Fancherville

For Michelle and Jenny

2008-09-01T20:44:00.002-04:00

So, apparently I have not written a blog in ages. And even though this blog might be completely devoid of any real content, it will nevertheless be there. For my two faithful readers. ;)

A lot of real things are going on right now, but all I really feel like writing about is Gilmore Girls. Or Las Chicas Gilmore as it is called when I watch it with spanish subtitles, which I have been prone to do lately so my brain does not completely turn to mush. A couple of phrases that are now permanently embedded in my brain:
"Estamos bien?" = Are we ok?
"Levitemos como plumas, tiesas como palos." = Light as a feather, stiff as a board.
"Luke, hay brillo sobre mis panquecas." = Luke, there's some glitter on my pancakes.
(...and one I'm sure I'll use...)
"Me siento sucio." = I feel dirty.

Speaking of mush: I suddenly like oatmeal. Correction: lo amo. I love it. All my life, I gagged every time I tried to swallow it. Then, last week, I decided to like it. It's cheap, it's healthy, it's filling. The first few bites, dry heaves. Then, I finished the bowl. Over the weekend, I ate an entire box of it. That's 3 bowls a day. And we sell it at Starbucks now (not sure why, but I'm happy about it now) so my new addiction will continue every morning until I get sick of it.

Adios para ahora.

Animal Lovers

2008-02-14T12:16:00.001-05:00

Hello all

I am writing this on behalf of my family. My sister is in Brazil for the next 6 months on missions and my parents are heading out to Arizona for 2-3 months for missions which results in one dog and one cat needed housed for a bit.

The dog, Isosceles, is 71/2, potty trained and gets along with everyone. He is, however, full of excitement and weighs 100 pounds and so he may be intimidating to some people. He is very smart and loving.

The cat, Valentine, is around 1 years old. She has her front claws removed and is litter box trained. I don't know much about her except that she loves to be held.

Please let me know if you are interested in hosting one or both of these animals. Thank you on behalf of my family.

-Nick Fancher
fancher8@yahoo.com

A Photo Summary of Nick's Brazil Trip

2008-02-04T21:00:00.000-05:00

I want to begin by thanking all who supported my trip in both prayer and in the giving of gifts and monies. Everything about this trip was so down to the wire that it was impossible to not see God’s hand in it. We bought our plane tickets about 2 weeks before we were to leave and the budget we were given by the missionaries covered our costs down to the dollar. We got or passport and visas in the mail about 6 days before we were to leave. My sister, Emily, was also able to get seats next to ours though she bought her tickets 2 days later (she will be staying down there for the next 7 months so you can keep her in your prayers). Even our luggage at 52 pounds which they graciously let slide as the limit was 50 pounds. The zipper on my suitcase also bore the tension of the limit pushing. It was separating from the fabric but thankfully survived the trip.

For those who didn’t know the purpose of our trip to Brazil: Riche Bouthillier is a missionary with the Xingu Mission and has been stationed in Brazil for about 12 years. For a long time many of the missionaries with Xingu have been in Altamira, Para, which is more of a developed city. In the last couple years Richie and a few others have started moving up river to Porto de Moz. The main mission besides church planting and developing has been the work done with Thirst Relief International. They manufacture water filters that purify the river water and give them to families to halt the stomach issues that go along with impure water. Richie wanted a documentary to be made of the work that has been done by him and the others in Porto de Moz in hopes to raise awareness and support of what they are doing down there.

As I mentioned earlier, our trip was down to the wire in every way. When we finally arrived in Altamira (after passing through Rio De Janeiro and Belem) 36 hours after we left Port Columbus, we showered, handed out the gifts that many of you kindly donated, called my wife to let her know we arrived safely, hugged my sister goodbye and then left for the docks. We had an 11 hour boat ride ahead of us before reaching our final destination of Porto de Moz. There was no room for error or rest for that matter. Here is an image of a rainbow that reminded me of God’s provision in all of the chaos, which we saw while waiting out an unexpected 2 hour delay (down from the originally estimated 4- hour + delay) on the last leg of our trip in Belem

On the boat ride up to Porto de Moz I became acquainted with Marveson, an 11 year old Brazilian who was the son of one of the other passengers.

He really liked my camera which had the five pound zoom lens attached. I showed him how to take the picture and view the resulting image and I carefully put the camera strap around his neck. He was thrilled. He started snapping away and quickly grew bolder. I think he had been watching my technique as he shot 2-3 shots for every subject instead of just one. He would then show the best image to the subject for their approval. He wandered the boat shooting for about 45 minutes. Every now and then I would peek out to make sure he wasn’t dangling over the edge of the boat with the camera that weighed about a third of his total body weight. After a bit I asked for the camera back to get a couple shots of my own. I snapped a few and then looked through the images he had taken as well. You can see some of the images below:

He took some AMAZING shots. His composition was fantastic even if his exposures were, for the most part, dialed in for him. I soon realized however, that there weren’t as many shots on the memory card than I thought there should be. I also noticed that the first shots on the card were ones that he had taken and not the images I had taken the day before. Somehow in his quest to explore all that my camera had to offer, young Marveson had formatted my memory card and deleted every single image. Fortunately this happened on the morning of the second day of the trip and all I had really lost were some images of the gift handout from the night before and a couple of the boat trip pics from earlier that morning. As a result I will stress a big THANK YOU again to those for you who donated food and books and DVDs and coffee for the missionaries. Though I don’t have the images to prove it, they were ecstatic. It was a second Christmas for them.

The rest of the boat trip went well. Marveson was not given a second chance to take more pictures. Here are a couple shots from the ride:

Upon reaching the docks at Porto de Moz we were informed that we had been carrying a freight of gravel that was to be used by the water filtration camp. We were then met by a crew of guys that were hand loading the bags into a dump truck that was heading up to the site. By the way, the bags had been hand filled the day before and then hand loaded onto the boat. It took two full trips of the dump truck to hall it all to the site.

Once we got to the site, Richie gave us a tour of the water facility. He explained how the filters work. He also showed us the local Vineyard church. After that we hung out with his family at the house for the rest of the day. We went to the Shuhaskeria (sp?) for dinner which is where meat is brought out to you on skewers and you point to the cut you want. The moon was bigger and brighter than I think I have ever seen:

The next day we were joined by fifteen youth from the Porto de Moz church. Cley and Clea are brother and sister.

There were also two other sisters among the fifteen. This was a ministry for them as they were to go into the villages when we docked in order to invite everyone to the nightly church service we were holding. We then had a 2-3 hour boat ride up to Caraá(?) where we stopped and Tim performed a procedure on a girl there. She had an abscess under her arm that he removed. Though he was able to numb the tissue on the abscess, he wasn’t able to completely numb the area. She was very brave.

Meanwhile the teens were fishing and riding the resident’s horse and playing their Tetris video game (I saw every one of those youth with the game over the course of the week).

We pushed off for another short boat rie up to Cordoza. Jeremy was lying low all day as he was fighting flu-like symptoms. He felt nauseous and being in the sun wasn’t going to help him. When we docked he stayed on the boat and out of the sun and I shot some video for him of the youth as they played soccer.

I went inside a couple of the houses in Cordoza and watched as Richie and Clyde and Tim conversed with the residents. Though they try and make it around to these church plants and villages once a month it has been a couple of months since their last visit. Their goal is to have small groups set up in addition to the weekly church services in order to breed maturity in the Brazilians’ faith. As it is now, when the missionaries come to town it is such a celebration that the whole town comes out for the music and excitement and the visitors and it appears it is a thriving and happy church. The reality is most of them go back to their normal lives for the rest of the month.

After hanging out and playing dominos and taking pictures of all the staring children, several of us went out in the canoe to fish for a bit.

