Weekend in St. Louis.....

I managed to have a great weekend in St. Louis even though I had to make the trip by myself. Steve stayed back as he was singing/playing guitar in the wedding of some of our friends here in Madison. He wouldn't have been able to get Monday off of work to go with me to St. Louis anyway, so it was good that he had something to keep him busy while I was away. He had quite the weekend of bachelor parties, BBQ's, golf games and wedding festivities.

I had a great time in St. Louis for Chad & Erica's wedding even though I was bummed that Steve wasn't able to join me. Sunday morning I was able to visit our old church and catch up with a lot of people all at once. After church Amy and I headed to the Four Season's at the Lumiere Place to deliver food to the lovely bride. I've never been to the Lumiere and was very impressed. The views were amazing (see above picture) and the hotel very nice. Erica was getting her makeup done when we showed up and even in just a robe and with her hair back in a ponytail she already looked gorgeous. She was literally glowing and it was so sweet.
I was super excited to see that she was going to be wearing "the veil." This veil has been passed around to the all the girlfriends and if I remember correctly this is the 5th wedding it's been in. Missy wore it for her wedding and I did for mine as well. It's super special to have this little tradition. Next we just have to get Nadia married off and wearing the thing.
The ceremony was beautiful and decorated so tastefully. Erica looked so pretty and couldn't stop smiling the entire time. I am just so happy for her and Chad. They are complete opposites, but so perfect for each other. They balance each other out beautifully and I love the Erica has finally found a man that is truly worthy of her love. Whenever I'm at a wedding for someone I really care about I tend to get really emotional, because I'm just so happy for them. I'm proud to announce that I managed to make it through the entire ceremony with only shedding just a small tear!
After the ceremony I hung out with Nate & Jamie before heading over the reception. They had such a unique reception, it was held at the Third Degree Glass Factory - a place I had never been to in St. Louis. Before the couple arrived they had glass blowing demonstrations for all of the wedding attendees. It's such a nice place with a great atmosphere. It was fun to hang out with friends, but the time went by way to quickly!
Every time I go home I just am reminded at how irreplaceable my friends are. I especially miss my close girlfriends and feel kind of lost now that I don't have them in my life on a daily basis anymore. It's been good that lately I've been able to see them once a month, but I still can't help but feel super sad every time that I have to leave them and come back to Madison where the close girlfriend factor is definitely missing.I spent Sunday night at Dan & Amy's and it was good to hang out with them. I went out for breakfast with Amy on Monday and then stopped by to see Missy and the kids for awhile before I had to take the lonely drive back to Madison.
I can't wait to go home again next month to see everyone for Nathan & Nicole's wedding.
In the mean time, we'll have a few busy weeks! Nadia's coming to visit on Wednesday night and then Steve M and Nate are coming on Thursday night to spend the weekend and then Jess P coming the weekend after that. I love having friends come to town! The goal is to eventually get them all to love Madison so much that that can't bear the thought of living in St. Louis any longer and end up moving here. Hopefully my plan will work!

Everyone's talking about Michael Jackson. I'm still not sure that I believe that he's actually dead yet. He's so weird that I'm never really quite sure if I should believe anything that I hear about him. Anyway...if he really is dead we sure have lost a good dancer.

I'll be heading back to St. Louis tonight and am praying my car will make it there. I'm getting a new radiator put in today and I'm always nervous about taking a road trip right after my car has been serviced. I kind of like to break the new stuff in a little bit first. I'm so bummed to be going without Steve, I hate doing stuff without him. I can't wait to see Erica get married on Sunday though. It's an outdoor wedding at Bee Tree park, so it should be warm.

On to other news...there was more layoffs at the company I worked for in St. Louis yesterday, which included my friend Mischelle. I'm surprised the place is still open with all of the people that they've let go in the recent months. I feel so bad for Mischelle because her husband Tom just got laid off as well. I'm hoping and praying they can both find jobs quickly. Considering the economy right now I feel pretty fortunate to have the job I have and that Steve has been at his temp position for a few months now. After the struggles we both had with finding jobs here in Madison I definitely feel a renewed sense of sympathy for everyone I know that's unemployed right now. There is so much competition out there and not very many jobs. Hopefully things will change in our economy soon, but honestly I really don't see how that's possible.

fun day and sad news...

