tithe

i woke up thinking about this and just wanted to share.

so. we've been doing a series on finances in church (the blessed life) and also have decided that RLC will become our home church.

so last week we tithed our actual "tithe" amount for the first time.

later that week we get all the bills in the mail. charlie opens his health insurance, and instead of a bill it says, "we're going to pay for your insurance this month!"

ummm okay! yay!  AND his insurance is the exact amount we tithed!  that's so exciting! thanks God!

waaaaaahhh

i don't like tuesdays.

i don't have time for anything (except blogging, apparently.)

i don't know what's going on in biostatistics.  notatall.

i have a project due tomorrow that no on really wants to work on.

and i have two more meetings today.

aaaaaaaaand i'm in christmas break mode.

okayi'mdonewhining.

video post

to the coolest 2-year-old I know

Dear Fox,

Happy birthday!! Uncle Charlie and I SO wish we could be there to celebrate you!!  You are growing so quickly and are so smart!  I still vividly remember the day we found out you would be joining our family.  We were all so excited and couldn't wait to meet you.

You don't remember it, but you were even with us at Uncle Charlie and my wedding! Your mom was awesome.

The day you were born was SO exciting.  We woke up at 5 when your dad called and couldn't go back to sleep so we spent the day at the hospital waiting for the chance to meet you!

We were too excited to do anything else.

And it was worth it!! You were beautiful and perfect and the best addition to our family.

And you still never cease to amaze us!  You are so charming.

We love you so much, Fox!  Happy 2nd Birthday!! We'll see you soon!

 Love, Uncle Charlie and Aunt Steph

So much to be thankful for!

In no particular order....

The Galbos!!

Our beautiful Grandmother

The "Cuzzies"

Nephew #1

The Loup family

These lovely women

This man. My rock.

The opportunities Charlie had growing up

I know it's silly.  But Toto was my first baby and Tiggy is just plain cute.

Work opportunities Charlie had that taught him work ethic and responsibility

These two! My favorite. They have taught me so much and love a lot.

Yay! I am thankful for education... that both Charlie and I were able to go to college.

Nephew #2!

This view (hehe)

The cuteness

The opportunity and adventure we are having in Minnesota.  I can't describe how thankful I am for this life-changing two years!

CRAZY sisters!!

The daddy-daughter relationship

That crazy spoiled little boy.

The fam!

first snow

i thought i was going to die today.  like really, actually die.

i had to drive my car on ice for the first time ever.  i sent charlie out on a test drive first.  it didn't help that when he came home, he squwinched up his face and said, "that was TERRIBLE" especially after it not going so well in his truck either.  and watching tons of cars in ditches. and them NOT PLOWING OR SALTING OUR STREET.

me=freaking out.  i cried a lot.
because i had class and a volunteer clinic thing tonight in minneapolis and charlie's working and wouldn't even be able to rescue me if i wrecked. and the snow wasn't melting and i felt incredibly lied to because everyone promised they keep the roads here so good.

so we went on a test drive and i slid all over the road.  it was scary and i cried some more. charlie put sandbags in the back of my car, and it didn't help. but he said it was helping.

so i left for my meeting tonight like 2 hours early. i prayed in tongues the whole way there.  and called the angelic hosts out of heaven to surround my tires.  because i was sure i was going to die.  and got there and hour and 45 minutes early. and then when i got to the church i was volunteering at they had, not one, but TWO open parallel parking places in a row (so my other biggest fear of parallel parking in the ice was also quelled). i may or may not have parked kind of in the middle of them.  whoops. and so sat in my car for a while.  and the cop they have on duty was positioned right by my car so i felt safe, too.

when my parents bought me my car 5 years ago he knew i would be driving it in minnesota winters.  when i got into school he wasn't surprised that i would have to drive that car around town to different functions in the ice and snow.

His grace is enough for me.  Thank you God, for letting me not die tonight :)

our first minnesota snow!

