Monday, September 21, 2009

The Stinkertons

We are going on night 3 of an unusable shower.

After several months, Greg and I finally got tired of taking shaths (the dreaded shower-bath that results from a slow/clogged drain where you are standing in 4 inches of water but actually taking a shower).

Greg tried some draino, but to no avail. Actually, things came to a complete halt. Water no longer draining, and actually coming up from the drain. Not a good sign. This took place on Saturday night.

Night 1 solution: Hope the water is gone in the morning.

Water not gone in the morning. Wash hair in sink. Convince self that yesterday's shower still has 5 more hours before it wears off, enough to get you through church. Double up on deodorant and perfume.

Night 2 solution: Maintenance can't come til Monday. Pack up shampoo and towels and go to the Brandenbergers house to shower. Fresh and clean. Thanks guys!

Night 3 solution: I guess maintenance didn't have time to get to our request. Greg and I take different approaches.

Greg's approach: Pre-soap loofa, hop in shower for no more than 13 seconds, hop out and remove all of the accumulated water by means of bucket and cup. A sink hair-washing is scheduled for the morning.

My approach: Decide my lunch time post-workout shower at our work gym is enough to get me through tomorrow. Do a sink hair-washing and call it good enough.

If maintenance doesn't come tomorrow and you are friends with us...and live within 8 miles of us...and have a working shower...and we are close enough friends to where it is not awkward to come over to shower only...you might be getting a call...don't screen our call.

**Ok, I know this is not actually a big deal. Many people do not even have running water, so this tiny inconvenience is nothing. I just needed something to blog about, and this was the current event in our household.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Momentary Marriage

Today as Greg and I were listening to part II of the Matt Chandler sermon we started this weekend, he used in his teaching the parable in Luke 20 where the Sadducees ask Jesus about marriage in Heaven. Here is the passage in Luke.

Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question.

"Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. The second and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too. Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?"

Jesus replied, "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage... Luke 20:27-35

No marriage in Heaven? This is a hard teaching to think about.

We were discussing this topic with Greg's family the last time we were in Waco. It a strange thing to think about. But I think Greg's mom said it well when she said that there is no purpose for marriage in Heaven. Marriage on earth is a picture of Christ and the Church. When we are in Heaven, we will no longer need a reflection of that, because we will have the real thing. That is hard to understand though. More along the lines of impossible...at least for me. It is hard to imagine what relationships will be like in Heaven. Will we just be so consumed with being in the presence of Christ that we will not be concerned with others? Or will we in our perfected state have perfection in all relationships with others? For a newlywed, it doesn't sound like the most awesome idea to have no marriage in Heaven. But who am I to question God about His knowing what is best and most wonderful? If there was marriage in Heaven, what would you do if you were married to more than one person? Or what if you were single your whole life but wanted to be married - then for eternity would you have to be single? That doesn't sound fun. I guess it is just going to be completely different in Heaven and we can't understand it until we get there. Greg said we could just be BFFEEs (Best Friends For Ever Eternally) and high five each other.

Matt Chandler didn't go deep into this passage since it wasn't really the point of his sermon series. However, he did mention that John Piper wrote an excellent book on this topic titled, This Momentary Marriage.

I immediately looked up the book and guess what.....you can download it for FREE on John Piper's website! How cool is that of him to let anyone download and read his book for free! Go here for a preview of the book, which has a link to download it as well.

I am only a few pages in to the book but I can tell already that I am really going to enjoy it. I am tempted to stay up really late reading it, but I think I need to put it on hold tonight, and get some sleep.

I'll end with a quote from what I just read...

