MathetaiBrownEtc

2008-12-06T10:52:00.000-06:00

Hey, everybody! Just thought I'd check in, see who's around.

My latest news is that I've recently been promoted at TJ's (AndreaW can tell you what a mixed bag o' tricks that can be!) and am still trying to figure out the whole life/work balance thing.

We're also thinking about maybe at some point trying to buy a house ...? Any Words Of Wisdom, homeowners?

2008-10-12T17:54:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone!

It seems no one's posted on here in a couple of months...

So, Neb would like to know:

Has the new Baby C. arrived yet?? Mary mentioned a due date of October. We're very excited to hear the name selected!
Hannah, are you still in NZ, or have you returned yet?
Jordana, are you coping with 2 external and 1 internal kidlets and an MIA Chris?
Alysia, are the kitties and other critters behaving? Re-read any good Chaim Potok lately?
Zingrin, are you loving and hating grad school? Have you set a wedding date yet? Are you having fun hanging out with Peter and Ann?
How's married life treating you, Wes? Your bride is beautiful!
Andrea KC, Facebook shows me that you've had a beautiful little girl named Mary Ellen. Congratulations!!

I can't think of good questions for the rest of you- but please! post something!

Have a lovely autumn,
Neb

2008-08-08T11:11:00.003-05:00

In case you haven't heard, there will be an addition to our family in October! I sent an email earlier this week to some of you but I do not have an address for everyone. And some of my addresses are apparently out of date. Oops!

We still haven't settled on a name and thought we’d have some fun polling everyone with the possible names we have chosen. This is NOT a vote, we have final say, brou-hoo-ha-ha-ha! Please tell us the name you like most and the name you like least. Feel free to express reasons, keeping in mind that the name you run down may be the name we end up choosing! However, one or more of the names may be a hoax. Keep in mind that we are 99% sure of the middle name Joan.

Hannah

Kathryn

Maureen

Nora

Rebekah

Evelyn

2008-06-30T09:01:00.001-05:00

Roll Call!

We've heard from a few "regrets," but who's coming?

Wes, I'm assuming you are. If we have to drag you to the altar ourselves.

I'm coming!

Who's with me?

2008-06-24T14:18:00.002-05:00

Andrea Faye.

I work with a Mark Brice.

He was wearing a Honey Rock T-shirt one day.

I mentioned your name.

He blushed and said he knew you.

2008-06-19T11:59:00.003-05:00

For Neb (and others who have wondered how to transport multiple children without resorting to SUVs or Minivans):

It's called a Bakfiets, which means "basket-bike" (Dutch) -- I saw them in use in Amsterdam, and finally tracked them down.
There are multiple versions and sizes, and even a convertible one (or two), so you can drop the kiddles and their cart off somewhere and zip around town on your own.

Yeah, they're pricey, unfortunately. But when you think about how much your car cost to purchase and maintain, it starts to look a little better ...

... plus, they look a lot cooler than an SUV.

2008-06-09T18:11:00.002-05:00

So who all is planning on attending said wedding? Any of you PA/MD/WV/Delmarva/Mid-Atlantic folks want to meet up in the middle of Ohio and carpool from there? Maybe we can hash out all the details in the comments.

2008-05-10T21:16:00.002-05:00

ANYONE WHO WOULD LIKE ME TO SEND THEM AN INVITATION TO MY WEDDING (which will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan...about 3 hours from Wheaton) NEEDS TO SEND ME AN EMAIL AT THE FOLLOWING:

tkdcatch22@gmail.com

We'll be sending out our invitations very shortly. People hoping to have some sort of Mathetai-Brown House reunion may wish to coordinate with each other because I have a feeling it will be too distant for many, considering the need to fly in to Chicago and rent a car and drive 3 hours, so I would hate for people to be disappointed...

I'd love to see all of you there, but in the event you can't make it, I promise to post some pictures after the event...well, probably not right after the event...I'll have other things on my mind...like my honeymoon...but you know, maybe a few months later. :)

Please, email me your addresses ASAP at tkdcatch22@gmail.com if you'd like an invitation...and I'll be happy to send you one even if you don't plan to come.

Have a great summer!

-Wes

2008-05-01T04:42:00.002-05:00

If you're interested there are a bunch of new photos on my Flickr site.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hannahholder/

2008-04-17T17:22:00.001-05:00

Wes --

But does she like green peppers?

2008-04-14T17:23:00.003-05:00

Greetings friends,
Here's a bit of an update for those of you who requested more information, re: my engagement.
In the late fall of 2006, I attended a halloween party hosted by a friend I went to Wheaton with (Raelyn Isherwood, for those of you who know her). At this point, she was in grad school at Wheaton in the TESL program (Teaching English as a Second Language) and she invited a bunch of friends from her class to the party as well.

Thus, completely unexpectedly, at a halloween party (where I wore a costume consisting of an orange t-shirt which said "This is my halloween costume"), I met the girl it seems God has plans for me to marry. :)

Her name is Melanie Thayer, she's from MI and she graduated from Grand Valley State University (in MI) in 2002 with an Elementary Education Degree & Special Ed focus (education degrees in MI are highly valued across the country because of their stringent standards). Then she spent 2 years in Tanzania as a missionary, teaching english at a bible school hosted by a local church. Now she is a full time special-ed teacher/resource facilitator at a school in Glen Ellyn, and is taking grad classes at Wheaton for a master in TESL part time. She is smart, fun, thrifty (we both are...one of our favorite things about each other), has a beautiful smile and...this list could go on and on. :)

In all seriousness however, she is another glowing example in my life of how God takes care of me and blesses me in ways I could not have expected. Simply put, if God has allowed me to create the "perfect wife"...made to order if you will, whatever I thought would be ideal (You know proverbs 31 stuff, but also attractive, etc...)...I would not have created a Melanie. That's right, I said not. Instead I would have created a girl who was so much less that what Melanie is for me, and I wouldn't have know better. But thankfully, God does know better, and in Melanie, he's placed a girl in my life who is so much more than I ever could have hoped for, and who is so much of a match for me in so many ways, it blows my mind.

It's hard to believe the wedding is only about 3 months away. Very exciting.

On a different "update" note, I'm currently in my third year at MagnetStreet (http://www.magnetstreet.com/). I work in production running to 2 Xerox iGen3 Digital Presses (each worth about $750,000). In addition to magnets, etc, we've recently branched out into the wedding invitation market (which is of course what I've done our invitations on...you'll get them in a few months). This is good growth for the company, and while I don't know what God has planned, my hope is that if he's keeping me at MagnetStreet for an extended time, that this growth will lead to promotional or possibly even management opportunities in the future.

Lastly, Melanie and I are closing on a townhouse in early April. I'll move in shortly after. Then we'll spend evenings and weekends painting, fixing up, etc...and then just before the wedding, we'll move Mel's stuff in after she heads up to MI for the wedding. We're very excited about the place. :)

Anyway, that's pretty much that from this end. I hope you're all doing well and of course I'd love to hear what you've been up to.
Later!-Wes

2008-04-14T09:26:00.006-05:00

Mathetai-Brown House, Version 2.0

It starts with alphabet blocks. Next thing you know, they'll be making out in Fisher Lobby.

These pictures are from last month, when Jordana brought the kids over to my parents' house in Maryland. The weather was lovely and we went to the playground together. When we live next door to each other and homeschool someday, I hope every day will be as great as this one was. ;-)

Happy Spring!
Love, NEB

[PS And if I weren't a loser I would have thought to take a few pictures last night, when we visited Chez Long for J's birthday and enjoyed the company of Momlet and Dadlet and Uncle Meredith and Aunt Kendra. Fabulous people and a fabulous evening!

2008-03-13T21:26:00.002-05:00

Zingrin drove down from DC last month for an audition at UT. This is us posing for the "before" picture (after a couple of "cold drinks"), fixing his car's bumper, which had "fallen off". Most of the front of the car came off. I got to use my Craftsman rachet set! (not in picture). And the bumper's still on, which is nice.

-- Peter (Does this picture make me look fat?)

2008-02-19T22:08:00.002-06:00

If the Chicago weather of late is any indication...Hades has, in fact, frozen over.

As such, it is probably as good a time as any to inform those of you (that is to say, nearly all of you) with whom I have failed to adequately keep in touch, that I, Wesley Attaway, am, in fact...

getting married.

:-)

(Yes, that was a pig you saw flying overhead, and not a featherless goose)

2008-02-01T13:29:00.000-06:00

Hmm ... I'm not sure if it's just because I'm signed on to my account ... can anyone tell me if there's a map option (left hand column after clicking the link) called "Where We Are Now"? That's the map ...

2008-01-31T16:05:00.000-06:00

I was messing around with GoogleMaps and started mapping out where everyone is ... then Molly showed up and she wants to cuddle and it's hard to type with only one hand so I'm leaving it as-is for now and y'all can add your own addresses if I didn't have it handy when I started this whole thing. I'll do something with inviting collaborators & stuff so it's not public but I can't be bothered just now so add what you want!

2008-01-29T18:50:00.000-06:00

The Jordans are Moving

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile. I was waiting until I had news worthy of a post. So here it is: Laura and I are moving to Huntington, West Virginia where Laura will teach at Marshall University. Laura got many many offers from great schools, but in the end we decided to go with the university that had the most Matthew McConaughey movies associated with it. And of course we wanted the prestige that comes along with living in West Virginia. We'll be moving some time this summer, most likely early July. So if you wanted to visit us in New Haven, your time is running short; and if you want to visit us in W. Virginia we'll need a lot of help moving in. I will probably get to keep my current job and work from home after the move (fingers crossed) which is good because I like my job and I like working from home.

2008-01-01T09:33:00.000-06:00

More pictures from my work in progress:

Here's the blocks actually sewn together (in the picture in the post below, in case you can't tell, nothing was actually assembled yet, just laid out. I like picking fabrics, designing, and cutting out. I don't really like sewing because it's Hard.)

Doesn't it remind you of peppermint candy? Here's a close-up of the fabrics:

(For some reason the pattern on the red fabric is a little blurry...? And the white looks a little pink? Oh well.)

So the original plan had been to sew on all the "leaves" by hand, a kind of cheating-applique in which I sew the pieces flat on the blocks (i.e. instead of folding the edges under) but with some decorative trim to protect (and hide) the raw edges. I started this a few days before Christmas.

