I'd like to highlight a few events during my visit to Kansas.

Fishing - Beautiful Beaver Lake was situated adjacent to the town of Rogers - the birthplace of a chain of small, quaint hometown grocery stores known as Wal-Mart. The Wal-Marts were more plentiful than the bass on this trip, though.

Thanksgiving -

I had made a batch of spicy green curry and rice for dinner Wednesday evening. Kindel managed to get most of a whole bowl down. After a bowl and a half, I could barely take the heat. A few minutes later, I opted for yet another bowl of fire. Green curry has a wonderful taste, but a nasty bite. The rest of my family decided to heat up leftover spaghetti. I can't blame them.

That was Wednesday. Thursday, my stomach was tumultuous. The well-hyped Thanksgiving meal tasted wonderful, but the Asian curry decided that it was time to take on the traditional American food in mortal combat. By the end of the night, the kung fu fighting curry had been beaten down with a good ol' 'merican butt whoopin' turkey sandwich.

As my mother noted in her last comment, Kindel fit in really well with the whole family. Her joyful disposition and openness was a blessing to everyone there, especially me. She made the time I spent with my family very enjoyable.

Friday - My sister and brother-in-law hosted my dad and step mom, along with Kindel and I, for very nice lasagna dinner. Michelle's hospitality and growing patience toward me are both things to marvel at. I can't thank her and Mike enough for all they did for Kindel and I this week.

Saturday -

Hours of travel from Kansas City to Wichita - 6
Number of Bedores in a tiny house - 40
Amount of food needed to feed this mass of people - a ton
Kindel schooling my family in cards - priceless!

And a notable exchange during Saturday's Bedore Thanksgiving:
J: "Be quiet out there, we're trying to listen to the game in here!"
D: "The television's on mute."
J" "I can hear it."

Sunday - Kindel and I had a pleasant ride back to Kansas. Much thanks to God that her and I enjoyed all of our time with each other in the last 136 hours. When do we get to do it again? In two and a half weeks, with the Kramer family! It's gonna rock!

For all my homies in Cap-City

I'll be driving to Kansas on Friday and staying with my pops through Sunday. My dad, stepbrother, and myself are going fishing in Arkansas on Saturday. Hopefully, we'll catch some delicious bass.

Sunday evening I plan to drive into Topeka. I'll be doing work on Washburn's campus most of Monday - stuff like finishing graduate school applications, entering data for research, etc. Maybe I'll see some of you there!

Kindel arrives in Kansas City half past noon on Tuesday, upon which, I'll pick her up and then head back to Topeka. Her and I will hang around through Friday to visit with family and friends. Then we're off to KC to chill with the rest of my family until Kindel and I leave for IL on Sunday.

CUOP

It has been a happy and busy few weeks.

Two weeks ago I gave a couple of lectures in the Chemistry class I TA. The time demand for preparing lectures is quite high, but I learned a ton about adsorption phenomena. Prior to a lecture I'm usually a little nervous, but it seems that as soon as I introduce our material that my confidence increases and the rest of the lecture flies by. I presented a few examples of adsorption theory as it is used in the research literature and the students responded positively. Some even commented on how interesting the studies were! I sure didn't expect that.

And, last week I gave presentation covering my preliminary research results. Although I initially didn't think my results were all that impressive, my group thought differently. There always seems to be so much more work that I can do, but having this lecture really forced me to spend some time looking at the data I've already collected. The comments I've gotten on my results have been really encouraging.

I'm also nearly complete with the applications to a few PhD programs. While this is an expensive process, I'm hopeful that the response to my applications will help me make a decision as to what/where to study. I'm pretty sure that I've told a number of you not to let me apply to schools where their average winter temp is less than the average in central IL. Well, I'm pretty sure I'm violating that rule, although some have informed me that the East coast is generally a little warmer.

Thursday of this week I'm headed to Louisville for a medical missions conference. Because my mind has been busy with other things, I don't really have any expectations for the conference. That said, I am looking forward to relaxing my body and brain for a few days, as well as hanging out with people that aren't in academics.

Lastly, and very important, tommorrow marks the one month anniversary of Kindel and my's dating relationship. Our time spent talking, laughing, and praying together has been some of the most enjoyable of my life. I look forward to another month of it - especially with all of the family visits ahead! Thank you for your faithful prayers and wisdom-filled encouragement.

Blog to ya later.
btw - CUOP = Coarse Update On Paul

Troops

The excerpt below from the NY Times article Medic Aids Fallen Marine With Skill and a Prayer was posted for a few reasons.

1) It just reminded me of how little I pray for our troops. The question posed to the reporter is one that I could hear the soldier asking me: "Do you pray? Do that. I'd appreciate it."

2) The images of blood and death are commonly found in the Bible and remind us that we all will perish according to plans of our Providential Sustainer. There is no such thing as an untimely death in God's eyes, so do not fear those that hurt your body, but fear Him who judges impartially according to each man's works.

3) How far will we go to protect the innocent and administer God's Kingdom of peace and righteousness on the Earth? I recently read an article in the times about child slavery in Africa. I've drafted a post asking the question "How does the doctrine of 'Justification by Faith Alone' impact the Christian's life, such that they're encouraged to get involved with this issue?" I am personally convicted that I fall so short of any sincere, deep desire to speak up or dedicate time such issues. Thus I feel inadequate to publish the drafted blog post. The Medic article is convicting as well.

Anyway, here's my original post from this morning - that which was written before I penned my thoughts, above...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He looked at the reporter beside him. “Do you pray?” he asked. “Do that. I’d appreciate it.” ...

He sat quietly again. A few minutes passed. “The first casualty we had here — his name was James Hirlston — he was his good friend.”

“Hirlston got shot in the head, too,” he said.

He said something about Iraqi snipers that could not be printed here.

Then he was back to the subject of Lance Corporal Smith.

“I really thank God that he was breathing when I got to him, because it means that I can do something with him,” he said. “It helps. People ask you, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing?’ It helps, because if he’s breathing, you’re doing something.”

...

He paused. “Smith is my friend.”

He looked at his bloody hands. “You got some water?” he said. “I want some water. I just want to wash my wedding band.”

“Thou shall not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day,” said the big marine, Lance Cpl. Daniel B. Nicholson. “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”

“Help us Lord,” he said. “We need your help. It’s the only way we’re going to get through this.”

From Medic Aids Fallen Marine With Skill and a Prayer (NY Times)