Yesterday was a good day. I came home to find a 5 pound bag of coffee beans had come in the mail for me from a sweet friend back in St. Louis. Apparently I had mentioned on my facebook status sometime last week that I was feeling tired, so she thought she'd help me wake up. It was so, so, sweet of her and it made my day.

We spend the evening at a concert down on the square handing out free boxes of of Tic Tacs just for the heck of it courtesy of our church. It was fun, yet totally out of my comfort zone to approach strangers and ask them if they wanted some free mints. We got to meet a lot of interesting folks though, which I always enjoy.

I also found out some very sad news yesterday. A friend of mine that I knew from when I lived in Texas was murdered on Tuesday by Al-Qaeda in the northern part of Africa. He and his wife have been living there with their 4 children for the last 6 years as undercover missionaries. This country is 99.9% Muslim and had targeted him for attempting to spread Christianity in the nation. They attempted to kidnap him first, but shot him after he tried to resist. He was such a wonderful man - what I appreciated most about him was his sincerity and wonderful sense of humor. We had just received a letter from him and his wife a few weeks ago updating us on all of the exciting things that have been happening over there. My heart goes out to his sweet wife and children.

Although there are things I would like to see changed about our nation, I am so, so grateful that we are a country that allows our citizens freedom of religion. I never want to take the freedoms that we have for granted. I also feel so honored to know so many wonderful people that are willing to risk their life in order to share the hope that they've found with others in the remote parts of the world. I am so challenged and inspired by the lives of so many wonderful people that I've met over the years. I only wish that I had such boldness and faith to step out like that to share my faith with others. I often times think about our move to Madison and how much of a leap of faith this process has been for Steve and I. Really though, ultimately God has taken care of us just like we knew he would. Hearing about what is happening in other parts of the world (and even sometimes our country) really puts things into perspecive and I can't help but feel a little bit foolish for worrying so much about if Steve's temporary job will turn into a full time position. Ultimately it is God who gives and takes away and I want to choose to put my hope in what He has for me rather than what I think I need, when I think I need it.

LOVE146

Pretty much during the summertime our TV is constantly turned off. There is one show I've been trying to catch off and on though - for a very good reason. It's called "I'm a celebrity, get me out of here" and it's on NBC.
The main reason I've tried to follow the show is because the contests are playing to raise money for different causes and charities. I found out that Stephen Baldwin (not my favorite person ever) is playing for my favorite cause ever, so I'm really pulling him for him to win and for the first time ever have called in to cast my vote for a reality TV show.
Stephen is playing for LOVE146 - in my opinion one of the most important social justice campaigns out there. LOVE146 is an organization that is trying to abolish child sex slavery and rescues victims by sending them to safehouses for restoration. This cause is so near and dear to my heart - it's astounding to me that small children are being kidnapped and raped over and over again every day, unable to enjoy the innocence of childhood. These children are either kidnapped or sold into slavery by their parents or relatives. LOVE146 not only helps raise money to rescue these children but helps raise money to prevent them being forced into slavery. Recently one of their projects for prevention was to build a water filtration system in the jungles of Cambodia. Many of the children had to walk deep into the jungle to get clean water and were kidnapped on their journey. LOVE146 helped provide assistance so that the children could get water right there in their village without the fear of being kidnapped. Steve and I financially support this organization, and so does our church.
Just look at some of the facts that I read on their website:
- It is estimated that 2 children are sold into sexual slavery every minute
- The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) now believes that the number of children trafficked annually is around 1.2 million.
- The UN and other experts estimate the total market value of illicit human trafficking at roughly $32 Billion. This makes trafficking of persons the 2nd most lucrative crime in the world.
- It is estimated that at least 27 million people are currently enslaved around the world. This is more than double the number of Africans enslaved during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

It makes me so sick to my stomach to think of young children - many as young as just 2 years old being locked in a dark basement and raped repeatedly ever day. Many of them haven't actually seen daylight or sunshine in years. This is such a tragedy and I wish there was more that I could do to help. LOVE146 is a very reputable organization and regardless of if I think Stephen Baldwin is a little odd or not, I am so excited that he's making the organization known through some crazy reality tv show. I hope he wins and is able to raise a lot of money for a very good cause.

