Morning Snow

Snow Flurries and Turkey

When Joey and I woke up this morning, mind you two hours apart ( i got to sleep in). We found floating around campus some pieces of heaven known as snow. It was so wonderful seeing these beautiful flurries floating down to the ground. They didn't stick this time but it will happen eventually. So I sat snuggled up on the couch with a good movie and yummy smelling candles burning just enjoying a relaxing Saturday morning.

Then I remembered I needed to get the fixens for Thanksgiving dinner. Off to Bakers I go. Now imagine a very LARGE grocery store with an itty bitty parking lot. 20 minutes of circling the parking lot I finally found a spot, nearly got run over walking into the store and then had to find the things I needed at the store without losing my temper with all of the people standing each aisle blocking the way or cutting you off at the aisle or my favorite standing in front of whatever it is I need and they just plat themselves there. Needless to say and hour later I was walking out of the store with a cart full of groceries being stalked by someone in their car who most likely had been circling the parking lot for 20+ minutes.

Oh the joy of the holidays!

And time stood still.....

Well I have finally found a moment where I can sit down and blog. Joey and I have been pretty busy since we got to Omaha. I literally hit the ground running with training and unpacking but thankfully Joey got the apartment settled and found a new job all in his first week in Omaha. What a guy!!! I on the other hand have been running around trying to find my place and understand what it is I am supposed to be doing here. Now don't get me wrong I absolutely love my job and I would have to completly agree with my mother that I was made for this job! I have some amazing girls working with me and they truly are amazing. I love the hall that we are living in and all of the girls that are living in it.

Joey and I are having a blast here and I think the best compliment that I have heard to date was just how much our place feels like home. I just had to smile when I heard that from some of my girls during our open house. Thank God for bringing us here and letting us create a home for our girls in the hall.

Greyson Parker

He is here!!!!




Greyson Parker Eck
7 pounds 8 ounces
20.5 inches

Happy Birthday Greyson!!!

Baby!!!

Amanda went into labor this morning!! Greyson is on his way!

All Settled In continued

Our dining table and living room.



Our reading area and my knitting chair and area.



A view into our kitchen and dining area. Riva here is your quilt you made us. It just looks beautiful.

I can not express my appreciation enough to my wonderful husband who unpacked everything and put up almost all of our pictures. He did such an amazing job. Thank you Joey! I love you!!

All Settled In

Going into our place.



A view from our bedroom into the living room/reading corner.

First day of School

So today was my niece Madeleines first day of school. Her mom Amanda said she did an amazing job of getting settled right in. I am so proud of her!!!

Deglman Hall

Here are some pictures of the campus and move in day!! What a great time!!

Pictures of our new place.

Some pictures of our new place. Sorry they are so dark the camera got changed to some funky setting.

Our Reading Area

Our Dining Room

Our Bedroom


Here is our kitchen.

Omaha

Well we are here!!! I arrived on Thursday early afternoon and hit the ground running. And didn't get to my apartment until Sunday morning. Joey and his father arrived around 1 on Sunday and quickly began to unload the truck. Our apartment is an intricate maze of pathways through the boxes that Joey has created but slowly we are getting through them all. I will attach pictures soon so that you can all see the maze of boxes. We are both doing well and enjoying getting settled and sleeping in our own bed together again. As we continue to settle in and life goes on I will post some more about school here and how we are doing. We would love to hear from you so send us messages.

Could you?

Could you put your entire life into 1 bag?

As I was riding the bus this morning without the typical distractions of my ipod (no headphones) or a book, I was able to sit back and wonder. There was a man, he was asleep leaning forward resting his head on the handle of his large suitcase. Now this man was sitting on a row of seats by himself, why, well no one wanted to sit near him, he was dirty and smelled so badly that it reminded me of the burning trash in Uganda, my mother would know the stench. It is one of those scents that you forget about when you are away from it, but as you travel closer to the city you begin to get faint wafts of it in your nostrils and you may twitch a bit. You can't quite place the scent you just know you don't want to smell it again. But unfortunately you enter into the city and the scent only gets stronger, so strong that you think that if you don't get away from it soon, you may throw up. Well he smelled like that. He had 2 rows to each side of him completely empty and well I sat in the third row behind him with an open window in front of me, ever so slightly gasping for the smell of exhaust because it smelled better. After a few minutes of this I thought, even in the midst of the smells of Uganda, God taught me something remarkable, maybe I need to keep my eyes and ears open and look for what God is trying to show me on the bus.

