You don't even know me! (I bet)

Many have wondered what it is I do. Sure, I blog, I go to church, I laugh sometimes. But there's so much more to me than a crisply colored blog, and a liking to other's senses of humors. Did you know that I listen to the Dixie Chicks "Wide Open Spaces" on repeat sometimes? That pesto sauce and avocado are my two favorite foods? That I used to be a film major? That in my past I would regularly pour dish soap into a Bloomington John Deere water fountain? (Ben didn't)


For instance, two nights ago I lulled myself to sleep watching Psychic Detectives on CourtTV. Did you know that? I bet you didn't.


Yesterday morning I had a doctor's appointment - I doubt you knew that either.


Did you know that I scratched off part of a mole the other day? I bet you didn't. This is the second mole I've managed to scrape off in the past two weeks! The other is by my ear! Weird!

Did you know I bite my nails? Deal with it. Like it or leave it.

After the bloody chunking off (gross?) of my skin at the doctor (hopefully no cancer!), I drive to work blaring "Jesus Walks" by Kanye West - revelling in the awesomeness of that song, while reminding myself that I am as white as anyone has ever been. Did you know that I'm white? Because I totally am.


Once I arrived in my cube I spent some time in powerpoint and excel. Do you know what I do for a living? Don't worry because nobody does!

My lunch break was spent blogging about my brother and googling his name and chanting "USA USA USA - RED WHITE BLUE - LAND OF THE FREE." This I'm sure you knew - did you know how much I love our country? Of course you knew.

The rest of my internet time was spent looking at blogs and catching up on my favorite guilty pleasure - celebrity gossip. (SNAP! Lindsay Lohan got CALLED OUT by her Georgia Rules producers, called a "spoiled child" with "bogus excuses" for showing up late/not at all to the set...) Did you know that Pamela Anderson just married Kid Rock on a boat in a white bikini? I read this fact from 10 different sources.


Did you know that my Wednesday night date, Jess, has been called into Jury Duty this week...along with our friend Parker???!!? I didn't!! She left me a message today saying something about Seinfeld when someone spilled Pez on something and Jerry couldn't stop laughing. Apparently every time she sees Parker in the courtroom they both burst into laughter. She doesn't have to work all week, but she gets paid anyway!!! Lucky!

I like to pick up Muffin sometimes and ask him questions he doesn't know how to answer, like "Who's my cute?!? Who's my cute???!" I pose that question for you readers as well! Do you know who my cute is? Muffin is my cute! He's all the cute I have!!! I told him that too!

Did you know that I take Muffin on daily trips outside? I hold him as I walk around the water heater outside my patio, and he wigs out. Like it or leave it. It's the truth.

On a completely different note...

I found out this morning in an email from my parents with the Subject Line "Bangkok Joe" that my brother is representing our fair country in the Junior [Bridge] Team Trials in Bangkok, Thailand. USA has taken home the world Junior title three years now, including last year (GO HOME POLAND!)






If there's anything little league taught me, it's how to taunt the other teams. This is what I'm chanting at Poland. Right now:

ABCDEFG you don't wanna mess with me
your momma, your daddy
your bald headed granny
She's 99, she thinks she's fine
She's going out with Frankenstein.
You wish, you wish
You just got dissed



or how about this one, Poland?


Don't mess, don't mess
Don't mess with the best 'cause the best don't mess
Don't fool, don't fool
Don't fool with the cool 'cause the cool don't fool
B-E-A-T beat 'em!
B-U-S-T bust 'em!
Beat em, bust 'em, that's our custum
Gooooooooo ROYALS!


YEAH! TAKE THAT!!


USA USA USA!


Edit: I've been googling my bro (whom I'm genuinely so proud of), and I found this picture which I thought appropriate for this entry:



RED WHITE BLUE!

Rejuvenating

Tyler's funeral was Saturday afternoon, and Mazvita wrote an excellent post about it yesterday.


She writes:

“Our hearts will sing, how great is our God...” In the arms of love. I saw the beauty of community come alive. Many felt as if the entire week was on pause, just waiting for Friday and Saturday to come. But, as we wait upon the Lord, He is our Deliverer. And through tear stained faces, I could see eyes filled with hope. Eyes that knew the joy of the Lord is our strength.





“Indescribable…” The funeral was amazing. Rejuvenating even. It seems absurd, but that’s our God. He has moved so deeply in our community and ignited us with hope this weekend. Through generations of Rock communities that came from all over the country. Words cannot truly express how tragic it has been to lose Tyler. But he lives on in our community. We can have hope because we can see how his life was a part of the great story in which we each have a role to play. The story that continues with us, to bring light to this dark world.

In my conversations with Anna Leisa about Tyler, the one thing that we've managed to talk about repeatedly were his tattoos. Mazita wrote about that a little bit, he had tattooed on his wrists the Greek words for "salt" and "light." I'm not a tattoo person, just not an appreciator I guess, but...that's pretty damn cool.

Man, how blessed is everyone who Tyler's passionate faith was able to rub off on. I like how Mazvita described his life as being part of the great story that we also are a part of. In an earlier entry she wrote about Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

In light of Tyler, in light of everything recently, (and please excuse this Rascal Flatts reference) I've learned that when the sand runs out, I want more than anything to be found running.