"There is no human marriage after death. The shadow of covenant-keeping between husband and wife gives way to the reality of covenant keeping between Christ and his glorified church. Nothing is lost. The music of every pleasure is transposed into an infinitely higher key." John Piper, This Momentary Marriage.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Weekend Report

This weekend was nice and relaxing. Nothing too eventful. Friday Greg and I relaxed and started on season 7 of 24 (once again, some sweet friends let us borrow it!). I love this season already. I also did a little furniture shopping...although I'm not really sure why since we just signed a 4 month lease at our apartment complex! Yep, that is right, we are going to stay here for a while longer while we continue the house hunt. But staying in the same unit is just too boring so we are switching it up. Who doesn't love packing up all their stuff and moving out of a 3rd floor apartment? Since we did give our 60 day moving out notice, someone else is already scheduled to move into our unit. That means we have to be out. But, we are so grateful that there is a first floor apartment we can move in to. YAY! We thought we were going to have to move to another 3rd floor apartment at first, but this is so much better. And even though it is not the most convenient thing to do, it is really not that big of a deal, and we are still trusting that God will lead us where he wants us in His perfect timing. We are very thankful that our complex worked with us to get a decent rate on a short term lease (and again, one that is on the first floor), and we will just wait to see what happens next. Maybe we will find a house soon, or maybe we will sign another lease after that. Either way, it is sort of a fun adventure.

And just for the record, this will be the THIRD unit that Greg has lived in. He lived in this complex several years ago before we dated, but had moved out since. I told the leasing managers we needed a frequent leasers punch card. Maybe something like sign 4 leases get the 5th one free? Well, it is unlikely that we will be getting free rent but at least we have been getting plenty of free candy from the leasing office. They always have big bowls of chocolates everywhere. Sometimes I just want to find an excuse to get more Hershey's special dark. Hey it's me again...just thinkin about signing another lease, got any good deals? oh I guess I'll just take a few more candies while you get me that quote. Anyway, back to this weekend.

Saturday Greg and I went out to eat with some friends at Canyon Cafe. That place is so great. The best part is those frozen white chocolate things they serve in the tamale wrappers (what are those called, corn husks?)

Today Greg and I enjoyed a great morning at Church, then played disc golf. This is one of my new favorite things. I love ultimate frisbee, but had never played disc golf until a few months ago. Now Greg and I play fairly often and it is so much fun. Then we came home and I tried out a new recipe - Turkey cutlets with roasted potatoes and mushrooms. It was really good - although I don't think I did the turkey exactly right. I know for next time though. My friend Lindsay gave me a whole stack of theses cooking magazines and I am looking forward to trying out lots of new recipes. I may post some in the future. After dinner I made a few fondant flowers while Greg and I listened to a Matt Chandler sermon. He is the pastor at the Village Church in Dallas which Greg and I have been to several times and really like him. All his sermons are online so sometimes we like to listen to those. Now it is time to go to bed early and get a good night sleep :)

Monday, September 7, 2009

Experience the Magic

Does everyone own one of these? Does everyone love these more than anything ever?

I have used them before, but I guess it had just been too long, and I forgot about the magic. The magic that is unleashed in a single foam square. The dissappearing act that takes place before your very eyes.

Mr. Clean just took away this ugly ring that had formed on our bathroom counter that neither 409 nor bleach could tackle. Greg said a UFO (unidentified filthy object) had landed on our counter. Really it was just the stand up mirror. It left a stain after only a few days. But it ain't no thang for magic eraser. Poof, gone.

In my excitement I began running around the apartment looking for other things to erase.

What else? Point to something. Anything. I will erase it. Oh you want me to erase that scratch on the door from our towel rack? Gone. How about that scuff mark on the wall from moving furniture and not pivoting fast enough? Gone. I can't be stopped.

Am I really getting excited about cleaning? Who am I?

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Tip for My Fellow Swagers


To all my fellow swagers out there, starting today you can download the Swagbucks new toolbar. I'm not sure what all the toolbar does, but they are giving 1 Swag code away every day in September through the toolbar! Yay! I just downloaded it and it told me the first swag code. Is it sad that I still get this excited every time I win a swagbuck?

By the way, if you haven't heard of Swagbucks already, go here to read about it.