Ponderings...

Hi!  I haven't shown you a photo in a while, but that's just because I haven't really taken a whole lot lately.  But in case you just really need to see a photo, here's a cool one I took in August at the beach, when I still worked at that other place.  You know the one.  We were on a retreat.  And this was out the back window of the house we stayed in:

Cool, huh?  You don't see THAT every day!  Especially if you live in Utah.  Right?

Autumn has been GORGEOUS in Portland (I heard on the radio this morning that conditions have been especially good this year to make the beautiful fall colors extra bright!), but apparently yesterday was the last day of that glorious, sunny, lovely weather.  The rain has begun, folks.  See you in August, sunshine.  :(

I haven't been writing much because I swear I have nothing to write.  And now that I say that, this will probably be a long post.  Because that's the way I am.  Glad you guys like me.  :)

The new job is plugging right along.  There are good days and bad days, of course, and I have to fight to not work overtime (funny, huh?), but overall, it's going well.  I'm MUCH happier than I was before, so that's always good, right?  Now I'm in decision-making mode about my future--now that's the place everyone always wants to be, right?  I'm thinking I'm going to go back to school...and I'm actually pretty serious about it.  So more to come on that when there's more to tell.

Today's my Mom's birthday!!  And here's an adorable story for you...most of you know my mom has worked with people with disabilities...well, pretty much forever....so today, she went up to the high school to help out with their annual pumpkin carving/Halloween party.  (Keep in mind my mom LOVES Halloween--maybe because her birthday's so close?)  She helps out with this pretty much every year, partly because she loves it, partly to see some of her clients at school.  So they were having a drawing to win a HUGE pumpkin, and she decided to put her name in (she never has before), and get this--she WON!!  And she was SO excited about it!  Her immediate response was, "I won????  It's my birthday today and I won???  I've never won anything?"  I think she told me this story at least 4 times while we were on the phone tonight.  Isn't that cute?  She was SO super excited.  Happy birthday, Mama!  :)  Love you!

Ummm...welp, I really don't have much else to tell, except I'm SUPER jealous of all my girlfriends who keep having girls' weekends in states where I'm not!!!  :(  I want to go so bad!!  So I've been having long girl chats over the phone with some of my girls, and it's been fantastic!  (If you're one of those girls, thank you very much--I needed that!!)

Which brings me to my last point: does anyone out there from Uintah's class of '99 know anything about a reunion next summer?  Is there one in the works?  Does anyone know?  And whether there is one or not...and especially if not...I've heard two GREAT ideas this week that I think we should follow through on.  What about a lil' mini-HiLites reunion next summer?  So, my thought is for whoever was in the group like 98-99-00-ish...?  We could combine that with a girls' night/weekend/couple of days?  Especially if there's no class reunion.  And by the way...I am NOT necessarily volunteering to plan this, but I'm TOTALLY up for helping.  Thoughts?

Stick(k) To It!

Need to accomplish a goal?  Well, this website could be your new best friend.  Click here to discover stickk.com.  And if you need me to be your accountability person, I'm happy to do it!  :)

Just Call Me Peter.

Pan, that is.  Because sometimes, I do NOT want to be an adult.  I don't want to grow up.  Today I spent $550 fixing my car because something was causing a valve to stay open and make my car think it was Herbie the Love Bug or a race car or something.  How is that fun?  This could end up being a super gripey post, and I don't want it to be, so let's just say this:  I want to go back to where someone else paid for things, where when the world hurts, someone else can take care of it and make you feel better, and when the most difficult thing I had to decide every day was what outfit to wear, or if my hair should go in a ponytail or a barrette.  Why was I in such a hurry to grow up?  I wish I could be a kid again.

Let It Be OVER.

