Ho-Hum...it's Monday...

Greetings, all.

So...as I am certain most of you have figured out...today is Monday.  Monday, Monday, Monday...you always come too quickly and last far too long.  Just sayin'.

Anywho, I have a ton of things I've been needing to blog about: the close of my second semester of grad school, summer, some things I've learned in the last year or so...the list goes on.  But, tonight, as it will most definitely be after 9 by the time I finish this post and I would like to get to bed a reasonable hour tonight, I think I'm just going to make this a short and sweet update.

Last week was hectic, but good.

Wrapping up the loose ends from BioBlitz, curating all of the specimens we collected in those 24hrs (with some help from the Chanimal - thanks, yo!), and undertaking the task of rearing moths after finding myself with a large amount of moth eggs on my hands kept me buuuusy! 

Aside from all of that I wrestled with Biota2 as I attempted the supposedly simple task of transferring my PC files to our lab MAC.  This used to be a simple, painless task...back in 2002...but, of course, the converter hasn't been updated since then and is no longer supported on Leopard or Snow Leopard.  Neat.  Thanks 4D for not staying on top of that...sigh.  So, after an ordeal of uninstalling and re-installing the software on my laptop (just in case something got messed up during the initial installation...it didn't), RW came to the realization that he had lost his license number for the program...awesome.  So, I called up the distributor to see if maybe, just maybe they could look it up for us - they could!  And they did!!  Whoop! 

They sent us the codes late Friday so I was able to get everything rolling again this morning.  But, I still have the issue of needing to take my database files between a PC and MAC.  So, first thing (OK, maybe 2nd or 3rd thing) tomorrow I'm calling them up again to see if there is a new way around this issue, if not...SW said she'd buy "me" a new MAC for the lab!!!  Holla!  Can I just stumble upon a ridiculously large amount of discarded cash so I can buy my own MAC???  Maybe?  Not likely?  Dang...worth a shot.  So, I'll let you know what happens there, because if the company says there's no solution SW said she'll purchase the new comp before the week is up.  {I kind of really want this latter option to happen...I know...I'm a terrible person.}

The caterpillars are...well...not fairing so well  :(  I walked in this morning to find large amounts of them...shriveled up and dead, dead, dead...depressing first thing on a Monday morning.  I talked to SW about it and she exclaimed in apology for not mentioning that they should have been transferred to a tupperware container to ensure that they didn't suffer from dessication.  Even though there were moist maple leaves and a damp paper towel in the net-cage...the air inside the building was still to dry.  Blast!  Ah well, learning experience.  There are a few survivors who are now nestled safely in a tupperware container...so we'll see how they look in the morning.  Fingers crossed!


Backing up a few days now.

Friday was the day I the majority of the fighting with Biota, but I was (pleasantly and humorously) interrupted from that battle by a text from SW that read something along the lines of:

I may need some salad

and photo board help. Do

you have time today? 

Headed home with the fixings 

and will call when I get there.

Thanks life preserver!

Haha...OK, so here's some background on that text.  Her oldest graduated from high school a week or two ago (it was actually a pretty fun graduation ceremony!!).  The graduation party was scheduled for Saturday the 18th.  SW was out of town through Wednesday of that week...talk about a brave mom!  Anywho, the 3 "men" of the house neglected to get any of the to-do list she had left from them to do for the week that she was gone so that she could focus on the actual party details once she came back in town.  Panic ensued on Thursday (I got a text that day saying she would see me Friday if she weren't jailed for killing offspring first!  Ha!  Gotta love it.).  I offered to help her with anything between Thursday and Saturday...and so came the text on Friday.  

After I got home from the lab I ran Jakers around for a bit and then packed up my crafting supplies and headed out to her place.  I had hardly made it through the door when her husband exclaimed, "Oh thank goodness you're here!  You're co-advisor is about to go insane!!!!!"  Hahahahaha...yes, I laughed outloud and saw the agreement mixed with furry in SW's eyes...poor woman - she was spent and still had dinner to make...for her family and 3 guests (they had two ornithologists (her hubs is an ornithologist) staying with them that night and then there was me).  I ushered her out of the kitchen and into the dinning room where there were mounds of photographs and poster board strewn about.  I told her as long as she gave me an idea of what she was going for I would do my best to finish the photo boards and then move on to whatever other task she needed done.  I thought she was going to cry out of sheer gratitude!  She set to making dinner and I put the photo boards together.  And then...we all sat down to a lovely dinner of grilled venison steaks with grilled veggies and potatoes...complete with a glass of wine - perfection.  Once dinner was over the boys all headed to the den and SW and I hung out in the kitchen and had girl time.  It was positively delightful.

Saturday was another full day!  It started with an egg roll making party at my place (Ummm...so awesome...and no...I didn't take any pictures.  I know!  I'm sorry!!!) which took a good part of the day and then we stuffed our faces with a ton of egg rolls.  We made somewhere in the range of 70-80...there were 12 left...There were about 8 of us altogether...ha.  After that ordeal came to a close a number of us made the trek over to SW's for the graduation party, complete with much more food....and....CAKE POPS!!!!  We all slept well that night.

Sunday was another day, but a blessed one at that.  I got to visit with Skate and talk to my pops and see all of my loves at church.  Win, win, win!

