Santa's Little Helpers

While we were home for Thanksgiving, Suzi, one of my sisters-in-law, asked me to take Christmas portraits of my niece and nephews. Always ready to practice my photography skills, I agreed.

This one says it all.

Out of over 300 photos, only a handful came out clear. It was pretty stressful because the kids were hungry, tired, and hot, but I think Nick had a harder time dealing with it as he stood behind me trying to help. Regardless, they came out GREAT, but this one made me laugh the most. My favorite style of photography is photojournalism - pictures that catch the moment, unposed. This one says everything about how the shoot went.

(left to right) Zach is 2, Jesse is 1, Morgan is 9.

SO CUTE!

God's People, Just Not God's Poet

Nick and I pray a lot.

Each morning, we roll out of bed, stumble into the morning, and gather our life forces to tackle another Boston day of job, work, study, people....life. You know it, you do it, too.

Just before I head off to work (three flights of stairs to my office) and Nick meanders toward BC for class, we gather each other up, sit on the couch and pray.

We pray for strength to get through each day; in gratitude for our many blessings. We ask that God keeps our friends and family safe in all of their endeavors and throw in a few extra special intentions as well.

We slso take turns leading prayer. Once we sit, I extend a finger and poke Nick in the shoulder and say, "YOU. Go," signaling that it's his turn to lead. We both have days where we are more eloquent, when we know exactly what to say and the other is moved with grace and spirit.

However, yesterday, Nick's prayer took a different sort of a twist...

Thank you, Lord for this day. We ask that you continue to guide us in all that we do and that we are always aware of your love, your Spirit, and forgiveness. Lord, we thank you for all of our blessings, this day and everyday. It is a blessing to think about starting a family, while others are wondering where they are going to sleep tonight. It is a blessing to have options about what vocations we want, while others do not have enough to eat. It is a blessing to wonder about the course of our lives while others, uh,...others worry about getting killed by their neighbors. We thank you for everything. Amen.

Midway I ducked my face into Nick's armpit but my shoulders were already shaking.

N: What?

L: -unable to speak-

N: What?!

L: "....WHILE OTHERS WORRY ABOUT GETTING KILLED BY THEIR NEIGHBORS?"
I was laughing so hard I couldn't even breathe.

N: Why's that funny?

L: You think that many people in this world are worrying about getting gunned down by their next door neighbor?

N: Well, that shows how wide your perspective is - I was thinking about the people in Darfur!

L: I am not insensitive to global issues, I was just stuck in the US-based context of prayer. I was limiting myself to thinking about our own country. Yes, you are right. People in Darfur worry about their safety relative to that of their neighbors.

N: It's true!

L: I know. It's just semantics. "...worry about getting killed by the neighbors..." That's just some serious morning prayer.

Pre-game Festivities

We don't give a damn about the whole state of Michigan.

We're from Ohio!

Catching Up

Oh, I'm so behind.

It's been awhile since the last post and everytime I remember that I need to write something, I chide myself, "Tomorrow! Tomorrow I will."

Of course tomorrow becomes tomorrow becomes tomorrow.

Today is tomorrow.

So, where did we leave off?

Oh yes, three weekends ago, my parents came in from Pennsylvania to visit and it was wonderful, of course. They loved our apartment. They loved Boston. They loved that my commute is 3 flights of stairs. They loved that Nick takes the train to school everyday. They loved that there is a park across the street. They loved everything.

Rog and Jan Borchers followed suit the weekend after my parents. Unfortunately, for Rob and Jan, Boston decided to show its nasty side. It was cold, rainy, and grey all day and that didn't afford much alternatives for entertainment. Buckeye fans don't lose heart that easily though. We poofed out the umbrellas and slugged it up to GAME ON, a bar that exclusively shows OSU games on Saturdays. We cheered the Bucks to beat the pants off Wisconsin and gleefully watched Wisconsin fans become more solemn in the bar.

I was on duty the weekend Rob and Jan were in town and unfortunately was called into work that night so I was unable to make it to dinner with them. Leaky windows from the rain, maintenance issues, and a student mugging incident will do that. Ugh.

And that concludes 5 consecutive wonderful weeks of family visitors.

This past weekend, Nick curled up to his beloved texts and powered through a 25 pg. paper while I hopped onto a bus and spent Veteran's weekend in New York City with some of my closest friends from childhood. It was refreshing to get away from my job and to visit with some old buds who know me well. Nick was couch-slapping and texting his sorrow over the Bucks loss to Illinois. My cell phone was in orange alert danger of being thrown against a wall when I received that text. BOOO. I hate losing.

One of my RAs who loves Michigan (poor infected soul), loves to razz on Nick about Saturday's game. Nick just shakes his head and tries to be friendly to my RAs but inside I know he wants to throw some Tressel vs. Carr statistic. I admire his benevolence. Me? I tell my pro-Michigan RAs to shove it and talk to me after Saturday.

We're leaving for Ohio on Tuesday evening. We'll be in Russia all day Wednesday and for Thanksgiving morning/early afternoon. After that, we'll head to Massillon to be with my family for Thursday evening and all day Friday. Departing out of Columbus at the crack of dawn on Saturday, we'll fly back to Boston for a wedding (one of my co-workers) Saturday night. The busy-ness never ends.

Nick and I decided that likely this will be the last Thanksgiving that we try to split between families because it's way too hectic and we don't get time with either family. Beginning next year, we'll switch off Thanksgiving and Easter between families, but continue to split Christmas holidays.

So, Factoras and Borchers families beware: come 2008 you'll either have us for the turkey or the resurrection.

See some of you next week!

A Little Slideshow

Here's the update on what's been happening with us.

A Belated and Bad Greeting