it has been a long time.

last time i wrote, i was about to begin my new job. now, i have worked there for more than three months, and i really like it. i work with three very nice women. sometimes, i feel like we could be "The Golden Girls" or "The View" or something, because we are all very alike and simultaneously very different. the job has been quite a learning experience. it is so different from anything i have ever done. but it works out so well for me, because the hours are flexible, and i never take work home with me, and i am off nights and weekends so that sometimes i get to see my husband, which is nice.

married life is better than i ever thought it would be. nick is amazing. he loves me more every day, and he is so good at letting me know it. and although i love him more every day too, i am horrible at letting him know how much he is appreciated (...unless he can translate my over-the-top ocd rants to genuine love and affection...) it is still sometimes hard to believe that we are here together, but we are. obviously, we have our moments, but they are few and far between. it has been an amazing journey. we are great.

as for nick's job. well, they have had a less than stellar season overall. there have been some big plays and stellar moments, and every week they look better, but it has been tough. they are 2-6 with two games left.

besides that, there is not much else to report...oh wait, unless you count the fact that Nick and i are expecting our first baby on June 28. we are so excited and feel so blessed. Nick was inspired by some parents we saw on "Oprah" to start a baby blog, so we did. i have to share the best story. when we found out i was pregnant, i couldn't wait to tell my 4-year-old nephew, Nathan. he has two younger siblings, so i knew he would get the idea, and he always has the best "excited" reactions. so i called, and asked to speak with him. he got on the phone, and i told him that we were going to have a baby, and i asked if he thought it should be a boy or a girl. he said that it should be a boy. then, i asked him, if it is a boy, what should we name him? he thought about it for a very long time, so long, in fact, that i told him he could think about it and tell me later. he said no, thought about it for another minute and said proudly and enthusiastically, "You should call him 'hamster.'" so, we do. how can you argue with a four-year-old who is that cute? you can't.

ok, so we will try to do better than we have to keep you filled in.

Good Morning

It is Monday August 18th About 7:10 am. Trace is getting ready for work and I am watching Sports Ccenter. We believe we have found a Church I think that suits us both. We have into the habit of waking up early and doing devotions together, and today she woke me to a great cup of coffee wow. I am seeing everyday why I love her more and more. Next week we start the next crazy chapter in our life the first football season together. I know god broought Trace into my life and I am truly amazed everyday by her and her ability to deal with me, and I know she will rise to the occasion dealing with me and 45 other guys when they report next Sunday. I ask that you continue to pray for us, while we start this next challenge.

last day of freedom

this is it.

today is my last day of freedom.

i know, some of you might say my last day of freedom was May 30, the day before i married Nick, but, with all due respect, you would be wrong. my last day of freedom is today. it has been a good run though. this whole housewife thing is fun...cooking, organizing, cleaning, organizing, cleaning, cooking. i could get used to it. my ocd tendencies lend themselves to the cooking, cleaning and organizing thing. but, truth be told, i am BORED!!! it is crazy. i think i have alphabetized and color-coded everything in the house, and, even with 100+ DiSH Network channels, there is NOTHING on tv. indoors, i have resorted to coloring pages and reading books. not such bad past times. outside, the number of mosquitos in Lindsborg, Kan., is easily 1000 times the population. between that, the number of environmental allergies i have, and the heat, the outside holds little appeal. so i am thankful for my shiny, new 40-hour a week, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., job. i think it will be the perfect combination of completely challenging, and completely not-so much. i will be a scheduler at a pediatric home health care provider. i will work 25-minutes away in Salina. and although i am not looking forward to the drive every day (especially with winter lurking around the corner), the office is near downtown, and downtown Salina is pretty cool. 'full of culture, and food, and fun stuff to do, so there is an upside. three other women work in the office, which is one branch of, I think, a dozen or so in a tri-state area. it should be fun.

