valentine tradition

Well, you might notice that the title of this post is "valentine tradition," singular,  not "valentine traditions" plural.  That is because i've never really been huge on this particular holiday.  I've been a little on the fence about it. My biggest dilemma has always been between "this is a useless, commercially created holiday meant to make me spend too much money on cards, and why can't we celebrate love the other 364 days a year? " cynicism and "what a wonderful opportunity to make people feel loved and appreciated?"  The former, if i'm honest, was usually a cover for not wanting to feel like the only person without a bouquet of overpriced flowers, and the latter came from more of a love for baking unnecessarily challenging treats. Oh, and my intentions were always much greater than anything i actually gave to anyone on this hallmark of holidays.  Anyway, back to the tradition. Here it is. . . (pardon the technical difficulties, i couldn't figure out how to take this picture so you could actually read the heart. It says "sweet fart")

 A lot of years ago my brother and i were at a forced family supper in the purnell house and mom had decorated using all these giant sweetheart candies with sweet little messages on them.  To this day i can't remember who started it, but sam and i started turning messages of love, affection and flirtatiousness into messages of pain, disgust and general dislike for the recipient.  Every year i look for these hearts, and 2 out of 5 years i get an envelope of them in the mail.  I accidentally left a few out this year, including this example where i turned "sweet heart" into "sweet fart".  some of my favorites included 

-"marry me" into "you'll never marry"

-"be mine" into "be dead"

-"your face" into "your face looks like vomit"

- "sweetie pie" into "doo doo pie"

  It's my way of letting him know that i love him. Oh, and for those of you not aware, he did marry. December 15th. i'm really behind on my posting. 

oh so many things, i'm going to have to number them.

1. WILL AND HANNAH!  Yesterday we witnessed and celebrated the marriage of our good friends will and hannah. This was one of those things that we were all talking about before they actually started dating and that made it SO much fun to be a part of their wedding yesterday.  they are one couple that justin and i have had the privilege of getting to know individually over the past 3 years and now as a couple over the past 11 months. it has been SO fun. their wedding was beautiful, as was hannah. seriously, she was such a classic (and classy) bride. plus my husband was wearing tails and a white bow tie. hott.  i'll have to get my hands on a picture or two . . .

2. the retreat is over! and i would do it all over again.  from what we've heard the students loved it and somehow learned something about "authentic Christianity" which was our speakers theme for the weekend.  it was also my last winter retreat with my small group (sniff sniff) who are graduating this may.  that part was very bittersweet. i am so proud of them and who they have become over the past 3 years but it is so hard to think about them leaving for college. 

3. the sickness. justin's had some sort of serious cold complete with fever and chills and i've just had enough of it to get annoyed.  he's a good patient. i'm just done with all the sickness. 

4.  now that the retreat is over we have to figure out what to do with our lives. feel free to submit suggestions in the comment box.

just so you know. . .

well, in 3 hours i get on a bus with 50 teenagers and take the long and winding road to Pisgah, alabama!!! it's our annual winter retreat and i am SO excited.  We've got over 100 students and 30 leaders spending MLK weekend at the beautiful Camp Toknowhim (yes, that's the real name).  this is my 6th winter retreat at toknowhim and my, like 13th winter retreat. i'm pretty much a pro. i know all the secrets to make life with so many teenagers in the middle of the woods a little more comfortable. like, take your own real coffee mug so you don't have to use styrofoam, don't let anyone touch your sleeping bad, take your headlamp and have a good bedtime playlist on your ipod.  still - i always get a little bit nervous/excited even though i really have done this for so long.  maybe its because every trip is different or because i just want to make sure that everyone is comfortable or that everything goes well so that i look good. 

i thought that in honor of my activites this weekend i would make a list of my top 10 favorite winter/fall retreat moments:

10.  the great spheggetti fight of '08. i will never be asked to help clean the kitchen after dinner again.

9.  peanut butter jelly time skit of '07.

8. my secret romance on the retreat of '07.

7. southwood's battle of the dough in '06

6.  rubber stamp carving with robin. i think in '05

5. the complete honesty and encouragement of students in '05

4.  the great conquering of the forest in '05

3.  the victory lap after emily and sara's sports spectacular in '07.

2.  the west virginia ski debaucle of '04.  all of it.

