Tooth Update/God's Provision

I went to the dentist a couple weeks ago to get my crown seated; all that went well and is paid for, so now we are just waiting on news of this second tooth that might need dental work done. I have made an appointment that will be next Thursday (the 29th) to look at this other tooth. It'll go like this: When I go in on Thursday, the dentist will drill out the old filling in my tooth. Once he has gotten it all out, he will be able to determine two things: 1) if the filling is big enough that I'm going to have to have another crown, and 2) if the new decay is close enough to the root that the root is exposed and compromised and will have to be removed. One, the other, or both things are likely, and the dentist seems to realize this, but as a rule, nothing is absolutely positive until he gets into it and sees what the circumstances are.

I would like to add that we have really been blessed. In the last couple weeks, God has provided some of the cost of a root canal/crown combination through the generosity of friends and family. We are no longer worried about having to empty out our savings and pay for the dental work on credit. Praise God for his love for us!

Pray that despite the ease of this burden, we still have the strength to live carefully within our means. It's so much easier and more convenient to eat out all the time, and it has been difficult to fully make the transition to eating in more than we eat out. Continue to pray that God will bless me with a job, preferably in floristry, and that he will grant me the courage to go out looking for one. Thank you for your prayers and support. We wouldn't be anywhere without our loving friends and family, and the God that inspires the love within them.

Lessons in Materialism

I've been receiving some difficult lessons in materialism lately. With the new root canal and crown going in, money is super tight--way more than it's ever been before. We are cooking a lot at home, and have really had to cut back on our spending. I definitely do not get to buy new clothes or make-up or other nice things, which has been a lot more difficult than I like to admit.

God's way of teaching me that everything I own is His, not mine, is to bring me to the point of fear where I start envisioning all our household belongings, one by one, being stripped from us, to pay off debts and bills. I've read about that happening in books and I've seen it in movies. It might be a tad bit dramatic for a middle-class American, but boy, is it an effective lesson! I always end up crying, but after I cry and grieve, I find I've let go of all those belongings and entrusted my life back to God. It's sure not easy, but it's needed to break the hold all those things have on me.

That's just for me personally. Right now Stephen and I together are having a lesson in trusting God to provide for our needs. Another root canal and crown may be coming up for me, and we do not have the funds for it. Last year we were fortunate enough to get a large tax refund, but this year, our tax refund was quite small and has already been spent. We've signed up for a line of health credit, which we sincerely hope we don't have to use. We will use it if God doesn't provide the funds in other ways, but we're waiting to see what He does.

One of Stephen's favorite Bible verses to quote in tough times like this is a verse in Proverbs: "The horses are ready for battle, but the victory is the Lord's." He interprets it to mean that we should prepare in wise ways for times of financial difficulty, but ultimately everything is up to God. It's a tough line to walk.

We find out whether the second tooth is going to be a root canal on April 14th, when I go in for my 1st crown. The dentist is going into it as if it is simply a re-filling, but if he gets in there and it turns out my tooth's root is exposed, it's another root canal for me. For now we play the waiting game. And pray and hope.

In one small side-note--I had a job interview on Saturday! My first one in a year! It was with UPS--I just responded to a Craigslist ad, and they were holding all interviews the next day. It's just part-time and minimum wage. I find out at the end of the week what they decide. (More waiting!) That's all the news... Thanks for your prayers. A blessed Easter to you all.

One of my friend's Facebook statuses:
"As long as the tomb is empty, it doesn't matter as much about the milk jug, or the bank account, or the gas tank."

Wow, to have that kind of perspective! :)

Welcome, 2010!

Stephen and I are at his parents' this weekend, so I have some time to relax and gather my thoughts. It's always like a mini-vacation when we come up here for a weekend. His family is big, but very laid-back in their daily ins and outs and I enjoy it immensely.

