Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Merry Christmas, everyone :)

'Tis The Season for Freebies

I recently downloaded this video for FREE as part of WorshipHouse Media's 12 Days of Christmas. Check it out-- I've gotten three videos so far and each is amazing! I honestly probably wouldn't have paid the $15 but the quality might encourage me to buy some in the future! Enjoy!

P.S. Also, if you're in the churchy world and would like some nice PowerPointy backgrounds for the Christmas season, ImageVine is also doing 12 Days of Free Backgrounds.

On to Christmas!

Now that the Thanksgiving post has been made-- it's officially Christmas time!

Pami & I spent Black Friday doing LOTS of shopping and spending LOTS of money on some absolutely fabulous gifts for some pretty fabulous people. When we got home, Philip had put lights up outside (my very first house with outside Christmas lights!) and then we put up the tree. Tink really likes the tree...

Well, maybe the tree skirt... We also have my Kenyan Nativity Scene on the fireplace surrounded with some lighted garland. There's even some garland around the entryway to our kitchen. Yep, we're on our way to being ready for the season.

Today I attempted to make this wreath from some ribbon I bought for 50% off the other day:

But my bows S-U-C-K-E-D! So i ended up wrapping the wire form with ribbon and sticking some berry picks in it and I think it turned out quite well... what do you think? (Please ignore the dirty front door!)

We're not sure what our plans are for the holiday itself (though I do think mushing is on the calendar-- always!) but I pray all of you are enjoying preparing for Jesus' Birthday!

Our "First" Thanksgiving

Left to Right: Mashed Potatoes, Cornbread & Sage Stuffing, Green Beans with Bacon & Hazelnuts, Deep-fried Turkey injected with honey, beer and apple juice and Pumpkin Yeast Rolls. Not Pictured: Grands Biscuits

Pictured above is a portion of our delicious Thanksgiving feast that we shared with Pam, who was visiting us from Chicagoland. It was delicious and, four days later, we're still eating pretty much everything pictured. We also still have this in the fridge:

Yep, that's cheesecake. Eggnog Cheesecake to be exact. And it. is. amazing. Yummo. Just ask Philip, the man who said to me, "If you make that twice a year, it's not enough."

All, in, all, a great Thanksgiving. It's noted as our "first" because last year we spent the holiday with the Rockey Family out in Palmer. But this year we decided that we wanted our own holiday tradition and so, here it is. Deep-fried turkey and Eggnog Cheesecake.

Thanks, Pami, for coming to visit!

My Thanksgiving Alphabet

Ancestors

Burt, our dog

Candy

Dean, my car

Erin, my sister

Friends—Old, New & In-Between

GOD!

Home

Ice Cream

Judy, my mom

Kena, our other dog

Love in general

Mushing Season

Nestle’s toll house cookies

Online recipes

Philip

Quiet

Rum :)

Steve, my dad

Tink, our cat

Underwear

Vacuums

Water from the fridge door

Xtra sleep

Youth Group kiddos

Zebras (they’re tasty!)

Early. Freakin. Morning.

This morning I woke up at 3am... and have been awake ever since. Awesome.

(SIDENOTE: Someone really ought to invent a 'sarcasm' font. 'Cause sometimes the italics just don't have enough feeling behind them.)

So, what did I do while the whole house was sleeping?

• Ordered Christmas cards from Snapfish.com
• Almost finished mine & Philip's Christmas list to send to Mom-- complete with links, pictures and pretty fonts
• Researched all the fabulous BLACK FRIDAY DEALS to be had next Friday
• Downloaded all pertinent Black Friday Store Ads for even more research
• Made our Thanksgiving Menu
• Made shopping list for said menu and cookies
• Wrote Pami's arrival & departure info on our calendar (YAY!)
• Found a fun new coupony website: alaskacoupondiva.blogspot.com
• Browsed numerous crafty websites for inspiration to get started on our Christmas stockings (all the fabric is sitting in a bag on the dining room table)

All of this and more when I should be working on this:

Reflections on Culture and Change Paper Identify a major change your organization has, or is, implementing. Compare what is happening to change management principles and point out what could and should be done to implement the change more effectively. Make the paper 2-4 pages, double-spaced pages, with at least a couple of references to the materials in this module. Save your paper as a "Word file" and send it to the instructor, via the Digital Drop Box, NLT Sunday of the second week of this module.

