The day has come.

And the 13-page beast of an application is almost done.

Family matters.

FINALLY visited this tiny little independent theater I've been wanting to check out for a couple of years now! Me, 3 sisters, the local cousin, and the faraway cousin all went and saw "Burlesque" together tonight at this old school place. And let me just say, I thought High School Musical 3 was about the lowest of the low I would ever spend "big money" on and go see in the theater. It's amazing what you'll shell out in the name of family bonding.

New eats.

I've lived in the same area pretty much all my life, and yet I really don't know it as well as a local should. For instance, I'd never heard of Le Creperie until a group of friends from church invited me to come along for dinner tonight, didn't know anything about this oh-so-tasty place down on 2nd street. (Apparently, all my friends did, though. As I got up to walk the 3 feet to the bathroom from our table, I heard my name...and turned around to see a former camper. And as I was talking to her/her mom and her friend/her mom, yet ANOTHER old-church acquaintance walked out of the bathroom! Small world...) Anyway, now I'm in the know, and glad of it. Dinner was delicious, the walk around Naples looking at lights afterwards was fun (slightly damp, but fun), and I am now home and thankful for the friendships God has put in my life in the last couple of years. And crepes. Always thankful for crepes.

Just 'cause.

Instead of going around, tonight I ran straight through the big rain puddles. Because I had my boots on. And because I really wanted to. And it was great.

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Today's school should have been canceled. When the buses pulled up this morning, we had an oh-so-steady heavy misty rain falling, and the site I was at has NO shelter for our stations. But they wanted to stay, so teach we did: on the bus and in the eaves of the bathroom, oh goodie. After mucking through those two stations, they finally decided to call it and reschedule ("What? We can't go to the tidepools? Ok then, we'll reschedule..."), much to all of us naturalists' joy. It was a day. And now I am sick. Oh joy.

Take 2.

2 days ago I forgot the equipment box and swore I'd never do such a thing again.

Today I did it again.

Thankful for coworkers (and friends!) who swoop in to save the day time and time again, oh so graciously correcting and rebuking and forgiving my rookie mistakes. And thankful for a fellow coworker who forgot the gear right there along with me today; it was nice to not be in that spot alone.

All in all, I can't complain; after the rough start, I taught the new (for me) program and now have 2 in my arsenal. And I do love my job.

Sometimes there's airplanes I can't jump out
Sometimes there's bull**** that don't work now
We are god of stories but please tell me
What there is to complain about?

Oh, this has gotta be the good life
This has gotta be the good life
This could really be the good life, good life...
[Onerepublic, Good Life]

Stranger in a strange land.

Went out to eat tonight with some friends and friends-of-friends. Definitely a different crowd than I'm used to--they were definitely a bunch of sports nuts and we definitely ate at the biggest sports bar around. Oh yeah, and the people I actually knew sat at the other end of the table from me, so I was sitting with complete strangers in this totally out-of-my-comfort-zone situation. But as luck would have it, the girl next to me and I had some things in common and hit it off pretty well. And when the big game came on the big screen, she didn't seem to mind my occasional questions about the players and flow of the game (I was oh so thankful for my teensy bit of hockey knowledge--at least I knew to call them "periods" instead of "quarters!"). The night wasn't quite what I expected--I didn't get much interaction with the friends I went to see. But at least it wasn't a total loss.

Rookie mistakes.

This morning I saw the sunrise in the canyon...as I scurried about throwing various reptiles and amphibians into their respective travel cases. It was my first morning going [almost] solo in my expanded role at work, and I almost pulled it off without a hitch. Got the animals--but forgot the equipment box (yay for friends who notice and other friends who drive it out at a moment's notice!). Looked up directions--but somehow wrote down a wrong turn somewhere. Made it to the school in one piece, though, and taught 2 of the 3 programs on my own. And my Jedi Master's assessment of my teaching: "Great. Keep doing what you're doing, don't change anything."

Success.

To speak or not to speak.

Had an interesting chat at work today: about God, religion, spirituality, church. And had it not only with a friend, but also with one of the more intimidating coworkers I know of--one who's known to tear people apart with his words sometimes, just a bit. Definitely a, "Ok God, here we go...!" moment.

Frog in my throat.

Today I took the crazy kids at work. And now my voice is paying for it. Is it Friday yet...?

Definitely no Van Gogh.

Had a church staff Christmas dinner tonight; guess that's one way they make us poor middle school group interns feel special. And it worked on me--delicious dinner, fabulous friends, shorefront seating...it was a beautiful night!

Except for the game. At one point I got ever so slightly stressed about the game. We were supposed to draw the person sitting across the table from us (and then later figure out who the mixed-up pictures were all of). It was stupid, really, I mean we were supposed to complete our artwork in 3 minutes and create them with crayons. Regardless, I got sorta kinda self-conscious about my artwork and started to stress out internally, just a little bit. But thankfully, I caught myself, pride got swallowed, and fun was had. And my ridiculously stupid little drawing brought much joy to the table. The end.

Slacker.

This week I've...

>Watched a scary movie [Shutter Island] that turned out to be not so scary after all.

>Ventured out on another training foray into an elementary school with about 7 different scaly and slimy animals in tow.

>Put myself out there creatively on a project at work...and people loved it!

>Visited my work's favorite biker bar.

>Gone out of my way to take the initiative on something at church...and it went great! (moral of this week: don't let fear of what others think stop me from expressing myself--creatively, intellectually, whatever.)

>Spontaneously attended a concert with a friend +2 complete strangers...and the one stranger was a little bit of a scary driver--a not-so-tiny danger in this case!

And I've been totally slacking on the self-discipline of writing here every day. Gotta try to fix that this next week.

Thankfully busy.

It's been a busy last few days, in which I haven't had much access to a computer. Rather than trying to backlog entries for the last few days, here's the shortlist of what all's been going on lately...

>Tried out a new cookie recipe late on Monday night...and then put it to the test by bringing the finished products to work for a special Thanksgiving treat. And they passed the test, with flying colors. Thanks, Taste of Home cookbook!

>Got up at 4:30 in the morning so I could learning a new program at work...not in the field, in the schools! Went and observed/team taught (or at least attempted to team teach) at a special needs school, which made the experience even more unforgettable. And did it all with one of my favorite office friends from work!

