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Monday, 07 December 2009

  • I do have to say, this is the first time I've ever had random people (I mean, realllly random people) comment on an aspect of my life. It's not so bad. First the youtube video jumped in popularity. We love to watch it with our friends who couldn't make the wedding, because it's funny and because Matt is my hero, even if Superman looks different as a husband than as a comic book character. Then my mom called and said to look on aol.com. Poor Donna, flipping through AOL's homepage articles, picture 5 of 9, funny caption - I know that girl! Anyways, it's no big deal. It's funny, people making fun of me used to effect me with much greater force. I probably should show equal "shruggingofshoulder"ness towards lousy tips . . .

    http://www.cinematical.com/2009/12/04/general-zod-stars-in-worlds-most-embarassing-wedding-video

Wednesday, 02 December 2009

  • 3 floodings, a crowbar and the real life tough stuff

    It's really hard to start this post. I wanted to think of a clever way to introduce the complete craziness of the past week but nothing comes to mind. Maxwell Smart is fond of saying, "Would you believe" and then making up some crazy things first, but those crazy things actually happened so it wouldn't have the same effect. Last night we were saying we would someday laugh about all this before the third flooding and Matt's doctor's appointment today. Wednesday, my new work schedule that I would only be working 6 days over the next two weeks. This came on the heels of - well, Matt's hardest time in life before we met was the stretch of years he had Lyme Disease, and had it badly. He was just finishing the regiment of expensive medications when we met. The part-time work schedule came on the heels of him finding a deer tick on him on Sunday, bringing back all of the memories of years of sickness. We were cleaning up Friday night when Matt said, “Is that water running?” Matt had started running water in the bathroom sink and by the time we got there, the bathroom was flooded.

    This is where the story goes from as serious to almost silly in it’s reality. Eevvverything went out, was dried, the towels were washed, etc. We went home Saturday night and I made cookies with my Dad. I got home Monday night, Matt was feeling pretty sick still. He followed me out to the visitor lot to park the car I borrowed from my parents, and as we walked back it hit us – no keys. The keys to my parents car do not have our apartment key of course. It’s freezing, Matt’s sick, it’s 9pm and we’re locked out. We took a crowbar or whatever that thing is that was in the trunk of the car and broke into our own apartment (that ought to make us feel safe, huh!) We were a bit stressed and tired so we crawled into bed and I heard Matt say, “Is that water running?” The entire bathroom ceiling had fallen into our bathroom. Last week we noticed it bulging and called maintenance who “fixed” the leak in the apartment above us. The guy above us was taking a shower Monday night, boom – our bathroom is completely flooded with water and plaster and all that ceiling stuff, making Monday night a very long night.. What if one of us had been in the bathroom?

    We were telling some friends about that last night and they seemed a bit credulous at first that we got locked out, broke in with a crowbar and then had our ceiling collapse, unrelated, right after. If I’m posting today, the story’s not over. Matt’s doctor’s appointment today, back to the serious, has us worried about the face that insurance doesn’t cover a Lyme Disease doctor, or the medicine. We have been concerned about so many things, so we went back to the bedroom to talk for quite awhile (2 inches of water a while). When we came out it was my turn to notice the water. Everywhere. Matt had started running hot water in the kitchen sink to help me defrost the chicken for dinner (which has not turned into Mac n Cheese). The chicken acted as a stopper. Our entire kitchen was flooded two inches high, which is possible since it borders pretty high carpet. Every towel, surface, appliance under the sink, vegetable, crevice, soaked. It has taken two hours to try to clean up the mess. This, we may laugh about in the future. So now, again, the towels are in the wash (for the third time!) We are going to thank God that no one was in the bathroom, that we live on the first floor, that Matt found the tick and started medicine earlier than last time, that we have dozens of cookies, that we have a laundry room across the street, that I have a job, etc. It’s just been one of those weeks, you know.

Monday, 16 November 2009

  • six months from May

    I've been discontent truly, lately. I find it hard to accept that where I am and what I am may be who I am instead of only what I am doing. Today was a good day. I was at work early so when I left the apartment - the sun was just establishing itself in the sky in all its early morning foggy brilliance. It was a beautiful still-fall day, especially after the never-ending rain last week that finally ended.