A weekend mélange

"We have an idea that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; He is not. The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident. What we call the purpose, God calls the end." - Oswald Chambers

And so dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice - the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don't copy the customs and behavior of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. - Romans 12:1-2

"It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials: through every cloud He brings, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in the cloud is to simplify our belief until our relationship to Him is exactly that of a child - God and my own soul, other people are shadows. Until other people become shadows, clouds and darkness will be mine every now and again. Is the relationship between myself and God getting simpler than ever it has been?" - Chambers

This is what I spent late Saturday afternoon reflecting on. First of all, What am I holding on to? What does God want me to unlearn? Second of all, how glorious to have your beliefs simplified!

Regarding the first, I wrote this in my journal yesterday:

"I do not have the right to choose what country I was born into, what family I was born into, what friends I have, etc...what if I attempt to choose and pursue what I've desired only to find it in disagreement with God's plans? My circumstances remain and my heart is sick for having my hope deferred...Does God exist for me, or do I exist for God?"


I need to unlearn that my destiny is in my own hands. My life belongs to God, so He can do whatever He wants with me. What could I do about it anyway?



Hoo! What freedom to not be in control!



And on another note - weekends, hey?

This was a good one. Ben, Anna Leisa and I went to The Uptown Diner friday night and followed that up with a little Star Wars Monopoly (check out Anna Leisa's link to read more about that - Boba Fett took it home).

Saturday afternoon, I joined AL, Beth, Keith and Nate at Joe's Crab Shack. The shack shook when we along with the entire staff were standing on chairs doing the....macarena...

Best part, easily, was when they put a hula skirt on Keith and a Kling-on hat, gave him a pot and a spoon and made him walk around panhandling for some change. He even got some donations for Berlin!



After Joe's, I went to Caribou and spent some time sipping coffee and reflecting over all the stuff that I wrote about above (and more!!).

Later, to complete 48 hours straight spent with Anna Leisa, we ran 8 miles. It was GOOD, but very dark, and very humid. Our shirts were soaked after 2 miles. Since we've spent so much time together lately, we ran out of stuff to talk about pretty quickly...especially since both of us are feeling like everything that used to be important just doesn't matter anymore - not worth the amount of attention (and conversation) that we once gave them....so it made for a more silent than preferred 8 miles...but still great. Just great.



Time to eat some Turkey Helper.

Marathons

As I'm sure many of you would expect, I've been thinking a lot about Tyler this week. I could never begin to claim that this is impacting me like it is impacting the people who were a part of Tyler's everyday life...his family, his church family, his close friends. Christine and I knew him about on the same level, so it's been refreshing to email her back and forth a little about it. We've been exchanging and trading memories with each other.

One good one was at the end of the summer in the laundry while we were folding towels. Tyler invited Christine and I to come along with him and some of his friends to climb Longs Peak on August 10th/11th (day or two before going home). Longs is one of the tallest peaks there is!

Christine and I never hiked!

We kind of laughed and were like "ummm...I don't think we would be able to."

Tyler didn't blink an eye, just said "you guys run in the mountains, you're acclimated. You'd be fine."

Such confidence in the Christines. Although we really had no desire to climb Longs, we both seriously thought about it for a day or so - I think probably because we hadn't even considered it a possibility that we could do something crazy like climb Longs.


Until 15 months ago, I couldn't run for more than 3 minutes straight. It was the worst hell of my life! Last summer I started running in Colorado and now as many of you know, I'm training with Sarah and Ann for the 10-mile!

Point of the story????

When Christine was here we were talking about the Chicago Marathon, and she asked if I'd like to run it with her, Amber, and Ally next year. I said "ummm....I don't think I'd be able to." She assured me I could.

So I'm going to run a marathon.















(I have until december to decide, so this is far from official, I just feel like doing something drastic)

News and Grace

I talked to Jenna last night, she called having just heard about Tyler's accident. She told me that the news was up on the gcm website, so this morning I went there, but couldn't find anything. Then I went to google to see if I could find it there. I didn't find it, but I did run across a few other articles. If you're interested in reading a bit more about it, this is the article I would recommend: Columbia Missourian

Apparently no drugs or alcohol were involved, but if this is true than I am very confused. In this other article it says that earlier that night, the police had to intervene on a Wal-mart brawl where the driver and a few other people were throwing liquor bottles at each other (damaging and destroying 93 bottles of liquor), after this brawl, the driver and his passenger fled the scene. The driver will most likely not be prosecuted because he doesn't remember how he got to be driving the wrong way down the interstate (and apparently it's difficult to prosecute when details cannot be remembered).

I find myself fascinated with the intersection of these individuals' lives with Chad and Tyler's lives...Rumbles and James (the passenger and driver of the other car - Rumbles also died in the crash) are driving somewhere after quite an eventful night. Chad and Tyler are driving home, talking about where the next Rock Church Plant should be, and boom, everyone's life is changed forever.

