A heart overflowing....

These pictures remind me that if I seek Him, He will continually fill my heart to overflowing. I think that's because He opens my eyes to the joy all around me. He allows me to see the world, just a tiny bit, as He sees it. It both breaks my heart and gives me such joy.

Speaking of joy, I am SO excited about mom and dad coming to visit on July 1st!!! I probably think about it 10 times a day:) We always have such a wonderful time when they come to visit us in our far off lands....we had so many fun adventures in Hawaii with them and with mom in Honduras. Now, I know SLC isn't Hawaii, but it is a fun city to explore and they are such fun people to explore with! Oh, and our living space is always, always, always more cozy and creative after mom has left her touch on it. Just wait, I'll show pictures. So, add that to this list of thankfulness for sure.....

Joel is singing at the top of his lungs upstairs... I think I'll go join him:)More soon, Jen

In the midst of busyness....

This week has been full.Subbing for my co-instructor Rick in the mornings,tutoring in the afternoons, coming home for a couple of hours, and then subbing for him again in the evenings makes for a long day! In the midst of this busyness, though, I have had such tender moments with the students, with sweet Joelie, and have just felt more content overall--maybe it was my thankfullness pictures putting me back in the right mindset:) I had a precious conversation with a student today whose dream is to get into Texas A&M. I'll just say that it helped me understand the pressure and stress these students are under academically from their parents, from themselves, and from their cultures. It broke my heart for him. I was rushing out of the office when he came to talk. I was a little annoyed to stop and sit back down to listen. I'm so glad that I did. Once again the Lord showed me that in the midst of all life's busyness, people are what matter. Thanks for the reminder. Jen

PS. More thankfulness pictures soon:)

City noises and a thankful heart...

So, it's about 11pm and I'm sitting in bed propped up by pillows listening to the wind and the rain outside. The windows are always open at night and usually I hear noises such as these: our neighbors coming home on scooters or in big jeeps or a big rumbling truck. Our neighbors to the right and over the fence taking there dog out into their back yard making the leaves rustle and twigs break. The sounds of sirens are frequently heard as we live just down the block from a fire station and for some reason the sound is oddly comforting to me. Cars whizzing by on the busy street, even late into the night. A circle of friends sitting in the yard of the duplex in front of us, laughing and talking and making Misty the dog bark. It's the sound of the city, and so far I like it. Tonight, though, tops it all. The wind and the rain are more comforting than even laughter right now. Joel is sleeping peacefully, getting some much needed rest and it all just makes me feel thankful. This week has been a bit discouraging...just a little sad I guess. Wanting things that just aren't right now, like more time with my love and to have a baby in my arms. God is so faithful to remind me, though, of all of the richness and depth and love that is my life and tonight I feel that strongly. So, here are some of the things that bless my soul and remind me of all the wonderfulness he has given me and all that is to come...












The list could go on and on and on and on. I think I'll have to do a part two tomorrow at the very least:) The rain has stopped now as it took a long time to download these pictures correctly...the sounds of the city are back. Cars buzzing and out comes the neighbor over the fence with his dog. I can hear the tinkling of the dogs id tags as he walks...i forgot about that sound. Oh, how funny. It's as if he can tell I am thinking about him because he just let out a big WOOF! Well, I guess that's all for tonight. I'm tutoring a sweet South Korean tomorrow at the library and need to prepare. I have so many things to tell you about the cultures of and interactions with my students...soon. Jen

Who's this beardless man?

Yep, he's beautiful with or without that big ol' beard:)This was taken today after lunch right by his PA program building. We got to have lunch together-yippie!! Need to get some data entry done, more soon! Jen

Another Interview

Last Thursday I had my interview for the National Health Service Corps Scholarship, so Wednesday I decided was when I was going to get my hair cut and beard trimmed. So after class I cruised down to the barber shop called $4.00 Haircut, took a number and a seat, and waited for my number to be called. Finally it was called and I sat down to my fate.

The lady asked me what I wanted and I told her I was not sure, just some kind of trim that would look good for an interview, because I had one the next day. So we decided on a little off here and there and she started in on my hair. Then, her interest piqued, she could not help but ask what job I was interviewing for. I told it was for a scholarship for school and she of course asked me what I was going to school for, to which I replied physician assistant school. She asked me if I was a nurse in a manner that assumed that I already was one, and I told her I was not.