Hebrews 12:12-13

Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. "Make level paths for your feet", so that the lame may not be disabled, but healed. (NIV)

I could go on and on, but I've run out of time. There are so many more— Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets....Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves. They were protected from lions, fires, and sword thrusts, turned disadvantage to advantage, won battles, routed alien armies. Women received their loved ones back from the dead. There were those who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something better: resurrection. (The Message Hebrews 11:32-35)

Their weakness was turned into strength.  That is how they could know it was God, and not themselves.  He took their impossible, and made it reality. 

ha!

sick.

broken shoe.  while on the saint paul campus.  i fixed it tape-style.

broken toilet. at home.

SO. in order to protest all these recent happenings, i am going to be thankful. a whole week early :)

i am thankful it's been a mild november.
i am thankful charlie was able to find some work... the economy is rough up here.
i am thankful God has opened doors for us thus far with moving to minnesota and me getting into school.
i am thankful the vet thinks Rufus throwing up is just because he eats too fast... nothing to worry about.
i am thankful that illness and pain are temporary.
i am thankful for my ever-loving husband.
i am thankful people i love are only a phone-call or skype away. (even though i'm really bad at using it sometimes!)
i am thankful for the house we live in.
i am thankful for my puppies and how much joy they bring to our lives.
i am thankful charlie and i will get to spend thanksgiving together and hopefully make a few traditions.
i am thankful i have shoes that aren't broken.
i'm thankful we can afford food.

take THAT terrible awful week!

and now my throat hurts.

like charlie's did right before he got sick.

failureofaday.

it is currently 8:45

today i have already:

-had a flat tire.
-gone for that fun woman doctor visit.
-walked half a mile in 20 degree weather. without gloves or a hat.
-tried 5 computers in the computer lab before i found one that would let me log on.
-and gotten locked out of said lab. when i tried to call the tech people. and couldn't because i'm in a basement with no reception.

please, day. get better.

come on March 23rd!

and i'm so excited i have people to watch it with!! :)

loud bus-talkers

so.  8 or 9 in the morning.  on the early morning bus ride (okay it's not THAT early... but it's full of sleepy undergrad students...) from the saint paul campus into the east bank minneapolis campus.  and notta-one person on the bus is talking.  until we get to the last saint paul stop and pick up another group of students.  enter loud phone talker.

at first it was startling because i thought he was talking to himself.  then i realized his old-school headphones were actually some sort of blue tooth.  then, seeing as he was making the ONLY NOISE on the whole entire bus and speaking VERY loudly, i decided i might-as-well listen in.

at first he talked about different interviews he'd had around the country and how well he'd done at them.  then he talked about his son and how, since they'd probably stay in minnesota until he is 18, it might be interesting for him (the dad) to go to school (i'm guessing med school..?) in a very different place.

then things got really annoying.  he referenced a possible move to Starkville, Mississippi.  first he started off with a monologue about how in Starkville, they have this old-school mindset and put all their jails in the middle of the town so everyone can see who's in jail.  and you can just drive by and see who is in it!! (the horror!)  and can you believe there are places that still have that old southern mindset?! 

then he continued that they'd be able to find a nice home on 5-acres for $500 a month.  because that's what everyone in starkville, ms lives on because of the feral dogs. you can't go outside at night to walk your dog because feral dogs will attack.  so you have a nice fenced-in 5 acre lot that you can walk your dog on. 

okay, so i'm not from starkville... and i haven't lived there.  so maybe every person lives in a cheap, 5 acre lot to avoid feral dogs and drives by the open-air jail every morning to see who is in it.  but i seriously doubt that. 

there are old-school ideas alive and well in the south, yes.  but please, sir.  do not pretend like you know what it's like until you've lived there. or assume that giving inmates fresh air (usually on secluded highways) is to expose and embarrass them.  it's easy to pretend to know what other cultures and people are like.  these things take time. and patience.  and a willingness and receive and learn and adapt instead of assume.

