Celebrations & Traditions

Last week, marked the two year anniversary of the first date Mark and I ever had. To celebrate, Mark got us tickets to the Ordway where we saw a production of Chicago. It was fantastic. I may even go as far as to say it was S'marvelous. Last year on our anniversary Mark surprised me with tickets to my favorite musical of all time Les Miserables when it was at the Ordway. He said it was not intentional that we went to the same place to celebrate...but it just worked out that way. Now however we have decided that it is a great tradition for us to carry on. So now we just have to hope they continue to have good shows at the Ordway every January 21st!

Good Stuff

These are two things I recently experienced for myself and enjoyed thoroughly. I knew I would like them both, but was surprised by how much. So if you get the chance I highly recommend that you check them out for yourself.

Tradition!

As some of you know, every Christmas my mom puts up an elaborate nativity scene that sits over their fireplace. Sometime either at the end of my high school career or during my early Dordt years a tradition began where my brother, Cam, and I would put something in the nativity scene. The first year it was a rather obnoxious teddy bear that was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses, and a straw hat. We put it on top of the stable, my mom was clueless. We took family photos in front of the fireplace and it wasn't until much later when she got the photos developed that she saw the bear. Since that time Cam and I have put something different in the nativity each year, and every year everyone but mom sees it right away. So I thought I would share with you what we have put in there over the last three years...starting with Christmas 2006.


Yes that is a Jar-Jar Koosh.


That is a pig I made in my 8th grade art class. Impressive I know.



Last, but not least the Arby's oven mitt.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

My friend Cristina made me aware of way I could really bless my friends and family this holiday season.

Rather then explain to you how I am going to do this. I thought I would just let you see for yourself. Click here to see my gift to all my friends.

I just can't hide it

How sad, even the computer can tell I am Minnesotan!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: North Central "North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
The West
The Midland
Boston
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Nick & Amy Ciske

This weekend, we attended the last of our summer/fall weddings. Nick and Amy got married saturday. The ceremony was beautiful, and the reception was relaxed and fun. Every part of the day reflected their personalities. It was such a great day.

Presenting Mr. & Mrs. Don Groen

Well, last weekend Mark and I took our first road trip together to Allendale, MI for the wedding of Don and Melanie Groen. It was a lot of fun. Shortly after we got there I was off to Melanie's parents house to throw her bachelorette party. Here are a couple pictures of the festivities.


Friday was spent hanging out with the bride, helping her get things ready for the main event. Here is a picture of her and Don at the Groom's Dinner.

Saturday was the wedding. She looked so beautiful. I, however, was kinda weirded out by being called the Matron of Honor. Matron is such a strange word, that sounds so old...I don't feel that I should be a matron...not that Maid of Honor sounds cool or anything...but still it just felt weird. Thankfully I was able to rise above it, and the wedding was a great celebration of Melanie and Don. Yeah to best friends, and celebrations!

Stay tuned for next week, when this blog will feature the wedding of Nick and Amy.

They are Here!

The much anticipated official wedding photos are now complete! I am so excited about how they turned out. Shelley, in her generosity, went above and beyond any expectations and put together a slideshow of some of the photos so that my friends & family could see them. So if you want to check them out click here.

Photographer Friends

So I have been having people ask about pictures of the wedding. The professional ones are still being worked on, but I do have lots of friends who like photography and they took pictures of the wedding so you can check out their different photo's at each of their respective Flickr accounts Bryan, Jen, Kandi, Melody, and Anna.

Mrs. Miron, That's Me!

At my first bridal shower, my friend Cristina presented me with a necklace that she had made. On the back it said "Mrs. Miron, that's me!" I loved the necklace too much to wait until after August 12th to wear it so, I wore it in anticipation of our wedding. Now, I can proudly wear it, knowing that it is true. The wedding day was perfect. There was nothing I would change. Mark and I just enjoyed celebrating with our friends and family. Here are a few pictures to enjoy.

Let the Wedding's Begin!

So I haven't posted in a while, because I have been so busy with wedding planning.
Yesterday however, it was time for me to celebrate the wedding of dear friend Laura (Beckman)Boche, who I have been friends with since fourth grade. I was honored to be her personal attendent, and in less then two weeks she will be mine!

The Hook Up

So there have been a few sites that I have been enjoying/visiting lately that I thought I would pass on to anyone who is interested.

The first is the blog for my friend (and wedding photographer) Shelley. On it you will see a few of the photo's she took for our engagement photo's. You should also check out the website for Summerset studio's photography. She is really good at what she does. I love to look at her photo's and see how she captures the personality of the people she is photographing as well as the scenery around them.

The second is a blog of a person I only met once. His name is Derek. He and I sang at a wedding together in Idaho for our mutual friends Bryan and Judy. Although I didn't get to know him or his wife, Shannon, very well I remember being impressed with how kind and authentic they both seemed to be. A few months back Bryan e-mailed his friends to pray for Derek and his family (he and his wife have two young girls) as he has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and gave us the link to Derek's Blog where he chronicles his journey with the cancer. As many of you know my dad was diagnosed with a similar form of Lymphoma a few of years ago, he has now been cancer free for a couple of years. I feel like much of this blog captures the thoughts and feelings my dad, and my other family members experienced during the time he had cancer. It is a powerful testimony of the emotional, spiritual, and physical ups and downs experienced by people with cancer. So I encourage you to read about his experience, and to lift Derek and Shannon up in prayer as he continues to fight off the cancer.

