The Little Things...

Informance = Change!

2012-01-31T14:00:00.000-08:00

After last year's craziness I decided to try for a change - and it somehow worked! Last year each grade K-6 had two on-stage performances. For those of you that have never planned a performance with 100 kindergarteners that may not seem like very much...but believe me, it was a little ridiculous! The hardest part was the extreme amount of time it takes to prepare the kids to do well at each performance...it took about 2 months out of curriculum teaching to prepare for each concert. 4 months GONE out of the 9 that we have to be learning about music! In addition, I have about 30 minutes total of prep time each day...and to plan 16 interested and educational performances in that time WHILE also planning for daily activities AND keeping my room organized and myself sane was a challenge to the say the least. Time for a change, people!

The hardest part was that I wasn't really sure what I wanted the year to look like, so last spring I made a proposal to change from two yearly "performances" to one "performance" and one "informance". An "informance" is basically an in-class time when parents get to see what their kids can do, and the kids get to show off their abundant skills (in a comfortable, safe, and familiar environment). My principal said "go for it", the superintendent eventually said yes, the board said yes, and I found myself slowly figuring out what this year could look like! I love change...

And it ROCKED! I was pretty nervous the first night, as the elementary music program has been the same for the last 35 years, and Story City isn't exactly a community to embrace a 'rocking of the boat', but it went great, was very well received, and the year has been SO much smoother. I feel like the kids are internalizing concepts and learning so much more...AND they got to show off what they can actually do, instead of just a few cutesy songs they learned for one performance!

Here are some highlights. :)

A few of the cuties up close :)

Playing "Christmas is Coming"

And they're ALL on the steady beat!

I love my job...

What's music without some xylophone ostinati?!

Beautiful!

Neff Thanksgiving

2012-01-28T20:06:00.000-08:00

We were lucky to be able to fit in two Thanksgivings this year! The actual Thursday Thanksgiving day was spent with Chris' side of the family, and as always, it was wonderful. :) The Neffs were once again our lovely hosts, and we had a great time catching up with family!

Neffs are always such gracious hosts...what a beautiful table!

Ben chowing down on the great Thanksgiving food!

Good food and great family.

Not really sure how this picture came about...hmm...

And this is so typical of the Farley boys and Jason. Oh my.

Good looking guys!

We love hanging with the Farley Family!

Stellmaker/Ouimette Thanksgiving

2012-01-28T16:37:00.000-08:00

We were SO excited to have the whole California Ouimette clan (minus Christine's family, who were busy hanging out in Africa and couldn't make the trip!) to Story City for Thanksgiving this year! There were some Minnesota family members that had other plans and couldn't make it, but it was So much fun to be together with the people that could come!

We started the weekend festivities with a trip downtown to watch the tree lighting on Story City's main street. Somehow, NONE of the Stellmakers had ever been to this event, so we didn't really know what to expect!

They handed out candles so we could have a candlelight song - funny part, they forgot to sing the song/light the candles, so we just held unlit candles for half an hour, then turned them back in at city hall. :)

With their unlit candles, all bundles up! Papa's such a sport...89 and still keeping up with the young'uns!

Matthew and Soren - two peas in a pod!

Happy Thanksgiving honey!

Part of our large crew...even Lincoln made it!

Santa dropped "snowballs" from high in the sky.

It was pretty fun! They were actually ping pong balls, and they all had prizes written on them!

Olivia made out like a bandit!

And I think we got some insoles for our shoes. :)

What's a night out in Story City without a trip to the fire station?

Chris likes the big toys. :)

No family gathering can happen without breaking out the marbleworks!

Or a little boy wrestling...

Oh boys...

It's fun to have so many grown-up boys now...bring on the football!

And the cheerleaders!

And of course, there was a ridiculous amount of food :)

We had to eat in three different rooms so everyone could have a seat!

It was so much fun having all the little ones around - and especially to meet Greyson when he was still so young! What a doll!

Big SMILES!

We LOVED this long weekend...seriously good time with great family!

Some Random "Funness"

2012-01-28T16:24:00.000-08:00

WICKED!

Maria Lovin had a great idea to buy a group of tickets to Wicked for her birthday - 25 people and an awesome group of girls later, and we were off for a fun night at the Civic Center! I had already seen Wicked in Chicago, but it was SO much fun to see it again!

Definitely my favorite musical...

Supper beforehand at Maria's house

The whole group...what fun to spend time with girls that I don't get to see very often!

SMALL GROUP!

We joined a connection group through church last semester, and have LOVED being a part of this group. Last semester the group was made up of four couples (left to right): the Heckethorns, Allans, Lubbers, and Farleys. We were so sad to see the Heckethorns leave to go to nursing school after last semester...but are excited to have a new couple join this semester! Community is a real blessing!

AMY'S SENIOR RECITAL!

For those of you that don't know, my sister is TOTALLY awesome! She had her senior recital last semester and rocked it...so talented! Proud of you sister!

Papa waiting patiently for the show to start!

Amy is so good at acting the part!

And she looks good, huh?!

Can you tell we thought she was awesome?!

Cute!

Some teachers and friends from UNI

Some of Amy's fan club!

The whole Stellmaker crew...Matthew even flew up for the event! What a supportive, awesome brother. :)

And what's a family picture without a lot of goofy?!

Book #2: "'Tis, a Memoir"

2012-01-28T15:00:00.000-08:00

I FINALLY finished the second book in this series. I read "Angela's Ashes" over Christmas break last year, and just haven't been able to get through this second book. These three books tell the story of Frank McCourt, an Irish boy who grew up in poor Ireland and moved to the United States when he was around 20. He has SUCH an interesting writing voice, and communicates extremely hard times with lots of comedy mixed in. The best recommendation though - my dad has read all three of these...and he barely EVER makes it through a book! Totally recommend these!

Book #1: "Michal: a Novel"

2012-01-28T14:53:00.000-08:00

This was a free book that I downloaded on my kindle, and I ended up really liking it! Michal was King David's first wife, and Smith took some creative liberty (within the confines of historical knowledge) and turned her story into a novel. I feel like I learned a lot and got better at imagining what life was like back then. It wasn't the best book I've ever read, but was good and entertaining!

Stellmakers in VEGAS!

2012-01-28T14:49:00.000-08:00

Well, I've had a list of 20+ blog posts to do for the last month - and here they come! Life is busy and so good, and while I don't always get around to documenting things as they happen, I guess it's better late than never!

A while ago we decided to do something different for the Stellmaker Christmas celebration this year, and randomly decided to head to Las Vegas! It's not your typical holiday destination, but it was so much fun to get away with the family and see some really neat things. Only mom and Matthew had ever been there before, so it was all new for most of us. Here are some of the highlights!

Dad looking cute in his warm vest.

Over-looking over Lake Mead

Mom and dad - cute couple!

Thought we'd get one of Matthew like this so we could photo-shop his future girl in!

At Hoover Dam

We took a tour of the inside - it was really neat, and so impressive!

Everybody with their brochures being serious tourists!

Loved spending time with this boy!

We went to the Venetian for supper one night. We loved seeing it, especially having been to Venice. SO cool!

The ceiling looked so real!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Free drinks (for everyone except my pregger self!) at a bar in one of the casinos. We were impressed with his technique!

Such cool things to see!

We LOVED the Belagio fountains! We got to see the water "dance" to "Hallelujah Chorus" and "O Holy Night"...it was so neat!

We took Saturday to relax, prepare food, and open presents. Not a bad spread for a hotel room!

Looking good brother!

We always make everyone try on their new clothes...don't they look pretty!

Amy's new teacher shoes!

Our Uncle Doug and Aunt Sue have a fun tradition of sending us a Life Saver's book...thanks you guys!

And then...THE GRAND CANYON!

Seriously so beautiful!

And of course, a little bit of silliness with siblings. :)

Loved being here with my honey.

We got to go to the "Bodies" exhibit. It was so interesting, and I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would!

Egypt anyone?

We went to see a lion feeding - except they had changed the time of the feeding without changing any of the information in the tourist brochures. SO, instead we watched lions laying.

Bring on the penny slots!

Don't do it Chris!

Super Chris goes to see "Super M"

We got to tell my family that we were expecting a BOY on this trip! So of course, we couldn't leave the M'n'M store without some M'n'M baby cuteness!

Chris, HANDS OFF!

We didn't make it to the official Las Vegas sign, so we settled for this one. :)

And what's a trip to the M'n'M store without watching a 3D M'n'M video in ridiculous glasses?!

It was such a great trip with tons of awesome family time. I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!! What a great Christmas memory...

Roland-Story Awesomeness!

2012-01-03T10:52:00.000-08:00

This is a news clip about Roland-Story (the school district that I work at). Every year they put on a senior citizen Christmas dinner...and it is SO cool! Makes me proud to be part of a place that still encourages and cultivates such great values...enjoy!

Kids Give Back

2012 Goals

2012-01-01T17:28:00.000-08:00

2012 Goals

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*The first five are taken from David Platt's book "Radical", and are called "The Radical Experiment". I'm doing these with 3 other girls in the Ames area, and feeling VERY blessed to have them in my life to challenge and spur me on!

1. Pray for the World

I'm using the book "Operation World" and Joshua Project's daily e-mails to do this...

2. Read through the Bible

Got the kindle version of the NLT chronological "in a year" bible...I think it's going to be awesome!

I'm finding 1 verse each day to focus on, and reflecting on how I can 1) Submit, 2) Steward, and 3) Serve as encouraged by that verse

3. Sacrifice your Money for a specific purpose

We're sacrificing to become debt-free, but are praying for how God would have us use our excess money after our debt is gone. Not sure what this will look like yet...but I'm planning to read "Neither Poverty Nor Riches" to process/learn more.

4. Spend Time in Another Context

We had originally planned to go on a trip in August, and thought to make it a combined mission/debt-payoff trip. With our little guy coming in May, we're not quite sure if that'll happen...but somehow we're going to be finding a way to spend time in a different, uncomfortable context where we can serve and grow at the same time.

5. Commit to a Multiplying Community

We are continually learning what it looks like to live in community in America. I'm excited to watch these two sermon series to do some more processing/learning about how to live like this: Engage and Covenant Community

6. Memorize 1 verse a week.

I think I'll start reviewing the Navigator's "Topical Memory System", and then go from there.

7. Read 1 more book than last year (25)

I just bought six "baby books" yesterday, and have 3 Christian books on my list already. And of course, that doesn't include the 9 books I've borrowed from people that need to get read! Oh boy...

8. Run a 10K (with Chris!) in the fall

I mentioned this goal to Chris and HE VOLUNTEERED to run it with me! I'm so pumped!

9. Become debt-free!

Scheduled to happen some time in May - WAHOO!

10. Get back to pre-pregnancy weight

Hopefully by the end of the summer - but I'm pretty loose about the time frame on this one, as I have no idea how my body will have changed and what I'll be able to do with a little one! But this will happen at least by the end of the year!

11. Save money to buy an SLR camera

Thought this would be good timing, as we'll likely be taking lots of fun baby pictures. :)

12. Be more intentional with communication/interaction

I really want to continue this goal from last year, and have it include my cell phone (those of you that know me well know what I'm talking about!), remembering and planning for birthdays/events ahead of time, and just generally keeping in touch with people in spite of work and having a new baby.

