After listening to the debate, I got thinking (OK, I admit, I argued with the screen.) on a phrase that was repeated a couple times. Did anyone else catch it? I'm not talking about the 19 "my friends"s, either.

What would YOU say is the "greatest force for good in the history of the world"?

I know I don't have a hunting dog; I have a herding dog. Nevertheless, I try to teach Casey to hunt- only bugs.

I wonder what he's thinking when he's deep in battle with the invading enemy.

His hunting sessions are hilarious. He goes to bite the bug, then will raise his head and shake it as if to say "Yuck!" Hilarious.

Aw, aren't they cute?


Let me tell you, I'm SO excited for my friends who got married this weekend. If you haven't yet, go wish them congratulations. They'll see it when they get back from their trip to Aruba.

I got to see lots of other friends too, including but not limited to:

Beth

You ought to go over to her blog and tell HER congratulations, albeit for a different life event.

Olivia

Olivia must have remembered me from when we helped them move to their new place, because the whole time we were visiting, I would try to go sit with the "grown-ups", and she promptly grabbed my fingers and dragged me back to play with her. Every. Time. Don't think I'm complaining though.

Ashley and Tree

It was so neat to be able to hang out with these two ladies at the same time. They're two of my favorite people. Here, we all look like deer caught headlights, on school picture day. Gotta love the background.

Paul

We got to spend a good amount of time talking to Ashley & Paul, since they stayed at our house Friday night & made the road trip with us. He's got the fastest Sidekick this side of the Mississippi.

Jeremiah

Tree and Dan's boy is growing up so much! I was so impressed with his baby signs, and his social nature. I first met him less than 4 months ago, and he's gone from Baby to Almost Toddler in that time!

After the wedding festivities, we headed to Chicago Sunday to have lunch with Caroline & her Josh, then took her on a Target run. Didn't have my camera handy, but was fascinated by the escalators made for shopping carts. Wow.

I saw plenty of others, too- check out the rest of the album!

I'll leave you with the profound thoughts in front of the church where the wedding was:
life insurance rates

I have lots of good pictures from the weekend at home on my computer. Those will come in a post later today. The weekend was exhausting, but great. If you missed it- my friends Matt and Alisse got married! I'm so delighted for them. Go wish them congratulations!

I loved seeing so many friends (and their families!), and picking up with them where I last left off. It was a delight. I have friends, both close to home and scattered around the country, in many different places in life. Some are parents, some are not. Some have dogs, some have cats, some have turtles. Some are married, some are not. Some live in houses, some live in apartments. Some live on farms, some live in the city, some live in third-world countries. All sorts of people. Some work in offices, some work in schools, some work at home, some are in graduate school. I love hearing of all their far-flung adventures, as different as they are from our own sometimes.

Last week, I was feeling alone and discouraged, realizing that, of all the people I knew, I had no friends in my place in life (a wife happily working full-time in an office). I had no peer to share with. I felt I must be doing something wrong, if everyone who I hang out with is choosing a different path. This nagged at me most of last week, as it does periodically. It was such a joy and encouragement and, in a way, a relief, to run into friends I've known since before my senior year of high school, and hear that they are in the same place we are. As we reconnected, I learned that their story of the last couple years sounds suspiciously like ours. They graduated & got married the same summer we did. They just bought a house. They like their jobs, both working in offices in a medium-sized city. They've found a church home. They've added a big dog to their family (or, in their case, two!) with no immediate plans for kids. They're settling in an area, and are very content in their current life stage. Hearing that I'm not alone in my life stage made me feel less crazy. Maybe I am OK.

I told my friends that their story was a blessing to me, after a week where I had been discouraged. It was a simple blessing, for sure, but a reminder that God doesn't just dismiss my silly worries and insecurities, but instead cares deeply about me. He heard me and reassured me that He has me at this life stage for a reason, even as he has most of my friends at different life stages. God is good.

Tonight we pick up friends at the airport, and leave tomorrow morning with them for Chicago (with a pit stop to visit friends in West Lafayette). What's in Chicago? Well, lots of things. Most importantly, though, this weekend, there's a wedding between a certain happy couple, and, as a bonus, there's also a certain mom and son visiting the country. Sunday, I hope to visit with my sister and; brother-in-law in downtown Chicago. I really can't wait to see everyone!

Embarassingly, this is the only picture I can find of the bride & groom, and it's over a year old! I guess they've been too busy wedding-planning to pose for pictures this year :)

I promise to take better ones this weekend!

Don't know what I'm wearing to the wedding, don't know if I have any home acne treatment to look my best, and the house isn't clean for our overnight guests yet. I'll be busy before we leave!

Hanging out on the porch while I sweep away the newly-fallen leaves, Casey stays on the lookout for any guests coming up the walk, ready to greet them with much enthusiasm. He's been having lots of opportunities to greet guests lately- 18 people have been over to our house at sometime or another in the last week. He's getting better about not clobbering them on their way in the door.
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Mexican recipes

As a junior high schooler, I lugged the huge Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 5-books-in-one Edition around in my backpack, loving the silly stories and humor of Douglas Adams. It's one of the few books I can re-read over and over. During some of the first weeks of college, new friends in the dorm (who are still friends to this day!) sat around during downtime and read the book out loud to each other, seeing who could get through a whole chapter reading without cracking up themselves. It was a blast. Now, many more people know the (approximate) story from the movie made a few years ago.

The story revolves around a Brit names Arthur Dent, who gets saved from an exploding earth by his friend Ford Prefect, who turns out to be an alien. Ford is a writer for the definitive guide to everything in the universe, called the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The first thing we learn about this electronic, all encompassing Guide, is that the cover is emblazoned with "big, friendly letters" that read DON'T PANIC.

Good advice. Take all this financial hubbub, for instance. Quite a few people seem to be panicking. Am I? Not at all. But I have a mortgage! And a 401K! And what if I need a car loan?! Or Ladybug steam cleaners?! Or a vacation to Hawaii?! Shouldn't we ALL be panicking??!

Short answer: 
No.

Longer answer:
I'm not panicking. Here's why:

So, I Don't Panic. 

- link via God's Politics