September passed quickly...I spent the first nine days of the month overseas in Thailand and Burma...and the rest of the month recovering, with one work trip to Pennsylvania with a day off at Niagra Falls...

The trip with Remember (www.rememberthose.org) went well. We visited the orphanage that we support in northern Thailand. It was fun to get to see the kids again. We also spent a little bit of time at a village in Burma. We had a doctor, dentist, and RN with us, so they did a number of medical check ups everywhere we went.

It was a lot of fun...I'm not sure it's fair to even have that much fun on a mission trip. Maybe it would sound better if I said I was sick two of the days we were over there and that we spent about 30 hours in travel each direction. That's brutal. Especially when you can't take toothpaste and eye drops on board the plane.

The time we spent with the children was really great, though, and Remember is working on ideas that will help us have a lasting impact on lives. I'm praying that the Lord will show me what he wants me to do in that respect.

So long for now...

So Why Did You Decide ...not... to go to Law School?

Those of you who have been up-to-date over the past year and a half are probably some what familiar with my decision to go back to law school...and to go to law school...and not to go to law school... I think it may be the most dificult decision I've made so far in my life.

But when classes started on Monday, I wasn't there.

It's not easy to explain. But I will say that one of the benefits of not going to school four nights a week is that I'm able to go on another mission trip this summer. Lord willing, I will be leaving August 31 for a return trip to Thailand and Burma. If you think of it, please pray for me and the rest of the team for health and physical safety and that we will be an encouragement to the believers over there.

Two Year Anniversary

Well...I wrote a nice little article to post here on Thursday, my two year anniversary of living in Charleston. However, my computer appears to have eaten it. One thing that was on my "to do" list the day I got to Charleston, "fix our computer system," still hasn't happened. Oh, well, I guess they'll just have to keep me for a while longer.

Anyway, the article I was going to post got eaten, the pictures I keep trying to post won't show up on the screen, and my brain doesn't seem to be in a creative enough mode right now, but I'm posting anyway because I'm trying to get back into the habit of doing this regularly...however rusty I am at it today.

Meet CHRIS

Yes, that's right...CHRIS stands for "Could Hardly Resist Inviting Suspicion" and also happens to be the name of my brother-in-law to be. Erin got engaged last month...I sure she'd love to tell you about it!

Caleb and Violet enjoying Spring!

Second Anniversary

Two years ago today I took my oath and was sworn in as an attorney. It seems more like two hundred years ago...all things considered, they have been good years. I've learned a lot and found out how much more I have to learn. I am grateful to the Lord for his faithfulness throughout law school and in helping me find just the right job at just the right time.

I am planning to begin law school again, believe it or not. I have enrolled in the Charleston School of Law and should begin taking night classes in mid-August. It will be quite a challenge to work and do school again, but I know the Lord is still faithful and if this is His will for me, He will see me through it, one day at a time.

Thanks to all of you who tell me time to time that you are praying for me. That has meant a lot to me and I hope you will keep me updated so I can pray for you as well.

The Exploding Rose Bush

One of our favorite things about our office is the rose bush out back. Every spring is absolutely explodes with color.

Being a rose lover, I have five bushes planted outside my house, and I feel fortunate when I have one rose blooming between the five of them. The bush at the office puts all of them to shame. It's as if that bush simply cannot have enough roses.

We get all kinds of insights from that bush, but Curtis said something about it that particularly stuck in my mind..."Some days I could probably have brought more glory to God as a rose bush." I don't normally think that deeply...but that comment made me want to be like an exploding rose bush. One that simply cannot have enough roses. It just cannot bring enough glory to God! (Psalm 19:1)

Okay so I haven't blogged in a while...

Where do I begin? I had three girls over to spend the night again. We hunted for Easter eggs in the dark...we dressed up in goofy costumes in the dark...we sang at the top of our lungs in my kitchen (which echoes) and used half a bottle of soap doing dishes...

I've raked and raked and raked. And my yard looks like I need to rake it.

