A very Irish day

Having a bus barreling at you on the right side of a narrow road and a sheer rock wall on your left is a little disconcerting, to say the least. Although I really did enjoy the Irish countryside driving challenge today. I don't want to count the number of times that Nancy or I hit the windshield wipers instead of the blinker, but it was a lot. Overall, I think these Americans did pretty well and didn't get in any trouble on the road.

Galway was fun today - intense shopping. It's not even full tourist season yet, and the place was mobbed. Reminded me of Mystic in July. Picked up lots of souvenirs, heard random music playing in the streets, and even caught a bagpiper playing the Star Wars theme at one point. I did have an interesting cultural miscommunication moment today, when I thought that the lady making my ham sandwich asked me if I wanted mayo or mustard, or so I thought I heard. I told her mustard, and then watched her go over to a literal tub of butter and slather it on both sides of my ciabbata bread. Mmmm, ham with butter. Good thing my Jewish grandmother wasn't there!

Dinner tonight at the local pub - fantastic, cheap food. I had mussels and fresh veggie bruschetta and Nancy had the freshest fish & chips I've ever tasted. The traditional live Irish music was starting up just as we were leaving, at the early hour of 10PM. And now, as it's apparently Irish daylight savings time and really almost midnight here, I need to get to sleep.

Welcome to the Emerald Isle

So here we are in Ireland, after a very long overnight trip via Lansing, Chicago, and Heathrow airports. Heathrow was pretty insane - we must have walked at least a mile to get through the maze of metal tubes - very gerbil-like - to get to our connection. I've now "been to" London (I think seeing Parliament, London Bridge, the Thames, and that bridge that the dementors snap in Harry Potter from the airplane count) albeit for only about an hour.

Luckily Nancy helped me out by driving from the airport to Limerick, tackling the roundabouts lke a pro. It's my turn to drive today - this should be fun. It's pretty freaky when you see a car coming at you on the right. The Garmin with the irish accent is a nice touch, as it soothingly says "Enter roundabout. Take third exit." We made it here, had a nice lunch and a nap, and walked around town last night. We figured that there was something going on when the traffic started to get congested and hordes of people all wearing red were walking over the bridge. Turns out this is the home of the Munster rugby team, who won in a regular season game. We managed to get back to the hotel before the celebrating started! Figuring it was probably not the night to visit a pub, we ended up at a French restaurant that had really truly amazing food. And the coffee here is fantastic.

Limerick is a really nice-sized small city. I'm looking forward to seeing more of it, as all the old mossy buildings that I see from my hotel window are so cool. We're headed off to Galway this morning to do some shopping and sightseeing. I'm thinking about a nice tweed cap and walking stick for Justin to match his windpants. :-)

frozen in february

If there's one thing you learn living in a cold state, it's how not to set yourself up for disappointment. Nevertheless, we do it all the time. I know that we here in Michigan tend to get secretly hopeful for spring around the end of February, although we squelch it with our sure knowledge that yep, it will still be snowing in April. Every year I think back to previous Marches, trying to remember if it got warm at all. That one spring break - the snow was melting, you could smell the ground. That other one, oh yeah, that's when we had the blizzard. And yes, one year we did bust out the grill on a balmy 50 degree St. Patrick's day, only to wheel it in to the garage soon after to avoid the 8 inches of snow that came the next day.

So, it's not a surprise to me when I think I can detect a tantalizing scent of freshness in the cold wind, and then immediately blame it on my imagination. Or when I think I'm hearing more birds then usual, but then ask myself if I've just been ignoring them all winter. I just thank God that February only has 28 days, or else I'd drive myself nuts with second guessing. Spring is coming, it really is... just not for at least a month yet. It's really not.

that's my girl!

During the Superbowl last night, one of the ads came on where there were a bunch of guys running around in their underwear. Ellie's comment: "Mom, they're not being modest." I'm so proud. :-)

the tundra

Students that experience an MSU winter soon discover the frigid windy-ness of the "tundra" which is the tree-challenged south campus area. I'm getting ready to trek across campus this afternoon, and realizing how spoiled I am in the nice warm, cozy library all day. Days like this give one a different take on the Beatitudes... blessed are the cold, for they will be warmed up. I'm really thankful for the heat today.

