A Buster(s).

On my lunch break I stopped by our house (that backs up to The Crossing) to let Buster out back for awhile. The weather was nice, so I was in the process of unhooking a long leash to bring him down to the office so that Buster could be outside for awhile. Once I untangled the leash, I looked up to see Buster gingerly trotting toward the back of the yard.

"Buster, no!"

He runs faster.

"Buster, what are you doing?!"

His paws hit the pavement of The Crossing's parking lot.

"Buster, NO!"

He breaks into a dead sprint.

The only thing funnier than a fat beagle running is a fat beagle running straight to our office door. By the time I caught up with him he was sitting outside the office, patiently waiting to be let inside. It turns out that Buster is pretty smart, pretty fast, and knows where we work.

Oven Timers, etc.

Recently I have enjoyed working from home for at least half of my work day. Something about the change of environment really motivates me. While feverishly typing away today at our dining room table I heard a phone ring once, twice, three times! Not a cell phone, just your run-of-the-mill old fashion phone. I jumped to my feet and called David while nervously checking around the kitchen for the mystery phone. No luck.

It turns out that the timer on our very old oven sounds a heck of a lot like a phone. It also must be broken. Mystery solved. I'm an idiot.

Losing a Friend.

This weekend, our bagle (Beagle/Bassett Hound mix) died unexpectedly. My sweet husband went to bring him in from the yard on Friday evening and Steve (the bagel) collapsed into a seizure. Needless to say, the night went downhill from there. The vet did not (and still does not) know the cause, but we suspect that he ingested some type of toxin that entered his bloodstream and caused the seizures. At 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 12 we made the heart wrenching decision to end Steve's suffering. After a tearful goodbye to our most faithful friend, Steven T. Cover fell peacefully to sleep in his bed at the University of Missouri Small Animal ER.


The shock of Steve's death has cause a lot of tears in the Cover household. I hardly know what to say about it, but my dear father in-law provided some much needed words of wisdom on Saturday morning. While we are still grieving, David and I are filled with the hope of heaven and long for the day when creation will be redeemed and restored. I will end with my father in-law's words and and the hope that I will, one day, see Steve's waggly tale and smushy face again.

"Jesus said in Matthew 10:29–30, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Steve did not "fall" apart from the will of your Father in Heaven who cares about you more than you can imagine, all the way down to the smallest detail in your life.

In everything God brings into our lives, even times where we're truly "grieved" by sadness due to loss, God sees these times as "necessary" in order to ultimately give us our eternal inheritance. Somehow, some way, in all this, Steve "fell" by the will of your Heavenly Father because he is giving you his eternal kingdom in all this. We can't see how. But God sees it as "necessary."

And who knows? C.S. Lewis, who loved his dogs like we do, wondered whether the dogs of Christians might not be there in heaven for us, since we are eternal and we therefore give eternality to them. Kind of like the way God gives eternality to us because he loves us. Our worth is connected to his love for us. So too, perhaps God allows us to give eternality to our beloved animals as well because we truly love them. "

I am not a blogger.

I am not very good at blogging. In fact, I'm horrible. Fortunately, my only faithful reader (my mom) is a forgiving audience and just calls me when she needs an update on my life. Also, my mom is a total babe:


I'm pretty good at some things. I keep our house clean and I'm even learning how to cook. So I don't feel that bad about neglecting my blog and tweeting about 15 times a day instead. Fortunately a few days off of work have allowed enough time for me to sleep 8 hours a day, see my family, and write a short blog entry.

In the spirit of being thankful (today is Thanksgiving) and my lack of writing skills, I have made a list of things I am thankful for. This is not everything, but it is what I have appreciated as of late:

1. A wonderful, hilarious, forgiving, ridiculous husband. I love him a lot.


2. The best family. Between my sister and my dad, laughter rarely ceases on our home.


3. In-laws. You don't just gain a husband when you get married, you gain a whole new family! They are really great. And really funny. If you don't know them, you're missing out.


4. A fun job where I get to pick out crafts, listen to Bible story raps, and teach 2 year-olds about Jesus.


5. Columbia, MO. I love everything about this town.


6. Precious friends.


7. God's grace and mercy that is new every morning.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Bringing Home Buster

Yesterday afternoon we brought home Buster, our newest beagle. Buster is an 8 year-old beagle with a special (and mildly amusing) story. Earlier this year, he was rescued by the Central Missouri Humane Society and weighed in at a whopping 68 pounds! Barely able to walk, Buster was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Fortunately a staff member, convinced she could bring him down to a healthy weight, took him home as a foster dog. After months of medication, a reduced diet, and lots of green beans, Buster lost 33 pounds! He is still pretty chubby, but he is now able to walk and run (if he so chooses).
Buster has only been in our home for 24 hours, but he is doing great. He enjoys waddling around the house, sleeping, eating, and eating Steve's food. Buster does not enjoy his seat belt.

We are on vacation. We don't have kids.

Last weekend David and I went to Chicago. Our original plan was to go to see the Sunny Day Real Estate reunion tour, but then we decided we should make the most of our time and stay for a few days. Other than our honeymoon, I've never planned a trip. To be honest, I put off most of the planning because I didn't feel responsible or old enough to be doing it on my own. Buy a plane ticket? Make hotel reservations? Use public transportation? From my point of view it was all a gamble. I didn't tell David, but I was pretty sure we were going to get on the wrong train and end up rolling our suitcases through a terrifying neighborhood while trying to find a cab.

As it turns out, we caught all the right trains, and we had fun. Someone asked me a few days ago if David and I ever run out of things to talk about. Are there hours, days, weeks when there is nothing new to report? (David would just tell you that I never stop talking). But there was something wonderful about sitting beside him on a train this weekend and not talking. Not because we were bored or grumpy, but just because we didn't need to. We were content to enjoy the city together and take things in. We were able to just be there. Recently, it is my favorite thing about marriage.

Chicago is a great city, and David and I enjoyed eating our way through most of it. Other than making it to the concert on Thursday night, our main goal was to have great food for every meal. I spent months diving for a notepad anytime I heard a famous or interesting Chicago restaurant mentioned on the Food Network. It paid off. Below was dinner on night one. Lobster and Vietnamese spring rolls? Yes please.

The second night we went to Fogo de Chao and treated ourselves to the best, and most expensive meal we've ever had. It was completely worth it and completely irresponsible. We were on vacation, we don't have kids.

As a female, I am required to love chocolate, so I treated us to (literally) the world's best. Trust me, you've never tasted chocolate until you have had Tuescher's champagne truffles. They will change your life.

Overall, great trip. I feel incredibly refreshed. I feel a little bit more grown up and capable of navigating a location other than 9th and Broadway. Mostly, I'm thankful that I have a hilarious best friend to travel with for the rest of our life together. Or, at least until we have kids and have no life at all.

Eventually, I always give in

There are a lot of things that I've vowed to never do:

1. Live in Columbia, MO
2. Work at a church
3. Date David Cover
4. Marry David Cover
5. Start a blog
6. Join Twitter
7. Enjoy blue (bleu?) cheese

I've yet to give into 6 & 7, but check back with me in about a year. I can almost guarantee that I'll be the queen of online social networking while enjoying a blue cheese burger.

I should probably learn from all of this. But I should also probably be responding to the 15 unread emails in my inbox right now.