It's nice to be home after a whirl-wind Christmas. Our adventures began on Christmas Eve when we left Mt. Pleasant after Mitch finished work. Once we got to my parents' house, we had time to wrap my mom's gift and the computer we bought for Mitch's parents before getting decked out in our Christmas best (full suits for the boys!) and heading out to see Grandpa and Grandma Eccles, my Aunt Linda and Uncle Beau, and my cousins Todd, Ryan, Alex and Eric. We only get to see Todd and Ryan at CHristmas because they live in Arizona, so I'm always excited. Both are doing great, and Ryan's preparing to be a dad. I spent a lot of time talking to him about it and he said even though it didn't happen exactly as he'd envisioned, (mom is his best friend and they aren't looking to get married right now, though they are buying a house together so they can both raise their son) it's given him a whole new outlook on life. He said he's been selfish his whole life and never really had any direction, but now he goes to work for a whole new reason. I think he'll be a wonderful dad.
Thanks to Mom's willingness to pick up gifts for my grandparents to give us, Mitch and I got started on our rack of quickdraws that night. And thanks to the White Elephant gift exchange, I came home with a new recipe book...yay organization! Mitch got a football that smells like BO...great. After coffee, dessert, brandy (Grandpa got Bobby and Todd to try it, but Bobby couldn't stand it so he took it like a shot), good conversations and hymns on the piano, we left for church. Mom gave us three choices for service: Mass, two Methodist churches or the Presbyterian in South Lyon. Dad chose the Presbyterian church, so we suffered through a slow, hour and a half-long service. It was not exactly what I had in mind, so next year I think we'll opt for the "quiet, meditative candlelight service" at the Methodist church where Mitch and I got married.
We were on a tight schedule on Christmas morning. At 8 am sharp, Mom calls up the stairs, "Merry Christmas, get out of bed!" We had an hour for presents and an hour for breakfast, but it turned into much long under the tree and a speedy trip to the breakfast table. Mom is way too generous with Christmas gifts - actually, she's incredibly generous all the time, but Christmas is her time to shine. Among other things, she and Dad gave me a nice outfit from Express, a beautiful sweater and a velvet blazer. Mitch got a new backpacking tent, biking shorts, some UnderArmor and other stuff. One of my favorite gifts, though, came from Mitch: a new sleeping bag! I think I will be warm in this one! He also got me a pair of Spyder mittens - "The perfect gift," he says - and a fuzzy hooded thing from Mountain Hardware. I got him a new jacket for hiking/camping (waterproof, breathable shell), new ski pants and a zip-up sweatshirt thing from Prana. Dad loved his biking shorts from us, mom was so excited about her new ski vest and Bobby was pumped about his mountain biking gloves. All in all, a wonderful Christmas morning, part one.
Part two started with a drive to Carson City to spend a few hours with Mitch's family. His parents had great looks on their faces when they opened their new computer, from all their kids! Thankfully, his dad agreed to get rid of the other computers upstairs now! His parents are also too generous. My favorite gifts are cute Christmas dishes, comfy pajamas and some new cookbooks. Mitch, I'm sure, loves his new Carhart jacket and his Garth Brooks boxset best. Dave and Mariah, who had our names, gave us cast iron cookware for camping and a new game that will be making its debut at New Years Eve. The kids were so excited and crazy, but I think they'll like the books we got them.
And then part three: the drive back to South Lyon for McGrath family Christmas at my Aunt Shari's. Everyone was there except my cousin Joe, his wife Jessica and their son, Giovanni, so it was a full house. (There are over 30 of us!) We did another White Elephant gift exchange...don't be surprised if Mitch tries to serenade you with his harmonica next time you visit us! I got a toothpick holder...functional but cute. Mitch's gift from my cousin Jonathon was funny: it was a huge, heavy box that ended up being full of weights with a Dick's gift card taped inside! I got a pretty sweater from my cousin Rosie. You know, it's great to see everyone at Christmas but I don't feel like I got enough time to chat with my cousins and hear about their new jobs, new houses, etc. Maybe someday, if we move closer to home, we'll get together more often...
Obviously, we were beat by the time we got back to my parents'. After a much-needed shower, I spent the rest of the evening curled up in my new sleeping bag watching TV. So wonderful. What a Merry Christmas.
Over the next few days, we basically relaxed in South Lyon. I made one exchange at the store and picked out my birthday present from Mitch - Oakley sunglasses, because I've never, ever had good glasses. We played a ton of Scrabble, and my brother, who always hated reading and spelling in school, was rockin'. We made plans to go out three nights in a row and got shot down every single time...jerks. We cleaned out our old toys in the basement, waxed our skis in preparation for what hopes to be a great ski season and did a lot of reading. OK, I was the one doing a lot of reading, but it was soooo nice! Now we're home and looking forward to New Years Eve at Matt and Jon's.
I hope everyone has a blessed New Year...I know I'm so thankful for all the challenges and joys we've had this year!