All of that to say, if anyone is ever looking for a good cause to support, I hope you will consider LOVE146. Check out their website, watch some of their videos - I promise you will be moved.

My Birthday Surprise

I survived turning 30. I really hope the 30's are as great as everyone says they are, cause I'm still a little depressed about growing older.
Saturday was a day full of emotions. They day didn't start out that great when I woke up early to take my car in to get a routine oil change - only to find to find out that we need a few hundred dollars worth of work done on it, including a new radiator, thermostat, gasket and a few hoses. Let's just say I wasn't so happy to get that news and am now feeling a little nervous about driving back to St. Louis this weekend by myself since there's no way we'll have time to get it fixed before then.
I came home from CarX totally depressed and upset, but luckily Steve was in a better mood. He took me to Sophia's - my favorite breakfast place in Madison and we shared a nice little breakfast outside. We spent the rest of the afternoon running errands and finally ended up back at home.

Then, Steve gave me the birthday gift that I totally wasn't expecting - a beautifully naturally finished Warwick bass. It is so pretty and he completely surprised me (which is pretty hard to do).

My husband is truly the sweetest guy in the whole world. Without a doubt his guitars are the most important possession we own and he had traded in his Marshall Amp, amp head, a few effects pedals, an electric pickup, and his shotgun to get me this beautiful bass. I know it truly was a sacrifice for him and that made it even more special. I felt so loved that he not only got me something sweet and thoughtful but he got me the best of the best too!

Steve has actually kind of struck up a friendship with the guy from the guitar shop (it's a cute 100 year old shop not too far from our house) and so the guy threw in a whole bunch of picks, a nice Ernie Ball strap and a free guitar stand for me just as a happy birthday gift. So sweet!
I'm no rock star, but I'm looking forward to playing my new bass and Steve has already been giving me lessons. He's the REAL rockstar (with the cheesy grin included) in this family!

I just really love my husband and am constantly amazed at how good he is to me. Not a day goes by where I don't thank God at least a few times for giving me such a wonderful man to share life with.
After the excitement of the new bass settled down we had a pretty boring Sunday that consisted of grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, and more errands. We ended the night with having Jason over for dinner.

(Not So) Deep Thoughts Running Through My Mind on a Friday Morning...

- I've been missing my sweet husband a lot this week. Life has been busy and the most we've seen each other since last Sunday has been at a church leadership meeting on Wednesday. I've got a "to do" list a mile long for the weekend so hopefully we can at least hang out while we tackle projects together. Despite not seeing much of each other lately I feel like I can't complain too much considering that not too long ago we spent 2 1/2 months living 400 miles away from each other.

- It actually got pretty humid here yesterday - nothing like Texas or St. Louis, but nonetheless it was uncomfortable. I would like to swiftly kick the rear end of all the people here in Madison that told me that buying a house that had no central A/C wouldn't be a problem. That was one of the major deciding factors on the house we purchased, but I took the advice of everyone that lived here that told me we'd be fine. Maybe yesterday was just an abnormally bad day for humidity in WI because my uncle in Eau Claire said it was horrible there too. Needless to say the wall a/c unit was turned on for the first time.

- I think I over did it at the gym yesterday. I tend to work a lot harder when I'm feeling frustrated and yesterday was no exception. I'm a little sore today, but I think I'm really going to be feeling it tomorrow and probably the rest of the weekend. Oh well, as long as all this new strength training I've been doing (I used to only be a cardio girl) tones up a little bit of the lard the seems to be dangling from my arms I'll be happy.

- My sister in-law just turned 30 (yes, she's just 4 days older than me) and all week I've been stressing and hoping my brother did something extra special for her. Most likely he was out of town as he always is. I've been thinking a lot about her this week and just how grateful I am that she married my brother. Seriously, she is the best thing that has ever happened to our family. I don't know how my brother ended up with such a catch, but we are all so lucky to have her in our lives. She is such a great wife to Andy and is such an example to me of what it means to be a supportive and encouraging wife. If only we didn't live so far away....

