CHAINSAWS!!! (and the RSS)

*I'm cross posting from my other blog because I know more folks read here and i wanted to share this with y'all, sorry to those who get to see these twice. I also appologise for the fact that these pictures are 2 weeks old.*

Sometimes, pictures just speak for themselves. Like this story of how Micah put a hole in the side of our house with a chainsaw and how now our downstairs is full of sawdust and light!

it toatlly does not look like this at all anymore....justa  teaser to make you come back :)

As a completely urelated aside, I added e-mail subscriptions to the other blog. and I have TEN subscribers to my RSS feed here! Double Digits! i feel so special. I hae no clue who you are but HI RSS FEED READERS!! (come and comment. i'm jsut currious)
(and i can't spell and rarely care)

plus it cracks me up that RSS Stands for "Real(ly?) Simple Subscription" It's like Martha Stewart got hold of the internet! And that is a good thing!

I ♥ Faces – Week 19 – “Blurb Photo Book Contest”

I love this shot. Stevo & Ada didn't liek this becaise you can't see Stevo's face very well, but I think that His face his focus and the part of it that you can see are the best part of the shot. Of course it doesn't hurt that Ada is beautiful.

Check out more "best faces" at
I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb book photo contest. If chosen, I grant I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.

while posting this i had the weirdest sense of Deja Vu. And then I had deja vu of having deja vu. life is weird.

Also, I have a headache and a husband with a hammer. I need to focus on the fact that the door will shut easier now.

Fix-it-friday

This is totally escapism. 

I want a white sundress.

I just noticed that i made her left eye too light so she looks like one of those really cool kids with different colored eyes. Oops. Sorry

Here's what I did. In Photoshop CS3 

Image>Adjustments>Exposure:  exposure +1.3, offset -0.16, Gamma 0.84

Added a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer with a layer mask and de-saturated her dress.

Used the MCP Touch of Light Touch of Dark action. Twice.  Lightener her face and hair and darkened her dress and arms and the highlights in her hair.(I can't remember what opacity, but it wasn't 100!)

Cropped it somewhere around in here....

Added a Color balance adjustment layer and warmed it up. (by this point I really started just playing and stopped keeping track of the numbers :)) 

Flattened the image and Ran the MCP High def shaprening action masked out her face and hair. only 26% opacity

PW2 Sunshine action at 12%

Resized to make easier to upload.

Wow that was really a lot.

I tried one with a bleach action, but I liked it before better.

you can check out all the other cool edits here:

Also, I just had this conversation with Micah:

 

M- Look!! Nutella!

S- Are you eating that OFF A NAIL?!

-Yup, MMM, Klince! (slovak for "nail")

-Ew!

-Peace out. God be with you.

-You're a nut

-You're supposed to say "you too"

-and with you. 

-bye.

I have to disagree. Or, the post where I overuse the bold and italic buttons.

"Authorities said Zinkhan arrived while the Town and Gown event was under way and got into a disagreement with Bruce."
~from CNN.com (Article about the UGA Prof who shot his wife and 2 other guys and then killed himself. I already closed the article so I cant link. )

Can you get into a disagreement? I was under the impression that you have a disagreement. One could get into an argument, or even have an argument. But I don't think that disagreement is as versatile a word.

...

Of course, I said "arm-sleeves" until I was 14... And I thought that "the car needs washed" was proper English until I was a Senior. in College.

Your thoughts?

Anyone? 

Anyone?

I ♥ Faces - Laughter

Another having-a-bad-internet-week oldie but goodie for "laughter". I love these two this is right after they made it back down the aisle last October.

See more laughing faces at:

Curtains, Feedback needed

One of the first things I did when we arrived was borrow Angie’s sewing machine and make some curtains for our bedroom window out of a white sheet.

I am pretty proud of them, but they seem a bit plain. So I’m taking suggestions for what to do with them. I have a ton of ideas but am limited in resources (mostly because I don’t know the words to ask for most things).
They have to be able to close and open easily, because our bedroom window faces the parking lot but it is our only window and I like to have the light.
Maybe I should paint something on them, or find some colored thread and stitch some pattern or other on them. I just can’t get an idea that works for me. The best I’ve got is making a series of multi colored button holes and threading the ties through them instead of around. What do you think? Should I just leave them plain?

I ♥ Faces - Hats

I was so excited last week to get picked in the honorable mention (and by Nate from the image is found! I blog stalk him! and He LIKED my shot!!)
I wanted really to make a good showing this week. But, the internet is slow. And there is a large hole in my downstairs wall. So, I can't upload the really cute shot I have of Zoe in her hat on Sunday. Or the funny one I took of micah in the old fedora that we found on top of the wardrobe. And I can't even try and fix the colors and re-upload this old one from my flickr archives.... But honestly, I still love this shot. Bad white balance and all. These two are so cute!

Kilts....I'm Just Sayin'

I just wanted to share these pictures from about a month back. These were taken out of our apartment window in Grove City. Not the sort of place you usually run into a group of people in kilts.

Earlier in the morning Micah and I saw a single man in a kilt walking into the side door of the church. We figured it was an anomaly, and I was quite sad that my cameras were both inside with dead batteries. (I am my mother’s daughter)
But later in the afternoon we discovered that kilt man was not an anomaly. One is an anomaly, two is a coincidence but more that is definitely a Trend. A Kilt Trend. in Grove City. who knew!

