Texas Time!

{{Interwebs broke last night, so this post had to wait until today.  Oh, and the comments have moved to the top of the blog posts...weird, I know...but, I kinda like it...}}

OK, readers!

So, I promised you more updates this week and here is the first installment: Texas!

{I'm going to do my catch-up updates in reverse order, so that I don't leave any of the awesome that was this precious time in the land I have come to love so, so dearly.}

TEXAS!!!!

TU

Let me start....at the beginning!

Saturday, May 21
Let's just say that the trip got off to a weeeeee bit of a rocky start...This gal slept through her alarm, only to be awakened by the highly offensive **buzz** that is the door buzzer of my building.  And, let me tell you, I am so thankful that the **buzz** is indeed highly offensive...otherwise I might not have made it!  My sweet friend Christine had graciously agreed not only to pick me up at the ungodly hour of 5am to take me to the airport, but also to be the live-in "mom" to my critters while I was away...she's the best, y'all.  Anyways, back to getting to the airport...  Christine had called me when she left her place to come pick me up...but, of course, I didn't hear the call, nor did I wake up to any of my 5 alarms...neeeeat.  So, I woke up when I was supposed to be leaving.  Yep, talk about freak-out.  I wasn't entirely packed as I had a few things I was still debating on taking, so the decision was made by shoving everything without a thought into my trusty, rolly, red duffel bag.  I then splashed some water on my face, threw the hair in a pony tail, kissed the critter goodbye, and flew out the door with Christine's **chuckling** help.  We made it to the airport with plenty of time for me to check my bag, make it through the one open check-point, and spend a little time in the bathroom making myself look a little more presentable.  I got to chat with another lady doing the same thing - this gal was impressively curling her hair!  Props to her!  Then I got to chat with my pops as I waited...yay, weather delays...silly tornadoes...  Sadly, the delay stole a chunk of time that I was going to spend with the fam at DFW, but we were still able to get in an hour and a half or so (complete with a dead battery in the 'rent's car at the airport...there's a free service for that at DFW, though!!), and it was wonderful - they brought me Taco Bueno (judge me all you want, it still screams Texas!)!  It was great to be able to see my Momma on her bday - love you so much!  From DFW I caught my next flight down to ATX where I was very pleasantly greeted by two of my absolute best friends, the Ponders.  Man, I miss them!!  I was able to spend the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday with them, and Josh even serenaded me and Elaine with some guitar playing and singing - thanks for sacrificing your fingertips for us, JP! (*snap! snap! snap! snap! snappity! snap! snap!*)

Monday, May 23
My sweet Tara friend came and snatched me from the Ponder house Monday morning and we went to Kerbey Lane where we had one of the most excellent breakfasts ever...deeeelish!  We spent the day running around, catching up, and hanging out - it was wonderful.  Later that evening our wonderful Kristen friend came to join the party and we got ready for a superb Mexican feast, I am Number 4 showing, and slumber party with a couple of Tara's friends from grad school (thanks so much for all of your hard work and letting us crash in your living room, Noel!!).  It was awesome.

Tuesday, May 24
FUN IN THE SUN!  SUN! SUN! SUN!  Y'all...my skin hasn't seen sun since I moved up here...it was awesome to get to lounge out by the pool...even if I did get some funny streaky lines...no worries, everything evened out before the wedding  :)  It's still a bit too chilly up here to go swimming, too, so splashing around in the pool was delightful.  Later on we went to Gloria's (the BEST tamales I have ever had state side...I'd venture to say they were as good as the Panamanian tamales, family...seriously...I thought I had died and gone to heaven) for happy hour, where I got to see my lovely Alyssa K!!  It was awesome to catch up with her and have good old fashioned girl time.

