Sunday, October 30, 2005

Kentucky Girls

Sure, girls from NY, they are tough. And girls from GA, they are sweet. But those fiesty Kentucky girls, they are the ones you have to look out for. We have sugar and fire in our blood. We can ride a horse, be a debutant, throw a left hook and tell you the entire UK line up all while making sweet tea. And if we have an opinion, you get to know it. We're both the pride and the downfall of the bluegrass..." ~Ashley Judd. I hope I turn into one of these :)

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Reception 4


Ok, ok, so I did find time to hang out with girls, and of course my sister. For those of you that have never met her, this is Kerri - do we look a thing alike?!?!

Reception 3


I found my spot, suprise surprise! Hanging out by the bar with the boys talking about the game! ;)

Reception 2


Jamie, my New Zealand brother, currently living in London came over from London just for the weekend for the wedding! I guess the fact that the bachelor of century got married was a pretty big deal! Jamie is holding Charlie because they are ready to catch the garder (sp?). Good luck!

Chad & Christie Wedding Homily

Let me preface this with saying that my brother and sister-in-law got married on the same day that Mizzou and Nebraska played football. Seeing as how he went to Mizzou and Christie wen to Nebraska, it made for a fun day!!
The first thing that I think of today when reading this scripture, is that Jesus must not have been familiar with Big 12, Tiger, or Cornhusker football when he said this. How is a Cornhusker honestly supposed to love a Tiger on a football Saturday half way through the season when they are tied for first place in the northern division? But, all joking aside, this scripture still presents a difficult question. How are two people, two very different people, supposed to love one another, in with the same amazing love with which Christ has loved them? And in attempting to address this question, even still, Chad, how is your unmarried, younger sister supposed to give wisdom and thoughtful reflection on this passage and marriage? Frankly, I cannot give that type of wisdom, because I do not know how. Quite frankly, I cannot speak to that type of wisdom for lack of experience. However, I do know how to speak of two parallel things to that type of wisdom. I know how to speak of the gospel, and I know of this love, which Jesus speaks of in this passage, the love, which Jesus shows to us all.
Both families have come here today, to this celebration of love, and have raised you two in love. Love from both families, friends and family alike, are represented here today in the fact that you have over 200 people here to celebrate the love between you two. Chad, I know that we have grown up with love, and Christie, that I have seen immense love within your family. I saw immense love during such a hard time just a few months ago and it still pours out passionately from all sides of your family, including from above. Vince still provides his true and great love to you and your family today, on this joyful celebration of love between you and Chad.
Now I am not suggesting that I even begin to understand this love you two share, because I know it is great and powerful, and something only the two of you can understand between one another. But I do affirm, as does this passage, that it must be like the love God has shown for us. As is the love of Christ, it should be unending, powerful, and unconditional. You can dedicate your life to it, spend a lifetime in this love, and yet there will always be more love than you can imagine, offering more to one another than you could ever know. As I can spend years studying the love Jesus has shown all of us, you can dedicate your life to the love between you two, and in both instances, it should be one of the most eloquent and powerful things you will experience in your life. Whether I speak of the love you two hold for each other or the love God offered to us through God’s Son, Jesus Christ, it matters not, because it holds true for both. Your marriage should be a reflection and joyful celebration of the love Christ has shown to us, and as he charged us to show one another.
Although it was not read today, Jesus continues on in this passage to speak about laying down your life for another as the greatest expression of love. Today you two are laying down your life for one another – not in a sense of a sacrificial death as in the case of Jesus Christ – but in that you offer your lives to one another, to join in life with each other. This sacrificial love you two are showing to one another is what Christ speaks of in John, that we love one another as he has loved us, in the fullest manner, in the greatest way we know how, through the example Jesus Christ has shown us. Christ laid down his life for us, so that our joy might be complete in him, and exemplifies one of the highest forms of love you could know. It is through this example today that you Chad & Christie are laying down their lives for one another in love, giving their lives to one another in love. Through joining your lives together, offering your life to one another, you give new life to your relationship and too each other, newness to a life joined with one another. While marital love is flawed and imperfect, because as humans we are flawed and imperfect, our love should strive to reflect divine love, laying down your life, offering your life to one another in love.
But surely Christ could not have meant that a Tiger should love a Cornhusker! Despite the fact that you as Tigers and Cornhuskers normally do not get along, Chad and Christie I know that your love will work through any dilemmas that may come, through football and basketball season, through joyous and distressing days, through faults and forgiveness, as Christ’s love has done the same for each of us. Christ still offered life to us through our faults, in the same way a new life in marriage is offered despite faults and indifferences that may come your way. Martin Luther says, "Marital love begins when intoxicating love disappears." While I hope this intoxicating love and infatuation does not have to completely die in marriage, Luther's point is well taken: in marriage we must not confuse loving our spouse with always feeling that our spouse is lovely. Although I can’t speak from experience, I trust there will be plenty of bad times in marriage where being "in love" will be replaced with perseverance, the ethic of love, until the feeling of love can be nurtured to return. This perseverance of love, the ethic and principle of love is what always remains, regardless of those feelings of loveliness that may from time to time disappear. Continuing from today, through this commitment and those you have already made to one another, your love will continue to grow through all of these instances, moments in thinking your spouse is lovely, and instances when you think your spouse is many other things, but regardless of these times, there will always be love.
I want to finish today with a reading I have found since starting at seminary; a reading that I believe speaks to love from Christ, and the love we can all show to one another. Whether you are dedicating your life to the love of Christ, or adding to this dedication to Christ through marriage, I believe you must give yourself to love, every type of love, and all that it allows you to enjoy in life – because of love.

