First, let me apologize for the lack of posts the past two weeks. See number 5 for an explanation.

5. Dawson's Creek While TiVo and Dawson's were the subjects of my last post, I feel I must bring them up again. For the past two weeks, my part-time job has been keeping up with my two-a-day recordings of this television show. I told myself that I would stop watching once they got to college, but that didn't happen. Yes, it is dumb. Yes, I can't believe I'm still watching. But every night after Emma goes to bed, I open up our Now Playing window and there they are, calling out to me: "What will happen with Joey and that professor?" "What about Jen and Dawson? You know they eventually have to break up. How will it happen?" I know, not the questions of the century, but give me a break -- I stay at home with a two year old. I'm not trying to reform the Electoral College or anything. (Plus, I have to do something while Danny is playing Gunbound.)

4. Vacation We get two weeks of vacation from the church each year, and we always have a hard time deciding what to do with it. Since Danny is doing two youth camps and one major youth trip this summer, we've decided to take an earlier week of vacation. We are going to Brendan's graduation, then to our old stomping ground, Kirksville, then Kansas City and then possibly to Nebraska to see Brandon and Keri (and Eden). If you know me, I am always excited about a road trip and a change of scenery. (You will also know that I start planning suitcase-packing schedules about a month in advance. I'm that anal.)

3. Sesame Street One of the few shows I can stand to watch with Emma (Dora's too repetitive, Oobi is too weird), Sesame Street is and always will be awesome. The new characters, once you get to 'know' them, are great -- Zoe and Rosita (or, if you are Emma, 'Mozita') especially. Just the other day, I got to see the sketch with "Teeny Little Super Guy", the character on a cup who spins around the sink talking to other cups. (Remember: you can't tell a hero by his size). What a great show!

2. My brother Lucas, my brother, is in the Navy and is currently in Iraq. I haven't seen him in two years, which is really strange because when Danny and I were first married, he lived with us in our very small K-ville apartment (think glorified attic). He's a fun kid with great taste in music (I'd like to think I had something to do with that, but probably not) and an even better sense of humor. So Lucas, if you're reading this, I miss you and hope you get to come home soon.

1. My mission Last week was a very reflective one, spent figuring out why I am here (when I wasn't watching Dawson's). I discovered that when I first became a Christian, I changed everything about myself, including my personality. In the last year or so, I've finally recovered that part of myself that believes it is vitally important to point out the traditional/fundamental/absolutely incorrect assumptions made by Christians everywhere. As I recently said in an email: My [current] life as a Christian is not much different than my life as a non-Christian. What I mean is that I still have doubts, I still question everything, I still don't read the Bible a lot or pray a lot or give sub-standard, one-size-fits-all Christian advice. I prefer to say "I have absolutely no idea" than to pretend I understand a person's problem or know what advice a person needs to hear. This is how I deal with the "Do unto others" idea practically. The point is that I do not deal well (you could say I abhor) with what I deem to be cookie-cutter Christian rhetoric because it doesn't work. Aaaahhhh, introspection.