Thinking about the week in Honduras...

What an amazing trip! I’m sitting here in the airport in San Pedro Sula waiting for our flight and reflecting on everything that’s happened this past week. I thought I’d start blogging while everything is fresh in my mind. I didn’t journal this year as I usually do. My down-loading each evening was done in the form of chatting with Jason.

Definitely the most amazing trip I’ve been part of. I don't even know where to start, so I thought I'd just do a quick overview and then I'll tell some stories of things that happened this past week. If I miss anything, I'll just do another blog.

At the beginning of the week we didn’t have any large projects to do, just screening windows and showing the Jesus film. Most of our emphasis was to reach out to the people there to help them, show them God’s love, and pray for them. We wanted to interact with people outside the church as we built screen frames for their windows, and we were going to invite them to a fiesta which included dinner and the Jesus film. We thought we may also try a few other outreaches, whatever might come up.

There was one change. When we got to El Quebracho, Pastor Roberto asked if we could show the Jesus film in El Rosario, a village nearby. This required some change of plans, but we're flexible. Gregg, who was in charge of our outreaches, also wanted to go to a squatters village near Comayagua.

So here's how things went down this past week.

Saturday - left Dayton at 5:55 am and arrived in San Pedro Sula at noon (Central time). Went to a nearby mall for lunch (I had Wendy's), then drove to Canchias. We were the only team there and many of the students were gone on break. (Graduation is next weekend.) After dinner and orientation, we headed up, up, up to our cabins. (First time I haven't stay in Casa de Esther.)

Sunday - due to a the path being flooded, we were unable to go up to Ambassador Mountain for devotions. We went to the back patio, which has an incredible view, and started with a couple of songs. We had a great time of sharing and prayer, and then Amy, the Heart to Honduras staff person who was with us all week, shared the background and vision of Heart to Honduras. Around that time it started to rain, so our village tour was done by truck as we headed to Comayagua. We got to the hotel we like to stay at, the Hotel Santa Maria, and checked in. After quick showers and dinner, we headed to El Quebracho for church. It was so wonderful to see everyone again!

Monday - started our screening projects. We all went to the first house together and took measurements and then went back to the church to cut the wood and start putting the screens together. Then we broke into 3 groups. Two groups went out to get measurements and then would install the screen doors and windows after they were done. The third group, which I was part of, built the doors and windows.

My part was stapling the wood together and then putting the two layers of screens on (one layer is regular screen and then a heavier layer with bigger holes it put over it). Then we added firring strips over the edges. I believe we got 5 doors and a couple windows done the first day.

(lunch under the orchard trees behind Pastor's house)

Monday night after dinner we went to the beautiful cathedral square. It started to rain, so we headed for a cafe where we got pastries or ice cream. We didn't get many pictures of the square, but we had a great time hanging out in the cafe waiting for the rain to stop.

Around 1:30 am I started having bad stomach pains. Around 3:30 am I (finally) got sick and was able to fall back asleep. I woke up Tuesday morning still feeling queasy but went to breakfast and devotions anyway. I was determined to go to El Quebracho with the team, but alas, I got sick again and ended up in bed all day. I wasn't able to keep anything down until that evening. So I also missed the church service that evening. Thankfully by the following morning I was feeling a lot better and was able to go out with the team again.

Tuesday - the day I missed, they did more screen doors and windows. They went to El Rosario to pass out cold bottles of water and pass out fliers about the fiesta. They met a man named Eddy who had been in a car accident and had a bad scar across his neck. It seemed he was lucky to be alive. They prayed for him and invited him to the fiesta. That evening they went to church and Ana was there with her three kids. (This was the only time she made it to El Quebracho, so unfortunately I missed seeing her this year.)

Wednesday - we stopped at a grocery store on the way to the village to pick up some bottles of water and ice. I went inside to see a Honduras grocery store and you know, it looked just like an IGA except there was a guard with a gun outside. (Heh, I got him to smile for my picture.)
Then more screen doors & windows. This time, however, some guys from the village were working on putting the doors & windows together. It was great to see the pastor's two sons working on them too.
While they were working on installing the doors and windows, I walked around to the tiendas (stores) in the village with Gregg, Kevin and Ever to get snacks for the outreach.
After lunch we loaded into the bus with six guys from the village and headed to a squatters village down the road. It was a large field where people had taken whatever materials they could find to piece together homes. Zelaya, the president that was removed, gave these people the land even though it wasn't his to give to them. We started walking around and many people came out to us. We gave them bottles of water and the small bags of chips we had and then prayed for people. While we were praying for one family, the wind blew a large piece of their roof off the house. So much of what I have seems frivolous after seeing what little they were surviving on.

That evening we went to church and Chris took the youth outside and Ever translated for him. Then men also met outside with Luis translating for them. And the women met inside with Michelle speaking and Amy translating. It was a great evening with a lot of prayer and encouragement. When we're there it no longer feels like "us" and "them." It's all of us being a church, being family.

Thursday - the day of the fiesta! In the morning we started the day by finishing up the screen doors and windows. A group, including Kevin, Gregg and Michelle, went to the store to get groceries for dinner for the fiesta.

We went to Pastor's house for lunch and discovered that the ladies are hung decorations for Kathy's 60th birthday. After we ate they came out with a cake and sang several birthday songs for Kathy. Afterwards there was a pinata which Kathy did a great job beating until the candy came out. So much fun & laughter!

While this was going on, the ladies from the church had already started cooking the chicken for dinner. After the birthday celebration the men left to start packing the truck and setting up for the fiesta. The women stayed at the house and chopped vegetables for hours. Then everything started going in the big pot and as the food was ready, we had an assembly line that would put the food on the plate with a fork and two tortillas and then wrap it in Saran Wrap. We did 300 dinners this way.
The men went to El Rosario early to get things set up and all of us ladies who worked on dinner road in the bus over together. At 7pm the people from the Quebracho church started handing out dinners to the people waiting to watch the movie. We passed out cups of water after they got their dinners.
Then we started the Jesus movie, en espanol. (This would be the one put out by Campus Crusade, not the Passion movie.) After the movie Gregg got up and explained how everyone can have Jesus living in their hearts and led a prayer asking Jesus to come into their lives. Then 50 people stood up to say they had prayed the prayer. Afterwards we prayed for people and started packing everything up. It was a long day, but so exciting.

