Movin'

The hubs and I bought a house, and I will be writing about our progress here:

http://that70shouse.wordpress.com/

Follow along if you feel so inclined. :)

Things They Don't Tell You About In Pre-Marital Counseling

A few weeks ago Jono and I were on a weekend trip to celebrate our anniversary. We were all dressed up and on our way to see Les Miserables, desperately looking for a place to park. I was a little stressed out about making it on time, so I would point and yell when I thought I saw a space while at the same time trying to apply makeup.

Prepared much?

Anyway, despite the numerous other distractions I realized quickly that something in that mirror was amiss.

"OHMYGOSH! There is a giant, awful, gnarly black hair growing out of my chin!!!!"

"um, ok."

"Aaaaaaaah, Jono! Aaaah!!!"

"What?!"

"What do you MEAN 'what'?? I have a gnarly hair!"

"Ok. Is that a parking spot over there?"

"How can you be so calm! I am 25, what is happening to me? DID YOU KNOW I HAD THIS HAIR HERE???"

"Well, I saw it the other day, but I didn't think much of it."

"YOU SAW THE GNARLY HAIR AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME? WHY?"

"Because it's not gnarly, and I didn't care."

"Ohmygosh, I can't get it out. I can't get it out!"

"It's not that long. Where should we park?"

"I CAN'T GET IT OUT. Pull it out for me!"

"Um...I could...but you won't like it. It would hurt."

"Are you JOKING!? Just get it out!!!"

A few moments later the hair was gone.

A few moments after that, I realized my pride was, too.

"Um...this probably isn't what you thought you were signing up for three years ago, huh?"

"I love you."

What a guy.

Blogging 2: The Return of Mediocrity

For no reason in particular, I decided to try out this blogging thing again. I think mostly I want to chronicle things in my life a bit better than I do now. You know...not so much the "deardiarytodayistubbedmytoeanditreallyhurtanddoesheatherwanttobefriendsanymore?" kind of chronicling. Maybe more like the "this is the funny thing that happened" or "it took a gazillion years but finally I let God teach me this" kind of stuff.

So here I go. Read if you like it. Remove it from your Reader if you don't. :)

Before and...Now

This is a picture of my darling husband and me in December.

This was a little before I saw a certain tv show with a certain character. And while I've always loved the beard, I thought maybe, just maybe, the hubbers could rock a new look.

So, here he is on our anniversary last month...

Personally, I think it agrees with him. :)

It isn't complete, though, until it's pony-tail-possible.

HP Love!

You know that most magical of places? This place right here?

I get to go there.

And Magic Kingdom. And Epcot.

I might just pee myself with excitement, buy some souvenir Mickey pajama pants, then pee myself again.

Fake V-Day

Jono doesn't like Valentine's Day (and I can't blame him so much), but I always want to cash in on an excuse to have a date with my hubbers. So we agreed upon a sort of compromise and went out on Friday, missing out on the true Valentine's Day crazy-busy-ness. :)

We headed to KC and went to The Melting Pot.

It. Was. Amazing.

Amazing!

At the end Jono deemed it his all time best eating experience. That will be a tough one to top, for sure.

Disaronno in white chocolate? Have mercy!

Just Dance!

I love, love, love this game.




I played it at a friends house and then immediately bought it with my birthday gift card (thanks Mom and Dad!). It is seriously SO fun.

I'm not sure if there's anything better than watching my super white friends (me included!) trying to dance to MC Hammer.

Also, it's really good exercise.

Highly recommended. :)

A Good Cause

Ree over at thepioneerwoman.com is giving away (2) $500.00 prizes to charities for relief in Haiti, to be chosen by the winner. Also, for every comment on her most recent post, she will give $.10 to one of three charities there.

Please take a moment to go and comment there. It's easy, and it helps.

Thanks, Ree!

