Snowballs and Kumquats

So, lots of exciting things have happened since you've heard from us last. Well, maybe exciting isn't the right word, but we haven't been completely bored anyway. We had a snow day last week and it was lovely. Well, we got Thursday afternoon and Friday morning off, so I guess that adds up to a full day. We had a gigantic snowball fight in our backyard and all ended up soaked.

Jo, Stacie, Holly and I all had fun standing around in the kitchen and laughing one night. It was late; we were being silly and enjoying kumquats. If you've never had a kumquat, you should try one. They look like miniature oranges, but the rind is sweet and the inside is extremely sour.

This evening Jo decided to learn how to French braid. Stacie taught her and I was the guinea pig that she practiced on. On a somewhat related note, Jo absolutely hates to have her hair touched. So don't touch it if you want to survive.

Now we're watching the Olympics again. We turned it on earlier but decided that watching people ski for 30 km is not quite as exciting as it sounds. Nevertheless, we sat and watched the hour and fifteen minute race.

JoAnna just got a text message and her text alert sounds like the little TV Land bell sound. I think of TV Land and M*A*S*H every time she gets a text. And now she keeps showing me pictures of dead albatrosses. Very morbid and sad.

Two College Students Share Life of Wisdom, Wit, and Wonders through Blog

Here's a thought. With all the negative media out there - the U.S. missionaries charged with trafficking children out of Haiti, the Colorado missionary charged with sexually abusing 18 Haitian schoolboys, the mother who overdosed her 4-year-old daughter, Facebook's site re-design (we all knew that one was coming, though) - Rebekah and I found it prudent to get something positive out there before we all become depressed zombies with no hope for humanity. Why don't we share the truth that there are still good things to think about in the midst of all this calamity?

So, I propose that we have a feature in every major news media outlet about us. Yes, Rebekah and I deserve to be at the forefront of the news. We are the poster children of goodness. Absolute goodness. And we're interesting to boot.

But seriously though. I'm tired of all the horrible stories being featured in the news... yet, it seems that whenever something good is in the spotlight, such as a New York taxi driver who returned $21,000 to one of his passengers, it must be pulled up through the miry depths of violence, hatred, debt, and disease. (Here is where I found that story. A single page dedicated to "happy, positive news.") However, I must admit, nothing gets my attention quite like that very same violence, hatred, debt, and disease of which I speak with such aversion. There seems to exist this tension among what we find interesting, what gets our attention, what holds our attention, what entertains us the most, and what makes us feel pity for others - which helps us be confident that there is someone "worse" than us.

Of course, this is not the case across the board. I just wanted to share my two cents about why we may be so attracted to negative news. And this actually was an update on an insignificant, two-minute conversation that Rebekah and I had about this topic. Mostly it was about how I wanted us to be in the spotlight because we are the epitome of good news. Oh wait. That's Jesus...

P.S. Rebekah just thought this was soooo funny. I guess there's not much else to get excited about in the middle of a freezing cold nowhere...

LOST!!!

I'm sitting here watching Lost with JoAnna. We've been waiting for this day for ages and I'm so glad that it's finally here. We're already very confused. And I might have to hurt someone if we don't get some answers this season. I'm a little ashamed, because I just hung up on a friend so that I wouldn't miss Lost.

It's been an awfully long time since either of us has posted, but I decided to take a little time to jot something down. Unfortunately the excitingness of our lives has seriously declined. Though I have had some fun playing with the toy horses that Jo gave me for Christmas.

School is back in session and Jo and I actually have a class together. We wake up early, walk to school and grab a cup of coffee before class. It's not quite so fun when it's as cold as it was today.

For some reason we still have Christmas decorations up. Our house is full of Christmas cheer with stocking on the wall, lights around the windows and bows stuck to the wall.

Yet another lovely quote:

"Why would I ever suck a cow?"