Looking Back Before Going Forward

I found this year-end survey on line and I thought it was kind of a fun idea--to be able to reflect back on the past 12 months. Anyone else want to join me in reflection?

What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Got engaged :)

Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I stopped making New Year's resolutions a few years ago--I never kept them and then realized if I wanted to change something in my life I should do it whenever I am led, not wait for a new calendar. So no, I won't be making new ones this year either.

What countries did you visit?
I actually stayed in the US this year. But I visited Texas, Minnesota, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina within the US.

What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Well, in a few months I will need to have a job, which I kind of have this past year but not one that will support us fully!

What date(s) from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
April 18--We celebrated our 6 month anniversary and Chuck told me he wanted to start talking about marriage.
August 23—our engagement!

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Studying for and passing all 4 ordination exams, beginning therapy, and learning to love hiking.

What was your biggest failure?
The crappy effort and work I put into my Islam class this fall. It’s a subject that matters deeply to life here in America if we are to be good neighbors to those who might have a different religion than Christianity, and I mentally checked out. I kind of wish I could re-do it.

Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yes, mono in January, a hernia in September, and a staph infection in November.

What was the best thing you bought?
My new macbook, I’m kind of in love with it! I guess technically it could be my wedding dress too, but I didn’t pay for that so I’m not sure that counts!

What song(s) will always remind you of 2008?
Bubbly by Colbie Calliat, Safetybelts and Bucket Seats by Cake (a song Chuck played for me in the car a lot), and Free Fallin by Tom Petty (Chuck’s ring tone on my phone—and this summer I discovered the John Mayer version which is fabulous).

What do you wish you'd done more of?
Been better at keeping in touch with long-distance friends, and reading novels.

What do you wish you'd done less of?
Wasting time on facebook!

Did you fall in love in 2008?
Yes

What was your favorite TV program?
Brothers and Sisters

What was the best book you read?
Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor, The Shack by William Young, and Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet (although I’m only half way through this one…)

What was your favorite film of this year?
Lars and the Real Girl or The Bucket List

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 27, I celebrated a few days early at The Getty, and then went to Thai Food with Fuller friends, and BJs Brewery with Small Group friends. Missy was in town too which added to the fun!

What kept you sane?
Therapy for sure, kept me processing my relationship, and pushing me to grow. Coffee time with Jenn was also a big help! And when I managed to get super emotional and stressed, my fiancé would force me to go for a walk with him and talk about how I was feeling which helped immensely!

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I’ll be honest, I’m an Obama fan.

Fun new people you met?
My new future family! And also my Mosaic friends

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
There are always going to be ups and downs in life, what matters is who you surround yourself with when you go through them. Another lesson Chuck helped me learn is that we need to focus more on what we do have than on what we don’t have—it definitely changes one’s outlook on life!

Quote a song that sums up your year:
Well I've been so independent, I've roamed the streets of Europe
And I have crossed the oceans on my own

And I've never felt a burning need to chat with people endlessly
In fact my favorite company was me
And now I'm standing here on the edge of a new horizon
I faced my greatest fear when I almost lost you

You're not what I expected, in fact you're more than that
The faithful hand of God has put our lives on the same track

And I will cross the ocean of your independence
To be the picture of the love God has for you
And I would search all India for rubies and gems
Where could I find a more precious stone?
Than what God's given me in you alone

Who can make me laugh
Who can make me smile
Just to hold my hand and hold my heart

I'd give my life to cross the ocean of your independence
To be a picture of the love God has for you
And I would search all India for rubies and gems
Where could I find a more precious stone
Than what God's give me in you alone.
“You Alone” by Late Tuesday

Heading Home Again...

It's our last night here in Charleston, bright and early tomorrow morning we head back to Los Angeles in time for New Year's, the Rose Parade, and school starting next Monday. It's been a good couple weeks, but I do have to say I am ready for my own apartment and bed and to see friends again! We've been all over the place this month and it feels quite exhausting--I've been napping a lot when I can! It's been wonderful to see so many family members, I am bummed I did not get to see my sister this time around, but next Christmas both of us should be in MN so that will be wonderful :) We had the chance to get a ton of wedding stuff accomplished, figured out the details for our beach-themed BBQ rehearsal dinner (that's right, it's gonna be awesome!), solidifed our guest list, bought our pastor's plane tickets for the weekend, have all our readers, flower girls, jr. bridesmaids, and ring bearer lined up and started picking ceremony music. I think we are going to be all set! Now we're just wishing we didn't have to wait 3 months!

