Please tell me I can blame it on the pregnancy!

OK, so does pregnancy make you clumsy? I'm not usually a klutz, but I've had two disturbing incidences in the past couple of days, and I'm concerned I'm really going to injure myself or someone else! Two days ago, I was walking down the street, and I just fell down! My foot slipped into a pothole or something, but I totally staggered for like 10 feet and then went sprawling. It was embarrassing! Thankfully I wasn't hurt more than scratches and bruises. But I guarantee the people on the street were thinking "It's WAY too early in the day for that lady to be so drunk!" No, I'm not drunk! I'm just pregnant! It's a good thing no cars were coming, because I totally fell into the middle of the street.

And then tonight, I totally set dinner on fire. YES, ON FIRE!!!! We're talking 2-foot-high flames coming out of the skillet. Who knew stir-fry could be so dangerous? The thing that scares me the most about it is that I panicked. I had no idea what to do. Thankfully, Justin was on hand, came quickly at my screams, and calmly took care of the situation. It doesn't take a super-genius to think that if you have a fire on a gas stove, the first thing you should try is eliminate the source of the flame. Turn off the burner, Joni! Duh! (This picture is not my stove, but it closely resembled what mine looked like - minus the danger of nearby curtains catching ablaze...)

So I'm just a little nervous because I still have 7 more months of this to go. Will I suffer from this fuzzy-headedness the whole time? Will I regain better control of my limbs? I seriously doubt that one, because the bigger I get the more awkward I'm sure I will be. So I just need to recruit some serious prayers that God will protect me with His angels and that I'll trust Him to do so!

Bizarre Changes in Food Tastes

So you always hear about how pregnancy totally changes the foods people like/dislike/crave. I wondered what was going to happen with me, and I'm totally surprised so far about how it's been!

1. Sweet Tooth is Gone! Before pregnancy, I had the world's biggest sweet tooth. I could eat anything sweet or chocolate any time of the day or night. Shockingly enough, now it just doesn't sound good. If I do happen to eat some, I do usually enjoy it. But a little bit is enough, and it's very easy for me to overdo it on the sweets now and make myself sick. In fact, the medicine I'm taking to lower my bilirubin levels is a VERY sweet syrup, and some days I actually have to gag it down! I hope the sweet tooth stays gone even after giving birth! That would be great for my diet! :)

2. Just Say No to Raw Veggies! Many of you know that I used to eat salads all the time - LOVED them! My friend Kristy and I would go to Subway every week and I would get a tuna salad, the highlight of my week! Even here in Moldova, before getting pregnant, I would cut up tomatoes and cucumbers and make a salad-type thing every day for lunch. Now I just cannot stand the thought of a raw vegetable. I had to throw away all my leftover tomatoes and cucumbers. Before I get any motherly lectures, I'm eating plenty of cooked vegetables, AND I'm taking my multivitamin. Just don't ask me to eat a salad. Gag!

3. Hand Over the Fries and Nobody Gets Hurt! My strongest cravings have been for warm, salty things - namely, french fries. In fact, twice now I have been moved to tears by my deep longing for McDonald's fries. Is this pathetic or what? Before pregnancy, I really could not tell you the last time I ate a french fry, and even longer ago that I specifically went to a place just to buy some! But they are the joy of my soul now. I'm trying to enjoy them in moderation and find other things that will fill that craving - popcorn is a good one, and cheese toast! Yum!

So those are just the most notable changes in my tastes so far. Weird!!!

Conquering the Fear

Well, I'm now 9 1/2 weeks pregnant, and I've been wanting to revive this blog to share with friends and family about my experiences. However, I haven't been able to bring myself to do it, and I can tell you the one reason: FEAR. I have been so afraid of losing the baby or something happening, that I couldn't stand the thought of getting on here and sharing all these exciting things, just to have to get back on in the future and share the sadness. But God has really been dealing with me in that, and here's the new attitude I'm living by:

If God wants my child to live, then absolutely nothing can harm it.
If God doesn't want my child to live, then neither do I.

That second part sounds kind of harsh, but not when you look at it with a correct view of God, namely that He is good and loving all the time. He is never spiteful or mean. Absolutely everything He does has a purpose, and in His Word, He promises that purpose is good. So He can be trusted with the life of my child, and I have determined that I just will not worry. Period. I worded it the way I did above, because this concept doesn't just apply to my pregnancy, but I want it to apply to my attitude toward parenting in general. There is no guarantee that my child will live to reach adulthood. That is in the hands of God, and He knows best. As a chronic worrier and someone who always imagines the worst for every situation (Example: Justin is 10 minutes late getting home from work? He must be dead in a car accident. *rolling eyes*), this is a really big deal for me, and I'd appreciate everybody's prayers in this. But I have a bunch of things I'll be posting about my pregnancy, so check back often and share the joy of the experience with me, and NONE of us are going to WORRY about ANYTHING!!! :)

They're Making a Movie!

In January, I reviewed a book series on this blog called The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Well, Justin just read in the latest issue of The Economist that they're going to make a movie from the first book! According to The Economist, the book series has generated quite a bit of tourism in Botswana, where the books are set. In fact, tourists can even take the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency tour" and visit all the locations in the book. Cool! Maybe someday I'll convince Justin to take me there. But I digress. So apparently Botswana was so excited about the tourism from the book series that they're investing heavily in the movie, hoping that will create an even larger draw. It's supposed to open first in Britain in 2008, then if all goes well, it will open worldwide. Then, if that is successful, they'll make more movies. (So far there are 8 books in the series, and he's still writing them.) So I thought that was exciting news.

I hadn't planned on posting on this blog anymore, but this didn't seem to fit on the Moldova blog. So check back here periodically and to see if I have anything else to say! I'm in the middle of a book now that I plan to review on here once I'm done, so hopefully that will entice you to check back in a couple weeks! :)

My Wonderful Husband

My wonderful husband got me two GREAT gifts for my birthday! They were late arriving from Amazon, so I didn't get them until yesterday, but they were DEFINITELY worth waiting for! He got me Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in the series that I have been DYING to get my hands on. I'm already halfway through it and it is GOOD!

He also got me A Thousand Splendid Suns, by the same author as The Kite Runner. I can't wait to get them both read! Thank you, my precious one!!!

Random Collection of Thoughts

I have a couple different thoughts that are entirely unrelated to each other, but when all put here together may turn out to be a post of some substance. So here goes:

Last Sunday for church, we visited Justin's sister's church: Fellowship Church in Knoxville, TN. It was a great experience - good music, great sermon, friendly people. The sermon was about Colossians 3:17, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." The preacher made a point about how the Church today has kind of made a division between "church life" and "real life." We think that the majority of our daily lives are aspiritual and have nothing to do with God, and then our worship comes on Sundays in church or serving in church activities throughout the week. But he used the Old Testament law to make a point that when God gave the law to Israel, it wasn't just laws about church and morality. It was laws about every tiny detail of life, including relationships, food, work, real estate, sex, society, etc. God wanted to be a factor in every part of their lives then, and looking at Colossians 3:17, it's clear that He still feels the same way today. So the thought that many of us have that we can't have a life of service to God unless we're employed by a church is bogus. God wants us to be godly businesspeople, godly teacher, godly garbagemen, godly waitresses, etc. AS WELL AS godly churchpeople. Just something to think about in my own attitude toward serving God and how I approach my daily life. If you're interested, you can listen to the sermon at the church link I posted above.

I've never really shopped at Old Navy. I've been there a time or 2 with other people, but never shopped there for myself. They didn't used to carry sizes big enough for me. But now I've lost some weight, and several friends emphatically recommended that I should stop in and check out their clearance racks because you can find some good deals on cute clothes. So yesterday I went to Old Navy with my friend Charity, and I bought a really cute sweater for $4.34 including tax! Yay for Old Navy and shopping at new places!

