Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Effort of Teaching

I teach a class of 16 girls. The other day after class was dismissed, I was lagging behind cleaning up my materials while the students for the next class were coming into the room. One of the guys hesitantly asked me "Can I just ask, for curiosity, what class this is that you teach? It's all girls....... and you're a guy teacher." I suppose he was looking for some interesting answer like Cooking and Child Rearing 101, or Knitting for the Modern American Woman, but I had to give him the blase answer of Storytelling. Don't ask me how this happened. They filled up the class and had it closed before any guys could register for the class. Granted, there's not a LOT of guys who wind up registering for Storytelling, but there are a few of the Speech majors, and at least one that would've been in this class this semester had it not already been full. But alack, alas, he was too late. I actually have 17 people in my class since one of my students is married and pregnant, but they're not saying whether our smallest participant is a boy or girl yet, so I still may be the only guy present. Besides, he/she is really pretty quiet and doesn't contribute much to the classroom environment other than to make his/her mother shift uncomfortably in her desk, so I tend to think of my class as just 16 girls.

Teaching a class of 16 girls has it's challenges, particularly when they are not in your field of study. 95% of these girls are Education or Youth Ministries majors, and are only taking Storytelling because they have to. They're not used to the slightly-less-structured colorful flow of an interpretation class. When we first started the semester, all 16 of them would sit there in complete silence and stare at me with expressionless faces while I spoke. I wasn't used to that and I must say it unnerved me no small amount. Granted, I want my students to pay attention; I don't want them tooting trumpets and banging drums while I attempt to lecture, but you don't have to sit there in complete silence and stare. My attempts to thaw out the temperature of the room with some light witticism or unexpected humor were often greeted with uncomprehending faces. Sigh, tough crowd.

Now, I'm happy to say, it's a completely different class. I walked in to class the other day and the entire room was one mass of chatter, people standing around in little groups and animation and emotion bouncing off the walls. Our class is often punctuated with bouts of laughter, and generally my students look happy to be there. They feel comfortable enough to tease me at times (usually without crossing the line), and they can take a little hard time from me. It does a teacher's heart good. And, I hope, somewhere in the middle of all this, they're learning how to be better communicators.

God Bless,
--Nick

Thursday, November 6, 2008

A Good Thing for our Nation



So the dust has settled, the votes are in, and the temporary surge in political interest has already begun to wane back to it's original state. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm one of those "temporary" Americans. I am a Christian, a conservative, a Republican. I don't believe in a woman's choice to murder. I believe in the right to keep and bear arms, and protecting the sanctity of God's definition of marriage: one man + one woman = for life. In short, I support the freedoms and share the solid, traditional, Biblical values that this country was founded on. And I voted. But that's about it.

The question is, what was I (and those who stand with me) doing before this election year? What are we doing now that the election is over? I don't even pretend to be super-savvy about politics, but I do have some stirrings in my heart from the recent events. Dare I say that an Obama presidency may be a good thing for this nation? No, don't shoot me, hear me out. Conservatives voted for McCain, right? Why? Because he was more conservative than Obama (key word: MORE). McCain is not a conservative, true conservatives have been uncomfortable with his candidacy ever since it began - isn't that the whole reason he brought Sarah Palin in on the ticket? But he was MORE conservative than Obama. We at least liked his stance on a couple of issues: he said he was pro-life, he said he believed in smaller government, etc. So, we chose the lesser of two evils. The problem with this equation is we get caught up in the whole contest and begin to form the illusion that our candidate really is suitable.

It all comes down to this: if McCain had gotten elected, we would've wiped our brows and said "Whew! That was close! Well, we've got at least four more years." And that would've been it. But now, Obama has been elected. We have no choice but to face the grim reality that our country is making the wrong choices and losing perspective. Now, we are being forced out of our slumber into a choice: get involved, or get happy. An Obama election is only the natural development of the direction this country has been headed for decades. You plant tomatoes you get tomatoes. You plant seeds of removing God out of the education system, condoning the slaughter of millions of unborn children a year, mocking God and His followers consistently in the entertainment industry, a skewed perspective that man is innately good and just needs the right conditions to blossom, a removal of any sense of personal responsibility from individuals: you reap an election like this, a loss of freedoms, and more distance from God's values in society.

