a year in review

every year seems to be punctuated by a new move, home, daily life. I don't know yet if this coming year will be any different. But as of yet, (drum roll please) there are no concrete plans to continue the pattern. There are, however, also no plans to live in the delta for the rest (or even a considerable amount of the rest) of our lives. The jobs just don't pan out for either of us. Sad, but true.

So here we are: renovating a house, spending time with family, helping dorothy out with the kids and her cleaning (she's going to a hire a maid, deborah! soon i will only help her with her kids, jk), and living the basic day to day.

Today's church. I love our church! Sundays are wonderful like that. I get to be a part of a vibrant & diverse (something you don't see much of in memphis) congregation and listen to the word of God delved deeply into in a church where the pastor has not forgotten that the point of Scripture is to impact lives. This church doesn't want you to stop at simply hearing the word, learning great systems and doctrines, but knows that you can study the word directly and God has something to show you... right there in that very passage. I feel so blessed to have found a happy medium. It's like I can breath again. No silly proof-texting. No heady intellectualism. For awhile I settled for the latter. At least then we were hearing the Word of God instead of cute stories with a verse thrown in here or there. But praise God for showing us Fellowship (and thank you, mom, for insisting that we try it out). I can't wait to get more involved! The next step is on the 27th when we go to the discovery dinner and learn more about the church personally. We'll see what follows that.

Tomorrow begins the new semester at University of Memphis. It took quite a bit of finagling to get walter squared away for classes but we did it and tomorrow walter starts three undergrad classes that qualify him for grad courses in the fall.
1. mechanics of materials
2. mechanics of fluids (i think...)
3. heat transfer (again, think i'm remembering this correctly)
basically it's the weeding out class from sophomore, junior, and senior years of mechanical engineering... then he's qualified to be a grad student! :) So yeah, it'll be a trying semester but I'm confident that he can do it (now just to convince him ;) ) It only took faxing records from Cedarville & Wheaton, meeting with the head of the engineering department, signing up for undergrad classes as a grad student, getting another MMR shot, and lots of calls to the help desk. All this while sending out resumes to every company that excites walter. It's been a busy couple of days. But it's done! (hooray!)

On Monday we're going to figure out if we (ourselves) will push the wall back into our garage giving us room for a laundry room and a larger kitchen and living room or if a contractor will do it for us within the next few weeks. This all while we wait for the windows to come in... the windows home depot promised us two weeks ago. Alas, the shell for our sun room looks beautiful. I absolutely can't wait for all the light that's going to shine into our home and the plants I'll be able to grow.

I'm sorting through things (both physically and mentally), figuring out the best next move (not to a new state or anything... I know, with us, this statement could be confusing), and honing some skills. More on that to come, I think.

But for now it's time to get on with today. My goals for this year (as of right now) are to develop a daily routine and to stick to it and to do the exercises that my chiropractor's assigned. Should be doable. We'll see how it goes.

to make it more worth your while ;)

My body doesn't know what time zone I'm in so I'll have to make this short.

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! :)

Walter and I (and the dogs) had a grand time in Ohio visiting with friends and family, celebrating birthdays and holidays, reveling in snow flurries on my birthday, and remembering the life of my grandma lewis. deborah's cats were not quite so thrilled but were still cuddly when we came upstairs into their terrain. deborah was also very forgiving. ;)

We trekked on up to Chicago on Thursday. We did so by way of Lafayette, yummy tea, conversation, and dinner with friends (yay, Dawn and Travis!) and drove into Wheaton to Christmas lights and green grass... sadly, that's what we left in Arkansas. I was hoping for snow. Luckily, it didn't stay that way for long.

This morning we woke up to the sound tiny snow flakes hitting the sky light and when it finally began to really come down I convinced mom to take the dogs on a walk with me. They were wonderful. Didn't complain about the cold or snow at all. :) They were just too busy smelling every tree, newspaper, and mailbox. They're such country dogs! Alas, we're going to have to work harder on socializing them. Some other time. They found a bunny and tried to make friends with some dogs. They pulled us along on the slippery sidewalks and then made it home in one piece. (phew!) So we took them into the back yard to let them run and jump and play in the snow, got some cute pictures and then brought them in for nap time (they're so cute when they're exhausted). Such sweet puppies!

This afternoon I spent time with Karla and Ian (can't believe how much he's grown!), Walter enjoyed his Christmas presents, and mom took a nap. We're enjoying movies, hot chocolate, toasted/spiced pecans, and warm meals in one of my favorite cities in the US. How wonderful to have the chance to spend time with family. :) Hooray for Christmas!

Also, just as a side thought, when we come home we should almost have a sun room on our house. Soon we'll have windows just off the dining room! That will be very exciting. :D

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walter has my sewing machine in pieces (just a few) and our house smells of homemade coconut shrimp, donuts, and peppermint. walter promises that i'll get to use my sewing machine again. just thought you needed an update. :)

amigurumi

So I'm in my pajamas and hungry for lunch but I just had to say a quick 'hello!' :)

I haven't done a whole lot lately: gone to Dorothy's to help out there and hold babies (yay!), go to the chiropractor (today will be the 4th day in a row, i think my back is starting to feel better), a little Christmas shopping and baking (i am all about baking), and a whole lot of knitting. Yay knitting!