So I sat and I waited, and then I began to look, genuinely look at the man sitting there sleeping. He was sleeping in a pure exhausted state, you know what I am talking about that point where you are so tired it doesn't matter where you are or what your are doing or even who you are with, you fall asleep. I know I have done it and I am sure many of you have as well. And there he was, out, one hand resting on his suitcase, his head leaning on the handle of the bag.

Just one bag. Just one.

How is it he could get his entire life into that bag? And that is when I started to really think about this trip. Would I be able to put my life into one bag. Maybe a super huge expandable Mary Poppins kind of bag. But just a regular suitcase I don't know if I could. WIth Joey and I looking at new opportunities and the possibilty of moving we have had to reflect on all that God has blessed us with and what we are now going to do with it. Would we really be able to take it all with us or will we have to try and figure out a way to put it all into that "one" bag. Sifting through all of the memories and the countless blessings we have received what is it that we could leave behind. And could we?

I honestly don't know.

So then I started to think about all that this man had in his bag, were there pictures of people and memories long gone. Or maybe it was just filled with clothes and belongings from his past. So then I started to think of if I had to put everything into one bag, what would I put in it.

A wedding picture, I have this one that every time I look at and it takes me right back to the moment when Joey kissed me for the first time as his wife. Next I would put in a pair of clean undies and socks (cuz well you just feel clean when you put clean ones on), then there would be more pictures of my family and friends, pictures of my grandparents when they were young and first dating, then some pictures of my nieces and nephews and more pictures of my family and joey and I. Well then we (Joey and I) would need a change of clothes, probably clothes that we can layer. Good shoes. And well after that I am not sure.

Wow, I guess I need to put some thought into this. But most of all I need to acknowledge and embrace the things in my life that God has brought into it and what I am supposed to do with those things. Hmmmm this is going to take some time.

I guess I had a pretty meaningful I spy moments, those moments where God is so clearly present and I was receptive to seeing and hearing all he had to say. So as I got of the bus I slipped some money into the mans hand and went on with my day with one thought running through my mind.

If all I had in the world needed to fit into one bag, what would I put inside it? What would you put inside it and could you put your life into just one bag?

Riding the Bus

So about 2 weeks ago I started riding the bus to save money and wear and tear on my car. It has been an interesting experience to say the least. I have seen old men give up their seats to little children, two kids trying to impress their mother by their perfect behavior as to determine who was going to have their new library book read first, to a homeless women having a bilingual argument with herself, then there is my favorite, I call him Counter, he is a man who continuously counts his fingers in repetition starting with his pinkie on his left hand and finishing with his pinkie on his right hand.

But yesterday afternoon I think I finally saw the highlight to date of this whole bus experience for me, Jesus Christ and the Queen of Heaven had a heated argument at a bench at the station. After about 20 minutes the argument finally ended when Jesus informed the Queen to kiss his white Jewish a**!!!

Wow, I guess I could express my surprise by this whole encounter but I think I am more bewildered that Jesus Christ would end an argument with a comment like that, I guess I just assumed that when Jesus Christ was ending a discussion it would end with, "Blessings..." Boy was I wrong.

There will be more to come on my bus experiences. I hope you enjoyed them so far.

