beautiful song

i needed to hear this last night....especially that last verse.

Dear refuge of my weary soul,
On Thee, when sorrows rise
On Thee, when waves of trouble roll,
My fainting hope relies
To Thee I tell each rising grief,
For Thou alone canst heal
Thy Word can bring a sweet relief,
For every pain I feel

But oh! When gloomy doubts prevail,
I fear to call Thee mine
The springs of comfort seem to fail,
And all my hopes decline
Yet gracious God, where shall I flee?
Thou art my only trust
And still my soul would cleave to Thee
Though prostrate in the dust

Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face,
And shall I seek in vain?
And can the ear of sovereign grace,
Be deaf when I complain?
No still the ear of sovereign grace,
Attends the mourner's prayer
Oh may I ever find access,
To breathe my sorrows there

Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet,
Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet

blah & a couple "must reads"

yes, blah. that is how i have been feeling in the mornings when i get up. sore throat, headache, tired, etc. as the days go on i end up feeling mostly better and usually squeeze in a little nap somewhere....but it's just annoying. :( oh well, i know i'll survive and it's just the beginning of the season of colds - yay. (hopefully you can hear the sarcasm)

so this is supposed to be a book blog and i have not written about any books lately. at this point i will have a hard time remembering much about books that i read awhile ago (my memory is terrible), but i will tell you a few that left lasting impressions on me.

one of my sort of recent favorite reads was memoirs of a geisha. i had seen the movie and finally got around to reading the book....it is amazing. i was completely sucked in by it and could not put it down - i think i read it in about 3 days, it was that good. i would def. call it a "must read". it was just so beautifully written and the descriptions were so clear. and i guess i hadn't read much from asian culture before so it was quite educational for me, as well.

so, a book that i read last winter that i actually can't believe i haven't written about yet is called serve god, save the planet: a christian call to action. in all honesty, this book has had one of the biggest impacts on me as far as actually DOING something about trying to reduce my impact on the environment. not that i didn't care about it before but i would say that i only did the basic stuff that the average person would do...some recycling, switch lightbulbs to CFL's, etc. this author has a unique perspective in that he's a medical dr. and he tells some very interesting stories. but he also gives a lot of great info, explains from scripture why we are called to take care of this planet and others in it, and tells the story of how his family has taken huge steps to reduce their impact on the environment. (i mean HUGE steps - they downsized to a house that in it's entirety is the same size as the garage of their old house!) this book really opened my eyes to how selfish our culture has become and how our demand for conveniences and our use of so much of the world's resources helps contribute to the poverty of so many others in the world. i am trying to be less of a consumer....i am so thankful my mother raised me to shop at second hand stores! a couple things we do now as a result of this book are: taking our own reusable bags when we go shopping, i bought cloth napkins, we don't use our dishwasher anymore, and we unplug our electronics if they are not being used. i could go on and on about this book - i learned so much from it. but i would also like to read it again soon so maybe i will wait and write about it again later. :)

i guess that's all for now...it's a good day to curl up w /a book....i'm currently reading an adoption memoir. ;) have a great wknd!

are you smarter than a 5th grader?

well, i think i am! :) the other saturday i actually did an IQ test of sorts for a friend of a friend who is getting her master's and needed to practice on someone. it was actually kinda fun, but the sad part is that i can't find out the results since she's not licensed yet. it was kinda crazy though b/c i would second guess some of my answers or think that i was totally getting stuff wrong that i should know. (after it ended i had to look some stuff up on google to ease my conscience!) so here are some of the things i do know: the capital of italy, who painted the sistene chapel, and the president during the civil war. of course there was much more to it than that.....math questons which were kinda hard b/c of it being given verbally, some interesting puzzles, pictures and word definitions. one of the first ones that threw me was "define winter"...uh, what? sounds crazy but i really had to think for a few mins. to decide how to best define a season. (by the way, i said "the season between fall and spring") anyway, at least i got a nice gift card for a nearby coffeeshop out of the deal! :)

since everyone i know is commenting about the election on their blogs, here is what i will say: i will be extremely happy in 8 days when it is all over and we finally know who it's gonna be!!

