The Wildlife around the house...

I saw two havalina (nasty wort hog looking things) last Saturday on my way into Starbucks at about 3:45 AM. I didn't get pictures but man they were gross...and just non-chantly crossing the street into Tohono Chul Park...right by our house.

Brian, being a boy, decided we was going to catch a lizard. He was successful. It bit him on the finger but then didn't move until Brian dropped him outside. Of course, when he caught the thing he ran into the house to show me and Amanda.

Then there was the snake right outside the house...don't have much to say about that except...GROSS!!!!

Enjoy the pictures!

The Come before Winter Update!!

Finally...I know! I must apologize for taking so long to update but life is hectic and there are 50 million other things going on. I'm just glad I finally got all my thank you cards in the mail! :)

My travels from Tucson to Dallas were quite uneventful. I was able to get to Dallas a day early to do wedding planning with mom and spend some time with my family. I met up with the rest of the team on Friday at DFW and off we were to
Sarajevo...with a 12+ hour lay over in Vienna, Austria.

Mariana Long, the author of the report below, was a missionary in Vienna in the 60's (and maybe early 70's). She gave some of the team members a mini tour of Vienna. We walked Stephansdom to Figlmuller, a very authentic Austrian restaurant for authentic.

We went and had a Vienna espresso and Sacher Torte (or apfel struddle) at the famous Sacher Hotel directly behind the Staatsoper.

After lunch we took a short walk back around Stephansdom, Hofburg and the Imperial Palace, and Staatsoper.

All that in less than 12 hours...but a wonderful experience getting to see Mariana's face light up as she spoke of her life there. What an honor it was to experience that with her!

Then off to Sarajevo...just a two hour plane ride away. As we flew in I was amazed at all the beautiful mountains and Ever Green trees...I had no idea! It was after midnight I believe when we landed but were greeted by teammates Jeanene Reese and Linda Forester as well as missionaries Heather, Liz Crittenden and Carolyn Cox. They drove us to our hotel...we got situated and rested for the night... now I could continue to go into more details but I feel that Mariana's words wrap up our week beautifully. Pleas continue reading...

I have attached the words from Mariana Long, one of my fabulous team members, to share with you. She created a beautiful PDF file with pictures to go along with her report. If I knew how to turn that into a link online I would!

“Bless the Lord, O my soul!”
Come before Winter
Bosnia & Herzegovina
June, 2008
Mariana Long
“The war in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995 destroyed nearly all the athletic sites of the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. The wooden seats from the Zetra arena were used for coffins. The bobsled run turned into trenches. The mountain site for Nordic skiing was transformed into a Serbian artillery position. The Olympic stadium became a graveyard,” writes Richard Sandomir, July 7, 1999, The New York Times.
This is the history remembered by most when Bosnia is mentioned. Reminders of this dreadful time in the history still exist, but we saw the beautiful Bosnia and Herzegovina from a totally different viewpoint.

On June 2, 2008, thirty-five women, aged 27 to 69, from Albania, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, and Russia, joined the Come before Winter team of thirteen for spiritual renewal. The time spent there was indeed, a mountain-top experience. Our beautiful hotel was on the mountain where Olympic Nordic skiers competed twenty-four years earlier. We did not come to compete, but we left feeling as though we all were wearing “the gold.”

For five days, we wrapped ourselves in Psalm 103. Women who came to the renewal with spirits very near the breaking point, left with fresh resolve to return to their difficult lives with the sweet assurances of this psalm ringing in their ears – and yet with a realistic view of life in regard to the promises stated there.

Several months ago, when two of our brothers heard that we were studying Psalm 103, they wanted to write a special hymn for us. (I have attached this link to a YouTube video of the team singing the song. The video itself is not good at all but we wanted to capture the sound of the song. Please enjoy with your ears...not so much your eyes!)
We received a copy of the music the day before we left for Bosnia. What a gift! We are especially grateful to Mark Shipp, professor of Old Testament at Austin Graduate School of Theology in Austin, Texas, and Konstantine Zhigulin, a Christian brother from St. Petersburg, Russia, for using their talents to bless the entire renewal in such a way. It quickly became our theme song.

