The Softer Side of Pensiero

The unveiling

2008-03-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

Well, the best birthday week of all time has come and gone. I would spend some time cataloging all the nifty, thoughtful things I received over the course of seven days (and let me tell you, it has been really tough to hold back, there was some reeeeallly cool stuff) but I'm pretty sure that's not really exciting for anyone but yours truly. Buuuut I WILL tell you about one of the most creative presents I received: my own domain name!

kellypensiero.com

(Thanks, honey!) You need to know about this present because henceforth you will need to visit me over there because I will no longer be posting over here. My darling husband has done lots of work to get my blog up and running over there and I think you'll all be pleased with how it turned out. I know I am! And I even have hopes that it will get me more into the spirit of blogging.

So go ahead and visit me and, while you're at it, go ahead and change my feed address in your reader. Hooray!

Da-da-da-daaaaaaah!

2008-02-19T15:34:00.001-08:00

Here are some exterior views of our soon-to-be rental house (for those of you who missed the initial informative post, click here).

The front:

(I love this door. It's really wide and I love the color.):

Around back, the little carport and covered patio (the windows directly behind that little orange tree are the windows into the covered patio)

A little side yard, all the way around back and to the other side of the house:

A little patio off of the sideyard (those open windows are the other side of the covered patio I mentioned above):

And a few of the citrus trees out front (aren't they cute?):

And another fantastic thing about our new place - really, we can hardly contain our excitement about this part - is that we FINALLY get a BLUE RECYCLE TRASHCAN! (Hanford just got these for residential areas in the last 6 months or so, and apartments don't have them at all. We've long been mourning our inability to recycle everyday household items such as cereal boxes and milk cartons, but that's all in the past now.)

Feel free to let us know what you think!

The Cheesiest

2008-02-19T14:57:00.000-08:00

Let's get right down to it: I married well. Very well. And for a large variety of reasons, too, not the least of which are my husband's continual (and amazing) love and care toward me AND all the fun we have together every single day. Yes, these are just a few of my favorite things about my beloved. But there is another perk to being a Pensiero. Ahh, yes, the perk of a lifetime:

cheesecake.

That's right, folks. The Pensieros have a cheesecake recipe that is completely drool-worthy. Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners take on a whole new aura.

Now, as it is not my recipe, I am never responsible for making the dessert of honor and thus I have never really had occasion to do so. Oh sure, I have the recipe in my family recipe box thanks to my lovely mother-in-law, but I've never ventured as far as taking it out of said box and doing something with it. Mostly out of fear and intimidation. But a few weeks ago, as Valentine's day approached, I decided that now was as good a time as any. After making the crust and whipping up all the cheesy ingredients, I poured the batter into the springform, only to find that it was rather full. (Wouldn't it rise a bit in the oven?) Eerily full. (Maybe it won't rise very much...) Worrisomely full. (I hope the gas oven doesn't burst into rogue flames when the cheesecake rises.)

After 30 minutes in the oven and a brief consultation with my father-in-law (he's the cheesecake recipe inheriter and chef), I decided that it would be all right, that it would not spill out into my oven helter skelter. But what I could not decide was how long I should cook the little puppy in my overly eager oven. This oven cooks EVERYTHING in half the time, at 50 degrees lower than suggested. Seriously. It's Dante's Inferno in there.

So, I just gave it my best shot. Having never made any cheesecake before, I had no idea how to test it for it's doneness. The only indication I had was the top, and that was browning like my italian husband on a summer day. And considering my oven's lack of consistency, I knew I couldn't trust the timing on the recipe card. So what did I do?

I winged it. And you know what? It wasn't terrible. I mean, the center was rather soft, but the outer edges were FULLY fork-edible. We left that cheesecake in the pan and went to town (pictures misplaced).

And that's the cheesecake saga.

The welcome mat is coming out...

2008-02-18T17:39:00.000-08:00

(But I guess we'll need to buy a welcome mat first.) Good news:

WE'RE MOVING!!!

And you're all invited to get excited about it! We sure are. The Lord has really blessed us with this new development in our lives - it goes something like this:

As geno and I were looking into/praying about/thinking about possibly one day maybe someday buying a house, we were approached by a couple in our church who asked if we would be interested in renting a house from them. We certainly weren't opposed to the idea and as we began to pray about it, the Lord kept closing the buying doors and opening up these doors. (Thanks, Jesus!) So we went over there today to check out the place and talk to our prospective landlords and, wouldn't you know it, we are in love with the place. Among the many, many great things about this house and the situation in general, there is one thing that has me more excited than anything else: fruit. That's right, fruit. Meyer lemons, oranges, apricots (swoon!), grapes, blackberries (double swoon!!), and pears. It's a little "country" house on just over half an acre, but not really very far into the country. I mean, there's an apartment complex about 400 yards away on one side and a large church about a half-mile away on the other side.

We didn't get a chance to take any pictures yet, but we hope to do so tomorrow or sometime very soon. Rest assured, we'll show them to you. But for now we're just getting excited. I mean, we'll miss Beryl's newsletters, but I think we'll make it.

Happy Happy BIRTHDAY

2008-02-08T07:06:00.001-08:00

Guess who turns 25 TODAY!!

Here he is enjoying one of his favorite Disneyland
past times - the pretend guns in Frontierland.

Happy Birthday Geno! I love you more every single day.

Go on over to his blog to wish him a happy day!

Shoulda Woulda Coulda

2008-02-07T16:06:00.000-08:00

I was about to blog about the virtuous and jocular (if not ridiculous) newsletters we receive semi-monthly at our apartment complex, but then I remembered that our scanner is broken.

So then I thought I would just blog about some recent student artwork, but then I remembered that our scanner is broken.

THEN I realized that I would have to come up with something original to blog about which, at the moment, seems impossible. For no reason, really, other than I've been forgetting about blogging almost entirely recently. You've noticed. But first let's get down to something that's been bugging me - why is our scanner broken?

The sad little piece is less than a year old, is a major national brand and has never been through any distressing situations. It merely sits on our desk, waiting to be used. Why oh why, then, would it be subject to such a terrible fate so early in it's quasi-promising career? The printer's not broken. The buttons aren't broken. But the scanner - the scanner is in utter disrepair. I just loathe buying replacements for things that ought not be broken.

It's times like these that I just want to smash it up ala those guys on those shows who destroy things for no reason. I won't, because the printer still works like a champ, and that would just be really wasteful. But once the printer gives up the ghost I won't be making any such promises...

Open for Business

2008-01-30T15:55:00.000-08:00

So, it's been a while. Here's what I've been up to since the last time we talked:

That was the picture version. In words it goes something like this: I worked, baked muffins, cleaned a little house, visited Capitola (geno spoke at The Well's Jr. High retreat at Mission Springs), got pretty darn sick, and then became a cat with a lime rind helmet on.

The important thing is that I'm back!

Wordy Delight

2008-01-08T20:12:00.000-08:00

We were privileged to have our friends Luke and Sarah over for dinner this weekend and they brought us this present (thanks, guys!). The pentagonal box had me at hello, but when I found out what it was all about I nearly soiled myself.

Sentences. Sweet, delicious words all melanged together to express a thought. Could there be anything more plumpening to both the intellectual and the comical parts of my mind grapes than a game about sentences? I think not.

Basically, everyone has to choose 10 cards at a time and you create sentences from the words that are printed thereon. For example, a card (also pentagonal in shape) may have five different tenses of the word "dig". Or five different names. Or even five different connecting phrases ("before the", "off of the", "around the"). And you do your best. And it's FUNNY because if your sentence is stupid or grammatically incorrect, the other players can vote to veto it and then you don't get any points for that round. I love creating sentences, I love justifying my decisions and I LOVE taking points away from other players.

What an excellent find! Cheers to the Mundys.

Skivers

2008-01-06T16:49:00.000-08:00

We here at the Pensiero household love our breakfast. And by 'we', I mean me, and by 'love our breakfast', I mean my lovable husband (who is usually un-hungry for many hours in the mornings) indulges my affinity for this first meal of the day practically every weekend. (Thanks geno!) That's not to say that Saturday breakfast is always grand. But a raspberry scone here, some pumpkin muffins there, or some buttermilk pancakes from scratch will certainly satisfy my cravings.

But there are days when my own attempts in the kitchen will not suffice. And on those days, we go to Valhalla's. A delightful danish restaurant in Visalia, Valhalla's has the one thing that I must have, which nobody else has: aebleskivers. Aebleskivers...what a beautiful sound...hear it dancing in your ears...beautiful spherical pancakes which entice even the most staunch of pancake resisters. MMMM.

And now to the point - what should I find under the tree this Christmas, but my own brand-spanking-new aebleskiver pan!! My thoughtful beloved strikes again. So the day after I got it (which was December 21st - long story), I whipped that puppy out and started a batch. But my confident hopes were dashed as each aebleskiver turned into a lumpy rendition of what it was originally intended to be. But not this weekend! Not this weekend.

This weekend we were triumphant! Thanks to an invaluable tip from my mother, who once watched the owner of Valhalla's make the darling things (quarter turns, quarter turns!), we made much headway. Just look at that beauty (below)! That was my best aebleskiver. I only hope to improve as the Saturdays go by.

Let the delicious weekends continue!

MAJOR NEWS!!!

2008-01-04T23:05:00.001-08:00

Right now, AS I TYPE, something like THIS...

...is in my dear friend BABE's tummy! A thousand congratulations!!! We at the pensiero household are leaping with excitement at this joyous news. Our friends babe and jonathan are officially expecting their first child - who can believe it?!? I LOVE IT!

So congratulations, Whitmores! We eagerly await the end of August. WE LOVE YOU!

Mission: Reusable Bags

2008-01-03T09:34:00.001-08:00

Today my mission, should I choose to accept it (and I have), is to create reusable shopping bags from these little pretties:

I wasn't necessarily on a quest for beauty or cuteness when gene and I picked these out, I was on a quest for durable fabric at a reasonable price. And when I say reasonable, I mean I was looking for the best deal out there because I just LOVE a good deal. And we got a great deal! Joann's was having a major sale. Anyway, although 3 of them are just solid prints, don't you just love the elephants??

It's like a Mary Poppins-esque carpet bag, only without the bold floral print. Check back for the finished product soon.

Christmas highlights

2007-12-30T15:42:00.000-08:00

Well folks, Christmas has come and gone. Truthfully, I had been awaiting it so eagerly that I find myself already missing it's presence. It's enough to make me want to institute the "week" rule...in our house, we celebrate birthdays for a whole week, because one day per year just isn't enough to celebrate such important people. In this case, the most important birth of all time, JESUS! (But more on the "week" rule in February when it's a certain husband's birthday.) I just might do it next year. Anyway, I miss Christmas. I'm simply pining for it. Fortunately for me, there are pictures to be looked at!

There was...

Cider - LOTS of cider
(in our gorgeous Two Hands Mugs)

Ribbon

Mike Huckabee stickers

Martha Stewart Living subscriptions

...and lots of LOVE. Currently I can't find our pictures with the rest of our families, so they will have to be shown at a later date. Rest assured that a good time was had by all and the countdown until next Christmas has officially begun (stupid leap year, adding another day to the countdown). I hope yours was just as merry!

Thanks, Capri Blue!

