And now for the monthly update...

Visiting Paul in AL and watching him graduate Army flight school was great.  And in ways I never expected, utterly depressing.

I've lost 12 lbs. now--the double chin is disappearing in pictures!

If someone offers you sunscreen, and you're planning on spending the next four hours out in the sun, you might want to ( Read more... )

Alright, so it's been a while... so here's the quick update:
* Working on a more in-depth application for the church job in New Mexico
* Figuring out the budget aspects of living on other people's donated money for 2 months
* Lost 5 lbs. (as of Monday) with Lose for the Fuse
* Oh, yeah, got in a car accident (got hit) in Saginaw a few weeks ago

Other ( Read more... )

I have a meeting this Sunday with our Cross Cultural Ministries director about the New Mexico job.  I'm... well, I don't really know how I feel about it.  He's a rather intimidating man, but I know he's actually very nice, so... I guess I'm just nervous.  A lot of things are in his hands: whether this job is full time or part time, whether I have ( Read more... )

5 years ago I had a mentor who was determined to drag me on a mission trip to Brazil with her.  (It's not like I was a hard sell, really.)  I went, but more than seeing Brazil or ministering to the people there, I went because I know the impact short-term trips like that can have, and I felt like I was in desperate need of some direction.  Susan ( ( Read more... )

Korey Cooper is the definitive rock chick.  The "I'd be scared to meet this woman in a dark alley" type of rock chick.  Sunday night her band Skillet (fronted by her husband John) gave the best show I've ever seen them do.  (Granted, I've never seen them do an arena show before.  You can't really get away with 1,000 degree pyrotechnics under 15 ft ( Read more... )

I think it's kind of funny that they call it a "youth retreat."  It may be a retreat for the youth, but all of the adults feel like they've been through war.  Retreat is exactly what they want to do by the end of the weekend!

It was great, though.  Felt like a week instead of a weekend, but that's okay, because I love hanging out with teenagers.  I ( Read more... )

I haven't felt this good since I was a sophomore at Alma.  I tried to think about what would have had me in a funk for that long... I had a couple of long relationships in the last four years, and more or less good ones.  There was some major drama after one of them, but that's long been put to rest.  So what gives?  And then I was thinking (not ( Read more... )

I dreamed that my cat came back again last night.  He was all scraggly and scruffy and sick... I guess being dead didn't do him any favors.  He was curled up outside my bedroom window (in the dream, not the real dead cat).  Of course I went out and got him immediately.  Genius, bringing a sick cat in to a house with two healthy ones.  But luckily ( Read more... )

My cat died again the other day.  (This would be the cat I posted about a year or two ago, who died, got tossed out then buried, and came back two weeks later--turns out we buried a cat that looked just like ours).  This is also the cat that I adopted, took to the vet, and took home a couple months ago.  He was a great house cat, but our other cats ( Read more... )

I think I like reading Orson Scott Card's essays almost as much as his novels.  Almost.  (OK, way more than 7th Son, but they're nothing compared to Ender's Game.)

Ryan, this one reminded me of you.