Friday - Pastor Roberto, Olga, and their two sons, Levi and Limber, joined us for breakfast and devotions.

Then we headed to see the new camp that Heart to Honduras is building. Due to the presidential problems, many teams canceled their trips this summer. This has created some financial problems for them, however this freed up a lot of the staff people to work on the construction at the camp. In June there was one building, and now there are 4 buildings, a gymnasium, and a soccer field that's halfway done. It's amazing!

We went to Power Chicken for lunch and then went shopping at the mercado. I got some souvenirs, Christmas gifts, and some cigars for Jason. Then we went to Casa El Meson bed & breakfast for the night. (The women stayed in one room in a building behind the house and the guys stayed in rooms in the front of the house.)

Saturday - our last day in Honduras. We had Gary flying back to Louisiana, and Michelle was flying into Columbus, but all of us were leaving around 1pm so things worked out well. All our flights were on time and we made it home by 9pm that evening.

We had such a great group of people and did a lot of laughing. The staff people that Heart to Honduras provided were great and really got involved with our group. We were able to make connections with the people of the church and also others in the villages of El Quebracho, El Rosario and the squatters village. But most importantly, we got to see the people of the church there doing what we do at our church in Dayton. They're reaching out to the people around them, and "showing God's love in a practical way."

Gregg told us about a book he read where it said that the gospel could be summed up in four phrases: 1) Jesus did it, the disciples watched. 2) Jesus did it, the disciples helped. 3) The disciples did it, Jesus helped. 4) The disciples did it, Jesus left. In the same way, we came to El Quebracho, showed the people there what had been taught to us. We did it, they watched (the first year). We did it, they helped (the last few years). They did it, we helped (this year). And now we're gone and they'll continue what was started.

Once again I left my heart down there. I miss them as always. They are an extended family and I look forward to seeing them again. They have picked up some English from us and we've picked up more Spanish from them. The best part was hugging them and hearing Olga say "I love you" and me hugging the women I spent hours with on Thursday telling them "mi hermana." (My sister.) Our hearts are knit together and we are truly sister churches.

More pictures can be found here... http://quebracho.shutterfly.com

Our story - part 5

My apologies for this being long overdue. We've been working on the house getting it ready to be put on the market. The obvious questions are "where are you moving?" and "why?" These are the answers I'm trying to answer by telling our story. So please be patient while I get through the whole story. (My stories are never short.) Also, if you're wondering "when?" we don't have this answer yet. Maybe by the end of the telling of this story that answer will be known.

So Jason and I started dating May of 2007. It was a long distance relationship but we made the effort of seeing each other every weekend. After a few months it was Jason who usually made the 3 hour trip to Dayton, but I did try to get out to Olive Hill at least once a month.

By this time I knew I really liked Jason's personality and I enjoyed spending time with him, but I had reservations. First, he was way too good to be true. I had dated guys like this in the past and they used lies to convince me they were something they were not. So I was always on the alert to catch Jason in a lie - because I assumed he was one of those guys.

Another thing that bothered me was that he always had to hold my hand, have his arm around me, or be sitting right next to me. I'm not a touchy-feely person and was afraid that Jason was the clingy type.

These things bothered me but was it enough to end things with him? No. I figured I'd keep going forward and see if things got better or worse. But honestly I really wasn't optimistic about the relationship. In the back of my head I kept thinking that what I expected would happen and the relationship would end.

I remember one phone call where I freaked out on him and tried to break up with him over the phone. He actually refused to let me end it that way. He wouldn't let me dump him. We laugh about it now, but obviously his refusal worked and I listened to him. (Guys - this won't happen often, so don't try it unless it's really worth it.)

There was another time where we were saying good bye one Sunday night and he said something that made me respond with a reminder that I didn't want to talk about marriage until we had been dating 6 months. He turned and looked at me and said "I am the man in this relationship and *I* will determine when we get engaged." I looked at him like he was crazy but this really impressed me. Of course he would wait until that 6 months though (or so I thought). Little did I know that he had already started to pick out an engagement ring.

In September of 2007 we got a new partner in the Cincinnati office. (All you TH people are groaning right now and wondering what she has to do with our story. Heh.) I was sent down to Cincinnati for the week to put all the transferred files in our docketing system and stayed at a hotel that week.

That weekend we had a conference at church and I was doing the overheads for most of the sessions. I was exhausted from my marathon days at work and then I had to drive back to Dayton Friday afternoon with a headache. I got home where Jason was waiting on me and took a quick nap before we headed to church. The headache was better, but I was wore out.

We stopped at Taco Bell to get dinner and both of us got burritos. (I hesitate at this part of the story because I hate telling this story. Those who have heard it before are either cringing or snickering at this point.) I was driving and tried to eat my burrito. Unfortunately whomever made the burrito did it with little care and beans were squishing out in 3 different places. I was so frustrated that I did something that even to this day I can barely believe I did.

I opened the window and threw it out onto the road. Wrapper and all.

Jason just sat there for a moment and didn't say anything at first. He took a bite of his burrito and after a dirty look from me offered it to me. I didn't want it, so he put it back in the bag. And then I started crying. There was a lot more going on, of course, but even I wasn't quite sure what the problem was. Other than being really really wore out.

We got to church and Jason went in to let them know I wouldn't be doing overheads. I pulled it together and after talking to Scott (Sliver) and Jason went inside to just listen to the worship music. I was okay for a few songs, but then the tears started again and we had to leave. Jason and I had a long talk out in the parking lot where I let him know it wasn't him, it was just a lot of stuff from my past coming back to haunt me.

