Sun Rail; Leg Room; Disney

SUNRAIL: I just witnessed a historic event here in Central Florida - Governor Crist just signed a bill to get commuter rail started -- apparently it's been a big fight here for several years. Of course Jon was stoked. I decided to go so I could see our oh-so-very-tanned governor in person.

LEG ROOM: I wanted to share with you all a little tip. If you ever have to fly Allegiant Air, make sure you get a seat on the side of the aisle where there are only 2 (not the other side, with 3). The 3-seat side has the seats much closer together. The 2-seat side has more leg room than I have ever experienced outside of first class. Jon thought he had died and gone to heaven! He was even fine in the window seat! Here is a picture for proof.

DISNEY: Jon and I went to Magic Kingdom for our first time on Sunday. It was fabulous. The Christmas decorations were wonderful, and our longest wait was 20 minutes. Peter Pan was a 35 minute wait so we skipped it even though I remember loving it in Disney Land. We played in Magic Kingdom till about 2pm, then hopped on over to Animal Kingdom (where I've been before) so we could go on Everest and the animal safari. Then we tried Hollywood Studios but weren't overly impressed. We decided to go to Disney because we have had two free park-hopper tickets sitting in a drawer for over a year but kept forgetting about them. They expire December 17 - so suddenly we had to hurry up and use them. A great (and cheap!) date!!!! I can't say I understand why people would want season's passes though -- that's a whole lot of money and Disney is TIRING! Next date: foot massages for two! :)

Our first!

This is our first Christmas tree! The last couple of years we settled for rosemary trees, but those always died before the 25th. So this year I talked Jon into getting us a real one. We only have a few ornaments, but we think it looks pretty. The cats think that all the Christmas decorations are new toys for them, so every morning I have to re-hang ornaments and stockings.

P.S. Erika - notice the Angel on the top of the tree - its the same one I made from paper the first year we were in Korea! Haha - remember all of our origami ornaments! Good times.

Who says our cats aren't cuddly!

Alright, so often people mention that our cats are not cuddly and they don't "curl up on your lap like cats should". Whatever people. Our cats are wild, and that's all there is to it. But they know who their mom and dad are and that's what's important.

When we leave on vacation, the cats are ridiculously loving when we get back. Snuggly and a little clingy.

Here is a picture for proof - Jon and Fallujah.

Thanksgiving in the Midwest

We spent a week in the midwest with Jon's family over Thanksgiving. We started out in Chicago and spent time with all three sisters over amazing food. Jon felt "free" again in the big city, and all of his "big city accents" started coming out. As you can see - it was pretty grey and cloudy and I was COLD!

The next stop was Muskegon, Michigan to visit Jon's grandma (his mom's mom). We swung by Lake Michigan for a few photos:

On Tuesday morning we were headed to Grand Rapids. As we drove into the grey, foggy abyss, I thought: why on earth would we ever want to move here????? (yes, we are still considering GR as a possible "home")

But there are some nice things in Grand Rapids. We actually had a great time. We were on our own for the first couple of days, and then Jon's family came in for Thanksgiving and the weekend.

For Thanksgiving meal, Jon, his mom, his sister Allison and I went to an amazing buffet at Charley's Crab. Look at that dessert spread! His other sisters and Dad had not come from Illinois yet - we ate great food with them the next two days!

The main reason we went up to Michigan was for Jon's grandpa's 90th birthday celebration. He is an amazing man with an amazing legacy! 6 kids, 24 grandkids, 20 great-grandkids - so many of them doing remarkable things. The Ippels have changed the world for the better, folks!

Hanging out with some cousins after the birthday shin-dig. The one picture is of me and two of the other ladies married into the Ippel family. We are proud to bring the freckles into the mix!

No trip to GR is complete without a snack at Yesterdog! Ah - brings back memories of hot dogs at two o'clock in the morning after night of studying at the library! (or NOT studying at the library!

