, but I guess my fingers decided otherwise. This post may seem more jumbled and random than most (but I think all of my posts are jumbled and random), but bear with me. There is a quote I have seen that would go perfectly right here...I am not random, I just have many thoughts." That is so true in this post. Here goes... We have moved into the house in Whiteland. We are still in the process of unpacking all of our stuff, and Brother Dunn is still doing some work on the house, but we have officially ...

I know that just breaks the hearts of the many readers out there. We are transferring phone/internet service to the new house this week, so we may be without a landline phone and internet service for a few days. Good thing that I have a cell phone with Internet access! We are hoping to get everything moved to the new house this weekend. I can't wait!

I thought I would post somes pictures that I took in Junior Church this past Sunday. I have started something new. I divided the chairs in the classroom so that I have two sides. I wanted boys against girls, but the first Sunday with the new set-up, I only had two boys...:( So now, I just try to keep the sides pretty even. I have two camping chairs at the front of the room. I picked two kids to be our captains for the day. They were to be our helpers, and to watch for quiet seats. The two quiet seat winners will be the captains next week. I think it went pretty well this week. I also took a suggestion from my Pastor's wife on how to enforce the rules...which is working so far. I am always looking for new things to try. I don't want the kids to get bored with the same old stuff every week. I want to keep things new and exciting, but most importantly, I want them to live for Jesus. Here are the pictures: Adam Forsee as one of the Captains Ashley as the other captain One side of ...

Today marks 9 months of Carl and I being a couple. We officially became a couple on December 13, 2007. It has been a great 9 months. I am so thankful that God borught Carl into my life. I know it was God, because I probably would have never met him otherwise. I had actually given my singlehood (if that's a word) to the Lord. I had struggled with it for a while, and finally committed it to God. If God wanted me to be single all my life, then so be it. Just a few weeks really after that is when I started talking to and emailing Carl. Our first date was a revival service at my church, and then we wnet to Steak N Shake for something to eat. About a month after that is when we decided to be a couple. My family liked Carl from the beginning, and has grown to love him like one of the family. My dad really liked him...and I am so thankful that I knew I had Dad's approval on Carl before Dad passed away. Mychurch family also accepted Carl as one of their own pretty quickly, and Carl is o...

I am so ready for the weekend! Thank the Lord it is Friday! It has been a loonng week...

Today is the September 11th...9/11 That date will forever give me chills. I did not know anyone personally that died that day, or even anyone who lost a loved one that day, but I will never forget where I was when I heard the news of what was happening to our country. I did not have class that day. I was going to Franklin College part time that semester and did not have classes on Tuesdays. Mom called me from work and told me that something terrible was happening. I turned on the radio in time to hear the reaction of the reporters as the Twin Towers fell to the ground. I was glued to the radio. I remember Mom calling me to go fill up at the gas station because people were afraid the oil prices were going to skyrocket. On my way to the gas station, I remember hearing everyone's car radio turned up...not listening to music, but to the news. There was no music that day. I remember doing a lot of praying that day. In the days and weeks to follow, I remember hearing Lee Greenwood's ...

This picture was taken Sunday at Craig park in Greenwood. We were at Carl's Froelich family reunion. I love it! Don't we look great together?

This is a picture of the beautiful sunset we saw on Saturday night while we were at Symphony on the Prairie. Here are some other pictures from that night: Carl and I Jennifer and I Jenn taking a picture of the sunset.

...because the devil has really been fighting me today. I have not had a day like I had today in a long looong time. But I know that Jesus is with me because I am holding on to the promise "I will never leave you nor forsake you." I had this massive headache that just kept building and building throughout the day. I have not had a bad headache/migraine since the Sunday evening service a in late May or early June when I asked the Lord to take away my migraines and dizzy spells. We were actually praying for another lady in our church, and I asked the Lord to touch me as well...and He did. I think the devil brought on the headache to get me to doubt God's healing. Well, it is not going to work...I know what the Lord did for me and I am going to keep trusting Him. The pain has started to go away this evening. On top of the headache, I just have not felt like my normal (if there is a normal) self the past couple of days, maybe because of the heat, who knows? Also, today was ...