And he understood. He listened and offered comfort and I felt so much better.

Here's the thing. Jason had the ring that weekend. He was ready to propose. He had shown the ring to a few people on the worship team. Of course my burrito-flinging and crying had made him reconsider any proposal that weekend. I kinda wonder what those worship team people were thinking when I left crying...

It really wasn't the right weekend anyway. We still had unanswered questions and I wasn't 100% sure he was the right one.

Funny the difference 48 hours makes. (To be continued...)

Our story - part 4

In case you're just joining us, here's links to the previous blogs:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

A quick recap: Jason and I met online back in May 2007. We met in person in Chillicothe, and then Jason came to visit me Memorial Day weekend. Things were clicking, there were definite sparks, but we were two different people.

Jason was so happy to get the relationship going, but I was jaded, cynical, doubtful and distrustful. I knew I had to let go of this if things would ever work out. So needless to say, things were a bit bumpy at first. A good analogy of our relationship - both of us are on the same rollercoaster and it has a REALLY big first hill. (This would be falling in love - really really in love.) Jason was all for it, ready to go plunging 100 mph down that hill with his hands wildly waving above him yelling "WHEEEEEEE" the whole time. Me? I was the one freaking out, wanting to get OFF the ride, shrinking as far down as possible and closing my eyes praying to God it wouldn't be as bad as I thought it was going to be.

How's that for a mental picture? :)

So with that as a background, let's get on with the first weekend I drove down to Olive Hill, Kentucky to visit Jason. It was a week after he visited me and he arranged for me to stay with his parents. I was so nervous about staying with his mom and dad. We're not just talking about meeting his parents, but staying in their house - walking around in pajamas in the morning, getting ready in their bathroom, eating their food. There really was no alternative, it's not like there's a hotel to stay at in Olive Hill.

I got off work early and headed east to Kentucky. (For those in Ohio, that's S.R. 35, not I-75.) It was a looong drive and it was almost dark by the time I got there. Jason met me at the Dairy Queen in town, where I got a huge hug from him, and then I followed him to his parents' house. His parents were very welcoming and low-key people. (Well, of course, it's where Jason gets it from.) Jason stayed over and slept on the couch and I was in the guest room. The next morning Gayle made eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy. How do I remember this so well? Because we've had it almost every Saturday morning in Olive Hill since then. (Yummy!)

Jason showed me around his town, where he grew up, where he went to church, and where he went to school. We went out to his cabin and hung out there the rest of the day. Jason made dinner on the grill and we sat in the hammock and just enjoyed the cool summer evening. We headed back to his parents' house and sat in the guest room watching TV and talking.
The next morning we went to his Baptist church where I got to meet his Sunday School class - he taught the High School class. They loved to tease him and having me there just gave them more to harass him about. (Not that week, but a few later, one girl asked what I was doing there if I was from Dayton. She hadn't quite caught on that Jason and I were dating. LOL! I won't mention who she was since she's probably reading this on facebook...) ;)

Being back in a traditional Baptist church brought back a lot of memories. The hymns, the choir, the invitation at the end. It really felt like I was back at home. My favorite part about the Baptist church is their support of missionaries. If it wasn't for my Baptist church where I grew up, I don't think I'd be so passionate about the people in Honduras. I probably wouldn't have ever gone on a mission trip.

After lunch at his parents' house, Jason took me to Carter Caves. We went through the Saltpetre (not a typo) Cave which is underground. I'm so glad we went at that time because it's now closed due to a disease that kills bats. There are other caves to go through though, thankfully. If you'd like to see Carter Caves, you'll have to go see it yourself - it's amazing. I'll show you a picture of Jason and me while we waited for the tour to start.
So we get back to Jason's parents' house, Gayle had made a stack cake for me to take to work the next day. I was so impressed that she would do something like that for me. We wrapped it up and gingerly put the cake on the back seat of my car. Jason and I had a discussion about whether or not to put it on the floor. I won because the floor was dirty, so it was going on the seat. I had to get on the road, so I said goodbye to my gracious hosts and followed Jason out to the highway. Another huge hug and I was on my way home.

And then somewhere just past the Ohio state line, Bambi hit. Bambi hit my car. I've never hit a deer before and I had no idea what to do. My first thought was to drive up a little further because I couldn't bear the thought of stopping next to a dead or severely injured deer. Seriously. My clear thinking had been replaced with scattered thoughts.

First I called Jason and told him I hit a deer. He asked if I was okay and I said yes, but the cake didn't make it - it wasn't on the seat anymore. And before Jason could get any further information, I told him a state trooper had pulled up behind me so I had to go. (We laugh about this now, but I was REALLY upset about the cake.) So I get out of the car and he tells me that he was coming the other way and almost hit the deer and then saw it jump in front of my car. So he turned around and came to check on me. My car was hissing so we assumed it was the radiator and it was best that I didn't drive the car any further.

I called Jason again and reassured him I was alright. I checked on the cake and it was laying on the floor - plate down. Maybe it would be okay. (I've learned my lesson. Cakes go on the FLOOR.) Jason said he'd be right there and would pick me up in Lucasville, which was just a few miles down the road.

I got in the state trooper's car and called my insurance company while the trooper called for a tow truck. After the calls were made, we chatted about church and he said it was good to meet a sister in Christ. That really helped me get through the next hour.

When the tow truck driver showed up, the trooper reassured me that he was a good guy (although a rough-looking chain smoker). He took me and my car to the Speedway in town to wait on Jason. I went inside to get something to drink and a few minutes later the tow truck driver came in and suggested I get in the truck. I guess a homeless man was going around harassing people. I was glad for the help, but it was really unnerving. Where was Jason?

And then my knight in shining armor arrived to pick me up. I almost started crying at the sight of him. I was definitely crying later in the safety of his car - from exhaustion, frustration, and relief. We didn't get to my house until after midnight, so I insisted that he stay over and head back in the morning. He wasn't sure about staying over, but since we hadn't kissed yet, I told him it was okay, we were still in the "friends" stage. Gotta tell you though that a huge kiss would have been in order that night! And even if I was still saying we were just getting to know each other, I was definitely falling in love with him! Maybe that first hill on the roller coaster wasn't going to be too bad after all.