But what are we going to do now? Are we going to engage our culture for Christ? Are we going to aggressively spread the truth in love? Are we going to do anything besides sit around for the next four years and complain at the next election? I'm not suggesting that everyone forsake their current positions in life and follow full-time political careers, but I am suggesting that we ENGAGE the world around us. Where are the Christians in the arts, producing art purely out of a gleeful desire to honor God? Where are the Christians and true conservatives in politics, reminding our leaders that not all the people of this nation want a changing ruling standard. Where are the Christians who are willing to put their heebeejeebies aside and lovingly interact with homosexuals, sharing with them that there've been many individuals who have chosen to leave that lifestyle of their own accord and have found God-designed fulfillment?

Christ is the answer. If we can't show the world that we have a living, breathing, vibrant, tangible, real relationship with Christ, we may as well stay home. It's a hurting world; it's a world that isn't necessarily ready to follow their leader off the cliff; but they will, if no one else shows them an alternative.

God bless,
--Nick

Thursday, October 30, 2008

A Prayer

Dear Lord,

I don't even know what to pray, really. Are you ready to judge our nation? Is it time for that? If that's Your plan, then I shouldn't pray otherwise, should I? Yeah, I can beg for mercy for the country; I can ask You for a reprieve, I can ask You to turn the tide and put us back on track, but the truth of the matter is - for the most part we haven't worked that hard up to this point. The sun has been setting for quite a while and we've just sat back and watched, talked about how bad it is, talked about how it should be, clicked our tongues at the state of events, shook our heads - and then went and dabbled in our own preferred sin. Our country is doing nothing but reaping what it has sown. We've sown liberal education, Scriptureless philosophy, an absence of God from the education system; the propagation of a world view that presents man as the victim, innately good, not responsible for his problems. We've grown increasingly selfish and dependent on satisfying our latest new desires - now. And we're reaping the fruit of our labors. We're reaping electing a man who could very well represent the turning point of a God-fearing nation as we know it. It looks very much like we might just be reaping judgement - and no one can blame You. God, You have been merciful to us for far longer than we ever could deserve. You've postponed destroying a nation that has shaken her fist in Your face for quite some time. You've put up with a church largely given over to lip-service while not having a clue about heart communion with You. A church that barely even knows Who You are. And then, when we are reminded Who You are in a message or a song or some sweet conviction that You send our way, we half-open our slumbering eyelids and decide that we really should study and seek You... soon. We're always planning on being closer than we are today, stronger in our faith, more familiar with Your heart, Your plans, Your promises, soon.

God, forgive us, forgive me. If your entire church was made up of multiples of myself, I'm afraid we wouldn't be very reliable, very powerful, very moving. God, change our hearts, change our attitudes, renew our minds. Do what You want with this nation. If You see fit to grant us mercy, then so be it. But grant us a reprieve to work, to know You, to live and walk and breath the truth openly to all those around us, to rest in You and Your promises and to seek You and know You and commune with You. Don't grant us a reprieve to sit around, to vaguely acknowledge the power of the Gospel, to seek You with a fraction of our being.

And, if You see fit to allow evil to consume this nation, to hand over control of this nation to those who will not acknowledge You, to bring in a change in the tone of the land that will eventually make this place unfriendly to those who name Your Name, then so be it.

Either way, teach us to KNOW You.

Something Inspirational

A little inspiration for your day. Yes, it's a commercial, but it's well done.

--Nick

Thursday, October 16, 2008

A Lesson from a Little One


He's only six years old, but he taught me a pretty big lesson, and in a pretty vivid way.

Hey everybody, yes, I know, it's been quite a while since our last update - but we're still alive and kicking down here. The semester's going full swing - so there's been plenty to keep us busy, and, as usual, life passes in a whirl. "Oh yeah... the blog..."

