soon and very soon

I have been thinking of witty things to write on the blog to explain such a long absence. However, I am really tired and can't think of any of them right now. Aaron is gone and I am going to do a massive 20-minute cleaning raid on the whole house before going to bed so that I can take a bunch of pictures tomorrow and put them up for all to see. In the meantime, here is a list of things that have happened since moving in to the new house:

- we found a nest of baby raccoons in the chimney. They didn't make it, which is sad when you think about cute baby raccoons and relieving when you think about how nasty adult raccoons are.
- Aaron planted a garden. I am trying really hard to remember to water it. I am not usually very good at this.
- we found a robin's nest in our apple tree. I decided to stop pruning the tree for now to just let them be. A sort of apology to nature for the baby raccoons.
- we have been inviting the local Jehovah's Witness door-to-door evangelists in to our home and politely ripping their heretical christology to shreds. They're really nice ... but they're still wrong.
- Our friend Cameron and his lovely mom stopped by to be our first overnight guests ... we hadn't even been here a week, but we always hoped this house would be a great chance for hospitality and it was nice to start that off with a visit from a college friend. Kind of blew my martha-stewart-entertainment ideals to shreds. (Martha says: "Set out a full set of towels for guests". Abby says: "Give your guests a general idea of which room has the boxes of towels so they know where to look for them.")
- I refinished a desk. It was a LOT of work but very much worth it!
- Brutus has a new friend! We now have a small warmouth sunfish named Rameses in the tank with him. Brutus tries to eat Rameses. I was hoping they would be friends.
- I have a to-do list that is 3 pages long.
- We're trying to avoid buying a lawn mower and cutting the small patch of grass in the backyard with an old electric weed-whacker the previous resident left in the garage. Yeah... awesome.
- I started using white vinegar as fabric softener.
- This house is twice the size of our apartment and we don't know why there is still too much stuff here ... I already have another big bag to take to goodwill.
- We really want a piano and a 2-person kayak and to go camping sometime soon!
- I started getting migraines again. Boo.

(I feel very, very, boring when I look at this list.)

Please remember: Iowa might not be a hot destination, but it can be a great stopping point for cross-country trips, so we would love for any and all friends to come by at any time!!

ps, read this: um, yes!

spring!!

hallelujah! It's spring. I'm crazy busy getting ready to move to our new house (closing in 7 days and 2 hours! can't believe it!) and the best/worst part is paint colors and decorating ideas.

It's the best because it's exciting. I love it when things are put together well, when I'm surrounded by inspirational beauty and order, when I have somewhere I'm proud to welcome friends and family.

It's the worst because it's expensive and if you don't like something it costs lots of money to replace! I've been mostly embarassed by how mismatched and poorly organized and unrelaxing our apartment is. Hospitality is almost non-existant because there's not room for more people in here and we are definitely in the early days of our marriage with lots of mismatched furniture. (In all fairness, we have this stuff because of many very generous gifts... we're too cheap to turn down anything free!) I am excited to move past this hodge-podge apartment life, but I am trying to remind myself that looking at Pottery Barn and thenest.com for ideas will not magically transform my furniture or create artwork on my wall ex nihilo.

So, now that I've explained why decorating is exciting and scary, I'll give you my reflections on paint colors. If you have ever looked at the paint section in Lowes or Home Depot, you know that there are ~5,000,000 colors to pick from. And I am so inspired right now by the cool, crisp colors of spring. There's so much to love about spring, such as good weather, flowers, and beautiful spiritual parallels to God's work in our lives and hearts. So I'm very glad that we're picking paint colors in the spring. It's inspiring to think that we can offer our new little home as a place of inspiration, refuge*, and the ministry of refreshing hospitality.



*Aaron hates the idea that our home is supposed to be a "refuge". I like it so I'm just going to keep going in that direction, but I'm trying to think of a word that he would like better.

men at some time are masters of their fates...

...the fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings." (Willy Shakespeare, Julius Caesar)








And here's a pretty picture of the Iowa sunrise over our pond:

"zis is vat i suggest"

I am having so much fun thinking about what awesome things I could do to our house! If I could find a way to magically triple my income by staying at home and being an awesome interior decorator (for myself) I totally would.

However, there are many times I just wish someone like Franck from Father of the Bride could come with me and tell me exactly what would be most beautiful for my abode. There are all sorts of questions I have and I don't really know where to turn for answers.

1. Paint. It's not as simple as saying "green bedroom, blue bathroom, bright berry red in the kitchen." I have ~4,000 chips of each of those colors and I am constantly second guessing myself. Aaron is no help - he says leaving it white would be best, so we can avoid a "rainbow house".

