I Heart Revolution...

A couple of friends of mine recently posted this video, but I thought it was such a wonderful video that it warranted another posting on my blog! Take a look!



Hillsong United is releasing a new CD in conjunction with a new, soon to be released feature length video that documents the past two years that they have spent traveling the world recording United worship services! It's a part of what they are calling the "I Heart Revolution" campaign. http://www.theiheartrevolution.com/

Here's a quote from the website talking about the movement:
"...Part one [the CD] and two [the documentary] are the story and the mission.. They are united projects aimed at giving us all a global perspective.. Part three is about YOU.. About your projects.. About telling the stories of everyday heroes.. People who are taking it to the streets.. Who aren't just doing Church, but who are stepping out and BEING the Church.. And this is what will decide whether we're a part of generation of hype and good intentions - who sung the songs and talked about making a difference but with little action.. Or whether we can truly say we were a part of global revolution.. A movement of passionate people who laid down our own personal agendas for the good of others and the cause of Christ.. Who stood up and DID something.. With no agenda but LOVE.."

Take a look at the website. This could be the start of something amazing...bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to earth, right at this moment...

Rock Hard With The Tyler Bender Band!

Come join us at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Indy on April 9th for the Battle of the Bands to root for The Tyler Bender Band (our friend Brian Raves is the drummer!) The bands start at 10:00 p.m. and the ultimate winner of the whole battle gets to go to London! More info on the battle here:
http://www.hardrock.com/promo/aor09/battle-of-the-bands/

The band's website: http://tylerbenderband.com/

Take a look at the band!

In Between - The Tyler Bender Band from TylerBenderBand on Vimeo.

You See A Lot Of Strange Things In The Desert...

As I was taking a look back through my pics from my recent visit to Pahrump, I was reminded of a post that had been floating around in my head that I had wanted to write. It's based on two assertions: 1) as the title of this post suggests, you see a lot of strange things in the desert and 2) desert people really, really like lawn ornaments. Maybe it's due to the lack or grass or really anything living or a desire to "spruce up" the rocks that make up the yards, but almost every yard you pass in the desert is absolutely inundated with a wide assortment of lawn ornaments. You do see a lot of fairly "normal" things - a lot of wagon wheels, potted cacti, miniature covered wagons, cattle skulls...you know, desert-y things you'd expect to see out there. But then you've got this whole other sub-culture of lawn ornament decorating, that makes you stop dead in your tracks and say, "Wow! Really?" First off, you've got the "more is better" theory of lawn decorating. These are people whose every square inch of their lawn is covered in various, non-thematic, knick-knacks and figurines. A little eccentric, but okay, maybe they're just REALLY into their lawn ornaments. Take for example the following picture. These people have covered their yard in an assortment of characters and figurines, including Count Dracula, Sponge Bob, Tigger, a Gumball machine, a saxaphone...you get the point.

Then you have the straight out bizarre, like the toilets filled with potted flowers, or the bed of a pick-up truck (just the bed mind you) filled with shrubs, or the yard filled entirely with Disney figurines, complete with a giant Mickey and Minnie Mouse painted on the fence.

And then you have this. These people have turned their entire yard and home, for that matter, into a shrine for the macabre. I didn't get any really great pictures because, to be honest, I was a little frightened to stop for too long in front of the house (I mean, for goodness sake, they've named their property "Coffinwood!") First of all, there's about 8 - 10 hearses lined up along side the house for decoration, along with a giant skull painted on the side of the house.

You can't tell from this distance, but the slats on the gazebo are all painted and in the shapes of bones and skulls. There are also various skeletons, dressed in clothes of course, in different positions all along the front porch.


In yard closest to the street, there's a pretty elaborate "cemetery" with an assortment of tombstones, caskets, and skeletons coming out of the ground. The skeletons seen in the pic below are in a festive mood! They've been dressed and adorned in green and clovers in celebration of St. Patrick's Day! Wow! Really?

And He Shall Be Called...Azazel

Since we're going on a three year relationship now (BTW, how long to groundhogs live anyway?) I figured that it was high time Groundhog got a name. I mean, I see him more during the day than anyone else, so I figured we might as well be on a first name basis. I decided he looks to me like an "Azazel" (pronounced ah-zay-zel). Azazel was a goat demon in the book of Leviticus - so I figure it fits him pretty well. So this is Az's favorite position: sitting upright, staring at me through the living room window. Here's a few more pics from a day in the life of a groundhog:

Notice in this picture Azazel exerting his dominance by showing his teeth and claws in menacing manner.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back Into The Bathroom...