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This morning at church, we were challenged to think about what would make 2012 a really successful year - and to process that 2012 needs NOTHING other than Christ to be great. I'm continually learning how to die to myself, and I think that includes goal-setting. So I'm holding these goals with an open hand, and acknowledging that my only TRUE goal is to be more in love with my Lord at the end of this year than I am now.

Final Goal Reflection, 2011

2011-12-31T07:59:00.000-08:00

End of Year = Final Goal Reflection!

Goal 1 - Catch up on scrapbooking
*I have officially "made the change" to online scrapbooking! It feels really good...and I'm officially done with our Hong Kong trip and Ireland trip. I'm working on Chile, and should be done in a couple of days. India is a bit more overwhelming than anticipated since there are just SO MANY pictures, but I'm going to rock it out and just ATTACK it. Fingers crossed, this one will get done by end of January?!

Goal 2 - Become active/involved at Cornerstone
   *DONE - but hoping for more now. :) We decided to pull out of the PK room, and I've joined the worship band while Chris is starting on the tech team this Sunday. We're LOVING our small group, and are excited to see how God will continue to grow relationships and challenge us through those people. I'd really like to get involved with the International Ministry and maybe some short-term missions trips, so that's the next goal!

Goal 3 - Get trained in foster care
   *DONE!

Goal 4 - Become conversational in Spanish
     *Didn't happen…this was a pretty lofty goal without having an outlet to practice, I should be more realistic sometimes :)

Goal 5 - Save up to buy a nice bike
   * DONE!

Goal 6 - Have a garden/do some canning
   *I got a basil plant - but I decided not to count this. :) I'd like to make that a continuing goal for this next year, but with a baby due on May 7th, am seeing a serious conflict with planting season. Hmmm...maybe this one will wait until we have our own place and no little one on the way!

Goal 7 - Work through my elementary curriculum
*DONE!

Goal 8 - Level 1 Kodaly Certification
*DONE!

Goal 9 - Finish a marathon
   *Didn't happen - but for a good reason (pregnancy!). I have no regrets about not finishing this goal!

Goal 10 - $18,000 of student loans paid off, $4,000 in savings
     *DONE!

Goal 11 - Be more intentional with communication/interaction.
   *Big “Aha” moment related to this goal! Ever since I entered “adult life” I’ve felt frustrated by a dramatic drop in my desire to be social. I used to initiate group get-togethers, invite people to everything, and call for one-on-ones all the time! What I’m realizing, though, is that the combination of marriage and teaching COMPLETELY fills my social capacity, and by the time a free second comes long, I’ve got very little left for anyone else.
     This feels both good and frustrating at the same time. Recently I’ve had a couple of days at home, and by the end of the 2^nd day I was completely STIR CRAZY! I’ve never texted so much in my life! It feels good that I haven’t actually changed, and given more time and less people, I will probably fall right back into intentional communication/ interaction naturally. However, it also feels frustrating because it feels like I’m losing a lot of time to build relationships. Thankfully, I do feel like my job is also a mission field, and can spend my time loving the little ones that need love.
     All that to say – I think I’ve realized my capacity for intentionality, and will have to continue being intentional until it comes naturally again. :)

Extra Goal: Read 24 Books
    *DONE! I’m even ¾ the way through #25. :)

FINAL REFLECTION: I love what happened this year, but also see areas for improvement…. and really, what more could you ask for?!

And with that, I’m declaring my 2011 goals all wrapped up!

Farley Family Christmas, 2011

2011-12-30T09:30:00.000-08:00

This year Christmas with the Farley's was different than normal - We ended up celebrating Christmas during the weekend of the 16th - 18th...and in Iowa City at Mike and Lianne's house. Tradition is always so nice and comfortable, but change always brings about new and exciting moments, so it was neat to have a different Christmas experience! Mike and Lianne's house is big and beautiful, and easily housed the whole family for the weekend. No surprise - Lianne is a WONDERFUL hostess, and we stayed in comfort and ate like royalty. :)

All the stockings fit on this mantle too!

Pretty decorations...

The "before" picture of the living room/tree.

WHOA presents.

Pretty ladies in the kitchen!

Rachel's scrumptuous cinnamon rolls

All the Farley girls!

Our totally serious Christmas pose.

And again...

Okay, here's a for real one.

Chris is still surprised by my belly sometimes!

Adorable Santa Ben!

And, winter Ben...


Yes, Brian did get a present from Victoria's Secret. :) Don't worry, it was cologne.

Chris with all his geek gear!

Rach and Ben checking out his new workshop!

And....the "after" picture. Oh my!

Some pictures of the sweet food from the weekend!

Amy's awesome desserts!

The pretty table - it took us WAY too long to re-discover how to cut snowflakes!

The boys hanging in the basement, playing with the new flight simulators.

Yep, they're all boy.

Seriously scary Santa - Rachel and Santa have a love/hate (mostly hate!) relationship - and this MAY have been Santa's last Christmas with the Farley family!

Christmas dinner - YUMMY!


God bless us, every one!

SUCH a great weekend with people we love. Thanks Farleys!

Reveal/Christmas Date!

2011-12-29T15:21:00.000-08:00

We had a really hard time deciding if we wanted to find out the gender of our baby. We had people tell us they loved not knowing and loved knowing, but eventually it came down to us feeling like we really wanted to know...that it would make it feel more real. However, I REALLY didn't want to find out if it was a boy or a girl with goop on my belly in a dark room with the ultrasound technician sitting right next to us.

A little blurry, but I'm happy and excited to see this little stinker!

Here are some of our favorite pictures of our ultrasound - YAY for healthy, beautiful baby!

I love the little face!!!

Look at those ribs!

We decided to have the ultrasound technician write the gender on a piece of paper, stick it in an envelope, and then go on a special gender reveal/Christmas date. It ended up being really special - and I even got a new preggers dress for the occasion. :)

Pre-date picture...we were both so excited!

We'd never eaten at Aunt Maude's before...it was SO GOOD!

Close-up :)

Didn't Chris do an awesome job wrapping?! I was so impressed!

This is what I saw when I opened the box - see "funny story" at the end to explain!

He got me these boots - I was pumped!

Chris posing with his present - I forgot to get a picture of the opened product, but it was a pair of "hearty" dress shoes.

Yummy appetizer!

"Oh my gosh....what will it say?!"

"I don't know, should we open it?!"

It's a BOY!!!

Daddy's so happy!

Mama's pretty pumped!

After supper we went and got some baby outfits. :) It was so fun!

It fits!

Had to get the classic preggers picture.

Chris didn't want to be left out, so he tried to find a spot for the outfit to fit too..


Pretty pose!

The night was so special. I love that we decided to do a special date to find out what it was, and also loved that we had a few days where Chris and I were the only ones that knew the gender. We are SO excited about our new addition, and I'm really glad that we decided to find out what this first one is...it definitely feels much more real!

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*Funny Story: We went down to Kansas City about 2 months ago with some family friends. I had saved up some money to buy boots, and ended up getting two pair at the outlet malls down there. Since everything didn't fit into my bag on the way back I decided to throw some stuff in a shopping bag to take it home - however, as the girls were bringing things up to the car to get packed, they mistook my shopping bag for garbage and accidentally threw it away. When we called the next morning, the garbage had already been taken away. :( The bag included all my make-up, one of my new pairs of boots, my black teacher shoes, and my nice slippers. It was pretty disheartening, but I definitely learned a great lesson about holding "stuff" with an open hand! Chris decided to replace the lost boots for a Christmas present (which is also why he filled the box with garbage!) and I was very excited. :)

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All that to say, we're having a BOY, and couldn't be more excited!

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL!

Halloween = Ridiculousness

2011-12-21T00:26:00.000-08:00

Totally ridiculous.

We got invited to a costume party over Halloween, and in true Farley fashion, waited until the day-of to figure out what we were going to wear. One of our friends had said in passing that we should dress up as “trailer trash” (I hate that term, I’m so sorry!), and we eventually thought it would be pretty funny. While I resist the stereo-type and know it’s totally ridiculous, it was fun to pick up all the ridiculous extremes and put them into one outfit. For this reason, our ensemble included 1) a beer bottle held by a very pregnant me (not actually that big, and not actually any alcohol!), 2) wearing curlers and a wife beater, 3) my shirt saying “are you my baby dady?” with an arrow to my “belly”, 4) Chris sporting a fu-man-chu, and 5) Chris’ shirt pointing to his biceps inviting everyone to the “gun show”.

I know - it's really scary.

All the guys!

I swear, we're still the same people!

Like I said…totally ridiculous!

Book #24: "Unbroken"

2011-12-20T23:52:00.000-08:00

This book tells the story of Louis Zamporini, an Italian American that served in WW2. He was first known for his unbelievable talent in running. He was an Olympic runner, and if he hadn’t gone off to war, many believe he would have been the first to break the 4:00 mile. However, he did go off to war, and eventually his plane went down in the Pacific Ocean. This story tells of his survival through 40-some days on a raft in the ocean, Japanese POW camps, unbelievably awful situations, and eventually how he learned to cope with his past and live his life well.

I absolutely loved this book! I really enjoy historic novels, but especially love historical non-fiction. The neat thing about this book is that it read like a novel while giving tons of historical information and telling a personal story at the same time. I totally recommend reading this, it was awesome!

And with that.....(drumroll please)....I've REACHED MY BOOK GOAL for the year! I'm totally pumped, especially since I didn't reach this goal last year. :) Yippee!

Park to Park 10K - Only a Few Months Late!

2011-12-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

I never posted about this race, but it was so fun! Originally it was supposed to be a stepping stone in my marathon training – BUT, we ended up finding out about our pregnancy about 3 weeks before this race, so it ended up being just a fun race. (I thought about continuing on to at least run a half marathon, but ended up just running “gently” after we found out that we were expecting!) It was especially fun because it ended up being a family event! My brother-in-law Matt and I ran the 10K, and Amy and my mom ran the 5K. Good times had by all!

I feel a little sad that I won’t get to cross off the “marathon goal” this year, but the trade-off is definitely worth it!

Matt and I before the race

Getting all set up!

Crossing the finish line...

Amy before the race - pretty happy girl!

The two runner girls!

Crossing the finish line!

YAY for family races! Excited for the next one! :)

The Belly: WHOA

2011-12-08T19:52:00.000-08:00

I don't think I'll be someone that reports often on the "belly progress"...I'll probably keep taking pictures, and maybe do one big post at the end. However, I've only taken two shots so far, and when I compared them tonight (after taking the second one) felt SHOCKED at the difference. When it happens gradually you're just not so aware - I mean yes, it feels very annoying that I only fit into one pair of my dress pants right now, and even those are so tight that I'm sporting some serious muffin-top action...but in general, I don't notice that I'm getting that much bigger. Seeing the difference between the pictures though, it kind of hit home...there's a baby growing in there!

THEN #1: Around 7-8 weeks.

THEN #2: The funny thing is, I thought I was showing at this point. Oh, little did I know!

NOW #1: 18 Weeks, 3 Days

NOW #2: And there ya go! Oh my...

I'm going to be doing some serious maternity shopping this weekend, since I'm starting to feel depressed every time I walk into my closet. :) "Hmm...look at all these clothes that I can't wear!" Other than the clothes issue though, I feel GREAT, and am excited to actually be feeling pregnant! I'm not feeling tired anymore, haven't had any sickness since week 9, and am figuring out a consistent work-out routine that fits this stage of life.

