O god, ... Now I pray

Tami here:

-- I felt led to let you in on my morning prayer and meditation time -- it's not something I generally share here and yet it is such a part of my life, and this particular Psalm is really speaking to me, and I am trying to listen.

I have been meditating with the Psalms/Now modern paraphrase translation of the Psalms by Leslie F. Brandt for several months now, and this week I have been reading Psalm 119 (Psalms Now link to Amazon)

Parts of Psalm 119

(paraphrase, emphasis mine)

Now I pray for the wisdom to discern your will

and the grace to carry it out

in the difficult days before me.

You have shown me how much you love me, Lord;

now show me how to love You.

Your standards for me are clear.

I am to translate Your love into terms

that others can comprehend,

to demonstrate it before my fellow beings.

I can truly love You only as I proceed

to love Your children in this world,

I can serve You only as I commit my life to service

on behalf of my brothers and sisters.

I can offer sacrifices to You only as

I sacrifice to meet my neighbor's need.

This is Your law and standard,

Your design and will for my life.

This is the way in which I will be pleasing to You.

I do love You, O God,

and Your will for me is the delight of my heart.

I have a sincere love for many people

who cross my path,

and I rejoice in the privilege of serving them.

And yet, O Lord, there are so many people

whom I do not love.

The demons of bigotry and apathy,

jealousy and selfishness,

plague my soul and numb my sensitivities.

They stay my hand from reaching out

to help others.

I sin against You when I sin against them,

and I need to be restored and renewed

by Your loving touch.

How I praise You, O Lord,

because You love me even when I fail

to respond in loving obedience!

Whereas I cannot comprehend You,

you do understand me,

and You continue to hold me

within Your loving embrace.

While I fall short of my sincere intentions

to abide within Your will for me,

Your promises are eternally secure,

and You tenderly and patiently

rekindle the fires within me and empower me

to do that which I cannot do by myself.

I love You, O God,

and I gladly accept Your will and purpose

for my life.

