"The Shack"

I've been meaning to post this for awhile, but kept forgetting. I just saw the book laying on the floor by my bed, and it reminded me that I have to tell you about it!!  

Last summer Erik's grandma started telling us about this amazing book she had just read called "The Shack."  She said, "If nothing else, it will definitely make you think."  Then the next day I went to the baseball game Erik was working, and we were talking to the team chaplain after the game and he started telling us about the book.  Shortly thereafter Erik's dad told us he'd picked up the book and was reading it and couldn't put it down.  I started hearing about it everywhere!!  I picked up a copy at the store around the same time that same baseball chaplain slipped a copy into Erik's work bag.  I had a bunch of other books I was reading at the time ("Twilight" sucked me in...), so I put it off for awhile, but eventually I started reading it and it was REALLY interesting.  It is based in Oregon, partially around the Portland area, so obvious that was a cool connection.  When I would take it into places with me to read before appointments, inevitably someone would start talking about it--either they'd read it, they knew someone who'd read it, they were in the middle of it, they were planning on reading it, or they'd heard of it--and it was a great conversation starter.

In the middle of all this, I reconnected with a college friend I hadn't talked to in several years via facebook.  He started chatting with me one night, telling me about how he was working for a publishing company in LA.  The he asked me if I'd read "The Shack," and told me he was working for the company that published it.  I told him how everyone had been telling me about it for the last few months, and that I was actually in the middle of reading it.  He said, "Well, my dad wrote it."  WHAT?!?!  So we talked about that for awhile, about how his dad had written this as a story for his kids and never really intended to have it published, but that it's popularity had exploded and his dad was going all over the world doing book signings and speaking at churches, etc.  Crazy!  I know several people now (including my mom) who've read it on my recommendation and really enjoyed it.

Anyway, like Erik's grandma said, no matter what you think of it, whether you agree or disagree with the author, it will DEFINITELY make you think.  I thought it was awesome!  It definitely challenged some of my views about things, but some of the imagery was truly amazing, and I think my faith was strengthened in a lot of ways because of reading this book.  And it's just an interesting story about love and forgiveness.  If you're looking for a good read, pick it up, and let me know what you think!  :)

For more information, click HERE.

A Light at the End of the Tunnel.

I got a phone call from my attorney last week saying that the insurance company from my car accident A YEAR AND A HALF AGO is FINALLY making a settlement offer that is fair.  I got the paperwork to sign early this week, jumped through a few more hoops, and my attorney should have it back by now.  This means that all my providers should be paid within the next week or so (which means no more huge scary bills and collections agents for me), and hopefully soon after that my attorney will get paid and I will, too!!  Now if that could all happen and I could get it all figured out BEFORE I leave for Europe, that would be ideal.  Do I think that will happen?  Doubt it!  But after all this craziness, there is, indeed, a light at the end of the tunnel, and it's growing larger every day.  I just want it to be over!!  Soon, right?

Incidentally, I'm having massive residual pain in my neck and shoulders today as a result of that same car accident (stupid whiplash!).  *sigh*

Everything is Amazing Right Now and Nobody's Happy.

PLEASE click HERE and go watch THIS VIDEO right now, especially if you don't feel like all is right with the world.  I promise you won't regret it, and it will make you feel better.  If I knew how to just post this on my page, I would, but I don't, so just go watch it.  :)

Sillies.

Hip hip hooray for fun dates!!  :)

Pretty flowers.

Guess what showed up at my door on Valentine's day?

A cute boy!!

And these:

Mmmhmmm.  And a week and a half later, they are just as beautiful.  :)  I'm a lucky girl.

The Real Deal.

CAAAAAAAAKE!!!!!  Isn't it cute???

A lil' spin on the traditional Valentine's Day box of chocolates.  :)

On the first cake, I made the "box" edge a little too high.  This one was not quite high enough.  Ehh...you live and learn.  :)

And by the way...the best part?

It was DELICIOUS!!!  :) (Thanks for sharing, babe!)

G-O-N-Z-A-G-A!

Final Score!!

I love, LOVE, love Gonzaga basketball!!  I didn't think I would be the crazy fan; I never even watched college basketball before I went to GU.  But there is just something about watching guys from your alma mater, especially when they're GOOD!!  :)  And yeah, GU's had their moments this season (and not good ones, at that), but by and large, they've been great.

I remember the first time I heard about Gonzaga Basketball was from Coach Dickson.  He knew I was planning to go to GU, and he made some passing comment about how "my" team was doing quite well (this was senior year of high school).  I didn't even know!!  And while I was in Vernal being clueless, GU was taking their first ever trip to the Elite Eight!!  Crazy.

Our boys in blue!!  (Versus Amy's boys in white...)

Freshman year I remember going to games and you could just show up an hour or so early and get GREAT seats.  Gone are those days.  By sophomore year, the team's popularity had skyrocketed, and they had to implement a big waiting in line process that I could never worry about because I always had staff meetings.  But during the year I worked at GU and then the year Erik worked there, we had LOTS of opportunities to go to games in the NEW Kennel--such a treat!!  It's awesome to go games in a big arena (NOT that the MAC is really that big...but it does NOT feel like a high school gym!).  I love the excitement, the energy, the electricity that goes along with watching live sports.  It's so much fun!

That being said, if you're not a student, staff or faculty member, or season ticket holder, it is LITERALLY impossible to get tickets to a home game.  The best solution?  Go to the UP game in Portland.  And we have both years we've lived here, and it is a BLAST!!  There are as many Gonzaga fans as UP fans (sorry, Meem!), and this year they actually gave us a run for our money!  :)  It was an AWESOME game, and such a fun date night.

The best part about small arenas is that you're literally right on top of the action!

AND here's the BEST part--AFTER the game, we had to wait in line FOREVER to get out of the parking lot, and they sent us out the back way behind the Chiles Center (UP's arena).  We were driving and we saw a bunch of camera flashes in a loading dock where some people were gathered...and there was a bus parked next to the sidewalk.  We put two and two together and figured out it was our team!!  So we decided to be cheeseballs and stop.  It was AWESOME!!  We got to talk with several of the players, get some autographs, and even get a photo of Erik and our favorite player, Ira Brown.  Good times!!  :)

Erik with Ira Brown!!  He's AMAZING--and SUPER nice!

And even though my sis went the the rival school, even when we're on her home court, I still have to say--GO ZAGS!!  :)