There's the latest and greatest...how's that for short?  Ha...I just kept remembering more and more things that I felt were blog worthy!!  

OK, for reals, I'm closing this post with a farewell and good night.

Praying blessings upon you.

Shalm,

~MW

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

Oh my word, it's summer....

Yes, the crazy bug dork is indeed still alive!

This post will be short, but there will be more coming this week - I promise  :)

As the semester came to a close I took the opportunity to take a little trip to Texas to see friends and family and marry off two of my favorite people.  Don't you just love it when your friends marry each other?  I think it's pretty flipping sweet  :)

The wedding was beautiful and the trip was jam-packed with visits and completely lacking in sleep...in other words, it was awesome.

Here are some picturas to keep you smiling until I can give you a legitimate update on the end of the semester and my Texas time:

So blessed by this lady.

 

Beautiful, beautiful bride!

 Wouldn't be Texas without bugs and coffee  :)

Missed this fluffy mess while I was away...love coming home to his cuddliness.

Praying all is well with you, sweet readers!

Shalom,

~MW

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  :)

Joy, Joy, Joy!

Hello, all.

I know it's been forever, or so it seems, since I last updated, but...well, you know the next line: TIGS!  Even when classes aren't in session, there is SOOOO much to do!

Last week was wonderful in that respect, though - I didn't have any classes to worry about and I got to just work in the lab and meet with SW and figure out where we are going just what I am doing over the next 2.5yrs (yes, that sounds like a long time...but when you have the to-do list that I have, it seems like that is absolutely NO way I will get all of it done - I will, don't you fret..).  I've decided!  I'm doing a monograph for my thesis work!!  I'll do a post a little later on about what a monograph treatment is.  It's the part of taxonomy/systematics that I love, I'll just say that for now.  All in all, it was a great week.  And I closed it feeling satisfied and accomplished...it's been a while since I've felt like that at the end of a work week.

The 3-day weekend that followed that productive week was pretty grand, as well.  The first half of Saturday was full of Skyping and relaxing, the second half consisted of a ton of fun with Meg and Markster.  Markster picked me up and we grabbed Meg.  We grabbed some lunch at the Mall of America (seriously, there's like a bazillion restaurants in there...and we had some stuff to return and some gift cards to try to spend).  While at the MoA we saw this epicness:

The WHOLE ENTIRE thing was made of LEGOs...I. Want. One!

After running around MoA we continued on our path to REI so The Markster and I could procure our new parkas followed by the 3 of us trying on the most ridiculous winter hats in the clearance bin...oh man...we should have taken pictures.  It. Was. Epic.  And!  We all came away with a new hat that made each of us rather cheery.  After running home to let Jakers out the three of us went back to Meg's to work on....drum rooooooolllllll.....A GINGERBREAD HOUSE!!!  SO FUN!  The house had been constructed a few days earlier and the decorating had begun, but the bug dorks tricked that house oooooout!

Markster working hard on the roof.

 Meg and Markster working hard on adding our Harmonia infestation...that's right we are true dorks and added the tell-tale sign of fall/winter to the lovely little gingerbread house by adding and infestation of ladybird beetles - epic.

Ta-da!!  I was in charge of the icicles and filling in the gaps on the roof - I'm not gonna lie, I'm way impressed with my icicles...like, considered for a split second that I should change careers and be a gingerbread house decorator or something  :)

 See all those little pink clusters?  Those are our little Harmonia!!!  It looks just like a real infestation!  Little aggregations and all!

We didn't finish the backside of the house, the front and sides look pretty darn awesome, we think!

Sunday was a nice chill day...Skypage, church...it was a pretty good day.  I was especially blessed at church Sunday night, and it was wonderful.

Monday was awesome!!  We bug dorks plus a few other friends made brunch and had an absolutely lovely time together.  Everyone brought something to share with the group and we all just sat around with some nice folksy music in the background while we chatted, ate some delish food, sipped on coffee/tea/mimosas...mmmmmhmm!  We closed out our brunch time with some Strong Bad and Teen Girl Squad.  It was glorious.

Post brunch, was positively delightful, as well.  The Markster, Meg, Christine and myself went back to REI so I could exchange my parka for a different size - the sleeves were like half-way up my arms when I put the hood up on the first one...that's something I definitely should have checked at the store.  Oh well, REI makes it super easy for co-op members to make returns/exchanges.  We next ventured to a Starbucks for some coffee (we were all spent) and freaking awesome conversation.  Man, I love these kids so much!  After a couple hours there we went to TJMaxx so Meg could make a return and decided to kickoff our semester with a steakhouse dinner at Timber Lodge.  Oh my goodness, y'all, it was amazingly delicious.  And!  They messed up my order so they brought us a ginormous piece of whipped cheesecake.  Ummm...amazingly tasty.  Soooo grood  :)  We really had an awesome Martin Luther King, Jr. Day...it was incredible.  I can't wait to continue building and strengthening my relationships with my bug dorks here...seriously, such blessings to my life.