We are now less than one week away from leaving for Moldova! People keep asking me if I'm nervous about it, and remarkably the answer is no. I'm calm and confident, I just really have great expectations for this season. Justin is losing some sleep over details, but God has shown Himself so faithful in answering our prayers. We'd still appreciate your prayers for our safety and for all our details to be worked out upon arrival - especially getting our 6-month work permits and finding housing. We've heard about one housing situation that sounds ideal, so we're hoping that will work out for us - Check the Moldova blog for more details about that once we arrive.

So I think that's all I have for the moment. I'll try to post on here at least one more time before we leave!

Edit: I remembered a couple other random thoughts I meant to put in this! So I'll add them here at the end.

We visited the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, TN, and I learned a lot about WWII history and the development of the nuclear bomb. I had no idea that was all done in Tennessee, just a few hours south of where I grew up! Very enlightening for me, although I hope not in a radioactive way... In the lobby of that museum, though, there are some little puzzles and brainteasers - take these 6 shapes and fit them together to make a square. I've always been good at this kind of thing, and so I solved them without a whole lot of trouble. My father-in-law, who is an engineer, was very impressed by this and said I should've been an architect because of my apititude for abstract thinking. Wow. Thanks!

One of Justin's and my favorite things to do is visit used bookstores. You never know the treasures you can find in used bookstores! We just got back from visiting Mr. K's Used Books & CDs in Oak Ridge, and I found 2 books that I've been looking for a long time (The South Beach Diet in paperback and Captivating by John & Staci Eldredge) for $10 total! But I digress. For the past several weeks, we've been scouring every bookstore we came across for a Romanian-English dictionary to help me learn the language. We eventually gave up and bought them online. But I digress again. Earlier this week we were in Barnes & Noble in Knoxville, and I was looking in the foreign language section trying to find anything to help me learn Romanian. I struck out, but I noticed a book on the shelf that looked like it was written by "Harrius Potter." I wondered if maybe this was someone trying to write a book as if they were Harry Potter, but the name was copyrighted so they used something close? But then I picked it up and "Harrius Potter" was actually the title of the book. So I flipped it open and the text was definitely in a language that I don't know. The inside flap, though, was in English, and I discovered that this was actually the first Harry Potter book translated into Latin. Then I looked back at the shelf I had gotten it from, and there were several other children's books translated into Latin, including Green Eggs & Ham. What is this about? Where is the market for children's books in Latin? Isn't Latin a dead language? I'm very confused by all of this... Does anybody else have any thoughts?

Stayin' Alive

Whew! It's been a whirlwind week, and now I'm finally getting a chance to slow down and breathe. I can't believe it's only been 8 days since we left Texas. It feels like 8 weeks! Our driving went really well - many thanks to all who prayed for us! It was REALLY easy drafting behind a U-Haul for 700 miles. Justin's the one who had it hard up in the truck, but I was just sailing along listening to my book on CD. (I highly recommend The Kite Runner, but it's very heavy and serious. Not a light read. I still learned a lot about the history and culture of Afghanistan, and it was a thought-provoking story.)

We spent 3 days in Kentucky at Justin's parents' house. We went out on their pontoon boat in the lake, did some unsuccessful fishing, and ate a LOT of yummy homemade food! The day we arrived, Justin's dad filled up his smoker with venison, dove, turkey breast, turkey sausage, and beef, and we managed to finish off most of it by the end of the 3 days.

Thursday we drove up to Chicago to visit my extended family. My grandparents, 4 aunts and uncles, and their families all came in to spend a few days together - it was a bonafide family reunion! I think we had about 25 people total, including all the children. Friday we went to downtown Chicago and spent a while at Navy Pier, visited a chocolate cafe called Moonstruck.
Saturday we drove to Racine, Wisconsin and went to the zoo there, then had a birthday/pool party at our hotel for one of my younger cousins. Sunday we drove to Willow Creek for church, and we met up with some college friends, Paul and Tara, for lunch. Paul is working at Willow as an intern, so we were excited to have this chance to see them again - I hadn't seen Tara since graduation in 2002! Then we drove back to Cincinnati, where my parents and sister live, and we'll spend this week here with them just relaxing a little bit and enjoying family.

Can you believe that in all of that action, I never took ONE SINGLE photo?! I'm a horrible person. My sis took some pictures, so hopefully I can steal some of hers and post them for your entertainment. My nephews are precious and wonderful, and I look forward to the next couple of days with them. They both have colds which I seem to have caught. But I slept about 12 hours last night and I'm feeling much better today.

On an entirely different note, we have started our Moldova blog! I'll keep posting on this one until we leave for Moldova on August 1st, and then I'll post only on that one. Keep this one on your links, though, because I'll come back to this one after our stint in Moldova!

An Amazing Gift

I just had to post on here about the wonderful gift I received today! Today was the last day that both of my bosses and me would all be in the office together. So they took me out to lunch at Pei Wei (yum!), and they gave me this precious gift. They said it was from them, and also the choir at the church where I work took up a collection to buy me a gift to show their appreciation for all I've done for them in the past 2 years. As if that wasn't already super sweet, the gift they got me is gorgeous! It's a beautiful gold and silver cross necklace made by the renowned jeweler James Avery. I am so touched at this gift! Not only is it sweet and thoughtful, but it's also beautiful - something I would pick out myself. I've really been touched by everyone's sweet expressions of appreciation to me, telling me how much I've meant to them in my time here. It's nice to know you can affect someone's life for the better in the short time you have with them. I pray I can touch people the same way in Moldova!

Goodbyes Are Hard

Yesterday was our last Sunday to go to our wonderful church, and it was so hard saying goodbye! This church has meant so much to me in my walk with the Lord and growth in worship. I can't imagine ever finding a church home like this one. I almost lost it hugging the Music Minister goodbye, but thankfully I managed to keep it together.

But I know I will lose it altogether when I have to say goodbye to my dear LifeGroup. They threw a goodbye party for us last night, which was sweet and wonderful. Here's the crowd that was there:

From left: Clay (wife Michelle was working), Robert & Mollie, Matt & Rachel (with baby Kezia), Zack & Gretchen, Justin & me, Andrew & Shelly, and David & Michelle.

Thankfully, they are such wonderful friends that most of them will be helping us load up our truck Saturday afternoon, so last night wasn't goodbye. However, they have been such dear friends to us, and walked down this road with us in the first two years of our marriage and surviving grad school. How hard to leave them now! But I know that the Lord has more in store for our future and for theirs, and thankfully I know that this goodbye is only temporary, for we will all dance together on those golden streets for all eternity! So although this goodbye is a grief, we don't have to grieve as those who have no hope... Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Whew! It Has Begun!

Well, the upheaval has definitely begun. I almost took pictures of what our apartment looks like to post on here, but I was ashamed of the disaster it is and lost my nerve. But let me assure you, it is a disaster! I am extremely pleased, though, with how far ahead we are on packing and getting rid of stuff. We decided to sell a lot of our belongings and furniture so we don't have to pack it up and move it! Hopefully when we come back, we'll be settling someplace for several years, so we'll actually want to outfit a house with more than our hodge-podge assortment of hand-me-down and Goodwill furniture.

So my sweet husband has taken an affinity to Craig's List, and it's been amazing how fast our stuff has sold! Every day I get another email from him... "Just sold the dresser." "Just sold the desk." Yesterday he sold our TV and VCR, so I'll be doing a lot of reading for the next 2 weeks without it! :) It's wonderful to have some extra cash, though, and we're thankful for how easy it has been so far.

Also, selling the furniture is definite motivation for me to get to work packing the things that are inside it! I had to pack the books because we're selling the bookshelves out from under them! (Those are still available, by the way, so let us know if you're interested! ;) ) So there are boxes everywhere, and I'm thrilled with progress.

