My childhood dreams come true

I saw this today and I think my heart may have jumped out of my chest for just a second. I mean who wouldn't leap for a chance to buy the 'Full House' house (and no this is not sarcasm)? I watched that show religiously while growing up and yes I admit I may watch a few reruns every now and then on ABC Family during my lunch break.

Seriously though where else would I have learned such wholesome family values and enriched my vocabulary with phrases like "How rude" or "You got it dude." So about that house, is anybody looking to give away $4.1 million sometime in the near future?

In case you were wondering I'm not a gamer

I'm not a gamer. In fact before I got married it was like pulling teeth to get me to even play a board game. Nic however is a gamer; first it was Sporcle, then Settlers , and now Spider Solitaire. It's not uncommon for him to play at least one game a day (if not more) on his computer. It's sort of his way of decompressing when things get stressful or just needs a break. Me, I'm a TV watcher. My current lineup includes Chuck, Greek, NCIS-LA, and Modern Family. I can't imagine coming home after a long day to use my brainpower to solve a puzzle, in fact the thought alone detests me.

But today is the start of my wonderful, amazing husband's birth month. And as a birth month present I will try my hardest this month to be a gamer (at least for the next 10 days). I will play a board game when our friends ask us if we want to, I'll allow him to keep score when we play Scrabble (despite the fact I lose horribly whenever we play), and maybe just maybe I'll even help him with the answers to Sporcle because I love him that much! So this post is dedicated to my wonderful hubby.

I'm reminded every day of how grateful I am for him!

Distance Education

Recently, I did a phone interview with a guy from a publication run by Duke's divinity school about the distance education that the Gordon-Conwell campus in Charlotte does. My Hebrew professor (Dr. Harlow) is working on a grant to improve distance education and recommended me as a good example of somebody who is affected by GCTS's distance education process. I've never really done an interview before, so it's a little weird to see somebody writing about me. Check out the article here:

http://www.faithandleadership.duke.edu/features/articles/online-and-campus

Hosanna

"Break my heart for what breaks Yours"- it's playing on my computer as I'm typing this blog right now. I've had this line from the song Hosanna stuck in my head for some time now and despite the fact that I've heard this particular song more times than I can count on my fingers and toes, I'm never not moved by these particular lyrics.

My prayer for the past few days has been that God would help me to see others the way he does, even "the others" who tend to frustrate the snot out of me sometimes. After reading Matthew 5:46-48, where Jesus says if you just love the people who love you, what makes you any different than the tax collectors or the pagans, I was inspired to start praying for my "enemies." Now just to be perfectly clear here, I don't really believe I have any "enemies" in the sense of people who have made it their life's goal to get me. But I do have people I come into contact with in my life that sometimes frustrate me (I'm not naive here either, I'm sure I frustrate them at times too). Anyways instead of whining and complaining to God about how innocent little me has been wronged, I've recently felt God calling me to pray for these people. Now I can't say I'm at a point where my heart is completely softened and all my prayers are pure and righteous but hey everybody has to start somewhere right?

So for now I'm asking God to break my heart for his children and awaken me to my own stupid selfishness. And the next time I start to feel myself getting annoyed at the insurance woman on the other side of the phone, I pray that I'll have a heart more like Him for her. I'll never know about the fight she had with her husband last night or the cancer diagnosis she got last week but He does and it's my job to be His light in this world.

Passion 2010

April and I are getting ready to load up a bunch of college students in two big vans and head down to Atlanta for the 2010 Passion conference. Passion is a movement of college students that seeks God's renown and glory on college campuses across the world. Our group of 30 will be gathered with somewhere around 20,000 other college students and volunteers for 4 days of worship, prayer, teaching, and fun in downtown Atlanta. Some of our favorite teachers and musicians will be there, including John Piper, Beth Moore, and Francis Chan.

April and I have been to Passion events before, both as students and leaders. In November, April helped to plan a Passion event here on the VT campus that was leading up to this big event. It got a lot of our students excited about being a part of this global movement and about seeing what God is doing on their campus. Now that all of the details have come together, we are excited to see what God will teach us and the students we are taking down there tomorrow!

Check out Passion 2010's website for a look at what we'll be doing.

Christmas Eve at the Uebels

Today has been a joyful and refreshing day before Christmas here at the Uebel house. Outside of preparing the meal that's on the stove (a Christmas Eve tradition here: standing rib roast, Yorkshire pudding, and mashed potatoes), we haven't done any work, but have instead rested and enjoyed being together. We started the day by taking the dogs for a walk at a local park, then got showered and met some friends for lunch at Skyline. The afternoon and evening has been filled with family games (Scattergories was a big hit), playing music on the guitar and piano, reading, and taking a short nap. In past years, we've gone to midnight church services on Christmas Eve with friends, but this year we're changing the tradition to something entirely different: hanging out at Westy's (the local pub). What a great gift to have a day of rest with family and friends.

Tomorrow will be filled with presents, and food, and more family (including most of my cousins being here, something that doesn't happen often anymore). It will also be the consummation of the advent season that has been refreshing for me this year. There are a lot of situations around me where I've been waiting in hope for God to come and restore, and advent for me has been a reminder that hope is good. We are not foolish to hope because all of our hopes have their grounds in Jesus and the Incarnation, which we celebrate tomorrow. Even if the tough situations around me don't turn out like I pray for them too, my hope is not in vain because my hope is in the restoring power of God that will be seen in completion one day.

Petting a donkey at the local nativity manger scene earlier today.

Christmas Break has begun

We made it to Cincinnati. Driving through the mountains of West Virginia yesterday was absolutely beautiful with all the snow-capped mountains and tree branch icicles. We went to see Awaited, a Christmas show, last night at Crossroads (a church here in Cincy). It was such an amazing show and really got me excited for Christmas, especially the celebration of the birth of Jesus!

We don't have much going on today or tomorrow. However we have already been to Chipotle in the 23 hours we've been here- oh chicken burrito with black beans, mild salsa, and cheese how I've missed you! Next up on the menu-Skyline Chili. I'm taking advantage of the light to-do list by reading. I'm reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo first, I decided I needed to add a little fiction to my life. The book got a lot of great reviews and Nic said he really enjoyed it (he read it this summer), so we'll see. That's it for now. Enjoy the Cincinnati skyline!