And I think that 8 kilts (in formation no less) defies definition! Although I guess one was a girl so it was merely a plaid skirt...but STILL! I'm just sayin'

I ♥ Faces - Reflections

So this week is supposed to be reflection portraits. I'm cheating since we just left the country and pulling one from way back. I think I got 2 in 1 they said it should not be some one looking reflective or thoughtful but rather an actual physical reflection and I got BOTH! This is Lenka, we went on a trip together in 2006 to Zilina and Bratislava with a few other folks, it was a great trip and this is one of my favorite "people" pictures. Additionally, this is the SOOC shot! i love it when you can get it just right without manipulation. I think it's a discipline that is getting left behind in the age of digital photography.



I have a bunch of reflective thoughts too. Since we just got to Slovakia (i'm reunited with my sweaters and will never travel without them again...for those of you following THAT saga) It feels a little like New Years we are looking at how we lived here before and how we lived in the time we were home and we get a fresh start of sorts. We are making a whole new list of things we'd like to start or stop. So we are not doing much thoughtlessly and a couple times a day Micah or i say, "you know, I was thinking...what if..." It is a fun time. (it is also a little like living with the Goob when he was 3..."I was thinking") we RAN this morning. who knows what will be next

And literally, i'd like to be reflective, like when the sun hits a pond or a mirror and everything is bright. I'd want to reflect. I'd like to mirror God's Grace to people. Ashley posted of Facebook the other day about "Incarnational caring" and I think that might be just this, to be a mirror set on an angle so that when people look at us they see the reflection of heaven. Nothing special about the one doing the reflecting just being set at the right angle. i dont have to WORK WORK WORK to be like Jesus. I just need to be clued in to where He is and where I should be pointing.

Airport Woes

We had a flight canceled. blah. We are at Micah's brother's. Angie deserves a medal for all the airport runs she has planned and executed in the past year.

same flight plan tomorrow but with an earlier start and a shuttle between Laguardia and JFK.

FUN FUN

From the airpot

Leaving on a jet plane. Don't know when i'll be back again.

here's the deal i'm posting from the airport. we leave her at 12:55 fly to JFK, spend 3 hours there, leave at 5:50 to Vienna. Spend 5? hours or so in vienna and then fly to Kosice. we arrive at 730 EST, 2:30 local time.

woot woot.


also, i had an emergency tooth extraction on Friday.

Easter Memories

I remember the first Oscar egg... Abi started it. She spelled her name Abby then. :)
We had a Sesame Street Egg dye kit that year, with stickers to put on finished eggs. You just couldn't put a sticker of Oscar the grouch on a pretty pink egg.
It has always been Abi's thing, But becasue of that it is a Havener thing. It would not feel right if I knew that all the eggs at my mothers house were pretty solid colors on a bed of perfect green plastic grass.

This year Alex did the one for Mom's house, and Abi did one for the Iovinos. There are two Oscar eggs in the world this weekend. And life is good.





on another note, I am taking pasta salad to a picnic this afternoon. I do not like pasta salad and am concerned that:
a) no one else likes pasta salad and we will have to bring it home with us.
b) everyone will love my pasta salad and it will become my "thing" and I will have to be family famous for something I don't even eat. Like Grandma Henry and her cookies.

Also, keep your eyes open next week for photos and videos of the log cannon.

Some help please?

I can not remember what meteorological event will cause me to eat my easter eggs behind the stove.

Guest Post

I like this video thing, i'll get back to words eventually.

Today we have a guest appearance by none other than my darling husband, He does not know that he is with us today. Please do not tell him.


Micah on Technology from Anastasia Henry on Vimeo.

Also, I gave the cat a few chunks of cooked chicken. She is batting them all over the kitchen floor before eating them. I guess i'll have to teach her not to play with her food.

A Few of My Favorite Sings

take 10 minutes it will make your whole day seem brighter. :)

I ♥ Faces

Portraits are my weak point photographically. (i dont think i spelled that right) so I'm going to start being more intentional about working on changing that this year.
to that end, I am making a goal to enter the I ♥ Faces weekly contest at least 3 times a month. This week is kids pouting and "Anything Goes" for Pets. I have a shortage of kids around here (but i might try and get Micah later, he does not like to be my portrait guinea pig, so a pout should be easy!!)

Fidget with an attitude will have to do :)

401st

Today i worked.

Micah went to an auction and bought a table saw

The kitten is playing with a bolt and has been all day

hit in the head with a cow

I tried to type "hi" as the title to theis entry. the computer changed it to "hit in the head with a cow"

I'm just gonna leave it like that. OK? OK.

I woudl just like to link to Ami's contribution to video day this guy was for real possibly the best part of our trip.

in addition to creative renderings of classic rock by street musicians (A banjo and harmonica?! seriously!!) you can also hear me forget the word for computer.

well, back to my list.

Hugs

Guess What!!!

My bangs are bad but the news is soo very good!!

Welcome to Video Day

well what do you think? Vimeo or Flickr.

Or just that i should get back to doing something constructive :)

Trash Chute

Ami in the Trash Chute from Anastasia Henry on Vimeo.