"So take this broken offering and make me whole,
Set my feet upon the road that leads me home,
let me walk as one fixed upon the goal,
even though I've got a thousand miles to go..."
Set my feet upon the road that leads me home,
let me walk as one fixed upon the goal,
even though I've got a thousand miles to go..."
Friday, December 30, 2005
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Christmas Eve
It was so nice to have a day off yesterday. I wrapped Mitch's presents and finished the photo album for his grandpa, made a pumpkin roll for Christmas Day dessert and was ready to meet Santa when he came by early to fill our stockings. (We decided it would be fun to do stockings for each other before we left our apartment for the holidays.) I also caught an old episode of Trading Spaces where one of the designers covered the walls and ceiling of a room with cardboard. Ugh. I'd be pissed.
When Mitch got home from work, we did opened our stockings and headed down to Matt's for a fancy seafood dinner with him and Becky. Mmm mmm, crab and shrimp! We played a little poker, did a little smoochin' under the mistletoe and planned for their New Years Eve bash.
Mitch is working this morning so I've spent my time getting everything packed up and ready to go. The presents are all loaded up and the apartment is clean, but I still need to get together some clothes for the weekend. It's going to be so crazy for the next few days...Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family, opening presents on Christmas morning with my parents and brother, Christmas brunch-thing with Mitch's family in Carson City and Christmas dinner/festivities with my mom's side of the family that evening. We're fortunate to be able to spend so much time with so many different members of our families...I just wish there wasn't three hours of drive time in there! After Christmas, though, we get to relax for at least a day, and then things are pretty up in the air and kind of dependant on Mr. Bruce Lack, so if you're reading this, Bruce, call me!
With all the activity, I probably won't post tomorrow, so I'll wish you all a very Merry Christmas right now. God bless you and your families!
When Mitch got home from work, we did opened our stockings and headed down to Matt's for a fancy seafood dinner with him and Becky. Mmm mmm, crab and shrimp! We played a little poker, did a little smoochin' under the mistletoe and planned for their New Years Eve bash.
Mitch is working this morning so I've spent my time getting everything packed up and ready to go. The presents are all loaded up and the apartment is clean, but I still need to get together some clothes for the weekend. It's going to be so crazy for the next few days...Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family, opening presents on Christmas morning with my parents and brother, Christmas brunch-thing with Mitch's family in Carson City and Christmas dinner/festivities with my mom's side of the family that evening. We're fortunate to be able to spend so much time with so many different members of our families...I just wish there wasn't three hours of drive time in there! After Christmas, though, we get to relax for at least a day, and then things are pretty up in the air and kind of dependant on Mr. Bruce Lack, so if you're reading this, Bruce, call me!
With all the activity, I probably won't post tomorrow, so I'll wish you all a very Merry Christmas right now. God bless you and your families!
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Evotional
Each week, I receive "evotionals" through the mail from Christine Vogel, former Alma College Chaplain. I really liked this one:
Psalm 126:1-2
1When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
2Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
Only three more shopping days until Christmas and the fortunes of countless retailers rise and fall on the amount of purchasing we will cram into these last few hours (and that doesn’t even include the day after Christmas when millions of us will bookend the season that began on “Black Friday” by madly rushing to the malls for the deep discounts of post “holiday” sales). Surely the shopping “gods” will restore the fortunes of the retail industry and fulfill their dreams of a banner year. And their mouths will be filled with laughter and they will shout with joy as they realize that the bottom line is very good.
But Christmas is not about shopping, as columnist Anna Quindlen points out in the most recent issue of Newsweek; and it is most definitely not about the whether a store’s advertising has acknowledged the birth of the baby born in a manger. She decries the silliness of the religious right in raising this argument. “O ye of little faith,” she says, “who believe that somehow the birth of Christ is dependent upon acknowledgement in a circular from OfficeMax!”
More important, she lays bare the consumer mentality that annually threatens to eclipse the “reason for the season” and our anticipation and celebration of this holy day. As Christians, our fortunes and our dreams are centered on the good news of Christ’s birth. Yes, we will share the gifts we have purchased with one another, but we ought to remember that the true gifts we share lie in our love and presence to and with one another; in our dreams of family and home; and in our joyous appreciation and reverence for the truly great thing God has done for us though the incarnation of Jesus, who is the Christ.
Psalm 126:1-2
1When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
2Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
Only three more shopping days until Christmas and the fortunes of countless retailers rise and fall on the amount of purchasing we will cram into these last few hours (and that doesn’t even include the day after Christmas when millions of us will bookend the season that began on “Black Friday” by madly rushing to the malls for the deep discounts of post “holiday” sales). Surely the shopping “gods” will restore the fortunes of the retail industry and fulfill their dreams of a banner year. And their mouths will be filled with laughter and they will shout with joy as they realize that the bottom line is very good.
But Christmas is not about shopping, as columnist Anna Quindlen points out in the most recent issue of Newsweek; and it is most definitely not about the whether a store’s advertising has acknowledged the birth of the baby born in a manger. She decries the silliness of the religious right in raising this argument. “O ye of little faith,” she says, “who believe that somehow the birth of Christ is dependent upon acknowledgement in a circular from OfficeMax!”
