Man, I've been blogging a lot lately...

I think that means I should be loading my dishwasher.

Anyway, I just came across a new-to-me author (she died in 1974), and
I'm really excited about it. Funnily enough, I found her through the
ibooks application on my new iphone (I promise we're not consumerists,
I promise!)...I was trying to find cheap and not-too-dirty romance
stories to read (yes, it's true...I like books like that. I'm a sucker
for happy endings), and amid all the descriptions of beautiful people
at cross purposes with burning passions (and men without shirts on the
cover), I found these books that had all recently been reprinted, and
also issued in digital editions...and they didn't sound like they'd be
scandalous! Hurray! So, even though I ended up paying $9.99 for what
is really a bunch of ones and zeros, I really enjoyed the book I ended
up purchasing: The Convenient Marriage, by Georgette Heyer. Roy would
really prefer that we get tangible books, and ultimately, I would too,
but it's hard to resist just pushing a button and having several hours
of enjoyment, even though I know that digital editions are such a
headache in the publishing world. Anyway, the book was sweet with
clever dialogue, and I'm planning on going to the library today,
getting my library card, and checking out some paper copies of other
of Georgette Heyer's books. According to wikipedia, she originated the
"Regency Romance" genre. So, yeah. These books don't make me confront
a lot of stuff, but you know, really, let's be honest: all the issues
that I appreciate being raised in literature are basically right here
with me in real life. It is probably more accurate to say that I
appreciate consciousness-raising literature, rather than enjoying it,
in most cases.

I have to get Iris more juice.

something I want to remember

well, let's just talk a little about Iris's evening in general, and
then get to the really sweet part:

I was folding some clothes, and she put them back in the hamper. So,
that was cute. Then she put her blocks back in the bag, which I was
really proud of, until she dumped them out as soon as the bag was
full. But she was really helpful about putting them in the bag--she
even carried four at once to put them in the bag.

Then, and this has happened maybe once or twice before, she took off
her diaper, headed upstairs, and climbed in the tub. I wasn't
necessarily planning on bathing her, even though she needed it because
I was tired, but if your kid climbs in the tub, you really have to.

But the thing I want to remember for sure is that after bathtime was
over, she climbed in my lap, all towelled, and we just started singing
her name "Iris, Iris, Iris." It was super-sweet.

Okay. That's all.

More disconnected thoughts--hurray!

I just washed all my dishes that won't fit into the dishwasher...now I
just need to empty it, fill it, and run it again. Yeah! But I got to
listen to music while I was working (Randy Travis's Great Hits), and
it was surprising what a difference it made. All our other houses were
too small to really listen to my own music without getting on Roy's
nerves. Even though he did actually buy me that CD, it's not easy for
him to listen to country--it's much easier for me to listen to his
"socially-conscious hip-hop." So the past three years haven't really
been a time for me to listen to my own music that much. And I'm not
complaining about it--certainly my musical experience has been widened
and enriched by participating in Roy's music. But there is nothing
like listening to the music that you loved at first. I am not very
good at being diligent in the kitchen--I either look at it and think
"that's going to take forever--I'll just do it later" or "that's not
going to take too long--I'll do it later" and then, of course, it's
"later" and all I want to do is go to sleep. Anyway, I am getting
better about running the dishwasher, AND I can't stay on my feet for
too long, so I don't feel bad about sitting down and eating a
Marshmallow Supreme from the freezer and blogging. Lately the internet
has been pretty boring for me, so I guess I'll put something into it
and see if we can get something back out.

Also today, when it comes to housekeeping, I have hung two loads of
clothes out on the line, and washed one. That doesn't make too much
sense because Roy washed a load yesterday, so I hung it up today (it
took us a while to find the clothesline), and then I washed a load and
hung it up--it's drying right now. I hope it finishes before dark.
[Sidenote: baby is kicking me.] Having clothes on the line DEFINITELY
makes me want to do more laundry (also something I'm usually not to
eager about), even though that first load is sitting in the sun room,
waiting to be folded, so I haven't gotten the whole process completed.
But my clothes smell AMAZING, and my towels make me think of the
Bivins, and I feel like I am saving money and the environment, and
getting more exercise than is my wont. It's nice to have a reason to
be glad it's hot. Hopefully, we will get a dryer soon, for the winter
and emergencies, etc., but for now, I just feel really cool with my
clotheslines and my two knots that I know that are holding them all
together. We think we really like our $90 Craigslist washer, but
there's some leakage that's going on during the first half of the wash
cycle that we are concerned about.

