freezing in ohio

Laura and I arrived in Dover, Ohio a few days ago and are settling in nicely. Well, I have settled in nicely--Laura still has her stuff spread around the guestroom. We were greeted warmly by Mina's slobbering jowls, Andy's bear hugs, and Mom's kisses. The weather here is, eerr, a brisk 25 degrees in the middle of the day (I'm freezing!).

So we went out to pick a Christmas tree today. Our first stop was a Christmas tree farm. We walked up and down rows and rows of giant sized and greatly thinned out trees. The selection wasn't that great. But I did manage to nearly freeze out there. At one point I couldn't feel my face and at another point I'm pretty sure my eyeball froze. We headed next to a little house that rounds up trees from a nearby farm and sells them in their driveway. We found a nice big ole tree that we thought would like great in the living room, though Mama Chapman nearly crunched it as she attempted to park her car in the garage with the tree still on the roof! Uh-oh! The damage was moderate, btu I think the tree will survive...maybe. Here's a pic of the tree pre-crunch.


I unfortunately don't have a pic of the tree stuck in between the garage door and the attic, but you could imagine what it looked like as she started backing up once she realized what she had done.

That's all for now.

It's been a long time.

Hello to all who still check this lost neglected blog! I (James) take full responsibility for the lack of substance here in the past....eerrr 4 months? Ouch, that has been a long time. Well, once again, my apologies for any of you who have been wondering where the Rosenbergs have been.

The update
Laura and I have quit our jobs, sold 90% of our belongings, moved out of San Diego, and are currently living with my gracious parents through Thanksgiving in Concord, CA. It was great quitting our jobs, easy selling our belongings (thank you Craig's List and to the Iraqi guy who bought my junky car for $900), hard to say good-bye to friends (especially pregnant friends), and good to re-connect with parents.

Fund-raising
As of now, we are still in the middle of support raising. Family and friends (and strangers) have been very gracious to us. We just spent a weekend up in Oregon where Brian Kruse and his Church covered all of our expenses and gave us time to speak during their Sunday morning service. Another Church here in Concord just committed to funding us at a monthly rate. Not to mention all the countless friends and family that have been so encouraging to us with their time and money. We are making a lot of progress and we look forward to meeting our goal by the end of the year.

The Plan
After our time here in Concord is up, we will be heading to Phoenix for a dear friend's wedding! Vince Garvey that is! After those festivities we will be heading to Ohio to spend the month of December with Laura's family. We hope to return to CA in early January to pack up and get ready for a mid-January departure.

Once again, thanks to all of you who have been supporting us along our journey as newly weds. We look forward to keeping this blog a lil more updated as we head overseas.

My Little Sister is Married! (by Laura)

Kimberly & Jon Chleboun are hitched! We stinkin' love 'em. And marriage. It's great.

The Scariest Things

For Laura, it's jellyfish. It's the ultimate nightmarish creature. Have you ever dreamt that your limbs are impossibly sluggish and you can't outrun what's chasing you? That's how Laura feels when she sees a jelly appear in the top of a wave. She knows it's coming for her. She can't stop it. It can't stop itself. Blob bobbing, tentacles dragging... She can't get out of the water fast enough.

For James, it's hairspray. It's the only thing worse than glitter. The aerosol can comes out of the bathroom cabinet, and James is hiding under his towel and fleeing for his life. It's like a mist of stickiness you can't escape. Shudder.

And for you readers who are trying to decided which is worse, c'mon now. One stings and kills people, the other destroys the ozone. Is there really any question!?

For James' Pretty Long Lashes?

Humongous mascara wand, or excessively chic toilet brush? We were confused.