in the meantime, i still have frames that await photographs, and a camera (with charged batteries) ready to capture the picturesque town known as Little Sweden. those pics and pics of our home will be posted shortly (like in the next month or so). i am also planning to take a Spanish class and maybe even guitar lessons. it is a lot to look forward to.

i would say football starts Aug. 24, but i am learning that football doesn't really end. instead, i will say players report on Aug. 24, and the Swedes first game is on Sept 13 at home on the new turf field against McPherson. i am totally looking forward to the season. i love seeing Nick in his element. he is just so at home on the field. it fills me with love and joy and pride to watch him do his thing.

anyway, wish me luck.

in memoriam

"We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer, comfort, peace, hope and serenity. (R)"

from http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/index.php

so, those of you who know me, know that i am a crier. i am sentimental and basically a big, ole softy. that being said, imagine my surprise, when on our way to Hannah's 10th birthday party, Nick says, "hey, I have never been to the Oklahoma City Memorial. You wanna go there tomorrow?" i almost burst into tears at the mere suggestion.

i mean, i can remember like it was yesterday when i first moved to Dallas and inadvertently happened upon "the grassy knoll." i lost it. i had to pull the car over. i had no idea i was anywhere near that part of town, but, as i approached the curve, i could feel in my spirit the contradiction that something gravely important had occurred there coupled with the sort of quiet hope that overwhelms in these somber places . i remember choosing not to visit any of the memorials or historic places surrounding the murder of JFK. until of course, i had an out-of-town guest who insisted on touring the book depository. being the good hostess that i am, i obliged. sadly, the weekend we went was a week after JFK, jr. died in a plane crash. emotions were high. i was nearly paralyzed by it. i couldn't move through the exhibit, i could barely look at those who did.

i only remember feeling that way once before. in college, i was a summer resident for high school students in the Upward Bound program, and we took the group to Santa Fe. one of the missions we toured had a mannequin dressed as Jesus covered in blood and placed in a coffin. i burst into tears and left the room. i was completely overwhelmed. i obviously knew what was being represented; obviously, i knew it was just that--a representation, but it did not matter. i melted.

since then, however, i have had that feeling twice. once the weekend of my 30th birthday in New York City. you know where this is going. my friends and i had just finished brunch, and we began walking aimlessly through the city. i remember seeing some big 9-11 memorialish mural on the side of a building, but, for some reason, it still didn't hit me that our walk was taking us directly to the site where twin towers once stood. i think seeing this hit me particularly hard because it was recent history. looking back, i can remember the same eerie silence i experienced in Dallas slowly engulfing us. at the time, i didn't recognize it until it was too late.

the second time was in Oklahoma City last weekend. after Nick mentioned going to the memorial, i got really quiet. i explained to him my hesitation, but i said if he wanted to go, we could. i just told him that i needed to know now if that was the plan, so i could try to prepare emotionally. he wanted to go, so i tried to prepare.

as we approached, my mind was more on reading directions and finding our way than on the gravity of what we were about to see. i intentionally did not even look at the site until we were going in, but as i placed the last coin in the parking meter, and began to turn around, the eerie silence returned. from across the street, i could see the survivor's tree, and i remembered that on April 19, 2005, i walked into the newsroom to prepare for that night's broadcast, after a morning full of classes, and listening in disbelief as the news director recounted the events of the day. slowly and silently Nick and i approached the 9:01 gate, and he took my hand. we walked toward the right and over to the tree. slowly, we worked our way around the memorial counter-clockwise, stopping to read every marker. i prayed at each stop. i prayed for those who died, for their families, for those who lived, for the United States, for its people and its government; i prayed for myself and for Nick and for our future children and i prayed the love of Christ would change the world. i took no pictures, it seemed irreverant.

