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February 1st, 2010

A Christmas Post

Written by Dani Filed under: Family, Life, Travel

Yes, I know. Christmas was five weeks ago. Today is February. It’s a little late to be posting about the holidays, but at least we’re not posting this in May. So, here’s a little summary of our holiday travels.

On Friday, December 18th, we got up bright and early and headed to my sister’s apartment in Denton, TX. We got in shortly after lunch and met Jude, the epileptic Schnoodle. Jude was a pillow of curly goodness, who happened to twitch occasionally. Israel and I have realized that we’re not really dog people. We don’t like the drooling and shedding and stinking and poop picking-up. But Jude doesn’t stink, doesn’t shed, and doesn’t officially drool (although he does have a beard). Unfortunately, as all living creatures do, he poops. Anyway, we liked him. If we ever get a dog, I think it might need to be a schnoodle.

So, after meeting Jude, we headed to the University of North Texas to watch my younger sister, Amy, become officially Smart. She’s always been smart, but now she can make sure everyone knows how smart she is by telling them that she has a Masters Degree in Library Science. This not only lets them know that she’s smart, but also incredibly nerdy. I’m quite sure that she and her husband Luke will have the smartest children in my family. Israel and I will have the best looking. Just kidding. Although I do think Israel was the cutest little boy I’ve ever seen. Don’t you agree? I mean really, what little boy stands with his hand in his pocket like that? He’s the older one in the second photo.

So anyway, after the graduation festivities, we hung out at Amy and Luke’s house for several days. We mostly tested out a few new board games: Munchkin Fu (okay), Munchkin Quest (the worst game ever, unless you ask a boy), and Dominion (from the title, you would think I’d hate this game, but no, it’s great). After days of playing games and teaching Jude new tricks, we headed to Telephone to see my family.

My mom had the family over for the first Christmas in her own home in over 10 years. We had a lovely table setting and ate Mexican food, because Christmas food is boring. My mom is also a master present wrapper. Not only does she make presents beautiful, but she makes them fun. When we were little, she’d wrap small presents in HUGE boxes and put rocks, or cans of food, or beans (dried, of course) in with the gift. That way, we’d have no idea what was actually in the gift when we shook it around and felt the edges and tried to peek under the paper. This year, Mom wrapped 20 gifts. 20. For four people. Who don’t really expect presents anymore. So, we each got to open five gifts. They each had a $20 bill stashed somewhere inside. So, $100 each! Woo hoo! After this Christmas, Israel has a better understanding of why it’s vitally important to me that gifts be pretty.

An amazing thing happened while we were in Telephone—Jude got groomed. But he didn’t just get groomed, he got shaved. All the way down. Until he looked like a plush little lamb. And that same day, he got a shot at the vet. And he got nicked while being groomed, nicked in a very uncomfortable place. Let me tell you, a shot, plus a shaving, plus a seriously painful injury that prevents one from sitting down, equals one insane schnoodle. Jude ran around like a dog on speed for about two hours. He was flipping and running in tiny circles and jumping all over things. And then he crashed. And his little head drooped all the way to the floor because he was so exhausted. Please enjoy these lovely before and after photos of Jude.

So, after Christmas, we headed to the Jernigan home where we basically played games the whole time (our favorite thing). By the way, the Jernigans have graciously taken on The Best Cat Ever, Felin. And let me tell you, after one month there, she is a different cat. I blame it on Cricket, the rat-dog. Shortly after Felin arrived, Cricket did too. And they do not get along. Poor Felin.

Cricket – The Instigator

Felin – The Victim

Look at that poor cat. Alas.

Moving on, after Muskogee we drove 12 hours to Colorado through the wasteland that is Kansas. Kansas is normally not the most exciting place to drive through, but on both the way there and back, Kansas was shrouded in fog. Cold, freezing, fog. It was like we were in a bubble of grey. The land was gray, the sky was gray and the mist-walls were gray. Kansas in December, the perfect setting for horror films. Anyway, we arrived at my Dad’s house in Colorado, after I nearly slid our car backwards off the driveway, which happens to be a cliff. We spent four lovely days there. My Dad’s house is awesome. It’s in this lovely little canyon with red-rock formations and mountains. The whole back wall of their house is windows. It’s great. I highly recommend visiting. While we were there, we got MORE Christmas/my-26th-birthday money, and what do you think we did with all of that cash?

Guess.

