Did I mention that it's cute?

If you hate children, this post is not for you.

I work at a church, which in and of itself means I am surrounded by lots of people with adorable little kids all the time. Plus, there's a school for babies through fifth grade in the church as well during the week, so I get my fair share of cute children romping the grounds. But I have two favorites that I must share. The first happens every morning when this precious little girl named Gabriella walks through the doors with her daddy on the way to the school. Every morning, without fail, she stops outside my window, waits for me to open it, stares up at me with her big, shy eyes, and says "Good morning" in the cutest little three-year old voice, usually followed by lots of giggles. Then if I'm lucky, she'll follow with, "Do you like my pretty dress?" as she twirls around for me. Like I said, she's precious.

And then there are Wednesdays, which are mostly for my boys. There's a Bible study that happens at the church Wednesday mornings, and Andrea brings her little crew of kiddos that she watches at her daycare so she can go to the study. Every Wednesday her big van pulls up, the doors open, and her kids run pell-mell into my office, shouting, "We're going to see Becky! We're going to see Becky!" It's funny because I don't even know half of their names, they just know I give hugs, so they run their cute little pudgy faces in to see me before they go to the playroom. The past few weeks have been especially cute because with all this rain, Andrea has them all in little rain boots...one pair of crocodile boots, one of ladybugs, one in bright pink, one pair of fireman's boots, most of them inevitably on the wrong foot.

It's just cute.

Just like the Lovemelons...

I miss working with the youth at church. Winter retreat is this weekend for them, so I saw them all off after work on Friday and I really just wanted to jump in the vans with them. It's the same with my girls from The Dalles...once they're my girls, they're always my girls and a part of my heart will always miss being with them. Sigh. Isaac went with them, though, so at least half of us got to go. (Here's a picture of our beloved youth leadership team from the Red Carpet Night...I can't find any with my girls at the moment) I, on the other hand, have spent nearly all of last night and a good chunk of today learning about how our body's metabolism functions as well as learning how complex conjugates of imaginary numbers work. Thrilling, I assure you. I did get a 98% on my first pre-cal quiz last week, though, which is rather encouraging.

I took a little homework break today to go celebrate Mo and Tommy's birthdays, which are both next week and let me tell you, we were definitely the neighborhood's entertainment. We met with Mo's family on a nearby field and played a rousing game of kickball, but the best part is that we came in style! Back in college, a bunch of our friends played intramural sports together on such teams as the Lovemelons, and Team We Won That One Time, which began a long-standing tradition of playing in ridiculously colorful sporting outfits. And today was no exception. Here's a pic of the gang. Mo's brother Mitch would flex and give off low-picthed growls to all the random people who would pass. So awesome!

In other news, we bought a garden! Well, sort of, anyway. Our parks and rec has three community gardens available with plots for year-long renting, and Isaac got us two plots for this coming spring...something like 120 square feet, which is much larger than last year's little backyard garden we had. Which means we're going to have a much, much larger crop of fresh vegetables this year! Here's what it looks like right now...I'll admit, very dismal in the dead of winter, but once we get a chance to do a little work on it and make it our own, she'll be looking quite homey. It's perfect for us because in our little rental, there's no land around it to garden in except for a strip of dirt about four feet long and one foot wide, which now we can use for a little flower garden. Oh spring, do come quickly.

Technically adorable...

