hmmmm, wonder what he's thinking???

Gotta love those big brown eyes!

"Cheeeeese"

playing in the sandbox

gotta love 'naptime' hair

So stinkin' cute!

Home

As I woke up this morning, I realized that it was MUCH more fun to wake up knowing a 22-month old was waiting on you. It’s just not the same now. I’m back from my trip to visit Kyle, Katie, and David and I’ve already looked through all of my pictures and watched all of the videos I took. I had SO much fun! It was neat to see the new house and all of the work Kyle and Katie have done on it. It was also a lot of fun to hang out with David…and not to worry—I have PLENTY of pictures! I will be posting several soon. I’m grouping themes at the moment. For the time being, I will leave you with this one. This is the first picture that I took of David after they picked me up at the airport. We stopped at a St. Louis mall to eat dinner and let David run around at the indoor playground before the drive to Perryville. He's a little boy now! Boy, time does fly, doesn't it?!

Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis...

meet me at the fair.
Don't tell me the lights are shining
anywhere but there.
We will dance the hoochie-coochie,
you will be my tootsie-wootsie,
if you will
Meet me in St Louis, Louis
meet me at the fair!

oh, sorry...I'm in Missouri--about an hour south of St. Louis--and everytime I think of being here, I start singing that song--it's from the musical Meet Me In St Louis--one of my favorites!

I am currently visiting my brother and sister-in-law Kyle and Katie, and my AMAZING, ADORABLE nephew David. I'll be sure to post PLENTY of pics when I get home! I wish I could post video...hmmm, I'll have to work on that! Anyway, just wanted to check in and let anyone know where I am since I'll not be posting very regularly right now. I'm having a wonderful time...see ya soon!

Random Pics from my trip to New Orleans

These are just some random pics from when I went with Jen to New Orleans a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful day, so the quarter was very picturesque. There's no rhyme or reason to them...just shots I liked!

Behind St. Louis Cathedral

A look down Royal Street with buildings on Canal in the distance

A pedestrian mall somewhere in the quarter

A side entrance at the LA Supreme Court Bldg

I just thought this building looked neat

Just thought you'd like to know...

I am worth $1,792,564.00 on HumanForSale.com

This summer at camp, one of our weekly activities was a prayer experience that at first seemed bizarre, but quickly became one of the most memorable and experiential parts of camp for both our staff as well as the students and adults who came. It's funny how God will bring things to mind that you have completely forgotten about. Just today, I got an email from Amy--a fellow staffer from the summer--asking if I had a copy of that prayer experience--it was a series of quotes and verses and statements to ponder. I'd written several of those passages in my journal, and was searching out those entries when I read Jen's latest post and realized that the prayer that she's quoting by Thomas Merton was one of my favorite passages from that prayer experience. I hope Jen doesn't mind, but I'm including that prayer here along with a few others that I found particularly touching.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself. And the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust in You always. Though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

~Thomas Merton

O Divine Love, conceal yourself; leap over our suffering, make us obedient! Mystify us, arouse and confuse us. Shatter all our illusions and plans so that we lose our way, and see neither path nor light until we have found you, where you are to be found and in your true form--in the peace of solitude, in prayer, in submission, in suffering, and in flight from idle talk and worldly affairs.

~Jean-Pierre DeCaussade

'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the Lord, 'and will bring you back from captivity.'

~Jeremiah 29:11-14a

Dear Jesus, send your Spirit on us so that we will be taught to pray. Prayer is hard, requiring great effort, but when done, effortless. I confess I have never liked to pray. Prayer is too much like begging. So I have to pray that your generous Spirit will teach me to beg. I beg you to help all of us discover that our lives are constituted by prayer, so that we may be in your world one mighty, joyous prayer. Make us so rested by such prayer, so content to be Your people, that we will kill no more. Amen.

~Stanley Hauerwas

Find me here. Speak to me. I want to feel you. I need to hear you. You are the light that is leading me to the place where I find peace again. You are the strength that keeps me walking. You are the hope that keeps me trusting. You are the life to my soul. You are my purpose. You are everything. And how can I stand here with you, and not be moved by you? Would you tell me how could it be any better than this? You calm the storms and you give me rest. You hold me in your hands, you won't let me fall. You still my heart and you take my breath away. Would you take me in? Would you take me deeper now? And how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you? Would you tell me how could it be any better than this? Because you're all I want, you're all I need. You are everything. Everything.

~"Everything" by Lifehouse, from the album No Name Faces

The things I find in boxes...