More important, she lays bare the consumer mentality that annually threatens to eclipse the “reason for the season” and our anticipation and celebration of this holy day. As Christians, our fortunes and our dreams are centered on the good news of Christ’s birth. Yes, we will share the gifts we have purchased with one another, but we ought to remember that the true gifts we share lie in our love and presence to and with one another; in our dreams of family and home; and in our joyous appreciation and reverence for the truly great thing God has done for us though the incarnation of Jesus, who is the Christ.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
The Effects of Pseudophedrine
So I've been battling this cold for about a week. It's mainly congestion, so I've been taking a lot of Sudafed, both with and without pseudophedrine. Apparently the plethora of meth labs have made it so you have to specifically ask for the real stuff. I think, though, that I should stick with the fakies because yesterday evening I took some Aleve cold medicine with about four times as much pseudophedrine as normal (it's a 12 hour pill) and thought, by taking it relatively early, that I would actually be able to sleep. Funny, I can't sleep without it because my nose is all plugged and I can't sleep with it because it keeps me awake!
The point is that I had a pretty sleepless (though clear-breathing) night and I had a lot of time to think random thoughts. With it being almost Christmas and all, I started pondering what life must have been like for Mary at this time years and years ago. It can't be all that fun during your last few weeks of pregnancy anyway, but she had no idea where she was going to be when she had this baby and who was going to be able to help her. Oh yeah, and she's carrying the son of God, but to many people she was probably just the unmarried pregnant girl. How many people believed her? Were there moments even Joseph doubted? How would it feel to insist something so unbelievable and face the doubts of others every day? I have a hard time believing she was always the picture of peace and contentment we see in paintings and sculptures.
And once she had Jesus, how would it feel to raise the son of God? Undoubtedly there were still people who didn't know or believe who he was, and it was also probably scary and dangerous at times, for there were those in power who were desperate to keep their reign. Did Mary always look upon her son as the son of God or were there times when she kissed a scraped knee and just cradled him as her child, forgotting his blood was holy?
It would take a unique woman to accept the fact that her son did not belong to her but to the world, and that his life was not going to be easy. Did she battle in her heart, wanting to protect her son and not wanting God to put Jesus through hardship? I'm sure she did...after all, she was a mother. Anyway, those were my rambling, semi-drug-induced medititations last night. They must not have been that odd, though, because I'm still thinking about them today.
The point is that I had a pretty sleepless (though clear-breathing) night and I had a lot of time to think random thoughts. With it being almost Christmas and all, I started pondering what life must have been like for Mary at this time years and years ago. It can't be all that fun during your last few weeks of pregnancy anyway, but she had no idea where she was going to be when she had this baby and who was going to be able to help her. Oh yeah, and she's carrying the son of God, but to many people she was probably just the unmarried pregnant girl. How many people believed her? Were there moments even Joseph doubted? How would it feel to insist something so unbelievable and face the doubts of others every day? I have a hard time believing she was always the picture of peace and contentment we see in paintings and sculptures.
And once she had Jesus, how would it feel to raise the son of God? Undoubtedly there were still people who didn't know or believe who he was, and it was also probably scary and dangerous at times, for there were those in power who were desperate to keep their reign. Did Mary always look upon her son as the son of God or were there times when she kissed a scraped knee and just cradled him as her child, forgotting his blood was holy?
It would take a unique woman to accept the fact that her son did not belong to her but to the world, and that his life was not going to be easy. Did she battle in her heart, wanting to protect her son and not wanting God to put Jesus through hardship? I'm sure she did...after all, she was a mother. Anyway, those were my rambling, semi-drug-induced medititations last night. They must not have been that odd, though, because I'm still thinking about them today.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Less than a week!
"Old man, get back in your truck before I break your hip."
-My brother, to a dude road-ragin' at him near Grand Rapids
This weekend was the first one in a long time that Mitch and I had no real plans. I asked Adrienne if she and Kyle (her boyfriend) wanted to meet up in Lansing on Saturday, but I got no real response so obviously that didn't happen. Am I allowed to feel miffed that she'll drive down to Southern Indiana to see our other close friend from high school but hasn't been up to see me since before we moved?
Everything worked out great, though. Jerry came down from Tech to hang out with Gabe and Andrea, so we ended up going over there Friday evening and then having all of them over for turkey dinner on Saturday evening. I even think my first attempt at cooking a real turkey was semi-successful...the guys sure ate a lot! After dinner we went to see Narnia - really good movie. In general, it stuck pretty close to the book and the cinematography (did I spell that right?) was amazing. It made me want to go back and read the book again, even though I read it just a few months ago.
I also got all my Christmas presents wrapped on Saturday while Mitch snoozed on the couch and watched pieces of the first Lord of the Rings movie. On Sunday we went to church in the morning (for the first time, I felt like it was just an alright service) and spent the rest of the day at Mitch's parents' house. The kids were treating Mitch like a human jungle gym and he was so good with them. I think he's going to be a great Dad someday. Someday in the reasonably distant future, don't worry!
