Credit vs. Debit

So today I went to Wal-greens to get some of our disposable pictures that we took while snorkeling developed. They turned out great (although some of them of us with our masks on were HILARIOUS. Our faces were all smushy. Maybe I'll post one soon.) Anyway, I paid with my debit card, but I always select "Credit." And here's why:

I get REWARDS! I get 4 points to each dollar I spend because I pay 25 dollars a year to be a part of the Chase Rewards program. I'm definitely buying into their scheme to spend more, but I really have accumulated lots of points over the last year or two. (We RARELY redeem them...which is what they probably hope you will continue doing...haha)

Anyway, stores desperately want you to enter your "pin number" because they actually have to pay 1.8% of the transaction amount to the credit card company when you select Credit. That's why they make it very difficult for you to get away from a debit transaction. They have you hit some random button that you don't know about until you ask, then the cashier has to select "credit," etc. This whole scenario that usually happens at least once a day makes me assume that I'm being judged. This is what I assume is going on inside the head of the store clerk when I push or say "credit." :

"This stupid young girl is probably in so much credit card debt that she doesn't know how to stop. She even buys her groceries on credit?/She is buying a pop at the gas station with CREDIT? Get a hold of yourself. Did you know you have to pay those back?!" ...etc etc.

I always want to say, "this is actually going to be taken from my bank account just like a debit transaction would, but I'm trying to get rewards." lol. I care too much what other people think.

Has anyone else ever felt this way? or am I a total weirdo?

PS. I completed one of my bucket list tasks on our Jamaica vacation! Can anyone guess what it was?!? (see posting from a long time ago)

PS2. I'm going to be developing a second blog as more of a way to develop myself as a writer...a more professional blog! Updates to come

Jamaica 2010

Jamaica 2010

Have you ever had a set of plans that seemed flawless? Maybe you spent months toiling over your plan, studying it and perfecting it only to have something come along that shatters the entire plan. That seems to be what has happened to Kevin and me multiple times in the last three weeks.

From my last posting, you will understand part of our humbling experience.

The second part is related to our vacation. We had been planning what we thought was to be an amazing trip through Europe! We booked the vacation last October, and paid for the whole entire trip in full four months ago. The trip was to London, Paris, Switzerland, the French Riviera, Monaco, Florence, and Rome. Hours were spent at Borders studying books on these places, mapping out our top stops and eats in each city, and getting ridiculously excited. We even spent the day I had to get surgery thinking about how wonderful 'next week' would be as we ventured through the streets of Paris, toured the Coliseum where Paul preached, overlooked the Swiss Alps, and on and on.

The night before we were to fly out of Chicago into London, we got a 1-800 call in the middle of the night. I was pissed that some salesperson was calling at 2am...but in the morning we listened to the message. It was American Airlines letting us know that our flight had been cancelled due to the volcanic ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano that had been erupting for days. We found out later that over 100,000 flights had/have been cancelled because of this natural disaster. HOLY SMOKES!!

Once again, we were humbled at our small-ness and God's big-ness. Sometimes I pray, "God, make me small in my life and make yourself BIGGER." And oh man, has God been answering that prayer.

We spent a day toiling over where to go on our 2 weeks off of work. We looked at driving up the coast of California, we thought about Disney World, and we tried to find a cheap flight to Hawaii. We looked at probably as many websites as we had when we were looking for our Honeymoon destination. After literally 5 hours of searching on our own, we decided to call a travel agent. She helped us find a wonderful all-inclusive resort in Jamaica. It turned out to be a great trip with a lot of opportunities to share God's love. It was no Europe, but definitely a great place to enjoy our relationship, spend time with God on the beach, and get some good tan lines.

This last month has just gone to show that we are so much less in-control of our lives than we thought we were. This is a sinful, broken world that we live in, and even though we are Bible-believing Christians, we are not promised a life without struggle or pain. We have a new understanding of Grace, and we have a renewed closeness to the Lord.

He is a God of comfort, and Kevin and I both have never needed the arms of God around us like we do right now. It's a powerful thing, God's love. Phillipians 4 spoke straight to our hearts yesterday at church. "

What a crazy life this is. Praise God for his peace that surpasses our understanding.