So that's really all that my life is these days. Selling, organizing, and packing. And I love it. Just 10 more days! (But who's counting?!)

What to Do With the Elderly?

Justin had an experience this week that really got me to thinking. He got a part-time job with a company that does in-home assistance for the elderly or handicapped. Most of their employees are trained healthcare workers, but they also need some people to just go help out with regular things like housework, grocery shopping, or even just to sit as a companion with someone. So Justin took the job with the understanding that those are the kind of calls he would get. Last night, he got his first call to assist an elderly couple with their evening routine. The husband had Parkinson’s disease, which makes him basically immobile and entirely unable to do anything for himself. So this job turned out to be way more intensive than Justin felt he was qualified or trained for. However, my wonderful husband with his courage and his servant’s heart jumped right in there and did what needed to be done. I’m very proud of him for that, but that’s not the point of this post.

The point is that it really got me thinking about the elderly and the difficulty of making decisions for their care. When Justin got home and was telling me about how difficult his time there was and just how difficult this couple’s life is overall, my first thought was “They need to be in a home.” That just stopped me in my tracks, though, because who am I to make that kind of judgment? I can't even fathom how hard it must be to watch yourself and your spouse growing older and losing the ability to take care of yourselves, and what a difficult decision it would be to give up your independence and leave the home you’ve lived in together for so long. But yet what’s the answer to getting the care you need while still maintaining your dignity and your independence and your privacy and all the other things I can’t even think of right now? I honestly don’t know. I do have a few thoughts on the issue even though I can't draw any conclusions, and maybe one of you will be able to add in some better ideas and thoughts too.

First of all, one of my favorite books ever is called Leota’s Garden, a fiction novel by Christian author Francine Rivers. It addresses this issue in a heart-wrenching way and will really make you think about stuff. I highly recommend it, and anything else she wrote for that matter.

Secondly, just this Sunday in Bible study we looked at some Scriptures that I think are applicable here. We’re going through the book of 1 Timothy, and this is what it says in verses 4 and 8 of chapter 5:

“If a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God… If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

To me, that’s pretty clear about who God wants to take care of the elderly… their own family. (This verse is talking about widows, but I think the principle can be applied to aging parents in need even if they’re both alive.) I think it’s neat that in verse 4 it basically says “After all your parents and grandparents have done for you, you OWE them!” And if you think about it, it’s true. They spent years feeding you and bathing you and changing your diapers, so you don’t need to be too proud or selfish to do that for them in their old age if they need it. Better you than some stranger in a nursing home. However, that is REALLY easy for me to say now, but I know it would be REALLY hard if I actually have to do it someday. Not only just emotionally and physically and mentally would it be difficult to care for an aging parent, but financially too.

And this brings me to my third thought on the issue. I think that decisions on how to care for me when I’m old will never be easy, but I think they’ll be a lot easier if I can provide the finances to do what is necessary. That’s why we’re saving for retirement now. We’re young and feel like getting old is a really long time away. But ask your parents and grandparents if they ever thought they’d get old and see what they say… So no matter how old you are or how healthy you are, please PLEASE start saving for your future. You never know what will happen to you and what will come up, and wouldn’t you rather be prepared for any eventuality? And it's never too late to start saving, so even if retirement is uncomfortably close for you, saving now will still help you down the road.

Last semester, Justin and I went through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, and it revolutionized our way of thinking about this kind of stuff. If you haven’t been through this course, please look on Dave’s website and see if there are any near you. No matter what your situation or how much you make, you can ALWAYS save if you’re willing to make some sacrifices. Eat out less, make that pair of shoes last one more month, buy off-brands, and start investing that money instead of blowing it! I don’t know much about investing because Justin is our financial dude. But please, if you have any questions about what we do or what Dave recommends (Yes, we’re on a first name basis with Dave Ramsey!) or how to make your specific situation work, ask him! He may not know, but we’ll find out for you. Because this is IMPORTANT. You can’t trust Social Security to come through for you. Sheesh, my PARENTS can’t even trust Social Security to come through for them, much less anybody in my generation. We have got to be wise enough to plan for that and have what it takes to provide for ourselves. Get health insurance. Get life insurance. Get long term care insurance when you reach 60. Make out a living will so that the doctors will know your wishes on how you should be cared for and your sweet spouse doesn’t have to try to make that decision on whether or not to pull the plug.

I don’t want this to sound morbid – it’s just reality. Our bodies were not meant to last forever. We were meant to live on this earth a while and then move on to the next where we get a new body and a new name and there will be no more death or pain or sorrow! In the meantime, let’s be wise about how we live in this world. Taking care of the elderly is a difficult and sensitive issue, so let’s do what we can to make it easier on those we love when our time comes.

Another One?!?!?!?!

So you all remember last year when we had the mouse in our house? Well, apparently its brother moved into its place and has now met the same fate. Sit back and let me tell you the tale. If you're squeamish about rodents or gross things, you may want to pass on reading this story.
For the past several days, I've noticed this smell when sitting on our living room couch. It smelled exactly like dog food to me. It wasn't incredibly strong and it seemed to come and go. So I figured maybe the neighbors had gotten a dog and they fed it right on the other side of the wall the couch sits next to. However, yesterday evening I was sitting on the couch and it suddenly hit me. Those neighbors got evicted. Nobody lives there. Uh-oh. So I'm sniffing around the couch trying to figure out where it's coming from. Sniff, sniff. Pillows are fine. Sniff, sniff. Seats are fine. Sniff, sniff. Whoa, it's definitely coming from behind the couch. So I pull it back from against the wall, and there is a dead, decomposing mouse back there!!!! GROSS!!!! Who knows how long it had been there?! We never even heard it scratching around in the kitchen or anything, it just showed up dead under our couch! No wonder our bug problem has been getting worse! GAG! So I called my bold and daring husband who promptly rescued me and took the thing to the dumpster. It did leave a gross and smelly spot on the carpet, but I scrubbed it last night and I think we might have gotten it taken care of. Are you kidding me?! I'm SO ready to get out of this $#&*@^% apartment!!!!

P.S. The above picture is NOT what the mouse in our house looked like. I couldn't find a picture that would satisfy me for that. So instead I posted a picture of the R.O.U.S. (Rodents of Unusual Size) from The Princess Bride. Gross rodent, great movie.


P.P.S. So here's my question... Why does a decomposing mouse smell like dog food?! What do they put in that stuff anyways?!

A Trip to the Ocean

No, we're not taking a random vacation to the beach. I'm talking about my sweet husband taking me to the movies last night to see the third installment of some of my favorite movies: Ocean's 13. Now, I'm going to do my best to avoid any spoilers in this post, so if you haven't seen it, please feel free to keep reading. Let me start by saying that Ocean's 11 and Ocean's 12 are two of my favorite movies. Part of the reason why I married Justin is because he had them both on DVD. (Not really, but that was an excellent bonus I discovered after we were married!) I watch them all the time, and I just love the characters, the relationships, the story lines, the cleverness of the gags, the script, all of it. Love it. Ocean's 12 is, in my opinion, the ONLY sequel in all of history to be as good as, if not better than, the first movie. When I learned that they were coming out with a third one, I tried to keep my expectations low. I mean, could they really do it a third time? Well, let me say, I loved it. I was right and it wasn't as good as the first two, but it was still excellent.

Since I'm not giving away any of the plot, let me just make a few notes about the movie. First of all, I LOVED the Mormon brothers' increased airtime in this movie. They played a greater role in this one than in any of the previous, and there wasn't one scene with them in it that wasn't hilarious. A few of my favorite quotes from Turk:

"I was trying to extend to you an olive basket and you spit in my face."

