Fun Times on Arches Drive

So, today, we woke up to a bleeding dog. One who also happened to take a nice-sized crap in her cage last night. But you can't really blame the poor thing cause she just got spayed on Friday, and she's not in the best way right about now.

Anyway, she was bleeding from her incision since she kept trying to gnaw the stitches out of her tummy. I had to take her to the vet for an antibiotic and a cone collar. (See images below. HAAA!!!)

Anyway, just tonight I look over at her as Billy's tucking Eve-Marie in and she has this cone stuck in her mouth on one side and over her head on the other. Too funny. I wish I'd gotten a picture of that, but I figure you guys can't take anymore laughing today anyway.

BTW, you should see her try to eat!

Success

So, today, we had our first day of homeschooling. For those of you who didn't know already, Billy and I decided for various reasons...none of which I feel like posting online...to start that up and withdraw her from her school. Anyway, Eve was a bit apprehensive, as I guess I was also. I was excited as all get-out to start up once I saw the curriculum that came on Friday, but I was a little unsure as to how Eve-Marie would respond to my instruction. I mean, sure I taught her everything she knows to date, but to be her actual teacher was a different story.

So, we began the day with a little handwriting practice right after breakfast. We continued after taking Billy to work by learning about Martin Luther, the water cycle, capitalization, and compound words. We also had some review in math of number order and practice drawing numbers 1-9 and then some practice with reading.

I'm so psyched to continue because Eve-Marie really responded well. And I got my house cleaned, too, which is something that's hard to accomplish when I have to spend 3 hours in Evansville while she's in school.

So, yes...a good time was had by, uh, both.

I hate Americans

I'm not sure anyone ever looks at this anymore since I've lagged so completely on updating recently.

I've been struck the last couple of days, today perhaps the hardest, about how much I hate living in America sometimes. I know, I know. I should count my blessings that I live in a country where I can openly criticize and such. But I don't know...something about the land of the credit cards and home of the materialistic doesn't seem so appealing to me.

I hate walking into a store to see all the abundance that everyone has and wants more of. I'm tired of seeing women smaller than me driving an SUV the size of a motor home in order to tote around all of ONE 6-month old child. I mean...if you have a large family and need the room, that's one thing. But if you just have excess money to throw around on luxery and 12 miles to the gallon, then have a heart and think about a Jamaican once in a while.

I hate how these "Christians" all around don't look much like a "peculiar people." I'm sick of how they fit in.

And I'm sick of how I fall right into it. And I wonder if it's a bad thing to feel guilty for buying new maternity clothes when I checked the consignment store first, but found they had no shorts or t-shirts. I don't think it's a bad thing. Rather, I think it's a bad thing to buy stuff and never wonder if you really need it.

So, the son of man had no where to lay his head, but we are so comfortable with our homes that we never leave them to serve. I'm so tired of living in my mid-west America, middle class neighborhood where we care about how green the lawn is and my neighbors have a new car every 6 months. (I swear it's like clockwork.)

I read a book called The Last of Her Kind this week. It was...okay. It passed the time, you know. It was a little bit boring...didn't have much of a plot, but it made me envious. Despite the drugs and free sex that I could do without, I was jealous of the nomadic life they lived...or some of them did anyway. Maybe it was romanticized...probably it was. But I wish for once I could live up to my principles.

Tucking In

So, here I get a chance to sit down and write a little bit about my life. I guess there's just not a lot of stuff to write about lately. Today, though, was cool. We went to my first official OB appointment. Here we got to actually hear the heartbeat, which was cool. I think the coolest thing about it was seeing Billy's facial expression as he sat in awe.

After that, a quick run to Wal-mart proved interesting also. (As a side note, can someone please tell me why the heck our power went out last night but stayed on ALL DAY today?) So, yeah...we're all ready to check out, and the sky looks like night. It was like 3:00 pm. The rain is pounding so hard on the roof of Wal-mart that I honestly wouldn't have been surprised if the roof caved in. But it didn't. So, Billy, being the gentleman that he is, decided to go get the car and pull it up. So, I pay for our stuff (hey! was he really being a gentleman after all!) and go look for him at the door. Poor guy. Completely soaked. I think the car seat is still sopping from him sitting in it all the way home.

