ex(PR)essed

If you’re a faithful reader of this blog (hi, mom and dad!), then you might be anxiously awaiting some more Natalie and Emma photos and stories. Well, as someone who adores those little girls, let me tell you that I had been anxiously looking forward to spending some time with the girls. My opportunity finally came last week.

Because of vacation and other schedule conflicts, it had been weeks since I had really talked to and snuggled with the girls. Our happy reunion began on Wednesday night at church. It started with a calm, happy embrace from Natalie and ended with Emma running at me, giggling, arms wide open, and a long, silly embrace. Allyson told me that Emma had been asking about “her Beth” for two weeks. Love that, and, just ask Jeff, I had been asking about “my Emma” and “my Natalie” for equally as long!

Yesterday morning I was doing my monthly stint in the nursery, and I got to spend some more quality time with Emma and the many other cute kids who hang out there during the service. I also learned from Allyson that Emma had even played “Jeff and Beth” one time with Emma playing the role of me and Allyson playing Jeff.

After church our Killer Uno-playing friend went to lunch, which is where the photos were taken. Natalie sat with me and Emma sat with Jeff. For as excited as Emma was to see me earlier in the week, she certainly only had eyes for Jeff at lunch. They were too cute!

Well, the alarm clock was a rude reminder this morning that vacation is over! Jeff and I had a wonderful week — lots of reading, sleeping, and just general lounging around. Here are just 10 things I want to tell you about my week.

1. I got to eat pumpkin ice cream twice. Love that.

2. I did a lot of sleeping, and I really like to sleep. For six days, I didn’t set an alarm clock or worry about what time to get up. As a matter of fact, for the portion of our vacation spent at Keuka Lake, it was warmer (by far!) to just stay under the covers. So I did.

3. I got reacquainted with my mountain bike. My Army green Trek mountain bike used to be my baby. Then Jeff came along. And then a red, faster, sleeker Trek came along, and, well, I’m afraid of mountain biking really. Jeff and I rode a bit in the woods behind my parent’s house. And, my mom and I used our mountain bikes to stalk, er…I mean encourage, Jeff during the marathon. We probably pedaled a total of 20 miles that Sunday morning, which allowed me the opportunity take these photos:

4. I like to read. Alot. I finished one good book on vacation, “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck, and started another, “Bel Canto” by Ann Patchett. One of my favorite moments was being spread out on the bench of a picnic table in the warm Friday sun drinking tea, reading, and dozing.

5. Hurricane Ike made a stop in Meadville. On Sunday night, we lost electricty around 8:30. Jeff and I laid in our room with flashlights balanced on our chest reading while the wind howled outside. I thought it was a bit creepy. Forced everyone to enjoy an early bedtime though. (Please see #2 for more on this topic.)

6. I climbed 800 stairs so that I could enjoy the wonder that is Watkins Glen. It was a cool, sunny day, and we enjoyed our climb up the gorge. The lighting made photography difficult, but I got a few shots worth sharing:

7. I can’t talk about visiting Meadville without talking about going to Pymantuning to feed the fish. This time the fish were all too deep, and the geese and ducks ate all our bread. Jeff was even brave enough to feed the seagulls by throwing bread into the air and watching them pluck it out of the sky. Mom and I just squealed and covered our heads in fear of an awful, unfortunate seagull accident that would leave one us with an unwanted present in our hair!

8. Ben. Ben who I babysit when he was only months old and is now a first-year student at Penn State. Ben and his brother and sister are like grandchildren to my parents. So, we were all so pleased that Ben was home for the weekend. Then, Jeff and I took a little State College detour on our way home yesterday so that we could take Ben his bike. In exchange, Ben took us to the Creamery! More ice cream…mmmmmmmmmm!

9. On Saturday, Jeff and I went to his cousin Angie’s wedding. First of all, kudos to the couple for chosing to get married in the Chautauqua Institution. That is one of my very favorite places, so I was thrilled to be on the grounds again, especially for such a happy occassion. Angie was a stunning bride. Truly. She was gracious and kind. And, sometime ask me about the special father-daugther dance. (Bring a tissue.)

10. Sadly, in the stack of the mail that was waiting for us was a note from the county. I’ve been summoned for jury duty. It’s official. I’m totally an adult. And, it’s definitely back to real life.

