The Classic telephone booth picture. A must have!
Hilary and Lynette on the train to Derbyshire County.
Mark being Mark :)
Lynette and I tried on some helmets in the castle armory. I think they were just a hair to big.
November 28, 2005
Snapshots from England
The Classic telephone booth picture. A must have!
Hilary and Lynette on the train to Derbyshire County.
Mark being Mark :)
Lynette and I tried on some helmets in the castle armory. I think they were just a hair to big.
November 25, 2005
It’s Go to Work with Your Brother-in-Law Day!
November 26, 2005
You might be wondering why I would go on a vacation to England just so that I could go to work with my 
brother-in-law. Well, if your brother-in-law worked at one of the finest castles in England, I think you would go to work with him too!
Warwick Castle is its name and Lynette and I spent a whole day exploring every nook and cranny that we could. And man did our muscles feel it at the end other day. There was one passage way that took us up and down three towers totaling 530 steps.
The view from the top of the towers was wonderful. The town of Warwick is a cute town that seems to be the perfect size.
Lynette and I also got to walk around town a bit and go into some of the shops. For lunch we found, we could not go any where else besides a bakery called Greggs. This place was an ongoing theme throughout our stay in England. They have these things called pasties that cost about 80 pence and range from veggie to ham and cheese. Man they are so good! So filling too and for a little less than a buck 
sixty you can’t beat it.
You might be wondering why I would go on a vacation to England just so that I could go to work with my 
brother-in-law. Well, if your brother-in-law worked at one of the finest castles in England, I think you would go to work with him too!Warwick Castle is its name and Lynette and I spent a whole day exploring every nook and cranny that we could. And man did our muscles feel it at the end other day. There was one passage way that took us up and down three towers totaling 530 steps.
The view from the top of the towers was wonderful. The town of Warwick is a cute town that seems to be the perfect size.
Lynette and I also got to walk around town a bit and go into some of the shops. For lunch we found, we could not go any where else besides a bakery called Greggs. This place was an ongoing theme throughout our stay in England. They have these things called pasties that cost about 80 pence and range from veggie to ham and cheese. Man they are so good! So filling too and for a little less than a buck 
sixty you can’t beat it.
An Evening at the Races
Novemeber 25, 2005
On Friday night, it was decided that we would go spend an evening at the races, the greyhound races that is. Neither Lynette nor I had ever been so why not give it a whirl.
I am not much of betting person. Mark likes to have a little fun with it, so every now and then he will place a pound bet on a dog. Well, race 3 came along and the fellows decided to head downstairs to get some food. Mark wanted to place a bet so he gave a pound to Hilary and told her to go and place a bet on Badger Bait (I don’t remember the actual name of the dog so Badger Bait will have to do for now) Hilary had never placed a bet on a dog before so she somehow conned me into going up there with her.
We reached the booth and Hilary said to the man, “I would like to place a bet on Badger Bait.”
“What number is Badger Bait?” the man asked.
“I am not sure,” Hilary replied.
Just glancing at the roster before we walked up, I said, “I believe it is # 3.”
The bet was placed and we walked back to the table. Looking at the program we were struck with horror realizing that I said the wrong number. Badger Bait was # 4. Not knowing what to do, the music started indicating that all bets were closed. The only thing that we could do now is either hope that # 3 wins and pray that # 4 loses.
They were off and # 4 was leading out of the gates. # 6 however was catching up fast and eventually passed dog # 4. By this time we realized that # 3 had no chance so all we could do now is hope that # 4 didn’t win. The race continued with the leader switching back and forth between # 4 and # 6. The suspense was agonizing. The dogs crossed the line, and both Hilary and I were sure #6 had won. Well, the dogs were so tight that they had to do a photo finish to find out the true winner. And the final result, number four won by a stinkin’ nose!
“I can’t believe that just happen!” was all we could think to say. And as those words passed our lips, all we could here was Mark’s approaching voice shouting, “I won! I won! Yes!”
Well the moment of truth came and we confessed the mix up. Knowing that it was my fault, I gave him a pound to replace the one that I lost for him. He was still rather upset by the series of events that I just told you. In the end he might not have won anything but he didn’t loose anything either. So the moral of the story is ….To avoid this from happening to you, refrain from gambling!
On Friday night, it was decided that we would go spend an evening at the races, the greyhound races that is. Neither Lynette nor I had ever been so why not give it a whirl.I am not much of betting person. Mark likes to have a little fun with it, so every now and then he will place a pound bet on a dog. Well, race 3 came along and the fellows decided to head downstairs to get some food. Mark wanted to place a bet so he gave a pound to Hilary and told her to go and place a bet on Badger Bait (I don’t remember the actual name of the dog so Badger Bait will have to do for now) Hilary had never placed a bet on a dog before so she somehow conned me into going up there with her.