Awesome.

.

Christmas With a Capital "C"

YES, PLEASE!!

You're sitting in a chair... IN THE AIR!

Hilarious because it's all true.

NUMB3RS

230. 18. 4. 40. 12. 26.

For me, these numbers are incredible. I'll have some more numbers to add to the list before I'm done but I wanted to share now, at the mid-point. So, here it is:

• 230lbs @ end of May 2009
• Size 18 pants
• 4 months later...
• 40+ lbs lighter
• Size 12 pants
• 26" lost forever

So, yay. Like I said I hope to see those last numbers change even more... and to be able to keep it all off for the long-haul. But, I'm happy and it's good.

Happy 1st Anniversary to Us!

Kicked-Out

... in more ways than one!

The Bad Version:
Yesterday I found out that I got kicked out of grad school. Awesome, huh?

One minute I'm doing awesome, writing & reading posts, listening to a lecture, writing a paper... and then NOTHING. No more class on my Blackboard menu. So I frantically email the god-dess of the ORGL program who quickly checks and emails me back that I have a "Registered Not Paid" hold on my accounts. Of course, this is after 5pm PCT so I have to wait until this morning.

[And by "wait" I mean totally and utterly fret about it all freakin' night... Sorry, honey!]

Fast-forward to this morning when I finally get ahold of the not-empathetic-in-the-least accounts person who told me that its because I never opened my bill. That I was sent an email 9/11 saying I was to be booted if I didn't pay-- an email I literally never received! [INSERT SCREAM HERE]

So, long story shorter: The fine print in the bill says "If you're paying by financial aid email us here to tell us so."

Moral of the story: Even though the school knows you're paying with financial aid (and actually have the money sitting there in their office) they can't disburse it until you email the monkey in the accounts office. Blech.

The Good Version:
Philip & I will celebrate our 1st Anniversary by escaping for the weekend!

Burt, Kena & Tink are kicking us out of the house for the weekend so we can spend tonight in Girdwood and a night in Anchorage after seeing the Lion King at the Performing Arts Center... AND I'm skipping out on church!! Woot! Now, I know that sounds bad-- we're still going to a church just not St John-- so it'll be a nice break from the norm and I'll actually get to enjoy worship :)

Sunday is the official anniversary so we'll make some dinner at home, eat our sure-to-be-yummy-year-old cake and drink some champagne. Love!

...Then at 6am Monday morning I report to the hospital to have my gall bladder removed. Gee... what a nice end to a great weekend ;)

New Project!!!

Not that I have any time at all in the next 4 months to make anything BUT the pattern was on sale for $2 and I found fabric on Esty that I absolutely fell in love with... as Philip says "It's very you" :)

A New Addition

Meet the new addition to our little family!

TINK!

We adopted her on Saturday and officially got to bring her home on Tuesday. So far the dogs haven't eaten her yet, so that's a good thing! She's made herself at home and already has Philip wrapped around her little paw.

We think she's about a year old (we'll get her paperwork on the 10th) so we'll have her for a long, long time if y'all want to come meet her :)

See more pictures HERE and HERE!

LOL!!

This. Is. Priceless.

Izzie

I was browsing on petfinder.com today at work. VERY. BAD. IDEA. I spent quite some time on there looking at all the sad faces of puppies and kitties who are homeless... [enter tears here]

So, I found Izzie:

Aaaaannnnndddddd.... now... well, I want her badly. She's at a shelter in Fairbanks, which is a 6-hour drive away. BUT I just so happen to know someone who's driving their son up there for school in the next couple weeks. They said they could bring her home if I wanted them to...

HOWEVER, I'm not entirely sure about how a cat (even as cute as Izzie is...) would fit in our household with these two:

Hmm... whaddya'll think?!

Things I Believe

• I believe this whole recession is God's way of telling all of us to re-learn how to live. We have so much, don't realize what a blessing that is and continually want more and more and more. NOT having money (or even a job in some cases) allows us to re-evaluate our priorities in life and find what's REALLY important.