Let me break to give the setting. Basically, I’m in a small town barbershop, right out of Mayberry off the Andy Griffith show. Same deal. It was packed; almost all the customer-waiting seats were taken waiting for their turn in the haircut dissembly line. And, of course, the barber chairs are facing the customer-waiting seats so there is no place else to look but at the customers who are looking at you and it makes for a bit of an awkward setting, simply based on the seating arrangement. It was pretty dead quiet in the shop besides the buzzing of the clippers and an occasional exchange of pleasantries between customers. And so that is the scene.

After I told her that I was not a nurse, she stopped cutting my hair, turned the clippers off, stood just in front and to left of me and said rather loudly, “You mean to tell me that you are not a nurse and they’re just going to let you become a physician assistant? I am never letting another physician assistant ever touch me again! How are you supposed to know anything about the body? You were an operating room technician? They just let anybody off the street become one of those. Hmmp.” So now every set of eyes and ears were turned and tuned on me and the lady who just completed the belittling rant of my past and future occupations. Now that is awkward.

With a sense of regal loyalty and dedication to the occupation to which I have chosen to affix myself, I set out to defend it in a manner that may leave it and me with some dignity. I took a second to make sure that what happened really happened and I had not just dozed off during class in a lecture about buffering systems, and when I realized that I was unfortunately not dozing I told my assailant that I was sorry to hear that. I assured her that from my experience, operating room technicians were not allowed to work in the operating room straight off the street and that PA school was a graduate program with a rather intense curriculum, very similar to that of medical school. In fact, only one semester short, as semesters go. I also gave her some background history on the making of the PA and its model from World War II Fast Track Physicians. She seemed to hear what I was saying and went back to cutting my hair.

It was quiet for a while and then the next thing I know she’s telling me her mother was manic-depressive and her father had depression and was an alcoholic and that she thinks she too has manic-depression. She started unfolding her medical history to me right there in the barber chair with all these people around and telling me her medications she was on and how they were affecting her and asking me for advice and if I had taken this or that course. I had to keep reminding her that I only started the program a week and a half earlier and did not have the classes she was assuming I had taken. It was something else. She went from berating me to being a patient in a matter of a few awkward moments. I was stunned to say the least.

Well, she set in on trimming my beard and I basically at that point I just wanted out of the chair and on my bike rolling quickly away from there. So she trimmed on my beard, asked me if I liked it, I said yes, and that was it. Actually the trim was bad but I could take care of that at home, I just wanted to leave. And so I left.

When I got home I got the clippers out, put on the guard and started trimming my beard, only to find out that I had put on the wrong guard and was basically all but shaving. So, long story short, I ended up shaving off my beard. It wasn’t so bad because I was threatening to do it anyway, but the way it happened was rather unfortunate.

The next day at school people did not even recognize me, I mean had no clue who I was, to the point that the girl that sat next to me was going to introduce herself to me because she did not know who I was. People thought I was a new student or something. It was pretty funny. People would just stare at me trying to figure out who I was, or once they knew who I was, if they liked what they saw or if they wished I could put the beard back on to cover up my radio face.

Not only did I have the whole clean face to deal with I had a wonderful moment that was classic. During the quiz I went up to ask Leroy a question and came back to my seat at the very front of the classroom and when I sat down I snapped the chair in half and ended up on the floor. Nice. Great move. The funny thing is that it happened when a lot people still did not know who I was so the look on their faces was pretty funny.

At lunch I went home to change into my suit so I could leave early from class and head directly over to my interview, and when I showed up in that it really threw people off. One girl asked if I was in the witness protection program.

The interview was in a hotel room, in an actual hotel room, with two people sitting behind a table reading me questions from a government standardized test booklet and writing down my answers. The questions were about my past and future and consisted of enormously broad, undefined questions that I was expected to answer in about two sentences. It felt more like some kind of psychological evaluation than an interview for a scholarship, who knows, maybe it was. I was so tired and sleepy that I had a hard time concentrating but managed to make it through. I have no idea how I did, none whatsoever. I find out some time in mid-July to August if I got awarded it or not. We shall see.

