keeping up with db

MOVING!!!

2011-08-05T15:42:00.000-07:00

Well I DID move in real life, but as for this post it's referring to the worldwide web move for db. That is, to wordpress. Within seconds of Julie's comment I was gone.

You can find me at www.keepingupwithdb.wordpress.com

Super simple, just change the "blogspot" to "wordpress"

Yeah boy!!!

db

Privacy

2011-07-24T06:26:00.000-07:00

I always go back and forth about making privacy settings that restrict access to this baby, but then it's really just a hassle. And am I really saying things that are revealing? Bah. ALIAS makes me think everyone is out to get me!

db

Haiti Prayer Requests

2011-06-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Jesus, in Matthew 28:19-20)

A group of us from Living Hope are going to work with Joy House ministries in Gressier, Haiti from June 17-26. Our team includes: Jessica M, Brittney M, Justin W, Cary A, Josh K, Carlos C, Mike A, Melissa E, Dena & Allen P, Kristen S, Liz A, Chelsea S, Rachel A, Jenny K, Matt W, Grace H, Whitney B, Kristen G, myself and Butch S.

Here’s a rough itinerary, that’s subject to change when we get there but it’s the general gist:

Saturday (18^th) Arrive, meet, greet, eat, worship, sleep

Sunday Worship Service

Monday - Thursday 9am - Noon: Pastors Conference, Village Evangelism/Prayer Walking

1pm - 3ish: Kids Klub all ages

4 pm to 6 pm Church Leaders Training

Friday 9am - Noon: Village Evangelism/Prayer Walking

1pm til ready: Prepare for Celebration Awards; Worship Ceremony
*The service will be sometime between 4 pm and 6 pm

Saturday (25^th) Head home (return to CS at 3am 6/26)

Prayer Suggestions

“…and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:8b

THE TEAM:

- Focus on GOD and what HE wants from us, not our own agenda. Intimate times w/ Him; REVIVAL! Clarity in what God wants to teach us and how He wants to use us. Use this to increase our obedience to Him.

- Our eyes will be opened to spiritual warfare not only in Haiti but everywhere; that we will become prayer WARRIORS.

- Literally broken hearts and tears for the lost; filled w/ compassion for the poor, oppressed, widows; hearts of flesh not stone.

- Unity & flexibility; we’d be an encouragement to believers in Haiti and Joy House staff.

- Boldness to share the Gospel!! For Haitians to trust in the finished work of Jesus!

- Community while we’re there – no isolation; family-like bonds. Team members who still need financial support for the trip, increased faith

- Favor w/ communicating with Haitians; learning the language – pick it up quickly.

- Salvation for those back home; changed lives of believers praying and going. Families and loved ones of those going: rely on the Lord and church body (salvation, increased faith).

-Diligence & faithfulness for our prayer warriors (200+) – that God will show all of us his goodness and that he is still faithful to answer prayer.

- Safety, against sickness/injury; hydration!

DANIELLE:

-HYRDATE HYDRATE HYRDATE! Hydration the source of all my requests!

-Malaria medicine: that I won’t get nauseas/sick (I stopped taking it in Nicaragua about half way through because it was making me so sick) I take it daily from the 15^th-July 2^nd!

-Motion sickness (there’s a hot, bumpy, long car ride to Gressier) and in Nicaragua I didn’t make it! Staying hydrated should help!

-Boldness to share the Gospel, I’ve learned I’m a chicken even in no-risk of rejection circumstances. Also as I share with people upon my return, that I would not shy away from what the Lord taught me there, how He changed me, and where He is at work.

VERSES on my heart as we prepare to go:

Matthew 22:37-40

Ephesians 6:10-20
Psalm 73:23-26, 28
Joshua 1:9
Isaiah 58:11
Luke 10:2
Psalm 15

Thank you so much for your prayers. Without God moving, this is just another trip. Love y'all!

Weirdo Wednesday

2011-06-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

No it's not themed posts yet, but for whatever reason it's as if I'm on speed today. I am like a bouncy ball being thrown off the walls in a rotating hamster exercise wheel (if that makes any sense!)

Today I learned a few things:
1. You can tell how bored I am by how much I post on Facebook. Be it comments on other people's posts, or frequent posts of my own...if I am bored (which for the past 5 days I have been) I WILL post insane amounts of nonsense all over that thing. I am going cold turkey on it right now though! AHHH!
2. I need to start praying NOW to let go of my husband/kids if I ever get any, and by that I mostly mean giving them over to God fully and not being possessive. If there's anything the end of this first year of "teaching" has taught me, it's that I am going to be a little too possessive of my own children/family, and might even live vicariously through them (as seen in my recent desire to do aerials and pirouettes).

I was helping out a friend today and played with her 2 sons ALL day. It was so fun but extremely exhausting because it's only a million degrees outside. Lesson #3 I learned - get a minivan or some sort of SUV that has back air vents for your kids! They didn't complain in my car but I KNOW they were hot! We went to the movies, mall and the equivalent of a Jillian's/Dave & Buster's game center. It was insane! But a lot of fun. Here's a few pictures I wanted to share, mostly because this is with a 3 year old and he totally nailed the "faces" we were trying to do on the first try when taking pictures. I was very impressed!

Angry Face

Bubble Face

Silly Face

"Fish" face: I failed

Genuine laughter between pics

My absolute favorite: "Starbucks Junkies"

Well there's a post for ya Julie & Jessica, my two faithful readers! Please be in prayer over a job I just applied for in my district. And something else that's happening tomorrow at 7. Can't really go into details but let's just say that if it's good, I'll have to share! ;) I'll keep you updated!

db

Re:direction

2011-05-30T18:08:00.001-07:00

I am going to take this next week to do some serious soul-searching for my blog. In talking with a friend last night I realized that I DO love to write, and while that wasn’t the purpose of my blog originally, now that I have it I might as well use it. But what would I write about? It was easy to update you on what was going on when I was in England (when I felt like writing) or when funny things happen at school or work…but now, in the beginning of summer, I’d like to rekindle this relationship I have with writing.

He had some good things to say about blogs. First off they should be no more than 400-500 words (AMEN!) and they should have a specific purpose. This is where it gets tricky. I KNOW you don’t want to hear a ramble so you’d like it short. Shoot, I’d like it to be short (you already know how I feel about long blogs). But as for the specific purpose of a blog, that’s where I get stuck. When you go to an Italian restaurant you go because you want Italian, and you definitely don’t go to Schlitterbahn to watch a movie. So for what reason will you be reading this blog? That is something to be determined between now and the next post!

And this is 235 words, FYI. ;)

School's out for Summa...

2011-05-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

So it's officially over. If I keep staying in school districts I can retire in 29 years. HOLLA. ;)

Only cried twice today, thankfully - and was embarrassed at that. But I don't know how you can't love these kids deeply as a teacher, ESPECIALLY if you're loving them like Christ.

Still no job and as of now, there's only 3 things planned in my life from here til I die...
My Bandera trip, Haiti mission trip, and moving out at the end of July.

Other than that, I'm wide open! Whoa, freedom! What to do? What to do??! My body's response will probably be to get sick since it's so faithful to do that on my first days of freedom.

HAGS! (I signed WAY too many yearbooks today)

db

Off with your head! Dance til you're dead...

2011-05-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

6th grade talent show was today, and even though the title of this post was not a song performed in the show - it's stuck in my head. I LOVE my kids. Love them. At the beginning of the year I made a point to know all the girls names in the school, and the boys not in my class just came with time. Now that it's the end of the year, I am so glad I took this approach to school. I know it's a little different, but I wanted to invest in those girls. And turns out, that's also my downfall because while I got to know them and hopefully be a positive influence, it'll break my heart when they leave!

Some of them performed in the talent show (there were some great acts!) and now I am just reflecting on this whole year...all without a roommate. J has been gone since Sunday to East Asia and will be back next Wednesday - CRAZY! Life is still in the air which is also not helping since I don't really know how to approach the last day of school (next Friday). Do I savor the moments with the 6th grade kiddos because they'll be leaving and I'll be staying? Or do I savor the moments with the teachers because I will be moving to another school? Or do I savor it ALL because I won't be there and I won't be here. Unpredictable isn't all it is cracked up to be - but I'll be trusting that it'll all work out. Sooner rather than later hopefully! ;)

Watching The Holiday while I write this or even while I'm thinking of this isn't too helpful either - brings back those England memories. Have I told you lately that was the best decision ever!??! And I'll remind you that I happened upon that decision in August and left 4 months later. I still think that's the craziest thing ever if I really think about all that entailed. So spur of the moment.

And ever since I've been living that way, enjoying the ride. So crazy how you can change so much in less than 5 years. Ok well that's that. Just updating you since it's been a little bit. Sorry it's a novel!

Check this out, it's the dance I'm talking about on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iANVUyZAJfE

I hope if I have kids that I have a girl and she is an all around athlete including dance...especially dance. How crazy is that?!?! But seriously aerials are legit.

db

While I'm Waiting...

2011-05-08T05:42:00.001-07:00

A few years ago, not having any idea on what life holds after July 31 would've freaked me out. "Where would I work? Live? Etc?"

Then you throw Jesus into the mix and put your trust in Him and things aren't necessarily pretty or perfect but He's got it all under control. It's not just words or robotic living, it's a lifestyle of freedom. I mean, let's be honest - I think the creator of the world can make a better decision than I can. And as I seek His will for me after my lease runs out 7/31, I'll enjoy where he has me at the moment and leave the worry and anxiety for someone else...

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jer 29:11-13

db

Windy sandstorm update

2011-04-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

It's not summer yet (it's only 95ish) and it's certainly not spring, but I'd like to call my perception of the current season: windy sandstorm.

My job at the moment is HOT. Earlier in the year we lost half our field to a parking lot, and now we have no grass so I come home every day sweaty and FILTHY. Swirling sand 5-7th period is so the norm.

I just got back from Easter weekend and came back with some clarity on job/living decisions next year. Mostly that my strong pull to go back to my hometown was a little too idealistic. That being said, I'm still unsure of what next year holds for me.

I am trying to finish my online teaching modules (I only have 14 left and hopefully will be done May 7) and with that I am applying for a few openings in my current district. If that doesn't work out I'll more than likely be moving out of town (but to where I don't really know).

In June I am going to Haiti with my church. I'm excited about it, mostly because I've known I'm supposed to go for almost a year now. However, my parents are a bit worried about safety and express those concerns to me, but aren't comfortable enough to tell me they don't want me to go, etc. Which leaves me feeling uneasy so this is definitely something I could use your prayers for! I know they won't ever be worry-free thinking about that, but still prayer would so help for that whole situation.

Also for funds, as I have currently raised/worked for $650ish and only need $1200 left. So if you have any odd jobs you'd like some help for in exchange for a donation, keep me mind!

I think that's about it. :)
db

Yep I'm still here

2011-03-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

So I just read Jessica's confession of being a great blog stalker and not poster...I don't think I'm much of either. I do agree that short posts are key (obviously with exceptions - but if I post those I guess they should be exceptionally captivating).

I'm not going to promise that I'll be better, because really I DO have time but I just don't feel like posting/catching up via blogs. But for now, here's life:

Spring Break is almost over; I feel like I've been more busy this week than a normal week at work. I've been babysitting for one family, dog sitting for another, and doing some data entry for my mom's office (I'm raising money for my Haiti trip in June)...either yesterday or today God reminded me that He'd provide the funds but it won't be a walk in the park.

I only had to change ONE nasty diaper in 16 hours! HOLLA!

Still enjoying the day to day, including my job. With all the budget cuts I'm not sure where I'll be next year, but it'll all work out. I'm taking my 4-8 generalist test April 5 so that will be a good start, even if I don't do teaching next year b/c of lack of jobs.

Ok March Madness beckons. You've been informed.

O Holy Night

2010-12-20T08:56:00.000-08:00

I don't know what's going on this Christmas season but I am so blessed to constantly be reminded of truth and the "reason for the season." I wish I could describe every moment that has been so sweet as Jesus has revealed something to me, but I pray that He will work on you as He is me. This weekend I've been sick and stuck in bed, or on the couch, because I haven't felt like moving. Well I got up for church yesterday and was extremely blessed by the full version of "O Holy Night," which I'm pretty sure I have never heard before this Christmas. Why are we not singing the second and third verses??? With all our hearts we praise His holy name. Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we, His power and glory ever more proclaim! His power and glory ever more proclaim!

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining.

Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!

O night divine, the night when Christ was born;

O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.

O'er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,

Now come the wisemen from out of the Orient land.

The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;

In all our trials born to be our friends.

He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,

Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.

And in his name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

With all our hearts we praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,

His power and glory ever more proclaim!

Merry Christmas,
db

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

2010-12-09T18:53:00.000-08:00

Christmas time is here, and while I can write a lot of words on the "meaning of Christmas", what I think about how we've commercialized it, etc. - none that I can give can speak more truth or life than the song that resonates in my heart at the moment. And it's not a Christmas song that I'm usually singing that I can't wait to listen to in December. It's a song that I've heard and often skipped over, but as I listened to it carefully the other day (on accident) I heard such great and encouraging truth. And I want to shout it out each day, so I thought I'd encourage you with it this season....

Hark the herald angels sing

Glory to the newborn king

Peace on earth and mercy mild

God and sinners reconciled.

Joyful all ye nations rise

Join the triumph of the skies

With angelic host proclaim

Christ is born in Bethlehem

Christ is born in Bethlehem.

Mild he lays his glory by

Born that man no more may die

Born to raise the sons of earth

Born to give them second birth.

Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see

Hail the incarnate Diety

Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel

Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel!

Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace

Hail the Son of Righteousness!

Light and Life to all he brings

Risen with healing in his wings.

Christ the highest heaven adored

Christ the everlasting Lord

Come desire of nations come, fix in us thy humble home

Come desire of nations come, fix in us thy humble home.

Obedience

2010-07-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

Ever since my grandma first went into a nursing home I've had a heart for those people who never had anyone come to visit. My family made sure to see her as much as possible, often resulting in a rotation where there was one person a day visiting her. I cannot imagine losing your independence and freedom and being forced to live in one of those places (even if it's the nicest of places) for some time or the rest of your life. I would be depressed, and friends and family visiting would lighten that just a bit.

I've always had a heart for older people. Strangely enough I've had a heart for young people too, and seem to be able to relate to both groups exceedingly well...guess that middle group known as people my age takes a back seat to my charm. Ha.

Anyway I've KNOWN for MONTHS now that I needed to be helping in one of the nursing homes around town. Even as a group of girls got together and started going to one, I knew I should be a part of that. And still, due to selfish reasons, I was not going. It was too hard to go in there, to face my fears. That was the last place I remember my grandma, most of those places are filled with people that are waiting to die. And yet there are those who are in there for rehab and waiting to be released. No matter what the case, my heart aches for the worst case scenario. My heart hurts with the possibility of getting close to someone and then losing them so quickly. It hurts at the thought of the possibilities of negligence in nursing homes across the country (my grandma's was probably one of the worst I've seen)...

All the injustice, loneliness...that's what brings me to a place of knowing I need to be involved. My heart can't just break for these people and me do nothing about it. Especially when fear is what holds me back (1 John 4:18a - There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear...).

So today I went to fill out my background check and would start volunteering next week or when school starts. I filled it out, and was immediately asked to help later in the afternoon and then the next morning, and are weekends good for me? Bombarded with opportunities to get plugged into that nursing home. It was almost humorous, because I've been disobedient for so long that when I finally do go, it's as if God's filled in the Activity Director on this and they're both thinking: "finally! Here's all the stuff we've been waiting for you to do."

Delayed obedience=disobedience. And obedience is the way to go my friends.

Praise God for grace.

Off to do Bingo,
db

Media Fast...QUICK!

2010-07-02T07:52:00.000-07:00

I need a media fast badly, and here's my (last) post acknowledging that (for a while). I have never wanted to be someone who is on the computer or in front of a TV as much as I have been the past two weeks. Granted the World Cup, Wimbledon, and the upcoming Tour de France are not regular programming that I am used to throughout the year so it's hard to deny some of the great matches (especially when I have time)!

Alas I am forgoing Facebook and blogger for awhile. The funny thing is that Facebook has been boring me for MONTHS now and yet, I find myself going back to it at times. It IS convenient to have a messaging system don't get me wrong.

Anyway email and phone (and in person obviously) are going to be the ways to find me for a bit. Obviously I am thinking the standard month that I usually retreat to when doing this (yes I have done it before) but who knows, maybe it'll be a deep clean!!!

Hope all is well with you.

db

Fake Community

2010-06-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

Beware, this could get ugly.

But I mean who out of anyone is anything but, apart from the grace of God. I have built fake community around me this entire year. There are plenty of excuses, explanations, reasons...whatever word you want to use...as to why this has happened or how I've gone on not realizing it, but the thing is: I've been selfish. A few years ago I was director of a student organization on campus that had people "knowing" you to a point where you couldn't escape. Upon completion of that year it was bittersweet...I had been serving in an organization I loved for 4 years, but I was tired. I didn't like that everywhere I went I would see someone I "knew"...I'd avoid the local coffee shop like the plague. So before I moved to England I formed this idea of entitlement: I deserved to be around only a close group of friends, not letting anyone else know me. I didn't want to be associated by all these people who thought they knew me when in fact, they didn't. They knew OF me. I retreated as quickly as possible, which was hard because I loved being part of it, I loved the people...but I treated those I wasn't close to as "expendable" when it was all over under this assumption that none of those relationships were real. At a children's chat at church once, the pastor talked to the kids about treating people like china, not paper plates like we're prone to do. I treated people like paper plates, just because I was being selfish. Even though I had community, I had selective community which was so wrong of me in my approach to holiness.

Then I moved to England (ahh warms my heart!) and it was a humbling experience. To be alone over there only knowing one person, and then to meet a community of believers who deeply loved each other was just what I needed. Not that I didn't (or don't/can't) have that here at my local church, because I DO I just have kept it at arm's length this year, but with these people in Sheffield I was truly home. Which is funny because at first I only connected with the Americans there, until about half way through when I formed some solid friendships with the Brits. I realized I'd rather have the British stereotypical way of forming friends - "slow at first, then in it together til the end" versus the American way of "instant best friends, drift later." I truly loved those people (and still do obviously), and the community we built. I loved the way that friendships were formed...not this instant, fake friendship that steals the glory of true community.

