21 Weeks

What could I possibly be posting about 21 weeks? Well, right now, 21 weeks is fairly significant for Carrie and I. That's because that is how far along she is, pregnancy-wise. That's right, we are 21 weeks pregnant! How exciting, and what a reason to give thanks to God!

We found out early in September that we were pregnant. Because we have been pregnant before, and those pregnancies have not come to full completion, we were pretty cautious, both about telling people, and about the kind of care we made sure Carrie had. But we are happy to say that we have gotten through the tough parts, and everything is proceeding as it should be.

In the past couple of weeks, Carrie's belly has started to really push out. We are at the point where the kid is about 2/3 of a pound, and about the length of a banana. We've even felt a few pushes or kicks in the last week or so, which has gotten us both pretty excited about where things are heading.

To answer a couple of questions that I think you may have, Carrie's due date is early in May. So sometime around then, we will be giving thanks to God for His new addition to our family. And the second answer is, no. When we had our big ultrasound appointment about a week and a half ago, we did not find out if the baby is a boy or a girl. All along, I have had a very strong sense that the baby is a girl, but you will have to wait to find out until early in May!

We are very excited, and we hope that you join in our excitement. God really is good, and we look forward to the next 5 months of joy and excitement until we meet this new life that we will get to share.

Me Man, Love Meat

I recognize that some of you may read the title and pretty much know what this blog post is all about. It's about meat. Since I grew up in Texas, I have a pretty good appreciation for meat. I will never be confused with a vegetarian, and try to incorporate at least a little meat into most meals that I make.

So imagine my joy when Carrie found a way to get 40 pounds of lean ground beef at a spectacular price. Recently, she has found a number of good deals for meat for us. We had the 30 pounds of bacon, as well as the 40 pounds of chicken breasts. Now, we have 40 pounds of lean ground beef to help fill our freezer.

As with the other two meats, I went to pick them up at their special location that we have in town for such deliveries. (For those who may wonder, these arrangements are completely legal!) The man on the truck delivered the box of beef into my trunk, which I then brought home. Here you can see how it looked when we opened the box to see the marvelous meat inside.
Now, lest you think that I am crazy, no, I did not put the big 10 pound links of ground beef into the freezer just like you see here. Instead, I divided them up. For the most part, I put them in freezer bags in 2 pound blocks, reserving a few for some smaller, one pound blocks. It actually didn't take too long to do this.

We even decided to try out a little bit tonight. I had to make a soup for our soup supper tomorrow night, so once again, Carrie did her magic and found a cheeseburger soup to make. So a pound of this meat made its way into that soup. How will it taste? Well, I won't be able to tell you that until tomorrow night. Until then, I will rest peacefully, knowing that I have lots of good, delicious meat in the freezer anytime I want some.

Thanksgiving and Advent

I can't believe the long weekend is already coming to an end. I could use another several days off. Thankfully, the end of the semester is nearing and then I'll have a few weeks off.

Thanksgiving was nice this year for a change. The last two years have been really hard emotionally. This year we had 5 of my students over to join us for their 1st ever American Thanksgiving. We prepared turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, and corn casserole with pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. They had fun trying out a lot of the foods for the first time, and we had fun having people to prepare food for. We both remarked that this year we really had things under control as we had a lot of time to relax in between our food preparations.

We enjoyed a nice, relaxed Thanksgiving. Some things that I'm thankful for this year are:

my faith

my husband

my job

supportive Christian friends and family

the beautiful scenery where we live

new life

And now today Advent started already at church. It's hard to believe Christmas is just 4 weeks away. I love the season of Advent though with the decorations at church, the time of preparation and reflection for Christmas, Advent devotions, the music, etc.

Odd Jobs

Yes, I know that it sounds like some show that you would watch on TV, but odd jobs are something that my wife and I come across every once in a while. So let me describe one of my latest odd jobs, which took place today.

About two months ago, Carrie came across this company that delivers bulk foods to various areas of the United States and all the food is fresh and free of additives and hormones. The first one that she found involved 30 pounds of bacon, which cost us just about $2.50/pound. If you go to the grocery store and look at the cost of bacon, you'll realize that this was a really great deal. So the day came for us to receive our bacon.

The delivery took place on a Thursday afternoon. Here's how it went down. There was a truck in the parking lot of one of the local exercise places. They had reserved part of the lot, where the truck parked in the parking spots, which allowed people to pick up their boxes of bacon without having to get out of their car. You simply drove up, drive through style, and they would check your confirmation number, and then grab the box for you, bring it to your car, and put it in the trunk for you. That's how I picked up our box of bacon, and how we came into possession of a great deal of bacon. (Sometime in the future, I'll have to blog to let you know a few of the ways we've been using these 30 pounds of bacon!)

About two weeks later, Carrie noticed that the same company had another deal. This one was 40 pounds of butterflied chicken breasts for $59.60. Forty pounds of really good, organic chicken breasts. So once again, at the designated time, I drove up, got in line, gave my name, and they hand delivered the forty pounds of chicken into my trunk. (The Chik-Fil-A cows must really like us now!)

About two days before that delivery, the company sent out an email to their recipients in the area. It seems like they "hire on" a person or two to assist with the delivery. They pay you for the time spent bringing the boxes to people's cars. I indicated an interest in helping out, but they were filled up by the time I got in touch with them. But I indicated that they could contact me if they needed help in the future.

So yesterday, one of the company's representatives gave me a call. I said that I was interested and available, and so I was lined up to help out with today's chicken delivery. Once again, 40 pound boxes of chickens, hand delivered to people's cars, and this time, I was the muscle!

Delivery was scheduled between 3:30 and 4:30, so the driver had asked if I would be there to help set up at 2:45. I was there, even though he didn't actually arrive until 3:00, having driven up from another delivery earlier in the day. So I set up the signs, got some bags lined up to put under the boxes, and then started moving 40 pound boxes of chicken to the door so I could grab them quickly.