Now bless me and guide me

and grant me the grace

to walk within Your will and purpose

and have the joy of knowing

that I am pleasing to You.

~~~~~~~~~~

To everyone reading, thank you, and thank you for your continued prayer for my discernment and clarity for all of us along our journey.

Love and belief,

Tami

Oops...

Shawn here. The fact that Tami didn't include her name in her post on getting laid off--coupled with the fact that our blog posts are automatically imported to both Shawn's and Tami's Facebook Notes, but without the author information that is at the bottom of the post on the blog--led to some well-intentioned confusion on the part of one of my Facebook friends. This person thought at first that I had been laid off, and was curious as to why I was thinking of becoming a Deaconess, since I am not female.

For the record, I (Shawn) am still employed. I am still pursuing ELCA Candidacy, but have no news to report on that front. All option-considering taking place at this point is Tami's.

Keeping my options open...

The fact that it took me nearly two weeks to write this note either means that I'm very busy (true, I think) or that I'm more than a little conflicted about what to announce to the world (likely also true).

Friday March 27th I was "let go" from my position with ECi La Crosse due to a "workforce reduction." That is the official word.

I expected it to some extent. I actually expected it months ago, but then when it didn't come started to wonder when and if it would ... until Thursday when it became obvious that something was happening in my little cooperate world.

Honestly I felt relief at the moment when it happened. I didn't have to wonder if it would happen or when it would happen any longer, and I now would have time to focus on finding that new job that I had been wanting for a long time. Or, I could focus on contract work and moving toward other opportunities. (For the record, I'm keeping my options open at the moment.)

I think back to the other times that this has happened in my life (thankfully not recently), and this feels so different. Is the situation different or am I different?

People ask me how I'm doing and I quickly reply, "Great!" without even thinking about it, and then when we start talking I can see them get confused when I tell them I'm not currently employed and explain what happened. And yet so often I still really do feel great. I can only conclude that I do not identify *how I am* with my employment status. I say this while certainly understanding how being unemployed can bring a lot of stress on an individual and family.

I had been praying a lot lately about my future path (and continue to do so!). I have not yet told many people but I feel strongly about pursuing a path of serving others -- but what that path is and when I am to pursue it still has not been revealed to me. One option I am considering is becoming a Lutheran Deaconess or working in ministry in another way; however, those are opportunities primarily in the future if for no other reason than I need to continue on the discernment path, and then if I continue to feel called I must apply, and so on before beginning the education process.

Yet, in some way I know that my current situation is a part of that future path. I'm not sure how yet, but as is each leg of the journey, this is an important one.

Presently in addition to checking out contract opportunities and many local job opportunities, I am also continuing to work on various opportunities with The Raw Divas, and hope to have an ebook out soon!

I have to admit that I also hope I will be able to catch my breath a little bit and catch up with the many things I have been putting off -- from posting photos to writing elaborate personal blog posts! :-)

So stay tuned for more photos, details about Nessa's birthday, and of course our request for prayers as Nessa gets her tonsils out at the end of the month. Of course many of you that see my hurried bits and notes on Facebook already knew much of this ...

Love and belief to all -- and send any job opportunities my way. ;-)

Guess The Joke Was On Us

My mischievous side wanted to call this post “God Spoke To Me In The Grocery Store (And He Looked Just Like George Burns)”, but being that misleading just for the sake of The Funny isn’t good.

Tami and I visited Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, IA, this past weekend. Remember a couple of weeks ago when we said we didn’t think Wartburg could overcome what we perceived to be the advantages of Luther Seminary? Well, God (and Wartburg, and Dubuque) have been quietly chuckling ever since.

We loved it at Wartburg. The sense of community is overwhelming, in a positive way. All weekend long we heard and saw little things that point to what a safe, secure environment Wartburg has. Students talked about leaving backpacks in the auditorium unmolested all day long. Spouses talked about kids playing together, and about the great Youth Room (staffed by work study students) available for use after school by kids 5 and older. We attended a coffeehouse where kids of all ages were running around without causing trouble, and parents were helping/dealing with any kid who needed it in a very “it takes a village” fashion. We kept hearing one positive comment after another about the schools, the public library, the other colleges in town, and the city of Dubuque in general. The housing at Wartburg is both less expensive and better suited to our needs.

