My Resume Wordle

I ran into Wordle through stuff at work. I had fun with it and thought I'd pass on this tool to you all. This one is my 2007 resume. (I know, I need to update it.)
I also made one from our blog posts over the past year. It's on the right-hand column above our posts by labels. Have fun playing with this tool!

Greg's Graduation in Pictures

Baccalaureate Ceremony

Graduation!

Moving and Community

I recently subscribed to the Desiring God blog on my Google Reader which is why you've seen quite a few references to Piper lately. Anyway, as Greg and I have been preparing for our move next Saturday, we've been enjoying (somewhat) the process of going through every box and notebook and tossing all the extra unnecessary stuff. ("Somewhat" because it would be much better if it didn't require so much time!) I blogged a little about the reason for this move back in January. But today I ran into a post from an interview with a guy I don't know that really captured my heart and a piece of WHY we're moving.

A small quote from the link: "We're living in a much smaller place. We got rid of most of our stuff. As we went through it, we laughed about how we just collected stuff. All that stuff has to be maintained. It grabs your heart, it grabs your schedule, it grabs your time. It becomes a source of worry and concern and need to pay." Read the rest and let me know what you think about it.

(This picture is to make this post more interesting. So here's the status of our house as I write today. Aren't you happy you're not here?!)

Catching up with Spring

I finally uploaded some pictures from the past month.

Nick & Deborah had us over the day before Easter to celebrate together. (We had a full Sunday with three church services.) We made paper butterflies (a family tradition for Deborah), ate Easter Bunny cupcakes, and enjoyed an incredible lamb dinner. Thanks, Cioffis! (The guys look pretty silly in this picture, but it's hard to catch them any other way.)
These next three pictures are from the day Greg finished his final paper. I left work early to drive him up to campus. (He was running on hardly any sleep.) Then we headed over to one of our favorite spots on the North Shore - The Ocean Lawn - and almost fell asleep on a blanket in the sun. We grabbed coffee in Rockport at a cute little shop with a great quote and an awesome view.


This next picture is from the first beautiful Spring day in Boston. EVERYONE was out on the Common or the Garden or walking the Charles. It was an exciting day!
And these last two pictures are of our pastor and his family when we surprised them with a gift this year. (We replaced their old TV with a nicer one.) Here they are completely oblivious to what's about to happen.

And here they are in shock. (Sorry it's a little blury.)

Praying for our Leaders, Leaning on God

The following video (sorry friends in Turkey who can't access youtube) will likely offend some. But I feel obligated to share. Why? Because as much as I am thankful for our current president, this is definitely one area in which we do not agree, and thus, one way I am called to pray for him and his team. And as someone who has lost multiple unborn children, the intensity of this reality hits quite close to home.


You may read the transcript here.

Enthralled with God's great global purposes

Over the past few months, I've been reading Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. I've been taking it slowly to try and really take in each chapter. I originally picked it up because of the second to last chapter called "Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5," which I highly recommend. But in order to better understand the logic in that chapter, I started from the beginning. Now on the final chapter, I simply had to share a grouping of verses Piper emphasizes that mean so much to me.

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations. (Psalm 22:27-28)

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! . . . Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns." (Psalm 96:3, 10)

Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, "Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand." (Romans 15:20-21)

And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you [O Christ] to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." (Revelation 5:9-10)

Obama's Visiting Turkey Song

Jessie, one of the girls who went to Istanbul with us, showed us this video last night, and we were quite entertained. I could not resist sharing this with my blogging friends and family.

Three years ago (in pictures)

Three years ago, Greg and I arrived in Massachusetts.

We drove in with a moving truck

and our sturdy little Honda,and fell in love with this state and specifically the Boston area almost immediately.

I remember chatting on the phone as we made our way along Route 128

to our temporary apartment in Gloucester,

exclaiming how gorgeous the landscape was – the incredible mixture of dense trees and granite rock formations.

And then we made it to Cape Ann and could not believe the beauty of the shoreline.

Of course, the day we arrived was also the beginning of a looooong stretch of rain which ended up creating some major flooding issues for New England.

But we still loved it here! We walked the boardwalk along Gloucester Harbor almost daily despite the rain.

Eventually, real life began. Greg started school, I started working again, and here we are, three years later, enjoying the rain of yet another beautiful Spring in Massachusetts.

And I’m thankful to be where we are.