Ingrid Grace… September 4, 2007

Here is a short list of things I am thankful for about Ingrid(in no particular order)…(Happy birthday 3 days late friend!)

1. she is adventurous and courageous
2. she processes as much as I do…and lets me process to her as well!
3. she is willing to fore go sleep to talk to you!
4. she loves students and even likes those with complicated lives more!
5. she remembers to laugh at herself
6. she takes time to enjoy the people around her
7. she doesn’t give up when life gets hard
8. she regularly teaches me about loving people who are difficult to love
9. she can jump higher than anyone I know
10. she can drink wine with the best of them!

Happy belated birthday my friend…thank you for being you!

Maggie’s 24… September 4, 2007

Do you ever feel like you are incredibly behind…My sister turned 24 A MONTH AGO…and I haven’t yet posted a list of all that is fabulous about her.

1. She’s incredibly creative
2. She’s always got great hair
3. She LOVES football…especially UT football
4. She is independent!
5. She’s aware of other people’s feelings…
6. She is kind
7. She’s willing to laugh at herself and at you if you do something stupid (like toss strawberry limeade ice out the car window…or your atlas by accident…)
8. She is adventuresome…
9. She is able to tell real fruit smoothies versus powdered stuff…she likes things to be the REAL thing…even if they have more calories!
10. She loves food and is good at preparing it!
11. She’s a good listener
12. She has an incredible memory
13. she has great shoes!
14. She shares her homemade treasures with others…necklaces, cards, earing holders!
15. She is willing to put others before herself
16. She gets a little road rage-ish one minute and herself the next…
17. She is a good friend to her friends…
18. She is an AMAZING baker!
19. She’s quick to explain and teach…
20. She is forgiving and merciful
21. She processes things internally…I know very few people who do this and it amazes me!
22. She loves animals–especially Millie (the new family dog…)
23. She doesn’t collect knick knacks
24. She loves Jesus

highlights of year 25 August 6, 2007

in no particular order:

1. I traveled to Haiti for my 2nd time and fell even more in love with this country.
2. Caleb Tietjen came into the world and I became a God mother.
3. I applied for and was accepted to Grad school at the U of M!
4. I began eating dollar burgers with a group of people who a year ago were complete strangers except for Laura and now even though Laura isn’t there we still go!
5. I swam 30 miles (not a hundred yet…but still 30 is a lot!)
6. I began attending the Upper Room regularly and have grown much in the process.
7. I moved in with Mary and my life has forever been changed!
8. I saw WICKED!
9. I travelled to Texas 2 times, Iowa 5 times, Illinois 4 times, Michigan once, Alabama once, Wisconsin 2 times, Florida once, and in my heart I visited California often…
10. I have pink hair.

dani lou July 12, 2007

My dear friend Danielle creeps into the upper 20s this year… here is a list of things that I find beautiful about her!
1. her love for her husband…even when he is ridiculous
2. her ability to see life and beauty around her…how she loves to go for walks and notices the little things
3. how she isn’t afraid to be real with people
4. how she sings
5. how she loves her sons and kisses their cute cheeks
6. her style…
7. her love of the theater
8. her passion for Haiti
9. her speaking…
10. her walk with the Lord and openness about the highs and lows in that relationship!

Dani, you blow me away friend. Thank you for letting me in on your journey!

Mary….Happy Birthday March 17, 2007

So it is Mary’s birthday this fine 18th of March…
I won’t give away how old she is so I’ll just tell you 10 wonderful things about her!

1. She used to have a motorcycle…cause she likes to think she’s a biker chick!
2. She’s a crafty momma…cards, ornaments, beading, knitting, hemp…she’s into it all!
3. If she weren’t a church worker she’d be a Pampered Chef consultant cause she loves to cook and throw parties.
4. She has the cutest grandson Sethers and she is not a “sit on the couch and be crabby grandma”…but a “play in the snow, crawl through the tunnel, let’s make cookies, oooh a slide, race me to the washer, dance in the living room” kind of grandma.
5. Mary loves people for who they are…and even loves the broken ones best.
6. She’s changing the world one born baby at a time.
7. She fixes her own stuff…sub-pumps, water heaters, cars…and she hangs things without a level!
8. she watches more television than me!
9. She genuinely pursues Jesus and lives a life that shows she has received grace
10. She’ll pick you up at the airport at 11 and let you talk till 2…because she is a good listener.