So, yes...interesting, huh?

Out of Touch

Man! Broken computers = super huge inconvenience and a ever-shrinking world around me.

Sorry that it's been forever since I had anything of substance up here. Billy's computer was down for a while, and I've also been sick with the pregnancy lately, too.

Tomorrow, I go for another ultrasound, so we're excited about that. We won't know yet what the sex is; that comes around month 4. But it'll be cool to see how much the baby's grown in the meantime.

God's blessed us with all kinds of cool provision--from health care costs to crib accessories to car seats. It's awesome to see how He comes through on his promise to give everything we need (Phil. 4:19).

Church has been, uh, interesting. Our senior pastor has taken a call to a church in Muncie, so we'll see what happens here in the next few (or several!) months to fill that position at our church. Billy's been connecting in great ways with the youth and recently taught a group of them about worship and leading worship. He's been really excited about that.

I don't know...there's not too much else going on, I guess. I've just been sick a lot, so any of you who pray...your prayers would be much appreciated. I don't actually mind being sick because it's a good excuse to sit around and watch movies, but ultimately, I have a bunch of stuff to do around the house, and it's obviously not getting done, so I feel like a loser about that.

Anyway, yeah... I guess I'm out.

myspace contact

Never Ceasing to Amaze

Some crazy things that make me wonder what the heck's wrong with people....

Avril Lavigne mastercards

Jesus statues

And more Jesus statues

Yes, I do classify these in the same category. And what the freak! Why's this stupid underlining happening?

Bored out of my mind....

Not that I have much of one to be bored out of. I get the lovely task of sitting in the kitchen watching the dog not pee on the floor. That's actually good news....considering how much she peed on the floor for the first 2 weeks we had her.

But now, by default, I get to sit here and not do laundry (which...no actually, I really WOULD rather do laundry) and not take a nap, and not do all these other things that I want to do because having a puppy is very inconvenient. She's cute...but inconvenient.

And it's gotten freakin hot here. What ever happened to spring anyway? I swear 3 weeks ago, I was all wearing a parka, and now, I'm sweating even with the air conditioning on.

And I'm obviously in a whiny mood, on top of all that.

But I'm excited because Trish is coming into town this weekend, and I get to hang out with her for a little while. They won't be here for very long, but at least I'll get to see her for a time. I miss her.

We started our small group on Tuesday, which totally RAWKED. It was very cool. We had a couple other people and some that ended up not being able to come due to sickness and other "stuff." But it didn't really matter that it was small because...uh...it's called a "small group" after all.

And now I'm just ramblin, cause I'm freakin bored out of my mind.

Summer Time...when the living's easy

Man...things have been awesome lately, which is probably why I haven't updated in a while. It's harder to remember to keep you posted so much as it's easy to need to journal when I'm feeling down. But lately, things have been really cool.

Billy and I are happily continuing the task of becoming one, and it's been amazing. One of the things that we've been doing...kinda inadvertantly...is reading books and talking about them. We started this with a book called The Search to Belong, by Joseph Myers. It's an interesting read and has been contiunally causing some good discussion between us, and broadening our view of ministry when we learn a new point, or often reinforcing our view of ministry when we find something that we don't agree with the author on.

So, anyway, one of the kewlest things about our relationship, which I guess is present in lots of relationships, I don't know...is that we just have all these interests that are similar, and it seems like when one of us finds something exciting, the other is eager to know about it too. Not always is this true, cause there are definately times when I'm too busy being jealous of how cool and talented Billy is to appreciate that we have a similar interest. But other times, it's just really fun in perhaps an incredibly mundane way to sit and watch him fix a photo or even just to be trimming bushes while he's mowing the lawn. It's like even though we're working on our own thing and not talking to each other, we're still working together on the overall project.

I don't know. I type this out, and it's kinda like...duh...but somehow it's still Romantic to me.

I am so in love with Billy Chia it's insane.

Why...