I've been feeling the baby move for about 2 weeks now! Chris has even gotten to feel it multiple times, which makes it SO much fun. We're still trying to decide if we're going to find out the gender...but if we do, we've decided to have them put it in an envelope and then go on a special Christmas/"find out what we're having" date. I think either way will be great!

And with that, I'm off to bed. Sweet dreams!

Book #23: "The Help"

2011-11-19T20:05:00.000-08:00

Oh, this book is so so SO good!

If you haven't read this book, I'm going to say that you need to! This was another audio book from audible and to be honest, it was really neat listening to it as opposed to reading it myself. The narrators were unbelievable, and they all had very distinct personalities with sweet accents...it's like the book came alive, and I didn't have to do any work to get it there!

I thought this book did a great job of highlight the inequalities that were still very present after slavery was abolished...it presented situations as they could have been, and then let those situations speak to your heart. Totally loved it, can't wait to see the movie!

Book #20: "The Pilot's Wife"

2011-11-19T19:58:00.000-08:00

This is a novel I borrowed from my sister-in-law Lianne, and it was good! I'm tending to gravitate toward real-life inspirational and international stories lately, and this one didn't necessarily fit the mold. BUT, it was a mystery, it was engaging, and I was not sad that I spent time reading it when it was over! I mean, you gotta love a page-turning plot, right?! I think this would be a great traveling book on your Kindle!

Book #21: "Kisses from Katie"

2011-11-19T19:56:00.000-08:00

Hmmm....ahhh....oh my....YES PLEASE! I've been following Katie Davis' blog since the beginning of our time in India, and what an amazing and inspiring and challenging story of obedience and passion for one of God's simplest and most powerful commands to His people: care for the poor. Katie decided to spend time in an African orphanage over Christmas break of her senior year of high school, and ever since then has been "ruined for American life", as she puts it. Her heart could never let go of those children and that place, so after she graduated she found herself on a plane back to Africa for a year working as a "Kindergarten teacher." She's still there.

She has now adopted 13 girls, is running a ministry that sends over 400 kids to school each year and feeds over 1,000 people from the poorest tribe in her area. Seriously challenging, and really makes you long to be in the CENTER of God's will for your life. She's honest about the struggles, but also honest about how great it feels....everyone should read this book!

Book #22: "90 Minutes in Heaven"

2011-11-19T19:52:00.000-08:00

I read this on a 6-hour car drive, and it was the perfect car-read. Quick, easy, engaging, thought and conversation-provoking. Don Piper is a pastor who was involved in a serious car accident. He ended up physically dying for 90 minutes, after which he miraculously woke up again after being prayed over by another pastor. The story talks about his experience after death and pre-waking up (so basically, his heaven encounter), as well as his process of healing and dealing with chronic pain after the accident. He's VERY honest about everything, and it was a really neat book to read.

We're going through Revelation at church right now, and I don't think this was an accidental timing thing. God is continually reminding me that heaven and hell are both VERY real, and I need to get up off my much-too-content-behind and tell people about Jesus! Good book, should definitely read. ;)

Book #19: "Ready, Player One"

2011-11-19T19:48:00.000-08:00

Totally honest: this is a nerd book. And totally honest: I liked it! Basically, the story takes place in the future when a virtual reality has all but replaced real life...everyone has an avatar, people spend their real money on fake clothes and transportation and whatever for their avatar...blah blah blah. When Chris first told me about it, I was seriously turned off by the story plot. But (and it helped that it was an audio book) as it got going I was surprised by how "into it" I got! There were definitely times that I felt a little depressed at how sad the character's real lives were....but things were redeemed at the end.

In all, I wouldn't give this an overwhelming recommendation - but if you're looking for a book to listen to that passes the time and gets your brain engaged, go for it!

The Not-so-New News :)

2011-11-09T18:40:00.000-08:00

Hey blogging world, guess what?!?!

The Farley's are having a baby!

I know it's been a long time since I've posted, but when we knew we were pregnant and couldn't tell the world, it just felt goofy and a little strange to post about other things. So, I decided to just hang out and wait. :) However, I'm now 14 weeks pregnant, the news has been "facebooked", and the world knows. YAY!

So, the story! Chris and I decided to go off birth control in June, we moved and I was gone at a music class for half of July (therefore not much trying!), and I tested positive in August. WHAT?! To be honest, I was NOT expecting it to happen so fast. However, when Chris and I were talking about the "optimal" situation we talked about how great it would be to have a May due date....and our Little Lime's due date is MAY 7th! We couldn't be happier. :)

We've randomly started referring to the little one as our "lime"...we were visiting with our small group one night and told them the baby was the size of a lime....and during prayer that night our friend Dave prayed for "the lime". After that, the in-belly name was decided. :)

Hmm...What else to tell?

- We're still deciding about whether or not to find out the sex of the baby. At first I really didn't want to, and now I'm 50/50 depending on the day.

- I felt really sick during week 8/9 (even though I never threw up - wow!), but otherwise have just felt pretty tired. However, I am SO much less emotional than expected...I feel a lot more stable than when I was on my regular cycle, so YAY! And - this week I feel like I'm totally back to normal physically!

- I'm starting to pooch out quite a bit. :) Still wearing regular pants (as long as they're low-rise!), but they're definitely tight. It's fun!

- It's really fun to be in my home town and living with my parents during this first pregnancy...a really special time. :)

- I felt really bloated and icky at first, and was afraid I was going to have a hard time embracing this time because of all the changes to my body...but now I don't feel like that at all. Yay!

Funny Moments at School....

I'll make sure to keep updating these as they come, because there have been some SERIOUSLY funny moments! My favorites include...

- I keep catching kids staring at my belly, trying to decide if I'm actually pregnant since I'm not showing much. One 1st grader even patted my belly, then asked why my baby was so much smaller than his little brother.

- A mom came up to me and congratulated me for being "6 months pregnant with triplets." Apparently there was a rumor circulating among the kids that I was having triplets! The day after I heard the rumor a kindergartener brought me in a picture he had drawn of me with my three babies. :)

- I always say good-bye/give hugs to the kids as they leave class. One 2nd grader said..."Have a good day, and happy baby New Year!"

- Today in Kindergarten class we sang "This Old Man" to a fun, energetic recording. Between the verses we do a little "dance" with different body parts (fingers, feet, elbows, tongue, nose, it's pretty funny!). When we were doing a "belly" dance one Kindergarten boy said, "hey, your baby's dancing!" He was SO excited that my baby could dance with us!

And with that - I'm back in the blogging world and have lots of catching up to do!

Thank you LORD for this amazing blessing!

3rd Quarter Goal Reflections...

2011-09-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

It's that time to ask myself, "Self, how're you doing on your goals?!"

Goal 1 - Catch up on scrapbooking
*I just need someone to shake me and say "this is what you're doing." I still can't decide whether I really want to make the digital change - even though I KNOW it's the smart thing to do because of money and time. GRR!!!

Goal 2 - Become active/involved at Cornerstone
   *DONE! PK Sunday School room, new small group, and tried out for the Cornerstone band last night. :)

Goal 3 - Get trained in foster care
   *DONE!

Goal 4 - Become conversational in Spanish
     *Not happening. :)

Goal 5 - Save up to buy a nice bike
   * DONE!

Goal 6 - Have a garden/do some canning
   *Plan is to have an inside herb garden instead. That can count, right?!

Goal 7 - Work through my elementary curriculum
*DONE!

Goal 8 - Level 1 Kodaly Certification
*DONE!

Goal 9 - Finish a marathon
   *Re-evaluate - I've had some personal set-backs that have made me re-evaluate whether or not this is a good goal for me at all. I might change the goal to a triathalon...thoughts? I find that I get to about 12 miles for training and my body starts falling apart. And since I like my body, I'd rather it not fall apart. :) But I do hate changing goals once they're made...

Goal 10 - $18,000 of student loans paid off, $4,000 in savings
     *Still working away and set to meet this goal by Christmas!

AND: the +1....
Goal 11 - Be more intentional with communication/interaction.
   *Going back to work has definitely decreased the amount of time I have at my disposal to communicate/interact with others. I'm realizing that I need to be intentional with the people I come in contact with daily, and then choose a few to be intentional with otherwise. I'd say I am improving...unquantifiable goals are hard to assess!

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Year Focus:

Bearing Fruit

Jesus is changing me and making me bear fruit even when "I don't wanna!" Who knew bearing fruit came with so many emotional break-downs!

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Extra Goal: Read 24 Books
*Up to 18, working on #19, and have my last 5 books just waiting on the shelf!

FINAL REFLECTION: I feel great about the progress, but always hate realizing that some goals just aren't going to happen. Oh well...I guess that's where I learn how to show myself grace! Sometimes that's a hard lesson to learn!

A Full House

2011-09-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

As of last Monday we've had a full house. And by full house, I mean the Yahtzee kind - 2 of one kind and 3 of another. 2 adults and 3 kids!

I have never been so exhausted in my whole life. This has been a WONDERFUL experience, and I've especially learned a lot about what parent's heart must be like....sacrificial giving without any expectation of something in return. (from my last post, I'm wondering if this is my next lesson to really learn?!). And while this has been about the best situation possible for what we're doing (I'm sorry if this doesn't all make sense, I can't really say more!), it's still been very hard.

After the last 2 weeks I feel VERY certain that both parents are not meant to work outside the home full time. The family suffers, the house suffers, health suffers, relationships suffer, communication suffers, work suffers...nothing is done the way it should be done! I guess it feels good to learn that lesson earlier rather than later.

I've also felt very blessed by some relationships we have right now. We have felt so supported, so loved, so encouraged...in spite of my public breakdowns, people still hug me!

And that's that! It looks like our temporary family will be moving on soon, but we've loved having them for this season and are praying for their next transition.

You know: the knee-shaking, heart-racing, tongue-drying kind of fear.

2011-09-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

God has been doing a lot of work in my heart lately. When we came back from India (about a year ago now), I was really struggling with the question of why. Why are we back here? Why couldn't we stay? God, why didn't you provide for our financial needs? You are big enough, so why?! A year into that question, I wonder if I have His answer: Nicole, you've got some serious stuff to deal with.

When we visited my cousins Jason and Christine in Hong Kong, the Holy Spirit gave Jason a word for us - "don't settle for the status quo." The next day we got the call that nearly changed our situation to allow us to stay in India, so I naturally felt confused about the intent of that message. Now, I feel very certain that the Lord didn't give us that word to convince us to stay in India. He gave us that word for RIGHT NOW. How are we called to live life differently in America? How do we need to change our priorities and actions so that we are radically and obediently sacrificing here, in the land of plenty, when it's absolutely normal to turn a blind eye to the needs of this world?

Enter - FEAR. There are moments in my life that (if I'm honest) I am completely petrified. And as far as I can tell, here's why...

Relationships have always felt like one of my basic needs. I can vacillate between an emotional high after a great conversation on the phone to an emotional low 2 hours later because I feel lonely. If I'm not in relationship with others I just lose it! In India it "just happened" - in Ames/Story City, it's NOT HAPPENING. Because it's been so hard to find those "comfort friends" that you can just BE with and hang with and do nothing and everything with, I've entered (or is it re-entered?!) a state of relational fear.

