When it feels like everything is meaningless...

God Is With Us
words by jeremy quillo. music by jeremy quillo & dustin neeley

The glory of God has come to the earth,
The glory of God in our Savior’s birth,
Join with the angels to sing and proclaim

Glory to His name
Emmanuel, Emmanuel, God is with us

Emmanuel, Emmanuel, God is with us now.
Eternity’s likeness has come into time,

A light in the darkness, now hope is alive,

Down from the heavens on this holy night,

Our God in a manger, our God as a child.
Emmanuel, Emmanuel, God is with us

Emmanuel, Emmanuel, God is with us now.

Oh, let us bring Him more than our silver and gold…

So this isn't a photo of the actual event - but - the Belle (a beloved historical steamboat used as a tourist attraction here in Louisville) crashed into a barge. In our part of the Ohio, we see a great many barges sailing up & down the river. Every great once in awhile, the barges will bump into one of our bridges...causing massive traffic delays. You see...they have to close the bridge that was hit & check it over so it doesn't COME CRASHING DOWN AROUND US. yikes. Guess that is almost worth sitting on an alternate highway for an extra hour to drive like 17 miles. I think this is the 1st time I've heard of a run-in with another boat though. The paper stated a gust of wind as the reason for the Belle floating into the barge. I wonder if the 300 passengers had any qualms with their captain allowing the boat close enough that a "gust of wind" could shove it into a barge? The wheel was cracked & 8 or so people injured...nothing too major + no traffic problems. whew!

Matthew spoke at the teaching conference a couple weekends ago. He, of course, did wonderfully & was praised by his peers on his Where's Waldo Lesson. I wish I could've been there to see his animated speaking voice in front of like 200 other teachers with similar senses of humor! I'm sure he had them in stitches. That same weekend we also got to spend some time with Sarah, Tom, Jenn, & that side of the family :) . We did the harvest homecoming thing & spent Saturday night making calzones / hanging out with our little cuz, Ella. We had a really fun night with everyone! I really love my cousins....we are blessed.

Last weekend we got a chance to host 2 of our very favorite people & a couple new ones too. Our friend, Heather, came thru town to attend a conference in New Albany. She & her pals are studying Environmental Science. They were learning about clean water for developing countries. Their conference sounded REALLY interesting! Matt & I got to talk with Heather in the evenings after work & after her conference hours. It was so nice having her here! AND we've had Kel in town for over a week off and on. She is a great house guest. We absolutely love her :) and chatting with her about her adventures being a nanny in New York City. Catching up sessions. sigh. Again, we are blessed. And I am blessed to have a husband who is totally happy to share our home.

Work has been ...still nuts...but increasingly better. I have been told I'm coming off as "over stressed" by friends. I guess that makes sense but all should know that it is slowly becoming a better situation. I'm getting the hang of some things, delegating more, and taking my tasks one at a time. I'm going to have a full but constant schedule for Nov. which promises to be even a step more stable than Oct. By the new year, I think I will feel less scattered and more focused.
Matt is even caught up right now on grading and school work of all kinds. Sweet! This means we get to have an awesome weekend pumpkin carving at a party & then hosting a little dinner party of our own! Fun.

Peace, friends!

For the prayer lists...some things going on at church lately. Nothing I care to elaborate on...but I think Matt & I both need some sort of assurance that we are still in a healthy, growing, Jesus-like community.

Wow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWhTXlwYczI


Where do people find the time for this sort of thing? I think I'm going to take the whole day tomorrow and just try random stuff to see if I can do it....then I'll post my own video. muhahaha.

October

The month of September was surprisingly chaotic for Matthew & I. October is looking a bit more in check, but still there is much to do!
Matthew's work-load has evened out now that he is about half way thru this 1st semester. He has some good kids this year & his enthusiasm is thru the roof :) He came home last week to tell me he had told the entire tale of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" dressed in a helmet, green suit, & using a character voice. I'm not sure his students know what to make of him sometimes...goofy goofy guy. The thing is, they will not soon forget that day in class OR the story he taught.
My professional life has felt like a mess lately. I must admit I lost heart a little throughout last month. I don't do well when I'm not on a schedule. I sleep poorly, I get sick easily b/c my body is all screwed up. I need some kind of consistency to stay sane. Long story short - it is getting better. I have the next 3wks scheduled all the same. It feels great. MDS has also been given the green light to look for a facility in Southern IN...which will make my life easier in so many ways. No more living out of my car, driving 50miles a day or whatever.

This weekend has been really nice. Matt & I spent Friday working on our house + setting up for a small attempt at a yardsale Sat. morning. We didn't sell much...but we had fun just sitting outisde talking to each other. We borrowed my Dad's truck that day also & picked up our new to us patio set. We are so thankful to have family & friends who help us meet our needs. Thanks to Lynn for thinking of us when she wanted to get rid of her patio furnitire!

Last night, we attended our friends, Sara & Nick's wedding. It was at Yew Dell Gardens in Crestwood, Ky. Their wedding was like being in a movie. The guest entered the gardens thru a big red barn darned in white Christmas lights. We walked a garden path thru trees & flowers to a clearing lined with trees. The guests sat in white folding chairs & the ceremony took place simply before us there on a grassy hill. Afterwards, we followed a trail to an area with a small castle-like building. There was a band playing - a bass, steel guitar, banjo, etc - folky music in the grass. There were tables tied with green ribbon to stand at & the crew passed out Ball jars of spiced rum in cider. SO delicious. After some time, we were guided to a big white tent where there was dinner & later dancing. Sara looked beautiful, of course :), and it really was just perfect for them. As for the guest list...so many old friends all together for the evening. It was a lot of fun.

