A New Car!

After a few months of dealing with trouble from our cars, we bought a new one yesterday. It is a 2009 Nissan Murano that is slightly used. From the CARFAX report, it looks like it was a rental car. We traded in James' 1997 Camaro. Parting with it was a little sad for both of us. It was the car James had when I met him and we left from our wedding reception in it. However, it didn't drive well on the ice and snow (which we have to deal with now in MO), and it needed new spark plugs. James called Firestone to see how much it would cost to replace them, and they said it would be about $500. The spark plugs are in a terrible place, and you have to take of bunch of parts off the car to get to them. So, we traded it in.

Here are a few photos of it.

These were taken in Little Rock, probably 2003 or 2004. We had a nice little snow fall.

These were taken at the dealership as we said our farewell.

This car buying experience was much better than our last experience. The last time we bought a car was in 2001, just a few weeks before we got married. We spent at least a couple of weekends driving around Monroe, LA going from dealership to dealership, pouring over Consumer Reports in print form, & scouring the newspapers. This time was much easier. Monday night we spent maybe an hour looking online at www.vehix.com and www.consumerreports.com Using Consumer Reports online is so much nicer than having the monthly mags pile up at your house.

We found the car that we bought at the dealer's own website. James called the dealership on Tuesday morning to verify that the car was still available, and made an appointment with a sales rep for 5 pm. It took about 2 & 1/5 hours at the dealership. So we spent a few hours over 2 days instead two whole weekends and who knows how many hours looking through printed Consumer Reports. The Internet can be a convenient thing!

Christmas Lights

This is the first year we have put any Christmas lights up outside, and our lights are pretty meager compared to what our neighbors have up. Imagine living on a street with 3 houses that try to compete with National Lampoon's Christmas. I would rather have money for groceries than to pay for such an extensive light display! We spent $70 at Lowe's on the lights that you see, and they were on sale 50% off!

We were both sick when we were trying to get these up. I was crazy cold outside too - like 20 degrees. Not fun.

We also have a box of lights that match lights that all our neighbors have. They are clear lights that sit in a little posts, and everyone puts them around the perimeter of their yard. We tested ours before we put the out they worked. We spent several hours, in the freezing weather, sniffing and coughing the whole time, putting them up. Then we turned them on. Nothing. Out of like 5 strands of lights, not a single light came on. We called it quits and yanked them up.

I hope we're not sick when we do this next year!

The Rockettes

Friday night James and I saw the Rockettes at the Fox theater in St. Louis. It was a fascinating show with amazing costumes, fun songs, and pretty sets. The finale was a pleasant surprise. It was a living nativity complete with a camel, a donkey, and two sheep. There was the holy family, shepherds, and wise men. They sang "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "O Come let us Adore Him" and ended by reading "One Solitary Life." I so was not expecting that after an hour of dancing bears, Santa, and reindeer.

The theater itself was worth going to just to it. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, and I was awestruck when we walked up to the exterior, only to be even more impressed when when we got inside. It was very ornate.

Before the show, we ate dinner at a great little Italian restaurant called Vito's. James had pizza and I had shrimp scampi. We both had gelato for dessert. Yummy!

A Pet Peeve

Why is it that when you are in a store or other place of business, customers calling on the phone take precedence over you - the live customer, wallet in hand, standing a mere two or three fee from the clerk. This has happened to me several times. The Radio Shack on Bowman Road in Little Rock was especially bad about this. Yesterday, on my way home, I stopped by a Chinese take-out restaurant to pick up an order that James had phoned in. I walk up to the counter, then clerk is on the phone and does not acknowledge me. . .a head nod saying" yes, I see there" would have helped. Another employee walks up to the counter from the food prep area. . .he makes eye contact with me, and I think I'm about to be waited on. But no, the other phone is now ringing, and so he answers it. I wait for the 1st clerk to get off the phone and she finally waits on me.

