grit and glory

I hope you get to feeling better soon. I’ll be praying for you.

four seconds…

Why are you visiting a pizzeria and a chinese food take out if your throat is on fire!!!???

maybe it was for PMS. huh??

just sayin

megan — thanks for your prayers! i appreciate it. your “picture” looks so… sad!!

heidi — you made me laugh with your comment. yesterday i “transitioned” to real food, and while i should probably go back to just plain ol’ applesauce, i’m SO hungry. and the thought of my chicken and broccoli and roast pork fried rice sounds so yummy right now. okay - i’m prying my butt back off the bed to go eat some dinner! ciao!

Your today was my YESTERDAY - and we darn near have the same post to show for it.

I was wondering why you went to pizza AND chinese! haha!! Heidi, we have great minds no? ;-)

Doesn’t wearing a bra suck? I never ever wear one unless I leave the house, which is also about once a week. Sad huh? ;-)

btw, not wearing a bra at home made for an awkward exchange when the fed ex guy was here this morning. haha!!

ok I have a theory about the bra thing ladies! and it works for thongs too. If you wear one everyday for at least two weeks, you will get use too it and it wont be as uncomfortable. I use to wear all kinds of crazy push up bras before I got pregnant. Now I’m trying to get back into those push ups, cuz man do I need it now!
I hope your real food goes down smooth Alece!

@Faith
Trust me… I have to wear them all the time, because of my grandiosity. But when I come home, I don’t care if the pope comes I am not putting it back on. My girls got to breathe!!!
I’ll just layer abit to hide.

HAHAHA!! HEIDI!!!

Girl do we think alike or what?! LOL!

I would join a modern day bra burning if I could!

:) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you ladies are cracking me up with all this bra-talk.

honestly, i’m pretty comfy in my brassieres. lying in bed in utter sickness though? just seems wrong to wear one!

Seriously though … I so wish I never had to wear one. The “great” (sarcasm) thing about getting older is that now I have to buy “good” bras. You know, the ones that look like our great great grandmother’s wore? But then again, if I don’t wear my “good” bra then I just tuck the girls into my pants. :)

“tuck the girls into my pants” — oh boy. had i been taking a sip of my iced tea as i read that, my laptop would be ruined.

i’ve always had bra issues. never could find one that seemed to fit just right… so when i was in seattle months ago, a friend dropped me off at nordstrom’s to spend a few hours with a “bra fitting specialist”. seriously. she had a business card that said that was her job title. i still have it in my wallet. just because it makes me laugh. anyway, turns out i’ve been wearing the wrong size all this time. AND paying $82 a bra apparently solves everything.

You got ROBBED….

Hope is right, when you turn forty EVERYTHING hangs a little bit more.

Don’t work I spit my Coke on my laptop reading this.

i thought you were a PEPSI drinker?!?!?!

I am… but there is a majority around here.

i win!

No…………..

It’s PEPSI baby!!!

ok ladies!! If it still isn’t working after two weeks then you are in the wrong type or size!! I was a bra specialist for 2 years at victorias secret and I know!! You need to do what Alece did, it is well worth the money. Vict. sec. is much cheaper at $46 for most bras. and if its not comfortable after two weeks then return it with the receipt and get every penny back! Thats the deal there.

@Faith…
I totally agree with you… Please don’t take me as a rebel.. I am not.

I am big chested.. way big chested, There is NOT a bra in THAT store or even Nordies where Alece went that fits and is beautiful.

I get frustrated heavily… and honestly I don’t have a great deal of cash to spend on bras.

I have to ask how do you become a bra specialist?

I thinks it’s awesome, maybe a little uncomfortable to say on a resume.
But awesome!!

This is interesting. That’s all I have to say.

I find it amazing how much you can do in one day, when the day before you were sedentary. Amazed. I can’t do that!

I love you.

i did too much, that’s for sure. and now i’m paying for it.

and WHAT’S interesting? the bra conversation? the fact that i wrote about my bra on my blog?

??

