Emotionally Overloaded!

This is a short post to just let the world know that I am completely emotionally overwhelmed! We found out this week that my grandfather is extremely sick and only has a few days left to live. After crying in front of dozens (if not hundreds) of strangers today at lunch, I decided I needed to go out to California to visit him one last time to say good-bye. If there's anything I learned in my HDFS studies at CSU, it's that closure is extremely important and unresolved issues don't easily go away.
So I booked my ticket and am flying out bright and early tomorrow and will get back Sunday morning to have some sort of modified Easter brunch with my hubby, dad, and possibly my sis.
So if you're the praying type, keep me in your prayers as I go deal with things that I don't like to emotionally deal with and say good-bye to my grandfather.

P.S. Ali, if San Diego were any closer I'd come visit... unfortunately it'll have to wait till November :-(

By The Way, I Might End Up On the Other Side of the World Someday...

So the second thing--
An idea I've been tossing around in my head, and really feeling a conviction for, is to possibly end up going to Southeast Asia and helping AIDS orphans there... WHAT??!?! Me? I know! I don't consider it a "missions trip" in the traditional sense, because my purpose is not to "bring Jesus" but to bring his love through my actions... make sense? This wouldn't happen any time soon, seeing as we don't have anywhere near enough money to even start thinking about, and also, it's a joint decision and so I wouldn't feel comfortable about going anywhere without Michael feeling it too. And to explain a little more, I'm not thinking this would be a week or two trip-- I'm thinking months or years... so that's why, for now, it's an idea and a thought that I'll keep researching and considering and praying about, but now is not the time to act.
I've acted quickly before, and I didn't sit down to consider what I was wanting to do and why. But in this instance, I've been thinking about it every so often since 2 summers ago when I took a class and did a project on a home for AIDS orphans in Cambodia. Ever since then, I have had a heart for those children and have wanted to do something about it. And now I've spoken it out loud (I informed Michael of my thoughts on Sunday while we were folding laundry...), it feels a bit more real and like it might maybe happen some day.
So if you are type of person who prays, pray for me as I toss this around and really investigate and see if God really wants me there. I've never thought I was one for overseas missions, but who knows... God might have other plans for me/us! But let's take that one small step at a time, m'kay?

Who Eats Horse, Honestly?

I found this post through epicurious.com's blog. If you're interested in food at all, it's fun to do! (I can't do strike-through so italics is how I will indicate "I would never eat")
I tend to be a pretty open eater, willing to try anything once, but some things just push my limits... and if I happen to be offered whole insects, I just might eat it just to say I did... Oh, and I had to look up a lot of them, so don't feel shy about looking it up on google or in wikipedia!
And I tag anyone who wants to participate. I only got 29... I guess I'm not as much of a foodie as I thought...

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart-- I was young, I would NEVER do that now!
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes -- Michael and I were actually just talking about making peach wine... except it is really complicated to make!
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese -- have you seen what this looks like?? And just the name alone...
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O -- as another poster said, how can you go through college without trying this at least once?
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat -- This one's a maybe... I like curry but I'm not sure how I feel about goat...
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more-- if someone offered it to me, I'd never spend my own money on it!
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut -- it was even fresh and hot!
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal-- again, when I was younger...
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini -- a sip, cuz I don't like gin
58. Beer above 8% ABV-- also a sip because I'm not a huge fan of beer
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores -- more than I can count!
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin -- the only thing I could find is that this is clay used in paper and plastics... am I missing something?
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe (isn't that illegal?)
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill -- that just makes me want to vomit thinking about it
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini -- well, I hadn't before, but with all these peaches, I guess I'll just have to make this!
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict -- smoked salmon eggs benedict--- DELICIOUS!
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse -- who eats horses, really?
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam -- never tried it, but did carry it around in an obstacle course...
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta -- definitely not one of my favorites...
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake-- YUCK! I can't even stand looking at them, let alone eating them!

Well, that's all folks! How many have you eaten?

The Five Country Plan

I've never mentioned on here my views and hopes for children, so I thought I'd enlighten you (and be able to process this whole thing a little bit). Michael and I have been married for 5 months and we are nowhere near wanting to have children. We do joke around that when his sister, April, has her baby (it could be any day now...), Izzy (the baby--her name is going to be Elizabeth) will be our guinea-pig in dealing with a child. I've done nannying but it is nowhere near the same thing as having your own, and I have a feeling that Izzy will be the same way. We wont have to get up with her every 3 hours, and can give her back to April when she's fussy. But we'll see... because currently, the thought of having a child makes my heart race-- a sure sign I'm not emotionally ready to have a child.
On a recent blog post I read, it introduced me to the idea of leading a quiverful lifestyle in regards to childbearing. I'd never heard of it, having been raised in a pretty relaxed and non-traditional household. People who adhere to the quiverful ideas say that any sort of prevention of having a child (including abstaining from sex during ovulation [aka natural family planning]) is a sin; that God creates life and we should not stand in the way of God's life-giving powers... if you know me at all, you can safely guess that I don't think that is legit.
But I must admit, it did get me thinking. The blog I read linked to another blog that started the whole discussion. The idea that I took out of it was the idea that married couples don't tend to consult God in their reproductive decisions. Michael and I had never discussed what we thought God thought about us having children. So from that blog, Michael and I got into a pretty interesting discussion about what we thought God would want from us, if using contraception really was a sin (we don't think it is), and, like the original author of the blog was discussing, we had a discussion surrounding the idea of God and contraception.
But even though we don't think that we are sinning or preventing God from creating life (which he could do even with using birth control), we know that we are not anywhere near ready to have responsibility for a child's life. We barely make enough money as it is, and we're only in our early 20s for crying out loud! We could wait 10 years and still have plenty of time to have more than one kid!
Another aspect to our decision is that we want to experience life first. We want to travel, we want to live a life that is not dictated or restrained by having a child. Yes, I understand that children are a blessing, but where we are in life right now, we don't see it that way. If we ended up getting pregnant, we would embrace it and love that child more than we could imagine, but if we can prevent it and lead our life sans children for a while, we would like to do that.
But the question arises: is that selfish? Is that too self-centered? Is it okay to be all about us? What if we're not meant to even have children? (Even my sister pointed out "you don't even like kids"... I'm sure it'd be different if they were mine, but what if that's true? What if I wouldn't like my future children?) Is it socially (especially in the church) acceptable to choose to not have children?
We've decided on a 5-country plan for deciding when to have kids: we want to travel to 5 different countries before we have any kids (we know that is completely unrealistic, so it's actually "after Michael is done with school [in 2 years] we'll reassess the situation" plan)... but we can dream!
How do people decide when to have kids? When it's an unplanned thing, you obviously have no choice, but if you get married, how have other people made that decision? Do you just get the "baby bug" and that's when you start trying? There are just so many questions surrounding this seemingly small subject... I'll be wrestling with this one for a while.
Oh, and if we're lucky to make it to one country, we'll be happy :-)