I have a four month old. It took me an entire day to sew on one leaf.

There are 100 leaves!

So I got Frustrated and considered back-up plans. My sewing machine...? Can do lots of fancy stitches...? I carefully read through the manual, found a stitch that would be appropriate for sewing on the leaves and decorative trim, and got a scrap of fabric to test my abilities to machine sew a curved seam.

That plan was quickly abandoned. Apparently, my machine sewing skills are like my ice skating skills- I can pretty much only go in a straight line, forward.*

At this point, I rather Despaired, and started thinking what most Lazy/Immature/Unskilled/Inexperienced/Impatient quilters think at this point-

"Can't I just GLUE these things together...?!?!?"

So then, my mother-in-law came to visit us. You have to understand, my mother-in-law is An Excellent Seamstress. She makes clothes. She knits. She does embroidery. You get the idea. She does things The Right Way. Her craft items have all the corners meeting up perfectly, unlike mine, which seem to mysteriously lose an inch (OR TWO?!?) somehow in the creative process. So I was king of hesitant about asking her about my options... but in the end I was glad I did, because she introduced me to the miracle of:

(*trumpet fanfare, drumroll*)

FUSIBLE WEBBING!!!!!

It's all about the TWO-SIDED-STICKY FUSIBLE WEBBING, my friends! Among the greatest inventions of the 20th century! Ranks right up there with putting people on the moon and general anesthetic!!

The answer is, Why, YES! YES YOU CAN GLUE YOUR QUILT TOGETHER!! And this was the result:

Here I'm showing it to you "on point," because the patterns that show up all look kind of different from this perspective. (Plus, my Inner Fractal Quilter [does everyone have an Inner Fractal Quilter??] totally wants to take this design, shrink it down to a 12x12 block, and lay out a bunch of blocks on point, or make them into a border for the main design, or make them into some kind of Great Circle pattern or Irish Chain or something.)

A few more notes: this design is essentially a block pattern called "Winding Ways," which is a variation on the more traditional Drunkard's Path. If anyone's interested in using it for anything, you can find template instructions by googling "Winding Ways."

I think it is probably the Height of Literary Pretention (but it is also True) to tell you that this quilt makes me think about The Great Dance in Perelandra.

To Mary, who, in the comments below, was "in awe": remember: I don't cook. I rarely clean my house. I can't really sew, either. I GLUED this baby together. ;-) It's not my fault that Jesus made the world with beautiful, exquisite geometry.

Love to all, and I hope you all had a marvelous Christmas. :-)
Neb

PS Apologies to any readers of this blog who aren't Crafty. You can totally post some oversized piece (replete with pictures) of how you Rebuilt your Engine or Defragmented your Hard Drive or something.

*This isn't technically true. I can turn on ice skates, which is a useful skill when skating around an elliptical rink. I just can't go backwards. Still, ice skating is what came to mind for this metaphor, and it makes me happy and seems winter-appropriate, so I'll leave it in. I need more Coffee now.

2007-12-21T20:44:00.000-06:00

Make a photobook - it's easy!

My first virtual Christmas Card. I never thought I'd see the day. Hopefully most of you will get this in your regular email but if I missed you, here it is! Merry Christmas to all of you!

2007-12-17T19:43:00.000-06:00

If you would like to check out photos of my time here in New Zealand, I've posted quite a few here. A lot of them are of flowers and family; but there are some scenery shots, too. Merry Christmas, everybody!

2007-12-15T19:23:00.000-06:00

I can't post about this on my own blog because I am making this for my sister and she reads my own blog, but I realized I can post about it HERE, so here it is, 8 blocks of the 25 blocks in my new quilt, the beautiful new quilt I am making!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

I need more coffee now.

Love!
Neb

2007-12-12T10:45:00.000-06:00

Yay, thank you everyone. Now I can post on our Blog. Well, I'm sorry I don't have any recipes right now, especially not Christmas recipes...Not because I don't want to give them to you, or because I don't like to cook. I just don't have specifically holiday recipes. But I do have some news, for those of you who don't know, my wife Sarah and I are going to have a baby this February! That at least is worth a post, I think. Hope you're all having a good day.

Jeff and Sarah Squire (and baby)

2007-12-06T15:49:00.000-06:00

Jeff and Sarah would like to join the blog, but I don't have their email address to invite them! Could somebody (who does have their address) email an invite, please? Unless we collectively don't want them to join, in which case a ritual freeze-out is in order.

So Jeff, if you don't get an invite, consider yourself Snubbed.

Just kidding. So someone needs to go to the "Settings" tab, then the "permissions" subgroup (compsci people please stop flinching) and "Add Author."

Thank you.

2007-11-07T09:16:00.000-06:00

Speaking of Christmas . . .

Some of you have moved recently (okay, in the last 2 years, but I am slow). Can we start a round robin/mass email of our current addresses just to make sure everyone is on the same page? I know I don't have up to date addresses for Carrie, Alysia, Dan, Zingrin, Michael T., NEB or Airika (maybe I do, but how would I know since we never hear from her). So! When this starts, if anybody knows their addresses (or has a good guess) feel free to reply for them. Also! Hannah? I feel sure you sent me your address and I DO pay attention (to you anyway ;) but I can't seem to find it.
That's all folks!

PS I don't have many Christmas recipes because we usually do super traditional things that have no recipe. Rub butter on turkey. Use baking bag. Yeah! Beg Granny to make the dressing and let you watch so that someday you will be able to make it. Follow the pumpkin pie recipe on the Libby's can. The only unique thing I can think of (with a recipe) is a Cranberry Upside Down Cake recipe I have. I typically make it for Easter but I think it is more traditionally a Christmas/Thanksgiving recipe. It is very easy and I will share if anyone is interested.

Oh, and some years my family has gone non-traditional for Christmas and had Mexican! or Steaks! or Italian! They know better than to do this when I will be around. Anyway, if you are wanting to break out of the box, do it with flair. The lasagna sounds like a prime candidate for such a venture. I will be trying that recipe one of these days.

2007-11-02T23:11:00.000-05:00

*Neb's Top 5 Can't-Live-Without-Them Holiday "Recipes"*

1) Coffee: add grounds, add water, brew. Flavors are good. Addition of liquor is permissible in the presence of Disturbing Relatives.

2) Chocolate: Find stockings hung over the mantle with care. Access candy. The perfect Christmas morning breakfast.

3) Asparagus Casserole: [My mom's recipe- I've made it before, but can't remember the precise details. I don't think you can really go wrong, though.] Layer asparagus, extra sharp cheddar cheese, and finely ground Ritz cracker crumbs in a casserole dish with pats of butter on each layer and a tiny bit of milk poured over the whole thing at the end. Bake at some kind of temperature, like maybe 350 or so, for awhile, you know, until it's quite hot all the way through and the cheese is melted and so forth. I would guess 30 or 45 minutes. I really have absolutely no idea how long. You kitchen people could probably guess better than me. Anyway, my mom always used canned asparagus, but I'm sure fresh would improve the taste- don't know how that might change the baking time. This is my absolute favorite dish at Thanksgiving.

4) Sweet Potato Souffle: [Again, this is one of my mom's Thanksgiving recipes, and I have made it before, but since it's somewhat complicated mine really didn't turn out the same as hers..] Let's see, you start by baking some sweet potatoes. How many, you ask? Well, get the casserole dish you're going to use for this recipe and see how many sweet potatoes will fit, I guess. Once the sweet potatoes are baked soft, scoop out the insides, and mash them with a lot of butter and some nutmeg and brown sugar. Then separate some eggs and beat your egg whites with an electric mixer until That Thing Happens (you know, that cooking thing that you're always looking for when you beat egg whites... "stiff peaks"? Is that what they call it?) How many eggs, you ask? Well... how many sweet potatoes did you bake? You need enough egg white material to match the amount of sweet potato innards you've got! Fold in the egg whites to the sweet potatoes, VERY slowly and patiently, to make them fluffy.

Add some more butter and brown sugar. Use a LOT. Really. [When I asked my mom for this recipe over the phone, she was, of course, trying to be more specific with quantities and stuff until she got to the butter. Then our conversation went like this:

Mom: "And then, you add LOTS of butter..."
Neb [writing]: "Okay... how much butter?"
Mom: "Well. [Pause] I really can't tell you how much butter I put in."
Neb: (sigh) "Mom, I know you put in a lot of butter. Seriously, it's okay. Just tell me how much."
Mom: [audibly blushing] "No. Really. I can't tell you how much butter I put in. I can't say the amount out loud."

I can just see the scene at the Pearly Gates, where [perhaps?] all of our Secret Deeds are revealed, with Michael the Archangel saying "YOU, Elizabeth W. ****, put SEVENTEEN STICKS OF BUTTER into that one casserole you made every Thanksgiving..."]

So then I think you sprinkle some more brown sugar on the top (it couldn't hurt, right?) and top with giant (S'more-sized) marshmellows, then bake (at 350 maybe? For some amount of time?) Yeah. Good stuff.

PS Now that I think of it, I think maybe you're supposed to take at least one of your egg yolks from the separation and mix that in too, and maybe a little milk. But it probably doesn't matter much.

5) Apple salad: Cut up about 3 apples and 3 bananas into tiny pieces. Place in a large bowl with 1 can of pineapple chunks (again, I'm sure fresh is better, but we always used canned), some mini marshmellows, and Cool Whip. Top with ~~Marastachio(?)~~ Those Bright Red Cherries that Come in a Jar and Begin with an M. Serve chilled.

In closing, a gratuitous baby picture:

Love, Neb

2007-11-01T15:22:00.001-05:00

Deanna's Sicilian Lasagna

I got this from a coworker of mine. It takes some time, but it's totally worth it.

Sauce:

Chuck roast (or similar inexpensive roast -- NOT ground -- and NOT flank steak), approx 2 LB
Olive oil (couple tablespoons)
6 cloves garlic
4T basil (dried or fresh)
Tomato sauce -- 2 large cans
Tomato paste -- 2 small cans
1/2 C sugar
6 bay leaves
salt & pepper

Cheese:
1 tub Ricotta
1/2 C Shredded Parmesan (shredded is better than the shelf-stable grated stuff)
1/2 C Shredded Mozzarella
various spices to taste (I usually use more garlic, basil, oregano, thyme and a little marjoram)

Lasagna noodles -- I like the no-boil kind.

