Trees, Lights, and a man in Tights!

Merry Christmas season everyone!





It is starting to feel like Christmas at the Miller household. We put up our trees (Christmas Tree and Charlie Brown Christmas Tree), wrapped some gifts, and kicked off the Christmas season with Elf (hence the Tights reference).

Here are a few of our favorite Christmas movie quotes: (Can you name which movie they come from?)

1) "If it makes you feel any better, I forgot my reading glasses."

2) "This is just a real nice surprise. Just a real nice surprise."

3) "Nine million terrorists in the world and I gotta kill one with feet smaller than my sister." - (may be a stretch...)

4) "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"

5) "Have you seen these toilets? They're GINORMOUS!"

6) "I can count to ten. One, two, three, four, five, nine, six, eight... Well, I can count to five."

7) "Deck the harrs with boughs of horry, fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra."

8) "My name is all wrong. No child wants to play with a Charlie-In-The-Box so I had to come here."


What are some of YOUR favorite quotes?


We always love this season. May we all rediscover the wonder and the joy in the Christmas story. For the God of the heavens became an infant child!

Enough, Stuff, and Enough Stuff

Kristi and I attended the "Through the Consuming Fire" conference in Indianapolis this weekend at the Englewood Christian Church. We found out about the conference through our friends Kurt and Katie Williams and the four of us all were able to go! The conference theme was "Economic Faithfulness in an age of Consumerism", and "Community and Creativity in resisting Consumerism."

The main speakers were Shane Claiborne, Kelly Johnson, and Will Samson. The conference was designed to challenge our consumeristic mindset, as well as think creatively about how to be producers. We read Will Samson's book Enough in preparation for the conference, and here is an excerpt:

"One day, Jesus was walking down Main Street on his way out of town, and a rich and influential young lawyer came up to him and asked him: "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

And Jesus replied, "Give what you can to the synagogue. Ten percent is a good rule of thumb, but whatever you do, don't be a legalist about it. And make sure you have enough left over to contribute to the economy. You know, 'Give to Caesar...'

And the man went away very happy, because that was exactly what he was already doing."

Each of the first several chapters of Enough starts with this scene, with the young lawyer coming up with all the excuses that us Christians come up with when confronted with the difficulty of selling everything. The book challenges the reader to ask the question, is Christ enough? So often we get caught up in the consumption of material goods that we find ourselves not thinking that Christ is enough for us. The book also asks us the question, did God create enough on earth for everyone? If so, why (according to a 2000 United Nations report) are 1 billion people in the world suffering from over-nutrition, while 800 million suffer from malnutrition? I would recommend this thought provoking, easy to read book, and not just because its the only one I've read this year (and I'm still not completely finished...).

A way of life introduced (at least to me) is known as The New Monasticism. Kristi and I have had a lot of thoughts similar to this way of living the Christian life, and it was good to learn about an established 'ism', if you will.

With all the topics, sessions, speakers, and ideas discussed this weekend, the strongest suggestions to us were to start a garden, and eat with others. It almost sounded too simple, too boring. So often we think so radically and globally that we forget to think practically and locally. I was personally challenged by thinking about how much I consume compared to how much I produce. I really don't produce anything, except for various forms of body odor.

Although they weren't specifically mentioned at the conference, here are a couple other quotes that relate to the topics addressed.

"The Christian faith has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried." - G. K. Chesterton

"The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly." - Soren Kierkegaard

Blessings to all of you as we approach the season of American Consumption known as Black Friday and Christmas. We are challenging ourselves to consume less, and produce more, and challenge you with that as well.

Here are a couple of great videos about consumption if you are interested:
The Story of Stuff
Advent Conspiracy

Green Thumbs, or Garden Bums?

This is the question we asked ourselves at the beginning of the summer. Which would we be? Would we be good gardeners? To test this inquiry, we planted a very modest amount of red tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and beans. Let us explore our gardening journey with some photos, shall we?

The babies with their parents.

Our potted red tomato plant on the left, and 2 cherry tomato plants on the right.

Beans.

Our grounded tomato plant.

What most of our tomatoes ended up looking like.

What happens to potted cherry tomato plants when the pot floods. Death.



We did have some delicious tomatoes, though. We enjoyed the experience of having even a small garden, and we hope to try some other vegetables next year. Look at this delicious BLT!