Kind friends all gathered 'round, there's something I would say: That what brings us together here has blessed us all today.Love has made a circle that holds us all inside.Where strangers are as family, loneliness can't hide.You must give yourself to love if love is what you're after; Open up your hearts to the tears and laughterand give yourself to love, give yourself to love.Love is born in fire; it's planted like a seed.Love can't give you everything, but it gives you what you need.And love comes when you're ready, love comes when you're afraid; It will be your greatest teacher, the best friend you have made. So give yourself to love if love is what you're after; Open up your hearts to the tears and laughterAnd give yourself to love, give yourself to love. Chad and Christie – may God grant that your love for one another, reflect the love of Christ for us. May it continue to grow as you faithfully serve Christ in the world - through this reflection of love in your marriage today and your reflections of love forever more.

Reception


Why didn't anyone tell me I was making an ass out of myself? Clearly I had quite a bit of fun at the reception!

Party Bus!


After the ceremony all 16 members of the wedding party and significant others included hopped onto a party bus that would take us from Dodge to the thriving metropolis of Fremont. We had plenty of champagne and beer to go around...Maybe Laura had one too many bottles of champagne on the bus on the way to the reception?

Wedding Day 2


Amanda Landwehr - thanks for making the long drive from STL with your parents... you know you were my saving grace at the wedding! :)

Wedding Day


Like I said - I'm still a daddy's girl at 23! We had to be at the church at 10:30am for pictures - this was definitely an all day event. During all the pictures, you better believe we had the Mizzou/Nebraska game on! The game started at 11:30am, the weddding was at 2:00pm and entering into the ceremony it was a tie game at half time, 24 - 24, I'm not sure anyone would have listened to my homily had I not mentioned the game and the score in the middle of it....

Friday, October 21, 2005

Rehersal Day!


The Bride and Groom one day before! We had to set up for both the reception and the rehersal dinner on Friday, decorations, arranging tables, and course making sure there was plenty of room for the bar. :) Chad, unfortunately your hat didn't help the cardinals here, but Christie, your "Bride" hat certainly seemed to be successful! ;)

Thursday, October 20, 2005

15 Important Things to Learn in Life

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve its full potential, that word would be “meetings.”
3. There is a very fine line between “hobby” and “mental illness.”
4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.
5. You should not confuse your career with your life.
6. Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.
7. Never lick a steak knife.
8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.
9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.
10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.
12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, sexual affiliation or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.
13. A person, who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention on first dates! It never fails.)
14. Your friends love you anyway.
15. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic. (We'll have to discuss this ark thing, but I still thought it was a good point) :)

Monday, October 17, 2005

You Know You Are Living in 2005 When...