We welcomed 2010 with a low-key New Year's party with a few friends from our young marrieds' group--Sara, Jason, Rachel and Ethan. Sara and Jason had little Levi Allen on January 27th and Stephen and I currently lead our small group in a study of Colossians. I also joined (with Rachel) a women's Bible study. They meet when they can, but generally 2 or 3 times a month. We're thankful that the Countryside women have welcomed us fairly-newlyweds into their group and hope to learn a lot from them about our relationships with God and our husbands.

My sister, Sam, joined the Marines this year and will be shipping to boot camp April 5th. Thank you for prayers for her physical, spiritual and emotional well-being as she undergoes the training necessary to make her a proud fighter for the American people. Thank you also for prayers for my family as we release her completely to God's protection and care.

I am still pursuing a job in floristry. My honest hope is to start in a humble position of cutting and cleaning stems while I gain experience. Pray that God will open and close doors to me as I seek His way and His will.

Thanks for reading this and sharing your love and support with us. We love you guys.

December Trip to Idaho

Well, it's our first extended period of time away from each other since we've been married. I'm in Idaho. I flew out here chiefly to see my old friend Elizabeth, my best friend growing up, but also decided to take a few days to see Jenny, Mindy and Becca, my best friends from college. I flew out on Saturday and am flying back home this Friday. I visited Elizabeth Saturday, Sunday, Monday and half of Tuesday. She lives in a very small town with not much to do, so we spent a lot of nights staying up late, playing games with her other friends in town. We also spent a night decorating Liz's Christmas tree, which was a lot of fun and quite an adventure, as it was a pre-lit Christmas tree and it took forever to locate all the places where the different light strands plugged into one another! We also looked at Christmas lights, went shopping at Maurice's, made brownies and made a couple Wal-Mart runs.

Wal-Mart seems to be the thing I do when I'm visiting friends in Idaho, because I've made 4 further Wal-Mart runs with Jenny and Mindy since I got here. It feels just like I'm back in college! :)

The most interesting part of the trip so far has been adventures resulting from the fact that I arrived the week record low temperatures occur across all the Pacific Northwest. Although Jenny and Mindy's apartment is very warm, the subzero temperatures outside at night have frozen all the water pipes. No showers, no brushing teeth, no washing dishes, no using the toilet. And daytime highs aren't supposed to reach above freezing until Saturday, the day after I leave. Our landlord says there is nothing we can do; the pipes are all underground. Would it be wrong of me to pray that God would suddenly change the weather pattern?

In the meantime, Jenny, Mindy and I are going to have movie nights and girl talk and do Christmasy things around the area. It's good to get to spend time with them.

It's good to hear Stephen's voice every night when we do our nightly devotions. Being away from each him makes me appreciate having him more.

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Edit next day: I stopped my story far too soon. Things got much more interesting AFTER our pipes froze.

After about an hour after Jenny got home from work, we suddenly heard a ringing sound that seemed to be coming from outside our apartment. I almost didn't take notice of it because it seemed so distant, but it occurred to me that in below-freezing weather, odd sounds always ought to be checked out. So Jenny and I followed the sound to a huge red fire alarm bell ringing deafeningly loud, just above the apartment door. A fire alarm? Jenny and I circled the apartment looking for smoke but didn't see so much as a wisp. The big red bell said "Dial 911" on it, so that's what we did. At least the fire department could figure out how to turn it off? So Jenny first called the landlord, who did not answer his phone, and left him a voicemail letting him know what was going on, and that she was going to call 911.

About 25 minutes after we called 911, a few very easy-going firemen drove up. The first one stepped out and as he walked to the ringing bell, said to us, "Aren't you guys going to answer that?" and chuckled. He and the other firemen opened the door to what we thought was a neighbor's storage closet, but in fact it was the closet where ALL the water pipes were! (I would like to note that none of it was underground, as our landlord had mistakenly informed me earlier.) We peeked into the closet with the firemen and one of the sprinkler system pipes was visibly busted--about a 4" long, 2" wide gap in the pipe--with a chunk of frozen water inside. The firemen checked out the situation and then turned to Jenny and I to explain what had happened. The water heater that keeps the pipes from freezing had broken and was blowing cold air instead of warm air. The water had subsequently frozen (hence the lack of water in our apartment) and then expanded in the sprinkler system pipe so much that it burst, setting off the fire alarm system. By this point it had also set off a flood-warning system inside our apartment, which was even more ear-shattering than the bell outside.

