Stephen & Stephanie

Summer 2011 Update

2011-06-24T12:17:00.001-07:00

Babies all around me! I have officially reached the stage of life where most of my friends are pregnant or new moms. Two of the couples in our small group had babies in the late winter, and the third couple is expecting in early to mid-September. We aren't entirely sure what is going to become of our group as the couples in it move to the next stage of life. My best friend is also expecting her first child in early October. I will hopefully get to see her in August when she has one of her baby showers!

Our own lives seem to be on hold until we reach a better financial position. We hear in August whether Stephen will be receiving a raise at his current job. I still work one day a week, Saturday, delivering flowers. I still love my job, but continue to look around for another part-time position that could fill my days and help with bills and saving up for a house.

Speaking of saving, I've begun saving up for an electric piano that regularly comes out toward the end of the year at CostCo. I took a fantastic piano workshop course that taught how to play the piano with chords instead of reading notes on a page--something I've been really anxious to learn since watching a college classmate play piano with a jazz band like it was nothing at all. I go up to my mom's to practice on her piano, but I can't wait until I have an electric piano of my own! I love to play the piano, even though I hate it when people listen...LOL. :)

My sister continues to serve the country on the east coast of the U.S., logging away airplane parts for the record books. She's also taking some dance classes. She's doing well, with the exception of some medical problems that keep surfacing. She's looking at deployment next year, which makes us nervous, of course...But we have to learn to trust God with our loved ones.

It's been a ridiculously cold and gray spring/summer on the west coast. We haven't had more than seven days above 70, and April and March were way wetter than normal. My husband keeps telling me summer never officially starts here until July 5th, but I sure am tired of the gray.

Stephen and I are part of the Marriage Ministry Team of our church, and we just put on a really fun murder mystery dessert theatre-- set in the wild, wild west! I got to play Annie Elmley, a sharpshooting cowgirl. I could almost have been the murderer, but it turned out to be the most seemingly innocuous character there! Isn't that always how it goes? :)

In the meantime, I continue to learn more and more about the Gospel. Did you know that the heart of the Gospel is simply Jesus' substitutionary sacrifice on the Cross? That that is how God dealt with His wrath against us for our sins? When I learned the truth of this, I was floored at the simplicity. I think I thought the Gospel was to be a good person to please God, and that Jesus somehow mysteriously enables us to do that. That is true, too, but it isn't the heart of the Gospel! Christianity is not about being a good person, but about the One who took our punishment.

I was part of a Women's Bible Study this winter/spring. I got to meet a lot of neat women at my church and am thankful to know more faces and names and personalities there. Countryside is a medium-big church and it's hard to get to know people unless you get involved. I'll be doing another women's Bible study this summer, led by our assistant pastor's wife in their home. We will be learning about a woman's identity in Christ and how it works out in her everyday life.

Stephen and I will also be official members of Countryside in the next month. We are thankful that we have found a good church to be a part of and get involved with.

New Year 2011

2011-01-17T18:09:00.000-08:00

Well, we've gotten our new year off to a good start. We joined an 8-week Sunday night Bible study called "God's Big Picture." I also joined the women's mid-week Bible study at our church. We'll be going through Beth Moore's "Living Beyond Yourself" study until June. Our small group starts tonight, and we'll be taking them through a great study called A Biblical Portrait of Marriage. Stephen and I have been through it once before, but it will be new to our group. And I think it will be as helpful to them in their marriages as it was to ours.

The start of the new year also means dental work for me, usually, and this year has proved no different. Today I had a root canal re-treatment done on a tooth that was treated once before, but apparently the bacteria were never fully eliminated. The endodontist packed medication and antibiotics into my tooth today and we are hoping to see the infection disappear over the next week so she can refill the canals and I can get a new crown put on it. (The current crown is about 5 years old and in need of replacement.)

The root canal re-treatment and new crown will wipe out our benefits once more, so next year when our benefits roll over, we'll probably be doing this again, on a tooth on the upper left part of my mouth. It's the same situation: a failed root canal treatment in need of a redoing.

God was gracious to us today--we were worried that the tooth they worked on was cracked, and the good news today was that it wasn't cracked. So praise Him for that! A cracked tooth would have meant an extraction, and a replacement tooth costs about $6000! But He has provided for us once again and will continue to do so. I am thankful that the other tooth that needs working on is not bothering me much.

Well, that's all the news for now. I'm pleased that the year is getting off to a pretty good start. Praise the Lord for his goodness!

CHRISTMAS!

2010-11-29T23:20:00.000-08:00

I am super excited about Christmas this year. I'm not sure if it's that we are planning on going to my grandparents' for Christmas, or if it's hoping that Christmas will be make up for a less-than-awesome rest of the year, or if it's the uplifting feeling of solidification in our marriage, or if it's a change in heart. But I'm really ready to decorate up for Christmas, light candles, drink spiced drinks, and let the lights of a Christmas tree reflecting in glass ornaments bedazzle me.

I've spent the last three or so years in deep cynicism and I think this year God has renewed my innocence and my childlike faith. I worry a bit that it'll go away again sometimes, but when I don't think about it, I simply dwell in peaceful joy of trust. I wish I had more moments like this across my lifetime. But for now I am so glad that God has brought me to this place of renewal.

And I Thought My Life Was Boring!

2010-11-16T17:13:00.000-08:00

Well, THAT was exciting!!!

I was calmly sitting in the office, working on a special Christmas scrapbooking project. I was about to place a sticker down on a page when I heard feet scrambling up our staircase, a frantic hammering on our door and a muffled exclamation I almost couldn't make out. But after a second the words registered in my mind: "FIRE! GET OUT!"

I am slightly embarrassed to admit that no clear thoughts went through my head. I went into total panic. Paper pad and sticker in hand, my brain checked out and sheer survival mode kicked in. "What?!" I shouted to the door as I ran to it. "Where?!" As I opened it, I heard the manager say, "Over there!" Somewhere in the back of my brain, I noted the irony of seeing my manager clopping as fast as she could down the stairs in her suit jacket, pencil skirt and heels to go evacuate the other apartment dwellers, looking pretty panicked herself. Then I glanced to the right and saw a wall of orange flames leaping up from the front of one of the garages next to our apartment building. It felt like that moment in movies where you see a close-up of a terrified stare and the blazing fire reflecting in it.

I tore around the apartment trying to make sense of what to do. I still had a sticker on my hand and I couldn't pick anything up with that hand until I found somewhere to put the sticker down, and I couldn't just throw it away because it was the only one I had in that color and I NEEDED to put it on the paper, but I couldn't think straight enough to find the right spot in this state, so I ended up just plopping the paper pad down on the kitchen table and sticking the sticker on a receipt next to it. In my mind I had images of flames jumping from a tree to a house, or in this case a garage to a house, and my only thought was, "GET OUT!" I grabbed just my jacket and my purse and ran out the door, only thinking to grab my keys at the last minute because they were hanging on their hook next to the door. And then for some stupid reason I locked the door behind me. But the last image I had was Genevieve staring at me as I went out the door. And it suddenly dawned on me that if I left Genevieve in there and our house caught on fire--this thought was interrupted by a sudden flash of logic which cut my panic down to size. The fire trucks and fire fighters were already here and already dousing the fire and it was nowhere near enough to the apartment to catch it on fire, and the wind was blowing the other direction.

My thoughts started making more sense, but I was still shaken up. If I wasn't in danger, should I go back into the apartment? But the manager had told us to get out. And dozens of families were standing outside their apartments. She probably didn't want us back in until it was under control. That made sense anyway.

I called Stephen's cell. He didn't answer, so I called his work number, praying he would answer. Thankfully, he did. I watched the thick, billowing smoke and couldn't even think how to begin for a moment. Finally I told him everything that had happened so far--the knock on the door, seeing the fire, grabbing my coat and purse. "Did you grab anything else?" he asked.

"No," I said. "Not even Genevieve!" And then I just rambled to him, processing out loud. "Should I go back in and get things? It's not reaching over to our apartment."

"Maybe our laptops, and the network drive," said Stephen.

We talked for several minutes as I watched the fire being taken under control. Our neighbor with the 5 kids went back into the house at one point briefly, and came back out with her children's jackets. I agreed to get the laptops and network drive out of the house and just at least put them in our car.

At one point, I finally said, "I wish you were here." Stephen said he could probably call his boss and explain the situation and ask if he could come home, at least temporarily. That sounded good to me. "I'll call you back," Stephen said and we hung up.

A minute later he called. "I'm coming home!" he announced.

After we hung up again, I decided to go get the computers and network drive. It was more out of a kind of follow-through with what I said, though, because by now the fire was out and there was just smoke. It was a little scary being in the apartment--I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be or not, and it made me nervous not being able to see the fire through to its bitter end and make SURE it was out. I didn't want to stay in there, not knowing, for long.

People were still standing outside, watching. I watched with them as the firefighters came around the back of the garage with a chainsaw and some picks and things. They sawed open the back of the garage and took it off in pieces. Everybody got closer, LOL. One of my neighbors had gotten out his digital camera and was taking pictures. Several people were taking cell phone shots.

We were already losing daylight, but I could see the remains of a charred car in there. Smoke still swirled up at the top of the roof. One little boy called out to a little girl asking what happened. I wish I could have understood what she said, but all I caught was, "He got burned here," and saw the girl gesture to her left forearm.

Stephen finally arrived and we stood watching the excitement for a few minutes. A little smoke still swirled out, but the firemen were cleaning up. I wasn't ready to go into the apartment until I heard it was okay, so Stephen and I asked a fireman as he rolled up the fire hose. "Yeah, the apartments are fine," said the fireman confidently. "You can go back in." Phew!!

Stephen left shortly afterward. I brought back in the laptop and network drive, still a little nervous about doing so. I'll tell you one thing I learned from this experience. We are NOT prepared in any way for the event of a real fire on our house. When Steve and I were on the phone, we talked about writing up a 5-step plan or something to help us get what's important out of the house if it does catch on fire. And I also learned that I really need to clean up, because it was extremely difficult to run around and get anything done or even get TO the important stuff with the current state of our house. Scary! So maybe this was a little extra motivation from God to get my house cleaned up. :) And also extra motivation for fire safety... I will never doubt Stephen again when he tells us to keep things away from the baseboards!

The Price of a Microwave

2010-11-15T16:42:00.000-08:00

How many Wal-Mart employees does it take to find the price of one microwave oven?

Let me tell you a story.

Back story: Our microwave went kaput last week. I did tons of research to see where the best place was to get microwaves at the lowest prices, and what were the best brands to get. Walmart had tons of reviews on many of its microwaves, and a lot of them had 5 stars. The best reviewed microwaves that were in our price range were Osters, Panasonics, and GEs. The worst reviews were on Emersons.

So with this knowledge in hand, Stephen and I drove to the nearest, safest Walmart, 17 miles away.

We found our way to the microwave aisle and all we saw on the price tags of the display items and the boxes below the display shelf were Emersons. However... On the display shelf, without a price tag, a UPC tag, a box, or any indication that the store even carried the brand anymore, was one Oster microwave.

I wanted that one, of course. But we wanted to know the price first. For that, we'd have to find a customer service representative.

...Right. Because Walmart has such a stellar track record for customer service.

Thankfully, we heard walkie-talkies bleeping nearby. So Stephen followed his ears and chased down 3 employees (employees #1, 2 and 3) pushing 2 carts that had two very large, heavy-looking objects in them. "Excuse me," said my ever-considerate husband. "We need some help finding a price on a microwave."

The three of them looked at us for a blank moment, and then one finally said, "We'll call someone for you."

Uh-huh.

30 seconds later we heard the announcement over the intercom: "Customer Service Representative in or near the housewares department to the microwave aisle for customer assistance please." Not bad response time... At least to call somebody...

Minutes went by.

Nobody came.

So I went off to find somebody, anybody. After traversing several aisles, I snagged an employee (person #4) as soon as he stopped talking to a customer, and asked him if he could help us in the microwave aisle, or call somebody who could. "I'll call someone," he said. So again we hear over the intercom: "Customer Service Representative in or near the housewares department to the microwave aisle for customer assistance please." Surely two calls would do it.

Minutes went by.

No one came.

So Stephen and I decided that if they can't come to the microwave aisle, we'll bring the microwave to them. We took the microwave we wanted off the display shelf and plopped it into our cart and rolled it over to Electronics. We explained the situation to a lady (employee #5) behind the Electronics desk. When it became known that we had taken a demo off the shelves, she said very sternly, "We do not sell our demos." Stephen and I were slightly chagrinned, until she added, "Unless we no longer carry the product anymore."

Stephen asked matter-of-factly, "Well! Can you tell us, then, if you still carry the product or not?" (I am so thankful for my straightforward, quick-thinking husband! :D )

"Well, I'll have to scan it to find out," she said. Stephen explained to her that there was nothing to scan. There was no tag on the product, as we had just shown her. There was no way of identifying the product.

Not so easily persuaded, she came out of her little stand, walked all 15 feet to the microwave aisle, and took a look at where our microwave had been.

Immediately, she picked up the price tag that was under where our microwave had been sitting and began to scan it. Even though it clearly said Emerson, and we had already clearly told her that our microwave was an Oster. I took the liberty of re-explaining to her: "That price tag is for an Emerson microwave. Ours is an Oster. There is not a single Oster to be found anywhere else in the entire aisle."

Surprised, she stepped back and surveyed the products. "Oh--oh!" she said. "I see your frustration!" She then proceeded to search again all over the microwave for a UPC tag of any kind. "Oh wow," she said when she finally decided for herself that there was, in fact, no tag at all. "I'm afraid I can't help you with that, if there's no tag. I'll have to call a manager."

So off she went to find a manager. Well, at least she was going to get somebody to help.

More minutes waiting.

Aaaaand more minutes.

It was a good thing Stephen and I were in unusually patient and good-humored moods today. :) (Honestly, I think it had something to do with me deciding not to work Mondays anymore, so we could have our Mondays back together.)

Finally, a girl wandered into our aisle (employee #5), presumably the employee finally responding to the two original calls for help in the microwave aisle. She also checked all over the microwave for a UPC tag, and then repeated what the lady had said: "I can't help you if there's no tag. I'll have to find a manager." We explained to her that the other lady was already off finding us a manager. So she went off, but soon she was back with the electronics lady. They stood looking at the microwave, perplexed, talking amongst themselves while we watched.

Then a young man came over (employee #6). He was about 30, with 3 days' growth of facial hair and no teeth. Or very few teeth. He never opened his mouth far enough for me to find out, but he spoke with his lips curled in a bit as if he had no teeth.

The other employees recapped him on the incident, and his intelligent response was: "Wow, I have no idea how to handle that." So the five of us stood looking at the microwave, until the lady and the girl left again. The guy hung around, and started talking about how factories sell the same product under different labels. "I think this one also sells under Sunbeam label," he told us. And he left momentarily to check his knowledge, but when he came back, his conclusion was, "Nope, totally different product."

The women still weren't back. Apparently he thought his job was to entertain customers until real help was finally brought. He entertained us with a riveting speech on how he learned from somebody that at the Del Monte factory, they stop in the middle of processing, switch the labels to Western Family labels, and then restart processing. Same product, different labels. "You really do pay for the name," he said. Wise man.

He dilly-dallied around some more until the women reentered, with yet another employee in tow (employee #7). Apparently he took that as his cue to go "entertain" some other customer. The new employee was dressed in a nice shirt and black pinstripe pants. Ahhh, here is the real manager! "Sorry, I just came in from lunch...," she apologized. Then she and the other women stood looking at the microwave, contemplating how they were going to find out which microwave it was, when Stephen finally opened up the microwave, pulled out the user manual, and said, "Perhaps you could try looking it up by model number?"

Lightbulbs. "Ohh! Yeah, we could do that..." The manager explained that the employees would have to go to a computer in the back room to look up the model and find the UPC code. The manager left to go put her stuff away, while the girl and the lady wandered around to the other side of the shelf. We heard the lady saying distractedly, "We'll have to find another product of the same brand, another Emerson."

Um, it was Oster?

