The end of the blog...

Okay, so I've given up on blogging officially. I haven't blogged in months and really, my life isn't that interesting :) Plus, now I'm on Facebook which I'm much better at :) I apologize to all of you wonderful people who actually check this. Feel free to e-mail me at sreinitz@hotmail.com. Love you all!
Steph

My Weird Life

So I haven't blogged in a million years and I've given up apologizing for it - I'm just bad at it.

That said, it's been a couple of really weird weeks around here and I thought I would share.

First and sadly, there was the loss of Everett Harris - my friend Dale and Hannah's baby boy who died on March 1. Hannah was 38 weeks pregnant with him and they lost him. I still can't believe two of my friends have lost baby boys in such a short amount of time. It's not supposed to happen ever, much less twice. It's just heartwrenching and horrible and I can't even begin to get my brain around what they're feeling. I always feel so helpless because my natural reaction is 'problem-solving' mode and there's not a thing I can do for them. It just so happens that we're talking about grief and mourning at church during Lent and Sunday night a guy I know named Mike came and was talking about lossing his infant son 3 years ago and just his experience of that - how he related (or didn't) to his loved ones, his relationship with God, etc. I sat and listened to him and just cried... just thinking of Bob & Sar and Dale & Han and how they're in the midst of what he's come through to some extent. It was comforting somehow... while really sad at the same time.

The day of Everett's funeral I couldn't go because I had an all day staff retreat I couldn't get out of and Tomoko was arriving from Japan that day. Tomoko is a Japanese woman that went to St. Cloud State last year and befriended my mom while she was there. She decided to come back to the States and wanted to see DC so we did the whirlwind tour over the weekend. I was SUPER nice in DC - I actually got a little sunburn - in MARCH! Sadly, it's cooled back off.

The day before Tomoko left, my friend Kevin came to stay. It was really strange because Kevin is a friend from grad school and I've never seen him anywhere but South Africa, where we've spent 6 weeks together over the past two years. He is moving to Baltimore to work for World Relief, from Liberia where he's been working for 3 years, and didn't have anywhere to stay so he stayed at my place for about a week (I'm about an hour from Baltimore). It was fun to have him around and it was totally comfortable which is hilarious since he's really almost a complete stranger - it's amazing how well you can get to know someone over a few weeks in a foreign country.

In fun news, I got to meet Brian McLaren. For those of you who aren't familiar with him, he's an author and kind of the father of the emerging church movement and I love his writing. It's kind of a long story but I ended up on a panel of young people at a seminar he was teaching on preaching in a postmodern context. There were about 40 people in the room and a really great conversation. At the end of the event, Brian McLaren asked me if I wanted to go for a drink with him, his very attractive son, and some others from the conference. Ummm... yea! It was great - his son is adorable and I developed a pretty serious crush on him (no one get excited, we have since learned he has a girlfriend). We had really good conversation and I ended up driving Brian's son home, much to the amusement of a couple friends I had in the room. It was a pretty entertaining.

In probably the most surreal occurance in awhile - I had drinks with Charles last night. Charles is the guy I dated almost 2 years ago now. I hadn't talked to him in a very, very long time and last night he was in DC and called me. I wasn't sure how I felt about that but decided to go and I'm glad I did. It was good to see him and to catch up a bit. It was really strange, I felt like my life rewound 2 years for an evening. I think we even may manage to be friends now which would be nice.

Anyway, that's the beginning of March in a nutshell. I hope you're all well!

Inauguration Craziness

Hello friends! So, it's been 2 months since an update and I haven't filled any of you in on my fabulous trips home over Thanksgiving or Christmas. There was also a New Year's Eve party that was great fun. And while all of that was great, I did want to do an update on the inauguration chaos that has ensued here over the past week.

Yes, yes - I was one of the 2 million people on the National Mall yesterday. I was also one of the 750,000 people on the National Mall on Sunday for the opening concert, which by the way, was AWESOME! (Garth Brooks, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Stevie Wonder, and a ton more!) It was cold (even for Minnesotans) - about 15 degrees with the wind chill which is the coldest it's been here in years. And it still isn't bad for winter but when you're sitting outside in it for 7 hours, it's a bit much. Thankfully, growing up in MN taught me about hand warmers, long johns, and dressing in layers!