2. Curtains. In magazines, the windows go almost down to the floor so everything is shown with floor-length curtains. I just can't tell if they would look silly with these windows that are only on the top half of the wall.

3. Flooring. As soon as we can afford any upgrades, our first interior project will be the kitchen, especially the floor. The house has beautiful mahogany ceilings and I can't figure out what the best floor would be. Slate would probably look best, but the cost of installing it might double our investment in the house.

There are a few really good things that will come from living in the house:
1. No more paying $2.50 per load of laundry in the apartment! I can't believe I ever complained about paying $1.50 at college.

2. No more fighting about whether or not certain things (cutting boards, wooden spoons, ice cream scoops, etc.) can be put in the dishwasher... because there is no dishwasher. Like I said, the kitchen would be our first big upgrade.

3. There is a beautiful park nearby with a river!

a list of happiness

* my dad and Beth came last weekend! Beth and I got some much-needed sister bonding time.
* my co-workers spent all week complaining about how it was supposed to rain this weekend. Instead, it has been absolutely beautiful! T-shirts and flip-flops all weekend.
* Aaron and I went on a little marriage-retreat weekend courtesy of a christmas present from his parents. The speakers had some nice things to say, but it was mostly nice to spend so much time together! We checked out a cool irish restaurant we've never been to for the "date night" and went to Home Depot on our lunch break to look at seeds and paint colors for our new house.
* Oh yeah... we bought a house! We should close on May 1st and move in soon after it.
* Lent = O Sacred Head = Amazing.
* Daylight savings isn't my favorite part of spring (hehe) but with the time change and the way we rearranged our bedroom furniture, I can watch the sunrise for a few minutes after I hit the alarm. I always think of the song "Morning has Broken" with the lines: Praise with elation! Praise every morning!/ For God's recreation of the new day."

hard times

Today at the bank someone made a comment about how they're keeping large bills in a cash box at home because of how the economy is going. I thought of two things - 1 being that this is the stupidest possible thing to do right now (instead, think debt repayment and real estate investing!), and 2 - why are you telling me this? I could come rob you! Instead of giving her an economic lecture, I nodded and asked if she wanted an account balance on her receipt. Then she said "Well, it's not like YOU'VE faced any hard times so you're probably too optimistic or naive to know what I'm talking about." I've never been on the streets or wondered where my next meal would come from, so I can't really say that I've experienced horrible times in my own life, but all I could think of was how that lady had no clue what my life has been like until now and it was probably the most insensitive thing anyone could ever say. How would she have any idea about whether my life was hard or easy or what I have experienced? We never know what anyone has gone through, especially in that sort of context.

today

In order to assuage the few readers of this blog, I will give you a quick update about my day.

I ran after work OUTSIDE because it was so beautiful and the dog came with me again! I was SO HAPPY about it. I told him to go home when we passed the farmhouse but he wouldn't listen and followed me to the apartment. Aaron came up a few minutes after me and said "Hey, did you run outside? That dog is down there whining for you at the door." I want a dog very badly. I am working on a possible puppy name list. The names need to be classic/literary/nerdy/smart, easy to yell, and to weird to ever give a child. So far I really like Icharus. Nicknamed Ike because Icharus isn't easy to yell, naturally. Someone came to the bank today at the drive-up with a golden retriever puppy named Sandy. Cute, but not very original.

Right now Aaron and I are arguing about who would have to teach our kids' science lessons. We would leave this responsibility up to me because... ?

I have a goal of running 4 times a week and studying for the GRE a little bit every day until I take it on March 7. It's coming up kind of soon!

Iowa is really beautiful. That's what I was thinking about as I was chasing the sunset on the dirt road surrounded by miles of crop fields. This is beautiful. I like Iowa, but I'm still struggling with the idea of Iowa. It just seems so midwestern, countryish, boring and corny. If I truly let myself like it here, I'm afraid I will be midwestern, countryish, boring and corny. Ick.

the morality of pop radio

you make me want to be brave

I wish christmas lasted forever. Specifically, I wish that Christmas music was on the radio year-round. Certainly everyone has heard "Santa Baby" five too many times, but I far prefer the overall moral quality of Christmas songs to the overall moral quality of regular pop radio songs.