Virgil: "I'm trying to make you taller, you're classified as a midget in 34 states."
Turk: "Yeah? I'm an animal in the other 34... 24... 22..."

Secondly, there were apparently several references to the Godfather in this movie that will appeal to all you Godfather nerds out there (a.k.a. all males). I didn't notice any of them, having only seen the Godfather once, which was one time too many. But Justin raved about them in the car on the way home. Thirdly, Brad Pitt didn't look so good. The rest of the guys all looked pretty much the same, except for those who were supposed to look worse. But Brad looked old, had big old bags under his eyes, and was all wrinkly looking. My only guess for this is that he's spent too much time under the African sun, and he's stressed out with all those African babies at home. He was childless when they made Ocean's 12, and now he has like 14 kids at home. Who can blame him for looking worse?

Fourthly, the only thing I didn't like about the movie was that neither Tess or Isabel even made an appearance. We didn't even hear their voices on the phone, for cryin' out loud! So there was a distinct lack of intelligent, or even entertaining, females in this movie, and that's probably the reason I didn't like it as well as the first two.

Having said all that, though, I loved it, and I'm inexpressibly thankful to my sweet husband for seizing the opportunity to take me. What a dear. I will say that I'm kind of hoping they don't make any more. No need for an Ocean's 37. Let's keep the good thing we've got and not ruin it, ok?!

Monkey See, Monkey Help

I read an article in the May edition of Reader's Digest that really moved and amazed me. It was about an organization called Helping Hands Monkeys, that provides monkey helpers for the diabled. Yes, monkeys. Specifically, they train Capuchin monkeys to do all sorts of tasks around the house that a disabled person wouldn't be able to do alone. This allows those who are physically handicapped to still maintain a great deal of independence and dignity. This was moving in itself, but what really tugged at my heartstrings was the way those who have received these monkeys share about how deeply attached they become to their monkeys. One of them said "It's somewhere between having a daughter and a friend, and a pet and a personal care attendant all wrapped in one."

Reader's Digest told the story of a man who had been in a car accident and become totally paralyzed from the neck down. The only thing he could move was a couple of fingers to operate his wheelchair. After his fiancee and her son left him, he spiraled into a dark depression. But then along came Minnie, a 20-year-old Capuchin monkey helper. She not only enabled him to live independently, but she brought him joy and the affection he so desperately needed. He says that Minnie saved his life.

At Helping Hands, they specifically breed these monkeys and give them very intense training to become helper monkeys. For the first five years of their lives, they live with a nondisabled foster family just to become socialized and have a fun and healthy childhood. Then they spend 2 years in Monkey College where they learn how to do a host of amazing things. They are trained to respond to laser pointers and about 30 verbal commands. When a monkey graduates from Monkey College at the age of 7, it can switch on/off the lights, open a bottle and put a straw in it, operate a microwave and serve food, clean up trash, switch on a TV or computer, select a CD or DVD and operate the player, turn the pages of a book, brush hair, open and close drawers, turn a faucet on/off, open the refrigerator, open a jar and pour out its contents, and take care of their own bathing and grooming. Amazing!!!! These monkey can live to be 40, so that gives them a solid 30 years of being able to be helpers.

Capuchin monkeys are specifically well-suited for this job because of their strong and nimble hands/arms that allow them to do intricate work with their fingers and lift over half their bodyweight (a mere 4-5 pounds). The Reader's Digest story told how Minnie's owner could use his laser pointer to select a movie, and she would get it and put it in the DVD player. Then he could say "popcorn" and she would go to the pantry, get out popcorn, put it in the microwave, pop it, take it out of the microwave, take it to her owner, open the bag, make sure it wasn't too hot, and then feed it to him (helping herself to some of it too!). I'm just blown away.

So now that I've inspired you for the day, I'll leave you with this bit of trivia. Capuchin monkeys get their name from an order of monks of the Catholic Church called Capuchin Friars, because the markings in the monkeys' fur resembles the traditional look of one of these friars. This is also where the drink cappucino got its name. I learned that from Trivial Pursuit. :)

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I haven't blogged in a week because I've been in a serious funk. I had no idea what was wrong with me or why, but I just lost my motivation. I stopped sleeping at night, had bad dreams, developed a twitch in my left eye, and my diet went out the window. I just couldn't summon the energy to care about eating right anymore. For those of you who know me, you recognize that this is serious. I was cranky and irritable. Poor Justin didn't know what to do with me. I didn't know where it was coming from or why, but I figured it would eventually pass and I just had to be strong and wait it out. But duh, Joni. You carry around in your purse a 100% money-back guaranteed funk repellent. If this can't banish the funk you've been in, nothing can. But this can. It's the Word of God.

Today, after talking about it with some friends, I realized the source of the problem. It's stress, and the root of that stress is fear. We are about to make a big change in our lives, and I have been telling the truth when I say I'm excited about it and looking forward to it. I am. I believe this is exactly what God has for us, and I believe He has great things in store for us through this adventure. However, I'm scared to death. When I went to Africa, I failed miserably at what I went to do because I could never completely let go of my inhibitions to embrace the people and the culture. I learned the language quickly and easily, but as far as suspending my judgments and being humble enough to really express love to the people in the way THEY could understand, I had zip, zilch, nada. Language hero, missionary zero. So this bad experience on my record is really affecting the way I'm looking at this upcoming trip. I recognize the mistakes I made in Africa, and I feel like I'll be able to learn from them to do a whole lot better in Moldova. Having a husband there who understands the culture better and can help keep me accountable will help a lot too. So I know it'll be good and fine and wonderful.

However, the enemy doesn't want me to enjoy this or to trust God to make this a wonderful experience and bring good from the bad experience in Africa. He wants me to be afraid and stressed out. I realized today that I've been letting the enemy have his way with me - I've been succumbing to his whims without even a fight. Well, I'm on to you, O wily one. From now on, you won't get me without a fight.

On my lunchbreak today (which is when I usually have my quiet times and read the Bible), I just laid all this before the Lord, confessing that it never even occured to me in the past week of suffering to just turn to Him with it. I think maybe that's one way the devil gets us with his attacks - he makes us think we should just handle it on our own instead of going to God with it. But I can't handle it on my own, and the twitch in my eye proves that trying is more than I can take. As I prayed and the Holy Spirit brought all these truths to my attention, it was seriously like an 18-wheeler was lifted from my chest. I just wanted to sing!!! I'm not a lunatic or bipolar... It was the devil attacking me with fear and throwing my past failures back at me. Well, Mr. Crafty, the Lord has redeemed my past mistakes and promises nothing but good things and hope in my future. (See Jeremiah 29:11 & Romans 8:28 if you want proof.)

To top it all off, the Lord just confirmed all this in the passage I read today in my normal reading through the Bible: Isaiah 12.

1You will say in that day:"I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.

2"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation."

3With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.

5"Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. 6Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."

As I read those words out loud to the Lord, I could barely continue speaking for my tears of joy. He Himself is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. He has turned His anger away from me to give me comfort. I will shout and sing for joy, for great is the Holy One of Israel and He is here in our midst!

I Know Where I'm Going...

...Moldova! Many of you may have already read about this on my husbands blog (here and here), and if you haven't you'll want to check out what he has to say about it. He tells all about the job he's taking and the specifics of our journey, so I'll just give my own perspective and more about what I'll be doing! We are SO EXCITED to finally have a plan and a goal to work toward, at least some direction for this next step in our lives. My sweet husband has accepted an internship in Moldova that uses his degree and is pretty much EXACTLY what he's always wanted to do. So we're really excited to be able to get a taste of what it's like to work in Justin's field and to maybe get a vision for where he would like to head on a more permanent basis.