2007-12-30T15:22:00.000-08:00

I first discovered this beauty on a trip to Anthropologie with my darling husband some months ago. Then I rediscovered it on a recent trip to the same store with my dear college roommate, Katie, and her sister, Denise. Both times I stopped myself from purchasing it (mostly because of the price) and vowed that I would acquire it at a later date. That date, my friends, was Christmas Eve! Thanks to my thoughtful mother-in-law, I am now the proud owner of a Capri Blue Red Jar volcano candle. Oh and it smells absolutely delightful! For the next non-consecutive 140+ hours, our apartment will be divinely scented. Just wanted you to know. Thanks, Pam!

What's all the excitement about?

2007-12-05T15:20:00.000-08:00

Almost exactly one year ago (what clear phrasing I've chosen) my husband gave me an early Christmas present. It was the beautiful oncidium orchid pictured above, with flowers a lot like the ones in the picture below. (Silly me, I never took a picture of it when it was flowering - how was I to know I'd need it for my blog a year later?)

The orchid arrived in bloom with 5 or 6 huge flowers on it, which is why gene gave it to me right when it arrived and not on the 25th, and I was completely smitten. It was a thoughtful gift because I had wanted one for some time, but hardly ever mentioned it. It lasted through Christmas and perhaps New Year's, and then after 3-4 weeks or so the flowers withered and fell. After convincing myself (and gene) that I hadn't killed it, rather that it was all according to natural process, I wondered when I could look forward to another bloom. I consulted my Aunt Kristi, who is quite a green thumb, and she told me they bloom about once a year. BUT - she said - orchids are very hard to care for and I should take care not to water it too much, not to give it too much sun and not to give it air too dry. WHA?? Who knew it was going to be so difficult? Not me, I assure you. I was rather unthoughtful in my gift-wanting.

SO, for the past year I've lived with the (rather minimal) fear that I would soon kill my precious plant. Even more concerning was the thought that it may never flower again because of some sort of unintentional maltreatment on my part. In fact, I've been counting on both of those things happening imminently. But to my surprise, it has done fairly well. But to my EVEN BETTER SURPRISE, look what I found yesterday!!

Do you see that tiny finger-like projection coming off the base stalk? The regular leaves don't start out like that. The regular leaves are born already creased and they hug the stalk very tightly until they are quite tall. I feel quite confident that this little baby has all the signs of being A FLOWER STALK!!! How this good flower fortune has come upon us, we may never know. But I will tell you this - I have been talking to it every day since I discovered it. Carbon dioxide is good for plants, right?

So that's what all the excitement is about at our house. As a point of interest, the orchid lives in our bathroom where the shower makes the air tropical and humid, and she -apparently - loves it. She loves it so much that she is giving us a Christmas present - NEW FLOWERS! YAY! From now on I think I'll call her Christmy. Pronounced Kriss-mee. In honor of Christmas! I mean no disrespect to the name of Christ either - in fact, I'm all the more in love with Him because He created such a beautiful thing, capable of giving me such joy.

I will, of course, be keeping you abreast of all floral developments, so stay tuned. Or just keep me in your Google reader. Or whatever.

Passing fancies

2007-12-04T15:44:00.000-08:00

Some of you may be privy to the fact that I once dreamed of becoming a paleontologist. In second grade. I don't know why, but I was utterly fascinated with dinosaurs. So enchanted was I that my parents took me multiple times to see a temporary dinosaur exhibit that was visiting the Fresno Metropolitan Museum at the time (which I'm sure was no cake-walk in terms of time or money - thanks mom and dad!). I believe I walked around and around the exhibit, sharing the wealth of knowledge that I had managed to discover in class and books and encyclopedias (internet? huh?) with whomever would lend me their ears. I'm sure I was never obnoxious about it.

Although my days of wanting to unearth fossils are over (all it took was the realization that I'd have to spend most of my life in dusty deserts with a paintbrush and probably no family), I still occasionally like to read about them. Today I came across this, which just fascinated me! It's about a dinosaur fossil that was discovered in North Dakota in 1999, which had been "mummified", or preserved to a remarkable degree. In fact, Dakota (that's it's name) even has in-tact tissues, scales and a skin envelope, which have allowed researchers to make a much more accurate description of what this particular dinosaur looked like, etc. Check it out! Also, for those of you who are so inclined, the Discovery Channel is airing a special called "Dino Autopsy" on December 9th at 10:00 PM which will highlight the findings. Count me in!

It should be noted that I do not endorse, nor do I believe in, the theory of evolution or the "old-earth" theory. I fully believe in the Bible's creation account, and I believe it was a literal seven day creation. But I also believe that God created dinosaurs and I think they're swell. (...just a lot younger than many scientists claim they are.)

A favorite

2007-12-02T15:46:00.000-08:00

Christmastime is here

2007-12-02T15:15:00.000-08:00

It sure is! I have been meaning to...nay, I have been waiting impatiently to...blog about the most anticipated event of the season - decoration time - and the day has finally come! And I know it's nobody's fault but my own that it has taken me over a week to actually post about it, but nevertheless. This was our second Christmas decoration session as husband and wife, and we are gaining valuable experience every step of the way. So without further delay, here are some pictures to tell the tale. And if you must know (note: further delay happening right now), I am drinking some delicious save-mart brand egg nog (non-alcoholic, of course) as I type, only deepening the christmas experience. Well, for me, at least.

the delicious spiced cider...mmm...

my little tree hugger

It's a Wonderful Life, on in the background
(it was the only Christmas movie we owned right then, so it had to be viewed)
((note to us: buy A Charlie Brown Christmas soon))

the sad, ugly white lights that (fortunately for us) were broken

ON TO TARGET!

a hideously beautiful ornament that i once won at a christmas game
(my victory must be displayed!)

the pensiero advent calendar and the reynolds stockings,
all handmade with love

the charlie brown replica...a tree for us to love

i LOVE wrapping presents

the finished product!
(with much more discreet lighting)

Merry Christmas!

Chocolate perfection and a tiny little secret

2007-11-25T16:33:00.000-08:00

Perfection...a big claim, I know. And as for the tiny little secret, well, we'll get to that in a minute. For now I want to tell you about the most marvelous, the most delicious and decadent thing I've tasted in quite some time. On second thought, replace 'quite some time' with 'my whole life'. Seriously. Hence the title. Let's get to it, shall we?

This cake, this Double Chocolate Layer Cake, is AMAZING. This is what I brought to my extended family's Thanksgiving. And they were thankful, oh they were thankful. The cake is so moist and soft, the frosting rich and ganache-y, the results divine. And all from my kitchen! Which leads me to that tiny little secret.

I've been keeping something from you. I'm quite ashamed to admit it because it shows my utter selfishness and disregard for your own personal enjoyment. But here goes: (deep breath) there's a blog I've been reading called smitten kitchen and it's a food blog and it's wonderful and all the recipes are delicious and I've known about it for months and I didn't want you to know about it because I wanted to keep it all to myself so I could make the prize-worthy food and not you. Ok? There, I said it.

Now that I've got that off my chest, there's an excellent food blog by the name of smitten kitchen that I think you should visit! I discovered it by visiting luke's blog one day, and now I'm hooked. The food is heavenly, the pictures are gorgeous and the posts are clever, well-written and witty. You're going to love it. It's where I discovered this Double Chocolate Layer Cake, which I have already made twice. The cake is so good that I saved a piece for my sweet geno (after I had already eaten my own piece), and then ate his before he even had a chance. Sorry honey! I've made a few other recipes from smitten kitchen, I've wanted to eat the entirety of them and I have plans to make many more. And with that, I have officially added this gem of a site to my little 'links' section over there in an effort to be a better sharer. Enjoy!

Disneyland...in pictures

2007-11-23T13:56:00.000-08:00

the view from our room (thanks pam!)

testing the bed (standard prodecure)

geno and the matterhorn

the best salad i have ever eaten in my life
....so good i ate it twice...

the new nemo ride!

geno's artful photography

ditto

my photography (less artful, higher handsome quotient)

our beloved stone!

what, you say?
this picture isn't from disneyland?
that's right! it's the newest addition to our extended family!
hello audrey! congrats cathy and jon!

Saturday

2007-11-21T12:02:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday was a day to remember in the younger Pensiero household...

We purchased our first wreath! A momentous occasion, to be sure, simply because we've never ever had one before. It certainly adds a bit of color to our beige and white exterior, and I'm excited to add yet another touch of Christmas to our lives. Geno is a dear about selecting home decor with me and always adds excellent input as we make these little decisions. Thanks, honey!

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

'Tis the Season

2007-11-17T20:17:00.000-08:00

I have officially broken out the 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' soundtrack to ring in the holidays. (Actually, I broke it out two weeks ago when geno wasn't home, but we won't count that time.) I know Thanksgiving is still 5 days away, but it's already Christmas in my heart!

For those of you who have never had the privilege of listening to this pleasant music, hear this: it is, to me, the epitome of Christmas excitement in musical form. Please do yourself a favor and download it from the itunes music store.

For those of you...fascists...who refuse to let the Christmas season ring itself in a bit early, please do yourself a favor and relax your "standards". Those "standards" are probably the very thing that has been keeping you up at night with the terrible fear that you've forgotten to do something. That something is Christmas. Early.

Happy (almost) Christmastime!

Happy Halloween

2007-11-12T10:22:00.000-08:00

This post is a bit late in coming, but I assure you it is worth it. You see, at the apartment complex where geno and I live there are a number of elderly people. In fact, the complex was originally designed and marketed as "an active senior community", but apparently it was overpriced and they couldn't fill it up. Which leads us to where we are today: half elderly shut-ins, half the rest of us. It's a relatively quiet complex, and we like it quite a bit. And here's why...

After about two weeks of living here we found a paper taped to our door. At our old complex this usually meant something bad, like a rent increase, so we rolled our eyes in unison as we approached our door. IF ONLY we could've known what excitement awaited us, we would have never rolled a single eye, never sighed a big annoyed sigh. What we found on our door was a newsletter...but not just any newsletter. Believe me when I tell you that this is not your ordinary newsletter. THIS newsletter is drafted each month by the self-proclaimed President, Founder, Social Chairperson and Editor-in-Chief of the "Butterfly Tenants Club". And I'm not exaggerating. These are the names that she lists for herself on said newsletter. And OH the laughter that ensues every month when we see it on our door. These newsletters have been known to be four or five pages long, always have the most atrocious grammar and spelling, and occasionally include hand-drawn comic strips. Oh, and poems. And I almost forgot - invitations to attend and/or act in the play that this lady wrote, produced and directed. (She made sure to include all those accolades in the August newsletter.) People, I am not making this stuff up.

Soon I will scan some of these newsletters so you can enjoy them for yourselves, but for now I wanted to share one special thing our Social Chairperson did for us recently...

Happy Halloween to us! (In case you're wondering what that big "B" looking thing is in the picture, it's the symbol/drawing of a butterfly which identifies us as "The Butterfly Tenant's Club".) We found this in a plastic bag on our doorstep on October 30th. And although the sentiment is very nice and thoughtful, we shall not be eating it. ...because it expired on February 17th of 2007. Mmmmm! Keep 'em coming, lady chairperson!

What has been lost...

