Update

Atonement is finally in a theatre near me! Jen and I went to see it this evening and it was amazing. Definitely worth the wait. There was a part of me that was a little apprehensive before I saw it. One because I had waited so long and could very well had built it up so much in my mind that it wouldn't deliver. And, two, because I loved the book so much that I was worried that I would feel disappointed with how they adapted it. Neither of those did I need to worry about though. It delivered and then some and is one of the only movies I've seen that I can say was as good as the book. And trust me, for me that is huge. So, hooray!

She's Here!!!

Lucy Mae Bremer has finally arrived. She was born at 7:20am this morning. She weighed in at 7lbs 13oz and was 20.5 inches long. She has a beautiful head of thick dark hair and some of the longest eyelashes I have ever seen on a baby. She is most definitely beautiful!

Mommy and Lucy

Aunt Megan and Lucy Mae

Bright Eyes!

Why I LOVE Children's Ministry

This morning we had a Christmas celebration of sorts for the Preschool and Elementary classes on the Westside. The kids brought in items to create care packages for soldiers overseas, made thank you cards and pictures for them, and decorated and ate some cookies for themselves. There is nothing quite like watching kids use glitter or decorate with icing and sprinkles.

Can you see all of the sprinkles!

Oh, yeah, his mom is gonna love this!

But I think my favorite part is what the kids wrote in the cards and how they spelled everything. Here are a few examples:

"Thank you for serving our country"

"Thank you for the bravery you gave to us. The bravery is so brave and so for that this thank you card is to say thank you."

Thank (don't forget the You) for serving in the army to fight for us.

I couldn't have said it better myself!

Signs of Aging

So I have succumb to the pressure of many of those around me and joined Facebook. Since being on there I've realized how many "friends" I have and who I have them in common with. I've seen pictures that are posted on other peoples sites and have even sent a couple messages. I'm beginning to see that people could waste a lot of time on there because I know I already have. But for all of that I'm still not really sure what the purpose of it is other than to make stalking pretty stinking easy. I think I'm going to have to get a tutor on how and what things to do with the account now that I have it. (Sarah are you up for the challenge?) Man, do I feel old!

Limited Release

AUGH! I have been waiting weeks for this movie to come out and now that we've reached the posted release date find out that the 'Nati is NOT one of the selected cities for the aforementioned limited release. What is up with limited releases anyway? Like somehow only those living in certain cities have the artistic desire to view films such as these. Movie companies are just mean for toying with the audience like this. Does anyone else get annoyed when this happens with a movie they want to see?

Ah well, I guess I will just have to show patience (like I did when I managed to snag one of the most desired gifts this year for my niece and nephew... I'll give you a hint: It comes from Nintendo) and hope that the nationwide release is coming very soon.

For those of you who have not heard of this movie it is based off of the book Atonement by Ian McEwan and it is one of the best books I've ever read. The ending is brilliant and since I don't want to give it away that's all I'll say. The End.

How Sweet He Is

Let it snow...nope, let it reindeer

It's the beginning of December and the weather outside is definitely frightful. It has been pouring in the Nati all day. If this had been snow I'm pretty sure that we would be stuck inside and off of the roads like most of the people in the midwest right now. Luckily it is just rain and we are nice and dry inside. (Also, lucky for me, I got my Christmas present of new tires early and have already noticed how much nicer it is to drive without feeling like you're slip sliding all over the place. Thanks Mom and Dad!)

But the blah weather has not stopped us from decorating the house. Amy, Lori, and I put up the tree last night. The star is a little crooked but we think it gives it character!

So, Santa, we're ready for presents. Please don't be scared of the dancing/singing Grinch that is standing guard. His bark is worse than his bite.

Evolution?

This year leading up to Thanksgiving I wasn't really feeling the holiday mood thing. I'm not sure if it was because there were still lots of trees with leaves still green or if it was because the weather was still pretty warm. Anyway, regardless of what it was I definitely was not feeling the holiday spirit.

It's beginning to change though and it started with Thanksgiving morning. I was able to sleep in which is always a bonus. But what is even better is sleeping in and then waking up to the house smelling of turkey cooking and pumpkin pies baking. I came out a little blurry-eyed and had my next nostalgic moment when I saw my niece and nephew camped in front of the tv watching the Macy's parade. Lydia at one point was bemoaning the fact that they kept announcing that people from High School Musical were suppose to be "up next" and yet they weren't. Oh how I remember feeling the same way when New Kids on the Block were suppose to be "up next" and weren't. Wait a minute, did I just admit to that! Okay, moving on...Dinner was fabulous as it always is because my mom makes the best stuffing ever. And I do mean ever. And this year she was able to find the Schwebels rolls. (There is a whole story behind the necessary Schwebels rolls but I'll blog about that at another point.)