Get your biggest soup pot. Heat the olive oil in the bottom (it's ready when it just starts to smoke), then brown the roast about 5 min. each side, add the garlic and basil when you turn the roast over. Once it's brown, add the tomato sauce and paste, bring to a simmer and cover. A half hour later, add the sugar, bay leaves and whatever other spices you'd like. Cover and simmer for a while ... the longer the better. Like 4-6 hours. The point is to simmer this stuff until the beef falls apart.

Combine the cheeses. Layer the lasagna as usual, except that the meat's already with the sauce. You may need to break up the larger pieces of meat. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 50 minutes; uncover for a final 10 minutes.

Notes:
1. The sauce can be done in a crock pot. It comes out a little darker -- just make sure your crock pot is big enough!! I still prefer the taste of stovetop-prepared, though, and do it that way when I can.
2. Finished sauce can also be frozen for up to six months.

2007-11-01T15:21:00.001-05:00

From Hannah -- she put it in the comments section, but here's its own entry.

Scotch Shortbread

(Best made a day before you plan to serve it.)

1 cup butter
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
2 cups sifted flour (at room temp.)

Cream butter and beat in sugar gradually. Mix in flour well. Spread on a cookie sheet, or in a cake pan (about 9"x9") at least 1/2 in. thick. (If you're having trouble patting it out--too sticky--chill for 30 min. or so till the dough is stiffer.) Prick all over with a fork (we always do a pattern). Bake at 350 F. for 5 min. Reduce heat to 300 and bake about 45 min. longer. Cut while still hot! (We usually cut ours in 36 squares...but, of course, you can try any shape or size.)

Enjoy! I made shortbread just a couple weeks ago.

2007-10-26T13:46:00.000-05:00

In an effort to jumpstart posting, I'm going to announce the

First Annual
Holiday Recipe Exchange!
(ta-da!)

The idea is that we post our favorite/traditional recipes we tend to use every year and/or everyone's asking us for (or we're asking someone to make). And then we've all got something different and tasty we can try for the holidays!

(Translation: I'm cooking this Christmas and I'm looking for ideas.)

First off, I need Hannah's shortbread recipe.

I'll also post my awesome lasagna recipe later, when I have more time.

2007-10-16T17:15:00.000-05:00

A Plea for your Pennies

Hello, everyone! Time has gotten away from me again, and I forgot to post this earlier ...

Ahem ... OK, suffice it to say that I 1) Dislike fundraisers (too many years in band, selling chocolate/wrapping paper/more chocolate/popcorn/did I mention chocolate?); 2) Hate making pleas for money. However, I love my husband and he loves his job (which, I'll admit, is a good cause all by itself -- the Job, that is, although the loving of it is also a good thing) and here goes:

Michael (the husband) works for Deaf Video Communications of America, Inc. For those of you who don't like to follow links (Dan), it's in a nutshell a Christian nonprofit to assist the deaf. They provide video (DVD and VHS) sermons, Bible studies, closed-captioned Christian movies free of charge for the deaf community, which is an incredibly large relatively unreached people group in this country.

The Big Project lately is Dr. Wonder's Workshop, a weekly TV show for deaf kids (it's actually on air right now). It's pretty much the first of its kind (there have been other shows, but this is the first one that's actually managed more than two episodes. They're doing postproduction on season 2 right now.).

Anyhoodle, I've already mentioned that this is a nonprofit, right? And kids (the target demographic, obviously) don't have money. So an awful lot of the funds have to be raised, which leads me to

The Point

This Saturday (Oct. 20) is DVC's annual Bowlathon. I am participating. I am supposed to get pledges, either per-point or flat amount. I promise y'all, I am a Terrible Bowler (so a penny a point won't kill the piggy bank!). Any and all donations will be greatly appreciated. It should also be noted that a foundation (who wish to remain unnamed -- I don't even know who they are, Michael won't tell me) has promised a matching grant up to $25,000, which is awesome.

Just email me or leave a comment if you lost my email address ... and ... I guess that's all! Thanks, everyone! (And I promise that, when your kids are old enough, you can put me down for a case of the chocolate bars with almonds.)

2007-10-10T10:29:00.001-05:00

Well, it seems that a lot of us are dealing with new babies, finding employment to justify our new doctoral statuses, trekking through New Zealand and having wonderful adventures or just otherwise tired ...

I can't give much input for a lot of the above (OK, or any of the above, except to say Congrats, you Lucky Ducks!), but I did stumble across a cool website for those with the Babies of Newness. Some of the stuff is ridiculously overpriced, overblown, overmodern, etc. but there are a couple cool pieces -- I would direct the reader's attention to the Kipiis and Bilibo as pretty cool concepts. And some Montessori-type toys.

2007-09-19T08:56:00.000-05:00

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day, mates!

2007-09-10T20:10:00.000-05:00

Three of my cousins here in New Zealand have started up an internet business that some of you programmer-type/computer-y people might be interested in. Check out www.micropledge.com when you have a chance. Thanks!

2007-09-06T18:59:00.001-05:00

8 obscure things about me...

*this is a cross post from my blog*

Yeah. Thanks, meesh for tagging me. i've been putting this off for a while because i'm quite unoriginal and am having a hard time coming up with anything.

in no particular order:

1) I support desktop computer environments (i'm pretty good at it, too) and have never taken a computer class. (unless you count touch-typing... but i don't think that should count because most techs don't know how to type correctly.) i guess that's a benefit of having a computer programmer for a father.

2) i've been to europe 4 times. 3 of those times i was still in high school.

3) i had a job as a telemarketer. it was for a painful 2 weeks. i hated it, but needed a job since i had just moved out of my dad's up to where i'm at now... (tip: have a job before relocating)

4) I name almost every inanimate object i own. My jeep was named Harold, my trumpet is Leonardo, my laptop is Meph (short for Mephibosheth), my phone is RoryG (after rory from the gilmore girls). i'm thinking about calling my new truck Harvey, he hasn't informed how he feels about that, yet.

5) While we're on the subject of names, i had 4, maybe 5 hamsters when i was younger (one at a time). All were named Michaelangelo (no, not after that Michaelangelo, but after the TMNT Mike).

6) I love pickles but hate them in burgers.

7) I'm an avid Apple and Mac fan, even worked in an Apple reseller store for a while, but have yet to call myself a mac owner. :'(

8) my guilty pleasure: chick flicks... but the funny ones, not the serious one.

2007-09-06T18:59:00.000-05:00

Hey all,

You know, the trouble with this blog thing is that nobody reminds you to check it. I guess no one reminds me to check my email either, but somehow it really feels like email is delivered to you and to blog you have to go out and post something. I was really thinking that I had put an update on not too long ago so everyone should know what is happening in my life. Then I looked at the blog and realized I was at least 6 months behind. So it seems I have missed a lot of great stuff in 6 months. Glad to hear so many new houses, babies, and other major life changes are going well. Many congrats on all of them! Nate, way to go on the dissertation defense!

I guess I don't post much because my life hasn't changed a whole lot. Still in school, I have pushed my graduation target date back to next June rather than December. Maybe my big news here is that Lisa (younger sister) just left for China last weekend. She is going to spend the year there learning chinese and helping in a coffeeshop/bookstore.

Hannah, you must already be on your way to New Zealand. I am jealous! Looking forward to your updates.

That's it for now. Back to learning about what sort of aerosols are in the atmosphere and what they do to sunlight.

ps Alysia, I can't remember if the getting rid of odors post was in the last few months, but the question intrigued me. I am pretty sure that our sense of smell comes from molecules interacting with some kind of "sensor" in our nasal passages. I would guess that many of them are organic and not very polar molecules, so not ions. But it may be that those molecules are given off by the life habits of bacteria. In which case, if you get rid of the bacteria you get rid of the smell...

2007-09-03T14:05:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to inform all of you that I leave Thursday for [potentially] a year of work and travel in New Zealand! I fly from Knoxville (1:40 pm) to Christchurch (Sat. 2:50 pm) via Chicago, San Francisco, and Sydney. I'll be with cousins the first week or so (another cousin is getting married a week after I arrive); then I'll be boarding with friends for the next few months. After that, who knows. The whole plan still seems pretty crazy to me...I don't think it's hit home at all. Maybe 'cause I just started packing today since the house has been jumbled with things Eva was taking/sorting through before moving out last Saturday.

I'll look forward to seeing the updates you all post here. NEB, "chicken" seemed pretty suitable. :)

2007-08-23T18:41:00.000-05:00

Well, awhile back Jordana tagged me... and I never responded, so now, I will try to pull this off while the baby is nursing propped on the boppy...

*8 Obscure Facts About Me*

1) I had 5 wisdom teeth. They all got removed when I was 16. My mouth is actually really, really small, so I now only have 24 teeth (the normal adult mouth has 32, including wisdom teeth.)

2) I have lived in 6 states, and visited about 38 (there are a few I'm not sure about.) But the only time I've been out of the US was a trip to Mexico in high school to do volunteer work.

3) Barbara Bush is my aunt. (She's a retired school teacher in Kentucky.)

4) My grandfather was the director of the state department of mental health in Georgia. He died in 1976, before I was born. My grandparents would have turned 100 this year if they were still alive. They met in France in WW II, in the army.

5) I didn't read much just for fun in high school, so when the Wheaton application asked for a list of "leisure reading" from the past couple of years, I systematically picked about 14 books that would prove I was "well-rounded"and read them just so I could list them. (The thick biography of Marie Curie, to prove I was interested in issues related to women in science, was rather... hefty.)

6) I know 180 digits of pi. I can recite the first 100 in ten seconds.

7) I have been in at least 7 car accidents that I can remember. Once, the other driver was 14. Once I was on a school bus. Three times my dad was driving. Once a Wheaton professor was driving. Twice I was driving- once the accident was sort of my fault, but not legally so, and the other time it was legally my fault, but I wasn't really to blame (ice). The first time involved 5 cars on I-10 in Houston in rush hour, and fire trucks, and ambulances, and helicopters. I have never been injured.