2007-11-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

...can usually be found. I think. Or at least I hope, because I've lost my voice. Yep. At this point in my life's history I can hardly string two raspy, hoarse words together before they move themselves into whisperings. I don't mourn the loss, but it is weird. And kind of fun. When I was a kid I used to WISH that I would get laryngitis and go to school and be the center of attention all because my voice had magically disappeared. What a spectacle that would be! (You used to wish it would happen to you too, don't lie.) SO on Thursday, when my voice got a little tiny bit distorted due to what I now know is my second sinus infection in just as many months, I confess I got a little bit excited. I had never seen this odd wish of mine fulfilled and maybe I would lose my voice this time and be the talk of the elementary school, she thought. Well...you get the picture. As it turns out I did get that wish, and I was the talk of the elementary school - as long as you count a 6-year-old asking "why do you sound like a mouse today, Mrs. P?" as 'talk'. I sure do. Another precious first grader told me that he hoped I would feel better after drinking some water and taking a pill, as that usually works for all his maladies. Interesting on many levels. Beyond that, I had third graders who gave me their mom's home remedies for sore throats: water, coffee, tea, special tea with honey, and chihuahuas. Yes, someone actually recommended 'chihuahua' as a remedy as he pointed to his throat. I said "the dog?" and he said "yeah". The kids at my school are just...precious.

After heading home, barely being able to squeak out a hello and I love you to my dear husband (who has been lovingly taking care of me, lo, these many days (he cleaned the ENTIRE apartment while I was at work on Friday. BEAUTIFUL. I almost cried, it was so nice of him and soooo spectacularly clean) thanks honey!), we headed to the doctor where I desperately tried to audibly describe my symptoms with a voice box that just wouldn't cooperate. Luckily gene was with me to fill in the gaps or I might still be there, struggling to communicate. With a round of antibiotics and orders not to talk, life goes on. We'll see how I do with the not talking part...so far not so good. But funny.

I was going to leave you with a picture of a real larynx, inflamed and everything, but it only took 5 seconds on a google image search for 'laryngitis' to dissuade me from doing so. It was gross and unseemly. Just trust me.

Congratulations are in order...

2007-11-05T16:34:00.001-08:00

CONGRATULATIONS JAMIE AND CASEY!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADEN!!
(look at his precious zero-days-old face!)

And who knows...

2007-11-03T17:24:00.000-07:00

A while back I was reading the book of Esther (in the Bible) and came across these verses:

"Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, 'Do not imagine that you in the king's palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?'" -esther 4:13-14

The Lord impressed me with this. I've heard many Bible studies on the words Esther speaks a few verses down: "and if I perish, I perish" (v.16), and the faith it took for her to say such words to a powerful king. But I really took to these words:

...and who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?...

Who knows? Who knows whether we've been placed at our jobs to witness to that one person? Who knows whether we've attained a high (or low) standing in our communities just so we can share the love of Christ to the people we meet there? Of course, the Lord knows. But isn't it utterly exciting to think that today could be the day the Lord wants to use us?! Mordecai had the foresight in this situation to know that the Lord would deliver His people one way or another, but he encouraged Esther to be a part of making it happen. Who knows...you might get to lead someone to Christ today.

I pray you do!

(For a more in depth Bible study on the book of Esther, click here.)

2007-10-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago, following a lovely evening with my husband, I decided we should have a bedtime story. 'Juvenile', you say? 'Pish posh', says I. As I walked over to our bookcase to find an appropriate work, suitable for bedtime relaxation and enjoyment, I discovered a book that I nearly forgot we had...

A favorite of mine when I was a wee lass, I believe I won this copy in some sort of elementary scholastic (no relation to the publisher) competition. Who can remember.

What I CAN remember is how I thought the book was very funny and my emotional tie to this page, in particular:

You see, when I was younger I was quite the songstress. By that I mean that I could usually be found humming a tune, and by that I mean belting out any song in my head for the whole world to hear. (Truth be told, I once sang "Phantom of the Opera" performance-style for my fifth grade teacher after school...you know the part where Christine is just singing "Ah-ahahahah-ahah-ahah-AH" in increasingly high octaves until she reaches that very last note that is light years above the staff? That's the one. Boy I really had something back then. Humorous at best, embarrassing at worst.) Anyway. When I was in Mr. Foster's first grade class I recall getting in my mom's car after school and humbly reporting that I had to get my name on the board that day (a punishment reserved for only the most maleficent of rule-violators). When she asked what I had done to deserve such a sentence, I confessed that I had been found singing during class. When she cocked her head in confusion, I continued: "...during silent sustained reading". What a laugh she must have stifled. I only know she must have stifled it because when we got to the dinner table that evening she calmly looked at my dad and said "Kelly got her name written on the board this morning in class. (turning to look at me:) Kelly, tell your dad what happened." And as I sheepishly announced my offense - dad was the harder spanker of the two - my dad had to turn his head for a few seconds, have a laugh to himself, and then turn back all straight-faced and tell me that I should be silent during silent sustained reading, just as the activity title suggested. But I knew that I wasn't in big trouble this time. What a relief.

At least Alexander had been found singing too loudly during singing time.

What's your favorite children's book?

I wonder what sport she'll play when she grows up??

2007-10-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

I mean, after seeing these pictures, is there any question?? Snuggling a soccer ball. And no, we didn't pose these shots. Her Auntie Kelly and Unkie Gene couldn't be any more proud! I wonder what she'll be getting for Christmas from us...

(proverbs)

2007-10-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

My husband reminded me of something wonderful the other day.

Some time ago, years before I was married to or even dating geno, I began reading Proverbs 31. I decided that if the Lord was going to bless me with a husband someday, I better start learning how to be a good wife asap. At the time I had hardly been exposed to Proverbs 31 ("the wife chapter", as I call it) and therefore it was all very fresh and new to me. As a sidenote - sometimes I start to think that there are parts of the Bible which I don't need to read, just because I've read them a couple of times before. I start thinking that I should move on to passages I don't know as well or that I've never read. But often I find that the parts I've read again and again can speak to me even louder (if I may say it that way) than 'new' ones, usually because those are the parts I need to hear the most. Sometimes those are the parts which speak to me most personally about Jesus' love and desire for His bride, and I just want to read them over and over, quite literally like a love letter. Just because you've read a love letter before doesn't mean you won't want to read it a thousand more times. Right? For me, the wife chapter is one of those letters.

Along the way (and as I dreamed about my future mystery mate) I started to pick out pieces of this chapter that stood out to me.

"Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies." (v.10)

Wow. It would be nice to be valued like that.

"She extends her hand to the poor, Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy." (v.20)

I'd like to be thoughtful and generous like that.

"She is like the merchant ships, She brings her food from afar." (v.14)

I'm not sure what that even means. And then I eventually came to this part:

"Her husband is known in the gates, When he sits among the elders of the land." (v.23)

I didn't really get what that meant, or what that had to do with a wife's behavior. Ok. So when this husband goes out among the people, when he's talking to his friends or other 'important' members of society, his reputation has preceded him. He is already known among the elders and in the gates because of his good name. Wait...whose reputation? Not his reputation, HERS. That's right. The words of the author here are only speaking of a husband in the context of his wife; the chapter is totally about her. It says "her husband" right there in that verse. So what does THAT mean?? We can't really assume that she had a bad reputation, and that that's what preceded him, because it doesn't fit with the rest of the passage. Every verse is speaking praise of this marvelous woman throughout chapter 31. This verse is no different. So I think we can safely say that it was her good reputation that preceded him. Hmmm.

This is what got me thinking. What does it mean to have such a good reputation that your husband is known among the people, even esteemed, just for what you've already said and done? At first it seems like this could be burdensome. It's impossible to be perfect, and we fall in our walk with the Lord a lot. But I don't think a burden is what the Lord wanted to express to wives in this chapter.

I suppose that there are literally hundreds and hundreds of ways that we could adjust our behavior to fit this 'reputation'. But as I read and prayed, the Lord revealed one of the simplest to me. What if I committed to speaking well of my husband all the time? Speaking ONLY good, ALL the time. Pretty basic idea, I thought. But when I thought again, I realized it's anything but basic. In fact, I was beginning to notice that there were many women, even Christian women, who didn't do this. At all. If I could count the times I've overheard different women complain about what their husband did yesterday, or what he said, or how he smelled or whatever...if I could tally up all the eye rolling and the disgruntled sighs and the deriding laughter...suffice it to say that it would be a really sad sum.

Does this mean our husbands are perfect? Of course not, nobody is. Should an abused woman decide to keep it a secret just so she can "speak well" of her abuser? Absolutely not. Extenuating circumstances aside, we, as wives, are in a unique position to see more of our husbands flaws than anyone else (and they see more of ours too!). That means that we have the unique opportunity to overlook more sins of his than anyone else does. And it means even more than that. As we overlook every fault, we begin to see all the gifts, talents and abilities that our God has given to our husbands. We begin to see our husbands in a new way, enabling us to be more supportive, more loving, more understanding, more compassionate. And THAT enables us to overflow with good things to say about him. If I had children, I might make the analogy of a proud parent beaming with joy at her child's accomplishments (no matter how small). But I don't have kids, so I won't make that analogy. You get the picture anyway.

Bottom line? I'm utterly thankful and totally awestruck that Jesus doesn't go around telling everybody else on the planet how cranky I was yesterday morning or how rude I was to the first grader who wouldn't be quiet during reading time. But sometimes this is how we as ladies speak about our husbands. We might be quick to get upset if we hear someone else speaking poorly of him, as well we should. Shouldn't the same principle apply to us in particular?? Yep. Instead, how excellent would it be if we overheard others in our community or circle of friends speaking well of him, just because of something good WE had said about him? We're in a powerful and gracious position. I pray that the Lord would remind us constantly about this small (yet HUGE) way we that can serve Him - by speaking well of our beloved. Because after all, our husbands are beloved of the Lord as well. Talk about being worth far more than rubies...what a high calling!

As another side note, how easy is it to speak well of your husband when he says things like this about you?? Pretty darn. And that's what reminded me (as I mentioned at the beginning of this post). I assert that I have the best husband in the whole wide world!! Thanks, geno.

wiggly woggly

2007-10-08T19:37:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I've been a deadbeat blogger lately. I would say I'm sorry, but is that really necessary? I've just been busy is all. The truth is I've had many blog ideas rolling around in my blogging brain, but getting them into ye old computer form just hasn't happened. Funny, really.

But THIS has brought me back: gene and I had some face time with an adorable little puppy tonight! So cute was she that she has earned a quick blog rundown. Gene and I try to go walking a couple of nights every week, and tonight was one of those nights. Along our way, and out of the blue, we heard a little whimper and a tiny bit of a squeaking noise. We turn and look, finding nothing until we look down and see (something like) this:

But our puppy was (1) cuter, (2) younger, and (3) less white/more brown. Maybe more similar to this:

Yes, decidedly. Only ours wasn't sleeping. Anyway. She ran up to us, whimpered in the sweetest of puppy noises, and asked to be petted. We told her we couldn't pet her without her parents' permission, and by the way what were they thinking when they let her stay out in the front yard so late? So we did what any 'good citizens' would do and took her to the door. We knocked. We rang. We knocked and rang again. We walked to the other door (yep, there was another front door) and knocked and rang. Nothing. We asked across-the-street neighbor if this puppy did, in fact, belong to this house. Affirmative. But the parents were also deadbeat parents, because they weren't home and puppy was lost. She was too small to be wandering about, and every time we (reluctantly) tried to walk away, she followed us with fervor. Neighbor expressed some displeasure as to how the dog had apparently been out all day, and we became concerned. Not wanting our sweetheart to be harmed as she ran around the darkened street, we did what any dog-loving people would do...we put her in her backyard. We didn't want to, it's weird to open other people's fences. Neighbor had suggested it, as that's "where the dog stayed during the day", and we tried knocking and ringing again before we made the leap. In the end, we had no choice. The little wiggle puppy was just unsafe in the front yard. We did what we had to do.