So how do India lessons and current fears connect? Hmmm...good question, thanks for asking!

I am SO afraid that if I choose to live radically here and now, I will lose the relationships that have begun to develop. Change is scary...conviction is scary...extremes are scary...if I open myself to that kind of a life, won't I automatically alienate myself from a whole group of people who can't just "jump in" as well? And if I alienate myself from a huge percentage of the few people that feel available to me...yep, doesn't look good in the relationship department!

Let's define: By "relationship" I DON'T mean people to hang out with on a Friday night, or saying "hey" and getting a weekly update at church on Sunday morning. I DO mean people that feel like they can and WILL walk into my house without knocking, people that will accept me and others for exactly who they are, people that would call me up when they only have a few veggies in the fridge to see if I want to share supper tonight. I DON'T mean feeling like we're part of the "in" group or always getting called for the big group events. I DO mean friends that will pray for us in our struggles, that will choose to love us when we're unlovable, that are people oriented instead of task oriented, that would give until it hurts because that's what family does.

There are plenty of the "don'ts". Not many of the "dos".

But here's the deal. I'M not being that kind of friend. I feel so afraid that my friendship won't be received that I find myself slinking into the model I see and know - perch behind closed doors until someone else reaches out first....and retreat as soon as possible so you don't get hurt.

Chris has been reading a lot about the drought in Somalia. We have been working to live out the conviction that God gave us while we were in India - "if you see a need and you can, fill it." I feel so able to giving of my money and time and possessions, because I know they'll be received. However, something really struck me tonight as we were watching an interview between CNN and Bono about the Somalian drought. Bono said "it's not your intentions, it's your actions." And here's what I realized.

It took India to convict and equip me to give of my resources (time, money, possessions) freely, without expectation of return.

It's taking post-India America to convict and equip me to give of myself freely, without expectation of return.

Just guessing, but I think this might be a long journey...

It's Official...

2011-09-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

We are OFFICIALLY licensed foster parents as of today! Now we're just waiting for "the call"...duh-duh-duh! There probably won't be more to come later, since we can't really talk about the kids we'll get, but I'll tell what I can. :)

Happy September and Happy LONG WEEKEND!

Fun in "Music Land"...

2011-08-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

Circle round, circle round, follow me to music town.

Circle round, circle round, follow me today.
(the Kindergarten welcome song!)

This summer was a big music summer! I purposely didn't think about school AT ALL until my Kodaly class started, but I haven't stopped thinking ever since. I learned a lot at my class, and have had SO much fun (sometimes a little too much fun?!) putting it into practice. Here are some of the "new toys" that have found their way into the R-S music classroom this year.

A Jeopardy Board - can play "instrument jeopardy", "rhythm jeopardy", "melody jeopardy", "composer jeopardy

Rhythm packets. Each packet has 16 "beat sheets" and a bunch of different rhythmic components that will allow the students to write compositions or known songs really easily.

Music Note BINGO!

Music note puzzles. :)

Domi'notes'...got it from a friend, I'm not this creative!

A different type of rhythm manipulative.

The first version of rhythm reading. Instead of "ta, tee-tee", this is "long, quick-quick"

The beginning of my sub game - turkey poker! Again, got from a friend...this is going to be a sweet game - like "Go Fish"

The up-close Turkey Poker card.

Some of the "Music Street" houses...really seems to be helping students understand the distance between pitches already!

Visual for rhythm and melody on "Starlight, Starbright", geared toward early 1st grade....also made individual syllabication packets for all the students and magnetic words/stars to work through together on the white board. :)


Beat sheet - poster where I can easily add the rhythm element on top of the "heart beat".

And, there you go! I've been processing how much I should focus on schoolwork lately and will write more about that later, but for now I'm just feeling glad that at this much work is done!

Book #14-18: Thank you Audible!

2011-08-28T14:49:00.000-07:00

Book #14: "Catching Fire"

by Suzanne Collins

Book #15: "Mockingjay"

by Suzanne Collins

Book #16: "The Final Empire: Mistborn"

by Brandon Sanderson

Book #17: "The Well of Ascension"

by Brandon Sanderson

Book #18: "The Hero of Ages"

by Brandon Sanderson

Now that school has started, I'm really realizing how little time there will be for reading. I've always listened to some audio books that Chris got through his Audible account, but lately I've been listening every spare second I have - especially during those mindless tasks. I'm going to try and talk him into letting me get my own account so I can get books that I want, but recently I've enjoyed the "Final Empire" books (another fantasy trilogy) while cutting out endless feet of lamination at school. :)

While I'd much rather be actually reading the books, I'm realizing that part of life is learning how to adapt...so for now, I'm "consuming" books instead of reading them...and hopefully I'll still be able to meet my yearly book goals!

Wonderful Wisconsin

2011-08-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

The weekend after visiting Minneapolis we took a 3-day weekend and made the long haul to Germantown, Wisconsin to see my other cousin Erik and his family - Laura, Olivia, Soren, and Anya. It was especially fun because Matt and Amy decided to come with at the last minute, so we have company for the 7 hour drive! We got to the Ouimette home around 3:00 Friday, and our time was packed full until we left around 3:00 Sunday. SO much fun you guys, thanks for hosting us!

Laura the cook cutting the food sent in by Erik the griller...good teamwork guys!

Seriously huge table.

Matt enjoying some cute little girl time.

Anya SERIOUSLY loves this sand!

Cute Olivia!

Big boy Soren gone swimming.

After swimming we went to an air show by the Thunderbirds! It was SO packed.

Cute youngest sisters

Love these kids!

We had a sweet view of the airplanes right on the bay.

So cool!

Saturday night we hung out at the house, went to church Sunday morning, then head over to the Brewers stadium for lunch before we left for Iowa. Cute as ever!

Look at this boy pose!

The whole crew!

Stadium seating all the way!

And like any fun family time, the trip was capped off with a game of boy-tag. Love you guys!

Minneapolis Cousins

2011-08-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

Since we decided to take the foster care class this summer (and have been working to pay off our debt), a big travel trip didn't really fit into our lives. I distinctly remember a moment of fear at the beginning of the summer where I thought "what am I going to do?!" I DEFINITELY didn't have a problem filling up my time...lots of hanging out, lunch dates, running dates, boot camp, moving, school stuff, classes, and WEEKEND TRIPS!

We scheduled three weekend trips at the beginning of the summer. First, we head down to Kansas to visit our dear family (Dana and Kathleen) and friends (Cookie and Dave). We LOVE spending time with them, and had a super weekend. Little trip #1 = success!

Our second trip was up to Minneapolis to visit my cousin Tara and her family. After visiting Jason and Christine in Hong Kong, I realized how much I like being able to picture people's daily lives. SO, we scheduled a weekend to visit and head up to observe the life of the Huptons! Here are some highlights. :)

America's version of bicycle rickshaws!

Big boy Tyler riding his bike

There was a neat Aztec dance troop that performed in the middle of the park we went to.

And then there were some strange Star Wars people with action figure cards. Hmmmm...

Father/Son, so sweet.

Hubby/wife. :)

The whole crew!

And the sweet family. :) Love you Huptons!

It was a great weekend of hanging out, visiting, playing with the kiddos, and seeing some new things. Thanks for hosting us cuz!

Down Before the First Punch is Thrown...

2011-08-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

Anyone ever feel like they got knocked out before the fight even started?

Today I'm totally stressed out. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I don't "do" details well, and I realized today that I have placed myself in a very, very, VERY high-detail job. Most of the time I can handle it. Today, not so much. :)

Note: with the exception of the other specials teachers, all the other teachers in the building have at least one "vent buddy" - someone who has a similar or identify schedule, similar challenges and frustrations, someone who understands what they're going through and can be a friendly ear. I, however, do not. Being the internal processor that I am (oh wait...not so much), I can usually hold it in and just deal. But inevitably the frustration builds and I make a mad dash to the hall where I promptly break down sobbing to the unlucky soul who picked the exact wrong time to take a quick bathroom break.

Today I only had a minor sob-fest with my principal. She was caring and compassionate (all the while probably searching frantically for the nearest exit), but as I was walking back to my room I determined that I will NOT break down at school again. It's embarrassing and unprofessional and just plain ridiculous. So, here I am - breaking down to the cyber world instead.

Here's my schedule (yep, gonna write the whole thing down, prepare to be bored!)

MONDAY: 1) 8:40-9:10, 2) 9:10-9:40, Plan, 3) 10:05-10:35, 4) 10:35-11:05, 5) 11:10-11:40, Travel, Lunch, 6) 12:30-12:55, 7) 1:00-1:25, 8) 1:30-1:55, 9) 1:55-2:20, 10) 2:20-2:45 Plan, Bus Room

TUESDAY: 1) 8:45-9:10, 2) 9:15-9:40, 3) 9:40-10:05, 4) 10:05-10:30, 5) 10:35-11:00, 6) 11:00-11:25, 7) 11:25-11:50, Lunch, 8) 12:30-12:55, 9) 1:00-1:25, 10) 1:30-1:55, 11) 1:55-2:20, 12) 2:20-2:45, 13) 2:45-3:10, Bus Room

WEDNESDAY: 1) 8:40-9:10, Plan, 2) 9:40-10:10, 3) 10:10-10:40, 4) 10:40-11:10, 5) 11:10-11:40, Travel, Lunch, 6) 12:30-12:55, 7) 1:00-1:25, 8) 1:30-1:55, 9) 1:55-2:20, 10) 2:20-2:45 Plan, Bus Room

THURSDAY: 1) 1) 8:45-9:10, 2) 9:15-9:40, 3) 9:40-10:05, 4) 10:05-10:30, Plan, 6) 11:00-11:25, Plan, Lunch, 7) 12:30-12:55, 8) 1:00-1:25, 9) 1:30-1:55, 10) 1:55-2:20, 11) 2:20-2:45, 12) 2:45-3:10, Bus Room

FRIDAY: 1) 8:40-9:10, Plan, 2) 9:40-10:10, 3) 10:10-10:40, 4) 10:40-11:10, Travel, 5) 11:30-11:55, Lunch, 6) 12:30-12:55, 7) 1:00-1:25, 8) 1:30-1:55, Plan, 9) 2:20-2:45, Plan, Bus Room

And I am completely overwhelmed! I know that once I get into it (hopefully?!) it won't be quite so daunting, but it feels pretty crazy right now. We added another section of Kindergarten which adds two classes to my schedule from last year. AHHHHHH!

It's going to be interesting to find a balance between "mere survival" and "doing this job well". I have a hard time doing anything less than my best (thanks to mom and pops), but for the first time, I feel like that may not be possible. Or, it may drive me crazy. I guess the real question is "What would I need to give up" in order to my best, and "Is it worth it?"

Anyway, there's my rant. I'm sure there will be more to come later, but for now I'm heading to bed! First day of school tomorrow...still have butterflies in my tummy just like 1st grade. :)

Processing Permanency

2011-08-10T06:33:00.000-07:00

As we've been going through our foster classes there have been many "oh, wow" moments. For example, birth parents. Many of the parents of foster children have been stuck in generations of sin (abuse, neglect, substances, etc.), and need help to break the cycle. They haven't learned how to be good parents and in many cases, are really just doing the best they can - to which (how awful would this feel!) the state can say, "your best isn't good enough." I feel thankful for the children that there are systems set up to intervene, but am really realizing that only half of foster care is taking care of the kids - the other half is coming alongside the parents.