Mindy had gotten home in the meantime and we all decided that whatever happened, we were sleeping elsewhere tonight. Jenny called her sister, who lives in a dorm on-campus, and asked if we could stay with her overnight. We packed up bags and blankets and pillows to the blaring flood alarms and took them in two cars over to Megan's. Just before we left, the firemen finally got the alarms to turn off, but we were all packed up and ready to go, and still without running water, so we went to Megan's anyway.

While the firemen had been figuring things out, Jenny had called our landlord's cell phone half a million times. Not even joking--she hit redial about 50 times and left about 4 messages on his voicemail. He never picked up--not even when the fire department called from their own lines. He got back to us at 9:30, three hours after it had all happened, and then Jenny finally got to show him where the pipe was that had broken. At least he won't ever get to tell someone "Everything's underground" in good conscience again.

So we spent the night at Megan's, and today the landlord came over with a guy and put an extra space heater in the water pipe closet, and a few hours later the pipes thawed and every faucet in the entire apartment gushed on, scaring Mindy and I half to death. Apparently no other pipes had broken, because we haven't seen any flooding.

The actual space heater for the water pipe closet was also fixed and eventually the landlord returned and took out the extra space heater. Our apartment has stayed in working order so far, except for one minor incident when I plugged in a space heater downstairs to warm my feet up, and not 2 minutes later, the living room power went out. I figured I had just overloaded the circuit or whatever and went to the fuse box, found the switch for the living room, flipped it off and then on again. That fixed it. THANK GOODNESS.

I could go into more adventures in Idaho in sub-freezing temperatures, but they aren't nearly as interesting (and it's time for bed). Tomorrow I see Stephen again and my life returns to normalcy. :)

Refugees in November

I have funny stories to tell.

Abdullah, the son of the oldest girl in the family, is the loudest, most hyper 6-year-old I have EVER met. Ever since we started coming to the refugees a year ago in August, our experience with him has been him bouncing and rolling and screaming and laughing around the living room where we meet with the refugees every time we go over. There was one time he was sick and sleeping. The silence was amazing.

The whole family is rather noisy; they're a huge family and I imagine they've just learned to talk over each other to get heard. It's overwhelming for me just about every time, but for Stephen, who also comes from a big family, it's never been too big a deal. Yesterday even he was getting overwhelmed, so that tells you a lot about the level of craziness in the home yesterday! Abdullah was being the worst, and Stephen, when he was finished helping the three teens out with one e-mail account, finally said to Abdullah, "Abdullah. I have game for you. It's called who can sit down and be quiet the longest." And Stephen proceeded to kneel on the rug as an example, and Mohammad, the social one who speaks really good English, jumped right in as well. I was amazed as Abdullah actually conceded to this "game," sitting down cross-legged on the carpet as well and grinning his eyes out, but managing to not talk, laugh, scream, or make noise in any other way.

The quiet that descended on the house was incredible.

Not only was the little nosiemaker being quiet, but everyone else who was in the room was caught up in disbelief that my husband's trick had actually worked! And just loving it!

Abdullah lost, of course, after about a minute, when a much-suppressed laugh finally erupted from him. And the rest of us also laughed in amazement and wonder and delight. I was very, very, very impressed with my husband and I hope the refugees were too. And then Abdullah, of all things, goes, "One more time!" Which got another round of laughter from everyone watching. So Stephen and Mohammad agreed to another round and the three boys sat again as the rest of us looked on. Abdullah didn't last much longer this time and again an irrepressible laugh was his loss. We all laughed and clapped for him for being quiet for so long, and for Stephen's ingenious trick. And then Abdullah said AGAIN, "One more time!" We were starting to wonder how many rounds they would have to play (What have you gotten yourself into, dear? was my amused thought), when Abdullah said, "Just one more time."

