And now i'm 33...

So, my birthday was on Friday. I was 33 on the 3rd... seeing as how i didn't really care when i turned 3 on the 3rd, i'm considering this my "cool" birthday... double-digit cool.

Bourne Ultimatum opened on my birthday, and that's where i would have been except that months and months ago Mom invited me and Cindy to a Women of Faith conference in Ft. Wayne. So, thursday night cindy and i took the train to indiana, along with scores of Cubs fans returning home after the afternoon game. many of them were drunk. and many of tehm continued drinking because until Aug 1, it was allowed on the train. so, not only was train very very crowded, it was very very loud and unusually annoying. then friday afternoon we drove with my aunts barb and beth to ft wayne for the opening sessions of the conference. we spent the night in a Motel 6 that didn't smell TOO horrendous, relatively speaking to other Motels i've experienced, and all day saturday were more sessions. i wasn't really excited about going, but i'm really glad now that i went. it was very good, and the ladies who spoke were great. very funny but also very moving and deep. and funny. did i mention funny? http://www.womenoffaith.com/conferences/ftwayne/

and if you haven't heard sandi patti recently (i hadn't), MAN, is she worth a listen-to. especially when she sings with her husband, as she did Friday night as a special treat. now, if you've never heard her husband (i hadn't), you'd be thinking "great... she's gonna sing with her hubby, whoo hoo..." (i was). so she sings a verse solo. brief musical interlude. second verse, hubby. mouth opens, and- one of the the most gorgeous male voices i've ever heard cascades through the arena. the man is literally an opera singer. their english/italian duet was an incredible live music experience. the last note faded and all that i could do was whimper a little tiny squeaky "wow" before i jumped to my feet with the rest of the place. true talent expressed with true feeling. truly special.

cindy and i came home on the train this evening, and we will BOTH be going to WORK tomorrow morning!!!! I know!!! praise the Lord!!! Cindy is starting a 25/hr/wk job at an early learning center as their kitchen coordinator. it's a preschool run by a sister Mennonite church called REba Place in evanston. I will be starting a new assignment through the temp agency i've been working with. it's full time in evanston and listed as "indefinite" so they anticipate more than 6 weeks. this is the FIRST time in more than a YEAR that we will BOTH be earning consistent paychecks at the same time!!!! WHOOOO-HOOOOO.

that's a good birthday present. thanks, God. We were able to pay rent in full last week thanks to a handfull of miscellaneous jobs brought to us by our church members, including one large painting job and much childcare and cleaning. I am looking forward to being able to put some of my paychecks back into the church. (no, we we're tithing during these last months... something i've kinda struggled with, but hey, we had to ask for money FROM the deacons, can't really tithe it right back...)

it's supposed to be (forgive my crassness here) BUTT hot this week. and God has even comethrough there- we're watering plants and doing some cleaning for a church family who's on vacation for the next 4 weeks, and have been told to please feel free to camp out at their house if we need to. it's a nice house with central air and is half a block from the lake. needless to say, i think we'll be doing some of that "camping" this week. our window AC unit do tend to suck up the electricity mightily. their house even on the thermostat "away" settings is cooler than ours by far.

i had a very nice time this afternoon with family, Grandma and Grandpa, aunt JoAnn, mom and dad, and Rod, Michelle, Kirsten and Kira. aunt dove joined us for lunch at a chinese place and then most of the rest of us headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's... cindy and i actually took Kira over while rod and michelle took Kirsten school shopping! she's starting kindergarten!!! wow! while over there we played games and looked at pics from cousins Jason, Yvette, Jaiya and Nadia's visit to indiana last week. (J's were in town last week from Charlotte NC and left early friday morning, and cindy and i got there late late thursday night, so we missed them! but, they are the cousins we visited in NC just a few weeks ago, so at least we've seen them recently.) we also wathced a DVD of home video that Jason's left with Grandma- Jaiya in their swimming pool showing off, and then a GREAT dance performance featuring Yvette, JAiya, and Nadia in the kitchen. it was wonderful! then michelle and the girls dropped us off at the airport to catch the train back to "Heh-CAUGH-oo" as Kira says Chicago.

I slept on the train. it was nice. and there was not a single drunk Cubs fan. that was even nicer.

i'm sleeping on the couch tonight, right under the AC in the family room. hee hee.


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