Week one (or rather, the first 4 days) of semester two was pretty decent, all-in-all.  Nothing went wrong or poorly...always a nice way to start a semester.  I made some more headway on my semester docket as far as what I need to do for my research/thesis stuffs - I still have a lot to do for this semester yet, but I'll get there.  Classes will be quite enjoyable, I think...just a lot of work...and I mean a LOT of work.  My museum studies - practices course will be especially heavy on the work load.  Yikes...papers and projects due every week!  Most of which require going to museums and writing papers and things about exhibits, pieces, etc...time consuming, to say the least.  Not hard or tedious, just time consuming...busy work.  I am excited to have an excuse to get out and see the museums around the area, though, that will be nice.  Time is just so lacking...oi vey...I so need more hours in the day or another day in the week...something, anything!

I'm trying to remember if there was anything super important that happened this week, or if it everything was just same ol' same ol' in the land of grad school...hmmm.  Well, I'll let you know later if I forgot anything.  Oh, we had our first Pig's Eye of the semester tonight.  I left pretty early, I'm just beat - I've fallen into another bought with insomnia...yay, no sleep!  No worries, though.  This happens from time to time, and it always passes with time..sometimes it takes a few months, but it hasn't killed me yet!

Ok, enough about school and work.  I'm sure you're all familiar with my friend Katy, over in Africa, who I've mentioned a number of times.  Well, if you aren't pay her a visit - her blogging is honest, fun, colorful, exciting, broken for the Lord, encouraging, pretty much just all around awesome.  One of her resolutions was to find joy in every day, whether it be in the little things or in big things.  I really like this idea - I think it will serve to help keep each day in perspective; so, even though I'm a few weeks behind, it's never too late to start, right?  I'll start with last Saturday.

Saturday, 15 Jan 2011:  (<-- it's still really weird for me to write 2011) Fun adventures around town with a couple of my favorite bug dorks.

Sunday, 16 Jan 2011:  Made some new friends at church - a lovely young family with two little boys.  Such a blessing!!

Monday, 17 Jan 2011:  Beautiful, real conversation with 3 of my absolute favorite bug dorks.  SUCH A BLESSING!!

Tuesday, 18 Jan 2011:  Meg and I trying to keep our snickers below audibility during insect behavior...it's going to be a gooooood semester  ;)

Wednesday, 19 Jan 2011:  DAY ONE OF INSECT TAXONOMY!!!!!!!!!!  This class = me.  Oh!  And lunch with some of the bug dorks I hadn't seen since being back.  Oh!!  And surviving the campus connector bus!  (I totally felt like a freshman all over again...)

Thursday, 20 Jan 2011:  First Frenatae meeting of the semester = seeing just about eeeeveryone I hadn't connected with since the break.  I love them  :)  Plus, departmental potluck lunch day...so grood.

Friday, 21 Jan 2011:  Catch up chat on the phone with SW...I am so blessed with two incredibly amazing advisors.  Like, really.  SW + RH = advisors extraordinaire  :)

So, yeah...it was a super blessed week, full of joy, joy, joy  :)

And now, my loves, I am off to bed.  Lots to do tomorrow before Meg's big start of the semester potluck bash tomorrow night.  And so, I will leave you with this:

My sleepy, super, super spoiled Jakers dog  :)

Praying all is well in your worlds.

Much love!

Shalom!

~MW

P.S. - it is officially cold, y'all.  This morning it was -18 degrees F...without wind chill...neeeeeeat!

Texas, Our Texas! So Wonderful, So Great!

 courtesy of flickr

Ah, hello my reader loves!

It's been a while, and for that I apologize, but the last three weeks have been jam-packed with the pure awesomeness that is Christmas, Family, Friends, and, of course, TEXAS.

Wow, I so did not want that time to end.  It was wonderful being home in that great state, and being surrounded by my wonderful family and my dear, dear friends was the best Christmas present ever.  I certainly missed my FT friends, though - y'all are definitely dear to my heart...sorry, can't be helped  :)

The break got off to a wonderful start in Arlington with the fam, Jake, friends, and some good ol' music - Hamilton style.  I love music nights with the Hamiltons - so great.

It was a huge blessing to get to spend some time with a few of my girls from BSLC - I miss those precious daughters, and it was wonderful to get to sit and spend some one-on-one time with them, simply listening to what life has looked like for them over the last semester.  Having that time and listening to everything that's been going on with them did make me a touch bitter that I can't be around to walk this part of life with them.  I want so badly to be there to pour into their precious hearts in person...it's just not the same from this far away.  But they are growing up into beautiful daughters of the King - I only hope I get to continue to be a small part of their lives.

Spending time with a few of my ladies from high school was incredible as well - I so miss those girls, and I'm sad I didn't get to spend more time with them and that I didn't get to make it around to everyone there in Arlington - time is SO fleeting!

Christmas was small and quiet, but it was such a huge blessing to get to have Momma home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!!  It's been a while since we've been afforded that privilege.  Christmas dinner was chill, but it was nice to be able to spend it with Mr. Teasley - he's been such a blessing to our family and we were blessed to be able to share the day with him.

From there it was on to the Great Texas Tour - December 2010!!  Jake and I hit the road from Arlington to Lufkin to spend some awesome time with Kristen and B - those three taught me how to shoot, y'all!  I shot Kristen's shotgun and pistol and B's pistol as well.  Jake had a revolver (I think..?) that kinda terrified me...I'll work my way up to that one  ;)  I didn't hit any of the clay disks with the shotgun, but I did hit the target with the pistol!  I'll get those clays next time!