Greetings from Meadville! Instead of writing this post from my office on the third floor of Old Main, I am writing from the computer in my childhood bedroom at my parent’s house. Jeff and I just came back from a bit of a bike ride, and we’re showering and such before we embark on our second vacation day. Vacation is great!

Jeff completed the Erie marathon on Sunday. That in and of itself is a remarkable accomplishment. It was 79 degrees at 5:30 a.m. when we left for Erie. The humidity was extremely high, and it was shaping up to be a hot, humid day. Not at all what he had anticipated for a marathon in mid-September in the coolest part of Pennsylvania.

My mom and I viewed the course from our bikes…a great way to see a marathon! We first saw Jeff around mile 3, and he, and all the other runners, were already totally soaked with sweat. By mile 4, Jeff had ditched his shirt, and I was riding around with an extra couple of pounds of sweaty shirt tied around my mountain bike. He plugged along though and seemed to keep a good pace considering the conditions.

By the second lap around Presque Isle, everyone had slowed…Jeff included. We were just so glad to see him come across the finish line without being dehydrated or in terrible discomfort. Much like last year after the Harrisburg Marathon, he has recovered like a champ! We spent yesterday walking around the outlets at Grove City, and he did great. We even got some Christmas shopping done.

Today we’re just bumming around Meadville and planning our traditional trek out to see the ducks walk on the fish. Tomorrow we leave for New York.

To all my cute friends at Messiah: I hope this week is treating you well. I miss you!

Happy Friday, friends! Greetings from a girl who is feeling pretty giddy about leaving for vacation tomorrow. Jeff and I are looking forward to a week of merry-making in western Pennsylvania and western New York. Once the business of the vacation is over — Jeff’s marathon on Sunday morning — it will be all about sleeping in, reading, relaxing with family and friends, shopping, and leisurely days.

My goals for the week are pretty modest: finish reading “East of Eden,” do some Christmas shopping, have a good visit with Jeff’s grandpa, and hike at Watkin’s Glen.

We’re taking our mountain bikes with us, which means that we’re driving the Element instead of the Civic. Who cares, you ask? We do. That means we have the pleasure of listening to XM in the car instead of shuffling through CDs and my MP3 player, which seems to have major trouble understanding the word “random.”

If I feel like it, I will post an update about the marathon next week. (I know Brandie will be waiting anxiously for a few photo of Jeff in an aluminum foil cape.) But, I will be on vacation (did I mention that?) so I’m not making any promises.

My sweet husband, knowing how distraught I was by the subway incident mentioned in my blog post yesterday, sent me an e-mail today that simply said, “After yesterday, I thought you could stand to read this story.” The story he is referring to is about Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo who stopped to help a couple change their tire while driving home from the airport after his game on Sunday.

Now, before you get all cynical about athletes promoting their good deeds and charitable causes, let me assure you that Tony’s (I’m so proud of him that I’m going to assume the familiarity necessary to simply call someone by their first name.) good deed was not publicized by him or anyone on his team of marketers and agents. Rather, the woman with the flat tire took the time to notify a writer at the “Fort Worth Star-Telegram.” She was so impressed that someone of Tony’s prominence would stop to help her and husband that she had to brag on him a bit. I’m glad she did. I feel just a tiny bit better.

I also feel better because when I talked to Freddy last night at youth group about the subway situation, he interrupted me mid-story and indignantly declared that he would have wrestled the hammer attacker to the ground. Love that kid.

There is hope!

Sometimes I watch the “Today Show” in the morning while I’m getting ready for work. I like getting a head’s up about national stories and the weather before I even have time to glance at the front page of the local newspaper. Well, this morning I heard a story and saw a video that I will not soon forget.

There was recently an incident on a Philadelphia subway that was caught on video by security cameras that makes me sick to my stomach when I think about it. (You can see it for yourself here.) A man, riding the subway with his six-year-old son, boarded the subway. He is seen directing his son to the front of the subway car and then opening his backpack and removing a hammer. The man then grabs a guy who is sleeping in a seat near the doors of the subway, throws him to the ground, and begins repeatedly beating him with the hammer.

