Happy New Year's!

We won't be sending paper cards this year (it's a biannual phenomenon in the Strait household), so e-cards it is. Happy holidays to all!

God Bless La Canada

Vancouver, British Columbia. We thank you.

a) Thanks to Dave Ormesher we found an airline that flies direct, Chicago to Vancouver (as opposed to using Seattle or Portland as the pacific northwest hub). We purchased brand spankin' new one-way flights for the 23rd.
b) A snow storm was predicted for the 23rd in Chicago, to begin just hours before our flight. Awesome.
c) Because the snow storm did, in fact, arrive it was impossible to call a taxi & all our nearby friends hit the roads early to avoid the bad weather. Not wanting to bother those not so nearby, we used our luggage as snow plows (literally) to make it out to a main street. I'll spare you the details, but in the end--we made it to the train. And, for you Seattle-ites without snow shovels (looking around it seems they're sold out???), we recommend heavy rolling luggage. Sure helped out our neighbors.
d) Made it to the airport. Gate changed 3 times. Got on plane. Could not see out plane windows due to white-out snow storm. Said "There's no way..." many times. But guess what. There IS a way. Because our plane took off in the middle of a snow storm, leaving 500 other flights canceled & many passengers stranded overnight at O'Hare.

Don't know how we got out, but we've enjoyed a full 24 hours with family already. We're at 2 Christmases & counting (both in Anacortes), & it's not even the 25th yet! 2 more Christmases tomorrow (1 in Seattle, the next in Olympia). Must... eat... more... food!!

Winter Wonderland... but Missing Family!

Well, our flight was canceled yesterday so, even after 5 hours working to get another flight, in Chicago we remain... dearly missing family & wishing we were sledding with Daddy D down the 33rd Av hill, as we had planned! Chicago's -35 oF (okay, with windchill) has been keeping us indoors for the past 24 hours, to Mollie's dismay. I had efficiently cleaned out the fridge in preparation for our trip so with no food in the house we had the ideal excuse to order in Thai last night & committed to watching 2 movies, drinking hot cocoa & sharing buckets of laughs & cuddles before calling it a night. Mollie even sacked out for the evening next to the couch, ready to veg. What began as a terribly disappointing day ended as a wonderfully relaxing day together.

As we hadn't planned to be in Chicago for Christmas we didn't go all out prepping the house for Christmas, but last night we were thankful for the simple decor we did install! We had a cozy home. With some of my newly found spare time, I thought I'd share with you a few of my current holiday faves! Above are our stockings, a gift from Drew's mom. Mollie & Tink have the little boots, & Drew & I have the larger stockings. Mollie & Tink's stockings are stuffed with goodies but Drew's & mine remain empty... Funny how that works. I stuck a few candy canes in them last week, sensing their jealousy.

We have this wreath on our kitchen wall. We intended it for our entry door but it was just too cute inside the house! The matching garland is particularly cute in the living room, housing candles, our silver Christmas tree & white bird house. I've been scouting out these reindeer at PB for the after holiday sales. They strike me as whimsical... Love them & their spindly legs!

We purchased one-way flights to Vancouver, BC, for tomorrow afternoon & are hoping the Chicago snow permits our departure. With Seattle, Spokane & Portland airports still closed, Vancouver was the final remaining option. We'll be able to spend Christmas with family after all--Chris & Janie will be picking us up in BC for our first Anacortes Christmas. Momma K & Daddy D, we're on our way to you, full speed ahead!

Just a Little Obsession

Just a little something I found online & absolutely adore. The graphic buttons & fresh yellow are magnetic... on sale at Etsy. It certainly beats the wrap around scarf option's trend factor and provides the necessary warmth for these blustery Chicago days!

See this & others here. Don't miss the precious hair clips she makes as well... pictured below... and, most importantly, STAY WARM!!

meet N.T. Wrong

This guy kills me. Drew has introduced me to the world of "Biblioblogs." Basically, this group of obsessive theologians--many quite prestigious--use blogs as academic vehicles for exchanging news in the field, ideas & to cultivate discussion.