I can think of nothing to add to this. I do not have the ambition to fix the white balance. I did try it. It was WAY cool.

Latest Update

Hello from the Henrys!

First, Micah and I would like to thank you all for your prayers. I know we have dropped off the radar so to speak for the past few months, but we continued to feel your prayers as we made decisions about our ministry and God's will for our life.

While we never doubted that we would return to Slovakia, we did not have any peace about the timing and were concerned with some logistical issues. The thought of returning in November filled us with panic and fear rather than peace and excitement. Deciding not to return was difficult, but we did not believe that returning at that point would have been a healthy choice for us or for YFC Slovakia.

We have spent the last few months praying and seeking the wisdom of people we trust. We have taken a class in finances and concentrated on strengthening our marriage and our relationships with God. (Our marriage was not in trouble, but we are still new at this and had some things to figure out.) We have also learned a lot about trusting God's provision. We have adopted Tommy Walkers song "I Have a Hope" as a theme song of sorts. We believe that this time in the US has prepared us to minister more effectively when we return to Slovakia.

We believe that God has released us to go back to Slovakia. We have peace and are excited to return. Because we have been home for over 3 months, Youth for Christ/World Outreach requires us to go through a "return to field" process. It should not be a long or difficult process. We can not purchase plane tickets until this is all finished. Due to the need to complete the process we are planning to arrive in Slovakia in mid to late March.

The main concerns at this point are our budget and support. We need to re-confirm with our donors that their pledges will continue. We will be contacting those who previously made pledges within the next week or so. We trust that God will provide for our return. If you feel led to make or renew a pledge please let us know. Consider the possibility of a special gift to help us get back to the field.

We appreciate your prayers as we tie up loose ends here. If you have questions about any of this, want to just say "Hi," or make plans to get together before we leave, please send us an e-mail.


Stasi & Micah
--
The Henrys
MicahandStasi@gmail.com

I Have a Hope

The song i'm singing today.

I Have a Hope
Tommy Walker
I have a hope, I have a future
I have a destiny that is yet awaiting me
My life’s not over, a new beginning’s just begun
I have a hope, I have this hope

God has a plan, it’s not to harm me
But it’s to prosper me and to hear me when I call
He intercedes for me, working all things for my good
Though trials may come I have this hope

Chorus
I will yet praise Him, my great Redeemer
I will yet stand up and give Him glory with my life
He takes my darkness and He turns it into light
I will yet praise Him, my Lord my God

My God is for me, He’s not against me
So tell me whom then, tell me whom then shall I fear
He has prepared for me
Great works He’ll help me to complete
I have a hope, I have this hope

Goodness and mercy, they’re gonna follow me
And I’ll forever dwell in the house of my great King
No eye has ever seen all He’s preparing there for me
Though trials may come, I have this hope

Tuesday

I did in fact get out of bed today. Although after reading my mother's sugestion that it may have been a "Whimsical Monday" I am a bit nervous since Tuesdays are notorious for being Whimiscal!! I am afraid that Whimsy may be like Pringles "you can't have just one"

I Don't Want Any More Adventure

I am not going to get out of bed tomorrow.

This morning i had to take the kitten to Ohio to get fixed. I left Grove City around 5:30 and took the kitten. I didn't even get lost!! Well, kind of. I took a wrong road, but fortunately every road in Ohio is laid out in a grid so the road i needed to turn onto still went across the road i was actually on. In fact, I got to the APL before i really realized that I was "lost"

I feel bad about leaving the poor kitten for surgery. Meghan picked her up and Fidget won't be home until Micah comes back on Wednesday. He is in Ohio to drive his dad to Cleveland for eye surgery.

On the way home, i was passing a convoy of bucket trucks and heard a sound like something fell off and hit the road, I looked back and didn't see anything. I figured worst case the gas tank cover fell the rest of the way off. But since I didn't see it on the road, I figured it was best case and one of the bucket trucks dropped something.

A few minutes later a light that looked like a battery lit up on the dash. I called Micah to make sure that It was not really a light that was supposed to look like dynamite.
Dynamite might have been closer.

Fortunately, I was close to an exit and I was able to get off the highway. Unfortunately I did not really understand that the car was just going to literally stop. I was at the top of the ramp thinking I was going to turn and look for a parking lot and let the car die a peaceful private death. It was not to be. The engine Just STOPPED! Dramatically and publicly. With smoke pouring out from under the hood and everything.

A number of people stopped to check that I was Okay. The first car I think stopped because I was looking under the hood of a smoking car in tears. Micah called Ben to come and get me. In the meantime another car stopped and pushed the car off to the side they told me that the thing that was smoking in the front left corner was the alternator, commented that it was definitely burnt up, mentioned that the belt looked bad too, and also, quite helpfully, pointed out that the rear passenger tire was flat.
I cried some more.
Then I turned my iPod on and sang at the top of my lungs.

Ben drove to pick me up off the side of the road. I got all my sceaming out before i got in the truck. Ben drove me home to PA and then took Micah and his tools back to Ohio to fix the car.
They left me home alone and I finished the rest of the chocolate cake.

