"Singer" Clinger

I had a unique experience at church on Sunday. I have been fighting a cold or some other kind of bug that has resulted in lots of congestion, drainage, and coughing. This weekend that meant that my speaking voice would come and go, and singing was pretty much not happening. I decided when I woke up Sunday morning that I had no business singing in front of a group of folks, for the sake of my voice healing, and for the sake of sparing the ears of the congregation. So, I didn't sing with the band. Instead, I sat in the congregation with Jeff. My intention was to rest my voice and just listen, but I don't know that I've ever taken part in a worship service where there was the opportunity to sing and I didn't. (I have attended worship services where there was either no music, the music was instrumental, or it wasn't geared toward the congregation singing along.) I found that I couldn't not sing. Funny that one of the songs we sang was "How Can I Keep from Singing." :-)

I've been struggling lately to find inspiration for planning worship, for several reasons that I won't get into here. But on Sunday and then again as I was singing with my iPod yesterday, I contemplated for a moment how my life would be different if I couldn't sing. What would I "do" with my life if I I didn't really delve deep into the line of thinking, because I fear that I don't have the answer for what that would fully mean. I really think my identity, and to a large extent, my self-worth, is tied to my musical gifts, specifically singing. it's who I am and what I do. Not that I have the best or most beautiful voice. I don't pretend that I do. But I do feel like my voice is accessible for others to follow and join with me.

I didn't come to any conclusions about what I would do if suddenly I would be unable to sing. I think there will come a day when that is the case. The voice is one of those parts of the body that shows its age, and I don't want to be the lady in the choir who everyone else wishes would "retire." A woman at my last church retired herself from the choir, at a point when I believe others still wanted her. That's how I want to go: when I'm still wanted rather than when everyone else wishes I would just get the heck out. I have no desire to be the warbler.

Anyway, this whole experience started me thinking about what I would do if I wasn't SingerClinger. What if I was just Heather? I wonder what that would be like.

Umm, I'm back?

I can't promise that this is the beginning of new blogging spurt, but here are the highlights from the last 6 months. Wow, it really has been that long since I posted.

• We moved to Fairway, KS (Shawnee Mission Pkwy & Mission Rd)
• I started working at the cafe (snack bar) at Prairie Life Fitness Center in Olathe and now also work in the nursery.
• Hannah turned 1!
• She has 6 teeth, working on the 7th.
• She's cruising but not walking.
• Jeff works a few shifts at Kite's sports bar in Shawnee (too bad it is a K-State bar...) and is working with some folks to start a company for metabolic health (Innovative Metabolic Solutions)

But, you probably already know most of that.

We're doing well. We are blessed by the support we have received from our families and friends, and are learning what a gift that support is.

Welcome to my blog (again)

So you're reading this now because you've been invited to view my blog. It's not that I'm excluding anyone, it's just that it has come to be that it needed to be this way. I took my last post down for about the same reason. It maybe won't be this way forever, but for now my circle of trust is pretty limited. Thanks for being in my circle. I appreciate you.

Here's the latest: things are ok, considering. I am waiting to hear back about another part time job that I hope would start sometime in the middle of this month. Hannah is doing well. She's sitting on her own, and she is rolling to the point that we can't leave her alone on the bed anymore. She's so much fun! It has been so much fun to watch Jeff and Hannah together the last couple of weeks. It really is a beautiful thing!

This weekend I'm going to St. Louis for my sister's bachelorette party. I'm a little ashamed (and maybe, in a weird way, proud) to say that this is my first bachelorette party. So I'm going to look up online if there are things that a matron of honor is "supposed" to do. Sad, isn't it? *Sigh* Oh well. I'm looking forward to some away time, though it will be my first night away from Hannah. Wish us luck!

I'm Just Sayin'

Lately, many of my clergy friends have embarked on many plans to raise up other young clergy within The United Methodist Church, and I applaud them for it.  However, I get frustrated when it seems that clergy leaders are the only ones who "matter" when looking at the future of the denomination.  I know clergy are supremely important to the continuation of our denomination in the future.  Afterall, I am married to a pastor and daily see the ways in which he and his colleagues care for and lead their congregations.  However, they won't have a denomination, or congregations, for that matter, to lead if we don't also focus on raising up "lay" (non-clergy) leaders.  

