Catching up . . .

So, the obvious thing to say when you haven't posted to your blog for over a year is
"so much has happened!"

And it's really true!

The last time I posted we were living in a rented apartment Germany, working with Club Beyond, just the two of us, loving Jesus and Europe and life and each other.

The last thirteen months have been stuffed with CHANGE and full of NEW! (Although the loving Jesus and life and each other part is still the same ;D)

I've been going through my journals recently, and realizing that I have not been good at chronicling our adventures here - and they have been plentiful! God is good, and we have had a ton of fun in the six-ish years that we have been married! We're in the middle of another unexpected transition, and we're so thankful that although we don't know what the future holds, we know Who holds the future! (Thank you, Jesus!)

Anyway . . . all that to say this:

I'm going to be writing up a bunch of our adventures and posting them here.
Sporadically.
Because that's how we do.
So, stay tuned!

His,

P.S. ~ One of our favorite additions to the life of adventure is the sweet little mutt in between us in that pic in the sidebar, she's pretty cute and has brought a lot of joy to our home :)

To whom it may concern . . .

. . . this blog has not been abandoned! New posting shall begin shortly! Thanks for sticking with me :)

<3,

~ My Husband Rocks! ***Sunday*** ~ Mr. Fix-It

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Because of our new, ever mobile, ever unpredictable lifestyle, I am posting on a Sunday. It's my meme, get off my back :)

This week, Austin rocks because he's awesome. That's all.

Just kidding.

We arrived in Belgium on Sunday, February 7th. Our bags were not here to meet us. In fact, they did not arrive until almost 30 hours later. When they did arrive, the airline brought them all the way to Tim's house so we didn't have to go and pick them up, which was great, but mine was busted open and missing several items (including my MHR shirt!!!) - which was NOT great!

My amazing husband took care of contacting the airlines multiple times, and is still taking care of dealing with them to get some compensation, even though he's been sick all week.

And not only that, but he fixed my bag so it is totally functional, and we don't have to buy a new one!

He totally rocks, even though I no longer have the shirt to prove it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am the only person who has the ability to add blogs to the MHR blogroll. If you are a MHR blogger, and have not been added to the blogroll, plase comment or e-mail me at katylinvw{at}yahoo{dot}com and I will gladly add you to our little group!!!

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays Union 28 will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you Union 28!

Hope you have a spectacular Sunday, and a great week!

Don't worry . . . I'm still alive . . . I think . . .

Okay, so I know I have been M.I.A. for the past couple of weeks, and I am very sorry! I also know that I started this stellar idea of the 26 days of Thanksgiving, and only got about halfway through (if that), so I am sorry to those of you who were waiting with baited breath for "K" through "Z." I may finish those at some point, but with the crazy whirlwind of my life at this point, I'm not making any promises!

I have so much to tell you all, and so many incredible stories to share, so stay tuned, and I will post as much as I can as soon as possible. I also have the November newsletter up on the Burden Bearers International blog, so be sure to hop over and take a look at that!

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving, and that you're enjoying a wonderful Christmas season!

:),

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ ...the party...

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The costume party, that is :)



This past weekend, Austin and I attended a costume party. He went as Walker, Texas Ranger, and I went as a gypsy :) We had a grand old time; I love how much he gets into these goofy, fun times! He's a very fun guy to be friends with, and I get the added benefit of being married to him! He rocks!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am the only person who has the ability to add blogs to the MHR blogroll. If you are a MHR blogger, and have not been added to the blogroll, plase comment or e-mail me at katylinvw{at}yahoo{dot}com and I will gladly add you to our little group!!!

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays Union 28 will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you Union 28!

Hope you all have a fantastic Friday, and a wonderful weekend!

~ My Husband Rocks! ~

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm sure most of you saw last week's MHR post, so you know about all of the crazy and exciting changes that are about to take place in our lives!

It has been so incredible to see God working, moving all the little pieces of our lives together to bring this about. It's humbling to know that he is always doing that, we just don't always take the time to recognize it.

