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November 18, 2004

As Alex mentioned in his last journal entry, we spent this past Friday night at the church with the kids at our annual Lock-In. So far I have stayed up all night twice in my life - this year’s Lock-In and last year’s Lock-In. I have to admit, though, things went great this year!!

We couldn’t have done it without all the help we had, though. Stephanie (hi Stephanie!) helped me lead Pew Commando’s while Scott edited the commercials we made on the spot. Our commercials were a riot, too. We did everything from B. Oderant (deodorant that made you stink) to Poop Paste (toothpaste that tastes like, well, you get the idea.) Trey helped out leading the Cracker Smasher game, where you out on a shower cap and smash saltine crackers with your head. No wonder David Allen had a headache the rest of the night! The hit of the night was Hose Head fighting, for sure. A description won’t do, so you’ll just have to wait for the pictures. I took a particularly noteworthy photo of one of the contestants cheating. lol I love digital cameras - instant gratification!

This past Monday was the first day of the season that I’ve been flipping through the channels and came across Christmas music. Apparently Kiss FM is playing nothing but that now. How fun! Some say it’s too early to start playing Christmas music and decorating for Christmas. Not me! Our house would be decorated by now if we weren’t going out of town for Thanksgiving (I wouldn’t want to leave the tree unattended around the cats for that long.) I love, love, love this time of year! I put on my Bing Crosby Christmas CD, fill up the house with the scent of a pine tree, light my candles and I am on cloud nine. *sigh* Don’t get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving too and don’t want to rush over it. As my friend Bethany says, "From the first day of Fall until the day after Christmas is my favorite time of year."

November 3, 2004

Today is the day! I just received the notice that marks my beginning as an Apprentice in the Lexington Vintage Dance Society. I’m happy to be part of a dance group again, and excited about the things I’ll be learning and the new experiences I’ll come across. I have already kicked things off to a good start with the Dracula performance that was this past weekend. Although our routine wasn’t perfect, it did flow smoothly and was a ton of fun. What girl wouldn’t want to don a ball gown and dance with a man in a tux with tails?

Okay, now that my big announcement has been made I’ll back up and catch you up with what’s been going on the past month. On October 5th Alex took me to the Palace Theater in Louisville to see "Cats." That was amazing! It’s worth the price of admission just to see the detailed ornamentation of the Palace. The show was filled with great music, energetic dancing, and fun light shows. I highly recommend it to anyone who has the chance to see it.

Alex and I took the kids to see Casting Crowns on October 8th. What a fun concert! I love their music, although I have to admit it was just a teeny bit too loud for me (I must be getting old.) The kids had a blast, though, and that was the main thing. Our kids normally listen to country music, so any time we can get them excited about contemporary Christian music we consider it a victory. My girls get really excited when they hear Casting Crowns on the radio now, which I think is cool.

October 9th we took the kids to the Ropes Course at Georgetown College. Now that is my kind of fun! Alex thought that I’d be nervous about the heights, but I told him, "I’ve climbed trees higher than this!" That may be a little stretch of the truth, but I’ve never been scared of heights. The only thing that scared me the whole day was the big swing finale. That’s where they hooked some ropes up to your climbing harness, raised you way up in the air, then you drop and swing like a sack of potatoes. lol My "rusty hinge" scream has been caught on tape and, I’m sure, will pop up to randomly embarrass me for the rest of my days.

On Friday, October 15th Alex and I were invited to a little dinner party at Scott and Stephanie’s house. They are new friends of ours, and we’re totally excited about them moving to the area and joining our church. After dinner we played "Scene It" and a couple of rounds of "Battle of the Sexes." I think the highlight of the evening is when one of the guys thought that baby’s breath was "a milky belch."

Sunday evening on October 17th we took a bunch of our kids out to ice cream after church. On the way there I noticed my girls were quiet (which is not like them but they’ve been under a lot of stress lately.) So I rolled down all the windows and yelled "Freeze out!!" They all screamed and turned the radio up so that it could be heard over the rushing wind. It only lasted a few minutes before a voice was heard from the back, "I loose! I loose!" lol Then we passed a car with one headlight, at which one of my girls yelled "Padiddle!" Without thinking about it, I reached up and punched the roof. The girls just screamed and laughed - they couldn’t believe I knew what Padiddle was. One of them accused me of taking "cool pills" that day. It’s good to be thought of as cool by teens these days. It doesn’t happen often. :-)

The Saturdays of October 16th and 23rd found Alex and me in New Haven doing a murder mystery at the train station. That was fun! I got to dress all in black and be one of the tour guides. I got to meet Alex’s actor buddies, as well as Ned, the infamous train conductor. Alex got hit on by an old biker chick, I got one of the audience members to accuse one of the other tour guides as being the murderer, and we watched a nun chug a beer - it was a wild time.