But oh, how much more could we want a puppy??!?! We love puppies. Real wiggly woggly ones. We're coming, newfie!

Speaking of objectionable memories...

2007-09-20T16:52:00.001-07:00

...I found another one. This one also relates to well-known literature. Which is interesting because my college degree's emphasis was in literature. In general, I like literature. In literature, you're usually not allowed to use a word four times in three consecutive sentences. But I can do anything I want because it's my blog.

After this post, I remembered another book that conjures a feeling of extreme disenchantment for me. This one might even win out over good old velveteen, albeit with much less merit.

When I was a bit older than Velveteen Rabbit age, my parents started to give me larger and more challenging books to read. I didn't mind, as I enjoyed reading, until the day they tried to make me read this book:

For SOME REASON, the cover of this book terrified me. I think the copy I had was even more brown and washed out and it just looked like a couple of cavemen were hovering over something...it looked evil. Bad evil. Those of you who are reading this post right now are probably old enough to look at the cover and feel no fear. BUT, dear readers, imagine yourself to be a young Kelly. And now imagine the effect that velveteen had on me. And now sympathize with the havoc The Pearl was wreaking on my non-adult mind.

Just kidding. I don't really mind if you don't sympathize with this one, I just think it's a comical story. So scared was I of Mr. Stenbeck's artist's rendition that I refused to read the book. I wouldn't even open the cover to read a synopsis; I certainly wouldn't open the back cover to read the last page. (What horror would've awaited me??) My parents often asked me how the reading was going - a usual question - and I just told them I didn't know. I was so scared that I wouldn't even tell them I was scared of it! I finally took to hiding it in the most secret of places - - my windowseat. (Katie, you have a great memory. Kudos for remembering such a saga.) In my room growing up there was an alcove window and below it there was a windowseat. It was basically just extra storage, but it's where I put lots of junk. I knew the book would never be discovered there because my parents weren't keen on searching through piles of broken toys and papers.

And that's where it stayed until...well, until geno and I got engaged and I had to clean out my room at my parents' house. It made for an amusing discovery.

I still haven't read it.

What's the opposite of velveteen?

2007-09-20T16:11:00.001-07:00

When I was a small child, my parents (like all good parents) read to/with us all the time. Eventually, they made us start reading by ourselves, and they would give us books with which to do so. This is not really the point of this post.

The point is that I hate The Velveteen Rabbit. Not hate in the conventional anger-driven-rage sense, just in the I-can't-stand-the-thought-of-it sense. And I'm trying to remember why. I remember being given the book to read...after that I only remember feeling very sad about it. SO sad that I have since then avoided the book at all costs. I remember something about scarlet fever, something about toys "acquiring" germs when their owners are sick, something about a toy (an animate toy, mind you) being thrown out with the trash. Who knows whether or not these things are actually contained within the aforementioned book, but my adverse association(s) are quite strong. THEN, when I began this post, I found some of the original illustrations from the book.

Does anyone else find this picture horrifying?? The intense warm colors do not soothe a young child's mind, and the red in this particular one makes it look like the rabbit has died a grisly death. This is not to say that the artist isn't talented, but rather it is to say that they evoke a myriad of objectionable emotions in my heart. Very objectionable. Could it have been the illustrations which caused my fear? Perhaps.

Then, I found this quote from the book:

"Does it hurt?" asked Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real, you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

The Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams
copyright 1984, Running Press

That wasn't so terrible, but when I read it I just hated it! True story. THEN I looked on Wikipedia to find a little synopsis, and I found the following plot summary:

A boy receives a Velveteen Rabbit for Christmas. The Velveteen Rabbit is snubbed by other more expensive or mechanical toys; the latter of which fancy themselves real. One day while talking with the Skin Horse, the Rabbit learns that real is not how you are made, rather a toy becomes real if its owner really and truly loves it.

When the boy's china dog is misplaced, the Velveteen Rabbit takes the place as the boy's constant companion. The Rabbit becomes shabbier, but the boy loves him no matter what.

The Velveteen Rabbit meets very well-made toys with no seams (they are actual rabbits), and the Velveteen Rabbit learns about the differences between himself and the real rabbits.

This companionship lasts through the winter and the next summer, until the boy falls ill with scarlet fever. The boy becomes too ill to play for a very long time; upon his recovery, he is sent to the seaside on doctor's orders. The boy wishes to take the Rabbit with him, but his doctor forbids him to take the diseased toy. Not only can he not take the Rabbit, but the doctor says it must be burned along with all the nursery toys in order to disinfect the house from the germs.

The boy is given a new plush rabbit with glass eyes and is so excited about the trip to the seaside that he forgets his old Velveteen Rabbit. While awaiting the bonfire, in which the Velveteen Rabbit will be burned, the Rabbit cries a real tear. This tear brings forth the Nursery Magic Fairy. The Rabbit thinks he was real before, but the fairy tells him he was only real to the boy. She flies him to the woods, where he realizes that he is a real rabbit at last and runs to join the other rabbits in the wild.

The following spring, the boy sees the Rabbit hopping in the wild and thinks he looks like his old Velveteen Rabbit, but he never knows that it actually was.

First of all, my recollections were fairly accurate. Second of all, does anyone else think this might be a terrifying storyline for young children? BURNED IN A BONFIRE?! I know that's not supposed to be the focal point, but, come on. By now I've convinced myself that the reason I found this so terrifying was because I thought the rabbit DID turn real and DID get burned (even if in reverse order). This "Nursery Magic Fairy" does not console me. (By the way, Katie, your posts on fear of fire as a young child did not fall on unsympathetic ears. I, too, had a serious fear of fires as a kid. Fortunately, my mom did map out a route with me...but I still thought I would have to jump out my second story window onto some sort of blanket. That's a whole other post.) I shall never read the book again, nor shall my children know of it's existence. I guess I'm one of the people who 'doesn't understand'.

Isn't it amazing what the mind can do with memories it doesn't like?

Come on guys...

2007-09-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

Having found this article on the google home page, I am THOROUGHLY grossed out. It's one thing to choose not to wash your hands in your own home, but at a baseball stadium??? You boys need to get your head in the game.

Like many teachers and school workers, I have recently elevated this practice (hand washing, purell-ing, etc.) to a bona fide addiction. I see, talk with, and sit in very close proximity to over 65 elementary school students each day. 65. The germ count is off the charts; I'm already battling a nasty sinus infection to prove it! So scrub-a-dub-dub, fair blog readers. Otherwise, THIS will start a colony in your body.

My only question is, who started The Soap and Detergent Association? Did you catch that in the article? I love America. Happy sudsing.

123 All About Me

2007-09-12T07:42:00.000-07:00

Here are the rules:
- Each player starts with eight random facts about themselves.
- Those who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight facts and post these rules.
- At the end of the post, choose some people to get tagged and list their names.

1. This morning I woke up with the song "O, Tannenbaum" in my head. And by that I mean I had the words to "O, Tannenbaum" to the tune of "Oh, Canada" in my head. There's just no explanation for that.

2. When I was in kindergarten I was given a solo to this song for our Christmas recital (which was held in our kindergarten classroom). It was a hefty solo - I sang each verse first, and the rest of the class echoed each verse after me. I was proud of what I had accomplished and took this role very seriously...which is why I had to give Carol, the girl next to me, a swift elbow nudge when she started butting in on my solo. You understand. The nerve of some people.

3. As a young girl I shared breakfast each day with my older brother, Austin. One day, while I wasn't looking, Austin decided to pour his apple juice into the remains of my cheerios and milk. (If you've ever poured apple juice into milk, you know just how objectionable an offense this is.) Being the younger-than-kindergarten lass that I was, I immediately cried and complained to our mother. Her solution - making him drink the poison elixir right in front of me - is one of my many terribly fond memories from childhood. Thanks, mom!

4. I once got lost on my way to Venice, Italy. In college I studied abroad in England (see this post for more on that topic), which afforded me the opportunity to travel around Europe for a few weeks with some friends. On our way to Venice we encountered heavily armed guards, drunken men, creepy followers and a hostel matron who wished us more harm than good. To name a FEW. Unfortunately, we never did make it to a single canal. But we did acquire a rollicking story which has served me well in many conversations.

5. I consider myself a phenomenal speller. Seriously. Call me vain, but I love this uncanny ability of mine. (p.s. - if you find any spelling errors in this post, please refrain from telling me, as it will break my fragile heart.)

6. I have hiked to the top of half-dome in Yosemite. I know that many, many other people could put this claim on their blog...but it was really hard...and I was REALLY fearful on the last 200 semi-vertical yards of the trek. So I'm proud of the accomplishment.

7. Sometimes I wish that little snippets of life would turn into musicals. You would be having a conversation, and suddenly you would break out into song. At the pre-appointed time, the people in the background would put down their pencils or books or lawn maintenance tools and join you, knowing all the words (and dance moves) by heart. And there would be a curtain call and everything.

8. I have a collection of the book The Little Prince, by Antoine de St. Exupery, in different languages. So far I've got English, French, Italian, Croatian and Hebrew.

If you're reading this and your name is PAM, consider yourself tagged!

Penelope

2007-09-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

Do you ever find yourself making up conversations in your head because someone like this has taken over the verbal one you thought you were having?

I do.

Googlemania

2007-09-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

You know those parents who name their kids reeeeally weird names just so they won't have to share the same name as any other kids? Well, this is just as bad.

Maybe worse.

What do you think?

And on the flip side...

Fame is a bee

2007-09-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

Working as a substitute teacher for a year gave me the opportunity to do many things. I met hundreds of students of all ages, I taught things that I had long since forgotten, and I read many stories to a variety of attentive faces. But there was one thing that was more gratifying than all of those combined: being the recipient of a student's finest writing or artwork. This post will begin a series of posts dedicated to kid-work that I've received just by being in classrooms. The first is a poem written by an elementary school student, which I find to be most appropriate.

What do you think about that?? I think it's A-OK. This child could grow up to become the next Dickinson or Frost, which would make this poem a priceless artifact! Won't you be glad to know me then. For now, I'm just glad to have something to blog about.

Milestone

2007-08-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

Those of you who read this post know that I recently embarked on a transcontinental running journey. A virtual journey, but a journey none the less. Well, to be more accurate, the running part is not virtual, but the transcontinental part is. ANYWAY. In the interest of keeping you abreast of my accomplishments...

I'm on mile 46! I've made it to Glendale, Virginia. Here I am:

It may not look like much, but it has been a harrowing adventure indeed. I began in Yorktown. That's 46 miles from here. The weather seems nice where virtual Kelly is but I bet it's pretty humid.

Where are you in your journey?

We're going to the zoo!

2007-08-17T20:16:00.001-07:00

Well folks, today was my last work-free Friday for the summer. I fully recognize and understand that I am more than privileged to even get a summer break, so don't think me self-unaware. But it was my last one none the less. So my lovely husband thought we should take a celebratory trip to the Chaffee Zoo to commemorate. (For those of you who don't know, my husband geno is an assistant pastor at our church. Since he works a full day on Sundays, his weekend is Friday-Saturday, which enables us to do such things on "work days".) And so we went! We loved it! Neither of us had been since they made repairs/updates, so we were pleasantly surprised. Here are some of the highlights:

a bear!

