So lovely is he...

Tonight Joel was leaving to go meet with some church guys and I thought he looked soooo cute in his newish Earth shoes and thrift store shirt. So I told him I wanted to take a picture and he went into model mode. This made me laugh...he makes me laugh. I was deep in the trenches of grading essays when he walked in, and it just brightened my evening. Maybe it'll brighten yours too:) Jen

The Hunt Hotel...

Mom and dad are in route to Salt Lake City! We are so excited and scurrying around like mice to get everything ready. Well, at least one of us is...

I left to go tutor one of my students, but gave Joel specific instructions on what I needed him to do in the guest room while I was gone. I don't think "take a nap in the guests' bed" was on the list:)
If you haven't heard Joel's big news, click on the "Joelie's blog" link to the right and you can read about it. Then you'll understand why he especially needs rest right now with all of his new responsibilities:)
Guess that's all for now. I've got a bathtub to scrub,a guest room to prepare, flowers to buy....I'll try to keep this updated with our adventures with the folks during their stay at the Hunt Hotel!

A friend is...

" A friend is a bay where you can anchor your boat in bad weather."

Another great metaphor and beautiful picture from one of my students. Speaking of friendship...

We had a friend of Joel's from school over tonight for dinner.
I love watching him with his friends. He is always so interested, so full of great questions and appreciation for what their heart speaks. He finds true joy in people, in stories, in shared experiences. How blessed I feel to be the one closest to his heart. I am often caught off guard by his interest in my thoughts. I start to say something, thinking that only I would find this interesting and that maybe I should just cut the story short. Then I look up and see those big, brown eyes waiting and smiling at my words. My heart wells up with thankfulness to know that he is indeed my friend. He is truly a bay where I can anchor my boat in bad weather and in calm seas as well.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of Joelie, listening to our friend Matt...

So lovely is he.

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.

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

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…..