Merry Christmas!

We here at Chez Miller wish you a very Merry Christmas. Justin and I are leaving for Oklahoma on Christmas afternoon, and I will post as I find internet connections in Muskogee. :-) Our plans are to stay with the family until New Years and then head over to Oklahoma City for the "eve" to see our friends. We're attending the Life Imapct conference also in OKC during the week and will be back to Michigan on the evening of Jan 6th. Chelsea is excited for Jack, her favorite dog-sitter, to come and stay! I think he's the only one that can actually tire her out!

Everyone have a blessed Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Matt. 1:21 - "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

congratulations tim and jerri!

I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10

Wild Weekend Part II - The Rest

So that was just Friday... Saturday we got up and went over to the golf course to set up the room for our Christmas party. Denise and Bambi came over to help, Denise being the woman of the year by getting us the room for free. After setting up I sent Blessy off to the mall with the treat of driving Green Gertrude, my trusty 1990 Volvo wagon. Not exactly her old sporty blue Camaro. :-) As she was tearing up the mall, Justin and I went over to Cornerstone to provide music and prayer for the Puralewski nuptials. It was a nice, cozy wedding with just family and two witnesses. The big one will come in Hawaii in August. Jerri looked absolutely beautiful and I was all choked up!

After the wedding we ran home to start the meatballs cooking and get everything together for the party. After a hectic car-packing we made it over with plenty of time to spare. The party went really well… I scored a pooping cow keychain from the white elephant gift exchange, thanks to Gretchen! The Wolfes brought over their karaoke machine and we had a particularly rousing version of “YMCA” with most of us wearing various parts of Matt’s fire gear. It was so nice to have so many of our friends in one place; it’s very rare we get to do that.

Sunday we had the kids’ Christmas pageant at church. It went over really well with no major mishaps. They all did a great job and it was nice to see so many of them up there. Joey didn’t seem to like being an angel too much but he was so cute no one cared when he yanked his halo off! I’m surprised no one got him to yell “Lottie Moon” in the middle of the program!

After church we picked up Blessy and Larry at Cornerstone and had lunch, then hit Steve & Barry’s so Blessy could get some MSU gear. During church, Matt proved that he can drum one-handed after managing to break his hand this weekend after being pulled in a sled behind a truck… don’t ask! We took him out for a birthday dinner after church, went back home, and thus followed the thoroughly worthwhile staying up till 3 AM. Phew.

Maybe I’ll get some sleep tonight! I’d better before we leave for Oklahoma on Sunday!

Wild Weekend Part I - The Bachelor

You know you’re getting old when it takes you a whole week to recover from one night with three hours of sleep. It was time well spent however as I haven’t gotten to talk to Blessy face to face in ages. Sometimes you just need to stay up till 3AM. I can’t believe I regularly was up till 2 in college, but then again I didn’t have to get up three hours later.

I’m still catching my breath from the weekend. Blessy came in late Friday afternoon and no sooner did we get home then we were off to meet Jerri and Kim to take Jerri out for a nice low key bachelorette dinner. I can’t remember the last time I went out to eat with just the girls, it was so nice! Jerri even got to wear her tiara and a flashing “bride-to-be” button that Kim found. We went back to Kim’s and watched a major chick flick (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) and had some ice cream cake and snacks. Meanwhile, poor Tim was getting the now infamous bachelor party treatment from the guys. These parties have taken on a life of their own, and the guys start planning them years before one of them even has a marriage prospect! They have cryptic “themes” that the bachelor can know ahead of time… but no details. Tim’s was “Fear Factor,” a nod to his love of extreme stunts. I have promised not to post pictures on the blog, but I’m sure you can imagine the size 18 x-tall aqua chiffon bridesmaid’s dress that Jeffrey purchased on e-bay. Tim sported this lovely gown most of the evening while climbing the rock wall at Dick’s Sporting Goods store, walking around the mall and getting “accessorized” at Claire’s, sitting in the parking garage in East Lansing and playing his guitar to earn 5 bucks, and buying people food at BW3’s… the very popular campus sports bar & grill. There is a great picture of Tim playing his guitar in the dress… good thing he was wearing shorts underneath it because he was sitting in a VERY unladylike manner! J The guys finished off the evening by bringing Tim back to the church and making him ride a tricycle (Tim is 6’5”) through an obstacle course and then bobbing for a bottle of Beano in a vat filled with 9 gallons of pork’n’beans. I’m not sure that I’ll ever understand this “guy” way of saying “I love you” to one another but I do recognize it, even if it’s in the form of beans, ugly dresses, and elaborate plans. Don’t worry, they were very nice to Tim at the end by encouraging him, praying for him, and giving him a nice big TV that they all pitched in for.

To Be Continued...

ghetto fabulous

... the name of our new HGTV show, for the home makeover where all you can afford is paint. Also known as "Re-arranging Furninture 101." I could shoot myself for not taking a picture of Tim's room before he moved out so I could do a before/after comparison. We intended just to clean it out and set up our antique bed for Blessy's visit, but of course it turned into a full scale room makeover. It's now our "Early Americana" room... just right for our future New England colonial house. That is a fun thing about being married to Justin... you never know when a room is about to get dismantled, overhauled, rearranged, repainted... it's like impulse Trading Spaces. I'm not sure how many people at church realize that the parsonage living room has been painted "Hellfire Red" for the last three years. :-) I will put a pic of the new room up soon.

murder mystery pic

Kathy sent along this photo of the murder mystery party. (See here). The description of my character was something like a "blond divorcee who had it all... " basically it meant a pretty snotty money/guy chaser! That was fun for an evening. :-) Thanks Kathy for the pic.

it's cold outside!

Here is the front of our house last night, icing up nicely in preparation for Blessy's visit from Florida. Welcome back to the frozen north!

Justin and I scrubbed the floor and painted the ceiling in the room formerly known as Tim's last night. Of course now the walls look dingy and are screaming for new paint too. Funny how that works. It was weird not having Tim come home by the time we went to bed last night. It was so quiet with only me, Justin, and Matt. Even Scrappy and Chelsea were relatively noise-free. It helped that Chelsea had a new toy to work at also, thanks to Evette. Yesterday Justin filled out a "dog behavior" questionnaire that he picked up at the vet's office and our wonder pup scored an "F!" The description for this category was "Owners are desperate, have considered euthanasia." I'm not sure if they were referring to the dog or the owners for that one. I think at certain times we've considered both! :-) Chelsea is so smart, she knows EXACTLY when she is misbehaving and even "punishes" herself by going into her kennel... Justin and I have concluded that we should have looked for the dumbest, laziest dog possible! Chelsea is definitely a handful, but a sweet, lovey one... with chocolate breath...

gr jaunt

It's been quite the driving weekend. After getting back from Bronner's, we turned right around yesterday morning and set off in the opposite direction to Grand Rapids. We got to spend the day with Steve and Laurie... and to meet Wrigley, the newest member of the Talbot family. I can't believe I forgot to get a picture of him. When we got there I asked Laurie where the dog was and she said "in the shower with Steve." Wrigley's a very special dog. :-)

Anyhow we went to Mars Hill for church. It's a huge church that meets in a former shopping mall. It's very cool. The pastor had a great message on prayer - one of the things he said that I liked was that when you get to a point where you're no longer being "polite" with God, then you're actually praying.

We all met up with Julie, her husband, and some of their friends from church at the in-Famous Dave's Barbecue. We're still trying to convince one another to move to Lansing/GR. I think we're all pretty much settled where we are at this point!

Steve and Laurie took us to see the new house that they're building. It's exciting to see it taking shape. They should be able to move in by the end of January. It has a nice big garage to store all of Steve's future Christmas light collection!

More Thanksgiving photos

Here are some of the great photos Peng took at Thanksgiving. Click here to see them at my Flickr site. Jean is particularly photogenic!

whey-ing in

It wouldn't be Christmas without an annual trip to Frankenmuth to visit Bronner's (the world's largest Christmas store... it's seriously out of control) and to walk around the distinctly Bavarian-themed village. Here is Kevin being his cheesy self in front of the aptly named Haus.

Justin, Nelia, Matt, Kevin, and I took Stephanie, Robert, and Jolee for a fun day of shopping. The adults (loosely defined) split off to visit Bronner's and the village while the "younger" set hit the outlet malls. I had to break down and buy a generous hunk of gorgonzola and and a block of their famous chocolate cheese.

At Bronner's, Justin and I finally settled on a beautiful blown glass ball for our annual ornament purchase- after vetoing ornaments in the form of disco balls, a garlic clove, pickles, firetrucks, and even an octopus.