So, Sam and I were having a really low key day yesterday. Mostly just chillin' and watching t.v. and of course lights out for Earth Hour! Well, the night was winding down, when at about 10:00 p.m. or so Shannon called. The gang was hanging out at her house playing Rock Band and sipping Cosmos, and she wanted to know if Sam and I wanted to come over. Well, I'm embarrassed to say that Sam and I were still in our jammies and hadn't even showered that day, but we decided to throw caution to the wind and live it up like a couple of 20-something college students and head out for the evening! I decided to jump in the shower really quickly and that's when the Fates took over. I had just showered and was leaving the bathroom and as I flipped the light switch off I knocked something off the counter. (To quote my favorite Big Bang Theory line: Oh gravity! Thou art a heartless bitch!) The light was on in the bedroom, but still off in the bathroom, but I could see the little glass bottle that had broken. So I went back into the bathroom and picked it up, and as I did I stepped on the other half of the broken bottle. I looked down and could see right away the bottle piece was deeply embedded. I pulled it out and could see about a half an inch down into my foot. For those of you who know me well, as you can imagine, this is the point when things went south...very south. Sam was in the shower, so I wrapped my foot in a towel, hobbled into his bathroom, and as calmly as I could muster said, "Sam, I've cut my foot really bad, you need to get out of the shower now." Sam's response, "Did you cut yourself shaving?" At that point, my forced calm was quickly waning, as I shrieked, "GET OUT OF THE SHOWER NOW!" At this point I was hyperventilating and heading into a full blown panic attack. Sam helped me to sit down on the toilet and took a look at my foot. One look and he said, "Ok, we're going to the hospital." So now I'm sitting there, sweat pouring off me, the room spinning, and I pretty sure I'm having a heart attack as I start to dry heave into the tub thinking, "Well, this is it I guess. This is the one that's finally going to kill me." So Sam is trying to get dressed, keep my foot wrapped up, and now trying to find my Valium to help with the panic attack! Using my wheely desk chair, Sam wheeled me out to the car - and still had the forethought to make sure we had the camera in case I wanted to blog about it later! :-) Sam talked me into stopping at the VP on the way to get some water so I could take some more Valium, because I was still pretty hysterical the whole trip to the hospital (as you can understand, with my eminent death and all!) After he assured me I wouldn't bleed to death while waiting in the car for him, he ran in to get the water and after the second Valium I started to feel a little more in control. Luckily the ER was empty so I was seen right away. They took an x-ray to make sure there wasn't any glass left in there, and then they anesthetized it so they could clean it out really well. Finally the doctor came in and answered my prayers when he said that where the cut was located the skin was too thin to stitch so he'd just have to close it with glue and steri-strips! Hallelujah! I felt much better after that! The one downside though is that unlike just plain stitches, I can't get the steri-strips wet. Oh, well - a small price to pay for no stitches!

Waiting to be seen by the doc! The valium's kicked in, so at least I'm no longer crying or yaking!


The wound, having been wrapped up for awhile now, it's no longer gaping!


The final result, after being glued and steri-stripped.


Even though it was 2:00 a.m. when we left the hospital, Sam stopped by Steak 'n Shake and got me a vanilla shake for being such a big girl during the whole ordeal!


The nasty culprit!

He's Back...

After a nice, cozy winter tucked away out of sight under our shed, he's back. Oh, he was never REALLY gone, mind you. Throughout the winter, although I never saw him, he would every once in awhile taunt me by leaving his little tracks in the yard. Mostly he would just leave a set of tracks in the snow, right up to the window...just so I'd know he was still there. But this morning, as I sat on the couch...there he was - in full fur regalia. Sitting there. Watching me. Watching me with his one black beady sinister eye. Plotting God knows what. He won't break eye contact. It's a testament of wills. Mano a mano. Oh, but I know what he's thinking alright..."You have know idea what I'm capable of." We'll see, groundhog. We'll just see.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Last Wednesday, March 19th, was my Grandma's 85th birthday! Daddy and I were able to visit with her awhile, which was great! Fortunately, she's feeling much better after her knee replacement surgery (she had a very rough recovery.) But she's back to her old self, which became more than evident when she asked me if I'd ever seen the show "The Doctors." The following is the conversation that ensued:

Grandma: Have you ever seen the show "The Doctors?"