To be honest, as I read these articles I got angry and lost all compassion for James. I wanted to scream when I saw that he most likely wouldn't be prosecuted. Where's the justice??




After a half hour of being overwhelmed and upset and talking with a friend, I realized that Tyler is so much better off than this James guy is.

James' soul is completely lost, while Tyler, on the other hand, is in Heaven, realizing all the joy that he'd hoped for in his life. I so hope that The Rock SUCCEEDS in their desire to show compassion on this man, that God's name WOULD be glorified in his life, that grace WOULD be understood through this.



Tuesday night I had coffee and dinner with Lane and when the subject moved to Tyler she recounted something that had happened in her church growing up. A girl was killed by a drunk driver, and the church made every effort to show God's grace to the driver...but the driver was so overcome with her own guilt that she couldn't see past it - she couldn't buy in to the fact that no matter what your mistakes are, they are covered by Christ's blood...I can understand that! When you yourself feel like you deserve harsh punishment, it's hard to accept a gift that takes away all punishment.

Does that make sense?

So my question for people reading is this:


How do you do it?

How do you show grace to someone who is overcome with guilt? I don't know where this James kid is in his life, if he feels at all guilty - but I HAVE to assume he does. How could he not? This is probably the lowest he's ever felt in his life - He killed two people (whether he remembers it or not!)! So what is the best way for The Rock, for Tyler's friends (those who are ready to offer it - which may, understandably, be few) to show Christ's forgiveness?



God is infinitely good, God is infinitely capable, and God can be trusted - though I don't always understand how He works, I can trust that He is working.

Kenkill more like

I was putsing around on gtalk when I saw something peculiar. My sister's away message - it stated that she was "taking a nap in the fridge."

Taking a nap in the fridge??!

As highly inviting as a refrigerator might be in the nasty Arizona heat, I must admit that I am highly concerned. Not so much for the risk she's taking of catching herself and her belly-baby a nasty cold (which is high), but she would most likely suffocate. In fact, it's been 5 hours now, I fear she might have already!

My plea is simple. Are you presently residing in Tucson? Find my sister. Free her.

AND GRAB ME SOME GRAPES!

The Producers

Hello friends and readers,
Last night I spent a lovely evening at Rachel's watching The Producers with Anna Leisa, Rachel, and Beth. (Anna Leisa had a heckuva time picking out a movie - in the interest of her not having a heart attack, we will never give her this task again).

I loved the consensus that we wanted a light hearted movie and Anna Leisa responding with "so do we all agree on The Notebook?"

You did a great job, AL - congratulations and adulations.

The Producers was grand. My favorite part was Hitler singing "you want a war? well I got-" then holding up three fingers, three fingers, and then two fingers.

A mispronunciation on my part of a word led to an insightful conversation about something which I did not know existed or had a need to exist. It is something too gross for the blog. We also talked about many other things that I did not expect to talk about and which will not be mentioned on the blog.

Hooray!

Thanks for a great evening, gal-pals!!
Chrissy

This weekend

This weekend my friend Hoops called me (and I suspect many others) with the unfortune of having to be the bearer of some bad news. A friend of ours from LT, Tyler, was killed friday night by a drunk driver driving the wrong way on the interstate.

I feel unqualified to even write a blog entry about Tyler or the impact that I know he made (and I'm confident will continue making) on God's Kingdom...I know that his life meant a lot to a lot of people.


Anyway, if you know Tyler or want to read more about it, I'll just direct you to Mazvita's blog.

Selfishness

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
- Matthew 22:36-39


"How often have we heard someone say, 'I've never liked myself.' or
'She just can't love herself'? According to the Scripture, the Truth
is that we do love ourselves - immensely. When Jesus tells us to love
our neighbors as ourselves, the point is not that we need to learn to
love ourselves so that we can love others. Jesus is saying we need to
give others the same attention and care that we naturally give
ourselves."
- Nancy Leigh DeMoss


The last few months have seen a change in my demeanor. I wish I could say that it's been positive, but it hasn't. I haven't been able to pinpoint it, but there's been a barrier between me and God.

Not that God hasn't been present in my life or my circumstances, or that I have neglected time with God in prayer or Scripture. On the contrary, those things have been as much a constant in my daily life as ever before. It's not been for lack of community, or discussion of God - these things have been ample. And yet, I've seen my attitude change almost to the point of hostility toward almost everyone.

I think I dismissed it with the notion that everyone goes through darker times in their spiritual lives where they don't feel God holding their hand through every situation. Times when you are only sustained by recalling God's faithfulness in past (brighter) circumstances - believing that God does not change, and He is as faithful now as He was then. Although I believe this is all true, I think I've been using it as an excuse.

Last night as I was driving to Lake Calhoun for the water project (handing out free water to the Calhoun-goers), I realized that I had lost pretty much all heart for the people in our city. Where had it gone? I couldn't have cared less about the people I was about to hand out water to. I began to think about God's Will, God's desires (because He certainly cares about the people in our city). I don't know why it took me several months to figure this out, but I realized "Wow, I have been so unbelievably self-centered."