I babysat five kids for five days...That was a blast. We made a water balloon launcher. After several tries, we did successfully start seeing balloons go flying...Then we had to try to find all the broken balloon pieces. One of the kids said someone should invent water balloons that dissolve. Yeah, good idea.

I made a new friend last night. I talked with an old friend the night before. That's right, an oooold, married friend, Kimmie. I'm planning another trip to California in May to see another old friend get married.

I taught a ladies Bible study on the woman at the well. I guess I should say I "led" a ladies Bible study...either way...I was there and they were very patient with me. It's been too long since I did something like that.

I tried to tune my guitar for the first time in a year. And I was unsuccessful. Maybe I'll try to get some strings today. I'm sure that's the problem, the strings.

I played an offertory at church. That was another thing I hadn't done in forever. I love music!

My nephew turned two! I got to talk with him on his birthday. He is talking up a storm and doesn't call me "Yell" any more.

I've slept and eaten and laughed and cried and pretty much done everything but blog over the past few weeks. I will have to start thinking deeper thoughts and coming here to put them into words.

Bright Beginnings

Yesterday I accidently spilled something on my laptop keyboard. This morning when I came in, by "Y" key was sticking (along with a few others). So...I made the mistake of popping it off and trying to clean it up. I got it off all right, and the next thing I knew, I had five little pieces in my hand...not the best way to start a day.

It works (obviouslY), but I can't get the cover to stay on any longer...not even after 45 minutes or reassembling and superglue. Meanwhile, the other keys have stopped sticking. Why didn't I just leave it alone and type slowly for a while???

If anyone knows a good fix for computer keys would you let me know?

Thanks. :)

Life at the Law Firm

Curtis settled a big case last Wednesday, so that has taken quite a bit of the pressure off. In fact, it is getting hard to stay motivated when I can look out the window and see the sun shining, flowers blooming, and birds singing. Yes, the day is always nicer on the other side of the window.

I have had some out of doors time, so I can't complain. Over the weekend, I worked in the yard for several hours. I still have hours of raking to do in my backyard. I don't know where all those leaves come from. I'm sure some of them are from Australia. Just the same, I think I need to have some trees taken out so I'm not in this mess every year. The problem is, the pretty trees are the ones that are the messiest. What's up with that?

Anyway...back to work on this fine, fine Tuesday...

PRIDE

My name is Pride. I am a cheater.
I cheat you of your God-given destiny...beecause you demand your own way.
I cheat you of contentment...because you 'deserve better than this.'
I cheat you of knowledge...because you already know it all.
I cheat you of healing...because you're too full of me to forgive.
I cheat you of holiness...because you refuse to admit when you're wrong.
I cheat you of vision...because you'd rather look in the mirror than out a window.
I cheat you of genuine friendship...because nobody's going to know the real you.
I cheat you of love...because real romance demands sacrifice.
I cheat you of greatness in heaven...because you refuse to wash another's feet on earth.
I cheat you of God's glory...because I convice you to seek your own.
My name is Pride. I am a cheater.
You like me because you think I'm always looking out for you. Untrue.
I'm looking to make a fool of you.
God has so much for you, but if you stick with me, you'll never know what.

"But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." - I Peter 3:4

Paul and I...

"Yell"

That's me...that's what Caleb calls me anyway.

I had a great time with Paul and the Wilkins when they came to visit last week. We stayed a few nights at the beach house (Edisto Beach) and got to see a little of Charleston. There is much more to see, so I guess they'll just have to come again...

Dear Folk and Special People

Last weekend I had the privilege of traveling to California to be a part of the wedding of Mike and Kimmie Ledesma (Kimmie Ledesma? That will take a little getting used to).

Kimmie and I met when we were seven...I remember playing in the sandbox at church with her and my sister, Allyson, and her sister, Mandie. Although she moved away several years later, we were able to re-establish our friendship in 1999 and have been close ever since. We have made lots of memories at debate tournaments in California, kayaking in Pennsylvania, eating lobster in Boston (well, actually NOT eating lobster in Boston), staying at the Beach House in Charleston, and sometimes spilling our guts and bawling our eyes out to each other over the phone.

