holiday ramblings

I'm getting just as bad as the guys thinking explosions are cool. :) Here is yet another video of a bridge blowing up from cnn.com.

The rush is on! Counting down the days till Christmas. We've had quite the packed December so far. We had our church staff dinner at the English Inn earlier this month and had a fantastic time talking to our waiter for almost an hour. He heard us talking about "church stuff" and struck up a conversation. It was pretty awesome. We've also had Jill's baby shower (photos here). She is having a little boy in February, about two months before our girl is due. Tonight we're having our church Christmas party, and Sunday evening we're off to Connecticut for the week. After that, we're home for another week and then heading to Oklahoma. Then I'm not traveling for a good long time!

I'm on week 24 of my pregnancy.. 6 months along now. Last night Justin felt the baby move for the first time. She's finally starting to kick hard enough to feel on the outside. I've felt her doing gymnastics in there for about a month now. She likes to act up when I lie down for bed at night. I also had my first "preg-nesia" experience this morning. I couldn't find my glasses on my night table when I got up, and went stumbling into the bathroom when it dawned on me that I could see. I completely forgot to take my contacts out before I went to bed last night. Oy vey.

Things at church are great. I am enjoying worship so much and am so thankful that the Cobbs have come. God is already blessing us a ton through their ministry and it's so exciting to see Him working. I have been in and out of jaded-ness for far too long and it's great to have a fresh reminder of His working and to see our formerly stagnant church growing and transforming. Also, if you remember, please pray for Kadee whose grandmother passed away this weekend. It's been a tough one.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone.

a flight of fancy?

Sorry I just had to post this one... from abcnews.com

Flatulence Forces Plane to Land
Plane Forced to Land After Passenger Passes Gas, Lights Match to Cover Scent

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Dec 6, 2006 (AP) - An American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing Monday morning after a passenger lit a match to disguise the scent of flatulence, authorities said.

The Dallas-bound flight was diverted to Nashville after several passengers reported smelling burning sulfur from the matches, said Lynne Lowrance, spokeswoman for the Nashville International Airport Authority. All 99 passengers and five crew members were taken off and screened while the plane was searched and luggage was screened.

The FBI questioned a passenger who admitted she struck the matches in an attempt to conceal a "body odor," Lowrance said. She had an unspecified medical condition, authorities said.

"It's humorous in a way but you feel sorry for the individual, as well," she said. "It's unusual that someone would go to those measures to cover it up."

The flight took off again, but the woman was not allowed back on the plane. The woman, who was not identified, was not charged in the incident.

thanksgiving

We didn't get to travel for Thanksgiving this year, but the weather was gorgeous and we made the rounds first to Nelia's house and then to Marie's. We had plenty of turkey and stuffing and all the fxins...but we did have to miss out on the festivities in Providence. Here are Ariana and Alison posing at the Rodrigues family gathering, photo courtesy of Mom. Can't wait to see everyone at Christmas.

Justin, bless his heart, has taken it upon himself to finish tiling our floor. I came home last night rejoicing to find several more rows laid. The fridge will be back in its rightful spot eventually!

We did venture down to Canton on Black Friday to do some baby shopping at Ikea. We got a crib and some other necessities, and I'll be going back with Denise in a few weeks to pick up a changing table and rug. Today I'm starting to feel the baby moving around more persistently... she's starting to kick, no question about that!

she's coming!

So I had my 20-week ultrasound yesterday, and... send in the pink, it's a girl! It was so cool seeing her little hands and feet squirming around. She has all her fingers and toes and is healthy, praise God, currently weighing in at just 12 ounces. Justin is particularly excited as he was hoping for a girl. Stephen W. has already offered to buy him a shotgun for when she starts dating. :-) Now Auntie Alison will have a human niece in addition to her canine one, and Uncle Pork Chop will have yet ANOTHER princess to spoil!

Seeing her in there made me realize that she is going to have to come out sooner or later. Now that I'm halfway through the pregnancy I guess it's time to start thinking about the end of it. I'm getting more and more excited all the time.

I'll post an ultrasound photo as soon as I get them scanned.

weekend houseguests

On Friday night, as we opened the garage door on our way over to church, we heard the smallest little meow and in ran a tiny little orange and white kitten! It couldn't have been more than eight or so weeks old.I scooped it up and it was purring like crazy and so, so cute. We decided to leave her in the garage until we could run to Meijer for some kitten food. As we shut the door, we heard another meow... and her brother ran out from behind the bushes! We scooped him up too and brought him inside, where he and his sister promptly snuggled up with me. We eventually made it out, and looked for any more siblings, but it seemed like those two were the only ones.

Eventually we made it back, armed with kitty food and a litter box. They were quite happy to get that chow. Even Matt thought they were cute when he walked in, which is saying a lot for someone who is definitely not a "cat person." Anyhow, we couldn't leave them in the cold garage, so we put Chelsea in her kennel and brought them down to the basement where they had their own little room for the night. They snuggled up together in Scrappy's castoff bed.

The next morning I went around the neighborhood trying to figure out if they belonged to anyone, but with no luck. By this point Justin and I had been playing with them and of course decided that we wanted to keep them... Chelsea and all. Of course that was wishful thinking, especially when we decided to "introduce" them to Chelsea who promptly started shaking - from fear or self control I'm not sure - and then bolted after the brother (thank goodness I had her on the leash.) Being too small to fend her off, we knew they didn't have a chance in the house. So... on Sunday afternoon we sent them off with Gerritt and Marcy to a nice new home with two other kitties to keep them company... sigh...

a breather

The last few weeks have been some of the busiest I think I've ever had. This week the pace should slow a bit, thank goodness - it will be very nice when holiday breaks come around.

I made my bass debut last night for evening church! Garrett lent me his formerly closet-bound bass and I spent a few hours practicing yesterday afternoon. Nothing funky yet, I assure you, but I did manage to produce extremely sore fingers and the ability to play a very basic bass line in the keys of G, E, and D major by the time I was done. Yay! I'm on my way to becoming the new Immanuel Baptist queen of funk! right... We did have another very exciting addition to worship last night. We have a new family at church and it turns out that Karl, the dad, is a really great guitarist. He brought his electric and jammed with us last night at practice. It's amazing... we prayed for musicians for so long and had none, and now they are coming out of the woodwork! His wife Leanne is also learning bass too. In addition to all of that, due to a really generous gift, we were able to buy a basic electric drumset for Mattie to play, finally! He wasn't able to play last night due to some incident with cutting down a tree, but he is so excited as we all are. All of a sudden we're going to have a real band, it's like God just dropped it right into our laps! Leave it to Him to put together the impossible. Of course the band will play just on Sunday nights initially as we had a few suspicious stares at the drumset Sunday morning, but gradual is good. I'm just so excited I can hardly stand it!