September 29, 2004

I’ll bet you can’t guess what I did today. I played football, and man was it fun! We’ve dubbed our Wednesday nights with the Youth "Full Impact" to imply that those nights are more upbeat, energetic and fun. There’s nothing quite like getting together with a gang of kids that you love, playing "Accidental Tackle" football on a cool Fall evening. And can you believe it; I actually caught a few passes! I didn’t score, but I did get us a first down or two.

September has flown by like a whirlwind. It seems like just last week we were in WV celebrating my birthday, and now I’ve been 27 for practically a month! It hasn’t been exactly a month yet, though, because I’ve yet to go see CATS with my sweetie. I can’t wait!

My days have filled up amazingly fast in the last month. We’ve started practice for the Christmas play at church, so there went my Monday nights. Tuesday nights went quickly as well to the little women’s bible study (little as in quantity, not little as in unusually tiny females) I started at my home. Wednesday nights, as mention earlier, are Full Impact. And last, but not least, my Thursday nights have been taken by the Lexington Vintage Dance Society.

Speaking of that group, they asked my friend Kevin and I to join them as they perform in the KY Ballet Theater’s performance of Dracula next month. How exciting! I’ve been in a "party scene" for the KY Ballet Theater before (the Nutcracker a few Christmases ago) but this time is turning out to be very different. Norbe (ballet director) requested that we perform two specific dances that he has seen the Swan dancers perform before. That means I have to learn at least one very complex dance! Our first practice was last week – we spent two hours learning a three minute long dance, and never even made it all the way through! This weekend we finish learning that one and start on the next, so we’ll see how challenging that one will be.

September 7, 2004

Happy Birthday to me! Well, belated birthday, actually. My birthday was this past Sunday and shame on those who didn’t plan their day around me. lol Just kidding. This past weekend Alex and I headed to WV for my family’s annual Labor Day Weekend Extravaganza.

This was a Labor Day weekend like no other, I can assure you. Usually on these occasions we visit and tell stories and sing and eat and generally have a merry time with the fam. This weekend, however, was the weekend that was picked to work on my grandma’s new house. I spent all of Saturday and most of my birthday under her house/back deck. All in all, though, it reminded me how good it feels to put in a long day of "honest labor." That’s not to say I wasn’t tickled pink to get back to my climate controlled office environment today, though!

Not to worry, we still got quite a bit of visiting, singing, and lots of laughs in. At one particular strained point during a hot afternoon Dad shot a nail with his nail gun that somehow made his hat fly off. lol And, just like past years, we still gathered around the campfire to roast marsh- mallows and sing songs. Anthony, Patty, Alex and I livened up the usual hymns with a few roudy renditions of "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and "Knockin on Heaven’s Door." My dear little family handled it very well until we unearthed a Queen song that should have been left in the 70’s.

For my birthday I received many prized trinkets, such as a basket full of pampering knickknacks from my parents, and a coffee mug from my brother that says, "I smile because you are my sister. I laugh because you can do nothing about it." :-) That one totally cracked me up. The biggest surprise of the day came to me in the form of a T.S. Eliot book called, "Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats." Inside the front cover reads, "The owner of this book is entitled to one night out with her hubby to see CATS at the Palace Theater, Tuesday, October 5, 2004." Holy Crap! (I know, Debby, there’s nothing holy about that.) Isn’t that awesome? I’m so excited!

Well, for those of you who were on the edge of their seats, I’ve made a decision about the dancing thing. Well, sort of. I’ve decided to give something a try. A good friend of mine and I (again, I won’t say his name for fear of giving away his secret identity) will be attending the Lexington Vintage Dancers for their Thursday lessons/practices for a while. I would give you a link to their site there, but it makes me cry. Anyway, we’re really excited about the possibility of joining them, provided we can pick up and even enjoy their style of dancing. More news will follow as we get farther into this adventure!

August 23, 2004

Last weekend we took the kids swimming. It was going to be at a nice, indoors public pool, but the pool was closed for cleaning so we took to the country in search of the kids' favorite swimming hole. The ride out there was fun, with all the windows rolled down and my girls rockin’ on to "Are You Gonna Be My Girl." I opted to stay out of the freezing cold creek water, but those that dared had a great time jumping off the bridge.