Now it's back to work, but only for four days this week. I didn't know 'til last Friday that I get the day off this Friday, and I'm pumped! I can make the dessert I'm taking to our family Christmas, wrap all Mitch's presents, buy some stocking stuffers, pack for the weekend...it's like getting an early present!
-My brother, to a dude road-ragin' at him near Grand Rapids
This weekend was the first one in a long time that Mitch and I had no real plans. I asked Adrienne if she and Kyle (her boyfriend) wanted to meet up in Lansing on Saturday, but I got no real response so obviously that didn't happen. Am I allowed to feel miffed that she'll drive down to Southern Indiana to see our other close friend from high school but hasn't been up to see me since before we moved?
Everything worked out great, though. Jerry came down from Tech to hang out with Gabe and Andrea, so we ended up going over there Friday evening and then having all of them over for turkey dinner on Saturday evening. I even think my first attempt at cooking a real turkey was semi-successful...the guys sure ate a lot! After dinner we went to see Narnia - really good movie. In general, it stuck pretty close to the book and the cinematography (did I spell that right?) was amazing. It made me want to go back and read the book again, even though I read it just a few months ago.
I also got all my Christmas presents wrapped on Saturday while Mitch snoozed on the couch and watched pieces of the first Lord of the Rings movie. On Sunday we went to church in the morning (for the first time, I felt like it was just an alright service) and spent the rest of the day at Mitch's parents' house. The kids were treating Mitch like a human jungle gym and he was so good with them. I think he's going to be a great Dad someday. Someday in the reasonably distant future, don't worry!
Now it's back to work, but only for four days this week. I didn't know 'til last Friday that I get the day off this Friday, and I'm pumped! I can make the dessert I'm taking to our family Christmas, wrap all Mitch's presents, buy some stocking stuffers, pack for the weekend...it's like getting an early present!
Friday, December 16, 2005
Good counterargument!
Generally, I don't debate politics/religion (unfortunately, the line between them is monstrously blurred), especially at work. When I talk about politics/religion with my friends, even those who hold different beliefs than me, we can usually have an interesting, challenging debate in which both sides effectively acknowledge the value of the other's argument and are not afraid to agree with well-developed points. We may not (and rarely do) change each other's minds but we listen to and consider each other's viewpoints.
So today we're on our way to lunch and I mention my weekend plans to see "The Chronicles of Narnia" and how I'm very excited after viewing the trailer at the church Mitch and I have been attending. She proceeds to go off on how she thinks it ridiculous how many churches are all excited about this movie, because it's just a fantasy story. I replied that I agree that you can completely enjoy this story just for the story and it's still wonderful, but that there's no denying the Christian allegories in the text. C.S. Lewis, I tell her, is one of the foremost Christian authors of our time and even though he says he didn't set out to write a Christian allegory, even he couldn't keep parellels to the Bible out of his stories. At this point, I'm expecting something intelligent back, some sort of response, but all I get is the stubborn, "But it's just a movie!" *Sigh.* So I change the subject, because it's not worth debating anything with someone who is so entrenched in her opinions that she doesn't hear what others say and can't respond any way other than restating her position without support.
This coworker happens to be a great friend of mine at work, by the way, but she reinforced my decision not to debate anything with her.
So today we're on our way to lunch and I mention my weekend plans to see "The Chronicles of Narnia" and how I'm very excited after viewing the trailer at the church Mitch and I have been attending. She proceeds to go off on how she thinks it ridiculous how many churches are all excited about this movie, because it's just a fantasy story. I replied that I agree that you can completely enjoy this story just for the story and it's still wonderful, but that there's no denying the Christian allegories in the text. C.S. Lewis, I tell her, is one of the foremost Christian authors of our time and even though he says he didn't set out to write a Christian allegory, even he couldn't keep parellels to the Bible out of his stories. At this point, I'm expecting something intelligent back, some sort of response, but all I get is the stubborn, "But it's just a movie!" *Sigh.* So I change the subject, because it's not worth debating anything with someone who is so entrenched in her opinions that she doesn't hear what others say and can't respond any way other than restating her position without support.
This coworker happens to be a great friend of mine at work, by the way, but she reinforced my decision not to debate anything with her.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Experimental Dinner: Failed
Note to all: you can't cook chicken breasts in a crock pot. They get dry and stringy and you'll be forces to eat baked potatoes, cheese and Christmas cookies for dinner. Hopefully the bean soup I'm planning to attempt on Friday will be better. Sheesh.
