family news blogcast.

-yesterday, i got a text from my mom that her and my dad were in manhattan. i was overwhelmed with a tinge of envy. i may or may not have a dream to walk the busy streets of new york during christmas time. the buzz of the holiday season that takes over the atmosphere of a bustling city is completely intriguing to me. the lights. the noise. the music that joyfully escapes the doors of every storefront. what a blissful time. a girl's gotta dream. okay, moving on. moments after the initial text from my mom, i got a picture text from their staten island ferry ride with the glorious lady liberty perched on her stone throne in the distance. i squealed with excitement! not only did my mom figure out how to take a pic from her phone, send it to me and completely make my day, but knowing she was having the time of her life with my dad and their friends made me a little giddy too.

-we recently navigated our way to super target. something about those two words joining in perfect harmony makes the voices of angels rejoice.with all blasphemy aside, it was truly a sight to behold. it didn't quite stack up to my experience at the multi-story target {complete with a parking garage} i once visited in seattle, but it still measured high. it housed a starbucks, of all things. and a pizza hut. in reality, we probably won't be going there that often. not because it's about 15 minutes away, but there are other conveniences much closer. i simply felt an obligation as a target lover to at least scope it out. and scoping i did.

-our first lightening storm practically jolted me out of bed in the middle of the night on thursday. there wasn't time to count even a millisecond to see the distance in miles as it struck right outside our window. so it seemed with its immediate cracking of thunder at our doorstep. eek! the rain portrayed a hose being held up to our window as it dumped buckets of water from the dark sky. natives of texas weren't kiddin' when they said their storms were pretty "cool". i'm not sure i'd agree and use the same vocab...but it definitely was intense. living in a high rise, next time i might find myself burrowing deeper under the covers. and according to the forecast, next time might be sooner than later.

-besides eating entirely way too much pizza last night, we made just as many new friends on our floor at our first 'floor party'. our floor manager {because i don't know what else to call him} successfully organized, with his wife's lovely help, a get together in the fireside room. the boys shot pool while the mamas wrangled little ones and laughed together as we discovered our differences and similarities. after our front door shut behind us as we all said our "goodnights", we sighed with a sense of contentment. i think we were simply resting in the fact that it was good. it was exactly what God has called us to do here - fellowship. make friends and share in this experience. we're all in the same boat, in a sense. raising families. or both husband and wife attending school and working. we all know what it's like to have full plates under tight quarters. we all know what it's like to see God's faithful hand provide when things get tight. it's really, just experiencing life together. because in reality, aren't we all there? in some way or another? strangely, that was all said in that one simple sigh after our front door shut. we understood. it was good.

-we're getting a wee bit excited for the hubs to start his job on tuesday at starbucks. no, he didn't get this job because we are completely addicted to coffee. and fraps. and starbucks in general. you'd be impressed to know that we don't buy it anymore - only once {maybe twice?} since we've lived here. shocking, yes. he got it because, well...it was offered. after filling out a big handful of apps, it was the place of employment that called and interviewed. we'd be a little crazy to turn down any offer at this point. we feel blessed to work somewhere that takes care of their employees with good benefits {and free coffee *wink} and is eager to work around his school schedule. we also look forward to how the Lord will use him in this new environment.

-tonight at the dinner table jessa picked up daddy's arm and said, "your skin is brown!" to say the least, we're all getting a nice summer glow. since i've been known to have what's called 'princess white skin' {with love, so i'm told}, i'm the odd lady out as i haven't been browning like a marshmallow quite as nicely as the rest of the fam. it doesn't help that they could tan under a light bulb. plenty of days in the pool chasing our new toypedo has taught jessa how to swim and miley to hold her breath happily under the water. she's come a long, long way. it's only been three weeks, but i don't think we could imagine not having a pool here. i love this picture for many reasons, but i'll give you one good guess why it's a favorite.
-i've taken the unpleasant plunge to start working out in the mornings while the hubby is home. i'm taking advantage of what i like to call "free exercise" and utilizing the stairwell that offers 165 stairs to climb. brutal. i have no idea how i lived to tell about the 400 stairs {one way} i climbed straight up to notre dame only two months ago. holy moses, give this woman some oxygen. my legs were still screaming at me a good three hours later.

-have a blessed sunday!