Really! All I've thought about is myself! "How will this situation affect me?" "How am I feeling today?" "Who is going to lavish attention on me today?" "Who will compliment me today?" Where's the slap I've been deserving?

Have I convinced myself that my life has been pleasing to God when I can't even muster up the desire to reach out to lost and hurting people? Have I lost all sense of perspective?


I count myself fortunate that God has been lifting this veil from my eyes - that I've been seeing my selfishness as being immense, real, and dangerous. A layer of hostility has already been stripped away just by praying the prayer (and meaning it): "give me Your heart, give me Your desires."

My hope is that this doesn't become a sweet revelation that lasts approximately three days. I hope that over the course of my life on earth, that God would reveal and strip away more and more of my selfishness and that I would seek only God's own will - not just for my life, but (and especially) for His Kingdom and for the lives of the people around me.

Have you any thoughts or admonitions, I'd sincerely love to hear them. Feel free to comment or email!

Caught!

Picasa

This past weekend I spent a good amount of my Sunday afternoon trying to jump on the Picasa bandwagon.

For two reasons, I quit:

1) All picture uploading internet sites are 100% incompatible with Macs. I can upload pictures one by one, but do you have any idea what a hassle that is? Mass uploading software is only available for PCs. Monkey-crap. I have a pc as a work computer, but would feel guilty using it for all my personal photo uploads.

2) Picasa has a size limit. This is bunk. I hear Flickr does too. Although Yahoo is aesthetically unpleasing and archaic, at least I can post as many pictures as I want.

Anyway, I did manage to upload one album before I quit...so if you're interested in knowing about my college years, click here. You got Ben, Paal, Mark, Will, Jess, Beenish, and Summerfest. Those things spell college. In my heart.

A night where dreams came true

This is an epic tale of Dream Phone. The Monday Night Ladies came over for games tonight and of course we immediately decided on a game I've been playing for 17 years now - Dream Phone. Here's the deal: Somebody likes you...you call all the boys at your school (they all know who it is) for clues, and when you figure it out, you get a brand new boyfriend.






We immediately began picking our favorites (click the pictures to see larger versions - you should be able to better check out the boys that way).

Jodi immediately found Jason:



Beth picked at random:



And found Gary:



Jodi and Jason, Rachel and Steve, and Anna Leisa and Dale...sitting in a tree...oooooooooooooh:



I didn't have to think about it, it's been Matt since first grade - Laura and I used to call Matt and Carlos over and over and over again until one of them liked us. So, while they were picking their favored suitors, I was trying to make the phone work...no luck....



Seeming a lost cause, I decided that maybe this game was kaput...so I did the only thing I could think to do: I framed Matt:



Just then, Mike comes in to steal Anna Leisa's heart away from Dale! "No boys, don't fight"



Then Rachel got the phone to work (we'd taken out batteries that were 17 years old - this had led to corrosion on the sproingy things which needed to be scraped off). So, then we explained the rules:



"Hello?" "..hi.":



Beth dialing, me dazed:



Jodi and Rachel "share a secret":



Beth and I "share a secret":



Anna Leisa and Jodi "share a secret":



Maren and Beth "share a secret":



Maren and Rachel "share a secret":



Then after much investigation, I won! He likes me! Bob likes me



He really likes me!!



Bob is tops:






We also played Pit.

Where's my Mean Girls?

Okay - I lent Mean Girls to somebody. I don't know when, and I don't know to who. I only know that I had it, and now I don't. It's in my nature to liberally lend out my dvds - so I am not angry at whoever has it, nor am I implying that someone has stolen it. I am merely confused that it is not in my movie shelf.

Peter, is it you? I know you don't read my blog, Peter, nor check email, nor spend any time on the internet, but is it you? Just tell me if it's you, I won't be mad.

Is it Beth? Beth, it's not you, is it?

Just tell me if it's you.

Stupid idea or the greatest adventure a girl will ever have?

I saw Thanks for Smoking tonight - I had a popcorn and sprinkled sour cream & onion powder on top of it - stupidest idea I've ever had. It was disgusting.

Anyway, I was driving home at about 9pm, feeling gross from that sc & o popcorn and also thinking about how I am supposed to run 6 miles this weekend and how insanely hot it would be the next day. I figured I would probably have to get up at 6 just so I wouldn't get heatstricken (struck by heat). But I wasn't tired, and I didn't want to go to sleep.

Then I had the best (or maybe stupidest) idea of my life - "I should do it right now!!"

I'd already ran today, but I felt okay, and I decided just to go for it.

So I put on a white shirt (reflection, right?) and figured out what would be 6 miles on the google pedometer and went! It was dark, but I ran along the sidewalks on 101 - so pretty safe.

At 1 mile I was thinking "I love running" and at 5.5 miles I was thinking "so help me, I'm never running again." I had that thought a split second before I wiped out (there is now a super sweet knee hole in my running capris)

Speaking of which, to blatantly steal from Jodi, today's metric: number of times I fell on the side of the road: 3 (the first time it was because a car flashed it's lights at me and I jumped into a hole that I couldn't see - it hurt my ankle, but fortunately didn't sprain it for I was a good 3 miles from home...)



