Blogging at naptime.

We figure there's no better way to wrap up a church planting conference on October 31st than to eat some Albertson's chicken, fill a bowl with tootsie rolls and smarties, and dress up in our stylish new Value Village purchases just in time to watch literally THOUSANDS of children flock to our front door to enjoy both the flavorful candy, and our impressive flare for creative costuming... Proof of our impeccable taste. Sidebar: A glimpse of what I would've looked like pregnant in the 70's. We started our evening off feeling strong, confident.... Both in our candy selection and impressive graphic design skills. What child can resist pumpkin clip art?? All children. Apparently all children can resist clip part as proven by the fact that our evening lingered on, yet our candy supply remained unchanged. Desperation. Rejection. Not even a perfectly formed hairdo can remedy the

Hypothetically speaking, people ask me for advice on what not to do while pregnant all the time. If the above weren't a hypothetical scenario, I would tell them this: NEVER attempt to hike up Mt. Pilchuck while pregnant. Here's what will happen. You will wake up feeling surprisingly refreshed and energetic one Saturday morning. You will be powered by the finest breakfast known to man (mcmuffin and hash browns). You will feel fully prepared with hiking poles, comfortable shoes, and a kind husband who arranges it so you don't even have to carry a backpack. You will go hiking on the day where approximately 99.2% of the greater Seattle population has also decided to hike this very same mountain. Going UP the mountain roughly 87% of the ascent you will be an animal, with your husband remarking how proud Jillian Michaels would be of the way you are ripping the face off of this mountain. Then....... things will start to change. It will become more rocky. Both with actual rocks an

If you want to feel popular one day a year, I have a few handy steps for achieving your goal. #1. Figure out when your birthday is. #2. Advertise this date on Facebook. #3. Get lots of friends on Facebook, it doesn't matter if you talk to them in real life. Virtual friendship has many merits. #4. When your birthday rolls around sit back and watch thousands of people tell you how great you are and what a happy birthday they hope you have. #5. Feel totally great about yourself, despite the process of aging and making poor eating choices on your birthday. All this to say, I had a pretty delightful birthday yesterday. It included all of my favorite things minus one favorite person in my life currently residing in China (though not for long!). Here are some things that made my birthday utterly wonderful. Sausage Egg McMuffins and Hash browns. Breakfast of champions. My first visit to the clothing store H&M. I fell in love. And b

Here are some names Josh and I are pretty certain we won't name our child: Banjo. Audio Science. Dweezel . Ya'Majesty . Jishelle (A beautiful combination of our names. We were THIS close to convincing Leland and Ashley to name one of their children this. Surprisingly, they declined so it's still up for grabs) Question: How old does your child have to be before you buy them one of these?? I think we have the yard for it. Sidebar: Even ponies think swoopy bangs are the coolest. Current Disappointments: #1. Waves of nausea. I thought I could defeat them. They're fighters. Moxie Crimefighters to be specific. They make a lovely little woman like this go from happily laying in an open sunny field in her cute maternity top... To bravely trying to hold down the teriyaki she just consumed at her desk at work.... I am that lovely little Asian lady. Well in the sense that someone on a team to Cambodia once thought I was from the Philippines . I get that a lot. Disappointment

Like any good wife/future mother, the goal I set for myself before having children was to make it to Disney Land one last time so I could ride the big kid rides. Check. Our wonderful 2 year anniversary Disney Land trip in May was everything I hoped. And now, less than 3 months later, my previous goal having been accomplished, I have now moved on to bigger and better things. Well, maybe not technically "bigger" at this point. More like the size of one of these little guys... So far I have to say that motherhood is a breeze. Aside from wanting to place a Disney-themed cot underneath my desk at work and take a nap every 15 minutes, I am very much enjoying pregnancy. I've already been given quite a bit of attention for my little legume, as well as books on how to raise this creature, and even organic onesies! (Jillian Michaels would be so proud) Apparently childbearing is something people have been doing for years and Josh & I are fortunate enough to not only have a treme

"Writing can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs: our need to be visible, to be heard, our need to make sense of our lives, to wake up and grow and belong." - Anne Lamott And this is why, more than 2 months after my last entry, I am dusting off this space in an attempt to inhabit it once again. I made one New Years Resolution this year. And it was to write something, anything, every single day of the year. I made it to January 3rd. But now I am being terribly inspired as I read through Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird" where she will slowly reveal to me every single thing I ever needed to know about writing (I have lofty demands..) and a tad bit uninspired as I spend forty hours a week refilling vacant copier paper trays, sweeping away the unsightly remains of mangled staples, visiting the exotic land of "bulk mail," and entering numbers into a computer that each reveal the generous donations of people giving back