Sarah Palin

My new favorite politician is Sarah Palin! I finally feel like I have something to vote for in November. She's a mother of five who joined the city council, became mayor, governor and now vice presidential nominee. She's fought government corruption and wasteful spending. One of the first things she did when she became governor was to sell the governor's private jet on eBay. I love it! It's one thing to say you want to stop wasteful spending and another to cut your own conveniences first. I was very impressed with her speech yesterday. I'm so encouraged to see a woman in politics who can be tough, competent and not mean or rude. Go Sarah!

In Denver

I'm in Denver this week...no, not to see the Democratic National Convention. I am here for work. I can't complain...I can see the mountains from my hotel room. The picture above was taken from the window. And I have a jacuzzi tub in the room. I'm pretty sure all the other rooms were already reserved because of the convention, so they had to give me a jacuzzi suite. I guess I'll take it.

Ephraim's First Birthday

I went to my godson's 1st birthday party today. He is such a cutie! I was there for his birth, and I can't believe it has been a year already! His mom tortured him by putting a bow on his head...he didn't seem to mind. He was enjoying playing with his new cars which he had just received.

He was introduced to ice cream for the first time today, and he loved it. What can I say, he's a smart kid!

Reaching Souls International

We went last night to the annual banquest of Reaching Souls International (formerly Jimmy Hodges Ministries International), which is a ministry that we have been involved with for a long time. (They are the one's that I was able to go to Zimbawe with when I was in college.) They do a lot of neat things, and you can check them out at http://www.reachingsoulsinternational.com/.

Every year it is a powerful reminder of how blessed we are here in America and how much we take for granted. One of the things that they do is support African pastors, so that they can work full-time in the ministry. The pastors are paid $60 a month...this supports they and their family. It is going up to $65 a month in 2009 due to inflation around the world. They had one of the supported pastors from Rwanda speak last night, and he said how wonderful it was to have that support from Reaching Souls, because most churches there did not have that kind of money to support a pastor and it is hard to do God's work when you and your family are starving. Wow! Really puts some things in perspective. $60 a month!

A new skyscraper in OKC

For those of you who don't know, Devon unveiled plans for a new skyscraper in Downtown OKC today. It's going to be the 21st tallest building in the US. Wow! 925 feet tall - 54 floors. This makes me particularly happy, because when Brent and I moved to Oklahoma, there were two things that he said Oklahoma City needed: 1) A professional sports team and 2) A new skyscraper. At the time, I told him that those things would probably never happen. Now with the (no-longer named) Sonics coming this year and Devon building this tower, I guess Brent got his wishes.

Watonga Cheese

Good news! If you were distressed like I was to learn that the Watonga Cheese Factory closed, don't despair. I've been told that they are going to rebuild by the fairgrounds. Also, the Watonga Cheese Festival in October will still take place. We, cheese-lovers, can all breath a sigh of relief. :)

I love my job!

I love my job, and I know that makes me really blessed. I know this because I spent most of my adult life hating my job. I even thought that surely no one really liked their job...that's why they pay you to do it, right? Because it is so horrible.

But I'm now one of the lucky ones that loves their job. It always presents a new challenge. If I'm starting to get bored with one project, I can guarantee it won't be long until I'm on to the next project. I'm always working with different people which keeps things interesting....and I really like a lot of the people that I have worked with. I've gotten the oppurtunity to train others, which can sometimes be a headache, but I've always enjoyed teaching and this is the perfect oppurtunity to get some of that enjoyment without some of the typical problems that go with teaching. I owe a lot to my dad who got me into this business. Thanks, dad!

Here are some pictures that I have taken at courthouses that I have worked at. I'm trying to get a collection of black and white's of as many courthouses that I can, but only on days that I actually worked there.

Blaine County (Watonga) - a great place to work, except that apparently the cheese factory there has been close :(

Canadian County (El Reno) - great place to work - ugly, ugly courthouse

Grady County (Chickasha) - another great place to work, communtable, and Napoli's, Jake's and A&E Grill (landmen measure a courthouse by the places to eat in town)

Olympics

I love the Olympics! I've been glued to the screen since the Opening Ceremony, which by the way, was the best Opening Ceremony ever.

My latest thing is to ask people what is the first Olympics that they remember. For me, it's Mary Lou! What 7-year-old didn't want to be Mary Lou when they saw her. I feel old when the guys I work with say that the first Olympics they remember is Kerri Strug, but that was a pretty cool Olympics, too. I've been very fascinated, though, when I ask the question about the first Olympics that people remember, they rarely answer with a city or a year, but almost always with an athlete. Interesting.

One of my favorite athletes of this Olympics is Peter Vandenhoogenband. He's actually only in one race this time, but this is his third Olympics. He's Dutch and a very good swimmer, but I really love him just for his name. The first Olympics he was in, I was so proud when I figured out how to pronouce his name, so I try to incorporate into Olympic conversation whenever possible.

Well, I'm off to watch more!

Our Land (soon to be)

We are scheduled to close on our lot and construction loan next Friday, and we can't wait! We are so excited to start building. We love our house design, and we love the lot. You can see it in this pic. It's to the right of the road, and it goes down all the way to the creek (you can barely see the barriers on both sides of the road for the creek. It's 2.8 acres, wooded and in a really neat little neighborhood.


We love the trees, and here I am standing by one of the really big ones down by the creek. It's gigantic!!! We won't have to take out any of the big trees, and actually should be able to keep most of our smaller ones, too, because there is already a nice clearing where the house is going to go.

We also have dewberries, which makes me very happy!

This is a picture of the common area which is right across from us. It's a 14-acre common area which goes way back from hear, and it lined with gorgeous trees. Can't wait to move!

London

Brent and I got back from our London last Saturday...we want to go back! We went to celebrate our 9th Anniversary. Yipee! That's a long time...but it's been a really great time! Here are some of the highlights:

We went to Westminster Abbey, which was really amazing! I can't believe all the history in one building...coronations and funerals of kings and queens, and the number of people buried there is amazing...all of the first kings and queens of England, poets, scientists, it's amazing!

Our favorite part of the trip was a two-day road trip that we took through the countryside of England and Scotland. Among other things, we saw Stonehenge on the road trip. It's amazing to think that when the really old stuff was built in London around 1,066AD, Stonehenge was already ancient. How cool!

We stopped along the roadside at a little Inn called the Lane End Inn and ate a late lunch. It was so quaint...just like something out of a movie! Brent had the Steak Pie and I had the Fish and Chips. It was probably the most authentic British food that we ate on our trip, and it was really good!!!

We drove along the coast of the North Sea, and it was gorgeous! We've decided that when we retire, we need to get a cottage on the North Sea and stay there a month. It's so beautiful!

We saw the Tower of London, including the crown jewels. They have a diamond in there that is 530 karats. When you look at it, you don't believe that it is real...diamonds aren't that big!

We saw the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum. It's cool to see something that you've learned about in school your whole life. We also parts of the Parthenon there along with lots of Egyption antiquities.

Well, these were just a few of the highlights. Can't believe how much we packed into one week. We also saw Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard there, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, the Imperial War Museum, Hadrian's Wall, George's Square in Glasgow, Scotland, took a double-decker bus tour, rode the London Eye and saw two shows on the West Side - Spamalot and Grease. Whew!!! Well, you can see why we enjoyed ourselves so much.

Starting a Blog

Decided I should start a blog. Seems like the thing to do. I'm hoping I can keep it up to date, but we'll see.