Wednesday, May 25
Kerbey Lane, round 2!  Kristen and Tara and I decided we needed to go get breakfast there again...just because we could, and we all wanted to dig-in to some lemon poppy-seed pancakes (to die for!).  It was fantastic.  After breakfast the girls dropped me off at the casa de Reed where I got to spend some wodnerfully precious time with my cousins and the little Z-Man...I can't believe he's going to be 4 soon!  So hard to believe.  But we had a ton of fun - oh how I miss them!!

Thursday, May 26
The after getting some Whataburger for lunch, the cousin drove me to meet up with Mak and her other gals so that we could get to work on bachelorette/pre-wedding fun.  While P and I waited for Mak we ran around with Z-Man at a little playground and had a ton of fun with him there...don't worry, he survived the face-plant following his trip down the big-kid slide just fine  ;)  Once Mak arrived I transferred all of my junk into her car and we headed for Buda-land to get to prepping.  We had a fun night out strolling around 6th street and got so not enough sleep...but it was still a blast, and Mak was an absolute trooper at the piano bar  :)

Friday, May 27
THE DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING!!!!  Us bridesmaids got to work finishing the guest favors and helping to make sure Mak had everything she needed for the wedding and honeymoon.  We all made it to the rehearsal where Butch did an excellent job of making sure we didn't forget to take care of our sweet bride during the ceremony the next day - what a blessing to have such an amazing man of God join you in marriage.  After the seamless rehearsal was complete we headed to Lake Travis for the rehearsal dinner - awesome Mexican food and fun with friends.  We finally had our fill of food and people and made our way back to the hotel where we got to hang out with Mak's extended family for a bit before calling it a night.  Man, they are a fun bunch of people.

Saturday, May 28
WEDDING DAY!!!  We got the day off to an early 7am start to make sure that Mak had plenty of time to get prepped and not suffer too much stress in the way of time crunching.  Her mom treated us to a lovely breakfast at the house and we all set to work prepping for the 2pm ceremony.  We made it to the church around 11:30/12 and did our final preps before it was time for the pre-ceremony pictures.  Once those were done it was a short wait and then it was show time!  The wedding itself was beautiful, intimate, and God-centered...perfection.  I'm pretty sure we all let a few tears fall as we watched Wes as he saw his bride walking down that aisle toward a lifetime with him.  She was stunning and he was so obviously in awe of her beauty, inside and out, that tears were inevitable.  The reception was a fun time with friends and family and I was so happy I got to see the Ponders one last time.  It was incredibly difficult for me to say goodbye to Mak and Wes as we ushered them off to Jamaica...I miss them!!!  And, saying goodbye to my sweet Josh and Elaine was equally difficult.  But, saying goodbye to those sweet people transitioned me into the next leg of my trip.  My dear Bolwerk was gracious enough to come pick me up from Buda, even though he was too sick to attend the wedding with me - what a champ, eh?  He drove his sick self 2hrs just to pick me up so that I could spend some time in College Station.

{Have I ever mentioned how much I absolutely love my friends??  Mmk, well, I adore them...there are simply no words to express how much I love them and how much they have absolutely become my family.}

B and I made a little stop back at Tara's for dinner and some general hangout-age...such a blessing.  After that he and I made a stop at the convenience store for some Blue Bell (Texas, I love you!), Sour S'ghetti, Vanilla Coke, and Cherry Dr. Pepper.  That my friends, is a recipe for success!  We had a really great drive to CS, brimming with sugar-highs, laughter, good tunes, and excellent conversation.  He granted me the pleasure of driving me through campus and stopping at the giant Aggie Ring so that I could actually see and touch it, as I hadn't been able to see it since it was placed.  I love Texas A&M...there is simply no place like it.

