Things I liked about today...

*sleeping in a comfy bed*taking a nice warm shower (not army style)*doing laundry at a house*free lunch*the puppet show*the burning question from kevin and bean*getting the questionaire done*receiving 2 new netflixed movies*email from friends*comments on my blog*my conversation with ryan about staples*knowing that I might get to sleep in tomorrow*

The Long Weekend

I'm house sitting for Cliff and Kitty this weekend and last night was my first night. It went smoothly, nothing out of the usual BUT this morning was a different story. I honestly thought the dog was dying and it freaked me out. Really, how would you feel if someone entrusted their pet (really like a child) to you and it died on your watch? I checked the dog this afternoon and it was jumping around and as happy as can be. In my mind I gave the dog the finger for making me look like a liar.

Joy is coming into town tonight. She called last night and needed a place to stay so as long as she doesn't mind the trailer she'll be hanging for a couple days or so.

I have no plans for the long weekend. I guess it's when most people get together and bar-b-que because beer is on sale but that ain't my thing. I'd rather sit outside and read. I know, I'm a huge nerd. But I still haven't seen Star Wars!

Fundraising is a drag

I hate fundraising. It's one of the major reasons I never even gave IV staff a second thought. There would be no way I could raise the thousands of dollars you guys raise. I admire you Maya! But I have the chance to go to Ethiopia this summer and I'm stoked on that. You have no idea how badly I've been begging God to go back there and now the door is open. BUT, I have to raise $3,100. Why am I called to such an expensive trip? :)

Last night our high school ministry put on a stunt show and although short, I liked the stunts. That air ramp was sick! Heather called me right before the show. There Heather, you're mentioned. I went to get candy for the event and Nate came with me. We had a blast spending $250 on candy. That guy makes me laugh!

Thursday mornings are always tough. I usually stay up until 12, 1 am on Wednesday nights/ Thursday mornings because of youth group and all that hanging out I like to do with staff, but I have Life group on Thursday mornings at 6:30 am. I have so much fun with these guys. I'm surrounded by some pretty funny people. You all would laugh a lot too. Off to the many things I have to accomplish today. It's a tough job trying to change the world.

"24" and fireworks

Wildnight came and went quick. It was some hard work but I had a lot of fun doing it and it was pretty organized. It was a blessing to see 400 kids on our property playing games, skating, paintballing and riding go-carts. We also had a 50 cc motorcycle demo and one of the guys ate it so hard trying to do a back flip off a ramp. I’ve seen some nasty stuff on TV but to be there and see his neck snap back as he hit the pavement...and the blood. Whew, that drew a crowd. I’d say 120 plus kids made decisions for Christ. I’m the skeptical one, I always doubt those decisions were genuine but I do know that the Holy Spirit was at work.

Thanks for your call Wess but so what if I’m an emo kid? It’s actually been good and freeing to be honest with myself. Sometimes life does suck and sometimes I am lonely but I know it’ll pass. A huge part of it is the 4 wedding invitations on my fridge and the 4 I know are on the way. Marisa, I really am excited for you. I know you’ve put in your time with Dave :)

I had a 2 hour lunch with a fantastic woman who’s walked the path I’m on right now. It was great to get her insight, advice and hear her story. She’s encouraging me to find those outlets where I don’t have to be a staff worker or counselor but I can just be me. So where do I go?

One group I totally cherish is my Monday night TV friends. The season finale of “24” was last night and I don’t want to wait until January for the next season! I guess we’ll find another show to watch on Monday nights. As we watched the show I saw fireworks. I mean real fireworks, outside of the apartment complex. It was so odd but for some reason I also thought it was hilarious.

I’m cooking a lot more now and I have to admit that I’m getting good. Last night I made this mushroom chicken bake and steamed veggies. As I sat down to dinner I came full circle with my day…cooking for one sucks.