By the way, the cake did make it to work with me the next day. It was a little flat on one side and wasn't quite centered on the plate. But everyone said it tasted great - even if it did hit a deer. :)

Our story - part 3

This will be short, I hope. I should be in bed, but I'm waiting for the last load of laundry to get done so I can hang up my pants to dry. Hoping to be able to wear them tomorrow. What? You don't care about what I'm wearing tomorrow? Fine, I'll get on to that first week after we met.

The first weekend Jason came to Dayton was Memorial Day weekend. He had a family reunion on Sunday and it upset me a bit that he'd rather be in Dayton with a girl he barely knew than at a family event. He assured me it was an annual thing at his Mamaw's house and he's always there. They won't miss him this year. But then he found out two of his favorite cousins from Ohio were going to be there, so he apologized that he'd have to cut the weekend short. This made me feel better about his priorities. So he was just in town Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning he headed back to Olive Hill.

Friday night my small group (Bible study) had a cook out, so the first few hours he was here, he was meeting 7 of my friends. :) They all loved him. The next day we went to Ken & Melissa's house - this would be the most difficult of tests - the best friends AND children test. He passed both of these. Jason jumped in and helped Melissa in the kitchen, and then Ken kidnapped him and they went driving around to see some of the historical places around Kettering. Later Eme was sitting with Jason and I and I asked if he was a redneck or a hill billy. She looked at him really good and then looked at me and said "he's a PINK neck!" So funny!!

Sunday morning he came to church with me and got to experience the Vineyard. I was curious if he'd be okay with that kind of church and he loved it. We went to lunch at the Greene and then he had to head home.

But before he left I gave him two pictures of me - a Glamour Shots picture and a really hideous funny picture of me. He loved them both. He took great pride in showing people the pictures of his new girlfriend. He loved show them the ugly one first and wait for their reaction. Seriously! (If you're brave you can click on the picture and see the full sized one.)

So one week after our official meeting things were going very well. He sent me flowers at work and therefore announced to everyone there that I had a boyfriend - and he REALLY liked me. I didn't mind. I was enjoying finally dating again. And it was what I had envisioned a good dating relationship to be - HE was pursuing me. (Because I'm fabulous and I'm worth it! That's an inside joke with Jason and me.) ;)

Next time I'll post about my first weekend in Kentucky. I promise it's a lot more eventful and ended with Jason rescuing me in Lucasville.

Our story - part 2

Part 1 can be found here.

So on May 20, 2007 I set out in my little blue Vibe to meet this amazing guy from Kentucky. He lived in Eastern Kentucky, over 3 hours away, so we agreed to meet in Chillicothe for a late lunch after church on Sunday. We decided to meet at a BBQ place near the river but then I got a call from him - the restaurant was closed on Sundays. So I met him at the BBQ place anyway and I remember seeing him walking towards me with a huge grin on his face. Yay!! Better looking than the pictures in his profile. We decided to go to a Bob Evans that he passed and offered to drive. I normally would never get in the car of a guy I just met but I felt like I could trust him. (Girls, I really don't recommend doing this!) I get in his car and there was a little coleus plant sitting on the floor. He said he wanted to get me flowers but he didn't think they'd last long enough for me to get them home. Aaaawwwww!!!

We talked for awhile at Bob Evans, just hanging out chatting - favorite movies, tv shoes, music, that sort of thing. He suggested we go walk around a park nearby and we drove over there. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining and the perfect temperature. We sat in one location and then walked around some and sat in another location. At some point we just started holding hands and I didn't really realize it until he asked if I was okay with holding his hand.

So while we were sitting in the second park bench Jason looks at me and says "I'd like to declare my intentions to pursue you." Wow. Really? Like no more guessing if a guy likes me or not? I said "please do." :) I think that was when I started really falling for this guy. I have bugged him about this to no end, asking him if that was a line from a movie, or if one of his girl friends suggested he say this. No, he just knew exactly what to say right when I needed to say it.

As we were sitting there the clouds started to get dark so we had a decision to make - end the date or find dinner? Yes, we had been talking for several hours at the park. I wasn't ready for the day to end so I agreed to dinner. We headed to Applebees (near the Bob Evans where we ate lunch) and sat there for a couple more hours just talking. When we needed to leave (our waitress was giving us dirty looks) we couldn't decide where else to go. It was a Sunday night and the malls were closed, so we ended up back at his car at the BBQ restaurant.

It was getting late and I needed to get some water for my coleus plant but I couldn't seem to get out of his car and go home. While we were sitting there delaying our goodbye we noticed that the house next to the restaurant had a lot of people on the porch and elsewhere outside. His car looked like a police car (a Crown Victoria) and they had pointed at us a few times. I thought they were waiting for us to start making out or something (we didn't) but he pointed out that maybe they thought we were the cops. Slowly the all went in until no one was left outside. A car pulled up and someone got out and knocked on the door. The person who came to the door pointed at us and they both looked at us. The guy went back to the car and it pulled away. Hello!!

So we consider that day to be our first two dates (lunch and dinner) and our first stake-out. Ha! :) As I drove home that evening I was wondering if this guy was too good to be true. Really. Most guys who start off seeming to be perfect are usually just big smoozes who will say whatever you want to hear. I had been let down by those types a few times and didn't want it to happen again. Was he just another "pleaser" type? He was coming to Dayton to visit me the following weekend, Memorial Day weekend. So I hoped to see a little more of who this guy really was.

A few things from our first date that really impressed me - he opened all my doors for me, including the car door which he also shut for me, he insisted on paying for both meals, and he followed me to the gas station after our date to make sure I got back on the highway alright. I remember thinking that we had the same sense of humor and that I had the best time just goofing around with him. I was really looking forward to seeing him again, but not looking forward to missing him.

