Today's Voicemail

Vivi: Hi, Robin...

(tif in the background): It's just me, Vivi, wanting to call and say hi.

Vivi: It's just me, Vivi, wanting to call and say hi.

(tif in the background): Bye.

Vivi: Bye.

(Vivi in the background): She didn't talk.

Everything Is Illuminated

I just finished this book and I might have a new favorite author. If you recall, Jonathan Safran Foer also wrote this, so I guess it's not a stretch to say he has been a big influence in my life. And that was BEFORE reading his novels, which usually touch me in more meaningful ways than non-fiction.

One of the many gems:

Jews Have Six Senses

Touch, taste, sight, smell, hearing...memory. While Gentiles experience and process the world through the traditional senses, and use memory only as a second-order means of interpreting events, for Jews memory is no less primary than the prick of a pin, or its silver glimmer, or the taste of the blood it pulls from the finger. The Jew is pricked by a pin and remembers other pins. It is only by tracing the pinprick back to other pinpricks - when his mother tried to fix his sleeve while his arm was still in it, when his grandfather's fingers fell asleep from stroking his great-grandfather's damp forehead, when Abraham tested the knife point to be sure Isaac would feel no pain - that the Jew is able to know why it hurts.


When a Jew encounters a pin, he asks: What does it remember like?
 

Thrive

Kaiser Permanente is trying to put me out of a job one 61 second radio ad at a time. Plus my voice is way less soothing than Allison Janney.

And then he mispoke

I'm so far behind on posts that I'm starting to refer to this blog as my scrapbook.

Until I can post pics from Europe and our Dirty 30 Birthday Roast, let this tide you over: Tonight Ben and I were warming up tacos for dinner (note: trust that when the taco guy says he can feed 30 people, he really means it - don't buy more food). I was giving Ben a big hug when he leaned back so he could see my face and the following ensued:

B: Hey, I was thinking of something today at work that made me miss 17 year old Robin.

R: (stepping back from embrace) Excuse me?

B:  (reaching for me) Come here! I was just saying that something reminded me of you at 17 and I missed you.

R: What's wrong with (almost) 30 year old Robin?

B: Nothing! Nothing!

R: Are you trying to make me jealous of myself?

B: No! What I'm trying to say is that I thought of a memory of you and it made me want to leave work right then so I could see you!

R: Riiiight.

B: I'm serious! If I could just remember what it was, you'd really like it. It's a compliment!

R: Mmmm Hmmm. Keep digging your hole.

If his memory doesn't get real sharp real soon, Ben's going to feel like he's 17 again and sleeping on the couch in his bedroom (because he was too lazy to make his bed).

My next pet.

The tension of life.

Life is rarely divided into nice, neat little chapters. Milestones? Yes. Clear beginnings and endings? Sometimes. Feeling one emotion and then another? Rarely. Instead of sad then happy then angry then excited, one tends to feel sadhappyangryexcited. Or something like that. At least that's been my experience this last month.

First there was a tornado that took out 30% of my hometown.

Then there was the 8th anniversary dinner!

 

Then I received my first piece of mail addressed to Dr.! 

Then I was hooded!

Like a doctor.

Then I graduated!

And took a lot of pictures with supportive family members!

And proud husbands (wearing one of the matching T-shirts his mom made for us).

Then I had a party with a lot of incredible people I get to count as friends!

Then I had a final goodbye dinner with my fellow interns. 

Then I went to a goodbye party for a couple near and dear to my heart.

Then I helped a friend move into her new condo!

Thursday is my last day of internship.

Friday is my first day of post-doc.

And so it goes...

Prayer Requests

Thank you all for checking in with us and praying for our families. We've been incredibly blessed to have not lost anyone in this horrible disaster. However, there are a lot of hurting people back home right now and they need continued prayers. Here's an update from the Geiser's, some of our friends who lost their home:

Hello to all our friends and family!

We wanted to take a minute and update you on our first day of beginning this journey of rebuilding life after the tornado. First of all, THANK YOU SO MUCH! Your prayers, messages, offers of help and gif...ts have already left us completely humbled and speechless with gratitude. In many ways we are still in shock- just doing the next thing to try and sort through the mess- but knowing we aren't walking through this alone has brought so much encouragement in dealing with all this. We truly feel held up by you all right now.

Today we were able to go to the house, in between a lot of rain, and look for whatever could be salvaged. There were several ways that God showed His grace to us, and I want to share them with you. First of all, we found our school room mostly in tact (it was part of our garage). This meant that most of our books for school were still undamaged. On top of that, we stored some of our pictures out there- including all the negatives of our wedding photos- and they were all fine!! Our second story was pretty much gone except for part of Anthony's and my bedroom. In this part of the room was our fire safe, which has all our birth certificates, marriage license, insurance info.... It was all there in the midst of the rubble! Also, Anthony has journals with our girls (he started them once they turned 8 yrs old- so Tatum has been doing this for 3 years now). They take turns writing letters back and forth to each other in them. Well, somehow we found BOTH of them- something so irreplaceable- and they barely had any water damage! Each of the kids' baby books were also there- just wet. All of these things were just above and beyond what we could have hoped to find. We were amazed at God's mercy to give us, not only our lives, but then these precious mementos on top of that- we are so grateful!

Many have asked what we need right now, and that is a hard question to answer. We need everything at this point! In the next few weeks we will know more of what that means exactly.

For now, we are focusing on these few things:

-A car fund. We lost both our vehicles in the storm which were only covered by liability insurance. In the near future, we are going to have to replace them so we can start getting around again. For now, Anthony's parents are letting us use their van, so that is working as a temporary solution until we can get the money together to buy new -used :) vehicles.

-Sorting through what we have left. We have been able to find some of the kids special stuffed animals and a few clothes. They are wet and filthy, but we think we can clean them up. All the cleaning is going to take time.

-Our kids. Yesterday was a terrifying experience for us all, but the kids especially have a lot to process. They have lost all of their 'treasures' and their home. They have seen our walls and roof disappear. AJ (who is 3) doesn't understand why we can't go home. He keeps asking why the bad bad storm came. We want to help them process this whole ordeal, but we are also busy trying to get as much accomplished as we can before rain destroys anything else. Pray for them. Pray for us to take the time during all this to help them. Pray for peace in their hearts and minds.

-A few things that come to mind that we will be needing- a high chair, a stroller, a crib, a twin bed, bunk beds, bath towels, dressers...I won't go on. We are at his parent's house, so we don't have unlimited storage, but in the next few weeks these things will be needed.

We have been so humbled and blessed by all of you. Thank you so much for praying, weeping, checking in on us, bringing by clothes, giving and giving and giving. We are overwhelmed. We are full of thankfulness. We love you all!

Also, we had two different groups of friends/family who brought the girls and Josiah clothing today. We also had a second-hand store give us a car seat and booster for the boys for FREE today. Several in our family have given sacrificially to us to help with our immediate needs as well. Family and friends have offered to come and help with chainsaws and trailers- again, THANK YOU! We will be in touch with you when the area clears enough that cleanup is possible without getting in the way of emergency service workers. Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts. We are overcome!

All is grace~Christy & Anthony

Also, please pray for a classmate of mine, Paul. His parents were at a Pizza Hut in town when the tornado hit and people were told to go to the freezer for safety. Now rescue workers can't find the freezer. His mom was pulled out of the rubble, but his dad is still missing. Additionally, another guy we went to school with, Don, was killed while trying to protect his wife. There are still people trapped under the rubble. Pray for stamina for the emergency workers, hope for those who have family members still missing, and peace for those who have lost loved ones. Pray for the community as they pick up the pieces of the town they love and begin to rebuild.