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2010: The Year of the Cupcake

While planning our wedding, I realized something about myself...I am a cake snob. I am VERY picky about cake and dislike most store bought cakes, box mix cakes, etc. This year, I have made it my personal mission to find the world's best cupcake...well, maybe just the northwest. Kyle has joined me in this endeavor as he gets cupcakes without me telling him how many calories he is consuming. After all, it's research! We are just beginning so we only have 2 cupcakes in the running...

Commitment Issues

Apparently I have commitment issues....with blogging. It's been more than a month since my last post ::sigh:: But because I don't agree with divorce, I'm back on the band wagon!

Since January...

* Kyle turned 25...with his head in the toilet. Bummer!! He had subtly requested a birthday party, ("Kyle, what do you want to do for your birthday" "Well, you might think about, maybe, perhaps having some kind of a party, but I don't want to know about it, so maybe more of a surprise thing...") which was quickly canceled and replaced with ginger ale and saltine crackers. Additionally, my irrational fear of the stomach flu took me to Walgreens at 1:30 am to buy Lysol and spray every nook and cranny that Kyle may have touched in the last 25 years. I delivered tea with a hospital mask and dealt with: "UGHGHHGH" "What's wrong? Are you gonna throw up?! Do you need anything? Are you ok? Thirsty? Hungry? WHAT'S WRONG?!?!" "Nothing...it just feels better to groan". Glad that week is over.

* We took a Valentine's Day Weekend getaway with our Wenatchee sisters and brothers: Justin, Kelsey and Libby Borst, Craig Hannah, Betsy Myers and Grey Hannah. It was a blast!! The weekend was filled with yummy food, beach walks, games, watching the Olympics, reading books and getting some R & R. We are so blessed by our friends! My parents were at our family beach cabin that same weekend (which was, coincidentally, 10 minutes from the place we rented) and so we joined them for dinner on Saturday night...thanks mom! Typical...it's probably 3pm in this picture :-)Valentine's Day cupcakesValentine's Day at the Whidbey Island Winery

Into the Dark

One of our favorite things to do is analyze film. We watch an array of movies from art films to comedy and from classics to documentaries. We love movies, but even more, we love the art form that film lends itself to, filled with symbolism and meaning, a new way to look at the world: physical and spiritual. One of our favorite websites in rednow.com that was started by a couple of Young Life guys.

According to the site, "As we pile experience on top of experience, we long for ways to understand what we are feeling and thinking....rednoW exists for this reason. We feel strongly that the sounds and images that are causing us to wonder the most are doing so for a reason. These wonder inspiring encounters act as signposts pointing towards a deeper truth for which we long. We see filmmakers and musicians as Poets, Prophets and Preachers—and here at rednoW we gather and listen with great expectation." Beautiful...I encourage everyone to check out this website!This year, rednoW is doing something based on Craig Detweiler's (a Christian filmmaker and analysis guru) newest book "Into the Dark" in which each month, 5 movies are selected (in theaters, emerging canon, documentary, foreign, and an older film (pre-2000)) and then discussed and analyzed through group forums on the website.Needless to say, Kyle and I are thrilled, signed up, and beginning with the 2006 movie (emerging canon), "The Prestige". Here are our thoughts that we posted in the forum:

• Brilliant film! The word that comes to mind while digging into this movie is "Truth". Every element of the film is based around finding the truth, hiding the truth, knowing the truth,disguising the truth, forgetting the truth, understanding the truth. The first person in the movie who knows the truth is the little boy at the magic show who cries at the knowledge of the dead bird. "Where is his brother?" he exclaims, not being fooled by the illusion. The truth brings him fear and remorse. The relationship between the two Borden's and the wife is littered with lies amongst the pure truth of love. She looks through those lies to try to find if her husband loves her. "You mean it today," she says, deciphering it from the times when she can tell that he doesn't. Towards the end of the movie she says, in a fit of rage, "I want you to be honest with me...no tricks, no lies, no secrets...do you love me?" In which he replies, "Not today". She later hangs herself. The truth killed her.
  