I just heard Iris waking up (really weird nap cycle today)...I'll be back.

[three hours later....]

So we are not sure exactly what's wrong with Iris, but we think she
has a tummy ache. She actually threw up yesterday, twice, so we ended
up taking her to the doctor (whom we met in Costco!). Actually, Roy
ended up taking her to the doctor, because *I* was at the OB, getting
my first visit in since late May. Fortunately, the pediatrician we met
has an office just down the street from my doctor. Roy was able to
take Iris, get her seen, and still get back to my doctor in time to
see the ultrasound! Tada! We're having a boy. ...back to my born
child--the doctor said it was probably just the start of a virus or
something, but Iris has just been a little weird all day...tired, but
not really sleepy. We watched a LOT of Dora the Explorer. I was
reluctant to put her to bed-bed, because I kinda wanted to be closer
to her if something did go wrong (i.e., more vomiting OR crazy poop),
but even though she would stretch out and cuddle with her blanket, as
long as she wasn't in HER bed, she wasn't going to sleep. I'm afraid
she gets this from me. So we just put her in the crib and hopefully
things will go okay.

I really want her to be in a good mood tomorrow because Roy is
preaching at one of the churches in town tomorrow, and then we're
having dinner/lunch with a family afterwards. Sundays are never easy
for our nap schedule, but if she's cranky to start out with, I'll be
worried. And pregnant Emily doesn't deal with cranky Iris as well as
one could hope. Also we have to be at church at 7:45, and it's 20
minutes away, and there's two services, and because of the throwing
up, I'm wondering if it's even ethical to put Iris in the nursery. She
might do fine in church, and she might be a menace...it's hard when
Roy's in the pulpit and not sitting with us. (Hurray for RUF!!!!)
Anyway, I'm thinking we'll go to early service, me-n-Iris, and then
see if she can get a nap during the late service. Hopefully her tummy
won't cause problems, either.

My new favorite part of the house is the sun room. We finally cleared
it out/cleaned it up--for the longest time it was just a messy
compendium of Iris's toys and random contents of boxes, some of which
Iris had investigated and strewn the contents everywhere. But Roy
spent some time in there, and I helped a little, and now it's pretty
amazing. It's the best at night, though, because it's cool, and you
can hear the cicadas. It's so peaceful. Iris has been up when it's
been dark lately, and we have family time (not really on purpose) in
there--she and Roy play and roughhouse, and I lie (lay?) on the sofa
and take pictures of them. It's pretty sweet.

Also, about our baby being a boy. We're excited, even though as Roy
said, there's always a sort of letdown after you find out. What did
move my emotions was when people said, "oh, so you'll have a boy and a
girl--are you done?" That kinda made me mad. And actually, that we
want to have a bunch of kids is pretty important in our life and in my
birth desires. And by bunch, I mean no more than five. It used to be
that they said after one c-section, that you were done having babies,
and then it was two, and now they don't really mind as much--the
doctor that did Iris's c-section said he'd done 8 c-sections for one
lady, and my current doctor said he'd done a fifth one for someone
just the other day. But all the likelihood percentages of worrisome
things go up the more c-sections you have, so that's why I want to
avoid them. My doctor said that it was fine for me to have a trial of
labor, but he wouldn't let me go longer than 41 weeks... at that
point, I probably won't care, anyway, but if you would go ahead and
pray that I would go into labor all by myself, before 41 weeks, and
have an uncomplicated birth, I'd really appreciate it. I'm going to
find a doula to help, too, so that should be good to have an advocate.
So, little Jonas Martin should be here no later than November 14th.
Jonas is a variant of Jonah, and we just like it....even though
writing it and making it real is a different feeling than talking
about hypothetical Jonas. Martin is for Roy's deceased brother Martin,
Martin Luther, AND Martin Luther King. I forget what Martin means, but
Jonas/ah means "dove." I'll look Martin up real quick--hold on:
funnily enough, it means "martial, war-like." I wonder what Ghandi's
name meant.

I can feel him more more and more, too--at one point, he and Iris were
both kicking me. Yes!

