the word

i had an amazing victory today.

there is one word that invokes fear and trembling into every military spouse (well, there are a few, "deployment" and "pcs" probably being the top two...). but the word of today is a necessary evil. it is something the civilian world thinks they understand, but they do not. the word is: tricare (can you hear the thunder in the distance as you read this?)

tricare is military insurance, and is notoriously worse to deal with than even regular insurance companies. i have never had to use their services and have been dreading the day since i began hearing the horrific stories about this establishment.

i have never had to use them... until today. and i have to say, it was not nearly as bad as i have anticipated (though i have been warned that this was simply a fluke). i had a rather complicated question, and though it took me over a half hour on the phone, i finally discovered the answer... and the answer was much much better than i had hoped for. (for one thing, the primary care manager they had assigned me was TWO HOURS away from me... i asked if there were any in grand rapids, she typed for a bit, then said, "how far is cedar springs from you? we do have one there." cedar springs happens to be my little town of a few thousand people. fantastic. though, i have to ask... why not assign me the one in cedar springs from the BEGINNING?)

i am glad my first experience was a good one... it calms my fears for the future. baby steps, baby steps...

i won.

i won.

our office has a group on espn.com's tourney challenge. josh and ken each had 2 brackets filled out, plus amy (josh's wife) also did. keep in mind, the only basketball i have watched this season was the last 9 seconds of the duke/lsu game- and that's just because i happened to flip there. that 9 seconds is more basketball than i have actually watched... like, ever. wait, no, i think i watched the final game last year at josh & amy's house. i think. who knows... i went for the social interaction.

anyway... they asked me to fill out a bracket, i think just to have one more name beneath theirs on the list. but guess what? i, who know oh-so-little about basketball; i, who filled out my bracket based solely on either seed or which team i had actually heard of; i, who thought i was filling out a bracket for the nba...

i won.

this is much to the dismay of my male counter-parts (and to add salt to their wounds, guess who came in 2nd? amy. how's that for battle of the sexes?) nationally, i am in espn's 96th percentile as of now. right now, i have 730 points. josh's and ken's brackets range from 330 to 540, with amy at 570. and i have 280 points that i could still possibly earn. they all have none.

silly game.

oh, and can i say it one more time? i won.

i have a new man!

jon's dad and siblings came up for a visit last week... andy told me i am now "his girl"!!

another new chapter

today's post is in honor of ashley. she is the one in the middle, along with amber and sara.

ashley and i first met at the moody bible institute. i remember the first time i talked to her. it was her junior year, and i was a freshman. i was taking the south shore train to visit my grandparents, and i had never ventured out in the city alone. she was wearing a black dress with a gold necklace (wow... the random things i remember...) she gave me instructions- and confidence- to get to the train station.

within a couple days, she and a few of the other upperclass girls sat me down on a couch and read to me what would become one of my favorite books: a small red one called "i like you." it lists all the fabulous reasons why people like ashley and me are friends. ("i like you because you are a good person to like." "if i had a broken arm, and you had a broken arm too, then it would be fun to have a broken arm!" "I think i'm funny, and YOU think i'm funny too. i say something funny and we both laugh. 'ha ha!'")

i never would have thought that night that ashley would indeed end up being one of my dearest friends.

we spent countless hours in her *single* room together laughing, crying, eating, talking about deep things and mundane things. we even discipled each other for our infamous "busy work" class. ("as 'the wheel' illustrates...")

oddly enough, my friendship with ashley became much deeper AFTER i left moody. one summer we were both lonely and bored... so kept each other sane with endless phone conversations.

she is one of the few people with whom i can be entirely honest. when i don't feel like talking, i tell her. and her me. it is a fantastic thing in a friendship.

we went to hungary together. we enjoyed oodles of nutella... hungarian coffee... milka... and even some non-edible things :) - like talking with missionaries whom we came to greatly respect. we walked the streets of budapest and spoke of the great history of the country we strolled. we cried when we said good-bye.

i don't often see ashley anymore. i have seen her only 4 times since we left hungary in january 2003. the last time we saw each other, she read me "i like you."