The last link is to a humorous wedding related blog. My friend Nick told me about it. It is called "You may Kiss the blog". This woman is a great writer, and she blogs about her experiences in planning her wedding. I found her entries to be hilarious, and think that even if I wasn't currently planning my own wedding that I would get a kick out of her blog.

Unforgettable

So another year of my life has passed, and so far being 27 has been fun.

On Saturday Mark surprised me by taking me to Duluth for the day. I hadn't been there since I was about 4 years old, so it was really fun to see it again. Sadly the 70, 80, and 90 degree weather we had been enjoying last week had left and it was a chilling 55ish degrees out, so instead of playing track ball on the boardwalk we went to the Duluth aquarium.



We had a lot of fun there despite the fact that they really did not have many fish to look at...and those that they did have were things like lake trout. I did however get to pet a fresh water sting ray...which was a first for me.

Then the big surprise was that Mark had booked us on a dinner cruise. It was so fun. The food was delicious and the scenery was amazing. I am not a huge lover of swimming, and being in the water...but I am a big fan of being near the water. In California Melanie, Tanja and I would frequent Santa Cruz, and Carmel just so we could relax on the beach. And in Michigan I lived minutes from a beautiful beach on Lake Michigan so it felt good to just be by a large body of water and enjoy the calm and peaceful impact it has on me.

Then last night some of my friends from Bluer gathered to celebrate. I had so much fun eating delicious cake, and laughing (very hard I must add) with this wonderful group of people. I just can't help but feel the need to let them know how very thankful I am to have them in my life.

oh...and for all you non-bluer friends...I am thankful for you too.

Bliss & Joy

Well I am officially done with graduate school. I went to my last class on Friday and handed in my final paper. A great weight has been lifted off of my being. It was a great feeling to have an entire Sunday to myself...with no homework looming over my head. I was able to just enjoy being with friends, and not worrying about the list of things that need to be done.
Now granted I still have lots of things to do, as I need to find a job and finish planning the wedding. But for some reason those things don't come with as much stress attached to them as my schooling did.
At the same time I do take Twin Cities, Social Work, Youth related job leads...so if you have any of those feel free to send them my way.

It's been a while

Well when tomorrow comes, Mark and I will have been engaged for a month! And what a month it has been, not only have we got lots of wedding plans taken care of but last week my best friend Melanie got engaged. Then a few days later my room mate Amy and Mark's room mate Nick got engaged! So this summer/fall will be jammed packed full of holy matrimony!

So as you may imagine, the past month things have gotten really busy with school, my internship, and planning a wedding. Today however there is reason to celebrate because I successfully passed my Licensed Graduate Social Worker (LGSW) Exam. That means that once I graduate I will be fully licensed. Yippee!

Now I just have three more papers to write so that I can graduate. Then once that is done I just need to find a job, plan our wedding, figure out where we are going to live post-August 12th, and then get married.

Okay so I have a few stressful things to do yet...but at least I no longer have to factor test anxiety into the picture.

Oh what a night

March 21, 2006
The first day of spring
The day that Mark and I got engaged.
It is a GOOD day!

Mark had planned something for our 14 month anniversary. So I was at home watching TV when I saw this going on outside my house.



That's my room mate Amy carrying balloons and a bag. She along with photographer Nick are in on the whole plot.

They get inside and I open the gift.

And in the bag are three CD's and a clue that is written on a piece of paper that looks like the Road Blocks on the TV show the Amazing Race.

The clue lets me know that I will now be embarking upon my own Amazing Race scavenger hunt, and that the CDs are to help pass the time between the destination. The first clue was:
The information superhighway if you first destination. Where I parlay my thoughts into a loud declamation, you will find your first clue. I ran upstairs and got on the computer to go to Mark's Blog where you can read the clue.

I then had to pop the balloons (he had gotten 14-one for each month we've been dating)to find the next clue. Here is a video clip of that fiasco. Which led me to go to his sister's house.

Where I was met by the whole family.

Jack gave me a bag filled with all my favorite chocolates,and another rhyming clue that sent me to our church.

When I got there I found our most holy of reverends, John Musick.
After pretending that he had know idea as to what I was doing there. He presented me with a bag full of books which included "Rocking the Roles" by Lewis & Hendricks, "Through Painted Deserts" by Donald Miller, and "Cheap Ways to Tie the Knot" By Cara Davis. And of course a clue that rhymed which led me to go to the restaurant in St Paul where we had our first date.

When I arrived I saw Mark sitting at a table. He had gotten me flowers from the flower shop that I work at.

I sat down, and he informed me that I still had one more clue to look for. The previous clue had mentioned something about finding it below my head and above my feet. So I looked underneath our table, and taped to the bottom was an envelope that had a clue that looked like this.

and said this:

"OK, This isn't a clue; rather it is a small token of my love for you. And with this token comes a question too. A question that only requires an 'I will' or 'I do'. The truth of the matter cannot be denied Heather, I'm asking you to please be my bride."