After Lufkin we hit up Huntsville to spend some time with Jake's sweet parents - Mom and Pop Pry, thank you SO much for welcoming me so warmly into your home.  I had so much fun just sitting and visiting with y'all and I can't wait to see your sweet faces again!!  Pop - that fire was epic and I can't wait to sit around more of those chatting with you and listening to your stories and the latest celebrity news ;)  Mom - can't wait to play in that kitchen with you!!

From Huntsville we stopped in CS to hit up Fuego, and coffee shops - super lame that all the good ones were closed for the break, though.  It was nice to get to visit with the Humphrey and Freeman families, too - I so miss y'all!  Girl time with Ricci and Alyssa was such a blessing...I miss that.  Jake and I had a blast hanging out with Kristen and Aaron before making our way down to Houston.  Fuego round 2 and then hitting up Christmas in the Park was sooo so fun.  I was amazed that after 5 winters in CS I had never managed to make it to Christmas in the Park...I feel gypped, just sayin'.  But, it was way fun to experience it with a few of my absolute favorite peoples  :)

Christmas in the Park was a lovely send-off as Jake and I undertook the next leg of our tour: Houston!  We were incredibly blessed to be able to spend time with Chris and Jennah at their rockin' new house - well done, you two!  Can't wait to see how y'all continue to make it into your own.  We had so much fun there, and watching Jake and Chris together, oh man...so fun.  They are definitely brothers who love each other a whole, whole lot.  Love it!

We rang in the New Year with Kacy and Justin, complete with some Just Dance 2, of course!  I should have known that Kacy, the dancing queen, was going to force us to dance with her - I'll admit that it was pretty fun...quite a workout, too!  I was suuuuper sore the next day...a touch pathetic.  It was nice to close the night with some fireworks watching around the neighborhood - well done, Cypress  :)  We started 2011 off marvelously with lunch with Chris & Jennah and Kacy & Justin, followed by some girl time with Kacy (Barnes & Noble + Target...of course!) and the guys crashed at the house.  It was so, so great to spend that time with you, Kacy, love.  I miss your face!!

From Houston we made our way to the Austin-Round Rock Area to see Patrick & Sarah and little Zach, who isn't quite so little anymore!  I canNOT believe how much that munchkin has grown since August!!  I'm gonna need him to slow them horses down!  We also got to visit with Miss Awyssa for a bit which was way fun...her parents loved talking to Jake about Africa...we admittedly abandoned him to go chat outside while they asked him question after question...in our defense we did tell him we were going outside...  To close Austin we made our way over to the Ponder home for a lovely dinner and some Mexican Train and all-around wonderful hangout time.  They certainly have done a wonderful job of pulling that home together so quickly - I. Am. Impressed!  We definitely loved our time in the Austin are - miss y'all so, so much!

After that we stopped back in CS for some final rounds at SRPH, the Heep, and BioControl...Jake had to see his A&M peeps and I had to see mine - it was super awesome meeting his old crew and introducing him to some of my favorite people from the ENTO world.  We closed out the day with some Fuego (are you noticing a trend here?) with the Stanfields and a quick visit with Kristen and Aaron before making our way back to Huntsville for some more time with Jake's fam.

I was so glad that I was able to go back to Huntsville to visit with the Pry family some more before Jake and I had to begrudgingly go our separate ways at the close of our break.  I love being around his family.  It's fun and feels like home.  I miss y'all!!

Then it was time to head to the IAH and send Jake back to Africa...one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do.  Standing there completely helpless as we watched him disappear as he turned the corner to head to his gate was awful.  That's a kind of helplessness that I can't really explain, other than: it was horrible and I never want to experience that again.  Sadly, life is full of goodbyes, and I reckon I should be grateful for the ones that, God willing, aren't forever.  While knowing that we won't see each other for a good 7 months feels like an eternity we are resting in faith that God will bring us safely together again come summer time.  I will say this, though: it was an incredible blessing to be able to stand next to Jake's family at the airport (we missed you, Jennah!) and having B, Kristen, and T there to help distract me was wonderful.

After sending Jake off and drying the tears B, Kristen, and T and I met up with Brandon for some way fun times...Chuy's + hangin' around a park with pretty skies, swings, and cameras = a pretty awesome day.  We got to snag a quick visit with Kelly at the Outlet Mall on our way back to CS, as well.  It ended up being a bearable day  :)

I spent my last day in CS wonderfully (though I missed far too many of you): lunch with the Wharton's and my Ginger girl, hanging at the Health Sci Center with T, B, and Kristen, complete with a brief, yet wonderful visit with my bestie Ricci (miss you so much, lovely!!), dinner at Layne's with Mak, and finally a mini road trip to Waco with B, T, Kirsten, and Bean.  Before the J-Man and his buddies picked me up to make the rest of the trek up to Arlington we roadtrippers from CS dined at the Claypot there in Waco and were blessed to be joined by the wonderful Mal (great catching up with you, lady!!).  Good food, great state, even better company!  Finally said farewell to my loves and hopped in the car with Panda, Harrison, and Jimmy.  We had a rather...eventful trip home...I'm just sayin', if you have to pee around Grandview...wait until you get to the Grandy's in Alvarado...it will save you from banging on gas station doors, Subway doors, and finally running off to a field only to be followed by a state trooper car that will appear from out of no where and will definitely proceed to run it's lights and shine the spotlight on you as you do your business...BUT!  If you just so happen to be an Eagle Scout and have your card on (along with your license) you just might get off with a stern talking to and the advice that the Grandy's up the way is open 'til 4am or so.  Yeps, that happened...thank you Jimmy for providing us with our entertainment for the night  :)