fall is def. here in full force: i am wearing slippers, drinking hot chocolate, enjoying the crisp air and sights of pumpkins on people's porches and the colors of changing leaves. we took our fall camping excursion up to WI last sun. thru tues. and it was nothing short of amazing. the weather was perfect: cool but not too cold and the trees were gorgeous! i honestly am trying to figure out why we haven't always done a fall trip to WI in oct. - we both love camping at this time of year, it's less crowded, you don't get all hot and sweaty hiking and there's no bugs! anyway, it truly was the break that we needed from the chaos of the city and a good time for us to reflect and reconnect. i will let the pics tell the rest of the story.

august recap

hey again! so now that's it october, i thought i would go back and review the month of august! :) not sure how much i can remember though....we had some fun visitors: phil's oldest nephew, ben, came out for 6 days. they ran around the city, watched the air and water show, and then we went up to WI for a couple days of camping which was really good. we went back to Devil's Lake State Park, which we hadn't been to in several years - we highly recommend it. there are some awesome hikes and it doesn't take too long to get up to a really nice view. we are planning to go back up there in a couple wks. to enjoy the fall colors and hopefully not freeze for one last camping trip of the year!





then right after ben left our friend ann came for a few days. we used to work together at Sunshine Gospel Ministries, but she left a year ago to take a break, travel the world and figure out where God is taking her next. it was fun to catch up and we got to help phil work at a neighborhood festival where the coffeeshop our church owns (ipsento) had a stand selling frozen mochas....yummy! :)





then phil and i celebrated 8 YEARS of wedded bliss. we can hardly believe it - it's a good reminder to make the most of each day b/c they fly by so quickly. we went out for a nice dinner and then attended a seminar on "openness" w/ our adoption agency. it was actually a really good evening....and crazy to think that most likely by the time we celebrate another anniversary we will be parents! anyway, they had a birth mom there who gave up her little boy 2 yrs ago but one of her requirements was that the adoption be completely open: meaning she has a relationship w/ her son and his parents. it was really good to hear her perspective and we were already willing to consider an open adoption but now i think i really want it - it could be really cool to have a relationship w/ the birth mom and see how God could use that. as well as making it a lot easier on the kid.







so, to wrap up august and the whole summer, we went back out to MI for labor day wknd to hang out w/our friends at the lake. it was....well, how can i put it? WONDERFUL! there were around 10 of us that went out and we did it all: tubing, skiiing, swimming, fishing, laughing, sleeping, puzzle making, eating, and more! oh yeah, and on the last morning, our friend's grandpa (whose house we were staying at), said, "i'm really surprised no one took the kayaks out - it's a perfect morning for it...." - so i went to find phil and said, "grandpa T just twisted my arm - we have to take the kayaks out before we leave b/c we don't want them (the neglected kayaks or the grandparents) to feel bad"! :) it was a delightful way to wrap up a perfect wknd. thanks so much to our dear friends the gilberts and talens!!!









that last pic is me and my friend sara tubing - she was gonna go by herself (she hadn't been out yet but most of us already had), so i said, "friends don't let friends tube alone!" ;) well i think that's all i've got for now. maybe in my next post i will actually tell you about the books i read this summer - there were some good ones!

i'm it!

so, a friend of mine, whose blog i read, "tagged me" which means i'm "it". or, in this case, it means i have to share 7 random or weird things about myself.....hmm, this could be interesting. :) then i get to tag 7 people who must do the same....hehe. so, here goes:

1. when i spent a semester in israel, i got bit by a dog and almost had to get rabies shots (can we say, scary??)

2. the only bones i've ever broken in my body are my teeth

3. i failed the test to get my driver's license more than a few times....let's just say i lost count, but if i hadn't passed it when i did i would have had to retake the test for my learner's permit!

4. i hate applesauce, but my mom claims that it's all i ate when i was a baby!

5. i was never very adventurous in my younger days, but in college i learned how to ski (downhill and x-country) and since being married i have done some serious mountain biking that i never would have imagined myself doing - and enjoying.

6. another weird food fact: i do not like jelly - yuck! so sticky and messy!