And as I've been back, I've definitely been in the British mode of forming friendships, which is preferred, but I have yet to do the final stage: be real and vulnerable. I've had this fake community where I've known I need people and I get my few hangouts with people each week, but it's not like the true community I've experienced in the past. Now whether that's because of my age, a new phase of life, the age of those around me...I don't know...I DO know that I need the body of Christ in ways that I cannot even begin to understand. I DO know that there's no chance against the world, the flesh or the devil when a believer chooses to be isolated. We were made for each other. And I've done the checklist approach to hanging out, asking basic questions, and then returning to my "me time"...I'm robbing the body of the things God has to offer them through me if I would just be obedient to His will in my life.

So that's that. Formed the idea this weekend and also resolved to fix this, with God's grace at the helm. There is no excuse for me to not be deeply connected with true friends I have in this city, or even new friends. And there ya have it! I hope this blessed you in some way.

New beginnings

2010-06-10T07:09:00.000-07:00

It seems like every time something awesome happens that was a total God thing, I have to blog and tell you all about it. But other things happen between these cool events (i.e. my last post about text messaging, the draft from the last day of school when I was already missing my kiddos, or my recent trip to Seattle which I'll blog about next) and I seem to not write those as quickly. I might get the fear of thinking my blog sounds too "spiritual"...but I know that is irrational. If we identified every area where God is moving in our lives (He's always at work whether we identify it or not) and wrote about it then we would be praising Him all the days! But I don't want you to misunderstand me -- the reason I talk about God's grace and what HE is doing in my life is because that's exactly what it is: GRACE. And none of us, especially me, deserve it but He loves us enough to give it to us. So why not tell about cool things He's doing in my life?!

Here's a great story for you...

When I was growing up my mom would always tell me how you had to be dressed to get a job. The appropriate attire was not what I wore (and still do): jeans and a t-shirt. I needed to be business casual/professional, and a strong hand shake was a must. Well my first job was when I was 16 at Randalls (a Tom Thumb grocery store). One day I drove by in my jeans and a t-shirt with Cody (my dog) in the car on a hot summer day. I walked in to ask if they had any applications, and immediately was asked to stay for an interview. We cut it short (I had a dog in the car!) but I got the job that day...defying the "rules" of appropriate attire.

Fast forward 8 years later.

The week before school was out I had been looking on the school district's website for job openings. I had already applied to a billion - well more like 20 - jobs with the university up until this point, but I found an opening for a secretary at an elementary school. This being in the back of my mind, I drove my bus route and picked up my kids. When I got to the intermediate school the principal walked by like she always does, and I opened my door so we could talk about how exciting it was that summer was here. Well you know me and the jokester I am...I asked when she was going to fire her receptionist and let me apply. She laughed and said had a PE aide position open. "Seriously? Okay can I apply for that?!" She told me to send her an email and then get my application in the system (I was wearing jeans, and a t-shirt).

The next day she met me at my bus with a note telling me about an interview she had scheduled for me already for yesterday morning. I was elated. This is my first interview in a VERY long time after months (a lot of them) of applying for full-time jobs. I could not believe it.

Yesterday I went in for my interview (I dressed up don't worry) and it could have been intimidating the way the room was set up or how there were four people, but nope I had peace. I went in knowing that if I was supposed to get the job, I would. That the paths I had tried to set before me on my own strength were not getting paved, and that Christ had set this one up for me so I at least could walk down it. The interview was awesome. I didn't feel like I was in an interview, but instead felt like I was talking to friends or co-workers about my heart for kids and being an educator. I was able to get a laugh out of them at the beginning and the end, which made me feel at ease...that I truly was myself in the interview.

5 hours later they called to tell me I got the job!

I am so excited to have this opportunity, especially because I KNOW it's what I'm supposed to be doing this coming year. I am even more excited that this wasn't set up by me, or by my boss/contacts, or even by an application I had sent in. The moment she handed me that note for the interview, I could just feel it...I am in God's will and that's the only place I want to be.

Text Messaging

2010-05-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

Hopefully by now you have all stopped distracted driving, but if not let this serve as a reminder of how dangerous it is! This week (I know it's only been a few days) I vowed to put up my phone. I do have a blue tooth connection but I'm not a big fan of it...however, if someone needs me while I'm in the car it'll have to be a phone call, and I'll have to answer it over the system.

I encourage you to take great care in your driving...

Now for two areas where I think text messaging could be extremely useful: the movie theaters and with the non-emergency police. How convenient would it be if there was a number you could text at the movie theater when the screen/sound wasn't working properly, or one of those other annoyances where everyone knows there's a problem but no one wants to get up because maybe it will get better when the movie starts, or maybe someone else will do it, or maybe the theater crew will notice it. Instead, text SCREEN or SOUND or TEMPERATURE or ROWDY KIDS to 96435....so much better. :)

Also with things like noise complaints, I've decided text messages are better. A few weeks ago I called the non-emergency number and reported a noise violation at 3:30 in the morning...after the five minutes it took for me to answer contact information and other questions like that, the people were gone and I told the police to forget it. I am also an advocate for being able to report other traffic offenses but that's neither here nor there.

Text messaging COULD be used for some good in this world, instead of as a killer in the car or as a lousy attempt at a full conversation. But you watch, one day that movie theater thing will catch on (and other similar situations).

Things only a master would know...

2010-04-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

So Monday I defended my thesis, and by the grace of God I passed. Until it gets old, I will definitely be calling myself master! I meet with my professors again Friday to discuss the 7 content corrections of the document, and then will turn it in to the Thesis office once the profs have verified they're complete. The Thesis office will give it back to me hopefully soon, and tell me the formatting errors to correct, and then I'll submit that sucker and be cleared for graduation on August 13.

Boomshakalacka...

Today I thought I'd bring you some thoughts I've been pondering while working. First of all, have you noticed how it's generally older people who are school crossing guards? There's one crossing guard I pass who's a grandma with a bum leg...has it ever crossed anyone's mind that we're sending the elderly to jump out in front of cars to protect the kids!??! This just baffles me.

This morning when someone ran my stop sign/reds (which if you aren't smart enough to know kids could potentially be jumping out in front of the bus when those are up and you should stop since it's a STOP sign, let this be your free warning) I had a perfect invention idea. This might be because I was playing with transformers with Jonathan & Jacob yesterday, BUT tell me this would not be the best idea ever: some sort of engine powered scooter that is connected to the bus door. Where if the doors are opened and someone runs the stop sign, I can just press a button and jump off the bus onto a scooter, chase them down and tell them how dangerous they are. The ability to write a ticket would also be a plus.

This Friday we're having police officers ride some of the buses - YES! So hopefully we'll catch some of these dangerous people.

But you have to admit, a scooter chaser connected to the bus...genius.

DEFENSE!

2010-04-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

Yo yo yo comin to ya live from the burb...in less than 72 hours we gonna have a defense on our hands, ya feelin me? :)

Please pray for me this Monday (4/19) at high noon as I am scheduled to defend my thesis from 12pm-2pm (CST). I am resting 100% in Christ's provision, and know that He has gotten me this far (literally) and will continue to be glorified in this process until it is done. Hopefully my presentation will go something like this:

Some key points to pray for: confidence (no anxiety!), retention (of what I have learned through my research so far, as well as what I have learned in additional studies this week as my professors have tried to prepare me), GRACE, and favor with my committee.

So get pumped ladies and gents...

It's time for a defensive stand!!

Identify Yourself!

2010-04-12T09:49:00.000-07:00

Who's from Bozeman, Montana?

Jefferson County, Kentucky?

I just cannot figure out who I know up there. So identify yourself!

And in exactly 7 days I'll be walking into my thesis defense!

Nicaragua recap

2010-04-07T19:37:00.000-07:00

So I could tell you a million things that God did on our trip to Nicaragua, but I thought a slideshow would be awesome instead. Be forewarned: it's 15 minutes long. But it's mighty good and I really think you have the time to spare if you here checking out the good ol' blog.

Moral of the Nica story: God doesn't need me to do anything, I GET to be a part of His works. Handing out the Gospel of Luke (in Spanish obviously) and only saying "Here is a gift for you; come to the movie tonight at 6 in the basketball court" really shows you that it's not your words, it's God's words that do the talking. Isaiah 55:8-11. I was humbled to see prayer work in mighty ways as Nicas immediately began to read their copy of Luke after we handed it to them.

I had to break the movie up in 2 segments because of formatting issues, so please forgive me! I tried! Anyway that's enough talk...hope you enjoy:

And part 2:

Dios le bendiga!

Come and listen!!!

2010-03-28T07:12:00.001-07:00

Come and listen, come and listen to what He's done!

So as you should know, since it's all I've been talking about the past 3 weeks, my thesis was due this past Sunday. And I know you all know the huge mountain, the impossible feat, the ridiculous amount of work to do in virtually no time...

By the grace of God (and I mean that whole-heartedly), I was able to write my findings chapter before I left for Nicaragua. When I came back from Nicaragua (I'll post about that in a little bit) I wasn't feeling well from the side effects of the malaria medicine I was taking, so I didn't start working on my literature review chapter OR conclusions until Thursday night (giving me about 75 hours to do it).

I turned it in this past Sunday about 10:30pm, 88 pages total.

Come and listen, come and listen to what He's done!

I called one of my professors yesterday and she said that they thought we were good to go with the April 19th defense date. She said that mostly what she had been correcting was citation problems, I'd forget to put a comma between the author and date, or a space between the period and the page number...out of 127 markings throughout the document, 110 were minor APA citation problems, 5 were encouraging, and only 12 were suggestions to add a transition sentence/paragraph between a chapter, or changing a term to an official qualitative term.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME.

Praise our God, for He is good! (dcb)

I still haven't really processed all this yet, and am waiting for the defense date, but I am completely aware of how HE has done this and not me. It was not possible in my own strength. The people who've told me their stories of thesis/dissertation writing tell of long nights or many months of work...they tell of emotional breakdowns and disheartening meetings with their committee. Even if the defense doesn't go as planned, it doesn't matter because God will be getting all the glory for this whole process. He deserves it.

But I thought I'd share some motivational lyrics from my thesis theme song list, and show you some of my creations throughout my 75 hour writing session...

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight; rising up to the challenge of our rival.

Better stand tall when they're calling you out, don't bend, don't break baby don't back down!

So as you can see, this had nothing to do with me. :)

Hope this leaves you encouraged,

Sugar Sugar Sugar

2010-03-26T14:59:00.000-07:00

So in the past 2 weeks I have wandered from the routine I was in as far as eating and working out is concerned, mostly because one of those weeks I was in Nicaragua and the other week has been this one full of insanity due to my thesis. But I partly have my thesis to thank for the new (to me) research I have discovered on sugar! Check this out, you HAVE to watch it.

It's absolutely disgusting I know, but goes right along with being health-minded lately. I don't know why I've been the way I have but I thoroughly enjoy treating my body right!

Now for the past 24 hours I have definitely consumed my recommended 22g of added sugar a day with my discovery of the chocolate Chex Mix in our pantry, but being educated on what's in the food we're eating is not only crucial to a healthy life physically, but also Spiritually.

In other news, I just got my baptism picture/certificate in the mail today! Long story short, I felt God calling me to get baptized this past Sunday. Mostly because I doubt(ed) my salvation a lot and as I was sitting there and Butch was talking about it I couldn't shut my loudly thumping heart up, as God was telling me to go since there is no more doubt that I am His...nor is there a reason to be.

Well that's about it. I've got about 24-36 hours or so to finish this thesis (I've done 9 of the 30 pages I need to get done) and I've definitely made about 5 personal videos in the process of procrastination. Gotta go to a Nicaragua party!!!

Let the adventure begin

2010-03-12T14:44:00.000-08:00

I'm leaving for Nicaragua in less than 12 hours. Wowzers. (which reminds me of inspector gadget which reminds me of this crazy video a few years ago)...

So while I'm gone (we'll be back 3/20) if you could pray for our team: for health, safety, and salvation for the Nicas. And that God would break our hearts for the lost, and for hoarding up treasures on earth. It will be convicting to go from the wealthiest nation in the world to the 2nd poorest in this hemisphere.

Our God is GREATER

2010-03-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I emailed my committee chair for my thesis and asked about when would be a good time to turn in my thesis to him before my defense. His reply: March 26th.

I managed to get a few more words in my email to him, but the most important first two were:

HOLY MOLEY!

I am in the process of working out an April 19/20 morning defense date with my committee. So far 2 of the 3 are game on...which means, I'll be turning in my thesis March 29th. 12-13 possible days to work on it, including today, and obviously excluding the 7 days I'm in Nicaragua.

In case you were wondering where I am in the whole thing, I've completed 8 of 10 interviews.

I've finished Ch. 1 but it was my proposal so I have to switch it to past tense.

I've finished Ch. 3 but there's a little to be added, and some APA corrections to make.

That still leaves roughly 70 pages. I'm trying (and this was my plan before the bombshell) to finish Ch. 4 (30-60 pages) by the time I leave for Nicaragua (luckily I'm all packed up!)

I tell you all this mainly because you will know that if I finish this on time, it is because of God's grace. That's not a churchy answer or me trying to be more Spiritual or whatever...that's just the truth. And WHEN I finish (because I'm having faith here) I will stand in awe of that miracle just as much as you, probably more, because it just seems unreal.

My theme song though is a new song I heard a few weeks ago that was apparently at Passion 2010 in January. It's called "Our God" by Chris Tomlin; if you haven't heard it, it was just released today and I highly recommend getting it.

Water you turned into wine
opened the eyes of the blind
there's no one like you
none like you

Into the darkness you shine
out of the ashes we rise
there is no one like you
none like you

Chorus:

Our God is greater
Our God is stronger

God you are higher than any other
Our God is Healer
Awesome in power

Our God

Our God

Into the darkness you shine
out of the ashes we rise
there is no one like you
none like you
 Chorus


Bridge:


and if our God is for us
then who could ever stop us
and if our God is with us
then what could stand against 

bearing up under it,
db

Recalled

2010-03-05T07:47:00.001-08:00

I thought this was my 100th post, so I was waiting for it to be something good. Nope. Apparently it counts your drafts too, which I have 7. I looked over those drafts and there's some good stuff in there, like my post about people with commitment issues and how that's just not okay, or about the time I met Roger Clemens, or a few posts from England that I just never published for whatever reason. One week I am just going to post the throw-back posts!

So I went to get my car fixed the other day since it's recalled with the 1000's of others from Toyota. I dropped it off and apparently there was a 3rd fix they also wanted to do, so it took about 4 hours to be completed. As to whether or not it's truly fixed, I don't know. But I am confident that whatever happens does so for a reason, and in no way am I nervous about getting in my car and driving somewhere. I know the best thing to do in the event of a "runaway" and if that doesn't work, well I'll be going somewhere good so drink a DP in my honor. ;)

When I went to pick up my car though it was already pulled up and waiting. I went in and my service technician gave the keys to the runner to pull the car around. I told the technician it was already out there, and he ran out and double checked with the runner that it was indeed my car. As he came back he said there was another car just like mine that was also in the shop.

To which I replied: there's only one that has MY license plate. Sometimes people just amuse me.

Job Opportunity (!) or (apprehension)

2010-03-04T12:05:00.000-08:00

I don't know whether to go WAHOO OH MY GOSH LOOK AT THIS COOL OPPORTUNITY or to go, "wow it's neat but would I even be considered?" There is a very cool opportunity to work for a university with their student programs. The neat part is my background in student affairs (as a student), my short-lived experience as a graduate student in a learning community for freshmen, and my...experiential learning emphasis with my Master's degree.

I am telling you this now because I haven't even applied. I've filled out the basic application information, but I have yet to fill out the cover letter, or update my resume to applicable information for this job. The thing is, I'd love to do it. Well at least I think I would. But the most important thing is: I just found out about it, haven't really prayed about it, and am going to get on that stat so that I can try and apply for it before Spring Break.

Would you please be praying for me in this process? I am not worried about finances and know that a full-time job will present itself to me when it's my time, but at the same time I want to be walking in God's will and that includes the application process. I am beginning to look for jobs, and I need to be where He's leading me since that's the best place to be!

Whoop!

Cooking

2010-03-03T11:51:00.000-08:00

So in the past year, in an attempt to eat better and save money, I have been cooking at home. When I was in England we pretty much ate at home every night, and the family we lived with was on a gluten-free, sugar-free diet. Not that I ate that way the entire time, but doing so made me think more about the way I eat and all the added stuff on food when I eat out.

Today I was cooking a meal for a family in my hope group who's grandma passed away. The mom had left to go overseas to be with her family in this hard time, so it's just dad and kids at home. I decided to make chicken, rice and green beans. After I was done, I wasn't thrilled with it. I mean it looked great, but I wanted to keep going. So I made some Betty Crocker cookie bar brownies. I haven't had them yet, but they looked lovely! This just made me realize how much I love serving people in this capacity.

As I was spicing the chicken up, I realized how I NEVER put salt or pepper on things I make anymore. Not that I don't eat it, but usually recipes I've done don't mention it so I don't do it. But it was a lot of fun to put them on these chicken breasts, and some thyme and garlic powder. I felt like a chef! On our Christian radio station they've been talking about the "fititudes" and how they're like the beatitudes. They've also dubbed this month "March into fitness." I feel like a lot of people lately are talking about health, etc. which is so cool because our culture can be a little sedentary. For the past month I've really stepped it up with being aware of the amount I consume, what I'm consuming, and being faithful to working out everyday...I've enjoyed the increased energy and just my mindset these past few weeks. I feel great!!

Out of that I've been sleeping a lot better, haven't been getting those "need of a nap" moments, and have even (don't be shocked) finished a chapter of my thesis!!! 2 down, 3 to go. I want to finish the longest chapter (Ch. 4 - Findings, approx 20-60 pages) by the time I leave for Spring Break.

Ok well I better get going to work. I guess I have a lot more to say about cooking and living a healthy life than I thought!!

Nicaragua

2010-03-01T09:40:00.000-08:00

I'm getting excited about going to Nicaragua this spring break. My church is sending out a team of 11 people to meet up with 3 missionaries currently there; we will be handing out the Gospel of Luke in Spanish, as well as showing a Jesus film at least one night. We're going to be going to remote parts of the country to share about Christ, and I'm pretty excited about it. Just hearing stories of how groups have hiked miles, travelled by "boats" for hours, etc. just to reach someone off the well-travelled path, gets me excited.

Plus God provided the funds for me to go, which is a blog post in and of itself. I'll tell ya more about it when I get back and post some pics!

If you read...help...

2010-02-19T16:11:00.001-08:00

I've been contemplating some privacy settings to my blog. If you read it every once in awhile - how much information would you say I give out? Am I vague? Or do I give you some pretty good information to stalk me??

