Nothing in particular.

Today I was having lunch with some friends from church and I was totally out of the loop because I don't do myspace. They're all talkin' about it - looking up each other's myspaces on jason's palm pilot... and all I could do is haughtily claim my superior statis as a blogger NOT a myspacer. It was enough to make me consider giving in to the temptation. But then I was done considering it. NEVER.

It's been so nice and sunny all week. Does a soul good.

Jenny was in town yesterday. It was so lovely. I took her to the airport this morning and now she is in the air flying to Guatamala. I love Jenny so much. She is a kindred spirit. Also - I took her to Urban Outfitters and just so happened to find the PERFECT dress for Chaz and BB's wedding. Yessss.

If you've ever had questions about Romans 9 (which basically means if you've ever READ Romans 9) my pastor gave a real good sermon on it this morning. It's a chapter I spent some serious time struggling with last year and it was very very encouraging because Rick's sermon basically led to the very same place I had come to on my own about 8 months ago. I shouldn't say "come to on my own" but you know what I mean. I love the Holy Spirit. If you're interested you can listen to it if you go to www.imagodeicommunity.com and then find I think "sermons" or "this weeks sermon" and you can download it. I know I mention this pretty often but I just really really appreciate his gift for teaching and I always want to share it with people!

Juicy news.

First - to Luke: Hannah said you predicted I'd do this... so although I wasn't planning to I'm thinking you are not going to post this your self so I might as well.

To eveyone else. Guess what. Luke Struckfess has a girlfriend!! And she is none-other than one of my very best friends in the whole world - Miss Hannah Margaret Dorr! I am so excited for them. They go to the same school and met last september (upon my urging both of them to find each other... though they did have a class togther and I didn't introduce them in person so I can't take as much credit as I wish I could...) and have been best friends ever since. And as of last Tuesday... it's official! Yay! I can't say enough good things about hannah, I like hardly anyone as much as I like hannah. And I really don't know what Luke has done to deserve her, but somehow I'm glad he's done it - I like them together. I'm excited about this.
Since most of you know Luke and not Hannah I'll go ahead and post this picture of her that Luke took. Sorry I don't have one of both of them - they weren't together last time I hung out with them and I was under strict orders from this one not to act like I thought something might be up (though I knew it most certainly was).
Isn't she beautiful? This picture really doesn't do her justice.

So next time you see Luke, go ahead and give him a pat on the back.


But oh no my friends. The news is not over yet! It's spring time - news is popping up all over the place. And who, you ask, does this other news concern. None other than Miss Rahel Kohli. Yep that's right, our darling Rehlly has gone and got herself a smokin' hot Swiss boyfriend. And from all accounts (namely... her's) he sounds like a real keeper. Here's a picture of them. And she wanted to be sure and note... she is wearing high heels in this picture...

I believe this is first time boyfriend/girlfriends on all counts. Oh my, spring is an exciting time.

Norn. Irish Lovin.

What a dream of a friday. A whole day spent with my very favorite Norn. Irish dream boat - Jonathan Wilson himself, in the flesh! And a whole evening with not just him but Danny and Caleb as well! What more could a girl ask for. We had a lovely day - it was great to show off Portland on such a nice sunny day. Here's a rundown of events... not because you probably care particularly much but I just had such a lovely time I simply must share about it!
-I met up with Jon and Ben (Thomas) at Multnomah Bible College where Ben gave us the grand tour.
-Jon and I had REAL Mexican food for lunch(which is no novelty for me... but it most definetly was for this lil' European Mexican-deprived boy).
-We parked at Loyd Center and took the Max down town.
-Walked along the river front.
-Checked out a great lil record shop on Burnside and I bought the new Belle and Sebastian (which I am listening to right now. Glorious).
-Walked up to Powells Bookstore and browsed its magnificence.
-Shopped a little in Red Light.
-Sat and talked for about 2 hours at Pete's Tea and Coffee.
-Met up with Caleb and Danny in Danny's hot convertable and had delicious and oh-so-hip Mac-n-cheese at the Montage. (to the right is our left-overs. Jon got a scorpion, I got a squirrel, and Danny got a snail. The picture doesn't do them justice)
-then we hopped on over to the Bagdhad Theater, where they show movies for cheap, where there just happened to be a live Comedy Tour starting exactly when we got there. Two hours of live stand-up for $3, can't beat it.
-Drove back to Danny's and chilled at his ever accomodating home.
-Awoke Saturday morning to a delicious meal prepared by Danny's amazing mother for us and watched Saturday morning cartoons (the Jetzens) together.
-Hugged (got licked by Jon...) and said our goodbyes (sniff). I really love these boys. They are my brothers. Thank you God for such wonderful brothers. What a wonderful redeeming end to my week of being sick in bed!

