kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep

i am desperately trying to think of a sentence to begin with other than, "well, it's time for an update." nothing. blech.

january is over. it was a busy month of subbing. praise God! i subbed more (full) days than any previous month. too bad i won't see the fruits of that labor until the end of february. being on a tight budget is becoming a game. let's see how little money we can spend this month! it's amazing what you can save by cutting out little extravagances. and it's amazing how much you still have to spend on the necessities. yeep.

last weekend (as in, 8 days ago), walhof dropped in for the weekend. it was a nice surprise. he left monday morning and kendra came in monday evening. philip calls us the revolving door of dordt alum. i'm ok with that. the last week has been crazy with full days of subbing, full evenings of introducing kendra to the community, and nights of deeper sleep.

today i have the day off. i didn't find jobs early this morning, so i blocked off my day to prevent a later morning phone call. i decided to take the time to bring kendra to various potential places of employment, do some laundry, and attend a worship conference led by sean hall with my dear friend lynda. we'll top off the day with kendra's quesadillas and knitting night. a good day, methinks.

yesterday was also a good day. we had church (a combined service, but we accidentally showed up for the early service!), a birthday dinner for doug (complete with lots of great people and delicious...i repeat, delicious food), bringing soup for the jesus gathering and attending worship, and debriefing with small group at our apt. it was truly a small group, too! i love everyone in our group, but i enjoy the times when the group is a bit smaller, for conversation's sake. good times.

i'm rereading harry potter. after spending 3 days in a classroom where kids worked independently and therefore reading an entire commentary on hp, i couldn't stay away any longer. i'm loving the second time through. i'm almost done with book 2 and i'm trying to ignore the cries of the other books on my shelf: "are you kidding me? i've been here for four years and you haven't picked me up once! love ME! read ME!" i guess they'll just have to wait.

oh. and i caved. or rather, philip caved. we made the mistake of going to village books on saturday. i found a half-price copy of eleanor roosevelt's political writings. philip said it was another late birthday present for me. sweet husband = happy andrea.

gifts

this is what i felt like 6 months ago, applying for our marriage license 2 days before our wedding.

now that the ordeal of the wedding is over, i feel much better.

and 6 1/2 months later, i feel incredibly blessed. my husband is cheerful, good-natured, patient, and sweet 98% of the time (don't ask what my percentage is...) i am learning many lessons from him and we're figuring out communication and good attitudes. we love hanging out together; baking, organizing our apartment, sneaking up on the cat together, talking, and watching episodes of the office on netflix. i've learned to not take him for granted, but i learn it more every day.

this week, one of the women from our church lost her husband in a farm accident. he was only a few years older than us; she is left at home with 3 girls 6 and under. i have never met this family from our church, but i cannot fathom what she is going through. i feel so spoiled, taking my husband for granted while she would do anything to go back in time and talk to hers one more time. i can't imagine what i would do if i didn't have philip to come home to, to do things with, to talk to about everything. my heart aches for this woman i've never met. experiencing a beautiful and lifelong relationship with philip makes me mourn this loss with her, even if she has no idea who i am. today, i held my husband tighter and more often, and i pray that this sister in Christ can have the courage to continue her life.

the worst day...

...actually began yesterday. i'm going to do this in bullet-point since i'm too drained to be very creative.

items contributing to my worst day:

• receiving 3 text messages from someone i don't know calling me a foul name because i didn't reveal my identity (other than to say they don't know me)
  
• drinking a tall mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream at 8:30 p.m., preventing me from sleeping easily.
• imagining that the aforementioned texter was a creepy serial killer who found out where i lived, further contributing to my inability to sleep
  
• hearing "noises" that sealed my inability to sleep
• getting up at 5:45 only to find no sub jobs for the day
• calling the eye clinic for the 4th time since Christmas, only to be told "we're still processing your request! we'll call back!" (liars), condemning me to continue wearing my blurry contacts
• receiving 3 more text messages from a different number, being called more foul names and being threatened. because of my lack of sleep and the above factors, i had a very teary day.
• verizon's idiotic website which frustrated me to no end whilst i tried to block the offensive texters from my phone.

thank goodness i have a wonderful husband who does things like files harassment reports with the local police department. it's interesting, since philip & i have been together, we've called 911 three times and filed a harassment report. before we were together, such things only happened in movies. hmm.

anyway, i hope to redeem today's downright suckiness by eating some nachos and snuggling with my husband after choir practice tonight. a good tonic, methinks.

winding down 2009

dad & philip, hard at work

my wonderful oldest nephew, dillan

al & greg getting serious about quiddler

first christmas as a married couple!