Each day’s thoughts were centered on one of five words. Monday, we pondered the Hebrew word, “HESED;” Tuesday – “HOLY;” Wednesday – “REMEMBER;” Thursday – “COMPASSION;” Friday – “BLESS.”

Mat and Beth Hames, of Alpheus Media in Austin, produced an amazing video expressing the meaning of “Hesed” with music, pictures, words. It is an indescribable masterpiece that became more meaningful to us with each viewing as we worshiped and studied the message of Psalm 103.

We bathed ourselves over and over in Psalm 103. We gathered in reading groups; reading structurally, reading theologically, and reading prayerfully. We spent time reflecting thoughts of the psalm in silence, in quiet activities, and in art. We began and ended each day in worship together. The sweet words, “Bless the Lord, O my soul” regularly reminded us of each element of that psalm.

Each day clusters (2-3 participants to each team member) gathered to pray, to share thoughts of the day or their own personal blessings or battles. We rejoiced in the victories from the various mission points, and in the hurts of disappointment.
We were especially moved by the experiences the “nationals” shared. One told of the serious threat of the lives of her and her family – a threat made by the gypsies with whom they are work. Another lady from Bosnia shared with us some of her stories of her experience serving as a nurse during the war. Another shared her personal story and the blessings she found in spite of the terrible war. Her very own words: “On 14 November 1992 god found me after I tried to escape for 46 years He found me in my bungalow in a refugee camp during the Bosnian war. Missionaries came to my bungalow looking for someone else and they found me instead. I thank god for this I will never forget this.” What a joy she was to all of us with her bright outlook on life and with her love for the Lord!

The study of Psalm 103, the lively discussions in various reading groups, the quiet times of reflection, the time spent expressing thoughts in art, and the worship together gave all the women – including the CbW team – courage and strength to keep on keeping on. Our time in the scripture did not give these Godly warriors just a temporary bandage for their hurts and wounds, but a hard plaster cast to give strength to their broken parts. God will continue to heal. He will be there when they are being broken again and will give them strength to deal with the difficulties that life will absolutely bring!

And I can almost hear them say, even in the most difficult of times, “Bless the Lord, O my soul….” They take this psalm seriously! They are just that kind of women!
Thank you for your compassion for the women who are engaged in a spiritual warfare on difficult turfs – fighting for the souls of many we will never meet on “this side.” Thank you for the way you have participated in this battle. May God richly bless you!
Thank you!

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. Psalm 103:8-11 NIV


Come before Winter Bosnia – 2008 Front row: Karen Alexander and Catherine Goode Second row: Jeanene Reese, Brooke Hollingsworth, Cynthia Agnell, Jana Graves Third row: Carol Maples, Susan Griffith, Linda Forrister, Sylvia Gerrard, Mariana Long Back row: Joyce Blake and Jennifer Crisp

A heart-felt message emailed to us soon after the renewal from one of the participants:
Dear Heather and the whole team of CbW which has been to Bosnia and Hecegovina even it has just passed one week after my coming home from Jahorina it seems to me everything so present and real on the one hand and at the other hand so much like a beautyfull dream...I hope you arrived back to the states and had relaxed from your busy time. I just wanted to say Thank you so much for doing this service on us and coming and encourreging me. It has really been a huge blessing and all arround my house the signs remaind me on what has become important to me (Hased, compassion, Holy...) and the bag , pictures and songbook remember me on the amazing job you has done for us before comong. As a friend of me said about your job :It´s a blessing for every person we are in touch with. Becouse if we are renewd the families, churches and everybody hopefully is............ May trhze blessing God gave me through you andure and last forever With big Thanks. Diana S. (Sarajevo) PS Sorry for my bad english

**If you would like for me to email the PDF file with pictures to you I would be more than happy to. Please just send me your email address and I will get to to you right away!**

Bosnia updates to come

I just wanted to let you know that I am still planning on updating everyone on my fabulous trip with Come before Winter to Bosnia. Since I got back to Tucson I have battled illness, jet lag and work. I will get to it I promise!!
Here is a teaser of what is to come!