So for the third time, Mohammad, Abdullah and Stephen sat on the carpet keeping quiet. A minute passed, and a second minute; the rest of us had quelled our laughter and we could see Abdullah was really trying this time. We all watched his comical face in great curiosity to see how long he could really go, when all of a sudden he put his hand up and announced in the silence with a grin, "I lose!"

At that we all just fell apart laughing! We laughed and clapped so hard at him. He must have loved it. :) I think we all (including his family) had a brand-new understanding of Abdullah. He really can be quiet! Who knew?? LOL.

That was definitely the best story of us as a community. The best personal story (for me) came at the end of the night. Mohammad went into the kitchen and brought out a plastic bag and two pomegranates, one in each hand. Looking at us, he said, "You like this?" Steve and I are both fond of pomegranates, even though they turn my teeth black. Stephen wasn't paying attention, though, he was absorbed in more computer stuff with the refugees, I think, so I answered for us, "Yeah, we like those."

"Here, you take them." He put them in the bag for us. "I don't know what they are called in English. In Arabic, rumon," he said, rolling the 'r'.

"Rumon," I imitated him, and his head snapped up at me.

"WOW, she say rumon!" he said to his family.

I was a little taken aback by his response, and I explained, "So easy! In English, pomegranate." Which they had an amusing time trying to figure out. They called it "pomegranny," LOL! I emphasized the 't' sound at the end for them, but I think they'll still call it a "pomegranny" because they think it's funny. :D Mohammad told us that the Kurdish (they're half-Kurdish) word for it was "hadad," which I also imitated, but then I wrinkled up my nose. "I like rumon better," I said, and again that same head-snapping response from Mohammad.

"WOW, she say it again! She say rumon! She say it I think I hear Iraq!" he explained excitedly, and finally I understood why he gave such an energetic response. I said it like an Iraqi! Cool! And even better--"I think you say it better than me!" he went on. I blushed and laughed with delight. Wow, that's high praise! I say an Arabic word better than a bonafide Iraqi! :D

It made me extra happy, because when we were first teaching them English and learning a teeny bit of Arabic from them, Stephen and I both tried to say one thing, and he did a better job than I did, and Mohammad joked, "Stephen, Arabic good! Stephanie, not good!" I felt pretty bad, even though he meant it in a totally lighthearted way. It was just a slight injury to my pride, because I like to think I'm really good at languages. So after that I didn't try to speak Arabic. But now a year later Mohammad is telling me I sound like a true Iraqi, so that's pretty cool! :)

Truly, though... How easy is it to say "rumon"?? So easy.

Anyway. :) I ought to learn more Arabic and impress their socks off... Haha!! I'd love that. :D

Sorry about all the smileys... I just like it when I get stuff right! I'm from "Perfect Country" all right.

Oh, that's a reference to a marriage seminar that Stephen and I went to at our church. We watched a DVD series by a guy named Mark Gungor. It's called "Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage." It was really, really good! I would love to show it to my family, and Stephen and I might check it out from the church library before we go to my grandparents' for Thanksgiving to do just that.

Goodness, I'm writing and realizing there's so much I haven't updated everybody on in here! Yes, Stephen and I are going to my grandparents' house for Thanksgiving. My sister is there, living with them and going to school, and while we were thinking about the idea of going there for Thanksgiving, my aunt was thinking the same thing, and when we talked about it, we more or less decided yep, that's where we're going. Naturally, when we mentioned how we were all going over there, Mom decided to follow. So we'll have a nice Thanksgiving with all of us (except my other aunt and her family) together at my grandparents' house. :) That'll be fun.

Christmas plans haven't officially solidified yet. Our plan is to go to Stephen's parents' for Christmas, since his brother and sister-in-law are coming, but we just aren't sure what day we'll get up there. Stephen may not get Christmas off. We're still waiting on that end of it.