So what the heck is Moldova? many of you may be asking. It's a former Soviet country in Eastern Europe, sandwiched between Romania and the Ukraine.

We'll be living in the capital city of Chisinau (pronounced ki-shi-nev). On this map it's that little red dot under the second O in Moldova. Read more about the country on its Wikipedia page.

When are you going? I just this very day submitted my notice at work. My last day will be Friday, July 6th. We'll take the weekend to pack up and then on Monday, July 9th, we'll drive all our stuff to Kentucky, where Justin's parents have graciously agreed to store it for us. We actually plan on selling most of our hodge-podge of hand-me-down and Goodwill furniture, and then we'll just start over when we settle someplace after this stint in Moldova. We'll spend about 3 weeks in Kentucky and Ohio visiting family and raising funds. (Make sure to read Justin's blog about our fundraising! We need your prayers and your financial support if you're able!) Then our departure date for Moldova will be around August 1st. We plan to stay 5 months so we can be home in time for Christmas with our families.

So what will you be doing while Justin is interning? That's an excellent question! I'm so glad you asked! If you have any suggestions, I'm open! No, really. I hope to be able to get a job to earn some money and get me out of the house. I have some experience teaching English as a Second Language, so I may try to do something like that, but I'm totally open. I haven't really even started research on that. But now that we have specific plans and dates, I can start the search. Please pray that I listen to God's leading on what He would have me do and that He brings the right opportunity quickly.

How are you feeling about all this? Many of you know that I had an incredibly difficult 2-year mission experience in West Africa in 2002-2004. That has been a huge growth point in my life, and God has worked wonders in me over that experience. I haven't been overseas since then, so I am a little nervous about how I'll do in this new place. I am, however, supernaturally calm and confident about this, which I recognize as the Holy Spirit telling me that this is what He has for us. I am just excited about the opportunity and really thrilled at my husband being able to seize this chance to get a feel for how his passions for Christ, economics, business, and development could all fit together. So we are thrilled at this chance, and as you read in my blog just a couple weeks ago, I feel like this is the perfect time in our lives for such an adventure.

So are you just going to fall off the face of the planet for 5 months? Not at all! Moldova has really good communications infrastructure, so our internet access will be great. I'll be able to email, and I plan on doing a monthly email newsletter. (Let me know if you want to be on the list!) I also plan on using a blog (I haven't decided yet if I'll use this one or start another just for that venture) to keep everyone updated even more often with pictures and stories of what our life is like there. So by the end of our stint there, you'll know way more than you ever wanted to about Moldova and about me... :) Pray for us!

SCAMBUSTERS!

I had an adventure at work on Wednesday with my friend and coworker, Lindsay, and I've just been too busy to be able to get on here and tell the story. But now I've got a leisurely Sunday afternoon ahead of me, so sit back and enjoy my tale...

The church Lindsay and I work at is a rather large church that will often offer assistance to those who call in and need help with their rent or electric bill or food. Tracy is the secretary who handles those calls. So on Wednesday morning, Tracy got a call from a woman named Sally*. Sally had run into a bit of hard luck and needed help with her rent, and the church offered to pay a portion of it. When they do this, they make out a check to the person's landlord so we know the money is actually going toward rent. Usually the landlord is an institution like Blair's Cove Apartments, but occasionally it's just the name of a person. In Sally's case, the landlord's name was Linda*. I don't know what exactly transpired on the phone, but Tracy seemed uneasy about making the check to Linda, like maybe Sally wasn't being truthful and was trying to cheat the church out of money. So she told Sally that when she came in to pick up the check, she would have to bring photo ID proving that she really was Sally.

Tracy, however, had to take her child to a doctor's appointment that afternoon and just left the check with me, making sure to emphasize that I shouldn't give it to Sally unless she offered photo ID that she really was who she said she was. I was a little nervous about being given that task, but I agreed to do it since I'd heard Tracy on the phone with Sally emphasizing to her the importance of bringing ID with her. I figured surely she'd bring it and everything would be fine.

In our office, Tracy handles the requests for money and Lindsay handles the requests for food. So since she understands dealing with people who are asking for something, I went back to her desk and confided with her the story so far and asked for her to maybe offer me some moral support when Sally came to get her check. She said she would gladly deal with Sally and to just call her when she came. But the afternoon passed and Sally didn't show up, so I had kind of just put it out of my mind.

Finally, at 4:00 p.m., a woman walks in and introduces herself as Sally, asking for her check. I say, "No problem, I just need to see your photo ID." She gives me a deer-in-the-headlights look and starts digging through her purse, talking about how she's sure she didn't have any with her, she must've lost it, etc. She showed me a car insurance card and a credit card receipt with her name on it, but nothing with a photo. So I explained to her that I'm not the one in charge of handling this, I was just instructed to only give this check to Sally if she had some photo ID. So she starts getting teary-eyed, telling me about her hard luck, being fired from her job, boyfriend walked out and left her, she's going to get evicted... She carried on like this for 5 full minutes. So I told her that I would call Tracy and see what she told me to do, but I really didn't expect that I could give it to her. So I go to a different room to call Tracy, but she's got her phone turned off. So then I buzzed Lindsay at her desk and asked her for some backup, and she (like the wonderful friend and superwoman that she is) said "I'll be right there!"

So Lindsay comes up to the front and talks to the woman, telling her the same thing I did. We're not the ones in charge of this, and we were told specifically not to give the check to someone without photo ID. So after about 10 more minutes of listening to her sob story, Sally seems to realize that we're really not going to give her the check, and she says "Well, I may have an old driver's license in the car, but it's expired so I figured it wouldn't work." We assured her that would be fine, and please go get it. So she goes out to look for it in the car, and she's gone for at least 10 minutes.

While she's out at her car, Lindsay took the phone number she had given us that was supposed to be her landlord's number, and she tried to call it. She said an answering machine picked up but there was nothing identifying who it was, so it could've been anybody's phone number.

Then Sally came back in with her photo ID, and so I looked at it. I looked at the photo, yes indeed it was her. But then I looked at the name and realized... She is not Sally, she's Linda! She had us make a check out to her, all the while claiming that she was somebody else and that her own name was "her landlord!" I said, "Well, Linda, I'm sorry but we were told that Sally would be picking up this check, and I won't be giving it to anybody but her." She got this look on her face like BUSTED! and scrambled to grab her stuff while saying "Um, I'll have Sally call you," while she fled out the door.

So although it was a grand, exciting adventure and I'm proud of Lindsay and I for being discerning and watching out for the church's interests, I'm still sad that there are people who go to such lengths to take advantage of the goodwill of a church! When Tracy came back in the next day and we told her our story, she said she gets that kind of thing all the time, and it's getting harder and harder to figure out who is actually needing help and who's just running a scam. That makes me both sad and angry. So in the meantime, Lindsay and I will take seriously our charge of being SCAMBUSTERS, and making sure that the church is really helping those who actually need it!

*Names have been changed to protect those who may or may not be innocent.

The Only Explanation Is...

... that it's a bloomin' miracle. With our plans up in the air for what comes next, we decided it would be best to be prepared for any eventuality. I've done an extensive bit of overseas traveling, and so all of my passport pages were full of stamps. Plus, I wanted to go ahead and get a new one with my married name in it. (I had sent in the old one to have it amended, but they didn't put in extra pages like I requested, so it still wasn't useable.) So in case we do end up going overseas, I got my new pictures and filled out the application and mailed it in with my check on Thursday, May 17th.

The website said that a standard processing takes 6 weeks (and I sure as heck wasn't going to pay the extra $60 to expedite it!), which means that I should expect it back around June 21st. This was cutting it close, since we'll probably be leaving in the first part of July. (Justin's last day of class is July 2.) But I just prayed over it as I sent it that God would bring it back in time for whenever we might need it.