I have also known Mike and his family for ten years or more...and it was great to see them again for a while this weekend. It hadn't really sunk in to me how long I've been gone from California until I see how much everyone we knew there has grown and changed. Kids I had in Cubbies are graduating from high school. It's frightening. Still, it was fun to see some wonderful people that I hadn't seen in several years.

Anyway, I arrived very early Friday morning and had a few days to spend with Kimmie and other friends before the wedding Sunday. Paul came out on Saturday and had a good time goofing off with the groomsmen. We all drove down to Newport Beach where the wedding was and stayed the night in a hotel.

Sunday was a beautiful day. Kimmie and I went for a long walk on the beach. The weather was just about perfect. Then the other bridesmaids, Kimmie, and I spent several hours doing what we normally do in a fraction of the time...getting ready to go out the door.

The ceremony went very nicely. They were married on a cruise ship, so we had dinner and everything on board. Paul and I enjoyed the view from the top deck for a while. Brothers are great things, particularly my brother.

Monday morning 4:30 came early and that was the beginning of a horriffic 21 hours of travel time from Ontario Ca to Lexington, KY.

Mike and Kimmie called from Florida this week to give me some expert advice on marriage (in the event I ever need it). They said I would probably be okay if I didn't always insist I was right. That would be easy except that I am always right. :)

I miss you guys...

It's another beautiful February day in Charleston. We have been having cool and warm days by turn (nothing truly cold to a transplanted Yankee). I don't have anything to write about, really, except that once again I find myself amazed at the overwhelming grace of God and His goodness to me. I can't believe He chose me to be His child. "I will glory in my redeemer..."

Taxes

I just finished my taxes. I think. Until this year, I haven't minded filing so much. It may sound crazy, but I guess because my taxes were pretty simple it never seemed like a big deal.

This year I have sat down to do them at least a half a dozen times. The first three or four times, I realized I didn't have some receipt or something that I needed, so I had to wait until I could go home and dig through my files.

I finally got my paperwork in order, then something happened between my computer and the software to keep me from filing or printing. There's always something, I guess. The software wouldn't print, it wouldn't take my routing number, and it kept insisting that I skipped a step. As punishment, it would send me back to the beginning. As result, what should have taken about forty minutes has taken...well...a lot longer. I guess they just want to make sure that I earn the money I'm supposed to get back. Twice.

Anyway, having griped, I do have to admit that I make part of my living by the complexities of the tax code and I working on a limited basis with a lot of people who make all of their living by it. That's not to say I'm a big fan of it. I'm just well, tolerant.

Happy filing to the rest of you. In case your wondering, taxactonline.com works great. Except, well, when it doesn't.

Girls, Girls, Girls

This weekend, on a whim, I invited three girls from Pioneer clubs to go ice skating. We had a good time, although I couldn't help but notice that ice skating with kids is different than ice skating with adults. We were on and off the ice constantly tie shoe lacing, adjusting socks, trading skates, and eating food.

They have "skate masters" out now that take the challenge out of ice skating. Gone are the days of sink or swim, just grab a hold of a walker and sail around. Sounds like an up-and-coming Olympic sport...

Afterwards, I brought the girls to my house for hot chocolate and cookies. We were having so much fun that the girls asked to spend the night. I said yes. I'm crazy.

Of course, as soon as I said that, the power went out. The girls were sure that I hadn't paid my bills. I was more concerned about what to do without heat and hot water on Sunday morning.

There is something about a slumber party that makes people want to play pranks. The girls were creative but they lacked variety. After a while, I got tired of cleaning honey off every door handle in the house (the refrigerator even). Just when I thought the joke had finally breathed it's last, we were leaving for church and I found honey on my car door.

Anyway, I survivied despite the honey, the screaming (those girls have good lungs and, apparently, I have Palmetto bugs in my house) , and the beads that got strewn from end to end of my living room when one of the girls started making bracelets.

Just when I was breathing a sigh of relief the girls asked, Miss Danielle, what are you doing next weekend?

