Sunday, September 30, 2007

A New Car

No, we didn't buy a new car...or a used car for that matter. We ended up deciding that not only did we not really have the desire to go to the used car dealership, but also that it was probably better that we didn't. Test driving new cars would not only make us want a new car even more than we already do but may be just a little more tempting than we are ready to deal with. So, we slept in on Saturday, had a little breakfast at Panera, went grocery shopping, and then relaxed at home all afternoon.

Today we both had to be at church at 7am. That is fun. I had to get up at the same time this morning that I usually do on workdays. But that's life. And at least it was for a good cause. Then we ended up taking a 3 hour nap this afternoon. That's always fun. Although I always end up feeling worse after the nap than I did before. Plus, we'll see if I can actually sleep tonight. Oh well.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Weekends

I am so ready for the weekend. I get to sleep in on Saturday (which is amazing...). We'll probably watch some college football. Maybe some baseball. Go to Crossroads for church on Saturday night (because Andrea plays there and because their services are pretty cool). Go to Lifepoint on Sunday (because that's our home church...yay for community). Watch some NFL on Sunday. MMMmmm...I love the weekends.

Eric and I got this thing in the mail earlier this week where you could scratch off a portion to reveal a number. If the number on the front matches the number on the back, you win something. Well, we won. What we won is still up in the air. It's for a huge used car dealership not too far from our house. The prizes and chances of winning them are:

42-inch flatscreen tv: 1 in 71,552
$500 cash : 1 in 71,552
$Portable DVD Player : 1 in 71,552
$50 Wal-mart Gift Card: 1 in 71,552
Orange Stadium Blanket: 71,548 in 71,552

In other words--we'll probably be getting another blanket. But, since we're in the market for a used car, and we'd like to buy one at the end of the year, we figured what the heck. We might as well go over there, test drive some cars, and maybe get a free tv or $500 out of the deal. Even if we only walk away with a blanket, we're at least still doing something productive with our evening--narrowing down our selection of cars.

So, that's what our evening looks like. Yay for Friday nights! What's yours look like?

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Hysterical

Yet another amazing youtube video. Seriously. Hysterical.

Sneezing Baby Panda

Monday, September 24, 2007

To Do Lists

I'm quickly learning that I am so much more productive during the day when I have a to do list. There's some strange gratification that comes from crossing off that last item on a to do list, crumpling the list up, and throwing it in the trash can. Plus, I think that when there's a tangible list of things to do, I'm much more likely to get off my fat butt and do something rather than simply sitting around and thinking about all the things I need to do :)

I'm definitely going to try to get into the habit of making these lists both for myself and for Eric. He does an amazing job of being productive during the day, but it seems like he gets a lot done except the things that he actually needs to do. He, like me, can be forgetful. And when I have something written down, it's much harder to forget.

My only fear is that the older I get (and especially when kids come) I will start to have so many things to do that I will lay awake at night visualizing that to do list and all the things I did not get done. For now, though, I thankfully do not have that problem. And maybe because of my to-do lists I will not get to that place. Who knows.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

A Year of Living Biblically

I was surfing the internet this morning when I woke up, and I stumbled across this article from Newsweek.

I have to admit that when I read the title, I instantly assumed that this was some writers crazy idea that would never work. In fact, I wondered whether he would just kind of choose the 10 Commandments and call that following every rule in the Bible. However, I was presently surprised when I read it. So much so that it makes me want to find his book.

I loved what he said at the beginning of the article: "I miss my sin-free life, but I guess I was never sin free." He talked about choices and how we think we want choices; in reality, there's a lot of freedom in not having to choose. Ultimately, there's still the choice (do I lie/do I not lie), but having the rule at least makes it clear what we should do. I hate that we live in a world where rules are seen as burdensome. Obviously, there are moments when every individual wants to break the rules because to do so would me some form of happiness or gratification. But, in the end we usually realize that although that momentary pleasure was great, it really wasn't worth the trouble and hardship caused from breaking rules.

I look back on my childhood, remember how cumbersome rules were to me at that point, and I really am thankful I chose not to break most of them. The rules are meant to save us from heartache, trouble, and pain. Just look at the world around us. But this guy seems to have realized the truth in that, or at least part of it.

As a small side note, here are some of my other favorite quotes:

"And I love the Sabbath. There’s something I really like about a forced day of rest."

"Also, during the experiment I wore a lot of white clothes, because Ecclesiastes says let your garments always be white, and I loved it, so I look like Tom Wolfe now. Wearing white just made me happier. I couldn’t be in a bad mood walking down the street looking like I was about to play in the semifinals at Wimbledon. One thing I learned is that the outside affects the inside, your behavior shapes your thoughts."