I'm having a wonderful time unpacking boxes that were packed about 10 months ago. Last week I found my Calvin and Hobbes books. I absolutely LOVE Calvin and Hobbes. I can't tell you how upset I still am that Bill Watterson stopped writing. These are a few sites that I found by googling Calvin & Hobbes:

• 25 great Calvin & Hobbes strips--along with commentary
• uComics currently posts "Calvin and Hobbes" cartoons on their 11th anniversary date. Today's rerun, as seen in newspapers, is available along with a one-month archive.
• A good article on Calvin & Hobbes in The San Francisco Chronicle from Dec 30, 1995.

I can't believe the strip has been gone for almost ten years now! Boy, time flies! Well I will probably be posting others as I re-read them yet again, so stay tuned...

The following strip is one of my favorite of the school-themed strips...my, how perceptive ole' Bill truly is! :) (you can double-click on the strip for a larger view)

Saturday, glorious Saturday!

I awoke after a 13 hour rest (yeah, I was really tired) to the realization that I have NOTHING planned for today! It's a wonderful feeling, as I feel like I've been running around like mad for the last month. I have plenty that I need to do--clean the apartment, hang pictures/decorate the apt (which always takes me forever to do), grocery shopping, work on camp stuff (I AM the director, for crying out loud!), read one of the six books I keep saying I'm going to read, etc, etc, etc...but I don't have any commitments...no 10th grade fundraising events (did that last night), no papers to grade (grades were due yesterday so I stayed up late on Thursday night getting that done...ever the procrastinator), no camp planning retreats, no Josh Groban concerts (*sigh*), nothing! So what did I do first--well, first I made coffee ;)--I called my sister to see what she was doing because I can't just sit around here all day! :) And now I'm blogging...I wonder what the rest of the day will hold?! If I'm lucky, not much of consequence! ha!! Happy Saturday!

Holy Cereal, Batman!

Just got home from a spiritually fulfilling (ha!) day at school and was hungry but not quite ready for dinner, so I poured myself a bowl of Ezekiel 4:9. “Ezekiel 4:9?”--you say? Yeah, ALL the spiritual kids are eating it!! It is “The Original Flourless Sprouted Grain Cereal.” As described in the Holy Scriptures, “Take also unto thee Wheat and Barley and Beans and Lentils and Millet and Spelt and put them in one vessel and make bread of it…” Ezekiel 4:9—A Complete Protein Cereal . “The Live Grain Difference!” Here’s a pic:


A close-up of the cereal

Yeah, I was shopping in the healthy food section of Drug Emporium the other day and ran across this and my curiosity got the better of me. I read the entire box (which gives a good little background into live grains and unlocking dormant food energy and such) and just had to buy it and see what it was all about. I was prepared to hate it but it’s actually pretty good. Not anything I’d ever feed a young child or anything, but I like it. And I feel more holy already! ;)

A Trip and a Plan
This romp through the healthy food section was not some flash in the pan, folks. I began a new campaign on Monday that I have lovingly deemed the IDWTGTNYCLLAFC Campaign—or SC in NY for short (for those of you who aren’t good at figuring out my cryptic codes, this one is: I Don’t Want To Go To New York City Looking Like A Fat Cow. SC in NY is simply Skinny Cow in New York—you should see the codes on some of my stored boxes!! ) Day three and I’ve decided that I’m just sorta easing into it. I’m doing great on eating healthy—it’s just all of the junk that I pick up in between! People shoving chocolate birthday cake and benigets into my (albeit open) hands! Ugh, where has all of my willpower gone? I’m hoping this trip will begin to provide some inspiration soon—at the very least it’s inspiring me to eat at home to save $$$!

For those of you whom I have not told, I am going to New York in May with my friends Bonny and Jen. We are leaving the day school lets out and getting back three days before I have to be in Nashville to leave for camp! Yeah, I like filling EVERY last minute of free time! I’m so excited!! I love being a tourist. I hate tourists if I’m living somewhere, but I love being one!! We’re going to see a few shows (Julius Caesar—staring Denzel Washington; Wicked (which a pre-story to the Wizard of Oz); and The Phantom of the Opera). I also want to go to a baseball game and the Yankees are playing the Red Sox at home while we’re there, but the games are all sold out, so if anyone has some tickets lying around, let me know!! And we’re still making plans…so if you have any suggestions as to where we should go or what we should see, drop me a line because I’m looking for all of the advice I can get. I just can't wait! Bring on the Ezekiel 4:9!!

The Bad Weed (Another look at THE most amazing child in all of the world!)