Seriously though, what do you think about the amount of information I disclose?

Germs, Kids, and Dreams

2010-02-18T15:54:00.000-08:00

This semester, well the last 5-6 months, I've learned how fast germs can spread. Never in my life have I been so sick so frequently, but this semester it seems like we can't go 2 weeks without getting some form of the crud in this house. I guess that's what you get when your roommate works with 15ish 3 year old germwads, and I work with 100 different germ carriers...and those are just the kids we come in direct contact with. That's not even considering the door knobs we share with our fellow workers, which adds 115^whatever power. I hate germs. But don't wash your hands too much to prevent them, because you'll still get it. And if you don't - you'll get dry hands.

Driving two runs during one shift has taught me the importance of giving the kids a clean slate, and not carrying over frustrations from one group to the next. Today my 50 1&2nd graders were out of control. I had no aide (which is required for only this particular group of kids who are evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, all living at South Gate)...so I had my whistle blowing and loud mean voice on. Finally I decided as we were about to leave - I'll turn on the radio for them! When they would get out of their seats, I'd turn it down. There were some moments (two to be exact) where I looked back at them singing and dancing (in their seats) and thought, even though they're loud, they're cute.

2 seconds later when I had to turn it down, a girl demanding me to turn it up made me snap back to reality and realize...ahh, brats. I had forgotten!! Needless to say, the radio is a privilege that was short lived.

Then on my second run, as I was sitting at a stop sign in Pebble Creek, the front half of the bus started chanting: "right! right! right!" Normally I go left, and I'm pretty strict and sticking to the plan when I'm on the bus, but the instant I turned right there was an uproar of excitement and cheers. Something so small made their afternoon. I finished up the route with a smile on my face...thank goodness I had a short memory and didn't hold the 2nd run accountable to the trouble the 1st run gave me.

And finally, after watching the olympics (short track has always been a fave but lately I've enjoyed my new favorite sport: snowboard cross!!!!) I think I would have done some type of snowboarding/skiing/hockey sport if I lived up north. Some of these announcers are talking about this women's hockey team, and when they are just raving about a girl, I've said (out loud) "that's what they'd be saying about me if I lived up north!"

Ahhh dreams. Well that's it for today. Just a bunch of mambo jumbo I thought I'd throw your way. A nice little gumbo (minus the okra I couldn't figure out how to make this evening).

The Game of Love

2010-02-09T09:11:00.000-08:00

...it's shorter than "a little bit of this, a little bit of that" which is really the song quote I was going for in the title of this post. This will be very random I'm sure, but since this is MY blog, it fits. :)

I've got some thoughts and burdens to share, as well as some light-hearted fun with new punishments I'm thinking up for my bus riders who refuse to obey the rules (i.e. stay in their seats or don't leave trash everywhere.)

Thoughts

These are the end days. Are they not? And I'm not talking politically, though you could make a case for it. It's just...the persecution in this world is rising! I read an article on persecution.org about 2 Christians in Florida who were shot by some teenager for evangelizing. The tolerance in this world is getting a little extreme - it's freedom of speech unless we're talking about Christian values, etc. and then that's just not ok. Our country and world need some prayer. Seriously. Revival's not happening until we get a unified heart. I pray that we will be radical in the way we pray for souls to be saved, and for faith to stand firm for believers everywhere...increased persecution is NOT an excuse to back down and to not share the Gospel. Ooh this is a topic that's been burdening my heart lately and I ask you to take a look at that website, stay informed, pray for the church worldwide. We need a worldview badly!

Punishments...muahahahaha

So yesterday was a torrential downpour for a bit, which made me turn on the AC (on low of course) in the bus so that we wouldn't fog up! Well this girl in the back would not get out of the aisle no matter how many times I would remind her. Finally I decided - I'll blast that rear AC which is right above her head when she's in the aisle. The faces of everyone back there were PRICELESS. "No! NO! Danielle please!" I couldn't contain laughter, and believe me there's many opportunities on the road with these guys that I just can't help it - I at least am smiling. I mean overhearing their conversations, etc...there's some good stuff there. So I told them it would stay on until this girl would stay out of the aisle. HALLELUJAH! She got the point.

My bus has been getting pretty nasty lately. Even though they're not supposed to be eating on the bus, let's be honest - we know they're sneaking it on there. But in the back there's these 3 seats that have rips in them and I've been informed by some of those kids, that they're putting trash in those holes. Nasty. So today I told everyone to throw their trash away when they got off...one kid in the back had been pulling stuff out so I told him to go on ahead and throw that away. Well apparently he had put it back already, so I said to get it and when he refused, well he got all of the trash out of there.

It.was.nasty. So disgusting. Everytime he put his hand down there he'd go "ohhh gross. OHH." all that kind of stuff. I think it was very effective, and hopefully he'll tell his friends and they'll start throwing out their trash before they leave.

Hey you gotta be strict. But this bus will be better for it. I find enjoyment in getting creative about different ways to get through to the kids that I'm in charge, and that I will definitely enforce the rules. :) Haha.

No I don't LOL, I SRB!!!

2010-02-03T09:55:00.000-08:00

I'll be honest, lately I've been known to frequent the "lol" expression while texting...when in reality, I'm not one to laugh out loud when I'm doing it. And if something really does get me laughing like that I think I'd be so shocked I'd forget to say LOL!

But I DO "srb"...smile real big.

Hiatus

2010-02-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

Well I've decided that this picture a day thing is actually a hindrance to me! I really enjoy it but sometimes it's just ridiculous of how that will dominate my day. Or the fact that I've been out all day and I finally do get home ready to relax...but I have to post. No that will NOT happen. Maybe I'll work on a picture a week or something because I really do like the fact that it forces you to take more pictures of life, and find those opportunities to freeze in time.

And that's that. Off to work!

Locked in the apartment

2010-01-31T22:30:00.000-08:00

I feel like Sunday deserves to have the story of my roommate and I being locked in and locked out of our apartment simultaneously. There was no picture of this incident because I had just woken up, and yes it was TECHNICALLY Saturday night at 11:15pm...but since emergency maintenance came and was here until Sunday morning...it works! :)

So at 11:15 I am found sleeping soundly in my bed. All of the sudden I hear these loud bangs on the window, which I will later find were rocks. Not pebbles, rocks. I wake up and see that my phone is lit up, so I answer it. Janelle is locked outside on this 34 degree night. She tells me that I've double bolted her out of the apartment. I am freaking out because I knew I did not do that, and that made me think that someone was in the apartment (so much for talking about worry in church a week prior...!) I went downstairs and saw that the top bolt was not locked, so that made me even more nervous that she wasn't getting in. At this point I was sure that someone was inside with me, even if all the lights were on and they were nowhere to be found. I tried to unlock the bolt but it wouldn't budge. "It's locked!" I went to open the window so that she could know what I was doing...I could not believe it wouldn't open.

She sat outside telling me to hurry because she was cold, but this was no joke I was locked in the apartment! I busted out the screen for the window (bending it a little but I had too much adrenaline) and let her come in through the window by the door. We both tried to unlock it but it wouldn't budge.

So we called Emergency Maintenance and they came at like midnight to fix our door and give us a new lock. BIZARRE.

I just had to share! :)

LOML

2010-01-30T17:57:00.000-08:00

So today has not been the best day. About every couple of hours I am just crying about who knows what...a lot of hurt is coming to surface today. In a few days I know this will all be for the best, but for now - it hurts. I'm at a point where I'm seriously void of the relationships that I've held so dear and felt so connected. They have moved. There are a few people around me whom I deeply love and feel comfortable around, but this week has been one that has shown me so many surface friendships and conversations and that hurts. Because when we're hurting, we have to have those people where we can just call and they'll sit with us. Today I had a brief moment of that this morning when I went over to hang out with the Perrymans.

This little guy stole my heart again, as he does EVERY dang time I see him.

Jacob trying my glasses...

how can everything not just become better once you see that??!

Safety First

2010-01-29T22:00:00.000-08:00

The number one thing to remember when driving 40-55 kids to/from school: safety first. Besides handling the safety within the bus by having the kids stay seated until they hear the parking brake engaged, or by staying out of the aisles throughout the ride, I also need to manage the hazards outside the vehicle. Defensive driving is a high priority. Anticipating the idiot to be texting and driving and then pull out in front of me...a must. Preparing for a sudden stop because a college kid thinks that they can squeeze in front of me as lanes merge...also a must. But both of those scenarios, and numerous others that come with defensive driving, are things that I am prepared to do, and able to avoid if I am doing my job.

BUT, what I cannot do is control what happens when I stop the bus and unload kids. The yellow lights are blinking, I open the door and they turn to red and a stop sign comes out from the side of the vehicle. You've seen it. 1/3 of the deaths of children come from people running these stop signs. Even if it is a 4 lane road that is only divided by a yellow stripe - YOU MUST STOP. The only reason for you not to stop is if you are on the other side of the road AND there is a PHYSICAL barrier between you and the bus, such as a median. If you are on the same side you are never to pass a bus with a stop sign.

Ridiculous. Children could be killed. I'm taking my video camera to work Monday...

Cute Samuel

2010-01-28T21:16:00.000-08:00

Well tonight at hope group I spent a good amount of time playing with the kids. Melodi & Mark's kids, Sam & Camille, are super presh especially when Sam will play with you! We did some trampoline jumping and hanging out for part of hope group before I went back inside. Love this fella!

Backwards Night

2010-01-27T19:29:00.001-08:00

Tonight at AWANA we had backwards night. This was my original outfit (I later changed to capri sweats since it would be easier to run in during game time)...but I loved the first look. Putting jeans on backwards is tough.

1.27.10

once you start something you can't stop,

Naked Fish

2010-01-26T18:57:00.001-08:00

Tonight my neighbor Abeer and I went to try the new sushi joint in town, "Naked Fish." I've driven by it a few times and have so looked forward to this night! Hanging out with Abeer is always a good time. She and I share the same international heart...she seems to always be up for an adventure, and has lived in many countries (she's from Saudi Arabia). Tonight at NF, we were hanging out and talking, sharing 3 rolls of sushi, and it was like we were in another world. Suddenly I didn't feel like I was in College Station anymore. The atmosphere made me feel like I was in another city, possibly another country. A semi-Sheffield throw back if you will, because of all the internationals in Sheffield.

Well we tried the signature Naked Fish roll, and a Philly roll...and the Manhattan roll. Well I'm not taking ANY credit for the Manhattan roll. The NF was exceptional, the Manhattan had some interesting things in it. After we were 3/4 of the way through the roll we realized we had a "friend" in there. As we disected the roll we found out that it was a crab - LEGS INTACT. Bizarre. I mean I know we eat shrimp and they have their tails on them, but this for some reason was way crazier to me. Especially when we didn't know what it was and then upon further review (the call on the field stands - haha j/k) I discovered it was a crab BECAUSE I could tell it had the 8 legs still bent like crabs do. AHHHH.

Anyway, it was a great night. Here's some pics from the evening.

1.26.10

with a full heart,

Chicken+Potatoes+...

2010-01-25T18:52:00.000-08:00

So I tried a new recipe tonight from Abby. I don't know what you'd call it but it's chicken, potatoes, ranch dressing and cheese. I went ahead and tried the muenster cheese that was suggested with her recipe. I was kind of nervous, but it was super easy.

Everything was going great until I had to take it out of the oven the first time and put the cheese on it. That's when I noticed...there's a LOT of nasty stuff around the edges - looks like greese. OH maybe I put too much olive oil in it. After I did the cheese I found out, yes I DID put too much olive oil. Hmm. So after draining that I came up with my finished project, and THE picture of the day:

1.25.10

it was actually pretty good. next time, 1/5 of the olive oil that i put in from this time.

haha

Living by candlelight

2010-01-24T20:51:00.001-08:00

Tonight for about 45 minutes the power went out in our whole complex and apparently other areas around town. When it happened I had 2 LED flashlights that were awesome at lighting up my whole room if I stood them up on opposite sides. About 15 minutes into it a friend brought over some matches and candles (I don't know how we didn't have any matches/lighters or candles really for that matter).

So I continued on with my night, by candlelight. Folding laundry, organizing, etc. When the power came back on, I chose to stay in the dark with my candles. Then it went back off for about 10 more minutes - in which I enjoyed the stillness around the complex. The darkness was lit by 3 candles burning brightly in strategic places in my room.

1.24.10

hoping to do it again soon,

Idea-less. Without idea. Stumped.

2010-01-23T19:56:00.000-08:00

So today there was no picture AGAIN, in part because I finally saw A Few Good Men from the beginning (well after the first 10 minutes), and then cleaned/organized. I kind of view this coming Monday as a fresh start to work/life/health/and that thesis thing. So I was organizing my room, doing laundry, etc.

Well as I'm contemplating falling asleep right now in my awesome chair, I thought about just taking a snap shot of myself - haha. But then I realized, this is what I look like right now at this moment. It counts as a picture for today (very lame I know, but bare with me as I try to explain the somewhat nostalgic moment). Well as I sit here I have my shirt over my mouth. I've done this my whole life and honestly never thought anything of it. It's something I've seen my dad do for years. But the other day as I was working on something, a new guy at work started laughing and asked me if my shirt tasted good. And then thought that was so interesting that I do that when I'm doing stuff.

I don't think it's different...but who knows, maybe I just don't know others. But this is a picture of my life, and a pose I frequent regularly. Also it's a family pose John so deal with it. ;) This is also the same guy who thought it was weird that I said, "oh that's no bueno." It was weird because I used it in a regular sentence he said...maybe he just had the giggles that day. Or was tired. Or nervous because it was his first day. Either way, here's Saturday's pic.

1.23.10

hoping next week brings about more interesting picture ops,

Picnic in the parking lot

2010-01-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

So Friday was a BEAUTIFUL day. So beautiful. Somewhere in the 70s, not a cloud in the sky, and pretty windy. Well I had run to grab some lunch and took it up to work before the 2nd shift. When I got there I just had to stay outside to eat it, even if the view was nothing special and I had to keep grabbing my food so it wouldn't blow away. It felt so great to just sit there and have lunch, with no one really around, and gorgeous weather to bask in.

Here's the front view of the parking lot of the bus center (scenic huh?).

1.22.10

taking joy in the small things,

Budget

2010-01-21T21:24:00.000-08:00

So for Thursday I worked on balancing my check book and working on my budget all day. I still have been tweaking it - mostly because I hadn't had it all written out to see how much was going where (I spent A LOT eating out these past 2 weeks b/c of the remodel).

I didn't manage to take a picture but I have been wanting to post my budget on my blog for some time now. Two of my friends are missionaries in England and they post their budget for their supporters. I loved the transparency there, and lately I've been thinking about doing the same thing. If I'm aiming to be a good steward of the money God has given me, then I want to be at a point where I'm not ashamed to talk about finances and what's going where. The icing on the cake was going through the "treasures in heaven" portion of Matthew 6 last Sunday in church. **on a completely unrelated note, I feel like I'm in You've Got Mail as I type to you...such a good movie!

2009-2010 Monthly Budget

Rent (all inclusive) $445

Grocery (food, household items, personal) $100

Entertainment (eating out, movies, etc.) $75

Gas $80

Tithe $99

Misc. $50

Savings $45

This semester (and last) I've been forced to live on less than I ever thought possible. With the exception of my cell phone being an add on to the family line, my mom still covering a tank of gas and my car insurance, and opting out of health insurance (if I can be on my mom's plan for no cost to either of us - why not!?)...I've been on my own. That additional $200 and however much the insurance of my choosing will be, will be possible in my budget by the grace of God alone. This semester I'm living as cheap as ever, and the weird/cool thing is - there's still room to grow! Each month I find myself thrilled beyond belief to see that God has been faithful to me in such a concerning area to many.

Well, that's a telling picture for ya there!

Week rewind

2010-01-20T22:41:00.000-08:00

So a week ago I went off the map for a few days due to the nasty stomach bug going around College Station. I have faired well in my war against germs on the bus, but failed miserably at home after my roommate had it...so I didn't get a single pic from last Friday-Sunday. Mostly that's because I didn't see anything really, except the back of my eyelids. Here's the shots from the first part of this week that I was unable to get out sooner...

Wednesday deserves two pictures, both within the drive to/from Houston to take Kate (a friend from Sheffield) back to the airport so she could go home to England. It was so good to hear that accent and get to spend some time with her while she was here! It was like England came to me...and that's always a good thing.

On the way home from the airport I was behind the huge generator that only moves 10 miles a day and is on it's way up Hwy 6 as we speak towards Riesel to go in a power plant. It will power up to 900,000 homes. Whoa! It's something like 40 feet wide, 300 feet long. I got a picture of the actual one that is on its way. There is a crew that goes in front of it and puts out dirt/mulch on the sides of the road to make it wider, and then also takes down the lights, etc. in a town where it has to pass through but is too tall. CRAZY.

1.20.10

The huge generator!

Saying good bye to Kate...

I know sometimes I add random pictures but I think those are the best...allows you to see that these ridiculous things I tell you ARE true. As I was waiting on a bunch of elementary kids to finish playing at Mount Aggie, I saw yet another building being built on campus. But the best part about this one? It's the second one I've seen with a tree on top! Literally on top. Check it out, top right corner of the building.

1.19.10

On Monday Kristin came back to CS to see everyone and so here's the group at Polly's Cocina. Yep Mi Cocina's (all 4) name changed to Polly's Cocina within the last week and a half. And the funny thing is that it is identical, but that they took the old menus and blacked out with Sharpie where it said "Mi Cocina." Haha...these are some friends from Living Hope back in the day.

1.18.10

Well that's all for now.

Keep the faith,

Beep beep!

2010-01-14T20:09:00.001-08:00

While there are so many great pictures/moments to choose from today (the first time i've ever seen soap on a rope, putting the boys on my lap and racing on a bike fit for a 5 year old, driving my bus to Chick-fil-A while I was waiting on the wrestling team to finish their match, or even the wrestling match itself), there was a clear cut winner of all the pics. We'll call it "Beep Beep." To give you an idea of what was going on, Jonathan and I were riding these little cars (fit for 2/3 year olds). Here's what they look like:

So he's holding the steering wheel and then that little part that no one's on -- I'm about to get on it. Immediately after I got on it, he started bumping into me going "beep beep." Luckily, because of this whole "pic a day" thing, I had my phone in my pocket and snapped a quick pic of the cutest moment of my day.

1.14.10

I love my life.

Toilet Covers

2010-01-13T15:36:00.000-08:00

Once I had a package of toilet seat covers...I don't know if it was for my road trip to Myrtle Beach post-high school or this past journey to England, but this package you could fit in a purse always blew my mind.

