Come on people! Hop on board!

Laura's 2008 Thankful List

I am thankful. . .

. . .for the profession of nursing, that I beat some serious odds to get into school, for three amazing new friends who I love and that I will never, ever have to take another class with Ed Degrauw for the rest of my life. Ever.
. . .for "baby" Henry being the bright spot in my day, constantly lowering my stress level & blood pressure and for his ability to "talk" constantly.
. . .for the Crack Team of Rejects letting me leave Nike on a high note, for being normal 7 hystericaly funny and talking to me more than all my other departments combined.
. . .for the little things in life that keep me happy: Starbucks, DVR, blinking yellow left turn arrows, coffee, hazelnut creamer, reliable alarm clocks, precious Treehouse kids, Americanos, free movies & CD's from the library, sub-5 hour marathons, fridges that seem to refill themselves with pop, Splenda, Jim Halpert, friends who get better as time marches on & free Nike swag.
. . .that Lindsay's own prophetic statement on January 1st declaing 2008 "the year of love" came true for her and for giving me an awesome future brother-in-law. Who else can I talk about anti-psychotic meds with?
. . .for an extremely fun 10-year high school reunion that surpassed all my expectations by making me feel like only days have passed since graduation.
. . .for my amazing family: a mom and dad who daily continue to up the parenting bar with love and sacrifice the world has never seen, a sister who is guaranteed to make me laugh - especially when she doesn't mean to, 4 spirited grandparents who continue to amaze me in all they do, a fun-filled weekend in the San Juans when our family officially increased by two and the new family I've found in the Smalls who have made me feel like family since day one.
. . .for Jonathan Ian Small. I'm thankful for the greatest friend in the world who got me safely up - and down - Mt. Hood and that God brought the man of my dreams into my reality.
. . .for the best year of my life!!!

What if Starbucks marketed like the church?

12:30am - 8:30am

Ahhhhhhh. So that's what 8 hours of sleep feels like.

JOY

–noun

1.	the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation

2.	a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated

3.	the expression or display of glad feeling; festive gaiety.

4.	a state of happiness or felicity.

–verb (used without object)

5.	to feel joy; be glad; rejoice.

Please use it in a sentence:
There is much joy in Laura's heart because she is on vacation for the first time in 6 months and there is much to be thankful for this year.

Joy is INSIDE you. Not in attainment of things desired, nor in the achievement of goals made, but in the simple feeling that lies within you. Know that this JOY is unaffected by outer circumstance, and joy will be yours forever.

Quote of the day

"I'm just a knucklehead who scored a chick."
- Jon Small

2 Less Fish in the Sea

"I'm about to burst with song; I can't keep quiet about you. God, my God, I can't thank you enough."

Psalm 30:12

I've got great news: I finally get health insurance next year!!!

I'm sorry, maybe you don't understand my excitement, so let me explain. Since graduating from Linfield 6 years ago, I have never had normal health insurance provided by an employer, nor have I had a paid sick day. that means I have to purchase emergency insurance every six months that has a $5 million deductible and is so limited it basically only covers me if I get hit head on by an ice cream truck on a Tuesday.

OK, maybe this needs more explanation. I am going to be getting health coverage because

I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I've been dating the love of my life (TLOML) for the past 6 months and on Sunday we got engaged. Here's how it went down. My family rented a cabin at Black Butte for a long weekend because we've gone there every year for the past 20 years or so and it's basically the greatest place on earth. . .or at least in the US. . .ok, the continental US. . .bottom line, it means a lot to me. We drove up Friday afternoon where it snowed in the pass.

Friday we climbed to the top of Black Butte and even got to climb the US Forest Service watchtower (which has a "no public access" sign which made it even cooler!) Up there we met Scotty, a forest ranger, who was shutting the tower down for the winter. It was 19 degrees outside of the tower, below 0 with the wind chill but inside it felt like 90 degrees (even though the thermometer said it was 33.)

TLOML, me, Linds, Ryan after delayering in the (literately) freezing ranger tower.

It was a long hike just to get up the tower AND there were ice chunks on the stairs.

From the summit: the meadow with Three Sisters mountains in the background.

