ex(PR)essed

Thankfully, I got to spend a few minutes with Allyson and the girls last night. It’s a good thing because they leave for Canada later today (returning to the land where Robert grew up, according to Natalie. He actually grew up in Clarion, not Canada. But really, why get sidetracked with the details?), and I won’t see them for more than a week. That caps off a month when I barely saw them at all, and I simply don’t care for that.

So, while our time together was short, it was special. And, I’m grateful to have captured a few more photos of these lovely girls.

Even though it will Natalie-and-Emma-less, I am looking forward to the weekend! Come on 5 p.m.!

Until shortly after 9 p.m. last night, I totally intended to blog about my first bike ride of 2008. I say that with some embarrassment because it was a mere two summers ago that I trained for and successfully completed a century (100-miler for your non-pedalers out there). And, I’ve been on my bike a total of three times since. Yikes. But, it felt good to be back out there last night, even though the Harrisburg Bike Club blew past me, and Jeff said I coasted too much. I was so grateful to be able to easily clip in and out of pedals and shift smoothly. Two skills I thought might be lost during the hiatus!

Anyhow, did you watch The Deadliest Catch last night? Pins and needles my friends. Phil Harris, captain of the Cornelia Marie, chainsmoker, and caffeine addict, took a nasty tumble when hurricance force winds and waves battered the boat. He thought he cracked a few ribs. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he was soon coughing up blood. In the middle of the Bering Sea! Not good. Not good at all. Finally, he agreed to head to St. Paul Island for medical attention. The show ended with no resolution, no sense of whether he was going to be alright or not. It just ended with one very concerned Lorow fretting to her husband about her “friend” Phil and wondering how she can stand to wait seven days to know his fate. (Yes, I might be too attached to these guys. Except Keith. I don’t like Keith at all. He’s mean.) I know Phil lives and all, but what if he isn’t on the show next year? I can barely stand the thought.

You know what else I can barely stand the thought of? My girls — Allyson, Natalie, and Emma — leaving once again for another vacation. It has been a solid four weeks since I have had quality time with these girls, and I absolutely hunger for their cute faces. Thankfully Allyson agreed to meet me tomorrow and ease my suffering.

Finally, one good thing about today that I must mention: My cute twin Becky is back!

I want to share two gems of wisdom from the book I’m reading, “The Emperor of Ocean Park” by Stephen Carter. It’s a work of fiction, a murder-mystery of sorts, written very much like a Grisham novel. However, within the suspenseful storyline is a healthy dose of social commentary. I’m enjoying the book very much.

I was stopped in my tracks when I stumbled upon these two passages:

“Although every believing Christian understands that God guides our steps, fewer and fewer emphasize the point. A God working actively in the world makes us uneasy. We tend to like our God distant and a bit malleable, ready to bend to every new human idea. A God with a will of his own is too scary, and, besides, he might get in the way of our satisfaction of immediate desire.” (pg. 300, spoken by the main character, Talcott)

Then, 46 pages later:

“Satan never changes. That is his great weakness. That is where the believer has the advantage over him, praise God. Satan is a creature of habit. He is clever, but not intelligent. Satan is always the same, and his subjects, those souls who are lost to him, always behave the same…Satan is stupid. Clever, you see, but not intelligent, praise God. This is God’s gift to us, requiring Satan to remain stupid. Why is Satan stupid? So that, if we are alert, we can recognize him. By his signs we shall know him! For Satan, stupid Satan, always attacks us in the same ways. If the old methods fail, he can think of nothing new, praise God. So he just goes on to attack somebody else. He attacks us with sexual desire and other temptations that distract the body. He attacks us with drink and drugs and other temptations that addle the brain. He attacks us with racial hatred and love of money and other temptations to distort the soul.