I got to spend the last two days at home with Momma and the boys (Faja is still in Cali with the fam out there).  Sadly, we had to send Fariz off to Chicago for his Cavaliers audition thingy - he should be back home now - and Mom had to work on Saturday and Josh had a zombie party dealio, bummer  :(  But I loved getting to spend Friday with Momma talking about fun things and telling her about my post-Christmas adventures.

I so love my family!!  I miss y'all terribly, terribly!

For those of you who I wasn't able to catch during my time over the holidays: (1) Please forgive me, (2) COME VISIT ME!!!!  :)

Well, I head back to the lab starting tomorrow.  I took today to recoup and settle back into living in the Frozen Tundra and putting my apartment back in order.  BigBoy decided to lay claim to a number of things while I was gone...including the couch...both cushions, neeeeeat.  Oh how lucky that cat is that I fell in love with him in 7th grade ;)  I will say that I hadn't realized how much I miss having him curl up next to me at night until not having him there for 3 weeks...it was nice to have a snuggle buddy again.

Praying you all had a wonderfully blessed Christmas and New Year celebration.

I'll keep y'all posted on how grad school semester 2 goes!

Shalom, love, blessings!
~MW

P.S. - it came to my attention during our travels that there are quite a few of you who read the blog but have never made your presence known!  I'd love to hear from y'all on here!  Let me know when you're around the site  :)

My First 10 on 10!

So, a few of y'all might have found your way over to my lovely blogger-friend and sister in Christ, Katy. I've mentioned her and linked up with her a few times before. And she is way more blog savvy than I am, just sayin' - so love you, Katy! Anywho, she's does all these fun bloggery things and then I jump on her bandwagons...mmhmm, I am that person. Maybe someday I'll have enough time to be as awesome of a blogger as Katy is :)

So, Katy is a big participant in this neat little thing called "10 on 10" where you take a picture every hour for 10hrs on the 10th of each month. FUN? I. THINK. YES!! So, here goes my first 10 on 10! (I'll be honest, I missed a few hours here and there, so there's a touch of a gap in some of my pictures...TIGS, need I say more?)

So, here's my first 10 on 10 - December!

9 AM

This is what I wake up to every morning - MOM! FEEEEED MEEEEE!

10 AM

Coffee + Gihrardelli Peppermint Bark in 

Christmas mug = most legit homemade peppermint mocha EVER!

11 AM

Decided to wear earrings for the first time in about 2 months.

12 AM

Walkin' into Hodson...sorry for the mitten in the picture...they're kind of fluffy.

1 PM

Worked on my cerambycid illustration for a bit

2 PM

Took a break from the bug and worked on some manuscript stuff for the Wharton.

3 PM

ENTO vs EEB dodge ball - pretty epic.

6 PM

Went home to take Jakers out before heading back out

7 PM

Decided to lite the tree for Jakers before I left.

1 AM

Called it a night after hangin' with the bugdorks in celebration of 

being done with Insect Ecology!!!!

***Sorry for the major lags: dodge ball lasted forever and then my phone memory filled up after I left the house for the evening...


I'm going to try and remember to do it again next month - anyone care to join in??

Shalom!
~MW

Pizza and Honey and Screams...Oh My!

Happy Halloween/Happy Reformation!

Weekends like this one make me beyond happy. Why? They involve people. Not just people, but people who I thoroughly enjoy! Weekends like this one also involve food! And adventures! And memories! And, and, and...just plain awesome!

Friday we had our departmental Halloween Party down at the honey house (a house where we used to process our "honey harvest"), and I must say it was quite fun. But, anytime there's free pizza + free sodas + free beers + free candy + entomologists it's bound to be a night full o' fun. There was even a pumpkin carving contest! I didn't carve one, but it was way fun to see the creativity of the department shine :) I think my favorite part, aside from all the free stuff and mingling, just might have been this neato little ghost guy who kept going back and forth along a wire in a very zombie-esque fashion...complete with some cow-esque moaning...glorious! I wish I had a picture of this thing. It was awesome. There was also a roaming foot. Yuuup, a foot...that was roaming... We deemed it Thing's (from the Addams Family) cousin ;) But, the best thing EVER, in my humble opinion was the acquisition of this beautiful bucket of golden, yummy goodness:

This my fabulous readers is about 2lbs of beautiful, fresh Minnesota honey!!!
I love honey :)

After the departmental party a number of us decided to mosey on over to Matt and Judy's for a low-key continuation of the hanging out. Meg and I ran back to my apartment to grab Jakers so he and Dex could play while us peoples palyed. The pups were a touch overstimulated with all the peoples, but they did fine overall. We had a great night sprinkled with periodic shouts of, "What song is this?" or, "Who sings this?" from behind Matt's laptop...not to mention the occasional blasting of Beyonce - priceless. The random bursting into song from anyone of us at any given time was pretty great, too.