That's how I'm feeling about the whole "Election Season."  Seriously, we've been watching these crappy commercials and listening to people slamming and bashing each other for over TWO YEARS now for this whole "I want to be President" thing.  You know, like most little kids, I used to think someday maybe I would want to be President, but NOT the way they play it these days.  They all fight dirty.  And I don't get it.  Have you EVER watched a political ad where one candidate bashes another and thought, "Gosh, I think I'll vote for that guy!"?  NO!!  And neither has anyone else in the country.  I don't get why political candidates think that's good campaigning.  I don't know of ANYONE who enjoys those commercials, gets anything out of them, or finds them remotely helpful.  Hey Politicians, guess what--WE ALL HATE IT WHEN YOU BASH EACH OTHER!  JUST BE NICE, WOULD YOU?!?!?  Good grief, people.

And could we EVER get a single candidate who cares about things that are important?  Like LIFE?  You know, it's funny, because I remember senior year of high school, in Mr. Barnes's College Prep Government class, he read positions to us over and over and over and had us go back and forth from one side of the classroom to the other based on which statements we agreed with.  By the end, whichever side we'd spent the most time on was the side we most closely agreed with, and that side aligned with one or the other of the major parties.  And I found I had a major problem with at least one aspect of each party--death penalty on one side, abortion on the other.  

I don't get why neither of the major parties can care about life in all its facets.  They're for abortion--for killing babies--and get away with it by calling it "pro-choice."  Or they call themselves "pro-life," because they oppose abortion, but they're for playing God and enacting the death penalty.  They're for killing off grandma and grandpa because they're no longer deemed "useful," or they happen to be sick.  They're for war.  Remember how our moms and dads told us to talk things out with people and use our words?  When did we forget to try that before just bombing the crap out of the so-called "enemy?"  Why can't we look out for the betterment of the American people--ALL of them--instead of the interests of the rich, the privileged, the special interest groups, the people with the loudest voices, etc.?

There's this ad in Oregon where a candidate is telling me all about how horrible the other one is because, God forbid, he wants to overturn Roe v. Wade and lower the number of abortions, but HE, on the other hand, would NEVER do that.  And every time I see it, I think, "Why on earth would I ever vote for you?"  Holy crow.  (Click here if you want to see that ridiculous ad.)

I do think it's VITAL for each of us to vote.  I probably won't tell you who I vote for, and you don't have to tell me who you're voting for, but if you have the privilege to vote, I think you have a responsibility to vote.  And if you DON'T vote, you have NO right to complain about things, because you had a chance to have your say and you didn't take it.  If you vote, then you have the right to complain, because you did your best to follow your conscience and make a decision for the betterment of everyone.

The point is, I don't think either candidate is ideal this year, and I'm sick of the whole "lesser of two evils" crap.  Both of them have some really great ideas and some really good things about them, and both of them have some MAJOR problems, too.  Why can we NEVER have a politically moderate candidate?  (And I mean a TRUE moderate, not an uber who claims to be moderate.)  Whatever happened to actually having a really good candidate?  Why can't there be a candidate who runs on a platform of international diplomacy, support for life in all it's forms, etc.?  I guess it's because it's like they always say...if Jesus were running for President, he'd be unelectable.  *sigh*  I'm so sick of all this nonsense.  And the sad thing is, this kind of stuff gives "politics" a bad name, because politics in their real form are quite fascinating, not back-stabbing, bitter, name-calling, repetitive, and horrible. 

This year we'll ALL have something to be thankful for--the end of all this national crap.  Can it just be Thanksgiving already?  

To Flu, or Not To Flu?

So, here's a question: do you guys get flu shots?  Are you a never ever or an every year kind of kid?  Why?

I've never gotten one ever before, but yesterday I decided to do it since I was already getting shot up at the allergist anyway.  Hey, if you're going to get one shot, you might as well get two, right?

So, if you are a flu shot-getter, have you ever had a weird reaction?  My mom gets them every year without fail and is much healthier since she started getting them.  My dad, on the other hand, has gotten them 2-3 times, and without fail, those are the years he's gotten the flu and been sicker than he ever has before; years he doesn't get a flu shot, he doesn't get the flu.

What do you think about all this?

John and Leah, Sittin' In a Tree...

Mr. and Mrs. John and Leah Nusse!