and tomorrow she leaves. she leaves for a place where most people have never heard the name of Jesus. she will be thrust into a culture that is not her own, to share with them the Love that has changed her life. she will stay there for 4 years. she will grow and change, she will weep and she will laugh. she will rejoice when she sees God working, and continue to have faith when she doesn't.

it is spring for ashley. she is going to a new world, unknown: it is lovely and frightening and horrible and beautiful all at once. she is going to bring it Light.

ashley... you are not going alone. i am praying for you. lots of people are praying for you. this is the last time i can tell you this for a long long time. take heart, my friend, be of strong courage...

go in peace.

well on my way...

i just got it. the official word on my degree status from moody. they were actually pretty generous with me (as they should be... seeing how the majority of my credits are moody credits...) and are telling me i am lacking 16 credit hours for my associates degree (leaving me 7 credits they did not apply). very doable.

the annoying thing is 2 of the courses- a 1 credit hour "ministry internship"-um... heeellllooo.... welcome to my life! the frustrating thing with that is that who knows when i'll actually be able to accomplish it, what with moving and all...

the other one is basic computer skills. i can guarantee you i have more than basic computer skills. i wish there was a way to test out...

i'm rather looking forward to the other courses: hermeneutics/bible study methods, the church & its doctrine, educational foundations (ok... that one not as much...), and intro to literature. if we are somewhere near a community college in the fall i may just do the lit and/or computer there. we shall see.

riding the clouds

i love the rain. i always love it, but especially an early spring storm such as this.

i can hear the thunder rolling, the humidity in the air. the slight breeze, still chilly at this time of year. i just opened the window to allow the smell of rain to filtrate through my apartment...

the high here was supposed to be 62 today... tomorrow, 34. welcome to michigan, eh?

spring can't come soon enough... i am ready for the winter of life to be over and for new things to start happening...

you know, i started this blog in the fall, and that theme was centric to the premise of this entire site. and really... it still is... spring and fall are but opposite sides of the same coin...

the clouds are quickly racing through the horizon... even as one set disappears, a new one enters in from the west... oh to see what they will bring along...

giving to caesar

so today i'm working on the taxes. i abhor doing stuff like this, but today i'm moderately in the mood to tolerate it. although, i think it's more the anticipation of having to do it that i hate than the actual doing of it. turbo tax is also rather military-friendly, so it isn't as bad as i had feared.

this past weekend was that of the annual grarbc (yes, there is an extra "r"- it is the grand rapids association) church ministries conference. it is the third year i have attended- and the third year we at kent city have done the music for the general sessions. busy, busy, busy. i quite enjoyed the whole thing actually. the music was MUCH less stressful this year than ever before (which is probably in part that we're getting the hang of it, and in part that i tend to get stressed about such things much less these days :) ), i actually got useful information out of the workshops (i went to 2 on promoting missions in your church and one on using different mediums in worship), and the general sessions were even good! i came home saturday night after many many hours of mental over-stimulation from the previous two days, and sat on my couch in absolute silence for about an hour. days like that i am glad i am not yet a mother. :)

ooohhh... sad story. i dented a pad in my flute. had the ol' girl for 12 years and never a problem. i dropped it the other night, and quickly realized she was not quite the same afterward... it is easily fixable, fortunately- like i said, one of the pads under a key (an oft-used one, at that) has a little dent in it- so i have to push that key down quite hard to seal it. made for an interesting time playing this weekend... though i have to admit, it forces me to have better posture (which i readily confess to abandoning ever since i quit band many many moons ago) than i typically have.

all for now...

"what dat girl's name" part dos

so earlier THIS week i went to my brother's house, and saw my two nephews: jake, 2 1/2; and caleb, 1 1/2. (pictured with their mom, carrie)

i had brought with me a copy of my wedding dvd for matt. he showed it to jacob, who stared at the front. it has on it a lovely picture of jonathan and me from our wedding day.

"who is in the picture, jake?" i ask.