From the student point of view, the first professor who talked to us said “You will not be able to hide here. People will find you and support you and help you face whatever you need to face.” We heard again and again that students, spouses, faculty and faculty spouses all become close, and that in particular you bond with your class, and they and their familes become your support system. This is very appealing to me. The average class size is 35 people, and no one gets lost in the crowd. Gifts are acknowledged and respected; shortcomings are allowed for. I learned that my call story is neither unique nor outlandish.

Dubuque is much like La Crosse, down to being roughly the same population. It’s a little more hilly, but it has beautiful old homes and interesting architecture. There are attractions for children and families and lots to do, including four other colleges/universities with all of their events. There is a wide variety of shopping, including the comfort value of familiar stores like Target and Best Buy. No food co-op, but there are many farmer’s markets and lots of organic produce available, including CSAs.

By Saturday evening Tami and I were wondering if we’d been a little bit hasty in our assumption that Luther was the place for us. By Sunday evening we were actively evaluating pros and cons, trying to make sense of our growing conviction that we belong at Wartburg, not Luther. On Monday I was actively wondering if I should even bother visiting Luther again or applying there. All the while we were praying, asking God to give us some sort of sign of his will for us. As we were getting ready to leave town, one big remaining question mark was the availability of gluten-free food for Tami and Nessa, so we decided to stop by the largest grocery store in town to see what they had. We were directed to their Health Market, a whole separate section of organic products, including a gluten-free section that is equal or superior to that in any of the La Crosse grocery stores or co-op. Almost all of our favorite products and brands were present, as well as things we have a hard time finding in La Crosse. As I was getting more and more excited about what we were seeing, Tami turned to me and asked “Is this a sign?” I had to concede that I thought it was.

At one point during the weekend, a current student said that when she was visiting Luther someone told her “Well, if you want to be a pastor, go to Wartburg; if you want to be a theologian, come to Luther.” That really resonated with me. I've never had any thoughts of becoming a theologian. I want to be a pastor, in a parish. We could be happy at Luther Seminary, and being closer to our families would be great. But that is the only advantage we can see, and we wonder if we will be too busy while in school to really utilize that advantage much anyway.

I am learning the folly of definitive declarations during this whole process of discerning my call, but I am also learning to trust my feelings, and realizing that when I find something unexpected and wonderful in my heart it’s God’s way of telling me something. Right now, our hearts tell us we belong at Wartburg Seminary, so we’ll trust that until it's no longer true.

Who needs a stove anyway? (cross-post)

Below is a post that is part of my new blog.

Occasionally I'll share posts here as well so friends and family are sure to see some of the things that are such a large part of our lives right now. But I wanted to start a separate blog so that I wouldn't be subjecting all of you to tedious food posts, and so I could make the "food blog" public and optimized for search engines to find. It's about my journey to wellness though nutrition and whole foods (primarily raw foods at this point).

If you're interested, scroll through the dozen or so posts already there. You can skim over the posts about what I'm eating all of the time if that is just a bit much, or if all you want to know is "what the heck" I eat anyway, then you can skip the philosophical posts. :-)

You can find it here: http://learningtoeat.wordpress.com/

---

DCP_5658

Originally uploaded by Tami of BrooksGroth

This is what my stove looked like when I woke up Saturday morning.

I smiled remembering unpacking all those veggies Friday night before collapsing on the couch with Shawn. Some of them are from our Friday CSA box, some are from neighbor's gardens, and a few are left from "the farm" (my dad's family farm which now has a family garden). I have many plans for these veggies this week!

But today I spent the day with veggies that didn't even make this picture -- dehydrating all items over a week old that we haven't eaten yet from beans to green peppers to onions to celery. I didn't even get to start on the zucchini and potatoes today!

The stove still looks like that ... if it was just me, they would probably stay there. :-) But I'm thinking that Shawn will want to use the stove this week, so I'll have to find a place for them elsewhere.

Not quite as good as Grandma's cupcakes...

My mom has this recipe for egg free, dairy free chocolate cupcakes. She made them once with our Better Batter that we got for her to make gluten free things for Nessa (http://www.betterbatter.org/), and they were SO good -- I mean, really, really, can't eat just one good. We made them with her recipe last night and they're good, but certainly not "can't eat just one" good. Hmmm, is it just Grandma's touch or did we do something wrong. I suggested to Megan that she make them with Grandma sometime just to see if we can learn anything. :-)

So, mom if you're reading this, you now officially have the "Grandma touch" when it comes to baking... oh, and we love you!!!

Before the rain started...

I went for a walk after lunch today. In no time at all (literally minutes) I was in historic Philadelphia.

