I once dated a guy who, when asked what he thought my biggest character flaw was, said I wore too many t-shirts. Seriously. The relationship didn't work out for unresolvable intellectual differences. :)

But I have been thinking about the t-shirt thing lately and am sort of curious why it is so noticeable that I wear them almost everyday. I also wear jeans and underwear everyday and that's not note-worthy. Why is it strange that I would wear a t-shirt everyday when it is apparently not strange to wear cute stupid functionless high-maintenance shows-too-much shirts everyday?

It is not that I don't care what I wear. I have actually thought this out and have several good reasons why I choose t-shirts over "girly" shirts:
1. T-shirts are not form-fitting...no stumbling over my outfit! Girly shirts are known to be a source of struggle for men.
2. T-shirts go with jeans, which is almost all I own. Girly shirts require the additional purchase of girly pants, which require the additional purchase of special underwear that doesn't show lines...it all just gets very expensive.
3. T-shirts do not show sweaty armpits as quickly as tighter girly shirts do.
4. T-shirts are versatile and appropriate for any daily activity in any season. I can go for a walk, run to Wal-Mart, visit my neighbors, go to a movie, grocery shop, rake leaves, and meet someone for coffee all in the same day and never have to change my clothes, even if I break a small sweat (see #3 above).
5. T-shirts are inexpensive, long-lasting, and they wash easily, making them a very economical choice. Girly shirts have special washing instructions, and often cost more than t-shirts but wear out faster.

I'd be interested in hearing some good reasons why I should NOT wear a t-shirt everyday. Anyone?

God does have a sense of humor...

Every once in a while I am reading along in the Bible and come across some phrase that just strikes me as hilarious. I've found I am usually the only one who sees the random humor in it, but just in case, I thought I'd post one such example today. This is from Jonah 2:5, as Jonah is giving this long, dramatic prayer to the Lord, recalling his circumstances in the fish and his deliverance from said location. I just picture him being so wrapped up in his retelling, much like a really excited I'm-trying-to-be-serious-and-you-laughing-at-me toddler would be in retelling how fast he went down the slide or something. And if I'd been there when Jonah was reliving his experience, I for sure would have wrecked the mood by busting out in laughter when he got to this part:

"The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head."

Hahahahaha...I'm picturing a turban of seaweed plastered to his head...hahahahha

I am in LOVE!!!

I'm in deep. My feelings of love and desire are growing greater everyday, intensifying with each interaction. Sometimes my heart seizes upon sight and I am rendered speechless, overwhelmed with awe and amazement coupled with humility and the understanding I am in love with one from a higher social status than I...it is a classic fairytale romance and I am the lowly servant girl in love with the dashingly handsome...Chevy Trail Blazer.

Yep, it's pretty bad. Nate will testify to it...I am CONSTANTLY watching for them as we drive down the road, plastering my face to the window when I see one and staring after it until it is out of sight. It's rediculous, really, but I'm being completely honest here. I love them. I want one. I dream of them day and night and spend time thinking how I could possibly ever afford one.

Naturally, this would all worsen during this current time of financial stress. I'm not writing this to evoke feelings of sympathy from you, trying to woo you into sending us a sizeable check. I am just making the statement that Satan in not wasting his opportunity to try to convince me that what I can't have is better than everything I do have...for sure not a new tactic. Just call me Eve, huh?

Anyway, this morning in my devotions I was reading through the Psalms and the end of the 27th caught my heart (it usually does...that's why it's underlined in my Bible): "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." It sounds so poetic and romantic and it just stirs up this sense of strength and loyalty in my mind...but my heart has trouble following suit. I still worry. I lose sleep at night wondering why getting a job is taking so freaking long, how much longer we can go on what we saved up from the summer, how I can cut back in our grocery bill and other sacrifices we can make...I don't think there is anything wrong with those thoughts specifically; it is the attitude behind them that is wrong. It's not trusting. It's not being strong or taking heart or waiting patiently. It's not being content in any and every situation. It's not in line with a host of other Biblical principles, which ought to be sending up red flags of concern rather than green streaks of envy.