I couldn't resist...

I've been at work since 8:30 AM and am running on fumes at this point... so for my last hour at the desk I've decided to see for myself why Justin is so addicted to YouTube. And I think I found my answer... this is the most incredible tornado video I have ever seen!

mom is flickr famous!

Mom made it onto the flickr Explore page today! Congratulations... she is getting more and more famous!

We had a fantastic weekend. Sunday we were treated to Matt Cobb's worship leading - and the best part is he and Jill are not going anywhere! Worship felt alive, exciting, real, and fun for the first time in I can't remember how long. It's exciting to see and feel like we are really turning a corner at church - we're ready for whatever God has next for us. We're continuing to have revival services this week through Wednesday. We haven't "done revival" since Justin and I have been at the church for that very reason - we didn't just want to do something traditional for the sake of doing it. It really felt like the right time now. I'm praying that God actually revives us and we're not just reminded that we like hearing good worship or maybe old-school preaching or whatever preference it is that one might have about church. We need God to do His work in our souls.

first of many, many pictures!

Welcome, Luke, into the world! Xiaolei had her baby last night. Not too many details yet but I'll post as I hear. I have a feeling that Luke will be able to compete with his peers Suri Cruise and Shiloh Jolie-Pitt for most (attempted) photos taken! Peng is going to have to buy another camera to keep up with them all. I don't think I could resist either though, he is such a cutie pie...

emerging

I finally feel like I'm emerging from the "sick" stage of things. Yesterday I actually had energy, which felt wonderful. It's been several months since I felt any "get up and go." Thanks all of you for listening to all my kvetching about feeling sick! Today begins my 15th week of pregnancy. I'm kind of at that in-between stage where I can tell that I'm showing but I'm not quite ready for the full-blown maternity pants yet. I'm actually looking forward to getting bigger so I can wear those without having to hike them up every 5 minutes!

It feels like we've had an abbreviated fall this year. The changing leaves are still on most of the trees, but last Wednesday morning we were treated to about half an inch of snow on the ground in the morning. And it was COLD! We usually don't see snow until November, but we had a surprise this year.

In other news, our kitchen floor is still tile-less. I did break down and manage to bake a pan of corn bread the other night despite the disarray. I haven't cooked or felt like cooking in months so it was nice to have that fresh baked smell at least for a little while. Justin and I are on one of our hare-brained house adventures again and couldn't resist setting up an appointment to visit this dilapidated beauty in the perfect spot in East Lansing. It's a real steal for the price, really... it's in just the right state of disrepair for us... and it never hurts to dream, right? ;-) The problem with our little house-hunting hobby is that REALISTIC is no fun! One of these days we'll find the perfect place and actually BUY it. Wouldn't that be something!

new arrivals!

Yes, it's true, our prayers have been answered and Matt and Jill Cobb are coming! I'm so excited. They are moving up to Lansing from Monroe as soon as they can find a place to live. It will be great to have a new, godly couple in church. Also Jill is pregnant and due about two months before I am, so more babies... and Matt is going to be our new worship leader! Praise God for that one. We badly need a fresh perspective on worship as well as a new sound and energy. I will get a break from leading every week, and since Matt is a guitarist I'll be able to just sing or just play and not have to do both... or either (sigh of relief). I'm also very tempted to fulfil one of my last remaining musical ambitions... to learn to play the electric bass! No way I can purchase one right now, so if you or anyone you know has one sitting and collecting dust in a closet that I could borrow, I would be happy to free up some closet space for you. I'm ready to get funky...

Mattie caught chilling...

So Dick Cheney came to Bath today, and guess who got to stand guard in case someone decided to set the golf course on fire! The Lansing State Journal caught these two basking in the"glow" of VPOTUS this afternoon. I was wondering if they were anywhere near the "undisclosed location."

In other news, I just got the most awesome computer I think I've ever used... a tablet PC. I'm currently handwriting this blog entry and the computer is turning it into text as I watch. I am completely hooked and I'll never buy a regular PC ever again! I didn't buy this one... it's my new work computer... but I cant put my stylus down. It's insane!

more wedding photos

The compilation of wedding photos links - updated!:

Proofs from wedding photographer (e-mail me for the password)
Alexa's pictures (Need to activate free Snapfish account)
Mom's pictures (on Flickr)
My pictures (also on Flickr)

tile?

Our refrigerator is now sitting in the midde of our living room next to the stove, which is strangely disconcerting. We finally finished tearing up the floor in our dining room and kitchen. We had a bit of a history lesson.. instead of just pulling up a carpet and pad like we thought we would be doing, we ended up finding a layer of flooring from each decade, one on top of another! We started by ripping up the 90's berber carpet, underneath which we found a very 80's patterned carpet (country blue and mauve, of course, like everything else at the church). Under that carpet was a sticky pad, which had cemented itself to some very red, very 70's "faux brick" press-and-stick tile. We attacked that mess with roofing tools and finally putty knives and hammers to reveal the original green 60's linoleum underneath. Phew. We went out and bought our new backer board and slate tiles, had them delivered, and then the tile guy didn't show up. I am hoping that our new living room decor (ie the fridge and stove) is very, very temporary.... oy vey!

clouds have lifted

Finally, the rain has stopped here after a solid grey, wet week. September is here in all its glory. On the right are some type of lily that is planted frequently in the gardens all over campus, and they turn these beautiful shades of orange and yellow. They were especially striking by the Natural Science courtyard fountain today, where the benches are in danger of being gloriously overrun with vibrant, robust vines. The trees are starting to show signs of turning also, but still have another month or so to go.

Along with the sunshine I've felt God's peace returning today. It feels so awful when we drift into such relentless self-centeredness for a time...When the understanding that it's really about more than you comes back, it's such a welcome relief, like a glass of cool water. It's so hard sometimes to just let Him care about you instead of wasting your own energy on yourself. I'm sick of me. I'm glad He's still there.

Our grand, baby-inspired house project is about to begin! Justin, Matt and I began clearing out the basement last night to start preparing for its transformation into our master bedroom. I am especially excited, though, to FINALLY tear out our stinky, nasty, stained, doggy carpet in the dining room and re-tile that and the kitchen floor. This weekend, Justin and I are deciding on tile (or slate, or brick) for our floors and will get the material to start on Monday.