Let's see, what has been going on this week. Well, work's been busy...that's becoming the norm nowadays and I'm so thankful for my full days. Over the weekend, my parents came up and brought us our Christmas tree. Just for the record, if I had to pick my #1 family tradition, it would be decorating our beautiful live tree each year. Every year we go the day after Thanksgiving and cut our tree. It's an adventure, sometimes an all-day one, but my parents always made sure we came home with a huge, gorgeous fir. (Of course, Mitch and I have to scale back the size for our apartment, but the spirit's still in it.) Then, about two weeks before Christmas, we'd bring the tree inside and spend an entire afternoon putting up the lights and all our "special" ornaments. See, we never had one of those "pretty" trees, with matching ornaments and all that. Every year, my mom bought us each a new ornament for Christmas. As we got older, a pattern emerged: I got Precious Moment ones, Bobby got Tonka trucks and my dad got lighthouses. Suffice to say, by the time I got married I had enough ornaments to decorate a tree of my own. We're working on catching Mitch up, and we got some awesome ornaments as wedding gifts, but our tree still has mostly "Laurie" ornaments. Mitch calles it eclectic, because his trees growing up were always "pretty" ones. I love our tree, though. If I think if it, I'll post a picture this weekend. Chip loves the tree, too. It's his new hiding/sleeping place and also where he gets drinks. Goofy cat.
I am officially done with my Christmas shopping now. My cousin, Dayna, says she wants Orlando Bloom for Christmas...well, me and her both (not really, Mitch is the only guy for me!), but since I don't think he'd consent to moving to Michigan to live with her and my aunt, I bought her "Pirates of the Caribbean" instead. My dad has a hard time accepting the fact that she's into movie stars and not whales anymore (her favorite mnovie used to be "Free Willy"), but that's just what happens.
Well, I have a lot of work to do and almost all of it requires writing, so I better not burn myself out on a lengthy blog entry. Oh, real quick, I can't comment on your blog, Jess, because I'm not on your "team." That makes me sad. I wanna be on your team! Please! :)
Let's see, what has been going on this week. Well, work's been busy...that's becoming the norm nowadays and I'm so thankful for my full days. Over the weekend, my parents came up and brought us our Christmas tree. Just for the record, if I had to pick my #1 family tradition, it would be decorating our beautiful live tree each year. Every year we go the day after Thanksgiving and cut our tree. It's an adventure, sometimes an all-day one, but my parents always made sure we came home with a huge, gorgeous fir. (Of course, Mitch and I have to scale back the size for our apartment, but the spirit's still in it.) Then, about two weeks before Christmas, we'd bring the tree inside and spend an entire afternoon putting up the lights and all our "special" ornaments. See, we never had one of those "pretty" trees, with matching ornaments and all that. Every year, my mom bought us each a new ornament for Christmas. As we got older, a pattern emerged: I got Precious Moment ones, Bobby got Tonka trucks and my dad got lighthouses. Suffice to say, by the time I got married I had enough ornaments to decorate a tree of my own. We're working on catching Mitch up, and we got some awesome ornaments as wedding gifts, but our tree still has mostly "Laurie" ornaments. Mitch calles it eclectic, because his trees growing up were always "pretty" ones. I love our tree, though. If I think if it, I'll post a picture this weekend. Chip loves the tree, too. It's his new hiding/sleeping place and also where he gets drinks. Goofy cat.
I am officially done with my Christmas shopping now. My cousin, Dayna, says she wants Orlando Bloom for Christmas...well, me and her both (not really, Mitch is the only guy for me!), but since I don't think he'd consent to moving to Michigan to live with her and my aunt, I bought her "Pirates of the Caribbean" instead. My dad has a hard time accepting the fact that she's into movie stars and not whales anymore (her favorite mnovie used to be "Free Willy"), but that's just what happens.
Well, I have a lot of work to do and almost all of it requires writing, so I better not burn myself out on a lengthy blog entry. Oh, real quick, I can't comment on your blog, Jess, because I'm not on your "team." That makes me sad. I wanna be on your team! Please! :)
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Just Bits
I'm thankful for my icky cold because it means I've spent lots of time with my nieces and nephew.
A new friend of mine could really use some prayers for strength and faith because she's having a rough time right now.
Sometimes Mitch picks up the cat and walks toward the door saying, "Chip and I are going to B-Dubs for some wings. It's Boys' Night." Too cute.
Working out with my sister-in-law, Minda, really kicked my butt last night. My arms are killing me!
Anyone who cooks in crockpots: I'd love new recipes, particularly if they involve meat. You know Mitch.
A new friend of mine could really use some prayers for strength and faith because she's having a rough time right now.
Sometimes Mitch picks up the cat and walks toward the door saying, "Chip and I are going to B-Dubs for some wings. It's Boys' Night." Too cute.
Working out with my sister-in-law, Minda, really kicked my butt last night. My arms are killing me!
Anyone who cooks in crockpots: I'd love new recipes, particularly if they involve meat. You know Mitch.
Friday, December 09, 2005
Work Stuff
I have lots to do right now, but I wanted to update you on my fun new assignments at work. And no, I'm not being sarcastic. Ever since one of our reps took a new job, I've gotten to do loads and loads of fun stuff:
Website - I'm now responsible for maintaining the Admissions and Financial Aid portions of the Alma College website. If you see typos, let me know. I don't have to learn HTML to do this, but I fully intend to and will be breaking out the "HTML for Dummies" book whenever I have a chunk of spare time.
