Evan Almighty

Daniel and I met for lunch at McAllister's and then spent several hours at Lowe's going over our planned purchases for the master bathroom renovation. We have a 10% off coupon for Lowe's that expires soon and there are some great sales this weekend for Labor Day so we were planning our shopping trip. It looks like we will probably spend a big chunk of money which is overwhelming... but it is in the name of progress...

After Lowe's we stopped by the dollar theater and decided to catch the matinee of Evan Almighty. It was a cute movie. Mostly it brought to life many of my personal thoughts about Noah. I cannot begin to fathom how I would react if God requested that I do something that seemed nonsensical to me.

In Evan Almighty, Evan tried to fight God. He tried to be sneaky and do what he thought would please both God and man, but God did not give him a choice. How hard would that be to keep doing what God said even when people were laughing at you and then on top of it to know you didn't really have a choice?

I really like how they showed the change in Evan and how even his wife eventually came to realize that even though it seemed silly she needed to support Evan. Even when crowds of people gathered to gawk and laugh while they worked, the family continued to do God's will. I would definitely recommend this movie. It is cute, has some good laughs and as well as a powerful message.

Daniel's Birthday and some random stuff...

Yesterday was Daniel's 27th birthday. I was going to surprise him with a trip to Inner Peaks, the local indoor rock climbing gym. However his neck has been bothering him since he let my 4 youngest girl cousins spend hours tackling him in the swimming pool all of last weekend. So instead we are going rock climbing tomorrow when he gets home from work at noon.

To celebrate last night, we went to one of his favorite restaurants, 131 Main. We celebrated with some fresh seafood that was fantastic. Afterwards we swung by REI to pick up an order he had placed and he also ended up purchasing a down sleeping bag... so happy birthday to Daniel! After REI we went to Barnes&Noble where we split a dessert and coffee at the Starbucks and then spent time reading. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable evening (minus the fact taht I had a killer headache)...

Today we discovered that a house in our neighborhood burned down early this morning. Luckily there was no one in the house when this happened. It is 4 blocks from where we live and completely destroyed.

Tonight I was cooking and I was trying out brown rice instead of the normal white rice. The instructions were different from how I am used to cooking and I burned the rice! I mean it was BLACK and our house smells terrible! Who knew that you could burn rice like that???

Anyways we did a kind of a "cheat" meal. I put the stir fry I had made into a glass dish with a lid and we ran into town to Mama Fu's (a semi-fast food Asian place). We purchased a side of brown rice, some pot-stickers and 2 waters for $4.11. Then we sat in the outdoor dining area and waited for our food. After they brought us the rice and pot stickers, Daniel ran to the car and grabbed our stir fry which we ate with the rice. I am not sure if there is etiquette rules governing whether you can combine your homemade food with your purchased food... but hey, we did it, it was good, cheap and faster than me trying to make a new pot of rice!

After Mama Fu's we went to the Books-A-Million in that shopping center and spent about an hour reading. Talk about a cheap date night. Actually Daniel ended up buying 2 magazines which is good for us b/c normally we just browse.

It is FINALLY raining. I love to throw open the windows and just listen to the rain. Someday we are going to have a screened-in porch with a couch or bed on it that I can go be lazy in every time that it rains!

Life is a funny thing...

Life is a funny thing. It doesn't always turn out the way that you expect. People and things disappoint you. Things that you think should work out, don't. But there is always a silver lining. God always has something lined up for you. Right now I am not sure what that something is, but I am learning to trust more fully in God. Some days it is harder than others. But I keep praying and trusting that everything will work out.

If you haven't heard, I didn't get the job with Sporting News. I am somewhat disappointed, but I know that it will be okay. It was a chance at a job here in Charlotte and the odds were stacked against me: 350 applicants... 20 phone interviews... 7 face-to-face interviews... 1 job. Kind of felt like the odds of making it onto American Idol and I was one of the 7 finalists...

Growing up I never really cared about being #1 but now I am learning that the difference between being first and second has a greater consequence... like the difference between having or not having a job. Anyways I know that my life is in God's hands and he is in control. Things may not always work out how I expect, but I know without a doubt that they will work out in the best way possible.

