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| I've decided to follow the crowd and change my blog site. If you're interested in reading the happenings in my brain (and life), feel free to head on over to roadsthroughmymind.blogspot.com. | | |
| I know it's been quite some time since I've posted something, but today is worthy of a moment to post a very important message... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KERRI! WELCOME TO THE TWENTIES! | | |
| Life continues to be an adventure. (Would you expect anything different?) We had the house inspection a couple weeks ago. There were several things that popped up with that, but most issues weren't bad enough to back out of the deal. There was one potential issue, however, that needed to be looked at more closely before we moved on with the process of buying the house. That issue: mold. We scheduled a mold inspection for yesterday morning. Throughout the week, Nathan and I kept praying for wisdom and very clear direction regarding the house. We received that clear direction yesterday. Not only did the inspection report indicate that there was quite a bit of mold in the attic and some of it went deep into wood, but we also found out that the house was recently rezoned to be in a flood plain. The authorities on the matter were so brilliant in how they went about informing people about the change on their property...they put it in the newspaper and for some reason figured that was all that was needed. So, no one knew about this until it was looked into this week. So, how would that impact us? We would be required to have flood insurance (which is ridiculously expensive), and it would be more difficult to sell the house in the future. So, we decided to back out of the deal (due to that and the mold)...a decision that was confirmed by a few people, including our attorney who is taking care of the paperwork in this process. We start looking at houses again Sunday afternoon. We're a little disappointed but also feeling some relief that some of that is behind us now. Next week begins the time of tons of travel. This will probably bring back memories for Nathan from a year ago. (Side note: A year ago Saturday will mark 1 year since he first asked me out.  ) In 5 weeks time, we'll be heading to Ohio 4 times...the same 4 out of 5 weekends that Nathan was in Ohio last year for some odd reason. At least the crazy week after week traveling will end after Christmas. It will be good to see family and friends again, though, over the next several weeks. I'm sure many memories will be made, and there will probably be some crazy stories to tell. After all, we will be visiting both of our families...including extended family...and that always proves to be adventurous! Work is still going well. I've been dealing with health issues, which has made work a challenge at times. However, I've been getting through it ok. When I get home from work, though, I haven't always been in very good shape. However, Nathan has been absolutely wonderful with cooking, washing dishes, running errands, and taking care of other necessary things. As much as I don't like the rough health times, this has been so much better than when I was single and living by myself. Nathan has been a tremendous help, and I am so incredibly thankful for him. Yeah, he's pretty awesome. | | |
| I'm now in the midst of my 4th week of the new job. It's been an adventure adjusting to work for many reasons. I'm learning a new company, a new office, and new design and drafting standards. I'm also learning how to deal with psychotic drivers on the way to and from work each day. The commute is anywhere from 35-45 minutes each way, and potentially even longer depending on crazy traffic. Yes, I do miss my 10-15 minute drive to work, but this hasn't been too bad so far, and hopefully, the commute will be shorter in a few months. Anyway, due to how psychotic the drivers are here, I'm actually starting to think that Chicago drivers are crazier than Michigan drivers. Amazing, I know. Another crazy challenge I've been faced with at work is dealing with the psychotic toilets. They are the automatic flushing toilets...and they like to flush quite often. It makes attempting to use the sanitary paper that goes on the seat a little bit adventurous. Put the paper down...oh, movement!...that means the toilet must flush, sucking the paper down with all the water. So, special skills need to be developed in order to use such things. As many of you know, this is a challenging time of year for me, due to the psychotic temperatures. My body rebels against such crazy ups and downs in the temps each day. So, the fatigue and pain have been a little higher than normal, which means that work is more adventurous that way. However, the good news is that I only have to push through 4 days of work each week rather than 5! That has been so great these past few weeks. I've really needed the 3 day weekends. I'll be glad, though, when the temps become stable again (even though that will mean that it's cold). Of course, the next few months will be rather insane with all that's going on...so hopefully we'll find some way to trick my body into forgetting to rebel against various things. Holidays are quickly approaching which means lots of traveling. I'm actually not used to traveling much for the holidays since most of my family is in Toledo. However, this year...I'm not living in Toledo...which means Nathan and I will be in the car quite a bit at the beginning and end of several weekends going to the Toledo and Youngstown areas. Even though all the driving will tend to be draining, it will be good to see friends and family in Ohio again. After we get back home from visiting family for Christmas, we get to start the moving process! Closing is planned for 12/27. Since our apartment lease has been extended to the end of January, we'll take the opportunity to get some painting done and new flooring put in before moving furniture in. We're excited about the house...making it "home"...and using it in various ways to minister to others. So...yeah...a lot has been happening out here, and a lot more will be happening over the next few months. Life is definitely full...but also exciting! | | |