Probably the best part was watching the Chronicles of Narnia with Lydia and Bry though. I consider it a Christmas movie because it came out, well, at Christmas. Now I love movies, but I love them even more when I'm watching them with people who really enjoy the movie itself. Take for instance The Princess Bride. It is just not the same unless someone is there watching it with you and appreciating it enough to repeat the lines "Inconceivable" and "Hello, My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." Anyway, I digress. The whole point of that was to say that Lydia and Bry are great to watch this movie with because they get so into it. I thought Lydia was going to pop out of her seat a couple of times. And both had watched it before but that didn't matter because they were still excited when the wardrobe full of coats suddenly became the pine trees of Narnia and Aslan made his triumphant return. Personally my two favorite parts (because they are my favorite parts of the book) are when Mr. Beaver says "Aslan is on the move." (that gives me goose bumps) and at the end when Mr. Tumnus and Lucy are talking. Mr. Tumnus says, "He's not a tame lion." And Lucy replies, "No, but he is good." What a great image.

So, yeah, the holiday spirit is definitely emerging and festivities are in the works. I'm starting to get excited about finding the perfect gift for people and planning the Christmas party for the children at church. (I'm sure I'll have some fun pictures to post after that one! They're putting together care packages for some military folks and then will be decorating their own cookies...what am I thinking?!) A Charlie Brown Christmas was on tonight and the Grinch will soon be. And, of course, A Christmas Story is already playing day and night. Oh, and I'm getting ready to watch all of the Lord of the Rings movies again, because yes, they're "Christmas movies" too. Amy has started decorating the house and to some dismay Christmas music is already playing everywhere you go.

As I'm sitting here typing this it's just hit me that it is somewhat amazing that this whole "holiday spirit" got started with a quiet night and an unassuming baby in a manger so long ago. Hmmm, how about that for evolution?

Nate the Great

For those of you who don't know, this is my cousin Nathan. (Sorry ladies, he's married to a wonderful gal and has two little ones. I know the questions would start flooding in after seeing the wonderful picture.) Nathan is in town this weekend for the National Missionary Convention because he is currently working for Pioneer Bible Translators as one of their recruiters. So lucky for me I got to hang out with him a bit today and catch up.

God definitely broke the mold after He made Nathan and I mean that in the very best of ways. Nathan is one of my cousins on my mom's side of the family so we didn't see him as much because he grew up in Missouri and Illinois. But every summer we would make the family trek out to that part of the midwest and for at least one week each year we got to "bond."

I have some pretty fun memories of Nathan. I can remember us playing baseball and him having to throw off his hat every time he ran to first like it would help him get there faster. The funny part was he would always stop before he got to base though and run back and get the hat. One summer, I'm guessing Nathan was in 5th grade, the Smothers Brothers show came back on the air. We were all sitting there watching it and Grandma was remembering back when they had their first variety show when everything was still black and white. Nathan loved it so much that he looked over at Grandma and told her it was too bad she hadn't recorded those so we could watch them as well. And just let me tell you the boy can do an impression of Matt Foley Motivational Speaker like no other.

This visit was pretty much like the rest. He acted like a goof ball and made me laugh, but that wasn't the best part of it for me. The best part for me was watching him in action doing his job and then hearing him talk about it. Like I said before he is one of the recruiters for PBT and I think they're pretty lucky to have him. While waiting for him to take a break I watched him talk with person after person (until he was getting pretty hoarse) about the their lives and how God was working in them. I watched him engage with them, not just to push PBT, but to really help them search out where God was calling them. And when he finally did get a break and we were able to go grab some dinner I watched his eyes light up when he was telling me what an awesome time he was having that day. I heard the pure excitement in his voice as he talked about the possibilities that lay ahead. And, even now, just thinking back to it I smile.

There are very few people that I see that passionate and excited about their job. And there are fewer still that I see that excited and passionate about ministry which is just sad. Nathan is one of those few though, mainly because God called him to it and he was obedient. Really there is nothing more to say than that, oh and the fact that I'm incredibly proud of him.

