desperate times = renting our house.

hey guys.
i AM alive. don't worry!

i have been in illinois now for just over two months... justin has been here since the end of january. we are staying with my in-laws, bless their hearts.
our house is not selling, which really is a HUGE shame, because it is so wonderful. the market in omaha is really really bad for sellers... which we are.
so we have decided to rent our house out, seeing as we can't live with our inlaws forever, and we certainly can't afford mortgage + rent...

so here i am, once again, asking you all to put the word out to your friends whom you trust, and any family members who may be looking to rent a stinkin sweet house in south o. we'd like to get $700-800/month + utilities, which is a pretty great deal for 1600+ sq. ft. (in my opinion).

anyway, let me know if you can think of anyone.

still so sad i can't be there for the feist-weekend-of-whocares-talent-goodness. weddings. pah. but i will be back there someday to collect all of our belongings -- SOMEDAY.

enough to get by

Yesterday I got the new Wood Brothers cd, Loaded, on iTunes. I was all excited because there's a sweet cover of "Buckets of Rain" on there. But then. Come to realize. Frazey Ford does backing vocals on a track called "Don't Look Back." Ah. So nice. We may not be hearing anything new from the Be Good Tanyas for a while, but in my opinion, little tasties like this make the wait not so bad. Check it out.

anybody know...

where i can find...
- a good upholsterer?
- a good female ob/gyn/midwife-nurse practitioner? or family practice doc?
- a good sunless tanner?
- a good haircut?

stormy weather

Omaha got hit with a fast 'n' furious storm last afternoon...for those of you not here, almost all of midtown got hit hard. Think tree damage worse than the October blizzard/ice storm of '97. Everywhere you go, trees are uprooted (yeah, the BIG ones too), houses are damaged, and people are out trying to clean up. Lots of people are without power. Thankfully, not many people were injured, considering the summer arts festival, Shakespeare on the Green, rush hour and the annual free Memorial Park holiday concert were all happening right when the storm hit. Hurricane-force winds (read: 90 mph), golf-ball sized hail, and torrential rain blew through the city in a matter of minutes. It was insane and pretty scary! Its the closest I've ever come to being in a tornado - I don't need to do that again, that's for sure.

Damage report! How are you? How is your 'hood?

when i wish i had cable TV

i've been getting a lot of junk ready for our garage sale (grr-age, if you ask me).  and i just came inside for a rest...and for the first time in 2 or 3 years, i sat down on the couch and flipped the television on. 

maury povich.  montel.  dr. phil.  and a court show.  

the maury povich subtitle is "my baby weighs almost 100lbs! help me!".   how does maury povich look himself in the eye at the end of the day?  he's on a circus show!

but i'd just like to say that i'm so very thankful for the world wide web. it has ruined my attention span for crap TV and i absolutely love it.

Omaha Gritty City Tour

western heritage museum is doing omaha bus tours again this summer ... i went on the gritty city tour last year and it was VERY interesting to hear about all the brothels, underground passageways and mob connections in omaha's history.

i'm intrigued by the millionaires & mansions and magic city ones too!

for alicia.....

ALICIA! i finished ella's blocks to match your beautiful nursery! i LOVED working with these colors and fabrics and hope you like how they turned out. let me know when i can bring them to you!

there, girls! does that count as my talent? i don't know how to transform my "talents" into a performance. i'll keep brainstorming! :/

IT'S A BOY!

yep, it's another boy! although i'd love to have a daughter someday, i am SO happy finley is going to have a little brother. AND, i don't have to buy new stuff! yay! i've got the boy clothes, the boy toys and the boy room! move over finley, here comes your pesty little brother!

see my blog for ultrasound pictures and details....

JULIE: BOY OR GIRL??????????????????????????????????????????

we need to know!

Whocares/Feist Weekend in Omaha

Thanks for coming over tonight ladies
(those who were able to make it). 

Here is the overall gist of what we all decided for our upcoming weekend.  Those of us in Omaha are hosting those from out of town that are able to come.




Friday night, July 11th (after dinner)

*Planning team for Friday night: Daphne, Alicia & Darci

Meet up at Brooke's house for fire pit/ backyard hang-out with smores and stuff.