And here we are at Sunday. I've taken the whole morning to get things in order for the week. Matthew is working on a story line for our murder mystery dinner party! We are thinking this should be a fun way to get people together around halloween. I hope it all works out!
I also need to get to the store at some point. I want to try Sarah's recipie for potato soup either today or tomorrow! The weather here in Southern IN has been PERFECT in my opinion. Sunny, with big white fluffy clouds & a chill to the air that only fall can produce. I love this time of year. I love that we can have our windows open and be comfortable all day long. I find so much joy in the colors on the trees. Even the smell of the pumpkin spice candles that I HAVE to use in October make me happier than most other homey things. :)

Ok...time to get back to life.

One year later

Matthew & I celebrated our birthdays this month. I turned 26 last Sunday...he turned 26 today. We've both had really good b-day weekends...but I am hoping that our 26th year does not continue at such a rushed pace. Things have been a little wild the past 2 weeks or so...I feel a bit scatter-brained. I am a very schedule oriented person & my schedule is not stable at all right now. Loads of long stories short - I'm a bit grouchy lately.
Today is a good day though...its Sunday :) The sermon at church was especially intriguing, Matt & I were able to spend time with family, there was ice cream cake after lunch, and we have the whole evening to relax before tomorrow.

If I weren't a God fearing woman.

Matthew & I finally decided what to use our large amounts of gift cards at Home Depot for. We receive these g.c.'s from our insurance company whenever Matthew puts enough mileage on his pedometer. My, I am thankful for the perks of my husband's job.
So we go to Home Depot to purchase a new storm door for the front of our house. We know the exact door we want, we know the measurements, we know the color...we are thinking it should be a fairly easy task to order it. WRONG.
7:15pm. We enter the window/door area and see that the one and only person working there (Janice) is occupied with another customer. We wait. After about 20minutes, Matthew walks around to find another orange vested person...this woman misunderstands what he is asking for and goes to get some guy to "lift a door for us". We send the guy away b/c the door we want is not in-stock...which Matthew had already said once. This took like, 10min. Its been half an hour and Janice...who we are told is the only person who "knows how" to order a door...is finishing up w/ the other customer.
7:45ish pm. Janice walks away, assuring us that she won't be but a minute. 8pm or so...Janice returns to find us waiting with another employee, a very unprofessional woman who wanted her walkie talkie back or something. Not a single apology for our wait...Janice decides to "train" the unprofessional lady on "how to order somethin' on the computer". Unprofessional lady takes like 15min. to type in our basic information. She can't seem to operate a mouse...all the while, Janice is instructing her...except Janice isn't great with the whole process herself. The two of them order the wrong door 1st...then we have to start over. Unprofessional lady finally says "well, you dun lost me. I'm lost." and goes back to whatever post she had abandoned to create problems for us. Janice takes over.
8:30pm Apparently we needed to explicitly request that we wanted to pick up our own door, and that we wanted someone to come out and install it. I suppose it is not policy at Home Depot to ask such questions before answering them for the customer. Either that, or some employees...Janice, for example...don't know how to request an install without charging us $107. She tinkers with the screen a few minutes...and calls Craig in. At this point, it looks quite like Matthew is going to scream at her...but he restrains himself in hopes that Craig won't be a fucking moron. WRONG.
9pm....Janice & Craig manage to work out our order. We take our paperwork to the registers to pay and there is not a single open register that is not self-check out...which we can't do with our particular order. So we approach customer service and some dude helps us check out.
9:10pm We leave...annoyed & contemplating how much jail time a couple would get for burning down a damn Home Depot.
I can say that without a doubt we will probably never buy anything from that store that we aren't able to walk-in, pick out on our own, and check out on our own. And, although I did text message a friend with threats about it, I really don't blame Janice for alllll of the annoyances. It is the company that hires people who don't know shit about homes, improvement, computer systems, etc. Its not their fault that they weren't trained on the most basic of tasks...like ordering a storm door. So to Janice and her orange vested friends...I'm sorry I thought about verbally assulting you loudly & calling you names. To Home Depot the company, I hate you. I am just praying we get the correct product in some reasonable amount of time.

The End.

I've lost count

It may seem a bit early, but fall is definitely coming to Southern IN. The weather is cooler, breezy-er, and even some leaves are falling (especially at my Grandma's house). The stores, of course, are shoving this season into full swing with pumpkins, happy harvest signs, candied apples, and mums everywhere you go. Irritating as I find it when corporate America jumps the gun like that, I must say that I really do not mind this time. I love Autumn. I love the smells and the weather, and the food and the home decor, even general feel of it. I love adding the Big Ten back to our cable plan in preparation for the college football & bball seasons! ....and Autumn were to arrive early & stay a month longer this year, I welcome it!

Random: a rather large SQUIRREL found its way into my car this week. I left my client's apartment after helping her put away groceries. I nearly got into my driver's seat when I heard this noise, looked back & saw it scurrying around my backseat. I screamed *just a little...and then waited with my door open until he came out. Weird things happen to me.

This week has been slow for work. I should probably be more upset, but how can I complain when I've had such nice days to be off? I spent much of the day Tuesday cleaning & potting the huge mums I got on sale. I have even been able to wash the floor mats in from my car! I feel rested this week for a change. I finished The Half Blood Prince & have moved on to the very last of the Harry Potter series. Oops...except I need to read book 5 b/c I skipped it. Errr...no yelling please. I really don't care to hear what a crime I've committed here from all of you super fans. I definitely need to scrape for more work hours from now on. But, I really didn't mind this week.

Jenn comes to town this weekend. I can NOT wait! I miss her. Also, in just a couple weeks, Matthew is taking me to Chicago to see Sarah & go to this festival for my Birthday :) Ok, enough typing for tonight.