Alece we always talk the most about your undies!!
Heidi, if you ever do get fitted at one of those stores then you could look online for your size at a specialty store. Everyone who works at VS goes through training and is supposed to know how to give excellent fittings, unfortunately it seems like most stores only have air heads working there. I was also a manager there for most of my time. I loved helping women find bras that fit them really well and that they liked to wear. It felt very rewarding when I was doing that. And yes a little awkward at times. Boy oh boy could I blog about those stories for days! But they might be rated R or something!

when i was getting fitted, at first i was really embarrassed and my cheeks were bright red. by the end (it took HOURS!), modesty went out with the piles of discarded unsuitable bras. boy oh boy.

“you’re harder to fit than i anticipated” the lady told me.

“uhhh… thanks???”

Thats what I fear!!

i’m the most modest/shy woman on the planet. if *i* can do it, you can do it!

you should do it Heidi! You will feel so good! you dont even know how many bare naked boobies I have seen! it would make your hair curl! or something like that!

but in a MOST professional way. didn’t try to make that sound dirty! sorry

i don’t think you’re helping to convince her, faith!

Alece if your still on here, thanks for reading my blog all the time! you are such a good friend to ALL of us! your like the only one commenting for me. your too sweet.

ooops sorry!!

i’ve really been enjoying your writings lately. fun stuff.

Do you think I am a modest person?

I am not modest.. I just get frustrated, because the only 44ee that I know look like gauze bandages.

i am trying hard to blog more often and it’s a lot of fun and I really like it. its my little outlet
Dan asked what i was writing about now. he said GROSS when i told him!

oh Heidi! im so sorry! you should try looking online. i was always very upset trying to help clients and we didnt even have their sizes!

heidi — you’re not modest? ha. for some reason, that comment made me chuckle. i’m sorry it’s frustrating for you. i’ve recently seen some really nice lingerie shops for the well-endowed. have you ever looked there?

faith — yeah, it’s totally my outlet too. i’d do it all the time if i could. paid for blogging? sign me up!

thats why some of us think you should put together a book of your blogings! my brother is writing a book right now. about his time in Africa. When it’s done I will send you a copy

Faith why doesn’t your link show up on your name? I wanna go to your site

the only book i can think of writing would be a readers’ digest of sorts — just a collection of my blog posts. but that’s not really a BOOK book. i’d love to write a memoir someday. and maybe someday i’ll feel comfortable/confident/gifted enough to do it.

yes yes yes i want to read your brother’s book. and… he was in africa too???

and yeah - what’ sup with the non-linkage?

yikes! I have no idea! I thought it was just like that on mine. its http://www.faithstart.wordpress.com
i will try and fix that, thanks for showing interest in my little blog!

are you signed into wordpress?

he was in bots like 12 years ago for a six month trip turned really bad!! DUN DUN DUN if you ever saw sex and the city the show you would know that they made a book of her column by just elaborating on her writings. that happened to candice bushnell in real life

ya im signed in

hmmm… it must be in some settings then.

and i had no idea that your brother was in bots, too. and shame that it turned really bad. yikes.

I love sex and the city. ;-)

did someone say boobs? bras? LOL!

the wind finally carried the sound of those sweet words to north dakota!

ya he elaborated some on things but for the most part it was bad. a bunch of young kids taken advantage of by their leader. he stole their money and then sent most of them home for no reason! its a good book and hes a good writer.

wait wait wait…

big world ventures?

hey brandy! Im so glad another christian likes that show. its pretty dirty but so good!

yes how did you know about them??

i’d heard some rumors.

i can’t believe you ended up back at LBOM. i’m glad that whole experience didn’t taint that ministry for you.

Faith, oh how I love Sex and the City. But I must be clear….I ONLY like the “cleaned up” version on TBS or The WB. ;-) I cannot STAND listening to F*bomb. ew. But other than that, I loooove that show. I can’t wait to rent the movie!

Alece, your comment made me smile BIG!

Where’d “Haydee” go?

I have no idea what you two are talking about. What is LBOM?!