    November 16th - Matt and I have been married exactly six months. We have learned so much in these months. I have learned more than just how to iron jeans and how to mash potatoes with a "real masher" :0)- I have learned how to still be on the same team with someone you disagree with, how to say I'm sorry, the importance of loving someone the way you want to be loved, and how to drive the expressway in rush hour. I have learned that Matt stays up late to read German Theologians and that he has beat Super Mario Brothers in all the versions. I have learned how to roast a chicken and how to make your man feel respected in front of a group of people. It's been a crazy last six months but we have promised "to take thee, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, till death do us part, and thereto I give thee my troth."

Monday, 12 October 2009

  • It is my day off again. Yay! So much to think and pray about. Time to look for a new job? The GRE's in February? Going to four days? Grad school in the fall? Will I get in? Will I get a job as a professor too someday? Will people hire me to teach Biblical Studies? I think the fact that the first thing you see on my resume is a major in Biblical Studies has majorly affected my ability to get secular jobs in an academic setting. Religion and Culture? But I want to dig deep in the Bible again, to learn Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek. Everyone always wanting something. Matt asked me what I wanted this morning: Jesus coming back. Besides that: hot tea and Pumpkin Raisin Pecan Spice Cookies with Lemon Frosting, do you think that is too wide a contrast? Can I be content anywhere? Well, the answer is as obvious as the rain clouds this morning. Always looking towards something else - to college, to missions, to engagement, to jobs. Except, writing papers, in my dorm room with best friends, I think I was content. Is that reason enough to go to grad school? I'm writing silly thoughts; obviously that is not the only reason. Grad school? What a dream. And Bangui? What will I write? Submission to God's silence - a new lesson in a textbook without a table of contents. You know the next chapter when you get there. So much to think and pray about, in the silence of my answer-to-prayer apartment as my cats sit beside me waiting, with me, to hear God's voice.



    My Husband came home the other day with a bouquet of flowers he had picked (not from someone's yard!)



    Fall Tractor Festival in Smithsburg! Crafts, Tractors, Apple Pie Ice Cream.



    Sabilliasville Fall Festival: Old Cars, Squash, Country Music





    Mandy, Dave and Noah were in town!!!! It was an awesomly fun night!



    And the making of the Pumpkin Raisin Pecan Spice Cookies with Lemon Frosting, with my beautiful half-marathon running sister last night!

Thursday, 24 September 2009

  • Stream of conscious - Do you ever feel like if you aren't motivated enough to do one specific thing that needs done, you don't feel motivated enough to do anything that needs done? It's weird that the less work there is to do in a day, somethings the more tired you are at the end of the day. Matt and I walked around Georgetown the other night. It's beautiful because it reminds me of the intricate mix of modern and historical that is intrinsic to Madrid. I feel like fall has officially fallen because, while we roamed around the city of Matt's graduate school alma mater, I sipped my first pumpkin spice latte of the season! If you have been recently married, you know the infrequency of a latte at all and to have it prepared sooo delightfully on such a beautiful evening in a beautiful city, ahhh. The blessings and curses of the senses. Americans are fat. But there are so many wonderful things to see and taste and touch in the world and I'm thankful for them. I think I want hot chocolate. People are always wanting so much. I learned how to make butternut squash last night. yay! I becoming a house wife. Now to also become something 'important'. Isn't that horrible that that is how I feel sometimes . . .   How do you explain the sacred coolness of marriage without an understanding of how it is based on the relationship God himself has - with himself. Oh my goodness, never ever accidently put dryer sheets in the wash instead of the dryer, especially with a cold handwash only load that cannot then be dried in the dryer. How will I ever get all of this white "stuff" off all our nice clothes?? Why is Luigi less important than Mario? Is it because he wears green and it stand out less? It bothered me all night that O'Brian from Star Trek took all of Tom Cruises' money in "Far and Away" because that probably happens to people in the world and while it is "only money" the cruelty of man cannot go forever unpunished. What a thought to end on. Do you ever wonder why we wonder so much?