As some of you may know, I am a HUGE fan of the author Ted Dekker. He is sort of like Frank Peretti. He actually wrote a book with Frank Peretti, called House. He has written books like the Circle Trilogy (Black, Red, White), Blink, Thr3e, Showdown, etc. He also had a 4 book set for youth (Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, and Chaos). I have loved every book that I have read, with the only exception being ADAM (it was a little scary...it dealt with demon possession/serial killers). If you are into thrillers or science fiction, you should really check out Ted Dekker. I suggest starting with either Blink (which I think has been re-released as Blink of an Eye), or the Circle Trilogy. Well, Dekker just came out with a new book called Sinner. It is about having religious freedom taken away from us, which is something that is becoming more and more a reality here in the US. Because of the subject of his book, Ted Dekker has started a group to support religious freedom. So I became a member of The 3...

Last Thursday, the 28th, Carl and I went to the Indianapolis Colts preseason game at Lucas Oil Staduim. It was a lot of fun. I just wish the Colts would have won the game, but at least it was only preseason. It was Carl's birthday, so I had bought the game tickets for his birthday present. He was really surprised and loved going to the game. We had a good time. Here are some pictures of our experience. I tried to take a lot of pictures because who knows when I will be able to go to another game? Here is the link to the pictures...I was having trouble with this link. So GOOD LUCK! Colts Game pictures

On Saturday, our church held our annual Sunday School Picnic. it was at Independence Park in White River Township. That is a nice park. it was developed to be accessible to everyone, meaning people with disabilties could still enjoy going to the park. We had a good turn-out despite the heat. It was around 90 and humid. I didn't feel a brezze all day. Carl had invited a lot of his family, and they were able to come. It was nice to have them meet my Mom and my side of the family, and to have them meet our churhc family as well. They had a good time. The picnic started at about 11 and we didn't leave until about 3:30, almost 4. We had several of the bus kids from church there as well. We ate lots of food, and played games. It was a good time. Here is a link to pictures from the day: Church Picnic 2008

Tonight in church we sang a song called "I Must Tell Jesus." (Number 152 in your Praise and Worship Hymnal...) The second verse reads as follows: I must tell Jesus all of my troubles; He is a kind, compassionate Friend. If I but ask Him, He will deliver, Make of my troubles quickly an end. Then the Chorus goes: I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus! I cannot bear these burdens alone. I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus! Jesus can help me, Jesus alone. That verse really stuck out to me tonight. I don't know how many times I have sang (or is it have sung?) that song, but it really meant a lot to me tonight. Jesus IS a kind, compassionate friend. He really does care for each of His children. He will helps us in our troubles, and make of them "quickly an end." Even when it seems like we are never going to get out of the mess in which we often find ourselves, God is there every step of the way. Like in another song we sang tonight, Jesus will walk with [us]...giving...

This picture makes me smile...:) This is Carl and I at the park today while on my lunch break. And believe me, with the way the past couple of weeks have been, I need something to make me smile. Things at work are crazy, and are only going to get much crazier in the weeks to come. Plus, there are some other issues that I can't explain, but they need a lot of prayer. Two issues, especially, need to be resolved fairly quickly to avoid more complications. Pray that the people involved weigh all sides of the matter before making a decision.

This request is from Olive Asbury, the Directior of Rope Holders. Please pray for the people there, and the ones who will going down there to help the people on the island. If you want to sign up to receive the email prayer requests, send an email to ropeholders@missionhelps.net They also have a prayer newsletter once a month that you could receive in the mail. Here is the email that I received just a few minutes ago: Dear Pray-ers, A serious request is current with the Midwest Pilgrim Conference on their West Indies work in Dominica. This is an older work, and satan has been working hard the last while to divide and kill. He has made some deadly, vicious attacks on the work. There was a threat made by a former pastor that a church member's house might be burned down on his head. On Monday this member's brand new banana shed was burned down, and there is resulting fear of more repercussions. Lowell and Jean McVey, the missionaries on the field, are weary of the constant fric...