Gene having a staring showdown with a very sweet orangutan

one creepy looking goat

Now for the scary part. Well...whatever. So we're in the aviary, trying to make our way to the exit, when we see two cute little tiny baby birds on the ground. They have spindly legs and are walking around and they are very precious. Then we see mommy. And daddy. Lastly, we see a third baby who has wondered off and is between us and the exit. I think nothing of it as we admire them, but then I hear the call - the call of a mommy bird warning her baby birds that DANGER is coming. At this point, unfortunately, I am inadvertently standing between the lone baby and the rest of the family. As the mom's call gets louder and more frequent (remember, these birds are no bigger than 6 inches tall, the babies being much smaller) I realize they feel threatened by us. I decide to crouch down to try and show them that I'm a friend, not a foe. Big mistake. That must be the "predator" stance to this species. (I must have been thinking of how to act around shy puppies.) The mom starts wailing again, the baby is panicking and won't walk past me to join her family, and NOW the dad is mad. He starts chirping at me too and then starts spreading his wings and slowly coming toward me. I feel pretty certain that if this continues he may peck at my bare calves, and this is not what I had imagined when we embarked on this journey. By now I am verbally telling the baby that it's safe to walk past me and simultaneously squealing a little bit to gene (who is about 2 feet behind me taking pictures) about how we're probably not going to get out without getting bitten. The chirps and wails are now at about 80 decibels, I'm wondering why these birds are on the ground instead of in the air, the baby is still in panic mode and dad is getting closer and closer. The closer I get to the exit, the closer I get to the baby, and therefore invite the dad's attack. There's no way out. Finally, out of sheer fear, the baby runs past me to his mom (after I've begun to scurry a little toward it and the door), and we shuffle out of there before the dad decides to eat us up. Or bite us or whatever. It was quite a comical ordeal and, fortunately, Gene captured quite a bit of it digitally. So here is the montage:

That was fun, I'm glad we're all safe. Our very favorite part of the zoo today was seeing the elephants in some of their day-to-day activities, but I'll let geno do the talking for that one. (Give him a day or two...while I'm typing leisurely, he's working on his study for our Sunday night Cal-Tec class. He'll get to the elephants in no time!) Here's a teaser picture of him with the elephants in the background. Gene loooooooves elephants!

Special thanks goes out to my mom and dad who let us borrow their new Nikon D40 for our excursion today. Thanks!

Wedding Bells

2007-08-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

Can you imagine the size of the guest list for this wedding?? And I thought I had tough choices to make when gene and I were engaged.

Another reason I'm glad I'm not famous.

Good for a laugh

2007-08-14T15:04:00.000-07:00

Birthday Girl

2007-08-11T12:00:00.001-07:00

Look what I found the other day!

I met this lovely lass in 7th grade and we have been dear friends ever since. We went to middle school and high school together and somewhere along the line I must have snagged this picture of her in the 2nd (?) grade. (I sure hope her mother isn't missing it!) How cute is she?!

Anyway, she is turning 25 tomorrow and I thought a shout out would be appropriate. Soooo,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!
(OTHERWISE KNOWN AS KRISTEN)

Babe and her husband, Jonathan, are some of our favorite people in the whole wide world! They are in full-time ministry with Campus Crusade for Christ, doing awesome things for Jesus Christ each and every day. They've spent the last two years ministering on the USC campus but will soon be moving to...drumroll please...TOKYO. That's right - they have joyously committed to serve the Lord in Japan for a year and we are so looking forward to hearing about their adventures. In fact, YOU can hear all about their soon-to-be travels/ministry on their blog. (Or you can click on "Whitmore Blog" at right. And if you feel led to support them in their mission, you can do so here.

So Happy Birthday, Babe! Gene and I are so excited to see you before you go. Love you!

"I am a motivational speaker"

2007-08-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

As a substitute teacher, I get the privilege of going to a new classroom every day of the week. And when I do, I'm always quick to check out the decorations as I sit and wait for the kids to arrive. In elementary school there is often student work on the walls, number lines, the alphabet, etc. But in high school, it's a whole different ball game. In high school, there's usually one of two things: 1) nothing, or 2) those tacky motivational posters. You know the ones - they have pictures of eagles soaring over mountains and underneath they have the word 'Leadership', and then some cheesy quote about spreading your wings. Or ones like this:

"TEAMWORK:
When we all work together, we all win together."

Right. You've seen them. Generally I would have no problem with these, should they actually move someone to action, which they don't. On the contrary, I believe that most of the time they incite more joke-telling than motivation. (I'm not the only one who takes pictures of them and sends them to my husband for a laugh.) AND if it's joke-telling that we're going for, why not visit despair, inc. to find MUCH better ones. Like this:

Or this:

Or my personal favorite:

Amazing. Seriously, there are so many hilarious demotivational posters on this site that I was tempted to put all of them on my blog, which would have made this one little post about a mile long. I only spared you now so that you could set aside time to go glance at their site and have a good laugh later today. I mean, how could you not laugh at this quote from their founder:

MOTIVATION. Psychology tells us that motivation- true, lasting motivation- can only come from within. Common sense tells us it can't be manufactured or productized. So how is it that a multi-billion dollar industry thrives through the sale of motivational commodities and services? Because, in our world of instant gratification, people desperately want to believe that there are simple solutions to complex problems. And when desperation has disposable income, market opportunities abound.

AT DESPAIR, INC., we believe motivational products create unrealistic expectations, raising hopes only to dash them. That's why we created our soul-crushingly depressing Demotivators® designs, so you can skip the delusions that motivational products induce and head straight for the disappointments that follow!

That's what I call a business model. Pure genius. Now, if you're looking for something more than a poster, don't worry. They've got mugs. And notecards. And lots more rediculous merchandise (that I have seriously considered purchasing).

I leave you with the SNL sketch that just might have started it all...or, at very least, provided this post with a title. (disclaimer: this sketch makes reference to marijuana, which i do not condone under any circumstance. if such references offend you, please don't watch.)

Smartie Pants

2007-08-06T15:16:00.000-07:00

Half-way through my senior year of high school I decided to run a marathon with Team In Training. TNT is a part of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which works to find a cure for blood-related cancers. Shortly thereafter, my friend Chris was diagnosed with Leukemia; I was honored to be "racing for the cure" at such a crucial time.

Although this was not originally meant to be the sole focus of my post, I thought that such a neat kid deserved some face time on my blog. Chris was a vibrant 16-year-old who loved Star Wars, Frank Sinatra, Disneyland and cream soda, to name a few. He was a great singer and quite a comedian! Though he put up a fantastic fight, after a bone marrow transplant and more than 6 consecutive months in the hospital, Chris went home to be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What an inspiration he was to us and how joyful he must be in heaven RIGHT NOW! Praise the Lord!

The reason I began talking about that marathon is because somewhere along the line of training, my name found it's way onto a list for the National Runners and Walkers Health Study. (In no way did this mean that I was an accomplished runner, I promise.) It was/is just a study on the health of runners and walkers and I don't even know why I'm on it, but I am! Every year or two I receive something in the mail from them, either updating me on a few things or asking for me to update my exercise information. Lucky for me, every time I've had to fill something out I've been on a fairly regular exercise schedule - saving myself the tiniest bit of embarrassment.

Most recently I received a postcard informing me of a new website that the researchers had created to promote healthy activity. Initially I thought it was silly, but that was only before I had taken a closer look. This site, geared toward runners, walkers and cyclists, has a number of interactive tools you can use to get yourself off the couch and onto the pavement. Or the treadmill. Or the stationary bike. ANYWAY, you can record your mileage, choose an anonymous partner to "run" with, create teams of people to "compete", and sign up for email reminders to remind you of your workout schedule. Of course, this is all done by entering your mileage into the computer and competing virtually. But my favorite part is this:

You can track your mileage as a virtual trip across the United States!

How cool is that??? You go online, enter your miles, and then a picture pops up of where you "are" on your virtual trip. I love it! There are pictures for every quarter mile of the course and each day you can make a little progress. The course runs from Yorktown, Virginia to Florence, Oregon. So far I'm on mile 12, which is apparently 1.08 miles from Williamsburg. See for yourself:

You can't see me, but I'm there. Probably resting up for the night in a hotel. Haha. But seriously, I think it's a cool thing. And here is the answer to the question you've been asking yourself - no, I don't care that it's going to take me years to get across the United States. It'll be a nice journey! Plus, I'm pretty much for anything that gently encourages people (namely me) to be more active. As an added bonus, the study has no commercial interest in the site and has created it solely to help people in their quest for health. No ads, just fun.

So click here and start your own journey across our great nation! There's no minimum requirement of miles per day or anything, so there's nothing to be afraid of. And don't forget to show me your pictures along the way!

impulsive

2007-08-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had an itch to 'get out of town', as they say. I love the sweet town of Hanford, but the lure of going on an adventure with my sweet husband was quite great. Fortunately, my parents and two of my siblings were already at the coast and we would be able to meet up with them there if we chose to point our adventure in that direction. So we did!

We left at 2:40 in order to arrive in Morro Bay by 5:00. Here we are on our way.

And you can't beat the drive on the 41 south...where else but in nowhere California can you see rolling yellow hills of dead grass and dirt and fences?

But not even that would deter the wee pensieros (as opposed to my in-laws...I have to make a distinction somehow) from living in the greatest state in the union. Yes, the greatest. I have no problem with saying that, we all have opinions. Back to the post!

We made it to cool, breezy, overcast Morro Bay by 5:04 (no speeding!) to meet my family at the Outrigger for some fish and chips. Somehow I completely forgot to capture that on digital film. But my battered and fried shrimp were delicious and gene's battered and fried chicken were great. After dinner my family headed to a Church of Christ event and gene and I headed to...the water! Where else?? First I will show you some pictures...

a handsome husband

a tiny bird picking around in some seaweed

would you believe that I actually did my hair before we went on our trip?

And now a priceless video of my beloved doing what he does best:

We ended our trip by heading to SLO for some dessert at The Apple Farm. I had their famous Apple Dumpling (soooooooooo good) and geno had a piece of chocolate mousse pie, which had exceptionally good whipped cream on top. We both had some coffee for our late night adventure back to Hanford. We love the Apple Farm!

Few things are better than heading out for some drive time and face time with the one I love the most. Geno is always a good conversationalist, a safe driver, an exciting fellow adventurer and an amazing husband. Thanks for the adventure, honey! Check out his blog soon for a new post on his "Now That's Dedication" section. It's sure to be a hit.

MarsupiLAMA

2007-08-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

As we were heading off to bed last night, I asked gene which wild animal he would choose to own as a domesticated pet on the contingency that it would be 100% tame and house-broken. Not a bad question for 10 pm, if I do say so. He answered that he was leaning toward a panda bear but that they are known to be very aggressive; neither of us want to get clawed by a panda in our own home. Therefore he would have to pick either an elephant or a tiger. I told him that the question was 'which ONE wild animal', not 'which two would you choose between'. Just kidding, I didn't say that. What I DID say was that I agreed that either one would be a good choice. But I digress.

