Thanksgiving in Florida

University of Florida only gets the day of Thanksgiving and the day after off of school so we didn't feel like we had time to go to any celebrations up North.  While I enjoy cooking, I must admit making a whole Thanksgiving meal for just the two of us seemed a little over the top!  Chris and I considered going to a buffet for Thanksgiving, but were then invited to my adviser's home to celebrate with her family and some other graduate students.  I was a little apprehensive about being in such close contact with my adviser but curious at the same time.  We found out that almost all of the graduate students I knew in the department were coming as well.  I was really looking forward to meeting my adviser's little girl, I've heard lots of stories of how cute and conversational she is.

Before going to my adviser's house we decided to try watching a movie on Thanksgiving day.  We went to see Tangled and had such a good time that I think it will now be a tradition for us!  There weren't many people at all in the theater even though the movie had just released, it was great to be able to sit wherever we wanted even though we weren't very early!  I also highly recommend Tangled by the way, it was lots of fun and high energy, we will probably buy it when it comes out, quite a rarity for us!

We had a nice evening and an amazing meal!  There was turkey (a staple), standing rib roast (!), green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberry salad and lots of other dishes!  Apparently they usually have standing rib roast at Christmas, but since Mercy is due so close to Christmas she was worried she wouldn't be able to enjoy it then.  In addition to all of the staples we also had potato salad (a new one for me), and something like potstickers that Mercy's Mom made for an appetizer.

Mercy's daughter, Lilly, was a doll and absolutely loved having people over to her house!  As soon as we got there she wanted us to come play with her on her play set, we swung, climbed and slid until I was ready for a drink.  By that time more guests had arrived so she proceeded to coerce them into playing as well!  It was interesting to have a glimpse into my adviser;s home life and nice to see my office mates outside of school.  I must say it was strange to be able to sit out on the deck in 80*F weather while waiting for dinner to finish!  Don't get me wrong, it was nice, but very strange when I'm used to the possibility of snow Thanksgiving day!

The day after Thanksgiving I headed to Publix thinking they would have their turkeys on sale... apparently Publix doesn't do that.  I got us a turkey anyway because one of Chris' favorite parts of Thanksgiving is leftover turkey sandwiches!  I remembered to thaw the turkey BEFORE cooking it this year and we had turkey to eat for weeks!  We made leftover turkey sandwiches, turkey pot pie, turkey noodle soup and turkey with all kinds of sides!  I am so tired of turkey that I don't want any for Christmas!

Ultimately, our favorite part of Thanksgiving this year was being able to stay home and rest together over the long weekend.

Our silly Kitty...

We get so much enjoyment out of our silly kitty and though you might enjoy her too!

Pandora did NOT want her nails trimmed...

Gutting a ball of yarn I was done with...

Sleepy... on my Crocheting!

So sleepy...

comfy...

more comfy...

opps had an itch...

Most comfy!

 

What to do with Halloween?

Obviously, this is way late but it was a good discussion Chris and I had around Halloween.  What should we as Christian families do with Halloween?  Both Chris and I have had lots of variations on Halloween, from decorating the house and going all out, to hiding in the house and pretending like it wasn't happening and all in between, including hayrides, church 'harvest parties', and trying Reformation Day instead of Halloween.

The conversation came up after visiting a 'Trunk or Treat' at Chris' Tae-Kwon-Do school with some friends from church who have two small children.  Parents came and decorated their trunks and had the kids trick-or-treat around the parking lot.  It was a fun idea, and some of the trunks were really neat, one was festively Mexican in a Day of the Dead theme  (not as creepy as it sounds, they are honoring their dead ancestors), but several others were disturbingly scary.   Now I know I'm easily scared but I really would not my small children waling around a place like that, if they are anything like me they would have nightmares for weeks!  This is what set our conversation off.