• I also believe this recession is forcing us to be more creative with what we do have. Whether it means renovating, redesigning or repurposing something in your home OR being inventive with curriculums or budgets, using what you already have in your possession and/or ability is imperative.

• I believe faith should also be simple. Having faith is as easy as believing. That's it. Believe. Everything else is just details-- including the differences between denominations. Those differences aren't a matter of salvation: Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose again? Simple.

• I believe faith should be challenging. To a certain extent, you should doubt. There should be questions. Faith is about learning and growing... and you can't do either if you're not challenged.

• I believe that people will step up to your expectations, if you'd only give them some! People talk about how much the kids in my youth group respect me... sometimes I beg to differ BUT the point of the matter is that they know what I expect of them. I think that we don't challenge people enough-- especially adults. Why do we expect youth to do certain & specific thing but not the adults?

• I believe that the job of professional church workers is to work themselves out of a job. Through delegation, enabling and encouragement we need to essentially make ourselves obsolete in the church body.

• I believe that everyone will feel immediately better, no matter their issue, by simply dancing & singing in the car.

Finally Finished!!!

From this:

To this:

I think she's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen! 'Course I might be a bit biased.

DETAILS:

• Took about 3 hours to sew from start-to-finish including her accessories; her face & the cutting of pieces took probably another 2 hours (though that was awhile ago...)
• Her skirt, hat and shoes are removable (right now though the hat and shoes are tacked on so Emmalee doesn't lose them)

• She's VERY colorful and has the cutest butt ever

So, Emmalee's getting her tomorrow at church. Hope she likes her!

UPDATE: If you'd like to make your own pig (or monkey as the original pattern dictates) click here. Enjoy!

Birthdays & Buying

Got back from New Orleans last week (hence the Lower-48 post) and it was wonderful. It was great to see friends old and new and spend some time in God's word and just generally relaxing. I got back home on my 27th birthday to these:

Flowers from the Pups

It was a wonderful surprise and, yes, the card says the flowers are from the dogs not the hubs. Burt & Kena sure do have good taste though, eh? Roses, orchids & lilies... pretty awesome.

In other news, we're preparing for the arrival of Philip's brother, Jeff, and his friends, Rob & Jordan. They're heading out next week to hike some of the Wrangell Mountains for a few days. So, in preparation for this we had to purchase some black-out curtains for the sliding doors downstairs so Jordan doesn't get woken up by the 4am sunrise. (I'm going somewhere with this story, I promise) Thus we went into Anchorage on Saturday to find some curtains at Sears. After traveling to an upstairs department we never knew existed at this particular Sears, we found some perfect total black-out curtains for only $18 a piece. Awesome. We purchased them and on our way out we cruised past the appliance section. Our refrigerator has been dying a slow and painful death for a few months now-- including frozen veggies and milk and not-frozen ice cream-- so any chance we get we price new ones. On this particular perusal Philip spotted THIS:

Our Newest Impulse Buy

And... we bought it. It was on clearance because the model is being discontinued and ended up (after delivery, removal and warranty) ended up saving us nearly $1,000 than waiting to buy one. Talk about a HUGE impulse buy. Go in for curtains, leave with a fridge.

We'll get it on Wednesday. Yay for no more frozen veggies and frozen ice cream!

RE; The Lower-48

Things I do NOT miss:

• Traffic & small streets
• Humidity & frizzy hair
• Sweating as soon as you step foot outside
• Billboards

Things I DO miss:

• Tall & Old buildings
• Old friends
• Accents :)
• Outside pools & tanning

Wow...

Talk about a blast from the past... I might have to start watching Jimmy Fallon

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

The Three Day Rule

HI-larious!

Plus, this three-day rule also applies to the picture post you're waiting for...

Tradition!

When I was three my Grandma B gave me a stuffed pig and a book, whose title I cannot for the life of me remember, but it was about a bed that every time the lady cleaned under it she found pigs. Great read. Anyway, I love my stuffed pig, named Pig (I was REALLY creative when I was three...) and still have him. He's been everywhere I've been including Kenya, Greece and Israel (and I'll probably sneak him into Ireland as well!). 

