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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Ice Ice Baby


From the icing we had last Tuesday, January 18, 2011.

So pretty and yet...



This is the reason we are currently down to one car. :\ Oh well, at least it's repairable.

Stay safe out there, friends! :) Especially with more snow and winter weather in the forecast!

Soli Deo Gloria,
Meghan

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

On the Corner of 91st and Thoughts

Somewhere along the line, I heard it was tradition for a blogger in their 100th blog post to list 100 things about himself/herself. I don't know where I got the idea, but I think I'm going to "blame" it on my friend, H. ;) It seems like an idea she and I would have discussed. This is my 91st so I'm almost there! :) Hard to believe I've had this blog for that long. I was looking back over it the other day though and realized that I've never had a year where I published a post at least one in every month (though last year came close). This has now become my New Year's resolution.

In other news, I've been thinking about changing something about the blog and I'd love to get your thoughts, friends. Currently, in addition to posting on my blog, Facebook imports my new blogs and posts them as notes. However, it's usually about 6-8 hours after I've posted the original blog post at Koinonia and can be as much as 12 hours later that Facebook actually imports it. I've had other technical difficulties with their importer as well. Therefore, I've been contemplating removing the connection between my blog and Facebook. Any opinions?

Should I keep my blog linked to Facebook or post only on Blogger?
Keep it on Facebook!
Blogs belong on Blogger!
I'll read it either way.
I don't read it.
You have a blog?



Thanks all for chiming in! :) Would love to hear your thoughts.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Meghan

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Snow Fun!


For all my friends who were not thrilled about the recent snow :)
(Click on image for larger version)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Soli Deo Gloria,
Meghan

Monday, January 10, 2011

Water, Water Everywhere, or My First Call to 9-1-1

Welcome back, friends! I hope you all had a blessed and joyful Christmas and New Year's! :) We had a lovely time visiting family and friends but I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine, catching up on my blogging and continuing to settle into the apartment. There's still boxes everywhere!

So speaking of the apartment...back on Wednesday, December 15th, we had quite the eventful afternoon. I was just logging off at work when I heard what sounded like rain outside our sliding door so I look and there's water pouring down onto the patio! As this occurs to me, the fire alarm for the building starts going off and one thing hits my mind...there's a fire and the water must be from the sprinklers upstairs. So I throw on some shoes, grab my phone, purse and camera, then run outside. As I came around the side of the building, this is what I saw (click on image to enlarge):
Water, water everywhere...
Water was pouring down onto our patio from the third floor, but the water appeared to be coming out from under the eaves. Still not knowing what was going on and being one of the few adults around, I sent one of the kids from the building (they'd just gotten home from school) up to the front office to let them know what was going on and I called 911. Let me just say I hope I never have to do that again! It was so stressful not knowing what was going on but knowing all the same that something was wrong.

So a few minutes later, the front office personnel had called maintenance and the fire trucks arrived...

God bless Montgomery County's finest! They showed up and got right to work, coordinating with the maintenance staff to shut off the water main and diagnose a burst fire sprinkler pipe. This was one of the coldest weeks of the winter and the pipes just gave out. The water that had spilled onto our patio was actually forming icicles it was so cold out! Thankfully, everything was put in order fairly smoothly and efficiently, with the water turned off to the building while they fixed the pipe. Maintenance and the firemen came and looked at our apartment, helped me put buckets under the few small leaks we had and turned off power to part of the apartment until everything was fixed.

One can only hold up for so long and be stoic under such circumstances and I hit my limit the minute they walked out the door. As I called my husband at work to inform him of the situation, I sank to the floor since my knees seemed to not want to work for a few minutes. Another lesson learned in this married life: never lead with the fact that you had to call 911. Apparently I almost gave Dan a heart attack when I started our conversation with that fact. He calmed down a little after I explained that it was simply a busted water pipe and that I was okay. :) Water and electricity were both restored later that evening.

The following Monday, December 20th, maintenance came to repair the water damage in our living room and guest bedroom and then Tuesday (the day we left for Michigan) they came again to clean the carpets. Thankfully, the pipe burst above the third floor and we're on the first so the damage was fairly minimal. My CD collection got the worst of it so we're very thankful that the situation wasn't any worse.

The whole thing was quite the adrenaline rush then crash. But God provided for us in more ways than one. As I dried things off and cleaned up in the guest bedroom, I was afforded the opportunity to photograph some beautiful cardinals as they foraged for food behind our apartment building. Such a quiet peaceful moment I never would have known if it weren't for the chaos that preceded it.

Soli Deo Gloria!
Meghan

P.S. My husband likes to call me the paparazzi because I take so many photos and jokes about taking away my "paparazzi card" when I forget my camera. When he found out I grabbed it on my way out of the apartment, he said that I had earned a second paparazzi card. :) Couldn't miss documenting it! Besides, there were honeymoon photos on the camera! No way was I leaving it in the apartment!

Friday, January 7, 2011

BookSneeze.com DVD Review: The Least Among You

Disclaimer: I'm a book review blogger with Booksneeze, an affiliate of Thomas Nelson. This DVD was a complimentary gift in exchange for an honest review. If you'd like to get free books in exchange for an honest review on your blog and a major retailer, check out www.booksneeze.com.

*****

So I know when I picked out this DVD I said my goal was to have it watched and reviewed within about two weeks time...and here we are...a couple months later...again. :) So much for taking less time than my other reviews. One of the main reasons I chose this DVD was the fact that Lauren Holly, formerly of NCIS (Director Shepherd), was in it. But let me start at the beginning...

"The Least Among You" is inspired by a true story and depicts the life of Richard Kelly, a young black man who wants to make a difference in 1960s Philadelphia but has to change course when he's arrested in the Watts riots and accused of assaulting a police officer. A plea deal allows him to serve 2 semesters probation at the local theological seminary/college. The seminary president is thrilled, welcoming their first black student and pinning high expectations on Richard. Others are more skeptical. Richard finds a mentor in the college's handyman/gardener, Samuel, who helps him during his trials.

I really enjoyed watching "The Least Among You" and plan on watching it again with my husband so he can see it too. Occasionally it was a little hard to follow some of the jumps between scenes but overall a superb movie with excellent casting. Lauren Holly is great as a jaded former missionary now teaching at the seminary and Louis Gossett, Jr. beams on screen as the friendly, helpful gardener who takes Richard under his wing.

I don't want to spoil the ending but let me just say that after an hour and a half wondering what was going to happen...it was very satisfying. I plan on watching the bonus feature on the DVD "Rev. Dr. Charles Marks - The Real Richard Kelly" which tells the story of the man that inspired the movie. Overall, I would recommend this movie but would caution against showing it to younger children. The movie earns its PG-13 rating with violence, language, drugs and smoking, along with what the rating box calls "thematic elements" that I admit are somewhat necessary to storyline. Overall, a great movie that I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Soli Deo Gloria,
Meghan