Posts by Jen
Nose picking family
You know you all do it. The French do it in public. Americans do it in private. My family does it for fun in public and for real in private. My little sister sent me this picture of all of us a few years back. I love my family and can’t wait to see them in just a week! It is sad to leave Paris, but I am totally looking forward to our time catching up with family and friends! YAY! So the picture! Oh how things have changed! Blond hair and tan? Who do I think I am? From left to right: me, my nephew Ethan, my older sister Amy, and my little sister Kylie.
Read MoreHighlights from Staff Conference!
Staff conference (now called Connect) was really great this year! Here are some little tidbits about the trip that you should know about! We stayed at an amazing hotel that had swimming pools and beautiful woods and nice rooms and good food and a spa! I didn’t get a massage though because I am still not so comfortable with a man giving me a massage and the woman at the front counter of the spa told me, “Man or Nothing!” So nothing it was. Oh well. Maybe next year. I am glad I chose nothing because another woman got the man and he had her undress in front of him and then didn’t cover her with a towel! This would have been devastating for me (even after all the nudity and exposure of having a baby in France). I had some amazing conversations with new and old friends. We work…
Read MoreI have hidden talents
We are having a great time at staff conference! We are having lots of talks catching up with friends that we haven’t seen for a year. Today we went into Vienna and did a “Serve the City” type thing (basically where we do lots of service projects around the city). I made balloon animals with a group of people. I actually made balloon animals for a living (well, my first job) when I was fifteen. Somehow, I remembered how to create almost all of the things I could once do. Yes, I was proud of myself. Lame. Anyways, it was really fun. Maisie had a couple meltdowns throughout the day, but did pretty well for the most part. She isn’t used to so many people being around her all the time. Oh wait, she lives in Paris. At least she isn’t used to so many people talking to her all…
Read MoreWe are going to Hungary!
We are leaving to Hungary tomorrow for our annual staff conference. It is always really fun. Well, sort of. Not really, actually. Last year was pretty great! This is our fourth staff conference and I hope that the trend of getting better and better continues! Let me just share what the first two looked like. First staff conference. It was the first time Justin and I had ever been to Europe and on the way over, they gave us free wine. So I had a glass of wine with my dinner. Maybe you don’t think this is a big deal, but it is! I didn’t know that my legs had a tendency to swell on long plane rides (especially with alcohol in the system). So when we arrived at staff conference, my legs were so swollen, that I could press in with my thumb and the indent wouldn’t go away…
Read MoreHappy Anniversary!!!
Today is mine and Justin’s six year anniversary!!!! YAY US!!!! It has been a great six years!!!!!
Read MoreMy Poor Little Baby…(my Mac)
My computer died. I didn’t think it was possible for a Mac to crash, but it has. I am ashamed to even admit it. So now I am on Justin’s HUGE (compared to my precious little 12 inch) computer. We have to share and we don’t like to share. But I think with my computer dying, it will actually be good for our marriage. Maybe we will stop communicating over IM (when we are just in the other room) and begin talking face to face. JUST KIDDING MOM!!!! Anyways, I lost a ton of my email messages, so forgive me friends if I haven’t written back. (Just to give props to my Mac… It did try sooooo hard! It even started up three times AFTER it told me that the hard disc had experienced a fatal error and to replace it. It was working till the very end to serve…
Read MoreThe Big D
I have a tummy ache and I got The Big D on my mind. I love to talk about gross things on my blog. I like to because I can. And if you know me, I just like to talk about gross things in general. I wasn’t always like this however. It all started a long while back when I was newly married and had THE BIG D. I was a brand new pastors wife and was at my first retreat with the college group when it happened. THE BIG D!!!! It was horrible and I was so ashamed. I came out of the bathroom to find my husband’s boss (Dan Shields…love you dude!) saying something like, “PEW!!!! IT REEKS IN THIS HALLWAY!!!!!” It was right then and there I decided to embrace the grossness that we as humans can be so ashamed of and shout it to the rooftops!…
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