I'm struggling here and in my interactions with the topic to not seem like I'm whining.  ("Look at me, I matter, too!!")  I also struggle because I am one of "those" people who would like to see change but don't know how to help/start and don't really have the desire to be the one to forge the path.  In all honesty, that's why I dropped out of the ordination process to become a deacon--too many questions to answer and challenges to overcome.  And I saw a way that I could be in ministry without having to jump through the hoops.  Do I regret it?  Not really.  The whole issue of defining who deacons are and how their ordination is distinct and different from elders and now local pastors is a mess that seems to only be getting worse, and I don't want to go into that right now.

I think my biggest concern is that by focusing so much on raising up "young clergy," I see a potential devaluing of the ministry of the laity, who are equally as called and equally as necessary (if not more so) to the work of the Church.  If we are truly to see change in the way our denomination is heading, then we need leadership, yes.  But that doesn't mean that the clergy have to or even can do it by themselves.  We are called to work together.  

There is another caution for those who are now classified as "young" clergy (however that might be determined), whether by age or time in "the system."  The caution is this: if you don't quickly look behind you at those who are coming behind you, then you risk putting yourself in the same situation as those with whom you seem to be frustrated now.  The danger is that you might be fighting for change that you yourself will not benefit from.

So, that's just my two cents.  But then again, what do I know?  No one's laid hands on me to set me apart, I'm just one of the masses.

Pearly white

Hannah has a tooth!  

We've figured she's been teething for a few weeks now, what with the increased drool and chewing on anything she can get her mouth on.  Yesterday I thought I'd feel around in her mouth to see if I could feel anything, and I found the beginnings of a tooth already pushed through her lower gum.  It is so cute!  I never thought I'd get so excited about a silly tooth.  Truth be told, I'm also excited that the fussing seems to have dissapated and my sweet, smiling, content little girl is back.  It's fun to watch her feel her tooth with her tongue.  She's been doing that for a while now, but just yesterday I figured out what she was really doing.

I've always paid attention to people's teeth.  I don't know why, but I would say that it is one of the first things I notice or remember about a person.  It is kind of weird to think that Hannah's mouth will now be forever different, no longer the gummy, toothless grin.  Ah, my little baby is growing up!

Sex God

A while back, I read on Dustin's blog that Community of Hope UMC would be doing a sermon series on sex, called Sex God.  I was curious what the premise would be and how forthright the discussion would be.  Their promo is all about how we never talk about sex in the church, but yet we are surrounded by talk/sight of it in our culture.  I have been very interested in what Joe, COH's pastor, has had to say.  I appreciate his candor and honesty.  He suggested in the first sermon of the series that parents take their young children to Sunday School instead of staying in the service, but that middle school and especially high school teens, needed to hear these messages.

 

You can listen to the sermons here, or subscribe to their podcast on iTunes.  I'm also catching up on previous sermons.

Lent

Once again, Lent is upon us, thankfully later than it was last year.  I'm not exactly sure when it was that I started, but most years I give up something for Lent.  One year it was chocolate (about a week after my sister had given me a box of cherry cordials for Valentine's day).  Another year it was pop, which lasted until the day before Easter when the Pizza Hut worker asked me to taste the drink I was buying for my co-worker to make sure they had the lines right in their pop machine.  Those are the big ones.

This year, Jeff and I decided to give up tv for Lent.  All tv.  For all of Lent.  Well, sort of.  We gave ourselves some exceptions, because the intent is to not have it on at home in the background all the time.  Admittedly, I watch more tv than Jeff does.  Almost every morning, I turn on NBC's The Today Show while we're getting ready.  Then at 11 I switch over to ABC for The View and it stays there the rest of the day until the news comes back on.  I just like NBC news better.  But at 10:35pm we tune in to The Late Show with David Letterman and fall asleep to that, unless its Saturday, in which case we fall asleep to Saturday Night Live.  Seriously, a tv is on in our house almost all the time.  

So the point is to be more intentional about spending quality time together.  We decided that we would not watch tv content online because that's really not that different than watching tv.  Also, we decided that didn't include renting and watching movies, or watching tv at friends' houses if that is the activity.  (We are aware that Lent falls mostly in March, during a thing called March Madness.  We are very thankful to be back in the listening area where we can listen to Bob Davis call the games on the radio, even when the KU Jayhawks play in the Final Four and National Championship games.)  I'm finding that the challenge for us is that we don't spend the evenings on the couch with each of us on a laptop.  That seems like replacing the tv with the computer and is not so much a sacrifice or different way of living, which to me is the point of giving something up for Lent: it forces you to rethink your every day patterns and way of living.