Saturday consisted of sleeping in, some cleaning, a touch of studying, Skyping (of course!), hangin', and then...screaming...and lots of it. A bunch of us from the department decided to go to Scream Town (gulp!). While there was a great amount of screaming and pushing and pulling through haunted woods and haunted corn mazes and the like...eeps! Let's just say we all bonded quite a bit that night...quite a bit. Oh man, I don't know if the near incessant screaming or the incessant laughing resulted in more soreness for us all. I will say that my throat is rather scratchy today :) We had a blast though (the blast more followed the events of the night...unless your name is Matt or Corey...then you just had fun scaring everyone else all night...punks).

And here we all are!! Fun times in the FT :)

Everyone headed back to my place after we had sufficiently screamed our lungs out and gathered up some foods to partake in. We had a nice close to the night...just hangin' out and settling our somewhat frazzled nerves :) It was really fun having everyone over - I love having people in my home. Definitely one of my favorite things ever :)

Today was another good day. Skyping + homework + laundry + church + recuperating = GROOD (Great & Good!)!


So what did YOU do for YOUR Halloween/Reformation weekend??

Hope you all had a blessed Sunday.

Lots of love from the FT.
Shalom!
~MW

And so another week begins...

Well my happy readers, how are ya? I know it's been a bit of a spell since I last updated and left y'all hangin' quite a bit by not updating while my darling Ricci was here, but, I'm sorry, we were just having too much fun for me to stop and update :)

We had SO, so much fun, though. I cannot even begin to express to you how wonderful it was to have her bright smiling face here, next to me, in the the FT. It was absolutely wonderful. But seeing her definitely made me miss her, my other Texas loves, and Texas in general, even more. Just a little sting of a reminder that I am missing out on so much being here. But it was totally worth it, even though I lost it Saturday night. I couldn't help it, y'all, I just miss her like none other.

We had a blast though. Here's what we did!

Thursday:
- Collected her from the airport, complete with screams...yup, just like in the movies, it does happen in real life ;)
- Spent some time resting at home...did some laundry
- Went to lunch at Princess Garden Chinese Restaurant (pretty good!!)
- Went to campus...I had class, she played in my cubbie!
- Ran some errands
- Cooked a Mexican Feast!!! Even if it was just Spanish rice and enchiladas...it was still epic
- Shared a lovely evening together on the couch

Friday:
- Went to campus for a lab conference call that didn't happen...sad day.
- Went to Target to make sure there wasn't anything we needed for our event of the afternoon
- Met SW for lunch and went to Mim's. YUM!!
- Ran home to gather our stuffs and hit the road for our mini roadtrip!
- Made it to our destination and met....drum roll, please....MCKMAMA!!!!!! So surreal.
- Hung out with her and her camera for about an hour (I feel like enough of you have stumbled upon these now that I can share them with you here - we had a BLAST!)
- Made the hour or so trek back to the Twin Cities, had some leftover enchiladas and rice, and settled into the couch for another evening of awesome...just chillin' and munchin' on yummies :)

Saturday:
- Went to see Desi at her garage sale...test drove her Subaru...no big deal (<---y'all can start praying about that if you please...)
- Met Miss Megan for lunch at Mickey's Dining Car. Umm, probably one of the most fun experiences ever. I loved watching my best friend here in the FT meet my bestie from TX...so great!
- Miss Ricci and I stopped off at home for a few and made our way to Pine Tree Apple Orchard. I think our discovery of Caribou Coffee and the scenic drive itself were our favorite parts...oh, and the people watching, of course!
- After that we hit up the Mall of America...yuuuup, two weekends in a row for me, kids. Trust me, I am not making this a habit. We had a fun time strolling around. I way enjoyed watching Ricci geek about about the William Sonoma store...priceless.
- We then went home...where she packed, I cried, we ate good food, we enjoyed each others company, and just soaked in the last few hours we had together before I had to send her on home to J-Hump and TX.

Sunday:
- Got up early...got dressed...piled into the car
- Drove to the airport
- Said a quick goodbye so as to not start crying right there on the curb
- She walked to security...I drove home, where I cried some more

Sunday was a rough day for me...I cried a lot that day. I wasn't expecting that at all. I've been extra weepy, in general, since then. I just miss home.

Today marks 2 months of my being here...and not in TX. Really? It's only been two months?? I have 34 more to go?? Oh geesh. Mmmk, time to buckle up and take a deep breath and dive-in to this, I reckon.

On a brighter note, though, I think I have found a church home!!! I think I mentioned it last weekend...I hope I did, but I can't remember right now. Anywho, I went to the same church two weeks in a row! And. It. Was. Awesome! Last night I met a sweet, sweet family who invited me over for dinner - I went tonight!! It was so wonderful! Such a sweet time of fellowship. They sent me home with leftovers!!! I just love their sweet daughter...I'm thinking I may have just adopted a little sister - YAY! She's in 8th grade, and just the sweetest girl. I really enjoyed them and they made me feel right at home. Thank you Jesus for granting me sweet fellowship and renewal through this body of believers.

And with that, my loves, I'm going to close. I need to go finish a reading for class tomorrow and hit the hay.

