Arrived Yesterday, Here Today, Leaving Tomorrow...the saying of yesterday

Well, I flew into Georgia on Thursday in time to see my sister Sarah as the star of a play "A Thousand Cranes". Even though the play itself was dark and depressing, she did a brilliant job. One of these days, I plan on getting pictures up from it, but my computer illiteracy is still at work, but thats all a different story.
Then on Friday, I ran errands, got my hair cut, spent some time with my two youngest siblings, and saw different people. The questions they asked me fell along these lines. "So, how long have you been here?" "How long will you be staying?" "What are you doing?" The short answer... "Arrived yesterday and leaving tomorrow." And thats the truth. And I love it that way. That does not mean that I do not want to spend more time with my family, see more people that I have not seen, spend time just sitting around, hanging out with friends or siblings. It does mean, however, that a lot is going on. I have God-given opportunities now, that I may never have again. God has shown me what He wants me to do and I can do it. That, that is exciting! And that is why I love life.

Computer, recent days, and plans....

I really only use my computer for basically three things: internet, typing things up to print, and to watch movies. Just with those few things, I experience technical difficulties. Maybe it is because I am a girl, or that I spend too much time on it, or I am just uneducated in the ways of computers, but I have such a. hard. time. I will hand it over to one of the boys and within minutes it is back up to speed. Right now, I have limited computer access. All I have to do to get everything running correctly again is buy a power cord, but, ya know, I actually have to find the time and do it. Anywho, all that to say a lot has been going on and I have pictures and blogs to write to prove it, but I do not want to write the blogs without the pictures, cause that is just no fun, for you or me. Some things you will hear about in the near, a relative term, future are....graduation, moving, Mom coming for a visit, summer plans, and more. I will be leaving for GA on Thursday and Saturday I leave for Ireland, and then....well, now I am getting into the summer plans. Ta ta for now!

No longer "The Girls"

We started a journey together. A journey that has ended. A journey that holds so many memories....

From the shores of the Pacific Ocean in Santa Cruz in the early fall to Canada and the shores of lake Erie in the middle of winter.

From snowball fights on birthdays to pictures at graduation.

From crazy glasses and faces to sweet smiles.

• When we were living at the Graham's, they had their mail box in a bucket. At the time, we did not know it, but apparently, they did this because it got knocked over a lot. One of the first weeks we were living there, we pulled up in the drive way and saw that the said mailbox was in the ditch. Deciding to be helpful, as only we can :), we went to pick up the mailbox. The bucket was loaded down with rocks. I am sure it was the funniest thing watching us make several attempts to role it up the ditch. We fell down, got scratches, not to mention the mud, but I am proud to say that we got that mailbox back where it belonged. (Only after taking out all the rocks, putting the mailbox in place, then hauling the rocks up the ditch to put them back in the bucket, but that's all beside the point!)
• We had our share of "moments" too. Once we were in the store, trying to gather all the things to put a meal together for a hang-out night at the boys. I wanted to make peach cobbler....with fresh peaches. Becca thought we should get canned peaches. She ended up stomping her foot saying, "You're so stubborn!!" and slapping the grocery list down in the cart. We got fresh peaches. In return, I was the one who stayed up late cutting them up and the like. Little did I know that you are supposed to peel peaches for cobbler. Yup, ended up being the nastiest cobbler ever!
• In the summer, our apartment had flies. Lots of 'em. I got very good at trapping them in windows between the screen and the glass. I would leave them there until they died. Becca introduced me to a fly swatter. One day, I saw a fly on the screen of an open window. I grabbed the handy-dandy fly swatter and hit the little guy. Down tumbled the screen. It landed on an unreachable ledge, so we left it for a couple of days until late one night when the parking lot was empty. I taped the mop handle and the broom handle together, Becca went around back, I leaned out the window, pushed the screen to her, she caught it and ran back around and up stairs. We never were able to put that screen back in the window....had to call the landlords.
  
• The day we discovered the one and only Chick-fil-A in Michigan, was priceless.
  

Just, ya know, taking pictures while we were in the open-air at Michigan State University.

We went to a Tiger's Game in September of '06. This was the same season that the Tiger's made it to the world series, by the way.

For Halloween 2006, we dressed up. Becca as an Indian, Christina as a fairy, and I dressed up as a cowgirl. After pictures, we passed out candy packages with gospel literature in them on Main St. Armada. For more pictures and to see what I said then about the night, click here.

Other memories:

• Traveling thousands of miles in her spaceship last summer, not to mention the countless times we made the trip from Michigan to Georgia and back.
  
• Girl's nights.
  
• Our shared love of walks and pictures.
  
• Working in Cubbies and then CTU together.
  
• Moving into an apartment in Armada together and all the unforgettable, fun, trying times that included.
• Studying together, or finding things to talk about to keep from studying.
  
