A Smile For Monday Morning

My gchat away message this morning:

Making a Living

Jamie's comment:

she works hard for the money... so hard for it honey... ;)

Sonic the Hedgehog

Did anyone else play this game on their Sega Genesis?

We didn't have a Sega, but my cousins did and my Erin and would sit and play this ALL THE TIME. We knew all the hidden passageways where you could get extra rings and lives for Sonic. All of the loop-de-loops and springs and pirahnas and waterfalls. And for the last ten years I've wished periodically for the opportunity to sit and play again.

Then yesterday Josh found the game on the iTunes and downloaded it to my iPod. It is the exact same game as the one I used to play.

Super excited.

And I'm terrible at it.

The Wonderful World Of Blogging: Part 2

I feel like this sounds weird, but I love having friends.

I’m so very thankful that God designed this thing called friendship. Shauna says it perfectly (she would!) in my opinion.

“Friendship is acting out God’s love for people in tangible ways. We were made to represent the love of God in each other’s lives, so that each person we walk through life with has a more profound sense of God’s love for them. Friendship is an opportunity to act on God’s behalf in the lives of the people that we’re close to, reminding each other who God is. When we do the hard, intimate work of friendship, we bring a little more of the divine into the daily life.”

(Cold Tangerines, page 49)

So what does this have to do with blogging?

My experience is that being a part of this bloggy world has allowed me to stay close to friends and family that live far away. For instance, we LOVED our small group in Grand Rapids and miss them terribly. But as any of you who have tried this with me have found out, I’m a pretty terrible correspondent. (Erika, you know what I mean!) I deeply care about my friends and family that live all over the world, but for some reason don’t do a good job of calling. Or emailing. Or even facebooking. But it is all different with blogging. I don’t think I’d be able to stay nearly as close to those friends and others without the continued connection through the blog world. Funny stories about those babies I used to get to snuggle? I still hear about them. Travel to foreign lands? I still get to hear all about it, and get to see pictures. And, as I mentioned yesterday, I still get to learn about the things God is teaching them.

While I may have predicted being better able to stay in touch with existing friends, I was definitely surprised when I started to make new friends in the blog world. There are two true bloggy friends I’ve made so far, and I’ve been so blessed by them both. For months I’d read their blogs and love their stories and then comment from time to time, and they’d read my blog and comment back. Such sweet, honest, FUNNY posts. And on a spiritual level I’ve been truly encouraged by them, in both their own posts and their comments. I knew these people could be my “real” friends, not just my “bloggy” friends.

Then last month I met one! And we hit it off (at least, in my opinion!) Couldn't stop chatting and laughing. What a kind, real, and hilarious person I met! Just like I knew she’d be. She has a heart for God and sense of humor about life… and is delightful to spend time with. I so enjoy having Sarah as a real friend, in addition to a bloggy friend.

And then last week, I met another bloggy friend! Jenni was in Bloomington visiting family, and joined me for a cup of Starbucks last Saturday morning. And I’m very thankful she put up with my questions about her life and family! Our coffee “date” went by way too fast. I really enjoyed getting to know her in a face-to-face way - another real connection with an online friend! It was truly a joy to spend time with such a sweet, open, and insightful person.

It is honestly a little odd actually meeting someone for the first time that you actually, on some level, know already. And in both cases, I loved it. Putting real life personalities with blogs was super fun in both of these cases.

Mom, go ahead and check out Short Stop and Swimming in Sugar and Spice, and you’ll soon realize they are neither:
#1 Crazy, or
#2 Murderous.

So there you have it. My favorite thing about blogging is making and keeping and enjoying friends.

The Wonderful World of Blogging: Part 1

It was about a year ago (give or take) that I jumped into this crazy blogging world. At this point, I’m not even sure why. But now I love it.

But why do I like to blog and read the blogs of others? I’ve been mulling this question over for the past couple of weeks and have come up with a few reasons.

First, it is a way to chronicle our life. Just yesterday I was scrapbooking some Christmas pictures and was trying to remember what we did for that season this past year. Solution? Check out my blog archives and remember moments like our special date and Riley stealing ornaments.

It is relaxing! There is something simply therapeutic about sitting down with a blank web page and spewing my thoughts onto the screen. It relieves stress and helps me process my thoughts. Then there is a validation that comes when someone comments with empathy. Someone out there understands me!

If I say that “personal expression” is one of my reasons, does that make me sound too fruity?

I also really enjoy the creative exchange of ideas. Getting rid of ants. Creating special Christmas moments with children. Saving money on groceries. Book reviews. Tried and true recipes (that I try and love!). Basically learning new things about life. It never gets boring! I learn new things all the time.

For me there is an important spiritual element to all of this. I have a hard time sharing about my faith in verbal ways, even when I’m talking to Josh. I can’t seem to find words for what God is teaching me. But when I’m writing down feelings and thoughts about my journey with the Lord, I can express things oh so much better. God is at work in this world and in my life, and I appreciate the ability to tell about it.

