Good things

OK, so in spite of my negativity as of late, some great things have happened this week.

First of all, I have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the most wonderful man I know. I am so happy to be your wife, honored to be your friend, and excited to be the mother of your child!! I love you!

Secondly, good news: I am officially employed (starting Sept 2008)! I accepted the offer at the Boston firm yesterday, so we're officially staying here. It was a really agonizing decision, and I was honestly really upset at first, but we're both really excited now. It's going to be great staying in a city we know and love, surrounded by such an amazing community. J&B have been very understanding about the whole situation, and we all freely admit that we have no idea what God has for us in the next few years. We're glad that they've got other people coming to Portland to support them, and of course we'll still be supportive from the east coast!

Finally, as a sort of birthday present for the soon-to-be daddy in our little family, we got to hear the baby's heartbeat today. It was amazing! At first we weren't sure the doctor was going to be able to find it, but a few tense moments in and there was the woosh-woosh-woosh! What a beautiful sound! :)

And for our birthdays, my friend M got us our first item of baby clothing: a sweet little white sleeper. So adorable. I still can't believe there is going to be a person in our house that small very soon. But instead of being overwhelmed and scared, like I thought I might be, I was pretty excited. :) And so was Bryan. We can't wait!

The glass is half empty today

So it turns out a week full of studying (often the wrong things for) Securities Regulation in preparation for being on panel, preparing for the MPRE, taking the MPRE, and trying to edit a 40,000-word journal article, all while being constantly nauseated and exhausted and hormonal & irritated is not the most fun thing in the world.

And even better news: I didn't get the job I flew out to interview for over flyout week. This puts serious questions in our heads about whether we're moving to Portland at all.

UGH. Back to work I guess.

Big news!!

OK, so we've known for a month or so now, but we waited a bit... just in case... but now I can happily announce that

We're Pregnant!!

And we're absolutely over the moon. Baby will be here in early June, right around graduation.

There's so much more to tell, but I just had to get it out there for the world to know. More later.

Go SOX!!

Woo-hoo!!

Watched the game tonight with several of our good friends at J&K's apartment, near Fenway. It was awesome. Good friends, decent pizza (Domino's - not my favorite, but OK), great baseball! It was great to experience something like that, so near to the heart of Red Sox Nation.

We left after the game (after Bryan had popped a bottle of celebratory champagne, of course), and drove toward home; it was insane. As soon as we got in the car we saw people driving with brooms out their windows (because it was a "sweep"), and everyone was honking. But in a nice way (for a change). There were tons of people - I mean tons of people out and about, screaming. It was awesome. We drove down Park Drive, and when we got to Boylston, there was a huge crowd high-fiving passengers in cars. They were totally blocking the street. I was driving (because of B's champagne consumption) and he stuck his hand out the window and yelled "Go SOX!" a whole bunch of times. He got a lot of high fives. Awesome. There were cops everywhere, in full riot gear, pushing people back with the hugest nightsticks I've ever seen. But nobody really cared all that much; for the most part it was pretty tame, but exciting. We made it home fine. And it turns out Harvard Square was totally dead. Everyone was at Fenway!!

It could only have been better if the win had been at home. Oh well.

What a great season!! What a great series!! (Oh and Bryan went to game 1, at Fenway... I forgot to mention that I think...)

Awesome! Go Sox!

P.S. I heart Mike Lowell.

Update...

I apologize to all my avid readers for the recent lag in posts. Life, as I always say, has been insane. Not as insane as some, of course, but insane in its own way.

My semester has started well; I'm taking some interesting classes and some not-so-interesting classes, but it all evens out in the end I suppose. I'm (hopefully) going to have a breeze of a semester in the spring - so when REAL senioritis kicks in I'll be fine. I'm hoping to only have two classes, and one will be my professional responsibility class.

Bryan's semester is going very well; he's ahead in all of his classes, which is very exciting. He's written papers ahead of schedule, and he's almost finished all of the reading for the semester. I'm so jealous of his dedication and discipline. I'm not good at that sort of thing...

I'm still trying to get a job in Portland. I'm flying out again next week for second interviews. Pray that that will work out!

For now I suppose that's all... Catch you later!

Portland!

I just got back from Portland! Had a job interview at a firm, which I really love, and spent some quality time with KF and her adorable chocolate lab. I'm in love with Portland. I'm so excited to move there next year! I can't wait to show it to Bryan!! Here are some pictures from my trip!



Cannon beach... so awesome!


Jackson rolling in the water and wet sand. Such a cutie pie!!