>Lots of good girltime and girltalk with an increasingly-closer friendship that I have been very thankful for lately! God, guys, life, faith, family...my heart is pretty darn full right now.

>The delving into of a new tv show--The West Wing--with aforementioned girlfriend. Not too shabby...

>Watching The West Wing while sipping a glass of Martin & Weyrich Moscato Allegro...yum! I'm not much of a drinker, don't know much about alcohol in general, but this was a delicious treat. AND I felt SO refined and grown-up! :)

>Thanksgiving with the fam was a delicious and delightful experience, as usual. Got there early to help out and scored some extra-special, pre-crowd grandma time...awesome.

>Black Friday shopping! Ewww, definitely NOT my favorite thing to do! But other than having to run to 2 different Border's to find a particular Christmas gift (and use the 50% off coupon good only for a day or two!), it was pretty smooth sailing. No parking spot battles, no insane lines, most of my big Christmas shopping done...and I didn't go out until noon! THIS is how we do it.

[and for the big one...drum roll please......]

>I GOT MY HAIR CUT!!!! One of the scariest things for me to do, I have this deep-seated fear of beauty salons for some reason...but today I conquered.

Yes, I haven't been around my computer much these last few days. Yes, life has been busy. But life has been FULL--full of family, full of friends, full of new and challenging and exciting experiences. And I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Fire! Fire! Fire!

Had the family over for a dinner/popcorn/movie night at my apartment tonight. 7 of the 11 of them made it (8 counting me!) and it was a fun night. Mom made soup, a sister and I made popcorn, and the littlest sister alerted us all to the fire in the bathroom with her almost-unnoticed cry of, "It's smoky in here!"

I though the flame in that Thailand candle holder seemed to be burning a little bit too big and sideways tonight...


Thanks for the alert, kid!

Question: which bear is best?

Tonight I shook Rainn Wilson's hand.

1062.

That's about how many miles I've put on my car since last Sunday...all but about 320 of which happened in the last 36 hours or so. That's what happens when two great friends get married WAY up north and you have to work Friday and can't carpool up with anyone so have to drive yourself up on a whirlwind trip...whew. But it was WAY worth it. :)

Groovy

I am NOT a dancer--never have been, never will claim to be. I even had a dance-inclined friend tell me one time, "Some people just don't have it...." (Other than the hokey pokey, I've got that one DOWN! And really, that IS what it's all about, right?) But thanks to the encouragement of some friends and the natural high that came with a very special occasion, tonight I got my groove on. Just a little.

Oh Moms...

Got this Facebook message today from my mom's bff, who was also like a second mom to me all growing up. Currently both my real and fake mom are off on the east coast at a homeschool leaders training...apparently this is what happens when you get a bunch of homeschooling moms together...

"kbroccoli,
Your mother is betrothing you to Bob Smith [not real name, ha]. Do you need my help in any way? I am making myself available.... I'm here with her, him, and his mother. He knows nothing of this plan, but the mothers are in kahoots.
He IS a hot catch... loves God, reads well, wears NICE shirts, nice looking, owns homes, mature....Want me to find you a job on the science curriculum development team? What are you looking for in a guy? (that was your mom's question) :)"

Oh Moms...

Cook's Corner.

Went to a biker bar out in the canyon tonight, with a bunch of old and new friends from work. Not a place you'd typically find me hanging out, but every now and then I make an exception for work friends. It's always an experience, that's for sure. Tonight I had one old friend announce to everyone else, "She doesn't drink!" as they're all nursing their beers...thanks for the spotlight, my favorite. Then, some Heineken-toting, cigarette-smoking guy from the bar came over and joined in a conversation about Burning Man...and eventually the two of us got to talking about our travels in the Holy Land, random. Oh yeah, and then when I was heading out the door, everyone stood up for hugs...including one new friend who I think scored some cheap thrills off of me. Awesome. All in all, definitely a fun/interesting/out-of-my-box night. Thanks, Cook's.

The talk...finally.

For months I've been saying I need to talk to someone at my church about starting some kind of young adults' group. Today I finally did it.

Uhhh...

I travel a lot for work. Like, pretty much every single day. Not too incredibly far, but some good distances from one end of the OC to the other. Been trained at most every single of the dozen-or-so sites my program runs, and can teach most all of them at a moment's notice (and have done so many times).

But today I was sent someplace new. Someplace I haven't seen actually run in 6+ months, someplace that runs way differently than all of our other sites. And not only did I have to go there today, but I had to teach there too--15 4th-graders were looking expectantly at me to tell them all about the Capistrano and San Onofre Breccia formations. And I only sorta kinda knew what I was supposed to tell them; definitely had a few moments where I would say something and then pause, thinking frantically, "Now what do I do next?!" Yet somehow, the day flew by, the kids didn't revolt, and everyone was smiling when the bus pulled away. And now I've got a new site [mostly] under my belt.

Soulpancake.

Two days ago I received a "So-and-so has been tagged in an album" notification on the Facebook, with the "So-and-so" being a musician I've really been digging lately. So, of course, I clicked...and found myself looking at an album containing not only Andy Grammer, but Ellen Page, Ted Mosby (Mr. HIMYM...don't know his real name!), pretty much the entire Office cast, and more. What the heck was this event, I thought, and why wasn't I invited to it?

Turns out Rainn Wilson started some web site a while back: Soulpancake -- "a place to speak your mind, unload your questions, and figure out what it means to be human." It wasn't long before I'd made my way over to soulpancake.com...and proceeded to spend an hour there reading different posts and discussions. Definitely caught my interest, the discussions were very relevant to life and faith and a whole lot more, and the opinions expressed diverse yet respectful. So of course, I signed up for an account and bookmarked it prominently.

The pictured event that originally caught my attention was the release of a "Soulpancake" book just a few days ago. So today after work, in all my dirty, dusty glory, I stopped by B&N and perused a copy for a good long while. Think I might have to pick one up next paycheck.

Whee!!!

Our church's annual Fall Festival was last night, and I signed up to help out. Checked off several different options on the bulletin flier before I stuck it in the offering plate; I figured they could squeeze me in wherever they needed me, I didn't mind. When I got an e-mail from the children's ministry lady asking if I could work both shifts, I agreed. 3 hours one night didn't seem so bad, and I didn't have any other plans. Then came the postcard reminder: 3 hours, guarding a "bouncer." Madness, to be sure. What was I thinking when I agreed to both shifts?!