Stephen and I continued listening as the two of them rounded the aisle, talking. I must've heard Emerson three times before the lady finally caught herself: "I mean--what was it? Not Emerson. Oyster. Oyster. We've got to find another Oyster product..."

She kept saying "Oyster" until her voice faded away.

More minutes.

The manager and the girl returned, separately. The girl told her manager she had found the microwave, and that it cost $85, and the manager asked, "Did you write down the number?"

"No," said the girl.

Sigh.

Off she went to go find the UPC number again.

The manager stayed only long enough to tell us that we would get a discount on the microwave, and then left us alone again in the microwave aisle.

Stephen and I were still, amazingly, in good humor about this, just snickering at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. But our legs were tired by now. Since Walmart was being ridiculous anyway, we decided to add to the ridiculousness. And sat down on the floor to wait.

At last, the girl returned, with the UPC code in hand. "Sorry about the wait," she apologized. "Will you guys take it for $49?" she asked us.

Even with all the drama and absurdity, I thought $49 was a pretty awesome price to pay for a $85 microwave! I agreed, but probably a little too quickly....Whoops. Stephen was more hesitant. "Will we be able to return it if it breaks?" he asked wisely.

"No," said the girl. "Since we don't carry it anymore, we can't take it back."

"What if it's dead on arrival?" Stephen asked.

"No," said the girl firmly. "We can't accept returns on discontinued items."

"Can we at least check and see if it works?" Stephen asked.

I would never have thought to ask that question. I'm glad he did, though. The girl seemed surprised, but the answer was not "no."

"Um, yeah, if you can just find an outlet--I think there's one over here," she said. She led us around a corner to a display shelf with outlets cleverly tucked behind it, out of sight. I had NO idea that stores would let you do that kind of thing. But she waited while we cleared off the shelf, put up the microwave, and plugged it in. Stephen put his lukewarm coffee into the microwave for one minute. We three calmly waited for all of 35 seconds, and then he pulled out the coffee to test it. It was warm enough that when he took the lid off it steamed up his glasses.

"Okay, we'll take it," we said. We unplugged it, redid the shelf, and plopped the microwave back into our cart.

The drama didn't quite end there. LOL. When we got up to the register, with our handwritten UPC code, we announced to the cashier, "You get us! We're fun!"

I loved her response, a very good-natured, "Good! I like fun." Haha!

And sure enough, it was indeed "fun"! She punched in the code. "Item not found" read the digital sign above the cash register. "Is that a zero or a 6?" she asked us.

"Well--I guess you can just try both until one works," I helpfully suggested.

She tried it again. "Item not found." Again. "Item not found." She tried about 3 more times until one finally worked. "Digital Oven - $49.00" the sign read. "Yaaayy!" we all cheered. (Okay, just I cheered. :) ) We paid for it and as we started to walk away, the cashier said, still in good spirits, "You're right! That was fun!"

So our crazy experience ended on a good note. :D And we now have a microwave that turns on AND heats up our food. Woohoo!

And if it breaks, well, we'll just have to call Oster.

Thank you, Walmart, for your stellar customer service. We now know that the price of a microwave is 7 employees (8, including the cashier!), an hour of our time, a no-return policy, and a discount because you are absolutely ridiculous.

Wisdom from Another

2010-09-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

I felt like standing up and applauding after reading this blog from a mother of four. Brilliantly spoken.

Summer 2010 in Review

2010-08-24T23:58:00.000-07:00

Summer is ending... Stephen gets home just before the sun sets now. Most of the flowers are done blooming. All day long the sunlight is redder, and the wheat fields are gold. Even some of the trees are starting to turn colors already (much to my disbelief!). Last Sunday as we drove out to the Coast to camp, a huge line of cars was in the returning lane of traffic--families coming home from their "last hurrah of summer" trips.

Our summer has passed by with a rather flat feel. Our small group had their regular events--a beach day, a camp-out, and a movie night--but many of the events we had to attend late or were unable to attend because of my Saturday job. And the group has changed in dynamic and feel. Our old group leaders' baby is nearly 7 months old now, and two other couples are now expecting. Another couple has found a different church to call home, and another couple we haven't seen much of at all this summer because of busy schedules.

Stephen has taken on the roll of leader again for the fall, but I won't be taking on the secondhand-man's responsibility of coordinating events or keeping the group up-to-date with e-mails as I did last time. I'm simply not gifted in those ways. I may be a writer, but it doesn't immediately make me a good coordinating communicator. :)

Our summer has even been slow photographically. We didn't get out on any hikes at all. Stephen took a few days to himself to take photographs, while I was at work or otherwise engaged, but I have only taken pictures of the arrangements I have done.

This next year is going to be full of a lot of change and transitioning, things I have never taken very well. But some of them I am excited about--I took a second floristry class this summer and did really well in it. I am also being blessed with opportunities to do more than just deliver flowers at my work. I made my best arrangement yet today, and my supervisor and manager seem to have been impressed, which is incredibly exciting. I sense that God's going to do something big in my life with flowers, and I haven't been so excited about something since I met Stephen! :D

Another exciting thing is that my relationship with God seems to be entering into a growth spurt. I have sensed reasons for things in my life that I would never have seen reasons for before. I have even started doing personal devotions, something I haven't been successful at since...let's see...ever! But I have asked others to keep me uplifted in prayer so that I can continue this pattern.

Stephen and I are coming up on our second anniversary, and I'm happy to say that we are much more solidified than we were in our first year. We act so much more like a unit, which I was really not sure was going to happen while we were in our first year together, LOL. God is good. :)

Some fun things we did this summer:

Went camping at Beverly Beach together, just the two of us.
I learned to sew and made myself a cloak.
Found some clothes at a yard sale, and Battle of the Sexes.
Cooked our own meals for 2.5 weeks! (A big step for us. Eating out is such a temptation!)
Went to the beach several times.
Used our Entertainment Book a lot (yessssss!).
Had a lot of really good talks. :)

Overall, I'm glad the summer is ending. I wish it had had more high notes and less flat ones. But life's pendulum keeps swinging--it'll be up again soon. Guaranteed. It's like the seasons--no matter how terrible the winter, spring does follow with its new beginnings.

A Tearful Goodbye

2010-07-01T01:13:00.001-07:00

We said goodbye to the refugees tonight.

It was rather sudden. They are moving to Pennsylvania, in hopes of finding jobs over there.

I always knew our time with them would be temporary. Last week when I learned that Samira and her dad were in Pennsylvania, I kind of felt that our time with them was coming to a fast close. The rest of the family joins them a week from today, July 7. We helped them look for flights today.

We didn't get to say goodbye to Samira and Said. In a way, that was almost better, because it would have been really, really hard to say goodbye to Samira. I really learned to love that girl, and toward the end she was really starting to trust me.

I started crying when we left tonight. Then Soher and Salima (the mother) started crying. We hugged a lot, and they called over Sara, who was at a neighbor's house, to say goodbye, too. It was extremely difficult. But it was such a relief, in a way, to see them cry--to know that they loved us, too. That it wasn't a one-way relationship.

Sometimes I think the cultural and language differences made our relationship even more meaningful than it would have been otherwise. They didn't hear our words; they saw our actions. We visited them faithfully every week, helped them with whatever they needed every week, and I think that spoke much more to them than words ever could, Arabic, English or otherwise.

I also think the cultural and language differences made the goodbyes more real. With them, there was none of this meaningless, "We'll keep in touch," said with a polite nod and smile and an anxious get-me-out-of-here-quick look behind the eyes. No--those American rules of etiquette were irrelevant here. We cried, and they cried. And we hugged, obeying the deepest, most honest desires of our hearts. It gave us closure.

Closure is something we all seek at the end of an era, a chapter, a friendship. So many times I think we obey the rules of society instead of the rules of our hearts, and we don't get that closure. America doesn't like goodbyes, I don't think.

The refugees are nomads; their time in Portland, and with us, was always temporary. In a way, their lifestyle better reflects the truth of our existence than the American way does. We are all temporary residents here. One day we'll all say our goodbyes.

I have lots more thoughts on goodbyes, but I think I've said enough for tonight. It's time to take my tears and rest on God, and sleep with peace in His arms.

Floral Delivery

2010-05-25T12:18:00.001-07:00

Another answer to prayer! Back over Mother's Day weekend, I delivered flowers for a local florist for two days. Friday didn't go very well, but Saturday went great.

I had applied to be their regular Saturday driver when the position was open, but they ended up hiring someone else. Today, though, I got a call from them telling me their Saturday driver had gotten a full-time job and was not going to deliver for them anymore.... So they asked if I was still interested! I said yes, of course. I go in Friday for some instruction, and then hopefully I'll start Saturday.

I'm excited and nervous all at once. I can't wait to see where this leads. I genuinely hope this is my "in" into floristry.

I could say a lot more, but I need to head out for volunteer work. If anyone reads this, please continue to keep me in your prayers as I head into this new job. Thanks!

Good news and good news!

2010-05-25T12:16:00.001-07:00

From an e-mail I sent my prayer group:

Isn't it wonderful when God answers prayer? Praise God for his faithfulness to us. We found out today that Tooth #15, since it isn't causing me any problems, does NOT need an immediate retreatment! In fact, the endodontist told me we can wait until next year, when my benefits roll over again! I cannot stop thanking God for his goodness in this respect.

I did have my sixth root canal on Tooth #14 on Saturday. It went well, all things considered. Everything did get completely taken care of, and the procedure itself was not painful. But the numbness wore off at the end and so my mouth was really sore for the last 15-20 minutes, while they finished up. But they took x-rays and saw that the canals were completely finished, and we were able to pay for it out of our savings. Next week I'll be getting the crown for that tooth seated, then that should be IT for major dental procedures this year!

We are so, so thankful that we won't have to get Tooth #15 worked on until next year. Thank you so much for all the prayers you have been sending our way. God is good. :)

Bad News, More Bad News, and Semi-Good News

2010-05-20T22:59:00.000-07:00

An e-mail I sent to my "circle of prayers":

Well, keep me in your prayers. Tooth #14 is set for a root canal treatment on Saturday at 12:30.

It's been giving me a lot of pain in the last 4 days, day and night. I've been on ibuprofen pretty regularly. So on Saturday I go in to see the endodontist (the doctor who does the root canal treatments) to get it taken care of.

That's the bad news. The more bad news is about Tooth #15, my backmost upper-left tooth. I had a root canal treatment (RCT) done on that one about 4 years ago, in Nampa. So the nerves are gone, so I don't feel any pain, but apparently there is still something going on with it. In the x-rays, there's a pocket of dark area at the end of the roots of the tooth, in the bone. That usually means an infection.

I have a few options from here: a retreatment of the infected area, endodontic surgery, or extraction. Retreatment would be ideal, as it most closely resembles a regular RCT. Endodontic is a bit more invasive and would be necessary if adequate access to the infected area weren't possible by the usual means. Extraction is the most expensive of the three options, as artificial teeth cost thousands of dollars, so we pray very hard that we won't have to resort to that.

Tooth #15 will also need a crown. It should have had one years ago, back when the root canal was first performed, but I know that I was in college at the time and probably opted for the cheaper route of just having it filled. Unfortunately, choosing the cheaper option then may have prevented me from needing a retreatment on this tooth now.

Please continue to pray that God will provide for us. The semi-good news is that He already has provided some: Stephen found and signed up for a discount plan for the cost of these dental procedures, and it saved us $74 on cleaning, x-rays and an exam today, and it will probably end up saving us several hundred dollars in the long run. Praise God for that! But the cost will still put pressure on us with our current means. It would be great if I could get a job, or if Stephen could get a raise or a promotion. More practically and right now, just pray that we will be able to manage our money exceedingly well. All of these things would really help, and they are, of course, possible with God.

Thank you for your prayers and any encouragement you can offer.

Tooth Updates II and III

2010-05-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

Whoops, forgot to keep this blog up-to-date! A couple weeks ago, they cleaned out the old filling and the new decay, and determined that the tooth was going to need a crown for sure. The root canal question was still hanging in the balance. Went in today again, and the doctor cold-tested my tooth for response time, and said that it was within the normal response time. YAY! So far so good. So they did the crown prep and put on a temporary crown. He told me that if it is still really abnormally sensitive after 5-7 days, to call in to make a root canal appointment. So me, Stephen and my circle of prayer warriors (love you guys) will continue to pray very hard that that tooth behaves itself, and a root canal won't be needed at all. That'd be AWESOME.

In other news, I had the happy fortune of landing a two-day floral delivery job last week. A local florist needed extra help for Mother's Day deliveries and hired me! WOOHOO! It was super tough the first day, but really nice the second. I officially have my foot in the door! Praise God! On Friday I'll be going in to pick up my paycheck and am trying to determine how to leave a good impression there as I do so. I'm chiefly trying to decide if I should ask about them taking me in for an unpaid internship. The idea scares me to death, but it could be worth asking.

Oh, and this is exciting news--or at least we think so. We're going to see my grandparents in June! For a week this time, or just shy of one. I'm totally stoked, and Stephen's really happy about it too, which makes me even gladder. :D Both of us thought our last trip felt just too short, so we're glad for a chance to make a longer one.

Tooth Update/God's Provision

2010-04-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

I went to the dentist a couple weeks ago to get my crown seated; all that went well and is paid for, so now we are just waiting on news of this second tooth that might need dental work done. I have made an appointment that will be next Thursday (the 29th) to look at this other tooth. It'll go like this: When I go in on Thursday, the dentist will drill out the old filling in my tooth. Once he has gotten it all out, he will be able to determine two things: 1) if the filling is big enough that I'm going to have to have another crown, and 2) if the new decay is close enough to the root that the root is exposed and compromised and will have to be removed. One, the other, or both things are likely, and the dentist seems to realize this, but as a rule, nothing is absolutely positive until he gets into it and sees what the circumstances are.

I would like to add that we have really been blessed. In the last couple weeks, God has provided some of the cost of a root canal/crown combination through the generosity of friends and family. We are no longer worried about having to empty out our savings and pay for the dental work on credit. Praise God for his love for us!

Pray that despite the ease of this burden, we still have the strength to live carefully within our means. It's so much easier and more convenient to eat out all the time, and it has been difficult to fully make the transition to eating in more than we eat out. Continue to pray that God will bless me with a job, preferably in floristry, and that he will grant me the courage to go out looking for one. Thank you for your prayers and support. We wouldn't be anywhere without our loving friends and family, and the God that inspires the love within them.

Lessons in Materialism

2010-04-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

I've been receiving some difficult lessons in materialism lately. With the new root canal and crown going in, money is super tight--way more than it's ever been before. We are cooking a lot at home, and have really had to cut back on our spending. I definitely do not get to buy new clothes or make-up or other nice things, which has been a lot more difficult than I like to admit.

God's way of teaching me that everything I own is His, not mine, is to bring me to the point of fear where I start envisioning all our household belongings, one by one, being stripped from us, to pay off debts and bills. I've read about that happening in books and I've seen it in movies. It might be a tad bit dramatic for a middle-class American, but boy, is it an effective lesson! I always end up crying, but after I cry and grieve, I find I've let go of all those belongings and entrusted my life back to God. It's sure not easy, but it's needed to break the hold all those things have on me.

That's just for me personally. Right now Stephen and I together are having a lesson in trusting God to provide for our needs. Another root canal and crown may be coming up for me, and we do not have the funds for it. Last year we were fortunate enough to get a large tax refund, but this year, our tax refund was quite small and has already been spent. We've signed up for a line of health credit, which we sincerely hope we don't have to use. We will use it if God doesn't provide the funds in other ways, but we're waiting to see what He does.

One of Stephen's favorite Bible verses to quote in tough times like this is a verse in Proverbs: "The horses are ready for battle, but the victory is the Lord's." He interprets it to mean that we should prepare in wise ways for times of financial difficulty, but ultimately everything is up to God. It's a tough line to walk.

We find out whether the second tooth is going to be a root canal on April 14th, when I go in for my 1st crown. The dentist is going into it as if it is simply a re-filling, but if he gets in there and it turns out my tooth's root is exposed, it's another root canal for me. For now we play the waiting game. And pray and hope.