More of Cannon Beach, this time in black and white (playing with my camera)...


KF & me at Cannon Beach.


Vicious beast! (sorry it's sideways). I love this dog!!!


Motivation discovered on a sidewalk in Southwest Portland.


KN and me @ her place. Love this lady!


Um, yeah. This is pretty typical KF. Never a dull moment. :) Love it!


Awww.... KF and KN


Powell's Book Store. Had a great time there. This place is HUGE. I mean, HUGE. It covers a whole city block, and is multiple stories tall (I think it's three in some places and two in others). I had to leave after a couple of hours or I was going to spend all of our money. You can find anything there!


Kids playing at a cute little waterfall area in the Pearl District.


Luxury apartments in the Pearl, and a really cool metal bridge thingie.


Look at that face!!!


Dinner on my last night in PDX. Thanks for a great time, KF!

What depositions taught me about faith

Last week at work we (the summer associates) had to take mock depositions. I'm not interested in being a litigator, and hopefully will never be involved in another deposition in my life, but this one was mandatory as part of the summer program. I really did not want to do it, but I did it, and it was just as awful as I'd imagined and I was just as awful at it as I imagined.

There was a partner observing each group, and when I finished taking my deposition he launched into a speech about how when you're trying a case you need to have a theory of the case. I had heard this before, of course, and I thought I had a theory of the case, but I wasn't sure how to use that theory in the context of a deposition. The partner explained that everything you do has to be centered around that theory of the case - it informs your purposes for the deposition, the questions you ask, and how you ask the questions you ask.

I thought about that for awhile, and on the T ride home I thought how great an analogy that is for life generally. My "theory of the case" is like my faith. And it should inform everything Ido. That's very hard, just like it is in the deposition situation; I have to be really intentional about it. And just like in the deposition, sometimes I forget to put it at the center, or I don't understand how something fits in. But that doesn't change the fact that it should be the very core of my life.

Just a thought . . .

Independence Day

So I realized that I always start a post by saying how sorry I am for not posting. Well, forget it this time. :) I've been having a really great summer. One example: Independence Day! It was cold and rainy for a good part of the day, but it had its moments. We sat on the esplanade for TEN HOURS, waiting for the fireworks. We heard a group of twenty-five or so people become citizens of the US, and heard the Boston Pops play. Finally, in the cold and rain, the country's largest fireworks show went off. And it was totally awesome. Here are a few pictures, ripped off from my friend Jill... :)


Bryan and me hanging out in the sun. That's me with the cheesy grin and white legs.



Jill and me, with the Prudential Center in the background. You can tell it is getting colder because we have jackets on!



Some of the girls, just before (or just after?) the fireworks. Kelli sent her hubby home to get more blankets and jackets, and we bundled up.

The boys.


Fireworks!! Yay!!

Perspective

I had a really odd moment of perspective today. I was on my way to my friend's graduation party, and I was coming straight from work, so I took the T to Porter Square. There are three escalators to get out of the Porter Square station, and as I was coming up the really long one I noticed that it looked like all of the people on the other side (going down) were leaning really far backward. And then I noticed that it looked like all the people on my side going up the stairs were leaning way too far forward. It was a very odd feeling. I know it was just because of the change in my "horizon" but it was really disconcerting. And I thought about how true that is, that just because of some small but obvious change in perspective things look totally different. I think that's what the end of Job is about. When his friend says to him that he can't question God because he wasn't there when the heavens were made, it makes me think of perspective. God sees all, and I don't; things look skewed to me sometimes when they're really just right. I know it sounds so elementary and hokey, but little things like the escalator make me really notice it.

Update in bullets

This is what I do; I'm a delinquent. But here are the short updates since April.

• Computer crashed (LCD and hard drive - that's an excuse for not blogging!)
• Got it back just in time for finals (Corps and Tax - studied my tail off, we'll see if it paid off)
• Spent some quality time after exams with my girl Meg. Went to the beach, relaxed.
• Went home to see my baby brother graduate from high school. (Three days later he was off to basic training for the Marines).
• Went to SF to visit Josh and Becky. It was amazing; it was like we never split up. We decided to move to Portland together to start a church. More on this later.
  
• While in SF, hooked up with Kiel! Such a cutie! He's doing such great things, and has become such a grownup. I love him more and more every time I see him.
• Started my summer job. LOVE IT.
  

I'm sure I'm missing something, but this is what I've got in my head right now, and it's late, and I'm in the "real world" now. :) more later.