Here are pictures of the favorite animals of each person who went to the zoo yesterday.  See Karen’s site for which one is which person’s favorite!

Yesterday we went to the zoo.  I got to Karen’s about 9:45 and we got back to her house about 2:45.  Then I got a hair cut and ran to WalMart.  Then I went home and crashed!  The evening was less than eventful, but that was nice, and we were in bed around 10:00 (after watching Eureka on the Sci-Fi channel…it’s Eric’s new favorite non-educational series).

Today I must work on class stuff.  The faculty meeting for today was cancelled, so I don’t have to go to CU today.  So now I really should be good about working on things.  I also should iron, but we’ll see about that…

I’m working on adding some pics of the zoo…but it’ll take a bit…

EDIT:  Okay…here are some pics.

      

Yesterday wasn’t terribly exciting.  I had a number of things I could do, but I wasn’t really interested in any of them! I did clean up the pile of camping things in my kitchen (Eric emptied the Jeep and dumped everything on the kitchen floor).  And I did the camping laundry so that it wasn’t just sitting in a hamper.  Other than that, I mostly goofed off!

After dinner last night (I felt ambitious, so we had chicken and gravy and biscuits!), Eric wanted to go for a walk.  It was windy and had been looking like it might rain for most of the evening, but we went anyway.  We decided just to walk around our (smaller) side of the development, which was a good idea because it started to rain when we were about halfway done!    At first it was just a sprinkle, but it was pretty much pouring by the time we got to our cul-de-sac.  So we were VERY wet by the time we got home! But it was a fun little jaunt anyway!

Today, Karen & I are joining Deb and the girls for a trip to the zoo.  It’s supposed to be a beautiful day for it, so that’ll be nice, and it will be fun to watch Kelly look at the animals.  And since Deb gets them home for afternoon naps, it won’t even take up most of the day!  Gotta love that! 

Oh and here’s the skunk from our camping adventure!

The place: Deer Creek State Park
The time: the weekend
The people: 4 couples from the young-marrieds small group
The challenge: successfully camp for 1.5 days in tents
The result…SUCCESS!

We had a lot of fun this weekend, really.  The couples blended well together.  We had what we needed (we did run out of plates, but we were creative!), and we actually cooked over an open fire with great success (burgers/hot dogs on Friday night, hot breakfast both mornings, kebabs/baked potatoes on Sat. night).  Even Carrie (not the “outdoorsy” type) adjusted well – though she was certainly a great source of entertainment for everyone else! .  But God was definitely nice to us with the weather!  It was SO nice!

Friday night, we arrived and set up camp. We cooked dinner and then sat around the fire for a while with s’mores and sparklers (thanks, Karen!).  Then we all squeezed onto one picnic table and 2 couples played Uno and 2 couples played Phase 10. 

On Saturday, we hiked a total of 6 miles in the morning after breakfast.  We stopped at a playground for a few mintes where we played on the swings, the jungle gym, and Mark & Scott pushed two little girls on the merry-go-round.  After hiking, we had lunch and rested for a bit.  Then 2 couples went down to the beach area in the park while 2 couples stayed at the camp and relaxed some more. 

After dinner the girls sat at the fire talking and the guys ate cookies & milk at the table . Then suddenly the guys noticed something moving.  Something black and white.  Something heading for our food tent…a little skunk arrived!  For 15 minutes, the guys tried to convince him to leave (without spraying) by shining lights on him; most of the girls just tried to get a glimpse of him from the far side of the campsite (or from behind their husbands). Eventually, after much laughter and sharing of skunk knowledge, the little guy toddled off into the woods.  SO we removed the items (ie food scraps and garbage bag) that might have attracted him and returned to the fire, where Eric was photographing us writing in the air with sparklers.  That is, until, the skunk returned 15-20 minutes later!  He toddled right back in, right behind Eric, right back towards the tent.  Everyone was startled, amused, and somewhat concerned that he would stick around this time.  But of course, with nothing there to interest him, he didn’t stay long and, encouraged by the lights, he said a final adieu and departed (without a scent!). 