Emily: Yeah, I've seen it a couple of times.

G: They talk about EVERYTHING on that show!

E: Yeah, I think that's kind of the point of the show, that they answer all kinds of questions.

G: The other day I was watching and, you know, they had all of the men leave the audience so just the women were left.

E: Huh, really?

G: Yes, because the whole show was about penises! Can you believe that?

E: [awkwardly] Um, oh really...that's...um...weird. [thinking the coversation will now end]

G: [imagine the following in a little, grandmotherly voice for full emphasis] I never knew so much about penises!

E: [awkward giggle]

G: Yes, they talked about the shape of them, the length, what you can do with them, things that can go wrong with them...all kinds of stuff! Did you know they could be crooked?

E: [beet red and praying for the Rapture]

Then Bill, her husband, piped in (oh, yes - he was there in the room while the conversation is going on!)

Bill: Yeah, she had both TV's on and was using the amplifying headphones so she wouldn't miss anything!

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Good times. Anyway, here are a few pics!

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Grandma & Em

Daddy & Grandma

A Grandma Sandwich!

2009 Midwest Peace & Justice Summit

I was so excited to read about this upcoming conference at IUPUI! Hosted by the Peace and Justice student group at IUPUI and sponsored by an organization called Central Indiana Jobs With Justice, it's a full day conference to find out more about how to promote peace and justice. There are 12 different workshops to choose from with local content and the Keynote lecture will be given by Dr. Norman Finkelstein (a former professor and author of several books on Middle Eastern affairs): "Israel and Palestine: Roots of the Conflict, Prospects for Peace." And the best part - it's free, and they serve a free breakfast, lunch, and light dinner!

Central Indiana JwJ is an organization of labor, faith-based, community, and student organizations and individuals desiring to build a broad and long-term coalition to support worker rights and social justice. To read more info on JwJ or to find out more details on the Summit conference go to: http://www.centralindianajwj.org/

Hope to see you all there!



"I am for living wages, health care for ALL, fair trade, immigrant rights, global justice, fair wages, safe working conditions, equal pay, unions, Worker POWER, corporate accountability, climate justice, green jobs, racial EQUALITY, student power, refugee rights, public transportation, job security, International Solidarity, organizing the unorganized, and JOBS WITH JUSTICE." (JwJ)

Turn Out. Take Action.

Join us in celebrating Earth Hour on March 28th, when we turn off all of the lights in the house (and anything else electric!) at 8:30 p.m. for one hour! Earth Hour began in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour to reduce energy consumption. Last year 50 million people around the world participated in Earth Hour, and this year organizers hope to have over 1 billion people switch off their lights!!! For more info go to http://www.earthhourus.org/

Check out the video below!

Santa Monica, CA

After finishing up at Universal Studios, we made the short drive to Santa Monica for a view of the ocean! Here's a few pics!

On the pier!

On the Third Street Promenade you can see a lot of really great street performers, including this father/son gymnast team! They were amazing!

Thanks to our Aunt Karol for providing us with a great dinner at Bubba Gump's, right on Santa Monica pier!

Universal Studios: Day 2

Day 2 at Universal Studios! Not as nice weather today, overcast and chilly, but a good day nonetheless! We got the chance to see all the shows we had planned to see except the Backdraft show; we arrived just as they were closing the gate! :-( Bummer! My favorite show was Waterworld (based on the movie, of course) - it was action packed with explosions, gun fights, jet ski fights, and a huge plane that was launched over the top of the wall into the water, splashing everyone in the first few rows (we were in the soak zone!) Here's a few more pics from the day!

Sporting our cool 3-D glasses after seeing the Shrek show!

Em & Linds talking to Donkey at his waffle stand!

Linds & Em


Our cartoon buddies arrive on a tram!

Posing on the Terminator's motorcycle!

Linds is so smooth she drives with her feet!

Some pics from around the park!

The Waterworld set

The cast taking a bow!

Taking a "spin" on a Waterworld jet ski!

Universal Studios: Day 1

We packed up the car and headed out from Pahrump Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. sharp for Universal Studios! The weather was perfect; a tiny bit chilly in the shade but really nice and warm in the sun! And since it's their off season, the park wasn't crowded at all - we didn't have hardly any wait for any of the rides. Today we took the Universal Studios Famous Back Lot tour, to see all of the stages where movies and TV shows are filmed. We also went of the Simpsons Ride (almost barfed!), The Revenge of the Mummy roller coaster (way too short!), The Jurassic Park Water ride (fun!) and the Special Effects show (very funny!) Tomorrow, we head back to finish off the rest of the rides! Here's some pics from today!