Look at what the dog dragged in.

Ok she didn't drag him... she just found him. I've seriously never seen my dog so excited... or my mom for that matter... (jk mom). Yesterday my dog found THIS in our front driveway.

Friends, meet Victor - our brand new fully grown TURTLE. Just awoken from hybernation we're guessing... either that or just escaped from some kid's cage... who would have thought though, right there in our own front yard... a turtle.
I like living in the country... or I guess technically I don't anymore... but I like that my parents still do at least!

Problem

So by now I'm well enough that I could at least attend my Spanish class tomorrow - and I REALLY need to because it's a 5 day/ week class so that means I've already missed 3 of them.
Problem? Well... I'm kind of stuck at my parent's house in Philomath, becuase being well enough to go to one 50 minute class doesn't translate to being well enough to drive 2 hours up the freeway to get back to Portland. So here I am... still at my parents house... just well enough to be bored and just sick enough to be stuck.
The good news is... that well known healer - time should solve this problem before too long.

Responses

• Rosy - Thank you for your concern, and I'm not taking it lightly but - was she recovering though? Cuz I am... gradually... I am not better yet but I am definetly better than I was a couple days ago and I'm not throwing up anymore. I just made and ate french toast in fact - which kind of wore me out and now I'm going back to bed, but that's DEFINETLY an improvement. I would be worried if I wasn't improving but as it is it seems like a pretty classic case of the flu. (I really need to get flu shots next year, I have no idea why I never do! I am stupid.)
• Court - I know! I'm so sorry I missed your call on easter! I was watching a movie and my phone was charging in the other room - but I did have larangitis pretty bad at the time so talking wasn't something I would have been very good at doing anyway - hope to hear from you soon though!
• Josh - I'm sorry, I tried... I must be a defiant little rascal though becuase just after you wrote that first command I actually got a whole lot worse, dang that rebeliant side of me!
• Ally - I think... I hope... I'm going to be well enough to drive back up today, the fever is gone at least, we'll see though, I'm going to sleep some more for now and then see how I feel.
• The rest - thanks for the encouragement. On MondayI was too sick to watch any movies but I sure have since then! It's weird becuase I just came off fasting from movies and tv for lent and I'm pretty sure I've made up for all of that time in the last 4 days. I've come to this conclusion: TV is awful. Commercials are awful, shows are awful, it's all awful - blantantly playing toward our sin nature... but it sure does suck you in doesn't it? And it's nice to have something to entertaining you when you're lying around the house alone all day with 0 energy.

Ok that's all. Love you guys.

Look out Ecuador!

It's official-I bought my ticket. I will be in the beautiful country of Ecuador from June 22 through July 31 with our beautiful and most dearly beloved Bethany Horne! I am so excited I can't wait!

Warning.

If you've been anywhere near me in the last week - take as much vitamin c as you can.

Started with:
Runny nose
Sore throat
Head ache
Lots of sleeping
Larangitis

Recently added:
Fever
Cold Sweats
Lots of puking
Very painful body/skin
Inabilitly to sit up for more than 5 minutes.

On that... I'm about out of time. Back to bed. (hehe, I love sympathy posting... but I have little human contact at the moment so it's all I can do.)
Mmkay, back to bed.
Hope you all had terrific Easters.

:-(

I am positive that I have experienced many things in my life which were far more unpleasant than running errands today in the rain during rush-hour... but at the moment it really doesn't feel like it.

Don Miller and Dawn Mueller

Yep, that was taken today. Dawn is in town and we got to hang out! And she gave me Milka! New caramel Milka which is even better than any I've ever had before!! And we hung out with Jordan! Oh goodness they're a kick. Dawn and Jordan... chillin... on a thursday afternoon... doesn't get a lot better than that.

I know I know, I get to see everyone! it's not fair! I know, I'm sorry... why am I so blessed? I don't have any idea. I'm just thankful. Speaking of which, I get to see Jonathan Wilson in like 4 days!