'twas quite snowy...

mom & dad opening gifts on christmas eve

snuggle time!

philip & landon cheesin' it up!

making spritz cookies with mumsie!

Christmas in Iowa was wonderful, as usual. Although the cost of flying out to the midwest is considerable, it was well worth it. In spite of weather and terrorist threats, our flights went well. We spent time baking, playing games, eating, reading, watching movies, and removing snow. My favorite activity was sorting through Trav & Tami's enormous collection of Legos in order to put together some of the sets. I love organization...I'm a bit of a freak about it, especially when it's not my own stuff I'm dealing with. Another highlight was putting together the puzzle that Mom & Dad purchased for the whole family to conquer (although we were missing 3-4 pieces, including Morocco, where, ironically, Al & Greg were heading to on the 26th for their honeymoon). The snow and family togetherness made everything cozy and warm inside.

We flew home on Monday night and were greeted exuberantly by Ophy. She meowed many times that first exhausting night, but now she's contenting herself with sleeping near me, on me, on my pillow, etc. She's not too keen to let me out of her sight. I'm enjoying being back with the little snuggler.

Philip and I arrived at our 6-month mark on Dec. 27. It doesn't seem possible that it's been so long that we've been married, but on the other hand, it seems that we've been married forever. We're really enjoying being married and living in Bellingham, and we're hoping to look back on this time of financial instability as "the good old days." We have nothing to complain about: God has provided and we are blessed with wonderfully supportive families. Thank you, families!

We're looking forward to a new year and new opportunities here in Whatcom County. We're very involved in our church teaching Sunday school to K-4 kids, partipating in worship and worship planning, and I also play in the handbell choir. We're trying to strike a balance between involvement and sanity, and I think we're doing a fair job. I'm hoping to land some sort of permanent teaching job, and Philip is looking into options for further schooling for an education degree.

Well, it's time to go. Apparently I turned this into some sort of Christmas letter, so hopefully you all feel updated. Have a safe and happy New Year!

...and we've got 50-degree weather

i'm looking at a bulging suitcase, wondering what to take out so everything that we really need fits. i know i don't need everything in there, but when there's room, i say, "hey! there's room! now i can pack that ______ i really wanted to take!" unfortunately, i forgot to factor in my husband. we both shove lots of last-minute stuff in, hence the bulge.

i cleaned both bathrooms and vacuumed and shook out rugs and paid the bills and delivered the key to our friend and am anxiously pacing around the apartment, either ignoring the suitcase or fretting that Ophy will be too lonely/scared/hungry/sad without us.

but i'm excited to go to iowa! i'm really excited to be done with the flying part, and thrilled that our whole family will be together this year (greg included)! hooray.

we had snow and ice earlier this week, but the rain came on Tuesday and melted it all away. now it's in the 50s and sunny, which is fine by me since we're driving to seattle tonight and flying tomorrow morning. no more sleeping in the airports for us! (unless denver decides to get all snowy).

all right. enough lollygagging. back to packing.

*edit: i lied. it's actually only 46 degrees. but after 2 weeks of abnormally low temperatures for this area, my internal thermometer is all messed up.

take a chance on me

the wind blows fiercely. it's too soon to tell whether this is a common occurrence or merely early winter weather. i hope the fire on the power lines and the ensuing explosion is not a weekly show.

our apartment is lovely. we are really enjoying it, although i'm eager to have bookshelves put up so we can flatten all our book boxes and make some room in our office. from my perch on the couch, i can see three square windows, one set of patio doors, and a gorgeous half-moon window that lets in the light perfectly when the sun chooses to shine. we have 3 windows in other rooms, in addition to another set of patio doors in the master bedroom. someone pinch me! pictures will make their way here at some point.

subbing has been slow this week. the district i sub in is having parent-teacher conferences this week and next, resulting in early-release days and exhausted teachers who can't afford to take a day off. i expect a plethora of jobs the week after thanksgiving. until then, i'm enjoying the apartment. probably a little too much...i should get outside and go for a rainy-day walk. i've been cooped up doing dishes, rearranging, playing freecell, knitting, and listening to abba. they really are a delightful group.