It's Sunday morning and I'm sitting in the back of the middle school youth group room at church watching an incredible show put on my Isaac and his band. He's been leading worship at middle school youth group (as well as high school, and main service, but middle school is consistently every week) for the past few years and it's about that time in the year where he's got to start raising up some of the younger ones to be on the team as the older ones will be in high school shortly. So last week he had worship 'tryouts' just to see which of the kiddos had any musical interests or talents, and much to our surprise, there was quite the turnout of aspiring musicians. This morning's worship is the first week that some of them are incorporated and it is very fun to watch. I would use the word 'adorable' to describe it, but in all fairness, these are teenagers, or at least almost teenagers, so they probably wouldn't appreciate that description. There's Jess on the bass, standing a little above four feet tall, looking very cool with his sweatshirt hood pulled up. I think his guitar is about as long as he is tall, but he's rocking away. Gina's doing a great job singing with a musical voice I never would have thought she had. Riley, who comes up to about Isaac's elbow, is singing as well and is oh, so enthusiastic. Gabe's on the keys, Ian's on the drums, Nate's on the electric - these three have been at it for a while, so they're holding the team together. And there's Isaac, in the middle of all of them with his guitar, leader of the band. It really is adorable, even though I know I'm being girly. It's pretty awesome to get to watch Isaac love and invest in these students through this worship team. These kids love him and look up to him so much, and they love that he gives them the opportunity to practice their instruments on stage, even if they're not always perfect at it yet. It makes me so proud of Isaac to get to see his impact on these kids' lives.

Ha! Now they're having a dance-off as their game! Guy against girl. Hilarious! I love middle school.

Our Day...

We haven't had much of a chance to edit our pictures yet, but here are a few we wanted to share with you anyway.

Cantankerous...

Yesterday I got my first canker sore...ever. I say this not to gross you out but only to help set the backdrop for my stressful Tuesday.

Scene one: work. My beloved partner in the office, Tina, got another job last Friday and is leaving by the end of this week. Together we administrate the entire church, as well as individually administrate for six pastors on staff. It's a big job, and one I cannot do alone, yet I will be doing it alone for at least the next month while they decide about who to hire to replace her, or if they're even going to hire a replacement. Needless to say, things have been pretty crazy around here, my workload has doubled, and I am going non-stop from 8-4 every day.

Scene two: school. So, I am loving what I'm learning in school, but I have to say, it's taking an awful lot of time to be a student. I get home at 5:30, eat dinner, and basically study for the next four hours every day of the week (except for Saturdays, my Sabbath, and my saving grace). That being said, it takes some good planning ahead for me to be able to participate in a social event on any given evening as that would cut away my necessary homework time. It doesn't happen often, mostly I just don't hang out with anyone except for Isaac during the week, but our couples' dinners have been going on for a year and a half so they are my one social event that takes priority. Plus, yesterday's was at our house, so there's not much of an option for me except to host and do homework later. I knew this couples' dinner was coming a week ahead of time, so I worked really hard this weekend and Monday night to get ahead in my studies. I got all my Nutrition reading done that I would have had to do on Tuesday, and I did the two hour math assignment that would have been assigned as well...which actually turned into more like a three hour math assignment since I did it before we got the lecture on it. So, I was feeling pretty good as I drove to the college yesterday, trying to recover from the stress of the work day. Then, much to my dismay, my professor was still sick from this weekend and instead of cancelling class again, she found a sub which is the worst thing that can happen in a math class. He did his best, bless his heart, but no one understood anything he was trying to explain. Then he topped it off with giving us a completely different homework assignment then what had originally been assigned! I felt like crying. A total waste of a class, then a two hour homework assignment based off a lecture that made absolutely no sense to me, and all this after I had worked ahead so I would have the evening free for couples' dinner. Sigh.

Isaac says canker sores come from stress. And no wonder. I was able to make it to bed by 11:30 last night, which is late for me, but not the end of the world. And we did have a really relaxing time with our friends during dinner. So the day was not a complete loss. However, this morning I awoke with a new goal in mind...no more stress. I'm going to take one day at a time, every minute at a time. Slowly, enjoying where I'm at, not stressing if I have a lot left to do, just taking it one step at a time.

Hold me to it, friends.

Hydroponic sweatshirts...

Have I mentioned that Isaac's an artist? Okay, just kidding. He and Justin put their creativity skills to the max in their Christmas creations for their small group boys. They screen-printed cannons onto sweatshirts for all of them, and I must say Alexandra and I were very impressed. I'm not sure if we've told you guys about the infamous cannon, but let's just say it's brought deeper joys to that small group than anything else. One of the projects a while back together was to build an air cannon out of pvc pipe and they've since spent their time seeing how far they can launch whatever things they find into whatever things will create the biggest boom. So fun. So their gift to Ryan, Chris, and Tim were custom-designed sweatshirts, which they all loved and will, from here on out, simultaneously wear anytime they are together. How cute.