Then there's N.T. Wrong (a farcical name coined from the real "Bishop of Durham"--N.T. Wright). He takes a rather unorthodox approach to exegesis, but regardless-he's hilarious. No one knows his real identity. Drew & I have enjoyed following all the blog posts these last few weeks postulating who he truly is... which has often resulted in these theologians taking humorous shots at one another.

His recent post is absolutely hilarious. Not only is this mystery blogger creative, but he is truly brilliant. What he writes about is, fortunately enough, quite true. Yes, farting. And ass. In the O.T. Read on, if you dare. http://ntwrong.wordpress.com/2008/12/12/breaking-wind-from-your-ass/

Can Scientists Dance?

So, I guess Scientists can dance... or, at least try! Science held a competition this year called "Dance your Ph.D."... they had separate categories for grad students, post-docs & professors. A colleague of mine up in Canada applied & I wish I had known about it sooner! These videos are so fun. Maybe not the highest caliber dancing, but getting a professor to bob his head in a loincloth for a national audience? Impressive.

The "grad student" category winner:


Student winner. Had I been judging they would have received extra points for the loincloth, as that takes guts:


For more info on the competition, or to watch other videos: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/319/5865/905b

$400 tickets to the Lyric Opera

We set out this weekend determined to avoid making "plans" of any sort. The past few months it seems our weekends have been brimming with far too many engagements. We often end up backing out of at least one engagement per weekend... or finding we'll have to miss things we were very much looking forward to (birthday parties, church get togethers, celebrations of other sorts, shows around Chicago...).

We reaped the fruit of "having no plans" this weekend when my advisor asked if we'd be interested in taking over her season tickets to the Lyric Opera for Saturday night's production of Gershwin's Porgy & Bess. I've been wanting to see Porgy & Bess since my junior high years, when I first played the primo part for "Summertime" on the piano (a lyric duet with my teacher, the beloved Mrs. Moody). I was most certainly not disappointed--a fabulous cast & a fabulous set made for a fabulous production. And these were not just any tickets: they were $200 apiece, 2nd & 3rd row tickets. I swear Crown spit on me at least once.

In other news? The final version of my paper's been sent back to EJN, we found coats for all the refugees at our church, I've decorated for Christmas and we're looking forward to a late night dinner with our Cuban friends tonight. Pollo "di tu"--whatever that means. All I know is they're very excited to introduce us to this classic Cuban dish. :)

candidate i am

just yesterday i learned from my committee that i have advanced on to candidacy. this means you are no longer allowed to call me a "graduate student"... from here on out, i'm known as "Dana Strait, doctoral candidate."

since i've made it this far, i might as well finish. ;-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We've enjoyed one of our favorite Thanksgivings yet.

We have Drew sister Janie & her husband Chris in town from Washington State--& are having such a great time together, playing in the city, catching up & getting plenty of laughs in. Mollie's particularly fond of her Uncle Chris: they're pretty much inseparable. She'll be exhausted when he leaves, I'm sure.

With Chris & Janie at Grant Park's ampitheatre downtown:
Cooking for Thanksgiving dinner has been particularly thrilling. Janie & I stirred the seasonings in the sink last night to soak the giant 20 pound bird.

Drew did superb (& apparently exciting) work stuffing herbs & oranges into the turkey's nooks & crannies:

Janie & I did all of our cooking in matching aprons... and the turkey, by the way, was incredible... our eco-friendly Domino recipe worked!!

After slaving away all day in the kitchen we enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal with friends from Burundi (Analisa, Japhet & Vanissa) & their children. We ended the meal with a thrilling game of Spoons, which was quite the hit! Analisa laughed so hard at one point she actually fell out of her chair, sending us all into fits of laughter!

Simion worked diligently at the computer for quite some time, & here is receiving some assistance from Drew & Janie.