Sunday, May 29
Church!  B and I went to Grace Southwood for service Sunday morning and then met up with Poarchy-Poarch and Powell at Fuego for lunch - oooohm gahhhhh how I have missed Texas food!  We had an excellent lunch and then made our way over to the 'doons for some coffee and face time with Cam - man I love that kid...he's so freaking tall!  While there I got to have some sweet time with Poarchy as well as my sweet Powell girl.  I've missed those kiddos so much!  There was another lovely, lovely surprise I got at Muldoons: Katy!!  I'm sure most of you are familiar with my sweet sister in the Lord, Katy, who has been in Africa with her husband Kahler this last year.  Well, she and I finally go to make our friendship "real-life" official!  She was so sweet to make time to come visit with me for a little bit and it was such a blessing to finally meet her face to face and give her a real hug.  But...as she and I were discussing earlier today...we both failed to document our meeting with a picture.  And we call ourselves bloggers...shame on us.  BUT!  We'll remedy that come the Christmas holidays, don't you worry your pretty little heads  :)  After coffee time B, Poarch, Powell, and I made our way back to B's house to watch a movie while I waited for for my sweet Kacy and Justin friends to pick me up for dinner.  Once they arrived we made our way to Blue Baker for some pizza...ah, it brought back memories.  We had such a sweet time together - I was so happy they were able to make the trek up from Houston.  From there we went over to the Humphrey's House for dessert, where Miss Powell joined us as well.  After sending Kacy and Justin off...and ushering in the tears that would not completely stop flowing for the next two days, the Humphrey House settled down for some Kung Fu Panda before calling it a night.

Monday, May 30
Happy Memorial Day!!

{I'll have another post to share some things about Memorial Day a little later on this week or next}

A bunch of us started the day off with some precious time out at the Freeman House...it will always feel like home  :) and then made our way to Layne's (oh how I wish I could have brought you with me!!) where we met up with Pauler and my sweet Metz bug dorks!!  It was sooo, so wonderful to see Pauler and visit with him about his upcoming move for seminary and to see his excitement about what the Lord is doing as he prepares for this new stage in his life.  And, seeing the Metzs was super great on so many levels: they're awesome, they're like my big brother and sister, THEY'RE PREGGERS!!!!  I was so excited to find out that they are expecting this fall - I'll get to see the baby at Christmas!  WHOOP!  After some good time at Layne's I said my goodbyes and ran to the car before I had time to start crying...I could have hugged Bolwerk, Poarch, Powell, Pauler, and the Metz crew forever, I think...but, I knew that if I stayed much longer and continued to hold on to them I would never leave and I would just cry and cry...so, I hopped in Powell's car and she took me back to the Humphrey's so they could cart me back to Austin.  I loved the time I got to spend with the Humphreys on our trip to Austin...I. MISS. THEM!  Once in Austin I met back up with Tara and she and I completely vegged the afternoon/evening away...and, I cried some more.

Tuesday, May 31
I so didn't want to leave Texas, but that flight was calling my name, and it was time to go.  Tara took me to the airport and once I got all checked in and made my way over to the checkpoint line I told her that she was going to have to leave otherwise I was going to bawl my eyes out...and she was gracious enough to spare my eyes and head that sufferance.  Once I was comfortable in the line I called my Pops and chatted with him about the trip and not wanting to leave Texas and I was hardly able to keep my tears from falling.  But, I got on that plane, thanked a precious soldier, caught my connecting flight in DFW, and arrived safely back here in the Melted Tundra.

The trip was incredible and I wish I hadn't left, but leaving means there's another trip to be had with more memories and more time with my Texas loves later on down the road.

For now, all is well up in the Tundra and I am happy to be back in my own little home with my critters.

Research is getting back underway and the summer will be a buzzy one full of research and sunshine.  Y'all, it is so lush here right now, I can hardly believe it.  I'll try to snag some pictures before it all fades back to white!

Well, that's all for now, my dears.  I'm off to bed.

Love y'all dearly.
Shalom!
~MW

Happy, Happy. Joy, Joy.

Ah, Sunday.  How I do love you.