Why would you need them? I mean gross toilets, yeah. But usually there's seat covers where you go...and if not, well just squat.

Well today in the DPS office I needed to use the toilet, so I go into the stall, look for a cover, and come right back out thinking I saw one on the way in. Sure enough, I DID. This is a picture to prove the ridiculousness of the location of these things. 4 stalls, 1 bin of seat covers, conveniently located near the door on your way in.

So while you're walking to the bathroom make sure to pick one up and take it into the stall with you! Ridiculous!!! And ridiculously funny to watch someone like me transport it from the entrance to the stall...good thing I didn't have to just stand there and hold it because of a line!

1.13.10

Heading downstairs to take a picture of the remodel. If there's one thing you've yet to learn, learn it now -- don't cut corners when doing things or you're going to actually pay more money in the end. Case in point: Campus view and remodels.

Losing traction

2010-01-12T20:41:00.000-08:00

I just want you all to know that while there was the option to take a picture of anything related to my random drug test I had to do today (obviously it would've been kept G and NOT gross)...I thought I'd stay away from that and stick with something a little less, exciting.

Haha. By the way I definitely passed the test.

1.12.10

About 2 weeks ago my friend Julie was getting in my car and noticed my tires were losing traction. The thread was worn very very thin. After she said that, I got out and took a look and decided one thing - if I pre-trip my bus every day for safety, maybe I'll start doing that with my car and they won't get so bad. So naturally I took the car to the dealership today, rotated the tires, and was told that in 3000 miles I'll need to get new tires. Whoop for a $850 cost here in the next few months...my induction to adulthood I guess.

Also here is the 1.12.10 picture of the remodel process currently going on downstairs in my house...new countertops and a completed frame to the washer/dryer cabinet. Oh and also a new sink.

I've decided that there definitely needs to be a stipulation to this whole "pic a day" game...you should have to post the "runner-up" pics at some point - because who could pass up the man wearing an old school Mickey Mouse sweatshirt the other day?!

The Picture a Day Philosophy

2010-01-11T15:37:00.000-08:00

So Jamie was writing about how she's doing the "picture a day" thing, and I had seen someone do it a while back (although he was quite talented in the photography department so his was extremely legit). ANYWAY I got to thinking about how I could never do that because I do the same routine every single day. But that thought inspired me to explore a little, be different each day and not get sucked into routine. And with that thought, I'm off trying this thing!

1.11.10

The end of day 1 of remodeling in our kitchen. This little closet looking thing to the left is the area for the washer/dryer...those are "new cabinets" (old cabinets and shelves just painted with a new face) and part of the new countertops. We'll be done by Friday so unless there's something fantastic that deserves to beat out a daily picture of this process, you'll see the progress over the next few days!

Living in Neverland

2010-01-07T11:30:00.001-08:00

The scenery of College Station might not look like the picture below, but the atmosphere sure feels like it (when school is in session).

Since moving back I've noticed something - I get older, but don't feel any different. Minus the fact that we don't necessarily feel older from one year to the next. It's almost as if I'm Peter Pan in the movie "Hook" where Robin Williams returns to Neverland to rescue his kids...

For me, I'm Peter Pan who was doing life, all the sudden went back to Neverland, and now is doing things he used to do as a lost boy.

The students are still away on break, so I'm taking full advantage of no traffic or lines at places I want to go. When they come back, life will be normal again. I will not be doing the same things I did in college, or even on the same routine...but I will miraculously gain back some youth and hang out the way we used to do (sometimes) when we were in that same boat.

Guess college kids keep you young. Balance that with the elementary and middle school kids who are making me old, and I guess I'm right where I should be.

In other news, I'm really glad Glee 2 included Finn's "You're having my baby" song on it, because it cracks me up. It's so dumb, yet so funny. No one in my generation would even have known about this Paul Anka (original singer) if it wasn't for the randomness of the song, and the sub-par plot of the show!

In my heart I know the Tide should wipe the floor with the Longhorns tonight...but I feel this weird Texas pride that makes me want to stay true to my state. Texas (the state) has always been the best state in the U.S. anyway since we joined...

One year anniversary

2009-12-27T17:23:00.000-08:00

In exactly 24 hours from now it'll be one year to the date when I left to go to England for 6 months. CRAZY. It makes me want to go back and read all those posts, relive those memories. That was such a sweet time, and truly an incredible experience that I am grateful for.

Thoughts as I left...

I have grown so much in this year because of that experience.

And now, I'm just a little nostalgic, thinking of the best 6 months ever.

Experiences in Saint Mark's Square (Venice) have immediately come to mind.

Here's some guitars and other figures made of Venezian glass.

Here's me and Janelle enjoying some gelatto in the best area ever!!

MMMM, love these memories.

Yummy Desserts

2009-12-14T20:07:00.000-08:00

A quick break in the action for a promotional shout out...

you can't go wrong with this:

Sweet Deals by Julie

Transportation 101

2009-12-10T06:53:00.001-08:00

So as bus driving has kicked into gear for me, things are a little interesting.

For starters, this 32 degree weather (and sometimes colder at 6:30am) is all good and wonderful when you're sleeping through it, or walking quickly through it before returning to your warm car. But how does this weather hold up when you're driving a bus...not too great.

The past 2 weeks I've been on a bus sans-heat which means I'm driving all morning with 100 layers and gloves, and still moving my fingers so they won't move.

And then as I've been driving (since a week before Thanksgiving) - I managed to get in a nice wreck on day FOUR of my job. First wreck ever, and really I wasn't phased. Probably because it was a bus, no one was hurt, and it was just me rolling back into another bus. Needless to say, I did lose field trip priviledges for 2 weeks (which is extra $$ only, not affecting my normal work schedule)...I also made a good impression on a few drivers by doing that - but I think people are coming around. I only broke one of my taillights, and bent 107's mirrors. Out of all the people for this to happen to! Haha.

Then I've had some interesting encounters with co-workers which, well if you need that story and don't know it already we can talk in person. That situation is however, getting better.

And lastly, my purpose for writing, is to let you have a little inside scoop at work. There are a few people you should know about, one group whose name was just given to them this morning as I was driving, I'll start with them first.

The Bus Brats - these are the people, who CAN wave to you, but don't. The people who mysteriously can't see the big yellow bus coming at them (even though they themselves are in one). Sometimes it's amazing how a vehicle of that size with all those lights can go incognito - but it can. But as bus drivers we wave to each other...and those on their throne who cannot dare wave at other drivers...bus brats.

Snobby Snoodes - these are the people who come to you "in your own interest" so that they can warn you of all the cliques and gossiping groups. While they are doing this they've failed to notice one thing...they themselves are gossiping at that moment. And OH, those "gossiping groups" they're talking about - haven't said a word to me about anyone. Mostly because they are the...

High school "cool" kids - yes we're still referring to grown adults, but we're talking about those people who are more often than not the "bus brats" and that will not talk to people as they wait to get on their route. They're too good for me. So much so - that I don't even know their names.

And that's it for now. My little Mean Girls soap opera that is quite amusing. I find myself spending a few minutes in there, then out to the bus (even if it's freezing). I try my best to love on people and get to know them, and be friendly to all...but then after a little bit I head on out to the bus to prevent myself from getting in the mix of all that.

Next up on the blog, Smackdown 101.

Subbing Adventures

2009-11-13T16:07:00.000-08:00

So I've been subbing for a while now, and was super nervous to do high school. Well for 3 days in a row at the high school I had completely different experiences.

First day -- only 1 class. I did a half day and he had conference periods so I was at the school for literally 1 hour and 15 minutes. The students were apathetic which annoyed me. It was like babysitting, but it was poor structured anyway so I guess you reap what you sow teachers...

2nd day -- awesome! (see previous post)

3rd day -- hillarious. I went in super excited about doing some pre-cal and geometry, since I'm interested in teaching hs math as soon as next year! Not that a sub would do much teaching, but it's the first time I haven't been nervous especially if they might ask questions - cause I know! Such a good feeling. So overall it was a great day. I'm really enjoying students thinking they can take advantage of me. High school students in one period of class ask to go to the bathroom more in 50 minutes than 1st graders do in a whole day. And it's like I don't know that it's possible to make a bathroom trip AND get to your next class in the 5 minute break you have between classes. ESPECIALLY since these kids hardly ever bring books to class - come on! This was the 2nd day where I've had some classes testing...I'm 7-8 years older than you, I don't have alzheimers/bad hearing/poor sight...I CAN tell when you're cheating. Especially as you are the only person in the entire class who is squirming, well besides your buddy you're cheating off of who's helping you. Hello?!?! Graduated high school in 2003...not too foreign to the standard cheating practices of high schoolers...

And there are some precious kids in these classes. My favorites are the ones who are "cool" and probably really are, but they're so respectful and legit.

There was this one boy who asked me mid-test if he could go to the bathroom:

me: No (with a little smile/sorry look)

him: please! I have the hiccups! (in front of the whole class while they're testing!)

me: shook head no. pretended to hold my breath as to show him what to do with that problem.

20 minutes later when he turned in his test

him: can I go to the bathroom?

me: no

him: I need to get some water! I have the hiccups!

me: you do not have the hiccups! I've been watching you - come on!

him: [the most exaggerated fake hiccup I've ever seen!]

He immediately goes to his desk and puts his backpack on it. It's so high I can't see him at all. So I get up and walk over there knowing he's probably on his phone...he couldn't even see me until I got there!

me: I have a question for you. do you think I'm stupid?

him: [sheepish grin]

me: quit it! :) [take backpack down and walk off]

From my desk I had to continue watch him - and this could probably have been a tiring, annoying situation. But it was cracking me up that he didn't think I knew! Why would you not want your teacher to see you? hmmm...let me think? is it because you're doing something you're not supposed to!?

kids.

Less than 2 weeks later I saw squeamish cheating boy avoiding eye contact at grocery store! I couldn't figure out why this kid was being so weird, THEN I realized who it was. AND as I was with Melodi picking up her son at the high school and we were waiting on his friend...I pointed the hiccup boy out and she said he was who we're waiting on! NO WAY! :)

Friday Fellowship

2009-10-25T14:24:00.003-07:00

Clever huh? Made it up just now...thinking of adopting it as a regular thing here in my house. Well last Friday was a day worthy of sharing. It started out as my first full-day sub job at the high school. I'd been nervous about subbing high schoolers, so I've stuck to 1st grade, 3/4 grade, etc. Hindsight -- why was I ever afraid of these kids? I actually feel GREAT coming home from a full day subbing high school students. 1st graders - I'm beat! It's crazy.

So I subbed Pre-AP/AP Physics, and was a little nervous about it. Ashleigh told me they'd probably be the best kids I'll ever have...she was pretty much right. It was fun to be a part of the labs with the AP students, and then the Pre-AP ones had a test so I just monitored that. Only 2 people (in the same section) cheated! And they didn't do it too well because I immediately noticed by how squirmish they were, and how long they'd take to look at the formulas on the board...I watched them the whole time. It cracked me up.

Then I came home and Janelle and I invited over some of our neighbors for dinner. Abeer is from Saudi Arabia, and we met her probably a month ago. I was very excited to get her into my home and get to know her. Our other friend Aselle (from one of the stans near Russia...I forget but it starts with a K)...she came too. She lives a few doors down and goes to our church. It was so much fun. I have been praying for us to have a relationship with Abeer so she can have some fellowship and also to pray that Christ will call her to Himself. The whole night we were laughing and learning a lot about her! Since she's lived here, she called 911 one night because she saw bats, and she told the dispatch that she watches a lot of movies and knows they're vampires!! Hahahahaha we were all dying laughing. There will hopefully be a lot more to come about Abeer, but please be praying for more opportunities with her and for our witness to be up to His holy standard.

Ever since coming back to the States, I've really had it upon my heart to open up my home to international women, as well as to believers/unbelievers alike. I want my home to be a place of ministry, meaning peace for all walks of life as they enter it. I've been really blessed with my roommate (Janelle) having that same heart for our apartment.

After Abeer left, I had to do something about our garbage disposal. I had been pouring Drano in it since 6:30pm, and at 9:30 there was no change! So I googled how to fix a disposal, and it said to remove the drain trap since food is probably clogged in there. Namely: potato peels.

This is what I had to work with: Plumbing Repair

And boom baby...I fixed it! F.I.X.E.D. the drain. Me. Water came spewing out (which I thought it would, but I didn't know how to stop that from happening) so Aselle handed me a huge pot and it was exactly the size for the water! It spewed all over my hands though which stunk since the majority of it was Drano - and it burned!!!!!

After that day - who couldn't sleep amazingly!?? Add that with my new pillows and you're slam dunking it like Michael Jordan.

Pillows

2009-10-21T06:09:00.001-07:00

My new pillows are so awesome I never want to get out of bed in the morning. One in particular - this memory foam one (not TempurPedic...) is so glorious, I sleep so hard and amazing.

That's all. Your pillows can change the world.

The way I see it

2009-10-14T21:55:00.000-07:00

So tonight at our missions meeting we had to go around the table and tell what we were passionate about. I had to go last, and I started to tell them about my passion for international women around me (which started with these kinds of opportunities in Sheffield since it was so diverse), and then I eventually got to my love for the UK...and I'm right back here, as if it were June 4, 2009 and I'm missing England like crazy. I have this Sheffield poster in my room (which is the only thing hung on the walls at the moment), and it is constantly reminding me of the city that I love and the people there that are dear to my heart. There's no forgetting that experience or those people. So I'm missing Sheffield.

Also, I paid off an interest-bearing loan today! Whoop! The whole thing...I mean I still have a balance from other loans, but the fact that the interest on that loan won't accrue any longer is awesome.

Glee is currently my favorite show. It comes on during AWANA so I don't see it as it happens - but yay for hulu.com or even fox.com for showing the full episode within 24 hours of airing it! I am no longer watching The Office and I'm totally okay with it. It's just getting a little too perverted for my taste...

Let's see...oh I'm a writer now, not a student. Someone the other day asked if I was in school, and as I told them about my thesis, and my 1 class - they said that I am not a student, I'm a writer. I love it. That's my new title from here until May 2010. At that point, you can call me Master. :)

My UK friend (who's actually an American missionary) is in this contest to win a trip to the Paris Disney World...there's this site where you click it and that counts as blowing balloons for her (it's in honor of Pixar's "UP")...well you can only click once a day but somehow she's managed to get in 3rd! 2nd is coming right up - it's soo possible it's crazy. I think the person in first has computer programs or something. But 2nd gets a prize too if that's not the case! :) Click here to help out Julie! It takes 2 seconds to do - AND, since we aren't eligible in the U.S., we might as well help someone out!

And last but not least...I had to get glasses Tuesday. Well I had the appointment and ordered them last Thursday, but they came in Tuesday and it's official. I think I'm slowly moving out of denial. Or maybe I'm just pretending to be someone else right now and one day it will hit me - my vision IS better with these things on! They're mine!

Well that's about it.

His faithfulness stretches to the sky

2009-10-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life."

--1 Timothy 1:15-16--

He is the only true PEACE. He is our answer to every question. People and things are not the solution, no matter their status or how much we want them to be. I hope we never lose sight of who is really in control, and who is really worth all our praises.

I'm a Pepper

2009-09-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I probably celebrated my birthday more the entire day than I have the past few years combined - but looking back, minus a few ungrateful bursts of selfishness (when I didn't want to celebrate any longer but my friends did)...it was awesome! One of the things I did yesterday was go to the Dr Pepper museum in Waco. My mom drove up to College Station and took me there as a surprise...even when we got there I thought we were going to this world cultural arts festival. Anyway in honor of my visit, I'll give you my favorite DP advert:

Also - I got this cool Dr Pepper bar stool - I'm not even kidding. Come over and see this thing in action. I think my favorite part of the museum was the soda shop, where they made the DP for you on the spot(no fountains there!)...it was sooo good. And my favorite part of the entire day, was the numerous times I heard "you're worth it" when I thought - there's no way I deserve this. I'm blessed with some good friends (both with me celebrating and not), and it was a great reminder as I inch closer to a quarter of a century...

Idiosyncrasies

2009-09-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

This post has nothing to do with that word, or maybe it does and I just don't know what that word means. Here, let me define it for us...

Idiosyncrasies (noun): a characteristic, habit, mannerism, or their like, that is peculiar to an individual.

Things that intrigue me right now:

-University of Houston beat OSU in football, at OSU...these are the times I wish I had cable.

-Kanye acts a fool during Taylor Swift's speech, Beyonce saves the day (wearing that halo!)...a time I'm glad I don't have it so I won't watch trash.

-Obama is coming to A&M for a forum held by Bush Sr. I'm interested to see this town's reactions. It might be really interesting to go! I just don't know how to get tickets if I'd want to.

(CLARIFICATION: I would love to go, I just don't know if I want to put up with the scene I know will be caused by students...I'm nervous that they will do another picketing type thing that they did during the election which gave A&M negative publicity!)

Also, I am now going to be a bus driver for CSISD. I'll be working on the written part of the CDL test this week, and hopefully taking it towards the end of the week so I can start getting paid to do training next week.

What's in the middle of this week and next week? THE WEEKEND! Yes, that's true. BUT ALSO.......drum roll..........my birthday! This year I have talked more about my birthday than any other time since I was little probably. But the weird thing is, that I don't feel like it's really that time of year. My mind is spaced out right now.

I'm working on finishing my thesis proposal this week: the effect of an experiential learning course on students' transfer of knowledge. I'm about 90% sure that's the topic (or at least in some form) that's going to work for this...! Once I finish that I will have 1 chapter done of the 5 chapter format. Holla!

My one class is going alright. Not too much to report there.

I'm almost done with the 6th Harry Potter. I have enjoyed this series, and am glad I read it for myself rather than forming strong opinions of it with no actual knowledge of it whatsoever.

And church is, as always, great. I'm trying to not get wrapped up in serving and doing right now. We just had a message about how Jesus is THE ONE who sustains us, He is enough...in the midst of that I learned that I am self-righteous, I try to convict other people of their wrongdoings when that should be the Holy Spirit doing His thing, and I sometimes feel like I'm a Pharisee with all the stuff I do/want to do at church...it just reminds me of the need to humble myself each day, and to get my heart right because Danielle by herself...doesn't work.

Well I'm off to do what I do. Check ya later.

Anger Management...