8) (You didn't really think I would make it through this list without mentioning The Wee One, did you?) I call my newborn daughter many typical things, like "little love" and "sweet pea" and "precious angel" and "sugar pie," etc etc, but one morning this week I realized I had this urge to call her Chicken. Why "chicken," I thought? I fought the urge off a few times and then gave in, and started calling her Chicken. Then I realized what her favorite pose reminds me of:

So maybe I'm not as weird as I think. ;-)

Love, NEB

PS I tag... all of you!

2007-08-16T20:27:00.000-05:00

Yeah! Thanks Valerie. So about 5 hours after I wrote that last post, my water broke (although I wasn't sure that's what it was at the time...). And about 7 hours after THAT, I totally pushed a baby out.

Yeah, so, there's that.

Also? Her cord stump just fell off. First tub bath tomorrow.

I must learn to type one-handed.

Will start Nebiverse update tomorrow morning at 5, God willing. Possibly typing one-handed.

Must go pump now, and to bed!

Love, Neb (&Madelaine)

PS Please see

http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/g/galois

for pictures and a guestbook!! :-)

2007-08-14T21:21:00.000-05:00

Congratulations Nate and Neb on a new baby girl for Liam to choose from when he gets married. Can't wait to see more pictures. For those of you who missed it, Madelaine arrived, 3 1/2 weeks early and a day after Nate became Dr. Nate. Talk about a subtle post to announce it, Nate! Congrats!

2007-08-13T13:35:00.000-05:00

Editing other people's posts:

If you are signed in, click on the little pencil icon to the bottom right of a blog entry. You should then be in edit mode.

It works for me, anyway. I'm going to go check that everyone is listed as an administrator for this blog.

Toodles.

P.S. Turns out that the more recent contributors to the blog (Neb and Nate, among others) were listed as guests, so now y'all are admin as well, which should now clear up the problem.

Wes, for goodness' sake, post already!

2007-08-13T11:09:00.000-05:00

Question to the science-types (and please answer this one -- the air in our house depends on it!):

Are odors ions? Little bitty bacteria?

We're trying to figure out what kind of air filter to get, now that we have 3 felines. Odor is the major issue, as it's a longer-running problem. (We're already getting desensitized to our particular kitties' dander, so I'm not as worried about allergies. Plus, I could always vacuum. And dust. Keyword here being could.)

We've been borrowing an ionic filter from the MiL for a week, and that seems to have gotten rid of the majority of the odor, but I'm open to the possibility of placebo effects. Various consumer groups online say that ionic filters are crap and do very, very little of anything.

All I know is that the filter we're using has two pretty blue lights when it's running.

2007-08-08T07:50:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, do we have any rules on this blog about Appropriate Picture Sharing? Is 6 okay? I shrank them down! Really! ;-)

My husband did his thing yesterday! He defended his dissertation against the cruel, harsh attacks of the outside world! He went into The Big Lecture Room with the Powerpoint and Made the Science Words for like an hour, all the words about the Proteins, um... doing their Protein Things! And there were graphs! and charts! and many, many equations! And I recognized a couple of the equations because I had helped with them! And then his family and I went into the room next door and set up all the tables of Snacks while the faculty people questioned him about his work and his affiliation with the Communist Party and why his shirt is never completely tucked in and why he's always drenched in sweat, and then they signed his papers, saying he's a Doctor! Woo hoo!

This is before the big talk. Doesn't he look incredibly Hott??? (...and hot...?)

Here's the snack room afterwards. The nice man in the blue shirt is his adviser, offering a toast. His siblings Adrienne and Elliot are here, too. (I'm pretty sure Elliot understood more of the talk than I did.) Do you see the cheese plate? With little flags in the cheeses? We had 10 kinds of cheese and I made little flags identifying each one because I hate eating cheese and not knowing what I'm eating. Not that I'm obsessive compulsive or anything.

Look at all those cookies I baked! Because I am totally a Proverbs 31 woman! (Just kidding, of course. Wegman's helped out a little bit. But if we read the part of Proverbs 31 that says something about "bringing food from afar," then I still qualify...?)

Here's Nate looking happy with his friend John.

Most of the good friends he's made while in grad school.

And as a special surprise, his family and my family and some friends chipped in and we got him the Big Person camera he's always wanted. So after he opened that, the rest of the evening was spent Talking Camera with his dad (they know all the things about lenses and filters and, you know... Camera Things.) So he was a happy boy. And then I fell into bed, exhausted and Great With Child.

So thanks to those of you who prayed for him. Yay! (Now we just need a job.)

Love, Neb

PS I'm posting this on my own blog, too, for the benefit of that audience...

2007-08-03T06:58:00.000-05:00

(A day late, as usual...) ;-)

Happy Anniversary, Chris and Jordana.

(And we must say, two in four years isn't bad... you certainly have us beat!)

Love, Neb & Nate

PS (To everyone)- Nate is defending his dissertation on Tuesday. Prayers appreciated!

2007-07-27T08:29:00.001-05:00

Hey guys,

As far as I can tell, there's no "Edit" option if you are not the original author of a post. (Can anyone else confirm this...?) Perhaps the settings for this blog can be changed so that we CAN edit Alysia's post, but for now I'll just put my ideas here...

3) Snuggle as much as possible. Especially the kind of snuggling that leads to sex. ;-)
4) Remember to put your spouse first- even in little, subtle ways. One thing Nate and I do instinctively, that I really appreciate, is that when we're in a group of friends, if one of us gets interrupted or doesn't get a chance to say what we were going to say, the other one of us will bring the conversation back to pick up the missed comment... (do you guys know what I'm talking about?) I find this very encouraging and affirming; it dissipates any leftover feelings of junior high awkwardness in social settings.
5) Don't throw away things without permission. This includes old underwear. ("If there is at least one molecule of Boxers left, it still counts as underwear!!") This applies even when your spouse has a Packrat Problem (as does mine.) Learn to negotiate gently. Praise when progress is made. (Last year Nate cleaned out his closet and organized the remaining items... I was on Cloud 9... I probably took him out to dinner afterwards or something.)
6) Try, TRY to listen when your spouse is making The Confusing, Boring Words. After 6+ years of marriage, my husband STILL tries to bravely tell me about his Science Things, like proteins, and graphs, and... yeah, I lack the vocabulary to even talk about it. And when I am reading or watching TV or something it is REALLY hard for me to stop what I'm doing and listen to a couple of minutes of Science-Talk that is 100% uninteresting/un-understandable to me (in its own right), but because it is Important to the one I love, I Try. (Last night I launched into a long thing about how Nate needs to be Emotionally Supportive during labor and help me stay relaxed and calm and everything, and at some point he kind of glazed over and I said "Are you listening to me?!?" And he said "There were keywords that made me zone out... something about Emotions and Feelings..." And I said "Now you know how I feel when you talk about science!" And he said "Now you know how I feel when you don't listen to me!" So there you have it.)
7) Smooch a lot.
8) I just asked Nate, what is your advice about marriage? And he said, "Big sheets." ;-) He also said, "People are always surprising. The surprises just get more subtle."

2007-07-26T17:33:00.000-05:00

Here's a Group Post -- just Edit in your additions. I thought of this while changing the sheets and thought it would be fun for us old married folk and enlightening for those who Still Have A Social Life (i.e. "singles").

Tips for a Happy Marriage

1. Get a flat sheet one size larger than your mattress size, thus allowing plenty of leeway for sheet-stealing.
2. Don't share toothpaste.

2007-07-13T15:13:00.001-05:00

Couple window ideas for Mary:

There's colored window tape

Or just decorating the window

Or the (more expensive -- but very, very pretty) window screen

But there's a cheaper version
but only sorta

I think there's something similar at Ace Hardware and the like as well.

That's what I've found so far ... I know I'm missing something, so more post later. I suppose.

2007-07-01T11:35:00.000-05:00

The other day at work I caught a whiff of my old Strawberry Shortcake doll.

Does that every happen to anybody else -- completely apropos of nothing, you smell something from your past? Just through a strange combination of ambient smells that conspire to totally throw you off balance.

F'rexample, a couple years ago I regularly worked 4am-9am Sunday mornings, and when I got to work the parking lot always smelled of Smurf Berry Crunch. When I walked back to the car at 9, the smell was always gone.

2007-07-01T00:15:00.000-05:00

the news from peter

Yes, I now own a house with my brother Ben. We have just finished painting the living room Delft Blue (so it will match the sky pieces in all the Dutch landscape puzzles we intend to work), and it looks much better. I, on the other hand, do not, as I have blobs of primer stuck in my hair, and it is 1am. The rest of the house still smells like old people, but feel free to drop in and see us when you're in K-Town. I'm probably getting a fairly new sleeper-sofa from a cousin of a buddy at work unless they've given it to someone else, and it will reside in the living room, which now smells like solvents.

In other news, Zingrin is back in the country, and (which will be of particular interest to Dan, Chris x2, and your spousal relations) he has the picture. Way to go Z!

2007-06-30T15:30:00.000-05:00

correction.
The book is named The Higher Power of Lucky.
If I work with books all day, I should be able to at least get their titles right.
You'd think.

2007-06-30T11:50:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody! Here's a long overdue post. Unfortunately, I'm blogging blindly, as my google account seems to think that I'm fluent in Chinese. So here's hoping that something goes right. As I have no children at this point, there will be no pictures of adorable creatures (I'll spare you the nieces and nephews--I have six now!).

I am currently recovering from a two week visit by my brother Nate, his wife, Faith, and their three little ones, Brennan (4), Ryan (2 1/2), and Kathryn (3 mo.). Wonderful and exhausting. I have a renewed respect for those of you out there with the courage to multiply. Parenting is a tough job! And boy do toddlers like to whine! They are packing up and/or selling all of their earthly belongings and moving to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, with hopes of starting a youth hostel.

It's a summer of saying good-bye as several friends and/or family are packing up and moving to various locations far, far away from me to do the work that God has called them to. I am very excited for the opportunities before them, but it's hard not to feel left behind sometimes. Especially when one is left in a place like St. Louis, where snorkels are needed to breathe in the summer air. Between all these partings and the death of a Honeyrock friend, I have begun to develop a new gratefulness for the hope that we have in heaven. How great is it that through Christ, we never really have to say good-bye! That alone is worth all the crap we have to go through down here sometimes.

