it’s not about you

So can I just say, THANK GOD 2005 is almost over! This has not been the best of years, for many people. The end of last year and the beginning of this saw the tsunami and the loss of unfathomalbe amounts or lives and areas.

January was a stresser due to some unforeseen yet preventable factors affecting Joshua’s business. February saw us get screwed by the non-profit we had worked for for the past two years. The result of that in March was that our budget was cut by one-third. In April, my dad had bypass surgery in Illinois and my brother and sister and I found ourselves visiting Urbana-Champaign facing one of our worst fears (praise God everything went well and Dad is back better than ever).

In May, Judah turned two, my sister got married and Judah was a flower girl for the first time. The air conditioning on the Honda went out — the cost to fix it would have been $1500, so we said no. In June, we had a crisis erupt among friends resutling in us taking someone in for three weeks. We also were forced to move out of our apartment due to finances (see February and March). In July, we celebrated our third anniversary while Judah was at Nana and Papa’s - away for the first time for a whole weekend. Mopsy died that week and my grandmother died a few weeks later. August, we decided to pay of four debt in six months and move to San Francisco, and we celebrated Joshua’s 27th birthday. The GUlf Coast experienced the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The storm affected me, having lived in Biloxi for the better part of a year and hearing what had happened in that area.

In September we celebrated my birthday by taking Joshua’s parents up on an offer to go to Galveston for Labor Day weekend to relieve the stress of the last few months. On the way down we had a close call when a tire on the tracker blew out, sending us spinning on two wheels across two lanes, the shoulder, the median, and the access road, to come to a stop facing traffic, upright, and with only one bruise as an injury. After that, we had a good time full of sand castles, sun, margaritas and visiting with our good friend Adam. In September, Rita struck the Gulf Coast again.

In October, we went to Houston for Doxology, and to Glorieta for the Emergent Gathering. Judah and I went camping with LGBC. My dad started dating Patti. An earthquake struck Pakistan, killing 70,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless and facing the winter. Judah was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz for Halloween and I went as Holy Shit, complete with all brown getup and makeup, a halo and wings. The Honda died and we sold it to a mechanic for $500.

In November, we celebrated Thanksgiving with Joshua’s family at his aunt and uncle’s lakehouse. In December, we celebrated my Dad’s birthday, found out we were pregnant, welcomed Jacob into the world, and had Christmas with my family.

Judah’s become a greater joy each day we spend with her. Our friends grow more precious to us and we realize how close they will stick with us through it all as well. We’ve had some really shitty things happen where it seemed like it would never end, causing me to wonder just what exactly God wanted from me, but the year has ended on a more positive note than I thought.

I still have to say that 2006 is highly anticipated in the Rudd household.

Stay safe out there tonight, kids. Avoid the freeways like the plague - that’s where all the drunk drivers are.

We’re teaching Judah to say this word anytime we see a Hummer. So far, so good.

Thought you might want to know.

The New York Times article on Graz removing Schwarzenegger’s name from their stadium, and the San Francisco Chronicle article.

I like the Times. I like the reporting, the writing, the issues the newspaper brings to light. But i don’t like the editorializing in journalistic articles. It happens way too much. Just cause they’re the NYT doesn’t mean they’re above journalistic standards. Their story was too incendiary.

My nephew, Jacob Ender Treadwell, was brought into the world yesterday at 1:09 p.m. He weighed 7 pounds, 15 and a half ounces, and was 20 inches long. And he’s so beautiful! Proud dad and mom, my brother and his wife, Kyle and Lacey, are now PARENTS. That’s the best Christmas present ever. I can’t wait til they get home from the hospital so we can hold him!

Hope you liked your freedom guys, you can kiss it goodbye, cause it’s GONE.

“There’s just something special about the Rudds”, is the statement most commonly heard at their concerts and then finished by “it’s the anointing.”

Just so you know. There’s no relation. As far as I know.

What IS it with Highland Parkers? Yet another example of the whiny, self-absorbed, entitled community. Good Lord.

First it was whining cause they couldn’t get tickets to a football game because their neighbors were hoarding them. Now they’re complaining because they can’t run six abreast in the middle of the street without being askied by police officers to get on the sidewalk, where they’re supposed to be. Seriously people, take up a cause worth fighting. It’s like dooce said about all the Mormons in Salt Lake City, “I just want all of you to know that I would never hit a Mormon with my car. Never. Not without honking first.”

I kinda feel the same way about these people.

I gave my boss my notice today. This may come as a shock to you, I don’t know. I didn’t give a two-week notice - that might have given her a heart attack. I gave a two-month notice. This way I have plenty of time to train someone to take my job (namely, Sarah, our front office girl) and help find someone to take Sarah’s job so she can train her.

I was really nervous about the whole process, partly because it makes our plans real (if we were staying in Dallas, I would not be quitting my job) and partly because I didn’t know how my boss would respond. She took it pretty well. I think she’s still in shock over the news that we’re moving, but that’s understandable - sometimes I’m still in shock over it, too. My last day will by Friday, February 17, 2006. It’s kind of crazy. I can’t believe I just did that.

This means we’re really going. YAY!

Haven’t been able to bring myself to blog lately. I haven’t found anything worth blogging about. Even many of my conversations with people have been found wanting. Let me think of some cool things…

We paid off Joshua’s student loan last week. I can’t tell you how good that feels. It looks like the credit card will be paid off in January.

Shot Kyle and Lacey’s pregnancy photos Monday night. They came out really well. We had originally scheduled for last Thursday, but the weather was so bad we pushed it back. I was so afraid she was going to have the baby before we could do the shoot. They can now have Jacob whenever, that their pictures are done.

I’ve been listening to 103.7, which has been playing only Christmas music pretty much non-stop since Thanksgiving. I’m definitely int he Christmas mood. Judah’s been loving it - she keeps wanting to “dancings music.”

Speaking of Judah, she’s getting really good at puzzles. We’ve got some from when I was a kid where you have to put the whole picture together, instead of matching the pieces to their place on the board, and she knows exactly what to do. I think she’s memorized where all the pieces go. It’s amazing that little kids have that kind of capacity for memorization.

I’m debating whether or not to put up the tree. I think I just might do it anyway, even if it takes up half the room in our apartment. Wanna help?

Okay, that’s all I got.

What a bunch of whiners. I mean, seriously.