i think part of what makes it so hard for me is that i don't want to minimize what happened there. i want to be respectful of those who died and their families, as well as to those who survived and live everyday with the memories of the tragedy. part of what makes it hard is that standing there, i recognized that i am part of something so much bigger than myself; i feel so small. and in that same moment of recognition, i feel so hopeful and powerful--like i could actually make a difference in this world. it is the cognitive dissonance of feeling proud to live in a free country that seems to come together in times of trouble, and being completely annoyed by the fact that we (Americans) think we have it all, and know it all, and should tell everyone else how to be as great as we are. it is the irony that in this free country, acts of devisiveness and derision seem to outnumber acts of kindness and generosity. sometimes i wonder who we think we are. obviously i am thankful to live here--where i can live relatively safely; where i can have children, and they can attend school relatively cost-free; where i do not have to wory about militia raping me, stealing my children and selling them into slavery, or mutilizing my female parts. obviously, i believe in the foundations upon which this country was built. i guess i just wish the nationalism of America looked more like quiet confidence reaching out than arrogant conceit demanding people do things our way.

wow, i surely did not intend for this blog to be a political rant. i apologize for that. what i intended was to encourage you (and me) to seek kindness and peace and love. what i intended was to encourage us all not only to seek those things but to be those things to others. what i intended was to encourage you to visit the memorial; it is truly a beautiful place of hope and peace. i am glad i went.

MY TURN

Well, it is about a 10:15 Sat. night and we are ending month number two together. Well, things are good, and, yes, the house no longer looks like a single football coach's house. It actually looks like home. Gone from the living room are my "Legends of the NFL" poster and pictures and posters of my past; up are picture of my future. Gone is the 19-inch TV; up is the 40+-inch big flat screen. Gone is the one channel; we now have 100s including the NFL network in HD. It might be the death of me.

Trace has been amazing and very patient in the re-education of Nick. I am learning slowly, but it is coming. To have someone to come home to-- to have a reason to get out of the office -- has been better than I imagined. I am still a workaholic, but a lot of work seems to be happening at home to at the very least be near her.

We made our first trip out of Kansas to OKC to see the Jensens last week for Hannah's birthday. We stopped to see the Memorial in OKC. If you have the opportunity, I encourage you to see it. We stopped by POPS, which I think will be a regular stop for us.

I still have not gotten used to waking up and seeing these two eys staring at me. Yes, Pico enjoys climbing up and cuddling with me. Trace usually gives her typical Trace laugh. Ludy and I enjoy our occasional fight. It is nice that they are declawed; otherwise, we would have issues.

If you have not seen the TV show "Greatest American Dog," I encourage you to see it. After seeing it we have decided that an English bulldog is in our future; Tillman is a stud.

On the church side, we still have not found a home. We attended the home church for Kansas Wesleyan, the sworn enemy of Bethany College. We will be attending another church here in town tommorrow. We will see.

I don't know how often I will write, but, if you are curious about the re-education of Nick, please feel free to ask.

new beginnings -- july 2008

Nick and I have been married a little over a month now, and things have been great. Things are finally settling down, and "Nick's house" is starting to feel like "our home." One thing is for sure, it did not take too long for "Nick's house" to go from looking like a 31-year old, single, football coach's house to looking like "our home"--if only I had thought to take "before pictures." All we need now is cable --coming Saturday--currently we get CBS; a bed (still using the air mattress); and to put wedding photos into their frames. 'All in due time.

My parents came to visit for the Fourth; it was fun. We shopped, ate and drove (a trip down memory lane to Sterling, where my brother David and Nick went to college). We found that downtown Salina has a lot to offer in the way of culture including many great food joints, an independent movie theatre, another theatre that shows classic movies, and a paint-your-own pottery shop called "On the Pot."

Currently, Nick is at the college working on playbook revisions, video editting and practice schedules. He assures me that putting in all of this time now will save time later. Either way is fine. I am taking a break from the online job hunt to type this blog.

SIDEBAR: I abhor the job hunt. It is the worst. Although I do have a few options.