Another good forward I thought I would share :)
YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2005 when...
1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.
6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.
7. Every commercial on television has a website at the bottom of the screen.
8. Leaving the house without your cellphone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.
11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )
12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.
13. You read blogs of people you've never met or talked to, yet you feel so close.
14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.
15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list. AND NOW U R LAUGHING at yourself.

I promise I will start posting real posts when I get back from my brother's wedding - I didn't realize how crazy my life in KY would start out and take off so quickly!

Saturday, October 15, 2005

It finally clicked

So it just finally clicked for me yesterday that I live in Lexington, all on my own, and that I will for quite a while....I mean, it's it not like I've been on drugs since August and haven't noticed - but it just sort of clicked the other day because I'm so used to moving all the time. Ever since high school I've continued to move almost every semester, city to city, hell country to country, never really living anywhere for the summer because I'm always at camp or traveling or something and other than living at home last year, this is the most permanent I'll live in one place for a long time since I was in high school. (Can we say run-on sentence?) It's like I've felt as if someone were going to wake me up one day and say "we're just kidding, this isn't your apartment, you don't live here, you don't live on you own, move out, either into a dorm or move home with your parents again...." I guess I did live at home for quite a while last year, but I think I'm also trying to block out how it made me feel like a big loser to live with my parents at 23.... :) Bottom line - I'm feeling very comfortable living on my own, no roommates and in Lexington in general :)

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Women are like apples

Women are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree. Most men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they just take the rotten apples from the ground that aren't as good, but easy.......The apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality, they are amazing. They just have to wait for the right man to come along, the one who's brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree. Are you brave enough?

Monday, October 03, 2005

Decisions

I'm prety vocal - especially politically - especially recently. But I'm not going to lie - something I tend to back away from and not hold a stance on - is pro-choice vs. pro-life. I can't make up my mind - and I'm concerned I never will - is that bad to want to base this issue on a case by case basis? There is an organization called "The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform" that is running The Reproductive "Choice" Campaign - they claim to "expose the horror of abortion on the roads of America" by driving around huge semi-trucks with horrific pictures of aborted fetuses on the side of the trucks. They also print huge signs (7 feet tall by 22 feet wide) and hold them up on college campuses around the US. They used to do this at the University of Missouri and then I saw them today on the UK campus. I know a lot of that is propoganda and the way you present information - therefore I need to come at this, almost with a cynical point of view. At the same time, it is VERY convincing and therefore effective. Yet at the same time, I can't hep but think that my friend that was gang raped has the right to have the decision to get an abortion. Or what about people that clearly would not be good parents, that the child would end up in "the system" anyway? Or the infants that would be born with a disease or a syndrome, knowing that their parents would not want them or would not want to deal with their problems, and would not do it? I have seen a statistic that says 40 million fetuses have been aborted since 1973. How would our country be different if even half of those children were born - and we had 20 million more citizens in the US? What if we had all 40 million? Will I ever have an opinion on this or an answer?

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Kentucky is as Kentucky Does







So my friend Kelley - native Kentuckian - recently went on a date with her step brother and discovered a new way to plan her life, make major decisions, and basically a new religion to follow. It's called "The Cube." Wanna know what the cube says about me? I'm sensual and mysterious, my lover is moralistic but has fogotten to show up, my thunderstorm can be predicted about as well as Hurrican Rita, but fixed with Prozac, my children are inside my womb as an extension of my blonde self, and my lover is closer to my friends than me. As for Andrea, she wants to show her kids off and wants a Clydesdale of a man :) We're waiting to find out about Kelley until she's done dating her step-brother.

Running for what?

I went running again today....Something tells me the guy that ran past me in the other direction, in flip flops, cigarette in hand, he was not running for the same exercise reasons I was. :-D