However, I kept hearing horror stories of people that couldn't go on mission trips because they'd sent in their application over 3 months ago and it still hadn't come back yet... And even the passport website said that in busy times it may take up to 10 weeks to get a passport back... But I just kept praying, believing that God could easily get my passport through the governmental red tape in plenty of time for whatever He has for us.

So then Justin checked the mail on Saturday and said "Honey, you got this official letter... What is it?" Yes, it was my new passport. Received on Saturday, May 26th. NINE DAYS after I'd sent it. I'm getting goosebumps even now as I type. There is no explanation for that except that it's an outright miracle. Some people wait 3-4 months and mine comes back in 9 days?! They must've processed it the same day they received it! That's faster than even the 2 weeks that is promised to those who pay to expedite it! So God answers prayer and He wanted me to have that passport in plenty of time for wherever He's sending us. I'm ready - let's go!

Bring On the Adventure!

About 6 months ago, a good friend of mine wrote a post (Read it here.) about how she felt like all her friends were having babies and that stressed her out because she didn't know if she was ready to be a member of the Baby Club yet. But would all her friendships change if they were mommies and she wasn't? She drew it to a conclusion that God's timing is perfect and He would be in control of her future and theirs.

Well, now SHE is expecting a baby too (Congratulations, Ryan and Corrie!), and I'm starting to feel the way she did - all my friends are joining the Mommy Club! A couple in our LifeGroup at church just had a baby 3 weeks ago, my dear friend Kristy is 6 months along, and I have SEVERAL other friends and acquaintances who are expecting! However, I think that this has had the opposite effect on me that it did on Corrie. I'm thrilled for all my friends who are taking the plunge into parenthood, but I'm feeling less desire to even dip in a toe than I think I ever have before (much to the delight and relief of my husband, I'm sure).

Here's the deal. Becoming a parent just REALLY changes your life. It's a huge blessing and I'm sure highly rewarding. But I LIKE my life now. I LIKE my husband and enjoy all the freedom we have to do whatever we want. Now that he's finishing up school, I love the fact that the opportunities before us are completely limitless! If we want to pack up everything and flit off to a foreign country for 6 months, we can! If we want to live in a tent on the Serengeti plains, we can! If we want to climb Mount Everest, we can! If we want to move to San Francisco and become hippies, we can! If we had a baby, I'm pretty sure none of these things would even be a blip on the radar. (Not that any of them are necessarily a blip on our radar anyways, but we COULD do them if we wanted to!)

So this is not at all to say that I don't ever want to have kids. I most definitely look forward to the marvelous ministry of motherhood, which I think is one of the highest callings on earth. However, I've recovered from the Baby Fever that I caught around Christmas after spending time with my precious nephews. I'm just going to be patient about it and enjoy this time in our lives that we'll never be able to return to once that first baby comes along. Maybe in a year or 2 we'll be ready. But in the meantime, bring on the adventure, bring on the opportunity! I'm going to savor and relish this freedom while we've got it, and thank God for this season in our lives until it's HIS time for us to move on to the next one!!!

What Makes a Hero?

I'm sure most of you have heard the story of Wesley Autrey. In January, he was waiting on a subway platform with his 2 young daughters in New York City, when a young man near him began having a seizure and fell on the tracks. While another onlooker held back his children, Autrey jumped down and tried to get the young man off the tracks as the headlights of an oncoming train approached. Upon realizing that he wouldn't be able to remove him in time, Autrey covered the young man's body with his own and restrained him from being injured by the train. Two cars passed over the men before the driver was able to stop the train, but thankfully they were able to emerge uninjured. This amazing story has caused Autrey to be called the "Subway Superman," "The Hero of Harlem," and the "Subway Hero." He received New York City's highest honor - the Bronze Medallion, made an appearance on the Letterman show, and was even invited to attend the 2007 State of the Union Address. (Read more about him at Wikipedia.) This is a true story of bravery and heroism in the midst of a culture that is renowned for its indifference and apathy, and I applaud him. (Read some of my husband's thoughts about the phenomenon of choosing to help others.)

However, last night he made an appearance as a contestant on Deal or No Deal, and I am extremely disappointed with his performance on that show. They dedicated the whole show to heroes in his honor and they had guest appearances by Medal of Honor recipients and even a dog who had saved someone's life. He came on saying that he wanted to make enough money to buy a house to build a better life for his family. Good, great, very admirable. So then he starts playing the game and he has a terrible couple of first rounds. He knocked out all of the high amounts except the top two in just the first 2 rounds. So we're already on shaky ground. But then he rallies and has a great next couple of rounds, and the offer reaches 6 figures. He says "No Deal," though, and play continues. He miraculously manages to avoid knocking out the million for the next 4 rounds or so, and offers just keep climbing. The highest offer he got was $305,000! I know that New York is an expensive place to live, but surely one could find a pretty nice house for that amount! However, the man just keeps saying "No Deal!" It's like he's not even considering taking the deal - he's going for the million. He never even hesitated to turn down each offer. He said "Well, I took a risk that day on the subway platform, and so I'm taking a risk now." Give me a break. So of course, as inevitably happens on this show, he knocks out the million and goes home with $25. That is so ridiculous I hardly know what to do with myself. He had at leat 4 chances to walk out of there with over $100,000. But he refused each time. Was it pride? Was it overconfidence? Was it his awareness that he's such a popular "hero" that someone will probably give him more money than he'd make on this show anyway? (In fact, they did give him a car to go along with his $25 just because they think he's swell.)

OK. So I realize that it's just a game and that many people before him have played this game like idiots too. But what comes to mind for me is the concept that Peter Parker expressed in Spiderman: "With greater power comes greater responsibility." If you're going to be a hero, a national public figure, touted far and wide as someone we should all be like, please try to actually act like someone deserving of that. Think of what $300,000 could do for your family instead of pridefully pushing on hoping to be the first contestant to ever win $1 million.

So all this to say, I appreciate Mr. Autrey's brave act on the subway platform that day, and he will forever remain the hero of that young man he saved. But he's not my hero. I think he let his family down last night because he was too selfish to do what was best for them. To me, that's not something a hero would do.

Stylin' and Profilin'

I just discovered the fun new templates for my blog now that I've switched over to Google blogger! (Yes, this is the same girl who so staunchly resisted being forced to make the switch now enjoying the perks of having done it... So sue me.) So I'm playing with colors and fonts... I'm worried that I've got the blog text set too small. Does anybody have any opinions about colors/fonts/sizes? Let me know! :)

My Darling Nephews

I just wanted to be the proud aunt and post some more about my sweet nephews.
Azlan is an adorable little cuddlebug! He's quite the chunk - over 21 pounds at 6 months! He's really pleasant most of the time, and it's very easy to make him smile. In the picture above, Grandma is rocking him in a rocking chair at the Children's Museum, and he just LOVED it! Look at that grin! However, when he's unhappy, he lets everybody know about it, and I don't mean maybe. :) He actually cut his first teeth this weekend, and so that explains some of his fussiness. I hope as he grows up he continues to like hugs and kisses as much as he does now!

Patriot is amazing. He's so much fun, and he's SO SMART! I am blown away at how well this kid can talk and how much he understands of what you say to him. He knows everything that's going on. He definitely gets his smarts from his aunt Joni. :) I'm also impressed with how social he is. I guess it comes from his dad being a children's minister, so he spends a lot of time in church functions and childcare. But he's not afraid of people, he's not scared to talk to anybody or play with anybody. My friends Lee and Kristy babysat them during Justin's graduation, and Patriot wasn't at all scared to be left at a stranger's home. We just explained to him we were leaving and that we'd be back later, but in the meantime he'd get to play with the doggie and watch Cars. He was like "Ok." And then when we dropped him off at childcare so we could go to church, he just went right in and played and made new friends. I'm so proud and impressed at what a mature, intelligent, fun kid he is. And he's only 2 1/2!!!! This is an example of the silly faces he and I were making at each other. :)

So I'm very proud of my nephews and I can't wait til next time I see them!