“You see, then, what Satan does. He attacks the body. He attacks the brain. He attacks the soul. Body, mind, and soul–those are the only parts of the human being that Satan understands how to attack, praise God. If you guard them from Satan, you are safe. If you guard your body, you are guarding the temple of the Lord, for you are made in God’s image. If you guard your mind, you are guarding the toolhouse of the Lord, for God works his will here on earth through mortal human beings. And if you guard your spirit, you are guarding the storehouse of the Lord, for God fills our souls with his power to help us to do his work on earth.” (spoken the character Reverand Doctor Morris Young)

I do love palm trees. And sunshine. And even afternoon rain. I like open-air shopping malls and eating outside. I like Florida. I do. But, Pennsylvania is home. While I certainly enjoyed my time in the Sunshine State, I’m also pretty happy to be back home.

After a cancelled flight and relatively easy re-routing, I arrived in West Palm Beach on Wednesday safe and sound. It was raining and humid. I met my first CCCU friend — Carrie from Mt. Vernon Nazarene in Ohio — and got checked into the residence hall. We quickly bustled off to a reception, dinner, presention by the president of the CCCU, and time of worship. All my nerves about venturing off to a conference where I didn’t know anyone were quickly put to rest. When you have Christ in common, the rest just starts to fall into place.

It wasn’t until Thursday that I started to really take in my surroundings:

An unexpected sighting:

These little critters were a frequent sight on the sidewalks, and you could hear them rustling around in the dead leaves along the sidewalks. I wasn’t too bothered by their presence, but I heard more than one girl scream when a lizard would go scurrying across the sidewalk…even once coming very close to running right over Meredith’s foot!

Besides the camarederie (too lazy to look up proper spelling) with the other attendees, my favorite part of the conference was playing croquet at the National Croquet Center. This place was no joke! Our teacher, Kathie from New Jersey, was a hoot. Sometimes she called me Beth, sometimes she called me Teresa, and sometimes she just called me babe. But, my partner Katie and I had a great time, and our record was 1-1. Trust me: you’ve never seen croquet like this before. The courts are laser-leveled (at a cost of $50,000 per court; this place has 12). The seven-time world croquet champ works at this particular center. There were mallets for sale in the gift shop for more than $400!

Also, I can’t talk about Florida without showing you this tree. Check it out!

This tree is in front of Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Norton Museum of Art. It’s very cool. I stood in awe of it for so long that the people I was walking with were getting impatient and slightly tired of hearing me say over and over, “Wow. Look at this tree.” I took like 33 million photos, but I’ll just share this one. And, while this particular tree looked quite fabulous beside the museum, the same type of tree looked quite creepy in the cemetary across the street.

All in all it was a really great trip. Great people, good food, helpful sessions, fun free time, hassle-free flying. It was also really great to see Jeff waiting for me in the airport and to sleep in my own bed.

Just one unpleasant thing seems to have happened while I was gone:

In these tough economic times when the word excess seems scarce, I have been plagued twice today by too much of something. It started with the refrigerator this morning. A flood within. I literally had about four inches of water in each of the crisper drawers. The water was drip, drip, dripping down the back of the fridge, and the freezer shelf was like a glacier (please say is “glass-ear” like Bear Grylls). So, I unexpectedly spent about 30 minutes mopping up water, emptying the freezer and fridge, and talking to my dad, who just happens to be the best appliance repairman (and dad) in Pennsylvania. (Well, maybe the whole East Coast.) He assures me that it’s probably just a minor problem with the ice maker — something he can order a part for and tell Jeff how to fix at a later time. You know, a time when I’m not seriously late for work. Anywho, I’ll be anxious to get home and (hopefully) find a dry, flood-free refrigerator.

In other excess news, please note the new situation in my office:

Yesterday, three boys (one from Messiah and two I didn’t know) installed a dish (of the satellite variety) on the roof of Old Main so that I could start digitally recording in my office. I now have two PVRs and one DVD/VHS burner combo; a 20-inch flat screen television is on the way. This system is no joke! Two gentlemen have made an attempt to teach me how to use all these devices, including the four remotes you see above, but I’m not convinced that I can even turn on the proper unit, let alone record something digitally and transfer it to a DVD. Yikes. Plus, the idea of turning on a television with umpteen-million channels on it in the middle of the work day seems a bit forbidden. I’ll keep you posted about my progress.

Finally, though the theme of this blog post is “too much,” you, sadly, will not have “too much” of me the next few days. I leave tomorrow morning for Palm Beach for a conference, so I will be away from my blog. I will definitely be sporting my brave girl Beth cape as I jet off to a conference where I don’t know anyone!