So, today was the last day of school for me for the semester, and I had a really good day. I had good conferences, with the exception of the girl who told me that I was an annoying teacher. And I don't know why I'm thinking about that now, but it's just because it's so much easier to remember the bad things that I hear than to make up good things.

So, I should be happy, right, cause I've been looking forward to this day for like...months. I'm free. Summertime comes, and I have things I want to accomplish. And I have time to accomplish them. But I'm not happy.

I'm not happy because I have this insane disease called no self esteem. And it's topped by feeling forsaken and un-listened to. And fighting to restore is not sounding very appealing lately. Because I'm well aware of my weaknesses, and I could use a little power of God sometime soon.

Days like these....

Days like today are weird...and I'm kinda getting tired of them. I woke to find the fight was strong and in my face this morning. And I remember that someone told me to capture my thoughts and to "think of what's lovely." And I wonder how the hell you even do that, anyway. (and no, Pete...since I know you're reading this...I don't swear now. Just sometimes when I type it just comes out.)

Like...things are good today, and much better than a week ago today. But it's really getting annoying that my standards are ridiculously high and that my esteem is just as low. But see, there I go not thinking of the lovely things.

Here's the lovely thought for today: Eve-Marie is amazing. I love to lie with her at night and talk to her, finding out what her dreams are and what her wonderings may be. Tonight, she was curious about how everything is made. And for a time, she lay on my chest and it felt good to hold her close. It reminds me of her days as a baby, and it's hard to believe that she's growing. And I wonder now what she'll be like when she's a teenager, and I already began to miss the holding close that will surely slowly vanish as she ages. But this is about the lovely.

Here's another lovely thought: I have but 2 weeks of school left!

Later

La Vida Loca

Ah ver... no puedo escribir en espanol, pero mi vida esta loca hoy, y es excelente!

Uh...okay. I give up on that real quick! Man, you guys...God is freakin awesome. And no...he's not just awesome. He is, indeed, freakin' awesome.

I don't know...it's hard to explain cause it's been so long since I've updated this, but God's just been working in our relationship and ministry, and things are really good.

I'm all tired, but tonight, we're going out for my birthday, so I'll get awake for that.

Yeah...I guess I don't really have much to say. Things are good.

married

so, the wedding went off without a hitch, and all was well with the world.

in fact, it still is.

it's weird cause I knew that things would change somehow after marriage, but I didn't quite realize that they would change so quickly or that it would necessarily be a good thing. I think that when people talk about things changing after marriage it's like their trying to tell you that everyone is a big con artist. It's like, "Everything changes after marriage and you find out all these things about this person, and you realize that everything they ever said was false and everything they ever pretended to be was about 100x better than they'll ever be able to live up to." But for me...in all my week of marriage experience...I feel like the changes that have come have only intensified my love for Billy.

I'm not sure that I can even explain that in any logical or coherent way. All I know is that I love him like crazy, and I love him more today than I did a week ago, but a week ago, we were just now saying our vows...or perhaps we were just now having our first kiss. And I didn't know yet what having him as my husband would be like. I probably still don't.

But I feel secure, and I feel comforted.

This is a test 2

To see what happens when I link to my hot husband with a trackback address in the body.

This is a test

Just a test to see what happened when I link to my hot husband with the trackback under the title.

A lot of nerve...

So, here it is... 5 days away. Counting down, as usual.

The nerves finally started hitting. I don't know...maybe if I were honest with myself, I would've said they hit a couple weeks ago. I think that they built in tiny little increments until finally this weekend, I realized that I'm freakin nervous.

Fortunately, I know that there's no one in the world that I would have a better chance with than Billy. And double fortunately, I know that God is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine. God's will is for marriage to be amazing. God's will is for family to be a safe place that comforts us and protects us from fears. And God's will is for me and Billy to have that marriage and to build that family. And the past haunts, but it's just a ghost. It's not in control, but then again I'm not much lately, either.

Cryptic? Good.

w00t!

Aw...man... today is freakin' awesome.

Last night Billy and I wrote our vows, and it was amazing. I'm so crazy in love with that man. I'm also crazy impatient for March 11 to come.