Tonight we went to see the Chronicles of Narnia. I was SO glad that they left the story intact. I was bawling like a baby of course. The effects weren't that great but the story was very true to the original, and that is what gives it heart. The girl who played Lucy was absolutely precious. I can't wait to own this one on DVD.

and the oscar goes to...

The 2005 Best Display of Nerdiness to Sara Miller... wow, I even out-nerded myself yesterday when I was the only one in a room of all librarians to know the answer to a trivia question... who was MSU's first librarian and where was the original library located? That is what happens to people who read plaques on the wall in their dorms and remember the useless content for the rest of their lives. (answer for you OTHER nerds who want to know: Linda E. Landon and Linton Hall.) I wish I could remember where I put my keys instead of something I read while wasting time in my undergrad dorm!

I had another scary work moment today. A prof asked me to come and give a lecture on library resources to his class in the spring. Yikes. He is an expert on the main database that I'm going to talk about too. There is no longer any doubt in my mind as to what I'm going to be studying over Christmas break!

Looking forward to the weekend - a visit to Grand Rapids and some shopping at Great Lakes Crossing. That is, if this snowstorm that we are supposed to get tonight doesn't immobilize us. They should have it cleared by Saturday I hope.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

My shopping list is almost wrapped up, except for a few stocking stuffers. I was browsing the dollar store for that purpose the other day and I saw this lovely toy... for that non-malignant girl in your life. (Click for a bigger view.)

This weekend was another busy one. On Friday night we went to the annual pastors' associational Christmas dinner. Saturday was Jerri's wedding shower. I finally got to meet Tim's mom. We always tease him that we don't think his family exists because we have known him for over 7 years and have never laid eyes on them. By a freak chance I actually got to see Tim's brother last spring, and then finally his mom yesterday. His dad is still in the realm of the mythical as far as I am concerned! Anyhow, it was a nice shower and nearly all the girls there had gone on Focus trips or overseas in some way so it was cool to talk about all the places we'd been. I was going to give Jerri some Febreeze and Beano, but I was good!

Saturday afternoon and evening we got our Christmas tree. Matt's fire station sells trees every year so we got a nice fir from them. It smells delectable. I know the picture is small but for some reason it wouldn't show any bigger... it's me in their shiny new engine. Matt even let me honk the airhorn. :-) Speaking of Matt, he had his testing for his hazmat training this weekend and scored the top in his class, getting a 50 out of 50 on his written exam. Since he got the best grade, he got to be the incident commander for their practical exam. Needless to say we are all very proud! He is busy using his extensive knowledge to concoct new ways to combine dangerous chemicals to clean out our downstairs bathroom. :-)

Justin and I also bought our tickets to Oklahoma today. We'll be gone from Christmas afternoon until the evening of Jan 6th. We have some time planned with the family, New Years' in OKC, and the Life Impact conference after that. We're really looking forward to it, especially getting to see Ruby and Granny June who we haven't seen in at least 2 years.

too cute

Today was really busy with meetings, a funeral, and a new to-do list from my boss. The more I have to do at work the more excited I get about it... it's still such a strange phenomenon for to me to enjoy work. I am loving the challenge.

I got to have lunch with Denise today at a cute little restauant in cute little downtown Mason. After lunch we went to the cute little five-and-dime next door. For those of you who don't know, Mason is a little town just south of Lansing that has an incredibly well-preserved old-time downtown. There is a huge, beautiful old courthouse (see pic and click for original site) in the middle of the square surrounded by all the aforementioned cute little shops. Mason is so cute, in fact, that they sent a crew from the show "Three Wishes" to do an episode there becuase it is such a "perfect" representation of small-town America. Denise has it on good authority from her mom's hairdresser (like I said, small town...) that Mason may be on their Christmas Special and possibly be visited in the spring... In the meantime, there are plenty of cool old houses there for Justin and I to drool over.

By the way, Peng has put some pictures up of Thanksgiving. You can see them here. Peng assured me that the captions don't say "This was the worst food I ever tasted!" in Chinese!

where's waldo?

I think we finally found out who the boogeyman is.

here comes the rain again!

What started out as a little dinnertime prayer walk resulted in a run for cover! I'm trying to dry off a little bit before I have to go back out to the reference desk. Too bad I'm at work or I would have stayed out in the downpour. It's 60 degrees here... one day of a break before we go back to snow, snow, and more snow. I look like a wet poodle right about now.

We had a really nice Thanksgiving. Luckily I was feeling better and managed to cook a turkey, stuffing, corn casserole, garlic rosemary mashed potatoes, fruit cup, apple crisp... and Justin pitched in with his famous gourmet green bean casserole. Jerri brought over some homemade rolls, pumpkin pie from scratch, and her family's traditional macaroni salad. There were nine of us... me, Justin, Kevin, Tim, Jerri, Jerri's friend Jean who was visiting from Oregon, Peng and Xiaolei, and Carrie who unfortunately couldn't stay for dinner. I'm afraid that my inner Martha (as in Stewart, not Mary And) comes out at holidays. I love cooking, and I love setting the table. I was giggling like a little girl at the though of using my great grandmother's china and her cute little teacups. It was a bit frightening. I'm not sure if I'll ever understand my love of dishes, but such things are sometimes best left as a mystery!

Gretchen and I went Christmas shopping on Friday and I managed to get 90% of it done. It's a good thing we didn't go early... there were rumors of fist fights and carjacking at Wal-Mart in the wee hours of the morning. Nothing like the Christmas spirit I tell you!

Friday night Jerri's friend Jean had us over for a party. It was nice for me to be somewhere where girls were in the majority for once. :-) It was fun to catch up with Jeff & Kim and to get to know Jean and Xiaolei better. It was Jerri's birthday too, so Jeff and Tim came out of hiding in the back room for a few minutes to eat cake, then disappeared into the virtual world of Tiger Woods Golf again. Random whooping was about all we heard from them most of the night.

Saturday night Justin and I attended our first murder mystery party. It was a 50's theme; Justin had to dress up as a greasy mechanic and I was a chick named "Barby Q." (pic here!) If I get any pictures I will put them up. The highlight of the evening was Andy's impersonation of a drunken Russian rocket scientist, followed by a stellar karaoke performance a la Britney Spears. Just when you think you know Andy... he never fails to surprise! Speaking of karaoke, it took a few hours but we were finally treated to a number by Justin. His heartfelt rendition of that unfogettable classic Christian hair-metal hit, Stryper's "To Hell With The Devil," was something that words can't really describe. Even better was when Denise misread Stryper as "Stripper."

sniff

'Tis the time of year for sniffles and congestion, unfortunately. I was laid up for most of the weekend with a cold, but we still managed to get some stuff done. Went to see the latest Harry Potter movie on Friday, opening night, with Justin and Marie. It was cool to see the book portrayed on film but unfortunately it wasn't nearly as well-done as the third movie. The visuals and the feeling of being "right there" just didn't come close. Oh well. I'll still go see it again just for the pure fun of it!

I don't think I mentioned that no one showed up to my instruction session last week! I had eight people registered initially, the it was revised down to five... and then none of those five showed! Oh well, at least I have the material prepared and I've been able to help a lot of people with similar needs since preparing.

Today I got to have lunch with Justin, Matt and Tina. It was good to see her and catch up. We had lunch in a local shopping center here and I am starting to get the Christmas shopping bug. Usually I'm at least halfway done with my shopping by now but I haven't even started yet!

Preparing for Tim's bachelor party...

schneit es

We had our first snow last night. Just a dusting, but enough to make the ground white and make me realize that the only outdoor winter footwear I own are hiking boots and big blue and white moon boots, both of which look incredibly hot with gaucho pants. I ended up wearing my Birkenstock rubber garden clogs to work this morning, and let me tell you what a fashion plate I was! I haven't had so many disdaining stares at my feet since I used to wear those clear plastic Doc Martens in high school! God puts us in really interesting situations sometimes... I am right smack in the middle of my first one-paycheck-per-month cycle and there is no way I can buy new boots... I guess I'm needing to learn some sacrifice and humility right about now.

We had a fantastic turnout at our churchwide Thanksgiving dinner last night. There must have been over 100 people there. The dinner is the only thing that some members' families will come to, and it was great not knowing nearly 2/3 of the people there. I met friends, kids, grandkids, you name it. The food is always fabulous too... the best thing about having so many Southern folks around is that they can all cook a mean pot of turnip greens. I'd never had greens before coming to Immanuel, and now I can't get enough! It's my one saving grace if Justin wants to eat at Cracker Barrel!

