Sacramento

Hey faithful readers whom i dearly love - i'm leaving today for Sacramento to do ACSI work and will be back late Saturday night. I'll bring you back something nice...

YAY!!!

Today was my last day at the doctor! They took one last X-ray of my ankle and the doctor said that it looks amazing and that i don't ever have to come back. Horray!

I have been walking without the boot now for a week and i started driving last week also. i love the freedom and landon loves dinner on the table! I am so so grateful. Dr. G told me that i still won't be running for another 8 weeks (bummer), i didn't even ask about winter sports - not many people know much about those around here anyway. I've been so amazed at how quickly my body has been healing this whole time. I am continually amazed at God's creativity and brilliance in how he has created our bodies!

Thanks to everyone for your continual thoughts and prayers for my ankle. I am so happy to say that i am very well.

I finally start back at Starbucks next Monday. I still get to keep my handicap parking sticker through December. yahaha.

Trick or Treat

Today Landon and i had the joy of little "spider man"s "thomas the train"s, monsters and "hannah montana"s hopping up to our door step. For those of you who have had the joy of visiting us, you know that our doorbell plays christmas carols. Some of the older kids recognize the irony in that.

I guess around here every year the Village of Gurnee designates the Sunday before halloween from 1-4pm for trick-or-treating because Friday nights are too dangerous, with darkness setting in early, and all the hooligans running about (did you hear?). Last year we forgot about this, as we did this year - or rather, we were never informed. Duvick scared all the little kiddies away until Landon got home with the Laffy Taffys from Walgreens. We put the dog inside, and the children flocked to our doorstep. I just loved it.

Duvick loved being so close to children, as he was able to put his face up to the screen door and experience the laughter and beauty of the kids. It was fun!

HAIR: A year ago i cut my hair and donated it. I've never cut off this much before, and ever since my husband has met me i have had long hair. This was a hard thing for both of us to deal with - the short hair. but we survived, remarkably.

Right before I cut my hair


The hair cut!


Most recent picture of me with sweet friends at ACSI Convention in South Bend, IN


I was convinced that my hair would be grown back by May - that's what i told my husband, anyway. Woopsie, it's been a whole year and my hair has only grown how many inches? I'm such a liar. Well, i haven't cut it at all since last October and i'm hoping it will grow more quickly in this coming year. I remember my girlfriend Brittlee told me during my freshman year of college that gelatin encouraged hair growth. This cracks me up, but i've never forgotten this and if it is true, it gives me a very valid reason to eat many many gummy worms!

i originally thought that my long hair made me look immature - and i thought the shorter length made me look more professional when i traveled around to conventions last fall. but, now i don't really know or care. i just know that Landon likes my hair as long as i can tolerate it. and i like it better longer than shorter. but when it's really long it gets to a point that it is unstylable. it has reached this point several times in the last 4 years - where even pony tails don't lift the hair off of my neck and back.

when we were in kenya i didn't cut my hair at all and by the end of our year there, my hair was VERY long. well, and it was very gross because it was always being whipped around in the dusty wind, and daily had little sticky fingers in it. mmm.. though my hair is now much healthier and grateful for the freedom, i would take damaged hair and snotty orphan fingers over healthy hair any day.

Dear Diary...

I've been journaling since i was 7. My first diary was tiny with lined paper, keyed lock, covered in balloons. I used to capture my days in a simple list of things that i did and began every entry with "Dear Diary". I'm not sure what got me into journal writing - that first diary was probably some silly birthday present that most kids never touch but for me hid my most private treasures: "dear diary, today i went to grama's, piano lesins, soccer praktis, playd barbies, and ate cake. Love, Hannah Lacy". pretty intense stuff right there.

I've compiled MANY journals throughout the 18 years since then. Some have been unique: letters to my future husband, paintings, a book of blessings, prayers, letters to people (alive and dead) that had left me and i missed terribly. For some reason i've kept every one. Landon had read some of them in an attempt in knowing me better before he thought to propose. i let him read them - can you believe that? And what's even more unbelievable is that after reading these thousands of pages worth of my daily mundane life (and deepest secrets), he decided it would be best to marry me. Ha! He's great.