Though Clyde wanted to maintain the image of a fierce and successful fisherman for my camera I had to inform him I am only there to capture the truth and nothing more. He did not catch any fish on that particular boat ride. Clyde is a seasoned fisherman however and could entertain you for hours with the stories he has accumulated over his years in Brazil.

We also stopped to visit a family who had recently received one of the water filters to see how they were doing. Clyde also wanted to get a picture of them. He has made it a habit recently to take shots of every family that receives a filter along with their new filter. Also, check out their bathroom below.

We returned to the village in time to eat dinner and a killer sunset.

After that was church. Two of the youth, Ivanildo and Heif, gave their testimonies
They spoke with such conviction and authority and passion! Cley, who is the primary youth leader, brought the teaching. Richie also spoke a word he felt was laid on his heart. Several people responded after the teaching and received prayer from the youth.

The next morning Clyde and a couple other guys loaded 2, 250 pound water filters into the canoe along with the bags of sand and rocks needed to make the filters work. Jeremy, who was feeling much better, Clyde, me and two other guys hopped in the canoe and headed out to deliver them. Our boat sat so low that we were at the same height of the water. I had my camera in one hand and I was bailing water out of the canoe with the other hand!

We delivered the filters to grateful recipients.

They purchase the filters for $20 Reals which converts to about $12 dollars. The thought behind this is that if the filters are free the recipients will think they are worthless and not contact them if there is any issue with the filter’s performance. And this is exactly what we did after we delivered the first two filters. We also visited a lady whose filter had become infested with red ants. The ants had worked out a system where they were pulling the sand out of the water for their own use! There were thousands of these ants. If you stood still for too long you were getting bit. The 2 year old boy who lived there wasn’t even fazed by the ants.

After we returned to the village, Tim did a couple medical consults. The typical medical condition he encounters in small villages is gastritis, dehydration, worms, STD’s and arthritis. He can easily treat some while some of the STD’s are untreatable with the medicine he has. Some of the villagers are able to make it to town to a hospital but most aren’t that lucky. As you can see in the below picture, this man was lucky enough to have made it to a hospital and had x-rays from his visit but his pain persists and he has yet to pay off his bill from the trip.

At the end of every consultation, Tim offers to pray for the patient. His belief is that without God’s help the medicine can only do so much. Many of the health problems are hard to diagnose and the odd combination of symptoms often point to a spiritual element. This is something I have come across through the Soaking Prayer ministry. For example, if someone is harboring unforgiveness for a long time they will often times have back and neck pains that don’t go away until they forgive the person and repent of their unforgiveness. After this forgiveness the pain almost always goes away.

After the consults we had lunch as provided by the village. They had slaughtered a pig just for us and stewed the meat. Though it was tasty I first had to cut the top 2 layers of skin and hair and fat off the meat. It was a pretty sobering experience. I started to consider vegetarianism.

As we got ready to leave the village of Cordoza, one of the girls who lives there decided to give her life to the Lord. The youth had been playing with the kids from the village for the last day and after the service the night before and the time spent with the youth, the girl decided to commit her life to Jesus! They all laid hands on her and prayed on the boat before crying and saying their goodbyes.

After an hour boat ride we arrived at Bom Jesus. The sunset was glorious and we enjoyed it from our hammocks on the boat. On the ride up we saw everything from herds of water buffalo to wild horses. When we arrived, Richie and Clyde headed down the ¼ mile dock into town to see what the plans were for an evening church service. There had been some really weird spiritual things happening there in the past and Richie thought it would be more appropriate to host a small group session the next morning rather than a big service that night where anyone could show up.

Instead of church that night we had a dance party on the dock thanks to the energetic youth and the music playing on our battery powered radio. Flashlights beamed around like a disco and everyone laughed as Jeremy and a couple of the youth had a Krump-off. He also taught them the timeless game of “Hot Hands”. Later, the youth started a fire and roasted some of the day’s fresh fish. The moon rose bright and the night air was cool and we enjoyed the salty fish on the dock. I stayed up rather late talking to Jeremy and Richie about faith and evil and how merciful Jesus is with us. The teens on board stayed busy playing video games on my phone. Their favorite was Asteroids, which they pronounced “Ashterdoids”.

The next morning we all went into town to hold a church service. Many from the village came out for it. Clyde spoke and several people received prayer at the end of the service.

Following service Tim headed to the town’s hospital to do a few consults. His plan was to do a brief session as he was low on meds and it was getting to be close to lunch. I headed for a walk with the youth to explore the town. Here is some of what I saw in this town:

After about an hour I ended up at the hospital to check in on Tim. There was a mob worthy of a Brangelina sighting surrounding the door to the hospital. After pushing through the mob I entered the cramped, humid room. Tim was had been seeing people for an hour already and the consultations were taking about 3-5 minutes each. Soon after I got there they patients started coming in two at a time. All the health issues were about the same. Gastritis, worms, dehydration, muscle ache, STD’s, arthritis. I sat with Tim for two more hours. Towards the end some of the clients were on their second visit. This time they had new symptoms. As the city was a day’s travel away they were going to get as many free meds as they could. Every time we asked Richie how many more people were waiting outside the hospital to be seen he said “ten.” There must have been 4 or 5 sets of “ten” people that Tim saw.

Below is a picture I took of Tim a couple days before. Though it wasn't taken during this particular session of consults I thought it was a dramatic image of a third world doctor catching a rare and much appreciated moment of rest.

After we saw the last of the people waiting at the hospital we had to pop over and see an old lady with a snake bite who was unable to come to the hospital. Tim, who in my untrained opinion speaks great Portuguese, had a bit of a hard time communicating all he wanted to the patients he was seeing. He would occasionally pull out his pocket digital translator to look up the word “elevate” or “gull bladder”. He checked the lady’s snake bite as well as all her relatives’ wounds and aches and concerns, before we headed back to the boat for a late lunch. As we pushed off to return to Caraá, Tim and I wolfed down our meals. I was also fighting a headache due to the heat in that room and a lack of food and liquids (and probably caffeine too).

When we arrived back at Caraá I rested for a bit as Jeremy did a bit of fishing to his delight. He was sick the other day when the other guys went fishing and Jeremy, an avid fisher, was bound to catch some Piranha. And that he did. But not before Richie upstaged Jeremy with his 6 year old daughter’s pink Barbie fishing rod. That got a laugh out of us all. They went on to catch about 15 fish, half of which were snapping Piranhas. The funny thing about that is that the youth were all swimming in the Piranha infested waters without any problems but the moment you dropped a piece of food in the water it disappeared in a flash of white and teeth. Later, both Richie and Jeremy were upstaged by one of the guys who lives in Caraá who, while spear fishing, had caught a fish that was bigger than all the fish they had caught combined.

That night we ate dinner in the dark as the mosquitoes were especially nasty. After dinner we soaked ourselves in Deet and held a church service in one of their houses. They fired up the generator just for the occasion. In many of the villages the only power they have is provided by generators. There are no phone lines, no roads or cars (only boats got you to these villages) and definitely no power. One of the village residents really missed her soap operas, however, and opted to get a T.V., satellite and a generator.

The church service went great. Again, Cley taught and the youth prayed over several people at the end of the service. It is so amazing to see these kids weeping as they pray over others. These youth truly have an overdeveloped perspective for their age and for any age. They didn’t fight amongst each other once though confined to a tight boat all week. It took little to get them excited and they had a tremendous amount of joy and an acute sense of humor. After service was more dancing and "Hot Hands". All in all it was another very full day.

Later that night we buckled down for a long night swatting mosquitoes. Theses particular mosquitoes had long noses which allowed them to bite us through our clothes and hammocks. Deet didn’t really work either. I put in my ear plugs and pulled my hammock around my face and fortunately because of my long day I fell asleep quickly.

The next day and a few mosquito bites later we headed back into one of the houses as Tim was to perform another surgery. This time it was more cosmetic in nature. One of the girls had a bump on her leg she wanted removed. He was able to more completely numb the area in this case and he removed it with no problem.

