Odd source, true statement

I came across this article on msn.com about a couple from IL that are planning on getting married in a cemetery. Which, I have to admit, is weird. However, at the very end of the article the bride makes a very good point. In response to co-workers who were giving her a hard time about having nuptials in a cemetery she says, "Does it matter where we get married, just as long as we get married?" Huh. Good point. Not that I want to get married in a cemetery mind you...but she does make an excellent point.

I confess that from time to time I have gotten caught up in the where and how of our wedding. But really, whether we get married in a beautiful backyard or the courthouse, the end result is the same. I will be Mrs. Hounsell. (But I still want the beautiful backyard!)

Here's the article for your reading pleasure....

With this ring, I thee wed in a graveyard
Hearse-driving Missouri couple plans cemetery wedding

PACIFIC, Mo. - It's not the traditional "till death do us part," but Scott Amsler and Miranda Patterson believe getting hitched in a graveyard is just thinking outside the box.
Come September, the Illinois couple expects to pledge their undying love among the dearly departed in this St. Louis suburb's city cemetery, even though those who approved the request are dead set against seeing it become a trend.
The wedding wouldn't be out of character for Amsler, 27, a computer expert for a financial company by day and rehabber of old hearses by night.
The graveyard, he said, just has a certain tranquility and thriftiness for nuptials the young couple insists will be small, private and traditional — except for the bagpipes, Amsler's refurbished hearse and the throng of eternally silent witnesses.
"People are going to think how they want. I don't actively try to convince people that my interests are normal or logical," Amsler said. "I'm not a freak or Satan worshipper or cult member. It just goes with our theme."
Deep down, the couple said, it just seemed right.
Amsler and Patterson, who recently moved to Collinsville, Ill., became an item not long after they met in November 2005 at a birthday party where Patterson, 21, was to have been the celebrant's blind date. Amsler showed up in a retooled hearse that caught Patterson's eye.
‘I wanted a ride in it, but I chickened out’"I wanted a ride in it, but I chickened out at the last minute," she said.
By their first date weeks later, on New Year's Eve, Patterson knew Amsler was the one. Not long afterward, she quit her factory job in Sullivan, Mo., and moved in with Amsler in Troy, Ill.
Amsler proposed last June, affixing to the side of the 1965 hearse — which the two call "Edgar" — a plate with a simple message: "Will you marry me?" Seconds later, the ring slid onto a crying Patterson's finger.
She received Edgar as an engagement gift and had only one stipulation: The wedding had to be outside, in a gazebo.
Her worries were laid to rest while she and Amsler drove to her dad's house. While traveling on Interstate 44, Patterson spotted a gazebo on a hilltop, only to find it was in a graveyard. No worries.
"The view was just gorgeous," she said. "I said, `This is where I want to get married.'"
When the couple called last fall for permission to use the three-acre cemetery, which dates to the Civil War, City Clerk Jo Ann Hoehne told them the local cemetery committee would have to decide.
‘Just a normal young couple’"When I spoke to them, they were just a normal young couple who wanted to have a wedding someplace they thought was nice and serene for a very small, intimate wedding," Hoehne said. "They weren't any cult group or anything like that."
Bill Hohman, a 71-year-old alderman on the cemetery panel, wasn't sure what to think.
"It's strange to me. This is kind of an unusual thing around here," he said of the country town where the roughly 5,700 residents "roll up the sidewalks at 9 o'clock, and everyone goes to bed."
The committee last month signed off on the couple's request despite concerns about the appropriateness of the setting for the occasion — and fears that a burial might be scheduled for the same time.
Hohman, though, vows to introduce a measure to make Amsler-Patterson nuptials the last among this town's tombstones. "Once the horse is out of the barn, you have to have an ordinance," he said.
But Patterson said she and Amsler have respect for the living and the dead.
"We're not going to do anything stupid or horrible. We just want to have a wedding," she said.
"Some of the ladies I work with said, `Are you crazy? Why would you get married in a cemetery?' Does it matter where we get married, just as long as we get married?"

"I've Got the World on a String..."

Here are some random observations of mine from the last few days...

I (kinda) miss taking voice lessons. Last night at NewSong rehearsal our former choir director brought in her private voice students to perform for us. Her recital is next Thursday and she wanted to give a few of her students an opportunity to perform one of their songs in front of people they didn't know as practice for their real recital. It's a great idea. I was sitting in the front row watching, listening and remembering back to the days when that was me singing in Italian at what felt like the top of my register in front of people that I didn't know. Part of me was sad because I know that I have lost much of my technical skill that I worked years to achieve. As more time passes it feels like I am looking at that portion of my life through a haze. Mozart feels like a long time ago and part of me is saddened by it. There is, of course, another part that is glad I am not singing in Italian at the top of my register in front of people I don't know. I feel both those emotions at the same time, and more than likely always will.

