Blips

It's been awhile huh?

This past month or so has been wild and wonderful. Full of magical, majestical, and fantastical memories. Beautiful and wonderful nuggets of spiritual knowledge. Sassy and scandalous photography sessions. And flitting fluttering words of wittiness and wisdom.

I never blogged about my Thanksgiving break and I don't have the time that I would like to have in order to break it down for you. But here's a snippet involving the highlights. So this year God has splashed some blessings on me and their names are Sonia, Ashley, and Krista. These wonderful girls came home with me for Thanksgiving and got a legitimate taste of my world. It was beautiful and altogether insane. There was no breaking or braking involved during this supposed time of rest. We drove for hours and hours popping to a new place each day. I topped out my car at 105 mph, lost control on black ice, and escaped all scheming highway patrol men...three separate instances. There was a lion, a grandma, a chef, an MC Hammer impersonator, a superhero, and a rock star at the skating rink for a one night only event. Three four foot long bags of kettle corn were consumed in an hour. And a family size bag of Doritos was consumed in one leg of the drive. There was beach and there was mountains. There was sunshine and there was snow. There was sweat and there were shivers. And it ended in a culmination of hundreds of pounds of baggage consolidated, crammed, stuffed, and squashed into every cranny of my Corolla. I had bags under my feet as I drove. And I recall a direct blow to the head via solid cardboard box as I rode in the backseat for a bit. It was hysterical and memorable and I couldn't be happier at how everything fit together. I even got to see my brother for a moment. So special.

So that was Thanksgiving. And indeed there was much giving of thanks. Thanks for Apo's dirty jokes in particular.

Breakdown of the last month at camp in five, four, three, two, oneeee....

• A week long painting project involving hundreds of brain cells squashed beneath the potent paint fumes
• More deep cleaning of the bathrooms in the quads in which there were certain unmentionable hairs found in the oddest of places
• Christmas caroling in negative temperatures followed by a cozy time of recollection in the midst of new friends, a fire, and foamy beverages.
• 4 hours of pointless pac-vacing (picture a person clad in a backpack vacuum) attempting to deep clean the 1 acre sportscenter.
• A day and a half of getting certified to get re-certified in CPR and first aid. I just got certified in August but had to go through the entire class again due to the fact that my internship will go through next September. Poop on my head. I did learn that you cannot breathe into an unconscious babies mouth...you must "puff."
• A day of irony involving fire alarms blaring to warn that frozen pipes have exploded.
• Negative temperatures.
• An adventurous drive to work with my head out the window due to the re-freezing of the ice on my windshield, after I had already scraped once.
• A Christmas party where I was advised that potatoes, pastas, and breads should not be the only components of my Christmas dinner.
• An intern performance where I was supposed to be somber and serious and instead, giggled uncontrollably.
• A sincere longing for some time in the Iron Kettle (the camp kitchen.) We haven't had a camp in since before Thanksgiving.
• One piano lesson.
• Several uncomfortable moments with boy interns.
• Some heated discussion in an intern meeting.
• And one or maybe two cuddle sessions involving three or more bodies in one twin size bed.

Just some blips to keep you entertained.

I wish I had some deep spiritual insights for you right now but all I got is some fruits of the spirit and some expectations in my basket.

I've been dwelling on joy, my handy dandy fruit of the spirit, since I got back from India. Sometimes I have it, and sometimes I don't. I'm learning how to keep it in my pocket always.

And I'm learning to place some expectancy in the Lord and believing that He's going to show up when I expect Him to. And learning that I am allowed to always expect Him to show up.

Needless to say, I'm being challenged and refined. I'm learning to be brave. And learning to trust.

I just got hooked up with a mentor yesterday and boy is God good. Her name is Lisa Squires and after spending two hours with her and her two children, Charlie and Lily, I might be slightly obsessed. Is that not ok? A couple tidbits from those hours that I place above the rest

• three year old Lily feeding me baskets of plastic peas, ketchup, crackers, sausage, and milk
• three year old Lily praying for me at the end of my time at her house
• three year old Lily using the word hilarious in proper context
• one year old Charlie face planting off a table only to get up and continue on with life without even a wince of discomfort
• and mother Lisa describing time in the canyon as a "time-out"...God has tossed me out here to deal with my crap, all the issues in my life...to throw everything out on the table leaving the dirty broken shards, and only picking up the tidbits that I want to take with me for life.

I escaped my hovel yesterday for a long run...the first one since Thanksgiving. I've been working and crafting for the past three weeks. And in case you didn't know, I really love running. Yesterday I was reminded of why I love it so much. As I ran along the John Day River I reflected on just how free I feel when I'm running. It's such a majestic feeling. Especially when I'm in shape and I feel invincible....like I could run for hours. For me, nothing beats the feeling of finishing a long run. PS I've recruited another marathoner. Her name is Dena Palmaymesa. She's one of my intern leaders.

And in case you didn't know, I discovered the bold button on my text editing toolbar. Hopefully I will be able to harness my desire to emphasize everything.

I think that's all I got for now.

Do something you love today.

And hug a stranger.