thinking in Slovak

I speak English differently when I am thinking about Slovakia or to a Slovak person. When i was over there last year I worried that I might permanently loose my already precarious grasp of the proper usage of articles, proper verb conjugations and prepositions. (Mrs. Pringle would be so disappointed in me)
I was writing a short e-mail note to the YFC/MPK folks in Slovakia just to wish them all a merry christmas. i found myself typing things like "...wish very much that we can come..." and "we are having trouble to raise" and "please tell everyone in MPK office"

In other (kind of a downer) news: In spite of the fact that, over the past 5 days, we have celebrated Christmas in all the places we might ever consider home: our apartment, my grandmothers house, my parents house, Micah's parents house, I am feeling homesick for the place that i have never lived. I honestly thought we'd celebrate our first Christmas in the Low Tatra mountains at the YFC Ranch this year. I have to remind myself that sharing our first christmas with all our relatives is a huge blessing and that God's timing is never wrong.

Marriage Changes Your Perspective

Micah has started cutting Blondie cartoons out of the Sunday paper and attaching them to the fridge. He says that Blondie used to be his least favorite comic but, since we got married, it is quickly becoming his favorite. I dont know what to think about this. I might have liked it better when his sense of humor had less to do with married life and more to do with cars. Unless his old favorite comic had more to do with marriage than i realized....

The Year in Song

Can you spot My and Micah's lines?

(To the tune of “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel)

True confessions, Resignation, Lots of prayer and restoration
Bathroom renovations, Camping on the beach

Accountability, Gratitude and humility
Family reunions, Gobs-no gluten, Lots of tea with peach

Chicken dance, Songs to sing, Manifests and tracking
Resumes, Interviews, Business meetings in canoes

Tie your shoes, Comb your hair; Do you have the dog in there?
Getting Alex out the door, I can’t take it any more…

We didn’t see this coming…
Yes, it caught us nappin’
Now it’s got us rappin’
We didn’t see this coming…
Didn’t plan to do it,
But God saw us through it.

Blogspot, iPod, Control freak, Trusting God,
5K, Rainy day, Run around the block.

Movies at the Guthrie, Dinosaurs at Carnegie,
Full-time, Over-time, Work around the clock.

Mother of the Bride dress, Could I have any more stress?
Wedding days, Pirate games, Jose, Jose, Jose.

Labor and delivery, Grandma Brenda, GB.
Whimsical Tuesdays, What else do I have to say?

We didn’t see this coming…
Yes, it caught us nappin’
Now it’s got us rappin’
We didn’t see this coming…
Didn’t plan to do it,
But God saw us through it.

Slovakia, Airports, Wedding plans, New York
Wedding jars, I do, Mrs. Micah Henry

Malibu honeymoon, Grove City - two rooms
Drive across the country, Quarter of a century

Student teaching, College grad, Move back in with Mom and Dad
Big Apple, All of us on a New York City Bus

Grandma’s pearls, La Maze class, Phipps bride, Chihuly Glass
Claire Marie the Fabulous, Now Jimmy’s one of us.

We didn’t see this coming…
Yes, it caught us nappin’
Now it’s got us rappin’
We didn’t see this coming…
Didn’t plan to do it,
But God saw us through it.

Greg Holland, boyfriend, Yes they’re dating once again
PennDOT, Internship, Construction worker tan.

Car wreck, Bridesmaid twice, Canada was pretty nice
Junior year, Fancy House, Geneva Marching Band.

Twenty years looks like fourteen; he said so in Counseling
Drove the roller, and the paver, Her first College B.

Sister-of-the-Year award, Roadwork makes her really bored
First-time aunt, wait I can’t, make this rhyme with anything…

We didn’t see this coming…
Yes, it caught us nappin’
Now it’s got us rappin’
We didn’t see this coming…
Didn’t plan to do it,
But God saw us through it.

PanoryFest, Big success, Harry Potter, DS
Swimming lessons, Tennis camp, Down the water slides

Uncle Alex, Frog rock, Shower days, Alarm clock
Camp Invention, No detention, Brother of the brides

Black Belt, Tae Kwon Do, keeping Mom on the go
Mahaffey Camp, Wildwood, Principal’s Office

Sixth Grade, Journaling, Suicide, Counseling
Paper route, We’ll find out, if ’08 can top this…

We didn’t see this coming…
Yes, it caught us nappin’
Now it’s got us rappin’
We didn’t see this coming…
But when we are gone
God will still go on and on and on and on…

Things....

Things I like
~Vacation on the beach with fireworks each night.
~Street Luge with two old men and a broken car.
~Driving my "Cute Lil Thang" Roxy down the Highway.


Things I do not like
~Having my car stolen.
~Caravanning with truckers.
~Doing the dishes for a beach house full of people.
~Waking up from all these weird dreams.

*edit* yes, all of these were the contents (that i remember) of a night worth of really weird dreams.

PS does anyone know if Giraffes have an aversion to standing on level surfaces? or did my brain make that up last night.

If You're Happy and you know it.....

Go Around Twice!!

It's time to start getting into the Spirit!! And being in the Christmas spirit doesn't have to do with red and green or lights or ornaments or spending $150 on the perfect little black dress, or getting 25 gifts for under $50. It's certainly not about going broke (but if you are, be sure and flash your lights)
The Christmas spirit is all about Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men"
I'll share pictures of my christmas decorations and thoughts about Peace and Glory to God in later posts, but for today, have some good will. Good will toward men is all about attitude, it's letting someone ahead of you a crowded store, not yelling at your kids about glitter all over the living room carpet, and sometimes, it might be going around twice just to let the Happy out. So here's my little attempt at good will in case i don't see you in person today. Because making someone smile goes a long way toward Good will.
So i hope you aceept my good will for what it's worth and then go out and share some of your own with someone else...if you do that, you might come a long way closer to Peace on Earth and Glory to God than you might think.