Wonderful Whirlwind Weekend

Oh my, what a weekend it has been! Wonderful and insane all at the same time! To start you out, here's a pic of the crowd that was here. From left to right: Justin's parents (John & JoBeth), my parents (John & Jan - Mom is holding Patriot.), my sis Jessica and her husband Matt (Jess is holding Azlan), and Justin & me.

John & JoBeth arrived Thursday at lunchtime. We drove to Salado and ate at the Stagecoach Inn, a historic restaurant in a neat little Texas town. Then we spent some time browsing the shops before heading back to Waco. My family spent ALL DAY in the car Thursday and arrived in Waco at 1:00 in the morning, after a 21 hour trip! Whoa!

Friday I worked half a day to let my family try to catch up on their sleep. Then for lunch we split up to have Men's and Women's lunches. Justin took the men to some obscure barbecue place, I don't remember the name of it. But they said it was the best barbecue they've ever eaten - good for them. I took the women and children to Amelia's, a little cafe inside a neat antique flea market looking thing. We all ate quiche and fruit salad - a pretty girlie lunch!

Friday evening was Justin's Hooding Ceremony, called so because people receiving Master's Degrees wear hoods with their gowns. Here's a picture of Justin's hood. The colors all have meanings - the green and gold represent his university, and the brown is supposed to represent his field. However, we noticed that his brown was a different color from everybody else's there! Apparently the bookstore gave him the wrong color hood! Oh well, his color looks better than the others did anyway. :)

Saturday morning we went to the Mayborn Children's Museum on Baylor's campus, and it was SO COOL!!! Patriot just LOVED it, and Azlan had fun too! Of course, the big boys in the group managed to have their own fun... :) We spent the evening Saturday just hanging out and playing games.

Sunday for Mother's Day, we all went to our church and then out to lunch at the Elite Circle Grill. It's a neat restaurant that just around the corner from our apartment, but we'd never tried it! It was yummy, and we took the picture at the top of the page there.

My family hit the road after lunch on Sunday, and Justin's left Monday morning. Phew! Fast and fun. Many thanks to everybody for making the trip down - it was WONDERFUL to be able to share this blessed time in our lives with you!

Pathetic

I don't have any idea what happened, but I've suddenly and inexplicably turned into a horrible blogger! I just don't have anything to say! I even now don't have anything to say, but I feel guilty that it's been more than a week since I posted, so here I am typing nonsense. My life the past week has been occupied with 3 things: the end of Justin's semester & finals, thinking about summer plans, and preparing for our families' visit for Justin's Graduation.

THANKFULLY, Justin is now completely done with classes this semester! He is as I type giving his final makeup exams for the class he taught, and then he'll be home free. Now that's dang exciting. It seemed to me that this semester has been the easiest so far for him, both in the classes he took and the class he taught. You can check out his blog for some thoughts about what teaching has meant to him.

As far as our summer plans go, we're still up in the air! All of the internships that Justin originally thought he might get fell through, and so we had resigned to the fact that we'd just stay here for one summer session and he could finish his degree that way. However, then a couple more opportunities came available, and we're still waiting to hear from them. So we still have no idea where we'll be 3 weeks from now! The amazing thing about that, though, is how much peace God has given me. I assure you, it's a complete miracle that I'm not totally freaking out, and that can only be attributed to the power of the Holy Spirit in my life. I'm just excited about what the future may bring and ready to go wherever He may have for us. God is good.

Finally, our families will arrive tomorrow for a whirlwind weekend of fun and festivities. Justin's parents will get here around lunchtime tomorrow, and we plan to take the afternoon and evening to go to Salado with them. Then my parents and my sister & her family will finally drag in around midnight (after driving ALL DAY straight from Ohio!), so I won't be seeing them til Friday. Justin's special hooding ceremony will be Friday evening, and then we'll have all day Saturday just to enjoy each other. My fam will hit the road after lunch on Sunday, and Justin's will leave Monday morning. I am absolutely thrilled about this special time with family - I cannot wait to squeeze my precious nephews! Everything Mom and Jessica tell me about baby Azlan (who is now 6 months old) is that he's just a sweet cuddlebug, so I can't wait to just give him all the cuddling he can take!! And Patriot (2-1/2) is getting so big and talking so much, it'll be so fun to play with him too! So expect some major nephew pics next week after the hulabaloo dies down!!!!

I Scream, You Scream

Well, apparently the warm-weather season has officially begun. I've come to this conclusion based on two events that strangely enough are both this week.

First of all, TCBY yesterday had their Free Quart Day, and Justin and I took advantage of that. For reasons unknown to me, yesterday at TCBY you got a free quart of frozen yogurt with ANY purchase. So I bought a small $2 cup of my healthy no sugar added yogurt, and Justin got a whole quart of Cookies 'N Cream yogurt for free! We don't understand it, but we like it!

The second event will be tomorrow, so it's not too late for any of you to jump on this one! Tomorrow, Baskin Robbins will be having 31-Cent Scoop Night from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. There actually is a cause for this one, and you can read more about it here.

I just thought it was strange that suddenly there's all this free/really cheap ice cream all in one week! So my only conclusion is that this must be the official start of ice cream season!

My New Defining Sense of Self

Do any of you remember this Starbucks scene from "You've Got Mail?" Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelley are both waiting for their coffee, and Joe muses about Starbucks. He says,

"The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino."

So yesterday my boss asked me to take his intern to Starbucks for her last meeting of the semester, since he was out of town. Wellllll... It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. I, of course, don't drink coffee, but I figured since I wasn't paying for it, I might as well try something yummy. And in doing so, I have definitely found my new sense of self.

I am a Grande Sugar Free Nonfat Decaf Cinnamon Dulce Latte.

Introducing...

... Mister Isaiah Big Tuna Ed Fishie! :) This really IS him: No, he's not dead. People ask me that ALL THE TIME when they walk by my desk and see him floating there or laying on the bottom. Betas just do that, ok?!

In case any of you don't watch "The Office," one of the characters on the show calls our favorite character "Big Tuna" because the first day he came to work, he brought a tuna sandwich. So my friend Kristy and I refer to that all the time, and she suggested naming him "Big Tuna." So I incorporated all of the suggestions into one name! I don't know if that will satisfy my sister's need to name something Isaiah... I'm going to call him "Fishie" or "Tuna." Jess, maybe you'll just have to get a dog someday and call him Isaiah...

New Additions!

I wanted to introduce to my blog friends the new additions in my life! First of all, my precious wonderful husband got me a new miniature rose! I don't think I mentioned it here, but some of you may have seen it on Justin's blog - the day after Valentine's Day, I rescued a mini rose from WalMart, but it didn't make it. So I had this dead rose plant outside in a pot, and I just hadn't gotten rid of it yet. But then one day I came home from work and my sweet husband had put a GORGEOUS new mini rose plant in its pot! The colors don't come out in this picture - the new one's blooms are this gorgeous bubble gum pink! I love it! So this pic is of my three little babies. On the left is my first rose that Justin got for me Valentine's Day 2006. We call it our "love plant." (Reference to "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days" if any of you have seen it.) In the middle is the one that a church member gave me last April because I work there. Then the sweet new baby is on the right. My precious baby roses! These take the place of pets in my life. :)

Then my other new addition is a blue beta fish on my desk at work! Let me tell you the story. I mentioned Richard, our building superintendent at work, in my post about the baby killdeer. So last Friday I was discussing with him how I did go and save that baby bird, and the topic turned to tender hearts toward animals. Then he told me that he and his wife had a pet fish at home, and his wife got tired of taking care of it, so she told him to flush it! This fish had been his pet for more than 2 years, so he couldn't bring himself to do it. So I told him to bring it to work and I'd keep it on my desk. So come Monday, there was a sweet beta fish on my desk! (This picture is not him, but this is what he looks like!) He's way more active than a beta I had before I got married, and he's BIG too! So he's cute and fun, he keeps me company at my desk and we talk. It's good. This sweet fish, however, doesn't have a name! I've been calling him Fishie, and he likes that. But he should still have a proper name! So does anybody have any suggestions?!

