I'm Not Dead Yet!

Much excitement has happened since the last time I posted. I shall no longer leave you, Shelley, waiting in suspense for pictures of the famed MiniKISS and our first Miners' game...

Big John, one of the mascots. If you look closely, you'll see his pickax is on a baseball bat.

Here I am sporting our Miners cup.

MiniKISS consists of three guy little people and a short lady. They pretended to play their instruments to a track, but they did really sing. The reason we know that they were really singing is the music would fade out but the vocals would not. I think this just added to the awesomeness that was MiniKISS.

Sidestage of MiniKISS

Here I am being totally pumped for MiniKISS!

The Tuesday after seeing MiniKISS, we went to Paducah, KY to see the David Crowder Band. Highlight of that evening was when Crowder played a modified Guitar Hero controller that made guitar sounds.

The David Crowder Band

This past week Chase and I were serving at a youth church camp called Super Summer. Chase did some teaching and I was a coordinator for our group. Like most camps, there were rec games. A couple highlights from the games were...

Blind Kickball- teams played in partners where one person was blindfolded while the other led them around, but only the blindfolded person was allowed to touch the ball. This is our team not getting the other team out:


Ground Assault- pretty much the same as dodgeball. This is the lead singer from the worship band playing nice with the youth:


So there you have it, MiniKISS and more. We've had a lot going on, but we also have a lot coming up. We'll be travelling to see our families for 4th of July. We've also got an interview with the North American Mission Board and we planned a mini vacation to New Orleans. Hopefully it won't be two weeks before I update next!

Mini KISS and the Miners, Too

In case you haven't heard, Chase and I are going to see Mini KISS tonight with our friend Chelsea. What is Mini KISS and where are you seeing it? you might ask. Well, Mini KISS is a group of little people who impersonate the band KISS. We have a friend who works for the Southern Illinois Miners (local minor league baseball team), and we're going to see the Miners game tonight and the Mini KISS concert that follows. Yes, I know what you're thinking... you wish you had a friend who works for the miners, too. And don't worry, we're taking our camera!

Pirate Cookies and Fillet Mignon

Well, it's been over three years, now, since our wedding. How did we mark this occasion? I'll show you!

Chase got me some Pirates of the Caribbean themed cookies...

...and cooked some awesome steak....

...and we ate said awesome steak! Mmmmm, fillet mignon!

I made Chase a sweet card, too. We had a lovely evening staying home and watching The Office. Does it mean that we're old now because we'd rather stay home, eat and watch TV than go out and do something exciting for our anniversary?

I Guess I'm It...

So, my sister tagged me in this thing, so I guess I'll do it...

Here's how you play. Once you've been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird, random things, facts or habits about yourself. At the end, you choose 10 people to be tagged, and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment "You're It!" and to read your blog. You can't tag the person who tagged you...

1. I was pen pals with a clown in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth for a year. His name was Larry. It started my senior year in high school. I met him at the circus in Cincinnati. I wrote my Morehead State honors program entrance essay on dropping out of college, joining the circus and marrying Larry. I was accepted to and graduated from said honors program.

2. On that note, I own a unicycle. It's currently in my parents' garage.

3. I'm lactose intolerant.

4. When I eat a meal, I will not mix my food and try very hard to keep it from touching. I'll eat one thing at a time and will not move on to the next thing until I am finished. Sometimes I turn my plate as I do this so that it's easier for me to get to the next section. There are two exceptions to this method of eating: 1. salad- a mixture of foods anyway and 2. Chinese food- usually ends up mixed up and covered in sweet & sour sauce.

5. I'm double-jointed (or hyperextended) in both elbows.

6. I had friends who thought alligators, sharks or monsters were under their beds when they were little, but I thought that Hulk Hogan was under my bed. To this day I don't know where that idea came from.

7. About 90% of the time I forget to put on deoderant, but nobody seems to mind...

8. Whenever I get a cut or a shot, I throw up and/or pass out. (papercuts not included)

9. I'm the International Cultural Tourism Speaking champion. How did I get that title? I wrote a speech about the creator of Ren & Stimpy, John K, for an international speech competition in Vancouver, British Columbia (that's Canada, eh) back in 2003. I memorized it about a half hour before I had to give it.

10. As of today, I've been married to a kitchen wizzard for three years.

I guess I'll tag...
1. Keli
2. Jon Darron
3. Joel and/or Alex
4. Kyle
5. Rich
6. Jessica
7. Andrea
8. Tomikins
9. Dixie
10. and you!

Note: I didn't tag Chase because Miranda already tagged him!

Mystery Solved!

I wouldn't say that my job is any more stressful or difficult than most office manager/secratary type jobs, but it's always difficult to go back to work after being gone for two weeks. I mean, I like my job and all, I love the people I work with, I love that I get to serve my church through my work, and I especially love being able to go home every day for lunch! Working in an office, though, is such a major contrast to what we had been doing in Poland on our mission trip for two weeks. I went from having something different to do almost daily in a new environment to doing familiar work behind a desk. I know, too, that short term mission trips are more jam packed than long term. The missionaries in Lubin, Poland don't do what we did every day of every week, but still...

Well, like I said, my job isn't any more paticularly stressful than any other office job, but after coming back from another country for a couple weeks, little things were starting to get to me. For example: I had purchased a download of Photoshop CS2 for my office computer just before leaving. I'd printed off the receipt with the download site and username and password and left it in a spot where I knew I'd be able to easily find it when I got back. I still had some downloading left to do. Of course, when I came back to work I couldn't find the paper I needed. I checked files and folders on the computer, files and folders in my desk, and looked under any loose papers I could find until I gave up. It was the Mystery of the Disappearing Photoshop Code. For some reason (jet lag?) this little thing was stressing me out big time. I gave up...

But today, the lady who was filling in for me was here. I thought, "She probably won't remember what happened or even know what I'm talking about... but I should probably ask her anyway." So I asked Lori if she knew anything about it, and you know what? She did! The Mystery of the Disappearing Photoshop Code is solved!

Okay, so it's not really that exciting, but it was pretty relieving! Hopefully this week I'll be able to work some Photoshop magic, and that's at least exciting for me.

Side note: We're still updating the Poland Blog, so keep checking and keep praying for the church in Lubin.

"I Wanna Have Your Babies" Natasha Bedingfield

Euro MTV played this video a lot. It's a pop song by Natasha Bedingfield all about wanting to get married and have babies. How often do you hear that in pop music? Chase and I like it.

We Made It Back and So Did Our Luggage

If you haven't read on the Poland Blog, we've been back home as of midnight Monday. First order of business was to see Pirates III Tuesday afternoon, then yesterday we went to Cedar Lake for a few hours, and today we're back to work. Our jet lag hasn't been too bad. We've mostly gone to bed early and consequently, as a result, gotten up early. (That one's for you, Team Bass!) I've had some dull nausea since the middle of our long flight, but now it's starting to lessen some. Yesterday I made a couple Facebook photo albums of our trip. You should be able to view them here: Poland 2007 (part 1) and Poland 2007 (part 2).

So, Pirates III was pretty crazycakes. I'd have to say that it's by far the strangest one yet, and I like it. It was nice to sit and relax on the beach and in the lake for a while. It feels kind of strange being back at work after being in a totally different environment for two weeks.

Polska

Chase and I have been in Poland since last week (Wednesday) and will be here until Monday. We've been updating the Poland Team Blog as much as we can. There are pictures and stories there about our trip with more to come!

Here's just a taste:


Yes, that's Chase getting some mad ups playing a USA vs Poland basketball game. Check out our Poland Team Blog for more!