I confess I do not like being in this spot. I feel like I shouldn't have to be struggling financially right now. I've always managed my money well so I wouldn't have to be in this place, yet here I am. I feel cheated out of a "better life," whatever that is supposed to mean, and like it is asking too much of me to put me through this right now. I am such a weenie! I KNOW these times are meant to deepen my walk with the Father and that because I am His child, everything that happens in my life He will use for good, but I still struggle to walk through it with a good attitude. I still want the Trail Blazer I can't afford because there are other stupid bills to pay.

By the way, according to Kelly Blue Book, a 2002 model (the first model out) in decent condition with 100,000 miles on it is going for about $14,000 right now. You may make your checks out for any ammount. :)

We're home!!

We are just finishing our first week back in Marion...it is good to be home! It's been so great catching up with friends and meeting neighbors and just getting back into the swing of life here. We have so many people to reconnect with that we have shared a meal with someone every day since we got here, which is so cool! Our apartment is starting to look normal (by normal I mean a low packed box to unpacked box ratio) and we are actually planning to start painting it this weekend already. Crazy!

We are both still looking for jobs, but I (Maria) am spending my mornings babysitting for the family we rent from...Todd is SO cute and so fun to hang out with...definitely watch for pictures to come!

Anyway, we just wanted to catch you all up and let you know we are still alive and functioning; blogging has just sort of taken a back burner for now. :) Have a great day, everyone!

Cloud Peak!!

This last Monday and Tuesday, Maria and I and our good IWU friend Paul Kind had the privledge of taking a quick trip to the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming. We went to climb Cloud Peak, which is the highest mountain in the Bighorn Range at just over 13,000 ft. It was by far the hardest two day hike Maria or I have ever attemped.

The first day we drove from Rapid to the trail head, around a 4 1/2 hour drive and then hiked the 8 or so miles to the place where we set up camp that night. It was a chilly night, probably around 10-15 degrees or so. We woke up early on Tuesday to hike the final four miles to the summit. The final four miles however proved to be about the hardest four miles I have ever hiked. We gained about 3000 ft. of elevation in those miles and the final 3 miles were all spent hopping across boulder fields. No nice trails or switchbacks to climb this mountain, just lots of boulders and hopping from one to another. All in all Paul was actually the only one to make it to the summit, Maria and I stopped around 200 ft. or so from the summit. There are good reasons for this and you can ask us sometime, but for now we will just leave it at that. We then turned and headed back down the four miles to where we had set up camp the night before, and then back the 8 miles to the parking lot, and then drove the 4+ hours back to Rapid to complete the trip. It was a crazy good time and will prove, I think, to provide some great memories for the rest of our lives. The scenery was awe inspiring and the conversations with Paul (and also with the hitch hiker we picked up) were charitable and thought provoking. Even more to be able to share this adventure with my wife is a treasure I cannot express in words!! I have included more pictures here for you to check out.

Blessings,

NL

Half Time

Okay, before you read this, I need to clarify that Nate is normally really good about not watching TV all night long or sitting at the computer for hours on end like lots of men do. Football season may prove a bit different, but for the most part, he is not at all a couch-zombie husband, as is evident by all the photos of our outdoor adventures. :) End of disclaimer.

So Nate is into this Fantasy Football thing, and while we don't have a whole lot else to do at work these days, it seems to me that he spends an awful lot of time glued to the computer screen with the occasional outburst of, "Argh! Put him back in! I need points!" or "Grr! Are you kidding me?!?!" or "YESSSSSSS! *insert Napoleon Dynamite fist pump*".

First, this makes me nervous because it is quite similar to what caused our coffee table to ignite a few weeks ago. But second, in my failed attempts to talk to and/or have any sort of meaningful conversation with my husband while he is engaged in such an activity as accumulating fake points with a fake team in a fake football league, I am reminded of just how powerful of a thing media can be, and I am starting to realize all the little ways it works its way into our lives. We can't go anywhere without our cell phones. The first thing we do when we get to work is check our e-mail, read up on our friends' blogs, and scan for the latest world news report. The radio is almost always on in the car. As soon as we get home at night we check the answering machine. We will interrupt dinner and/or quiet time with the Lord to answer the phone.