I wanted to copy & paste a few bits and pieces from emails I saved after that first date. I thought you'd enjoy this...

Really really enjoyed hanging out with J yesterday. It was so comfortable hanging out with him. No red flags at all, didn't seem the type to be over-anxious to get into a relationship (he didn't pee on my foot).

Great smile, great laugh, and so funny and so CUTE.

And he's just a down-to-earth nice guy. I'm dating someone. I love that. I haven't really DATED someone since last July.

There's a three house distance between us, but we've agreed to make sure we see each other at least once a week. He's said he'd move here if it came to that because he can't see a woman being happy in his little tiny town.

Gotta love that last one! :)

Well, that's it for now. I found more emails from his first weekend in Dayton - what a learning experience!! I'll be reviewing those to prepare for my next blog - and laughing. First impressions are kinda funny sometimes. :)

Our story - part 1

I've been neglecting my blog for the last few months and I apologize. There's just so much going on that I've had a difficult time knowing what to say or where to start. Things are starting to come together now, so I thought I'd start at the beginning which will better explain what's going on now.

This is going to be a long story so instead of boring you to death, I'm going to chop it up into bits and pieces. This is more how I think anyway. Call it ADD blogging if you'd like. :)

In Spring of 2007 I had been single for over a year without anyone even asking me out in the previous year. There had been several guys whom I had met online, but the chemistry just wasn't there. I asked one guy if we were dating and he said he didn't know. I told him I'd make it easy on him, we weren't. My one requirement was that the guy had to call me up, talk to me, and then ask me to go do something. When you've done this a couple of times, it's called "dating." The men I was talking seemed to prefer online interaction. I had enough online friends, I wanted MORE.

Around that time I was involved in a singles Bible study. One Sunday morning only three of us showed up, the teacher, another woman and me. So we decided to postpone the lesson and share what was going on in our lives and pray about decisions we were trying to make. The other woman was considering moving back to Columbus, which she eventually did. I was considering opening up my search criteria on yahoo personals. I wasn't meeting men through church or friends, and I think I had chatted with every single online guy in Dayton that met what I was looking for.

I was thinking about changing the search radius to 500 miles on my internet dating site. What this means is that yahoo personals would take all the things I was looking for in a man and look in cities and states outside of my area. I knew this meant that I may have to move out of Dayton, or even out of Ohio, but I was willing to consider it if it meant finding real love.

After we prayed I felt like I had gotten the green light to look outside of Dayton. If I had to move, I trusted God that it would be taken care of. That afternoon I went home and changed my search from 50 miles to 500 miles. I hit "search" and had hundreds of results. I decided to sit back and see if any fish would bite (now that I was willing to move to where they were).

A few days later yahoo personals emailed me my top matches. The number one match was a guy from Grayson, Kentucky. The write up on his profile was nice - close to his family and friends, taught Sunday School, and had a few hobbies - but what I noticed was his smile and the laughter in his brown eyes. I actually sat there smiling back at him. Oh, I liked this one.

So how a girl does this online dating thing, if she doesn't want to make the first move, she views the guy's profile. He can tell that she viewed his profile and if her picture is appealing, he'll view hers. And sometimes this goes back and forth a few times and then the guy gets the guts to send her a smile/wink/whatever and if she smiles/winks/whatevers back, then he sends a message.

So I viewed this Grayson guy's profile and I waited. Nothing. A week later I get another email from yahoo personals and he's still number one. I viewed his profile again and waited. Still nothing. I viewed his profile a couple more times and still nothing. I was about to give up but decided to change my picture to something a little more flirtatious. This was my last ditch effort to get this guy's attention. If he never saw my profile, he'd never know how fabulous I was and how much he was missing out. So I viewed his profile one last time and waited.

A couple days later I got a message from him. Yay! Finally! Yes, it was the flirty picture that finally got his attention. He explained that he wasn't really interested in dating someone 3 hours away but after reading my profile, he wanted to know more.

After exchanging a few messages we talked on the phone. He had the cutest southern accent, which sometimes was a little difficult to understand. And as he listened, he kept saying "right" but it sounded like "wrought." We made plans to meet the following Sunday in Chillicothe at a Barbecue restaurant we found on the internet. I let my friends know where I was going and asked them to text me 2 hours into the meeting to give me a reason to get out of it if I needed to.

I put on my favorite denim skirt and a pink top and started driving 75 minutes to meet the man who would be my husband less than a year later. :)

Good stopping point, don't you think? I'll pick this up later. Check back in a couple of days and hopefully I'll have part 2 done.

Couch Potato to 5k

Couch potato = me
5k = Air Force 5k on September 18th

I started this crazy running about 6 weeks ago. I had quite a few friends who had started running and it motivated me to at least give it a try. I used to run during gym in High School and I knew that I might not be fast, but I had endurance to run for half an hour or more. Could I still do it? I figured I might as well give it a try. It's summer and it's free (once you buy a good pair of running shoes.)

Melissa told me about podrunner.com which does interval training that goes along with the Couch Potato to 5k program. Basically, the 1st week you run for 60 seconds, walk for 90 seconds and continue alternating between running and walking for about half an hour. The 2nd week you run for 90 seconds, then walk for 2 minutes, run 90 seconds, walk 2 minutes... you get the point. The podrunner.com site has a podcast that you download to your ipod or mp3 player. It plays upbeat music and has a tone when you go back and forth between walking & running. Each week there's a different podcast to download with different music.

So I went to Up and Running and had my feet measured. They check to see how much your arch changes between resting and standing and this lets them know the style of shoe you need. So they brought out three different pair of shoes and had me walk around in them. I decided on a silver, white, and pink pair of New Balance running shoes.


I then downloaded the first week of podrunner and headed out to run around the neighborhood for the first time. I gotta tell you, after the 8th time of running for a minute, I thought I was going to die. Could I really do this?