So here are the lessons that we have learned from our first season of gardening:

1)Potted tomatoes don't do as well as grounded tomatoes. Especially if the pot doesn't have a hole in the bottom. Or if you accidentally break the roots going through the hole to the ground.

2)Tomatoes that are planted in plenty of sun and are watered daily produce worse fruit than tomatoes that are planted in the shade and ignored.

3)Four bean plants take about 3 pickings before a side dish for two can be collected.

4)We have a lot to learn about gardening.

Our Vacation Situation

Josh and I finally got to enjoy our summer vacation this week. We headed down to Brown County, Indiana for a few days. Our vacation began in Brown County State Park where we camped the first night and enjoyed being in hills and feeling like we were no longer in Indiana. It rained most of the night, but our tent from Grandma Yoder kept us dry!


On Sunday we left the State Park and headed a few miles down the road to Nashville. Nashville is an old-fashioned, artsy little town with one traffic light. It felt good to mingle with the laid back country folk. We spent our time in Nashville strolling through the unique little shops, talking with the friendly locals, and eating homemade food. We also found a really nice hotel- Hotel Nashville- with a deal on weeknight stays, so we spent the next three nights in a hotel suite the size of our house. Maybe a little bit bigger. We had a kitchen, dining room, living room, king size bedroom, two bathrooms, and a balcony.

Monday evening we decided to hit up nine holes of golf. It was my first experience with the sport. Josh was a really good teacher and was very patient following me in the golf cart as I walked the holes, hitting my ball every so often. Josh scored a 51 and I scored a completed 6 holes. I won't go into details on how many times I had to swing, but this picture might give you an idea.



What I took away from the game was that I'm a much better golf cart driver than Josh (our cart had GPS!) and six blisters, one for each hole. Can you find them all?

Tuesday we walked through some shops in the morning and then headed back to our hotel for lunch. During lunch, a huge storm (and what we later found out was a tornado) hit the county and we lost power in our room. The rest of our vacation takes place without electricity. According to our hotel clerk, we experienced the longest power outage ever in Brown County. What an honor. Since we were planning on going back to the shops, we had a list of things to buy, but never got the chance to buy them. We woke up early this morning and the power was still out, so we ended our vacation early with no souvenirs. Except a new battery-powered lantern from the Columbus Indiana WalMart...

According to today's paper, Nashville is now on a level 2 emergency and "a boil water order is in effect". There is now a water shortage and residents have three areas in town where they may pick up water.

Despite some unfortunate circumstances during our vacation, we absolutely had a blast. We would recommend Brown County State Park and Nashville to anyone looking for a fun weekend in southern Indiana. We want to head back in the fall when the leaves start changing because we hear that it is beautiful. Any takers?

July 19th, 2008 is so 2000 and late

Yesterday, the two of us celebrated our One Year Anniversary! It is so hard for us to believe that it has already been a year. After some breakfast in bed, the 509 service, and lunch with friends, the party began. First we reminisced by watching our 2 wedding DVDs. We got chills watching Kristi walk down the aisle, felt so supported by listening to the worship, and cracked up laughing at the frequency of the bridesmaids' tears during the ceremony. After steak and potatoes at Logans (thanks Grandma Yoder), we discovered that we had the same exact gift idea for each other! We both thought that it would be a great idea to have a book where each year we take a photo on our anniversary and write a note to each other. Two peas in a pod, people, two peas in a pod.

Kristi's favorite part of the day was a surprise from me. Kristi got a video that I made during the weeks leading up to our engagement. I would talk into the camera every couple nights or so explaining my feelings, thoughts, and events that were happening. It was so great for both of us to relive the engagement and wedding experience all over again.

We want to thank all of our friends and family who loved and supported us on our wedding day, and during this past year. You all mean so much to us!

Here is a photo taken by our good friend and blogger, Daron Short (www.daronshort.com), on our anniversary.

In front of our first 'home' on our One Year.

Our wedding cake was still DELICIOUS after being frozen for one year.

So what have we decided to tackle in our 2nd year of marriage? Well, we have started Hip-Hop dance lessons. Yes, you read that right. Hip-Hop dance lessons. Kristi gave us dance lessons for Christmas, and we just now found the time to do them! Check out the video for the first hip-hop dance that we learned. Kristi is front and center.
SAY, All I Need

Independence Day, in Canada eh?

