Monday, April 28, 2008

free cone day!!

Ben & Jerry's is serving free ice cream today (April 29, 2008)! I guess this year is the 30th anniversary of free cone day. You should go!!

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

what's happening at 2520?

Of course some of the same things continue to happen near or at 2520 -- such as frequent and strikingly obvious drug deals and our oven's temperature rising to 500 degrees on it's own (only when I make cupcakes). It's happened many times. I don't know why, but our oven hates the combination of me and cupcakes. Other than that...

The other night we had to call the police. I think we were even more justified than normal. Usually our calls are for the average drug deal, loud music or because the door from the abandoned house next door is being stolen. But not this time. We were coming home from small group and Steph and I couldn't find a parking spot -- partially because of our crowded street and partially because of a lack of parallel parking skill. We decided to park behind our garage. As soon as we pulled up to the garage we heard 3 or 4 really loud gun shots. They sounded close. A few seconds later 3 guys ran right behind our car. They were running fast. Needless to say, it made our hearts race and we immediately called the police and told them in a quivering voice what had just happened. I think it is probably one of my scariest moments in the Phillips thus far. The story kind of loses momentum after that because we never found out what really happened.

And that night was the first night our new roommate, Lacy moving in. So yes, we have a new roommate and she experienced hearing the gun shots on her first night. She is in Ellie's old room. It's no longer purple, but peach. We are happy to have her here! Lacy works with Sarah at the hospital and is just as granola or maybe more so than Sarah is. There are lots of other great things about Lacy. Hopefully you will be able to meet her :)

Along with Lacy's arrival came a couch. Now we are well furnished in our living room area, and actually have to get rid of some things. Part of the reason we have so much furniture is because Kin Mily let us down and did not collect the desk he lied about wanting. Anyway, our next step for our living room is organizing the furniture...not an easy task with our awkward shaped room.

We would also like to welcome Mr. & Mrs. Haas to the Internet. Thanks for reading our blog. And sorry that Katie did not tell you about the gun shots. If you want to leave a comment, please feel free.

On Monday nights we have been having a time of prayer for the Phillips area. It has been an encouragement to pray with other believers. If you live in the area and want to come, let us know!

AND this summer Katie is planning to go on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic. We are excited. Ellie is going to Brazil when she gets her remaining support and her VISA. If you think of it, pray that her VISA would come through. It is in somewhat of a delay. Also, Sarah is going to Tunisia, Italy and some other places...

Steph had an exciting day today. She had her teeth cleaned this morning and it was the first time in her life that her teeth were cavity-free. Those of you who have never had many cavities probably do not understand how wonderful this news really is.

****Ding Ding Ding**** it's time for a QUIZ! Which paragraph above was NOT written by Andrea? And who do you think wrote it?

Monday, April 07, 2008

Something's kind of "fishy" around here, part 2

So, the title is somewhat misleading because this post has nothing to do with the water situation in Minneapolis. This post is about something else kind of "fishy"...

I recently posted my desk on Craigslist.com to be sold. I received a few emails from individuals requesting more information and expressing interest in the desk. My policy is to respond to the first person to express interest, then pursue other people if that person doesn't work out.

This time the email was from a "KinMily" who expressed sincere interest in the desk and said that he/she for sure wanted to buy it. I pursued this contact and after a few emails exchanged this "Kin" said that he/she would send a check and have some movers come pick it up from me. At this point my warning flags went up and I said that I wasn't sure if that would be ok. That I would prefer having face-to-face contact with "Kin". They assured me that the check was already in the mail and that everything would be fine.

I was out of town when the check arrived and I had Andrea open it. When she opened it she told me that the amount on the check was $2800.00 from a PickaRestaurant.com. Now I was really sure that this was a scam. I emailed KinMily back and said that I was not comfortable with that amount of money coming through my account and that I was unwilling to cash it. They responded saying that they had purchased other items in the area and so the extra money was for the movers and was because there were multiple items needing to be picked up. They sent the address that I was to wire the money to, the "movers", who happened to be an individual in California. At this point I was certain it was a fraudulent check and began trying to contact the company PickaRestaurant.com. I never got through to this alleged company, but got through to the bank listed on the check. As soon as I mentioned who the check was from, the customer service agent said "Oh, let me guess, the check is for too much and they want you to wire the money back to someone??" She said, "Yep, that's a scam!"

Needless to say, I filled out an internet scam report with the FBI and sent an email to KinMily advising him/her of this action. I'm still not sure where the scam actually is, if it's the company PickaRestaurant.com, or if it's this individual. Maybe we'll never know, but it sure is fun getting to the bottom of something like this. I mean, growing up I always wanted to be an FBI or CIA agent, maybe I missed my calling in life!

Or, maybe this whole "missionary" thing is just a cover!
 
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