November...which means

TRAVEL SEASON IS OVER...thank our Good God for that, because I do not know how many more travel stories I could have handled. Yes, I know, I should have been cataloging them all through this fabulous thing called the inter-net, however, when you are on the road, and working from 7:45am until approximately 10:00pm and the only place you can find to enjoy adult company is the Chili's by the Galleria Mall in Brentwood, blogging is the last thing on your mind.

So, tonight I will only recap trip #1--Eastern Tennessee. The wonderful liberal arts college for whom I work does this crazy thing and for the last 20 yearsish, classes have begun on Labor Day. That is correct, not after Labor Day, ON it. I have asked the historian and librarian for this tradition's origins, yet no answer that has been supplied has satisfied, yet I digress. Starting on Labor Day means that often, high schools have already begun their fall semesters two to three weeks before we have any students on our campus. There is a pro, and a con to this: PRO, it means that I do not have my students in my office every day asking questions, conversating, and helping. CON, it means that I do not have my students in my office every day asking questions, conversating and helping. My main responsibility in the office is to make sure that campus visits and tours run smoothly, which is tricky if I am on the road, and have NO STUDENT WORKERS! This year was a completely different story.

Due to previous years' traffic at college fairs in East Tennessee, I had elected to only attend one fair (a two-parter) and then complete my wonderful private visits. This could all be done in approximately 36 hours, which meant needing to only have one hotel stay. Saving money=check. I left home early on Wednesday morning, arrived at my first visit about 10 minutes early, and while there broke into an awkward sweat. Not the kind you get when you are nervous, but the kind you get when you are sick. Mark was just getting over his small bout with the whooping cough (correct, he got it, he is such a go-getter!). After I finished that visit, I had another, and another. When I finally arrived at my hotel, I unpacked my small, but efficient bag (thank you Bethany Meredith), and realized that the seasoned admissions traveler that I was had left her clothes for the second day hanging on the door knob next to the ironing board! This meant a trip to the store....(puter is puttering out....finish tomorrow, but don't worry, I have still the Chattanooga Key Flush, the Hyatt Hive outbreak, the Florence Flu school closures, Nashville Nights, Midwest Mayhem, and a Walk in Memphis...)

All about the freebies...

Join Aveda's Birthday Program today and get a free, full-size product on your birthday!

So fun....

So, I don't know if Mark & I could have pulled something like this off at our wedding or reception, but I LOVE it when people show their personalities in all aspects of their big days!

Lord, thank you for your love for diversity in all things. We praise you based on the ways that you have made us, and the celebrations of the covenant or marriage are each unique as the children you have created and joined.

Why Wofford?

Why Wofford College? on Facebook

Please check it out...ask questions...if you chose Wofford, tell others why...if you have questions about anything, post them.  For prospective students, current students, alumni, with a little support from the Office of Admission.  

6 months...

As of, about 3:15pm, today, I have been married to my fabulous, hardworking husband for SIX MONTHS!  I cannot believe we have even known each other long enough to be engaged, let alone, MARRIED.

In the last six months, I have learned a good number of things that everyone Godly gal needs to think about before she gets married.  Maybe one day, I'll write a book.  Until then, how about this thought to ponder-what size bed will you and your future husband need?  No matter what, register for king sheets, because if you have to take the sheets back, you end up with a few extra dollars to spend.

We have also had the opportunity to travel, which has been nice since as soon as Mark starts PA school, we will not have time.  

Miami-Florida...Labadee, Haiti...Ocho Rios, Jamaica...

...George Town, Grand Cayman...Cozumel, Mexico

Savannah, Georgia...Florence, South Carolina...

...Charleston, South Carolina...Munich, Germany

Röttenbach, Germany...Baumberg, Germany...

...Erlangen, Germany...Herrenchiemsee Scholss, Germany

Salzburg, Austria...Bertesgarten, Germany...

...Stuttgart, Germany...Atlanta, Georgia

Halifax, Virginia...Durham, North Carolina...

Lord, please help us to continue to travel your world.  Through the relationships we build and the people we serve.  While always keeping YOU first.

This is so neato!

  

Mark took this of me in front of the Olympic Grounds map in MUNICH!  Oh what fun that was.

Father, thank you so much for blessing us with the opportunity to travel to Germany and fellowship with our friends-new and old.  May others be inspired as they see and hear of our travels.

Money, money, money, MONEY...

So most recently we have enjoyed listening to the Dave Ramsey show and watching the Suze Orman show.  No, we are not becoming obsessed about our money.  We are becoming increasingly dedicated to living within our means so that in the future we can generously give.

  

Currently we are a one income family, so that Mark can focus on his studies, and be adequately prepared to enter the PA program that is intended for him.  This means that we get to be frugal for a time, a time that I am learning to not just tolerate, but embrace.  Who would have thought that I would willingly give up ice cream to save us $5 a week in groceries! 

Lord, please give me a heart of patience and willingness to be tolerant of the circumstances that you have divinely appointed for us, and yet intolerant to the sin that can come from comparing our situation to that of others.  

Can anyone help?

I need this dress: Silk taffeta Lorelei dress from J.Crew in KELLEY GREEN, Size 2 or above. We ordered me a size too small and now this dress is discontinued and my seamstress is having the HARDEST time making fabric appear out of thin air.

Lord, please help me to be a good steward of my body, and money as I hope to be a support to Bethany at her wedding in September.

I don't think I want this.....

