*new friends*

We are having our new home group at our house tomorrow night. This is the second week of this group and we thought it fitting to introduce ourselves and have a get-to-know-you. But not your run of the mill.... we didn't really want to circle the room and talk about our past and our current situations. We have decided to get to know one another through books. We are all bringing a piece of text (from a book, music lyric, poem, etc.) that we enjoy or think accurately helps describe something about us, and sharing it without using our own words. Quite fun!

But I am having trouble coming up with a good piece. Should I choose something meaningful, one of those spiritually revealing books like Screwtape Letters, Girl meets God, or something from Tozer? Should I choose from my weird traveling picks such as crime dramas and mysteries? Should I choose from the fictional favorites..... Narnia, Space Trilogy, Til we have faces, or one of Palahniuk's?

Choices, choices.

What do you think you would choose, if you could choose one piece?
katie

12:01

It's just past midnight and I'm all alone. That sounds depressing, but it's not. It's not even entirely true. Katie crashed early because she has to wake up at 6:30 on a Saturday to go make bagels. I love my wife for many reasons, but one of the biggee's is the fact that she never complains about anything. Not even about waking up at 6:30 on a Saturday to go make bagels.

So I'm here on a couch with my thoughts. It's pretty quiet except for our upstairs neighbors. They're either watching a movie or reenacting the Civil War with pretty convincing sound effects.

I don't know about you, but my mind always wanders to its internal conflicts when there's silence. I'm forced to mentally arm-wrestle thoughts both good and bad. Here's what's on tonight's agenda thus far:

-to blog or not to blog? (guess I can scratch that one off)
-who goes to grad school first, me or my wife. can we both go at the same time?
-what can I constructively add to a conversation? any conversation?
-how many licks does it take to get to the tootsie-roll center of a tootsie-pop?
-do i keep a job that requires me to be someone that i'm not and pushes the ethical envelope just because it pays pretty damn well?
-why can't healthcare be socialized?
-i have so much to be thankful for, but i don't really think that i understand the whole gratitude thing.
-will i ever get sick of the rain, the fog and all of the trees?
-when will we be around family for the holidays again?
-why is God faithfull? really, why?? and, based on his track record, why do i always doubt that he'll continue to be so?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS! WE LOVE AND MISS YOU. love katie and michael

An overall good week

It's Saturday morning, my wife is up the street making bagels and brewing coffee while I'm sitting in a comfy chair drinking some. It feels good to sit and do absolutely nothing after a hectic week...hectic, but good.

Katie's been working a bit more, while still having time to do the things that interest her. We went to a new home group from church that just started up this week. The timing and need for the group has been pretty convenient. We've been going to Evergreen for a little over a month and it just so happens that there's three or four other couples and a few singles within a few miles of us who have been wanting to start something up. So we collectively decided to make this week the first installment. We basically sat around and discussed what we didn't want it to be while trying to come up with what we did want it to be. We settled on taking things slow and letting everyone get to know each other before jumping into things super-duper spiritual. Katie came up with a great idea of starting a psuedo-book club where everyone brings a chapter or passage from a novel or book (fiction, but not necessarily Christian) and explaining why they like it and how it represents them. Kind of a get-to-know-you through the words of others since we all sometimes have a hard time articulating our own thoughts to new people. We're also going to start collecting umbrellas and ponchos and making a run downtown to hand them out once a month or so. We talked about all this and then we watched Elf. Good movie.

Unfortunately I got off of work too late to make it to the Hunger Banquet on Thursday, but I think it's a cool enough idea to mention. Basically, our church met at a pub a week before Thanksgiving and invited some folks from some local ministries to talk about hunger, both world and local. Kind of the flip side of binging on Thanksgiving, instead they heard and talked about the problems of world hunger. There was a cover charge of sorts and all proceeds were split between local and worldwide hunger organizations. I've found it refreshing to be in a community that really seems to care about these issues in a tangible way. Not that past communities I've been involved with haven't, but I don't know that I've seen the rubber meet the road in such a way.