The last time I saw the Liberty Bell was 18 years ago when my family visited me when I lived in South Philly (near the Naval Ship yard). It was raining that day too. The time this bell made the biggest impression though, and what sticks out in my mind to this day is when we visited when I was very young (5?) and the bell seemed bigger than life then even if I didn't understand the history.

I have purposefully not returned to see many of the areas I remember from when I lived here 18 years ago, but memories flashed into my mind unpredictably the last few day. Current residents have confirmed in a general way that a lot of things have changed in nearly two decades. Of course I just may have missed a few things ...

I certainly never noticed a duck before:



About the time I was really hot from my walk in the humidity (I didn't get rained on though ... as the hotel worker promised my hour was dry), I had to return to the last few sessions of the conference so I made my way back to the Pennsylvania Convention Center.



By the time I returned to my room when the conference ended I was exhausted (a quick trip to fivebucks seems to be helping with that). Even though I'm missed my family more than I can express, the time here has gone SO fast, and it has been a great trip. In addition to the great STC Conference, EVERYONE here has been SO helpful, polite, and friendly. I seriously can NOT remember a hotel staff being this great on every level before. The Convention Center staff was equally impressive.

If everything goes smoothly, I should be in Wisconsin before noon on Thursday. :-)

I've been uploading pics to flicker too: http://flickr.com/photos/brooksgroth/

Just Because

I realized yesterday that it had been a while since I'd sent Tami an "I Love You!" email. So I started one "just because" that turned into a little poem. Tami liked it, so I thought I'd post it here and dedicate it to Tami:

Just Because

Just because it's sunny out today...
Just because I like to feel this way...
Just because it's been awhile, I guess...
Just because I'm happy you said "Yes"...
Just because you've made my life so grand...
Just because I like to hold your hand...
Just because of vows I'd once more swear...
Just because our little girl is there...
Just because it's great to have a friend...
Just because I don't want it to end...
Just because I think you ought to know...
Just because it may not always show...

...I'll make sure I say it loud and clear:
I love you with all my heart, my dear!

Love, always and forever,
Shawn

Divide and conquer

No, this isn't a parenting post.

No this is a quick update about all of the research taking up our free time.

Since Shawn concentrates on researching all things that go Whirr, he is researching new washing machines. While he's at it, he's looking at new dryers, but it's only our washing machine that doesn't work right so that is the priority right now because this is the last weekend I want to take Nessa's bedding to the laundry mat. (We can only wash very small loads of laundry in our washing machine right now.)

Because Tami is a bit obsessive about it anyway, Tami concentrates on the medical research. It started with allergy research for Nessa (we won't even tough the years of research into her own various hard-to-describe maladies although there may be a connection with Nessa's diagnosis in the end), and now has expanded into the very core and depths of gluten -free research -- Celiac Disease. When we found out a week ago we just walked around with our jaw open with a shocked feeling -- wow!

I hope to get around to a detailed post about what we know, what we don't know, and the frustration of finding it all out and getting help from the medical community (I've decided celiac is a disease looking for a doctor, especially in the pediatric area ... frustrating when it's so under diagnosed.) Until then -- Nessa went in for allergy testing and based on symptoms they also ran a gluten panel and it came back positive (and very apparently) while her food allergy tests were all negative. We have yet to see a pediatric GI specialist. You can read more about it here: http://www.celiacdisease.net/

Oh, and since I just can't help it I've been researching new cell phones as well as carriers and data options ... and a couple of weeks ago I spent way too much time on the computer reading MP3 player reviews with Megan, and the result was ordering one off of Amazon for her (her allowance money -- go girl) so when you see her with headphones in... Shawn and Tami are both thinking of following with their own players soon too.

(Do phones and MP3 players go Whirr? I didn't think so either. Maybe we need new research definitions.)

So, if you all have any feedback, info or resources, please send them our way --- comments, emails, phone calls, carrier pigeons ... we have so much to learn!

What keeps me going sometimes...

This was one of the photos that kept me going when I was tired and overwhelmed while in Portland for my work conference this past week. These are my sweet girls!

When I left I was panicked that I didn't have good recent photo prints to take with me ... but of course I had my laptop. Every time my screen saver started I saw my girls and their beautiful smiles. Sometimes it made me more homesick, but mostly it just made me smile.

I didn't have time to see a lot of Portland, but when I did see I loved ... and the weather wins hands down even with rain every day I was there! Of course coming home to a snow storm didn't help! Yes everything is covered with a fresh layer of snow today and yesterday we dealt with wet snow continually covering everything all day long. Happy Spring!

Take One...

The new laptop came with a webcam ... we're still figuring this out, but thought Grandparents and such would enjoy ... Shawn told me NOT to edit it so you can get a chuckle too ... Nessa is almost back to her old self although you will notice the hanky in her hand that she is rarely without these days (security hanky?).