In one small side-note--I had a job interview on Saturday! My first one in a year! It was with UPS--I just responded to a Craigslist ad, and they were holding all interviews the next day. It's just part-time and minimum wage. I find out at the end of the week what they decide. (More waiting!) That's all the news... Thanks for your prayers. A blessed Easter to you all.

One of my friend's Facebook statuses:
"As long as the tomb is empty, it doesn't matter as much about the milk jug, or the bank account, or the gas tank."

Wow, to have that kind of perspective! :)

Welcome, 2010!

2010-02-28T13:33:00.001-08:00

Stephen and I are at his parents' this weekend, so I have some time to relax and gather my thoughts. It's always like a mini-vacation when we come up here for a weekend. His family is big, but very laid-back in their daily ins and outs and I enjoy it immensely.

We welcomed 2010 with a low-key New Year's party with a few friends from our young marrieds' group--Sara, Jason, Rachel and Ethan. Sara and Jason had little Levi Allen on January 27th and Stephen and I currently lead our small group in a study of Colossians. I also joined (with Rachel) a women's Bible study. They meet when they can, but generally 2 or 3 times a month. We're thankful that the Countryside women have welcomed us fairly-newlyweds into their group and hope to learn a lot from them about our relationships with God and our husbands.

My sister, Sam, joined the Marines this year and will be shipping to boot camp April 5th. Thank you for prayers for her physical, spiritual and emotional well-being as she undergoes the training necessary to make her a proud fighter for the American people. Thank you also for prayers for my family as we release her completely to God's protection and care.

I am still pursuing a job in floristry. My honest hope is to start in a humble position of cutting and cleaning stems while I gain experience. Pray that God will open and close doors to me as I seek His way and His will.

Thanks for reading this and sharing your love and support with us. We love you guys.

December Trip to Idaho

2009-12-09T16:22:00.000-08:00

Well, it's our first extended period of time away from each other since we've been married. I'm in Idaho. I flew out here chiefly to see my old friend Elizabeth, my best friend growing up, but also decided to take a few days to see Jenny, Mindy and Becca, my best friends from college. I flew out on Saturday and am flying back home this Friday. I visited Elizabeth Saturday, Sunday, Monday and half of Tuesday. She lives in a very small town with not much to do, so we spent a lot of nights staying up late, playing games with her other friends in town. We also spent a night decorating Liz's Christmas tree, which was a lot of fun and quite an adventure, as it was a pre-lit Christmas tree and it took forever to locate all the places where the different light strands plugged into one another! We also looked at Christmas lights, went shopping at Maurice's, made brownies and made a couple Wal-Mart runs.

Wal-Mart seems to be the thing I do when I'm visiting friends in Idaho, because I've made 4 further Wal-Mart runs with Jenny and Mindy since I got here. It feels just like I'm back in college! :)

The most interesting part of the trip so far has been adventures resulting from the fact that I arrived the week record low temperatures occur across all the Pacific Northwest. Although Jenny and Mindy's apartment is very warm, the subzero temperatures outside at night have frozen all the water pipes. No showers, no brushing teeth, no washing dishes, no using the toilet. And daytime highs aren't supposed to reach above freezing until Saturday, the day after I leave. Our landlord says there is nothing we can do; the pipes are all underground. Would it be wrong of me to pray that God would suddenly change the weather pattern?

In the meantime, Jenny, Mindy and I are going to have movie nights and girl talk and do Christmasy things around the area. It's good to get to spend time with them.

It's good to hear Stephen's voice every night when we do our nightly devotions. Being away from each him makes me appreciate having him more.

-------------------------------------------------------
Edit next day: I stopped my story far too soon. Things got much more interesting AFTER our pipes froze.

After about an hour after Jenny got home from work, we suddenly heard a ringing sound that seemed to be coming from outside our apartment. I almost didn't take notice of it because it seemed so distant, but it occurred to me that in below-freezing weather, odd sounds always ought to be checked out. So Jenny and I followed the sound to a huge red fire alarm bell ringing deafeningly loud, just above the apartment door. A fire alarm? Jenny and I circled the apartment looking for smoke but didn't see so much as a wisp. The big red bell said "Dial 911" on it, so that's what we did. At least the fire department could figure out how to turn it off? So Jenny first called the landlord, who did not answer his phone, and left him a voicemail letting him know what was going on, and that she was going to call 911.

About 25 minutes after we called 911, a few very easy-going firemen drove up. The first one stepped out and as he walked to the ringing bell, said to us, "Aren't you guys going to answer that?" and chuckled. He and the other firemen opened the door to what we thought was a neighbor's storage closet, but in fact it was the closet where ALL the water pipes were! (I would like to note that none of it was underground, as our landlord had mistakenly informed me earlier.) We peeked into the closet with the firemen and one of the sprinkler system pipes was visibly busted--about a 4" long, 2" wide gap in the pipe--with a chunk of frozen water inside. The firemen checked out the situation and then turned to Jenny and I to explain what had happened. The water heater that keeps the pipes from freezing had broken and was blowing cold air instead of warm air. The water had subsequently frozen (hence the lack of water in our apartment) and then expanded in the sprinkler system pipe so much that it burst, setting off the fire alarm system. By this point it had also set off a flood-warning system inside our apartment, which was even more ear-shattering than the bell outside.

Mindy had gotten home in the meantime and we all decided that whatever happened, we were sleeping elsewhere tonight. Jenny called her sister, who lives in a dorm on-campus, and asked if we could stay with her overnight. We packed up bags and blankets and pillows to the blaring flood alarms and took them in two cars over to Megan's. Just before we left, the firemen finally got the alarms to turn off, but we were all packed up and ready to go, and still without running water, so we went to Megan's anyway.

While the firemen had been figuring things out, Jenny had called our landlord's cell phone half a million times. Not even joking--she hit redial about 50 times and left about 4 messages on his voicemail. He never picked up--not even when the fire department called from their own lines. He got back to us at 9:30, three hours after it had all happened, and then Jenny finally got to show him where the pipe was that had broken. At least he won't ever get to tell someone "Everything's underground" in good conscience again.

So we spent the night at Megan's, and today the landlord came over with a guy and put an extra space heater in the water pipe closet, and a few hours later the pipes thawed and every faucet in the entire apartment gushed on, scaring Mindy and I half to death. Apparently no other pipes had broken, because we haven't seen any flooding.

The actual space heater for the water pipe closet was also fixed and eventually the landlord returned and took out the extra space heater. Our apartment has stayed in working order so far, except for one minor incident when I plugged in a space heater downstairs to warm my feet up, and not 2 minutes later, the living room power went out. I figured I had just overloaded the circuit or whatever and went to the fuse box, found the switch for the living room, flipped it off and then on again. That fixed it. THANK GOODNESS.

I could go into more adventures in Idaho in sub-freezing temperatures, but they aren't nearly as interesting (and it's time for bed). Tomorrow I see Stephen again and my life returns to normalcy. :)

Refugees in November

2009-11-20T12:02:00.000-08:00

I have funny stories to tell.

Abdullah, the son of the oldest girl in the family, is the loudest, most hyper 6-year-old I have EVER met. Ever since we started coming to the refugees a year ago in August, our experience with him has been him bouncing and rolling and screaming and laughing around the living room where we meet with the refugees every time we go over. There was one time he was sick and sleeping. The silence was amazing.

The whole family is rather noisy; they're a huge family and I imagine they've just learned to talk over each other to get heard. It's overwhelming for me just about every time, but for Stephen, who also comes from a big family, it's never been too big a deal. Yesterday even he was getting overwhelmed, so that tells you a lot about the level of craziness in the home yesterday! Abdullah was being the worst, and Stephen, when he was finished helping the three teens out with one e-mail account, finally said to Abdullah, "Abdullah. I have game for you. It's called who can sit down and be quiet the longest." And Stephen proceeded to kneel on the rug as an example, and Mohammad, the social one who speaks really good English, jumped right in as well. I was amazed as Abdullah actually conceded to this "game," sitting down cross-legged on the carpet as well and grinning his eyes out, but managing to not talk, laugh, scream, or make noise in any other way.

The quiet that descended on the house was incredible.

Not only was the little nosiemaker being quiet, but everyone else who was in the room was caught up in disbelief that my husband's trick had actually worked! And just loving it!

Abdullah lost, of course, after about a minute, when a much-suppressed laugh finally erupted from him. And the rest of us also laughed in amazement and wonder and delight. I was very, very, very impressed with my husband and I hope the refugees were too. And then Abdullah, of all things, goes, "One more time!" Which got another round of laughter from everyone watching. So Stephen and Mohammad agreed to another round and the three boys sat again as the rest of us looked on. Abdullah didn't last much longer this time and again an irrepressible laugh was his loss. We all laughed and clapped for him for being quiet for so long, and for Stephen's ingenious trick. And then Abdullah said AGAIN, "One more time!" We were starting to wonder how many rounds they would have to play (What have you gotten yourself into, dear? was my amused thought), when Abdullah said, "Just one more time."

So for the third time, Mohammad, Abdullah and Stephen sat on the carpet keeping quiet. A minute passed, and a second minute; the rest of us had quelled our laughter and we could see Abdullah was really trying this time. We all watched his comical face in great curiosity to see how long he could really go, when all of a sudden he put his hand up and announced in the silence with a grin, "I lose!"

At that we all just fell apart laughing! We laughed and clapped so hard at him. He must have loved it. :) I think we all (including his family) had a brand-new understanding of Abdullah. He really can be quiet! Who knew?? LOL.

That was definitely the best story of us as a community. The best personal story (for me) came at the end of the night. Mohammad went into the kitchen and brought out a plastic bag and two pomegranates, one in each hand. Looking at us, he said, "You like this?" Steve and I are both fond of pomegranates, even though they turn my teeth black. Stephen wasn't paying attention, though, he was absorbed in more computer stuff with the refugees, I think, so I answered for us, "Yeah, we like those."

"Here, you take them." He put them in the bag for us. "I don't know what they are called in English. In Arabic, rumon," he said, rolling the 'r'.

"Rumon," I imitated him, and his head snapped up at me.

"WOW, she say rumon!" he said to his family.

I was a little taken aback by his response, and I explained, "So easy! In English, pomegranate." Which they had an amusing time trying to figure out. They called it "pomegranny," LOL! I emphasized the 't' sound at the end for them, but I think they'll still call it a "pomegranny" because they think it's funny. :D Mohammad told us that the Kurdish (they're half-Kurdish) word for it was "hadad," which I also imitated, but then I wrinkled up my nose. "I like rumon better," I said, and again that same head-snapping response from Mohammad.

"WOW, she say it again! She say rumon! She say it I think I hear Iraq!" he explained excitedly, and finally I understood why he gave such an energetic response. I said it like an Iraqi! Cool! And even better--"I think you say it better than me!" he went on. I blushed and laughed with delight. Wow, that's high praise! I say an Arabic word better than a bonafide Iraqi! :D

It made me extra happy, because when we were first teaching them English and learning a teeny bit of Arabic from them, Stephen and I both tried to say one thing, and he did a better job than I did, and Mohammad joked, "Stephen, Arabic good! Stephanie, not good!" I felt pretty bad, even though he meant it in a totally lighthearted way. It was just a slight injury to my pride, because I like to think I'm really good at languages. So after that I didn't try to speak Arabic. But now a year later Mohammad is telling me I sound like a true Iraqi, so that's pretty cool! :)

Truly, though... How easy is it to say "rumon"?? So easy.

Anyway. :) I ought to learn more Arabic and impress their socks off... Haha!! I'd love that. :D

Sorry about all the smileys... I just like it when I get stuff right! I'm from "Perfect Country" all right.

Oh, that's a reference to a marriage seminar that Stephen and I went to at our church. We watched a DVD series by a guy named Mark Gungor. It's called "Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage." It was really, really good! I would love to show it to my family, and Stephen and I might check it out from the church library before we go to my grandparents' for Thanksgiving to do just that.

Goodness, I'm writing and realizing there's so much I haven't updated everybody on in here! Yes, Stephen and I are going to my grandparents' house for Thanksgiving. My sister is there, living with them and going to school, and while we were thinking about the idea of going there for Thanksgiving, my aunt was thinking the same thing, and when we talked about it, we more or less decided yep, that's where we're going. Naturally, when we mentioned how we were all going over there, Mom decided to follow. So we'll have a nice Thanksgiving with all of us (except my other aunt and her family) together at my grandparents' house. :) That'll be fun.

Christmas plans haven't officially solidified yet. Our plan is to go to Stephen's parents' for Christmas, since his brother and sister-in-law are coming, but we just aren't sure what day we'll get up there. Stephen may not get Christmas off. We're still waiting on that end of it.

I think that's all I've got. I've got to dash off to the Real Life Exhibit to volunteer.

The Miscommunication Files

2009-09-21T00:27:00.000-07:00

Just a collection of random funny communication stuff from us. :)

Stephanie: "I wonder if the refugees are still in Ramadan?"
Stephen: "The refugees are stealing our mutton?!"

Stephanie: "We should make up our own language."
Stephen: "We should make a brown fish-man?!"

Stephen: "I'm beckoning you from the kitchen so you will stop eating the gingerbread muffins."
Stephanie: "Mm mmhmm mmmm mmm hmmm mmm!"
Stephen: "Okay, you can have one more."
Stephanie: "That's not what I said, actually. I said, 'I'm almost done with this one!' I'm impressed though--you were pretty close!"

Stephanie: "I'm hungry."
Stephen: "I love you too."

Stephen: "Where do you want to eat tonight?"
Stephanie (sheepishly): "McDonald's. Or Wendy's. I want a hamburger."
Stephen: "We can do Wendy's; I'm up for Wendy's."
Stephanie (muttering): "Of course you're up for Wendy's; you're always up for Wendy's [over McDonald's]."
Stephen: "What's wrong with Wendy's?! Their hamburgers are better for us."
Stephanie (mimicking): "'Their hamburgers are better for us.' Health nut!"
Stephen: "They are!"
Stephanie: "Health nut!"
Stephen (staring at me): "You're right. I'm a health nut for eating at Wendy's."
Stephanie (dies laughing).

Stephen (in the shower): "Baaaa.... Baaaa..... Baaaa...."

Stephen is dyslexic and has trouble saying the word "album." I've tried to change this many times. Today I thought I would give him a creative way to remember the pronunciation.
Stephen: "Which ablum are you looking at?"
Stephanie: "Well, it's the Walk in the Woods aaaallll-bum. Like Al's bum.
Stephen: "Well, you can post your pictures to Al's bum all you want, but I'm going to post mine to an ablum."

In the line for the movie theater.
Stephen: "If they let me bring my coffee in, we shall delebrate and cance."
(No comment from me.)
Stephen (laughing at himself): "I said 'delebrate and cance;' I meant 'celebrate and dance.'"
Me (matter-of-factly): "Oh. I thought you said 'celebrate silently.'"

September Marathon Travel

2009-09-08T22:00:00.000-07:00

Stephen and I just got back from a long, busy weekend with family.

On Thursday, we traveled to eastern Washington to visit my grandparents and my sister, who is currently living with them. After a 6-hour drive, we arrived at their house about 10:30 and spent an hour and a half chatting with them until we all hit the hay.

On Friday we traveled 2-1/2 hours up to Coeur d'Alene to spend a day at Silverwood Theme Park, part 1 of our anniversary. We started with a nice, easy ride--the log ride, which is a slow, gentle float down a man-made stream, followed by one hill and drop before the end of the ride. After that, we decided we were ready for a more adventurous ride and went straight to the Timber Terror, a roller coaster that had me screaming for all 2700 rattling feet of it. We were rather shaken after getting off it, but Stephen enjoyed it enough that he went on another (albeit nicer!) roller coaster. I think my limit is about 1 roller coaster ride per visit.

Stephen also went on the Panic Plunge, a ride I refused to go on with him. It lifts you up 140 feet into the air and then just lets you go. In spite of knowing just how it worked and that he would come to a gentle stop at the end, Stephen left the ride with muscle soreness from tensing up so much as he braced for impact with the ground!