This afternoon I have to teach my first instructional class here at the library. It's on "Finding Company and Industry Information." If any of you are interested at all in what I'm doing at my job, you can see my powerpoint here. I also updated our research guide here. Don't worry, I don't expect any of you to actually look at it! It's all pretty boring library nerd stuff!

We are having several guests for Thanksgiving dinner next week. So far we have Tim and Jerri, Kevin, and my co-librarian Peng and his wife Xiaolei who just arrived from China a few weeks ago. Peng loves taking photos and has a Flickr site here. I have already promised Kevin a big ol' batch of garlic rosemary mashed potatoes.

snow is coming...

We had a really nice long fall here, stretching into November... then one day it was windy and it was over. And now- our first snow is supposed to fly tomorrow! Tim, the skier, is quite excited- however, Justin is prophesying gloom and doom. He's never quite gotten used to the cold, gray monotony of a Michigan winter.

We got to see Amy this weekend as she regaled us with tales of her new Office Space-like cube farm and her company choir. Luckily she missed the Indiana tornado by about 40 miles.

Speaking of tornadoes, did you SEE that video taken by that crazy guy in Iowa standing outside as the tornado was yards from him? Here is the link if you missed it. What a nutcase!

FINALLY a video for you!

OK, here it is! Click the picture to watch the movie. It may take quite a while to download but it's worth it. Make sure your volume is turned on so you can hear them scream like girls! :-) Also make sure you watch through to the end to see them get drenched.

Kevin, thanks so much for your help in taking and uploading this video!

For those of you who are just tuning in, the video is of Justin, Matt, and Kevin at Lake Michigan last month (October) during a thunderstorm. They got a little wetter and colder than anticipated!

csi pawcatuck

The excitement never ends in my hometown. Apparently my neighbor's yard was invaded this morning by wandering cows. Forget robbery, assault, homicide... these cows are ruthless! I am wondering if the crime lab had to take samples of "evidence" left at the scene. Photos courtesy of Mom.

kosher hot dog

Our music video night on Friday was a whole lot of fun as you can tell from Scrappy's pose. I'm not sure who decided to put the yarmulke on him but I think it was Matt who pulled it out of our random costume and clothing item box. As soon as Tim downloads his pictures I will have some more to share.

We had one major mishap. The video camera somehow recorded double... so we didn't catch most of the music videos. We did have fun making them however.

extreme girliness

Denise, being considerate as always, thought that we should surprise Kathy with a "stress-relieving massage" from the student salon here in town. So, last night we all trouped out to EL and lost ourselves in the girly universe for a while. Denise got a manicure and I got a haircut while Kathy was having her treatment. I think Kathy was a little confused when we turned into the salon... she had a "what on earth are we doing HERE?" look on her face. It was pretty funny. Wish I had thought to get a photo. The scary thing was that I kept thinking how much the guys would enjoy getting either a massage or a pedicure. I had this picture in my head of them all lined up in the la-z-boys getting their feet pampered. I really need to stop letting my imagination run away like that!

Catching Up

I really miss my blog with this crazy new schedule! Let's see, where did I leave off...

This past weekend was pretty eventful. Friday I had my wisdom tooth out with no problems, thank goodness. It was nice to have a day at home. Saturday I cooked jamablaya in the crock pot and Mike came over for dinner. Sunday we had a TON of visitors at church, it was so exciting! We went out to lunch afterwards and almost half of us there were new people.

Sunday afternoon I got the privilege of spending some time with Mary, one of our new visitors. She is going through a lot and needs prayer. It is really obvious that God is working in her life and drawing her to Himself. If you get a chance please pray for her that she'll make the decision to give her life to Him. She is pretty much face to face with that decision now.

I have to brag on our church for a minute... it's boasting in Christ because of the Christlike attitude our members have been showing, and I am so proud of everyone. Mary said to me on Sunday that our church was the first one she felt comfortable at and she knew she wouldn't be judged. I was so happy to hear that - we try so hard to accept people as God has accepted us and it was nice to hear that it has helped someone.

Last night (Tuesday) was a bit of an extravaganza. The last Star Wars movie came out on DVD and the basement filled up with fans pretty quickly to watch Annakin turn into Darth Vader. We really are a bunch of nerds! :-)

new pics

Got some new pics of the hayride... see below! I am also very excited because I now have a new wireless card in my laptop. I know, like I never get online anyway... :-)

dust (and hay) settling

It's definitely going to take me a while to get used to this new schedule. Each day is different, which is so great for variety's sake, but the feeling of it is still really new.

Thursday night Justin spoke on self-control at Christian Challenge. He used another of his famous analogies, this time about standing in line for the bathroom. Our analogy list now reads: Faith is like chicken, salvation is like cooties, we are like a bologna sandwich... and now self-control is like the pee-pee dance. If you have never heard Justin speak, just believe me that they all make perfect sense in context!

So the weekend... This Saturday we had our annual church hayride, or shall I say hay fight. It was great to have a huge crowd this year! We had almost 40 I believe. The first picture is of Jess getting a special pre-hay hair treatment from Justin!

We had the "rowdy" wagon and the "weenie" wagon... I was glad to be a "weenie" this year and keep watch over some of the littlest kids. Justin was a great sport as usual- despite his hay allergies he went on the "rowdy" wagon and got completely covered by hay-slinging kids who got a fiendish delight out of pelting the pastor. Luckily he still had his voice to preach the next morning.

Sunday night Matt treated us to his latest sermon. It was on parenting. He drew on his vast experience with the subject. :-) He DID do a great job of basing it on Scripture and giving examples (fron the kids' point of view at least!)

Yesterday I spent over three hours waiting at the dentist's office for him to tell me that I have to come back Friday to have my 3 remaining wisdom teeth yanked. And he can't knock me out for it either. The excitement never ends around here I tell you!
We did have a fun evening though - we went over to the newly opened Hobby Lobby, the first one we've had up here in Lansing. For you northerners, that's a gigantic home and craft shop that beats Michael's and JoAnn's hands down. Of course they are having all these great opening sales so Justin and I had to hang onto the wallet. We managed to get out with most of our money intact. A little-known fact about Justin is that he used to help design Hobby Lobby stores in his architectural heyday, so it was especially fun for him.

I love fall.

How could any other season be better?

surprise!

Heather found out yesterday how easy it is to actually surprise me... I was totally clueless that she was throwing a party for me and her supervisor Jill at work. She pulled it off by telling me the party was for Jill and telling Jill that the party was for me. Of course everyone else knew it was for both of us. I don't think I've ever met anyone who is as thoughtful of others as Heather.

Yesterday was a long but good day. Carrie and I finally found a time to meet one-on-one. It is so easy to forget how valuable time in the Word is... then when you find yourself teaching someone else how important it is you gain back that appreciation! We started out last night in Galatians and focused on "pleasing man" for a while. It never ceases to amaze me how He has it all there for us if only we'd just want to open our eyes!

Tonight Justin is speaking at Christian Challenge. It got moved back to Thursday nights... a good thing because "FNC: Friday Night Challenge" really lost any seriousness whatsoever when we started hearing "I'll FN' C you there!" :-)

new pad

Here is a picture of the nice cozy corner of my new office.

Below is my actual work area.

Justin bought me the lovely diploma frame as a congratulations (on getting the job and being his new sugar mama) present. I saw these mini lava lamps the other day and was sorely tempted but I'm not sure that's very professional :-) We'll see if I break down!

If you are over in my area (MSU Law College building... in the basement) come over and visit! You might want to call first and make sure I'm there. I have a nice candy dish full of chocolate just waiting for you.

ah, october

This weekend was picture-perfect fall - warm, sunny, and colorful. It was also nice and relaxing. I got some stuff done around the house and put some fall decorations out. The moon was full last night. It smells nice outside.

one down...

I finished my first week at the new job. While I'm really tired I am SO thankful... it's like night and day compared to my old one. I am still working at my old job in the afternoons for one more week, which is really hard because I don't have enough time to get everything done in the mornings, and we are right smack in the middle of our busy time in the afternoons. One more week....

town hall

Tonight we are having our first town hall meeting at church... we have a lot of issues to discuss so I am praying now that God's will would be done there. I will update tomorrow on the results.

I got a new MSU ID card today and had a bit of a melancholy moment when I realized how much older I look in my new photo... I have been working at the library for 11 years. I sent out my "re-inroduction" e-mail to the library staff yesterday and got almost 30 responses from people with their congratulations. I was a little taken aback... I didn't realize just how many people I actually knew here! I have been really guilty of keeping to myself and not pursuing relationships with people at work, which is REALLY easy to do in the library with so many of us introverts.

i can turn off my lights!