Which brings me to another blog I read today.  Jon Acuff writes the blog Stuff Christians Like.  It's kind of a tongue-in-cheek, real look at "stuff" Christians like, hence the name.  Today's post examined giving things up for Lent, specifically tv, and his points made me stop to think.  Particularly #9:

  Have I really learned anything if I just gorge myself on all the shows I missed the minute Lent is over? If I lock myself in a closet the day after Lent concludes and watch 19 hours of Lost and 30 Rock and the Office and the Soup, has anything in my life changed?

So I ponder this as I examine how my days are different without the tv on in the background.  How is your life changing by what you are giving up or adding for Lent?

New Hannah pics

There are new pictures of Hannah up at www.theclingerfamily.com.  Click on the photos tab at the top of the page to see pics of her from the last couple of weeks.  Such a cutie!  :-)

"On My Own" - or - "Out of Proportion"

This week Jeff has been in Arkansas for the New Church Leadership Institute (NCLI).  It is the second of two weeks he has been gone for the institute.  He went to the first one in October, and we had the "what if" plan in case I went into labor (I didn't).  I think I spent at least one night in Lawrence with Barb and John (Jeff's folks) so I wouldn't be alone for the whole week.  This time, I had sole "Hannah duty" all week.  Jeff encouraged me to try to plan things to do each day to help the week go by faster.  And actually, the week has been pretty good.  Monday I met Sara and Kara for what I thought would be a "working" lunch but turned out to be just lunch for my birthday.  Tuesday I was able to get some work done during the day, and then Hannah and I went to walk around the mall while dinner was cooking in the slow cooker.  Last night I had a meeting in Lawrence and tonight I had rehearsal, so Wednesday evening I loaded up the girls (Hannah and Kayla) to spend some time with Barb and John.  They watched Hannah last night during my meeting and tonight during rehearsal.  Tomorrow I will meet Julia, a long-time friend, for brunch, then get the girls loaded in the car to go home.

This week has made me appreciate a couple things: #1 - all that Jeff does around the house and his presence and support; #2 - how helpful it is to be living close to family; #3 - how much I appreciate John and Barb being willing to watch Hannah (so, ok, we don't exactly have to twist their arms to do it, but still...); #4 - what a privilege it is to have the option to work part-time; and #5 - how difficult it would be to be a single parent.

Thanks for doing this parenting thing with me, Jeff!  I'm glad we're doing it together.

WAAY too long

I can't believe it has been so long since I've posted! If you're reading this, you no doubt know that on 11-11-08, "BC" became Hannah Marie! She was 8 pounds 2 ounces, and 19.5 inches long. She's now 10 weeks old, smiling, cooing, and generally being cute...except when she's being fussy, which seems to be more frequent lately. We're working on that.

We had an ultrasound on her pyloric valve after her 1 month doctor's appointment, and found that it was fine. We had been concerned about the amount she had been spitting up, and problems with that valve run in my dad's side of our family. She's fine and really healthy, so we feel blessed!

I went back to work in the middle of December. That's sooner than I would have liked, but I figured I needed to be around for Christmas Eve. I was part time before Hannah was born, and am still, which is nice. I have been driving to Lawrence just two days a week, on Sundays for worship and Thursdays for rehearsal. Mondays are Jeff's day off and I will probably be going to Lawrence then. It will mean we lose a family day, but I think it will be good for Jeff and Hannah to have time to themselves.

Last night we took dinner to some friends who have a one-month old and almost-three-year-old, and it was amazing how much bigger Hannah was than Kaia. Granted, they can still wear the same size clothes, but it was pretty neat to see the difference.

Life is different in the Clinger house, which we are making more "ours" with some painting and other changes. We are so thankful that we're close to family. Hannah ("little h" or "hmc" to distinguish from Mom) has had lots of time with grandparents and aunts/"unlces." My sister is in the middle of a rotation in Topeka (about an hour away) and we've been able to hang out much more than we will when she goes back to St. Louis. And Jeff's sister was able to spend several days here between Christmas and New Year's.

