On: Plenty to be Thankful for...

(I am taking an artistic liberty with the title).

Thanksgiving indeed.

You can imagine how thankful we felt after reading the following:

"Dear Mr. Pagan,
The members of the Committee on Admissions of the UIC College of Medicine join me in extending you an offer to be a member of the Class of 2013."

That's right! After years of hard work, Jon has been accepted to med school!!!! I'm so proud I can hardly stand it.

We got the news on Friday evening, but I'll back-track for a moment to fill you in on the Thanksgiving festivities as well.

Jon and I celebrated Thanksgiving at our friends' house on Thursday. Very nice. Our friends introduced us to their light oven and I learned how to play Nertz.

Then, we bundled up and went to the theater to see Australia.
What a beautifully made movie.

On Friday, we celebrated Thanksgiving again, at home.

Items featured on the Pagan menu (above), rolls, cranberry and gravy not captured.

This year, we decided to implement two new traditions:
1. During the holidays, there is no limit to the amount of butter the chef may use.
2. During the holidays, there is no limit to the amount of food you may consume.

As with any tradition founded upon gluttony, there were consequences:
The results of exceeding capacity.

I'm happy to say that we recovered in time to venture out that evening, (our first Black Friday experience in the DC metro area), and explored some of the "deals," that are only available the day after Thanksgiving. 7:00 PM and the malls were still packed. Amazing.

Later that evening, we received notice that Jon had been accepted to UIC med school. We both went nuts. I won't lie, there was a lot of kissing. And after months of anticipation, Jon finally exhaled.

So yes, we are extremely thankful this year. Thank God, really, for these tremendous opportunities, the dynamic adventures, our marriage and friendship, supportive families and friends, and His constant provision.

And mittens.

Warm hands make for happy Pagans.
May need something a little thicker for Chicago...

On: NASA Doesn't Make a Suit for That...

Today was a bit of a "weight of the world," day.

By 4:30 I was wishing for sweet silence, or some type of NASA regalia that would insulate me from the craziness of work. I wanted to be as Buzz.

Instead, I left at 6:00, looking forward to evening Jon time. This was a day that would constitute, at the very least, a tiny rant. So during the drive home, I prepared my most pitiful account of the day's happenings.

I'm sorry to say that, after arriving home, I did rant. But I was quickly defused.

Jon had cleaned the entire Pagan piazza. Deep cleaned. On top of that, he had made our favorite cookies, started dinner AND cued up the newest episode of House for us to watch. Jealous? Oh yeah, he's that awesome.

It's a wonderful thing to have a mate who knows how to help you decompress. It's like having your own personal bomb squad--ready to disarm the stress that can cloud your perspective and take your eye off the bigger picture.

On: Mr. Zazharias...

I have recently become a fan of the messages expounded by Ravi Zacharias and his team at RZIM. Before dedicating an entire post to these messages, I thought it would be best to listen to a number of his presentations--you know, just in case he turned out to be an unblogworthy nut-job.

Quite the contrary.

As if our blog were that cool.

If you're in the mood for some rigorous mental calisthenics, I encourage you to take a listen. There are two radio broadcasts that provide extremely insightful commentary on some of the most honest and intimidating questions that, I would wager, you have asked yourself or others at some point in time.

Broadcast numero uno: Just Thinking
http://www.rzim.org/USA/Resources/Listen/JustThinking.aspx

Some of my favorites--
Absolute Truth in Relative Terms
Any of the Q and A sessions
The Relevance of the Trinity


Broadcast numero dos: Let My People Think
http://www.rzim.org/USA/Resources/Listen/LetMyPeopleThink.aspx

Some of my favorites--
The Top 5 Questions (If you don't listen to any others, I highly recommend this series)
A Fish out of Water
Divided Heart Divided Home

I will admit that I generally fast-forward through the commentary before and after these presentations, but there is certainly nothing wrong with them.

This is not an attempt to sneak some Jesus into your life, like some mothers who attempt to sneak cauliflower into their children's mashed potatoes... Nay. These links provide resources to some fantastic questions and equally fantastic and thought-provoking answers.

Lastly, an interesting excerpt if you choose to read it, it is long: http://www.rzim.org/GlobalElements/GFV/tabid/449/ArticleID/10100/CBModuleId/881/Default.aspx

On: Thought Provoking...

People on the streets of DC explain who they think Jesus is. Thoughts?

On: Date Night...

We are blessed with very full weeks.

At a time when some people are struggling to find work, or pay their bills, Jon is studying to become a doctor and I am working for an office that does helpful work and gives me free cookies once a week... Sometimes I forget how fantastic our situation is--usually when the hours start to feel too long, or when Jon has to study late. Admittedly, we aren't those people that have to schedule time to see each other, but the work/school week can take up a lot of our time.

At the end of each week, however, lies a beacon of hope: Date Night. I can rest assured that every Friday or Saturday night, Jon and I will go out and do something that is related to neither work, nor school. Sometimes it's as simple as grocery shopping. Sometimes it's renting a movie. Sometimes it's swinging by the book store to drink tea and read about hormonal imbalances, the economy, planning for a successful retirement, Dante's Inferno, and the best hair cuts for people with oval-shaped faces all in one sitting. Sometimes it's ice-cream. The point of date night is just to go out, have a good time, and re-charge with some quality face time. We love the Date Night.

Recently, Jon surprised me with symphony tickets--Schumann Date Night. What an incredible evening:) Lovely dinner, Peer Gynt, followed by 8+ hours of uninterrupted sleep. Beautiful.

On: Jon's 25th--Team Pagan Goes Apple Picking!

Since it's been several weeks since our last post, I'm a little overwhelmed by the amount of things to be blogged... Let's start off simply with bullets and links:)

So much has happened since our last post:

• We celebrated our first anniversary in September!
• In honor of Jon's 25th birthday, we went apple picking in the Shenandoah Valley--very beautiful.
• Jon flew to Chicago and back for a med school interview.
• November 1st marked the first day of Christmas music listening in the Pagan piazza.
  

There is certainly more to discuss, but for now, I've added a link to an album (right side of the screen) for your viewing pleasure.