I've had the unique opportunity to watch this event come to life from the beginning. We were in a hotel in Des Moines when Jon's friend, Mike, called with this idea.

In only a month, Mike, along with the help of others that he has listed at The Cobblestone Project, the event will be held tonight. And I will be there to be counted.

I'm excited to go. I'm excited to take the kids.

The guest speaker will be Mark Horvath, who is a former homeless person currently on a road trip interviewing homeless people across America -- giving them a name. He's the founder of InvisiblePeople.tv. Go check out some of his videos and interviews. They're very powerful.

My husband has been in non-profits since graduating from college. Until last year, he worked with troubled kids. Last year, he had the opportunity to become the Executive Director of a homeless center. It has been eye opening for both of us.

Just last weekend, we passed a homeless person on the corner of the interstate exit. Off the cuff, I asked Jon if he knew the man. Jon nodded, "Yep, he's a regular."

For the first time in my life, homelessness DOES have a name.

Does it for you?

I urge you, if you're able: Stand Up and Be Counted!

Or at least check out:
The Cobblestone Project / 1,287
InvisiblePeople.tv
Mark Horvath's Blog
and think about ways that you can make a difference in your community.

One of the blogs I discovered when we were church searching was Kelly's Korner, and I like to go back weekly (or sometimes more often) to check on her beautiful family and be inspired by her words. I know that I recently posted about my wedding and anniversary, but today she's hosting a "Show Us Your Life" blog hop with "Wedding Dress" as the theme, so I thought I'd play along.

Like Kelly, when I was married, there really were no digital photos to be had. I really got addicted to digital scrapping when Amara was born, but had never gotten around to doing anything with our wedding photos. Last summer, with our 10th Anniversary approaching, I decided I needed to change all that! So I scanned in my wedding photos and created an album for us to have as a permanent keepsake. Not that the photos aren't permanent, but it's fun to have them in a book. I even shared my scrapbook journey and provided free templates to other digital scrappers who were having the same dilemma: the need to scrap their wedding photos! It was such a fun journey, and I met lots of wonderful people through the sharing of templates. Now if only I still had time to do so much scrapping! Good thing I took on my project when I did, because it wouldn't have been completed had I waited to do it for our 11th Anniversary, which we just celebrated in June.

So... now onto the dress... (I've edited out my full name and details, hence some of the blur.)

I can't believe it, but I really didn't take the traditional "solo bride" photos. I had a whopping ONE photograph of me alone. ONE! That just doesn't happen. I never had bridal portraits done or anything -- it's just not a common thing to do in the north, I don't think. Or at least not where I was from. Or maybe just not for me? I tend to be oblivious to things like that! :)

I got my dress at Jean's Bridal in Wilmot, SD. It's a tiny little town of about 515 people...total. Yes, that's five HUNDRED and fifteen. However, this tiny little town draws brides from all over the place -- SD, MN, ND, IA, and from much farther than that as well. When I first tried on the dress, I loved it from the front, but it had the biggest, most hideous "butt bow" that I've ever seen. I immediately told my Mom, "No, absolutely not!" and began to take it off. She slowed me down and gathered the bow, then asked, "How about now? It's easy enough to take off the bow (yes, she's a seamstress)." Perfect. Loved it!

I wish you could see the train better -- it was so pretty. It has scalloped edges and cut outs with lace and beads. I thought for sure I wanted simple with no lace and beads -- I hate lace and beads! :) But the simplicity of the skirt and the cut of the dress was just "me" -- that for this one day, I could be "girly" and go with the lace and beads. They were subtle. :)



I wasn't a fan of veils in general, and really only wanted it for tradition. As soon as the wedding was over, I took the veil off and just wore the beaded crown. It was a pattern that looked almost braided. While I loved it that day (which is what really matters), my hair/veil are probably the biggest thing I'd change if I were to marry Jon all over again tomorrow. The dress, believe it or not, I still love, and I'd still opt for a similar style. Again, you can't see the veil/crown too well in this photo. But I love the photo! :)



This is my favorite photo from our wedding. My Grandpa has this awesome cherry red classic Chevy. He was our chauffer for the wedding to the reception. When the wedding was done and we were greeting our guests, he went to pick up his car, which was stored at a friends' house who lived close to the church (he didn't want to risk it getting "decorated" -- and for good reason!). He also changed into a tux complete with black top hat and cane, and he rolled out a little red carpet for us. It was so sweet! Obviously it's Jon and I in the car, but it's my Grandma and Grandpa behind the car. We've been blessed by many generations of strong, longlasting marriages built with God as the foundation, and this photo, to me, just speaks to that legacy.

Last night while getting ready for bed, Amara said, "What the halibut?"

I stopped in my tracks. I asked her where she heard that. You see, I didn't hear "halibut" -- I heard the crude phrase "halibut" replaced.

She informed me that Oscar (the fish) says it in the movie (Shark Tale). Only then, did I realize she had said "halibut" instead of the other option.