When the time arrived for people to pick up their chicken, I was amazed at how quickly the line formed. I even counted 10 cars in line at one point, patiently waiting to come have their box of chicken put in their trunk or backseat, or wherever they wanted it. I had to climb a couple of steps up the ladder, grab a box, and then bring it to the car and put it inside. That was the pattern we would follow.

Today, we were scheduled to give out 80 boxes of chicken. That meant 80 trips carrying 40 pound boxes to people's cars. Good thing I'm in pretty good shape! But I was also amazed at how much chicken some people wanted. We had two cars that had ordered 8 boxes (320 pounds of chicken!), and a couple that had ordered 5! The majority, however, only ordered one box, which was really easy to deliver.

In just over an hour, we were done with all the deliveries. So I helped take down the signs and load up the truck. In return, the driver paid me $35. Two hours of work, $35, and another great adventure as I worked at one of my newer "odd jobs!"

Election Day

Did you exercise your right to vote today?  I did.  We were only electing city council members, but I still like to take the opportunity to vote.  My favorite part about voting this year?  The location.  In years past, we've voted at a local school or the armory, but this year was something different.  Our location was the zoo!  Isn't that comical?  So amidst the sounds of zoo creatures, I got to cast my vote.  How funny is that?  This year will probably go down as the most memorable voting location.  I can't think of any others that would top that, can you?

You win some, you lose some

Last week marked the end of the 2011 Major League Baseball season. In what has been called one of the most exciting series in recent years, the St. Louis Cardinals beat my favorite team, the Texas Rangers, 4 games to 3, to take the title of champion.

I have been a Texas Rangers fan since I was very young. I remember staying up late to watch their games on the west coast as I grew up, sometimes not going to bed until close to 12:30-1:00 in the morning. I remember Nolan Ryan hitting Robin Ventura, who charged the mound only to meet Ryan's fists time and time again. But up until the last couple of years, those were my best memories of my childhood team.

Last year was a magical ride. Texas won the American League West division, beat Tampa Bay and the New York Yankees to make it to their first World Series, only to lose in 5 games to the San Francisco Giants. This year, when they made it back, they did so as the favorite in the eyes of many.

Perhaps the most pivotal moments came in the 6th game of the series. Texas was ahead, 3 games to 2, and entered the bottom of the 9th inning leading St. Louis 7-5. St. Louis managed to get two men on base, but with two outs, the Texas pitcher got to a 1 ball, 2 strike count. One more strike, and Texas would be the champion.

Unfortunately, that last strike didn't happen. The St. Louis batter hit a 2 run triple, tying up the game. But then, it seemed like a second chance. Texas hit a 2 run home run in the top of the 10th inning to take a 9-7 lead. Once again, they simply had to get three outs and give up one or fewer runs. Once again, this time leading 9-8, St. Louis had two men on base, with their batter facing a 2 balls, 2 strikes count. Once again, Texas was one pitch away. And this time, St. Louis once again manged to get the tying run home.

The next inning, Texas couldn't score. When St. Louis came up to bat, their batter hit a home run to win the game. The series was tied, 3 games each. That set up a seventh game, winner take all.

I would like to say that Texas put up a good fight in that last game, but it seemed like losing the lead twice the previous day had just sapped everything out of them. They barely seemed to show up in a 6-2 loss. I have to admit that it stung for a couple of days. This was the first time Texas had a chance to win a championship. Before last year, the franchise had won one playoff game ever in its history. The team had made the playoffs only 3 times before.

The last two years have been great years to be a Texas Rangers fan. Their team and minor league system is set up to give them a great chance to make it back, and hopefully win, in the foreseeable future. But I do have to say that, as a fan, that inability to get strike three on two separate occasions will hang with me for a long time.

My Monster Sewing Project

Back here I made reference to a sewing project I was working on through a class at the technical college.  I couldn't tell you what I was working on because it was intended to be a gift.  Now that I've given the gift away, I can show you the finished project!

I originally signed up for the basic sewing class to make a baby rag quilt.  I didn't think it would be too hard as it was a basic class, and since the class only met 3 times, I didn't think it would be too time-consuming.  While the quilt wasn't hard, it was definitely time consuming.  I had sewing homework after each of the classes and then had to spend several more hours just to complete it.  I didn't keep track of the time put in (I wish I would have), but I'm sure it was more than 25 hours.

And I had a deadline since it needed to be completed in time for a baby shower mid-October.  It came down to the wire and I even persuaded Scott to help me clip the fringe at the end, but I did finish it on time.  Here's the finished product.  You can see it's much larger than my idea of a "baby" quilt.  The baby definitely has lots of room to grow into it.

Here you can see the back side folded over to the front side with fringe. 

Each of the squares had to be individually cut out and then sewn together with a piece of bating in the middle.  Then the squares had to be sewn into strips and then the strips sewn together.  Finally, when all of the sewing was done, it was time to clip the fringe, wash the blanket, and then clip again.  Phew.  What a project.  I'm glad I did it, but I'm not any too anxious to dive into another sewing project soon.  This may end up being a one-of-a-kind original as I'm not sure I'd tackle the project again.  But it was made with lots of love for my brother and sister-in-law expecting their first child.  I hope they/the baby enjoy my efforts!

Brrr

It was 82 degrees on Monday and now tonight, here's what it looks like:

Brr!  We're getting our first freeze most likely tonight, and we had to turn the furnace on once we got home from work because our house was 62 degrees.  I think the cool weather is only temporary, however, as we'll be warming up again to our average highs in the upper 60s.  Still, it means Old Man Winter isn't too far away.

How far can you run?

How far can you run? Have you ever really tried to figure it out? Well, recently I wanted to see just how far I could go. Many of you who follow our blog know that I have run a number of races of different lengths in the last few years. I've run a 5K (3 miles), 10K, 15K, and a handful of half marathons (13.1 miles). Up until this year, I had been content with 13.1 miles as a good long run.

That is, until I started to get the itch to run a full marathon. It wasn't out of any desire to "prove myself" or anything like that. It was more to see if I really could manage to run 26.2 miles all the way through. So earlier this summer, I filled out the form, paid my fee, and was signed up for my first ever full marathon.