In the words of Jack Johnson, "It's such a crying shame"

Funny how life doesn’t work out the way I think it’s going to. I guess it’s like one of the ladies at church said, “Man plans, God laughs.” I thought finally my car woes had disappeared but it doesn’t seem so. The “check engine light” has been on for the last 2 days and I fear the worst. The day the engine light went on the Jeep reappeared after being gone from the lot for a month. Maybe it’s time for a fun vehicle? I just keep thanking God for the ways He’s provided transportation and praying my car doesn’t die anytime soon. Someone asked me on Monday if I had a name for the car and I said no. A friend made the comment between chuckles, “call her lucky.” Argh!

Maya called me on Tuesday night and we had a great conversation. I’m sure she enjoyed listening to me cry about things I had no idea were bothering me. It’s just, I have so many desires and they’re becoming stronger every day but I don’t know what to do with these things. I want to go back to school so bad and start working on my Masters degree. I can’t stand the thought of more debt though and I have no idea where I’ll even go. Now more than ever I want to have someone to do life with. Man, living at Hume was so much easier. A relationship wasn’t even an option up there but now that I’m in the “real” world I wonder what’s wrong with me for not having that significant other. It doesn’t help when every other day I get a call from the Joshua update line (that’s what I’ll call her…you know who) and some other 20 year old from our class is getting married. I was really excited about this “Blue eyes” friendship that has been going on. It’s still a whole lot of fun spending time with him but he has no idea how I feel and I’m feeling so impatient. What’s my deal?

I’d say I’m a pretty confident woman. Yeah I have my insecurities but why am I so afraid to pursue these things in life? Why don’t I just apply to school and see what happens? Why don’t I just tell him how I feel? Why don’t I just go check out the Jeep? Why do I think through EVERY little detail? There are 2 things nobody likes, confrontation and rejection and I think those are 2 things I’d have to face in all the decisions laying ahead of me. I just don’t know what to do.

Olivia the Band

My car before $2000 worth of work. I felt so ghetto driving this thing around!

Not a closet fan...

I'm a Hanson fan. I have been for a long time and I do own every album. Yes, even the Christmas one. I'm not ashamed of the fact that I listen to this great band. I don't care if I get ridiculed for it.

Whew, now that I got that out of the way...How the heck are ya?

These last few weeks have been super busy, sometimes trying but overall pretty okay. We hosted a concert and that was stressful because when it was time to work nearly everyone disappeared. I got stuck doing a whole lot but the evening went great. I got to meet all the bands and even hang with some of them. Olivia was the best! These guys are from Hawaii and have such a heart for not only good music but ministry. The kids totally loved them and it was neat to see. KJ-52 was another "band" we had come. He's a rapper, some of you probably know who he is. He put on a great show and the guy is super funny. I hung out with Olivia at another show that weekend and it was kind of cool to feel like their friend.

Kristin graduated from A.P.U.! Woohoo for her. Slavich, Katie, Marisa and I had a good time together but I don't know how much those around us appreciated our laughing, joking and Sarah's paper airplanes. By the way Marisa, Danny called the game "cops and robbers."

I've been doing some reading about envy lately. It's interesting to see how sin entered the world through Adam and Eve and yet envy doesn't really show up until Cain and Able. Why do brothers and sisters fall into envy so quickly? I've been guilty of it lately and actually had to do some apologizing. I feel like I've been doing a lot of apologizing to people who should be apologizing to me. What is that about? Man, humility is such a hard thing.

I finished my 10 week course in the Crown Financial Bible Study and I proudly announce my hope to be out of debt by 2010. Ugh! It makes me sick to think it might take that long.

I'm stoked summer is around the corner but I confess I am super uber sad I won't be at Pondo. I hope to visit though.

I need to keep up with this so they aren't such long entries. If you've made it to the end, cheers!

A Great Update to Come

It should be here tomorrow, complete with pictures and all.

Just one highlight. I got my car back on Monday! Woohoo!