- Today I'm happy because I'm wearing my wedding flip flops. Following the tradition of Missy I wore some chunky white flip flops from JCrew on my wedding day. I figured nobody was gonna really see my feet anyway so I might as well be comfortable. I don't think I've ever worn them since we got married (I'm not really a fan of white) but today I thought I'd pull them out of the closet for old times sake and it made me happy. Too bad they already look disgusting after I had to walk through a pile of mud to get to my garage door - and that, folks, is why I'm not a fan of white.

things I'm learning - over and over and over again...

That God is good, faithful and so full of love for me.

These last few months have been such a journey for us, but as I look back I God's hand on our lives in such an undeniable way.
We've had to step out and take risks with faith that we never even knew that we had, but God has proven to us time and time again just how good and faithful He is.

I'm learning the importance of waiting on God with full assurance that He knows what's best for us. It's such a comfort to know that everything we do is not in our strength, but from the strength that God gives us.

There's so much about the future that we're unsure of, but I wouldn't trade this journey for anything. One thing I've learned from working with the elderly is to not take one day of life for granted. We only live once I want to live life to the fullest with no regrets....sometimes I just have a hard time figuring out what all the fullness entails! :)

Sometimes I also have a hard time with finding balance between planning for the future while remaining in the present. I don't want to look ahead so much that I miss out on all the things that God has for me now, but I also don't want to be so absorbed in the present that I'm blown and tossed by the wind and find myself wondering what I'm doing with my life 10 years down the road.

I guess all of these are things that I learn/am learning as I go. Right now I just want my focus to be on being faithful to all that God has asked of me for this season of life. I know and trust that He's working out the rest. What a relief!

We had such a great weekend - so full of fun! Friday night Steve surprised me with tickets to see Eric Hutchinson at the Majestic. I hear him all the time on my XM (The Spectrum, Channel 45 - best channel on XM) and every time he comes on I mention to Steve how much I like him and want to get his CD. He's not very well known, but he's very talented. Anyway...the concert was awesome and I was so blessed that my sweet husband surprised me with tickets. We finally ended up getting that CD as well.
Saturday came and I got to surprise Steve! One of my clients gave me some movie vouchers for one of the cinema's here, so I took Steve to see Wolverine. I was actually surprised that it was still in theatres as it seems like it was months ago when it came out. I know Steve has really been wanting to see it, but hadn't mentioned it - because we've been trying to save money and also because he knows I'd rather be doing something a little more social than sitting at a movie theatre. Anyway, he LOVES the X-Men series and read comic books as a child, so going to see Wolverine definitely filled his love tank - which made me super happy to see him so happy. We hung out down at the union on Saturday night and it was so beautiful outside and a perfect night to people watch and listen to music.
Sunday came and I got surprised - again! Chris, Christina and Steve surprised me with a trip out to New Glarus' brand new hilltop brewery that just opened. It was such a beautiful drive out there and their new facility was gorgeous! I also discovered that I like their "Fat Squirrel" beer a lot better than the "Spotted Cow" that they're so well known for. In fact, it may be one of my new favorites. Still though, nothing beats a NewCastle.

It was really a great weekend. I've been feeling a little down lately because I'm going to turn the big 30 on Saturday and for some reason it's really been bumming me out. It was so nice to get out and have some fun and do something special and I'm so grateful for a wonderful husband and super sweet friends!

Taxes and TV

This morning I met with the city property tax assessor. Since we got such a great deal on our house (we like to bargain) it ended up assessing out to about $20,000 more than what we paid for it.

I tried to be charming (which is not normally a characteristic I possess) hoping that he'd see things my way so our taxes would be lowered, and I think it worked! He's got to check into a few things because apparently he's surprised by how much we paid for it as well and has suspicions that it was in foreclosure when we bought it - which would explain why it would be assessed for more than what we paid for it. If he can find the proof that it was a standard sale (which we know it was) he said he would lower our assessment! Obviously we bought the place and are positive that it wasn't in foreclosure, so it's pretty much a done deal that our taxes will be lowered! Yea!