I had a major "oh, wow" moment this last Monday. The class's focus was permanency. Instead of giving us the book definition of permanency, the teachers showed us a video of a bunch of foster kids telling us what permanency meant to them. "Always knowing I have somewhere to go." "Knowing that someone will love me for me, no matter what." "Having a home." "Being able to talk to someone about anything." It seriously HIT me - not everyone has this...and this is a basic need! Food, water, air, shelter. While the "shelter need" is usually considered to be physical, "shelter" is also an emotional need and is as important to survival/development as having a place to get out of the rain.

I started thinking about the people that provide permanency in my life, and have come up with about 8. I have 8 people in my life that I can know (beyond a shadow of a doubt) that they'll be there for me NO MATTER WHAT. They've got my back, they love me unconditionally, they can handle my crazy and not get scared off.

And as soon as these kids are put into foster care, their permanency number basically drops to 0.

Since the main goal of foster care is reunification, it's hoped that the kids will go back to their newly-straightened-out parents that can now fill their needs and be the permanency factor in their life again. However, about 4/10 kids don't get to go back and find themselves at the age of 4 or 7 or 11 or 18 having to recreate what permanency looks like in their lives. One of the girls on the video talked about how she had "aged out" of the system, and hopes that people are aware that there is such a thing as "adult adoption". If no one is willing to adopt her as an adult, she will never have a family. How awful. Where do you come from? What is your heritage? Who loves you?

I've been struggling with wanting to be overseas, wanting to be immersed in other cultures and experience the world and learn languages...basically just feeling restless about what's next. While we know we're here to specifically get our debt paid off, I feel like I'm always asking God what He has for us in the AFTER-DEBT. Until now our goal has been set: we work and make decisions based on becoming financially free. We still have a ways to go, but we can see the end and it's been a little scary. What happens when your whole focus shifts? When you could literally do anything?

It feels like this might be our "anything". Watching that video on Monday night, my "oh, wow" moment was when I thought I can do this, I was made for this! It felt really good. :)

The CRAZY Month of July :)

2011-08-09T15:31:00.000-07:00

July was crazy. And we loved it. But it was seriously crazy. Here's what went down...

July 4th Weekend - Chris' 10-year Reunion, friend party, fun spontaneous trip to Iowa City for some Farley brother time.

July 5th - 13th - pack house

July 12th - Big Moving Night! We had lots of help, and ended up getting everything moved from our old place into our new place in 3 1/2 hours! Seriously stellar...

July 14th - Chris took a vacation day, got unpacked, played volleyball game that night, picked up Matthew from airport at 1 AM.

July 15th - Chris took a vacation day, got unpacked, wedding in Cedar Falls that night.

July 16th - Whole family was home, family time and big birthday party for mom.

July 17th - Family time and 30th anniversary celebration for mom and dad, Matthew left.

July 18th - 22nd - I took a Kodaly class (4 grad. credits, two weeks, 8-4:30) at Drake in Des Moines. Stayed in Indianola most nights, back for Thursday volleyball.

July 23rd - Boating with Tom, Rach, Brian

July 25th - 29th - Second week of Kodaly class, done at 4:30 on Friday.

July 28th - Win volleyball championship, yeah!

July 29th - 31st - Up to Minneapolis to visit Hupton cousins. SO FUN!

Aug. 1st - 4th - Recover from the month, start working at school to get ready for the school year.

Aug. 5th - 7th - To Wisconsin to visit Ouimette cousins. Again, SO FUN!

In the midst of these events we've also been attending our 3-hour Monday night Foster class, and I've been teaching 8 piano lessons a week, going to a morning boot camp, and training for the Des Moines marathon. Needless to say it's been busy!

On a side note, I've been very introspective lately as I've been processing some upcoming life changes. For some reason I loathe being "available" all the time. If it wouldn't put me so far outside today's culture, I would totally go without cell phones/facebook/e-mail. Anyway, this last month I basically boycotted internet/phones, and just experienced what I was doing at that moment. Maybe I should continue this in the future..."Just-Be July"? It's a thought...

And because blog posts are so much more fun with pictures, here's a few pictures of Amy at her new Chick-fil-A job. Isn't she cute?!

Awesome Art and Fabulous Family/Friends

2011-07-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

Chris and I got to visit Kansas last weekend (now two weekends ago I guess!) to see our Aunt Kathleen, Uncle Dana, and great India friends Cookie & Dave. Earlier I wrote a post about Cookie's "bucket-list fulfillment", and here are the pictures from that event. Since we spent SO much time together hiking during our year in India, this was an especially fun event because I remember where a lot of these pictures were taken! I also knew the people in the photos, and had many tearful moments looking through her art.

I also got to purchase one of her pictures, and am SO glad. It was professionally printed with her story written on the back, so it's very special to my heart and always will be. Thanks for sharing your talent with the world Cooks!

Kathleen and Cookie hanging out at the back - Cookie was SUCH a trooper, but this was definitely a full week for her chemo-treated body! I couldn't believe how great she looked and how much energy she had though! Praise God!

This man had a hut on the way to the bazaar in town, and every single time I walked into town (except once!) he was busy threading these quilts. This was one of the pictures I cried at - I hadn't thought about him since we never had any personal interactions, but his face was so memorable!

The boys: Dave, Chris, and Dana

It was SO BUSY! Friday night alone over 700 people walked through the show. So cool!

This is seriously one of my favorite friendships, because it crosses a generational divide...and we are STILL so comfortable with each other and connect on so many neat levels. Love you guys!

Dave the storyteller.

Cookie, looking fit and spry. :)

Dana and Kathleen - and doesn't she look great in her saree?!

And at the end of the day, Cookie is WIPED!

The rest of the weekend was spent eating together, going on walks, visiting, taking naps, going to church, and just "doing life." The biggest part of life that I miss from India is the comfort that we had with the people there. After a few weeks we were family, and would go to each other's houses for the most basic things: do laundry, cook, just sit and knit. It didn't matter what we were doing, but we usually did it together, and it felt great to share that with these guys again.

The other neat thing about this weekend is that we got to experience life "Mennonite-style." Both Cookie/Dave and Kathleen/Dana grew up and are actively living in a Mennonite community, and life is SO simple. The Mennonite community is very aware of their impact on the world and environment, and loves to live simply. It's a given that you have a large garden at their church, and both these couples lived largely without air conditioners because they could and to do so saved energy. It was really challenging and exciting to see their lifestyle up close...thanks for sharing it with us you guys!

Love to you all...and loved the weekend. :)

Side Note: being with India friends helped lessen some feelings of EXTREME jealousy about a group of 26 Woodstock staff members hiking Banderpunch and summit a 20,000+ peak over the last 3 weeks. :( The pictures look awesome you guys!

New Reflection on an Old Quote in a Different Context

2011-07-04T08:07:00.000-07:00

Oh, how I love Saturdays.

Today I went for a "difficult-right-now-but-got-it-done" run with a wonderful newish friend Kerrie, got ready for the day, and headed to Chris' 10-year reunion. We have another event tonight, but surprisingly got home to have a few hours of down time. Before taking a nap I decided to spend some time online and started looking through old blog posts. It's fun to see the things I was processing over our last months in India, and I came across this quote.

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"The life of uttermost service cannot be called comfortable. 'Comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house as guest, and then becomes a host, and then master. Ay, and it becomes a tamer, and with hook and scourge makes puppets of your larger desires. Though its hands are silken, its heart is of iron. Verily, the lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul, and then walks grinning to the funeral.' It is true; but it is one thing to applaud it as truth and quite another thing to turn from that lust that murders the passion of the soul, for the sake of these for whom Christ died.

But no one who has done so would exchange this way of living for any other."

-Amy Carmichael, quoting Kahlil Gibran

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It was really interesting to read this quote from the comfort of our American house, and it reminds me how on-guard I need to be ALL THE TIME. Is mine a life of service? Or is comfort tiptoeing in, threatening to disguise itself and steal the passions of my soul? I think I need to process this a bit more in my current context ...

Mid-Year Goal Reflections...

2011-06-30T05:29:00.000-07:00

Allright, half way through 2011! I really like doing these reflections; it helps keep me on track and re-focus on the areas that need it. Here are my mid-year reflections...

Goal 1 - Catch up on scrapbooking
*I've been wondering if online scrapbooking is the way to go after a couple of friends suggested it...I've made an on-line Hong Kong scrapbook and it's ready to print, but for some reason I'm having a really hard time "giving up" my personal scrapbooking. I think I love the 3D aspect of the books (using actual pictures, tickets, brochures, being able to include cards and such), so that's the struggle. I might order this book and then re-evalute after that.

Goal 2 - Become active/involved at Cornerstone
   *Kind of been slow on this one. Still involved in small group and getting to know people, but NEED to find another way to get ourselves involved! This will be an area to really focus on in the next quarter...

Goal 3 - Get trained in foster care
   *Have been to four classes, and are well on our way to being certified! Lots of mental/emotional processing, and TONS of paperwork!

Goal 4 - Become conversational in Spanish
     *Yeah, we won't talk about this one. :) Not so much happening, and re-evaluating if this is even the language I actually want to learn. Thinking about sign language instead...if I could learn it with my dad and other family members, I'd actually use it on a daily basis!

Goal 5 - Save up to buy a nice bike
   * DONE!

Goal 6 - Have a garden/do some canning
   *Hmmm...so the garden planting "window" was right at the end of school and during Amy's wedding, and after we missed the initial push, we didn't really jump on it after that. My mom did plant some tomatoes/asparagus/peppers, and I'm hoping to get some potted herbs soon. Can that count as my first garden? Also, with all this reading about raw foods and the larger health benefits of eating raw I'm kind of re-evaluating my desire to learn how to can foods. Maybe just tomatoes?

Goal 7 - Work through my elementary curriculum
*Had an AWESOME 2-day work session with my friend Marie, and just have 3 more grades to work through. I've decided not to even think about school again until August, so hopefully I'll rock it out then and be able to officially check this one off.

Goal 8 - Level 1 Kodaly Certification
*Registered and scheduled for class the last two weeks of July, and just got the informational e-mail today. Wahoo!

Goal 9 - Finish a marathon
   *Didn't end up running the Minneapolis Half like I wanted to...it was the week after Amy's wedding, and I just didn't have the time to do it. HOWEVER, my stellarly inspirational workout buddy Natalie has agreed to run the Des Moines marathon with me (except that she'll actually have a goal of rocking the marathon, whereas I just want to finish it!), so I'm into week 2 of marathon training. I've also been doing this boot camp with her every morning that's helping get me ready to train, both physically and mentally.

Goal 10 - $18,000 of student loans paid off, $4,000 in savings
     *Surprisingly, we're about 3/4 of the way to meeting this goal! I really don't know how it happened, except that we got a sweet 2-year tax return that knocked out a bunch of it. And you're right Brian, it is addicting! Coupon clipping has never looked so good!

AND: the +1....
Goal 11 - Be more intentional with communication/interaction.
   *I'd say this is great some weeks and not so hot others, depending on to-do lists and schedules. In all I'm feeling great about the support group/friends we have here in Ames, but now I'm struggling to keep in contact with people that aren't here physically...my brother, Katie, etc. We have been intentional to take small trips to visit people (cousins, friends from India, etc.), so that's been good.