We went on Thunder Canyon and got our shorts and shoes soaked in 79-degree, partly cloudy weather, but it was a fun ride nonetheless. It's actually my favorite ride there, and I would have multiple times if 1) it had been warmer and 2) I had worn quicker-drying clothing than denim! Silly me.

We also did bumper cars, and a ferris wheel with a twist that scared me WAY more than I had expected! This particular ferris wheel balances at a 45-degree angle from the ground, so unlike normal ferris wheels, there is NOTHING between you and the ground--or, in this case, a man-made lake used for bumper boats. The ride was very smooth and gentle, and would have been truly enjoyable if I'd only been able to stop thinking of myself plummeting into the lake below. I clung to Stephen for dear life on the down-turn and just prayed to the Lord that we wouldn't get stuck at the top when the ride came to an end.

After all the rides, we each got GIANT "single scoop" ice cream cones that were delicious, but impossible to finish. We ended up throwing half our ice cream away but eating the waffle cones. :) After ice cream we took our time walking toward the exit, stopping in several of the fun shops along the way, including one to get Stephen some coffee and me some tea. We also walked by "Old Tyme Muggs," a place to get old-fashioned dress-up photos taken, and couldn't resist the temptation. Silverwood's theme is the Old West, so we dressed up saloon-style. I have to say, that was by far my favorite part of the entire day. I adore playing dress-up. Finally, we stopped in a gift shop and I bought myself a very pretty necklace that I will probably wear a lot.

We arrived back at my grandparents' house at 10:00, hardly earlier than the day before, which was sad. Again we all talked for about an hour and a half until Grandma and Grandpa retired to bed, and then spent another 2 hours talking with my sister. :) It was a good thing for all of us, I think.

Saturday we took it easy and spent most of the day with the grandparents and my sister. At 7:00 My old youth group friend Beth was getting married to the love of her life. It was nice, simple wedding. The wedding was outdoors, and the reception was indoors at the church Beth attends now. They served dessert and we all ate way too much sugar. There was dancing, which was an intriguing thing to watch, because half the crowd there was from the Nazarene church that Beth and I grew up in, and Nazarenes don't dance. It's no longer forbidden in the Nazarene manual, and much of the younger crowd has taken it up, but it's strongly discouraged among my grandparents' generation, and just not done in my parents' generation. I wondered very much how the traditional Nazarenes were feeling as they watched the non-Nazarenes and non-traditional Nazarenes dance. Stephen and I joined briefly but found we were very rusty!! It's been a long time since we danced, and we mutually decided we really need to pick it up again. :S

After the wedding and reception we got some "real" food from the local burger joint, which is still, in my opinion, the best burger place ever. :) The evening was spent in our usual way--talking, joking, telling stories. We normally play games at least once while we're home, but all 3 nights we were there, we were just too tired! It's a shame--we'll have to do that next time we're in town.

Sunday we went to my old church that I still love. It looked so empty! It was rather alarming until I realized that it was Labor Day weekend, and a lot of families were probably on vacation somewhere. After church was our usual Sunday dinner eating out--my family has done that for as long as I can remember! Usually it's Shari's, or IHOP, or some restaurant like that, but we had just eaten at IHOP the day before and went for fast food instead. Sadly, Stephen and I had to leave shortly after lunch to drive 6 hours across the state to his parents' home. That hadn't been in the original plan, but Stephen's brother and sister-in-law were home, and we never get to see them, so we decided to make it work. The drive there and the drive back brought our travel time up to 1500 miles in 5 days!

We took it really easy with Stephen's family. The most exciting things we did were to walk down to a creek together and go to a farmer's market. :) It was good to see Tim and Mary and everyone again, though. We learned that Stephen's dad's parents will be in town next month, the weekend right after our anniversary, so we will be doing more marathon traveling at the beginning of October. And then it's time to figure out the holidays... Oh boy. I'm starting to understand why years go faster as you get older.

Our final leg of the trip was 3 hours long, and we unfortunately had to drive straight to a meeting with some people from our church about a service we have begun for Saturday nights. Thanks to a miscommunication, we were an hour late, but we still got to eat some food and throw in our thoughts about possible plans for the service. Then we at last drove home to quietness, our kitty, and our own bed. Oh how nice!

I am too tired to write anything more, and looking much too forward to that nice bed... So I bid you good night! Perhaps I'll wrap this up better later.

Fourth Grade

2009-08-23T16:04:00.001-07:00

At our church, there's a program called "Relievers," where couples or individuals from the church can volunteer to teach a Sunday School class for one Sunday (or however many they want) a summer to give the regular S.S. teachers a break. Stephen and I signed up way back in June for today, to teach the 4th grade class. It was a good experience for us, I think. It was our first experience together as a couple with children, and we got a vague idea of what our roles are like when we are with kids.

We were told that this group was probably the worst one. I kind of wish I'd never been told that, though, because it made me SO nervous, until I was dreading the experience. :/ But it really wasn't that bad. The worst of it was that the kids couldn't stop talking--mostly the boys. There were about 6 or 7 boys and 4 girls. But they weren't disrespectful at all, which I suppose is what I was expecting with a report of "the worst group."

We were told we would have to "be firm" with the boys who were the troublemakers. Stephen did his best, bless his heart, but I think he might have a softer heart than I do when it comes to working with kids. :D I also learn names faster, and could call out individual kids' names when they were being too noisy. The boys still did an awful lot of talking and competing with one another. But it gave me an idea of what to expect next time we're in a situation like this, which is a springboard for learning how to respond.

I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I felt... Maybe not "in my element," per se, but not too terrified, which is an improvement from college, LOL. (I didn't teach Sunday School in college, but I did have to do field experience while I was an Education major.)

The kids have really good curriculum. It's from a program called Grapple. It allows for a lot of interaction and asks good questions, and uses a variety of ways to drive home the same point. Today's point was that we might give up on God sometimes, but God never gives up on us. Unfortunately, some communication lines got crossed and it turned out that the children had already had that lesson 2 weeks ago. :/ So Stephen and I improvised and just had the children talk about what they learned in that lesson. That was a little difficult with all the children wanting to talk at the same time... Stephen finally brought out a Dixie cup and made a game that whoever was holding the Dixie cup could talk, but everyone else had to stay quiet. That worked okay, but then the boys started fighting over who got the cup! I tell you, they wanted nothing more than be in the spotlight. Stephen told me later that they were probably competing for "top dog" or the Alpha male position in the group. This is going to sound silly coming from my mouth, but Stephen will be an invaluable resource if we have boys! :) I have no idea if I will have boys or girls, but I know God has a sense of humor and it would be a perfect execution of it if we have all boys, LOL. And it will be so good to have Stephen around then. I'm learning very much why a home should have two parents in it.

Anyway--what a good experience! With just one encounter with children, I feel like maybe I'm not quite as clueless about raising them as I thought. I am so glad Stephen and I did this. Maybe in our next year of marriage (42 days 'til our anniversary!) we'll make a point of getting more experience with children in. I'm beginning to think I wouldn't even mind teaching a Sunday School class on a regular basis... Kind of exciting! :)

Trips, Trips, Trips!

2009-08-18T14:12:00.000-07:00

Wow, our life got busy! Our small group has been keeping us on our toes, always out on new adventures. We love it. Our newest members, Ethan and Rachel, are quickly becoming good friends as they invite us out on hikes all over the area and we have them over for dinner and movie nights. A friend of mine from college recently moved over here with her husband, so Stephen and I are planning on dinner together with them sometime soon. The volunteer work I do is increasing now that the school year is coming closer. Our refugees will be needing our help with not only homework, but with graduating high school and deciding what comes next. Fortunately a friend of theirs who speaks their language and has been in the United States for a good 13-15 years will be helping them out a lot as well.

The latest busyness that has come up is trips, trips, trips! We just got back from a short jaunt to the coast to visit Stephen's sister, who is working at a conference center there for the summer, and we're planning to go again for our own enjoyment this weekend. We are also planning on another visit in September to my hometown to see my grandparents, go to a wedding, and also visit a theme park, so Stephen can have his first experience on a roller coaster. :) On the way back from there we hope to pop up to Stephen's parents' place, since his brother and sister-in-law will be in town visiting. It's been difficult to arrange a visit with them, since we are rarely all in the same place at the same time.

October will be our 1-year anniversary and we will be traveling to cross-state to stay at a bed & breakfast and visit a harvest festival. I am also planning on taking a trip, or two trips (I haven't quite figured it out yet!), to visit my friends back where I went to college. And the holidays will be upon us shortly, which is the scariest thought. I told Stephen the other day, "Wow, October was a dumb month to get married in! No sooner are we finished with our anniversary plans than we are trying to figure out how to visit our families for the holidays!"

I decided the month to get married in, of course. ;)

Those are the trips we are taking, but we also have trips that we might take. Stephen and I have earned a couple nights of hotel stays by visiting presentations about Wyndham Worldwide. We have the opportunity right now to go to either Hawaii, Las Vegas, Los Cabos or Florida. We have also talked about wanting to travel around the southwestern United States to visit family we have living down there. And finally, we have talked about taking a mission trip together at some point. None of these plans have become concrete, as we don't currently have the means, but we know we want to take them. So our heads have been full of plans and maybe-plans lately. But I am trying to focus on the plans for trips we will be taking for now. :) That's exhausting enough to figure out!

At least we have our bed and breakfast booked for October, and my grandparents know we're coming in September. Now, to address the trips to visit my college friends.... Back to planning! Pray for me/us as we try to figure out how to accomplish these financially, logistically, etc.

In other news, we finally got our settlement money from the accident Stephen was in in November. Stephen now has a new camera and I have a new computer. We've also made some extra payments on our loans and replaced Stephen's back tires, which were uncomfortably close to bald! We are so thankful for God's provision.

Please continue praying that God will provide me with a job, and with the stamina to persevere through the "job-hunting game," as Stephen so wisely put words to it. I am tentatively searching for a floristry job, as floristry is something both Stephen and I know I would enjoy. Unfortunately, I don't have the experience. I am hoping to take a class at the local community college on floral arranging which will hopefully provide me with knowledge, if not experience, that I need to get a job in that field. We have the money and are working on finding the time in between the church commitments, the volunteer work, the trips!

Thank you for your prayers and support. Lord willing, we will see a lot of you in the near future, and make it through the last part of this year with our sanity intact. :)

Camping Trip

2009-07-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

Steve and I went on a camping trip with the young marrieds group this weekend. We tried to find a regular campsite, but all of the group spots were taken! So some friends of Sara and Jason's offered us the back yard of their cabin in the Gorge to camp in. Everyone took off separately Friday night after work. Stephen and I arrived latest of all--he gets off work at 7, and there was still dinner to get and last-minute running around to do. We didn't end up leaving until 8:30, but we made good time and arrived at 9:45.

We had my mom's 6-person tent to set up (that really only fits 4). My mom, sister and I used to camp in that tent every summer on the Oregon Coast with family. It was fun to get to use it again. The tent memories live on! Steve and I set it up with the help of Alyse and Robert's high-power lantern and a flashlight. It went okay--one of the pieces had broken, but it wasn't a problem. It created a great exercise in communicating, though, which we're studying in our small group right now. :) "We have three short bars and no long bars when we should have one long bar and two short bars," I lined it out to Stephen. When he didn't catch on, I clarified: "One broke."

As we set up our tent, the rest of the crew was talking in a circle around the campfire. We learned that we had missed a few things in the 2 hour delay. Since we're studying fighting in marriage right now, they had decided to "count" all the couples fights that happened over the weekend. So when Stephen asked Ethan if he could help him figure out how to inflate our air mattress, Ethan flatly refused and Rachel scolded him with, "ETHAN!", and the rest of the group called out, "That's number one!!" We joked that of course it would be Ethan causing the first fight.

Disclaimer: Ethan was totally joking when he refused, and we all knew that. :)

We started with 1, 2, 3 and 4 in counting the "fights," but quickly lost count and probably skipped a few sets of ten here and there. :D It was fun.

Another thing Steve and I had missed was a snippet of conversation in which Jason had talked about how Sara always asks completely random questions associated with details she doesn't understand, and he's learned to just say, "...Do you really want me to answer that?" I gather they all thought it was hysterical, and I think it's pretty hysterical too, and it's become a staple in our group much like, "We've got ember!" from the last trip. These are the reasons God puts friends in our lives. :)

Once Steve and I set up our tent, we were able to join the circle at the fire. Much of our weekend was spent just sitting around the fire chatting with everyone, and our group's repertoire of inside jokes as a group is chock full now. :) It was great camaraderie.

We fit in some adventures too though!

On Saturday after breakfast, no one was really sure what to do. But Ethan (of course) had researched great hikes around the camping area and told us about one he had read about that wasn't too far off and not too terrible of a hike, from all accounts. Alyse, Robert, Hannah and Jordan opted out of the hike but Jason, Sara, Ethan, Rachel, Stephen and I were up for it. So we sprayed on the Deet and rubbed in the sunblock, put on our hiking clothes (however loosely defined!) and headed out in two cars to the site. Ethan had directions and both cars had GPS units, but none of us knew the area--and no two GPS units ever agree on one route to get somewhere! We ended up driving well past a turnoff and getting somewhat lost. We pulled off onto a random forest service road to look at our options. I grabbed our GPS unit and compared the road names in Ethan's directions with the road names on the GPS map and figured out how to get to us to where we were going. We led the way in my PT and covered poor Ethan and Rachel's car in dust as we drove the forest service roads to the hiking place.

The hike was beautiful, but tougher than we expected it to be! It didn't help that it was 85 degrees outside. I was sure glad I'd happened to wear my loosest-fitting shirt that day.

The hike was a total of 4 miles long (there and back) and 300 feet in elevation. The waterfall was 250 feet tall--smaller than Multnomah, but still very impressive! Stephen got some fantastic pictures.

The beaten path only went this close to the falls--there wasn't really a conceivable path up to the very top. Nevertheless, Ethan and Jason decided they wanted to go all the way to the top. I would have liked to go to the top, but wasn't really interested in risking life and limb for it. But Jason and Ethan did, in fact, make it up to the top tier of the waterfall--and discovered there was yet another tier above that! They attempted to get there, but the path got a little too risky even for their comfort... So they were contented with the middle tier.

Ethan picked Rachel some yellow flowers at the very top of the waterfall and brought them down to her. :) And then he made a show of presenting them to her: "Not everybody could have gotten you these flowers!" he said. I wished Stephen had gotten a video of Ethan presenting them to her; it was hilarious.

The hike exhausted most of us. Sara, Rachel and I all took long naps when we got back to the campsite. Ethan and Jason went on yet another hike...which, in Sara's words, was more like "wandering." They made their way to the smaller falls (30 and 100 feet) near our campsite and went swimming in the creek.

Saturday night around the campfire was my favorite part of the trip, especially after midnight when we got really goofy. Everything was funny. We also did a bit of planning for the young marrieds group though--trying to figure out how it's all going to work when we are no longer "young marrieds." It was kind of sweet to think of the lot of us growing old together. I can't explain how much value the group has been to Stephen and me, and I think everyone in the group feels the same way. It's so great to have them.

Sunday was packing-up day. We were in no hurry to leave, though, so we just packed our cars and then spent the last few hours enjoying the time. Stephen and I tried to go see the falls at the campsite, but couldn't find the path. Jason, Sara, Ethan and Rachel joined us, and Jason did his very best to find the path he and Sara had taken back in December when they were there, but in the middle of summer, it was overgrown with blackberry bushes and horsetail weeds. Jason got down there and back up, but none of the rest of us really wanted to attempt it. We got to see it from a distance--I was sad we didn't get to see it up close. But apparently we're going back to the cabin for a winter retreat! So we might be able to go see it then.

The last thing we did before leaving town was visit an ice cream parlor in Stevenson. Best ice cream I had tasted in a while! Their scoop sizes were enormous too. Their "Single" was pretty much a triple mashed into one giant scoop. The sizes we got were "Kid One Flavor Size" and "Double Kid Two Flavor" size. That was about all I could've eaten! It was delicious.