The next time I ran, Melissa and I ran together and she goofed around and kept things fun. When we'd hear the tone to start running we'd both want to groan but she encouraged me to say "woo hoo!" instead. It got to be a joke and we'd yell "woo hoo!" when we were so tired and we'd hear the tone for the last time.

We ran around a trail/track around a park near my house. We ran around Lincoln Park and the neighborhood next door. We ran outside near Trent Arena, we ran inside Trent Arena. We ran in the neighborhood near Melissa's house, but that first hill was a doozy!! And we ran at the Kettering Rec Center. We're not sure how far we ran, but we knew how long we were running. The intervals were always about 28 minutes long and we'd keep going no matter how tired we got. The great part was that we could see progress. Each week we had to run longer, but we did it!

Somewhere around the 3rd week when we were running 3 minutes at a time, Melissa and I decided to see how long we could run. So on the last interval of running, we decided to just keep going. We lasted about 5-6 minutes and proved to ourselves that this was definitely something we could do. I have no idea how long I ran that evening, but it felt GREAT. Who knew that I could run?

Melissa and the kiddos have left for Idaho, as they do every year, and will be back in August. This means I have 5-6 weeks of running by myself. So far I've stayed on track and stayed motivated. Though I think Melissa pushed me to run harder than I do when I run alone.

Tonight I started week 5 of the podcast. Five minutes of running, 3 minutes of walking, 5 minutes of walking, 3 minutes of walking, and another 5 minutes of running. With warm up and cool down, this was about 2 miles. It wore me out, but I finished.

The idea of doing a 5k in 2 months seems easy enough. That's just another mile than I'm doing now and I can always walk part of it. But I don't want to walk it, I want to RUN the 5k. This is my goal. I also want to run the 3.1 miles in less than 35 minutes. No idea if I can do that, but I want to. It's another goal that I'm pushing myself towards, and I've been told it's doable if I keep on training like I have.

So I've been running 3 times a week since the 3rd week (only twice a week the first two weeks), which is much more regular exercise than I've ever done in my life. Have I lost weight? No. Am I discouraged? No. The point isn't to lose weight, the point is to run, and run longer each week. This I am doing, and I've impressed myself week after week. Gotta be honest though, I'm really hoping that the weight starts coming off at some point. This would definitely help my knees and increase my time. But I'll be patient, it'll happen. Form follows function. (Though I will mention that from the waist down everything is getting pretty toned and less jiggly. Yay!!)

Not sure why it's taken me so long to blog about running. I guess I didn't want to make a big deal about it. It's a funny thing, but when I mention to people that I've started running, usually they respond by telling me why they can't run. That's fine, don't run. But please don't give me excuses because my brain stores these away for the days when I don't feel like running. My knees hurt the day after I run (but not the days I run, or I don't run). My lungs aren't at 100% and they never will be, but I feel a need to push them as hard as possible anyway. And I keep wondering if I should up my beta-blocker again. (Lowered it last year when we started trying to get pregnant.) Am I healthy enough to run? Or have I been using all these as excuses to not do this before?

And the words keep going through my head "just do it, just do it, just do it." So I just do it. And so far the knees, the lungs, the heart, and the will power have held up just fine.

The emotional roller coaster of a weekend!

(Click here for pictures of the fireworks and the parade.)

Our plans for the weekend:

Friday - leave Dayton around 3pm, get in to Olive Hill, KY (Jason's hometown) by 6pm. Dinner at his parent's house, then go running.

Saturday - pass out popsicles at Olive Hill's 4th of July celebration with Crossroads church, mow grass at the cabin, watch fireworks that evening.

Sunday - breakfast at the church, service at Crossroads, lunch at Jason's parent's, and then lazy afternoon before heading home.

What actually happened:

Friday - leave Dayton around 3pm, stop by church (Crossroads) to pick up t-shirts to wear for Olive Hill parade, see pastor's "new" office, socialize, meet a few people, and get to Jason's parent's house by almost 7pm. Eat a quick dinner and then go running at the track at West Carter High School. I love that track. Did more running than I thought I ever could, but finished! Thank God for cooler weather.

That evening we headed to the field near Jason's mamaw's house (and his aunts' and cousins' houses) to watch his cousins and their friends set off fireworks. One of the big differences between Ohio and Kentucky - you can set off all the fireworks you want in Kentucky. (For the KY people reading this, it's illegal in Ohio, even if you can buy them there.) It was the more amazing than I had imagined. Best hour and a half of fireworks I've seen in a long time. Was chilly but had so much fun! :)

Saturday - slept in late (did I really need 9 hours of sleep???) and had traditional Saturday breakfast with Jason's parents. Biscuits, gravy, sausage, eggs, and apple butter. Yummers!! Then headed to get on the Crossroads trailer for the parade. People on the trailer got the popsicles out of the coolers for us and handed bunches of them to us while we ran around passing them out. Other groups must have been handing them out also because about half the kids already had popsicles. So I'd make eye contact with an adult, smile and hand them a popsicle. I usually got a smile out of them. This is what I live for.

Another difference between Ohio and Kentucky - in Kentucky they're still throwing candy to the kids. In Ohio we pass out candy and other items, you're not allowed to throw anything anymore. Not sure if it was because kids were getting hit by the candy and hurt, or too many kids were running out in front of vehicles and getting hit. I can't remember the last time I saw people throwing out candy (and popsicles) for the kiddos. One boy looked at me and said "you're HANDING this to me???" It took me a moment to understand what he was implying.

Afterwards we debated on helping Crossroads help clean up the parade site or heading to the cabin to get some work done. We checked the time and the clouds and decided we needed to get to the cabin to mow the grass. However, by the time we got to the cabin it had been raining for awhile. However, Jason was still determined to get the grass mowed. As Jason was hefting the mower out of the car I realized the porch swing was missing. We went into the cabin and couldn't believe it - most of the furniture was missing too!