The list of good things:
I almost didnt take the cell phone this morning, but i remembered and came back upstairs for it.
I was wearing my wonderful new boots and so my toes stayed warm and when Micah called three times to ask if i was warm enough, i was able to tell him he didnt have to worry about that.
The car broke down closer to Jefferson than Grove City.
Micah was going to Ohio this evening anyway.
The car did not break down tomorrow morning at 5AM on the way to Keith's eye surgery.
Ben had the day off to help.
Ben has a SuperDuty dump truck and a trailer that is good for hauling broken down cars.
The keys only got locked in the car once (and I didnt do it!)
And they got the car fixed.

"He giveth more grace..." But i'm not sure i'm going to risk getting out of bed tomorrow!

Apartment Bathrooms

Last April, I walked into the bathroom and saw this:


Later in April, a large portion of the log was in the form of shaving on my Living room floor.


Saturday our Bathroom door went from looking like this:

(note the "cat door" in the bottom right corner)

to looking like this:


But in between, it looked like this:


And I Didn't photograph the kitchen!

This is why if you have a husband like mine and an apartment as small as ours, you need a shopVac in your life.

What Sunday Afternoons are for

This could only be better if I could have taken this picture while I was asleep on the couch and if there was football on the TV. I miss it already.

YAY STEELERS!! I am celebrating a week late because tonight Ben is coming to cook for us. Silly Ben, he bet against the Steelers! I am extra glad because this means that we do not have to clean out Ben's truck. I will try and get a picture of Ben's truck so you will understand just why I am extra relieved on top of WOO HOOO!!!! 6 SUPERBOWL RINGS!! GO STEELERS!!!!

YAY

good news, the problem is not the camera! YAY! The problem is not the Computer! YAY! The problem is not the cable! YAY!
By the process of elimination I was able to deduce that the problem is with the card reader!

so now, i can load photos from my big camera. But I don't have the right cable to load stuff from the little camera.

Let's Roleplay

Imagine you work at the local drug store. A customer walks in and purchases: A box of Pepto-bismol, 2 liters of ginger ale, and a bag of cough drops. What is the appropriate comment.

I'm guessing your first thought was not,"Enjoy your evening!"

:)

Other news

In other news, i can not load photos from either of the cameras to my computer. It distresses me. I am not sure if hte problem is with the reader, the cable or (the worst option of all) my computer.


If that was not the case, i would insert a photo of our new kitten or the pretty sunrise this morning or the allegheny river valley covered in snow.

instead i will post photos of what i already had on my computer

the time i forgot i had a loaf of bread rising and it went out of control


the time micah dyed his hair and part of his beard black with 10 cent leftover halloween spray dye


Micah and Ben painting each other and our kitchen


A sign that says "quitting business". I do not know why that phrasing intrigues me. Also note the small sign that says "10% off Beer"


And two photos of my mom and the dog jumping that will probably get me disowned

Happy Birthday Miss Brenda



I better stop now.

Hi.
i am not dead.
Im at Judah &meghan's Apartment on Their laptop. I do not like thier keyoard. it is different frommine and I can't make it work right. and the space bar only works if you hit it with your right thumb.not the left Also i am a stinky typer. how woudl you spelltyper...oh wait it's typist isn't it
there is a lot of snow here so we are holed up with the simpsons and the playstation. Meghan and I also have books. Meghan baked brownies and while the boys were out getting some fresh air we cut them out of the pan and hid them and then we told the boys we got hungry.I thougth Micah might explode :)!

there is not much more to tell. We are still in grove City, my sweaters are stil in Slovakia, beter luck next winter I guess. third time's a charm. Micah and I ar e tenatively plannign to return to Europe in the Spring.

So tha'ts the story.

i am toying with teh idea of selling some prints of my photos in the gift shop of ben's hotel or some like place. it seems like it might b complicated but myabe worth trying.

this is a long and incoherent post. my most sencirest apologies for sounding like 6th grade girl.I never really liked 6th grade girls and i hated being one

OK, the internet is never coming to our apartment. :( the end. Currently posting from the Grove City Library.

This is not a festive thought (i'm slow getting into the spirit this year.) but it is a thought i had at work this morning:
Garden salads are salads with just veggies theoretically made from a garden
Chef salads are salads with meat but are not made from a chef.
I am glad about this. but shouldn't the name be different?


This morning i walked to the Post Office and got like at housand packages. A little old lady who was ringing the bell for the Salvation Army gave me a ride home so i didnt have to walk... it is good to live in a small town at Christmas time. If you sent a package to us, it probably arrived. We got mail from Wyoming, and Beaver Falls, and a few from New York and I dont care what Abi or Aunt Nancy Say, i'm keeping that one package for myself!

I am going to clean and make christmas cookies today. Bring on Christmas, I'm getting ready!

Hi
i'm still here
here is now Grove City PA again
I'm processing a lot of stuff
I have a new old job (same place new position)
Micah is still looking for work
We have grandma Henry's car.
We have no clue what exactly comes next.
we're prayign about it.
we are not in Slovakia.
once again i'm in the uS over the winter, and my winter clothes are stored in Slovakia.
I miss my sweaters.

so...ummm....well

I may be a blogging failture :) I even mistyped blogging just now TWICE.
I'm in grove city, i still have to go to the library to get internet :(

i have a bunch of stuff to do, including painigna nd scrubbing back at the appartment (which STILL only has one p), so i will make this quick.