Isaac's also experimenting with growing plants hydroponically. He read a lot about it and discovered that plants don't actually need soil to grow in; soil is just the medium for getting the plant the nutrients it needs to survive. But if you can get the nutrients to the plant in another way, the you can grow things without the soil. So he built a planter set up to continuously drop water down the tube, sprouted some wheat grass, 'planted' the seeds without any soil in the tube, and let it grow for a week to see what happened. And it flourished! Technically, the way we did it will only work for wheat grass because it grows so quickly that it can get really big even if it isn't getting any nutrients outside of the water. I think when we try to grow another more complex plant hydroponically, we'd have to find a way to get it more nutrients, but the wheat grass was a fun experiment. Then we juiced it and drank it, and it tasted so much sweeter than any commercial wheat grass I've had.

Hinds' Feet...

So, I've been reading this book as of late called, Hinds' Feet for High Places. It's one of those classics I've heard about for quite some time but never read, probably because I had no idea what a hind was, thus the title made no sense. Well, I finally got around to reading, and I am glad I did. That book has spoken some deep truths to me this past week. It's about a little girl named Much Afraid and her journey to go live with the King of Love on the High Places. It's very obviously a Christian allegory, which normally would turn me off pretty quickly, but for some reason this book was different. I guess sometimes it's the seemingly obvious truths that are the easiest to forget, and therefore, the most important to reinforce, and I needed them reinforced in my life. I wanted to share a few quotes from the book with you...

"Every circumstance in life, no matter how crooked and distorted and ugly it appears to be, if it is reacted to in love and forgiveness and obedience to your will, it can be transformed."

"That is the only really satisfactory way of dealing with evil, not simply binding it so that it cannot work harm, but whenever possible overcoming it with good."

"So remember this; as long as you are willing to be Acceptance -with-Joy and Bearing-in-Love (forgiveness), you can never again become crippled, and you will be able to go wherever I lead you. You will be able to go down into the valley of the world to work with me there, for that is where evil and sorrowful and ugly things are which need to be overcome."

Buckets and love...

We have a bucket garden! Isaac had wanted to start one for quite some time, and we finally did. Lettuce in one, radishes in another, and carrots in the third. And they're already sprouting! The hilarious thing is that Isaac picked up a handful of radishes when we were at the store this weekend and remarked that our entire crop worth would not exceed the amount he was holding in his hand, but no matter. We're doing it anyway. And as I write this, Isaac is sitting next to me on the couch drawing up the plans for the next stage of the bucket garden. From the scrawlings so far, it appears that he is creating some kind of watering system...or maybe it's a lighting system. Yes, a lighting system for sure. They won't grow without light and unfortunately our scarce amount of winterized sunshine is not adequate for our little babies. Genius. I'm sure we'll have a picture of the actual invention soon to share.

In other news, this was day two of school, and yes, I'm still confident that I can handle the load. I get home at about 5:30 each evening now, and tonight I came home to my dear husband, who, having cleaned the whole house, was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on our dinner. Sigh. What love.

No problem....

First day of class, piece of cake. My prediction is that I will be able to finish out this quarter relatively stress-free. Any wagering enthusiasts out there ready to agree with me? One day down, only 89 more to go.

The Other Christmas...

Yesterday was our turn for Christmas with my parents since they were in Arizona for the real Christmas. They drove all the way up here on Friday to spend the evening with us, just for a few hours since they had to go back home Saturday morning. They arrived just in time for the feast Isaac had prepared for them...a whole salmon baked with wild rice and asparagus! Have I ever mentioned before that I married a fantastic chef? I feel like in most marriages the guy gets super excited because he has married a woman who loves to cook him great meals all the time, and he has never before eaten so well. For me, the reverse is true. Isaac is the cook in our relationship and I eat like a queen every night. I can cook a meal, don't get me wrong, but what takes me forever following a recipe to the 'T', Isaac can make in no time at all without any kind of recipe in sight. And it always turns out a perfect blend of flavors. Mmm, mmmm, mmm, I am a lucky woman. Besides, I'd rather bake than cook any day; that's my area of expertise. But back to my parents...they got to see our house all put together for the first time and got to eat their fill of Isaac's cooking. Then we opened presents and hung out for the rest of the evening. One of our gifts was curtains for our bedroom and kitchen that my mom made (she loves to sew), and they turned out perfect! Here are the bedroom ones...the kitchen ones are a sheer yellow material and will be put up shortly. Thanks, mom! Speaking of being thankful to a mom, thanks to Mom Hurst as well...the raw milk cheese is soo good. It's been wonderful getting to eat cheese again.