Those of you who have had the joy of living with me will be astonished to know that as of two or three weeks ago, I have begun to wake up of my own volition (no alarm, no shaking, no shouting, no War of the Worlds:)) at 6:30 AM!!! And I am conversant! And I smile!! It is an absolute miracle and I don't exactly know how to take it all, quite frankly. But I'm thankful that I've stuck with my crazy doctor long enough to get to this point. Because it really does make life easier.

Last but not least, for those who care, I am reading Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis, amidst various and sundry kids books. If you're looking for a controversial kids book that is being banned in schools across the country for using the word scrotum (completely gratuitous, but mostly harmless and quite hilarious, really), read this year's Newberry award winner, The Power of Lucky. You might get a kick out of it.

2007-06-28T17:32:00.000-05:00

Ok, here's the update from me...

Have a short haircut.

Am trying to sell cards and purses through Alysia's spot at the French Market (she can tell you whether that's working or not).

Did two murals and a calligraphy project in four days this week--maybe a new record.

Have a work holiday visa to New Zealand and will be leaving either early September or late December for a year of work and play in Christchurch (and thereabouts).

Hope to be visiting Mary, Christopher, and Suzan in the next month.

Gotta run.

2007-06-28T15:48:00.000-05:00

When you asked for pictures, Neb, I'm sure this isn't what you had in mind. But! I would like to solicit advice for a project. These are Suzan's bedroom windows (note the classy foil "blinds" on those eyebrow windows!) and I don't know how to approach the window treatment. Does anyone in this group have stylistic taste? Opinions? Since I have none, I don't know that I could be trusted to recognize it in others. I have the vague idea of something "tied back" and I know what colors/fabric I want. I need help with . . . layout? Should I have two panels that are pulled back to either side? (Please note the one inch bit of wall to the right.) Four panels split over each window? Something entirely different? If you have a suggestion and a reason for it, I'd like the reason too. Male opinions will not be discounted.

2007-06-26T13:36:00.000-05:00

Insanity for everyone!

At least that's how it feels in my house these days. First, we started fostering a litter of kittens. Then, my dad and stepmom dropped off my 14-year-old cat, Daffodil. Then one of the kittens died (still trying to come up with the words for that blog), and we decided to keep all the remaining 3 kittens.

Oh, and I started a new small business.

It's a teeny tiny eco-business operating out of the Wheaton and Geneva French Markets. I alternate between the two every week (Wheaton is on Saturdays and Geneva's on Sundays), so that I don't have to request every single weekend off at my day job, thus keeping said day job (and its yummy health insurance). I'm mostly selling biodegradable cleaning products in bulk; customers can bring in their own containers to be filled, instead of buying a new bottle every time and "recycling" the old one. I hope to eventually open an actual brick-and-mortar store that offers inexpensive, quality, cruelty-free fair-trade household goods with minimal packaging (and did I hear someone say "Community Compost," Laura? :) ).

Let it be known that right now, it's 1:45 pm and I'm STILL IN MY PAJAMAS. And I'm PROUD of it! My current schedule means I've got one day off a week, which usually means lots and lots of errands, but not today! HA!

I shall go now and eat chocolate pudding.

2007-06-24T16:56:00.000-05:00

Hey, guess what guys:

*Peter and his brother bought a house! Pictures should be posted.
*Zingrin is returning (has returned?) to the US! Details should be given!
*Mary and Chris have moved into a beautiful new house! Again, with the pictures!
*Chris and Jordana are having an Ocean Creature (which might also be a baby) in a few weeks!
*Lots of you have highly photogenic children that do cute things! (Clarification: all of you who HAVE children have children who are highly photogenic....) Anecdotes should be shared!
*The rest of you probably have Cool stuff going on that you could write about!

See my point? We have LOTS of things to post about... really we do...

Love, Neb

2007-06-11T12:56:00.000-05:00

Two things I heard today:

- Two animal cracker tigers roaring at me.

- Just as I turned on the shower, a three year old informing me “I just used all the Kleenexes.”

Guess which one I found more charming.

2007-05-23T20:20:00.000-05:00

1) What is your favorite thing about your current job?
I'm gonna respond with several things, since I really do a lot of complaining about my job (people are stupid. OK! OK! Stopping with the complaining!)
a) Kids are fun to watch (when they're not screaming because their moms are too busy with their cell phones/blackberriesSORRY!).
b) I can get away with saying a lot of crazy stuff.
c) This one is actually the most important. I HAVE GOOD COFFEE AT MY WORK HAHAHAHAHA! AND IT'S FREE AND SOMETIMES I DON'T EVEN HAVE TO MAKE IT MYSELF HAHAHAHAHAHA!

2) What has everyone been reading recently?
Currently A Game of Thrones by George R.R. ("Tolkien is my Homeboy") Martin. Usually also a smattering of ChickLit. Because I like it. So there.

3) Traveling anywhere this summer?
Longville, Minnesota. By way of the Minneapolis area, where there is 1) my dad and stepmom (and cat) and 2) the Oakeshott Museum, one of the most important collections of historical arms and armor in the western hemisphere and 3) the Spam Museum. Try to guess which ones of those three were my idea. In Longville? Population 300? The 20th annual (yes, every year) week-long Williams Family Reunion: This year there's t-shirts. My husband loves me a LOT.

4) What's your favorite beverage when the weather is hot?
A homemade concoction I found a recipe for in Sundays at Moosewood: you steep fresh-grated ginger root in (water, obviously) sugar, cloves and cinnamon, strain it, add orange and lemon juice and chill. YUM. Or, for a quick fix, one part Trader Joe's Lemon Ginger Echinacea Drink and two parts Trader Joe's Green and White Tea. Also yum.

5) How do you feel about the use of the word "escribatological"?
Rock on.

2007-05-22T11:29:00.000-05:00

Mary, I agree- there are plenty of "users" of this blog who are not updating. And I have been tempted to update recently, except that I have been responsible for 2 of the last 5 posts (with this one, 3 out of 6) [you will all be glad to know that I have restrained myself from creating Pie Charts of those last two pieces of data], which is a disproportionately high ratio.

To alleviate the escribatological constipation:
1) What is your favorite thing about your current job?
2) What has everyone been reading recently?
3) Traveling anywhere this summer?
4) What's your favorite beverage when the weather is hot?
5) How do you feel about the use of the word "escribatological"?

As for updating about myself- I graduated yesterday! With a master's degree and everything! Yeah! I got Very Sunburned. If you want pictures you'll have to undertake the incalculably difficult task of navigating from here over to the Nebiverse. (Pictures aren't up yet, but should be soon.) Also! Nate doesn't have a job yet!

Come on, people. Pretend you don't have a life, like me, and post something.

Neb

2007-05-21T14:25:00.000-05:00

This is for all you coffee lovers. For an upcoming road trip I was thinking how nice it would be to have some bottles of Frappuccino to keep "the driver" awake. Any time I think about consuming (or providing) an expensive, commercially prepared comestible (and yes, that was the word that first came to mind), I immediately think: "Surely I could make that." So I googled a recipe over at Top Secret Recipes and came up with this. Doesn't that sound easy? The ninth comment, by "Pat," inspired me to use the unflavored gelatin in the back of my pantry instead of scrounging through the grocery store for the "right" kind of pectin (comment 8, Lori). So now we have . . . um, Frappuccino Pudding. Is anybody interested in the outcome of further culinary experiments on this particular comestible?
I don't like that I have two back-to-back posts. If this is the most exciting thing happening to any of us? How are the mighty fallen!

2007-05-07T13:10:00.000-05:00

2007-04-26T08:02:00.000-05:00

To save Dan Jordan's aching fingers:

Madelaine- internal view

Madelaine- external view:

Alright, now that I've posted pictures, Jordana has to, too.

2007-04-25T10:12:00.000-05:00

Wes, stop lurking!!! I know you're there!

Anyone know where Dax is?

2007-04-20T17:00:00.000-05:00

It's a beautiful day

To find out that we are having a

Girl :-)

2007-04-17T20:13:00.000-05:00

Hmmm.... 4 days in the wilderness with Peter and family.... sounds like fun. Unfortunately now that I'm married there's not enough vacation time to spend with the Jordan and McCunn sides of my family let alone hang out with Peter. Sorry, I'm going to have to pass. Also I'm not in good enough shape to go 40 miles. Hiking up East Rock is about all I can manage these days (the rock alluded to in my last post, see the image above). It's about a 20 minute walk one way from our house to the top, but it gives a nice view of downtown New Haven and parts of Yale, so it's a nice "hike" when there's not enough time to do any real hike.

By the way, East Rock gets it's name from the fact that it is east of West Rock. The settlers of the New Haven area weren't very original with naming towns and places, which is why if you go north from New Haven you reach North Haven, if you go east you go to East Haven, and if you go west you end up in West Haven. Just below East Rock is the East Rock neighborhood (what else would it be called?) aka the "Grad Student Ghetto" because grad students (and the Jordans) live there in comfortable apartments. Just one more bad name choice in New Haven.

2007-04-15T13:58:00.000-05:00

Open invitation to anyone who wants to go backpacking in June: my uncle & I and a couple couple of other people are planning to hike part of the AT in Southwestern VA--from Mount Rogers into Damascus. The distance is 41 miles plus or minus; we'll probably take 4 to 5 days. No, we haven't fixed on a firm date yet; probably we'd start on a Thursday or Friday of whatever week. Anyways, all of us who are going right now will be driving up from Knoxville (about 2 hours away) in some way, shape, or form, and we all carry enough trail mix to satisfy even the most desperate of chocolate cravings.

Mount Rogers is the most beautiful part of the Appalachians that I know of. The trail gentle slopes across open meadows and weaves through rock outcroppings. Though it's several thousand feet too low, the whole place has an alpine feel. There are also herds of wild horses (or ponies, since they're all shorter than me) which come skittishly begging for food. And since we're hiking down from there, it shouldn't be all that difficult of a walk.

2007-04-13T10:38:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, Jordana!

(Sorry I don't wish everyone a happy birthday when appropriate. This is the only birthday I remember, as it is also the Death Day of my beloved appendix. And I'm just not intent on removing any other internal organs to aid my memory.)