Fancy Feast

Some friends of ours have a tradition they call "Fancy Feast". Once a month, they slave away in the kitchen all day and serve a fabulous meal for dinner. Two months ago we had the honor of being invited to Fancy Feast. Remember, two months ago were were temporary vegetarians - so Fancy Feast was vegetarian too. We started with beet soup (oh so pretty pink soup) with a Thai flare. This was followed by greens and goat cheese-stuffed phyllo. The main dish was mac and cheese orzo with fried tomatoes. Dessert was creme brulee (although we must have gobbled that up real quick, because we didn't get pictures).

After dinner, Jon declared that we would host Fancy Feast the next month! Gulp! Well, this time our friend was on a vegetarian kick due to a bet he made with a student of his. So again, a fully meat-free meal was prepared. Their's was better. We started with apple and sweet potato soup (which was tremendous). Next, a pear and croustini salad. The main dish was risotto-stuffed peppers. And dessert was homemade caramel apples (picture taken before the meal).

Well, we just had Fancy Feast number 3 - they invited us back. No one was playing around with vegetarianism this time, so we had some chicken. It was all fabulous. No picture though - the novelty is wearing off already. But it's great to have an absolutely amazing meal once a month - in the comfort of a home. Try it!

P.S. If you read this and haven't yet commented on the Million Miles Post (below) -- DO IT!

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

Donald Miller has done it again. Okay, so I haven't read the book yet, but I went to hear him last night and was blown away. Not in a quick, one night 'Wow" way - but in a more subtle, "yes, he's got this right" way. He's only got a few cities left on his tour, and I don't know people near them - so it looks like ya'll missed out if you didn't already see him. But READ the book.

He talked about stories. About what a story is. About what a character is: someone who wants something and overcomes a challenge in order to get it. About how each person has a story. About how we should make our stories GOOD ones.

He told us about how he grew up without a father. He could sit there and think "that stinks". But that would make for a very boring story. So instead, he started a mentoring project for boys in Portland which is going nation-wide in 2010. The Portland school district just asked them for 500 more mentors - because they are making such a huge difference in the lives of kids who grow up in fatherless homes. The mentors are Christians and the school district knows it - and doesn't care. How cool is that?

He talked about Adam - how he had conflict and loneliness before the fall. Adam was lonely. Next sentence: God told him to name the animals. What? Geez - thanks, God. Finally, God gave Adam a mate. Jesus doesn't fill the hole in your heart -- that would be the final resolution to the story, and we all know that resolution doesn't come until we meet our Maker face to face and are restored to him, how it was in the beginning. If full resolution came here on earth by "meeting Jesus" - we'd all be running around naked and praising God all day long (this is where he mentioned his 'wang' hanging out in the grocery store, which was pretty darn funny). There will be conflict in the story. There NEEDS to be conflict - that's what's gonna make a good story.

Then he talked about what you, as a character, want and what challenges you face in getting what you want. Do you want a new car? A nice house? A cooler phone? Cause that's a really boring story. When the credits roll, will a tear drop from your eye if the protagonist finally gets that brand new car? No. Lame story. You have to want something more than that. You have to have bigger challenges than that. I'm pretty sure he's not saying "go out and make life difficult" - rather, want GOOD things - want BIG things - things that challenge you and the world. His example: seeing 15% of prisons close because of the mentoring program. He gave amazing stats on how over 80% of young males in prison grew up in fatherless homes. Over 70% of rapists grew up in fatherless homes. Wow. And there's something he, and many other people who come alongside the project, can do about that. Good story.

The reason we want "stuff" is because we live in a consumerist society. That is why we have also advertised Jesus in this way - "Jesus fills that hole in your heart. When you know Jesus, you will be complete. Just say yes to Jesus!" ????? But Adam wasn't completely fulfilled. And he knew God better than any of us.

Anyhow - go out and get a copy of the book. I'm going to. Then we can chat about it more in-depth.

And - just to make this interesting, I am asking you to think about your story right now - what you WANT and are working hard to get -- and post it as a comment. Let's see what my readers (all three of you) WANT. Actually, Donald says that people should know what you WANT by your actions. But still - we don't live all that close together. I look forward to your responses!