The race was held this past Saturday. As with the local half marathons that I have run, start time was 7:00 AM. That meant that I needed to catch my bus up to the start line around 5:30 AM. I sat on a school bus next to a man who was running his second, and we chatted about running and other things. Then, we finally arrived at the start line, pretty far up in the mountains.

I should mention here that it was rather chilly that morning. In fact, it was cloudy and cold, which meant that they had a warming tent near the start line. It was packed really full. And then, about 30 minutes before the start, it began to rain. Not a nice drizzly rain, but a cloudburst. It stopped after about 5 minutes, at which time everyone proceeded to get ready at the start line.

Then, about 5 minutes before the race was to begin, wouldn't you know it, but another cloudburst. Quite a few people had worn trash bags to keep themselves dry. I kind of envied them. Despite the downpour, the starting gun sounded, and we were off!

The rain persisted fairly heavily for about the first 2 miles. Then, it stopped. That was about the time that I finally started to warm up. So I tossed my warm up jacket to the collection spot on the side of the road and kept running. The rain had made the weather nice and cool, which gave the promise of a nice run.

The course that the race follows starts up at the end of a mountain valley. For the first 17 miles, the route goes down out of the mountains into the valley beneath. That means that we all got to run downhill. Now, downhill running is great, except that it does take its effect on the quad muscles of the thighs. During the run, though, it actually felt pretty good.

It was during this downhill portion that the clouds above seemed to think that it was a good time to start another downpour. Around mile 8, the clouds once again began to pour our their watery contents. Again, not a nice drizzle, but a downpour. My shirt was so soaked that it was sticking to my body, and my shoes felt like they had gained about three pounds in water. We all continued to run in this until we exited the mountains and came out down into the valley.

That's when the rain decided to give way to hail. Not really large hail, but some nice, pea-sized stuff that just persisted for about 5 minutes or so. However, the one good thing about all of this was that it kept all of us runners nice and cool, which means that we were saving energy that our bodies would be needing later on in the race.

I was running at a really decent pace throughout this first portion of the race. In fact, the only times I slowed down was to walk through the aid stations when I needed something to drink. However, once I reached mile 18, I finally hit the point that I needed to walk for a couple of minutes. That seemed to rejuvenate me enough to keep running, though at a much slower pace than I had started.

Finally, I reached mile 20. That meant that I only had 6 more miles to go. However, most marathon runners will tell you that the wall typically happens around mile 20. That's when I really started to feel like my legs were ready to drop off. However, I was determined, not just to finish the race, but to finish in under 4 hours. So, I pushed on.

Now, some of the people who support runners at a marathon are very enthusiastic. Throughout the route, there had been people with signs, people cheering on loved ones, and in general, people showing their support for everyone who takes up a challenge like the marathon. However, the funniest thing that happened to me happened at the mile 23 aid station. There was a young man holding his infant child, and he spied me out, and starting hollering at me to kiss his baby. After he persisted two or three times, I decided, "why not?" and took a quick detour to kiss his little one!

The last three miles really seemed like they weren't going to ever end. However, as I got closer and closer to the finish line, Carrie spied me out to take a few pictures. Here is one of me, exhausted, as I am running down one of the last roads before the end of the race.


The route wound around a few blocks, going up one street, over a block, back down the next street, and then did the same thing again, leading up the finish line. That meant that Carrie was able to zip over and catch a picture or two of me as I headed toward the finish line.


Just a few moments after this picture, I crossed the finish line. Total time was 3 hours, 58.1 seconds. A few moments later, Carrie had found me in the runners' area and got this picture of me in all of my triumphant glory!

Yes, that is my medal for finishing the race. I can now say that I am a marathon runner.

The rest of the day, I found that I had worn a few of my joints a bit more than they were used to. This made sense, as I had never run more than 13 miles before. It took the rest of that day and a good night of sleep to let those joints cool off and feel normal again. Then, on Monday, after a nice four mile run, all the built up lactic acid was out of my muscles, and I now feel as good as new. Will I ever run a marathon again? I can't say that right now. However, I can look back and say that I have run a full marathon.

Heros

In case you haven't seen this amazing video yet, check it out.  It's truly remarkable what these citizens did for a stranger.



I heard the man pulled from the car gave a press conference today to thank his rescuers.  He's expected to make a full recovery.  Simply amazing!

Sewing Again

I'm taking another sewing class at the moment.  This will be my 3rd one this year at the Technical College.  I can't tell you what I'm making yet since I'm giving it away, but I can show you my cute bag I bought to fit all of my material in.

Post-Half-Marathon Pics

Just over a week ago, I ran my fourth half-marathon. For our regular readers, you know that I set my own personal record by running it in 1:43:18. Also, I finished 190th out of about 1,900 people who finished (around 2,600 signed up for the race).

One of the perks of running races is that you get a shirt when you sign up and run. I'm getting quite a collection, as this was my third race of the summer. That made it my third shirt that I "earned" in my running. Here's a picture of me wearing it.

You'll notice the medallion that I'm holding in my hand. Each year, at this race, all finishers receive a medallion. In the previous two years of the race, it has been rather small, as in slightly larger than a quarter. However, as you can see, this year's is pretty big. They give it to you about 10 feet after you cross the finish line.

Want a bit closer of a view? Of course you do!

In just under two weeks, I have my fourth and final race of the season. This one will be a full marathon (26.2 miles for those who don't know the distance). My first goal will be to finish the race. My second (and secondary) goal is to run it in under 4 hours. But the thing I'm most excited about is getting a T-shirt and then showing you a picture of me wearing that shirt. So now you have something to look forward to, as well!

Race Day!

This morning, my alarm went off at 4:45. I got up, put on my running clothes, made a quick smoothie, grabbed a bagel, and then drove over to run this morning's half marathon.

Why so early? Well, the race begins at approximately 7:00AM, in order to take advantage of the cooler temperatures. But every once in a while, you get a heat wave that doesn't cool off overnight. That happened to be the case this morning, as I woke up to temperatures that barely got down to 60. (Yes, I know some of you live in places that don't even get that cool at night, but it's all relative, right?)