FROM: Pushback sought against talk radio censorship

President Barack Obama's longtime pal is his pick to be chief of the Federal Communications Commission, but is causing nightmares among the U.S. talk radio industry members because of his views

Syndicated talk radio host Roger Hedgecock of San Diego, who was picked by members of the American Radio Free Speech Foundation to be the chief of its Don't Touch My Dial campaign, said censorship, racial quotas for radio stations, and other new demands from the government are inevitable if Genachowski is confirmed.

The foundation was set up by Brad O'Leary, author of the new book, "Shut Up, America! The End of Free Speech," and Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, following Obama's election and his choice of administrators started including those who favor the concept of the now-outdated "Fairness Doctrine," through which the government regulated speech on radio.

Hedgecock warned that Tuesday will be "monumental" for the "future of the First Amendment."

"If you value your First Amendment rights, America's free airwaves, uninhibited talk radio, and a free Internet – and most importantly, if you OPPOSE CENSORSHIP in all its forms – then you must act now by calling [members of the Senate] and tell them to VOTE NO for Julius Genachowski as FCC chairman," Hedgecock said.

Genachowski clerked for Supreme Court Justice David Souter and was chief counsel to FCC chairman Reed Hundt during the Clinton administration. He also founded a "green" bank.

Hedgecock said there are several reasons he's worried:

1. "Genachowski will CENSOR talk radio hosts." (But they tell us something different than what we hear of the major media?)

2. "Genachowski will CENSOR and REGULATE Internet speech." (I think that will have an impact on every blog out there!)

3. "Genachowski will force RACIAL QUOTAS on broadcast companies." (I was under the impression that University of California v. Bakke (1978) and the University of Michigan cases show that "All persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right in every State and Territory to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, and exactions of every kind, and to no other." AND "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction; thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.")

Please voice your opinion to your senator.

Lord, thank you so much for those self-evident truths: "that All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Please help us all take responisbility for those gifts which you have given to us.

College Prep

Today, I am running all over campus. We have a college preparation workshop that I am helping with, then a tour for those kids and then meet with a few...and THEN run home, look pretty and head to Margaritaville (not really, but a party!).

It is so funny how I fell into my job, and just love it...well most of the time. It does make me laugh, when Mark and I meet new people, and instead of just polite conversation I slip into work mode. However, I do not think I am as bad as this guy (up there, in that cartoon).

Lord..Please remind me that my occupation and vocation and two seperate things. You have called me to be a witness, and, at times, I can carry out that vocation in my job. However, my occupation is NOT who I am.

Performance Review

So, why doesn't someone do this in our office?

Video Recaps Full Episodes Webisodes

It isn't Friday yet?

Do you every have those days, where you really believe it is one day of the week, but unfotunately it is another? Similar to that episode of "The Office" in which Jim spends all of Thursday convincing Dwight that it is indeed Friday (Season 2, Episode 8 "Performance Review").

Lord, please give me the strength and the patience to make it through one more work day. That I may have a positive attitude and reflect as much of your character as I am able.

In the next 17 minutes...

I need to figure out what is happening with these five students. Our task, as we did not really have a choice to accept it, was to contact ALL the studnets who had decided to attend school this fall. I have five who have been incommunicado, two of which I am pretty stinking sure they will be here and three, about whom I am simply puzzled.

Now it is 15 minutes to go, and I all all out of ideas. Phone calls, texting, emailing, facebook stalking and still, NO RESPONSE. Any ideas?

Back from Germany, and Back to "Reality"

All of our posts and pictures from Germany will come this weekend (I hope), but for now, I just need to comment on the sad state of Jon & Kate Plus 8.

In Germany, the average number of children in a family is less than two (about 1.3), and here in the States we see multiples on a regular basis. Mark and I were watching a little late night television last week, and one show featured a German family with eight children (seven boys, one girl, and I think only one set of twins). They discussed what it the atmosphere was like at their home, how their financial situation was, etc. Interestingly enough the father in this family is self-employed, and they do not accept the extra aid available from the state government. (I am not completely sure, but my understanding is that there is almost a financial incentive to have more children in Germany.)

Now jump with me back to the United States. In the beginning I really enjoyed Jon & Kate plus 8. It was funny, it was real, and they were showing the world that being perfect was not possible but thanks to grace, imperfection was bearable. They are quite different from the previously mentioned German family (having two sets of multiples), and being on television almost every day. My heart goes out to the Gosselin family. Not just their precious children, but especially to Jon & Kate.

I do not know the answer, but I hope they can reconcile their marriage. Their books, videos and talks have centered around their faith. They made a commitment to each other before they had their eight wonderful children. Watching the show reminds me of the grace I need to constantly show Mark. It helps me to see that my tongue and my intentions are often hurtful or hindering if I am not first loving & serving my God, and second loving & serving my husband, and our marriage.

That being said, I cannot imagine trying to find the time to love & care for eight children and also have time to love & care for your spouse. It is hard enough for me to wake-up ontime each morning just to arrive at work promptly.

So, as I prepare to be a witness at two weddings this weekend, I offer one little piece of advice (from my four months of marriage): Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Love your spouse as yourself.

It is the I'm third philosophy, and if you are blessed with children, then you are fourth. It works.

Heavenly Father...Please teach us how to be the kind of spouses that you desire us to be, so that one day, should you bless us with children, we might be the parents you want us to be as well-keeping our eyes fixed on You, and making our marriage the next priority.

May 8, 2009

Seriously, it is 2009? and it's May? and I am married and live in South Carolina?