WHO in the name of all that is good would name a child CHANCE. no kidding, i just sat next to the kid at McDonalds, and that was his name. i heard it more than once!!

From Beaver Falls

:) another photo-less post on location...this time from Ami's apartment/dorm. I would include a picture but my 300D is dead (and for sale if anyone is interested). my new 30D is in transit from MISSISSAUGA, Ontario. My old film camera is in Ami's stuff in Wyoming, and the little camera is in the red toolbox next to the big wooden box in the Henry barn.








Here is where a photo of Ami's desk would go if I was not camera-less (and lazy)








Where will i post from next you may wonder. We'll I'll tell you. New York City. And then Wyoming.

Las tnight i had a dinner that was not supposed to happn for a year at least. but it was Good. My dad was back in PA for a wedding instead of Wyoming and Micah and I are in the United states instead of Slovakia. And so last night i got to sit at a table in applebee's with my huband, my little sister, and my Dad.

Today Ami & I leave to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with the Iovinos tuesday when we get back, Micah and i leav for 26 hours of driving to WYOMING. We will stay through Sunday and then take it slow on the way home.

I am not thinking about the numer fo hours in transit. I am concentrating on seeing every member of my immediate family insid of a week!!

Choreography

I spelled that right the first time.

I have this song from white Christmas in my head. Never mind that i do not like this song. Never mind that we skip this song every time we watch the movie. Never mind that it is a beautiful day in September, and i am not dreaming of snow. Somehow, I can do the entire annoying snooty voiced intro and can hum all the annoying bridges.

I have decided to share the misery. Don't blame me, Ami started it I have merely one upped her by linking to the entire vicious thing. I shudder to think what Abi will come up with.....

Contrast

now another on location post form the library in jefferson ohio!






this is where the photo of the library that looks like a library would go if i was not lazy







My in-laws do not have high speed internet (28 Kb/sec is normal) so I'm spendign this afternoon at the library. Hopefully micah comes to pick me up before 8 tonight. We do not have cell phones yet.


We arrived in New York without any incident besides a 3 hour flight delay. We decided that having New York City as your rentry point to US culture was (for us) a little like diving directly into the deep end. In NYC we visited with Jimmy & Abi and CLAIRE MARIE, ate at a cuban restaurant, visited the empire State building, and played (a lot of) rock band on the XBox. We also got lost in what we think was the Bronx on our way out of the city. It was a good time.

Sunday we drove to Ohio and the past few days have been a bit more our speed. Monday we went to the Amish Salvage grocery store, a consignment shop located behind someone's house in a barn, the Middlefield Library (an amazing establishment - it had a fireplace and "adult DVD's" i think they just meant that they were not animated, but the sign made me laugh), and a cheese store (nothing like Grandpa's Cheese barn, but disappointing only in that they were not making cheese behind the big window when we were there). Tuesday I made chocolate granola, read some and wrote our update letter. Micah helped Ben clean out an apartment full of mold and other disgusting things. Tuesday night I drove in a dump truck (but did not get to see the back go up) to Dinner at Meghan & Judah's apartment.

Let me be CLEAR, i'm not judging either of those places. I enjoyed myself immensely in New York (except when we were lost on our way out.) I love my sister and Jimmy and Calire. Skipping everyone at the Empire State building was great and I fouind out that I like cuban food (fried Plantains!!) I also got a huge kick out of the Library, the fact that the Amish sell Salvaged groceries, and my ride in a Dump Truck.

I'm Just saying.


PS Judah just came to pick me up on his way home from work. Micah called and asked if he could stop at the library on his way home. Judah thought Micah wanted a car repair manual or something. Micah thought He "might have left Stasi at the library"

look, a post

from the airport in Hungary. I am not ambitious enough to take and post a picture of the airport in hungary. you will be ok with that right? I'll just describe it, it looks like...an airport

this is where the photo would be if i was ambitious :)

We have almost 3 hours of flight delays and free wireless internet. we ate the sandwiches that Miro packed for us. I ate my pickles and micah's too. we bid on a camera on e-bay and called new york on Skype. the airline gave us bottled water and a sandwich. we hope this was not in lieu of our promised inflight meal.

Every time that i typed "airport" in this post, i had to go back and add the r. anyone want to make up a definition of an "airpot"? :)

see most of you soon.

a bit more adventure

Life got a bit more interesting.

My camera is Kaput. I would take a picture of the broken shutter. Except that it makes me want to cry when I look at it. also it is difficult to take a good photo of the inside of your good camera. I have not tried. i have a mental block.

there are some complications with our temp stay permit. There are a few options at this point. one involves going back to the states for, oh, about 3 months. Marian summed it up just about right " the process has taken forever." It is just the way bureaucracy works in Slovakia with papers" We're working on figuring that out.

Our flight we bought for the wedding is highly restricted i.e not transferable refundable or changeable.... so basicaly if we come home now for bureaucracy reasons, we are out $1600. which is a pretty good price for two round trip tickets. we thought we were doing so well and getting them in advance and for a good price.

I have a vicious combination of cold/allergy/flu symptoms. I am trying to avoid the urge to take asprin, benedryl and DayQuil all at the same time.

so anyway, pray for us. things will go ok. God is in control of this adventure.