1.  kelley's leap of death in '03.  the 'its better in the bahamas' shirt is what really pushed this to number 1.  

and there it is. see how much fun it is to be a youth leader? hopefully after monday i'll have a few more to add. until then, all your prayers are appreciated.  peace!

if i were a hollywood person

i forgot to mention one other thing that i'm reading right now.  its a book that was recommended to me by a coworker and i found in the children's section. it's called 'the graveyard book' by neil gaiman and it is illustrated.  but it's also over a hundred pages long and so i count it as a real novel.  it's REALLY good and i would highly recommend it.  also, as i've read i've been thinking about the movie that they could make from it. not purposefully, it just kind of came up in my head as i was listening to a passenger song called 'four horses' and it just fit the book so perfectly.  you know, the general feeling of the song fit the general feeling of the book. so if i made movies, i would put the two together.  so if you do decide to read the book you should probably also download the passenger cd and listen to it while you read - or at least listen to the four horses song.  more to come on the graveyard book as i continue reading.  

so this is the new year . . .

i'm not really one for new years resolutions, but, in the words of traci taylor "i am into looking at the big picture in the year ahead." and somehow, that makes me feel a lot less cliche.  i think that i just like feeling like its a clean slate.  you know what i'm putting on this clean slate? books. and new music and really good old music. and being more passionate about people and ministry.  and keeping you all updated on things that i'm into that you might get into as well. here's what i've got so far:

- "listening" by anne long.  its a really good book (so far) about listening to ourselves, the Lord, and others.  i've actually owned it for over a year but my husband gave a GREAT talk this past wednesday night that reminded me that i'm called to have relationships that go below the surface.  i think that learning how to listen (which i am definitely not good at) is a pretty good start. i'll keep you updated

-season 1 of the O.C.   yes, i like to be about 8-10 years behind on popular t.v. shows.  i'm finishing the first episdoe right now and i have to admit that i'm intrigued.  also - marisa and summer weren't always as deathly ill looking as they ended up being. 

-passenger's cd "wicked man's rest".  i haven't listened to too much, but what i have heard i really like. i think they might be british. 

more to come . . . 

a christmas post

my favorite christmas present: a new sister-in-law

how many presents i've just straight up thrown away: 1, that i can remember

well, merry Christmas everyone!! this holiday season was a little different than previous ones.  first of all, sam wasn't there b/c he got married (whoop whoop! that gets its own post later on). second of all, Justin was there because we got married (whoop whoop!).  third of all, the magic was gone.  yeah, i said it. i love Christmas, i always have.  i believed in Santa for so long that i'm surprised my parents didn't have a sit down talk with me.  i love Christmas music. i love the chill in the air and the lights on all the houses.  i love  Christmas mugs and hot chocolate and 'mama's hot tea' as caroline hess calls it.  i love Christmas movies and tv specials.  i love waking up early on Christmas morning and seeing my stocking bulging out with socks and candy and useless fun things. i was 24 and still wearing Christmas pajamas to bed on the 24th. i usually love the Christmas season parties and crazy shopping and lines to sit on santa's lap.  i just think that Christmas has the potential to be the most magical, romantic and wonderful time of the year.  this Christmas though, frankly, kind of sucked.

it was just busy. we had something to go to every single night. there was no romantic Christmas movie watching or drinking cocoa by the fire.  there were no late night drives to see lights. in fact, there was barely time for anything.  and then we went home and sam got married and went on a honeymoon and wasn't there when we woke up Christmas morning.  i don't know, its like the last of the magic was gone.  a couple days before santa's big day, however, i realized that yes, it wasn't like before and no, it didn't meet my expectations but the bottom line is that Christmas is really about the reality that our almighty, soveriegn God became a little baby that pooped his pants and THAT is really not very romantic at all. it actually would really suck and THAT means that He must love us a lot.  and that part of Christmas (which, lets face it, should have always been the biggest part anyway) isn't one that is all about feelings as much as its about a rather harsh reality. but a great reality.  so for the last 4 days before Christmas we salvaged in. salvaged the Christmas season by trying to sleep more, read about advent, go on trips to Charleston and just hang out and talk about things.  here's a few pics: 

Me and Justin by the Christmas village at Charleston place:

My mom and dad on the pier. it was really cold.

at the fountain before Justin tried to throw me in. . .

and back home building gingerbread houses out of chocolate. 

amf

a short post:

last week i went to a Christmas party where a dog attempted to hump a two year old.  it was awful. and we couldn't stop laughing.