Howdy Pardner!

I have had a wonderful last few days. In the spirit of mid-winter break, I have done nothing. I think all I did today was sleep, clean my room, contemplate rearranging my room, read blogs, hmm...I had to have done something else...(?). Ah well, I did cook and update my picassa albums.

Anyway, probably since I've been so lazy all day, I now can't sleep. I read a bit. I'm reading a book recommended by a student, "Reading Lolita in Tehran." It's quite good. I am also listening to a new soundtrack I just downloaded, which I love. It is from Once, the musical motion picture. It's so beautiful and haunting. I just love it. Anyway, while I'm listening to the end of the CD i thought I'd update with some pictures.

This last Sabbath was so wonderful. We spent all afternoon singing and worshiping. My brother is so good on guitar and Amanda played piano while Margie and I sang. We all brought favorite new praise songs and just worshiped in our own way. It was so refreshing! Then later that night we had our annual "Valentine's Day Chili Cookoff." I was skeptical about it. Church "themed" get-togethers never really inspire my imagination. I refused to dress up in western-wear, but ended up having a really good time. My church family is so wonderful, and I had a lot of fun that night. The fellowship hall was decorated with a western theme, and a lot of people got their pictures taken in a "wanted poster" cutout. They were hilarious. I wish I had pictures.

Then we all played Western-themed Steal-Bingo, complete with the church breaking into song when certain words were called. Debbie would call out, "Sunrise!" The church would respond, "Sunset" and continue with the rest of the Fiddler on the Roof song. My favorite was when she called, "Trails!" and was met with a rousing rendition of "Happy Trails to You." It was much louder than any of the other responses and we all ended up laughing so hard. I've included some pics of the Western Chili-Cookoff.