Now, I worked in retail long enough to know that it is important to answer the phone in a timely manner, but I always felt more compelled to wait on the customer who was standing before me before I got to the phone call. Why doesn't the rest of the retail work think like that?

Election Day

I went to vote after I got off work this morning at 5 am, and there were already about 100 people in line. It was cold, and of course, I didn't have a jacket. The line moved along OK once they opened the doors at 6 am. Once I got to the counter to get my ballot, I had to wait some more. My name was not in the registrar's book. I had my registration card, and a young man got on the phone with a person at the registrar's office. The office confirmed that I was registered to vote, but they didn't know "what color ballot" to give me because I didn't have a voting history in MO. Well, of course I don't have a voting history in this state because I moved here 6 months ago, and there has not been anything noteworthy to vote on. I don't know why the ballots are colored. You don't register with a party in MO, and this was not a primary anyway, so party couldn't have been the reason for the different colors. Maybe it had to do with what school district you lived in, and thus which school district measures you could vote on. . .but couldn't they ascertain that from your address?? I finally got a "green ballot" whatever that means. James had the same trouble when he went to vote this afternoon.

This election has been a matter for prayer. I don't like either mainstream candidate, and I'm concerned about the direction that either man will take this country. The matter has been in God's hands from the start, and I'm thankful that we serve a Sovereign, Holy God who already knows how the story ends. I am also thankful that this world is not my final destination. Do not loose heart, Christians, we are aliens in this world, citizens of the New Jerusalem.

Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. Ps. 146:3

It is God who places our elected officials in power.
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Romans 13:1

Pray for the next President. Pray for God to give him wisdom and pray that God would act in his heart and open his eyes to His truth.
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. I Timothy 2:1-2

Some words of wisdom from one of my favorite pastors, John Piper:

Halloween '08

This Halloween was the first time we booth dressed up for it since we met - 10 years ago. Lily was scared of James. After he put his costume on, she ran under our bed and would not some out. Almost every on out street and their yard decorated, and at about 5 pm, some of our neighbors blocked out our road so no cars could drive down. In front of our house, their were tables with buckets of candy for the kids, grilled hot dogs for everyone, and snacks and punch. I think we gave out about 200 hot dogs. There was music, and some had a skeleton that danced to "Super Freak."

James had fun as the grim reaper. There is a weeping willow tree at the beginning of our street, and he would hide behind its branches and come out when people walked by.


This is a pirate ship that one of our neighbors puts together every year for Halloween. It has moving parts and Christmas lights on it. He hooks it up to his truck and gets a generator to run lights and motors and drives in around the neighborhood.



This was the scene in front of our house. We didn't have a lot of decorations, so we went to the nearest Halloween store and bought some things on clearance to use for next year. I have more pictures posted here.

Way too early

I was at JC Penney's last Friday (10/17) to get some clothes, and was a little depressed and overwhelmed to see all the Christmas paraphernalia out. I enjoy Christmas, but it was much more fun as a kid. As a working adult with my family in one state and my husband's in another, I just don't have the time to spend with everyone that I'd like to have. Every year we have to decide when are we going to see who, when can I get off work, what does everyone want, when are James and I going to exchange gifts with each other, what are we going to do with the dogs while we're traveling. It gets stressful.

Some of my favorite memories of Christmas lately have nothing to do with gifts or traveling or shopping. Some include: walking around the AR state capital with James and Daisy on Christmas Eve - it had snowed, and Daisy loved being out in it - and seeing the life size wooden nativity. . .and singing with the BCRL choir at Tucker prison - and the Christmas concerts at BCLR - what a piece of heaven they always were. . . .and our annual trips to hear Handel's Messiah performed. . . hearing the Christmas story read from Luke before we open gifts at James' grandparent's house. Instead of the crazy-dancing-Santa-blinking-lights-madness that it has become for society, Christmas should be a time to contemplate the God-Man, the brevity of your sin, and the abundance of His forgiveness.