______________________________________________

Year Focus:

Bearing Fruit

I find myself forgetting that so many of the Holy Spirit's fruit are internal...and that outward actions will flow from a spirit-filled life. I've been dealing with lots of emotions and deep insecurities, and struggle each day to really give them over to the Lord. I guess that's my "fruit" right now, is getting out of myself and really letting the Holy Spirit move in me to get rid of myself.

______________________________________________

Extra Goal: Read 24 Books
*Just finished book #13, and thankfully most of those I've been able to actually read. Yay! I'm going to try and get to 20 before the school year starts since I have so much less time when working full time.

FINAL REFLECTION: Feeling pretty good about the progress! Need to: get more involved at Cornerstone, use my time well toward intentional communication, keep working on books, get some potted herbs, and decide whether or not this Spanish thing is ever going to fly. :)

Lovin' Me Some MB

2011-06-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

Everyone thinks that Father's Day is a celebration of and for fathers...however, this last father's day felt like a celebration for daughter-in-laws since on Father's Day, Tom (Chris' dad) told us he had Michael Buble tickets that needed to be used! Being the good daughters we are, Rachel and I decided we should help him out and in no time at all we were on our way to Michael Buble!

They had this picture station before the show, where we could take a picture with "Michael". THEN we got our pictures put up on the big screen before the show! Pretty fun. :)

The cute couple we sat next to.

"Naturally Seven" opened for Michael Buble, and they were AWESOME! SO talented!

LOVED going with Rachel!

After a while we decided to move around, and we sat up in the area where no one was assigned because it was behind the cameras. This was a really neat place to sit because no one was around...it almost felt like it was our own personal concert.

Some pretty neat effects.

About 3/4's of the way through the concert Michael came back to a small stage near the back of the floor. Someone had told us that this was going to happen so we were able to get pretty close...so cool!

Hmmm...

The band was AWESOME!

After he left the small stage we decided to move right up to the front, and we got to stand right in front of the stage! This was so much fun...tons of energy, and we were SO close!

Having a good time. :)

Sweet.

This was such an awesome night! Thanks for the tickets Tom, you're the best! Thanks for going with me Rach, loved every second!

Book #13: "The Hunger Games"

2011-06-27T20:46:00.000-07:00

Book #13: "The Hunger Games"

By Suzanne Collins

Chris found these books when he was looking for a new audiobook, and couldn't stop listening, so I thought I should check it out. I had heard about these books before but just never read them. I've just finished the first of the trilogy, and it was SO GOOD!

The story takes place in future North America, after a huge climate change and subsequent world war that shifted the entire planet. North America now consists of one country named Panem, which is comprised of one capitol city and 12 districts. The main character, Catnis, is a girl from District 12, which is one of the poorest and least esteemed districts in the country.

Many years ago the districts rebelled against the capitol and lost. However, in order to remind them of their failure and punish their rebellion, the capitol created the "Hunger Games". In the hunger games one boy and one girl are randomly chosen from each district to enter "the arena" (a huge area in the wilderness) and fight to the death. It is the capitol's way of reminding the districts that they don't even have control over whether or not their children live or die.

At first I was really turned off by the book's subject, but after I started reading it got hooked immediately. There are a lot of deeper messages and it really made me think. Highly recommended!

I'm starting to realize that I've never not given a book two thumbs up. Either I somehow stumble upon wonderful books or I just really love to read...but I guess I don't really mind either way. :)

Book #12: "12 Steps to Raw Food"

2011-06-27T14:46:00.000-07:00

Book #12: "12 Steps to Raw Food"

By Victoria Boutenko

I've been learning about the health benefits of raw food, and am finding it REALLY interesting. After reading "Green Smoothie Revolution" I went on a kindle-spree and bought 4 more books on raw food. One of the big reasons I'm so interested is that my parents have been drinking green smoothies, and have been experiencing some dramatic and wonderful health results. I've also read various blogs and personal testimonials about a "raw trial" or someone whose been eating raw for a long time, and am really intrigued by the health benefits they report. SO - I thought I'd see how Victoria Boutenko proposed going about transitioning from cooked to fully raw food.

She talks a lot about the social/emotional/physical dependencies we and our culture have on cooked food, and about the supports people would need to be able to make a switch. She also talked a LOT about the health benefits and what other things you can change to become more natural and reach "optimal health" (isn't that a fun thought?!). I really liked how organized her book was, and feel like I learned a lot.

I remember hearing about "raw foodists" when this first started gaining momentum in the 90's, and all I could think was "They eat raw meat?!" I guess this is a fairly common first reaction, but it's been fun to learn about what it really means to "go raw". Chris and I have talked a lot about making some diet changes, and we definitely think there are TONS of health benefits to incorporating more raw foods in our daily diet. We also think that we really couldn't ever see ourselves going 100% raw, so all you nervous family members can relax. :) Socially it would make things really difficult, and there are a few items that are healthier when cooked.

So what's the plan? I'm going to keep learning, keep trying new things, learn how to prepare some really tasty raw foods, and we'll go from there!

Book #11: "Rebecca"

2011-06-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

Book #11: "Rebecca"

By Daphne DuMaurier

I had started this book before "The White Queen", but just didn't have the time needed to really delve in and get to the meat of it, so it started out a bit slow for me. Anyone else have those books where you read a few minutes before going to sleep, then a few minutes the next day before heading to the store, and before you know if you've been "reading" this book for 2 weeks without feeling invested at all? That was this book for me, so I just set it aside, read another book and came back to it. I was SO surprised, then, to get hooked within just a matter of minutes!

This is the story of an unnamed, simple girl who finds herself caught up in an unlikely series of events and married to a fabulously wealthy man before she knows what's happened to her. While their honeymoon is lovely, as soon as they return to his estate, she finds herself entangled in expectations and people who dearly loved the previous mistress of the house: Rebecca. She becomes increasingly aware of mysterious events and circumstances surrounding the death of the previous Mrs. deWinter, and eventually all is revealed, leaving the reader (me!) totally enthralled and caught off guard.

Ended up really loving the book...I love when that happens!

I guess there's an old movie about the book that I'm excited to see. Thanks for the book loan Lianne!

Book #10: "The White Queen"

2011-06-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

Book #10: "The White Queen"

By Philippa Gregory

I seriously LOVE all of Philippa Gregory's books. She's an historical novelist, and can make history absolutely come alive! I was kind of stuck in a rut...halfway through four different books and stalled on all of them, so I went to the library, grabbed Philippa off the shelf, and dug in for what I knew would be a page-turning, informative, quick read. I was not disappointed!

Here's a clip from the inside cover...

"The White Queen tells the story of a woman of extraordinary beauty and ambition who, catching the eye of the newly crowned boy king, marries him in secret and ascends to royalty. While Elizabeth rises to the demands of her exalted position and fights for the success of her family, her two songs become central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the missing princes in the Tower of London whose fate is still unknown."

Loved every second!

You Might Not Have To Die....

2011-06-25T14:22:00.000-07:00

Chris and I are currently in Newton, Kansas visiting Chris' relatives (Dana, Kathleen, and Sheralynn), and our friends from Woodstock (Cookie and Dave). Our friend Cookie has been dealing with ovarian cancer for the last 1 1/2 years, and things have recently turned for the worst (although there may be hope in the new treatment she's going through!) This last week she got to fulfill one of the dreams on her "bucket" list and put on an art show of all her pictures from India. A T.V. station in Wichita caught wind of the story and did a news article/t.v. report done about her. We got to see the art show last night and just now watched the bit that was on T.V. (Check it out here). She's always been an inspiration to us, and now is inspiring the world through her story!

Love you Cooks!

Thankful for the last 1/3...

2011-06-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

			So, Chris and I just celebrated our 6th anniversary. For some reason, I'm feeling very aware of how long we've been married, and realized that Chris and I have been living life together for 9 out of 27 years. That's 1/3 of my life - WOW! I've been thinking about how many things we've gone through, and while pictures only show places we've been, to me they represent the lessons we learned and the things we experienced while we were in those places.
Couple pictures by Rachel

Chris' 26th Birthday

Chris' Graduation

Our Engagement!

Mom's 50th Birthday

My Graduation

Amy and Matt's Irish wedding shower

Corbett National Park, India


On the train on our way to Woodstock School in Mussoorie, India

Top Tibba Mountain, India

Indian Independence Day

Summit on Ladakh Trek

Ladakh Trek

Christmas Celebration Supper @ Woodstock

Thanksgiving Celebration, home in India

Twins game

Honeymoon

Calling dads on Father's Day, on our way to honeymoon

Aruba!

Germany boat

Walking through towns of Cinque Terra, Italy

Rome, Italy

Vatican City

Venice, Italy

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, France

Sacre Coeur, Paris, France

Switzerland

Vienna, Austria

Hong Kong

Riding a gondola in Hong Kong

Buddhist temple in Hong Kong

Loving us some ice cream, Lamma Island, Hong Kong

Buggy Ride, Ireland

Show in Ireland

Driving the Ring of Kerry, Ireland

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

Kayaking in Ireland

Eating food with big knives, Ireland castle

Wicked, Chicago

Rachel and Brian's Wedding

OUR WEDDING!

Our wedding again. :)

Matt and Amy's rehearsal dinner

Matt and Amy's wedding

Ed DeBevic's, Chicago

Medieval Times, Chicago

I am very aware that we've been blessed to have some amazing experiences and see some awesome places over the last 6 years of our marriage. I also know that this may not always be the case. However, if I get to live life with Chris, we can stay in the same place for the rest of my life and I'll be a happy girl. :)

Chris Farley - I ADORE you!

Thanks for the last 1/3 of my life...you kind of rock my face. :)

A GREAT Weekend

2011-06-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

Anniversary Weekend (#6!)

This last weekend was our 6 year anniversary. Since we're being gazelles (Dave Ramsey term..) and focusing on debt paying, we didn't get to go on the Bermuda or Jamaica trips I had planned. :) HOWEVER, we did spend the whole weekend together, and it was WONDERFUL!

We had originally planned to spend the whole weekend camping, but due to a rainy forecast Friday night, we decided to stay around home for the evening. We went out to dinner at Cafe Shi and saw "X-Men, First Class". LOVED supper and LOVED the movie. :) My favorite tradition at anniversaries is that we write in our "note" book. My friend Jen gave us this book when we got married, and it's where we keep all our notes to each other and write down memories, thoughts, things we learn about each other. We wrote quite a bit in the book this anniversary, and it was so much fun to process where we've been and where we're going together!

On Saturday we slept in until 9, read until 10, and then got our stuff together and headed over to Saylorville Lake! The last time we went camping was when we were in India and hiking, so we had been pretty minimal. And while we were still minimal on this trip, we DEFINITELY stepped into a different world of camping! We didn't get to the campground until around noon, so most of the spots had been booked. We ended up getting a sweet corner lot right by the bike trail...but we were the only tenters in the whole section! Not only that, we were the only 2-person tiny tent tenters, which we pitched right next to the massive campers with their showers and air conditioning. Ha!

Chris sitting at our campsite. :)

Rode the new bike a lot this weekend, and loved every second!

Our mini tent. :)

Ah, ever heard of a bike rack? Might need to be our next purchase!