With the assistance of my brilliant wedding planner, Tina, I have picked 2 REALLY nice songs for the ceremony. I shall not reveal the name of the songs until the wedding day itself... so if you want to know what songs I picked I guess you'll just have to come and see me get married :) Rest assured though... it ain't no Shania Twain.

Mark and I started our premarital counseling yesterday. I can tell that it is going to be hard for me (in a good, learning and stretching sort of way). The couple counseling us is asking the sort of questions I don't like answering: questions that I can't study for and that often involve how I feel. I like questions with concrete answers that I can study for. Plus, I will give you my best answers when I can think about the questions for a long time. Thoughts need time to percolate in my brain. It's just the way I am. So when I get asked a question that needs percolating and I have to answer immediately I feel like everything that comes out of my mouth is unintelligent gibberish. It's not a great feeling, really. We have a book/workbook (Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts) that we are working from... so I hope that I will feel better prepared to answer their questions having spent all week reading and thinking about the exercises in the book. Or maybe I just need to get over my question anxiety. That's a possibility too...

It's been a weird week. LOTS has happened that I couldn't even begin to have space to blog about here. I'm sure I'll write about it in the weeks and months to come. Just not tonight.

And all that jazz

As previously mentioned, I am getting married. May 11th, 2007. For those of you who are counting, that's 124 days from now.

I have been thinking extensively about the music for the ceremony. Songs for the processional and recessional. Special songs to be sung during the ceremony. Pre and Post service melodies. It's a lot of music, really. Many of you who read this blog probably know that I am a Music Director for a very cool church. Music is my business you could say. It's what I do all week long. And it is why I'm feeling a lot of pressure for the music to not suck at the wedding.

Let me explain.

Obviously, whoever I ask to play or sing will do an excellent job. I'm certainly not going to ask someone to perform whose skills are questionable. And I apologize if this sounds harsh...but there is simply no room for mediocre at this wedding! The suck knob is going to be turned down so far that it is off. No, I am not stressed about quality. I'm stressed about song selection.

Let me explain further.

I am very passionate about our wedding not being a "cookie cutter" ceremony. I'm sure we have all been to those weddings where you felt like you could say "insert bride and groom here." I don't want the wedding to be so off the wall that it's bizarre...I simply want people to leave feeling like they just spent time with Mark and Jeanne - Not any random bride and groom. Therefore I have put a ban on the following song selections:

Canon in D
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
Anything Shania Twain
Anything Steven Curtis Chapman
Anything Twila Paris

Now, I have great respect for those songs and artists. But apparently so does most of the rest of the free world because they have been performed at every wedding since 1990.

If you were going to the wedding of a florist you would come expecting spectacular flowers. If I was going to the wedding of a career musician I would expect spectacular music. Now, I will admit that it is entirely possible that this problem is all in my head. Very possible. But I am going to operate under the assumption that it is not and strive to have fun, creative and meaningful music selections during my ceremony.

Expect the unexpected, wedding guests. There will be no Canon in D here.

Christmas

Here's a pic of Lance and Tyler in front of the tree... Enjoy!

2nd post of the month.

That's right. A second post. My streak is broken!

Numbers and call signs

My soon to be husband bought me a police scanner so that I could listen to what he is up to while at work. Tonight is the first opportunity I have had to turn it on and listen. It is really quite fascinating - and mildly frustrating because I don't know what all of the codes mean yet. These are the ones that I do know:

10-4 = "ok"
10-8 = "out of service" (like if they were eating lunch)

And yeah...that's about all I know at this point. I'm going to have Mark make me a list of what all their codes mean so that I can at least attempt to make sense of what he does.

It is pretty neat how they identify themselves over the radio. Each shift is assigned a number. Graveyard is 1, Day shift is 2 and Swing shift is 3. Then, each beat that the deputy is assigned to is given a number. For example, the Ranchos in Gardnerville is 06. For example, if you had a deputy working in the Ranchos on Swing shift his call sign for the night would be 306. I think it's pretty cool, anyway.

I have learned a lot about police work and Nevada law since I have been with Mark. Did you know that everything in Nevada is a misdemeanor? Mark can arrest you for a broken tail light. He probably wouldn't of course...but he could! I have also learned that cops spend a great deal of time writing reports. I wouldn't have guessed that. But apparently they do!

I haven't heard Mark on the radio yet tonight. Maybe he is in the station writing reports...

I'm getting married!!! Yeah!!!!!

Drinking through a firehose...

Ok, I'm back from Hawaii. In a nutshell - it was wonderful. I'll post about specifics and pictures later. Tonight I shall just give you some random wonderful moments...

Driving around the island with my sister singing along to Garth Brooks. Especially "She's My Lady Luck." Now THAT brings back some memories!