Mary, thanks for letting me live with you…thanks for teaching me about life…thanks for listening to me when I mess it up…you are a gift to me!

Carissa is 26…or she will be on the 4th March 4, 2007

Carissa, I met you some time in the 8th grade…maybe band or through mutual friends, man I wish I had a better memory, but i do recall many fabulous memories of 9th grade and beyond. Here are 10 of my favorites.
Sitting in the band hall at Harwood Jr. High signing yearbooks
My surprise birthday party at your house the summer after 9th grade
Strawberry fields forever…the Beatles choir concert
Handbells at Peace
Taking the Stephens to Band Banquet
the day when we had to get the Tetanus/Diphtheria shot at school and I willed away all my stuff cause I thought i was going to die (i wasn’t overly dramatic at all) and how you just shook your head at my silliness
Going to Austin to visit Emily and Amanda (i think that was her name…your roommate from TCU)
helping put together flower bouquets with you and the girls at your house before the wedding
seeing you pregnant with Hosea traipsing around the Mall of America
Alabama…and the many days of re-connecting and watching in amazement how great of a mom you are.
Oh, and 10.5…nose piercing at skin candy–I really can’t believe that I got to come along!

thanks for beautiful memories friend!

Joel’s Birthday February 9, 2007

So today is my co-worker Joel’s birthday…not sure exactly how old he is…but I know he never checks this so I think it’d be funny if tons of random people sent him birthday wishes today! Here’s his e-mail: symmankj@woodburylutheran.org have fun with it….he loves Meat Loaf (the singer not sure about the food), all things BBQ, hilarity that can be found on Youtube, the more liturgical and hymn-like the better, Star Wars, the Princess Bride, and he’s seriously hooked on 24.

Charissa is 26!!! February 6, 2007

A grand friend of mine Charissa turns 26 today. We have known each other for 13 years or so now and it is unbelievable to me that we are already this old.
10 fabulous memories I have of Charissa
10. Straw walrus at cheddars…yum onion straws…
9. Girl Scouts in the church where we stored pop under the sink
8. our inability to make up our minds when we do anything
7. accountability group our senior year upstairs in our home office
6. Kia, oh how we loved Kia
5. March-a-thon in the rain…faux saxophone playing
4. the “note” book…passing it around
3. your visit to Minnesota (all except the wrecking of Carissa’s car…)
2. Playing in the snow at Wheaton and going to the eatery on campus (stoop, stump, hole…something)
1. watching you be a fantastic mom

These lists never express how much I am blessed by my dear friends and family…we’ve lived through band, girl scouts, boys, school, NHS, college, many car accidents, marriage, new babies, games at new years, theological discussions, the Birthday club, 5 years of daily encounters in junior and senior high…You are one of my oldest friends…you’ve known me from crazy adolescence on and I am me because of your influence…Happy Birthday Chars…I love you!

Today my dad turns 50 January 12, 2007

So, in true Lindsey fashion I want to post a tribute to him in the fashion of a list.
Here are 50 reasons why I love my dad:

10: He is over a foot taller than me and has been at least that for my whole life, ever since I was small I have believed my dad could build or fix anything (especially a car that has the same engine as a 1991 Buick LeSabre), he let us pound nails into a wooden stool so we could work in his “shop” or the garage with him while he fixed things”, he can explain most everything with a lemonade stand story, he chaparoned our youth trips, when i was small and we’d drive to Iowa in the station wagon he’d let me sit in the front seat while we drove through the night and listen to me chatter on and on while mom and maggie slept, he gives really good hugs, when you are learning to play a card game with him he is always willing to explain good strategy through out the game to help you out, he makes incredible chicken, he built us a playhouse in the backyard and let us climb on the roof…