Hannah was baptized at Church of the Resurrection on Dec. 27th, and despite funky weather, we were able to celebrate with all six of her grandparents, aunt Erin and almost-uncle Jay, aunt Rebekah and almost-uncle Mike, great-aunt Patsy and great-uncle Wayland, great-aunt Charlotte and great-uncle Charlie, Grandpa Suffron's cousin Judy, Mom's cousins John and Sue. We were sorry my grandparents couldn't make it, but it was wonderful to be surrounded by our families.

I guess that's about it. I'm going to try to update on a more regular schedule. Feel free to hold me accountable. :-)

Post-Weekend Update

We met with the doc this afternoon, and she said all the lab results came back normal.  My blood pressure was a little higher than it had been Thursday, but it was still securely in the "normal" range.  She said it was fine for me to go back to work and resume life as "normal."  We'll have weekly appointments from here on out, but were already at that point anyway.  So the good news is that there's nothing super exciting to report!

Thanks so much to everyone for food, prayers, calls, emails, and the many other ways you support us!

Baby Clinger update

Well, so much for my boring pregnancy.  Up until now there hasn't really been anything to report, but here's the latest.

Yesterday morning I had a regular appointment with my doctor, and everything was fine.  I went to Lawrence to work as planned.  I felt some tingles in my foot, so checked with a family friend who is a doctor.  She had me come in and ran some tests, and talked with my doctor's office.  They want me on bed rest for the weekend.  Tonight I'll go to the lab here in Olathe where they'll run a few more tests, and we'll get the results on Monday afternoon when I have an appointment with my doctor's practice partner.  They're checking for pre-eclampsia, which is related to blood pressure.  Mine has always been fine, but the doctor in Lawrence saw a couple other indicators that could be precursors to pre-eclampsia.

What happens next depends on the results from the lab work.  The good news in all this is that we're less than a month away from the due date, so if they decide to deliver, the baby would be early but probably not dangerously so.  Jeff's trip to Arkansas next week is up in the air, and he's cleared his schedule of pretty much everything, so we're hanging out together.  We'll get some movies and probably pull out some of our board games.  We're hoping the doctors are just being cautious, but we're also trying to get prepared for the possibility of an early delivery.  We'll update at www.theclingerfamily.com.  Your prayers and support are, of course, appreciated.

Baby's Footprint

In my blog reading today, this post from gDiapers caught my attention.  We considered using gDiapers as an alternative to disposables, but now are thinking we'll go with cloth.  In any case, it really got me to thinking about the global impact on resources that just one child has, and what my global impact has been and will be.  The references to other countries were telling as well.  If you're interested, you can calculate your carbon footprint here.  Really, there are lots of places you can do that.  The sobering thing for me was to see how many earths it would take to sustain humanity if everyone lived like me.  And it is interesting to see, but I don't think it means anything unless we do something to make our footprint smaller.  We're trying, at least.

Updates

Several updates to let you know about...

• I'm now 30 weeks pregnant.  I haven't gained too much weight, but at this point I've decided not to keep track on my own anymore.  We had an appointment with the doctor today and they took blood samples.   They'll also be checking my TSH levels.  Oh, and I drank the glucose drink this morning.  It's like flat orange pop, and made me feel like I had just had 10 ounces of pure sugar (surprise).  We've now moved to the phase of seeing the doctor every two weeks.
• We started child birth class last night.  We'll go on Wednesday nights for a total of 5 weeks.  There are 5 other couples in the class, and there wasn't a whole lot of interaction between folks last night.  Four of the other couples all have the same doctor, which seems like it could be unique.  The woman who led the class just talked the whole time other than when we introduced ourselves, and it was a little difficult to pay attention all the time.  But it was helpful.
• This Sunday will be my first Sunday leading worship at the West Campus of Lawrence FUMC.  I was freaking out a bit what with people being gone for the holiday weekend, but it looks like things will work out ok.  Thanks to lots of folks, I have a list of people to call on to fill in if needed.  It helps to have connections at COR, and that they're having a special service for the weekend so folks are available to help out!  It's been nice this week to go to the office and interact with folks there.
• We have furniture set up in the nursery now.  We just need to sort through all the clothes and equipment, and figure out where its all going to go.

We're all settled in the house (well, except for stuff for the baby).  Kayla enjoys having a backyard and "talking" with other neighborhood dogs.  She mostly lays on our bed or in front of one of the sliding glass doors in the sun.  Ah, the life of a suburban dog.  I'll try to be better about updating, but I won't make any promises.