He's moving right now, actually...I'm not sure if he wants me to eat
or sleep, but I don't quite feel like doing either.

Let's see, what else did I want to say?

Oh! One of our neighbors gave us tomatoes from his garden AND told Roy
he would mentor him in becoming a gardener. When I knew that we had
tomatoes, I bought bacon and lettuce and even though we had plenty of
leftovers to eat from when we had two potential RUF students over, I
kept making BLTs until all the bacon and tomatoes were gone.
SOoooooooooooooo good.

I finally have clothes that fit...or that are too big, which at this
point is just as good. Hmmm...I think I might have some pie and
ice-cream.

Oh, our other news is that we got iphone-4's. I've finally joined the
smartphone nation. Roy had a blackberry before, but it just wasn't
working like it should, and campus ministers said that iphones were
really the way to go. It's funny how ashamed I feel that I have
something _nice_. When I was out clothes shopping the other day and
had to sit down and eat lunch, the bus boy saw it ('cause I was
texting with Roy), and said, "Oh, is that an Iphone 4? Can I look at
it?" I felt so silly. But I did let him hold it. HOWEVER, the good
thing about my having an iphone is that now I can take LOTS of
pictures of Iris (and later of Jonas)(and Roy's gardening exploits).
Our old camera, which probably has the same megapixels as my phone had
battery problems and was difficult to use. So: if you want to see
current pictures of us, especially Iris, check out my latest facebook
album. Sorry, we don't put pictures on the blog. That's what we have
words for! (joke). Also if you can see the pictures of Christy's
wedding, they are gorgeous and you should look at them. I love my
wedding the best, of course, but hers was AMAZING.

And, Roy took three written presbytery exams and has some more stuff
to do actually at a presbytery meeting, but he's on the way to getting
ordained in November. Pray that I DON'T go into labor on that day. :)

Okay. I think I need to eat something. Or go to bed.

Much love!

not very much connected thoughts

I'm pretty sure our aged furniture is begging us to get a trampoline.
Someone likes to jump on the rolly chair.

Someone is also 21 months today. Not only does that mean we have an
almost two-year-old, it means I should be giving birth in four months
plus a week or something.

I woke up before everybody else today and lay in bed thinking about
giving birth (especially not having a c-section), and auditing
classes. Does that make them my idols? Then I told Roy I was bored,
but he wouldn't wake up.

The way Iris's hair bounces when she's in motion pretty much defies
description, but it's really dynamic.

After a couple weeks of home again gone again, we are finally going to
be home for three straight weeks. Maybe we'll finally get to throw our
boxes out! The stinking garbagemen came much earlier than they have
been on pick up day, so we missed them.

My baby just kicked. We are going to go to the doctor next week, and
hopefully we'll find out that everything is fine and that the baby has
a specific sex. I will likely put it on facebook, but in as low key a
way as possible. I hate seeing people getting congratulated for having
a boy or a girl, or people saying that boys are the best or girls are
the easiest (or vice versa). We value both sexes equally here at the
Hubbard house, and especially since there's more variation AMONG the
sexes than BETWEEN them, all the hoopla about the sex just kinda
annoys me. Sorry...my mad social scientist got out of hand. We are
hoping for a boy, just for diversity, but certainly we will welcome
another little girl. Iris has certainly been a joy, even if I still
struggle with keeping her hair groomed.

Oh! we've sent out our first support letter from Alabama A&M RUF--let
us know your address if you didn't get a copy and you want one.
Additionally, sometimes my dad (hint hint) will put them online, too.
Basically, it's wonderful here and we need to raise money and get
prayed for.

I have to show Roy the maternity clothes I'm going to get now.

Love!

getting ready for father's day (or fathers' day)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/science/15fath.html

vivid dreams

My subconscious is deeply concerned with the phrase "strange fruit."
All I had to do was read it yesterday and my dreams turned into
meditation about the dangers of white supremacy to my family--so much
so that even in my dream I dreamed I couldn't sleep because I was
worried about it; I kept thinking..."50 years or more ago, my husband
would have been killed and his body desecrated because he loved me." I
couldn't figure out what would have happened to me or Iris. But in my
dream I was trying to sleep, but couldn't because I was so worried.