There are about eight songs that play oovveerr and oovvvvvvver and oo-ooooooooovvvvvveeerrrrrr on the radio station at my job. I don't mean to sound like a total homeschooler or a mom about this, but I also can't believe this stuff comes out on the airwaves and that people who consider themselves to be "decent" actually listen to it.
1. Kid Rock's "All Summer Long"
It was 1989, my thoughts were short my hair was long
Caught somewhere between a boy and man
She was seventeen and she was far from in-between
It was summertime in Northern Michigan

And we were trying different things
We were smoking funny things
Making love out by the lake to our favorite song
Sipping whiskey out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow
Singing "sweet home Alabama" all summer long

Um... MY SISTER is seventeen and I am SO NOT OKAY thinking about some long-haired perv trying different things, smoking funny things, sipping whiskey out of the bottle and ...making love out by the lake with someone like her. I believe that is against the law. Or at least it should be.

2. Pink "So What"
Lyrics:
I guess I just lost my husband
I don't know where he went
So I'm gonna drink my money
I'm not gonna pay his rent(nope)
I got a brand new attitude
And I'm gonna wear it tongiht
I'm gonna get in trouble
I wanna start a fight

Divorce, spite, financial irresponsibility and bar fights. Great.

3. Saving Abel's "Addicted"
Lyrics - reader discretion advised.
I'm so addicted to
All the things you do
When you're going down on me (edited version: When you roll around with me)
In between the sheets
Or the sound you make
With every breath you take
It's unlike anything
When you're loving me

So now we have porn on the radio?!

4. Katy Perry "I kissed a girl"

Ya know, homosexuality.

5. T.I. "Whatever you like"

These lyrics are way too graphic to put on this blog - even compared to the stuff on song number 3.

And to take a break from the immorality, there's also lots of Taylor Swift and Britney Spears, whose latest song is also less-than-okay for more conscientious listeners. I would prefer Santa Baby or the even more annoying "Christmas in Iowa" song to any of these. Even better if it's a true christmas carol, so we can sneak in singing about Jesus.

Roadtrip from Hell (Christmas 2008)

subtitle: there's no place like home.

CHRISTMAS: I had to work the 24th and 26th, so we spent our first christmas holiday together here in Iowa. I got off work at noon on the 24th and promptly flew over to the local mall to finish shopping for gifts. First I had to go to the Gap and get myself a little present, obviously. We went to church together and ate clam chowder for dinner (my family tradition) but I got it...out of a can. Don't tell Grandma. I think the cans of soup were cheaper than buying just the clams to make it the traditional way anyway. Also, who has time to keep up with christmas traditions when you have to work all the time? After dinner we tried to finish wrapping our presents. I told Aaron we should read the Christmas story from Luke 2, so he read it to me in a sing-songy high pitched voice. I had this brilliant idea that it would be really cute if we had a sleepover out by the tree to stay up watching christmas movies. Our laptop with a DVD drive broke so we ended up not doing the movie thing, but we pulled out the sleeping bags and pillows for a night under the tree. Which was great until Aaron started rolling over and pushing me into the evergreen. I kept waking up with ornaments on my face. We bought each other one big present each. I got Aaron a huge amazing fish tank for Brutus and he got me a bread maker. After we had opened the 2 presents we thought about opening the other gifts for our families and re-wrapping them before the trip to Michigan. We both assumed the other person would be making Christmas breakfast so after a "discussion" about it, we fried a pound of bacon and ate it out of the pan. We were invited over for dinner at the home of some new friends' parents, so we spent the day eating delicious food, playing games and staying up late watching Get Smart. ("forty yards... just at the edge of my range!" "if captured, this pill will cause death in nine seconds."/"yes, but how do I get them to take it?") Overall it was a great Christmas.

ROADTRIP: I went to work the next day and we planned to leave after grabbing a quick dinner. However, as I drove home from work at 5:15, the high temperatures were causing extreme fog as the snow melted and I could barely see a car length ahead of me. As I furiously finished (read: started) packing while Aaron loaded up the car, we decided to wait until the extreme fog advisory lifted at 1 am to leave, hoping to strike out when it was cold enough that the fog was gone but not so cold that the condensation turned to ice. We are smart college graduates, after all. So we had our neighbor over for a drink and went to bed, with alarms set for midnight. Then we got several well-meaning phone calls warning us about the bad weather that disrupted our few hours of sleep. We set out at 12:45am and found ourselves in massive fog just on the outside edge of Des Moines, which was the predetermined turning point if the weather was too bad to justify leaving that early. We had to get to Michigan in time to see Aaron's florida-bound grandparents before they left that afternoon, so we kept pressing on. According to the laws of the state of Illinois, I pressed a little too hard. This was fine because I obviously had $75 laying around that I couldn't figure out how to waste for any more enjoyable purposes. I stopped to get gas, coffee (worst cup EVER!) and a little breakfast sandwich to discover that I had, in fact, left my credit card on the dining room table in our apartment and traded all the cash in my wallet for toll quarters. Aaron made fun of me unmercifully. More than just the hellish fog we had experienced throughout Iowa and Illinois, Indiana decided to grace us with thunderstorms on our way into Michigan. Right as we crossed the border into Michigan, I realized that with the time change, Aaron's family was expecting us right about then and we were hours away from their home. I called, and they graciously put their present-opening on hold for a few more hours. We stopped at my parent's house for showers and orange juice. I really just wanted to go to bed, but we got back in the car for another 3 hours to visit the H fam, who began opening presents as soon as we got there. I was in my pajamas with horrible hair after eleven hours of white-knuckled driving. My face decided to revisit 7th grade and a family member with a new camera took a lot of pictures. We spent three and a half days with each side of the family. Most of the week we spent in Michigan fades in my memory behind the fevers, congestion and lung-hacking we did while spending about 20 hours a day sick in bed. A week later I am still coughing.