Festivities to include a talent show. Everyone needs to chip in $5 (payable to Daphne) for the "grand prize" whose recipient will be decided upon by secret ballot. A 'talent' can be what you make of it.  For example, I personally hope to see the gorilla costume somehow incorporated into the evening.

All welcome and encouraged to spend the night at Brooke's house!

Saturday Morning, July 12th

Breakfast Planning team: Anne Marie, Brooke & Ali 

Wake-up and have breakfast, followed by a possible trip to the farmer's market.

Take shifts at Memorial Park holding our spot for the concert. (Games and snacks will be around to pass the time. I propose a Farkle Tournament to run all weekend.)  Those staying back at the house can decide on activities to pass the time :-)

Meet up in the evening for the concert.

Dinner/Picnic Planning team: Julie, Lindsay, Cheryl & Darby

After the concert, all Whocaresians head back to Brooke's house for a second overnight.

Sunday Morning, July 13th

Plans yet to be determined.

OK, discuss any questions as you will.  I hope that is clearly defined for now.

Made it to Seattle

I heart Ativan. Thanks for the tip, friends. :)

glad to be home

After several month's near-absence on our ol' blog, here I am again. What an absolute JOY it was to have so many of you present at our wedding. Thank you. I so love the photo of all of us together!

Please bear with me and this long post. Today is my first day back at work. After a pre-wedding week off, all the festivities, 8 days in Maui, then 3 days in California on our way back, I thought it'd be hard to come back home. I was wrong. It's fabulous. I am so happy to be back and am ready to settle into 'normalcy.' I am looking forward to a summer of going slow, cooking, exercising again, getting tan, being with friends, shopping at the farmer's market.

And here's my other dream: canning. Yeah, I'm a nerd. I did a lot of canning with my mom and grandma as a kid and never thought I'd be excited to try again on my own. Welp, I am. With some of our wedding money I bought a 12-pack of canning jars and a few small items to help me achieve my dream (thermometer, funnel, etc). I was inspired by my airplane/beach read last week, a book by Barbara Kingsolver called "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." Some of it is a bit preachy and could get annoying but much more of it is informative and enlightening. Book club anyone?

In addition to loving normal life, I am also reminded today why I love my job at Word Made Flesh. I don't really talk about it with you all much because frankly my job has a tendency to consume me so I am usually eager for non-work interactions. I love just being a regular person with you all. But today I made my way through a collection of briefs the advocacy team wrote for my return. A report from my co-worker, Marcia, on her recent trip to Sierra Leone was what got me. Through tears I remembered again how much I love and respect the people I work with (people like Noah, who Marcia and Chris wrote about), how much I love what they are doing all around the world, and how much I love that this is the job I get to come home to.

Below is an excerpt of Marcia's writing...the whole letter can be found here.

As I spent time with our friends in Sierra Leone, I revisited many of the old questions that knock on my idealist's door. What are we doing here? What will our small efforts achieve? It is easy to become discouraged in Freetown. The sun is unrelenting, except if the sky is dumping sheets of water during rainy season. It is difficult for our North American staff to find a place to fit into the culture. It is a challenge for the Sierra Leoneons to find funding to continue working with Word Made Flesh. The North Americans and Sierra Leoneons working with Word Made Flesh answer my questions with their lives. Intimacy. Obedience. They work tirelessly in simple acts of obedience to God who, they remember, is close to the Lighthouse Youth and the children of Kroo Bay. My friend, Noah, who works with Word Made Flesh grew up in Kroo Bay, a slum squeezed between the city and the ocean. The garbage disposal system of the city has failed Kroo Bay. In the rainy season the sediment and trash from the entire city are swept into Kroo Bay flooding homes with trash and water.

After years of schooling, Noah has returned to Kroo Bay. He is a prophetic sign of hope amidst desperate poverty. He has welcomed several boys into his small home and, at the age of 27, is parenting them on his own. Over lunch Noah told Jara and I something so simple, and yet so easy for me to forget: God is working in Kroo Bay. With or without us, God is moving. It would be nice if we could help.