  The first glimpse we get of the danger of truth is when Cutter is showing the box to the buyer. Cutter tells him that it is, "...too dangerous", to which he replies, "I'm sure underneath all it's bells and whistles, it has a disappointing trick". "It has no trick," replies Cutter, "It's real." It is not the tricks and illusions that are dangerous, it's the Truth.
  
  Angier does not begin with this pursuit of truth, but steadily evolves throughout the film. At the death of his wife we see his desire for vengeance ("I don't care about my wife, I care about his secret!") that turns into curiosity to envy and pride, to finally, power. Truth holds power.
  
  When Angier is first seeking the truth in his profession, Cutter says to him, "You have to get your hands dirty if you want to achieve the impossible". As he gets closer to the "real trick", Borden says to him, "Finally getting your hands dirty, are you?" At the end, from his jail cell where he is waiting to be hanged, Borden tell's Angier, "You're not afraid to get your hands dirty". Perhaps it is not Truth itself that brings these ideas to the surface, but rather what we do with the truth. Borden and Angier both discover a real "trick" but do the do the same thing with it?
  
  The physicist Tesla says, "People are happy to be mystified" and Angier in his last breath says, "The audience knows the truth, the world is miserable, but if you can fool them, even for a second, then you can make them wonder". At the end Cutter says, "You don't find it because you aren't looking for it...you want to be fooled". Does this succumb to Thomas Gray's idea that, "Ignorance is bliss?"
  
  How, as Christians, do we respond to this portrayal of truth?
  

Missing my Grandma...

On Wednesday, I recieved a call from my dad with words that took my breath away and replaced it with throbbing pain. My grandma had passed away after suffering a major stroke. This is the first time I have experienced pain to this magnitude. I have beautiful memories of this incredible woman and I am so thankful to have had the wonderful relationship that we had.

I remember her laugh that was silent until she sucked in air, her silly comments, how she liked everything chopped teeny tiny in the kitchen, the way she smelled...like vacation and family. She loved cheddar cheese with her apple pie and always got mad if people took her tuberware without returning it. She loved butter on saltine crackers (well, on anything really) and hated exercise, yet always had a stationary bike by her bed. She liked classical music and soap operas, solitare and novels. Her cheeks turned pink when she drank wine and she always wore cardigan sweaters and keds. When my parents went to China to pick up Molly, she stayed with me the whole time, helping me knit a blanket for my new baby sister. She hated it when I dropped stiches and would make me start over. When I was little, I wanted her to be the maid of honor in my wedding. Everytime we went to visit her (or vice versa) we shared a bed and, while she was sucking on her tums, we would lay awake talking about everything and anything. We called this "Tums Time" and looked forward to it all day. She provided my something old (a charm she got when she was born) and my something borrowed (a Irish linin handkerchief). She sewed all my American Girl doll clothes. She was sweet, sassy, and meant the world to me. My heart aches for her.

My friend Sarah asked me the other day how my grandpa was doing. She was not aware that he had passed away when I was a toddler and I was excited to be able to tell her, "Sarah, he is wonderful! He is so happy today!" It is these thoughts and the promise of eternal life to my faithful grandma that brings me joy through my tears. I can't wait to see her again.

Grandma got to come to Wenatchee for Thanksgiving this year :-)

These past few days I have not felt like talking to anyone. I am so thankful for everyone's calls, texts, and e-mails but the times that I was able to compose myself enough to return calls were the times I was thankful to not be drowning in my tears. Grief is so strange but knowing people were thinking and praying for me and my family was an incredible comfort.

I love you Grandma. I can't wait to bake pies and talk about our days again.

Back from Blogging Haitus

I have learned that my blogging ability is very dependant upon the availability of my camera. I left my camera in Kansas, ergo, I have not blogged since before Christmas! My mother-in-law is sending me some pics from Christmas but, in the meantime, I will summarize the last month of our life!

