Tuesday, August 11, 2009

China




Just posting a few pics about the China trip. Be praying for me as I have been asked to consider going back again next year. Of course it is God's call, but at the moment I am not clear on that response yet. In some ways, it is such an amazing trip and in other ways it is such a hard trip (not that I want to shy away from anything for being hard -just check out my installed attic fan for proof). Thanks so much for the CG support of this trip.

Monday, August 3, 2009

IT

So... what are your thoughts on IT? Here are mine:

1. It could be very exciting - I'm looking forward to hearing more about it, since there wasn't as much detail as I would have liked.
2. There's a part of me that's cynical, since I've seen Southland go through strategy changes about as often as product generations at a certain company I know of.
3. What makes me the saddest though is that after all the hype and the comments, I was expecting something Lexington-wide. Something that included all the churches in Lexington and allowed us all to work together to change our community. After the message from the stage this weekend, I'm still not seeing a willingness to do anything like that. This is a Southland thing and only a Southland thing, and that makes me sad. What's the challenge to the community at large?

Those are my 2 cents so far, but am still ruminating. What are your thoughts?

B

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Next CG, July 17th

This is an early notice of the CG meeting on July 17th at 8 pm at Gabe and Kristin’s house to give everyone the information from the workbook that will be covered during this CG meeting. We will be discussing Chapter 1 of “When the Enemy Strikes” by Charles Stanley. (You can get used copies of this book on Amazon.com for about 5 dollars, and that includes shipping! Also, I believe Robert has one or two extra). Robert will be leading from the workbook that goes with this book (which you can also pick up from Amazon, or follow along from the email handout).

Monday, June 22, 2009

Hey, I know those people....

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/2009906220324

This article was in today's edition of the Courier-Journal. Lori and Bill Housworth are doctors that were in my singles group when I first started attending Springdale Community Church. They are very cool people who are now living in Cambodia. They have three children, two of which they adopted from Russia. They went to Russia to adopt one child. While there they found out he had a twin sister. After verifying the DNA test and everything, they came home with two babies.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Summer events

Here are the upcoming summer plans, so you can mark your calendars. First off, we will be finishing our video series this Friday, June 3rd, at 8:00 at Ross and Rachel’s house. (Same drill –friends are welcome, snacks are a great thing, arrive early for social time).

June 19th CG will be a games night event at Rod and Bethany’s house –details to follow closer to the event

July 3rd will be our annual CG holiday potluck at Ross and Rachel’s; Also, a group will be attending fireworks in Woodford Co with the Lexington Philharmonic on July 4th and anyone is welcome to join us.

July 17th CG will be hosted at Gabe and Kristin’s house. We will begin our new study. Our plan is to try a book study, When the Enemy Strikes, by Charles Stanley.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Memorial Day Events

Here are the highlights for this upcoming weekend. We will be having our regularly scheduled CG event on Friday evening at Ross and Rachel’s. We are in our final two sessions of the video series on the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Ideally, group will begin at 8, so feel free to arrive by 7:45 for some socializing prior to the lesson. Snacks and drinks are often well received. Friends, neighbors, coworkers, and other guests are welcome.

In other news, this Sunday, May 24, Judy & Jackie are going to see the new "Night at the Museum" movie at 2:50 at Fayette Mall. If you are interested in joining them, please be in the lobby at 2:40.

And finally, the Big Don Memorial Day festivities (pot luck) are again set to happen Monday from 2-10 out at Big Don’s place. (See attachment for details and directions). Bring your comfy lawn chair and come on out for a full fun day of good eats and conversation, volleyball, basketball, badminton, croquet, soccer, mini bon fire, and music! Don will provide paper and plastic products. The rest is up to you. So, please bring a dish to share, your meat to grill, drink, etc., Gas grill, microwave, etc. Children are always welcomed, but sorry No accommodations for pets.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Opening day at Keeneland

Several of us are planning to attend Opening Day at Keeneland on Friday, April 3rd. The plan is to meet somewhere for lunch (likely the Panera at Palomar, but that isn't confirmed) and then spend the afternoon at the track. (Passing this on for those who may want to take a half-personal day to be able to join us). Email me if you plan to attend.
Nancy

Monday, March 9, 2009

Praise Report

As many of you know, my brother, Mark, has been estranged from my family for about the last five and a half years. Yesterday, he and our mother had their first phone conversation. Our God is so awesome.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The "Needs" game

This was too fun!