This village in specific boasts the production of a great Buffalo cheese. They walked us through their techniques in producing the cheese and the demo finished with everyone sampling the cheese. I don’t eat cheese straight up but supposedly nothing beats warm buffalo cheese.

After that a Clyde and a couple guys returned with a canoe full of pigs. The pigs had been released into the wild until full grown in order to fatten up for the slaughter. I have never before heard the sound of 5 pigs screaming in unison. It is an ungodly sound. I also witnessed the slaughter of the first pig (our dinner) by two of the teenagers from our boat. Heif, who could be seen crying as he prayed over someone in ministry time the night before, was one of the guys who helped kill this screaming pig with his bare hands. These Brazilian youth are some dynamic people. To have the stomach to kill an animal with their bare hands AND have the compassion and empathy enough to weep over a stranger as they prayed for them was a range I had yet to see in one person.

The death of the first pig shut the other pigs up quick. Next, they castrated the two male pigs. Without this their meat is supposedly inedible. I had to go back to the boat and cover my ears for that ordeal.

After recovering from the trauma of witnessing these events and now seriously considering vegetarianism, we returned to our boat to eat ribs and pork with beans and rice for lunch. It was quite good and, according to Jeremy, some of the best ribs he has ever had.

We had a three hour boat ride back to Porto de Moz which allowed us to rest a bit. We also got a group shot as this was probably one of our last times together. I talked to Richie for a bit and the kids and the kids took turns playing the acoustic guitar and Tetris as the sun set and the air cooled. We even got to see the elusive pink Amazon dolphins swimming not too far from our boat.

When we arrived in town we had a taxi waiting for us and we crammed all fifteen of the youth. They cheered and shouted to pedestrians the entire drive to church. When we arrived at the church we were met by a jam-packed church decorated with streamers and palm leaves. The kids ran in, grabbed their guitars, prayed and began worship. It was like watching the Beatles take stage at the height of their popularity. Everyone in the room was immediately jumping around and laughing and yelling and singing. Cley’s brother and father were able to join him and Clea for the night. Cley and Clea gave their testimonies after worship.

After service ended we went over to Richie’s house which is literally two doors down from the church. He has cable and so we watched a bit of the election news and we called our wives for the first time in 5 days. It was great living the city life again. Christie, Richie’s wife, made us frozen coffees and we had Brazilian pizza for dinner. This meant that instead of pizza sauce and pepperoni there was salami topped with mayonnaise, ketchup, olives and peas. Needless to say I was a little disappointed as I had been envisioning Pizza Hut when they told us what we were having for dinner.

After dinner we all crashed. Richie and Christie slept in their kid’s room and gave us their air-conditioned bedroom! We also were able to take a fresh water shower (no more river water) and we had a real bathroom with a comfortable toilet. The luxuries of life.

The next day we grabbed some footage of the church band doing practice. Jeremy and I went swimming with some of the youth kids. It was our last day in the hot climate and we had yet to swim. After we got back from swimming we had lunch with Richie’s family and Clyde’s family. Jeremy interviewed all the missionaries after lunch. Rochelle, who is one of the missionaries that has been in Porto de Moz for a couple years, had some really amazing things to say about all the Lord is doing there.

By the time the interviews were finished we had about 10 minutes before our line boat left for Altamira. Richie headed to the boat early to hang our hammocks in a prime location. We said goodbye to all the youth and we headed out.

We boarded the boat, which has a posted capacity of 60 but was filled with well over 100 passengers and their luggage and hammocks. I ran into young Marveson (of the camera memory incident) and let him take a few more shots, this time with his very own memory card. We were fed a good dinner on the boat with the boat’s engine cover as our table.

I have never before experienced anything like that boat ride. I literally had to climb over people to get around. After I made it back upstairs, Jeremy and Richie and I stayed up trading stories for a while. During our 11 hour boat ride to Altamira we stopped twice along other boats in order to take on a passenger from one boat and to sell diesel fuel to another boat that was stranded. When I was finally ready for bed I found myself in the position where I had a mans leg touching my right ear and Jeremy’s head positioned just over my left. Also, my legs were almost up Tim’s nose and I was staring at a light bulb that was turned on for all but an hour of the night. I slept for about 2 hours.

We arrived at Altamira at 5 a.m., drove for an hour back to Tim’s house where we showered and ate a quick breakfast before heading to the airport. We had 27 hours of flights and layovers ahead of us before returning home, red eyed and grateful. One other miracle happened in Belem. As we were about to head through the security to board the plane I realized I didn’t have my boarding pass on me. I was too tired to think clearly and decided to retrace my steps. My first stop was the bathroom I had gone to about an hour before. On my way into the bathroom I glanced in the trashcan and something caught my eye. My boarding pass was sitting ON TOP of the trash without a piece of dirt on it. Anyone could’ve grabbed it or it could’ve been buried under other trash! In this moment God absolutely confirmed to me His provision in our entire trip.

If you have made it this far in the blog, the Lord bless you. Thank you all for your interest and prayerful support in this trip. There was much I am sure I left out as well. You can see more pictures from this trip on my Flickr page here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/xingumission/pool/52764273@N00/

If any of you have a chance to visit our brothers and sisters in Brazil, jump at it. The missionaries can also use your continual support in prayer and financially. Visit them at www.xingu.org

In Christ,

Nick Fancher

Tagged by Jenny Mae

2008-01-21T23:47:00.001-05:00

01. One book that changed your life

Waking the Dead by John Eldredge. It confirmed that the stirrings in my heart for community were, in fact, the desire God was putting on my heart and not some pointless dream.

02. One book that you have read more than once

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb. I've read it once a year since it came out in 1992--15 times so far!

03. One book you would want on a deserted Island

Lost: a Survival Cookbook.

04. One book that made you laugh

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. Read it. You will not be disappointed.

05. One book that made you cry

Sweet Valley High when Elizabeth had a dream that Jessica died. Only they didn't tell you it was a dream at first.

06. One book that you wish had been written

Lost: a Survival Cookbook.

07. One book that you wish had never been written

Running With Scissors and Leaving the Saints. Bad experiences.

08. One book you are currently reading

Lost in the Forest by Sue Miller.

09. One book you have been meaning to read

Jane Eyre.

10. Now I am supposed to tag 5 people

I don't think I have five readers...Nick, Michelle, Meridith, Robin(do you have a blog?), and Kristin.

Happy 8th ReBirthday to Me

2008-01-10T20:58:00.000-05:00

Today marks eight years of walking with Jesus!

Here is a poem I found right around that time...

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

-ee cummings

Thank You, thank You, thank You.

When It Rains, It Pours

2008-01-10T20:36:00.000-05:00

Some randoms from last Sunday.
Kathleen getting pointers from Nick.
Miss Kensie and me, dancing at Max & Ermas.
Chase adoring his baby sister.
I love the way she holds her little hands when she's sleeping.
Daddy and his little girl.
Monkey Boy and a peak from Monkey Uncle.

December 2007

2008-01-10T13:26:00.000-05:00

Nick's parents got me a digital camera for Christmas! So, this is going to be a full-to-the-brim photo blog.

Let's start with Christmas.
We woke up to this:
Greg got this ornament off the tree and left it at the end of our bed as a gift.
Some of Nick's gifts:
A cool print.
Nick told me about one of his favorite pictures of him and his siblings...
...they were all laying together reading their own Calvin & Hobbes books. I attached to the inside jacket as a surprise.
A cute patch.
A funny zebra ornament.
Some of the things I got from Nick:
Yay--I have been wanting more Jane Austen ever since Pride and Prejudice (BBC) rocked my foundations.
Nick gave me his iPod and put 1,000 songs on it that I like. One of my favorite gifts, so thoughtful.
A stocking FULL of goodness.
Post-production.
Greg is clearly exhausted.
Off to my parents.
Brian showing off the new family photo.
Sweet Cheeks Kensie.
Chase eyeing the enchiladas.
Monkey Uncle and Monkey Boy.
Aunt Beth and Miss Kensie.
Christmas Night, all cleaned up.

