bracelets for india

i can't remember if i've posted about this before, but even if i have, it's time for an update. my dear friend and maid-of-honor from my wedding is going to india this summer for four weeks. one of the things that the organization is encouraging the people going to do is get other people involved somehow. prayer and financial support are the obvious two, but they wanted them to get creative. jency's making bracelets!!! but it's so much more than that. this is so cool!!!!

one of the main things they're going to be doing over there (this is kind of heavy - get ready) is sitting with prostitutes in brothels and having tea with them, talking with them, praying with them - whatever the Spirit leads them to do. they're also going to be spending time in orphanages with little girls. (side note: the orphanages were put there as a safe-haven for little girls to live so they wouldn't get sold into the sex slave market...i think.) it amazes me that this actually goes on in the world. the hidden and more-criminal side of the whole thing is the child sex-market. they won't be working with any child slaves b/c the owners of the brothels keep them very well hidden b/c it's so illegal. but it happens - thousands of little girls are sold into sex slavery!! think about a girl you know who is anywhere between 5 and 15, and then imagine them being used as a forced prostitute in a brothel. it's very, very shocking and sobering. if we do nothing else, we should be praying for them - and the brothel owners, really.

whew. so jency had the idea of her friends and people from america making beaded bracelets for the ladies and girls she meets in india. the maker's name will be attached to each bracelet so jency can tell them who made the bracelet for them out of love and that they (the maker of the bracelet) will be praying for them. then the idea is to get a picture of the person or at least get part of their story so that she can then bring the picture or story back to america and let us, the bracelet makers, know who has our bracelet(s) and so that we can pray for them more specifically over the next few months. ISN'T THAT COOL??? i'm so excited.

so these are some awesome pictures of some girls after a little impromptu bracelet making party up at vesper point during the alumni weekend retreat. i loved getting to know some girls i had never met and spending time with old friends! you get to make bracelets to show people that you love them in Christ, and while you're making them, you get to spend time with awesome people! it doesn't get much better than that. God is already doing a lot with this trip to india. i can't wait to hear how He continues to work!!!

AUDREY ELAINE OWEN

here's wonderful pictures of beautiful audrey and the growing owen family!!!

daddy and audrey...
















diaper change - stretch it out, girl!













daddy, grammy, and audrey.

elizabeth, grammy and audrey!

autumn holding audrey, her new baby cousin!!

precious child.

holy smokes!! work those lungs!!!

holding grammy's hand and looking wise.

pirates of the caribbean: at wits end

i absolutely adored the first pirates of the caribbean. i'm not a big movie person in the first place, so for me to actually own a movie means a heck of a lot. and i begged for it on dvd when it came out - that's how much i liked it. the second one was okay...i reeeeaallly liked the ending when barbossa re-appeared and crunched down on the apple! i wasn't really looking forward to the third one too terribly much just because i'm not too big of a fan of big, intense, high-action movies on the big screen lately. they're too big for me or something. i have to get up and go stand in the side aisle so i can move around. (during the new superman, i was literally jumping around...) but chris really wanted to see it, so we went last night. i want to find the people who put their stamp of approval on this film and demand my lost three hours of life back. IT WAS HORRIBLE. not only was the plot was impossible to follow, it was the stupidest one i've ever experienced, the jokes and wit were so old and so overdone that they just made me mad, the script was so poorly written that i literally cried a FEW times out of sheer disgust that money was spent on it, and so on. the only redeeming factors were that the costumes were pretty stinking awesome, the acting was pretty good and the special affects were okay. but with everything else being so stinky, even those things left me yawning and literally fighting off sleep.

i really like kiera knightly, or however you spell her name. i loved her in the first one as an english belle turned psuedo-tough girl. but as a pirate and butt-kicker? i didn't buy it. and her motivational speech was when i cried in pain the hardest. come on!

but enough about the horrible movie. what's even worse than that is that i'm at work today. "what? but it's memorial day!!" yeah. i know. *sigh* [lyndsay takes a deep breath] guess i'll at least make it a good one and get some work done...feel free to drop by and help me file my 6-month old pile of filing....