So ti's become a tradition for me to give all my friends a stuffed pig when they have babies. Usually I purchase these pigs, but sometimes I make them. A year and a half ago I crocheted the cutest piggy ever for Jacob, Josh & Erin's son. So now I'm making a piggy for their newest addition-- a yet to be named girl-- and here it is:

Okay, so it doesn't look like a pig but it will be... after I get back from Ireland and before June 22nd when the little chica will finally make her appearance. 

Officially Old

No, it's not my birthday. But I am officially old.

O-L-D. Old!

Story: Went to the Kutless concert tonight and wished for... wait for it, wait for it... EARPLUGS! 

Gasp... so old... (tear, sniff)

Awww....

Quite possibly the cutest baby animals ever...

Disappointed

When Philip & I were registering for wedding gifts we kept eyeing the Dyson Animal Vac which promised to never clog on the immense amounts of hair and dander two adorable pups create. When we received it as the ultimate surprise for Christmas from my folks I was elated. As soon as we got home I busted it out of the box and vacuumed. It sucked so much out of the carpet, I was impressed... Impressed until my "free shampooing" appointment today....

The KIRBY people came out today and even after I had vacuumed this morning they pulled out so much dirt, hair, dander and skin out of my carpet it's made me physically ill. (See below.)

So, now the clean-freak in me wants a Kirby. However, the financier in me realizes that $2,200 is W-A-Y out of reach.

Weekend, To Do's & Surprises

The Weekend: 

• Friday I had a potluck dinner meeting with my youth board that was fun. We discussed LOTS of NYG stuff so hopefully we're getting things figured out-- YIKES. 
• Saturday was a lazy, lazy day spent purchasing craft items for Children's Church and the Good Friday service THEN cleaning at home whilst the hubs cleaned the furnace filters AND reassembled the BBQ pit. Productivity=Awesome. 
• Sunday was crazy busy with church, children's message, Sunday school, church, Good Friday service practice, FISH (where we made a snow Jesus on the lake!) and a yummy, yummy dinner. 
• My Monday has been spent cleaning, stuffing eggs with goodies for the Easter Festival Saturday and (soon) dishes, laundry, shower, groceries, reading and posting.
  

To Do List-Work: 

• Preschool Easter Story (Tuesday & Wednesday)
• Confirmation End-of-Year Test and Good Friday Service (GFS) practice (Wednesday)
• Breakfast Bible Study, Maundy Thursday Seder Meal & Worship and GFS set-up (Thursday)
• GOOD FRIDAY WORSHIP (Friday, duh)
• Easter Festival (Saturday)
• Easter services & breakfast (Sunday)
• Other things: NYG stuff, postcards & newsletters, and FIND. MY. DESK.

To Do List- School & Home: 

• SCHOOL: Read, read and freaking read; Write another 3-page paper-- this time on Men's Warehouse (yes, the store); Interview sister and friend for group project on Disney; coordinate said group so we can actually function as a group for the project
• HOME: file the HUGE pile of papers sitting next to the filing cabinet (find lost check?), clean bathroom, laundry, pack up wedding left-overs in garage, bring up lamp from garage for bedside lamp, clean off dining room table

Surprises:

DH and I have been looking for a way to thank my folks for throwing such an awesome party back in September (aka our wedding). We were hoping to pay for a vacation or weekend away but with finances such as the are (and with my car being a money pit and our fridge dying) we decided to go with the smaller scale: We bought them tickets to see Jeff Dunham next Thursday night in Sacramento. My dad, for reasons I'm sure I don't need to mention, is mostly excited to see the Dead Terrorist. My mom is excited to see him live versus on her iPhone. (It's the simple things in life!) So, SURPRISE!

************************************************************

Other than all of this life is good. I can't really complain. Of course I wish we had just a bit more money so we can afford to fix my car (that's a whole other post!), sweep the furnace's chimney, and buy a new fridge. But, alas, we do not BUT we are healthy and so are our friends and family. 

Say a prayer that my dad finds a job soon!

