la chica gozosa

2007-01-02T16:50:00.000-05:00

new year, new things. new blog here. update your links. thanks, dear ones!

2006-12-30T23:25:00.000-05:00

apparently, vacation hasn't been very conducive for blogging. i've either had too much observing the holidays or relaxing to actually write, although i've thought about it a lot. some bullet points: ...our early christmas in indiana with my parents was relaxing and peaceful - a good way to ease into the holidays. daniel played with my parents' sheep, mom made my favorite baked goods - raisin-filled cookies and moon pies (the apple kind, not marshmallow), we had some good time with old friends at a lovely wedding. ...christmas eve was spent with the fox family and christmas day with the otterbein family. i have to say that i married into a great set of in-laws - good conversation, good food, generous gifts and the ability to just relax. that's hard to beat. ...wednesday night we had dinner with patti, scott, fisher, tate and lara. they're fabulous hosts! ...thursday night nikki and zach came over for dinner. they're fantastic guests! they also didn't complain about being coerced into learning how to play dutch blitz. ...friday i girl time with sharon, and friday night brought some good karaoke with good people. today i got to know carol better at the new mennonite coffee shop in plain city - great coversation that was well worth the drive... ...so, thanks for bearing with all of the name-dropping, dearies! in short, it's been so nice to have time to breathe, and to get to know some truly lovely people better this week. i don't go back to work until tuesday, which is fine - i'm not eager for it, but i'm not dreading it, either, so i'm thinking that's a good sign... finally, dare you think i spend all of my time socializing, it's time for book recommendations again. leave those comments! also, is anyone else thinking they may have a hard time choosing between obama and edwards for the secular leader of the free world? happy new year's eve eve...

2006-12-26T19:12:00.000-05:00

i got a new phone for christmas, but the problem is that i forgot to save my phone numbers from my old phone when i switched the card. so please email me your number at amyjoyfox at gmail dot com, or just call me. (my number is still the same) even if i called you earlier today, i need your number again. thanks, everyone!

2006-12-25T09:03:00.000-05:00

"This is the irrational season When love blooms bright and wild. Had Mary been filled with reason There'd have been no room for the child." -madeleine l'engle

2006-12-16T07:34:00.000-05:00

we're off to indiana! it's time for early christmas with my parents, and the wedding of two lovely, wonderful people who are ideal for each other. it should be a good mix of family and old friends. what could be a better way to spend a weekend? now if we can just get out the door and on the road, things will be nearly perfect. my brother has outdone himself with surprises and generosity this week, by the way. first i received two cds - over the rhine and innocence mission - and i thought he did a fantastic job with my christmas present. then i got home yesterday and found his other gift, which were the very cool keen sydney shoes that i've been wanting but were a bit much to buy for myself. thank you, dear matthew! (he'll be getting his very own birthday post next week.) ok. time to see if daniel is ready.

2006-12-06T21:25:00.000-05:00

for some reason, when i view my blog, the paragraph breaks that i put in are never there. so, please forgive me if you end up reading a great big, run-on block of text. it's wednesday evening, and after running around like mad the past six hours, i'm home alone, and it's ever so peaceful. daniel is working on the new space he got for skreened, julianna is at a bible study, and i'm savoring a drink with the pets. i just got back from spending time at a nursing home with our small group from church. it's one of only two all medicaid nursing homes in ohio, so everyone there is essentially out of places to go, and in need of long-term medical care. small groups from our church are there every week, and this week it was our turn. we sang christmas carols, lit the advent wreath, took turns around the circle sharing the best thing that has ever been given to us, and ate peppermint brownies. it's a great place, (and a kind of horrible place) but i have to admit that i have a hard time being there. throw me into a room of mentally disturbed and abused children any day and i'm just fine, but i have a hard time connecting with the residents at bryden place. tonight was ok, though. i met a lovely lady who actually called me lovely, and prayed with her to request safety for her son, who is "driving all the way from kentucky to visit me." another lady gave me a little book of stories about mother teresa. the highlight, though, was talking to a staff member who i helped in the process of gaining custody of her nieces and nephew last year. success is a relative term in my profession, but this family was, hands-down, one of my favorites. so, it was good to get a huge hug and check up on my kids... i'm going to relax some more now. g'night!

2006-11-28T20:26:00.000-05:00

this has got to be one of my favorite times of the year. i know that the holidays are often stressful, but i truly enjoy the time from my birthday to thanksgiving to christmas and new year's. thanksgiving was excellent - time with the fox and otterbein families, great food, time with good friends, complete relaxation. i realized that i haven't worked a full five day week in all of november, which is lovely. i've also been pretty productive, both at work and home - my caseload is going down, i'm not terribly behind on anything, and i've been trying to pick up little things to make our house homier. our tree is up and our carpets are clean (thanks to the generous loan of a steamer from my mother-in-law and her husband!). blaze went to the vet for the first time in years today (thanks to the help of our wonderful roommate, julianna) and she is healthy, although she has dry skin. she's had the occasional skin bump which worried me, but it turns out they're just ingrown hairs. but now she is up to date on her shots and has her tags, so i can worry a little less when she manages to escape the back yard. (seriously, she's a mischievious genius - for five years, she never dug holes, and now i can't seem to stop her no matter what we do. any ideas on how to stop it?) i've been thinking lately about what it really means to dig into building community and share our lives with others. somehow, it seemed easier before i moved to columbus. i think my life has gotten crowded with other things as i've grown older, and finding community as two people being one flesh can sometimes be a little more complicated than doing it as one person, but we want community and we need it. i think we're in a stage of figuring out how to really commit to people. it takes effort, and i've been a lazy. there are people i want to share life with, but i need to get off of my butt and start doing it, eh? really, isn't "just doing it" the key to so many things? for example, it's seems like such a simple discipline to read scripture and pray daily. when i'm doing those things, everything is so much clearer and i'm far more grounded. i know this, but still, i have such a difficult time doing it. so, discipline is another recent theme in my life. scripture, prayer, exercise, eating well, spending time with people, reading actual books, calling and writing friends. these things are lifeblood for me - why is it so hard to neglect them? my brother has invited us to consider meeting him in india or france in the spring. any thoughts on which would be a better trip? ok. time to unwind. sweet dreams!

2006-11-24T14:16:00.000-05:00

there are few things quite as attractive as a husband steam-cleaning the carpets.

2006-11-22T22:13:00.000-05:00

breathe. new york was absolutely fantastic. we stayed with dear amy rose in williamsburg (the hipster/hasidic part of brooklyn), went to free friday night at MOMA, spent some time with old and new friends at a hallowtween (between halloween and thanksgiving) party in harlem, went to a kind of goofy seminar, and played old-school arcade games. i also got to visit amy rose's church (it's rumored that sufjan stevens is a member). overall, it was a great time. yes, our feet got tired, and i kind of dragged daniel all over the city the first day, resulting in some stress, but i can't wait to go back. since then, i've been working like crazy to be caught up for another four day weekend. finally, tonight, i can breathe, and it's so, so lovely. tomorrow we get to sleep in before having a leisurely two(!) thanksgiving dinners, and then i can do whatever i please until monday. of course, what i will do is likely to involve writing a research paper and steam-cleaning the carpet, but my time is my own, and it will also include reading the books i picked up today, and watching some thursday night television... right now, i'm spending my time watching a movie with daniel and julianna. really, i have been thinking about deeper things recently, and i hope to really write about them this weekend. but, until then, have a very warm and joyful thanksgiving, dear ones!

2006-11-09T09:40:00.000-05:00

i had a great birthday, by the way - thanks for the comments, cards and calls! i think i may have confused people, though - we did not spend my birthday in new york. we had a lovely little dinner party to celebrate my, julianna's, and kevin's birthday. it was small and fun and my wonderful husband make his scrumptious sushi. all of this was after i had the day to myself in the best possible way... tonight is our flight to the big city. i'm very excited and keep counting the hours until we go to the airport. i've really only spent one day in new york before, so it's like i'm going for the first time. hooplah! hopefully we'll remember the camera so my posts can be a little more colorful next week. happy weekend!

2006-11-07T22:21:00.000-05:00

i'm still wearing my "i voted" sticker. this election is working out much better for me than the last time i voted. the nature of my career makes state and local government pressing issues, and i'm hopeful that our new governor has an understanding of mental health issues and poverty and children and families. i'm hopeful that when i quit working full-time someday, our self-employed family will have affordable health care, due to some of the changes i voted for today. i believe in separation of church and state, and i believe that my primary citizenship is in the kingdom of God as opposed to the u.s.a. i know that politics is corrupt on every level, and i've questioned at different points in my life whether i should even vote or not. but somehow, i've found myself get almost passionate about politics over the past few years. is this a good thing? what do you think?

2006-11-01T15:12:00.000-05:00

happy november, dear ones! this is a good day - long, but productive. i keep feeling like i'm getting ready for a vacation, and it makes me feel a little giddy. we were going to hand out candy last night, but instead we went to the library. does that make me a bad neighbor?

2006-10-31T14:59:00.000-05:00

today is angie's 31st birthday, and yesterday was elle's 30th. i've been blessed to know some pretty incredible women in my life, and these are two who stand out. as i was thinking of each of them, i realized that they share a lot of qualities that inspire me. both love other cultures. both actually live simply instead of just saying they will. both make it a priority to really dig into their respective communities. both aren't afraid to take risks and try new things. both listen and love well. they have their unique qualities, too, with quirky senses of humor and thinking minds... happy birthday, dear sisters!

2006-10-30T10:46:00.000-05:00

so much excitement! first, thanks for all of the comments! i love thinking about all of you going off to fun places. i think travel is one of the top things i daydream about regularly - travel and accomplishing something important enough to get interviewed on public radio... i'm only really working three days this week, and i am SO EXCITED. thursday i'm technically working, but i'm spending the day at the all-ohio counselor's conference, which means i get a goody bag and to spend the day learning cool things with my counseling friends while wearing jeans. friday is my birthday, and for the first time in years, i'm taking the day off for a three-day weekend. (i have about five weeks of vacation time to use, so i'm starting to do it bit by bit.) rumor has it that one of my best friends is coming from boston to spend it with me, and that makes it even more exciting. the following week i'm taking friday off again, for our trip to new york, which only adds to the exicitement. (especially since our plane tickets are super-cheap, and we're staying with our friend amy rose which, yes, is very exciting!) now that i've gone on and on about all of my fabulous plans, i need to get back to work, so that all of this time off doesn't spin me into chaos. happy monday!