What I want to talk about today are marsupials! In the midst of our fruitful discussion, gene and I realized that we don't know much about marsupials. And a google search of "marsupial + blog" yielded only this, so I thought I would contribute. Here's one:

Here's not:

We started to recall all the marsupials known to us...kangaroos, koala bears, etc. And then we couldn't remember any more, even though we felt sure that there were more. At least 3 more. I'm pretty sure I threw in sun bear and panda bear. (It was getting late.) Hey, don't laugh just because they're bears, a koala BEAR is a marsupial, so don't get crazy. But you're right - neither panda nor sun bears are marsupials. So now for the question you've been asking since you arrived at my blog - what is a marsupial? I'm glad you asked.

A marsupial is a mammal that carries it's young in a pouch, like this:

Unlike non-marsupial mammals, marsupials generally have a very short gestation time. They birth their young in an embryonic state and then keep them in the pouch to do much of their developing. There are other differences, but this is the only one that matters for our post today. I know how precious your time is. But it begs the question: What other marsupials are out there? I'll tell you.

Oppossums
(he's not dead, this is what they do.)

Wallabies

Wombats

Those seem to be the most important, er, I mean prominent ones. Now I know 'knowledge is power' and all that, but don't let this informative post send you off to find a marsupial pet. Because unless you live in Australia (and I think it's safe to say my fan base isn't quite that big), the only one you'll find is an opossum. And clearly they're the ugliest of the bunch. Don't let the cute upside-down nature of his photo above fool you, they have gnarly teeth. UNLESS you're searching for that objectionable 90's cartoon character, MARSUPILAMA.

As always, I will leave you with one image that really caught my eye...

No offense, Mr. Greenspan, I think you're a top notch guy. But whoever made this little piece of art is pretty funny. And it went so well with my post...

Ta-Daaaa!

2007-07-31T10:52:00.000-07:00

At long last, I bring you the tales of our adventures in babysitting. Yes, I found a way to say 'adventures in babysitting' in my blog. Anyway, as many of you know, gene and I got a chance to keep our niece, Cecilia, on an overnight adventure last week. It's not like we've never babysat a child before, but never ever ever have we kept one overnight. What horrors would await us??

It turns out that Cecilia is a fun and fairly relaxed 18 month old. Nary a tantrum was thrown and, except for a 1:00 am crying session (not really her fault, she was scared), she was absolutely delightful. We played games, watched Little Einsteins, and even traveled to Hanford's newest park. It's not your ordinary neighborhood park. THIS park has one of those built-in water fountains that kids can run through as the water shoots out of little holes in ground. It was great! Gene put together a little montage for us, which I think turned out very nice...

If that weren't enough for you, let me just tell you about one last thing. My proudest moment came when Cecilia wandered into our bedroom. She looked around at the various stuffed animals in and around her playpen, surveyed the room, and decided upon the one item she wanted to play with - a real, live soccer ball. That's right folks - my niece chose a soccer ball above the regular toys. And on top of that, she already has a blow-up beach ball painted like a soccer ball, which is one of her favorites. I couldn't resist documenting such an important discovery in her life:

It was a great success all around. But don't look for any little Pensieros running around any sooner than before...all in good time. We have big plans to catch up on our sleep first. Check out geno's blog for other great clips from our adventures! (His blog is currently uploading to a new server, so if it's down, check back periodically.)

in limbo

2007-07-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I know I promised a post about our recent pretend-parenting (as I like to call it), but alas, it is still yet to come. It turns out that our video footage needs a little more attention prior to posting it than I thought. But it will be here soon! Keep on the lookout.

In an effort to leave you with some sort of visual aid (I am usually quite partial to a visual blog more than I am to a non-visual), I leave you with a few pictures and the classic question: would you rather...?

WOULD YOU RATHER EAT....

this?
(fried calamari with...i don't know what else)

or this?
(mmm, seaweed. beachy!)

Sneak Preview

2007-07-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

After a little less than 24 hours, geno and I are a few hours away from giving up our sweet Cecilia to her adoring grandparents. There are stories innumerable to tell, but for now I leave you with the sneak preview picture below. All I can tell you is that an adventure was had at the park, and there was water involved...

cecilia!

2007-07-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update to let all you faithful blog readers know that geno and I MAY be on the verge of doing something we've never done before...

...we MAY or may not be keeping our little niece, cecilia, OVERNIGHT! Yes, that's right, a whole night. Like real, grown-up people. Grown-up people who are pretend parents for one night. Unfortunately (for everyone who wants us to have children) this may only set back the date on which we decide to have our own little rugrats. How tiring is parenting?! One bath with the little sweetie and I'm wiped out! But we're excited about the prospect of having her anyway. We LOVE our baby cecilia! And at the least, it will be a great opportunity to gather some of the best blogging material we've had in a while. So keep watching...

Lovely Ladies

2007-07-14T09:08:00.000-07:00

After a recent turn of events (namely the sweet emails from some dear friends), I have decided to do a little post on the life and times of Kelly in England. A tribute, if you will. Sure, the information I write here might come out sounding scattered and incomplete, but it was a lovely time in my life and I thought we would all enjoy a trip back in time to get to know the lovely ladies that became my friends in Cheltenham, England!

First things first, I should tell you that none of these lassies are British. That might be disappointing for you, but I just didn't connect with any Brits while I was over there. The ones on my dorm floor were awfully rude (which in no way reflects the attitude of all English college students), and therefore I found myself being buddies with the Americans. Strength in numbers and all that. Ha. Second of all, for those of you who don't already know, I spent a semester abroad in the Spring of 2003. I studied at the University of Gloucestershire in the adorable town of Cheltenham. Cheltenham is a town in the Cotswolds of England, about 2 hours northwest of London, with a population of roughly 100,00 people. (If you click no other links, be sure to click on the 'cotswolds' link to see about one of the most charming areas of England.) I studied a little and traveled a lot, and still passed all my classes. And that's all the background information I have for you today. So let's begin our journey...

For starters, here's the lot of us at Stonehenge on a cold winter's day:

At the very bottom, with a cute squinting eye, we have Megan. Above her we have Libby on the left and Shauna on the right. And at back from left to right we have Amy, me, and Corin. Now for some close-ups, in no particular order:

Here we have miss Libby.

Libby lives in Indiana where she resides with her husband Greg. We got to meet him when he came out to visit, and he was a lovely fellow. In fact, I believe those flowers were a gift from him! How nice! Libby was a runner and would always accompany me on a run, even on a whim. We also had a special connection because we both had a proper adoration for american peanut butter. (For those of you who are unaware, English peanut butter is so detestable that it should not even be fed to wild hogs.) She shared her Peter Pan with me and the rest is history. Thanks, Lib!

Next we have Megan.

Megan is from the great state of Pennsylvania, where she works for Hershey foods. (To us Californians, that's so fun!) She and I lived right next door to each other in the dorms. I remember being on the phone with my mom the very first night we were in England, and all of a sudden a note was slipped under my door. This lovely gal wanted to say hello and that she hoped we would become friends. And nothing short of friends will we ever be! Thanks for your kindness, Meg! LOVE those red phone booths.

The lovely Shauna (she's the one on the left):

Shauna resides in Tennessee and is originally from Massachusetts, though no single state could ever contain her. She is a traveler at heart, a 'world resident' in my opinion. I remember having long talks with Shauna, over some jacket potatoes and heinz beans, about life and love and our Lord. I cherished her zest for life while we were in England and currently love reading about her adventures in residence directing and graduate education on her blog. Keep on blogging, Shauna!

Now for the fantastic Amy (far left):

Amy is also from Pennsylvania, and we're all jealous that she and Megan get to see each other periodically. I always loved hearing stories about Amy's nephews back in Pennsylvania, and she was always up for a stir-fry meal and a chat in the campus refectory. She is a thoughtful girl who never forgets a birthday, and she's currently working on her Master's in social work. Here's to Amy!

Last but not least is wonderful Corin:

Corin lives in Idaho with her hubby Emmet. Corin welcomed us into her dorm room every Thursday night for a dvd episode of Friends on her laptop. A little taste of home every week! And we ALWAYS clapped along with the intro. An interesting fact - Corin brought a pocket atlas with her to England, because she always wanted to know where places were. I thought this was so great! I had the privelege of attending her wedding in September '05, and she was a beautiful bride. Yay Corin!

-So here's a big SHOUT OUT to all of you ladies! I loved catching up with you recently!-

None of these brief explanations do them justice, but these lovely ladies were life-savers. I adore them all and love keeping in touch via email every few months. We recently decided that we should have some sort of reunion, but we have yet to decide when and where. So that leaves it up to you, reader - give us your best suggestions!

I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane, as it were. I sure did! I leave you with a picture of Venus and I at the Louvre in Paris, France. Don't worry, although it is the real Venus de Milo, I edited the photo so that it would be appropriate for readers of all ages. Enjoy!

hmmm...

2007-07-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

...what to blog about... It's a hard decision. Would it be the horrible night of sleep I had, thanks to the ever-restless dog, Momo? Probably not, because then I'd feel bad for talking about her that way. Would it be the new Bare Escentuals I recently received from my mother-in-law? Maybe, but it might only fuel my fire to buy more and more! Would it be a commentary on Katie's informative and disturbing post on fast food? Perhaps another day.

Today, I'll just share a little clip with you. Cecilia and I recently learned a really fun game where she sits on my foot and I bounce her up and down with my leg. It's extra fun for her, extra tiring for me. But every time, she backs away from my foot, then parks on it for another ride. We LOVE it and she squeals with delight every time! What could be better?

(7) Wonder(s) of Wonders

2007-07-08T16:03:00.000-07:00

Remember a while ago when I posted about the New 7 Wonders campaign? In case you never read that post, there was a campaign to designate seven new 'wonders of the world' to replace the all but destroyed old seven wonders. And everyone in the world was allowed to vote online, via telephone, etc. Well, the results are in and the new wonders have been named! Here they are, in no particular order:

The Taj Mahal, India

The Roman Colloseum, Italy

Petra, Jordan

Macchu Picchu

The Great Wall, China

Christ Redeemer, Brazil

Chichen Itza, Mexico

I should also mention that the only remaining wonder of the old seven wonders is the Pyramids in Giza, Egypt, and that particular wonder is still very much alive and kicking (figuratively speaking, of course). So it counts in this list as well.

Now, the thing I was excited about was that some of my own personal picks won! I voted for The Colloseum, The Great Wall, The Taj Mahal, and Petra. 4 out of 7 isn't bad! And even though I didn't vote for Macchu Picchu, I have visited Peru and felt a special connection there. So I didn't mind. Also I thought it was nice that the gigantic Jesus statue made it in the mix...I wonder what Jesus thinks about that. Hopefully He doesn't mind. I suspect He's very gracious about the whole matter.

Amid all my excitement and wonder (if I may use that word again) about this little contest, I was completely oblivious to the fact that some people weren't happy about it at all. SOME people have been naysaying! Read this and find out who they are and what they think. To those people I say, in as nice a way as I can, get a life. Can't we just have a little fun? I know I did.

Be sure to check back soon, as I'm going to be posting on a new campaign for the Natural 7 Wonders of the world (these were all man-made, as you can see). Until then, I leave you with a picture of yours truly at one of the recently named NEW SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD:

How monumental!