The day after Christmas, we had a little party with friends with nothing on the agenda except extending Christmas for one more day by watching Christmas movies. Home Alone, Fat Albert, Charlie Brown, Christmas Story, etc. Good, good times.
Things can get kind of crazy with Nick and John in the kitchen.
Colin contemplating the culinary weirdness that was taking form...
The menu: hot wings, Doritos, orange KoolAid, and an entire carrot. Don't ask, I have no idea.
Saylor, the Carrot Drummer. This is how Colin got his start, you wait.
Robin, John, Nick.
Erin and John, hosts extraordinaire.
Saylor being cute and helpful.
Cuuuute.
Saylor waving to everyone that walks by. :)
An aerial view of the first time Saylor worked up enough courage to touch Nick's beard.
Then they became BFF.
Saylor Pie.
Makeshift family dinner.
Heather making some stellar nachos.

Happy 2007!

Happy Nick-day!

2007-12-16T17:40:00.001-05:00

So, Nick turned 27 on Saturday and it was glorious!

The festivities began at 12am and ended 24hours later. Just like last year, Nick wanted to open his gifts at midnight so that's just what he did.

Minutes before destruction.
Check out this card.
Now, normally, I would never get a card with animals on it, but this was so funny. Look at their tiny ankles and their big shoes.
Nick apparently liked it, too.
A new shirt. A new...blazer? That word is so 80's, but I think that's the only word for it.
A print. The words say, "It's good to feel the warmth of your metal heart." Nick wrote a hysterical piece a couple of years ago about two robots that used to be in love, so it seemed fitting.
Greg enjoying unwrapping Nick's gift.
And his favorite gift...a voice recorder for his iPod. This thing is so fun. It records perfectly and has been sitting in the middle of the table at every meal we have had since he opened it.
More fun with the iPod recorder.
Funny picture of Greg on our bed.
View of Christmas tree from the boudoir.
Gifts all unwrapped...
...and off to bed.

We woke up and went to breakfast at Bob Evans with John and Erin, which was so good. Then we went to my Starbucks (yay!) and had more fun.

Here is H. Evans using her Star Skills and giving us legendary service.
Me looking like a bug that is drinking water out of a straw.
Erin, being sly.
John saying hello.
The Fanchers being the Fanchers.
While we were there, a blizzard swept in and threatened to ruin the rest of our plans that day.

We managed to make it to Half Price Books, then to BW3s with Nick's mom. (I forgot to get a photo of that. Oops.) We headed back to Nick's parents' house where Nick got to play in the snow with Isosceles.
Unfortunately, we had to cancel plans with my parents for dinner on account of the blizzard. So, Nick got to open his gift (from both of our parents) of a new cell phone. He has been wanting the Verizon version of the iPhone for months and got it. Good times.

We then went back to our home for a while to unwind and had the brilliant idea of going to HoundDog's with some people from small group for some birthday pizza. So fun.

Then, we headed out to Easton where we hung out at Starbucks (not mine, but still ok :) before seeing Across the Universe. If you are looking for a review, I am not the person to ask. I will say that it was good...for a musical. Which isn't saying much because I hate musicals. Every musical I have seen is so damn cheesy that even if they deal with real, deep issues (which they often do) I still come away with the feeling that two hours of my life, that I will never get back, was wasted on a shallow drama. It was still pretty interesting to watch, and of course the vocals were beautiful.
And Nick was there, so that makes everything better.
Happy Birthday, Nick!

Four Years

2007-12-14T22:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was our 4th anniversary!
Pretty amazing, especially if you knew us our first year. OK, our first 3 1/2 years.

Here we are right before we went to dinner at Due Amici...yum. A fun surprise from Nick!

Our fun wrapped gifts. Check out that cool bow thingy that Nick put on mine.

Here are the rules for our anniversary gift-givings:
1. It must be under $15.
2. It must be made of the material that goes with the year. (1st year = paper, etc.)
That way we are not breaking the bank to show our love for each other. Even though that would be nice, too. Kidding.
So...
Nick got me the most thoughtful gift: a (wooden) rubber stamp that is designed for make-your-own recipe cards. I guess he must have noticed a certain drawer in our kitchen that is crammed with random scraps of paper with measurements and ingredients written all over them...I am forever writing down recipes I find and shoving them in the nearest drawer. Love this gift.
And for him...
Whenever we put up our Christmas lights in the winter, Nick usually comments about how he wishes we could keep them up all year. So I found these sweet little wooden hand-carved lights at World Market that we can, in fact, keep lit year-round.

And they look good with that window decoration, so hey.

Next we decided to (finally) decorate the tree that has been standing there naked for a week or so.
No tree-decorating ceremony would be complete without Sleepless in Seattle--at least none that I would attend. I love that movie. "Harses, harses, harses..."

Here is Greg enjoying the ornamenting and the heat-venting.

And the tree is all finished! And doesn't Greg look a bit like a wolverine in the background?

Ahhhh...a great end to a great night.

I love you, Nicholas.