However, with that I will say how awkward blogging is when stop for a minute to think about it. I need to ask myself, "Kelsey, does anyone really care what the Eberth's did between now and the beginning of December?!" While the answer is obviously no, I also remind myself that this is more for me: a journal that is laid open in hopes that someone will pass by and shed a glance, a really long facebook status that will get some "likes" and perhaps even a few comments, a record in case I forget what we ate for dinner 6 weeks ago. Everyone should have one, right? With that, I present to you....

The Top 10 Things from the Past Month that No one Care About (in no specific order)

1. Christmas in Bellevue: Boppa de whatever, downtown Seattle window shopping, time with family.

2. Christmas in Kansas: I love my new family!! Even when my new sister wears a onsie and my new dad drives like a maniac through snowy parking lots.

3. I turned 24...and I always said I wanted to start having kids at 25...EEK!

4. Kyle was in the wedding of his good friend, Kevin Mills, in South Carolina on New Years Eve

5. I rang in 2010 with my Wenatchee family....yummy food, good wine, and fun games

6. Kyle spent a week in Georgia for Young Life training searching for spiritual themes in movies...can we trade jobs please?

7. I bought my 5 year old husband the ugliest jacket in the world after he threw a temper tantrum for a week.

8. I lived with my Myers family for 2 weeks while Kyle was gone...it is always my favorite part of January

9. I learned that Tupac is the key to getting freshmen to read

10. Laughed...a lot.

Never Fails to Brighten My Day!

Everyday there is a TJ moment and everyday I am thankful. Today he walked into my room (always 5 minutes before everyone else as his class is after lunch) and did his usual "walk across the desks" routine but this time, he had his nose in a book: "Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul". He says, "No time to feed my stomach, only time to feed my soul!" He sat reading silently until somehow religion came up. He told me he didn't want to be Jewish anymore because it was ruining his life. When I asked him why this was so, he said there were too many restrictions. I asked him what he meant by that and he replied, "Well, for starters, you can't eat pork! AND you can't hit people"

Oh man TJ, you kill me :-)

Merry Christmas...Eberth Style!

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Thanksgiving 2009

This year, I put on my big girl panties and hosted Thanksgiving! When my mom got me a turkey pan/platter as a bridal shower gift I thought she was crazy. After all, Thanksgiving is HER job! I guess I spoke too soon.

My dad, mom, sister and Grandma Peggy made the trip from Seattle to Wenatchee to have Thanksgiving at the Eberth's! It was wonderful and I felt very "Martha Stewart". We filled the time by cooking yummy food, reading books by the fire, playing board games, watching football, napping, and eating. It was the perfect Thanksgiving!

The day after Thanksgiving we hopped in the car and followed my family back to Seattle for the Seattle Marathon on Sunday. We went to the marathon expo on Friday, carbo loaded with Wenatchee friends on Saturday, and I ran my little heart out in the half marathon on Sunday.

The race went well but it was WAY harder than I expected. I knew there would be a few hills (3-4ish) but I did not expect what was to come. The course consisted of very little level roads and many hills. I swear I was either going up a hill or down a hill the majority of the time. I finished in 2 hours 15 minutes and while I was hoping to do around 2:07, I was happy with the results due to the hills. The lack of hill training has made my legs VERY angry at me these last few days but I look forward to doing another one in the spring.

Pumpkin soup the night before Turkey DayGutting my very first turkey....ewwwwwwwwThe Thanksgiving Table
The men do the dishes! My dad is so happy to have another male in the family!Waiting in line for our family's annual Santa picture. We have been doing it since I was a newborn...Kyle thinks we are silly, we think he is a Scrooge!We BELIEVE!LOVE that finish line :-) Such a fun day!I did it! But I'm clearly still mad about those hills!
So thankful for chocolate milk, space blanket, and husband (in that order!)Biggest, grossest blister ever!!! It was like an 11th toe...I popped it to find three more blisters underneath it!!