Love and miss you all. Praying you are growing in the Lord and His love.
Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - B introduced me to this band yesterday: Gungor...they are way good. I highly recommend you check them out.
P.P.S. - I feel like y'all need to see this...it's a little taste of my life here. This is a real commercial that they play on TV here:

Life = Emotional Roller-coaster....

Up...and down...Up...and down...

* One week and two days ago I was in quite the state of inner turmoil...I had NO idea what direction I was supposed to take my life and was having some painful issues of the heart.

* By the close of that Monday my heart issues were coming to their full painful fruition, while God was simultaneously showing me that all I need is Him, and all I have to do is trust Him in faith. He really does have everything under control (see previous post).

* Two days after that crazy Monday God dropped me in the middle of the world of academia for a few days and basically told me what to do (no worries, I'll give a full post on my trip to the Land of 10,000 Lakes soon)...I was on such an emotional high that I could hardly even react! Weird feeling, to say the least.

* So, in a short 5 days' time I was broken & mended, lost & directed. Pretty crazy, but I started this week on a crazy high, especially after getting to spend some good times helping out and hanging out for J-Hump's bday.

* Monday rolls around...I'm thinking, "This is going to be an awesome day! I have the Humphrey home all to myself to simply decompress and -STOP-...does life get any better than this?? And I can go play with peeps should I feel up to it...not to mention Hope Group!!" That was my day in my head...and for the most part, that's exactly how it went down. I caught up on emails and such most of the day, grabbed a late lunch and spent the afternoon with Alyssa, grabbed the Humphreys (Curb-side service! Talk about perfect timing!) for Hope Group and off we went to invest in and be invested in by our brothers and sisters in the Lord (such an incredible blessing). Business as usual, I would say. Then it starts to shift.

* Got a somewhat vague text message seeming to grant me condolences...I'm thinking, "What on earth?? What happened??" I quickly head out to the garage and call the 'rents. Finally get an answer at the house and mom informs me that Grandma (dad's mom) went into cardiac arrest after her dialysis treatment that morning and that she was currently on life support at the hospital. "I'm sorry, what?? Did I really just hear that correctly??" Yes, I had heard her correctly; my grandmother was dying and there was nothing I could do about it and I had no way of getting to California to see her. My dad flew out there ASAP and got there in time to see her and say goodbye. They eventually switched her to just a ventilator (respirator? I can't remember which it was) and took her off that, I guess around the time my dad got there. I think the time frame there-after was 10-12hrs.

* Grandma went home to be with our Maker around 1pm central time (11am pacific). My dad said it was a peaceful death and even more so knowing that she is in the arms of our dear Savior. Glory! Isn't it strange how even in the face of trials, loss, and hurts we are called to rejoice in the Lord? Isn't it strange how in some cases rejoicing comes almost as though it were second nature? I pray that rejoicing and giving thanks and praise to God in all things truly becomes something I don't even have to think about...that it would be like breathing...a part of my being.

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit."
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19

I love the last verse of this passage: Do not quench the Spirit. What a wonderful command and reminder to not do what I think so many of us tend to do without even thinking. We try to grab our circumstances by the reins and in so doing quench the Spirit...I could be reading that verse wrong, but that's what I take away from it: in ALL things God is in control and so we really don't even need to worry about a thing (Phil 4:5-7)...when we worry/get anxious/whatever and we try to do it all on our own we basically tie the Spirit's hands or gag Him, and therefore don't listen for His all-wise direction. Wow - isn't it amazing what God can teach you through the most difficult of situations??

If I were to say that I don't feel any loss regarding Grandma I'd be straight-up lying to you, but I know that God is in control and works all things to His glory and for good (Rom 8:28). I am praying that He will take this situation and draw my family to Him. Many are lost and have been searching for things of the world to fill those holes in their spirits...and, as might be assumed, to no avail. I pray that they will turn to and cling to God in this time of loss and that my dad will be able to be a light in the darkness throughout the rest of his time in California. Anyways, Grandma was an awesome woman...and an amazing cook! She made some of the best Italian dishes I have ever had...probably all that Italian blood that flowed through her veins...just a hunch... She was active in her community, was an amazing mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, even to people outside of our family. In a word, she was awesome. Absolutely awesome. She was so incredibly full of life...a true inspiration. I love her dearly, dearly.

Grandma: you were loved so deeply by so many.
You touched so many lives in your time here on earth...none of us could ever repay you for the love, encouragement, and selfless devotion you gave to others.
You poured out your love as though it were never ending...and it truly is.
That gift is something everyone who knew you will cherish forever.
I love you and I miss you terribly.
I absolutely cannot wait to party with you and our Heavenly Daddy - cause I think we all know that you, ma'am, know how to party!!

Shalom,
~MW

Happy....Monday?

Yes, indeed!! Today is definitely off to a great start. Saw the boys off to school (Daddy-o said he would take them today), visited with the Momma over a lovely cup of coffee, and here I am, with the entire day in front of me! Errands, prepare to be run! Books, prepare to be read! Yeah! {complete with fist pump}

Oh yes, today will be a good day. Dreary as it is. Yes, I did just show dislike for a dreary day...I'm officially ready for spring. I'm desperately longing for those crisp sunny days that are so perfectly divine for frolicking around in the great outdoors. Soon :)

Well, as most of you have probably come to realize, when I go to CS for a week or so I'm the absolute worst blogger, ever. I know, I know, I really need to get my priorities in check...working on it! But really, can you blame me? I mean, the people that I allow to pull me away from the internets are ridiculously amaAaAaAazing!! You would drop everything else if you had the opportunity to play with them, too. Promise.