Publications - I'm the official second set of Admissions Office eyes on all publications PR does for our office. I get to give my input on design, copy, photos, etc., and the main liason, the crazy lady I rant about every so often, actually listens to me. I also edit letters for her. Yeah English minor!
Church Relations - This one is not a result of Danni leaving, but I have a huge hand in organizing church outreach endeavors and am the main contact for the redesign of the religious and spiritual life brochure. I am writing all the new copy and revising the current copy, as well as choosing the photos with the Chaplain and giving my input on overall design.
Other than that, I'm just keeping in contact with students and hoping that next year, for travel season, I'll be able to get Danni's old territory, which is the are around my hometown, instead of Northern Michigan. And I'm hoping the College decides to pay for grad school, which is a proposal in the works, I've heard.
Tonight, we're having dinner at the in-laws' to celebrate Dad DeYoung and Mariah's birthdays. Then my parents are coming up on Saturday with our Christmas tree and we're taking them to the AC Kiltie Band's Indoor Marching Show. Fun times!
Website - I'm now responsible for maintaining the Admissions and Financial Aid portions of the Alma College website. If you see typos, let me know. I don't have to learn HTML to do this, but I fully intend to and will be breaking out the "HTML for Dummies" book whenever I have a chunk of spare time.
Publications - I'm the official second set of Admissions Office eyes on all publications PR does for our office. I get to give my input on design, copy, photos, etc., and the main liason, the crazy lady I rant about every so often, actually listens to me. I also edit letters for her. Yeah English minor!
Church Relations - This one is not a result of Danni leaving, but I have a huge hand in organizing church outreach endeavors and am the main contact for the redesign of the religious and spiritual life brochure. I am writing all the new copy and revising the current copy, as well as choosing the photos with the Chaplain and giving my input on overall design.
Other than that, I'm just keeping in contact with students and hoping that next year, for travel season, I'll be able to get Danni's old territory, which is the are around my hometown, instead of Northern Michigan. And I'm hoping the College decides to pay for grad school, which is a proposal in the works, I've heard.
Tonight, we're having dinner at the in-laws' to celebrate Dad DeYoung and Mariah's birthdays. Then my parents are coming up on Saturday with our Christmas tree and we're taking them to the AC Kiltie Band's Indoor Marching Show. Fun times!
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Late Update
I realized this morning I never posted the stories that made my weekend so intresting and awesome, so here's a quick rundown:
Friday - I took half a day off work so I could make food and such for our upcoming Christmas party. My first attempt at my grandpa's homemade chip dip recipe was very successful and my Jello shots had perfect proporations of Bacardi Razz and water, but my Snickerdoodles were having a few issues. The recipe was very simple, but when I finished the dough and went to chill it, it was all crumbly - not like I would expect dough to be at all. I thought maybe chilling it would help and I decided to tackle that project in the morning. After he got home from work, Mitch and I drove down to East Lansing for Warren Miller but we never got there. Instead, we spent an hour driving around East Lansing trying to find the high school even though the road MapQuest told us to turn right on was blocked off. MapQuest lies. We were supposed to turn left, not right. Instead of watching badass skiers throw themselves off cliffs, we watched Harry Potter and ate movie theater popcorn. Though the movie left out a great deal, I thought it was very good, especially the scenes from the three challenges in the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
Saturday - We did some party preparation in the morning, including an attempt to finish the Snickerdoodles. Unfortunately, the first batch I baked was awful, so I threw everything away, called my mom, and got a new recipe. We made some more Jello shots and brought the total to six boxes of Jello and an entire fifth of rum. Then we got all our stuff around, drove to Alma, picked up Mel, Chris and Reese (two freshman climbers) and headed to Higher Ground in Grand Rapids. It was so sweet! We were literally like kids in a giant candy store. There was no pacing ourselves - we bouldered like mad for two hours with very little rest time. All the routes from the previous ABS Comp were still up but there were no ratings on them, so it was all guesswork as to whether or not I could climb them. My accomplishment of the day was this yellow route with a rather tricky move. About 3 moves into the route, your left hand is on a blue hold with one flat side, tilted at 45 degree angle so you had to lean to the right to use it effectively. Just to the right of that hold was a bulbous white hold, which was oh-so-tempting for your right hand. Above those holds was a long, bumpy blue and white hold obviously designed for your right hand. So the first time I tried this route, I went up to the blue with my left hand, the white with my right, and then tried to move my right up to the blue and white hold. Bad move. As soon as I moved, I blew right off the angled blue hold and fell about four feet right on my ass. In actuality, the proper way to do the sequence is to put your left hand on blue, bump your feet up as high as possible, and power up to the blue and white hold, completely skipping the white hold. It took me about four or five more tries, but I got it and successfully finished the route. (Tim, you're probably the only one who really cares about that explanation.) Once our forearms were pumped and we couldn't move our fingers anymore, we went back up to Mt. P to finish getting ready for our guests. We had this whole strategy: I was going to make the new Snickedoodle dough while Mitch was in the shower, and once he got out he was going to bake the cookies while I was getting clean. I gave him very specific instructions about baking time, but he didn't follow them and the cookies were crunchy instead of soft. Oh well, most of them got eaten, along with all the other food we had. About 16 people showed up and had a roaring good time, from what I could tell. We played the Grinch game, Cranium, poker (I actually learned and didn't do too bad, despite the influence of a couple of run amd Cokes), and just had a generally great time. Everything started to wind down around 1 pm, and conversation turned from the usual party stuff to (1) why art has to have some meaning beyond aesthetic value; (2) why Caleb's background in biochemistry makes him perfectly suited to brew beer in his closet in Wright Hall; and (3) quantum theory/mechanics/computing. When the last topic started, I puy on my PJs and went to bed. This was at 2 am.
