SchneiderLife

Birthday-scapades!

Thursday, March 4th, 2010 | Erin | 2 Comments

Let me start off by reassuring people that the birthday I celebrate today is not a “Crisis Year” as one of my friends tactfully asked.  In fact, I will go ahead and be bold and just state that I have officially entered my early-late twenties: I am twenty-eight.

28.

Sweet!  That’s a great number, because it’s a multiple of four and seven.  And four is cool because that’s the day of my birthday, and also I have four letters in my first name.  Seven is also a pretty neat number – I mean, where would Snow White be without the SEVEN dwarfs?  And if we didn’t have SEVEN days in a week, our calendar would be all sorts of confused.  It’s also a multiple of 14, which is one of my dearest friend’s favorite numbers (and hopefully still graces his hockey jersey!).  So, it should be clear to you now why 28 is a great number.  If not, in the very least I hope it’s clear to you that my mind works in strange and inexplicable ways sometimes.

Which is, in fact, something that I’m celebrating during this birthday.  I am celebrating being ME.  Is it strange to be only now getting to a place where I’m excited about who I am made to be?  I wonder when this happens for most people – or if this joyful contentment ebbs and flows.  Not to say that I don’t have things to improve, but I’m even happy with that — Me: The Work In Progress.

I didn’t actually mean for this to be a philosophical post, but just wanted to record some of the wonderful moments of this week.  This is for my own benefit, really, but probably also for my mom who likes to know what I do.  So, here’s a quick recap of all the blessings this week:

• Package from my mom with homemade scarves, an AWESOME purple hat (with sequins!!) and this phenomenal knitting and crochet book.  Because of this book, I’ve had a knitting breakthrough!  Place your sweater orders now, folks!  Thanks, Mom!

Over 900 stitches!! Wow!!

• I got a really cute card in the mail from my aunt in California.  The card had a dog on it and that made me smile since I adore our puppy probably more than I should. 

• We went out swing dancing with friends.  The band, The Rhythm Rockets, were so much fun!  They did many high-energy pieces as well as some latin-style songs and soulful, blues-y numbers, too.  A friend recorded a 1-minute video of me and my Love dancing.  It’s pretty dark, but it gives you some idea of how much fun we were having!

Dancing with the Love Of My Life

• My sweet friend gave me some yummy smelling Bath and Body Works soaps and lotions.  I’m super picky about smell (random factoid about me that you really must know) but she picked out ones that were just perfect!  (“Dancing Waters” — I mean, could it be any more fitting?)

• Wednesday morning I spent precious time with my lovely friend Melissa and my Godson, Trayce.  He’s getting soooo big now!

He used to be so small!

• Wednesday evening I made brownies to share with class this morning… and ate some.

• This morning, I woke up to coffee brewing in the French press, classical music playing in the living room, and a prize of this AMAZING cookbook that I was drooling over at a friend’s house recently.  I can’t wait to delve into it!

Random flipping open of this massive volume leads me to such drool-worthy delights as "Red Lentil Soup with Lime," "Wine-Glazed Jerusalem Artichokes with Rosemary," and "Corn Chowder with New Potatoes, Golden Peppers, and Basil." Wowzers!

• It was so sunny this morning that I had to wear sunglasses on the way to school!  I’m certain that Chicago planned its warm(er) weather in honor of me.

Thank you, Sunshine!!

• Jeremy came to class with me this morning, as there was a special guest speaker.  More brownie eating ensued during the break.  Yes, brownies are a perfectly nutritious breakfast food.

• I realized I had earned a free small coffee drink at my school’s coffee shot.  Soy latte!!  (Ah, Bea, that always makes me think of you!!)

• Jeremy and I went to the Chicago History Museum for the first time – it was a free day AND everybody there was treated to a free piece of birthday cake and some punch.  All to honor me!  Well… okay, it was in honor of the city’s 173rd birthday.  But I got a special “It’s also your birthday!” certificate!!

Happy Birthday to me! Oh, and also to Chicago.

• I enjoyed 15 seconds of fame at the Museum when a little old lady (whose birthday is also today) and I said “Happy Birthday, Chicago!” for a channel 23 news camera.  Yes, that will probably be the extent of my fame, but that’s okay by me!  Since we don’t have a tv, if anyone sees my superstar appearance you’ll have to tell me about it, kay?

Wow… just look at all the celebration!  How lucky can one girl get, huh?  Oh, excuse me — one early-late twenties, sorta young lady.  I hear that there’s going to be a special evening of celebration tomorrow, too, but Jeremy won’t tell me anything more about that.

Thank you, everyone, for being an important part of my life.  Here’s to another year!

I Misspelled Wisconsin

Thursday, February 4th, 2010 | Jeremy | No Comments

Just wanted to quickly apologize to our friends in Wisconsin. Yes, I misspelled the name of your home state in the title of the trip update that I published this morning. (To my credit, I did spell it right in the body of the post – I just misspelled it in the title and the URL!)

Will I learn my lesson and start using that spell-checker? Probably not! Anyway, it’s fixed now.