We bought Rosetta Stone. And it’s awesome. I recommend Rosetta Stone just as much as visiting my Dad’s house.

Then, after 17 days of being away, we returned to good ol’ Arkansas. Whew.

Oh yes, while we were gone, the couple we’re living with bought a house, packed up, moved all of their stuff and ours to the new house, and cleaned the old one. And we weren’t even there to help. We have good friends.

Now enjoy the myriad of photos that we felt needed to accompany this post.

: Fuzz{|}

: Jude, the Patron Saint of Lost Causes, and the Beatles{|}

: Pensive Luke{|}

: Sometimes You Just Need to Squeeze a Dog{|}

: Horse{|}

: Fall Comes in December Here{|}

: Walk{|}

: Dog in a Tree{|}

: Childhood{|}

: Pony{|}

: Bark{|}

: Swinging with the Dog{|}

: Luke on a Swing{|}

: Shoe{|}

: My Mother Is an Excellent Gift Wrapper{|}

: Candy{|}

: Christmas Table{|}

: A Bounty of Gifts{|}

: Bald Jude{|}

: Deb and Jude{|}

: Larkspur, CO{|}

: The Wild West—AKA, Dad's House{|}

: From the Porch{|}

: At Dad and Deb's House{|}

: Daddio{|}

: Sunning{|}

: Saying Goodbye{|}

Tags: Amy, birthday, Cat, Christmas, Colorado, dad, dog, Family, Felin, graduation, Israel, Jude, Kansas, Luke, mom, New Years, oklahoma, Texas, Travel

January 22nd, 2010

Some Videos While in Colorado

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Written by Israel Filed under: Family, Life, Travel

These are a few short videos from our trip to Dani’s dad’s house in Colorado. We had a great time there, and drove up there with Amy and Luke, Dani’s sister and brother-in-law.

Tags: Colorado, Dani's Video, Family, Life, Travel, Video

October 26th, 2009

Memories of Germany

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Written by Dani Filed under: Culture, Family, Life, Travel

Today, I read the blog of a BFA staff couple. They serve as dorm parents and have two young children. Looking through their photos reminded me of what it was like to live in Germany as a kid; we lived there for about a year when I was seven. A few of the photos on their blog made me think I was looking at my family from the 90s, in our glorious purple, pink and black jackets and head socks, these wonderful fuzzy tubes of fabric that my sister and I wore on our heads. These may be called tube scarves in real life.

So, in honor of being a child in Germany, I thought I’d recount some of my memories. Here I go.

We moved to Germany from Hawaii. Before we left Hawaii, I remember telling my mom that I was glad we were moving to Germany because I was sooo hot. I wanted to move to Alaska, because then I wouldn’t be hot anymore. I think Alaska might have been a little more than I bargained for. Germany was just right, like Goldilocks and her porridge.

Germany had the coolest playground equipment. They had zip lines and cool merry-go-rounds and other fun stuff that I can’t remember the specifics of. And it was all very colorful.

Playmobil! Enough said.

We took a ski trip to Switzerland in the winter. We went with a whole group of people and rode together on a bus. I flirted with a boy who was playing a Game Boy. Then, Dad got us a German ski instructor, because none of us could really ski. And the ski instructor was mean and made us all cry. And then my sister Amy peed her pants because she couldn’t get her snow suit off in time. Good times.

Fasching is the German Carnival celebration. Apparently, it’s really big in southern Germany, where we lived. Amy and I dressed up as clowns for Fasching. I don’t remember what we did in the costumes, but I remember the curly blue wig, full-body costume and face paint.

We went to the I.S.S., the International School of Stuttgart. We rode the bus to school everyday. And by bus, I mean a bus with nice reclining seats and a table in the back with cup holders. I don’t think they have big yellow school buses in Germany. Anyway, one day there was a transportation strike. So our bus driver was really late. Since Amy and I had time to kill, we made a Snow Cake—a big white rectangle of snow. How creative we were. When the bus driver finally came, he was slightly inebriated. I don’t think my parents knew about this until we got home that day.

In the spring, Amy and I were very excited about the first warm day of the year. It must have been like 65 degrees or something. Well, Amy and I, being the Hawaiian girls that we were, put on our bikini tops and went to the park and played in the little creek. I remember getting a lot of weird looks from the Germans, who were all wearing their winter coats.

