A Sixth Grader

Yesterday I helped Hubby with his weekly after-school class.

I taught an after-school class last year, and Hubby taught one last semester, so I've gotten to know some of the students in Chris' classes and at his school.

That being said, yesterday a little girl (6th grader) that I've never met looked up at me and said, "Are you Mrs. Miller?"  When I said yes, she grinned and said, "I follow you on Instagram."

For those of you who aren't familiar with Instagram, it is a website and application people have on their phone.  People take pictures on their phone, enhance them with Instagram and share them on this photo site, which is similar to Twitter, but only pictures.

I post pictures on Instagram every so often, and it is a phone application that I enjoy.

When this little sixth grade girl, whom I had never met told me that she followed me on Instagram, it was a very needed reality check for me about who is out there seeing the things and pictures I post.  I have never posted any photographs that were inappropriate in any way, but I need to be aware that my peers are not the only ones on these social media sites.

It had never even entered my mind that one of Chris' students might be following me on anything -- facebook, my blog, pinterest, or instagram... and yet, apparently, at least one is.

We do live in a glass world these days where anyone can learn pretty much anything about you.  The thing is, I always saw that as a risky thing -- the wrong person, a bad person could gain information -- but the truth is, if there is the chance to be a respectable role model or positive influence on impressionable kiddos, maybe its not such a bad thing.  This student could potentially learn that Chris and I are followers of Christ through pictures I post.

I never thought of Instagram being linked to minister, but maybe the Lord has a plan for Instagram?

The Lord's Practical Joke

My parents spent Friday afternoon and evening with my hubby and me in Rifle.  For memorable parts of our dinner that night, see this post.

We aren't big jokers in our family... in fact, sometimes I think Chris thinks all we can talk about are world events, politics, old times, and old movies.  Someone may have an occasional humorous anecdote to pass along every now and again, but we certainly are not jokers -- practical jokers, playing jokes on each other.  It never happens.

That being said, most of the funny things to happen in our family happen naturally because we certainly don't set things up to be funny -- the Lord either gives us a laugh naturally, or He doesn't.

Well, the Lord decided I was in for quite a practical joke on Friday afternoon.

Mom and I had returned from the car place where we had just picked up my work car for getting the oil changed.  I drove my work car up our steep, muddy driveway and walked back down to meet Mom.  She preferred to go in the front door as the back of our house and the parking area is VERY MUDDY this time of year.  I took Mom's spot in the van, and gave her my keys to get in the front door.

Now, Mom and Dad had used my van a few times while they were staying in Vail, so NO OTHER KEYS were in the van other than the van ignition key.  I sent Mom into the house and parked the van.

After parking the van, I walked to the back door only to find it locked.  Well, I guess that made sense, the back door was locked before we left and Mom came in the front door, so no big deal.  I knock at the back door, completely sure my mom or dad will come let me in in no time.

No on comes to the back door, so I knock again and call, "HELLO!"

After a few minutes with no one coming to the door, I walk around the house to enter through the front door -- the door my mom has just unlocked and entered herself.  I go to open the front door, and it is locked.  Apparently, Mom entered the house, then promptly locked the door behind her.

So, again, I knock, and call, "HEL-LO-OO!" trying to get someone's attention.

When no one comes to the front door, I pull out my cell phone to call my mom and tell her to please let me in my house.  Since I had driven the van mom was driving up the driveway, I had her purse hanging from my arm... and... you guessed it, I soon hear her cell phone cheerfully ringing in her purse, which I have on my arm.

"You've got to be Kidding Me!" were my next words as I returned to the back of the house, to knock and call once more.

Finally, my mom heard me and answered the door.
She and my dad he gone into their guest room for a moment, and she thought it was weird that I wasn't in the house yet.

I can't imagine what our neighbors thought as I circled my house several times calling "Hello!" and calling myself on a cell phone that I was carrying.

Oh, Lord, I'm sure You got quite a chuckle out of that.  We did.  :-D

On My Heart This Week...

Lord, keep this verse on my tongue and in heart this week... Please...

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Reflections on Les Miserables

Yesterday Hubby and I saw a movie... in a move theater.
That RARELY happens.