LBOM = love botswana outreach mission. that’s the ministry that faith was working at in botswana.

oh yes Faith, I’ve tried SEVERAL times to get to your site via your comments, even your comments in my email, but there is NO linkage. Not even in my email alerts. I wonder what is up with that?

And the last two days, I’ve not gotten my notices in my email about comments on my blog. Anyone else having that issue?

from what my brother told me, it was all this other guys fault and had nothing to do with jerry and jana. Ron Luce called everyone from that group and apologized to them for recommending him. i am very glad i was able to go there. AND MEET YOU!!

come back haydee!

Ohhhh.

One of my good highschool buddies just left for Africa yesterday. She’s working with a missionary group as a dental hygenist (sp?!) for a month.

ok i found the problem! fixed!

faith — i know! i’m glad we met too! gosh, that was ages ago, eh?! how crazy that you and your brother were both there. do you still have a heart/passion for botswana???

branmuffinwithnoraisins — not today, but it’s happened to me before. weird wordpress glitch.

WAIT! Faith and Alece….you two have MET?!

I am oh so stinkin jealous.

branmuffinwithnoraisins HAHAHAHA!!!

bran — where in africa did your friend go? how great that she’s spending a month there.

and yes, faith was working at a ministry in botswana. niel and i are good friends with the heads of that ministry and each year we take our interns up there to serve with them for a week or two. on our trip there many moons ago, we met faith!

:shrug: i hate raisins!

Haydee haydee ho! Haydee haydee hey! Haydee haydee ho! Where did you go?!

oh the f bomb is all over the movie, but it is well worth it! and I have found that they cut so much out on tv that its hard to watch. They cut out some of the really sweet moments.

i can so picture you in a cheerleading uniform!

I’m not a fan of raisins either. The boys LOVE them though and eat them by the bucket fulls.

I’m not sure where she went. I’ll have to look again at her “bulletin” on myspace.

Faith! Yeah! You fixed it! :D

bulletin?

well i got a little burnt out working there but i still love missions ad every wear. africa is my home! When Conrad is older I would love to go back and work for a while. with or with out Dan. or as a family would be awesome!

Alece, I always SECRETLY wanted to be a cheerleader but never tried b/c I couldn’t bring myself to wear those little skirts with the undies showing. NO WAY.

Faith, really? Yeah, I’ll take it still without the swearing. LOL! I’ll brave the movie though b/c I REALLY want to see it. I have NO PROBLEM whatsoever with spoilers with movies, and my one friend who has seen it won’t tell me a THING.

Does someone die? And Big and Carrie do NOT get married do they? Did HE die? Oh please tell me!!!!

Alece, I checked out the Thrive blog today and I looked at the prices of the trips. I would like the 2 week adult trip. I love love love mission trips, but with the boys little, I can’t do it. When I was pg with Dylan I wanted to go to Haiti with our church at the time but was advised not to go being pg and all. :( When they are older. When they are older. ;-)

faith — “burnt out” — i understand… well, when you come back, i hope you’ll come and spend a bit of time with us too!

brandy — wait, wait, wait… too modest to wear a cheerleading outfit but a-ok with emailing tam pictures of your nips?!?! come on, girl!

Did someone call Haydee…

I had the pleasure to read The Jack and the Beanstalk to Iceman.. sorry girls.

Where are we?

AND

all of you — in response to brandy’s comment about joining the thrive trip… i’ve been swirling around some thoughts lately about trying to organize a blogger mission trip. kind of a meet-up-and-do-ministry-together kind of thing. what do you think? would people be interested? be able to get away and do it??? bran, if you could bring kids, would that make a difference for you?

we can go together when all our boys are grown up!

you are a speedreading queen, heidi!

My kids are grown pretty much..

I’m all in. I just need a heck of alot of time to get money since I am the only one whom works in my home.

My daughter wants to do your 1 year internship..

bran, big does not die and they do get married! its so great!! the movie takes place like over a year. and whats this about nipple pictures??!!
I would go at the drop of a hat but Dan is scared to let me travel with Con and I wont go without him

Those Golden books RULE!!!

plan it for a year or two away so everyone can get their “crap” together!