I absolutely love taking the pup out to play on our Sunday morning stroll/run around the dog park (as does he...all behavior goes out the window once he realizes that we are going to the dog park to....PLAY!!!).  This preceding or following my morning cup of coffee that is paired with scrolling through the weekly Post Secret - wonderful.  Then some general maintenance/clean-up around the apartment that got neglected or I simply didn't get to on Saturday...pretty wonderful, indeed.  All of that followed by Skype dates, homework, work, and church...makes for a pretty decent day.

So, I've been neglecting to post my joys for each week...but I most certainly have not been neglecting finding my joys in each day.  But, in an attempt to re-establish some accountability in the blogger world, here is this week's bundle of joy  :)

Saturday, 19 Feb 2011 - dinner at Kieran's Irish Pub, followed by an evening at Shout House Piano Bar with the gang in celebration of Trisha's bday!

Sunday, 20 Feb 2011 - truly enjoyed a relaxing snowy day...even though I was sad to see the green grass disappear again.

Monday, 21 Feb 2011 - I picked up my birthday present from the 'rents (more on that later!), followed by coffee & lunch with Megan on our way into campus (after having the morning off for a half snow day - happy bday, Trisha!!); new shipment of moths arrived at the lab!

Tuesday, 22 Feb 2011 - wonderful breakfast at Baker's Square with Megan and saw Christine for the first time since she had "abandoned" us to go back home to Germany for a week!

Wednesday, 23 Feb 2011 - was surprised by a little snowman awaiting me out on the Taurus, after a long...looong day (thanks, Fraser!).

Thursday, 24 Feb 2011 - super productive day (complete with a lovely little surprise of deeelish potato salad!) followed by Smash Burgers and Quest for the Holy Grail at Corey & Callies...we were all in serious need of some mindless humor.

Friday, 25 Feb 2011 - TURNED IN MY MINI GRANT PROPOSAL!!!  Whew!  And...found some pretties on sale at Jo-Anns  :)

Saturday, 26 Feb 2011 - went to the first hockey game I've attended since about 7th grade (way to rock it, Katy!), followed by breakfast for dinner, potluck style, at Megan's...mmm, mmm, gooood!


This week was beyond insane.  We were all on edge as the majority of us had numerous deadlines to meet this week and none of us felt like we were going to make all of them and stay on top of course work...well, we were right...we really didn't get much done in the way of course work, but we did meet our deadlines!  It was one of those weeks where you have to force yourself to stop and go do something (breakfast...watch a movie...) other than the pile of things awaiting you...or else madness will undoubtedly ensue!  We were able to curb the madness for the most part, though there were a few days that simply were too much...even profs were going a little crazy this week.  As RH put it early in the week: We've entered the vortex...it's going to be a long week.  Sooooo true.  But, the week is well over and after recouping a bit yesterday, most of us are back to normalcy, or so it seems, today.  We still have too much to do and so NOT enough time to do it in, but it will get done, don't you worry your pretty little heads  :)

Something I wanted to tell y'all about is what Spring is like here.  As I mentioned in my last post, we got a little taste of spring a few weeks ago.  Y'all, I am so excited for spring to finally get here - for real this time.  Momma, do you remember the beginning of the Beatrix Potter videos - how they start off with spring-time water trickles as she hikes off with her paint set?  That is what it is like here.  Everything melting (feet upon feet, upon feet of snow) as the sun starts to peek out from behind the clouds, so it's still a touch overcast.  Trickles of water running continuously (so it's always perfect for taking a little cat nap).  Green peeking through the melting white snow (really ice, at this point).  Birds chirping.  Insects humming.  It's lovely.  I saw a darling little chickadee yesterday with its tell-tale call of, "chickadee-dee-dee-dee-dee," and I just had to smile thinking about how awesome spring is going to be here.  I absolutely cannot wait!  Though, waterproof shoes are definitely a necessity - it's quite...squishy with all of that snow melting!