I met up with a friend who was running her first ever half, and we got on the school bus to ride up to the start line. Getting off, it was pretty nice and cool. However, it was also pretty obvious that the temperature would warm up quite a bit once the sun peeked over the mountains. So, a few minutes before 7:00, the race director had us all get in line at the starting point.

This year, the race directors did something a little different. In past years, it was just a mass of humanity which lined up to start the race. They did try to push the crowd back to allow the elites a space in the front, but overall, it was every person for themselves. This year, however, they actually had us line up according to the time that we thought we would finish. The times were broken down by 15 minute increments, so I placed myself in the 1:30-1:45 group.

The gun sounded, and we were off! It was nice, since the first 6+ miles are mostly downhill, out of the mountain valley where we started from. Plus, early in the morning, you get a nice breeze blowing down as the cool air makes its way to the valley below. Downhill with a nice breeze behind you really lets you get going at times, and I found myself with lots of energy, letting gravity do its thing, and the breeze push me along.

All of that changed after about mile 7. This is when the course enters the valley and flattens out. It also means that you are out of the mountains all around you. So, as the sun rises, it peeks over the peaks and suddenly you find yourself running in full sunlight. You also lose the breeze behind you and start fighting the climbing temperatures. And let me tell you, once the sun came out, it really did start to heat up fast!

I was probably on pace to break 1:40 until I hit around mile 11. At this point, the race climbs very gently, but very persistently over the last two miles. On top of that, the sun decided to shine full out. While I still had a pretty good amount of energy, I could tell that my body was working a lot harder than it had earlier in the cool part of the race. I felt my pace slowing down, though I was very determined not to slow down to a walk at all.

Finally, I could see the finish line in the distance. I deliberately didn't look up at it much, at least not until the last 0.1 mile. I looked at the clock displaying the time, and saw that it read 1:43. So I pushed myself the last few feet, crossing at a time of 1:43 and a few seconds. Checking my results later, I can say that I finished 190th overall, 28th in my gender division.

This time represents my personal best. I really feel that, if the temperature had been even five degrees cooler throughout, I would have broken 1:40. But there is no use crying over spilled milk, and really, who can complain about just finishing a half marathon?

He is alive, and running

Yes, I know it's been quite a while since I last posted anything on here. (Many thanks to Carrie for keeping things going on this site, she's the motor that keeps it running!) But yes, I am still alive and thought it would be good to share a bit with you all again.

This coming Saturday is an exciting day for me. It's my third local half-marathon. That's right! This is the third year in a row that I am running the local 13.1 mile race, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Okay, so most of you may think I'm crazy for "looking forward" to pushing my body through 13 miles of running (does it help if I tell you that it's mostly downhill?). However, while I'm making you think I'm partly crazy, I might as well push the envelope and go the whole distance. This marks the first year that the half is merely a stepping stone along the way. Three weeks later, I will be running the local full marathon for the first time!

Yes, 13.1 miles is merely a stepping stone this year. I know, most of you would probably rather find another way to go if that was the stepping stone you had to take, but I realize that I'm a little different from most people. So you can be expecting to hear something about a full 26.2 mile adventure sometime around the middle of September.

So yes, I am still alive. In fact, I've probably never been healthier. And yes, I am running. And running. And running some more. (If you look closely, you may even see me running in your neighborhood sometime.) I'll let you know how things turn out this weekend, and will keep you informed as to how the even bigger event goes in just a few short weeks!

Special Celebrations in Siberia

While we were in Russia, we had a few special dates to celebrate.  One of those dates was our 6th wedding anniversary.  We were actually in Siberia for our anniversary, which was definitely a unique experience.  We were at a retreat center and on the 3rd full day of leading our retreat.  The theme of the day was marriage led by a couple from our team, so it was definitely a fitting topic for us.  The day was filled with scheduled activities for the retreat, so we didn't really do anything special to celebrate. 

Here was the meal we were served at the retreat center.  Ironically, it was probably my least favorite meal out of our 5 days there.  We had hot tea to drink, as we did at every meal and some sort of mayonnaisey salad.  The main course was omul fish, from nearby Lake Baikal, buckwheat, and bread. Yum, huh?  Like I said, this was probably my least favorite meal. We joked over the nice meal Scott and arranged for our anniversary.

We did have the most amazing sunset that night though, so we enjoyed being able to watch that for hours.  These pictures were taken around 10pm, but the sunset display started even earlier than that.

And the colors in the sky lasted forever.  In fact, we could still see some of the sunset after we'd gone to bed at 10:45 or so.  I said the beautiful sunset was God's gift to us on our anniversary!

It's been a wonderful 6 years, and I look forward to many more adventures together through our married life.

Blog Neglect

Hi everyone!  We've been absent from our blog the last 3 weeks or so because we've been out of the country.  I had every intention to schedule posts while we were away, but that just didn't happen.  We had an amazing 18 days in Russia, but with limited internet access since we didn't bring our computer along. 

We're currently trying to get over jet lag, but will resume posting again soon.  Since we set up a travel blog for our trip, we'll probably post most of the travel stories over there, so if you need that site, please let me know.  Scott has also started posted some of this Russia observations on his personal blog, so again, if you need that site, let me know!

Freedom Run

When you wake up on the morning of the 4th of July, what is the first thing that you think of doing? Trying out a few firecrackers to wake the neighborhood up? Thinking about what you'll put on the grill later on in the day? Hitting the snooze, since you probably have the day off of work?

What about getting up and running 9.3 miles? Well, that's what I did this past 4th of July. Earlier in the spring, I looked at some of the local races, and noticed a 4th of July Freedom Run. It starts up one of the local canyons and ends at the park in one of the small towns nearby.

Race time, you ask? 7:00AM sharp. So the 4th found me waking up around 5:00 in the morning, getting on my running outfit, and driving up to the start point. For this particular race, being somewhat small in size, I had to get up there early to get a parking place, since there was no shuttling from the finish line to the start line.