You know it's been busy when I don't even have time to blog. :-) I got settled into my brand new office on Monday. Last night Justin and I went over to hang pictures and figure out decorating. I can't tell you how excited I am that I can actually turn off my overhead fluorescent lights... it's definitely a momentous milestone in my life!

This new job is going to be a ton of work but wonderful. The flexibility and the freedom of it are so awesome, and I have a great, fun boss. This week alone has already made getting the degree worthwhile. I finally have the authority to organize my own time and prioritize my own projects... even keep my own hours to a degree. I don't have to ask permission to take a break or even use a fork!

I'll put a photo up as soon as I have 2 seconds to take one.

adventures in nerdiness

I was having such a great day at work on Friday that Mark talked me into marching in the MSU Sesquicentennial parade with him and a bunch of librarians. So... I went to represent for the 'brary. Our library director and the former director got to ride in a convertible and the rest of us walked behind, carried signs, and handed out these maracas with the library name on them. Kids were pretty excited to get them... wish I could say the same about their excitement level at seeing a bunch of librarians! ;-) We did get some interesting cheers though... "We love the cybercafe!" was one... "Yeah Dewey Decimal" was another... but my favorite was definitely "Go Periodicals!" I had to shush a couple would be-hecklers despite myself. The parade itself was fun - there were something like 150 entries and 7 bands. Every department from MSU and a bunch of organizations had entries or floats. We were behind the sinking Titanic, complete with smoke coming out of the smokestacks. You can see the float behind Mark in the second pic. I'm not sure what that represented in regards to MSU but it couldn't be good!

lunch anyone?

Have you guys seen this one? I guess that snake bit off more than he could chew! You can click on the picture to see it bigger. That's the other end of the snake sticking back at a right angle to the gator's tail (it took me a while to figure that one out... you can see the shape of the front of the gator inside the snake... cool!)

Fight to the death
The carcass of a 6-foot American alligator is shown protruding from the mid-section of a 13-foot Burmese python on Monday, Sept. 26, in Everglades National Park after the snake apparently tried to swallow the gator whole and literally exploded -- killing both animals. ``Encounters like that are almost never seen in the wild. ... And we here are, it's happened for the fourth time,'' said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor. In the other cases, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.
(AP/ Everglades National Park)

starting soon... hopefully!

It looks like I will be starting the new job, at least for part of the day, on Monday. My bosses are trying to work out a deal that will make the transition smoother for both departments. I will probably be spending my mornings at the new job and my afternoons back here for at least a week and possibly two. This isn't set in stone yet but I should know more soon.

I had an evaluation today too. That went well - they usually do - but I can't help being nervous for them anyhow.

holding pattern

No news yet on when I'm going to start the new job. I'm working on tying up some loose ends here at work and trying to go out with as much integrity as I've tried to have all along. Hopefully that can be a witness as I've been so frustrated here.

By the way I forgot to mention that Alli has a job now too, which is exciting because we were both looking for a while and ended up getting hired on the same day! I thought that was cool.

Last night we had a nice dinner with Jordan and Drew. I cooked up a big lasagna and all the trimmings as we figured they don't get home cooked meals at the frat house very often. :-) Justin and Matt even used their day off to clean the whole house. I was VERY impressed.

more good news!

Wow, it has really been a week full of good news. Alison just called to let me know she got engaged this morning! Congrats to her and Taure, my new brother-in-law... Alison has been planning her wedding for as long as I can remember so I'm sure it's going to be quite the extravaganza. My dad is going to be HUGELY enjoying all the kvetching he's going to get to do over this one!

secret service

Matt bought a new automatic gun that shoots those red plastic bead things. I'm sure it has a real name but being gun illiterate I couldn't tell you. Anyhow he has been shooting up the pear tree while waiting for Stumpy, our resident tail-less squirrel to show up. (Don't worry, the little pellets don't hurt.) Today after church he was feeling quite official in his fancy getup so he decided to put on the suspenders, grab my sunglasses, and play Secret Service. (Justin was down in the Situation Room so he missed out ont he action.) I think we watch WAY too much West Wing around here.

camping

Just got back from our camping trip. It was fast but fun. Last night was beautiful; clear and calm and all the stars were out. Matt and Scott even caught some faint northern lights wen they walked around the lake.

We (Jolee here) made a new friend as you can see in the first picture. The farm cat took a liking to us, unfortunately for Chelsea who was freaked out by it the whole time. It was particularly enamored of Kadee and kept jumping in her lap and snuggling up uninvited.

We also had a Pastor Appreciation moment as you can see in the second photo. "That's Pastor Stupid to you" was about all I could think of when I saw them sitting there. Leave it to our buddy Sot to come up with such an expressive article of clothing.

We were woken up this morning by shrieks from the girls' tent (due to a spider of course.) And I think somehow I managed to pitch our tent on top of an anthill. Kadee did help me put it up though but i'm not blaming her since she has had less experience with tent-raising!

I'M HIRED!!!!

I got the job!!! I just found out this morning; I'm pretty excited if you couldn't tell! I'm a real librarian now. ;-) I am not sure of the starting details yet but I will post as I find out. The position is at the MSU Business Library and is a temporary 9-month appointment. I'll be training to compete for the permanent position which interviews in the spring. The best thing is that the library guaranteed me a full-time clerical spot back here at the main branch if I don't get the permanent job, so the uncertainty about unemployment is taken care of. Thank the Lord for answering prayers!

fall camping

I know that most people think we're crazy to go camping this time of year, but it's the best time by far. You have the whole campground to yourselves, it's cold at night but just cold enough to be toasty under a load of blankets and layers, and the fire is nice and warm instead of making you sweat. Granted we're probably not going to go for a night swim, but the crisp cool air makes up for that.

That said, we're taking the youth group camping tonight. We're staying tonight but plan to be back before noon tomorrow for the annual Michigan-Michigan State football game. We're not going ANYWHERE near campus thank goodness... this is one of the times I'm thankful for TV. :-)

shining

Why is it that we as Christians find such subtle ways for it to be "all about us" and not about Jesus? Even when we're supposedly focusing on Him it becomes about OUR opinons, OUR "spirituality," OUR "style of ministry," OUR "authenticity." Are we truly a mirror of God's glory or are we warping it, even slightly, to fit our own ideas? Are we superimposing the outline of our face on Christ's reflection?

When Moses was talking to God on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 33, he begged God for His presence to be with him and the Israelites.

Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name." Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." (Exodus 33:15-18)

The thing that was to "set apart" the people of God from all others was the presence of God. Not their "lifestyle," not their "belief systems," not their "authenticity." These things resulted from having God's presence with them, but it was His presence that people noticed, His presence that set them apart. God's presence shows God's glory.

How often do we take the time to put down our own fronts, our own faces, and just let God's presence be our face? This kind of surrender is hard... It's so much easier to create our own "filters" for His light than to just let it blaze. But tampering with God's glory is attempting to weaken the very thing that sets us apart - the very thing that the world will notice.

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Our personalities, styles, outlooks, and uniqueness all have a place- and that place is submitted to God's shining glory. Our "selves" should not filter God's light, they should instead be illuminated in its unveiled glory.

survivor nacogdoches

I heard from Stephen today and it sounds like things are crazy down in Texas. He and Stacey and her family are OK, but with no power still. He is back in Alabama and hopefully Stacey will be back online soon. Please continue to keep them in prayer! Here is an excerpt from his e-mail:

Even though the hurricane came through and it cooled things off, the temps have soared back into the low 100's and the heat index has been 105-110 in the area. Thus, people have been miserable, and cold showers have been welcome for once in our life. Not only have the temps been high, but the tempers have been raging in the area. What is not being told in the media is that the locals are having to compete with evacuees from Rita and Katrina for supplies. Moreover, far NE Texas has sent many of the evacuees back to the Nacogdoches area to re-stock and supply prior to returning home. Intermittent power outages in the city of Nacogdoches (and county) has turned driving into an adventure. Road rage and absence of reason has been the norm on the roads. Whenever ice, water or gas was present, it was grounds for all out choas. Both Stacey and I have had encounters with road rage where we almost were run over for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. We have spent two days watching Houston folks congest every road known to man trying to return and it has been amazing watching to gridlock and congestion forcing local traffic to be re-routed.

I never thought of how much I take these cool Michigan fall mornings for granted! I'm sure they would kill for 56 degrees right about now.

calamari anyone?