Oh Alece, I would totally go without them! There is no way I could enjoy myself, do any sort of work, or afford to take them. No way. Owen is at the age where I could leave now. I would TOTALLY want to do a blogger mission trip. I’d have to know like MONTHS and MONTHS in advance to save the $$$.

And about the nips….I am 26 so my confidence/modesty level is different than it was at 16. ;-)

Oh Faith, I love love love that you told me that!!!!! That makes me even MORE excited to see it!!

Who dies?

Haydee! This is what I’m calling you now. I loved that post of yours. Haydee. heehee

oh and if i had not met dan and married him like a day later I had thought of working with you guys! just think of that. I wouldn’t trade dan for anything!

I think that’s the biggest bummer about blogging, finding the money to MEET blog friends, especially when you have a one income family and kids, is hard. :( I’m so bummed I’m missing out on that bloggers retreat Brent and Tam keep talking about. Bummer. But a mission trip, that has a different motivation behind it. I’d love to do the WORK.

Faith? You didn’t REALLY marry him a day later, did you?

you guys wouldn’t need to pay for it all out of pocket.

what do you think about fundraising?

She is the most remarkable woman. I saw her today and Gave her the biggest Hug For Alece.
I was emailing Alece about that right now, I’ll just say it publicly. She thought it was funny that Alece lives with Giraffes!!! SOo do you have a giraffe in front of your house?

i cant even remember who died thats how small that part was. and i love the story line of miranda and steve. its so real and it was the only part that made me cry!
Why was there nipple pictures?? I love that you are my age and have three kids!! i feel so much more normal now!!

i’m glad to hear that there’s interest though. that’s for sure.

and heidi — when your daughter’s ready, send her our way. i’d love to have her with us. man oh man, that would be amazing!

Fundraising is good, but hard. The only time I ever had to fundraise was in highschool for a DC trip. Our teacher kept saying “solicit yourself.” Got a lot of snickers out of that. haha!

(bran - i hear you about the evolution of modesty…)

Do you have paren’t day?

i met him the end of January and married June 12 4 years later we are still doing great.
I am all for fund raising. its a mission trip with friends from around the country!

parent’s day

Faith, yeah I have three kids and I’m young and CRAZY. LOL!

Miranda and Steve….he cheats doesn’t he? That makes me so sad. So sad. I wanted to cry just seeing that commercial. :( *sniff* Idiot.

Heidi, I loved that post. Made me think of my mom and my granny….they roll their eyes at the whole “blog friends” idea. I don’t dare tell them how much I love all of you. Then they’d think I was nuts. ;-)

you hugged her for me!! yay. i hope that made her heart glad. and nope… no giraffes on my property. but zebras!

people are much more willing to help out when its for mission trips to africa I have found

parent’s day??

oh Alece I saw the pics of the zebras and thought “wouldn’t Dylan just DIE at the sight of those!” He aboslutely loves zebras. He says “my zebra is strong and it will chase away my bad dreams and kick it with it’s strong feet.” HAHA!!
My mom bought him a zebra figurine b/c that was his fave animal at the zoo. ;-)

heidi, what do you think about raising funds??

I think a blogger get together with the foundation of a missions trip would be amazing and much better than “just for the heck of it.” Everyone would be working together for the same thing while meeting for the first time. It would be amazing.

he does cheat. but it really makes her see her own selfishness and faults and in the end it really strengthens them. it was sad but i thought it was a great way to show cheating in a huge movie like that. it showed growth and forgiveness.

Okay girls, I gotta go to bed. I feel like carp. Nasty carp. ;-) I love you three and will catch ya later! *muah* *hugs*

brandy — yeah, that’s my thoughts, too. it would be a total blast, with a ton of fun, but even more significant because we’re getting to team up together to share His love… i just get goosebumps thinking about it.

Too see YOU…. hmmmm….

That is a crazy question don’t you think??

I hate fundraising, BUT to be able to spend time in Africa and do things for a REASON and hug on someone kinda of special.. I’ll sell anything!!!

Do husbands count??

night brandy! hope you feel better soon! good getting to know you better!