Next week we'll be lounging for Thanksgiving. We really wanted to spend it with the Stanley's in Tahoe, but unfortunately we both have to work on Friday. That's the way it goes when we're both newbies. No complaints, though, we can be thankful for what we have nonetheless.

It's been about a week now, and I can do over 100 different things with a bagel. for eating, of course. katie

...changes...

This week has been all about another series of changes for us. After about a month of job-hunting, the real "fun" began this week. It was mostly just training and orientation seminars, but at the end of the day there's no hiding the fact that I'm a corporate tool for the time being. I had one of those "Office Space" moments last night as I was rushing to get out of my cubicle before the weekend (and yes, they did ask for overtime volunteers to come in on Sunday).

I came home the first couple of days with that snide attitude, complaining, "I just wanna bail on go work at a bookstore." But, after talking to my co-workers and realizing that some of them commute for over an hour each way just so they can support their wives and multiple kids, I realized what a blessing a job is rather than a hardship (especially in Portland's economy).

No promises. I may end up at a bookstore if I start going slowly insane, but the plan is to support Kate for the next year or so until she gets her Master's in Teaching (she'll make an awesome drama teacher), then it'll be my turn to go back to school.

So anyway, just wanted to post since I've been getting lots of "how's the job going" emails and truly haven't had the time to reply. I will, I promise, it just may take a bit of time. Thanks again for all the prayers regarding this subject, it's certainly helped. God continues to be good (and He still will be, even if I lose the job as quickly as I got it).

It's beautiful again today. the sun is high. How is everyone doing?

"I'll have foliage for dinner, please"

Isn't it great? We spent our days this week walking the streets, driving around, and renting movie after movie and enjoying the cold. Almost everytime i walk outside, i cannot believe the fall beauty. But alas, it is getting cold quickly and will soon be dark and rainy, but for now the colors are exquisite.

Mike and I spent last night playing Texas Hold 'Em. Poker. Kindof. And this was our first time, all this in saying we lost. But it was a $5 game and we were playing with a psychologist- who can win? But around a table with cards, chips and a couple beers, we sat among some new friends. It's nice to have lots to be thankful for.

Things that have been going on: I am reading Perelandra, 2nd in Lewis' space trilogy. We watched Willow this week. We ate 7-layer dip for dinner. Michael has been making homemade margaritas, with a little too much tequila. We went to a Food and Fun Christmas trade show at the convention center today, and I saw the cutest Santa ever. As we were walking around the fair, a man jumped out from a cubicle and said "Warning. You are entering a 'no pain' zone." I then sat down while he proceeded to try and sell plastic massage tools while massaging my neck. Mike was laughing- that man should win a prize for 'the best advertisement'. I got my hair cut.

That's about it. Mike starts work on monday. We have been having enjoyable 'married' time the past few weeks, and it will be sad to cut it a little shorter. He is so fun! Ok. love katie

One more week of freedom

I start work exactly one week from today, which means that I have seven glorious days to chill and hang out with my wife without the pressure of a job search hanging over my head. We're still mapping out our agenda, which will no doubt have large chunks of "do nothing" time, but so far our plans include the following:

-Try hot pastrami sandwhiches at some of the awesome little delis that are everywhere.
-Find a good music (instrument) shop, as I'm out of guitar strings and popped the high E again.
-Check out a few more of the inviting music (cd/tape/vinyl) shops.
-Sleep in.
-Get lost a few more times about town.
-Get lost a few more times outside of town (there are some amazing parks/recreation/camp grounds).
-Walk to the library and Noah's Bagels up the street.
-Learn a certain brand of poker at Texas Hold 'Em Night with the Evergreen crowd.
-Get a few movies from Hollywood Videos for the rainy afternoons ($9.99 = unlimited movies for a month).
-Sleep in.