Our white Christmas...

Despite the snow, freezing cold, and rumors of 30 mile-an-hour freeway traffic, we made the trip down to be with Isaac's family for Christmas, and it was well worth it. We were greeted, as we always are, with kids all around, lots of hugs, laughing, shrieking (mostly from Melinda), and more energy than I encounter in a week of work in the 'ham. The first couple of days we just hung out with everyone, playing in the snow (more Isaac than me, as I don't enjoy being cold as much), playing LOTS of games, and getting shot continuously by James and his nerf guns. Everyone in the family was home for Christmas, which is something that hasn't happened for a while with Reuben over in Japan, so that was extra fun. In the evenings, and well into the mornings for the younger night owls of the group (not Isaac and me), us older siblings and the wives of the group went to Ian and Savannah's to hang out and play the Wi. Did I even spell that right? And thanks to Jolie's superior snow driving, we made it there with no problem. I've never met Reuben before (except for the brief webcam meeting from our wedding when the poor guy had to sit through the whole ceremony while doing nothing but staring at a computer and a bunch of faces of people he didn't know for three hours while he was in Japan...kudos to you, Reuben), so it was nice to get to finally meet him, and I'd never gotten to see him and Melissa together either, so that was enjoyable as well. And Nicole got to fly up, too! Sadly, Pete wasn't able to join her, but we're counting down the days until we get to go down to California and see those two get married. Yes! Yes! Yes!

Christmas is quite the experience with the large size of Isaac's family. Having grown up with just one sister, most holiday gatherings in our family were fairly small, so Isaac's are quite the contrast. On Christmas Day we went over to Grandma's house for Christmas dinner and the family gift exchange. With so many people, everyone just picks one name and that cuts down on cost and confusion. Genius. James started us off with some Christmas songs, and then the party began. Paper everywhere, toys for the little ones, games, treats, it's quite the craziness. And there's little Daelyn, the newest addition to the family, opening presents on her first Christmas. Pretty adorable, huh? The day after Christmas we went to dinner at the House of Dreams with Isaac's other grandparents, and that is a tradition to remember as well. Grandma and Grandpa spend the months leading up the Christmas finding all kinds of treasures to give to the kids at Christmas, and it's always a lot of fun to see what they've picked out for each of us. Grandma wrote and read several of her poems, celebrated Isaac's and my marriage, celebrated Isaac's parents' anniversary and birthdays, and then celebrated Christmas with all the gifts. And all that in a span of just a couple hours. Then the 'santa clauses' don crazy hats and get the task of handing out the piles of gifts under the tree. I don't think I've ever met someone who is so excited about Christmas as Grandma Olsen is, although the smile on Melinda's face is coming in at a close second place. We used their tree for our first married Christmas picture backdrop. We had the rest of that evening with the family, and then headed back home Saturday morning. Isaac has all of this week off of work and I took last Monday off, so we got to have three more days of vacation together before normal life started up for me again. My parents went to Arizona to spend Christmas with my sister and her family, so tomorrow mom and dad are driving up to our house to have Christmas with us, too. We're excited for that! And then on Monday I start school! I have a PreCalculus class at the community college in the evenings and then a Nutrition class online. I'm glad I got to enjoy all this fun, relaxing hang out time these past couple weeks because I have a feeling I'll be kissing the vast majority of my free time goodbye once Monday comes. Full-time work, 10 credits of school, plus a house to take care of and a husband to be a wife to. Yep. That's going to be a busy life.