Hung out at coffee shops Saturday night and Sunday morning...nice time to just be together!

We absolutely loved this time away. It was perfect for us, we loved being alone and together, and we got to explore! Neither of us had been to Saylorville in a long time, and we definitely had never explored it. We rode a good chunk of the bike trail and drove around (almost!) the whole lake to get to know the area and surrounding campsites. It's such a great place! It made me excited to find what other neat things there are in Iowa that I don't know about. :)

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Father's Day

We got to celebrate with both of our dads on Sunday in Ankeny, and it was so great. Both Chris and I are very blessed to have wonderful, supportive, loving fathers, and we loved being able to let them know how much they mean to us. WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

At Chili's to celebrate with most of the Farley's. We love you Tom!

Matt playing frisbee

Chris stretching out for the catch. :)

Mama and her daddy :)

Papa reading his cards!

We had some sleepy boys. Good job Amy!

Our daddies!

The cute couple. :)

Dad and his kiddos

Just cute...

Papa and his granddaughters

In all, this was a seriously brilliant weekend. :)

Happy Little Moments...

2011-06-16T06:45:00.000-07:00

These have been my "happy little moments" over the last 2 weeks or so...

1. Eating a picnic lunch on the floor of a friend's new home.

2. Going boating with family.

3. Morning walks with preggo-friend Sam!

4. Playing sand volleyball and going out for wings afterwards.

5. Reading a Philippa Gregory novels for 3 hours straight.

6. Bootcamp @ 6AM every morning...YEAH BABY!

7. Learning how to grout tile

8. Seeing Marie (an India friend!) and getting to geek-out over music curriculum!

9. Feeling like we might actually be able to do this foster care thing.

10. Walking to the library with a friend and her three kids....and "pinky holding" with Lucy.

11. Panera dates with new friends.

12. Finding Chris and I's "notebook" where we've put all our notes over the years. Fun to read what we put in there on our first anniversary. :)

13. Making lunch for my husband every day.

14. Introducing green smoothies to my parents, and seeing how much better they're feeling because of drinking them!

15. Getting my very own library card.

16. Bike riding to Chris' work and seeing his new office.

17. Skype date with Kate (India friend!)

18. Talking to my brother...who's just starting his official adult life.

19. Making some serious headway on my "read the bible in a year" plan.

20. Not having anything I have to do. :)

Gazelle Intensity (and Book #9: The Total Money Makeover)

2011-06-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

Book #9: "The Total Money Makeover"

by Dave Ramsey

So, my brother-in-law listened to this as an audio-book a couple of weeks ago and recommended it to me. I personally struggle with Dave Ramsey's message a little bit, but no one can deny that he has been VERY successful in helping hundreds of thousands of people pay of debt and become more financially stable. Since our next life stage is called "PAY OFF ALL DEBT!!!!", I figured reading the book could only help, so decided to give it a whirl.

I have two struggles in general with Dave's message. 1) His main message is "Live like no one else now, so that you can live like no one else later." While I understand why these principals could be considered godly, I also wonder if that's only our "American-version" of Christianity. Anyone that's stuck with me over the last year or so knows that I've read/processed/struggled through "Radical" by David Platt. The BIGGEST thing I took from that book is the question: "Is materialism our blind spot (like slavery was in the past)? In 100 years will Christians look back at Americans today and ask, "How could they have known what was going on in the world and still have kept so much for themselves?" Is our Americanized version of Christianity actually Christ-like, or would we just really like it to be? I guess I like the first part of Dave Ramsey's main statement, but wonder if the "why" that comes afterwards should be amended. (don't claim to have an answer, these are just my thoughts right now!)

2) My natural and learned behavior is to live in the "now". A while ago when we were trying to decide whether or not we should to go to India, someone told me the story of a couple that had saved and been financially responsible their whole lives. They were planning and dreaming and waiting for retirement so they could travel and see the world, but a few years before retirement the wife got sick and they never got to live their dreams. The moral of that story - if an opportunity presents itself, take it and don't look back. I really like that perspective, and have tried to live like that ever since. HOWEVER, Dave's principals are all about preparing for the future, and those two perspectives don't mesh well together! Oh, struggle struggle.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

His Seven Baby Steps are:

1. $1,000 Emergency Fund

2. Pay off all debt using debt snowball

3. 3-6 months of expenses in savings

4. Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement

5. College funding for children

6. Pay off home early

7. Build wealth and give!

I'm totally on board with #1-3. We're entering a year where that's exactly what we'll be doing, and I feel like this is SO wise. Debt puts a noose around your neck and makes it very difficult to pick up and leave when the Lord calls. This is also a clearly biblical principal, as the bible talks many times about being a slave to money, how we shouldn't owe anything to anyone, etc.

I could be persuaded to get behind the rest, but am just still processing things. After all, we do feel like we are significantly behind some of our friends who didn't have school debt, so the gift of a clean slate seems like a pretty great gift to give a kid. AND, if we buy a home (AFTER we sell the one we don't want anymore!), it will definitely be a goal to get it paid off. The thing is...it feels like we'll be ready to retire by the time these things have all happened, and then what? Was our whole life simply preparing for retirement? Will I have really lived life? And, haven't we just chosen to take control of our finances instead of giving them into God's hands? How would this path force us to depend on God for our finances, and to be willing to pour ourselves out like a drink offering? If everything is secure, do we ever really learn how to trust?

HMMMM......

All that to say, I'm still processing and struggling to figure out the balance, the Truth, what God has called us to. HOWEVER, we know and feel very confident that He IS calling us to pay off all our debt and gain financial freedom from this burden. So, that's what we're going to do!

My favorite part of this book was his term "gazelle intensity". He talked about how a gazelle can outrun a tiger (fastest animal in the world!), because of their ability to dodge in and out and avoid capture. He encouraged his readers to have "gazelle intensity" when paying off debt and do whatever needs to be done to get it GONE! So, we're moving in with my parents, taking extra side jobs (piano lessons for me, tech. gigs for Chris), and saying "no" a lot this year. Hopefully by this time next year I'll be able to write a celebratory post! But until then, this is our journey and I'll just keep processing. :)

Book #8: "Forever Family"

2011-06-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

At Matt and Amy's wedding, Chris' uncle Dana gave us a book called "Forever Family", written by a woman in their church (or surrounding area?) about her and her husband's foster care story. It's the raw truth, and doesn't necessarily have a happy ending...and I LOVED reading it. We start our foster care classes on Monday, and I'm realizing how little I know about the system and emotions and process and everything. I'll be looking for some more reading as we go through the class, and am really excited (and a bit scared?!) to learn about the fostering process.

*The book is so local that there isn't a picture available online...fun, huh?!

Book #7 and a funny result...

2011-06-02T06:36:00.000-07:00

Book #7: "Green Smoothie Revolution"

by Victoria Boutenko

I had seen this book on my friend Steph's blog while we were still in India. It wasn't practical for me to read the book there (since we didn't SEE greens until March!), but the book has always been in the back of my mind. When Chris bought me a kindle for my birthday, I was looking for cheap books to download and came across this one. And I LOVED it!

I've always had a hard time with nutrition. It's so conceptual that I haven't really understood it...and hearing that you SHOULD eat 6 servings of fruits/vegetables a day is really different than internalizing WHY you should, and what benefits it can have in your daily life. This book really seemed to hit home, especially as my family has been dealing with some health issues. Chris and I both have had digestive issues since coming back from India, Chris is having some acid reflux stuff, my mom has been dizzy/having high blood pressure, and my dad is chronically sick with pneumonia or the flu or SOMETHING. So, when I read this book I got excited!

I'm obviously still learning a lot, and have only started exploring the benefits of raw food, but for now, this is what we're "eating" every morning. :)

I've been making these off and on for about 3 weeks now, but since school is out (WAHOO!), I'm trying to really focus on learning and preparing and getting this figured out while I have time this summer. SO - I decided to try some new greens when I went to the grocery store yesterday! I've primary been using spinach, kale and romaine, since those feel fairly familiar. BUT, yesterday I got red swiss chard, turnip greens, and mustard greens. Hmmm...

Most of you out there probably know that mustard greens are spicy. Yeah, I sure didn't!!! So this morning I made a banana, blueberry, spinach and mustard green smoothie. I tried it and thought, "hmm, it kind of burns my throat!" Then Chris tried it a couple of times and commented that it tasted like spicy mustard. OH...maybe that's because I used mustard greens!

I even went so far as to wonder if they were somehow harmful to us, so I looked it up...and discovered that mustard greens are one of the healthiest out there with HUGE health benefits. So, I'm going to wrap up this post and go see if I can get past the burn. :)

Just a note: This is only the second smoothie that hasn't worked, and we've LOVED most of them! I would just have if this story detered you from trying them...we're loving it!!

Amy's Wedding!

2011-05-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

Amy gave me permission to post pictures, so here I go! It was a truly beautiful weekend, and I'm SO glad that Amy and Matt are MARRIED!!!

One of our classic sister moments...me tweezing Amy's eyebrows. :)

Dad and Grandpa...it was great that grandpa could make it down!

The whole (almost...missed you CJJA!), HUGE Ouimette side of the family!

Sisters. :)

Mother/daughter talk time

Waiting for the bride!

Dun da DAH! Here she is!

Stellar couple....seriously stellar dress!

Bridesmaids and ADORABLE flower girl!

Handsome men!

YOU DID IT!

The brother hug...

New official sister-in-law Rachel!

Brian and I were in charge of driving the newly married couple around while everyone got to the reception, so we naturally head over to DQ. Gotta love it!

Let's get some ICE CREAM!

The people in DQ loved it! And, so did we. :)

JUST beautiful!

Me and gramps, dancing our hearts out!

Two double siblings...

And two MORE double siblings!

Cousin Angela with our Cousin Erik's son Soren...hey Soren, I think you're missing something!

Chris and Olivia tearing up the dance floor!

Some serious jammin' goin' on!

Married six years earlier, and still lovin' life! :)

The cute couple, Uncle Doug and Aunt Sue

And ANOTHER cute couple, Rach and Brian!

Here they come!

Looking happy...

And on their way!

Soren and daddy...ALL BOY HERE!

Pretty Olivia...

Just a funny final picture...no idea WHAT'S happening in this picture, but it's a good snapshot of our life...we just kind of crack each other up! Love you babe. :)

CONGRATS Amy and Matt! A beautiful day for a beautiful couple!

5-21-2011 = a great day!

2011-05-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

Amy and Matt are married! I shouldn't post my pictures until she gets back and can post hers first, but I thought I'd just put a few non-wedding-dress sneak previews and let everyone know that this was an AWESOME weekend. We love you, newest Farleys!

The Giant...

2011-05-03T20:47:00.000-07:00

No, I didn't see a giant. But YES, Chris and I did buy

Giant bikes today!

Here's mine: doesn't it just make you want to

jump on and go for a ride?!

I'm super excited, and can't wait to get RIDING! If only the weather would warm up....let's go May!

A few updates :)

2011-04-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd update on a few things. :)

First, life is great right now. Totally busy, but really great. Chris has been at his new job at ISU for almost a month now, and is LOVING it. He's been playing racquetball at the university this week, and is really completely different than he was at his last job. The increased sleep and less travel time has made a world of difference - both for him and for me. :) I like my happy husband much better!