Well, when I showed up at church last night, to my joy I was assigned to the giant 2-track inflatable slide that loomed at the end of the parking lot (which, of course, I had to test out immediately!). And for the first 90 minutes, I was working with a couple of middle school students I barely knew but really liked! Can you say sweet ministry opportunity?! :) The three of us had a blast manning the slide, and the endless line of kids (and adults!) kept us busy and made the time fly by.

The night was great, the company awesome, the costumes cute. All in all, a very happy Halloween.

Spam.

Tonight I went and sorta kinda spammed about 80+ of my friends on Facebook. You see, my sis and her friends started this ministry to orphans in Ukraine, and they're currently facing one of their biggest financial hurdles yet. So I got on their Facebook page, found out who I was "friends" with who was also "friends" with them, and messaged asking them all to participate in the $10 Challenge: 10 people, giving $10 each, over the next 10 days. Day 1 was great; day 2 pretty awesome as well. Days 3 and 4 have been slightly lacking, from the looks of things.

Now I HATE spamming friends, hate GETTING spam myself. But this summer I did the same thing for a stupid contest for one of my favorite musicians--and won myself a phone call, autographed pic, and some handwritten lyrics. I figured that if I could do it for such a "cause" as cool stuff, how could I NOT do it to help out some lost and forgotten and hurting kids in Ukraine? So maybe I'll piss off a few "friends," who knows. Maybe a few of them will donate to the cause. Maybe a handful will even find other people who will donate $10 too. At the very least--or the very MOST--maybe I'll have alerted 80+ Christian friends to the need to pray for some friends and the cause that God has given them a passion and a purpose for. Won't you join in too?

Girls' night + good tuneage = great Thursday!

Checked out a new coffeehouse in Fullerton tonight, McClain's. Oh-so-trendy of a place, filled with oh-so-trendy people that I enjoyed peoplewatching during some oh-so-trendy music. Me and 4 girlfriends went to watch a guy from church, AJ Degrasse, play his stuff. It was chill, it was fun, it was healing for my soul after whatever madness was going on inside last night. Yay for friends. Yay for good music. Yay for a refreshing night.

Breakdown.

Crappy morning group at work today. Crazy night with the middle schoolers tonight. Endless loud music and noise with middle school staff afterwards. Somewhere in the midst of it all, something inside of me snapped. I fled the scene early and had a mini-freakout in my car, the first of its kind. Oh what a day.

Hound of the Baskervilles.

Or at least that's what it seemed like tonight as Amy and I were taking her dog-sitting charge, Sandy, for a pleasant evening stroll around the block. The walk had been uneventful, we had just turned around and were heading towards home when suddenly she gasped and jumped into me. I turned just in time to see this GIANT golden dog positively leap out of the dark bushes and descend on Sandy! For a stunned few seconds, Amy and I stood there unsure of what to do. Did we pull Sandy towards home as fast as we could? Nope; the big guy kept leaping after us. Did we let the dogs do their thing and save ourselves? Bad idea there too...Amy was mighty protective of that pup, and there was no way we were leaving him to the mercy of this massive beast. We tried for home, he kept following. Even jumped straight into the gated-in front patio area of a friend's house--before growing tired of that and making for the front door! Yikes.

Somehow, in the time it took me to powerwalk Sandy home to safety, a leash was produced and fastened around this collarless-canine's neck. Amy and I set out back down the street, almost being more in tow of the dog than he was of us. We made it to the house of the dark shrubbery and knocked on the door...and were lucky enough to find Brady's home. I think a part of us wanted to run home ourselves after that, to avoid any more creatures that might be lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce with no warning. We got home, we slammed and locked the door, and we gave Sandy a treat for behaving so gallantly in the face of danger. And Amy and I curled up on the couch and watched a happy movie together, momentarily forgetting our harrowing encounter on a dark street, on a dark night...

Decisions.

Today I was given an invitation to up my role at work by doing something kind of new to me part-time. There are definitely some upsides to this, one of the primary being better pay on those particular days (coming at a time when I was just contemplating this weekend whether or not I should start looking for a second job...coincidence?). There are definitely some challenges too, like buttcrack-of-dawn early mornings at times (once last year when I went along on one of these adventures, I had to get up at 3:30am so I could leave by 4:30 so I could be at work by 5:30 to load everything up and be gone by 6:30 and drive to a school far away...). And other stuff too, on both sides of it.

The boss-lady tossed the opportunity my way, then quickly said to what must have been my slightly stunned and unsuspecting face, "You don't have to answer right this second...take some time to think about it!" Well, I'm thinking I'm going to give it a shot...

The search is on.

It's been months now that I've been longing for community. Looking for connection with like-minded people my age who are pursuing God and can encourage me to do the same. Been striking out at my home church, so because of some spurring conversations and circumstances this week I have semi-resumed my search for something somewhere else. Tonight's location: Cottonwood Church's FUSE service. Good teaching, good worship (although quite the elaborate production!), a good-sized group of young adults... Stayed afterwards for a special hangout, ate and talked with a few other 20/30-something ladies I'd never met before. When the night was done, I put my name down for more info about life groups. Now I wait and see what happens.

I'm not sold yet, but it's a start.

And I'm not giving up on my church yet. Danger #2 of the night: FINALLY sending that e-mail I've been thinking about sending for months to one of the pastors at my church, asking about starting something young adult-ish there...

Me 'on blast.'

Middle schoolers are crazy. Even when they hit high school, the craziness doesn't suddenly go away--it just changes a bit. Tonight we had a room full of probably 150+ middle AND high school students, all running around and playing all sorts of different games and sports competitions for over an hour. Then, AFTER that hour+ of crazy play time, we sat them all down and attempted to focus and present them with the gospel.