Single-hood

I secretly love it when Jon is gone because then I get to revert back to my single-hood and have all the great fun I used to have.
Like last night, for example, I went to a church potluck and had an absolute blast. I couldn't believe Jon had to miss it - for a boring ol' trip to NYC. I got home by 9 and then I watched tv - some Office, some NCIS, some other stuff that I fell asleep to. We had no alcohol in the house so I had myself a cup of apple juice. Party! Today will be spent on thesis revisions. Tonight I'm going to hear Donald Miller. And tomorrow I get to work. What an awesome time!

Jon called me this morning. He is staying with friends who live just a couple blocks from the Brooklyn Bridge. So today he is walking across the bridge to Manhattan. He's going to check out a whole bunch of things today on his own, meet a friend for lunch and then hook up with a group of his friends at night again. Last night they met up for "Planner's Trivia". Today he plans on seeing the Empire State Building, Times Square, Central Park, the High Line, Soho...I forget what else he said. Doesn't sound too fun. I'd much rather be at home with my cats. :(

Actually, it's a nice day here. It's chilly - I have my slippers on and a blanket wrapped around me. It's 63 degrees (17 for you Canadians) outside - it feels warmer out there than in the house because of the sun. And yes - I'm allowed to use the word "chilly" because just last week it was still in the high 80's. So this is a huge difference.

Jon will be taking photos today - so if he gets some good ones, I'll post them. Until then, I'll be carrying on with my fun-filled weekend.

S.W.A.T.

I sit here watching TV as a situation unfolds only one mile away. A gunman went into an office building and shot at least 8 people. He has not been found. There are SWAT teams and helicopters and police and horses and ambulances and firetrucks and news vans....

Yesterday the shooting at Ft.Hood. Today this shooting. What's wrong with the world?

I know the answer to that question, but sometimes it's incomprehensible.

3 in 36

There was a week and a half time frame in which I wasn't called in for any births. But then BOOM - three in thirty-six hours.

We had one mom in on Monday. I didn't need to assist in that birth, but I went anyways for observation. I'm glad I did because I got to witness another cool maneuver for sticky shoulders.

On Tuesday, the midwife called me at 5am and told me it was going to take her 40 minutes to get to the Birth Center. The woman sounded pretty far along over the phone based on her contraction pattern. So could I please come right away. I got to the center just as the midwife was checking her, at 6:00am. Gulp. 4cm. She had a ways to go. Well, she had that baby around 7pm. Yes, a long day for everyone involved. Just as I was getting ready to discharge them, another mom walked through the door basically wanting to push. Yowsers! Glad the midwife had just downed a large cup of coffee! I just stayed for that birth, did clean-up for the earlier one, and then another assistant came in to stay with that mom for the night. I got home at about 3am.

So that was the first part of my week. Busy. Yesterday and today are being spent on school work. I got suggestions back on my thesis from some of my advisory committee members. Also, I had a friend go over it with me who seems to be a writing genius. So today I am re-working, re-wording, re-thinking a lot of things. This process is not near done. I am still hoping to defend my thesis in December so that it is done and over with by the new year. Then I can just plow away at practical stuff and course work.

Jon gets to go to New York next week. The US is bidding for the World Cup in 2018 or 2022. So now US cities are bidding to be venues for the games. To do this, I guess representatives go to New York and make their city seem like the best. Jon has to talk about the sustainability efforts of the city, especially for the new sports venues that are being built. There is some tough competition - including three other Florida cities - but he thinks they have a good shot... Orlando hosted in 1994 and had the highest attendance. But I will spoil the surprise, we will not, I repeat, WILL NOT be living here during the games. Still, it's cool that he gets to go and do this. He has friends in NYC so will be staying a couple extra days to hang with them. Yes, I am jealous, but I have a thesis to finish. :)

One last thing. I totally forget the context for this comment, and what we were talking about, but one of the people in our LIFE group (through Church) said this last night: "Maybe that's why liberals are such killjoys." Huh? Jon put a huge grin on his face and goes: "I'm a liberal. And I'm FULL of joy!"