2006-10-25T13:21:00.000-04:00

i was extremely productive this morning. now i'm trying to keep up the pace. but i love to get comments, so here's a question: if you could fly anywhere, right this minute, where would it be? i think i would go to a mexican beach. just for a few days, but that would be so lovely right now. we are going to new york city in 2 1/2 weeks - partly business, partly pleasure over a long weekend. it's not the beach, but i've never spent any real time there, so it should also be quite lovely...

2006-10-24T08:57:00.000-04:00

guten morgen, sunshines! it pays off to write a few times a day, when i get so many lovely comments - thanks, y'all! today i am determined to conquer my mountain of paperwork. i have my coffee, my music (thanks to daniel giving me his nano, which opens up a whole new world of choice that my shuffle just didn't quite allow), and my professional assessment skills ready to go. the important news is that my sister-in-law, ashley, is 21 today! happy birthday, sweetie! she is smart and kind and disciplined and fun, and i can't wait to have dinner with her tonight!

2006-10-23T12:37:00.000-04:00

could someone please explain to me the appeal of dressing up pets in halloween costumes?

2006-10-23T12:33:00.000-04:00

there are actual snow flurries today. if i were still living with my parents we would be having the discussion of whether they count as the first snow, thus warranting homemade doughnuts. what do you think?

2006-10-22T22:18:00.000-04:00

it probably isn't the best idea to wait until i'm exhausted to post. sorry about that! because, even though it's getting cold outside and things are more grey, my life really isn't all that melancholy. tonight, for example, we had a fantastic time having dinner at the lovely andersons, with the likewise fine company of the foster carlsons, and i was reminded that "apples to apples" is a fun, fun game, and i really do like to play games! in fact, i sometimes buy games at target just because they look interesting and are under five dollars, and i convince myself that of course we will learn to play them as soon as possible. which is why, this month, i have the goals of learning how to play rook and canasta. anyone? also, if you're interested in playing dutch blitz, leave a comment! daniel has become maybe the slightest bit addicted to playing chess. when we were dating and i still lived in cincinnati, we played chess on the phone with our laptops. we would tell each other where we were moving, and it was all very fun and exciting and i was thrilled to have such a smart boyfriend. now, he usually has to convince me to play him. (usually on a daily basis) i think i'm starting to get into it again, though - especially since i'm getting closer to winning sometimes. i learned this week (from an episode of the west wing) that chess was invented in india, and it became that much cooler. in other news, the pumpkin show is fun, but i'm not convinced it was worth the two hours that it took to drive 26 miles to get there. i would definitely recommend a pumpkin elephant ear, however. also, the pumpkin burgers are really just glorified sloppy joes, but they're tasty. finally, maybe the coolest part was that daniel was excited to go, and was very patient in the traffic and with me, and he was wonderfully supportive of doing something that was mostly something i was interested in doing. does that make sense? point being, daniel has been very attentive to and responsive to my needs lately, and let this be considered a great big "thank you, baby!" i should probably go to bed now. it will be a long week, but should also be extremely productive. and, when the weekend comes, i have a coffee date and a tea party on the calendar, both of which i'm really looking forward to. oh - my brother is about to go to germany and prague for ten days, on a break from iraq. if we had enough discretionary funds, i would totally be there to meet him. i guess i'll have to settle for a postcard...(are you reading this, matt?) g'night, and good luck.

2006-10-20T17:35:00.000-04:00

on monday, i got to reunify three children from two different families with their parents. on tuesday, i got caught in the middle of a very nasty custody battle that is only hurting a sweet 13 year old in a wheelchair, and i can't do a thing for him. on wednesday, i got to close out a case in court for a family that has come a long way in the past two years. yesterday and today, i've spent most of my time trying to communicate with a borderline personality, schizophrenic, bipolar woman who misinterprets everything i say, but really does love her children. so, that was my week, and now i'm exhausted and have a headache. but tomorrow we get to go to the pumpkin show!

2006-10-08T22:44:00.000-04:00

hello there, land of internet. i just wanted to check in and let you know that i haven't completely disappeared. work is very busy right now, and there's school, and church, and marriage, and attempts to spend time with people in the real world. sometime soon i would like to write about things like my first ohio state football game, our church family representing us in cambodia, thoughts on the nickel mine amish school and anabaptist stoicism, and whether or not we can go on vacation in a few weeks. for now, though, i am going to go upstairs and snuggle in our soft bed under our warm comforter and spoon my husband. sweet dreams!

2006-09-13T22:17:00.000-04:00

the sweets in india really are good.

2006-09-13T17:24:00.000-04:00

sometimes it is very difficult for me to love george w. bush with a godly, agape love. i know i'm supposed to, but what's a girl to do when i get so worked up every time i think about him, and particularly every time i hear him speak? see, i have the belief that i'm primarily a citizen of the kingdom of God over any earthly kingdom or nation, and that's a belief that keeps me from becoming too involved in earthly politics. but when it comes down to it, i am a citizen of columbus and ohio and the u.s.a., and every day at my job reinforces the incredible need for things like affordable health care for everyone and strong public education and safety for our children. and some days, like today, i just want to convince everyone to join the democratic party. maybe i'm just watching too much "west wing." maybe not. regardless, i could make a theological case for not voting at all, but this november, you'll see me at the middle school down the street voting for ted strickland. and you may see me voting for hilary rodham clinton in two years, and you'll most definitely see me vote for barack obama some day. unless, of course, you can convince me otherwise.

2006-09-06T22:07:00.000-04:00

hmm. i am very tired tonight, which is kind of odd, since we just came off of a holiday weekend and i got plenty of sleep. or maybe i'm tired because of the holiday weekend, the slow pace of it, the round of settlers of catan, all of the sushi i ate, the reading i did, the tv i watched...or maybe it's the full moon tonight? at any rate, i'm good - just tired! monday was our two year wedding anniversary. i love my daniel! last year we went to toronto to celebrate. this year, we ordered carryout from happy dragon. the general tso's chicken gave daniel some stomach trouble, and we got into a big fight earlier in the day, but that only served to remind me of how far we've come in the past two years - how much less we fight now and how much better we are at it, how much harder it gets every day to imagine my life without him in it, how well he cares for me. we like to remind each other that we both married well, and it's true. we did have a lovely pre-anniversary date on friday - dinner at estrada and going to see "the illusionist." edward norton does a fantastic job in the movie (i heart edward norton), and the whole thing was really pretty beautiful and moving. take someone you love to see it. and watch out - you just might fall for the big twist. i did. sweet dreams, dear ones!

2006-08-30T13:50:00.000-04:00

wow - all of the book suggestions make for an excellent list. for now, the winner is nikki and "the birth of venus" since it was on display at the library, and i still have to work up my courage for science fiction... now, as requested by the lovely karen, here are things i like about my neighborhood: ...the houses are big, old, beautiful and cheap ...we have everyone - straight, gay, white, black, poor, rich, criminals, the chief of police ...we can walk to franklin park ...we can walk to the main library ...we could walk to the grocery store if we really wanted to ...our next door neighbors let us know if our car lights are on ...we are right next to bexley and right next to german village ...we have dozens of community gardens ...we have yards ...we have people who are invested in making it a more beautiful place to live ...it isn't completely gentrified yet, and keeps us in touch with the real world ...we have our own taco ninja ...all of our neighbors have dogs ...the first time i drove through this neighborhood when i moved here, it was the first time i felt like columbus could become home

2006-08-30T08:28:00.000-04:00

good morning, dear ones! sometimes, i really like lists. there are so many lists i could share with you - the things i like about my neighborhood, good things about my job, cities in which i'd like to live, countries i would most like to visit, my to-do list for the day, ways to celebrate labor day weekend...i suppose all of that could be a little self-abosorbed, though. of course, most blogging is somewhat self-absorbed, so maybe i should just go with it. instead, though, i'll ask y'all for a list. i've been trying to find a good book to read before i go to bed, and i have little interest in the ones i already have. any suggestions? (i'm looking for smart fiction - nothing too dumb, but not too intense, either) i'm going to the library around lunch today. make my list for me, please! happy wednesday!

2006-08-28T16:51:00.000-04:00

in honor of receiving my new voter registration card with my updated name, and address, let my point you to the new links on the right. our neighbor.

2006-08-21T16:16:00.000-04:00

i don't have a lot of time this morning, but i've updated my links a bit on the side to give you some new reading material. freedom firm, my friends' new organization rescuing child prostitutes in india, now has their website up and running - it's still pretty basic, but go check it out! i've also added my dear husband's business, skreened, which is officially up and running today, and asia's hope, which runs our church's orphanage and does amazing work. these things are close to my heart.

2006-08-20T13:24:00.000-04:00

last night we went to the cheap movies with our little household family plus three. this is one of the funniest, most purely entertaining movies i've seen in a long time. i laughed a lot, and there is little in it to offend anyone, unless you're bothered by the occasional on-screen fart. this weekend was also our church's women's retreat. it was good - good teaching, good opportunities to talk with people i didn't know before. it also deepened my longing for more true women friends here. i have amazing sister-friends, but most of them are in other places. but how do i get to make deeper friendships here between work and school and marriage? any and all suggestions would be appreciated. (don't get me wrong - i've met some pretty incredible women. it's just hard to be patient sometimes while new friendships grow.) tomorrow a new boy starts on my team, and he'll be shadowing me for four weeks solid. it should be interesting - i like to be independent and work on my own. this will be good for me. but wish me - and him - luck!

2006-08-17T23:29:00.000-04:00

still here. it's been a long week at work - long and good, but also filled with the reality of the depth of depravity that exists in the world. tomorrow evening i leave for our church's womens' retreat. i'm glad. the poor state of fidel castro's health has increased media interest in cuba, and, in turn, my interest. i've always wanted to go there, and now i'm determined to learn as much as i can about the island. my closest brush with it was seeing it in the foggy, twilight distance from our cruise ship last year. right now i'm listening to "buena vista social club," and trying to decide if i should try to hone my spanish or my hindi. any thoughts? wherever we end up some day, i hope it's in the tropics and by the sea. it's bed time. sweet dreams.