Friday night I invited my girls over for pizza and a chick flick. Alex, being the sweet guy that he is, had rented "Mona Lisa Smile" for me, and it was actually a pretty good movie. We cheered at the sweet parts and booed at the mean parts and a good time was had by all. I may have connected with the girls a little too closely, though, because one of them is going to bring her copy of "The Prince and Me" for me to borrow. lol Alex swears he won’t watch it, but I’ll remind him that we need more movie reviews on our site and see if I can twist his arm. I mean, who wouldn't want to know what Alex has to say about that movie?

This past weekend was a fun one, full of church community activities. Saturday night was our monthly Bluegrass Service, and last night was the annual Pig Roast. I skipped the pig, but the side dishes were great and the entertainment was impeccable. Alex sang a song by Steven Curtis Chapman and did a fantabulous job.

This morning I arrived at work to find an email from one of my bestest friends ever. It made me laugh and laugh and laugh. He even promised to hang out with me and Alex sometime soon! I’d tell you who he is, but then his secret identity would be revealed and he’d have to move to a different state. We have to protect our fans... I mean friends.

August 3, 2004

The youth were in charge of the service this past Sunday night. I started the evening out by leading songs with Amanda (one of the youth, and the other song leader of the mission trip.) Who knew I would be bold enough to stand in front of my church and teach everyone The Milk Song? lol The adults got a kick out of that one, I think. At least some of them did. ;-) At the end of the service one of the ladies told me I did a great job leading the songs, and I told her I was more comfortable looking out over a group of four to seven or eight year olds.

We took turns telling about certain parts of our trip - the housing developments, the kids, how the kids reacted to us and what we did with them. One of our boys got a little choked up when talking about his little buddy. That got everyone in the church a little choked up, I think. We played a slide show of tons of pictures that we took throughout the week, and all of the youth said they missed their little friends. Even for me, the memories of the huge mental and spiritual strain are starting to fade, and I'm starting to wish that we could go back, too. I'd say by this time next year I'll be all for going again, though during that week I swore we never would. lol

I’m reading a book now that I’m really getting into. It’s called (I’m kind of embarrassed about the name) "The Yada Yada Prayer Group" by Neta Jackson. I know, I know, it’s a silly name - I wouldn’t have even given the book a chance if it hadn’t been loaned to me by a friend of mine. The story, however, is really challenging me in how I view prayer and praise. It’s a work of fiction, and the main character has traits that remind me a lot of myself. At times I find myself staring wide-eyed at the page because she has just had a line of thought that has been my very own when I was in a similar situation. The people that come into her life fascinate me, especially because they remind me of people I’ve met before and have always admired.

If I were to make a list of all the people I admire, there’s one characteristic that I can find in every one of them - the way that prayer and praise are a way of life... it’s just like breathing for them. Every conversation you have with them revolves back around to the love that they have for God. And you know what else? They are totally and completely not afraid, embarrassed, or self conscious about being that way. Being the shy girl that I’ve always been, I find that fascinating. I’ve come a long, long way in my "spiritual boldness," but I’ve still so far to go.

July 28, 2004

Can you believe it’s nearly the end of July? I’m amazed at how fast this summer is flying by. I think it’s mostly due to our involvement with the Youth. From mission trip fund raisers to the mission trip itself, it seems like we haven’t had a moment’s free time. Not that I’m complaining, of course. I love staying busy.

Alex and I didn’t do anything in particular for the July 4th holiday. We had been invited to hang out with friends, but there was a family bridal shower planned for the same day so we headed to that. That night I noticed I could see the town fireworks from our back deck (albeit through the trees.) It’s funny how unexpected life is. The first time I visited this town was a few years ago when I came up to see the July 4th fireworks. Little did I know that I would end up living here, with a wonderful husband and amazing youth ministry!

We left from church on Sunday, July 18th for the Mission Trip. We got to Raleigh, NC by around 10:00 p.m. We got home around 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 24, completely exhausted. Sunday was a bit of a hectic day with church and an anniversary meal at our place (congrats to Alex’s parents who have been married 30 years!) and Monday we were back at work. I’m hoping to catch up on my rest someday soon, though. :-)

In other news, Alex and I got a new bed! It was delivered yesterday, and I’m so excited about it. We decided to splurge and get a super nice Seally PosturePedic. I asked the delivery guys if they left me a ladder or something to get up on it, though. I’ve never seen such a tall mattress! I’m afraid I’m going to get a nosebleed from being up so high. It’s also ridiculously big compared to the size of our bedroom. You walk in the door, and it’s like BED! Oh, and is that a teeny tiny dresser over there in the corner? I wish I could say I slept like a queen our first night in the new bed, but I can’t. We forgot to shut the cats out of the room before we went to bed. It’s totally adorable that our new kitten, Daisy, likes to sleep on necks and purr in your ear, but it’s not really conducive to sleeping.