At the very end of the time at the ice cream shoppe, Ethan proposed an idea to the group. He'd never been to Mount Hood and had heard that you could drive around the base of it. He wanted to do that and invited everybody else to come too. My answer was an instant, "No, no thanks." Didn't even consult Stephen--whoops! But I was just exhausted. I needed to go home and crash--and Stephen, I think, did too. So we parted ways--Steve and I headed home, Sara, Jason, Ethan and Rachel drove around the base of Mount Hood.

East Coast, Part II

2009-06-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

Let me just say, I love the Pacific Northwest and have never been so glad to see it as when I exited the Sea-Tac airport on Saturday. One blast of that crisp cool PNW air and I was definitely back home where I belonged.

Friday we packed everything up and left New Jersey in our rental van to head for Lancaster, PA. Steve's (my father-in-law) GPS wasn't working and it took longer than expected to get there, but on the way I got to see Amish people everywhere, a people I'd only heard about from my grandma and mom. I didn't know anything about them and was surprised when I first saw a young lady in a white bonnet, a white apron and a stark black or brown dress. In my ignorance, I thought to myself, 'Oh cool, they dressed up in historic clothing! Must be some kind of special event going on.' Then I kept seeing more of them and it dawned on me that this was Amish country. After I realized that, it was kind of astonishing every time I saw young boys in suspenders, white shirts and black pants riding on bikes or working in the fields. The experience just left me with a feeling of: I'd have to spend a lot more time in Pennsylvania to fully understand why and how they choose to live that way.

Once in Lancaster, we drove around visiting houses, schools, stores and churches that Steve remembered from his childhood. Cari and Stephen were our designated photographers and probably took 2000 photographs between them over the entire trip.

We also ate at the Shady Maple Smorgasbord, a huge buffet-style restaurant with a gift shop on the bottom floor. We all ate way too much at the smorgasbord! But I got to try shoofly pie and corn fritters and a giant Pennsylvania Dutch sweet 'n' sour meatball. Afterward, Stephen and I went to the gift shop to buy some chocolate. Nate went to the gift shop too, but we forgot that he had, and the six of us nearly drove away without him! I was horribly embarrassed for forgetting him--but everyone kept a good-humored attitude about it, and Nate wasn't even fazed. :)

We stayed in a beautiful hotel, Hampton Inn and Suites. I'd never seen a hotel with fluffy white bedspreads before! Stephen and I were settling into the room, preparing for bed, when I found a tick on my stomach. I guessed I had gotten it from sitting in the grass by a covered bridge earlier. It kind of freaked me out and I called my family and Stephen consulted the Internet and his family to find out how to get rid of it... I killed it first with hand sanitizer, but it didn't back out like it was supposed to--so we finally resorted to pulling it out with teeny-tiny tweezers. Stephen performed the "operation"--I was much too freaked out to do it myself. He did a great job; he got it all out, head and all. Then we covered the wound with a band-aid and Neosporin, and now it just looks like a small bug bite--no infection. Hooray!!

Saturday was our last day of LOTS of travel. It was a really long day. Our flight was at 4:15 PM EDST, and it was 7 hours long, with one connection in Chicago. The flight from Philadelphia to Chicago was a very bumpy 2-hour ride with a hard landing. Then it was a one-hour wait for our next plane. The flight from Chicago to Seattle was long and hot. I felt really, really sick for the last half-hour of it, but thankfully didn't throw up. Closest I've ever been to doing so, though. We landed at 9:30 PM PDST, and as I said--the blast of fresh, cool Pacific Northwest air was about the best thing I had ever felt. The whole entire ride home I just listed all the things I love about living here.

Stephen and I spent Saturday night at his parents' house and most of Sunday. It was good to get back to "life as normal." We got home about 8:30 or so. Our poor kitty was literally yelling at the door as we mounted the stairs. She knows our footsteps, somehow. She was sooooooo happy to see us.

Now to get back to living in our own apartment... I definitely felt a bit of culture shock, or something, when I got back. It'll take some getting used to, LOL.

Jon was sick the entire trip, and he's been sick for a while. Everybody is praying very hard for him, because nobody is sure what's going on with him. Please keep him in your prayers too, if you think of it.

Stephen had dizzy spells today at work. I took him to an Urgent Care and the doctor told him he has "rocks" in his ears that have gotten loose. He will be fine, but it's good to know about.

We're all (I'm sure) still recovering from the trip. I know I am. Thank you for your prayer support for us. :)

New Jersey

2009-06-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

I have some down time right now, so I'll write about the trip so far. I haven't mentioned it in here yet--so FYI, Stephen and I and his family are in New Jersey for a family reunion on his mother's side. They picked New Jersey (even though none of them live there anymore) because that's where Steve's grandpa (who has passed away) and his siblings grew up. His great-grandparents are buried here, across from America's Keswick Retreat Center, which is where we are staying.

After spending Monday night at Steve's parents' house, we flew out Tuesday at 11:30 AM for the East Coast. Our first flight was 4.5 hours long, from Sea-Tac to Nashville, TN. We had a 1-hour layover in Nashville, which was just enough time for the seven of us to snatch lunch/dinner and get to our gate. The second flight was about 2.5 hours, from Nashville to Philadelphia, PA. Both flights were without problems, although there was slight turbulence as we came into Philly and a rather hard landing that shook everybody awake.

We arrived in Philadelphia at 9:00 local time (6:00 our time!) and took a shuttle to Avis, where an 8-passenger SUV with decent trunk space was supposed to be waiting for us. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, they did not have our SUV waiting for us. What they did have would not fit all seven of us and our luggage, so we instead rented a tight, but sufficient, mini-van. Using Steve's dad's GPS phone, we drove it from Philadelphia for about an hour and a half to America's Keswick. We got in about 12:30 AM. Stephen's great-uncle Dave was there to meet us and give us our keys, and two of his Georgia cousins, Victoria and Lauren, came running down the stairs to greet us. It was kind of entertaining, because they know Steve and his family very well--I'm kind of on the "outside"--but they hugged me anyway. :)

The humidity of New Jersey surprised me. It felt like Portland on a muggy day. I keep expecting the weather to turn around and be not-muggy anymore, but I don't suppose it does? Anyway, it's tolerable. It feels a lot like Hawaii to me, and like Korea to Stephen. Tomorrow is supposed to be 87 degrees though--we'll see how tolerable it is then! :)

Tuesday at 12:00 we all went to see the great-grandparents' gravestones. I thought that was a good thing to do; it gave meaning for the trip to me, reminding me why I'm here with all these people with names I'm not familiar with, LOL. One of the people--I can't remember his name, EEK!--gave a short message there about the legacy the great-grandparents left by passing down their faith in Christ. It was kind of neat to look at the people there and know they are all connected to those two people, Ida Marie and Bob.

After lunch, most of us headed down toward the Point Pleasant Beach boardwalk. We got to experience a lot of East Coast driving firsthand, and Stephen's dad was doing a lot of it. :D Kind of terrifying!! On the way, we stopped at the house Ida Marie and Bob had lived in, and one of the houses Stephen's grandma lived in as a child. It took us a long while to get to the places because Steve's grandma couldn't quite remember the addresses. We made lots and lots of turnarounds! But we did eventually find the houses. Steve's mom said that they had a picture of Stephen when he was a little, little boy sitting on his great-grandma's lap at the house they lived in. That was kind of cool too--a tie-in to my own life.

When we got to Grandma's old house, e-ver-y-body got out to take pictures and stare and wonder and everything, in this small East-Coast neighborhood... The neighbors were really giving us odd looks!! A few of them finally came up to us and asked who we were and what we were doing. We must've looked like the news come to town or something, pulling up in two vans and pulling out cameras all over! LOL!

After seeing Grandma's old house, we tried to head down to the boardwalk, got a little lost, and wound back up on Grandma's old street. And just as we were pulling through, a woman about 65 years old with tight white curls frantically yelled and flagged us down. She knew Grandma and her sister when they were young--Grandma's sister taught her how to swim. That was all I caught... Grandma was in the van behind us, so the woman went back there to talk to her through the passenger seat window. I watched through the back window of our van, and Grandma's expression when the woman introduced herself was totally enough for me. :) It was worth it. They held hands, enraptured by the joy of finding each other after so many years... It was really, really sweet. I think both women will remember this meeting for a long, long time.

After that, we finally made it down to the Boardwalk. Nobody rode any rides, but we did stick our feet in the Atlantic. Now seeing the Atlantic was sure different!! I'd never seen it before, and the first thing that struck me was how insanely close the waves crash to shore. It scared me to death for a minute until I realized that the waves come very regularly, slowly and only one at a time--which was also bizarre! And it was really strange knowing that to my left was the North and to my right was the South. It was a little disorienting, in all truth. LOL.

I had to avoid the waves, sadly, because I scraped up my ankle pretty bad on a bike (or rather, falling off a bike) yesterday, and I had bandaids on it. But I let the seawater wet me up to the bottom part of my ankles. It felt like California water--very nice!

The sand was really different. Somebody said they probably trucked a lot in. What I noticed was that it was dark yellow, not white like the West Coast. It looked for all the world like yellow cake mix to me! It also felt different, though I could never pinpoint quite why.

We went in a couple souvenir shops and I realized something else different. They wrap their saltwater taffy in rolls instead of blobs. I should have bought some, but looking at the way they were wrapped, my brain kept saying, No, I don't feel like caramel... LOL. I did buy some souvenirs for my mom and sister, and a beautiful little sand-sculpture castle covered in glitter for me. It looked so perfect! I wish I could have bought a couple others too.... They're just so cute and pretty!

Wow, that's all yesterday--I haven't even gotten to today yet. Today has not been terribly eventful, really. We took group pictures galore mid-morning. We had lunch on our own. Stephen went canoeing with one of his cousins and I took pictures. There's stuff to do but none of it jumps out at me, I guess. Dinner is in about a half an hour, so I think I'll wake Steve up. He's been sleeping for the last hour and a half. We're a tired bunch! I took a long nap earlier. Jet lag catches up to us on the second day, I guess. :)
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Tomorrow we go to Lancaster County, PA, where Stephen's dad grew up.

Oh, and I have a possible job interview coming?! Crazy?! I got a call today from CampusPoint saying that there was a temporary (3-week) proofreading job available for a software company. It starts Monday. Yeah. Insanity. We're getting back Sunday, so I could do that--but how insane, right?! I kinda hope I get it. It's a possible foot-in-the-door for that company too, in whatever positions they might have for me. So pray for me! Wisdom and guidance and strength too.

Also pray for Stephen's brother Jon. He's been sick for about a month, and nobody's quite sure what's going on. Stephen thinks it's mono. Please pray that we'll sort that out. Thanks everyone!

Beach Day!

2009-06-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

Stephen and I spent yesterday at the beach with our young marrieds group. It was exhausting, but a lot of fun!

Here are some highlights, and later a story:

At 2 p.m., Six of us drove an hour and a half to Neskowin Beach in a truck and a car. Two others met us there in their own vehicle. It was overcast but not too cold, and didn't rain on us a bit!
Jason and Sara brought wood, which Jason and Ethan carried in a tarp about a half mile through the sand to a spot within the high tide line but at least 50 feet from the water. A passerby told us that the low tide was at 6:00, so high tide wouldn't be until midnight. "We'll be long gone before then," Jason said. Famous last words.
My husband jumped at the chance to dig out the fire pit. The rest of us stood around watching him go (I took a video) and making remarks. We decided he must've been a mole in a past life. :)

We learned that dryer lint is a very good fire starter!! Steve and I brought a Trader Joe's bag full of it. We used about a third of the bag--that was a pretty decent depletion.
We made LOTS of trips back to the cars through the sand, continually forgetting things in the cars. Sara beat us all with 4 trips total to and from the car--8 treks through the sand altogether. Go Sara!
We got our fire going and realized that the combination of really dry wood and a strong ocean wind was going to make for a very short-lived campfire! So we built a berm on the windward side to protect it. Several of us walked around the beach later, picking up driftwood for the fire. Ethan tried to bring an entire log, longer than he was tall. He managed to stand it up on its end, but got no further. :)
Ethan, who had brought hiking boots for just such an occasion, decided immediately that he wanted to climb up Proposal Rock nearby. Jason opted to go with him and my husband jumped in as well. Unfortunately there was a small river flowing to the ocean water that they had to find a way to cross over get to the rock. They doubled the length of their journey to the rock by going backwards along the river to the smallest part to cross. By the time they reached the rock, my husband had decided not to climb up it but just to take pictures at the bottom while Jason and Ethan hiked up. I don't blame him.
When Stephen had finished taking photographs, he attempted to cross the river at the widest part, which "didn't look too deep," and learned about halfway across that it was much deeper than it looked. He turned back (good for him!) to look for a more optimal spot to cross, but soaked his jeans through! My poor love... Thankfully Rachel had extra towels for him to cover his legs with as he sat by the fire. His jeans had dried by the time we left.
At about 6:00 we realized that the water seemed to be getting awfully close! We were obviously misinformed about the time of the tides... Sara stuck a stick about 20 feet from us and declared, "When the water reaches that stick, we're moving camp!" Robert adamantly claimed that we were fine; that we could probably stay there for another three hours. So the rest of the day there was a friendly battle between Sara and Robert for who was right about how long we could stay at that campsite and stay dry.
Jason and Ethan came down the rock not too long after. The peanut gallery watched in great amusement as they looked at the water surrounding most of the rock, not sure if they should attempt to go through it or not. Jason threw a pebble in to try and test the depth of the water. Eventually they decided to just travel around the side of the rock as they had done before and jump off where there was little water. They still had to cross the river, however... Ethan, in his hiking boots, went straight through the shallower, rocky part without hesitation, soaking the bottom of his shorts and part of his shirt. Jason took his shoes off and waded carefully. Ethan, of course, had brought an extra change of clothes. Boy scout of the year.
At 7:30, the tide was only about 10 feet from the stick, and we decided that that was enough, and moved camp another 50 feet in from the edge of the water, right at the edge of the visible tideline from the previous high tide. Most of the boys were dismayed at the idea of "wasted energy" since the fire was still going well. So Ethan came up with a solution: "It's still got ember. As long as there's still ember, we can start a fire with the wood we have going already." So the boys carried glowing pieces of wood between two cold pieces of wood from one campsite to the other. Ethan cheerfully called out, "I've got ember!" and it became a catchphrase for the rest of the day, repeated many...many times. :)
Even though the sky was overcast, the sun broke through as it was setting, at about 9:00. It was beautiful.

I got to play Frisbee with Sara, which was a blast--it's been WAY too long since I threw a Frisbee around!

Okay, now here's the best story.

The tide continued to rise as we sat by our second campfire. We talked and chatted, occasionally glancing out at the water. We watched the water splash up against our berm, to the sound of Robert's insisting, "We'd still be dry!" Then a BIG wave came up and washed entirely over our first campsite...and kept coming.

I remember seeing the water's edge bubbling up to us, WAY too deep and fast, and knowing more than thinking it was going to cover our campsite. I snatched my purse, and all of a sudden our little sitting, chatting group was a running, screaming group being chased by the water. The wave coursed over our campfire and soaked everything sitting on the ground! I feel like I screamed bloody murder--but I figured out later that I did it, not for my sake, but as an alarm to anyone who hadn't seen it the same time I did.

Nothing was destroyed and nothing was lost. Jason's jacket got a little wet on the bottom (it was hanging on a chair), and some stuff got wet. Our paper bag of campfire food got soaked on the bottom. I was SO glad I had thought to grab my purse!!

That had to be the best part of the whole trip, in the sheer hilarity of it.

One last bit. The campfire, wind, smoke and salt killed me. :( My eyes and face hurt so bad when we got home, my hair felt awful, and my body was worn out from running and walking and carrying things in the sand. It was late, late, late--about 12:30--but I couldn't go to bed in that state. Even after washing my face to alleviate allergies, I was miserable. I had to take a shower. I tell you, that long, hot, luxurious shower was the best decision I've ever made. It felt soooooooo good... Lovely!