As if that’s not bad enough, here’s the part that makes me ill: The security cameras show multiple people get up from their seats and move away from the incident. NO ONE EVEN ATTEMPTED TO HELP OR TO INTERVENE. The beating (which was totally random, by the way) goes on for several minutes before the guy with the hammer and his son are shown exiting the subway. At that point, a woman finally calls for help.

The “Today Show” said that one person even put the victim’s cell phone back in his pocket after it fell out but never spoke to him or offered help.

I am feeling such an unsettling, powerful mixture of anger, disappointment, frustration, and fear. I can’t get the images out of my mind. I am in disbelief at the deplorable moral condition of society. And, if I’m perfectly honest, I think it’s because I don’t know what I would have done in that situation. At midnight, on a Philadelphia subway, would I have tried to help? I certainly couldn’t have strong-armed the man with the hammer. But, would I have called for help? Would I have screamed for someone else to get involved? Or, would I have looked away too?

I want desparetely to believe that I would have made an attempt to help the victim. But then I remember times when I have walked past a homeless person or a beggar without making eye contact. Times when I have turned my head from the problems of the world because I didn’t want my day to get messy or off schedule. Times when I didn’t even care to offer at least a prayer on someone’s behalf.

I take little comfort in the times when I have offered a beggar a few bucks, a granola bar, or a bottle of water because that wasn’t about being brave or compassionate. It was about feeling better about myself. And that’s a pretty egocentric way of looking at the problems of the world, if you ask me.

I suspect I will wrestle with the images of this subway beating and the total non-response of the other passengers for awhile. And, I hope God uses it to continue to draw the ugliness of my humanity out of me, so that I might be filled with even a few drops of the mercy, grace, and justice that comes with loving Him and caring about His work and His people.

This day just got a whole lot better! Just a few minutes ago, my sweet husband sent me an email with this subject: “Lance is BACK.” Within the text of the email was a link to a VeloNews article that indeed says that Lance is planning to come out of retirement for five races next year.

Anyone who knows me at all can guess that I think this is fabulous news! I’ve been a Lance supporter for years. When he was riding the Tour, I was a faithful, almost fanatic, fan. And, I have repeatedly mourned his retirement and the sorry state of cycling without him.

I get goosebumps thinking about July 2009: Lance and Johann together again, Lance climbing the Alps at ridiculous speeds and then sipping victory champagne on the Champs Elysees…I can hardly wait! (Honey, let’s book that trip to France to see the Tour like we’ve always wanted!We’ll have bake sales to raise the money!)

Now, if someone tells me that Lance and George Hincapie will reunite for this epic event, I’ll go completely nuts!

In an interview with “Ignite” magazine, David Crowder shares how a friend helped him differentiate between compassion and justice:

“Compassion is when we’re all sitting on the side of a river watching people drown and respond by pulling people out. But justice is when somebody pokes their head up and says, ‘You know what? I’m going to go upstream and see who keeps throwing everybody into the river.’”

On Saturday, a dear childhood friend of mine, Sarah, married the love of her life in downtown Pittsburgh. Sarah and I have been friends since first grade. She and her family are a large part of many of my childhood memories, so it was a real joy to see her marry her best friend.

She was an absolutely stunning bride. And, she threw a fabulous party! I sat a table with many of my high school friends, marveling that 13 years after graduation, we would all still enjoy each other’s company so much. It was great to get caught up with Julie, Laurie, Heather, Lori, Jason, and Kim.

Plus, my cute parents were invited to the wedding, so we enjoyed seeing them. On Sunday, we took Jeff up the Mt. Washington incline for an incredible view of the city. Beautiful blue skies made for outstanding ogling!

Then, we spent the afternoon watching the Buccos get pummeled by the Brewers. At least it was a beautiful day for a ballgame! I especially enjoyed the free Pirates smiley face cookies handed out before the game by Eat-n-Park!

I really love the city of Pittsburgh, and I especially enjoy being there with my favorite people. My dad went to refrigeration school in the city, so it’s fun to be with him as he remembers his long, cold walk across the Seventh Street bridge in the winter and meals at a little downtown cafe. In college, I made some of my own Pittsburgh memories when I spent a summer interning at the Andy Warhol Museum on the northside. I truly always thought I would end up living and working in the city, but after sending 30+ resumes to organizations in the ‘burgh and never getting an interview, it was clear that God had different plans for me. So, I’ve made my home in a different ‘burg, and I don’t regret it at all!