Thursday, March 31, 2005

Where Have All The Pictures Gone?

Some of you might be wondering why we haven’t posted any pictures lately. Yes, we believe a blog must have pictures in order to be interesting. We owe you an explanation for why our blog has been pictureless and unimpressive. Basically it is this: we don’t have internet at home. It hurts just to write that, but it is the ugly truth. Why does this matter? Monica is the only one who posts pictures (partly because they have to be perfect) and she always does that at home. Now, we’re stuck with going out to connect to the internet, and nobody likes to do that. So, we’re lazy and internetless—how will we ever survive?

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Disaster Area

Apparently, our dog cannot not come in the house without tracking in large amounts of mud. The way our backyard is set up is that when it rains, it floods, and water hangs out for a week or so. Also, in order for Cali to go into the backyard, she has to go through mud, which she does not wipe off her paws before coming back in. Any solutions to our yard problems? Surely we have some engineer type that reads this blog. I’ll try to make Monica put pictures up soon.

Friday, March 25, 2005

Good Friday

Happy Good Friday. Being from the Churches of Christ I have no idea what makes this Good Friday, but like most holidays, it probably used to have something to do with Jesus, and then just turned into a day of fun. I think Sunday is something they call Easter, which is also a lot of fun. I am just being silly. I sincerely hope that at church on Sunday we, as Christians, can search for those in the pews that seem to be looking for something. Easter is a day that I believe people go to church just hoping that this year will be different and they will be touched by Christ. We have one hour of one day to show people that we believe in a resurrected Savior who has completely transformed our lives for the better. What a big responsibilty!

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

I Can't Complain Too Much

We had 50 minutes left on our cell phone for Monday through Thursday of this week. That’s manageable, right? Ten minutes or so a day if we are not near our regular phone. Monday MORNING I call Monica from a phone at school to our house phone so as not to use any cell minutes. Monica answers and says, “I just used the cell phone for 45 minutes to talk to my mom. I didn’t think I was on that long…blah blah blah.” We went from 50 minutes for 4 days to 5 minutes for 4 days. I have tried for a year now to convince Monica that it is okay to tell someone to call you back on the home phone line, especially when you are both on cell phones. This represents another difference between us, but somehow we have managed to keep our marriage intact.


Lest you think I am picking on my wife and her "problem,"? you need to click on the picture two blogs ago that shows our broken window. Yes, I definitely threw a tennis ball through our back window while trying to make a running throw from imaginary third base to imaginary first base for the final out of the Imaginary World Series my imaginary team was about to win in the backyard. Unfortunately, imaginary first base was not the window and we lost the game—but there will be a game seven as soon as I fix the window. So, Monica’s mistake at most could cost us 40 cents or so, while my mistake will cost around 20 dollars. Winning the Imaginary World Series in game seven with the same throw: Priceless.


Monday, March 21, 2005

Congratulations Grant & Vanessa!!

Yep, that’s right… Mr. Grant Morgan is going to tie the knot. I seem to remember having a conversation with Grant about a year ago telling him that he would find the perfect girl & be married before he knew it. Sure enough he found her & they couldn’t make a cuter couple. Grant has been one of my best friends since college & I am so happy for him and Vanessa.


I honestly can’t believe you found a girl that will put up with you Grant wink. They don’t have a date set yet, but my advice is to get married ASAP. When you finally find the one that you’re supposed to spend the rest of your life with - why wait? Ben & I thoroughly enjoyed our 5-month engagement that we weren’t even together for most of the time. Ben was in Dallas doing an internship the whole summer & I was in Australia for a month on a mission trip. Hey, if we can throw a wedding together in that short amount of time then anyone can. Congratulations you love birds!