We first tried to justify Halloween as fun for kids because they get to dress up and get candy, but as we reflected on the Trunk or Treat we had to think further about what it meant in the world around us, not just its meaning to Chris and I.  As we looked at it the darker the holiday became.  This holiday, on the whole, glorifies fear, abnormality and perverse imaginations.  I know it sounds like a harsh statement about a day where children dress up as bunnies and cowboys, but look a little closer and you will see where this statement comes from.  The origins of wearing costumes for Halloween came from a Druid tradition of disguising themselves from harmful spirits that had more than usual influence over the physical world.  It is during this time of year that the most horrible and twisted movies of all make their debut, fearful imaginations run wild form these movies and incite fear by twisting the everyday into unrecognizable forms.  Many recognize this as a major holiday for Satanic worshipers and Wiccans.  It has become an excuse for young women all across the nation to dress more provocatively than they would any other day of the year.  While the plea for innocent dress-up and imagination may hold for a little while, what do we dress our children up as they get older?  Many children, and I know I was included, dressed as a witch or 'something scary' at least once.  Should we be playing at something the Bible directly forbids us to do in real life (i.e. witchcraft or divining)?  Don't get me wrong, I loved dressing up as a child and still like costumes, but I think we need a better outlet for this than Halloween.

So after much discussion Chris and I decided that Halloween as it is known won't be celebrated in our house.  We might celebrate Reformation day (directly following Halloween when all the candy is on sale!  Reformers liked candy too, right?), and we will definitely dress up, maybe even officially at a re-enactment, but we won't be joining the world in this particular tradition.  We don't make this decision lightly, and we don't condemn those who chose a different path, but we feel it would be inconsistent with everything else we hope to teach our children to just go along with a tradition we have questions and serious concerns about.... but I know I will still feel the urge to dress up our little children, so please don't look at me too funny if you come over and a little one is dressed up as a duck, dragon or banana!  Well, that's one holiday down, now if only what to do about Santa sounded as clear!

DISNEY!!!

Chris and Kirk waiting for the boat to take us to the park!

We had a huge blessing shortly after my birthday, we found out our good friend Kirk was coming to Orlando to visit Disney with his grandparents!  Orlando is only a couple hours away from us so we were looking forward to going and getting dinner with him and his family!  Four days before we were to go and see him he told us that if we could be there for at least five hours his Dad would pay for our tickets to Disney!!!  I had an exam in Biochemistry that morning so I got up and took it as early as I could and then we were off!  Kirk was a wonderful host and knew all the in's and out's of the park along with a lot of its history.  It was fun to meet his grandparents, especially hid grandma who had a big hand in raising him.

Belle and the beast in plant form.

I haven't been to Disney in a long time so I was worried that I wouldn't enjoy it as much as when I was little, but they work hard to make it fun for everyone who goes and we were there on a perfect day, it was gorgeous outside and not very busy.  We only had one line to wait in and it was only a few minutes.  The whole place was well laid out, amazingly landscaped and impeccably clean. One of the neatest things was trying different sodas from around the world, I liked the watermelon soda from China! It made me giggle every time someone working there wishing me a "Magical Day" though!!!

I always liked these formal gardens...

Trying to be vikings after the Norway ride...

Donald!!!

Kirk's grandma kept trying to run over him!

"The Earth" had tons of hydroponic plants.

Lettuce growing hydroponically.

TOMATO TREE!!!

Herbs in spiral hydroponics!

I got vertigo on the ride here...

Chris as R2D2 Mickey!

Kermit Mickey was too fun to pass a picture up with!

Nemo with Flat Patty (Flat Stanley's cousin)

The big Epcot Ball!  It was pretty @ night!

Fun Brithday Happenings!

All gussyed up for our date!

So my last post was about the serious part of getting older, this one is about the fun part!  Chris was amazingly patient and took me shopping with the money I had received for my birthday.  We had fun looking for good deals and people watching.  The next week we tried a new sushi place for my Birthday Lunch, it was a hit and I finally found a restaurant in Gainesville that makes a simple, non-seafood udon soup!  Below are the pictures from our yummy outing!