Nick's 100 Things

2007-12-01T22:12:00.001-05:00

100 Things About Me

1. I can’t pet my cat or anything small and cute without biting my bottom lip.
2. I have an oral fixation (biting nails, skin around nails, eating sunflower seeds, etc.)
3. I am partially black (roughly 1/16th, but not exactly sure), though legally I am half black.
4. I got an Excellence Scholarship (which is a full financial scholarship issued to black scholars) to Ohio State (see above for explanation).
5. I had an older sister that died in my mother’s womb. I am now the oldest of three children. Her name was Hannah.
6. I have been a Christian for as long as I can remember. I actually don’t remember what age I was when I gave my life to Christ. Similarly, I don’t remember a lot of details about my childhood.
7. I do remember playing “doctor” under a picnic table with my friend Michelle from across the alley. She had a Michael Jackson doll and her mom let her eat as much candy as she wanted before dinner. Needless to say, I was over there a lot.
8. I had surgery on my head when I was born because I didn’t have a soft spot in my skull. They placed a spacer in my skull so my head could grow evenly and now I have an 8 inch scar.
9. I was called “Ass head” and other names due to this scar as I grew up and when I got older people just asked me about it constantly. As a result, I began to create wild stories which I told to strangers who asked where the scar came from.
10. When I was around 6 years old I was walking on the brick wall outside our house and the wind blew me off the wall and I hit my head on the ground. I woke up at the hospital. I was also dropped on my head when I was one year old.
11. I rode my Huffy on the freeway (315 N) when I was 10.
12. I had my bike stolen from me when I was 13. I was riding it at the time.
13. I went to five high schools (Northland, Centennial, Columbus Alternative, Ft. Hayes, Whetstone.)
14. I home schooled in seventh grade and volunteered at COSI as my science class.
15. The first CD I ever bought was Petra and my first concert was Carmen.
16. I have 9 tattoos (1999-present)
17. Beth and I were dating for one week when I asked her if she wanted to get married. Three months later there was a ring on her finger. Five months after that we were married.
18. My favorite album has been “Loveless” by My Bloody Valentine for so long that I don’t even know why it ever was in the first place. I probably actually don’t have a favorite album anymore.
19. My favorite movies are Out of Sight, Eternal Sunshine, Royal Tenenbaums and Amelie.
20. Most of my favorite things I can only watch or listen to once a year or less.
21. My pillow is disgusting looking. Just ask Beth. It is flimsy, old and stained with spit. I can’t sleep as well on any other pillow.
22. I wear a mouth guard (due to teeth grinding) when I sleep.
23. I love the idea of reading books but can rarely make myself finish a leisure read. One of the last (also most favorite book) I have read to date is “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathon Saffron Foer. I wept many times as I read it.
24. I found that I subtly and unconsciously change my tone of voice or mannerisms to match who I am speaking to (whether it is a black person, a gay man or someone with a southern accent).
25. I love the idea of collecting comics but don’t have the money or time to invest.
26. I love the idea of collecting vinyl but CD’s and MP3s or quicker, cheaper and easier.
27. I have been a photographer for 10 years now.
28. I can rarely look at art I have done in the past without wincing.
29. I have wanted a Jeep Wrangler since I was a kid and now that I have one it is one of my greatest prayers to be able to sell it in the next few weeks due to maintenance and fuel inefficiency.
30. When I am getting dressed each day and loading up my pockets with my wallet and pocket knife and pen and putting on my belt, I think about what exactly I will need to survive either in the wilderness or if I have to make it across the country.
31. Before I was a photographer I was a fine artist. I wanted to draw comic books and make children’s books.
32. I also wanted to be a crime scene photographer. Seriously. You should have seen the looks on my guidance counselor’s face when I asked them what steps it would take on my end to make this dream a reality.
33. At OSU I decided I wanted to be a poet too. A minor in poetry.
34. Then I wanted a minor in graphic design.
35. I never got any minor. I did want to do creative writing along the way as well. And possibly sculpture.
36. In my mind I really think I could do just about anything (play piano, do stand-up comedy, make a movie) if I had the time and the resources.
37. I hated science and history and current events growing up. I liked Math and Art. Writing and Reading were okay.
38. I make myself read the news daily though I rarely want to.
39. I make myself eat vegetables and fruit at least once a day though I don’t usually want to.
40. I hate everything Zach Braff makes.
41. I love everything Ryan Gosling makes.
42. Doo-Wop is my favorite music of all time.
43. Old school Hip Hop, piano and Brazilian music are quickly climbing my list as well.
44. When I was a kid I always thought I would eat cereal 3 times a day when I grew up and had my own rules. I don’t.
45. I don’t watch movies as much as I used to.
46. Same with television. I don’t know exactly where all my time goes exactly. As mentioned in #23, you know what I am not doing with my time.
47. The first smells of fall break my heart every year. It makes me miss school. I always loved new beginnings (hence the 5 high schools and 6 years at OSU).
48. I love when the sky is overcast but the clouds are breaking off in the distance. This usually happens a lot when it is cold outside. It is really comforting to me for some reason.
49. I love when I am already cold but know I can hop in bed or take a bath any time I want. I usually draw this process out as long as I can stand it so the warmth is even more effective.
50. I get so excited when I sit down to eat that I end up burning my tongue and sucking in air loudly to cool down my food to the dismay of everyone around me.
51. When I see someone with a lazy eye or crooked teeth or even the smallest abnormality to them I have the deepest desire to take care of them and protect them. Then I get really sad.
52. I sit by the window or natural light whenever possible no matter where I am.
53. I have been to 6 countries.
54. I have been to 32 states.
55. I wear one pair of jeans pretty much everyday until they completely fall apart on me.
56. I have over ten pairs of shoes but only wear 2 pairs regularly.
57. I have learned that I can multi-task while doing pretty much anything except having a conversation with someone else (especially my wife).
58. Sometimes I will have a high frequency tone in one of my ears for a minute or so. This has been happening since I was a kid. I have always wondered if I had a superpower and was sensing something.
59. I used to be scared to cross the street when I was a kid after I saw Back to the Future because I thought the Dolorean would appear out of thin air and run me over.
60. I LOVE documentaries.
61. I move my legs around under the covers in order to relax to fall asleep.
62. It takes me usually under 30 seconds to fall asleep. Often 10-15 seconds. No joke.
63. I think shoe choice can save most outfits and that if pants don’t hit your shoes just right, they are worthless.
64. Beth and I made our wedding bands.
65. All of a sudden I was allergic to my band a year into our marriage. I couldn’t wear it wearing tape between my finger and the ring. I prayed for healing with this allergy for 2 years. All of a sudden about 6 months ago I could wear it with no problem. I am wearing it right now.
66. We got married 2 days before my birthday four years ago this December. Needless to say, December is a pretty profitable month for me.
67. I worked at Stauf’s coffee shop for just under 2 years and at Stauf’s enemy, Starbucks, for just over two years.
68. I have worked all my jobs for around 2 years each.
69. Except I only worked at Papa John’s for 1 month.
70. I was kind of in a garage band my freshman year of high school, though I couldn’t play an instrument. I jammed on my friend’s broken, un-tuned bass guitar only when the rest of the band was playing loudly so no one could hear that I knew nothing. The band was called “Slow Squirrel”.
71. I wish I knew how to play the piano and guitar and know how to mix and record my own music. I would record just for my own pleasure and listening.
72. I freak out if the apartment or car is too cluttered. Often, I clean before I start my workday so I can feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.
73. I have been running my own photography business for almost one year now.
74. And we still have a roof over our heads and the things we need and then some. Praise you Lord!
75. I hate Star Trek but LOVE the original Star Wars.
76. I have gone to 6 annual 24-hour sci-fi movie marathons now. Every time I go I think about (while maintaining complete unawareness of self) how many nerds there are there.
77. I skim almost everything I read. If I were reading this as someone else’s blog, I would be skimming it. This results in me missing many, many important things.
78. I pull at my beard hair constantly.
79. I smoked cigarettes off and on for the better part of 4 years. Though I smoked more than a half a pack a day I had no problem quitting for four months (which I did 2 times) before quitting for good. Every time it was cold turkey, though I still often miss it.
80. I have seen the movies “Hackers” and “Toys” (yes, the movie with Robin Williams) at least 100 times.
81. I was arrested in North Carolina for speeding when I was 18. My friend and I had just graduated high school and were headed to Myrtle Beach. I was going 94 in a 70 MPH zone. They were in an unmarked car and were tailgating me as I was only going about 85 before. However, I had buried the needle in West Virginia and hit 117 MPH so I wasn’t completely innocent. I had to spend the night in jail and even wear black and white stripes. I also had to go back three months for the court date. I still am not sure whether I can legally drive through the state.
82. I had 2 box turtles named Myrtle when I was growing up. I used to take my turtle outside for exercise. The first Myrtle ran away when I accidentally left it in our back yard overnight. It was replaced with Myrtle the second, which I gave away when I got tired of changing the cage and feeding it.
83. Our house got robbed the first month we were living in it when we moved to the Linden area. It was ten in the morning and we were only out of the house for 30 minutes. The first thing I did was to see if my turtle was okay.
84. My head tingles whenever I say anything inappropriate (and sometimes if I only think it). It is to the point where Beth can ask “Is your head tingling, because it should be.”
85. I ate a banana chip muffin every day I worked at Starbucks for about 6 months. They are 400 calories each.
86. I was always skinny growing up. I remember I weighed 55 pounds but claimed I weighed 60 when I was in 4th or 5th grade. I hovered around 155 until I started waiting tables at Hoggy’s where I gained 30 pounds in a year and a half.
87. I had no chest hair or even hair on my stomach when I was graduating high school and now it looks like I wear a black snow suit year round.
88. By the time this year is out I will have been on at least 17 flights which nearly ties all the other flights I have taken in my life combined.
89. I am allergic to bees and get hives all over my body and pass out when stung. I haven’t been stung since the first time this happened to me when I was 13 or so. I run like a girl whenever I see bees.
90. I am now gun shy of most things that move sporadically (including moths).
91. I had my wisdom teeth and tonsils removed at almost the same time of year 2 years in a row and can’t keep straight which procedure was which. I was on drugs and it hurt to eat with both procedures.
92. I wasn’t allowed to date until I was “old enough” and so this caused me to secretly date, which I hated. I think this also caused me to feel like I couldn’t talk to my parents about this type of stuff. I ended up not really having many long term dating relationships.
93. I also never went to Prom or any other school dances.
94. I am currently slowly learning Brazilian Portuguese and acoustic guitar.
95. I have movie nights with my friends where we create themes in order to justifiably watch really bad movies (“Animals That Play Sports” night: Air Bud, Most Valuable Primate, Ed. Or “An evening with Clint Howard”).
96. I have seen over 1,000 films. I used to keep track of how many I had seen by highlighting them in yearly film guides. I don’t do that anymore. I am not sure what number I am up to.
97. I have flat feet which results in knee problems.
98. Last year I walked from 270 North and High St. in Worthington down past 104 in an attempt to reach 270 South. I was one mile shy. It totaled about 18 miles. I couldn’t walk for two days afterward. My goal is to walk 270 North to South and back (around 32 miles) in one day.
99. I rode my bike from London, Ohio, to Cincinnati last year with 4 friends. We rode back the next day bringing the 2 day mileage to 160 miles. Again, I couldn’t walk for 2 days afterward.
100. I love almost every Old Navy commercial I have ever seen.