One of the most amazing parts of this adventure is doing it with Austin. Growing and stretching our faith is absolutely phenomenal on an individual level, and the fact that we get to share the experience with our best friend and favorite person in the world is the most wonderful blessing I could have ever asked for!

For the latest on BBI, click here!


Also, in relation to this post, he is so cute and concerned about me. He thinks I'm kind of a baby when it comes to dealing with pain, and I don't disagree with him, but he said, "I hate it when you hurt!" :) It doesn't make me want to be in pain, but it makes me happy in spite of it :) (Note: I am not still in pain from the fall a week ago, just in case you were concerned.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am the only person who has the ability to add blogs to the MHR blogroll. If you are a MHR blogger, and have not been added to the blogroll, plase comment or e-mail me at katylinvw{at}yahoo{dot}com and I will gladly add you to our little group!!!

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays Union 28 will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you Union 28!

Hope you all have a fantastic Friday, and a wonderful weekend!

I have turned klutziness into a new art form . . .

Well, it had been almost a year since the epic motorcycle-pipe burn )that ended up costing us a trip to the emergency room and 7 horse-antibiotics that cost over $20 per pill!!!) and nearly nine months since the last big spill I had taken (on New Year's Eve - pre-party!), so it was bound to happen sometime - and it did, in a BIG way!

As I've mentioned a few times, Austin and I have been riding our bikes several times a week, averaging about 50 miles or so per week. Two Fridays ago, on the 14th, we were nearing the end of our ride and messing around a little while riding side by side. Austin, who is very coordinated, reached over and jiggled my handlebars a bit. I, being not so coordinated, was unable to recover and ended up dragging the left side of my body down the concrete bike trail. (He felt soooooooooo bad, and you should have seen the skid mark he made trying to get stopped so he could come back and help me!) It wasn't too bad, I scraped up the palm of my left hand and my left knee, but we weren't too far from home (and it was getting dark) so we rode home and I got cleaned up.

The whole next week we rode our bikes as scheduled, with no ill-effects, and I was healing up rather nicely. Until Friday. We started out as usual, but it had rained pretty hard on Friday morning and portions of the trail that were more shaded hadn't dried out completely. We were about 3 miles into our 14ish mile ride when we came to an especially curvy portion of the trail. We were moving at quite a clip, and I apparently mis-calculated one of the curves because before I knew it the front tire of my bike had dropped off of the paved trail, stuck in a rut in the mud, and stopped. My body, however, did not stop, and I flew over my handlebars onto the pavement. Again. I was thankfully wearing my helmet, so no permanent damage was done, but I took the brunt of the fall on the palms of my hands and my left shoulder (I have no idea). Ripped open the previously healing wound on the left palm and tore a chunk out of the right.

So, I've decided that I must be regressing to my five-year-old self. You'd think that I'd be past the "falling-off-my-bike" stage in my life, but apparently not, lol! Thankfully nothing was seriously injured in either fall, save for my pride, but who needs that anyway?

You may now tease me mercilessly, lol!

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ He puts up with me!

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Good morning everyone! I hope that you have all had a wonderful week so far! It has been crazy around here (isn't it always?) I'm headed to Women of Faith this weekend - in fact I need to leave my house in like 30 minutes, but I really wanted to get this post in!

This has not exactly been a shining star week for me. I have been moody and emotional and pretty bratty at times. I completely forgot t make supper on Monday, I forgot to return movies to the redbox (also on Monday), so we ended up paying for three of them twice and one of them three times (brilliant, I know), I accidentally sent an e-mail containing a typo to about 5000 people and had to re-send it (for work) - all in all I have basically been a #1 screw up most of the week!

But you know how Austin has responded to it all? With absolute kindness and humor. He has helped me not take myself to seriously, and even when my screw ups have affected him hugely (skipping supper is never fun) he has been sweet and understanding! Not only that, but he is kicking me out of the house this weekend to Women of Faith :) He's such an amazing man!

Gotta keep this short and sweet because I still have a couple little things to do before I feel like I can leave, but I hope you all have a fantabulous weekend!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Austin had a super rocking moment last night - in a moment where I was showing off my not-so-rocking side, lol!