Back to work now ... more later this week. I promise as Megan hasn't had fun with it yet.

OK, we're so new to this that I didn't think to look at the file size before uploading it...2 minutes didn't seem like that long when we were shooting the video!

A quick break on a beautiful winter day

I'm working a full day at work today (versus working anywhere my laptop will open), and here I spend my time in an inner cube -- no windows, etc. Today, I needed to get to the outside world -- the real outside world, not the online one. So, I just took a quick break and walked a few blocks, peaked my head into a downtown La Crosse store, did a bit of quick window shopping, and stopped in my favorite downtown place for an indulgent hot beverage. It was a wonderful break made even more wonderful by how genuinely refreshing being outside was.

Yes, it is a beautiful winter day here.

When I came back to my desk I had to check the current temp, and was shocked to see it's only 22 degrees --- but it is bright and sunny with no wind, so yes, a beautiful winter day. I truly wish we had more days like this. Walking and taking deep breaths was so wonderful. It was just the relaxation and rejuvenation I needed today.

And I have to admit I didn't even feel guilty at my enjoyment ... even though I have friends just a bit south of here that were hit hard with another snow storm last night (yeah, it missed us this time!). :-)

Other smiles were brought to me recently by the most thoughtful supportive husband in the world (and with just the right amount of mischief for added laughter and smiles), and my daughters who yesterday were more sweet than sour even though we required them to sit through an evening Ash Wednesday church service.

Now, back to work...

For My Love At Christmastime

Again this year, I want to dedicate "our" Christmas song to my wife and best friend:

Just In Time For Christmas (as sung by Nancy LaMott)

They had decked the malls and trimmed the town with plastic trees
Til the world was just a giant retail maze
Tis the season when you turn your thoughts to people you can’t please
When you measure passing time in shopping days
And the holidays were something to get through
But the thing I hadn’t counted on was you

Just in time for Christmas, you came along
Just in time for Christmas, when everything felt wrong
And I was sure my faith had all run out
Just in time for Christmas, you showed me what Christmas is about

What I needed most could not be bought at any price
I was far too disillusioned then to see
I was going through the motions--made a list and checked it twice
But forgot to write down anything for me
But my long-unspoken wishes had been heard
And an unexpected miracle occurred

Just in time for Christmas, one silent night
Just in time for Christmas, you filled my life with light
And there was joy where there had once been doubt
Just in time for Christmas, you showed me what Christmas is about

And all at once the bells began to ring
And hark, the herald, I heard angels sing
Who am I to resist their call
You brought me the greatest gift of all

And now my spirits sing
Just in time, my heart is caroling
From deep within my soul I want to shout
Just in time for Christmas
Just in time for Christmas
Just in time for Christmas, you showed me what Christmas is about

Tami, thank you for loving me, for marrying me, and for showing me what Christmas is all about.

Love, always and forever,
Shawn

Woo Hoo, Veggie night a hit!

Well, OK, Nessa pretty much only ate applesauce, but that could happen no matter what else we serve. Shawn, on the other hand even took seconds -- and those that know him know that he was naturally more than a little nervous about "veggie night." :-)

A couple of weeks ago we decided Tuesday nights would become veggie night since it's generally a good night for me to cook. The idea of veggie night was also appealing because we're trying to cut back on our out of control grocery expenses and I thought one of the easiest ways would be to eat less meat (especially since we like the good stuff when we eat meat). When Shawn agreed to try a night w/out meat once a week I figured he was just trying to make sure I would cook supper at least once a week. :-)

Last night was the first night (we were sick last Tuesday). And today I'm enjoying yummy leftovers of:

• Apple Burgers (yum! http://www.theveggietable.com/recipes/appleburgers.html)
• Quinoa and Spinach pilaf (http://www.incaorganics.com/Entree&Side.htm) -- YES Shawn took seconds AND it did indeed have spinach in it ... I did modify this a bit by using some balsamic vinegar instead of just the rice vinegar and I think that really gave it more zing and is flavor we prefer.
• Rosemary roasted potatoes (http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1850,144168-239193,00.html -- that recipe is pretty close but I didn't have that much garlic yesterday) This was the safe bet so that Shawn would at least eat something. :-)
• And then of course the applesauce so that Nessa would at least eat something. :-)

Why did I choose those recipes? Well, first and most importantly -- I had the ingredients or enough that it would be close enough (recipes are just suggestions, right?) -- I was determined not to have to run to the store (hence no salad w/ it as we were out of fresh greens and we always have that on other nights anyway), and I also wanted things that I thought had a chance of being enjoyed while being somewhat new and different. Shawn said he didn't want to know ingredients until after he said if he liked it or not. :-)