Additionally, there was some kind of international manhunt that I was
involved in--a la Dan Brown, really--and a man in charge of a prison
or something in Venice invited me over for curried rice. He had a
sweet young daughter, but by the end of the night, he had disappeared.
While I was in Venice (no, I don't know why that's important), there
was a duct-taped leg hanging from a tree; I was afraid to look and see
if it was connected to a body. I can't remember if I was more worried
that it was the man I had dinner with or the man I was supposed to be
finding--I can't remember if the man I was looking for was a good guy
or a bad guy during the civil rights movement, but I was looking for
him in a Venetian prison, if that tells you anything.

Just to reassure you, Huntsville had be wonderful in this regard. We
actually bought our house from a mixed couple (she said, "we were
mixed before it was cool"), and they said that they never had any
problems, even years n years ago. We feel very comfortable here. I
think I'm just troubled by southern racial history in general, as well
as the societal institutions that I am connected to and the roles they
played.

Okay... that's all. maybe I'll have a more cheerful post later on.

we made it!

by the grace of God, we made it safely to Huntsville after leaving at 3-something AM.  I left before the truck was loaded all the way because Iris had to spend the night in the car seat and had woke and was gettin' cranky. I was doing fine on adrenaline until I got to Pelahatchie...I had to pull over behind a line of 18-wheelers and wait for Roy to catch up to me. Then he was super tired, so we stopped in Morton --at a super nice gas station-- and got drinks and corndogs. Dee-licious. That was about at four. Roy also got a "five hour energy drink."

We stopped at Meridian for more coffee and Iris and Roy had some breakfast--I should have gotten some, but I just got coffee. Gross McDonalds coffee. Then, on the east side of Tuscaloosa, I realized I needed to eat, rightaway, so we exited...right before I got to the stop sign, I started throwing up while I was driving. I was able to brake and just hang out the window, but continued to throw up all the way into the Burger King parking lot. That's pretty much the grossest thing that's happened to me in my life. And then the Burger King was gross, too. but it was better than throwing up. I'm just thankful that I wasn't on the interstate when it happened.

That was our last stop--we managed to hang on until we got to Huntsville! I was fifteen minutes ahead of Roy because I found it much easier to stay awake going seventy than sixty. ALSO, apparently everyone speeds on I-65. However, when I got on 565, everyone was going less than the speed limit. It was very confusing. So we got to our NEW HOUSE!!!!!

Iris and I just hung out waiting for Roy to get there, but when he arrived we had some trouble figuring out the best way to get that huge truck into the driveway. Roy had been up foro more than 24 hours at that point. I'd gotten a tiny nap, but wasn't much better.  Anyway, he got there, and we had nap time/relax time in the sunroom--we got there maybe 2 hours before the people who helped us move came.

THOSE FOLKS came with tons of food and drinks and a lawnmower, and were so helpful and kind. As soon as they got a chair for me, I just sat in the chair and directed traffic. They even brought me a plate of food! I don't really remember what happened after they had unloaded. I think we must have fallen asleep.

Iris loves the new house and having room to run around--even though it'll be easier once we've gotten more boxes out of the way. I get really tired, so we are unpacking pretty slowly. Sunday we definitely RESTED...I put my poor body and baby through a lot during the moving time, so I'm trying to make sure we both get plenty of rest. Iris has only fallen down the stairs once--and there's a landing halfway through (then it changes direction)--so she can't fall all the way down.

I have a headache so I'm going to stop now. Keep praying. Thanks and Love.

Emily (and company)

this made me cry

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/fashion/09Love.html?pagewanted=2&sq=modern%20love&st=cse&scp=2

note to self

sometimes when Iris refuses something that I put near her mouth, it doesn't mean she doesn't want it--it means she wants to feed it to herself.

meals I want to have before we move

at least three different dishes from Saigon
pesto pasta from Broadstreet
more Indian food
a superburger from Cool Al's/Stamps
creme brulee from Fresh Market
ribs from Sweet Daddy's (aka the gas station down the street)

I wish we could have food prepared by the Dotson's, but they are already gone.

also, in Starkville,
Little Dooey's, City Bagel, Bulldog Deli, Scheherazade's/whatever its new name is, and maybe the MSU cafeteria.

a part of a poem?

something about "spontaneous [toddler] kisses, drippy/sloppy with cheetos"

yeah, iris just came up to me and stuck her face up to kiss me. it was precious and gross...cause she had been eating cheetos.

an historic moment

Tonight, I french-braided Iris's hair. I had to bribe her with milkduds to make her stay still enough to do so, but I did it!