I was hesitant to post about this because I just know that I'm going to get a chastizing email from my mom about the dangers of running in the pitch dark by myself.


I love you, Mom and Dad! Muffin says hi!

Happy Birthday Maren!

My last entry was about golden birthdays - as a segue, Maren had her's when she was 15. Tomorrow is her birthday! Happy Birthday!!

First she got married, then she got pregnant, and now she's having a birthday! This is a good time to be Maren!




Thanks for being so great, Maren. I love you!

My Golden Birthday

Birthdays are usually no big whoop for me...but this year is different. This is a year I've been anticipating since even before little Muffin was born.


My Golden Birthday.




Oh, how I envisioned a birthday made entirely out of Gold!! How I coveted the birthday of my childhood best friend, Laura, whose birthday was conveniently placed on March 10th.

In a cruel twist of fate, my own sister was able to celebrate this occasion at the young age of 13...this may sound nice to the untrained ear, but I was 2 at the time - far too young to properly enjoy such an event. In fact, I probably ruined the whole day for her with my incessant tears and cries for attention.



My eldest brother celebrated his almost 3 years ago when he turned 31 (booring) and my other brother most likely celebrated his at some sort of bridge extravaganza.



Well, it's time to put away such musings of other's golden days of grandeur. This is my year! We have 41 days to figure out what to do!

Shall we venture forth to the greatest theme park the world has ever known - Valleyfair?
Shall we paint the town (and my cat) gold?
Shall we see how much water the human body can consume in a 10 minute span of time??


I am currently taking other suggestions, I implore you to bring 'em!

I promised I would never blog about my cat...

Actually I never promised that.

He's been such a good boy.

As a tyke of seven years old I craved a fluffy white girl cat that I could affectionately name "Muffin."

At 8 I recall hanging out in my living room, my mom (a realtor at the time) on the phone with a client. She yelled from the kitchen, asking if I'd like a black fluffy boy cat...I told my mother no, no I would not like a black boy cat.

She continued on in her conversation; about 20 minutes later before hanging up she said "Chrissy, are you sure you wouldn't want this cat?"

To which I responded "uh.....yeah, I guess I'll have him."

And that my friends is where my relationship with the little Muff-puff began.

It was a blustery December night - the 23rd of 1991 to be exact. The little guy was a baby - very very small, and frightened to boot. I bundled him up in a blanket and placed him inside my parka until he got home.

When we came into our old Brooklyn Center house he scurried out of my coat and ran across the house, searching for a door.

Once he found one, he peed.

Awwww.

For years I held him when he desired not to be held. I dressed him up when he desired not to be dressed up. I picked him up by his front feet and made him dance when he did not want to dance. Once my friend Laura and I forced him into holy union with our other cat, Kirby. We put a dress on Kirby, and allowed Muffin to be the groom (his white flea collar made him look like he was wearing a tux).

Muffin always wetted himself everytime we put him in the car to go to the vet. Muffin does not like car rides.

Speaking of the vet, in order to get him there we would put him in a pillow case, thus limiting his ability to move.

Muffin is also afraid of people.




At 12, we moved to Richfield. During the move, Muffin hid under our old porch; there was no getting him out. I cried and cried and cried. For a week or so, my dad would stop by the old house on his way to work, to check and see if he could find Muffin. No luck. My brother assured me that Muffin was dead.

One very early morning, my dad woke me up with a little bundle of black fur in his arms. It was Muffin! I was so happy!!! My dad went to the old house and pretended to be unlocking the door, Muffin out of habit came running out of hiding to go inside - my dad swooped him up and brought him home. I took him and we fed him and bathed him in love.


During high school I was distracted with the things of high school. I enjoyed petting Muffin, but found myself lost in a world of crushes, new friends, Sifl & Olly and stupidity. I turned to Muffin when my high school cares became too much for me to handle - Muffin was a great comforter. He's so pretty!!

High school left and college came. I embarked upon Australia my junior year of college, and abandoned Muffin for a year. I was pretty sure he'd forget me during that time, but he sure didn't!

My parents moved to a condo in Roseville while I was in Australia, they gave Kirby and Muffin to someone to watch until I came home. Kirby ran away and Muffin was miserable, so my parents snuck him in illegally to the condo they were living in. There he stayed until I came home and moved him to St. Paul...

...where he met Milton and Margo. Muffin was frightened. Muffin is a frightened boy. He feared Margo. He never left my bedroom, unless forced out by Jess or I.

Jess moved out and Amber moved in - with Merlin and Baby. Muffin was frightened. He feared Merlin. He never left my bedroom, unless forced out by Amber or I.

Recently I moved into an apartment in Minnetonka. Muffin is breathing a sigh of relief. It's retirement time.

He's had a rough life, and now all he wants is retirement love. It's seriously the cutest thing in the world.



I figure he'll be dying pretty soon, and my only question is this: what do I do with a dead cat?

Edit: Please share your favorite memory of Muffin, have you one.

All my fears about the Hoff have been realized

This is the disturbing music video to David "The Hoff" Hasselhoff's newest song "Jump in my car." In three short minutes I realized that the Hoff is

A) Old and Creepy
B) Manipulative
C) The Devil


My favorite part is the shooting stars, but I also enjoy the patriotism.