7. i was born on my great-grandmother's birthday - may 12th. and strangely enough, phil and i are only 1 day shy of being 5 years apart - he was born on may 11th. :)





so, now it's time for liz, justine, jes, davene, ashley, marissa and kacie!

yes, i am alive!!!

hello there! i'm sure by now most of you thought i would never return to blog-land, but i've gotten several emails and comments about the fact that i need to get back to it - so here i am! even though it has been forever (or 3 mos.) i am still going to attempt to "catch up" here on what has been happening w/ us all summer....don't worry, i'll spread it out over a few blogs. :)

well, to pick up where i left off, we had a great trip home to PA back in early july. we spent time w/both of our families and it was a much-needed break from the city. we hadn't been home during the summer time in several years, so it was quite lovely. we even went camping w/one of phil's brothers and his neices and nephews and we saw a lot of wildlife: deer, elk, and a BEAR! it was great fun. and then driving through the mts. to head back to my parent's a baby bobcat crossed the road in front of us. anyway, aside from getting a 24 hr. stomach bug of some sort, our trip was really great but as always it felt too short. we miss you, our wonderful family!!

the next wknd. after we got home from PA, some friends and i became TRIATHLETES! i was a little worried about how i would survive, as i hadn't trained as hard as i wanted to...but honestly, it was not that hard at all and we had a lot of fun. (sounds crazy, i know!) i actually did a lot better than i thought i would and finished in less than 2 hrs., here were my times: .5 mile swim in 19 mins., 12.4 mile bike in 56 mins., and 3.2 mile run in 34 mins. i was most amazed at my run time.....running is my least favorite thing and i am not good at it....but i guess being warmed up helps a lot b/c i ran 11 min. miles! :) we are planning to force more of our friends to do it w/ us next year b/c it really is such an empowering feeling and it's a tri. just for women so everyone is really encouraging.

aren't we cute?? we made our own shirts....well, phil did the design - the front had a stick figure swimming, biking and running (they looked like the ones they used for the olympics) and on the back it had the verse from isaiah "they will run and not grow weary"...but we inserted "swim, bike, and run" ;)....it was super cute and very appropriate b/c we are all in a Bible study together and had just finished the book of isaiah! we even put "team isaiah" on the shirts!
(in case anyone notices, my crazy friend marissa, who is next to me in the pic, has ice on her leg b/c she actually did the race w/a stress-fractured tibia - yes, she is certifiably insane but i love her!!)

so, to finish out the month of july we went out to MI for a few days to enjoy some R&R on a little lake where our friend's grandpa has a cottage. it was great to catch up w/ them and just to enjoy some peace away from the city. we even went to a nearby farm and picked black raspberries and flowers....so delightful! we are so blessed to have such amazing friends - we are truly grateful.

well i think that is all for now - i will finish catching up on the summer another time.....guess i shouldn't wait too long though since today is the first day of fall! hope you are enjoying weather as nice as we have been having - it's actually been in the 80's the past few days. :) trying to make summer last as long as possible! take care!

going bye-bye!

so, somehow it's been a couple wks. since i posted anything, but i just wanted to let everyone know that it will be quiet for another 10 days at least while we are in the promised land....pennsylvania. :) we are very excited to be heading out first thing tomorrow morning - i'm ready for a change -i feel like things have been really busy again lately. but it's all good stuff. like yesterday we went to IN to go to a wedding - it was a really beautiful, outdoor ceremony and the weather was perfect. they are a sweet couple who went to Moody and attended our church. i'll have to try to remember to post some pics later.

anyway, it will be refreshing to get out the city and see our families - we have lots of nieces and nephews who grow a lot while we're gone, so we need to check in once and awhile so that we can still recognize them! and we're also looking forward to meeting two new additions: phil's cousin and his wife had their 2nd little girl a month ago, and some very dear friends who we haven't seen in a year and a half had their 2nd (also a girl, but their first is a boy) back in jan....we can't wait to meet you, sophia and sadie!

so i'm sure we will be having lots of laughs, eating too much, having good conversations (i better practice my "where we are in the adoption process" speech!), and staying up late to star gaze b/c we'll actually be able to see them for a change!! :) oh yeah and i'm looking forward to sitting out on our parent's back porches and just relaxing and watching lightning bugs!

fyi, on the book front i just finished reading "pride and prejudice" by jane austen. it's a good read but you have to be able to get into the old english language. i thought it was great though and now i need to watch the movie again. :) at the library i just found a couple memoirs of people who were adopted and i'm looking foward to getting into one of them on our trip - i'll be sure to let you know how they are!

k, i'm gonna sign off for now, it's getting late-ish and we have to get up at 5:30!