Rose Monkey... where'd that come from??

Well, it's an hour until my first class here at Southern... and I am camped out in the hotel with Ava, nice and warm while it's cold and snowy outside. Speaking of snowy, I went to Indiana last night, because that's where the closest Super-Wal-Mart was, and I had to call a friend just to say hi from Indiana. Indiana just seems so... cold... snowy... non-Southern... faraway! Obviously I'm showing my lack of an exciting life by saying this, but it's true.

So when I was talking to my friend, she asked what's with the name Rose Monkey? Wellllll, when I was tossing the idea of keeping up a blog, I couldn't think of a clever name. And that transported me to another time and place... 6 years old, on vacation in Arkansas with parents and grandparents... and going through a phase in which I named anything that came into my life Rose. In fact, had Ava come along back then, I'm sure Ava would have been Rose Bird. (That softens the blow a little bit, doesn't it, Ava? I mean I know Ava's not the most manly name around, but Rose?!) At some point on that trip, someone bought me a stuffed monkey wearing a pink dress - who became none other than Rose Monkey!

That story just illustrates how my odd little brain links random places and events... and really I could do no better coming up with a blog name than just going with the classic Rose Monkey.

Pluckin' out the old feathers...

So we did it!!! We are IN Louisville, ready to start school at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary tomorrow. I would say we have moved to Louisville, but we are currently living out of a hotel.

We were supposed to close on a house on Friday, but alas... apparently the closing process is a good deal more complicated than it was six months ago, so here we are, chillaxing with a contraband bird in our room. That's right. Ava, our parrot (who we originally thought was a female but later learned from the vet that he's a male), is currently shuffling around in his cage and intermittently calling out, "COME HERE! COME HERE, BABY! HEY BIRD!!!! BIRDY BIRDY BIRDY BIRDY!!!" all while we try to keep him undercover so we don't get kicked out of the only home we have.

Ava has also been plucking out his feathers - a truly disturbing habit he develops when he gets too stressed out. I think it's a visual representation of how we feel right now with all the waiting, waiting, waiting! :-)

I know this all sounds rather dramatic, but really we are loving it... for the most part! We are quite blessed because we aren't having to pay for the room. Because the banker feels bad for setting a closing date (and time) for Friday (at 3:30 p.m.), she is graciously covering the cost of our room until we finally move into our home. Which we hope will be tomorrow.

Until then, we're adjusting to Louisville life... to the Eastern Time Zone... to life in a place where we only know a couple of people. I think this will be an adventure. I will keep you posted on this blog as we go along, so buckle your seat belts (cheezy I know) and get ready for a ride!!!!!

It's a party in the USA!

I apologize now for shamelessly using the title of a Miley Cyrus song as the title of this blog entry. Lame, I know. But just bear with me. (Plus, despite the fact that Miley is approximately one decade my junior, I am looooving this song!)

Music has always been the background of my life. Chris tells me that I pretend that my life has a soundtrack - and in my mind, it really does.

When I was in fifth grade, you could say I was obsessive about writing in my diary every. single. day. But not only did I give a full daily recap, along with details on the drama and intensity that accompany fifth-grade life (the gross boy likes me!!! I played Oregon Trail in the computer lab today!!!), I also made sure to write the name of my current favorite song at the top of each crisp new page. That way, I reasoned, I would forever link my favorite songs with exact memories.

And dears (or dear, depending on how many people find and read this blog), I must tell you, it worked. To this day whenever I'm lucky enough to hear "Dreamlover" by Mariah Carey, my brain conjures up memories of our fifth-grade Apex party (which I deejayed), Whitney Houston's take on "I'm Every Woman" reminds me of choreographing a succession of leaps and lay-outs on the stage in the entry hall at Grandma's house, and I'll never forget how inordinately cool I felt rocking out to Ace of Base's "The Sign" - which was, incidentally, the first CD I ever purchased.

Songs are also tied to key events in my life. I heard "Stay (I Missed You)" by Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories while riding in the car on my first day of middle school. I heard "I Go Blind" by Hootie & the Blowfish on the way to the hospital to meet my dear cousin for the first time. (Trust me, cuz, I was hoping for something waaay cooler than that. Something maybe like "Macarena.") (Hey, it was 1996, and I was 13.) I heard "Jaded" by Aerosmith on the way to and from my high school graduation. "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback (promise they were novel back then) takes me back to the rush of excitement that accompanied the thrill of going off to college, and Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" takes me back to the final days before college graduation. You get the idea.

Naturally I was hoping for a fabulous (current) song to hear on my wedding day - but alas, nothing decent was out at the time. Nothing! I'm pretty sure that week was the worst in music history. (Don't believe me? Here's proof: http://www.billboard.com/#/charts/hot-100?chartDate=2008-06-14)

All of this to say I'm debuting in my role this weekend as a Matron of Honor. Granted, I've been a bridemaid a few times, a maid of honor once and a flower girl a while back... but this is my first go-round as Matron. (Couldn't they have thought of a better name for this role o' honor? Matron?? Really?!) Last night I advised the bride-to-be to seek out a song she will always remember from her wedding day. She said she already had, and she rattled off the name of some classic standard-type song that will accompany the couple's first dance. I clarified what I meant: "Like a current song. So you'll always associate it with this time in your life."

Alas, I think I am the only one who values such trivialities, judging by her puzzled expression.

Introducing Rose Monkey

Welcome to Rose Monkey. I have no clue what I'm doing.

Who am I? Let's start here: you can call me Shelby. I live in Memphis... for now at least! I am hoping any day now to get news that my husband has found a job in Louisville, Ky., so that we can move up there for seminary. Both of us have been talking and praying about this since before we got married (on June 14, 2008... does that make us newlyweds still?), so much, in fact, that I think people are starting to snarkle at us and think "yeah right" anytime we mention that we're hoping to move soon. But we truly are. We finally sense that the time is right and that's where God is leading us. It's been a slow process, but sometimes the best things in life work that way, right?

My husband Chris is already taking classes online toward an M.Div. in Worldview and Apologetics, and I am hoping to get my master's in Women's Ministry with an emphasis in Counseling. As of now, I'm working as a writer and he's programming computers - or so he tells me! Half the time I have no idea what he really does for a living, since I don't do ColdPro or SuperFusion or whatever the programming language du jour is.

So what will you find on this blog? I'm not sure yet. Probably book reviews, thoughts on culture, church matters, various things God is teaching us at the moment. Book reviews will probably occur the least frequently, due to our crazy schedules and my turtlishly (is that a word?) slooowww reading pace. However, if there's anything in particular you'd like to see featured on here, please let me know.

All I know is that I love reading blogs and I love to write, so I figured I'd try this thing out. I really don't have much to add to what's already being said on ze vast Internets, but if you can help me gain some wisdom or if maybe something I post on here one day can help you somehow in your walk with Christ, it's all worth it. I can't wait to meet you! :-)