And then sometimes life hurts

I'm having trouble sleeping for the third night in a row. But tonight is a little different than the last two nights.

Today when we went into the doctor for our first prenatal "check-up," they couldn't find the baby's heartbeat. So we were actually excited, because we knew this meant we could go get an ultrasound and actually see our baby!

However, when we went in later to have this done, the technician couldn't detect any movement. She did another form of ultrasound that is more sensitive, and we could see the baby but there was no blood flow to the little body. It was probably the worst moment I've ever remembered in my short life so far. And I can't stop replaying it in my head. We were in a dark room, and I just can't bring myself to lay in our dark bedroom right now. Nothing else will stay in my head. And so we're just coping as best we can.

God is good, and I know he has a plan. In fact, the Word has been our biggest hope over the last 16 hours. This is what I read tonight:

"Life up your eyes on high and see:

who created these?

He who brings out their host by number,

calling them all by name,

by the greatness of his might,

and because he is strong in power

not one is missing.

...

Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable (and this line is about where I lost it. This is the GOd we cling to!!)

He GIVES POWER TO THE FAINT,

AND TO HIM WHO HAS NO MIGHT HE INCREASES STRENGTH.

Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint."

Oh, God I just pray that we would have renewed strength. We are so thankful for friends and family who have surrounded us in prayer right now, and we definitely want this to be something we look back on and Glorify God all the more for. This life is such a refining process...and it just hurts really bad sometimes.

Thanks for your prayers. Especially on Friday when I'll be undergoing a DNC surgery.

Thank you GOD for dying so we don't have to shoulder the pain of this world. You know how we feel. you are a God of understanding, and peace, and grace. You draw near to the weary and the brokenhearted. If I could have one thing, it would be your presence.

Love you all.

Baby characteristics

So, I guess I can't help but blog about the baby growing inside of me "with our DNA" as our husband says. It's going to be so cool to see how he/she/they turn out!! haha. It's not declared multiples yet, so we'll just have to wait until our first appointment next Wednesday to find out all that fun stuff. I've inserted my thoughts in parenthesis. (Lame that I'm reading these things so early. But hey, it's the first one. What else can fill my nauseous life but reading weird internet articles?)

This is what the hokey internet quizzes/finder-outers say:

Congratulations! It's a boy! (The "necklace test", however, said GIRL!) According to the Chinese fertility calendar, you're expecting a son. Time to brush up on those baby boy names. (Are you kidding...brush up on our names? We have a list of 5 boy names and 5 girl names that we LOVE. It's going to be a difficult decision. I think we're going to wait until we see the baby to name him/her. Surprises are more fun!)

There's almost always a connection between genetics and environment. Musical talent is a classic example. People who have perfect pitch are four times more likely than those with only average singing voices to say that a relative has this natural gift. (I'm hoping for a future broadway star/worship leader... I'm just being honest. I love music/chorus/choir/madrigals/etc!). Yet research has also found that most people with perfect pitch started taking music lessons before age 6, and that only 3 percent of people who started voice lessons after age 9 have perfect pitch -- suggesting that both genetics and training affect one's singing voice. "It's simplistic to say that artistic and intelligence traits are determined by genetics, because even a gifted child needs the right environment to thrive," says Dr. Garber. Average IQ scores have gone up in the past 50 years thanks to changes such as better early-childhood education, experts say, not because we're innately smarter. And intelligence may run in families partly because bright parents tend to provide a richer learning environment -- by having more books, for example. In fact, two recent studies found that the IQ of firstborn children is slightly higher than that of their younger siblings -- possibly because they received more undivided attention. (this explains your ridiculous ACT score and valedictorian tendencies, and chemistry gifts Jill!)

