Christmas has now come and gone and I hope that we were able to remember why Christmas is celebrated!
My mom has been here for a few days and we just took a little jaunt to Bryson City. It was only a one-night adventure, but probably long enough. The cabin we stayed in was adorable, but my mom had to cover her eyes each time we came home or left. The driveway was so straight up that we actually had to back down it once to get a "running start" and make it up. The town is really cute, but I can't imagine growing up there. (Sorry Rebecca) We walked around the town and went into every shop that was open (many were closed) in less than an hour. But, the reason we went was for a train trip on the Great Smokey Mountain Railroad called the Polar Express. I was super-excited because the person who told me about it raved on and on and their website says it could be something to go to year after year, a tradition...of course they want customers to return. However, John, my mom & I were each a bit disappointed. Perhaps the trip before Christmas is better...this year they added additional trips after Christmas, I guess they book quickly. We had Santa on the train at the beginning of the trip, we rode to the "North Pole" and dropped him off, then got to hear the story with hot chocolate & a rice krispie treat on the way back. I'm guessing the order of events is opposite before Christmas as they'd bring Santa back with them. Well, I got my picture with Santa and he almost didn't give me a bell. I was gonna' be sad, but, as he was walking away, he said something like "here, take one." Quite a jolly fella! We sang carols on the way to drop off Santa and, it could've been our car, but it was a little lame. My guess is that the "entertainment" may be to distract you from looking out the window. I'll probably add pics later, but we drove by trailer parks with junk in the yard, the river we crossed was lined with old cars on the banks (erosion prevention??) and it was a little depressing. One of the funniest things, of course, was comments from the kids. The boy sitting across from us was quite the character. He really liked adding the little echoes when we sang Rudolph. When we made it to the North Pole, the conductor was announcing the houses and such and when we saw Santa's sleigh, the boy said "those aren't real reindeer" and "that's not a sleigh" and "we aren't in the North Pole." It was so funny. :) Don't know if he could hear his bell?? Anyway, I think once was maybe enough. Having seen the movie and all the "magic" they make in it, I suppose my expectations were too high...a norm for me anyway.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
busy sunday...
well, i have decided to write a little. i have been inspired from a friend of mine who is letting us (her friends) track her pregnancy through her blog. it is fun to read hers and i'm sure that i have nothing quite as interesting to say.
as you may have noticed and may be annoying, i am neglecting to capitalize (at least for now)...i like all lower case letters. and i use the three repeating dots a lot. it gets a little old to me, but it seems like a good transition now and then.
so, john has had to work a lot lately. he is getting mondays off right now. since i have the weekends off, we don't see tons of each other. i get a little bored, mostly on sundays after church, and i end up "filling time" as i wait for john to meet me for dinner. what do i fill this time with...shopping. that seems to not be great considering the economy, although i always find a way to justify spending and right now that seems to be that we just paid off our car and have "extra" income. no, it's not really extra and i should surely be saving. when i was at the mall today, i considered that i should maybe leave my credit card at home, but that probably would not be too responsible when i go to get gas in my car. last weekend i also did some mall walking and got a new pair of jeans. it was my most expensive pair EVER (i am a cheapo), but i essentially only paid for the tax. we use our discover card whenever possible and always pay it off. we earn money back and can get more rewards when we use them to get gift cards...so, i ordered a gift card and got my jeans for less than $4!!
i also went to a new church the past two weeks. we are church searching because we have not had much luck in that arena since we moved from charleston. we were attending a church that is linked to the church we attended in sc. they have since moved 15 more minutes from us, making the drive a solid 45 minutes. i have also tried hard to get involved and it hasn't worked...i have participated in small groups, volunteered in the nursery, attended the women's brunch and been to the women's weekend retreat. i have gotten to be friends with one great family (whose names are also kim & john & they just had their 4th child), but i do feel bad relying on them for our social network. and so i decided to visit various churches while john is working on sundays. the first week went pretty well, but it will certainly need another try. this week was not great...the church is certainly respectable for their diversity (as mentioned, i think they are representing over 40 countries with attendance and do much mission work), but it was mentioned quite frequently. the style of worship didn't really reach me (is that fair...shouldn't all worship be good for all??). One thing i really enjoyed today was baptism. they baptised 3 people today and i haven't been to a baptism in quite some time. the churches we have been a part of meet in unconventional places where they move in and out each week and they usually do a baptism once a month at an offsite body of water. i do connect more with the river/lake/ocean immersion, but it's generally great to witness someone being baptised! furthermore...does anyone know a great contemporary church in charlotte??