Sunday, we got up, made breakfast, packed up and headed home.  Definitely an outing we will do again.  Definitely a fun weekend.  Definitely was glad to get home, too! 

Friday!  It’s been a very tiring week for us…and we don’t have children or any of the valid excuses you guys have!  Eric actually had like 4 cups of coffee yesterday (way more than usual) while he was traveling, and still slept like a rock. 

So the travel restrictions did slow down Eric’s travel, but he made it home just after 8 pm, rather than after midnight, so that was good.  They didn’t have too much trouble since they were only taking things for a business meeting, not packing for a trip.  But he won’t have to travel now for a while, and we’re both glad about that!

Yesterday, I worked around the house in the morning. I cleaned my kitchen and mopped the floor.  I also picked the first tomatoes of our garden!  How fun is that?!?  In the afternoon, I had to drive out to the farm by myself (3 hours round trip) to pick up the Coleman lanterns that we were borrowing from Alan, Eric’s younger brother.  We’re going camping this weekend with some of our small group from church, and we needed some light!  Anyway, I hit rush hour on the West side of Columbus, so it took a bit longer, but not much (and I knew Eric wasn’t waiting for me, so it was no big deal!).  Then I just relaxed in the evening while I waited for Eric to get home.

Today, I’ve got to run to WalMart (sorry, Kim) to pick up supplies for camping. Basically, the entire day will be spent getting ready to go for the weekend, but it should be fun!

So I’m back from the exhausting world of Faculty/Staff meetings!  I can’t believe it was two whole days without Xanga…frankly, you guys are WAY more interesting!

First of all, I’m very tired! Getting up at 6:00 am with an absolutely-no-wiggle-room schedule is hard when you’re used to a little more leisure. But I was out of the house by 7 (or a tad after) both days, so I was never late.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to sleep until almost 11:00 on Monday night, then I made 2 trips to Cedarville on Tuesday (one at 7 for the meetings, then home around 3:30 to get Eric for the dinner, then left at 5 to be back for the evening’s dinner, etc.). We didn’t get home until 10:30 on Tuesday night, then up again at 6:00.  By the time I got home yesterday, I was just plain beat.  So we did nothing exciting last night (I read most of the evening) and both of us were in bed at 9:00.  How lovely!

The meetings themselves have been worse, but they’re never great.  I did get to sit with Cyndi Messer regularly, so we had a goot time entertaining each other!  The speaker talked about racial reconciliation from a biblical perspective which was much more interesting than I was expecting. She was a very good speaker, and her principles are applicable to all forms of reconciliation, not just black/white.  So that was good.  Meetings on Tuesday were more CU-focused, so there was important information, but it wasn’t thrilling by any stretch!  Glad that’s done…

Eric is in Minneapolis today for another 1-day business trip.  He had to fly out at 7:00 am again, so he left about 5:30 to get to the airport.  Good thing, too, since the foiled terrorist plot they announced this morning probably means that the airports are going to require tons of patience to get through all the lines and such!  But I’m glad they caught the guys, too.  Not that Minneapolis was likely to be a target…but it’s the principle of the thing!  Anyway, he’s supposed to fly back in around 6:00, so we’ll see if he makes it this time!

And, as a final thought, I think “foiled” should not be used to describe real-life situations…

And Kim…here is the website about recycling (I read some recent posts this morning) in Columbus (http://www.swaco.org/).

Would you all pray, when you think of it, for one of my best friends (Ghena) and her husband Jonathan.  They are in the military and live in Wyoming.  They have 4 children under the age of 4, and have found out that two of their children (Eden, the oldest, and Thad, the only son) have cystic fibrosis.  The other two girls are both carriers of the disease, so they also show some symptoms but do not have it.  Please just pray for them and for strength; it’s certainly one day, one illness at a time.  They are Christians and have a solid church, but could use all the prayer they can get.  Thanks.

It’s been ages since I’ve posted…okay at least it feels that way!  The weekend was busy, but good.