Tomorrow Stephen and I take off for his parents' house and we are leaving from there for New Jersey for a family reunion on his mom's side. We'll be gone until next Sunday. Pray for safe travels and a good trip for us.

My grandma's surgery went well last week, but please continue to pray for healing and a quick recovery for her, and energy and strength for my grandpa to support her. Thank you!!

Grandparents House Visit

2009-06-15T23:35:00.000-07:00

Stephen and I went to my grandparents' house this weekend to celebrate my grandma's 71st birthday. My mom and sister also went, and my aunt and her boyfriend surprised us all by showing up as well. :)

Saturday was a crazy, fun day of Apples to Apples, birthday cakes, ice cream and presents. I gave my grandma 21 homemade cards that I've been working on since February. That was what prompted the whole trip--both me and my mom wanted to see Grandma's face when she saw them. She loved them!

Sunday, we went to my home church and I was delighted to see old family friends again. I took a walk down memory lane with Stephen at my old elementary school, walking around and telling him all the memories I had connected with the school. What a fun trip through the past!

The rest of my family left on Sunday afternoon, but Stephen and I stayed another night and were blessed to spend time alone with my grandparents. We played a hilariously frustrating game of Sorry! and talked with them about family, marriage and spiritual things. Peaceful chatting nights with my grandparents is what I most look forward to whenever I visit back home.

My grandma is having hip replacement surgery on Wednesday morning, so please pray for her. My grandpa injured his knee a while ago, so also pray that he will be able to do things for her while she is recovering.

Refugees in June

2009-06-11T14:29:00.000-07:00

Stephen and I have been working with a refugee family in the area for almost a year now. We go once a week and teach them English or math, whatever they need help with. Usually half the family is there, sometimes only a couple of them. Yesterday it was only Soher, the 21-year-old girl. The rest of her family was at a soccer game. Soher doesn't speak much English, so communication was pretty much nil the whole time.

At one point Soher did try and talk to us, and she explained through her broken English and hand gestures that she and her siblings that are older than 18 have no medical or dental insurance here. She talked about how one of her teeth is broken and how it would cost $1300 to fix it. :S "Big--big money!" she said. "Thirteen one hundreds. In Syria, $100, $200...Here, no. Big money." That really bothered me. Having had thousands of dollars of dental work done on my own teeth, I understand how important it is to have insurance. I told her in the best way I could that I would see if there was some way we could get her dental insurance.

At 9:00 the rest of her family came home along with a few of their friends. Stephen and I usually leave at 9:00, but I really didn't want to go now that everybody was home. We hung around for another hour. Their friends that they had brought home were fun to talk to. They have been in America for about 4 years and speak and understand English just fine.

Soher explained in Arabic to one of them what I had said about trying to find her some dental insurance. He turned to me and translated in English. "She says you're going to find her dental insurance?"

Oh great.

I explained very slowly and thoughtfully that I would sure try. I didn't know if I'd be able to find it or not, but I would sure see what I could do.

Never promise refugees anything you can't follow up on. LOL.

So as if June isn't crazy enough--with one weekend trip back to my hometown (this weekend), a day trip to the beach with our small group and one week-long trip to New Jersey for a family reunion--now I'm the personal assistant for the refugees! But I feel like this is really important. It IS really important. Got to get that girl some health care!

The best part of the night was at the end, when Samira, the 17-year-old girl, stopped us in the door with a troubled look. "Next week? Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - no more school." She looked really bothered, which I thought was sweet. Then she suddenly resolved it in her own mind. "You come visit," she said with a big smile. Yay! They want us to keep coming! We just grinned back at her and said, "We'll come visit."

I am kind of glad that Soher was the only one there tonight for that whole first hour. It forced her to try and communicate with us, and she met with a lot of frustration at not being able to communicate properly. I think it will push her to learn English, which will do her a world of good.

Well, here I go to do research for the refugees!

Mystery Dessert Theater

2009-05-31T22:38:00.000-07:00

A month or so ago Stephen and I saw on our church's website (www.countrysidechurch.com) for a Mystery Dinner Theater event happening May 30th. We'd both heard about them before and wanted to go to one, but neither of us had been to one. We signed up right away.

The week after we signed up we were given pamphlets for our characters - Stephen was "Mark" and I was "Maria." The pamphlets had directions for how to play the game, descriptions of the other character couples, and our own personal character backgrounds. We were strictly ordered to not look at each other's pamphlets because there might be secret information in there. :D

My story was fairly simple. "Mark" and I started dating after his twin sister Marilyn was killed by a "fall down some stairs" at our graduation party. (Hmm, suspicious.....) Before, I had been part of a very popular group of people, dating a very popular boy, "Michael." But Michael had never felt right for me; I just dated him because he was an acceptable boy to the group I was a part of. Mark was NOT an acceptable boy, and the leader of my group, "Jenny" (not my friend Jenny!! :D ), had kicked me out of the group when I started dating Mark.

"Mark" was a CIA agent. He won't tell me anymore than that.

Our two characters were happily married with two kids and a dog; "Mark's" cover was that he was a very successful mystery novel writer and traveled a lot to write his books. That's what everybody else knew about us.

Other information everybody had was that one of our classmates, "David," had been killed two nights earlier, and the murderer was suspected to be at the party. So we all had to figure out who the murderer was. We were given confidential information at the start of the party, plus a few goals to accomplish in the course of the evening.

The rest we had to make up! What an adventure! I was glad I only knew a few people in real life at the event--that made it much easier to excuse my acting horrendously toward the people my character was supposed to hate (i.e. "Jenny"). But it was still so awkward at first, with trying to keep everybody's stories straight, checking my notes, having to think really hard to ask the right questions of the right characters.

It got worse as the night wore on--learning so much information! Toward the end of the party, our pastor, Paul, was pelting Steve and I with questions (he was the best question-asker!) and he asked me, "Were you ever in a relationship with 'Michael'?" I had completely forgotten about that part of my character's story, and I said straightforwardly, "Yes. I was." And Paul's reaction was SO dramatic. He gasped at me with big eyes and said, "You never told me that!" and ran off to tell other people!

Somehow Stephen kept all the information straight and wound together a very nice little theory that tied together all the deaths that had happened in our class's history. His theory was off, but he did get the killer right!

The theme was '57 class reunion, so we were supposed to dress in 50s style. I was dressed in a black-and-white shirtdress, white heels and a black chunky necklace. Stephen wore, like 99% of the other guys, a white T-shirt and blue jeans. Guys have it easy, LOL. The music was great! We swing danced to it at the beginning--what fun!

There are a lot of other stories I could tell, but I don't have room for them all here. I really enjoyed it, though. I want to do more so I can get good at it. :)

------------------------------------------------------

In other news...

Stephen's toes haven't healed as quickly as we hoped. He went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago because they had suddenly turned bright pink and swelled up. The doctor said it was because he wasn't cleaning them out well enough and did a pretty brutal cleaning-out on him that day. He also gave us a prescription for cortisporin.

Stephen was in horrible pain all week--worse than it had hurt before the surgery, which really concerned him. So we went back again. The doctor said they were looking better, despite our protests, and cleaned them out again, slightly less brutally this time. He asked us if we'd been using the cortisporin. We hadn't--after an hour and a half wait at Walgreen's, we were told that they didn't have any and couldn't make any, but we could just use cortizone and neosporin and get the same effect. The doctor was annoyed at us or them and emphasized the cortisporin again. So we finally got the cortisporin and Stephen's toes finally started showing signs of healing.

He's still soaking and bandaging them every night. But the good news is, they're finally down to itching instead of hurting. And they are definitely looking better. He has yet another follow-up appointment tomorrow, but I have a feeling the doctor will just say, "They're doing fine. Don't come back." :P

Other updates: I still don't have a job, but worked for Stephen's grandma for a couple weeks and my mom a couple times to earn some spending money. I volunteer at Medical Teams International now, with the REAL. LIFE. Exhibit, a couple hours a week. I'll save that story for another blog, I think.

Stephen and I are still teaching our Iraqi refugee family. School will be ending soon and the kids will no longer have homework for us to help them with, so we aren't sure what God wants us to do with them next. I've gotten to know their personalities and love them to pieces. If my experience with them ends, I will look for other opportunities to teach refugees English, because I honestly do love it.

I love it so much that I've been thinking of going to graduate school to get a master's for teaching English as a second language. I have so much information left to gather about that, though, before I do it. I still don't think I have the constitution for a career in public schools, so I need to find out where else I would go with it.

That's all for now!

The Latest on Medical Drama

2009-04-16T14:50:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, this is an update on Stephen's toe and other issues. The doctor did some research on Stephen and diagnosed him with "neurocardiogenic syncope," which means that he will faint and possibly shake a little if under high stress in anticipation of pain. If you're interested in more medical details of this, they can be found here.

The doctor advised us that Stephen get his surgery done at a hospital under anesthesia, and so Stephen scheduled his surgery for today at 11:30. I was unable to go with him to the hospital because of a prior engagement, but his aunt Carolyn, who we're very grateful to, offered to bring him there and back. I was able to talk to him on the phone and ask Carolyn for details via Facebook chat (got to love the Internet!). He said he's currently in no pain as he's coming off the anesthesia, only suffering a little because of not being able to eat or drink anything today prior to the surgery. The doctor said that he should only need ibuprofen and ice packs to stop the pain from the surgery, which is a relief. Overall, he's recovering really well according to his aunt.

They'll be able to leave the hospital about 3:30. I may update some more when he comes home.

Continue to pray for a quick recovery and the finances to pay for the hospital surgery, which is significantly more expensive than a surgery out of a doctor's clinic, which he was originally supposed to receive. Thank you, everyone, for your support!

Spring Days

2009-04-06T13:21:00.000-07:00

Spring has finally arrived! This weekend we had 70-75 degree days, bright and sunny. On Saturday Stephen and I went to the Woodburn Tulip Festival. There aren't a whole lot of tulips blooming yet, so we plan on going again the weekend after next, when there will be seas of color.

Yesterday we had a picnic lunch and went on a bike ride. I haven't been biking in probably 10 years! And the last bike I had ridden on probably didn't have speeds... The bike I have now is 18-speed. I still haven't quite figured it out! But, wobbly as I was, I managed not to fall over or run into anybody.

Unfortunately Stephen's bike is 12 or 13 years old and kind of falling apart. At the end of our ride, his right pedal fell off. He tried to screw it back in, but the piece to screw it into was stripped. So we're looking for a new bike for him so we won't have to give up bike rides.

I'm kind of bruised up from the ride, but I still had a great time. It feels great to exercise--and outdoor biking is a lot of fun.

Stephen and I dyed Easter eggs on Sunday, a tradition from my family. We always had tons of eggs to dye because we kept a bunch of chickens for a while. Easter weekend we will be up with his family.

Medical Drama and Other Drama

2009-03-31T15:10:00.000-07:00

Stephen was supposed to get toe surgery done yesterday--just out of his doctor's office, for an ingrown toenail. Unfortunately he worked himself up for weeks about it, and then moreso in the doctor's chair, and he ended up fainting. Poor Stephen.

So the doctor recommended us to a podiatrist to perform the surgery with Stephen under anesthesia. I don't think either of us like that idea much, but we can't, of course, have him fainting off doctor's chairs. Not good.

Stephen twitched while he was out, much like his first fainting incident when we were together. That concerned the doctor some, and he is going to do some research on Stephen's medical history to see if he can pinpoint why this happens to him. He advised Stephen not to drive, although he said he didn't legally need to require him not to drive because of the circumstances surrounding the fainting.

So I will be driving him to and from work and other places this week until the doctor gets back into touch with him with further instruction. I am okay with that. Stephen is not, LOL. He knows I don't particularly like to drive--and him not being able to drive is a big inconvenience, yuck. I told him I'm not worried at all though. I really don't think his twitching is a big deal yet. There have only been two instances of it--both with me, hm. Wonder what that says about my influence on him, LOL. Anyway. I do wish we could get it figured out though. That'd be really nice.

Oh, I should mention that I have to drive Steve's car around, not mine, because my left rear window decided to fall off its track and is now stuck at about halfway. I'm getting it taken care of tomorrow. I hope it doesn't cost much. :P Steve and I are thinking of getting me a new car altogether, because this one seems to be falling apart, even though it's only 3 years old. Grr.

Anyway... Yesterday was quite a rough day for me. Found myself beating myself up a lot for different things throughout the day. I suppose I shouldn't be so hard on myself, like everybody says. I wonder if there's some miracle drug that can keep people from being too hard on themselves? :T

Anyway... So that's my life update for today... Keep us in your prayers.

Job-Seekers, Beware

2009-03-11T21:34:00.001-07:00

When people are worried about losing their jobs or not making enough money to support their family, scammers will abound.

Today I had an "interview" with a company. Let me tell you how it went.

First off, they pulled my resume off of Monster.com, called me up and said, "I'm calling about a possible job opportunity with our company. Can you come in for an initial interview this week?" They told me nothing about the job itself. I assumed it was a bank or something, and they were looking for an admin. assistant type position, which is what I've been looking for. I thought I would be interviewed by a couple serious people in business suits about a job at a bank.

But when I arrived at the office today, I found myself plunked down in a conference-like room with four other people and three guys in suits chatting us all up about where we were from and such. First tip-off: it wasn't at all what I expected it was going to be, and they had not told me anything about what it would be like.

We all filled out paper applications, like we were applying at an employment agency. There was a welcome letter in the folders they handed out to us, which I, already suspicious, read thoroughly. It also said nothing about the job, except that it would be as a financial services representative. But it did talk in flying colors about the business. Second and third tip-offs: anything that mentions being a representative, consultant, or distributor means it's a multi-level marketing business, which you must be skeptical of anyway; and if a business you suspect of being multi-level marketing talks about itself in flying colors, you REALLY should be cautious. And still nothing about the job itself.

The "interview" began. A guy talked for an hour and a half. That's all. This is where ALL my scam sensors went off. I nearly walked out after the first 10 minutes, but I knew I couldn't do that without feeling as if I were being a drama queen. So I sat through the entire thing having the worst time keeping a straight face and not outright laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

Here are the things that were tip-offs to me: 1) you can make 6-figure paychecks in three years off of this job, 2) you earn a 55% bonus on your earnings (but only if you sell $25,000 worth of stuff--in this case, life insurance, stocks, bonds, annuities, etc.), 3) you get promoted really fast, 4) we will pay all your bills in the beginning (for how long? as long as it takes), 5) we are a debt company (how they manage to pay all those bills for upstarters in their company and still remain debt-free is beyond me!), 6) we license our insurance sales people, but it costs $860.

And still nothing about the job itself! But he couldn't stop talking about what a great company it was. We even got three slips of paper in the folders that were apparently "profiles" of "real clients." No last names or locations included.

He had us introduce ourselves after his hour and a half-long spiel was over. He told us to tell him one thing that we would have to have in a job to be happy. And of course, whatever the 5 people said, he spun into "This company is perfect for you!" No matter what they said.

Finally his forever-long talk was over, and we were kind of left wondering what happens next, when I got called out of the conference room. Ironic that I was called first. Do they watch people real close and take them in in order of least to most likely to swallow their bait? LOL. So I went into a room with this assistant manager who was going to question me further to see if I was interested in being part of this "company." He started off asking me if I had any questions for him, which I was grateful for--at least he let me ask questions! I did have plenty, but I could only remember two. I didn't get straight answers for either. The first question I asked was how much the insurances packages sold for, to their customers.

"It depends," he said. "It depends on how much coverage they can get."

"Give me a range."

"It depends," he repeated. "It can go anywhere from $100 a year to thousands a year."

I started to make a further remark but stopped myself. Instead I asked my second question. "How long have you been in this office here?"

"Well, we've been in the area for 30 years," he said.

I couldn't even get a straight answer for how long they've been in the office they were currently at.

I decided to just cut to the chase then. Questioning them further was useless. "I don't think I'm cut out for this job, I really don't," I said. "I'm not a salesperson," was the excuse I gave.