Austin

Well, some have heard and some have not heard. I am applying for a position in Austin that I think would be a huge opportunity for both Joey and me. The position is the Director of Student Services and Career Services. I mean really, this would be so huge!!! So at this point we are simply asking for prayer. I don't know exactly when the position will post or when I will hear back about my cover letter and resume. So we just ask for prayer for God's guidance and direction during this process. I think one of the more exciting parts for Joey and I would be that we would be near our nieces and nephews if we moved, yes we would leave my parents and some friends here in Sunny So Cal. But to see my nieces and nephews grow up before my very eyes during weekend visits would be huge. I feel like have grown up so much already and I am missing out. So for now we wait patiently (as best as we can) and just give it to God.

Here is a picture of my new haircut. Enjoy, because I certainly do!!

Finally Saturday!

Well, I feel like I have neglected this blog for long enough.

So let me start off with, Joey and I have taken back our weekend.

We finally had the chance to sleep in this morning after several months of weekends that would fly by. After several months of heading off to work on Monday wondering where Saturday went, we took our weekend into our own hands. We slept in, had a nice breakfast at one of our favorite places Arthur's. Great omelets! Now we are sitting in one of our favorite coffee shops Mr. Beans on Whittier Blvd, enjoying a Very, Very, Berry smoothie and some wonderful free WiFi!!! You just have to love the best four letter word in the world, FREE.

Anyways, tonight Joey and I will be heading up to Azusa Pacific University to see the David Crowder Band perform, I got him the tickets for his birthday. We will take in every moment and just enjoy the evening together.

I do have a question for you, those of you who still haven't given up on my blog. Are you ever so sore that when you walk around your house you look like you are about 90 years old and if you trip and fall you will instantly become that lady with the charm on her necklace calling for emergency help because you can't get up? Well that is how I feel today and well how I probably looked this morning and all day to my dear husband who thankfully hasn't busted up laughing at me.

Let me tell you what happened....
A few weekends ago Joey and I went to Texas and on our way down to Houston to visit my family, yeah for the Eck's and Curtis's, I rolled my ankle missing a curb at Sonic Burger. I looked like the biggest fool when I missed the step. Well my ankle swelled and bruised nicely and I had to have it wrapped for 2 weeks. Well last night was one of the largest events that I planned just short of my wedding and reception.

Up Till Tomorrow, that is what it is called it is one of 2 annual events that my school holds for our students and well it is my job to organize and orchestrate this circus!!! And circus it was, our theme was carnival and we had that down to the tent, a HUGE red and white striped tent. We had a band Cavil at Rest (check them out on You Tube or Myspace), a Bungee run, a bounce joust, kettle korn, cheesy photo booth, cotton candy, Hot Dog on a Stick (with Cheese on a stick for our vegetarians) and so much more. Well the event ran from 7 pm to 1 am and i was at my school till 2 cleaning, i think i crawled into bed around 2:30. Well this event wouldn't have been a problem if I was in my office all week well that wasn't the case. I had a western region student affairs team development the day before the event in Los Angeles, Santa Monica to be exact (it was a gorgeous day, Lala!) Well I went to this training and then on Friday got to the office around 1 in the afternoon so that I could prepare and finish things off for the evening. I must admit it was a freakin success, we had over 275 students attend! I loved every minute of it. But what i didn't realize was that standing all night my muscles stiffened so when I drove home, my nice 30 minute drive, every muscle in my body had cramped and stiffened. I practically crawled in through the front door, clumsily put my pj's on and crawled into bed. I think I may have possibly been to sleep before my head hit the pillow.

So now to the 90 year old part, I got up this morning around 10, stood up nice and tall about 4 feet tall, guided my way to the door of our bedroom using the side of our bed and every step I took felt like I was walking on glass. I made more comments and groans than I think I ever have in my 32 years! Dang, I think if I had tripped and fallen I would have stayed put on the floor and just have gone back to sleep. But my bladder called and coaxed me out of the room and with shear determination I got dressed and we headed out for the day.

Well it has come to that time where I need to get my walked and make my way out of the coffee shop. Thankfully the car isn't parked that far away. I promise to write again soon. Who knows maybe this will be the beginning of a wonderful new thing for me.