We purchased a new snowblower/lawn mower machine (I know that there is a much more technical term for this device, I just cannot think of it at the moment) this winter, so last night, since it is getting nice and the grass is growing, Austin was working outside switching it from the snowblowing functionality to the lawn mower persona. And I was putzing around the kitchen doing some dishes, folding some laundry, you know - girl stuff, lol! (j/k) when I discovered that even though I empty my lint trap out regularly like a good homekeeper, there is still a ton of lint that gets trapped inside the little cagey part of my dryer! Try as I might to get it out of there I could find no device small enough to reach down to the bottom and bring back up with it the offending lint.

My knight in shining armor (actually at that point it was slightly on the dirty side t-shirt - he had been laying on the ground working on the lawn mower) chose that opportune moment to be done working outside and come in to rest for the evening. Me being the always-considerate of his time wifey that I am pounced on him the second he was through the door with "How am I supposed to do this?" (imagine a sightly annoyed - yes - even a little whiny tone). At that point he could have said - "Honey, I'm hot and tired and would rather work on that later." But he didn't. He just got out his little drill, took a couple of screws out of the inside of our dryer and proceeded to vacuum out the inside! Not only did he not put me off, he did the job for me! - Isn't he great! :)

(I wanted really bad to take a pic of him with his head inside the dryer, but I thought he might not appreciate the angle too much :D)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Be sure to check in with the other ladies who are bragging on their rocking hubbies today by clicking on the "My Husband Rocks Participants" button in the left sidebar.

And if you have not had a chance to check out Love, Actually yet, scoot on over there and poke around a bit! :)

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday, and a fantastic weekend!

Multitsking post - there's a lot going on people :)

DISCLAIMER: The following post is a long, rambling, and admittedly rather random piece of blogliture. I decided to post it anyway for the following reason: I always have dozens of ideas of topics that I would love to post about. So much so that I have pages and pages of notebook paper, and lined sticky notes from work of "post ideas" that have not ever made it to the screen. And all of the below topics are things that, if I allow myself to procrastinate, may become casualties of my busy-ness. That is not to say that there is anything particularly profound in any of them, they are just things that I am excited about, or need to get off of my chest. So, in addition to a short MHR Inspiration post, I give you - my stream of conciousness. I would like to apologize in advance if it is tremendously difficult to follow. I will make every effort to prevent it from being so

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

5:16 Club
I have really fallen off the wagon - big and bad. I love the concept, I love the ladies who are involved, but I also deeply love the sleeping. Oh, how I love the sleeping!

That said, I have decided to put my best foot forward on this one, and give it another try. It has often been said, or read, that any action repeated over a span of 21 days becomes a habit, so, for the next twenty-one days, I am going to endeavor to rise and shine at 5:16 on the nose.

Any prayers and/or accountability in this area would be greatly appreciated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spring Porch/Landscaping Project
Last night after we finished our delicious supper of leftovers :P, Austin and I were in our usual spots (on the couch) enjoying our usual post-supper activity (watching television), when he suddenly got the urge to go tear up our front porch. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and it was a project we have been putting off for some time, so I joined him and we spent a fun-filled hour or so tearing up dusty outdoor carpet and rotting plywood that covered up older, more-rotted porch boards!


With a gorgeous weekend on the forecast, we are hoping that this weekend will consist of much more porch deconstruction, followed by the even-more-exciting re-construction, as well as (possibly - if we have time) some long-awaited landscaping!

(I am LOVING the hyphen this morning - really, i very-much am, lol)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

American Idol can dance, what!
Hi, my name is Katy, and I'm an addict.

I am totally in love with this season of American Idol and was happy as a clam with last night's results. When it was over, I said to Austin "I think this is the first season that I have ever totally agreed with the order of all of the vote-offs." So, kudos to you America, way to vote!