Quotes Worth Pondering

"It is a good thing to give thanks unto Thee and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High, to show forth Thy loving-kindness in the morning and Thy faithfulness every night. As Thy Son while on earth was loyal to Thee, His heavenly Father, so now in heaven He is faithful to us, his earthly brethren; and in this knowledge we press on with every confident hope for all the years and centuries yet to come. Amen."

"Do good in Thy good pleasure unto us, O Lord. Act toward us not as we deserve but as it becomes Thee, being the God Thou art. So shall we have nothing to fear in this world or in that which is to come. Amen."

(taken from The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer)

This Little Piggy

It's funny to me what things stick with you over time. Sometimes the strangest things come back to me...things that my parents said that they probably thought I never listed to...random stuff I read...commercials I saw once 15 years ago...that kind of thing.

I have this little pink pig sitting on my desk today. Someone who used to work here left it behind and I guess it reminded people of me so I ended up with it. It's kind of cute and when you squeeze it, it makes grunting sounds.

Anyway, as I looked at it this afternoon, it reminded me of an unusual book my mom read to us years ago called "Fair, Then Partly Piggy." I don't know why this silly story came back to me on this particular day except that the title probably describes both myself and the weather on this not-so-fine Charleston day. I should have decided against wearing pink this morning; I'm afraid if someone squeezed me right now, I just might grunt too.

I don't feel like getting out of my pig mood, but I need to conclude this and get to the gym...so if you have any words of wisdom for someone who is acting like a pig, maybe you can send them my way. Even if I don't apply them now, 10 years from now they'll probably come back to me. Who knows, maybe they'll inspire another blog spot.

I got to do something yesterday that I've been wanting to do for a long time...dirt bike! The ground was perfect for it-wet and muddy. I scared some people because the first thing I did was head for a giant clump of bushes. Curtis thought I couldn't stop...no I could stop, it was everything else that I wasn't so sure about.

If I had a digitial camera, I'd post a picture of myself with messy hair and muddy pantlegs riding through the garden on accident...but since I don't, I guess I'll leave it to your imagination.

Capturing Moments

During a recent conversation with my brother, he told me that he had started reading a book in his spare moments...usually the few minutes of down time that he has in school when he gets to class a little early.

That conversation has prompted me to think a little bit more about how I use those short blocks of time "in-between" the other things I do. I have letters to write and books to read, and I never seem to be able to check those things off my to-do list.

A friend of mine told me that he made it a point to read 15 minutes worth of legal and procedural rules every morning during his first year of law practice. That little thing and those few moments have paid off in a major way. It's amazing what knowing the rules of the game will do.

So, Paul, you motivated me to start trying to capture the moments. For starts, I'm going to start reading an English manual because I feel like my grammar skills could use a little brushing up. I don't care if I read a sentence a day; that will be one sentence more than I have been reading. And I have a feeling that I will be surprised at how many moments for capturing come my way.

Well...it's over. After a day of opening speeches and the first three witnesses, the defendant decided to settle with us. So, I guess you could say we won. It was a little bit of a let down since we had done all the work to prepare a trial and we only got to go halfway (okay, so Curtis did most of the work). Curtis didn't get to give his closing speech (that had about had me in tears when he started it in his office), and we didn't get to find out what the jury would have thought of us or our case.
I'm afraid I've already bored a few people to tears by telling them about all the details...the motions, the briefs, the jury, the witnesses, the judge, the opposing attorney, and, of course, the story...so I won't get into all that unless you ask.
It was fun for me to help with the trial preparations...even if it did mean a couple weeks of ten, twelve, and fourteen hours days. It was even more exciting to be able to go to court and see the fruit of our labor (okay, so I didn't actually do anything besides sit there...but still). There may be attorneys out there that do that all the time, but this was only my second time to court in a year and a half and my first time actually being a part of the trial. I hope it won't be the last time, though.
So, today I get to get back to drafting leases and researching tax laws...real attorney work...

Brethren, Pray for Us

2006 has already brought change and excitement. The changes are good, like a garage door without holes and a roommate who can cook... On the excitement end of things, it looks like we have a case that may be going to trial this week. (I say "we"--I'm not really doing anything). Please pray for us as this means some extra hours, weariness, and strain. I will try to tell more soon.