A joyful evening was had by all, & I believe we're all truly thankful for family, friends & full bellies.

yippee

My first article has been accepted for publication in the European Journal of Neuroscience... hard work pays off! "Musical experience and neural efficiency: effects of training on subcortical processing of vocal expressions of emotion." Sound exciting?

Goodbye Felikis... And Hello to New Refugees!

If you've been reading my blog over the past year you may remember my introducing our precious friends from Burundi, the Feliki family. Jeanetti, Feliki & their beautiful 7 children became very close friends during their 1 1/2 years in Chicago, just blocks away from us. We got to know them through Exodus World Service's "New Neighbor" program, that connects willing volunteers with nearby refugee families, just arrived in the U.S. from refugee camps. As you can imagine, their learning curves are steep and physical needs can be overwhelming at times (especially in light of Chicago's harsh winters!). Chicago accepts an overwhelming number of refugees yearly, and there are not near enough social agencies to tend to them all sufficiently.

Thus began our relationship with the Felikis, who we visited along with friends Nick & Jenna Bott. We shared meals, a church, language-learning, new cultural activities and much laughter together! After searching for work for Feliki for quite some time, he became very depressed & frustrated with city life. With so many immigrants in Chicago, finding work as a non-English speaker is competitive!! They moved this past summer to Memphis, and we have missed them terribly. It was hard to say goodbye--not only for us, but for the many friends of ours who became close with the family as well. Their farewell party at the church hosted a meetinghouse full of people--from children to adults--all in tears before the night was through.

Feliki, having lost his parents & siblings to genocidal war in Burundi, made it clear that we were the first people to step up and take care of him as a parent would have. He is now in Memphis working his first successful job, but boy do we miss them! Here, Feliki shares about how we taught him what having a parent to help you along is like through a translator, our friend Leonce:


Frank (the 4th grade son) had my camera at the move & got shots of us all helping. This is one of the few non-blurry photos he captured. Thanks, Dave et al., for all your hard work! It was a hot night if I remember correctly.


We are now getting to know another refugee family, this time from Cuba, in addition to continuing relationships with other Burundians we got to know through the Feliki fam. Our church has progressively filled with refugees--from the Congo, Burundi, Burma and, now, Cuba. Services are becoming increasingly international, though we're all in agreement that there's much room to grow as we learn how to incorporate individuals from various cultures into leadership roles and foster non-segregated community. Regarding the Cubans, it's refreshing to be able to speak the language of our new friends--it certainly makes understanding their needs easier!! And boy has my Spanish been needing a workout. We'll introduce you to our new friends more thoroughly in a later post, but for now I can tell you: our tummies have been happily full of tostones, frijoles & lovely Cuban seasonings lately! As they know we have little time to cook ourselves, they've been blessing us with incredible meals whenever time permits.

the end of my political rantings...

well, at least for the next 3 1/2 years. :)

I am sorry to plague you with yet another election-centric post but I have been pained by the facebook statuses of many Christians today. I've read posts like "Ashamed of my country," "Obama will never be MY president," and "Who wants to move to Australia with me?" The fear is palpable among evangelical Republicans, who may now be wondering: "Did God's will fail?"

In the wake of this fear I have had a number of individuals ask: "Why, as a Christian, could you vote Obama?" For any of you who may be wondering this same thing, I share with you my reasons. If you have no interest feel free to wait for my next fluffy post, where I'm sure you'll see photos of kitties, puppies, my husband & enjoy stories about fun Chicago activities. If you have thoughts, I would love to hear them.

So here goes.

To be honest, it hasn’t been a joy to hear fromsome Christian Republicans over the past few months. I have felt very discriminated as a Christian serious about making a decision in accordance with my faith & deciding that this means my voting for Obama. I am a Christian, and I support Obama.