Hotel Termag; where we stayed during the renewal, beautiful resort, wonderful staff, nice rooms, sweet memories


The clouds below us; Carolyn Cox drove different team members up to the top of the mountain every day to check out the phenomenal views, it is fascinating to be standing above the clouds


Looking down onto Sarajevo from the mountain tops

Excuse ME!!!! I have an announcement to make!!!

My little sister, Valerie G Goode, is moving to TUCSON!!!! On July 3rd Valerie and I will be loading her car and driving 15 hours from Farmers Branch to Tucson.

She will spend until October with me! Then she will be heading cross country to the NYC to spend a couple months with Lyndsey!! What an exciting time!! Then sometime in 2009 she will be heading off to where ever the Peace Corp sends her! That is right my friends, she has been accepted into the Peace Corp! The interview went very well and now she just has to wait for all the medical testing and to be told where she will be headed for two years!!

We are so proud of you Veeves-e-kins!!!

LOVE YOUR GUTS!!
Cath

Thumper

If you have talked to me at all over the last almost 2 years, you have probably heard me talk about all the wildlife in Tucson. My backyard is like a zoo in some ways. We see really big lizards all the time, hawks have landed (and pooped) on my car, coyotes have walked within 100 feet of Brian and I at dusk, I have seen bobcats late at night run (or early morning really) in front of my car, just last week B & I saw a big ole' snake and right now the baby bunnies are out in full swing! The bunnies are out in the morning and in the evening and all the time in between! I love it. There is a family of 5 that always seems to have meals together in our yard!

Isn't she so cute!! I asked Brian to go catch her for me so I could pet her. He made a rude comment about guns and traps. Boys...

i wished i had pictures

So...on Saturday, Brian and I went jogging. As we were heading back to the house Brian noticed something moving in the neighbors yard. We stopped, and there was a snake about to cross the street...it's black tongue quickly slithering in and out of its mouth. We watched it for about 5 minutes. It was 4 feet long and blended in well with the rest of the desert. I normally only see small snakes around the house so I was very surprised to see one so big.

The bunnies and lizards are out in full swing. There were 5 baby bunnies exploring the back yard. I love getting to watch them. The lizards are so big and look like they had a nice hibernation!

I have to go back to work tomorrow. So on that note... EAT MOR CHIKIN

For Veeves...

Brian and Catherine's website

I'm a home owner!!!!

Seriously!!!!!
As of Monday, April 28, 2008, I own a home!!!! Brian was working on refiancing the house and decided to add me to the title!! So here we are at the Title Agency signing the docs!!!

oh the blessings of wild animals

Friends! I know you have been waiting for this educational lesson! The picture below looks like cactus and desert debris. Actually it is a VERY large pack rat nest!! YUCKY!!! Brian and I have walked our property a bunch of times and have seen these but just thought it was tree branches, dirt, etc that the wind had blown around... not a harboring place for yucky little creatures!!!!! After the exterminator came and showed me "the largest nest I have seen in my 11 years of working in this business" I just had to take a picture and share it with you. This picture was taken after Brian was able to come over to see it as well. When we walked over to it we saw two little boogers scurrying back into their next!! GROSS!!!


After the washer incident and finding out about our pack rat issue, Brian decided that the laundry room needed a major makeover. The door hasn't shut of months now. There was no dry wall, just beams holding the structure up and brick around the outside. Brian invited Dave and Bill over to help drywall and clean out the laundry room. Then he bought a steel door that actually closes to help keep the pack rats out!! Isn't he is handsome working on the house with big power tools!! Man, I love this man!



Here is the wild hog that was caught in Uncle Morton's hog trap. This guy thought we was still tough and mighty in that cage. Andy told me that he was caught eating molded, soggy corn on the cob. Apparently, the grosser the food is, the more those little stinkers like it!