I hope that's how you feel today, no matter what people say about you -- FULL of JOY!

Halloween

I am not posting about Halloween, just ON Halloween. I really have nothing to say about the holiday because I am not dressing up or going to a party. We might hand out candy at our friends' house though.


I have good news: the sink is no longer clogged - we have a new one! A brand new bathroom sink with brand new pipes and it looks marvelous. It may seem weird that I could get that excited about a sink, but our old one was hideous and cracked and mounted to the wall crookedly. So now it's shiny and new and makes the whole bathroom look better. I got a new bathroom rug to go along with the new sink.


Other good news: I am now doing blood draws at the clinic. Yup - I can draw blood. And I don't get queasy. We didn't have a very good clinic week though - sometimes we see some not-so-great stuff, and this week we had some of that. I won't go into details, but I was reminded that I haven't chosen the easiest of professions.


In my LIFE group this week, I had to tell my life story. Everyone in the group gets a chance to do it - you have about an hour and a half to talk about your life and the events that have formed who you are today. This is really interesting, as some folks are close to 60 and have a lot more life experience than some of us younger folks. However, my story has quite a bit of adventure and excitement, so I had fun telling it and I think people enjoyed listening. It is quite cool to go back and think about your life like this and remember things from your past - both the good and bad. I have a few life verses, but the one that is all-encompassing is Psalm 126:2-3: "Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy...the LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." I am so thankful for all of the amazing experiences I have had, the places I've seen, and the phenomenal people I've met. And I think it's good for me to reflect on that from time to time while I live here in Orlando. It's easy to get caught up in the mundane...but that's so BORING! There's plenty of adventure still to be had (even if it is in central Florida)!!!

Happy October 31st, everyone!

The Checklist

Do you ever feel like life is becoming a checklist? I think that's how I have felt recently. And when things don't get crossed off the list when they are supposed to (or not at all), I stress out. The last couple weeks have been quite stressful, I have put in tons of hours at the clinic and the birth center while still trying to do homework, earn a bit of money, and do wifely duties around the home. Jon doesn't really expect me to do all the cleaning, laundry, cooking, etc - but I am the one with the car. So if I'm gone at a birth and there are no groceries in the house, that kind of sucks for him. And if I don't get the clothes to the cleaners, that also kind of sucks for him. Good thing it's still warm and he can wear polo shirts that are machine washable. The cleaning - well, we've both just been okay with living in a not-so-spic-and-span home. Neither of us feel like cleaning all that often.

So here is my current checklist:

☑ Submit medical insurance information for auto accident (back in April)
☑ Submit first draft of thesis to advisory committee
☑ Bring dry-cleaning away
□ Hand wash table cloths and bed spread (table cloths are all dirty as of now)
□ Unclog bathroom sink
□ Attend lactation consultant workshop for course on Breastfeeding and write a paper on it
□ Complete 20 witness births so I can start active participant births
□ Complete 20 blood draws
□ Complete maternal and newborn vitals log
□ Complete course on Breastfeeding
□ Write devotional for church book that I promised to do about a month ago
□ Perspectives class (I have agreed to help coordinate Perspectives at our church – a whole checklist of its own!
□ Get back on track with marathon training!!!

This is my list for October. Obviously, I won't get all of it done in the next 10 days, but I'm gonna try my best for most of them.

You will notice that there are two big weights off my back: 1) submission of my thesis!!!! It's only the first draft, so now my advisory committee is reviewing it and will send it back with suggestions. Then I have to revise, and resubmit and prepare for my oral defense. Yikes. I'll think about that later.

2) submission of our medical insurance stuff - we sent the insurance company a packet that outlines everything we need to pay and what we need reimbursement for. So maybe that will finally come to a close soon! We waited so long because there were still some bills being worked out with the physical therapy place. Anyhow - we're hoping for Christmas bonus!