All colleges have parent’s day, Where the parent’s come and visit and maybe stay forever!!

night, raisin bran. feel better. love you!!

Alece, it gives me chills!

Haydee, night dear!

Faith, I’ve always loved you and couldn’t get to your blog! I’m glad I made it over there tonight!

Night girls. Seriously. I’m going. Really. I am. LOL!

I’m already telling my daughter if she moves out of state, I’m moving to that state.

you are to sweet!

heidi — yeah, husbands count! :-) i’m glad you’d be willing to fundraise for it. a hug from heidi will be WONDERFUL!

and yes - we have “family days” for our interns. it happens in september, and family members can come out for 1 or 2 weeks to not only see what the lives of their kids are like in africa but to serve alongside them.

heidi how old are your kids?

Bran… Love you!!! Gnite!!!

alece that is an awesome idea!! no one ever visited me in two years! but i know how expensive it is.

yeah… half of our interns have family members coming out on the upcoming “family days” trip. it’s always fun to meet their parents!

kids

Colleen is 17
Elijah is 15
Isaac is 7

I’m old Faith

thats awesome! are they there till dec?

does colleen graduate next year???

faith — yeah, our interns are with us january till december.

your not old! and that would be awesome to have her go to SA. its so amazing there.

Yes, June 12, 2009 with honors!!!

how many do you have this year. how many full time staff do you have

Thanks Faith, but I’m am aging gracefully in my 40’s

that will be my five year wedding anniversary!

so she’d join us in 2010. that’s gonna be the best year yet. that’s a big year for south africa (they’re hosting the soccer world cup). she should totally do it. whenever she wants to start the process and begin fundraising (maybe early next year?), send her our way. that will be awesome!!

faith — we have 10 interns this year. and we have 9 missionary staff members and 47 paid national staff.

40’s is NOT old! all the really hot people in hollywood are in their late 40’s!! I always feel out of place being so young!! i am always the youngest!! all the moms in my nursing group are at least ten years older than me with their first kids too.

Bloggers convention in SA.. WOW!!!

thats so great! I wish I had been able to visit you guys there. i had to house sit when everyone else went! boo-hoo

(i’m thinking i may do a put-out-the-feelers post on this in the next few weeks, to get people’s thoughts and input. i’m getting excited about the possibilities though!)

i just pouted my lip out when i read your comment, faith.

how far are you from jo burg? Have you been to cape town? If I ever go back i’m going for like a month to go to bots and by you and to cape town!! That place is my dream town!

aw. ok i am so excited to even think about going. Dan will be a big chore though! he is not big on spending money and on travel and on having me away from him.

3 hours from joburg (halfway between joburg and durban)

cape town is GORGEOUS. we take our interns there for debriefing… YAY!

(tell colleen THAT, heidi!)

hmmm… so dan will need convincing, eh?

I need to get a map and look this up..

i went to sa with teen mania in like 2000 and we stayed by joburg and durban! was neil working with them then?

so will the tw man!!

some things i’m thinking of throwing out there for discussion and comments in a post are:

-general interest
-length of time
-how far in advance start planning
-any particular time of year that’s better for them
-fundraising thoughts
-kids or no kids

anything else you can think of that I should try to get a pulse on???

Kendra and I spent 5 weeks in Cape Town and had the most incredible vacation! we stayed at a friends flat for free, and someone showed us all around. I loved it!

we were hosting teams in 2000, but not sure if we hosted yours. you’d have come to harrismith/qwa qwa if we did… so i guess not!

that sounds like good questions. Maybe give a little over view about what kind of ministry we could be doing so we can tell THAT part to our husbands! hehe
Dan just pointed out that i might be chatting with men! I told him that I KNOW Alece. hehe

A savings program.. I’m not sure how you do your fundraising, but for me if I have a monthly goal and I am putting it somewhere I cannot touch it.

no i remember the people we worked with. a Fountain of Life preschool and a Dave and Judy. the church dan is from works with them. but i do recall seeing Neil helping out at the airport. He was asking if anyone had blopops for one of the interns that had been without for months.

i mean Blow Pops. And good idea Heidi!

good thoughts, ladies!