Birthdays

Philip's not one for surprises. He doesn't like them at all really. I think the only time I surprised him was with the beaver mitts I bought him as a wedding present-- but then again that probably wasn't a surprise. Nevertheless with his birthday only two weeks away, I was researching the perfect gift and discovered it was probably something he'd like to pick out himself so... here it is:

Happy Birthday, DH!

Yes, he picked it out himself-- true enough. BUT in my defense it was the EXACT camera I thought of purchasing prior to him picking it out.

On another note, after purchasing it online yesterday I received a call AT 5 A.M. from their customer service folk because DH typed our zip code in wrong. Joy. I'm pretty sure they talked me into buying more than we had originally planned but that's what happens when you call Jamie and she's still sleeping.

*DH=Dear Husband for those of you who aren't in the online lingo :-P

When Buffalo Attack

A classmate posted this on our discussion board... long story as to why but it's an AWESOME vid (9 minutes)

I miss Africa :(

Baa-studs

They have A LOT of time on their hands!

Mmm...

So back in September when I make the yearly calendar with the kiddos, they convinced me to do Breakfast Bible Study with them twice a month. Yes, breakfast, as in before school. 6:30am to be exact. It's a crazy hour of the morning especially considering I have to leave my house at 5am to be at church to have breakfast ready for them when they walk in.

Believe it or not, I've never been stood up. I've had one kid show up a coupla times but other than that they've impressed me. We eat, do a devo, pray and I take them to school. Lately though I've run into a dilemma. I'm running out of new things to make! My ol' fall back is my Grandma's Easter Casserole (eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese-- YUM!) but then I rotate from waffles to crepes to pancakes to cinnamon rolls (from a can so don't be impressed)... ugh... boring.

Then today I found this:

BACON PANCAKES

I think I might have to test this on the hubs tomorrow before I make it for the kids on Tuesday.

P.S. My friend Tia is toying with the idea of bacon cupcakes... also intruiging!

Design Help Needed!!

One of the major conflicts we've had since getting married is in regards to interior design. Now, I think I have a pretty good eye and taste in furniture and such. Philip does too. Unfortunately, our senses don't necessarily meld all the time. That said, lately we've been trying to find bedding we both like enough to purchase so we can actually re-do the bedroom at some point in the new future. When you take into account our different senses + two dogs... not much is left. 

So, we found these in the JCPenney catalogue. The curtains are "chocolate chip" (brown, gold, blue) and the quilt is "moroccan spice" (blue, brown, rust and terra cotta)... 

How do we feel about these? Do the "go" or no?

FYI

In case you haven't heard through the grapevine, the hubs & I finally took the plunge and spent our honeymoon money on tickets to...

IRELAND!

We're going the last week of May just a few days after school gets out and a few days before he leaves for grad school. We got an awesome deal on airfare & car rental so now all we have to do is plan for things to do and places to stay. So, if you've been there, let us know! Unless you intervene, we're at the mercy of whatever Google tells us to do. 

In other news, I'm in the midst of the busiest/craziest time of the year. The confirmation retreat is this weekend, our friends Justin & Erin are getting married next Friday, then we're doing our first NYG meeting (YIKES!), then it's All Alaska, then Spring Break, then (basically) it's time for Good Friday & Easter. In addition to all of this, I have been chosen (coerced?) as the District Coordinator for the NYG which means a multitude of different things for my crew but it also means I get to go to "the Lou" in May. Hopefully I can schedule in an extra day or two to see my favorite people. 

School is... frustrating. I'm at a total loss as to how to channel my inner scholar when writing my papers. While I understand the content of the coursework (awesome stuff about leadership-- Mark would be proud) I'm not doing so hot grade-wise in the class. And I don't handle that very well. So, for you scholarly folk out there, hints are appreciated. 

So there's your non-video update.

H/T to Youth Specialties!

This is funny. Definitely brings a smile to your face!!

Last night at youth group...

We watched this as a precursor to our Bible study.

HILARIOUS.