In other news, please continue to pray for the safety of our team down there right now. They had planned to return home tomorrow, but obviously things have changed. They have been in contact with the US Embassy, and have been promised a ride home tonight or tomorrow morning. The perimeter wall to the orphanage has fallen down, leaving them open for looting by a people who are becoming frantic with fear (and who can blame them?).

God is in control, and I will try to force myself to rest in that.

Pray, pray, pray and (if possible) give.

Hurting

I'm trying to hold it together today, trying to concentrate on my work. But mostly I'm trying to battle the burning in my eyes and tugging at my throat that comes every time I think about the people in Haiti.

It's been five years since I've been there. But I remember their faces. I remember leaving them in their all but hopeless country, and coming home to convenience and comfort and ignorance.

I remember how they comforted me as I was crying that last day. I remember the complete guilt of knowing what I was returning to. I don't remember crying that much before in my life.

And now another team is there, witnessing it all. I can't imagine what they must be seeing and feeling right now. God, give them strength and grace.

How can one people bear so many sorrows?

How can I live here, in peace and comfort, while they are counting their dead? While more orphans are being added to an already devastating number? What can we do to give them hope?

I find the only prayer I can get it out is "God, help them."

Things You Eventually Just Accept

Like, for instance, the fact that I will never be as likable as my mother.

I have grown up happily not caring much for what most people think about me. Sometimes, this is very freeing and good. Sometimes, this makes you (mistakenly) assume other people must not care what you think about them, either. It's kind of a compromise.
My mom has spent (in my opinion) too much time worrying about what other people think, what other people will say, and feeling all manner of false guilt if she might have offended someone. On the other hand, everyone who's ever met her also likes her.

I think my way of life is a lot easier, but not necessarily better. I have examples to prove it, too.

One week I was counseling at the east campus of KBC, an all girls gradeschool camp. Mom was the activity director. We had a particularly difficult camper who was causing a lot of trouble, and bothering camper and and counselor alike. This girl's family had been attending camps for years, and the mother (let's call her Sue) lived fairly close to campus.

I should add that parents are not frequently called in to deal with a difficult camper. It is avoided until necessary. In this case, though, Mom had to call Sue and ask her to come by. This woman was not a particularly friendly person, and when she showed up it was very plain that my mom was going to get chewed up and spit out. They disappeared into Mom's room and we, the counselors, stood around looking at each other nervously.

Over an hour went by and we could hardly imagine what was going on in there. Then, an incident required Mom's attention, and one of the counselors had to sheepishly knock on her door and ask for her. She was invited to enter, and found my mom and Sue sitting next to each other on the bunk, giggling and spitting cherry seeds into a bowl on the floor.

Later, when questioned about this phenomenon, my mom just said what she always says, "a gentle answer turns away wrath."

I still think she worries too much about what people think of her.

Then again, she seems to be doing alright.

Winter Happenings

Last Tuesday night brought perfect snow for snowman building. I was so excited that we even had carrots in the house (not normally a vegetable of choice).

All you had to do was roll it along, and it picked everything up in it's path. Too bad we hadn't raked our leaves...

That is one adorable man, right there!

He was taller than me! And...maybe a little evil looking. But we love him anyway.

Catch Up

Not having the internet at home makes posting difficult, so let me just catch up all at once.

• At the end of October I got to visit my wonderful friend Amber. She is in her last semester of school, and will be heading out to the missions field in no time. I desperately wanted to spend time with her and see what she had been up to first hand, as my opportunities to do so are quickly becoming less and less. It was a great trip.
• We celebrated my Grandma's birthday, and she told us a hilarious story we somehow hadn't heard before then. Let's just say I never expected to hear Grandma say, "and the next thing I remember was..."
• We have been married for 1 1/2 years, and it has been a blast. Jono makes this whole marriage thing very easy.
• I committed the evil sin of decorating for Christmas a week before Thanksgiving, and it was so fun. We even got lights up on our house for the first time since we've had a house together.
• Thanksgiving snuck up on me completely. I felt totally unprepared, honestly, to be thankful. I started out stressed because nothing was happening on my schedule, and we left over 12 hours after we had planned to originally. Once we got to his grandparents' though, things really slowed down and I finally got my head on straight. :)
• We got to sit front row at an Andrew Peterson concert, and had an amazing time. I felt like this guy a little bit, but no one ended up kicking us out of our seats. :)

There's lots to look forward to, too. This month is going to fly by with business, but I wouldn't want to change a thing. I hope your December is lovely!