So that was my couple days leading up to and involving my interview, and the loss of my beard. What an experience.

Interesting folks around here...

So, I keep seeing this purple VW van around town and it just cracks me up. It has this huuuge meteor looking thing tide to the top of the van and I was so curious about the driver. Well,it's is now parking right across the street from our house, so i guess maybe he's living there for a while. I walked by the van and saw a website and it's pretty funny so i thought I'd share it with ya..... http://www.purplevw.com
That's all for now as I'm supposed to be working and keep getting distracted! Jen

You

Standing in the rain
in your cowboy hat and jeans
You are alone in a field of grass
Understanding what God means

Sitting in a crowded restaurant
Your head bowed before your father
Others rushing by
To them details are only a bother

You are different though,
You're a rugged, cowboy poet
I believe in you
Though I may not always show it

So promise me my love
No matter what this world brings
You'll keep standing in the rain
In your cowboy hat and jeans

--Written for Joel when I was 16 and googly eyed over this unique, kind, full of life boy that has been my husband now for seven wonderful years! Happy anniversary to my adventurous, full of life and laughter, compassionate and strong Joel. You are the color in my life and no words could ever express my love for you.Jen

Hours we keep

Well, Joelie has now been an official PA student for one full week! You can check out his blog for details (www.joelsjourney.blogspot.com ), but I can say for sure that the week went well for both of us. Joel thrives in intensity and fast-pacedness(I think I just created a new word:), so I think this PA school schedule is going to suit him just fine. He stays up until about 1:30am studying and then wakes up at 6:15 to ride his bike up the enormous hill to the program!!! He gets home around 5:30pm, we eat dinner together and I get all the juicy details of his day, and then he starts the studying all over again...crazy.The long classroom hours of sitting are hard for him, but his biochem professor seems to understand that and gives them 20 minute breaks--smart man.
I start my day a little later:), usually head to one of the libraries to do some data entry and catch up on e-mails, go home and do some house work, run errands, make sure I'm home for my brief time with Joelie, go to bed with a book......
Dreamy schedule for me for sure until I find another part time job:)

I'm actually sitting at the Sugarhouse Library right now. I'm in the "reading room" with lots of mahogany furniture and quiet people reading the newspaper or studying. It has big windows where I can see the mountains and the dark, heavy clouds. Please rain!! How wonderful to sit in a library and watch it rain!

I went on a job interview two days ago at the college ESL program. Afterwards I went by the grocery store to get a fountain coke and heard this conversation between two of the deli workers:

Employee 1: " So you two did okay by yourselves yesterday?"
E2: "Yeah we did. Kari was just so willing to do whatever I asked of her.She has such a great attitude."
E1: "that's great. Did you teach her how to cut the meat?"
E2: " Yes, we worked on that a bit. She was so positive and wanted to learn how to do everything."
E1: "She's really nice too isn't she?"
E2: "She is a very sweet person."

Now, this may sound ridiculous, but after being in such a formal atmosphere hearing this kind conversation between the deli workers just warmed my heart. It was comforting to my soul. Like mom always says, " I just love when I meet nice people". Me too, mom. Guess that's all for now. Jen

Curious Joel Goes to PA School !!

Fueling up for his big day...


Drinking his morning brew of soy milk/chai tea...


So long life of leisure!


Over the hill to follow his dream, his mission, his passion…..it’s with a proud heart that I watch him go.


Well, we had such a great time last night with Erik. He took us to a place called One World Café. Basically, it’s a café that serves organic, healthy food buffet style served by interesting looking folks. You choose your portion size and what foods you want and then pay what you think is a fair price (8-12 dollars for a full meal is suggested). Its such an interesting concept and you can read more about it at this link http://www.utahcityguide.com/reviews/oneworld.asp .... I had a tofu-meatball soup, Quinoa, quiche, black bean coconut rice, and greens. It was delightful and eaten in a back room that felt like a living room chatting away with joelie and erik. Good times—wish you all could have been there with us-- especially John Mike and Tara—you guys just belong in places like that. Missing everyone more than usual today with Joel gone—hope you’re doing well and enjoying life each day.Much love, Jen

"The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom."