KNITTING: I have been knitting a lot this fall. My hobbies are very cyclical - I just really get going on something and after a while I get sick of it and do something else for a while. I need to get on a scrapbooking kick soon, but for now I'm still hard-core about my knitting. Here's a picture of the pretty scarf I made for my sister Beth.

do you recall....

...the most famous reindeer of all?
I have a few things to say about Rudolph.
1. If you even have to ask "Do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?", how can that be true? If he's the most famous reindeer then of course people should recall him. And if no one remembers him than he isn't the most famous. Think critically here, people.
2. That future-dentist elf is creepy.
3. One time at church when I was a little girl, a little boy made fun of me for not knowing the silly call-backs to the Rudolph song (like a lightbulb! like pinnochio! like monopoly! like George Washington!). He obviously missed the whole point of the song.
4. I think some girls at Miss Porter's boarding school for rich upper-class girls (Jackie Kennedy Onassis is an alumna) somehow missed the message of Rudolph - a group of students created this clique called "Oprichniki" after the 16th century Russian torture squad and the parents of one girl are suing the school for damages to their daughter's emotions and future college plans because of the emotional stress caused by the taunts of her bullying classmates. Girls can be so mean. It just makes me sick to read about that kind of a thing.

..stays in Iowa

this is why we are a little aloof when people ask what life is like in Iowa: we don't want people to know how we are partying it up in the greatest corn state of the midwest.

thanksgiving, into advent

Thanksgiving was amazing. We visited our families in Michigan - I marvel at how much we packed into those few days. My side of the family took a little higher priority in our time scheduling because of all the out-of-town family visiting, but we managed to enjoy dinner and fun times with both families and even some friends. Perhaps one of the best parts for me was watching Aaron with my little cousins. I loved watching them all interact and play and wrestle and laugh. So fun.

I ran the 5k! This picture is blurry because I was running so fast, obviously. Actually it wasn't that fast but I accomplished my goal, which was ...to finish the whole thing without walking.



And now that thanksgiving is over, I am so excited about christmas! Probably because I don't have any finals to interfere with the unfettered joy that should accompany this season celebrating the word made flesh and the perfect baby being born so man no more may die. Also, our tree is up and it looks amazing.

Catching Up

(I think this should count for a few posts I should have entered a loooong time ago!)
ATM IN PROCESS:
Several times a day I have to write the words "ATM in Process" for part of the paperwork of my job behind the front desk at a bank. Even though this job seems pretty monotonous most of the time, I am trying to remember that who I am and what God is doing through me right now is just an evidence of his grace in process through me.

THANKFUL:
I am very, very thankful for so much in life right now:
* family both here (just the two of us) and far (both sets of parents and siblings all in michigan)
* new church, new friends, new experiences, and new learning in a new place.
* the way I'm growing into my new "job" as wife and partner
* having the time to pick up a new hobby (running) and encouragement from Aaron when I feel not-so-cool about it
* snow


IOWA:
It is really windy here. I suppose this is to be expected when you have a state as flat as a pancake and very few trees. I was running outside yesterday morning instead of using the treadmill in our cushy apartment gym and as the wind blew at me on all sides, I just marveled at how far I could see into the distance. It blows me away. ha.
Here is the Iowa dog that ran with me that one time:
And here are pictures from our Operation Christmas Child shoebox stuffing party. I was afraid of having an empty party, but luckily people came. (Lucky for both my pride and the kids who will get our shoeboxes).

autumn is...