I see this need to be connected to the world robbing us of precious time with God and with other humans. Nate and I do not talk to each other very much if the radio is on in the car, and we do not talk to each other when we are staring at separate computers at work. I cannot have a serious conversation with the Lord if I keep getting up to talk to someone calling on the phone. I cannot show Nate he is important to me by listening to what he has to say if I choose to watch TV as he speaks or answer the phone in the middle of his sentence. So often we as a society choose to make machines and gadgets a higher priority than a face in front of us (or one that is trying to be in front of us, if we would stop looking at the computer or TV screen). As one whose primary love language is quality time, I am really sensitive to being given what I call Half Time, meaning either you are only talking to me because there has been some sort of break in what you were watching/playing, or if it isn't in a break, you are only half-listening to what I am saying or half-looking at me, with one eye still on the game.

I do not mean to make a cheesy devotional out of this, but as I sat here typing, I wondered if God doesn't get sick of the Half Time I give Him. How many times have I knelt in prayer only to be half talking to Him and half making a mental list of things to do that day? How many times have I committed to change something or committed to do something He is asking of me, only to half carry it out? To obey some parts but not others? To let go of part of a grudge but not the whole thing? I could sit here all day and tell you all the ways I rob God of my time, my energy, my love, and in turn I rob myself of blessing and deeper intimacy with Him.

I am seriously considering a media fast in the near future. I think it would really help me re-evaluate my time spending habits and teach me a few things about the kind of time and attention I give to others.

Recent Adventures

Below you will find some pictures of our adventures so far in the Black Hills. There have been some more fun things we have done, but I don't have pics from all of those, so these are the ones you get!!! Enjoy!!

NL

This is me making macaroni and chese with tuna for breakfast. Yes...for breakfast. We couldn't get matches the night before (I had forgot ours at home) so we had eaten our breakfast stuff that night, which left us to eat our dinner stuff (mac and cheese) for breakfast. It was good :)

This us also us on top of Harney Peak....if you look close in the background you can see the Catherdral Spires.

This is us on top of Harney Peak, the highest point in SD.

Come on Maria, you can do it. Hold that rock up!! ;)

This is a sweet little campground we stayed at a few weeks ago. A nice little river, some sun....it was nice

This is us at Crow Peak, which is near Spearifish, SD. It was a good hike and somewhat difficult.

I (Maria) love our Sunday School class!

We are attending this great Sunday school class at South Canyon Baptist here in Rapid City and it would be an understatement to say that I like going. No, it's pretty much the greatest part of my week. I look forward to every Sunday morning, and not just because they always have sprinkled donuts sitting out (just for the record, there is no other donut worth eating). I love having fellowship with other young married couples, and I love just simply watching the couple who lead it. Tom and Dee are the most energetic people I have ever met, hands down, and sometimes I forget to listen to what they are saying about the lesson because I am caught up in observing how they finish each others' sentences, how they transition so well from one thought to another with both of them talking, as if they were sharing a brain and the same train of thought, and how much their faces light up when they talk about God, which is all the time. I find myself so totally caught up in their excitement that I feel as if I actually lived with them and was present through all the stories they share about their lives. I find myself asking every Sunday, "How can I have a walk like that? How can I have the kind of relationship they each have with their Savior? And how can I have a marriage like that, so centered on Him and so obviously grounded in His Word and in His truths?"

Those seem like such simple, harmless questions, but they're really not. Not because the answer is difficult to sift out or because they require in-depth theological study to understand, but because they are the kinds of questions non-believers are supposed to be asking about believers, not believers asking about other believers. In my asking, I came to realize my own sad state of Faith.