I Am Not Snow's Biggest Fan

I was not excited to see the pile of snow on the street (and the car) this morning. I would be perfectly happy if it only ever snowed on Christmas Eve. However, I live in Kansas, and really ought to make the best of it. This morning I was thinking about all the blessings that are made more apparent by unfortunate weather conditions.

• My selfless husband who forced me to stay inside while he warmed up the car and cleaned off all the snow.
• Our tiny house that has been keeping plenty warm with only the aid of a sweet space heater.
• The sweet space heater that saves us money.
• My new car that has HEAT (poor Rosalind, though I love her, did not).
• Job flexibility for my husband, who ended up NOT having to drive 90 miles on sludgy highways, but rather gets to work in town today.
• Hot Chocolate.

I pondered these things as I watched Jono cleaning off the cars through our front window. And, you know, I have it pretty good.

Happy Snow Day, friends!

Today...

Today I am trying to dish out an extra amount of grace and understanding.

Today I am trying to forget past wrongs and forgive.

Today I am trying to ignore those pesky little things that have been getting me down.

Today I am trying to focus on what really counts.



Today...I am failing.

Undecided

I can never make up my mind about this blogging thing. On one hand, it's a nice way to update friends on what's going on. I mean, I like reading their blogs and finding out what they're up to, so it seems fair.

Honestly, though, I sometimes wonder why I should bother posting anything. I hate that some of my best friends find things out about me only because of my blog. I hate that I really haven't done a good enough job managing my time so that I could spend more time with them. It's also a little weird to be open and honest when I'm never sure who reads this danged thing. Why write about things that don't matter? Why write about things that DO matter when you don't know who reads them?

And then, maybe I think too much.

Currently Coveting...

Glass bowl? Yes, please.

Done!

This past weekend, after months of car shopping (a task that is not nearly as fun as one would think), we have our "new" camry. I am SO happy to finally have found what we were looking for, and well within our price range. At almost 6 years old, it is still by far the nicest, and newest car I have ever owned. Also, it continues the phenomenon of my car ownership.

Recently Jono and I did the math of how many cars I have owned in my life, and it turns out that I have had as many cars as I have had years of driving. Adding this camry continues the saga as my 8th year of driving has just begun.

It drives like a new car, and I couldn't be happier with it. I feel so very blessed!

Now, to sell my poor Rosalind...

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Mom, you are by far the most amazing woman I know. I appreciate your honesty, compassion, patience, and authenticity. It freaks me out to put my feelings out there for people to see, but you are transparent and genuine at all times, to all people. I've never met someone who wasn't drawn to you because of your love and kindness.

Your children have grown up secure in your love and care, in a life more privileged with displays of selflessness and generosity than we maybe even know.

Thanks for everything you have done/do/will do. Thanks for being my friend. But most certainly, thanks for being you (and nothing else). May your day be blessed and oh-so happy. :)

I love you so much.

When so many people told me that Mamma Mia was an amazing movie, I thought "well, that probably means it's a somewhat ok movie."

That was a mistake.

And poor Magen had to suffer with me.

It's a darn good thing we had our laptops and ice cream to get us through.

Did I Say "Practical"?

I find it funny that I should write this post just after talking about practicality.

Jono and I made a deal. He desperately wanted to play the new Halo, which would require us to own an XBox 360. I desperately wanted a dishwasher.

He promised to buy and install a dishwasher by the end of the month if I let him buy his XBox today.

How could I say no?