Last night my wife and I were running a little bit late heading to church. We got there with about 5 minutes to spare, and grabbed a couple of empty seats in the section we usually sit in. In the row in front of us was a little six-year-old that I'll call Sam. Sam is six, and he's got the frame of a six-year-old, but it's a very small frame for a kid his age - so he's wound up with very fine, delicate features - a cute kid, to be sure. Sam's folks had left him there to hold the seats while they took care of something outside of the auditorium, so he was sitting there by himself waiting for them to come back. Our section was pretty full, so he was surrounded by a mass of people that he didn't know as he peered anxiously toward the back door, hoping for some sign of Mom and Dad. A college girl next to us tried to engage him in conversation - but he gave her monosyllabic answers and continued fretfully peering toward the back door. Then his face started changing; all of the worry inside began to mount and build as we neared the time church was to start, and his little face began to twist up in emotional agony. It was enough to rip your heart out; he was starting to cry and he was surrounded by people he didn't know and he didn't know what to do. He would shoot a tormented glance toward the back, then his little body would shake in agitation - another glance, another shake. It was too much to stand just watching the little fellow experiencing complete agony, so I told him (in what I hoped was a highly reassuring tone), "It's ok, Sam, they're coming. It'll be fine; they'll be here." Of course I wasn't extremely comforting since I also rank in the catagory of complete stranger; so I didn't help much. My wife leaned forward and asked him "Do they know you're sitting here?" "Yes," he responded. "Then they're coming. It'll be fine. Don't worry." Then his agonized question: "What's taking them so long?" Teri really didn't know what to say, so she said "I don't know, but they're coming, don't worry." At that point a kindly lady from a few rows back came up and sat down with him since the church service was starting and she tried to distract him with the hymn. Right after we started singing, his parents came down the aisle and to their seats - and *CLING* he was stuck to his mom. A short time of readjustment, a little nose blowing, and he was fine.

It was enough to rip your heart out - he was holding the heartstrings of the four people behind him in his little hand - but the situation really spoke to me because I saw myself in Sam's situation. I do this exact same routine with God. I'm sitting there, surrounded by a mass of troubled humanity, peering anxiously toward the back door. "Is He coming? Does He know I'm here? When is He going to fix my problem? What's taking Him so long?" I don't see Him when I think I should, so I resort to agitation and worry. I was thinking about things I could've said to reason with Sam. "Sam, did your parents tell you they were coming back?" "Yes." "If they told you they're coming back then you don't have to worry about it, because you know they are. All you have to do is wait for them." "Nick, did God tell you that He would provide for your needs?" "Yes." "Then you don't have to worry about how or when He's going to do it. All you have to do is wait."

Out of the mouths of babes, right? Sam didn't verbally give me a lesson, but he sure showed me one.

God bless you all,
Nick

Saturday, June 28, 2008

We thought this was pretty funny...

Something I ran across on GodTube. I wouldn't mind working for this company some day.

Friday, June 6, 2008

It just doesn't make sense... A Rant on the Western Medical Industry

Er - it's true that even though most of us live in a country where free speech is valued and practiced, we tend to be a bit wary of the more litigious aspects of society. I highly doubt that anything I wrote below would present a problem to anyone, but since any member of the public could come across this website, let me just be frank and say that the following material is comprised of my personal opinions. Please do not construe any of the below as advice; I am in no way qualified to advise on medical matters.

It just doesn't make sense. God designed the body; He did a fantastic job doing so, putting in place a system that regulates itself - analyzing and adjusting to the various needs it comes across, pulling from the various resources of nutrients that it has available to cleanse, repair, and optimize it's various departments in a ceaseless cycle that continues whether or not it is appreciated. This cycle continues undaunted even when the body is not given the best choices of fuel and tools with which to work. When various tools are missing, however, problems arise.