(faith - you should tell dan about my friend dave calling mandy and cathi MANdy and cathHE and telling me over and over and OVER that they might be men. they weren’t!)

What is Thrive’s main goal and how as bloggers can we touch that side of the world with our words.

mmm… that’s good. yeah i’m thinking if i really launch this, it needs to be a real LAUNCH with a cool banner or button or something that everyone can add to their blogs that links to info about it etc etc etc.

(faith– you were in estcourt! and yes, niel always helped with airport runs… arrivals and departures… even for teams we didn’t host. and the blowpops were probably for ME!)

haha I did tell him that! he said you got lucky! dan is such a pessimist!

hilarious.

haha! that is so funny! and now i remember estcourt! those people were really nice and i love the land they lived on!

if you really launch this when you give dates you should give the pricing too. then we know what we are working with.

Alece, if you get a banner and get bloggers united and so forth and go big, maybe the fortunate blogger whom may have more resources can send a less fortunate one.

Ie: I would fundraise for two instead of one.

Does that make sense??

hello…1,000 comments.

you had a big day!!

feeling any better? how is your roomy throat?

kind of, but explain more.

danielle — read up a bit. you’ll like this conversation!!

ya i keep thinking of how we are having fun chatting and we are giving you so many comments!! here we come 20,000!!

yeah - heidi, expound that thought…

and faith - yes, when we really launch and set dates we’ll set an exact price. do you think in the initial “waddayathink” discussion, i should give people a ballpark??? i’m kind of thinking that THAT much info up front might scare people off!

hey you never told me more about the nipples between brandy and tam! Is there a post about that some wear?

(ha ha ha! you are hung up on the nips. no post, it was in a comment conversation i think. i don’t remember actually. brandy used to be in tam’s youth group so they go way back… apparently bran emailed tam a bunch of pictures of her and the kids, including TONS of nursing photos… and some showed WAY too much!! tam was scarred for life!)

ya it might because i know how much even the ticket alone is!! we can get some “cheerleaders” to encourage when you put the price out there. fund raising is so easy when people know you are helping others. Teen Mania is so expensive and look at how many people go through them every year. I would wait on a price till you come up with a date.

haha that is so funny!! I do not have one nursing picture! I made sure there were no cameras around! those are memories I like to keep to my self! poor tam.

i think we lost heidi! and danielle didn’t stick around. shame!

ooops! what do you think of the election this Nov?

Dan is watching the news and we are laughing about Obamas slogan “yes we can” I think he stole it from the kids show Bob the Builder. They sing “can we do it? yes we can!”

Let me try… My mind is whirling….

Hmm..

If you have a “campaign” I’m too tired for a title.
But have a campaign, then the button or banner can be used on any blog. hundreds of people will see it. Advertising I guess. Then maybe a church or churches or families would sponsor another family to go. I’m sure that’s how you make your living Alece.
But… wouldn’t it be all God, if People (bloggers) whom may have the means help others. whom may not have the means. the real pupose of your job Alece is helping someone whom is unfortunate. It could even be part of the program, part of their fee I dunno how much, goes to a special fund to help so and so.

Then the mission becomes two fold, you have a family or families going to serve.

clearer?? off the wall??

ha ha ha — nice! bob the builder campaign slogan. now i’m gonna think that EVERY time i hear/see it.

how am i feeling about the election? like i wish we had a REAL strong leader in the runnings.

heidi - no, i think that would be fantastic. i’d like to find out from people that are interested but can’t come for whatever reason if they’d like to still help out somehow — helping with fundraising, encouraging, etc. ????? so that can tie in to it as well…

Amen!!

I wandered over to Annie’s and got stuck there. I kind of get lost in these conversations. :shock:

or maybe they can’t because of health or etc..

you are still touching people here while their partners are there

i get what you mean. and i think its a good idea. Im a fan of sending out support letters to friends and family. and from churches. thats how i always did it.and God will do it. we can all be praying for each other!

“send a blogger to africa”

THATS AWESOME ALECE!!