It's amazing how much money you can save by just doing a little bit of digging! I don't think our property taxes will be lowered drastically, but every little bit helps!

Things are good around the house - since the season finale's of Lost and The Biggest Loser last month we've found that we have a lot more free time. It's funny how that works eh? We spend most of our time out doing fun stuff and it's been really nice. I really don't miss watching TV at all....although can I just say that I can't WAIT to see what happens next year on Lost's final season?!?! I'm so ready to get all of my questions answered!

We went to Dexter's with a few friends for Trivia Night on Tuesday and our team name was the "Dharma Initiative." Does that make us total losers? I think so. The positive side note is that we did pitiful in the trivia, so at least we gave the Dharma a bad name.

random ramblings on another rainy day...

I woke up in a bad mood this morning. Don't know if it's the crappy weather here or just because I've been feeling extra tired lately.

It looks like because of work Steve won't be able to go back to St. Louis with me for Chad & Erica's wedding and I'm so bummed. Not bummed enough that I wish he didn't have a job though. So, it looks like I'll be flying solo back to the Lou and Moyer will have to be my date for the big day on the 29th.

Last night I went out with some friends from work for dinner and drinks at the Flat Top Grill. This was the second time I've been there and it was definitely better this time now that we all knew what we were doing. It's one of those create your own stir fry places where you put all the ingredients together and then they stir fry it up for you.
I'm so weird that normally these kinds of places tend to stress me out simply because I'm one of those people that always seem to sweat the small stuff in life. It's harder for me to choose between white and brown rice (for the record I ended up mixing them) then it is for me to decide what to do with the rest of my life. I'm just weird like that. Anyway, besides all the difficult decisions I had to make I had a good time.

Tonight we're heading over to Dexter's for trivia night and hopefully we won't do as pitifully as we did last time now that Sarah will be joining us. Sarah is the self-proclaimed diva of useless knowledge and I have to say that I agree with the title she's given herself. Hopefully with her on our team we might just come home with a prize!

another weekend down...

The weekend was good – as always too quick though. We had a “TGIF” BBQ on Friday night and it was the perfect night to be outside. The guys attempted to play Bocce ball, but kind of made up their own rules which made it very entertaining to watch.

We slept in on Saturday and then took off for a long walk. We walked over to the brand new Goodman Community Center so Steve could see it (I’d been there before) and he was so impressed. It is so nice and I’m glad that it’s actually being utilized by the community. After that we decided to walk over to Atwood Ave. to check out some of the little shops there and found this cute little guitar shop that had supposedly been there for 100 years. We talked to the owner for awhile that said that he had bought the shop 20 years ago from someone else.

On Saturday night we went down to the Union to check out the jazz festival and had a great time! The music was superb and the people watching even better!

On Sunday we had our first official Madison Vineyard service. It’s been really exciting to see our little church grow over the last few months and I’m excited for what God has for us in the future.

Steve found out yesterday that apparently the three cheese bread from Panera doesn’t agree with his system. We’ve had lunch at the Roberts twice in the last week where we’ve had that bread and both times he’s come home feeling ill. It’s so strange to me that of all things my trash compactor of a husband gets sick from Panera bread.

Friday is here!

I love our neighborhood. Last night I went out for a jog and was reminded of how happy I am to live in a lively neighborhood. There's always people out and about and something fun to see. I never realized how much I missed that in Dupo where everyone kept to themselves (at least on our street). When I got home from my jog, I realized that I had taken the wrong keys and was locked out of the house. I didn't really mind though, because it was nice to sit outside and enjoy the weather and watch the neighborhood kids. Luckily it wasn't that long before Dale & Jacq came home to rescue me.

George, our next door neighbor passed away last week. He'd been in the hospital since April and we've been taking care of his yard. He was a really nice old man. He lived with his daughter Kim and her son Connor, who we've also got to know and think they're really nice. I feel really bad for them. I know that death is a part of life, but I just hate it! I hate seeing people hurt from the loss of a loved on.