OK so I thought these photos of a giant squid were cool. This is the first time they have gotten a picture of one of these guys in action. Check out the tentacle... This dude could stock the calamari vat at Mongolian Barbecue for the next year. By the way, the photos (and story) are at cnn.com. You have to wonder what God was thinking when he made him (or her I suppose!)

How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number - living things both large and small. Psalm 104:24-25

morning glory

Here's the season's last morning glory that I passed on my way to work this morning. I also saw a heron in the river, but it was too far away to get a good shot with my camera phone. The river was misty this morning as the temp dipped down into the 40s.

now THIS is interesting...

I get teased a lot for being "obsessed" with BTK (the Wichita serial killer)... just to set the record straight, I'm not obsessed at all, just fascinated with his case- and here is a good example why. Here is a very interesting interview with BTK's Lutheran pastor. It's interesting to me that it took an incident like having BTK in his church to get him to realize that there is actually a personal embodiment of evil. I thought all you theologians (amateur and otherwise) would like this one.

better now I hope!

Ok, yes, that last template had pretty bad design. :-) I did like the picture though, and you know me - fashion over function. This one is much clearer and laid out better. This designer has some really nice ones. The next one will be my own when I brush up on my HTML skills.

My interview went really well on Friday. I should know something at some point next week. One really exciting thing if I get this job is that I would be able (and encouraged, imagine that!) to take web design classes and work on updating the library's web presence. That would be very fun for me to have a creative (and practical) outlet at work. It was nice talking to my interviewers about the nature of this job - the environment there is so positive and encouraging; sometimes I forget that work can be like that.

Let's see... Friday night we had a game night at church, and while I didn't do my usual cleanup at Uno I did discover that Matt and I are a force to be reckoned with at Taboo. Justin spent most of the night trash-talking Velma about Skip-Bo.

Saturday and Sunday were the normal hodgepodge of events and busy-ness. Kevin F. joined our church this week. Being ordained and a seminary grad, he will have lots to do! It was funny, one of our senior ladies was bragging on him during the evening service... "Did you know that a SOUTHERN BAPTIST MINISTER joined our church today?" It was so cute.

finally fall

This morning brought that familiar crispness in the air along with the late sunrise. It is finally starting to feel like fall. I was disappointed I didn't get to ride the bike in this morning but I have my interview this afternoon at 3:30 and I didn't feel like schlepping my makeup bag and a change of clothes along with me.

Stacey and Stephen are in for a wild weekend as he is driving INTO the path of Rita... from north Alabama to Nacogdoches, TX where Rita is expected to blow right over with tropical storm strength. He's headed for a job interview... should be a bit unlike any other! Please pray for them... mostly that he gets the job and is finally able to join Stacey again in TX.

We had some new contacts for the ministry this week. It's rush week, so all the frats and sororities are pretty busy as you can imagine. We're praying that God puts people where He can have the maximum impact and glory in their lives.

so...

What do y'all think of the new layout? I went a little nuts yesterday. :-) I found it at this blogskins site - i think i looked through all the thousands on there before I found one I liked. There were some cool ones but they all reminded me of stationery from China with the "inspirational" sayings on them.

The only things I don't like are that it's a little harder to read, and my pictures are too wide to be seen all at once. I can't fix that though.... the transparent area is built into the background photo. I am willing to sacrifice that for style however!

boundaries!

Yesterday I got a call for an interview for the Business Library job that I posted about on Friday. The upcoming interview is this Friday at 3:30. So... God's will be done here.

Last night we had a bit of a break at our women's Bible study. We had yummy homemade pizza and watched "Monster-in-Law" to provide a fun illustration for our Boundaries study that we're doing. As with most movies the issues were pretty exaggerated but it definitely highlighted some of the stuff we've been talking and reading about. We all got really cheesy and clapped when J.Lo says "boundaries" at the end. Wanda Sykes is hilarious in this film by the way, she definitely makes the movie.

tasty

Anyone have a good recipie for no-bake cookies? I tried one last night and they came out way too dry. They look kind of like little dried-up cow patties. Not too appetizing but Justin says they taste good. I should make Gretchen's famous Litterbox Cake to go with them.

sbc cribs

Sunday night we got to hear Matt preach again and watch a "Cribs" video that he and Tim made. I particularly enjoyed seeing their "rides..." Tim's medical supply delivery truck complete with "oxygen bar" and Matt's pimpin' 91 Jetta (formerly mine) with stock rims and eardrum-shattering subwoofer. Tim's rock climbing "bling" was especially hot as well. It was nice to see Kadee who braved the trip down from CMU (see photo) and also had a surprise visit from Julie who stopped by on her way to the exciting city of Flint.

gorgeous ladies of wrestling... uh, music....

This photo didn't come out as well as I hoped but the lighting was a little weird in the church. Anyhow I attended a lovely chamber music recital on Saturday night; it was great to hear Laura, Marie, and Gretchen play again as well as some new people. Please note Laura's gorgeous new top, proudly obtained that day from a church bag sale (fill-a-bag for $1.00).

Trying again

I applied for another job today. It's a temoprary librarian position (9 months) at the MSU Business Library, and the person who gets this job will have a chance to apply for the permanent spot in the spring. Some of you will remember I used to work at the Business Lib. (otherwise known as the Bid'ness Liberry) and I enjoyed it a lot. The only problem with this position would be the temporary thing... it's possible I could be unemployed at the end of 9 months. Scary, but if God wants it then He'll take care of us.

oaks of righteousness

Isaiah 61: 1-3
He has sent me... to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

not dale earnhardt

I saw this article on Scott Hamilton today and forgot how much he looks like he could be Justin's "brother." We all know they are not related however because Justin's true brother was Dale Earnhardt, who unfortunately didn't leave him any money in his will. AND Justin is much better looking than his skating alter ego!

the scrap

Definetely the cutest "dude" in our house.

welcome to slobovia

Last night was fun. I love having any excuse to cook "yard" in large quantities (or in any at all for that matter!) It was funny how many people had a problem eating with their hands. My soup came out thicker than I had hoped and it was the consistency of mush, so that was particularly fun! If I was nicer I would have run out and gotten some flat bread to sop it up with, but it turned out to be really challenging for people. Tim and Jerri were great, they were very authentic hosts - constantly scooping more onto our plates and asking us questions about America.

Our speakers were from West Africa and really gave us some great insight into the culture that they are living and working in. They really showed that in other cultures we need to put aside our American attitudes of "if it's different, then it's wrong." Some of their stories were real eye-openers for many of us too!

mom online

Here is an article from my hometown's community paper that featured my mom. She 's always doing something new!

jillie

"Mommy, who is that freak taking my picture?"

i did it!

My new bike has a much lighter frame and is a LOT easier to pedal, so I rode the whole 8 miles to work today for the first time.... and NO popped tires!

We had a really packed weekend. Saturday afternoon we stopped at Heather's house for a BBQ... see cute picture of Jillian above. Saturday night we took the youth group to a rally in Tecumseh. We were under the impression that Tecumseh was right outside of Jackson and it would take us just over an hour to get there. Two hours later we showed up! We didn't miss too much though, just the "socializing" bit. Last night Lynn hosted the back-to-school party for said youth at her house. It was a blast... you did have to watch out for kids flying through the air however as they were getting dunked in the pool at the alarming rate of several per minute.

We're doing a missions emphasis this week at church, and we have events scheduled through Wednesday. We had missionaries speak at both services on Sunday; one from Malaysia and one from Alabama. Tonight we have one from West Africa, and I'm going home early this afternoon to try to whip up some Moroccan dishes for a dinner. We're going to put the people that show up through a mini Focus orientation dinner... they are going to have to eat whatever I put in front of them with their hands and try to witness to Tim and Jerri who will be posing as native "Slobovians." It's going to be really fun to see how the church folks react, many never having been overseas or eaten "weird" food.

this better work...

Tim and Jerri helped me pick out a new bike yesterday. Well, new-ER, we went to Dicker and Deal, my favorite secondhand shop. After two blown tires in a row and having to call Justin to come pick me up from the side of the road I was getting pretty frustrated with my old one. I'm going to take the new one for a spin today, it's much sturdier and easier to ride than my previous one. I am DETERMINED to ride to work!

michigan lost

Tim and Jerri watching that OTHER SCHOOL get beat...

Ya never know...

