Our Sweet Mamas

We just want to say that we love these ladies! They have loved us more than we can ever say, and more than we will ever know, and we are grateful to God for letting us be their kids. We love you Mama Adams and Mama Wase! Happy Mothers' Day 2011!

Several Thousand Word-Pictures

These are from Grandma & Grandpa Cheek's (mom's parents) house. We gladly took ownership of them when they were looking for a new home. Aren't they just the cheeriest pots ever? They make me smile because they remind me of sitting in G & G Cheek's kitchen on a Sunday while lunch is cooking and the house is full of aunts and uncles and grandkids and puppies.

Across the street from our friends, the Groff's, house. So thankful that they weren't home when the tornado came through their neighborhood about a month ago, and so thankful that their house was mostly spared damage.

I got to babysit Silas a month or so ago. I love this bib. We love Silas! So glad we get to be around for his baby-ness!

Casey has been telling me "We need to get me an exercise ball" for approximately nine months of marriage, and I have been telling him "Well, I'm totally fine if you wanna go to Walmart and buy it" because I hate going to Walmart. We finally broke down and went to Walmart at like ten o'clock and while there met a guy who introduced himself by saying to Casey "Hey man, wow, you're really tall! I bet you play a lot of ball. Did you play college ball? High School?" Yeah...

Casey spilled an entire cup of ice water on a bag that was holding all of our wedding cards, which I'm holding onto for sentimental reasons. If you're not sentimental, stop ridiculing me in your mind right now. I will scrapbook these. But, they needed drying, so we set them over our entire living room, and then had a pick-up competition last night. Casey won, 57-54.

Cinco de Mayo! (which I found out yesterday, is not as big in Mexico as in the US. Ironic? I think so.)

My two cents

Well, I will say that I'm at least relieved to see that I am now not the only person questioning yesterday's (literal) jubilation in the streets. Though, what I find most frightening is that the first place I even saw a question about whether the rejoicing was appropriate was the ever-liberal CNN. I spent most of yesterday heavy-hearted and dumbfounded, honestly, by America's response to Osama Bin Laden's death. Around 11 am or so I headed over to WRAL's website, which I usually check in the morning to catch up on current happenings. Obviously, pretty much the entire page was devoted to Osama's death. And I just could not make sense of all of the headlines. There was rejoicing. There were parades in the streets, flags flying, chants of "U-S-A!", and star-spangled-banner's being sung. I was horrified. How can we be so overjoyed with DEATH. Four people died. And we are throwing a party. Yes, OF COURSE, I know who this man was. I know what he did. And there are countless sins he committed that only the Lord knows. And, yes, I love justice. I love it, and you love it, because we are made in God's image and God loves justice. I have great HOPE because God is a God of justice, and I know that all things, including the thousands killed on 9/11, will be avenged. But I also know how guilty I am. Or was, before I exchanged my guilt with Jesus' righteousness. I know that God's wrath was poured out on Jesus, so that I did NOT have to spend eternity without Him. And God's wrath was poured out on Jesus, so that Osama Bin Laden did not have to spend eternity without Him either, if he would have only believed. But he didn't. Unless by some miracle, his heart was changed, he is in hell now. Forever. Along with the other three who were killed alongside him. How can we rejoice in that? How can we be so callous as to rejoice in another human being "rotting in hell" (as some of the headlines cheered) forever? Who are we? We are no one. We deserve hell just as much as Osama Bin Laden. I, for one, refuse to be glad. I will be relieved---that the search for him is over, that some sense of justice has been served here. But I will not throw a party. I will mourn for the souls who died apart from God forever.

Nostalgia

I've been listening to music this morning that brings me straight back to E.A. "Take me to your heart" by some poppy UK group was always blaring in the school cafeteria. I would LOOOVE to walk in there, order some fanqie ji dan chao fan. Oh. yes. I might even grab a vanilla coke to wash it down.

Then I listened to some Colbie Callait and all I could picture was me and LeeAnn sitting in Chicago Coffee, singing the chorus of "Oxygen". "Oh ba-aby if I was your lady, I would make you ha-apy..."

Now I'm listeninig to Need to Breathe's "More Time" and I'm remembering sitting out on our enclosed patio doing homework, the sun shining in. Maybe someone a couple floors up just dropped some sort of liquid out their window that came crashing down on our patio roof, and a little leaked through the roof onto me. "What the?!"

I used to listen to my ipod when I was walking or riding the bus somewhere alone. A classic listen was "Bleeding Love" because you are just JAMMING "But I don't care what they say, I'm in love with you!" in your head...sometimes out loud, because you are in a foreign country and you're already a weirdo, so why not sing out loud and bob your head a little? Sometimes in a city of 6 million it was nice to tune out all the other noise and release a little frustration.

I guess I kind of miss E.A. today. Oh man..."Apologize" just came on. Classic E.A. jam. Remember when Kris Allen sang "Apologize" on American Idol?? And it sucked. I loved American Idol just for that year because we all watched it together. I don't care what Casey says about how terrible it was. Oh E.A...