"dat uncle jon." he says clearly, pointing at jon.

"and... who is the other person?" it was like he was searching the entire photograph for another face he recognized.

"dat uncle jon." he points at jon once more.

"who is the GIRL in the picture, jake?"

jake blankly stares at the photo.

"jacob, come on, who is the GIRL?"

"aunt sara." he says sweetly and quietly.


good. it may take some prompting, but at least somewhere, in the back of their minds, they know who i am. sheesh!

what dat girl's name?

earlier this week i watched my two nieces- iris, 6 (will be 7 in a few weeks... seems unreal...) and lila, 3.

the night before, my sister had told them that i would be coming over.

getting ready for bed, lila apparently decided she needed more details... yet her mind went blank.

lila: "uh... what dat girl's name dat goes wit uncle jon?"

andrea (wondering why in the world lila couldn't remember my name): "uumm..... aunt sara?"

lila: "yeah. her. when she coming over?"

great. i have been a part of lila's life for 3 1/2 years, she has met jon 3 times, and HE is the one she remembers. i see how I rank...

a story of two girls

once upon a time there were two girls. these girls had no particular reason to be extraordinary friends. they had only three things in common... they shared the same name, the same homeroom, and the same commitment to Christ.

the girls were 13 years old. they had become casual friends in homeroom, then one day, they decided to take their friendship to the next level- one girl came to the other's house for the night. they talked about everything lovely... from boys (more specifically, the loves of their lives- since at 13 they of course knew who they would marry) to the blueberry cheesecake they feasted upon, to boys, and everything else that matters in the life of a 13-year-old girl... well... mostly boys.

several months later, they decided to celebrate turning 14 together. the girls' birthdays were a mere 6 days apart, so they had all their friends over for a memorable evening.

the girls' friendship grew and developed over the next few years. they shared in all of high school's ups and downs... learning to drive, dances, football and basketball games, trips to taco bell, summers, classes with perpetually ridiculous teachers, and finally, graduation. when people would ask the girls what their future plans were, they were astonished to realize the girls would be moving apart.

but still... graduation didn't mark the end of their friendship. they each moved away, and they each moved back home.

after a couple years, one girl got married. her friend could not have been happier for her.

then... less than a year later, the other girl decided she would get married too.

so tonight the girls sat, after 10 years of life. they still talked about boys... except this time, the men of interest were those that had also promised their lives to them, and the subject matter was much different. they spoke of that night, 10 years prior... and how they just knew that they would sit in another 10 years... probably with kids, and absolutely with entirely different lives...

the girls will soon be moving apart, and it makes them sad. but they know that, no matter how long they go between visits, they will always be friends.



thanks for 10 years, sara... here's to another...

long time to get back here

so... it's been a while. i suppose not much has been going on...

friday we had no power at church because of an ice storm, so i got the day off work! i felt like i was a kid again, with a snow day and all. the fun soon ended... i went in on saturday for 5 hours to finish the bulletin. *sigh*... oh well...

i sent in my application to moody's distance learning program last week. i am only 9 credits away from an associate's degree... unfortunately, since the only online associates they offer is in biblical studies (my on-campus major was evangelism & discipleship) i may have to complete MANY more than that. we shall see. at least then, if i decided to transfer and finish, it would be easier to transfer the degree than individual courses.

that's all the update for now... i am being beckoned to make pancakes with katelyn for breakfast... have a great day!

a couple pics from leave

On This Day...

so, i went to post last night, and blogger was down for maintenance. shoot.

yesterday (thanks to blogger) was jonathan's birthday. There is so much I could say about him, all the reasons I love him and am glad he's my husband, all the things about his character that I respect and admire.
But not today. Today, I will simply say this:

Jonathan, I'm glad I married you. I only look forward to spending more time with you and experiencing our love grow so much deeper. Thank you for all you are as a person, for all you are to me. I love you, I love you, I love you...

checking in...

jonathan has now been home for about a week and a half. we have had our share of adjustments, but all in all, things have been good. one of the highlights was that he preached at my church on sunday- it was the first time i have heard him preach, and i much enjoyed it.