broken

# 1. i'm obsessed with pinterest.  it's so terrible.

#2. so one of the places i'm volunteering at is a free neighborhood clinic in minneapolis run by students.  it's one of the first places like it in the country... we have preceptors and it's very interdisciplinary--meaning we have huddles and the med students  and pharmacists and nutrition students and nursing students and social work students collaborate about the patients that come in and we work together (with our preceptors) about how best to treat the patient.  so this is awesome, right?
welll the not-so-awesome part is that it's in a really sketchy neighborhood. you know?  the kind that needs free clinics.  so someone in said neighborhood figured out that twice a week a ton of cars of rich-grad-school students would be parked on the street.  cars with iphones and computers and gps's and other valuables.  so cars were getting broken into increasingly. 
it got so bad that they had to shut the clinic down for a while while they figured out what to do.
the solution?  a cop that would stay in the church parking lot (where the clinic is) and would circle around and keep a watch over the block and the cars.  this is great, huh?!  problem solved!  neighborhood safe!!

you'd think. 

they started hearing complaints from people in the neighborhood.  the cop made the kids nervous because many of them are undocumented.  they are more afraid of a cop than of bad people who break into cars and rob people.  and possible assault or hurt people. 

i'm not making a statement on immigration policy... i'm just stating something that breaks my heart.  how could a child be more afraid of someone who is meant to keep them safe than of the people they are keeping them safe from?  ugh!!  my heart hurts for them!  and what do you do?  the solution was for the cop to show up after dark when kids are "safe" in their homes.  how is this a solution?  IS there a solution?

i'm sorry. i love him.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Tim-Tebow-why-the-heck-do-we-hate-him-110211

hey pointe coupee

Hey Pointe Coupee, It's been a while.  Here are a few things I miss about you.

I miss taking our dogs to the pond or the swamps and letting them swim and run around.

I know, right?  Friskey?!  But she was my first and only cat.  And now there is no one to boss Punkin around.

We're juuuuust a little over 3 hours from Grand Isle now.

And it's not quite flower season here, either.

And let's face it.  Our puppies are lonesome.  They just have us and each other. But I'm glad to know MooMoo is living the high life now :)

There is something so beautiful about a swamp

And watching your man work doing what he loves to do best (Or looking for gators :))

Yep.  We don't have those either.

Birds.  Who knew I loved swamp birds so much?

I think this picture speaks for itself

And last but not least... these ladies.  (This picture is no inclusive of every person I miss!!)

picture update

I just think they're so cute and snuggly

For some reason, Charlie and I were extremely amused by this...? I think we imagine it as a dog-carrier

SO sad I won't play with him

So sweet

A lovely afternoon at the park

My favorite

The whole family.

Aaaaaand LSU... you have to look closely, but it's there!

Oh, JBU

How I miss you...

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/College-basketball-8217-s-best-technical-foul-r?urn=ncaab-wp5820

72

I don't make a regular habit of blogging about pop culture... but this topic has kind of been knawing at me all day.

72 days. 
1) I don't know her situation. Sometimes people marry someone who isn't who they thought they married.  That happens, and I acknowledge that.  In certain cases I think it may be better to just walk away than suffer with it forever.
2) Why should she uphold any sort of standard?  I actually think I believe that marriage should strictly be a religious institution, and all others should just have civil unions... contracts that aren't made between two people and God... just with each other. 

But ugh! This really bothers me!  I think Kim got "wedding-ed" instead of married.  On the one hand, I am offended that she would take marriage so lightly... and put on a huge production and call it quits after 72 days.  What does that say about her?  And what does that say about (and to) the culture we live in.  Marriage is NOT easy.  It takes a lot of work and determination and it something that has boundaries and needs to be taken seriously.  What IS marriage?  What is a wife?  What is a husband?

I keep hearing over and over again that "the Kardashians are sticking together through this as a family"... but shouldn't her husband be included in "family" now?  At the very least at the same level as her sisters or mother?  Charlie told me they figured up that she made $10,000 a hour for this "weddiage". I don't know if it's true... but it makes me sick.  What a  mockery of such a sacred thing.