DWS predictions and the Oceanic 6

after watching the ladies dance on DWS- here are my top picks

Kristi Yamguchi was the best of the bunch- hands down- I think she has a good shot at taking it all..

Marlee Matlin was amazing- especially considering she is profoundly deaf. Kudos to her dance partner as well- it will be exciting to watch them!

Surprise of the nite....

Priscilla Presley- for a woman of 63 this woman can move! and a death spiral to boot too!

here are my predictions of who is going home on tuesday:
Adam Corolla and Monica Seles...we'll see if America and the judges agree...

LOST SPOILER ALERT!!!

so now that we know WHO the Oceanic 6 are- we now have to stay tuned and see how they actually get OFF the island and how it is determined who actually get rescued and who is forced to stay...

and I'm also wondering if Jin is the one who dies tonite- would explain the tombstone from last week and also confirm the DUI/Death sentence rumor for the cast.

stay tuned!

a 3 foot -700 dollar drop!

so- back at the end of january i bought a new mac powerbook pro! i was in dire need of a new laptop and after having a great december with my funding- i was given the green light to proceed with the purchase! i LOVE my new mac- it's totally dreamy.

21 days after pulling it out of the package, i was standing by my car talking to josh after a staff meeting and my backpack slipped out of my hand and fell MAYBE 3 feet to the street- the fall being cushioned by my foot.

now- i should add here- that i have a lap top back pack with a padded lap top holder. it's awesome- my computer doesn't move in it and has been great with my old lap top.

well- obviously that wasn't enough to protect my fragile new purchase.

when i got home and turned it on- the monitor went all tie-dye on me. we called apple and after being on the phone with tech support for an hour they didn't know what was wrong with it.

ross hooked it up to my old desk top monitor and i was back in business. at this point we knew it was probably something video related.

since this is spring break week- i felt i was able to potentially part with it for a few days- so ross finally took it into the apple store to have it assessed.

we were thinking it was probably a faulty wire or the video card needed replacing.

NOOOOOOO-HOOO-HOOOOO!

the "little 3 foot drop" ended up breaking my computer screen.

BREAKING IT!

the damage- $700!!!!

yes -you read that correctly.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

i'm buying a bullet proof steel lap top case for my not so dreamy new lap top.

Let me Entertain You!

So- we watched the first nite of dancing with the Stars- I've never gotten into this show before- and now I'm seeing why it's so popular!
I can't get the Robbie Williams song out of my head that the pros danced to last nite! it was amazing! the band they have rocks too! unbelievable!
so- I didn't get to see tonite's show yet- but here are my favorites from last nite:

Mario (the best one of the nite)

Christian de la Fuente (he's got an amazing latin vibe going)

Steve Guttenburg- not the best dancer of the nite- but looked like he was having the most fun!

I have my pre-seen women's favorites- but I'll wait to see how they actually do to form some opinions...

on april 5th- one of these puppies will be going home...

to the blauwkamp house!

got these pics last nite- the puppies are now 5 weeks old- had their first hair cuts!  

aren't they cute!

anyone dare to venture which one we'll pick?

we're still working on a name- xixi can only think of girl names...sophie, mia, tootie (don't know where that one came from!)

"And now compelled by the Spirit, I am going...

to McDaniel College,
though I know now what will be happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace." - paul to the ephesian church (acts 20:22-24)

the LORD had released me from my time of serving at johns hopkins (6 years!) and was sending me onto mcdaniel college. and despite some scary unknowns, i knew that my life call was and would continue to be to testify to the good news of GOD's grace to the next generation...

in some ways- this calling seemed like a "duh!" moment.

• i had a great working relationships with josh. we had always enjoyed serving together and had dreamed off and on about what it would be like to actually serve together on the same campus.
• i had developed a great rapport over the years with mcdaniel students. i had spoken at their wednesday nite fellowship meetings at least twice a year since coming to the baltimore area and i always enjoyed the time i spent with students.
• the campus culture was very community oriented and spiritually open. it was a "sweet spot" to use my gift mix of evangelism, high relational and incarnational ministry style and creativity.
• my going to mcdaniel seemed like a perfect "fit" for me- which was confirmed by all of my ministry partners and ross.

so- YAY! onto mcdaniel!