We've been here in Charleston for the past few days, visitng with Chuck's older brother Teddy this past weekend, worshiping at his parent's church, and resting. We've napped a lot, watched the Office on DVD (we got a couple seasons, we're very excited!), played Scrabble (his bro gave me travel scrabble) and I've been reading quite a bit. I'm reading Pillars of the Earth which is an AMAZING book, best one I've read in a long time! Last night Chuck decided we needed a date night, just the 2 of us, so his parents graciously loaned us their car and he took me to a wonderful restaurant on the water in Charleston called California Dreamin, and then we went into downtown and took a romantic walk at Waterfront Park, overlooking the city and the river. It was wonderful and relaxing and we had such a good time laughing, talking, thinking about the wedding etc. I feel SO blessed to be marrying him so soon!

Stay tuned for photos from the new year's events coming up this week!

Merry Christmas part 2!

I celebrated Christmas for the second time today here in Kentucky with Chuck's family. It's been a long time since I've been around little kids on Christmas--ok it's been since I was a little kid I think--and I forgot how incredibly fun and exciting opening presents is. Chuck and I were woken up at 7 this morning by three very excited kids proclaiming that it was Christmas! We waited a couple hours though for Chuck's parents to arrive from their hotel and for all of us to eat breakfast--they were incredibly patient waiters though!

Last night Rodd read us the Christmas storyBright and early this morning Helen and Diana were sorting presents into piles of recipients. Hooray! We can finally start opening!Movies from Chuck's brother TeddyAll Diana wanted was Littlest Petshop figures, she got a lot of Littlest Pet Shop stuff!I was pretty excited, Carroll got me two things off my registry as a Christmas gift--our first wedding presents! (A cutting board and a pack of 3 wooden trivets) Chuck's reaction was "I don't remember registering for trivets." That might be because I did that online later...Me checking to see if Bed Bath and Beyond got our items taken off the registry. I'm not sure what Chuck is doing.Carroll and I chatting yesterday afternoon (I swiped this from his dad's camera--hence the out of order posting)After presents I was needing a little fresh air and quiet, so Chuck and I took a walk. They live out in the country which was absolutely beautiful! It was such a peaceful walk!Then when we got back I played Littlest Pet Shop with Diana for a VERY long time. We had a whole camp set up. We then loaded them into a box (the car) and took them to the beach (the bathroom) and let them go swimming in the sink. The self-timer family photo attempt: Rodd, Carroll, Audrey, Ed, Chuck, Me, Diana, Jon and Helen.

Who needs an amusement park when you have a Wal Mart?

Tuesday morning we left Florida super early, drove to Charleston, picked up Chuck's parents and our luggage, and drove 10 more hours to Danville, Kentucky--a LONG day in the car! I pretty much was ready to be anywhere besides the car by the end of the day! We drove through some beautiful places though, the mountains in North Carolina especially were gorgeous. We arrived at Chuck's sister Carroll's house late last night and are here until Friday when we drive back to Charleston.

Bet you are curious about the title of this post...:o) Well here's the story. Chuck and I wanted to try doing something different for presents this year--we wanted to be more relational and focus on time with people instead of just giving people more stuff that they don't need. We didn't totally succeed with all our gifts (although we did try giving people date nights or things they can do with others) but we especially wanted to be intentinoal with his two nieces and nephew. I've only met them once and Chuck only sees them about once a year, so we really wanted to take them out, no other adults invited, to have a special date with them. Danville is a small town, so we didn't have a ton of options, but his sister pointed us towards a family fun center with laser tag, rollerskating etc. So that was going to be our plan, except it was raining buckets today with a TON of wind and when we called to confirm they were open we found out that apparently the family fun center sprung a leak and had to close. So at noon today (with plans to leave at 1) we were coming up with plan B. What we came up with was SO much better than the family fun center in our opinion!

We printed off a piece of paper for each kid to give to them at lunch telling them to be ready to go at 2 with tennis shoes, warm clothes, and to expect a little craziness! They immediately started speculating about our destination and quickly finished lunch to get ready to embark on our mystery outing. We piled into their family van and drove them to Wal Mart. When we got there we explained that part 1 of our outing was a Wal Mart scavenger hunt. We had come up with a list of 19 random things they needed to find, and armed ourselves each with a digital camera. We split up girls and boys, so Chuck and Jon went one way and Helen, Diana and I went another, to see what we could accomplish in 45 minutes. We had to take pictures of ourselves with each item or doing each activity and cross it off the list. They did great! We had 19 things on the list and each group only left about 4 undone. We all had a blast, it was great time for me to spend bonding with my future nieces and after the first item the girls totally got into it and planned our strategy. Here are some pictures and things we had to find....

