a major award!

i love presents! if you want me to know that you like me, love me, or think i'm great, gifts are definately the way to go!

so, i pull into KY tired and hot, and my mom covers my eyes and steers me toward my (our... no, no, i'm pretty sure it's MY) anniversary present... a beautiful, antique roll top secretary desk! oooo! ahhhh! it so lovely! it even caused me to think about turning around and driving home, so i could put it in the livingroom! i looked all over online to find a picture similar enough to give you an idea of what it looks like, but i didn't see one that did it justice, and there is no digital camera here, soooo...you will just have to wait and see! :)

and for the record, i do accept gifts smaller than antique roll top desks. infact, since i already have one of those, you should just cross it off your list entirely!

OH! BIG NEWS! earlier in my blog, i posted a poem i wrote, called 'the vine'. well, a while ago, i submitted it to a national poetry contest, and won "outstanding achievement in poetry" award! hooray me! unfortunately, it's not a cash prize - but there is a lovely crytal trophy i can get ... by either going to las vegas or sending a "nominal" fee of $169 (which includes a "free" subscription to some national poetry "news" magazine...but, oddly, not shipping and handling). i kid you not - this is the picture they sent me in the email i recieved....



sadly, i think i will have to forgo my lovely crystal prize. too bad - i could have put it on my new desk....

sunday

happy sunday!

the girls are in the backyard pool, the humidity is high, and the sun is blazing! can you say, "good night sleep"? :) i am going to go read my book - i hope your afternoon is as lazy as mine!

we have arrived!

ah, there's nothing like pulling into insane city traffic after 7 hours of empty highway's going 70mph... so soothing... %$@!$#@^$#!&*@#!

but, nonetheless, we have arrived! all in one piece, and i will be posting most of the time i'm here..so don't be strangers! :) leave me lots of lovely comments!

love me!! (take that however you want to!)

life goes on

ok - i am going on vacation, but i will try to keep posting! while i am gone, please remind curtis to:

1. check on, and feed, the tadpoles

2. feed and water the cat, and scoop his litter

3. feed the goldfish

4. water the plants (especially the lillies!) if we go too many days without rain

5. feed the birds

looking at that list, and including The Girls and curtis, i nurture a lot of life! that makes me happy!

good news!

good news! the tadpoles are voluntarily swimming this morning! and they are bigger! and they are ALIVE!!! now i almost wish i weren't going to kentucky on saturday... i want to see my babies grow! :) all of you, please remind curtis to nurture them, ok?!

the ordination service went well... a lot gray hair, and at least one woman who sneered at my (fabulous!) shoes, but it was full of God, and lots of genuine warmth toward us (and all the other candidates), so... onward to our greencard! yikes!

what's new pussycat?

congratulations to curtis! tonight we go out to the booming metropolis of highpoint, nc, to see his ordination officially transferred. and, yes, it really is as exciting as it sounds. for those of you drawing a blank, it's a lot like changing schools halfway through your degree and having to make up some of your credit hours since your new school doesn't count certain of your previous classes toward your degree. so curtis has had to take 2 more classes, (he was ordained in our previous church denomination), and now after tonight will be an official wesleyan reverend. i honestly, as much as i'm proud of him, feel weird about being married to a reverend. it's a little weird, don't you think?

on the plus side, the tadpoles are still alive - hooray!

what a girl wants

i want my daughters to grow up to be fabulous women with lives full of people who love them, who love God, and have a strong sense of their own worth and beauty. and in the meantime, i want to be a good mom, who leaves them with memories they can hold on to, rather than ones they have to "deal with". i want to be able to sit on the porch with them when they are grown and talk about life, to have grown into a friendship with them like my mom and i have.

i want to look back over my lifetime and be able to say that i said yes to God, and did whatever he asked of me - that i used my gifts well. i want a 'well done, good and faithful servant'.

i want a lasting marriage that doesn't just hold out til the end for the sake of blind committment, but rather one that continues to grow in love and intimacy and respect. i want to learn to love curtis better. i want to feel like the center of someone's universe...

i want big lillies that aren't eaten by rabbits. i want regular time to hang in my hammock and sleep. i want to be a better human in the mornings. i want to always live where it is warm, and there are living things to get lost in... (i stood out in the street last night at dusk while 4 or 5 bats - sorry, dad - swooped and dove not 10 feet above my head... it was amazing!)

i want to write a book that people read and think is fantastic!

i want to grow old and beautiful - the kind of woman you want to sit beside and talk to, because she is so wise and gracious and funny - i want to be the kind of person peter and john were... "...they were unschooled, ordinary men, and (others) took note that these men had been with Jesus." i would like to have that tone in my life, too. i want to find a way to live that gives more life that it consumes. i want to figure out to live according to Psalm 119:73, 74... "You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands. May all who fear you find in me a cause for joy, for I have put my hope in your word.”

i want to always have parties that people look forward to coming to, because they know they are going to laugh hard and have a great time.

i always want to have cute shoes and style.

i want to live so that the people that i love always know that i love them.

i think that's it... there is lots more that i "want", but they fall far more under the catagory of 'that red sweater', and not really anything you would want to build a life around!