We also went earlier in the day to get our marriage license, so that was fun. Little details suck sometimes, but right now, I feel like they are a sign of very near happiness. Not that I'm lacking any happiness now, but the more little details I have to deal with, the more I know that the time till I'm Mrs. Billy Chia is fast approaching.

Tonight's the HUGE spaghetti dinner at church, and I'm happy about that. I love cooking, but I also like eating food that's been fixed by someone else...especially after I work.

But I'm just getting really boring here...

Time Slips so Quickly Away

So, it's been a while, huh?

Yeah...things are cool here, but hectic, and I have little time to relax anymore. On Billy's accountability sheet at church, there's a place where it asks if he got to have any fun that week. Ithink that's cool. They don't want their staff to get overworked or to put work as an undue priority. So, he's been playing a video game lately to have fun.

I, on the other hand, have not had a ton of time for fun, and it's kinda taking its toll on me. Today, though, I get to go hang out with my bridesmaids and just have some lunch and fellowship.

I'm hoping to go to youth group tomorrow, too. That'll be fun. I haven't been in a few weeks.

SO.....those of you who know me...or have read any of the entries about waiting in between visits with Billy....know that counting down is my way of life. Of course...2 weeks to the day till the wedding. That sounds do-able. I'm particularly thrilled that I had the foresight to schedule student conferences with my students for the week prior to the wedding. This is much less stress than actually teaching for those days. (In case anyone cares...)

Well...I guess I'm out. I do have much to do today, but I have to say...it was fun to sit down and catch you all up.

Can't wait to see some of you at the wedding, and for anyone who never sent me your address....you suck! But you can still come. E-mail me, and I'll hook you up with the info.

Too psyched to stand it

Ah, man... I seriously am in the best mood ever. Billy should be over soon to tell me all about youth group and I totally got my work done a long time ago. So, you know...being bored and all, I got online after the chica was in bed and I totally found my best friend from college. Ouch...okay Jenn...chill.... He was totally my best friend, too. I'm allowed to have different best friends. You're the best friend who tree jumped with me, stood by me while I was pregnant and ashamed, and kept me accountable. He was the best friend who I played music with, talked about philosophy with, hacky-ed with, didn't smoke pot with (Jenn was this best friend, too, by the way), travelled to Jersey with, and foolishly stopped chillin' with due to a lame choice in boyfriends. I've thought about him tons, and I finally found him on myspace. Now, I know that some people believe myspace is the devil, but right now, I'm freaking too psyched to stand it over how godly myspace is. Errr...at least, God can use it, right????

Anyway, he hasn't been on since like November, so I'm just crossin my fingers and actually, I'm saying some prayers, too...cause I totally wanna see what he's up to.

Remember the Victims of Abortion

January is the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, which legalized abortion on demand. Since then, over 3,000 unborn a day have been killed at the hands of "doctors." But babies aren't the only victims. God will take care of the babies, but the parents continue to live with the memory and pain. Please pray for their healing.

"6 am...day after Christmas.
I put some clothes on in the dark.
Smell of cold...car seat is freezing.
The world is sleeping; I am not.

Up the stairs...to her apartment.
She is balled up on the couch.
Mom and Dad went down to Charlotte.
They're not here to find us out.

And we drive.
Now that I have found someone,
I'm feeling more alone than I ever have before.

She's a brick, and I'm drowning slowly
Off the coast, and I'm heading nowhere.
She's a brick, and I'm drowning slowly.

They call her name at 7:30.
I pace around the parking lot.
I walk down to buy her flowers
and sell some gifts that I got.

Can't you see?
It's not me you're dying for.
Now she's feeling more alone than she ever has before.

She's a brick, and I'm drowning slowly
Off the coast, and I'm heading nowhere.
She's a brick, and I'm drowning slowly.

As weeks went by,
It showed that she was not fine.
They told me, "Son, it's time to tell the truth,"
and she broke down.
I broke down cause I was tired of lying.

Driving back to her apartment.
For the moment, we're alone.
She's alone.
I'm alone.
Now I know it."

--"Brick" by Ben Folds Five