For our precious mommas for which no words can express our love and gratitude:

From my mom's heart I have learned of grace, forgiveness, unconditional love, creativity, child-like faith,eternal hope, endurance.... Thank you mom for being such an example of God's love to your kids and to your husband.

From mom Shari I have learned the art of hospitality, to see the best in everyone, the joy of genuine faith, the goodness of order, and in this moment I am learning from her the joy found in obedience as she has followed her husband to the far off land of the Ukraine!

Thanks to the Lord for these amazing women and for creating the role of "mother"-- I know of know greater love other than His than that of a mother for her child.


In other news: Joelie starts school tomorrow! We are excited, sad, thankful, emotional...well, I'm emotional. Joel says I've been more emotional about him starting school than when he went to Colombia and was in real danger of death! I must admit that he may be right. I think it's because he and I have gotten to spend soooo much time together this past year and four months since he got out of the military and I'm just really going to miss it. My love language is time and so this has been heavenly for me to have him to myself so often. We've been dreaming of this day for so long though, and I really am thrilled that it's actually happening.

Nothing too exciting happened this week after the road trip. Just working on the house, working on my data entry....We did have our friend Tonga over twice.He is this huuuuuge guy, from Tonga (his really name is Uaisele), that Joel'll be in school with and we had him over the last two nights for dinner and to play cards. He's great and reminds me of a Tongan David Zapp(hi Dave and Becca if you're reading this!!)Tonight we're having dinner with Erick, who is in the class ahead of Joel. He's an interesting guy and fun conversationalist, so we're looking forward to that.

Oh, I've been meaning to tell you that Joel has a blog documenting his journey to, and now through, PA school. It's appropriately titled www.joelsjourney.blogspot.com , so check it out if you have time. I'm hoping one day he'll get it published into a book for people interested in the PA profession. He has worked on it diligently and think it'll be a great venting place for him during these next 27 months. Gotta run, coffee shop closing. Jen

On the road again...

We decided to go on a weekend road trip before the madness of school begins for Joelie in less than a week now! We left Friday morning and returned on Monday night having visited Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, Flagstaff AZ, and the Grand Canyon!!! It was a wonderful time to say the least.Here is a little pictoral journal of the weekend, and you can click on the Flickr link to see many more pictures.


Here we are...Sammy all packed up and ready to head out on his first big adventure! We took full advantage of having our first in-car CD player and were accompanied on our trip by wonderful folks like Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Jack Johnson, the Dixie Chicks,Roger Miller and lots of others--we love having good tunes along for the ride!

Our first stop was Bryce Canyon. We were amazed at this beautiful national park in southern Utah. It is famous for its "Hoodoos", which are those tall rock formations you see everywhere.


We went on a great 3 mile hike down into the canyon. By the time we got back up we were starving and devoured a 2 slices/1.00 pizza special the Camper Store was having as it had been sitting there all day long and it was now 8:00! It tasted delightful and we headed back to our campsite to settle in for the night.

The weather was getting a little chilly as we set up the tent-- I think it was about 39 degrees when we got into our sleeping bags. We warmed our bodies with hot chocolate and I snuggled in to read my People magazine(hey, have I ever claimed to be a hard core outdoorsman?!). We turned out the lantern and I begged my body to stop having to use the bathroom and stop shivering. No luck. Then I heard Joel start to snore!! Amazing:) It was a long night for me, and yet still I woke up invigorated by the fresh air and was ready to get on the road to our next destination. After breakfast, finally going to the bathroom and getting warm in snuggly Sammy, I quickly passed out until we reached Zion:)


Zion was really crowded and we decided not to stay long. It was amazingly beautiful,though, the canyon was majestic. We will definitely go back, hopefully on a weekday.

We then made our way to Kanab, Utah. Joel may be doing a rotation there in his second year of school and so we were curious to see what it was like. It was a small, touristy town with a lot of potential. The employees in every place we went in the town were exceedingly grumpy,but we're hoping it was just a really bad day for everyone and not always like that. The town was having a greyhound dog parade and so greyhounds were Everywhere-- that was fun to see. We were happy for all of those dogs that they were saved from death after their racing career was over.