2007-04-09T20:13:00.000-05:00

Hi Everybody!!! Dan Jordan in the hizzouse. I haven't heard from most of you in a long, long time and no doubt many of you lie awake at night thinking "What are Dan and his lovely wife Laura doing these days?" Well, prepare to have a good night sleep because 1) your question will be answered and 2) the answer is pretty dull. Laura is a postdoc at Yale (or is a postdoc at Yale, I'm not sure if "postdoc" describes the position or the person). I am in the secondary-ticket market (or "scalping") business. I am a "marketing analyst" (I got to pick my own job title! I decided to keep a modest one instead of "Senior VP of Coolness" because that's the sort of guy I am--modest) at a company that sells concert, theatre, and sports tickets online (check out the website I manage BuyBetterTickets.com). We're living in an apartment which is actually the third floor of an old house--it's pretty sweet. We like the New Haven area; we live near a big rock (it's nicer than it sounds; I'll put up some pictures some time). If anyone is ever in the area and needs a place to stay we have a second bedroom and we'd love to see any of you (even Wes!) so please stop by. I'm looking forward to checking out everyone else's posts and maybe even responding to Laura's torture question

2007-04-02T15:59:00.000-05:00

Does using a microwave (to cook food) leach food of its nutrients?

This is a question that has been batted around by my coworkers on and off for years. Some customers say yes. Then again, other customers say that we're supposed to eat to balance our pH, or according to our blood type, that eggs are evil and we shouldn't sell them, that High Fructose Corn Syrup can kill you (not "it's bad for you," no, it can kill you), that the laser scanners at our registers zap the "energy" out of food ... so we don't know what to think.

Some of you out there, however, might posess the kind of educational background to actually give an informed answer.

2007-03-30T12:44:00.000-05:00

just so everyone knows...

here's my blog:
http://elykkyle.blogspot.com

2007-03-20T15:59:00.000-05:00

So who needs a new invite? Let me know in the comment section, and maybe, just maybe, I'll reinvite you. If you're cool enough.

2007-03-10T20:25:00.000-06:00

begin excerpt from Mary's journal:
Last night I mixed 12 pounds of plain baking soda with 2 pounds of Arm & Hammer "Pet Fresh" Carpet and Room Deodorizer. I coated the living room floor and poured it liberally all down the hall (which smelled like a litter box even after shampooing the carpets twice). This morning after some "help" vacuuming it up, I did think it smelled better. The smell lingers mostly near the linen closet and bathroom. Pouring baking soda all over the floor created "dust" on all the furniture and now my glider rocker has a different "gritty" squeak. ("") But worse than that, the "freshness" makes all the bedrooms (which before smelled fine to me) smell stale, and it even seems that Suzan's smells of wet dog.

Last week we closed on a very nice house in the suburbs. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but it isn't as bad as it sounds. People in our neighborhood go for walks (saying "hi" as they pass) and kids playing in their front yards spill out into the street. There are no neighbors behind us, rather an open field that is used by the nearby roundup club for pasturing cattle for their rodeos. Our house is large and open with a patio facing west. The back yard has room for a small garden and a small girl to run around flapping her arms "like a bird." We found the house rather unexpectedly at the end of some bad winter weather (which had discouraged other home shoppers). The owners were being transferred to Kansas City so we had a slight advantage over them I think. They took with them some things we expected them to take: their pets, some curtains and a black ceiling fan. They took some things we did not expect: the refrigerator, the washer, dryer and a magnolia from the front yard. The appliances were theirs by contract; apparently I cannot read properly. They did not reserve the magnolia. A magnolia? They were moving into temporary housing!

In spite of the lingering pet smells (growl, hiss, moan, sob, rage) and the added expense of appliances, I think we will be very happy here. It feels like home already.

2007-03-02T12:29:00.000-06:00

The last couple weeks have been busy here. My mom and sister and I made a trip out to Kansas to visit my grandparents on the occasion of my grandfather's 90th birthday (Grandma's almost 94!). It was great to have almost a week with them in their home nearly a year and a half since our last visit. Amazingly, they're still keeping up a house, driving, walking a mile or two a day, playing scrabble, dominoes, or freecell every day, leading a Bible study, and traveling. Since we drove out, we also had fun exploring Lawrence, Kansas (there's a very nicely done coffeeshop/art gallery/book store there...Christian-run with art by a couple Wheaton/Chicago artists); and we had the chance to visit with my aunt and uncle in St. Louis. They live in an 120-something-year-old house that they've redone and have all sorts of interests and humor to share with us. AND I had a couple hours to catch up with Andrea, which was fun after four (?!) years. Thanks again, Andrea!

My most recent work has been lettering a trail of "inspiring" words along a middle school's hallways out in West Knoxville. They wanted specific fonts for the different words and phrases, so I spent a lot of time at the copier enlarging the letters [to about 16" high] so that I could trace them up on the walls. Then the fun began...standing on a ladder for hours trying to trace onto slick concrete block walls (almost impossible) with hordes of middleschoolers going every-which-a-way below. (Middle schoolers make some really weird comments...not to mention the different conversations I overheard--students and teachers--since I was apparently invisible on the ladder.) Now the kids have the job of painting all the letters in...hopefully more carefully than they have yet.

This next week is our church's missions conference, which pretty much means an event/meeting or two every day; lots of busyness, but we always look forward to it. Eva's also waiting to hear about grad assistantships at UT and hoping the outcome will help her decide whether to pursue a masters in piano or not. If she opts not to go the grad school route, the two of us are considering applying for a work holiday visa to New Zealand for 2008.

Daffodils still blooming after a month and a half. I hope the rest of you are finally getting some spring-like weather! Anybody celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday today? You might try On Beyond Zebra.

2007-03-01T09:23:00.001-06:00

HAPPY SAINT DAVID'S DAY!!!

2007-02-18T17:57:00.000-06:00

I suppose it is time for me to write something a bit more on this blog. So first, an update. Still living in Eugene, I am just finishing my 8th month of living in an apartment by myself. To my surprise I found that I love it, always having preferred books to people anyway. : ) I am in my fifth year of physics grad school now and there may actually be an end in sight--I would like to finish by December 07. By the way, I would like all of you to know that if I do make that deadline, I plan to buy a greyhound or amtrak pass and traverse the country visiting as many of you as possible. Maybe I will finally get to meet Suzan (whose picture is on my fridge along with Lucille Ann) and enjoy the Smoky Mountains with Hannah. (Oh yes, I did also want to say, Hannah, that that bag you posted on the blog was delightful. And some day I want to compare New Zealand pictures with you. I think New Zealand is my new image of the garden of Eden. No large predators. Only one poisonous creature and I never met it. Delightful birds. And breathtaking scenery.)

So besides working on my research (climate change--looking at trends in sunlight measurements in Oregon to examine changes in the atmosphere), I spend a lot of time with church stuff. I'm back at the church I grew up in--like going home. I just became the moderator, sort of a head deacon, and am now trying to figure out how to be responsible for church finances, visioning, insurance policies, and spiritual growth among other things. It is sort of an overwhelming and exciting place for me. I feel perhaps the first weight of adult responsibility that I have experienced, and my poor sleeping has been evidence of it. But I also feel a deep sense of belonging and awe which means the world to me. Some days I walk into church with a tenderness for the people I see there that almost makes me want to cry. I had no idea people were so precious. And I try not to take it personally when people complain to me about stuff like the time the service starts. Is that sort of what it feels like to be a parent? What a gift. There are a handful of people at that church who have become incredible mentors and teachers to me. Because of their guidance and encouragement I have tried preaching a sermon, teaching Sunday School, and started asking questions like Am I living the gospel? more frequently than I ask questions like Does God exist?

And finally, the pirate report. My most recent adventures on the high seas came over New Year's when Lisa and I planned a Pirate Party and invited family friends. It is hard to convey the sheer brilliance of the event, but it included some fabulous food, decorations, costumes, and activities. One of the activities was a pirate translation of Psalm 1, following for your enjoyment. (Pictures show the event coordinators Long John Laura and Cap'n Tar-Tar.)

'Palm' 1

1 Booty to the pirate! who does not consort with landlubbers or sail in the wake of Davy Jones or call for Parley.
2 But his eyes are filled with the gold of the treasure and over the treasure map he navigates day and night.
3 He is like a ship sailing on smooth waters, with prevailing winds and rich helpless victims everywhere he sails.
4 Aye, the scurvy-scalawags that break the pirate code! they be like the coconuts that blow in the Caribbean fierce hurricane gales.
5 Aye, those who do not lash themselves to the mast, surely will be washed overboard and those found unfit to fly the Pirate flag will be sentenced to swing at noon from the yardarm.
6 For the great CAP'N surely charts the course with fair winds and calm seas and great plunder. But to those traitors, they will be keelhauled and find themselves banished to Davy Jones' locker forever!
Arrgh-men!!

A 'Pirates with the Pens' Translation (PPT)

2007-02-13T15:03:00.000-06:00

Well, I remembered my password so here I am blogging about nothing. But! I am finally contributing to the "oooh" factor of the blog with pictures of our beautiful child. This morning before we could do anything else, she wanted to "play the jewelry game" which she created. When asked how it was played she said, "We hold up the jewelry and say 'oooh.'" Apparently we also put it all on. Since I own about 5 pieces of modest jewelry, I really don't understand the inspiration for this game unless it comes from the few times she's been window shopping with me in the mall. Oops! We recently purchased a Canon Powershot SD 600, so that is why you are able to view a picture I took this very morning! It is nifty.

I was planning on posting a nice update a couple of weeks ago, but what with the blogger change I couldn't remember my password. And I don't have a ton of time right now. So here is the short version: We are trying to buy a house. We are attending a mega church. (I love mentioning that because it still surprises me.) We are experiencing an unusually cold/nasty winter (which we get blamed for too!). I am working 4-8 hours a weekend for Hallmark. Mr. C. (as my family likes to call him) is working a normal 8-5 good computer job. We live in the city. The largest city in the state, which - I might add - I had not realized was so big. But it is okay. We are doing something called homeschooling, which at this point most people would just call brainwashing since the pupil isn't even three. It is basically just implementing a little bit more structure to our daily activities. I introduce a letter and number each week, we color a lot and do crafts. And we are memorizing a verse and catechism each week. Oh dear, I think I heard most of you fall off your chairs. But, when you consider the alternatives, it really doesn't seem all that extreme, does it?

