of fish and men

If you haven't met the in-laws yet, you have to! You always know that you'll marry someone no matter what their family is like, but you always hope for the best. And let me tell you, I got better than that! Carly and I spent the weekend in Tulsa to be with her family, and attend a wedding shower. I got the privilege of fishing with her dad and brother-in-law Jeff on Sunday morning in the Arkansas River (runs just west of downtown Tulsa). Man, there are all kinds of fish in that river! So many that half of what we caught was foul-hooked. You can see the two keepers here below. Doc, Jeff and I got to pull these Stripers in. And if you're interested in Doc's TV show, check out the link to Doc Geiger's Outdoor Adventures just to the right of the postings. The guy has got skills! He was a great guide, and was very patient with a novice such as myself, especially when I kept breaking off lures on rocks...blast! More to come on the Geiger family. For now, enjoy the pics and observe the FILET MASTER at work.

a coffee quiz

You are a Black Coffee

At your best, you are: low maintenance, friendly, and adaptable At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty You drink coffee when: you can get your hands on it Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

The boy who put the horse head in that guys bed in the Godfather: my brother.

Have you ever just wanted to rip somebody's head off? Well, my brother did. He didn't really rip it off, but I think he wanted to. He used to do it for a living. Okay, he didn't get paid for it, but I bet he would have liked it that way. Actually I think he was happy to do it for free. In fact, he paid Wheaton a whole lot of money to do it. Or, mom and dad paid Wheaton a whole lot of money. "Was he a hitman for a Chicago-Russian crime family?" you ask. Not quite. A strong man for the imposing Chicago area Concrete Layers Union? Close. This is conservative, evangelical, Christian university education at its finest; where boys become men, and then boys again...mostly just boys...with a lot of testosterone...and not enough classwork to keep them busy...okay, lots of classwork but they just ignored it. Behold --> the cornerback.

In pictures

I have found that it is easy to start a blog, hard to keep posting. Life has been overrun with busy work days, and busy evenings as we prepare for our wedding (now just over 8 weeks away) and try to finish painting and prepping the house we'll live in. One of my favorite things about blogs is the ability you have to tell stories with pictures. I don't have stories today, but I do have pictures that I hope carry stories within them. These pictures represent in many ways where my attention has been focused these past months. Meet some of the people and places the exchange students (whom I serve through my company) will get to meet.

These girls in Southeast Asia...


A city surrounded by this desert in North Africa...


This city lit up at night by traffic and the lights from scores of mosques...


An innumerable assortment of new and sometimes strange foods!...


A university near this East Asian farming village...


And culture. All sorts of new, complicated, fascinating culture.


Pictures are always better than the captions.

A "leader" without followers is just out for a walk...

Many of you prayed for my company's Team Leader Training Weekend. It was a great weekend, and went better than we could have hoped for. 59 of our team leader friends joined us for the weekend, and I'm pretty sure they all headed their separate ways feeling better equipped to lead their teams to the far corners of the world...and more in touch with their inadequacy to do so! If you think about it, please keep praying that they would be equipped to lead, and willing to live dependently.



Here's a picture of these fantastic people!

Technical Disclaimer

One note before you read the post below...Parker, our beloved dog, was inside all day because we were expecting snow, rain, and sleet. His dog house hasn't moved over yet, so I thought a day inside wouldn't be too bad...

"How Much is that Doggy in the Window?"

Do you remember that story I told you about Parker getting lost, and me being worried, and then finding him, and me being happy? Do you ever, for a moment, feel like you made a grave mistake in looking so hard for what was lost? Well, I have. And I did, for a moment last night. I'm not really sure how to name what happened. But I do have names for who did it, and most of those names would probably throw up a red flag somewhere for the blogger.com censors. So allow me to test the truth in the old phrase, "a picture is worth a thousand words."









We have a new dryer that USED to be hooked into the wall.



Coffee beans, plants, and hot chocolate licked into the carpet. Don't ask how.



Just how much is that doggy in the window, you ask? You name the price. I might even be willing to sell him to a Vietnamese restaurant. Okay, I'm not really selling him, but threatening makes me feel better.



This pretty much sums it up. At least the new paint on the walls still makes us smile.

I wanted to update you on my parents hard work in painting over the National Geographic yellow in our kitchen. Enjoy the fruits of their labor.