• Friday, Karen and I worked the yard sale at my mom’s all day.  Eric went out with his brother in the evening, and I had dinner with the family before heading home.  I was VERY tired from the day’s activities by the time we got to bed.  And I was VERY sore!
• Saturday, Eric and I got around pretty leisurely.  Eric messed around with his computer and in the basement for a while.  I cleaned up the kitchen and relaxed a bit.  Then we headed to Cedarville for the rest of the day.  I helped man the yard sale (it was surprisingly not-busy all day!), then we broke it all down.  Eric & I took the leftovers to the Goodwill in Xenia, then came back just about the time dinner was put on the table! We were home by 9, and relaxed for awhile before bed.
• Sunday was surprisingly busy!  Church, but no meeting.  We grilled pork chops and zucchini and had corn on the cob for dinner.  Then we relaxed for a while before going out.  We were offered tickets to a drum & bugle corp competition at Crew Stadium last night, so we went to get those from some friends, then went for a walk down by the river.  After a light supper, we headed to the Stadium.  Having never been to a band competition, it was interesting, but I can’t say that I have much desire to go back every year!  And I have my own opinions about the flag corps that were attached to the bands!

Today I’m having lunch with some friends at PF Changs (YUMMY!).  And other than that, I don’t know exactly what I’ll be doing.  But I’m sure I’ll figure it out!

EDIT: The one thing that I despise about yard/garage sales is the people who show up a half-hour before your posted start time.  You aren’t ready for them; the stuff isn’t even totally out yet, but they want to look NOW, so they’ll either sit there and stare at you or “help” unpack your stuff.  MOST annoying.  Anyway, I got to Mom’s about 9:00 and started moving everything out to the front (it was all in the carport).  I was just getting the boxes out, figuring Karen could start unpacking when she arrived (which she did).  But her arrival was only minutes after the first couple of people stopped to ask about stuff (furniture first), and just as she started unpacking, a lady stopped and started looking at 9:30.  So I was moving as fast as possible to get everything out there before to many more people stopped.  And then, we sat all day and then moved it all back at the end of the day.  So I was hot and tired, and after riding home for an hour, my body was just a tad unhappy with me.  (nothing terribly bad, of course, but enough that I knew I’d worked that day!) :END EDIT

It’s early for me this morning.  I got up around 6:00 (a little after) to get Eric off to work. He needed to be there early.  And I needed to be up early myself today.

Yesterday I worked around my house for the morning.  Karen & I headed to Cedarville for the afternoon to work on prepping the yard sale stuff that we’re having today and tomorrow at Mom’s house.  We got there about 2:30 and left around 6:00. We were done before that, but we needed to ask Mom about a couple of things.  Eric called just before we left to see where I was.  He wanted to go to MicroCenter, and he likes me to go with him (oh joy, oh rapture ).  So we hurried home, and when I got here, his brother had called, so it was 7:30 before I could even talk to Eric!  We got some supper at Wendy’s (I had less than stellar service) and then went to MicroCenter.  He bought the basics for a new system he wants to build.  After rebates, he’ll have spent a total of $10.  One of the things (a new case) will be free after the mail-in rebate.  Gotta love that! 

Anyway, he played with his toys for a bit when we got home, and I got ready for bed and read for a while.  Today I’m on my way to Cedarville in just a few more minutes (so I may or may not be on Xanga!).  Karen’s Erik is leaving this morning, so she’ll be following me down when he’s off.  Then we’ll man the sale for the day.  Such fun!

So yesterday was an unusual day.  Eric slept until noon and then went into work for a couple of hours; he was home again by 3:30 or 4:00.  So I worked on laundry after he got up, and just putzed around while he was still in bed.  I finished the laundry this morning (it’s not put away yet, but it’s all folded!). 

Last night at church, we met the most probable candidate for our music minister position.  He and his wife seemed very nice, and I am very encouraged about his vision of drama/video and production, along with music, in reaching out to the lost people around us.  Now we’ll just have to see if God leads him here…and I’m so good at waiting.   Eric didn’t go last night.  After his 20 hour day and an odd schedule for the day, he was tired and had a headache.  And he figured if the guy came, he’d meet him then.  His last comment to me as I was on my way to the church was, “My eyeballs feel hot.”  It made me laugh!