BUT....

as the pieces of this calling came together- I realized several things...
1) this was a call- not only to me- but to my entire family- we all needed to hear from the Holy Spirit that we were to move on...
from our life in baltimore-
our friends
our great house and neighborhood
our amazing church community
xixi's great preschool
our chinese adoption community
our love of charm city urban life

to "quiet carroll county living"

it was one thing to change campus assignments- I had done that already- U of Illinois, Loyola College, Johns Hopkins

it was entirely different thing to up and move.

we had done that 7 years prior with some painful outcomes in the process.

there were a few SCARY unknowns about this new calling to go to mcdaniel college- and before I was ready to go for it- i knew i had to wrestle with GOD about them. here were a few of the SUWIs (scary unknown wrestling items)

• will we find a good church community?
• will we be able to foster xixi's ethnic identity development in a similar way as we were able to in baltimore?
• how long will i even stay on staff? is a move worth it if we don't know?
• will we develop new friends and deep, meaningful relationships here?

good thing GOD can handle my wrestling matches

and it's awesome when GOD speaks to the SUWIs deep in my soul...

one year ago...

i was nearing the end of my period of discernment about whether after 6 years of hard and faithful service,  GOD was releasing me from my position as campus staff at johns hopkins and to transition to partnering with josh at mcdaniel college.

i spent about an hour a day for 3 weeks journaling, praying, and discerning where GOD was leading me.  my supervisor gave me some insightful questions to work through. i treasured afternoon nap times to sit with jesus and hear from him.

as i prayed and listened- jesus brought these verses to mind from psalm 71:

"but as for me, I will always have hope;

I will praise you more and more.

My mouth will tell of your righteousness, 

of your salvation all day long-

though I know not its measure.

I will come and proclaim your mights acts, O Sovereign Lord;

I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.

Sine my youth, O God, you have taught me, 

and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.

Even when I am old and gray- do not forsake me, O God.

'TILL I DECLARE YOUR POWER TO THE NEXT GENERATION-

YOUR MIGHT TO ALL WHO ARE TO COME." -  psalm 71:14-18

at the time I read this- the words spurred me on to remember where my hope lies- in the Sovereign Lord.  the words spurred me on to remember the call i received 9 years prior to go and proclaim the love of jesus and the power of his kingdom to college students.  

even in the midst of a risky and scary discerning process- i wanted to continue to give praise to jesus more and more- to tell people about his righteousness and salvation.  

despite the events leading up to this process of discernment and regardless of the decision- my heart's desire was to continue to have hope in the true and living GOD and to proclaim that hope to the people HE put in my path.

as i marinated in the words and the truths that lay within them- i felt freedom to hear what jesus was calling me to- i felt a deep peace when i remembered the ways GOD had been there for and with me during prior times of transition- and that part of him being everlasting and unchanging meant that he would be there for me again on the next leg of my journey.

these words gave me the courage and strength to hear jesus say, "your time at hopkins is at an end.  well done- good and faithful servant.  i'm ready to reveal to you the next leg of your journey with me.  are you ready to receive it?"

i'll reveal that tomorrow!

He's in there somewhere

puppies at 2 weeks

puppies at 3 weeks

So-

in case you haven't heard- we're getting a puppy next month.

Yup- you read that right.  A puppy!  a black standard poodle puppy to be exact.

we figure with Simon's cancer and unknown lifespan, our probable traveling to China next summer to get XiXi's mei mei or di di, that now was the time to take the puppy plunge.

The litter was born on February 9th.  We have 1st pick of the two black males.

We travel up to PA (just north of Scranton for your Office lovers!) on April 5th to pick him up and bring him home.

I'm excited, yet becoming ever more aware that I have no idea what I'm about to get myself into.  Puppies are so stinkin' cute- yet a ton of work.  Kinda like a baby. 

the idea that my summer will be spent raising a puppy is slowly sinking in.  

At least this way we won't have two "diapers" at the same time (baby + puppy).