bellingham is the largest city i've lived in. 75,000 diverse people walk the damp streets of the city. the lighthouse mission, an outreach to the homeless, is two blocks from our apartment. i love that living here is stretching my mind and making me see parts of humanity from which i've been somewhat sheltered. i'm also nervous walking around by myself, in the way that i was nervous when al & i took walks at night in her chicago neighborhood. maybe not quite that nervous...bellingham is a friendly city; a cultured city; full of sights and sounds and natural beauty and apparently, fierce windstorms. i'm glad i don't have to take it all in this week. i've lived in the area for over two years and i learn new things about bellingham weekly.

i feel pensive. and i smell delicious whole-wheat bread baking in the oven.

the mitten

today i lost a mitten.

this morning when i didn't get a sub job, i prepared for my morning walk. it was rainy and windy out, so i bundled up. long johns, sweatshirt, jacket, hat, and mittens. my mitten are the cool kind that are fingerless gloves with a mitten top with beautiful brightly colored stripes. i usually don't wear mittens on my walks because i get warmed up pretty quickly, but i remembered that the last few walks i'd taken resulted in me pulling my sleeves over my chilly fingers. so i pulled on my festive mittens. satisfied with my state of warmth, i headed out the door.

well, it was quite blustery. i almost ran into a stop sign because the wind gusted at just the right (wrong?) time. i pulled my sweatshirt hood over my hat and my jacket hood over that. the rain was spattering my face, but i didn't mind. my head was warm, so the cool wetness on my cheeks felt refreshing.

some days i alternate running with walking, and today i felt the need to get my heart rate up (a good start for a monday morning!) i began jogging right after my stop sign incident. i jogged down south park street, counting my steps and saying bible verses in my head. incidentally, my favorite verses to exercise to are from psalm 23. this is how much i love running...i compare it to the valley of the shadow of death. but i know it's good for me, so i do it and say verses to myself. or pray really hard that i can make it to the place i'm planning to stop.

i jogged across depot and started on the bike trail through the city park. i love crossing the bridge and spitting into the water, smelling the evergreens and watching kids heading to school. at this point i was getting rather warm, so i took out my mittens and stuffed them into my pockets. soon my head was too warm, so i removed my hat and stuffed it into my other pocket, moving both mittens into the same pocket.

i left the bike trail, wound around the school and past the thrift shop, back to depot and down south park, enduring several heart-pumping running spurts. as i punched in the security code and waited for the garage door to open, i reached for my mittens and hat to throw in the closet. i found my hat, the cell phone, and a mitten. but only one mitten.

i dug deeper into the pocket. nothing. i checked the other pocket. empty. i looked inside my hat, my sweatshirt hood, and my jacket hood, just in case. nothing.

i tried to tell myself it was just a mitten. which is true. it's a material object and i shouldn't store up these treasures on earth, yada yada yada. but i knew it was within my power to at least look for my mitten.

i dashed upstairs, grabbed the car keys, waved goodbye to a befuddled Ophy, and jumped in the car. i drove slowly back over the route i had taken, carefully checking the side of the street i had been walking on. i looked over the whole route. except the bike path, where obviously i couldn't drive.

i pulled up next to the path and parked the car. i wasn't too sure i was allowed to park where i did, so i hoped no one would be by. i cut across the lawn and then followed the path, over the bridge, through the scented evergreens, and past the school. each time i turned a corner, i scanned from side to side and then squinted ahead for any sight of a brightly colored mitten. i passed plastic bags stuck to the fence, discarded candy wrappers and coffee cups (honestly, peopel!) i reached the point where i remembered removing my mittens and placing them in my pocket.

and then i saw something at the end of the path, as far as i could see. i knew it was something other than leaves and brush, but it could just be another monument to the dump. i told myself not to get too excited. i guess i could have started running, but i wasn't that desperate yet. i sped up my walking pace, keeping my eyes on the object off to the side of the path.

as i got closer, i could see colored stripes emerging. pink and teal, purple and gray, orange and cream. it was my mitten! it lay in the brush and leaves, lighting up the dreary path, spread out as if trying to be seen by its owner.

i picked up the damp mitten and held it to my cheek, grinning.