ex(PR)essed

I have a new blog theme. Don’t you love it? Huh? Don’t you? Huh, huh? Do you?

Thanks, Matt.

Many of you have heard about her, but I’m not sure how many have actually met Brave Girl Beth. She usually straps on her cape right before she talks on camera or mingles with a group of people she’s never met before. Well, last night she slowly but surely made an appearance at The Climbnasium in Mechanicsburg.

Jeff’s softball game was canceled due to the rain. We were both feeling antsy, so I agreed with his suggestion to go “bouldering” at the Climbnasium. References to rock climbing have peppered his vocabularly (and blog posts) lately, so I thought I better check out his latest fitness interest before we owned all the gear and were vacationing at large clilffs somewhere.

I felt so awkward and totally out of place at Climbnasium. It was awful. I stood with my arms folded watching people much thinner and more agile than me scale these seemingly impossible walls. Jeff gently nudged me and encouraged me to give it a try. I resisted. Multiple times. But, finally, when I thought no one was looking, I made an attempt to scale a small portion of the wall, and I made it!

I still spent much of the evening feeling hesitant and self-conscious, but I was proud of myself for even daring to try something new. That’s one of the great things about Jeff: he’s not afraid to try new things, and he’s not afraid to stumble while learning. I don’t like to fail…especially in front of people. I can now see how rock climbing would be good practice for problem-solving and for chipping away at my pride.

So, I’m not ready to buy all the gear. I’m not even really ready for a return trip to Climbnasium. But, I am ready to think about embarking on new adventures!

Well, another weekend has come and gone. And, like all the other ones, it came and went too quickly. Thankfully we have a three day weekend to look forward to in just three days. Have I ever mentioned how much I like having Mondays off from work? Better than a Friday for sure. However, I had Monday off this week but for not-so-fun reasons: ever get a migraine and then feel totally hollowed out the next day? That was me yesterday. So, I stayed home.

Anyhow, we had quite an exciting weekend. It started with the community yard sale on Saturday morning. At 7:45 a.m., as I was trying to unpack boxes onto the tables set up in our driveway, eager customers were following me around. I don’t care for that. I do care for getting rid of junk and making money though, so the sale was a success!

Then, I had lunch with my cute friend Rachel and we did some shopping. That was the mid-afternoon Saturday highlight.

The Saturday evening highlight looked a little something like this:

We went to the Pattons for dinner and a rousing game of Killer Uno, but the first part of the evening was spent chasing the girls around the yard, looking for bird nests, and climbing this tree. Emma was fearless, and in this picture she’s hanging out with her best friend. These two are too cute together. It’s pretty much a mutual adoration society when they’re together.

The big excitement of the weekend took place on Sunday morning. I won’t go into too much detail because Jeff did an outstanding job of retelling the story on his blog. I will add a photo or two though to get your attention. Mind you, we have (well, had) a screened-in porch.

Let me just say, having a crow trapped on your screened-in porch is a hard thing to take early on a Sunday morning. Having a brave husband who will set it free isn’t hard to take at all!

Sometimes there are so many random things that I want to blog about that I’m pretty sure I could spend hours each day just spewing forth rather irrelevant details of my life. While it would be a cathartic experience for me, it would probably be painful for my three faithful readers. And, I’m pretty sure Messiah would frown upon me “spewing” anything during work hours. Can’t say I blame them.

So, here is just a sampling of what’s been on my mind this week.

Things that are missing
It started Tuesday night when Phil and the crew of the Cornelia Marie were not on “Deadliest Catch” at all. Excuse me, but what’s that all about? They almost made up for it by welcoming back Eric from the Rollo, but by 10 p.m., I was still pretty disappointed not to see Phil, Jake, Josh, and the boys. Then, last night, while I was working on my devotions, I
realized that my Bible does not include Matthew 18:11. It has 18:10 and 18:12, but what happened to 11? That started Jeff and I on a search of all our Bibles, and we’re puzzled by this missing verse. Anyone want to weigh in on what happened to verse 11? Curiouser and curiouser.

