The Visit

Liann says it would be fun for people to see pictures from Tony's visit. If you find this anything other than fun, please alert her immediately :)

Tony checking out the MAF training airplanes and hangar.


At the Mission Inn for a lovely evening of dinner and lights with Mom, Dad, Michael, and Joanna.


Me and my adorable sister-in-law. Dang--does Joanna ever take a bad picture?

The kids at the Mission Inn. I am digging my bro's fuller beard and longer hair!

Tony feeding and petting bat rays at Sea World. He loves animals, so he was in seventh heaven. I think he videoed the entire dolphin show.

Tony discovering that there are tall guys in America, too. We couldn't resist a picture with my good, super-tall buddy Dean and my sweet, super-short Mommy :)

At Holly's house, with excellent food and great company. If you get a chance to have Paul Bunyan make Christmas candy for you, take him up on it! He rocks!

Me and my handsome Popsey.

Hilarious. Christmas Eve at my grandmother's, where my always helpful Grandma Quack-Quack introduced Tony to Tony. Never mind that Tony had been staying at Tony's house for a week already :)

Tony and the boys dressed up in some of their Christmas haul. Notice the missing tooth on the left?

Here's a matching missing tooth on the right! Merry Christmas, Tooth Fairy!

The Real Reason I Blog

Because Baby Plucky just makes me laugh. I can't help it! I have been waiting forever for this to be on YouTube so I could post it--happy, happy, joy, joy!

Sorry, Mom. I know you raised me better than to think this is funny :)

Garlic and Cayenne

A word about my delving into home remedies for a sinus infection the past two days--SMELLY!

I got a cold that transitioned into my now-standard sinus infection every time I get the sniffles. One of my colleagues has a wonderful wife who makes all kinds of delicious, good-for-you food, so she and one of their daughters dropped off some soup and bread and oranges and zinc tabs to me at the house yesterday. The wife happened to mention that garlic is a natural antibiotic; she recommended taking a clove, slicing it up, crushing the slices between my back teeth and swallowing. Repeat every two hours. Six hours and three cloves later, I could barely stand the smell of myself. I stopped taking any more at 5:00 PM; I had to greet at church this morning and I was terrified that if I kept ingesting more, no one would make it inside the doors. Or they would think they had arrived at a deli instead of church.

My friend also told me about taking cayenne pepper for opening sinus passages, so I picked some up on the way home from church. One cup of boiling water, 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, half a teaspoon of cayenne and a dollop of honey later, this fascinating, tingly sensation started creeping up the right side of my head (the least congested side) and making its way across my cranium. It made me giggle a little. And a note about drinking cayenne pepper--keep stirring the drink between swallows. The cayenne doesn't actually dissolve, but rather all sinks to the bottom. Whoo-hoo!

I also dumped another half teaspoon of cayenne into my serving of soup this afternoon. Good heavens--I am one hot chick.

AND--some little elves came and shoveled my driveway while I was at church! We got a decent heap of snow last night, and this morning was quite the icy drive--I actually slid right through a 4-way-stop intersection on the way to church. Thank God no one was coming. When I got home, my driveway had been completely shoveled--the only house on the cul-de-sac!

Last but not least, for those of you who knew Marie and Tracie from the Bible study in Running Springs, or Razzbearies, or ACES, I had the fun of talking to Marie last night for almost two hours, and I somehow talked her and Tracie into starting a blog! Too cool! The new link is on the right--Tikkun Olam "For the Betterment of the World". They are doing great in Las Vegas and send their love!

Slickery

That's my cool new couch. Slickery. All these furniture places around here were having happy little end-of-the-year sales, so I bounced out and bought a new leather couch and chair. And, yeah, you can curl up in the corner of the couch and be really comfy, but unless you have a blankie or something to cuddle with, you'll eventually slide a little on the leather. I bet in the summer that won't happen :)

If you have been having trouble finding me, it's because I went under the radar after the holidays. It was a terrific, special, wonderful time to have Tony here and to travel to California, but it was also the busiest, most taxing holiday season I have ever had. I didn't want to miss a moment of it because I knew it was a unique experience in my life, and in the lives of my family and friends, quite honestly, but it about kicked the feet out from under me by the time Tony flew home on the 27th.