This weekend is also Jake's 2nd birthday, which gave the "boys" an excuse to go toy shopping earlier this week. With the amount of enjoyment that Dad and Uncle Mattie get out of toy shopping, our child is never going to lack for things to play with I can tell you that! :-)

the big event

Alison and Taure's wedding was beautiful. I have a bunch of photos here at my Flickr site. Tropical Storm Ernesto decided to show up and make us forsake the outdoor gazebo, but the room where we had the ceremony and reception had a panoramic view of the stormy waves. I was so glad to finally meet the bridesmaids, Alexa, Tracy, Antonia, and Cheryl. They were all gorgeous in their pink and green dresses, but no one was as beautiful as the bride!

Justin performed the ceremony, and even in spite of a mix-up with the pianist everything went smoothly. Everyone seemed to have a great time and was dancing the night away. It was great to connect with family and friends that I havent seen in years as well as meet my new ones. It was especially fun to hang out with our new niece and nephew, Mercedes and Dalton. Mercedes had to know ALL the details of how Alison and I misbehaved when we were kids!

On Monday we went up to see Nana and Dudley in New Hampshire. It has been far too long since we have been to see them. Nana took us to a farm to get ice cream and a beautiful apple orchard... and I forgot my camera. Of course. Nothing can capture the smell of fresh, piney, mossy New Hampshire air though.

After a long drive back to Michigan, we're catching our breath and gearing up for the rest of the month. It's going to be a rough one at work for me as I am very busy with the returning students. School's back in with a vengeance!

what a month can bring

First of all, my apologies for my lapse in posting! August and September have been so full of news and trips and work. I think I have filled most of you in personally with the events of the month, so I will now go ahead and put them up here.

Yes, it's official... I'm pregnant! I found out a week after I got back from Alison's shower. After a flurry of doctor's visits and worrying that everything was OK, an early ultrasound confirmed that the baby is in the right place and growing normally. As of today I am 9 weeks and 3 days along, and my due date has been bumped up to April 9th. If Murphy's Law is in effect, I will be having the baby on Easter Sunday and the preacher will have to miss church. :-) It is too early to tell if it is a boy or girl, but we will find out as soon as we can. Justin is already making grand plans to renovate our basement and move his office into the house.

I have been feeling pretty sick for the past few weeks but hopefully will improve once my first trimester ends in the beginning of October. I never though Indian food, Thai food, and chocolate would sound disgusting to me, but just typing them makes my stomach turn! bleeeah!

Also since my last post, we've had a visit from Jeanette, and just got back on Tuesday night from a trip to Connecticut for Alison and Taure's wedding. Lots and lots to write about. I will put up details and photos in other posts soon. I'm still trying to get my suitcase unpacked and house put in order from the past few weeks. We'll see if that gets accomplished tonight!

new england weekend

I'm paying the price for gloating about sitting on the beach on Sunday morning. I look like a tomato. But it was worth it... I wish I could go again today!

Had a great time visiting Alison and Taure out in Boston for the weekend. After getting up at 3AM, driving to Detroit, and flying out, Alison talked me into getting a pedicure... something I have never done... but I think I'm hooked! We shopped like madwomen (here is Alison waiting for the T to take us into the city) at the original Filene's Basement and other downtown bargain locales. Such a deal! We literally almost dropped at the end of the day, especially since I had been up since 3. It was definitely worth it, and Alison and I even found matching dresses. We were going to wear them to the shower but I chickened out at the last minute. I decided to save mine for the rehearsal dinner. I also went "shopping" in Alison's closet and came back with two full suitcases. I'm not going to need new pants for a LONG time!

Alison's shower was Saturday, and went really well. It was great to see so many friends and family, and to meet my new family-in-law. I have lots of pictures of the shower and the rest of the weekend up here. We hung out at Taure's mom's house in Providence on Saturday evening, had dinner with Dad, Lynne, and Auntie D on Saturday night, and hit the beach at Nantasket on Sunday, where I fried to crisp. I got to have a lot of my favorite New England foods... lobster, steamers, a half-sour pickle, a real hot pastrami sandwich, Polar birch beer, Cabot cheddar cheese, Portuguese chourico sausage, Richard's garlic olives, and even Carvel ice cream cake! Not all at once of course! I missed out on smoked bluefish and fresh tuna this time, but I don't think I would have had any place to put them! We're going back at the end of the month, so Del's frozen lemonade and a D'Angelo's #9 will have to wait till then as well. Ahh, the tastes of home. :-)

VBS expolsion...

Monday night we had 4 kids in our class of K-3, Tuesday we had 8, and Wednesday we had 18. It's like our entire neighborhood converged on the church all at once. It was fantastic. I think we had over 80 people on Wednesday night. Justin informs me that last night 20 of the kids came to evening service as well. We need to keep these kids... we need to step up. Shame on us if we let this opportunity go by. Please pray that we can figure out how we need to adjust for the sudden influx.. and soon!

VBS Day 2

I think my favorite thing about little kids is their honesty. Last night two of our adorable first grade cousins were sitting quietly during the Bible story when Kevin started talking about prayer. "But McKenzie and me don't know how to pray!" Dylan said, with eyes as big as saucers. I wish we would ALL admit that when it's true! Kevin made the most of the teaching opportunity and I hope these little ones will start talking to Jesus now.

Tonight we get to give away the electric scooter to the kid who brings the most friends. The competition is pretty fierce right now... both for the scooter and the boys vs. girls mission offering. Ray rigged up a pulley system with two buckets - one for the boys and one for the girls. Whichever one is heavier with change sinks lower. Right now the girls are kicking booty! The losers have to serve the winners cake at the end of the week, and there has been so much smack talk going on (mostly between Kadee and Andy the Arctic Ranger) that it will be a really fun time no matter who wins. Of course girls RULE!

countdown of craziness

3 more days until I hop a plane to Boston, Jeanette flies in, and everything needs to be done! Combine that with VBS every night this week and you get extreme busy-ness. VBS was great last night, Kadee and I get the fun of having the 1st-3rd graders as our charges. That is such a great age... they're in prime learning format and not "too cool" for VBS yet. We only had four in that age range but they all got lots of attention. We have large preschool and youth contingents this year.

Anyhow back to work. It's going to be a whirlwind week. I'm really excited for Alison's shower on Saturday, and for hitting the beach on Sunday! ;-) Although I hear that there are some major jellyfish this season... maybe they haven't made it up to Massachusetts yet.

irish? oh wait....