2006-08-10T16:01:00.000-04:00

so i thought that a break from school would give me lots of time to blog. however, it seems that it's easy to fill up my time with other fun things, such as... ...serving dinner at the family homeless shelter with my home group and finding one of my old families living there. ...having dinner and playing settlers of catan with my high school english teacher and his lovely wife. ...giving the dog a bath after she escaped from the backyard and came home smelling grosser than pretty much anything i've ever smelled. ...trying in vain to find the spot from which the dog escaped. ...making an educated guess - based on the flattened plants - that she actually scooched herself under the fence - the very same fence that has contained her for the past year and a half. ...watching an entire season of a sitcom that i never cared about before. ...reading a christian novel that is not written and exposes the evils of the gaming industry and virtual reality. (i know, i know!) ...planning a trip to my FIRST-EVER OHIO STATE FAIR with my team at work. ...changing my name. ...obtaining financial aid for this semester. ...making the best barbeque tofu pizza ever for our household dinner night. ...spending time with my dear husband, who is on the verge of making this business really work. that is all.

2006-08-04T19:04:00.000-04:00

after exactly one year and eleven months of marriage, i've finally taken the steps necessary to change my name legally. now i really am amy joy eversole fox or, more simply "amy fox," which just may be one of the shortest names in the english language. also, i am officially on summer vacation. hooplah! finally, there are a lot of thoughts in my head and heart about things like being mennonite, the concept of home, etc. but for now, i'm going to go play with my husband. happy weekend!

2006-07-27T18:41:00.000-04:00

last night we had our best little dinner party ever. our household plus three celebrated daniel's birthday with amazing sushi that he mostly made himself. julianna (our wonderful, kind emotionally balanced housemate) stated it well when she said, "i don't know if i'm at home or at haiku." really, it was that good. after dinner, we took a little walk around our neighborhood, which is increasingly about the only place i would want to live in columbus. julianna showed us the community garden a block from our house, and we tasted all of the herbs that were growing there. did you know that tarragon tastes like anise and makes your tongue numb? in other news, i've been extremely stressed out this week - 15 page paper, emergency placements at work, etc. the cool thing, though, is that we finally found my girl who ran away when she was 13 (she turned 14 last month) after she was missing for four months, and she's finally in a safe place. i got to spend most of my day with her yesterday, and although it added to my chaos, it's one of those things that reminds me why i have such a hard time thinking of leaving this job. there has been a lot of talk of orphans at our church lately - we've started our very own orphanage in cambodia with asia's hope, and it's very, very exciting. but yesterday reminded me that it's ok that i'm not actually across the ocean at our orphanage in person, because i have my very own orphans here in columbus who need me. this girl is a true orphan - her mother and little brother died in a house fire, and her father died of cancer. she has no relatives left to take her because she has a lot of emotional and behavioral issues (as pretty much any 14 year old in her situation would.) i've been with her through five homes. it's strange to think that i'm one of the only constants in one girl's life. that's not a reflection of my goodness or anything, but a reflection of how powerful this job can be at times... anyway, i have the day off tomorrow. hooplah! my parents are coming to town for the annual meeting of the conservative mennonite conference. i grew up spending a lot of weekends at "conference," and this week has really had me thinking about my identity as a mennonite. the lovely erica wrote earlier this week about being a third culture kid. i will write more about this soon. until then, i'm looking forward to seeing people i haven't seen for years, and showing off my nose ring and tattoo. (just kidding, mom!) now i have a few more things to catch up on at work before i can go home. happy weekend!

2006-07-26T16:17:00.000-04:00

happy, happy birthday to my love, daniel christopher fox! there are so many things i could say about daniel that i'm not even sure where to begin. suffice it to say that i've chosen well in marrying the right man for me. i love you, baby!

2006-07-12T16:24:00.000-04:00

a couple of days late, this is the source of the letter i've pasted below, from a citizen of mumbai, india. Not-so-Dear Terrorist, Even if you are not reading this we don't care. Time and again you tried to disturb us and disrupt our life - killing innocent civilians by planting bombs in trains, buses and cars. You have tried hard to bring death and destruction, cause panic and fear and create communal disharmony but every time you were disgustingly unsuccessful. Do you know how we pass our life in Mumbai? How much it takes for us to earn that single rupee? If you wanted to give us a shock then we are sorry to say that you failed miserably in your ulterior motives. Better look elsewhere, not here. We are not Hindus and Muslims or Gujaratis and Marathis or Punjabis and Bengaliies. Nor do we distinguish ourselves as owners or workers, govt. employees or private employees. WE ARE MUMBAIKERS (Bombay-ites, if you like). We will not allow you to disrupt our life like this. On the last few occasions when you struck (including the 7 deadly blasts in a single day killing over 250 people and injuring over 500 in 1993), we went to work next day in full strength. This time we cleared everything within a few hours and were back to normal - the vendors placing their next order, businessmen finalizing the next deals and the office workers rushing to catch the next train. (Yes the same train you targeted) Fathom this: Within 3 hours of the blasts, long queues of blood donating volunteers were seen outside various hospital, where most of the injured were admitted. By 12 midnight, the hospital had to issue a notification that blood banks were full and they didn't require any more blood. The next day, attendance at schools and office was close to 100%, trains & buses were packed to the brim, the crowds were back. The city has simply dusted itself off and moved one - perhaps with greater vigor. We are Mumbaikers and we live like brothers in times like this. So, do not dare to threaten us with your crackers. The spirit of Mumbai is very strong and can not be harmed. i lived in mumbai for six months. one of the train stations that was targeted was the same one i commuted to and from work on every day. six months isn't a long time, but it was long enough to make mumbai one of the cities that i consider "home." there is a lot i could say about stoicism and living life in the midst of tragedy, but for now i'll let the letter speak for itself, and be proud that i was able to be a mumbaiker once, even if for a short time. (thanks to andrew for pointing me to this letter.)

love is in the air

2006-07-06T21:49:00.000-04:00

fmaily portrait, circa 1980
Originally uploaded by amy joy.

32 years ago today, my parents got married. happy anniversary, andy and joy! this is only picture i have on my computer that is close to that time. aren't we a happy (albeit poorly lit) family? seriously, my parents did an amazing job of maintaining stability in our home, and their marriage has been a great example of commitment for me. thank you for that, mom and dad. here's to 32 more years!

my parents are coming to visit at the end of the month. i'm exceptionally excited about it.

in other marriage-related news, my dear sister-in-law, ashley, is engaged! congratulations ashley and jerry! i'm so glad that both of them are a part of our family. they are both wonderful, mature, kind people, and i have no doubt that their marriage will be strong and stable and fun. i love you guys!

so, exciting family events are happening. there are other exciting things happening, too, but i think a big anniversary and a new engagement deserve their very own post tonight.

2006-06-24T09:12:00.000-04:00

there is something very cool about riding your bike home after a picnic in the park and suddenly realizing that you're right next to the capitol building, and that no, it's not a movie, and that in spite of your doubts about the effectiveness of our government, it's a pretty amazing thing to see. equally amazing is a pink sunset - especially when you're seeing it on the lawn of the national sculpture garden with old friends and a great hummus picnic - the kind of picnic that makes you start planning to pack lots of picnics when you get home, so you can see more sunsets and sit in more parks and get outside of your own yard.

2006-06-23T08:23:00.000-04:00

i have fun pictues to post, and good stories to tell, but right now i'm just saying hello, so that you don't let me forget that i need to post my fun pictures and stories later - which will be much easier now that i have my laptop back after leaving it with the nice mac mobile guy for a week and a half. until then, though, angie is in africa and nathalie is in guatemala en route to honduras. i'm too lazy to link right now, so find their names in the sidebar. it will brighten your day. my brother is in iraq now, but apparently, keeping a blog is reason for termination there, so you can't read his stories. does anyone have a big tiller i could borrow? or an extension ladder? happy friday!

2006-06-12T10:04:00.000-04:00

saturday was a truly full day, with lots of unexpected glimpses into the communities that surround us. saturday morning, i took my laptop to mac mobile to have a new hard drive installed. who knew that the mac repair shop would feel like a retirement home? from the 70-something receptionist to the three old men getting their computers fixed, it was pretty surreal. it was also a lesson in aging gracefully. one of the men, a lifelong columbus resident, said, "what's good about today? i woke up in ohio?" he then went on to talk about how his wife never listens to him, particularly if she hasn't put in her hearing aids. i want to be more like the other man, who talked about how he's not going to a nursing home because "i plan on being a burden to my son." it was great. what was also great is that they are cheaper than the apple store, and tom, the owner, wasn't nearing retirement, and had a way of making me totally confident that i can trust him with my computer for a few days. after the mac shop, julianna and i walked to the nieghborhood brunch at the dilapadated presbyterian church down the street. it's sponsored by the community garden group, so there were a lot of hippies talking about changing the world. it made me happy! plus, free food is always good, especially when you have fresh snap peas and salad picked from the garden behind the church. saturday also happened to be the olde towne east community yard sale, so after brunch, we ended up at our neighbors', roger and dan. they have an incredible, huge old house, and also like to share all of the juicy details about the neighborhood and the neighbors. things we learned included: 1) one of our neighbors is a nazi; 2) one of our other neighbors keeps trying to turn our neighborhood into an african village, and informed them when they moved in 11 years ago that they "will be tolerated, but european colonialism attitudes will not be tolerated; and 3) our house used to be the "gordon family crime house," with a whole family full of drug dealers and violent criminals. in other news, my brother left for houston yesterday. he'll be there for a couple of weeks before he goes to iraq for a year. he'll be a civilian contractor working on a military base as the "welfare, morale and recreation coordinator." he'll come back debt-free with some money in the bank, but that won't keep me from worrying. at least he's not a truck driver. last weekend we went to cincinnati on a last-minute marriage retreat. unfortunately, it meant that we missed a few family things i wanted to go to, but it was worth it for the good it did our marriage. i also got daniel to not 100% rule out the chance of ever moving back to cincinnati. thank goodness for priceline hotels...