I admit, I am the reason we rarely see movies in the theater... it is just so expensive, and there are SO FEW movies that I JUST HAVE to see while they're in the the theater.  Pretty much any and every movie that I'd like to see, I'm perfectly happy to wait a few months and rent it for $1.15 from redbox.

My hubby has a harder time waiting for the movies on dvd, but he is such a sport and our compromise is that he goes to several movies with his family when we visit St. Louis.  So he'll see 3 movies in the theater in 2 weeks... and then no movies in the theater for the next 6-11 months.  :-D

Well, yesterday we went to see Les Miserables in the theater because I wanted to see the movie on the big screen, to experience the music on the big screen and with theater surround sound.

I LOVE musicals and I grew up seeing, singing, learning and re-watching many many musicals.  That being said, I had never seen the production or the movie of Les Miserables.  I knew much of the music and I knew the tale was about the French Revolution, but I had never learned the whole story... Now I know why.

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Here are my reflections on Les Miserables:

Les Miserables is not a happy story.

That being said, Les Miserables is a story of redemption, and Godly redemption.  I had no idea I was going to see the beautiful story of God's love and redemptive nature in so many characters throughout the movie.

That being said, Les Miserables is not a family story.  So many of the musicals I've seen, and especially those I grew up with, are very appropriate for families -- Showboat, Phantom of the Opera, The Sound of Music, Annie, Oliver Twist, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Cats... and many, many more.  Les Miserables is not appropriate for families.

The music of Les Miserables is beautiful and breathtaking... but as for needing to see a 

musical with "theater surround sound"... I can pass next time.  For as LOUD as the theaters play action movies, Les Miserables, the musical could and should have been played MUCH LOUDER.  A musical is meant to be felt as much as it is seen and heard.  The music, the orchestral score is meant to penetrate your bones... but that doesn't happen in the theater.

Despite being a modern reproduction of this legendary musical, Les Miserables is a very traditional musical.  This is my music major nature coming up, so just bear with me for a minute... traditionally the female leads, the protagonists, the female love interests of a musical/opera/anything sings soprano while secondary females, the antagonists sing alto.  This was the case in Les Miserables.  Traditionally, the male leads, the protagonists, the male love interests sings tenor while the secondary males, the antagonists sing baritone or bass.  This also was the case in Les Miserables.  For some reason, it surprised me to see this very traditional musical standard followed in such a modern reproduction.

To be honest, there were parts of Les Miserables that were hard to watch, and I don't think I'll be watching it again any time soon; however, I am glad I saw it.  I am also glad I didn't bring one of my (nonexistent) children to see it.  I think eventually I would like to see the Broadway production of Les Miserables... once... eventually... when we get a really good deal on tickets... and we will not bring our children.

What did you think of Les Miserables?

Dinner Last Night... A Memory to Cherish

Last night Chris and I had dinner with my parents at our house.  They have been in Vail for a few weeks, and they came to our house to spend a night before going back to Michigan.

We have had many dinners with my parents before, and will hopefully have many more for many years to come, but I really hope I remember the time we spent together last night for years to come.

Last night, we had some wonderful conversation.

• My dad asked me if I was happy at my job.
• My parents and I discussed the benefits of settling in a college town, when the time comes to choose where you want to spend your remaining days.
• Mom and Dad told old stories about my relatives -- some of which I'd never heard (something about Uncle LeRoy and the trailer festival, "Get with it, Man!")
• Chris asked my parents many questions about the condo in Vail and their place in Florida and why they chose the places they did and if they would choose something similar again if they had the chance
• Chris asked questions about investments my dad had made through the years, and what her learned from those endeavors -- I have never heard my husband seek the wisdom of my father so openly and with great interest
• Mom and Dad told some old stories that had all of us doubled over with laughter (Dad and the wooden golf clubs at the Beaver Creek Golf Course)
• We talked about family members that are no longer with us -- my Grandmother, Nangie, my Grandfather, my Aunt Helen Lee, who was my dad's twin sister, and my mom's Aunt Marlene, who was one of the best women I had ever had the privilege to know
• We talked about family dynamics and bridges burned and grudges held until the end
• We reminisced, and predicted, and theorized, and discussed
• We talked about money and religion, but we steered clear of politics for once

It was just a night of really great conversation with my parents.