Good Sushi, Cold Restaurant!

My pretty plate of sushi! The red is shredded beets!

Chris' pretty sushi!

Watch out Sushi, Here comes Ninja Chris!

I am now a Quarter of a Century Old!

As of November 5th I am officially 25 years old!  It is really strange to think about that, and even stranger to think how close 25 is to 30!  When I was a kid (like 8 or 9?) that was one of the first times I thought about what 'old' was, and at that time I thought 30.  Shortly there after my 'old' changed to more like 65ish, but for a time I couldn't imagine being 30!  

I am not afraid of death (in fact I somewhat look forward to death because death means being with Jesus, in heaven and reunion with loved ones), so getting older doesn't scare me; I'm not afraid of or embarrassed by 'old people', thanks to some amazing grandparents and the example of my parents I know there is still great purpose for the older generation and I will not become obsolete as I age. Because of the above mentioned people I also know you don't become less beautiful as you age, wrinkles and gray hair are part of living life to the fullest, part of worrying over loved ones, giving your best and lots of smiles, because of that I am not ashamed of the tiny signs of age that are becoming visible in myself (though I know most don't see them).  

What I am worried about as I reach this mile marker of an age is how little time it seems I have left and how much yet I want to do.  I know that by God's grace I still have many years ahead of me, but there's a lot I want to do in that time and I get anxious thinking about how to get it all done.  I want to be a Mom, and in spite of many peoples reassurances that I have plenty of time for that I already feel behind (my 'plan', yes I know God's laughing, was to get married by 22 and start having babies at 24... that's not what's happening!), and the more I've contemplated that particular plan the bigger the number of children I want gets!  I want to homeschool those children, I know there are possibly some schools that I might consider sending them to, but deep down I want to be the one teaching them and choosing their curriculum.  Don't get me started on the books I want to read and the places I want to see/spend time at.  I want to get out of debt and stay that way as best as possible... and save up enough money to leave our kids so they might not have as much need for debt. I want to grow as much of our own food as I can, and maybe even market some at a farmer's market someday.  I want to educate other people along the way, about where their food comes from and about the Creator who dreamed it all up in the first place.  I want to scrapbook, sew, learn to knit, learn to make a souffle, raise some orchids, walk the Highline again, ride my horse, continue to deepen my relationship with my husband and many, many more things!  How does one fit a full life into 75-80 short years?

My answer thus far is to redeem the time as much as possible, of course I will never accomplish all I desire to do but that doesn't mean I stop trying.  Another answer that came as I was thinking about this was to do everything to the glory of the Lord.  I know as Christians we hear this often and feel weighed down by it, but we miss the benefit of such a choice when we focus on that.  During the days when I was struggling with being in Florida I tried working as though I was doing my tasks for the Lord rather than for UF.  Those times my work was higher quality, I got done faster and then had time to do more leisurely things, or at least non-school things.  These fears of not having enough time reinforce the observation made by C.S. Lewis, that we were not made for this world, our hearts long for more permanent place, a place just like heaven, where we have time eternal and all that is good does not fade away.  My final consolation for my fears about the short time we are given is that once in heaven we have all eternity to learn and grow closer to the Lord, and it is my personal conviction that that includes learning about His creation and the wonderful ways He provided for us in the past!    

Ultimate lesson from this birthday? 

"See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." ~Ephesian 5:15-16

Flowers!

Way late update but here are the last batch of flowers my wonderful hubby got me around my birthday!  They were so bright and cheerful!  I especially loved the 'blue rose' hidden to the side!

Little things that make a place feel more like home...

Pretty 'Butterweave' warmer!