One of my fondest food memories of Germany is spaghettieis. It’s this wonderful ice cream treat that looks like spaghetti. The ice cream is pressed through some sort of pasta machine so that it comes out in small strings. Then, it’s topped with strawberry sauce and shaved nuts, or coconut, or something else that looks like parmesan. I’ll definitely be having some spaghettieis once I return to Germany.

In case Playmobil and the playground equipment didn’t make it obvious, Germany has the best stuff for kids. They have so many cool toys. We went to some sort of event that had a warehouse full of toys. It was like a fairy tale. And they have Kinder Surprise, those little chocolate eggs with toys in them. And Christmas time is awesome, because Germany goes all out—decorations, and festivals, and food and little trains that travel through a land of Christmas delight. Sigh.

In the interest of keeping this post from taking 30 minutes to read, I’ll stop there. I left out: cracking my tail bone while running after my lunch, eating at the German restaurant in Hawaii and the Hawaiian restaurant in Germany, and Amy getting stuck in every bathroom stall she went in.

But, I will leave you with a few photos. This is me in Kindergarten in Hawaii. I’m the blond. And yes, I am wearing my bathing suit.

This is Amy and me playing in our plumeria tree, the best smelling tree ever. Amy’s the one in yellow. I believe we were pretending to be homeless orphans…living in a tree….

This is the only photo I have of Germany. I’m the tall one. Amy’s the tallish one. I’d like to tell you that I’m eating spaghettieis, but I think we’re at the Baskin Robins on the base, so I’m probably eating Cookies and Cream. And please, note the outfit. All parts of it are equally wonderful.

Tags: childhood, Christmas, fun, Germany, Hawaii, Life, memories, playground equipment, skiing, toys

October 6th, 2009

Can You Feel the Love?

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Written by Dani Filed under: Family, Life, Travel

After returning from Telephone, Israel had a short three days work-week before we headed to the Jernigan home in Muskogee. We spent three days with the family in Muskogee. Hannah and Ash arrived from Australia on September 24th. Besides the few hours we saw them before heading to Telephone, we hadn’t seen them at all. And since we’d never met Ash, it was very important that we get to know him. Israel is the older brother, after all.

Friday morning, Hannah and Ash got up bright and early so I could do their engagement photos. It was very chilly and dewy around the Jernigan property, but they were brave and agreed to lay on wet hay bales and grass. I’m so glad they did, because their photos are awesome! So far, my favorite shoots have been in fields early in the morning. Actually, they’ve all been with family members too. I love the mood of Hannah and Ash’s photos. The Jernigans have five to seven horses (I don’t remember the exact number), and at one point, they all decided to get in on the photos. I was quite thrilled. Horses! In photos! Yes! But Hannah thought it would make her look really Oklahoma country. She was totally wrong. I don’t think it’s possible for Hannah to look like an Oklahoma country girl. And there’s no way anyone would think that of Ash.

Friday night we went to the high school football game to see Israel’s twin brothers, Asa and Ezra, play in the band. I paid absolutely no attention to the game. I thought we were winning for quite a while, but we weren’t. We lost. By a lot. But, during the massacre, we played with our brand new video camera and ate funnel cake. I love food. Can you tell?

Saturday we did some family photos. There are now 14 people in the Jernigan family. 14. That’s a lot of people to have look good at the same time. Surprisingly, there were actually some really good photos of the whole fam. Once we split up into smaller groups however….

That afternoon we headed to Tulsa. The girls went to Hannah’s lingerie party. The boys went to the state fair where they watched pig racing and ate chocolate covered bacon. We all met up at P.F. Changs for dinner that night with some family friends. Jernigan, party of 18? Our poor waiter.

Sunday was filled with church and family. We always go to Grandma Jernigan’s house for lunch on Sundays. We stayed for the evening service to see Hannah and Ash lead worship. The whole service was awesome. I’m so glad we stayed.

It was really hard to leave. We won’t see Hannah and Ash again until their wedding in April. We love Ash. He’s absolutely perfect for Hannah. He’s very funny, very intentional and very loving. Plus, he’s Australian, which ups his cool level by like 47%. Israel even started to pick up his accent, Oh Israel. Seeing Hannah was really great for me. She’s so encouraging and has such a sense of purpose. I was reminded of how I want to live my life—with purpose—and that I want to speak words that are uplifting and bring hope to those who hear them.

You’ve got to check out these photos. Seriously.

