Sorry Folks!

In order to provide you the reader with the latest in 2008 bloggershpere technological advances, URG will be closed for approximately 2-3 days.We apologize for the inconvenience.

Thanks,
The Management.

Don't Let Your Left Hand See What You've Done To Your Right; He'll Puke

This will be by far the most disgusting blog you've seen today. Let that serve as your warning.

The message this post is driving at has been said millions of times in a million different ways:

"That which you abuse, you're liable to lose."

"Ignore your teeth and they'll go away."

"Keep playing with it and it'll fall off."

In essence, mistreat things and those things start to disappear.

Well, if the five fingers on my right hand had a social worker, they'd be putting calls in to discuss options of temporary placement, because I've been treating them worse than Ike treated Tina.

Devoted readers of this blog know the horrors the Dominican bestowed upon my right hand.
Too much of me pitching batting practice to my highshcool team and not enough protective netting led to my run in with these guys:

and eventually this:




Chels and I refer to it as the Dominican Finger. Next time we're together I'll show it to you and we'll laugh, together at the right angle my Dominican doctor called a "SUCCESS!"






Well as if that wasn't enough, last week I went and had a run in with a beer bottle. I think the bottle won:

Seriously everyone. If you know of a good home, I have five little ones just looking for a little security.

You Make The Call

One of these is a brilliantly gifted (and geniusly coached!) physical specimen whose feats of athletic prowess know no bounds.

The other is a small baby.

You make the call.

Still Great

Hillary Hungry For A Great Big Caucus; Ron Paul Relies on Experience In Virginias

Chels and I sat next to this great undergrad student on our flight to St. Louis last week who was skipping his family's Christmas vacation to volunteer for Ron Paul in Iowa.

Chelsea: So, what got you so politically and socially active?

Volunteer: Punk rock.

Me: Ain't Ron Paul great!

Volunteer: Yeah. The thing is, he doesn't lie.

So there you have it. Vote for Ron Paul. The only truth telling, OB-GYN candidate for president you can count on!

Found.

okay i've had this season, this blog, some ideas all rumbling in my mind for a few weeks now. i've wanted to get a big picture... to write down and encapsulate a perspective of truth regarding the holidays. i've been looking at jackson and thinking of how to communicate, of what to communicate to him... what do I want to teach him regarding the celebration of Jesus Christ and the Message that began with His birth?

Get in on this. it's beautiful.
http://www.adventconspiracy.org/
Worship More, Spend Less, Give More, Love All.

Advent Conspiracy to Reduce Spending at Christmas
In 2006 America spent 456.2 billion USD during Christmas. It would take 30 billion USD a year to provide clean drinking water and sanitation to half of the world population that goes without. Imagine a world where America gives 10% of Christmas to those truly in need.

your trash. my treasure

well... jesse is (obviously) absent from the blogging world these days. the man's working, working for the weekend and once there i monopolize his time. so the URG has taken on more of a femme feel in the recent months... and today i'm taking it up another notch.

I simply need to share my joy, because though they try, Jes and Jackson can't quite get on my page... though Jes did give a very encouraging cat call when I came into the room this morning wearing MY NEW JEANS.

I'm not a girl who has 12 pairs of jeans... I have A favorite pair of jeans and then one pair to wear when those are dirty. I've had my favorite pair for 4 years... I even refused to give them up throughout my pregnancy. My love for them stretched them to the limit where they now reside... bent and big. I can take them on and off without having to unbutton a single button. sigh. it has been time to move on for sometime now. what is awful about moving on is I HATE SHOPPING FOR JEANS. Nothing can make your body look more misshapen than jeans that are tight in the rear, huge in the waist and always too short, or their evil twin that cuts you in half in the waist exposing your chichos while giving you a baggy elephant butt. Mom offered to buy me a new pair of jeans for my big 30th birthday... to move me into my new decade in style. We shopped to no avail for 4 hours, ridiculous. I've now been shopping around for a month. It's bewildered the men in my life.

Saturday I found these 575's at a re-sale shop in lovely St. Louis. They are PERFECT. Seriously people, rejoice with me.

What I want.

I just read something I liked in a magazine.
According to Navajo tradition a baby is considered to be of two worlds at birth: that of the holy people and that of the people of earth. Here's what I think is very neat... everyone waits for the baby's first laugh; the sign of joy that communicates his desire to join his family and community here on earth. The Navajo believe the baby assumes the qualities of the person who is wittness to this lovely first laugh. So of course this person then throws of big party and everyone brings gifts and such. As the guest file past the baby with plates of food, the baby (with the help of his laughing buddy) gives salt to each guest. Now here is what I think is absolutly beautiful... the salt is meant to rejuvenante the good character in each recipient and serve as the first in a lifetime of generous acts by the child. At the meal's end, the host or a community elder blesses the baby, wishing him a life of generosity and gratitude.