These are some new pictures of David that Katie just posted this weekend. I thought y'all would want to see--actually, I just wanted to gush over him! ;) He's growing up so quickly! He looks like a little boy now...*sniff, sniff.* I'm going to visit them for Easter and I just can't wait!!

Ready for Easter!

Smelling the lilies!

caught one!

I see you!

concentration

reeling it in

fishin' in the new "boat"

It's hard work being this cute!

Josh and our New Orleans Rendezvous

No, I didn't fall off of the face of the earth! Last week was just a little bit crazy, but it was all worth it...Jen and I went to the Josh Groban concert in New Orleans on Friday. It was wonderful! Josh Groban is one of my all time favorite musicians and we had GREAT seats. When we got there, we found out that we were in Club seats and had access to the club.

This is a pic of me and Jen in da' club...yeah, we had a lot of fun with that one!

The concert was at the New Orleans Arena and Chris Botti was the opening act. I didn't get any pics while he was on stage, but he's a great musician as well. This picture is of Josh onstage. Most of my pictures didn't come out very well--gotta love concert lighting--but I thought that this one was at least proof that we were at the concert! :)

A shot from out seats--we had GREAT seats!!

This is where I would have put the pics of Josh serenading me. I'm sorry to say I don't have any...Jen was being stubborn and wouldn't take the pictures! ok, just kidding, but a girl can dream, can't she...?

The next day Jen and I spent a little time wandering around the French Quarter.

A beautiful day to be in New Orleans! This is a shot of Jackson Square and Saint Louis Cathedral at the heart of the Vieux Carre

One of the booths in the farmer's market...this one reminded me and Jen of our friend Abe who is slightly obsessed with tea! :)

one of my favorite galleries on Royal Street

Jen spent a little time catching up with a friend while we strolled about in the quarter

Jon met up with us in the quarter and wandered around with us for a bit

Biking is a popular mode of transportation for the locals in the Vieux Carre.

Street performers in front of the LA Supreme Court Bldg

Brennan's--a New Orleans institution

We got stopped by a man in a NOPD hat and Jon was issued a citation...for walking with pretty girls among other things! It was a gimick that this man used to solicit donations for a program that feeds the homeless. He was really funny!

Jon and his citation

A close-up of Jon's citation

Look at what I found!!

Like manna from heaven, these lovely pictures just appeared outside my door today after 7th hour. Hmmmm, I wonder who they might be for? I just thought I would give my faithful readers a look at some of my students in their younger days! Just precious, guys! Love ya!

Becca, Grace, Brittany, and Sam

Grace, a friend, and Brittany just a swingin'

God Bless the Chickpea

I don't know who discovered the chickpea, but I would kiss him on the lips too! I don't know what it is about ground chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, and a little lemon juice, but I just love the stuff! Della and I got take-out from Zeus last night and I just finished some great leftovers. I can't get enough of that restaurant (and all of the cute employees don't hurt, either)! Della seemed to enjoy it as well, especially the fella who kept us company while we waited for our order! He was the brother of Nidal Balbeisi--the manager of the restaurant. The restaurant is a family business. He's an engineer in Kuwait but he was kinda "hosting" that night while he's in town. It was a very interesting conversation, and the food was wonderful as always.


And for those of you who think, "Hummus--ugh, *gag*!" I was where you are not that long ago. But fortunately, I got over it and now I love the it! I highly recommend it.

Sales, Boys, and a Mad Black Woman...

Erica told me about some sales going on at the mall recently, so I thought I’d go tonight and take a look since I hadn’t been in about a month or so. Two shirts, two sweaters, a skirt, and a bunch of Bath and Body Works antibacterial products later, I’m home. But hey, it was all on sale! Well, all but the skirt, but I’m concocting a new outfit for the Josh Groban concert NEXT WEEKEND!! I must say I AM excited! Jen and I are going. She has a countdown on her white board at school that says, “____ days until Josh.” She’s so funny. We are both big fans. He has an amazing voice! And he seems like a nice person, too. The concert is in New Orleans and I’m excited about that too because I love being in New Orleans. There’s just so much to do!