Shalom to you.

Moved in

Friday we had a housewarming party.  We have been in the house for three weeks and had decided we needed a goal, so we threw ourselves a party and invited friends old and new in the area.  We had friends from our pre-school and elementary school days, college, and newly-made friends!  We borrowed a yard game from the Conards (German horse shoes?  Polish horse shoes?  whatever...) and had drinks and desserts for  everyone.

Included in the evening was a tour, so I've included pictures for anyone who couldn't make the party.  The house is a quad-level built in 1978.  There are some quirks to it, mostly from projects by the owners before the folks we bought it from.  It is great space for us, and we are definitely feeling home!  I hope you enjoy the "tour."

The entryway... the stained glass is from Ridge UMC's old fellowship hall.

View #1 of the front room.  The doorway to the right of the piano goes into the kitchen, as you can tell from the refrigerator.

View #2 of the front room, the front window.  It has a ledge, which we might put some pillows in some day.

Looking from the dining room into the kitchen.  Jeff's dad and my step-dad installed an above the range microwave.  The pantry door is back on, but we still have to repaint it.  (That's a fun story if you haven't heard it.)

Looking into the dining room from the kitchen, and further down into the family room.  You can also see the stairs up to the bedrooms. To the right of the dining room table is a sliding glass door that goes out onto our deck.

Dining room looking to the family room.  There's a fireplace (we need to have it inspected).  As you go down the stairs, you can turn to go down to the basement, or go out to the garage.  You can see the second sliding glass door between the dining room chair and table, that goes out onto a patio.  Kayla really likes lying in front of the door to be in the sun.

The stairs going up to the bedrooms.  There is a bathroom, then the master bedroom on the left, the guest room straight ahead, and the nursery on the right.  There are also two closets up there as well.

This is the nursery, obviously not yet moved in here yet.  :-)

Master bedroom.  Jeff and his dad hung new closet doors for me.  The old ones were also mirrored, but they weren't on the tracks right and needed replacing anyway.

Guest room.  Jeff's closet is on the right (the closets are smaller than the one we had in Indiana) which he volunteered to use.  We are still looking for a mattress and box spring, maybe a small dresser as well.

Basement office/exercise room.  The window has a "lovely" view of underneath the deck.

View #2 of the basement/office.  The box above the tv is the electrical box, and the door between the tv and the shelves goes into what could be made into a small bathroom.  It would have to be closed off from the laundry/utility area, but it has the piping and electrical stuff necessary.

So welcome to our casa!

Shalom,

Heather

Back in Kansas

This is my first blog entry living in Kansas.  We are in the process of getting things unpacked.  It was almost exactly a week ago this moment that the movers finished unloading all of our stuff...crazy.  

We had a mishap with the pantry door, and it is currently leaning up against the kitchen wall.  The short story is that it self-locked and we couldn't get it unlocked, so we tried taking it off the hinges (didn't work), breaking a couple of the slats to open it from the inside (still locked), and finally Jeff beat the heck out of the handle until it fell off and he could turn the mechanism with a pair of pliers.

Jeff started work on the first and hit the ground running.  I've been getting us unpacked and doing the "to-dos" in the meantime.  I start work tomorrow.  I will be leading the contemporary worship service at the West Campus for Lawrence 1st UMC, the church where Jeff and I met and were married.

Baby Clinger is doing well.  We're on our second doctor since leaving Indiana.  Back in April or May, I had set up an appointment with a doctor is the KC area for June 30.  When he walked in for the appointment, he told us he stopped doing OB on June 12th.  But his office was great--he recommended and had his office get us an appointment later that week with another doctor, whose office is actually closer to our house.  We were really bummed, because we had had a great experience at his office.  When we went to the next appointment, we went in thinking they had a lot to live up to, and they did!  The nurse, doctor, and office staff were great!  Yay!  

I have heard that some people would like to see "baby bump" pics.  Here's the story:  So far I have not intentionally taken any belly pics.  Really, there's no other time when anyone else wants to see the evolution of someone's belly, and we all know that my belly will keep getting bigger.  So you might get to see pictures of me that include my belly, but I'm not going to stand in the same pose month after month so you can see how big I'm getting.  Sorry.  However, here is a recent picture that shows the "bump."