Kristi and I got quite a few strange looks from people when we told them our Fourth of July plans. Camping in Canada! Over the long Holiday weekend, we spent 2 nights camping on Lake Huron at 'The Pinery' near Grand Bend, Ontario. Mark Banks (Canadian Camper Extraordinaire) hooked us all up with a secluded camping site that had a private path to the beach! Games were played (which the Americans dominated), jokes were told (but do they call me Angus the road builder?), some INCREDIBLE camp food was consumed, and a great time was had by all. The traveling with an Indian across the border and getting our car searched twice was even worth it. Although we had a great time in Canada, it was a relief to us all to get our freedom back at the border on Sunday.

We got to see some old friends and make some new ones. Here is the whole crew together on the top of the sand dune at the beach!





Also, to answer many of your questions about how I (Josh) am doing after this past week, the answer is I am doing alright. Though I am sad to see MJ go, his music will live on. The walls he broke down in this country and in the world during his career were incredible, and I wish that I could have been born two decades earlier to witness his entire career. I hope that other artists follow his example of writing songs like 'Heal the World', 'We are the World', and 'Man in the Mirror'.

Cheers! to Thirty Years.

Several months into Kristi and my relationship, we discovered that my parents and her parents were both married on the same exact day, same exact year. June 9th, 1979. We half-heartedly considered getting married on June 9th as well, but it fell on a Monday in 2008, and we weren't about to wait until 2012 (not with all the flack I would get from her friends...). The way my mind works instantly considered this coincidence a major score as it would be easier to remember our parents anniversaries. This year was the big 3-0 for our parents, and we were able to celebrate and surprise them both in different ways.

Can I get a couple family shots up in here?

The Millers (and one Montgomery)

The Thompsons (and two Millers)


In an unrelated note, this morning's trip to the lab at the family practice was a wonderful start to the week. Kristi and I both bring many things to our marriage, and one of the things that I bring is tolerance of needles. She is petrified of them and has passed out just by looking at the little things. She has even passed out while sitting outside of the doctor's room while her mother was getting a shot. The Ambulance was even called for her on that one. I on the other hand don't really mind them. This morning I went to the lab to get my blood taken for some tests (Don't worry everyone, just checking to verify that I have high cholesterol, I can't do anything about it, and am eventually going to die of heart troubles) and they specifically told me to fast for 8 hours before the test. So, I made sure not to consume my daily bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats to fulfill my doctor's request. Not feeling nervous at all, I sat down in the chair, the nurse began drawing blood, and I instantly turned into a 5 year old girl. Passed out cold. I woke up on the floor unable to move any of my extremities, then felt woozy again, and passed out a second time. After several minutes, and a cup of Pepsi, I finally realized what was going on and looked to the nurse for some comfort. I asked her if this happens often and she says only every couple of weeks. Fantastic.

Halfway to my house I realized that I had a large gash on my neck that was not there before my trip to the Family Practice. Perhaps I bashed my neck on something when I passed out? Seems like the nurse didn't find that information important enough to share with me. Kristi thinks she is a vampire.

To save all you men from humiliation, learn from my mistake, and consume sugary beverages before getting your blood drawn.

A weekend away for my birthday!

So I got home from work on Friday excited that my summer was ready to begin and ready for a relaxing weekend. Little did I know that my husband had other plans in mind. I came home to find a big vase of flowers and a note telling me to pack my bags because we were going on a trip for the weekend to celebrate my birthday and the end of the school year!

When Josh got home from work, we headed out, me still not knowing where we were going. We ended up spending the weekend in Cincinnati, back in God's country. It was a fun and relaxing weekend. Our hotel was amazing--the Drury Inn--where the extras aren't extra! They had a free bountiful breakfast, free drinks at night, free soft drinks and popcorn everyday, and free snacks in the evening. Now if you know me, you know I love freebies, so we took full advantage of it. We also spent time walking around downtown Cincinnati trying to find a market that we are convinced does not actually exist. We also visited Ikea, and decided we would come back when we get our own home and to get another 50 cent all beef hot dog, tax included.

Before I elaborate on our Sunday lunch experience, let me tell you that Josh and I are very bad at making decisions. So after hours of deliberation, we FINALLY decided on Johnny Rockets. Using our faithful GPS, we typed in the address and followed her directions, only to discover Johnny Rockets no longer exists. A little frustrated, we made a quick decision to try Red Robin. Again we typed in the address and followed her directions, only to discover we had arrived at our destination, which happened to be a school rather than Red Robin. Josh was determined we were going to eat where we wanted to eat, so we headed to another Red Robin, passing Ikea for about the eighth time that day. All in all it was almost worth driving around for 45 minutes, despite the fact that our nacho appetizer was literally only 12 tortilla chips spread strategically around the large plate. What a birthday meal.