The short version of the Tony-Kathie story is that we will remain very close friends and colleagues, but we will not continue to pursue a romantic relationship. I feel a huge peace and leading from God about this, but it's still hard to watch Tony's heart hurt and of course I have some sadness myself. I think now that Tony has been back home for a little bit, he is in better shape as well--like a good introvert, the decision was a little tougher on him at first than it was me. But at the end of it all, we do both feel this is God's leading, and that's what we want most.

We had lots of good talks and he had an awesome time with my family--ALL my family, grandparents and Sorensons included, the epitome of chaos. But it's the exact holiday chaos and fun I look forward to, so I am glad it was enjoyable for Tony, too. And he got to spill his broken heart to patient Holly--more than once. So, of course, I did her dishes--duh :)

Tony and I were able to share with one another a long list of blessings and things we learned about and grew in as a result of our relationship this year. God certainly used each of us in special ways in the other's life--including me actually being able to say aloud now, "I think I would like to be married. Hmmm. Who knew?"

So, all you little dears who have been praying surreptitiously for years can do it overtly now. Knock yourselves out ;)

I give thanks to God for a gift over this past year that opened my heart to new things. And TONS of thanks to friends and family who were amazingly supportive during every variation of my emotional state possible. When I said to Liann this week, "I wonder if I am processing all of this change all right. I have had moments of sadness and pondering, but I haven't really melted down. I hope I'm processing okay," she said, "Good grief, you processed ALL YEAR! You're fine!"

Whew. I am fine. And happy on my slickery couch.

Slater Made Me Cry

I have actually said this more than once in the last couple of months. If you bug me to, I will blog more about why later.

And tonight it happened again. But I can't post comments on his blog anymore to tell him he made me cry. And I understand and respect why--but I had to put it somewhere.

Slater made me cry. In a good way. Go read it if you haven't yet. It's not boring.

Yeah, yeah. A real post later. Soon. Maybe. We'll see. It's 6:07 PM MST and I can't keep my eyes open. Does this tell you anything?

I'm okay. Truly. Happy, even. Weird, I know.

Persistent Widows

Wow--I think have surrounded myself with lots of persistent widows. Apparently, beating at the door over and over again can work.

Tony got the visa.

Oh, my goodness. Glory to God. Thanks to all of you for your prayers. And thanks to MANY of you for good counsel, patient listening, and for not stuffing me in a barrel on several occasions over the past many months. You are all too good to me.

Can you believe it was almost a year ago that Tony and I met? It will be a year in January. Amazing.

Thank you again, and love and kisses all around :)

And sorry to my mommy for all her new gray hairs over waiting for the outcome on this ;)

Prayer by Monday Night, Please

I have been wanting to type about this for two weeks, but haven't been able to make myself. It's a long story why. Anyway, now it's down to the wire. And tonight will likely be my last decent sleep for this week, so I am going to keep this brief. Thank heavens we know each other well enough that I can just cut to the chase. And if it's out here, then you'll want to know the answers to the prayers, and that will make be blog again. Convenient, eh?

1. Tony applies for a visa again--time #3--Tuesday morning 8:00 AM in Uganda. That's 10:00 PM Monday night Pacific Time for most of you (you majority of West Coasties, you). Please pray. If it's granted, he'll be here for a visit in December. I can't even begin to explain how I am feeling, but it you drew a graph and then splattered paint all over it Jackson-Pollock-style, you'd pretty much a chart of where my brain and heart have been about this--all over the place. I have no idea what condition I will be in Tuesday morning after I hear from Tony, whether the answer is yes or no. I don't want to think about it right now.

So will you pray with us, please?

2. I have officially signed papers, as of this afternoon, to purchase a house in Boise. Escrow is set to close November 29. I leave for California this Thursday, November 8. I return to Idaho Saturday, November 24. If Tony gets the visa, he arrives December 5.

Do you see the fun ahead? Oh my. And, oh yeah, it's a bit o' a financial stretch. Can you pray for the process, please? I know Slater can :)

Thanks. I will yammer more later, but for now--please pray, friends. Thank you, and love to all.