And that dance number at the beginning! Wowza! (Was I the only one who got the impression that they were lip-synching? No problem if they were because we all know that they can SANG, but it would take a LOT of breath control to dance like that and sing as well as they did, and I'm pretty sure they pre-recorded, but hey, I've been wrong before)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gotta Love This Weather
We have moved into that beautiful part of spring where the sun is out and the grass is growing and the tree are budding and the flowers are blooming! (For this weekend at least, I think it is supposed to rain all week next week, but I'll take what I can get at this point!)

You can tell we've been eskimos for too long, because the office starts clearing out at about 2:30 in the afternoon (except for those of us who are paid hourly, of course) and everyone and his brother has their motorcycle out and shined and is out soaking up the sun as quickly as humanly possible.

Our buddy Michael just purchased his first Harley, so we all engaged in a little post-work ride around the lake in the beautiful sunshine last night. I think I made it home in record time (shortened my 4 minute commute to about 2 and 1/2 - it's great when the lights/stop signs/traffic all align, lol!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summer Supper Suggestions
I am starting to work on my meal plan for the month of May. Yes, I am a crazy person and I (loosely) plan our suppers for every evening of the month.

With that said, I am on the lookout for some quick and simple summery supper suggestions (I just love that alliteration :D). Any ideas would be appreciated - we're going for suppers that do not require the use of an oven, contain yumminess, and do not involve the purchasing of exotic (read "expensive") ingredients. Ready . . . GO! :) - Feel free to comment with your brilliantness, or e-mail me at katylinvw(at)yahoo dot com. If I get a lot of great recipes I will dedicate a post to sharing them with everybody! (Like how I threw in a bribe there?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MHR Inspiration #14 = Shout Out!!!!
I have made a new bloggy friend!!! Her name is Cher, and she has this brilliant blog Love, Actually Creative Ideas for Romance on a Budget.

It is absolutely adorable, and you must go and check it out as soon as you are able! Here's a blurb from her profile: "I grew up in Montana. Went to college in Utah. Recently moved to Boston, where my husband attends dental school. What began as an occasional hobby to impress my hubs has turned into an endless ambition to create romance on a budget...because every couple needs a little romance-therapy now and then!"

She has a TON of great ideas, and her site really fits in with the whole motivation behind ~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Fridays! :)

As a prompt for this week:

Include in your MHRF post one of your creative ideas for romance on a budget! We can all use a little romance from time to time, and right now is a great time to be sharing those budget ideas!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hope this wasn't too ridiculously random! Have a terrific Thursday!

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ The moment I knew . . .

Good morning and happy Friday, everyone! :)


Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prompt/Theme for Friday, January 30, 2009
. . . the moment or the circumstances that led to you knowing that you were going to marry the man who became your husband . . .

I have posted this entire story here if you'd like to hear the whole thing, but I'll put an excerpt here:

Austin has an amazing sense of adventure, and he is very spontaneous! I remember one evening when we were in college, we were sitting in one of the common areas with Florence, a girl in our class who was from Honduras. We were chatting about our summer plans, and she said, "You should come visit me!" Thinking, I'm sure, that it was a rather remote chance that we would actually take her up on the offer. Austin loved the idea, and immediately went to his dorm room for his laptop computer. He started right away researching plane tickets and planning a way to make this dream trip a reality.

I believe that this was the moment that I knew without a doubt that I would spend the rest of my life with him. You see, I have always been a huge dreamer/planner . . . but they never really left the dreaming stage.

So, when Austin came up with one of these (seemingly) hairbrained ideas, and then made it happen, (Yes, we actually spent 14 days in Honduras the summer after our college graduation!) I was absolutely hooked!

This story is a great lead in to why my hubby rocks this week! In addition to being a supportive, hard-working, loving individual, he has decided that we are going on a fantabulous vacation in the month of March!!! I'm so excited I could bust!!! We don't have all the details nailed down yet, but I can say for sure that it is going to be tropical, and there is definitely a beach involved!!! More details as they become available!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just in case you missed the challenges from yesterday:

This week I have three challenges for you. You can pick one, or do all three, or not do any of them. But these are going to be the things that I’m focusing on this week.

The first two kind of go hand in hand.