Home Repairs

I didn't know until a friend told me that the "personal profile" sections of these blogs automatically link your profile to other people of like interest. For example, I put as one of my interests "working with children." If you click on that phrase, it will show you other bloggers with that same interest.

Curious as to whether anyone else shared my deep love for home repairs (pipe down, I was just curious), I clicked on that link. Wouldn't you know it, not one single name came up.

This past weekend, I decided, was going to be a home repairs weekend. My Uncle Jeff was coming down from Greenville to put in a much needed hot water heater, so it was a good time for me to devote some time and attention to things in the house needing time and attention.

So...I went to Lowe's (mistake number one) and bought some light fixtures to replace the bare bulbs and wires that are currently hanging out of my ceiling. While I was there, I found that they had carts of wall paper border on sale for $.50 cents a roll. Well, the price was right, anyway.

The only problem was that they didn't have enough of any of the borders I liked. So, I had to drive to another Lowes, (where they were not on sale for $.50 cents a roll) in order to get enough.

While I was in that Lowes, I found some light fixtures that I liked better than the ones I had bought at the first Lowes, so I bought those and planned to take the others back. I also bought a new mailbox, because mine is falling apart.

But when I went to fix the mailbox, I discovered that I needed more than just a new mailbox, I needed to some items to fix the post as well because it was also falling a part. That was fine, because I needed to go back to Lowes anyway to take the light fixtures back. I had borrowed a truck for the water heater, so I decided this would be a good time to go ahead and also get some other large items I needed. And while I was there, I started looking through the wall paper border bins again...Anyway, you get the idea.

Saturday I went out to rake my front yard and between my cousin, Chris, and I, we raked up 18 bags of leaves from my overgrown trees out front. It felt good to finally get those leaves out of the way. Except that the raking reminded me that I need to have a few of those trees taken out. Once I get the trees taken out, I need to re-seed the yard. Of course, if I actually had real grass out front, I'd need a mower, and edger...maybe a lawn service.

Just as all this is going through my head, my neighbor across the street come over and asked me if I wanted to borrow his mower to mow my lawn. A neighbor offering you a lawn mower, I figured, is kinda like a friend offering you a breath mint. The right answer is yes.

Turns out, he is a professional landscaper and he had a riding lawn mower that I could borrow for my tiny little front lawn full of trees. I was afraid I'd do something to the mower. "Don't worry," He said. "Just keep it out of the draining ditch and you'll be fine."

I'm sure I provided plenty of entertainment as I started, stopped, and lurched around. I went over an ant hill. Then he told me it would be a good idea to stay away from ant hills. I mowed while he watched from across the street. Then he came over and suggested I empty the bag.

I did not drive the mower into the drainage ditch, however, I also did not mow the grass around the ditch. So between the ant hills and the grass around the ditch, it still looks a little ghetto.

The water heater did get replaced on Saturday. Twice. The first one had some kind of a leak that got in the electrical system and probably would have blown me up. Then Uncle Jeff went to replace one of the light fixtures and when he removed the previous light, the charred remains of the box that was in the ceiling came down on my while tile floor. I now have a hole in my ceiling instead of a light. My uncle is a trooper and he has offered to come again soon and replace the box...and possibly my garage door...which is another story...

Then Monday, Anita came over to help me hang wall paper border. Unfortunately, the stuff I bought for the kitchen from the second a Lowes was a close, but not exact, match to the stuff I got from the first Lowes. We didn't discover that until we had started hanging it. Now I need to find a third Lowes.

But it's all for a good cause. Yesterday I had some company over and they said the house was nice. Very "homey" I think they said..."Not at all like a fixer upper."

It made me think about how much work has gone into that place and how little of it was mine. So many people have pitched in to help me paint, and fix, add, and repair...it's humbling to think about how many people have given of their time and energy for my place.

Like me, you may have found that the general rule of thumb with home projects is "twice as long, twice as much." But there's something to be said for home repairs...after they're done, anyway.

The moral of the story is, stay away from Lowes, unless of course, you plan on at least three trips.