As a Christian, journal writing has been a beautiful discipline and joy in my life. I have been able to meet God within those pages in such a deep and unique way - so different than anywhere else. One of my favorite things about journal writing is reading what i've written years before. It's been amazing going through old journals and seeing how God was working in my life. He is always cultivating in me to be a woman of remembrance. After we got back from kenya, i realized that LONG before i had entertained the thought of being a missionary in africa, i had recorded in my journal dreams that i had where africans were telling me how i needed to bring Landon to africa - and quick. How amazing! I have also seen so many answered prayers. Reading old journals, I am amazed at the strength that God had given me to endure some of the challenges in my life and i learn from my once child-like faith. In my journals i paste birthday cards that i have received, autumn leaves, flower petals, ticket stubs, guitar picks, or whatever else that was a treasure to me at that time (and remotely flat).

I am so grateful that i can look back through my life and see God's hand in each day. Even in conversations and dreams and challenges that i struggled through at the time - he knew the greater picture - he was always carefully and lovingly working. I trust that though i have entered a season of my life where i am sometimes tired, lonely, and confused, God is with me and molding me despite my sometimes crummy attitude and selfishness.

Our God is truly an awesome God!

Last October i was frantic, hopping from one ACSI convention to the next and working at 4am all of the days in between. I was being pulled in every direction except where i really wanted to be - home. I would sit in airports and it never failed that my departing gate was right next to a gate going to Denver. Once i finally arrived to Chicago O'Hare, i would take the shuttle to the car lot and drive North on a dark and busy highway beside the Chicago sky line. And when i finally drove into our gravel drive and turned off the ignition, i would look at the clock and realize i had to be at starbucks in 5 hours. And i would just sit there and cry and cry and hope that Landon was too busy studying to notice that i was home.

Somehow i have been tremendously blessed through my broken ankle in many ways these past few months. Though i am traveling 10 days this month to conventions around the country, i am not cramming them in between 4am mornings and sleepless nights. And when i come home to Gurnee, i actually feel like i'm coming home. My mind is not constantly in the mountains (not constantly).

If you have read this far, thank you. Maybe you want to share where you were last October? I know many of you didn't have those precious babies at your boobies last year - i bet that makes life a whole lot different!

New Songs

oh yeah, and i updated my play list. lots of new songs on there - i don't know about you but i was getting sick of the old ones. I still left some on there - ones i know landon likes (he reads my blog the most!) and ones that i just couldn't part with yet. but lots of new, fantastic songs. take a listen.

Expelled - no intelligence allowed

Last night Landon and i rented Expelled from Red Box. It was great. You should rent it - it's only a dollar at red box!

Fall fun

As you know, i've been dabilitatingly stuck in my house for days. wait, no, months. I've been anticipating fall, but not yet experiencing it save the drizzly mornings outside of my window and watching my neighbors' leaves being tossed across my front lawn. Yesterday was the first day of fall for me, and i am still glowing over it!



Landon and i went to church. I brought a home-made almond roca latte (oh, by the way: Landon was pretty upset about my bringing coffee to church - is there a rule against this? I'm pretty sure my parents brought coffee with them everywhere before 12noon throughout my childhood - including church!).

When we got home i tended my "garden" (enter Landon's laughter here), where i did fall garden stuff like trimming everything back, emptying flower pots, pulling weeds. I did not plant anything, since we're getting up and out of here next summer.



Then i tended to caramels. Every year Landon's family meets together in the "mountains" of beautiful North Carolina to enjoy each other. We missed this celebration this year, so i brought some family tradition in his aunt's caramel recipe. This is the third time i've made it, and i think it's my best batch! But after it cools, it took me a few hours to sit down and cut it into tiny squares and squeeze each one between wax paper. But i got to listen to a new CD that i got at the convention - the ANNIE MOSES BAND is awesome!

Landon closed all of our storm windows. Now we are officially protected for the winter - closed into our little old house, safe and snug. No windy blizzard is going to make it through here.


