Has it been a month?!

This is just a smattering of September/October events, thoughts, etc...

In random order:

• We met up with Meegan & Mike, old friends from college, for some mini golf & lunch. Good times, we should do things like this more often.

• Alicia did another week on the Mountain with a house full of six teenagers, oye! If I had a magic wand to make those kids' lives easier, I'd wave it around non-stop. Funny annecdote: I was actually told by 15 yr-old TR that I was "too uncool" to be with him in Olympia Sports, where he intended to buy new sneakers. This was really funny, because I had the money, too bad TR. I hope Salem finds more employees soon, this Res Coordinator didn't sign up for the 24/7 parenting job.
  

Our choral society continues to provide Matt with surplus geriatric exposure. Can you imagine being the president of a choir whose average age is 65? They are so dear, but sometimes we just want to scream.

• On that note, Matt & I went to NY to visit Grampa & Nana Chute over the weekend. I was a little melodramatic, having just completed a hell week with above said boys, and was also enjoying a fabulous hormonal flux. Poor Matt! We had good down-time and were also able to catch a couples' weekend session at the WOL Inn. It's always good to be reminded of the things you know. It was so well timed, too. We've been pretty pooped lately, or should I say poopey? http://www.ortlund.org/homepage.html is the website of this couple who specialize in marriage counseling. Really cool, down-to-earth, and funny too. It was such a non-WOLBI meeting. I loved it!

• More thoughts about going back to school, but no answers to any of the questions. I don't want to start having children until one or both of us has a trade or a Masters Degree. Call me crazy, but we intend to parent our children, not pass them off onto others while we make money to pay them for the God-given privaledge. (Does that sound cynical? It's not meant to be.) We don't want to be rich, but content with what God provides through one income. As it stands, we aren't really set-up for that yet.
  

• Our debt is slowing thinning out, so we are earnestly looking for affordable land in the area, but it's very over-inflated at the moment. We know God will work it all out, so the main thing is to take care of one goal at a time.
  

1. Pay off the loans (car & school)
2. Save for the unattainable nest egg
3. School (more loans)
4. Kids
   

• I've started praying more. God was really slipping from my daily schedule, which is not because I'm too busy, but because I'm always thinking about me (not Him or His will). My list, my life, my plans, my problems, me, me, me. I, I, I. Yeah, well, I'd had enough of shouldering that load of s_ _ _ . It's all crap compared to His freedom, God's provision. His yoke. Even writing the words makes Him bigger to me. And me smaller. I like that.