1. Be patient. As the Love Dare book puts it “Resolve to say nothing negative to your spouse.” Our words have the power to build up or tear down in an instant, and unfortunately the destructive possibility is much easier, and quicker than the re-constructive. Let’s be very careful with the tings we say to our spouses this week (well, always, but we’ll really focus on it this week).

2. Tell your hubby how much you appreciate him. I know that there have been weeks when I have gushed all over him on here, but I’m afraid what he has heard from me has been nagging and negativity. Don’t just tell the world how great your hubby is, be sure that you are building him up to his face, not just behind his back : )

and last, but not least

3. If you haven’t seen the movie Fireproof, or even if you have, have a date night this weekend and rent or buy a copy for yourselves! I cannot express how wonderful this movie is. Everyone who is married, or who may ever be married should see this movie! To hear an interview with the star, Kirk Cameron, click here!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Be sure to check in with the other ladies who are bragging on their rocking hubbies today by clicking on the "My Husband Rocks Participants" button in the left sidebar.

(if you would like to add the MHR Fridays button to your sidebar, use this code ).

<a href="http://honestandlasting.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-husband-rocks-friday.html"><img src="http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn135/katylinvw/mosaicmhrf.jpg"/></a>

If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday, and a fantastic weekend!

Weekend Activites Take 2

As illustrated in this post, we sure know how to make a weekend memorable! And after this weekend, I sincerely believe that we have cornered the market on exhilerating, fun-filled weekend activites!

Late Saturday afternoon, we were getting ready to head out of town to go to dinner, do a little shopping, and probably catch a movie. We were both upstairs getting dressed, doing hair, and makeup (well, Austin wasn't doing makeup), brushing our teeth and using the restroom. We were clearly very bored and in need of an emergency activity.

We were laughing and joking heading down the stairs, and then it hit us - at the same instant - that horrible, unmistakeable stench . . . our sewer was backing up the floor drain in the basement!

Oh yes, now we're talking - this is what I call date night!

Thankfully the hardware store was still open, so we were able to rent a large pipe snake; however, after several hours of snaking (and enjoying the ubiquitous mess), the problem would still occur when we tested it by running fawcets and flushing toilets.

The large snake that we rented wouldn't fit down one of the smaller drain pipes, so Austin's parents came over and brought their smaller snake. But to no avail. Austin and Bryce worked for several more hours snaking, and flushing, and washing with the garden hose, and testing, but nothing seemed to make any difference.

They did determine which direction the pipes ran, and what needed to be accomplished, but finally at around 11:30, they conceded defeat and we got some supper.

The parents went home, and we watced some consolation House, but ended up falling asleep less than halfway into the first episode.

Sunday morning dawned bright and cold, and Austin was bound and determined to take care of our smelly problem. He went out to the back yard to see if there was another cleanout he could tap into. Nothing. So he came inside and hit the Internet. After much Google-ing, he came across a concoction that was billed as a "homemade Drano" - so we went to work.

We turned the hot water on full blast in both the kitchen and the downstairs bathroom. Dumped a cup of salt, a cup of vinegar, a cup of baking soda, and almost an entire bottle of dish soap down the drain. We added some bleach for good measure, then ventured down to the basement (water still running).

Once in the basement, Austin decided that we should dump some stuff directly down the sewage pipe via the cleanout. I retrieved the liquid laundry detergent and the powdered dish detergent from the main floor and Austin dumped away. And to the wonderment and delight of all involved - IT WORKED!!!!!

We're not sure which ingredient contained the magical de-clogging properties, or if it was just shooting boiling water through the pipes or the combination of everything - we didn't care! No more nasty smell, and no fear of the basement flooding full of nastiness!

Clearly, not our preferred set of activities for our weekend; however, God was good - thankfully we had a sump-pump hole right next to the drain, so at no point did we have a huge flooding problem, Austin's parents are always willing to help whenever they can, Austin can find ANYTHING on the Internet, and the problem was resolved without huge expense. Late Saturday night we were afraid we were going to have to hire somebody, or rent expensive large equipment to dig up and/or replace the length of pipe in the back yard, but we got out with the relatively small cost of renting the snake.