Ok, I told y'all I'd tell you more about my bday present from my parents, so here you go!  As many of you know, I've been in the market for a sewing machine for the last few years.  I've been looking at used ones, new ones, way old ones, etc...and just haven't really found something affordable that actually works...so, I've been holding out for that steal to come along.  Well...much to my surprise (I seriously could not believe my eyes), that is the very thing that my Momma and Daddy sent my way for my bday!  I love them...have I mentioned that before??  :)  They showered me with a brother xr-7700.  It. Is. AWESOME!!!  Ok...so I haven't used it quite yet, but dang, it can do SO much and it came with so many little extras!  So legit.  Look!!

That's some of the fabric I found at Jo-Ann's - super on sale!!  Wouldn't you all like to know what my plans are for it...?  Well...you'll just have to wait, it's a surprise  ;)


Here are some more sights from this week: the little snowman and deeelish potato salad, courtesy of Fraser - props on the potato salad, yo - you'd do well in Texas!

It's still quite snowy and frosty here.

 

Jakers got a new toy!!!  And he loooooves it!!

And now...after running around outside this morning and then playing with his new toy...he is one tuckered, pup  :)  Did I mention that he's spoiled...?  ;)

Well, I do believe that's all for now, kids.  Praying blessings on your Sunday and the week to come.

Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - it just started snowing again...

All that I know is I'm breathing....

  **Deeeeep breath**

What a crazy couple of months or so it has been up here in the FT.

Sometimes I feel like my life is moving so fast that I wake up some mornings and I can't remember the day before or what day it is or what I have on the docket for that day.

Sometimes I feel like I'm simply going through the motions and that I have forgotten why I am where I am, and why I'm doing what I am doing.

Sometimes I have so much to do, that I just can't sleep.  I can't turn off my brain.

Sometimes I just want to disappear into the North Woods and simply be and be with my God...I haven't been the best daughter of late.

Sometimes I think I forget to breathe...

But I do know that I am still breathing...and right now that's about all I feel that I can do.

This semester is proving to be busier than I could have ever imagined.  Courses are proving to be heavier than expected (by myself and SW...she's just as surprised as I am, thankfully); the to-do list regarding my research seems to be growing daily; I have loan specimens coming in from all over North America on just about a weekly basis - and, processing them is extremely time consuming; forming a committee is turning out to be quite trying; getting prepped for my first committee meeting means I have to have a bunch of stuff written up about myself, my research, etc.; the whole department is getting ready for the ESA-NCB meeting in March - which means we have to get our abstracts written and submitted by then end of this week, and then actually preparing our posters/talks, a number of us students are busy studying and practicing for the Linnaean Games (kind of like an ento quiz bowl), and then there's always the general prep that comes with hosting a meeting (yay...); we are about to be busy getting ready for the prospective student "Welcome Weekend" the end of March; there are number of outreach opportunities coming up that we students will be busy with; oh, and fellowship/grant applications are all due here in a couple of weeks; oh, and that thing called a social life...trying to keep that one going too; and church is getting busy in the best possible way (we start small groups this week!!).  Whew!  As a result of all of that, I feel like I have been a neglectful daughter, sister, student, friend, girlfriend, etc.  The days leave me so incredibly exhausted that all I want to do is fall into bed and sleep, but I simply do not have the time to do that, and even when I do finally let myself fall into that dreamy bed of mine I find no rest.  I'm tired.  I'm spent.  As Bilbo Baggins would put it, " I feel... thin. Sort of stretched, like... butter scraped over too much bread."  I'm ready for this semester to be over.  Even though I am so incredibly happy and blessed here - so incredibly blessed, I cannot even begin to explain.  I am simply ready for the "lazy" summer (haha...funny joke) to arrive so that I can go home for Mak and Wes's hitching day, play with my moths and actually get research done, make another trip home for when Jake and the Stones come home from Africa, head back up to the FT to do MORE research (!!!), go to Arizona to learn about collecting and prepping leps for a couple of weeks (!!!), help Panda get settled in (he's been accepted here at the U!!!) and hopefully do the same with Jake, maybe take a few museum trips with SW to look at type specimens, aaaand go camping and collecting (!!!) with RH and Frenatae amongst and between the other events of the summer.  I'm just ready to be done with classes, really.