I think that's all I've got. I've got to dash off to the Real Life Exhibit to volunteer.

The Miscommunication Files

Just a collection of random funny communication stuff from us. :)

Stephanie: "I wonder if the refugees are still in Ramadan?"
Stephen: "The refugees are stealing our mutton?!"

Stephanie: "We should make up our own language."
Stephen: "We should make a brown fish-man?!"

Stephen: "I'm beckoning you from the kitchen so you will stop eating the gingerbread muffins."
Stephanie: "Mm mmhmm mmmm mmm hmmm mmm!"
Stephen: "Okay, you can have one more."
Stephanie: "That's not what I said, actually. I said, 'I'm almost done with this one!' I'm impressed though--you were pretty close!"

Stephanie: "I'm hungry."
Stephen: "I love you too."

Stephen: "Where do you want to eat tonight?"
Stephanie (sheepishly): "McDonald's. Or Wendy's. I want a hamburger."
Stephen: "We can do Wendy's; I'm up for Wendy's."
Stephanie (muttering): "Of course you're up for Wendy's; you're always up for Wendy's [over McDonald's]."
Stephen: "What's wrong with Wendy's?! Their hamburgers are better for us."
Stephanie (mimicking): "'Their hamburgers are better for us.' Health nut!"
Stephen: "They are!"
Stephanie: "Health nut!"
Stephen (staring at me): "You're right. I'm a health nut for eating at Wendy's."
Stephanie (dies laughing).

Stephen (in the shower): "Baaaa.... Baaaa..... Baaaa...."

Stephen is dyslexic and has trouble saying the word "album." I've tried to change this many times. Today I thought I would give him a creative way to remember the pronunciation.
Stephen: "Which ablum are you looking at?"
Stephanie: "Well, it's the Walk in the Woods aaaallll-bum. Like Al's bum.
Stephen: "Well, you can post your pictures to Al's bum all you want, but I'm going to post mine to an ablum."

In the line for the movie theater.
Stephen: "If they let me bring my coffee in, we shall delebrate and cance."
(No comment from me.)
Stephen (laughing at himself): "I said 'delebrate and cance;' I meant 'celebrate and dance.'"
Me (matter-of-factly): "Oh. I thought you said 'celebrate silently.'"

September Marathon Travel

Stephen and I just got back from a long, busy weekend with family.

On Thursday, we traveled to eastern Washington to visit my grandparents and my sister, who is currently living with them. After a 6-hour drive, we arrived at their house about 10:30 and spent an hour and a half chatting with them until we all hit the hay.

On Friday we traveled 2-1/2 hours up to Coeur d'Alene to spend a day at Silverwood Theme Park, part 1 of our anniversary. We started with a nice, easy ride--the log ride, which is a slow, gentle float down a man-made stream, followed by one hill and drop before the end of the ride. After that, we decided we were ready for a more adventurous ride and went straight to the Timber Terror, a roller coaster that had me screaming for all 2700 rattling feet of it. We were rather shaken after getting off it, but Stephen enjoyed it enough that he went on another (albeit nicer!) roller coaster. I think my limit is about 1 roller coaster ride per visit.

Stephen also went on the Panic Plunge, a ride I refused to go on with him. It lifts you up 140 feet into the air and then just lets you go. In spite of knowing just how it worked and that he would come to a gentle stop at the end, Stephen left the ride with muscle soreness from tensing up so much as he braced for impact with the ground!

We went on Thunder Canyon and got our shorts and shoes soaked in 79-degree, partly cloudy weather, but it was a fun ride nonetheless. It's actually my favorite ride there, and I would have multiple times if 1) it had been warmer and 2) I had worn quicker-drying clothing than denim! Silly me.