: Horses{|}

: Love This One{|}

: Hannah{|}

: Sigh{|}

: Judah and Raina at the Game{|}

: The Muskogee Roughers Band{|}

: The Jernigan Family{|}

: The Jernigans{|}

: A Happy Family{|}

: The Family{|}

: The Girls with Momma J{|}

: The Girls with Poppa J{|}

: My Favorite Photo{|}This was not planned.

: The Boys with Poppa J{|}

: Shaun and Glory{|}

: Momma and Poppa J - Israel's Parents{|}

: The 'Rents{|}

Tags: Ash, church, engagement, Family, food, Football, Hannah, Jernigan, Life, Muskogee, Photos, Travel, Weekend

October 5th, 2009

A Visit to Texas

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Written by Dani Filed under: Family, Life, Travel

Just so you know, the photo header is not Texas. It’s Arkansas. I took it on the way back from Texas. I felt obliged to tell you. You know, just in case you decided to move to Texas just from looking at that photo and then were really surprised when it wasn’t hilly and green.

Last week, Israel took a couple days off so we could head to Texas to see my family. It was a crazy-busy weekend, with not as much family time as I wanted, but we got to see a lot of people, which was the point.

Israel’s sister Hannah has been in Australia for two years studying at the Hillsong International Leadership College. While there, she met her soon-to-be-husband Ashley, who we call Ash. They came in on Thursday evening, so we headed to Muskogee to see them. It was so good to see them. They were exhausted, of course, but when we arrived everyone was playing Apples to Apples. It was the first time the whole family, all 14 of us, had been together in almost two years. Friday morning, we went to IHOP for Ash’s first American breakfast. I’m sure he was very impressed.

After IHOP, we drove to Telephone, Texas, where I spent my high school years.

Yes, there really is a town called Telephone. It’s tiny, which is why you’ve never heard of it.

My parent’s divorced when I was 13. Shortly after their divorce we moved in with Grandpa and Grandma. We were supposed to be there for one year, but ended up staying for six. As my grandpa is a Southern Baptist pastor, we were required to go to church, something I wasn’t always happy about. But that little Baptist church is where I got my spiritual foundation.

After the three hour drive from Muskogee to Telephone, we spent the afternoon with my grandma, aunt and cousins. Then we headed into “town” where we met my mom and Uncle Louie, Aunt Charlotte and cousin, Joel, for dinner. I haven’t seen them in about six years, so it was wonderful to reconnect. When I called Charlotte to finalize our plans, Joel answered and I thought I had called the wrong number because his voice was so DEEP! I mean deeeeeep.

On Saturday, we met up with Charlotte and my cousin Bekah for breakfast at Starbucks, since Bekah was working the night before. She REALLY wants to live in Europe and work with kids. So, of course, we tried to figure out what she could do at BFA. Then we headed to Dallas where we met some college friends, Rachel and Chris, for lunch at Cafe Brazil. I think four different people told us to go to Cafe Brazil. They had about 30 different kinds of coffee. Israel had breakfast tacos. I had loaded fries. Because I wasn’t very hungry. Hmm…..

Then, we met up with Israel’s old roommate, Chris, at the NorthPark Mall, which is where we always meet Chris. We got another coffee and walked through Anthropologie. Can I just tell you how much I love that store? I love it a lot. If only it were about 70% cheaper. Sigh.

Then, we drove to Waxahachie to see Israel’s Great Aunt Helon. I’d never been to her house before, so it was nice to see where she lives. We should really make her tell us her life story sometime, because it sounds like she’s done a lot of interesting things. Once we got back to my mom’s house, we watched half of Stardust but couldn’t finish it because we were so tired. I really like this movie, by the way.

On Sunday we visited Telephone Baptist Church, where I grew up. I hadn’t been in a couple years because my grandpa helped start a cowboy church that we usually go to when we’re in town. It was so nice to see everyone again. People didn’t recognize me because my hair is so short now (actually, it’s rather long at this moment and desperately needs to be cut; short hair doesn’t look good grown out). It was the first day of a revival, so we were invited to attend lunch after the service. Brisket and potato salad and lots of dessert. Mmmm.

We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with my family. We addressed envelopes to mail, fried okra (of course), ate Philly cheese steaks, and watched The Amazing Race while petting Samson the Pitbull. Israel and I both really liked Samson, which is surprising because we’re not dog people. We have Felin for a reason.