Our last stop was Jungle Jims, a 6 acre store selling foods from all over the world. We spent a few hours walking around, checking out the food, reliving some memories from Brazil and Spain, and buying some treats to take home with us (including some Guarana! Brazil '05 anyone?). It was a wonderful weekend, and now I'm ready for summer to begin!

Josh's first Skyline Chili (Cincinnati's claim to fame) experience!

Kristi's Skyline with extra cheese!

Jungle Jims! Who would've thought grocery shopping could be such an exotic experience?

We worked and played, but most of all I miss the grade.

As the Huntington University ends another year, I am reminded how disconnected I am from the college that consumed my life for 4 years. We only live two blocks away from campus, but the distance between us and them is much farther than that. College was a wonderful mix of insane busyness and spontaneous fun. I can remember being too involved with too many things, with too many projects to work on, and too many exams to study for. I never thought that I would be more busy than I was in college. In college, you could never leave work at work. There was always something to be working on, and most of the time I would work or study until 1 in the morning every morning. Yet somehow, I miss working for the grade.

At the beginning of every semester, in each class, I was handed the loathed syllabus. There is was, my life planned out for me for the next three months. The expectations were always perceived to be insurmountable. Even more so, for some projects I was given a rubric. If I completed this task, that task, put this in the header, and used MLA formatting, then I would earn this amount of points which would give me a letter grade. All the hours, all the time, all the effort would finally end in a letter. It may be a B, it may even be an A. But it was final. My performance had a final evaluation. I was able to either be content or discontent with the work I put in.

Now that I am in this so called 'Real World', I have no rubric. I have no syllabus. Although my work is perhaps just as difficult, I have no real way of knowing if I am doing well. Especially in my profession. It is quite a transition going from using the syllabus as a guide to coming up with the syllabus altogether.

I miss the grade.

Every once in a while, my friends bring up the hypothetical question, "If you had the chance to go back and relive college, would you?". My answer is still no. I have a beautiful wife, a hard yet meaningful job, and would probably feel trapped back in college. I am very grateful for my college experience, but I feel much more free now. Although there are times I desire the structure, the control, the syllabus and the grade, I try to remind myself that I have a gracious God who is my ultimate evaluator. I may never again be given a letter grade, but I hope that I can work and toil knowing that one day the work will be over.

-JOSH

New Life, as Husband and Wife

As we join the blogging world, we felt that it was only fitting to have our first post describe and symbolize our 'NEW LIFE', and the ways we have experienced new life today, this past week, and this past year.

Today- With this post we are bursting forth from the non-blogger womb into the strange, scary, new world of blogging. I (Josh) have made several different attempts at starting blogs (xanga, joshuaemiller.blogspot.com) over the years, so I know that my friends are going to laugh and doubt the new found commitment to blogging yet again.

Today- Today we started a garden. Yes, we are gardeners. We garden. Due to the small plot of land on our rental property, and an overall no-idea-what-we-are-doing approach to gardening, we are starting small. We have planted 2 best boy tomato plants, 4 cherry tomato plants, and two rows of beans (which I am told will be eaten by the Huntington rabbit posse). Hey, some young couples get a cat, a dog, or two, or three to fill the void of not having children yet. We plant tomatoes. After all, tomatoes don't need fed and don't pee and poop on your carpet, like dogs do. Or like little children do for that matter.



Past Week- This past weekend, we celebrated NEW LIFE as we met the newest member of the family, Elijah William Thompson. For the first time in our lives, we are an Aunt and an Uncle! It felt like a miracle to be able to hold such a cute little baby, and we know that Cory and Michelle are going to be wonderful parents. Kristi is insisting that Elijah calls Josh 'Unkie Joshie Poo', and Josh is insisting that Elijah calls Kristi 'Aunt Krusty Poopy Pants'.



Past Year- Our NEW LIFE together truly began on July 19th, 2008. It was the best day of both of our lives. We still can't believe that we get to be with each other for the rest of our lives, and we look forward to the journey that is ahead. Pictures probably tell the story of the day better than we can:













We look forward to sharing our journey through life with you.