Another potential contact for the Greek ministry today... amazingly enough a guy that I have worked with for several months was wearing a fraternity hat today that I asked about. Turns out he is not only in a frat but his dad is a pastor and he is interested in Bible study. I had no idea he was remotely interested in either frats OR Bible study... you just never, ever know! He has a buddy that also works here too who is apparently also in a frat, which I never would have guessed either. It's funny, I have my own stereotypes... never thought this gregarious, friendly guy and his quiet marching band buddy were the frat type. That really opened my eyes a lot!

happy pcm day!

Today I got to go home for lunch after a doctor's appointment and Matt wished me a happy PCM day, which resulted in a blank look until he elaborated - "Pork Chop Moving Day." He and Scrappy are officially moving in this evening. A new era has begun... :-)

If you can, please pray for my mom's friend Gina who just returned home to Mississippi to find her house still standing but almost a total loss to flooding. Miraculously her pets survived. She and her husband Mark have three girls.

non-laborious labor day

Had a nice, lazy weekend. Took some donated items for the hurricane victims from the church over to a local collection center. Got some reading done. Sunday was nice, we didn't have evening church so I cooked all afternoon and we had a nice leisurely barbecue at night. It's such a treat to have time off with no plans... at least for a long weekend.

kiwi

...and here's sweet Kiwi!

spence

Hung out with Gretchen tonight and got some good shots of the kitties. Here's Spencer, looking slightly evil...

an uphill battle

Justin got a taste yesterday of jsut how difficult this Greek Life ministry is going to be. I guess never having been a part of that lifestyle we forget the kind of ostracism and insane pressure that these guys and girls face. Having naively bumped up against that in my younger years is what made me turn and ignore (or ridicule) these people for the rest of my life until now. Being a real Christian in a frat house is like tattooing a target on every visible part of your body. In Justin's meetings yesterday he heard and saw some of the very real struggles that people are facing. These folks need some SERIOUS equipping and a major support stucture!

The good news is that both the people that Justin met with yesterday are eager to see God work. We are going to try to work something out with the guy that is running the Campus Crusade study and Justin is going to start meeting one-on-one with Jordan, the guy from the Party at the Aud. Thank the Lord for this first step!

pathetically cute

Chelsea really has been outdoing herself lately to be cute. I think she ended up in this spot out of jealousy, though... Justin had his feet in my lap and she couldn't stand to see me "pet" someone else besides her! Solution: squeeze in and flop down right in the middle...

BTW I love that night/low light setting on my camera phone. I love the soft way these come out.

beauty

I guess I'm feeling "posty" today. No, not postal... no need to duck under the desk. ;-)

Kim lent me a wonderful book in which I'm finally getting to indulge. I mentioned it a little while ago, it's "Captivating" by John and Stasi Eldredge. I am a big fan of John's books so I was eager to get my hands on this one, and I'm finding that I like Stasi's writing style even better. When I first read the "Sacred Romance," I had to put it down because I couldn't deal with the "sappiness" and I was suspicious of his theology. I wanted to believe what he was saying but could't bring myself to do so. With all his talk about the importance of listening to our heart, Jeremiah 17:9 always popped into my head - "The heart is more deceitful than all else /And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?" I couldn't reconcile these viewpoints, but eventually saw how they are both true as our heart is the wellspring of life yet tainted by the sickness of sin.

Anyhow, back to "Captivating." What a treat to hear someone, especially a Christian, say just how important beauty is... essential... and give a reason for it! Beauty is an extremely important part of who God is, of His character... just look at His creation. The book also talks about how we neglect beauty for the sake of efficiency. It reminds me of when we were in Boston, helping to clean a beautiful old church that the Baptists had just acquired. It was a historical building, a real architectural treasure, and had a gorgeous original Tiffany stained glass window in the sanctuary. Justin and I were admiring it to one of the associational directors, who said, "Do you know how much that thing is worth? We need to rip it out and sell it. We could build a whole church for that kind of money." The two of us just about yelled "Over my dead body!" in unison. Why is it that so many Christians see beauty as trivial, as nonessential? Can you imagine a God who was without beauty... just an efficient machine?

I am really looking forward to finishing this book!

meetings

Justin has two meetings today, one with the Campus Crusade guy who is leading a Greek Life study, and the other with the guy that we met at the Party at the Aud. I'm excited to see how these go. Starting from scratch like this is hard but it's cool too to see the opportunities that only God can provide.

In other news, Matt has called to let us know that he caught a 2-pound largemouth bass yesterday as he's spending the week up north with his mom at a fishing cabin. He threw it back in hopes of catching an even bigger one to mount! I know almost nothing about fishing; Matt has been having to explain the intricacies of fake raspberry-flavored worms to me. He is gearing up to move in this weekend. We'll have a pretty full house for the next few months with Matt, Tim, me and Justin, and Chelsea and Scrappy for the canine contingent. It's always a party at chez miller, or should I say chez miller-puralewski-kidd. :-) Tim and Jerri are planning to be married in December, but until then it's going to be a houseful. My dad has taken to calling me the Frat Mother, for good reason! I wouldn't have it any other way though, I love having the guys around. It's such a blessing and privilege to be involved in their lives on a day-to-day basis like this.

rejection

So I didn't get either job. While I'm thankful that God is in control and obviously didn't want me in either situation, I'm still feeling a little disappointed. Many of you know the struggles that I have in my current job, and they have intensified this week, so I was particularly looking forward to a possible end in sight! However, I am grateful for my employment and I know that there is still much to be learned from my current circumstances. If you guys have a second to pray for me that I would keep God's perspective at work and that I would persevere, I would be really thankful. I could use a good reminder at what God is doing in my office right now for some encouragement!

Some good news to come in a bit.. back to work for the time being.

hurricane devastation

This is a photo from Reuters that shows a highway bridge washed out by Katrina. When I look at some of these photos I can't believe this is the US; it is a reminder that we're not invincible here. We get lulled into complacency sometimes. I remember being younger and not worrying about hurricanes that would come up the East coast occasionally, they were "just a lot of wind and rain" by the time they hit us in Connecticut.

I'm reminded of Job... "the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." (1:21). We are powerless in the face of something like this, His sovereignty is all that's left to trust. Please pray that His glory will come out of this somehow...

cats, dogs, and students

Last night was fairly uneventful, I finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It got pretty scary there at the end. I'm looking forward to seeing how they put it into movie format. Some discussion-worthy themes in this one are discernment, truth prevailing, and lying.

I stopped by to see Evette after a fruitless search for boxes for my remaining yard sale stuff. We had quite the discussion about theories for what will happen to Harry. I had the pleasure of trying to pet three adorable animals at once who all wanted attention. I particularly enjoyed sharing my lap with Rory (the dog) and Luna (the cat) while Rory submitted to having her face licked by said cat. It was one of those cute animal moments that people send you e-mail forwards about all the time.

Justin sent out e-mails yesterday to all of the contacts that we made at the Party at the Aud on Saturday night. He's already heard back from the girl we met from the Greek Life office who was really enthusiastic about helping us out. She told us that Campus Crusade also has a frat/sorority Bible study going on that we were unaware of, which is great. Justin got the contact info for that leader as well. It's cool to see more every day how God has already been working and preparing in this area. It's a real confirmation for us that we're headed in His direction.

what a weekend!

It's been yet another weekend packed with news. First of all, I received a rejection letter Friday evening for the first job (Halsett library) that I interviewed for, so I breathed a sigh of relief to at least know that that option is done. I am not someone who deals well with having loose ends! Still waiting to hear on the second job, will post as soon as I hear.

Saturday was crazy. We knew something good was going to happen because by 3PM I was in a foul, petulant mood and Matt showed up exhausted from working at a terrible fatal car accident since 4AM that morning. It was so obvious that the enemy was trying to do anything to distract us from that night's events! We were trying to gear up for the Party at the Aud outreach that night. Thankfully Justin was able to see right through the situation too and helped all of us to snap out of it and focus on our task. And praise God for that, because He had a lot in store for us!

The event was held outside this year, and there were rows and rows of tents packed with tables of the different student organizations and wall-to-wall people. It's always an exciting event; it is one of the reasons I like being at such a huge campus. There are hundreds of groups - something for everyone. Matt and I had a sack of frozen Minute Maid push-pops, a clipboard, and some flyers that we hauled around, while TJ sat at the Christian Challenge table and talked to people who came by. Matt and I stopped at every frat and sorority table, got the names of their chaplain or any contact person, and handed out flyers. We had all sorts of responses, from friendliness and enthusiasm to looks of utter incredulity. It's amazing what those silly push-pops did though... people were so excited to get those frozen treats in the heat! Early on we spoke with a girl from MSU Greek Life who was eager to hand out our flyers to all the new pledges. That was pretty encouraging, but the best was still yet to come.