We reached the booth and Hilary said to the man, “I would like to place a bet on Badger Bait.”
“What number is Badger Bait?” the man asked.
“I am not sure,” Hilary replied.
Just glancing at the roster before we walked up, I said, “I believe it is # 3.”
The bet was placed and we walked back to the table. Looking at the program we were struck with horror realizing that I said the wrong number. Badger Bait was # 4. Not knowing what to do, the music started indicating that all bets were closed. The only thing that we could do now is either hope that # 3 wins and pray that # 4 loses.
They were off and # 4 was leading out of the gates. # 6 however was catching up fast and eventually passed dog # 4. By this time we realized that # 3 had no chance so all we could do now is hope that # 4 didn’t win. The race continued with the leader switching back and forth between # 4 and # 6. The suspense was agonizing. The dogs crossed the line, and both Hilary and I were sure #6 had won. Well, the dogs were so tight that they had to do a photo finish to find out the true winner. And the final result, number four won by a stinkin’ nose!
“I can’t believe that just happen!” was all we could think to say. And as those words passed our lips, all we could here was Mark’s approaching voice shouting, “I won! I won! Yes!”
Well the moment of truth came and we confessed the mix up. Knowing that it was my fault, I gave him a pound to replace the one that I lost for him. He was still rather upset by the series of events that I just told you. In the end he might not have won anything but he didn’t loose anything either. So the moral of the story is ….To avoid this from happening to you, refrain from gambling!
November 24, 2005
A Day of Thanksgiving
November 24, 2005
Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time to reflect on how we have been blessed, a time to spend time with family and friends and fellowship with one another. Thanksgiving originally was celebrated by the Pilgrims that came to the Americas from England seeking religious freedom. The first winter came and many Pilgrims didn’t make it to Spring. Fortunately, the Native Americans came to the aid of the Pilgrims. Because of their help, the Pilgrims had a bountiful harvest that year. A celebration was help where the Pilgrims and their Native American friends.
Well, this Thanksgiving we did our best to represent that first Thanksgiving. We had a little pumpkin soup, turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, corn, rolls, corn bread, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and lemon cheesecake. Oh wait, according to history books they most likely ate fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, venison, and plums. Well, we enjoyed each others company for a good three hours. Shoot. The original Thanksgiving lasted 3 days. Man, maybe we should have done a little more research before the event.
Hold Up! There is one aspect of thanksgiving that we definitely got right. Around the dinner
table sat Paul, Jane, Dave, Jeni, Mark, Hilary, Lynette, and me. So if we break this down we have 5 people from England practicing their religious freedom and 3 people from America helping the English folk prepare the food! Oh yeah. And to top it all off, each of us wore an authentic garb representation that was hand crafted by Hilary and me out of top quality construction paper. 
I would have to say that this Thanksgiving definitely beat all!
Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time to reflect on how we have been blessed, a time to spend time with family and friends and fellowship with one another. Thanksgiving originally was celebrated by the Pilgrims that came to the Americas from England seeking religious freedom. The first winter came and many Pilgrims didn’t make it to Spring. Fortunately, the Native Americans came to the aid of the Pilgrims. Because of their help, the Pilgrims had a bountiful harvest that year. A celebration was help where the Pilgrims and their Native American friends.
Well, this Thanksgiving we did our best to represent that first Thanksgiving. We had a little pumpkin soup, turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, corn, rolls, corn bread, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and lemon cheesecake. Oh wait, according to history books they most likely ate fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, venison, and plums. Well, we enjoyed each others company for a good three hours. Shoot. The original Thanksgiving lasted 3 days. Man, maybe we should have done a little more research before the event.
Hold Up! There is one aspect of thanksgiving that we definitely got right. Around the dinner
table sat Paul, Jane, Dave, Jeni, Mark, Hilary, Lynette, and me. So if we break this down we have 5 people from England practicing their religious freedom and 3 people from America helping the English folk prepare the food! Oh yeah. And to top it all off, each of us wore an authentic garb representation that was hand crafted by Hilary and me out of top quality construction paper. 
I would have to say that this Thanksgiving definitely beat all!
November 23, 2005
Mr. Darcy, Are You Home?