Anyway… this is turning out to be a rather random post, but I never really do those much, so tonight is just unique…

I saw Dupie in the mall tonight (it’s a nickname and I have no idea if I’m spelling it correctly.) I think I see him EVERY time I go to the mall—he works there so that accounts for some of it, but here lately, I see him in the mall itself—not just where he works. We went through a stage a while back where saw each other randomly about twice a week. He accuses me of stalking him; I accuse him of living in the mall. He’s a funny guy…

Last night a few of us from school went to dinner at Outback and to see a movie. I had mahi mahi and boy, it was goodi goodi!! We then went to see The Diary of a Mad Black Woman. It was really good. I didn’t know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. It was hilarious in spots, dramatic and disturbing in spots, heartbreaking in spots, and incredibly romantic in spots. (It had a lot of spots!) I was particularly impressed with the Christian messages it expressed without being a “Christian” movie. There’s other stuff I really liked too, but I don’t want to give the movie away, so we’ll have to talk about that later…

Today the 10th grade girls put on “Camo Craze” day for the elementary boys at our school. It was yet another fundraiser for their class fund. The goal of the fundraising is supposed to be a class trip at the end of the year, but I’m hearing rumors that they are not wanting to do that…all I have to say is that we BETTER go somewhere and it BETTER be good! Believe me, I am not doing these “Princess Parties” and “Camo Craze” parties for the fun of it! I took a whole bunch of really cute pictures, but I’m not sure if I’m allowed to post them on my blog—I’ll confab with my lawyers and get back to you…

I will post one picture from my day.

hey, it's me!
I took this self-portrait while waiting for instructions as we set up this morning. I was bored and ready to take pictures! :)

Anyway, it was a long day and I’ve enjoyed the evening of solitude. I know in years past, the thought of being by myself on a Saturday night would have driven me crazy, but I’m quite enjoying my evening alone…I guess it has a little to do with growing up and learning to enjoy your own company? It’s been nice.

Rambling Thoughts on God

It's funny how things will hit me with repetition. A few weeks ago I was running MediaShout for our Sunday services at church and we were singing the song, "Indescribable" (written by Laura Story and Jessica Reeves; featured on Arriving by Chris Tomlin). I've heard the song several times and had run through it with the band several times at practice and in all three services, but somewhere around the second service, these lines really struck me:

Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky
And you know them by name
You are amazing, God

And I began to think about those lyrics and my thoughts began to spread to all of the other things that He has created--us included--and I began to ponder what it would be like to be God, watching His creation. Watching those who were created in His image as they hurt themselves and others who were likewise created in His image... As they took for granted the things that they had and ruined their lives striving for things just out of reach... Watching them as they tried so hard to explain away the miraculous creation that only He had the power to create... Listening to them as they discounted his place in their schools and businesses and lives... I believe that God has an active role in this world and in our personal lives, but I just imagine that He has to sit back and watch us every once in a while, if only to chuckle at our ridiculous antics.

It blows my mind that God put us in the midst of this amazing world and gave us the free will to decide whether we want to love Him and obey him or not... And then He allows us to exercise that free will knowing that the choices we make are sometimes poor and that consequences will inevitably follow--consequences we will more than likely blame him for.

Tonight I was at worship practice in preparation for this Sunday's services and another song we were practicing reminded me of my thoughts from a few weeks back. The band was working on "Blessed Be Your Name" by Matt and Beth Redman and the lyrics that caught me tonight (actually, every time I sing the song) were:

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

And again I was reminded of how fickle I can be... It's so easy to be in tune with God when everything is going my way, but the second verse really gets me. Because why should I praise God any less when life hurts...when I've been caught in my own foolishness...when I am suffering from the result of sin in this world--either my own or that of others?

Something came up at school this week that kinda brought that all into just a little better focus for me. Nothing dramatic--just the typical angst of teaching middle/high schoolers--but it helped me to see life a little more clearly from God's perspective... And I caught a glimpse of the self-centered, demanding 8th grader I probably sound like to him most of the time.

I know that this probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense to anyone else, but it's just sort of been the thing I've been 'chewing on' for the last few weeks. And it's helping me to see that I need to worry more about following His lead and less about what other people think about what I'm doing. It's a hard lesson to learn. I'm thankful that God is more patient with me than I am with Him--and His patience just illustrates the lesson all over again...

Yeah, I'm cute...I know it!

Awwwwhhh, how cute!

Jackson the Bumble Bee

Erica found Ony's Halloween costume from a couple of years ago Saturday while we were moving stuff, and then the fun began! I don't know if Jackson agreed, but WE had a lot of fun! I took a whole bunch of pictures of the little bumble bee, but I've tried to limit my post to my very favorite--I could take pictures of that kid all day!

What are these people doing to me?!

Just WHAT are you laughing at Erica? I've got a stinger here and I'm not afraid to use it!! ...you too Ony!!

Look at me...I'm a bumble bee!


Get this thing off of me!