The crowds on Tuesday were out of control - shoulder to shoulder people for as far as the eye could see. I've never been at anything like it. The coolest part, however, was the energy of the thing. People were freezing, tired, and in horrible crowds for HOURS and were still in a great mood. There wasn't a single arrest and people were just amazingly happy and patient.

They had to close down a ton of streets into DC - and by streets I mean freeways. I couldn't have driven anywhere near downtown even if I wanted to. There were so many people that the cell phone towers couldn't handle the load and we couldn't get phone service. I tried connecting with Joey until my phone stopped sending text messages.

I had an intern from Australia staying with me. We took a shuttle down there which worked out great. Getting home, however, was a crazy adventure. The lines for buses and metros were hours long and the crowds were so thick we couldn't even get to the museums (which were open for people to stay warm in). So we decided to walk to my office to warm up and then metro home from there(about 4 miles). It wasn't a bad walk but it was surreal walking down the freeway without any cars on it. It was like we were in one of the alien invasion or disease outbreak movies where they are evacuating the city and everyone is walking out of town. There were National Guard troops lining the road and everything!

All in all we were down there for about 7.5 hours but it was definitely worth it. We were far away (I decided it wasn't worth it to get there at 4 am to get up close) but could see and hear everything on a jumbo tran. It was the coolest and craziest thing I've done in a long time.

Here are some of the pictures for your enjoyment! The first few are from the concert:


These are from the inauguration:

This is my partner in crime for all things inauguration. Suhanya is an IJM intern in Uganda who was in town for training and was staying with me. She didn't have a hat so she bought this styling Obama hat which was just plain hilarious. Also notice the pin - it says "I witnessed history - Barack Obama Inauguration" which she got for free from Potbelly's when she went there for lunch. All the hype was just hysterical!

Turkey Bowling!

So last night was my first experience with Turkey Bowling! Turkey Bowling is a kind of sort of annual event put on by a friend of a friend of mine out here. It's about 100 people bowling complete with costumes, team cheers, and other silliness and the proceeds go to provide turkeys for needy families for Thanksgiving. It was hilarious.
You had to wear a sombrero if you got a gutter ball, a top hat if you got a spare, and a lei if you got a strike. There were refs going around handing out random points for all sorts of silliness or simply for bribery. I went with some friends from work and there were about 15 IJMers there. It was great fun, even though I can't bowl to save my life!
I do have a confession to make, however. On Friday in snowed out here. It was only flurries and only lasted about 20 minutes but... it made me miss home. There, I confess. I still hate the cold, but the snow did make me ready to come home for Thanksgiving. See you all soon!

My friend Emily & I with our flare :)

Ruthie, Esther, and Emily (yes, Ruthie is wearing a prom dress). Patti & Michelle (friends from IJM)
Ruthie & Karen (the organizer & lead ref)
One of the teams

Theresa & Austin (friends from work)

I remembered to take pictures!

Hello friends! I remembered to take pictures at a couple of events lately, and decided to share! Aren't you all proud of me?

First, I had a Halloween get together at my apartment with some friends from church and a few people from work. We got together to watch scary movies (since it was Halloween and all), eat, and hang out. My friend Matt was more in the Halloween spirit than the rest of us and came complete with a "couldron" of punch that "smoked" (had dry ice in it). It was a good evening and fun to have a crew of people over - it was the first time I had done that with a large group since I moved out here. For those of you who like scary movies, my official advice - rent The Orphanage, don't rent The Happening.

The other holiday related activity recently was a party my friend Erin (first picture below) put together to make Operation Christmas Child Boxes. For those of you unfamiliar with OCC, it's something Samaritan's Purse does and they send shoeboxs of goodies to children in poverty all over the world. Volunteers create boxes and donate funds toward shipping and Samaritan's Purse distributes them. Erin organized a group of us to each buy stuff and collect shoeboxes, and then to have a little shoebox stuffing party at a local church. We made a ton of them - enough to fill the back seat of Erin's car and a good time was had by all.

And mom, this picture it just for you - this is Wesley (in case you ever need itfor a police wanted poster) Just kidding :)

Finally friends, as I've already happily shared with many of you, the weather out here is amazing. Last weekend I spent the weekend outside studying in a park and it was warm enough to do it! In early November!!! It's seriously thrown off my sense of time - it just barely feels like fall out here now - much less almost Thanksgiving. No worries, I'm not complaining.