So I was working at AOP this morning and saw a guy wearing a kilt. It wasn't your normal tartan kilt and he wasn't dressed up in any Scottish regalia. In fact it looked like it was made of Carhartt material and even had cargo pockets into which he was stuffing all his AOP tchotchkes. I was fascinated so I asked him about it. He was very excited about his kilt and proceeded to tell me about utilikilts.com (photo from their website... check out some of their photo galleries, they are a hoot!) for the next 10 minutes. Apparently it is all the rage for dudes to wear these. It was surprisingly manly looking too. I wonder how much one would have to pay certain guys I know to actually sport one. I think it would be worth the reaction on some of the folks' faces if all the guys walked in weaking kilts with a jacket and tie on Sunday morning!

where adventure meets courage???

I never thought I would say this but I think someone at LifeWay actually has a sense of humor... or else they are so clueless that no one thought there was anything weird about putting the blow-up moose's inflation tube in such a strategic location. When it comes time to deflate him I think we need to put the flapping end of a whoopee cushion over the tube for the full, lifelike effect. Ray is demonstraing VBS values here by summoning all of his courage to put that air hose where the sun don't shine. By the way, we won the moose as a decoration for our "Arctic Edge" VBS theme at out training retreat this year... I'm thinking now no one else wanted the job of inflating it!

pear season

Chelsea is in full pear-hunter mode now that they are starting to ripen on the tree. Full pear-hunter mode entails acting like she has to go out to do her business, but as soon as she gets out she runs to the tree, grabs a pear off the ground, and lies down in the grass so you can't drag her back inside. It also entails jumping and biting every low hanging-tree branch that she encounters thinking it might have pears on it. Yesterday I was taking her for a walk around the neighborhood when I noticed that she had something in her mouth. Now I hadn't even seen a pear tree anywhere on the route, but she had managed to find one and pick it up nonetheless. Never doubt a dog with OCD!

Justin and I took a mini-road trip on Friday night to a small lake southeast of Lansing. We've decided to search in a 30-minute travel time radius of Lansing for a spot that one day we might be able to have a house. Out first jaunt was to Pleasant Lake, near Leslie. It reminded Justin a lot of Oklahoma. It was fun to explore and find a place near here that we've never been. Michigan is quite pretty once you get out of the city.

a vomitious notion...

Apparently an airline wants to put ads on their barf bags. For what, air freshener? Read the story here...

a year in the blogosphere

Wow, I just realized that my first post was a year ago today. Oy vey, that's a lot of blogging! Thanks to all of you for hanging in there with me and I hope I haven't bored y'all TOO much. :-)

YOU'RE HIRED!

Yes, it is official... I wrote my first ever letter of acceptance this morning in response to the official job offer from the MSU Libraries! Praise the Lord! This means so much for Justin and me both... primarily as an answer to prayer for whether to stay here in Lansing and continue to invest in ministry on campus, plus it is going to help us out tremendously with finances. I really feel like God has put me here strategically - right in the heart of things at MSU - both for opportunity with students and my friends and coworkers here at the library. This whole past nine months I've had a peace about my work and being in the right place at the right time. It's been obvious to me that God has been helping me with everything from providing opportunities for projects to doing my everyday tasks and giving me an extra push of confidence when I'm speaking. I've really felt His presence and peace at work unlike ever before. I'm so excited for what that could mean for ministry opportunities for us. If you remember, please pray for me that I won't miss out on what He's doing... that I would recognize it instantly in whatever situation I'm in and take the opportunites that He provides. You know me... only able to focus on one thing at a time. Pray that I'll never be so focused on work as to be unaware of His working.

youth camp

Praise God for an awesome week at camp. I'm sad I missed out. It's been so great to see the changes in the faces and the hearts of the youth that came back. We had two of our youth, Jolee and Andrew, accept Christ this week, and last night, after hearing their testimonies, one of our other girls did as well! I'm so excited for them and to see many people's prayers being answered. Please pray for them as they all will have bumpy roads ahead. I'm asking God to show them that He is bigger than both them and their situations.

For you that will pray, please know as well that the youth of this state have very serious issues that they are facing, from porn to STDs to rape to pregnancy to drugs and gangs and everything in between. We see them face temptations and hardships daily. My hope is that they will know Christ's power to heal and overcome. We caught a glimpse of that last night as we saw Him break through into the hearts of our youth.

I'm sure Matt and Kadee will be posting about camp on their blogs soon. They should have many more details since they were actually THERE and I am only reporting secondhand.

I did get to meet the camp speaker though and his wife and son, which was a treat. We went to Grand Rapids on Saturday night to meet up with them at Famous Dave's BBQ (of course!) Scott and Jamie were a lot of fun and just as "irreverent" as the rest of us. When Andrew was giving his testimony last night, he said something that made us laugh... that camp was "like church with fun." I think our lives are like "church with fun" all the time, especially when we get to meet such cool people.

alas, there is a photo!

IMG_5246
Originally uploaded by CaptainJBuilder.

Richard got a photo of the lady riding the cow at the parade! I'm glad, I really wanted a pic of that. Only in small-town America...
Speaking of cow, had a nice big rare slab of it for my early birthday present on Sunday. And yes, "it moos within my gut..." but no botulism to impart as of yet, thank goodness.

happy belated fourth!

Justin and the "boys" have been gone up to youth camp since Monday, so Chelsea and I are spending some quality time together. Her idea of quality is rolling in some nice fresh poop just as I was about to go back to work after lunch yesterday. I had to hose her off quite thoroughly and got drenched in the process. It was nasty.

Last Satuday we started a quilting class at church. Sally and Carolyn are organizing it and have about 17 people signed up, most from outside the church which is great. As I am a librarian, preachawife, and the purveyor of old-lady hobbies, of course I joined in. It was a dangerous move... I have a new addiction! Who knew that quilting was so much fun. I spent the morning of the Fourth cutting out a new one from all the scraps of blue cloth that I have left over from making curtains, pillowcases, etc. It's like putting together a giant puzzle... so satisfying!

I also went swimming at Lynn's and to the fireworks in Mason with Denise, Bambi, and Emily on the 4th as well. Here they are at the parade. I could shoot myself for forgetting my camera. Denise has an annual bet going with her parents as to how many tractors will be in the parade. There were 59 this year... her mom won! The parade also featured something I have never seen before - a lady riding a cow. Yes, a big old cow, strolling right down the street behind the mounted cops. She had a saddle and everything.

The fireworks were gorgeous and right above our heads. They were so close it was almost scary. I WISH I'd had my camera... but that would mean that all of you would have to be subjected to lots of boring fireworks photos, so it's probably a good thing.

it's done!

Huge sigh of relief... the interview day is finally over! Thank you all so much for praying, etc. I really felt at peace today and I can't imagine how things could have gone any better. Everything went off without a hitch. I was a little nervous during my first meeting with the search committee but I calmed down after a few questions. I had a great lunch courtesy of MSU at the Kellogg Center, and I had to cheat and eat some creme brulee for dessert!