INSTRUCTIONS1. Go to Google.com2. Including the quotation marks, type "[YOUR NAME] needs" (in my case, it's "Nancy needs")3. Take the top 10 results and post them (you have to read thru result for the answer-it may be buried a bit in the first few sentences...but it will be there.4. Laugh.
1. Nancy needs to learn what the moon is
2. Nancy needs jail time
3. Nancy needs to wolf down a 3000 calorie dessert
4. Nancy needs prayer
5. Nancy needs a vacation
6. Nancy needs to ask Palin's advice on cleaning
7. Nancy needs your help
8. Nancy needs to be punished on Yahoo
9. Nancy needs to date
10. Nancy needs a sharp sense of humor

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Scott's house drama continues

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> NEWS FLASH <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

WATER HEATER FAILS AT CRITICAL JUNCTURE AT "NEW" FORECLOSURE HOME; UPON FURTHER INVESTIGATION, WATER TANK DRIPPING WITH RUSTY CONDENSATE

HOT TUB ANYTHING BUT

SCOTT GARD QUOTED AS:

"THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE WAS WRETCHEDLY COLD AND GENERALLY DISAPPOINTING. I FELT LIKE I HAD FALLEN OVERBOARD IN THE CRASHING, CHILLY ATLANTIC. MY TEETH CHATTERED AND I KEPT EXPECTING TO SEE LEONARDO DI CAPRIO ROW BY IN A LIFEBOAT. WHOSE DUMB IDEA WAS IT TO INSTALL THIS THING, ANYWAY ? IT'S JUST BIG ENOUGH TO FIT ONE PERSON AND EVEN THEN NOT COMFORTABLY. I CAN SEE IT AS GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE AMONG AN OTHERWISE HAPPILY MARRIED COUPLE. DOUBLE DUH."

sg

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

CG-Friday, Superbowl Sunday

This is your weekly reminder of our upcoming events. Assuming no lost power lines between now and Friday, we will be having our regular CG meeting this Friday at Ross and Rachel’s house. We will be watching the 2nd video on the series and going through the discussion questions. As before, please try to arrive by 8, so that we can start the video by 8:30. Friends are welcome, snacks are enjoyed!

Sunday, the Knowles will be hosting a Superbowl party on their ginormous TV, starting at 6. Kristin and Rachel are making two different kinds of soup. The rest of us can bring appetizers, snacks and drinks

Monday, January 26, 2009

Scott's fiasco

With Scott's permission, I am posting a shortened (HAHA) version of his recent life fiasco.

So, I wake up yesterday ( Saturday ) about 0830. The day was going to be a moderately momentous one, as I have moved into a foreclosed home from which the previous owners had taken upon themselves to abscond with the major home appliances ( dishwasher, refrigerator, and range ), and I therefore had scheduled to arrive: two of the three replacements, a range and a low priced dishwasher.

The phone rang at approximately 0900 to alert me that the deliverymen wished to move up delivery from 11:00 am to 0930. I was a bit surprised, but pleasantly so, as that would leave me the rest of the day, post-delivery and installation, to do some of the various and sundry things one must accomplish shortly after moving, like unpacking. At approximately 0910 I stepped out into the garage through my kitchen door, for the purpose of clearing a path for the deliverymen through the cardboard debris of the move, which had cluttered my garage.

As I stepped into the garage, the door closed behind me.