All of you in Minnesota - MOVE! Hurry -there's still time before full blown winter hits! That said, here are some fun pictures of the fall colors our my apartment window.

Crazy Fun Busyness

Hello friends!

So once again, we've proven I'm a terrible blogger. My only excuse is that I've been incredibly busy since my last trip home.

It all started with IJM Staff Retreat. IJM does this wild and crazy staff retreat each year. This year, I got to be the primary planner (along with my bosses). Unfortunately, we didn't start nearly early enough on the planning and I ended up working super insane hours for a couple of weeks. The retreat itself was amazing though and I'll post pictures soon - they're pretty hilarious. I got to know some of my coworkers better which was really fun.

Despite the insanity and stress from the retreat, it ended up working out awesome because I got some last minute visitors!!! Holly, Joe, & Alex were able to come visit me at the last minute in between Joe's job change. Again, I'm terrible about taking pictures but I stole a couple off Holly's blog. They got in about an hour after I got home from retreat and we were able to hang out for 4 whole days. It was horrible to see them leave, but it was wonderful to have them there. Sadly, it insisted on raining on us most of the trip but we made the best of it :)

So after my work chaos and the awesome visit, I was VERY behind in school. Fortunately, a couple of marathon weekends at Panera (endless Diet Coke & free wifi) got me caught up.

Last weekend was a retreat with church. My church (both the emerging service I attend and the larger church body) are engaged in what we call a year of discernment. Basically, the congregation is taking a year to pray and discuss what God is leading the church to be. I'm part of the discernment team and we spent a weekend at a monastery near Baltimore together. It was really good to get to know people better and we had a lot of fun.

Things have seemed to mellow out a little bit now. My friend Ruthie is planning some "fall fun festivities" this weekend but I'm not sure what it will entail... I do know, however, with Ruthie it will be a good time. Hopefully, I'll remember to take pictures this time!

Trip home

First, I apologize to any of you who have tried to comment on my blog and couldn't because it wanted you to log in - my aunt Gail alerted me to the problem and it's all fixed.

So I've already admitted I'm terrible at remembering to take pictures... luckily my friends and family are better at it than I am so I have some pictures from last weekend (thanks Jennie & Cheryl).

I spent Labor Day weekend mostly in Little Falls, with a whirlwind swing through Minneapolis at the end. My family didn't go to a cabin this summer, like we usually do with some of the extended family, so instead a bunch of us spent the weekend at my parent's house. They live right on the water and it feels like the cabin anyway.

There were lots of cousins, lots of fishing, lots of feeding ducks, lots of sleeping in tents, lots of eating, lots of campfires, and lots of sitting around doing nothing. It was great. Holly, Joe, and Alex came up on Saturday in their new van which was very exciting.

Some of you may remember my soon-to-be brother-in-law from a certain slurpee incident while I was moving out here. This is Erick and his daughter Faith showing off their catch from one of the many fishing expeditions.

My cousin Adam and his family brought a giant three room tent to sleep in... this is the crew trying to get it put together.

This is me, my dad, Alex, and my cousin Matthew feeding the ducks at the neighbor's house. We also had a great time chasing the ice cream man and learning to share the new tricycle I got Alex for his 2nd birthday.

The big news from the weekend is that my cousin Lindsay is pregnant! For those of you who are familiar with my family, Lindsay is Tom & Gail's daughter (Kelly, Adam, & Nate's baby sister). Her and Bryce are just simply the greatest and I'm really excited for them.

After the fun in Little Falls, I headed back to Minneapolis to hang out with a bunch of friends. Sadly, the Calvillos and Coyers were sick and missed out on the festivities, but their was definitely a great crew gathered.

It was great to see everyone and to meet all the new babies!!! I got to meet Isaac Anderson and Eli Sanborn for the first time which was wonderful. Johanna Bonnett and Carter Donely have grown leaps and bounds since I moved and Jaydon Donely & Jeremy Sanborn were a riot. And you can always count on the Bonnett kids to liven up the party.

The weekend went way to fast and I feel like I barely got to spend time with people, but it was great to be home all the same. As much as I'm really enjoying DC, it was tough to leave on Monday. Hopefully I'll get more time with everyone at Thanksgiving. I love you all!