So these are the two new loves of my life. Yay!

Another Owee!

But this time, it's not an Ow-Wii! :) Yesterday, it was a gorgeous, sunny day, so I decided to wash my car. I took it to the quarter wash where you put in the quarters and then wash it yourself. There are several cycles you take it through - rinse, soap, brush, power rinse, spot rinse, wax, etc. So I had soaped and brushed the whole thing, then I was using the power rinse to wash it off. I never realized just how hard that spray really is! As I was rinsing, I saw a spot on the car that wasn't rinsing off, so I reached up with my hand to rub it and see if it would come off. In doing so, however, I accidentally sprayed my hand with the power rinse. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! I cannot describe how much that hurt! I really thought I was bleeding, it felt like a knife cutting through me. It wasn't bleeding, however, just really red, and I completed my car wash. However, as I drove home I looked again at my hand, which was still red and painful, and I saw that it blistered! Yes, the sheer force of the water hit my hand hard enough to make it blister! Justin claims that I just have sensitive skin, but I tell ya, I'm pretty sure anybody would've been injured by that water. So everyone be careful now that it's car washing season! Don't spray yourself or anyone else you like (You can decide for yourself whether or not to spray the people you don't like...) with the power rinse - it may just "power" your skin right off!!! I've got the blister to prove it!

Nerd or Free Spirit?

As I think I've mentioned on here before, Justin and I are going through the Financial Peace study by Dave Ramsey. It is wonderful and life-changing, and I would recommend it to EVERYONE! However, that's not the point of this post. In his lessons, he talks about how there are generally 2 types of people in this world: Nerds and Free Spirits. You almost inevitably have one of each in a marriage relationship. Nerds are the rule-followers, the budget-keepers, the let's-make-a-spreadsheet-to-track-our-progress-ers. Free Spirits are like "Budgets just tie me down," and "Rules were made to be broken." In case any of you don't know, I am UNQUESTIONABLY a VERY LARGE Nerd. Justin is also a Free Spirit, so we keep each other balanced.

However, this Nerd title that I'm claiming doesn't only apply to my financial existence - it applies to all of life. I have a strong sense of justice, a deep feeling for "the way it ought to be." So sometimes it troubles me deeply when things aren't right, and I many times will take action to correct that. I have two examples just from my life this week.

I saw a new product that Nutri-Grain is coming out with to expand their line of breakfast products. It's called a "Muffin Bar." I have a serious problem with this name. The American Heritage Dictionary lists this as the meaning of the word muffin: "A small, cup-shaped quick bread, often sweetened." So, as you can see, by it's very definition, the word muffin refers to its shape - cup-shaped. So if it's a muffin, it can't be a bar. Because bars are shaped like bars and muffins like muffins. So the name "Muffin Bar" is an oxymoron. It simply can't exist. That REALLY gets on my nerves.

Secondly, if you were reading my blog last year at this time, you'll remember that we had a sweet family of birds (killdeer) nesting outside our office and sweet little baby birds running around everywhere. If you missed it, you can read about it here. Well, that sweet family is back, and there are 3 new babies outside our office! This morning I was walking from one building to another, and I noticed that one of the baby killdeer had fallen off the curb into the driveway, and the curb was too tall for it to be able to jump back up! So it was down there chirping away pitifully, and its mama was up in the grass calling it. It was a tragic sight. So I went ahead to the other building and got my work done, and while I was there I ran into our Building Superintendent, Richard. I asked him if he'd seen our little family of birds and he said "Yeah. One of the babies had fallen down into the driveway, and I bet it's gonna get run over by a car or maybe eaten by a hawk. Either way, it's not my problem." I was appalled! I asked if he thought it would be ok for me to try to catch it to put it back in the grass. He said he was sure it would be. So when I had finished my work and was walking back to the office building, I saw that the pathetic situation for the killdeer had not changed. Baby was still in the street, Mama was still squawking. So I gently caught the baby killdeer and put him back in the grass to be reunited with his family. For the rest of the day, I've periodically peeked out the window to make sure he's ok, and they're happy as they can be. Yay for doing what's right!

So I'm definitely a Nerd. At least I'm happy.

Ow-Wii Zow-Wii!!!

In case you can't decipher the title of this post, it's "Owee Zowee" changed to reflect the cause of my pain - the Wii! It was a fantastic and fun time Friday evening with our friends as we played tennis, baseball, golf, bowling, and boxing. I was TERRIBLE at tennis, but I rocked the house at bowling. You create your own little Wii Mii, and it tracks all the games you play so you accumulate points. The higher you go in your ability, the more it challenges you. I'm amazed at the technology where a little receiver attached to the TV can detect my movements and move the Mii on the screen accordingly. The whole system is such a neat concept, and it definitely was a good workout. In fact, my arm is STILL sore from all the work it did on Friday! It wasn't all that bad on Saturday, but Sunday it was REALLY sore! Today it's slowly getting better. But if I owned one of these, I'd get buff! :) It's definitely on my "To Own Someday" list - I'd put on my exercise clothes and box a few rounds. Billy Blanks couldn't make a better workout!

Nothing Normal About This!

This is the view from my front door. And yes, that's SNOW falling from the sky. In Texas. In April. What the heck?!?!?! Two days ago it was 85 degrees and sunny! And now it's snowing. Now that is ridiculous. Good thing I said I wasn't going to leave the house today! :)

Return to Normal Life?

Well, after a tragic and dramatic week related to Kentucky basketball, it looks like the suspense and drama may soon be over. There is a press conference scheduled for this afternoon to announce their new basketball coach, which ESPN says is going to be Billy Gillispie, the current coach at Texas A&M. So now our Wildcat lives may return to normal, and the upheaval may just be beginning for our dear Aggie friends, Corrie and Ryan. Corrie, call me if you need some support - I've been through it this week! :)

On an entirely different note, tonight we're going to over our friends Lee & Kristy's house to play their new Nintendo Wii. This is the game system where you actually get off your duff and move the controller as if you were playing the game in real life. I think it'll be great for Americans who are just sitting on their couches playing video games and getting fatter and fatter. Kristy says you can work up a sweat playing this thing! So I'm excited to try it out for myself and maybe get some exercise in the process. I'll let you know how it goes!

And finally, I'm looking forward to a weekend to relax! Last weekend was bizarrely busy for me, and the past couple weeks have been kind of high stress with basketball stuff, apartment trauma (Read about it on Justin's blog if you missed it.), Easter being a busy time at work, workplace drama, etc. So I'm planning on just staying home Saturday and getting a little R&R. I need it!!!

We're Official Now

Yep, we're official Texans now...

... We got our picture made in a field of bluebonnets!

For those of you don't live in Texas, bluebonnets are the Texas state flower, and they're adorable. Contrary to public opinion, it's not actually illegal to cut or pick them (except on the side of the highway because that's officially government property). However, most fields and roadsides are allowed to grow unchecked this time of year because nobody wants to cut the bluebonnets! So at this time of year, you'll find fields and fields of bluebonnets, and it's a Texas tradition to take your family out once a year and get their picture taken! So yesterday we met up with some friends and took each others' pictures in a gorgeous field of bluebonnets. Yay for Texas!