why i love my sister.

She has been a voice of wisdom and reason in all areas of my life. I highly value Lori’s input in the big and small areas.

She has “saved my life” countless times due to her ability to "foresee" potentially dangerous situations and thus create in me a panic mode that prevents me from continuing in such dangerous endeavors.


Lori has the most precious family. She is married to a wonderful husband who I love dearly and am constantly thankful that he has become a part of our family. Lori’s two sons are some of my favorite little people to be around! They have so much crazy BOY energy and love to play with their aunt. Lori is a wonderful mother and when I look at her children it is clear she and Randy are instilling Godly character in their hearts. The Green household is one of my favorite places to be.

She thinks I’m funny. Actually, we are pretty much the funniest people ever.

She is relentless at pursuing a relationship with me.

We can call each other anytime, anywhere, and are fine to chat for any length of time, even if only for a minute or two. We have caught each other countless times as we are on our way to another engagement and our conversation has lasted no more than 15-20 words. I guess that’s all it takes to feel connected 

She is currently my weight loss motivation.

Lori introduced me to sushi.

Before I went to Maui, Lori knew I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t overcome my fear of snorkeling…. so…. Lori held me hostage in her hot tub and held my head under water until I finally decided to breathe through a snorkel. No, this was not childhood trauma. We were both adults.

Lori, I just love you and value our friendship with all my heart.  You are my best friend and I am so blessed to have you in my life as much as I do.  I hope your 37^th year is blessed! Thanks for being my awesome big sister who sticks with me through thick and thin.  Happy birthday to a wonderful woman. J    Lu yoo, Jamie

Summer Goals. The End.

Summer is over…. And when I look at this list I feel like a failure! It’s a good thing God loves us in spite of our unfruitful attempts! I will say that the productive part of my summer was cut short because of my month of European adventures (Tough, right??). SO, with that all said, here is how my summer goal list has panned out.


1. Start blogging.

This is my second blog.


2. Read 5 books from my personal library that I haven't yet read.

I read Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. Really interesting book about the origin of the LDS faith. Since my family has roots in Mormonism, I have been interested in understanding what the religion teaches. This book was an objective history of the revelations that Joseph Smith and the subsequent prophets had that began and maintained the religion.

I am also halfway through Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. Beth talked me into reading it when I was looking at books at her school library in Vienna. I’m enjoying the fantasy so far!


3. Make contact with 3 friends each week who I don't see on a regular basis.

This was a fun one to work at! I have had friends move to nearby cities, states, and countries and it is so hard to keep in good contact sometimes! I feel like a horrible friend at times. I don’t think I quite made the 3/week goal for every week, but I did find myself having conversations with friends and family I don’t run into on a regular basis, which was the point!


4. Listen to Pastor Mark Driscoll's sermon series on Luke.

I am currently on the tenth sermon in the series. It’s awesome! I have been challenged to know the Bible more and continue seeking Truth. If you haven’t heard his teachings before, you can check him out at http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mars-hill-church-mark-driscoll/id129950451


5. Learn 30 phrases in German.

I downloaded “My Daily Phrase German” through Radio Lingua Network on iTunes to practice some German each day. It was a great, easy introduction to the language. I’m a super visual person, so I ended up typing up the phrases as well. It was fun to practice these over in Austria…. though I got some funny looks when I didn’t say things quite right. I am sorry, but I can’t quite get the throat/phlegm thing down! Unfortunately, I will probably forget almost everything I learned. I guess I will just need to go back.


6. Put together a photo album of post-college pictures.

I printed a ton of them out and organized them chronologically. They are still waiting for me to do anything else with them. Haha. Oops.


7. Begin and finish an art project.

I am currently working on a photo book with all of my Maui pictures on picaboo.com. I haven’t been super creative in a long time… dang it!


8. Cook/bake/bbq a new recipe each week.

A. Fish tacos. I used a recipe from my brother-in-law, Randy, when making dinner with some friends. I cut up salmon, put it in the dry batter, and then fried it. We topped the tacos off with red cabbage, cilantro, and mango salsa. Delish!
B. Oatmeal cookies. Yes, I have made oatmeal cookies before, but just not this recipe.
C. Cowboy salsa. This was a big hit at a Fourth of July potluck.
D. Risotto. I used chicken and threw in zucchini, tomatoes, and carrots. I also spiced it up a bit. :)Thanks, Nikki for trying this one out!

E. Pancakes from scratch. Thanks, Beth.
F. Cheesy sausage penne. Thanks again, Beth.

9. Journal.

I don’t even want to comment on this one… I still haven’t finished writing about my trip through Europe that ended almost three weeks ago. I have gotten some good journaling ideas, but I haven’t been good about following through with them.


So, there are my summer goals. Honest. Warts and all.

Why yes, I AM going to do something this summer.

So, at the start of this summer I was talking with a friend and she was starting to freak out because summer had started and she hadn't created her summer goal list yet. I'm thinking, "What?? Summer goals??" I was instantly intrigued and began working on my own summer goal list. So, here they are!

1. Start blogging. I'm not sure if this list creation counts as me starting blogging or not, but I had to start somewhere, right?

2. Read 5 books from my personal library that I haven't yet read. I have a BAD habit of buying books that I forget to read.

3. Make contact with 3 friends each week who I don't see on a regular basis.

4. Listen to Pastor Mark Driscoll's sermon series on Luke.

5. Learn 30 phrases in german. This goal will hopefully be accomplished before I go to Austria on July 6th!

6. Put together a photo album of post-college pictures. I'm pretty sure that four years worth of unprinted pictures is going to be obnoxiously fun to sort through.

7. Begin and finish an art project. I'm not sure what the project is quite yet, but I get these great and lofty ideas and hardly ever follow through with them. So basically the next great idea I get, I'm going with it!

8. Cook/bake/bbq a new recipe each week. Also, learn to bbq.

9. Journal. I'm not the greatest journaler, so my goal is to journal at least 4 times a week.

These are all of the goals I have now. Some may morph and others may be added, but this is at least a start! Summer actually began 2 weeks ago for me, so I'm a little late at getting started with some of them, but I have already started working on a few. Good thing.