Kallie

Here are some pictures of our dog Kallie in her dog outfits:

Her Bathrobe from Aunt Cheryl for Christmas

Victorious!

Here is a narrative I wrote fro school in September (this is only the draft, so it is not the same as the real one. And some of the words might be missed spelled.):
“Shoot!” We had to win! No offence to my team or anything, but I thought our chances of winning were 2 out of 10! In my mind my soccer team and I were absolutely terrible! There was no way we were going to win the U10 soccer tournament. Even 3^rd place would be nice! This 2007 soccer year was not going good at all. So how could I expect this to be good? We had no chance. But something happened that proved me wrong.

This was our first tournament we were competing in, and we were losing badly. It was a bad start of a 3 game tournament. We were being crushed! I couldn’t stand it any longer when the referee blew his ear-piercing whistle. Game over. We lost our first game of torture.

A couple hours later we were starting our 2^nd game. I was hoping we would be able to do a lot better this time. It turned out to be tons better. We were winning! Now hope sprung through me. Victory! Only one game left and we could steal 2^nd place! But we would have to wait. Our next game was tomorrow. How could I wait? But it would be nice to get out of my stinky blue shirt and red pants.

The next day finally came! I could hardly wait to find the outcome of our next game. “Be aggressive, be-e aggressive,” the whole team shouted as we had our hands in the middle of a circle and throw them in the air, “Storm!” We ran out on to the field, proud to be part of CV U10 Lanco team, and to have a name that meant destruction, (Storm.) My heart pounded, sweat slid down my checks, butterflies flew in my stomach. Everything went so fast. By the end of the first half it was tie 0 to 0.

We somehow managed to get a goal and win! At the end we all moved so the next team could play. Our coach said,” I have great news, girls! Your hard work paid off! You got second place!”We went over to a table and told them that we won and all the details. We got trophies and pictures taken by my dad.

I’d say this was my best soccer experience ever. We actually turned out to be a pretty good team. I owe a big apology to my team for not believing in them. I had the best team ever!

Soccer!!!

My CV u12 girls soccer team and I had a not so good fall season. We only won 1 game and tied 1 out of about 7 games. We recently started indoor. For some reason we have been doing wonderful! Our first game we won 8-0! (I wasn't at that game.) Our next game we won 7-1. Our 3rd game we won 9-0! Then the one after that was 5-2. And the most resent game we won 3-2, (I got a goal in that one!) . I don't get how we are doing 10 times better indoor then out door! Maybe it is because the fields are smaller. I don't know.

Here are my team pictures:

I'm the one on the far left standing.

Here is a funny picture, (I'm at the same spot.)

Karla's Birthday evening

On December 6th our family visited downtown Lancaster to see the lights and the new Convention Center. It was Karla’s birthday and she had not seen the Center yet. First we took a family picture at the Square. Then we took a self guided tour of the Convention Center. We had a fun time just being together as a family. Happy Birthday Karla!

Fritz Concert

Date: December 17th 2009
Time: 7:00-830
Where: Fritz Elementary School

Today my school had a concert. There was a Beginner Orchestra, 4th Grade Orchestra, 5th & 6th grade Orchestra, 4th Grade Band, 5th & 6th grade Band, Orff and Drum Ensemble, 5th grade chorus, and 6th grade chorus. I only participated in the 6th grade chorus. We sang 4 songs, Ready, Set, Christmas!, Do You Hear What I hear?, Carol of the Bells, and A Canine Concerto.

It was fun to sing in front of tons of people.

Here are some pictures:

This is Nicholas Haughery in the 5th grade chorus.

Crafts for OneMission

On Saturday December 5th, at the 2009 Holiday City Arts Market in Lancaster City's Eastern Market, there was a small stand of craft items made by a few girls from church. We raised $151.44 for OneMission (a mini "Give a Penny, Build a Building jar" contributed $3.44). OneMission is our church's campaign to raise money to build our church building. The group was made up of some teenage and young adult girls from church (plus Margaret, my Mom, and Grandma Landis), who all came together one Saturday to create the items. We used materials we already had, so that anything we sold would be profit. Special thanks to Cori Bitterman who allowed us to share her 10'x10' plot at the market free of charge, as well as to my Grandma Landis, who provided the majority of our crafts items. Grandma Landis made Boxwood green arrangements, and Grandma Sensenig bought two of them (plus an apron and change purse), which she used to decorate for her Christmas party for new people at church. Without my two grandmas, we would not have made half of what we did!