I will post as soon as I find anything out.

golf...

We had quite the adventure last night. I went golfing for the second time in my life. It was pretty scary (my "playing," that is.) Denise and Bambi took Justin and I out on the beautiful course where she works (Forest Akers West) and I made it about 5 holes before I was afraid missing the ball or hitting the ground one more time would throw out my back for good! I decided to sit back in the cart and enjoy the gorgeous evening while caddying for Justin, who on the other hand, was quite the pro! I think it's a pastorly requirement to be good at golf. Denise and Bambi were hitting some pretty good shots too. I, however, am a lost cause.

My favorite part was driving the golf cart around. Justin remarked that my Bunin genes were coming out when I started tearing around the corners. It was all I could do to keep myself from trying to get some "sweet air" off some of the little hills. I'm surprised I didn't get kicked off the course for reckless driving! Denise was nice enough to let us play for free so I figured I'd try not to get her in trouble by tipping one over. And I am still in awe of the fact that the putting green was real grass. I had to lie down on it at one point to make sure.

countdown

Three more days until the big interview. Please pray that I continue to trust God to help me prepare and that I would be diligent in doing so. I really need things to come together in my mind a little more than they are right now. Thanks so much to you all for keeping me in mind.

out for blood

I'm not sure I ever remember the mousquitoes being this thick. Last night was the first intended youth camping trip of the year, and we lasted about two hours before we packed up and went home! I was wearing jeans and sitting directly in the smoke from the campfire, and I still had about 20 on my pantleg at one point. It was insane. Anyhow, despite the bugs, the evening was absolutely perfect and we had a great time for the few hours that we were there. Click here to see the photos .

We saw Kevin off to Mount Pleasant this morning. He'll be back tomorrow and then on Wednesdays and Sundays for a while. I'm praying that the ministry at CMU takes off and that the students will benefit from his faithfulness.

a scorcher

It was so hot this weekend that we stayed inside in the AC most of the time. I miss the beach and the cool ocean breeze when it hits 90 like that. I did manage to finish the baby blanket I've been knitting for Holly and started the finish work on the purses I'm making for Alison's wedding. We also managed to fit the Lord of the Rings trilogy in there.... probably why I got so much knitting done!

the big day

It's official, I'm going to have my interview on Thursday, June 29th. It's all day, including lunch. If you feel inclined to start praying now I would not object!

peeps

This seems to be the weekend for people photos. They came in from all over. I also had my camera at church on Sunday and Kathy was warning people to look out or they were going to end up on the blog! I must say that she does have the gift of prophecy. :-) Look out Kathy, you're next!

Alison and Taure are approaching the final stretch before the wedding. Here they are in Wickford, RI. My summer homesickness is kicking in... I wish I were hanging out by the ocean too!

Joey and Jolee are posing on the right. Joey was in the middle of yelling "American Cheeeeeeeese!" Apparently plain cheese isn't good enough anymore. :-)

Here is a bunch of us hanging out before church on Sunday morning. I had a "getting old" moment the other day. We have been having a lot of those around chez miller lately. Kevin was recently mistaken for the "dad" of one of the 20ish LCC college students (who was in turn mistaken for being 12). I heard through the grapevine yesterday that I was referred to by one of our high school students as "pretty hot for an older chick." Ouch, or thanks... I think????

Speaking of Kevin, good news for him as he has found a house to rent in Mount Pleasant. He will be moving up there most likely by the end of the month to take over the directorship of CMU's Christian Challenge group and hopefully start a new church. We will still get to see him though as he will be commuting back and forth for a while. Chelsea is going to miss him the most I think!

This cutie with the balloon is our friends Kevin and Kara's daughter at a chucrch fair in Oklahoma. Justin was getting a little homesick for the wind sweeping down the plains when he saw these photos too. He spent several years in their town as a kid. After all, Bartlesville is the home of a Frank Lloyd Wright skyscraper, the Murphy's Hot Hamburger, and a grocery store that got leveled by a tornado... among other, far less cooler things.

ikearific

Yay, we finally have an Ikea in Michigan! Gretchen and I went down to Canton today to go to the new store (it opened last Wednesday). It was packed as you can imagine but we were so excited that we couldn't wait another month or so for things to calm down. It was so weird to go inside without having been driving for 4 hours beforehand.

They had all these sheepskin rugs there that for some reason I was fascinated with. Not like we have any place in the house to put one but I thought it might make a good stole as in the photo. Gretchen and i both managed to get out of there without spending more than $15 each. One of the many reasons we love Ikea.

good news

I found out earlier this week that I am going to be officially interviewed for my current job. That is a huge relief. I have absolutely no guarantees of retaining it but I'm glad that I actually have a chance this time. The interview lasts an entire day in which I have to sit down with various committess, give a presentation to the library staff, schmooze at lunch, and speak in Librarianese for 8 hours straight. I'm actually looking forward to it... I've already created a very cool powerpoint background for my presentation. First things first, of course! Having substance is, like, SOOO overrrated! ;-) I'm not sure of the interview date yet but it will be in July. I will keep y'all posted.

new look

I finally designed a template! I'm not sure how to make the background go all the way to the bottom (everything I've tried messes up the rest of the page) but at least the top half looks good. :-) The picture was taken by my mom (see credits). I have to go now or I'm going to be late to work! I am a little OCD when it comes to web projects...

it's justin's birthday!

a birthday greeting for you! smooch! :-)

more fire pics

I'm so short I could stand under the driver's
side mirror...



I really liked this one of the cab...



BTFD has door to door service!

stop, drop, and roll

I won't steal Mattie's thunder with all the fire photos that we took tonight that he is about to post on his blog, but I did have to stick a few of my favorites up here. (the rest are on his blog and at my Flickr page.) We went out to his fire station to snap some shots. The reflections off the shiny fire trucks in there were pretty awesome. I joined a Flickr group dedicated to photos of reflections, so I noticed them a lot more tonight and got some decent shots. I need to get to know the settings on our new camera a little better, however.

didden

Stopped over at Chez Rometti last night and China (otherwise known as Didden) decided to take a little nap. Chelsea was quite jealous when I got home.

Wrote a whole bunch yesterday. I have to be more disciplined to put stuff down on paper (or virtual paper). One of these days it will all come together. I wonder why we write sometimes... it seems like people have said it all before. Like Ecclesiastes says, there's nothing new under the sun... and one of my favorite verses... " Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body." (12:12) Someday I want to frame that one and stick it on my office wall at the library.