"Well--all right, if that's how you feel," said the man.

LOL.

Ridiculousness.

Job-seekers, beware.

Hair Story

2009-02-12T16:43:00.001-08:00

Upon deciding I'd rather not battle rush hour traffic for a 20-minute trip to my mom's, I drove the two or three blocks down to Supercuts from our apartment and went in to get my hair relayered.

I should mention that I don't like getting my hair cut. I like the results, but I don't like the cutting part. I have a really sensitive head and all the tugging and combing makes every outing a rather stressful 30 minutes.

The other part I don't like about getting my haircut is deciding what I want them to do. I'm averse to big changes, but at the same time I don't like the same ol' same ol' all the time. Today I got a picture off the Internet of long layers, the way I thought I'd like them done. It happened to be a picture of Ashley Olsen--I hoped the person cutting my hair didn't recongize her and think I worshipped her like some 12-year-olds worship Miley Cyrus.

Ashley's style was choppier-looking than my current very blah layers, and I liked the freedom with which the layers stood away from her face. I figured that it was styled, but I thought I could achieve a good replica of the look without a styling.

No such luck there. I have thick hair and lots of it, and the sheer weight of my hair made my layers look heavy, not lighthearted and fancy-free like Ashley's. :P One of these days I'll get around to styling my hair...Maybe.

I still liked the choppiness and was overall satisfied with the job the girl had done, and went up to the counter even contemplating tipping her. She was such good company. As Miae asked me if I had a frequent card, I opened my purse to bring out my wallet and....it wasn't there.

I knew instantly what had happened, but seriously hoped I had just left it in my car. I hurriedly explained that that must've been where it was and darted out to the car to check.

Nope. No wallet. I was driving without a license and I had no way to pay her for the haircut I had just received.

I did have my checkbook! I presented it to her hopefully, but she told me, "Oh, no checks." She was starting to look worried.

So I explained, with lots of apologetic looks, that I lived just two minutes away and could run home and get it, bring it back and pay her. Naturally, that made her nervous, but there was really no other choice. I wondered how she would make sure I came back. Was there anything I could give her, any possession, that she would consider valuable enough to bring me back for it? Maybe my purse? That made me nervous, but at least all my money and ID were in my wallet at home.

"What is your phone number?" she asked me, and I had to laugh to myself--such a simple request! My phone number. Of course she could have it. "And my name is Stephanie," I told her.

That out of the way, I ran to my car and drove the three blocks to the apartment. Every speed bump I had to go over on the long drive through our apartment complex seemed so superfluous. I found my wallet right on the couch where I'd left it, after pulling it out to check if I had that frequenter card and forgetting to put it back.

Upon re-entrance to the salon, I was greeted with a joyful, "Stephanie!" from Miae, and now that the drama part was over, I laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation and immediately decided I liked Miae a lot. Turnover at beauty salons has got to be at least as bad as Domino's, but I sure hope I get to see her again. :)

In all the flurry I forgot to tip her...Maybe next time.

Long Week.

2009-01-06T16:33:00.000-08:00

What an interesting week it's been.

Yesterday Stephen and I took my car out to a nearby Blockbuster to rent Indiana Jones. It was a 3-mile trip. But when we pulled into the parking lot and parked, we noticed at the same time that my engine was steaming.

We got out to check on it and I got a crash course from Stephen on radiators. Apparently there are these tubes throughout my engine that carry water. The tubes carry hot, hot water to the front of the car (the radiator) so it can be cooled and taken back around the engine to keep the parts cool. So if you hear or see steam coming from your car (we heard AND saw it), it means there's a hole in one of those tubes, and the steam from the hot water is escaping.

That's a bad thing, because it means that water (in the form of steam) is escaping out those tubes. And if those tubes leak all the water out, there will be nothing to cool my engine down... And that could lead to any number of REALLY BAD things happening!

You learn something new every day.

We couldn't really do much at the time except let it cool off and then drive it back home to make an appointment with a mechanic tomorrow morning. So we got our movie and drove home. The car hissed again when we pulled up into our own parking space, although there was less steam.

When we got inside, I discovered Stephen was under the impression that I was just going to stay home all week or however long I needed to until we got my car looked at. Normally that would be easy; I usually stay home. But it had to happen this week of all weeks.

"But...I have a root canal tomorrow at 12:30. And counseling on Wednesday at 2:00. And Melanie's at 3:30," I reminded him.

Counseling and Melanie's could slide or be canceled, but the root canal definitely could not. I've been waiting on it since November, and we've been sitting on pins and needles, praying that the tooth would not get worse before January, when our insurance kicked in for the new year. We had to get that tooth fixed!

So we had two options:

1) Stephen would try to get the morning off and take the car in tomorrow. Or if that didn't work...

2) Tomorrow morning I would take Stephen to work, take his car to the dentist and back, and then pick him up from work.

He called his boss to see if it were possible to get the morning off. She said that a guy who works with him had called in sick, so they needed Stephen there unless the guy could come to work the next morning. But they wouldn't know until 7:00 the next morning when the guy came in or didn't come in.

So more waiting. Maybe God's trying to give us some lessons in trust and patience. :)

The next morning Steve got up out of bed at about 7:20 and called into work. The guy had, indeed, come in, so Stephen got the morning off and took my car to the auto shop. I had to leave at noon--he told me that I could take his car if he wasn't back in time. Nervous as that made me (I think I've only driven his car once), I agreed. Didn't have a whole lot of other choice.

12:00 drew near and I started to get more nervous. I tried calling Steve, but he had left his phone at home! Then, at 11:35 or so, I heard my car horn honk outside our apartment.

I opened the door and watched Steve in anticipation as he climbed the stairs.

"So? Did they get it fixed?"

"Nothing was wrong with it," Steve said.

"What?! What'd they say?"

"They checked everything and said nothing was wrong. They said the steam probably came from splashing in a puddle and getting water on one of the hot parts of the car. And the hissing is the A/C decompressing, because apparently when you put your car on Defrost, it uses the A/C. They charged me $50 to tell me nothing was wrong with my car, though."

Oy. Oh well, at least it got a good check-up done!

"So you can take your car to the dentist appointment," Stephen finished. "I've got to get to work myself."

So the car's fine, but it sure scared us.

I ate a bowl of cereal and some yogurt before I headed into my lovely dentist appointment, knowing from experience that I better eat something, or I'd be in a bad way after all the trauma in my mouth was done. Have I mentioned this is my 4th root canal in my lifetime?

I have all sorts of mouth and teeth problems. I think it's part genetic and part hygiene, but I signficantly improved my hygiene after getting that 3rd root canal done and intend to keep doing so, so this shall be a scientific experiment to prove whether it's genes or hygiene.

I swear this root canal was the longest 2 hours of my life. I don't know if these tooth roots were particularly stupid or what, but in my other 3 root canals, the procedure was pretty straightforward: drill a hole to the roots. Clean out the roots. Fill the roots. The end. This time the drilled forever, and then they kept alternating: drill, clean, drill, clean, drill, clean. UGH. Enough with the vibrating in my head!! Finally they got out the clove oil, which I know is the end of the procedure. And when they were just about done, the doctor said, "Oh, there's a bit of decay here."

More drilling.

On top of all this, I had a headache/neckache when I finally got to sit up, the doctor wouldn't tell me anything during the whole procedure, the hygienist wasn't that great of company either, and at the end of two hours the Novacaine was starting to wear off, so my poor mouth was feeling all the stress of having my mouth clamped open and my teeth drilled into and shoved all around. :(

The one good thing I have to say was that, because they did this before the tooth got really bad, I didn't have two seconds of hellish pain like I did on those first two root canals, which were absess teeth. There wasn't any pain like that at all; just a lot of aching.

After the root canal was finished, I went to see the general dentistry gal to fill in the tooth a little bit, in preparation for its crown. (The guy who does root canals is called an endodontist.) Normally, I don't like to see her, but this time, her chattiness and high-pitched voice was a welcome relief after the silent torture of the endodontical procedure. And the hygienist was a lot of fun too. She and the doctor had an amusing conversation about hair color. :)

So out of the dentist chair, up to the payment desk. I was charged $40 more than expected and given a detailed outline of all the costs for the root canals and the crowns, which sure didn't put Stephen's or my mind at ease about our financial state. Luckily, upon returning home, I had a few responses to job applications, which I am going to check right now.

Hopefully the rest of this week won't be as stressful as these first two days have been. :P

Wrapping Up the Year

2008-12-29T14:53:00.000-08:00

Christmas is over and the new year is about to start.

I've never been so exhausted and stressed around Christmas. Granted, it was mostly the weather which made it so stressful. Visiting our families was great. Tromping through feet of slush was not great.

Stephen and I visited his parents this weekend, which I think was my favorite part of all of our Christmas outings. Going to their house is always like a weekend vacation for me--getting away from our cold, dark, lonely apartment into a whole house with lots of people and lots of lighting and warmth, inside and out. It's a blessing.

I was anxious about leaving our cat alone, so I felt like I was ready to go home on Sunday, but as we left I got really sad. Didn't really realize why until Stephen and I were back in our cold, dark, lonely apartment at 7:30, wondering what to do with ourselves.

Genevieve was okay. She wasn't mad at us or scared of us. She wasn't sick, thankfully... I think I was mostly worried about that. We did discover she'd resorted to drink out of the kitchen sink while we were gone... That cat just WILL NOT drink out of a kitty bowl proper.

She was a source of comfort as she snuggled and purred and rubbed and kneaded our sweaters, but it still didn't stop the sadness of our apartment and knowing we're back to the daily routine from setting in.

I'm glad 2008 is coming to a close. I'm pretty sure this was the most insane year of my life. It started with a lot of excitement and anticipation; it's ending with a lot of fatigue from all the events. Next year ought to be calmer...We hope.

Prayer requests for us: That the year will be a year of renewal. That Stephanie will get a job--and the motivation to go job-hunting after being discouraged several times. That our finances will sort themselves out, especially with all of Stephanie's needed dental work in January (a root canal and two crowns). Pray that our health will continue and that we won't forget that God will take care of us.

Disastrous Driving Story #2

2008-12-24T16:39:00.000-08:00

This one isn't nearly as long as the last. And, in my opinion, not as funny.

Rain started coming down early today and hasn't stopped, melting all the snow and creating instant flood conditions. The roads are loaded with slush, which was for me more dangerous than driving in yesterday's snow.

Longish story short, I got stuck on my way back, trying to turn off the road into my parking lot. No, I mean, like REALLY stuck. What I wouldn't give to have been driving Mom's Jeep today instead of my PT!

I think I killed my snow tires spinning them in the slush, attempting to get either out of the road or out of the parking lot. All I know is I smelled burning rubber.

Three guys helped me. God bless those men! They were so nice--and I didn't catch a single one of their names! I wanted to--if only I could send them thank yous or something!

What eventually happened was I just backed further backwards, straightening out until I could angle myself to turn into the lefthand side of the turn-in place (where cars would normally be coming out), which had way less slush buildup. Thank heaven that was all it took.

That was definitely one of the scariest experiences of my life.

Oh, The Optimism of Youth: A Comedy in Five Acts

2008-12-23T15:59:00.000-08:00

Prologue

What a humiliating day.

I've let Steve do most of the driving these last few days, since I've never driven in snow this bad before, but after a few days I decided I'd been in it enough to have learned some lessons. Enough lessons to try braving it myself. I had packages to mail and wanted to see if KMart had ice scrapers or if they were out of everything winter like Fred Meyer's.

Act 1

The first task to overcome was just to get out my car out of the parking lot. The driver's side was free, but I was parked next to a snowbank on the passenger side. The snow was piled halfway up my tires. I took out my handy-dandy ice-chipper-scraper (I love that thing) and started hacking away at the snow.

I didn't realize that that particular area hadn't been cleared out since the freezing rain on Sunday. I got down through 5 or 6 inches of snow and hit ice. It was easy enough to get out, though, 'cause it wasn't frozen to my car or anything. I just reached down with my gloved hands and pulled up the chunks.

I'd uncovered my front tire most of the way and decided to try getting out, although there was still snow piled up against the body of the car. I hopped into the driver's seat and timidly tried backing out. It went pretty easily for a sec, but stuck again. I hopped back out and dug away at some of the snow against the body, observing that my car had moved a good 5-6 inches. I figured what it really needed was just oomph. The snow was coming away really easily.

So I got back in and put it in reverse once more. Making sure nobody was behind me, I started to back up, but suddenly wasn't sure which way to back out. Toward the snow bank or away from the snow bank or straight out?

I should mention that my car has terrible turning radius.

I continued backing out, indecisively turning my tires this way and that before finally deciding to back out toward the snow bank. By that time the tires were cleared of it anyway... I had to go the long way to get out of the parking lot, but that didn't matter. Task #1 completed.

Act 2

Task #2 was to manage the Tualatin-Sherwood Rd. in the middle of 2:30 traffic. It took forever to even get out of my apartment complex, traffic was so backed up at the first light, but somebody was nice and let me in.

So! Now the real excitement began! Thankfully the roads were semi-slushy, but they had deep ruts. That might've been a problem for my PT. On top of a sucky turning radius, the bottom of my car has pretty low clearance. I wondered if I would be able to drive in ruts 6" deep.

On my way down Tualatin-Sherwood, I stayed in the left lane headed for the post office, thinking for some dumb reason that I was going to go past the part of the road where it merges into one lane. About 5 blocks before the light I should've turned at, I realized the post office was on the righthand side of the road, well before the road merges into one lane. Unfortunately traffic was way slow in the right lane and there was no way for me to get in at that point.

Nobody was in the left side of the road except me (good thing? bad thing?), so I kept swinging along, averaging about 12 mph on a normally 35 mph road, and about 7 mph faster than the traffic on my right.

Two and a half blocks before the light I should've turned at, I discovered why traffic was so slow over there: two semi trucks with hazard lights on were moving at a very slow pace and holding traffic up. All of a sudden I saw the sign for Haggen's and Staples just ahead of the trucks, the shopping area I was supposed to turn in at. Oh great! How was I going to get past these trucks in time?? I couldn't go much faster or I'd be a danger to everybody, including myself.

But I was going faster enough than those trucks to shoot ahead of them just in time for the light by the Haggen's sign. I had enough space to bump and slide and bumble my way into the right lane in front of the trucks and still turn before they got to me.

The light turned red and I prayed that my eyesight hadn't fooled me and those trucks were going slow enough to have enough stopping space to not squish me.

Then I realized there was a green right-turn arrow under the red light.

Oh, praise God, I get to turn!

As I turned into the parking lot, I realized that I was still a block away from the light I should've turned at.

Oh well. There is more than one route through that parking lot to the post office.

Act 3

I wondered as I pulled into the post office parking lot if there was going to be a forever-long line of people trying to get those packages in at the last minute. Or, was the post office even going to be open? So many places were closed 'cause the workers couldn't get to work.

I slid and shuffled my way up to the doors and realized, thankfully, that they were open and that there were only two people in there. I got service relatively quickly, and after another $12.00 out of my rapidly diminshing "play money" from my pre-marriage bank accounts, I sent off the packages to be delivered "I have no idea when", in the words of the post office man.

"Noooo problem, I'm sure my family will understand," I laughed. They already knew they were going to be late anyway, and with this weather? I wasn't surprised at all.

Off to KMart. That meant harrowing the infamous Tualatin-Sherwood Rd again, although for a much shorter trip. As I sat at the left-turn light, I wondered if I was even on it enough to trigger it. People had been having so much trouble with that lately, sitting at red lights for several turns before choosing another route.

This one was good, though. My car's kind of heavy anyway, that probably helped.

At the left-turn light into the KMart parking lot, traffic was backed up so much that I couldn't even get into the left-turn lane until the other lights went green and people moved forward. Finding a parking space was tricky too... Everyone's flocking all the department stores for that last-minute Christmas shopping plus any "HELP! It's winter in Portland and I'm not prepared!!!" shopping.