And then Sunday morning it all went down. . .

We (TLOML and I) decided to walk through the meadow and watch the sunrise. How did I feel about this? totally awesome. He was going to score major bonus points. . .even if I woke up earlier than I have to for school and it was below freezing outside. So we walked through the meadow once & the sun wasn't up. So we walked back, fed & petted some horses.(feeding horses as it gets lighter)

Sun still wasn't up. But the partly cloudy sky was starting to turn from pink to orange to yellow. I'm now absolutely freezing but still highly enjoying myself as we just stand and hug and sway. (Girls: think of the end of Pride & Prejudice and you will get an exact replica of the scene!)

And ACTION!

Jon: so you had a pretty good weekend, huh?
Laura: yeah I did!
Jon: what did you like about it?
Laura: well, I'm pumped we rode our bikes, climbed Black Butte, danced in the moonlight by the lake last night (awesome!) and now we're watching the sunrise in the meadow.
Jon: well, you're going to be even more pumped because your boyfriend is going to ask you to marry him.

CUT!

It's at this point that I enter the Twilight Zone and basically freaking out. I could apply nursing school to this situation and diagnose myself with the following: Patient is at risk for humiliation related to marriage proposal, as evidenced by screaming, crying, jumping & incoherent speech. Yes, he got down on one knee to ask. Yes, I said yes. And after several minutes of saying "ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh" and continuous screaming, crying & jumping, Jon was able to hold my hand still for 2 seconds so I could have a ring on my finger.

Stay tuned for an event in early August!

The future Mrs. & Mr. Small. (Be careful what you wish for. .many times I have wished for a simpler last name and now I have it!)


Does Jon know what he's gotten himself into???

$0.65

That's how much is in my checking account as of this very moment.

Kinda depressing. . .guess I shouldn't have bought that $2 old fashioned, super cute but non-working alarm clock yesterday. I could be rich!

Tuesday Night Lights

Last week I went to a very intense, highly attended football game where the 2 team colors were green and orange. No, it was not the Civil War (I wish!) but it was a battle of the Podunks. (I really do mean that in a nice way. I love little towns)

Last Tuesday, I had the privilege of attending my very first junior high football game. I'm sure these existed when I was in junior high. . .oops, middle school. . .but frankly, I didn't really care. Plus there's the hassle of not having a car, or a license and cell phones didn't even exist back in that day to call mom and have her pick you up.

I arrived just as halftime started which allowed me to carefully pick my seat in the stadium without missing any of the action. Here's what you look for in a good seat: no junior highers around you. That was my only criteria. I nabbed a bleacher in the row 2nd from the top, which made for excellent people watching.

Here are some of my observations from a small town football game:
*The "cheerleaders" (these would be the girl friends and girlfriends of players) were bigger than the players
*I am trying my best not to pass out from the extreme use of cologne by the junior highers running in front of and next to me.
*Some players have yet to discover the correct running form. It is very popular to run with your arms down at your side. Do they know something I don't? Will this get me farther than the traditional elbows bent at 90 degrees?
*One kid was "shocked" to learn 2 of his friends were "going out" and what was even more shocking was this had been going on "for a whole week!"
*Let's talk about the # of subs on each team. I counted 7 for the home team (who I was cheering for) and "The Poose" (don't even go there - it's short for Scapoose) had at least double. I couldn't get an accurate count though because there was a ton of them.
*Here's an interesting technique that I need to discuss with one of the coaches and whether they work on this in practice or not: if the guy with the ball is bigger than you, and there's no way you are ever going to bring him down by tackle alone, than just grab on to his foot and don't let go. He may drag you for a while, but not for very long.
*Oh, one of the Poose Players snapped his wrist and the ambulance had to come onto the field, so that was pretty sweet to watch.

Ahhhhh. . . .

I just spent the last hour sitting on my deck, under the stars, listening to someone I like a whole bunch play the guitar & sing. Just cause. Not because I desperately needed to de-stress. Not because he had to impress. Not because it's a ritual. Just cause.

I'm pretty sure this one's making the cut of my life's greatest hits.

And all was right with the world. . . .