Trip Update: Arizona, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin

Thursday, February 4th, 2010 | Jeremy | 3 Comments

It’s been almost two months since we packed all of our bags into that trusty little Chevrolet Aveo and started driving. We were on the road for over a month – from the beginning of December until mid-January!

It reminds me of a Pakistani family here in Chicago who we know well. We found out just two weeks ago that they’re moving to Florida – and we’re so sad to see them go! But when they were talking about the move, they gave this great comparison about how the trip they’re taking is like your whole life: as you’re traveling, your physical place changes and the faces you see change, but the destination remains the same. And they pointed out that truly knowing God is not just about the love or peace he produces in your heart now – it’s also about the hope of knowing your final destination with certainty. During times of instability or injustice or difficulty this hope is significant. That’s why following God is described as being “completely sure of the hope and certain of the invisible.” And we are definitely looking forward to the next time we see each other!

But I was telling you about a different trip – the one that Erin and I just took! I’ve always had this idea that it would be fun to drive across the United States. Well we wanted to visit Erin’s family in Arizona and I finally got to make that dream a reality!

Route 66 Adventure

It took three nights to get out there. We spent the third night in Flagstaff (Arizona) thinking that we’d stop at the Grand Canyon the next morning. But when we woke up, there were several inches of snow on the ground and even more coming down!! Everyone said that we’d get stuck if we didn’t leave immediately – so we made a break for Phoenix… and after an hour of driving 30 mph we finally got to a low enough altitude that it turned to rain. Definitely not what we expected on our first day in Arizona. But we eventually made it to Tucson where we enjoyed a few weeks of blissfully warm weather!

Tucson Sunshine and Mountains

But most importantly, we spent lots of time with family in Tucson. We stayed with Erin’s mom, visited Erin’s brother Matt’s family and met our new nephew Luke! Sooooooo cute! And of course the family in Tucson got to meet Chai!
› Continue reading

Sharing the Love

Saturday, January 30th, 2010 | Erin | 2 Comments

Last night, Jeremy and I went to an evening session put on by a group called Love 4 Life, which focuses on encouraging and equipping married couples to continually grow together in love as they go through life.  The topic for the evening was “Mapping Your Marriage,” and the emphasis was on intentionality in planning.  One couple who shared pointed out that it’s not good enough to expect relationship to happen.  Without intentionality in the relationship, you default to giving your spouse leftover energy after work, or else you fall into the relational patterns of your parents (whether or not they’re the same as your spouse’s), or else you move into what you think society expects of you.

To have a lasting, loving marriage demands a counter-cultural way of relating to one another. And that does not happen naturally.  Thus, the evening was not primarily a time of teaching by “expert” couples, but it centered on providing those in attendance with the opportunity to talk with each other and do some planning!  They even set up little tables with cute tablecloths and tea candles and provided coffee and little desserts so it was like a date night! 

Jeremy and I had a blast.  It was really fun to talk with each other about dreams for the future – whether they be practical or far-fetched.  Also, we had a good time analyzing the VERY different methods of planning that we utilize.

Jeremy is the love of my life!

Here are the discussion questions, and selected of our responses: › Continue reading

Blind?

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 | Erin | 2 Comments

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

Possibly these words sound stale and familiar to you, over-used, over-quoted, and poorly-sung.  In fact, if these words don’t leave you breathless at the reality of transformational, world-changing miracles wrought in this world, then you must – I mean MUST – read this book:

"Once Blind" by Kay Marshal Strom

Oh I knew something about the story of the writer of this song before reading the book:

• that Newton was once a captain on a British slave ship (but not that the melody of the song was taken from the aching laments of the slaves as they were forced away from their homes and families)
• that Newton had a change of heart at some point in his life (but not that this was after his reputation was sealed as the most insolent, disobedient, profane and blasphemous sailor in all of Britain)
• that Newton had become a man of faith and eventually a pastor (but not that he had written 280 hymns in the decades of his pastoral life – many still sung around the world and in many languages today)

The second stanza of this famous hymn begins:

Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;

After reading this book, I realized with what little depth I believed those lines for my life.  But John Newton – well, he was beaten with a cat o’ nine tails whip, starved, imprisoned (known as the “white slave” at one point), nearly shipwrecked (one of nine sailors who survived), stricken with malaria, nearly thrown overboard by the captain on one ship (though he can’t swim), and more – all while cursing God to his face and calculating to destroy the faith of anyone he encountered.  Sounds quite a bit like another famous pastor and prolific author, eh?

My suspicion is that John Newton could sing with a lot more conviction than I the last two lines of that verse:

‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

Again, I insist that you read this book.  I received a link in my email for a free – yes FREE – pdf download of the book.  I will be more than happy to forward you the link to the organization if you would like.  Furthermore, new and used copies of the book are available for purchase on amazon.com for as little as $5something.  Download it, buy it, go to the bookstore and sit in their cafe until you’ve finished it (I read it in one three-hour sitting this morning), but either way, you MUST read this book.

***

P.S. We’re back in Chicago – whew!  Stand by for an update that Jeremy is due to post with some fun pictures from our many trips.