I thought I had more to say, but I forgot it.

i feel a blog coming on...

Well, on Sunday, I'll be eleven weeks pregnant. So that's exciting. I'll take any soft tacos from Taco Bell you want to bring me.

This is my fourth pregnancy. It looks like this baby is gonna make it, but I don't like calling him/her our second baby. Just an FYI. Having healthy babies doesn't fix the grief and hurt of losing babies. That said, I don't want to be someone who is all into an identity of baby-loss. But sometimes, it does just bubble up.

I just made eggs and sausages for breakfast (right after I wrote that previous paragraph). But they didn't really make me happy, even though Roy and Iris enjoyed it. I ate some, though, and hopefully it'll be enough to hold me over. Besides the tiredness, the not-enjoying-eating is what gets to me the most about pregnancy. However, it's a good sign of little JoLo's health, so I am trying not to complain TOO much.

We have a contract on a house in Huntsville. We are not going to be making a big deal about it until we close, though. I didn't really realize how much buying a home was a process, not an immediate thing. But hey, time to be grown ups! There will be more details when we get to close, which, Lord-willing, will be the end of the month.

I got to go to Jackson State's RUF last week because Roy preached. It was really fun--like, REALLY fun. It made me really excited about having "our own" students at A&M. I don't know if the students at A&M are like the JSU students, but hopefully, they'll be as excited about RUF.

Iris is learning and growing like CRAZY. She can say all sorts of fun things, including "no-mi" [no ma'am] (okay, so that one isn't as fun as others), and she's talking ALL the time, even though we don't usually know what she's saying. She calls most animals "dau-ee" [doggy], but sometimes she also says "bird" or "kitty." She has also started using silverware. I am absolutely thrilled about this one (or I would be if I didn't have a thousand other things to worry about), because I mostly let her eat with her fingers, and didn't even feed her with utensils, but she has decided that she wants to use utensils. Now if I can just figure out how to make her keep her spoon right-side-up, we'll be golden. She also really likes our broom. We're going to have to get her a little one so she won't knock stuff over with the handle. It's so fun to think she'll be a big sister in just what...crap, I'm so bad at math lately...eleven minus four is SEVEN. SEVEN months she'll be a big sister. well, I guess, six and a half.

I had to give my two weeks notice at work on Thursday (well, two weeks and one day). It was really bittersweet. Of course, I am so excited to go to Huntsville, have another baby, minister to students, etc. But I LOVE(d) my job. It really matched my gifts and abilities, my co-workers were great, and I got to help make and sell BOOKS. I love books, and we make really good ones at the press. I have four more days there (since I only work two days a week), and I'm hoping that I won't be too sad. It's funny, it is true that now that I know when I'm leaving, the foibles of my co-workers really have been getting to me, so on the one had, leaving will be a relief, but I'm still going to miss it. I am hoping that maybe I can do some sort of work for them in Huntsville, over the internet, but I don't know if it'll work out.

Um, oh what else. Oh, I read two books lately, well I've read more than that, but only two are worth of comment. One I forgot the title of--wait--I remember, BETWEEN THE TIDES. It was alright, except that it was set in the Carolinas and had a SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY in it. IN CAROLINA! I couldn't believe that they had somehow missed that there was already a Southern University in Louisiana...and theirs definitely didn't have the same racial makeup as the real one. So I was really bothered by that, even though the story was fine. The other book I read was THE HELP. That of course, has a lovely story, but it was written in presence tense. It was set in the sixties but the speakers/narrators were speaking in the present tense. I don't understand why people think that's cool. So annoying. However, it was funny to recognize names and places in the story. Did anyone think the present tense HELPED the story? (ha...pun not intended).

Well, I think that's about all for now. Talk to you later.

grocery list

milk
benedryl (store brand plain)
canned soup, low sodium, chicken flavors
canned diced tomatoes
bread
v8 fruit juice
fruit--bananas, grapes, etc.
peanut butter (not too much sugar)
crackers?
potatoes
cereal
sandwich meat
sausage
ziplock bags
nekots
ginger ale (brand with lowest sugar content)
chips
goldfish
yogurt (whole)
pop corn
cokes
rice
straws or straw sippy cups

thanks!