Birthdays, and a Bit of Wit

December is a busy month for our family. In addition to the normal Christmas and holiday activities, we have 3 birthdays: Mom (6th), Vinson (14th), Joy (30th). Then Mom and Dad's wedding anniversary is on January 4th (our Sensenig Grandparents' is the 1st)! Vinson's 21st birthday was yesterday. Our whole family was home for dinner at 7:30, after his first final exam of the week. My mom got a really good deal on his present: a hardcover ESV Study Bible (from Focus on the Family's sale online). Joy made a funny, and I thought I'd should share on here, since I gave her a hard time in past posts.

My mom was excited to share the price as soon as he opened the gift bag.

Joy: "I don't think other families talk about how much they spend on gifts. 'Why do we take price tags off gifts?...so we get to TELL them how much it cost us!'"

Kudos to Joy for being quick on her feet and displaying a bit of wit. :-)

Wisdom Teeth

Joy had her 4 wisdom teeth removed on Thursday morning. She's healing, but slowly. You can pray that she wouldn't have complications, and that her stitches would dissolve as they are supposed to, or at least be able to be removed without trouble. She had trouble with stitches not dissolving in a past surgery.

She will probably stay home from school again tomorrow. Poor girl has got cabin fever, on top of physical discomfort! You can pray that she'll be feeling much better soon, especially for Thanksgiving and that she wouldn't be overwhelmed with making up school work once she is back at it.

He laid it down on crucifixion day, so that you’d look good on judgment day.

I read this Thursday evening, and it completely met me where I was at and so graciously led me to the cross. I was not expecting to identify much with this chapter currently, seeing as it's titled "Child Rearing - Part 2," but it blew me away how precisely it addressed my heart and softened it to the precious treasure of my Savior's sacrifice in how "He laid [his life] down on crucifixion day, so that [I'd] look good on judgment day."
Below is the excerpt from Womanly Dominion:

Every morning, she faced dirty diapers, runny noses, food messes, temper tantrums, discipline problems, clothing piles, and kitchen clutter. Another son was born. Claustrophobic with cabin fever and boredom doldrums, she sighed, “Any twelve-year-old could wash these dishes, wipe these fannies, mop that floor, and pour these Cheerios onto this high chair tray.”
Her mind often drifted back to her high school and college years. “Back then, I was the center of my world. I decided what I wanted to do for myself. My decisions were based on what would please and broaden me. People applauded me on the stage, commended me for my well-delivered speeches, and discussed with me my future goals and aspirations in life. I enjoyed expressing my creativity in the classroom, discussing profound literary themes with my students, and checking off myresponsibilities on each day’s challenging to-do list.

Old Times

I was looking for some pictures for a project, and I found a bunch of old pictures of me and other kids from church. I guess we were singing for Christmas, or something. I remember that dress I was wearing! We were so little!

Quotes from this evening

A quote from tonight in our family room:

Joy - “Have you noticed how I’m trying to increase my intellectual by using bigger words?"

Dad responds – "hey uh Ma, see how I’m tryin’ to be more smartish by usin’ bigga vords?"

And earlier this evening in the kitchen:

Joy: "This guy honked his horn at me, and I just turned at a red light! . . . oh, I mean traffic light."

It's nice that our family can pick on Joy more these past couple years, so that I'm not alone. (obviously I'm making sure everyone knows this!)

oh, and this just in from Vinson, when Mom was telling him that we have homemade bread (but that he cannot eat the brownies Joy made for another family):

"Is there bread for humans...."

(I take every chance I get to make fun of Vinson, because he definitely dishes it out on me, but I admittedly give him easy material)

Motherly Greatness

I have been really enjoying reading Womanly Dominion [more than a gentle and quiet spirit] by Mark Chanski. I commented to my mom tonight that I think it would be so beneficial for me to read at least one book on biblical womanhood each year or so. If I go too long without a biblical reminder and encouragement for the role of women, the weeds of my heart and culture slowly and surely gain ground without me even knowing, and I start to not only believe lies but act on them. Chanski has been a breath of fresh air, reviving my desire to walk in the role of a godly woman. Practically, I have seen an increase in faith for tackling my everyday tasks at my job, allowed my desire to be a wife and mother be fed and grow in new ways, and increasingly grown much in appreciation for my own mom. I want to share an excerpt from chapter 7 that describes sooo well my mom, and what our family is like because of her. She really is the “soul of our home,” and the “hub” from where all the spokes come and go. Reading Chanski’s description of his wife helped me realize that the fruit that I see God bringing from my family is a direct result of my mom’s full-time commitment to us. It’s almost hysterical how closely he describes our family and mom! I am so grateful for how my mom stayed at home, not only while we were all little and homeschooled, but also throughout our teen years and mixed schooling experiences (home, private, public, cyber, college, you name it!)