One of Nick's former coaches asked Nick what he liked best about being married, and Nick said the food. That was a good answer, considering the thing I have like best about being married is the cooking. I have made the following dishes thus far:

• applesauce pork tenderloin
• currant glazed pork chops
• ground beef oriental
• spaghetti (x2)
• ground beef and rice
• taco salad
• peach pork chops with stuffing
• baked fried chicken (with Cheezits)
• brats (regular and a pineapple bacon kind we found at Sam's)
• burgers
• brown butter, sun -dried tomato ravioli (I also put the same sauce on chicken)
• seven-layer bars
• cookies (o.k. they were from the freezer section...whatever)
• german chocolate cake
• chocolate pudding cake
• muffins (a variety)
• cherry chicken
• Outback Steakhouse macaroni and cheese
• corn pudding (Nanci Dettra's recipe)

That is all I can remember, although I am sure there were others. After about two weeks here, I made Nick rank order them. It has been fun to try new things. Nick is easy to please in the food arena.

Other than that we have seen a couple of good movies, watched the entire season of "Playmakers," two seasons of "Friday Night Lights," and several random episodes of "Dawson's Creek."

That is all for now. I will post photos of Lindsborg and our home soon.

Until then, here is the most recent entry from our wedding website (www.nickandtrace.com); it chronicles the honeymoon and move...

since 05-31-08 from www.nickandtrace.com

first of all, we have to thank all of you for your blessings, prayers and support. God has truly blessed us with this new journey, with all of the moments --big and small-- that brought us to this place, and with such faithful and generous friends. thank you! as for the update we are now, officially, the Taylors. it is still so strange to me; when i introduce myself to people, i stumble and pause before i can get the word "taylor" out of my mouth.

our time together since the wedding has been a whirlwind. saturday afternoon, we
checked into the beautiful (and historic) Port D'Hiver bed and breakfast on Melbourne Beach. after opening generous gifts and reading through cards, we headed back down to the Saturn Condominums for a cookout and to watch the shuttle launch. good times.

sunday morning we enjoyed a lovely breakfast on the veranda before checking out and going to my house to repack for our cruise. around noon we headed for the port and took off for our four-day Carnival (tm) cruise to the Bahamas (Freeport and Nassau). it was fun. i slept a lot, which Nick was none to happy about, as he wanted to take advantage of every possible acitivity the ship had to offer. not me, i was tired. it was fun though in Nassau we swam with stingrays--Nick was all about the adventure and I was scared to DEATH!!! but it was worth it...after an incredibly long debarkation process, we headed back to cocoa, picked up a truck and trailer, and got to it. I had to go to work, so I called a couple of kids and coach scott to help Nick put all of my (and our ... wedding gifts) into the truck. by that night around 8 p.m. it was all done except one load of laundry and what we needed for the road...oh, that and the cats.

so friday morning about 10 a.m., we got into the 16-foot Penske truck with the Breeze safely loaded onto the trailer, prayed and were off on our three-day journey home. we could not even conquer Florida on day one. we, and by we i mean Nick, drove until it was dark, but after dark it was just too hard, so we stopped.

saturday was a treat (sarcasm). i decided i was brave enough to drive the monster just before we had to cross the Mississippi River Bridge somewhere in Louisiana. WHATEVER. it was really scary, but i did it without vomitting or wetting my pants. YAY, me!! we had hoped to make it to Dallas, but stopped just short of it because it was too dark for us to continue safely. sunday morning we started all over again. we did stop for a nice lunch with the Jensens in Oklahoma City, but I swore Lindsborg, Kan., did not exist. it felt like the finish line would never be met. THANK GOD, however, by about 8 p.m. sunday night we were home. we unloaded heavy stuff first because we had help.

monday, we cleaned and unpacked. which we are still in the process of little by little every day. there are still a few things we need, and each of us is purging a little bit...but we will get there.

currently, nick is at work and i should be doing resumes and cover letters as i type, but updating you all sounded much more fun. so pray that we can make it through this transition gracefully and that i will find the perfect job at the perfect time.