2006-05-23T21:28:00.000-04:00

life has been very busy lately, but good things are happening. xiu dan is home, and is beautiiful. phoenix is finally here, too, and i can't wait to meet him in person. emma is very good at letting me hold her for some baby therapy. my goodness - babies are everywhere. it's enough to make a girl want to go out and buy a crib. it's not quite time for that yet, though. instead, it's time for summer session and the fascinating world of abnormal pschology. truly, my class right now is fascinating, which is a good thing since it requires sitting in one place for three hours at a time twice a week right after work. next month is "diagnosis of mental disorders". i really, really like school, and i'm very, very excited about getting my license in a couple of years. it's so good to know that i'm doing what i'm supposed to be doing right now. my brother is back in indiana, so i'll be going there to spend some time with my family this weekend. this is a very good thing. another very good thing is the progess of the grass growing in our backyard. when i was growing up, my mom tried in vain to instill a love of gardening and the outdoors in me, but i always wanted to read a book instead. now i can't wait for my wildflower garden to bloom, and to move our hastas around the backyard. does this mean i'm finally an adult?

2006-05-10T15:44:00.000-04:00

let's just say it's been a pretty crazy day - but the kind of day that makes me feel like a real social worker. at least i can relax tonight - watch alias, maybe do some reading, maybe crochet a little. i'm starting to work on little, funky crochet projects, and it's fun to see things get done quickly. does anyone want to buy a baby hat or wallet? or maybe a laptop cozy? i've been dreaming a lot about changing the world lately. but now i have to get back to work.

2006-05-02T23:48:00.000-04:00

we're trying to get into the habit of being more active, and it was too beautiful to stay inside last night, so we went to the park again, this time with our friend sarain, her two chihuahuas, and blaze. blaze had a great time swimming after ducks in the pond, and i had a slightly terrified time being afraid that she would actually kill a protected duck in a public park, and we would go to jail. aside from that, i'm really excited that we're finally hanging out in our greenspace. after the park, we put the top down on my car and drove to chipotle. the best part was trying to finish my burrito on time to run back to the car and put the top up within seconds of the rain storm. i love spring!

2006-05-02T11:40:00.000-04:00

last night our entire household - minus sufjan - took a walk around franklin park. when we were leaving, we saw three(!) deer, just standing by the edge of the woods just sort of looking around. it's good to be outside.

2006-04-27T10:47:00.000-04:00

wednesday i bought my plane ticket to go to d.c. in june. hurrah! i have a group of friends from my hometown who have kept in touch over the years - they are the kind of friends you can be yourself with, and be so comfortable that even if you're just sitting on a couch together, it is good. so, we call ourselves the "couch lovefest." anyway, last year we started trying to have a yearly reunion since we're spread around the country now. i missed last year in chicago, but i'm ready for d.c.! nathalie and her husband, rod, just bought a house there, and i can't wait to sleep on their floor, see an amazing city and just be on the couch with my oldest friends. in addition to the friend side of the weekend, i'm also super-excited to be in d.c. ever since my senior year of college, i've had a little love affair with the city. alice, my college friend, grew up there, and we used to take road trips for the weekend to hang out in dupont circle. then, i made a friend who did medical volunteer work with the mennonites, and the road trips expanded to include the glorious neighborhoods of adams-morgan and columbia heights. after that friend left, nathalie took over their volunteer position, and now she's back, doing her medical residency. i love that i have a friend there again, and an excellent reason to make the trip. also, flying is one of my favorite things to do, and i can't wait to use my new luggage with wheels for the first time, and to figure out how to use public transit to get from baltimore to downtown washington. God bless southwest airlines for cheap flights! and, God bless my dear husband, who encourages me to go places and explore and reconnect with good people.

2006-04-22T08:39:00.000-04:00

even though it's not quite spring in d.c., i am really enjoying the surprises that pop up in our front yard - who knew we had tulips? sadly, my favorite tree (dogwood) started losing its blossoms before i got out the camera. the cool thing, though, is that they are still blooming all down main street, which is a road that needs a lot of beauty here on the "near east side." happy saturday, dear ones!

2006-04-19T08:45:00.000-04:00

i try not to blog about television, but i have to say that i'm super-excited that "alias" is returning tonight with the big "two-hour alias event"...i'm a pacifist, but wow - that show makes me want to be an uber-cool spy girl who can take out ten bad guys without a weapon, and who gets to travel around the world in a private jet at a moment's notice, and who can speak the most obscure languages fluently, all while wearing great disguises. that is all about television. in real life, i am tired of blogging about myself and my activities all the time. i think (hope) i used to be less self-centered. of course, i know that a lot of my family reads this specifically for the purpose of hearing about daniel and i and our activities, so i won't stop that, but i would like to have a bit more discussion of justice issues, spiritual issues, etc. hmm...maybe a "current event wednesday"? yes, i like it! please be aware that i know most of you have differing political opinions than i do. that is wonderful. if i give my opinion about something, i certainly don't think i have the ultimate answer (a lot of you are smarter than me), but it'd be great if we could have a little dialogue... so, today's issue is...... immigration reform! i've been listening to all of the news of demonstrations, etc., regarding immigration in the past few weeks, and i've been a little uncertain of what to think. it's in my nature to want to allow anyone who wants to come to the u.s. come, and be welcomed. i love going to the store and hearing different languages, and seeing different types of garb. i want our children to be part of a community where they are not necessarily in the cultural or ethnic majority. but i had to wonder if immigration really does negatively impact the economy and make things more difficult for the poor who are already here. in fact, it seems that economics is the most referenced issue i've heard given for curbing immigration. but, did you know that immigrants actually add ten billion dollars to the u.s. economy annually? and that our own international economic policies have actually caused more immigration? tell me what you think.

2006-04-18T16:47:00.000-04:00

as promised, here's a shot of the most incredible easter basket ever. and then there's erica, one of my several sister-friends. she's moving to seattle in a few weeks, and came to spend the weekend with us first. when i lived in cincinnati, i spent most easters with her family. this time, it was her turn. on saturday afternoon, erica and i took the dogs and the girls to the park. best. weather. ever.

2006-04-17T14:35:00.000-04:00

yesterday morning daniel woke me up like it was christmas - and for good reason, since he had created the most incredible, deatailed easter basket i've ever seen! i have a picture, but that will need to wait until our home internet connection gets strong. it was a huge, flatish brown basket (sitting on our new dining room table) filled with moss, ceramic dishes, ceramic fish, candles, two matching wooden boxes, yellow roses and lots of every variety you can imagine of hershey kisses. this is definitely an easter tradition i want to keep! after starting on the chocolate, erica (our amazing friend who was in town for the holiday) and i had some hot cross buns from sharon, then we went to church and afterwards had a nice, relaxed afternoon with the otterbein side of the family. my mother-in-law and her husband know how to make the best holiday comfort food ever, and never pressure us to do anything but relax. overall, it was a great easter. more coming soon, including pictures of the wonderful abby and nora bell, the tulips in our front yard, and - of course - the incredible, edible easter basket. happy monday!

2006-04-12T21:14:00.000-04:00

yesterday was anne lamott's birthday. there are a very few authors who teach me something beautiful and truthful in the most subtle of ways every time i read them, all the while giving me belly laughs, and she's one of them. read her. in other news, my brilliant husband is building a dining room table for us out of solid pine. you have to understand that i've always had a dream of a big dining room table for lots of dinner guests and board games and homework...they (whoever "they" are) that a dining room is the heart of the home. and now we're getting one - made by daniel's own hands. he's also building a very cool round couch. maybe we'll actually have a real, grown-up house soon... i'm very tired tonight. the emotional wear of the past weeks seems to be resting, but my body is ready for bed. g'night.

2006-04-09T15:41:00.000-04:00

our internet is down, so i'm at the library sending in an assignment for school. it's hard to believe that there are only 2 1/2 weeks left in the semester. soon i'll be starting my summer classes - abnormal psychology and diagnosis of mental disorders. yay for learning how to label people! actually, i'm very excited about these classes - they're kind of the meat of the mental health field, and it should be pretty intriguing. this has been a fantastic weekend after a very long and draining week. last night we went to see invisible children, which is a must-see if you at all want to care about what is happening in the world. afterwards, we had indian food with some new friends from church, and had a great service this morning. yesterday i got two major pieces of news: 1. my brother is moving back to indiana. 2. my uncle was found dead in his house this week after several days. if you're the praying type, please pray for my cousin, greg. he lost his mother to leukemia as a teenager, his brother (my cousin michael) a couple of months ago to a weak heart, and now his father. he's not married, and has no other immediate family. we're not very close, but this has to be a really difficult time for him. i'm ready for the dying and sickness to stop. thank God for resurrection. i have a feeling easter is going to take on an even deeper meaning this year. it's also going to take on a spirit of surprise and treats for my household members and guests (that should motivate any of you who are thinking of making the trip here next weekend...). there is a new bus system in columbus, which a friend of mine referred me to after hearing an npr story. apparently a british bus line is trying out the midwest market, and columbus is one of the cities - with fares starting as low as $1.50, and seeming to average $8-11 each way, we can travel to indianapolis, chicago, st. louis, minneapolis and other cities. it looks pretty cool - anyone up for a super-cheap trip to chi-town? time to check out the movie section and head home. it's too beautiful to be outside today.

2006-04-06T11:10:00.000-04:00

"faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen..." these are the words that have been repeating themselves in my head since mark's death last week. i've been wanting to write, and keep composing blog posts in my head, but except for that verse, the words have been few. but here a few things that keep coming back... ...mark believed in the hope of the resurrection. i don't understand everything that entails, and i don't understand everything about healing and death and life, but i do desperately want the hope that he is whole and restored and that we will all be resurrected some day. most of the time, that hope is loud and clear. the rest of the time, well, i guess that's what faith is all about. ...mark believed in community. i've been so proud of the landing place and larger community in the past weeks and months. they are strong, and they will survive, and i love them. somehow, any minute differences and disagreements don't seem to really matter anymore. this is a community that knows the meaning of hope and endurance. ...mark believed in jesus. i need more of jesus.

2006-03-20T22:23:00.000-05:00

my husband is amazing. as i type, he's going over the floor with a blacklight and "urine gone". (when you have a dog and a cat, sometimes you have to be extra-thorough.) he also go some shelving and is totally reorganizing the basement and moving his work space downstairs, which will tremendously reduce my clutter-anxiety. (btw, www.flylady.net totally rocks if you're clutter-challenged like me.) i love this man!