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Always Tired

Or at least it seems that way. I realized this morning on my way to work at 7 in the morning, that for the first time in our marriage Eric is consistently getting more sleep during the night than I am (not including weekends...praise the Lord for weekends). What's ironic about this is that before we got married, I was consistently frustrated by the little amount of time Eric spent sleeping (somewhere between 5 and 7 hours). It worried me that after we got married, I would go to bed and he would stay up multiple hours after. We even got into a couple of fights about this because for me, one of the great perks of getting married was to have someone to lay in bed next to me when I went to sleep. So, the thought of him staying up just irritated me. And now, after all those discussions, I am the one who gets fewer hours of sleep. Don't get me wrong, we go to bed at the same time, but I unfortunately get up somewhere between an hour and 2 hours before he does. Really, with the exception of one morning since I started teaching, I've been gone before he even gets up.

Why on earth I had to choose one of the professions that require an extremely early wake-up call...

So, I now get somewhere between 6 and 7 hours on average a night. Which when I type it out doesn't seem all that bad. But, I honestly believe, and have heard many people agree with me (teachers and non-teachers alike) that teaching is one of the most exhausting jobs. I pretty much entertain all day--or at least that's what the kids expect. So, I'm constantly trying to bring kids back from the netherworld of their minds all day, or keep them from talking/being distracted, or explain to them why my class is important... I come home bushed every single day.

I cannot wait to have my own class, to be teaching history/social studies, to be working with all kids not just the struggling kids (which incidentally has given me an even greater respect for special ed. teachers--and I already had a large amount of respect for them to begin with).

Anyway, I'll quit complaining now.

Eric has recently gotten me addicted to Halo. Halo is an xbox game--first person shooter--that revolves around destroying an alien civilization (among many other things). I had tried to play it before, but had always been playing in competition with Eric. Needless to say, I always got my hind parts handed to me, and after a while I stopped playing. Last week, though, he told me that we could actually play together, through the actual story line of the game, so that at least if I was getting killed it wasn't by him. And I loved it. So between Thursday and Sunday, we defeated the entire first game. And now, we're on to Halo 2. It shouldn't take us too much longer to beat it. Unfortunately, while Halo 3 comes out next Tuesday, it is only on Xbox 360--which we don't have yet. Hopefully we can go to Ben's and play it there. We'll see though.

And...the Cardinals are officially out of post season contention. Ok, not officially, but they might as well be. With only 14 games left in the season, the Cards are 7 games out of first place--and nowhere near contention for the wild card (one of the pitfalls of playing in the worst division in baseball - the NL Central). It would take a collapse of historic proportions by the likes of both the Cubs and the Brewers simultaneously, and a winning streak unprecendented in this season by the Cardinals for them to make it to the playoffs. Somehow, I just don't think that's going to happen (although as I write this the Cards are up 3-1 in their game, while the Cubs are down 4-2 in theirs). So, I must decide who to root for in post-season. It's going to take a lot of prayer and consideration...

Tomorrow is another Wednesday night dinner at Radius, so be praying that the same people who were there last week decide to come back and that new people come.

Ok, I'm going to stop rambling now...

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Oklahoma v. Texas?

Ok, I understand that sports rivalries are exciting and great for sports, but I'm not sure that this doesn't take it a little too far. Recognize that I greatly respect the great people in Oklahoma (I married into a Sooner family), and I myself and growing to love the Oklahoma Sooner's football team. However, I'm just not sure that it needs to be this big of a deal...

Also, I think there is some real irony in the professions of the two men in question, but that's just me.

"Wearing Texas T-Shirt = Castration???"

progress? we shall see...

First of all, I would like to say something to my beautiful wife: THBBBBPPPPPPPPPTTTTTTT!!!!!!!! That's just about enough of the sass on the blog, thank you very much.

With that said, I think we just might have some good news regarding Wednesday nights. As Kerri mentioned in a previous post, we only had 3 people last week in addition to the two of us and Trey, the grad student who has been involved in past years and is helping us out this year. Needless to say, I was a bit frustrated--both because I didn't feel like we were really reaching anyone new, and also at myself because of my impatience and unwillingness to trust God.

Fast forward to yesterday--we already knew going into yesterday that it was going to be hectic. The Cincinnati Museum Center is currently doing an exhibit on real Pirates, which Kerri and I had both really wanted to go to. Well, yesterday they had a special day for teachers ($5 admission), so we could get in really cheap. Unfortunately, the only time that we could go was at 4 yesterday afternoon. So we went to the exhibit, got done and left downtown Cincy about 5:45 and headed up to Miami. We got there about 6:45, which left us roughly an hour and a half to get everything cooked and ready to go--not a problem. Until Kerri realized (on the way up, actually), that we didn't have any pots. Grrrrrr....cue a trip to Wal-Mart. I get back at 7:20 or so with pots and other assorted things, and we begin cooking. I start getting the room ready while Kerri is cooking, until she informs me that the meat that I had planned on using for a meat sauce is expired and possibly bad. Grrrr....food poisoning sucks, so there goes the meat. Back to getting the room ready (with me becoming increasingly frustrated and stressed and Kerri putting up with my grumpiness like a champ) until 7:50, when Kerri informs me that we have no butter or oil (the only cooking oil in the kitchen expired in '06) to put on the noodles to keep them from getting sticky. Grrrrr....I run to the gas station and CVS--no luck on both. Looks like it's sticky noodles. By this time I am completely frustrated.