After spending Sat. night in Kanab we drove to Flagstaff, AZ. What a fun town! I wish I would have taken more pictures but I didn't:( Sometimes you just get so into an experience that pictures almost take away from it. That was the case in Flagstaff. We didn't have long there and wanted to soak it up. We went on a hike right outside of town and then enjoyed all of the cool, earthy shops and art galleries and then spent the night in a very clean and comfortable Super 8.

On to the Grand Canyon we flew!This was Joel's first trip and it was fun to see him see the canyon for the first time. You get to see it too...

Walking up to the edge...

Peering over...

Disbelief at the enormity:)


After our time at the Grand Canyon, we started the long trip back up to SLC. We were entertained by Aron Ralston book on CD called "Between a rock and a hard place", the story of his climbing trip to southern Utah that ended with him being trapped by a boulder and having to amputate his own arm to get out of the canyon! Thankfully, our trip to the canyons wasn't nearly as dramatic.This weekend was one of those times where all you can see in life is the sun, no darkness looming. Being a realist, I know that these times in life are pretty rare and so I'm thankful each time I experience one. This weekend I was thankful for a healthy body to enjoy the outdoors with, an adventurous soulmate to explore with, and the sun shining down on our faces. Oh, we were also thankful to get to see all of these little guys...
...so,so cute!

That's all for now guys!

I think we're in shock....

A big YIPPIE for the new member of the Hunt family.......


Meet Sammy the Subaru!

Yep, after having numerous cars that were as full of problems as they were character, we decided to bite the bullet and get a newbie. It is something we've talked about for years, especially while sitting in mechanic shop, after mechanic shop, after mechanic shop. So, today we say goodbye; not only to our beloved past vehicles but to a whole way of thinking that went on waaaay to long. The "It looks so neat and has so much character and I'm sure after we fix this one last thing it'll run perfectly" way of thinking. It's hard to let go, but for now we must...so goodbye to...

The Saab-- my first car that I loved sooooo much. It had these neato heated seats and even though the ceiling liner sagged so much it would get in my eyes, I cherished my time with the Saab.

Jack-- Joel's brown Ford Ranger with orange racing stripes that he drove while we were dating. Jack was a good truck, though at the end of our time with Jack,the enormous explosions that came when he back fired could be a bit embarrassing.

The Wagoneer-- I loved the way the wagoneer smelled with its old leather seats. I love the way it rumbled and felt so good and sturdy when you were driving it. Unfortunately, it got 11 mpg and needed a new transmission:(

The Mazda Navajo-- This was a no character SUV that we probably should have kept. It ran fine, but no, I had to feast my eyes on a vehicle I was so sure Joel would love (he was already in Hawaii and I was meeting him there)that we sold the Navajo and bought...

The ridiculously big Jeep CJ7-- I'm not kidding, guys, this thing was enormous. It was so jacked up that when we drove next to a bus we would be at the same level as the passengers! I don't know what I was thinking because I was the one doing most of the driving in Hawaii and it took me forever to even get up into the drivers seat. It was also a standard and on more than one occasion while at a stop light on the top of a hill, I signaled the car behind to back up b/c I just knew I would roll back and smash them to pieces. We had problem after problem with the Jeep and couldn't sell it to save our lives. It was so much fun to drive it through those green, green mountains though...

The Toyota corolla--This was a fabulous little 1987 beater. It lasted us a good three years in Hawaii and then promptly died right before we left. We miss little yoda and were soooo thankful for how well it ran.

The Volkswagen Vanagon-- Oh, the vanagon. What a love/hate relationship. When it ran we had so much fun with it, especially in Hawaii. The problem is that most of the time it wasn't running and we poured more money into that van than I'll ever admit because we loved it so. The curse of the van continues as dad is still trying to sell it for us in TX!

The Mazda Protege-- Another great little car that we'd still be driving if we weren't in a place with so much snow in the winters and hills everywhere(its a standard). It was a perfect car for our year in San Marcos!

So farewell, you little pieces of our history. You have provided us with many, many adventures and we miss some of you often. On the other hand, we are pretty darn excited to welcome Sammy into our lives and hope many of you,people reading this, will get to enjoy the new Subaru with us when you visit us in this most beautiful place.