...the bite of the harvest apple.
-Christina Petrowsky

...apple cider, brown leaves, candles, chili, cinnamon, coffee in the afternoon, cool breezes, dirt roads, duck hunting, emerson (as we grow old/...the beauty steals inward), family, friends, gloves, grateful hearts, greetings, hayrides, harvested crops, hugs, indian corn, jack-o-lanterns, knitting, laughter, leaf piles (for jumping in), mashed potatoes, november, october, orange leaves, pumpkin pie, quiet, raking, red leaves, rustling trees, scarves, sweaters, thanksgiving, unstoppable, vests, waiting for christmas, yellow leaves.

let us run with endurance...

...the race that is set out for us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-3, english standard version.

For the first (or maybe it's sort of the second) time in my life, I have started running. A little. Just a couple of miles really, and I usually have to stop and walk a little bit. I have tried this before and I generally drop out after 4 runs. I registered for a 5K on Thanksgiving morning thinking that it would help motivate me to keep training, even if I feel lame and out-of-shape for needing to "train" for a 3.1 mile turkey-trot fun-run. When I give myself a pep-talk to keep up the routine, I think of these verses. I'm also trying to consider the necessity of endurance in some other (non-running) races marked out for me right now. I'm trying to run with endurance the races for a christ-like attitude, marital sacrifice, discipline in my little home, encouraging a friend who is running a life-race far more treacherous than I can fathom, and seeking good friendships in a new place.

The other day I took my usual path outside our apartment and met a new running friend. I hope to see him again soon. It's so much more fun to run with a dog. (I have pictures and a video of the dog but I can't get them to load onto my new computer. I will try again soon.)

This is the basic gist of my current running playlist:
Man! I feel like a woman
Fergilicious
SexyBack
All I Want For Christmas Is You
Truly Madly Deeply
Celine Dion power ballads
Caedmon's Call
I can't lie - there is also some Backstreet Boys, Hanson and Aaron Carter.

patriotism

"To [our opponents], raising taxes is about patriotism. To the rest of America, that's not patriotism. Raising taxes is about killing jobs and hurting small businesses and making things worse. This isn't about anyone's patriotism. It's about Barack Obama's poor judgment." -Sarah Palin

green marriage

Beyond just being good for your body, soul and marriage, it's now clear that n.f.p. is good for the environment. And that makes it so, so trendy.

art

To start this off in good conscience, I want to clearly state that I do not promote the entirety of Rob Bell's theology. However, a broken clock is right twice a day, and someone who loves God (as I am sure Pastor Bell does) is probably right a little more often than that. Some of the things he has to say are thought-provoking and worthy of discussion. I found this article about his reflections on art very impressive.

I liked this article, and I loved this quote: "I would say across cultures unless people have been forced into dehumanizing conditions like slavery, famine, starvation, oppression you find people creating stuff everywhere. Unless there are oppressive forces holding people down, people naturally create. You can find painting all around. You find cave painting, so from the beginning of time, expressing themselves, through whatever medium they had at their disposal, was something humans have done. You could probably argue from that alone that there is something about the human condition that it can’t help but make more."

green leaf

Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf. (Proverbs 11:28)

the bump trumps all?

Late last night we heard some of the best news that has come our way in a long time: the US handed control of the (formerly) dangerous Al-Anbar province to the Iraqi forces! A few years ago, this area was the most volatile in the country of Iraq. The Al-Anbar province contains cities every self-respecting US Citizen has heard of: Baghdad, Fallujah, Ramadi. My husband was in Fallujah during his 2006-2007 deployment. The progress his unit made was an important part of this handover. I excitedly looked around the internet today to see how the news would spread. After all, this means the US now controls only 7 of the 18 provinces in Iraq! What do Obama and McCain have to say about this new development!? How will this affect what the Presidential candidates say about the war on terror? How can anyone say the US is losing the war now?

However, all I've heard about is the bump. The teeny baby bump on Republican VP Candidate nominee-to-be Sarah Palin's daughter's tummy. The news was publicly announced to squelch rumors that the Palin's down-syndrome baby was actually the child of their 17-year-old daughter Bristol. I applaud Bristol for continuing the pregnancy. I believe the statement from Sarah Palin confirming the support and love their family offers to their daughter and son-in-law-to-be should be the only acceptable response a Christian parent could give. Mrs. Palin and I are members of Feminists For Life, a pro-woman pro-life group that says abortion is an indicator that women do not have the support and resources to raise their unexpected babies. Maybe more pregnant teenagers would give their children the gift of life if they thought their parents would respond with such firm lovingkindness and compassion.

But really... how does a teenage baby bump trump the evidence of major victory in Operation Iraqi Freedom? Are you kidding me?