Video Resume

So recently, I applied for a job at Lifeway in Nashville, TN. When I sent in my application about a month or so ago, I put together a website to show a few of the videos I've done over the years. Here's the link for anyone who's interested in checking it out.
http://bensvideoresume.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

The problem with insomnia...

So I don't know how many of you know this about me, but I (Ben) am an insomniac. And I don't mean that in the "I stay up 2 hours past my bedtime" kind of way. I seriously cannot fall asleep when I go to bed. In fact, some nights, I begin to feel tired, but when my head hits that pillow, my mind races with all kinds of things. Bills, school, the future, work, school, money, school, etc. I don't know, maybe I just worry too much.

Most nights find me awake until 3am or later. Then I crash and sleep hard for a couple of hours but then have to get back up again to face the world in cheerful fashion. Sometimes I get a nap in the middle of the day to offset the lack of what should be a long, restfull night of sleep. Other times, I'll go on 4-5 hours of sleep for about 4 days in a row and then I'll crash one night around 9pm and sleep until 10am the next day. It's a viscious cycle from which I would happily depart.

So the problem is that everynow and then, I get a lot of school assignments piled up that are all due about the same time. This means that for about a week, I get even less sleep than normal. I think that is going to happen this week. I have so much reading to do, 3 papers to write, Greek to translate, and that is only school. I still have all of my normal responsibilities as a husband and employee (the two are not related). It's only Tuesday and I am already longing for the weekend.

One of these days, I'm going to the doctor and I'm going to get pumped full of some good stuff that will make me sleep for a month.

That will be awesome.

Happy Easter!!

So it's the Easter season, but I don't feel like it yet. I think because we've been so busy with normal life, that it has sort of crept up on us. Maybe next year, we'll have to do something to prepare our hearts and our lives for Easter. I'm super pumped though, because we're in Sumter, SC at Sarah's family's house. It's always nice to get a break from school and work and be around family.

I don't really have anything to say, so I'll end here.

Have a great Easter everyone!! We love you!

Ben and Sarah <><

The "18 Year Plan"

So I don't consider myself a sucker for sad stories, nor am I easily choked up, but every now and then I'll come across a story that kind of rattles me. This story did that. It was published today on ESPN.com and it tells the story of a High School student who was murdered. I don't know why this story shook me up more than others, maybe it's because I have lost friends to the same circumstances or maybe because we all pull for the underdog, and Jas definitely was an underdog.
It also brings to mind the verse in James 4:14....
"Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away."

Funny Video

This video is from my old camp days. The guy, Ross King, was a worship leader. He wrote this song for his wife, before they were married. The song is called, "If I Didn't Love You Anymore."

Also, I just learned that somnambulate is actually a word. Hmm...wierd.

New Games

So there are a couple of new games the wife and I have been getting into lately. The first, and probably the best, is called Settlers of Catan. It is a land-grab sort of game involving building and trading. So far, everyone we've played with has loved it, and most of them beat us at it, but that's ok. If you've played it before, we would love to have you over for a game, and if you haven't played before, you should definitely check it out, or come on by and we'll show you how to play.

The second game (and this is one of my new favs, but probably the game that Sarah hates more than any other) is called Fluxx. It is called Fluxx because the game fluctuates constantly!! There is no set rule, and in fact, the rules even chage in the middle of turns. The object of the game is to somehow get your cards to correlate to the everchanging rules and goals. It's harder to explain, but again, you should check it out!

And last, but certainly not least, "Pass the Pigs." Now this is a game we both love. It is like a dice game, but instead of throwing dice, you are actually throwing little toy pigs. Wierd, I know, but very competitive and fun!

We love games and thought it would be good for you to see some of the stuff we're getting into. Anytime one of you wants to challenge us, we're game!

Love you!

Ben <><

Snow Day?!?

So last night we had snow. Normally, in February, it wouldn't be wierd to see a little bit of snow, but this winter has been very warm for us. AND, there was no forcast for snow at all. In fact, I checked the local weather forcast and there was only a 10% chance of any precipitation at all.

So that's a pretty nice Valentine's day present I guess.

Ben <><

Halo 3

So, Ben loves Halo. He's very good at it. He yells A LOT while he's playing it. He plays LIVE with friends online, and talks to them.... talks a lot as a matter of fact. He's playing it right now actually, so he's currently saying things like:

"To the left of the sniper spawn. They're all over there. Look out."
"Gimme those back."
"Alright, that felt more like what we're s'posed to be doin."
"I thought you had to've been playing with like one hand again."
"I know what we can do. This'll cheer him up."
"You're what? Your mic's lagging BJ." (lagging means that his internet connection is too slow for whatever is going on - causes slurred/garbled conversation, inaccurate shots/kills, etc...)
***Hysterical laughter*** "That's Hilarious!"
"But it didn't give it to me though. *sigh* Wait, there he is."
"Come ON!!!"
"Tick just got a free ride on the 'Owned-Ben Express.' Double-Kill. Oh. Oh no!"
***More Laughter***
***High-pitched Laughter w/old man wheezing involved***
"Did you hit me with a frag? Aw, aw..."
"WHAT?!"
"You gotta be kiddin me. ***sigh***"

These are direct quotes from the mouth of Ben Niemann... that's all from within the past 5 minutes. Seriously. Like I said, he talks a lot while he's playing. And then I hear lots of gunshots & explosions, and buttons clicking, weapons changing, beeping that indicates injury. And I can't hear what the other people are saying, so it's quite humorous just hearing what he's saying and like background garbled voices in between all the ruccus. I feel kinda left out though. He's in the room with me, but he's not really. He has no idea that I'm writing all this right now, but I'm painfully aware of everything that's going on on his side of the room. Mainly b/c he's so flippin' loud. :-) He is so hilarous.