2006-03-20T17:01:00.000-05:00

today i got an email from india that made me cry. five years ago, i was getting ready to go to bombay. while i was there, i met manju - she was 15 and had been a prostitute for about three years. she was from calcutta, and her family sent her to bombay with a woman they trusted who said she could get manju a job as a maid or waitress. when i met her, she quickly became my strongest little sister. she had this joy that came from inside her, even though she had been bought and sold and abused, and she was funny and smart and amazing, and called me "didi," which means "big sister". she loved to sing and try to teach me to dance bollywood style. after i left, she got into a christian rehab home, and the reports i got were that she couldn't stop talking how amazed she was that jesus loves her. today i got a new update. now, manju is living at the salvation army, and spends her time going into the red light district to counsel prostitutes. she also keeps her eye out for underage prostitutes, and recently managed to rescue a ten and twelve year old. she told my friend who met with her that of course she needs to help rescue young girls, just like my friend's husband rescued her. there is hope in this world. in other news, today i got a case back - a 13 year old girl who is an actual orphan, and who can't seem to stay in one family for any real length of time. anyway, she told her new foster parents that i was "a big fat blond woman who shakes when she walks." you have to love teenagers.

2006-02-11T08:45:00.000-05:00

i've been tagged, and it was by my lovely husband, so i should probably do it. four jobs i've had in my life: - nailing cabinet doors together for RVs - waiting tables at the Dutch Cooker - youth worker at group home for teenagers - writer for Taylor Alumni magazine four movies i can watch o'er and o'er: - love actually - beautiful girls - zoolander - amelie four places i have lived: - louisville, kentucky - austin, indiana - cincinnnati, ohio - mumbai, india four tv shows i love to watch: - alias - king of the hill - gilmore girls - the o.c. (guilty pleasure) four places i have been on vacation: - goa, india - puerto vallarta, mexico - seattle, washington - western caribbean four of my favorite dishes: - saag paneer - any sushi with eel - baja fresh fish tacos - honey nut cheerios four websites i visit daily: - televisionwithoutpity.com - centralvineyard.blogspot.com - gmail.com - all of the blogs in my blogroll four places i would rather be: - boston - india - prague - nicaragua four bloggers i tag: - my brother - molly - jeni - mark palmer

2006-02-02T22:05:00.000-05:00

after almost two years, i finally got a columbus phone number! if you didn't get an email about it, and want to be able to call me, just send me an email at amyjoyfox at gmail dot com. within the next couple of days, i'll be cancelling my old number. i'm tired tonight. but the weekend's coming, and life is good. g'night!

2006-01-28T20:00:00.000-05:00

yesterday was bekah's birthday. happy birthday, dear friend! since i met bekah when i first moved to columbus, i have found a good friend - she's the kind of girl who makes it a point to keep in touch, and sends sweet emails and voice messages. she's also a social worker, and is planning to become a therapist. she's smart and funny, and always has a fashionable haircut. you rock, bekah!! today is nathalie's birthday. while bekah is one of my newer friends, nathalie is one of my oldest. i can go for weeks without talking to her, but always know she's my sister. she's truly one of the smartest women i know. we used to dream together of great careers and wonderful husbands. now she's a doctor who is going to change the world, and has one of the coolest marriages around. she's doing her residency in d.c., and has a passion for people who are looked over by the rest of society. she lives true to her convictions, and my life is better for knowing her. i love you, nathalie. in more mundane matters, i have the house to myself this weekend, with daniel having been in orlando on business since wednesday. i miss him! but he comes home tomorrow, and then we get to hang out with julianna, our potential housemate. we've always talked about wanting to have people live with us, and now may be the time. we don't really know juli, but she's from muncie and comes highly recommended. she's moving to columbus for a year to work with americorps. we haven't made a commitment on either end, but i have a feeling this could be the start of something good...

2006-01-28T10:41:00.000-05:00

on thursday, i went to my cousin michael's funeral. he was 32 years old, and has had serious health problems all his life, but it was still unexpected. he had been feeling better lately, and was making plans to apply to law school. instead, he passed away in his sleep while napping on tuesday. my extended family is large, and i don't know everyone very well. but michael was my favorite cousin - close to my age, the one who tended to show up unexpectedly - like when he rang my parents' doorbell in pennsylvania at christmas last year because he just happened to be in town, even though his entire family was in indiana. in a large family, there can be a lot of conflict, but michael was the peacemaker, and made it a point to always talk to everyone, regardless of the current drama. our family loved michael. his funeral made it evident that everyone else loved him, too. i learned a lot about him at the service - his kindness, his endurance, his ambition. i'm not sure what else to say, so there it is for now...

2006-01-17T14:04:00.000-05:00

happy belated martin luther king, jr. day! i had great ideas for posting something truly insightful and relevant yesterday. alas, i didn't have the day off of work, and got caught up in everyday living. when i was a junior at taylor, i took an intensive january class on the civil rights movement. we watched all eight hours of "eyes on the prize," complete with really great original footage and intense supplementary readings. that class was pivotal for me, and likley contributed to the fact that it's vital for me to live in a neighborhood that's racially and economically diverse. i'd like to see "eyes on the prize" again - maybe it would give me a kick in the pants. because, really, aside from choosing to live in our neighborhood, what am i doing to fight against racism and poverty? sadly, very little. speaking of our neighborhood, we have new friends! actually, daniel has an old friend who got married about six months before we did. now she and her husband live a few blocks down the street, and are attending our new church. they came over to hang out and play games on sunday evening, and let me just tell you that this feels like the beginning of a lifelong relationship. yay for neighbors who are also friends! our new church is also very exciting. we love, love, love our family at the landing place, but the change was necessary for a number of reasons. and it's been so good and hopeful. this is a place we're planning to stay, as long as we stay in columbus. that's a good feeling. in other news, i got seasons one and two of alias with christmas gift cards. now i have a secret fantasy life in which i'm not actually a pacifist, but a super-fit, multilingual spy. fun stuff! would anyone be willing to loan us season three? happy tuesday!

2006-01-02T10:54:00.000-05:00

we're back from the carribean, and it's a new year. our vacation was incredible. but it's good to be home today. i had grand plans of writing posts every day and putting up lots of pictures, but (a) daniel left the memory card for the camera in his computer at home and (b) we forgot the cord to upload pictures to our laptop. so, we have about 10 pictures, and i was having too much fun relaxing to write regularly. besides, who wants to read seven posts about someone else's vacation? anyway, this is grey and misty, but if you look closely, you can see cuba. we were sailing around its coast for awhile, and it was one of the highlights for me emotionally. i would give almost anything to actually go there and stay for a short while. any ideas on how i can do that without getting thrown into jail? here's a view of the dock at ocho rios, jamaica. i took it mostly for the mountains. jamaica redeemed itself for us (after the honeymoon hurricane) with a pleasant town and a really great meal at "passage to india," a rooftop restaurant. i had forgotten that there is a large indian population in jamaica, and we ran into karan, our butler from bombay, at lunch. (yes, we had a butler. more on that later.) georgetown, grand cayman island, was our cleanest port. it's also the fifth largest financial center in the world, which was evident by the cost of living that appeared to be the same or slightly higher than the u.s. daniel and i had a great day here, though - we stumbled onto a fabric sale (nearly heaven for the creative genius husband), had great big curry plates for lunch at a place where there didn't seem to be any other tourists, and dreamed a little about buying a cute island home with a fenced-in yard complete with chickens. but all dreams of living on grand cayman competely disappeared as soon as we got to roatan, honduras. as daniel told a new friend on our ship, "some people are grand cayman people, and some are honduras people. we're honduras people." i've become convinced that the only way to really see an island when you only have a day is to rent a motor scooter and let yourself get a little lost, which is exactly what we did. we were going slow enough to see the jungle and wave at the kids along the road, but fast enough to go from one end of the island to another, and to get far enough up the hills to see beautiful houses nestled in the trees and to see the cutest little beach town ever, where you essentially walk out of your hostel room right onto the boat that takes you scuba diving. our other port was nassau, bahamas. it was actually our first port - lots of duty-free shopping, and i did jump into the fray to buy my first-ever (and probably last) designer purse rip-off. kate spade, thank you very much. time for a break. i'll give the lowdown on the ship and being a VIP in awhile... happy new year!!

2005-12-15T22:03:00.000-05:00

the first semester of my graduate career is officially over, and i think (hope) that i just might make it onto the dean's list, thanks to acing a test and my final paper tonight...i have that hyper kind of energy that comes with finals week and the last day of school and the anticipation of only NINE MORE DAYS UNTIL WE GO ON VACATION! there's still a lot to do at work, but i'm feeling ever-so-energized right now... ...right now (this very minute), my lovely husband is mamking me a pair of shoes for the above-mentioned vacation. i wanted these or these, but since they're a little out of our budget and my lovely husband has a need and ability to make anything and everything, i'm getting my very own custom-made hybrid shoes! oh, he's also getting a dressform for christmas. seriously, the man can make anything. ok. this girl is tired. i'll leave you with a question of the day: what one holiday from another culture would you most like to observe? comment below.

2005-12-09T11:04:00.000-05:00

happy human rights defenders day. to learn how to defend human rights yourself, give one of these a try: international justice mission human rights watch amnesty international

2005-12-08T20:52:00.000-05:00

an inch an hour! the snow is really, finally here! after my first class tonight, the ground was covered, and an hour later when we got out of our second class early, it was twice as covered, and it is beautiful and fun, and it makes me happy - especially since i only had to drive in it for ten minutes, and now i get to hang out in my warm living room with my favorite dog and cat, in front of our new christmas tree. i feel relaxed and caught up with most things, and it's so lovely. we finally joined the ymca last weekend, and have been working out this week. i knew i would like it, and i'm not quite sure why it took us months to join (we get a half-price membership because i work for a united way agency), but i'm already feeling better, and i think daniel is, too. the only problem is that i have yet to actually get up at 6am to work out. as long as we can go after work, though, all is good. yes, all is good. and good night to all.

2005-12-07T19:27:00.000-05:00

weekend plans? does anyone want to go see this with me on friday or saturday?