Another weekend in SoDak

10 of the ex-fta members met at Lake Pickerel, South Dakota this weekend.

Highlights:

Running five miles in the wind. I went for 30 minutes and then turned around, I found myself on a dirt road, and at 29 minutes I was quickly approaching someone's house. When 30 minutes came I was at the house, I felt awkward, but it was time to turn around anyway.

Swimming in a lake!

Going tubing, and finding myself unable to both get on the tube, and also unable to get myself back on the boat - I was plopped aboard both the tube and boat not unlike a dead shark. As Will screamed at me for not helping, I continued to laugh (thus disabling myself even more).


"Why are you guys laughing?" - girls
"We're just friends" - boys


Moving a chair from one end of the porch to another (and creating HUGE bruises on my shins in the process)

Watching Beth break Tim's unbeatable Hearts record. He went from 12-0 to 13-1.

Bragging with Emily about how neither of us ever get sunburnt...and then several hours later both of us in agony from bad burns.

Playing Trivial Pursuit at 1am, and cheering for the other team to win

Charades, specifically Tim acting out "Gazillion Gertrudes permeate o-zone layer"

Driving home in less than 4 hours, yeah. That is so right.




I had a really bad attitude about going out there this weekend, but I am so glad I went. It was refreshing and nice to spend time with people I don't get to see very often!

Trusting God when all hope is being deferred

I'm reading Cash, Johnny Cash's autobiography. I just read this passage from the 3rd chapter, it's right after his older brother was hospitalized from a smokehouse accident when Cash was a child:

On Wednesday, four days after he'd been hurt, all the church congregations in town held a special service for him, and the following morning he had an amazing revival. He said he felt good, and he looked good. There he was, fine as you please, lying in bed reading his mail - he'd gotten a letter from his girlfriend - and laughing happily. My mother and father and I thought we were seeing a miracle. Jack was going to live!

Of course, Jack did not live, and their hopes were dashed (and their hearts were probably sick - Proverbs 13:12). A similar thing happened almost five years ago after the accident with Mike. He went through surgery, and all his vitals began stabilizing - the last news I heard before he died was also the most hopeful news I'd heard. It was later that night when he passed away.

Seems like so often we grab onto as much hope we can through doomed situations, then for what seems like no good reason, everything falls apart and it feels as though we're worse off than ever.

I know I can't trust my feelings, but I can't even trust circumstances! Can anything be trusted?

So today I've been thinking about Romans 8:28: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose."

I picked up Cash and that italicized passage was the first I read. We put so much of our hope in circumstances that we have no control over. When things don't go the way we planned we think "but this isn't what I'd hoped for..." We let time, or God, heal us, and the next time we're dissapointed we repeat "but this isn't what I'd hoped for..." This cycle seems to repeat itself more often than any of us would like.



I want to live the faith-filled life, the one that trusts God and trusts that Romans 8:28 is true.

A friend of mine wrote a blog entry last week about the spirit-filled life. It's gotten me thinking about what that means, the "spirit-filled life." It has been connoted to mean one where you can't wipe the smile off of your face day and night, one where you can do no wrong. The more I think about it, the more I am disenchanted with that connotation.

I am just thankful that today, driving in my car, feeling just gross...all I had repeating in my brain was Romans 8:28. I couldn't get my mind off of it. I took this as evidence of the Spirit's presence in my life.

Thoughts?

There she goes again...

A few years ago I was describing So I Married an Axe Murderer to a friend of mine, and I said something along the lines of "if a family member died [i.e. the worst thing that could happen to me], I think the first 20 minutes of this movie would still make me laugh."

So I'm at home right now, I am having one of those rotten days. Not work related at all, (work is great by the way! I'm feeling really comfortable, loving and getting along swimmingly with my coworkers), but still ick-boo. Bad day. I forgot my lunch, so I went out to grab something and decided it would be better (and cheaper) to just go home and eat something. So here I am. I walked into my apartment, repeated a few bible verses, screamed just a little, and sat down with a sloppy joe and an apple.

Then I remembered what I'd said about So I Married an Axe Murderer and I grabbed it, popped it in and at this moment I am watching it while chomping away at my Braeburn.

Today I am thankful that God created laughter.


HEAD! MOVE! NOW!

I really enjoy tubing on lakes too. This weekend some ex-FTAers are going to South Dakota to Pickerel Lake. Will's got a boat and a tube. Tubing will ensue (in the most awkward-modest way we can muster - in fact, I think we're foregoing swimsuits for t-shirts and shorts...this will be good)

This one's for you, Mazvita

Here are some of the Colo/road trip pictures from Saturday through Monday.