On to a more chipper topic...Steve went out with Jason (his former boss who was fired and Steve took his position) last night and had a good time. I'm so glad that the whole ackward job situation has not affected their relationship. They were VIP's at some big event at Scatz that had free beer all night. Luckily Steve had actually eaten something that day and even had dinner too, so we didn't have a reprise of a few weeks ago when I had to crawl out of bed and go pick him because he was too tipsy to drive even though he had barely had anything to drink. I was glad that he had learned from his past experiences the value of having some kind of food in your system if your going to consume alcohol.

I'm looking forward to the weekend - BBQ tonight, Jazz Festival tomorrow and our first official church service on Sunday - yea!

babies and more babies

It's no secret that I have the baby bug. I was hoping that a trip back to St. Louis and hanging out with the Thompson kids would cure that. I love those kids, but they are a handful. No such luck though. All it did was remind me of how much I miss them in my life thus giving me even more of an "itch" for some little ones of my own.

When we we first got married the plan was to wait for 5 years to have kids. We just passed the 3 year mark. I think the reality that I'm going to be 30 in a few weeks has really set in though. I'm beginning to realize that if we want more than one child we need to start popping those kiddo's out soon!

On the other hand though, I have felt so ready to start a family in the recent months that I've finally had to come to the point where I'm just willing to lay that down. It's not that we've been trying and have been unable to have children, but it's more that it's just not wise and responsible for us to even consider having children right now. I know that really we'll never be 100% ready for children, but at least until Steve knows that he has a full time permanent job even considering it is not an option, in fact it would be pure selfishness. So, it's been a journey these past several weeks as I've been trying to be "ok" with us putting the idea of kids on the backburner.

I know that ultimately God knows what's best for us better then we do, so I'm trying to come to the point where I'm just okay with whatever (and whenever) He decides the timing is right for us to have little ones.
In the meantime though, I will lay down my desires and although both Steve and I are at a place of wanting children we will enjoy every minute that we have where it's just the two of us. Make no mistake, I know and am prepared for the reality that having kids changes EVERYTHING!

today's entertainment....

Steve and I went for a walk on Monona Terrace last night and ended up being entertained while we were there!
This is what we saw...
It was so neat to watch the pyramid form. This picture isn't even the completed pyramid, another person was added to the top after I took this one. It's amazing to me that people can do this while being pulled behind a boat. I can't even get up to water ski for more than 5 seconds, so to say the least I was thoroughly impressed.
This is what they looked like after they climbed back down from the pyramid with three to a ski (or whatever it was that they were on).
This is the kind of stuff that makes me love Madison. There's always something interesting to see and we always end up getting entertained wherever we go because people are always out doing crazy stuff like this "just for fun". Now that the weather is nice and we've been able to get out and about more I have completely fallen in love with this city!

Bittersweet News...

We got some good and bad news yesterday.

The bad news is that yesterday while Steve was on his lunch break (at the place where he's been working as a temp for the last 2 months) his boss got fired. He and his boss have actually become pretty good friends and he's been really been talking Steve up and encouraging management to hire him on permanently.

The good news is that after his lunch break yesterday Steve was offered the job as the supervisor in charge of the warehouse. Of course Steve will take the job, but it's been a little hard to get excited when he's taking the job of a good man and friend. His boss was a very hard worker and everyone was shocked when they let him go yesterday. Steve talked to him for awhile on the phone last night and thankfully everything is fine between them.

Effective yesterday Steve is the managing supervisor. They told him that they will keep him on through the temp agency to feel things out a bit and then once they see that things are working out they'll hire him on permanently. He's got a big job ahead of him. The fact that they're giving to a position to a new guy that's a temp says a lot - not only about Steve's work ethic, but also about the work ethic of the other employees there (some of them have worked there for 10+ years) that actually know a little bit about the organization. Steve knows that he has his work cut out for him - especially since he's never worked in a supervisory role, but I am so confident that he can do this and he'll do great.

I am so proud of my husband. He is such a good man - full of integrity, hard working and respectful of others. We've been married for three years now and it seems like with each passing day I become more and more grateful for the wonderful husband that God has provided me with. I am so in love with this wonderful man and feel so blessed to have him as my husband and friend.

We'll see where all this news takes us. At this point we're cautiously optimistic and trying to figure out why things are happening the way they are. We're grateful to God for his provision and praying that everything works out for the best for everyone involved.