I get to share about my walk with God, but I also find significant encouragement in reading the blog posts of others. When a “bloggy friend” shares about a particular struggle or insight it often makes me stop and examine my own life in the light of what they’re learning. I learn things about life and God and the Bible that I’d never thought of before.

The friendship component, however, is my favorite part. More on that tomorrow. Until then, if you're a blogger, why do you do it?

Works For Me Wednesday: Kraft Food & Family

To borrow a page from this book, I've decided to share about a new delightful discovery of mine: Kraft Food & Family Magazine. It is a free quarterly publication filled with all kinds of recipes! I just received my second issue today. Yes, they tend to include Kraft products (not big surprise there) but they are usually easy and (from what we've tried) delicious.

You can go to Kraft's website and sign up for the magazine. (I honestly couldn't figure out exactly where to sign up, so just used the "Contact Us" function and requested it.

And to give credit where credit is due, I found out about this from my friend Lora.

ALSO: I'm in desperate need of a WFMW tip on ants. We have some significant ant problems in our kitchen these days, and it creeps me out big time. Our kitchen looks out onto our "backyard" (actually a 12x12 plot that is half covered in concrete) through a window, and they seem to congregate around the windowsill and nearby sink. YUCK. Solutions, anyone? Something beyond killing them with squirts of Windex (our personal favorite). We also have traps, have put poisonous (to ants) goo around, and even had the apartment complex spray for them. And they remain. I've even dreamt about them this week.

And for those of you who came over for Easter, don't worry - I made sure to keep any food away from that side of the kitchen.

*************

Update on the housing search: We're actually leaning toward Holland. Actually, it was a little sad to me that all of you Grand Rapids-ites didn't pick that one, as it is CLOSEST TO YOU.

Sniff.

:)

Where To Live?

The search for a summer place continues!

I think Josh is supposed to tell his company where he'll be living by Monday. And yet we haven't found a place yet. Not even close.

I thought I'd give you a glimpse of some of our options - and feel free to vote!

#1 A Hotel in Downtown St. Joseph


The company Josh is working for this summer has actually contracted out a bunch of rooms here for their interns. We'll live in a hotel room for 12 weeks, and share a community kitchen and living room. Not exactly ideal, but they do have a pool/exercise room, provide daily breakfast, and have weekly housecleaning service. And they are actually dog-friendly!

#2 Cute Home in Holland, MI

Not super close to St. Joe, but nothing remotely affordable is. And a 45 minute commute isn't the biggest deal for 12 weeks. Don't know if they'll even take us, and don't know if it is furnished.



#3 Darling Farmhouse in South Bend, IN
These owners seem super nice, super helpful, and they want us! They live next to this rental property and have 4 dogs for Riley to play with. I can't get the picture of the front to load, but it is DARLING. Plus the place comes furnished and it is cheaper than the Holland house. BUT it is farther away from friends, family, and work in Grand Rapids. And farther from the beach! Still a 35-40 minute commute for Josh, but it is on the right side of town for that.

Hosting Easter

Yes, the Easter of 2008 marked an important milestone:

We hosted a holiday at our place for the first time.

For 24 years now I've tagged along to family gatherings to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. And when I got married I felt it important to contribute to the event, so I started to ask, "What can I bring?"

The answer every single time? "Rolls." (And they're talking "store-bought" here)

Now really, I've long been capable of bringing more than rolls from Meijer. I think I almost had to beg to bring a casserole to something last year. I think there is that "oh she is still a kid" mentality lingering out there. In any case, I've clearly had almost zero responsibility when it comes to entertaining on holidays.

Until this year.

We decided not to travel (as we've done that a lot lately) and invite some friends over to celebrate with us. We ended up with a group of 7 adults (including us) and 2 kids, which perfectly fit around our new table.

Observations:

1. Breakfast casseroles = ability to chat with guests pre-lunch. Planning a menu that can be 85% made up and done the night before is key. I made cheesy potatoes, an appley pancakey casserole, and an egg/sausage/cheese casserole. And some fruit. Nothing too fancy, which was just my style for my first try. I didn't try to go quite as far as this, thankfully. But even my relatively simple menu took me quite a while to plan out and prepare.

2. My mom is a gem. She got many calls from me (and vice-versa) about what I should have for pre-lunch coffee/snack time, if I could bake things the night before, etc.

3. I am not as good at this as my mom. I feel like it takes her no-time-flat to shop, prepare, clean, etc. Then she is calm, collect, and organized when it comes to having people over. And her meals are usually more complex than brunch. But then again, she has 24 years on me.

4. Easter brunch was a lot of fun. I really loved sharing the holiday with friends - some who we knew well, some we're still getting to know. Everyone was gracious and I think they had a good time. And having kids around (2 years and 3 months) is always exciting.

5. I want to try it again! I can definitely see room for improvement (the food wasn't particularly bad, but I think I could have done better) and I have fun ideas I'd like to try (handmade placecards, anyone? Something more creative than cupcakes for coffee/dessert time?).

And what is Easter food without Cadbury Mini Eggs? My favorite.

On an unrelated note, YAY for pictures of the darling Michael Henry James!