A acquaintance from camp, Megan, was asked to come share the gospel with the group tonight. She's been the spirit girl for the high school camp for multiple summers and is a SUPER high-energy, crazy, slightly intense and fun person herself. As I was grabbing a seat right before she got up to speak, she grabbed my attention with an, "Oh my gosh! I can't believe you're here!! I'm TOTALLY gonna share that story of that crazy girls' night you all ran at Wildwood and...you were 'God,' right? Oh my gosh! I've been sharing this story for a few weeks now and now you're actually here!!!" Made me smile, made my pulse go up just a bit (mostly because she was even super intense in that brief personal interaction, lol), and made me excited/slightly nervous to hear her share about that crazy night we ran 3 summers ago. So I sat and listened.

Aaannnddd...halfway through, after she'd explained most all of the night and told everyone what role I'd played in it all, she was like, "Kari, I'm totally gonna put you 'on blast' here...stand up and tell us what you'd tell those girls each week!" Oh gosh. Suddenly there were a couple hundred pairs of eyes in the room on me, as I stood and strained to remember what I'd communicated on that crazy intense night--and communicate it now on this not-quite-that-crazy-intense one. And I think I did decently.

Oddly enough, those girls' nights have been on my mind a bit lately, and I've been thinking about what I shared week after week about how Jesus has freed them now and forever from their sins. So even though being put 'on blast' was something that kinda made me just a bit nervous, it honestly was at least somewhat fresh in my mind. Coincidence? More like a God-thing.

"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason
for the hope that you have..."
[1 Peter 3:15]

Good tunes.

Found some great new music sometime towards the end of summer. Andy Grammer. He's only got 2 songs up to listen to, and only this last week could you buy the one single. So I guess he's pretty new.

Tonight he was playing in LA with a couple of other artists--who were also great, for sure. Not having heard much of him, I was kind of unsure as to whether or not I wanted to shell out my hard-earned cash for this guy. But I've been wanting to hear more, so ready or not, here we went...! And Andy Grammer blew me and my friend Karen away! His songs were fun and upbeat and definitely had us singing along when we could pick up the words. And he had an awesome band. Definitely became a new fan tonight. You should too.

www.facebook.com/andygrammermusic

Things are looking up.

Today I thought there was going to be more drama when I broached a certain subject. But instead, there was a surprising lack of drama that made my heart skip a beat. Thank you, Jesus.

Confrontation.

I hate confrontation. I'm very much a people-pleaser, and dread big arguments and conflict, avoiding them like the plague whenever I can. Sometimes this makes for smooth sailing, since I rarely bring problems up unless they're huge. Sometimes this makes me a little bitter and frustrated inside. Sometimes this leads to more conflict when the issues finally get brought up down the line. It's not something I'm proud of, definitely something I've been striving to work on.

Today I confronted something that should have been a small problem, yet instead of letting it go on and fester and become a bigger problem--either internally or externally--I brought it up. Nicely, I thought; maybe I'm just really not as good at this "nicely" thing as I thought. Because once again, things blew up in my face. Kind of caught me by surprise, the ferocity of the attack and how fast it turned. Kind of put me in a funk for the rest of the day. Kind of hurt, big time. And now life has to continue going on as before, when I feel like I've been punched in the face by a friend for no good reason.

I hate confrontation.

Busy day.

Some days come and go with no "dangers" faced to report; others are chock full of them. Today was one of those days. I'll give you the bullet points...

>After work I was heading straight out to Disneyland (3rd Friday night of madness there in a row; that's almost danger enough!) for a friend's bachelorette party. Which meant I brought my life with me in the car that morning, including a change of clothes. Since I was at the back bay, the only place to change was in our oh-so-glorious...porta potties. Goodie. Gross. Danger #1.

>Made it to D-land, met up with the party! And out of our group of 15 or so, I knew the bride-to-be, had met 4-5 others, and the rest were complete strangers to me. Me, who loves the familiar and familiar people, hanging out with a gang of them after and exhausting work day/week...I was dead on my feet, but I hung ok. Danger #2.

>One of the acquaintances and I found a cast member "friend" from our last trip/initial meeting 2 weeks ago! We definitely went up and gave him a hug. Good old Rasheed. Danger #3.

>Before dinner in Downtown Disney, the girls decided to go "freshen up" at Sephora. I think I felt less comfortable in those 20 minutes in that makeup store than I did changing in the porta pottie. Danger #4.

>Dinner was in a private room with a giant long table--and I sat at the complete opposite end from my one good friend. Thankfully, was next to one of the acquaintances, but it was still a long 2.5 hour dinner. Danger #5.

It was a busy day. And I was pooped. I think that made some things seem bigger than normal, sure, but it was definitely a slightly-out-of-comfort-zone evening. But still fun to celebrate with my friend.

Oh yeah, when I got home I changed, washed my face and fell into bed without brushing my teeth. Danger #6.

Ooh la la

Tried out a brand spankin' new recipe today--from THE BOOK. No, not the Bible, it's this old women's league cookbook that my mom's side of the family pretty much swears by. "You could make anything out of the book for the very first time, and it'd be good enough for company!," my grandma always says. All I'd made out of it so far was banana bread (which is AMAZING, by the way!), so today I decided to branch out with "Chicken Ooh La La." Not too shabby, my tummy was happy after that dinner, that's for sure. If anyone's actually out there and curious...

Chicken breasts
1 cup sour cream
Garlic to taste
1 tsp Worcestershire
1 tsp celery salt
Paprika
Bread crumbs [I used old Wheat Thins, ha...]

Mix together sour cream, garlic, Worcestershire, celery salt, and paprika. Coat chicken with this mixture then with bread crumbs. Bake in a greased casserole uncovered, 45 min-1 hour, in a 350 degree oven.

Ooh la la. Enjoy.

Middle school.

Middle school. A crazy, awkward, unforgettable-no-matter-how-hard-we-try time for most of us. One we'd never want to go back and relive ever again. Right? Maybe for most of us...

But for some of us, the crazy, awkward unforgettableness somehow continues on into our adult lives. At least vicariously. I'm talking about youth ministry. Where else can you enjoy this time in all its glory, and have a stinkin' blast while doing it? At least, I love it.

Tonight we had a middle school event at church: "Waldo." People hid all over town at coffee shops, McDonald's, parks, bookstores, all wearing or wielding something specific. Light sabers. Indiana Jones. Martin Luther. Darth Vader. All these and more made appearances for our 2-hour drive all over town with carloads of crazy 11 to 13-year-olds, who descended in noisy swarms on unsuspecting establishments to find these hidden "Waldos."