A Long Time Coming

I've been on my Church Council for well over a year that I need a 15-passenger van. We have a bus but, honestly, its a piece of crap. Ask anyone who's ever ridden (or driven) it. So, this morning, we got a call from Judy, my secretary, saying that I had not one but TWO presents in the parking lot!!

WE GOT TWO VANS!! 

aaaahhhhahahahahahahah!!! And just in time for a retreat this weekend that's 6 hours away and has a list of kiddos that keeps growing. We might just have to use BOTH vans... 

I. AM. HAPPY.

A La Hannahlysis

This Weekend Was:
I was in Houston for the Youth Ministry Symposium on the Spirituality of Adolescents. It was a lot of information (and numbers!) to take in and apply but I think that Lisa Kimball, John Oberdeck and Craig Oldenberg did an awesome job. Plus I got to reconnect with some college friends (Vanessa!) and some even older friends (Shawn!). If you take out the 6-hour-fuel-related delay on my way home, it was great... even though I did miss the hubs...
Where I Am:
In my office in Palmer staring out the window at all the dirty snow.
To-Do List:
(I'll just copy from my actual list) Confirmation Prep, YNBS Prep, Armor of God BS, Breakfast BS prep & reminder, Middle School Ice Skating Event, Homer Lock-In info to kids, AALYG meeting set-up, research CUNE visit dates, find email for new youth board folk, add THREE BOYS to Confirmation class, READ books for class and a partridge in a pear tree!
Procrastinating About:
Pretty much everything above AND reading my books for class (see below)
Book I’m Reading:
For fun: The Twilight Series (just started book four);
For class: Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Leadership in Something-or-another
Music Caught My Interest:
The new Darius Rucker songs are awesome. I can't believe Hootie & the Blowfish is now on country radio!
Next trip:
This weekend (Saturday thru Monday) to Homer, AK with the kiddos in one of my TWO new vans!
My Feelings On This Week:
I'm feeling a bit crazed at the moment. LOTS to do and only so much time to do it. Plus, grad school officially started today so that means I actually have to STOP reading the book I want to read to START reading the books I have to read in order to actually participate in class. Ugh.

It's about time!

I'm sitting here waiting for my brand-new-fabulous-laptop to download both iTunes (because Lloyd hasn't been updated in over a year!) and a Wimba classroom for the classes I will soon begin via Gonzaga University. So, I figured I'd use this time to make Hannah, and whomever else follows this blog, happy.

Christmas vacation was... nice. Long, but nice. Spending time with my family is always wonderful. Sure it has its stress points but it's almost always great. But add to that the approximately five-quadrillion people who also chose Disney as their Christmas destination. Yikes. I'm pretty sure everyone in my family now has not only an aversion to but also a fear of strollers. ::shudder:: Crazy stroller pushin' people... you'd like to think you can go anywhere you'd like with your triple-side-by-side stroller BUT if someone is...

• trying to pass you, you shouldn't weave to deter them;
  
• walking toward you, you shouldn't aim for their feet;
• walking behind you, you should not take up the whole friggin' walkway!

Ugh. Enough of that rant. Overall, Christmas was wonderful. We celebrated Jesus' birthday by listening to Steven Curtis Chapman read from Luke 2 during the "Processional of Lights" at Disney's EPCOT. Oh, and we also had birthday cake-- with LOTS of sprinkles! 

Gifts were wonderful. Fabulous sweaters, questionable jewelry, lots of movies, a pig (::squee::), a Dyson animal vacuum(!!!!) and this wonderful laptop from the hubs.

But now that Christmas is over and 2008 is gone, I'm getting ready for a VERY busy January. Here's what's coming up:

• 1/5: Orientation for the online Organizational Leadership Master's Degree program
• 1/8-11: Travel to Houston for the Youth Ministry Symposium 2008
• 1/17-19: Homer Lock-In with my kiddos, hopefully in a brand-new 15-passenger van. Oh, and I'm leading all of the Bible studies (one guess as to if I've started that yet...)
• 1/30-31: Youth Ministry Task Force meeting in Portland, Oregon.

And those are just the out-of-town things... mind you, I'm not complaining. Life is always a blessing no matter how busy. Now it's just a matter of getting through it all in -20 degree weather (with a slight break for Houston!)