My travels started off with a roadtrip to see SKate with CarrieHammie and Catia. After staying up til, oh 3:30AM or so we made an appearance at Sherwood Forest - oh the peoples we saw... Never imagined I would lay my eyes upon a centaur named Larry. Yep, that happened. It was fun times. We were all ridiculously exhausted from pretending like we were back in high school and getting something like 4hrs of sleep before spending a day strolling around the Forest, but you know, we made it through.

From there I scurried on over to CS for a week of visiting with my college loves...and working in the laaaab. Both facets of the week were awesome. I decided I can "sleep when I'm dead" so I stayed up crazy late every night trying to squeeze every ounce of visit time with my peeps that I possibly could...paying for that now, but it was totally worth it! And, we were super productive at the lab! Got tons of pics taken and we made some huge progress on the egg stats! WHOOP! Um....we are thinking we can have a rough copy ready to send off for peer review by the end of this week - oh yes, it is finally happening! Publication, here we come!!!!!! Oh! I also tested my hand at tennis this week...for the first time ever. It was way fun! Though I really need to work on my aim...the first ball I hit flew about 3 courts over to the left....woops! Haha, yeah, I was totally that person. But, I can't wait to volley around again. So fun! Doubles was fun to play too. While experiencing tennis I got to make a new friend, too! She's an old friend of B's and she was passing through CS on her way home. Can't wait to continue building up our new friendship. She's totally awesome and has an amazing life story. Hooray for new friends!

The week was just straight-up awesome. That's all there is to it.

And, what made it all even better was this: I got to visit with my darling, darling Ponders!!!! Oh, it was glorious to spend the weekend with them. I miss them so terribly. Moving to MN is gonna suck :( But! It's not forever!! :D

So, guess what?! This week I get to sub Tues-Fri for the 7th/8th grade teacher at PCA! Hooray!! I'm terrified out of my mind!!! Haha. I'm super excited about it, but quite nervous, to be completely honest. I've never taught in a classroom setting, so this should be interesting. But, ya gotta start somewhere, am I right?! I'm sure I will have LOTS of fun stories to grace your eyes with this week - be looking for them starting tomorrow evening.

I'm also going to try and get some hard, on paper plans drawn up for my mommy's garden! I'm excited. As is she. We talked about some ideas I have, many of which were influenced by Mr. Powell. Should be fun! I'll throw something up, at some point, for y'all kids to take a gander at.

And, with that, I am off to go run those errands and get to being productive today :D

Shalom!
~MW

EDIT: OMG!!!! GPISD just emailed me and said they want me to be a sub for them, too! Now I just need to go get fingerprinted and go to an orientation in April!!!!!!!!!!! Hooray! (I mean, April is a ways off, but still - GPISD has a bit of rougher crowd of kids, and, in all seriousness, that's totally where I want to be!)

HELLOOOO, Friday!

Ah, Friday is here, yet again! Glorious, isn't it?

I am ridiculously excited about this weekend...and upcoming week!

Come this evening I will be on the road to the San Marcos area with CarrieHammie and Catia to see SKate! We will be making an appearance at the recently transplanted Sherwood Forest...oh, yes, you read that correctly. Sherwood Forest has been transplanted to just outside Austin, TX, and we are going to play in it!! Should be loads of fun and I absolutely cannot wait to see SKate and her new digs!

From there I get to go back to CS!! WHOOP!! I am seriously beside myself with excitement to see everyone again and get some more work done in the lab. We are getting closer and closer to being finished with manuscript number one!!!! I hope we can at least get it accepted by a journal by the time I head off to grad school.

But, from CS I'm off to RR to see Elaine&Josh!!!!!!! It has seriously been TOO long. Ok, so maybe it's only been about 2 months since I've seen them, but still...that is too long. That's just all there is to it.

All of the above will make for a lovely start to my March :) I absolutely, absolutely love all of the amazing people I will get to see almost too much for my own good...but I don't care. They have all been there for me time and time again, through thick and thin...and I would seriously be so far gone without them.

I know I say this a lot, but I truly have been so blessed and smiled upon by God to have all of those amazing people in my life. I can't imagine continuing through life without them by my side...whether we are near or far apart. They are simply the best of the best. And yes, I hereby grant you permission to be jealous of my friends ;)

As much as I might complain about being back in Arlington and having nothing to do right now, it has really been a blessing, because it has allowed me to focus on staying in or getting back in touch with the people who are most dear to me. Friends from high school, friends from college (still weird to say "from college"), family, etc. Huge, huge blessing. I know I won't be able to talk to as many people on a regular basis once grad school starts, so this time now has been perfect.

So, I wanted to touch on a few other things in this post, but my morning is quickly coming to a close and I really need to get a move on with laundry and packing and errands before I hit the road tonight. So, for now, my loves, I must close.

Wishing you the best of weekends!
Shalom!
~MW