3 days left

oh, the anticipation is mounting... only three more days until we are in california!

happy easter

today the church celebrates the most important day of the year: Christs resurrection! the story is amazing, and true.
one of my favorite parts of the story is what happens after he returns. he appears to a couple men on their way home and reveals to them the truth behind everything and how God had been planning it since adams first sin. here it is, as told in luke 24:13-35. man, i wish i could have been there to hear him explain it all!

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.
He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"
They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?"
"What things?" he asked.
"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."
He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

a good friday

this weekend i had a bit of time off of work, so diana and i headed up to grand rapids. it was only a short visit, due to the fact that she had to be back for work on saturday. we headed up thursday night. it was a beautifully sunny day (this plays into the contrast which will be mentioned shortly...). we stopped at my parents place, then met up with aaron, jeffry lee and rex at bw3 for some tasty hot wings. we had a great time talking and laughing! when we got home my mom was still up, so we chatted with her for a while.

friday morning we got up nice and early (well, early for a day off) and diana and my mom went to get their nails done. i killed time at the bookstore. i got a new cd, a book for diana, and a dvd for jills kids. then, we headed over to the greasy spoon to meet up with the rest of the family, including my grandma and aunt! it was fun to see everyone and introduce diana to some of the extended family. afterward we ran a couple errands, then went over to jills to give her a break from the kids. we played with them for the whole afternoon (that dvd i picked up came in pretty handy...). then it was back to mom and dads for dinner where my mom had prepared my favorite: half hour stew!!! after much talk and feasting, we packed up and headed out to bring diana back home. as seems to be the case every time i head home, the weather on the way back was terrible! from the time we had lunch to the time we left for home, there was about three or four inches of show on the ground- snow! what ever happened to spring?!? the trip was long and my windshield wipers were terrible, but eventually we made it. it was a really fun, if short, trip. now its just a countdown to next weekend when i get to go visit adam in california!!!

the scottish king

ive found a new outlet for my love of craig ferguson...

go here.

spring break plans

for spring break jeffry lee, aaron, and i are going to go visit adam! ive been wanting to go and visit him out in l.a. for quite a few years, and this year i decided i had waited long enough! so we are heading out at the end of this month and sticking around for a few days.

im not entirely sure what to expect, other than a ton of fun! the only thing we have planed for certain is going to go see craig ferguson- which i am super pumped about!!!

well, here is a little trip ticker to count down for us:

shoping

saturday i headed over to south bend to stop in on diana at work. my timing is always bad, though. she ended up getting out a half hour early, so i was about to pull in when i get a call from her that she is heading home! argh, just missed her! i let her know how close i am and she heads back (she was only about a mile away, so not too much trouble). we hop in the same car and check out the town. her phone had just broken earlier that day, so we tried to get a replacement. then we headed over to the mall and did a bit of shopping. it must have been a good visit because neither one of us came out with any bags...

we both were getting mighty hungry, so we started looking for a place to eat. we were driving through downtown south bend and i remembered a really cool place i had gone last time we had a teacher convention there. we checked it out, but quickly left again- it was way too busy! i guess an irish pub isnt really a good idea for a nice place to sit and eat on the weekend of st. patricks day!

we ended up going to hacienda, which is always a treat! she had taken me to a hacienda restaurant before, but not this location. it was in a really cool old converted house. after we had gotten our fill, we headed back to her place for a bit, played with the dog, then off i went into that cold indiana night...

monte cristo, please!

the weather sure was amazing on friday! i got home from work and almost put shorts on!

diana was around today, so we went for a walk around the neighborhood. we did a little exploring and ended up getting yelled at by a crotchety old man- we felt like naughty teenagers or something! we walked the rest of the way down the train tracks, a very 'stand by me' sort of feeling.

later that night we met up with ken and kristen for a bite to eat at bennigans. she was a little nervous to meet them, but i told her that there was nothing to worry about (other than kennys scary shaved head). we had a great time! i hadnt really ever spent any large amounts of time around kristen before, but she was a lot of fun! we had originally hoped to do something after dinner, maybe catch a show, but we ran out of time. diana headed home soon after.

sunday i talked with kenny again and we decided that we are going to have to do that again soon!

time with the family

last weekend i headed up to michigan for a short visit. we didnt head up until saturday because my family was on vacation living it up in florida. im not jealous at all. ok, maybe a little... they flew back in town on saturday.

we headed up in the afternoon and met up with aaron, rex, and jeffry lee for lunch. we had a great time once aaron and rex got over their little tiff. it was funny, they were fighting like an old married couple. hilarious!

in the evening we went out to eat with my folks at the beltline bar. we waited over an hour, but we hung out at the bar and had a drink and some chips n salsa, so the wait was easily bearable. diana and i shared a delicious wet burrito and had a great time talking with my mom and dad.

later that night we headed over to tim and jills, after the kids went to bed. we hung out, talked, and played cards all night. we both had a blast- tim and jill are so good at making anyone comfortable.

we had a bit of a scare with my gramma brinks health that weekend. she had pneumonia and wasnt looking too good. usually at 92 pneumonia can be then end, but she seems to have pulled through. we went to go visit her after church and the nurse said that the current tests indicate that there is was no sign of pneumonia in her lungs, and she is improving by the hour. wow! we were quite worried, but God works in amazing ways!

for lunch tim and jill and the kids came over and we got to spend time just playing with the kids! we had an amazing time. after a short nap, it was time to head home. ahhh, what a fun time we had. we both look forward to visiting again soon.

the girl

i figure its time to introduce you to someone very special to me: blog readers, this is diana.

cute, huh?


oh, heres a few more pics

the windy city

this past weekend was another one jam packed with goodness- just like a pop tart! friday night i spent some time cleaning my place up a bit, and then headed over to matts to hang out. we chilled for a while and watched a couple episodes of 'lost', which is always fun. we watched the latest episode that focused on desmond, and i must say, it was by far the greatest episode of lost ever!

on saturday a couple friends and i headed up the the city. we spent the day in downtown chicago. it was a lot of fun. one of them, lissa, loves public transportation (i dont get it either...) so we parked a bit out of town and hopped on the metro el train and took that in. we wandered around millennium park for a while and checked out the big shiny bean. we stopped in many of my favorite places: shoe stores, purse stores, and jewelry stores. i tried my best to pretend to be interested. i think it worked. it was starting to get dark, and we were starting to get hungry, so we walked down to the cheesecake factory for dinner. we had a great time just eating and talking! when we were finished we almost had to be rolled out- those portions are soooo big! lissa decided she was not up for walking back about a mile to hop on the metro back to the car, so instead we got a taxi to take us. strange.

sunday was good too. went to church, then went to sophias. yumm...

camp out

last saturday was such a blast! i drove up to michigan and picked up a friend and we headed over to nicks house for a party. i was a little nervous about it because i had never met any of the people who were going to be there, including nick!

the house itself was quite interesting. its actually a sort of lodge check in place for a camp ground. nicks grandpa (his roommate) owns a big chunk of land that he decided to turn into a camp ground, and the bottom floor of the house is where everyone checks in when they arrive. it was really cool, there was a pool table and lots of room, so we were able to have enough space to play games, music, and chat.
i tried my best to be a bit outgoing, so i was intentional about getting to know the other people at the party. it wasnt too hard because everyone there was very nice and welcoming. we had a great time, and i eagerly await a chance to hang out with those guys again!