~By Aimee~

Hey! I found this cool place that I can write stuff online and my friends can read it...it is called a blog...I think I remember it from the distant past...
Ok, no need to say "I told you so." Wait...Hello? Anyone there? Yeah, it has been a while--sorry to all of those who lost interest and/or thought I didn't care. Fact is, folks, not much goes on here that I feel is worth sharing with the rest of the world. However, I do want to give a bow to all of the recent events...Nate and I are in that stage of life where many of our friends and siblings are either 1: getting married, or 2: having babies. So, to the weddings:







My brother is a married man! Girls, I am sorry, but it is true. Cameron joined the love of his life, Joanna, in marriage on December 3rd, 2005. That means they are just days past 7 months! Wow, I remember when... :o)








Next came the wedding of my best friend and "sister" Joanna, to Stephen. It was a fun time as Nate and I got to go to Maine for ten days and visit with friends and family. Speaking of weddings, it was fun to hang out with my cousin Zechariah and his wife Jennifer, who were married just about a month after Nate and I, and my other cousin Wesley and his wife Jessie, who were married last August (yes, it was a busy year for the grandparents!!)

Another reason for inconsistent blogging....it took me the better part of the morning to create and format this post...

~By Aimee~

Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise Him in the heights!

Praise Him all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts!

Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you shining stars!

Praise Him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!

Let them praise the name of the Lord!

~Psalm 148:1-5a~

Alyssa has a project to make a banner illustrating these verses for AWANA, and I love it! It speaks of and to my life right now. Today the sun is shining, the wind is blowing leaves skittering past my open patio door, and my life is filled with blessings. Tomorrow...I may have to search for another Psalm, but I will still know the LORD is good!
Nate is away for work, driving to Mississippi, and I am at home managing my "online garage sale" selling off some of my unused (and much too large) wardrobe on eBay, as well as watching two young lives.
Next week is Missions Conference at church, and we get several opportunities to gather for teaching from God's Word as well as testimonies of His work and faithfulness in other places! D. A. Carson will be the keynote speaker, so I am really looking forward to being blessed and challenged! Be sure to check our church website!

Hodu l'Adonai ki tov, Ki le'olam chasdo! (Tehillim (Psalm) 136:1, our favorite song in Israel!)

...phi, chi, psi, omega!

~Posted by Aimee~

Yay! Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon...I can say (and write) the Greek alphabet! Last night was our first class with Dr. Zemek at church in "Baby Greek." Nate wants me to take the class to keep him accountable, and in the process, I think I might even learn something. Nate has already taken a year of Greek at college, but felt he needed a refresher before taking one of the more advanced classes. As long as he doesn't think I am taking those classes with him as well...;).
I am trying to avoid the temptation to treat this blog as an online diary--not much changes day-to-day here so mostly what I think about writing is internal. But if anything exciting or interesting happes, I will be sure to post it for our many admiring fans (that is you if you are reading this!) :-D.

armadillos, county courthouses, and a great lunch

Hey! This is Nate! The "N" part of the Chronicles. I figured the best way to introduce myself to the rest of the world (which, I'm certain, is very interested in knowing me), would be to talk a little bit about my current life in Arkansas. Three main strands inhabit my day to day activities. That would be Armadillos, County Courthouses, and the everlasting search for a great place to eat lunch. I am convinced that I have found the greatest job in the world. I work for a company that invests in property throughout most of the United States. When they are interested in purchasing vacant property in the area (like, all over Arkansas, and sometimes Mississippi), my job is to perform due dilligence by obtaining a plat map, talking to locals about the land, taking pictures of the land, and telling them more than they ever wanted to know about Arkansas (which, by the way, is the single greatest state in the union). My average assignment puts about 300 miles on my car, shows me 12 armadillos, and provides me with a sometimes great lunch; the best of which, so far, has been at the Fajita Hill Diner in Camden, Arkansas. I was fortunate enough to snap a quick photo of this armadillo just before it attacked me. At least, I thought it was attacking me. You see, armadillos don't run. They leap. I should have had my camera on video. The varmint (I know, and Armlydo is technically not a varmint) turned and started taking two and a half foot leaps straight toward me (the photo is from about 15 feet away zoomed in and cropped down). For a moment, I had images of a little armadillo gnawing into the shin of my levis, I mean, what would an armadillo attack really do to me? It turns out, the armadillo actually was running towards me because its home was in front of me. It dived under a rock about six feet in front of me and I never saw it again. I felt bad for scaring it. It should feel bad for scaring me. Or is that my fault? Anyway, if you know of a great place to eat lunch in Rural Arkansas, It'd be great to start compiling a list. Leave a comment and let me know where to eat!!!

a little update

It's snowing!! Pretty little white flakes...probably won't amount to anything...the 7-year-old I babysit is loving it!

That's what I get for bragging about the weather! And they say the same thing down here as in New England..."Don't like the weather? Just wait a while...it will change."

...didn't know I was living in the jungle...

Ah...Arknasas....This is for you Maine folk...It has been consistently 65 to 72 degrees out almost every day so far this "winter." And I am lovin' it! It is better than California, however...about as better as a lush tropical oasis is to the desert. Check out the bamboo growing within feet of my apartment! Lovely!

costume party green!

Since there is still some catching up to do, I am backing up a few months...(by the way, on the 28th of this month, I will have been married for 8 months! crazy! At church we are still "the newlyweds.") Our Bible study had a costume party around the end of October...this costume was my brainchild. Fun, but messy. And eating finger food with green fingers is not too fun! Can you guess who?

And don't forget to check out the link to my church's site, if you are one of the Maine folk! There is an excellent sermon by Dr. Bruce Ware of Southern Theological Seminary (he visited our church on Sunday) that you can download in Mp3 format there, as well as other excellent sermons by Lance Quinn, our pastor-teacher.

and I just realized

When we buy a house I can just post pictures of it on this site. A lot faster than emailing them...

sad tree story...

So...we were so excited (at least I was!) about our "first Christmas" that as soon as we got back from California, I made Nate rush out and buy a Christmas tree. Trying to save money, we bought it at Walmart. This was not a good idea. 20 days later we were taking down the tree, amid a shower of needles (which it had been shedding in abundance with the slightest touch for a week and a half). The sad part about taking down the tree?--It was Christmas Eve!!

Literally, there was a pile of needles so deep under the tree that we were scooping them up with the dustpan and throwing them away. Some of the presents were buried!

how fond I am of my wedding pictures

...just before "Announcing Mr. and Mrs."...I love my Maid of Honor!