That's how it works, basically; that's the health model simplified. Now I know there's complicating elements to be thrown in to the equation - viruses, bacteria, lifestyle, hereditary weaknesses, etc. - but in general that's the system that God put in place. This is where my first big beef with the western medical industry lies - for all practical purposes it denies this basic health model. Oh, I know that every doctor breathing acknowledges that exercise is good for you and you should avoid junk food; but where the rubber meets the road - treatment - they practice a symptom-treatment program. Treat the symptom. Perhaps you have a headache; there could be a million reasons why - and you should examine them. Maybe you're dehydrated and you should drink some water, perhaps you injured your spine in a collision and you need to have your vertebrae adjusted, perhaps you're deficient in a vitamin, the list goes on and on. Now, you could analyze your situation and come up with adjustments to your situation in an attempt to rectify the situation - or you could take an aspirin. Why not? You don't have to sit down and think about the details, it's an easy fix, and the pain goes away. Never mind that your head still hurts - you just can't feel it. That's the western medical mindset. Have arthritis? Take a pain pill. Are the joints in your body still rubbing painfully on each other? Yes, but never mind, you can't feel it at the moment. Have heartburn? Take something to quell the acid production in the stomach. Why can't we trace the problem back a little further and take a look at what's causing the problem? When you take a purple pill for your heartburn - you chemically instruct your body to turn off all that acid production at the pumps. However, your body's still calling for it; thus, when you quit taking your purple pill, the pumps turn back on, and the acid is back. Your body is calling for the acid. Imagine this scenario. The next time someone has heartburn, they drink two ounces of apple-cider vinegar (I know, I can't stand the stuff either). Excess acid in the stomach, the body says "Hey, we're good on this acid stuff," the pumps turn back, and the heartburn goes away. Amazing.

"Why the rant and rave?" you ask. All of this stuff is more predominant on my mind of late because of some of my health struggles recently and dealings with my doctor. I've been having some fatigue issues as well as some muscle weirdness - and my doctor has discovered a slight elevation in TSH, a hormone which acts as the messenger when the brain wants the thyroid to produce. His solution is to take a synthetic hormone to fill in what the thyroid is not producing - the brain will see the difference has been made up, it won't call for as much, and my TSH goes back down. It's great math, and I'm sure it works that way, but it's symptom treatment. Can't we go back to the thyroid itself and ask it why it's not producing? To see what it's missing that it needs? I don't blame my doctor for his perspective, and I won't even pretend to know more about medical matters than he does - after all he's the one who went to school for how many years - but you would think that somebody would be able to step back and look at the medical industry as a whole and notice that it's been reduced largely to a pill-assigning program. I believe the vast majority of doctors mean well. I'm not nearly as confident about the motives of those behind the industry, those funding the research and education that the doctors receive.

I know for a fact that natural health works. Teri and I have changed our diet pretty radically from the standard American fare, and we've noticed corresponding changes in our health, how we feel. I've had past experiences in my life where the doctor has said "You look fine," and someone else has had to give me advice on natural health before I felt fine. Obviously there's a place for pills and surgery, obviously. You're not going to patch up a car-accident victim with dietary change, and you're not going to stop a heart attack with proper nutritional and herbal supplements; preventing a heart attack, now that's a different matter... No, I'm not dead-set against taking a synthetic hormone supplement - just almost. I'm involved with some natural remedies right now (I know some of you just read "quack" instead of the word "natural") - and if I don't have success I'll have to re-evaluate my plan of action - what else can I do? But I won't - I can't - pop the pill as my first choice. I know it's not right; I can feel it's not right; so, I investigate my alternatives.

You don't have to agree with me - most people don't - and I don't mind that. It's not my job to change your mind on this stuff, and I love you anyway; I just wanted to rant.

Ah, that's better (although not all that could be said on the matter - by a long shot). It's getting a bit late so I'd best trundle off to bed. I'm running sound for a wedding tomorrow so I must make sure I'm looking awake and enthusiastic. It's a double wedding: two sisters are marrying two brothers. In all probability this will definitely be the only time I ever have this experience.

God bless,
--Nick

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Ahhhh, vacation!


Of course, there's no way around it: vacation is nice.