Halloween: Take 2

Because I had the pictures of the cats dressed up for Halloween I felt it necessary to put pictures of my actual niece and nephews dressed up. Lydia went as Lucy from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (note the fur coat that was picked up in the wardrobe), Bry went as Batman, and Cameron didn't dress up this year. He just took a really strange and rather frightening picture. I'm not sure if he's really a blood relation or not.

Happy Halloween!

So tonight is the night when little ones dress up in costumes and go door to door trick-or-treating and rake in loads of cavities...oh wait, I mean candy.

Anyway to celebrate the night I headed over to Jen's house to see my niece and nephew (of the feline persuasion that is) all dressed up in their outfits. Yes, Jen did indeed buy Piper and Chloe outfits to wear for the night. Piper was a devil and trust me the costume matched the personality when he had it on and Chloe was a not so little piggy, complete with a little piggy tail.

As you can see, neither of them look totally thrilled to be dressed up. Pipes went sort of crazy and started thrashing around the room a bit until he got his off.

Chloe actually kept hers on for awhile. Maybe she was identifying with the outfit. Who knows?

Anyway, I hope neither of them have too long of a memory about who helped Jen dress them because I'm housesitting this weekend and don't want there to be issues.

Scenes from a Very Needed Vacation!

It's All About Perception

Driving home from church on Sunday night I noticed my car doing a weird shaking thing whenever it was idle at a light or just taking off from being stopped. Having absolutely no idea about cars I prayed that it was just a mere glitch and would work itself out by morning. To my dismay that was not the case. In fact, by the next morning it was acting worse. I actually could have made milkshake in my car if I had the right ingredients. So when I got to work I was considering my options.

1. I could call my dad and try to explain what was going on.
2. I could just take it to the shop and pray that I wouldn't get taken.
3. I could ask one of the men that I work with to check it out.

I chose number three (and actually number one as well later that night...there is just something about having your dad know what is going on with your car and give advice that settles one down) and asked Dan to check it out for me. Over the next hour Dan test drove the car, took me to AutoZone to have a diagnostic check on it for me (luckily it's just the spark plugs...we think), called another gentleman from our church, Dave, who knows lots about cars and had him come and check it out (which he's going to change the spark plugs for me) and also made sure that I bought the correct cleaning fluid that Dave recommended for my gas tank to clean out the fuel line or something like that.

Typically after having an experience like this I might be freaking out and whining about what a pain in the hiney cars are. Not yesterday though. Yesterday my viewpoint changed and instead of looking at the hassle of everything I couldn't help but see how lucky I really am. First, it was just the spark plugs and nothing worse. And second, I am surrounded by some great, great men. Men who didn't make fun of me because I knew nothing about what they were talking about. Men who were willing to take a good amount of time out of their day to help me figure out what was wrong. And men who made sure I was going to get the problem fixed and not let me drive my car if it was dangerous.

So, yeah, while I could choose to look at this from the vantage point of what is going wrong I've chosen to look at it from the point of what is going right. It's amazing how a situation can change just by the perception chosen. I wish I could do that with all of my situations or at least more of them.

What Counselors Really Do Want to Say!

Mad TV Bob Newhart Skit - Mo Collins - Stop it

I cheer for the Indians and whoever is playing the Yankees

which in this case is a double win for me since the Indians are playing the Yankees. Or wait, let me correct myself, have just beaten the Yankees. And in doing so they not only make it back to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 1998 but pretty much guarantee that Joe Torre will be looking for a job in the off season.

I cannot explain to you what being a Cleveland fan is like. The endurance one has to have in cheering for a losing team for so long. To be so close in '95 and '97 only to be denied once again and have hopes dashed. To be the butt of so many jokes that even a major motion picture is made that spoofs the losses. Cleveland doesn't have the infamous "curse" that looms over the Chicago Cubs, but Chicago at least had a basketball team that they could cheer for and watch win. In Cleveland there has been a long drought in all of their professional teams. Now before you jump to conclusions I am definitely not a Browns fan and really don't like professional basketball so not really a Cavs fan either. But all of this is to say it would really be nice to actually win the whole thing sometime soon.

I'm not sure whether that is going to happen this year although I really, really hope it does, but for right now I'm just going to enjoy that the Indians have just beaten one of the most highly paid teams in baseball and that, my friends, is most definitely worthy of a WAHOO!

***For any Yankees fans who might be reading this if I hear one more thing about Game 2 being unfair because of the bugs attacking the Yankees pitcher I might scream. Those same bugs were surrounding the Indians pitcher in the same inning. How is that unfair home field advantage? Take some tips from those who are usually on the short end of the stick and learn to lose gracefully.