Life is never boring!

Happy Monday, and thanks for reading!

NaNoWriMo is Devouring My Brain!

. . . but that's a good thing, I think!

Aside from the slackerish blogging for the last few days.

For those of you who don't know anything about the wonderful-ness that is National Novel Writer's Month, it is a 30 day period (the month of November) in which thoroughly insane lunatics creative geniuses attempt to do the impossible write an entire novel (at least 50,000 words)!



To back up just a little bit, I have been thinking about writing a novel for a long, long time. There has always been a part of me that has believed that I am supposed to be a writer. Maybe I watched Little Women and the Anne of Green Gables movies a few too many times, maybe it's the fact that I'm completely addicted to reading everything that doesn't read me first (lol), but I've just always thought that I was meant to do it. About 6 months ago I began pursuing it pretty seriously - I read everything I could get my hands on about how to write a novel, how to plan to write a novel, how to think about planning to write a novel. But that's all the farther I got. I dabbled with a story idea and wrote a couple of scenes that didn't fit together, but I chickened out.

I think there was some kind of deep-seated fear that if I didn't do it perfectly the first time, there would be no second time and I would have utterly failed at my life's "purpose." Then along came NaNoWriMo - I don't even remember how I first heard of it, but I went to the website and started reading about it, and I knew that I had to do it. Because, if I can accomplish this I will learn three things: 1) I will know that I am capable of writing a lot of words in a short amount of time, 2) I will know if I enjoy writing any words in any amount of time, 3) I will know if anything I can write is coherent and/or interesting enough to be read by anyone else. If I learn these three things I will know for certain whether or not I am truly meant to do this!

That, and I'm always up for a challenge!

All of this to say, I may be a little scarce during the month of November, but I'll still be around! I'll also be twittering my daily word count, and I may post excerpts from time to time (if they're at all presentable). (Word Count Goal Calendar)

If any of you are joining in the madness fun, let me know so we can cheer each other on!

Thanks for reading!

:(

"While the public school system continues to degenerate into a drug-stupid, sex-oriented, illiterate morass of misfit, Marxist clones, the homeschool movement is producing intelligent, clear-thinking, confident citizens ready to stand in the middle of cascading corruption and declare their allegiance to God and family."

I found this paragraph on this website, and as a product of the public school system, I completely resent that entire paragraph.

Please don't get me wrong, I married a home-schooler, have many friends who are products of homeschooling and our current opinion is that we will homeschool our children.

However, that said, this kind of ignorant drivel is precisely what gives homeschoolers in general a bad name! (That's right, I know what drivel means, and I only ever took English at a public school!) All of the families I know who homeschool would be furious if someone made a blanket statement about "the homeschool movement." And I know that many are made all the time: homeschoolers are less socially adept than public schoolers, families who homeschool are all uber-conservative, anti-modern, etc, etc." We've all heard them. And while there are truly some people who fulfill these stereotypes, the vast majority does not.

I feel that the same can be said about the public school world. I concede that there are many people in the public school system who fulfill what Pearl is saying to a "t," and the percentage may be higher in that case than in the case of the homeschooling stereotypes, but I find it ignorant and offensive to dismiss public schooling as a whole just because of some of its negative aspects. Many, many wonderful Christian people have dedicated their entire lives to teaching in the public school system, and I know many, many "intelligent, confident, [and] clear-thinking citizens" who graduated from public school. Not to mention godly, pure, and morality intact!!!

As I was reading more of their material, I found these statements:

"Their oldest son just jumped ship. He has a wild tattoo, pierced his ears, and dyed his hair." (1)

"Many parents have had their faith shaken. 'We didn’t watch television or associate with sinners; we taught our children Christian principles; why didn’t it work?'"(2)

"even in the protected vacuum of a Christian home"(3)

Where to even begin!?!??!

Why is the church so judgemental about these external things? "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart!"