You may notice there really weren't that many vegetables in our veggie meal. Oh well, it's a start. And if you have any gluten free (or easily adaptable as the apple burgers were) vegan* recipes to share, please do! :-)

Happy End of November!

*I simply use vegan because it's the easiest way to find recipes that have no egg or dairy which I'm allergic to.

Is It Just Me, Or Is This Pond Getting Smaller?

Have you ever seen the cartoon with a bunch of fish in a row, each bigger than the last, each with its mouth wide open to swallow up the fish in front of it? That's kind of what life feels like right now. On Monday October 8th, Business Objects (the large company I work for) and SAP (a much larger company) announced an agreement for SAP to purchase Business Objects for 4.8 billion Euros.

Yes, billion. That's around $6.2 billion at the current exchange rate.

Of course it all happened when I was home sick. Instead of spending that Monday in bed, I got to call in to meetings and try to stay awake between them so I wouldn't miss one. (I spent much of Tuesday the 9th in bed instead.)

This will take a lot of time and many steps to complete, so it won't be final for several months. There are regulatory hurdles to clear in several countries before all is said and done. I've never been part of a publicly traded company before, so all of this is new to me. It's kind of exciting in a way. As a Bobj stockholder (through the employee purchase plan), I should be getting an offer to purchase my shares at the agreed price. SAP is actually planning to run Bobj as an independent entity, retaining our own branding and such. So sometime next year I'll probably be working for "Business Objects, an SAP company."

It's always possible that another company could come along and offer more per share than SAP, in effect attempting a hostile takeover. The list of companies in a position to pony up over $6 billion in cash is short: Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, and--maybe--one or two others. I'll worry about that when someone tells me I should worry about it. In fact, I'm not really worried too much about any of this. I don't expect my job to change much for a while, if at all--they've been taking more pains than usual to state that they don't anticipate any layoffs. I know that one should never blindly accept the corporate rhetoric that gets spewed on these occasions, but at this point, no one I know is getting any bad vibes. Que sera sera.

Tami is going through takeover woes herself, from the back side. ECII, the company that bought La Crosse Management Systems, promised a lot but hasn't delivered much of anything to date. Now that she's become invaluable to LMS, Tami presented a proposal for becoming a full-time, salaried employee, instead of hourly. I think her boss, the former co-owner of LMS, would have accepted long ago. But it's not up to him anymore, and ECII is being maddeningly slow to do anything with it. All Tami can do is wait. LMS was understaffed when purchased, and it has gotten worse since, and the frustration level is mounting. Everyone hopes ECII will recognize this and do something about it before it's too late, but so far they seem oblivious.

It doesn't seem to matter which fish you are, the situation's the same. The only difference is how big the pond seems to be. I wonder if there are any other ponds out there?

Home from R and R at the B and B

We're back home (and reality hit hard today!) after a wonderful weekend relaxing in Northern MN. Shawn and Tami spent most of the time at a B and B in Grand Rapids, MN while Nessa stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Brooks in Walker.

It was a much needed rest and while the drive home was quite brutal (traffic, construction, and an over-tired Nessa) and the first day back to reality a bit more stressful than average (work, more plumbing problems, schedule changes including an unplanned Dr. visit, and an over-tired Nessa), we're still sure it was SO worth it to get away and are hoping to get away for couple-only R&R more often.

While we didn't spend a lot of time enjoying the great outdoors (yucky heat and humidity even up north), I continued to fall in love with northern MN. While Megan tries to figure out how to add to the states she has visited, I may just try to plan more MN/WI vacations (maybe we should concentrate on how many counties we've visited?). There is just so much around here that we haven't even seen or experienced yet. That is, if you count 8 hours in the car as "around here." But with grandparents nearby it's much more "around here" than any place else.

I'm hoping to have pictures uploaded later tonight and will specifically blog some when I get a chance -- watch for the pic of the gas sign in Grand Rapids -- the cheapest gas I've seen in a long time ($2.64)!

Until then, a few more notes:

• We visited and loved the Judy Garland museum (http://www.judygarlandmuseum.com/)



• I visited and fell in love with the Yarn Works store in Grand Rapids(http://www.yarnworksofmn.com/). It was the most wonderful yarn store I've ever been in and probably would be even if I couldn't count them all on my fingers! Oh my I can't imagine how real knitters feel there. They had lots of wool which as a fiber snob (don't have to knit for that) I loved ... I went around and felt ALL of it before deciding ... Shawn earned "patient husband of the year" award and got bonus points when he restrained himself from buying me one of the sweatshirts that said "Queen of unfinished projects." (He's new to this and doesn't realize that I'm not even close the the queen on that one!) I also started in on my "cyclone scarf" w/ the most beautiful soft royal blue hand dyed wool that afternoon! (MOM, THERE IS a QUILT STORE too!)



