Pilgrims at Oak Ridge

Last night it was Jeff's turn to preach at the Community Revival. Let me tell you - He really brought it. He was getting "Amens" left and right. The black preacher behind him was nodding right along. Someone sitting over to my right kept saying "mmhmm....mmhmm." And Jeff really seemed to get into it - he was a little more animated than usual. He even made a joke about being one of "God's frozen Chosen." The crowd really loved it. I loved it. I loved how he still used several scriptures to give a more or less exegetical sermon, and yet it was still very accessible and evangelistic. It really was a pleasure being part of a service that full of so many different types of faces and backgrounds. An elderly white lady played the keyboard during the service. She really, really tried to do some of the songs slowly, but almost every time by the second verse, she was throwing in these syncopated runs and basically just rocking out. And if you've never se...

Last night was the first night of our Community Revival in Cross Hill. It went really well, I thought. Over 135 people showed up, and one of the black Baptist churches was in charge of the preaching and music, and well, they know how to preach their revivals! Although I think the biggest lesson I learned was from an incident about a minute before the service began. The minister in charge gathered the rest of the pastors and asked us all to take our seats on the stage next to the choir for the service. Well I didn't want to sit on the stage. Actually, I was looking forward to sitting with the congregation and listening to the sermon, something I don't get to do very often. But I begrudgingly went and took my seat on the stage. That's not the way WE do things. Thankfully, I was almost immediately convicted regarding my pettiness. I almost let something as silly as where I was asked to sit determine my attitude about the value of other churches. Is this not the source...

This week I'll be preaching in a good ol' fashioned big tent revival! Actually, the tent is kinda medium sized, but it will be set up in the city park, and there will be singin' and preachin' and hallelujahin'. Now, I'm a Presbyterian. And revivals aren't really a part of our tradition. Neither is hallelujahin'. And at first I wasn't too excited about preaching for such an event. But the more I think about it, the more excited I become. First of all, this is a Community Revival. Its not just put on by one church, but by seven. Seven! Seven different churches have committed to coming together to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in a neutral location to the community of Cross Hill! What's not to like about that? These churches will be Presbyterian, Baptist and Pentecostal all getting together. Moreover they will be white, black and hispanic. All coming together to show that we have "One Lord, one faith, one God and Father of all....

Need a little pick-me-up for today? Check out this story from Sports Illustrated. A high school senior, the only girl on her high school's track team, won the state team track meet. All by herself. Twice.

We recently made a little announcement on facebook. Within 1 minute of Jeff's update, someone had commented on it. Within 3 minutes of my update, several people had commented. Before it was all said and done, over 50 people had commented on my status. I guess when you have very exciting news, people like to respond quickly, but still, I was amazed at how rapidly tons of people left comments. I guess the moral of the story is that news can spread very, very quickly on facebook. Which is great when you have fun news, and a very good way to let a LOT of people know something. Maybe not so great, though, if you are prone to the post first, think later mentality.

I'm learning how God writes our stories differently. When we were first having trouble getting pregnant, I'd lurk on some of the infertility blogs, reading stories of bad doctors, insensitive family members, treatments successful and treatments failed. Women would write about their "two week wait" and have posts filled with more acronyms than I could keep straight. It was helpful, though, to get an idea about what others have gone through. It was also extremely helpful to find those blogs of other believers, also going through infertility, to see how they dealt with the disappointment, and continued trusting in God's goodness. Often I'd read and see that an infertility blog had become a pregnancy blog and then a parenting blog. Sometimes this happened through treatments, with drugs or IVF, and then there were those others. "Well, we couldn't get pregnant and then suddenly we did, when we weren't trying/taking a break/adopting...." I, of cours...

So last weekend I was dutifully watching some college football, as any good American citizen is expected to do in the fall. In particular I was rooting on our Gamecocks in a valiantly played game against Georgia. And while watching, I was reminded again of what I think is the best idea ever had in sports. Ever. The penalty box in hockey. In hockey, when you break one of the rules, you have to sit out for a few minutes and think about what you've done. Not only that, but your team doesn't get to replace you, they have to play shorthanded until your penalty is over, and you're allowed to start playing again. This is not only a wonderfully simple system, but it is just, fair, and righteous. And what's more, its a fairly strong penalty deterrent. If you commit a foul, then the game goes on 5 against 4. Two people commit fouls? The game goes on 5 against 3. Beautiful. In football, it seems like there is a penalty flag thrown on nearly every play. And the penaltie...

First, about 8 weeks ago, we saw this.... Then this: A little bit later there was this: And this: And Last week it was this: I'm now 13 weeks along, due in late March. We feel incredibly blessed, and of course, are very, very excited. (Working at a doctor's office and knowing how to do ultrasounds definitely comes in handy when you want to see your baby... And yes, I have been doing my own ultrasounds. It's a bit awkward, but I'm getting better.)

Jeff's birthday was yesterday, which I took as an excuse to do a bunch of cooking to make him a fun birthday dinner. It really was delicious. I made these short ribs as a main dish. Short ribs are great, especially for a dinner party because you basically just stick them in the oven and then let them cook a long, long time. You can also make them ahead of time. For my two sides, I made Ina Garten's orange-honey glazed carrots , always a favorite side. I also made braised leeks , which turned out really well, and a mushroom risotto . For some reason, I had been feeling like making risotto, and a birthday dinner is a great place to make what you feel. We topped it off with some homemade buttermilk honey bread . For dessert, I made Jeff's favorite birthday cake . Needless to say, at the end of the day, I was tired from all the cooking and very, very full. But it was all worth it since I love my sweet husband, and I think he had a wonderful day.

Those of you who know me well know that I have a slight tendency to lose things. (Jeff is now laughing that I wrote "slight".) I was on call the other night and was unable to find my stethoscope, before or after my call. I actually had to replace a stethoscope intern year because I lost it, and let me tell you... those things are not cheap. This morning, on my way in, when I remembered that my stethoscope was missing, I just said a quick little prayer that my stethoscope would turn up. I walked into my cube, and sitting right on top of my desk was my stethoscope! It definitely wasn't there when I left work on Friday. So this morning I'm praising God for the little things - like found stethoscopes....

The water slide was a big hit... Yes, that is my baby brother. He loves our nephew. And is very hairy.

More of my favorites....

So here are some from our trip to Kansas....

I am really, really behind on photos. We've been numerous places, done numerous things, and I have posted nary a photo. Since my blogging brain has been a little empty for ideas, I will now attempt to remedy both situations. First, from our family reunion, back in July... Caleb does this really cute thing where he turns his head and smiles kind of shyly. I love it. And I love that I caught him doing it. And Sam. We were sitting by the lake enjoying some very tasty Goldfish. And the very cute cousins abounded:

The real problem with our health care system? And the first thing that should be changed? Read about it here . (I'm sure, as a primary care doctor, I'm biased towards agreeing with this article, but never have a seen such a succinct description of what is wrong with our health care system. You really should read it.) An excerpt: "It's clear that Medicare and all major insurers place far more relative value on fancy procedures like stents, EKGs, skin biopsies, CT scans, and bowel clean-outs than they do on actual face-to-face time with patients. Procedures, they have decreed, require more mental effort and skill than seeing actual people. The implications are obvious. Just visit any hospital: The dermatology, radiology, and cardiology centers that depend on high-volume, relatively quick procedures have gleaming new facilities, while the primary care and psychiatry clinics languish, since they earn their keep from poorly compensated face-to-face time with patients. And, ...