Interestingly enough, it is at the moment when I am the most frustrated and sure that things aren't working that God shows up. (I shouldn't be surprised--that seems to be how it usually works.) In walks a new girl--Hannah--whom we had met at Mega Fair a couple of weeks ago. She was on her way home and just stopped in to see what we were all about. No sooner had she left than Daniel (a friend of Trey's who has come for the last two weeks) comes in, closely followed by Jessica and Matt, another pair that we had met at Mega Fair. And to top it all off, no more than five minutes later, our other two regulars Zach and Ashley came in.

So as I step back and think about last night, a few things come to mind. First of all, God is (despite my frustrations at the frequency) continuing to bring new people--Hannah, Jessica, and Matt all were interested in who we are, what we do, and so on. (Pray that we will have more opportunity to connect with them.) Second, I think it is really cool that in spite of the fact that Trey was not there last night (due to feeling sick), Daniel came anyway--it is encouraging that a guy who has absolutely nothing in common with us likes being here enough to come even when his friend doesn't. Finally, I have to take heart in the fact that the two most involved students we have are ones that I had nothing to do with attracting (Zach just happened to be riding by on our first week, and he brought Ashley the following week) and who do not (to my estimation) have a significant relationship with God. Yet they are the ones wanting to bring friends, call others to come when they get here, and even help cook and plan. Yes it is just a meal, but it definitely says that God is doing something when people who aren't yet Christ followers are wanting to be more involved.

So keep us in your prayers, but more importantly keep THEM in your prayers. Pray that God will bring them back, that He will provide opportunities for deeper conversations, and that they will continue to bring others.

Well, that's all for now....

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Another week gone...

First of all, to my wonderful husband, who for some reason thinks he has nothing to put on here, this is a reminder that you need to PUT SOMETHING ON HERE!!!

Ok, with that out of the way, I will do my best to recap yet another week gone by. I'm sorry that I've been so derelict on my blogging duties, but I like every other adult I know, just don't seem to have the time (or the energy) sometimes to do this. But, I've got it now, so here goes...

You'd think that with last Monday being a holiday, the week would have been a little easier...not so much. I was just as exhausted by Friday as I am in any other week. The last month or so have served as an excellent reminder of why God commands us to take a Sabbath. Unfortunately, I don't know too many people that are very good at saying "no" enough to allow themselves to have one. I'm going to try to make it a priority in my marriage and family to have at least one weekend every month where we're not busy all from Friday night to Sunday night. Who knows how that will work once we have kids, but just by virtue of the way I feel right now, at 25, I'm pretty confident that if I don't have some time to relax, I'll die. Eric and I literally planned a day off on Saturday this weekend, just to make sure that we get some rest.

Last Wednesday, we only had two students show up for free dinner. But, we're starting to be very thankful for those two people. We really now just want to make sure they keep coming and that we can be an influence on them (as scary as that feels sometimes). Still, we'd obviously like to have more students coming. So, send a little message up to God when you think about it.

This last weekend, one of my good friends, Becky Read, got married. She's now Becky Smyth. She and Dan, her husband, put together a very simple yet very romantic ceremony. They seem to be an excellent match for each other; I'm sure they're going to do awesome things.

Every time I go to a wedding, I find myself second guessing the wedding I had. Don't get me wrong, I loved our wedding. But, I see some of the things my friends have done and I think, "Man, I wish I'd thought of that." I think ultimately, I really just wish that we had hired a different photographer, and that we had actually hired someone to do to video. But, that's life, and I'm thankful for what we did have.

The Cardinals are stinking it up right now...just for what that's worth. But, we're playing Cincinnati tonight, so hopefully we can remedy our losing streak.

Hmmmm....what else to say...yeah, I got nothing.

My advice for the day: nothing beats a clean apartment. It's a great feeling. And someday I'd like to train myself to keep mine clean :)

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Welcome Home

Well, our whirlwind trip of the weekend went well. Our flights went smoothly, and the weekend itself was a very good time. We got to hang out with both sets of family actually (due to our 3 hour layover in STL), and we were there to see Paul ordained. Eric, actually, was involved, and his name is on the ordination certificate which is pretty cool if you ask me.

I'm pretty excited because Eric let me get the last month's worth of games from MLB extra innings, so hopefully I can watch every single freakin cardinals game for the rest of the season. I'm really hoping they can eke out a playoff spot, but we'll see. Regardless, I'm stoked that I can actually watch them now.

I suppose that's all I really have to say for now. Peace :)