Standing in front of the Universal Studios globe at the entrance to the park. Thanks to Chad for spending a lot of time to make sure there weren't any other people in the shot and that you could see the "Universal!"

Linds & Chad

We are TOUGH!

The promenade going into the park has a ton of shops, including this Hard Rock!

The park entrance!

Da dum...da dum...da dum da dum! It's Jaws! And he has a tasty Lindsay morsel!

Posing in front of a "fake" Hollywood sign!

On the super cool back lot Universal Studios tour we saw all of the stage buildings where a lot of TV shows are filmed. We also saw sets of Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives, the Bates Hotel and house from Psycho, and a Christmas Who-ville set from Jim Carey's Grinch movie! All very cool! Especially cool was the set below! It was so vast that I couldn't get the whole set in one shot! It's the set from War of the Worlds where a huge airplane crashes into a neighborhood. They used an actual whole airplane, torn apart, to create the scene!

This picture was taken about 5 minutes before we got on the Simpsons ride, which Chad told us was a simulator ride. Unfortunately, we didn't quite know what that meant.

This shot was taken 5 minutes after we got off the ride and are trying not to yak! Even with my eyes closed for the whole show (AND having already taken Dramamine!) I was still sick as a dog afterward! And I kept bumping into the hallway wall as we were leaving, I was so dizzy! Ugh, never again!

Linds & Chad on the Jurassic Park boat ride!

Linds posing with her man, Matt! How do you like them apples?

Linds & Em

I couldn't resist! They were beautiful!

I saw this in a toy shop on the way out of the park, and I couldn't resist snapping a pic! Yep, that's right folks...a "deluxe, miracle Jesus action figure" complete with glow in the dark hands, 5 loaves, 2 fish, and a jar that turns water to wine! All this for just $16.95! Nice!

Adventures in Dog Walking!

So many adventures, and it's just been two days! Lindsay and I "attempted" to take her two dogs on a walk today. They've got Lou, a 5 year old Blue Tick Hound Dog and Bristol, a 1 year old part terrier part Beezelbub mix. Lou does pretty well on a leash, until that is, he sees another dog. There are many dogs in the neighborhood. Bristol, was a pill from the beginning. She refuses to walk in a straight line, but instead serpentines back and forth pulling on her harness so hard that most of the time she's walking on her back feet, with her front feet up in the air! Coughing, hacking and foaming at the mouth the whole time as she strangles herself! Needless to say, we're going to see if we can find them a couple of pinch collars before we attempt to walk them again! Anyway, here's some pics!

Bristol

Lou

Some much needed quite time!

Keepin' a watch on things!

Linds, Lou & Bristol

Adventures in Flying!

So we took off from the Indy airport at 1:30 p.m. By approximately 2:00 p.m. I had managed to spill my entire Diet Coke directly onto my lap! And it didn't just simply spill onto my pants. No, no, no - it ran in a very specific path down the tray table between my peanuts and napkin directly onto the crotch of my pants and down my thighs. My Xanax must have been working pretty well, since I barely blinked an eye when it happened! My seat mates were pretty funny though, teasing me that I hadn't even been the one drinking (they had started doing vodka tonics as soon as the flight attendants could get up and move about the cabin!) Then in a tribute to Billy Madison, they said that they would pour drinks on their laps in unity and support of my embarrassing predicament! I finally got up the nerve to go to the bathroom, and never one to loose my head in a time of crisis...I, of course, took my little camera! (FYI - it's really hard to take a picture of yourself in an airplane bathroom, just in case you've ever thought about trying it.)

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So here's me in the bathroom. Yep that's pants, shirt and underwear...all soaked! (You can't really see that the spill goes all the way down my legs to about my knees!)

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On an amusing note, when I returned from the bathroom the flight attendant brought me another drink, but this time in a "kiddie" cup with a lid and straw. Yeah, everyone got a real kick out of that one.

Weight Loss Update

So a few of you have been asking why there haven't been any weigh-in posts here lately, so I just wanted to give a quick update - the reason being: there's been nothing to update! I'm in a weight loss plateau for the time being and haven't lost anything for about 3 weeks. The good news though, I guess, is that I haven't gained any either. For various reasons I've missed a couple of weigh-ins the past few weeks and was sick for about a week and a half, and am at the height of my winter blues, blah, blah, blah... You know all of the excuses as well as I! So anyway, I'm off to Nevada on Thursday to visit my sister, so I'm hoping some away time in the sun helps to rejuvenate my motivation!