"La Decorateur Calls..." (Sleepless in Seattle)

2007-07-02T20:57:00.001-07:00

Now, although I don't consider my self a decorateur, per se, I DO occasionally enjoy doing things with a decorative flair. This most recently took the form of making curtains for our new apartment. We both felt that the apartment was a little bare like this:

(Living Room)

(Bedroom)

Soooo, I decided to ask my dear mother if she would help me create some window coverings that would be worthy of Windgate Apartments. She agreed! My mother is quite the seamstress, in case you were unaware. Her works include more than one of my prom dresses, alterations to my wedding dress, all the clothes she wore in high school in the 70's, and countless quilts, to name a few. I knew she would be the perfect person for the job. After geno and I picked out fabric together, I took it to Visalia and the magic began. After a whole day of sewing, then later purchasing curtain rods, and THEN installing grommets with geno last Saturday, VOILA!

(Geno, hard at work)

(Grommet time)

(Living Room)

(Finished!)

(Bedroom)

(Finished again!)

I apologize for the quality of some of the pictures, it was hard to get a well-lit shot with the bright sun coming through the living room window. But there they are! I was pretty excited to get them done, and gene and I feel even more at home in our new place. I never knew how much some curtains could dress up the place. Kudos to my mom for all her help, and huzzah to gene for being crafty with me, installing the curtain rods and grommeting. What do you think?

Drumroll Please...

2007-06-29T21:14:00.001-07:00

I am writing this post SOLELY to pass along some very fun news to you...

Katie, a wonderful friend of mine and long-time college roommate, has recently started her very own blog!! How much more exciting does it get? Not very. So I would like to encourage you to support her in her blogging ventures. Click here to stop by. In case you'd like to put a face with the name...

Here we are at our college graduation.

I believe this was taken after one of my soccer games our senior year.
Katie was always a great supporter!

Who knows what this picture is all about, but it looks like we're having fun!

Ah yes, the time we broke someone's glass and didn't want to fess up, so we took a secretive picture of it instead. Can't even remember who it belonged to...silly college freshmen.

Here are some interesting facts about Katie:
-She is a home decorating/style guru! She should have her own interior design business.
-She is passionate about restorative justice.

-She was freshman class senator in at FPU.

-She is currently an elementary school teacher.
-She is a wonderful friend and lovely to talk to!

And that's that! In case you missed the links earlier, click here to visit her site, or click on "Katie's Site" on the right side of my blog. It is quickly shaping up to be one of my new favorites! Yay Katie!

The End of One Beginning

2007-06-27T21:38:00.001-07:00

Well, the time has come to bring an end to all the wonders of our Montana trip. But fear not! This is merely the beginning...of...more frequent blog posts...increased enjoyment of where I live...all sorts of things really. Isn't it funny how vacations are over so quickly?

This post is late in coming, I admit, but it is here. After waking up in what proved to be a spectacular town - Jackson Hole, Wyoming - geno and I set out for a cup of coffee to kick off a long day of traveling. The night before, we had spotted a little place called Jackson Hole Roasters and made plans to stop by in the morning. No disappointment here!! What a delightful place! After grabbing a delicious cup of coffee and the most delectable peach/blackberry muffin of all time, the roasters offered to share various samples of coffee with us. They were experimenting with roast times, methods and beans and asked our opinions. And geno was sooo smart! He used big coffee words like "acidic" and "full-bodied" and "chocolatey" and we sounded decently intelligent. We only wished gene's dad, a true connoisseur, was with us to experience it.

After we got our caffeine squared away, we set out for the ride home. We gave THREE CHEERS for Wyoming for being a kindler, gentler state toward Californians, then drove through a beautiful part of the Greater Yellowstone Area. We enjoyed seeing a deer and some more pretty scenery. Until we got to Idaho. When we got to Idaho we just buckled down and prepared for the many hours it would take us to get to Reno, Nevada for our overnight stopover. But, interestingly, we decided we had the fortitude to continue on home instead of stopping, so on we went! (Hence the late post - we didn't have any internet connection until we actually arrived back in Hanford, which was into the wee hours of the morning.) We hit Starbucks hard and made it happen.

And here we are! I adored this lovely trip and all it's many facets, especially the priceless time I got to spend with the most fascinating, loving husband of all time. Plus, it gave us a chance to flaunt our blogging skills and increase our google analytics data. Special thanks to Pam for all the thoughtful and regular comments she left for us along the way! And super honorable mention to Mary for doing the same! Who knows what kind of a post awaits you from here on out...you'll just have to wait and see. For now, geno and I are resting assured of the Lord's calling in our lives here in Hanford. How nice to be home.

5 Alive

2007-06-25T21:13:00.001-07:00

Splendid! I would describe our day today as splendid. And lovely. This morning when we went to Starbucks for breakfast, we had our first KIND inter-statial encounter. Well, not our first, but certainly our nicest. The barista inquired as to where we were headed and then shared that it would be lovely this time of year, he hoped we had a great time, and that he was from California too. He was pleasant and our white mochas tasted better than ever. Thanks, Missoula Barista guy!

Our visit to Yellowstone was everything we had hoped for. We stopped leisurely wherever we saw something interesting, and enjoyed the scenic drive it afforded us. The highlights include seeing a herd of bison very close-up, and seeing a mother and three baby grizzly bears!

Bison!

The grizzlies are small in the picture (on the grass) but they are BIG in real life!

After Yellowstone we drove right down through Grand Teton National Park, which was also gorgeous. One of the big attractions here (aside from more beautiful scenery) is a big lake which has the majestic Rocky Mountains for a backdrop. Once we got through that national park (aren't we blessed?) we arrived in Jackson, Wyoming - also known as Jackson Hole - where we are staying for the evening. What an adorable town! We forgot to get more pictures than the one below, so it will have to suffice:

The downtown is adorable and quite bustling, and we enjoyed dinner at Mountain High Pizza Pie. I've never had pizza that good. Special thanks to Pat and Kathy Mundy for suggesting such an idyllic location! We've fallen in love with little old Jackson Hole.

Tomorrow will be the start of the long journey home, pray for our safe travel. Today as we drove out of one national park and into another, I realized I had forgotten to thank our great God for creating such beauty for us to behold. So THANK YOU Lord!

Check out geno's blog for more anecdotes and pictures. And thank you to all of you who have been posting on our sites - we just LOVE seeing them every night when we get to the hotels! See you soon!

Day the 4th

2007-06-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome back! How lovely to see you again. As I promised yesterday, the picture above is of a very large chicken that is on the main street of Hamilton here in Montana. To give you some perspective, the top of my head only reaches to the bottom of the chicken's waddle (the red thing hanging down from his beak). It's unreal! What a landmark.

Today we had a pretty leisurely day. We got up and went to church, where geno led worship for both services. (No pictures, it would've been akward.) Then we grabbed some lunch and headed back to the room for a nap. After a few good episodes of 'Little People, Big World', we went to the local hot spot, Lake Como, for a hike.

Lake Como is a man-made lake that is used for irrigation, etc. in this area. There were lots of Montanans hanging out on the small beach-ish shore, which is probably because it's the closest thing they have to a beach for miles! I would be there too. We had a nice hike and then started back to the hotel.

After a last dinner meal with Dale and Donna, the pastor of BVCC and his wife, we went to the local Safeway for some ice cream to take back to the hotel room. While we were there, the check-out girl tried to get us to sign up for a Safeway discount thing and we told her we lived far away, so we wouldn't be interested. (We were being very nice.) Then she asked what supermarkets we have around us, to which we answered "save-mart and vons". She replied that our vons card would work, and then commented that we were probably from California. We smiled and said "yeah, but don't tell anyone, we already got our car keyed" in a joking manner. And then she just looked at us and said "yeah". "Yeah" - like we deserved it or something. Like it's a crime to live in the greatest state in the US. It sure is a good thing we're not moving here permanently, because those few weeks that it would take us to get new plates would be brutal! Gene and I are just loving the endless conversation that these inter-statial events have been giving us.

Tomorrow we begin our trip home via Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, and Jackson, Wyoming. We're looking forward to a beautiful drive and some pleasant stops and sights. We'll keep you posted! Once again, check out geno's blog for extra info. on our trip.

Le Troisieme

2007-06-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

For everyone else but me, that title means "third" in French. The third day of our road trip is now coming to a close, which means it's time for YOU to see a brand spanking new blog post! By the way, I spent a solid four years taking French in high school and, despite some of the more negative American sentiments toward the country, I adore the language. That explains that.

First things first, my adoring husband was amazing this evening! Tonight was the big Worship On The Green concert, for which we embarked on this entire journey. Calvary Chapel Bitterroot Valley barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers at a local park and invited the community to come out and enjoy a time of fellowship. It was great! Geno played worship songs, including many that he wrote, and we all listened intently for a good 75 minutes.

Look at my lovely!

So that was fantastic. Tomorrow morning he'll be leading worship at CCBV, which I am looking forward to very much. I'm ALWAYS blessed when I get to worship the Lord with gene, his passion for the Lord is so evident and he has a wonderful heart for ministry. What a great husband I have.

In other news, we are officially the victims of an inter-statial (get it?) hate crime. Interestingly, we discovered this morning that some loving person decided to key our (rental) car. KEY OUR CAR. Who does that? What kind of person does that? It boggles the mind. I can only hope it was a distraught three-year-old who was acting out because his mommy wouldn't let him play near the red-hot stove like he wanted to. Because seriously, that's how immature you have to be to key someone's car. And even then...well, you get the point. The picture is below - it's hard to spot because of the glare, but check out the huge circle on the middle of the hood, and just know that the damage extends farther down toward the grill.

The reason I call this an inter-statial crime is because the incident occurred either in Idaho or in Montana. I mean, everyone knows that bordering states are not always fans of Californians, and the fact that we are the only California plated car for miles does suggest a certain amount of prejudice in this situation. Don't you think? We certainly do. Why else would someone key a perfectly innocent minty green Subaru Outback? These are the questions we'll never know the answer to. FORTUNATELY, it's a rental! And EVEN BETTER, we got the insurance on it!! That means that when we get back to the rental location, we just turn in the keys and say hasta. Praise the Lord.

After the above-mentioned events, as well as a delicious breakfast at Perkins, a yummy scoop of huckleberry ice cream (!), and some down time with gene joseph, it's time to call it a night. More tomorrow, as per our original agreement. I leave you with the following pictures and an enticing tip to visit after tomorrow's post, because it promises a picture of my favorite Hamilton, Montana landmark: a 7 foot chicken. Yes.

I love feet. See you tomorrow!

Day 2

2007-06-22T19:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a day. Let's see...we started our morning with a trip to the overlook at "the bridge" on the Snake River before leaving Twin Falls. It was beautiful!

Then, after heading back for the car (because some guy was changing his clothes right in front of us on the overlook! gross!), we hit the dusty trail on our way to Hamilton, Montana. And I must say that we encountered some interesting things on our journey. For example, did you know that the Craters of the Moon Monument and Preserve is in Idaho? You might be thinking "I didn't know a meteor landed in Idaho!" And you would be wondering correctly - there are no craters at Craters of the moon. In fact it's just a large area of volcanic rock. Geno and I were expecting more, well, craters. Craters and maybe some moon candy or astronaut food or something like that. But even without craters, it was a nice stop. Here's a highlight photo (notice that the rock piles are black and volcano-y, very unlike regular Idaho soil):

Other notable incidents include: passing a sign which let us know that we had officially reached the HALFWAY POINT between the North Pole and the Equator (i love America); traveling through the city where Sacajawea was born; and...