November 23, 2005 
Well, Arkansas has been good and all but it definitely was time for a change of scene. So with the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, I though this would be the perfect opportunity to take a little break from work and take a trip over to jolly ol’ England. I hadn’t seen my sister and brother-in-law in almost a year, so it was high time I made a little hop over the ocean. Well, this time Lynette (my roomie and friend from college) got to be a part of the adventure. (Her first stamp in her passport!)
So we arrived and spent the first couple of days helping Hilary and Mark move in to their new home. If you have ever been to their old kitchen, the one in their new house is like 7 times bigger. I mean you could have a little square dance in there.
Anyway, Hilary, Lynette, and I are all huge fa
ns of Jane Austen so we decided to treat ourselves with a little trip up to Derbyshire County. In the book Pride and Prejudice, this is the county the great estate Pemberley is in which is the home of Mr. Darcy. Derbyshire County is full of many great estates, so in honor of Jane Austen we went and visited one called Chatsworth. To our great luck, this very house was the one used in the latest movie version of Pride and Prejudice. It was used to represent none other than the great estate of Pemberley. Chatsworth is a splendid representation of Pemberley. I could not
agree more with the book when Mrs. Gardner say that the house is a “fine house richly furnished. The grounds are delightful. It has some of the best woods in the county.”
Keira Knightley's Dress (who played Elizabeth Bennett) from the movie Pride
and Prejudice.
Well, Arkansas has been good and all but it definitely was time for a change of scene. So with the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, I though this would be the perfect opportunity to take a little break from work and take a trip over to jolly ol’ England. I hadn’t seen my sister and brother-in-law in almost a year, so it was high time I made a little hop over the ocean. Well, this time Lynette (my roomie and friend from college) got to be a part of the adventure. (Her first stamp in her passport!)
So we arrived and spent the first couple of days helping Hilary and Mark move in to their new home. If you have ever been to their old kitchen, the one in their new house is like 7 times bigger. I mean you could have a little square dance in there.
Anyway, Hilary, Lynette, and I are all huge fa
ns of Jane Austen so we decided to treat ourselves with a little trip up to Derbyshire County. In the book Pride and Prejudice, this is the county the great estate Pemberley is in which is the home of Mr. Darcy. Derbyshire County is full of many great estates, so in honor of Jane Austen we went and visited one called Chatsworth. To our great luck, this very house was the one used in the latest movie version of Pride and Prejudice. It was used to represent none other than the great estate of Pemberley. Chatsworth is a splendid representation of Pemberley. I could not
agree more with the book when Mrs. Gardner say that the house is a “fine house richly furnished. The grounds are delightful. It has some of the best woods in the county.”
Keira Knightley's Dress (who played Elizabeth Bennett) from the movie Pride
and Prejudice.
November 5, 2005
A Whole New World
November 5, 2005
Well it is truly amazing how time flies when you have a job. Yup that is right; I am still a working woman. I have been for over three weeks now. When I first got here, I definitely hit the ground running. Quite honestly, I haven’t stopped running. There have been many groups, programs, course inspections, and training that have been keeping me busy.
So let me bring you into the world of Northwest Arkansas, Siloam Springs, and the Soderquist Center….my new world. My new position as the Experiential Learning Coordinator (fancy title I
know) has brought along many firsts. The 1st first is that I have my very own name plate and the 2nd first is that I now have a business card. (pictured to the right)And the 3rd first (and a bit smaller than the other two) is that I have a really nice, shinny gold magnetic name tag. I know these don’t seem like very significant things, but let me tell you when I approached my desk on my first day of work and saw my name plate I was totally thrown off balance.
I don’t have my own office which is just fine by me. I am not that high on the charts and don’t see myself being up there for a long while. I am quite content with my desk space. It is joined with some of the graduate students that work in the Center. There are 10 graduate students (aka Soder Fellows) currently; all of which I have enjoyed working with and hanging out with outside of work. They have been such a blessing by being so welcoming. Working with Mr. Gary Swyers (my old boss from college) again has also made my transition period significantly easier (and full of laughs).It is funny to think that I have only been here for three weeks. It seems so much longer than that in so many ways. That to me only can signify that this is where I am supposed to be. I definitely feel that I am a part of the Soderquist family. I still have a huge learning curve ahead of me, but that will get smaller with time.
So I thank all of you for your prayers. A few highlights outside the office… I went to Tulsa, Ok of the Oktoberfest with most of the Soder Fellows. It was a lot of fun and think I managed to do the chicken dance about 6 times. Last night, I went to the JBU’s guy basket ball game to witness an interesting tradition. When JBU scores their first basket (that is not a free throw) everyone throws toilet paper on to the court. It definitely is quite the tradition and quite the sight.
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