It has been a long road to making this apartment feel like home but it is slowly being accomplished!  When we were preparing to have part of my family down I was able to get a few more things up that really made a difference.  A big one was taking down the blinds in the living room over the big patio window and putting up curtains, it doesn't seem like it should be a big change but I like it so much better and it made the place feel a lot more like my own!

We also got some pictures up that have been waiting for frames and a shower curtain up in the very blue bathroom.  I decided yellow would compliment that bathroom and maybe mellow it out a bit!  My newest addition didn't get here in time for the family visit but I am excited about it all the same!  Except for some yellow towels it is the last piece for my 'Very Blue' bathroom!  

The 'Very Blue', and now yellow, bathroom!

My dear friend Sarah Edmundson is a consultant for Scentsy, and I am a new fan of their warmers and bars.  I feel safe about using them since there is no flame... I'm bad about forgetting to blow out candles even though I love them and Chris is afraid I'm going to burn the house down!  Point of story, I bought one of the smaller plug in warmers for this bathroom and it looks great!  If you are interested you can visit Sarah's site and check them out!  I highly recommend 'Sticky Cinnamon Bun' for a scent, it is a nicely spicy cinnamon reminiscent of 'Home Sweet Home' from Yankee candle! 

New (to me) Computer!

So Mercy was helping me get a program installed on the laptop she purchased for me when I first came to UF and mentioned that if I ever had any problems with it to let her know because she had a bigger computer that was also pretty new that she was no longer using.  I admit, I was pretty much lusting after for several reasons but the main one being it had a much larger and nicer screen.  I liked this because as I have been writing I notice how much strain it puts on my eyes looking at the computer for any amount of time.  I didn't remember this being a problem while writing my thesis on our home computer and asked Chris about it, he said it was probably due to the size and quality of screen.

So rather reluctantly I asked Mercy if I could switch.  I was afraid to ask because I didn't want her to think me ungrateful and I knew it would be a bit of a hassle getting things off of the current computer and onto the new one.  She was super cool about it though and agreed immediately and helped me get everything switched over.  

It has been so nice!  There are some things that are different, like this has word 2010 instead of 2007 which I am used to, but the adjustment is going very smoothly and I have noticed a huge difference in eye fatigue since using it!  Once again an unexpected answer to prayer!

So please welcome the newest member of our electric family, Eva!

Did I mention its a really pretty purple too!?

And so it begins!!!

Seeds in the bag with pearlite.

So I started planting the peach seeds for my rootstocks this week!  It is so crazy to see the material confirmation that I am really committed to a four year project.  

When you eat a peach and find that hard pit in the middle that is actually part of the fruit not part of the seed.  Back in August I took 1,000 of those pits and cracked them open to get the real seeds out.  Then I soaked them for five day and put them in a bag with pearlite (kind of like little pieces of Styrofoam, it is the white things it bagged soil mixes).  Next the seeds went into a big cooler that kept them at a constant 45 degrees Fahrenheit.  This was to trick them into thinking they were experiencing winter so they would germinate.  Well now they have germinated (well half of them anyway) and it is time to put them in some soil and into the greenhouse so they can start growing!

New baby roots starting to grow

Hard to see but there are seeds poking out of each cell!

Only about half of them were far enough along that I could plant them so the rest went back into the cooler and should be ready in the next week or two.  We wait until they start germinating and growing their radical (baby root) before planting them to be sure they have had enough of the cold.  It was interesting to see how shallow they wanted me to plant them too, they wanted the tops of the seeds poking out!

It is exciting to see this progress but strange and a little scary at the same time because it is evidence of my commitment to this project and our time in Florida.  The Lord is good though and continues to reassure me every step that this is where we are supposed to be.  One of the assurances was actually in these seeds germinating.

In the same cooler as my seeds is a bag of a different variety of seeds that one of the professors needs for a project next year.  They have been in the cooler since July 4th and not a single one has germinated yet.  It should only take peach seeds about two months in the cooler to trigger germination.  They haven't molded or decomposed in any way, they are just sitting there.  Everyone is stumped.  At first they were concerned it was a problem with the cooler but now that mine have germinated they know its not the cooler.  So in a way I feel that the successful germination of my seed is another confirmation that this is what I'm supposed to be doing!  