Beth's 100 Things

2007-11-02T21:54:00.000-04:00

I have been married to my amazing husband, Nick, for almost 4 years!
Some of my favorite smells are unsmoked cigarettes, orange peels, tea bags.
I could watch (and have watched) You’ve Got Mail back to back to back. It is the most comforting movie ever.
The Charlie Brown movies make my heart ache so much that I almost can’t watch them.
Same with The Secret Garden.
I have read She’s Come Undone once a year since I got it. That’s 15 times, I believe.
When I was little and couldn’t sleep, I would turn my pillow sideways. It worked every time, but I only used it as a last resort for fear it would stop working.
If I could live anywhere, it would be in Stars Hollow.
Or Pemberley.
My first memory is getting my diaper changed. I was about 18mos old and I pooped all over my babysitter’s yellow shirt. Haha.
I called my dad ‘Dee-dah’ when I first learned to talk. I think that might have been my first word.
One day when I was about seven, my brother and I decided to prank our local Payless Shoes store. I called three times in a row asking questions like, “Do you have any ducks?” On the third call, the woman said, “No, but I could call the police and see if they have any.” Scariest moment of my life.
Most of my favorite memories involve my brother.
Seeing the Rock Monster eat all of those rocks in the Never-Ending Story used to make me so hungry.
I used to have a lot of dreams where my teeth fell out and I would spit them out like Chiclets.
I wish I would have studied ballet, I think I would have been good.
To my surprise, I discovered recently that I am really moved by contemporary dance.
I eat spaghetti at least once a day.
I prefer a 1:1 ratio of spaghetti sauce to parmesan cheese, so it makes a paste of sorts.
I often eat the same food every day for weeks, then I don’t eat it again for months or years.
Right now my favorite foods are concord grapes and turkey/cheddar/spicy brown mustard sandwiches.
I usually like opposite things at the same time. Rolling down the windows and blasting the heat. Alternating sweet and salty foods. Watching Laguna Beach while reading Pride and Prejudice.
I drink just about everything through a straw, hot or cold.
For the life of me, I cannot tell one musical instrument from another in a song.
I love gray socks.
I have no tolerance for heat.
Sometimes God speaks to me (for myself or for others) through the song lyrics that get stuck in my head. Just last week at group, I felt like I was supposed to pray for one girl in particular and I had the lyrics “On a Sunday morning…On a Sunday morning…” rattling around in my head. I asked her what her weekend had been like and she said it went well except for this weird thing that happened on Sunday morning that she hadn’t really planned on talking about. It was a good time of prayer.
More often than not, however, God gives me lots of fun and meaningful dreams.
And that’s why I have come to love sleeping so much.
I am trained as a massage therapist, but never had any real intentions of doing it as a profession. I was too scared to follow through with what I really want to do.
I am now in school for Christian counseling and I love it.
I always ask for a definition of a word if someone says one that I don’t know.
I also look up words at m-w.com constantly.
I just found out that I like to read whole books of the Bible (if they’re shorter) in one sitting, rather than breaking it up over the course of a month or something.
I prefer the Month-at-a-Glance page of my planner over the Day-at-a-Time page.
I am a big picture sort of girl.
So sometimes it is easier for me to get discouraged about life; I feel like I can see everything at once.
My fingernails are kind of small.
I like anything clerical: alphabetizing, organizing, addressing envelopes.
I often sleep in the shirt I am going to wear the next day if I have to get up early. One less thing to do.
I had a great day with my nephew a few weeks ago that changed my life in a lot of ways.
I have overcome a lot of fears this past year.
I went to the dentist.
I got my wisdom teeth out.
I shared a prophetic word at church. But there were only a couple thousand people there, so no biggie.
I confronted a friend and it resulted in the breakdown of our friendship. But I would do it again because it was the right thing to do.
I started school…and have gotten straight A’s thus far!
And quite a few other things that are not fit for Blogland.
I love the language of the Bible—some of rings so poetic. Here are some favorites:
“I, even I, am He who comforts you.” (Isaiah 51:12)
“And who knows but that you have been called to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)
“For in Him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28)
If there are two ways of saying a word, I will usually say both. Ahpricot/Aypricot.
When a fire truck goes by blaring their sirens, I only have to plug my left ear because I having some hearing loss in my right ear due to a bad ear infection when I had when I was 8.
I can’t wait to see what Nick is going to look like when he is old.
My grandpa taught me how to waltz. I miss him very much.
I have had a few jobs cleaning offices and apartments. People who have seen my car might think this is funny.
My brother and I used to play Life for hours. I never understood the Promissory Notes.
My dad once told me that if I touched insulation (that fuzzy pink stuff in the walls) it would make me itch all over. I still don’t know if this is true, but I have never touched it.
One time when I was little, I begged my dad to take me with him on a couple mile walk to Goodyear to pick up our car. He still talks about how I kept up with him even though he was 6’2” and I was only 5 years old.
I had a friend named Jessica when I was in first grade; she had this zip line contraption that went from the top of her treehouse to the ground and you could ride all the way down. Sooooooo fun.
We used to call each other the night before school and plan our outfits. I was partial to printed turtlenecks and jean skirts with matching earrings, headbands, and tights.
The summer before eighth grade I grew three inches in three months.
I sleep with earplugs.
I love to read myself to sleep.
My favorite album is Bat Out of Hell by Meatloaf. I discovered it when I was 12 and it just broke my heart, I loved it so much.
The sound of a football game on TV on the weekends makes me feel sad.
My parents used to have to drive me around the block for a long time to get me to sleep when I was a baby.
Car rides still calm me down if I am upset about something. (I just made that connection.)
I don’t care about politics. Maybe someday when I’m a grownup.
I know all the words to Dirty Dancing and Footloose.
I love to shop by myself.
I love to grocery shop.
I love to cook.
I only listen to music when I’m driving about 50% of the time.
Right now I am listening to the Pride & Prejudice score and it is lovely.
Sundays are often difficult for me; it’s been that way my whole life, but it has gotten better over the years.
I have loved Jesus for almost 8 years now. January 10, 2000 was the day of my salvation.
I was baptized on August 10, 2002 at Breathe.
The first thing that drew me to Nick was that he seemed sort of mysterious with his tattoos and piercings, but he had this sweet little boy laugh…I love that contradiction.
Being able to make Nick laugh is one of the biggest complements for me.
One of my last thoughts before sleeping is usually, “Please let me have him for just one more day.”
I cannot wait to have children.
I am pretty sure I am going to have twins. Just a hunch, who knows.
I saw two kids in the grocery store today that look like what I think our kids will look like and I got so excited!
I think I want to have a homebirth and the “helpful advice” people give upon telling them that is more discouraging than I thought it would be.
I wish I was more photogenic.
I sometimes love the feeling of not being able to remember something (like song lyrics) because I get to roll it around in my head for days or weeks. It’s like mental gymnastics, it’s great.
I don’t like breakfast foods.
So I usually eat soup or pasta in the morning.

