Phain Update, and Requested HNT

PHAIN UPDATE! - I started out last week's HNT telling you about Phain's apartment going up in flames earlier that night, and a post the next day with pictures and everything. Well, while things are bad, they aren't as bad as they could have been. Far more "stuff" was able to be salvaged than ever thought possible. Mentally and emotionally, it's been a horrible week for her, but she knows where her faith needs to be placed, and she's getting through it. In her own words:

"There has been such an outpouring of support from everywhere – church, school, work, friends & family. We are so blessed to be a part of an amazing community and I know without a shadow of a doubt that God’s hand is on all of this.

Our immediate short term needs continue to be met - above and beyond our expectations. We do not need any additional clothing or toiletry items and are requesting local folks to direct anything they intended to donate to us - to take it to the Salvation Army (who, btw, along with the Red Cross have been AMAZING). We will hopefully move into the new condo this weekend and have donations of furniture arriving at that time and probably throughout few days after that. If anyone feels led to donate, even small amounts of $10 genuinely are appreciated and helpful - gift cards are probably easiest at this time: Target, Walmart, Lowes, Sears, or the universal Visa/AmEx gift cards are great and can be used anywhere. We've even gotten a few Starbucks and McDonalds gift cards that the kids have been really excited about. Well...I'm probably more excited about the Starbucks than they are, but you get my point.

All that to say this: We are doing good. Really good. Better than I could have fathomed last week as I sat and watched that building burn. God is good. God is faithful - and He has me and my children in the palm of His hand. Yes, I've been sad and I've cried - hoooo boy have I cried - but one thing I've never experienced throughout all of this is dispair. Because I KNOW that God is taking care of my family and will continue to take care of us - through the love and support of our friends, family, and community." /endsermon

So there you have it. If you are so inclined, gift cards are the way to go. I haven't thought this through yet, but I think that any gift cards should be sent to me, to forward on to her. She's not gung-ho about letting everybody know her name/address. Friday's post will have details, but think about it now. Can gift cards by purchased online? I think they can... Ten, twenty bucks? More? Seems like a no-brainer to help out one of our own!

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I'll keep this short and sweet. I was emailing with someone last night, and they said that they wanted to see a picture with my hands. In exchange for an OHNT picture. Terms of the agreement have been met.

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Anyone who's been around for a decent amount of time should be able to recognize this week's Mystery Guest. Is it because of her legs (that never seem to end)? Perhaps it's the pink cowboy hat that has appeared in so many of her HNTs? Or is it because she has once again gotten her hands on the OsShirt (more than anyone else so far!)? It could be any/all of these reasons! While the view here ain't bad, I think my point of view is much, much better!

If you know how to find her, be sure to drop by and say hi! She'll be revealed late Thursday afternoon.
This shouldn't have been too hard to figure out, except for the newer people here. Of course, it's Q from Hooked on Quack. Once again, she had to abduct the thing. She's got a nasty mean streak, I tell ya! BTW--her site is invite only, so if you need to, you can go to her profile and ask her to let you in!

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Be sure to check out "...the Other HNT" and see what your fellow HNTers have been up to! Leave them some comment love, too (right now, less than 1% of all visitors over there leave a comment. And that isn't a number pulled out of my ass--just last week (Wed-Wed), that site got 13,424 page loads, and 5,982 unique visitors, resulting in a whopping 31 comments. That's a .518% rate of comments. In other words, roughly 1 in every 200 visitors leaves a comment. But that's skewed as well, since those who DO comment, generally leave multiple comments. People are looking, but they're not talking! Do something about that today! Oh, yeah...NSFW!

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If you want to see more of the OsShirt adventures, stop by the OsShirt site! New pictures are up, and a fancy new map that shows where it's been and who's been seen in/with it! And best of all, it's almost current!!

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Getting some interesting questions submitted through that formspring box over there in the sidebar. Keep them coming! Anonymously, even!

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If you didn't see it earlier...my mom made the local paper (no, not the police reports). You can check it out here (they captioned the picture incorrectly--Mom's on the left).