So what are you guys really up to? I know where some/most of you are, but not what you are doing. Andrea W., Laura, Airika?

2007-02-02T11:04:00.000-06:00

Hi all! I'm sitting at my desk at work right now, pondering the morality of wasting time while I'm getting paid. Does anyone ever have those days where you feel as if you can't do anything at all? I like to call it a work cramp. Thankfully, I have a job in which I can do things like read childrens books on those days, and it's perfectly acceptable.

I hope that everyone is celebrating Groundhogs Day in the appropriate fashion, which of course means planning on sleeping for four weeks straight (wouldn't that be nice?).

Yesterday I had my first major program flop in four months. At least I felt like it was a flop. The kids might have actually enjoyed it. I showed up at the branch and discovered that instead of being in the meeting room, I would have to conduct the program in the main library area. It doesn't seem too intimidating in type, but trust me, singing preschool songs at the top of your lungs in the library has all the ear-marks of a nightmare (thankfully, I realized that I was fully clothed, so I must be awake). So anyway, I prepared the for the program and only one girl and one boy showed up. Their parents, of course, left them alone with me while they proceeded to check their e-mail and read the paper. To make a long story short, by the middle of the program, I had both children covering their ears and grimacing while I sang the songs. The girl was actually whimpering. It must have been an off vocal day for me, because I've never gotten that kind of reaction before. Maybe they were just sitting a little too close to my powerful pipes! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, quite frankly. I guess I needed a pride check.

Anyway, I hope all is well with everyone!

2007-01-30T13:02:00.000-06:00

to those of you not living in 10º weather right now, i hate you.

on a completely different subject, i have officially decided to stop using Livejournal and have switched over to blogger: http://elykkyle.blogspot.com

2007-01-18T12:51:00.000-06:00

For Jordana & Neb -- I just found a product that's intriguing ... obviously haven't tried it, but if it works would be worth the checking-out:

Preggie Pops!

The stuff I read online (and they don't lie online, right? :) ) suggests that they help to alleviate "morning" sickness.

If y'all get sick of ginger-flavored saltines. Or ginger-flavored ginger.

2007-01-06T19:04:00.000-06:00

Questions for those of you who have done this before:

1) How soon am I likely to be visibly pregnant?
2) Did you really refrain from deli meat for 9 months (listeria)? I like a ham sandwhich...
3) Favorite morning sickness tricks?
4) Cool pregnancy sites online? Babycenter isn't really doing it for me...
5) Is it worth reading any of the books (WTEWYE or anything else?)

~The "Radient and Glowing" Neb

2007-01-02T18:12:00.000-06:00

Hello all. Since I actually figured out how to de-beta or re-beta or whatever I did, I thought I should say hello to all of you and Happy New Year and add some pictures from Christmas. I tried to add a video of Kara singing for you but apparently I didn't do it right because it didn't work. I don't have any news to share although I thought I did for a bit last week. Any other of you gals out there relate that you can convince your body to feel just about anything when pregnancy possibilities are on the brain? The mind is a powerful thing!

By the way, my main reason for posting was to ask one of you blogger gurus to post instructions for other poor, confused "new to the blogosphere" folks like me who don't know my way around here so they too can beta-ize and can post again too. I miss all the updates (although I do love creative pregnancy announcements.)

2006-12-31T11:28:00.000-06:00

Greetings, all!

New Year's Resolution: Gain 15-25 lbs by September.

Sounds like something I can handle.

The challenging part: consuming more vegetables and less coffee and getting more sleep, while taking Real Analysis II and Algebra II and TAing for Calculus II. And remembering that pretnatal vitamin everyday.

It's going to be a good New Year. :-)

Love, NEB

2006-12-27T17:20:00.000-06:00

To All You People Who Are Not Working This Week (and Therefore Have "More" Time):

Please return all shopping carts to the appropriate cart corral. Every time you briefly consider just leaving it right next to your car (and therefore in the next person's way), just imagine me

in the cold
and the traffic
pushing your cart
uphill

and imagine what I might say to thank you for that experience.

I might resurface in a few weeks.

2006-12-23T11:03:00.000-06:00

Ha ha! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

*end of Santa impersonation/plagiarization of Peter's post*

The triumphant cackling is my satisfaction about successfully navigating Blogger's deceptively-simple-yet-DESIGNED-TO-CONFUSE control system- I have now switched into the "New" blogger so I can post here! Ha ha! (It's like the ITunes store, which purposely prevents me from buying their music by making my SHOPPING CART impossible to find and then 20 minutes later when I do, informing me that I MUST switch to the new version, 7.0, to download my little happy song- and then my computer, which is in cahoots with the Itunes, tells me it will take THREE HOURS to download the new version! [Well, actually, Nate told me that. But I could kind of estimate it too, being that the relationship between kilo- and mega- is all BAD and BIG in math world.])

WHEE!! Did I mention I finished final"s"??? :-D

Nate and I ~~finished~~ started Christmas shopping last night- 10-12 at Borders- 'cause we're all crazy like that. Now I just have to go back to the mall today and figure out what to get Nana. Nana is Nate's grandmother- she lives in a tiny apartment in Reading and is basically a shut-in- and she likes Crossword puzzles but otherwise has no known hobbies/interests/needs. So at Borders we got her a page-a-day calendar with word games- but she is always so nice to us and sends us letters [with money] so we should get her something else too- any thoughts?? (There's always the standard litany of "things everyone needs" like scented soap/candles/lotion... sigh).

Alright, love you to all, even those of you I don't know, and remember as you're enjoying your Christmas spirit* to read your mug- Jesus is the Reason for the Season. :-)

*Drink Responsibly

2006-12-22T18:59:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas everybody. Hurray for finally getting a weekend without work! Except the fun stuff like cooking and washing dishes, of course. [insert snarky emoticon here]

Is anybody else going to be in Florida for Christmas or New Years? I'm driving down to Melbourne, FL (about mid-way down the Atlantic Coast) on the 29th and will be there until the 2nd. On the way down I'm stopping in Brunswick, Georgia, to view a sailboat which my cousins are rigging, possibly for some theological reason. They (their parents) live in a Community, which is either a nice way of saying "cult" or a subtle indication that they are Hippies minus the general hippie looseness where matters of morality are concerned. Until this summer they lived in Brazil and marketed very nice herbal teas. I'm not sure how the boat fits into their eschatology, but then again, they do a lot of stuff that makes me wonder, and God knows they feel the same way about me tippling regularly and eating pork.

2006-12-19T16:57:00.000-06:00

Oops ...

I think I just may have screwed a whole buncha things up for everyone. I thought I was just updating my CaptainSemantics blog, and whee! Everything goes kerflooey.

People, please email me if you're having trouble with the new "improved" format. I'll see what I can do.

Sorry.

2006-12-07T10:22:00.000-06:00

This is one of three red purses I've made. I don't yet have a photo of the grey-green one with embroidery on the front and a blue paisley lining (no pocket or buttons). The purses are about 9.5"x7.5"x3".

2006-12-06T18:00:00.000-06:00

so, this might not be the best forum for sharing this, but i can't resist:

2006-12-05T11:45:00.000-06:00

In an effort to stave off rampant jealousy over the pics Val and Jord have posted on various blogs, I give you My New Little Guy:

That's Kermit, in his hammock. Yup, I knit it myself.

Sorry it's slightly out of focus. I'm still getting used to this camera, and shooting through the cage bars is tricky.

2006-12-02T10:24:00.000-06:00

Hi, Mathetai/Brown/Etc. people! I am happy to hear from all of you. And as a sort of Brown-House-Half-In-Law, I am honored to be included.

Hmmm... what to post...

The real line has fantastic and mystical properties! And I would so totally include photos of the panoramic views from the top, except there aren't any photos! Because it's all in our heads!

That's my way of saying that I am having a wonderful and terrible and insane and joyous semester in graduate school.

I love you all! Even those of you I've never met! And I hope to continue to enjoy lots of pictures of mountains and babies on this site.

Will write more over Christmas break,
Neb

2006-12-02T10:05:00.000-06:00

All the power in the [blog] universe is now at your disposal ... for good or for evil, I don't know.

I've gone into the "member" settings (under "settings," for those who didn't get that) and made y'all administrators. I believe that means y'all can "invite new members" (also on the "members" page) if y'all have anyone y'all would like to add.

I think that's enough of the quotation marks for now.

And if anyone noticed, I did in fact remove Neb from the members list. She insulted my ancestors.

No, just kidding. She asked me to, so that I could re-invite her and she could use a different account. So don't worry. I'm not power-crazed. Just plain crazed.

Invite away.

2006-11-29T22:55:00.000-06:00

Great to hear from all of you and see photos (yours were great, Zingrin)! Here's my two cents worth....

The view from our house Sunday morning. On a clear day we can see several layers of mountains or even see if there's been a snowfall up there. Tomorrow Eva and I hope to meet up with a couple thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail.

A beautiful deserted beach near Dunedin, New Zealand.

The Holder fam with cousin Bevan standing in front of a hot lake in the crater of Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand. Ten years ago the mountain erupted and the lake evaporated, but we saw no volcanic activity that day. Imagine taking a 2 km ski lift, scrambling over miles of pumice stone, sliding down a glacier, and smelling the sulfuric lake all on one day's hike!

Most of you probably know that my family and I spent three months in New Zealand last year--visiting with relatives, making new friends, seeing the sights, and experiencing Christmas in the summer. It was a trip 12-15 years in the making and worth every penny and hour that went into the planning. As you can imagine, it was hard to tear ourselves away and return to Knoxville.

Though currently rather under-employed, I've now had over three years of experience in calligraphy and murals...and other odds and ends. You would hardly believe the variety of commissions I've had--everything from a super-detailed drawing of friends' 1920s house to a Christmas ornament for a baby, two 4' x 12' murals in a middle school library to several quotations on the walls above a college library circulation desk, watercolor designs on ceramic tiles that I've framed to a brilliant green canvas spotted with butterflies from around the world, verses lettered on kitchen walls to illuminated lettering on the vision statement of a Knoxville accounting firm, a friend's wedding invitation to a framed Michelangelo quotation (about carving his statues) in a plastic surgeon's office.... I've given away the additional variety of stationery and stained glass, painted piggy banks and a pencil portrait on a ceramic tile. And my newest [not yet for pay] project is designing and sewing unique purses.