This week was, in a way, I think, a turning point for me. I had some serious misconceptions about marriage, about Faith manifesting itself in marriage, and about plain old walking with the Lord that I had cleared up for me (thanks, Dee, even though you will probably never read this), and I feel like I got a jump-start (or maybe a shove in the right direction is more like it) on getting back to where I need to be...at His feet. I have long been hearing Him whisper my name, asking me to come and lay it all down, to come and rest, to come and just be still, but I kept finding other ways to try to clear the confusion and ease the pain. The world is so good at offering band-aids of various types. But I need healing, not bandaging. Lord, I am ready now. I come.

Life in SD

In an attempt to try and sastify the desires of those of you who are reading our blog and not seeing me (Nate) actually write anything, here is my first attempt at being a writer. First, I guess I would like to point out that I am not any good at writing, or at least I don't think I am. Actually, I don't necessarily feel like I am ever very good at explaining anything the way that I want to explain it, orally or in writing. I feel like I have the idea in my head, but I can't ever put the right words together to make it sound right and if I do think I am putting words together correctly so as to convey what I am thinking, I am often confronted with the reality that the person to whom I am conveying them still doesn't understand them.....so, here I sit writing hoping that you can understand and still care to read what I am writing! That having been said....I am moving on.

I have been commissioned by my beautiful bride to write a little of what has been going on in our lives, so as to keep you all up to date, so here goes:

- Well I suppose the thing that we have been doing the most is just being outside. We have spend much of the last month here in the Black Hills camping, hiking, biking, etc. Just this last Friday (I guess that would have been yesterday!) went rock climbing for the first time since the wedding, which was sweet! It was a great outing with our good friend Adam Pequette and also some kindred spirits from IWU, Paul Kind and Brandon Bruce. They are both here working at Fountain Springs Community Church and it was a blessing to have them along. Look for some pictures soon.....we hope :)

- Today we helped my mom move out of her trailer and into the basement of my grandma's house. It was quite a project, and we really only moved about half of her stuff. It was a huge blessing to be able to help and it has been an answer to prayer to see my mom move out of that trailer and in with my grandma, both for my mom's and for my grandma's sake. God has been good and we have been able to see his hand moving in the way he has worked this whole thing out, so that my mom could sell the trailer and move on with life. (if you think of it, the trailer is still up for sale, so prayers for a buyer would be greatly appreciated).

- Also this week, we went camping at Center lake. We worked the early shift on Wed. and the late shift on Thurs, so we were able to pack our stuff up and spend the night outside in the wonder of God's creation. It was, of course, and incredible time. We made some dinner over our stove (brocolli and cheddar rice with tuna), the same stove with which I started a somewhat large, but harmless fire with in our living room. (my wife's version of the story is not quite the same, it is posted below) :) We hiked around the lake, made a fire, had some smores (mmm...good), and called it a night. We took the scenic route home on Thursday and were back in plenty of time to get ready for work. We definitely enjoy being in a place where great mountain campsites and hikes are everywhere around us and I am pretty sure it is the thing we will miss most when we move back to Indiana.

I am sure there are more adventures which I am forgetting, but alas, time escapes me! ;) I guess I will end my first real post with something that has been bothering me for the last few hours. :) We got our pictures back from the photagraphers and they made a slide show thing for us of all the pics (which I am excited to watch), and they put it in this really nice little leather cd case thing, which was great. BUT then I looked at the picture that they had chosen to put inside the cover of the cd case and it was this wonderful picture of my outrageously attractive wife, looking stunning of course, with her hair perfect, her skin smooth and beautiful, and her smile...wow!!! And there I am right next to her with what looks like the mumps all over my face. It is like in the process of digital editing or whatever they do, they decided to "brush up" my face by adding a "few" beauty marks. grrr. Oh, well I guess that is what I get for marrying such a stunning woman...I get to be the ugly guy in all the pictures from now on. :)


Blessings to you all!!!

NL

Smores.....a la grill?