We also did bumper cars, and a ferris wheel with a twist that scared me WAY more than I had expected! This particular ferris wheel balances at a 45-degree angle from the ground, so unlike normal ferris wheels, there is NOTHING between you and the ground--or, in this case, a man-made lake used for bumper boats. The ride was very smooth and gentle, and would have been truly enjoyable if I'd only been able to stop thinking of myself plummeting into the lake below. I clung to Stephen for dear life on the down-turn and just prayed to the Lord that we wouldn't get stuck at the top when the ride came to an end.

After all the rides, we each got GIANT "single scoop" ice cream cones that were delicious, but impossible to finish. We ended up throwing half our ice cream away but eating the waffle cones. :) After ice cream we took our time walking toward the exit, stopping in several of the fun shops along the way, including one to get Stephen some coffee and me some tea. We also walked by "Old Tyme Muggs," a place to get old-fashioned dress-up photos taken, and couldn't resist the temptation. Silverwood's theme is the Old West, so we dressed up saloon-style. I have to say, that was by far my favorite part of the entire day. I adore playing dress-up. Finally, we stopped in a gift shop and I bought myself a very pretty necklace that I will probably wear a lot.

We arrived back at my grandparents' house at 10:00, hardly earlier than the day before, which was sad. Again we all talked for about an hour and a half until Grandma and Grandpa retired to bed, and then spent another 2 hours talking with my sister. :) It was a good thing for all of us, I think.

Saturday we took it easy and spent most of the day with the grandparents and my sister. At 7:00 My old youth group friend Beth was getting married to the love of her life. It was nice, simple wedding. The wedding was outdoors, and the reception was indoors at the church Beth attends now. They served dessert and we all ate way too much sugar. There was dancing, which was an intriguing thing to watch, because half the crowd there was from the Nazarene church that Beth and I grew up in, and Nazarenes don't dance. It's no longer forbidden in the Nazarene manual, and much of the younger crowd has taken it up, but it's strongly discouraged among my grandparents' generation, and just not done in my parents' generation. I wondered very much how the traditional Nazarenes were feeling as they watched the non-Nazarenes and non-traditional Nazarenes dance. Stephen and I joined briefly but found we were very rusty!! It's been a long time since we danced, and we mutually decided we really need to pick it up again. :S

After the wedding and reception we got some "real" food from the local burger joint, which is still, in my opinion, the best burger place ever. :) The evening was spent in our usual way--talking, joking, telling stories. We normally play games at least once while we're home, but all 3 nights we were there, we were just too tired! It's a shame--we'll have to do that next time we're in town.

Sunday we went to my old church that I still love. It looked so empty! It was rather alarming until I realized that it was Labor Day weekend, and a lot of families were probably on vacation somewhere. After church was our usual Sunday dinner eating out--my family has done that for as long as I can remember! Usually it's Shari's, or IHOP, or some restaurant like that, but we had just eaten at IHOP the day before and went for fast food instead. Sadly, Stephen and I had to leave shortly after lunch to drive 6 hours across the state to his parents' home. That hadn't been in the original plan, but Stephen's brother and sister-in-law were home, and we never get to see them, so we decided to make it work. The drive there and the drive back brought our travel time up to 1500 miles in 5 days!

We took it really easy with Stephen's family. The most exciting things we did were to walk down to a creek together and go to a farmer's market. :) It was good to see Tim and Mary and everyone again, though. We learned that Stephen's dad's parents will be in town next month, the weekend right after our anniversary, so we will be doing more marathon traveling at the beginning of October. And then it's time to figure out the holidays... Oh boy. I'm starting to understand why years go faster as you get older.

Our final leg of the trip was 3 hours long, and we unfortunately had to drive straight to a meeting with some people from our church about a service we have begun for Saturday nights. Thanks to a miscommunication, we were an hour late, but we still got to eat some food and throw in our thoughts about possible plans for the service. Then we at last drove home to quietness, our kitty, and our own bed. Oh how nice!

I am too tired to write anything more, and looking much too forward to that nice bed... So I bid you good night! Perhaps I'll wrap this up better later.