(Inside the Actor’s Studio always ends with the following ten questions.)

91. What is your favorite word? Delicatessen.

92. What is your least favorite word? You cannot trick me into typing it.

93. What turns you on? Being delighted in.

94. What turns you off? Inconsistency.

95. What sound or noise do you love? Newborn baby noises, the washing machine.

96. What sound or noise do you hate? Mouth sounds. Anything loud and unexpected.

97. What is your favorite curse word? Probably ass.

98. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Counselor.

99. What profession would you not like to do? I probably shouldn’t do anything involving old men. My heart would break.

100. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Your family that went before you has been waiting; the rest of your family will be here soon.

Finals

2007-10-13T15:58:00.000-04:00

So excited right now. I just finished my last final for child psych and I got a 98%. So I finished with all A's and that is just...satisfying, you know? I don't think I am overly concerned with grades, but it feels good to know that all the time spent was worth it.
Once I get my wisdom teeth out on Monday, I get to enjoy a whole week off! (*And DO NOT send me your horror stories about your wisdom teeth removal--not helpful.*) Pray for a quick recovery so I can sit around eating soup, reading Harry Potter, and watching Win a Date with Tad Hamilton.

Later.

'Tis the Stuff Dreams are Made Of

2007-10-11T14:51:00.000-04:00

I had this long, involved dream last night and all I remember is that I was really distraught because one of my mom's old friends died of an allergic reaction.

An allergic reaction to beagles and rice.

Hm.

Big Muscles

2007-09-29T13:57:00.000-04:00

Nick and I were talking last night and we agree that a major thing the Lord has been working on in my life in the past couple of months (well, years--but I am finally more willing, able to recognize it as such, and somewhat excited at the thought) is the ability to go on living even when, especially when, something is happening that I do not like and can do nothing about. This has always been a very 'weak muscle' for me, so the Lord in His infinite wisdom is kicking my ass into shape. It's good.
When Nick was in Brazil, I did pretty well. I learned a lot, mainly about what I just said. We had a lot of contact while he was there, via phone calls and emails. However, there was one weekend where the team took a river trip for 3 days and had no outside connection whatsoever. I felt prepared for this, but the weekend did not go as expected for me. I was starting my online semester that weekend and planned to get ahead and start off on a good note. One problem: the computer crashed. And I mean crashed. It would turn on or load Windows. I knew something had changed in me when I did not immediately start crying or freaking out. That happened a few minutes later, but still. I cried out to the Lord for a little while, then watched a movie. When I was able to talk to Nick again, he told me how to fix it. That weak muscle grew a lot during the Brazil trip.
Currently, two things are happening.
I have an appointment to get my wisdom teeth out on the 22nd. I thought my break from school was that week, but I realized last night that is actually the week I begin a new semester. Guess what? Nothing I can do about it until Monday when the dentist's office opens. I also thought about calling my school and seeing if I could contact the professors to see if I could begin a few days early, but guess what? Nothing I can do about it until Monday when the office opens.
I can seriously feel that muscle growing.
I also have been reading and studying for a test all week. I feel really confident about and I like the material it is over. I took a few practice quizzes and studied my notes. I was excited to take it when...I realized the quiz wasn't there. The professor must have forgotten to post it. I wrote her an email, but guess what? Probably nothing I can do about it until Monday when she usually answers emails.
Pumping iron over here.

Speaking of. My friend Sara was kind enough to give me her guest pass to Power Shack! Only $7/month and it's right by my work! So excited. I can't wait to get into a routine of working out come November-ish when my schedule goes back to normal.

I think that's all for now.

Soup Recipes

2007-09-24T09:30:00.000-04:00

That title gives everything away, doesn't it?

So, it's the season for it.

Give me your soup recipes, I know you have at least one.

I'll take as many as I can get.

Mmm...

Please Be Seated

2007-09-17T12:36:00.001-04:00

The notecards are now posted in our Etsy shop! Here they are--click on the titles to go directly to the listing on Etsy.

Please Be Seated (Gold):

Please Be Seated (Scarlet):

The cards look fantastic--even better in person! Overnightprints.com is the way to go if you need quick bulk orders. They are only $2.00 and are so autumn-y and fun. Bonus: if I know you, no need for shipping--I'll just hand them right to you.

That's all for now!

Saturday

2007-09-15T16:07:00.000-04:00

Today is good, my friends. The weather...I don't have words for it. I love it that much. I get to wear a sweatshirt! I am wearing socks! I am cold! Life is good!
Recap: last night was Colin's much-anticipated surprise party. SO FUN. And Michelle & company did a great job of keeping the big secret--Colin was actually surprised. A lovely group of people. I don't know the last time I felt so comfortable at a party. I'm more of a one-on-one type of conversationalist, but last night was great.
This morning Nick and I went to the Farmer's Market and it was great. Corn and banana peppers, etc. I love living in Clintonville. I hope I live here forever, I mean that.
Not much else going on. I just aced a mid-term. Getting ready to make spaghetti. (<----rhymed.) Going to Dan's (not surprise) birthday party tonight with the likes of Katie Babcock. Can't wait--similar group, more food.

Mo' later.

I Got My Hair Did

2007-09-12T15:00:00.000-04:00

Today was a good day. I slept in. I got up and listened to some music. Adrienne picked me up and we made pesto all afternoon. The weather is wonnnnnderful. Not much to say right now, except for I got my hair chopped off a week ago.

Eight inches, baby. These are some silly photos that Nick took a couple of days ago. The greatest part of having short hair is not having to think much about it.
I am off to hopefully finish a paper on the aforementioned topic of child-rearing. Later.

Monday, Monday

2007-09-10T22:46:00.000-04:00

Do I already have a blog with this title? I can't remember and don't care enough to check.
Oh my goodness I just busted out a 5-pg paper that isn't even due until Sunday. I am taking a Child Psych course that is pretty interesting. The subject of the paper was on discipline (my choice out of about five other options), so maybe it was easier to write because I am interested in it. It is weird to write my opinions about a subject I have yet to experience, namely child-rearing. I can practically feel the instructor (who is very encouraging and helpful) rolling her eyes because I do not have kids. But I am honest about the fact that these are just ideas rolling around in my head until that time of my life hits—I strive to be humble in my observations, I think. Since a lot of my close friends have had children (YAY!) I have only heard a couple of times the comments that go something like "Oh, you wouldn't know because you're not a mom yet..." or when I am brave enough to answer their questions about my opinion on a subject I have gotten the old "you think that now, but you just wait." I hate that. The thing is, we are children of God. Parenting (hopefully) is modeled after His parenting of us, and since I have been a child of his for a while now, it is possible for me to have a few opinions or maybe something to add to a conversation. I am not fooling myself into thinking that those said opinions will not change drastically, but whatever. It's fun to talk about such things.
Speaking of which, Michelle is so great to talk to about literally everything. Parenting? Sure. Marriage? Definitely. We could talk or not talk for hours--we both love the debate and the picking of the brain that inevitably follows. Seriously, hours. Another friend that I love talking to is Aubrey. If you don’t know her, you should. One of the most humble people. Ever. She is forever asking me my opinion on things that I probably know nothing about. But I try. In the past week we have talked at length about parenting and church discipline—am I a mom? Not yet. A pastor? Hopefully not ever. But she still seems to value the conversation and it makes me feel loved. I have also reconnected with my friend, Laura, in the past week and that is doing my heart very well.

I have no idea why I am writing this much. I didn’t know this much was in my brain, I tell you. After writing a paper, I tend to ramble for a while after, either in speech or writing. Smoke is coming out of the keyboard.