Memories of His Faithfulness

Today I spent a few hours driving around Lancaster county, for several different errands during work and after. The drive was a mix of relaxation, conversation (cell phone), getting lost, being late in traffic, getting directions about 4 times from my dad to avoid rush hour traffic, and almost crashing into a car.
As I was driving home, I could reflect on each place and remember different seasons of my life. The result was that my heart was filled with awe at how undeservingly faithful God has been to me. This was His kindness to my heart, to keep me from simple sentimental nostalgia and instead to captivate my thoughts with His greatness in the working of His hand on my life.

Here is a smattering of places and memories that I traveled to this afternoon:

Lititz pike, driving past the home I knew for almost all of my first 10 years of life. It was for sale. This may have been one of the first times that I could drive by that house without at least some tears (I don't go that way often!)

SKH on Lititz pike - free doughnuts with Grandma on the way to her house, back when she kept us for one day a month to give our mom a break. But we only got the doughnuts if we left early enough!

Lititz, along with it's park, train tracks, and Wilbur Chocolate factory. Feeding the ducks with Grandma Sensenig, or going on family walks with Mom and Dad. Book-it pizza at Pizza Hut. School work in the car as Mom did errands. Piano lessons with Mrs. Wittenburg.

Happy Birthday Margaret!

Margaret's 12th birthday was this past Wednesday, September 23. She had Hannah and Hope over for dinner, cake, and a trip to the Lampeter fair. Then yesterday we celebrated it again, since the whole family could be together (plus both grandparents and aunt Beth).

I particularly love the part of the "party" when Dad has us share memories and encouragement.

We are so blessed to have this girl in our family. She's already 12; that is crazy! Soon she'll be a teenager, in youth group, driving, graduating high school . . . oh my, I sound like a mom!

* * * * *

I've really enjoyed how the age gap is decreasing between myself and my sisters. The last photo is from a starbucks trip with Margaret and her friends. I appreciate how our relationship gets to grow and mature as time goes on. I can't wait to see what God has in store for Margaret this next year!

A bit to honor my Dad

I really want to honor my dad for how he served this weekend. He took photos for an event called OneSingleDay put on by our church for singles. He was working on taking and going through photos the entire day, morning to evening. Where the sacrifically serving really came in was that Saturday night when he stayed up until 4:30 am to finish the slideshow so that we could view it at our church meeting on Sunday. I can only imagine the humility and grace it must have required of my dad when he found out that, due to technical difficulty, they could not show it that morning. He had sacrificed so much sleep and poured so much of his energy into preparing the slideshow for that exact time, only to have his plans and services thwarted. And I did not see one display of anger/frustration or self pity, although I know it must have been a battle in his heart. This is the grace of God at work in my dad.

Thank you Dad! I love you so much. You are a wonderful example of a humble servant.

Here is the slideshow. It was a most beneficial day to my soul.

My Talented Brother

I've noticed how our blog has been missing photos. Just tonight, I asked Erin if he could add a verse to a photo I took and use as my desktop background at work. He did it, and some! Here's a sample of the product (even though I took the photos, I believe he enhanced them):

Soaked Through

Melanie Millen, and I (Margaret) sat on her steps and wrote a list of ideas for our "Survivor" camp out.

Survivor List

1. People: Melanie, Abigail & Margaret

2. Food: - Supper: Hot dogs- Breakfast: Cereal- Lunch: Sandwiches.
3. Shelter: Tent- Millen’s tent to sleep in, Sensenig’s tent for storage.
4. Fun!: Tv & Movies, Books, games, ect.
5. Personal things: like tooth paste and tooth brushes, clothes.
6. What for: To celebrate all 3 girl's birthdays.

We had been planing it for a long time and we finally got a date for it so I felt happy because it was not just a small idea that was never going to happen, (like most of my 1,000 ideas) but it was really, truly, actually going to happen!

HACC Days....Again

This is my second day at HACC this semester. I am sort of looking forward to having a routine again, but at the same time I am sort of dreading the work load. I am still gathering my supplies for my classes. My Micro Biology book has still not arrived yet, and I have the first 2 hour and forty minute class this afternoon. I am looking forward to hanging out with Liz Wenger and possibly Laura Wenger, Zach Millen, Catherine Davis, and Alyssa Driedger.

Yesterday Catherine had called to see if I had any books that she could use for her English Comp 1 class. While talking about it we found out that she is having the same professor that I had for that class and that I did have a book that she could use. After our conversation I looked for the book that I said I had, and I could not find it. I was a little frantic because I told Catherine that I would bring it today and I knew I still had it somewhere but I just could not find it anywhere. After coming home from work that evening and watching two episodes of the BBC series Cranford, that we borrowed from the Borghis, with my family, I found the book wrapped under a blanket in my room. I was thoroughly relieved and grateful to God for allowing me to find the book. I am now at the HACC library after my Pre Calc class waiting for Catherine to come so I can give her the book that I had promised to lend her.

