missouri

Becky and I drove down to Missouri this weekend to pay a much needed visit to the family down there. It is amazing how much can change over a few months and how much can stay exactly the same.

The twins are unstoppable. Toddling around the house looking for anything to get into. Looking for a new toy because the three and a half minutes they spent with the last one was two and half minutes too long. Reid has a new, very exciting job. We got to see him all decked out in the latest of park ranger fashion Saturday night. Brown seems to be making a comeback. : )

Aside from that, a lot is the same, which is good. Newtown has a way of standing still while the rest of the world speeds on. A defining attribute, and an allurement for many...well, 209. It was a good trip, and we look forward to heading back down at Christmas.

moving

Once again, something that I thought was going to be extremely difficult turned out not to be quite so. We have bought a house and moved. All of our things are in one place. Now, don't be deceived by the picturesque rendering of the house above — ours is not quite that, but we like it.

We have been sleeping in our new house for less than a week. Boxes sit around every room like bored company waiting for a cheese tray...they don't know their doom. And with each passing day in the house I am slowly starting to realize that I own nothing, but that, in fact, the house owns me. Every time I settle in for an evening of "handyman" projects (don't confuse me with a real handyman), I start to hear the quiet chuckle of an old house as it watches me fumble with a handful of screwdrivers and shirt covered in paint. Despite the non-existent cheese tray, I think the boxes are getting plenty of entertainment.

It has been challenging, buying a house, but we did it and we certainly feel very blessed. We started the process in August, and it feels more like November now than I can ever remember. Time has passed quickly, but not without taking a few cheap shots to the gut. We're worn out and tired, stressed and, at times, overloaded, but we're happy. We're blessed and glad to be where we are.

spring

Spring must be constipated. Something isn't right. The robins are here, but they're leaving their bags packed just in case. The green grass is waiting backstage somewhere. Everything is in place ready to lurch forward into action ... into full bloom, but the temperature won't allow it.

Thirteen degrees slapped me in the face this morning. It told me, "Go back inside! Come back out when I go away!". Unfortunately life as a human doesn't allow for such methods of hybernation. Instead, I cut across the yard and focused on the baby grass leaves which I imagined were sinking back into the ground by the second.

It snowed this week. It is supposed to snow again next week. This news has even the natives mumbling and grumbling. You can probably imagine what I think.

spring

spring is finally starting to creep in. yesterday was the warmest day we've had this year at a whopping 81 degrees. it "shattered" records. the natives were reporting "live". the problem is that people don't appreciate it here. well, i guess i shouldn't make such a large, sweeping statement, but i did get to hear an annoying conversation this morning:

i try to workout most mornings. it is always an interesting experience to say the least and one that provides ample entertainment in my day-to-day monotony. becky and i are both members at lifetime fitness (we don't use the same facility), and so i stumble out of bed most mornings and drag myself into the gym. i quickly move from a state of complete apathy and "sluggishness" to the following, daily scene: abnoxiously lit locker room equipped with far too many 60+ men who don't posess the ability to be modest. it was with one of these completely naked men that another man, equally suited, was having the annoying conversation about the coming of spring (see above). they were going on and on about how "hot" it was yesterday and how the whole state had just missed spring and "jumped right in to summer". gag. "oh, you know that minnesota weather...one day it's winter and the next day it's summer...he....he...". now, i don't expect men to have stimulating conversation in the locker room, but this was just too much. and i would have said something to them about my escalating disgust, but i didn't want to risk vomitting all over the locker room by actually making eye contact with their old, naked bodies.

being passive agressive has its perks.

so, i'm excited about the coming of spring. i'm excited to get outside and actually see the place that i recently moved to. i'm excited to see green grass come and old, dirty snow leave, but i'm not about to say anything about it in the locker room...who knows what would happen.

doctors

Literally half of the doctors that I have seen in my lifetime have been women, and half of those women have been Asian. Now, I am not adverse to women doctors in any way, and I'm certainly not adverse to Asians, but I can't help but think that it is a little strange that I've seen so many female physicians. And maybe I should say that they have seen me more than I have seen them, but regardless of who is getting "the tour" of whom I should also say it hasn't really made me uncomfortable.

And is it a personality flaw that I typically think the doctor is wrong? I went to the doctor this morning to try to figure out what is wrong with my ears (they have felt clogged and slightly out of commission lately), and SHE is thinking that it is allergies. Well, ok, maybe it is allergies, but I've never experienced any kind of allergies before in my life, and it honestly doesn't seem to be spring-like enough outside to cause something like this. Am I allergic to Minnesota...am I allergic to our cat all of a sudden?

Sometimes I feel like doctors are just saying something that sounds like a diagnosis to make me feel better about my time and money and so they can get on to the next (hopefully more profitable) patient. Hopefully I'm wrong.

worship

I had my first worship leading experience at Valley last night. I actually didn't know that I was going to be leading it until Tuesday night when we had practice, and with a band comprised mostly of high schoolers it was a new and challenging experience.

The service was for area high school youth and we focused our theme around the Trinity. There were lots of candles and different praying stations and all-in-all it was a quiet, kind of serious time of worship (no songs with "fa la la" or clappy country beats.....Happy Song). Anyway, my favorite part was at the end when I was praying. I was saying something along the lines of thanking God for allowing us to speak to Him, and to sing our humble songs, etc. and I paused and in the middle of my pause the pianist accidentally - but with great force - banged her hand against two or three of the keys creating a very loud and interruptive "clank!". With my sly improv I continued on with, "even with beautiful notes like those" as the pianist's dad, the preacher, let out a loud belly laugh. His laugh then caused the rest of the congregation to start laughing. Now, if you've ever prayed publicly and have experienced congregational laughter during the prayer but not as a result of your doings you would know that it is much like a stand-up comic not getting any response. Little beads of sweat form. I quickly wrapped it up, stamped an "amen" on it, read some scripture, sang the last song and called it a night.

If you're wondering about the picture, it is "Early Sunday Morning" by Edward Hopper (one of my favs). It always reminds me of going to church in Newtown growing up. The streets had a very similar emptiness and quietness about them. Somehow even the buildings seemed to express a weekly reverance and a higher level of piety.

snow

It has snowed twice since I lasted posted. We now have an estimated total of two feet. This is twice as much as I thought we were going to get the first time I didn't want it to snow. So, you can imagine what I thought of the second round that came through the second half of this past week. But I must say that it did bring an unexpected surprise of a day and a half off from work for both Becky and I, which I gladly welcomed. I guess the Cities haven't seen snow like this for about twenty-five years.

I'm really, really ready for spring. It has been hard moving here well into fall and still be stuck inside five months later. Not that it wouldn't be nearly the same in Missouri, but with all the stress of transitioning I think I just need to be able to get out of the apartment and enjoy the multitude of lakes and state parks all around me. From what I heard on the radio this morning it sounds like we may experience fifty degrees next week, which should help especially with daylight savings coming up this weekend.

Back to work! Lots to catch up on...