5th anniversary trip

As promised, here are some shots from our time in Saugatuck. Yes, it was COLD! No swimming for me, although I did stick my feet in the water until they were numb... about 30 seconds. Justin, bless his heart, was humoring my burning desire to go to the beach even though it was about 50 degrees outside and we were about to get blown over. What a good sport!

We had dinner at an old mansion called the Belvedere Inn. We felt a little underdressed but it was very nice.
The gardens were just about to burst into bloom, and we got to wander around the mansion for a little bit. I had scallops with champagne butter and caviar and a big juicy filet mignon... mmm! Justin had a steak too and chocolate cheesecake that was ALMOST as good as Mom's!

We also went on a bit of a "fantasy real estate" tour of the area. One of our favorite things to do is look at houses, so we found some cool ones to spy on and even dropped in on an open house for a $1.5 million "cottage" right on Lake Michigan. Like I said, fantasy. :-)

I posted some more of our photos on my Flickr site if you'd like to see them. I didn't get a shot of the million dollar cottage, but we did see some other very nice places! It was so nice to take a few days off. I can't believe that it's already been 5 years. God has really blessed us!

happy memorial day

I've been waiting to post until I've downloaded our pictures from Saugatuck and our anniversary weekend, but I should get to that soon. In the meantime, we had a nice, relaxing memorial day weekend.

Saturday was a day of cleaning, babysitting, and generally getting things done. It was HOT here! Mid-90s and high humidity made for a scorcher. And to think, last weekend I was wearing a scarf and nearly getting blown away at Lake Michigan. Gotta love that weather. We also saw X-3 on Saturday. If you're going to see it, make sure you stay through the end of the credits to see the extra scene. A little surprise!

Sunday was barbecue day... we had about 25 people over from church for a fun cookout. We now have an entire fridge drawer filled with nothing but meat. I should be in Atkins paradise but frankly I'm a little grossed out!

Monday we went to Bath to see their very cute and small memorial day parade. The best part was Justin and I getting pelted with candy by the driver of the big red fire truck, very officially pictured to the right. :-)

Monday I also went over to help Jess set up her new apartment. It ended up being more of a personal potty-training coaching session for Joey! I think I've run out of ideas to persuade him to poop. No amount of telling him how fun it was or bribing him seemed to work! Ah, the joys of future parenthood!

We also went to see the DaVinci Code last night. I didn't think it was as bad as the reviews have made it out to be, but we did bust up laughing at the very dramatic portrayal of the Council of Nicea, the description of the Star of David as a "blade and chalice," and at the ending revelation "You are the descendant of Jesus Christ!" I think that part was supposed to be serious but I couldn't help giggling, and Kevin was cracking up as well.

greek life update

I have been meaning to update about last weekend and give a summary on our first year of Greek Life ministry. We ended off the school year by having our guys Jordan and Drew, their girlfriends Maggie and Lauren, and their friend Charlie over for a BBQ and a few rounds of putt-putt golf last Saturday. It was a really great time and so encouraging. The guys are getting an apartment together next year and we are going to try and have the weekly Bible study there. I am going to join them in the fall as hopefully the girls will as well. They are very sweet and I am excited to get to know them better. Drew is staying here for the summer and Matt is going to meet one-on-one with him, which will be awesome for both. Justin reports that the guys have made tremendous progress this year. Please continue praying for all of them as you can imagine some of the issues that they come up against every day... pray for a desire for God to be strongest in their hearts, and for boldness with their friends.

I got to see Tina the other day which was great as always! I'm looking forward to seeing her more regularly in the fall when hopefully the girls will be around more. She has such an awesome perspective on things. For those of you who don't know Tina, she is kind of our "consultant" for Greek Life. She started a very successful Greek Life ministry at Central Michigan after becoming a Christian in college and having a huge heart to reach her sorority sisiters. She is a totally godly woman and is so awesome!

Anyhow... ending the year on such a positive note was great. I also, surprisingly, won at mini-golf. That never happens!

lilac season!

Here is my first bunch of lilacs for the season. One of our bushes is just starting to come out and the other is slightly behind. I love when they bloom, it smells so good...

blog de chop

Mattie is blogging! Visit him here.

new office, take 2

I've moved again... sigh. I do like my new office a lot. It's cozy and has nice high ceilings which you can't tell from the photos. Our library was built in the 50s ( I think, I should probably know that being a librarian) and has lots of blonde wood and industrial-looking-ness as you might imagine. I have lovely harvest gold panels behind my computer!

You can't tell from the picture, but I still have the Librarian Action Figure duking it out with Emperor Palpatine in front of my monitor. Nancy Pearl armed with a light saber is a pretty fearsome sight.

Hopefully one of these days I will settle in somewhere and stay put for a while! I'm beginning to feel like a bit of a nomad... or a hobo as Amy would call it.

     

twins

I was wondering why my door clicker wasn't working today, then I realized those weren't my flowers in the bud vase. :-)

farewell to the business library

Today was my last day at Business. Peng had his camera out (of course!) and switched roles from librarian to paparazzo for the afternoon. You can see about 20% of all the photos he took here at the Flickr site he set up. This photo is Peng, Nancy (my boss), and me.

I am now firmly installed back in the Main Library and have just finished setting up my new office. It has nice high ceilings. I will get some photos up as soon as I get around to taking some. I've been trying to keep my morale up and be excited about starting yet another new job but it's not easy. I am trying to focus on the good points - I am really going to like the kind of work I'll be doing, I like being back with my buddies here at Main, etc. I submitted my THIRD resume today. Third time's a charm... hopefully? We shall see.

the more you eat...

Whose idea was it to take all the fun out of eating beans? This story could be good news to some, however, whose flatulent husbands/ fathers/ boyfriends/ brothers shall remain nameless. :-)

yet MORE destruction!

Seems to be a bit of a destruction/demolition theme here... I just watched online as the old Jamestown Bridge got blown up. You can watch the video here. I think Justin's love of watching things explode in movies is rubbing off on me, or maybe I've just watched Mythbusters too much. Or it's just my morbid disaster fascination kicking in... Anyhow it is cool. It was a pretty scary bridge to drive over so it's a little creepy seeing it fall down, but worth the watch. If I'm not mistaken, this bridge's center section had a grate for a roadway.... the kind that makes that awful noise as you are driving over it, and you could look down and see the water underneath you. It was either this bridge or the Newport bridge (on the other side of the island) that I'm thinking of... Oh, the bridge is on the way to Newport, RI by the way, for all you non-easterners. :-) (Photo and story from the Boston Globe website.)

rest of demolition photos...

sorry, forgot to mention that they are here at my Flickr site.

april

I didn't quite capture the sun comming through the blooms on this tree outside my building this morning. Even though it's just shy of 40 degrees this morning, spring is still on its way. These are the times I'm glad I don't live in Texas... sorry Wrights! :-)

Happy belated Easter to everyone as well. It was nice to celebrate this year and great to have a lot of visitors in church. If they would only come back... We have some boys that come over and play basketball in our parking lot all the time, and I was really happy to see them with their mom in church last Sunday. I have struggled a lot with keeping a good attitude about these kids since my headlight cover was "mysteriously" shattered last year while I was parked near to the basketball hoop. They also like to yell at Chelsea. Usually I don't have a problem seeing ministry potential in kids but for some reason my attitude has not been good about these boys. I'm trying. Seeing them in church helped me be thankful that they feel comfortable coming over to play ball.