"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." ~~ When Harry Met Sally This was written from the man's point of view, but it can go the other way too. Soon As You Can Written by Tony Martin, Brett Beavers and Dierks Bentley I left that sun sinkin’ west in California I was supposed to stay in LA a few more weeks But the next time that old sun and I meet up I’ll be a thousand miles east Fifty dollars and a gas card in my pocket That I’m thinkin’ might already be maxed out That’s just one of those little crazy things I really didn’t stop to think about ‘cause ‘Cause when a man wants to be with a woman There ain’t no way of gettin’ there too fast When you know who you wanna spend The rest of your life with, you wanna start The rest of your life As soon as you can That state trooper let me off with just a warnin’ And a promise that I’d try to slow her down Man, that promise was forgotten By...

When Carl picked me up for lunch today, he gave me these roses. He must have really missed me while I was in Texas. Isn't he so sweet? I think I am going to keep him around for a long time!

I am leaving this evening for a little vacation. I am going down to visit my best friend Amy in Texas. She lives in Fort Worth, but I think we are going to spend the majority of our time in San Antonio. I think the plans are that we are going to go to Six Flags, the Riverwalk, and the Alamo while in San Antonio. It should be lots of fun. I have a layover in Memphis on the way down, and a layover in Minneapolis on the way back. I am going down with another friend, Gina. Amy, Gina and I went to Franklin College together. This is the first time that Gina and I will be at Amy's at the same time. I am not really sure if the big state of Texas is ready for us or not, but here we come! I am excited to go visit Amy and have fun with her and Gina, but at the same time, I am a little sad to leaving Carl here. I know it's only for the weekend, but I am going to miss him a lot! He is actually leaving work an hour early in order to pick me up from the airport when I come back on Monday. How...

I don't think that I will ever drink Coke again. Here's why... My Mom's car wouldn't start one night after she got off work. That was last Wednesday. She had someone give the car battery a jumpstart so that she could drive it home. The next morning, it would not start. By the afternoon, it started, but Mom didn't want to take any chances with it not starting again that night, so I took her to work and picked her up from work. The car started just fine on Friday and Saturday morning. Mom met me at work, and I drove my car to Carl's Grandma's house. Then Carl, Mom, and I went up to Frankfort for the Missions Service at Camp Meeting. (Which was very good, BTW.) Anyway, by the time we got back to my work, Mom's car decided to not start again. We couldn't even jumpstart it. So it sat in the parking lot at Milto's all weekend. Yesterday, I was talking to a co-worker about the car and what it was doing. She went out and looked at the battery. She sugge...

Work = Utter Craziness!!! Wasn't there a few moon a few nights ago?... That's all I have to say for now...

Today is Friday, June 13th. For some people, that might make you nervous. It is Friday the 13th. For me, today holds two meanings... First, June 13th, 2001 was the day my Grandpa Miller went to be with Jesus. Grandpa died between 6:30 and 7pm that evening. He had been in a coma for a few days, and the doctors told Grandma and us that there was nothing else that could be done for Grandpa. Grandma and the children had to make the decision to take him off life support. I know that was a very hard decision for Grandma to make. We had planned on pulling the life support when my great-uncle Roger arrived from Florida late on Wednesday, June 13th. Well, Jesus decided to take Grandpa home before they had to pull life support. I remember that our church was packed at Grandpa's funeral...which he would have loved. He always wanted to see a full church. James and I played Amazing Grace at the funeral along with the chorus that he loved to sing with Amazing Grace, "When the Battle's ...

I have a new cousin. Her name is Mackenzie Grace. She is Lynn's new baby. She was born on Thursday, June 5th, at 3:46AM. Mackenzie weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces, and was 19 inches long. She is too cute! She actually has more hair than her big sister Brooklynn who just turned a year on May 19th. You can tell Brooklynn doesn't really know what to think of her little sister yet. Lynn is going to have her hands full, that's for sure. Here are some pictures: Mackenzie Grace Me and Mackenzie Grandpa with both grandbabies With Uncle Josh With Uncle Jeremy With cousin Daniel