LOCKED.

I had no key in my pocket. No cell phone. No car keys. No jacket. Just unshaven me, a sweat shirt, shoes, socks, black jeans and a baseball cap for my unshowered Saturday morning hairdo.

And much much sinking feeling.

I saw my ladder and thought that MAYBE I had left the back door unlocked that morning, since my back porch ( 2nd story ) has been serving as my freezer, while my garage has been serving as my refrigerator.

I quickly scurried around to the back of the house with the folding wooden ladder.

From the top step, I could BARELY grab the BOTTOM of the 2nd story porch.

I reach upwards and grab the bottom 2x4 of the porch. It flexes. A little.

I wondered from my days of thumbing through "Marks Handbook for Mechanical Engineers" as a young engineer, what the stress load capabilities are for a 2x4 wooden treated lumber board, nailed at both ends with standard zinc galvanized carpentry nails. And alas I come up a mental blank. Somewhere Sir Alec Guinness convincingly says, "Trust the engineers, Scott".

I see the limitations of my aging, declining vertical lift upper body strength are going to prevail in preventing me from magically hurling, Ninja-like, in double forward flip "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" fashion, up from the ladder and over the railing of the porch some 5 feet over my head, landing cat-like on my feet, Samurai sword drawn....

So, I start reaching up and ripping the 1x1 side support slats off the porch with my bare hands.

Prying off the two vertical slats ( and let me just say all that nonsense about shots of adrenaline coursing through your veins in time of urgency giving you superhuman abilities, is to my limited experience in this particular incident, just that - nonsense ), I leapt with both arms clinging to that magic 2x4. Precariously, I popped one leg through the widest gap I had just made by pulling off the cheap vertical slats ( which were bowed, held with rusty nails, and in a sun aged need of woodstain, let me add ).

As you probably have guessed, the instant I looked at the door knob after scrambling to my feet, I knew beyond a shadow of a predestined doubt, it was a foregone conclusion that the knob was locked, locked, locked, and the dead bolt was equally so, and I may as well have been trying to open the vault door at Fort Knox as to assume that I could get the door open with anything less than supernatural powers or high explosives. Regardless, my right hand and arm moved forward, with childlike against-all-odds naivete', to attempt to open that door. Which of course would not budge, neither for love nor money.

In this instant the sound of a heavy delivery trucks brakes could be heard in front of my house, the Best Buy Boys had arrived with my two expensive kitchen goodies.

What to do. I peered over the railing and saw the ladder, the top "NEVER STEP HERE" step of which was very very quite infinitely smallish and oh so far away, and in this lonely, silent cold winter day, a quiet, chill breeze blew....

I scrambled around to the front of the house, out of breath. The delivery guy looked a little suspicious ( I wonder whatever for ?). Me in my dirty black jeans and dark blue Webasto sweatshirt, matted hair poking out from under the hat, face with 5 o'clock shadow included, looking every bit the hotly pursued perp from the soundstage back lot 1-B of some TV cop show's central casting dept.

Gasping, no doubt red faced, I explained my situation. He gradually came to see that this was only moderately weird, and therefore had to be true, and he even tried to jimmy the door open with a plastic credit card.

Nothing doing.

He finally concluded the best thing to do was to help me get a locksmith to the place as quickly as possible. Long story here, but no help was going to come through this avenue.

Eventually I swallowed my pride and walked across the street, to introduce myself to my new neighbor..."Hi, I'm Scott. I'm a high maintenance incompetent boob with no common sense and obviously poor personal hygiene. I've locked myself out of my house. You'll be seeing a lot of me. Sorry about your misfortune for now being my neighbor." I then excused myself from his precious family quality time with the kids, gathered up the very miniscule amount of what was left of my dignity and self worth, and walked up to see my OTHER new neighbor, who had introduced himself the day I moved in. Let's spread the good cheer far and wide !