In other exciting news (and so this post won't be entirely materialistic:)... we have found a great church! Its called New Song Presbyterian and its about 1/2 a block from our house. Joelie and I both teared up during the service this morning in thankfulness for how faithful God is in allowing us to find a church so quickly that we feel so at home in. Thanks to those who have been praying with us about that. We feel so welcome there, and though this isn't the most important thing, they still sing hymns! It's so refreshingly simple and they even have a folk music sound with a mandolin and a violin. We love the teaching and I can't say enough how kind and warm everyone has been. You can check it out at www.newsong.org

Guess that's all the news for today...more soon....

Places that surround us...

When the weather's bad or he just needs a break from the bike, Joel will ride the TRAX to school. This is where he'll wait.


We feel especially urban when we ride the TRAX:)



We seem to find a way to visit Smith's every day! This picture is of "The big Smiths" that has a top floor with house and lawn stuff, clothes, etc.


This is how we get the goodies home from the store.


The entrance to Liberty park where we jog, go to events like Earth Day 2006, and take walks.It's a great place to be.


Our mailbox is another great place to be, especially when it's full of mail from family and friends (ahem). Ours is the big one on top, so don't ever be afraid that it will be too full.

Guess thats all the pictures for now. We had a good day today. We went to a place called "The Original Pancake House" for brunch and Joel was thrilled to discover it is the same Original Pancake house that is in Hawaii, where his beloved 49ers reside. They are these enourmously round, but very thin pancakes and he loooooves them. Then we went to a coffee shop where I worked for a bit doing some data entry. He then rode on to REI and I came back home to walk to Old Navy.

The reason for the Old Navy trip was to buy some baby girl clothes for newly born Megan Riley Howard. Now, we thought Megan was going to be a boy. The doctor even said it was going to be a boy after the ultrasound. Thus, a baby shower with a boy theme was given--by me-- all the while Megan's mom Holly was trying to tell us that she really thought it was going to be a girl!So imagine the surprise, to everyone but Holly, when 10lb Megan burst into the world:) So an immediate trip to Old Navy was in order, and cute girlie things were purchased to be sent ASAP. Next time a friend tells me to go nuetral on a shower theme, I promise I'll listen!

Hope all is well with you folks, Jenny

"Thank God for the Earth" Day

For the beauty of the earth,
For the glory of the skies.
For the fields which from our birth,
Over and around us lie.
Lord of all to the we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

This is one of my favorite hymns of all times—so simple and pure. It was in my head all day yesterday as we celebrated “Earth day”. By celebrate, I mean that we joined in the festivities going on at Liberty Park and the library for Earth Day 2006. At the park we watched some Brazilian martial arts that was pretty fascinating, we mingled with the local hippies and looked at their artwork and jewelry and listened to them sing and read their literature on alternative schools and bio fuel and we even signed up to pay for some wind generated electricity each month. We then rode our bikes to the library and watched a recycled clothing fashion show, watched a pretty funny band, and returned some movies.

Such a cute puppy!


A capri-sun recycled skirt


Joelie loved this guys hair and took lotsa pictures of it:)

It was a warm, clear day and as we rode around and walked through the throngs of earthy people with their activism booths and veggie burgers, my eyes kept averting to the mountains and the hymn would again play itself in my mind.

We do, as Christians, need to be so much more mindful of the earth God has placed us on. We need to cherish and appreciate it and be good stewards of it to the best of our ability. And yet, beyond the importance of conservation, earth day reminded me that God’s incredible creation is supposed to be, most of all, a reflection of the Creator. And as I looked up at those incredible mountains, my heart was glad and humbled and truly thankful for the opportunity to live in this manifestation of His creativity. And so on “Thank God for the earth day”, and every day, I hope to lift a hymn of grateful praise for all that He is and for those little glimpses into His character we get when we spend time in His creation.

