I'm not cryin' it's just been rainin' on my face.

Dearest Tarrence (kitty) Beeson,
We thought you died a couple of times before, but this time it was real. You brought so much happiness - watching you swipe little birdies off of the bird feeder in the back yard, the times you attacked Ginger the dog, the way you followed Ryan wherever he went...you were a wonderful Kitty and we all loved you.Remember the time you mysteriously disappeared for a few months...then mysteriously came home again - fatter than when you left? You were such a prankster.

When I heard the news about you I was at work...and I definitely broke down crying. I didn't know how much I cared for you until you were gone. We loved you - and we know you loved us too.

The following video explains how I felt when my friends at work saw my tears.

Weekend in Traverse City

Ryan and I had an absolutely awesome weekend. He wasn't on call Friday, Saturday or Sunday, so we decided to take a trip. We planned on cross country skiing in Gaylord, but the recent heat wave melted all the snow, so we went up to Traverse City instead.

We stayed on the 9th floor of the beautiful Park Place Hotel. The only problem was that there was a piano bar on the 10th floor - and the picture frame banging against the wall to the beat of "Funky Cold Medina" woke us up around midnight.

On Saturday we travelled up to Old Mission Point Lighthouse at the 45th parallel (half way between the Equator and the North Pole) and walked out to the bay. It was crazy how quiet it was...and the water was really low, and frozen, so that didn't make a sound either. We had fun hiking around looking at rocks.

Here is Ryan using his hand to show you where we were standing in Michigan.

This is a picture of Grand Traverse Bay - as you can see on Ryan's hand, we were at the top of that peninsula in the middle of the bay. Pretty cool drive up there.

Saturday night we met up with our friends Luke and Lindsey and Luke's brother Bain and his wife Laura. We had a really fun dinner together, hung out at the piano bar on the 10th floor of our hotel then watched a movie at this cool little theater downtown TC.

Peppermint-Filled Pinatas

I just finished reading Eric Bryant's new book peppermint-filled pinatas. Eric is on staff with Erwin McManus over at Mosaic and this book really challenged me to love people better. I think it's easy for me to befriend those who are most like me, those who have the same values as me, the same level of education as me, and the same religion as me.

This has become increasingly evident in my life since we move to GR. I park my car at night and my headlights shine into the park where homeless men are sleeping. We get knocks on our door from people asking for money, and stopped in the street for the same thing. It is so easy for me to get upset...to fear, to assume the worst about these people in this horrible situation of homelessness. I don't want to be afraid of diversity - I want to engage the world around me...and, to be completely honest, I am not sure what that means for me at this point in my life.

Some thoughts that really jumped out at me:

• Some of our churches have so consistently become a refuge for Christians from the world that we fail to become communities that go into the world, or even communities where seekers feel free to come and explore the possibility of a God who loves them and has a plan for their lives.


• We've even created our own language that now requires translation: Christianese. our isolation from the world fails to communicate God's concern for those around us but instead communicates that we do not want others in our lives who do not know Christ.


• Too often we require others to come to us to find God rather than allowing what God does among us to spill over into the lives of those who have not been with us in that "one place."


• 1 John 1:15-16 says, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If you love the world, love for the Father is not in you. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful people, the lust of their eyes and their boasting of what they have and do - comes not from the Father but from the world." We should apply this verse to how we live our lives, not to where to live. Our character and actions should be what sets us apart - not our zip code.


• In our attempts to become holy or "set apart," we have mistaken a call for "living with a different standard" with "living in a different place that has a different standard."


• We want to live in an environment where the laws or policies enforce our beliefs and morality rather than engaging a lost and broken world where they live.


• And if we are to be "set apart" to be "apostles," in the broad sense of people who are "sent out," then we are to be "set apart" in how we live, and we are "sent out" to the world. Too often we reverse these two concepts. We live away from the world physically, but our behavior matches that of the world.

Gob Job

Disney theme parks is looking for a “Chief Magic Official." The application process looks pretty intense (a magic aptitude test, a video profile, a degree in “Magic”...you should probably get a personal theme song too.)

You can go here to check it out.


HT: RELEVANT

On poking my own eyes out...

For the last couple of weeks I have seen a few commercials for CoverGirl's New LASH BLAST Mascara. Now, being the Mary Kay lady that I am, I typically do not stray from the tried and true MK Ultimate Products...however, Drew Barrymore is on these commercials and I really like her. So yesterday Ryan and I were at Meijer getting groceries and I see it. The colorful LASH BLAST Mascara display. I picked one up and excitedly said to Ryan "Drew Barrymore likes this kind of Masacara! I've been wanthing to try it!"

This morning before work I tried it out...and have been wanting to poke my own eye's out ever since!

This is the worst mascara I have ever tried in my life! First of all, the wand is bendy, so you can't really get it to go where you want. I got mascara all over the place. Secondly, the bristles on the wand are so stubby they don't really get any product on them, so you're basically just rubbing a stick across your lashes hoping some mascara sticks. I have blonde eyelashes, so I like to have mascara that goes on smooth and thick the first time.

After one coat of this I was very disappointed with the results. So I tried another coat, and another...only to find that my lashes were not looking thick and beautiful, and I got some on my left contact which I had to take out and wash off, but it wouldn't wash off because it was waterproof, so I ended up ripping my contact with all the vigorous scrubbing and had to open a new one. By the time I finally recomposed myself I was almost late for work and my entire morning routine had been messed up.

Once I got to work my eyes started feeling kinda irritated, and my lashes were so stiff I was afraid they were going to break and fall off everytime I blinked...so I stopped blinking for the rest of the day, which made everyone look at me strangely.

I went home at lunch, grabbed my MK Gentle Eyemakeup Remover and a cotton ball, carefully removed the horrid LASH BLAST Mascara and threw the tube in the trash.

Dear Drew Barrymore, I love you, but I hate your mascara.

One More Reason NOT to put Colloidal Siver Directly on Your Face.

Stop It!

glumbert - Stop It!

Christmas Pictures

Angela made some glorious bruschetta dip, which was referred to as " the sauce" for the rest of the week.

We played Tripoly with Granny, who is quite the card shark and says "Icky Bicky Boo" to her cards for good luck

Granny making delicious fruit salad

Dad and little Ginger

We like to open our mouths when we get presents...

It's Raining Iguanas

I was reading an article today about the storms in California, and at the end they mentioned the freeze in Florida. My favorite part of the article is as follows:

At Bill Baggs Cape Florida state park in Key Biscayne, iguanas were falling out of trees Thursday. The cold-blooded reptiles go into a sort of hibernation when temperatures get too low, even if they are perched in branches. Most woke up again when it got warmer later in the day.

I don't want to laugh, but come on, how hilarious would it be to walk around dodging falling iguanas? Haha.