we have gotten addicted to a particular television show. actually, i had started watching it (the dvds of it) with josh and amy, and jon has the entire last season. about 11:30 last night, we decided to have a marathon to finish the series- which took until 5:30am. i'm really getting too old for this... we slept until 11:30 and i've been thrown off all day.

that's all the news for now. this entry is rather disjointed and not-well-thought-through, but what can i say. be glad you get what you get. yes. be glad.

more later...

chatting away

my life has been all abuzz of late. jonathan is currently in transit home for leave, and... well... there are many preparations, and many emotions, involved.

we have now been married for 9 months and 9 days. we have spent a total of 13 of those days together. i can't entirely wrap my mind around the fact that he will be here, i will see him. it's exciting, but a bit nervewracking at the same time!! i have found myself expressing this in several ways... a few weeks ago, i was crying several times daily. over the last week, i think i may have cried once. now... i'm just getting chatty. it's the same way i get late at night... it's like, my mind is not filtering what is pertinent information for the listener and what is not... so he or she just gets it all. i really am so excited... though admittadly, my mind every so often wonders to that dreaded day in early february where we must once again say our good-byes... fortunately, this time it will be for 3 months, as opposed to 9. that is magnificent.

earlier this week i bought a shelf/cabinet thingy. and yes, i assembled it by myself. that 50 cent screwdriver and 1.99 hammer are proving to be excellent purchases :) ... you know, as much as i never would have thought it, i rather enjoy doing things like that. i think it's because there are definite directions to follow. it's indicitive of my personality, really... tell me what's expected, and i will do it. give me freedom to exercise my creativity on my own, and i will stare at you blankly.

well... on that note... enough chatting for now...

grace

i guess i have a thing for lyrics lately... this song was sung at our wedding.

My faithful Father, enduring Friend
Your tender mercy’s like a river with no end
It overwhelms me, covers my sin
Each time I come into Your presence
I stand in wonder once again

Your grace still amazes me
Your love is still a mystery
Each day I fall on my knees
Your grace still amazes me
‘Cause Your grace still amazes me

Oh, patient Saviour, You make me whole
You are the Author and the Healer of my soul
What can I give You, Lord, what can I say
I know there’s no way to repay You
Only to offer You my praise

It’s deeper, it’s wider
It’s stronger, it’s higher
It’s deeper it’s wider
It’s stronger, it’s higher than anything my eyes can see

Your grace still amazes me
Your love is still a mystery
Each day I fall on my knees
Your grace still amazes me
‘Cause Your grace still amazes me

happy birthday to the in-laws!

i haven't been sending forth birthday greetings via blogs, but with 2 today, i thought i'd go for it...

carrie (my brother matt's wife)
josh (jonathan's brother)

happy birthday to you both!

Joke

I have a friend who posted a great joke... check it out here!

not what my hands have done

not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul;
not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole.
not what i feel or do can give me peace with God;
not all my prayers, and sighs and tears
can bear my awful load.

Thy work alone, o Christ, can ease this weight of sin
Thy blood alone o Lamb of God, can give me peace within.
Thy love to me o God, not mine, o Lord, to Thee
can rid me of this dark unrest,
and set my spirit free!

Thy grace alone, o God, to me can pardon speak;
Thy power alone o Son of God, can this sore bondage break.
no other work, save Thine, no other blood will do,
no strength save that which is divine,
can bear me safely through.

i bless the Christ of God; i rest on love divine;
and with unfaltering lip and heart, i call this Savior mine.
His cross dispels each doubt, i bury in His tomb
my unbelief, and all my fear,
each lingering shade of gloom.

i praise the God of grace, i trust His truth and might
He calls me His, i call Him mine, my God, my joy, my light
’tis He who saveth me, and freely pardon gives
i love because He loveth me,
i live because He lives!


words by horatius bonar, 1808-1889
music by kevin twit
sung by indelible grace

a couple pics

yes, yes, it was several months ago, but here are a few pics from the wedding...
i may post more later...