So at 7:00, I lined up with about 575 other runners, the gun sounded, and we were off. It was a somewhat humid morning by our standards out here, so when the sunlight hit, you could almost hear everyone groan. However, about 15 minutes later some cloud cover rolled in, which cooled things off quite a bit.

For this race, the first 7 miles were pretty much downhill. But at mile 7, there was a fairly steep, 1/2 mile incline to climb. I'm proud to say that I did not slow down much, and actually passed several people who had to walk up the hill.

From there, it was a nice, easy run to the finish line. My wife was waiting there with her new camera, and caught a few shots of me as I raced toward the finish line.

I was so happy to see her I even stuck my tongue out at her as a loving sign of affection!

Overall, I ended up #107 out of about 575 people. In my age group, I was the 13th place overall finisher. It was a great run, and I look forward to another freedom run next 4th of July!

A 2 Month Re-Cap

You may have noticed, but I've mainly been absent from this blog for the past two months.  I didn't intend to take a blog break, but things have been busy and I've been trying to maintain our other blog as well. So- here's a two month re-cap in one post.

I finished the spring term of teaching early May and had one week off before summer classes started.  I had the opportunity that week to travel to Atlanta, thanks to T and his flyer miles.  I got to visit with T and S and their two kids, N and S.  S is our goddaughter and the last time we saw her she looked like this:

6 weeks old at her baptism.

Here she is at 15 months with a personality!  It was so fun to spend time with her and her older brother and see how they have grown and developed the past year.  And we had a busy week as well. We went swimming outdoors for the first time of the season, we went to "munchies with mom" at preschool since it was right around Mother's Day, we played baseball and ran through the fountains.

We met this guy.

And watched a Braves game.  We went to the park and to Yogli Mogli for frozen yogurt. 

We went to the Atlanta aquarium where we saw this huge tank.  We went to a craft night at church and more.  What a week full of activities!  But the best part was spending time with the whole family.  I'm so glad I had the opportunity to visit because I don't know when I'll be able to go back again and S is such a special part of our life as we pray for her and her faith each night.

After that travel extravaganza, I came home and started teaching intensive summer courses mid-May.  I crammed 16 weeks of material down to a mere 5 week course and taught two courses.  I'd forgotten how time-consuming intensive classes are.  The good news is I had great classes of students and great diversity in them as well.  My students came from: Somalia, Libya, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Ethiopia, Morocco,  Jordan, Ukraine, Dominican Republic, Saudi Arabia, and Ecuador.  That's 12 different countries from two classes of 27 students total.  It was really great.

After classes finished in mid-June, I began preparing my retreat sessions for an upcoming women's retreat I'll be leading.  I also managed to taking another sewing class, take a couponing class, and a 4-week photography class!  As I mentioned, I've been busy, but at least you have a taste of what I've been up to.  I can't promise I won't let another two months go by without blogging, but I'll try and be better.

Pondering a Decade

Every once in a while, things happen in life that make us pause, look back, and reflect on where we have been in life. We think about our accomplishments, about how we have grown, what all we have learned, and we ponder where life will take us as we move forward. Usually, these times happen when something significant occurs, such as a major change or an important date.

In just two short days, I will celebrate the fact that I have been at my current job, post, and position for 10 years. Ten years! A full decade of one job, working with many great and wonderful people. A good number of you reading this have been a big part of my life, and so you know what these ten years mean.

I have to admit that I never really anticipated staying in one location for a full decade. There are some wonderful things about the place and location where I am, as well as some wonderful people. While there are challenges, the joys of my work have been some of the best of my life. Serving people, serving God, growing in both personal and spiritual ways, these have been some of the highlights of my time here.

Ten years of serving people and serving God have flown by. Who knows where the next ten years will guide my beautiful wife and I? Only God knows right now, but I can honestly say, I look forward to the journey, and am so very thankful for the role that so many of you have played in the journey I have been on thus far.

Snakes in the Yard?

Last year, you may recall that we wrote a bit about the snakes that seem to have infested our backyard. We had hoped that a year of patrol would have cleared them out, but, alas, it seems that isn't the case.

This morning, while taking care of a few work-related things, my wife went out to put my tomato plants outside for a bit of sunshine. She ended up running inside and calling me, reporting that she had just seen the first snake of the season. Once I got home, I began my snake patrol again.

So what is snake patrol? It's when I grab my shovel and sweep through the grass, looking for movement. When I see a snake moving, I then use the shovel to try to break its neck (or maybe even chop its head off). In just my second trip around the backyard, I found Carrie's nemesis, quickly slithering around. So I took my trusty shovel to it, as you can see here.

What does it look like close-up? Check it out here.

If you look closely, you can see the two places where the shovel hit it. It was about a foot long, maybe a little more. We're thinking that it could have been the mother, which then presents the question. Did I get it before it could lay its eggs? If so, we may have taken care of the snake problem. If not, then you can probably expect a few more posts about snake patrol!

Quick Takes

Life has been busy lately hence the lack of updates from me.  I'm just popping in with a few quick takes today.

1. I recently hit 29,000 miles on my car odometer.  We bought the car new at the end of 2006.  That tells you how much I drive- less than 7,000 miles a year.  I have a 4-mile commute to work, which takes 10-15 minutes because of the slow speeds, but I know I'm spoiled with that type of drive.  Scott also has 29,000 miles on his car, which we also bought new....in January of 2009!  It's clear who drives more (even though his commute is also 4 miles) and whose car we take on trips.

2. We've recently had a whooping cough outbreak in town.

3. Additionally, we've recently had an outbreak of measles in town.  I don't really get it...are people not vaccinating their school age children around here?  It's a little strange to me.

4. Oh, we've also had the equine herpes virus outbreak.  Thankfully, we don't own horses nor are we around them, but a lot of the local rodeos and horse shows have been cancelled as a result.

5. This has been the spring-o-flooding.  The road near our house is still closed due to water on the road from the nearby river.  I think it's 6+ weeks now that it's been closed, and it's not scheduled to open any time soon since the mountains up the canyon still have a 50 inch snow pack level!