"Almost all talents need to be practiced," says Dr. Carey. "Even if you're genetically predisposed to be a great basketball player, you still need to shoot a lot of free throws." The environment a child grows up in can also affect other genetic traits. "The impact of genes for height can be modified by the foods you eat," says Dr. Bodurtha. "And environment is enormously important during development and early childhood. For example, your child could have genetic potential for a high IQ, but if you drank alcohol during pregnancy, it may be lower." (good thing I didn't drink that apple martini that I wanted so bad the day before we found out. Our kids will need to get full rides for college since we're having like 5...or 3...or we'll see haha)

Sometimes, our children pick up traits we don't intend to teach -- just by living with us. Nora Flanagan's 1-year-old son, Kevin, was adopted but has definitely taken on some family traits. "My two brothers and I have the same up-to-something smirk, and Kevin's got it down to the last detail," says Flanagan, of Chicago. He also has a boisterous laugh that leaves him out of breath, just like both of his adoptive parents. "We keep in touch with Kevin's birth mother, who is more reserved, and it's been eye-opening to see how he's a combination of all of us," says Flanagan. (Babies laughing sounds are probably the cutest sounds I've ever heard.)

I'm hoping the kids get Kevin's laidback-ness, his sports abilites, his muscles, his hair, maybe my eyes or fingernails...ok I just love my hubby. I'm okay if they're just like him! Seriously, God has blessed me with such a leader and man of God in Kevin and I'm so excited to see how our little one turns out. More updates to come (like the actual gender in until June.)

We're off to Europe in 13 days....Itinerary to come...

Are you ready for a good laugh?!

So I definitely nodded my head and literally belly laughed at a lot of these. Everybody needs a good laugh here and there. So here it goes: (excuse the cuss words, I didn't write these :)

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call. I sometimes rename them…..okay MOST of the time I rename them. Usually something really snarky.

18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

19. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

21. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

22. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

23. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

24. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

25. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

26. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent an A-hole from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

27. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

28. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber & dumber every year?

29. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

30. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

31. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

32. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

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March Madness and a baby!

So I'm back. Contrary to what you may be presupposing, I do NOT enjoy my sabbaticals from blogging. But hey, life happens. LIFE REALLY DOES HAPPEN...because we're having a baby!

Here is the biggest news on the books this month:

1) Kevin and I are having a BABY! A real life bluberry sized child is growing in-utero. Pretty insane if you ask me.

2) Related to #1: the morning sickness has surfaced over the last few days. It seems to be trying to gain lost ground, as I had been experiencing no sickness/nausea for the last month. Dang.

3) Related to #2: Although I haven't thrown up or anything yucky like that, I sleep like an infant. I can't get enough! This kinda depressing activity VERY MUCH infringes on my productivity in life, and I don't like that. I'm a GO GO GO person.

4) I am officially un-addicted to caffiene. This in itself is a true miracle! I have made it a week or two at points in my college and post-college life, but never any more than that! You better appreciate it, little one.

4) It's MARCH MADNESS! and we love it. I thought the pic was fitting, with my belly on its way to basketball size over the next 7.5 months =)

So I have 2 brackets out there, one with Kansas winning and one with Duke winning (even though people have been saying they don't have what it takes. But hey, you never know. I always wish I was a psychic when this time of year comes around!) I'm doing pretty good on my first rounds! It's pretty awesome when I want both teams to win because I don't know which of my brackets is going to bring home the victory yet :)

So basketball is in the background here at my mom's house. I'm back here in good ol' Rochester on a mini "vacation" before a couple crazy weeks of work and then I'll be done recruiting and onto writing full time! So I've spent most of my "vaca" sleeping and feeling sick. A little bit of cooking, reading and writing as well.

It's funny when I tell people we're preggo. They always have lots of interesting things to say about having a baby...like "oh, good luck. I had 3 miscarriages!" and "Eat lots of graham crackers and ginger ale" and "DON'T DYE YOUR HAIR!" lol. Lots of good advice and some that is just weird! If you have any wisdom, feel free to add to the library. I'm writing down what people tell me, and I'm also writing notes to the little one. I found the cutest notebook and it was called the "songbird notebook" on the bar code sticker. So I've decided to nickname our baby "my little songbird" when I write to him/her/it. It's pretty fun and very inspiring. It doesn't feel too real yet though. Jeans are still zipping/buttoning at 7 weeks and 2 days.

More updates to come!

PS. My netflix Queue is empty. What are some good movies for us to rent?! what is your fav? (not scary ones...the little songbird doesn't like those.) Thanks.