A (Long) Word From Joel

Well, this sure has been so fun living in this in-between world. We're in between school and jobs, just living. It's great having so much time to spend with each other and explore this new beautiful place that God has granted us the opportunity to live in. However, it is a bit unnerving knowing that we are making basically no money and will be existing on loans or a scholarship that requires indebted servitude after my time as a student, not to mention not having a car. I will come back to the no car thing in a moment because it deserves is own little discourse, but I want to make it clear that I am not complaining, just stating the thoughts that are ever-present in my mind. I'll spell it out real simply. Here's a glimpse into my subconscious/conscious, depending on the situation and awe factor that is occurring at the moment: "Wow, this is so fun. All I have to do is sleep, eat, fix up or home, that's right, a HOME. NOT an apartment, a home. In addition we get to be in an incredible city and explore it. The city has so much and there is so much to see and do. Oh yeah, we don't have a car yet. Oh yeah, we have to get one. Ahhhh, money! Oh man, what about the school loans vs. the scholarship? What about the car? Do we get new or used? (I won't go into detail but I go into the pro/con argument for each.} I have to map out a route to school. Oh, that's right, I have to go to school in less than a month and then all this gallivanting will be over and it'll be nose in the books and trying to remember what being rested is like. Oh look at those mountains, aren't they beautiful? I love the weather here." So that is sort of what the stew in my mind looks like, if you will.

Now the car. We don't have any mode of transportation ourselves besides ourselves, meaning foot or bike. It has been great to walk everyday and go places on foot. It is so much more healthy and fun and invigorating. It's a great time just walking and talking with Jenny. It is not fast, but it sure is friendly. We love it. Then there is biking. We just got Jenny's bike back from the guy who tuned it up, that would be a whole other post about this guy, he's pretty cool. Anyway, we are now both mobile on wheels. It is so fun. It is faster too. Now, I think that it is probably the most perfect way to commute around a town, almost any town, even if they are bike unfriendly like most of Texas' towns. I know I was just as fast in San Marcos on a bike as I was in a car. It's great. Again, it's healthier for the rider and the environment. What makes it so unbelievable up here, besides the ideal weather and the mountainous backdrop, is that this city is set up with bikes and pedestrians in mind, almost as a primary thought with vehicles as a secondary mode of transportation. So, we have not missed the car too much. However, this riding around and walking to and fro is wonderful and healthy and clean, but it is dependent on good weather and one cannot go very far or carry much at all, which probably is not a bad thing most of the time. We still are planning on getting a car soon but hope to keep our car parked as much as possible and use our feet and legs as much as we can.

Jenny. What an explosion of wonderful personality that this move or city or phase in life has brought out in her. She is perfectly wonderful. It is so fun to watch her around the house, again I must emphasize that we live in a HOUSE, and getting things together and arranging this and that. I love watching her wash the dishes (we don't have a dishwasher) or scurry about in the kitchen or move boxes around or really just about everything she does. She got a shot of energy from somewhere and I love it. This place is inspiring and I know she is glad to not be going away to work everyday, she kind of likes being at home as much as possible so this is right up her alley. I love watching her walking to the coffee shop and sit there without a care. She is so cute in the little coffee shop just punching away on her laptop and getting her work done or updating this blog or whatever else she does on-line. It's fun to see her having fun and enjoying herself, especially since I am responsible for ripping her away from her family and taking her to some far off place, again. But at least it has a magnificent beauty rating, which helps a lot. It has been so much fun reducing our "stuff" from "stuff" to things we actually use. I like how she is not into sentimentality too much, actually I am the one that wants to keep more stuff than she does. She is so practical, it's wonderful. We have pared down quite a bit and our home is the better for it. We are finding that we need way, way, way less than we have. It feels like weights being lifted off our backs to get rid of things that we do not use. Anyway, back to Jenny.

I have a story from today that will be backed up with pictures shortly. Well, it has snowed the last couple of days, which is mind-blowing to us Texans, and both days we have gone out in the "elements". See, again, that is something that Jenny and I refer to as the new "SLC Jenny" does, goes out in the elements and doesn't mind them much. Yesterday it was walking to the coffee shop and the grocery store in some pretty heavy snow and some rain, but today it was just cool/cold when we went on our ride. I brought her bike back from the "bike guy" and then the next thing I know I look out the window after a stint in the basement and see Jenny riding around in circles in our driveway/alley/yard thing. It was cute, funny, hysterical, wonderful, and out of nowhere all at once. I just looked out through the glass panes and smiled. She told me she was "warming up" for our big ride to the library. Well, I had no idea that she was going to be scaring ME on our ride. I was being cautious and trying to keep her from harm and then again, the next thing I know I look back and see Jenny riding on about a foot of sidewalk right next to rushing traffic and dodging trees along the way with the calmest look on her face. I was nearly mortified, but mainly amazed, at her skill and boldness. I have to say though, that just writing about it made my heart rate rise again. She was a little trooper, no that sounds like she was toughing something out, she wasn't, she was enjoying it and reveling in it. Talk about filling my love tank, I got extra love bubbling all over the place. Then, this is now the story I set out to write about at the beginning, we went to the grocery store on the way home, which I think we have been to everyday since we moved up here. We bought some stuff, ended up being four pretty weighty bags. Jenny had two and I had two. Again, the next thing I know Jenny has her bags on her handle bars and is waiting for me to get settled so we can go. As she road home I almost wrecked into a number of parked cars on the way while I was riding and looking and smiling at Jenny as we rode together. She would look at me and say she was having so much fun. What a woman! That's the story folks, Jenny on a bike bringing her groceries home on her handle bars and lovin' it.