Funny boys. I love Ben Niemann. He makes me laugh... in a good way... most of the time. K, I'm going. Night folks <><

events of the day

Ben asked me to come over and say a few words...

Today's been semi-eventful.

It's Saturday, so we both slept in - Ben a little longer than me. I got up and did "The Firm" - I may be skinny, but I am in no kinda shape. I could only do the aerobics stuff for less than 15 minutes. But, hey, I did it. I really want to get in the habit of doing something active at least a few times a week. Being a graphic designer leaves you sitting in front of a computer for hours on end, so I have to make myself do something so I don't melt away. I've been really tired lately, for no apparent reason, so hopefully exercise will help rememdy that.

I went to a movie with my friend, Laurie Couch, & her sister, Michelle, who's in town visiting. We saw 27 Dresses - it was pretty cute. I had Junior Mints & Dr. Pepper. Mmmmmm... it was a HUGE box of JMs - and when we left the theater, the leftovers ALL spilled into my purse. It was lovely. :) Fortunately, only one or two got squished, and on nothing important. If you've ever seen my purse/"sack of wonders," you'll understand that it did take quite a lot of searching & unpacking to be sure I got them all back into the box. Quite an adventure.

Then I went to Target. I love that place. I finally had a prescription filled for some extra-strength fluoride stuff that my dentist gave me like 2 months ago. I have very soft & cavity-proned teeth apparently, so I need it. Then I bought a bunch of groceries... half of which were things to make dishes for our Sunday School potluck tomorrow. Pretty excited about that - loads of really good homemade food for cheap is always exciting. I'm taking my grandmother's "Book Club" dessert, & my mom's potato casserole. Figured I can't go wrong with food my mothers have been making since before I was born. They're both huge faves in the menu options of my family.
And of course, I'm trying to get into the habit of eating more fruits & veggies, so I bought apples, plums, green peppers, mushrooms, & salad stuff. Speaking of fruit - I LOVE fresh pineapple... we got one last week. It was delish!

After checking out at Target, I went to get gas. No debit card. Crap... went back to Target. The card machine at my register was down, so the girl had to swipe it for me & neither of us realized until I was long gone, that she hadn't handed it back to me. I was so relieved that it was actually still inside the store, & I hadn't dropped it in the parking lot or anything.

So, now, well, I'm writing this blog, but I was making the stuff for the potluck tomorrow - potatoes are boiling & the crust for "BC" is in the oven! Yum, yum.

Hope you enjoyed learning about what I did today... I gotta go finish working on my dishes & figure out what we're doing for dinner. Lots 'o cookin' going on in the Niemann kitchen tonight. :)

peace,
Sarah <><

And We're Back!!

Well here we are, a little less than a year after our last post to the site. I don't know what kept us from blogging for so long. Maybe it was laziness, or the newness of posting worn off, or busyness, but either way, we're back!

This is my first of hopefully many posts to come in the near future.

We love you all so much and can't wait to hear from you again!

Ben and Sarah <><

Always in Awe

This morning as I was reading through some Scriptures, I found an old note in my Bible that caught my attention. Psalm 8 is really where I took the name "Always_in_awe" from for my blog account, so I thought I would share that with you. The Psalm starts out with a description of how great God is:

"Oh LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens." (8:1)

Then it goes on to describe the response of man to this realization of God:

"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place," [and this is where it gets really good] "What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?" (8:3-4)

Sometimes when I read through the Bible, I forget to think about the fact that God created the heavens, the sun, and the moon. Yet, he is mindful of ME! He thinks about me! It's amazing to think about how big and spectacular the sun is as a created object, and yet, we humans are so much more complex and detailed than the sun. In the created order, God used a lot of care weaving us together. We are valuable in God's eyes, no doubt about it.
The Psalm ends with a reverberating declaration:

"Oh LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" (8:9)

Remember today how great God truly is!

I love you all!!
Ben <><

Random Assortment of Pictures

This is a very random assortment of pictures from our lives since the wedding. There is no sense to the selection of these pics, I just like them and wanted to share them with you all.

From our honeymoon...


From Halloween...

Sarah's grandparents...

Me getting beat at Scrabble...

Our trip to Texas...


Me and my brother-in-law...

The happily married couple...

Sarah and her grandmother...

We saw an AWESOME Switchfoot show down at Bouis Creek...

Right after the show...

Practicing to play with Jeff Capps...

This one is just for Robert (my brother-in-law)...

A little something

Hey, so I know we haven't posted in a while. Sorry. Just to let you know we're still here, I thought I'd post a video just for fun. This is something I made for the summer camp I worked at for 5 years. It's not that great, just a fun little video we made. It's set to look like MTV's Cribs. The funny thing is, the guys' name really is Dave Matthews. I hope you like!




We love you!!
Ben and Sarah <><

A Photo Montage

Make photo slide shows at onetruemedia.com

Long time

Sorry for the long span of time in between the last post and this one. Sarah and I have been SUPER busy. I just started on three major term papers, Sarah has been sick for a solid week now, and on top of all that, our cars are both out of commission, so we've been trying to coordinate our lives around that. Hopefully, we'll be buying a car sometime in the near future (maybe two weeks), so you can definitely pray that it works out. We still need to get a down payment and figure out exactly what kind of financing we're ready to get involved with. The car we're looking at now would cost us roughly $225 a month, which is just about what we can afford.
We still haven't gotten around to getting our pictures from Ohio uploaded, but once we sort everything out, I'm sure we'll be able to get those up.
Our prayer is that all of you are doing well and that you're being blessed!
We love you!
Ben and Sarah <><

"Having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness." Romans 6:18