The authority of Scripture

In vain were the authority of Scripture fortified by argument, or supported by the consent of the Church, or confirmed by any other helps, if unaccompanied by an assurance higher and stronger than human judgment can give.

John Calvin
Institutes of the Christian Religion
Book I Chap VIII Sect 1

Hotel Rooms

Many of you have asked what hotels are available in the area and I've told you that I'm working on getting a block of hotel rooms at a discount rate for you. Here's what's going on with that.

I have a travel agent friend who contacted the hotels and got quotes from them and I'm supposed to call her back today and tell her what I think about those quotes. The truth of the matter is that the quotes they gave her are the same as what's on the website and so it's not any sort of discount at all. So I'm going to call her back today and talk to her about it and see what can be done.

Now, given that we get that all sorted out, I need to know from all of you how many rooms you need and how many people will be in your room. Now some of you have already told given me that information, but it would be very helpful to me if you gave it to me again either in your RSVP (look in the mail this coming week for your invitations!) or in an email or by commenting here. If you are a single person willing to share a room, also please let me know--and if you know who you want to share a room with, let me know that too.

Thanks for your patience with me. I'll let you know how that conversation with my travel agent friend goes.

Back in Tulsa

It's 7:30a on Labor Day, and we are hoping to leave at about 10a. I'm waiting for the laundry to dry, then I'll take a shower, get ready, wake up Michael, pack the car, go to the grocery store and buy a loaf a bread and a box of Dr. Pepper, and hopefully head to Marion, Indiana by 10.

Hopefully.

Amy, who is one of the coolest girls I know, lives in Marion and has graciously agreed to let us crash at her place.

Then from Marion, we'll be on to Vineland and on to whatever comes next.

Our Rabbi Friend

This is a hilarious story and I wanted to share it with everyone. (Mom, I hope you don't mind!)

So my mom gives one of our a uncles a ride to work sometimes, and he works at a kosher chicken processing plant. Because it's kosher, there's a rabbi who overseas their process to make sure that they don't cut corners and he signs of on it being kosher food. Well, this particular rabbi doesn't drive and likes to smoke. And my mom saw over the course of several weeks that every Tuesday this Rabbi walked alone from the plant to a convinience store a certain distance away. Being the kind and generous person she has always been, she decided one day to stop and offer the man a ride. And he accepted. The next Tuesday he flagged her down. Then he started waiting for her. And now, every Tuesday, she gives him a ride to that convenience store, where he buys a pack of smokes and goes on his way.

Yesterday, Michael emailed my mom (because they do that a lot) and asked about the Rabbi. This was my mom's reply:

Indeed I gave the Rabbi a ride today. I gave him a ride last Tuesday for the first time after not seeing him for several weeks and it was funny...He spotted me very close to the plant parking lot, I stopped, he got in the car quicker than usual and before he finished buckling the seatbelt he said "you can go", I did not move, so he buckled nervously and said "go". As I was driving away I noticed that under the trees on the side of the parking lot there was another Rabbi observing us with a very stern look...and I thought maybe the Rabbi friend would be reprimanded and wouldn't ask for rides anymore...but no...he was there today again.

If I were a more dedicated writer, I would write a book called Our Rabbi Friend and it would tell about what happens between Tuesdays at the plant parking lot.

The Southwestern Tour

I'm in Lubbock, TX right now, home of Buddy Holly, Texas Tech, and One Guy From Italy. Can't say I ever thought my life would play out in such a way that I'd have family in Lubbock, but then again, I also never thought I'd go to New Jersey or Iowa or China.

Anyway, we're doing our southwestern tour: Tulsa-> Lubbock-> Abilene-> Brownwood-> Willis-> Longview-> Oklahoma City-> Tulsa. Then from Tulsa, we'll be on our Appalachian Tour, which really just means we'll be driving home to New Jersey.

Hopefully we'll be in Jersey by September 10th, which also happens to be my birthday.

Also, today is our one year anniversary. We'll be spending it with Granny. :)

It's good to have friends and family all over the world. I like it.

Save the Date

So we're getting married. And we're going to post a lot of stuff here about the wedding. Here's some basic info:

Oct 17, 2009 is the day. We'll start at 3:30pm at Covenant Orthodox Presbyterian Church (1029 E. Landis Ave., Vineland, NJ, 08360)

The airport to fly into is Philadelphia International Airport (PHL). We are working on arranging transportation from and to Philly. If you want to rent a car for the weekend, you can find more information here.

You can also consider flying into the Newark Airport (EWR), but it is farther away and even less traveler friendly than the Philly Airport.

We're also working on reserving a block of hotel rooms at a discount rate. If you are interested in being a part of that, let us know so we can include you in the number. When we have the rate information, we will pass that along to you.

I am sure that there will be lots of questions about lots of things. We'll try to keep you posted here, and feel free to leave comments if you we haven't addressed something.

Thanks for being a part of our story!

The Day I Met Michael

We'd flown in that morning, and I'd taken a moment to read my email. Laura had sent one saying, "You should meet a guy named Peeps and totally fall in love with him." I laughed, and dismissed it.

And that afternoon, after I got back from watching Chocolate--a strange and wonderful Thai boxing movie--we got back to the hotel and ran into a guy named Michael. Ross, who'd met him before, introduced him to us and we went into the hotel and he headed off to wherever he was going.

I saw him in the hotel dining room the next morning at breakfast, and in the lobby later, and in the elevator. The elevator was one of those mirrored boxes where if you're riding with a stranger, you have no where to look except at the little display that tells you the floor numbers. And once, I rode that elevator with Michael, and as I watched the floor numbers change, I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be funny if Michael were Peeps?"

And on Friday, we went and had lunch at Sojo's or whatever that really awesome western food restaurant is called. And Michael was in there, and we asked him to come sit with us and we spent a lovely lunch all of talking and laughing.

Than Dan turns to Michael and says, "Hey, Mike--wait, do you go by Mike or by Michael?" And Michael replied, "Actually everyone calls me Peeps."

I was eating a delicious pulled pork sandwich at that moment and proceeded to choke. Peeps. The one Laura told me to fall in love with. The one I'd been checking out in the elevator. "Just eat your sandwich, Elena. Just eat your sandwich and don't be stupid."

And just then, Michael/Peeps says, "I think linguists are really fascinating people," and I choke a little more and my friend Matt says to Michael/Peeps, "You should talk to Elena then, because that's all she ever talks about it and we don't want to hear it anymore."

Michael and I did eventually talk, and then he started emailing, and then he started texting, and then calling, until finally he got on a plane and came to Philly and asked me to marry him. And I said yes.