But!  My God is not tired, He is not spent, and I can find rest, comfort, and peace in that promise.  He is never failing.  Even when I feel like I simply cannot keep moving, He carries me along.  How beautiful it is to know that being a daughter of the King means that even when I fall down (which is quite often) He is always there and ready to pick me back up again and help me dust off my hands and knees, pour peroxide and rub ointment on the scrapes, and bandage them up for me.

I love my God and I love that He loves me unconditionally...scrapes, bruises, scars, and all  :)

Speaking of scars, I've been dealing with some of those lately...old experiences/memories/heartaches have been floating above my head and lingering there.  It's frustrating at times, but forces me to stop and remember how much I have learned and grown through those experiences and how blessed I am to now have that wisdom and knowledge that I probably would not posses otherwise.

What funny things scars are.  I don't think you can really ever forget where one came from.  It's interesting to me how different scars are from bruises.  You can find a bruise and have no clue how it got there, but the deep wounds that result in scars are incredibly difficult to miss.  I find it funny, too, that scars don't have to be, necessarily, tied to a bad experience.  Some of my scars remind me of awesome runs on the mountain bike trails, or running around llama farms as a kid, or some of the best performances from my ballet days; while others remind me of running into things or wrestling with kittens at the vet clinic (kittens are eeeeevil!!!  Cute...but eeeeeevil!!!).  Now, those are all physical scars of the flesh, but I think the same can be true for emotional/spiritual scars.  I have scars from mission trips where I saw such unbelievable poverty that pieces of my heart were tugged away, but the experience was so beautiful in seeing people abandon themselves recklessly at the feet of Christ, and seeing myself and the other people on the trips with me grow in their faith and relationship with the Lord, that those scars remind of beautiful things along with the heartbreak.  And, of course, other scars are simply reminders of heartbreak.  Can't be helped.  But, I digress.

Things really have been exhaustingly (it's a word...promise...thank you, English language for being absurdly ridiculous so as to allow us to pretty much make any word we want into a "real word"!) wonderful here.  I had one of the best birthday weeks I have ever had - it's definitely going down in the record books as one of the best.  I was surprised by many of you with little cards and messages and gifts throughout all of that week (THANK YOU!!), and a few are still trickling in!  Y'all are awesome.  I received some of the most breathtakingly beautiful orchids from Jake...RH made me go pick them up from the office and bring them to class with me, haha...everyone was quite impressed.  And, I am very pleased to say, that they are still alive and well in their little vase in the Insect Museum - everyone gets to enjoy them on a daily basis.  I really want to try and sprout one or two of the spikes...I need to look into that or run by Linder's and talk to the plant people to get their thoughts and suggestions on that undertaking.  Anyways, I was also surprised by the Bug Dork crew up here with a fantastic dinner part at Chino-Latino!  I don't think that I have ever been so surprised before.  Megan did an awesome job of pulling it all together, and everyone here was amazing at keeping me totally and completely clueless, well done, kids, well done  :)  Once those pictures get forwarded to me I'll throw some up.  We had a blast...though we all paid for it a bit the next morning...it was definitely worth the mid-week late night.  That Saturday RH and a number of us Bug Dorks took on the frozen waters of Lake Owasso and went ICE FISHING!  We had a great time, despite not catching a thing.  So fun.  Really...haha.  And then, Sunday, of course, we had a rockin' Super Bowl party.  SO MUCH GOOD FOOD!  It was glorious.


This weekend everyone seems to be catching up from last weekend, haha.  We were all rather unproductive on the school/research front.

So things have been busy, stressful, crazy, but wonderful all at the same time.  I'll try to post some pictures later on, but for now I need to get back to work.  I have grant drafts and abstracts to finish by tomorrow.

Praying all is wonderfully with you, my lovelies.

Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - I promise I haven't forgotten about finishing the new blog layout...it was either work on the layout or write a post this weekend - I figured you would all rather have an update  :)  I'll get to it...eventually, promise!

P.P.S. - I almost forgot to share this little gem with y'all!  This little article about 20 Obsolete English Words that Should Make a Comeback is pretty amazing -  and, I vote we start using these words again  :)   Also, MY BIG BROTHER IS FAMOUS!  Check out this little article talking about his new band Shivaree (it talks about some other bands, as well, but Shivaree is the best...of course!).  Check out some of their songs - they are way fun...raw recordings, but still awesome  :)

Whew! Home for the holidays!

Heavens what a whirlwind of a week it has been (ok...an almost week)!

My lovely friend Judy took me to the airport circa 5:30am Saturday morning, and my was I glad I asked that she pick me up around 5!  Checking my bag was no trouble at all...but TSA...eesh, that took ages.  It really wasn't that bad, and surprisingly everyone was rather cheery - even with it being so ridiculously early in the morning.  I was one of the *lucky* travelers to get to go through one of those fancy new scanning machines...I don't really know how I feel about them.  It's quick and painless so it's not all that awkward during the actual scanning process.  And, if the example images TSA puts up are accurate, then I really don't think there's any issue with them.  But...who knows, really?  Well, enough about TSA.  I made it to my gate in plenty of time and even got to do a little leisurely reading!  Say, what?!  Got on the plane and took a snooze on the very smooth little flight - we made way good time!  I actually sat next to a Minnesotan who had never been on a plane before!  It was fun to get to chat with him and get his take on flying.  His general consensus: It's kinda fun...but doesn't feel as fast as I thought it would. 

Setting foot on sweet DFW ground was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.  It was absolutely wonderful to get picked up by my faja and to head home to my sweet, sweet family.  Oh how I have missed them!

We've been having a pretty wonderful time thus far.  Lots of hang time, movies, CHUY'S!!, birthday celebrations, churching, and, sadly, finishing up final projects for the semester...but it is all done now!

****HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!!!  So sorry I didn't get to put up a birthday blog for you...but, I loved spending the day with you!  LOOOOOVE YOU!!*****

I've loved getting to visit with my family and so many wonderful, wonderful people.  Oh how blessed I am.  And I can't wait to see more and more of you as the next week or so unfolds!!

I have lots of fun updates to share, but for now I am going to close.  It. is. time. for. bed!!

Praying you all have a wonderfully blessed Christmas remembering the birth of our precious, precious Savior.

Shalom, and blessings to you!
~MW

Happy Birthday to....

This handsome 19 year old boy!

You used to be SOOOO little....when did you stop being this small??

 

 

 

 

 

     Panda Bear, you have grown up so, so much - I can hardly believe it sometimes...but, I will never forget running around the woods with you and Fariz, going "collecting," camping in the tree house, making our base camps in the back yard, cooking our whatever they were concoctions, wakey-wakey-click-click, pokemon-ing it, yugi-oh-ing it, watching Oswald, making up our own games and adventures inside of Zelda, listening to musics together, watching LOTR, Star Wars, Firefly, etc...etc...etc...our list of insanity can go on.  

     I hope and pray that no matter how crazy life gets for you, my outstanding actor of a baby brother, that you will never ever forget the little things.  Remember the crazy random crap we did as kids and try to throw some new crazy and some new random into each new chapter of your life.  Remember it.  Live it.  

And, never ever forget to remember this: I. Love. You.

Cannot wait to see you this weekend and play with you and the Fariz over Christmas.  

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

LOVE YOU!

~Heath

Birthdays to Boy Scouts

Hello my happy readers. I trust you are all fairing well on this {for me} gloriously rainy Monday. I do apologize for having not updated in a while...it's just been one of those weeks...you know, the kind of week where you just don't want to do anything and so you don't and thus have nothing to report and your brain is kind of void of any form of coherent thought...yeah, it was one of those.