Eventually I got into the store, which, for the parking spaces taken up outside, was surprisingly unchaotic. The only thing was I hadn't been in a KMart for years and I had no idea where the ice scrapers were or even if they had any. But I followed my instinct and tiptoed my way back to what looked like the car section.

It took some searching, but I finally found the aisle for winter car care, only to find (not surprisingly) everything out of stock. That was okay; my hopes hadn't been too high anyway. I just wanted an excuse to get out of the apartment.

I wandered the store a bit, loathe to attack the streets in a 2000 lbs of metal again. I looked at some hideous snow boots, the only reasonable snow footwear they had left in the shoe section, and decided I was doing okay with my current shoes.

Act 4

When I got back out to my car, I realized the snow piled on top of my car had slipped down a smidge onto the windshield. That's the other thing about a PT. Their tops curve quite smoothly and gently downward into the windshield. It's kinda cool-looking but not exactly practical in snowy weather. Shoulda taken that off with my ice scraper, I suppose, I thought to myself. Set on just getting home now, and really not that far away, I decided to go and sweep it off when I got there.

It was now 3:30 and traffic looked pretty normal coming out of the KMart parking lot. Cars were lined up to turn left onto Tualatin-Sherwood clear through the 4-way stops in the parking lot. I took a longish way around to the light so that I could just slide up to the tail end of the line instead of attempt to turn into it halfway, which never works and mainly just bugs people.

The light makes me nervous, though. It's not a protected left turn light and sometimes you don't get through the intersection before it turns yellow again, especially if lots of people are coming on straight.

But this time most people across the intersection were turning right to get to the turning lanes for I-5 to Portland or Salem. Lots of backed-up traffic once more. Unusually backed-up, actually... I wondered what the deal was. Just rush hour in the snow?

Everybody in my left-turn lane glided right through the light seemingly without regard for anybody who might be wanting to come straight, so I followed suit. I don't think there were any people coming straight anyway.

The light turned yellow as I went through, as it always seems to. I continued gliding through the intersection, and people behind me followed. Traffic rules seem to be generally bent in crazy weather.

When I got into my lane I realized why traffic was so backed up. There were two trucks stuck in the Portland freeway-entrance-only lanes. I could see black snow dug up under their spinning wheels.

In a moment of horror, I wondered if they were perhaps blocking my way home. I turned my eyes ahead of me and saw cars squeezing past one of the trucks in the lane I take home. I looked back to the truck and yes, there was enough space to get through. Not much!! But enough.

Following the cars ahead of me once more, I inched past the truck, praying again that he wouldn't suddenly start sliding uncontrollably backwards down the overpass and slam into me. Have I mentioned trucks scare me to death?

Act 5

Having made it safely past the truck, I was now three lighted intersections from home. Yay!! My daring adventure was finally coming to an end!

I got through the first intersection with no problems, just a little sliding and nervousness as I wondered whether traffic was treating the two lanes at this point as one or two. I took a chance on the latter and drove in the (indiscernible) left lane as usual. The guy in the car beside me did likewise and I breathed a sigh of relief. Navigating traffic seems like a lot of guesswork to me, snow or no snow, and I love guessing right.

I was going a little faster than the man on my righthand side and pulled ahead of him, knowing the lanes merged into one shortly. The end was in sight. Just two more lights and I'd be turning into my own parking lot again.

SHLUMP!

Snow started careening down my windshield.

Oops! Windshield wipers to get it off... Still doing okay...

SHLUMP!

Okay, continuing with the windshield wiper plan. My visibility is still fine.

SHLUMP! SHLUMP! SHLUMP!

Oh great. There went my visibility.

Blinking right. Hazard lights, just in case. Checking the mirror. Hey, all right! The guy's way behind me. Into the nearest parking lot.

Only concerned with parking so I could get the darn snow off my windshield, I pulled the wrong way into a very narrow parking lot, parking the wrong way across a few parking spaces. I turned off my car and got right out with my ice scraper and pushed tons of snow off my windshield. Every last bit of the snow that had once been on my roof was now on the hood of my car or the ground. I made sure to get ALL the snow off my car, whether or not it seemed necessary; I had so had enough trouble with it for today!

I had to just laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. What a day it'd been so far. What stupid things I'd done.

After assuring myself that ALL the snow was off my car, I was relieved to get back in and prepare to proceed safely the whole block-and-a-half left until home.

Now, how to get out of this one-way parking lot?

I decided, instead of reversing out and risking backing out into the intersection I'd entered by, I'd just try a three-point turn to get myself going in the right direction. I had plenty of space. Of course, with a PT, it's never a three-point turn, it's always more like an eight-point turn, if you're lucky. Darn turning radius.

So I started. Zhoop, zhoop... Zhoop, zhoop... Forward, backward, forward, backward.

Oh great. Traffic had come into the parking lot...from the right direction.

The first was just a little truck with a trailer of some sort hooked on. I was out of his way and was glad to just sit and wait for him to leave until I could try getting out myself soon.

Oh, here came another car... Hm... Let's hope there aren't anymore. Should I try to get in behind this truck, or wait until this car goes by? I was here first, I ought to be able to get in front of that car... I'm almost out. Zhoop, zhoop... zhoop...

Hm. Now there was some guy walking out from the building. I stopped, indecisive once more. Continue trying to get out, or just wait? The guy stopped as well and looked very nervously in between me and the other car. I felt very embarrassed all of a sudden.

I honestly don't purposely try to endanger people. Really.

I put my car in park, and tried to communicate nonverbally that he could go. He looked back and forth, back and forth between us again, checking. You going to stop? You going to stop? Okay, then. He finally walked through the two of us.

Just me and the car and the truck again. Why was the truck still there, for goodness' sake? He should've gone forever ago. It would've made things a lot easier for me and this other car...

Now I worried at the car across from me. Was he going to let me in? Please, please, please...

I blinked left real briefly, to show that I was going to try and move in. I paused, and the truck suddenly pulled out, and I FINALLY slid into the place the truck had just left, in front of the other car. Hallelujah!! I was on my way home!

Epilogue

I manuevered my way slowly down the narrow parking lot to the light outside 7-11, where I usually exit this narrow parking lot if I'm going home. It's easier to turn right there, where the lanes have already merged into one, than it is to turn smack dab into the merging lane and immediately try to merge.

I observed that today there was not a bus stuck right outside the entrance to my apartment complex, as there had been yesterday. I turned in and pulled my car into a parking space--NOT the one I started out the day in! I never wanted a repeat of this again.

The lot was really slanted where I parked and it scared me to death for a sec when I stopped my car and realized it. Should I try to find a space at a more level spot? Was my car going to slide into the one next to me?

I made myself stop panicking and decided to just observe the lot and see if there WERE any level parking spaces. Stepping out and stepping back, I assured myself that, yeah, pretty much the whole parking lot was slanted, especially 'cause of the snow bunched up in places. If the truck on my right was going to be okay, I should be okay.

I finally turned round and started the trek back to my apartment from the parking space I was in. I'd taken about two steps when my legs suddenly went flying from under me and I landed hard on my side.

Ow.

This day was done with.

Well, it is Christmas...

2008-12-22T17:51:00.000-08:00

...Which is my excuse for posting so many blogs.

Today I made lemon bars for Steve's birthday. (Specially requested.) I had no powdered sugar to put on top, so they came out looking kind of naked... But they still taste good. :)

Mommy Claus

Steve worked from home until lunch. On lunch break, he put chains on his car's tires to drive to the office. I really wished he weren't going and almost made him stay, but just as he was trying to say goodbye, Mom called and declared she was coming to our house.

"You are?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. I got my Jeep," she said.

Mom loves her Jeep. She drove cross-country in it last fall, all by herself, camping at KOA sites along the way so she didn't have to pay for hotels and such.

"O-k-a-y," I said, knowing full well that once my mom sets her mind to things, she gets them done, come hell or high water. Or just high snow.

So off Stephen went to work, and about 45 minutes later, Mom came in with a gust of wind and a bag of goodies. Kind of like Santa Claus.

"I ought to call you Mommy Claus," I told her as she pulled out Christmas napkins, Christmas candles, Christmas Trader Joe's cookies, and ornament hangers--plus some music I'd forgotten at her house.

The Sugar Cookie Saga

"I forgot the sugar cookie ingredients too," I told her. I was determined to make sugar cookies this season. Even though I'm missing (nearly) all the ingredients, not to mention most of the cooking stuff, and have never, ever made sugar cookies before.

"Oh!" Mom said triumphantly. "Yes, so guess what I did..."

And she pulled flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla out of her sack.

I love my mom. :)

So I now had all the ingredients... Except shortening. Mom decided we should go in her Jeep to Fred Meyer's nearby and buy some shortening. She also wanted a shovel. "Good luck!" I said. "Fred Meyer's is out of everything winter, and nothing's getting restocked because all the trucks are stuck."

We ventured out anyway and picked up some shortening. I also bought cooking spray and frosting. As we shopped around, I realized...I didn't have a rolling pin. Mom suggested I use the can of Pam.

Mom took off pretty soon after we returned. As soon as she left, I researched sugar cookies on the Web (yep, I didn't even have a recipe!). Every recipe I found included mixing up the ingredients with an electric mixer... Which I also don't have.

This was a true crisis.

I called Mom up. "Mom, can you make sugar cookies without an electric mixer?" I asked, worried.

"Oh," Mom said, in that 'Hm... Didn't think of that...' tone. "Well, yeah, with arm power. And a sturdy mixing spoon. It'll be... Well, then there's the flour. Oh well. Just use arm power!"

Hm. How hard was this going to be?

I thanked my mom, and with my recipe up on the computer, a mixing bowl and a clean wooden spoon in hand, I jumped in.

All in all, I think it went over pretty well. Stirring the cookie dough wasn't that difficult. The only real problem I had was counter space, or lack thereof.

I made cookies in the shapes of Christmas trees, ornaments, hearts, and one candy cane. Only one, because the dough kept breaking.

The hearts were thrown in there because it was the only cookie cutter I had even remotely close to a Christmas shape. Christmas means love, right?

The rest of the cookie shapes were made from cutting around cardboard cut-outs, an idea I got from my grandma.

I still have half of the dough left and plan on finishing up tomorrow, but our cookies look beautiful. :)

Snowed In

2008-12-22T09:24:00.000-08:00

We are officially snowed in.

Stephen tried to get to work today in my car, but the car wasn't able to make it over the snow. Last night's accumulation totals our snowfall to 1.5' here.

He is working from home at our kitchen table. I'm sitting on the couch listening to and watching him. It's kind of fascinating. I know what he does but I've never seen him do it. I kind of want to hover over his shoulder and watch.

What I should be doing is applying for jobs of my own. What else do you do on a snow day at 9 in the morning?

More Snow

2008-12-21T17:46:00.001-08:00

Whew! I am exhausted. This winter weather has got me beat.

We got about 1/2" of freezing rain last night, on top of the 6" of snow we've already got. It's fairly common in the Portland area, but I am not native here and have never seen anything like it. I was amazed when I stepped on what looked like a beautiful snow bank and CRACK! The "beautiful snow bank" broke in shards like a mirror.

I continued to be amazed as we proceeded to un-ice my car. My doors weren't sealed shut, thank goodness. So we turned on my car, put defrost on full blast, grabbed my ice-scraper-chipper and started chipping away. Giving Stephen our only ice scraper to use, I started to use chunks of ice to deice my car. It was incredible to break off 2-foot ice slices.

As we drove through town, several places were closed, including a McDonald's and a Starbucks. We went to Fred Meyer's to get some food. While we were out, it started snow-raining. When we got home, about an inch and a half had collected. Tired of driving in the snow and not getting to play in it, I suggested Steve and I go walk around our apartment complex and take some pictures. I took advantage of the play date and dressed up like an "ice princess"--white eyeshadow, shimmery pink cheeks, and a white sweater with a faux fur-lined hood.

Walking through the snow-ice-snow wore me out, but it was fun and we did get some good pictures.

SNOW.

2008-12-20T17:48:00.000-08:00

The weather has been crazy this week. We had snow on Sunday and around-freezing temperatures all week long, plus more snow every night, and unrelenting snow today. It's been snowing since 5:30 this morning, without stopping.

Tomorrow we're predicted to get freezing rain or snow or both. The schools in the area have been canceled every day this week, so teachers and students get an extra week of Christmas vacation.

It's quite beautiful, but very wearisome. I'm glad I don't live in Michigan or Canada. I would get really tired of the snow, really fast.

Steve and I drove around doing errands today and then spent a little bit of time at his work campus walking around and playing in the fluffy white. It's not wet enough to pack, so no snowball fights or snowmen, but I did have a fun time running around in it and making a footprint heart and a footprint snowflake. The ponds at his workplace are mostly frozen over. Everything is covered.

What do you like best about snow?

Stephen: I like how it changes the scenery, and I like the element of danger it adds to driving.
Stephanie: I like how it sparkles and makes everything white and fluffy-looking. I also like making snow angels and having snowball fights and sledding in it--basically doing everything fun in it.

Ice and Snow

2008-12-15T18:04:00.000-08:00

Ice and snow, ice and snow... The Portland metro area got dumped on last night, like much of the Pacific Northwest. Then a strong east wind kicked up from the Gorge and scoured the snow into ice. The temperatures aren't predicted to get above freezing this week. Our apartment complex parking lot is like an ice skating rink.

Stephen got to work okay with chains on his tires. I planned to spend the day with my mom, since it's her birthday. We were going to go hear a brass band playing Christmas music. I couldn't get out of the parking lot, so Mom went ahead and drove down to get me. When we got there, there was no brass band (go figure), so we instead went to the mall to eat and then headed to Powell's.

When we got back to my apartment complex, the mail truck was stuck in our parking lot and being rescued by the post office. As Mom and I approached, the mail lady called, "Do you want your mail? What apartment are you in?" I stopped and talked with her a bit--she congratulated me on getting married, which made me smile. :D I'd seen her, but never talked to her before.

Stephen and I spent most of yesterday indoors, watching Christmas movies and decorating our tree. Tonight we are supposed to make gingerbread houses with the young marrieds group, but trying to find a strange place at night in this kind of weather makes me a little nervous.

The Holidays

2008-12-04T15:16:00.000-08:00

Our first holiday season as a married couple. We dealt with the juggling families last year too, but last year Stephen's parents were still living in our area. This year, the family moved away because Stephen's dad got a new job.

This year we spent Thanksgiving day with my aunt's boyfriend's family and some of their mutual friends. My grandparents, who live 6 hours away, were able to join us, and my mom and sister, who live in the area, were there too. It was a big party, and Stephen and I got tired and left kind of early and had a little Thanksgiving outing for two to the theaters. We saw Quantam of Solace.

Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, we went to his grandmother's house. She still lives in the area. His parents drove down to spend Thanksgiving there, so we got to see them too.

It looks like this year we'll be going up to my mom's house for Christmas Eve like we did last year, spending a little time with my aunt and her boyfriend on Christmas, and then driving to Stephen's parents' house to visit them for the rest of the weekend. It's nice that Christmas comes on a Thursday this year, so Stephen gets a four-day weekend.

We won't get to see my grandparents or Stephen's brother and sister-in-law this year, but I imagine in the new year we'll have opportunities to visit with them. In the meantime, we'll enjoy a slightly smaller Christmas and try to form some new Christmas traditions of our own.

ISFJ and ENTJ

2008-11-23T00:48:00.000-08:00

How much more different could we be?

I'm introverted. I live more for the present. I am a total feeler.

He's extraverted. He lives more for the future. He's a total thinker.

Most of our arguments arise from the T and F differences (he says something based on logic and I react to it on emotion), but our reasons for whatever we're arguing about hang more on our S and N differences (he's got the big picture and I'm getting stuck on the details).

Somehow we can stand each other.

Stephen's protective strength and quiet confidence drew me. My sweet and tender nature drew him. I guess we're each other's missing pieces.

We also have Love in common. We're both strong followers of Christ--albeit in our own different ways--and both have a heart for people. Stephen calls us "rescuers." Christ was a rescuer too. So the thing that we have in common with each other is the same thing we have in common with Christ.

How much more perfectly fit for each other can you get?