6. For the past 4 weeks, I've been teaching intensive summer courses.  I'd forgotten how time-consuming they are as I've been working 10 hour days as well as through the whole weekend.  Thankfully, next week is my last week and then I'm free until August.  I'm ready for some free time!

7. I've finally joined the digital SLR club with the purchase of my first DSLR!  I just ordered it today, so it hasn't arrived yet, but I can't wait.  I used to love taking film SLR pictures, but haven't done that for at least 5 years.  I've resorted to a digital point-and-shoot, which is nice and convenient, but doesn't produce the same quality of picture as an SLR does.  I did a lot of research on cameras, so I'm quite satisfied with my selection and I'm taking my first digital photography class on Saturday to refresh my photo skills.

And with that, I'll wrap up my random quick takes for the night.

Spring, Summer, and Life in the Mountains

Okay, quick. What do you get when have a winter that drops twice as much snow in the mountains as usual, followed by a wet spring, and then sudden increases in temperature when it finally does turn nice? Well, around here where we live, you get a number of things.

First, you get a nice green lawn. Usually, once spring rolls around, we don't get a great deal of moisture, so the lawn will grow for a while, but usually by the end of May, it doesn't need to be mowed on a weekly basis (or even more frequently!). But with the unique combination I mentioned above, it means pulling out the mower to cut the grass that grew at least 4 inches in a week, and doing that week after week after week.

What else does it mean? Well, it means that you get a lot more water running down out of the mountains than usual. As the snow melts, it makes its way down to the lower levels of the valleys. The rivers around here are used to about an average amount of snow. When twice as much snow, combined with extra rain happens, you get, yes, floods.

One of the roads about 3/4 of a mile from our house has now been flooded for about a month. The water in places is about 6 inches over the roadway, and steadily running across the surface. It's been blocked off, so no traffic can head down that way, but that has also led to a bit of re-routing around our neighborhood. When you throw in some road construction on the major road as well, it turns into a regular traffic nightmare.

One good thing that you get from the extra snow and rain, however, is a filling of the reservoirs around here. Many of them had been at about 70% capacity the last few years. This year, they are actually having to let water run out of them now to make sure that they don't overflow when the water starts to really flow out of the mountains. So one good thing is a surplus of water.

Yes, for some of you reading this, you may be wondering why the snow hasn't all melted already. Just a couple of weeks ago, at one of the local fun spots, there was still about 100 inches of snow (in mid-May!!!). Elevation, cooler temperatures, and just an abundance of snow means that we will either have a late melting point this year, or it will all decide to melt in a short time. If it goes for the second of those two options, you might just find us floating on an ark around here!

Of Chicken and Feet

Many of you may recall that last summer, we took part in a CSA program for organic produce. It turned out really well, and we would have done it again this year if travel plans hadn't interfered.

However, leave it to my resourceful wife to find a great alternative. Doing some of her patented research (maybe not patented, but it should be!), she discovered a local chicken CSA. After talking about it and checking it out, we decided to go for it. After all, who wouldn't like to get two fresh chickens each month to eat?

On Friday, we drove up to find the farm, which is located in a scenic part of our mountain valley. The two young men who were at the farm picked out our chickens and bagged them up for us. However, this is where it gets fun for this particular CSA. Carrie had also said that we wanted the feet and the liver and heart. So they gave us the heart and liver for our two chickens, but then gave us a full bag of chicken feet, as you can see here!

Yes, that is a lot of chicken feet. So what were we planning to do with them, you are probably wondering? Well, let's just say that we weren't really going to eat them. However, some of the people that Carrie works with are Chinese. Chinese people, especially the ladies, believe that chicken feet help give a lady beautiful skin when they eat the feet, so Carrie had told one of the students that she could have them, and we delivered them to her later that night.

However, we were really looking forward to our first chicken. So today, I looked up a few ideas for how to prepare it, seasoned it, and then stuck it in the oven. About an hour and a half later, here's what it looked like. Yummy, eh?  It was the juiciest chicken we have ever eaten!  We both commented that it was almost too juicy for us.

We still have one more chicken from this pick up, and I'm already putting together a few ideas for what to do with it. But needless to say, we're really thinking that this chicken CSA has been a really good idea so far!

Race Day

What a day! This morning, I awoke a little after 6:00, which is early for a Saturday. But that's because I had a race today. One of the local small towns features a "Health Days", and part of this celebration is to feature three races. They have what is called a Mayor's Mile which, as you might guess, is a mile-long run. They also have a 5K and a 10K. So, as you may guess, I decided to run the 10K.

For those who may not know, a 10K is approximately 6.1 miles. That's half of a half marathon. Given the amount of running that I have done lately, ti's really not all that great of a distance. However, this run is called Conquer the Canyon. And it does indeed live up to its name.

The run is a loop, which means you venture out a little over three miles, and then return basically the same way. The only thing is, for this race, the first three miles up the canyon gain a little over 1,000 feet in elevation. It's a lot of work to run uphill for three miles. I resolved that I would not walk any of it, and I was able to be true to that commitment.

On the return, it's downhill. That is, except for one small part. The return route takes an alternate road that runs along the top of the canyon, running basically the same route as the road leading up. But yes, that means that we had to run up a very steep road for about 75 yards with about 2 miles to go. I was really huffing and puffing at the top of that little stretch, but was able to keep running the whole race.

I finished with a time of 49:06, good enough for 6th in my age group (30-39). I didn't see the full listings yet, but I think I finished in the top 40 overall. Once I see the official race results, I'll let you know the specifics.

What a run! Now I'm getting ready for another 10K, coming up early in July!

Spring is Finally Here!

I think spring is finally here!  Yay!  I took this picture 10 days ago, and then 2 days later, we had snow!  You can see how brown and drab everything was.

This picture I took 2 days ago.  Things are still brown, but the green is coming!

I noticed this huge pine tree is budding.  I have never noticed the red buds before.  Do pine trees bud?  No clue, but the red color was great against the green of the branches.

This flowering tree is in full bloom on campus.

Check out the massive blossoms!  It's beautiful.