Now - the best thing ever - Landon and Duvi and I went for a walk! I haven't been able to go on a walk for a very long time. My crutches hurt me within the first 15 minutes, the roll-about didnt' work on trails, and i've still been to sensitive to walk on anything except a flat surface. until yesterday! Landon was sweet to hold my hand and walk slowly. I finally got to experience my favorite thing about living here! We walked beside a lake with geese and ducks swimming around. Landon threw Duvick some retrieves and i got to watch my beautiful puppy in his greatest talent! We even got to walk into the woods a little bit and i got to stand underneath towering trees beneath a beautiful yellow canopy of leaves! and i got to touch the bark and smell the trunks of these massive trees. I loved it. It was a beautiful evening and the perfect day!

Four Years of Marital Bliss

That's right! Landon and I celebrated our four year wedding anniversary on Friday. He picked me up from the airport at 8:30pm and when i got home, there were roses and a brie-mushroom fondue in the making! It was wonderful to sit together and not hurrying our meal to get to homework or whatever else. Fondue and champaigne was the most perfect way to celebrate! We sat and recollected our last 4 years. We have experienced A LOT in those four years and have grown so much as individuals and as a couple. Ha, I've been looking through our wedding pictures tonight thinking to myself, "wow - we looked SO young!". c'mon, it wasn't THAT long ago!

Be a follower!

So today i signed into blogger and found this really awesome new feature on my blogger dashboard. I can choose to be a "Follower" of any blog. Right now, i daily check about 25 blogs - (wow, that's embarrassing to admit - i"ve never counted them until today)- what a waste of time! Well, actually it is NOT a waste of time to me, because they're YOUR blogs and i really want to keep in touch while Landon and i are out here. so, i added all of your blog URL's to my followers list. The cool thing about this feature, is that when i sign in to blogger, it will show me which of you have updated your blogs! AWESOME, so i don't have to check ALL of them each day because i know when they're updated. this will be a time saver and i can still keep in touch with y'all!

i'm stoked about this. really think this is awesome! so, i've added the follower's option to my blog, not to develop a following, but rather just to make it easier for you to become a follower of my blog if you have a list of blogs that you check every day also. And i could have added an option for you to "subscribe" to my blog, but who really wants to subscribe to EVERY blog they read!? My email inbox is bombarded enough already!! This never sends emails, it's simply a feature on your blogger dashboard.

so, i hope that helps you get organized with your blog-reading time maintenance. Thanks for keeping in touch via our blog - my dear friends and family, you mean so much to Landon and I! Blessings!

For more information on "following", read this!

i'm looking over my shoulder, through the window, watching duvick stock a bird amidst this misty morning (he's actually caught and killed two). the coffee's brewing and i have come to really appreciate these not beautiful yet peaceful mornings. i'm off to minneapolis today for a convention with ACSI. "see you" Saturday!

The Sound of Trees

I wonder about the trees.
Why do we wish to bear
Forever the noise of these
More than another noise
So close to our dwelling place?
We suffer them by the day
Till we lose all measure of pace,
And fixity in our joys,
And acquire a listening air.
They are that that talks of going
But never gets away;
And that talks no less for knowing,
As it grows wiser and older,
That now it means to stay.
My feet tug at the floor
And my head sways to my shoulder
Sometimes when i watch trees sway,
From the window or the door.
I shall set forth for somewhere,
I shall make the reckless choice
Some day when they are in voice
And tossing so as to scare
The white clouds over them on.
I shall have less to say,
But I will be gone.

"The Sound of Trees" - Robert Frost

Do relations of authority and submission exist eternally among the Persons of the Godhead?

Last night we went to another debate at Trinity.

From the TIU debate website:

Bruce Ware (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) and Wayne Grudem (Phoenix Seminary) versus Drs. Tom McCall (TEDS) and Keith Yandell (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

This debate follows current argumentation in the academic sphere between the two sides. Though a theological exchange between expert scholars, this event will prove beneficial for Christians of all backgrounds. The doctrine of the Trinity is at the heart of the Christian faith and takes into account questions of scriptural interpretation, theological synthesis, and philosophical reasoning. Determining the identities and roles of the persons of the Godhead is thus of great importance not only to the academician, but to the pastor, the layperson, the student and all who would seek to probe and comprehend the beautiful complexity of orthodox Christianity.