My other neighbor proved equally gracious and allowed me to use his phone, phone book, and sit for a few minutes watching an old western on TV. I got hold of my realtor. She called her husband to get the name of the locksmith. I waited. I heard back from her and took down the number. I called. The number had been disconnected. Great. Hope he's not some "fly by night", in jail for breaking and entering. Then again, if he IS the type to break and enter, I hope he IS in jail...

Finally, B&D Locksmiths show up, 45 minutes later.

The doors pop open after a bit of jiggling them. Okay, a LOT of jiggling them.

Happiness and joy, warmth and central air. Nice. Epecially for cold ears and fingers.

Relief, that greatest of all human emotion.

I pay the nice man $60 and he goes on his way.

And as I ponder this, alone, I decide to step out into the garage, to strategize how I will get my shiny new appliances into my home. Whilst pondering, I decide to walk out to my mailbox to check for mail.

Hmm. No mail.

Returning to my garage from the mailbox, I realize the LOCKED door has closed behind me.

Again.

I have no keys in my pocket, no cell phone, no wallet, no nothing.

Deja vu, all over again.

In frustration, yelling "NOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!" to an unfair, coldly unfeeling universe, I pound on the door with the open palms of my hands, slapping the door. Once.

Gently, it swings open.

And if doors could talk, this one would say,

"Psych. Gotcha."

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Can someone explain this?

While exiting our house last Saturday, this appeared:

I don't know if it grew there, landed there, or was placed there, but expect to see "My Old Kentucky Gnome" (Thanks Scott) in a front yard near you sometime soon!

Gabe

Micro Monkeys and Chocolate Hills


Greetings Friends!  I'm in the Philippines missing my family, so I thought I put up a blog post to pass the time (and make good use of my $20 internet charge!).  I got here on Wednesday January 7th after the 34 hour travel experience which includes a quick night in Hong Kong.


Thursday evening I sought out this one-of-a-kind ride.  Along the top edge of a 38 story building, there is a track that overhangs the edge.  These two-person cars tilt forward 30+ degrees giving you a great view straight down the side of the building.  Considering this building is the tallest in Cebu, the experience is impressive.  The lack of any shoulder restraints heightens the experience, but there are no thrills otherwise, just an uncomfortable lap bar.  I did it but won;t be going back anytime soon.


On Saturday, I went to Bohol Island, home of the smallest monkeys in the world (Note that a smaller monkey reportedly does exist).  These cute Tarsiers fit in the palm of your hand.  Touching them has been largely outlawed, so we were only able to take photographs.  In Bohol, we also took a dinner cruise on a river that looked right out of a Disney Movie.  It was like a real Jungle Cruise!  No elephants however.  We saw a bee farm, some colonial churches, beaches, and other parts of the island.












The most striking part of Bohol were the Chocolate Mountains.  Thousands of these mounds dot the center of the island, rising above rice paddies below.  The airplane is not real!  I got two of them for Nick and Nate.  I wanted something to include in photos from famous and exotic locations around the world.  If you have heard of flat stanley, they are the same concept.  So if you are travelling somewhere other than Morehead or Richmond, please consider taking them along and including them in photo!


Pasta la Pizza, baby

Gabe

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Random Pictures and Thoughts




I am doing this while watching the Biggest Loser so if there are typos I apologize! This is a picture of Riley the Helpful attempting to help me stamp. Riley thinks she can help do the laundry, empty the dishwasher and make beds. It is quite comical. Too bad she doesn't have opposable thumbs.








Cinnamon, on the other hand, could care less about helping anyone do anything other than share their carbohydrate foods (crackers, chips, cookies, pie crusts, etc.). She is basically a feline sloth. But very sweet. I'm informally doing this project where you take one picture every day. This was today's picture. It was too rainy and dark today to take anything good outside so Cinnamon had to be it.





I hope all my CG friends had a great Christmas and New Year's and I'm very much looking forward to our next meeting.