Riding around on four wheelers at The Jeffrey's ranch! We had so much fun during the pretreat for Come before Winter! I am so thankful to have these women as friends and mentors in my life!! What a blessing!


My BFF, Mariana Long, and I playing on a four-wheeler at The Jeffreys ranch in Baird! I love this lady!! I just wished she lived closer to me! :)


This is Bridgeport and Bagel the Beagle!! Philip's dog is Bridgeport! Veeves dog is Bagel bear! We love her!! She is getting old but still acts like she is a puppy!!

and our little friends keep coming!

Wednesday morning was quite eventful. I had an exterminator out roaming our property and a guy over to the house trying to fix Brian's car that hasn't worked since Sunday.

Lisa, the lady from NW Extermination came to check on a potential(!!!!!) pack rat problem and to inspect for termites. The termites really haven't been an issue but we felt since the house hadn't been inspected since Brian purchased it, it wouldn't hurt just to check it out.
Well, it turns out we have 6, you heard me, 6 large pack rat habitations within a 75 foot radius of our house. The good thing is that they are not nesting in our storage room (PTL) but they are running back and forth for various reasons.

As I let you know in the last post, Brian placed rat poison under the washer before the gentleman put it all back together. I'm pretty sure a rat found it and is now in the rat underworld...I have decided there is no way there could possibly be a rat heaven! :) Now our storage facility smells really yucky! Brian and our friend Dave have decided to drywall the storage room and clean it all out this weekend! I am thankful I will be at Starbucks and Chick-fil-A on Saturday!!

Hours later Brian's car was finally fixed with no major diagnosis. He changed the spark plugs and the car now starts...but isn't sure why it stopped to begin with. Hummm...

Chapter 3... sorry no pix Veevs

So, I was able to talk with our caterer today. The venue for our reception HAS fallen through so we will have to make plans to use another place. Yes, this is sort of annoying... wait! Very annoying. However, it is what it is and it always seems that in every wedding there is some sort of drama that comes with the territory.

I am thankful that I have a few more months to get everything figured out. JoAnn, the caterer, mentioned another venue that she thought might work out. It's closer to the church, on the same highway, same price. The only thing that she says it doesn't have is the winding staircase to do the grand entrance on. I didn't really care about that anyway... so we will see! Mom and Veeves are going to go check it out on April 26th!

My friend Susan was using the same venue though and her wedding is in July. I am hoping that the caterer will have a great recommendation for her too so it won't be any more stressful than it already has been for them. I would probably be a little more frazzled if I were getting married in just a few months.

This past Saturday was all fine and good when I left for Starbucks at 4:30 AM. When I returned home around 9:30 AM my roommate Amanda informed me that the washer had stopped working. Brian was out of town and with saving for a wedding, planning a trip with Come before Winter to Bosnia (Catherine) and a trip to Columbia (Brian), there aren't a lot of extra pennies lying around, you know? So, being the handy girls we are, we tried fixing it ourselves. That got us no where. I called the 1-800 number on the washer. That took me across the world to a call center in India where I was asked the same questions over and over again, was encouraged the spend more money on unnecessary things, got really frustrated and then made an appointment for the earliest time... the next Tuesday afternoon. I booked it with out a smile on this pretty face! Ughh!!!

I called my sweet friend Shannon who is just wonderful. Amanda (while leaving her wet cloths in the broken washer), Shannon and I went to La Encantada to get out of the house and enjoy the weather for a while. We talked poorly about old housing equipment and our dependency on so many things. Then we went on our separate ways.

After church on Sunday Shannon and I both had some errands to run. I was going to meet her at her condo once I went home to change. From the time I got home to the time I got to her condo she had already called 5 different washer repair people to help me find someone that could come out today (Sunday). See, I told you, wonderful friend!! :)

We found a guy that would come out and look at it for only $35! If he had to repair anything it would be $85. I was totally down with that since the Sears people were going to take three more days to come over and it was going to cost $65 just to have them come out.

This guy, David, took that sucker apart to figure out what the problem was (I had no idea was a washer looked like without its casing on). Can you guess??? Veeves..shhhh...don't tell!!