This debate was so fun to watch. It is even sweeter for me to see Landon respond to these men and their arguments. Keith Yandell is one of Landon's professors and is the first reader on his thesis - he has made a significant contribution to Landon's education at TEDS. Tom McCall is also one of Landon's professors and is actually the second reader on Landon's thesis - landon always describes McCall as a "smart cookie". It is so sweet to me to hear the arguments from these brilliant Christian men because i know that these men are admired by my husband. I don't know if Landon thinks of it this way, but i think that God brought us to Illinois and Trinity so that Landon could receive his graduate school education from these amazing Christian philosophers. I was so blessed to get to see their minds at work last night. I am increasingly grateful for their influence in Landon's eduation and life.

Moments from Home

The leaves aren't changing much yet. I can still hear the cicadas buzzing in our silver maples. though the last week has been cool enough to turn on the heater and shut the windows - so i know that fall is here! Right now i'm drinking warm tea and enjoying the scent of an autumn candle burning on my desk while i work.

Not much new around here. Welcome to our daily life.
Landon slipped Duvi into one of his t-shirts (which is in the laundry as we speak). Duvick didn't like it too much. Poor little guy is our only friend out here, so we enjoy his company a little more than we probably should.

I told you that my mums are smiling this fall after i accidentally killed them last year! Well, Duvick stepped on one of them and killed it, so i brought it inside and i'm loving having fall flowers in the house!!! Mums are especially enjoyable with toffee nut lattes in moose mugs with cinnamon on top!

Time to don our bed with flannel sheets!

Last night i happened to ruin a batch of cookies! Oopsie! I use the same recipe every time i make chocolate chip cookies because i found one that is better than the rest. They don't usually turn out like this!

Duvick sleeping in our front yard in the first sun we've seen in days. Right now he's barking at some poor walker by. Haha, since we don't have a fence people get truly frightened when he runs full speed toward them barking - he's a big boy. but he never crosses his invisible fence, of course. He's a good dog.

I know that many of you do this each year. I just wanted to remind you to start thinking and praying about how you would like to be involved this year. I have been so blessed to be a part of Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child project on many levels.

In high school my accountability group and I put together a few boxes for children for Christmas.

While Landon and i were in Africa, my parents brought boxes like OCC boxes to each of the children that we worked with at the orphanage. It was amazing to see each of our sweet orphans open their boxes. Many of these kids had never received their OWN of anything in thier whole lives - especially something brand new. Many of them had no idea how to play with toys that were in packaging - they had never seen toys in packaging before! Once they got past their bewilderment they were SO HAPPY! I think they felt valued and precious - as they are! I was so grateful that my parents had worked to get those boxes together and brought all of them to Africa with them for the children. Seeing those precious kids open their boxes was one of my best memories of our time with them.

Then only 6 months after we left Kenya, my family decided to volunteer at a Processing center that readies the boxes to be sent to the children. i cried and cried the whole time as i was sorting through the boxes just remembering my sweet little orphans opening their own boxes less than a year before. It is a truly precious ministry!

Processing center locations for 2008:
Atlanta, GA......................................(770) 777-9342
Boone, NC.......................................(800) 442-9120
Charlotte, NC...................................(704) 583-1463
Denver, CO......................................(303) 745-9179
Minneapolis, MN..............................(612) 359-7025
Orange County, CA...........................(714) 432-7030

Please consider making Operation Christmas Child a Christmas tradition in your family.

Click here for more information

National Collection Week is November 17-24.