2005-11-30T16:21:00.000-05:00

you may have heard about the four peace activists who were kidnapped in iraq this past week. they were working with christian peacemaker teams, a mennonite/brethren in christ organization that acts as witnesses and documentarians of human rights violations. i know several people who are very active with cpt, and have a lot of respect for their work. today i received an email confirming the four who were kidnapped. i thought you might be interested in learning a little more about them than the news provides... Tom Fox, age 54, is from Clearbrook, Virginia and is a dedicated father of two children. For the past two years, Mr. Fox has worked with CPT in partnership with Iraqi human rights organizations to promote peace. Mr. Fox has been faithful in the observance of Quaker practice for 22 years. While in Iraq, he sought a more complete understanding of Islamic cultural richness. He is committed to telling the truth to U.S. citizens about the horrors of war and its effects on ordinary Iraqi civilians and families as a result of U.S. policies and practices. Mr. Fox is an accomplished musician. He plays the bass clarinet and the recorder and he loves to cook. He has also worked as a professional grocer. Mr. Fox devotes much of his time to working with children. He has served as an adult leader of youth programs and worked at a Quaker camp for youth. He has facilitated young people's participation in opposing war and violence. Mr. Fox is a quiet and peaceful man, respectful of everyone, who believes that "there is that of God in every person" which is why work for peace is so important to him. Norman Kember, age 74, is from London, England. He and his wife of 45 years have two married daughters and a 3-year old grandson. He has been a pacifist all his life beginning with his work in a hospital instead of National Service at age 18. Before his retirement he was a professor teaching medical students at St Bartholemew's Hospital in London. He is well-known as a peace activist, and has been involved in several peace groups. For the past 10 years he has volunteered with a local program providing free food to the homeless. He likes walking, birdwatching, and writing humorous songs and sketches. In his younger days he enjoyed mountaineering. James Loney, 41, is a community worker from Toronto, Canada. He has been a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams since August 2000, and is currently the Program Coordinator for CPT Canada. On previous visits to Iraq, his work focused on taking testimonies from families of detainees for CPT's report on detainee abuse, and making recommendations for securing basic legal rights. James was leading the November 2005 delegation in Iraq when he went missing. James is a peace activist, writer, trained mediator, and works actively with two Toronto community conflict resolution services. He has spent many years working to provide housing and support for homeless people. In a personal statement from James to CPT, he writes: "I believe that our actions as a people of peace must be an expression of hope for everyone. My hope in practising non-violence is that I can be a conduit for the transformative power of God's love acting upon me as much as I hope it will act upon others around me." Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32 is a Canadian electrical engineer. He is studying for a masters degree in English literature in Auckland University in New Zealand to prepare for a teaching career. He enjoys art, is active in squash and worked part time as a local squash coach. His family describes him as peaceful and fun-loving and he is known to be passionate about the plight of the underprivileged around the globe. He works tirelessly in his spare time to educate and help others.

2005-11-22T21:34:00.000-05:00

so, this isn't the highest-quality photo, but i think it does a pretty good job of capturing the weekend wedding in indy - great friends, lots of smiles, lots of dancing (resulting in our totally exhausted but happy looks). the bride here is elle, who i met on her birthday our freshman year at taylor. actually, i probably met alice the same night. combined, they probably did more for my musical education than anyone. and they dreamt with me. they are good for my soul. if we hadn't been in indianapolis, i'm pretty sure we would have gone to cincinnati for some more powerful soul stuff. my wonderful other mother says a lot of sweet things. my lovely husband makes a lot of sweet things. we should be getting to my parents' in about 24 hours. happy thanksgiving, dear ones!

2005-11-16T11:58:00.000-05:00

courtesy of priscilla... If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don’t speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want, either good or bad. When you’re finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you.

2005-11-14T19:52:00.000-05:00

i feel like there is so much to look forward to right now, and it's all swirling around in random, happy thoughts tonight... on friday, alice flies into town, and she, daniel and i get to road trip to indy for the big elle and josh party. i love weddings, especially when they bring together lots of beautiful people whom i've missed for too long. i love that we get a little extra time with alice, too. maybe if we get tired of playing and talking, we'll find time to see some johnny cash. or maybe we'll have too much fun talking, and just go see it next week. in just over a week, we're off to indiana for thanksgiving with my family. hurrah! matthew will be there, and it'll be our one time together as an immediate family all year. i love thanksgiving. i also love that mom and dad have moved back to goshen, and i get to show daniel where i grew up. i love that we have a four day weekend, and i love that the holidays are here! oh - we might even get to shoot clay pigeons on an amish farm. i hate guns on principle, but i think i can justify shooting something that's not alive and is biodgradable...i love my family. i had my first eggnog latte of the season on saturday night, thanks to bekah. hurrah for eggnog! have you noticed that i'm full of love tonight? i've been reading a really great book, which has reminded me why i love reading. thanks, molly, for the recommendation. i might be joining a book club soon. i've always wanted to do that. yesterday we heard a cuban preacher who has possibly the all-time best belly laugh i've ever heard from the pulpit - particularly coming from a man who was drafted into castro's army at the age of 15. i hope i can keep my joy like that. time to play with my pets and my husband. g'night!

2005-11-11T09:54:00.000-05:00

quite possibly every other children's services agency in the u.s. has a three-day weekend for veteran's day. we, however, get to go to a madatory team-building day at the park. hmm. we're all wearing our matching agency t-shirts, and i'm about to go home to pick up a crock pot full of the black bean chipotle chili that my supervisor ordered me to make because she loves it. i'm also picking up dutch blitz because we're supposed to "bring your favorite game." ah, the glory of teambuilding...

2005-11-08T08:55:00.000-05:00

backtracking a bit, we had a lovely weekend. on friday night, i took a little road trip to muncie to celebrate elle's upcoming marriage to josh. it was so good to see elle face-to-face after about two years of living across the country from each other. the thing i love about my friends is that bachelorette parties consist of food, music, pajamas, campfires and blueberry pancakes. it's so much more fun than the drunken stripper variety of parties! i'm excited about this wedding. elle and josh have had a long story in the making... ...another beautiful story in the making is that of palmer and amy, who celebrated their first wedding anniversary with a big party on saturday night. i've heard that the first year of marriage is the most difficult. i hope that's the case for them, because their first year, frankly, seems to have really stunk - to the point where they say they feel like they've been married for twenty years. i have to say that i have so much respect and love for them. if daniel or i ever get really, really sick, they would be my model of how to respond - with so much grace and love and hope. happy anniversary, mark and amy! further on the topic of marriage, when i got home from indiana, our first floor was transformed by daniel's all-night decorating and organizing frenzy. our house feels so much more like a functioning, welcoming home now. thanks, baby! he's leaving the second floor to me. i have a vision - just have to make it real.

2005-11-06T19:03:00.000-05:00

this is why i'm in grad school.

2005-11-03T20:50:00.000-05:00

i love haiku. i also love my husband for introducing me to sushi, and for taking me to the prettiest restaurant in columbus for my birthday. finally, tonight i really love my friends and family who left comments and called me today. extra kudos to kelli and my aunt melissa - the only two people left in the world who believe in sending real birthday cards through the postal service. not to be forgotten, a big happy birthday to twin (minus a few years). you rock, priscilla! it's been a good day, but work ended up being much longer than i had hoped it would be. it's so frustrating when someone else's procrastination takes away your own time...aargh. but when i finally got home, daniel had cleaned and rearranged the first floor - hurrah for having a living room that actually feels like a living room! i'm going to hang out with my family now. g'night.

2005-11-02T20:41:00.000-05:00

in the aftermath of hurricanes and earthquakes and supreme court nominations, the bombings in delhi that killed over 500 people last weekend have resulted in surprisingly few new stories - or at least it was hard to find anything substantial when i did an internet search. but delhi has been on my mind. i passed through the city twice, just before christmas four years ago. amy rose had come to visit me in india for a month before i came home, we were taking a little journey north to the himalayan foothills. our time in delhi was short but lovely - we stayed with geeta and her family and rode on bicycle rickshaws. i remember thinking that delhi felt a little like d.c., with wide boulevards, lots of trees and solid government buildings. i wondered if all national capitals feel the same. amyrose and i went to some cute tourist marketplace (i still wear the scarf i bought there) and i have to wonder if it's still standing. nevertheless, i'll keep picturing the wide boulevards and bicycle rickshaws. in happier news, i'm going to be in a training the next two days, which means that i don't have to go into the office on my birthday. hooplah! and, on friday, i get to go to indiana for a bachelorette/slumber party of a dear friend who just moved back from seattle. double hooplah! i have good friends and family. thank you. you know who you are.

2005-10-23T21:17:00.000-04:00

YOU ARE CHAMOMILE

What herb are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

it's a boy!

2005-10-23T18:47:00.000-04:00

sufjan
Originally uploaded by amy joy.

meet sufjan. since we couldn't keep frankie, we adopted him instead. he came with the name "bigglesworth," but somehow i couldn't keep calling him that. so, sufjan it is. we didn't plan to get a new animal today, but after visiting a new church, we stopped by petsmart and ended up filling out an application and interviewing on the spot. i think he likes us, or he will when he stops hissing at blaze. welcome home, kitty!

weekend

2005-10-22T23:03:00.000-04:00

theFUNbunch
Originally uploaded by amy joy.

there are certain people in this world who bring a certain level of comfort and rest - people who don't care if you're tired or not very entertaining, or don't mind if you just wear your pajamas. molly and erica are two of those people for me. they made a little road trip to spend the night and day with us, and it was so, so lovely! last night, daniel's friend matt crashed on our couch, too, so it's been a weekend of old friends. he took off for a wedding today, but molly, erica, daniel and i took off to wholly craft (my favorite new store) to buy crafty things, and then to north market for lunch and the farmer's market. sometimes it's easy to overlook what columbus has to offer when i miss the hills and diversity of cincinnati, or the chaos of mumbai. but today was a good day.

my lovely sister-in-law, ashley, got accepted to otterbein college. way to go, ash!

i'm very sleepy. g'night.

2005-10-12T16:54:00.000-04:00

there are some things going on these days that require discretion and privacy, so my posts probably won't be too personal for awhile. but i am going to use this space to focus on some cheerful things, like this: office yoga! my body has been pretty tense lately, but these stretches work wonders. so knock yourselves out, especially if you're at a desk all day. in other news, frankie left us but we're on the lookout for a second dog that is a little less hyper but still gets blaze to play. any one have a canine they need to give away? fall is here. i love getting out sweaters and cords. i would love to get a cabin in hocking hills or maine when the leaves change. anyone care to join me?