2009-08-31T13:13:00.000-07:00

My roommate Heather was watching Anger Management last night, and when I walked in and saw Adam Sandler struggling through one of Jack Nicholson's crazy tactics to rid him of his problems, I just cracked up -- because that is my life. Or something like it. When Adam is mad about what Jack's telling him to do, and it's supposed to not make him mad -- that's real life! If you're mad, taking a worldly approach to not being mad just does one thing...it makes you fume.

I've done a lot of fuming the past few days/week...a lot of road rage yelling, and impatient frustrations, and angry reactions, and tons more things. I think 80% of my days lately have been full of some anger issue.

So I'm struggling with anger right now. Mostly because I'm focused on myself and everything and how it affects ME. Selfishness is the fast lane to anger, I'm sure.

I've just hit the breaking point where I am disgusted that I feel like the word angry adequately defines my life in the past week...and so these are things I'm going to be praying through...but today I realized, I only blog in the good times, or the funny times. Not that I will stay writing in the junk, but it's good for me to remind myself, and others, that I'm human. Keeps me in check. ;)

And now I'll go for a (patient) drive, listening to some jams and getting my tea card at McAlister's stamped!

Danielle & Julie & Julia

2009-08-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

Julie was inspired by Julia to cook through 522 or so recipes in 364 days and then blog about it.

Danielle was then inspired by Julie's inspiration from Julia to try her own blogging about a specific challenge. Well folks, the challenge is Sonic drinks. Apparently there's 164,000+ combinations, and I really don't want to do that. But what I DID think about doing was trying out every drink and flavor under the Happy Hour choices...

So there you have it. Next week you might see me telling you about what I thought of a small Coconut Slush, or Peach tea, or whatever...

But then again, you might not. Because that would be $3.50 a week on drinks that more than likely I will not like/finish.

Just wanted to give you a little "trailer" to my movie...see if it sparks interest...and then if it does I'll know it's worth it and go from there.

Your thoughts?

Life threw me a curve, but...HOMERUN!!

2009-08-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

Well this week has brought a lot of unexpected change to my life, that caught me off guard but still...there's nothing we can't handle if we cast our burdens on Christ.

I met with 2 of my 3 committee professors for my graduate program about my thesis Monday. I have 7 hours left to take before I graduate (one 3 hour class and one thesis which is 4 hours of credit). MY plan was to concentrate on my thesis this Fall, then successfully defend it in January/February (the Office of Graduate Studies hasn't solidified a date yet) and take my remaining class next Spring as I waited to graduate in May.

Nope...not the plan. It was pretty weird to leave that office on Monday after my professors has suggested I register for all 7 hours this semester. I wasn't really "ready" to take a class this Fall...but I'm not worried. It's just weird to be 2 weeks away from classes starting and realize - "Hey! I'm going to be in a class this semester on campus!" But it's all good. I found this Foundations of Leadership Theory class, which sounds like a pretty good elective to me. And it's only MW from 9-11, so whoop for early classes AND finally a grad class that is not one 3/4 hour block!!! :)

It kinda changed my plans for working too - but I'll make do with part-time versus full-time. I found a job with a company in town that would be ideal - and it will be a 25 hour part-time compared to all the other ones I've seen that are only 20. I'm starting to realize that the economy is not the only reason why I haven't heard back from any companies...

These next 2ish weeks I'll be nailing down a thesis topic. I'm going to be spending a lot of time looking through published dissertations to find a topic that matches my interests, and then from there my profs want me to turn in an abstract and an instrument. Please pray for me these next 2 weeks!

Pray that I'll:

-Find a part-time job that will work with my schedule, and help me get-by financially

-Make some good head-way on my thesis, and be mentally prepared to work hard at it this entire semester

-Continue to seek out God's purposes for me here in College Station besides school

A lot of neat things have been happening, within the last 48 hours even, of God's provision for my life and it's been pretty encouraging. I just pray that I will be faithful to pursuing Him, and that I will glorify Him through my efforts of school & job-stuff.

loads and loads of free time

2009-08-04T11:16:00.000-07:00

I have loads of time on my hands these days. I'm hanging out in College Station, looking for work like the other umpteen million people in this nation/world. I'm applying for different types of jobs but mostly I've been drawn to the nonprofit world in positions like Event Coordinator and Director of Communications. I have also applied to some teaching assistant jobs which sound pretty cool...but really all I want to do is finish this dumb Masters and get my teaching certificate. So it's just doing what I need to do now to get to that place.

Other than the job hunt, and some occasional work on my old company's website...I've had plenty of free time. So I'm reading. Today I'll probably finish my 2nd, 300+ page book in 2 weeks. Wow I never read, so this is a huge feat. I actually am enjoying it! I'm also playing some tennis a couple of times a week if I can...and having a good time! But really that's about it...that's why I've had no time to blog lately. Because instead of playing sports or video games or blogging, I've been reading and living like a little kid on summer vacation. Except when I was 10 I never remember applying for jobs!!!! :)

Have you guys seen this? One of my old roommates showed it to me, too funny!

enjoy your job/classes/kids/life this week!

don't text and drive

2009-07-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

If you read my blog more than likely you are someone I care about, and for that - it would mean a lot to me if you read this post. Stick with me.

I used to text and drive. You probably do, or have before. I don't have a story that one day made me wake up and decide that was dangerous...but it is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS! What's worse is when people think they are immune to it, and are such skilled texters that it won't affect them.

Even if you're a master texter - someone out there isn't, and people are dying because of distracted drivers' ignorance. All but 12 states are trying to enact this kind of legislation. The UK restricts drivers from using their phone altogether.

So please, be aware of the dangers of this, and stay far away from it. The road is already dangerous enough without adding the element of distraction.

This is a great article: Texting Law Proposals

And as Ellen puts it - "Chances are if you need both of your hands to do something, your brain should be in on it too."

stay safe,

late nights in barcelona

2009-06-26T17:04:00.000-07:00

Well there's a lot of pictures to go through, and sometimes when I actually am up for going through them (4,800+ can be a little much!) I find loads of fun memories like this one. I realize I never blogged about Barcelona, or our last 2 week adventure through Paris, Italy and Prague...so I think I am allowed to post random fun memories of mine on here!

I got a kick out of these things...

keep it real,

Minesweeper

2009-06-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

So last week I revisited an old hobby of mine...minesweeper. A few years ago when I figured out that you could right click on a square when you knew it wasn't a mine, my view on the game was forever changed. At times when I'm answering phones at an office or my brothers are playing Halo, I'll open up minesweeper. I've dominated beginner and intermediate in record times, but I've never managed to conquer hard. And since I've been bored a lot lately, I have been trying to beat it! Well except now where I'm blogging, and watching Zac Efron sing "Bet on It" in HD...be jealous. ANYWAY, look at how CLOSE I got the other day! Heartbreaking!!!!

I've also started flossing after my last dentist appointment. Betty (my dental hygienist) was picking on me for my teeth phobia and saying I should "heed her warning" about flossing...so I told her I guess since she did all the hard work I could start flossing now, and she thought it was a great time to start a good habit - especially since I had nothing to do! So I put my music on, and somehow, I do it (even if it's only been twice). If you care about your smile, you should do it too. Oh and play minesweeper!!

Houston Happenings

2009-06-15T15:09:00.000-07:00

Nothing. Haha...Today I made a schedule for this week, so that I can get done the things I want to get done, and actually be productive and make progress towards goals. Even with scheduling plenty of time to do each activity (paper and discussion questions for class, catching up on my book, sorting through pictures, and processing the UK), as well as scheduling time with family and God, and even working out for crying out loud (THAT'S how bored I am haha)...even with all that I have loads of free time - more than I could ever dream of! I hope this is a productive week - AND that it goes by super fast.

Since I've been home I've also started working out my life plan - which, if my fortune cookie is correct (which I got immediately after revealing the plan to my sister), "Good luck is a result of good planning." I hope it goes swimmingly.

Today I volunteered at my mom's office again, doing reception. Last Friday and today I did the receptionist duties for an hour while she was on her lunch break. Friday was awesome. Today was crazy - I spent most of it in hiding. Well you can't really hide if you're on the phones so I did my best to lay low then leave immediately. Why you ask? Because a lady there has a daughter who's the Dean of Academics at a private high school near Katy and they want me to be their math teacher.

What? Yes. But I'm not even entertaining the idea - I have to finish my masters then get my certification before I begin that stuff. But it made for some humorous run-ins today, and some good stories.

Speaking of good stories: the Dwight-Jim relationship on the Office NEVER gets old to me. Never. Last night I was cracking up thinking about the time Jim impersonated Dwight. And then smiling thinking about little baby Pam and Jim. Awwww....I caught up on season 5 of the Office in 1 day while I've been back - 1 day. So there's nothing really to talk about here. The NBA finals are over (holla Kobe!) and the CWS is in full swing (when you live with my dad who's a LSU alum, and then 2 17 year old boys - you watch a lot of baseball). Frankly I find baseball boring, but to each his own.

And speaking of frankly - I've been feeling a little more honest and blunt lately. Like, thinking I should tone it down some or something because I'm just straight up out there with how I feel and whether or not I'm wanting to do something. Which is good on some levels, but not good if you're at all interested in tact. Speaking of tact.....

Just kidding. I could ramble forever on nothing at all, but who's entertained by that?! No one.

Until next time...
DB

texas vs. england

2009-06-11T08:51:00.001-07:00

I don't really have anything to blog about but I don't have anything else to do...sooo, why not?! I've been home for a week now and am ready to get back to the UK! I mean I guess I really haven't done anything yet since I've been back in Texas, but just once I stepped foot on US soil in the Chicago airport, and heard the obnoxious Americans who felt that they should have everything their way, when they want it - I knew it was time to go! :) Seriously though, what is it about our culture that refuses to adapt? It's annoying. Anyway I'm just hanging out in Houston, waiting for July 4th so I can go to the lake and have some fun! While I'm here though for the month of June I'll be doing a whole lot of nothing! Maybe my homework, that would be good. And of course hanging out with the fam and my scarce Houston friends...but other than that, if I have to be here in Texas then I'm ready for some structure! I started working on a video from the trip - but with 4,800 pictures you tend to get a little overwhelmed. I don't know if I'll ever start/finish it! Or my book -- that's looming over my head right now too.

Anyway I don't have too many exciting tales to tell you about since I've been in Texas. Other than my sister and I tag-teamed a spider yesterday. And Janelle and I took a road-trip up to San Antonio all jet-lagged to go to Jessica's wedding - the wedding was beautiful and our experiences were loopy! Haha. So for now I'm just catching up on The Office, thinking about all the things I have to do that I've wanted to do, procrastinating processing, and thinking about how lame grad school is and how CLOSE I am to being done!

Well if you're in Houston, look me up. And if you have a blog - write on it! I have plenty of time to check it out lol...

i'll be back

2009-05-31T04:11:00.000-07:00

For some reason that should be an Arnold Schwarzenager (sp?!) voice but since I recently watched "The Job" episode of The Office, I can only hear that in Michael's voice impersonating Arnold! Haha...

So this Thursday, June 4th, at 6pm, I land in Houston. I'm excited to see friends & family for sure, but I am SO bummed to leave England/Europe! I LOVE it here. I'm already thinking of ways I can come back, and jobs I can have overseas...

Anyway just wanted you to know, since you were following so faithfully at the beginning when I was writing loads, and now have still kept up with me even though I've been so bad at keeping up because I'm loving the experiences more than writing them down...

I'll be back in 5 days or so. This week. Coming home. I'll show you pictures later if you really want! I have thousands!!!!!!!

See you soon! For real.

db

barcelona!

2009-05-07T11:30:00.001-07:00

i just got back from spain. loved it!

here's me with joseph and janelle on the beach (the Mediterranean!!)

google Antoni Gaudi -- he's amazing!

and just in case...

2009-04-26T16:54:00.000-07:00

This is really just for insurance purposes...Janelle and I have been in this ongoing game of rummy since 3/4/09. Besides the first game where we can't seem to find the number of hands (we think it was 9-10)...

this is the rundown:

# of hands played - 230

days - 18 in the almost 2 months total

winner - so far Danielle is winning with a score of 19,215...Janelle is in close second with 18,990.

For 4 days recently she took the lead but I was able to regain it. Just wanted to make sure I posted first because she said next time she takes the lead she's posting about it...and since I've been up 77.778% of the time, I thought I should have the honor!!!

(and yes, sometimes we have too much time on our hands. especially on trains)

Ok go read the post directly below this now! That's where the substance is!!!!!

4 months down, 1 to go...

2009-04-26T07:07:00.001-07:00

So I've slacked at blogging this month and a half, but I've been putting my typing to productive, educational uses...4 papers are done. 1 more and then FINISHED! Hallelujah!

The trip, well more like experience, is almost over. Bittersweet. People keep telling me I'm really going to miss being here, but I don't think I'll ACTUALLY miss Sheffield, or any one place in particular over here. I think I'll more miss the "ideas" of stuff...

Like how easy it is to pick up and go somewhere - to another country. A cool one. Ones you see in the movies. In 4 days I'm going to Spain...!!! Crazy. If I was in the US I would be planning all this stuff, packing, freaking out, gearing up for jet lag...but nope not here. I'm working on school and living life, and Thursday morning I'll get up early and go to Spain for a 4 day weekend.

Now that's what I'm talking about!

As you've been able to tell with the blog - I've definitely capitalized on the travel aspect of this experience. Thankfully I saved tons of money before I came over here, and thankfully my parents still love me enough to keep supporting me. Most people in the BUNAC program who came over have had tons of bills and are leaving early because they can't do anything and they have no more money (and still no job).

I've been blessed with an incredible living situation and life situation that I've been able to explore.

Other things I will miss are definitely transportation (that does NOT mean I will not enjoy having my car back!!!). I will miss knowing EXACTLY how many minutes it will take me to get somewhere. Minimizing traffic and maximizing convenience...until it's late at night and I have to walk up the hill of death because the tram doesn't quite make it do my door step!! :)

And probably the thing I'll miss the most is my friends here in Sheffield. I've loved getting to live life with these people, and get to know people from all backgrounds. I now have a friend from Uzbekistan, from Venezuela, Italy, England, Scotland...and acquaintances from Latvia, South Africa (and loads more I can't even think of).

So this semester has definitely been incredibly challenging and amazing all at the same time. Some times I still have to remind myself that I up and moved to England. I got on a plane with two suitcases, knew where I was staying for a week, and knew the girl I came with...

And with the way everything panned out for me, it just proves to me yet again how real and loving and faithful God is to me...and how sovereign and in control He is and will always be...

All that to say, as I near the end, I'm ready to see everyone. It will be very different to be gone and then come back, but I'm excited about it! I'm excited to see my family and hug all of them! And to see my friends and hug all of them too. And to have my friends ask me if I want to go bowling or come over for a movie or grab coffee...not if I want to grab a drink!! I will be so glad to get back to the things that I love. But I will not for one second regret any part of this experience. I know that I am definitely better for it.

Well I'm headed off to church...from what I hear, today's gonna be amazing...

Happy Victory Day!!

2009-04-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

Someone at church called today, Easter, Victory Day...so I loved it and thought I'd incorporate it within a post for you guys. Nothing new has really been going on, but I wanted to give you some insight into my day as of this exact moment in time. Well it's about an hour and a half later than I made the video, but it's extremely recent and relevant!! :)

i love Sheffield

2009-04-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

I'm proud to be an American. Always have been, always will be. Sometimes this trip has conjured up more patriotism in me than I thought possible...I know some people over here who say that folks around here ask if you're Canadian first because they don't want to offend you and start out with asking if you're American. And they sometimes want to answer yes, or they're reluctant to say they're from the U.S.

Nope not me. Now I HAVE thought it's cool when people have said Australia, or that one time when someone thought I was from Ireland...BUT the point is - I love America. Always have, always will. Coming over here hasn't made me appreciate it more...sometimes I've missed different aspects of it, but never would I have classified myself with homesickness as I've heard many have been hit with in the first few weeks/months. Coming over here HAS, however, made me more defensive of it. And more proud to be a Texan. In a proud/arrogant type way sometimes I guess. Lol.

The other day in Chawton Village, we were at Jane Austen's home and the cashier asked where we were from. 9 out of 10 times I say "Texas"...not the States, US, America...ANYWAY, I say Texas and the guy goes - "Oh yeah? I had a lady come in here from the Republic of Texas not too long ago!" (the old man was precious and being friendly the whole time)

As he said this, I threw my fist in the air in some sort of triumphant victory-ish pose, and said "YES!" What? I felt like a dork, but then again...that had a nice ring to it haha. Texas, MY Texas.

Anyway this post has nothing to do with America OR Texas, other than I am from there, love them dearly, and had to preface this statement: On this trip with Janelle's mom, when we were showing her around Sheffield, it became MY city.

I was so proud of it. On the trip we had many adventures that left me with new friends, and initially when they asked where I was from I would tell them I am living in Sheffield. Most of the time people go - "why Sheffield?" or something like that. Oh no you didn't! (that's what I should start saying, with a little Z-snap and a head bob).

So I just thought I'd let you know: I'm LOVING living here, I've really enjoyed traveling and how easy it is over here to see all this cool stuff. I've enjoyed my friends and my new experiences, both good and different. I've enjoyed everything about it (even if there is no Mexican food, which I am sure I will have around 5pm on June 4th, 2009, at Escalante's probably since it's within a mile from my house). I will also be having it on the way to Jessica's wedding that weekend, and a couple of other times. Not to mention Sonic Route 44 Dr. Pepper.

But I feel like I tell you a LOT about what I'm doing, and some commentary in there...and not AS much about how I feel. I love it. I'm learning a lot. I've even been given some clarity on what I might be doing with my life when I get back, and I've really been stretched. It's one of the coolest things I've ever done, and I will recommend studying/working/living abroad to all my siblings, and anyone I meet. I'm blessed to have this opportunity, and even though it's about 3 months I've been here...I hope the next however many days will go by as SLOW as possible. I miss you guys! Talk to you soon!!!

getting old...

2009-03-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

You're old in College Station when you're a 5th year, or you start your masters. There comes a time when you just feel it. 23 is also one of those times. You're old when your 4 best friends from high school are reaching 2 year anniversaries in their marriages. You're old when your friends have babies, when most of your friends are married, and when you make comments about the current teenagers and how it just wasn't like that when you were young...

You're also old when your siblings are 17 and 18. What?!!! (I guess you feel even older when your KIDS are 17 and 18! ;))

Conner and Chad are now 17. They grew up sooo fast!! I can't believe it. And then when I go home and they're towering over me and they have their own social lives, I believe it.

Anyway happy birthday Conner and Chad!!! Love you C&C!!!