My car load was different than usual. Normally a bunch of my small group girls practically attack in their jockeying for a seat in my car; tonight I got 3 7th and 8th grade boys. They were different. They were noisy. They were awesome.

These boys screamed Beatles and Black Eyed Peas and "Where's Waldo???" out my car windows as we drove the local streets--the same windows they fell into as they were reloading the car, exclaiming "I've always wanted to do that!" I guess door handles take too much time. They mistook Martin Luther for Christopher Columbus, sprinted across giant parking lots, made friends with random people at McDonald's and Starbucks, selected Coldplay and OneRepublic and Bach from my iPod...pretty much totally made my night.

One of my favorite moments came when I was doing "donuts" in one parking lot, waiting for "Team Epic" to tell me where to go next. Complaining they were getting carsick, they finally told me where to go and we straightened out for our next destination--after I threw in one more roundabout for good measure. One boy teased me: "Aren't church people supposed to be nice and help other people, not make them carsick?" I joked back, "Sure, but you're forgetting something: middle school staff church people are also supposed to be crazy!" Another boy, suddenly got serious, musing to himself from the back seat, "Hmmm...maybe that's what I should do!" Youth pastor of the future? Only time will tell.

Oh yeah, and we won.

ElecTRONica

Roommate date night tonight at the happiest place on earth! Only it wasn't quite so happy this time around. Nearly an hour into our 70-minute wait for Space Mountain "Ghost Galaxy" (which we've never done and were excited to check out!) a cast member started making the rounds: "We are experiencing technical difficulties which you are welcome to stick around for, but it's going to be at least an hour. Also, the park is now closed..." Or something like that. Lame.

So off to DCA we went. Crazy busy there, but we managed to score some 11:15 World of Color tickets--at like 7:30. So with 3 hours to go before it was time to line up, we set off to occupy ourselves. Barely managed seats on the rollercoaster before it closed for the first WoC showing. Snagged some tortillas and bread after that. And just when we were about to give up hope and call it an early night, we stumbled past the Hollywood Backlot and saw strange things: flashing lights. Loud noises. Weird projections on all the building. And a big sign over it all proclaiming, "ElecTRONica." We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

Walking in a trance through the flashing lights with arcade-like whirs and beeps echoing off the crowded street, we entered deeper into this whole new world of TRON. Suddenly we were there. Dancing and drinking and a mad crush of young adults, all bobbing and moving to the electronic beat. Sure, this rave was Disney-sponsored and pretty G-rated, but still quite a different scene that I was used to seeing at D-land. Or at all in my life. On raised platforms at the 4 corners of the area were dancers in space-aged suits, doing the robot to a techno beat of "Everybody was Kung-Fu Fighting." At the very back we ventured into Flynn's--an arcade resembling the one that I guess is from the movie. And taking over the MuppetVision theater was a special 3D sneak peek of "TRON: Legacy," which was, by far the coolest thing about the whole shebang.

When the roomie and I finally stumbled back out of the dark and noisy and crowded ElecTRONica, it was like we had truly emerged from the computer-generated world of TRON and could breathe fresh air again. And the real world was a welcome relief, as was the cool tram breeze blowing our techo-induced headaches away.

ElecTRONica. Been there, done that. And, it felt, slightly against my will.

Little buggers.

I haven't returned to my summer place of employment since...well, summer. Don't get me wrong, I am very thankful for the job I had and the people who contributed to me getting it. But it was a little crazy, for sure. Some days I loved the kids I worked with. Some days I never wanted to see them again. Some days I wanted to go home and cry (a few times I did). In any case, I've been thinking about making a return trip just to say hi to everyone, but have been putting it off/not having time. A persistent friend keeps reminding me, though, so today I took the plunge and returned...

I had barely set foot in the door when first one, then two, the half a dozen cute little ankle-biters were swarming me. "Can you stay?" "Will you not leave?" "Don't go away this time!" Those were the words I kept hearing as we hugged all around. I made my rounds to visit all the little familiar faces, totally disrupting homework time. Some kids jumped out of their seats; other smiled at me shyly from their chairs; one even saw me, shrieked, and ran back into his room! Too cute.

For all those times I ranted and raved and yelled and cried...there were also times when I laughed and played and smiled and hugged. And when it comes down to it, I guess those are the times we all remember best.

Drip drip drop...

10% chance of precipitation = no precipitation. Right? At least that's how it should have been today, that's how it normally goes. But I was very thankful I didn't don my shorts today when I headed off to work, because today turned into a gray and gloomy and very drizzly day at the back bay. Amazing how that heavy mist can get everything so wet so fast, but it did. I was soaked from head to toe, dried, resoaked, redried (except for my shoes and socks...those never recovered)... As it that wasn't enough, the day was also plagued by challenging coworkers and a group of punk kids. Oh yeah, and when the day was done and I was about to go home, I discovered that somewhere over the course of this highly frazzling day, I locked my keys in the car. Thankfully, AAA got there in record time and saved the day (and it wasn't horribly wet during the waiting). Yay AAA.

Oh yeah, and if all that wasn't enough, then we had to go hang up all the ponchos that 100+ kids wore for half a day and then unceremoniously dumped in the dirt. Not my favorite job, but I've got some great coworkers that made the cold and wet and everything a little bit more bearable. Thanks, friends.

Snap crackle BOOM.

Went to Disneyland again today...that makes twice this weekend! And now, thanks to some fabulous friends and family showering their love and birthday money on me, I have another whole year of magic to enjoy. :) Anyway...

The night started off with an interesting parking assignment; I had to ask directions to the tram, I was so turned around and thrown for a loop! Caught the same tram as my friends, magically, and we set off on a fun night at the parks. Rode a few rides, ate some good food, and called it a night shortly before the fireworks so we could avoid the crowds. Outwardly, leaving then made sense; I was pretty tired too. Inwardly, I sorta kinda really wanted to stay for the fireworks show I'd never seen before. But away we went, parting at the escalators as I continued on my merry way up one floor, across the garage, down the stairs, and through to the next lot and my car. Arrived at my car, just in time for the fireworks to begin.