We're doing well down here in our little Florida world. The semester finally finished up - and we survived the whole thing (praise the Lord!). It really wasn't bad as far as semesters go, but things do tend to get busy at the end and this semester was no exception. Teri and I both had the privilege of being in the Fine Arts play that the college produces at the end of the semester. I am usually involved with the productions from the technical standpoint of working on the sound crew (part of my job), but this semester I traded that in for a costume and hit the stage as one of the twin Dromios in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors; Teri was the lovely lady Abbess. It was an awful lot of fun taking part in the production, we both have a very real acting streak and we miss the stage after an extended absence, and it was very nice to have both of us involved - we actually got to see each other even when the schedule was gearing up closer and closer to performance. Don't let anyone tell you that acting is not a lot of work - it is, but it's also highly rewarding work if it's in your blood at all. We both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves even in the fevered pitch of busyness. But, as is often the case with things that require a lot of work, we were not entirely sad to see the performances end. It's one thing if your involvement with a production represents most of your responsibilities in life, but it's another thing entirely (as is the case for most non-professionals out there) if your involvement is only one more item on your list of things to attend to in a day. Working all day and working all evening does get a bit wearisome at times, so it is not without some feelings of relief and gratefulness that we relegate the semester's performances to memory.

After the semester ends we have a two-week post-term schedule - so our lives returned to normal work as well as some course wrap-up time (this all felt like a vacation in itself simply from the absence of constantly having to be somewhere). After our post-term ended we began our summer vacation week - which we're in the middle of now. On Tuesday we'll wade back into the waters of productive labor, but for now we are thoroughly enjoying pretending to be retired. We took last weekend and made a road trip out to Louisiana where we visited my Grandparents. We hadn't seen them in a while, so it was good to relax and spend some time with them as well as other family who managed to stop in as well. Pictured above is my wife, myself, my mother, my cousin, and my grandmother (she goes by "Nan," I've never called her "grandmother" in my life). Cousin Christopher happened to be near the area picking up his spiffy new ride (which we're all standing in front of), so it was great to see him again after about six years. Things are usually pretty low key when this side of the family gets together, but that suited Teri and me just fine. A little reading, a little tube watching, some conversation, a little wandering around Natchitoches (no, it's pronounced "Nack'-i-desh"), and some Louisiana cookin' made for a wonderful weekend.

Now we're back in Pensacola and planning out the rest of our vacation on the home front, and despite the fact that we're at home, it feels every bit a real vacation (although I did cancel a dentist appointment this morning simply because it didn't seem like something I wanted to do on vacation). Tuesday we hit the outlet malls in a little town about an hour from here and did a bit of bargain shopping; today we ran out to the Naval Air museum and took in a couple of IMAX shows; tomorrow we're going to try to hit the beach and do a bit of parasailing and perhaps rent a jetski; and Friday we're thinking of hitting Mobile and poking our noses in their museum, strolling through their flower gardens, and perhaps touring the USS Alabama or checking out their art museum. All in all a fun little collection of things that we don't normally take the time to do.

After the "retirement" is over (Tuesday), we'll settle back down into a working routine, gather our wits about us, and attempt to be productive and profitable with our summer time. As Ecclesiastes says, there is a time for everything. When the fall semester rolls back around we'll be more than ready for it, excited about leaping back into things and getting the chance to impact lives, but for now, it is good to relax.

God bless, --Nick

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Beat Goes On

Okay, so it's actually a constant vibration and not so much of a beat, but nevertheless, I'm ready for it to stop. Nick and I have managed to plop ourselves in a home surrounded by four separate construction sites, and the nearby heavy bull-dozing vehicles are about to drive me up the wall. (Unfortunately, my walls are just as unsteady as my shaking floors.) I'm not entirely sure which site is responsible for the vibration of our block, but the disturbance occurs most afternoons and evenings. In a way, it's almost amusing to walk into the kitchen and hear all your dishes rattling. It reminds me of the scene from Mary Poppins where the Banks family must, at certain times of the day, hold onto everything that could topple in their house when the crazy old navy captain on their roof fires the cannon up there. (Or something like that -- it's been a while since I've seen it.) The family is so used the ordeal that they hardly even acknowledge the occurrence and just go on with normal conversation with one hand on a vase and the other holding the hutch closed. In my home, nothing is actually in danger, and there's no exploding noise to damage my ears. It is a little wearisome, however, trying eat dinner with a quivering stomach.
Annoyances aside, I am thankful for the construction, honest! Some of the work is widening a much-used road to eliminate the constant clogged backup. Another site is constructing the annex to the sport center on campus. This exciting addition will provide for our students rock-climbing, a flow rider, and other nifty things I don't remember at the moment. So the rumbling beneath my feet is beneficiary. I just need to remember that. And thank my God for all the blessings I do have, instead of complaining about petty grievances.
A while back I was enjoying the blossoming trees outside my office building as I walked up to the back entrance. The wind was blowing gently, causing both blooming petals and aroma to waft my way. I ask you, who wouldn't be swept with glee to stroll beneath a fragrant blossoming tree with petals swirling around you on a lovely spring morning with blue sky above and -- Then I spied the construction on the roof of the building over to my left. I was tempted for a slight moment to roll my eyes in disgust of the noise and grime and all, but the ugliness somehow seemed unimportant in light of the beauty above me. Returning my thoughts to the trees, I simply reminded myself to "look up, Teri. Keep your focus up!"