We live hundreds of miles and many hours from my parents.  These dinners do not happen often, and I cherish them when they do... but not every dinner together has wisdom, openness, and memories as the one last night.

Thank you, Lord for this time together. 

Laundry...

I am not one to say that I love doing laundry... certainly not the quantity of laundry that exists in our household (and I am painfully aware that we are in the season of the least amount of laundry our home will see until our future children are grown and out-of-the-house).  But, to be honest, I take so much pride in doing laundry for my hubby.

Coming into marriage, I had a long list in my head of the the wifely duties I was going to performing daily, weekly, and as needed to keep my home beautiful and my husband happy.  More than one-and-a-half years into our marriage, the one duty I can REALLY take pride in doing our laundry.

My hubby is a better cook than I am... and he enjoys it MUCH more than I do.
I do some cooking, but we both know that I cook so we can eat and my hubby cooks because he enjoys it.

I am better at baking than my hubby is... but let's be honest, we really shouldn't be eating all that much of the sweets that I bake.

My hubby is better at fixing things, putting things together and ANYTHING related to technology.  The longer I've been with my hubby, the more I appreciate his handy-ness and technological savvy.

I am better at cleaning and organizing our home... but I don't take great pride in how I do at cleaning and organizing our home... not yet anyway.  Basically, when I think about how I clean and organize, I feel guilty because I could and should do a better job of it -- especially a better on-going job.  Our place looks great when company arrives, and we've had at least 24 hours notice of the company's arrival... but if someone were to just drop by any-ole time, I would be embarrassed about how our house looks when we're living and working as per usual.

I'm better at remembering things... but sometimes that feels like I'm nagging because I've remembered things that Hubby has forgotten...

That brings us to ... LAUNDRY!

Before we were married, my wonderful hubby would do laundry an average of once every 6-8 weeks.  He would wait until he was COMPLETELY out of clean clothes (he wore some interesting outfits that last week...) and then take his HUNDREDS of articles of clothing to a laundry mat and spend all day there doing laundry and grading papers.

Since we've been married my wonderful hubby has never done a load of laundry, and yet I take great pride in the fact that he has NEVER run out of clean clothes.  I don't do laundry as often as I could, but I average having a laundry day approximately every 8-9 days.

Like I said before, I don't love the quantity of laundry we have, but I do love taking care of my husband in this way.  I gather the laundry, I do all the loads back-to-back (I ALWAYS have to set a timer, because otherwise, I would never remember to get back to the laundry I've started), I fold them and I put them away.  All I ask of my sweet hubby is that he puts his dirty clothes in our laundry hamper.

Basically, I feel like laundry is the only area I've never disappointed my husband, and I've always lived up to the perfect home-making wife, I imagined I would be.  :-D

Thank you, Laundry for helping me feel successful as a wife.

Snowshoeing in Deep Powder

This past weekend Hubby, Lloydey and I had a BLAST snowshoeing up in Vail.  Saturday are REALLY busy days on the slopes, so it was a perfect day to go hiking.

I've actually never really snowshoed before... I've gone on a "snowshoe moon hike", but I had to use the shoeshoes that the hike provided, and we stayed on a plowed trail the entire time.  It was cool, but it wasn't legitimate snowshoeing in my opinion.

Vail had a LOT of snow last week, and so Saturday morning was beautiful with tons of powder to have fun it.  We had such a blast!!!

Lloyd looked like a dolphin trying to jump through the powder.  :-D

Here are some pictures of our great day:

We felt like we were the only people in the world...

Isn't this man handsome?!?!  Look how deep he is in the snow... even with snowshoes on!

With all the powder and the trees, it was a winter wonderland.

Look at our snorkel dog...

It was utterly breathtaking out there...

What a CUTIE!!!

Kind of a cool shot my hubby took...

There was so much snow, I had to make a snow angel.

What a great day we had!

Do you like deep snow?