We've been able to pay off a good chunk of student loan debt lately, which feels SO good! And on that same subject, we decided to move back in with my mom and dad in July! They'll be upstairs by then so we'll have the whole basement to ourselves. We committed to being there for at least a year, and getting all student loans and cars paid off, as well as get a good chunk in savings. No more financial debt for us baby!

I've started Scandinavian Days dances at school...and although it's a lot of work right now (having to learn so many new dances with lots of Norwegian words!), it's really nice to know exactly what I'll be doing in each class - pretty much 'til the end of the school year! I've just got a pre-school in-class concert next Friday, then two choir concerts and I'm done!

We're getting BIKES tomorrow! Yippee! More to come, I'm SO excited about this!

I signed up for the Minneapolis Half Marathon on June 5th and the Des Moines Marathon on October 16th. Anyone wanna join?!?! I need some running buddies!

I'm signed up for the Kodaly 1 Certification classes this summer. AND, since we're also signed up for the Foster Care classes this summer, that means that four of my yearly goals are committed to, and a couple more are on their way. It feels good to be on my way with some of these things!

Amy and Matt's wedding is SO SOON! I can hardly believe it, and am so excited for them! Matt has been officially accepted into Pharmacy school, they know where they're living this summer/beyond, and it just feels like they're growing up. Oh my baby sister! This whole transition feels really natural though, since Matt's already my brother. I like it. :)

It's been SUCH a blast having Matthew home for a while. He got a job with Chick-Fil-A down in Atlanta, and will be leaving June 1st...but for now he's ALL OURS! We love having him home, and I never want him to leave. :( But, I'll take what I can get!

And there's the update! Off to bed, have a SUPER FRIDAY!

4th Grade Concert: "Recorder Karate - Celebrate!"

2011-04-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

The fourth grade concert ended up being...a recorder concert. And it was NOT painful! That was my #1 goal - no wincing ear-plugging moments by the audience. And I think we accomplished it! Then again, I did hear them when we started, so I might be a bit biased since I know the progress. :) Oh, a recorder mother's love!

My favorite part: we began and ended every music class by me saying "Good morning students", and them responding "Good morning sensei." It was totally awesome, I felt really powerful for that moment.

1. "Fright of the Blunder B"

2. White Belt - "Hot Cross Buns"

3. "Tideo"

4. Yellow Belt - "Gently Sleep"

5. Orange Belt - "Merrily We Roll Along"

6. "Great Big House"

7. Green Belt - "It's Raining"

8. "BA Rockstar"

9. Purple Belt - "Old MacDonald"

10. Red Belt - "Twinkle, Twinkle"

11. "Obwisana"

12. Black Belt - "Ode to Joy"

13. "Big Round BAG"

And, some picture highlights. :)

3rd Grade Concert: "Some Music For You...and Character Too!"

2011-04-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

I found a book of Character Counts songs a while ago, and once the guidance counselor found out we thought it would be neat to have them sing at the spring Character Counts Assembly. I didn't want to teach them two separate performances, so we used the Character Counts theme for our spring concert as well!

The neatest moment was when they performed "Hazrat Bibi Mariam", a song in Arabic about peace. We came up with some really great choreography and it turned out to be extremely powerful and moving. I love love LOVE when things become both educational AND powerful.

Character Counts! - "Inside Out"

Trustworthiness - "Little Tommy Tinker"

Respect - "Great Big House"

Fairness - "Tikki Tikki Tembo"

Caring - "Tideo"

Citizenship - "Hazrat Bibi Mariam"

Responsibility - "You Can Count on Me"

2nd Grade Concert: "Move Over, Rover!"

2011-04-24T20:18:00.000-07:00

The second grade concert was a musical re-telling of the story "Move Over, Rover!" by Karen Beaumont. This was such a FUN concert, and they did a GREAT job! The students narrated the whole book, and then we sang one song that corresponded with every page. I was really proud of them. :)

1. "Bow, Wow, Wow"

2. "Body Percussion Thunderstorm"

3. "Poor Old Rover"

4. "Kitty Cat, I Hear a Mouse"

5. "Raccoon and Possum"

6. "Let Us Chase the Squirrel"

7. "Here Comes a Bluebird"

8. "Black Snake"

9. "Mouse, Mousie"

10. "Great Big House"

11. "Skunk in the Barnyard"

12. "Are You Sleeping? (Frere Jacques)"

And here are some picture highlights. :)

1st Grade Concert: "Brown Bear, Brown Bear"

2011-04-23T04:48:00.000-07:00

I took a music friend's idea of basing a concert off of Bill Martin Jr.'s book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and changed some stuff around to make it work for my first graders. We played a music game (which we play a LOT of in first grade!) for each animal, and the last kid to get "picked" in every game came up and sang a solo to introduce the next animal/game. It was pretty cute. :)

BROWN BEAR - "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear"

SILVER HORSE - "Here Comes Mrs. Macaroni"

LITTLE GREEN FROG - "Galump Went the Little Green Frog"

BINGO - "BINGO" :)

BUNNY RABBIT - "Here Comes a Bunny Rabbit"

*Notice the bunny rabbit in the soloist's hand...

MONKEY - "5 Little Monkeys"

*This one was HILARIOUS! In this picture there are 2 monkeys left, "teasing" the crocodile on the floor. I wish I could post the video (the whole concert is together so it's too long!), it was SO funny!

KITTY CAT - "Naughty Kitty Cat"

DOGGIE - "Doggie, Doggie"

BLACK FLY - "Old Black Fly"

BLUEBIRD - "Bluebird, Bluebird"

BUMBLEBEE - "Busy Buzzy Bee"

APPLE TREE - "Apple Tree, Apple Tree"

At the end a soloist sang "Students, Students what do you see?" and "Parents, Parents what do you see?", then "Teacher, Teacher, what do you see?" and I sang back the animals and they took their bows.

Great job first graders!

Kindergarten Concert: "The Missing Tarts"

2011-04-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

Since I'm throwing myself back into the blogging world with gusto, I thought I'd offer a play-by-play of our recent concerts. :) Here are some highlights from the Kindergarten Concert!

"The Missing Tarts: a Mother Goose Mystery!"

The Queen of Hearts has lost her tarts....which Mother Goose character can help her find them?!?!

The Queen of Hearts

Hickory Dickory Dock

Cobbler, Cobbler

Hey, Diddle Diddle

Wee Willie Winkie

Little Bo Peep/Baa Baa Black Sheep

Bow, Wow, Wow

Humpty Dumpty
*I just thought he was cute holding the door - could almost be a humpty dumpty, ready to fall off. :)

Jack Be Nimble

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star/Star Light, Star Bright

Itsy Bitsy Spider

The Queen of Hearts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And some other fun moments!

Although there were some VERY naughty boys on stage (and I had to stop the program once to remind them how their "concert hands" and "concert eyeballs" and "concert lips" should act!), they were AWESOME! They narrated, sang, and acted out their own program... and for kindergarten, that's pretty impressive!

Survive Chaos: Check!

2011-04-21T19:06:00.000-07:00

This last month has been totally ridiculous and overwhelming. :) After tomorrow, I'll have had six kiddie music performances in the last week and a half. We've had things all weekend for the last five weeks, and had (on average) only one night/week without something scheduled for the last month. I wish I had taken pictures of our house....or my car...or my closet....or especially our kitchen, but I don't think I would have had the courage to post them! You'll have to just take my word for it - our lives were CHAOS!

Even though we have a mini performance tomorrow, I really would say that this last Tuesday was the end of the "crazy". Last night I recovered, and this morning I was feeling pretty carefree! Until...

At lunch my principal reminded me that I needed to give back the high school key I had borrowed for our concerts. Yeah, sure, no problem! Oh wait - I had NO IDEA where the key was! Now, I'm pretty notorious for misplacing things and have learned to just let it go and find things when I find them. However, losing a key to the high school during the first year of a new job is NOT the way to win people over. Enter: Panic Attack.

I looked all over my elementary room during my free minutes for the rest of the day - nothing. I broke my sugar fast at a gas station on the way home and only came up with a stomach ache. I looked under every car seat and in every nook and cranny of my purse - nothing. More panic.

Chris was awesome (as always!) and agreed to go to my elementary room to help me look for it. And thankfully, after 20 minutes of searching every nook and cranny, we found the key at the bottom of a bin full of egg shakers. EGG SHAKERS! Sometimes I wish I could trade my mind in for a better model! One that doesn't put keys in the egg shaker bin.

And at that moment, I became officially stress free. :) I am now re-entering the world of the living, the world of blogging and goal-getting and working-out and being social.

Anyone wanna hang?!?!

Peace ya'all!

Birthday Bash!

2011-04-03T17:02:00.000-07:00

I turned 27 on March 31st...and it was a great day. :) I don't usually have real huge expectations for birthdays, but I definitely felt loved. Chris woke me up with singing...and (in true Chris style!) a banana with a candle in it. I actually had strep on my birthday, and the night before had said that nothing sounded good except a banana. SO - although it sounds pretty ridiculous to hand your wife a banana with a candle in it on her birthday, he was actually being very sweet!

I had to go downstairs for the next part, and this is what I saw!

He had decorated the night before...awesome job Farley!

SO fun! He really outdid himself this time. :)


And...a TOTAL surprise, he got me a kindle! I can hardly put it down, I'm so excited!

The rest of my actual birthday was really fun. Although I was dealing with strep I went to school (and didn't breathe on anyone!), and got lots of birthday wishes from adorable kids. :) I had a doctor appt. after school, choir practice after that, and then went to Valentino's with Chris to have a date and play around with the Kindle. It was a great day!

THEN - Birthday celebration #2 with the Stellmaker Family. First, I adore my family. I felt so loved, and feel especially glad that everyone is home right now. Matthew's living at home until June, Amy and Matt were there, Papa's at mom and dad's right now, and Cindy (a family friend and our Iowa-aunt) got to come. It was GREAT!

I asked for money to go toward a bike, and in true Stellmaker-style they all got creative in how they gave it to me. This was the most creative. :)

I asked for money to buy a bike, but my family doesn't do things boring - so mom took me on a scavenger hunt. What was at the end? A money tree!

Love this family so much. :)

The only unnecessary part of the evening was the April Fool's Day prank played on the birthday girl. :) I haven't eaten sugar since middle of February, and could finally eat some on April 1st. I've decided to continue not eating white sugar except at celebrations...and this was a CELEBRATION! So when the oreos came around I was pretty excited - until I bit into two oreo cookies filled with TOOTH PASTE!!!! Thanks a lot brother!

Thanks for such a great birthday everyone...I feel very loved. :)

An habitual contempt of meanness...

2011-03-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

Check out this quote.

"It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives." --John Adams, Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1756

We definitely don't talk like this anymore. We don't even think like this! I'm still trying to wrap my mind around what he's saying, but I know it's good stuff. I also know that we don't have much of it in our country anymore!

I've had a couple of conversations about the state of our education in the U.S. lately, mostly spurred on by questions raised in "Waiting For Superman". Even in Iowa, there are moments when I feel shocked at how little kids know/can do. And to be honest, we have AWESOME teachers at my schools. I can only imagine places like New York NY, Austin TX, Washington D.C. So how have we missed the boat so badly?

Anyone?

Off to watch "Waiting for Superman"...