He jumps in with both feet while she cautiously dips in a toe...

Joel loves change. I think it’s because he loves exploration of all kinds, and change often times brings about lots of exploration. I, on the other hand, have a very hard time with change…. to say the least. For example, when I was younger (tenish, maybe a tad older) my mom and dad were going to sell an old stove that had been in the kitchen since I was born. Apparently that was too much change for me and I through my body over the stove and sobbed uncontrollably at the thought of losing it. Things haven’t changed much. Though, I am happy to say, that Joelie has increased my ability to deal with and even get excited over the new and the journey of change.

All this to say that this move has been a real illustration of those characteristics. Joel revels in exploring new shops and churches and transportation and trails and parks and meeting new people, while I have to ease myself into these new experiences. When we walk into a new place ever-observant joel has noticed that I’ll walk in and immediately stop or start walking really slowly. I laughed when he told me this and I started to notice it myself. I have to get my bearings, to see the whole situation and then move forward while Joel unabashedly bursts into a place. We have grown to love this difference in each other. I envy and learn from Joel’s ability to live life to the fullest with no fear and he appreciates my tendency to fully see a situation and the pure joy that I feel when I open myself to new people or places.

So, keep this in mind as I write about Joel’s adventures and mine. For Sat. Joel’s adventure was going on a new hike with three new friends while mine was talking myself into using the washer and dryer that is shared with the duplex in front of us because I had been afraid I would inconvenience one of the other tenants. Joel had a great hike and I had a great laundry experience and we both felt very fulfilled by the days events.

Like I said, he jumps in with both feet while she cautiously dips in a toe…..

Blogger Stuff

Hey Guys,

Several people have said how complicated it is to leave a comment on the blog. I think I just made it a bit easier.

Okay, first click on the comment link at the bottom of the post where you want to leave a comment.

Next, type your comment in the square that it will give you on the next page. Then click "Other" when it asks you for your identity and then you can just type your name and click publish.

The reason it was so hard before was that you had to actually be a member to Blogger in order to leave a comment-- so I disabled that so that anyone can leave a comment.

Also, I know that when you click on the Flikr link you have to look through all of our Hawaii pictures first before you come to our new ones. I'm still figuring that out. Any suggestions? You can leave them as a comment:) Thanks for being patient with this pen and paper girl living in a keyboard world........

It's For Real!

Well, here we are. I’m sitting in our new living room in our new little house after a walk through the park across our new street. So far, we love it! The Hunts drove us up and helped us BIG TIME getting moved in—we even painted the kitchen a wonderful, soothing green. We had a wonderful time with them and are soooo thankful for all of their help.

Yesterday Joel and I had a really fun day exploring our area of town on foot. We walked to Taco Time, then test drove a Toyota RAV 4 (not for us but it was fun just being in a new car:), and then we walked to the library. OH MY GOSH, I think SLC must have the most amazing library in the world. Its five stories with gas fireplaces on each floor, tons of windows and reading rooms, free wireless internet, and you can walk out onto the roof where there are flower gardens and tables and mountains everywhere in the distance! I think Joel and I are going to be spending a lot of time there!

We are getting the house together a little bit at a time. Shari organized and finished the kitchen, we finished the living room today, and tomorrow we are focusing on the bedroom—lots of pictures to come.

Guess that’s all for now. Hope you all are doing well—we miss everyone already! Make sure to click on the Flickr picture link to see pics of us moving in!