To this I of course said yes. The restaurant started cheering. Our waitress came over and congratulated us, let us know that we caused a bunch of tears, and told us that her husband proposed to her at this restaurant as well, because it was also the place of their first date.

The rest of the night was spent enjoying each others company, and calling friends and family to tell them the good news.

Oh what a night.

Spring Break?

Well starting yesterday I was officially on Spring Break. However if you look at these pictures I took from my house...you would think it is winter break.


Just a couple of days ago there was no snow...now there is plenty to go around. It took me 30 minutes just to dig my car out this morning as I attempted to go to my internship. In the end I didn't end up going because I wasn't feeling good. But not to worry I think I am on the mend.


Yesterday was a fun day. Since it was so snowy, Mark, Amy, and Nick took a snow day. That is the beauty of living in "Bluer South Campus" we all got to hang out and watch movies (Kingdom of Heaven, In Her Shoes), play Rook (Mark and I won), and eat together. It was great, especiall since I thought my first day of spring break was going to consist of me sitting in front of my computer typing papers (which I did today instead).


The rest of spring break is sure to be fun as Kristin is flying in Thursday and staying with me for a couple days before she heads to Willmar.

You know...even with the snowy weather. I like spring break.

I saw my childhood flash before my eyes

So the words Heather and Sports have never been synonymous. Even though I played tennis in college, I always felt strange owning a Dordt jacket which was usually meant for the jocks.

However tonight when I heard the news of the passing on of Kirby Puckett, I was greatly saddened. Growing up I was not a girl with posters of the New Kids on the Block in her room. Instead I had a giant poster of Kirby. It was 1986 when I started to go to the store with my brother to buy baseball cards, I would trade anyone for a Kirby card...which explains why I have 7 of the exact same card.

In 1987 I dressed up as a Homer Hanky for Halloween.

On my golden birthday we went to a twins game. I was ten years old, and my parents bought me a Kirby Puckett bear, a Kirby t-shirt, and two goldfish one of which I named Kirby. Then when Kirby (the fish) died two weeks later I went and got another one and named him Kirby 2.

Every year, we would go to multiple twins games. I think we went to 10 games one season. We would sit in the upper deck and would try to get as close to center field as possible. We would make sure to get their early enough so we could see the Twins warm up and we'd yell to Kirby. Sometimes he would turn and wave.

My dad was at the 6th game of the world series when Kirby hit that infamous homerun.

When Kirby's number was retired, I was a senior in high school. My family and I actually were at the Metrodome for Kirby Puckett day.The lights went out, and suddenly strobe lights were going on, and then a spot light hit just off of where we were sitting. There was Kirby. It was a great night.

A few years later I was one of the fans who was at the Metrodome by 6 AM so that I could get the original Kirby Pucket bobble head doll.

So now years later. I am still an avid Twins fan. I have moved on to the new center fielder with my Torii Hunter t-shirt, but I felt the need to post about Kirby and the role he played in my childhood.

Bueller?

In an attempt to relive the 80's,tomorrow is going to be my own personal version of Farris Bueller's Day off.

Well...maybe comparing myself to Farris is a bit much since instead of taking my friend's parents car, swiming in my underwear, and singing in a parade I will be doing laundry, cleaning my room, and doing other mindless activities. But I can say that just like Farris I am claiming a day to take as a personal holiday from anything and everything school related!

Yeah, for March 2nd!

Whirlwind

Well the last week and a half have flown by. I seriously am in shock that today is Friday. Crazy.

Well last week I ended up skipping the class that I wrote about last time. Kristin was visiting and I was in a good mood, and did not want that to be squelched due to class...so I didn't go. I ended up staying home and getting lots of homework done. So it was not in vain.

Then the next day I went to class and my friend told me that I had not missed anything except that a classmate had gone to talk to our prof about the frustration that is occurring in the class so they began a discussion about what we were all feeling. So that was a step in the write direction. Then yesterday I went to the class and the first hour was a survey about our feelings on the class, and a discussion about how things could change. So I am hopeful that I will soon no longer dread going to school on Thursdays.

This semester I am taking a class outside of the school of Social Work as well. As some of you know, last year especially I struggled with how the school of social work talks so much about the inclusivity of cultures/beliefs that it excludes people like monotheists. Anyways, the class that I am taking outside of the school of social work deals with the role of culture in health practices. We somehow started to talk about faith, and the role that plays in culture. I was expecting history to repeat itself and for Christianity to be generalized into "all things George W stands for" and to be portrayed as the enemy of all things loving. Thankfully however,it did not go that way. I walked away from that class excited about what I had just experienced. After our discussion the group debriefed about our conversation and what we found was that for most of us it was the first time we had all been in a conversation with people from all different faith backgrounds where no one felt attacked, no one was getting defensive,and people genuinely really wanted to gain more understanding from each other and were respectful while doing it. It was such a rewarding experience for me...I can not really put into words what it was like.

But I think that it was by far the biggest "Surprise me God" moment that I have experienced so far in my 11 day experiment.