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1,2

Sunday, April 13, 2008

How Happy is Spring

In honor of this lovely month, I wanted to share a poem that I enjoy. I often perform this playful lyric for Freshman Speech Lecture or my Oral Interpretation of Poetry class as an example of proper delivery. Those of you who read my April 11 post will understand why I like it.


April
by Marcia Masters


It's Lemonade, it's lemonade, it's daisy,
It's a roller-skating, scissor-grinding day;
It's gingham-waisted, chocolate flavored,lazy,
With the children flower-scattered at their play.

It's the sun like watermelon,
And the sidewalks overlaid
With a glaze of yellow yellow
Like a jar of marmalade.

It's the mower gently mowing,
And the stars like startled glass,
While the mower keeps on going
Through a waterfall of grass.

Then the rich magenta evening
Like a sauce upon the walk,
And the porches softly swinging
With a hammockful of talk.

It's the hobo at the corner
With his lilac-sniffing gait,
And the shy departing thunder
Of the fast departing skate.

It's lemonade, it's lemonade, it's April!
A water sprinkler, puddle winking time,
When a boy who peddles slowly, with a smile remote and holy,
Sells you April chocolate flavored for a dime.

Teri

"Of Whom the World Was Not Worthy"

Guest preacher Bill Fennell delivered a convicting message tonight about faith. He defined faith as "obeying God even when it isn't logical, comfortable, or desirable." He spoke out of Hebrews 11, and touching on the second part of verse six, told a story about his young son, Trevor.
His family was at the dinner table and Trevor asked "Daddy, may I have some potato chips please?" Pastor Fennell responded, "Yes, you may." But Trevor didn't take any. Then he asked again, "Daddy, may I please have some potato chips?" "Absolutely, Trevor, take some chips." Trevor responded, "No Daddy, I want you to give them to me, you have bigger hands."
Oh, how wise and happy the Christian who will cease from trying to attain the things he wants and just obey God and let Him do the blessing. He's better at it anyway.

Teri

Friday, April 11, 2008

A Few of My Favorite Things

I (Teri) was walking home today, when I was arrested by one of my favorite spring/summer-time aromas -- that of freshly cut grass. It came so suddenly, I had to stop right where I was when I caught the first whiff and just savor the moment. I like earthy smells. Always have. Tilled sod for gardening, rain-soaked ground, pine needles, hay bales, etc. They're among my favorites in a world of colorful fragrances.
Somewhere between 4th and 8th grade, I studied the art of creative writing. My mom had to practically pull teeth to get me to reproduce thoughts on paper, and to this day, writing is not an activity I enjoy. However, I love to READ most types of literature, poetry or prose, and I thoroughly enjoyed some of the exercises from my textbook used to stimulate the writer's awareness of sensory images. Exercises included thinking of all the sounds your hear in a season, or associated with a particular holiday.(go ahead, try it, it's fun! example: summer= lawnmower, lawn sprinklers, fireworks, swimming pool splashes, children shouting "ready or not, here I come!", wind rushing through leaf-laden aspens, the trilling ominousness of rumbling thunder, etc.) Another was to use sensory images in poetic form to describe an emotion. (I think I tried to depict sadness as a slowly melting ice cream cone... or something) Sights, sounds, textures, and tastes are all glorious blessings, but there's nothing quite like smells to really communicate an image. To me, a smell is not just a smell, it's an experience. The heady sweetness of lilacs, husky campfire woodsmoke, sharp Christmas pine, comfortable fresh-baked bread, country breeze-dried laundry, musty wisdom of old books, the crisp excitement of new ones -- I could go on and on. All of these smells are associated with an experience. When I enjoy a fragrance, it is not an isolated incident, it brings me somewhere. This is one reason why I like poetry so much; a great deal of imagery contained in a small space.
When I smell mown grass I can't help but remember my childhood summertime revelries when my dad mowed our lawn. Sometimes he would mow it in a triangular pattern which, when he first began, created a labyrinth of mown strips. Through the pathways of cut lawn, I chased or was chased by my older sister. Or we would invent some adventurous story wherein our characters had to courageously find our way through the maze without being overcome by the lawnmower.... Our shrieking and giggling continued tirelessly until dusk had settled or so much of the lawn was mowed that pathways no longer existed. Then, contentedly weary, we would tumble into the bath to wash away the itchy grass and green-stained feet.
I once read in a science book that of all our senses, the sense of smell was most closely linked to our memories. I believe it.
How marvelous it is to be blessed with all my senses! These abilities make life so much more livable.
Now I can smell dinner in the oven, which reminds me of... my need to set the table. ;)