2005-10-11T11:22:00.000-04:00

signs of life... ...today i got to close one of the first cases i got in columbus, and it has a happy ending. it also got me five hugs - four of them from large black women. ...i only mised half a point on my first grad school paper. ...on my first grad school test, i missed 2 1/2 points. five people in the class did better, nineteen did worse. i plan to be at the top the next time. ...today my supervisor is taking us out to lunch for mexican food. i can taste the enchiladas now...

2005-10-08T22:17:00.000-04:00

i really do have great friends. thanks for the lovely comments, everyone, and i will be returning phone calls as soon as i can. things have been a little traumatic lately, but i will call! in happy news, we have a new addition to our family. i heart frankie. he's a 50 pound boxer, 1 1/2 years old, and he's with us on a trial basis this weekend. i'm trying to get daniel to agree to keep him for good - i think another day should do it. i was worried about blaze with another dog, but he's getting her to play and keep her energy up, and he's snuggly and fun, and actually fetches things! blaze is pretty indifferent to any toy, 'cause she's too cool for school. she'll always be the queen of the house, but frankie makes a pretty good jester. also, boxers aren't really good guard dogs (they are naturally aggressive at all), but it's nice to be able to answer the the door to an unexpected knock with a big canine next to you. (i wouldn't want to live in any other neighborhood in columbus, but we do get the occasional person looking for money or a fix in the middle of the night.) i'm thinking that keeping frankie would be a great 30th birthday present. by the way, my 30th birthday is november 3. that's less than a month away. email me if you need my address to send gifts. we were going to have a big surprise party, but i don't think that's going to work out. i'm totally open to someone else planning one, though. g'night.

2005-10-04T14:50:00.000-04:00

lots going on in my mind lately, but little energy to express it. i've had a nasty cold and cough since last week, and am just trying to keep my head above water at work and in taking care of the house - not doing a great job of either at the moment. last night was a bright spot at stauf's for crafty beavers with sharon and suzanne. i think sharon inspired me to try a super-secret project. it's been a hard couple of days, though - changing churches has made me lonely in the transition, and aside from sharon, most of my sisters are scattered across the country. why can't d.c., portland, munice and boston all be in the same place? how long does it take to make and keep real friends in a new city?

2005-09-26T20:19:00.000-04:00

yes, my husband is totally awesome. and, yes, he actually wrote that last post. but he did take me to the crew game even though he doesn't like soccer (thanks for the tickets, kelli!). oy. i am absolutely exhausted tonight, and i think i'm getting a sore throat. it's been a looong week. i've been driving all over ohio making sure that i see all of my kids for the month (yesterday i left the house at 6am and got home from work at 7:30pm), and tomorrow night is my first test in theories and techniques of counseling, and my first graduate school paper is due. (so far, grad school is easier than undergrad. last week my professor essentially gave us every question that will be on our multiple choice test. i love multiple choice.) here's my multiple choice of the moment: 1. what should amy do now? a. write a truly epic blog post b. surf other people's blogs until i fall asleep c. go to bed and re-read "the poisonwood bible" until i drift off d. do paperwork for work. hmmm...which one do you think i'll choose? g'night!

2005-09-21T21:45:00.000-04:00

Can I just say that my husband is totally awesome and sweet. Tonight he took me out to a crew soccer game here, and he doesn't even like soccer. I know I can't ever say this enough on my blog or otherwise, but, I love you daniel!!

2005-09-18T10:29:00.000-04:00

sharon is blogging again, and it's lovely. she has a theme blog now, so read and learn! also, my sisters and cousin on daniel's side of the family have joined the fray, too. so swing by and introduce yourselves. my mother-in-law has a great blog, too, but i think i'll wait for her approval before linking to it. now it's just time for my own parents to jump in. it's sunday morning, and i'm at work catching up on some things. life has been moving at a very fast pace, and there have been a lot of major changes recently, including some job and church adjustments in the eversole fox household. daniel and i are now attending vineyard columbus, which if you know my church history at all, is a pretty major and unexpected switch. the reasons for changing are not blog fodder about, but let it be known that i definitely still consider my family at the landing place to be my family. i love each of you. with that, i need to get back to work.

2005-09-08T14:56:00.000-04:00

a few things on my mind today... ...toronto was awesome, and i keep hoping for a good reason to move there. great weekend, great people, great anniversary. ...after one year, marriage is turning out to be great. we really seem to be settling into a time of fun and peace and goodness. hurrah for marriage! ...i had a great talk with my sister sharon today. thanks for so much encouragement, pretty lady! ...the season premiere of the o.c. is on tonight. hopefully daniel can figure out our vcr so that i can watch it after class. this show is my guilty pleasure... ...what's on your mind today??

alice

2005-09-02T15:37:00.000-04:00

alice
Originally uploaded by amy joy.

happy birthday, alice!
she doesn't even read this thing, but i wanted to give a shout-out to one of the toughest, coolest sisters i know. (i've been really lucky to have several great sisters, and you know who you are.) this is her taking a self-protrait in thailand, where she went for ten days alone to see the country and present at the international AIDS conference last year. she danced with bon jovi while she was there. only alice could pull that off. so, again, happy birthday!

family portrait, circa 1980

2005-08-30T08:18:00.000-04:00

fmaily portrait, circa 1980
Originally uploaded by amy joy.

sometimes birthdays come in pairs. you're likely to reading this on tuesday, the birthday of my lovely mother, joy louise yoder eversole. isn't she cute? just as my dad taught me a lot, mom did, too. mom read out loud to us, and created little family traditions like making doughnuts when the first snow came. she taught me to stick to my convictions, and to not care about what the world thinks. mom has a knack for attracting people who need someone to talk to and find her to be a good listener. i'd like to think that i share that trait. she did her best to teach me to be responsible - to keep my room clean and to peel potatoes and to grow a garden. (i'm still working on those things.) when my parents came to visit us at our new house this spring, mom spent most of her time pulling weeds and simply doing things that need to be done. she taught me to serve others without complaining. she taught me to take walks for pleasure. she taught me to look for bargains and shop at thrift stores whenever possible. she makes the best broccoli salad ever, and she committed a huge portion of her life to putting the needs of our family before her own. i love you, mom!

2005-08-29T23:20:00.000-04:00

the great thing about getting married on september 4 is that we'll always have a three-day weekend to celebrate our anniversary. tonight, the wonderful husband pricelined a fabulous hotel for a weekend in toronto. "what are you doing this weekend?" "oh, we're just leaving the country for a few days." happy first anniversary to us! i'll save the reflections on being married for a year for later. when did priceline become a verb? p.s. in honor of our anniversary week, take note of how cute daniel and i were when we first met each other (upper right of the page). super-blaze will return soon.

2005-08-29T19:54:00.000-04:00

thugs making rugs this morning i drive an hour and a half to see one of my kids - an 18-year-old boy in residential drug rehab. he's essentially and orphan - his mom, stepdad, brother and stepbrother have all died, and he doesn't really have a relationship with his biological father. he has a history of felony charges, mostly related to burglaries that seemed like a good idea when he was high. he's from "the bottoms," which is sort of a violent, appalachian ghetto at its worst, and his family has had a lot of violence. (his older brother threatened my life at one point.) but this kid is one of the gentlest, most responsible kids i know. the staff at his treatment facility never have any concerns, and he's a role model for the other kids. anyway, i was talking to him about his schedule this morning, and he mentioned that every afternoon he does "clean and sobers." clean and sobers are activities to practice having fun without using drugs. i asked him what he does, and he says, "watch movies, play board games, crochet..." as it turns out, my boy is a crochet maniac. he's made fluffy yarn pillows for his sisters, and showed me the most beautiful afghan that he's working on. the kid is a crafting genius! (i crochet, but i really only have the patience for hats and scarves.) his counselor told me that all of the boys are doing it, and they call it "thugs making rugs." that was, most definitely, the highlight of my day.

PC185549

2005-08-28T20:15:00.000-04:00

PC185549
Originally uploaded by amy joy.

by the time most of you read this, it will be monday, and my father's 51st birthday. happy birthday, dad! dad has never hesitated to spend lazy weekend mornings with us, as the photographic evidence shows. some of my favorite times with him as i was growing up were our hardee's dates on saturday mornings - i would get cinnamon rasin biscuits, and we would both read the chicago tribune. i think i got my love of reading from him, and he first introduced me to public radio, among other things. when my brother and i had an 8:30 bedtime, we could usually get him to let us stay up the extra half hour to finish watching the a-team or macgyver. dad has always unconditionally supported matthew (my brother) and i, giving us room to make our own decisions and letting us know that he is always there when we're in a pinch. dad is also one of the most giving people i know, both of his time and money, to things that he believes are important. dad taught me to love God with my mind and my actions more than my words. i know he thinks i border on being a communist at times, and he wanted me to become an optometrist instead of a social worker, but as long as we avoid in-depth political debates, it's all good.

i love you, dad! happy birthday!

2005-08-27T12:51:00.000-04:00

happy saturday, dear ones! i'm sitting with my second and a half cup of coffee, listening to this american life, and just feeling happy in general that i have no huge responsibilities today, and can take the time to think about whatever crosses my mind... ... like the chronicles of narnia. when i was a child, my parents encouraged me to read, my mom read out loud to us, my dad always had a book in hand at night. i was one of those kids who always said "just let me finish this chapeter," before washing the dishes or going outside or whatever else i should have been doing. but we were never really encouraged to read the fantastical, allegorical stories that everyone else read - narnia, a wrinkle in time, etc. i still prefer realistic fiction and creative nonfiction, but harry potter has inspired me to catch up on the stories that i left behind. i just finished "the lion, the witch and the wardrobe" for the first time, and am working on "the silver chair". what can i say? i'm falling in love with aslan. ...a few days ago, ed fladung asked why i didn't go surfing in sayulita when we were in puerto vallarta. alice and megan went after i left (they were there a couple of days longer than me). i want to surf, but i'm not sure i trust my ability to swim enough. ...i promised more details on my first night of school. i'm taking two classes - theories and techniques of counseling, and heuman development. theories is first, with dr. hall. he's my advisor, and i think he may end up becoming one of my professional heros. his class was really motivating, and i just kept thinking about how glad i was to be there, and how this is really what i want to do with my life. quote of the class: "the client is the expert of their story. we are the experts of facilitating dialogue about the story." i can dig that. my second class is slightly less inspiring so far, but the professor is very sincere, and seems to be trying hard to get us to interact and discuss things. it's interesting to me that we have a lot more assignments in a 2 hour credit class than dr. hall's 3 hours, but that's ok. the highlight of class was watching "everyone rides the carousel," an animated 70s movie about eric erikson's eight stages of life. a little hippie-drippy, but it gets the point across... it's raining again, and i'm hungry.