A little while ago Sarah had said that I should write something on the blog. I replied that I would when I had something to write about. I now realize that you can write about anything, It does not have to be a big thing that happened, it can be small every day occurrences. I now think that I may actually write a good amount of post during the school year, for I am stuck at HACC for a long period of time in which I will have time to spare. Well I guess I will stop writing now because I am stating to ramble, or at least I feel as though I am rambling. I just had the thought that I am so glad that mom made me practice typing, because I would not be able to write such a post when my mind went ten times faster than the speed of my fingers. Thanks mom! :)

I sat there in the dark...waiting.

One night when my parents had care group, Joy, Erin, and I (Margaret) where at the Millen's house because they had care group too, and we were playing with them. Any way, around the end of the time we were there, we were playing a game called "The Family Game"

(I think.) We had played one round of it and were starting the next. Did I forget to mention that it was storming out? Well, it was. So we were playing when all of a sudden everything got completely dark! You could not even see your hand in front of your face! And it looked the same with your eyes opened or if they were closed! "Just wait, it'll come back on soon." one of the Millen kids said. I got up and started to walk around, but then I decided to just sit where I was and wait. I sat there in the dark waiting when all of a sudden I saw a light! One of the parents was coming down with a cell phone light on. It was just a little bit of light so we could leave. We where saved! Upstairs looked completely different because they had put some candles up and had flashlights. Earlier that morning Zachary and Vinson (My brother) trashed out a home. And they had found glow sticks like things that have plastic stick like things that light up! We all got some and it lit up the place! Then after a little bit people began to leave. But we could not go home because we would have to walk in the storm. So we just stayed there for a little bit. Then later my dad came down to get us. When we got home it was so cosy because there was candles everywhere! Then in just a couple minutes the electricity came back on! We dozed off to sleep by the sound of thunder and the flash of lighting!

More Mountains

Here are some more photos from our family vacation "at the mountains" in July.

Cheryl's Kitchen

Well Karla and I have just returned from a week in Charlotte NC. We were visiting Karla's sister, Cheryl, for a working vacation. We took a week to install the new kitchen I built for Cheryl. It turned out VERY nice. What a difference from her old kitchen. Cheryl and Karla did the back splash tile, it was a lot of work but well worth it. Cheryl was extremely pleased with it all and we had a great time in hot steamy Charlotte! I have posted a few of the pictures here.

http://picasaweb.google.com/GeoffSensenig/CLandisBeforeAndAfter#slideshow/5368881105995518754

Enjoy!
Geoff

A picture is worth a thousand words. . .

. . . which is why I so wish that I had a camera today!

The photo I would have posted is one of our Senior Pastor, Pete Privitera, climbing into the sunroof of my car.

The story behind the "picture". . .

I was driving back to the office from the bank this morning, sometime after 9:00 am. Remembering that I had not flipped up the flag on our mailbox when I placed the mail in it earlier that morning, I decided to put on my four-way car lights and stopped on the road to quickly do so, since there were no cars to be seen behind me. I soon found out that I had been locked out of my running car, with the radio on and windows only slightly open (although my sunroof was also open fully).

Running halfway up the church office drive-way, I stopped to walk backwards and observe a few cars safely avert colliding with my car or any opposing traffic around the sharply curved road.

Just like Christmas. . .

Our Mom and Dad are away this week, installing a kitchen at our aunt Cheryl's home in Charlotte, NC. Here is some of what happens when they are away. . .

After dinner tonight (Joy's yummy green-bean and chicken casserole), Vinson, Erin, and Joy (Margaret was better off safe and healthy at soccer practice) tore through boxes of baking goods and sweets we just received from a house that is being vacated.

I jotted down some comments that were flying around. You kinda had to be there, but we had alot of fun, and these comments show some of that. . .

Oh! Look at this one, it's good...only expired on May 26th! (Vinson)

Family Vacation!

Let's see if we can give this family blog thing a try. . .

Our family vacation started this past Friday, and goes until this coming Sunday. This year we are staying at the "Ark," Karla's brother's mobile home on the Agape farm in Mt. Union PA. With Sarah and Vinson's differing work schedules, we will be missing either one or the other during the week (Sarah) or weekend (Vinson). Even with our family growing older, and the increasing difficulty in scheduling, our family vacation is a highlight of our summer.

Here are a few photos from this past weekend.

Our tub of fun!