20: He always danced with me at weddings, he is really good at communicating with people and teaching us to be good communicators, he’s the only one in our family who calls all our extended family regularly, he takes the time to get to know my friends and take them out for dinner, he can fall asleep watching golf but “still be watching it” if you try to change the channel, he was able to help mom and I survive my crazy years, he naturally leads…even when not designated to be a leader…and he is amazing at it, he always believes in me, he took me on my first big roller coaster, he taught me to be a leader…

30: He loves helping people, he has on occasion mowed the lawn in a polo shirt, wind pants, and deck shoes, he’s willing to fly up early to spend time with me before business trips…or come up even if he doesn’t have a business trip, he is part of the IBM mob, he can remember all the people he delivered papers to when he was little, he has always worked hard to take care of us, he says he’s sorry when he’s been crabby, he’s always been super involved at church using his gifts to serve God, he taught me to balance my “lion-ness” and respect other people’s personalities…

40: He knows how to help me see his point without telling me what to do, he always says “i’m proud of you”, he was a dad who helped around the house, he isn’t afraid to hold hands with mom or kiss her in the kitchen, he’s the person I call when my car breaks and I don’t know what to do…and he always knows, he lets us pick the restaurant and order dessert if we want to, he has a great laugh, he always drove up to MN to pick me up and drop me off at school, he was willing to trust me make my own decisions, he is an expert sleeping bag roller-upper…

50: He loves watching people “get it” and get connected, he would get up and golf at 6 in the morning on saturdays so the day could be spent with the family, he loves to go on “drives”, he taught me to enjoy the process of learning and teaching not just the outcome, he taught me to see the big picture, he can eat pickled gizzards and other unusual animal parts, he is an expert caldisac parking attendant and is incredibly spacially gifted (comes in handy for loading the trunk with 3 women and a dog on vacations!), no problem is ever un-solvable, he loves Jesus, and he’s my dad.

No list could ever capture all the things I love about him…but here’s a start…I love you dad, happy birthday!

50 reasons I love my mom December 8, 2006

Today is her 50th birthday…so let me tell you some fabulous things about my mom…
10: She sewed our clothes when we were little and she taught me to sew, she made up pizzas like BBQ and taco before they were the “in” thing, she loves to garden, she is willing to see 2 movies back to back in the theater, she keeps cards we wrote her from years ago, she loves to read, she taught me to love to read, she helped me make a television box with paper on a scroll to explain how penicillin was discovered, she loves the beach, she can proof a paper in the middle of the night if necessary…

20: She loves studying the Bible, she teaches little kids’ Sunday school sometimes, she’s really good at mentoring women, she supported my dad in all of our moves and job changes, she taught us how to make new friends, she loves disneyworld, she loves Jackie Chan movies, she’s a really good listener, she spent lots of time teaching me how to cross-stitch, she reads all the little plaques in museums…

30: She scrapbooks, and made me a scrapbook of my life in 1 year, she thinks about other people, she’s willing to be uncomfortable if it means someone else is comfortable, she was committed to teaching us about Jesus, even when I cut the mattress open to find out what was inside–she still loved me, she killed the scorpion I found in the sink when I was 5, she took us to swim lessons at the pool with the big octopus drawing on the floor and to Pandemonium sometimes, she helped me find the perfect piano recital outfit even when i was very moody, she worked so I could take piano lessons…

40: She puts family first, she always made us eat some kind of vegetable with our mac and cheese, she was our cookie mom in scouts, she let us help pack for camping in our little boxes, she made us the “toy pouches” to go on the back of the seat in the car for long car trips, she lets me talk for 30 minutes without changing the topic back to her, she enjoys old movies and musicals, she can cook amazing food, she’s willing to fly up here to stay with me after getting my wisdom teeth out or fly up when I have surgery, she can make outstanding curtains…

50: She’s good at checking in, she is a good friend, she is willing to serve, she decorates the house by seasons, she loves music, she was willing to listen to squeaks and piano mistakes over and over again, she love outdoor jazz festivals, she remembers to say “i love you”, she’s not afraid of piles, she’s my mom

This is by no means complete…but it is the little stuff that I forget to mention when I tell her I love her!