Being dragged up on stage by my sister and made to do the Hula in front of 500 people.

Swimming in the Pacific Ocean!

Not being able to pronounce a single city or street name on the island.

Going snorkeling and seeing fish in colors that I never even dreamed.

The beach. Enough said.

Getting to see where my sister lives and works. Very cool!

And oh yeah...Surviving a 6.6 EARTHQUAKE! Good times, Good times.

Go Team...and all that

The game was fun. UNR beat Northwestern-which is apparently a big win for them since Northwestern is a Big Ten school (and should have been able to tromp the little ole' Wolfpack). I was torn as to who to cheer for - Northwestern being an Illinois school and all. I really have no emotional attachment to the Wolfpack. But alas, I then realized that I have to attachment to Northwestern, either. So being a good Nevadan now, I decided to root for the Wolfpack.

However, I'm not a big "cheerer." I never have been. I have always had zero school spirit. Maybe if I knew someone playing it would be different...

I was excited about seeing the band play during the game and at half-time. I was to be sorely disappointed. They stunk. The band was small, the marching was plain, and they were using music! Hello...you are in a college band...MEMORIZE YOUR MUSIC! Then, to add insult to injury when they were finished with half-time they didn't even march out of the stadium. Once they hit the track they just walked out. UM HELLO?? These people seriously need my help. It does not want to make me take any classes in their music program, that's for sure!

The stinky band did not ruin the whole night however! My first college game was a ton of fun - probably more to do with the company seeing as I had no idea what was going on on the field :)

Go Wolfpack!

I'm going to my first college football game tonight. Today is Mark's birthday - and he is a college football nut - so to celebrate this auspicious occasion we are going to go watch the Nevada Wolfpack play Northwestern University. Mark tells me it is going to be a good game, but knowing nothing about football I'll just have to take his word for it! I'll try and post some pictures of my outing later.

Ah, the Nostalgia

I purchased something the other day I haven't had since high school: Watermelon bubble gum. No, it wasn't Bubblicious...it was Extra. But still good...

Working at the car wash...

Dad would be proud. I actually washed my car tonight. I think it must be a guy thing to be so obsessed about having a clean car. On my list of things to do, it isn't very high. But every time I looked at my dirty car I felt guilty. Plus, I knew that one of these days Dad was going to ask if I had washed it and I did not want to have to admit that I had not. So it's done. Although I must say it was a very unpleasant experience...

Since I live in an apartment, I have to take my car to a car wash. But the pressure washers don't get all the buggies off of the car. So I took a bucket and sponge out in the parking lot to get the bugs off before I took it to the car wash. This lady walks by and begins to question my method. Excuse me...but I really don't think it is any of your business how I wash my vehicle. Keep moving - thank you.

Then I actually make it to the car wash. It is a dangerous place. They should really post some warning signs. To start with, the wind kept kicking up and spraying soapy water in my face. Then, the hose kept whipping around and whacking me in the face. I was lucky to get out of there without getting a black eye. No one would have ever believed how I got it.

But my car is clean. For now anyway.

This morning I am thinking about freedom. The word is deceptive because freedom is "free" at all. It comes at a high price.

My brother-in-law Nick leaves for Iraq this morning. His unit will be gone a year. Until this moment the war in Iraq was something far removed. It was something journalists covered on television and President Bush spoke about in speeches. It was a war I supported because of my sense of patriotism and pride for our troops. Because I value freedom. It was a war that I supported in theory. I now support it with my family.

I will probably follow the news more carefully in the weeks and months to come. And I'll pray for safety for Nick and the rest of the soldiers. I feel certain that when I now hear that when a soldier has been injured or killed my heart will still, and my first thought will be, "God, please don't let it be Nick." I am reminded of a passage in Psalms 139 that is central to our services this weekend:

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, you eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

All of Nick's days were ordained by God before one of them ever happened. I have to work to remember that. Trust is hard when the rubber hits the road.

I am so proud of you, Nick. God be with you.

The Title of My Life.

Lately I have been pondering what I would title a book - if I was so inclined to write one. I have come up with several interesting options, some of them more inspired than others:

Confessions of a Twenty-Something (the clock is ticking on this title...a little over 5 years left)
Life With A Metronome
Church On a Budget and Other Lessons I Didn't Learn In School
My Secret Life as a CIA Operative
"Yes, I Work Full-Time" and Other Offensive Questions To Avoid

What would you title a book you wrote?

Lincoln Brewster was rained out. I was sitting 15 feet away from him. He played one song. And then it stormed. There are no words to describe my disappointment.

He said he'd be back. I'm holding him to it. And when he does return, I'll be there. This time hopefully only 10 feet away.

I know. I'm a groupie. It's sad. But I don't care!