THAT is what I want for Jackson. I want him to live a life of generous acts. I want him to learn to party and to fiercely love those around him... to draw out of them Christ's intention in their life. I want the Body to gather around him and anoint him in a life of generosity and gratitude and for Jackson to step into that anointing from a very early age... from the moment that he knows joy.

This is going to be my prayer everytime I see my little man laugh or smile... and praise be it happens often.

That's Really Funny

The Fireman and The Fireball

I love Halloween. I've always loved Halloween. I wasn't raised going to 'Fall Festivals' at church... I was raised on Halloween. My first costume was the plastic jumper kind with the plastic mask... I was Snoopy. Then my next debut was as a wicked witch. I think mom and I miscommunicated when I said 'I want to be a witch for Halloween' because when she went to apply a big putty wart to my nose I started crying... I explained to her that although I was wearing a black sheeth-like robe and tall pointed hat, I wanted to be a pretty witch. Along the way there was the punk rocker decade, a poodle skirt thrown in there somewhere and I think wonder woman, but I'm not sure. Anyway. Jackson was a Fireman this year and Conner a Fireball. I tried to coax Jesse into letting me buy one of those cute outfits where only the babies face shows... like a lobster or dragon or lion. Jesse said no... he feels it's mean. He feels bad that the little babies can't defend themselves.

Surprise, Surprise

okay surprise.

the Friday before my 30th birthday i was surprised with plane tickets home to Texas.
on Saturday my sweet husband took me to the great Texas State Fair and then I was surprised with a fabulous party on my parents patio, complete with surprise guests from out of town on Monday, my birthday, i was surprised to find my man took the day off, took the baby so i could sleep in and cooked me breakfast... we spent the beautiful fall day at the zoo with the baby and had a beautiful baby-less evening out.

this morning on the first day of the 30th year of my life I was surprised to be puked on 5 times starting at 4am. Jackson has a stomach bug... I've had to change clothes 6 times today. It's coming out both ends.

First Fly Fishing Adventure

Say What?

a little something about me: I am a lady of luck... not in the blow on your dice or rub my buddha belly kind of way, but more along the lines of love. i was in love with Jesse way before he was in love with me. before we were ever even friends i had this really weird crush. it might have been cool if I had just walked up to him one day and said "hey, i don't know you well, but for some crazy reason everything in me simply feels like it agrees with you and I just want to stand next to you all the time." i just didn't have those kind of guts. plus i was absolutely sure he'd think i was PSYCHO. i specifically remember asking, nay begging the Lord one morning in Kansas City "please God, please, please, please, please God have Jesse look my way and make him like me." i was utterly convinced that if i could be near him i would be happy all my days. the thing is... i had no REASON to think these things i was completely unexplainable. i always walked away feeling silly, a little bewildered, and absolutely determined to move on towards someone more inviting... but our paths would cross some months later and i would loose my breath if we made eye contact. this went on for a few years. YEARS i tell you.

today jesse is off to work with adults who sometimes make people feel uncomfortable because they cannot hid their weaknesses. he helps them participate in the world, to be seen as active members of society... to have fun. then tonight he will go make tasty beverages for a few people who show up to hear the music of a localish band. and then he'll come home and kiss me. perfect. i was told long ago that i was created to fit into the space next to this man... but I had no idea the truth of it.

here's what I want to get at. I can trust that the Lord wants to show me new things, tell me secrets, expand His presence in my life, share His desires with me... and the reality of this Truth crawls in bed with me every night, kisses me good morning and farts ALOT.

those years and years ago I didn't know I could trust anything from the Lord outside of a Bible verse. it is so true. I was thinking about our story today and how timid i was to believe what the Lord wanted to communicate to me about Jes. Back then I knew the Lord desired communication, intimacy, and to reveal more of Himself to me, but I believed it could not be completely trusted unless it came in the form of a bible verse, or a thought that came about while reading a bible verse, or while sitting in a Bible church listening to a qualified someone speak about a Bible verse. The Bible was an idol to me. It happens... it happens all the time. I lived in that idolatry for years. I also DIDN'T truly believe Jesus transcended the theology or biblical exegesis of man. And could I be trusted to hear really Him? I was to read the Bible and receive teaching... that was my gig in this spiritual journey.

it has taken me a long time to not replace following Jesus with following the Bible. I am learning everyday to believe... to just believe. I want to believe outlandishly. Maybe I even want to believe recklessly. I want to believe what I hear and I want to believe what you hear, all of it. The visions and dreams that seem out there, crazy or impossible. I want to hear about them without fear because I want to trust if we are off the mark, He is always merciful to judge us and set us straight again. Pride be damned. This is what I ask the Lord for.