2005-08-26T07:18:00.000-04:00

i think i'm going to love grad school. details later - now i have to drive to cincinnati to pick up a kid.

summer

2005-08-24T21:54:00.000-04:00

PC185550
Originally uploaded by amy joy.

summer vacation is over...

i love summer. i love my little brother even more.

2005-08-24T21:13:00.000-04:00

tomorrow is my first day of school. every year at this time, i find myself wishing that i was going back to school with everyone else, and now i am. unless i quit my job, it will likely take me three years to be finished. that seemed like a long time until tonight, when i realized that, when i'm finished, daniel will be the same age i was when we met. that makes the time seem shorter, but it also makes me feel old. as for school, though, i'm getting really excited just starting to read and do my homework. (yes, i have homework already, thanks to an overacheiving professor who emailed his syllabus to us on monday.) i'm starting with two classes - therories and techniques of counseling, and human development across the lifespan. my thursdays will be long - work all day and then class from 4:30 until 9:15pm. i'm just hoping that my classmates are interesting, and really care about our classes. speaking of interesting people, daniel and i have met our new best friends in old towne east. actually, they're our only friends so far in old towne east, unless you count our next-door neighbor, dale. we met ron and cara at the neighborhood ice cream social, and seem to have a lot in common - charming, talkative, sometimes obnoxiously funny guy with a sweet, smart, beautiful girl. they own a new little neighborhood bar, and ron designs and prints t-shirts. (which just happens to be one of daniel's newest interests.) we love them! but don't fear, old friends - we have enough love to go around. i'm closing three cases at work this week. my supervisor loves me. she loves me so much that she might be giving me four more new cases. apparently, my teammate johannah and i may both end up being at 24 cases. i do believe that boosts my monthly high caseload bonus from $200 to $300. it also means that johannah and i very well may have the highest caseloads at the agency. it's interesting how it works in my field - the better caseworker you are, the more cases you get because "you can handle it," resulting in the best, most experienced workers getting burned out. (i've heard that you have to be a little crazy to do this job.) in other news, palmer went back to the hospital last night. if you're a pray-er, please do so for him, amy, micah, and our community. everyone is so tired. sweet dreams, dear ones.

2005-08-21T21:17:00.000-04:00

not all is beautiful in paradise... Underage Sex Workers in Mexico Mexico has no laws defining or sanctioning child prostitution as criminal activity. An estimated 5,000 children are currently involved in prostitution, pornography and sex-tourism in Mexico. Nearly 100 children and teenagers a month fall into the hands of the child prostitution networks which are mafias or organized crime syndicates. More than 2,000 girls and young women have been sold to Japanese brothels. Traffickers belong to criminal syndicates operating along the US border and associated with Japanese "yakuza" gangs. The US-Mexican border is one of the main centers for child sex tourism. Thousands of Americans cross into Mexico daily looking for cheap sex with underage prostitutes. Mexican authorities, who admit that about 18,000 minors were used to produce child pornography, have taken little action. Organized Mexican cartels smuggle girls as young as 14 into the US. The Cadena network has smuggled many young Mexican girls to south Florida. Despite the arrest of a number of key players by US authorities, the head of the Cadena hydra remains at large. US investigators have also apprehended several employees of the California-based Chamblee Agency for trafficking laborers into the US, some of whom were forced into prostitution and debt-bondage. The most degrading and often dangerous work of women and children can be found in prostitution. Tens of thousands of Mexican women and girls (as well as men and boys) work as prostitutes in all of the major cities of the country. A recent study by the Mexico City government Youth Commission headed by Angeles Correa found that Mexico City had 50,000 prostitutes of whom 2,500 were minors. Elena Azaola of the Center of Higher Research and Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS) found that there were 5,000 child prostitutes in all of Mexico (90 percent female). But Rosa Marta Cortina de Brown of the Female Association of Tourist Enterprise Executive estimates that 250,000 children between 10 and 16 have been the victims of "sexual tourism" in cities like Guadalajara, Cancun, Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta and Tijuana. Recently there have also been reports on child prostitution in Veracruz, Queretaro, and Ciudad Juarez. Girls in prostitution face constant problems of possible pregnancy, immature childbirth, violence, alcohol and drug addiction, sexual transmitted diseases including HIV-AIDS.

2005-08-19T15:59:00.000-04:00

i started out by trying to write a day-by-day narrative of puerto vallarta. that gets difficult to write, though, and would most likely be boring for you, my dear readers. instead, i'll just give a few bullet points: 1. the biggest differences between PV and other tropical places i've been is that the streets are clean, and there are no herds of stray dogs roaming the streets. also, the tourism board must be doing a pretty good job of hiding the poverty. i'm sure there are shacks and beggars somewhere, but we couldn't find them. 2. the one thing i had been warned about was aggressive time share salesmen. neftali got us, though. he convinced megan, alice and i to check out the "grand mayan palace" for a free breakfast and a half-price snorkeling/horseback riding tour. he was probably the only person in the whole town who could get the three of us to sign up (he wasn't very aggressive, and made the tour sound pretty cool.), but while we were working it out, megan and i looked up to see his sidekick sticking one of alice's dreads in his mouth. i think he had a little too much tequila. 3. the time share presentation itself was, um, interesting. the 90 minutes turned into 3 hours, but at least the breakfast was good. the resort was beautiful as resorts go, but i have a little bit of moral problem with the hotel tearing out everything and replacing it every 5 years. anyway, our salesman was trevor, an american who is a few years older than me. he came to PV on vacation with his mother when he was nine, and they had dinner at a seafood restaurant. his mom ended up marrying the owner, and it became the vacation that never ended. anyway, he did tell us about a good place to go salsa dancing. 4. snorkeling is awesome. horseback rides up a mountain are anticlimatic. boat rides to get to the mountain are a lot of fun, especially when arturo keeps bringing more coronitas. 5. watching sunsets on the beach make me feel like i'm in a movie. of course, it was rainy season, so we didn't get to see the sunset every night. but rainy season is much better than indian monsoons - it rains about the same time every evening, and was bright and beautiful the next morning. some nights we went out in the rain, and one or two nights we succumed to the "law and order" marathons on tnt. 6. there were probably more mexican tourists than americans in PV right now. it's always a good sign to me when nationals have the same destination i do. 7. alice and megan got their first tatoos from a guy named pinky. not to fear, though - you can always trust a tatoo artist who shows you the autoclaved needles in their packages and keeps pictures of his kids on the wall. 8. i really, really want to become at least literate in the language of salsa and merengue. daniel did promise me dance lessons when we got married... 9. ultimately, PV is a place i would love to go back to. usually, tourists spots don't hold my attention that long, but i did find myself scheming ways to bring daniel back and live on the beach for the rest of our lives...

2005-08-19T00:53:00.000-04:00

viva mexico! i'm back, and there is so much to say, but i can hardly keep my eyes open. until tomorrow, just know that puerto vallarta is beautiful and amazing, and much cleaner than jamaica. good night!

2005-08-12T10:28:00.000-04:00

i'm officially in!

2005-08-11T14:12:00.000-04:00

it's deb's birthday! deb has been my friend longer than anyone else in the world, aside from my immediate family. she is smart and funny and we share a love of good books and coffee. our sleepovers when we were little were made up of lots of quiet reading of horse books. (we also shared a love of horses, and had plans to start a ranch together.) deb introduced me to taylor, the best possible college for me, and to the boxcar children when i was little. (we WERE the boxcar children when we played in her creek!) she hiked the grand canyon this summer, and she and her husband moved to portland last year just because they wanted to. she's compassionate, articulate, and steady. she has a crazy job (teaching middle school special education students) and loves it. she's also very good at it. we cna go for months without speaking, and it's still like yesterday. she shares a family background that is probably more similar to mine than anyone else. she is my original kindred spirit. happy birthday, dear!

2005-08-02T15:26:00.000-04:00

my tire and wheel broke off of my car yesterday on the highway. seriously. i am fine, the lady whose car the tire hit is fine. see daniel's blog for more info. suffice it to say, it was a long evening, and i don't really want to rehash it - except to say that daniel was absolutely amazing and patient, and took excellent care of me. i'm one of the lucky ones! the grad school group interview today seemed to go well. i should get a letter informing me of my nonacceptance within 1-2 weeks. that's great, except that classes start on august 22, so the timing is cutting it close. i'm just hoping to get an answer before the plane leaves for mexico. this evening i get my $10 massage, and then get to hang out with my church family. it's good to have a haven in this chaos. oh, and we're getting home internet access, so look for more frequent posting - maybe i'll actually be able to call myself a blogger again!

2005-07-28T17:05:00.000-04:00

it's good to know that at least one annonymous commenter wants to hear from me! we don't have internet access at home at all anymore, and work has been far too busy for much blogging time. but here i am now, with a few minutes to breathe. things of note... ...daniel turned 25 this week, which meant two great dinners and time with his family. he and i saw "war of the worlds" on tuesday, and i giggled most of the way through it. it's just hard for me to get sucked into a story line about giant tripod aliens. it's also hard to watch tom cruise try to be so intense for two hours. all in all, it was good fun. even more fun should be his gift - "dance dance revolution," the crazy japanese video game that is also a workout! ...my interview for grad school is next tuesday. if all goes well, i'll start classes august 22. it's about darn time. ...the new harry potter book almost made me cry. ...the old barbara kingsolver book "animal dreams" is making me cry. that is all. how are you today?

2005-07-12T15:22:00.000-04:00

one month from today, i'll be on the coast of mexico! i bought my ticket yesterday morning for a six day trip to puerto vallarta with my friend alice, a friend of her's from boston, and possibly another college friend who lives in seattle. there are a lot of things going on now, but that is pretty distracting today...