I got to see Don Miller speak at Powells tonight. That was pretty sweet. It was packed out, which was even sweeter cuz Powells pretty much never had Christian authors come speak there. I wouldn't be very surprized if he was the first one. (Powell's is the largest bookstore in the world, located on Burnside and 10th in Portland, OR). He's real neat to see talk in person -very unassuming, a cute quiet little chuckle for a laugh. It's always great to hear an author's own reading of their work, and to hear what they're favorite parts are, and the parts that they think are funny, that still make them laugh when they read them.
It's pretty cool to live in Portland I guess.

Redicovered Love.

One of my very favorite feelings within the realm of my normal life is that of rediscovering an old cd I haven't listened to for months - maybe even years - and loving it again as much as I did when I first bought it. See... I tend to listen to cds a whole WHOLE lot when I first get them, enough that I usually get sick of even the best ones after a while... and then my taste and preference shifts from genre to genre pretty frequently depending on my mood and the weather so after it is finished with it's initial enthrallment an album can be set aside and forgotten about for months (though that is not always the case of course) before I am ready to pick it back up again - sometimes I never pick them back up at all...
Today I rediscovered Good News by Modest Mouse. It's heavenly - which is in fact a rather ironic descriptor for Modest Mouse... but that's how I feel. It hit the spot - and I didn't even have to spend any money!

I got into Wheaton!

and I'm 95% sure I'm going to go!

Oregon Weather and Oregon Beauty

It's seriously flipping crazy. I went on the most gorgeous warm spring jog just 30 minutes ago that you can imagine and it is now pouring down rain and dark and gloomy out. Oh well, I will just be glad for the variation.
Speaking of nice weather it actually stayed nice yesterday afternoon and I had the most lovely hike up at Multnomah falls.


(I put the photos in linear order so you just took that hike with me. Note that this last one is taken from the top of the waterfall and the cement bit that you see in the upper right hand corner is the same that you're seeing in the top couple of pictures.)

Pulling out my hair.

Just give me a second to rant here. What the flippin' heck Wheaton?! What is your flipping problem?! No this is not the rant of rejection, this is the rant of waiting to hear if I'm in or not for the past SIX FLIPPING MONTHS!!!! Holy crap, how hard is it to process an application! How hard is it to NOT LIE about your notification deadline! If you say April 1 MEAN April 1 not freaking April 10!! And who the heck doesn't notify over the phone?! In this day and age who the heck makes you wait for a flipping letter when they're sitting right there knowing full well weather you are in or not TALKING TO YOU ON THE PHONE! Who does that to a kid! Who? WHEATON! Flippin beuracracies. Ug.

Aww

Megan's niece Dakota and I play the sleeping game again and again ("Ok goodnight" - snoring noises - wake up "Good morning!") Oh so cute. I love children.
In other news: sorry for ending that last post with "kisses" I think that's one of the most annoying things girls can do but I've had frequent strong urges to do it anyway of late... must resist!

Spring Break Part 2 Pictures.

Schnake siblings snowboard in serene surroundings.


This picture serves the purpose of displaying A) the hat I made for Jenny and B) Jenny's oh-so-cute boyfriend Bjorn. Sadly I have no actual pictures of Jenny from Canada this weekend but... so goes life...
Magen and I at White Rock. Mmmm... I love White Rock, so pretty. Ate at Little India, Yum. I love Megan. Look how long her hair is eh?!
Dejavou - No I didn't take this picture on May 2, 2005 at Cinque Terra, I took it April 29th 2006 at White Rock. The world is pretty in many places.
Uummm, sorry Brit, this is the only picture I got of you... but she's so dang hot and awesome I just couldn't leave her out of the mix! Had a lovely night chatting with my darling T-hof roomie Brittany. Aw, she's so beautiful in so many ways!

And Finally we have Caleb Waleb at his bachelor pad. I love Bellingham but even more than that I love Atkins. I think Bellingham without any Atkins would be like San Diego without any sunshine. Such a lovely family.

That's it for pictures. Sorry for the random comments below them, can you tell I'm a little tired? Lots of driving. I think I was on the road for a total of 22 hours in the past week and a half. Nice. I know I didn't see everyone up in that area, I'm sorry, I really wish I could have... stinking Time always cuts off beautiful things... but what would we have without it I guess.
I don't think my words will make sense for much longer. I'm not sure they do now. Better go to bed. Kisses.