My Valentine's Day

Welcome ICLW bloggers!

On Valentine's Day, Steve and I went to Bethel College for their "Couples Dinner."  It was a great evening.  It was a room full of couples that got married after meeting at Bethel College.  Dinner was very tasty.  After dinner, we went to see Bethel's performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream coat.  The dinner and play were both included in the cost of the event.  The actors did such a great job.  I have seen the play once before, but Steve hadn't.  We had such a great time.  Then after dinner some friends from Michigan came down to see us and they met us at the theater.  Steve and I don't get to get out of the house and just spend fun times together very much anymore with us being so busy.  It was nice to get out and have a fun evening together.

The second part of our Valentine's Day celebration was on Saturday.  Steve got us tickets to see Comedian John Branyan at the Blue Gate Theater in Shipshewana.  I had never been there before.  That place is beautiful.  The tickets included dinner too and, Oh my gosh, was the food good.  I have to admit that service was less than stellar. We barely saw our server until we was bringing us dessert.  I think she filled out drinks once.  I guess that's what you get when you tip is included in the ticket price. It was so worth it though.
John Branyan was hilarious.  I laughed so hard.

Dinner was Cornish game hen, red potatoes, salad, and bread.  The salad dressing I got was their homemade French and it was so yummy.  The fresh bread they brought to the table was really good and they gave us Amish Peanut Butter and homemade Apple Butter to put on it.

For dessert...I think the picture tells you all you need to know.  I still have some left that I have to finish at home.  The piece was huge.

Remembering September 11th

I'm not sure I could tell you exactly what I was doing all day last Tuesday, but I remember exactly where I was and what i was doing that Tuesday morning, September 11th. So much have changed the last 10 years. I watched the news for days straight. My roommate and I left the TV while we went to sleep. We didn't want to miss anything.  The terrorists didn't just knock down some buildings that day. The terrorists didn't have a plan to kill people.  They wanted to destroy our country.  They wanted to make us afraid and vulnerable.  They hate our freedoms.  They tried to destroy our economy and they almost succeeded.  If we, as a nation, continue to live in fear than the terrorists have won.  I believe there is hope that God will restore this country.
I didn't have any classes that semester on Tuesdays, so I was still a sleep. All of a sudden my phone rang twice, but I didn't get to the phone either time. For some reason, I thought that I had better check my voice mails just in case it was important.  My mom said there was a fire in the Trade Center in New York and I should turn on the news.I thought that it was probably just a gas leak or a fire, but when I turned on the news and they said it was a plane, I just knew it had to be an accident. I didn't really know what to think at first. My first thoughts were that some pilot had fallen asleep and got off course and crashed. It seemed so unimaginable that someone would deliberately fly a plane into a building. Then we watched live on TV the second plane hit the second tower. I knew then that it could not have been a mistake.  We really didn't know what to think then. I was afraid for the people in the towers; hoping they would be able to get out of the building. Then we heard about other missing planes and everything seemed to be in chaos.  Then we watched in horror both towers collapse.  It was surreal. I remember watching the towers collapse right before my eyes thinking....there is no way everybody got out of there. When we heard about the other planes crashing, I just watched waiting for something else to happen. I couldn't take my eyes off the TV. I felt like I was watching a movie. It didn't feel real at first. I definitely remember feeling fear.  I kept thinking that i was going to wake up and everything was going to the same. I soon realized that nothing would ever be the same again.

Bethel called a emergency chapel service, so the Bethel community could get together and pray for the people involved. We continued to watch the news on the big screen in chapel and Bethel canceled classes for the rest of the day.  My roommate and I went back our room and sat in our dorm room and watched the news for the rest of the day.  I don't really remember anything else for the rest of day except for sitting in our room watching the news.  I don't even remember eating.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

29th Birthday Weekend

This year was a great birthday.  Steve and I went to the Bethel College Desert Theater play, "Christmas Belles."  It's a Christmas comedy and it was hilarious.  The deserts were great, of course, too.  My friend, Stacy, was the director and he did a great job on the show.

We actually showed up at the play about an hour early and we were going to walk around the Bethel campus for a little beforehand, but the weather had other plans.  We decided instead to stand under the safety of the dining commons porch and watch the storm.  It was actually cool to watch and the rain misting us felt really good.  We watched several tree branches fall on the Bethel campus.  This made me really nervous that we would come home to fallen branches in our yard (or on our house.) Luckily, we did not lose power at the dining commons though or we would not have been able to watch the play.  That would have been sad.  When we got home, we noticed that all our clocks were blinking, so we must have lost power at some point.  Many people in Michiana are still out power three days later and many had trees/branches come down, so I am very thankful that they tree in our front yard did not fall.  Our neighbor lost the massive tree in his back yard.  If it would have fallen at an angle, it would have crushed his house.

Saturday was my cousin Joe's wedding.  It was a beautiful wedding. Carrie is so awesome. I'm so glad she is officially part of our family now. 

Sunday was Father's Day.  We went over to parents for dinner for the Father's Day/Our Birthday celebration.  Fun times were had by all.