Watching them in the park is awesome, for sure; the view is as it's meant to be, the music adds a whole another element, and even oooh and aaahing with hundreds of random strangers is fun. But from that back way overflow lot, many of the fireworks are only getting shot off a few hundred yards away. There's no music, so you hear every whistle, every whir, every crackle and BOOM as each volley of rockets shoots up nearly directly over your head. I felt each explosion deep in my core, I felt the car shudder underneath me from my perch on the trunk.

And then there's the other cars. They're surrounding you, and they're singing along. Not quite as beautifully as whoever they get for the "real" soundtrack, but definitely unique in their own special way as they belt out their discordant harmonies. Some cars seem to know that they're not in any real danger, and quit their chirping after only 30 seconds or so; other continue on like their lives depend on it. Each has its own unique voice, bursting to fill the night with their urban lullaby.

I didn't stay for the show inside tonight, but the one I experienced from the outside looking in was pretty darn special anyway. So thanks again, Disneyland.

Just thinking...

I've been systematically taking down my to-do list today. Cleaning up piles. Putting things away. Catching up on the old. Jumping into new tasks. Like church internship-type things. I've had a pile of papers that I've been moving from here to there, but barely making a much-needed scratch in when it comes to actually reading them. I think a part of it is, I'm out of practice; after all, I haven't been in school for the last few years, "homework" feels just a little bit foreign to me right now. I think another part of me is slightly afraid: what if, because I'm out of practice at all this ministry stuff, I don't have what it takes anymore? What if I never did in the first place? I've been a little bit haunted by these questions lately, as I see friends and what's going on in their lives and look at my own. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm truly happy with my life--I love what I do, I love the people I have around me, I'm excited to see what the future holds! But sometimes I wonder...am I missing something, could life hold something more than what I've settled for? And if it does, how do I get there?

I've got to stop comparing myself with the people around me, it never comes to anything good. After all, life doesn't follow a specific pattern for everyone, does it? And that's good, that's exciting. I'm excited to see what the future holds for me down the road, because I know that God's going to keep holding me through it all. In the meantime, I just need to keep being faithful. And flexing my slightly out-of-shape ministry muscles...

¹ O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

² You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

⁵ You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, ^a]">[a] you are there.

⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

¹¹ If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

¹⁷ How precious to ^b]">[b] me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

¹⁸ Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

[Psalm 139]

I need a throat lozenge.

After almost 2 weeks of anticipation, tonight I visited the happiest place on earth with a whole slew of camp friends. Some were Hume friends I know and love, most were new FoHo friends I'd never met before. Anyway, we rode a few rides, ran into lots of random people, ate some soft serve, and pretty much had a fantastic time. Apparently camp and camp people have the rare ability to draw me out of my shell in ways I never would have dreamed before: I was singing, dancing, yelling, and pretty much making a slightly obnoxious fool of myself with the 13+ other people I was with. In public. Something I never would have dreamed I'd ever do. I yelled and laughed until I nearly hyperventilated, until my throat felt raw. And it was amazing.

Just to give you a taste...

[the entire back row and all of the left side -the two chokers are us...fantastic]

I am very thankful for all the friends God has put into my life. I love you all!

No stupid questions.

Today I asked a "stupid" question. And was rewarded with the knowledge that I wasn't the only one thinking it with a chorus of, "I was wondering that too!" Usually that'd be me; today I took a chance.

Feeling hot hot hot!

Today I hiked 21 4th-graders through a variety of ecosystems and terrains. Guided them through a small ark's worth of animals (and their poop). Showcased a feisty snake and a lethargic rat. Drowned them with countless canteenfulls of water, zapped them with "death ray" blasts to their faces and backs of their necks. All in record temperatures--somewhere between 108 and 115, from what I've heard.

I had a feeling the summer we never really had this year was going to catch up to us this fall. I just didn't think it'd try to do it all in one day.

Trendyville USA

Still kinda feeling a little bit of that Thursday-funk today. I still think it has something to do with that e-mail I got--the one saying a particular beloved pastor at my church is moving to a different church and, with his departure, a certain beloved ministry is departing as well. Really, it doesn't affect me super personally; I mean, I wasn't super close with him or anything. But I think with his leaving, my hopes of finding community this next year in that ministry, with those people is leaving too. Dumb, I know, to put all my hopes on that one thing (I'm working on it). I think it mostly just hit me again with the news that I've been living without good community for so long, and I got kind of discouraged. It's true, the "lone ranger Christian" thing does suck, on a number of levels.

Anyway, I got back home tonight and the happy couple was about to head out to an evening service at a friend's church. Not wanting to sit at home and stew in my despair, I made the spur of the moment decision to tag along (oddly enough, to the church that certain beloved pastor is going to). I'd been there once before, and while the church is awesome, I definitely remembered feeling good and out of place there in the heart of "Trendyville USA," as I like to think of it. Not my exact cup of tea, but away we went. And there God and I had a good talk. At least the start of a good talk; it needs to be continued, for sure. About life. About secrets. About faithfulness. About community. And more. And suddenly I was very thankful for Trendyville and the opportunity they'd given me to meet God there.

Mother really DOES know best.

I've never eaten at an Arby's before. Before today, that is. The roommate, her hubbie, and myself went out for a chill night on the town: Downtown Disney, fireworks and popcorn (which we left in the car) from the parking structure roof, an entertaining Redbox movie... And Arby's. The happy couple said it was delicious, the groom especially swearing it was one of his faves. So, after years of being told by those nearest and dearest to me (aka Mom) that it wasn't anything worth writing home about, I decided to give it a shot. Got the #22, Philly steak sandwich meal (or something along those lines) with curly fries and a Dr. Pepper. And my verdict? Well, the curly fries were good...

That's one pleasure I will not be rushing out to enjoy again anytime soon. Not unless I want to have a load of crap sitting in my gut for the next couple of days or so. Mmm, mmm good...

Crisis moment.

Tonight I think I had just a tad little bit of a quarter-life crisis. Or maybe not even quite that bad. But I got home from a chill day at work feeling good. Then, after reading one particular e-mail, felt kind of bummed out. More bummed out than I maybe should have, considering the circumstances; I'm not really sure why. Then schlepped around the apartment for a bit, trying to figure out what to do with myself on my night off from being busy. Then went to Target and bought some Oreos. Then came home and ate a stack of them with some milk and peanut butter while watching some sappy old chick flick I'd never seen before. And now it's bed time, and I still feel a little bit off. A little bit tired. A little bit sad. A little bit lonely. A little bit I'm not even sure what. But tonight I feel a little bit lacking something. And I wish I could put my finger on it, because maybe then I'd know what to do to fix it.

