Psalm 23

connie was cute, but she spoke lies (sorry connie, but there's not really a land over the rainbow). but this little girl is cuter (sorry again, connie) and she speaks truth!!! SURELY you agree!!

passport "services"

so i got married last june. i just sent off for my passport to be updated with my new name a few weeks ago. so i'm slow - sue me. i triple checked that i had everything i needed in the packet when i sent it away certified mail, and i got a confirmation postcard that they received my request and that it would take 4 to 6 weeks to process it. great! hooray! beautiful!! (of course you know a big "but" is coming or i wouldn't be posting about it.)

BUT, last week i got a letter from them saying that they had received my request, and they needed my help to complete my request by sending them a certified copy of my marriage certificate. well, that's nice and all, but i sent the dadgum original. what more do you want people???

so i tried calling them and almost fell asleep listening to the recorded man's voice. there were, like, 15 options, and each option took about 5 minutes to explain. *sigh* i gave up and hung up. then chris tried and hung up much quicker than i did. i said "what happened?" and he said "i got tired of listening to him"...hah! but thanks to a brilliant friend who figured out if we didn't press anything for any reason when calling, that it would send us directly to a human, i got to talk to them. all the girl would say to me was "it says here that they need a certified copy of your marriage certificate" and all i could say was "but i sent the original". it was like a tennis match. and it finally came out that she "doesn't work for the agency..." she just works for the help line. WHAT? the people working for an agency's help line "don't work for the agency"? are you kidding me??? after SEVERAL minutes of talking and trying desperately to not sound rude or angry saying "i don't know what else i can do since you have the original", she finally said that she could put in a request for the agency to call me, but she said "there's no guarantee that they will call me". great.


so i called again today. just for fun. and because i really don't want this to get buried. and i know there's a rush and a high demand for passports recently, but they need to hire more people to get their job done in an acceptable manner. so anyway, i did what nathan did before and just didn't press anything and it went straight to a human (beautiful!) and i got the same answers. this time i all but demanded to speak to someone at the agency, to which i got the response "that's impossible. they do not have a phone number." right, lady. right. so then i asked to speak to a supervisor, to which i received the response "yes, but they won't know any more than me." great. that's encouraging. after holding for about 5 minutes, a supervisor finally got on the phone, and she said the agency isn't accepting phone calls (that's a little more accurate than "the agency doesn't have a phone number") even from them (which just seems wrong!) and she kept saying that "the agency won't accept photo-copies" to which i would respond every time with "but it's the original" and a few minutes later she said "it must have an embossed seal" to which i responded "well, it does". i really feel like i'm arguing with a brick wall. or a teenager. it's fascinating, really. so she assumed the tone of voice as if to reflect "oh, here's the answer. okay good, we're getting off the phone soon" and said "i'll put in a request for the agency to contact you about this" to which i responded "well, they already did that and i haven't heard from them". the lady said it's probably because i don't have a set travel date - they're trying to get everyone squared away that has a set travel date. well then i guess i'll never get squared away until we plan to go to italy. (hmm....) and i will say that i have never been more tempted to bold-faced lie. "oh yes, my travel date is october 20" - which it actually is. we're going on a road trip then..."oh, you meant international travel date?" *sigh*

so i guess i just have to wait around, and until then, we have no proof on paper that we're married. it feels weird, really. and i would send in another copy of my marriage certificate, but i'm too stubborn. it's the principle of the matter! i sent the frickin' original people! if that won't do, i guess i can never go overseas, because it's all the little chattanooga courthouse can give me. the sweet lady on the phone told me so.

connie's got talent

watch this video. and if you don't cry, you have no heart.

hottest. weather. ever.

man it's hot. remember to help each other stay hydrated!

in the hours before noon, the sun is positioned perfectly to heat the doorknob of the door into our building to a blazing billion degrees, and it burns everyone's hand that comes in. no really. it burns hands. i hope we don't get sued for having metal doorknobs....

okay, everyone reply with your best "it's so hot" joke. i'll go first. it's so hot that my breakfast was fried eggs and bacon - cooked on the sidewalk.

i always think of things to write about on this blog, but whenever i actually get here, i always forget them. blah.

OH! (i'm copying this from the ap message board...sue me. i don't want to type it again...) so i was riding in my car yesterday, an incredibly hot afternoon, during my lunch break to buy ribbon - a silly errand that i wondered if i should even be doing. i always listen to moody radio when i'm in the car, and when i turned it on, anita lustria was saying something about "and he has three children, blah blah blah...welcome andrew!" i was mindlessly listening, wondering what today's show would be about. but when he started talking, i said waitaminute....

andrew peterson was interviewed on midday connection yesterday!!!! it's an hour-long interview where they talk about everything, and today it was about nothing but andrew and his music!!! they played songs from the far country (ones i heard: lay me down, little boy heart alive) and slugs, bugs and lulabies!! (piggy little toes and you can always come home) you can listen to it here (i think...i have no idea how things like that work...i'm just so glad i heard it live!)

now remember that i'm a little emotional *lyndsay smirks at that understatement*, but i think it's hilarious that my throat was actually sore from screaming with excitement in my car. and i had to sit in my car, and actually be late coming back from lunch, to listen to the rest and let the tears on my face dry. see, God has touched me SO MUCH with andrew's music that i'm just so excited that others are being introduced to it, too. (that's why i was emotional...) so anyway, HOORAAAAAY!!

you should totally check andrew's stuff out. in the interview (that you can listen to yourself) i learned that veggie tales heard some of "slugs bugs and lulabies" and is going to use one of andrew's songs (you can always come home) in their next movie!!! AND they asked andrew and randall to start writing for them. BAH!! that's amazing. and don't forget that he has a novel coming out in march - the title is a big long...you might want to write this one down - On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness: Adventure. Peril. Lost Jewels. And the Fearsome Toothy Cows of Skree. (The Wingfeather Saga) WAHOO!! it's a children-of-all-ages epic story. i. am. so. excited. it will be available in andrew's store eventually. don't you DARE buy it from amazon. i will hunt you down and make you pay for it again so andrew gets the money he deserves. so there.

in other news, christopher is singing in trevor's wedding this saturday!! every time i hear him practice the song i fall more and more in love with the lyrics. read on:

The love of Christ is rich and free;
Fixed on His own eternally;
Nor earth, nor hell, can it remove;
Long as He lives, His own He'll love.

His loving heart engaged to be
Their everlasting Surety;
'Twas love that took their cause in hand,
And love maintains it to the end.

Chorus: Love cannot from its post withdraw;
Nor death, nor hell, nor sin, nor law,
Can turn the Surety's heart away;
He'll love His own to endless day.

Love has redeemed His sheep with blood;
And love will bring them safe to God;
Love calls them all from death to life;
And love will finish all their strife.

He loves through every changing scene,
Nor aught from Him can Zion wean;
Not all the wanderings of her heart
Can make His love for her depart. (Repeat chorus)

At death, beyond the grave, He'll love;
In endless bliss, His own shall prove
The blazing glory of that love
Which never could from them remove.