June 29, 2004

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the importance of "choosing your own battles." I grew up as a shy, meek little girl, and then somewhere around college I got some fire in my veins! I took everything to heart, debated passionately and was ready to take on anyone who felt differently than me. Nine times out of ten whoever I was debating with felt just as strongly about their side as I did about mine. In the end neither side gave way. What would have happened if I hadn’t fought those battles? I believe the outcome would have been the same. Only, probably, more amicable. :-)

So the past couple of years or so I’ve been making a conscious effort to take more of a "choose your own battles" approach. The difference is amazing. Not only do I get into fewer debates, but my life is so much more relaxed! I had no idea trying to make everyone see my point of view was so stressful. :-) Also, the more "battles" I turn down, the easier it is for me to see that they really aren’t worth fighting in the first place. I have a long way to go still, but it’s good to look back and see progress.

So, enough with my thoughts! On to what’s really important - what we’ve been up to lately.

Last week I received a "Way To Go" gift certificate for going the extra mile at work. I was given my choice of several places at which to use this certificate, so I chose WalMart (the place where I could get more for less.) Among all the little knickknacks I purchased I got a mood ring for myself as a little gag gift. For insight into this inside joke between Alex and myself, check out the song "Mood Rings" by Relient K. Alex swears that song doesn’t really apply to me, but we all know better than that, right? ;-)

This past Saturday Alex and I finally made it back to the Berea Contra. We had a blast - it was so much fun! The band was great, the caller fantastic, and the male to female ratio almost even! (If you’ve never been to a contra, let me assure you that if there aren’t 20+ women sitting out every dance because of the lack of men, it’s a rare and wonderful thing!) The only thing missing were a few of my friends that I usually see at those dances. I won’t list their names and try to give them a guilt trip, though, as I know that most of them were out of town. Maybe we’ll catch up with you guys next month!

June 14, 2004

Wow, June has been a busy month! I started it out by taking a trip to West Virginia the first weekend to spend some time with my folks. The timing turned out to be somewhat bad, though, since Alex got sick and had to fend for himself that weekend. I ended up having a great time with Mom and Dad, though, and Alex felt considerably better by the time I got back. He just falls apart without me. ;-) Just kidding, of course.

I got back in town just in time to jump into Vacation Bible School at our church. This year I was a "floater" again, going around and helping whoever needed it. I spent the better part of my time trying to get the little boys to stop making "bathroom noises" and to stop teaching the little girls how to make sounds with their armpits. Ah, the joys of young children. We had a good week, though, and the last night consisted of games and prizes. My favorite game to watch was the three-legged race. One unlucky pair was so unbalanced as soon as the word "GO!" was shouted they hit the ground. One of the tiniest girls of all took home four first place ribbons, beating out all the boys in her age group!

Saturday morning we had a Youth Mission Trip Fund Raiser, our final one (joyful shouts can be heard from all those souls weary of washing cars.) We managed to make more money than we had hoped for before the storm hit. One minute we’re all baking in the hot sun, and the next minute we’re running around in the rain and thunder and lighting, trying to bag up all the stuff on the tables and get it inside. Afterwards we sat, completely soaked, in the basement of the church and ate some well deserved pizza. We’ve got all the money we need for the mission trip next month, and the youth are coming along wonderfully with their training.

Saturday evening we were able to use our new deck table and canopy when our friends came over for a cookout. Well, it was intended to be a cookout. We ended up having to grill the hamburgers inside because of the rain, but the canopy allowed us to sit outside and enjoy the cool, rainy evening. At this point I would like to give a warm thank you to my sweet husband, whose idea it was to get a canopy instead of a deck umbrella. It was lovely to be able to eat outside even while it was raining - something we would not have been able to do if Alex hadn’t had the foresight to suggest we get the canopy.

And so now it’s Monday, a new week. A blissful week of no VBS or fund raisers. :-) This week promises to be a fun one, full of dinners with friends, fish fry at church, and bluegrass service featuring some of our church friends. The only thing that’s lacking is the dance. *sigh* Perhaps it will work out that we can make it to this month’s Berea contra. It’s been sooooo long since we’ve been able to, though, so we’ll just have to wait and see!

