April 30

My sessions didn't start until the afternoon, so I had all morning to wander around downtown. My hotel was just a couple blocks from Olympic Park, the Georgia Aquarium and the New World of Coke. My grandparents used to live in Atlanta so whenever John-Paul and I would go visit, Mamu would take us all over the place. We used to love going to Coke and Underground, and I haven't been since at least high school, so I thought I would take advantage of my free morning. I was sorely displeased!

Old Coke ~ garish and loud, like any self respecting tourist spot should be...


New Coke ~ sophisticated and boring, what a letdown!

At least they saved the sign. But it isn't anywhere near the New World of Coke, it's over by Underground. Ooh, and I got an Orange Julius while I was at underground... so yummy!

April 29

I flew to Atlanta for work today. Praise the Lord for the South! So, I get to my hotel (which by the way did not have wifi! Seriously?!) and this is what I see...

Who knew Chicago was only an escalator ride away? I could have saved all that money on plane tickets...

April 27

We had a meeting for the Costa Rica trip this afternoon. We paid our deposits and put in our applications, so I guess we're officially on our way.

Heidi, Amanda, and Ashley with their trip packets.

By the way, if anyone needs something to do with some extra money...

April 26

We hosted a knitting party at our place today. Of course I forgot to take pictures until just as everyone was leaving. I grabbed my camera real quick and got this one shot and then the battery died... DRAT!

Jasmine finished this scarf for Josiah. He doesn't look so sure about it...

April 25

You don't want to see this one up close...

I went to the store to get what I need to make sausage balls for the knitting party in the morning. They didn't have sausage, but they did have beef lips and pizzle... gag

April 24

Prayer meeting is over, no picture yet, so here's Amanda and Christen being happy about God.

April 23

Meet Mikalya Grace Joy...

I was in LaGrange for work today and thought I'd go meet the newest member of the Jules family since I rarely get to the suburbs. She is so tiny and sweet! And I have never seen kids as excited about a baby as her big brothers and sister are about her!

April 21

It kinda looks like worms, but it's not... it's my first attempt at cooking spaghetti squash. I figured I should go with an easy recipe, so I went with this one. It really just tastes like hashbrowns. Fair enough, I guess. Next time I think I'm going to try this.

April 20

I met up with Heather after church. We went to Karyn's on Wells - the cooked one, I'm not ready for raw vegan! It was surprisingly good. I don't really know why I was surprised; I've been hearing Shawn talk about how amazing this place is for as long as I've known him. Even Amanda was really please with her dinner there. I had a sloppy joe (which I renamed "Sloppy Faux") with wedge potatoes and coleslaw. I don't even like coleslaw, but thought this was pretty good. Our waiter, Enriques, blessed us with a piece of coconut cake on the house, since it was my first time there. That was really yummy too, but I'm not really sure how, seeing as it had no butter, eggs, milk, or refined sugar!

April 19

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Avisado!


David and Rhonda finally got married! It was a lovely wedding and reception. Unfortunately, I didn't get any really good pictures of the bride and groom. I got some fun ones of the guests though. And lots of pictures that accentuate my paleness... me? pale? never!
You can see the rest here.

April 18

It's been a rough week...

Tonight Amanda has plans and Ashley is house sitting, so it's the perfect opportunity for me to veg and go to bed early! I stopped at the grocery store for appropriate food (frozen pizza and ice cream) and what do I find? Tiny Ben & Jerry's! It was the most wonderful surprise. It's only 4 oz, so no threat of eating the entire four-serving pint. It even came with its own little spoon tucked into the lid. I got the chocolate fudge brownie... very yummy and chocolatey. They were out of the tiny Haagen-Daz coffee or I would have gotten that... coffee ice cream is my favorite! Oh well, I'll just have to save that for next time.

April 17

I picked up Melissa and Amanda after work and we headed over to TBP#2 before prayer meeting. I don't know if I can handle much more TBP#2. I love it, but I always end up downing handfuls of Tums driving to the church. Sad.

April 16

It's a tulip tree! I don't guess I've seen one since I've moved up here. They certainly aren't as common as they are down south. I absolutely love tulip trees. Mama and Daddy have one in our yard and they are all over campus, particularly by the science building, so spring always meant blooming tulip trees. As I was leaving work, I walked past one and got so excited. It made me think of home...

April 15

I'll spare you a picture of my tax return. Instead, how about a picture of Ashley...

We went walking through Lincoln Square tonight (I love that spring is trying to come!) and found this really cute store ~ Enjoy. Ashley really loved their variety of stylish sunglasses. Then we headed to Costello's for dinner. Yummy grinders.

April 14

We have the greatest mailman ever! I couldn't help but laugh when I opened the box and this fell out...

It's Amanda's wadded up cell phone bill. What in the world does this person have against Sprint that he would treat a piece of mail so badly!

April 12

We had the beignet party tonight. Unfortunately, but not unusually, I forgot to take a picture until almost everyone had left.
Here are a few more pictures of the night... Beignet Party

April 11

This really creeped me out. You can't really tell, but there were an obscene number of birds flying around as I was going down LSD. They didn't seem to be bothered by all the traffic, but I was certainly bothered by them. They were so low to the ground it was really gross.

April 10

Spring is no longer a distant memory...

April 9

I'm downtown this week for another class at the Graham School. Amanda and I met up afterwards for dinner (Soupbox... yummy!) and some shopping. Downtown is so pretty...



I took this through a window, so it's not super clear, but still pretty.

April 8

I met with Diane for tea tonight after work. I forgot to take a picture of her.

April 7

Hmmm... so much to do. Do I do it, do I not?

April 6

Is she a ray of sunshine... a moose... a flower...

April 5

Elva threw a surprise wedding shower for Rhonda this afternoon. She was so shocked!



Here are more pictures from the party... Rhonda'sShower

April 3

Tonight we had a baptism ceremony during prayer meeting.



I was thinking earlier today about the baptism tonight, how baptism is a symbol of new life. And as I was thinking, my mind went to my dad - a dead, diseased heart that God miraculously made new and alive (if you know me you probably know his story, if not, you can ask). What a physical picture of what God longs to do in our spirits - to take our sinful, diseased hearts and make them new. My dad's healing didn't take place over night; it was a process, a journey wrought with difficulities, questions, and frustration for my parents. Just as God's taking our stony hearts and replacing them with hearts of flesh is a process, a journey that is often hard, sometimes more than we think we are capable of, but always, always worth it.

There's a song by Clint Brown that goes like this...

Where would I be?

You only know.

I'm glad you see through eyes of Love

A hopeless case, an empty place,

If not for Grace.

All of us come from an empty, hopeless place, but God, through his infinite love and mercy, redeems us and gives us hope and a future, a purpose. There were testimonies tonight of bitterness, fear, anger, selfishness, lust, all being erased and replaced by God's gracious, merciful love. As one man put it tonight, "I know now that my purpose in life is to serve the Lord."

Praise the Lord for new life in Christ!

April 2

I went over to Jasmine's tonight. Got to hang out with Josiah. It's been quite a while since I've been over there and he has gotten HUGE! He's already 18 pounds and not quite 6 months. He's certainly a lot more active; he was particularly enjoying this chair thing. Note the drool... he's teething.

I think he's taking styling cues from his uncle Loren.