In the car, guessing what our destination was...Our "on your marks, get set, go!" pictureThe boy's team. Task: to put a lampshade on your head.Find a tire and get in it...which I guess Jon kind of did hereOur team, find silly hats and wear them.Boy's team: wear a Christmas wreathFind the coolest toothbrush--This one SANG music while you brushed--Diana immediately declared it the coolest.Task: find a beach towel and pretend to get a tanTask: find a silly necklace. These were down to my knees....Task: find a VERY random item. Jon and Chuck found a turkey stitcher upper...which they deemed very random.This is my favorite. Our task was to find the dumbest movie. The girls don't know what Rambo is, but their uncle Chuck loves it, so I made them pick Rambo as the dumbest movie ever.Find the ugliest Christmas ornamentGo to the grocery section and find the grossest food. Both girls immediately said 'squash!'Build a snowman out of toilet paper packages--we were running out of time, you have to use your imagination!My Christmas wreath
Diana doing the tire-task for our groupFind the biggest shoes...
Then find the silliest shoes...Make friends with a Christmas shopper--we kind of cheated, the girls knew this woman alreadyMake friends with a Wal Mart employeeOther tasks assigned: find a silly coat, find a book your dad would like for Christmas, and find a Christmas present for mom.

After the Wal Mart hunt we took them to the grocery store and told them to each pick out a favorite candy. Our next destination was the movie theater to see The Tale of Despereaux, the new animated movie which was very good. We had some time to kill so we let them play in the arcade for about 20 minutes before the movie. I think this was by far the most fun Christmas present we've come up with! It was a great afternoon and the kids really enjoyed the time as well. They came home excited to fill mom and dad, grandma and grandpa in on their adventures. Here's to even more creative, relational gifts next year!

Jacksonville

Well, after an awful lot of drama, we made it to the south. We flew out of MN on Sat. in the midst of a huge snow storm which caused flights all over the midwest to be delayed and/or canceled. We were rerouted through Atlanta on our way to Charleston (we were supposed to go to Cincinnati) and by the time we finally landed in Atlanta, at midnight, there were no flights left. Finally after waiting in line for 2 hours, we found out at 2 am that we were rebooked for the 7:30 am flight to Charleston. So we attempted to sleep in the airport, attempted being the key word there. They play CNN all night long on all the TVs at full volume. They also simultaneously play Christmas carols on the PA system, and vacuum incessantly. So we didn't sleep. Here is Chuck in line to be rebooked at 1:30 AM. We made it to SC but our luggage didn't. So we left for Florida without it, stopping at Walmart to pick up what we needed for 2 days. We had a wonderful 2 days in Florida with Chuck's friends Nate and Jodi! We met with the pastor who will be performing our wedding, and saw several of his other friends. We just wish we could have had more time there! We also went to the beach super early Tues. morning to collect sand for the unity sand we are going to do for our wedding (I am going to get sand from Seattle). This was my 1st east coast sunrise and it was gorgeous!

Merry Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas here in Minneapolis with my family today, a few days early, but it was a great day even if it didn't fall exactly on Christmas! We did all my favorite Minnesota-Christmas activities--slept in, opened our stockings, ate cinnamon rolls (something I really only eat on Christmas), opened presents, ate a breakfast casserole, and then went for walks in the snow before finally getting showered and ready for the day! This afternoon we played Ticket to Ride with my parents and are now enjoying quiet time of getting ready for dinner, reading, etc. It was great to get to celebrate here at home before taking off for the south east tomorrow afternoon!

Santa still comes to our house to fill stockings. He brought me itunes gift cards, a Starbucks card, and my favorite candy, Heath Bars and Starbursts. Chuck made a geometric design out of my starbursts. His stocking had Starbucks card, and his favorite candy, Kit Kats and Reeses Peanut Butter cups, along with a bag of his favorite potato chips (salt and vinegar)--however did Santa know where to find us!? And a week early even! Good job Santa!Then we opened presentsChuck is attempting to decide what he thinks is in the box...smells like....

a new bike helmet! (His cracked in his accident, we thought this was an appropriate gift from both of my nurse-parents!)

My sister sent my dad and mom ornaments or window hangers of two birds they often see out their back windows. Here's my dad with his Mr. Cardinal (he takes lots of pictures of the real cardinals in his trees)My dad can't understand why Hannah doesn't like him...maybe it has something to do with the fact that every Christmas he burries her in wrapping paper while she is minding her own business....

Mom was playing Santa, delivering presents...she looks like she's taking a break for a minute!After presents my mom, Chuck and I went over to the frozen lake across from their house and played in the powdery snow ontop of the lake. Chuck was desperately trying to make a snowman but it was too soft and powder-like, not enough moisture to get the snowballs to stick together.Worked perfectly for my snow angel though!

Chuck heading out on the lake to check out the ice fishing hut.