All else is good here. We're going to Holland this weekend to see Julie and company, and Justin is guest preaching. I'm supposed to sing something like a good preachawife should but I don't know what that's going to be yet. Good thing I enjoy that "sangin' and playin' pianna" or else I might not be forgiven for shaking the neighborhood with the bass in in my punch buggy in a decidedly un-preachawife-like manner! :-)

coming down

The GM plant that has always been at the intersection of MLK and the river here in Lansing is being demolished. I had a kind of compulsion to go see it, so Justin indulged me and we walked up over the bridge and took some photos. I'm not sure why I had to see it - I think it has to do with the exhiliration of something so ugly finally being torn down. They are recycling the materials from the building, and it was cool to see the separated piles of iron, steel, brick, concrete... the building reduced to its elements.


We saw a guy and his family on the bridge who said that he had worked there for a long time, and had to come see it. It reminded me how glad I was that I work for a Kingdom that is not of this world... that will never fail.

savings schmavings

Right now I'm downing coffee and trying to shake the daylight savings funk. It's such a strange phenomenon... I was so exhilarated when I got out of work at 9 last night and could still see a glow in the west... this morning the only thing glowing was the burner heating up water for my extra-strong coffee! Spring really is coming, really...

photos from the youth rally, march 19th

stretch... breathe...

Roof open, windows down, music pumping... yes, spring is here! 63 degrees with the sun beating down on my face through the open sunroof is a definite sign of its arrival. Of course it will get colder again before it gets warmer, but who cares... today it's glorious!

A little bit of a rant here. Sorry to you HR folks that like these, but one of my SERIOUS pet peeves are those preachy HR classes on "handling stress" or "focusing" or whatnot. I spent two hours in one today hearing about how to "quiet my mind." As soon as I heard the inevitable reference to Deepak Chopra I tuned out completely. As she was going on about meditating or "whatever technique works for you," Hebrews 4:12 came to mind so I did a little meditating of my own... a picture of a double-edged sword cutting through the crap was foremost in my thoughts! It's funny, we were just talking in Bible study Tuesday night out of Ephesians 4:20-24 about how it's futile to try and change your behavior on your own, and it benefits you nothing. You don't have to go far to hear someone extolling the empty virtues of the "power of positive thinking" (also quoted today). Not knowing God's forgiveness is designed to make you stressed until you surrender to His perfect peace, and no "control of your thought life" is going to change that!

Ahh... That feels better!

24 addiction

Justin and I made the mistake of borrowing the first season of "24" on DVD from Andy. Neither one of us had ever seen the show, but needless to say we were hooked after the first episode. We have been watching nothing but that for the past week or so. We have only one episode left... I wouldn't let Kevin tell me how it ended, but I lost all semblance of self-control last night and went to the website and read all about the last 4 episodes. I HAD to know. Now Justin is trying to get me to tell him what happens. Not a chance!

thumbs down

Had a good weekend, got lots of knitting done. The purses for Alison's wedding are coming along really well.

So don't go see "Fatboy The Movie." It was very, very sad. The guy loses a bunch of weight which is fine, but only after that does he feel accepted and has the approval of his family and others. How sad is that... that his acceptance and worth as a person is based on success at losing weight and his physical appearance. I was afraid for him that if he gains any back he would be suicidal because he "failed" as a person. Wow. I am so glad that my worth is in Christ and not in the opinions of people... and that He made a way to accept me no matter how I fail.

There WAS a really funny short film shown along with this movie though, called "21 Carbs." THAT was worth seeing!

film fest

So tonight we are going to try something new. I've never been to the East Lansing Film Festival which occurs every year. Mark is working the box office this year and persuaded us to come check out a movie. Now getting Justin to watch any movie which is not either comedy or filled with explosions is quite a task, but luckily they had one of interest that's playing tonight. It's called "Fatboy: The Movie." We are DEFINITELY looking forward to that! :-) Mark and some of his friends also won a short film contest where you had to shoot a 5-minute film in 48 hours. They got assigned a "mystery" genre and apparently it evolved into a guy getting "murdered" in Mark's living room. This should be an interesting one. I'll have to check it out on DVD since it's screening on Sunday night.

finally, a work update

I have to apologize to those of you who may have been waiting for a work update. Things have been up in the air (they STILL are in some ways) but I was under a strict hush order for a while.

I am not going to be staying here at the Business Library. That said, I have applied for and have a good chance of getting one of two other open librarian positions back at the Main Library. There was an internal candidate who unexpectedly applied for the Business position, and got it. She is an excellent librarian with a business background so I'm sure they made the right decision. Anyhow, her old position is now open, which is an instruction librarian position. I'd love to have it... it's teaching classes left and right and getting to interact with all sorts of students. The other position that I've applied for is a general reference librarian job, which I would also enjoy. I still have until July left in my 9-month temporary position, and I'm going to be spending the remainder of the time back over at the Main Library, doing projects that relate to both of the open positions. So... please pray that one of these works out! Although I am REALLY going to miss my job at Business, I'm excited for the change... variety is the spice of life I guess.

New cousin

"Everett Shawn Lewis was born at 9:11am on Friday, 3/10...7lbs..." Congrats to mom Jodi (Justin's cousin), dad Josh, and big sister Kinley!

movies, scientologists, and cube farms

Here is an interesting and thoughtful article: "Evangelicals Miss The Big Picture [when it comes to movies]". Book is on my reading list.

There was another very long, detailed article about Scientology in Rolling Stone last week. Read it here. This is especially interesting for those of you (myself included) who wanted to cover Scientology in our cults class. I think we'll give Kevin a break from teaching for a while though! :-)

And while we're at it... the inventor of the dreaded office cube has officially said it was a bad idea! For all of you cube farm inhabitants, here is the article from cnn.com!

happy tornado season!