Anyhow - so life is a bit of a checklist right now, but I'm okay with that. I took time to "smell the roses" last night with Jon - we ordered pizza and watched NCIS. We get leftover pizza tonight - two nights in a row with no cooking for either of us! Yay! Tonight, though, we have our LIFE group (through church) which means this afternoon is homework time. So - off I go. Back to the checklist!

Just for the sake of posting...

Hey folks. I don't have any news, and no great pictures to share. But I'm posting because I get bored when others don't update their blogs...and I realize I'm pretty guilty of that myself.

I'm sitting here at the birth center - a baby was born at about 5am ( I got here at about 4:30) and now it's almost 12:30. We keep the family for 4 hours minimum, but technically, they are allowed to stay as long as they want. Unfortunately for me, this family seems to have more visitors on the way -- so we will be here for a while yet. This is their fourth kid, so think they don't want to go home to chaos and like the peace and quiet of the birth center. Totally understandable. But a little frustrating for me who has had hardly any sleep, no breakfast or lunch, and just recently found out that another client is in labor. I'm hoping this next one holds off till tomorrow morning so I can go home and sleep and shower and eat.

On Monday night this week I was called it at 11:00pm. We had one baby at 2am, and then another at 11am...that was a really long shift on NO sleep. Yowsers. But...these are all learning opportunities, so for that I'm grateful. I was at the clinic on Monday and Wednesday this week (not Tuesday because of the babies).

In other news, I think I had the worst bowling game of my life last night (68), and Jon probably had his best (156). We went to a pumpkin carving party on Friday night and it is official - I don't enjoy carving pumpkins. I just don't find it very amusing. It stinks. It's sticky. The pumpkins look crappy the next day. I'm over it. I'd much rather make and eat caramel apples. :)

Oh - that reminds me - Happy Thanksgiving, Canadians!

Learning

I have been apprenticing at the Birth Place for a few weeks now, and have already learned a ton. The staff is awesome, and my preceptor (the main midwife) has me shadowing several different roles so that I understand the workings of a birth center. I think this experience will really help me in the future. Not only do I sit in and participate somewhat in the prenatal and postpartum visits, but I've also seen what goes on behind the front desk, helped with intake and history taking, and helped with labwork.

Before I write my NARM (to become a Certified Professional Midwife) I need to have a bunch of skills signed off by preceptor. Along with this, I need to have conducted a certain number of prenatal and postpartum exams, baby check-ups, assists and deliveries. I need to conduct 75 prenatal exams on my own. For a lot of students, this would take quite a long time while working with a homebirth midwife - often less than 10 prenatals are done per month. But at the birth center, we had over 45 moms come in yesterday! Can you believe it? This has a lot to do with the fact that the Birth Place has an easy-access clinic for women who are uninsured or on medicaid (government insurance for low-income - for those of you Canadians reading this). Their prenatal care is done at the Birth Place, but they deliver in the hospital (a lot of them are required to because of risk factors).

That being said, this apprenticeship also exposes me to a lot more things than a "normal" midwifery practice would. I take tons of notes all day on topics that I have to come home and look up.

One more thing about this center that is awesome is that the consult doctor (the one who delivers a lot of the hospital women and the one the midwives consult with regarding risk issues) has started coming to the center to do the consult visits with the high risk patients. That way, they are still in familiar surroundings during that visit and get to know the doctor that will be at their delivery. How cool is that!

So anyhow, I'm really enjoying it. It doesn't feel like "time off" at all though - in fact, I feel more busy than when I had my job!

Half-way Through September

Here we are, half-way through September, so I thought I'd give you an update on our goals/life changes that I wrote about a couple of posts ago:

1. TV: Hmmm...well, first of all Obama had to go and decide to give his big speech so OF COURSE we had to watch that! And college football started, so I've seen/heard Jon watching that a bit. And I MIGHT have been watching a bit of HGTV the other day when I was stressed out and didn't even want to think. So there...you be the judge.

2. Being at the birth center is awesome and I'm learning a ton. It's so different from learning out of books, and it's different from when I was in the Philippines because now I actually understand what the women are saying!