So we came home tonight and decided that we wanted to make some smores. However, we live on the second floor and not wanting to recreate the havoc that ensued due to the fire I created previously on our coffee table, we took out our little propane grill and made some smores over that. It was altogether a very fun time and nobody got hurt and our house is still standing! :)

A "Heated" Situation

True Story:

I am standing in the kitchen this afternoon making spaghetti while Nate is sitting on the couch watching the semifinals of the US Open. I hadn't known before yesterday that Nate was such a large fan of Andre Agassi...he has been glued to the TV every match the man has played in the last 62 hours. Anyway, I'm just standing at the stove, stirring the spaghetti sauce when I hear Nate say, "Oh, no!" He has been making statements like this repeatedly since turning the TV on, so I am not really concerned. Thinking he is probably referring to a missed serve or a sacrificed shot, I calmly turn around to look at the TV. It is then that I realize our coffee table is on fire. Yes, on fire. Flames are shooting forth from the coffee table in all directions.

I should explain that Nate and I are going backpacking up and around Harney Peak this weekend, and we spent the better part of today getting our stuff packed, meals figured out and all kinds of other details worked out. One of those details included making sure our Whisperlite single-burner stove was in proper working order. Of course this couldn't be done outside--THE TENNIS GAME WAS ON TV! So my husband had decided to test it out on our definitely-not-fire-proof coffee table instead. Genius. I just stood there with the most incredulous look on my face...I could not believe what I was seeing! I was half in shock that there were flames in my living room and half dumbfounded that Nate would actually light a fire inside. !??!?!!??!?!

Not to worry, the coffee table is fine; the only evidence of the episode is slightly shorter fringes on one side of the coffee table covering. But let this be a lesson to all wives: hide the matches and make sure you know what they are being used for (and where!) before you hand them over. :)

Mirror, mirror, sleeping next to me...

I read a post on my friend Amy's blog awhile back in which she commented on the "mirrorness" of marriage. I would like to give a hearty AMEN to that, and add that it seems very seldom that the mirror reflects anything good about me. Maybe we get to that later? Right now all I see is yucky stuff being reflected. It's a little discouraging to have lived 23 years thinking I was doing alright, and then in one month to realize what a slimeball I am. Okay, I am not a slimeball. But where did all this nastiness come from!??!?

I think the hardest-hitting reflection has been on the issue of pride. There is not enough space on the internet to tell you how prideful I am, so suffice it to say...um...I am very prideful. I can't enjoy card games or board games or disc golf games or any games at all with my husband because I HATE losing (which happens everytime we play anything). It hurts my pride to be found less than at least equal; it almost kills me to be found less-than-the-best. Rediculous as it sounds, I feel as if my taking more putts on a mini golf course is a sure sign that I am not as valuable a person as Nate is. I feel...short, I guess. Insignificant. Worthless, even. All because of a stupid game. Which, I might add, is supposed to be a fun thing.

It goes further. We have had a couple discussions the last couple days about whether or not it is necessary for a Christian to be reading his or her Bible everyday, as seems to be the teaching these days. Nate has obviously given the matter some thought, so he has pretty good arguments for his point of view. As is usually the case, I had the opposite opinion, but as we talked (okay, argued) I began to see that my opinion was based on my own self-constructed concept of what walking with Christ means. I had left no room for other ways of having a relationship with God. As I thought about it, I was actually relieved to hear him say some of what he did, but I couldn't bear the thought that Nate's way might actually be a better approach than my way (does that sound like pride to anyone?!?!?). That would mean that I was wrong, and wrong equals losing, which, like I said, to me means I am worthless. So I get angry and defensive because I feel like Nate is telling me I am stupid and like I don't even know what it really looks like to be a Christian, and poor Nate, all he was trying to do was talk about Galatians!

While I am so very happy to be married to Nate, as of late, I am not happy with what he is showing me about myself. It is not the mirror's fault, but it is a heck of a lot easier to be angry at the mirror than it is myself...haven't done very well at that. :( But God is still working for good; I am seeing more and more clearly everyday that it it ONLY by God's grace that we amount to anything other than slimeballs.

Thanks for the mirror, Lord. Keep him strong and shiny. :)

Our first blog!!!!