I was taking some blog quizzes today, some funny, some stupid, some totally wrong ( I'm Barney from the Simpsons!? I'd take Ned Flanders over him!) and this one:
Your Linguistic Profile:
55% General American English
30% Yankee
5% Dixie
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern .

I think it's pretty true. I also learned that Maroon 5 shares my taste in music, and that I am the number 9.

On a different note...

"The weaker sex particularly need instruction, direction, counsel, comfort, and encouragement in the ways of the Lord. And some of them have also been found particularly serviceable in a social way, as succouring even the strongest believers of the other sex—Acts 18:26; Rom. 16:1-3. We therefore cannot approve of the way which some take, of making a separation of the men from the women in societies. It evidently appears to be contrary to God’s ordinance. The woman is, and has always been, safest in society with the man, both from the dangerous prevalence of Satan’s temptations, the power of error, and influence of seducing spirits, who have frequently made their most successful attacks on the weaker sex separated from the other—and led captive silly women. 2 Tim. 3:6"

I finished reading the Directory for Religious Societies today. I thought this quote was particularly applicable, to myself, first and foremost, and as a reminder for anyone else. I'm particularly prone to allow my conversation to drift, and then my thoughts follow. A good remedy for that is minlging with my husband, whose conversations tend to be more thought provoking. I don't want to seem stand-offish, but since I rarely see our church outside of the Lord's Day, it's easy to do. I need to start calling people on the phone or something, because defiling the Lord's Day just won't do. So if you catch me digressing from an appropriate focus, tell me! Encourage me in the right direction so I can take my own advice.

A purple couch, eh?

Yes, indeed. This is just a sampling of our trip to Brattleboro, VT at the Crosby B&B. All the good pictures are at our Prephotosts page. (Don't be afraid to sign up to log in and see them!)
Tammy and I went to Vermont, not to stay at a bed and breakfast - although it was a nice perk - but rather to go take care of Laura while she takes care of her new baby, Diederick. After a while she finally got the hang of being waited on and did well at letting others take care of her so she could heal. I wish we could stay longer but I missed my husband dearly. We got a lot done in the few days we were there: cleaning, laundry, shopping, and cooking enough food for a couple weeks. Plus we got to fellowship and hold baby to our heart's content. I got to get out of our house for a few days. And Ethan discovered he loves dogs, babies and eating "organic foods", namely rocks and sticks. All in all, it was a great trip!

They're married! Meet my new brother in law : Chris. I hope you two have the best marriage ever!

They came up to visit this past weekend, which was an eventful one. They were to have a party at my mother's house on Friday night, which we couldn't attend for certain reasons and so we spent Thursday night on the phone with her trying to explain it. It didn't go over well but ended with a date set to have ice cream with her and my half-brother on Tuesday.

Friday, Rachel and Chris arrived from Virginia and we had lunch with them, getting to know him, as we had never met before. I can't remember what we did Friday night, but I think we were playing around with our home theater personal computer because it records television and we were psyched about recording the final World Cup games.

On Saturday we went to the Hacklers and played soccer with them, then we looked at an apartment in East Greenbush, which was nice and new but overpriced. Then we headed out to Nassau to visit my long lost grandmother who, out of the blue, invited us over for dinner. We got there a little early and so went for a drive and found this beautiful house for sale that we're going to look at tomorrow night. It would make an incredible Bed and Breakfast, which we are interested in doing. I think it would be a great business to own: work for yourself, meet new people, invite them to your home, show them hospitality, and maybe even share Christ. We also saw another house in Nassau for sale that is about 150 years old which we are looking into. It needs a lot of work, but has so much charm. You could tell that in it's day it was totally luxurious.

So back to my grandmother's. We had a nice visit, touring the house we lived in for three years, visiting with her and her husband, and more with Rachel and Chris, who also came. On Sunday we had the newly-weds over for lunch and hung out until they had to leave to go back to Virginia. I wish we could have spent more time with them, even tough we saw them everyday they were here.

On Monday, we had the ice cream date, which was incredibly awkward and ended with a public arguement. I don't know how soon we'll see them again but it's not something any of us are looking forward to. It was a discouraging night, especially after our conversation on Thursday, but I'm confident in it because we did what we know is right.

The next day, July 4th, we were invited to Darren and Laura's home in Vermont and spent two hours each way driving through the lushious green mountains. (See the picture above) Once there we fellowshipped over the best hamburgers ever, went for a drive around Brattleboro, then walked around town with iced tea (rooibus chocolate mint!). It was a lovely visit and a lovely drive. On the way home we stopped in Troy for famous I Love New York pizza and ran into Nate. It was a short conversation as it was apparent that he was going to do what he wanted to do. I felt like that just topped off the whole last week, because it seemed like everyone we interacted with, aside from the Harrs, hated us or disagreed with us in someway, making it very tense and discouraging. Maybe this is what it's like everyday for those of us who go out and work, and I've just forgotten since I'm home all day. I take for granted that the people I hang out with are all like-minded. It's very comforting to have brethren around and to be able to encourage each other weekly.

I've got to run to the doctor; Ethan has a cold and now conjunctivitis. His eye was so swollen and crusty this morning that he looked like a pirate! I wish I got a picture! :D