A Great New Find!

When I was downtown at Global Gifts on Mass Ave. the other day I found a wonderful, new little book that I wanted to tell everyone about! Whether or not you agree with all of Brian McLaren's "theology" one thing he advocates that I really believe in is the idea of practicing "daily democracy." Every time we buy something from a store or business, we are in essence "voting" for that company's business practices (whether they are ethical or unethical, just or unjust, fair or unfair). Keeping in mind God's heart for justice and the poor, I think God calls us to make wise decisions regarding how we spend our money. This book, "The Better World Shopping Guide" by Ellis Jones, is a great tool to help better equip us to spend our money wisely.

Here's the synopsis from the back of the book:

"The only comprehensive, up-to-date, user-friendly guide for socially and environmentally responsible consumers available, this book ranks every product on the shelf from A to F so you can quickly tell the "good guys" from the "bad guys" - turning your grocery list into a powerful tool to change the world.

Representing a synthesis of over 20 years of research, this completely updated edition includes even more sources of data, updated information from the 25 original sources, new product categories, additional companies and brands, a more accurate ranking system, more profiles of best and worst companies, and the latest online resources."

Take juice for example: you're standing in the juice aisle at the grocery trying to decide what juice to get. You whip out your handy dandy little consumer guide and notice that Organic Valley brand juices received an "A+" for their use of small family farmer-owned co-operatives, giving 10% of profits back to the local community, making humane animal treatment a priority, and being ranked #4 best company on the planet. On the other hand, Minute Maid juices (a product of Coca Cola) received a "D-" because they've been found to hinder clean water access abroad, are the target of major human rights boycotts, and have been on the Multinational Monitor's list of the 100 Worst Corporations for the last 3 years. And even if the Organic Valley juices are a bit too pricey for your budget, you can always go with Dole or Mott's juices that at least got a "C+"!

The great thing about this book is that it provides you with additional resources to back up their findings! I highly recommend it! You can get it on Amazon, or you can mosey on down to Global Gifts and check out all of the really cool things they have there!

Celebrating Us!

International Women's Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the economic, political, and social achievements of women past, present, and future! In some countries (not the U.S. though) it's an actual national holiday! The first IWD was celebrated in Austria, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland in 1911. It's a day to celebrate women, but more importantly (I think) to bring to light the plight and suffering women around the world who are victims of social and economic injustice. An easy and fun way we can help our "sisters" around the world is by shopping at Global Gifts, a not-for-profit, fair trade business that sells ethically produced hand-made products and provides vital fair income and employment for people (especially women) of limited opportunity and resources. There's a Global Gifts on Mass Ave. (downtown Indy) and one at 86th and Ditch. They have many beautiful items, including a lot of jewelry, scarves, china, baskets, and other home decor. You can check out their website at http://www.globalgiftsindy.com/ but it's better to check out all of the beautiful gifts at the store itself! :-) Happy shopping!!!

Showin' Off Sitota!!!

The Elliotts had a lovely open house to show off their new son, Sitota, at church this afternoon! A lot of friends showed up to meet Sitota, and everyone wanted to hold him! Even though it was his naptime and he was being passed from person to person, he still wasn't very grumpy! What a sweet little guy; I'm so glad he's a part of our "family" now!



Isabel & Syd waiting to cut the cake!


Cutting the cake!

Syd's enjoying her cake and "bubbly" Sprite!

Just hanging out!

Margie, Michele, Russ, Sam & Aaron

Paula and all of her boys!


Play time!

Bob, Pat & Amy

Taking a look at pictures of Sitota!

Sitota and Mommy!

Sitota meets Mark (I think! :-)

Isabel tells her sis a secret!

The Gates boys and Tristan watching what's going on!

Michele & Sitota

Barry & Michele get some Sitota Time!

Sitota gets some crackers from Mommy!

Curtis, Carrie & Leah hang with Sitota!

The kids playing under the table!

Aaron, Kristen (Shelli's sis), Curtis & Carrie

The Gates Clan!

The littlest Gates boys!

Daddy & Sitota!

Sitota meets a new friend!

Shelli, Shane & Kristen

Sleepy Sitota!