Why didn't they "associate with sinners"? Jesus Himself spent nearly ALL of his time with the "sinners"!!! Isn't one of the most important "Christian principals" go INTO all the world and make disciples"??!!?! If we do not associate with "sinners" how will they ever hear about the love of God? And news flash, I'm a sinner, you're a sinner, there's no way around it, we all fall into this category!!! How self-righteous can we be? And since when is a "Christian home" supposed to be a "protected vacuum"? This seems completely contrary to Christ's command that we are to be "in the world, but not of it"!

I am sorry to rant, but I am so flabbergasted by the hypocrisy!!!

Maybe the deeper reason that teenagers are "jumping ship" is that the Christianity with which they have been presented is so small and narrow for such a big God! They have not been taught that their God is huge and powerful and can handle any of their questions, so when their parents' small faith cannot answer their doubts and their fears, they have nowhere to turn, but to the world that seems to have all the answers!

I have been reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell, and he puts it so well:
"I can't tell you the number of people in their late teens or early twenties I know, or those I have been told about, who experience truth outside the boundaries of their religion and abandon the whole thing because they think it's a choice . . . They are experiencing truth in all sorts of new ways, and they need a faith that is big enough to handle it. Their box is getting blown apart, and the faith they were handed doesn't have room for what they are learning."

It scares me, honestly, that the world sees our faith as something that is so small and narrow and constricting. This is the image we have portrayed to them. They did not arrive at this conclusion independently. And there are people all over the world (and all over the web) who consistently prove them RIGHT!!! Which is so WRONG!!! Am I making any sense? People, my God is huge! My God does not wish for us to live in restriction, but in the most wonderful freedom! "I have come that you may have life, and that you may have it to the full!!!" It breaks my heart that someone might miss Him because of the twisted image others are portraying.

That said, I really have to take a long, hard look at myself. What kind of image am I portraying? Do the people I work with know that I love the Lord just because I say so, or because I live like I love Him? Are my friends and family encouraged and blessed by me, or am I needy and whiny and high maintenance because I am depending upon them for fulfillment in areas where I should be depending on Christ?

Not exactly a light beginning to our week, but certainly much needed introspection for myself. Thanks for reading, and have a fabulous Monday.

Things to do on a Friday night in a small town . . .

. . . go to the emergency room!!!



Yep, that's right. Life is certainly never boring, I'll tell you that much. You see, it all started at the fair. Austin and I rode up to Des Moines on a Harley owned by our friend Craig, and camped with Craig's family in their motor home. Well, when the time came that evening to move the bikes from general parking over to the campground, I had changed from my jeans to shorts, but didn't think much of it as we were just going to move the bike, not ride it for an extended period of time. So we hop on and cruise up to the campgrounds, where the parking is very, very tight. Thinking that I'll just get off real quick so that Austin can maneuver the bike more easily, I slide of the right side (big no-no) and land my exposed calf right on the VERY hot exhaust pipe! It didn't take me too long to move from that position, but as I was trying to get away from the pipe, I turned and scraped the back of my thigh on Craig's bike's license plate holder!

The burn hurt like the dickens, but didn't seem too bad, so we just walked down towards the fairgrounds and got some ointment from the police officers on duty, which cooled it and formed a kind of second skin which protected it nicely. This is what it looked like that Sunday morning:


It blistered and popped, and I thought that I was doing a fantastic job of keeping it clean. I put triple antibiotic ointment on it regularly and cleaned it out at least once a day with hydrogen peroxide, but by the end of the week, it was obviously infected and it hurt to even stand on my right leg for any period of time. By Friday night the redness of the infection had grown to an area of 8x11 centimeters at its widest and tallest points, and our friend Michael, with whom we were hanging out and playing games expressed his concern that it may be a Staph infection, and strongly suggested that we visit the emergency room immediately. This is what it looked like on Friday night:
(The flash washed it out a little bit, but I've drawn a line around where the redness was.)
(This one shows it a little bit better, but my calf just looked so defined in the first one, lol!)

Tyler and Emma went with us to the emergency room, and we were processed very quickly. The doctor said that even though it was not a Staph infection, it was very good that we had come right away because it was very infected. She prescribed an antibiotic and wrote on me with a surgery pen, instructing us to return if the infection spread rapidly in any direction, or if it was no better by Sunday night.
Tyler and Austin waiting for our names to be called (we were the only ones there)!