I've made some ornaments, most of a twirly ribbon scarf (I need another circular needle to finish it off), one super silky present (did you know you could buy silk yarn?!), and three attempts at one super cool scarf. The first time I ripped it out I hadn't gone too far. No sweat. This last time I was quite a ways in before I realized that the mistake I'd corrected showed more than I'd thought. I want this scarf to be gift worthy. I may gift it only to myself but I'd like to be able to give it and that just wouldn't happen with the bulge I most recently discovered. Alas. At least this is a fun and soothing project. I don't really mind doing it again and again. Also, Walter went out and bought me a set of bamboo needles for this project and I love how smooth and soft they feel. All in all, it's great.

I was perusing the internet ... oh an hour or so ago... when I accidentally rediscovered AMIGURUMI. i love these things! Amigurumi is Japanese for crocheted doll, I think. And I can't wait to get started on this next project! Just simple little dolls with millions of millions of possibilities. Seriously, you should check out this flickr group. They've posted pictures of tons of completely diff. amigurumi all made with the same exact pattern. lots of fun. anyway, i'd better get on with the day.

friday(s) adventures

Friday (11/19/07):
-10:00 AM, went to Chris & Dorothy's to help with the kids where they proceeded to do most everything known to get babies born as fast as possible
-12:30 PM, Chris & Dorothy return from walk (and Starbucks) to get hospital bag and head on over. I drop off kids at Mandie's by 1:00 and begin my search for a yarn store I'd found online
-1:45 PM, finally find the store buy the nicest and most expensive yarn i've ever seen in my life, begin my trek home
-2:30 PM, while talking on the phone with my mom I notice a loud rumbling noise behind me. I check my mirrors thinking it might be a rude truck driver trying to intimidate me but can't find a likely suspect. I quickly get off the phone and pull off to the nearest gas station just in case. the noise changes depending on my speed... not good.

Completely shredded! I called Walter, he came over with a new tire, I turned down multiple offers for help (for which I am so glad! If I'd been just a little bit farther from home they would have been my only sanity), called my mom back and assured her of my safety (after she heard me turn down one of my good Samaritans), learned how to change a tire. :)
-11:59 PM, Tobias Graham Wilson was born (6 lbs 11 oz, 20 inches long). He was followed quickly (tho' not enough to get the same birthday) by Tyler Pierce Wilson at 12:28 AM Saturday (6 lbs 2 oz, 20 inches long). They are beautiful boys and Dorothy is happy to no longer be pregnant! :) She hardly even minds the sleepless nights in comparison.

We were able to visit on Sunday before they headed home from the hospital:






























(Top R: Grandma Wilson, Uncle Josh holding Tobias and Aunt Julia holding Tyler, Top L: Tobias, Bottom R: Tobias (again), Bottom L: Uncle Walter holding Tyler)

This last friday I got to see my old roommate and her now husband! Yay! Melissa and Dave are back in the States (which is great for me bc I get to see her... at least every once in awhile). We ate, laughed, talked, and took even took a commemorative picture :) on dave's camera. It's good to have a change to catch up and tie up loose ends with friends. I'm so glad they could come! (so is walter... but that's not the point)

This coming friday we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving on the Stokes side. Never a dull moment. :) Anyway, it's off to a scrabble date with my husband...

Expelled

Short note to let everyone know about a movie produced by Ben Stein (actually, produced by Logan Croft, but starring Ben Stein) called "Expelled."

This is a a Micheal Moore style movie featuring a brilliant man that is firmly on the other side of the political fence. Instead of exposing government conspiracies or inadequacies, "Expelled" focus on the world of academia and the understated attacks made against intelligent people for questioning the accepted norms of science. Check it out at www.expelledthemovie.com

Short enough, right?

The Month (?) In Pictures

Here's some of what you missed during our internet hiatus:

we got dogs,
(atlas is grey and white and phoebe is the one not facing the camera)










we went to Ohio for Grandpa's 80th birthday and babies galore (it's a double baby shower for Chabree and Ashlee!)











(First is Erica's Baby Dawn with Mystery, Second is Seth with my momma: Mara, and third is Aliya with her mom Courtney. In the background is Dorothy and a glimpse of grandpa)


(and here are the two mother's to be: Chabree, with Aunt Kim in the background, and Ashlee, with helper Logan and hostess Deborah in the background)



also we got to see friends and family and explore the great american corn maize (of which it was too dark to take pictures) Yay for Ohio!


The next weekend we visited Mike (and Kelsey!) in Alabama (congrats to Mike for his acceptance into the doctorate program and job in cancer research!)












(where we saw the Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D!!, explored a beautiful botanical garden, got a drive by tour of Birmingham on our way to the Vulcan, listened to Kelsey master a southern accent for her next performance and enjoyed the beginnings of fall in the south).





(we've spent the last two weekends home in Arkansas planting flowers, the mums are courtesy of deborah, pulling up and replanting all of our bushes and hostas to prepare for the deck, birthday parties for saja, in the first bday party pic saja and kora are blowing out her candles with Dot beside, the next is the serving of the cake with boo, chris, dot, saja, kora, and mimi in the picture, david had fun with the balloons, kora is a goof and loves the camera, and our puppies are the cutest things in the world.)

There ya go, the month in pictures. With as much work as that was, I think I'll try to stay more up to date on here for awhile. Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of two beautiful nephews before the week is out!