Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Shout out time....

I recently received a letter - yes a LETTER, not an e-mail, not a note on my blackberry, not a text message - a letter from my dear cousins Hens and Nancy who live in Holland. They told me the reason that they snail-mailed me was because they didn't have my e-mail address and they weren't able to post a note on any of my blogs. But how cool is that, my blog is being read overseas! Someday, I will be able to take Evan to Holland. I haven't been there since I was a little girl.
So, greetings to my Holland family!! Hope to see you all soon!!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

It was in the kitty!!!

What are the odds of getting three Aces in the kitty when you play pinochle? You decide...

Meat cake

I'm not sure what goes through your head when you hear the word "Meat cake" but for Evan and I, it conjures up a pound of ground beef wherein the beef has been shaped to look like a pancake, and cooked as such. Apparently, this was an Evan's Dad Creation back in the day, and it turned out to be quite good. It's basically an over sized hamburger. We cut it like a pizza and enjoyed it. Dare to try it at home? By the way, that's Velveeta on top.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Why I don't watch the news


Evan goes to school in NYC. I saw a news brief just an hour ago that said something about a shooting in the city that left some people dead.
I wish I didn't worry so much.....

The Healing Begins Now....

It's kind of ironic how even at a funeral, God is still able to breathe life into a long dead relationship between a father and his daughter. Maybe it's not ironic, maybe it's just that God is always moving, even if it's in a seemingly difficult situation.
I was at a memorial service for one of my old Sunday School teachers who recently passed away. During the time that friends of the family were allowed to share their thoughts about "Aunt Barbara," my mother got up to say a few words. When she sat back down, she leaned over to me and whispered, "Your father is here."
Now, anyone that knows even a little bit about me knows that my parents divorced when I was about 12, and it has been ugly ever since. My relationship with my father has always been rocky, and needless to say, for many years of my life, I felt that I didn't even have a father.
After the service, I said hi to a few people I hadn't seen since I was about 5, and then sheepishly approached my father. As though nothing bad had ever happened between us, we hugged and said hello. During the 10 seconds of that embrace, it was as though he understood how I had felt for all those years, and it all seemed to melt away.
We were able to talk civilly and he even gave me advice about the talk I was about to give to my youth group that night.
For years, I had let the pain that I believed my father was causing me invade my life and affect all subsequent relationships. And yet in this humble moment, God took it all away. God truly is awesome.
Greater things have yet to come...

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

House Hunting...

I always dreamed of this point in my life. Searching for that perfect house, with the white picket fence, a view of the ocean, and a kitchen that would make Emeril jealous.
Evan and I have started house hunting. And I must say, it is a grueling process. There is not much on the market (that we can afford) in Dunellen or Middlesex, so we have expanded our search in other towns like Manville and Bound Brook. Since we unfortunately have a rather low budget at the moment, it is slim pickins all around. We have to either settle for what we like to call a "tiny house" or move in to a real "fixer-upper." Once you start saying things like, "Oh you can just knock this wall down, and make this a bigger room. Take out this section here. Move out this section here." (you get the idea), I immediately do not want to move in.
We saw a house that we LOVED in Manville, and we immediately put in an offer. The listing did say "Accepting All Offers" so, why not? I was excited to hear back. I had a good feeling about this house. I thought perhaps this could be the one. Evan told me that he prayed that if this wasn't the one, for God to show us. Sure enough, the next day our realtor said that the owners would not even consider the offer we had made (which was not unreasonable for what it was listed at). So that was that. It was a no.
We looked at another house around the corner that was similar in setup and size, just not as "new" let's say. Still nice though. We put an offer in on that one, and now we are hoping for the best. All we can do is pray. You would think it would be easy to get a house these days with the way the market is.
Hopefully we will have a place of our own before Christmas.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

I did it!!

I woke up last Thursday morning with a nervous tummy. Today was the day. In 4 hours, I would give my presentation to the entire Business Administration staff at IEEE - which is something like 200 people.
I got myself ready, suited up, and headed for work. I barely had time to even turn on my computer, let alone try to prepare for the presentation. I quickly grabbed my speech printout, and headed down to the conference room.
The moderators were there, ready to get everything started. I looked at the clock, and realized that the meeting would start at 8:30, and I wouldn't go on until 11:30 or later. I had 3 hours to sit there and stew in my nervousness. Great.
So, one by one, my colleagues got up and spoke with not a hint of nerves in their voices. All the while, my supervisor sitting behind me telling me that everything would be fine. Easy for her to say - she doesn't have to get up there.
We took a break in the middle, and somehow I had managed to choke down 1/4 of a bagel. I had six more people to go, and then it was me. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...it was my turn. I took a deep breath and had at it. I introduced myself and my portion of the presentation. I could feel myself shaking. Thankfully, my power point was set to run itself, and all I had to do was talk about the pictures every now and again. The nervousness gradually subsided and before I knew it, I was finished. I soaked in the applause and took my seat.
The head of Business Administration got up, and before I could get comfortable, he was thanking me for my presentation and handed me a Hess gift card to show his appreciation. $50 worth of gas for free...ok by me!
The real fun started after the presentation was over. People approached me and told me what a great job I did, and people also gave me their business cards and expressed interest in donating to next year's Mexico trip. Another person e-mailed me and told me they would like to do a feature story about my trip to Mexico and have it posted to be viewed around the world!
I couldn't believe it. 15 minutes in front of 200 people, and God is still working through this Mexico trip. God is moving in ways I never imagined possible. I never thought in a million years that I would be telling my colleagues about a mission trip. I also never thought that I would be shooting the breeze with the head of Business Administration.
God is truly awesome. He never stops working - and neither should we.