This is in response to a friend who texted me last night, asking if I was fasting from blogging.  I haven’t been, I just haven’t had much to say.  I know that it doesn’t make sense-especially if you know me well.  I just don’t have too much to say right now.  A few thoughts though…

-The 24 season premiere on Sunday and Monday nights were heart-pounding and great.  Jack is back and I’m pumped.

-Yesterday I had the opportunity to serve at St Leo’s Soup Kitchen, in Detroit, with some friends for MLK Day.  He was a man with a long name "Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.", a short history and a huge legacy.  All I did yesterday was chop vegetables, prepare utensils and serve ham.  It’s so little, I suppose, but little things have the potential to mean a lot. 

-I need to eat more fruit and vegetables.  So I’ve been looking for good, yet simple, recipes to try out.  Hope they taste good!

-It’s freezing outside and that makes it chilly inside too…I really liked the weather on the news tonight because they kept saying there was a "cuddle alert".

-I’m really enjoying the book of Genesis.  So many questions keep coming up and that excites me.  It’s helping me to remember my finite knowledge of the Bible and it’s challenging me to think more for myself about the beginnings of Israel.  I’m seeing more and more how often God uses imperfect people to accomplish His will.  It gives me hope!  🙂

-A small group of friends are going to Guatemala to build homes for widows and children in June.  I’m going to go!  That was just decided today.  Please pray for God to provide in big ways.  I’ll have to see almost $2,000 come in to pay for my trip and some of the cost of the houses that we’ll build.  (Let me know if you feel led to support me financially and/or in prayer:)

That’s it.  My thoughts are done for the night.  Now I sleep.

I just really wanted to post this for anyone that hasn’t seen it yet.  It makes me laugh out loud every time…:)

Nope!  I’m not talking about the movie.

Here I am at Caribou (as always, working hard on a Saturday night:).  This guy comes in and sits in
the comfy chair diagonally from me, in front of the fire.  He didn’t buy anything (and he’s clearly not with anyone), so I thought for a second that that was rude.  But other than that, no big deal…until he decided to take his shoes off and put them up on the public newspaper basket (feet in the basket)!  Good night!  Where does this guy think he is? 

Just since I started writing this post, he put down his book and literally curled up on the chair…as if he’s in front of a real fire, in his own home. 

Hey, Buddy, I feel for ya if you don’t have a fireplace of your own.  I’m there with ya, but let’s just get for real here…you’re in a public coffee shop!  No one wants to see your lovely, stained socks.  We’re just not that close.

Remember the Christmas tree that we didn’t take down until February last year?  Well, it’s up again!

Last year my roommate, Jen, and I decided that for Christmas we would get each other ornaments for our tree.  I couldn’t resist thinking of Jen when I saw this Starbucks ornament last year:

So Jen got me this one…it’s okay…you can laugh:) 

This year I was ecstatic to present the ornament I had picked out…she showed it to me a couple of weeks ago, but I made the final decision on it…

…are you shocked and surprised???   It’s a shoe tree!  My roommate has a shoe collection that would put Barbie to shame.

And here she is, happily putting it on the tree.

After 2 1/2 weeks of trying to locate a copy of 24.Season 3, I finally have it.  I realized that I could catch up through Season 5 before it all starts in January.  This would make me happy.  So with these next few days off (and no work to do) I’m going to hang with my brother, and hopefully my sister-in-law, to watch Season 3.  I’m hoping to snatch Season 4 for Christmas in Philly and then Season 5 when I get home from break.

I know what you’re thinking.  "That’s crazy!"  And you’re right.  It has the potential to consume me for a couple of days.  I figure that as long as I pray for Jack Bauer to make it through safely then surely that will keep me focused on the Lord the whole time…

So I need to give a public shout-out to:

-Chris and Nicki Bradshaw for letting me borrow their copy of Season 3

-Matt Wyland for letting me borrow Chris and Nicki’s copy from him (cuz he had it)

-Carrie Cornelius for calling Matt right before he left for worship practice tonight to tell him to bring it

On this Thanksgiving, I am very thankful for these people.  🙂

On the lighter side of life:

For the sake of my friend, Katie Trapp, I am posting this to try to grab some of the search hits she gets from her lovely post about "braces and headgear"…although to be honest, it doesn’t come up when I do that search.  Also, I’m not sure why this frustrates her so much either.  Anyway, this is just for fun.-mostly for Katie 🙂

Did you know that:

1. a bignonia is a tropical vine named after Louis the 15th’s librarian?

2.  Sarah Hale is the lady who wrote the words for the nursery rhyme "Mary had a Little Lamb"?-Mother Goose, my foot!

3.  P.U.F.F. stands for People United to Fight Frustrations

4. in Tuscumbia, Alabama, it is still illegal for more than eight rabbits to live on the same city block.  (Although I keep trying to figure out how they charge that ninth rabbit…Do they handcuff him and read him his rights?  Haul him off the Tuscumbia jail?  Charge him a $5,000 fine?)

Tonight I played Balderdash and found out that the Philly team of Jamie and I just don’t work well at this game-although I already knew that I stunk at the game and was hoping that Jamie would pull it in for us.  Not so.  Nonetheless I had a blast playing the game, especially when an unnamed pastor’s wife wrote that in Israel it was a crime to circumcise a bear as her ‘fake answer’.  Balderdash is all about writing fake answers, statements, definitions, etc., in hopes that someone will think that yours is correct.  The things I listed above are some funny examples from a card in the game.  I really enjoyed #4.

The other game we played tonight was Taboo.  When the other team was going, someone was trying to describe something and said, "They’re fighting the Israeli’s…"  Katie belted out, "The Jews!"  and then sat back in the couch and said, "Oh wait…" 

Good times.  Good times.

Okay, I’m really not obsessed with pigs, but a couple of my newest friends, Anthony and Kari, just got one.  They ordered her from a pig breeder in Texas and had to pick her up from the airport today.  Here she is, isn’t she cute? 

This reminds me of a youth leader that I had in high school-Dave Nunner.  He and his wife had a pig.  And I remember the classic line from my friend Amber in an awkward moment…"So, how do you feel about having a pig as a pet?"  Um, yeah, that probably won’t make sense to anyone but my old PRIZM friends (Praying Radicals In Zealous Ministry-our old youth ministry). They will laugh.  Everyone else…enjoy the pig picture-who wouldn’t?  🙂