God bless!
Teri

Monday, March 31, 2008

In A World...

Our lives are so much more adventurous than we let on...

Saturday, March 29, 2008

So life is good...


Yes, what else can I really say? Sure, there are a number of challenges in life right at the moment - but if you really step back and look at it: life is good. The weather's been rather nice around here as well, although today was almost a little warm inside the apartment. My lovely wife and I are about six degrees off - so when she's quite comfortable, I'm hot. When I'm comfortable, she's freezing. Ah well, such is life. Who's to say my thermostat is the right one?

Teri and I are in full swing with the semester down here. I have found teaching to be quite a new challenge - but one that I dearly enjoy. I'm starting to gravitate more and more toward the idea of spending more of my working time teaching - and toying with thoughts of even taking the long course of life more in that direction. Of course, God knows what He wants, and we shall see what the future holds. All in all, however, I have found my students to bring quite a bit of joy to my life. They've also brought quite a few gray hairs and induced the production of more than a few stress hormones - but that's just the nature of the beast, I suppose. For a first semester, it has gone rather well. Students are funny creatures. They decide they want to advance their lives with further education (or their parents decide for them), they come to college, sign up for classes, bring their smiling faces to class, and then complain in an offended tone when you give them their first assignment. Practice? Speeches? Oh, thou loathsome teacher, you hate us all... But, there's always the other side of it. It's extremely rewarding to see them try, put out effort, commit to a speech, utilize your suggestions. And I love getting hellos and greetings from them around campus. They're not a bad sort, really...

God bless, --Nick

Saturday, March 22, 2008

A Tour of the Pad

Yes, for all those of you who have been wondering what our home looks like - now you can see it! We had a couple of friends over for dinner a while back, and we thought we'd host our own "Home Tour" while we were at it. No, it's not the finest example of my most professional work - but it serves the purpose.

--Nick

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Out of the vault

I was going through old mini dv tapes last night, and I found the source footage for one of the group projects I was involved with way back in one of my college video classes. We were doing claymation/animation; I cleaned it up a bit and added some sound effects. No, it's not earth-shaking, it's just for fun.

--Nick

Sunday, January 20, 2008

*Gasp*


Gasp. That's a fitting word for life. "Gasp! What time is it?" (I did this yesterday, thinking I had missed my work shift.) "Gasp! Wednesday is coming!" (My thoughts on the coming semester - I'll be teaching this year.) "Gasp! I haven't rehearsed enough!" (My feelings two nights ago while performing in a repertoire.) "Gasp! It's cold!" (Our feelings every time we step out of our cozy little home and into the frigid Pensacola winter air.) It really has been cold here lately. This morning I believe it was somewhere around 20 degrees down here. I observed ice on the side of the road as I walked to church/work this morning, and the grass had a particularly crunchy feel to it. I know it's nothing for you weather-hardened northerners and westerners out there, but this is Florida! We're supposed to be driving around in our convertibles with the tops down and our radios up while the rest of the U.S. grows jealous. Ah well. I really don't mind the cold weather once I get a bit used to it, but if you're all set for a warm-weather day, a bit of bone-soaking cold can be rather debilitating. (I would like to take a small moment here to remind everyone who lives everywhere else that Pensacola is a very humid place, and our cold is wet and chilling. Think of that before you sneer at our shivering bodies.)