Praise and Adoration

We have so much to be thankful for this year. Looking back at where we were a year ago, I stand in awe of all be blessings that God has bestowed upon us.

We prayed for friends and God was faithful in unbelievable ways. We feel so blessed to have people in our lives that we can have deep intimate conversations with and then laugh until we cry over pizza and beer. He has given us family in Wenatchee who fill us with unspeakable joy. Wow. He sure does go all out for His children doesn't he?

We live in a beautiful house with an incredible story that we get to share with all who come in and landlords who continue to amaze us with their grace and love.

We have learned so much about each other and our love is growing deeper and deeper as we figure out how to serve each other in love.

We have parents who support us in every aspect of our life and the longer I am around teenagers, the more I learn how rare this really is.

We have careers that stretch us, change us, bring us hope, joy, and frustration, and require us to daily look upon Him for guidance and strength. The way it should be.

We look back on trials that we have faced and how God knew exactly where, when, and how to bring us through them.

We stand in awe at a Father who loves us in spite of ourselves.

Beauty. Joy. Laughter. Simplicity. Chaos. Trials. Love.
We are so thankful!

Gobble Gobble

The Monday before Thanksgiving I woke up tell Kyle that today I hated being a high school teacher. "All I want to do," I said, "is make hand turkeys and talk about pilgrims but instead I have to teach VOCAB! UGH!" Then I went and felt sorry for myself in the shower. Kyle, being the brilliant man that he is, thought of a way to make everyone happy...and vocab turkeys were born!!They put the word on one side of the finger and the definition on the other. I think they thought I had lost my mind, but who doesn't love it when their teacher pulls out the markers and construction paper every once in a while! Way to go Kyle!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Week

Saturday: the most delicious three syllables in the English language

...ok perhaps that's a gross exaggeration (especially since I love the word "acquiesce") but I do love my Saturdays (oh wait...I'm married...OUR Saturdays)!

This week our Saturday began with sleeping in 'till 10. This is pretty impressive if you know me and my inability to sleep much later than 7:30.

We then decided to take on the beautiful Wenatchee day and, as it was my cross training day, go for a hike. We love hiking and went frequently in the summer but haven't been out since. Kyle likes to pretend he is an explorer when we go for hikes. Even short hikes like Saddlerock

Here is the beginning of the hike:

We reached the top!

In addition, here are some pictures of beautiful Wenatchee!!

Lil' snow, lil' green, lil' tumbleweed = Eastern Washington!

The Saddle

After our hike, we went and met up with our good friends Eric and Sarah Duffy. The Wenatchee Downtown Association was doing a holiday open house and wine walk. Different shops were open (and all decorated for Christmas!) and had local wineries doing tastings in each of the shops. It was so much fun to walk around, see the pretty decorations, sip delicious wine, eat some hors d'oeuvres, and spend time with great friends.Cheers!

Mason had a fake I.D.Kyle blinked, but it was the only one of the two of us :-)

The fun day was topped off with pizza and game night at the Borsts with Betsy and Craig. It's hard to beat Papa Murphy's, fall-shaped sugar cookies, and Phase 10. We love our Wenatchee family!! Even though Justin beat us all...

It's the Small Things

TJ, my autistic student who cracks me up each and every day has a routine: He is in my 4th period class (the class after lunch) and EVERY day he comes bounding down the hall, backpack flying behind him like a superman cape. From the door he takes a mammoth, full-bodied leap to stand proudly on top of the first desk. From there he continues his adventure to his seat (which is situated right next to mine) jumping desks like hopscotch squares and knocking down everything and everyone on his way. Finally, he plops down, takes a deep sigh of accomplishment and says with a big gappy grin, "Hi Mrs. Eberth!!"

I had a sub 1.5 days this week because I was sick and than Wednesday, Veterans Day, was off. So today, TJ saw me, bared that gappy grin a little earlier and said, "MAN! That was good! I haven't gotten to do that in forever!"

Thanks for reminding me to find joy in the simple things TJ.