• One time, I think we were in some hotel in Kentucky, we saw this really tall older man. He was looking at us, so I said "You're really tall." Of course I ended up riding the elevator with him about three times within a couple hours and just saying "hey". The next morning Chris came up to us all excited to introduce to a famous professional basketball player. Yeah, it was that guy.
• Sharing a car, then having none, then having one, and back again. One time I took Becca's car somewhere. When I got back in it, it would not start. I waited an hour for the wrecker. He got there. Turned the key. The car started. I promise it was a phenomenon. Becca's face when I got home was priceless.
• Learning life lessons like submission, forgiveness, and loving through the tears.
  
• People getting our names and us confused all. the. time. even though our personalities are so different and we do not look alike....all because they always saw us together all the time. We eventually just became "the girls".
  

If you squint hard enough, you can see snow in this picture. It was the first "snowfall" of our time in Michigan.

Sleeping in the same bed in winter to keep warm.

We are no longer "the girls". God has put us on different paths now, molding us into the women He wants us to be. Women that know Him, serve Him, long after Him, and desire His relationship above any other. Just because change is hard, does not mean that change is not good. It thrills my soul to think that the Lord wants to use us! I would never want to hinder Becca from that, or she me.

"...The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
- Job 1:21

Stolen Picture....

....from my sister, because I thought it was so funny! This is what she said about it, "My little brother made a dress out of trash bags, he thought that it was the coolest thing ever, and he thinks that he looks like yoda..."

Last night, we had the staff, our fellow students, and spouses from The Ezekiel Project over for dinner one last time. As we all gathered around the table, we laughed, cried, discussed class of recent days, talked about the funniest moments of the past couple of years, the most memorable times in the open-air, road trips, first impressions off each other, the Lord's goodness, how we each ended up sitting around that table, the trials, remembering the first night like this, and simply encouraged one another. Christopher put together a movie of pictures from the last two years and we showed it after dinner. While I hate to admit it, that movie had me in tears. It was where we had come from, what we had become, the joy and the tears, learning so much, times in the open-air, changed hearts, sweet times together, and all that the Lord has done, what He wants to continue to do through each of us and knowing that "what the Lord does, it shall be forever..."

Another confession. Since we were having people over for dinner, we kinda had to make dinner. Brandon was great and came over early to make chicken parmesan. To complement this dish, I made pasta. Most everyone was in the living room, and almost everything else was ready. I kinda forgot to turn on the noodles till a little late, but that was fine. The problem came when I tried to drain the water from it. The noodles ended up in the sink. Not in something in the sink, but in. the. sink. People were getting hungry. I remembered what we say when problematic situations arise in the open air: "Improvise. Adapt. Overcome." So, I quickly (before anyone could walk in the kitchen) scooped up the pasta, but it back in the pot, rinsed it about five times, then put it in the serving dish. If anyone knew the difference, they never said anything. Oh, and the sauce was chunky, so that might have helped! :)

[Note: I had every intention of taking pictures, but as with every other good intention, I failed. I will try my best to put a copy of that movie up here, but who know when that will be.]

Open-Air at WSU

What started out to be a discouraging day in the open-air, turned out to be one of the most blessed days of the entire year.

After the hour or so drive into downtown Detroit to Wayne State University, some of the team passed out literature while the others put up the board to begin a meeting. After a little while, we gathered around the board and waited...and waited. There where hardly any students anywhere. Then it clicked. Exam week. Par the decision of the team leader, we stayed to just practice preaching and would wrap it up early.

As it turned out, we ended up having quite a few really good conversations....some of the best conversations ever. People would walk up to the board and ask us what the painting was about. What more of an open door do we need?!? And more people came up and asked the same thing. We talked to Muslims, Catholics, homeless, Agnostics, people who were already saved, and who knows what else.

Even with the exams, we ended up having people in the meetings too. Needless to say, we ended up staying longer than we originally intended.

I ended up asking the Lord to forgive my doubt in Him and failing to realize that He is the one who provides the increase. We have a saying at school. "Sometimes you have Noah days, and sometimes you have Jonah days." All we have to do is be faithful. While this is true, I sure think the Jonah days are a lot more exciting!

Gas prices...

So, I do not know what it is like in your area of the world, but the other day, I paid $3.65 a gallon. I am not that old, but I am beginning to think about the "good ol' days" when $10 could get you over 7 gallons. The casher at the gas station got payed in quarters and dimes. Next time she will be getting nickels and pennies. :)

P.S. You can know that I am back in Michigan when I am blogging about things such as gas prices and the weather, and not pictures of my siblings. Trust me, it is a lot more fun to take pictures of them! And, more pleasant to the eye, too. :)

A Wedding!

Yeasterday, I went to the wedding here in Michigan of a couple from the chapel. It was a beautiful day to get married!

~Friends~

These girls, Katie and Jeanie, are the daughters of the groom, and very good friends of mine.



After the ceremony and before the reception, a couple of the young kids took my camera and had some fun.