Monday, February 26, 2007

"My Sunday Afternoon"

Yesterday I awoke to a beautiful, snow-covered world. White, fluffy snow glistened in the morning sunlight. I attended a beautiful wedding on Saturday night, where the theme was so appropriate... snowflakes! All the bridesmaids lined up in their various-shades-of-blue dresses, holding a single white rose sprayed with blue glitter. The bride donned clear, shiny nails, topped with blue glitter and a little snowflake in the corner of her ring finger. Since the snow came so quickly, I spent the night at a friend's house.

At some point over the weekend I had lost my socks in all the chaos, and thus trudged outside to brush off by car with my barefeet shoved inside my shoes. The snow was THICK and it took quite a while to remove it all from my car. Task completed, I hopped in my car to go spend a few hours with precious Emma. I attempted to plow through the huge drift of snow at the end of the driveway, and on my fourth attempt, I made it to the road. As soon as I started driving, I noticed the bright red battery light staring me in the face. Oh no. This happened last weekend and it meant the serpentine belt broke. I was running on battery power and knew I would not make it very far. After finding out that Jared's serpentine belt had broken that morning as well, and thus was stranded at work, I lost all control and cried until my eyes were red and puffy. I slowly made my way to the church parking lot, about 1 mile away.

Luckily, my handy dandy mechanic father was at church, and was able to determine that the belt had, in fact, not broken, but merely popped off due to a copious amount of snow packed around the pullies. Again, I cried, but this time because I was glad the problem was not as serious as I originally thought. I drove it to my parents house, with the family behind me, ready to rescue me if necessary. Upon arrival, dad turned down the bed for me, mom made me some lunch, and then they sent me off to bed (crying, of course, because I was so tired and stressed out). Meanwhile, dad spent his Sunday afternoon out in the garage fixing my car. After replacing the belt, he realized something was out of alignment, and fixed that problem as well. Yay for daddies! After my much needed two-hour nap, I awoke to a brand new car, and a hug from my dad. As I was leaving, he whispered in my ear,

"There is nothing else I would rather do with my Sunday afternoon than help my little girl."


Yeah, I cried.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Lady Lovely Locks

Here is a documentary of my experience in pictures...






Before


In process....


Jared brought us dinner!


Seven hours later...


Lady Lovely Locks!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Husband of the Year

I have nominated Jared to be husband of the year. He is so good at surprising me in the most amazing ways. Here is the latest example. On Friday night I had a slumber party for all my girlfriends. Jared told me to call him after all the girls arrived because he had a special surprise for us. So at 7:15, I called. With a sparkle in his voice he told me to open the junk drawer in our kitchen and reach underneath. My fingers ran across something taped there. I pulled it off and found a 5-dollar bill taped to a clue that read:

"Here is some money to help with yor doo, if you want some more go look where we poo."

Hahaha! This led the group of girls on a hilarious, loooong, treasure hunt. I gathered $5 with each new clue, and at the end of the hunt, my prize was a 100-dollar bill!! Jared saved this money up for me so I could get my hair extensions! Seriously! Who thinks of such a fun game! And what makes it even better is that every clue rhymed, every clue had $5 taped to it, and it took him the better part of 2 hours to complete. What a guy!

Happy wife.

I am going to get my hair done tomorrow at 2pm! I am SO EXCITED! I will post the before and after picture tomorrow night when I get home!


Thursday, February 15, 2007

Valentine's Surprise



I was surprised last night to arrive home to a beautiful candlelit dinner being made for me! Jared made ribeye steaks wrapped in bacon, parmesan couscous, and green peas, complete with sparkling red grape juice!! YUM-O!


While he prepared dinner, I made my delicious chocolate mousse to enjoy for dessert, then ran upstairs and to throw on my party dress! We had a great Valentine's, and way more fun than going to Timberlodge any day!




Here are some pictures from our evening...




Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Happy Valentines

Happy Valentines Day to all! Did any of you wake up to an amazing surprise? Get breakfast in bed, or walk out of your room this morning to a bunch of roses or chocolates? Do you have wonderful plans for a romantic evening? I want to hear your stories. Do tell.