So today, I choose to join with God in his work. I choose to help. My hands are small and my vision is cloudy, but I can join the movement anyway. Open handed, I invite you to come with me. At my commissioning last November Father Emmanuel Katongole read this prayer. This is how I would like to end my letter.

The Prayer of Oscar Romero
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
It is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
Of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfections.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
In realizing that. This enables us to do something,
And to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
But it is a beginning, a step along the way,
An opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
Between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.

Notes:

Noah Tullay has begun raising his own support this year. You can find Noah's prayer letters on the Word Made Flesh website here.

You can read more about Kroo Bay and Noah in an article Chris Heuertz wrote for the Lausanne World Pulse here.

One to post

This is from the week of Daphne's wedding and I've been meaning to post it for a while. I hope these guys remain friends for a long time.

Something to distract...

My pick for June's musician of the month - Alison Sudol's new album One Cell in the Sea is definitely something to check out. Sudol is an extremely talented singer/songwriter. Her sound is a reminiscent of the soaring melodies and orchestrations of HEM, with a voice similar to OTR's Karin Bergquist. Sweet.

Fun Stuff To Do Outside

Any ideas for fun summer activities that can be done in the yard...with three small children of various ages...with their mother helping them, a little? hah.

my loneliness is killing me, a mix

my running mix. a collection of ridiculous summer pop music...including, yes, brittney spears.

party people-nelly w/ fergie
rehab- amy winehouse
girlfriend- avril lavigne
who knew-pink
SOS-rihanna
shut up and let me go- the ting tings
walk away- kelly clarkson
rich girl-gwen stefani
london bridge-fergie
my happy ending-avril lavigne
baby one more time-brittney spears
stop!-against me
ocean avenue-yellowcard
please don't stop the music-rihanna
paradise city-guns n roses
move along-all american rejects

Let's hear it for A.A. Milne

Linus and I have started reading "The House At Pooh Corner" and I had forgotten how much I love Milne's writing. It is so conversational, so matter-of-fact and I love his wonderful use of excessive capitalization. Here are some excerpts:

"...and while he waited for Piglet not to answer, he jumped up and down to keep warm, and a hum came suddenly into his head, which seemed to him a Good Hum..."

"...and he looked up at the ceiling with his head on one side, and made exploring noises with his tongue and considering noises, and what-have-we-got-here noises...and then he said in a very decided voice: 'Tiggers don't like honey.'"

How much fun is this??

I found a person who, for $15/yard, will print your very own design on fabric for you. The price includes production, printing and fabric. For something so personalized, I think it is a good deal. And, you can choose from many types of fabric.

one monkey

last night was carin's last night in hanna city before she catches the train this afternoon.  she and my sister-in-law, caitlyn, took the gorilla suit out for a spin. they went everywhere social you can possibly go in hanna city. i could be more proud.  check this video.

listen free

i was just on the paste website and they have the white wonder's new album available to stream (the whole thing), free. beat that.

great to meet you!!!!

we need to photoshop corrie and darci in to make this group picture complete!


i just wanted to say it was GREAT to finally meet you all last weekend. i already knew some of you, i had already met a few more of you, and now i got to meet the rest - except corrie, of course. (but i already feel like i know you, corrie, because we have so much in common - besides both having 2-year-old finn's). can't wait to get together again and i look forward to getting to know you all! i hope most of you will be around for the wc weekend in august. i will be a huge prego which will probably make me even more obnoxious than usual. forgive me ahead of time.

Happy Couple

newsflash...

BIG SALE OVER AT THREADLESS [again]! $10 tees, if you're interested! I just can't resist a good sale.

wedding chit-chat

Two conversation bits that left me in stitches on Saturday:

Kyle (to Michael & I): "I should have been Indian. I mean, I love the food [he was on his way for thirds] and I'm in I.T.!"

Caleb's mom (to Michael): "Do you remember the time Caleb was coming back to your place and walked into the wrong house?" [true story]

Oh man. You crazy cats sure know how to throw a party, Daph! Great fun.

festive

i just have to say that daphne & caleb's wedding was the most festive wedding i've ever been to. you were a beautiful, beautiful bride, didi!! what a day!

post the epic pictures of the clan when you can, friends. i didn't take my camera-figured i'd lose it if i did.