Ding dong, the bells are gonna chime

Gina and I had the privilege of being in Naca ... er ... Naga ... OK, this is a wonderful "teachable moment" for me to discuss the wonderful world of words. I have been saying the word "NAK-a-doe-chess" for approximately 20 years, yet I do not know how to spell it. This comes after passing no less than 20 street signs or billboards over the weekend with that word displayed. Thanks to Wikipedia, I can spell Nacogdoches for the purposes of this blog. But, this brings to mind other difficult words that fall into the "I can pronounce 'em but can't spell 'em" category, which include: Natchitoches (NAK-a-tish), LA; Cincinnati, OH; Tucson (TOO-sahn), AZ; and Juneau (JOO-noh), AK. Then there is another category of words: "They look easy to say, but they're not." This list includes: Toelle (too-ILL-ah), UT; Mantua (MAN-oo-way), UT; Opal (oh-PAL), WY; and my personal favorite, Kemmerer (KIM-er), WY. You may have noticed that most of these towns are from states in which I lived (except AK and AZ), and I'm sure you know of other towns that fall into either of these categories. So, tell me about some funny names of towns you know about.

Well, back to my story ... Gina and I were in Nacogdoches, TX over the weekend for my cousin Thomas' wedding. He recently earned the right to put "college graduate" on his resume, and now he can also check the "married" box on his tax documents. He and Jessica were married on Saturday evening under a clear Texas sky with many family and friends in attendance. Not only did I get to attend the wedding, but I also got to wear a tuxedo. Of course, I couldn't find a seat, so I had to stand up front with Thomas. I was so inspired by the beautiful moment that I pulled out my guitar and sang a quick song for everyone. I did find it strange that the first song to come to mind was about marriage. No one seemed to mind. It was a great time, and I was honored to stand up there with Thomas. I have seen him grow and mature into a devoted man of God, and he has found a wonderful wife in Jessica. I look forward to seeing their marriage develop and deepen over the years.

The trip home was a bit challenging. After having our flight delayed for two hours, we got to Baltimore at midnight. This may not sound so bad until you consider the 3-hour drive we had back to Charlottesville. As you can imagine, we are still catching up on our sleep. The highlight of our trip back to Virginia was that we got to drive from Nacogdoches to Dallas with Katie, my sister, and her husband Joe. We then got to spend an extra two hours with them at the airport, which Joe and I spent telling each other our post-college stories. We could have easily been caught up in the fact that our flight was delayed, but we took advantage of the time to relax and get to know each other better.

So, now we are (almost) caught up on sleep and school work. The weekend will be full of soccer and football games, some Thai food and a little rest'n'relaxation. We hope you all are well, and send us a note when you get a chance.

Rock me like a hurricane

No, this entry on the blog is not an ode to those '80's Heavy Metal legends, The Scorpions (though I was a bit of a fan during their 15 seconds of fame). Rather, the title of this post is in reference to the many inches of rain we received this week from Ernesto. He wasn't a hurricane by the time he reached C'ville, but he was a hurricane at one time. For this Wyoming boy who's used to seeing about 3 inches of rain per year, that counts as a hurricane. The rain couldn't have come at a better time, as the grass was just about to burn to a crisp.

One downside of the rain is that it changed our plans slightly for the weekend. The original plan was to go watch UVA play George Mason in soccer (poor Gina) Friday night, but that game had to be postponed to Saturday. The game against UCLA, which was scheduled for tonight will be played tomorrow evening. So, alas, no soccer this weekend for the Alexanders. I'm sure there will be more to come.

It wasn't a good weekend for football either. My alma mater, Utah State, got beat by Wyoming 38-7. Wyoming actually will be in Charlottesville next weekend, but Gina and I will be in Texas for my cousin's wedding. Gina's grad. school, North Carolina, got beat by Rutgers 21-16. It also just so happens that my brother-in-law, Joe, went to Rutgers. So it seems there were all kinds of rivalries this weekend, none of which we really paid attention to. The Cavaliers got pounded by the University of Pittsburgh 38-13. The good news is, the football season has nowhere to go but up!

I mentioned a few weeks back that Gina and I are involved with ISI. Last weekend we had a "Back to School" dinner at a family's house, and we invited just about every international student we know. There turned out to be 130 people there! Unfortunately, there was only food for 50, so we all got to have a light snack. Even so, the students had a nice time and got to hear talks on whether or not there is extraterrestrial life and what to do for fun in Charlottesville. Of course, everyone knows there is only one response the second question: UVA soccer. Anyway, a man from India gave his testimony as well. I think the students really paid attention to what he had to say. This week we had another dinner, and though the turn out was not as big there were still almost 80 people and LOTS of food. Gina and I gave a talk on how to make easy, low-budget meals. The menu included tuna salad, jello, dry cereal and my personal favorite, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We had small samples of each for the students to try. Can you believe many of them had never heard of peanut butter or Cheerios? That's pretty much all I ate growing up ... and in college, for that matter! There was also a talk on Creationism, and a man from China gave his testimony. Many of the students from the first week came back this week, and we are starting to develop some very good friendships with these students. Please continue to pray for ISI, Christy Lynn and Patrick Flynn and Steve and Evelyn Braintwain. They are really working hard to minister to these students who are so far from home.

That's all for now. Have a great week, and enjoy your Labor Day, if you get one. UVA, which was founded by Thomas Jefferson (one of our Founding Fathers) doesn't observe government holidays. Irony abounds. Take care.