Discovery Channel has a cool website... apparently they have a show coming up this Sunday called Super Tornado. Guess what I'll be watching! If you go to the website you can "build your own tornado..."

the tease of spring

We had a gorgeous, 60+ degree weekend... but I am trying not to get too excited just yet as it's going to snow tomorrow. We had some pretty awesome thunderstorms last night and this morning too. Poor Scrappy is scared of them. Little Scrap can run up to a big scary pit bull, whack him in the face and bite him, but he is still scared of storms! We had said pit bull run into our backyard yesterday when Scrappy was out, and he let him know who was boss! I don't know where the pit bull came from, but Chelsea was NOT happy about it either. I don't think there was one hair on her back not standing up as she was barking like crazy.

Last week was Spring Break, so it was deathly quiet in the library. No shushing necessary! It was great for a few days but I started to go legally insane by Thursday. I'm glad the students are back bustling around and making noise. It's been a busy night but I like helping people out.

Justin has been looking at digital cameras this week and I hope we'll get one soon. Be prepared for lots more photos upon its purchase. Better yet, pray that it doesn't meet some random fate. His first one got dunked when he tipped over in his canoe with the camera in his cargo shorts. The second one's button jammed and can't be fixed. I think we're going to get a different brand this time, just to break the jinx if nothing else!

peace and quiet

I had some much needed peace and quiet this weekend as the guys have temporarily vacated the premises. Justin and Matt will be back tonight from their weekend in Tennessee, and everyone else is gone on Spring Break. I spent the weekend knitting, shopping, ironing, and watching chick flicks. (sigh of contentment....)

The idea of spring is firming up just a bit around the edges here in Lansing. I try not to get too hopeful in March, becuase just when you have a nice day it turns around and snows. Spring is such an excruciating season in the north... It was in the 40s on Sunday which was nice enough for me to take Chelsea out for a walk on the River Trail. You can see in the photo how high the river was when it was frozen over, and the ice is not completely gone yet.

auntie alison!

Chelsea was very excited to meet Auntie Alison, because, of course, the only reason ANYONE comes to our house is to play with her! What other reason is there? Anyhow you can see them having a lovely time here.

Justin left today for Tennessee with Matt. I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend... Marie suggessted that we decorate the man-pit (the basement) with pink and flowers and lace so the guys will freak out upon their return. I'm not sure I have that much ambition! I've already made my once-monthly post paycheck visit to Hobby Lobby and would be happy just sitting on my booty and knitting scarves all weekend. Maybe a little shopping... OK, maybe more than that...

Last night I spoke at Christian Challenge. It was fun, I haven't done that in quite a while. I spoke on communication. I know, hypocrite. I warned Mandy that I am a crappy communicator but she wanted me to speak on it anyway. It's always good to look back at the biblical principles on this subject.

On a side note... happy birthday to me! 13 years ago today I turned my life over to Jesus. Talk about the best decision I ever made... It's amazing to me how much of His greatness and grace I still don't understand. I can't believe how I lived without Him for almost 19 years.

the brief...

It's Tuesday evening and Alison should be back in Boston by now. Chelsea was so worn out from being hyper while she was here that she slept all day Monday! Of course, she was spoiled with a new collar and toy, and now knows who I'm talking about when I say "Auntie Alison!"

We went shopping on Saturday and found a bridesmaid dress... and very nearly a new wedding dress too but we managed to escape the store in time. :-) Saturday night we went to Mongolian BBQ for dinner. yum!

Short post today, more to come later.

Ni hao, etc.

My Chinese lessons are progressing...I'm terrible at pronounciation. Xiaolei is very kind to me. She is even going to show me how to make cucumbers and garlic, my very favorite food from China which I have yet to find in any restaurant here.

yay!

Here is my new punch buggy! thanks Kadee for the pic!

showoff

Here is my favorite pic of Chelsea per Alison's request...

more doggy pics

Sorry for all the doggie pics lately but I thought this one was great... from si.com

it's been a long time

Sorry all for my lapse in posting. It's been insanely busy. Justin and I aren't going to get to celebrate Valentine's day officially until Thursday, although he did stop by my office this afternoon to deliver some yummy chocolate and cashew poppycock... YUM!

My new car is awesome. I keep forgetting to take a photo. This is the first time I've had a car that was made in the same decade as I've owned it. And it is also my first car with cupholders. Yes, I know it performs great, drives like a dream, is in wonderful shape, and gets good gas mileage... but it has CUPHOLDERS! and a BUD VASE! :-)

Tonight we're having our annual Valentine's Day fundraiser spaghetti dinner to send the youth to camp. It's always a lot of fun. The older folks like it especially.

My resume and cover letter are due in on Friday. A little more tweaking and I will have them done. Writing cover letters is so excruciating. I am good at them but it takes me hours to get mine finished. One of these days I'm going to submit one that says "I'm Awesome, Hire Me and Not The Other Boring People."

Yea, Alison is coming to visit next weekend! I'm so excited! I'm as bad as my mom... I told Chelsea that her Auntie Alison was coming to visit. She just perked up her ears like Auntie Alison was a new kind of doggie treat or something.

That's the scoop for now. More later. Happy Valentine's Day!

pups

I loved this photo from cnn.com. That is one excited pup.

punch buggy!

I'm so excited, I got a new car! 2003 VW New Beetle! Manual transmission, dark grey, charcoal interior... and of COURSE the standard flower vase! Photos soon...

serious tornado nerdiness

So they are changing the Fujita scale... for all of you multitudes who care about such things you can read about it here... Hey, Justin doesn't call me the National Weather Service for nothing!

oy oy oy OY vey

I am so busy it's insane! To think at one time I had to beg for work. ;-) Anyway I have a new class to teach on Monday and about a million other things to do, not the least of which is finishing my cover letter and getting all that submitted. I'm also thinking about buying a new car... alas, poor Gertrude, she is needing fixing again. So far the leading contenders are the Scion xA and the soon to be released Toyota Yaris. They are small, funky, and cheap, which is what I am looking for, and of course my Mini Cooper is still just a dream. I've also considered a Chevy Aveo... I know, an American car, and it's ugly... I never thought it would happen. But it is so stinking dirt cheap I can't pass it up. A test drive will tell more.

Anyhow back to work work work! Oh, I almost forgot, I created my first blog template! It's a sample one and I'm not going to update the blog but you can see it here. I wanted something to put into my interview presentation that showed my web design and made people laugh.

good news on cnn

Hey I was so excited to see this video... check it out! What an awesome ministry. I loved hearing some of the comments of the people the girls were talking to. The people that object seem so ridiculous... you can try but you can't deny that this is exactly what Jesus' love looks like. Go CNN!

here's your sign

Sorry I'm feeling a little sarcastic today. :-)
Check out this hilarious site: Church Sign Generator