Nostalgia
Last week my co-worker Scott brought up (in conversation) Velveeta, which reminded me of having grilled cheese sandwiches at my friend Tara Heffern’s house. Her mom made the best grilled cheese sandwiches, in my opinion. Turns out that it was due to the Velveeta, which was vastly different from the Kraft singles I was used to. We used to eat grilled cheese sandwiches, plain Lays potato chips (from the yellow bag, which, interestingly, they kept in the refrigerator), and Soft Batch chocolate chip cookies. Those were the days. You know, Tara is in practically every birthday picture for the first 13 years of my life. Then, we totally took separate paths. Life is mysterious…how could your best childhood friend become a stranger? Thankfully, I’m still in touch with many other of my childhood friends; I treasure that, in some cases, we can talk about being friends for 30 years!

The beauty of food
My parents were here last weekend, and I made a seafood lasagna for Mother’s Day lunch. While it was a bit soupy (but delicious), I couldn’t help being in awe of the loveliness of the preparation. The chopped spinach, the cheese mixture, the spices, the seafood. It was all so lovely and organized on my counter. Then, on Tuesday, I decided to surprise Jeff with a nice dinner when he came home from his long run, so I made fish tacos with mango salsa. Even lovelier! I really enjoy chopping vegetables. I like the sound of the knife and the cutting board. The progress of something once whole becoming smaller and smaller. The smell of minced garlic, of orange peels and limes, of green onions and mango and jalapeno. It was a delicious meal — both for the tastebuds and the eyes.

The beauty of God
It’s Spring, so the beauty of God seems especially evident at every turn of the head. But, I’m thinking more of the beauty of God as seen in Roger, a man that God pursued for years before he finally surrended, and now he is a visibly uplifted, joyous man with a spirit and testimony that will win many to Christ, I’m sure. The beauty of God experienced through his gentle nudging of me towards my Bible every night. I’m really starting to love spending quiet moments with him at the end of my day. The beauty of God that shines through my friends…including my two best friends: one celebrating the start of a new life and the other grieving the loss of a life. God is faithful in both situations, and he is good. And he is lovely. And I see him clearly in my friends. And I am blessed.

The Bridge magazine chose to capture The Compassion Forum through a series of photographs and captions (wait until you see it — it’s magnificent!), so I thought that would be a good (and quick) way for me to share a bit about the Lorow’s recent trip south.

This is our nephew Daniel. This is only the second time that Jeff and I have seen him. The first was at Thanksgiving, and he was kind of a baby blob. This time, he was loads of fun! This kid has personality! He was so pleasant and had plenty of smiles for his aunt and uncle. We loved seeing him and his cute parents.

We were really pleased to be able to attend Jeff’s little brother’s Eagle Scout ceremony. Tim had worked very hard for this moment (many badges and the construction of half a dozen benches later). It was fun to see him celebrated for this accomplishment!

On Monday morning, Jeff and I left Rock Hill to spend a few days in Asheville, North Carolina. We visited the Biltmore. It’s huge. The highlights of this historic location? The winery, Jeff being attacked by two lambs, and the ice cream.

On Tuesday, our second anniversary, we headed in search of a hike. We drove the Blue Ridge Parkway for a bit before stumbling upon this hidden gem called the Cradle of Fostestry. We enjoyed a couple of miles of nature walks. The weather was spectacular!

On our way back to civilization, we drove past Looking Glass Falls. Gorgeous! Please notice that I was doing my best to promote Messiah College, even on vacation! This t-shirt garnered comments from several people. Yay Messiah!

And, as if we hadn’t had enough primary election talk in our own state, we happened to be in North Carolina on the day of their primary. I’m pleased to say that the first time we drove past this telephone pole, there was only an Obama sign. But, by mid-day on Tuesday, someone had added two Hillary signs!

So, there it is. Vacation in a nutshell. One more important thing to note: we put gas in our new Honda Civic in Bristol, TN yesterday. 421 miles later and the low fuel light still isn’t on. We love this car!