We had almost made it through the entire maze of tents and tables when we came to the last frat. It's one that has just about the worst party reputation on campus... they had a lovely sign up on the table that said "Party In My Pants," if that's any indication. :-) Anyhow, there were two guys there that we talked to, and one of them perked right up when we mentioned Bible study. He said that he had heard of us... he attends the large church here whose pastor is helping us out... I'm guessing he got the e-mail that we sent to the church members. He said that he really wants to start a study at his house and that he needs help. He knows that his frat brothers won't be too excited about it but he is determined to get something going. Needless to say we were pretty awestruck. You never know where God is working... it just goes to show that you absolutely cannot judge what He is up to and who He calls! So please pray that we can have successful contact with this guy. He is exactly who we have been praying that God would put us in touch with. Pray too that we'd be able to contain our excitement and not overwhelm the poor guy all at once! We just get so geeked when we see God working like this.

It's so crazy, even as recently as two or three years ago I would have NEVER pictured myself working with frats and sororities. I had a funny moment on Saturday. If you've ever seen the movie "Never Been Kissed," Drew Barrymore plays a big nerd who goes back to high school to try to report an expose on the popular kids. She ends up joining the "Denominators" math club instead and having a ball. While we were walking around the tables, one science club group had T-shirts that said "GEEK LIFE" with the E's as sigmas. I thought they were awesome and started cracking up. I wanted one! I thought immediately of that movie though and remembered my "assignment." It's so amazing how God just turns even our own ideas about ourselves and our stereotypes upside down to use us how He pleases. We haven't the least clue what will bring Him the most glory, thankfully He'll show us if we really want to know.

puppy eyes

When Chelsea wants to make up for being bad... she is AWFULLY cute!

reunion

A shot from our visit to Interlochen earlier this month. Me, Mr. Stolper, and Gretchen.

overachieving

I can't believe that there was actually a time when I rode 25 miles on my bike. I know to you athletic types that's nothing but to sportingly-challenged people like me it's up in the stratosphere. I did manage to get off my big booty and ride 6 of the 8 miles into work today (I drove two and parked in a city lot... being realistic!) However, standing requires a little more balance than usual this morning as I'm pretty wobbly after that effort. We'll see if I can make it home tonight!

In Lansing we have the "River Trail" which is a great asset in an otherwise ugly and non-pedestrian or bike friendly city. The trail leads right into the MSU campus, so I was able to take it for about half my ride today. It really is beautiful... except for the part where you have an up-close and personal experience with the off-ramp of 496 and when you go by the sewage plant's outflow into the river... but really, it has some nice spots. You can almost forget you're in the city for a few stretches. I am looking forward to enjoying the fall foliage along the trail... if I can manage to see it through all the sweat!

I have a few books going right now, it's great to be able to read for myself again after being in school for nearly 2 years straight. I'm reading "Simplicity" by Mark Solomon, an autobiography of a Christian rock musician who has a very realistic perspective on the church. It's nice to hear a brother tell his story honestly without trying to sound "churchy." I've also got "Captivating" by John and Stasi Eldregdge (John of the "Sacred Romance," etc.) which I've only gotten a little ways into that one but it's promising. I love reading Christians who are fully submitted to God but know that His grace allows them the freedom to think and reason with Him. Elisabeth Elliot is one of my favorites in that vein... if you read "The Savage, My Kinsman" this submission and freedom is really apparent. I'm also on book 5 of Harry Potter... if I had a dollar for everyone who asks my opinion on poor Harry I'd be wealthy! If you want to know e-mail me. :-)

I've just ordered some books on Peter as well so we'll see how those turn out. This is the fun part of being a librarian!

college life

Welcome week here on campus always seems to coincide with the summer's last hurrah of scorching heat, leaving every Meijer in the area cleaned out of fans and dorm fridges. This week is perfect for back-to-school, however, as the temperatures dropped down into the upper 40s last night and it's wonderfully cool and cloudy today. This is undoubtedly my very favorite time of the year - the end of summer and the beginning of fall. The atmosphere is charged with all the new freshmen overrunning the dorms and the upperclassmen returning to the East Lansing neighborhoods. It always reminds me of just why we love college ministry... you can't even imagine the potential of what God could do in the hearts of these students. They are about to encounter that exhilirating freedom, some for the first time, of taking charge of their own lives. The decisions they will make here will set the tone for the rest of their lives - and there is nothing in the world like seeing God become real to a college student. We are so priveleged to work with men and women at this stage in their lives.

This Saturday is our first outreach event for the school year, the annual "Party at the Aud." The MSU Auditorium is filled with tables and booths from registered campus student organizations, and new students come by to check them out and sign up. It's always packed, hot, and stuffy, and bustling with energy. The organizations have an informal competition to see who can hand out the best "stuff" at their tables... we've tried cold water, candy, and even Ramen noodles in the past, and we're still figuring out what to do this year. Since Greek Life is not a registered group yet, Christian Challenge is graciously sharing their table space with us. Please pray for us that we get some truly interested contacts and a place to begin.

Burning Beacon

Oh, the heresy... the Beacon goes up in flames!

flaming heretics

Well, we had a blast at our work retreat. I was so glad to get time with people that I don't see as often as I would like, and I got to meet some great new people too. We got all sorts of things done from hanging curtains to painting to building a retaining wall. Justin got to use a sledgehammer, the observation of which seemed to be the highlight of many people's weekends. I got to paint over pink eighties sponge painting to my great satisfaction, and the "chalets" got thoroughly cleaned, mice nests and all.

What would an Immanuel trip be without some good old-fashioned irreverence? Our first night we had a campfire, and committed the ulitmate Michigan Baptist heresy by using old copies of the Baptist Beacon for kindling... sorry Julie! ;-) That seemed to be the only paper around. (see photo above.) We went for a swim as it was getting dark, and it didn't take long to violate the "no excessive splashing" rule. We eventually got kicked out of the lake but not before some crowd-pleasing waterslide acrobatics by Scott and Matt, and everyone (including Barb) getting either dunked or thrown bodily into the water. Nothing like a bunch of them rowdy Baptists I tell you.

We had some great teaching from Justin and Matt about reconnecting with God and integrity. Very frying. We also learned a lot about flexibility due to the fact that all our work plans got turned on their head. We had some great worship too... I discovered that Barb can sing harmony and do it quite well! I have some grand plans for her now. An unfortunate casualty of the weekend is that Scott (formerly nicknamed Scottie Too Hottie) is now being referred to as "Sot," thanks to little Joey's 2-year-old pronounciation of his name. It's a little too much fun referring to him as what Webster's defines as "a habitual drunkard."

Mandy and Megan show their spirit!

Kadee and Matt root for the Lugnuts...

Take me out to the ball game

Had a fun time last night at the Lansing Lugnuts game followd by a concert by Building 429. I'm not sure why they always have "Christian Family Night" on the same night as Thirsty Thursday... you'd think the beer sales would go down! Anyhow, it was very fun and we got to meet Kadee from CMU. I'm putting up a link to her blog as well. There was one casualty of the evening however... my purse slipped to the ground and when I finally found it it had been soaked in spilled beer! Smelled fantastic... :-) We're off to Bambi Lake this afternoon for our church retreat; updates on Monday.

BTW I am LOVING my new camera phone as all the new pictures attest! I am getting in touch with my inner paparazzi, or something like that...

Watch Hill Photo

FINALLY a picture with Justin in it! That's my stepfather Richard on the left for those of you who haven't met him. Thanks again Mom for the pic!

Odds & ends

Howdy. It's been another rollercoaster week, but it wouldn't be chez miller if it weren't! :-)

Some good news. Jerri walked hesitantly into an interview for a high school math teaching position yesterday and walked out with a job. This is especially amazing since the competition for teaching jobs around here is insane. God was pretty obviously at work here! She and Tim are now trying to settle on a wedding date - ah, the joys of planning. Tim's just happy that he now has his very own sugar mama.

Our womens' Bible study started the "Boundaries" book this week. We had a great study last night - it really seemed to hit home with all of us. I went through this book about 8 or 9 years ago and it really made a lasting impact on me. I'm looking forward to seeing how God helps us all out this time around.

On a totally frivolous and nerdy side note I got a way cool new cellphone yesterday. If any of you are even remotely interested you can check it out here. One guess as to what my favorite feature is... besides the camera... you can make your own cover! how awesome is that.