Honesty...

Me: "Do you want to poop in your pants?" Ellie: "No."



"Do you want to poop in the potty?"
"No."
"Where do you want to poop then?"
"I want to poop on the floor."

Latest Ellie-ism

Last night was clear and the stars were starting to come out. Ellie looked up and said "I can not reach." I said, "That's right, only God can reach that high." She said, "Actually, I can use a stool."

It's fall again

I guess I'm continuing to roll with the technology punches, as my blog updates have been usurped mainly with the ever-convenient Twitter. I never thought I'd use it when it first came out - you can tell from comparing the frequency of tweets to actual blog posts how that hunch crashed and burned. I'm wondering if that's a subtle hint to me to say more with less.

Our summer was lovely. We closed on our house - the one I mentioned previously - and moved in pretty much that afternoon. Photos here. It's such a joy to come home to a beautiful, peaceful, and quiet setting. I love everything from the dirt road to the screened-in porch to the cemetery across the street. Another huge improvement for me in particular has been the kitchen - it's openness lets me feel lke I can still be a part of things while I'm in there, and I never imagined that something as simple as a dishwasher could change my whole outlook on cooking. Blessed invention!!

Ellie's vocabulary is continuing to expand, and it's so delightful to have conversations with her. She's moved into the preschool class at daycare and is thriving. And, praise God, she is finally sleeping in her own bed. What a relief.

I have a lot on my plate at work for the fall semester - I'm working on a teaching project and going to a few conferences - one in Salt Lake City in October, where I've never been. I hope I'll be able to get sufficient caffeination while there. :-) Even more exciting is the prospect of a trip to Ireland in the spring to attend a conference in Limerick. How cool would that be.

Justin is doing well also - with his fingers in several pies as usual. He just finished a really insightful sermon series on "great prayers of the Bible." He has also become quite adept at the PS3 version of Monopoly.

odds and ends

We've had insane weather here in mid-Michigan - snow in the beginning of April, and 85 degrees at the end. Looks like we've settled back in to the 60s for a bit. It's that time of year where one tries to decide what the optimum temperature is for putting away the socks. Is 55 still too cold? How about 60? What if it's freezing in the morning and 70 in the afternoon? Ah, the agony of decision. Signs of spring are everywhere, from harried-looking students in their last week of class, to the blooming magnolia and tulip trees, the Gideons handing out Bibles on the library bridge. Ellie is learning about the buds - how God makes them grow with sunshine and rain into flowers and leaves.

Ellie has also been putting together longer sentences. Justin came in the front door over the weekend and she said "Papa's all wet from the rain." She also said "I try to get my hand down there" when digging out raisins from a box. I'm just glad she was digging for raisins and not other things that she's been known to seek out on occasion. She's also become quite the climber - I looked away for a minute the other day and when I turned around she was sitting in the middle of the dining room table playing with my phone.

We are still waiting to hear on the final loan approval for our house. It's taking a long time. We hope that's a good thing. One never knows.

house update

I know the blog posts have been sporadic at best, but that's largely Facebook's fault. OK, blame laid, now for news.

So, for those of you who may not be caught up with our house hunting adventures (cue Suzanne Whang and the doorbell) we have moved from seasoned hobbyists to actual buyers. Our realtor is breathing a sigh of relief. We've found a house in DeWitt (just north of Lansing) on which we've had an offer accepted. You can see photos here. It's an old church, built in 1856, that had been abandoned, fallen into disrepair, and was brought back to life with a complete renovation in 2006, turning it into a 3-bedroom 3.5-bath house. It's way cool and fits us to a T.

So, here is where we currently stand in the process. Our offer was accepted, we signed paperwork, and we just completed the inspections yesterday. We won't receive the results from the well/septic test for a bit, but the home inspection revealed that the house is in fantastic shape, right down to the old stone foundation. The renovations were done thoroughly and well.

