Adventures of the Out-of-Towners

Work is out of control right now. While we're grateful that the Department of State and USCCB are not waiting until the end of the fiscal year to send the vast majority of the refugees (like they did last September), it's still daunting to look at the board and see a new arrival notice almost every day. To add to our workload, we've been contacted by several Iraqi and Afghan special immigrants. While I am so excited for these individuals and their families, their unique situations often take a great deal of time, which usually involves driving to their new home. You see, in order for an Iraqi or Afghan special immigrant to come here, they must have an American sponsor. Usually, the sponsors are the military men and women for whom the special immigrant interpreted while deployed overseas. The special immigrant and their family are basically welcomed into the home of the sponsor for however long the sponsor and special immigrant agree. Some live with their sponsors a while, some temporarily. While I greatly admire the service men and women for acting as the special immigrant sponsors, I wonder why they can't live somewhere closer to Columbia? Since our office covers not only the Columbia area but the entire state except for the St. Louis and Kansas City areas, we are the resettlement agency for those who live in the more rural areas. Last week, Senad and I drove to Tecumseh, a tiny town about four hours south, to meet with some wonderful special immigrants. We almost died about five times, including running into a bit of a problem on one of the roads:

"What the heck is this?" Senad asks.

Yes, that's right. The road ends here folks.

It can get difficult providing services to these individuals when they are so far away and in a place with which we are entirely unfamiliar. Pray that I will be diligent to serving these individuals, especially since the government has strict time limitations on how long they can receive services.

In non-work related news, Isaac and went to Louisville last weekend to attend a preview conference at Southern. Though I was physically exhausted the entire time, what with almost dying in Tecumseh the day before and then driving to Louisville at 5:00 in the morning, the weekend was incredibly awesome. We got to eat lunch with Phyllis and her precious boys. I also ran into several people I went to school with at Union and even a guy who married a friend from back home in Pensacola. We met some other potential students and some great professors, some of whom I now think of incredibly highly because of their unswerving devotion to my Florida Gators. Yes, it looks like there is a nice contingent of the Gator Nation living in the Louisville area, and while I am glad to have converted a few lost souls in mid-Missouri, I will be glad to live in a place of acceptance once again. We think Isaac will begin Fall 2009, so pray that the Lord would make the transition smooth for us and that His will would be clear to my thick-headed brain.

One more thing: my beloved friend Clemma and I are taking a cake decorating class together at Hobby Lobby. It's entirely new to me, and my skills are still developing, but we're having fun getting half of the icing all over ourselves and eating the other half. I will post more pictures of this new adventure later, but I wanted to put this one up for Becca, the most un-lame birthday girl I know. Because we couldn't make it to her birthday party, I thought it appropriate that this cake should bear her name. It's a yellow cake with chocolate pudding layers and chocolate icing. I chose the red detailing specifically for Becca. And we all know how much she loves clowns...

Welcome to the "Quarter Century Club" Becca!

"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:7

Old Friends in New Places

Last weekend, Isaac and I ventured to the grand town of Greenville, Illinois to go to the wedding of a childhood friend of mine. Despite the fact that Greenville is literally in the middle of nowhere, we had a delightful time. The only people I knew at the wedding were the bride, a bridesmaid, and the bride's family. Isaac knew even fewer, as he only knew Laina, one of Jenny Mac's bridesmaids who was also a bridesmaid in our wedding.

I hadn't seen the McIntyres since the summer of 2000. You see, Jenny Mac came into our lives sometime in middle school; none of us went to the same school as her, but her family began attending our church. She was immediately one of the gang; we loved her silly attitude and her willingness to admit she still had her CareBear, Funshine (and still does). Soon after, our youth choir went on a tour to Washington, D.C., where a positively ridiculous storyline developed about "The Family," their stalker, and their taco fortune. Sadly, the McIntyres moved to Greenville, South Carolina after our freshman year in high school. I was able to see her for a few hours when I was in Greenville for a week one summer, but that was it.

Lo and behold, Jenny Mac moved to St. Louis last spring! Imagine, that the two of us would end up living so near to one another after so many years apart. Truly, it's a small world after all! More than that, the Lord is good, bringing old friends into new places of our lives. Only He could...

The three of us (Me, JMac, and the Lainster) haven't been together since our freshman year of high school in Florida! And please don't comment on my crazy long hair; I promised Kim I wouldn't cut mine until the day after Liz's wedding.

Isn't this awesome?!?! A Lego cake topper! Amazing.

The scariest part of the wedding was seeing Jenny's younger brother, Joshua. We called him "Joshie" since he was about ten years younger than us. The last time I saw him, he was seven. On the way to the wedding, I was telling Isaac about JMac and the McIntyres. When I mentioned "Joshie," he responded with, "I don't think they call him Joshie anymore." So true...he's fifteen, and I'm old.

Also, Jenny Mac is an amazing singer/songwriter. If you want to make your life complete and are a smart person, visit her website. And if you're an even smarter person, you'll buy her CD Outside the Radio.

My Jane Austen post is coming soon...and possibly some evidence of my new hobby!

Tales from RIS...and NKOTB

It's raining...again. We've experienced some pretty interesting weather over the last few weeks, to say the least. Last Thursday, those of you in the Columbia area may remember the 'unique' hail storm we experienced. I would like to explain to you how everything unfolded at our humble little office. Some words have been changed in order to procure a G rating...

Kelsey: "Wow. It's thundering a lot, but it hasn't started raining. Weird."
Jenny: "That's the way it goes sometimes I guess."

About twenty minutes later, Kelsey, Phil, and I are all in the 'kitchen' which is in reality a small storage place for donations we receive. A local school had held a drive and collected quite a bit of items, so the three of us were organizing everything. There are no windows in the kitchen/storage area; suddenly, we heard this dramatic downpour.

Jenny: "It's raining now."

Enter Senad and Dan, who had been in Senad's office. They run into the kitchen with these wild expressions on their faces. Both looked like they were caveman who had just discovered fire and assumed the typical fight-or-flight response.

Senad: "Explicative! Explicative! Explicative!"
Dan: "We got hail here! We got hail everyone! We got hail!"

To which we all dash to the side door, fling it open, and promptly drop our jaws. The responses from everyone:

Jenny: "Nooooooooooo! My new car! Stop, please please please stop!"
Phil: "Yes, pour baby pour! I need a new car! Come on!!!"
Kelsey: "This is crazy. Oh my gosh, it looks like snow."
Dan: laughter
Senad: "Explicative! Explicative! Explicative!"
Martha: "Can you guys shut the door? It's cold out there."




For those of you behind in the news of pop culture, New Kids on the Block, affectionately called NKOTB by their adoring fans, are making a comeback. This precursor to the modern day boy band (N*Sync and Backstreet Boys ain't got nothin' on them) earned their popularity when I was in 2nd grade. My neighbor and I were obsessed with this classic band- so much so that we actually performed to their song Step by Step for our variety show at school. I'm relieved to say there is no incriminating evidence of this performance (at least to my knowledge). So my husband and I took a trip down memory lane last night and watched some NKOTB videos on YouTube last night. As I told my students this morning, "Watch these videos; they'll change your life...or at least give you a good laugh." So, do yourself a favor: visit YouTube on your lunch break and watch as many NKOTB videos as you can. I promise you, you'll feel better.