Sunday - We got up in time for church at 10:30 am and left for Lansing by noon to work on some Christmas shopping. By 3:30 pm we were back in Alma heading to a Venture Crew meeting with Matt. I think this is going to be a fun group. There were about 10 kids at the meeting and some of them are already involved in Boy Scouts so they know what they are doing. One of the girls seems pretty ditsy but the others are normal. Our first trip is going to be in January...we'll be winter camping, which I'm not so sure about. I'll keep you posted. After Venturing we grabbed dinner at Mancino's, played some poker at Matt and Jon's, and then went to Chapel so I could do some Admissions work. I'm so glad we went. Chapel was definitely my first real church home and the first place where I started to learn what faith really meant. Obviously it holds a very special place in my heart.
So that was the weekend. Work has been crazy busy, and I have to go back and read my other blog entries to see what I've already written about before I go into that too much. I'd hate to be terribly repetetive.
Friday - I took half a day off work so I could make food and such for our upcoming Christmas party. My first attempt at my grandpa's homemade chip dip recipe was very successful and my Jello shots had perfect proporations of Bacardi Razz and water, but my Snickerdoodles were having a few issues. The recipe was very simple, but when I finished the dough and went to chill it, it was all crumbly - not like I would expect dough to be at all. I thought maybe chilling it would help and I decided to tackle that project in the morning. After he got home from work, Mitch and I drove down to East Lansing for Warren Miller but we never got there. Instead, we spent an hour driving around East Lansing trying to find the high school even though the road MapQuest told us to turn right on was blocked off. MapQuest lies. We were supposed to turn left, not right. Instead of watching badass skiers throw themselves off cliffs, we watched Harry Potter and ate movie theater popcorn. Though the movie left out a great deal, I thought it was very good, especially the scenes from the three challenges in the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
Saturday - We did some party preparation in the morning, including an attempt to finish the Snickerdoodles. Unfortunately, the first batch I baked was awful, so I threw everything away, called my mom, and got a new recipe. We made some more Jello shots and brought the total to six boxes of Jello and an entire fifth of rum. Then we got all our stuff around, drove to Alma, picked up Mel, Chris and Reese (two freshman climbers) and headed to Higher Ground in Grand Rapids. It was so sweet! We were literally like kids in a giant candy store. There was no pacing ourselves - we bouldered like mad for two hours with very little rest time. All the routes from the previous ABS Comp were still up but there were no ratings on them, so it was all guesswork as to whether or not I could climb them. My accomplishment of the day was this yellow route with a rather tricky move. About 3 moves into the route, your left hand is on a blue hold with one flat side, tilted at 45 degree angle so you had to lean to the right to use it effectively. Just to the right of that hold was a bulbous white hold, which was oh-so-tempting for your right hand. Above those holds was a long, bumpy blue and white hold obviously designed for your right hand. So the first time I tried this route, I went up to the blue with my left hand, the white with my right, and then tried to move my right up to the blue and white hold. Bad move. As soon as I moved, I blew right off the angled blue hold and fell about four feet right on my ass. In actuality, the proper way to do the sequence is to put your left hand on blue, bump your feet up as high as possible, and power up to the blue and white hold, completely skipping the white hold. It took me about four or five more tries, but I got it and successfully finished the route. (Tim, you're probably the only one who really cares about that explanation.) Once our forearms were pumped and we couldn't move our fingers anymore, we went back up to Mt. P to finish getting ready for our guests. We had this whole strategy: I was going to make the new Snickedoodle dough while Mitch was in the shower, and once he got out he was going to bake the cookies while I was getting clean. I gave him very specific instructions about baking time, but he didn't follow them and the cookies were crunchy instead of soft. Oh well, most of them got eaten, along with all the other food we had. About 16 people showed up and had a roaring good time, from what I could tell. We played the Grinch game, Cranium, poker (I actually learned and didn't do too bad, despite the influence of a couple of run amd Cokes), and just had a generally great time. Everything started to wind down around 1 pm, and conversation turned from the usual party stuff to (1) why art has to have some meaning beyond aesthetic value; (2) why Caleb's background in biochemistry makes him perfectly suited to brew beer in his closet in Wright Hall; and (3) quantum theory/mechanics/computing. When the last topic started, I puy on my PJs and went to bed. This was at 2 am.