And...action.

I'm not the best actress in the world. Most times I end up on film in some cheesy camp role or another, I cringe whenever I'm on screen. But tonight, in my new role at church, I landed a spot on the game-of-the-night's rules video. Yeah, it was cheeseball. Yeah, it was shot AND edited in something like 20-30 minutes. But yeah, I did it.

And sadly, they DID cut out the scene where I pitched the dodgeball at my competitor's head.

Confessions.

Today I told my mom that yesterday I ate my dessert before I ate my dinner. She huffed at me, just a bit.

Above it all.

Today at work I was one of the key initiators on a hike above and beyond (literally) any we ever get to/need to take at that site. Curiosity and restlessness and a desire to see what beyond drove us up and over that steep and slippery hillside, with a few of our more adventurous co-workers trailing not far behind. It was funny how climbing just a few more steps could totally change your view of things; other points that had once seemed so high and lofty themselves when we were standing on them now appeared almost downright insignificant. We noticed things we'd been driving past almost every day for years, and yet had never noticed before!

I'm sure there's a cool analogy in that, but I'm not going to think it up right now (knock yourselves out). On its own, it was a cool bit of "awe time," as us naturalists like to call it. Awe time that we even got paid for. Score.



Oh yeah, and I ate my dessert before my dinner tonight. Yay for being a grown-up.

Open books.

As you would know if you've read my first post on this blog, I had my birthday last week. 26. Officially up and over the crest of my mid-20s, on my way down the other side. Funny, I've never really felt old before, still always scoff when people my age and even a few years older sigh about how old they've gotten. Yet this past year, I've been noticing it. Small changes in my body, little creaks and groans; nothing big, but there nonetheless. Feeling odd that I remember the way certain things used to be wherever or with whatever when a new generation doesn't. And changes in my social circles--or at least, how I interact with and relate to my social circles. After all, there haven't been any drastic changes in the people I know and spent time with, really. I just notice things that I either never noticed or that never really bothered me before. Maturity levels. Cliques. Differences in interest. Age differences. I can definitely tell when I'm hanging out with people who are my peers versus those who are younger, and I long for more of these peer interactions--the way they challenge me, they way they encourage me, the way they cause me to think and grow. And I'm slightly more put off and reluctant to hang out with at least certain non-peer groups; not that I don't like them anymore, it's just that sometimes I feel like it's draining me of energy and holding me back somewhat from growing, and I don't want that. So I've been trying to prioritize, spending more time investing in the more iron-sharpens-iron relationships and less in the ones that keep my sharp edges more dulled.

Tonight feeling old and not wanting to feel dulled almost kept me from going to a hangout night. That, and the fact that I didn't know much of anyone there; this might sound bad, but I didn't really want to make new friends with more young "kids," I'd much rather with people my own age. Thanks to Facebook RSVP's, I thought there'd be at least a few peers there (to my shame, I am one of those people sometimes). Didn't know they'd cancel less than an hour before the party. So I showed up in a new place with a gang of new faces around, nervously half considering how and when I could make a premature escape if needed. And I ended up staying for pizza, multiple games of Mafia, a movie, cleanup and hangout. And I was pleasantly surprised, some of these people were pretty stinkin' legit. Lovers of God. Lovers of people. And when I left after 5 hours I didn't feel dulled, I felt like I'd had a good night hanging out with some cool new people, even made a few new friends I'd love to pursue more.

Maybe you'll think me a stuck-up, selfish jerk after reading this post; sometimes I wonder if I'm too far gone that way too. I'm not perfect, that's for sure. But tonight I was humbled in my attitude. Humbled and challenged yet again to be open and willing to give people a chance (or in some cases, another). To not judge a book by its cover, but to look at each person as a unique and special child of God who I may have the opportunity to both teach and learn from. And I don't want to miss those chances.

"They were books themselves, all of them were books, and what was so wonderful is that to them, I was a book too. We would sit around and talk about literature and each other, and I couldn't tell the difference between the books they were talking about and their lives..." [Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz]

Relationships.

Tonight I had one of those conversations that I oh-so-naturally want to flee from. One of those hard, gut-wrenching heart-to-hearts that needs to be had, yet nobody every likes to have them. And for a reason, they're NO FUN. But they're good and necessary and growing for the relationship. And I need to learn not to put them off so long, but to speak the truth in love and grace when it needs to be spoken, not a ways down the road; that never quite helps like I hope it will. I'm learning...

Committed.

Tonight I committed. To doing something I've already been doing, but more in-depth, more responsibility. To something that will likely take up a pretty decent amount of my already busy schedule. To something that will make me think back to my degree in ministry in ways I haven't had to in a while. To something that will allow me to be part of an old team in a very new way. To something that will hopefully challenge and inspire me, and hopefully also challenge and inspire some young lives.

A part of me is afraid I won't have any free time, any life; that I'll be burned out and exhausted and hate people; that I won't have what it takes to get the job done after all. I think these fears are mostly excuses I'm making to myself to keep from doing the harder thing, the more stretching thing. Because, when I really think about it, the things this opportunity has to offer are just the things I've been longing for. So tonight I committed. And I'm excited to see what God has in store as I step out on this new-ish venture, trusting greatly in his provision.

Magical.

Tonight I met up with a good friend at the Happiest Place on Earth for a few hours. We were both hoping to see the new World of Color show, but kinda knew that by the time we got there all the tickets would be gone. I figured I'd ask anyway. The cast member lady started and gave me a funny look. Turning to one of the ticket-taker people, she retrieved two WoC tickets and said, "Someone just decided they weren't going to stay for the show tonight and gave us these...it's your lucky night!" It was magical. And so was the show.