Me without Me

BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) has been such a blessing to me this year. I really feel like God is jump starting my faith that has been, admittingly, stagnant this past year. I wish that He didn't need to use my career to show me these things but His ways are always better than mine (I say through gritted teeth). I often wish He would shoot me an e-mail and say, "Listen Kels, here are some things that we need to work on...I think you are made of more than this". Yet He shows me these things in a way that will not allow me to just sugar coat my life, making it look pretty but really refine me, change me, grow me. For that I am thankful. Tough love perhaps. It says in this weeks BSF notes, "Opposition is inevitable for any active Christian...God allows opposition so that we may be deeply rooted in Him and experience the delights of proving his strength and comfort given in trials."

Last Monday the lecture was on the man whom Jesus healed on the Sabbath. The first thing He asks the man is, "Do you want to get well?" A seemingly ridiculous question to ask a man who has been sick for 38 years. Yet how often do we sit in our own disorders, acting like we want to "get well" but too comfortable to move. What are my disorders? In what is God asking me, "Kelsey, do you want to get well?" So I made a list: I'm selfish with my time, I worry and pull anxiety into my life for the heck of it, pride, jealous and competitive with people I love, impatient. I know the list could go on for years but I'm selfish with my time, so I stopped.

Do I want to get well? Think...Pray...Sip of tea. Yes. I do. I wholeheartedly do. Now what? What did the man do next? Obeyed. He got up, picked up his mat, and walked. Yet it wasn't until he obeyed that he experienced the new life given by God.

But here is where I struggle. What does obedience look like in my life? What is God asking me to do? I want to be nothing so that He can be everything (Phil 2:6-8) but HOW?

To become like Him I need to know Him.

Lord, reveal yourself to me. I know you want my submissive heart but I don't know how to give it to you or, rather, I don't know what to do once I let go. What does me without me look like?

I am copying this idea from one of my friends (and blogger inspiration) Darcy. Every Thursday, post a list of things you are thankful for. I know I did this in a previous post but now I want to make it a more regular thing:

I am thankful for...

• Leftovers
• Runs that are easy now but would have been super hard a month ago
• Pumpkin spice candles
• Thursday night TV (Grey's AND Private Practice)
• Small trinkets of joy that God plops in my day that I savor in order to survive
• Skype
• Audiobooks (perfect for running)
• anticipating Thanksgiving
• Fridays @ 3:15
• BSF
• Crockpots
• When Kyle gets home from work
  
• Knowing that people are praying for me
• blogs as an outlet for reflection
  

Finding Joy in Literary Terms

This is exactly how I felt by the end of the day! Besides the fact that I had one kid suspended, discovered that one kid had come to class high, and found two other kids drinking (yes in the bathroom), my day ended with a bang because of one girl. While writing a description paragraph (or attempting, after I had sent one student out in the hall and threatened the rest with their lives if they didn't stop talking and WRITE) one girl came up to me and asked...."Mrs. Eberth, can we use personification in our paragraph?" Trumpets sounded, fireworks flew, and I seriously got choked up. This question is coming from a class that, last week, couldn't remember what a flippin' noun was and didn't know what an adVERB described (I'll give you a hint...). It's all about the little things...

Halloween Fun!

The weekend began with a fun Friday night of hot tubbing with two of my favorite girls in the entire world: Kelsey and Heidi. It is so wonderful having people to vent, share, love, pray, and laugh...with you and for you. I am so blessed.

Saturday, after a horrible run that consisted of a huge blister, raging shin splints, and unbelievable wind, Kyle and I attempted to rid our big yard of the millions of leaves that I had been admiring days before. They were suddenly the subject of my contempt. Especially the ones still in the tree that I knew would fall right after we raked up the other ones. I wanted to yell, "GET DOWN HERE YOU WIMPS! Man up and jump off your branches like the rest of your friends". It didn't work.