So, Tuesday was my birthday, and I must take a moment now to thank each and every one of you who took the time to call/txt/email/facebook me to send me your thoughts, wishes, and love - definitely made my not so thrilling day a blessed one. This was a very strange birthday for me. For as long as I can remember I've had friends around either day of, or shortly there after, to celebrate with me...and, for the first time in my 23yrs I didn't have any of my beloved friends with me. Don't get me wrong, being with my family was definitely nice, but this birthday made me really realize how dearly I love my friends, and that they have truly become my family, and I miss them all dearly. So, I have been in a bit of a funk about that... This is no tantrum about not having a party or something ridiculous like that, this is simply my heart-breaking realization that I miss my friends much more than I thought I did. Thinking about all of this and reflecting then lead me to a terrible realization: next year is going to be even worse!!! I don't know anyone in MN...oi, if I thought this year was bad, I won't even have my family with me next year. I'd better toughen up and put on my big girl pants now, eh?? Ugh...can I just stick all of my friends in my pocket or a tupperware container and take them with me??

Well, that said, I must admit that I've been a little off this week, due to all the above..err...dwellings, I suppose we could call them. But, my family was so great. The Mamma made me dutch pancakes like she used to do when I was in high school...I did have to get up at 6:45 to partake with the fam, but it was totally worth it. The Mamma and I proceeded to munch on the leftovers throughout the rest of the day - heavenly! And then...I spent a rather hefty part of my afternoon {J-Hump, please overt your eyes...} window shopping online with Miss Ricci...it was awesome...we had so much fun! My evening consisted of a Valentine's Dinner Prep Meeting, followed by Bible study, and finally, my ultimate birthday present: the Season Premier of LOST!!! The only thing that could have made that better would have been being with all my peeps at the LOST party down in CS...I was definitely there in spirit.

Probably one of the best things I did last week was dig my rickety, I mean lovely old bike out of the garage give it some TLC and take it on a nice little 3mi ride. Nothing, huge, I know, but it was beyond great to take it out for a spin and do some work on it...I also discovered, that much as I had suspected, I am severely, severely, out of shape...working on remedying this situation :)

I did finally get my new phone on Friday! Oh, I am so in love with it...I have named him Reuel. Can anyone guess where that comes from?? You get a gold star if you can figure it out. :D

Saturday was quite a full day: took Faja to the airport, had a morning visit with Gela, Alyssa, and Samantha - that was simply delightful, had a mid-day coffee date with Lu - also wonderful. And then, my dear ones...I did it...I - CLEANED - my room!!! I still hadn't unpacked everything from moving up here in December...awful, I know. But it is now done, and it is awesome. Have some pictures us, and everyone seems to be happy. Mid cleaning though, I stopped to have a spot of tea and lost it...the missing all of my friends and not seeing my here-friends very often and not having a job/outlet finally got to me and I broke down. I simply felt lonely even though I had seen a ton of people that day, that might have been enough to put me over the edge. I felt better after allowing myself to put a label on what I was feeling instead of just pushing it under the rug and pretending like nothing was wrong. This is hard...that's about all there is to it.

Anyways, congrats to the Saints on their Superbowl win - props, kids. Although, I must confess that I boycotted the game with KT and went to Borders instead. It was nice to visit and sympathize with each other about feeling lonely.

But, now a new week has begun and it's off to a crazy start! Tonight I will be undertaking the task of teaching the local Boy Scouts of America troop about....you guessed it, BUGS!! I'm really excited about this, but pretty nervous, this will be my first outreach education endeavor all on my own. I brainstormed with KReddick last night and got some awesome ideas on organizing it all and cuing in to how the kids are responding to the subject matter. So, for the rest of today I will be polishing that up and getting ready for the kiddos! I had intended on taking another bike ride today, but the forecast is for rain...all...day...long, which I love just not when I had planned to be active. Ah well, such is life.

Best wishes for the new week to you all!

Shalom,
MW