"Here Yeller, Come Back Yeller": PART 2

So we closed on our house yesterday, were very excited, have our own keys and one garage door opener (missing its twin), and I come home to an open side gate in the back yard which can mean one of two things: a) the side gate is open, and 2) Parker is gone. Crap. Four of my friends would be coming over to the old house within the next 20 minutes to help me load up and move. And Parker is vamoosed. So I search in the twilight to no avail, feeling a little silly calling his name, but getting worried about him. Carly looks for a while as well while we load the cars, truck and minivan. I get up early to work a little while before the sun comes up so that I can put up posters and look again at first light. I create this little sign here, and stick 20 of them up in my neighborhood on well-used telephone poles. Still panicking.


Just before lunch I head out to begin looking in the two animal shelters in town and to file a missing pet claim so they don't euthanize the poor little guy. While I'm driving to one of the shelters, I get a phone call from a man who asks, "Is this the owner of Parker?" Joy! Pure, giddy, little kid with ice cream all over his face joy. "Yes! How in the world..." "Well, I found him last night and walked him around the neighborhood for a while hoping someone might recognize him. So when I went to put up my FOUND posters this morning, I saw your MISSING YELLOW LAB posters and tried to return him to your house. No one was home so I thought I'd give you a call." So I met this gentleman (maybe retired? maybe works the night shift?) in his driveway with and excited Parker and an oversized collar. Now, Parker is still very puppyish, and jumps up on people, sniffs their butts, etc. But he doensn't try that trash with me. He knows who the alpha-dog is. But when I got out of the car, it was like full on bear hug. You bet I let him jump up and lick my face! Here's the flyer that our new friend on North Fountain made up to place in the neighborhood.


It's amazing how pets can get to your heart. It's also astounding to feel the loss of something that is valuable to you. Makes me think of Jesus tell the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. He was wanting us to see what it's like for us to be lost, then found by him. There is significant sorrow in losing, and surprisingly profound joy in finding! And he's only my dog!

A darn good one at that.

"Here yeller, come back yeller..."

Since we're all about introductions, it would be tragic to forget my good buddy Parker. Here are a couple pics of the strapping young lad.


Three months old.


Four months old.


Five months old.


Here's lookin' at you kid.


Lucky dog.

Since he's eight months old now, I guess I'm a little behind on the pictures. But when they stop growing so quickly, you lose some of the fascination. Maybe it's something like the fact that I don't remember my mom and dad taking too many pictures of me when I was in junior high; a time you just don't want to remember.

I have had plenty of days like that with Parker.

Thanks for not giving up on me mom and dad.

Mi casa es su casa

So...we're taking the plunge...goin' for broke...divin' in head first...and takin' no crap from noone (except for the title company and other unnamed parties)...we're buying the house (oh yeah, and we're getting married too)!

We were supposed to close on March 2, and jumped through quite a few hoops to do so if I do say so myself. Yet we were postponed on a minor technicality...homeboy whose name the title is in has gone on to gloryland some time back. His certificate for having gone the way of all things is not on record with the title company. They decided to tell us this just 24 hours before closing (isn't that their whole job to catch that kind of stuff?). So someone in po' dunk Missouri (or Mizzeruh as they say here) is going to hire the nice DHL man to wisk it back here to the Air Capital city. Closing date TBA.

Until then, let us give you a tour of this wonderful place God has provided for us at an amazing price.

Here she is on Columbine Lane (I'm a little nervous to give the actual address on the web...maybe I'm paranoid).

Wonderful Carman, realtor extraordinaire in our YELLOW kitchen.

Turquoise tile in the full bathroom. Got potential.

Bedroom #1; yellow shag carpet to match. Reminds me of Great-grandma Riley's cabin in Miwok Village. This will become the "office/pretend like we're getting things done" room.

Bedroom numero dos. We're actually keeping this wallpaper. Hey, if you wait 50 years, things come back in style!

Master bedroom with orangy-brown shag carpet to match and...

the pink half-bath. Yikes!

Dining room connecting to kitchen with the living room behind me as I'm taking the picture. We'll take out that little foggy glass thing so we can fill those darn little shelves with chochskies! No thank you.

Since first impressions are so important, we're planning to leave this lovely wallpaper in the entry way.

The backyard.

Got lots more pictures, but it's pretty much more of the same. Can't wait to have folks over!

And to get rid of the wallpaper.

Unity

Since Carly and I are planning to become ONE this summer, I thought it would be appropriate for us to start a blog together. How technologically appropriate. For family and friends, I hope this will be an easier way to share about some happenings in the Wichita chapter of the Walters clan...and to show you some pics without bursting the html seams of your inboxes.

I know you're supposed to, like, write profound things in blogs. But I'm not sure today is a profound day. At least in my ability to write cool stuff.

Welcome.