Pictures of Mom and Dad's visit to Chicago

Mom and Dad with their eldest on the edge of Lake Michigan. This is the first time we've ever done a "family" trip without my little sister. Weird, huh? We missed her.
Our trip to Chicago. Mom doesn't want to go to museums, and neither she nor i could do MUCH walking. So we hung pretty close to Millennium Park. The giant bean was the coolest thing for sure. Though i've never seen Chicago this crowded - ever. Maybe it was the AIDS walk or just the fact that it was a beautiful weekend and the Illinoians are anticipating another harsh winter here.
Mom and i holding up the bean! I think it's funny that dad was sweet enough to cut off my roll-about in this picture - and you can see it in the reflection! Ha! Quite honestly, i was quite a popular attraction in downtown Chicago that day!
Looking at Chicago from the edge of the lake.
Landon looks so hot in this picture. I look pretty strange - he must have been snapping my bra or something. He does look pretty devious.
Between the two of us, we have a $850 pair of boots!
On Friday mom and i went shopping and Landon took Dad out on the canoe to the Des Plaines river. They went on a run that usually takes landon and i 3 hours and did it in 90 minutes! But i guess Dad's a pretty ambitious paddler. I just sit on the canoe and enjoy the ride until landon tells me to paddle on one side or the other. that probably makes a big difference.
my handsome hubby
watching Duvick retrieve a dummie Sunday before their trip to the airport.

Other things not pictured: Friday i played for them at starbucks. Afterward we had drinks and appetizers at Olive Garden. Saturday we finished our fun evening with a trip to visit Landon at Erehwon and then the 4 of us went out to dinner in this cute town known for its restaurants. We went to a great little French restaurant called Froggy's. Sunday morning we ate breakfast at Wildberry, a great breakfast place i've always wanted to try! The 2 1/2 days they were here were PACKED with stuff - we were very busy and our weekend went by so quickly! It was great to have them here and i miss them! Thanks for the visit, mom and dad!

welcome to the world little girls!

By the way, i'm celebrating new babies with friends despite the huge distance between me and Colorado. Carrie, a friend and mentor of mine just had her second child, Hailey Elizabeth Knoles four days ago!! What a joy she is - and looks so much like her ADORABLE big sister, Brooke! Yay!!

Two weeks ago one of my best friends, Nicole gave birth to her first child, a baby girl, Harper Grace Dow! That birth was very difficult for both Harper and Nicole and i am so grateful that they are home and healthy now. What a joy it is to see friends whom i've grown up with (remembering Nicole's mullet and Denae's umbro's as i type this) grow into beautiful mothers.

Wow, what a joy it must be to be a mother of such precious children, fathered by the men they love more than the world - i love seeing you ladies with your babies and your families - it is such a joy for me to celebrate with you!!!

one foot in front of the other

so i'm walking. I"M WALKING!!! yay. i've been NOT walking for 2 months now. So i am finally able to travel without crutches so i have my hands free also. I'm able to do dishes, laundry, cook, do my hair, and other things that being hand-less has kept me from. yay!

Last wednesday - Friday Landon, Duvick, and I were in South Bend, Indiana (home of the University of Notre Dame) for an ACSI convention (I can't drive still, so Landon had to drive me there and we had to bring the dog because we don't have any friends with a fence who could watch him). It's convention season!!! This is the craziest time of year for me (and most others at ACSI) because i'm traveling at least 3 days a week every other week for 2 months. So my blogging will have huge gaps just as it did this week.

It was great to go to Sout Bend rested, though, instead of exhausted from 4am hours at Starbucks like i was last year. It was neat to see some wonderful ACSI friends and be submerged in the ACSI world - always great to be reminded of the larger picture of ACSI. I sit at a booth the whole time with pictures of my little students in front of me mostly praying and trying to connect with people in order to find sponsors for my sweet little kiddies.

Starbucks: i just met (phone-met) my new boss at the store that i'm transferring to. She is excited to get me on the floor as they are undertrained and understaffed (sounds like a lot of fun!). I'm honestly a little terrified. I work really hard, but i have a lot of limitations because Starbucks is not my primary employment (my other job has priority!!), not to mention i travel at least 6 times a year for the job and i won't work sundays. so i'm a pain in the you-know-what as an employee. But...i work hard and i do a good job, so i hope it is worth it to my managers to keep me in their stores. So i start work in 2 weeks from today. I'm actually a little terrified. I think it will be difficult for my body to get used to 5hrs of sleep/night and waking at 3:30 again. I'm a bit scared because i won't know anyone at this new store and i haven't gone through the knuckle-bleeding team-building experience of opening the store with them. Also, i will be a supervisor at this new store which also makes me a little nervous. I'm sure things will go fine in the long run. I was just telling my sweet new manager my needs and limitations and i could tell by the way she said "ooookaaay" that she was disappointed.