Adventure

So I started getting thisquestion of the day. I thought it might be interesting to give me something to blog about or a kick in my thinking pants. (i have no clue what thinking pants are. or where you would wear them. anyone...anyone?)

Today's question isWhat adventure are you craving?
I think a lot about adventure, Adventure is half the title of this blog! for as much as i thrive on tradition and routines, i still hate to be in one place too long. i have a list of places i want to go that is waaay longer than the list of places i've been. (Poland is at the top right now based on proximity...Morocco is on there too as soon as KT names the date) I am not sure it will ever be shorter than the places i want to go list. I almost hope not. But i think i imagine myself to be more adventurous than i am. we can't forget the princess part of me. the part that likes pretty things and a good book wrapped up in an afghan (the blanket kind, not that i am prejudiced against the person kind, but i have no desire to wrap up in one, and i am sure micah would mind).

I don't know if i crave any kind of adventure right now. I would really like to be settled maybe i'd like the adventure of decorating our own place with Micah. I think i am living just about all the adventure i can handle. of course, "He gives more grace as the burdens grow greater" But i'll tell you i am living exactly the adventure that i want to be in the middle of, and not just because it puts me in close proximity to Poland and closer to Morocco than Ohio. That is a plus though.

How about you, what would you pick if you could choose your adventure (remember those books)?

Micah and the saw of death

Micah and the saw of death from Anastasia Henry on

i don't think there is anything else i can add to this. it speaks for itself.

except that Micah is starting to be distressed by his web presence :)

Prolificacy

I did a little math today. I know, that alone would be blogworthy!

I figured out how many pictures i have taken with my camera.

TWENTY TWO THOUSAND six hundred and ninety nine!!!

now that strikes me as a lot of photos. and that is just since christmas of '05!! and it does not count the shots taken on the little camera we bought last year. I did not realize I was so prolific. I love the word prolific. I am going to use it more often in daily conversation. 

SOUGHT FUTON FUTON DOILY PROLIFIC!!!

Currently i have around 5,000 photos on my computer. The rest are backed up on DVDs or CDs or whatever but that is a LOT of photos. a lot of lots of lots of photos. My children (hypothetical children, breathe Miss Brenda) will be very glad, I think to sort through discs instead of a huge box of half filled albums and unsorted prints.

i think i will buy myself a new lens to celebrate my prolificacy (this really is a real word) or maybe more budget realistically, i will get a big print of one of my own photos for over the couch we don't have in the apartment that we don't have. (pray on tuesday, if this one falls through, we may loose our cool...)

ps. earlier in this post i spelled new N-O-O. i fixed it.

pps. What adjective would you use regarding a post about my prolificacy (a real word!! i looked it up!) which contains no photos?

Hiking

Last Saturday, Micah and I went hiking in the Prosiecka Dolina.


Micah is really the one who likes hiking. I just like to take pictures. We have a good deal, I go hiking with him and try not to complain and he waits while i take pictures and tries not to complain.


The particular trail we took was written up in a photocopied flier that we got from the info center. It rated the trail as good for older people or children...


So micah wore his new sandals, because if older people could do it, he could do it in sandals.

we want to know who rates hiking trails in Slovakia? We can not imagine our grandmothers doing this.


the trail did end at a pretty neat water fall


I took over 100 photos and Micah climbed a tree.

do you think I will get in trouble for posting this one?

Flying

Guess who's coming back to the states!!! We're planning to spend the first day sleeping the rest of the first week doing our best to get Judah and Meghan married in style and without incident! and then who knows, what adventures the USofA has in store for us. We're contemplating (and trying to figure out the gas prices) driving across the country to Wyoming. Life was much simpler before my parents moved 20+ hours away from Micah's parents.

I officilally stink at writing newsletters.
also i can not spell
grrrr

Butter

Also, they reengineered butter?! I have not done any baking or cooking since we got here so i have not done any real grocery shopping either. i can not comment on the shape or size of butter in Slovakia or Europe at large. And i dont have an incompatible butter dish to compare. I am afraid that when we get home in October for the wedding, i will not be able to recognize butter the same way that the new 5$ bills threw me off last time i came home form Europe.

definitions

I can not type i would like tho start with that even though it has no bearing on what i want to say. I did one of those things that scans your blog and makes a word cloud. one of the main words in mine was JSUT. i can not spell just. that just took three tries. my hands just get a head of themselves.

anyway what i really wanted to say was that i'm thinking a bout what the point of having the two blogs. The reasoning is that this is my private face in the internet. and the micahandstasi.blosgspot is for more official things. this is where i can be sarcastic and occasionally snarky. it is also the place where i can wax rhapsodic about ClaireMarie and whine about flies. I can tell the funny stories aobut married life here... But i think that havign the other blog will take away from this one. I hope not but you can never tell. i'm going to keep trying.

Also, if that man does not stop ringging that bell i am going to take it and throw it in the river.

I miss you too.

Sorry about the depressing front page. It's Just CampFest, gotta run
pray for us.
Talk to you soon

Stasi

obituary

Rabbit died.

i miss her

i dont even like cats

She was a good kitten

I dont want to talk about it anymore.

hair

I cut my hair.
all by myself!
just like a big girl!!

I have no clue what came over me. I have never cut my own hair. well, I imagine that I must have cut it as a child at some point. I was that kind of kid.

