Hi mom

I'm in love with this guy! (photo by martin)

Oh and if you want to see a really cool tattoo (with an even cooler meaning), click on my friend Katie's blog titled "The Kolbs"

Friends and their Families

Fall in Northern Michigan is hard to beat. And What I'm loving the most is that states below us are getting snowed on like crazy and all I've seen up here is a couple little sleet-like rain drops that were gone in about 5 min. LOVE THAT. I really love that.

So, with most of our friends having children now, it's been a great time to get outside and enjoy the crisp weather, leaves, sideways sunlight, and take photos. I've got at least two more families to try and squeeze in before the bitter cold arrives...that might not work but I'm hopeful.

I've been cooking so much more now that I'm not working. I didn't plan on it but have remembered that I really enjoy cooking. So far, Martin isn't complaining about the hot meals, apple crisp, and banana bread that have been showing up. It used to be a stressful time of the evening when we both got home from work and were trying to get each other to figure out what we were doing for dinner. I really think that home-cooked meals do something to a house that makes it instantly cozy and comfortable. And what I think I love the most is that when friends drop by (and they do almost nightly, which is another thing I love about living in town), I have some sort of home cooked something to offer them. It instantly puts them in a relaxed, calm mood. There's a lot of stressful things going on in all our lives that it makes me really happy to see people sit, relax, talk, and eat something tasty.

Happy Fall everyone.

Going a different Direction

I'm finally done working at Eye Health of Charlevoix. While, I was very thankful to have a job, especially in Michigan. And especially while we have been trying to aggressively pay student loans off, I'm more thankful that we are at a place where I can move on to things that will give me more freedom and self fulfillment.

I'm currently working on a course to train me in Medical Transcription. This is the freedom part of the previous statement. When I finish the course (hopefully in late January), I'll have a job that will let me work from home. (did you notice the South Africa tab on the site? Yeah, I did too.)

I'm also in Petoskey now which is great. All our friends and dealings are here in town and I hardly know the people here. I could tell you every family in Charlevoix but that's not where my life is. I can go to the functions here that I used to miss because I was out of town. I can now meet friends for lunch, I've been taking photos of our friends and their little children which is nothing but pure fun.

So yeah. I'm perfectly content with not working there anymore. It feels good when you know without a doubt that you made the right decision.

That hardly happens with me.

Took some photos of my sister's family when they came up for a visit. I think they wanted to kill me after making them climb up the sand dune, but they'll get over it. Love those sand dunes at Petoskey State Park.

Goodbye Neon

My 1st car, the little blue Neon, came to a violent and quick end. On my way to work, I turned left crossing what I thought to be two very open lanes of traffic. Apparently, there was a van in the outside lane (hidden by a large truck in the other lane, trying to turn left at the same time) that ran right into the passenger side of my car, spinning me completely the other direction. It's the most violent wreck I've been in.

Some guy who saw the whole thing was talking to me through my widow asking if I was alright and telling me that he was calling 911. At this point, I'm still processing where I was and if I'm alive. Once I determined that I was alive and wasn't bleeding out of my ears or anything, I decide to get out of the car. This involves me crawling over the driver seat to exit out the bent up passenger door. (I would've been stepping out onto oncoming traffic if I would've opened my door.)

As soon as I get out, I meet the driver of the van. He's from some other state, up here visiting. He immediately tells me that he was just trying to get to the "harbor" (no one up here calls the lake shore the harbor) to enjoy a day on the boat. "Well, gosh. I'm so sorry to have held you up, "I think. The very next thing he tells me is that he was in that lane the whole time and was "almost completely stopped" before hitting me. Seriously?? I'm just getting my head cleared after him totaling my car and I have to listen to him talk to me like this? Not to mention that I'm pretty sure if he were "almost stopped" he wouldn't have spun me around the other direction and practically tore my tire right off the axle.

I don't know what to say to him. I know what I want to say to him. But I somehow manage to use higher reasoning, and after glancing over to his perfectly drivable van, just walk away.

Not a good Monday. After a few days and many pain-killers and muscle relaxers, I'm starting to get back into the normal life. I'm still pretty down about not having a car.

A Thought

Read this today and it's stuck in my head:

"There's a difference between something that makes you happy and something that doesn't make you unhappy"

That could be a good conversation.

Okay, I can do better than that.

I'm not satisfied with my last post. I always do that; I want to say what's on my mind then back out because I think of all the angles people might be able to take on what I say. You know what, I'm just gonna do it.

I have this really cool little book. It's actually a christian book. And I don't think christian books are cool. I mean, come on. they just aren't. They might have good points in them and be very "good for you" but they aren't cool. I've never understood why Christians have to sacrifice good writing for what they want to say. It's been one of my biggest struggles in reading christian literature. It's just not well written.

So back to the book. Philip Yancey wrote a book called "What's so amazing about grace?". And after he wrote it, somehow an artist or maybe a publisher, or an agent, (I have no idea) read it and thought it was actually good. He must have been afraid to come out and admit it at first; I would've been. But he somehow got Philip to agree to let the book be used to make a visual edition of the same name. The result is really cool. And I'm not saying cool for a christian book. I'm just sayin' plain and simple cool. Here's a link to the book. Philip says in the intro on the visual edition that he secretly hopes this book will inspire people to go out and read the full length book because he has so much more to say.

I didn't.

I didn't need to. The book stands alone. There's a page that has a prayer written over and over again in it like something you'd see a child writing on a blackboard for some sort of school punishment. It says: "Dear God, please make the bad people good, and the good people nice." I really want to pray that prayer whenever anyone asks me to say a prayer. Martin says I'm just asking for trouble if I do. And he's almost always wiser than me on social issues so I listen. But for the first time in a long time, that's a prayer that sounds right.

Summer (I guess)

Alright. I've got to have something worth talking about.....

Summer in Petoskey has been beautiful and cool. Not, I repeat not beautifully cool. Martin told me the other day that he was at a business lunch and the men around the table were saying how much they've loved the summer because they haven't been sweating and it hasn't been too hot. Am I in some other world? Summer used to mean something. Like weather that made ice-cream instantly melt, and ice tea glasses sweat. You get none of that up here. And I just keep shaking my head when I think: "I'm a northerner". Maybe I only thought I was. This is just silly.

We have had lots of rain lately which has made the trees, lawns, and flowers stunning. I love summer wildflowers. We played a round of golf today at a new course and I couldn't stop saying how beautiful everything looked. I'm thankful to have a husband that understands my need to verbalize those thoughts. He agrees every time and never gets tired of me saying it.

Despite the weather, we've managed to have some fun outdoor activities with friends,, and have had several out-of-town friends and family stay with us. We love to host people for their vacation to Petoskey.

I turned 30. And for my bday, we went to Chicago (of course). Always a good time there.

More babies have been born and conceived. I'm convinced my friends are aiming for doubling the population of this town in 5 years. Which, is fine with me. I think this town could use more people in it. Year-round.

Turns out I don't have much to talk about. It's nice to sit for a minute and collect thoughts though.