Another Tree Fell In Our Back Yard/Family Reunion Recap

This is so bizarre... Daniel and I had just got back into town from my family reunion in Kentucky. As we pulled into the neighborhood, I made an offhand comment about how I hoped we didn't have any trees fall while we were away. I should have knocked on wood b/c as soon as we pulled into the driveway we noticed some branches in the back yard. When we went to investigate, we discovered that a tree from our neighbor's yard had fallen and is laying across our back yard. We have probably spent a month of weekend's in the last year cutting up fallen trees. Hopefully our neighbors will do the right thing and take care of this one. I am still incredulous.

We had a wonderful time with my family. There were 34 out of 36 of my extended family all together in Kentucky for Friday - Monday. We can from North Bay, Ontario; Manitoulin Island, Ontario; Toronto, Ontario; Port Colborne, Ontario; Welland, Ontario; Auburn Hills, Michigan; Charlotte, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Memphis, Tennessee & Searcy, Arkansas. This is the first time in a long time that everyone has been all together like this and it was truly a lot of fun as well as a good time to reconnect.

We had fun playing games, hanging out, swimming and visiting. The food was good and the company was better. The best part of my whole weekend was Sunday night when we had skit night and my brother was asked to do a skit by our cousins. Jonathan took Mark downstairs while Joel told us that Mark didn't know it but he would be demonstrating "going to the bathroom" for us. Mark came up and sat in a chair and started doing all sorts of crazy antics... turns out Jonathan told him that he was riding a roller coaster. This was the most hysterical roller coaster ride I have ever seen. My stomach hurt so much from laughing. Angela video taped the whole thing and will post it on YouTube. I could watch it over and over and it would still make me laugh every time!!!

We Made It To Kentucky

Daniel and I made it to Somerset, KY about 15 minutes ago and are waiting for Mark, Angela & Robert to show up. They called about an hour ago to say they had really bad traffic in Memphis and have another 2 hours of driving.

We lucked out with a nice hotel, at an excellent rate and my brother even gets a rollaway cot and does not have to sleep on the floor! I brought a trusty Thermorest and a sleeping bag for him just in case. Since he is the baby of the fam and does not have to pay for the room he doesnt get a "real" bed, but since he is in college he is cool with that.

Tomorrow we will all head over to the cabins to check in and wait for the rest of the fam to roll in. Angela and I will go take care of the grocery shopping for the weekend - meals for 36 people for 3 days... thank goodness for organization and my trusty shopping list! I hope that I didn't forget anything...

Family Reunion Weekend

I am really excited about this weekend. It is the Lock Family Reunion, which means I get to see a lot of my extended family that I do not see on a regular basis. I am also excited because almost the entire crew will be there and I haven't seen some of my cousins in a really long time.

This year's reunion is in Burnside, Kentucky. It is relatively central to where everyone lives. We have people coming from as far north as North Bay, Ontario Canada and as far south as Searcy, Arkansas. I suppose Daniel and I coming the farthest from the east from Charlotte, North Carolina but we definitely do not have the longest drive.

I am tying up some last minute things and then I will be off to pick up Daniel from work and we plan to head out around 3:00. I am excited that I will get to see Mark, Angela & Robert tonight and then everybody else will roll in sometime tomorrow. I am sad that my parents won't be able to get in until late tomorrow night, but I am thankful that they came and spent 5 days with us earlier this month (so I have already had my special time with them).

We tried this trip 13 years ago - meeting in Kentucky and all. Our family has changed a lot since then. There are 5 new grandkids in the family and 3 great grandkids (which I will get to meet for the first time this weekend). Our family has also grown with 5 of us grandkids getting married.

We have rented 3 rather large cabins at a resort in Kentucky and I am excited just to see everybody and kick back and relax.

Another One Bites The Dust

I just heard from an old co-worker that another person has quit the marketing department at Allen Tate. I know that everyone has different experiences and opportunities that arise but (if you include me) this is the 5th person to leave the department since last fall... out of a staff of about 15 seems pretty significant.