And this was another flowering tree I saw.  Different mountains, but still beautiful flowers.  I'd love one of these in our yard. 

Anyone know the specifics on the variety of trees?  Let me know as I'd love to know.  May is one of my favorite times of the year here.  The mountains still have snow on them, but the temperatures are warming and all of the flowers are coming up.

Visa Apps

Our visa applications were received in Washington DC today, so now we wait to see:  1) if everyone in our group gets one and 2) how long it takes to get our passports back.  Exciting and slightly nerve-wracking. More details on the travel blog:-)

A Few Post-Easter Thoughts

"Jesus has risen!" "He has risen indeed! Alleluia!"

Praise Yahweh. He has raised His Son, our Lord, Jesus, from the grave. That's the essence of our Easter cry. That's one of the things that I love about Easter. We see God giving us hope and life and all through the one and only being who could raise Himself from the dead.

Think about it, though, if you were in Jerusalem that first Easter. Instead of assurance, I believe that confusion would have been the most prominent thought going around. The body was missing, the stone had been moved, a few people said that they had seen Jesus, but the guards were reporting that the disciples had stolen the body, the Pharisees were probably letting it be known that they were looking for the disciples to question them about the body, and the disciples were finally locking themselves in a room, afraid that they were next on the arrest list.

I know that I have often thought something along the lines that, "If I were there, I would have believed completely." I have to say, given my study of the people and situation, that I would have been as confused as anyone. We seem to have a tendency to super-humanize the biblical characters, as though they knew what was going on and reacted accordingly. Truth be told, they were just like you and I, confused, questioning, and at times, demonstrating a profoundly small faith.

Yet, Jesus still did what He did for us. That's what makes Easter so great. Even though we may be confused or doubting, we still have God's assurance, through Jesus, our resurrected Lord.

Praise Yahweh!

Passover and Easter

As I sit here Easter Eve, reflecting on the past couple of days, I thought I would share with you some of my learnings from Holy Week.  The past few days have been rich with new learnings.

Thursday night we did something new at church.  We had a seder meal before our Maundy Thursday worship.  A seder meal is the traditional Jewish meal celebrated for Passover each year.  Passover is the festival referenced in Exodus 12 as well as many other places throughout the Bible.  Passover is also the meal Jesus ate with his disciples right before he went to the garden to pray and was then arrested.  

I've participated in seder meals before, but never right before the time of worship where we remember the Last Supper.  There was a small group of people interested in doing this, so Scott and I coordinated the efforts and am I ever glad we did.  The night was rich with symbolism between the Old Testament and New Testament with Jesus.  Even in our modified form (a real Passover meal would take at least 3 hours, ours was just an hour), I still was reminded of so much with Jesus as the perfect Passover Lamb.  

We read through Exodus 12 and were reminded of how the Israelites were to celebrate the meal- taking a male lamb that had no blemishes.  They were not to break the bones of the lamb to be sacrificed.  We see the connection with how Jesus was perfect without blemish and when he died on the cross his bones were not broken.  The seder meal goes through a hand washing portion at the beginning and this was where Jesus changed things up with the traditional meal and washed his disciples' feet.  

The meal also has many symbolic parts in the foods. The matzoh crackers (unleavened bread), wine (we used grape juice), bitter herbs, charoset, karpas, and egg all represent different parts of the Israelites past in Egypt.  Here you can see our plate below.

Jesus really changed things up for his last Passover meal with the washing of the feet and then the breaking of bread and wine and declaring it was his body and blood.  For the Jews, there would have been so much symbolism in the meal because this was a meal celebrated each year for 1,500 years prior to Jesus.  In fact, Jews today still celebrate this Passover meal.  There are four different parts to the meal connected to four cups of wine.  It's no wonder the disciples feel asleep while Jesus was praying in the garden!  They had just taken part in this three hour meal accompanied by much wine.  Jesus told them to watch and pray and they feel asleep.  I think I would have done the same.

I've never had an opportunity to celebrate an authentic Passover meal with Jews, but I think it would be so interesting to take part in because of all the symbolism.  After the meal, we went to worship with all those thoughts of the meal fresh in our minds.  We had a reading from Leviticus 17:10-16, which talked of how the Israelites weren't to eat the blood of animals because the blood is the life of the creature.  I instantly thought of communion and how we eat the body of Jesus and drink His blood.  When we drink His blood, we drink his life!  How cool is that connection with the Old Testament laws!

The Bible is so rich with symbolism and connections between the OT and NT.  I think we lose a lot of that by not knowing the culture of that time.  When we do get a few cultural glimpses, the words on the pages become so much richer and meaningful to me.

Yesterday at church we remembered the price Jesus paid by giving up His life on the cross as we celebrated Good Friday.  Yes, Jesus gave up His life.  There's no other way Jesus could have died since He is immortal, God in human flesh.  Jesus even said that no one could take His life.  He would lay it down Himself.  And He did it because of His great love for you and I.

But Jesus didn't stay dead.  On the third day, the stone was rolled back from the tomb and He was alive!  Jesus conquered death and the grave, so that we might have eternal life.  We don't deserve it, but it's a free gift to all who believe.  We will celebrate that glorious resurrection tomorrow morning at church.  May you ponder that grace anew as you celebrate our Risen Lord and Savior this Easter!

Trip Recap

It's been a month since I took off for New Orleans...is that depressing or what, that it's taken me so long to write this up? Oh well, no time to make myself feel guilty about it.  The purpose of my trip was a national/international conference for ESL/EFL teachers. This is the biggest conference in my field and is held once a year. People travel from around the US and around the world to attend.

I was able to fly into NOLA, as the locals call it, a day early and had a full day free before the conference started.  I was able to walk about the French Quarter where our hotel was and explore a bit, I was able to check in for the conference and start scoping out sessions, and I was able to work on my presentation, which was the main reason I went..