Ever feel like someone has punched you in the gut and knocked all the wind out of you? I went through about 100 different emotions in less than an hour. The strongest one was to leave Olive Hill and never come back. I got ahold of myself and calmed down and reasoned that most of what was taken would have been given away anyway. It was just the fact that someone had come to the cabin and taken whatever they wanted for the THIRD time. So we called the police.

The kitchen table was missing along with the 4 chairs. The two rugs downstairs were missing and a cabinet was also missing. More amazing was that they took the bed, except that the box springs wouldn't fit down the stairs. (We already knew this.) They busted up quite a bit of the wood around the stairs trying to get it all downstairs. I have a kitchen table and an antique dining room table, along with two queen size beds, so I'm doing okay with those things taken. However I had plans for the cabinet, and the porch swing... that was the best part about hanging outside of the cabin. It was an Amish-made swing that Jason had bought for his mamaw's house. They later moved it to his cabin.

Meanwhile Jason walked back out to the car to put the mower away (grass did not get mowed) and realized our front tire was flat - again. We had it repaired last week but obviously it didn't hold. So Jason changed the flat on the gravel driveway in the rain. Yeah, it doesn't get much better than that.

Four hours after we called the police, the state highway showed up. The county dispatched someone but after waiting 2 1/2 hours we found out that he had been dispatched somewhere else instead. So Jason said to cancel the call and we went home. The county called the state, which dispatched someone and he called Jason when he got there, about the time we were getting into bed. So Jason went back out to the cabin and filed a report with the state police. I found this frustrating and unbelievable but Jason informed me that this is how things are handled out there. Another difference between Dayton and Olive Hill.

While driving back to Jason's parent's house we saw some of the Olive Hill fireworks but due to the rain and our soggy moods, we just drove slowly and watched what we could from the car. I was so glad we had the family fireworks the night before. This was our third rained-out Fourth of July fireworks. Maybe next year I guess.

Sunday - I knew the one thing that would make me fall back in love with Olive Hill was going to church at Crossroads. So we got up early to have breakfast there and socialize for awhile before church. I've been having so much fun getting to know the people at the church there. The pastor preached about addictions and freedom and shared his testimony about his own addictions. A transparent, authentic pastor is a very good thing. It makes you feel like you're sitting in a safe place where you can be who you really are. We're starting to get more involved with the church and by the time we left I had us signed up for Vacation Bible School in two weekends. :)

Lunch was yummy as usual and afterwards Jason headed out to have the tire repaired or replaced. We ended up having all four tires replaced, because they all were at risk for going flat. Then Jason and I headed to the cabin to put up a pole so the gate at the driveway could be chained shut. I picked up a few more rocks for my rock garden and then we headed back to the house. Gayle (Jason's mom) and I then went through my yard sale items and got things priced. I tried to fix a few items and somehow ended up getting super glue on a few of my fingers. Thankfully nothing stuck together!

We finally headed home around 6pm. The grass will have to be mowed next time we're out there. Thankfully it's very shaded and doesn't grow too much. However I'm afraid the weeds will take over the grass by the time we get out there again. Ah well, it's a cabin, weeds can be mowed too.

Jason and I had a bet that I wouldn't get into bed until after midnight. I said before midnight, he said if I was blogging it wouldn't be until after midnight. It's now 11:45 and I wanted to post some pictures from our weekend. I'm just going to lump them into one site and post this instead. (And hopefully still win the bet.) Goodnight!!

(Click here for pictures of the family fireworks and the Crossroads people at the parade.)

Cinderella goes to the ball!

I met Jenni (Walker) Irven back in 2000 through a friend from church, Cherry Fullam. When people ask how we met we could say the Vineyard (our church), Mary Kay (she was a customer and then a recruit), but really it was our love of karaoke. Over the past 9 years Jenni and I have been karaoke buddies and have way too much dirt on each other to ever not be friends. (I can hear her laughing at the comment now.) We've had some great adventures: Colin Hay and Journey at the Fraze, Christmas parties with random karaoke afterwards, Brighton shopping (and getting so lost), Turandot with karaoke with the principals afterwards - you get the point. Our greatest adventure so far would have to be last night, the Art Ball.

Several weeks ago I got an email from Jenni with the title "hee-hee!" and a simple question, "do you have plans for June 13?" Jenni won two tickets to the Art Ball at the Dayton Art Institute from her work, Ball Aerospace. Her husband isn't the tux-wearing type, so she asked me to go as her date. Elated, I said yes. ("YES!!!!") And the planning started.


We decided to wear previous bridesmaids dresses to the ball. Jenni wore the dress from her sister's wedding and I wore the bridesmaids dress from my wedding, Melissa's dress. (It fit perfectly, even the length, which I'm still in awe about.) Jenni got ready at my house and Jason got his Crown Victoria looking great and drove us to the Dayton Art Institute.

I decided not to bring my camera because (1) it wouldn't fit in my purse, (2) Jenni was the only other person I knew, and (3) if I really wanted a picture, I could use my cell phone. Therefore, most of these pictures are stolen from the internet or taken with my cell phone. For many more pictures of the evening, taken by professionals, see the daytondailynews.com photos. Jenni are I are in photo 95 of 111.

The party started at 7:00 pm with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. We arrived a few minutes before 7 and got our table assignment and a $1 poker chip. We walked into the main entrance and headed upstairs where we were handed champagne. We then walked into the atrium where the casino was set up. The first hors d'oeuvre we tried was rare tuna on a rice cracker with spicy tomato jam and micro cilantro. I was so caught up in the moment that I actually ate it, and it was pretty good! (Jason will now expect me to try a little more when we get sushi.)


We went into the great room and tried all the other hors d'oeuvers and loved all of them. I have to list these so you get the idea of with savory ride we gave our tongues:

• Golden crostini with sweet pea puree, goat cheese, prosciutto chip and candied lemon zest. (Loved this but the goat cheese gets stuck in your teeth.)
• Tuscan style mushrooms. (I'm not a mushroom person, but had to have a few of these.)
• Mini chicken wellingtons with pink peppercorn aioli. (Also very yummy!!)
• Smoked mozzarella phyllo cups with truffle-honey and figs. (One of our favorites!)
• Seared duck breast rolls with goat cheese, mango and basil. (Pretty good, but difficult to eat.)
  