those years ago, I wish I had acted on what I knew about Jesse. That I would have been unfaltering in my assurance of the Lord's voice... instead of living in insecurity and confusion. which, of course, only caused pain to myself and others. I loved very selfishly before Jesse. Jesse has been the one to teach me how to love well. This was the Lord's idea.

we are told to remember the Lord, remember what He has done in our lives... ponder where we have been and the experiences that have moved us farther into Him. These days, when I hear something... when there is a word that stirs up in my spirit I remember to trust He speaks to us still, that I, as a daughter, can hear Him and act confidently upon His prompting in the craziest of circumstances. I don't have to understand how or when, only that He is to be trusted above ALL THINGS... I am literally married to this revelation.

Today is Columbus Day.

I object to Columbus Day. If I were to meet Christopher Columbus in some kind of weird rip in the space time continuim... I'd give him a swift kick to the nads. I would.

Jackson, meet nature.

I do apologize for my empty promises. I haven't been around the blog lately. I'm sorry, Kate, I haven't updated due to the fact I've been busy introducing Jackson to nature. We haven't an African safari close by, nor beach, nor lovely dominican mountain road... but we DO have Pick-Your-Own-Apple-Orchards. Which are very nice and yummy.

I miss all my beautiful friends that are scattered about the world right now. Some people have everyone they love in a 40 mile radius, i'm one of the other people whose heart is always stretched across almost every ocean. Africa. Chile. China. Dominican Republic. Puerto Rico. the American Northeast, Midwest, South... I should say that as much as I ache to gather you all up and enjoy your company on the patio this evening... I love that you are there, wherever it is you happen to find yourself today, the things you see, the people you're with. I'm a better person, I have a wider soul, because we're friends.

So if you want to come over I can offer you some apple pie, or baby apple sauce... whatever your preference.

The Quick and the Dead

Dead:

Quick:






















Let' go Cowboys.

Cousin Conner

it's hard to put the miraculous into words... okay, so not hard for some people, yet hard for me. last Sunday i watched Conner Ashleigh Aumend, my brand sparkling new nephew, enter the world. he's perfect. seeing this little man draw his very first breath, hearing him, watching him calm in his mothers arms for the very first time... knowing i'll be bound to witness it a hundred times more... well, all i can say is that babies are hopeful creatures. one of their many miracles is that in an instant they simply extinguished all the cynicism, criticism and skepticism that can build up in a soul. i love conner ashleigh, and his mum and dad. three cheers for sara and adam!

Changes

things are changing around here. we now live in america. we're settling in. i must confess i felt a lot cooler when i lived in the dominican republic. but hey, things are changing. we're changing the blog with the hopes we'll frequent it more often. i've changed into an aunt which was a new one for me. we're changing into people who owe other people money because we've changed into people who need to buy a car, which required us to change into people who have car insurance. i changed into that person who backs her mother in laws car into a parked car (therefore my transition into a car insurance holder was EXPENSIVE). jesse's changing into a bartender and the baby's changed into a drool factory who now roles over onto his stomach yet finds himself pissed to be prone. so... well, things are good here. moving right along. we'll keep you updated.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes (Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes Oh, look out you rock 'n rollers
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes (Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes Pretty soon you're gonna get a little older
Time may change me But I can't trace time

Public Speaking

A CoupleThings, Up Up Down Down Select Start

First, the local paper here in Santiago ran this front page a day ago:

EL DIOS JAMES!!!

Now, being that learning a language well enough to survive day to day is quite different from learning the nuances and cultural undertones of that language, I had to ask around to see if this claim was as it seemed. Perhaps 'Dios' has some kind of Dominican sub-meaning. Surely right? I asked three peace corp volunteers and the Dominican that came to fix my electricity. They all said the same thing. And thus the headline was what I first thought:

THE GOD JAMES!!

Apparently the Spurs have no chance.

Secondly, I decided last night, that after two years of living completely without TV and largely without anything other than books to occupy my free time I want one of these guys when I return to the States:

I don't consider it a reward really. I mean after all, why should you be rewarded for something as naturally rewarding as reading?

But the thing is, I don't want to pay a dime for it. Seriously. I'm looking for a free PS3. My parameters are as follows:

• I cannot pay more than fifty dollars for it. I know I said 'not a dime', but let's not be silly. As my wife says "at that price we'd lose money not to buy it!"
• It cannot be a gift. I know you were all jumping at the chance.
• It cannot be a won in a contest. I hate contests.
• When said PS3 is attained a massive Guitar Hero party will thrown in my honor by me.

Okay folks. I need ideas.