3. Thesis writing...needless to say, I should probably be doing that right now instead of writing this post. But, it's coming along. Jon is in Atlanta tonight and I've been very productive in the past 12 hours. I plan on staying up late tonight to get a few more pages out.

4. Marathon training - what? huh? oh ya.... well, I haven't stuck to the schedule EXACTLY, but I don't think too many of you can criticise me for that, so I'm not worried. :) I've already paid for the race, so I'm running it no matter what!

5. Vegetarianism - that goal quickly turned to "vegetarianism when we cook at home", as we have both been guilty of eating meat when we go out. We're still happy with that though, and feel like we're expanding our cooking and taste buds a bit!

So there you have it. Also, I don't believe there has been a CAT update for a while, so here they are! I always wonder what they do when we're not home. The other day I found them perched in these strange spots in the kitchen, and it only made me more curious. Atticus is getting real good at playing "catch" - he catches his toy mouse mid-air -- sometimes in his paws, sometimes in his teeth. Fallujah still likes to play "fetch" - roll a ball down the stairs, and he'll run after it, chasing it to the bottom of the stairs. Then he'll pick it up in his mouth and bring it back. Then you get to throw it again. Sometimes he plays by himself in the middle of the night. We have hard-wood stairs, and it wakes the whole house up (downstairs neighbors included). But we love those rascals and wouldn't trade them for anything!

Vegetarian...but not loving it

So this looks pretty much like a familiar enchilada or something, right? Nope - it's filled with tofu. And in my opinion, there is nothing familiar about tofu. I can't say I loved this meal. But Jon and our friend liked it pretty well. I'm glad there was cheese to help cover the tofu-ness.

This is the lovely bean/mushroom/onion burger Jon made on Wednesday night. It looked good. It smelled good. But neither of us were crazy about the taste.

I think I'm actually having more fun plating the food and taking pictures of it than I am eating it. But hey - it makes the whole experience a little more enjoyable.

September

The month of September is going to be an interesting one.

Why? Because...

1. Jon and I are not watching any TV.

2. I am starting to apprentice full time at the birth center and have quit my job.

3. My thesis is due at the end of the month.

4. I have just begun a marathon training program.

5. We are eating vegetarian this month.

Due to #5, I have been experimenting a bit with vegetarian meals. Last night, I pulled out the ingredients for the dish I was preparing:

sweet potatoes

onions

garlic and ginger

cayenne and paprika

tomatoes

pineapple juice

peanut butter

garnish: beets, carrots and bananas in lime juice

Jon saw all of this and said "What the heck kind of recipe is this???" We were both a little skeptical. But, look at how lovely it turned out. And it tasted amazing!

So, as we experiment this month, I will hopefully post from time to time with news on interesting or delicious meals.

Murder Mystery Party

Last weekend, I turned 30. Instead of letting the moment pass me by, I decided to throw a party. A Murder Mystery Party. It took a lot of preparation (cutting, pasting, imagining, assigning characters, shopping, decorating) but I think it was worth it. We had a blast. It was a 1920's Mobster theme - the party took place at my (Rosie's) Speakeasy. While everyone was having a great time, a murder occurred. Can't tell you who died in case you ever play. Then we all had to figure out whodunnit. Can't tell you whodunnit either.

Props - I printed these covers of 1920's Life Magazine and glued them onto Dwell Magazines.

Rosie's bulletin board - with notes from the likes of Al Capone and Jane Green.


The party takes place during the prohibition.

Bernie Bootlegger and Notorious Nick

Southside Sal and his girl, Natalie

Cheif Cameron and Mugsy Malone

PI Pinkerton and Cy Ramsey

Rosie Marie and Kitty

The dead guy


Diva Dina and Natalie

The whole group

If you ever get a chance to host or attend a murder mystery party, I highly recommmend it. We bought the game online and can definately use it over again to host other games in which Jon and I won't play. Two pieces of advice: 1. You may THINK you have enough beer, but you won't. People drink like crazy during the prohibition! 2. Plan ahead for the "gun shot". Shoes being hit together does not sound like a gun.

Seattle