AUDREY ELAINE!!!

ELIZABETH HAD HER BABY!! IT'S A GIRL!!! i can't believe it. we were up at camp vesper point for the alumni reunion weekend, and i had my phone off b/c it doesn't get service. (or i thought it didn't...) but i turned it on right after the music/right before the speaker started this morning and it said i had a new text message. last night precious little audrey was born!!! she was due june 6, but apparently she came early. mom and baby are doing great. anyway, i read it and started crying and thought it best to leave the room so i could dramatically revel in the beautiful news. once i was outside, i started absolutely bawling!!! HOORAY!!!!!!!!

that's all. now i'm going to sleep. mmm..

SUMMER FEVER!

oh my word, it's getting harder and harder to sit here every day! the weather is breathtakingly beautiful, the students are in exams so they're not even here all day, my bosses keep leaving early to go to various sporting events on campus, birds are singing and teaching their babies how to fly - it's great!!

my new wonderful habit is FINALLY becoming a consistent habit - i use my lunch break to walk/run and then grab quick lunch to eat at my desk. OH! it's great. especially lately. see above paragraph. yes, i'm slightly sweaty and gross afterwards, but i don't care. i read an article that said that if you walk slow for 1 minute and walk fast for 2 minutes, and then repeat that process several times for about 30 minutes, that it produces more fat-burning cells than if you just walk or just run. amazing!! the first time i tried it i decided to run slow for 2 minutes and run fast for 1 minute, and the next day, i could barely walk! so then i decided to forget about minutes b/c it's hard to read my stopwatch while i'm running around anyway, so now i'm walking fast for a half lap and then jogging for a half lap over and over again. it's great!! and so much less boring than just going at the same pace. next week i'm going to try to jog a whole lap, walk a half lap, jog a whole lap, etc...we'll see. i'm not doing this to lose weight, by the way. (if i lost too much, i'd be in trouble...) i'm doing it to be healthy - healthy heart, healthy bones, healthy lungs, etc...i don't want to be a sluggish mom WHEN we have kids WAY in the future. no, i am not pregnant...

in other news, my hair is short again. yes, i'm talking about the deep things in life. i hacked it off so that it barely fits in a ponytail...i think i'm wishing i had let it grow, but what's done is done. it's kind of fun for a change at least.

chiropractor update: i talked to my doctor about not feeling too comfortable with the whole cracking of the neck three times a week and then once a week for the rest of my life thing, and he was like "yeah...don't do that..." and he said i need to get an mri. well, the more i prayed about it, talked to people about it, mulled over it, and realized that, um...well, quite frankly, i have less pain for the first time in THREE YEARS since seeing him ONE TIME, i think, um...well, i think i might go back. i'm going to wait until monday to make the final decision though. oh, but i was scheduled to have an mri today, and i cancelled it. yep. the chiropractor and my doctor both said that even if something showed up on the mri, seeing the chiropractor wouldn't hurt it more. so...we'll see.

in more other news, did you know they now make caffeine free dr pepper?!?!? i'm in heaven. i adore dr pepper, and since not being able to have caffeine (it makes my heart go crazy), i haven't had it in years. but i'm drinking one right now!! lovely!!!

oh yeah! the real reason i'm posting now is to announce that AARON HICKS HAS A BLOG!!! i can't believe it. but what i'm even more astounded at is that HE HAS TWO KIDS!!! wow. michelle had precious little palmer wesley yesterday!! their gorgeous little natalie seems to be doing really well too. he's got a lot of pictures and videos of her up there. i have yet to see the videos since i'm unable to watch them at work and i keep forgetting to watch them at home...so anyway, welcome to the blogging world, mr hicks. keep it real. :)

i must leave. chris and i are going to the fabulous tennessee aquarium again this afternoon. we renewed our membership so we can go as much as we want!!! and we added the feature for $25 extra bucks to be able to take a guest with us for free!! GROOVY!! we went there yesterday with nathan, and as we stood in front of the giant tank in the dim lights, i said "man. we need to do this every day after work". chris just sighed "yeah..." since renewing our membership last week, i think this is our third or fourth time to go. we love it.