It is always so amazing to me the ways Gos has designed His creation for success.  I mean think about it, if these seeds didn't require soaking with lots of water and a cold period they would germinate as soon a the peach flesh came off... at the END of summer.  They wouldn't have enough time to establish their roots, get good mature leaves and stems or store carbohydrates for the coming winter months.  They wouldn't survive!  But God designed them so the would have to be exposed to lots of water and a long cold period before they would start to grow, so that when they DID start to grow it would be at the best time for a new plant to start, spring!  And they would have all summer to grow and store up carbohydrate for the coming winter!  So Cool!

We serve a God who plans ahead, can see what's coming next, knows how to best prepare us for it and wants our good!  If He cares so much for the next generation of peach trees, how can I doubt that He cares for me, who is much more precious to Him?  Thank you Lord for the visible reminder of what you told us in Matthew 6:25-34!    

 

"He's Still Working on Me"

Do you remember the song, any of us who went to Sunday School or VBS would sing, "He's still workn' on me"?  I used to enjoy that song mostly because of the hand movements that went with it, even though my Granny did a great job explaining what the song meant and how cool it was.  Well now that I'm grown up I realize what an amazing encouragement it can be to know that "God's still working on me, to make me what I ought to be".  I was reminded of this song while listening to Brandon Heath's "Wait and See" song on the radio.



I love the line "There is hope for me yet, because God won't forget, the plans He's made for me, you'll have to wait and see, He's not finished with me yet".  I love it because sometimes I feel like there is no hope for me, like I've made that mistake one too many times, but that is a lie of Satan!  There is always hope for me!  I also like this line because of the emphasis on God's plans for me. I often question the purpose of us being in Florida, but this is a gentle reminder that God has a plan for our lives and Florida happens to be a part of that plan right now. 

Finally that line is encouraging to me because God doesn't expect us to be perfect right now.  He expects improvement, but sanctification is a process, and it emphasizes the fact that God has an ultimate purpose, or goal, for our lives.  Anyway, this was uplifting to me so I hope it can be encouraging to you!

Family in Florida!!!

Part of my family was able to visit over homecoming weekend!!! I have been missing them terribly so it was a treat to have Mom, Deborah, Andrew and Hannah come and stay for four whole days!  I had to be at class one of the days but it was so sweet to spend time with them!  Andrew couldn't remember going to the beach so one of our destinations was Ormand Beach, it was a beautiful day and warm enough to enjoy the surf.  I don't think anyone enjoyed it as much as Andrew though!  He didn't want to be out of the water very long and loved the waves hitting and tugging him around.  For safety reasons mom did not want him to go out any deeper than his knees, but you could just tell he so badly wanted to go deeper!  He would go out to his knees, then get on his knees and the waves would hit him higher on his chest.  Chris offered to hold his hand if so it would be safe for him to go deeper, so mom said he could go out to his waist.  Andrew was thrilled!  Chris also took Deborah and Hannah deeper, but I think Andrew went out the most.

While we were there we also got to see some dolphins jumping close to the beach (at first we feared they were sharks!), a sail boat and lots of birds.  The tide was higher than I have ever experienced and it was wild to watch it coming in throughout the day.  We kept expecting to be pushed off the beach by it but we left before that happened.  Deborah enjoyed scouring the beach for shells (we might try to find a beach with more shells in the future) and Hannah enjoyed chasing the birds!  Unfortunately our sand castles kept getting eaten by the waves!