Yay! Now it's time for a cup of my new favorite tea, Tazo
Wild Sweet Orange. Then my beloved and I will watch the latest Man vs. Wild and *hopefully* have a wonderful slumber. The concert is tomorrow, should be a hoot!

For more of our Montana exploits (and a much more detailed one, at that) visit geno's blog.

So it begins...

2007-06-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

...i love ellipses. You know what else I love? Day 1 of the Montana trip with my darling husband!

In case you were previously unaware, geno and I are on our way to Hamilton, Montana so he can participate in an outreach that Calvary Chapel Bitterroot Valley is putting on. How exciting! So we packed up the car - with lots of snacks - and headed out. Today we visited two states other than our native California. And OH, how we love California. But so far we've had the chance to enjoy Nevada and Idaho! I can even prove it:

See? How fun is that?! We accidentally missed the "Welcome to Nevada" sign because it was out in the middle of nowhere. Well...now that I think of it, I guess that's not entirely true. When we passed the Idaho sign, geno was in the passenger seat and promptly got out the camera (for blogging purposes, of course). When we passed the Nevada sign, I was in the passenger seat and did nothing. It wasn't an intentional oversight, but it was an oversight nonetheless. Sorry honey! And sorry faithful blog readers. Idaho will have to suffice for today.

So, after a good 12.5 hours of driving, we arrived in Twin Falls, Idaho. There's a really cool river called the Snake River that actually has a golf course in it! We plan to take pictures on our way out in the morning and I'll post about it post-haste tomorrow. For now, it is close to bedtime - even closer than in California because we're now on Mountain Time. That's one hour ahead, for all you Pacific Time Zone loyalists (myself included).

See you tomorrow! (p.s. - check out my new haircut at the top! Thanks, Summer!)

Alumni-tastic

2007-06-16T17:40:00.000-07:00

Recently, the ladies in the picture above (of which I am one) gathered together for one incredibly exciting and noble purpose: to play an alumni soccer game. 'Big deal' you say? Hardly. This was no ordinary alumni game - rather, it was the first ever women's soccer alumni game at Fresno Pacific University. 'Unprecedented' you say (with a very impressed tone of voice)? Absolutely.

Good old Coach Eric Farfan called me a while back and left me a voicemail, saying that we were to be having our inaugural game in the near future and would I able to make it. I'm thinking "great - gives me some time to warm up the old soccer legs. ...and heart and lungs and what not." But I was sorely mistaken (and that will be the first and last pun I ever use in blogdom). I then listened to the rest of his message, which said that the game would be in three weeks time. And THAT'S when I had serious second thoughts about such a mission. Are you kidding me? I mean, we would be playing the current FPU girls team. The team full of 18 year olds who train year round. The team that doesn't have any nursing mothers on it.

Which brings me to my next point - although the alumni may not have won the game, per se, we did have quite a moral victory. See, when members of our team have to ride the pine just to nourish their infant children before half-time (I kid you not), there should be a certain level of respect given. When other members of our team are playing with child (yes, pregnant), there is clearly a certain level of sacrifice that has been given. And I think the crowd knew that. Or at least I hope they did, because otherwise they may have been surprised to see little ones scurrying around our bench and nursing with their beautiful athletic mothers. So, what would have otherwise been a terribly demoralizing loss (approximately 12-0) turned into..well, a lot of fun.

Here's a look at me, valiantly stepping off the field for a break
(I was one of the non-nursing players)

And here's one of the entire team, new and old...
quite a turn out for a program that has only been around for 6 years!

Congratulations, ladies, on a job well done. Happily done. And by the way Audrey, we missed you! Looking forward to next year!

Congratulations, Feils!

2007-06-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend we were blessed to attend the wedding of our friends Andrew and Denise. It was a lovely soiree! Congratulations guys! (By the way, the picture above is the only one I got of the lovely couple...but you get the idea.)

I love weddings...not only are they a beautiful symbol of our Lord Jesus and His bride, the church, but it's also a lovely reminder of God's plan for us in marriage here on earth. Each wedding geno and I go to reminds me that the Lord chose my husband to be my perfect match before the foundations of the earth. Gene complements me in ways I never thought possible, and he is the best gift my Jesus could have ever given to me. I just love being reminded that we are in God's perfect will for our lives just by being married!! Nothing could be more precious to me. With that being said, here are some of the highlights of the blessed event:

My beloved and I

The Matron of Honor and a darling friend, Katie

Geno and Andrew, the groom

Another wonderful friend and college roommate, Sheila

To learn how to have a Godly, loving marriage, read this.

Cinnamon

2007-06-09T13:34:00.000-07:00

Have you ever said a word so many times in a row that it started to sound fake? You know what I mean...like, when I was a kid and I learned the word "vitamin" - I said it over and over and over again and after a while it just sounded like a pile of letters that someone squished together to form a word. Funny, isn't it? I think so. So I was thinking about that and then I got to thinking about some of my favorite words, and I decided to post about them. These are some of my favorites - NOT because of what they mean (at all), but because of how they sound when you say them. So here goes...

-cinnamon (thus, the title of this post)
-soiree (technically a french word, but used in english nonetheless)
-moxie
-posh
-equine
-persia
-lush
-persnickety
-salamander

...I could go on and on! And maybe I will in some subsequent post.

Just in case this post bored you, here's a picture of geno and I at my cousin's wedding (which, interestingly, was the first wedding geno officiated at! He was great!)

Big Sky Country

2007-06-07T15:47:00.000-07:00

Recently geno was asked to do worship at a calvary chapel in...drumroll please...the great state of Montana! Not only were we blessed that someone would ask, we were excited at the prospect of a getaway. And get away we will. On June 21st we will be departing by car, and beginning what is shaping up to be the roadtrip of a lifetime. Certainly our first married road trip, to say the least. I decided I should do some research on the world wide interweb (for those For Your Consideration fans out there) and see what awaits us in the 41st state. Here are some not-so-useful but interesting facts that I uncovered:

Montana's state motto is "Oro y Plata"; translated into Spanish it means "Gold and Silver"; translated into 'why is that the state motto' yielded no results - alas, it will have to remain a mystery.

The state dinosaur of Montana is the Maiasaura Peeblesorum. In case that doesn't mean much to you, maybe you'd better listen to this: the fossil of Maiasaura Peeblesorum, state dinosaur of Montana, was the first fossil to be launched into space! That's right - the final fossil frontier.

In relation to the fact you just read, apparently Montana is a big site for paleontology in the U.S. Who knew? If you did, 5 bonus points.

For those of you who have been calling Montana's highways the Montanabahn for years, think again. Changes within the last 8-10 years have created new speed limits on state highways that were previously un-speedlimited.

That's all for now, perhaps more to come as our journey gets closer. And for fans of my brand spanking new blog AND, more likely, fans of geno's blog, I can guarantee with great certainty that there will be blog updates while we are away. 6 days is a long time not to share our lives with you.

My only question is, do any of you have any car games to share with us? These would need to be games that can be played by driver and passenger, so checkers and the like are out. I can't wait to hear some!

Wonder of Wonders, Miracle of Miracles

2007-06-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

I'll go ahead and admit that I have often claimed to know the titles of many of the seven ancient wonders of the world. (An odd start for a post, I do concede.) The pyramids in Egypt come to mind, perhaps the Hanging Gardens of Babylon...but I've also said that Mount Rushmore is in the mix. How I came to that conclusion - what, with it being less than 100 years old and all - I may never know. But I digress.

The true purpose of this post is to inform you about an interesting website I have discovered. Recently, while substitute teaching in a 6th grade classroom, I had to do a lesson plan that allowed each student to do research on various world landmarks and then present on why that landmark should be included in the "New" Seven Wonders of the World. That's right! The New 7 Wonders campaign has chosen 21 "wonder" candidates and we, the people, get to vote for a new set of world wonders! You may be thinking "what's wrong with the old seven wonders?" And I will tell you "Exactly that. They're OLD." That's just a joke. But truthfully, only one of the ancient seven wonders still exists (The ancient Pyramids in Giza, Egypt); the rest are all extinct. Or rather whatever word that is synonymous with 'extinct', but is used for inanimate objects instead of animals.

And I say it's high time! And you can hardly blame the committee that came up with this idea - especially when you hear the actual list of the original 7 wonders. You already heard about The Pyramids in Giza, and here are the other 6: The Temple of Artemis, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon (you probably knew about that one), The Colossus of Rhodes, The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, The Lighthouse at Alexandria, and The Statue of Zeus. See? Don't lie, if you're like me you've never really heard of any of those, other than the Hanging Gardens and The Pyramids. Or maybe you are much much smarter than I and HAVE heard of some of these...and if that's the case, I commend you. Either way, I think we can all agree that the aforementioned list is in great need of an update.

SO - in conclusion, I encourage you to go here and vote! You have 21 great choices (including The Great Wall of China and The Colosseum in Rome, and a few really cool ones you may never have heard of) and you get to choose your 7 favorite wonders. But hurry, because on 07.07.07 they will be announcing the winners. That gives you just over one month to go online and make it happen. What are you waiting for?

This is one of my favorite candidates...
you get to go online and see which one it is!

I'm not one for...

2007-06-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

...fancy titles or anything. At least not for now. For now, I feel like I need to focus on getting started. And as for my initial musings, I choose dogs.

For quite some time now, gene and I have been absolutely DYING to have a puppy. And we would just get one - if it weren't for the constraints of our living situation. You see, most one-bedroom apartments have limits on the size and weight of pets, and ours is no exception. In fact, our current apartment requires that all pets weigh 20 pounds or less. And therein lies the problem: our desired pet is a Newfoundland dog. According to a number of dog breed information websites, adult Newfoundlands can be anywhere from 25-29 inches tall (at the shoulder), and can grow up to 100-150 pounds. Although the size of these well-tempered behemoths delights gene and I very much, it is a teense over the weight limit. (By the way, I've seen cats that are well over 20 pounds...come on. Maybe gene and I should devote all our spare time towards revolutionizing the pet policy at Windgate Apartments in Hanford. Or maybe we should just move.)

Despite our current inability to acquire such a massive dog, we continue to dream of owning this giant breed dog and imagine how happy our lives will be when we are finally able to have one. This effectively wards off any desire to be a "caretaker" (ergo, we're not having children anytime soon). We have even taken to calling said dog "Humphrey", since it seems to us to be a suitable name for such a massive yet majestic dog. Interestingly, we plan on getting a female dog, so this temporary name will probably be rendered useless. Oh well. Some things to note about Newfouldlands or Newfies, as they are affectionately called: they were originally used as water rescue dogs and, therefore, love to romp in the water; they have "webbed" paws which aid them in their watery excursions; they are notoriously sweet and gentle, and wonderful with little babies and children; and they LOVE to pull carts behind them and there are even competitions to this effect! Who wouldn't want one of these??

When we're feeling blue about not owning our own little pet, we sometimes visit gentle giants rescue. These wonderful people rescue hundreds of all types of giant breed dogs, welcome them into their own home, and then adopt them out to loving families! We can only hope to adopt a dog from them one day. You should visit them and see all the adorable puppies (and by puppies I mean dogs of all ages) that inhabit this haven.

(How could you not love that??)