An Irish Life for Me

2009-03-07T05:04:00.000-08:00

Well we just got back from Ireland about a week ago. Specifically Dublin for 3 days, and then one day we went out to the East Coast and saw 2 towns: Malahide and Howth.

It started off with a really really early flight to Dublin. We flew RyanAir, which is like the stingiest budget airline ever. We had a few run-ins at the airport, one of them being our shampoo and body wash...so we found a pharmacy and bought these little 100ml bottles, then tried to salvage as much of our stuff as possible. As long as you don't mention Biolage Mousse to Janelle, we're fine with what we were able to salvage. :)

The first day we spent roaming the afternoon around things like Trinity College. Here is where the Book of Kells is housed. It's the Gospels in Latin, with pictures, written by Monks around 800 a.d. It's SOO weird to see things SO old. But incredibly awesome. We couldn't take pictures of it, obviously...

The next day we went through St. Stephen's Green, which was a nice park. We saw these girls eating apples on a bench, and it reminded us of the day before, so I thought I'd take a picture as nonchalantly as I could. The girl on the right apparently knew what I was doing, because when I zoom in she's looking right at me. Haha.

This is the long room in the Old Library of Trinity College. It's right next to the Book of Kells, and you also aren't supposed to take pictures here. But I snuck a few. So did this other guy, but as he was walking out he got greedy and tried to take one more. The security guy caught him and made him delete them all. These books are hundreds of years old, and there is a job for people to just dust each page. It was beautiful though.

Here's the Bank of Ireland, which we saw 12 hours before it was robbed. The day we saw it, some robbers stalked one of the employees after work, and then the following day made him steal 7.5 million euros while they kept his family hostage. It was crazy!

The Dublin castle was huge and didn't really seem like a castle at all. We didn't pay to go in, so we just walked all around it and took pictures at really cool places. We sat on this wall to get the "moat" type thing down there...

Dublin's number one tourist attraction is the Guinness storehouse. Apparently Guinness here tastes a lot different, and better, than in the States or even other parts of Britain because it's not stored the same. We thought we'd give it a go.

We tried really hard to get in to the tour, and enjoy it. So I took pictures of many things inside. This is the 9,000 year lease that the first Guinness guy signed for the factory. 9,000 years - that's confident.

At the end of your tour you get a complimentary pint of Guinness. Well along the way they also have small samples of it in the tasting lab. People were chugging these things. Janelle and I split one, and only took one sip each it was so sick. Sorry if you're a Guinness fan and I just killed you with that comment! :) Here we are with our free coke instead, definitely outcasts...

This is the Custom House. I honestly have no idea what it's for, but it was beautiful so I took a picture of it over the River Liffy.

The 2nd to last day we went to Malahide and Howth, two coastal cities that were easy to get to on Dublin transportation. It was a cloudy day but still beautiful. This is Howth where we saw a lighthouse. We were at the end of the pier looking back on the town for this pic.

Then we went to Malahide to see the castle, which was cool. It was in the Talbot family for 800 years and the last of the line died two weeks before we got there. The castle hasn't been lived in since 1975. I thought it was incredible that they had lived there so recently. These are tiny doors throughout random parts of the castle, and it's said that they are the castle's ghosts doors. I think they even had a name for the ghost. They were really in to that stuff.

This is in front of the awesome castle!

We went through Merrian's Square where there's a bunch of Georgian architecture our last day in Dublin. This is the Oscar Wilde statue. We put the automatic timer on for this, and then the other statue across from us took our picture. It's normal, until you realize that while we were taking this picture with the self-timer, a capable Irish man was just watching us.

I only posted one of the 20+ doors Janelle took pictures of around this square. They are all different colors and really cool. We even bought a deck of cards in honor of them.

It took us forever and a day to find this little vintage shop Janelle wanted to go to (our first time ever to not really know where we were going! aren't you SO proud of us!?!?!) Apparently what we got off the website wasn't right, but never fear - we saw this cool building thing AND more doors. Oh joy.

Here's Janelle in front of the Harlequin. It's a famous vintage shop she saw a page for in a magazine back home in like October. She's been saving it ever since.

Random man painting huge thing on the street...(well a sheet taped to the street). It was a really inconvenient spot but whatever...

One last picture up the River Liffy on this gorgeous day. It was England-Ireland rugby day so it was CROWDED, but only really the last day we were there.

Our last pic from Dublin, behind the statue on the start of O'Connell Street...

Just another comical adventure to add to my collection...

my love for York

2009-02-25T15:20:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a little day trip to York. We had some pretty funny/great experiences, but none would top my fascination with the "fortress" walls that you could walk on from one part of the city to the other. I think there were 4 in all, and we walked 3 of them. It was awesome.

We got there and we had lunch in this cool plaza in the center of town, which had a great view over the fountain of the York Minster in the background...

Then we headed over to the Minster for a tour. We stayed for 30 minutes of the 1.5 hour tour (we had a lot to cram in!)...but this was really cool. These statues were kind of small, over the door at the back of the cathedral. They're headless, and they're supposed to be people signaling to others with fans.

This says "Christ."

And this is on the other side of the door. It says "Is Here." I thought these were the most interesting things I saw in the Minster. The most interesting thing I learned: one of the huge panes of stained glass is cleaned every 100 years. Dust...gross.

Afterwards we went outside to take gobs of pictures!

We then headed on to the Quilt Museum. No you didn't read that wrong, it was I who wanted to go. I mean we had a York Pass where we paid this set fee, I thought we should see EVERYTHING we could cram in there, this included. You couldn't take pictures inside, but we sneaked a few.

Here's me with "Walter" the sheep. This was on the demonstration table showing how the fabrics and material make up the quilt.

After the hilarious experience at the Quilt Museum, we thought we'd go see something more worth our time. So we headed over to the Roman Bath Museum. Even though we're going to Bath here in a few weeks when Janelle's mom comes to visit, we thought this still must be interesting. There's a lot of Roman history around England - I am not sure why but before I leave I WILL know more about this history!!!

On the way to the museum we went through the markets, where all this food was everywhere. This is a big table with loads of candy and fudge. Every kid's, or Janelle's, dream... ;)

I couldn't bring myself to get anything (Mimi Bourne's fudge is the best - why bother).

Once we got to the Roman Bath Museum, we were a little skeptical. It was under a pub, and didn't seem very "museum" like to me. But we went in, and sure enough, it wasn't. Here's the ONLY thing in that whole room that was worth anything. It's Roman Bath ruins. The entire museum was formed around this one thing. Apparently in the early 1900s there was a fire in the pub, so the owner wanted to build a cellar underneath. Well when he started digging he found the bath, and now there's a museum featuring it...and a lot of costumes. It was a joke. Janelle and I felt like the only normal people in there - everyone was taking it seriously, and we were laughing and taking loads of pictures of weird things!!

After the museum we headed to grab some dinner and then go to see a play: 42nd street. Neither one of us had seen it, and it was only 5 pounds for nose-bleed seats, so we thought we'd do it! On the way, we had our first wall-walk experience.

At each place you could enter, was one of these huge tower type things...

I was IN LOVE with these walls. These videos capture my first experience on the walls, and the pure excitement that I felt when going on them. Janelle has been trying to catch me in the act of goofy things I do - and she finally succeeded. But I LOVED the walls. My heart smiles still thinking about them (and I don't know why!!)

I was trying to "shoot" the enemy as if I was back in the time period when these things were in use. But I kept getting embarrassed people would see me if they passed me...so I had to sneak in some acting on these walls.

Also on the way we passed a famous York tea called Betty's. We thought it would be funny to get a picture of this in honor of my mom's birthday (notice the WE, not just me!). We especially liked the "Established in 1919 part." Happy birthday mom (even though it's not your 90th birthday)!

Before the show we stopped in a bookstore, which we frequently do, and I had to capture Janelle in her element. All I did was walk in to see if they had a certain book - and it never fails, I will find her in the children's section!

Then we got to the theater and if we sat back in our seats we couldn't even see the stage. We were above where they did the lights, and we were leaning over the whole time.

At intermission I looked over at Janelle to ask her what the heck was going on (because even though I was seeing everything, the plot was so weird I couldn't figure it out)...before I could, she asked me if it was over. Honestly, I thought the same thing. But it wasn't. The lady next to us asked us how the actors accents were compared to the real deal (New York & Texas). Unfortunately I had to tell her they were not very good - haha. It was too funny!

The next day we set out to find Clifford's Tower. On the way we walked on some more awesome walls.

Clifford's Tower was the coolest thing ever! I can't describe it really...

And then on the inside we climbed up to the top and took pictures inside and of the city.

And when we were on top we decided we should take turns walking to the 2nd level and take pictures of each other...

Afterwards we went on our boat tour of the city. Lucky for us, it fit right in with the majority of our other sites. We got on the boat, went MAYBE 1/4 of a mile seeing the city, then were cruising with brush on either side of us for another 1/4 of a mile before we turned around. We then went BACK through where we had already been, went 1/4 of a mile in the other direction seeing that side of the city, 1/4 of a mile in shrub, and turned around. The most hilarious thing I have ever experienced...and the information given was not anything worth the typical 7 pounds people were paying to do this thing. Thankfully, we had our York Pass. Here's the best view we had all trip...

Then I decided, we should just take pictures of ourselves...

Last stop was the York Castle Museum. Inside was a bunch of random things, such as an exhibit on different eras and what a typical room would look like, a cleaning exhibit showing us all the different vacuums since it's conception, a death exhibit showing us coffins since the beginning of time, and so forth. This is one of the rooms we walked through that was supposed to be like the olden days. It was my favorite part of the whole thing so I took a picture. Then the lights went out and thunder was "playing" over the speakers; it was humorous since there's a lot of rain in England, but I've never heard a thunderstorm!!

And finally we went to this little tea place to get coffee and cake before we headed out!!

You have officially been informed, in the most detailed manner, of our trip to York. Hope you enjoyed it!! We did!

New Roommates!!!

2009-02-21T03:39:00.000-08:00

This week we got new roommates! On Wednesday, the newest members of the Antioch Sheffield team moved to Sheffield: The Books. John, Ira and their 1 year old Nadia are living here with us until they find a home. They will be responsible for outreach and evangelism at the church. It's really cool having them here (from the times we've interacted with them). They are such a sweet family, and their daughter is PRECIOUS.

With new roommates comes a new room! We moved out of our room so the Books could have the big room (I mean they ARE a family and all, they DO need more space...).

However, selfishly I miss our room. Take a look at our little safe-haven we are separated from at the moment:

Our little sitting area...

Random part of the room where we get ready, or organize crafts, or now where the pack'n play thing sits...

And our GLORIOUS window (that opens) with the incredible view, that I definitely miss the most...

I show you all of that, because even though we have to share it, we've done quite well and been able to use it as a retreat, or a chill place...and not feel like we're right next to each other at all times when we're in there. We've grown to love it.

Meet our new room:

View from the door...

View from the corner opposite the door...

It's definitely been a change of scenery, and a little close quarters at times, but it's been cool to interact with the Books. They bring a fresh spirit into the house, and it's definitely worth the sacrifice of comfort for them to be with us for this time. Regardless, I still pray they will find a home quickly so that they can start to settle (and selfishly I can settle back in to my chair and my electric blanket!!) haha.

I've been meaning to put a video up of the tour of the house I gave my camera about a month ago, but it's really hard to post the video online. When I get it up, I'll post it! We just got back from York last night, and are going to Ireland this Wednesday!! So I'll post about York sometime in the next 3 days or so.

And if you haven't read my Treasure Hunting post (the one right before this), you really should. If you're an over-achiever, or really wanting to see how cool God has been to us in that time, you should also check out Janelle's experience with it. Yes Chris, I DID just plug it again. ;)

have a great weekend!

Treasure Hunting

2009-02-17T05:07:00.001-08:00

Ok so this might turn in to a really long post, mostly because it just happened today and this is my first time getting this from my head to paper...or the blog...

BUT, you need to read the whole thing. It's really awesome!!!!!!!

Alright so there's this thing called Treasure Hunting, that happens every Monday with the church we go to here in Sheffield. We worship for a little bit, pray, and wait to hear from the Lord. While we wait we write down anything we think He is telling us that could be clues to people He wants us to find: names, locations, appearance, needs, etc. And then we write it all down (making our "treasure map") and we go find the people! Our treasure!

Today was our second time to do it, and we were really optimistic about it. Last time was a little rough, but good in the end when all the pieces were together. Today I really wanted to see my words from the Lord...

So Todd and I were together and we started putting our clues together. My treasure map had the Cathedral tram stop, Jeff, Lime green jacket/track jacket, baseball cap, full beard/mustache, and neck pain on it. These clues don't necessarily have to go together, but they were all pictures I was seeing in my mind from our time of waiting on the Lord. Todd's map had Starbucks, Phil, Thomas, Lime green jacket/hat with white letters, indigestion, and boxes.

Extremely encouraged that we had the same thing (and generic place), we set off looking for our clues. On the way to one of our places I asked Todd if he ever looked for the clues on the way there. He said not really, that he gets to the place and then looks...but that if he saw someone walking by that fit the description he would probably stop. Just as he finished saying that, we look over to the other side of the street to see this guy walking in a bright green jacket with a baseball cap walking the other direction. Now this is not typical of England people...bright colors just doesn't seem to be their thing. I got REALLY excited about this! And as if that wasn't enough, he was wearing lime green sneakers too.

Todd - "Should we go?"

Me - "YES! Let's go!"

We creepily walked behind him and the girl he was with, hoping to find a moment to talk to him. Finally we did, and Todd said - "Hey this might seem a little weird, but we're on a treasure hunt and we think that God has specifically brought you to our minds." We showed them the treasure map, and the girl was blown away by all the things that were on there describing him. Not only the jacket and the hat, but also the beard/mustache! They were very receptive to talking with us, and Derrick even offered to let us pray for him twice. Chada came from a Muslim background, and Todd really got to talk with her about a personal relationship with the Lord. We gave them a card for our church, and they seemed interested in coming! I have no doubt that our approaching them caused them to talk about it later, and that it would spur on spiritual conversations between them.

As we left to go to the Winter gardens we were talking about Derrick and Chada, and how cool it was that he had so many clues. From the conversation, we were certain that we were there for Chada and not Derrick. My first real conversation with people and seeing my clues was AMAZING.

THEN...

We went to the Winter Gardens and saw someone we knew. I kind of said hey to him as we were walking through heading out, but Todd stopped to talk. As we were talking I saw this girl walking by herself towards us, WEARING A GREEN TRACK JACKET!!! Whoop! I showed Todd but we were in conversation and she left. The whole time we were talking to this guy I was praying that if I was supposed to talk to her/pray for her, that she would come back. I really believed she would...we left the Winter Gardens (she didn't come back).

Walking towards the other side of town, I asked Todd if he checks things off his list or if he keeps looking for the same clues. This was a relevant question for me, since we had already seen so many clues in one person. He said that the book checks stuff off, but that he really hasn't solidified a method. (Todd works for the church and this is only the 5th time or so the staff has been doing it). As we walked towards the Cathedral tram stop/Starbucks area which is at the mouth of a busy pedestrian intersection, we saw this little boy running around, probably 4, without parents. I was distracted with him for a while, and Todd got stopped by a solicitor. I watched the kid run to the area where we were headed, then turn. We walked over there searching for him but he had gone.

When we turned around to go walk into the Starbucks - I SAW HER!!!! The girl in the green track jacket at the Winter Gardens, that I had prayed would come back! And she did!!! She was walking towards us and I was so pumped. When we were right in front of each other I stopped her to start talking to her, AND WE WERE RIGHT UNDER THE STARBUCKS SIGN. Right under it. I was soo excited I think I freaked her out. Or maybe it was because in my speech I mentioned that I had seen her in the Winter Gardens earlier and I prayed that I would see her again so I could talk to her. Regardless, this is how it went:

Me - "Hey! Um, this may seem pretty weird but I'm on a treasure hunt right now, and you're someone God has really highlighted to me. I saw you in the Winter Gardens and I was praying I would see you again so I could talk to you. Is there anything I can pray for you for?"

Amelia - "Um, wow, uh...no."

Me - "See on the Treasure Map how you're wearing the green track jacket, you're under the Starbucks sign..."

Amelia a little intrigued.

Todd interjects to ask Amelia what she's doing right now in school, etc. We talk to her a little more about things, and then I gave her a church card and told her my name if she wanted to stop by or if she ever wanted prayer for anything.

And then we parted ways.

Amelia might not have gotten saved then and there, but the day was AWESOME. It was hard for even me to not believe God and what He was doing and how He was clearly speaking, when these conversations and these words that He had given were coming to fruition. I had to tell you the whole thing so that you could see how every part of the day was intricately woven within the next; there was a sequence that led us to everything. I mean as it's happening you get all geeked up about it...but in the end you realize: isn't that how God does things? He so intricately created the world, every detail and every fiber. He created us, so unique and complex. All I know is, that God showed me yesterday just a little bit of his plan...and I'm hooked.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2009-02-14T09:12:00.000-08:00

This morning when we took Maddie to ballet (Daniel had swept Jeannie off to London for the night Friday), Janelle and I spent an hour reflecting on a few things. One of the things that came up was relationships between married couples with other couples, and couples with single people. This topic of conversation was not because it was Valentine's Day...but it makes for a great intro into my little Valentine's post. Apparently I am not single on V-Day!!! ;)

As we had made our pact that we wouldn't be those weird friends who refused to be the 3rd wheel to the other's marriage if one of us was single, we headed out on our adventure home. I was in front holding Aiden's hand, and Janelle was behind with Maddie. I turned around to tell Janelle "just because I don't have a boyfriend doesn't mean I can't hang out with the Gaulkes!" I got to "just because I don't have a boyfriend" and little 3 year old Aiden interjected --

"YES YOU DO!"

"What Aiden? Who's my boyfriend?"

"ME!"

Kids say the cutest things. Hahaha. Well I'm off to observe British-Valentine's traditions...meaning, will a restaurant be AS crowded as the ridiculous U.S. ones on Hallmark's favorite day of the year?? OR, will the movies be crazy!?!? We might see Pink Panther 2.

We meaning me and Janelle, not me and Aiden. Lol.

I hope you have a great weekend; talk to you soon!

tons of snow

2009-02-11T07:39:00.000-08:00

For the past week, we've done nothing. Well we've done stuff, but nothing worth blogging about. The posts will be a little less often now I guess because people would die of pure boredom if I told you that I spent a Friday afternoon at the local museum, and then Saturday took the kids back and hung out at the Charlie and Lola exhibit. The life I lead is no different than yours, except well mine sounds a little more exotic being in - England.

