Random Glimpses

This post has no rhyme or reason, but no worries, here we go. Hold on tight.

Here are some pics from a weekend I had with friends from college (Dee Dee, Jamie, and Jessica) in Traverse City. WONderful spa treatments, euchre (see below for Jamie's barn doors!), nail painting, junk food eating, and shopping were just some of our blissful activities from our weekend together. I love these girls! It was a huge blessing to spend the weekend together.

Totally unrelated:

Today I woke up in a mild panic. It was one of those mornings... I overslept, ran around like a crazy lady getting for ready for work, then sped out without even grabbing something to eat. I hit none of the 4 traffic lights quite right, and knew that I would be late to work. DANG - I hate that. Then I turned into the parking lot. It was eerily empty. I looked down, and yes, it was 7 am, not 8. I start work at 8. Far from being 1 minute late for work, I was 59 minutes early. What a way to start a day.

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There is something that warms my soul about cleaning out the car after a long winter of dirt and dust. Granted, winter has been done for awhile now and I've had ample opportunity to do it for months. Finally we got around to doing it (with both cars even) and it is simply wonderful to have clean cars. You know, for a couple weeks.

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Tonight I was just reminded how big God is. I came across this Psalm today while reading, and it made me smile big inside, so I thought I'd share. I especially love the last line.

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
O Lord, you preserve both man and beeast.
How priceless is your unfailing love!
Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.

Psalm 36:5-7

My Work

“People think publishing is a business, but it’s a casino.”

Here is a somewhat overcritical, somewhat true, and kind of interesting look into the publishing world:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/business/yourmoney/13book.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087%0A&em&en=45caaca05d23889d&ex=1179374400

Ice Cream, Tulips, and Moms

Friday Night - Out for ice cream at Jersey Junction with Bryan and Erika.

Saturday Night - We went to downtown Holland to eat carnival food and watch the Dutch Dancers with Matt and Erin. Erin, being a Dutch Dancer herself, told us all about the different costumes and the history of the dancers. Funny enough - they are very particular about the costumes but the dance itself was created by a high school teacher in Holland, MI.

After Tulip Time fun, we went over to the Ehinger's house and (what else!) played Guitar Hero. We also had a fun time with their yellow lab puppy, Dilbert.

Benny planted some flowers for our mom for Mother's Day. She loved it!

Mom and kids.

We enjoyed a fun-filled summer weekend with friends and family. We went out for ice cream and played some games with Bryan and Erika on Friday, went out to Holland for Tulip Time fun with Matt and Erin on Saturday, then had lunch with the Wittes on Sunday. It was beautiful and sunny and we had a great time overall. As much as we're excited to start our new adventure, we are sad to be leaving friends and family behind. We have been so blessed with relationships these past two years.

General Update

So life continues as usual here at the Brown home...

We haven't been up to too much lately, but at the same time we've kept pretty busy! We went to a very interesting conference at church last weekend, where we got to learn about the directions the church is going in terms of missions. We are obviously not going to be around Mars that much longer, but what the church plans to do in Africa was of interest to us both. Mars is going to be involved in microfinance in the country of Burundi. Microfinance involves granting small loans to poor people, enabling them to start or continue small businesses. We were amazed to find out the amount of money these people need to start a better life can be as little as $20. They use it to purchase anything from sewing machines to cows to raw materials. Also amazing to us is the repayment rate - 98%! People in terrible situations view these loans as the only thing that will improve their life and they are MOTIVATED to act! It makes a lot of sense to me - what they want more than handouts of even sponsorship of their children is just the ability to make for themselves a better life! We are reading this book on this topic right now, which was fascinating!

We don't know how we'll be able to get involved in this exciting ministry, but we're open to the possibilities God may present us with!

Josh starts school in less than 3 months, and we move in like 2.5... a very strange feeling! We're working on getting some things taken care of! Books, computers, apartments, placement tests... all sorts of details!

On July 24th, we will be the residents of:

3307 John Hinkle Place
Bloomington, IN 47408

Here are pictures of our new place - floorplan and outside. Check out the tiny kitchen! Goodness! We plan to slim down on some dishes and such.