Updates from a slacker blogger

Well, it is finally here...moving day.  It doesn't seem like that long ago that we announced that we were leaving to go back home to Kansas.  It was almost 5 months ago!  I am currently sitting at home waiting for the movers to come and Jeff to get back with breakfast after taking Kayla to the "spa" for the day.  Thanks to a lot of help from wonderful friends, we are all packed!  We have a few areas designated for things to go in the cars with us.  Although the movers come today, we won't get our stuff until the 7th.  Ah, and it's raining now.  Yippee.

Here's a recap of the last few weeks:

Memorial Day week - I went to New York City with my mom and sister for a girls' trip--lots of fun!  I had never been before.

May 31 - Jeff was ordained!!  This ended a process that he has been going through for many years since he first perceived a call to ordained ministry.  Our families made the trip to Lafayette, IN, and there was a big group from Ridge Church that made the trip as well!  Much celebrating ensued.

sometime early June - we made an offer on a house in Olathe that was eventually accepted!

mid-June - I was offered a job at First UMC in Lawrence to lead worship at the contemporary service on their west campus.  This is my "home church"--the church where Jeff and I met, were in youth group. and got married.  I'll be part time starting on July 15!  So excited!!

June 16-20 - Jeff had Middle School Mission Week at the church, in the midst of which we started saying our farewells and were trying to finish the packing.

June 18 - Baby shower at the church.  There was a really great turn out (Jeff was disappointed he was the only guy...not sure anyone else was.) and we got wonderful gifts!

June 19 - The youth had a going away party for us, and gave us a memory book and other fun road trip gifts.

June 20 - Our young adult friends from Dalit had a going away cook out for us.  Kelly made a wonderful slide show of the time we've all spent together over the past two years.

June 21 - Our Dalit buddies came over for a packing party!  What a great group of friends!  They were fantastic, and worth more than the pizza we bought for dinner.

June 22 - Our last Sunday at Ridge.  There was a combined service at 10:30, which was packed!  The choir sang, the band played, and Jeff preached his last sermon there.  After the service there was a lunch in the Fellowship Hall.  Everyone formed a "receiving line" as they came in, so the folks at the back were waiting for a while to sit!  It was a wonderful day, and we all shared great memories with each other.  We will miss our Ridge Church family greatly.  We have been so blessed by everyone for the time that we have been a part of that community!  Many of the farewells were hard, but we really hope to see folks out our way and when we come back to visit in the next few years.

Looking forward...

Tomorrow we will close on the house in Highland, pack up our cars and head west.

Jeff starts at Church of the Resurrection on July 1st.

We close on our new house in Olathe on July 2nd and take possession July 3rd.  Our stuff comes on the 7th.  I just hope the rain stops today so all our stuff won't get wet before being stored for 11 days, but it doesn't look like it will stop anytime soon....

Shalom,

Heather

Mothers-ish Day

Yesterday I had a very nice Mothers-ish Day.  Saturday the florist tried to deliver flowers, but we weren't home.  When we found the note, it was after their business hours, so I had to wait until today to find out who sent them, although I did have my suspicions.  (I was right, they were from my mom!  I got them today.)  Sunday morning, there was a lovely card from Jeff on my dresser promising lunch after church.  

We had lunch at a place called Theo's.  It wasn't quite as good as we had remembered from eating there once before, but I still had a good time.  It was cold, rainy, and windy all day yesterday, and the weather combined with the big lunch added up to an afternoon nap.  After the nap I called my mom to wish her a happy mother's day, then got ready to go to youth group.

Over lunch Jeff and I commented that next mother's day we will have a six month old.  We can't really imagine what that will be like.  We're pretty sure it will change our lives in unimaginable ways, and we're pretty excited about that!

We're Pregnant!

For more information, click here.

Oh, Give (so)Me(one) A Home

The latest news is that our house is officially on the market.  It was listed Saturday, and we've already had one person look at it yesterday, and someone else is scheduled to come tomorrow.  Since Jeff is out of town, I've been playing the dog shuffling game.  Some friends from the church have watched/will watch Kayla while there are folks in our house.  It's pretty neat that there are people who want to look at our house.  Kinda creepy and weird in that there's-someone-I-don't-know-in-my-house-and-I'm-not-there kind of way.  Kind of a vulnerable place to be.  But exciting to know that we could sell this house!