Last week we went to a Volunteer Center to get hooked up with some volunteering opportunities. They didn't want us either. It was quite comical to hear this lady tell us how difficult it would be to get into the system, and that we're not here long enough for it to be worth it. Oh well. We manage to keep busy and play with people and have tea...you know, British things like that! ;) Ha.

Last week it was tons of snow, and like I said we did some playing while the town was hit by the Arctic Blast. Sledding was probably my most favorite activity, but least (or most frustrating) at the same time.

On the way to sledding with Julie, we stopped and had a little snowball fight with random strangers, and then took some pictures by the creek...

And then after we had lunch with the Fancher's we had Root Beer Floats!! Real Root Beer (A&W imported from the USA!). I have some funny stories about that for you some other time I guess. The Root Beer Mission is definitely something worth blogging about!!!

Here we are! Proud little Americans in England with our American treat!!

We headed off to the hill behind the train station to go sledding!! The first hill wasn't steep enough so we made snow angels instead!

Then we headed to the big kids hill.

Check out my first (or maybe second) sledding attempt. And feel free to laugh with me:

Julie and Janelle were really good at this. It was crazy. When they went down the hill they just slid quickly along...when I went I practically took the hill with me (as you can see in that video). That grass should not be shown after I go down it!! Haha.

Julie had been two times before on this hill, and actually made it down to the Tram tracks once she was going so fast!! Incredible!! Scaredey cat Danielle would have bailed long before the tracks!!!

Here's Julie and I after a successful run!

Janelle and I getting ready to "sled" in our makeshift sleds. Some people were going down in trash cans, on road signs, trash bags...you name it and they did it.

The thing I'm in is the little container we bought for 3 pounds at the store before we went. Janelle was really good at sledding (and getting that white jacket dirty) but here she took Julie's laundry basket and was slowed a bit...

After this run, Janelle got back in our little container and took off a few more times. And then she broke it. It wasn't entirely her fault, but it was funny to watch it break AS she was sledding down...

And here's all 3 of us at the end of the day! It was so fun!!

Well that's all of my snow adventures. Until next time...

it's been a while...snow problem.

2009-02-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

You should probably read that as "s'no" meaning - it's no problem...even though, ope! There HAS been snow. Yes you've read correctly - England is being affected by an Arctic Blast. And just so you know...England people are just as sissy as Texas people when it comes to snow. Everything shuts down the first day, gradually opens back up...you know the whole bit.

Well this snow in Sheffield apparently no one has ever seen it stick before - and it's been here all week so it's been a nice little week of sledding, snow ball fights, snow angels - the whole shabang.

I haven't been up to too much lately because I've been snowed in or taking it easy with the cough and cold. There are SO many adventures I want to update you on, but I can't. I have resolved not to blog about that stuff until I write in (and catch up on) my book [that would be like #1 on my 25 things note if I followed the Facebook trend...then I'd end it right there. No #2 - that's how I roll! Ha]. Right now I am on January 21st, and as you can see it's February 6th (happy belated birthdays Allison & Dad!)...

So I have some work ahead of me. But fear not...you will be updated very soon my friend. Plus, the stories I can update you on are over a week old because like I said, this week's been chill with the snow.

Until my next post...Janelle's blog is a good resource for up to date action! I'll see you February 15th at the LATEST!

a love fest...hopefully

2009-02-01T04:09:00.000-08:00

Hebrews 3:13 - "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness."

In our lifegroup here in Sheffield, the leader always starts by asking for encouraging stories. And he is very open about why we should share them - because life is hard.

Being in Sheffield has been an incredible experience. Full of blessings and trials, but all in all I am extremely thankful to be here. Sometimes I feel like it's going by fast...and I really don't want it to. I want every day to crawl slower than a slug.

So in the lamest of ways, I just wanted to take this opportunity to share with you an encouragement I've received from this trip so far, and then ask if you will share one with me. Because I know when the days get hard, it's always nice to be able to reflect on the good things the Lord has done for us, and for the people we love. So I guess I'll go first, then feel free to share some encouragements via comment/email. We would greatly appreciate them as we patiently wait to hear about jobs and things.

The Lord has guided our steps through this whole journey. We have had some spots (especially in London) where I definitely saw Him protecting us and leading us in the ways we should go. I also have been encouraged by little miracles such as this whole job thing we're waiting on right now...even though we don't have it, as I sit and think on it - it's really cool to see how if that did work out - it would be a total God thing. And if it didn't...that there's something so much better out there for us. I've been encouraged by random emails from friends like Jessica, Ryan B., Rachel, Debby, Jean, Kristin, Scott and Chris...and have been encouraged by random Gchats from Abby, Jen, Jamie, Bret...and encouraged by phone calls from family, Ashleigh...

As I type this stuff out there's SO much more I am encouraged by, and I'm reminded of the importance of reflecting on Christ's glory, and his works. I hope you will find encouragement in your own walk today. And if you do, please share! Sometimes being in Britain where people do things a little backwards...you just want some good ol' American encouragement! ;)

the redundant plague

2009-01-27T15:14:00.000-08:00

As you know we're looking for work. It comes in the form of walking up and down the mall, down the city centre, and everything in between. Walk by the store, look in the window - if they're hiring, drop the resume. If they're not and they look cool, drop it anyway. Another thing we've tried is all the temp agencies in town. Surely someone can help us. They advertise in their windows that they need help, temporary help part time, and then you go in there and apparently it's false advertising cause they proceed to tell you "the market's really quiet right now."

Fantastic.

Even more fantastic was an email I received from the lady we were told to contact for temporary work at a particular agency...

Morning,
Thanks for sending across but sadly after 8 years I have been made redundant and will be leaving 30th Jan therefore the best contact for you will be Daniel Newman, sorry if you have been misinformed.
Good luck with the job search
Wendy

Well in case you couldn't tell, redundant is like being laid off. Soo, I mean I feel horrible for Wendy but it's quite comical to receive an email like this from someone who was supposed to be helping YOU find work. Now it seems as if she's going to be just looking for herself!

Good news does come though in unexpected ways and at unexpected times. Just after you give up and resolve to volunteer, BAM another opportunity. At church Sunday a girl told us that the pub about 2 miles from our house is hiring. Apparently they had two girls leave for holiday on their gap year, and they only will be gone 3 months. 2 girls leave, for 3 months...I think you can see where I'm going with that. We go in tomorrow to fill out the applications and hopefully woo them with our charm! I'll keep you updated, but your prayers are greatly appreciated, as always...

tales of a nomad

2009-01-24T09:25:00.000-08:00

What you need to do is be thankful for the life you got, y'knowmsayin?

Stop lookin' at what you ain't got...

Start bein' thankful for what you do got...

Dear Conner and Chad - thank you for making me listen to that T.I. song against my will...now I listen to it more and more each day, and have even found some applicable advice in the beginning of it! Grammatical errors and poor sentence structure aside...T.I. has a point. Ha. Never thought I'd say that.

Well well...I'm pretty sure that I'm done with the job search. That being said, we're still turning in our last application Monday probably. But Friday when we had reached our limit (we went in to apply for a janitor job that was 8 hours/week) and were turned down...we had this little talk with Jeannie about the job search and just our thoughts/prayers behind it. What we got was a hard realization of our own individual expectations for this trip, and how maybe what we thought might not be what's supposed to happen. Jeannie reminded us of this amazing opportunity to be in England, and to just enjoy it while we're here if we can!

So...at the moment, I'm just going to be volunteering here in Sheffield and doing some day trips here and there, with a bigger trip each month.

We're thinking:

February - Ireland

March - London/France

April - Barcelona

May - the rest of the awesomeness!!!!! Eeeeeek!

I think Friday was just good for me to put aside this pride issue I had that I HAD to get a job to be here and not be lazy. Like traveling, volunteering, enjoying life, and doing my school stuff would mean that I was lazy and purposeless. I just so happened to talk to my dad that same day too, and he was all about going on adventures throughout the UK and taking day trips...

And so today - we were tourists. And it was awesome. Halfway through the day we realized how different everything seemed, and how much fun we were having! We woke up and researched some historical things to do in Sheffield. P.S. if you didn't already know - Sheffield is known for a major invention: cutlery. Otherwise known as silverware. Anyway it's got some great history and some cool things around it (the Peak district and Chatsworth house are just a few). We found the Manor House, which on the main Sheffield website is described as:

Star of BBC Restoration programme 2004, Manor Lodge was once one of the finest Tudor Houses in England. Between 1570 and 1584 Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned here on the orders of Queen Elizabeth the First. Today it stands proudly amidst the ruins of this great home.

Well, in true Danielle & Janelle fashion, we took the tram 30 minutes from our home base, walked for 20 up the hill in eager anticipation, and you can probably guess the rest. Here's our pictures...

Janelle in front of the road sign at the top of the hill...before we were ready to see the beautiful, historic house...

Walking down the hill, with the house behind me. Yes it's just those stone things right behind my head. SOME HOUSE! Lol.

I stuck my camera through the iron gate (and fence) that separated us from the ruins. Now I KNOW the website said there's a house in the midst of ruins, but it's nothing like the picture and the whole thing's just a bunch of ruins. It was humorous though and made for a good story! As do all our adventures I feel like.

Here's the gate. The sign says that it will open after renovations begin in 2009. Grrreat.

After we saw all this stuff, we went to the Norwegian Heritage Park and ate our packed lunch we thought we'd be eating at the garden's of this cool house. Either way...I love being a tourist.

1/2 way there...

2009-01-18T01:37:00.000-08:00

We found a place to live!! Well actually we didn't find it at all, it just sort of happened upon us. As you know from the last post, we had met the pastor and his family the 4th, then saw them again the 9th for dinner and some hang out, then babysat their kids the 10th. Well when they came home the 10th (Saturday) they asked us to pray about living with them until we found permanent housing. They said it'd be short term, and we assured them we'd find a place within the week. So Sunday we saw them at church and said we'd really like that, then we gave them our bags Monday and went looking for flats. We looked at a couple of them...there was this one that was called "Fancy your own private flat?" and it was this little shared type thing apparently with some guy named Roger. So we thought we'd give it a go since it was considerably cheaper than the other ones we'd been looking at, AND it included bills.

We got out there and it was bizarre. He was this single guy in his 40s and he really didn't talk to us very much because he had this guide dog he was training that was going crazy since we were there. When we asked where it was, assuming it was outside because that's what it sounded like, he said upstairs. It was on the 3rd floor of his house. What?? He also said every once in a while he lets his lodgers use his bathroom on the 2nd floor to take showers because it's very spacious. We got up to the 3rd floor, which was separated only by a curtain, and immediately wanted to go back down. We already knew when we got there that we weren't going to stay...I mean come on that's awkward...but we were being nice and finishing it out. Janelle couldn't even stay up there because apparently the 3rd floor, and his whole house really, reeked of smoke.

We told the McGinnis family (of the church who we were staying with) about this and we all had a good laugh. Tuesday came and we were off to sign papers. We had decided that our best option was this one on Ecclessal Rd and we were going to do it. We weren't entirely excited about it because it would be really expensive (but the cheapest we'd seen), however we proceeded to the Lettings Company. We were told we had to put down an application fee to keep the property, and the guy had said the landlord would prefer us staying there because we're students...sooo we went along and got there with our fee. Richard (our agent) was this 24 year old who was really sweet and scattered. He told us we could fill out the paper, and when I saw the "non refundable clause" if it didn't work out, I asked what would be reasons it wouldn't, etc. He said he was going to make sure it would, and that he would have us pay the fee the next day. So we left and set up to meet with him Wednesday morning at 10.

Tuesday night though when we were having dinner with the McGinnis family and they asked us how flat searching was going...we told them the story of the day, etc. They asked us if we felt comfortable about it, and we said yes...but Daniel didn't feel like we were. And we said we were a bit iffy but it would be really exciting. Inside we were just sick over how expensive it would be (after the exchange rate mainly) and then I was kind of thinking about some safety stuff. So after dinner we come upstairs to our little 3rd floor loft type thing and are typing away to emails and such. Jeannie comes upstairs about 9:30 and asks if we can come down and talk to them. My initial reaction was "we're in trouble...why?" and I guess it was seen in my face because she said "you're not in trouble or anything..." haha.

Then it happened. They offered us to stay with them for while we're here. We'll pay a set amount a week that included bills, internet (which we wouldn't have had), food, and rent. And all that would be a combined savings of over 2700 pounds (about 4000 bucks)!!!

Blessed. And that's where we're living. Still no job. Being unemployed is more tiring than having a job. Going everywhere, looking if they need people, handing out resumes to places that do need help and some where we just hope we could work. We're registered with a temporary agency...sent our resume to 5 agencies actually. All say the same thing - the market's quiet right now. Ok. Thankfully we're living here, settled, and if we don't get a job then we're just going to register for an aerobics class or something so we can meet people, find a place to volunteer on a regular basis, babysit for some of these unbelieving families the McGinnis family knows for free to show them Christ's love, do stuff with the church, and of course school and traveling!

Anyway it's shaping up to be a great semester...job or not...we'll more than likely be able to volunteer for just as many hours as we can work; and hopefully a job will pan out for us sometime! Sorry this was a long post...it's actually considerably short compared to all the other details I could post! ;)

loving it,

Homeless, Unemployed...and Hopeful!

2009-01-10T15:32:00.000-08:00

Before I type one more sentence about this trip -- today is my "kid" sister's birthday...the big 1-8. Whoa now. Thanks for making me feel really old Alex. Anyway...HAPPY BIRTHDAY SENORITA!!!!

Alright well here's the sitch on England (that's Kim Possible for ya...sitch is short for situation...haha).

Job - no.

Flat - no.

Community at church - yes.

Praise the Lord for community. Today I was learning about the value of unity and how it shows a lost and dying world that God sent Jesus. Not just that God loves us, but that He sent His Son. It was really eye opening this evening when I read that (you should read it too! John 17, specifically verse 23).

SOOO, community. Let me tell you about mine here in Sheffield! They're great. The church we're going to is the Antioch church plant in Sheffield. The church is based in Waco, and the pastor and his family are from Texas. The first night we went there we met them and the wife invited us over for dinner this week. Finally on Friday we went over to their house for some fellowship with them and their 2 kids. It was great. It was nice to get an American's perspective on Sheffield...especially someone who has lived here for 3 years. Coming over here I heard from numerous people how dangerous Sheffield is, how I should be careful, etc. Before hearing all these different things, I hadn't thought any different about safety in Sheffield than I had in Houston...I mean, I AM a cautious person as it is. Nonetheless, we had the opportunity to talk about safety while we were at dinner. And I was extremely encouraged. Sheffield apparently has 1/3 less of the crime that cities like Houston/Dallas do...and they don't have guns. There are a few areas to avoid, but only at night, and not any different than normal precautions one should take in the States. Sheffielders (I think that's what they're called), don't dislike Americans like everyone thinks. All these things coming from a missionary family, from America, who's lived here for over 3 years, with their 3 and 5 year old kids. And when we talked about serving in the church however possible, babysitting their kids for free, etc. they were so taken aback by that -- seemed like we were breathing fresh air into their sails. But that's what we're supposed to do isn't it? Come alongside our brothers and sisters and encourage, serve...challenge? I think so.

So that was AWESOME for me...I've enjoyed it so much better since then! Also with flats...one of the 2 we are leaning between is in one of the safest areas in town. Jeannie (the wife of the pastor) described the complex we are looking at as "Fort Knox." Great! And confirmed today when we went to go see it.

Also, since our hotel is up Monday at noon, and we won't be able to move in to a flat until Sunday/Monday of NEXT week...they offered us tonight to stay with them for a short period of time until it pans out. We are so thankful and relieved. We will start working on the paperwork to leasing a flat by Tuesday of this week...as we are seeing one final property Monday morning. So please pray for clarity in our decision!!

Tonight when we were coming home we saw another job listing shop, and one of the signs was a number for someone who helps people with temporary work. We're going to email him soon, as well as drop off resumes at the mall, etc. by mid-week next week! So things are falling into place, and it's great! We've been talking about our next adventure...as of now we've tossed around Scotland or Prague...since Scotland's 4 hours away and Ryanair.com is having deals to get to Prague from Birmingham for 2.5 pounds (including taxes) one way. I'll take a plane for 5 pounds right now!! Haha. So life's settling somewhat. We'll actually have internet for a steady week next week when we stay with the McGinnis' so that will be nice. Since it's 9 pounds for 24 hours of internet at our hotel, we've only gotten it twice.

As always...Janelle has another more detailed, entertaining story of one of our experiences the first week we were here... Janelle's blog.

Well enjoy the start of a new week. Hope your resolutions are going strong...mine was to floss every day of 2009 (that's for my dental hygienist!) but I haven't done it yet. I even thought about it ON New Years Day. Flossing's so lame anyway...I choose the lazy, but extremely painful alternative: Listerine.

Cheers!

Quick Recap of the Trip so far!!

2009-01-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! England's been an ADVENTURE! I'll capture it in pictures and descriptions to catch you up...and then a little video I made you so you can see my bright shining face!

So we got off to an interesting start...almost missed the plane. We were at the airport with plenty of time to spare, but time got away from us as we got one last Dr. Pepper and we boarded the 7:25 plane at 7:10!!!! Phew! So here's our victorious, "we've arrived in England successfully," picture...

And well, as you can see, we arrived with A LOT of stuff. We have felt the need to explain to everyone that we're moving here and that's why we have a ton of junk! It has been such a hassle lugging all this because we can't do it in one swift move.

The first night we stayed with a lady we met on couchsurfing.com. These are 2 of her girls (Whelga and Abagail). This was our room for the night...there was no heat, the room was gross (because of some prank the boys had done in it before we got there), and we had more stuff in our bags than these people had in their whole house so we felt bad, and spoiled, and had to leave...well for other reasons too, but we'll just say those for now! ;)

*For a more detailed account of the couchsurfing experience, click here for Janelle's description of it...the full story's quite entertaining.

So we left early the next morning and headed for the hotel that Reed booked us in our frantic call to him the night before. Except the website lied and it wasn't a hotel...it was a hostel. In a "hostile" area. Our cab driver even told us that he wouldn't let us stay there if we were his kids.

Meet the "Hour Glass Hotel:"

So then we decided to go to another hotel, and it just so happened to be right next to the London Tower Bridge. We loved it! We definitely paid for our mistakes, literally paid boo-coos of pounds, but we decided we'd pick losing money over losing safety any day!! Here we are in front of the bridge.