So, starting tomorrow morning, Nick and I are taking some time to pray and listen to what the Lord is trying to say about my relationship with Him. There’s faith there somewhere, right? I am assuming He is going to speak, so that is something. Just taking two days or so to push some distractions aside and put ourselves in the place of hungering for Him. For some reason I am excited. In the past couple of days/weeks I go between feeling numb to feeling some emotions that I hate feeling, so excited is good. Might be some of the reason I am typing so fast.

What else? I’m hungry, that’s what. Off in search of food…

Labor Day, la la la

2007-09-03T17:00:00.000-04:00

Nick just said to me, “I’m going to go poop. And there better be a new blog to read when I get done.”

So here I am. A productive day in Fancherville. It involved: a psychology book, a pencil, a computer, an APA manual, some rice, some sweet corn, a mop, a few sprays of vinegar, a bucket, a rug, and a shower.

Nick went to his parents’ trailor (see, I said it) that is about an hour north of Westerville, leaving me ample time to get some stuff done.

We are going to pick up a 1950’s set of Encyclopedias Britannica from a Mr. John McCollum that we know from the Central Vineyard fam. I am excited about them. I have visions of them being a very cool color with very cool photos that I can cut up (or scan) and make a bunch of stuff out of them. Nick was a tad offended at the idea of me taking scissors to the pages stating, “Our kids might someday want to use them for reports and stuff.” This cracks me up. Our kids will be like, “Encyclo-what?” So yes, scissors and postcard mayhem are sure to follow.

Speaking of postcard-ness. We ordered two sets of prints from overnightprints.com—they should be here at the end of the week. I have not yet figured out pricing, it will depend on shipping, which I need to figure out. That site was a dream to go through, so helpful. So they should be in our Etsy shop shortly.

Tonight we are going to dine on the culinary goodness of Noodles & Company. Yum. Nick has not been there yet, but I know he will like it as much I do. Maybe more. Date night awaits and on such a beautiful evening.

On a less light note, please pray for my relationship with the Lord right now. I do a good job of writing and speaking like I am fine, but my heart is hurting like it has not before.

Well, I am off in an effort to finish this day well. I hope you are having a great Labor Day!

Here and There

2007-08-27T10:57:00.000-04:00

Can I get an amen on the wonderful sleeping weather last night? I love cool nights. And days…Fall can come anytime.
So I am in the middle of watching a documentary about the horrors of WalMart and wow. If you have noticed how dim and chaotic the store is and that is not enough to stop you from shopping there, watch it. It’s very disturbing and makes me feel a tad helpless, but I am only half way through so…
I just got done reading a book called Little Children. Don’t read it. It’s shallow and dumb. A quick read, though, probably because I skimmed half of it for lack of content.
On a business front, we have ordered all of the supplies necessary to make our postcards. I am really excited about this new branch—as soon as the cards are in I will post photos so you can see them. Check out the rest of the Etsy shop (sans cards until another week or so) right here.
That’s all for now, this was a random post. Oh, one more thing. The other day I was watching TV and saw this girl with a really cute stud in her nose. I was sitting there wondering if I could pull off a nosering, wishing I had one and…I do. I do have one. I have had one for almost 5 years. I'm just sayin' is all.

Blah

2007-08-25T10:51:00.000-04:00

I feel like I have to write something because I am at the library and still have 55mins to go being signed on to a computer, and I have nothing else to do online right now.

This day. I hope it gets better.

Homecoming

2007-08-23T11:37:00.000-04:00

I know it's hard to see me darling
Let your eyes adjust
If you go blind just trust
You are made out of my dust

These are the lyrics I heard that made me drop the eyeliner in the sink yesterday. I was getting all dolled up to go the airport to pick up Nick (!), listening to Page France. And I have heard this song hundreds of times and thought I had listened to the lyrics, but no. I always thought it was a song between a boy and girl, him reassuring her that they will always be together—and then I heard the above lyrics and knew that it was meant to be Jesus speaking. (The tears that welled up ruined the makeup job I had been working on, but eh.) So then I put it on repeat for an hour and absorbed the lyrics. (They are printed below if you are so inclined.)

So, after a loooooooooong two weeks, Nick is home! WOOHOO! Yesterday was great, we just spent the day catching up, unpacking, etc. We went to North Market for dinner (yum) and then to the Ohio Theater for a showing of Sunset Boulevard, which I actually really liked. Poor Nick, jet-lagged and exhausted, couldn’t sit through the whole thing so we ended up leaving early. Still fun, though.

Check out some of the photos Nick took in Brazil at www.flickr.com/photos/shutterthink or just click on the link at the right side of the page. He had a blast and, quite frankly, came back a different person. I don’t really know how to describe it…his heart is so soft now. Even his voice has changed, at least to my ears. I felt so delighted in yesterday I sort of didn’t feel like I had room enough for it. Nick prayed, “Lord make her heart big enough for the joy You’ve put in mine.”

I guess that’s enough for now. I think I will try to put up photos of the apartment tomorrow.

‘Dogs’ by Page France
I heard it's getting windy so I'll sit and watch you blow
I will chain you to my boat
I will carry you back home
And I won't say I love you cause it's all been said before
Let's not say it anymore
'cause love nothing here's for sure
They treat us like dogs
So we play along
We bark and we moan
And play them more songs
But when we blow away
And get out of this place
We go down like a shower
And up like a prince
I heard it's getting windy and we'll all be blown away
Did you tell me you're afraid?
Darling, you look so afraid
And I'm not sure what happens when everything here ends
But I hope it's like they said
And I hope it never ends
They treat us like gold
Dug up to be sold
We shine and we shake
Assuming our roles
But when we blow away
Up over this place
We go down like a shout
And up like a praise
I know it's hard to see me darling
Let your eyes adjust
If you go blind just trust
You are made out of my dust
I was made out of your dust
And the wind will carry us
In the ocean's evening dust
Up above the mountaintops
He/You will have the both of us
He Will have the both of us
He/You will have the both of us

The Joy of Painting

2007-08-10T14:23:00.000-04:00

So, I just heard from Nick and the team is finally in Brazil. It took them about a day longer than intended due to some plane problems and the like. Somewhere between the US and Brazil the airport lost Emily's (Nick's sister) bags...that sucks. However, she is reportedly taking it like a champ, which is more than I can say for myself had I been in that situation. Kudos to Miss Em. On a brighter front, Nick says there are amazing colors to capture all over the place. And you know what that means...new photos for Nick, new notecard material for me! So look for bright fun things very soon.

As for me, I am holding down the fort, as they say...Actually, I wish this apartment was a fort. But then I would never leave. OK, so this fort is getting a brand new coat of paint in the next couple of weeks. I am so excited! We have never painted anywhere we have lived--and believe you me, there have been many apartments in the four years of our marriage. We always seem to end up with the crackhead landlords (literally, in one case). But not this time. We have signed a two-year lease and are on our way to making it look like home. The paint colors are what Bob Ross in his prime would have called yellow ochre and phthalo blue:

The phthalo is a little muted and dark, but you get the idea. I also bought some fabric for curtains, which are being made tonight. More pictures on that later when the digital camera gets back from its missions trip.

Happy Friday!
:Beth

In the beginning...

2007-08-10T00:55:00.000-04:00

It's really late. I have been customizing this thing for a while now in preparation for new items to be sold in our Etsy shop. Starting September 1 (hopefully), we will be adding fine art notecards to the shop along with the great prints that are already for sale. Look for them in a couple of weeks!
Until then, I will probably update on the progress on getting that stuff ready to sell, if for no other reason than to get myself into the habit of blogging (almost) daily. Nick is in Brazil on a 2-week missions trip, so no time like the present to be productive! We shall see...

Over and out.
:Beth