Go Tribe!!!

The game just ended and the Indians started the series with a bang! They scored 12 times off of 14 hits including 4 homeruns. Wahoo!!!

The only down side is that again I was thwarted from watching the game. Since when does TBS show anything except Alanta Braves baseball games? This is when I miss cable.

Game 2 - Tomorrow in Cleveland - A. Pettitte vs F. Carmona...and yes still only on TBS.

Change is good...

or so I'm trying to convince myself. Change seems to be occurring at a much faster rate the older I get, or at least I'm noticing it more. Relationships change, locations change, jobs change and while I realize this is a part of life I don't always like it or want to accept it and truthfully I fear it. But to think about what the opposite would be...to live in a world where there was no change at all scares me even more. In a world where there was no change there would be no learning, nothing to strive for, no potential. There would be no developing or growing physically or spiritually. There would be no excitement of finding out something new about the world around you, the people around you, or even about you. There would be no trying to figure out who God really created you to be or what His plan for you is. In essence there would be no hope. So while change isn't always welcome or easy I do believe it is necessary and, yes, even good. Yep, change can bring heartache and pain but it also can bring freedom and possibility. So I'll leave the quality of being the same forever to God ( I mean, really, can He get any better?) and I'll embrace the hope and possibilities that God has given us through change.

This Week in Pictures

Birthday flowers from Virginia.

Birthday celebration with Lindsay, Tabitha, Sarah, Jake and Kara, and Annie!

Kara and Tab are twins at the Gap.

Annie likes to snuggle and Tabitha is reaping the rewards.

Danielle's first formal homecoming dance, evident by the inability to walk in heels!

Roll Tide Roll

I just have to say that Alabama football is freaking awesome!!! I mean I still love Ohio State and am loyal to the Buckeyes but I can definitely say that there is nothing quite like a Bama football game in Tuscaloosa. Incredible!

Okay, with that being said, I cannot even possibly do justice to the weekend because it would take too long to write so I thought I would hit some of the highlights.

- Jen schooling me in 'Bama football and sayings. It is not "Go Tide," it's "Roll Tide" which stands for hello, how ya'll doing, and good-bye in Tuscaloosa. I sort of felt like I was in Hawaii saying Aloha.

- Mr. H being excited that we were going to have a healthy blackbean soup for dinner on Friday night, so much so he kept telling us over and over again.

- Archibald's Ribs for lunch on Saturday.

- The wicked heat and humidity. Thank goodness the game was at night!

- Mr. H saying RTR (Roll Tide Roll) over and over again and then saying that I could call him anytime and say it.

- The game going into overtime...unfortunately Georgia won...BOO

- Screaming myself hoarse at the game.

- A Georgia fan and Alabama fan almost getting into a fight in our section.

- Anna Leigh and Caroline showing us the puppets at church.

- My first visit to a non instrumental Church of Christ.

- Seeing the "puppies" again. See Jen's blog for the back story.

- Taking a ride on the Gator.

There are actually a ton more things too, but hopefully you get the idea of what a wonderful weekend it was.

Really the best part of the whole weekend was getting to spend time with Jen. We've decided that we're twins separated at birth with just a few years in between. I mean we both have a crazy love of sports, books and everything British including Jane Austen, Bridget Jones, the accents, and of course Colin Firth! Jen is one of the best friends I have and it's not because of all of our similarities. It's because she has one of the best hearts I know. She is loving and caring and truly is a woman of God. I definitely know He put her in my life when I needed it and I am so thankful for her!

And the Magic Number is...

THREE!!!

That's right folks. The Cleveland Indians only have 3 more games to win to clinch the AL Central Division and make it into the playoffs. They just finished up a sweep of the Tigers that helped that magic number drop considerably.

So to celebrate this day I added some pictures of the only Indians game I've seen this year. It was live and in person when they played the Reds, and yes friends, they won the game in extra innings!!!

This was little Abel's first MLB game. I'm trying to brainwash him early to be a Tribe fan. Susan, Jenny, Wendy and Sarah all went and Lindsay was there in spirit considering that she fell asleep on the couch and didn't wake up until it was the middle of the 7th inning. Really that was the only down point of that whole evening. Well unless you count Jenny backing her car into a poll in the parking garage. She didn't seem to fussed about it though.

This is Wendy saying, "Ah shoot, the Indians scored again!"