Happy Anniversary to us!

What a great day!

Three years ago today (probably at around 7 pm), I got married to the best man in the world, not counting Jesus. He cried a lot, but I didn't. The music was so good, I wanted to jump up and down on the stage (but I didn't). We had caramel cake and Breyer's icecream and dancing. The flowers were beautiful, all real spring flowers, in some cases harvested from people's yards (potentially without their consent!). And Keith Berger said, "He loves you not because you are beautiful, but because He is making you beautiful."

These past three years have been so much better walking alongside ol' Roy. His wit and sometimes just weirdness keep me laughing, his strength and hugs and absolute faith in God's care for us have sustained me during terrible times.

It's hard to look back and think of those years as wonderful. Full of wondering, but not exactly wonderful. It has been so good good good to be with Roy, but the being a family part has been hard. We have lost two babies--but only gotten one to hold. It's taken us three years to find a job that we love and that seems like it's going to provide financial stability. And we are still learning about each other, how to fight, how to parent, how to fight about parenting, how to be grown ups...we have just begun! I don't think Keith said it at our wedding (I couldn't listen that well, to be honest), but I know he's said it at lots of others, that marriage is hard, but good, and I can't really add to that. It has been terribly hard--so many hard things that wouldn't have happened if we hadn't gotten married, but it has been beyond good...so many good things that couldn't have happened without our marriage, including but not limited to a beautiful girl named Iris.

God has been so good to us, and I am so thankful to him for putting me and Roy together.

It seems like just yesterday we drove off to the reception, went to Wendy's, and then to the Lion's park because we were waiting for my dad to take the presents to our apartment so we could spend our night there. Yes. It was delightfully awkward. And I forgot to get serving utensils for the reception food.

I'm pretty sure I had the best wedding ever.

Tonight we are planning on eating our favorite food and watching our wedding DVD. I'm looking forward to it.

tomorrow (that is wednesday)

Is our three year anniversary.

this is not a loveydovey post, even though i'm thinking about doing one, but I just wanted to make sure that we marked it.

our first anniversary (at my instigation) we went to see Obama at JSU but didn't actually make it into the place where he was. I was pregnant with Iris.
our second anniversary, i have vague memories of maybe being sick and having saigon at home. Iris was five months then i think?
I'm not quite sure what's happening on Wednesday, but I hope it involves getting out of the house and actually being able to do what we planned.

THE END

baby brag

or complaint.

It has seemed like Iris has been extra bad this week and last, like she's practicing for being two. Also, there have been extreme amounts of drool. I finally stuck my finger in the dragon's mouth today and lo and behold, besides the four extremely sharp teeth already in there, there are four HUGE bumps, one with a tiny sharp bit poking  through.  The best part about it is that she has been getting her hands on medicine bottles (we've had some antibiotics lately) and holding them up to us, like she's saying "give me some pain killer, fools!" I guess she's communicating in her own little way.

Also she likes her PB sandwiches open face, and loves to play on the computer...even though I'm trying to discourage that one. But I know she's just modeling me, so I guess I should get off and take her outside!

Much love to all.

Emily

I am so tired

but I guess that means I've been busy, and that is good.

I don't think this will be very coherent, but whatever. I feel like making a post. (ps. i just debated for a good ten seconds about whether I should say "entry" or "post" ; both of them sounded too formal to me.)

New things: I like my egg yolks runny. This is very new and different. I guess it's from my spate of poached eggs eating, but now even my fried eggs I like them not to be solid. This preference makes me wonder if I'm turning into a different person.

Of course,  I never thought I'd be living in Alabama, either, so that is also a new thing. I spent years hating Alabama for the same reason I hated Columbus....they were right beside us and better than us. Oh well.

Also, this job puts me in some pretty good company. A lot of amazing women are campus minister's wives. (should that first apostrophe be after the s?). Both of the interns who were at State while I was in college are married to campus ministers. And then there are other cool ladies, too. I'm really looking forward to being part of that group. (There's even a facebook group...maybe I should join.)

Iris is growing growing growing. This morning she found a pen, pulled my notebook-calendar off the table, and scribbled all over the front page.  Also she's definitely right handed.

