Category: Friends

The beat goes on

Is it only Tuesday? Wow!

I feel like we’ve been going non-stop since last Wednesday, if not before.
We had a super busy weekend with four parties (three Christmas parties and one birthday party), we enjoyed each one and everyone we got to spend time with but we both feel like we need a weekend to catch up from the weekend. Laurie’s got more thoughts on the weekend over on Vertigo.

Last night Laurie picked me up from work after a check up at the doctors for her inflammation in her shoulder. We drove to Mesquite to do a little shopping and then enjoyed dinner and entertainment at our parent’s church with Smiley, Shari and the After Hours Improv gang. Another great show guys. We’re sorry we’ll miss the final show of the year this Saturday in Waxahachie, thanks to another dinner party.

To top it all off, Laurie’s had trouble sleeping the last few nights. Don’t know if it’s a noisy snoring husband, a restless mind or a restless heart but it’s adding to her already drained condition. I’m hoping and praying she can get some good rest tonight to help get her through the rest of the week.

You can bet we’ll be sleeping in Saturday morning.

So that’s it for now – the beat goes on.

Andrew gets babs-i-tized


Andrew
Originally uploaded by laurie416.

Our good friend Andrew (James and Mary’s son) was “babs-i-tized” yesterday morning at encounter.
I’m having some problems with the video, but Laurie’s posted the pics on her Flickr page and they’re also available in the encounter Flickr group.

Christmas S*N*A*C

Thomas helps lead S*N*A*C (aka Sunday Night After Church) at his Church in Glasgow. They held a Christmas service this week and he shared the order on his blog. Sounds like a great time of reflection and celebration.

From Thomas:

The key to a “7 from 8” gathering is simplicity > its about taking time out > relaxing in the busy milieu of Advent. 7 readings. 7 songs. No commentary. Participation. Contribution. Darkness interspersed with candles.

I introduced the gathering and set the scene… then let things flow (all readings from The Message except 7 which is from New King James version)>

1. Liz kicked off the readings with The Birth of Jesus [Matthew 1: 18-25] > BLOC then played “Silent Night”
2. Diane then read The Birth of Jesus [Luke 2: 1-7] > Janey played “Away in a Manger” on the piano
3. Bobby read A Virgin will bear a son [Isaiah 7: 10-14] > we moved into a period reflection and contemplation > I played “Emmanuel” by Blackmore’s Night on the ol’ iPod.
4. Kirsty brought us An event for everyone [Luke 2: 8-20] > we then listened to BLOC who brought us an awesome version of “O Holy Night”
5. Janey read A Virgin conceives [Luke 1: 26-35] > we then completed the contemplative time with another track from the ol’ iPod > “I am, You are” by the Martins
6. I then read Scholars from the East [Matthew 2] > BLOC played “A First Noel”
7. Lawrie brought the readings to a close with Isaiah’s prophesy For unto us a Child is born [Isaiah 9: 2-7] > BLOC then finished with “Love came down at Christmas”

Alec closed the gathering with a prayer and we enjoyed some fellowship over Starbucks espresso blend coffee and mince pies. Simple yet effective evening.

Sounds like a great time. Wish I could participate in it somehow.

Jessica interviewed on ATC

A friend, Jess Davis was interviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered over the weekend about the 2008 presidential campaign.
She worked as an intern at the WDL while I was there and I worked with both her parents while at Ellis County. Now she’s News Editor at the student paper for the University of South Carolina.
Congrats to Jess. Keep up the good work.

things you learn from games


We’ve had a couple game nights this week. On Tuesday night we played Balderdash with our community group and Thursday night we played Loaded Questions with my family. I always love learning new things about people through games – they’re almost as telling as Myspace surveys. But as Amy pointed out, it’s a good thing our community group already knew each other fairly well, otherwise we might have all been worried about saying the wrong thing in front of someone or making someone uncomfortable.
Here are some of the things I learned this week…

  • “bathetic” doesn’t mean “the process for washing your prosthetic” or “proper rules for a Roman bath” it means, “pretending to care”
    • “bufagin” doesn’t mean “what you do after a bird craps on your car.” it’s actually a substance found in toad’s milk
  • my sister Kara makes a duck sound when she scratches her throat
  • Wild Women of Wongo is a film about a village of beautiful women, with ugly men, who meet a village of beautiful men, with ugly women on the other side of a tropical island one fateful day
  • my parents would rather be in their own home than most anywhere else in the world
  • when thinking of where someone would place a statue of them, most of my family thinks of local parks – as in Dallas or Mesquite – my sister Kara and I think big – as in Central Park, New York City.
  • my brother-in-law Tim prefers to think on the pot while I prefer to think in the shower
  • the men in my family would like to be able to control the minds of our spouses, while Kara would prefer to control the mind of “the one who pees on the carpet”
  • our house would be named, “Queen Sheeba’s Pad” – for Presley, not for Laurie
  • when playing Balderdash, men tend to take longer to answer the question but their answers are usually short and to the point. women however don’t think about it as long but will explain their answers within the answer. i.e. “It is still illegal in Oklahoma to destroy… landscaping, because they provide tornado protection.” or “It is still illegal in Oklahoma to destroy… the soles of shoes, but they can be recycled.”
  • the Treadaways always find ways to take their games “once tip fur there”

What games do you and your family play? Found any good two person games?

Almost done – well not quite


Pre-painting

Well it’s been a fun few days around here.
Tuesday afternoon I got a new job offer – more on that later.
Tuesday night we had a game night for our community group at Amy and Gaylan’s. We had a great time hanging out and celebrating Gaylan’s birthday. We’re planning our Christmas party back over there in a couple weeks.
Wednesday Laurie and I headed back to work and then went to Aaron and Keri’s for the Lehmann Thanksgiving festivities. Always fun to see all the Lehmann’s and enjoy their great food and fellowship.
We got home Wednesday night around 8:30 and Laurie went right to work painting the dining room. I tell you what, when she gets her mind set on something there’s not much that can stop her. She had briefly started painting on Tuesday night before our community group but we really went to town Wednesday night. Unfortunately we ran out of painter’s tape so we avoided some spots near the ceiling and window trim.
We ran out of paint in our first can around midnight so Laurie started cleaning up and getting prepped to make her infamous potato casserole for our Thanksgiving meal.


Almost done
Originally uploaded by Jonathan D. Blundell.


It was then that she realized she needed more sour cream and hash browns. Doh!
I headed out in the cold to Wal-Mart in Lancaster, who were luckily still open.
Grabbed the food, some more painter’s paint as well as Christmas lights.
We’ve got plenty of miniature Christmas lights, but I wanted something different so I bought several strings of larger white lights for outside the house.
We enjoyed sleeping in Thursday morning and Laurie got up around 10 to make some great cinnamon/orange rolls and to finish the potato casserole.
We left for her parents around noon after the casserole finished cooking and I got OrangeNoiseRadio set up for Orange Friday.

More on Thanksgiving fun coming…