after john & i had dinner, i called my mom. (i talk to her at least 6 days a week lately.) as we were talking, i realised i didn't call her yesterday (all i did the entire day is scan photos from camp in fl to make a photo book)...nov 15...HER BIRTHDAY! how ridiculous. thankfully, i mailed her gift last week and she enjoyed it. what a slacker!
speaking of which, i have been quite the slacker lately. i have missed many birthdays, been late with wedding gifts and just been generally out of touch. i really need to write my german family (with whom i stayed when i studied abroad), but can't seem to just get to it.
and this ends my first blog. thank you for your time and i'm sure i'll have something not-so-amazing to talk about next time...until we meet again~kj
as you may have noticed and may be annoying, i am neglecting to capitalize (at least for now)...i like all lower case letters. and i use the three repeating dots a lot. it gets a little old to me, but it seems like a good transition now and then.
so, john has had to work a lot lately. he is getting mondays off right now. since i have the weekends off, we don't see tons of each other. i get a little bored, mostly on sundays after church, and i end up "filling time" as i wait for john to meet me for dinner. what do i fill this time with...shopping. that seems to not be great considering the economy, although i always find a way to justify spending and right now that seems to be that we just paid off our car and have "extra" income. no, it's not really extra and i should surely be saving. when i was at the mall today, i considered that i should maybe leave my credit card at home, but that probably would not be too responsible when i go to get gas in my car. last weekend i also did some mall walking and got a new pair of jeans. it was my most expensive pair EVER (i am a cheapo), but i essentially only paid for the tax. we use our discover card whenever possible and always pay it off. we earn money back and can get more rewards when we use them to get gift cards...so, i ordered a gift card and got my jeans for less than $4!!
i also went to a new church the past two weeks. we are church searching because we have not had much luck in that arena since we moved from charleston. we were attending a church that is linked to the church we attended in sc. they have since moved 15 more minutes from us, making the drive a solid 45 minutes. i have also tried hard to get involved and it hasn't worked...i have participated in small groups, volunteered in the nursery, attended the women's brunch and been to the women's weekend retreat. i have gotten to be friends with one great family (whose names are also kim & john & they just had their 4th child), but i do feel bad relying on them for our social network. and so i decided to visit various churches while john is working on sundays. the first week went pretty well, but it will certainly need another try. this week was not great...the church is certainly respectable for their diversity (as mentioned, i think they are representing over 40 countries with attendance and do much mission work), but it was mentioned quite frequently. the style of worship didn't really reach me (is that fair...shouldn't all worship be good for all??). One thing i really enjoyed today was baptism. they baptised 3 people today and i haven't been to a baptism in quite some time. the churches we have been a part of meet in unconventional places where they move in and out each week and they usually do a baptism once a month at an offsite body of water. i do connect more with the river/lake/ocean immersion, but it's generally great to witness someone being baptised! furthermore...does anyone know a great contemporary church in charlotte??
after john & i had dinner, i called my mom. (i talk to her at least 6 days a week lately.) as we were talking, i realised i didn't call her yesterday (all i did the entire day is scan photos from camp in fl to make a photo book)...nov 15...HER BIRTHDAY! how ridiculous. thankfully, i mailed her gift last week and she enjoyed it. what a slacker!
speaking of which, i have been quite the slacker lately. i have missed many birthdays, been late with wedding gifts and just been generally out of touch. i really need to write my german family (with whom i stayed when i studied abroad), but can't seem to just get to it.
and this ends my first blog. thank you for your time and i'm sure i'll have something not-so-amazing to talk about next time...until we meet again~kj
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