It was a massive RATS NEST!!!! Seriously. I family of rats had made their home under our washer and had chewed up all the little wiring underneath! David cleaned up all of the mess they had made, Brian bought some rat poison, David re-wired the washer, put it back together... and it works like new again!!

Brian has covered the little boogers front door and hopefully they will not be getting under there any more. We will hopefully have exterminators out some time next week to make sure we are good to go!

But isn't that exciting... God bless this desert of ours... with live animals... cute and not cute all around!

Wedding News, Chapter 2

This past Friday my mom was doing me the wonderful help of looking for/choosing the hotel we are going to use for all of our out of town guests. In her search she decided to stop by were our dinner will be held. Here is what happened:
Front desk man (FDM): Hello. May I help you?
Mom (M): My daughter is getting married in October and she will be having her reception here. Is it okay if I just look around?
FDM: Ma'am. We don't do weddings or receptions here anymore (soundly slightly appauled). We haven't for a month or so. Are you sure this is the building?
M: I believe so. This is the AIG building.
FDM: Well ma'am. We don't do receptions here any more.
M: Well, would you mind if I still look around a bit.
FDM: Sure.

Mom called me right after that to make sure she was in the right spot. She was.
I started calling the caterer/reception person to figure out what is going on as well as my friend Susan who is using the same venue this July. She hadn't heard anything about this either.

JoAnn, the caterer, called me back later that afternoon to inform me that there were some issues and that they are in the process of working everything out. If for some reason this venue falls through she has some other recommendations so there shouldn't be any big issues...of course, this is her telling me that there shouldn't be any big issues... easy for her to say.

I'm planning on calling her tomorrow (Wednesday) to figure out what she found out from the AIG management.


Brian spent this past weekend in Las Vegas will a bunch of his college buddies. He finally asked one more groomsmen. 2 down. 2 to go...or actually...when he got back on Sunday and asked if we could add one more person to our wedding party! So now we each are going to have 5 people standing with us!!!

I've got my 5!!! 3 sisters, 1 childhood friend and 1 college friend... the perfect mixture of sweet friendships over the last 26 years!!!!!


Work is going well. I am so busy and am not sure if I will be able to stay at Starbucks much longer. I really don't want to leave but I don't feel like I am being very fair to them either. We will have to wait and see how the next month or so goes.

Chick-fil-A world is well. Just super super busy.

Congratulations to the Brooks clan on baby #3 growing so strongly!! Can't wait to see her in person sooner than we can believe!!

Love you kids!!!

And sorry that I am never on my computer any more. It's amazing the difference when you have a job where you are out on your feet talking with people all day long...you don't stay up on all your computer stuff!! I'll try harder!!

gift registries, movies and cold weather

Well, I wished I could tell you that my life were more exciting...however, that would be a big lie. :)

I have been busy working a lot of hours, enjoying being on my feet and talking with people. What I have noticed with this life change is that I don't keep up with the news as much as I would like and I don't send near as much time any more in front of a computer.

Most of my afternoon has been spent starring at my laptop working on our gift registry for Crate & Barrel. Brian and I registried there over a month ago, only selected 30 things in the store and then haven't done anything since. It's hard to do any fun registring when there is a boy walking around with you constantly saying, "Why do we need that? Don't we already have that?"
When I head home in April I am planning on making mom and Veeves head up to B,B&B with me to register like crazy there as well! Hopefully that will be a little more fun! I am sure it will be!

Sunday has been a good day. Brian and I met up with friends at church, enjoyed a great sermon and then headed to the movies to see Horton Hears a Who. The movie was very cute and enjoyable. It is nice to watch a movie not filled with foul language, blood and guts. Though I am in no way, shape or form ready for children (sorry Vic & Veeves) enjoying the movie as much as I did makes me look forward to the times when I do have children that I can experience those moments with!