It was a girls’ weekend for yours truly. On Thursday morning, Jeff left for a service trip to northeast Philly where he helped remodel a parsonage at a new church plant. By Thursday evening, my cute mom and cute Aunt Wendy were in town, and the laughing had begun! I took Friday off work, and the ladies and I explored some of my favorite places in central PA — the Farmer’s Market, One Good Woman, Ashecombe’s, 10,000 Villages, and Panera Bread, of course! We just shopped and snacked the day away. What a treat! The girls left Saturday afternoon, and Jeff came home that evening.

It seems appropriate to me that we had a girls’ weekend the same weekend that Hillary Clinton conceded the Democratic nomination. It’s been a historic few months for women. Us girls with Barton blood coursing through our vains were each disappointed that Hillary was leaving the race. I hope that she is laying low today; she deserves about four months of some serious R&R after all that intense campaigning. I’m proud of Hillary and what she accomplished — not just for women, but for America — and I’m proud to be one of the 18 million that helped crack the glass ceiling!

The memory card on my camera was full. In uploading photos, I stumbled across these photos taken Memorial Day weekend. I had to share.

I LOVE this picture of Natalie on Jeff’s shoulders. Look at her; she is absolutely beautiful. I think her mom probably looked just like that when she was four. Lovely. But then, look at the expression on Jeff’s face…it’s possible that Natalie was holding just a bit too tightly!

Emma took the second photo. Please note the creative use of her finger as a framing device on the right portion of the photo. Please also note the excellent placement of her subjects.

We had such a good time with the girls that night. These photos make me happy. Hope they helped brighten your day too.

Ok…I can’t take it any more and I must make a confession. I’m saddened to share this news. I’m disappointed in myself. I’m questioning if I have failed English majors everywhere. Prepare thyself: the Lorows have abandoned “War and Peace.” I made it not quite halfway, and realized that book was slowly causing me to lose my love of reading. I was searching for other things to read at night (magazines, puzzle books) to avoid the book. I’m not sure why. I didn’t dislike reading it. Rather, I didn’t eagerly anticipate picking it up at night, and, therefore, I practically stopped reading it. I love to read too much, and there are too many good books out there to risk spending the next seven years plowing through “War and Peace.” Confession over.

I practically skipped to Murray Library here on campus last Friday to check out a few summer reading books. Since I’m flying to Florida next week, I was looking for a page turner, something that would help me pass the time during the flight. I got two books, and I’m just getting started with “The Emperor of Ocean Park.” I’ll keep you posted.

I’m reading a second book though now too (very much not my style, by the way, to date more than one book at a time). It’s a little page-turned called “Messiah College: A History.”

You see, the College is celebrating its Centennial in 2009-2010, and my colleague Christina and I are leading the communication committee for this event. My major responsibility this summer is to research, write, and populate the Centennial website. It’s a mammoth endeavor, but a fun project. And, it gives me reason to read at work!

Once you’ve read “Messiah College: A History,” you might be looking for some additional summer reading. Allow me to recommend “Peace Like a River” by Leif Enger; “Prodigal Summer” by Barbara Kingsolver; and both of Donna Tartt’s books.

Now, time for Chapter 5: “Grantham and a New Home.”

I spent the weekend in the great outdoors. How about you?

Well, I happen to know that if you’re a member of the Immanuel Youth Group, you also spent the weekend in the great outdoors. It was camping weekend for our group, and I think it’s safe to say that a good time was had by all. Except for the mosquito bites. In my case, the nasty, itchy blotches seem to centered around my ankles. Lovely.

It was also wedding weekend for Isaac and Heidi. Jeff and I skipped out of camp for a few hours on Saturday so we could be part of their big day. Their wedding was gorgeous! Thankfully, the rain cleared out so that they could have their ceremony outside. And, when we left their reception around 10 p.m., I was under the impression that the party was just getting started!

Now, it’s back to work. I’m quite certain that a few more hours of sleep was called for this morning!

Oh…and I think I just found bite #18.