this too shall pass.

Performed live, mind you.

glasses.

Motion City Soundtrack was awesome tonight. My glasses got trampled on though.

We’ll have to see how this pans out. They are currently duct taped together.

fantastic.

So that last entry I posted about 3 seconds ago was pretty heavy. It happens.

My life has been pretty ok lately. I’ve been really stressed over money stuff, but it’ll work out. God’s got it.

Life is good though. Lucy now knows what the commands “upstairs” and “downstairs” mean, even though she will still tear up furniture if left along. ha.

I’ve been listening to some really sweet music lately. I’m loving these recent downloads:
Dessa – A Badly Broken Code
Vampire Weekend – Contra
Spoon – Tranference
Astronautalis – You and Yer Good Ideas
Motion City Soundtrack – My Dinosaur Life

I’ve been having trouble finding some good new music that promotes Christian values. If you notice the previous list I’m 0/5 there. ha. If you have any suggestions put them in the comments.

I’ve been researching grad schools. I’m hoping to go part time and work at my job full time. I was planning on getting my MSW, but that requires many semesters of 24 hour per week internships. That would be 59 hour work weeks for me. Plus one class. Thats a little much for me right now. I’ll have to explore some other options, I suppose. We’ll see.

I saw Fantastic Mr. Fox the other weekend. It was cussing fantastic.

orphans.

So apparently Haiti had some major disaster like a week or so ago. It’s all over the news. Its tragic. Honest. That wasn’t supposed to come across as sarcastic. It truly is awful.

One storyline associated with the earthquake is the fate of an orphanage in Port au Prince. (The news loves these little side storylines. It give us something to latch onto and pick which parts of the disaster to worry the most about.) Anywho. Apparently these two girls from Pittsburgh volunteer at this orphanage that was destroyed. I’ve seen them on the news, and they go to Jess Turnbull’s church, so they’re real. The one girl looks like she’s in high school. (this detail is not relevant.)

So these kids at this orphanage are going to be adopted. International adoptions are rough. They take years and THOUSANDS (capitalized for emphasis) of dollars. Well, these kids had homes picked out, but there were a lot of legal issues and visa stuff delaying the process, as usual. The girls and the media fought long and hard, and after a few days, the children and the girls flew up to Pittsburgh, PA. I believe there are like 52 kids, and 7 did not have final homes selected.

This where I come in. I work at an adoption agency in Pittsburgh, PA. Of course, our agency works with children in the American child welfare system, no international adoptions. Well, apparently our number was run on CNN and FOX News and was shared through Children’s Hospital and our local Children and Youth office. This week was insane. I pretty much go zero work done, because all of America wants to help these children, which is fantastic news. The news has run daily stories about these children, and all of American wants to adopt these seven kids who “do not have homes.”

They want to come down to our office and play with them. They’ll become foster parents, so they can help these children. They want to come to our office and pick a few out. She’ll take 4 or 5; she has the room. She wants a child under the age of 3, so she can “train” him. She’s from Haiti, so she shouldn’t have to go through the whole adoption process.

Ha. It was a fun week. Some of the questions and comments were hilarious. I suppose, I shouldn’t be surprised or put off by these people, because most are completely ignorant of adoption process and they just want to help.

Just to let you all know, the children are fine. The process is being expedited for the children who have homes picked out, and the 7 children, have so many permanent resources available, they will be adopted very soon.

I guess the part that’s the roughest is that most of these people who called only want to adopt these children from Haiti. That’s tragic. Honest. I’m by no means belittling these children’s experiences. They are going to need therapy for many years, and PTSD will be rampant. That’s a rough future. But the fact is, there are so many children in everyone’s county who do not have homes Sure, here in America, they are not called “Orphans.” We call them “Foster Children.” Let’s be honest. It’s all legalities. Their connotations are very similar. Neither has a permanent home. Neither has a proper parent, someone to teach them to drive or see them at their graduations. Thats tragic. I hope that these families can turn their head a little more past Haiti and see the children here. These children are all over the world, but Haiti is on the news now. I pray that these families can try to find children elsewhere they can help, because these 7 children will be fine.

lucy.

Meet Lucy.

review.

“So this is the new year. I don’t feel any different.”

It’s not a bad thing. 2009 was pretty good to me, and 2010 doesn’t look to be any different. A little more stability, regularity, and predictability probably. You can take that as good or bad. Here’s a review of what happened in 2009 in chronological order.

I had a sweet internship at Three Rivers Adoption Council.

I lived at home for the spring semester, missing many things at Penn State.

I graduated from Penn State. Neat.

We started attending the Mennonite Church.

I got hired on as a contracted worker at TRAC.

I spent the summer trying to find a job.

Candace moved into our house.

We got married.

We went to Toronto.

I moved into the house.

We got Tucker.

I applied to and interviewed for many jobs with no avail.

I got a full time job at TRAC without applying/interviewing.

Tucker died.

We got Sully.

I had a neat birthday party with friends.

Thanksmas was a success.

Christmas was nice.

We got Lucy.

christian metal.

Christian metal bands have funny names. My personal favorite: Kryst the Conquerer.

Check out my other blog for my favorite songs of the year. There’s some really good stuff over there. You Love To Sing.

friends.

Candace and I are currently working our way through Friends on DVD. What a great show. It’s super simple and relatable (not to mention well-written) – which why it is so fantastic.

The One Where Ross Got High may be my favorite episode.

money.

Update from last entry. I got an haircut, and I paid for it.

Moving on.

So Candace and I figured out out budget for next month, and somehow we have money left over. Now this isn’t like we’re expecting to have money left over – it’s already in the account.

I’m not sure how this works, because every month our expenses on paper drain if not exceed our paychecks. We haven’t been short yet. God is good.

To celebrate my newfound financial stability, I ordered a pizza.

hair.

My hair is getting to that point where I’m getting a bit attached to it. It’s just too long to be manageably curly, but it’s fun to play with. You know those people that have really aweful hair, but they keep it because they’re way to attached to it? That can’t be me. gosh. I also can’t bring myself to pay for haircut. Maybe I’ll buzz it.

yeah right.

 

In other news, this past month has been wonderful for new music.
Checked out:
Say Anything – Say Anything
Relient K – Forget, and Not Slow Down
Sherwood – QU
We Shot the Moon – A Silver Lining
The Swell Season – Strict Joy
Freelance Whales – Weathervanes
Paramore – brand new eyes
Weezer – Raditude
This Is My Suitcase – The Keys to Cat Heaven
Cartel – Cycles

All come recommended by me. especially Freelance Whales and Sherwood.