remembering

This Memorial Day, may we not forget all of the men and women fighting the enemy on foreign soil. Sacrificing so much so we can live in freedom.

These brave soldiers, and their precious families, need our prayers until they all come home!

the sighting of half-pint and other adventures

A couple of weeks ago, Brian went to DC with his class for a week-long orthodontic convention. Since one of my least favorite things to do is stay at home by myself, I decided to hit the road and head back to Wichita while he was away. Besides great time spent with family, my time in Kansas also allowed me to make good headway on several big projects I'm working on with clients there.

Another important reason that I went to Kansas was so that I could drive down to Dallas with Lesley for a once-in-a-lifetime event. Let me back up just a minute before I move forward... If you know me at all, you probably know that when I was growing up, my family did not have cable TV. (In fact, my parents only got it about a year ago, after all the kids were out of the house!) One of the very few approved shows in our home was Little House on the Prairie. EVERY SINGLE DAY, we would tune into PBS Channel 8 at 5 pm to follow the exciting lives of the Ingalls family. You truly don't even want to know how many times Lesley, Austin and I have seen every single episode of Little House.

So, when Les and I heard that a new play, Little House the Musical, would be touring the country this year, we knew we had to go. Especially because THE Melissa Gilbert (who played Laura in the TV show) is playing Ma on stage. When else would we ever get to see our childhood idol in person?!? For some reason, our brother declined the opportunity to go with us. I cannot imagine why.

So, surrounded by small children and white-haired ladies, these two twenty-somethings got to watch Melissa Gilbert's stage debut in her now-grown-up-role as Ma. Let's just say that I think she makes a much better Laura, and that in the future, she should probably stick to acting, not singing. But she gave a valiant effort. Overall, the play was fun and an experience we'll always remember with a smile. :)

Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries when we tried to take a picture. So we had to use a flash-less iphone. Not the greatest picture, but at least it's proof that we were there!

After we got home, Austin took this better picture of us with our official playbills. We are officially Little House groupies. Hee hee. :)

We were in Texas for less than 24 hours, but I finally got a quick tour of my brother's world there. He's been basing in Dallas for more than a year, but I hadn't yet seen his apartment or his office. He gave me a tour of both and also let us make a quick stop at Sprinkles. I have THE BEST siblings - I love these two!

Now, back to Kansas... of course, every trip to Wichita now means a doggie reunion between the ever-growing Annabelle and her adorable brother Brinkley!

This may look vicious, but they aren't really fighting - this is how they play!

Sweet Brinkley giving Annabelle a kiss.

My brave and gracious mother agreed to host doggie daycare in her home - this picture was taken after a full day of frolicking in the backyard. Left to right: Junior, Stella, Annabelle, Stryder and Brinkley. Pure insanity!

This is random, but I thought it was so cool that I had to take a couple of pictures. My mom has a wreath on her front door that is made of sticks. A swallow has been building a nest in it, and while I was in Wichita, it laid four eggs (the white ones). My mom also happened to find a fallen robin's egg (the blue one) in their backyard. She put it in the swallow's nest and the mama bird accepted it! The morning I left to come back to Indy, we discovered that one of the eggs had hatched.

The little thing is kind of ugly, but a miracle nonetheless! :) What will prove interesting is when they start learning to fly from their home on my parents' front door!

preach it, Dad!

Last week, a Wichita news station asked my dad to participate in a panel discussion among four world religions. My dad represented Protestant Christians and shared the floor with a Muslim, a Catholic and a Jew. They answered all kinds of questions, about "proven science" (evolution), the benefits of religion, worldviews and the truth, or non-truth, of each.

Is your temperature rising yet? :)

The forum lasted 1.5 hours and was condensed down into this 7-minute video.

KSN aired the segment last night and I could not be more proud of my dad! He spoke the truth loud and clear in love. My heart races and my hands get shaky as I watch this video - I can't even imagine being there and having to say what he says! But he stands firm to what Jesus says is truth.

"For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." - Matthew 7:14

radical

I DARE you to listen to/watch this sermon series by David Platt, pastor of Brook Hills Church in Birmingham.

If you don't respond well to dares, I BEG you! :)

PLEASE invest an hour of your life to listen to a pastor, who, against the comfortable current of the contemporary American church, is boldly proclaiming the truth of what Jesus meant when He called us to follow Him.

There are eight hour-long messages in this series. It will only take one to change your life forever (you probably won't be able to listen to all eight fast enough).

Warning: don't listen if you want to stay the same!

book exchange

My friend, Ashley, recently shared this awesome site with me.

It allows you to swap any gently-used book with any new gently-used book. All you have to do is create a free account and then post the book titles that you want to exchange. When someone requests a book that you have posted, you mail it to them (typical book postage is $2-3). You then receive a book credit toward any book that you want! When you use that credit by requesting a book from someone else, the sender will mail it to you at their cost.

And that's all you have to do!

Being in a book club, this is particularly valuable for me! And for anyone with kids who quickly outgrow their books, I would imagine it would be really beneficial too. There are so many books sitting on my shelf that I have read once but will most likely never look at again. How great to get new books out of them!

*You can also swap CDs and DVDs!