One of the days was dedicated to girl shopping.  Deborah and Hannah needed some new winter clothes and shoes and Mom needed some shoes so we hit the stores around Gainesville.  We had a mostly successful but long day shopping.  It was challenging to find modest clothes for the girls, and also nice dress clothes.  It seemed like church dresses for girls had disappeared!  I can sympathize with the families who make many of their own clothes because they can't find suitable ones in the store!  Good shopping news however, Hannah, who is usually hard to find jeans for because of her long legs and skinny waist, found four pairs of pants! (two pair of jeans for 7$ each! go TJMaxx!)  I was pleasantly surprised, but a little sad, at how grown up Deborah is becoming.  A couple of her dresses were from the ladies section and she is into ladies shoes now.  I was very proud of her modest and ladylike sense of fashion however!

While the girls were shopping for clothes Chris and Andrew were having fun too!  Andrew found a new remote control helicopter (he loves mechanical toys and gadgets), they played a little video games, had lunch ready for us girls, then went back to Granddaddy's and fished and played Life!

While we were relaxing at Granddaddy's house I got to help Mom plan out her fruit orchard!  It was so fun to look at the different varieties, and quite a challenge to think about pears because they need a particular pollinator.  I got to help her narrow down the peach selection and she also picked out several apple and pear trees.  If all goes well they will have lots of fruit in a few years!

It was such a luxury to have mom around and get to talk to her in person about lots of things that have been going on the last few months.  Don't get me wrong, we talk on the phone, but that is always limited and neither of our preferred methods of communication.

It was so hard to see them go early Monday morning, and I think tears were shed all around, but I am cheered to think the time until I get to go visit them again won't be as long as this last gap!

Loving the surf!

Looking for treasures...

Sand Castle!

We only saw empty crab shells, no live crabs...

Riding the surf in!

Hannah taking a break!

Cool bit of seaweed Chris found

Andrew fixing the sweeper!

Flowers from my Hubby!

Sorry, I know I haven't updated for awhile so I hope to fix that over the next few days!

Several weeks ago Chris treated me to some flowers!  This was the same day I bought some gourds for decoration so I was in a fall mood and the selection reflected that!  I don't usually favor Gerber daisies but these were so bright and cheerful they made me smile every time I walked past them!

I just loved the dark centers on the yellow and orange daisies!

Such cheerful colors!

Encouragement...

So I was tooling around on the radio Friday trying to find something worth listening to and came across this song.  After a moment or two I found myself joyfully worshiping along and thanking the Lord for whoever wrote it.  Moving to Florida has definitely not been an easy move but it is where we feel God wants us right now, though my heart has frequently rebelled against where God has brought us, He has patiently reminded and assured me that this is where He wants to use me.  Over the last week I have been trying to train my heart to be content where God has me, to acknowledge that His purposes are above mine, that He is in control, and above all that He wants our good.  (My heart is often tempted to believe that this isn't true, that the Lord doesn't care for me that way, and that is a lie.  I have to look it in the face, call it what it is, and point out to myself from scripture where it is wrong.)  While I am still struggling with where God has us right now, I am happy to say I could worship with this song in agreement, and perhaps some hope for the future that this will become more and more true of me.  Hope you enjoy!
Chris Tomlin- I will follow

More new sights from Florida...

As promised here are a few more photos of sights around campus!  Next time I will try to show more pictures of buildings on the rest of campus, but you know me I love the plants!  Also these are all really close to my building and on the southern part of campus!

My cubicle in the Grad. Office

There are big live oaks all over campus, when it rains they have ferns in them!

Small walking garden near my building.

Nifty leaf prints in the garden walk!

Can you see the lizard? He's there!

Ferns in the palm tree! they are all over!

Really pretty, tiny cathedral near Lake Alice.

No, not a wildlife preserve, its on campus! (Lake Alice)

More big oaks...

Island in Lake Alice... with Cypress Knees!

Squirrel! With a nut!

One way to reduce water runnoff! (Holes in pavement)

This is perennial peanut! Its used as a ground cover and all over the place!

These are Bat Houses!  Apparently there are a lot of bats and they help a ton with bugs!