Stampie:

Christine cleaning bug corpses off of my car:

The Christines:

Bison:

We went from 80mph to 50mph in 3 seconds to get this picture. That's how excited we were to be done with Nebraska:

Driving through the Canyon:

In Case of Flood, Climb to Safety:

As Ally would say, "It's an Ally Sandwich, with Christine bread:"

Representing Minnesota:

Same picture, but with me (who is also from Minnesota):

The Colorado River flowing behind Starbucks:

Alyssa and Nicole at the Pondo:

Mazvita and I with Samson:

Here we were pretending to be in love, then I began to stick my lower lip out and she began to laugh:

Christine after several hours of Skipbo:

Me doing my best Nicole face:

Nicole doing her best Nicole face:

Christine and I with Johnnie right before we headed out:

Our favorite coffee shop, The Black Cup:

The sign for the Black Cup (this picture and the last picture were taken from the same spot on the ground...the store was very close to the sign):

Pizza!

I just got a message from our admin saying there was some lunch leftovers in the breakroom. I trudge down there expecting an array of pasta salad, potato salad, and turkey sandwiches, when...what's this???

boxes upon boxes of Green Mill Chicago-style pizza stuffs?

This may be the greatest thing that has ever happened in all of history.

Final Day(s)

Home!

After my last blog entry I went into the pondo to grab a handfull of little jelly packs when I saw Juan and Rafael from the laundry! Juan still doesn't speak a lot of english, but he looked so happy and we were able to have this verbose conversation:

"Hola, como estas?" - me
"Bien, y tu?" - Juan
"Bien, tengo que ir, la otra Christine esta alla" - me (pointing far away)

I talked to Rafael a bit more, and even more when we stopped by the laundry to visit later. It was just so good to see them, they looked so happy (especially Juan)!


When we stopped by the Laundry we saw Ashley, our old boss' granddaughter, she just graduated high school, and she looked so pretty! I couldn't get over how much older she looked!

Then Ashley helped us call Johnnie (our boss), and we arranged to meet her in town later. Seeing her and Alvin made our whole trip. They invited us to stay with them anytime for free if we ever want to come out again. I'll post pictures eventually.

The afternoon was spent playing skipbo and Phase 10 with Nicole and Sarah (Christine's friend who now lives in Denver).

We said goodbye to everyone and headed out at about 5:15 to meet Johnnie and then get to our favorite coffee shop in Loveland before it closed at 7. We also went to Chick-fil-a.

We drove home. Christine and I were talking and we were glad that we didn't stay much longer than we did. I would've loved to spend more time with the girls of course, but since neither of us are big hikers we kind of ran out of stuff to do after we hit up starbucks.

As much fun as we had out there, I gotta say, I love Minneapolis. I missed it!

Jodi's 4th of July party was a blast too, even though Rachel and I got robbed against the Dordal's during the towel-ball playoffs.

This morning I hit the snooze button 9 times. Record.

Short sentences.

Rest of Day Five

Yesterday was a pretty chill day, we ate at the Pondo with the girls and quickly found ourselves with an old familiar feeling - the after Pondo feeling. Christine described it as a taste - a mixture of vegetables and cereal. Mine was described more as a shape - a big square. I felt like my middle section became a big brimming square.

Ally, Christine and I played Skip-bo and then we headed down to the Staff Rec Center to watch the FTA slideshow on the BIG SCREEN. We hooked up my computer to the Miz's projector contraption and watched the puppy. It was really nice to do that with Nicole and Allysa - they were in so many pictures because they were there all year long, whether it be thick or thin. Even our first small group (aka "Mullet Night") where we had only seven people, they were both there! Those girls...love em.

Ally slept over in our room and we fell asleep watching Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead.

Day Six is starting off on a pretty good note. I spilled root beer for the second time this weekend in our lodge, but besides that it's going all right. We're checked out and we got a full night's sleep so we should be ready for our drive tonight. Christine is in town trying to get ahold of her friend Sarah, and I am blogging.

We'll be dipping out at about 6 tonight, hopefully getting home a little after noon tomorrow, at which point I will nap and prepare myself for the party of the century.

41 of 50

States emblamatized by way of license plates (in order of recognition):

Alaska
Washington
Iowa
Texas
Colorado
Nebraska
Wisconsin
South Dakota
Kansas
Missouri
Tennessee
Oklahoma
Virginia
Montana
Illinois
Indiana
Minnesota
North Carolina
North Dakota
Arizona
Michigan
New York
Ohio
California
Wyoming
Florida
Utah
Pennsylvania
Idaho
New Mexico
Georgia
Oregon
Louisiana
New Jersey
South Carolina
Maine
Connecticut
New Hampshire
Nevada
Kentucky
Arkansas

Bonus Canadian Provinces:
Manitoba
Quebec
Ontario
Saskatchewan

Trivia Question: Which states and provinces are we still in need of?

Days Four and Five (Long)

Day Four

Minutes after I wrote my last entry, Christine and I seriously considered leaving for Colorado right then and there, that night, knowing we would be kept up by the block party. After 20 minutes of preparation, however, we decided a few hours of sleep would still be better than none. So we got about 3 hours of sleep and then hit the road the next morning!

We started our trip at 4:13, CST, Caedmon’s Call was the soundtrack to our departure from Minneapolis. The rest of the trip was mostly spent listening to as much country music as we could get our hands on.