happy thursday!!

the latest

SHAVING DAY!!















i tried to convince him to keep the gottee...he didn't like it....














nasty!!!

















sadly, not our cat. it's pepper from next door intently watching the shaving ritual. she is the best!














lovely!
















handsomest!!! :)















and the latest since arriving at work - LOOK! poor little guy. we're gonna get someone to come get him. his name is george!!

help? someone?

so i went to the chiropractor yesterday and the day before. my doctor wanted to get an mri of my neck, but he said if i was willing to go see the chiropractor first. i said yes!! so the day before yesterday he took xrays and talked to me about stuff. yesterday we looked at the xrays and he adjusted my neck. apparently all my problems are in my neck. that's not a picture of my neck, and that's not what my neck looks like. it's just not curved as much as it should be. all the nerves and things that run out of the part of my neck that's having problems leads straight to the shoulders. (if you don't know about my 3-year arm/shoulder pain...well, it's too long a story to tell right now...) so i laid on this table thing in front of, like, 10 other people - which i hated...i wish the adjustment tables were more private - and he cracked my neck like nothing else i've ever heard. yes, i know it's fine. and yes, i know that he didn't break my neck or anything. but i have three words for what i experienced yesterday: i hated it. (sorry jay are...) i mean, the doctor is great. very kind, informative, strong, and stuff. but it's something about the way they approach the whole process. pamphlets and videos that protray the belief that chiropractic is THE ONLY answer to anyone's problems. i felt like they were calling me stupid for not going in before. anyway. i cried...no, bawled the entire way home. i don't know what it is...i just don't like it. i don't feel good about it. i don't want to do it. he wants me to come in three times a week for 12 weeks. chris and i are already the busiest people alive, and we have one car, and he already waits 30 minutes after he's supposed to leave work for me to come pick him up. and my insurance will only pay for 12 visits. *sigh* expensive, uncomfortable, no guarantee that it will work - i just don't know. maybe i'm bitter about everything else in the world that i've tried to fix my arms....maybe it's because i have quite a few people in my life that i respect a lot who say chiropractors are not the answer....i don't know. i don't know if i'm going back or not. i'm going to talk to my doctor about it.

in other news, the househunt is on hold. more on that later!

let the sun shine in!! it's such a gorgeous day today. chris and i are going on date tonight, and i get to wear my new dress that he got me for my birthday!! (well, he got me a gift card, and i picked the dress out...) relaxing friday night, super busy saturday with haircuts, lunch with friends, and graduation parties!!! HOORAY!!!

i must go work!

interesting things as of late

LIFE! it's insane. chris and i are househunting, and it's just a rollercoaster. it'll be like: ugly house...rundown...absolutely no resale value...too far away from everything...too much work...PERFECT! OH WE LOVE IT!! IT'S AMAZING!!!! oh wait, it's selling for $100,000 (yes that IS the correct amount of zeros) MORE than the other houses in the neighborhood. that's a financial nightmare. moving on....too much work...scary neighborhood...WHOA! IT'S MORE PERFECT THAN THE OTHER ONE! IT'S AMAZING!!! oh. you're not really moving out after all? hmph. oh well. i mean, that's a little sarcastic, but not much.

in other news, i read about this kid the other day who had 2 spiders living in his ear. it excites me as we approach another summer with window-unit cooling systems. *sigh* and last night we found this guy crawling around in our BEDROOM. *sigh* *whimper* literally. this isn't the picture i got of him, but he looked exactly like this. he was brown and orange. and about 6 inches long. i'm scared....

in more other news, this makes me groan. mickey mouse is islamic? good grief...what will they do next? and when will the church start praying for real?!

in more uplifting news, remember my posts about the live eagle cam? (ooh, i miss that...)
this might change your life. my favorite part is "People from all over the world are e-mailing us about the cheese. Somebody has written lots of songs about. It has been invited to a wedding. We've had post cards sent to it..." i mean, i enjoyed the eagle cam. but they, um, moved at least every once in a while!!!

God is good. keep reminding yourself of that.