I as Creole food for dinner that first night before wandering back to our hotel. There had been a lot of commotion across the street from our hotel earlier in the day, so I decided to poke around and see what was happening. The rumor was that Brad Pitt was filming at a restaurant (Mr. B's Bistro) and would be there for 2 days. I tried to get some info. that first night, but was only able to find out that he was in the movie along with James Gandolfini and the movie is called "Cogan's Trade." I actually saw the director, Andrew Dominik, on a smoke break outside the building and didn't realize he was someone important. His body language made me think he was important, and I wanted to take a picture of him, but I chickened out. I didn't want to look like a tourist- ha!

The next day was St. Patrick's Day, and the start of the conference. It was a full day of listening to and learning from presentations. I also was able to meet my co-presenters for the first time and finalize our presentation for the next day. After the majority of the conference was over, I was beat and decided to walk back to our hotel, get dinner, and practice my presentation more while my roommate (my boss) was out for the night.

After working for a bit, I decided to venture out and try to find the St. Patrick's Day parade. I thought it would be neat to see an Irish parade, but was either too early or too late, because I couldn't find it. What I did find, however, was more action at the movie location. I saw lots of Hollywood film trucks and even more security than the day before, so I hung out for a bit.

This is what the restaurant looked like from the outside. All of the filming, however, was taking place inside the building. I think the bright lights on the outside were to maintain the same level of lighting inside because they were on both day and night. They had the roads blocked off and would not allow you to walk on the sidewalk closest to the building. I tried to talk to more people standing around across the street to see if I could find out any more Brad Pitt details. One guy said he had just spotted Brad and James through the window, so I went to try myself.

Since it was getting dark outside, you could actually see inside the building more than before. They had all of the windows covered with a shiny yellow film, so during the daytime you couldn't see inside at all. In the evening, however, was a different story. If people were close to the windows, you could actually see them, and it was at the point I figured that out that I saw Brad Pitt. His hair was slicked back, so I wasn't sure at first.

He was shooting a scene where he had to walk close to the window, so he repeated it a few times and every time I got a good view of him. I even saw one of the makeup artists powder up his face. It was cool. I attempted to take a photo, and somehow got a focused shot.

I was standing across the street and had to zoom in with my "cheapy" camera as I affectionately call it. My flash was off and since film was covering the windows, there wasn't anything for it to focus on. I took several photos that just turned out blurry, and then for some reason, one stuck that was in focus! You can see most of Brad's head and then that's the director with his back to the window.

Not the best picture, I know, but considering what I had to work with, I'm happy.

The next day was the big presentation day and I was a bundle of nerves, but once I started talking, it was ok. I was one of three presenters and we each had 30 minutes to talk followed by Q and A time.  Most of the people in our session were program directors, not just teachers, which is one of the reasons why I was so nervous.  Here's little 'ol me teaching directors. The response to our session, however, was overwhelming. Every single chair was filled and we had people sitting on the floor and others standing in the back. People stayed the whole time while I was talking, which was great as I was worried people would get up and leave.

Phew! I was so glad, however, once the presentation was over. I felt great to have presented at the international conference (a first for me at that level), but I was so glad to be done. I went to the Riverwalk afterwards, for a treat at Cafe du Monde...beignets and cafe au lait. It was delicious.

After the conference that night, it was time to party! I had a lovely walk through the French Quarter to meet up with a friend from graduate school. I just loved the decorated balconies I saw along the way and all of the greenery. The weather was beautiful and it definitely felt like spring as I meandered on in my capri pants and sandals. Lovely.

Crawfish, alligator, crab, shrimp, and hurricanes were on the menu for us at this restaurant.  It was a lovely finish to my presentation day and great to catch up with an old friend.

The final day of the conference I got up early and took a tour of the city. The tour was a great way to "reward" myself for the countless hours I had put into prepping for the conference.

We drove through the French Quarter and then other districts around town. We drove past the homes of famous people (Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, the Manning's boyhood home, etc.), but the thing I loved the most were styles of the homes.

This is my favorite picture from the tour- look at that house and the tree! Note- most tour pictures are taken through the window of a moving bus, hence the lower quality on some.

Lots of ornate decorations and landscaping.

The trees were incredible!

We stopped at an above ground cemetery and learned some of the history behind them.

Then we stopped at an amazing city park for a break.  I meandered along the river watching the ducks and swans.  It was so peaceful and I finally was at ease after all of the stress of presenting.

Then we headed for the somber part of the tour to see some of the lasting effects from Hurricane Katrina.  In the middle-class neighborhoods, most of the homes had been rebuilt.  There were still a few vacant homes, but the majority had been rebuilt at a raised level.  Look at how high up this home was built!  It's hard to see the stilts it's sitting on, but they are higher than the motor home!  No more flooded homes here.

As we drove closer to the lower 9th ward, I saw more and more homes that were still boarded up and vacant- a stark contrast to the neighborhoods we had just visited. Several of the homes we saw were still painted with the date (9-14-05) a first responder checked the home and then letters with the coded details about what was found.

This was a memorial built after the hurricane. You can see a portion of a home on the left with one red chair in the middle representing the storyteller and then three red chairs around it listening to the stories of the family. There's a gray chair off to the left which represents those missing. And the blue pillars on the right- the tallest is 14 feet- the height the flood waters reached when the levy broke.

It was really sad to see all of the abandoned business and churches that left this area. It felt really desolate. The people that have decided to come back and rebuild are getting these super energy efficient homes thanks to Brad Pitt's help. They all have solar panels among other "green" design features.

They definitely look new age, but the lowest energy bill for one of them is $8!

Here you can see a door frame that is still standing as a creepy reminder to the entire house that was swept away.

It's hard to believe that 5 1/2 years have passed since the devastation of the hurricane. It really was sobering to still be able to see so many of the effects.

After that, I returned to the conference for the afternoon session and then hopped flights back home. I totaled the number of steps I walked for those four days I was in NOLA (thanks to my pedometer)... 43, 672! Wow. I aim for 10,000 steps on a good day and I achieved that plus more while I was at a conference. That equates to 20.66 miles in 4 days. No wonder why the scale was down when I returned home.

Thanks for reading if you've made it to this point! And thanks for being patient while I composed my small book from five days of traveling!