Tonight we're sitting down to fill out the loan paperwork. We haven't hit any major snags so far, so we hope that trend continues. It's still possible for the entire thing to fall through - you never know. Next up, hopefully, is setting the closing date. I will try and update when that's been done.

spartacular

Ellie was very excited to see the photo of Mommy & Sparty. I ran into him at the Study Abroad fair yesterday.

In other news, we're putting new fixtures in the bathroom this week. We replaced the wall sconces, the faucet, and the ceiling light/fan unit which hasn't worked since we moved in. We've been working on the bathroom little by little for the past 6 1/2 years and it's come a long way from the peach and green bordered, lace curtained room it was when we moved in. We're still stuck with some oak and brass, but it's coming along nicely. It was Justin's idea to crackle the walls a few years ago and I still think it looks pretty cool. Of course, 10 years from now we'll be talking about how dated it is!

mad hatter

I finally managed to get at least one fitting, warm hat made for each member of our family. Here's Ellie wearing all of them at once, as she loves to do. There's a certain satisfaction in seeing all of us with a nice warm handmade hat - I suspect it's the (very elusive) Proverbs 31 woman coming out... "When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet..." as well as the part about wool and flax. Although I haven't seen any flax-based yarn yet, and these hats are acrylic... shhh.

A deep breath...

... at least for one or two days. It seems like we have seasons of busy-ness at chez miller, one of which is thankfully ending. I just got back from Denver and the ALA Midwinter conference (lots of librarians, for the acronymically-challenged). Photos here. Justin and I treated each other to iPhones for Christmas and have been glued to them ever since. I've just discovered the photography apps. Click here for some of my nutty experimental photos.

Ellie is growing so fast. She's making sentences like a pro and knows almost all of her letters. Her latest favorite word is flamingo, pronounced "fa-ma-lingo." I never knew that the iPhone would be so mesmerizing to children. I've downloaded a whole screen full of apps for her, including animal noises, alphabet flashcards, and poppable bubble wrap. She's also quite the fan of YouTube, where we can watch such things as the Laughing Baby, kids jumping on a blow-up castle, the Veggie Tales theme song, ballet dancing, and the Spartan Marching Band tuba section. She loves tubas, I'm not sure why. I'll wait until she's older to explain that the ones she likes are really sousaphones. That's just not information that I think other kids would respond well to her sharing. :-) It is very strange for me to think that for all of her life, phones will have been able to play videos, make chicken and dog noises, and let you draw on the screen. She won't even know what a curly cord is for, never mind a rotary dial.

Justin is well also. He's very excited about the possibility of starting a new outreach of Immanuel, either in in East Lansing or at LCC. There are some very interesting opportunities before us in those areas, so we'll see how the Lord leads. We're also in perpetual house hunting mode. We've had a few very interesting possibilities come up, only to have other buyers snatch them up before we could make an offer. He does have an eye for these things - almost too good of one. :-)

What Real Baptists Should Look Like...

I LOVE www.yearbookyourself.com... Brother Preacher Pastor J.D. Miller and Mrs. S. D. Miller, piemaker extraordinare, from the glory days when the balcony was full!

fall again

Time again for chilly nights and warm wool. Although it looks like we're in for a week of Indian summer.

I bought my first skein of pricey yarn today. It's a silk and merino wool mix. It's soft and lovely, will make a nice Christmas gift, and I only bought 1 SKEIN. That should be plenty for a neckwarmer. I still need to buy the bulk of my stuff at Hobby Lobby if I don't want to go bankrupt.

I had a the nice surprise of receiving an unexpected check in the mail yesterday, just in time for missions month. Last year I got a nice fat check from my oboe selling just in time for missions month. I love it. God rules.

I'm at the reference desk tonight. Ellie and Justin came in to surprise me for a mini take-your-child-to-work hour. :-) I was so happy to see them. I hate working night shifts - I only get to see Ellie for an hour or so in the morning, as she's sleeping by the time I get home. She sat at the desk with me for a few minutes and "answered" a reference question.