On our way back to the hotel and after our little tour of the city we gave ourselves, we sat down at a park with our new beverage of choice...Starbucks hot chocolate. I think I've had more Starbucks in the 10 days we've been here than I had all last semester!!

Here's a little video we made New Years Eve in Piccadilly Circus...

New Years Eve we decided to take a few bus rides...some good, some not so good. First we started on the Double Decker Bus and it was awesome!! Until we got on it the wrong way and it stopped in a creepy alley at the end of the route, and then the new bus driver we got was a creepster so we had to jump off the bus (well not literally...) and get a new one because I opened my big mouth and said what hotel we were staying at (and he already knew our stop...). I give Janelle all the safety lessons and then I blew it big!! :) Bus 15 will forever haunt us!

So in the time between getting off one bus and trying to get on the next one, all the streets in London were closing down. Literally. I mean, I didn't know ALL the streets needed to close down for a New Years party. THANKFULLY there was the Underground station!! So we were forced to learn it or we'd never get home. In the mean time we stood in Regent's street and took pictures under the pretty lights that lined it.

New Years Day we did some NEW things! Whoa crazy concept. We ate at our first pub...

And I ordered my first order of Fish and Chips...

As you can see, this order of F&C had MASHED peas, not just regular peas. Surprisingly they were very very good. I now find myself ordering fish and chips regularly, just because I'm nervous about some of the things on these menus. And I don't know what a lot of it is. However the amount of chips being consumed has grossed me out...going from eating fries twice a week to 5 or 6 times is disgusting. And my dad would kill me if he was here!! :) Ha. I'm making good choices Dad don't worry!

As we were walking around Piccadilly Circus before our play (Sound of Music), we stopped in a "mall"-ish area and compared prices of phone companies. While sitting there, I hear this loud gasp from Janelle that freaks me out. I thought she was afraid or forgot something or anything horrible...NOPE, it's Dr. Pepper. She spotted Dr. Pepper! It wasn't as good as U.S. DP, but still it quenched the soul!

The next couple of days we stayed with the Niebes family. It was so nice and almost just like home, except well, we're in England. One day we went to the grocery store and we were trying to find something to hold us over until dinner (since we try and save money by eating 2 meals ha) and we found these little pita bread things for 19p. 19p is like 30 cents. There were 6 in the package and we ate them all the way home!! Then we were greeted with FRITO PIE. Toni really spoiled us while we were there...here's us with the pita bread (remind you of anything Steph and Hill?):

We headed up to Sheffield Sunday to drop off half our luggage, because on the trains we would be making at least 2 changes each time. We also got our rail card, which was only 24 pounds and saves us 1/3 on all rail travel. We made up for the cost of the rail card in our first trip to Sheffield! Here I am, with the rail card, on the train to Sheffield from Surrey!

On the way to Sheffield the 2nd and final time, which was Tuesday, we passed this at the Kings Cross stop. I had to take a picture of it because it reminds me of Pam and her love for Queen stuff...so here's to Pam!

We got to Sheffield and picked up our bags at the hotel we were going to stay at, until we found out it was in a "dodgy" part of town. When we walked in the room, it was green gross carpet, green bed spreads, and one light from the ceiling that had a green shade. Looked like prison in the 70s or something. The picture makes the room look a lot lighter than it actually was...it was SOO dark. Um, glad we didn't stay there! :)

We got to the legit hotel in the city centre where we're staying until Monday morning. Hopefully we'll have a flat by then!! Your prayers are appreciated!!

I'm having a blast, loving the cold weather (at times I must admit it's a little too cold - sometimes bone chilling Jill, Allison WAS right), and enjoying all the new experiences. It's been challenging trying to do things different than we do in the States, but we've managed just fine!! Oh AND it hasn't rained since we've been here (even in London - whoop!)...and out of the 10 days it has only been cloudy MAYBE 3. Yeah buddy. Anyway, take care and let me know how you're doing, email me, etc. Shops close here around 6 (noon your time) so we sit here and blog with slow internet, watch Friends, etc. Yeah so comment, be safe, and I'll keep the stories and multimedia coming for ya (even though this post took entirely too long...I'll cut back on the 2 minute video commentaries at the end)!

Got here, God was already here, doing ok.

2009-01-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

That's what Ouida said I should write...so I did.

"Got here, God was already here, doing ok."

Actually GREAT. When I have more time I'll post gobs of stories for you! For now...I'm having a blast. Miss you already! :)

db

Leaving on the jet plane...

2008-12-28T09:53:00.000-08:00

Well here it is...in 7ish hours I'll be sitting in a plane, ready to take off and get to England. I don't really need a plane to get to England, I could just fly on the wings of the butterflies in my stomach. I said my goodbyes yesterday to my family and headed to Dallas to stay with Rach last night, since Janelle and I fly out of Dallas today. Um, those were hard goodbyes. I'm glad I had a nice little 4 hour drive to process all these goodbyes, and hopefully I will not be AS upset tonight when I get on the plane. Ashleigh has been such a rock through this whole thing, encouraging me almost every time I get on the phone with her as to WHY I'm doing what I'm doing. A lot of fear has resonated in me, not with finding a job or a place to live, but safety. Again I am reminded of how much I wish I would've learned that Joshua 1:9 song!! :) I know the Lord is faithful to His children, but it is still hard. I am still worrying and I pray that I will see the goodness of the Lord and trust in Him. Don't get me wrong - I also know this is going to be awesome! I just gotta get there. I hope I soak up every moment over there, and I pray that I won't get homesick too bad. I also pray for my family that they will be alright til I get back!

So I'm about to leave. Nervous as all get out, but I know it's time. And it's gonna be good. So here we go...off to see, the Queen? Ha. Please if you think about me at all while I'm over there, lift us up in prayer for our safety, and that we will use this as an opportunity to advance the Gospel. Love you guys...talk to you on the other side of the Atlantic!!

db

Emmanuel...God is with us

2008-12-24T17:38:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas, and let you know that Jesus Christ loves you. SO MUCH that He put skin on, lived a perfect and sinless life, died for you and me, and then rose again to claim victory over death...He loves us, and He is more than enough this holiday season! Enjoy your families and friends, and give thanks.

Love you guys.

Remember that time...?

2008-12-19T09:27:00.000-08:00

Remember the time where I was moving to England? Um...oh yeah that's now. WHAT?! I still can't believe I'm actually moving to England. I'm almost done packing too, so I'm kinda getting stir crazy as I sit here at the house ANTICIPATING December 28th at 7pm!! Or even December 27th when I fly up to Dallas and get to see Rach!

Point is...I'm moving. And I'm excited and ready. Funny thing is, I'm taking all this stuff in 2 bags. 5 months of living in 2 bags. I just did that in College Station, 5 months of living that is, and it fits in a 5x10 storage unit. Oh how much extra stuff we have that we don't need. I highly recommend moving (I've had to move all my stuff 9 times in the past 5.5 years)...when you move it forces you to see EVERYTHING you have, and decide if it's really necessary. I hope when I get older and have a home where I'm settled, that I don't have mounds of things I don't need. I hope I don't buy that stuff either!!

Anyway I'm just sitting here, half-packed, putting off a few more things to buy for the trip. I still need to go Christmas shopping too. I guess all that will have to wait until I see the Tale of Despereaux...hopefully that'll be soon!

Well have a great day, and enjoy the weekend!!

db

England awaits!

2008-12-12T16:09:00.000-08:00

Holy cow...15 days and I'm officially moving to England!?!?! WHATTT!??!?!?! So this post is all going to be dedicated to England, and how the Lord has moved in this process. It's really neat (I think), and I cannot possibly think of anything better to tell you than the Lord moving in mighty mighty ways.

So when I first decided to go to England, it wasn't a "whim", but it was definitely a "why not?" reaction when I read the email from Janelle saying I should think about it. After talking with everyone who I thought would be a road block (my boss, my committee chair for my grad school program, my parents...), there was nothing in my way. It was weird. Even though the Lord was moving things out of the way for me to go in this beginning process with "getting permission" from all those people to leave, especially when I thought it wouldn't be possible with my parents or something, I still wasn't shouting out His faithfulness to the masses. Mostly because I was insecure. I didn't have a cool story about how He's been tugging on my heart for 8 months to go, or anything like that. But when the opportunity presented itself to me, and I started moving with it, He was moving faster. It was like He had already talked to all those people for me, before the thought had even crossed my mind, and they were just waiting on me to say something...

That just confirms that whole philosophy of the Lord preparing the way for us. I remember in college there was a time where people would pray for me and upcoming conversations - and they'd say things like "Lord go before her. Comfort her in the fact that you're already there..." That's exactly how I felt with EVERY conversation I had with these people. It's like they were confused why I was asking, as if they had already told me yes before.

So after that came about, even though I personally thought that was a miracle, I didn't feel like talking about England because I thought people wouldn't understand. I have no idea why I'm going, what I'm doing there...but I know I'm supposed to go. If I wasn't, the Lord would've shut a door. Especially with my parents. There was already so much to praise the Lord about at this stage in the preparation for England. But it just got cooler from there. We got our blue cards at the beginning of September and started getting excited about going! There was some confusion as to whether or not we had to apply for Prior Entry Clearance. It looked like we needed to, and the date was October 31st, but no where in our paperwork did it say that we needed to do it. So for a month we had assumed we were good to go.

On October 5th around 5am I received a text from Janelle freaking out about PEC, and how we needed it. There were so many steps to get to the end process. The most important one was getting a Biometrics appointment. We hit the ground running October 6th, and finished our applications for PEC so that we could get a Biometrics appt. Praise the Lord that Thursday October 9th we had an appt at 2 in Houston, and that we were able to get off work and go down at the same time to save money with gas! We drove down there, had a 7 minute appointment which consisted of fingerprints and getting profile pictures. After that we mailed off all of our information that same day, and overnighted it to the Los Angeles consulate. These dates are important because we were pushing it with getting approved by Oct. 31st, and even getting stuff back by the time we leave December 28th. This process is supposed to take 6-8 weeks, maybe even longer they said. So we did all we could do, and mailed it out ASAP. October 14th we got an email from the consulate saying they had received our paperwork and would need 5 business days to process it. Within an hour of that email, we got another one that said that they would need an additional 10 business days to process it because of the high volume of visa applications.

By this time, it was my turn to freak out. I was so nervous. I truly thought that we were not going to get a visa, especially since we rushed through our applications and didn't necessarily turn in all the supporting documents that we found out later were recommended for work visas. I think it would be beneficial to have a checklist, so that they actually receive every piece of information they want to have from you, BEFORE you send it. Not on a link of an email they send you AFTER they receive your paperwork. That's some serious lame-sauce right there. Regardless, what can you do? Nothing. And the worst part is that you can't pay them to speed it up, you can't call to check on it. You just have to.....................................wait. Ugh. Patience - horrible. Can't do it. I heard once that if you struggle with patience, the Lord will bless you with a child who will test it. Awesome. I'm going to have terrible twos, threes, fours, everything until I finally grasp this patience bit. Or start to get better. Oh how I need grace.

In this waiting I learned one thing - it's awesome to reflect on stuff. Now there wasn't much time for reflection, but I didn't know how long I was going to be waiting so I just tried to put on thankfulness. Tried to see the good. And here's what I found: the Lord's faithful. I found that almost instantly. I just had to stop, and watch Him moving in this. When I thought I wouldn't get to go - He let me start the process. When I thought I'd have to eat the $1500 for my room next semester because I wouldn't find a subleaser - he provided 4 options all in one week. And now, when I "thought" I wouldn't get to go because I'd get denied a visa - he provided. And quickly. Almost instantly after I took my eyes off myself and my worry, he provided. He just wanted me to recognize what He's done. Cause at that point He had done a lot. And then He had to go show off :) and do a huge miracle. So back to to the timeline...this 15 business days stuff to process, and 6-8 (more like 10) weeks it'd take to give it back to us...that's so silly. We got an email October 21st saying we'd been approved, and received the actual visas and all our stuff back Thursday. Less than 48 hours after the email we got the stuff. The stuff that was supposed to take forever to come. The stuff that might not come. Shoot, the stuff that was supposed to be sent to us on Thursday and we might have gotten it this coming Monday.

I love when I'm wrong, and He shows me He's right. He shows me His ways are better than mine. The excitement that rang from my voice, my actions...I hope it honored Him. I hope He looked down upon me beaming with joy with a happy heart. I hope He had a huge smile on His face because He gave me one of the best gifts (besides grace, salvation, the Holy Spirit, etc.)...

I know when I see people get stoked about a gift I give them, it warms my heart and makes it all worth while. I hope that's how He felt about me. I'm so blessed. I just had to share. It's cool to KNOW that you're in the will of God, even if you don't know what's going to happen next. I'll keep you updated!

welp I'm gone...

2008-12-12T16:06:00.000-08:00

So since the blog is the primary way of communicating with earth, I mean, the United States...when I'm gone, I thought I'd make it a bit easier for all ages and people to remember. So thanks for sticking with the incredibly long, hard to remember name...now it's a lot easier and you gotta remember it and stay my friend. Ok thanks bye!

keepingupwithDB.blogspot.com

i got nothin

2008-11-21T19:24:00.000-08:00

seriously who reads this anymore anyway...

this is no longer a blog...it's a vlog...

2008-11-06T08:12:00.000-08:00

Sadly enough I cannot claim to have a blog, especially with the abunance of youtube videos I have been posting lately. I hope they bring you happiness. As I am thinking about my experience waking up this morning, a song came to mind (not Winnie the Pooh - that's RIGHT when I wake up. This is just what I was thinking about as I was reflecting about this morning).

First let me hopefully bring a smile to your face with some sillyness. Yesterday on Wikihow (my new bff website), it had the 5 ways of how to live in the moment. As a believer I know where I find my joy from, and I know I need to be thankful in every circumstance...but I thought I'd at least look at this site. The one that caught my eye was #3 - smile when you wake up. Today when I was just laying there, I smiled the biggest smile ever hoping that would change my outlook on today. But I mean I also didn't have to run today because when I woke up at 6:30 it was raining, and I got to spend some good time in the Word and be encouraged in that, and to top it all off I get to go to Texas Roadhouse for lunch today. Loaded mashed potatoes is enough to get me out of bed!! Regardless -- I thought it was so fun to try that this morning. I actually started laughing that I did it. Now it recommends that you smile the Duchenne smile, which is both with your eyes AND your mouth. So shine those filmy pearly whites tomorrow morning as you lie there with your morning breath!!

Here's the video I was thinking about (and subsequently singing ever since I started playing it...)

When I'm in England I'm going to probably post a lot of vlogs (video blogs you know, it's actually a frequently used term). I will just TELL you what is going on and since you'll miss my little face I bet you'll love them! :) Haha. Well thanks for dropping by. I appreciate my faithful readers (even if you don't comment lol).

db

kickin it old school

2008-11-03T07:20:00.000-08:00

CONFESSION: sometimes, when I just wake up and am laying there until the ultimate last second...I try to give myself a pep talk. Usually it's "come on you gotta get up!" Now that's not really crazy I know, however that's not all. Once I say "gotta get up", a theme song starts playing in my head...

Yup I'm a nerd. Hearing Pooh Bear in my brain before the day starts. Wow.

Every year I have this thing - I want to get up and consistently do quiet times, and I want to consistently get up and work out. I justify not working out by saying that if I get up early for anything, it MUST be a quiet time first and foremost. This never happens and I usually sleep sleep sleep until the very last second, then rush off to work (late usually) and do a qt later in the day and work out never. It's always one or the other. Well Saturday I decided to try something different - do both! So today's day 3 of get up and run, then shower, then spend some quality time with God. Whoa I feel great. I'm not tired in my quiet time because I've already ran and jogged the brain if you will. And then I'm getting moving in the morning too! Right now I feel like I've accomplished so much and it's only 9:39!! PLUS I got to work on time, no not on time...EARLY!

I've been reading a lot about training, and how we have to train ourselves to be holy. And how a lot of that takes retraining. I definitely want to be holy because He is holy, I just gotta train myself to think and act that way. And not be so whaa whaa you know? I cheapen grace and victory so much. I don't know why I act the way I do sometimes, or act defeated or isolate myself, when the Lord has already won and I have that power!! He is capable of doing it all and more through me, and sometimes I'm blind to it. Anyway I just want to encourage you to live victoriously this week. To take one day at a time and really focus on shedding the junk and living in victory. Because we can do it. And it's the only way for this authentic faith to rise up and start a revival -- Lord knows we need one!

Be encouraged. It's a beautiful day.

db

medium sized binder clips

2008-10-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

I guess it's true that your best thoughts/ideas really come in the shower. Today as I decided to get clean, I didn't have any mind-blowing ideas, but what I did realize is where the money's at in the economy...and where they're exploiting us. As I was washing my hair, I realized - I hate my shampoo. I used to use Aussi and loved it so, but I had heard one time you should change up your shampoo so now every now and then I find some random brand to get me through one cycle. I'm sure their definition of "changing it up" didn't mean use your shampoo, get another brand til it runs out, then go back to your original. But I don't care, there's still SOME variety!

Anyway I hate it, so I thought - "what the heck I'm gonna throw it away. I don't care that it's $8 I don't ever want to use it again." This is my thing -- I HATE how stinkin expensive it is to care about your hygiene. And this is coming from someone who doesn't buy make-up so I'm sure that's like even killing you more than it kills me to buy these things: shampoo/conditioner, deodorant, toothpaste/toothbrush, lotion, etc. etc. etc....

Well I almost immediately realized that the shampoo PROBABLY only put me out $4. I couldn't figure out why I got $8...but then it hit me: tampons. Playtex is BANKING it people. They are exploiting women across the globe with their boxes of 36 for $12. Are you joking me...are you joking me?! It's not like we're talking about typical supply and demand here. It's not like this is a normal good or an inferior good...you can't just say "oh because of the hike in beef prices I'm going to buy chicken at the grocery store!" or "I'll drive less since gas is so expensive" or yadda yadda yadda.

They're an absolute necessity and so it's practically a monopoly...price is TOO high.

Ok in other news...sorry you know it's true...

I'm gonna go trick or treating with the Gaulkes this weekend. I'm really excited about it. We're going to pretend to be 16 and go in the neighborhoods and try to get candy from innocent parents...last week I was going to be a witch (I need to cover my face to be more realistic!!), but now I don't know, maybe a mummy? Any ideas?

I do have some nice little pimples popping up that would look like an adolescent going through puberty so that might be realistic. Then I guess I could wear my retainer and would rock it...

Who knows? Anyway this is lame I know but it's like my life as of late...haha. Nothing new and interesting ever happens, and when it does I forget to share. Oh to the well.