I feel like so much has happened since our last post, but as usual when I sit down to chronicle my thoughts, I don't feel like I can remember anything.

Teri and I had a wonderful Christmas vacation. We took off on the Friday before Christmas, jetting our way up to Kansas City, Missouri (via Houston, TX); and arriving rather late due to various delays. We arrived and picked up our rental car by about midnight, and then proceeded to beat it up to Omaha, Nebraska; home, of course, to Teri's family. It was quite a switch, living in comparatively balmy Florida conditions and then walking across an Antarctic parking lot looking for our rental car. We survived the trip and arrived safe and sound at around four or five in the morning. Then followed our luxurious stay with the fam. We spent most of our time kicking back at the house, although on Christmas day itself we actually all drove up into Iowa and Minnesota to visit with extended family. The Thursday following Christmas found us driving back down to Kansas City and turning in our rental car and staying with the Strattons, old friends of mine now residing in Ottawa, Kansas. Mom Stratton was my high-school principal for the private-school years of my life, and I became good friends with the boys (and Stephanie) during those footloose and fancy-free years of high school. Of course, the kids are grown up and scattered around the globe now, but everyone was gathered back under one roof for the Christmas holiday, along with the addition of wives and children. It was so much fun to hang out with everyone again and introduce them to Teri. Good friends are those with whom you feel comfortable even though you haven't seem them in four or five years.

Well, after a brief stay in Ottawa we trundled back out to the airport, and hitched a ride over to Colorado Springs, CO; grabbed a rental car and popped up to Denver. There we visited with our Natropath, Brenda, and reviewed our present dietary condition. For the three or four months prior to Christmas we had been on a pretty strict diet in our order to improve our health (no wheat, dairy, sugars). Brenda confirmed that we had made good progress, and our bodies were building themselves back up. With this progress comes the privilege of widening our diets out a little and not being as strict about things, although we are retaining a lot of the "lifestyle changes" that we've made (i.e. avoiding lots of dairy, wheat, and sugar). Independent confirmation from Brenda aside, we really do feel healthier the way we're eating now and don't feel burdened and constrained. Teri, for one thing, has been able to shed a majority of the headaches she used to get every few days growing up - a pleasant side effect of eating healthy. Basically, the nutshell principle of everything is: less processed and preserved = good; more processed and preserved = bad.

After our good news, we ran back down to Colorado Springs where we stayed with the LeFevers (old friends) until Monday morning. We got to visit with more old friends that I hadn't seen in forever, and of course it was a blast introducing Teri to all of them. After a delightful (albeit short) stay, we hit the airport again and flew back down to Pensacola. Tuesday we laid around the house recovering from all the rapid traveling, and Wednesday it was back to work.

Speaking of work, I'm still slated for teaching this Spring. I've been given three Speech 101 classes, as well as a Broadcasting lab. I look forward very much to getting to know my students during the semester journey. Yes, I'm nervous - how could I not be? But I'm excited, very excited.

Lately I've been thinking about how extremely blessed we are. Sure, we have our problems; but we have so much! We live in a palace! Ok, so it's just an apartment, but we've got heat and air-conditioning at our fingertips, hot water, food in the fridge, furniture, carpet, a soft bed. If I get a toothache I go to the dentist; if I get low on food I go to the store. I've got a great job - using both of my majors (how often does that happen?), working with great people, in a place that seeks to honor the Lord! I'm not bragging; and sure, the stuff we have isn't perfect - but we are so blessed with what we have! Compared to the way millions of people on this earth have lived, and are living, we live like kings!

God help us not to take these things for granted.
--Nick

Friday, January 11, 2008

Check soon for post!

Post coming soon! Check soon for post! Soon there will be a post! Uh... posting! will... will be... will be coming soon! Yes! That's it! Soon posting will be!

(Interpretation: The blog is still alive)

--Nick