At about 8 we stopped at a Cracker Barrel outside of Des Moines. It had only been a few hours, but already we both weren’t quite sure if we’d make it. We could barely keep our eyes open (especially me) and we were laughing heartily at nearly every thing.

An hour at Cracker Barrel did the trick though, at 9 we were more alert and back on the road.

At first I was really excited to get in Nebraska. I kept repeating “I love Nebraska” and exclaiming about all the pretty bluffs outside Omaha. I also really enjoyed the 75mph speed limit. At some point though, Nebraska lost its charm, I think it was about 10 miles after Omaha. It was then when we realized that all we had ahead of us was 400 miles of dead grass.

No one goes over the speed limit in Nebraska also. I felt like some crazed maniac going 80. For the 30 hours that we were in Nebraska, I think only one or two people were going faster than me.

Also, I thought NE meant Northeast. Christine politely corrected me, and then we laughed for a while. We called Rachel to check to see if there were any Chick-Fil-A’s in rural Nebraska. No luck, but thanks for checking, Rachel! We stopped at Lasso Espresso for more coffee (excellent).

Arriving in Colorado was nice. People drive faster here and I got passed sometimes which was nice. It was pretty flat though. I think I had assumed that upon entering Colorado I would immediately be confronted with an overwhelming mountainous landscape. This was not the case, we must’ve been slowly gaining elevation because we got up there somehow, but it felt pretty flat to us. I’m still not quite sure how we got so high up.

We drove through a HORRIBLE thunderstorm that lasted for only 5 or so minutes (if that) and then we slowly made it to Loveland. Christine and I pointed at every familiar site – statues friends had climbed, the waffle house, the cracker barrel, the teepee that smelled like urine, Wal-mart, the lake, the Dam Store (best store by a dam site!)

I nearly began crying as we drove through the canyon, I’d forgotten how breathtaking it all was.

Eventually we arrived in Estes, we silently pointed at things again – lake estes, the Mountain Shop, Safeway, Kind Coffee, Starbucks, The Rocky Mountain Connection (where Hoops worked last summer, and now where the Miz works), and of course the Rock Shop.

I looked up at FHOT (the peaks, it’s like something that starts with F, Hallets, something that starts with O, and then something that starts with T). I said “hey look, it’s F-hop….or whatever.” Christine and I laughed tiredly.

We pulled into the Y grounds at 6:45 Colorado time, got our room keys, and on our way to the bathroom we ran into Andy from Bowling Green. He looked at us and said in sort of a frightened tone of voice “Oh…my….gosh” (best reaction so far).

The Rock service was about to start so we walked towards the chapel, and Ally and Allysa saw us from far away. They began running towards us and we HUGGED the daylights out of each other. What a site for sore eyes they were!!!!! It was so good to see them! It was so nice to hug them both!!!

Then we heard Mazvita’s voice say “Christines!” and more hugging! Then Danielle. Then NICOLE!!! Then after the service, the Miz!

Allysa and Nicole are doing so well out here, we miss them back home of course, but I was so glad to hear how well there summer’s have been going.

Last night was kind of a blur because we were so tired, but after the service Ally, Allysa, Nicole, and the Christines hung out for a little bit before we crashed.

So far it’s been interesting being here. Christine and I both agree that we are glad to not be doing LT this summer. We talked a little bit about how glad we are that we did it last year, but that this summer is just not our summer. God had His purpose for us to be here last summer, and now He just has different things for us. It’s been such a treat to see Allysa and Nicole here, knowing that this is their summer. I can’t wait to hear how God uses this summer in their lives.

They’re so cute, those girls. So cute. They represent Minnesota well, those girls.

Christine took note of all the different stated license plates we saw on the road. Right now we're at 40 or 41 of 50 states and as a bonus 4 of 10 Canadian Provinces


Day Five

Christine and I are in downtown Estes right now. We went to the Papetierie, or whatever it was called, (last summer LTers, it’s now called “Long’s Peak coffee and paper” which is lame in my humble opine) and I stocked up on those journals that I LOVE. Right now Christine is buying some stuff for her family and I’m sitting at Starbucks.

We may not have remembered the names of the mountain peaks, but we certainly noticed that Starbucks moved its condiments bar (from the window to behind the right booth), the trashcan (from the back door to behind the left booth), both the bathrooms are now unisex, and they added a new wall decoration. We just know what we care about, you know?

Earlier today we ran into Abby (who is also visiting Estes this weekend, this is the Abby who was on the Price is Right) at the Admin. Building. Later today we plan on hanging out there, play cards, or just enjoy a good sit.

Tomorrow we’ll probably dip out of Colorado at around 6pm. Our favorite coffee shack (The Black Cup) outside of Loveland closes at 7, so we figured we should get there before it closes. I should be making it back to Minnesota before noon on the 4th. Just in time for a nap before Jodi’s party.

What a long entry. I’ll post pictures later. Hopefully I’ll get some good ones of the girls, and the mountains later today.




Important note: At last night’s Rock service, Christine and I noticed a banner with an American flag that said “God Bless America” with an eagle. I immediately thought of the eagle from the Stephen Cobert report and burst into laughter, Christine noticed it as well, thought the same thing and had a similar response.