Seriously, aren't these 2 adorable?  Their wedding was SOOOO beautiful!  They are INSANE, because they decided it would be a good idea to have an outdoor wedding in Oregon in OCTOBER, but all the prayers must have worked!  It rained, rained, rained all day (and the day before), but the sky cleared out and there was blue sky (and even a little sunshine) for about 2 hours--just long enough for their ceremony and some photos, and by the time it started raining again, most everyone was underneath the tents or the pavilion for dinner and dancing.  Glorious!  Thanks, God, for that little miracle!

They got married at this cool place called Bridal Veil Lakes (PERFECT for an August wedding...).  We were all sitting outside on chairs set up in this little grove of trees waiting, and waiting, trying to figure out what the hold up was, when we looked up and saw...

John and his groomsmen, coming across the lake in canoes!!  It was AWESOME!! So picturesque.  And perfectly John.  

All the men canoed across the lake in front of us, and pulled up at a dock a few feet away, where they were met by John's dad.  The men then walked up behind us to where the bridesmaids were waiting, and they processed down the aisle.  It was beautiful.  

The officiant did a great job of telling John and Leah's story, from the beginning (including how I set them up--which means I officially have TWO success stories of setting people up and having them get married, so I WIN, Aunt Debbie!!) through now.  He had previously had both John and Leah write letters to him explaining what each loved about the other, and he incorporated large chunks of their own words into his reflection.  It was truly beautiful, and I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.  He also did an awesome job of incorporating God and aspects of Leah's Catholic faith into the ceremony without making it a specifically "Catholic" (with a big "C") wedding.  It was lovely, and very touching.

Leah told me they wanted to spend the bulk of their money on food for a great party, and believe me, it showed.  The food was AWESOME!!  It was all very unique (with a bow to John's gluten and lactose intolerances), but nothing too exotic, and every single thing was DELICIOUS.  Especially the salmon with the maple-marjoram glaze.  Yummmm!  They did their own music by making a playlist of songs they love on iTunes and the music was fantastic!  It was a total blast, and we didn't have to deal with any crappy DJ or lame music.  People seriously danced for hours.

They went non-traditional with the cake, and had only the top layer as an actual cake (gluten-free, for John), and that's what they cut--the rest of the "cake" was 3 different types of cupcakes, which were adorable.  And DELICIOUS.  They had spice cake ones with beautiful, fragile chocolate hearts on the top, strawberry cupcakes with a strawberry filling, and chocolate cupcakes topped with a chocolate-covered espresso bean.  It was fun, cute, and they didn't have to wait for someone to cut their cake.  I totally approve of this idea.  There was more than enough for everyone, and I think most people even tried 2 or all 3 kinds.  

We had a great evening, dancing under a pavilion in the woods in the rain, and John and Leah headed off on their Mexican honeymoon adventure shortly before midnight.  Considering that the wedding was at 3:30, I'd say it was a successful party, and a great start to their new marriage adventure!

Congratulations, Leah and John!  Love you guys!!!

We know the ending...LOVE WINS!!!

Yesterday I had to work a booth at a conference, and I had the opportunity to see ValLimar Jansen perform/speak/sing for the 2nd time, and this lady is AMAZING!!  She seriously has holiness OOZING out of her.  What an awesome faith and spirituality she has!  It was a blessing to be around her, and I was doubly blessed to get to spend some time with her.  I wanted to put up a video so you can see how amazing she is, but for some reason it doesn't want to load.  Sad story.  

Anyway, a friend of my aunt's (a lady I happen to know fairly well through my aunt) came down to see Val, as they've become pretty good friends, and she ended up being asked at the last minute to be Val's accompanist.  Ann is AMAZING, so it wasn't that much of a stretch, but for the workshop they did, they needed some extra help, so they asked me.  :)  It was awesome.

The title of this post was something Val kept saying over and over throughout the day, something I think we all need to be reminded of more often--when things are hard or we're struggling, or when when we listen to stories from the Bible, and in MANY other cases, we have to remember that because of Jesus, we already know the end of the story--LOVE WINS!!