There was that one time we played hairdresser with the Neighbor's dog clippers. But that was my sister's hair and that is a different story. Actually it's just about all there is to the story... except that we cut the neighbor kid's hair in a reverse mohawk and his mom had to totally buzz his head.

Ok, it was just my bangs but it was a totally spur of the moment thing. Still, I think they look good (if a tid bit shorter than i intended).

I am concerned that this will lead to bigger and crazier spur of the moment things. Very little good has come of things that combine spur of the moment and scisors.

Also, i discovered that if you take your self portraits in front of a mirror, you can see what's on the viewscreen in the mirror. Very convenient.

I like italics today.

Micah Vacuums Rabbit

Micah Vacuums Rabbit. from Anastasia Henry on Vimeo.

We named the cat after the car, Kind of. I htink she's so cute here getting feisty with the attachment.

On our honeymoon I bought this little digital camera that shoots video. I wanted to have something smaller than my big SLR and something that Micah could use without freaking out. I have a real video camera, but it's a pain for shooting silly things like this, messing with tapes and capturing and editing and exporting. The little camera just uploads the video when i load pictures.

I'm thinking about shooting and posting more video, especially for MicahandStasi.blogspot.com. what do you think?

FLIES

If you did not know better you might htink that, considering the frequency with which they appear on my blog, that i like flies.
I do not.
Besides the fact that my work area is a tad bit unorderly ("neporiadok" in Slovak) you may note that there are flies all over it. in the first picture there is one on the CD case as well as the one that had the audacity to die on my keyboard. they guy in the second shot was still alive and just buzzing about on his back.  

it's a delightful sound. 

It's a constant sound.

There are 10 flies dead or in the process of beating themselves to death against the closed window above my desk.

One just landed on my shoulder as i typed that last sentence

I want a screen over the open window

well well well

The car is a VW Golf according to all the paperwork....but for some reason, the back says rabbit. So everybody is wrong. But it is definitely NOT a Polo. Now that I think about it, i wish it was.... oh! the fun we could have if it was....MARCO!!! :) :)

Rash 2008 Update.....I will not post pictures. It has gone down some, although it still itches. The cat has a severe case of Notoderic Mange...Feline Scabies. 80% of websites and the Vet say that the mites will not bother humans. 19.9% of websites say that on the off chance they do infect humans the result is "mild and self-limiting". I found one website that described a possible reaction that included intense itching (worse at night) for about 3 weeks. This seems to be the reaction we are having. Lucky us! The good news is that we're already a week and a half in, and as Micah says, it's not like it'll itch intensely for three weeks and then suddenly stop, it has to taper off some.

I updated a bunch of photos to Flickr

we are going to look at an apartment tonight.

I have no clue why i titled this post the way i did...but have you heard the joke about the three holes in the ground?

weird

so all i was doing was a search to see if i could find out if a certain band was at campfest 2007. and i came across this....


this probably doesn't mean much to you, but i edited this. i spent hours lining up beats and editing video from 3 or 4 different performances together. i'm in a sort of awe. When i got tho Slovakia a month ago, Roman told me that this video was playing on the christian TV station and all....but really it's weird seeing somethign you did on youtube if you didnt put it there.

i'm just weirded out and i still don't know if MIC played at CF 07

Skin

I got a shot in my butt. I have a rash that literally covers everyinch of my body between my neck and my ankles front and back. It itches like crazy. now at first it started on my stomach. a patch maybe tyhe size of my palm. but then it started to spread. this is bad, i thought. Micah said, What have you never had a rash? it'll go away stop complaining. so i did. and it continued to spread.
(meanwhile he sunburnt the heck out of his shoulders. Blisters and everythign. and i was quite sympathetic. Even though i predicted this when i saw him without his shirt. i even warmed the aloe before i put it on. and made sure he had enough water.)
but once it coverd over 50% of my body i asked Milos to take me to the doctor. There was no way i could have done this on my own. anyway the doctor looked only at the rash on my right arm, the nurse gave me a shot, they said it was a reaction to some food or lotion (which doesn't' explain why Micah is starting to get the rash too) I got a prescription for some verrry strong antihistamines and two bottles which contain from what i can tell a solution of Aloe and menthol. But i didn't itch when i went to bed last night and i feel a lot better today. We'll see.

Something to think about.

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But here was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that this was my life. This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way
~Alfred D Souza

Micah tells me this all the time. I was waiting to get to Slovakia, and now that we're here, I'm anxious to get a place of our own. And once we have a place, it will be something else. He's right of course, I do struggle with this. I love being married but I hate being married to someone who's always right.

Around here, the 4th of July is just the day after the 3rd and before the 5th. Eat something off the grill and think of us tomorrow.I have not found my American flag yet. I'm sure it's packed in some bag that i have not gotten to yet. There's not much point in unpacking just to repack everything once they find an apartment for us. This goes against the quote I started with. See, that's how deep it is in me. 

work?