May 24, 2004

The Youth had a car wash this past Saturday that lasted from 8 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. Unfortunately, I was a silly girl and didn’t bother to go get sunscreen beforehand. So here I sit, on a Monday, at home because I can’t stand anything touching my painful red neck and shoulders. I can’t think of anything more pitiful than having to call in sick because of a bad sunburn. *sigh*

I made another step today towards making this land a better place to live by ridding the email world of garbage. I do it by taking the time to look up these emails that people blindly forward along at www.snopes.com and then sending everyone the link that shows it to be a fraud. I won’t go into exactly how I feel about receiving these emails in the first place, but suffice to say I will be a more peaceful, gentler person when I stop getting them. Patches, our normally sweet tempered cat, best depicts my opinion of these emails in the following photo:

We had a couple of friends over this past Friday for an MST-A-Thon, which was pretty fun. We watched The Unearthly and Angels Revenge, which is a hilarious spin off from, of course, Charlie’s Angels. I don’t care what anyone else thinks, those Mystery Science Theater episodes crack me up! I think my favorite is still Cave Dwellers. “Nooooooo!”

May 11, 2004

Man, what can I talk about that Alex didn't cover already? How about the need for husbands and wives to do things separately so that each has something interesting to talk about? SPEAKING of doing things separately, I have a trip planned soon that will be my first solo trip since Alex and I got married. This June I’ll be taking a little time off and going to visit my folks. It’ll be a short trip, but I’m looking forward to it.

For those of you who are horticulturally inclined, it may interest you to know that I’ve started a small herb garden on our back deck (thanks to the help of Alex’s grandma.) The chives and catnip are doing beautifully, but the chamomile has seen better days. How does it expect me to make tea out of it if it doesn’t buck up?

As the summer approaches, I look to it with much excitement but some skepticism. It seems as though we don’t have another free weekend until early to mid Fall. *sigh* I’m sure we’ll find extra time here and there in little serendipitous bursts, but with fundraisers and trips and concerts the summer’s going to fly by! As long as my employment stays stable, though (and those who know me know where I’m coming from) I’ll be a happy camper.

April 21, 2004

Yikes, it's been a whole month since I've updated this! I've got to get moving! I just realized the other day that it's been a really long time since I've been bored. We've been spending all the time with the kids lately that we can, and whenever we have a free moment we try to split it between family and friends. It's fun, though!

I have to admit, I am loving all of this warm weather (much to Alex's chagrin.) I do wish we were having a bit more rain, though. There's just nothing like a warm spring rain. :-)

Alex starts guitar lessons next month! That's exciting news, for sure. I'm toying around with taking piano lessons. The only problem is that I may be starting a part time job soon so I don't know how dedicated I can be to practicing. We shall see.

Yesterday I started a book by Anne Graham Lotz called "My Heart's Cry." I've just gotten started in it, but I'm so excited about the way this book is already starting to open my eyes to the relationship I should and can have with Jesus. "I did not want to hear what others said He said. I wanted to hear from Him directly. I wanted to hear His voice in the ears of my spirit."

March 22, 2004

Well, Alex and I have the house to ourselves again and as much as I miss my family, it is good to get back to routine.

An old friend of mine called me this weekend (yay!) and that made me realize how busy we are these days! Between our jobs, the youth, and our freelance web design it seems like we're always on the run. It's all good, though. For the first time since college my life feels full - God has really blessed me! And now that a routine of sorts has been put into place and things are going well, it's time to dance. :-)

March 19, 2004

This has been a busy week! Mom and Dad got here Sunday, we had a little party for Alex on Tuesday, Wednesday we played flashlight tag with the kids, yesterday we all went out to eat and shopping, and today Anthony and Patty are going to be here. Shew! Good times, good times.

Yesterday Alex and I bought another big appliance. Well, I should say Alex and Dad did, while Mom and I were clothes shopping. No more tiny little cramped fridge for us! Starting tomorrow we will have a big, beautiful side-by-side style fridge. Life is good. ;-)

March 12, 2004

Ahhh... it's good to be back online! Some of you folks may remember my old personal website, back in the day, and are doubtlessly crying tears of joy to see notes from yours truly back on the net. A lot has happened since I took that site down! Alex and I got married, we moved out of Lexington (if you’re a friend of ours you probably already know where we moved to, and if you’re not a friend of ours you probably don’t need to know), Alex took a part time job as a Youth Pastor, and I changed jobs more times than I’d like to admit.

I guess the thing that I’m most excited about right now is that my parents are coming up this week, and my brother and his wife (hi, Patty!) might be joining us next weekend! How fun is THAT? On that note, please say a prayer for Alex sometime this week. ;-)

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