Jared and I are planning to postpone our celebration until tomorrow night. Not because we can't tonight-- we are wide open this evening. Simply because neither one of us has the energy or will to fight the crazy love bird rush tonight. We have attempted to go out for dinner on Valentines in past years, and always hear "Sorry, there is a 4 hour wait," and we always end up at KFC or McD's. But since we are dead set on going to Timber Lodge this year, and know for a fact we wouldn't get served until we should be in bed sleeping, we decided exercise our patience and wait.
We also made a pact not to buy any V-Day gifts, and instead treat eachother to gifts and luxuries on our cruise in a few weeks. I am positive this is the better bargain! Everytime we go on vacation, we have to save up so much just to pay for the travel and lodging that we never have any money left over for spending or special treats. So I am pretty PSYCHED that this vacation is already paid for, and that we will actually have a little spending money!

Well that is all the love I have to give today. I am saving it all up for tomorrow.

Bring on the stories!

Friday, February 09, 2007

Papar Returns

Dad is safe and sound at home sleeping in his bed. He is feeling sick. Please pray for a quick recovery of the jetlag and any illness in his body. Thank you. God brought my daddy home to me safely.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Winter Wonderland, oh please!

That cruise and sunny 80 degree weather sounds pretty good right now.

I went to start my car this morning at 9:45, an hour and a half before I needed to be to work. I went out and found my car was white, not black! It was completely covered with burning cold snow. I opened the back door very carefully so as not to let much snow fall into the car. Whatever. A huge drift of snow snuck into the car so fast that by the time the door was cracked enough for me to see inside, the entire back seat was covered.

With my fingers pulled inside my coat sleeves (since my mittens have been missing for coldest week in a decade) I started my car and then got out to brush off the snow. After a short 3 minutes, I could not feel my fingers anymore and had to retreat into the house for warmth. I dug through an old hat/mitten box and finally found some old ratty gloves. I slipped them on as soon as my fingers were warm, and ran back out into the cold. After about 10-15 minutes, the job was finally done. That is how much snow was on my car. And since it was still snowing, a new layer was beginning to form. About halfway through this hideous process, my eyes began to well up with tears because the cold hurt so much. But I held them back with all my might because I was worried the liquid would freeze on my face causing further pain! How often does a worry like that cross your mind! Ugh!

When the car was finally ready, I marched angrily into the garage to thaw out a little and immediatly called Jared. I grumpily demanded, "The next house we get HAS to have a double garage that is NOT FILLED WITH CRAP!" Poor Jared. He took it very well and was very understanding. He is such a wonderful husband and promised a clean garage coming soon.

Monday, February 05, 2007

The Jewelry is Coming!

Ladies! The jewelry you all ordered from my Lia Sophia party last weekend should arrive today! Cara has been tracking the order and according to its location, it is scheduled to be delivered today! Yay! That was fast service.
So next time I see each of you I will come bearing gifts!

Quick update on Papar:
The team learned that that airport they flew in to (and are scheduled to fly out of) is still canceling flights due to smog. They are all eager to get home without further delays, so they are going to leave one day earlier than scheduled and take a bus to a different airport. They are still planning to arrive home on Friday, but this adjustment means they will be traveling homeward over the course of three days. Please just pray for safe, undelayed travel, and energy for the team as traveling for 3 days is exhausting. Thank you!

And thank you Erin for your reassurance about my dad and leprosy. I needed to hear a word of comfort, so again, thank you.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Misionary Papar II

Just a brief update on my dad. I do not know much, but I do know that he successfully connected with the rest of the group in Hyderabad on Sunday (He flew seperately from everyone else). After connecting with the group, they all attempted to fly to their final destination of Vishakapatnam, but were delayed one day as there was too much smog and visibility was so limited. As we came to find out, the smog had been so thick that they stopped all flights for the previous ten days! But it lifted just as our team needed to get through and they were only delayed one day! He was able to call my mother on Monday evening and relate all this to her. He said that they were going to set up a medical clinic that day and begin their work. So far everyone has remained safe and healthy. Thank you for any prayers you have offered on their behalf.
I am nervous right now as the itinerary calls for the team to spend this weekend at a leprosy colony (Friday through Sunday). I am continuing the trust the Lord, however, and He is blessing me with peace. That's all for now. I will give further updates as they come.