This "weekend" I went with Timothy Sound (Part of YFC Slovakia) to work the main stage at a music festival. They picked me up at the ranch on wednesday around 5. we drove two hours and then worked till about midnight or so unpacking the trucks. Thursday we got to the festival site at 8 and worked till around 11 that night getting the stage and all the wires and monitors stuff set up. We headed back Friday morning around 9 to finish setting up the lights and projector and screen and checking everything. Volnost nad Nevolnom (Freedom in Nevolnom - name of the town) started at 3 that afternoon and went till about 2AM. We slept in till around 10 on Saturday and walked around Kremnica for a bit. We headed to the festival around 2PM and worked till 3AM and then got up at 6 AM (3 hours later) on sunday to tear everything down we finished up around 3PM, and then drove back to the ranch. I did not help unload the truck since once it's all boxed up it's too heavy for me.

It was a great weekend. I enjoyed almost every minute. I came home VERY tired. Micah said he's going to talk to the "powers that be" and ask that they not return me next time until i've had a full night's sleep. I get kind of grumpy when i'm tired. (understatement)

All that to say that i have today free!!
I realized that having the day off to do what i want looks a lot like what i do when i work. (aside from the fact that I slept in till 10 and pent the rest of the morning in bed with the kitten and a good book) I have written a few personal e-mails that i've been putting off. I uploaded and played with some pictures in photoshop. I called the bank. I updated my blog. I uploaded some photoshop brushes. I have not bought any yarn yet so i didn't knit anything. and it's raining so i couldn't go for a walk or anything.

Basically i sat at the computer most of the afternoon, just like a regular day. But i didn't do anything i didn't want to or even anything requiring much thought. i'll work tomorrow, and it will look a lot like this afternoon.

I am either very lucky to have a job that i mostly enjoy, or i am very dull and have no personal boundaries.

Buying a car in a foreign country

This is our newest car. In the past year and a half, I have had 3 new cars. Well, none of them were new, but new to me anyway... Also, the front ends of the other cars got smashed up. I'm hoping against that for this one. I have bad luck with cars.


buying a used car is a simple and straightforward procedure or so we were told. Let me sum it up for you....

The first thing you must do to buy a used car in a foreign country is have money to pay cash. In order to do this, you had to request a temporary salary increase at least 2 weeks in advance. No one told us this. If you did not already request the temporary salary increase, you have two options. You can wait two weeks, stranded at the remote location where you are staying temporarily because you can't live anywhere else without a vehicle. Or you can just empty your bank account and borrow money from people you work with. and then pray that no big expenses come up before the next payday.

The second thing you must do is speak the language. If you don't speak the language, you have to find someone who does. Preferably someone who also speaks English and knows a little about cars. This person should also be willing to give up his free day to drive you around looking for a car. (Paly Biros has put up with more trouble on my behalf than any one person should ever have to. I believe he will get an extra crown in heaven just for that)

The third thing you must have is a temporary stay permit (this is a cluster of a process itself). If you do not have a temporary stay permit yet, you must find a Slovak willing to let you put the car in his name. This person will also have to go to the police station at 5 in the morning to transfer all sorts of paperwork. You will have to go with him. He will also have to do something about insurance (still not clear what or how much it will cost).

After you have gathered these things, you will have to drive your car home. If you buy your car 2 hours from where you live, and you do not know what the road signs mean, this will be a stressful thing.

If you get it home, you must be sure and communicate with the man whose name it is in so that all the bureaucracy will be satisfied. This will be complicated by the fact that he does not speak English.

So we have a car. It is sitting in the parking lot. We have no clue when we will be allowed to actually drive it again. It's ok though, we dont have anywhere else to go.

the brain is a wonderful and mysterious place.

I stood up to go down to the bathrooms and take some pictures. (that sounds funny...because this is a retreat center/campground, they are building extra bathrooms outside...oh never mind)
Anyway, As i stood up, i looked at the clock and the thought that occured to me was,

It is quarter to eleven, do you know where your chickens are?

yeah, i'm a bit confused and surprised too.

dum dun duuunnn

creative control strikes again. and on the first day. lets just say that my morning was a total waste because not only is the great idea i had thrown out the window, i am having trouble wiping the slate clean and starting my brain over on a new track :(

I'm in Slovakia!!!

i have waited over a year to type those words again. It feels good! It is nice to be here. Micah doesn't speak any Slovak so i feel really good about what i remember. Tomorrow when we meet with Milos who doesn't speak much English i may feel differently.
It was 24 hours from when we got to the airport until we landed in Kosice. 13 of those hours were spent sitting in airports. Yes, more time on the ground than in the air. i hate airport chairs. that is all i will say on that subject. period.

I thought we might be in trouble when a couple with a baby sat down next to us on the flight from DC to Germany. I consider it God's very big gift to us that the baby didn't cry once during the whole 8 hour flight. She looked like she was about Claire's age. I think Abi might consider it a very big gift if Claire went 8 hours without crying.

I thought we were really in trouble again when the security guard in Germany told Micah there was a pocket knife in his bag. Micah was 100% sure he put that knife in his checked bag. They emptied his bag, found the knife and threw it away for us (no strip searches or anything). I am not sure wether the knife moved itself to the carry-on before or after we left home. All I know is that it didn't show up when we went through security in Pittsburgh. I'm just saying :)

So to summarize, 13 hours of layovers, 11 hours of turbulence free flights, 1 baby who didn't cry, 1 confiscated pocket knife, 2 Henrys in Slovakia. I count this a successful trip so far!!