Starting our Summer in Michigan

Amy and Jon's baby shower for sweet little Noah!

Stuck in the Swamp, for Real!

We went canoeing this week with our friends Stephanie and Leon. I honestly was nervous about it because of alligators and snakes and all. Apparently there was nothing to worry about. The locals let their children boat and swim in the river all the time and not a one has been eaten yet. We did pass by two alligators, which did make me nervous (notice there are no pictures of the alligators, as I didn't want to rock the boat while trying to fumble around for the camera and then fall into the alligator infested water)!

We searched for manatees, but had no luck. The people passing us on the river saw a mom and her baby, but somehow we missed them. Oh well, they say they're around all summer. We did see an otter though! They're really rare, so that was cool. There were also tons of turtles, fish, and giant birds. The water was very clear; we could see down to the bottom of the river in most areas. It turned out to not be so scary, in fact, I would like to do it again.

Ready for guests!

I made curtains today for the guest room. I used a vintage fabric and ribbon. I think they look good in our old fashioned country room. I also garage saled this morning. Mamma, you'd be proud. I got an old wooden medicine cabinet for a buck fifty and am going to repaint it and hang it in the guest bath. Yippee! I love garage sales!

So...who wants to visit first???

St. Marks, Early Summer

Yesterday afternoon, we drove down to St. Mark's Wildlife Refuge. We hadn't been there in several months, so it was neat to see how the scenery had changed. The gators were out in full force! We saw about six altogether. Most were young and only about 4-5 ft. long, but one was a real whopper, maybe 6-7 ft.

Birthday Pics

We went out for our birthdays! Here's us all dressed up...

Semester Countdown!

Jason's new life. This is all he does now. Poor thing!

Spring Break Fun

I went to Fort Worth for a week over spring break. It was relaxing and great to have the freedom to go to some of my favorite places: The Artful Bead, Fuzzy's Taco Stand, Ann Taylor Loft, and my mom's house. I got to chat about relationships with my sister, finally hold Andrew, pick up Natalie from school, jump on the trampoline with James, run errands with my Dad (he took care of me), go shopping with my mom's "sock money", and spend a wonderful afternoon with the Mirambi kids. It couldn't have been better.
Here are some pictures of Andrew and the birthday party for me and mom (her birthday is April 12th). Enjoy!

Look at the Pretty Flowers!

Driving around the area and you see huge azalea bushes and dogwood trees blooming. It is so beautiful! The last picture is in our own front yard! We are enjoying north Florida springtime. We need to get out in our own garden soon and get to planting. Not too much longer and the lawn will need to be mowed every week!

Sequestered by God

Hey folks! Well, I spent another Saturday evening at Brotherly Love Ministries. I took some photos (and then had some fun with photoshop!). It's really a neat project, and even though I have some pretty sharply divergent theological views as the people there, I really, really like them. They have what I term a "hyper-literal" way of translating the Bible, but in a way, their views are much more tolerant and loving than other extremely conservative Christians. Still, some of the things they believe are, well, pretty unbelievable. For one, they only use the King James. When the Book of Revelation says the gates of heaven are wrought from a single pearl, that means either it's a really big pearl, or we're gonna be really small when we get to heaven, but whatever the case, those folks who believe that the gates are made from lots of pearls are wrong, 'cause that ain't what the Bible says. It's one pearl, and that's that! And when it says Jonah was swallowed by a whale, that means a whale, not a "jewfish" or whatever...I don't even know what they're talking about there. Hey, for what it's worth, it was the most interesting sermon I've heard in years.

Still, I'm already learning to set my own prejudices and snobbishness aside. I might think that their beliefs are bizarre compared to my own, but their beliefs are based on a rich and complicated life that I can't begin to yet understand. Besides, once you believe that somebody actually turned water into wine and rose from the dead, isn't it all pretty much fair game after that?

Sentences like these should just be illegal

From this week's reading by some French anthropologist named Pierre Bordieu:

The theoretical construction which retrospectively projects the counter-gift into the project of the gift has the effect of transforming into mechanical sequences of obligatory acts the at once risky and necessary improvisation of the everyday strategies which owe their infinite complexity to the fact that the giver's undeclared calculation must reckon with the receiver's undeclared calculation, and hence satisfy his expectations without appearing to know what they are. In the same operation, it removes the conditions making possible the institutionally organized and guaranteed misrecognition which is the basis of gift exchange and, perhaps, of all the symbolic labor intended to transmute, by the sincere fiction of a disinterested exchange, the inevitable, and inevitably interested, relations imposed by kinship, neighborhood, or work into elective relations of reciprocity: in the work of reproducing established relations--through feasts, ceremonies, exchanges of gifts, visits or courtesies, and above all, marriages--which is no less vital to the existence of the group than the reproduction of the economic bases of its existence, the labor required to conceal the function of the exchanges is as important an element of labor needed to carry out the function.

Dude, buy a period already and stop hurting my brain.

Andrew is Home!

Here he is! My new nephew Andrew Everett Owen. He was born January 20 and is just precious. His brother and sister were excited to greet him the day he came home from the hospital. They even made a sign for him. I can't wait to meet him in April when I come home for spring break.

My Latest Projects

On Monday I went crazy and made a headboard for our bed. I got the idea from the 1000 hours of decorating shows that I watch a week. It was fun and not too hard. Notice the tufts...I am proud of those.

Next up...More jewelry making!!! I am obsessed with it and having so much fun. I have found about 20 jewelry websites that I check on a regular basis, I am making a scrapbook of designs I like, I am waiting for my latest order from Amazon.com to come in..."Jewelry Making for Dummies" and "Bead on a Wire", and today I am going to a local bead store's "trunk show". Yes, my new hobby is taking over my life, but it is great to have something that I feel this excited about!

Kids Make Christmas Morning so Fun!

Natalie got a metal detector from Jason and I. She was so excited, look at that big smile!

James in his Buzz Lightyear pj's!

Santa knew just what the kids would like: James...doggies, Natalie...candy (she also got a bike).

Natalie and James are playing her new Twister game. Poor James doesn't know that "head on green" is not an option. It was a fun Christmas and we were very tired by the end of it all!

Playing in the Leaves

Early Christmas

I know this is about a month late, but here's some holiday pictures. This is when Jason and I celebrated Christmas before we left for TX. Jason gets an i pod, his new favorite thing and I get a vanity seat...now I can do my makeup sitting down! :)

Christmas Lights

The Day After Thanksgiving

We went to the beach, collected shells, watched the sunset, and even one of us swam! Burrr!

Thanksgiving Dinner

We had an absolutely delicious Thanksgiving Dinner. I think Jason and Jon's eyes were bigger than their stomachs and Mary Nell's pumpkin pie went to her head. He he he!