My first loyalty is to the Kingdom of God. As Christians we have a political duty first and foremost to the KOG. With this in mind, I believe Christ ushered in an ethical duty for Christians to give loyalty to both the Kingdom (extending beyond national borders) over country and Jesus’ example of non-violent resistance over military power (hence, why Christians wouldn’t enter the army until over 300 years after the death of Christ). I do not vote for Obama because I think he is the “most Christian.” I vote for Obama because I believe he has the most self-control (he’s a “thinker”) when it comes to retaliating against our enemies. In an age of nuclear war and extreme collateral damage to civilians in war (iraqbodycount.org), we need a leader who can think through the cost of pulling the trigger in contrast to the Bush doctrine. McCain’s infidelity in marriage and Palin’s lack of experience/education are also issues for me. Palin’s fundamentalist Christian beliefs are even more concerning (I'll refrain from going more into detail--the fundamentalist/pentecostal church would necessitate a post in itself!). I do not see Obama as the “perfect” candidate, but the lesser of two evils.

It might help in framing my decision for you to know that I no longer consider myself part of the “Evangelical” Christian movement. I am currently in the process (with my husband) of joining the Mennonite church, in the Anabaptist tradition. Peace and social justice are primary concerns in this tradition, believing that this aligns with Jesus’ life, message and the rest of scripture taken together.

Brian McLaren has posted some articles that I am in agreement with on his blog—the top 5 reasons why he is voting Obama. I’d love to hear your thoughts. The reasons are:

1. Mindset, especially in regards to foreign affairs & seeking reconciliation with our enemies:
http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/why-im-voting-for-obama-and-why.html

2. Lack of honesty & humility among the Republican party: http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/why-im-voting-for-barack-obama-a.html

3. Caring for the “least of these”: http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/why-im-voting-for-barack-obama-a-1.html

4. Caring for Creation: http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/why-im-voting-for-barack-obama-a-2.html

5. A Note on Abortion: http://www.brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/why-im-voting-for-barak-obama-and-i-hope-you-will-too-reason-5.html


http://www.matthew25.org/ also provides a lot of articles that we’ve referred to in explaining our position. This is an online Christian community that endorses Obama for president.

I hope this helps explain my stance, although for those of you who disagree, I understand you have made your decisions with much thought & respect your convictions. In the end, our first loyalty is to the Kingdom of God, & this Kingdom transcends national borders. I have lived in countries plagued by unjust dictatorships & faced with threats of government-sponsored genocide. Governments, Christian or not, never equal the power of the church. And as a church, we will continue to love in the name of Christ--whoever our president may be.

voting christian

i go bonkers each election with discussion about abortion, gay marraige & how they are the 2 most important issues to consider in voting. AAARGH!!!! what about the poor? social issues? refraining from violence? ...

i was so very thankful to read this article. http://exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com/2008/11/vote-bible.html

i'd love to hear what you think!

a family of models

So we did a photo shoot yesterday & it was such fun! We've always hated our wedding photos (bad photographer) so when a photographer asked if we'd be willing to pose we said "YES!!" She's a local photographer needing to build her portfolio & was willing to take some casual photos of us as well (as in, photos where I'm not in my wedding dress & veil)--& we get to keep them all! so yesterday I broke out the wedding dress (which I didn't even know we had here in Chicago!), got it pressed & played dress up with Drew. It actually turned into a very romantic afternoon, as we posed & giggled in Northwestern's Shakespeare gardens. A few have asked to see the photos so I thought I'd post some of the samples she sent out late last night. Many more are on their way!



She loved our shoes... I didn't realize Drew had worn the black socks I historically abhor until I saw this photo! Drew has this thing for black socks that I still don't understand.

She took some time to take some shots of us with Mollie as well. I can't wait to see more of them! This one is precious, however, & was included in those she sent last night. A man & his dog.

doing the vote

My sister in law sent me this link last night & I thought it was too cute to keep to myself. so y'all: whoever you're voting for, get out there & do it! In an educated fashion, of course.