Other activities this fall have included a couple of Bible studies and weekly rehearsals with the Knoxville Choral Society. It's good to be in a choir again, though I'm not looking forward to the four Christmas concerts the 3rd weekend in December!

It's been a weird year, to say the least.

2006-11-29T19:05:00.000-06:00

That reminds me ...

Before we got married, Michael and I were visiting my family in Iowa. (Why? The purpose escapes me.) We got shanghaied into babysitting my twin cousins, who were then maybe 7. The sittage included the wonderful task of getting them presentable for church. My charge was easy: Mackenzie got herself all dolled up, I fixed her hair, she messed it up and declared herself ready.

About this time, I hear sproing, sproing, sproing coming from Andrew's room. Accompanied by Michael, imploring my cousin to please put on his pants. Andrew declared himself a Monkey. Monkeys don't wear pants. As Michael tried to work his way around to this monkey wearing pants, Andrew burst out, "I don't have to listen to you! You're an alien!"

Unfortunately for Michael, later on Andrew (clothed, thank God) appraised Mackenzie of my fiance's non-Earth-native status. She immediately agreed, "Yup, he's an alien!" Brief pause. "And an elf!"

2006-11-29T17:24:00.000-06:00

Now for the fun post!
Long John Laura, Mate Mary been meanin' to write yer!
Okay, I can't keep up the pirate speak for an entire post. I thought I should write you a couple weeks ago when a dance party erupted in our living room. I turned on the "You've Got Mail" soundtrack and "the cabin girl" and I started grooving around the living room. She is getting really good at dancing (if you remember my dancing skills, anyway) and we had a blast. It brought back all the good dance parties of Mathetai and before. I wished you were with us to show off your moon walk, the Travolta moves and rug surfing. Rug surfing!!
But, like a loser, I didn't email you. Then a few days later there was another odd coincidence. We were walking to the mailbox when "the cabin girl" announced "I'm a pirate!" out of nowhere! "Oh?" I said. "You are?"
"Yes. I'm a little bitty pirate."
"Um. That's great! Where did you come up with that?" (clearly bewildered)
"Out of my head."
So we walked along and when the groundskeeper said hello to us, he was informed: "I'm a pirate." He grinned and praised her. We retrieved our mail and she became immersed in other schemes. But as we walked back we passed the groundskeeper again and she jumped right in declaring her pirateyness again. The next day when she saw a different groundskeeper she started in again. "I'm a pirate, I'm a pirate!!"
Kids are so weird.

2006-11-29T17:17:00.000-06:00

For Laura:
[UPDATED]
My thoughts on torture? If it is a last ditch effort to save hundreds or hundreds of thousands of people then it is easy to say that the one must be sacrificed for the many. Not nice but maybe necessary. That said, I think it is one of the many areas where most people (wrongly?) hold a double standard. That is to say, it is okay for me/my country but not you/your country. I think it can be (wrongly?) justified by grand generalized statements like "Oh, but our country places a higher value on human life so it is more rare, less brutal, etc, etc, etc." Personally, I think it can seem less abhorrent when we imagine that those making the decisions are guided by the same principles we ourselves are. And I think that easily deludes many into believing it is right or at least "not so bad." (Which leads me to ponder the gravity and horror of being that person forced to make the decision.) Whichever side of the fence a Christian places themselves, I think they need to be honest with themselves about the fact that the people making these decisions (in our country or other countries) are fallen human beings whether they are judging with the same principles as ourselves or not. And as fallen human beings, an American is just as likely as any other person to be mistaken, cruel and unjust.

UPDATE:
Okay, I just went back and read your post after writing this and I realized that as I ruminated on your questions I sort of forgot them. Either that or 9 months in the Southern Baptist Church was enough to corrupt me into equating "what does the gospel say?" with "how do you feel about this?" Forgive me, this post will not be my personal diatribe against the SBC. Whew! Back on topic. One of the churches we visited for a while was looking at issues like this and how the gospel speaks to them. We heard something like "The teachings of Jesus are heavy on loving your neighbor and turning the other cheek. Therefore war, torture, etc. are wrong." End of story. We were frustrated that it wasn't more fully explored. And maybe we should fully explore it ourselves. (If we were not so lazy.) I came away realizing that I apply the teachings of Jesus more personally without imposing that "higher calling" on my government. And I don't know if that is right or not. Did Jesus give instructions to governments? (That is not rhetorical.) All I can recall is telling us to obey our government officials. Where do we find in the Bible what we should expect / promote in our government? (Again, I am really asking that.) In a general sense, my memory of the way government works in the Bible is as an organizing agent for good and for justice. What is justice? How can sinful men even begin to exercise justice? (sorry, minor bunny trail) So. I guess I am not getting anywhere. I see where Christ calls us to love and mercy . . . personally. But I don't know how we apply that on a government level. I mean, the government is not a charitable institution, nor is it meant to be. It exists to promote order, right? So I dunno, Laura. Just a lot of thoughts going nowhere. I feel like I've blathered around wasting time and space. Sorry all. Feel free to cut my membership to this club. ;~p

2006-11-22T14:25:00.000-06:00

Wow! I can't believe I am reading this! I don't know when I last heard anything about or from Zingrin! And Andrea Faye? HI! Now excuse me while I go down a Dr. Pepper to recover from the shock. I might come back later with a piratey post for the ol' Rummy Roomie.

2006-11-21T10:56:00.000-06:00

Hey all! This is definately a good idea, and I applaud you, Alysia, for dragging my butt into the blogging world (I have been fastidiously avoiding it thus far).

Other than avoiding blogs, lately I've been singing many nonesense songs to the tune of "The Farmer In the Dell" (Insert favorite topic/holiday and repeat) While I'm a little afraid that my brain will turn to mush and leak out of my ear, I'm kind of enjoying my new job as an itinerant pre-school teacher. I'm living in St. Louis and working for the county library system, trying to get over the fact that I'm on salary and have weekends off (what? people do that?)

Laura, your question about torture is a really difficult one. I was thinking about it recently as well. On the whole, of course, the church shouldn't condone torture. But is it okay when there's people who have the information to save lives, but won't tell? I honestly don't know how to answer that one. There's obvoiously a line somewhere, but where is it? Is our cultural abhorrance of torture/interrogation due to the fact that comfort is our first priority? And is that okay? In my limited experience, discomfort and pain have been the catalyst to change and growth, so maybe pain is necessary to life. Does that ligitimize torture? It would be an interesting question to pose to a Chinese Christian who has been tortured for their faith, don't you think?

2006-11-20T15:24:00.000-06:00

Not so fast, homeslice!

There's a few more "etc"s invited -- so far, you're the second one. There's also Valerie, who was going to be in Mathetai, but then went and got married instead. Sigh.

Also, if no one has yet, NathanandCarrie should get an invite. I'm pretty sure I don't have their current address. I think I've got Wes and Dax's addresses right, although they haven't responded yet. But folks should feel free to invite them, anyway. Let's just dogpile them! Ha!

BTW, Saint and Elliot (or, rather, the plot of earth where Saint and Elliot would be) is now a parking lot.

??? I know that campus was short on parking and all, but didn't they also need the dorms? Huh.

Also, Kyle -- dude, respond to a voicemail already. Sheesh.

[I apologize for all the italics. I'm just in that kind of mood. -- Dramatic, that is.]

2006-11-19T09:48:00.000-06:00

yo yo yo, peops. kyle here. thanks for the invite, meesh. i'm proud to be representing the "etc" for this blog. it's sunday morning, and i just woke up, so i don't have a lot to post... staid up a little too late last night, so anything more that i write will probably just be nonsense...

the picture is the only semi-recent one i have of myself without searching too hard. i'm really not mad that i'm posting...

2006-11-18T11:09:00.000-06:00

Well, I must say this is a first for me. I've never posted to a blog but I like the idea and I'm always up for trying something new. Jordy's blog never ceases to amuse me and has given me a warm fuzzy impression of blogs. Since I have the elder "cuteness" to share, I can't pass up the opportunity. Hard to believe she is three already. The rest of y'all need to get busy because we need some boys to marry off all these girls to, ya know?

Still loving mommyhood. Kevin and his brother are a step away from settling on their first investment property and are busy beyond belief with contract work right now. I'm up to 5 math students that I tutor. Loving that.

Kara's recent milestones: fully potty-trained, even overnight! Definitely in the "but why, mommy?" stage. She certainly has an inquisitive mind. And she can sing "God is Good" knowing all the words in perfect pitch. Watch for her in the next American Idol. :)

Love hearing where and how you all are. Can't wait to read more updates. Kudos to Alysia!

2006-11-18T09:37:00.000-06:00

Hi Alysia,

Like Peter said, great idea! For those of you who don't know where I am or what I'm doing (which is most of you), I am:

-in Mussorie, Uttaranchal, India.
-a piano teacher at Woodstock School.
-swamped with piano accompaniments for the coming week's ABRSM exams and the school's Advanced Student Recital.
-going on a tour of India this winter with a wacky (but nice) Australian woman who is the head of our Health Centre, and with 9 other students.
-wondering what the meaning of my life is.
-contemplating moving into a cave in the Himalayas and keeping warm through intense meditation.

Hope everyone's doing fine!

P.S. The first pic is on top of Nag Tibba, a mountain near the school.
Second pic is what the view from school is sometimes like.

2006-11-17T20:54:00.000-06:00

Laura is present. but it is friday so I am going home now instead of sitting at my office any longer and updating all of you. But I will say that I watched a documentary about the School of the Americas, it's Fort Benning protest weekend you know. So maybe I will throw a question out to all of you. How do you think the gospel relates to torture? How should we as individual Christians respond when we know torture is happening, and how should the church respond?

2006-11-17T20:40:00.000-06:00

Nice idea, Alysia. Kind of obvious, once you think about it, which none of the rest of us did. Here's to getting something going.

Since I don't post photos on my other blog, I might as well put one here. I'm the fat one in bike shorts; the other two are my brothers, and the mountain is not that high, it just has a good view for a 30-minute hike. [Image courtesy of / slightly Photoshopped by my brother Ben.]