Fort Knox

I'm trying to decide which is normal: living in a dwelling that is always locked whether I am in it or not, or dwelling that is never locked. My apartment is like Fort Knox. I dare anyone to try and enter. It is just habit that I come in the door, turn around and lock the deadbolt, than hang my keys on my keyholder right by the door. It doesn't matter if I am going to be home for ten minutes or ten hours, I always lock the door. And all of my downstairs windows are locked. In fact, I hardly ever open them. Locked tight.

I am house-sitting for a family that lives in house in a smaller town. They never lock their doors. Any of them. Or their windows. In fact, many of the windows are open. I came home tonight and it was after dark. I must confess to you that it took every single ounce of my courage to walk into a dark house that had been open all day. I keep thinking that someone is going to jump out of a closet at me.

This particular breed of fear is one I haven't experienced since I had to stay at my Dad's old farmhouse alone out in the middle of nowhere. I slept in the living room on the floor because somehow it seemed safer. I'm not sure why. But it made sense to me at the time.

I'll probably be fine. But just in case you never see me again...you know what happened!

Redeemed!

The weekend is redeemed! I just spoke with one of my long time friends and he has finally set a date to come and visit me here in good ole' Minden, NV. We spoke for a while on the phone and now I am reminiscing about some of our good times together:

Christmas Eve. Our families are good friends and spent every Christmas Eve together. We would go to the Christmas Eve service at church, go caroling around town, and then have a party (With Mary's little weenies. Mmmm so delicious). I really miss that Christmas tradition.

Thumb wrestling in band. We both played alto saxophone, and when we would get bored we would thumb wrestle. I never won. Not in eleven years. Not even once. It's very sad.

Solo and Ensemble contest. Every year in high school we would play a saxophone duet for Solo and Ensemble contest. Two of those years we even got perfect scores. However, I'll never forget our senior year when I had a total brain fart moment and played the pages our duet out of order. We "finish" and Lucas says to the judge, "That second page is really nice. Would you like to hear it?" The judge actually lets us play the piece over. We still managed to get a I rating.

High school dances. We went to three of them together. Sophomore year Homecoming Dance, Sophomore year Vice-Versa dance and Senior Prom. I still have pictures somewhere...

Serving together at the Peoria Rescue Mission. Our youth group would go there periodically and serve dinner. Somehow, Lucas always managed to be the dishwasher.

Too many other memories to count in this space.

How exciting! No one comes to visit me for almost two years and now I have three friends coming in one summer! Yippee!!!

The Rascals fall flatt....

I saw part of the Rascal Flatts concert last night up in Lake Tahoe. And I say part because we left before the concert was over. And I can't say that I'm sad about it, either. Even though overall the evening was ok, the concert was not what we expected. Here's why:

1. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was DRUNK. And I mean drunk. And lucky for me, the person immediately to my right was drunker than a skunk and was constantly bumping me. By the time we left I had seriously run out of patience for them. I have zero tolerance for stupidity like that.

2. The concerted "started" at 7pm. Except there were TWO opening acts. Rascal Flatts didn't even start playing until shortly after 9 pm.

3. Rascal Flatts was a disappointment on several levels. First, while we there they played very little music from the albums. They did several covers of other people's stuff, and the did what I would call "messing around." A few very large drum solos (they had two complete drum kits with two drummers. If I hadn't been annoyed it would have been cool.), a long fiddle solo, and a lot of TALKING. Which leads me the second reason I was disappointed in them. What they did have to say was not in the least bit edifying. In fact it was down right offensive. To sum it up - it was about drinking and fine women. Come on guys, you can do better than that. Plus, after two songs the lead singer disappeared from the stage for over 30 minutes!! What?? I came here to see YOU. Don't LEAVE. Ugh. We ended up leaving about 45 minutes into their set because Sunny had reached her physical limit for the day. I was not disappointed.

Now, having said all that, I am still grateful to have gotten to go - especially if you know the story of how we got in.

I do have a couple of positive comments about the show - the musicians were unbelievable. I was in awe of their sheer talent. And the stage was very cool. They had a huge LCD screen that projected images and created moods. The entire right side of the stage (from top to bottom) was probably 30 smaller screens. It created an amazing effect. To top it off, in the center of the stage was a "building block" thing that they band was on. The front of it was also another screen. There were some great pyrotechnics and lights. It was very cool.

At the beginning of their show the lead singer was talking in between a couple of songs and said something to the effect that they had taken a poll and their music and show was better when you were drunk. I think he might actually be right.

Thou Shall Not Panic. I'm pretty sure that is in the Bible somewhere. The eleventh commandment maybe. And I'm trying really hard. Really I am.

But it isn't everyday that I get asked out. And it certainly isn't everyday that I say yes.

Breathe...

I just had the most amazing night. God is so good!!