To avoid yard work, as I have done all my life, I decided to try to find some goats to do the work for us. I hear they are the way of the future in yard work. They have 4 stomachs that can each old two points of foliage a day! That's WAY more than our garbage can! AND it's al naturale...and I love going green :-) I still have a few e-mails out so I haven't given up on my goat theory but in the meantime, Kyle mowed 'um up, I put some in the garbage, and there are still two HUGE piles right out side the garage that are waiting to be disposed of. Ugh.

That night we had tickets to go to the Wenatchee Wild (it's all the rage) hockey game for their first annual "Ghouls and Goals" with some of my other favorite people in the world, Betsy and Craig and Don and Heidi. Before the big game we tailgated at the arena...it was a blast!

Heidi made taco soup and, being the classy folk that we are, our tailgating meal came complete with cloth napkins and a tablecloth!

Kyle enjoying some soup
Heidi "high fivin'" Walt the Wenatchee Wild Wolf! She was SO excited and spent the rest of the night howling (yes...like a wolf) every chance she could get. Admittingly, it was contagious.We love Don and Heidi!
It was so much fun :-)Betsy and Craig (eating his $1 hotdog that the boys were way too excited about)It was amazing to me how many people dressed up! Hence, the hotdog that sat right in front of us...We saw everything from the Travelocity gnome, Octomon, a huge gorilla, penguin, slutty Snow White, a wench that sang the National Anthem to Obama chia pet

Since our Saturday yard work plan wasn't as successful as we hope, we decided to get some "winterizing" done and went to pick up some free firewood (gotta love craigslist!) in Cashmere. It was not only a beautiful fall drive, but some much needed Kyle and Kelsey time. On our way we stopped at one of our favorite bakery's in the world, Anjou Bakery. We ordered coffee, tea, and some yummy pastries, bundled up, sat outside,breathed in the fresh crisp air, and read our book for small group. It was heaven.Anjou Bakery...so cute and delicious!

The wood was way too heavy for me...I wasn't much help!

Good job Kyle! Good thing I married a "manly man"...especially since we were expecting the wood to already be cut and ready for the fire...does the work ever end??

Thoughts on "The Weekend"

"The rhythm of the weekend, with its birth, its planned gaieties, and its announced end, followed the rhythm of life and was a substitute for it. "
--Fitzgerald

The amount of time spent anticipating, planning for, and dreaming of weekends is never sufficiently paid off in the 48 hours we are given. My frequent and cliche response to the Monday morning question of how my weekend was is, more often than not, "Too fast". The irony in savoring these two days to relax, unwind, and rejuvenate is the abundance of "stuff" we put into our week to make that possible. Perhaps the key is not to see how fast we can make it to the Friday finish line, but to stop and take a breath, wipe the sweat off our brow, throw back a Dixie cup of cold water and continue the race at a slower pace.

Pumpkin Carving Party

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."
-George Eliot

Last Friday we had some of our favorite friends over for a pumpkin carving party...it was a blast! The rain even stopped for the evening so we got to be outside in the crisp air, drinking apple cider, sitting by the fire, and participating in some competitive pumpkin carving. Justin brought power tools, Kyle spent the day finding designs on the internet, and Heidi brought accessories for her pumpkin! This is why we love our Wenatchee family! Kels B even made roasted pumpkin seeds out of our pumpkin guts :-)

Petra brought her own little green pumpkin from her garden, Mason wore his monkey costume, Libby was the judge for the contest, and Jack ate some pumpkin guys saying, "mmmmm tastes like carved pumpkin"!

Hot cider in the warm house

Kyle gettin' the guts out

Justin making Minnie Mouse with a power saw

Posing by our pumpkins

Sarah brought a monkey to the party!

Libby the judge

Eating snacks by the fire

Had to move the party inside once it got too dark

Jack loves pumpkins!

Hard at work!

It was wonderful spending an evening with great friends. We are so blessed to have all these amazing people in our lives. Oh, and in case you were wondering, Libby chose "Grandma Heidi's pumpkin" as the winner....wonder why?!