Friday, March 11, 2005

Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Revenge of the Needles

After 8 days of Monica’s stomach hurting, we thought we should go to the doctor. We found a clinic that accepted our insurance and scheduled an appointment. Last night Monica ask me if they would have to do any blood work and I told her I didn’t think so—boy was I wrong! We went through the examination and Dr. Wallace said it sounded like esophogeal gastritis (or something close to that), but wanted to rule out a few other things through some blood work. The second he said blood work, Monica started to shake and was short of breath. We explained to the Doc that she needed to lie down and have me by her side when she gave a blood sample. I don’t think he understood how much of a needle phobic Monica is. As we waited for our turn in the lab waiting room, we thought about just leaving, but I made us stay.


Finally, we were called and we were taken to a room where Monica was told to sit on the table. She sits down and instantly bursts into tears. She looked at me and her eyes were bloodshot like a crack addict and she could hardly breath! The nurse wasn’t too comforting, but she let Monica have some cry time. After about 10 minutes of calming Monica down, the nurse was able to stick Monica with a little needle (the size they use on 4-year-olds). Monica said her whole body went numb and she could hardly breath. It took about 15 minutes after the needle was taken out before she felt good enough to leave. The nurse asked Monica how she was going to have a baby someday if she can’t stand any needles. The solution is simple…we are just not going to ever have kids! (Not really)


Monica is not a wimp by any means, but it amazing how much this phobia affects her physiologically! One of these days we’ll have to work on changing it because it is important for her health and life that she gets over it, but until then, needles will poke fear in Monica’s mind.

Friday, March 4, 2005

24 Pounds and a Thousand Dogs Later

The other day I was at the vet and a lady came over to pet Cali. She asked where I got her and I said I got her from a breeder. Not happy with my answer, the lady said, “There are 24 pounds and 1000 dogs you could…” and I interrupted and said, “Thanks, I’ve been given that guilt trip before.” What a stupid thing for me to say, even though I am not sure if she heard me or understood me. We talked a few weeks ago in our home group about working on the way to speak to others, so that our speech blesses other people. I felt pretty bad about failing that little test at the vet, but it reminded me to be more careful. Speaking of Cali, she has doubled in weight since we first got her 6 weeks ago!


Also, puppy classes start tomorrow at 9AM. The classes go for the next 8 Saturdays. I sure hope none of them pound dogs are in our class. Please know that I am joking. Cali will get to play with other dogs for the first 20 minutes, and then we will learn some obedience type things, which we (humans included) need to learn. We are excited that Cali will get to socialize with other pups, but we are not ready to let her date yet.

Tuesday, March 1, 2005

Did Somebody Get in Trouble?


And I Said "Hey, What's Goin' On?"?

What a dead blog we have had lately! We haven’t even hit you with dazzling pictures or exciting stories. I thought perhaps a quick top 10 list of what we are doing right now might make some good filler until we have time to hit you with a real story about the exciting and sometimes dangerous lives of Ben and Monica. Here’s what we have been doing lately:


10. Building great friendships while trying to keep up with our old ones
9. Chasing Cali after she takes a pair of undies captive through the house, out the doggie door, and into the yard
8. Figuring out how to live on 25% less income than expected, without eating Ramen Noodles or considering popcorn a meal
7. Applying for the best looking credit cards—The American Express Blue Card is the current leader (it’s see through!), followed by the Citibank Diamond Rewards Card (shiny and sleek)
6. Having a blast with our home group and benefiting from it immensely

5. Looking for a good excuse to why we keep missing Wednesday night Bible class
4. Finding the Wal-Mart close to us that we were warned not to go to (which we found and didn’t even attempt to go in)
3. Keeping up with our weekly TV shows, falling shamelessly for every plot twist
2. Fighting the urge to travel, which is what we believe is our calling
1. Realizing how perfect we are for each other and making the best of the incredible blessings God has given us


These are the 10 things we are doing. We are particularly fond of #1 because our marriage is a lot of fun about 96% of the time. The other 4% consists of those times when we are deciding what to eat, trying to clean together, being stubborn, and fighting with each other over the most insignificant things we can find at the moment. We even have some “fun” in those times too! The crazier all the peripheral things get, the more we need to love each other, and we are, and it is really crazy right now. If you didn’t put all that together, I am saying that we are really in love right now.