I then had to go into a long explanation of why we shouldn't say things, sometimes movies do say things we shouldn't, etc., etc., etc. Not the type of conversation that I'd like to get into at bedtime, but necessary all the same.

Then I got to thinking how perturbed I was at the movie "Shark Tale" for throwing the unnecessary pun into the movie. And I began recounting the number of kids' movies that have very adult humor or situations in them.

I think it was back in 2001 when there were two animated movies released at nearly the same time: "Monsters, Inc." and "Shrek." I saw both of them. I didn't have kids yet at that point. I thought "Monsters, Inc." was so creative and fun. My husband thought so, too. I left "Shrek" appalled at the idea that this was being marketed as a kids movie. I didn't think it appropriate for kids at all!

Now of course, I'm just one person, and I won't let my kids watch "SpongeBob" either....

I definitely understand the desire and motivation behind making a kids' movie fun for adults to watch, too. And I admire those movies that can pull it off. But not many are able to without resorting to crude language or inferences.

Even Dominic's beloved "Cars" has a line in it that makes me cringe every time. I forget exactly how it goes, but it revolves around the word "piston" if memory serves.

Why!?

There are other ways to make adults laugh. And part of the enjoyment of the movie is watching it with your kids and seeing THEIR enjoyment. The adult humor, situations, and language don't enhance the movie -- and there are more creative ways to slip in adult humor than resorting to crass phrases camouflaged as puns.

But perhaps I stand alone on this one. Or at least my husband and I do!

I wish I had a photo.

Truly.

We had our Class of 94 girls weekend this past weekend at Lewis and Clark Reservoir. The girls have been doing it for 9 years, but this is the first year I've been able to make it. My high school friends are wonderful people who literally make up my earliest memories. I've known most of them since Kindergarten or earlier! They mean the world to me, despite the miles between us and the months between visits.

This weekend our cabin's grill was on the fritz. The gas worked, but the ignitor wouldn't. Our old grill was like that -- the ignitor completely dead -- so I volunteered to start the grill, sans ignitor.

You know where this is going, don't you...

I walked out to the grill, and the gas smell was so strong. We turned it off to let it dissipate. I checked all the connections, but everything looked fine. Then I went inside to find something to serve as a long match. I decided upon a folded flat, used-up paper towel roll. Then I had to find someone with a lighter. All this took about 5 minutes. I thought that was probably long enough for the gas to dissipate.

So Joan and I approached the grill. Unfortunately out of order, I turned on the grill, then lit the end of the papert towel roll (which didn't light as easily as I had anticipated).

I slowly put the paper towel roll into the grill.

Suddenly: whoosh!!!

Followed immediately with: sssssssss.

I'm sure in the ball of flame I closed my eyes, but quickly opened them WIDE searching out just how much of my hair was on fire.

Thankfully nothing as actually aflame.

But I did singe a nice chunk of my hair on the left side of my head, my right eyebrow, and the baby hairs on my hairline.

Yikes!!! (Again, thankfully none of it's noticable - the the smell is still with me a couple days later).

Realizing that I'm OK (as confirmed by a very concerned Joan), I grinned as a plan unfolded in my mind. I quickly moved out of sight from the rest of the girls in the house. I ratted my hair up just as high as it could go. Then I took the soot from the paper towel roll and dabbed it all over my face. Joan and I were laughing so hard I was crying.

Then I went inside, tears of laughter actually looking like tears of hysteria. With my hair a mess and soot all over my face, I said, "Oh my gosh, you guys! Did you see that?!"

My friends had looks of horror on their faces. Leah came running over and shook my shoulders saying, "I told you not to do it!!! I told you!!!" Bridget looked a little bit sick and speechless. She kept saying, "Are you serious? Did that really happen? Are you OK?" Tears were in her eyes.

I kept telling them that yes, the grill blew up in my face...which it did. The horror on their faces continued.

Finally I broke down and told them the truth, that while the grill DID blow up on me, ither than a couple singed places, I was completely fine and unharmed.

I got 'em good!!! Ha ha ha!!!

I've been SO bad about keeping up with my blogs. In an attempt to streamline and do a better job of preserving the kids' childhood (since I'm so far behind in scrapbooking), as well as capture their funny antics, I'm going to attempt to make my OTHER blog (The Adventures of Amara & Dominic) more of a "week in review" type thing, rather than random posts as they occur.

As for this blog... it may get more neglected. It will probably be more of just general thoughts. Inspirations from Bible Study. Observations about the world. Who knows. I started blogging to preserve the KIDS' events though, not my thoughts, so like I said -- this blog will probably get neglected. Who knows if I'll be able to stick to my own assigned schedule, but I'll try.

Here's the ONLY time I'll duplicate what's on my other blog on this one -- and a sneak peek of what you'll see if you go over there instead (which is fine).

Last week was a very eventful week. Busy and hectic, but all wonderful.