The magic continued later that night, as we were leaving the park. My friend had parked in the 3-hours-free-then-you-pay parking...and his 3 hours were up. If only we could get it validated, we lamented, but they don't usually do it for you anymore unless you buy something. Should we even ask? Why not? The worst they'll do is say "no." Deciding to give it a shot, we joked, "Shouldn't one of our camp friends or former campers work here and validated us whenever we came? After all, we've invested so much in them, it's the least they could do, right?" Haha, very funny. Right? Well, when we walked up to the movie theater ticket window to ask, the girl began to apologetically shake her head "no." Then it snapped around to the other person in the booth with her--a person who called my name. A former camp counselor, who walked us inside and validated us no problem! We caught up on life for a few, then left the park, free and clear. Magical.

Tonight I didn't so much as face tiny dangers as realize: what am I missing out on because I'm afraid to ask? Because I'm afraid to take a chance, that the answer will be "no"? What risks am I not taking because I'm afraid of failure, afraid I won't have what I need, have what it takes? In what ways am I missing seeing God work in my life because I am afraid? In what ways is he dying to show me his glory?

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..."
[Eph. 3:20]

Boing.

I bounced my first check this week. Almost. Turns out my bank has this magical way of automatically withdrawing moolah from savings if needed to make up the difference of, say, a rent check that the apartment owners cash long after it's been sent and forgotten. Had a brief heart-stopping moment of panic when I saw my checking account registering as $0.00, but a quick transfer and disaster was averted. Thanks, bank!

Why is it so hard to trust God with money sometimes? He's given us salvation, he's promised to take care of us, promised to provide what we need in so many ways. "Every animal of the forest is mine," he says, "and the cattle on a thousand hills." [Ps. 50:10] And I can't even begin to tell you stories of how he's provided from the most unlikely of places in the past! Yet every time that bank account starts to droop, or the car breaks down, or a wedding far away, my heart lurches and my stomach twists in fear and agony. I lack faith. I lack trust. I lack remembrance. And so I am afraid.

I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes I will remember your miracles of long ago.
I will meditate on all your works
and consider all your mighty deed.
[Ps. 77:11-12]

Run run run.

Tonight I went for a run out in the neighborhood behind my apartment. Not the first time I've done this, for sure, although not one of my favorite things to do. For one thing, I hate running. For another, I hate running/working out in general in front of people. Tonight for an audience I had a 5-year-old boy across the street yelling at me, "Are you jogging?" "What's that? [to my iPod]" "Can I listen?" "I'm your coach!" Too cute. But the adventure came when I decided to leave my comfortable tract of houses and head out the other end onto the main streets, taking them the rest of the way home. In front of lots of cars and people. And I didn't die of embarrassment or get run over or whatever I'm afraid will happen. Point for me.



On another note, I was thinking about fear in general tonight, how it can completely irrationally keep us from doing completely rational things, from doing the right thing. Like jogging on a busy street. Like having that difficult conversation. Like admitting mistakes. But what do you do when that fear proves that it's not completely unfounded? When you get hit by a stray car? When that conversation blows up in your face? When mistakes admitted become sins unforgivable? How hard it is to ever want to do that thing again! How easy it is to just run, run run...

Dang it.

No dangers faced and conquered today. I had dinner with a friend about some church stuff and meant to bring up/fix some personal issues, but chickened out. I mean the conversation was going so well and the issues happened a while ago and maybe things would get better or I would just bring it up next time there was an issue... Clearly I'm slightly terrified of confrontation. And clearly, I should really have that conversation.

Dang it. 3 days in, and already I'm backing down, taking the easy way out. Why is it so often so hard to do the right thing?

Standing room only.

Tonight's tiny dangers brought to you by Brendan James! His new self-titled sophomore album came out today, with nary a bad song on it. Brendan sings with a passion that makes you feel like you're seeing a piece of his soul, and always leaves you wanting more. Pick up his album for only $7.99 on iTunes! NOW!!!

Lol, ok enough of the shameless plug for a man I've been digging big time this summer...tonight at his show (which Karen and I enjoyed from less than 10 feet away in that hot, sweaty, crowded room) I made a new concert-going friend, Danela...and we left her to guard our purses while we went and chatted it up with BJ outside. Maybe not the smartest idea in the world, now that I think of it, but it all worked out ok. I guess it just goes to show there are still some nice, honest people in the world. Apparently she's going to find us on Facebook and we're going to go to more shows together. :)

Oh yeah, and then when the night was all said and done and Todd Carey, Brendan James, and Jason Reeves had all left the stage for the last time, Karen and I totally jaywalked across Pico Blvd. I guess we felt a little giddy after the show (and being back out in the cool, crisp, fresh air!) and not in the mood for the crosswalk sign to change. It made me smile.

"Run with me down these midnight streets, we will take/Nothing for granted, nothing for granted/Come with me life is short and sweet, we will take/Nothing for granted, nothing for granted..." [Brendan James]

26

Today is my birthday! I've now completed a quarter century of my life and, as my dad enjoyed pointing out, am closer now to 50 than I am to the start of my life [thanks, dad]. This year promises lots of familiarity--familiar job, familiar roommate, familiar church... Yet I also sense - and a big part of me really hopes it to be true - that I'm on the brink of something new. New people. New places. New experiences. New adventures.

And that excites me. As much as I love the familiar, and as much as it keeps getting better with every year, I don't want to be stuck where I'm at, doing the "same old, same old" no matter what. I want to be stretched. I want to be challenged. I want to grow. I want to face those "tiny dangers" in my life that really are nothing to be afraid of, but still somehow hold me back.

So here I am. You may laugh at some of the things I consider "dangers," like my avoidance of malls and terror of haircuts. Others you may be able to relate to, like how I hate confrontation and am kind of shy by nature. But my goal is to not just sit back and live in the familiar and comfortable, but to face these tiny dangers. To challenge myself to step out of my comfort zones and learn to walk in trust and obedience and faith. Though you laugh, I will chronicle dangers faced anyway, hoping that as I don't shy from the little things, I will also be training myself to not shrink from the big things when they come my way. And when I can't always be fearless, I pray I will at least be found faithful.

TODAY...

It's my birthday, and the scariest things I confronted today were countless little siblings swarming my backside like sharks to blood, each set and determined to give me 26 full-force birthday spankings. That may not seem too bad, but I'm the oldest of 9 and trust me, I was helpless and it was terrifying. I may not sit comfortably for a week.