Sunday - We got up in time for church at 10:30 am and left for Lansing by noon to work on some Christmas shopping. By 3:30 pm we were back in Alma heading to a Venture Crew meeting with Matt. I think this is going to be a fun group. There were about 10 kids at the meeting and some of them are already involved in Boy Scouts so they know what they are doing. One of the girls seems pretty ditsy but the others are normal. Our first trip is going to be in January...we'll be winter camping, which I'm not so sure about. I'll keep you posted. After Venturing we grabbed dinner at Mancino's, played some poker at Matt and Jon's, and then went to Chapel so I could do some Admissions work. I'm so glad we went. Chapel was definitely my first real church home and the first place where I started to learn what faith really meant. Obviously it holds a very special place in my heart.
So that was the weekend. Work has been crazy busy, and I have to go back and read my other blog entries to see what I've already written about before I go into that too much. I'd hate to be terribly repetetive.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Thanks Ryan!
Here are two articles Ryan had in his journal that I truly enjoyed this morning:
Goodbye Christmas?
It's Spelled C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S
Monday, December 05, 2005
Two Great Messages
Mitch and I got a double-dose of church this weekend - morning service at the Mt. Pleasant Community Church and evening service at the ever-wonderful Alma College Chapel. We don't usually go to Chapel because it's too late for us old folks, but I had an admissions announcement to make. Anyway, both services were great and I thought I'd tell you a little about them.
The Community Church is doing a whole series of sermons using The Chronicles of Narnia as a focal point. This first message was just kind of an introduction to the things we're going to be talking about over the course of the next month, but one of the main messages was that, like Lucy did in the wardrobe, we first need to open the door if we're seeking God. Then, once we've started on the journey, we just need to keep going further in, just like the children ventured further and further into Narnia.
Greg, the interim chaplain, gave the message at Alma and it was, appropriately, about Christmas. He pointed out that we as a society have taken all the things about Christmas that are supposed to be peripheral - gifts, decorations, etc. - and made them central to our celebration of Christmas when there is really one and only one thing that should be central in our minds during the Christmas season. That really made me think, because I LOVE the holidays. I love decorating and cooking and having people over and choosing gifts for my family and friends and celebrating all our traditions...but I need to remember that, when I really stop to contemplate the reason for our celebration, I don't need ANY of that to be full of joy this season. I need to cultivate a feeling of anticipation not for the gifts on Christmas morning but for the celebration of the birth of our Savior.
The Community Church is doing a whole series of sermons using The Chronicles of Narnia as a focal point. This first message was just kind of an introduction to the things we're going to be talking about over the course of the next month, but one of the main messages was that, like Lucy did in the wardrobe, we first need to open the door if we're seeking God. Then, once we've started on the journey, we just need to keep going further in, just like the children ventured further and further into Narnia.
Greg, the interim chaplain, gave the message at Alma and it was, appropriately, about Christmas. He pointed out that we as a society have taken all the things about Christmas that are supposed to be peripheral - gifts, decorations, etc. - and made them central to our celebration of Christmas when there is really one and only one thing that should be central in our minds during the Christmas season. That really made me think, because I LOVE the holidays. I love decorating and cooking and having people over and choosing gifts for my family and friends and celebrating all our traditions...but I need to remember that, when I really stop to contemplate the reason for our celebration, I don't need ANY of that to be full of joy this season. I need to cultivate a feeling of anticipation not for the gifts on Christmas morning but for the celebration of the birth of our Savior.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Swing Shift
Well, it's 6:30 pm and I'm in the office working a lovely thing called a swing shift. It's where we come in at 11 am and work until 8 pm, supposedly so we can call more students. I hate calling students. I already called everyone who was accepted yesterday and today. I followed up with a the few inquiries I couldn't take care of via email. I tried to get ahold of Micaela so I could pick up my new AC3 t-shirt. It's bright pink and says "I Kissed the Bar" on the front. The tagline under the back logo is "Taking Romance to New Heights Since 2001." One can never have too many climbing t-shirts.
Today was super busy. It seemed like as soon as I walked in the door, three people wanted something from me. Hmmm, maybe they're learning that I am indeed competent. I worked on our new church relations project all afternoon and covered a meeting with a student and her mom for a rep whose lunch break took a little too long. Oops! After running around like a chicken with my head cut off earlier, I'm now bored enough to write a blog entry that's not ever the slightest bit entertaining. Sorry, dedicated readers.
Half day off tomorrow...woo-hoo!
Today was super busy. It seemed like as soon as I walked in the door, three people wanted something from me. Hmmm, maybe they're learning that I am indeed competent. I worked on our new church relations project all afternoon and covered a meeting with a student and her mom for a rep whose lunch break took a little too long. Oops! After running around like a chicken with my head cut off earlier, I'm now bored enough to write a blog entry that's not ever the slightest bit entertaining. Sorry, dedicated readers.
Half day off tomorrow...woo-hoo!
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