Thankfully, the antibiotics are doing their job and the infection has decreased significantly. It's still a little tender, but that's to be expected. We were a little shocked at the price tag on six pills: $134!!! Thank the Lord for good health, because I cannot imagine spending that kind of money on prescriptions on a too regular basis!

I've been feeling kind of funky all week, and I wasn't really sure why, so I did some research. The antibiotic, called Levaquin, is reported to have the following side effects: Headache, difficulty sleeping, agitation, anxiety, back and joint pain, changeable emotions, depression, difficulty concentrating, disorientation.(source) Which is a pretty good summary of the way I've been feeling. Thankfully this is the last day I will be taking it, so I'm really looking forward to the weekend.

Sorry I've been MIA this week. When I would get home from work, I would just crash - terrible headaches and the trouble sleeping at night has made me very emotional and weepy. Next week will be much better!

Thanks for reading, and for sticking with me through the slow weeks!

Special Occasions . . .

Happy Thursday all!



I know, I know, I promised vacation details on Monday and here we are wrapping up Thursday and they have yet to appear.



It's been kind of crazy around here.

I feel like I have been on emotional roller coaster for the last week, the stress of preparing to leave, the excitement and joy of being with my family, the stress of the work computer issues, the crazy pace of all of the fun activities we did with my family, the sadness of goodbyes, the stress of coming back to work and getting my house put back together (I hate unpacking), plus several other emotional issues have combined to make me a wreck. And now I'm whining on my blog. I hate that too!

I'm sorry.

Things finally slowed down (somewhat) and Austin and I were able to enjoy an evening together yesterday. We also got to see and spend some time with our very good friends Tyler and Emma who I had not seen since before we left for vacation (Austin gets to work with Tyler everyday, but that doesn't really count). Everybody was pretty wiped out so we made it home early and got to relax a little bit just the two of us.

It seemed like a nice time to have a glass of wine. Our friend Michael had given us a bottle as a gift and Austin asked if I thought we should open it. Before I could answer, he said, "Or, maybe . . . should we save it for a special occasion?" In a somewhat silly manner, I answered with, "I think life should be a special occasion."

Our little exchange wasn't tremendously deep, and said in a corny, joking attitude, but it really got me to thinking. Life should be a special occasion, a great adventure, if you will (:>). Our time on earth is so short and so fragile, and I sometimes feel like I'm just rushing around with my head down trying to get from one "event" to the next. That is the last thing I want for my life, for my marriage, for my family. For my legacy. I want to be remembered as someone who thrived, someone who "sucked the marrow out of life." I want to use the talents and the personality that God gave me to bring joy and light and ultimately point others to Him!

When I get so caught up in the mineutia of the business of life and forget to live, I don't think that is pleasing or glorifying to God, and I get so bogged down with the stress.

I don't know if I really had a point that I was aiming for, or if it all just came out sounding like a second rate eighth-grade graduation speech full of "seize the day"-type platitudes, but this is where I've been the last few days. Thanks for indulging my introspection. I'll leave you with one of my recent favorite songs:

And a "teaser" pic for the vacation stories that will show up sometime next week!

Austin and myself (in the middle) you know, but the two lovely ladies that you can almost see are my gorgeous sisters. Kindra (middle sister) is on the left and Kelli (baby sister) is on the right!


Thanks for reading!

Happy Friday!

Good morning all you beautiful people! I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off this morning trying to get everything ready for our fabulous trip! Therefore, my ~My Husband Rocks!~ Friday! post will be up this afternoon! I apologize for the delay!

In the meantime, you can go here to read about how ~My Husband Rocks!~ Friday came to be, or click here or on the "~my husband rocks!~ participants" button in the right sidebar to visit the other ladies who are bragging on their husbands! If you are participating, but do not appear on that last, please, please, please leave me a comment or e-mail me at katylinvw(at)yahoo(dot)com, and I will rectify that situation as quickly as possible!

Thank you for your patience with me!