As I said early, I haven't done a very good job of staying current on the hot topics of "today". It is freezing in Tucson today!! I had NO idea! The weather has been fabulous this whole week and then it had to go off and snow in the mountains today and rain in the city. Blah... I was looking forward to sitting outside in my hammick chair reading a book and enjoying the warmth. Alas...

That's all I got for now! Enjoy...

So guess what??!!

Well, I guess most of you have already heard but...
I HAVE A NEW JOB!!! Officially :)

I am now the new marketing director for Chick-Fil-A in Tucson! I will miss the people at the radio station but I am really looking forward to the new experience!!

I'll keep you posted on how it goes!!!

My hair

I finally said goodbye to a little more than 4 inches of my hair today. It was getting too long and heavy... and I was just tired of dealing with it! After talking with mom this afternoon I decided to go and see if I could walk into a salon and make something happen! I was lucky and found an opening at Regis in the Tucson Mall! Alejandra, the girl that did the cut was super sweet and liked to talk... a lot! :)

Here's what she did...



I'm really happy! I like it. It isn't very short (a little short for me)! And I like it a lot! Good job girl!

More news on the Wedding front

Sometimes I wished I were more excited. The engagement was really exciting...not at all how I imagined it...but still super exciting. Since the planning has begun there hasn't been much to get me going. I find myself telling most people, "I really don't care. Do whatever you think looks best." I have some wonderful friends doing all my flowers..."I really don't care. Do whatever you think looks best." The girls and their bridesmaid dresses..."I really don't care. Do whatever you think looks best. Just as long as it is Wine, Dept 20 and in Satin!" The music..."I really don't care. Do whatever you think is best." Brian with the tuxs..."I really don't care. Do whatever you think looks best." Whether the dad's and Ronnie have to wear tuxs...I let the mom's fight that one out...Why? You might ask..."I really don't care. Do whatever you think looks best."

So...on it goes! :)
I went to Office Max the other day and was so excited to see that they had boxes of 'do it yourself' invitations on sale...and then 20% off on top of that! Man, I was excited and I couldn't get a hold of ANYONE to share in my joy! Brian, mom, sisters, girlfriends...ANSWER YOUR PHONE WHEN I CALL PLEASE! :)

Other than that, Brian and I are just trying as hard as possible to stay within budget. Let me tell you friend... that is stinkin' hard to do with a small budget for a Saturday event. I'm SO thankful for all the people that are wanting and willing to help out where they can! That means so much to me!!!

Thank you!
Love ya'!
Bye

Oh...PS: I have decided I have two favorite things!! Starbucks doubleshot Light. This is their 6.5oz can of cold goodness! Also, Fiber One cereral. I knew I loved that stuff but MAN, I really LOVE that stuff!! It's delicious. I just bought to other types to try them out and their SO delic!!!!!!!! Lyndsey... you should try these. Keep the original for cooking but these are yummy for breakfast cereals...

After six years...

KO JO KAI WON SING SONG!!!!!!!!! Congratulations girls! I wished I could have been there with everyone to cheer you on!!!

Here's the Abilene Reporter News article!!

YEAH!!!!

NYC Extravaganza part 2

Saturday part 2:
I don't remember if I talked about Magnolia and the Natural History Museum. Both were fabulous and super fun times with Lyndsey, Kathy (the roomie) and Veeves!
Both Lyndsey and Veeves blogs do a fabulous job of adding to what I have already said!!

Sunday:
Lyndsey had her first experience with a Zip Car. We drove to New Jersey for the Mavs/Nets game! The Mavs played one of the worst games ever but it was still tons of fun to go to and I was still so surprised how many people were there in Mavs Gear!!!
The walk to the apartment was FREEEEEZING and super windy! We ordered pizza and just relaxed the rest of the night knowing that we are heading to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Monday morning!!





Monday:
A little history lesson!
Oh my word it was cold and windy! The ferry ride to Ellis Island and the Statue was freezing!! Valerie did a funny on the ferry ride over...I won't go into detail due to embarrassment but I am sure you can ask her and she can fill you in on the details! :)

Here are a bunch of pictures!






























This is my favorite picture of Valerie...I think we should send it to Earl! :)