• We ate at Auntie Em's Cafe (http://www.auntieemscoffeeshop.com/). Or, rather we had smoothies there and while I'm thinking smoothies are not Auntie's specialty, it was fun if only for it's title.



• If you followed the above links at all, you've figured out that we shopped at Grand Rapids Old Central School shops: http://www.yarnworksofmn.com/oldcentralschool.htm for some history ... fun shops, some historical displays, and a museum Shawn went to while I was still in that yarn store.



• Some day I would like to go back and bike the Mesabi trail: http://www.mesabitrail.com/ So far I know the first 100 feet or so are pretty nice!



• Grand Rapids is pretty progressive when it comes to advertising their Internet Access ... there was even a traditional green library sign that said "Wireless Internet" on it instead of library! And the same gas station I happened to use of the "cheap gas" photo shoot also had Internet access available (and drive through espresso!). I was impressed. Of course we were WAY too busy rest'n and relax'n to take advantage of the Internet access ... and if you believe that ...

Also, it appears that Nessa took care of Grandpa Bob and Grandma Jan very well while Shawn and I were in Grand Rapids. We just hope that they aren't in too much of a withdrawl after being spoiled with Nessa smiles and "I love you" signs. A BIG Thank you to both of you! :-)

3 Years of Always and Forever

The nice thing about working on our anniversary is that I can get flowers at work -- beautiful red, orange and yellow roses (so similar to our wedding flowers!) with some yellow carnations tinged with orange/red on the tip -- Thank you Shawn!

I feel just a tad sad that I won't be able to enjoy them the rest of the week. But not sad enough to not be looking forward to our trip up north and our stay at a B&B sans kids this Thursday night through Sunday morning. (With any luck I'll give you lots to read and look at while we're gone ... and maybe a few pics of the trip when we get back!) However, I do get to enjoy them for the today and tomorrow, so I will. :-)

Shawn occasionally breaks with his tradition of giving humorous cards and that was the case this morning when he already had me a little leaky with excess joy ... my goal in life should simply be to strive to be the person he sees when he looks at me.

Rather than even attempt to describe the meaning in our anniversary, I'm going to share with you all some quotes -- both humorous and serious -- on the anniversary theme -- enjoy!

A happy marriage is a long conversation that always seems too short. ~Andre Maurois

Marriages are made in heaven and consummated on earth. ~John Lyly, The Anatomy of Wit.

A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year. ~Paul Sweeney

When you meet someone who can cook and do housework - don't hesitate a minute - marry him. ~Unknown

The bonds of matrimony are like any other bonds - they mature slowly. ~Peter De Vries

Nobody has ever measured, even poets, how much a heart can hold. ~Zelda Fitzgerald

The difficulty with marriage is that we fall in love with a personality, but must live with a character. ~Peter Devries

Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

An anniversary is a time to celebrate the joys of today, the memories of yesterday, and the hopes of tomorrow. ~Author Unknown

Marriage: a book of which the first chapter is written in poetry and the remaining chapters written in prose. ~Beverly Nichols

Marriage is our last, best chance to grow up. ~Joseph Barth

True love stories never have endings. ~Richard Bach

P.S. So far I've received several Oohs and Aahs on the flowers and one "Shawn did good." :-)

The folly of 1 percent policy

Couldn't resist sharing this -- for my own reference if nothing else -- a great oped piece it today's Boston Globe:

The Folly of 1 Percent

ECI² Acquires La Crosse Management Systems

For those of you that don't know (probably many of you), La Crosse Management Systems (or LMS or simply "La Crosse") is the company I work for. LMS is a small software company in downtown La Crosse and if you want to know more about us, you can visist the website. If you know how to navigate a website well, you can even find a picture of me (before the haircut).

The important news though is that LMS is now a subsidiary of ECI2. You can read all about it:
http://news.lacrossesoftware.com/2007announcements/eci2_lms_pr_072407.html

This should be a good thing for enabling growth at the company but there is of course some pain that accompanies growth. The acquisition was actually announced while I was on vacation during the first week in July, but the companies wanted to contact all LMS customers prior to posting a press release, so it is just being posted today.

So far the only real change for me is that there is even more work to do. This isn't really a big change but just more of the same.

Like a kid with a new bike

Except, I'm not a kid any more ... not even close enough to pretend.

But I can still love riding my new bike!!! :-)

Shawn and the girls got me a new bike (a Trek hybrid Women Specific Design ... in celedon, who knew they even made bikes the same color as my brides maid dresses) a few weeks ago as a combination Mothers Day, Birthday and Anniversary present ... It was EXACTLY what I wanted ... how did they know. ;-) THANK YOU!

It's been great but I'm getting antsy to ride MORE so I'll be glad to get a trailer for Nessa soon too; otherwise when Shawn's gone (like this week!) I can't really ride at all. :-(

My plan is to ride bike to work a lot but so far it has only happened once so we'll see how that works out. Megan and I have also been riding on some nearby trails together and that has been lots of fun.

Anyone want to go for a bike ride?