| The past few days have, again, proven to be adventurous. For example, today I needed to pick up a couple packages at the post office. Our tiny apartment mailbox couldn't handle them yesterday (even though they weren't big packages). So, I had the opportunity to face the post office by us for the first time. When I got there, only one person was in line ahead of me, and one was standing at a window. The lady at the window was talking like crazy and just didn't seem to want to stop. It didn't take long for a nice long line to form behind me. The lady in front of me decided to move up toward the window to see if anyone was on the other side of the counter...or at least to get someone's attention that there were others in line. The lady came back saying, "There's no one there! She's talking to herself!" Actually, the lady at the window was talking on the phone, but it was easy to make that mistake since it wasn't a hand-held phone and was just hooked on her ear. Well, eventually someone finally came over to the window, and things started rolling. When it was my turn, I waited patiently while she went to retrieve my packages. I didn't expect her to show up at a different window, nor did I respond immediately when she called for "Ms. Mackel". Why would I respond? I don't know a Ms. Mackel. When she said it a little louder, it finally clicked in my brain that she was at a different window (along a different wall) and was calling for me. I'm learning that I'll have to become familiar with all the wrong ways of saying my last name so that I'll realize that people are actually calling my name...or at least attempting to call my name. I never realized how difficult of a last name this was to figure out how to say. If it started with the letter "R" rather than "M" there would be no confusion whatsoever...well...maybe not. I guess you really never know what some people will come up with! Tuesday night at the young married couples group was great. There were only 3 couples, including us, who were there. 4 others from the previous time couldn't be there for one reason or another. So, since 1/3 of the group that night was fairly new...meaning that we had only been there once before...we took the opportunity to get to know each other a little better instead of going through the material. This led to Nathan impressing them with some of his amazing skills by repairing a vacuum cleaner for one of the couples. It also led to a great small world experience for me. In conversation, we were talking about missions (shocking, I know), so I mentioned my trips to Argentina. One of the guys said that there is someone at our church who grew up in Argentina. When he mentioned the guy's name, I made the connection. One of the couples serving in BA that I've connected with have 4 kids, and all 4 live in the Chicago area. I knew this, but since Nathan and I aren't going to a C&MA church out here, I never would have expected that out of all the churches in Chicago, we would be going to the same church (and apparently the same service) as this missionary couple's son and daughter-in-law! The couples in our small group are going to try to point them out to us some Sunday. So, hopefully we'll meet them soon. For those of you who read my last post and possibly also Nathan's, you know about my interesting situation with the women's small group I've started attending. Thank you to those who have commented on it and for those who have been praying for us about it. We had decided (before either of us posted anything on it) that we would continue going to the small groups we were in until/unless God clearly directed us elsewhere. Before going last night, though, I was wrestling with the whole thing. So, Nathan led us in prayer before I walked out the door, asking God for clarity as to what He would want us to do. The leader started the evening out by playing a song that focused on God's majesty, which really helped calm my heart down. Then, surprisingly, we opened up our Bibles to look at some Scripture. Last week, we were looking a whole lot more at the book, rather than the Bible, which was a concern of mine. Last night, I don't think we ever really opened the dreaded book. At some point, I made some comment about not really agreeing with some of the things the author had to say. I don't really remember what I said or what context it was in, but it seemed to open up the door for others to feel comfortable with admitting to disagreeing with some of the material. Throughout the evening, we looked at a few passages of Scripture and had some great discussion about it. After things were officially over, I had the opportunity to talk with the leader, as well as a couple other women in the group, and I learned that the leader doesn't always agree with this author, either (which was a pleasant surprise). I don't know how it was decided to do this book, but our small group leader simply wants to use it as a springboard to look at what Scripture really says about things. She sees the importance of always going to Scripture rather than just assuming that what you read in a book is truth. As Deb commented on Nathan's blog, first impressions aren't always completely accurate. I was very honest with one of the women who also has issues about the book and told her we were trying to figure out to best handle things, wondering if I should even continue going to this group and that the evening provided clarity on that. She responded by saying, "Please keep coming!" I was so encouraged by some of the women there who made some comments along those lines. It was encouraging, humbling, and also confirming as to what we should do. As much as I really don't like this book, I must admit, no other book I've ever read has given me such a desire to pick up the Bible to examine the material in order to see if it really is Scriptural. I'm being challenged in a new way. Plus, it has provided some material for interesting conversations (which involve looking even further into Scripture) for Nathan and me. There will probably still be some frustration while going through the material, but it's good to know that I'm not the only one who disagrees with the author, and even more importantly, that the group will be focusing a lot more on Scripture than on the book. So, we're keeping with the plan we've had the past week to continue with the small groups we're currently attending. I just realized something...I got married, and my blog posts tend to be consistently on the longer side. I realize that my blogs in the past weren't necessarily extremely short, but still...do you think the two could somehow related? | | |
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