• Watermelon, bucheron goat cheese, balsamic & fleur de sel. (Needed more flavor.)
• Apple biscotti, machego (an olive), cider almond butter and rosemary candy. (Definitely our favorite.)
  

Jenni's coworkers from Ball found us in the great room and we had a wonderful time talking about the food, the dresses, the bow ties, and Dayton politics. (I literally ran into former mayor Mike Turner.)

We also decided to try a couple of wines and some martinis. I can't remember the wines and I couldn't find a list anywhere. Jenni got a red wine and I got a white and after trying each other's, we switched. Jenni tried a martini called Drunken Butterfly, and I got a Purple Haze. Jenni's was yummy, mine was... mine was passed around so everyone could taste how much vodka and lime was in it. (It was supposed to be pomegranate, ginger and lime.) It wasn't finished.

It was a bit surreal to be standing in this art museum that was normally very quiet, surrounded by hundreds of people eating and drinking. The noise was unbelievable, but it's not as though they put up anything to absorb sound in a museum. The other thing I noticed is that everyone was using their fingers to get food and no one seemed to mind. One very elegant older couple walked by with their plates loaded with food - not just one of everything, but several of everything. I wondered if they realized there would be a full dinner later. Probably just getting their $300 worth of the experience.

Around 8:20 we got the call to dinner which was a trumpeter playing Revelry, which makes you want to run to your table. I found this very amusing. The salads waiting for us on the tables was mixed mesclun greens & hearts of romaine with red flame & green grapes, crumbled pecorino romano, snipped Italian parsley, crushed hazelnuts and white balsamic vinaigrette. Yes, as tasty as it sounds. For dinner we had garlic & pepper seasoned pan seared bistro fillet with Cabernet reduction atop a crispy semolina potato cake and sauteed shrimp, an asparagus bundle with a zucchini ribbon with a citrus ginger emulsion garnished with mustard oil. Holy stinkin' cow, what a delicious meal!

When Jenni and I sat down at the table, we had decided we didn't want to look at dead deer & pheasant the whole time (Still Life with Game in a Landscape by Jean-Baptiste Oudry), so we sat on the other side of the table to look at other oil paintings. (Unfortunately I'm not remembering the artists or the works of art we were looking at, but there was the usual bits of nudity that you normally see with eighteenth century European art.)

For dessert we went back out into the Great Hall. Our choices were:

• Mini cupcakes topped with butterflies
• Colorful layered almond cake with grand marnier ganache
• Almond macaroons in a variety of spring colors
• Triangle cut chocolate shortbread
• White and milk chocolate shells with assorted mousse
• Key lime tartlets
• Chocolate decadence bites
• Cheesecake lollipops
• Pretzel rods dipped in chocolate
• Toad Hollow Risque dessert wine

I tried a chocolate mini cupcake, the layered almond cake, key lime tartlet, cheesecake lollipop, and the dessert wine. All was incredibly yummy, however the fondant butterfly on the cupcake wasn't so great.

After desserts we headed downstairs to see the Inspirational Artwork, Shimmering Madness by artist Sandy Skoglund.

This is a large piece of 3-D work that is displayed in a corner. When you see this you'll notice a few things. The ladies and the floor are made of jelly beans. The walls behind them are butterflies that flutter every once in awhile. (You stand there waiting for the fluttering to begin just to hear the new people exclaim "oh!") The theme of the night was jelly beans and butterflies, which were part of all the decorations. The other thing you notice is that their heads are on backwards. Are they moms with eyes in the back of their heads? Is this a statement about hindsight? Or maybe the artist just likes surreal art that makes you stand in front of her art work in awe. We had a wonderful time discussing this last night - which is really the point of art.

While we were downstairs waiting for part of the group an older gentleman walked past me and stopped and told me I had a beautiful dress on. Of course I smiled and thanked him. That had to be one of the highlights of the evening!

We then went as a group to get our professional pictures taken. I teased Jenni that it was a good thing that her date was tall - I fit in well in the back row between all the wool tuxedos. After this we headed back upstairs to play our $1 chips. I love the roulette wheel, but they had a modified version of this that looked more like something you'd play at a fair. Jenni and I went for the big bucks and lost quickly. Well, we weren't there to gamble so we headed off to find the dancing.

In the lower level there was jazz music playing with a cigar and martini bar. Upstairs Velvet Crush was playing in the court yard. By this time it was 11pm and the party was just getting started. Jenni and I danced the night away. We started underneath the tent, but this area was very crowded and hot, so we found another dance floor on the other side of the the grass, under the stars with a lot more room. There was a very large fountain that blocked our view of the band, but the music was still very loud. Our favorite part was dancing to "Mr. Brightside" by the Killers (one of my favorite karaoke songs) and singing at the top of our lungs. We danced, sang, and laughed until 1:00 am when the band stopped playing.


We retrieved our shoes and purses from the base of the fountain and decided to walk out to the parking lot barefoot. Amazingly, they let us walk through the music without shoes on. Of course you wouldn't notice this with our long dresses except that we were carrying our shoes. Jason was right there in front of the doors waiting for us. We walked past the very long line of those waiting at valet for their cars and climbed in our carriage and took off for home.

What an incredible evening. Poor Jason had to listen to Jenni and I relive all our favorite moments on the car ride home. I say poor Jason because I'm sure we were half deaf and probably talking much more loudly than what was necessary in the car. However, Jason was thoroughly thanked and he enjoyed our jelly bean favors and the Esther Price chocolates we received.

This blog has taken me hours to write and post links and photos and I know I'm still forgetting somethings. I just hope that my descriptions will put pictures in your mind that will replace the ones I didn't take. Please feel free to ask any questions if I may have left something out and you're curious. :)