I have gotten a lot accomplished today and I'm tired, so I think I'm going to go sit on the couch.

Before I go, a confession: I would rather be pregnant than skinny. [not for always, just for right now] [NO THIS IS NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT]

The end.

AND WITH THE NUMBER ONE PICK.....

Huntsville selects the young Roy Hubbard, out of Louisiana State University and Reformed Theological Seminary. Accompanying him will be Emily Hubbard, from Mississippi State University, and Iris Hubbard. Hubbard is known for his teaching gifts and great pull-up jumper.

Yes, folks, that's right, we have received a call, and it's not on the telephone! Lord willing, in late May or early June, we'll be headed to Huntsville, Alabama--ROCKET CITY! Roy is going to be the founding RUF campus minister at Alabama A&M, an HBCU (historically black college/university) there, and the alma mater of our dear friend Elbert McGowan. The campus is ready for Roy to be there--we've heard of a hunger AND we already have written permission to be on campus...so we are absolutely thrilled to have this opportunity, even though I never did think I would live in Alabama.  Shows what I know.

If you're familiar with our job search history, you'll know that we interviewed in Huntsville LAST year around this time, but there were other opportunities on the table, and, to put it bluntly, we just weren't feeling it. Also it snowed, and I was really cold the whole time. But all the other chances fell through, and so we stayed in Jackson for this year, trying to get Tougaloo back on track. I remember telling people, "well, apparently God wants us in Jackson." And he did. This year has been good, but hard, and humbling, but Roy's gotten to use his teaching gifts to the glory of God; I know that he has been able to touch lives. And I've gotten the chance to make some sweet friendships and learn more about my place in the kingdom (to be pretty non-specific). When we heard that Providence Presbytery was still interested in us THIS year, we kinda sat down (actually, we drove around Jackson) and thought about our previous experience with Huntsville, and how we hadn't really been faithful to appropriately seek God's will regarding it. How comforting to know that even in our failings, God doesn't let go of his plans for us.

And so we are excited and the Huntsville people are excited that we are coming.

So though we'll be sad to leave Jackson (and I'll be sad to leave Mississippi) and our family and relationships and Redeemer Church and Saigon and my job at the University Press, and all the not-quite-babies-anymore that Iris was born with, we are, we really are, so GLAD to know where our little corner of the kingdom is supposed to be, and we are so ready to go out there and start putting down roots and taking dominion.

Huntsville is in the foothills of the Appalachians AND two hours away from Chattanooga, where my sister and a couple cousins live AND one of Roy's best friends, and closer to Atlanta, too, where more of my family is. It's definitely farther from Starkville, so that is sad, but on the other hand, Alabama A&M's mascot is the Bulldog and their colors are maroon and white, so maybe I'll just feel so at home I won't even miss Starkville. (Okay, that's not really going to happen.) But I am especially looking forward to being able to do lots of outdoorsy stuff -- and having good friends come to do it with me. Iris might be a woodswoman by the time she's old...if she doesn't turn into a space geek.

There's already an RUF at UA-Huntsville, so Roy will have a co-worker right in town. There's also a multi-racial church plant, that, though it won't be Redeemer, will be great to be involved with. [sorry that sentence ended with a preposition].

So, our story is that we have had two interviews--one with the Presbytery RUF committee and one with the state RUF committee. Now we have do have a mini-assessment, raise some money (still fuzzy on the details about that one), find a place to live, and Roy has to get ordained. His last day of school here is May 21, so you Jacksonians bear that in mind.

Please pray for all that to work out. Pray for the students at A&M, that God would be already preparing them for Roy's ministry to them. I'm sure we'll be sending a support letter out shortly, so let us know if you'd like to get one. We'll put cute pictures of Iris in it...you know you want it!

The End.

a few observations

1) it's snowed so often, it's not really exciting anymore. Maybe Iris will like it? Also, I hope Clinton public schools cancel.

2) I think I have pinkeye, along with a sinus infection, and might be battling other stuff too. I don't want to go to the doctor, but I'm really tired of being sick.

3) Iris had a little fever last night, and I think her head cold might have travelled down to her chest. Boo.

4) I just watched the movie "Penelope" and really enjoyed it.

5) Roy just got home from RUF. Hurray!