Watch Hill Photo

Hanging ten with the Chop in Watch Hill, RI... photo courtesy of Mom.

yard sale blues

So, at our lame yard sale on Saturday we managed to make $47.00 in nine hours. We figured that out to be less than minimum wage. We did get rid of our other table and chairs but we still have heaps of stuff in the garage that need to be boxed up and taken to Valueland. Can I interest anyone in a LOVELY set of plastic tumblers, a box of yo-yos, or their very own Love Cube? (talking photo display cube, for those unaware.)

I still haven't heard back about any jobs yet. Not sure if that is a good or bad sign but I'm not holding my breath. I will post any news as soon as I hear.

oy, my back...

It's pretty sad when you're so old that you throw your back out by going on bumper cars at the fair. They need to have a sign next to the height requirement that says no one over 30 allowed. So this is what it feels like to be a geezer! :-) Anyone know a good chiropractor?

bartering

I just want to say that I love my husband... I walked in the door last night with a lap dulcimer that I had traded with Evette for a table and chairs that we needed to get rid of, and he just smiled. I know his choleric self was thinking "we are supposed to be getting rid of all the crap in our house and you bring in a new instrument that is going to take up space somewhere and not get used" but he just smiled and shook his head and watched me find a place for it. I am a blessed woman! Now to look up dulcimer tuning on the internet...

ethnicity madness part II

So all that poking around I did trying to identify Matt's non-Mexican half origins was for naught... I somehow missed out on the fact that Matt's birth mom was adopted herself. So... generic whiteness seems to be the heritage of choice around here! Matt can again dream that he is half Scottish and clad in his unidentifiable family tartan kilt, playing bagpipes and mooning the enemy a la William Wallace.

stuck on peter

I can't seem to get out of 1 Peter which is fantastic, I love when He opens the Word up like that. Peter says a lot about suffering in the latter half of the book, discussing it in close relationship to shepherding and ministry. If anyone understood that relationship it was Peter. I can't imagine the suffering that both he and Jesus felt after Peter denied his beloved shepherd. We know that Peter wept bitterly - if that's not evidence of suffering I don't know what is.

Three times Peter denied his Shepherd, piercing his heart like the three nails pierced his flesh. And later, three times Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him. Jesus didn't forget the offense, but he forgave and restored Peter from the root of the problem, leaving no room for doubt. And what did Jesus tell Peter in response to his restoration? Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs. Be a shepherd... it's your turn.

Peter, now the shepherd writing his first epistle, says: "¹²Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed."

There is no shepherding or ministry without love, there is no love without suffering. That means that there can be no real ministry without suffering. It will come; when it does we learn the truth of just how tender God's heart is for us, just how fierce His wrath is against sin, and just how powerful His grace and forgiveness really is. Peter knew - he said "⁸Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." The wounds will heal, and the scars that remain only do so to remind us of His glory.

The waiting begins

The interwiews are OVER... now we shall see if anything comes of them. Even if I don't get either job I'm glad I did them and that there is a light at the end of the fork-lined tunnel.

Had a fun weekend - went to the Ingham County Fair on Friday night. I still don't understand why I love going to fairs so much... I think it's the people and animal watching, not to mention funnel cakes. They had an "exhibit" this year of live animal births where they impregnated the animals at a certain time and then induced labor during the fair. That seems just slightly wrong in a sci-fi kind of way to me for some reason - I can't quite pinopint it - but the baby animals were so cute I almost cried. The little 3-day old calf that was sucking on my fingers was particularly adorable and I didn't mind having cow slobber all over my hands in the least. We brought our friend Priya, a student from India, so she could get a taste of true Americana. Unfortunately we missed the demolition derby and monster trucks by a night!

Foxxy Delite

Found a fun website today... rapstarname.com. Sara Miller apparently translates into Foxxy Delite. I will keep it in mind for my bright, shining future in rap.

Also, check out Stacey Wright's new blog, straight outta Nacogdochez... link at right.

wedding bells!

Tim and Jerri called from Hawaii yesterday to let us know that they are engaged! I have no details yet but I'm sure we'll be hearing all about it this weekend when they get back.

Phew...

Well I made it through without busting up into a fit of laughter, thank the Lord. The interview went well and I was glad to know that I can do this. Shortly after I got back to my desk I got a phone call for ANOTHER interview next Monday for a different position. It's a nice feeling to know that I have the possibility of actually using one of my degrees.

Our backyard pear tree is covered with fruit, and Chelsea has been going nuts everytime she manages to get outside. I never realized that pears could have such an addicting effect on dogs! She stands underneath the tree, looks at me and barks as if I'm supposed to climb up and get them for her. Duh, what else am I good for?

Happy August

So I found out on Friday that I have an interview today at 1PM... my first formal job interview. Gretchen helped me brainstorm about questions for a good hour on the way up to Interlochen on Saturday, and Justin gave me his best faux-interiew yesterday. Stephen called this morning and said that a question they might ask is: "What would your current supervisor say were issues that you need to work on?" Of course the first thing that popped into my head is my excessive use of utensils... but I need to compose myself before my 1PM timeline. :-)

Tim is off to Hawaii to pop the question. He bought Jerri a beautiful square-cut solitaire ring. I know she doesn't have my blog address yet so I can write this without fear of her reading it before the big moment. I'm excited for her to come back, it's always a nice treat to have cool girls around to balance out the testosterone level around our house.

travel to traverse

Getting ready to make the annual summer pilgrimage to Traverse City. Gretchen and I are headed up to Interlochen for a day trip tomorrow to have lunch with Mr. Stolper. I haven't seen him in about 5 or 6 years so it will be great to catch up. The weather looks like it will be absolutely perfect - high 70's, partly cloudy. There really are beautiful places in Michigan, you just have to head north! The shallow water in the twin bays there is aquamarine like somewhere in the Carribean.

Loving 1 Peter

The more I am reading in 1 Peter, the more he seems to be getting right at the heart of who we are as people submitted to Christ - what the attitude of a fully submitted person should be. Submission is not something to be taken lightly, and we need to know that we can trust our Ruler... we also learn that trust as we do submit. Again this is where faith comes in. God will never let us down, in contrast to every other person and system who we are rightly trained to question and challenge. That rock-solid truth that He embodies is more worthy of our trust and the control of our lives than we are, as flawed people. His unshakable character makes Him worthy of our submission, and also shows why submission to Him is essential for being a Christian.

Peter explains so well that we are here for a purpose greater than ourselves, and to fully experience this purpose we must fully give our lives to it. The more we hold back for ourselves, the more we miss out, the more meaningless our lives become. The purpose of bringing God glory is inescapable... we will glorify Him in the end whether we want to or not... wouldn't it be so much better to actively work for it? To let our lives return to their original purpose? To be fulfilled in a way that we all long for? God says the answer is complete submission to Him. He promises the opposite of what we think submission means - oppression, unfairness, chauvinism. He promises ultimate freedom, ultimate justice, and ultimate love.

For the sake of His glory we are called to endure unfairness, injustice, and suffering on earth just as Jesus did... but we have the hope of ultimate vindication, and the promise that it is for His glory. We need to accept these things for the sake of His and our greater purpose. We need to lay down our "rights" before Him. Bringing Him glory is more important than demanding eartlhy justice - and the hope of heavenly justice comforts us.

1 Peter 2: 20-22: But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. ²¹To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. ²²"He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." ²³When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

black dutch?

The great topic of discussion this week is ethnicity and heritage. This all began when Matt's mom told him on Sunday that his non-Mexican half was Scottish. This information precipitated an identity crisis for Matt as he always thought his other half was German. After all the obligatory kilt jokes, being the information nerd that I am, I had to find out.

Little did I know the can of worms that I was opening up. Just as Matt was warming up to the idea of having his own plaid, I shattered his Braveheart-esque dreams by finding out that he was probably half-English, not Scottish, thus making him a Mexi-Wasp.

While I was in history mode, I decided to research Justin's family claim of "Black Dutch." Wow. I found out that no one knows what Black Dutch really is, and it could refer to mixed ethnicity of anything from German to Black to Cherokee. (And it's probably not Dutch at all.) Needless to say, Justin now was having an identity crisis of his own. Bravely facing the fact that he might not be the target of Goldmember-inspired Dutch jokes anymore, he called his Granny June and we had an interesting conversation. What we ended up concluding is that.. Justin is...

WHITE!

Big surprise there. He's most likely English, Scotch-Irish, and German. There is a slight possibility that in the middle ages he may have inherited some Moorish blood... meaning that maybe a thousand years ago his family could have had rhythm.

As for me, I'm perfectly satisfied being a Jewish Wasp. :-) AND I can prove it!